ã€ŠHis Genius Wife Is A Superstarã€‹


 Chapter 1 - The Woman In White

    <h4>Chapter 1 - The Woman In White </h4> <h4>Chapter 1: The Woman in White</h4>

    The smell of blood, gunpowder and death filled the air. The numerous helicopters sounded like beating drums announcing the execution of criminals. Shouts and screams blended with gunshots. Smoke rose in the night sky like an evil phantom about to swallow the moon and the stars.

    Inside the mansion, a young woman wearing a white dress watched this scene from hell. She stood in the dark, sweeping her emerald eyes across all the carnage below her. Moonlight reflected on her golden hair.

    She looked otherworldly, like a fairy watching mortals kill each other while she remained detached and pure.

    Unfortunately, she was not an immortal. She was fated to die this night.

    She closed her eyes and sighed. She took onest look at the nightmare ying outside, turned around, and walked towards the grand piano in the room.

    The five bodyguards protecting her also shifted with her movement, but otherwise remained silent and invisible.

    She knew that this night would be herst. She didn¡¯t know whether her older brother, father, and mother were still alive. Perhaps they were killed already. From what she saw outside, the enemies nned to annihte all of them.

    With her great hearing, she heard the enemies finally invading the mansion. The gunshots rang louder as they drew nearer.

    Her five bodyguards tensed and stepped closer towards her. Their murderous eyes locked at the door.

    Gently, she sat in front of the piano. It would be her end soon. The least she could do was y music to apany the souls of the killed this night as they left this world. Taking a deep breath, her fingers danced on the keyboard.

    Beethoven¡¯s<i> "F¨¹r Elise"</i> started seeping through the sounds of murder in the air.

    <i>Bang!</i>

    The door to the room crashed open. The bodyguards immediately started trading shots with the soldiers and police.

    The smell of blood and sweat grew stronger, but the beautiful young woman in white yed the piano as if nothing was happening around her. Even when two bullets pierced her left shoulder and right hip, she still continued ying without missing a beat.

    The musicplemented the sounds of carnage to the point that the soldiers and police listening felt goosebumps. The contrast between the music and the violence almost felt mystical.

    The five bodyguards fought to protect theirdy without any regard to their own lives. They were trained to be emotionless assassins from a young age. They killed a few, but the enemies grossly outnumbered them.

    Finally, thest of the bodyguards died.

    "Hands in the air!" shouted a police officer.

    The beautiful woman in white ignored him, closing her eyes and swaying as she continued to y the piano.

    The soldiers and the police officers had their guns raised and locked on to the beautiful woman ying as if she was the only person in the world. Her pristine white dress was now dyed dark red, as blood continuously flowed from her wounds.

    Everyone in the room was mesmerized by her otherworldly beauty and elegance.

    What a pity.

    A soldier gritted his teeth. "We have orders. Fire!"

    The woman smiled softly before bullets barraged her back. Her blood showered up in the air like rose petals and then sshed on the ground like raindrops.

    The music abruptly stopped.

    Her body slumped over the piano, banging against the keyboard and producing a discordant tune. Her emerald eyes swiftly drained of life, yet they were still beautiful.

    She slid to the floor and fell hard.

    "Atst, I¡¯m free." Her voice was a soft whisper.

    Then she breathed herst.

 Chapter 2 - Waking Up In Another Body

    <h4>Chapter 2 - Waking Up In Another Body </h4> <h4>Chapter 2: Waking Up in Another Body</h4>

    Tired. So tired.

    It felt like she was walking for an eternity through a dark and deste tunnel. She wanted to stop, but for some reason she kept on walking towards the small speck of light far away in the distance.

    Her throat felt dry and rough, burning with extreme thirst.

    Water.

    She needed water. Maybe she could drink when she reached the end of the tunnel.

    And so she kept on walking and walking and walking.

    Water. The thought of water relieving her parched throat kept her going.

    She didn¡¯t know how long she walked. Days, months, years...maybe even decades, perhaps even centuries.

    She didn¡¯t know. She just wanted water.

    Finally, the light grewrger and brighter.

    Almost there.

    Then she was bathed in pure, white light.

    Finally.

    ###

    <i>At a big, private hospital.</i>

    She opened her eyes and felt almost blinded by a soft, dim light. It took a few moments before her eyes adjusted.

    <i>¡¯Where am I?¡¯</i>

    Confused, she looked around the tasteful, hotel-like room. She didn¡¯t recognize the ce. Then she noticed the sound of slow, constant beeping beside her. She turned her head towards the sound and was surprised that her head felt heavy. In fact, her entire body felt heavy. She couldn¡¯t move.

    <i>¡¯What¡¯s going on?¡¯</i>

    With great effort, she finally turned her head a little and saw that it was a machine making the beeping noise. She then realized that she was hooked to it and a lot of other medical apparatuses as well. It dawned on her that she was at a hospital and by the looks of it, her condition was rather serious.

    "W-wa...ter..." She tried speaking but only a dry whisper came out of her cracked lips.

    Nobody was around. She already felt exhausted. Her eyes started to droop, but she fought against the unconsciousness threatening to ovee her.

    After waiting for who knew how long, the door finally opened and a nurse strode in.

    "You¡¯re awake!" The nurse was shocked when she saw the patient¡¯s open eyes. She immediately pressed a button to call for a doctor.

    <i>¡¯Hm? Chinese?¡¯</i>

    "How are you feeling?" the nurse asked and began checking her.

    "W-wa-wa...ter..." she croaked in Mandarin.

    Fortunately, the nurse understood her. "You want to drink water? Wait a moment, Miss. We¡¯ll have to wait for the doctor and ask him whether it¡¯s okay for you to drink. Oh, he¡¯s here!"

    The door opened and a middle-aged doctor entered followed by three others wearing the same whiteb coats. They looked like doctors too, but younger.

    "Hello. Can you hear me? My name is Dr. Ching. How are you feeling?" The lead doctor pressed his stethoscope on several parts of her chest as he asked questions.

    "She asked for water," the nurse told him.

    "That¡¯s good. Let her drink via straw if she¡¯s able. If not, use drops or melt an ice cube on her lips."

    The team of doctors began examining her, while the nurse left to get water.

    Finally, the nurse returned with water in a papercup and a straw.

    At first, she couldn¡¯t suck from the straw. Her mouth muscles felt weak. Only after a few tries was she able to get the water flowing but felt exhausted after just a few sips.

    However, the feeling of water flowing down her dry throat felt so heavenly that her eyes pricked. She blinked the tears away, not allowing them to fall. It was almost unbelievable that she was getting so emotional over a few sips of water.

    "Do you know your name?" Dr. Ching asked.

    "My name..." She was about to say her name, but memories suddenly rushed in her mind.

    She gasped, utterly confused by these foreign memories. What was happening?

    She looked sideways and saw locks of ck hair from her head on the pillow.

    ck hair? Where was her blonde hair? Did someone colour her hair while she was unconscious?

    Her heart palpitated as an impossible thought entered her mind with the onught of the unknown memories.

    The doctors were rmed at the sudden spike of her heart rate. The beeping frequency on the machine increased.

    "M-mirror...give me..."

    The doctors and the nurse looked at each other.

    Dr. Ching faced the girl with a reassuring expression and said, "Calm down. Are you tired? Are you feeling pain anywhere?"

    "Pl-please...mirror."

    Dr. Ching hesitated and looked at his patient for a few more seconds before nodding at the nurse. The nurse left. When she returned, she brought a mirror and held it in front of the pale girl lying on the bed.

    When the girl saw her face, her eyes didn¡¯t recognize it. Where was her blonde hair? Her green eyes? The face in front of her was clearly not her own.

    The straight, ck hair and the dark brown phoenix eyes gave away the face¡¯s Asian background.

    The machine hooked to her beeped more quickly, worrying the doctors. The nurse took the mirror away as the pale girl closed her eyes to digest what she just experienced.

    The face of a stranger on the mirror matched the ones from the rush of memories she experienced just a few moments ago. She opened her eyes in disbelief.

    <i>¡¯Impossible! This can¡¯t be. Am I dreaming?¡¯</i>

    Unbelievable. But how could she exin what was happening to her now?

    She woke up in another person¡¯s body.

    The shock was too much, especially since she felt so weak at the moment.

    Her eyes closed and she sumbed to the familiar darkness.

 Chapter 3 - Iris Long

    <h4>Chapter 3 - Iris Long </h4> <h4>Chapter 3: Iris Long</h4>

    "Do you remember your name?" Dr. Ching asked his patient when she woke up the next day.

    "My name is Iris Long. How long was I ina?" Unlike her panic from yesterday, she was calm as she spoke with the doctor.

    "A little over one year," he answered.

    "I see."

    She let the doctors fuss around her. She had no choice but to ept the fact that she woke up in another person¡¯s body. She knew that she already died, so she should consider this second life a second chance to live the life she always wanted, the life that she could never hope to live in her past life.

    She was no different from a prisoner during her past life. She was always guarded, forced to learn knowledge and skills she had no interest in, and not allowed to leave the estate or meet others.

    A caged bird.

    That was what she was before. But now she had the chance to finally spread her wings and soar as high as she wanted.

    Freedom.

    This was what she always craved for. Even if it meant living as another person, she would willingly ept this new life.

    Evelina was dead. She died at 25 years old that bloody night.

    Now she woke up as 19-year old Iris Long, a wild pop singer and party girl.

    A year ago, Iris Long was driving alone after leaving a party at a club, when she realized toote that her brakes stopped working. She lost control and crashed into a building, immediately wrecking her newly bought sports car. Her injuries were so serious that she went intoa with only life support machines preventing her total death.

    The original Iris Long died with the car crash, but her body was saved. Now another soul filled it and the new owner intended to live a fulfilling life of freedom and independence.

    "When can I get out of here?" Evelina, now Iris, asked Dr. Ching. She couldn¡¯t wait to start living this new life.

    "Don¡¯t rush. We still need to examine and monitor you to make sure that there are noplications. When you¡¯re well enough, you need to undergo physiotherapy and rehabilitation to recover as much of your previous strength and mobility."

    She sighed. She was about to ask more questions when the door suddenly opened and a strong oud fragrance wafted inside the room.

    Iris wrinkled her nose and turned to see a heavily made-up woman with perfectly coiffed hair, wearing a gorgeous long red dress and diamond-encrusted ultra-high heels.

    Wei Lan strutted and pushed aside the doctors before leaning over her daughter for air kisses on both cheeks.

    "Ooooh, my poor daughter!!! Mother is sooooo happy that you¡¯re finally awake!!! Mother has been sooooo worried about you!!!"

    Wei Lan took out a delicately embroidered handkerchief from her designer purse and wiped nonexistent tears.

    Iris breathed through her mouth. The woman¡¯s perfume was too strong!

    Based on the original Iris¡¯ memories, she wasn¡¯t close to this mother. In fact, she wasn¡¯t close to any members of her family.

    Wei Lan, a former struggling model, only married Long Tengfei for his money and status. When their marriage ended, her mother made sure to use her daughter to squeeze a ridiculous amount of alimony and child support from her ex-husband.

    Not even a month after their separation, her mother already had a string of lovers who were, of course, as rich as her ex. As a result, the Longs absolutely hated and looked down on Wei Lan and her daughter, Iris.

    Wei Lan pushed her daughter into show business from a very young age. Iris started out as a child TVmercial model and then became a teen pop singer.

    Although Long Tengfei felt ashamed of this daughter of his, she still had the blood of the Longs flowing inside her veins. Knowing his ex-wife¡¯s greed, Long Tengfei hired a financial manager for his daughter to protect her earnings from both Wei Lan and herself.

    This didn¡¯t sit well with Wei Lan, but she couldn¡¯t do anything so she vented her resentment to her own daughter which resulted on their strained and shallow mother-daughter rtionship.

    The father-daughter rtionship wasn¡¯t any better either. Long Tengfei did this for his daughter¡¯s own good, but Iris was immature and didn¡¯t appreciate it. She thought that her father was punishing her by not giving her full ess to her allowance and her own earnings. Wei Lan didn¡¯t help the situation by badmouthing her ex to their daughter.

    Iris felt unloved by her family, so she did everything for more fame. She performed provocative songs, attended wild parties, ingratiated herself with famous people, and a lot of other ridiculous antics to get their attention.

    She naively thought that more fame equalled to more love from the people. Yes, she had fans as an entertainer. They liked her songs and her beauty, but not necessarily liked her as a person.

 Chapter 4 - Shallow Mother And Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 4 - Shallow Mother And Daughter </h4> <h4>Chapter 4: Shallow Mother and Daughter</h4>

    Iris rubbed her temples and sighed.

    Now that she was the new owner of this body, she needed to straighten out a lot of issues first before she could live the life of freedom and independence that she always wanted. Iris Long¡¯s life was a total mess, but she felt excited diving into this new life.

    "Honeeeey, are you alright? Does your head hurt?" Wei Lan turned to the doctors and demanded, "Why aren¡¯t you doing anything?! Aren¡¯t you doctors?! Make her headache go away! You¡¯re all useless! Call the hospital director! I¡¯ll tell them to rece you! Don¡¯t you knooooow who I am?! My ex-husband is the President-CEO of Long Industries!!!"

    "Mother, please calm down. I¡¯m alright. Dr. Ching and everyone else are doing everything they can to help me recover."

    She was someone who mysteriously upied another person¡¯s body. This Wei Lan might be the mother of the original Iris, but the woman was a stranger to her, the new owner of this body. She held no love for the woman, but Wei Lan was now her mother in this life. As long as Wei Lan didn¡¯t intentionally harm her, the least she could do was act polite.

    Dr. Ching gave her a grateful smile. The team of doctors finished her check-up and left the two in the room.

    When the door closed, Wei Lan sat with flourish on the chair beside the bed. She crossed her long legs, and gave an exaggerated sigh.

    "Make sure to ask your father to see you. You were ina for a year! One whoooole year!!! That¡¯s a year without facials and shopping! The horror!!! My poooor daughter! You deserve to request anything from him. Hmph! Make suuuure to ask for something fabulous and expensive. Like a private ne, for example. And then mother can borrow it from time to time. You¡¯ll let me borrow, right? A yacht is good, too. We can throw fabulous parties while sailing! Ooooh! Wouldn¡¯t that be amaaaaaaziiing? If you tell him how scary it was to beatose, I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll buy you anything!"

    Iris sighed as she watched Wei Lan¡¯s sparkling eyes. She knew the woman was already imagining herself hopping on a private ne to fly around the world and coasting on a yacht while romancing her string of lovers.

    "Father has already been informed about my current condition since he¡¯s the one paying my medical bills. Whether hees to see me or not is up to him. I want to focus on my recovery and go home as soon as possible."

    "Oh? You¡¯re returning to the Longs? That works, too. About damn time you remind them that you¡¯re also their heiress."

    Iris gave her a side eye. "I have my own ce."

    "Hmph! A Long heiress living in that tiny dump! What an embarrassment! It¡¯s your father¡¯s fault for hiring that damn money man! You can¡¯t buy a mansion because that bastard won¡¯t let you spend your own money! And your father just lets that damn bastard do whatever he wants! Both your father and that damn money man won¡¯t let you spend your own money freely. You can¡¯t buy your own mansion and your father won¡¯t buy you one either! Meanwhile, his other brats from those sluts are living like royalty while you¡¯re working soooo hard!! Where is the fairness in the world?! My poooor daughter!"

    What was this woman babbling about? Tiny dump? Her memory told her that Iris Long owned a penthouse upying the entire two topmost floors of a condominium building. It was certainly too big for a teenager living by herself.

    She was able to purchase the penthouse for a good price because her financial manager (who Wei Lan kept on calling the "damn money man") negotiated for her. However, she had a suspicion that it was Long Tengfei who secretly helped the original Iris to obtain such a good deal.

    The mother and daughter never wanted to live together. To Wei Lan, providing for her daughter was her ex-husband¡¯s responsibility. She already did her job by getting pregnant, carrying the baby for nine months, and then suffering the unbelievable pain of childbirth.

    Now that the ordeal was over, she thought that she deserved the right to enjoy life being pampered by men who admired her.

    As for the original Iris, her mother¡¯s string of lovers disgusted her. She also didn¡¯t want to live with the Longs who clearly hated her. She had no choice but to get her own ce.

    Iris studied Wei Lan who continued babbling about useless things. She didn¡¯t share the original Iris¡¯ disgust of her mother.

    Wei Lan loved money, beauty, and most importantly, she loved herself the most. Despite this, she wasn¡¯t a malicious person per se. She was a bitch, yes, but she wouldn¡¯t resort to serious criminal acts to get what she wanted.

    Simply speaking, Wei Lan was a shallow person. Her daughter, Iris, was a shallow person as well. They were the same type of people. Using the analogy of mas, the mother and daughter had the same negative charge, so they repelled each other.

    The new Iris was a neutral one, neither repelling nor attracting. As long as people didn¡¯t provoke her, she would be polite. But if they attacked her...a dangerous glint shed in her eyes.

 Chapter 5 - Jin Liwei

    <h4>Chapter 5 - Jin Liwei </h4> <h4>Chapter 5: Jin Liwei</h4>

    <i>Jin Corporation.</i>

    Everyone wiped cold sweat from their foreheads and drank mouthfuls of water. The ones who did presentations during the meeting looked like they went through the eighteen levels of hell and survived...barely.

    They nced at King Yama1...er, their boss Jin Liwei who was the President and CEO of Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country.

    As usual, he looked cial, formidable, and absolutely gorgeous. He was tall, rich, and handsome.

    If their boss wasn¡¯t so frightening, the females (and bent employees) in thepany would throw themselves at him on a regr basis. They would die happily for just a single nce from him.

    Unfortunately, legends abounded about past employees stupid enough to flirt and attempt to seduce the big boss. It was said that these foolish mortals were immediately fired and cklisted from working in the business industry. Some were said to havemitted suicide because of despair, while some disappeared, never to be seen or heard from ever again.

    Rumours or not, it was a fact that President Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t someone to be casually treated, or worse, offended.

    "Dismissed," Jin Liwei ordered before standing up and leaving the conference room.

    Xu Tian, his trusted assistant, opened the door for him and then followed after him to his office at the topmost floor of the building.

    Everyone inside stood up and remained bowing until the sound of their boss¡¯ footsteps gradually vanished. When they were certain that their boss was gone, they released the breaths they were holding. They heaved sighs of great relief that the meeting finally ended.

    <i>Inside the President-CEO¡¯s office.</i>

    Jin Liwei leaned back on his opulent leather seat behind his massive dalbergia wood desk. He listened to Xu Tian¡¯s report with a cold expression, his hands steepled over his chest.

    The interiors of the office was very masculine,bining elements of traditional and modern aesthetics. The whole office screamed of power and wealth.

    "President, I have been notified by the hospital that Miss Long has finally awakened froma," Xu Tian read from the paper report in his hand. "Her exam results show no seriousplications aside from muscle atrophy from being bedridden for a year, which can be cured by regr physiotherapy and rehabilitation. No reported memory loss or brain damage. She is recovering at a faster rate than expected, and if nothing unfortunate happens, her doctors believe that she¡¯ll achieveplete physical recovery in about six months. As for any emotional trauma from the ident, the doctors rmended psychological therapy but Miss Long reportedly declined."

    "Who are the people she¡¯s been in contact with after waking up?"

    "Her mother, Madam Wei Lan, was the first. The madam came on the second day Miss Long woke up. In the next few days, her manager and assistants also visited but she apparently fired all of them on the spot."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow, but otherwise didn¡¯tment. He asked instead, "Did Long Tengfei visit his daughter yet?"

    "As of now, CEO Long has not personally visited nor seen Miss Long after she has woken up. But he did send his assistant to check up on her."

    A faint sneer appeared on Jin Liwei¡¯s cold expression.

    "We also found out that CEO Long ordered a lockdown on news about Miss Long waking up froma. The manager and assistants fired by her were also given hush money to keep the information to themselves, all arranged by President Long¡¯s people without Miss Long¡¯s knowledge."

    "Is he reinvestigating his daughter¡¯s ident?"

    "At this moment, we have not received any indication regarding that. And even if he does, we already erased all evidence and trails a year ago as per your orders. He won¡¯t find anything different from the police investigation results."

    "Good. Continue to monitor her."

    "Understood."

    Jin Liwei paused, thinking, before asking, "Does my brother know?"

    "I don¡¯t think so. President Long locked down news about his daughter, so unless Miss Long personally calls and informs Second Master that she has woken up, I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll know."

    Jin Liwei nodded, relieved. "I want her far away from Chonglin and Fan Luo. My brother and his fianc¨¦e are marrying in the near future and our families can¡¯t afford any scandals at the moment."

    "Understood. Is there anything else, President?"

    "No. You may go."

    Xu Tian bowed before leaving and heading to his own desk outside the door.

    Ruler or judge of hell in Chinese mythology

 Chapter 6 - The New Young Miss

    <h4>Chapter 6 - The New Young Miss </h4> <h4>Chapter 6: The New Young Miss</h4>

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    <i>Three monthster.</i>

    Notes of Mozart¡¯s <i>"Rondo a Turca"</i> skipped in the air within the spacious penthouse unit, as Iris Long¡¯s fingers danced across the piano keys.

    The old housekeeper, Yi Mei, watched the Young Miss ying the piano so skillfully, so elegantly, and so beautifully.

    The Young Miss looked like a fairy as she swayed, especially with the picturesque view of the city¡¯s night lights outside the ceiling-high ss windows behind her.

    Yi Mei knew that the Young Miss could y the piano before, but she had never seen her ying so seriously and so regrly.

    The white grand piano intended as a decoration before was now proudly serving its true purpose.

    Ever since Iris Long returned home from the hospital a month ago, Yi Mei was repeatedly shocked and amazed by the Young Miss¡¯s sudden changes.

    Before the car ident, serving this spoiled brat was a total nightmare. She had no respect or regard for the servants. She frequently threw tantrums whenever the servants failed to satisfy her which was almost always. As a result, the Young Miss frequently reduced the newly hired servants to tears. Servants quit on a regr basis and Yi Mei had the undesirable job of hiring new servants until the cycle repeated itself again.

    Yi Mei despaired and felt hopeless. However, she was loyal to Master Tengfei so even when she hated it, she endured the brat¡¯s nasty and selfish attitude.

    To be honest, she felt relieved that she didn¡¯t need to deal with the spoiled brat for one whole year after the ident. She felt guilty for feeling this way, but it was the truth.

    When she learned that the brat woke up froma and would soon return home, she couldn¡¯t help but feel dismay and dread. She even panicked a little, but she was too well-trained to show it on her countenance. She steeled her emotions, stood ramrod straight, and weed the Young Miss home.

    Much to her shock, all her worries proved unfounded when the Young Miss finally returned. Perhaps the Young Miss was traumatized by the ident to the point that her personality changed so much.

    As soon as Iris arrived, she started firing people. Her makeup artist, hairstylist, fashion stylist, selfie assistant, diet coach, and the other useless m squad members who still received their sries during hera despite not working for an entire year were all dismissed.

    The new Young Miss was polite whenever she spoke to Yi Mei and the rest of the servants. The third time that Iris spoke to her without being rude, Yi Mei burst into tears.

    "What happened to you, Young Miss?" Yi Mei cried. "Did you hurt your head too hard?"

    Iris sighed softly, her eyes gentle. "I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s been hard on you."

    The dam controlling her emotions and years of resentment finally burst open. Yi Mei cried so hard that her whole body quaked. She felt so touched by the Young Miss¡¯s apology. She almost couldn¡¯t believe that this was happening. It felt like a dream.

    Iris watched her, tranquil as a stillke, waiting for the old housekeeper to calm down. It was at this moment that Yi Mei realized that the Young Miss really changed for the better.

    Afterwards, Iris focused on her recovery. She endured painful physiotherapy and rehabilitation sessions at home.

    Seeing the Young Miss so determined, Yi Mei felt goosebumps, especially when the Young Miss began ying the piano every day. At first, she only yed simple pieces and the notes were discordant because she was still too weak. But as she gradually became stronger, the pieces she yed became moreplicated and difficult, but also more skillful and mesmerizing.

    Now the Young Miss was more or less recovered, walking and doing things by herself without needing a wheelchair or assistance from her private nurse and the servants. Her medical team was amazed at the speed of her recovery. Her stamina and muscles were stillcking, but they only needed time to gradually return to how they used to be.

    Back to the present, Yi Mei smiled as thest notes of<i> "Rondo a Turca"</i> drifted. She stepped forward.

    "Young Miss, dinner is ready."

    Her old heart skipped a beat when Iris turned her calm phoenix eyes to look at her.

    <i>¡¯So beautiful,¡¯</i> the housekeeper thought to herself.

    "Thanks for the hard work," Iris replied.

 Chapter 7 - Long Tengfei

    <h4>Chapter 7 - Long Tengfei </h4> <h4>Chapter 7: Long Tengfei</h4>

    <i>Long Industries.</i>

    The President-CEO¡¯s office was located at the topmost floor of the building. Its interior design was inspired by strong traditional Chinese aesthetics. Most of the furniture were made of wood with delicate and exquisite carvings on them. The colour schemes were mostly deep red, maroon and earth tones. Several traditional paintings and calligraphy hung on the walls.

    "What did she ask for this time?" Long Tengfei asked his loyal assistant while signing a mountain of documents behind his desk.

    Cai Guang picked up the signed documents and gave his boss another stack to sign while speaking at the same time.

    "The Young Miss asked me to rmend a new assistant for her. I sent her a list of candidates. In the end she only chose one. I thought she was going to rece all three assistants she fired, but she said that a single capable assistant is enough at the moment. She ended up hiring my distant nephew from the Filipino branch of the family. My nephew always wanted to work and live here in China. He¡¯s well-educated and eager to work. He onlycks experience. He started working for herst week and even moved to live at her penthouse. I scolded him for freeloading from the Young Miss, but he told me that it was what she wants."

    "Let her do what she wants. For now, at least." Long Tengfei sighed. "She wasatose for a year after all. What else?"

    "The Young Miss is currently renovating and redecorating the entire penthouse. I was told that it¡¯s currently chaotic in there, but she¡¯s still working hard on her physiotherapy and rehabilitation, never missing a single session. The Young Miss seems very determined to recover as soon as possible. Her medical team is very pleased with her progress."

    "Good. That¡¯s good. Is that all? Has she asked you to buy her anything?"

    "No, President."

    Long Tengfei paused, a slight frown on his face. "That¡¯s odd. I was expecting for her to demand a massive shopping spree. Perhaps even ask me to buy her a mansion or something like that."

    Cai Guang cleared his throat. "Madam Wei called numerous times to tell you to buy the Young Miss a private ne or a yacht, maybe both, as a reward for surviving."

    "Reward for surviving?! What does that woman think of our daughter¡¯s ident? The fucking Olympics?!" Long Tengfei closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to calm his anger.

    This mother and daughter never failed in giving him headaches.

    "President, the Young Miss didn¡¯t mention that she wants a ne or a yacht. It was only the Madam who asked, presumably on behalf of the Young Miss." Cai Guang hesitated. "If I may be so bold..."

    "Go on. Speak."

    "...I have spoken with the Young Miss both personally and on the phone a number of times since she woke up froma. I think the Young Miss has...changed."

    "That¡¯s normal. Most people change one way or another after experiencing a life and death situation like that."

    Cai Guang nodded, although he still looked unconvinced. "It¡¯s just that I feel like I¡¯m speaking to apletely different person. The President has not met with her yet since she woke up, so you may not know. She¡¯s now so calm, so serious, and so mature. She¡¯s very business-like whenever she speaks to me. To be honest, it¡¯s...uh...creepy that she has changed so much. It¡¯s kind of scary."

    Long Tengfei leaned back on his seat and chuckled softly. "What¡¯s there to be scared about? Isn¡¯t it good that she has changed her old ways? Maybe she had an epiphany after what she experienced. I¡¯ll feel more at ease if she has really matured and has grown sensible. I just hope that this isn¡¯t something temporary and she ends up reverting to being another version of her mother.

    "I don¡¯t really have high expectations for this daughter of mine. The elders want me to disown her, but how could I do that? She might be a big disappointment, but she¡¯s still my daughter. She has the blood of the Longs flowing in her veins. I care for my daughter, but there¡¯s only so much that I can do for her." He sighed. "She¡¯s not my only child. I have to prioritize the whole n¡¯s interests before anything or anyone else. This is my duty as the head of the Long n."

    "Understood." Cai Guang hesitated, before finally gathering the courage to ask, "Is the President nning to see the Young Miss?"

    A minute or so passed before Long Tengfei answered. "No. If she really wants to see me, her father, she can alwayse at any time. Is that all?"

    Cai Guang nodded and bowed.

    Long Tengfei resumed signing documents.

    Both were silent, focused on their work.

 Chapter 8 - Image Overhaul

    <h4>Chapter 8 - Image Overhaul </h4> <h4>Chapter 8: Image Overhaul</h4>

    Day after day, Iris Long grew stronger and healthierpared to when she first woke up froma. Now she only needed the physio and rehab sessions once a week.

    Despite this, she still wasn¡¯t satisfied by her body¡¯s current condition. Her musclescked power and her stamina embarrassed her with just one flight of stairs. But all she could do for now was persevere in rebuilding her body with time and effort.

    The renovations were also finallypleted. She disliked the original Iris¡¯ taste in interior design and wardrobe choice. Everything was sparkly, shiny, neon-bright, glittery, and maddeningly garish and tacky!

    Now that she was living as Iris Long, she reced everything with the tasteful elegance of ssic style. The newly renovated and decorated penthouse gave a serene and sophisticated atmosphere.

    Iris also added a big library office with a connectingputer room separated by a password-locked door. She filled the library with all kinds of books in differentnguages. Many of which were her favourites from her past life.

    As for theputer room, she designed it herself. Currently, there were seventeen different state-of-the-artputers and devices arranged neatly inside the room. One wall waspletely covered with t-screen monitors. The room looked like the cockpit of a spaceship.

    And not everything was delivered yet. She was still expecting more to arrive. The majority of theputers were not avable on the regr market. She had to use her virtual connections from her past life to obtain these rare devices.

    The room was sealed and she was the only one who had ess to enter it. Nobody else was allowed inside without her permission because the room contained a lot of technology acquired from the international ck market. It wouldn¡¯t be good for her if other people were to know about these items.

    A recording studio was also added in another part of the penthouse. She couldn¡¯t believe that the original Iris Long didn¡¯t have one when she was a pop singer. The girl relied on other people topose and write her music, thinking that she only had to sing, dance and act pretty.

    Now that she was living as Iris, she was determined to live her life to the fullest. Her first order of business was to establish a sessful career.

    She thought about it and decided that she would continue the original Iris¡¯ career in music. She also loved music in her past life. She nned aplete image overhaul to suit her true style which waspletely different from the original Iris¡¯ style.

    Aside from the penthouse renovation, almost her entire wardrobe was also reced. She couldn¡¯t make herself wear all the slutty clothes the original Iris preferrred. They all looked extremely ufortable to wear.

    Dominic Chua, her new assistant, along with the maids packed about 90% of the clothes, shoes, bags, essories, makeup and other knickknacks into boxes. Dom¡¯s eyes bulged the entire time, followed by gasps of shock and admiration.

    "Boss, what do you n on doing with all of these?" he asked Iris, stroking a seven-inch, rainbow-coloured metallic high heels.

    "I¡¯ll let you decide," she said. "Sell them, donate them. I don¡¯t care."

    Dom was so confused as to why his new boss wanted to throw away and rece her entire wardrobe. These were all brand-named goods! Maybe this was how the rich lived. They reced whatever they didn¡¯t like anymore.

    <i>¡¯Can¡¯t rte,¡¯</i> he thought to himself.

    If he owned these much brand-named items, no matter how outdated they were, he would treat them as treasures and assign them as heirlooms to the Chua family¡¯s next generation. He picked up a crystal-encrusted purse and then nced at his young boss.

    "Uhm, boss? You see...I have a lot of female rtives back in the Philippines. I¡¯m sure some of these will fit them. I know my mother will be absolutely thrilled to have some of these purses. My sisters, aunts and cousins, too. I think some of them have the same shoe size as you. Uhm, so, I¡¯m just saying...."

    "Sure, send all these boxes to your family. No problem."

    Dom gasped, his jaw falling. "R-really? You¡¯re serious?! OMG! Thank you thank you THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I thank the Lord Almighty for giving me the BEST BOSS EVER!"

    He jumped around and pped excitedly. And then he bowed at Iris, almost prostrating himself on the floor.

    Iris chuckled watching her new assistant¡¯s antics.

    "You¡¯re so generous, boss." He called the maids. "Come,e. The boss gave me full authority on how to discard all of these. Come and take some for yourselves." Then he nced at Iris, silently asking her if it was alright.

    Iris waved her hand, allowing him.

    "See? The boss says it¡¯s okay! Come,e! Don¡¯t forget to thank the boss!"

    "Thank you, Young Miss!" The maids bowed and smiled bashfully. They were all excited and started choosing items for themselves.

    Iris nodded.

    "Thank you, boss. I won¡¯t send everything to the Philippines. I¡¯ll just choose the ones that I think my Momsy, my sisters, aunts and cousins will like. Then we¡¯ll sell the rest on the inte."

    "I¡¯ll leave everything to you."

 Chapter 9 - Iris Longâ€™s Scandal

    <h4>Chapter 9 - Iris Long¡¯s Scandal </h4> <h4>Chapter 9: Iris Long¡¯s Scandal</h4>

    Six months after Iris Long woke up froma, some boredizens noticed something amiss while surfing online.

    "Hey, is it just me or did all of Iris Long¡¯s social media ounts get wiped clean?"

    "No, it¡¯s not only you. All her posts got deleted!"

    "Did she get hacked?"

    "Didn¡¯t she retire already ever since that car ident more than a year ago?"

    "There were no official retirement announcements. There has been no news about her ever since. It¡¯s as if she disappeared from the face of the. There were some rumours that she¡¯s ina. I even heard that she¡¯s dead."

    "Good riddance! Who cares about that shameless bitch? She¡¯s such a fame-hungry slut. The world will be a much better ce without a bitch like her."

    "Hey! I like her songs!"

    "You mean her trash songs?"

    "I think her songs are pretty catchy."

    "Catchy for a day or two, but then they get so annoying that they make you want to smash the radio for ying such braindead songs over and over again. My poor brain cells die whenever I listen to her trash songs."

    "Very true. This must be the reason why Iris and her fans¡¯ IQ are so low. Her trash songs are killing too many of their brain cells. It¡¯s an epidemic! Hahaha!"

    More and moreizens were talking about Iris Long. A small number of them were her genuine fans. These fans were hoping that she would return to the entertainment industry soon.

    The vast majority of theseizens, however, were just there because they felt bored and wanted something to talk about. Many of them were there to gossip, make fun, and troll Iris Long.

    There were also a considerable number of haters whosements were constantly reported, censored, and even removed by the website admins due to profanity.

    The spections about Iris Long¡¯s current whereabouts continued.

    "Maybe she really retired and this is just cleaning up her social media ounts after her departure."

    "Then why just delete the posts? And why wait more than a year to do so? If she really retired, they should just delete all of her ounts."

    "True. I wonder what¡¯s going on. Maybe she really got hacked?"

    "Hacked, my ass. I don¡¯t believe it. I bet this is just one of her antics to get attention. I bet she wants to make aeback, so she¡¯s making a big ssh before she returns."

    "I heard that the car ident was a hoax and the truth is that she actually got pregnant. She had to temporarily leave showbiz in order to give birth."

    "What?!! Is that true?!!! Who¡¯s the father?"

    "I heard she cheated with an old, married businessman."

    "What a slut!"

    "I heard it was a waiter at a bar she frequents."

    "She¡¯s so shameless!"

    "I heard she had sex with a male stripper while attending a bridal shower. They got it on right there in front of the bride and the other guests."

    "Did someone film it? Where can I watch her sex scandal?"

    "Disgusting!"

    "Ssssh! Don¡¯t tell anyone that I said this, but I heard that the father might be Jin Chonglin. Lots of people saw Iris following Jin Chonglin around before, always appearing wherever he went. Iris seduced him and had a one-night stand. She got pregnant, but the Jin family won¡¯t acknowledge her and the baby. To cover up the scandal, the Jin family got Jin Chonglin engaged to the Fan family¡¯s heiress."

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans were enraged.

    "What the fuck?!"

    "The witch must have drugged him!"

    "Our poor Prince Lin Lin! That bitch is so evil! She must have raped him!"

    "Stop spouting lies! Our Prince Lin Lin would never touch a dirty woman like that Iris slut!"

    "@JinChonglin Please tell everyone that you never made @IrisLong pregnant!!!"

    "@JinChonglin Did @IrisLong rape you?"

    "@JinChonglin Please say something!"

    "Prince Lin Lin already has Princess Fan Luo beside him. They¡¯re gonna marry soon. LinLuo forever!"

    "We heart LinLuo!"

    "Die @IrisLong! Stay away from our prince!"

    "What is everyone talking about? The ident was a hoax? That¡¯s bullshit. The police got involved. There was an official police investigation released to the public. Iris Long getting in an ident more than year ago is true. This kind of thing can¡¯t be faked."

    "Go away! Are you Iris Long¡¯s dog?"

    "Don¡¯t forget Iris Long is a daughter of the Long family. Rich people like them have no problems bribing the police to cover up things."

    "Who cares if it¡¯s real or not? Iris Long is a shameless bitch and a dirty slut! That¡¯s a fact. She makes me vomit!"

    "But nobody can deny that Iris Long is pretty and sexy."

    "Men! All of you are blinded by her face and body."

    "Hahaha! Jin Chonglin is a man too. When faced with a pretty face and a sexy body, our little brothers down below will always be ready for action. You all know what I mean, right?"

    "No way! Our Prince Lin Lin is different! He¡¯s different from all of you mortal men. Go ahead and satisfy your lust with a slut like Iris Long. Who cares? That¡¯s what she¡¯s for anyway. She and Fan Luo are onpletely different levels. The difference between heaven and earth! Only someone as beautiful, educated, elegant, and ssy like Fan Luo can match our Prince Lin Lin."

    With more and more people joining the discussion and adding fuel to the fire, Iris Long was dragged into a scandal with the engaged couple Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo.

 Chapter 10 - LinLuo

    <h4>Chapter 10 - LinLuo </h4> <h4>Chapter 10: LinLuo</h4>

    <i>At a high ss salon and spa.</i>

    Rxing ssical music softly yed in the background. A touch of jasmine scent permeated the air, rxing the two young women who were being pampered inside a private room.

    The rxed atmosphere, however, was soon interrupted.

    One of the young women who was soaking her feet in a small tub of pulsing water filled with rose petals had her eyes glued to her mobile phone. Suddenly, she eximed aloud.

    "Hey, Luo Luo. Have you seen this?" She waved her phone to her friend in excitement.

    "What is it?" Fan Luo asked in azy manner.

    She flipped a page of the fashion magazine she was reading. She was currently getting a pedicure.

    "Luo Luo, you have to read this," her friend handed the phone to her. "People are talking about you and Big Brother Chonglin and that Iris slut online."

    "What?" Fan Luo¡¯s face darkened when she heard Iris Long¡¯s name.

    She pped the magazine close and threw it carelessly to the floor. Then she grabbed the phone from her friend and started reading.

    Her expression changed numerous times as she read. She scowled, sneered, scoffed and finallyughed with delight.

    "I already got rid of that slut who kept on chasing and bothering my man. She better not pop out again and bother us or else..."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Luo Luo. Everyone hates that slut. Even if she somehowes back, nobody will wee her. You¡¯re clearly on a much higher level than a slut like her. That¡¯s why big brother Chonglin fell in love with you and chose you to marry him."

    Fan Luo smiled, pleased at her friend¡¯s words. But she quickly scowled again. "I don¡¯t like that some people are saying that Big Brother made that slut pregnant."

    "What are you worried about? They¡¯re just rumours. Go write a post and dere to everyone that you¡¯re the one and only future Mrs. Jin Chonglin."

    Fan Luoughed. "Good idea."

    She returned her friend¡¯s phone and took out her own. Then she began writing her own post.

    ###

    Jin Chonglin just finished shooting histest music video.

    They were at an empty warehouse turned into a studio just for him to shoot thistest set of music videos for his uing album. This particr music video that they just finished filming involved a lot of dancing, so he waspletely drenched in sweat.

    His assistant handed him a water bottle and a towel. He drank thirstily until he finished the entire bottle. Then he wiped his sweat off with the towel.

    While his manager was busy on the phone, Jin Chonglin changed out of his costume to his regr clothes of ripped jeans and a sleeveless hoodie.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked, seeing his manager¡¯s frown.

    His manager, Lin Dong, looked at him for a long time without speaking.

    "Just say it already! You¡¯re creeping me out!"

    Lin Dong narrowed his eyes. "Chonglin, tell me the truth. Did you make Iris Long pregnant?"

    "What?! What nonsense are you talking about?!!!" Jin Chonglin was aghast.

    His manager narrowed his eyes even more. "Are you telling the truth?"

    "Of course! Where did you hear that rubbish?"

    Lin Dong handed him his phone.

    Jin Chonglin snatched it. His eyes bulged and his jaw fell as he read.

    "This...what one-night stand? What made her pregnant? What raped me? These are pure nonsense! I never had sex with her! I never kissed her! I never even hooked up with her!"

    "But it¡¯s true that she followed you around before."

    "Yeah, but she¡¯s not my type so I avoided her." Then he raised a fist and waved it in front of Lin Dong¡¯s face. "Hmph! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ll even think that I made her pregnant! You don¡¯t trust me! What kind of manager are you?"

    Lin Dong scoffed. "Come on. Everyone knows that you¡¯re a yboy. You¡¯re always hooking up with different girls. I won¡¯t find it too unbelievable if you really made Iris Long pregnant. She¡¯s a beauty. And she¡¯s not the first. Lots of other girls have already imed that you made them pregnant."

    "I just told you she¡¯s not my type. Besides, I¡¯m engaged now! All of those ims are false! I always use protection whenever I hook up!"

    "Yeah, right. You always use protection but still ended up in this situation with Fan Luo. If it weren¡¯t because you feel guilty towards her, I know you wouldn¡¯t even think of marrying her or anyone, for that matter, before you¡¯re past 30."

    "Hmph!"

    "I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I?"

    "Bastard."

    "Just an honest bastard at your service. Hahaha!"

    Jin Chonglin threw the phone at the imbecile before rummaging through his bag for his own phone.

    "Hey. Hey! What are you doing?" Lin Dong asked.

    "What else? I¡¯m going to tell the truth," Jin Chonglin replied.

    "Fine. But let me check it first before you post it."

    "Hmph."

    And with that, Jin Chonglin started writing a blog post to address the rumours surrounding him and Iris Long.

 Chapter 11 - Big Gamble

    <h4>Chapter 11 - Big Gamble </h4> <h4>Chapter 11: Big Gamble</h4>

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    "These people are so evil!" Dominic Chua huffed angrily as he read the onlinements on his mobile phone. "This is nder! Boss, let¡¯s sue the crap out of them!"

    Iris blew over the steaming cup of vintage narcissus tea and inhaled its aroma. After taking a sip, she sighed at the exquisite vour.

    "Boss, how can you be so calm?! I¡¯m so upset! How can they nder you like this?!"

    "Come, have a cup of tea. It tastes wonderful."

    "Boss, I don¡¯t want tea! What are we going to do? You just cleaned up the old posts from your ounts and the next second, people are saying you¡¯re pregnant and shit! What the fuck is wrong with these people?!"

    "Dom, why are you so upset? They¡¯re talking about me, not you."

    "Of course I¡¯m upset! You¡¯re my boss! How can they say bad things to my boss? Unforgivable! I want to fight them!"

    Iris chuckled. She enjoyed another sip of tea.

    "You¡¯re such a good person. You treat all of us who work for you very well. I can¡¯t forgive these people spouting bullshit about you!"

    Iris gently set down the tea cup on the table beside her. Then she leaned her head on her hand and looked at her angry assistant. "I was not always like this. Dom, were you not aware of my bad reputation before working for me?"

    Dom frowned. "I had people warn me. They said that you¡¯re...you know..."

    "That I¡¯m a bitch?"

    "Well, something like that." He waved a dismissive hand. "I¡¯ll only believe what I see with my own eyes. And what I¡¯m seeing in front of me is the greatest boss in the whole wide world."

    "That¡¯s because you only met the me now. It¡¯s true that I was a bitch before. My bad reputation is to be expected. No need to be upset."

    "Then just show them the you now," he said.

    "I¡¯m nning to. But suing them is not the answer. Calm down, Dom, and have a cup. It¡¯s great tea."

    "Fine," Dom mumbled. A maid stepped forward and poured a fresh cup of hot tea for him.

    His phone rang.

    Dom picked it up. "Hello?...Yes, this is Dominic Chua, Miss Iris Long¡¯s assistant...Please wait a moment." He turned to Iris, handed the phone to her, and whispered. "Boss, it¡¯s Mr. JJ."

    "Alright. Thank you, Dom." She ced the phone on her ear. "Hello, Mr. JJ. This is Iris Long speaking."

    A man¡¯s voice spoke. "I listened to the two tracks you sent me."

    "And?"

    "Do you have more?"

    "Of course."

    "How many?"

    "Enough for a cohesive album."

    "..."

    Iris sipped tea while she waited patiently.

    "Are you really the one whoposed these songs?"

    "Yes."

    "...They¡¯re very...different from your usual style."

    "Indeed."

    "You won¡¯t exin more, huh."

    "I want my music to do the talking this time." She took another sip. "Mr. JJ, what do you honestly think about what I sent you?"

    "Hmmm...they¡¯re good. No, they¡¯re actually really great. Hai, fine. They¡¯re amazing! The best demo tapes that I¡¯ve listened to recently. So soulful that my chest hurt listening to them. I could feel the loneliness and pain. But that¡¯s the problem. I find it hard to believe that youposed them."

    "But I didpose those songs."

    "Hai. I really like these songs. I love them! I can¡¯t wait to work on them, polish them until they be even more amazing in their final versions. I want to work with these songs, but I¡¯m not sure I want to work with you."

    Iris narrowed her eyes, but her voice was calm. "What do you mean, Mr. JJ?"

    "You¡¯re not exactly very popr right now. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve seen what they¡¯re saying about you on the inte recently, right? And you¡¯ve been gone for so long, too. Plus this type of music...you¡¯re going topletely change your style? Your image? Hah! It¡¯s not gonna be that easy, you know that. It¡¯s gonna be a big gamble, not only for you but also for me, if¡ªand that¡¯s only <i>IF</i>¡ªI decide to sign you as my artist. Hai. You¡¯re in a difficult position. I¡¯m not sure if I want to take this big gamble with you. But it¡¯s true that I really like these songs...."

    "What are you trying to say, Mr. JJ?"

    The man on the other line cleared his throat. "Your songs are beautiful. If you¡¯re willing, I can take you as aposer and then¡ª"

    "No. Mr. JJ, these songs are mine. Iposed them so that I can sing them. And I know that I¡¯m the one who can sing them best. I refuse to let other singers sing these songs. After I sing these songs and release them, then we can talk about meposing music for other singers. I have no problem with coborations."

    The man sighed heavily.

    Iris sipped tea, and then nced at her assistant.

    Dom was listening to the phone conversation, and when he heard what Mr. JJ wanted, his expression looked even angrier than when he read the onlinements earlier.

    She gestured for him to drink his tea. Dom harrumphed and drank a mouthful until he sputtered and teared up after getting scalded. The maid rushed in and helped clean his mess.

    "Miss Long, I want to meet with you in person," Mr. JJ finally spoke.

    "Sure."

    "Are you free tomorrow?"

    "Yes."

    "Then how about we meet at this ce...."

    Irismitted the time and ce Mr. JJ mentioned to her memory. The two said their goodbyes and hung up.

 Chapter 12 - Iris Longâ€™s Twin Sister?

    <h4>Chapter 12 - Iris Long¡¯s Twin Sister? </h4> <h4>Chapter 12: Iris Long¡¯s Twin Sister?</h4>

    <i>The next day.</i>

    <i>A restaurant inside a five-star hotel.</i>

    <i>Lunch time.</i>

    The tables and chairs covered in pristine white cloths looked like clouds floating over a carpet ofva. Tall stalks of yellow ca lilies were simply yet artfully arranged in transparent ss vases at the centre of the tables. Golden chandeliers casted soft light throughout the restaurant,plementing the gold and red walls.

    Jiong Jun sat at a table by the windows, sipping a ss of dry martini. He looked at his watch. Two minutes before the agreed time. He was already feeling impatient.

    The girl better not bete. He, a famous and award-winning music producer, was giving the time and effort to meet her personally. She should be grateful and arrive on time.

    One minute left.

    He once again looked at the entrance. He saw the ma?tre d¡¯ greet an elegant young woman.

    The two spoke for a few seconds. The ma?tre d¡¯ nced at Jiong Jun, and began leading the young woman to his direction.

    Jiong Jun subconsciously straightened, sitting tall and puffing his chest out while he observed the woman walking closer to his table.

    She was tall. Not model tall, but taller than the average height of Chinese women. Great hourss body, but a little bit on the thin side.

    She was wearing a ck, long-sleeved wrap dress with bright pink lotus flowers print. The V-neck provided just a tiny glimpse of full cleavage. A waist tie entuated her tiny waist, while the rest of the dress hugged her hips and flowed past her knees.

    A simple yet elegant ck high heels added to her height. Her long, straight, silky ck hair framed a small face. Big, mirrored aviator sunsses covered her eyes but could not cover her beauty.

    Jiong Jun gasped inwardly and narrowed his eyes, as the ma?tre d¡¯ led the beautiful woman to his table. The woman stopped in front of him.

    "Mr. JJ. I hope you didn¡¯t wait long." It was the same lovely voice as the one he talked to on the phone yesterday.

    "Miss Iris Long?" He frowned, a bit taken aback.

    The woman nodded and held out a hand.

    He blinked, looking at her pale white hand. No rings. No colourful nail polish. Just a simple clear French manicure.

    After a few seconds, he finally regained his senses and stood up to shake her offered hand.

    "Miss Long, wow! I didn¡¯t recognize you! You look...different!"

    She just smiled at him, her expression half-covered by her big sunsses.

    The ma?tre d¡¯ pulled a seat for Iris and waited for the two of them to sit down. He took their orders and left. In the meantime, hot herbal tea blend was delivered to Iris.

    Jiong Jun, or more known as JJ in the music industry, watched the beautiful young woman sitting across him as she blew over her steaming cup and sipped tea. Her actions were delicate and elegant. They were very natural and not contrived at all.

    He was shocked. The young woman sitting in front of him was not the one who he expected to meet today. He found it difficult to match this young woman to the image of Iris Long in his head.

    "Be honest. Are you Iris Long¡¯s twin sister?"

    A sweet, light chuckle. "Of course not, Mr. JJ. I am Iris Long and I don¡¯t have a twin sister."

    "No way." He leaned back, shaking his head.

    She just smiled, continuing to sip her tea.

    Their food arrived and they began eating while chatting about the weather and other harmless topics. Finally, the atmosphere turned serious after they finished their meals.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s talk business." JJ leaned back on his seat.

    Iris nodded.

    "You already know that I love the demo tapes you sent me. But I¡¯m not convinced by you because of your bad reputation, and you won¡¯t agree to have my other singers sing them. I invited you here today because I initially nned on persuading you to hand over your songs and release them as theposer."

    Her eyes narrowed a little, an imperceptible sharp look glinting on them, hidden behind her sunsses. Only her lips pressing together into a straight line showed her reaction.

 Chapter 13 - The Phantom Of Your Love

    <h4>Chapter 13 - The Phantom Of Your Love </h4> <h4>Chapter 13: The Phantom of Your Love</h4>

    "But I saw you today and I¡¯m already starting to change my mind. I didn¡¯t expect to see you like this," JJ said while gesturing towards Iris¡¯ direction. "You really surprised me. You look like apletely different person."

    "Mr. JJ, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard that I¡¯ve been in a car ident more than a year ago," Iris said. Her voice was calm and unaffected.

    He nodded.

    "It was a very serious ident. I died, Mr. JJ." She sighed, looking out of the window. The floating clouds and the blue sky outside the windows were reflected on her mirrored sunsses. "I wasatose. Dead for a year. You don¡¯t know how death feels like, Mr. JJ. It changes people."

    "I see," he said, starting to understand why Iris Long changed so much. Both were quiet for some time. Then he sighed. He pointed at the piano on a mini-stage at the centre of the restaurant. "See that?"

    Iris followed with her eyes, and then nodded.

    "Go. y one of your songs. Show me how you do it. Convince me that you¡¯re really the best person to sing the songs youposed. Can you do it?"

    "Of course."

    She stood up and walked to the piano. Her footsteps were light and graceful, looking as if she was floating on the floor.

    Some of the customers took notice, wondering who the beautiful young woman was. They watched as she climbed on the mini-stage and sat in front of the piano.

    Oh, was she going to y the piano and perform?

    They waited in anticipation, as she flexed her fingers in an unhurried manner. She took a deep breath and started to y.

    Strong, deep, and fast notes jolted everyone inside the restaurant. This time, all heads turned to the young woman ying the piano.

    Their hearts thumped, as the forbidding music brought an image of a bloody battlefield within their minds.

    After a few seconds, the notes slowed down until they drifted to a full stop. The young woman took a couple of breaths, and then started ying a slow, gentle yet dark, heartbreaking tune. She opened her mouth and sang.

    "I¡¯m lying in a crimson ocean

    Frozen in the darkness

    Floating for a thousand years

    Yearning for you"

    Everyone gasped as they heard her low, mesmerizing voice singing the dark melody. JJ¡¯s eyes lit up with excitement. His entire focus was on her.

    "My broken soul is searching

    Lost and afraid

    A thousand years without you

    I¡¯d rather be dead"

    A middle aged woman at a nearby table teared up, trembling, as she recalled memories of her beloved husband who passed away two years ago.

    The melody turned even more heartbreaking. The young woman¡¯s voice rose effortlessly, reaching high notes.

    "Every time I close my eyes

    I dance with the phantom of your love

    We fly across this temporary paradise

    Until you have to leave once again

    I don¡¯t want to wake up from this tonight

    Spend a thousand years

    With the phantom of your love"

    The widow covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Her friends tried tofort her, their eyes also watering. One of her friends tried to pull her to thedies¡¯ restroom in an effort to calm her down, but the widow shook her head. She wanted to stay and listen to the entire song.

    Through her tears, the widow looked at the young woman ying the piano. The young woman¡¯s eyes were covered by big sunsses, but it couldn¡¯t cover her emotional expression filled with pain and loneliness.

    "I¡¯m dead when awake

    Alive when asleep

    How do I live when there is no you

    Except in my dreams at night"

    JJ closed his eyes, letting the dark, emotional song wash over him. His heart raced, his breath quickened.

    At that exact moment, he made a decision. Little did he know that this decision would send the entire nation and the music industry into a frenzy in the near future.

    "Oh, spend a thousand years

    With the phantom of...your...love"

    Thunderous apuse reverberated as thest notes of the song slowly came to an end. Everyone stood up, from the customers to the restaurant staff. They all pped their hands with all their might. Some curious people from the hotel lobby entered the restaurant, asking what was happening.

    Iris Long stood up, a barely noticeable smile on her face. Looking behind her big sunsses, she scanned the people giving her a standing ovation.

    She stood up and gave a low, deep, elegant curtsy bow.

    The apuse grew louder, followed by enthusiastic cheers and whistles.

    As she returned to her full height, one of the waiters hurried forward and offered his hand to assist her down the mini-stage. He grinned like teenager when she nodded her thanks.

    She touched her chest and bowed her head, silently thanking the people pping while she walked back to the table where JJ waited for her.

 Chapter 14 - JJâ€™s Offer

    <h4>Chapter 14 - JJ¡¯s Offer </h4> <h4>Chapter 14: JJ¡¯s Offer</h4>

    "Amazing! Absolutely amazing!" JJ said when Iris returned to their table. He continued pping his hands for her.

    "Thank you, Mr. JJ." Iris smiled at him.

    JJ felt like he had to act like a gentleman after such a beautiful performance. This was a rare sight because his reputation in the music industry was far from gentlemanly. He was known more as an ogre, but he didn¡¯t give a damn because he was the best at what he did.

    He had a big smile on his face and felt extremely proud. Wasn¡¯t it thanks to him that the whole restaurant transformed into a cheering concert hall? After all, he was the one who told the girl to y the piano and sing.

    Wasn¡¯t he amazing? He was just too awesome. Hah! As expected of a famous and award-winning music producer like him.

    The apuse finally settled down. JJ and Iris once again sat opposite each other.

    "That wasn¡¯t one of the songs you sent me. What¡¯s the title?" JJ asked Iris.

    "I call it <i>¡¯The Phantom of Your Love¡¯,</i>" she replied.

    "Beautiful! I¡¯m now convinced by your musical talent."

    "I¡¯m d to hear that, Mr. JJ."

    "I¡¯ve made my decision. Miss Iris Long, would you ept my offer to sign you up as an artist under my recordbel?"

    "Yes. Of course." She chuckled. "I ept your offer, Mr. JJ. Thank you."

    "Excellent!" He thumped a hand on the table in excitement. "My people will contact you within a week to discuss and negotiate your contract."

    "Sounds good, Mr. JJ."

    The two chatted for a few more minutes before JJ called their waiter to pay the bill. Iris offered to pay, but JJ dismissed the idea.

    After settling the bill, the two began to leave. The widow from earlier approached them, her eyes still puffy red from crying. Her three friends stood behind her.

    "Excuse me. I¡¯m sorry to bother you. My name is Feng Wan," the widow introduced herself. Then she turned to Iris, finding the young woman who just made her cry more and more pleasing to her eyes. "I just want to say thank you for sharing such a beautiful song with us today."

    Iris smiled. "I¡¯m d that you liked it, Madam."

    "Uhm, I hope you don¡¯t mind...but may I know your name?"

    "My surname is Long."

    "Miss Long, I love your song very much! I cried so hard! But it also made me happy inside. It reminded me of some bittersweet memories. You have such great talent, Miss Long. I¡¯m now your fan. I hope that I can listen to you again."

    JJ interjected at this moment. "Madam, rest assured. You¡¯re gonna hear this song again as soon as we release it. In fact, you¡¯re gonna hear more songs by Miss Long in the near future."

    "And you are?"

    He gave his best smile. "I¡¯m JJ."

    One of Feng Wan¡¯s friends gasped. "I knew it! I thought you look familiar! You¡¯re JJ? The music producer?"

    "That¡¯s me." He always felt pleased to be recognized.

    The group of middle aged women shrieked like school girls meeting their idol.

    "Please give me an autograph!"

    "Me too! Oh no. Girls, hold me up. I¡¯m going to faint."

    "Here here! Sign my dress!"

    Extremely pleased with himself, JJ signed autographs for thedies. He even gave one to Feng Wan, even though she didn¡¯t ask for it. She didn¡¯t recognize him, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

    One of thedies turned to Iris. "Miss Long, you¡¯re very lucky. You have THE Mr. JJ backing you. You¡¯re going to be famous."

    Iris just smiled, while JJughed. "Please look forward and buy her album when we release it, okay? Can I depend on you to do that?"

    A chorus of "Yes" and "Of course" answered him, pleasing him even more.

    "Miss Long," Feng Wan grabbed Iris¡¯ hands. "Thank you for today. I¡¯ll pray for your sess. I can¡¯t wait to hear your music again. I¡¯ll definitely support you."

    Touched, Iris pulled her hands gently and held Feng Wan¡¯s hands instead. "Thank you, Madam. I appreciate it."

    The group walked out of the restaurant to the hotel lobby together. They waved their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

    JJ left in a hurry, saying that he had a meeting within the hour.

    Iris called Dom on the phone, asking him to pick her up. She sat on one of the couches at the lobby while she waited, taking out a paperback novel from her purse by one of her favourite authors from her previous life. The novel was written in its original Russiannguage, not a tranted version.

    Absorbed in the world within the novel, she stopped being aware of her surroundings until a big, strong hand grabbed her shoulder from behind. She stiffened, and swung a hammerfist to the molester behind her.

 Chapter 15 - Long Xiulan

    <h4>Chapter 15 - Long Xin </h4> <h4>Chapter 15: Long Xin</h4>

    If it weren¡¯t for Jin Liwei¡¯s quick reflexes, the damn girl would have already bloodied and broken his nose.

    His hands reacted before thinking and caught her fist. His eyes contracted, silently shocked at the power packed behind the dainty fist.

    "Be good," he growled.

    The damn girl, no, the damn young woman jumped off the couch the next second and moved far away from him. Her eyes looked fierce as she red at him, looking like a tigress about to bite his head off.

    He raised an eyebrow, walked around to the front of the couch where she was sitting just a second ago, and picked up the Russian book she dropped on the floor.

    "I was just going to ask a question. No need for such overreaction," he said, flipping through the pages of the book. He frowned. He couldn¡¯t read a single word.

    Feeling like she really overreacted, Iris Long forced herself to calm down but didn¡¯t let her guard down.

    For some reason, she felt that the man was dangerous. He wore a sharp business suit, looking powerful and handsome.

    Her heart beat faster. Huh?

    Jin Liwei sat down. "Long Xin, can you even read this thing?"

    She inhaled sharply, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. How did this damn man know Iris¡¯ birth name?

    "Who are you?" she asked, suspicious.

    "Do you even know Russian?" he asked,pletely ignoring her question.

    She frowned. "What I read or what I know is none of your business." Then she added, "Sir."

    She cautiously approached him, intending to take her book back from his hands and her purse on the couch and then run far away from this suspicious man. Dom should be arriving soon.

    Jin Liwei rummaged inside his briefcase and took out a folder. "Let¡¯s see if you can read this." He pushed the folder to her.

    She pped the folder away and tried to take her book back. The damn man, however, took her poor book hostage.

    "Read the folder first and tell me what it¡¯s about. Then maybe I¡¯ll believe that you can really read this Russian book," he told her.

    He was mocking her, right? How dare he? She didn¡¯t give a whit whether the damn man believed her or not. Besides, who was he anyway?

    She considered abandoning her poor book and leaving immediately, but her eyes caught something familiar printed on his folder. She grabbed the folder and started reading.

    Jin Liwei watched the damn girl¡ªno, she looked like a young woman now¡ªlooking so serious as she read the Russian business proposal. He smirked but maintained an indifferent expression on his face.

    Did she really think that she could impress people by pretending to know Russian?

    He already investigated everything about her. She started working in showbiz from a young age, barely attending school. If not for her father¡¯s influence, she wouldn¡¯t even graduate from senior high school. Her grades weren¡¯t impressive either.

    So unless she secretly studied on her own, which he seriously doubted, he wouldn¡¯t believe that she knew any foreignnguages aside from English, much less Russian.

    He was also inside the restaurant earlier attending a business lunch with fellow investors. Like everyone else, he turned his attention to the young woman singing and ying the piano.

    He thought that she looked familiar,ter realizing that she was Long Xin, or more known by her stage name Iris Long¨Dthe damn girl he ordered to be monitored.

    Reports about her kept on mentioning how she acted very differently to how she was before the ident, but it was only now that he understood when he saw her with his own eyes. However, he didn¡¯t believe that someone could change just like that. The damn girl must be acting.

    Like her, he was also waiting in the lobby for his assistant to pick him up. He wouldn¡¯t even bother speaking to her, but he couldn¡¯t stop himself when he saw her pretending to read a Russian book.

    He just tapped her shoulder to get her attention when the damn tigress immediately went into attack mode.

    "You¡¯re Jin Liwei of Jin Corporation?" she finally talked after reading for a few minutes. "You n on partnering with Gktika?"

    A trace of surprise appeared in his eyes. Gktika was the Russian tradingpany who prepared the business proposal, wanting to partner with hispany to enter the Chinese market. The business proposal was writtenpletely in Russian, so how did this damn girl know?

    He couldn¡¯t even read it and had to read the Chinese trantion. Could she actually read Russian? Her next words surprised him even more.

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to partner with Gktika. If you¡¯re really interested in partnering with Russianpanies, there are a lot of other better choices. Gktika¡¯s higher-ups are involved with an international prostitution ring, human trafficking, and the smuggling of weapons. Jin Corporation is the number onepany in the country. I don¡¯t think you would want to tarnish yourpany¡¯s reputation by getting involved with this kind ofpany, do you?"

    Jin Liwei looked at her deeply. His eyes showed suspicion. "How do you know all of these?"

 Chapter 16 - Russian Men Are Hot

    <h4>Chapter 16 - Russian Men Are Hot </h4> <h4>Chapter 16: Russian Men are Hot</h4>

    Iris Long stiffened, realizing her mistake. How careless of her!

    She just saw the word Gktika in Russian on the file and totally lost her sense. She was familiar with thepany from her past life.

    What should she do now?

    She changed her expression into a yful one and chuckled. "Just spouting nonsense from my imagination. You believed me?"

    His eyes narrowed in suspicion, studying her.

    "Do you always believe what other people say, Mr. Jin? I expected more from the President-CEO of Jin Corporation."

    He growled.

    "Goodbye, Mr. Jin." She shoved the folder to his chest, hurriedly snatched her book from his hand and grabbed her purse from the couch.

    She was about to leave when the damn man pulled her arm. His fingers gripped her arm tightly, not letting her escape.

    "Wait."

    She took a deep breath and looked at him coldly. "Mr. Jin, you¡¯re very rude."

    "Do you really know Russian?"

    She thought for a moment, but decided to be honest. Whether he believed her or not was not her problem. "Yes."

    "How? When?"

    "Self-study. During my free time."

    "Why?"

    Feeling annoyed, she tried to shake him off but his hold on her arm was tight. She sighed and looked at the ceiling, forcing herself to calm down.

    The warmth from his hand holding her arm was making her heartbeat faster. An enemy, no doubt about it. This must be her body telling her to stay away from this dangerous man. Must be her fight or flight instinct. Why else would her heart rate increase?

    "Why did you learn Russian?" he repeated.

    "Because I want to pick up Russian men! That¡¯s why! Russian men are hot, don¡¯t you know?"

    He scowled.

    Her phone rang. Thank goodness!

    "Can you let me go now, Mr. Jin? I need to answer my phone."

    He reluctantly let go of her.

    She opened her purse and took out the ringing phone before answering.

    "Hello? Dom?...You¡¯re outside?...Good. I¡¯ming." She hung up and red at Jin Liwei.

    The damn man just looked at her with deep and unfathomable eyes. This man was dangerous, she thought, spooked by his gaze.

    He leaned close to her and whispered. "I admit that you¡¯ve be fascinating, Long Xin. I don¡¯t care whether this personality change of yours is fake or not. But you better stay far away from my brother."

    She frowned.

    Brother?

    Did he mean Jin Chonglin?

    ording to her memories, the original Iris Long followed this Jin Chonglin around because he was one of the most famous male celebrities in the country. The number of his fans across Asia could form an army and win every war just for their sheer number alone.

    The original Iris thought that she could leech off some of his fame by befriending such a superstar like him.

    Unfortunately, the original Iris was dense and didn¡¯t notice Jin Chonglin avoiding her. Instead, she redoubled her efforts to befriend him to the point that she had someone tail him and report to her his whereabouts so she could follow him wherever he went.

    Iris sighed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. "Don¡¯t worry, Mr. Jin. I have no interest in your brother."

    Jin Liwei smirked. "How believable."

    "I don¡¯t care whether you believe me or not. You¡¯re a rude man, Mr. Jin. I don¡¯t want to see you ever again."

    "Ah, but I have a feeling that we¡¯ll see a lot of each other from now on. Long Xin, I didn¡¯t know that you can be this interesting. As long as you stay away from my brother, I don¡¯t mind seeing you again myself." Amusement danced in his eyes.

    Her mouth opened and closed. She was speechless. She had never felt so annoyed by another human being.

    Her head started hurting.

    Without replying, she turned and bolted out of the hotel.

    Jin Liwei watched as the damn girl fled like a irritated bunny. So cute. A desire to see her again blossomed in his mind. Surprised at the thought, he frowned, regaining his usual cold expression.

    His phone rang. It was Xu Tian, informing him that he had arrived outside the hotel. He walked out of the hotel to the waiting car. Xu Tian opened the rear door for him.

    As the car drove away, Jin Liwei ordered, "Conduct another thorough investigation on Gktika."

    "Understood." After a few seconds, he asked, "May I ask the reason, President? We already checked Gktika and the results indicate that it¡¯s clean."

    "This time, look if they have connections to weapons smuggling, prostitution or human trafficking. Our earlier investigations didn¡¯t explore these areas."

    He didn¡¯t entirely believe the damn girl, but he was a perfectionist. He could never rest easy if there was even a trace of doubt. It was better to be safe than sorry.

    Xu Tian¡¯s eyes widened. Good thing that he was well-trained or he would have crashed the car.

    "Buy information from the ck market if you need to."

    "Understood, President."

 Chapter 17 - Qiao Yuâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 17 - Qiao Yu¡¯s Visit </h4> <h4>Chapter 17: Qiao Yu¡¯s Visit</h4>

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    "Wee, Mr. Qiao Yu. Pleasee in. I¡¯m Dominic Chua, Miss Long¡¯s assistant. We talked a few times on the phone."

    Qiao Yu nodded and shook the young man¡¯s hand.

    He looked around the ce with an expressionless face. Not bad. Sophisticated yet understated.

    The extensive renovation looked like it was worth the cost. Thest time he visited, the penthouse looked like the illegitimate child between a burlesque bar and a Disnend knockoff.

    Ever since the Young Miss started earning her own money in showbiz at a very young age, President Long Tengfei hired Qiao Yu as the child¡¯s financial manager. His job was basically to figuratively p the mother and daughter¡¯s greedy hands, preventing them from emptying the child¡¯s bank ount.

    Her earnings were insignificant at first, with most of her moneying from the monthly allowance the President sent her. As she gradually became popr especially when her songs constantly went viral, her earnings increased.

    However, with her crazy spending habits, if it wasn¡¯t for her substantial monthly allowance, Qiao Yu would have nothing to manage and the brat wouldn¡¯t be able to live such avish lifestyle.

    It was the most thankless job, especially whenever he had to deal with both the mother and daughter¡¯s nasty and bitchy attitudes. However, President Long paid him extremely well, so all he could do was suck it up and do the job he was paid for.

    After the Young Miss woke up froma, President Long instructed him to give the girl a one year grace period allowing her full ess to her money without the usual restrictions. However, the Young Miss was not informed of this.

    It just meant that Qiao Yu would stop blocking some of her more expensive expenditures unlike before. President Long said that he would replenish her bank ount if the bnce reached a dangerously low level.

    Qiao Yu secretly thought that the President was being too generous to such an ungrateful brat, even if it was his own daughter.

    Half a year already passed by since the Young Miss woke up. Qiao Yu expected the girl to go all out spending money everywhere and catch up on the one year she wasn¡¯t able to go shopping.

    Contrary to his expectations, however, her bank ount was still fat; only decreasing a bit because of daily expenses, her employees¡¯ sries, and three major withdrawals.

    The first major withdrawal was about 3 million RMB to pay for the renovation. The second one was about 5 million RMB for her new wardrobe. The third withdrawal was more expensive at 15 million RMB. The reason she gave was to buyputers and to use for investments.

    The 3 million was expensive for a renovation but seeing the results with his own eyes today, Qiao Yu thought that it wasn¡¯t too unreasonable. The penthouse now had ss, something that it previouslycked.

    As for the 5 million wardrobe...well, girls would be girls. At least, this time it only cost her 5 million for the entire wardrobe. He knew that the girl could spend the same amount of money for a single handbag.

    He also wanted to say something about the 15 million but stopped himself. How manyputers did she buy to cost 15 million? And investments? What did the girl know about investing? Did she even know what the word "investment" meant?

    He already considered the 15 million gone. He reminded himself that the girl could take out as much money as she wanted for a year. She had 6 months left before the one grace period would end.

    Two days ago, he received a call from Dominic Chua, informing him that the Young Miss wanted to speak to him. Thus, the reason why he came today.

    This was the first time that she took the initiative to invite him. He had no idea why. But if it had something to do with this spoiled brat, he knew that it wouldn¡¯t be anything good.

    "Sir, please follow me. Miss Long is waiting for you at the library office." Dom led the strict-looking, middle aged financial manager to where his boss waited.

    "Thank you."

    Qiao Yu couldn¡¯t help but gasp inwardly when they arrived at the big library office. Shelves filled with books covered the walls. There was a spiral staircase leading to a second floor also filled with books.

    Sansevieria and peace lilies nted on the second floor balustrades gave the room a refreshing atmosphere. Indoor palm trees in big, colourful pots decorated the corners.

    It was impressive.

    He nced at some of the books and was bewildered that they were in several differentnguages. Ah, so they were for decoration. He wouldn¡¯t believe it if someone told him the brat could read them. Alright, maybe the Chinese and English ones.

    "Boss, Mr. Qiao is here."

    Qiao Yu followed the young man to a big, dark desk at the end of the library. Wow. Was that macassar ebony wood? The beautiful desk distracted him until he heard a pleasant voice like a soft breeze in the summer.

    "Thanks, Dom." Iris Long stood up from the lounge seat she wasying on at a corner under a potted palm tree. She was reading a Japanese light novel while waiting for the financial manager to arrive. "Mr. Qiao Yu, thank you foring."

    Hm? Qiao Yu had the urge to rub his eyes. "Miss Long?"

    Iris smiled and nodded. "Please take a seat."

    Her assistant led them to the seats in front of the big macassar desk. Iris and Qiao Yu sat opposite each other, a low table between them. Dominic served them hot tea.

    Qiao Yu almost couldn¡¯t recognize the Young Miss in front of him. Her face looked the same, but the way she dressed changed. Her aura also changed.

    Was the end of the worlding?

 Chapter 18 - Half A Billionaire

    <h4>Chapter 18 - Half A Billionaire </h4> <h4>Chapter 18: Half a Billionaire</h4>

    He took a sip and his eyes widened. He took another sip to make sure. No doubt about it. This was Tieguanyin tea1. And top quality at that. Not bad.

    Hai, the world must really be ending soon.

    "Mr. Qiao Yu, I called you today because there are some things that I want to discuss with you." Even the way she spoke changed. She enunciated her words and spoke in a direct but calm manner.

    "Of course, Miss Long," he replied, regaining his usual expressionless face. "Please let me know how I may be of assistance to you."

    "First things first. I want to hire you as my personal financial manager. I want you to drop your other clients and just focus on handling my finances. If you agree, you¡¯ll take your sry from me and not from my father."

    Qiao Yu frowned. "Miss Long...this..."

    The sry he was receiving from her father was definitely bigger than the ie she earned as an entertainer. How could she afford him? If she wanted him to ept a lower sry, she must be dreaming.

    "I also want you to inform my father to stop sending monthly allowance. I¡¯m already neen, no longer a minor."

    Yes, it must be the end of the world.

    He cleared his throat. "Understood, Miss Long. I¡¯ll inform the President of your decision."

    "So do you agree to my offer?"

    He took a couple of deep breaths. "Miss Long, I¡¯m d that you¡¯re finally starting to pay attention to your finances but..."

    "Dom?"

    The assistant standing behind her handed Qiao Yu a folder. Qiao Yu was confused.

    "Open it. Look at the first page," she ordered.

    Heplied, feeling more confused. It looked like...bank ount details?

    "That¡¯s a separate bank ount I opened myself. That¡¯s where I put the remainder of the 15 million after buyingputers."

    Qiao Yu was confused. There was clearly way more than 15 million in this ount. Did this girl rob a bank or something? How did she get this much money?

    "I used the money to buy and sell stocks. I also invested in bonds and shares in variouspanies. I even provided interest loans to some businesses. Now there¡¯s over half a billion RMB in that bank ount. Turn to the next page. That¡¯s a list of the businesses I invested in, including the amount I spent on and earned from them as of this moment. Some of them are foreignpanies. Thest pages contain the list of businesses that I¡¯m interested in investing. I want you to handle them for me."

    Of course, she also earned a lot epting some barely legal hacking jobs from the dark web but she wouldn¡¯t tell him that.

    For the first time in his entire life, Qiao Yu felt his mind gopletely nk.

    "Mr. Qiao Yu? Sir? Are you listening? Are you alright?" Iris asked, concerned. "Dom, why is he not moving?"

    "Uh, boss. I think you broke him."

    "Don¡¯t be ridiculous. I didn¡¯t do anything."

    "He¡¯s frozen." Dom suddenly gasped. "Oh no! What if he¡¯s having a stroke? What do we do, boss?! What if he drops dead? Boss, I¡¯m scared!"

    "What?! Call an ambnce. Quickly!"

    As the two ran around in panic, Qiao Yu finally regained some sense. He heard the young man calling frantically on the phone, saying something about needing an ambnce and someone having a stroke.

    "Ah? What¡¯s happening? Who¡¯s having a stroke?"

    "Mr. Qiao Yu! Are you alright?" Iris ran to him, her eyes filled with concern. "Are you having a stroke? Don¡¯t worry. The ambnce ising."

    "Yes, yes. I¡¯m alright ah...wait, what?! I¡¯m having a stroke?"

    Dom also approached them, still talking on the phone.

    "Stop. Stop! Hang up that phone! You two ah...I¡¯m not having a stroke. I¡¯m alright. I¡¯m healthy! Why did you two even think that I¡¯m having a stroke?"

    "You¡¯re not? Are you sure?" she asked.

    "Yes!"

    Iris gave his assistant a side eye.

    "Ehe." Dom gave an embarrassed smile. He ryed on the phone that he didn¡¯t need an ambnce anymore and apologized for the inconvenience he caused before hanging up.

    Everyone released sighs of relief.

    Qiao Yu cleared his throat, feeling embarrassed and awkward about themotion he caused. "Please forgive me, Miss Long, for making you worry. I¡¯m alright, really."

    "That¡¯s good, then."

    Both of them drank tea to calm themselves down.

    Even Dom poured himself a cup. He was so scared! What if the uncle dropped dead? Ah, how scary.

    "Mr. Qiao Yu. Is it alright to continue our discussion?" she asked.

    "Of course, of course. Go ahead, Miss Long."

    "You already saw that I have a little over half a billion in that bank ount. If you ept my offer of bing my personal financial manager and working only for me, I n to hand that ount over to you to invest however you wish. I may give you specific instructions from time to time, but for the most part, I just want to rx and let you make me more money. I hope that you can make me a billionaire by my early twenties."

    Qiao Yu inhaled sharply, his eyes contracting. Handle half a billion RMB? Make her into a billionaire?

    Yes, the world must have really ended.

    He must have died and this must be the afterlife. Otherwise, how could this spoiled brat be half a billionaire in just a few short months?

    "Mr. Qiao, what do you think? Do you ept my offer?"

    A premium variety of oolong tea. Its top varieties are some of the most expensive tea in the world.

 Chapter 19 - The Other Woman

    <h4>Chapter 19 - The Other Woman </h4> <h4>Chapter 19: The Other Woman</h4>

    Qiao Yu took a deep breath. "Yes. I ept your offer, Miss Long."

    Of course he was going to ept her offer!

    Although his overall ie as a private financial manager belonged to the higher stratumpared to the average person holding the same title, his job mostly consisted of safeguarding finances and bncing expenditures to prevent ounts from emptying.

    Furthermore, most of his clients were children of the wealthy who spent money like breathing air. He was more of a financial babysitter rather than an impressive financial expert.

    He always dreamed of using his education and skills to invest arge amount of money, watch it grow, collect the profits and then use the profits to invest again. Now that he was offered such a chance, of course he was going to take it.

    Handle half a billion? Give him the money! He swore that he was going to turn this brat into a billionaire in her early twenties. Just watch him.

    "Excellent!" Iris smiled. "Dom, bring the employment contract and the Non-Disclosure Agreement."

    "Right away, boss!"

    After the contract signing, Iris and Qiao Yu shook hands.

    "I¡¯ll leave the matter with my father to you, Mr. Qiao."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Miss Long. I will also send my resignation to the President today and make arrangements for my other clients."

    "Good. I¡¯m trusting you with my finances. You¡¯ve proven yourself these past few years. It¡¯s unfortunate that I was too immature to appreciate your hard work back then."

    Could someone pinch him? Qiao Yu felt a warm emotion trying to burst from his chest, but he suppressed it with a firm nod. "I¡¯m just doing my job."

    "Indeed. From now on, I will treat you and all my other employees well. As long as you don¡¯t cheat or betray me, you will be rewarded based on the results of your hard work. But if you dare betray me or cheat me out of my money¨Dand trust me, I will know¨DI will destroy you."

    Qiao Yu suddenly felt goosebumps seeing the Young Miss looking and speaking with such cold viciousness. He would never doubt this brat...er, his new boss from now on.

    Someone who could make half a billion in just a few months wasn¡¯t someone to be trifled with.

    The Young Miss really changed. Maybe she really hit her head too hard from the ident, and thank goodness for that! She should have hit her head sooner, so he could have worked with her half billion earlier.

    He felt excited working for this new Miss Long, and of course working with her half billion. He almost rubbed his hands together in anticipation and excitement, but he suppressed himself and maintained his usual stern expression. He would wait until he got hometer to jump and dance in celebration. The challenge of making her into a billionaire by her early twenties energized him.

    "I will do my best, Miss Long."

    "That¡¯s what I want to hear. Also don¡¯t be surprised when I make a few big withdrawals from my old ount in the next few days. Rest assured that I¡¯m not going to waste them."

    "Understood, Miss Long."

    Iris nned to open several foreign bank ounts and convert the money into foreign currencies, in case of emergency and for additional security. She would also make her own investments on the side. She couldn¡¯t fully trust another person to handle 100% of her money.

    After talking a bit more, they finally ended the meeting.

    Although the financial manager had an excellent poker face, Iris could still sense the impatient excitement in his eyes.

    Dom showed Qiao Yu out and led him to the private elevator.

    Iris remained in the library office enjoying her Tieguanyin tea and resumed reading the Japanese light novel from earlier before Qiao Yu came.

    ###

    The previous discussion online about Iris Long turned into rumours of a love triangle between her, Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo. The rumour about Iris being pregnant and Jin Chonglin being the father of the baby was also quite popr.

    Things became even more chaotic when Fan Luo and Jin Chonglin finally posted their responses to the rumours on their official blogs.

    First was Fan Luo.

    LuoFanFan: "No matter what happened between my fianc¨¦ and that other woman, it¡¯s all in the past. My fianc¨¦ is the love of my life and I ept everything about him including his past, present and future. Countless women have already tried driving a wedge between us lovers, but I am the woman he chose to marry in the end. I will always stand by my future husband. I will do my best to be the best wife and mother to our future children. I ask everyone to let bygones be bygones. Some people just don¡¯t know when to give up, especially when it¡¯s about someone as great and handsome as my fianc¨¦. Let¡¯s not lower ourselves to their level, alright? Thank you everyone for your support!"

 Chapter 20 - LinLuo Responds To The Rumours

    <h4>Chapter 20 - LinLuo Responds To The Rumours </h4> <h4>Chapter 20: LinLuo Responds to the Rumours</h4>

    The likes to Fan Luo¡¯s Weibo post were almost instantaneous.

    +57

    +993

    +3,568 likes and counting.

    The replies flooded her post.

    "Oh my God!"

    "Is this a confirmation that Jin Chonglin and Iris Long really had an affair? Poor Fan Luo!"

    "Holy shit."

    "It¡¯s official. Iris Long is a shameless slut."

    "Iris Long has been a shameless slut since before. I¡¯m not really surprised."

    "Calling all my fellow fans to protect our @JinChonglin from all the shameless sluts in the world, especially from that dirty @IrisLong."

    +16

    +279

    +1,003 likes and counting.

    "Luo Luo is such a realdy. So ssy, so forgiving. If I was her and someone tried to snatch my man, I¡¯ll scratch the whore¡¯s face off and throw her to the ocean for the sharks to feed on."

    "That slut doesn¡¯t deserve Luo Luo¡¯s forgiveness!"

    "Fan Luo is so magnanimous! As expected of the heiress of the Fan family."

    "@LuoFanFan Please marry me instead!"

    "Poster above, go away! Know your ce! How dare a peasant like you propose to Princess Luo Luo?! She already belongs to our Prince Lin Lin!"

    "We heart LinLuo forever!"

    "So is Fan Luo confirming that Jin Chonglin made Iris Long pregnant?"

    "No way! I won¡¯t ept that evil witch¡¯s bastard child, even if it¡¯s true. Only Princess Luo Luo has the right to bear Prince Lin Lin¡¯s heir."

    "Fan Luo didn¡¯t say anything about the pregnancy, but based on what she said, that Iris slut definitely tried to seduce Jin Chonglin."

    "Despicable! Die @IrisLong!"

    "@JinChonglin Please say something!"

    Everyone kept an eye on Jin Chonglin¡¯s ount, waiting to see if he was going to respond to the rumours like his fianc¨¦e.

    Momentster, Jin Chonglin finally posted on his Weibo.

    JinChonglin: "I want to rify the truth. Miss Iris Long and I have no rtionship whatsoever to each other. We just casually met at a few events but that was it. She didn¡¯t seduce me, nor I her. I have never made her pregnant. We never had that kind of rtionship. All of these rumours are just that, in rumours. Please don¡¯t make up stories. I ask my fans to continue supporting me without pulling others down. Thank you for your understanding. On another note, I will be releasing my next album soon. Please look forward to it!"

    His power was on another level. As soon as he posted, the responses of his hawk-eyed fans were so quick that not even a second passed after his post before the likes and replies bombarded his ount.

    +597

    +19,998

    +100,262 likes and counting.

    "We understand, Prince Lin Lin! We members of your army will definitely continue supporting you! Can¡¯t wait for your next album!"

    "Oh my god. A new album?! I¡¯m so excited!"

    "Anyone else finding this suspicious? Fan Luo already denounced Iris Long as the ¡¯other woman¡¯. Why is Jin Chonglin suddenly denying everything and even defending Iris Long? Hmmm...."

    "You¡¯re right. I think Iris Long has impacted their rtionship more than we expected. Is there trouble brewing between the engaged couple?"

    "Oh no! We LinLuo fans would destroy anyone who dares drive a wedge between our prince and princess!"

    "Mobilize our LinLuo army! Mission: total annihtion of Iris Long!"

    "I think it¡¯s just Jin Chonglin acting as a gentleman and giving face to the Longs. Iris is a daughter of the Long family after all. The Longs may not be as powerful or as wealthy as the Jins, but they are stillparable to the Fans. They are people who are not to be easily offended. Actually, the Longs are slightly wealthier and has a nobler history than the Fans. Some of their ancestors were aristocrats from ancient times. But of course, that doesn¡¯t matter in this age anymore."

    "Poster above, what you say makes sense."

    "Iris Long is the shame of the Long family. The Longs should just disown her."

    "Yeah! Disown that shameless slut!"

    "Who cares about that slut?! All I care about is saving money to buy my idol¡¯s uing album! Oh my God! I¡¯m so excited!"

    This discussion online exploded to the point that the newspapers and tabloids were ready to publish the story, but they found themselves unable to do so.

    It appeared that someone powerful was blocking them from the shadows.

 Chapter 21 - An E

    <h4>Chapter 21 - An E </h4> <h4>Chapter 21: An E-mail from Jin Liwei</h4>

    <i>Long Industries.</i>

    It was already dark outside, yet President-CEO Long Tengfei and his assistant were still busily working in the office at the topmost floor of thepany building.

    The two should have been on their way home by this time, but the President¡¯s daughter was involved in yet another embarrassing situation. Granted, it was not her fault this time but it was a fact that her name was still dragged through the mud.

    She was still a Long, no matter what. And the Long family cared a lot about their face and image.

    Long Tengfei was already exhausted, but the girl was his daughter. He couldn¡¯t allow her to be ndered just like that.

    "President, we¡¯ve already taken care of the newspapers and the tabloids but we can¡¯t entirely control what¡¯s being said on the inte," Cai Guang reported.

    Long Tengfei had his eyes closed, rubbing his temples. "Just do your best. Don¡¯t let this blow up into something bigger that we can¡¯t control. I don¡¯t want to give the family, especially the elders, more reasons to force me to disown my own daughter. Xin is changing for the better. She¡¯s even able to get that tough Qiao Yu to willingly work for her without my influence." A rare, proud look showed on his face. "I want to see how far she can go now that she started taking control of her own life. Don¡¯t let others interfere with her."

    "Understood."

    "Hmph. If it wasn¡¯t for the Jin family¡¯s protection, I would destroy that bitch. How dare that Fan girl say those things to my, Long Tengfei¡¯s, daughter? Unforgivable!"

    ###

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    Inside theputer room, Iris read all the maliciousments about her online. She especially paused when reading Fan Luo¡¯s post.

    She smirked.

    Taking out a ck notebook, she wrote the name "Fan Luo".

    Making all these posts andments disappear was something extremely easy for her. She could even create a program in minutes to automatically delete anything on the Inte ndering her. However, she chose not to do anything.

    Did these people think that their words would hurt her?

    She was no longer the same Iris Long from before. For her, these words had nothing to do with her. In fact, she even felt amused reading all the ridiculous rumours about her. As long as her life, safety, or bottom line weren¡¯t provoked, mere trash talk wouldn¡¯t affect her.

    For a hacker like her who treated the web like her own backyard, trash talking was just child¡¯s y. Getting involved was not worth her time and effort. However, these noobs better be prepared when she decided to join in on the fun.

    Next, she read Jin Chonglin¡¯s post. She raised an eyebrow. Not bad. Lucky for him. He didn¡¯t get his name written on her ck notebook. If she and Jin Chonglin became enemies, she was certain that his arrogant older brother would never give her peace in this life.

    Jin Liwei, that viin, warned her to stay away from his younger brother. As if she would be interested in a womanizer like Jin Chonglin.

    Besides, she nned to live a life of freedom since waking up in this new body. Getting involved with a superstar like Jin Chonglin would be pure stupidity on her part, even more so with someone as powerful and influential as Jin Liwei. In her mind, Jin Chonglin was attached to his arrogant older brother. She didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with either brothers.

    For some reason, she kept on feeling that Jin Liwei was dangerous. It was better for her to avoid the brothers from now on.

    <i>Ding!</i>

    She turned to theputer next to her. Her heart thumped.

    Speak of the devil.

    Why would Jin Liwei send her an e-mail? She was tempted to delete it without reading but her curiosity won over.

    Jin Liwei: "Mypany won¡¯t be partnering with Gktika. What do you think about thesepanies?"

    He listed five Russianpanies. She was familiar with two of them from her past life. The two were involved in some illegal activities, but not as bad as Gktika. As for the other three, she didn¡¯t know any of them.

    She wasn¡¯t surprised that he knew her e-mail address, or to be exact, the original Iris¡¯ old e-mail address. She created a new, more secure e-mail ount, but this old e-mail address had a lot of important contacts that might prove helpful for the current her. She wouldn¡¯t lose anything by keeping this old ount.

    For someone as powerful as Jin Liwei, finding her e-mail address was easy. But what kind of e-mail was this? Not even a greeting. What a rude man.

    Did he think that she was his personal consultant or something? How audacious!

    Delete!

    After a few seconds, however, she clicked on the recycle bin and restored the e-mail. She began typing.

    Princess Iris: "1 million RMB perpany."

 Chapter 22 - Pay Up First

    <h4>Chapter 22 - Pay Up First </h4> <h4>Chapter 22: Pay up First</h4>

    Her n to live the life of freedom that she always wanted needed a lot of resources. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to earn extra cash by doing some frence work.

    Besides, Jin Liwei was filthy rich. A million was just pocket change for someone like him.

    <i>Ding!</i>

    Jin Liwei: "Deal."

    Oh? He agreed quickly. Fine, then. She switched to her new, more secure e-mail ount and typed.

    Long Xin: "This e-mail address is more secure. Pay up first."

    She sent him her bank ount information.

    She moved to anotherputer and worked on creating a new, personalized music software which would make it easier for her topose music.

    After a couple of minutes, her phone received a message. It was from the bank informing her that her ount received a 5 million RMB deposit.

    She raised an eyebrow. The man acted fast. She might as well work since he already paid her.

    Long Xin: "I¡¯ll send the information about thepanies within 3 days."

    Jin Liwei: "OK. But if 3 days pass and you have nothing or what you send me is useless, I want a full refund plus interest. 10 million RMB."

    Thief!

    Long Xin: "Fine. Don¡¯t bother me in the meantime."

    Jin Liwei: "I¡¯ll be waiting, Long Xin."

    Arrogant bastard.

    She went to work immediately by turning on all of theputers in the room. With all of them working at the same time, it was an impressive sight. In truth, she only needed a night to gather all information about the fivepanies, from what was made public to the most ssified ones.

    As long as there was an electronic trace, she would be able to find anything no matter how obscure. But a mountain of disorganized information was probably not what the arrogant man wanted. Thus, she told him to wait three days.

    For the initial step, she let the software she created herself to automatically gather information. She didn¡¯t even need to oversee the process personally.

    Looking at the time, she left the room for dinner, letting theputersplete the tasks she inputted by themselves.

    She ate a Filipino-style dinner with Dom. The cook finally relented after Dom¡¯s constant bugging. He whined about how he felt homesick and wanted to eat some Filipino food. The cook told Dom that if he wanted to eat Filipino food, then he could go cook for himself.

    So Dom tried cooking and it was a disaster. He had no culinary skills whatsoever. If the cook was any secondter, Dom would¡¯ve burned down the entire penthouse. The cook promptly kicked him out of the kitchen. Dom redoubled his whining afterwards. The cook couldn¡¯t take it anymore, so she especially researched and practiced cooking some Filipino dishes. Dom was, of course, ecstatic.

    After a hearty dinner, Iris enjoyed a couple cups of hot white pearls tea1.

    Afterwards, sheposed music at her recording studio, until her phone received a notification informing her that some of theputers already finished the tasks they were assigned.

    For the next two days, she spent almost all her time inside theputer room, only going out to eat, exercise a bit, and answer nature¡¯s call. After a lot of hacking and verifying uracy, she tranted the information into Chinese and organized everything into shockingly detailed andprehensive reports about the fivepanies.

    Information that even thepanies themselves may not know was included in the reports. What Iris was about to send Jin Liwei were something that wouldpletely destroy thepanies, if given in the wrong hands.

    She also included a rmendation for two of thepanies, giving them a "clean" rating. As for the other three, well, if Jin Liwei had any decent judgment, he would not have any dealings with them.

    53 hours since she started working on this job, she finally sent an e-mail to the arrogant man.

    Long Xin: "See attached files. Send 590,025.73 RMB to my ount for the expenses rued while gathering information. See attached invoice. The original 5 million payment was only for the final reports."

    She looked at the time. It was almost midnight. She stretched, yawning. Then she walked around the room, shutting down theputers one by one.

    Her phone sounded. She walked over and checked.

    It was a message from the bank notifying her that 590,025.73 RMB was deposited to her ount.

    Iris smiled. Turning off all the lights, she left theputer room, making sure that the door was closed, before heading to her bedroom to sleep.

    Not actual sea pearls, but a tea made of white peony leaves shaped into little balls by hand.

 Chapter 23 - The Mysterious Long Xiulan

    <h4>Chapter 23 - The Mysterious Long Xin </h4> <h4>Chapter 23: The Mysterious Long Xin</h4>

    One of the most expensive, most sought-after, and most fortified exclusive viges in the country was Dragon Pce Homes. There were only ten properties in the vige, but each of them upiedrge expanses ofnd.

    Security in the vige was even tighter than that of the major banks and evenparable to the security team of the country¡¯s highest government officials. In fact, some of the property owners had private securities that were even superior.

    Dragon Pce Home #10 upied thergestnd and the most impressive mansion in the exclusive vige. This property¡¯s owner was Jin Liwei, President and CEO of the number onepany in the country.

    One needed to drive for about twenty minutes by car from the property¡¯s massive gates before reaching the ptial mansion.

    The mansion was impressive, not only because of its size but also because of its cial aura, just like its master. Jin Liwei lived alone in this huge house with his servants.

    It was silent and chilly to the point that visitors would feel creeped out, like walking in an endlessbyrinthine graveyard.

    When Jin Liwei returned home from work, it was already night time. He ate a high ss dinner alone on the long dinner table; his butler standing silently behind him, ready to serve him at any moment.

    After dinner, he took a quick hot shower and changed into pyjamas. Then he headed straight to his home office to continue some of his unfinished work.

    <i>Ding!</i>

    His eyes lit up. Finally, an e-mail from the damn girl.

    Long Xin: "See attached files. Send 590,025.73 RMB to my ount for the expenses rued while gathering information. See attached invoice. The original 5 million payment was only for the final reports."

    He immediately opened the attachments. After some time reading the five reports the damn girl sent him, he inhaled sharply. The more he read, the more shocked he became. His pupils contracted.

    A few days ago, he finally received the results of the second investigation he ordered on Gktika. When the results matched what the damn girl said about them when they first met at the hotel lobby, his interest in her increased. He was burning with curiosity as to how she got such secret information.

    After just a couple of days, five Russianpanies immediately sent their own business proposals, showing interest in partnering with hispany after hearing that he rejected Gktika¡¯s offer.

    The new proposals presented both in Russian and in Chinese and even in English trantions reminded him of the damn girl.

    He didn¡¯t know what came over him to send her an e-mail. Perhaps he wanted confirmation that it was just a coincidence that the girl got it right the first time. Surprisingly, the girl had the audacity to ask for a total of 5 million payment from him. Amused, he immediately sent the money to her.

    When she told him to wait three days, he couldn¡¯t stop himself fromughing. He smirked.

    What did she need three days for? Fine. Just humour the girl and see what she woulde up with.

    He wasn¡¯t really expecting anything. He just treated this deal as a joke to amuse himself. However, there was still a niggling hope inside him for the damn girl to repeat her urate assessment. He didn¡¯t want to acknowledge this tiny hope, but it was still there.

    But now, not even three days since they e-mailed each other, he didn¡¯t feel amused at the deal anymore. Not at all. Reading the detailed andprehensive reports she sent him, he felt absolutely shocked.

    Each of the reports were worth many times more than what he paid for. He immediately sent the additional bill of a little over half million that she asked for. He was even tempted to send her an additional million as tip but managed to stop himself.

    If she made a simr report about his Jin Corporation and handed it to his enemies...he didn¡¯t even want to think about it.

    He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the night sky outside. The ck clouds covered the moon and the stars.

    One thing was clear after this experience. If she was really the one who created these reports, then the damn girl wasn¡¯t someone to be offended. She could destroy anyone whenever she wanted to.

    Even someone like him.

    His lips lifted to a smile, his eyes glinting dangerously like that of a predator who finally locked on to its much-awaited prey.

    "Long Xin, who are you really? What other mysteries are you going to show me?"

 Chapter 24 - Iris Long Is Back

    <h4>Chapter 24 - Iris Long Is Back </h4> <h4>Chapter 24: Iris Long is Back</h4>

    Iris slept for a long time afterpleting the reports and sending them to Jin Liwei. She woke up a few minutes after noon in time for brunch.

    As they ate, Dom informed her that JJ¡¯s people finally called in the morning while she was still sleeping and asked for a meeting to negotiate contract terms.

    For the next few days, Iris together with Dom and herwyer were busy meeting with JJ¡¯s team. Finally, they signed a contract that satisfied both parties. JJ¡¯s recordbel didn¡¯t make any public announcements that she signed under them as an artist as per her request.

    Next order of business was to sign under a talent managementpany. JJ rmended Bright Summit Entertainment Company, which was one of the top in the industry and also had the best rtionship with his recordbel.

    Although JJ worked with a lot of talented musicians from different talentpanies, he liked working with artists under Bright Summit because they were the least troublesome. A big part of this was because Bright Summit protected its artists very well. Unless an artist did something unsalvageable, thepany would use its full might and glory to ensure the artist¡¯s career.

    When Iris went intoa after the ident, her father spent a huge amount of money to dissolve her outstanding contracts with her previous talent agency, recordbel and endorsements when she failed to wake up after three months.

    JJ went the extra mile to contact someone he trusted from Bright Summit. After a few days of negotiations, Iris was already signing a contract with them. She was also given a new manager. Like before, this was not publicly announced as per her request.

    The next few weeks were extremely busy. Iris worked personally with JJ and his team of experts at JJ¡¯s own studio to record all the songs sheposed for hereback album.

    The other people working with them learned to cope (a.k.a. sit there quietly like statues) whenever Iris and JJ shed like two evil dragons.

    "Listen, Iris brat! I¡¯m an award-winning music producer. I¡¯m always right when ites to music! I say we should change this part of the song to a faster tempo, so we should do it!"

    "No, Mr. JJ. You¡¯re wrong. That¡¯s so stupid. Are you nning to make this into a disco song? Or maybe a dance song?"

    "What did you say, you brat?!"

    Another one....

    "Mr. JJ, this song doesn¡¯t need electric and bass guitars. The symphony orchestra is already more than enough."

    "Hai! You don¡¯t understand. The guitars add another dimension to the song!"

    "What another dimension? Mr. JJ, they¡¯re just annoying background noise."

    "What did you say, you brat?!"

    And yet another one...

    "Mr. JJ, I want an acoustic guitar as apaniment for this song."

    "Brat, it¡¯s better to keep this song as raw as possible and focus on the emotional impact of your vocals instead. No need for other apaniment. Just the piano is enough."

    "Hmm...fine. But I still want to try another version with an acoustic guitar. Then we can just choose which version sounds better."

    "You brat! You don¡¯t listen to what I say!"

    Although the two argued a lot because both were extreme perfectionists when it came to music, they would always find a way to grudginglypromise with each other and meet in the middle ground. Thesepromises always produced songs that left everyone in the recording studio, including Iris and JJ, in shocked amazement.

    All 13 songs were sessfully recorded and polished to their final versions. Next was shooting the music videos. Both JJ and Iris wanted to release the album as soon as possible, so they shot all the music videos for the 13 songs every day in just two and a half weeks.

    Everyone was exhausted but seeing their artist Iris Long working nonstop withoutints, they gritted their teeth and worked just as hard.

    After a two-day break, Iris was once again busy posing for the album¡¯s cover and promotional posters.

    Finally, Iris¡¯ part in the album production was done and JJ¡¯s recordbel took over in putting everything together. She felt so exhausted that just opening her eyes took extreme effort, but this was the first time in her two lives that she felt so alive. Her blood sang with excitement.

    She could hardly wait to release her album and hear her music being yed everywhere.

    Almost two years since the ident and her abrupt retirement from showbiz, JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit Entertainment Company officially announced the uing release of her new album.

    Their message was clear.

    Iris Long was back.

 Chapter 25 - Rebirth

    <h4>Chapter 25 - Rebirth </h4> <h4>Chapter 25: Rebirth</h4>

    An hour before JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit Entertainment Company¡¯s announcement.

    Almost two years since Iris Long disappeared from the public eyes, she had remained silent online. Even when amotion broke out after her social media ounts were wiped clean, and when Fan Luo and Jin Chonglin almost caused a scandal involving her with their blog posts, nobody heard a word from her.

    This fateful morning, however, all of her empty social media ounts were finally updated.

    No greetings, no words.

    It was just a single video.

    The video started with the back view of a teenage girl wearing a skimpy dress and high heels. Club music echoed in the background, as she walked out to a parking lot and climbed into a sports car.

    She drove away and then the scene suddenly cked out with the sounds of squealing tires and a loud crash.

    An ambnce siren red.

    Next was a frantic scene at a hospital with paramedics wheeling the unconscious teenage girl whose face still wasn¡¯t shown; her blood sttering on the white floor tiles. The door to the operating room closed behind them.

    The next scene showed a hospital room filled with several life support machines. The girl on the bedid unmoving, her face still not shown.

    The camera shifted its focus to a calendar atop a table beside the bed, its pages flipping to the next month again and again, faster and faster, showing how much time passed.

    Then the screen gradually turned darker and darker until itpletely cked out. Muffled sounds could be heard, like that when one was underwater.

    Sounds of breathing and heartbeat, loud and regr at first, but gradually weakening and slowing down until everything became silent.

    A few seconds of total darkness and silence.

    A small speck of light appeared in the middle of the screen, gradually bing bigger and brighter until it swallowed the entire screen.

    The next scene showed an ethereal paradise-like mountain forest. A fairy with golden hair and emerald eyes flitted among a garden of colourful wildflowers. She wore a flowing white dress which sparkled delicately whenever she moved.

    The beautiful fairy walked towards a deep, blueke and sat by the shore, leaning over to caress the still waters with her graceful hands.

    A loud gasp! The water pulled her violently down into its dark depths.

    As she sank deeper and deeper, a shadowy figure could be seen floating slowly towards her direction. As the two neared each other, the other figure became visible. It was the teenage girl still wearing the skimpy dress. Her eyes were closed. She looked lifeless, her ck hair billowing out in the water as she was slowly pulled upwards.

    The fairy and the teenage girl finally appeared in the same screen, floating in front of each other. They had the same face, yet lookedpletely different, especially the aura they emitted.

    The teenage girl was sickly pale, dark shadows under her closed eyes. The fairy, on the other hand, exuded a soft ethereal glow within her. Her golden hair floated around her like a halo, her emerald eyes glinting with divine light.

    The fairy stretched out her arms and gently pulled the unconscious teenage girl into her embrace. The two fused as they touched, until only one figure remained.

    The new figure wore the teenage girl¡¯s skimpy outfit, a dimming ethereal glow on her skin. Her golden hair gradually turned ck. Slowly, her emerald eyes opened before dimming into a dark brown colour.

    She gracefully swam upwards like a mermaid until her head broke out to the surface. The scene abruptly cut and reverted to that of theatose girl on the hospital bed opening her eyes. A faint emerald light visible in her dark brown pupils.

    The screen faded to darkness. A rich beautiful fairy-like voice sang a melody without lyrics in the background.

    The back view of a young woman appeared. She wore an elegant, deep emerald long dress. Her long, straight ck hair flowed behind her like a natural cape.

    Her figure stood under a blooming sakura tree, the blossoms raining down like pink snow. She turned and the camera closed up and focused on her beautiful face. Her dark brown phoenix eyes looked fierce yet detached at the same time. Her plump, pink lips lifted into a mysterious smile.

    ck out.

    And then the word "Rebirth" appeared in big characters, followed by the name "Iris Long" and a date two weeks from now. The logo of JJ¡¯s recordbel appeared before the video finally ended.

 Chapter 26 - Viral Video

    <h4>Chapter 26 - Viral Video </h4> <h4>Chapter 26: Viral Video</h4>

    Ever since the energetic discussions surrounding the rumours about Iris Long, Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo, manyizens frequented these three people¡¯s social media ounts like loyal watchdogs to check for theirtest posts.

    As soon as the video was posted on Iris Long¡¯s social media ounts, it immediately went viral.

    +397

    +51,002

    +200,064 likes and counting.

    "Oh my God! What did I just watch? Did Iris Long just announce hereback with a video?"

    "Iris Long finally updated her blog! Watch the video!"

    "Is the woman in the video really Iris Long? She looks so different! She looks more mature and elegant now."

    "Ptui! What mature? What elegant? No matter how grandly a chicken dresses up, it¡¯ll never be a phoenix!"

    "I think the video is based on the true story of what really happened to her. We all heard about the ident. Now it turns out that the rumours about her beingatose is real. I counted how many times the calendar in the video flipped. She was ina for a year."

    "If Iris Long was reallyatose for one year, then I feel bad for her. Everyone keeps on saying that she got pregnant and talked shit about her, saying that she stayed silent because of her guilty conscience, when the truth was that she was actuallyatose the entire time. Poor girl."

    "Don¡¯t feel bad for her. Her reputation as a bitch and a slut is well-known in the industry. This video is just one of her gimmicks."

    "Yeah! We all know how hungry for fame she is."

    "Look at the end of the video! I think she¡¯s releasing either a single or an album called<i> ¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i> two weeks from now."

    "Fuck! That¡¯s JJ¡¯s recordbel. Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s one of his artists now."

    "No! I can¡¯t believe that JJ¡¯s standards dropped so much. Why, JJ? Why would you sign a trash like Iris Long?!"

    "Poster above, did you really watch the entire video? The artistry shown in the video is far from trashy. I think Iris Long is aiming for an image change. I like what I¡¯m seeing."

    "Hah! With her trash reputation, of course she¡¯s desperate for an image change. It¡¯s toote! Everyone hates Iris Long!"

    "Hey, not everyone hates her. I may not like her as a person, but I really like her voice. Her older songs are really shallow, but her voice is actually great. I, for one, am looking forward to her new music."

    "I¡¯m going to share a real experience. I was lucky enough to hear Miss Long sing a while ago. I was with my friends eating lunch at a restaurant when suddenly a beautiful young woman sat on the piano and started singing a song. Her song made me cry so hard. It was the most beautiful and meaningful song that I have ever heard since a long time ago. I really didn¡¯t know Miss Long from before, so I wasn¡¯t aware of her ¡¯bad reputation¡¯ that everyone else keeps on saying. All I know is the Miss Long that I met at the restaurant. Such a lovely and beautiful human being. I hope that everyone gives her another chance because I can guarantee that whatever song she sings from now on will be amazing! I hope these two weeks woulde faster. I want to listen to that song she performed in the restaurant again."

    "Poster above, is that true? Now I¡¯m getting more and more curious about Iris Long. I¡¯ll hold my judgment until <i>¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i> is released."

    "Wait, are you saying that Iris Long fell so low that she became a mere restaurant performer? Ahaha! How embarrassing."

    "Hey! Don¡¯t look down on restaurant performers!"

    An hour after the video was posted online, JJ¡¯s personal ount, his recordbel and Bright Summit Entertainment Company¡¯s official ounts shared the video causing another round of spections and fervent discussions.

    A few minutester, both JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit posted official statements confirming that Iris Long was now an artist signed under them and also announced the release of hereback album titled <i>"Rebirth"</i> two weeks from now.

    Their announcements caused an uproar.

 Chapter 27 - Jin Liwei Barges In

    <h4>Chapter 27 - Jin Liwei Barges In </h4> <h4>Chapter 27: Jin Liwei Barges in</h4>

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    Iris headed to the living area after taking a shower. She found Dom sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the lower part of the couch, watching a documentary about exotic cuisines on TV.

    He turned his head when he heard her approach. She sat on the couch beside him.

    "Boss, a Mr. Jin Liwei called while you were in the shower. Do you know him? He wants you to either reply to his e-mails or give him a call. He said that he¡¯s been trying to contact you for weeks now. Hmph! He sounded so bossy. He left his number. Do you want it?"

    Iris frowned. "No. I don¡¯t want that man¡¯s number. Why does he keep on bothering me?"

    "Who is he?" he asked.

    He continued watching the documentary as he repeated the man¡¯s name in his head. After some time, his eyes widened. "Wait. Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s that Jin Liwei? Jin Corporation¡¯s Jin Liwei?"

    "Yes."

    Dom gasped. "Oh my God! Boss! That Jin Liwei is bothering you? Wow. As expected of my boss! Even people bothering you are on another level. Maybe he likes you. Ehehe."

    "Don¡¯t be ridiculous. We don¡¯t like each other. I don¡¯t want to have anything to do with that arrogant man."

    "Ehehehe."

    "Stop. You¡¯re creeping me out."

    The housekeeper, Yi Mei, appeared. "Young Miss, the receptionist downstairs called saying that a Mr. Jin Liwei wants to see you."

    "Ayiiii! I knew it!" Dom covered his mouth, his eyes shining with excitement.

    Iris¡¯ heart thumped.

    What did the damn arrogant mane here for?

    "Young Miss? Should I invite him up or turn him away?" Yi Mei asked her.

    Iris frowned.

    "Should I turn him away then?" Yi Mei asked again.

    "Yes! Wait, no. No. Invite him up." Iris sighed.

    Dom squealed. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God!!! Jin Liwei ising! Aaaah!" He fanned himself dramatically with his hands.

    "Let¡¯s find out what he wants. Dom, tell the maids to prepare some refreshments." Iris inwardly wondered why she suddenly started feeling nervous.

    "Right away, boss!"

    A few minutester, Yi Mei led Jin Liwei inside the penthouse to where Iris and Dom were waiting.

    He looked tall and immacte in his custom-made business suit. His handsome face wore a cold, irritated expression. When he saw the damn girl sitting and sipping tea, looking all rxed, he felt even more irritated. He hurried towards her.

    "Why aren¡¯t you replying to my e-mails?" he growled when he reached her.

    "And hello to you too, Mr. Jin," she said, cing the teacup on the table gently. "Please have a seat."

    "No. Answer me first. Why are you ignoring me?"

    Iris¡¯ eyes twitched, trying to rein in her temper.

    Were they close? Why was this man acting so familiar with her?

    She replied to him coolly, "I see that you¡¯re still very rude, Mr. Jin."

    Dom looked at the two, his eyes sparkling.

    "Long Xin, don¡¯t test my patience," he snarled.

    "Mr. Jin Liwei, I have no intention of testing you or anyone else¡¯s patience." She finally snapped. "I already told you before that I don¡¯t want to see you ever again. Tell me. Why did youe? What do you want from me?"

    Her face flushed with anger, making her even more attractive in his eyes. Herst sentence echoed in his mind: What do you want from me want from me want from me from me...

    His control snapped.

    He pulled her roughly to his chest. His right hand grabbed a fistful of hair behind her head, his left arm circled around her tiny waist lifting her up. She gasped, rmed. His mouth smashed against her lips.

    She squirmed in his embrace, fighting against his sudden aggression, hitting his shoulders and trying to push his head away. She wanted to escape but he was too strong.

    She bit his lips until she tasted blood, yet he didn¡¯t stop. Angry that he got bitten, he growled and kissed her even more deeply, sucking hard on her lips.

    "Oh oh oh! Oh my God! What should I do? My boss¡¯ tofu is getting eaten! Should I save her? Should I punch him? But he¡¯s Jin Liwei! Oh my. This is so hot. I want to take a video, maybe just photos...but they¡¯ll probably murder me...oh oh oh."

    Dom mumbled in excitement, pacing from side to side as he watched the kissing scene in front of him.

    Yi Mei stood frozen in shock, one hand clutching her chest. The poor housekeeper looked like she would fall over at any moment.

 Chapter 28 - Need To SearChapter It Up

    <h4>Chapter 28 - Need To SearChapter It Up </h4> <h4>Chapter 28: Need to Search it Up</h4>

    Iris¡¯ heart thundered inside her chest. She was so furious that she wanted to bite this damn man¡¯s head off! She was going to murder this viin! How dare he do this to her inside her own home?!

    But but but...what was this?

    She felt breathless and a bit dizzy. She ckened a bit, trying to determine the sensations she was currently feeling. She had never felt this way before in her two lives.

    Jin Liwei felt her resistance weakening. Of course, he didn¡¯t let this opportunity escape him. A strong desire to possess the damn girl in his embrace overcame him.

    His tongue snaked inside her sweet mouth, invading her. He sucked her tongue, making her whimper.

    Iris moaned, closing her eyes. She lost the ability to think. All she could feel was the man kissing her senseless. She wasn¡¯t aware that both her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer.

    He groaned, the hand on her hair slid down to her butt and squeezed hard.

    "Ay kabayo!1" they heard Dom exim followed by a loud crash, interrupting their kiss.

    Jin Liwei felt irritated to be interrupted and was about to dive in for another kiss, but Iris turned her head to look dazedly at her assistant who was now lying on the floor together with a fallen chair.

    "Ehe. Don¡¯t mind me. Go on. Please continue what you¡¯re doing." Dom climbed up from the floor and righted the chair he crashed into in his overexcitement.

    Dom¡¯s words cleared her dazed state. She pushed her hands against Jin Liwei¡¯s chest.

    "Mr. Jin, put me down."

    "No." His arms tightened around her.

    "Put me down this instant!"

    They red at each other for a few moments before Jin Liwei reluctantly released her.

    Iris quickly put some distance between them, trying to catch her breath and calm her racing heart. This...she frowned. She knew that she didn¡¯t like the damn arrogant man and didn¡¯t want to see him again, yet why...

    She looked at him intensely, her head tilted to one side, trying to think of a logical exnation of why he induced these weird sensations on her body.

    Jin Liwei ran a hand through his hair, trying desperately to calm his inner beast. He lost control. Dammit! He actually lost control.

    The frustrating weeks of her not replying to his e-mails made him think about her constantly, souring his mood every single day. He wanted to request more of her reports about otherpanies but the damn girl kept on ignoring him. He couldn¡¯t take it anymore, so he called her but still wasn¡¯t able to talk to her directly. He was so frustrated that he impulsively rushed to her ce.

    He looked at the damn girl once again and saw her intense gaze on him.

    "Why are you looking at me like that? Did you fall in love with me?" He teased.

    "I don¡¯t know how to exactly determine such an illogical and unscientific state as falling in love," she told him in a serious tone. "I can somewhat understand the idea based on what others and the media say. I think I can even act like one who has fallen in love, but the descriptions exining this state are too abstract for a 100% certainty. Hmm. Maybe what I¡¯m feeling is...lust?" She frowned, thinking deeply. "Dom, get myptop. I need to search this up."

    "Eh? Er...okay, boss." Dom looked at his boss weirdly and then at Jin Liwei, his eyes drifting down to the man¡¯s bulging crotch.

    Oh. Dom¡¯s eyes glinted with a knowing expression. It was difficult, but he was able to peel his eyes away. He started to leave, but then returned to gently drag the still frozen housekeeper away.

    Jin Liwei was taken aback. "You...why would you search up something like that? Have you never felt horny before?"

    Well, not like he felt horny before either until now in front of this damn girl. But he wouldn¡¯t tell her that.

    Iris looked at him like he was stupid. "I¡¯m not a man. I don¡¯t have a penis that gets hard, so I don¡¯t have anything concrete to determine whether I¡¯m feeling horny or not."

    His mouth fell open. He tried several times to say something but failed. Finally, he told her, "You know you¡¯re feeling horny if you want to have sex."

    "I see. I¡¯m not feeling horny then. I don¡¯t want to have sex with you, Mr. Jin."

    "Kabayo" literally means "horse" in Filipino. In this case, it¡¯s used as an exmation of surprise, simr to how "Aiyo!" is used in Chinese but not quite. More like how most people use "Oh shit!", but not as explicit. For a more explicit version, I¡¯ve heard some use "Ay, puke ng kabayo!" which literally trantes to "Oh, horse¡¯s vagina!". Pft! Poor horse.

 Chapter 29 - I Forbid You To Kiss Other Men

    <h4>Chapter 29 - I Forbid You To Kiss Other Men </h4> <h4>Chapter 29: I Forbid You to Kiss Other Men</h4>

    "Hah! Says someone who clearly liked my kiss!" Jin Liwei red at her.

    "Hmm. I suppose I liked your kiss," Iris admitted. "But I don¡¯t have other experiences topare it to."

    "What do you mean? Don¡¯t tell me that I¡¯m your first kiss? I don¡¯t believe it." He subconsciously licked his lips. He wanted to taste her again.

    Her lips pressed together. "I don¡¯t care whether you believe me or not."

    In her past life, she had never been kissed by any man other than the forehead and cheek kisses her father and older brother gave her. They were so protective that they practically imprisoned her within the estate. They didn¡¯t allow her to meet other people who weren¡¯t approved by them.

    She was well-trained in etiquette and could conversefortably with almost anyone, but she was severelycking when it came to understanding intimacy between the opposite sexes. In short, she was extremely dense when it came to flirting.

    As for the original Iris Long, she knew based on her memories that despite her party girl reputation, she never kissed or had sex with any man.

    She didn¡¯t want to be like her mother, Wei Lan, who had so many lovers that the line-up could reach all the way up the Milky Way.

    However, the original Iris was too much like Wei Lan in how she loved herself the most. She loved herself too much that she didn¡¯t have the time nor the mental capacity to take a lover. She also thought very highly of herself, believing that no man was ever good enough for someone as amazing as her.

    The rumours of her pursuing men were actually just her trying to leech off poprity from more famous people. This was the situation with Jin Chonglin.

    She also pursued famous females, but everyone just focused and gossiped on the men she tried getting close to.

    "Are you serious?" Jin Liwei asked her, shocked. Didn¡¯t she have a promiscuous reputation? She must have kissed many men before.

    She ignored him, mumbling to herself. "I should probably find other men to kiss in order to have more choices forparison. Will I feel like this in every kiss regardless of the partner? Hmm. This is something worthy to experiment on." Her brain was already in overdrive formting a hyphothesis and experiment methods.

    He heard her and felt possessive. "Like hell I¡¯ll allow you to kiss other men."

    "It¡¯s none of your business, Mr. Jin."

    "Long Xin, I forbid you to kiss other men."

    She was angered. "You don¡¯t have the right to forbid me to do anything. I own myself."

    He gritted his teeth, ring at the damn girl. He had to use all the willpower he had not to push her down to the floor and take her right there and then.

    He didn¡¯t understand why he was suddenly feeling so possessive of her. The damn girl was making him go crazy!

    "Now tell me, Mr. Jin, why you came here today. If not, please leave. I¡¯m busy."

    "Yeah, right. Busy sipping your tea."

    She red at him.

    He had to take a few moments to calm down and remember why he came here today. At first, it was just because he wanted to form a business rtionship. Her detailed andprehensive reports were simply too invaluable.

    For a head of a bigpany like him, she was an untapped resource waiting to be exploited. He felt like an explorer who chanced upon a deep mine of gold and diamonds. His first instinct was to mark his territory, im ownership and preventpetitors from taking a share.

    Everything was his! She was his!

    But when she ignored his e-mails, he got more and more frustrated to the point that she was on his mind every day. He wanted to see her, to talk to her, to get to know her.

    He didn¡¯t care about her at all before, treating her as just one of the countless women trying to catch his brother. Her bad reputation didn¡¯t help either.

    But when he met her in person for the first time at the hotel lobby, he discovered that there was more to her. Way, way more. He had the urge to keep her to himself, not allowing others to discover this unknown, fascinating side of her.

    And now, finally seeing her after so long, he wanted to possess this woman!

 Chapter 30 - How To Know If Youâ€™re Feeling Horny

    <h4>Chapter 30 - How To Know If You¡¯re Feeling Horny </h4> <h4>Chapter 30: How to Know if You¡¯re Feeling Horny</h4>

    Finally, Jin Liwei was able to calm down a bit.

    He sighed before answering her. "I came today to make an official offer of a business partnership between us. I have hired countless private investigators before but not one of them can reach the level of the reports you sent me. I will pay however much you ask."

    Iris was silent for a few seconds. "Mr. Jin, I¡¯m quite busy at the moment. I¡¯m making myeback to showbiz. I have to do extensive promotions for my uing album."

    "I know. You don¡¯t have to ept all of my requests, just the ones that you can do when you have free time. Surely you can do that? As I said, the price is not a problem."

    "To be honest, I don¡¯t mind epting this kind of work. It¡¯s just that, Mr. Jin, I feel uneasy whenever I¡¯m dealing with you. That¡¯s why I¡¯d rather not ept your offer."

    "You feel uneasy with me? Why?"

    She thought for a moment. "I don¡¯t know the exact reason. I need to think about it more. "

    "Hmm..." He rubbed his chin, looking at her with amused eyes. "Isn¡¯t it because you¡¯re attracted to me?"

    Iris frowned. "But I don¡¯t like you."

    He walked closer to her, looked directly at her eyes and whispered. "Are you sure you don¡¯t like me? You liked my kiss. That means you like me. Shall I kiss you again to make sure?"

    She stepped back, putting her hands in front of her. "Stop, Mr. Jin. I may be inexperienced but I¡¯m not stupid. I¡¯m busy and you¡¯re busy. Let¡¯s not waste each other¡¯s time. Go find another woman if you really can¡¯t hold it in. I¡¯m sure that with your status, there are a lot of women more than willing to satisfy you. I¡¯m not interested. If there isn¡¯t anything else, please leave."

    His expression turned ck. He took a few deep breaths before he was able to control his temper.

    He turned, sat on a chair and poured himself a cup of hot tea. After sipping, he nodded in appreciation. If he wasn¡¯t mistaken, this was Gyokuro tea1.

    He checked the time on his gold watch. "It¡¯s almost lunch time. I¡¯m hungry. Do you want to stay here or shall we go out?"

    Iris¡¯ eyes twitched. The damn arrogant man was acting like he was in his own home!

    She sighed, suddenly feeling tired.

    She didn¡¯t want to waste time and energy arguing with him anymore. "I n to stay at home today. This is myst precious day off until I start promoting myeback album."

    "Alright." He grabbed a small sponge cake from the te and ate it, sipping tea in between a couple of bites.

    Dom returned with aptop in his arms. When he saw his boss and Mr. Jin Liwei, he was a bit disappointed that they weren¡¯t kissing anymore. "Boss, I brought yourptop."

    "Thanks, Dom." Iris walked forward and sat on a chair opposite Jin Liwei. Dom ced theptop on the table in front of her. "And also, Dom, check when lunch will be ready. Mr. Jin will be joining us."

    "Right away, boss! Ehehe." Dom hurried to the kitchen.

    Maybe he would be able to witness another kissing scer. How exciting!

    Jin Liwei ate the sponge cakes¨Dgood stuff, he would ask for some to take hometer¨Dwhile admiring the serious expression on the girl¡¯s face as she typed on herptop.

    She frowned while reading something, tilting her head to the side. Momentster, her expression looked more and more confused.

    "What are you looking at?" he asked, unable to hold his curiosity any longer.

    Not hearing an answer, he stood up, walked to her side and looked down at herptop screen. Seeing what she was reading, his jaw fell down in shock.

    She was reading an English article from a foreign website. The title?

    "How to Know if You¡¯re Feeling Horny".

    One of the finest Japanese green tea. The nt is grown under a shade rather than in the full sun.

 Chapter 31 - Pursuit Of Knowledge

    <h4>Chapter 31 - Pursuit Of Knowledge </h4> <h4>Chapter 31: Pursuit of Knowledge</h4>

    "How to know if you¡¯re feeling horny," Jin Liwei read aloud in English. His ent sounded a bit American. "Number 1: You fantasize about the person you¡¯re into."

    He nced down at Iris. "Do you fantasize about me?" he asked in Mandarin.

    "No."

    Displeased by her quick answer, he scowled. However, he continued reading aloud. Most of the points were very general. Jin Liwei thought that these should be considered asmon sense, so why did the girl look so confused earlier?

    "Number 7...uh..." He coughed. "Uhm."

    Iris read it aloud herself. "Number 7: Your vagina is tingling."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise. This girl was bing more and more mysterious. She actually spoke English with a British ent.

    The investigation results he ordered about her reported that she only spoke passable English with the usual Chinese ent. Her English marks at school were also too tragic to even look at.

    So what happened? Was she just acting then?

    It was at this moment that her assistant returned. "Boss, lunch will be ready shortly."

    "Dom, you¡¯re right on time. How does one know when one¡¯s vagina is tingling? Do you know how it feels?"

    "Ah? Boss, how would I know? I don¡¯t have a vagina. Do you want me to ask Grandma Yi Mei or some of the married maids?"

    "Yes."

    "Right away, boss!"

    "Wait! What are you two doing?" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t believe them. "Aren¡¯t you embarrassed?"

    Iris looked at him like he was an idiot. "Why should I feel embarrassed in the pursuit of knowledge? Wise people don¡¯t pretend to know everything. When they don¡¯t know something, they aren¡¯t embarrassed to ask questions."

    Jin Liwei almost choked hearing her answer.

    This was pursuit of knowledge?

    His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

    "Pft! Bahahaha!" Dom couldn¡¯t stop himself. He doubled over,ughing loudly while holding his abdomen.

    Jin Liwei red at him.

    Dom tried so hard to stop hisughter. He could feel Jin Liwei¡¯s murderous intent directed at him. But it was just too funny! The famed Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know how to deal with his boss¡¯ straightforwardness. As expected of his boss!

    Even Dom himself was surprised by his boss¡¯ brutal honesty when he started working for her. But now he was used to it and even became influenced by her. For him, this was normal now.

    She ignored them and continued to read thest point aloud perfectly in English. "Number 8: Your vagina bes wet...huh?"

    Maybe she really felt horny when Jin Liwei kissed her earlier? She wondered, feeling the slight dampness between her thighs.

    "Hm? What¡¯s wrong? Are you wet? Did I make you wet?" he teased, his voice husky.

    "Yes," she admitted as she continued to read the article in silence. She didn¡¯t find anything wrong in being honest with him. She had no idea that her honesty would affect him so much.

    He inhaled sharply, his eyes darkening. His breath quickened. He leaned down close to her ear and whispered, "Be careful with your words, Long Xin. You might unknowingly release a beast that you can¡¯t control."

    "What are you talking about?" She turned her head to him. Seeing the intense expression on his face, she instinctively moved her torso away from him.

    He was tempted to kiss her senseless again.

    "Young Miss, Mr. Jin. Lunch is ready. Please follow me." Yi Mei, now recovered from her earlier shock, called them as she returned from the kitchen.

    Jin Liwei straightened up. His face regained its usual cold expression, but his eyes couldn¡¯t disguise the lust he was feeling.

    Iris released a breath of relief. "Yi Mei, please get the first aid kit and treat Mr. Jin¡¯s lip first."

    "Yes, Young Miss. Please wait."

    Momentster, Yi Mei returned with the first aid kit.

    Jin Liwei turned to Iris. "You treat me."

    She gave him a side eye. "I don¡¯t know how. Yi Mei, go ahead."

    "Mr. Jin, please stay still." Yi Mei looked like a butcher about to ughter a mighty bull for premium beef.

    Dom snickered. Jin Liwei shot him a deadly look. Dom immediately shut up, but Iris red at Jin Liwei instead.

    Dom was her assistant. What was the damn arrogant man ring at her assistant for?

    Yi Mei opened the first aid kit, used sanitizer to clean her hands before disinfecting and treating Jin Liwei¡¯s wound.

    He stiffened at the stinging pain, but otherwise stayed unmoving; his face a mask of cold indifference.

 Chapter 32 - Give Me Your Number

    <h4>Chapter 32 - Give Me Your Number </h4> <h4>Chapter 32: Give Me Your Number</h4>

    Yi Mei made sure to press hard on the man¡¯s cut. How dare he eat her Young Miss¡¯ tofu in her own home? If Yi Mei was not mistaken, Jin Liwei was already in his thirties.

    The Young Miss was barely in her twenties, only recently leaving her teenage years, and this old man wanted toy his lusty paws on her? An old cow eating young grass! What a viin! The Young Miss was too gentle, only leaving a small cut on his lip. She should have bitten this evil man¡¯s tongue off!

    He might be the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world, but to the old housekeeper¡¯s eyes, Jin Liwei was just a lustful brat who set his lusty eyes on her innocent Young Miss. Yi Mei roughly applied a small bandage on the man¡¯s injury.

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but wince a bit, but his pride wouldn¡¯t allow him to make a sound orin. He looked sharply at the old housekeeper, but the housekeeper quickly rearranged the first aid kit and stood up, not meeting his eyes.

    "Thank you, Yi Mei," Iris said.

    "At your service, Young Miss."

    "Let¡¯s go to lunch." Iris stood up.

    Everyone followed the housekeeper.

    The three¨DIris, Jin Liwei and Dom¨Date lunch together. Poor Dom felt like the brightest light bulb. If murderous intent could kill, he would be dead so many times already.

    Although Jin Liwei didn¡¯t show much expression on his face, Dom was also a man so he could definitely sense that Jin Liwei wanted him to leave the two alone together. He didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. What could he do? His boss wanted him to eat with them.

    They enjoyed a simple yet hearty meal of roasted Peking duck and Ma Po tofu as the main dishes. Jin Liwei had not eaten such amon meal for a long time. The personal chef he hired to cook for him at home ensured that he always had high ss, five-star worthy meals every single day. And as the head of the country¡¯s number onepany, people would always mour to serve him simr high ss dishes during business meals, hoping to impress him and gain advantageous deals with Jin Corporation.

    Eating traditional Chinese cuisine like this was not bad at all. It reminded him of the family dinners during his childhood. Now everything was so formal that it was stifling.

    He enjoyed eating a meal for the first time in a long time. Not to mention that he had a mysterious and intriguing beauty to admire beside him as he ate. This felt good.

    The two men ate several servings, looking like they were inhaling all the food.

    As they ate, Jin Liwei once again tried to persuade Iris to ept his offer to hire her for her detailed andprehensive reports. She didn¡¯t want to waste time arguing with him anymore, so she reluctantly agreed.

    Jin Liwei was immediately in a great mood.

    After lunch, Jin Liwei was ready to leave, carrying a box full of sponge cakes.

    "Xin, give me your personal phone number."

    Iris narrowed her eyes. The arrogant man now dropped her surname?

    "No need, Mr. Jin. You can contact me anytime via e-mail. You also seem to have my assistant¡¯s phone number already. You can reach me through him."

    "No. I want your own phone number," he insisted. "I¡¯m not leaving until you give it to me."

    No matter how Jin Liwei tried to find her personal phone number, he couldn¡¯t. Iris made sure to conceal it.

    Jin Liwei turned to her assistant, threatening him with a look.

    "Her number is..." Dom immediately recited his boss¡¯ number.

    "Got it." Jin Liwei instantly memorized it. He was very pleased.

    Iris was taken aback. She red at her traitor of an assistant. "Dom! Do you want to get fired?!"

    "Ehe. Sorry, boss. I won¡¯t do it again. Ah! My stomach suddenly hurts. I need to run to the washroom! See youter, boss! And have a good day, Mr. Jin! Bye!" The traitor ran away.

    "You..." She could only sigh.

    Iris had no choice but to send off Jin Liwei to the private elevator herself. The two stood in front of the elevator door looking at each other.

    "Xin, you must answer my calls. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯lle here again."

    She red at him.

    "Xin."

    "Fine." She inwardly harrumphed.

    "And good luck on the release of youreback album. I¡¯m looking forward to it."

    Her eyes softened. "Thank you."

    "Take care of your health. Don¡¯t push yourself too hard."

    "Yes. Thanks."

    "I¡¯ll leave now."

    "Okay."

    They looked at each other.

    Jin Liwei pulled her into his arms and kissed her once again. Hard.

    Before she could react, he already released her.

    She was dazed and breathless.

    "Goodbye, Xin. I¡¯ll call you."

    He stepped inside the elevator and the door closed behind him.

 Chapter 33 - Drastic Change In Style

    <h4>Chapter 33 - Drastic Change In Style </h4> <h4>Chapter 33: Drastic Change in Style</h4>

    By the second day, the video posted on all of Iris Long¡¯s social media ounts already umted abined total of more than 10 million views. And the amount was still climbing every hour.

    A big part of this was because her name was repeatedly mentioned alongside a superstar like Jin Chonglin.

    Not mentioning Jin Chonglin¡¯s massive army of fans, there were also a lot of boredizens who only wanted to discuss something exciting. The rumoured love triangle between Iris Long, Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo definitely counted as an exciting topic.

    Adding to the rumour of Iris Long¡¯s secret pregnancy with Jin Chonglin as the father of their love child, it was a recipe for a potential scandal. Something that these boredizens were always eager to sink their bloodthirsty fangs on.

    There was less than two weeks remaining until Iris Long¡¯seback album <i>"Rebirth"</i> would be released.

    JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit Entertainment Company heavily promoted her uingeback album online, on TV and radiomercials, newspapers and public advertisements.

    This hinted to everyone the confidence JJ and Bright Summit had for Iris Long. People were baffled but also curious as to why.

    Was Iris Long really talented to garner this kind of excellent treatment from these bigshots?

    Wasn¡¯t she only a second-rate teen pop idol who was just lucky to have viral songs?

    What poison did she feed JJ and Bright Summit to sign someone like her under theirpanies?

    Even though she was already popr before her abrupt retirement, her previous recordbel and talent managementpany never promoted her as hard as this.

    She managed to enjoy decent fame before because many of her songs were catchy and went viral. However, her songs were like shooting stars. They would shine brilliantly for a short period of time before disappearing amidst the sea of other brighter stars.

    JJ¡¯s recordbel released previews of some of her music videos online. Iris and Bright Summit actively shared them to their own respective online followers.

    These previews topped the search and view rankings in various websites. After people watched them, they were shocked by Iris¡¯ drastic change in style.

    "Wow. Is this even Iris Long? She lookspletely different from before. I¡¯m not saying that her face changed or anything like that. Her face looks the same as before but looks...different. Am I even making sense? Do people understand what I¡¯m trying to say?"

    "Poster above. Yes, we know what you mean."

    "Oh my God. It¡¯s just a preview but I already cried watching<i> ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯</i>."

    "The credits say that Iris Long is also theposer of these songs. Are you kidding me? Does she even know how topose songs?"

    "Poster above. Answer: ghostposer."

    "The song <i>¡¯ck Star¡¯</i> gave me goosebumps! I can¡¯t wait to hear the whole song!"

    "What sorcery is this? This is not Iris Long! I don¡¯t believe it. It must be an impostor!"

    "I didn¡¯t know that Iris Long could y the piano."

    "What ying the piano? It must be a camera trick or CG. Who¡¯ll believe that she can y the piano? If she really can, she would¡¯ve bragged about it and showed it off for everyone to see a long time ago. Why wait until now?"

    The reactions were mixed. Many of the fans of her previous musical style of dance pop didn¡¯t know how to feel about this drastic change.

    A few of them were dismayed, using Iris Long of being a traitor, even bing her anti-fans.

    Some of them were very excited and thought that this style suited her voice better.

    The majority were neutral, withholding their verdicts until the album was officially released.

    An announcement was posted on all of Iris Long¡¯s social media ounts. She would be performing on<i> "MusicFest Tonight"</i> thising Friday, a week before the official release of her album <i>"Rebirth".</i>

    <i>"MusicFest Tonight"</i> was a popr concert TV program aired live every Friday night from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, where singers, bands, idol groups, and musicians perform in front of arge audience.

    The previous Iris Long was a frequent guest performer in this program because many of her songs were quite popr that time. It would be more than two years since she performed on this stage.

    <i>"MusicFest Tonight"</i> would mark her officialeback performance since her disappearance and abrupt retirement two years ago.

    Many were looking forward to thising Friday¡¯s <i>"MusicFest Tonight"</i> episode for different reasons.

    Her haters couldn¡¯t wait for her to mess up hereback performance, humiliate herself, and be aughingstock.

    It was a fact, however, that people were curious about Iris Long. She disappeared for so long after all.

    How would she perform?

    Was the hype surrounding her uingeback album <i>"Rebirth"</i> worth it?

    Was she really changing her musical style?

    Would this change in style be sessful?

    What really happened to her during her absence?

    All sorts of questions popped into people¡¯s minds. They were hoping that Iris Long would provide them with answers thising Friday.

 Chapter 34 - Senior Jin Chonglin

    <h4>Chapter 34 - Senior Jin Chonglin </h4> <h4>Chapter 34: Senior Jin Chonglin</h4>

    <i>Friday.</i>

    Iris arrived at the TV station building where the big studio for <i>"MusicFest Tonight"</i> was located.

    Dom, her new manager Tang Yiyi, a makeup artist and a hair stylist provided by Bright Summit apanied her.

    She wore big, dark sunsses and a mask, so the crowd of various fans outside the building wouldn¡¯t recognize her.

    They were greeted by one of the show¡¯s assistant directors who led them to a dressing room. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t need to share it with other artists like before. Iris could feel the influence of both JJ and Bright Summit.

    They were fifteen minutes early.

    They first familiarized themselves with the dressing room. The makeup artist and the hair stylist started arranging their equipment. Finally, the two started working on Iris.

    Tang Yiyi was busy speaking to someone on the phone.

    A t-screen TV hanging on a corner showed that tonight¡¯s episode already began airing. They watched the opening artists¡¯ performances and short interviews, while Iris was having her hair and makeup done.

    Dom was pacing back and forth with an anxious expression on his face.

    "Dom, can you stop? You¡¯re making me dizzy." Iris finally couldn¡¯t stand his nonstop pacing anymore.

    "But boss, I¡¯m so nervous! I can¡¯t breathe! I feel like puking. I think I¡¯m gonna have a heart attack!"

    "Why are you nervous? I¡¯m the one who¡¯s performing on the stage, not you."

    "Dominic Chua, stop spreading your nervousness!" Tang Yiyi rebuked him. "You should be encouraging Iris instead. Do your job as an assistant properly! If you can¡¯t calm down, get out of the room!"

    "I...sorry, Big Sis Yiyi! Boss, just ignore me. I¡¯ll calm down." Dom took exaggerated inhtions and exhtions.

    Tang Yiyi rolled her eyes before turning to her new artist. "Don¡¯t be nervous. Rx and perform your best. I know you can do it. I¡¯ve seen how hard you worked making this album and rehearsing for this performance. Show everyone the new Iris Long. Show them that you deserve thiseback!"

    Iris smiled at her. "Don¡¯t worry, Elder Sister Yiyi. I¡¯m only feeling a little nervous. I¡¯ll be alright."

    "Good. The symphony orchestra has arrived. Everything¡¯s in order."

    "Thank you, Elder Sister Yiyi."

    She changed into an elegant emerald dress simr to the one she wore at the end of the video she posted on her social media ounts. However, the style was slightly different. This dress had subtle sparkles that glittered when the light hit them.

    "Oh my God, boss! You¡¯re gorgeous! Let me take pictures of you!" Dom excitedly snapped some photos of her from different angles.

    Iris chuckled. She amodated her assistant, striking ssy poses which made Dom squeal in delight.

    "You look beautiful." Tang Yiyi nodded her appreciation.

    "Thank you. Elder Sister Yiyi, I need to go the washroom."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll go with you. Dominic, stay here and guard our stuff."

    "No problem, Big Sis Yiyi!"

    When Iris and Tang Yiyi left the dressing room, Dom sent the photos he took of his boss to Jin Liwei.

    "Ehehe."

    Dom didn¡¯t feel guilty at all. He figured that it was only a matter of time before his boss and Mr. Jin Liwei officially became a couple. Dom was also a man. He knew when a man was interested in a woman.

    His Momsy told him before that he had a fearsome intuition. That was why he insisted that he worked and lived in China, even though his beloved family was in the Philippines. He just felt deep within his bones that his fortune was in this country. Others called him reckless, but for him, it was just walking the path God destined for him.

    If things went ording to Dom¡¯s predictions, then Mr. Jin Liwei would marry his boss. Then wouldn¡¯t Mr. Jin eventually be his boss as well? It wouldn¡¯t hurt to start presenting a good impression to his future sir boss now.

    "Ehehe."

    ###

    <i>Miles away.</i>

    <i>Jin Corporation.</i>

    A cold-faced Jin Liwei was leaving hispany building followed by his assistant, Xu Tian. His employees respectfully bowed and bid him goodbye as he walked past them.

    As the car drove out of the parking lot, Jin Liwei¡¯s phone beeped. He took a look and saw that it was a message from the girl¡¯s assistant.

    Momentster, a smile brightened the cold man¡¯s face. Xu Tian nced at the rear-view mirror and just happened to see the President smiling.

    He almost crashed the car.

    "Xu Tian, drive to a florist. Order one hundred fresh red roses and send it to Long Xin¡¯s home tonight."

    "Understood, President."

    Jin Liwei spent almost the entire drive looking at the photos, a dangerous smile on his face.

    ###

    <i>Back at the TV station building.</i>

    Iris and Tang Yiyi left the washroom after they were done. They hadn¡¯t met other artists so far, only encountering some of the show¡¯s staff who they exchanged greetings with.

    Iris could see the curiosity for her in their eyes when they recognized her. She just smiled at them, not speaking much.

    However, they soon met a familiar face in the hallway while they were heading back to her dressing room.

    "Eh? Is that you, Iris Long?" Jin Chonglin called out to her, his eyes widening in surprise upon seeing her.

    Iris stiffened and stopped walking for about a second before putting a formal smile on her face. She gracefully walked towards Jin Chonglin. He was apanied by his manager, Lin Dong.

    She knew that he would also be performing tonight because she saw his blog post a few days ago saying so. She just didn¡¯t expect that she would meet him in the hallway like this.

    An image of Jin Liwei rose in her mind, warning her to stay away from his brother.

    Suddenly feeling annoyed, she pushed the arrogant man out of her mind as she greeted the damn man¡¯s younger brother in front of her.

    "Greetings to Senior Jin Chonglin!"

 Chapter 35 - Alarm Girls

    <h4>Chapter 35 - rm Girls </h4> <h4>Chapter 35: rm Girls</h4>

    Jin Chonglin was also an artist managed under Bright Summit Entertainment Company. This means that he was, technically speaking, Iris Long¡¯s senior.

    "Good to see you, Junior Iris Long." Jin Chonglin followed her example smoothly.

    He made sure to look at her thoroughly from head to toe and back up again. The long dressplemented her alluring figure, and the emerald colour made her white skin glow like the purest of pearls.

    Damn! She looked absolutely gorgeous. He subconsciously nodded his head in appreciation of her beauty.

    Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong nodded at each other in greeting.

    "So how are you?" Jin Chonglin asked her, making conversation. "You seem to be doing well."

    "Yes. Thank you, senior," she replied politely.

    Jin Chonglin waited for a few seconds, but she didn¡¯t say anything else. "Good luck on youreback performance tonight. I¡¯ll be sure to watch."

    "Thank you. I also wish senior good luck on your performance."

    He gave her his best smile; his famous smile that never failed to send his fans screaming and even some fainting. He won over a lot of women and bent a lot of men with this trademark killer smile.

    However, Iris was unmoved. Her expression remained polite.

    He was a bit disappointed when he didn¡¯t get more of a reaction from her aside from her polite smile.

    Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be interested in him?

    Didn¡¯t she follow him around before?

    Why was she acting so distant now?

    "If senior will excuse us, we need to return to my dressing room. I might get called for my turn soon."

    "Sure, sure. Go ahead. See you sometime in thepany. Good luck." He stepped aside to let Iris and her manager through.

    "Watch your actions," Lin Dong warned him when the two women disappeared from their view. "It¡¯s best not to get too close to Iris Long at this time. Your fianc¨¦e hates her guts. The public thinks that there¡¯s a love triangle going on between you three. They even think that you fathered a child with her. Don¡¯t make trouble."

    "I know, I know! Gosh, you don¡¯t trust me!"

    "I do trust you but not when ites to women."

    "Hmph!"

    "Let¡¯s go."

    The two men walked to Jin Chonglin¡¯s dressing room.

    ###

    Iris and Tang Yiyi almost reached their dressing room but along the way, they were blocked by a trio of brightly and skimpily dressed young women.

    From the original Iris¡¯ memories, she recognized them as the girl group called rm Girls. These girls and the original Iris shared the same musical style.

    However, their looks (already enhanced by cosmetic surgeries) couldn¡¯tpare to Iris Long¡¯s natural beauty. Their vocals were mediocre at best. Their songs also weren¡¯t as popr as Iris¡¯ viral songs.

    Some of their fans startedparing them to Iris Long; more specifically, on how they couldn¡¯tpare to her. Then some fans started using the three girls of imitating Iris Long. It happened so often that the girls started hating Iris.

    The original Iris didn¡¯t care about them at first, but when the trio started provoking her whenever they met, Iris would lose her temper and retaliate. Trading insults was a regr urrence between them.

    Iris was curious about how the trio would act this time. She watched them approach, not saying anything.

    "Well, well, well. So the biggest slut in showbiz is really making aeback?" Wanwan, the trio¡¯s leader,ughed sarcastically at Iris.

    "I heard you got pregnant? How¡¯s the baby? Or did you abort it?" Feifei followed their leader.

    "Of course she aborted it! She dared to pin the responsibility to Jin Chonglin? How shameless!" Mimi sneered.

    "Excuse me. Stop causing trouble. Or we¡¯ll report your outrageous behaviour to your managementpany." Tang Yiyi stepped forward, blocking them from Iris.

    The trio ignored her; their aggro was firmly on Iris.

    Wanwan: "Do you really think that just by changing your image and your musical style, you¡¯ll be weed back in the industry with open arms? How na?ve! You should never havee back! You don¡¯t belong here anymore."

    Mimi: "Yeah! You¡¯re nothing but an outdated and damaged product now. Nobody wants you here so go back to retirement where you belong!"

    Feifei: "You¡¯re nothing but a bitch! A slut! A whore!"

 Chapter 36 - Furious Dominic

    <h4>Chapter 36 - Furious Dominic </h4> <h4>Chapter 36: Furious Dominic</h4>

    "You!" Tang Yiyi was enraged. "Security? Security! There are people causing trouble here!"

    The door to Iris¡¯ dressing room opened. Dom came out, wanting to know who was causing so much ruckus. Seeing his boss and Sis Yiyi surrounded by three girls who looked like hookers, he immediately walked over to protect the two.

    The hair stylist and makeup artist also stuck their heads out of the door, but Tang Yiyi motioned them to stay inside the room. They obeyed, closing the door firmly behind them. However, they stuck their ears close to the door and even tried peeking through the slit to see what was happening.

    Seeing such a cute young man suddenly step in front of them, interest gleamed in the trio¡¯s eyes.

    Dom shuddered. He felt like the three hookers were stripping him naked with their eyes.

    When the rm Girls saw him acting protectively of that Iris slut, their hatred and jealousy towards her deepened even more.

    Feifei: "A slut will always be a slut. You¡¯re not satisfied with Jin Chonglin? Now you¡¯ve seduced another man?"

    Mimi: "Mister, don¡¯t be fooled by that slut. She seduces all handsome guys that she sees and sleeps with them. You should stay away from a dirty woman like her. I¡¯m saying this for your own good."

    Wanwan: "Mimi, don¡¯t bother warning him. Everyone knows that Iris Long is a slut. Men choose to be with her because they want to fuck her. That¡¯s what a slut is for, anyway."

    Hearing such disgusting wordsing from their dirty mouths, Dom was instantly furious. "<i>Putang ina!1</i> Shameless! Who do you think you bitches are?! You¡¯re the sluts! Your whole family are sluts!"

    How dare these hookers say such immoral things about his boss? Unforgivable!

    He wouldn¡¯t normally hit females because his Momsy raised him well, but if these bitches go too far, he would wipe their ugly faces on the floor. Just watch him.

    Some of the show¡¯s staff were already making their way towards them, responding to themotion.

    "Dom." Iris finally spoke after staying quiet. She stopped her assistant who was about to lose control and charge at the three girls.

    Iris stepped forward, looking at the three girls with cold eyes. In a deceptively gentle voice, she spoke to them.

    "I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve heard, but I got in a serious ident two years ago and wasatose for a whole year. As a result, I¡¯m suffering from selective amnesia. Excuse me, but I don¡¯t remember who you are. At all. Please kindly move aside. We have to return to my dressing room."

    "You bitch!" Forgot about them? How dare this slut?! Wanwan charged forward to attack.

    "What¡¯s going on here?" One of the show¡¯s staff finally arrived and asked aloud.

    The other two girls pulled at their leader when they saw the staff.

    "These girls are causing trouble to my artist!" Tang Yiyi immediately aired her grievances, threatening to use Bright Summit to make a formalint.

    More staff members reached them. They separated the two parties and mediated.

    The manager of rm Girls was called and politely reprimanded for the incident.

    The trio tried to shift the me to Iris and her manager, using the two of bullying them. The staff members turned their attention to Iris and Tang Yiyi, asking what they had to say to the usation.

    Tang Yiyi was enraged but she was professional and managed to keep her cool.

    As if on cue, Iris blinked several times and her eyes suddenly watered, her face forlorn. Added with her natural beauty and grace, the staff members panicked seeing her heartbroken expression. They immediately felt protective of her and inwardly shifted the me on the three girls.

    How could someone with such an angelic face bully others?

    They didn¡¯t notice that her "heartbroken" expression was shallow, only focusing on her beauty.

    "Now, now. Miss Long, please don¡¯t cry. We sincerely apologize that this happened to you." The staff member turned to the trio¡¯s manager. "What kind of manager are you, letting your artists cause trouble in a ce like this? Do you think this is your own house?"

    The manager of the trio panicked. He repeatedly bowed and apologized to Iris and the staff.

    Feifei: "Why are you apologizing? We did nothing wrong! It¡¯s all that bitch¡¯s fault!"

    Mimi: "That¡¯s right! We¡¯re being wrongfully used!"

    Wanwan: "Are you people blind?! Can¡¯t you see that she¡¯s faking her tears?!"

    "You three, stop it. Apologize to Miss Long right now." Their manager pleaded with them.

    Wanwan: "No way! We¡¯ll never apologize to a slut like her!"

    The staff members looked at the three girls with disgust.

    Iris suddenly swayed and grabbed Tang Yiyi¡¯s arm for support. Her eyes drooped; her face pale. Her pretty eyebrows were scrunched into a painful frown. She lightly gasped for breath.

    She looked like she was going to faint.

    "Putang ina" is a Filipino curse phrase which trantes to "(Your) mother is a slut".

 Chapter 37 - Acting Duo

    <h4>Chapter 37 - Acting Duo </h4> <h4>Chapter 37: Acting Duo</h4>

    Seeing Iris Long¡¯s suddenly weak and ill appearance, the staff members were rmed.

    Iris threw a quick, meaningful look at Dom before continuing to sway as if she was going to fall at any moment. She held onto Tang Yiyi¡¯s arm tightly as if her life depended on it.

    Dom caught his boss¡¯ look and immediately understood her intention. Without any hesitation, he brought out his over-the-top, award-worthy acting performance. He gasped loudly. His expression was filled with fear and righteous indignation.

    "Oh no! This is bad! Miss Long is going to faint! Don¡¯t you know that she wasatose for a year?! Her heart can¡¯t handle too much stress! How could you agitate her this way! Quick! Take those troublemakers away! How dare you three bully her?! Do you n on killing her?! You murderers!"

    Dom wailed loudly, rming the surrounding staff even more.

    Tang Yiyi immediately panicked. She had no idea that a performance was currently ying in front of her, starring the acting duo of Iris Long and Dominic Chua. Although there was something unnatural and awkward about the actions of the two, Tang Yiyi was still concerned because it was a fact that Iris wasatose before. She wrapped her arms around Iris protectively. Iris dropped her head to her manager¡¯s shoulders, closed her eyes, and let her knees buckle.

    "Iris!" Tang Yiyi was afraid. She held up Iris¡¯ limp body to prevent her from falling on the floor.

    Dom swooped down and carried his boss princess-style.

    "Is Miss Long gonna be okay?" The staff asked worriedly. "Someone call an ambnce!"

    "No need," Dom quickly stopped them. "Miss Long brought her medicine. I¡¯ll just give her some and she¡¯ll be fine. Just please give us a few minutes to ourselves. I know that Miss Long won¡¯t want her condition to cause trouble for you and the show."

    "Yes, yes. Of course. We¡¯ll leave you inside your dressing room. Don¡¯t hesitate to call any of us and we¡¯ll immediately assist you if you need anything."

    "Thank you. Please excuse us." Dom carried his boss inside the dressing room; a panicked Tang Yiyi following behind them.

    "Big Sis Yiyi, please close the door behind you."

    "Yes, yes." She fumbled with the door before she was able to close it properly. "Will Iris be really okay? What do we do now? I think we should call an ambnce. This looks serious. Wait, let me cancel her performance first."

    "No need for that, Elder Sister Yiyi." Iris¡¯ calm voice almost made Tang Yiyi¡¯s soul fly out of her body.

    "Iris!"

    "Ssshh!" Dom gestured for her to be quiet, as he put his boss down on her own feet.

    "W-what¡¯s going on?" Tang Yiyi was confused alongside the hair stylist and the make-up artist.

    "Boss, boss! Ehe. How was my performance? Was I good? I was good, right? No, I was awesome!"

    Iris smiled. "Yes, Dom. You were awesome. Worthy of the best supporting actor award."

    "Ehehehe. Of course! Who do you think I am? I¡¯m your assistant! If I can¡¯t even do this much, then I¡¯m not worthy! But boss¡¯ acting also deserves the best actress award. Did you see everyone¡¯s faces when you started tearing up and fainting? Ahaha!"

    Iris turned to the makeup artist. "Sorry, but can you do a quick touch up of my makeup?"

    "Y-yes." The makeup artist woke up from her daze and immediately set to work. The hair stylist followed suit and fixed Iris¡¯ already immacte hair.

    "You two! You were acting?!" Tang Yiyi couldn¡¯t believe them. "You almost scared me to death!"

    So that was why their actions didn¡¯t feel natural. However, everyone was too caught up in the moment that nobody paid close attention to whether Iris and Dom were faking it or not.

    "Forgive us, Elder Sister Yiyi." Iris spoke in a calm voice. "If Dom and I didn¡¯t do that, we would¡¯ve all been forced to stay in that disagreeable situation for a long time. I don¡¯t have the time nor the energy to spare arguing against those stupid girls. I just want to focus on my uing performance and do my best."

    Tang Yiyi¡¯s eyes softened. Finally, she sighed and said, "I understand. Just don¡¯t scare me like that again. But are you really okay?"

    "Don¡¯t worry, Elder Sister Yiyi. I¡¯m healthy."

    "Do you really have selective amnesia?" Tang Yiyi remembered what Iris told the three girls earlier.

 Chapter 38 - I Will Perform Tonight

    <h4>Chapter 38 - I Will Perform Tonight </h4> <h4>Chapter 38: I Will Perform Tonight</h4>

    Iris giggled. "Of course not. My memory is perfectly fine."

    "You!" Tang Yiyi didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. "After promoting your album, perhaps we should start auditioning you for acting roles. But you need a little more training."

    "I¡¯ll leave it to you, Elder Sister Yiyi. But right now, I want to focus on music."

    "Hey, Big Sis Yiyi! Why don¡¯t youpliment me? I¡¯m a great actor, right? I was awesome just now, wasn¡¯t I? Right? Right?"

    Tang Yiyi chuckled. "Yes, yes. You¡¯re a good actor, Dominic. But of course Iris is slightly better than you."

    "Ehehehe! Of course. Boss is the best!"

    They heard a knock on the door.

    Iris immediately reverted to looking slightly weak. The makeup artist and hair stylist stepped back.

    Dom looked at his fellow aplices and nodded before opening the door, appearing overdramatic by doing so.

    It was a staff member. Seeing that Iris was finally awake, he was visibly relieved. "Miss Long, we are truly sorry about what happened. We already reported the rm Girls and the incident to our higher-ups."

    Tang Yiyi snorted. "Your higher-ups should expect a call from our Bright Summit¡¯s higher-ups. Inviting artists with such questionable morals and allowing them to bully one of our artists...what are you going to do if something happened to our Iris? What if she fails to wake up and besatose again?"

    The staff member paled. "We¡¯re terribly sorry. We will make sure to demand a proper apology and exnation from the rm Girls¡¯ managementpany. Please don¡¯t worry, Manager Tang."

    "Elder Sister Yiyi, it¡¯s not the staff¡¯s fault. With so many artists performing, they can¡¯t possibly control and monitor everyone at the same time. Don¡¯t be too angry. See? I¡¯m alright now." Iris turned to the staff member. "How much longer till it¡¯s my turn to perform?"

    "Ah? What? You¡¯re still performing?" The staff member was shocked.

    "Of course."

    "B-but...but you fainted. Are you sure you¡¯re okay? Don¡¯t worry. We can reschedule you for another episode. You have legitimate reason. We won¡¯t me you."

    "You better not me my artist," Tang Yiyi warned.

    "No. I am scheduled to perform tonight, so I will." Iris spoke calmly but with conviction.

    Admiration filled the staff member¡¯s eyes. "I understand. As long as you¡¯re really okay. There are still a few more performances to go. Just stay here and wait. We¡¯ll call you for standby when it¡¯s almost your turn."

    "I understand. Thank you."

    The staff member left.

    Iris andpany watched the ongoing performances on the TV inside the dressing room.

    After a few more performances, Iris was finally called out for standby backstage. Tang Yiyi and Dom went with her, trying to calm her down when they were the ones more nervous than her. She just smiled at them, appreciating their care.

    Onstage, the male and female hosts were interviewing a newly formed male idol group after their performance.

    Behind the curtains, a symphony orchestra started climbing on the stage, preparing for the next performance.

    The interview with the male idol group finally ended. The audience was in high spirits.

    "Are you ready for the next performance?" the male host asked the audience.

    "Yes!" the audience screamed at the top of the lungs.

    "Our next performance is a special one," the female host said in a mysterious tone.

    "Ooooooh!"

    The audience was very receptive.

    Male host: "Yes, it is special indeed. Our next performer abruptly retired and disappeared for two years. Now she is back and will also release her new album a week from now."

    The audience quietened, whispering among themselves. They were already beginning to guess the next performer¡¯s identity.

    Female host: "You¡¯re right. What¡¯s more shocking is that she changed into a new musical style! Even I am shocked. This will be her officialeback performance after her two-year retirement."

    Male host: "Everyone, can you guess who it is?"

    "Yes!" the audience shouted.

    Female host: "Everyone please wee our next performer!"

    Male host: "From her uing album <i>¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i>, singing the song <i>¡¯ck Star¡¯</i> for the first time on television..."

    Both hosts: "Iris Long!"

    Polite apuse.

    The lights went out.

 Chapter 39 - Black Star

    <h4>Chapter 39 - ck Star </h4> <h4>Chapter 39: ck Star</h4>

    The stage at the front was in total darkness, but the audience glowed like a sea of stars in the night sky. Seeing the spectacr effect of their light sticks in total darkness, the audience cheered louder.

    They were interrupted when the edge of the stage lit up like Christmas lights. However, they still couldn¡¯t see anything on the stage itself which was still shrouded in darkness.

    There were still some whispering among the audience, but when they heard a mournful piano melody reverberate throughout the entire studio, everyone finally closed their mouths and became quiet. Holding their breaths, they focused entirely on the music.

    After a few more notes, an ethereal voice began singing along with the piano melody. The voice was just humming, harmonizing perfectly with the piano melody, yet was able to convey so much emotion without lyrics.

    The voice sounded like a crying goddess descending from the heavens, heartbroken by the darkness in the hearts of mortals.

    The lights at the back of the stage turned on, showing a well-dressed symphony orchestra. The orchestra started ying, harmonizing with the piano and the ethereal voice seamlessly.

    Momentster, the spotlight finally lit the grand piano at the centre of the stage and the beautiful young woman sitting in front of it.

    Her fingers flew above the piano keys like butterflies flitting from flower to flower.

    The audience gasped when they finally saw Iris Long. They almost couldn¡¯t recognize her.

    Was this really Iris Long?

    Her emerald dress sparkled gently like stars, giving the illusion that she was glowing with divine light.

    A goddess.

    No, a fairy.

    A fairy goddess.

    Her long ck hair was artfully arranged in gentle waves flowing behind her. Her entire aura bespoke a noble countenance.

    She began singing; her voice so exquisite that the audience felt their chests tighten.

    "I was young and fearless

    zed through my dreams without direction

    Tried to reach the sea of the brightest stars in the sky

    Looking down on all of us dreamers

    The stars above

    Ournd of dreams"

    The young people in the audience felt their blood boil when they heard the lyrics. All of them had dreams they were trying to achieve. They felt inspired. Yet why was the melody so heartbreaking?

    "I sang a song

    A song not mine

    A song everyone else is singing

    I lost my voice

    I lost myself

    I lost the essence of my dream"

    Oh. The audience thought about the methods they were using to achieve their dreams. Weren¡¯t they just doing what everybody else was doing? They were alwayspeting with each other using the same, old form. It became all about crushing the opponents to get ahead or even just riding others¡¯ momentum, instead of staying true to themselves.

    "My shooting star lost its light

    I died, I faded

    I am nothing

    Nothing but a ck star

    A ck star in the grave of dreams

    I cried, I prayed

    Yet I¡¯m still nothing

    Nothing but a ck star

    A ck star crawling up the grave of dreams"

    In the audience, the ones who failed to sessfully achieve their dreams felt like someone stabbed a sharp knife into their hearts and twisted hard. Some had tears in their eyes, remembering the hopeless feeling of despair when they realized that they weren¡¯t good enough, lucky enough to achieve their dreams. They were failures in life; no choice but to give up their dreams and settle for the safe, easy paths.

    "Oh, stars above

    Oh,nd of dreams

    I failed but I¡¯m still dreaming

    The meaning of life is to live our dreams

    We fail, we fall

    Yet still we keep on dreaming

    No matter how far a ck star falls

    It¡¯s still a star that can glow again"

    Their hearts thumped. They already failed. They had already given up. Could they really keep on dreaming? Should they keep on dreaming? Could their passion really ignite once again?

    Unbeknown to them, a tiny me of hope had already lit up within their hearts.

 Chapter 40 - A Song Entirely Mine

    <h4>Chapter 40 - A Song Entirely Mine </h4> <h4>Chapter 40: A Song Entirely Mine</h4>

    The melody intensified, the symphony orchestra reaching crescendo as Iris¡¯ crystal clear voice effortlessly reached the high notes.

    Beautiful.

    The piano was no longer mournful, but hopeful instead.

    "Now I sing this song

    A song entirely mine

    A song only I can sing

    I found my voice

    I found myself

    I once again found the essence of my dream"

    Heat spread through the audience¡¯s veins. It sounded so nice. It would surely feel great if they could once again find the passion to chase after their dreams. They clutched their hands to their chests, feeling their racing hearts as they focused and listened to the song.

    Iris sang with all her might, as if singing for her life. She threw her head back as her pounding fingers gradually slowed and softened, gently caressing the piano keys like a mother to her infant child. Her voice also softened, almost turning into a whisper as she sang thest notes of the song.

    "I¡¯m a ck star with no light

    But so what? I¡¯ll glow again

    My dream glows bright in my heart

    I¡¯m a ck star that¡¯ll light up, you¡¯ll see"

    Iris closed her eyes as the music stopped, gasping; her face filled with emotions.

    The song finally ended.

    Silence.

    One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

    Booming sound of loud apuse! Cheering! Whistling! Screaming! Crying!

    It was deafening.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!"

    It was unknown who started it, but soon the entire audience was chanting her name. They all stood up, pping their hands as hard as they could. Many were in tears.

    Iris shuddered as the loud apuse washed heavily over her. In her past life, she was almost always alone. Sure, she had bodyguards and servants but they were too well-trained. They weren¡¯t allowed to befriend her or they would be severely punished.

    Her father and older brother, as the leader and heir to their family organization, were always out working and travelling somewhere in the world. Her mother was an emotionless robot whose sole purpose was to dedicate her life and talents to the family organization.

    She also had a dream then: a dream to live her life freely, to share her music to the world. To stand onstage and listen to an audience p and cheer for her. To leave her mark in the world, to prove that she existed.

    However, her identity in her previous life never permitted her to be the centre of attention. She was fated to live in the darkest shadows of the Underworld.

    But now, in this second life of hers, she finally had a taste of living her dream! An intense, foreign emotion welled and rose from deep within her, spilling out of her eyes without her control.

    She stood shakily and walked to the front of the stage. Tears flowed nonstop down her face, but she still looked beautiful. She swept her eyes across everyone in the audience.

    She raised both of her arms high up in the air; a gesture of triumph. A big smile lit her face. Utter delight and excitement.

    After a few moments, she gave the audience a deep, elegant curtsy bow. Her body so low that it almost touched the floor, showing them the depth of her gratitude.

    The apuse and cheers grew even louder. Everyone in the audience felt honoured to be on the receiving end of such a beautiful and elegant curtsy bow.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris! Iris!"

    Iris stood up, touching her chest with both hands, nodding her head and mouthing the words "thank you".

    Then she turned around and repeated the deep curtsy bow to the symphony orchestra who performed with her. The orchestra musicians, in turn, bowed deeply to her.

    She stood up and pped her hands to the orchestra¡¯s direction, gesturing for the audience to give them much-deserved apuse as well.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris! Iris! Iris!"

 Chapter 41 - Iris! Iris! Iris!

    <h4>Chapter 41 - Iris! Iris! Iris! </h4> <h4>Chapter 41: Iris! Iris! Iris!</h4>

    The main lights turned on, illuminating the entire studio. Over a minute already passed but the audience¡¯s apuse and cheers still continued to reverberate throughout the entire ce.

    Iris put her hands on her chest, smiling at the crowd with an expression of amazed disbelief.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!" they continued to chant her name.

    Finally, the two hosts walked back to the stage. They stood beside Iris and sandwiched her between them.

    Male host: "Wow! Just wow! What an incredible performance!"

    "Yes. Amazing! I¡¯m feeling so emotional right now! My makeup is now ruined," the female host cried.

    Male host: "Ahahaha! Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re still pretty."

    The audienceughed, as well as Iris.

    A staff member climbed up the stage to hand a box of tissues. The male host received it and offered the box to both Iris and his female partner. Both women took some tissues, turned around and carefully dabbed the tears from their faces.

    The audience was still standing and pping and cheering and whistling and screaming.

    After a few seconds, the two women finally turned to face the audience once again. The hosts waited for a few more moments before the audience began to settle down.

    Male host: "First of all, we want to say wee back, Iris Long!"

    Iris: "Thank you. Thank you very much!"

    The audience responded with enthusiasm.

    "Wee back, Iris!"

    "That was so amazing!"

    "I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re this awesome!"

    "I love you, Iris!"

    "Marry me, Iris Long!"

    Female host: "Just listen to the audience. They loved your performance."

    Iris: "Thank you so much, everyone!"

    The audience screamed and pped harder before settling down once again a few secondster.

    Female host: "This is your officialeback performance. How does it feel to return to the stage after two years of absence?"

    Iris: "Nervous. Excited. Happy. I can¡¯t describe exactly all of the emotions that I¡¯m feeling right now. I¡¯m just...so happy!"

    Male host: "I bet. Iris, is it true that youposed all the songs in your uing album <i>¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i>?"

    Iris: "Yes, it¡¯s true. I know that it may sound unbelievable to many of you, but I really didpose all the songs in my album. I consider it as finding my true path. This is why I had to change my musical style because I discovered that my old style is not me at all. I changed because I found the real me. Creating my own music is my true path."

    Female host: "I see. I¡¯m happy for you, Iris. <i>¡¯ck Star¡¯</i> is such an emotional and meaningful song. Did you write it based on your experience?"

    Iris: "Yes. All of the songs in my uing album <i>¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i> are more or less based on my real experiences and emotions."

    Male host: "Speaking of your real experiences, I hope you don¡¯t mind that I¡¯m asking you this but all of us want to know. What really happened to you? Why did you disappear for two years? There are so many rumours flying around about you, but we want to know the truth from your own words."

    The audience leaned forward, as if doing so would make them hear Iris¡¯ answer more clearly.

    Iris: "Some of you may have heard, I was involved in a car ident two years ago. It was very serious. Fatal actually. I died, but they managed to revive me. However, I failed to wake up and wasatose for one year."

    Female host: "What?! Oh my God. So it¡¯s really true? I¡¯m so shocked!"

    Iris: "Yes, it¡¯s true. I only woke up about a year ago and I had to spend months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. In fact, I still need to go to regr check-ups and asional physio even now."

    Male host: "We didn¡¯t know that something so serious like this happened to you. Are you okay now? Are you healthy?"

    Iris: "Thank you. Yes, I¡¯m alright now. I¡¯m healthy. I just get dizzy sometimes, but nothing too serious. Please don¡¯t worry."

    Female host: "That¡¯s good to hear. Before we let you go, Iris, please say something to everyone regarding your showbizeback, your future ns, and your uing album."

    Iris nodded, faced the audience, scanning everyone with her clear eyes, trying to convey to them her sincerity.

    Iris: "I know that I offended a lot of people before due to my ignorance and arrogance. I can only me it on my youth, immaturity, and narrow-mindedness. I failed to appreciate your support, taking your sincerity for granted. I regret that I had to go through an actual life and death experience to realize how shallow and ungrateful I¡¯ve been. That¡¯s why I hope that with my new album <i>¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i>, you can see and experience the new me. The me who will strive hard to be a better person than I was before, a more meaningful person, and to appreciate life and you, my supporters, all the more. I just want to share my music with all of you because my music is my feelingsing from the real me. So I hope that you¡¯ll take the chance to check out my album <i>¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i> which will be released next week. Thank you very much!"

    Male host: "Thank you, Iris! We¡¯ll surely look forward to your new album. Everyone, please give another round of apuse for..."

    Both hosts: "Iris Long!"

    Another loud standing ovation.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!"

 Chapter 42 - Mortal Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 42 - Mortal Enemy </h4> <h4>Chapter 42: Mortal Enemy</h4>

    <i>Jin Chonglin¡¯s dressing room.</i>

    Everyone inside was quiet as they watched Iris Long¡¯s impressive performance. When one of his assistants was about toment, Jin Chonglin raised a hand and gestured for him to be quiet.

    He wanted to focus on watching her entire performance, not missing any detail, no matter how big or small.

    When the song ended, Jin Chonglin even stood up and pped his hands. Lin Dong and the others followed suit.

    "That was a brilliant performance. And what a wonderful song." Jin Chonglin sat back down. "I didn¡¯t know that her voice can reach that range. Wow. She¡¯s full of surprises."

    "I almost can¡¯t believe that she¡¯s really Iris Long," Lin Dong said.

    "Me too. This musical style really suits her better, especially with the quality of her vocals. She already had a great voice before, but her previous songscked too much depth to showcase her true abilities. Now...wow. Even I¡¯m amazed."

    "Yes." Lin Dong narrowed his eyes as he looked at Jin Chonglin. "Don¡¯t tell that she¡¯s your type now."

    "You bastard! I¡¯m an engaged man. Stop doubting my faithfulness!"

    Lin Dong snorted. "I already warned you, Chonglin. Even if you can¡¯tpletely avoid Iris Long especially now that you both work under the samepany, it¡¯s safer to lessen your interactions as much as possible. Both of you can¡¯t afford to get involved in a scandal right now. You¡¯re getting married and she¡¯s just had hereback."

    "Tsk. I already know! Don¡¯t keep reminding me!"

    "My job is to remind you so little Chonglin down there won¡¯t forget!" Lin Dong¡¯s eyes lowered to Jin Chonglin¡¯s crotch.

    "Bastard!"

    "At your service."

    "Hmph!"

    Although he said this, Jin Chonglin thought that it would be interesting to work with this new Iris Long. Maybe they could create some music and sing together.

    His character might be questionable, but beneath his yboy tendencies, he was first and foremost an artist. A talented and skilled one at that. If not, he wouldn¡¯t reach the level he was at now. Working with other talented and skilled artists was something he naturally craved.

    However, it seemed that he and Iris Long were not fated to work together with all the stupid rumours surrounding them.

    What a pity.

    ###

    <i>rm Girls¡¯ dressing room.</i>

    "Aaaaaaaah!" Wanwan sent all the things on the dressing table crashing to the floor. "Bitch!"

    Mimi followed her leader¡¯s example and kicked the chairs to the floor.

    Feifei stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her angry face looking vicious as she red at the TV showing the slut¡¯s performance. "That slut already disappeared! Why does she need to return again?!"

    Wanwan: "Of course it¡¯s because she doesn¡¯t want to leave us alone! Seeing that we¡¯re now popr, she feels threatened so she just have to return and sabotage us."

    Mimi: "Despicable! So petty! Bitch! Whore! Slut!"

    "Girls, calm down! Please calm down! What if someone hears you?" Their manager pleaded with them but stayed close to the door, ready to flee outside at any moment the girls became violent with him. He was afraid that the girls would lose control and throw things at him. "Why are you so focused on Iris Long? She already changed her musical style. You don¡¯t have to worry aboutpeting with her anymore. Just ignore her."

    The trio all turned their heads at him at the same time and red. Their synchronization even in real life was quite impressive.

    Feifei: "So what if she changed her musical style? She¡¯s still the same bitch that she was before. In fact, she has be an even bigger bitch, causing us to get into trouble with the show!"

    Mimi: "Exactly! So despicable! Manager, you have to do something! Otherwise, thepany will punish us."

    Their manager sighed. "We can¡¯t do anything about that. Iris Long is now under Bright Summit. You know how protective Bright Summit is with their artists. Plus there¡¯s JJ. Nobody dares offend that ogre in the music industry. And it looks like JJ is intent on developing her musical career. Ourpany can¡¯t afford to offend those people. Just forget about Iris Long."

    Wanwan: "Hmph! That bitch is too lucky. Not only is she born a daughter of the Long family, now she has Bright Summit and JJ backing her up as well. She¡¯s really talented in lying on her back and opening her legs."

    Feifei: "Exactly. How else could she curry favour with Bright Summit and JJ? They have such high standards. I don¡¯t believe that they¡¯d sign that slut with them unless she sold her body."

    Mimi: "How despicable! She¡¯s such a slut! I want to vomit."

    When they heard the loud apuse and cheering of the audience after Iris¡¯ performance on the TV, the trio¡¯s hatred and jealousy skyrocketed.

    The standing ovationsted for a long time. When they performed earlier, they only received a few seconds of polite apuse and they were mostly from the guys. Nobody even stood up.

    How could that slut receive suchmendation?

    They became even more furious when they watched Iris¡¯ interview. The length of her interview wasparable to the A-list performers. When they were being interviewed earlier, they barely uttered a sentence each. The hosts almost kicked them off the stage to wee the next performer.

    The girls couldn¡¯t ept the difference in their treatments. They worked so hard, almost never taking a break these two years, while that Iris slut disappeared from showbiz probably busy whoring herself.

    They didn¡¯t believe the crap about her beingatose. They weren¡¯t dumb like most of the people.

    That slut disappeared for two years, while they slowly but surely climbed up to where they were now. They got to where they were now with their blood, sweat and tears. While their contemporaries were busy selling their flesh to advance their careers in the shortest amount of time possible, the rm Girls endured lukewarm reception and even the asional suppression just so they could preserve their dignity.

    It was so unfair that Iris just had to open her legs and she could get all the good things.

    That slut should¡¯ve started from the bottom again, far beneath them, when she returned to showbiz. But howe it looked like the slut became even more popr now?

    How hateful!

    Uneptable!

    Unforgivable!

    If Iris Long thought that they would let her continue climbing higher above them, she was sorely mistaken. Their hatred and jealousy for her consumed them that they dered her as their sworn mortal enemy.

 Chapter 43 - Ghost Composer

    <h4>Chapter 43 - Ghost Composer </h4> <h4>Chapter 43: Ghost Composer</h4>

    <i>"MusicFest Tonight"</i> was broadcast live on television and on video streaming websites online. Netizens also livemented as each of the performances were happening.

    This Friday¡¯s episode was proving to be one of the most popr and most discussed. It was also on its way into obtaining the highest TV rating against other programs broadcast in the same time slot.

    Part of the reason why this episode garnered this much attention was because of Iris Long¡¯seback performance. Both JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit did an excellent job in heavily promoting her uingeback album.

    The biggest reason, however, was Jin Chonglin. An A-list artist like him was akin to a god descending upon the mortal realm to disy his might and magnificence, while at the same time showering everyone with blessings. His massive army of fans alone would already guarantee an excellent viewership rating for any show he guested in.

    Factor in the rumours about the two of them circting energetically online, even people who were not their fans felt interested and watched this Friday¡¯s episode hoping to witness some sort of confirmation about their rtionship.

    In short,<i> "MusicFest Tonight"</i> had these bored rumourmongers to thank for in obtaining such an impressive viewership rating.

    Finally, the long awaited moment hade. Iris Long was about to perform. People glued their eyes to their screens, be it on TV orputer.

    Livements popped every second all throughout her entire performance and also during her short interview. The discussions blew up online.

    "Holy shit! Wow! This is fucking amazing!"

    "Iris looks so beautiful tonight."

    "Her dress is gorgeous! Are those real crystals on the fabric? I wonder where I can buy the dress...."

    "I finally found my new goddess. Ah, goddess Iris! Please marry this NEET! I offer my life to you...and share my precious instant cup noodles with you forever and ever."

    "Damn! She can really y the piano. I thought that she was only faking it on her music video previews, but she¡¯s actually ying the piano for real and even singing at the same time on live TV."

    "I¡¯m a pianist myself. I can confidently say that she¡¯s at expert level. Maybe even higher. I have to see her perform other more difficult pieces to be certain. Great technique. No hesitation at all. And she rarely looks at her hands during her performance. The symphony orchestra isn¡¯t drowning her at all which is great. Iris Long has my respect as a fellow pianist."

    "I now have a new favourite song: <i>¡¯ck Star¡¯</i>!"

    "Me too! I cried listening to the song."

    "I now hereby solemnly swear that the song<i> ¡¯ck Star¡¯</i> by Iris Long is now my personal anthem."

    +31

    +7,967

    +65,902 likes and counting.

    "I¡¯m a ck star with no light | But so what? I¡¯ll glow again | My dream glows bright in my heart | I¡¯m a ck star that¡¯ll light up, you¡¯ll see~ This is my new life motto. I feel so inspired."

    "My favourite part is this: ¡¯No matter how far a ck star falls | It¡¯s still a star that can glow again¡¯. It¡¯s a heartbreaking but very hopeful song. I feel uplifted after listening to it. Now it¡¯s stuck in my head."

    "I can¡¯t wait until the<i> ¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i> album is released next week!"

    "Me too! I never looked forward to any song or album by Iris Long before. This is the first time."

    "Don¡¯t evenpare her old music to <i>¡¯ck Star¡¯</i>. Although her old songs are catchy and extremely popr during that time, I cringe whenever I hear them now."

    "Ahaha! That¡¯s so true. I remember a few weeks ago, I was driving to work while stuck in traffic and the radio happened to y one of Iris¡¯ old songs. I almost bashed my head against the steering wheel. It was so annoying! I immediately changed to another radio station."

    "Iris just said in the interview that she reallyposed all the songs in her album. If this is true, then she¡¯s really amazing."

    "Poster above, don¡¯t be na?ve. A lot of singers say that. They contribute one word or one note and they¡¯re already iming that theyposed the whole song. Ptui! I¡¯ll believe that Iris Long can y the piano since I¡¯ve seen it with my own eyes in her live performance tonight, butposing songs? And all the songs in her uing album at that? Hah! I¡¯ll eat my slippers if she¡¯s really telling the truth."

    "But thanks to singers like her, people like my boyfriend can earn a living. My boyfriend is a ghostposer. The pay is not too bad, especially if the song bes a hit or is sung by a popr singer."

    "What?! Iris Long used a ghostposer? Hmph. How dare she im topose all the songs herself? How shameless!"

    "Yeah! There¡¯s nothing wrong with notposing your own songs. A majority of singers are like that. Even Jin Chonglin doesn¡¯tpose all of his songs. In fact, Iris was like that before as well. But iming songs she didn¡¯tpose as songs that sheposed is just too shameless!"

 Chapter 44 - Eat Your Slippers

    <h4>Chapter 44 - Eat Your Slippers </h4> <h4>Chapter 44: Eat Your Slippers</h4>

    The discussions online continued even after Iris Long left the stage. Many of the viewers were still thinking and talking about her performance that they didn¡¯t pay that much attention to the next few performers.

    It could be said that the immediate performers after Iris Long had bad luck because the audience¡¯s response to their performances were lukewarm at best.

    After someizens started using Iris Long of using a ghostposer, someone stepped forward and cleared her name.

    "Excuse me, everyone. But I just have to butt in reading all thements about Iris Long using a ghostposer. I¡¯m currently interning at JJ¡¯s recordbel. I can say for sure that JJ has extremely high standards when ites to epting artists. And when I say that he has extremely high standards, I mean that he has super-duper to the highest level extremely high standards! It¡¯s insane but that¡¯s why he¡¯s JJ. If an artist ims topose his or her own songs, we make sure that this is 100% true. This is supposed to be a secret, but our recordbel conducts a strict security check before offering a contract to an artist. If we find out that the artist lied to us, our recordbel will automatically cklist that person. Since our recordbel signed Iris Long and even worked personally with our boss JJ as her music producer, then it means that Iris reallyposed her own songs. Our boss JJ isn¡¯t stupid or gullible. He didn¡¯t reach his level at the top of the music industry just to taint his reputation by supporting artists who make false ims."

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    "Oh. Is that true?"

    "Hey, thementer before who said that he¡¯s gonna eat his slippers! You can go eat your slippers now. Come on! Don¡¯t chicken out and go back on your own words."

    "I trust JJ more than all these anonymous nderers on the Inte."

    "Yeah. JJ is a renowned and award-winning music producer. If someone like him signs Iris Long, then it must mean that he sees great potential in her."

    "After watching Iris¡¯ amazing performance tonight, even someone like me can see her great potential."

    "Ahaha! Very true. Her performance tonight is really shocking. I almost can¡¯t believe that it¡¯s Iris Long."

    "Are you even sure that¡¯s Iris Long? I think she really died in the ident and the one we¡¯re seeing now is her hidden twin sister or something."

    "So the rumour about her beingatose is really true. She said it herself."

    "Poor girl. I can¡¯t imagine how it must feel to be ina for one year."

    "I still don¡¯t believe that she was reallyatose. I believe more in the one that says that she got pregnant. It sounds more interesting."

    "Ahahaha! That¡¯s true. And did you all notice that Jin Chonglin also performed tonight? I wonder if they met."

    "I wish the hosts asked Iris and Jin Chonglin about their rtionship during their interviews."

    "Jin Chonglin already said before that he doesn¡¯t have any rtionship with Iris Long. They only met each other casually which is normal in the small world of showbiz."

    "Hah! Too na?ve! Did you forget how Fan Luo referred to Iris Long as the ¡¯other woman¡¯ on her blog?"

    "Read Fan Luo¡¯s blog post again. She didn¡¯t name Iris Long."

    "She didn¡¯t name Iris Long, but it¡¯s obvious that she was talking about Iris. Everyone was talking about Iris and Jin Chonglin when Fan Luo posted that on her blog. Who else was she referring to if it wasn¡¯t Iris Long?"

    "I¡¯m so angry that Iris Long is returning. She¡¯s just out to chase after Prince Lin Lin again. She must¡¯ve felt desperate since Prince Lin Lin and Princess Luo Luo are marrying soon. That¡¯s why she changed her musical style and did all this shit just to catch Prince Lin Lin¡¯s attention. How can you exin her suddenly performing in the same episode as Prince Lin Lin? Of course it¡¯s deliberate!"

    "Don¡¯t forget that Iris is now under Bright Summit too. Guess who¡¯s also under Bright Summit? Of course it¡¯s Jin Chonglin!"

    "Oh my God. So true. I don¡¯t think these are just coincidences. Iris Long is really chasing after Jin Chonglin!"

    "I already told you. Iris Long is a slut. What change in musical style? What image change? What finding her true self? She¡¯s just concealing her true aim which is Jin Chonglin. Shameless!"

    "And the haters have alle out to y again. I honestly don¡¯t care about all the shit you¡¯re talking about. All I care about is that I like<i> ¡¯ck Star¡¯</i>. Such an excellent song shouldn¡¯t be tainted by all your shit-talking. You¡¯re just letting your envy do the talking. h h h! I have a good feeling about the other songs in her album<i> ¡¯Rebirth¡¯</i> based on the previews I watched of her music videos. No matter what kind of person Iris Long is, I don¡¯t care. As long as I like her music, that¡¯s what matters to me."

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    "I have a scoop, folks! I filled in temporarily as a staff member for a sick friend for tonight¡¯s show. Something happened involving Iris Long backstage during the show. It caused quite a bigmotion and it was even reported to the higher-ups. Guess what happened!"

 Chapter 45 - Selective Amnesia

    <h4>Chapter 45 - Selective Amnesia </h4> <h4>Chapter 45: Selective Amnesia</h4>

    This kind of juicy im immediately caught everyone¡¯s curiosity and interest.

    "What scoop? Tell us!"

    "Don¡¯t tell me you saw Iris Long and Jin Chonglin sneaking together backstage!"

    "Oh my God! Is that true?"

    "That slut! So she¡¯s really still chasing after our Prince Lin Lin. Shameless!"

    "Come on, my friend. Don¡¯t leave us hanging here. Tell us what happened."

    "Rx, people. No, I didn¡¯t see Iris Long and Jin Chonglin together. Please stop telling unfounded rumours. The scoop is about Iris Long and the rm Girls. I¡¯m not really sure what happened before I arrived at the scene, but what I saw was really horrible. The rm Girls are so awful! They kept on insulting and yelling at Iris Long. If we, the staff, didn¡¯t arrive on time, I think those girls would have already attacked her. Iris Long was with her manager and assistant. They were protecting her. Iris Long barely said anything the entire time, just standing there and staying silent. She then calmly exined to the girls that she¡¯s suffering from selective amnesia or something like that, and doesn¡¯t really remember who they are and then asked them to let her go. But those mean girls tried to attack her! The situation became too much for Iris so she fainted. Her assistant said that Iris Long is still a little weak from beingatose for too long and that she can¡¯t handle too much stress. When we demanded for the rm Girls to apologize, they refused. They even had the audacity to use her of bullying them! Do they take us to be blind people? We saw with our own eyes that it was them doing the bullying, not the other way around. I¡¯ve never seen such despicable people in my life."

    "Oh my God. Is that true?"

    "rm Girls? Which girl group are they again? There are so many girl groups who performed tonight that I don¡¯t remember who they are. Maybe I have selective amnesia too."

    "Ahahaha! Poster above, the rm Girls are the ones with the three members."

    "Ah, the ones who dress like hookers?"

    "Pft! Yeah. Maybe they should change their name to the Hooker Girls instead."

    "So the rumours from before about Iris Long and the rm Girls always butting heads must be true."

    "The rm Girls are so shameless! I remember that they kept on imitating Iris Long in everything from her music, dance moves, and even her style. They¡¯re just low quality Iris Long rip-offs."

    "Wait. Iris suffers from selective amnesia? And she fainted?"

    "Did this incident happen before or after her performance?"

    "Sis, are you telling the truth? Did this really happen?"

    "Of course I¡¯m telling the truth. I saw everything with my own eyes. And I¡¯m a bro, not a sis. To answer everyone¡¯s question, this incident happened before Iris¡¯ performance."

    "What?! She got bullied and then fainted but still performed?!! Are you sure?!!!"

    "Of course I¡¯m sure. I already told you that I saw everything with my own eyes. Actually we offered Iris Long to cancel tonight¡¯s performance and just perform on another episode, but she refused. She insisted on performing and even said that she didn¡¯t want to trouble us and the show. Right there and then, I decided that Iris Long is now one of the people that I admire the most in my life."

    "Wow. Iris is amazing. I feel so sorry for her that she had to suffer those rm bitches¡¯ bullying and even caused her to faint. But even so she still gave an outstanding performance! I¡¯m giving another round of well-deserved apuse for Iris Long."

    "I¡¯m going to send aint to <i>¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯.</i> Those despicable rm Girls should¡¯ve been kicked out and not allowed to perform on tonight¡¯s show. With what they did backstage, bullying a fellow artist and almost causing a health emergency, I can¡¯t believe they still had the guts to perform like nothing happened. Despicable!"

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    "Poor Iris Long. Everyone keeps on saying malicious things about her but from now on, I won¡¯t believe them anymore. I¡¯ll support Iris!"

    "During the interview, Iris Long said that she¡¯s okay and healthy. Now we know that she¡¯s just acting strong. Giving such an awesome performance after fainting, I¡¯m so amazed by her."

    "Well, she mentioned that she gets dizzy sometimes. So I believe that she really fainted tonight. She only yed it down during the interview, but I¡¯m sure she¡¯s not fully recovered yet. Being in aa for a year is no joke."

    "I¡¯m more interested about her selective amnesia. Seems like she has forgotten some of her memories? I wonder how much she forgot..."

    "Who knows? Maybe even everything. Wait! What if she forgot everything about herself? Maybe the reason why she suddenly changed her musical style and her image is because she has amnesia and that she forgot who she was..."

    "Oh my God. That makes total sense!"

    "I could barely recognize her now. Maybe you¡¯re right!"

    "Holy shit."

    "Fuck."

    "Oh no! Poor girl."

    "From now on, anyone who dares to bully Iris Long, I¡¯ll fight you!!! Come on! This grandfather is ready for you haters at any time!!"

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 Chapter 46 - She Has Amnesia?

    <h4>Chapter 46 - She Has Amnesia? </h4> <h4>Chapter 46: She Has Amnesia?</h4>

    Jin Chonglin was the final performer on <i>"MusicFest Tonight".</i>

    Since he was the bigshot this time, most of the other performers and the staff paid their respects to him after the show ended. It took more than an hour for him to escape before he was finally able to go home.

    Iris Long didn¡¯t join the others in greeting him after the show. She left immediately after paying respects to the important personnel in the show.

    Inside the van, Jin Chonglin was at the backseat with his manager, Lin Dong. His two assistants were at the front. One was driving while the other sat on the front passenger seat.

    Jin Chonglin wore big, gold-ted headphones, drumming his hands in the air and tapping his feet to the beat of the music only he could hear.

    On his side, Lin Dong was busy on his phone. A few momentster, Lin Dong¡¯s eyes widened. He unceremoniously pulled Jin Chonglin¡¯s headphones from his head and shoved his phone to his artist¡¯s face.

    "Bastard! What are you doing?!"

    "Read this."

    "What¡¯s so important that you have to shove it on my face..." Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes also widened after a few seconds of reading. "For real? She has amnesia?"

    "I don¡¯t know. She hasn¡¯t said anything official about this. But if it¡¯s true, then it exins why she changed so much."

    "Who has amnesia?" the assistant sitting on the front passenger seat asked.

    "Iris Long," Lin Dong answered.

    "Really?" The assistant was shocked.

    "I believe it," the driver interjected. "I¡¯ve been with Chonglin since a long time ago. So I was there when the girl kept on following Chonglin wherever we went. She kept on popping up in front of our faces, trying to talk to him. She didn¡¯t know how to give up. And Chonglin was too nice to reject her outright. It was painful to watch. But seeing her perform tonight, I almost didn¡¯t recognize her. Her aura feels so different from before."

    "Hmmm." Lin Dong rubbed his chin. "Chonglin and I actually met Iris Long and her manager in the hallway earlier tonight. She was very polite, greeting Chonglin properly as a junior to her senior. She didn¡¯t say anything unnecessary beyond the greetings. It was actually Chonglin, this idiot, who tried pulling her into a conversation. On the other hand, Iris almost couldn¡¯t wait to get away from us. So different from how she acted with Chonglin before."

    "Who are you calling an idiot, you bastard?!"

    Lin Dong gave him a side eye. "You know that there are rumours about you fathering a baby with her. You know that even just being seen together with her could cause a big scandal, yet you still wanted to talk to her more. If you¡¯re not an idiot, then what are you?"

    "Shut up. I know already! I¡¯m so tired of you saying the same thing again and again. And I was just asking her how she¡¯s been. It¡¯s not like I was asking her to sleep with me!"

    "You better not sleep with her or else both of your showbiz careers will be finished."

    "Tsk. I said I know already! So annoying."

    "Did you read about the part about her and the rm Girls?"

    "Yeah."

    "Wait. Let me ask." Lin Dong snatched his phone back from Jin Chonglin¡¯s hands as he tossed the big headphones on his artist¡¯sp.

    He tapped on his phone and ced it on his ear.

    "Hello? Director He? Sorry to bother you...yes, yes. We¡¯re on our way home. Thank you for taking care of us...Jin Chonglin says that he had fun performing tonight...Ahaha! Of course, next time...Director He, I have a question. I hope you don¡¯t mind. Is it true that Iris Long got into an argument with the rm Girls? It¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t answer, I understand...Oh? It¡¯s true?...They bullied her?...Oh no. She really fainted? I can¡¯t believe she still performed after...Unbelievable...Yes, yes. Thank you, Director He...Of course, I won¡¯t tell others that you told me...Yes, you too. Have a good night. Bye!"

    Lin Dong hung up the phone, then turned to Jin Chonglin.

    "Fuck, it¡¯s true?" Jin Chonglin¡¯s face looked outraged. "Those bitches."

    Lin Dong sighed. "It¡¯s not like you don¡¯t know that bullying ismon in this industry. It happens all the time."

    "Of course I know! But fuck. She fainted."

    "Why are you so affected? It has nothing to do with you."

    "Hmph! You heartless bastard!"

    Lin Dong sighed again.

    Jin Chonglin carelessly threw his gold-ted headphones on the seat behind him. He looked out the window in a bad mood.

    The van drove in the night, the people riding it silent, each with their own thoughts.

 Chapter 47 - Come Down

    <h4>Chapter 47 - Come Down </h4> <h4>Chapter 47: Come Down</h4>

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    It was alreadyte at night when Iris and Dom returned to the penthouse. Yi Mei weed them home.

    "Young Miss, Mr. Jin Liwei sent flowers for you," the housekeeper informed her and then gestured to the living area.

    Iris walked and saw a huge bouquet of red roses on top of the table.

    "Ehehe. Red roses. How romantic." Dom, of course, just had to open his big mouth.

    Her quick eyes calcted that the bouquet had one hundred red roses. She didn¡¯t notice that her heart skipped a beat.

    She picked up the heavy bouquet and sniffed the flowers. Mmm. Fresh. Then she noticed a small handwritten card tied to the ribbon. She read it silently. It said:

    "My sincerest congrattions to a marvelous performance. You look beautiful tonight, Long Xin. See you soon. From Jin Liwei."

    Her lips curved up into a smile. When her heart suddenly started beating faster, she frowned. Hm? She must be feeling really tired tonight.

    "Yi Mei, have someone arrange the flowers on a vase and put it in my bedroom."

    "Understood, Young Miss. And dinner is ready, please follow me."

    "Ah, finally! I¡¯m starving!" Dom whined.

    "How many steamed buns did you eat while we were driving home?"

    "Boss, those were just snacks! How can mere steamed buns fill me?" As if to punctuate his point, his stomach growled loudly.

    Iris chuckled. "Fine. Let¡¯s eat." She plucked the card from the bouquet and gave it to Yi Mei. "Put this in my room, too."

    "Understood, Young Miss."

    Yi Mei wanted to rip the card to pieces and stuff the pieces into that lustful brat¡¯s throat. The brat just wouldn¡¯t leave her Young Miss alone! However, Yi Mei was able to control herself and hide her inner thoughts from showing on her face. She was dismayed when she received the flower delivery earlier that evening, but it was not her ce to stop men from courting the Young Miss.

    But that lusty Jin Liwei brat was doing things in the wrong order. He first ate the Young Miss¡¯ tofu before even sending flowers. How immoral! On second thought, at least the brat, although lusty, still had a romantic bone in his body and knew how to send flowers to ady he took advantage of. What was more, it looked like the Young Miss was pleased with the roses. Hai, the Young Miss was still too young and inexperienced, easily cated with just a bouquet of flowers.

    Yi Mei led Iris and Dom to the dining table, and then instructed a maid to take care of the flowers and the card. Afterwards, she continued fussing around Iris.

    Dom ate three big servings of dinner, almost inhaling everything, while Iris ate a light meal. It was alreadyte at night, so she didn¡¯t want to sleep with a heavy stomach.

    After dinner, Iris drank a cup of chamomile tea while looking at the night view outside.

    Finally, she headed to her bedroom. On a table by the corner sat the hundred red roses on a jade vase. In front of it was the card. She admired the flowers for a few moments before heading to her personal bathroom.

    It was already past midnight when she came out of the shower. After blow drying her hair, she changed into a pair of red silk pyjamas and was about to climb on her bed when her phone rang.

    It was Jin Liwei.

    The man called her every night since the day he came to the penthouse. It annoyed her at first, but after a couple of times, she got used to it.

    "Hello, Mr. Jin. It¡¯s already sote." She subconsciously nced at the red roses at the corner of her room.

    "Xin. Did you receive the flowers?"

    She didn¡¯t notice that she was smiling. "Yes. Thank you. They¡¯re beautiful."

    "I was calling you but you didn¡¯t answer."

    "I was in the shower."

    "What are you doing now?"

    "I¡¯m on bed. About to sleep. I¡¯m tired, Mr. Jin."

    "Come down. I¡¯m in front of your building."

    She blinked. "What? Why are you here?"

    "Juste down."

    Iris frowned, deciding what to do.

    "Xin."

    She thought for a few more seconds before sighing. "Fine. Wait for me." She hung up.

    Then she covered herself with a satin kimono robe and wore a mask before heading to the private elevator down to the main floor. The receptionist and the security guard both nodded when they saw her. She nodded back and then hurried outside.

    A car honked.

    She headed towards the ck car. An unfamiliar man wearing a business suit climbed out of the driver¡¯s seat, walked around and opened the rear door for her.

    "Miss Long, please climb in."

    She nodded at the man. She was about to enter when long, strong arms pulled her inside.

    "Xu Tian, leave us."

    "Understood." The man called Xu Tian closed the door and left.

    Jin Liwei wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body close to him. He removed the mask on her face and threw it on the rear deck.

    "Mr. Jin, what are you¨Dumph!"

    A wet mouth suddenly covered her lips. Hisrge hand held her jaw and pressed her cheeks hard with his fingers, trying to make her mouth open. Iris gasped from the pain, opening her mouth as a result, and in the next instant, Jin Liwei¡¯s tongue invaded her.

    The hand holding her jaw moved behind her head, grabbed a handful of her hair, and pressed her closer against his mouth.

    Iris pushed her hands against his chest, but his arm around her body was too strong, too tight.

    She felt furious. How dare this arrogant man?! He had no right!

    She was going to...going to...going to...

    Her eyes fluttered close and her mouth opened a bit wider, giving him more ess.

    He groaned, kissing her harder when he felt her finally surrendering to the kiss.

    Something hot and heavy pooled in her lower abdomen, making her moan. Her arms slid up and wrapped around his neck.

    Jin Liwei pulled her up, grabbing each of her thigh and pulling her over hisp so she straddled him.

    His hands untied her kimono robe.

 Chapter 48 - Selfish Xiulan

    <h4>Chapter 48 - Selfish Xin </h4> <h4>Chapter 48: Selfish Xin</h4>

    Focused on the kiss, Iris allowed him to take the robe off from her body, even helping him out by temporarily removing her arms around his neck, and then letting the robe fall behind her on the car floor.

    When her arms returned around his neck, Jin Liwei nted his head to kiss her even more deeply. Both of them moaned and pressed their bodies closer against each other.

    Her heart pounded against her chest. Her heartbeat felt like a hammer smashing against her rational mind, reducing her into a creature of pure sensations.

    He embraced her more tightly, pulling her hard against his chest, as he continued kissing her passionately.

    She gasped when her hard nipples rubbed against him through the silk fabric of her pyjama top.

    What was happening to her? What were these intense sensations?

    So good.

    His hands slid down her back to her hips, pulling her from the top of his thighs to his hot, throbbing bulge.

    When her hot core felt his hardness, she pulled from the kiss, gasping. Her eyes looked at him in rm.

    Jin Liwei looked at her with dark eyes filled with desire. He used the hands on her hips to grind her against him.

    "Mr. Jin! This..."

    Pleasure shot from her core to her spine, to the top of her head and to the tips of her fingers and toes. Her head fell on his shoulder, turning her face against his neck. His masculine scent filled her nose and her mind...making her moan louder and louder as he ground her against him harder and harder.

    Shepletely lost the ability to think. All she could do at that moment was to feel.

    This was the first time she felt this way.

    He groaned, breathing heavily. The hands on her hips slid down on her butt, squeezing her as he continued to grind her against him.

    She bit on his neck hard making him groan, as she trembled. Her skin shone with a delicateyer of sweat.

    Simrly, he was also covered in sweat, his breathing bing harsher.

    "Mr. Jin..." she whimpered.

    "Call me Liwei," he whispered, nibbling on her exposed ear.

    "Liwei...oh."

    The pleasure became more and more intense, making her toes curl. She shut her eyes tightly, focusing entirely on all these new, unfamiliar, deliciously intense sensations.

    When Jin Liwei felt her stiffen, he ground her even harder while gritting his teeth.

    Thin tears flowed down from her eyes as the ball of pleasure tightened inside her hot core and lower abdomen, spreading throughout her whole body like a hotva, and then finally exploding in a white light, making her eyes roll back. She cried out, her entire body shaking uncontrobly.

    He wrapped his arms around her trembling body, letting her finish even as he controlled his own unspent desire. He could faintly smell her musky scent especially inside the car¡¯s enclosed space, making his nose re and his erection even harder.

    An image of him pushing her down on the seat, tearing her pyjamas, and burying himself inside her again and again appeared in his mind. His breath hitched. Groaning, he mentally recited the value of pi, reaching more than a hundred digits before he calmed down enough.

    Irisid limply over him. He rubbed her back, soothing her.

    "Mr. Jin..."

    "It¡¯s Liwei."

    "Liwei..."

    "Hm?"

    "Why did you do that to me?"

    "You hate it?"

    "..."

    "Xin, tell me."

    "No."

    "No what?"

    "No, I don¡¯t hate it."

    He smiled. "So you like it?"

    She nodded. Her head was still on his shoulder, her face against his neck.

    "Tell me," he urged her.

    "I like it." She sighed, nuzzling deeper against his neck.

    "Good girl." He kissed her head.

    His baby girl was too honest for her own good. This was of course very advantageous for him but also very dangerous for his self-control.

    Iris shifted her head so that she was looking at his face. "Did youe here just to do this with me?"

    He wiped the streaks of tears on her cheeks with his fingers. "No. I only wanted to see you. But when I actually saw you, I lost control."

    Now that she was spent and had calmed down a little, her damp pyjama pants was starting to make her feel ufortable. She straightened and attempted to get off him, but his arms tightened around her, refusing to let her go.

    "Mr. Jin..."

    "I told you to call me Liwei."

    "Fine. Liwei, let me go."

    "No. Stay."

    Iris sighed. "Liwei, it¡¯s true that I like what you did to me. But that¡¯s because you made me feel good. You make me feel good. I like things that make me feel good. However, it doesn¡¯t mean that I like you. Well, maybe I like you a little now. But I don¡¯t even know you that well."

    He narrowed his eyes at her. "So you don¡¯t like me. You only like my body."

    She tilted her head to the side, thinking seriously about what he said. "No, I don¡¯t necessarily like your body. I like that you make me feel good."

    "How selfish, Xin. You only think about yourself. You don¡¯t even think about what you do to me. You need to learn to take responsibility."

    She frowned. "What do you mean?"

    He leaned closer to her face and whispered. "I made you orgasm and you liked it. You need to reciprocate."

 Chapter 49 - Goodnight Kiss

    <h4>Chapter 49 - Goodnight Kiss </h4> <h4>Chapter 49: Goodnight Kiss</h4>

    "Reciprocate?" Iris pushed his face away with a hand. "You mean you want me to have sex with you? Jin Liwei, I don¡¯t want to have sex with you."

    "Baby girl, I made you orgasm so what we did just now can also be considered as sex. We had sex but with our clothes on. Hmmm. It¡¯s half a sex, I guess." He smiledzily at her.

    She frowned, her head tilted to the side, thinking. Well, what he said made sense. She might be inexperienced about this kind of matter, but she knew what sex was. Simply speaking, sex was a plug entering a socket. His plug didn¡¯t enter her socket, but it did rub against her and made her electricity flow.

    There was no direct contact or pration, but it was true that he made her orgasm.

    "Fine. We had half a sex with our clothes on. Tell me what you mean by reciprocate."

    "Simple. I made you orgasm so you should also make me orgasm. This way it¡¯s fair to both of us, don¡¯t you think?"

    Her frown deepened. Something was telling her that something was not quite right with his reasoning, but logically speaking, his words made sense. She was the type of person who didn¡¯t like owing others. Since she owed him an orgasm, she would pay him back.

    "Fine. Tell me how to make you orgasm. But I don¡¯t want to have sex with you. I mean, no full sex."

    "So you¡¯re fine with half a sex like this?"

    She thought for a moment. "I guess."

    He smiled wider and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Good girl. But not tonight. I¡¯ll let you pay me back another time."

    "Fine."

    "How was your day?" he asked, changing the topic as he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist.

    "I had a great time. I enjoyed performing onstage tonight."

    He smiled and kissed her chin lightly. "You were amazing."

    "Thank you."

    "What else?"

    She thought for a few seconds. "Oh, I met your brother in the hallway. He also performed tonight." She felt him stiffen and when she looked down at his face, his expression turned cold. "Don¡¯t worry. We only exchanged greetings. He¡¯s my senior at Bright Summit after all."

    His cold silence began to bother her.

    She didn¡¯t understand why she was suddenly feeling nervous. "Are you angry?"

    "Do you still like Chonglin?"

    Iris once again felt the dangerous aura he emitted the first time they met at the hotel lobby. She subconsciously shifted her torso away from him. "No. I already told you before that I have no interest in your brother."

    "But you kept on following him before."

    Her lips pressed together in annoyance. "That was before, Jin Liwei. And even then, I only followed him around because I wanted to have more famous friends. Shallow, wasn¡¯t I? Now I know that others misunderstood my intentions, including you. I won¡¯t stupidly bother your brother again. So stop assuming. It¡¯s annoying."

    "Are you telling the truth?"

    She snapped. "I don¡¯t care whether you believe me or not. Let me go."

    He held her tightly as she tried to get off him. "So you don¡¯t like my brother at all?"

    She paused, and then answered him honestly. "Jin Chonglin is a talented person. I respect him as a fellow artist. However, as a person, I don¡¯t know him enough to like him."

    "Do you want to get to know him?"

    "No."

    "Do you want to get to know me?"

    "..."

    "Xin."

    "You¡¯re too bothersome to get to know."

    He was speechless for a few moments. His baby girl found him bothersome? Finally, he told her, "But I want to get to know you."

    She blinked, looking at his serious eyes. "Okay."

    His lips lifted into a smile. "So I also want you to get to know me."

    She thought for a moment. There was nothing wrong with the two of them getting to know each other, right? Even though she didn¡¯t like him all that much because he was arrogant and controlling, they already kissed a few times. She had to admit that she liked his kisses (and their half a sex). He made her orgasm which felt amazing, and even made her promise to return the favour at another time.

    Although she found him annoying at times, he mostly made her feel good. She wanted to live this life freely in the way that she wanted. So if he made her feel good, she wouldn¡¯t push him away without reason. She also didn¡¯t think that he would intentionally hurt her. Besides, even if he harmed her someday, she could always destroy him whenever she wanted.

    Finally, she nodded. "Okay."

    His smile widened. "Good girl." He gave her another peck on the lips.

    She yawned.

    "You¡¯re tired. Go back to bed and sleep."

    "Okay." She started to get off hisp but he still wouldn¡¯t let her go. "Jin Liwei," she said helplessly. Why wouldn¡¯t he let her go?

    "Give me my goodnight kiss first."

    "..."

    He continued to smilezily at her.

    She had the sudden urge to punch the stupid smile off his face.

    "I can wait here until the sun rises in the sky, baby girl."

    "Fine." She leaned down and pressed her lips quickly against his.

    "Mmm. Nice. Now it¡¯s my turn to give you your goodnight kiss."

    He pulled her head and kissed her hard, stabbing his tongue inside her mouth. He sucked and nibbled on her, making her moan and breathless.

    Finally, he released her. "Good night, Xin."

    She waited until her racing heart calmed down a bit before replying. "Good night, Jin Liwei."

    "Dream of me tonight."

    "I don¡¯t want to dream of you."

    He chuckled. "So selfish, Xin. I dream of you every night, yet you don¡¯t want to dream of me. Unfair, don¡¯t you think?"

    "Oh. You dream of me?"

    "Yes."

    "Tell me what kind of dreams you have about me."

    "I¡¯ll let you know someday," he answered vaguely.

    <i>¡¯Because I¡¯m going to make those dreams a reality, baby girl. Just wait.¡¯</i>

    "Fine." Iris couldn¡¯t help but yawn again. She was really too tired and sleepy.

    Jin Liwei helped her put on her kimono robe. He took her mask from the rear deck and started putting it on her. He lightly pped her hand when she tried to take it.

    She red at him, but otherwise allowed him to put the mask on her face.

    He gave her another quick kiss before finally letting her go. He watched her disappear inside the building. A few momentster, Xu Tian climbed inside the car onto the driver¡¯s seat.

    "Let¡¯s go," he ordered.

    "Yes, President."

    Moonlight reflected on Jin Liwei¡¯s smug smile, as the ck car drove away silently in the night.

 Chapter 50 - A Weapon Of Mass Destruction

    <h4>Chapter 50 - A Weapon Of Mass Destruction </h4> <h4>Chapter 50: A Weapon of Mass Destruction</h4>

    <i>The next day.</i>

    <i>Jin Corporation.</i>

    It was Saturday but business was as usual. The weekend employees started streaming into thepany building.

    Jin Liwei, as the President and CEO, didn¡¯t need toe to work during the weekends but he woulde whenever he wanted to finish up some tasks which was almost always.

    That morning, Jin Liwei woke up feeling that everything in the world was very good. The sky was a beautiful cobalt blue colour decorated by wispy white clouds. The sun shone brightly and the birds were singing.

    Ah, what a wonderful world!

    His body felt light and energetic. If it wasn¡¯t for his image, he would have skipped happily while walking. He felt like he could take on anything today. Bring it on!

    Unfortunately, he had no idea that his bright mood would have such serious effects on his employees.

    For the entire day, everyone in thepany was in a daze. It began early in the morning when some employees greeted theirpany President as usual when they saw him arrive at the lobby.

    "Good morning, President," they greeted, bowing.

    Then King Yama...er, their President Jin did something unimaginable. He slowed down, nodded, smiled widely and actually greeted them back. "En. Good morning everyone."

    It was like an arrow was shot straight to their hearts.

    The unprepared employees immediately froze. Many dropped their briefcases and file folders, while someone dropped his coffee, staining the pristine white floor. Yet no one noticed this sacrilege to theirpany floor because everyone¡¯s disbelieving eyes followed the back of their big boss as he disappeared behind the elevator doors.

    Many unfortunate employees who met theirpany President along the way were one-hit one-killed by his shocking smile. They thought that his eternally cial aura and formidable leadership were already vicious enough, but they never imagined that his smile would be as deadly to their poor mortal hearts.

    What happened?

    Was it the end of the world?

    Did they die and this was the afterlife?

    Was this paradise or was this hell?

    The heavens were really unfair. Their President¡¯s smile could be a weapon of mass destruction.

    The female employees who already considered him as their ideal man raised his position in their hearts even further to the most ideal of all the ideal men in the universe (everyone, take a moment of silence for their poor boyfriends and husbands who would never be as good as their big boss). And the bent employees became even more bent (hallelujah!).

    Unfortunately, this day became the most unproductive in the history of thepany since its establishment because of their President¡¯s dangerous smile.

    <i>Jin Liwei¡¯s office.</i>

    Xu Tian¡¯s mouth twitched as he watched one of the senior managers exit the President¡¯s office in a daze. The poor man was so dazed that he walked straight to the elevator without noticing Xu Tian.

    Normally, he would¡¯ve rebuked any employee who disregarded him because he was the President¡¯s right hand man. His status in thepany was basically only below that of the President himself, even though he didn¡¯t have an official position in thepany itself.

    This time, however, Xu Tian just sighed and shook his head.

    Ever since the President spent some alone time with Miss Long in the carst night, his boss had been in such a good mood.

    Although he didn¡¯t see it for himself (and thank goodness for that!), he had an idea of what transpired between the two of them based on his boss¡¯ happy mood.

    Don¡¯t get him wrong. As an assistant, he was happy whenever his boss felt happy.

    However, looking at things today, the President¡¯s obvious good mood as demonstrated by his rare smile appeared to have negative effects to the employees. If this continued, thepany would be in trouble. That would be tragic.

    Xu Tian didn¡¯t understand why his boss suddenly became so fixated on Miss Long. From what he remembered when the President ordered him to investigate and monitor Miss Long after the ident two years ago, he felt certain that his boss felt disgusted at the young woman for chasing after the Second Master.

    Now it seemed like it was the President who was chasing after Miss Long.

    What happened between the two of them? Howe Xu Tian didn¡¯t notice anything?

    Wasn¡¯t this reversal too sudden?

    Oh well. He just had to do his job. It was not his ce to interfere with his boss¡¯ love life.

    Opening the inte browser on his workputer, he typed "Iris Long" on the search engine. A frown formed on his face after reading for a few minutes.

    He grabbed the phone and dialed.

    "Hello? This is Xu Tian of Jin Corporation. May I speak to Director He?"

 Chapter 51 - Baby Girl

    <h4>Chapter 51 - Baby Girl </h4> <h4>Chapter 51: Baby Girl</h4>

    After speaking on the phone for a few minutes, Xu Tian hung up. He grabbed a tablet, tapped a few times on it, and brought it with him as he headed to the President¡¯s office. He knocked on the door a couple of times, opened it and stepped inside.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s usual cold indifference was nowhere to be seen. Obviously, he was still in a great mood, a hint of a smile softening his expression.

    Xu Tian almost felt hesitant to destroy his boss¡¯ good mood, but he steeled himself and walked towards the huge dalbergia wood desk.

    Jin Liwei looked up from the mountain of documents he was reading and signing.

    "Please excuse me, President. I have something that I think you may be interested in." Xu Tian handed the tablet to his boss.

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei received the tablet and began reading. A frown appeared on his handsome face after a few seconds. The frown deepened as he read more. After a few minutes, the frown transformed into an outraged expression.

    "Confirm if these are true," Jin Liwei ordered.

    "I already did, President. I just called Director He of ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯ and he confirmed with me that there was indeed an altercation involving Miss Long and this female group called rm Girlsst night during the show. Director He also confirmed that due to the stress from the argument, Miss Long fainted."

    Jin Liwei banged his hand on his desk. "And they still let her perform?"

    "Director He insisted that they offered Miss Long to cancel her performance and just perform on another episode, but Miss Long apparently refused."

    A dangerous aura emanated from Jin Liwei.

    Frowning, he asked, "Xin has selective amnesia?"

    Xu Tian hesitated for a few seconds before answering. "Her hospital records don¡¯t show any indication that Miss Long suffers from memory loss. However, it¡¯s a fact that Miss Long has refused all suggestions of psychological therapy. Perhaps..."

    "I understand." Jin Liwei continued to read on the tablet. His outraged expression transformed into a terrifyingly cold expression. "These rm Girls...destroy them."

    "Understood, President."

    "You may go."

    Xu Tian nodded, about to leave.

    "Wait. Order a bouquet of one hundred yellow roses and send it to Xin today." He paused. "No, I¡¯ll bring it myself tonight."

    "Understood, President. Is there anything else?"

    "None. Go."

    Jin Liwei grabbed his mobile phone and dialed while Xu Tian left.

    "Hello?" His baby girl¡¯s lovely voice answered.

    His expression softened a bit, but he was still feeling furious.

    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me?"

    "What are you talking about, Jin Liwei?"

    "What did those b*tches say to you?"

    "..."

    "Xin," he growled.

    He heard her sigh. "So you already know. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m fine. They didn¡¯t hurt me. My manager and Dom were there. And besides, I can protect myself."

    "You fainted."

    She giggled. "Oh, Liwei. I didn¡¯t really faint. Dom and I were just acting to escape from the situation. I didn¡¯t want to waste my time and energy arguing with people like them. I only wanted to focus on myeback performance."

    "You...what?"

    "I think both Dom and I overdid it a little. I feel bad that I made people worry, but if I had let the situation continue, I would¡¯ve missed my performance. I also didn¡¯t expect for this incident to spread online and be blown up this much. If it bothers you so much, I can delete everything about it on the web."

    "Are you bothered?"

    "No."

    He sighed. "I¡¯m bothered, but it¡¯s up to you whether you want to delete the incident online or not."

    "Okay."

    "Xin, are you really alright?"

    "Yes. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m fine."

    He paused before asking, "Do you really have selective amnesia?"

    She sighed again. "No, I don¡¯t. Those girls were really annoying. I had enough of them but I didn¡¯t want to argue at that time, so I just told them I have selective amnesia to make them leave me alone, but unfortunately they didn¡¯t. They became even more persistent so...I had to faint."

    "I see."

    "Do you think I¡¯m a liar?"

    "No."

    "Okay."

    "Next time, tell me when things like this happen to you."

    "Liwei, they¡¯re not worth your attention."

    "Anything concerning you, I want to know."

    "..."

    "You¡¯ll tell me next time, okay?"

    "You¡¯re too bothersome."

    "Xin."

    "Fine."

    "Good girl." He smiled softly. "What are you doing now?"

    "I¡¯m on the road. I¡¯ll be guesting on a radio show to promote my uing album."

    "What time will you be at home?"

    "I think maybe around 7 or 8 in the evening, 9 at thetest. I have a magazine photoshoot and interview after the radio show."

    "I¡¯lle by your ce tonight for dinner."

    "..."

    "Okay, baby girl?"

    "Fine." One second. Two seconds. Three seconds of silence. "How¡¯s work?"

    Jin Liwei smiled so wide that it felt like it reached his ears. His baby girl was finally showing interest in him. "Work is as usual. I¡¯m still the boss."

    Her chuckle sounded so lovely to the ears that he almost wanted to drive to where she was to hug her and kiss her.

    "Have you eaten lunch yet?" she asked.

    "Not yet. I still have a lot of documents to sign. I¡¯ll eatter."

    "Okay. Make sure you eat lunch or you¡¯re not wee for dinner tonight."

    Heughed. "Alright. I¡¯ll eat lunch. I don¡¯t want to worry my baby girl."

    "Who¡¯s worried about you? And I¡¯m not your baby girl, Mr. Jin."

    "You are my baby girl. Also, if you call me Mr. Jin again, I¡¯ll move to your ce and live with you. I already told you to call me Liwei."

    "You! You¡¯re so...bothersome."

    Heughed happily. His baby girl was so cute.

    He heard some noise in the background on her side.

    "We¡¯ve arrived. I have to go now," she informed him.

    "Alright. Take care and have fun."

    "You too."

    "See you at dinner tonight."

    "Okay. See you."

    "Bye, baby girl."

    "Bye, Liwei." Then she hung up.

    He chuckled when the call ended. He was in an even better mood now. It seemed like his baby girl was starting to care a bit about him. He decided to work harder on seducing her, so she would never be able to escape from him.

    "You¡¯re going to be mine, baby girl. Only mine."

    With a smug smile, he continued signing documents.

 Chapter 52 - LinLuo Breaks Up?

    <h4>Chapter 52 - LinLuo Breaks Up? </h4> <h4>Chapter 52: LinLuo Breaks Up?</h4>

    Jin Chonglin just finished taping a variety show episode as an invited guest. As usual, he was the bigshot among the celebrity guests present, so he had to spend a few minutes longer to receive everyone¡¯s greetings and respects.

    He woke up at dawn that morning and had been working nonstop ever since. It was already the middle of the afternoon. He was exhausted but he still maintained a friendly smile, even when all he wanted was to tell everyone to leave him alone, so that he could rest even for just a few minutes before he started working again for his next job appointment at another location.

    Fortunately, Lin Dong rescued him from the crowd, expertly leading him away and heading to the dressing room. The crowd was a little disappointed but didn¡¯tin.

    How could theyin? With just Jin Chonglin¡¯s presence alone, they were already certain that this episode would enjoy high ratings. He was very popr and in-demand that programs had to book him months ahead in order to fit in his full schedule.

    Jin Chonglin sighed in relief as they reached his dressing room. Lin Dong opened the door and let Jin Chonglin enter first.

    A strong floral perfume scent assaulted his nose as soon as he stepped inside. He almost gagged but was able to control himself.

    What the hell?

    Then he saw the person inside.

    "Xiao Luo, what are you doing here?" He quickly tried to smooth the furrow between his brows, but her perfume was too strong that he didn¡¯t manage to erase the expression of dismay on his face.

    Fan Luo pouted. "Big brother Lin, aren¡¯t you happy to see me?" She walked to him and clung to his arm, pressing her breasts against him.

    Sighing inwardly, he forced his winning smile on his face. "Of course I¡¯m happy to see you, babe. I just didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯lle today. You should¡¯ve called me first."

    She giggled and batted her extra-long fake eyshes. "I wanted to surprise you. I miss you so much..." She purred, wrapping her arms around his waist and rubbing her body against him.

    Lin Dong coughed behind Jin Chonglin, a stoic expression on his face.

    Fan Luo pursed her lips at Lin Dong. She knew very well that her fianc¨¦¡¯s manager disliked her. Of course, Lin Dong would not dare say it directly to her face, but her female intuition knew that she and the manager would never be friends. After all, he was only a manager while she was the future wife. Anyone with sense could tell who was supposed to be more important. She ignored the manager and continued to rub herself against Jin Chonglin.

    "Big brother, don¡¯t you miss me too?"

    Jin Chonglin threw a helpless look at his manager. Her perfume was starting to give him a headache. Did the woman pour perfume into a tub and use it as bathwater?

    He sighed inwardly. "Of course I miss you. I¡¯m just tired. I¡¯ve been up since dawn."

    "Oh, my poor big brother Lin!" she eximed dramatically. Then she tip-toed and leaned close to his neck, kissing it, and whispered, "Do you want me to make you feel better? I miss you inside me. We haven¡¯t done it for over a week now. And thest time was too quick. We also only did it once. I want more. You¡¯re too busy these days. Let¡¯s do it here quickly. I want you so much!"

    He pressed his lips together. He was not in the mood for this, for her. He couldn¡¯t muster any desire for the woman throwing herself at him at the moment. Besides, he was still at a workce. He might be susceptible to female seduction, but he was too professional to f*ck while working.

    Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stay at his high position in the showbiz industry.

    He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him. "Xiao Luo, I just told you I¡¯m tired. And I still need to go to my next job after this. Be good, alright? Tell me why you¡¯re here."

    "Big brother Lin, why are you acting like this? Do you hate me?" Her face immediately transformed into a wronged expression.

    "Xiao Luo, stop it," he finally snapped. The throbbing on his temples was getting worse by the second.

    "So you really don¡¯t love me anymore!" she cried. "Is it because of that sl*t Iris Long? Did she hook you with her dirty ws again? I knew it! She just can¡¯t leave you alone!"

    "What are you talking about?! I never had any rtionship with Iris Long. How many times do I have to tell you this?"

    "But you defended her on Weibo before! Now you¡¯re even working under the samepany! And then you performed on the same showst night! It¡¯s so obvious that she¡¯s chasing after you again! Are you starting to like her now? As expected of a shameless sl*t! What a wh*re!"

    "Stop it! Listen to me. Don¡¯t ever drag her name in your posts again. You¡¯re being paranoid. I already told you that I never had any rtionship with her but you keep on getting jealous over nothing. I¡¯m tired of this, do you hear me? Do this again and I¡¯ll break up with you! Do you understand?"

    Big, fat tears fell down from her heavily made-up face. "See? You¡¯re defending her again! You even want to break up with me because of that sl*t!"

    Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He felt tired and his headache was getting worse because of her strong perfume and her unreasonable usations. He lost his temper. "Try me, Fan Luo. Don¡¯t think that I won¡¯t break up with you just because we¡¯re engaged now."

    She panicked. "Big brother Lin. You can¡¯t break up with me! I still can¡¯t get over the loss of our unborn baby. I¡¯m still suffering from depression. If you leave me now, I¡¯ll kill myself!"

 Chapter 53 - The Truth About LinLuo

    <h4>Chapter 53 - The Truth About LinLuo </h4> <h4>Chapter 53: The Truth About LinLuo</h4>

    "Fan Luo!" Jin Chonglin grabbed the hysterical woman¡¯s upper arms and gently shook her. "Calm down!"

    "You can¡¯t break up with me! I¡¯ll really kill myself!" Fan Luo cried.

    He gritted his teeth, trying to rein in his frustration. He could no longer count how many times she threatened him with suicide and reminded him of the miscarriage.

    He wasn¡¯t stupid. He knew that Fan Luo was using the miscarriage to tie him down. And she seeded. How else could she get him, Jin Chonglin, to propose to her?

    He had no idea that she was so emotional and possessive. In all honesty, she was starting to scare him. Dealing with her on a constant basis drained him. These days, he preferred to work nonstop rather than to spend time with her.

    If it were any other woman, he would already wash his hands clean and never look back. However, he couldn¡¯t treat Fan Luo like that.

    She was a childhood friend. In addition, their mothers were best friends and treated each other like sisters. They wanted to marry their children together to officially solidify their rtionship as family.

    He had to admit that he never had any deep feelings for Fan Luo other than as a childhood friend.

    As they were growing up, perhaps due to both of their mothers¡¯ constant attempts to pair them together, Fan Luo also began to fall for him. He knew about her feelings for him, but he never reciprocated.

    He rejected her numerous times, telling her that he only saw her as a younger sister, but she would brush his rejections aside and continue to shower him with affection. She didn¡¯t cross the line then to seduce him, so he continued to treat her the same way like a sister.

    But everything changed one night. He was at a friend¡¯s birthday party and drunk a lot. He was the type of person who worked hard and yed hard, so getting drunk wasn¡¯t something rare for him. However, he didn¡¯t know which stupid person called Fan Luo over toe pick him up, but she showed up and drove him back home.

    He didn¡¯t remember what happened afterwards but when he woke up the next day, Fan Luo was sleeping beside him. Both of them were naked. He was confused and shocked, but looking at all the evidence, he could only conclude that he f*cked his childhood friend while drunk out of his mind. There were dried sem*n all over the sheets and their bodies.

    After this incident, it was as if she transformed from an innocent childhood friend into a seductive temptress. He was only a man so against his better judgment, he would lose control every time she seduced him and they would end up f*cking like there was no tomorrow.

    He couldn¡¯t deny his desire for her body. After some time, he epted the fact that they had be lovers. However, he nevermitted to an exclusive rtionship with her and she seemed to ept it. He thought that everything was going well.

    Until she told him that she was pregnant. His first thought was, "Impossible!"

    Except for that night when they had sex for the first time while he was drunk, he always made sure to use protection. And that night was so long ago. She didn¡¯t get pregnant then. He also knew that she was on birth control pills. She assured him that she was taking the pills everyday.

    But suddenly, she was telling him that due to her doctor¡¯s advice for some health reasons, she had to stop taking the pills for a few months. She also told him that condoms weren¡¯t 100% foolproof, and perhaps a condom broke without them noticing.

    He wasn¡¯t ready to be a father. He didn¡¯t promise her anything, but swore that he would acknowledge the child as his own once it was proven that it was his.

    Of course, his decision infuriated the Fan family. The Fans pressured him to marry her, but he didn¡¯t budge.

    His mother didn¡¯t say anything, but he imagined that she was displeased with him as well because she was very close to Fan Luo¡¯s mother. She also treated Fan Luo like a daughter that she never had. Although his mother didn¡¯t agree with his reckless decision of pursuing a showbiz career at first, she never stopped him and even quietly supported him.

    He didn¡¯t care about what others say about him, but his mother¡¯s opinion mattered. It didn¡¯t mean that he would do anything she asked of him, but she had the power to make him stop and consider his actions. She would gently suggest, but never forcefully order. She always had the policy of letting him and his older brother make the final decisions in their own lives. Perhaps this was why he felt guilty of displeasing her.

    However, Jin Chonglin could be very headstrong when he wanted to. If he wanted to do something, he would do it. Simrly, if he didn¡¯t want to do something, nobody was capable of forcing him. Not even his mother or his bossy older brother. Otherwise, why would the Second Master of the Jin family disregard his status and pursue a career in showbiz?

    He ignored all the pressure from the Fan family, what he imagined to be the displeasure of his own mother, and the barely veiled ridicule of the Jin family elders. That was until he heard the news that Fan Luo was in the hospital in critical condition due to miscarriage.

    He wasn¡¯t so heartless to ignore Fan Luo at this point. Although he didn¡¯t love her, he still cared about her. When he saw her weak and crying nonstop, he was filled with guilt.

    They told him she was suffering from depression. He felt so sorry and so guilty, even thinking that it was his fault that she miscarried, that without thinking he proposed marriage to her. Of course, she epted immediately.

    Back to the present.

    Jin Chonglin was overwhelmed by all the negative emotions he felt at the moment. Ever since he and Fan Luo became engaged, he always felt like walking on eggshells around her, afraid of triggering her fragile emotional state.

    His guilt could onlyst so long. He was already regretting his decision of proposing to her. He was starting to feel that their rtionship was bing toxic with each passing day. He didn¡¯t want to live like this.

    However, he already ignited everyone¡¯s expectations. His mother didn¡¯t force him to do anything, but he could sense that she was pleased with his engagement to her best friend¡¯s daughter.

    "Calm down," he told her again. "You can¡¯t use this against me forever. I already agreed to marry you. Don¡¯t go beyond my limits. Don¡¯t make me lose my respect for you."

    Fan Luo crumpled to the floor, bawling. Her make-up remained impressive as ever though, not ruined by her torrent of tears. She spent a lot to get thetest edition of her favourite brand¡¯s waterproof make-up.

    "So you don¡¯t feel anything at all when I lost our baby? I¡¯m the only one heartbroken? How can you be so heartless, big brother? It was our baby! Your baby!"

    Jin Chonglin wavered.

    Lin Dong quietly snuck out of the dressing room. Firstly, to allow the engaged couple their privacy; and secondly, to guard the door outside and ensure that nobody was spying on them. This was a sensitive matter after all, perfect material for a scandal.

    "I didn¡¯t mean that." Jin Chonglin sighed. "Of course I¡¯m sad that you lost our baby. I¡¯m just tired today, Xiao Luo." He helped her stand up and hugged her, rubbing her back to soothe her.

    Fan Luo hugged him around the waist tightly. Her tears soaked the front of his shirt. "Oh, big brother! Please don¡¯t break up with me. I can¡¯t live without you. I love you so much!"

    "Okay, okay." He murmured to her, continuing to console her.

    He just wanted her to stop crying already. How long was she going to continue crying? His headache hurt so badly.

    "I love you, big brother Lin."

    "Okay," he mumbled.

    He needed some painkillers.

 Chapter 54 - DJ Song

    <h4>Chapter 54 - DJ Song </h4> <h4>Chapter 54: DJ Song</h4>

    Inside the radio broadcasting studio, Iris wore headphones and sat in front of a microphone while conversing with one of the most popr radio hosts in the country, DJ Song.

    DJ Song and JJ were friends. As a result, JJ¡¯s artists frequently guested in DJ Song¡¯s radio show. And now, Iris was experiencing this benefit.

    The previous Iris Long guested in countless radio shows, but was never invited to DJ Song¡¯s radio show before. Aside from being a DJ, he was also known as a harsh music critic. He shared the same high standards as his friend, JJ.

    With the previous Iris Long¡¯s shallow songs, how could she expect to be invited by DJ Song? She would just be asking him to shred her to pieces with his criticisms.

    Now, however, was different. Although she could sense DJ Song¡¯s reservations about her, he was polite because she was now one of JJ¡¯s artists.

    The show was being broadcast live on air on radio. In addition, there were also video cameras mounted in different locations within the studio and a cameraman moving around inside to livestream online.

    Iris was very calm and eloquent, surprising DJ Song and the staff working on the other side of the studio¡¯s ss partition.

    At the start of the interview, they talked about general things and her abrupt retirement. She briefly shared about the ident and hera, basically repeating what she said at her "MusicFest Tonight" interview the night before.

    DJ Song made some sympathetic noises but quickly moved on from the topic. He and JJ had an agreement that more focus should be ced on her uing album.

    DJ Song: "How did youe to work with Old J? I know what he¡¯s like. He won¡¯t ept just anyone."

    Irisughed lightly and everyone thought that herughter sounded lovely.

    Iris: "Indeed. Mr. JJ has extremely high standards, but that¡¯s also why I was determined to work with him. Who doesn¡¯t want to work with the best, right? I sent him a couple of demo tapes. And then I got a call from him and that¡¯s how everything started."

    DJ Song: "That¡¯s it? He epted you just like that?"

    Iris: "Of course not. How could it be that easy? Let¡¯s just say that he liked the songs I sent him but was doubtful about me because my previous musical style was very different. In the end, we ended up meeting for lunch and he dared me to perform live at the restaurant. I epted the challenge and as they say, the rest is history."

    DJ Song: "In other words, he made you audition."

    Iris: "Now that I think about it, yes, maybe that was my audition. It¡¯s one of my most memorable experiences, the first time that I performed with this new musical style in front of a live audience."

    DJ Song: "Were you nervous?"

    Iris: "Of course. I think that anyone who is dared by Mr. JJ to perform on the spot will feel nervous."

    DJ Song: "Ahahaha! That¡¯s true. But not me. I¡¯m not afraid of that old man."

    Everyoneughed.

    DJ Song: "What¡¯s it like working personally with Old J? I hope he didn¡¯t make you cry. He has a reputation of reducing his artists to tears with his extremely high standards and demands. Difficult guy to work with, right?"

    Iris: "No, he didn¡¯t make me cry."

    DJ Song: "Really? Congrattions! How rare."

    She chuckled.

    Iris: "As for being difficult...I don¡¯t see him that way. We all know that he has extremely high standards. And that¡¯s why I wanted to work with him in the first ce. Instead of saying he¡¯s difficult, I think it¡¯s more appropriate to say that he¡¯s adept in giving out constructive criticisms."

    DJ Song: "That¡¯s a nice way to put it, but you¡¯re right. He has difficult demands from his artists because he wants to draw out their full potentials. Hearing you say all these about him, it seems that your experience working with him was harmonious?"

    Iris: "Absolutely not. We actually fought a lot while recording."

    DJ Song: "What? You fought with Old J and you¡¯re still alive and sane?"

    Everyoneughed.

    DJ Song: "What did you fight about?"

    Iris: "Differences in our ideas. He had all sorts of ideas on how to perfect my songs for their final versions, but I didn¡¯t always agree with him. Iposed all the songs in the album myself, so I feel...hmm, protective of them, I guess. As theposer, I have a vision in my head on how I want each of my songs to sound like. Mr. JJ and I fought a lot because our visions differed from one another."

    DJ Song: "Oh, I see. So what happened? How did you resolve these differences in your visions?"

    Iris: "A lot of fighting...I mean, debating. But in the end, we were able to reach apromise that made both of us satisfied with the final results."

    DJ Song: "Wow. Let me just say that I¡¯m impressed with you for being able to stand up against Old J. I know what he¡¯s like. He¡¯s very stubborn and likes to get what he wants, especially when ites to music."

    Iris: "Yes, but I¡¯m also very stubborn and like to get what I want when ites to music. Especially now. Back then, I always let others decide the music I sang. I followed others¡¯ lead. I don¡¯t want to be like that anymore. I want the freedom to choose my own music. I want to feelfortable whenever I sing and perform. I want to be myself."

    DJ Song: "I see. Makes sense. Very inspiring."

    Iris: "Thank you."

    DJ Song: "And now do you feel that you¡¯re being yourself? Will this be your musical style from now on?"

    Iris: "Yes, I feel very much like myself now so I¡¯m very happy and grateful to Mr. JJ for giving me this opportunity. As for this musical style, I¡¯m not going to say anything definite. Like I said, I want freedom when ites to music. That means that I¡¯m going to do my best to sing songs from the heart. My emotions change, so I think that it¡¯s only natural that my music will also change based on my life experiences. Also, I want to develop myposing skills so exploring different kinds of styles might prove useful to me."

    DJ Song: "That sounds exciting. It looks like this is only the start of us seeing the new Iris Long, folks! It seems that she has more in store for all of us!"

 Chapter 55 - I Will Survive

    <h4>Chapter 55 - I Will Survive </h4> <h4>Chapter 55: I Will Survive</h4>

    After the initial interview, Iris performed "Phantom of Your Love" to promote her uing album "Rebirth".

    DJ Song looked solemn as he watched and listened to her singing opposite him with so much emotion. Some of the staff, especially the female ones, working on the other side of the studio¡¯s ss partition were crying as they listened to such a heartbreaking song.

    Tang Yiyi and Dom were with the staff. Dom sped his hands tightly together while looking at his boss like a proud mama. He would wipe tears from his red eyes with a handkerchief now and then.

    After the song, DJ Song interviewed her again briefly about "Phantom of Your Love."

    Iris: "This is actually the song that I performed when Mr. JJ dared me at the restaurant."

    DJ Song: "Oh really? So this is your audition song. Now I see why Old J would sign you up after hearing you sing this song. Wow. Such a beautiful song, Iris. Now I really believe that you have talent as aposer."

    Iris: "Thank you very much, DJ Song. I appreciate it. But I know that I still have a long way to go, so I will work harder."

    DJ Song: "Good to hear. So what are you going to sing for us next, Iris?"

    Iris: "I¡¯m going to sing a cover."

    DJ Song: "Oh? Interesting. What is it?"

    Iris: "It¡¯s an English song. I won¡¯t say the title because I think that everyone will recognize it once I start singing."

    DJ Song: "Now I¡¯m getting excited. Can you tell us why you chose to sing this cover?"

    Iris: "All the songs from my album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ are very emotional, so I thought that I should sing something upbeat for a change of pace. And also the song itself, especially the title when you hear me sing it shortly, is relevant to me...to what happened to me. It is also to show my determination ining back."

    DJ Song: "Alright. Let¡¯s hear it, then. Ladies and gentlemen, let¡¯s give it up again for Iris Long!"

    A familiar piano melody reverberated, then the beat changed and Iris began singing this ssic English song.

    "At first I was afraid, I was petrified..."

    DJ Song¡¯s eyebrows rose and his entire face brightened. The staff, Dom and Tang Yiyi began cheering and pping on the other side of the ss partition. Their bodies started to bounce in time with the beat of the music.

    "I¡¯ve got all my life to live

    And I¡¯ve got all my love to give and I¡¯ll survive

    I will survive, hey, hey!"

    Iris was dancing while singing on her seat. She performed like it was a concert, gesturing and looking at her audience. DJ Song was clearly enjoying himself. She turned and saw her manager and assistant together with the staff on the other side of the ss partition. Dom was busting his best moves, shaking his booty.

    Everyone was enjoying themselves. Even the cameraman couldn¡¯t help but shake his hips, but had to hold himself back because viewers wouldin if the camera view wasn¡¯t steady. It was very difficult not to dance with this song.

    It was at this moment that the listener and viewer counts skyrocketed.

    The musical arrangement was a little different from the original version. Iris personally customized it for herself. She removed the original disco vibe and made it sound more modern. It showcased the power and range of her vocals, even adding a small portion to disy some unexpected vocal acrobatics, reaching such high notes that shocked everyone.

    DJ Song abruptly stood up from his seat, his eyes and mouth wide open, as he looked in shock at Iris. He felt goosebumps all over his body.

    "I will survive!"

    When the song ended, everyone stood up, pping and cheering enthusiastically.

    Iris also stood up and bowed to everyone. She waved to the cameraman, to the online viewers watching the livestream.

    Iris: "Thank you. Thank you very much!"

    Her lightughter tinkled like crystal bells. She also enjoyed herself.

    It took almost a minute before DJ song was able to regain his senses.

    DJ Song: "Wow. Wow! What was that? What just happened? Iris Long, you are on fire! Amazing!"

    Iris: "Thank you, DJ Song."

    DJ Song: "You are so full of surprises. I am so shocked. I¡¯m sure everyone is as shocked as everyone of us here in the studio. Wow."

    They talked for a few more moments.

    For her final song, Iris sang another song from her album. She sang "ck Star". It was currently the most anticipated song from her album, especially after her performance onst night¡¯s episode of "MusicFest Tonight".

    After singing, Iris and DJ Song talked a bit more before easing to the end of the radio show. Iris said a few words to promote her album before saying her thanks and goodbye to the listeners and the online viewers.

    Finally, the radio show ended and everyone stood up and pped. DJ Song, especially the staff, were all feeling ecstatic because they didn¡¯t expect to receive such high listener and viewer counts for this episode.

    It may not be a record-breaker, but it was already impressive especially when the guest was not an A-lister.

    The anticipation towards Iris Long¡¯s uing album "Rebirth" exploded almost to fever pitch. Its momentum was unstoppable.

 Chapter 56 - The Black Stars

    <h4>Chapter 56 - The ck Stars </h4> <h4>Chapter 56: The ck Stars</h4>

    Online during the radio show livestream.

    "Is this a joke? DJ Song actually invited Iris Long to guest in his show?"

    "I¡¯m so disappointed. Did he run out of good artists to invite over?"

    "He¡¯s one of the most respected music critics in the country, but now I think his judgment is bing questionable. Such a shame that his standards fell to such a degree as to invite someone like Iris Long."

    "Hey! Did you not watch Iris Long¡¯s performance on ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯st night? If you did, I don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll still be spouting all that sh*t."

    "Oh oh! I watchedst night¡¯s episode of ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯. Iris Long was amazing!"

    "I can¡¯t count how many times I watched the recording of her performancest night online. ¡¯ck Star¡¯ is stuck in my head!"

    "What are you all talking about? I didn¡¯t watch herst night. Was her performance really good?"

    "Not just good. It was fantastic. Watch it. Here¡¯s the link."

    After a few minutes...

    "Oh my god! Seriously?"

    "Ahahaha! I told you."

    The livestream reached the part when Iris was talking about her experience working with JJ.

    "I don¡¯t believe it. She says that she fought with JJ? Hah! I¡¯ll eat my slippers if this is true."

    "Hey! I remember you. You¡¯re here again. You said that you¡¯ll eat your slippers if it¡¯s proven that Iris is really the one whoposed the songs in her album and not a ghostposer. An intern from JJ¡¯s recordbel already proved it, so did you eat your slippers then? Show us the proof! Now you¡¯re saying that you¡¯ll eat slippers again. You must really like slippers ah."

    In response, this particrizen changed his username to "iEatSlippers" and posted a photo of himself from below the nose to his chest, not showing his whole face. It showed himself chewing on a slipper.

    "Ahahaha! Aiyo. @iEatSlippers, you¡¯re a real man! Yes, real men should keep their promises."

    In the livestream, Iris began singing "Phantom of Your Love".

    "Damn it! Who¡¯s cutting onions?!"

    "My manly tears can¡¯t be stopped."

    "What is this song? So heartbreaking. I can¡¯t stop crying!"

    "So beautiful. Hai. Makes me remember a lot of old memories."

    "It¡¯s so depressing but so beautiful."

    "I can just imagine this song as a theme song of a movie. A tragic love story."

    The livestream now reached the part when Iris was singing "I Will Survive".

    "!!!"

    "Oh my god!"

    "This is f*cking awesome!"

    "It sounds a bit different from the original. I love it!"

    "What the?! What am I hearing? She can even do that? Is that even humanly possible?"

    "Whoa! Listen to those high notes. How high did she reach that part?"

    "I don¡¯t care what others say. You¡¯re now my idol, Iris!"

    "Iris Long, please marry me!"

    "Converted Iris Long fan here!"

    +98

    +1,603

    +12,902 likes and counting.

    Many of the online viewers messaged their own friends to watch the livestream.

    "Hey, check out the livestream of DJ Song¡¯s radio show. Iris Long is the guest and she¡¯s killing it!"

    "First, it wasst night¡¯s performance on ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯. Now she¡¯s conquering DJ Song¡¯s radio show. Iris can¡¯t be stopped!"

    "Goddess Iris, I prostrate myself to you! My blind eyes have been opened to your awesomeness."

    "This is the best version of ¡¯I Will Survive¡¯ that I have ever heard in my life. Honestly!"

    "Damn! I came only now. I want to watch from the beginning. I can watch this livestream again when it¡¯s over, right?"

    "Yeah, we can watch the recording afterwards. I¡¯m also nning to rewatch it. This is amazing!"

    More and more listeners and viewers tuned in to both the radio and the online livestream, curious as to why so many people were talking about it and inviting others to check it out.

    Finally, it reached the part when Iris sang "ck Star".

    "Oh yes! She¡¯s singing my new favourite song now!"

    "Herees my personal anthem!"

    "Shower me with courage and inspiration, oh Great ck Star!"

    "I¡¯m crying."

    "Please release ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ now! I can¡¯t wait anymore!"

    "Wow. The quality of her vocals is even better now that she¡¯s just focused on singing and not ying the piano at the same time."

    CaptainckStar: "I hereby establish the new Iris Long fan club. We will be called the ck Stars! Message me to sign up!"

    "Me me me! Lemme join!"

    MrsLovePhantom: "Finally, I¡¯ve been waiting to hear ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ again ever since I heard Miss Long singing it at that restaurant. Hearing her talk about it in the interview, I¡¯m quite proud that I personally witnessed her ¡¯audition¡¯ to Mr. JJ. I¡¯ve been a fan of Miss Iris Long since that moment, so of course I¡¯ll join this ck Stars fan club. Let me know how I can be of help with the fan club¡¯s establishment."

    CaptainckStar: "@MrsLovePhantom Thank you! Please ept my friend request and then we can discuss."

    JJNumber1Fan: "We promised our idol JJ that we¡¯ll support Iris Long. We¡¯ll follow our sister @MrsLovePhantom and join ck Stars fan club!"

    JJNumber2Fan: "Yeah! We¡¯ll follow our sister @MrsLovePhantom and support Iris Long. I love you, JJ!"

    JJNumber3Fan: "Agreed! Wherever our sister @MrsLovePhantom goes, we¡¯ll go too. Make ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ the number 1 album! JJ, I framed the dress that you signed that day!"

    CaptainckStar: "Wow! @MrsLovePhantom, you brought a lot of people. Thank you very much for the help,dies. Please ept my friend requests."

    "Signed up! Old fan here but seeing the new Iris, I¡¯ve now turned into a diehard fan! Iris 4evah!"

    "Signed up! New fan here! I heart Iris Long!"

    "Signed up! WE LOVE IRIS LONG!!!"

    +109

    +5,038

    +23,574 likes and counting.

    iEatSlippers: "Might as well sign up too. *munching on a slipper*"

    It was at this historical moment that Iris¡¯ strongest and most loyal group of supporters was born.

 Chapter 57 - Uniting For The First Time

    <h4>Chapter 57 - Uniting For The First Time </h4> <h4>Chapter 57: Uniting For the First Time</h4>

    The discussion online continued even after the livestream ended. In fact, it became even more heated as more people watched the video recording afterwards.

    It was also at this moment that the ck Stars fan club demonstrated the early signs of its impressive unity.

    iHateIrisLong: "Iris Long sucks! Don¡¯t be blinded by her recent performances. She¡¯s just having some good luck. It won¡¯tst. Don¡¯t forget what a b*tch, a sl*t, and a wh*re she is."

    CaptainckStar: "Die, you evil demon!"

    "User @MrsLovePhantom reported @iHateIrisLong to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber1Fan reported @iHateIrisLong to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber2Fan reported @iHateIrisLong to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber3Fan reported @iHateIrisLong to the administrator."

    iEatSlippers: "Shut up, b*tch! You want a taste of my slippers? I¡¯ll shove them down your throat. I hope you choke. Damn b*tch."

    Administrator: "The user of the ount @iHateIrisLong is temporarily suspended due to an excessive number of reports by other users. We are currently reviewing your ount for vitions. If you are the owner of this ount, please contact us to confirm your identity and/or to file an appeal in order to regain ess to your ount."

    CaptainckStar: "Our first victory, my fellow ck Stars!"

    +57

    +632

    +2,091 likes and counting.

    iEatSlippers: "Heh. This is the power of my slippers. It can ward off evil."

    iStillHateIrisLong: "F*ck you all! You think a simple ount suspension can stop me? Wake up, losers. Iris Long will always be a b*tch! A sl*t! A wh*re! You¡¯re all stupid sh*t for following a dirty sl*t like her! F*ck you!"

    CaptainckStar: "Comrades, attack!"

    All the members of the newly-formed ck Stars fan club immediately swarmed around and virtually beat the ount user "iStillHateIrisLong" ck and blue until the administrator suspended this ount again.

    iEatSlippers: "Come on, bastards and b*tches! Come at us and I¡¯ll whack you all with my mighty slippers!"

    iHateIrisLongForever: "F*ck you, you motherf*ckers! What ck Stars? More like Iris Long¡¯s dirty and smelly dogs! You don¡¯t know sh*t! You have sh*t for brains! You should all be buried along with that sl*t Iris Long!"

    CaptainckStar: "What a persistent cockroach."

    iEatSlippers: "Taste my slippers, b*tch!"

    "User @MrsLovePhantom reported @iHateIrisLongForever to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber1Fan reported @iHateIrisLongForever to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber2Fan reported @iHateIrisLongForever to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber3Fan reported @iHateIrisLongForever to the administrator."

    The administrator suspended this ount again.

    @iHateIrisLongForeverAndEver: "Ahahaha! You can never stop me, stupid motherf*ckers! As long as I live and have inte ess, Iris Long¡¯s name will never be clean online. I¡¯m not afraid of you, you ck Sh*tters!"

    CaptainckStar: "What a vengeful evil demon."

    iEatSlippers: "My mighty slippers aren¡¯t enough to whack this cockroach to death. Let me call some reinforcements."

    "User @MrsLovePhantom reported @iHateIrisLongForeverAndEver to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber1Fan reported @iHateIrisLongForeverAndEver to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber2Fan reported @iHateIrisLongForeverAndEver to the administrator."

    "User @JJNumber3Fan reported @iHateIrisLongForeverAndEver to the administrator."

    As expected, this ount got suspended again. The ck Stars members expected another ount to pop up again, but surprisingly the peace wasn¡¯t disturbed this time. Momentster, a new user exined why.

    MonkeyFace: "Brother @iEatSlippers, everything¡¯s done. That person won¡¯t be able to create new ounts and bother you for the time being."

    iEatSlippers: "Thanks, bro. I¡¯ll treat you sometime."

    CaptainckStar: "Thank you, brother @MonkeyFace. But what did you do?"

    iEatSlippers: "He¡¯s my friend, my bro. He¡¯s an expert withputers and that kind of stuff."

    CaptainckStar: "Oh, I understand now. Thank you! Brother @MonkeyFace, are you interested in joining our ck Stars fan club? It will be great to have aputer expert like you in our ranks."

    MonkeyFace: "Sure, I¡¯ll join. I¡¯m free, anyway. And my brother @iEatSlippers is also a member, so why not? Looks interesting."

    CaptainckStar: "Awesome! Please ept my friend request."

    The founder of the ck Stars, CaptainckStar, created a private group chat with the newly signed up members to discuss the formal establishment of the fan club. Soon, everyone called him Captain and voted him as the fan club¡¯s President. iEatSlippers was voted as the Vice-President. Some members objected to his nomination because they remembered him as an Iris Long critic, bordering on a hater, before. However, he epted his new post with gusto, waving his virtual slippers in triumph, proiming that he was now an Iris fan. Theiners could only grumble to themselves after this. MrsLovePhantom and her three friends were voted as the PR Officers, with MrsLovePhantom as their leader and the fan club¡¯s official spokesperson. MonkeyFace was also appointed as the Chief IT Officer.

    MrsLovePhantom and her three friends promised to provide the initial funding to formally establish the ck Stars fan club. They also promised to contact Iris Long¡¯s management to ask for recognition as Iris¡¯ official fan club.

    In the meantime, MonkeyFace was tasked to create the fan club¡¯s website so that the members could have a permanent home online. With MrsLovePhantom and her three friends¡¯ promise of funding, he felt very motivated to create the fan club¡¯s website.

    Although it was still in its early stages, the ck Stars fan club was officially established. There was so much progress in one day. A bunch of online strangers gathered together to form a fan club that was already disying such strong sense of unity and organization.

    iEatSlippers: "This is all thank to my mighty slippers."

 Chapter 58 - Rather Die Than Apologize

    <h4>Chapter 58 - Rather Die Than Apologize </h4> <h4>Chapter 58: Rather Die Than Apologize</h4>

    While Iris Long was having a st working that day, her self-proimed mortal enemies were livid at her, cursing her with all their might.

    rm Girls¡¯pany-issued apartment.

    A heavy ceramic vase crashed loudly against the wall, breaking into several sharp pieces before falling to the floor. Ampshade and a bunch of ripped entertainment magazines promptly followed it, forming a mangled mess of broken things.

    The living room was in total disarray. It looked like a savage beast went wild and tore the entire ce upside down.

    Furious shrieks and roars from the apartment frightened away the birds in the area and rmed passersby, making them think that a bad case of domestic violence was urring.

    Some of them wanted to report it to the police, but theirpanions stopped them, saying that it was none of their business and it was better not to interfere with other households¡¯ private matters. Others with more creative imaginations, upon hearing the female shrieks, had images of depraved rituals running through their minds with lots of ropes, leathers, and whips.

    There were still a few responsible and concerned citizens, however, who still called the police to check what was happening.

    Inside the chaotic apartment, three girls looked like crazed, bloodthirsty hyenas.

    "There is absolutely no way that we¡¯re going to apologize to that sl*t!" Wanwan threw the TV remote next. Fortunately, it was in a rubber cover. Otherwise, it would share the same fate as the poor broken things on the floor.

    She turned red in anger, her chest heaving, as she picked up whatever stuff near her and threw them forcefully against the wall and the floor. She screamed and shrieked like an evil demon about to ughter humanity.

    Mimi: "Yeah! Leader¡¯s right! Who wants to apologize to that sl*t?!"

    Feifei crossed her arms across her chest, her hands closed into tight fists until her fingers dug painfully onto her palms. She felt so furious that she was trembling.

    Their manager avoided the broken debris on the floor, waving a letter in the air and showing it to the three girls. "You have no choice. Thepany issued you an order. Either you give an official apology to Iris Long or you¡¯ll find your resources taken away."

    His words made the three girls even more enraged.

    Wanwan: "What kind of manager are you?! You didn¡¯t even say anything in our defence?!"

    Mimi: "Yeah! What kind of manager are you?! Useless!"

    Feifei: "You just let everyone bully us!"

    ¡¯Who¡¯s bullying who?¡¯ The manager grumbled to himself.

    He took deep breaths, trying to contain his anger. The rm Girls were his biggest source of ie after all. He just had to endure until he finds a better money tree than these three b*tches. It was just his bad luck that he was assigned to manage such unreasonable b*tches like them.

    He didn¡¯t feel like a manager at all. More like their servant and a punching bag with no human rights. He frequently had thoughts of quitting but as someone with little guts, he tended to endure slights to his person rather than to stand up for himself.

    The girls weren¡¯t like this before. They were hardworking and sincere. Their innocent eyes lit up with dreams of sess. It was only when they startedpeting against Iris Long that their personalities began warping into such ugly she-devils. As a result, he also med Iris Long a little for his misfortune. He knew that he was being unreasonable for feeling this way, but he just couldn¡¯t help it. After all, he was the one who had to suffer the three b*tches¡¯ abuse on a daily basis.

    Gritting his teeth, he forced the anger down. He hated these three b*tches, but he also hated himself for putting up with them. However, he couldn¡¯t give them up.

    Losing them was akin to losing money. Of course the rm Girls couldn¡¯tpare to the big stars, but they enjoyed decent poprity and were in a much better position thanplete newbies. He would hold on to these three b*tches and their skinny thighs, until luck gives him a better and bigger thigh to hug someday.

    "This is not the time to be stubborn. Thepany is serious this time. Both Bright Summit and ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯ lodgedints to thepany," he exined. "If you still refuse to apologize, don¡¯t expect to be invited to the show again. It¡¯s just a simple apology. Just give it and be done with it."

    Wanwan: "Shut up! What simple apology?! Over my dead body! I will never give that b*tch the satisfaction of seeing us apologize to her!"

    Mimi: "Yeah! I¡¯d rather die than apologize to someone like her!"

    Feifei: "Hmph!"

    The manager sighed. He knew that reasoning with the girls was pointless, but he had to go through the motions so thepany couldn¡¯t fault him for not doing a proper job. He already warned and exined the consequences to them. He already did his job and was satisfied with himself.

    He walked over and ced the letter on the low table in front of the couch. "Think about the consequences of going against thepany orders. I hope that you¡¯ll be more clearheaded tomorrow. I¡¯ll take my leave now."

    "Aaaaaah!" Wanwan screamed when the manager closed the door behind him, leaving the three alone in the messy living room. She grabbed the letter and tore it angrily into many pieces. "Iris Long, you b*tch! This is all your fault!"

    Sounds of crashing and shrieking echoed once again inside the apartment.

    Later, the police knocked on the door. The three girls gave them the ridiculous excuse of doing ate spring cleaning while practicing their vocal skills.

    The officer was doubtful, but since no one was hurt, he could only warn them before leaving while shaking his head.

    "That was scary," Mimi said after the police left.

    "Who called the police?" Feifei asked.

    "We¡¯re getting into all kinds of trouble because of that Iris! This is all her fault!" Wanwan, of course, med everything on their mortal enemy, regardless of whether it made sense or not.

 Chapter 59 - Sleepover

    <h4>Chapter 59 - Sleepover </h4> <h4>Chapter 59: Sleepover</h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    It was just after 7 PM when Iris and Dom arrived at the building¡¯s underground parking area. After her guesting at DJ Song¡¯s radio show earlier that day, they headed to her magazine photoshoot and interview. It also went well and they wrapped up earlier than expected.

    The private elevator stopped at the main lobby. Iris instructed Dom to meet and pick up Jin Liwei who was already waiting outside.

    Dom was, of course, super excited when he heard that Jin Liwei would be staying over for dinner. Based on his reactions, it was as if he was the one having a ndestine meeting with his lover.

    When Iris saw Jin Liwei following after Dom and walking towards her, she didn¡¯t notice that her heart skipped a beat. She just vaguely assumed that she was too tired, so she couldn¡¯t breathe properly.

    Dom allowed Jin Liwei to enter the elevator first before stepping inside after him. When the door closed, his sparkling eyes took several not-so-secret nces at the couple beside him.

    Jin Liwei wore casual clothes. A simple ck cotton long-sleeved shirt showed off his wide shoulders, lean muscled chest, and trimmed waist. Hepleted the look with jeans and a pair of ck sneakers. It was the first time that both Iris and Dom saw him out of his business suit. He looked younger than he usually appeared.

    In his arms, he carried a huge bouquet of yellow roses which he handed to Iris.

    "Thank you." Iris received the bouquet with a smile and smelled the roses.

    "Give me my thank you kiss," he said.

    She hesitated, tilting her head to one side. She knew that in this country, kissing as a form of gratitude was notmon, but some modern-thinking and open-minded people did it. Many of them had experienced living abroad especially in Western countries. As for her, it was normal for her to kiss her father and older brother in her previous life whenever she greeted or thanked them.

    What should she do, then? Should she kiss him or not? Well, she and Jin Liwei already kissed before so...

    She stood on her tippy-toes and pressed her lips quickly on his cheek. It was an innocent thank you kiss.

    But then his hand snaked around her waist, pulling her close to his side. Then he used his other hand to lift her chin and gave her a longer and hotter kiss on the mouth, nibbling and sucking on her lips. "That¡¯s my you¡¯re wee kiss." His voice was low and husky.

    Beside them, the ignored lightbulb Dom was like a fish out of water, his mouth opening and closing as he stared at the couple. His hands were itching for his phone. He expended a huge amount of willpower not to take photos and videos of the hot scene being yed live in front of him by his boss and future sir boss.

    "Don¡¯t forget my hello kiss," Jin Liwei shamelessly demanded.

    Iris blinked a few times. Huh? He wanted more? She pursed her lips, turned her head, and ignored him.

    "Hm? Don¡¯t be shy. It¡¯s just a hello kiss."

    Well, true. It was just a hello kiss. She still felt a little conflicted, but she didn¡¯t really mind kissing him that much. It felt good, and she liked things that felt good. She once again stood on her tippy-toes and gave another quick peck on his cheek.

    Jin Liwei smiled widely and dove for another deep kiss, licking her lips before reluctantly releasing her.

    Huh? Was this normal? She would kiss him on the cheek and then he would kiss her on the mouth? She would search this upter. Perhaps she wasn¡¯t aware of some sort of custom or tradition.

    His kisses felt nice, to be honest...

    She leaned her head against his chest afterwards and felt a little dazed. His now familiar masculine scent was making her want to burrow closer in his embrace.

    Hmm...this was nice...

    It was at this moment that she noticed the sports bag slung on his shoulder.

    "What¡¯s this for?" she asked, touching the bag.

    "I¡¯m sleeping over tonight."

    "..."

    She opened her mouth, but then closed it again. A slight furrow formed between her brows, but it was kissed by the man who shamelessly invited himself for a sleepover at her home without informing her beforehand.

    "Ayiiiii!!!" Dom put his hands on his cheeks as he squealed like an excited fan girl watching a romantic TV series.

    Iris gave her assistant an annoyed look while Jin Liwei ignored him, focusing instead on hugging his baby girl¡¯s tiny waist.

    The elevator dinged and the door opened. They entered the penthouse and was greeted by Yi Mei.

    "Wee back, Young Miss...Mr. Jin." The housekeeper hesitated for only a second. A trace of dismay appeared but then quickly disappeared on her face when she saw the lusty brat clinging all over her Young Miss.

    "We¡¯re back," Iris greeted the housekeeper.

    "Hi, Grandma Yi Mei! I¡¯m so hungry. Is dinner ready?" Dom immediately whined.

    Yi Mei hit him on the head. "What are you, a small child? Go wash your hands before you touch anything!"

    Iris chuckled and handed the bouquet to the housekeeper. "You know what to do."

    Yi Mei nodded. "Dinner will be served shortly. Please rx while waiting."

    "Alright." Iris nodded. "Oh, have someone prepare a guest room for Mr. Jin. He¡¯s staying over for the night."

    "No need," Jin Liwei quickly interjected and then looked at Iris. "I¡¯m sleeping with you in your room tonight."

    Dom squealed in delight while Yi Mei clutched at her chest, almost dropping the huge bouquet of flowers.

    The housekeeper looked like she wanted to run to the kitchen to grab a butcher¡¯s knife and hack at the lusty brat.

    "Okay, baby girl?" Jin Liwei kissed her on the forehead.

    Iris thought for a few moments. Ever sincest night when he made her experience her first orgasm in her two lives, her reservations and caution around him drastically fell. She felt pleasant in his presence and he managed to make her feel good most of the time. He could be annoying, but she actually quite liked his kisses and his touches. But she still needed some time to get used to his touchy-feely behaviour with her.

    He waited patiently for her decision.

    "Okay," she finally agreed.

    Well, he already made her orgasm. She saw nothing wrong with sleeping in the same room with the man she was the most intimate with at the moment. She could always kick him out if he did something unforgivable to her. Besides, she was also curious about these new, unfamiliar sensations he was making her feel.

    Jin Liwei, of course, felt absolutely pleased with her answer and dipped his head to have another taste of his baby girl¡¯s sweet mouth.

 Chapter 60 - Canâ€™t Wait For Dessert

    <h4>Chapter 60 - Can¡¯t Wait For Dessert </h4> <h4>Chapter 60: Can¡¯t Wait for Dessert</h4>

    Since dinner wasn¡¯t ready yet, Iris led Jin Liwei to her bedroom so that he could put his stuff there and she could change out of her dress and high heels into morefortable clothes.

    Dom ran into the kitchen to beg the cook for an early taste of dinner but had his thieving paws hit hard by a spat. He had to grudgingly ease his hunger in the meantime with a banana instead.

    Yi Mei, now recovered from her earlier shock and dismay due to the lusty brat¡¯s shamelessness, instructed a maid to put the yellow roses on a vase and ce itter in the Young Miss¡¯s bedroom.

    When Jin Liwei saw his baby girl¡¯s bedroom, he was slightly taken aback. He thought that they entered the wrong room. Everything was in shades of ck with ents of dark wood, charcoal, and silver. The furniture were big, bold and structured.

    It looked even more masculine than his own bedroom back home.

    Some portions of the walls were artfully covered by irregr dark grey stone bricks, giving a rugged yet cool and mature feel to the room. In front of the big bed, there was an impressive wall-mounted waterfall fountain illuminated beautifully by dim golden lights. The sound of falling water was rxing.

    The waterfall fountain was framed by more stone bricks and crawling golden pothos vines. On each side, there were big pots of bamboo palms. All over the room, there were different kinds of nts giving a refreshing and natural atmosphere.

    Sansevieria and peace lilies decorated the windows. On each side of the bed over the bedside tables sat potted jasmines. Pots of aloe vera and gardenias were ced on the shelves, alongside books, CDs and other ornaments. There was a cacti terrarium beside theptopputer on the study desk.

    Jin Liwei looked at the masculine bedroom and his delicately feminine baby girl. The extreme juxtaposition gave him a big hard-on. His breath hitched and he had to close his eyes for a few moments to control himself.

    Opening his eyes, he caught sight of the hundred red roses he gave herst night on a vase by the corner. He smiled, feeling even more pleased when he saw the handwritten card in front of it.

    "Put your bag wherever you want," Iris told him. "Wait here. I¡¯ll just change my clothes."

    He dropped his sports bag on the floor beside the bed. He didn¡¯t wait like he was told, but instead followed his baby girl to her walk-in closet.

    Iris hesitated, trying to decide whether to rebuke him or to let him be. In the end, she let him be.

    She was too tired to argue with him. She grabbed a simple white T-shirt and a cotton culottes pants. She reached behind her dress and struggled with the zipper.

    "Let me," Jin Liwei said, walking to her.

    She stood ramrod straight as he smoothly pulled down the zipper behind her.

    "Thanks¨D" She gasped when his warm hands snaked around her bare waist inside the dress and pulled her back against his chest. "Liwei, wait..."

    "Hm?" He pushed the dress off her shoulders and let it fall to her feet. He leaned down and rained wet kisses on her nape and shoulders. One hand stroked her tight abdomen while his other hand roamed upwards and cupped a breast still covered by her bra.

    She moaned, leaning her head back and instinctively turning her face towards him.

    He dipped his head and captured her mouth, stabbing his tongue deep inside her sweetness. He turned her so that she faced him and lifted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.

    Iris wrapped her arms around his neck and hesitantly kissed him back, exploring the insides of his hot mouth like a cautious yet curious kitten. His pleased groan made her excited. She let her instincts take over and surrenderedpletely to the kiss.

    They were so absorbed that they failed to hear the knock on the door.

    A scream shocked them out of their haze of pleasure.

    Iris turned her head and saw a red-faced maid with wide eyes stammering by the door to her walk-in closet.

    "S-sorry, Y-young Miss...I, I didn¡¯t m-mean to in-interrupt...d-dinner¡¯s ready so, uh...please continue!" The poor maid was so embarrassed that she ran away so fast before Iris could even say anything.

    Iris felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured down on her. She immediately came out of her dazed state and blushed hard. She couldn¡¯t believe that her employee saw her in such an embarrassing situation, almost naked and wrapped like a ko around a man.

    "Liwei...they¡¯re calling us for dinner..."

    "Later," he murmured, diving in for another kiss but his mouth was covered and pushed away.

    "Put me down."

    "No."

    "Liwei, please..."

    He sighed. "Fine. But give me one more kiss."

    She bit her lower lip but quickly gave him a peck on the lips.

    He reluctantly put her down and whispered close to her ear in a low, husky voice, "We¡¯ll continueter."

    She quickly escaped from his embrace, her cheeks and ears burning, as she hurriedly put on the T-shirt and culottes.

    "Let¡¯s go and eat dinner," she said, heading out before him, her eyes avoiding him.

    "Hmm. Yeah. Can¡¯t wait for dessert." He licked his lips, his eyes locked on to her plump behind.

 Chapter 61 - Stupid Computer

    <h4>Chapter 61 - Stupid Computer </h4> <h4>Chapter 61: Stupid Computer</h4>

    "Boss, oh please have mercy on me and hurry up. I¡¯m starving! I¡¯m gonna die if I wait one more second to eat." Dom immediately whined when Iris and Jin Liwei arrived at the dining table.

    Yi Mei knocked on his head. "Behave!" She turned to Iris and smiled. "Please have a seat, Young Miss...Mr. Jin."

    Jin Liwei walked over and pulled a chair for his Xin.

    "Thanks," she said as she sat down.

    He kissed her forehead before taking a seat beside her.

    "Ehehe." Dom looked at them with sparkling eyes. He didn¡¯t know whether his drool was because of the lovebirds or the delicious food on the table.

    The dinner was Filipino-inspired once again, which exined Dom¡¯s impatience. The main dishes were chicken afritada [1], lumpia [2], and regr steamed jien [3] with oyster sauce for the vegetable dish.

    Dom wolfed down the food and Iris had to remind him numerous times to chew before swallowing.

    It was the first time Iris and Jin Liwei tasted afritada and they were very curious about it. Dom was more than happy to tell them about the dish in between shoving spoonful of food into his mouth.

    After the simple yet sumptuous meal, they were served with hot hibiscus tea.

    Jin Liwei gave his baby girl¡¯s assistant a steely look. Dom immediately understood and quickly excused himself and left the two alone at the dining table.

    Iris enjoyed her cup of tea in an unhurried manner. This nightly ritual calmed and rxed her, slowly easing the tiredness from her body.

    Jin Liwei only drank half a cup of the tea. He sat quietly beside his Xin, admiring her with intense eyes.

    Finally, she finished two cups and stood up. He stood up as well.

    Thanks to the tea, she was calm when she looked at him straight in the eyes. "Let¡¯s go."

    She started to walk, intending for him to follow her, but he took her hand and held it, sping their hands together. She looked at their held hands and subconsciously smiled, as they walked together.

    Inside the bedroom.

    "You can use the bathroom first. I¡¯ll go after you," she said and tried to pull her hand from him but failed.

    "Kiss me first."

    "You..." She sighed and hesitated before pulling him down by the shoulder with her other hand and pressing her lips to his cheek. "Now go."

    "En." He let her go, picked up his sports bag from the floor and headed to the connecting bathroom.

    She watched until the bathroom door closed behind him. Her lips lifted into a soft smile. Then she walked to her study desk and turned on herptopputer.

    Her smile brightened when she saw that the yellow roses were now sitting on a vase beside the red roses by the corner. She admired the flowers for a few moments before pulling all her attention to theptop in front of her.

    When Jin Liwei came out of the bathroom, he saw his baby girl focused in front of herptop. He rubbed his dripping hair with a towel as he walked to her. He had no shirt on, exposing his lean and well-defined muscles, only wearing id pyjama pants hanging loosely around his hips.

    He stood behind her and looked at what she was doing. It looked like she was writing some sort ofputer code. He didn¡¯t really understand the string of characters on the screen. What he found impressive, however, was the speed of her typing. Her wrists remained steady as her fingers flew in a blur over the keyboard, making no sound as they pressed the keys.

    He leaned down and kissed her cheek but got no reaction from her. He kissed her again but still no reaction.

    "What are you doing?" he asked.

    No answer.

    "I¡¯m done showering. It¡¯s your turn."

    No answer.

    "Baby girl."

    "Mmn." She finally made a noise, but otherwise didn¡¯t acknowledge his presence.

    Displeased that he was being ignored, he pulled her up but even when she was standing, her eyes and hands never left theptop. He scooted over and sat on the swivel chair before pulling her down to sit on hisp. She never missed a bit, continuing to type nonstop.

    He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his chin on her shoulder. When his roving hands failed to elicit any reaction from her, he sulked.

    Was the stupidputer more interesting than him?

    He had the urge to grab theputer and toss it in the garbage. Sighing, he hugged her tighter and just watched her work so seriously.

    After a while, his sulking turned to curiosity and then to awe. Curiosity as to what kind of code she was writing, and awe at her superb typing skills and concentration. He noticed that as time passed, her fingers moved faster than his eyes could keep up.

    Finally, she stopped. She stretched her back, neck, and arms like a cat. Massaging her hands, it seemed that she only now noticed that she was sitting on hisp. She twisted and looked at him in surprise.

    He scowled.

    "You like yourputer more than me?"

    Without thinking, she nodded but suddenly stopped when his expression turned ugly.

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] A stew made of meat, carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, peas, and sometimes with pineapple chunks, all cooked in tomato sauce. It¡¯s delicious!

    Gah! Now I¡¯m craving. Dammit!

    [2] Filipino spring rolls, consisting of minced meat and chopped mixed vegetables. I¡¯ve also eaten a lot with just meat on them. I like the one with the veggies more, though.

    [3] Chinese broli. The meal isn¡¯tpletely Filipino, but this is what I actually always eat for my veggies almost everyday regardless of what the main dish is. Very easy to prepare and gives me my daily dose of nutrition and fibre. Yum yum!

 Chapter 62 - Amazed By Her

    <h4>Chapter 62 - Amazed By Her </h4> <h4>Chapter 62: Amazed by Her</h4>

    Iris was a bit confused as to why Jin Liwei looked irritated. She tried to think of what she had done, but found that she couldn¡¯t remember anything from the moment she started coding. She didn¡¯t even notice when he came out of the shower and had no idea when she sat on hisp.

    "Sorry." Indeed, she was. He was a guest in her home, but she failed to take care of him properly because she was too absorbed with herputer.

    "Hmph."

    "Are you angry?" She looked directly at his eyes.

    He softened and then sighed, realizing at how childish he was acting. "No." He kissed her, nibbling on her lower lips.

    She sighed and closed her eyes, enjoying the light kiss.

    "What were you doing?" he asked, stroking her back.

    "Hmm...software program." She nuzzled against his neck, inhaling his clean scent. She felt pleased when she smelled her own soap on his skin.

    "What kind?"

    "Just a little something easy to make and sell for some extra money."

    "Oh. How much are you going to sell it for?"

    "Hmm...maybe about a hundred grand. It depends on how much the buyer negotiates."

    His eyebrows rose. "How long did you work on it?"

    "Just now."

    "You mean you started working on it while I was in the shower and just finished it now?"

    She nodded.

    "What kind of software is this that you can make it in less than an hour and sell it for one hundred thousand RMB?"

    She straightened and frowned at his words, feeling insulted. She lifted her chin with haughty pride. "Excuse me, it¡¯s one hundred thousand US dors. This is already a bargain for something created by me."

    He looked at her and realized that she wasn¡¯t joking. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek. "What kind of software is it?"

    Her eyes shifted around and she blinked repeatedly, avoiding his gaze.

    He caught her guilty look and was amused. "Hmm. Is it something illegal?"

    He chuckled when he felt her stiffen.

    "I...I¡¯m going to shower." She tried to stand but his arms locked around her waist and held her tightly, not allowing her to leave.

    "Tell me, baby girl. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not going to judge you and I won¡¯t tell anyone."

    He waited patiently as she thought for a couple of minutes.

    She bit her lips. "Well...it still should be within the legal boundaries in the country of the person I¡¯m selling it to so...no, it shouldn¡¯t be illegal...I think." She looked at him and gave a tentative smile.

    He threw his head back andughed.

    Huh? Why was heughing? Iris was utterly confused. Was he mocking her? It didn¡¯t look like it. But why was heughing so hard? She didn¡¯t understand.

    "Oh, my dear Xin. You¡¯re the best!" He framed her small face in his hands and pulled her, giving her a loud, smacking kiss on the lips.

    Frowning, she pushed him away. "What do you mean?"

    "Nothing. I¡¯m just amazed by you."

    She blinked. He justplimented her, right? She smiled.

    "So you have time to make software and sell it for a hundred grand. When will you have time to work on some reports for me? I can pay more than a million per report. Just give me a price."

    "Hmm. It depends. Whichnguages can you proficiently read?"

    "Chinese, English, French...a little bit of Spanish and Japanese."

    She nodded. "If the information are in thesenguages, I can create the reports more quickly because I won¡¯t have to trante. I took longer on the reports I sent you before because I had to trante from Russian to Chinese. As for the price, let¡¯s just stick to the 1 million RMB per report plus the misceneous fees rued during the gathering of information."

    "Wait. You know French, Spanish and Japanese too?"

    She nodded, grabbing a notepad and a pen from the desk before giving them to him. "Write the names of the individuals orpanies you want the reports about and I¡¯ll work on them during my free time."

    He ignored the items she was handing him. "How manynguages do you know?"

    "Hmm." She tilted her head to the side, thinking. "I can¡¯t list all off the top of my head. Most of the majornguages spoken in the internationalmercial world, I guess. I like learningnguages, so I have varying proficiency in different ones. I¡¯m mostfortable and fluent in Europeannguages though, as I personally find them easier to learn."

    He frowned. Then he asked in French, "Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?"

    "Of course. Stop joking around and write on this notepad," she replied in perfect French.

    "How about now? Do you understand me?" He switched to Spanish.

    She looked at him like he was an idiot before replying again in perfect Spanish. "Yes. Are you going to write or not?"

    "I¡¯ll kiss you if you can understand what I¡¯m saying now," he said in Japanese.

    "I¡¯ll punch your face before you can kiss me. Why are you being so annoying?" she grumbled in Japanese.

    His mouth fell open, looking at her in amazed disbelief.

    "Tsk. If you¡¯re not going to write, then don¡¯t. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s my responsibility to make those reports for you," she said in English, her British ent sounding so sexy to his ears that he instantly got a raging hard-on.

 Chapter 63 - The Black Notebook

    <h4>Chapter 63 - The ck Notebook </h4> <h4>Chapter 63: The ck Notebook</h4>

    "You!" Of course Iris felt him harden beneath her as she was sitting on hisp. "I...let me shower, okay?"

    Jin Liwei looked at her with dark, desire-filled eyes. "Kiss me first."

    She quickly pecked him on the cheek and stood up.

    He reluctantly let her go and watched her run like a bunny to the bathroom. cing his elbow on the desk, he plopped his head on his knuckle and thought deeply.

    Ever since he became closer to Long Xin, he constantly felt thatmon sense shouldn¡¯t be used to understand her. He found that his earlier assumptions based on the dossier he ordered about her and her bad reputation were allpletely wrong.

    He now knew that she was clearly intelligent and skillful to the point of being a genius, yet why did it not reflect on her academic grades at school? If it wasn¡¯t for her father¡¯s influence, she wouldn¡¯t even graduate from senior high school.

    Was it a case of the typical misunderstood genius?

    He remembered reading from somewhere that some geniuses didn¡¯t do well in standardized educational systems because their minds worked beyond and differently from what society deemed as normal.

    He rubbed his chin and tapped the fingers of his other hand on his thigh. There were so many baffling mysteries surrounding his baby girl.

    Before the ident, she was known as a dumb, spoiled, wild party girl with a short temper, a fame-hungry starlet, and a tireless man-chaser. But now, he couldn¡¯t see any of these in her. What he was seeing with his own eyes was a beautiful and elegant young woman, a talented musician, an intelligent linguist, and a skilledputer expert.

    Was she hiding her real intelligence and talents before to the point that her reputation became severely damaged? For what reason?

    He was still confused but decided not to dwell too much in these thoughts. So what if she pretended to be dumb before? Now he knew that she was actually a genius. What mattered was that he knew the real her now.

    He decided to disregard the inurate information on her dossier and the misleading bad rumours about her. He would only believe what he saw with his own eyes from now on, especially when it came to her.

    If he could, he would keep her all to himself, not letting others discover this amazing side of hers. But he also wanted to show off her amazing talents to the world and p the faces of all the people who misjudged her.

    There were so many people who misjudged her, including himself, before getting to know her in person.

    And he intended to get to know more about her. She was his! He was going to make sure that his baby girl belongedpletely to him.

    She was surprisingly na?ve when it came to the intimate rtionships between men and women. It waspletely contradictory to her promiscuous reputation. In fact, she could be dense to the point that innuendos werepletely useless on her.

    Something that he thought wasmon sense seemedpletely foreign to her.

    This was why he had to use the most straightforward method of seduction which was to overwhelm her with constant intimacy, kissing and touching her whenever he could. Of course, all within the boundaries that she wasfortable with. He wanted her to feel good whenever he touched her.

    So far, it was working.

    He had always been a man of action. When he wanted something, he would do anything to get it. Now that he had found his woman after not feeling anything for the opposite sex since his birth, like hell he would let her escape from him. Long Xin was his!

    His goal was to seduce herpletely, marry her as soon as possible and tie her to himself forever by impregnating her with his baby before she could even realize what was happening. By the time she realized everything, it would be toote because she would already be Mrs. Jin and the mother of his children. He hoped that by that time, their feelings for each other would be deep enough to guarantee a life-long marriage. She would never be able to escape from him. Only then would he feel rxed.

    At the moment, his hard-on already calmed down from all the thinking. He heard water still running in the bathroom.

    While waiting for his Xin to finish showering, he remembered to write the names of thepanies and individuals he wanted reports about on the notepad. He ced the notepad beside theptop after writing.

    Then he noticed a ck notebook on a corner of the desk. Curious, he opened it and took a look. There were four names written on the first page.

    The first one was "Fan Luo". The other three names were "Wanwan", "Feifei" and "Mimi" which he didn¡¯t recognize.

    As for the first name, he frowned. Was this Fan Luo, his younger brother Chonglin¡¯s fianc¨¦e? Why would Xin write Fan Luo¡¯s name?

    His baby girl already assured him that she didn¡¯t have feelings for his brother. Then why?

    What was this ck notebook for anyway?

    What if...

    His heart thumped, suddenly feeling nervous.

    Anxious, he grabbed his phone and called his assistant.

    "Are you certain that all traces leading to the real reason behind Xin¡¯s ident were erased?"

    On the other side of the line, Xu Tian was baffled as to why his boss was asking this now at this time of the night. "Yes, President. I¡¯m sure."

    "Check again."

    Xu Tian paused before answering, "Understood."

    Only then did Jin Liwei¡¯s nervousness eased a bit. "Good." He was quiet for a few seconds before remembering something. "Is everything prepared for my n tomorrow?"

    "Yes, President."

    "Alright."

    He hung up.

    He looked at the first name on the ck notebook again and then nced at the bathroom, guilt shing in his eyes.

    He was now starting to regret what he did, but he reasoned to himself that he didn¡¯t know Xin before like he knew her now. And as the head of the Jin family who was now considered by many as the most powerful family in the country¡¯s business world, he had a duty to protect his family¡¯s name and image. Any smear, no matter how small, was unforgivable. So he always thought that it was better to eliminate potential problems before they could ur.

    But the most important reason was to protect his mother¡¯s feelings. Ever since his father died, his mother worried about the brothers more than ever, especially when it came to Chonglin who seemed to do whatever the hell he wanted without any care in the world. And their mother treated Fan Luo like a daughter that she never had.

    Before, he thought that he didn¡¯t care about anyone and anything, as long as his mother¡¯s feelings were protected. Now, however...

    He wanted to confess everything to Xin, but was afraid that if he did it now, she would never let him near her again. He couldn¡¯t afford to destroy their current progress. He could sense that she was still hesitant when it came to him. He needed the security that she waspletely his first and wouldn¡¯t leave him, before he could reveal the truth to her.

    Jin Liwei looked at the ck notebook again, feeling a vague sense of danger. However, he shook it off. It should be alright...no, it would be alright.

    Perhaps the one written on the notebook was not the same "Fan Luo" that he knew of. Assuring himself with this thought, he carefully put the ck notebook back in its original ce.

 Chapter 64 - Iâ€™m Your Lover

    <h4>Chapter 64 - I¡¯m Your Lover </h4> <h4>Chapter 64: I¡¯m Your Lover</h4>

    Jin Liwei forcefully pushed away the guilt he was feeling and focused on his ns to make Xinpletely his instead. Tonight, he would make sure to imprint himself on her as deeply as possible so she would never dare think about other men besides him ever again.

    After a few more minutes, the bathroom door opened. His baby girl came out wearing a bathrobe and a towel twisted on top of her head. She looked flushed from the hot shower. Traces of white cream were on her face and she gently smoothed it all over her skin with light fingers. She gave him a quick smile before heading to her walk-in closet.

    Of course he wouldn¡¯t miss this opportunity. He stood up and followed after her.

    Iris opened a drawer and took out a small cotton panties. When she felt him behind her, she immediately felt wary.

    "Liwei, can you wait outside while I put on clothes? I¡¯ll be quick, I promise."

    "Don¡¯t mind me. Go ahead and put your clothes on."

    Her brows furrowed. What did he mean? He wanted to watch her?

    "Are you feeling shy now?" he teased.

    She scowled. "So what if I¡¯m feeling shy? Isn¡¯t it normal for me to feel shy in this kind of situation? What do you take me for? A shameless person who strips in front of strangers?"

    It was his turn to scowl. "What strip in front of strangers? You¡¯re not allowed to show your naked body in front of other people besides me!"

    Huh? Wasn¡¯t this man missing the point by too much? And what did he just say?

    "What do you mean by besides you? I¡¯m not going to show my naked body to other people, much less to you! Who do you think you are?"

    "I¡¯m your lover!"

    She froze. Ah, what...what? She blinked a few times. The panties in her hand fell to the floor.

    She was still frozen when he bent down to pick the panties from the floor. Then he crouched down in front of her and stretched the stic waistband of the panties, holding it before him.

    "Here, baby girl. I¡¯ll help you wear it."

    His words snapped her out of her momentary daze. When she realized what he was trying to do, her cheeks and ears burned from embarrassment. She tried to snatch the panties from him, but he evaded her, holding it out of her reach.

    "What are you doing? Give it back! I¡¯ll wear it myself."

    "Be good. Stop fighting me. If you just let me help you, we won¡¯t need to waste this much time."

    "You..." Iris took a couple of deep breaths and looked at the ceiling. The man was exasperating!

    "Liwei, please give it back. I¡¯m not a small child. I can put it on myself."

    But the manpletely ignored her and crouched down in front of her again, holding out her panties in ready-to-wear position. "Come on, baby girl. No need to be shy in front of your lover."

    "I...who¡¯s your lover? When did we be lovers?"

    Jin Liwei sighed in an exaggerated manner, shaking his head. "What hurtful words, baby girl. You mean you don¡¯t consider me your lover when you have kissed me so many times already and even used my body to make you orgasm?"

    "..."

    Why was he making it sound like she was the one taking advantage of him?

    He waved the panties. "Are you wearing this or not? If not, I¡¯m fine with that too."

    "I¡¯ll wear it," she hissed at him. "Give it to me."

    "No."

    She red at him. What feeling was this? She felt so embarrassed and furious at the same time. This was the first time she felt so mortified in her two lives.

    After a few moments, she sighed, suddenly feeling tired. She didn¡¯t want to argue with him anymore.

    "Fine." She gestured for him to hold the panties properly.

    She didn¡¯t even realize that all she needed to do was get another panties from the drawer and wear it herself.

    Smug of his victory, he immediatelyplied. She stepped into the panties and he pulled them up her smooth legs from inside her bathrobe. He looked in anticipation at the slit in the robe for a glimpse of her treasure, but his chin was pushed up by her hand, forcing him to look up at her cold, beautiful face instead.

    He sighed inwardly. Fine, he couldn¡¯t see but he could still feel. When the panties reached the desired area, he made sure to grope her thighs, hips and squeeze her sexy butt.

    "You!" She pped his bare chest, furious at his audacity. But when his shameless hands caused a hot pool of pleasure to form within her lower abdomen, she wrapped her arms around his waist instead and pressed herself against him.

    "Baby girl, do you feel good?" he asked in a low, husky voice. His hands continued to knead her bottom cheeks.

    "Mmn." She didn¡¯t realize that her hands had be infected by his shamelessness, travelling across his bare, muscled back before dipping low to his tight butt and squeezing him as well.

    He gasped and then groaned, his rod instantly hardening. His eyes turned predatory.

 Chapter 65 - Measuring Tape

    <h4>Chapter 65 - Measuring Tape </h4> <h4>Chapter 65: Measuring Tape</h4>

    "Liwei..." Iris moaned, her eyes drooping close, enjoying the sensations he was making her body feel.

    He lifted her up and made her wrap her legs around his waist.

    Her arms quickly hooked around his neck. Too absorbed in her desire, she didn¡¯t notice that he was already carrying her out of the walk-in closet towards the bed. She inhaled his masculine scent now overpowering the fragrance of her soap on his skin from his shower earlier.

    Momentster, she felt her back bounce on the soft bed. The towel on her head tumbled off, her wet hair sying over the bedsheets. Then she was immediately pressed down, his big and heavy body crushing on top of her.

    His kiss was deep, hot, wet, and urgent.

    She grasped his slightly damp hair with one hand while her other hand roamed all over his back. She responded to his kiss with passion, clumsy at first butter managing to establish a sweet rhythm together with his tongue.

    His hands untied her bathrobe and opened it widely, revealing her beautiful, smooth, milky-white skin underneath.

    Jin Liwei stopped what he was doing to sit back and admire her.

    "Beautiful," he whispered.

    She instinctively covered her bare chest, but he was quicker and stopped her. He pushed her hands away, and then grabbed her breasts with each hand.

    Gasping, her eyes drooped closed and her back arched as he kneaded her. "Oh..."

    He kissed her again, thoroughly exploring the insides of her hot, sweet mouth, while his hands continued kneading. Then he trailed wet kisses down her neck, chest and finally closed in on a breast.

    "Ah!" She grabbed his head, breathing quickly and heavily.

    He gave her nipple a long lick before suckling her hard like a hungry baby. His other hand yed and pinched gently on the other nipple. He alternated between the two, making her toes curl.

    The hot ball of pleasure on her lower abdomen became tighter and tighter until she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. She cried out and shuddered as she climaxed.

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei moved up again, kissed her neck and then whispered into her ear. "What¡¯s this? You came with just your breasts?"

    She groaned, her eyes still tightly shut as she savoured thest tremors of her spent pleasure which was gradually fading away. She didn¡¯t know what happened, but it felt amazing.

    "Baby girl, that¡¯s already two for you. It¡¯s time to pay me back forst night¡¯s orgasm."

    Her eyes flew open. She looked at his handsome face filled with desire. "Mmn...¡¯kay."

    "Are you sure?"

    She nodded. A promise was a promise after all. She owed him, so of course she would pay him back.

    "Good girl." He kissed her on the forehead.

    He sat up again and hooked his thumbs on the waistband of his pyjama pants.

    "Ready?" he asked.

    She nodded, biting her lower lip.

    In one smooth move, he pulled his pyjama pants down and his erection sprang free.

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened, her mouth opening, swiftly inhaling air. She stared at his erection standing strong and proud.

    Jin Liwei stroked himself slowly, his eyes dark with desire, while looking at her reaction.

    "Uhm...wait here." She stood up and started climbing down the bed.

    He pulled her back by her bathrobe. "Where are you going?"

    "Wait here a bit. I¡¯ll be back. I¡¯m just going to get something."

    He reluctantly let her go, still stroking himself, as he watched his Xin run to the study desk, open a drawer and rummage inside. She came back carrying something small in her hand and climbed back on the bed.

    "What¡¯s that?"

    Instead of answering, she unrolled the thing in her hand and he finally saw what it was.

    A damn measuring tape.

    Seriously?

    Then she scooted closer to him, reached for his erection and started measuring his length like it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

    Jin Liwei: "..."

    "I should¡¯ve measured you before you got hard forparison...hmm...next time," he heard her mutter under her breath.

    He was so taken aback that he was speechless.

    After measuring his length, she circled the tape around to measure his girth. Then she climbed down the bed again.

    "Where are you going again?"

    "Just wait. I need to search this up." She was already back at her study desk, tossed the measuring tape on top of it, and then grabbed herptop.

    "Search what up?" he asked when she returned on the bed with herptop. He pulled her to his side, as he continued to slowly stroke himself. Her weird actions were confusing and he was already softening up a bit as a result.

    "I want to know how youpare to the average size of Chinese men...maybe also among other Asians...hmmm..."

    His jaw fell down. Was she serious?

    "You don¡¯t need to know that kind of stuff."

    "But I want to know. It¡¯s going to bother me if I don¡¯t search this up."

    He gritted his teeth. "Baby, it¡¯s enough for you to know that I¡¯m bigger than the average."

    She gave him a side-eye, clearly doubtful. "How do you know? How many erect pen*ses have you seen to make that kind of statement?"

 Chapter 66 - Give Me Your Hand

    <h4>Chapter 66 - Give Me Your Hand </h4> <h4>Chapter 66: Give Me Your Hand</h4>

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes, trying to rein in his exasperation. "Fine," he hissed through his teeth. "Search to your heart¡¯s content, but can you hurry up? You¡¯re killing me here, baby." He focused on stroking himself, trying hard to maintain his erection.

    "Sorry." Iris bit her lower lip, feeling a bit guilty. But her curiosity must be satisfied as soon as possible or she wouldn¡¯t be at peace. "I¡¯ll be quick, I promise. And then I¡¯ll pay you back, okay?"

    He just nodded.

    Her fingers flew over the keyboard. Indeed, she was quick as promised. Within a minute, she found the information she was looking for.

    "Oh, you¡¯re right. You¡¯re bigger than average. But only among East Asians...hmm..." She mumbled a few sets of numbers.

    Pleased, he smiled smugly. "Told you so. You done?"

    "Yes."

    "Good." He grabbed the damnptop, closed it, and ced it on the bedside table. "Now it¡¯s payback time."

    She stiffened, beginning to feel nervous. But she steeled herself. "Okay."

    "Take off your robe," he ordered.

    She hesitated but still obeyed, removing it from her body and then tossing it on the floor.

    Distracted, he bent down and caught one breast in his mouth, making her moan. After a few moments, he lifted his head and kissed her mouth before he straightened.

    "Sit in front of me. Good. Now watch." He stroked himself from bottom to top and then back down again over and over.

    She swallowed but watched his actions intently.

    "Your turn," he whispered. "Give me your hand."

    When her fingers closed around him, her hand shook and she almost let go but his hand closed on top of hers, preventing her from escaping. Then he began to guide her on how to pleasure him.

    He gasped and closed his eyes, groaning and even moving his hips a bit in time with her strokes.

    She was surprised at how hot, smooth and hard he felt in her hand.

    He grabbed her head and kissed her passionately like a thirsty man gulping water after days of being parched.

    She moaned.

    "Don¡¯t stop," he growled. "Tighter, baby. Yes. Like that."

    Her eyes widened and she looked at him in surprise. "It got harder. How hard can you get?"

    He was breathing heavily. "I don¡¯t know, baby. We¡¯ll find out together."

    "Oh."

    Maybe this could be a potential experiment subject, measuring how hard he could get depending on which actions she performed on him...hmm...she would have to think more about this.

    "Faster, baby."

    "Okay."

    Finally, he stiffened and then groaned loudly, spraying all over the two of them and on the bedsheets.

    "Oh!" She froze and stared at his mess, not knowing what to do.

    He pulled her to his chest, kissing her sloppily on the mouth, as he continued to groan.

    She felt weird, feeling the warm and sticky fluid spreading and rubbing between their bare chests and abdomens.

    When he calmed down, he stroked her back and kissed her forehead, sighing in satisfaction.

    Iris slowly straightened up and looked down at the white mess on their bodies.

    "So this is what sem*n is like," she murmured.

    "En...I have more if you want. They¡¯re all yours."

    "Hmm...¡¯kay." She didn¡¯t really hear him. She was more interested in feeling the texture of his sem*n, wondering about its properties. She was thinking of buying a microscope, so she could investigate.

    She read from various textbooks before that sem*n differed depending on the individual. She also read that it could change in texture and taste depending on the diet. Her eyes lit up. Perhaps she could make him eat something different each week and then...huh? Wait. How would she know what it would taste like? Would she have to...no way. But she was very curious. She would have to brainstorm about whether this experiment was feasible for them or not.

    He thought that she was agreeing with him that all his sperm cells now belonged to her. And that only his sperm cells couldbine with her egg cells to make babies in the future. He couldn¡¯t help but smile widely.

    Finally done with her thoughts, she saw the damp towel that fell off her head from earlier by the corner of the bed. She took it and began wiping herself. After cleaning herself, she wiped Jin Liwei as well. Next was the mess on the dark bedsheets, but the stains wouldn¡¯te out. She sighed.

    "Come here, baby," he called to her after she was done. He first removed his pants and boxers and threw them to the floor. He was nowpletely naked. Then he pulled her in his arms, and theyid down together. He covered both of them with the duvet.

    She looked up at his satisfied face. "Did you feel good?"

    "Yes. Very much." He kissed her forehead.

    "Oh. That¡¯s good. I¡¯ve paid you back now. I don¡¯t owe you anything anymore."

    "Baby girl..."

    "Hm?"

    "Are you wet?"

    She stiffened.

    "Tell me."

    She hid her face against his chest.

    "Come on, baby. Don¡¯t be shy."

    "Yes."

    "Yes what?"

    "Yes, I¡¯m wet."

    He inhaled sharply and felt himself harden again. "I want to touch you."

    "No." She started to panic for a bit. "I...I¡¯m not ready."

    He lifted her chin so that she was looking up at him. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not going to enter you. Not yet. I¡¯ll just touch tonight, okay? I¡¯ll make you feel good."

    He waited patiently for about a couple of minutes for her to think it over.

    "Let¡¯s just try, okay? If you don¡¯t like it, just tell me to stop and I¡¯ll stop. How about that?"

    She spent another minute in silence, thinking. He stroked her head while waiting for her decision.

    "Okay," she finally said. "Let¡¯s try." She actually felt curious.

    "Good girl."

    He sat up while she remained lying on her back. He pushed the duvet off of them. He reached for her panties.

    "Wait!"

    "It¡¯s alright, baby. Just rx."

    "Okay." She hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing. Raising her hips slightly, she allowed him to remove her panties.

    "Open up, baby girl."

    "Liwei, I..."

    "Don¡¯t be shy. You already saw my everything."

    "Fine."

    When she loosened her closed legs, he immediately pounced and spread her thighs wide apart, before cing himself between them. He inhaled sharply when he finally saw her. He reached down and ran his fingers over her wet slit, making her whimper.

    "So beautiful." He sucked his fingers, tasting her. His erection twitched, hardening even more.

    He touched her again, rubbing her soft and wet folds, enjoying the sound of her gasps and moans. His fingers still pleasuring her, he bent down over her and captured her mouth, swallowing her cries.

    Then he stabbed a long finger inside her.

    "Ow!" The sharp pain dragged her harshly out of her haze of pleasure. She pushed him hard off her.

 Chapter 67 - Were All Human Beings

    <h4>Chapter 67 - We''re All Human Beings </h4> <h4>Chapter 67: We¡¯re All Human Beings</h4>

    Happy with his discovery, Jin Liwei ignored his baby girl¡¯s bared teeth and ws as he crushed her with a tight hug, nuzzling against her hair.

    Iris bit his shoulder. "Jin Liwei!"

    He still looked pleased, kissing her on the forehead. He still couldn¡¯t stop himself from grinning while her angry eyes shot daggers at him. Feeling the proof inside her that she never had any man before him, he mentally beat his chest and howled with joy.

    "You¡¯re a virgin," he stated, delighted.

    "Hmph! Don¡¯t be stupid. I read somewhere that a hymen is not a definite proof of virginity."

    He frowned.

    "You don¡¯t believe me? Let me search it up and I¡¯ll show you." She tried to push him off again and moved to reach herptop on the bedside table. However, he didn¡¯t let her.

    "Are you a virgin or not?"

    She red at him. "I am! But even if I wasn¡¯t, so what? Are you one of those backward men who look down on females who aren¡¯t virgins?"

    "No, of course not. I like you just the way you are. I¡¯m just happy to know that I¡¯ll be your first."

    ¡¯And I intend to be yourst,¡¯ he thought to himself.

    "Can¡¯t I be happy?" he continued.

    She pursed her lips.

    "I¡¯m sorry, baby."

    She wavered.

    He rained light kisses on her face. She wavered even more.

    "I didn¡¯t mean to offend you. I¡¯m just so happy. I still want to touch you. I won¡¯t go too deep this time, okay?"

    She was about to reject him, but his shameless hands already started kneading her breasts again, making her feel so good that she forgave him.

    Well, the man knew how to make her feel good.

    And he already apologized. But she would really show him next time who he was dealing with. He better not piss her off or else. Hmph.

    Seeing her lost in pleasure, his hand reached down once again and rubbed her folds, making her even wetter and her moans louder. He trailed kisses on her face, down her neck, chest, each of her breasts, abdomen...down her hips, and then her inner thighs.

    When his face reached her hot core, he inhaled her musky scent and his hot rod dripped a little. Then he started eating her, giving a long lick over her entire slit before sucking her hard.

    "Ah! Liwei, what are you doing?!" She tried getting up, but his arms circled around her thighs, holding her in ce.

    His tongue entered her as he continued sucking, making her tremble.

    She whimpered and moaned. Her hands subconsciously reaching for her own breasts and squeezing her mounds, as her body bowed in intense pleasure. She was unaware that her hips started rocking on his face.

    Tears flowed down her eyes, as her cries became louder and louder. She grabbed on his hair, pushing his face harder against her, as she stiffened and shuddered.

    "Ah! Liwei! Oh Liwei!"

    He swallowed her release, intensifying it with the rubbing of his fingers as he continued to suck hard on her. He only stopped when he felt her cken. He pushed himself up over her and kissed her mouth, letting her have a taste of her own juices.

    She moaned, kissing him with all her might. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her down on top of her, so that she could feel his weight. Her legs wrapped around his waist.

    "More..." she murmured at his ear in such a sexy voice that it almost made hime in that instant.

    Fortunately, he was able to control himself in time. His eyes darkened with an even stronger desire. His lips lifted into a predatory smile at her request.

    His Xin was turning out to be a wildcat in bed.

    "Anything for my baby."

    They began another round of pleasuring each other. He, with his mouth and fingers, and she, with her hands.

    Afterwards, she was shuddering again in pleasure as he pumped his release all over her chest and stomach. When he finished, he bent down and kissed her with an open mouth, tangling their tongues together, before sucking on her lower lip.

    "Mmm..." She sighed and smiled in satisfaction, and then stretched her flexible body like azy cat.

    Jin Liwei chuckled. He straightened and grabbed the used towel to wipe themselves again (poor towel!). Then heid down beside her and pulled her into his embrace.

    Under the duvet embracing each other, they were both feeling nice, warm,fy, and very, very, very satisfied.

    "Baby girl?"

    "Hm?"

    "When will you let me enter you?"

    She looked up at his face. They stared at each other.

    "Hmm..."

    He waited patiently for her answer.

    "I don¡¯t mind the idea now as much as before." She was curious whether it would feel better than what they were doing now.

    "Then..." His eyes brightened.

    "But you¡¯ll need to get tested for STDs first. When you have shown me proof that you don¡¯t have any STD, then maybe I¡¯ll allow you to do it with me all the way. We¡¯ll see. Okay?"

    In her previous life, she overheard her father and older brother discussing that any potential candidate to be her husband was required to be screened for sexually transmitted diseases, in addition to other strict and high criteria which she had no idea about. After eavesdropping to their conversation, she immediately searched up STDs and was scared silly. She agreed with her father and brother about the screening.

    He scowled. "I don¡¯t have STD."

    "But I don¡¯t know that."

    "Baby, trust me. I don¡¯t have STD. I¡¯ve never had sex with anybody before, so I¡¯m 100% sure that I¡¯m clean."

    She pushed herself up and looked at him, doubt in her eyes. "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re a virgin."

    "Yes, I¡¯m a virgin," he snarled.

    She was shocked. "What?! How old are you? Thirty?"

    "Thirty-one."

    "You¡¯re thirty-one and you¡¯re still a virgin?"

    He red at her.

    "Wait, you¡¯re serious? Really?" She stared at him like he was an exotic animal. "How is this possible?"

    "Stop it, Xin."

    "But Liwei, I just find this hard to believe. Are you ying with me?"

    He turned serious. "I¡¯m not ying with you. Never. I¡¯m serious. You¡¯re the first woman, the only woman, to give me a hard-on. I want us to be each other¡¯s first, Xin. That¡¯s why I was so happy to learn earlier that you¡¯re also a virgin."

    "Oh." Her heart skipped a beat when she heard his serious words. She felt touched and decided to believe his sincerity.

    But wait...did he say that she was the first woman to give him a hard-on? Did that mean that his previous hard-ons were caused by men?

    Oh.

    Oh!

    She looked at him deep in the eyes and took a deep breath. She patted his arm before saying in a gentle voice, "It¡¯s okay. I ept you for who you are. Male, female. What¡¯s the difference? We¡¯re all human beings in the end."

    Huh? What was she talking about? He frowned, confused at her words.

    Then his eyes nked out when he heard her next words.

    "I don¡¯t care about your original sexual preference. So what if you liked men before? Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t judge you."

 Chapter 68 - To Hell With The Schedule

    <h4>Chapter 68 - To Hell With The Schedule </h4> <h4>Chapter 68: To Hell with the Schedule</h4>

    "What are you talking about?!" Jin Liwei roared. He couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. "I¡¯m not gay!"

    Iris gave him an understanding smile. "No need to be ashamed. I told you that I¡¯m okay with it."

    He closed his eyes and took deep breaths with gritted teeth, fighting the urge to explode and embarrass himself in front of her. He opened his eyes and looked at her seriously. "Baby girl, I¡¯m not gay."

    "Oh. Then do you mean you never had an erection before this?"

    "I have but they¡¯re not caused by anyone. For physiological reasons, males would often wake up with an erection."

    "Oh."

    "It¡¯s only when I met you that I had to suffer from constant hard-ons whether I¡¯m awake or asleep. You¡¯re constantly on my mind and I have to relieve myself while thinking of you. Baby, I have to touch myself every night because of you. It¡¯s making me crazy."

    "Oh."

    "Now do you believe me?"

    She tilted her head. "So you¡¯ve never been sexually attracted to anyone before?"

    "No. Not until I met you. I don¡¯t like getting close to other people. They¡¯re so annoying. It¡¯s only you, Xin. Only you."

    "But how are you so knowledgeable and skilled in kissing and touching me?"

    "Lots of research and I practiced a lot in my head. I want to make you feel good, to make both us feel good. Besides, you only think I¡¯m skilled because I¡¯m your only experience. Yeah, so everything is for you."

    "Oh, okay." She couldn¡¯t resist his sincere expression. She leaned down and kissed his lips.

    The gentle kiss turned fiery after just a couple of seconds. He pushed her down and climbed on top of her, beginning another session of lovemaking without going all the way.

    And another session...

    Yet another session...

    The next morning, 7 AM.

    Iris woke up first. Although they both slept verytest night, her body was conditioned to rise early during Sundays.

    She tried to move but found that she couldn¡¯t. Jin Liwei¡¯s limbs were all coiled around her body in a vice grip.

    ¡¯What am I? His body pillow?¡¯

    She struggled, pushing him, trying to loosen his tight embrace around her but to no avail. She felt hot, sweaty and ufortable.

    "Liwei...Liwei, wake up. I need to pee..." She patted his face.

    A grunt and then nothing.

    "Liwei, please...I can¡¯t hold it anymore."

    His eyes fluttered open. "Mmm...Morning, beautiful."

    She was already smiling at his greeting before she could even think about it. "Good morning."

    Then he climbed on top of her.

    "Liwei, I need to pee."

    "Later..."

    "Please...oh. I don¡¯t think I can hold it in anymore..."

    Five minutester...

    Holy!

    She didn¡¯t know that having a full dder would make it more intense. Thank goodness for her strong pelvic muscles or she would¡¯ve peed right there on the bed!

    After Jin Liwei made another mess all over them and the bedsheets, she hurriedly jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom.

    She stepped under the hot shower, rinsing her body, after answering nature¡¯s call. The bathroom door opened, then a toilet flush. Soon after, Jin Liwei joined her in the shower.

    As expected, they couldn¡¯t keep their hands off each other and so began the second round of the day. He wanted to go another round but she had to firmly stop him.

    "Liwei, we have a schedule this morning. The entire household works out every Sunday. The instructor will being in about an hour. We need to hurry."

    He sighed, a bit disappointed. But not too much. His little brother down below felt extremely satisfied, so who was he toin?

    "Did you bring workout clothes?" she asked him when they entered her walk-in closet.

    "Yeah."

    "Good." She quickly changed into a racerback tank top and yoga pants. The workout clothes fitted so well that her hourss figure was exposed for everyone to see.

    Seeing her sexy body, he almost lost control again.

    He also changed into a pair of ck jogger pants and simple jersey T-shirt.

    Iris stood in front of her vanity mirror, sighing, as she looked at all the hickeys covering her body. She grabbed a tube of concealer and started covering them up.

    "Liwei, can you not put so many kiss marks on me next time? They¡¯re such a hassle to cover up."

    "But I like seeing them on you."

    She turned and red at him.

    He walked towards her and hugged her from behind. He kissed her hair. "Fine. I¡¯ll only mark you on hidden ces next time."

    She sighed. Well, at least hepromised.

    "Here. You can mark me too, if you want. It¡¯s only fair," he said, pulling the neckline of his shirt.

    Giggling, she turned around and sucked and nibbled all over his neck and chest.

    He groaned and pushed her against the wall, kissing her hungrily.

    "Wait. Liwei...we have a schedule..."

    "To hell with the schedule."

    And so there went the third round of the day...

    Iris red at him afterwards because she had to change her stained clothes while he remained clean. The man just had to shoot it out all over her.

 Chapter 69 - Delicious

    <h4>Chapter 69 - Delicious </h4> <h4>Chapter 69: Delicious</h4>

    Finally, Iris and Jin Liwei walked out of the bedroom holding hands. They headed into the kitchen where all the noise wasing from.

    People in colourful workout attires were chatting andughing around the big granite kitchen ind. They were eating an assortments of cereal, oatmeal, toasted bread and fruits. Someone was making protein shakes with a blender, pouring them into tumblers and distributing them to everyone.

    Dom, chewing on a banana, was the first one to notice the two of them. "Boss! Sir boss! You¡¯re here. Good morning! Ehehehe." His eyes immediately sparkled when he saw their held hands.

    Everyone turned to their direction and greeted them. "Good morning, Young Miss (Sir)!"

    "Good morning, everyone." Iris smiled at them.

    Jin Liwei nodded, his cold face showing no expression.

    "Young Miss, Mr. Jin, please sit down and eat something before the workout," Yi Mei called out to them, quickly recovering from her dismay upon seeing the lusty brat holding her Young Miss¡¯s hand.

    They took a seat beside each other. A blushing maid who avoided meeting their eyes quietly handed them two tumblers of protein shakes. She was the unfortunate one who caught them kissing inside the walk-in closetst night. The poor girl had big, dark bags under her eyes because she couldn¡¯t sleep after seeing her Young Miss doing that kind of shy shy things with a big, handsome but scary man. She was terrified that the Young Miss would fire her because she saw them.

    Iris had no idea that her maid was worrying herself almost to death about what she witnessed them doingst night. She only saw the maid¡¯s embarrassed expression. Her eyes twitched and fought against the blush creeping up her own face.

    She turned to Jin Liwei instead and asked, "What would you like to eat?"

    "Hmm...oatmeal. Maybe some toast as well."

    "Okay." She looked at the cook. "You heard him. And just a bowl of cereal for me, please."

    The cook smiled. "Coming right up, Young Miss."

    Everyone ate and chatted at the same time. The atmosphere was very casual and pleasant. It was the first time Jin Liwei experienced something like this where the master, or in this case, the mistress of the household and the servants were interacting sofortably with each other almost on equal terms.

    "What¡¯s all this? What¡¯s happening?" he asked Iris.

    She licked her lips after drinking her protein shake. "We have Zumba ss every Sunday morning."

    "Zumba?"

    "Yes. Originally, I wanted a regr workout regimen to condition and strengthen myself, especially after my physio and rehab. However, for the life of me, I can¡¯t bring myself to ve away hours using those boring gym machines. I also find working out by myself boring, although I¡¯m alright with doing yoga alone. Dom rmended exercising in a ss setting, so I hired instructors toe here and forced everyone to workout with me. Unfortunately, these people can only keep up during Zumba. You should¡¯ve seen them when they tried the other sses for the first time. They looked like zombies. So it¡¯s usually only Dom and me doing the other sses after they gave up."

    "Hai, Young Miss. How can you expect old people like us to keep up with you young people?" the cook interjected as she pointed at herself and Yi Mei.

    "Don¡¯t point at me. Who are you calling old, ah? You¡¯re the old one!" Yi Mei scowled at the cook.

    Everyoneughed.

    "Other sses? What else do you do?" Jin Liwei asked Iris again.

    "Sunday is Zumba day. Mondays and Tuesdays, Dom and I do Systema for self-defence. Wednesdays, hip-hop. Thursdays, Latin dance. I like dancing because I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m exercising. Fridays, yoga. Saturdays, I do whatever I want. Hmm...but now that I¡¯m getting busier, the current scheduling might change. I might even have to cut some sses. We¡¯ll see."

    "Systema? The Russian martial arts?"

    "Oh, you know it?"

    "Yeah. A friend of mine practices it. Who¡¯s your instructor? There¡¯s not a lot of people who practice Systema in the countrypared to other martial arts."

    "Yu Mo."

    A surprised expression showed in his eyes. "He¡¯s my friend."

    "Really? What a coincidence."

    "Yeah." Then his eyes turned cold. He would make a call to Yu Moter and warn the man not to get too close to his baby girl. "Tell me if he ever tries to hit on you. Even if he¡¯s my friend, I¡¯ll break his legs."

    "No. Yu Mo is a professional. He won¡¯t hit on me."

    "He better not," he muttered. Or else.

    "And if he ever does, I¡¯ll just fire him."

    "Then I¡¯ll break his legs."

    She chuckled.

    His eyes darkened hearing her lovelyughter. Before he could even think, he swooped down and kissed her hard in front of everyone.

    Dom, of course, squealed like a fan girl, milk and cereal spluttering out of his mouth due to his overexcitement. The others froze and quickly shifted their eyes away, looking at other directions, and pretending that they didn¡¯t see anything.

    Yi Mei squeezed a banana so hard that it...ouch.

    "Mmm...delicious." Jin Liwei licked Iris¡¯ lips before straightening up, and then smiled at her smugly.

 Chapter 70 - Girlfriend

    <h4>Chapter 70 - Girlfriend </h4> <h4>Chapter 70: Girlfriend</h4>

    Iris¡¯ face burned in embarrassment, especially in front of her own employees. She forced herself to calm down. She would not lose control in front of her own people.

    Besides, it was only a kiss, she reasoned to herself. Yes, it was only a kiss. No need to feel embarrassed. She nodded.

    Jin Liwei looked in amusement at his baby girl¡¯s myriad facial reactions before returning to her cool and calm expression.

    "What are your ns for today? Anything else you need to do after this Zumba ss?" he asked her.

    She tilted her head to the side. "No. I was supposed to have work scheduled for today, but my manager moved it tomorrow instead."

    "Good."

    "How about you? Do you have ns for today?"

    "Yeah. I¡¯m taking my girlfriend out on a date."

    Girlfriend?

    Her vision turned red and her hands closed into tight fists. With shing eyes, she hissed at him. "What did you say?"

    "Hm?" Confused at her sudden fury, he asked warily, "What¡¯s wrong?"

    She totally lost her usualposure. She was so angry that she found it hard to breathe. Never in her two lives had she lost her temper like this.

    She grabbed his cor and bared her teeth at him. "You say I¡¯m your lover and you did all those things to me! And now you¡¯re saying you have a girlfriend?! You bastard! What do you take me for?! Your f*ck buddy?!"

    Dom gasped, eyes and mouth wide open in shock. Yi Mei clutched at her chest and almost stumbled back but caught herself. The cook supported her. The two older women shot murderous looks at Jin Liwei. The others backed away, staying as quiet as possible, not even daring to breathe too much.

    Jin Liwei was taken aback, aghast at her words. "You...what are you saying?!"

    "Get out! I don¡¯t want to see you ever again!"

    Iris roughly pushed her chair back and jumped off angrily, intending to leave, but he caught her and wrapped his arms around her.

    "Baby girl, calm down. Let me exin, okay?" He tightened his arms.

    "Exin what?! Let go, you bastard! Don¡¯t touch me!"

    Her emotions were all over the ce. She felt so furious that tears threatened to fall from her eyes. These negative emotions frightened her. What was happening to her?

    "Listen to me, baby. You¡¯re misunderstanding me."

    "What misunderstanding?! Go back to your girlfriend! You¡¯re not wee here anymore!"

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. Heughed loudly.

    "Why are youughing?!" She became even more enraged. She wanted to w his face off.

    "Sorry, baby." He struggled, trying to stopughing. "I just find it so funny that you¡¯re being jealous of yourself."

    She stopped. "What?"

    "When I said girlfriend, of course I was referring to you. Who else?"

    "Wait...what? I¡¯m your girlfriend?"

    He let her go when she finally stopped struggling. She turned around to look at him with a confused expression.

    "Yes," he replied, amused.

    "Oh."

    He chuckled.

    "Phew! Thank you, Lord!" Dom eximed, patting his chest with a relieved expression. His heart almost stopped, oh how scary! Then his eyes sparkled brightly. So much drama. His boss and sir boss¡¯ love story was even better than those romance TV series he often watched.

    The others looked relieved as well, except for Yi Mei. The housekeeper had aplicated expression on her face. She looked like she wanted to bash Jin Liwei on the head for taking advantage of her Young Miss.

    "Wait." Iris frowned. "When did I be your girlfriend? I didn¡¯t know that I¡¯m your girlfriend."

    "Baby girl, you just said it yourself. We¡¯re lovers and we already did all those things together. If you¡¯re not my girlfriend, then what are you?"

    "But you didn¡¯t ask me. Don¡¯t just decide by yourself! How would I know if you don¡¯t tell me?"

    "I thought that it¡¯s already understood between us without words."

    "Well, Jin Liwei. I¡¯m sorry to tell you but I¡¯m not psychic. I can¡¯t read minds. You have to tell me this kind of things. And tell me, when did you decide that I¡¯m your girlfriend? Last night?"

    He scowled at her. "The first time I came here. We kissed that day, didn¡¯t we? I don¡¯t go around kissing people just like that. I kissed you, so you¡¯re my girlfriend. I touched you, so you¡¯re my girlfriend. I sleep with you, so you¡¯re my girlfriend." He wanted to add "you¡¯re my future wife" but managed to stop himself. He didn¡¯t want her running for the hills.

    "..."

    That long ago? The damn man already decided that they were boyfriend and girlfriend back then? She didn¡¯t even like him that time. In fact, what she felt for him then almost bordered on hatred, especially with her bad impression of him from their first meeting at the hotel lobby. But he thought that they were lovers?

    What the...this man...wasn¡¯t he a little too much?

    She took several deep breaths to calm herself. "Liwei, you should¡¯ve asked me first if I¡¯m willing to be your girlfriend. Just deciding for yourself is a total disregard and disrespect to my own choice."

    "I understand." He took her face in his hands and looked deeply and seriously at her eyes. "Long Xin, are you willing to be my girlfriend?"

    "Ayiiiiiii!!!!" Dom and even two of the young maids squealed.

    Her heart raced inside her chest, threatening to jump out. They already did things together. And she was starting to like him. Excitement pulsed within her.

    "Yes." She took another deep breath. "Yes, Jin Liwei. I¡¯m willing to be your girlfriend."

    "Are you willing to take me, Jin Liwei, as your boyfriend?"

    She smiled. "Yes. I, Long Xin, willingly take you, Jin Liwei, as my boyfriend."

    He kissed her hard, roughly smashing his open mouth against her sweet lips.

    She closed her eyes and moaned, wrapping her arms around his waist.

    They were both gasping when their mouths separated. They were too preupied with each other that they had forgotten there were other people in the kitchen with them.

    Dom and the two maids were making a ruckus, cheering and squealing at the romantic scene ying in front of them.

    "Baby girl, you¡¯re not allowed to take your words back."

    It was official. Even his baby girl wouldn¡¯t be able to deny their rtionship now. And like hell he would allow her to deny it.

 Chapter 71 - Great Moves

    <h4>Chapter 71 - Great Moves </h4>

    "Congrattions, boss and sir boss!" Dom eximed, pping and jumping around enthusiastically. "Pictures! We have to take pictures of this important moment!"

    Good idea. Jin Liwei fished out his own phone from the pocket of his jogger pants. He unlocked it before tossing it to the excited assistant. Then his arm snaked around his Xin¡¯s tiny waist and posed with her.

    Dom squealed as he took pictures of the gorgeous pair of lovebirds from different angles. "Yes! Turn this way a little...perfect! Smile a little, sir boss. Even for just a tiny bit...oh okay. Never mind. You¡¯re still handsome, anyway. Oh yes. Kiss each other! I have to take a photo of you kissing!"

    Iris chuckled. "No. That¡¯s enough¨D"

    Jin Liwei leaned down and kissed his baby girl hard, pressing her so far that she bent her back at over a 90 degree angle.

    Oh! He didn¡¯t know that his baby girl was so bendy. His eyes turned wicked, formting devious ns in his evil mind on how to make use of his girlfriend¡¯s flexibility. He smirked.

    "Ayiiiii!!!" Dom and his fellow fan girls squealed so hard that it hurt the ears of the people around them. He continued snapping photos like the paparazzi.

    They were interrupted by the sound of the ringing inte. Yi Mei hurried to answer it.

    Jin Liwei retrieved his phone from the grinning assistant. He viewed all the photos, a satisfied expression on his face.

    Iris leaned from the side and peeked at the photos as well.

    He kissed her forehead. "I¡¯ll send copies to your phone."

    "Okay."

    Momentster, Yi Mei returned with a mboyant-looking, tanned muscleman in pink skin-tight pants and a matching tank top with plunging neckline. His wavy hair was held back by a bright neon yellow headband.

    "Hello hello hello!" he greeted with high energy. "Good morning to you! Good morning to me! Good morning to everybody! Are you all ready to Zumba your way to sexy booties today?"

    "Yes!" Iris employees¡¯ shouted with gusto.

    "Hello, Miss Xin!" The energetic Zumba instructor smiled widely at Iris. Then his eyes widened with interest upon seeing the tall, gorgeous man hugging her. "Oh hello, Mr. Gorgeous!"

    Jin Liwei gave him a quick nod, his expression cold and indifferent.

    "This is the first time I¡¯ve seen you here, handsome! I¡¯ll do my best to make sure that today will be extra fun for you." He winked at him.

    Iris felt Jin Liwei stiffen. She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave a warning look to the Zumba instructor. "He¡¯s mine."

    Jin Liwei looked down at his baby girl, feeling extremely pleased. Heard that? She just imed him. Not to mention that she went crazy with jealousy earlier because she mistakenly thought that he cheated on her with another woman. Ah, today was such a great day! And it just started. He was looking forward to spending the rest of the day with his girlfriend.

    The instructor wasn¡¯t offended at all by his client¡¯s warning, evenughing merrily. "Oh, Miss Xin! I know! Please don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m just admiring such a beautiful couple like you two! Shall we start the ss?"

    Everyone headed to the home gym, which was more of a dance studio, because there was a lot of space and entire walls of mirrors. It only had three machines (treadmill, exercise bike, rowing machine) and a rack of weights inside.

    The Zumba instructor stood at the very front facing them. Dom, Iris and Jin Liwei positioned themselves in the first row while the others were behind them. Yi Mei and the cook were at the very back, so that they could follow the young people¡¯s movements in front of them.

    They started with a couple of not-so-fast songs to warm their bodies up. After that, the instructor went into overdrive, shouting instructions while dancing energetically.

    "One two three shimmy! Shimmy and then shake! Pump shake pump! Shake those booties! Harder! As hard as you can! Imagine shaking the fats and sweat out of your bodies! Let me hear you! Whooo!"

    "Whooo!" Everyone shouted while shaking their booties.

    Jin Liwei looked up at the ceiling with a nk expression, wondering what in the eighteen hells¡¯ tarnation was he doing jumping around and gyrating his hips to the beat of booming dance music. He turned his head to the side when he heard his girlfriend¡¯s giggles.

    "Great moves, Mr. Jin," she teased. Her eyes bright and her smile mischievous.

    "Not as great as yours." He subconsciously licked his lips with dark eyes, as he watched his Xin¡¯s sexy body pumping perfectly in time with the beat of the music.

    He sighed inwardly. If there weren¡¯t other people present at the moment, he would¡¯ve already pushed her down to the floor and showed her just how great his moves really were.

    Halfway through, both Yi Mei and the cook gradually slowed down. Everyone was sweating heavily.

    They had short but frequent water breaks. Jin Liwei shared Iris¡¯ water bottle, refusing to even acknowledge the bottle intended for him.

    Finally, the Zumba ss ended. They were all out of breath and drenched in sweat, but every single one had happy smiles on their faces.

    Well, except for Jin Liwei who had his usual indifferent expression, but those with sharp eyes would notice that his eyes looked bright.

    "Done?" he asked his baby girl.

    "Yes."

    "Good." Then he crouched down, caught her by the thighs and lifted her over his shoulder before striding like a king out the door.

    "Liwei! What are you doing? Put me down!" She was momentarily disoriented at suddenly having her view turned upside-down, plus she was still breathless from the intense Zumba workout.

    He pped her butt and then groped it. "Time to shower, baby."

    Seeing another exciting scene, Dom and his fellow fan girls with the addition of the energetic Zumba instructor all squealed in delight. Their imaginations were already overheating from thinking of what the lovebirds would be doing next. Ehehehe. Of course, what else would they be doing?

    "That¡¯s so hot," the Zumba instructor sighed, as he watched the lovebirds disappear from view.

    "Ehehe. I know, right?" Dom shook his booty, a big grin on his face.

    They high-fived at each other, waggling their eyebrows meaningfully.

    Yi Mei scowled, itching to throw her sweaty shoe at the lusty brat.

 Chapter 72 - Darling

    <h4>Chapter 72 - Darling </h4>

    Jin Liwei carried Iris back to the bedroom and then headed straight to the bathroom. As soon as he put her down on her feet, they kissed each other hungrily. They hurriedly stripped each other¡¯s sweaty clothes before stepping under the shower.

    Two roundster, he was groaning while she was shuddering. The water raining down on them washed his white release immediately down the drain.

    Iris had enough and wanted to take a real shower, so she grabbed the soap and started washing herself.

    "Do me too, baby," he demanded.

    She gave him a side-eye but stillplied. Thezy man just stood there like a king while she did all the work andthered the soap all over his body. Then she noticed something standing up once again, ready for another round of action. She stopped.

    "Liwei, again? Seriously?"

    He had already grabbed her hand and ced it around his length. He leaned down and licked her ear, whispering, "One more time. Okay, baby girl?"

    "No. You do it yourself. I want to shower."

    "Please. I need you."

    She sighed. "Fine."

    Five minutester...

    "Liwei, I¡¯m tired. Hurry up and shoot it out."

    "Just continue rubbing. I¡¯m almost there."

    "Why are you taking so long?"

    "Just rub, baby. The faster you rub, the faster I¡¯ll finish."

    Iris was starting to have second thoughts about entering a rtionship with him. If she only knew that it would be such a responsibility and so much hard work keeping up with the man¡¯s desire and stamina, she wouldn¡¯t have agreed to be his girlfriend so easily. Sighing, she tightened her hold on him and rubbed him faster as he requested.

    Finally, he stiffened and groaned, shooting another white mess all over her before being washed away by the water. He kissed her mouth clumsily.

    She opened up her mouth, epting him. She inwardly sighed at herself. She had no idea that she could be so attracted to a man and so quickly that she would find it so difficult to deny him.

    Before she even realized it, Jin Liwei had already be an important person to her in this life. In fact, thinking about it more carefully, he was actually the closest person to her at the moment physically...and maybe even emotionally. Was this what having a lover felt like?

    She was still unsure about him because they had only known each other for such a short period of time, but her attraction to him was real. She felt alive with him. She decided to just enjoy their rtionship and see where it would take her. Whether it wouldst or not in the end, she would be grateful to him for the experience.

    After showering, they blow dried their hair and headed to her walk-in closet.

    "You said you¡¯re taking me on a date?" she asked, thering lotion all over her smooth, milky-white skin.

    "Yeah. We¡¯re leaving after we get ready."

    "Where are we going?"

    "You¡¯ll know when we get there."

    Jin Liwei took out clothes from his sports bag. Iris saw his ck jeans and decided that she should also wear somethingfortable. It looked like they were going to a casual ce and didn¡¯t need to dress up formally.

    He nced at the clothes he brought, then around her massive walk-in closet. His eyes lit up with an idea. He strode around the closet and started picking out clothes for her.

    Iris wanted toin at first, but felt that it wasn¡¯t worth it arguing with him over such a small and silly matter. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like she hated his idea. It sounded interesting.

    In the end, they finished dressing. They were in matching outfits. Both wore ck jeans and red shirts under ck leather jackets. ck sneakers and big, dark aviator sunssespleted their outfits.

    After tying her long hair into a simple ponytail, she grabbed a small ck leather backpack and put her wallet, phone and other essential stuff inside. Then she slung it behind her.

    He took out his phone and pulled her to stand with him in front of the wall mirror. He took a picture of their reflection, saving this memory of their first matching outfits.

    "Ready?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

    "Yes."

    "Let¡¯s go."

    "Shall we eat here first before leaving? I¡¯m hungry after the workout."

    "Which workout?" He smirked.

    "Hm? What do you mean? Didn¡¯t we just do Zumba?" The innuendopletely flew over her head.

    He chuckled, shaking his head. He let it go and didn¡¯t exin what he meant. "We¡¯ll eat on the way," he told her.

    "Oh, okay."

    They walked out of the closet together holding hands.

    He suddenly stopped. "Wait."

    "Hm?" She looked up at him, confused.

    "You¡¯re my girlfriend."

    She blinked. "Yes."

    "And I¡¯m your boyfriend."

    "Uh...yes."

    "Then don¡¯t just call me by my name anymore. It sounds too formal. Call me ¡¯darling¡¯ from now on, alright?"

    "No, Liwei." She started walking again but her hand was pulled back.

    "Baby girl, this is what boyfriends and girlfriends do. They call each other by pet names."

    She gave him an unwilling look. "Do I have to? It sounds stupid."

    "Stupid? Not at all. I call you my ¡¯baby girl¡¯, so you should call me ¡¯darling¡¯. This is supposed to be romantic. Come on, baby. Try it."

    "..."

    "Please?"

    "Darling..." she mumbled under her breath.

    "Louder. I can¡¯t hear you."

    "Darling!" she shouted.

    He smiled so widely that his straight, white teeth almost blinded her.

    She fought the urge to punch the stupid grin off his face.

    "Good girl." He kissed her forehead. "Let¡¯s go."

    "Okay."

    "Okay what?"

    Her eyes twitched. "Okay, darling."

    Maybe it was really a mistake agreeing to be his girlfriend so easily.

 Chapter 73 - Yes What?

    <h4>Chapter 73 - Yes What? </h4>

    Holding hands, Iris and Jin Liwei stepped inside the private elevator. Dom ran after them, dressed to the T. He looked even more dressed up than the two of them.

    "Ehehehe. Wow, boss and sir boss! You look cute in your matching outfits," Dom, of course, had toment with sparkling eyes after the elevator door closed behind him. He was a little breathless after running to catch the elevator.

    "Thanks." She smiled. "Going to church?"

    "Yeah! I¡¯m gonna pray for the sess of boss¡¯ album, my family back in the Philippines, everyone¡¯s good health, and of course for boss and sir boss¡¯ rtionship. Ehehe. Oh, and world peace! Can¡¯t forget about that!"

    Her eyes softened, chuckling. "Thank you, Dom. I appreciate it. Have fun with your day off today."

    "Thanks, boss! By the way, where are you going?"

    "Liwei is taking me out for our first date."

    Jin Liwei pulled her close to his side and spoke in a low, dangerous tone, "Hm? What did you call me?"

    She stiffened. There was no way she was going to call him that in front of other people, even if it was just Dom.

    "Baby girl, didn¡¯t we just agree on this? Call me properly. Say it again."

    She pressed her lips together. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Then she sighed, giving in to him.

    "My darling is taking me out for our first date."

    "Good girl." He kissed her forehead.

    "Ayiiii!!! So romantic! Oh my God. I need some air!" Dom fanned himself with his hands in a dramatic manner. "Is it getting hot in here or what?"

    Iris hid her burning face on Jin Liwei¡¯s chest.

    "See? I told you it¡¯s supposed to be romantic." Jin Liwei stroked his baby girl¡¯s head, a smug expression on his handsome face.

    Finally, they walked out of the elevator to the main lobby. Dom bid them goodbye outside the building before skipping away to enjoy his day off.

    Jin Liwei pulled her by the hand to a gorgeous silver luxury car waiting a few steps away. The door to the driver¡¯s seat opened. A man in a ck business suit wearing an earpiece and dark sunsses stepped out, and then walked towards them. It wasn¡¯t Xu Tian.

    "Master," the man greeted Jin Liwei and gave a brief nod to Iris before handing the car key.

    Jin Liwei nodded and received the key.

    The man bowed, turned and walked away, and then climbed into the passenger seat of another waiting car.

    When the other car drove away, Jin Liwei opened the car door for her. She climbed into the passenger¡¯s seat. He closed the door, walked around to the other side, and then climbed into the driver¡¯s seat.

    Once inside, he leaned over and pulled the seatbelt for her, locking her in ce. Then he grabbed her by the neck and gave her a quick, searing kiss.

    "Ready?" His voice was husky.

    "Yes." The kiss was quick but it already made her breathless.

    "Yes what?"

    She bit her lip.

    "Hm?" He nibbled on the lip she just bit. "Yes what?"

    "Yes, darling," she finally whispered.

    He grinned and gave her a loud, smacking kiss before putting his own seatbelt. He started the car¡¯s engine. Momentster, they were driving away from her condo building.

    Along the way, Jin Liwei stopped over by a bistro in response to her hungerints. He told her to wait for him in the car as he went inside the bistro by himself. When he returned, he was carrying a couple of simple sandwiches and bottled drinks.

    He chuckled when he saw her dismay upon seeing the sandwiches. "Bear with the sandwiches for now, we¡¯ll eat lunch at the ce we¡¯re going to," he exined.

    "Oh, okay." She felt better when she heard his promise. She was really feeling hungry. She wanted to eat at home before leaving, but he insisted on leaving right away.

    They ate while driving. He had to focus on driving, so she had to feed him. He just opened his mouth like a king while she did all the work of feeding and wiping him. Iris had the niggling feeling that he bought take-out just for this very purpose.

    After about an hour of driving, they reached a rural area. There weren¡¯t many houses visible from the road. Everywhere they looked were farms, pastures, ntations, open fields and forests.

    The area looked very quiet and peaceful, totally different from the bustling city filled with tall buildings and traffic.

    There were so few cars driving in this ce that at one point, they were the only ones on the road.

    Where was he taking her?

    They drove for a few more minutes before arriving at a gated property. Tall cypress trees blocked the view from inside.

    Jin Liwei lowered his window and spoke to the gate¡¯s inte. A few secondster, the gate opened automatically and they drove inside.

    After going through the cypress forest, Iris finally realized where Jin Liwei was taking her. It was arge farm vi. Strong horses ran inside arge stable. On the other side were barns for the cattle and sheep.

    Although the ce was technically a farm, the big country mansion sitting majestically at the end of the long paved driveway gave the ce a high-ss atmosphere. Carefully maintained yet natural-looking gardens were spread throughout the entire property, especially near the mansion.

    Iris could see ntations of different fruit trees. There was also ake with a dock of small boats.

    It was a beautiful ce.

    She turned to Jin Liwei with excited eyes.

    "Like what you see?" he asked when he felt her looking at him.

    "Yes!" She gave him a bright smile. She almost couldn¡¯t wait to step out of the car and explore the entire farm vi.

    "Yes what?"

    "Yes, darling." She was feeling so excited that she forgot her unwillingness in calling him this endearment.

    The car suddenly stopped.

    "Eh?" She looked at him in confusion.

    Why did he stop? They were still along the driveway. Were they getting off here?

    "Kiss me, baby girl," he demanded. His eyes were dark with desire.

 Chapter 74 - Wild Iris

    <h4>Chapter 74 - Wild Iris </h4>

    Iris blinked at Jin Liwei, filled with disbelief.

    Wasn¡¯t he being too unreasonably demanding? Couldn¡¯t the man wait? They were almost at their destination and he decided out of the blue to have a stopover because he wanted to kiss? Was he so hungry for a kiss that he had to stop whatever he was doing just to get it instantly?

    Just watch her. She was going to rebuke this selfish man. This couldn¡¯t go on. What did he think he was? A spoiled kid?

    His lips parted a bit, looking moist after he subconsciously licked them. He gave her such a sexy look that her defences totally crumbled. Before she could even think, her hands already moved on their own and pulled his head for a greedy kiss. Shepletely forgot her earlier intention of lecturing him.

    He allowed her to lead the kiss this time. She wasn¡¯t as aggressive or as rough as him, but her boldness and natural sensuality pleased him greatly. She was bing more and more skilled the more times they kiss each other.

    As the kiss grew more intense, her desire for him overpowered her. She fumbled for her seatbelt and wanted to climb over hisp. Her inner Wild Iris kicked aside and locked up her inner Lady Iris in chains. It felt like a hungry beast possessed her. She wanted to devour the man before her.

    Jin Liwei felt the change in her. Of course, he was delighted. It meant that his baby girl wanted him as much as he wanted her. Her obvious desire fed his hunger for her. He wanted to rip the clothes off her body. However, he still retained a tiny presence of mind unlike her. He remembered where they were.

    This was their first date.

    "Baby girl, we need to stop," he managed to say with great difficulty.

    She ignored him. She sessfully unlocked her seatbelt and squeezed her small frame between his body and the steering wheel, all the while continuing to kiss him. Astride hisp, her body moved against his body in an enticing way, almost making him go crazy. Her mouth moved down to his neck, sucking and licking. Her hands slipped under his shirt and groped his abs and chest. She moved following her instinct.

    He gasped and fought hard to regain his mind. "Whoa, baby. Easy."

    He groaned when he felt her shift forward so that she directly sat on top his already rock-hard bulge. His mind almost nked out.

    "Baby, calm down. Enough!" He gently but firmly pushed her away.

    "No. I need..." She moaned as she started to rock on top of him.

    Gritting his teeth hard to stop his hips from moving as well, he reached up and held her face between his hands. He looked directly at her dark eyes. "Baby, we can¡¯t right now. Listen to me. Someone¡¯sing."

    Finally, his words managed to register. "Mn? What?"

    She reluctantly turned her head to the front of the car. Indeed, someone wasing towards them. Her mind instantly cleared up.

    "Damnation!" she unusually cursed, hurriedly getting off hisp. "Ouch!" Her back hit the steering wheel hard in her rush. She dove back to her seat and pulled down the visor mirror in front of her.

    "Careful, baby."

    "Quick, check me! Do I look okay? Will he know what we were doing? For goodness¡¯ sake, fix your clothes! Your hair is a mess. Oh no."

    He chuckled, watching her flustered and anxious self.

    She straightened her clothes and retied her ponytail.

    "Rx. Even if he knows, he won¡¯t say anything. Besides, you¡¯re my girlfriend and I¡¯m your boyfriend. There¡¯s nothing wrong with us kissing each other."

    Iris paused. Right, they were officially in a rtionship now. What they were doing was supposed to be normal. So what if she kissed her own boyfriend and sat on hisp? She had every right to do so. It wasn¡¯t like they were naked and having sex out in public for all eyes to see. She stopped worrying too much once she thought things through this way.

    Seeing her calm down, he exhaled in relief. The tightness under his jeans was ufortable, but he reminded himself that today was their first date. He had to focus on romancing his woman during this date, so that she wouldn¡¯t think that all he was after was her body. Although he really liked her body very much as well.

    Now that she was clearheaded, she was shocked at herself. Shepletely lost any rational thoughts and lost control of her desire. Would she lose control like this with him every time? The idea scared her. Was this normal? She needed to search this up.

    Both of them had no idea what happened. At first, it was just him demanding a kiss because he felt too excited when he heard her call him "darling" without her usual unwillingness. But then the situation suddenly evolved to her losing control and attacking him instead.

    A tall, thin man with a gentle face walked towards the car. He wore a simple polo shirt and trousers and looked to be in his early thirties, about the same age as Jin Liwei. He was still a distance away from them.

    Jin Liwei took out his phone and called someone.

    Iris saw the man ahead of them stop walking to answer his phone.

    "Eldest Brother, it¡¯s me," Jin Liwei spoke to the phone. He opened the car window, stuck his head out and waved at the man.

 Chapter 75 - Brothers

    <h4>Chapter 75 - Brothers </h4>

    The man waved back.

    "Stay there. No need to walk so far to meet us here," Jin Liwei spoke to the man on the phone. "We¡¯ll meet you there."

    After the call, they drove and parked in front of the mansion. The man Jin Liwei called "Eldest Brother" waited for them below the steps, a weing smile on his face.

    "Stay there. I¡¯ll open your door," Jin Liwei told her.

    After both of them got out of the car, he held her hand and led her to the man waiting for them.

    "Third Brother, you¡¯re finally here," the tall, thin man greeted them. He had a very amiable aura.

    "Eldest Brother, thank you for having us," Jin Liwei answered.

    The two gave each other a one-armed manly hug, patting each other on their backs.

    "Ahaha! What are you saying? You sound like a stranger. My brothers are always wee in my home." He turned a curious look at Iris. "And this beautifuldy is?"

    Jin Liwei wrapped his arm around her tiny waist before introducing her. "Eldest Brother, this is Long Xin, my girlfriend."

    A surprised expression appeared on the man¡¯s face, even though he already suspected as much, seeing the couple¡¯s matching outfits and the way Jin Liwei clung to her. Hmm... Who would¡¯ve thought?

    "Baby, this is Lin Yehan. He owns this farm vi. He¡¯s one of my best friends."

    She stepped forward with a graceful smile and offered her hand. Her actions were natural, smooth and elegant. Very much like a properdy.

    "Hello, Mr. Lin. It is a pleasure to meet you."

    Lin Yehan epted her hand and shook it, silently impressed at her noble bearing. "Hello, Xin. A pleasure to meet you too. Wee to my vi."

    "Thank you. Your ce is beautiful."

    Jin Liwei cleared his throat and pulled her close to his body, breaking their handshake.

    Lin Yehan inwardly snickered.

    "In our group, we call him Eldest Brother. You can call him Eldest Brother too," Jin Liwei told her.

    "Yes, that¡¯s right. Please don¡¯t be a stranger. Seeing that you¡¯re our Third Brother¡¯s girlfriend, I would be more than happy if you call me Eldest Brother as well."

    Iris looked at Jin Liwei. Seeing him nod at her, she turned and smiled at Lin Yehan. "Alright. Thank you, Eldest Brother."

    The three entered the mansion. The interiors were all wood and big stone bricks, giving a rustic elegance to the ce. Although the house was massive, it still felt like home; warm and cozy.

    "I suggest to eat lunch first before touring the vi," Lin Yehan said.

    They agreed with him, especially Iris who was looking forward to finally eating a proper meal.

    They were about to head off to lunch when they heard a car horn outside.

    Lin Yehan frowned. "Sorry. Wait here for a moment. Let me see who it is." Then he went outside.

    Jin Liwei embraced Iris while they waited. He pointed at some things in the living area and shared some interesting stories about them.

    "Third Bro! I heard you¡¯reing here today. Where are you?" A loud male voice called out from the entrance.

    "Stop shouting, Fourth Brother. Third Brother is not deaf," another male voice spoke.

    Lin Yehan: "Hai. Why are you two here today?"

    Jin Liwei scowled while Iris tilted her head to the side. The first voice sounded familiar to her.

    "Ahahaha! Why are you being like this, Eldest Bro? Aren¡¯t we brothers always wee here? You mentioned the other day that Third Bro will being here today so here we are! We haven¡¯t hung out together for a while so¨D"

    "Your presence is not needed here today. Leave." Jin Liwei¡¯s cold voice was like a whip cutting mercilessly at the voice¡¯s owner.

    The three men ahead stopped. Lin Yehan smiled helplessly, feeling a little guilty.

    "Third Bro, how can you be so heartless? We just want to...eh? Xiao Xiu, is that you? Why are you here?"

    "Teacher Yu?" Iris eximed in surprise. Then she turned to Jin Liwei. "Oh, right. You mentioned that Teacher Yu Mo is your friend."

    Lin Yehan: "Ah? What? You know each other?"

    Yu Mo: "Of course we know each other. Xiao Xiu is my beloved Systema student."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s face turned ck, his eyes cold; his voice low and dangerous. "Xiao Xiu? Beloved?"

    The two new arrivals finally noticed that Jin Liwei and Iris wore matching outfits and that their arms were around each other¡¯s waists.

    Yu Mo: "Eh? Xiao Xiu, why are you with Third Bro? And why are you both dressed like that? Wait, don¡¯t tell me..."

    Jin Liwei: "Go away. I¡¯m here on a date with my girlfriend."

    Yu Mo: "G-girlfriend? Ah what? Ahahaha! I think there¡¯s something wrong with my ears today. Maybe I forgot to clean them."

    Lin Yehan looked at his stupid friend and shook his head. "Hai. Good luck."

    The other man who also just arrived stepped forward. He had a simr cold appearance like Jin Liwei, but looked more approachable. His sharp eyes looked amused. He gave a slight smile and extended a hand to Iris. "Hello. I¡¯m Wang Yingjie. Nice to meet you."

    "Nice to meet you, too. I¡¯m Long Xin," she smiled at him and shook his hand.

    Jin Liwei pulled her to him again, breaking the handshake. He nodded at Wang Yingjie. "Second Brother."

    Wang Yingjie: "Third Brother, you hid her well. We had no idea that you already have a girlfriend."

    Yu Mo: "F*ck! Are you for real? You¡¯re really Third Bro¡¯s girlfriend? Xiao Xiu, why didn¡¯t you tell me?"

    Iris: "I didn¡¯t know that Teacher Yu and Liwei are friends¨D"

    Jin Liwei: "Hm? What did you call me?"

    No way. Oh no no no! She was sort of alright saying it in front of Dom, but not in front of all these people she just met. Absolutely no way.

    Jin Liwei: "Baby girl, what are you supposed to call me again? Hm? We already talked about this, didn¡¯t we?"

    Yu Mo: "Hey, Third Bro! Are you bullying my beloved student?"

    Jin Liwei red at him so viciously that Yu Mo immediately shut up, feeling cold sweat on his back.

    Jin Liwei: "Say it again. Properly this time. Come on, baby girl. Don¡¯t be shy. These are all my brothers."

    She pursed her lips at him.

    He kissed her forehead, encouraging her, but his eyes remained insistent.

    Iris: "I didn¡¯t know that Teacher Yu and...and my...my darling are friends..."

    This was so stupid! If only she wasn¡¯t meeting his brothers for the first time, she would¡¯ve already punched Jin Liwei¡¯s face.

 Chapter 76 Sister - in

    <h4>Chapter 76 Sister - in </h4>

    Jin Liwei was able to coax Iris by persuading her that there was nothing to be embarrassed about in front of his brothers. His brothers were also now her brothers.

    She finally calmed down and began to chat naturally with everyone.

    Dismayed, Jin Liwei tried to shoo them away but they pretended that they didn¡¯t hear him, even when he was already being so direct, tantly telling them to go the f*ck away. They may be his best friends, his brothers, but at the moment, they were all annoying flies buzzing around his beautiful girlfriend.

    To his three brothers, this was such a rare moment. Their Third Brother finally got himself a girlfriend! The one among them who never showed any interest in women before and turned murderous whenever someone attempted to seduce him or even just flirted with him. Deep within their hearts, they even suspected that their Third Brother might be bent the other way but of course, nobody dared to voice this suspicion unless they wanted to die.

    Yu Mo: "Xiao Xiu, Xiao Xiu! Tell Teacher how you and Third Bro met each other. Come on, we want to know!"

    Iris: "Uh, we met at a hotel¨D"

    Yu Mo: "What?! Hotel?! That fast?!"

    Iris: "¨Dlobby. Wait, what?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s scowl was so ugly that it rmed Lin Yehan.

    Lin Yehanughed unnaturally and knocked Yu Mo on the head. "Wait for people to finish talking first."

    Yu Mo: "Oh, lobby! Ahahaha! Of course you met at a hotel lobby! Lobbies are a great way to meet people. Go on, go on."

    Jin Liwei: "Enough. Leave us alone. My girlfriend and I are on a date."

    Yu Mo: "But Third Bro! We haven¡¯t seen each other for so long! And this is the first time we¡¯re meeting your girlfriend...well, not my first time meeting her because we see each other every week, but this is the first time I¡¯m meeting her as your girlfriend. You know what I mean?"

    Lin Yehan: "Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s not disturb the two of them anymore."

    Yu Mo: "But Eldest Bro!"

    Wang Yingjie: "Xin, are we bothering you two?"

    Jin Liwei: "Yes, you are all bothering us."

    Iris: "No, of course not."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression was so scary that Yu Mo subconsciously stepped back. Damn it! He was a martial arts expert but in front of his Third Bro, he felt like a weak little kid.

    Iris looked up at Jin Liwei. "Why don¡¯t we let them join us? Your brothers are already here and it¡¯s rude that we¡¯re driving them away."

    Jin Liwei: "No. They¡¯re the rude ones for disturbing our date."

    Iris: "How about we make an exception for today? I won¡¯t be at peace if we just drive them away. Besides, we¡¯re the ones borrowing Eldest Brother¡¯s vi."

    Jin Liwei gave her an unwilling look.

    Iris: "Please, Liwei...darling?"

    His eyes immediately lit up. "Say it again."

    Iris: "Darling. Let¡¯s spend time with your brothers today. Okay?"

    Jin Liwei: "Again."

    Iris: "Darling."

    Her voice sounded robotic saying the word but it nevertheless was like music to his ears.

    Jin Liwei: "Hmm...fine. But you have to give me a kiss first, baby."

    She hesitated and felt the stares of his friends. Seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s expectant look, she relented.

    Oh well. They already knew that she was his girlfriend anyway, so there was nothing wrong with seeing the two of them kiss.

    She stood on her tippy-toes and pressed her lips quickly on his mouth. His arms circled around her waist and lifted her up for better ess.

    Yu Mo: "Ah, my eyes!"

    After the kiss, Iris was a little breathless while Jin Liwei had a pleased expression on his face. He turned to his brothers.

    Jin Liwei: "Fine. You may join us but no touching my girlfriend."

    Lin Yehan: "Ahahaha!"

    Yu Mo: "What are we, stupid? You think we want to die?"

    Wang Yingjie: "Alright then. Everything is now settled. So what shall we do now?"

    Lin Yehan: "Let¡¯s eat lunch."

    Yu Mo: "Ah, perfect timing. I¡¯m starving! Let¡¯s go. Come, Third Sister-inw!"

    Iris frowned. "I¡¯m not your sister-inw."

    Jin Liwei stiffened beside her. She looked at him, confused at his reaction.

    Yu Mo: "Ah? Of course you¡¯re our sister-inw. You¡¯re Third Bro¡¯s girlfriend."

    Iris: "That¡¯s not how it works, Teacher Yu. I¡¯m his girlfriend, not his wife."

    "Enough!" Jin Liwei snarled. He crushed her into a tight hug.

    "What is wrong with you?!" Iris couldn¡¯t understand him. She wanted to stomp her foot on his leg. However, she stopped herself. They were in front of his brothers, after all. She would give him face in front of them...but only this time.

    The three men looked at each other, staying quiet, as they watched their Third Brother throwing a tantrum. They wished their Third Sister-inw good luck in their hearts.

    Seeing her controlling an angry expression, Jin Liwei realized he went too far. "Sorry, baby. I didn¡¯t mean it. Let¡¯s go eat?"

    She ignored him, looking around the ce instead.

    Lin Yehan cleared his throat and tried to diffuse the awkward atmosphere. He instructed his staff first before leading the group out to thekeside. They arrived at arge wooden perg with crawling grape vines all over it, providing a dense cool shade from the sun.

    The view was breathtaking. The clearke reflected the blue sky and the white clouds.

    There was a kitchte under the perg with a granite countertop, sink and stove. There was also a big barbeque grill. The dining table was long and wide with a vase of flowers freshly picked from the garden. The group sat around the table onfortable cushioned seats.

    Jin Liwei continued to coax his sulking baby girl by hugging her and giving little kisses all over her face, hair, neck and her hands.

    Iris slowly melted and responded to his tender ministrations. She was just too attracted to this man. She held his face with a delicate hand and couldn¡¯t help but shower light kisses all over his lips and jaw. She sighed in satisfaction as he rubbed her back,forting her.

    The twopletely forgot that they weren¡¯t alone.

    As for the other three men, they were forced to eat all the dogfood this couple kept on throwing at them. They couldn¡¯t believe that the amorous man in front of them was the same person as their cold and indifferent Third Brother.

 Chapter 77 - Donâ€™t Tell Me Sheâ€™s Iris Long

    <h4>Chapter 77 - Don¡¯t Tell Me She¡¯s Iris Long </h4>

    The staff arrived to deliver fresh meat cuts of chicken, pork,mb and beef. There were also fresh corn and vegetables like eggnts, zhini, bell peppers and mushrooms. All of these were for grilling.

    The four brothers started grilling the meat, the corn and the vegetables themselves, while the staff only assisted them by washing, seasoning, and skewering.

    Jin Liwei blocked Iris¡¯ attempt to help out with the grilling. What if she got burned? He would end up murdering the grill.

    Seeing her desire to help, Lin Yehan suggested that she mix the leafy vegetable sd in the bowl instead. She happily went to work.

    Finally, the food was ready and they began eating. Everything was delicious, especially since they were all fresh from the farm.

    While eating, Iris listened to the brothers chatting happily about good times.

    ¡¯It must be nice to have a group of best friends,¡¯ she thought.

    She realized that she didn¡¯t have any friends, except for Dom and her own staff at home. However, they were her employees and as such, could not really defy her even in just a joking manner like friends sometimes do. She got along with them but at the end of the day, their employer-employee rtionship limited the level of their friendship.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jin Liwei asked, noticing the lonely expression in her eyes.

    She shook her head.

    "Hm? Tell me."

    She was quiet for a few moments. He waited patiently.

    "I¡¯m just a little envious that you have such great friends," she finally said in a soft voice, barely audible. "I don¡¯t have any."

    His chest constricted after hearing her words. He immediately pulled her in a tight embrace, kissing her head, and rubbing her back.

    "Listen to me. I¡¯m your lover and I¡¯ll also be your friend."

    She smiled at him. "Thank you."

    Yu Mo: "Okay, okay. That¡¯s enough lovey-dovey. Xiao Xiu, Teacher is hurt! We see each other twice every week and yet you still don¡¯t consider me as your friend? Ah! I¡¯m heartbroken!"

    Wang Yingjie: "Xin, I already consider you as a friend. I hope you don¡¯t mind."

    Lin Yehan: "That¡¯s right. You¡¯re someone important to our Third Brother, so that means that you¡¯re also important to us. You are now our sister and we are your brothers. From now on, we¡¯re friends."

    Iris blinked and took a deep breath. Her chest suddenly felt tight.

    "Baby, all of us are your friends now." Jin Liwei told her, his eyes looked serious and sincere.

    "Thank you," she said, smiling brightly at them.

    The four men momentarily stopped breathing as they were blinded by her beautiful smile.

    Jin Liwei frowned slightly and blocked his brothers¡¯ view with his body. Then he stood up.

    "Let¡¯s take a walk," he suddenly announced, offering his hand to her.

    "Okay." She ced her hand over his and let him pull her up.

    "Good idea!" Yu Mo eximed and also stood up.

    Jin Liwei red at him.

    Lin Yehan pulled his Fourth Brother back down to his seat and knocked on his head. "Learn to read the atmosphere."

    "Let the lovers enjoy some alone time," Wang Yingjie added.

    "Please excuse us, big brothers," Iris said sweetly before she was pulled away by Jin Liwei.

    The three men watched the couple walk away in their matching outfits and dark aviator sunsses. The two held hands and frequently kissed each other as they strolled by thekeshore.

    "Is it just me or Xin looks familiar?" Wang Yingjie suddenlymented.

    Lin Yehan: "Yeah. I have a feeling I¡¯ve seen her somewhere before."

    Yu Mo: "Of course you¡¯ve seen her before. She¡¯s a celebrity."

    Lin Yehan: "Ah, what? Is there a celebrity named Long Xin?"

    Wang Yingjie: "A celebrity named Long...wait. Oh!"

    Yu Mo: "Now you recognize her?"

    Wang Yingjie: "Yes."

    Lin Yehan: "What? Tell me."

    Wang Yingjie: "She¡¯s Iris Long, isn¡¯t she?"

    Yu Mo: "Yup! The very one."

    Lin Yehan: "Iris Long who? Iris...sounds familiar. Huh? Wait. That doesn¡¯t sound right. Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s Iris Long, that scandalous starlet?"

    Yu Mo: "Eldest Bro, not too loud! What if Third Bro hears you? You wanna die?"

    Wang Yingjie: "Hmm..."

    Lin Yehan: "No way. You¡¯re kidding me. Third Brother hooked up with that Iris Long? Didn¡¯t she used to chase after Little Chonglin before? There are even rumours of their affair and even her getting pregnant. And now she¡¯s hooked up with Third Brother? What is he thinking? Is he insane?"

    Yu Mo: "Aiya...I¡¯ve known Xiao Xiu for quite a while now since I¡¯ve been teaching her Systema. I can confidently say that she¡¯s not at all like what the rumours say about her. She¡¯s such a serious and elegantdy that I even fell for her a little, but I can tell that she has no interest in me. And I follow a strict code of ethics not to pursue my students. Don¡¯t tell Third Bro or he¡¯ll kill me."

    Lin Yehan: "I heard that she wasatose for a year?"

    Yu Mo: "Yeah. In fact, one of the reasons why she wanted to learn Systema is to strengthen her body because it became too weak after thea. And indeed, when we just started our sses back then, she tired so easily that she would almost faint. But what¡¯s amazing was she never quit. She¡¯s actually one of my best students. I only need to show her something once and she¡¯d be able to do it."

    Lin Yehan: "I think that their rtionship is too suspicious. I know for a fact that Third Brother used to have her monitored because of Little Chonglin. I don¡¯t understand why she and Third Brother suddenly became lovers. If I had known that she¡¯s that Iris Long, I wouldn¡¯t have been this weing to her. She better not have any bad intentions. Even if Third Brother hates me, I will destroy her."

    The usually gentle Lin Yehan had a fierce and dangerous expression on his face.

 Chapter 78 - Inside Your Mouth

    <h4>Chapter 78 - Inside Your Mouth </h4>

    The atmosphere among the three brothers sitting under the perg turned a little heavy. They continued to watch the couple by thekeshore who were now intensely making out. Their Third Brother was pawing all over his girlfriend¡¯s body.

    Wang Yingjie: "Hmm. I think that we should trust Third Brother¡¯s judgment. He¡¯s the smartest out of all of us. We all know that he¡¯s not someone who¡¯s easily deceived. There must be something about the girl that hooked him so much. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s a bad person. All of us had great impressions of Xin when we didn¡¯t know that she¡¯s actually Iris Long."

    Yu Mo: "Second Bro is right. Don¡¯t judge Xiao Xiu based on hearsay, Eldest Bro. Besides, didn¡¯t we just pledge our friendship to her? Are we going to take back our words? Real men don¡¯t go back on our words without a valid reason."

    Lin Yehan: "I didn¡¯t know that she¡¯s Iris Long then."

    Wang Yingjie: "I personally think Xin is a greatdy. I¡¯ll only judge based on what I see with my own eyes."

    Yu Mo: "Well, I know that Xiao Xiu is a greatdy. If she wasn¡¯t my student or Third Bro¡¯s girl, I would totally pursue her. But don¡¯t tell Third Bro. I don¡¯t wanna die yet."

    Lin Yehan: "Hai. Fine, fine. I actually also think that she¡¯s a greatdy based on today¡¯s meeting. But I¡¯ll keep up my caution just in case. We¡¯ll see how their rtionship goes. I hope she¡¯s not acting and really cares about our Third Brother, not just using him for her own benefit."

    Yu Mo: "Xiao Xiu isn¡¯t that kind of person."

    The three men gradually moved on from the topic and started chatting about other things. When the couple returned to the perg, the group all stood up and began touring Iris around the farm vi.

    First they walked around a portion of the vegetable farm. Rows upon rows of different vegetables were nted neatly as far as the eyes could see. They showed her how to pick cucumbers, eggnts and potatoes. They ced their harvests in a basket, so she and Jin Liwei could take them hometer.

    Next, they visited the nearest part of the fruit tree ntation. There were guavas, mangoes, lychees, apricots, pomegranates, wampees, and figs. A little farther, they reached the passion fruits, dragon fruits and even the durians which Iris had never tried before.

    "Xiao Xiu, do you want to try durian?" Yu Mo asked with a mischievous expression.

    "Absolutely not!" Jin Liwei immediately rejected the idea.

    "I heard that it¡¯s smelly. Is it really?" Iris asked.

    Lin Yehan: "Yes, but it¡¯s delicious. My farm can only produce a very small amount of durian fruits because we can¡¯t grow them easily in this country. And we can¡¯t even guarantee that they¡¯ll all bear fruit. Caring for the trees in this type of climate takes a lot of effort and even science. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t sell them. They¡¯re only for personal consumption. "

    Yu Mo: "Try it, Xiao Xiu!"

    Wang Yingjie: "It¡¯s good to experience something even just once."

    Iris: "Okay. I¡¯ll try durian."

    Jin Liwei: "Baby, don¡¯t."

    Iris: "But I want to."

    Jin Liwei sighed.

    Lin Yehan called one of his workers and instructed him. The worker picked up a durian fruit which had fallen under a tree and then hacked at it with arge curved de. The durian cracked into two.

    Iris looked at the fruit curiously. The outside was hard and spiky. Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t allow her to touch the spikes. The inside looked like creamy-looking yellow flesh.

    Yu Mo: "Try smelling it first."

    Jin Liwei scowled at him.

    She cautiously edged near the fruit and sniffed.

    Her whole body stiffened. Oh!

    She covered her nose and mouth. She ran fast and dived into Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace.

    The othersughed loudly at her reaction.

    Jin Liwei red at them as he held her tightly in his arms. How dare these hooligans bully his baby girl?

    Iris groaned softly. "Are you sure the one you picked is not rotten? Is that even edible?"

    Yu Mo: "Ahahaha! Oh, my stomach hurts! Ahahaha!"

    Wang Yingjie: "You¡¯reughing too much. Pft!"

    Lin Yehan: "Xin, do you still want to taste it?"

    Jin Liwei: "No need. She doesn¡¯t want to."

    Iris: "I¡¯ll try.

    Jin Liwei: "Baby, don¡¯t force yourself."

    Iris: "It¡¯s just a fruit. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a bomb or something dangerous like that. Eldest Brother, please let me try."

    With clear stic gloves on, Iris broke a small piece of the yellow flesh. It felt soft. She had to take several deep breaths before she quickly ced the flesh in her mouth. She fought against the urge to gag.

    Yu Mo: "Xiao Xiu, how is it? Tell us!"

    The horrendous smell seeped inside her mouth and even to her nasal cavity. She almost vomited. She cautiously chewed the soft, creamy flesh. After a few moments, her eyes lit up.

    "Oh! You¡¯re right, Eldest Brother. It¡¯s smelly but delicious," she finally said.

    "d that you like it." Lin Yehan smiled gently. He was trying to find faults in her, especially after learning that she was Iris Long, the scandalous starlet. However, he couldn¡¯t pick anything against her so far. She acted so natural and elegant, even cute, that he couldn¡¯t really bring himself to dislike her. He would need to observe her further and more carefully. After all, she was a showbiz person and most of their kind were natural actors.

    Yu Mo: "Aaaw. How boring!"

    Iris turned to Jin Liwei. "Do you want to have a taste, too?"

    "Yeah," he replied.

    "Okay, let me take some for you." She didn¡¯t notice his eyes darkening with desire. She was about to take off another piece from the durian using her stic gloves when her face was suddenly grabbed.

    Jin Liwei covered her mouth, swallowing her gasp of surprise. His tongue quickly entered and gave a thorough sweep inside her sweet mouth.

    "Mmmn. Delicious," he murmured after he was done tasting her.

    Yu Mo: "Ah, my eyes are burning! This is too much, Third Bro!"

    The couple, of course, ignored him.

    "Smelly?" she asked, breathless.

    "Inside your mouth, no."

 Chapter 79 - Meh!

    <h4>Chapter 79 - Meh! </h4>

    The other men coughed hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s super cringey honey words. They almost choked. They couldn¡¯t believe that such words came out of their cold and indifferent Third Brother¡¯s mouth.

    "Let¡¯s eat, too," Lin Yehan finally suggested.

    The brothers had always liked eating durian, so they wouldn¡¯t reject the offer. Iris ate a couple more bites of the stinky fruit before stopping. The men, on the other hand, finished the entire fruit by themselves in no time.

    Even Jin Liwei ate a lot, and then gave another deep kiss to Iris, forcibly making the two of them share the pungent smell and taste.

    She was already used to the smell by that time, so she didn¡¯t mind it anymore.

    They drank water and rinsed their mouths, but still couldn¡¯t remove the smell. Iris opened her leather backpack and took out a pack of mints. She shared with everyone and the stink in their mouths decreased a little.

    Afterwards, they walked to the animals. There were chickens, pigs and cattle. Iris was very amazed at the egg production. She listened intently to Lin Yehan as he exined the process. She asked intelligent questions, impressing him. More points for her!

    Next were the goats. They entered the tall and sturdy pen. Someone handed a milk bottle to Iris for her to experience feeding the baby goats.

    She stretched her arm and fed the kids, maintaining a good distance from them. She felt apprehensive but thought that the little goats looked (kind of) cute drinking from the bottle in her hand.

    Jin Liwei took photos of her with his phone.

    Then one of the workers called for Lin Yehan. The other men looked interested so they followed their Eldest Brother as he discussed something with the worker at the far corner of the pen. They left Iris alone.

    She continued feeding the baby goats, when suddenly she noticed a big goat standing a few metres away from her with very long and sharp-looking horns. The goat stared at her with unblinking eyes while stomping its front hooves. To her, it looked like it was ring at her. She felt spooked.

    She nced quickly at Jin Liwei and the others, but they were still busy talking with the worker.

    The men, absorbed in their discussion, were suddenly interrupted by a high and piercing scream. The sound was so blood-curdling that Jin Liwei felt his heart stop for a moment.

    Their heads snapped to one direction and saw Iris running for dear life before impressively jumping high and climbing the tall fence. She stayed on top, lying on her stomach and hugging the fence like her life depended on it.

    "Whoa, she¡¯s like Spiderman," the workermented when he saw her quick and agile movements.

    "As expected of my beloved student," Yu Mo spoke with pride.

    Jin Liwei immediately ran to her, his heart pounding.

    "Baby, what¡¯s wrong?"

    "Aaaaah! Noooo! Get it away from me! It wants to kill me!"

    "What?! Who wants to kill you?"

    Iris refused to look at the goats again, pointing randomly with a shaking finger instead. "The goat! The goat wants to kill me!"

    Jin Liwei: "..."

    Yu Mo: "Pft! Bwahahahaha! Ahahahaha!"

    Wang Yingjie: "Don¡¯tugh too much...Pft!"

    Lin Yehan was able to suppress hisughter unlike his brothers, but it took a lot of effort. He walked over to the couple.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched but didn¡¯t dareugh at his baby girl. He cast a vicious re at his imbecile brothers instead.

    "Nobody wants to kill you," he spoke to her in a gentle, coaxing tone. "Come, I¡¯ll help you down."

    "No!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, baby girl. I¡¯ll protect you."

    Iris calmed down a little hearing his voice. She turned her head and saw him extending his arms up to her. Reluctantly, she reached down and started climbing down from the top of the fence. He caught her in his arms.

    Her eyes caught the evil goat running to her direction again. She screamed at the top of her lungs. The pitch was so high that it was impressive. Indeed, she was a singer. She quickly climbed up Jin Liwei¡¯s body until her legs coiled tightly around his upper chest.

    With her boobs on his face, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but grin. Good thing that she couldn¡¯t see his expression.

    "See? See that? The evil goat wants to kill me! It¡¯s still chasing me!"

    Yu Mo: "Aiyo! I can¡¯t take it anymore. Ahahahaha!"

    Lin Yehan finally reached them. He reached down for the big goat and patted it. "Xin, calm down. The goat would never kill you. It¡¯s chasing you because it likes you. Don¡¯t be afraid."

    Eldest Brother¡¯s words made sense and she started to feel embarrassed of her overreaction. Indeed, how could a domesticated goat kill her? How ridiculous. She was about to ask Jin Liwei to put her down when...

    "Meh!"

    The evil sound almost made her soul fly out of her body. She shrieked again and closed her eyes tightly. She tapped Jin Liwei, begging him to exit the pen.

    "Oh my god! Please oh please. Liwei darling please get me out here! Ah! Hurry up!" In her fear, she forgot her embarrassment in calling him this way.

    Jin Liwei felt so happy hearing her call him "darling" that he felt like he was floating in the clouds. Added to her generous boobs squishing him on the face, he felt like he was in paradise. To prolong the moment, he walked slowly like an astronaut on the moon towards the pen¡¯s gate.

    Once outside, Iris climbed off him and sat on the ground, catching her breath. Jin Liwei felt a little disappointed but became concerned when he saw her pale face.

    "Baby, are you alright?"

    She focused on her breathing. "Give me a moment."

    Everyone exited the pen and looked at her with concern, but amusement still danced in their eyes.

    After a few minutes, she finally calmed down and regained her rosyplexion. She tilted her head, thinking deeply. Then she looked up at Jin Liwei.

    "I...I have a fear of goats...a little."

 Chapter 80 - Bullseye

    <h4>Chapter 80 - Bullseye </h4>

    "Meh!"

    Iris almost jumped out of her skin. What an evil sound.

    She was trying to control herself and stop shaking but she couldn¡¯t. She felt embarrassed and ridiculous.

    "How about we leave this ce?" Wang Yingjie suggested upon seeing Iris bing pale once again. His doctor¡¯s instinct told him that she was not faking it. If they stayed longer here, she might even faint.

    Jin Liwei immediately scooped his baby girl up in his arms and carried her away princess-style.

    Iris wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face on his shoulder. She felt so embarrassed.

    "Xin, would you like to see some bunnies?" Lin Yehan asked in a gentle voice.

    Yu Mo: "Maybe she has a fear of bunnies too!"

    Iris felt insulted. "I do not! Teacher Yu, stop speaking nonsense."

    Jin Liwei red at his stupid Fourth Brother. Yu Mo immediately shut his mouth.

    So off they went to the bunnies.

    And indeed, she didn¡¯t have any fear of bunnies. She immediately forgot about her earlier embarrassment as she hugged and petted the fluffy fur balls. She took out her phone and snapped photos of them. Jin Liwei also took endless photos of his happy baby girl with his phone.

    However, when she became too engrossed with the bunnies that she stopped paying attention to her boyfriend, Jin Liwei suddenly wanted to wrench the little furry monsters from his baby girl¡¯s embrace and throw them far, far away. How dare they act cute and hog all his baby girl¡¯s attention? But seeing the happiness and smile on her face, he controlled his murderous intent.

    After much coaxing from Jin Liwei, Iris reluctantly left the adorable bunnies. The group then headed to the vi¡¯s shooting range.

    They exined to Iris that Lin Yehan was a former sports shooting athlete who evenpeted professionally on the national level. Now he retired but would asionally coach aspiring young shooters whenever his mood and schedule permitted it.

    Additionally, he was also a hunting enthusiast. His farm vi was surrounded by a dense forest abundant with wildlife. The brothers all owned hunting licences so whenever it was hunting season, they would head to their Eldest Brother¡¯s farm vi and bond with each other while hunting.

    When they arrived at Lin Yehan¡¯s shooting range, Iris¡¯ eyes contracted. Everything looked so professional. As expected from a former shooting athlete. Her expression momentarily darkened as memories of her previous life shed in her mind.

    "Xin, have you tried shooting a gun before?" Lin Yehan asked her.

    She nodded before thinking.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes widened in surprise.

    "Really? When?" Yu Mo asked.

    She realized her mistake but quickly smoothed out her expression and replied with nonchnce. "Some years ago. I don¡¯t really remember it that much. My father has a friend from the military and he brought me along to thepound¡¯s shooting range for a visit."

    "That makes sense," Wang Yingjie said.

    After all, Long Tengfei was a man of power and influence in his own right. It was only expected that he had friends from different sectors, including the military.

    She didn¡¯t exactly lie. The original Iris Long was indeed brought along by Long Tengfei to a militarypound before to visit her father¡¯s friend. Iris just sat there along with the other kids, all of them bored out of their minds, as their fathers discussed adult matters while shooting guns at the range. She only agreed toe when her father promised to buy her thetest handbag from one of her favourite luxury brands. In exchange, she had to chat with his friends¡¯ kids. In the end, the kids just ignored each other.

    Iris inwardly sighed in relief after hearing Wang Yingjie, but then noticed that Jin Liwei was looking at her with unreadable eyes. She gave him her most innocent look.

    Momentster, they were all equipped with eyes and ear protectors.

    Iris chose a pistol. She was unmoving as she held and stared at the gun in her hands. Her eyes were a little unfocused, lost in her own memories.

    Jin Liwei was about to walk to her, intending to teach and guide her, but Lin Yehan silently gestured for him to stop.

    The men all watched as she finally moved. Their eyes widened in surprise when her aura suddenly changed.

    Calm, steady, focused...even dangerous.

    She settled in a stable stance before lifting the pistol with what looked like ease and familiarity.

    Lin Yehan nodded as he watched her smooth and confident movements.

    Bang!

    Bullseye.

    Yu Mo: "Wow! Xiao Xiu, that¡¯s¨D"

    Bang! Bang!

    Yu Mo: "¨Damazing...eh?"

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Yu Mo: "What the hell?"

    Wang Yingjie inhaled sharply.

    Lin Yehan¡¯s eyes were wide and sparkling, his body trembling with excitement.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression was unreadable, but his eyes were sharp as he stared deeply at his baby girl.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Every single bullet hit the bullseye. In addition, all bullets exited urately through the hole pierced by the first bullet. There was just one small clean hole on the target.

    Iris finally lowered the pistol and removed her ear protector. She turned to the others and found them all staring at her like she was a ghost.

    "Uh...I¡¯m done...You can all start shooting if you want..." she said, a bit confused by their intense stares.

    Yu Mo: "Holy! Xiao Xiu, oh my god! You¡¯re so cool! When did you learn to shoot like that? You¡¯re like Lara Croft! As expected of my beloved student!"

 Chapter 81 - Donâ€™t You Like Shooting?

    <h4>Chapter 81 - Don¡¯t You Like Shooting? </h4>

    The brothers surrounded her, their eyes bright. They praised her shooting skills and asked her questions. Iris didn¡¯t know how to respond to all of them.

    Jin Liwei blocked them and pulled Iris in his arms. He red at his brothers, especially at his overenthusiastic Fourth Brother, Yu Mo.

    Lin Yehan stepped forward with his usual gentleness. This time, however, he was more energetic. His excitement couldn¡¯t be contained. "Xin, you¡¯re magnificent! Amazing! I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re this skilled! Do you like shooting? Do you practice it regrly? Are you interested in bing a shooting athlete? Are you..."

    His earlier doubts about her character and intentions to his Third Brother seemed to be blownpletely away by the showmanship of her expert shooting skills. He shot rapid-fire questions at her.

    "Uhm...thank you..." She didn¡¯t know how to answer all his questions. She looked helplessly at Jin Liwei.

    He kissed her forehead, assuring her. Then he turned to Lin Yehan. "Eldest Brother, calm down. You¡¯re overwhelming my girlfriend. Ask your questions one at a time."

    "Oh, oh. Of course. Sorry. Hahaha!" Lin Yehan wiped his forehead and forced himself to calm down. He was just about to open his mouth to ask her a question when...

    Yu Mo: "Xiao Xiu, Xiao Xiu! Teacher is so proud of you! You¡¯re so cool! How are you so skilled in shooting?"

    Of course she was skilled. In her previous life, she was required to train her shooting skills almost every day from when she was but a small child. Even when she didn¡¯t want to, which was almost always, she would literally get dragged to the training centre and forced to shoot countless stationary and moving targets. When she became old enough, her targets were reced with live animals. She shuddered just remembering.

    She hated it so much.

    But she couldn¡¯t say all of these things, so she just shrugged and answered, "I don¡¯t know."

    Yu Mo: "Eh? What do you mean by you don¡¯t know?"

    Wang Yingjie: "How many times have you shot a gun before?"

    She had no idea. In her previous life, she would be forced to shoot using different types of guns like a robot until her trainer was satisfied with her performance. There was one time she was forced to shoot for the entire day until her hands and body became numb and her mind became nk. Herck of enthusiasm and poor performance in training always displeased her mother.

    But of course she wouldn¡¯t say that to these brothers.

    "Uh, just that one time when my father brought me to the military shooting range, I guess," she replied.

    "What?!" Lin Yehan almost exploded in shocked excitement. His eyes were sparkling as he looked at Iris like she was a divine monster. "Talent...this must be talent! Superb skills yet having shot a gun only once before. If this is not talent, then I must be blind!"

    Iris felt a little guilty but maintained an innocent expression on her face. She burrowed herself in Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace. She feltforted when his arms tightened around her.

    Yu Mo: "Wow! You¡¯re not only talented in Systema but also talented in shooting guns. As expected of my beloved student! Ahahaha!"

    Lin Yehan: "Xin, can you shoot using other guns?"

    Iris hesitated. She carefully answered, "I haven¡¯t tried..."

    She mentally apologized for the lie, but she couldn¡¯t just tell them that she could shoot any gun. How would she exin it to them?

    Lin Yehan: "Are you interested in trying other guns? Here, try this shotgun."

    Iris: "Okay..."

    She allowed Lin Yehan to show her how to use the shotgun. Although she already knew how to handle it, she still pretended like aplete noob.

    Jin Liwei wanted to be the one to teach her and almost lost control when Lin Yehan touched his baby girl, but seeing his Eldest Brother¡¯s enthusiasm in teaching, he controlled himself. He repeatedly persuaded himself that his Eldest Brother didn¡¯t have any other intention. Lin Yehan was a shooting expert and it was inevitable to have some body contact when showing others how to use guns. He took several deep breaths to calm himself but still couldn¡¯t erase the urge to fling his Eldest Brother away from his baby girl.

    Wang Yingjie sensed his Third Brother¡¯s turmoil, so he firmly patted his back. Jin Liwei just nodded at him.

    After the quick lesson, Iris was ready to shoot. Lin Yehan backed away, his eyes were excited and hopeful.

    Her aura changed again as she settled into another stable stance, the long gun lifted in front of her.

    Calm, steady, focused...and dangerous.

    Lin Yehan¡¯s hands closed into tight fists in his excitement.

    Jin Liwei felt a certain part of his lower body harden a little as he watched how beautiful and domineering his baby girl looked holding a shotgun.

    Bang!

    Bullseye.

    Yu Mo pumped his fist and even jumped up and down.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Wang Yingjie: "Your girlfriend is amazing."

    Jin Liwei: "I know."

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Like before, all bullets hit the bullseye, leaving only a single clean hole on the target.

    Afterwards, everyone swarmed around her again. Yu Mo jumped forward and was about to hug Iris when someone grabbed him away by the neck.

    Yu Mo: "Ow ow ow! Please stop. It hurts! Third Bro, mercy! Ah! My neck¡¯s gonna break!"

    Jin Liwei: "No touching my girlfriend."

    Yu Mo: "Okay, okay. I won¡¯t touch. Please let me go."

    Jin Liwei: "Hmph."

    He flung this annoying Fourth Brother of his and made his way to his baby girl. He once again pulled her into his embrace.

    Lin Yehan: "Xin, are you interested in bing an athlete? I¡¯ll coach you personally. We¡¯ll aim for the championships! Maybe we can even aim for the Olympics!"

    Iris: "I...uhm. Not really..."

    Lin Yehan: "But why? You¡¯re so talented!"

    She smiled at him helplessly.

    Lin Yehan: "Don¡¯t you like shooting?"

    Memories of her previous life¡¯s training regimen yed in her mind. Her expression darkened. She pushed all the memories away and smiled apologetically at the excited Lin Yehan.

    "I...please don¡¯t feel offended, Eldest Brother...but I don¡¯t really like guns."

 Chapter 82 - Are You Really Third Bro?

    <h4>Chapter 82 - Are You Really Third Bro? </h4>

    Disappointment flickered in Lin Yehan¡¯s face, but it quickly disappeared and his usual gentleness surfaced.

    "I understand," he sighed. "I know that not many approve of guns especially in this country, so you don¡¯t have to worry about offending me. It¡¯s just that as a former pro shooter athlete, I get excited whenever I meet skilled shooters like you."

    Iris was relieved hearing his words. "Sorry, Eldest Brother."

    "It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t apologize," Lin Yehan said, a gentle smile on his face. "But you¡¯re not against shooting with me here at the range, right? Just for fun. Nothing too serious. You¡¯ll visit my farm vi again, won¡¯t you?"

    "Of course," she replied. If it was just for fun and she didn¡¯t need to shoot all the time, she didn¡¯t mind. Then she remembered something and turned to Lin Yehan. "But only at the shooting range. No hunting..."

    Her eyes momentarily zed over as memories of the pitiful, bloody animals she failed to kill in one shot shed in her mind. She remembered that their wails of terror and agony gave her nightmares for many nights. Everything was for the sake of "correcting" her soft-heartedness, ording to her mother.

    She shuddered.

    Jin Liwei rubbed her back when he felt her tremble in his arms. He assumed that she must be really against and scared of hunting wildlife.

    Lin Yehan chuckled sadly but still nodded.

    The group spent more than an hour shooting the targets at the range. Lin Yehan was indeed a former pro shooter athlete. Although he couldn¡¯t achieve Iris¡¯ abnormally perfect uracy, he was still the best among the brothers. As for the others, they were all decent shots.

    After they had their fun at the shooting range, they headed back inside the mansion forte afternoon tea. They chatted andughed.

    Lin Yehan: "Hai. It would have been better if Fifth Brother was here, too."

    Iris tilted her head. Hm? Fifth Brother? There was still one more that she hadn¡¯t met yet?

    Wang Yingjie: "True. I hope he¡¯s feeling better now and return to the country soon. It has been a long time since all five of us were together."

    Yu Mo: "I talked to him on the phone a couple of days ago and he said that he¡¯s recovered now. He¡¯s still not sure when he¡¯ll be permitted to return to the country, though. He¡¯s still waiting for his doctor¡¯s approval. Let¡¯s call himter and tell him that Third Bro finally got himself a girlfriend. He¡¯ll be shook! Ahahaha!"

    Jin Liwei: "No need. I¡¯ll tell him myself. I¡¯ll visit him in Toronto during my business trip to Canada this week."

    Iris: "You¡¯ll be away this week?"

    Yu Mo: "Uh oh. Someone¡¯s in trouble."

    Jin Liwei red at his annoying Fourth Brother. He turned to his baby girl and tucked a lock of stray hair behind her ear. "Yes, I was going to let you knowter but I¡¯ll tell you now. I have to go on a business trip to Canada. I¡¯m leaving tomorrow. I¡¯ll be back by next weekend."

    She felt a little disappointed that she wouldn¡¯t be seeing him for many days. "Oh, okay."

    He felt pleased when he saw her disappointed eyes. "I¡¯ll call you every day. You have to answer my calls, okay?"

    She nodded.

    "Will you miss me?" he asked.

    She nodded again.

    "Tell me."

    "I¡¯ll miss you."

    "Miss me what?"

    She hesitated for a few seconds before whispering, "I¡¯ll miss you, darling."

    He grinned. "I¡¯ll miss you too, baby girl. So much."

    Yu Mo: "Okay, okay. That¡¯s enough lovey-dovey. It¡¯s too much for our currently single hearts. Are you really our Third Bro? Maybe you¡¯re an impostor! How can our Third Bro say such mushy things? Ah, I¡¯m shivering!"

    Jin Liwei red at him and would have smacked him, but his baby girl felt so good in his embrace. He didn¡¯t want to let her go just to deal with an imbecile.

    Lin Yehan and Wang Yingjie snickered.

    After chatting a bit more, Jin Liwei announced that he and his girlfriend were leaving. The others tried to persuade them not to leave yet, with Yu Mo directly protesting and Lin Yehan inviting them to stay over for dinner. However, nobody could stop Jin Liwei once he made up his mind. In the end, the brothers walked the couple to the parked car outside the mansion after exchanging phone numbers with Iris.

    Wang Yingjie: "Xin, it¡¯s such a pleasure to have met you today. I hope that we see you soon again."

    Iris: "Thank you, Second Brother. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, too."

    Yu Mo: "Ahaha! Well, I¡¯ll be seeing our Third Sister-inw tomorrow for our Systema ss. See you tomorrow, Xiao Xiu."

    Iris frowned when he referred to her again as sister-inw, but she didn¡¯t want to argue so she just ignored it. "See you, Teacher Yu. Dom and I are looking forward to tomorrow¡¯s ss."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth curved into a slight smile when his baby girl didn¡¯t protest hearing sister-inw.

    Lin Yehan: "Xin, you¡¯re wee to visit my farm vi again anytime, even if you¡¯re not with Third Brother. Just give me a call. Let¡¯s shoot again at the range sometime. I¡¯ll make sure that the moving targets are set up the next time you¡¯re here."

    Iris: "Thank you for having us today, Eldest Brother. Your farm vi is such a beautiful ce. I would love to visit here again."

    Lin Yehan gave her a gentle smile. He had a great impression of the girl, especially after knowing what an excellent shot she was. As long as she didn¡¯t betray his Third Brother, he would not discriminate against her.

    Jin Liwei: "Eldest Brother, thanks again for having us. Second Brother, Fourth Brother, it¡¯s also...nice to see you two. I originally nned to have a date with my girlfriend with only the two of us but since Xin enjoyed yourpany, I¡¯ll forgive all of you for disturbing us."

    The brothers smiled wryly.

    Yu Mo: "Hey, Third Bro!"

    Iris: "Please don¡¯t listen to him, big brothers. I¡¯m d that I met all of you today and spent the day with us. Thank you very much."

    They said their goodbyes. The brothers ced the baskets of vegetables they harvested earlier in the trunk. Jin Liwei and Iris climbed into the car and the couple drove away.

 Chapter 83 - Popcorn And Ice Cream

    <h4>Chapter 83 - Popcorn And Ice Cream </h4>

    Jin Liwei and Iris chatted about their day at the farm vi while driving. She enjoyed herself, while he felt dissatisfied that he wasn¡¯t able to spend the entire day with just the two of them. It was supposed to be a romantic date, not a group outing.

    When the view started to transition from rural to urban, the sun was almost setting.

    "Wait! Stop the car!" Iris suddenly eximed.

    Jin Liwei parked by the curb. "What¡¯s wrong?"

    She didn¡¯t answer. Instead, she quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the car door and jumped outside.

    "Baby, where are you going?" He also unbuckled his seatbelt and followed her outside.

    Iris trotted to the grassy and rocky roadside. Then she squatted in front of a cardboard box and poked at something inside.

    He heard mewling sounds when he neared her. He looked over and found two tiny kittens shivering inside the box. His baby girl was rubbing them with a finger. Then he noticed a scrawled note taped on the box which read: "Please take care of us."

    She looked up at him with adorable puppy eyes, even batting her eyshes.

    His mouth twitched. "You want them?"

    She nodded.

    He sighed, but immediately put on a stern expression. "Do you know how to take care of cats?"

    "No, but I¡¯ll learn. I¡¯ll read lots of books and ask a veterinarian."

    "Kiss me and we¡¯ll take them."

    She immediately jogged to him and kissed him on the lips.

    His arms circled around her tiny waist and then snaked down to her plump behind to give it a pat and a squeeze. "Mmn. Alright, let¡¯s bring them."

    She smiled up at him brightly.

    His heart stopped for a moment. She was so beautiful. He pulled her against his body and kissed her passionately, making her moan.

    They were both breathless after the kiss.

    Iris carried the box of kittens and they climbed back inside the car. She yed with them on herp while Jin Liwei searched for a veterinarian on his phone. When he found one that satisfied him, they started driving again.

    He nced at his happy baby girl. "You should name them first."

    "Hmm. What do you think? What names would you give them?"

    Quickly looking at the tiny and thin fur balls, he replied, "Brownie and ckie."

    Iris stared at him with nk eyes at first, and then looked at him like he was the most stupid person in the. "They¡¯re not even brown and ck. The striped one has a very light ginger coat. It¡¯s not brown. And this one here has a beautiful pure grey coat, almost silver. Which part of it is ck?"

    He just shrugged. "They¡¯re just names."

    She pouted and then harrumphed. "You have no imagination. How dull. Fine, I¡¯ll be the one to name them. I won¡¯t allow my own cats to have such stupid names."

    "Alright. Let¡¯s hear what great names you¡¯ll give them."

    "This cute ginger will be...hmm...Popcorn! And this silver-grey beauty will be...let me think. Hmm... Oh, I know! You¡¯ll be called Ice Cream!" Then she turned her head to Jin Liwei with a proud expression.

    He tried hard not tough. She said that Brownie and ckie were stupid names? Popcorn and Ice Cream weren¡¯t? Compared to her crazy naming sense, he thought that Brownie and ckie were more sensible names for cats.

    "What do you think? Perfect names, right?" she asked him smugly.

    He coughed. "Of course. The names my baby girl thought of are the best."

    She giggled and then continued ying with the kittens.

    His mouth curved into a smile. So what if she named the kittens Popcorn and Ice Cream? As long as she was happy. Even if she named them Toilet and Panties, he would praise her for thinking such creative names.

    After driving for some time, they finally arrived at a small za where the veterinarian clinic was located. They parked and climbed out of the car. Jin Liwei carried the cardboard box.

    The veterinarian was a kind man in his fifties. He immediately identified the kittens to be British Shorthairs with age at about four to six weeks old. They just looked smaller because they were malnourished. He examined them gently and talked about the basics on how to care for kittens. Then he handed them a list of kitten essentials and shamelessly told them that they could buy everything at his pet store next door.

    Iris didn¡¯t want to leave the kittens alone at the vet, but Jin Liwei gently dragged her to the pet store next door, assuring her that the kittens would be safe in the clinic.

    At the pet store, Jin Liwei took a cart. Iris handed the list to a clerk and asked him to direct them to where the items were located. She frowned when she discovered that there were different types and brands for every item on the list. Since she had no idea what was what, she just took whatever the clerk said were the highest quality which were almost always the most expensive.

    She now had two kittens, so she would take at least two of everything. Her hands constantly pulled something from the shelves and dumped them into the cart. Soon, the first cart was filled.

    Another clerk immediately followed them with an empty cart without even being asked. Someone took Jin Liwei¡¯s full cart and ced it at the cashier counter to wait for them when it was time to pay.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei tossed items to the train of carts following behind them. The majority of the clerks catered to them. Even the store manager was called and took over the job of rmending items, smelling big money from the couple.

    All the books about cats were taken. Cat toys? They almost emptied the shelves. Even items not on the vet¡¯s list were dumped into the carts because of the manager¡¯s effective sales talk.

    Finally, they headed to the cashier. Some of the other customers looked at them in awe and curiosity upon seeing the train of full carts. The scanning of the items took quite a while.

    The manager refrained himself from shouting with joy upon seeing the astronomical final total of the scanned items. He was beyond amazed when he noticed that the couple didn¡¯t even bat their eyelids upon seeing the total price.

    Rich! These people must be rich! Their pet store hit the jackpot!

 Chapter 84 - Rolling On The Bed Naked

    <h4>Chapter 84 - Rolling On The Bed Naked </h4>

    "I¡¯ll pay," Jin Liwei fished out his wallet from his pocket.

    "No. They¡¯re my cats so I¡¯ll pay," Iris stopped him. Then she unzipped her small leather backpack for her own wallet.

    "Baby girl, they¡¯re OUR cats."

    "Oh."

    "So let me pay this time, okay?"

    She thought for a few seconds. "Fine."

    He handed a ck card to the cashier. The manager¡¯s eyes popped wide open upon seeing the legendary ck card. He pushed aside the cashier and hurriedly received the ck card with shaking hands. It was the first time he ever saw one. He wanted to take a selfie with it, but stopped himself.

    After the transaction, the manager reluctantly returned the card to Jin Liwei. He almost didn¡¯t want to let it go. He rubbed his fingers all over his body, hoping for some of the financial fortune from the ck card he just touched would bring him good luck.

    The clerks all helped carry the shopping bags and boxes out to the parked car. Jin Liwei instructed Iris to head back to the vet clinic first while he and the clerks stuffed and squeezed all their purchases inside the car.

    Back at the clinic, Iris signed what needed to be signed and paid what needed to be paid. She was also given a schedule of appointments for the kittens¡¯ first vinations. Then she finally collected the kittens. They were all cleaned up and together inside a new carrier lined with a warm nket. Iris thanked the veterinarian and then exited the clinic with the carrier.

    Jin Liwei and the clerks just finished when she reached the car.

    Finally, they drove away headed for home. The sky was already dark. It was evening.

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Outside the condo building, two of Jin Liwei¡¯s men climbed out of a waiting car. Iris recognized one of them as the one who delivered the silver car that morning.

    "Master," they both greeted Jin Liwei and then politely nodded at her.

    "Bring all of our purchases to the penthouse," he ordered.

    "Understood."

    One of the men handed Jin Liwei a garment bag. It was his business suit for work tomorrow. He and Iris headed up first. His two men made several elevator trips before all their purchases and the baskets from the farm vi were delivered to the penthouse.

    Dom was already back in time for dinner. He squealed upon seeing the adorable kittens, immediately ying with them.

    "Put everything in my bedroom," Iris instructed Yi Mei.

    "Absolutely not," Jin Liwei rejected the idea.

    "But I want the kittens in my room."

    "Not a good idea, baby."

    She frowned. "Why not?"

    "Now that we¡¯ve adopted them, we¡¯re now their parents. And they¡¯re our kids. Baby girl, you¡¯re now a mother. Would you like our kids to personally see us, their parents, rolling on the bed naked?"

    Dom gasped in delight. Yi Mei¡¯s eyes widened in horror. The maids all blushed and avoided looking at the couple. Jin Liwei¡¯s two men had their usual stoic expressions but the suspicious flush on their faces, ears and neck betrayed their true emotions.

    "Oh." Iris blushed a bit before nodding. Turning to Yi Mei, she instructed, "Put everything in one of the guest bedrooms. Convert it into a cat room within the week."

    "Understood, Young Miss," Yi Mei replied, quickly recovering from what Jin Liwei said. Then she began instructing the maids and Jin Liwei¡¯s two men as to which room to ce all the kitty stuff.

    Afterwards, everyone had dinner together. Even Jin Liwei¡¯s men stayed over to eat before leaving.

    The cook prepared a delicious Greek-style dinner. The main dishes were roastedmb chops, chicken and pork soukia [1] with lemon rice pf [2]. The side dishes were horiatiki sd [3] and roasted potatoes sprinkled with feta cheese and choices of yoghurt and ginger sauce dressings.

    Iris and Jin Liwei ate together at a small table by the living area, overlooking the dazzling night lights of the city outside the ceiling-high ss windows. Dom ate with the others at the big granite kitchen ind, including Jin Liwei¡¯s two men. All the men wolfed down everything. Nothing was left when the meal was over.

    After the meal was hot peppermint tea. Iris and Jin Liwei sipped the tea before heading to the cat room to visit the kittens.

    Dom and one of the maids were feeding the kittens milk from tiny bottles. Seeing this, Iris immediately wanted to try and took the bottle from the maid.

    "Sir boss, wanna try too?" Dom asked Jin Liwei.

    Wordlessly, Jin Liwei took the bottle from Dom and started feeding one of the kittens as well.

    "Ehehehe!" Dom took his phone and started snapping photos of the couple and the kittens while squealing. "Oh my God! Cuteness overload! I¡¯m gonna die from too much cuteness! Popcorn, stay still and let daddy feed you milk. Sir boss, hold him gently. Yes, like that. Ah! Ice Cream is so well-behaved! So cute! Even the way she sucks milk is so elegant. Just like her mommy!"

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] Plural for "souki". It¡¯s basically grilled skewer of either meat or vegetables. Yum!

    [2] Rice cooked in stock and spices, sometimes mixed with small pieces of vegetables and/or meat.

    [3] Traditional Greek sd usually consisting of tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, and feta cheese. Very healthy. Yum!

 Chapter 85 - Will You Miss Me?

    <h4>Chapter 85 - Will You Miss Me? </h4>

    Iris blushed upon hearing Dom refer to them as the kittens¡¯ "mommy" and "daddy".

    Jin Liwei had an indifferent expression on his face, but his mouth slightly curved into a smug smile. He was very pleased.

    However, when his baby girl spent almost an hour cooing and fussing around the kittens, his expression turned darker and darker. Would the two tiny fur balls take all her attention away from him from now on? If so, then he was starting to regret that they adopted the kittens.

    "Baby girl, time for bed."

    "Mmn. Later."

    "But they¡¯re already sleeping."

    "I know, but they¡¯re too cute. I want to look at them more."

    He sulked. He wanted to throw the kittens out, but controlled himself especially since he was the one who first referred to them as their kids. He was a father now. He needed to learn patience with his kids.

    Desperate to regain her attention, he used the guilt trip. "Baby, I¡¯m leaving tomorrow. I¡¯ll be gone for my business trip and we won¡¯t be able to see each other for a week. You can look at them whenever you want, but I want to spend more time with you before I leave."

    "Oh." She finally stood up and walked to his embrace. "Let¡¯s go to bed."

    He smiled and kissed her hair, and then held her hand as they walked together to the bedroom.

    They showered together and made love with their hands and mouths. After drying their bodies, they blow dried each other¡¯s hairs, all the while yfully kissing and touching each other.

    Finally, they fell on the bed. The stained bedsheets were already reced with clean ones while they were gone for the day, smelling fresh ofvender.

    "Liwei..."

    "Call me properly."

    "Darling..." She was starting to feel a little morefortable with calling him "darling", although she still thought that it was stupid.

    He smiled, pleased. "Hm?"

    "Thank you for today. I¡¯m so happy."

    He tightened his arms around her and gave her a light kiss. "Anything for my baby girl."

    "What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

    "Hmm...about 5 AM. I need to go to thepany first before my flight."

    It was her turn to tighten her arms around him.

    "Will you miss me?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    "Tell me."

    "I¡¯m going to miss you," she whispered.

    "Miss me what?"

    "I¡¯ll miss you...darling." She looked up at his face. "Will you miss me, too?"

    "Of course. I¡¯ll always miss my Xin. So much. All the time."

    They looked at each other¡¯s dark eyes filled with desire. Then they started another fiery and passionate kiss while lying on the bed together.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hand yed and squeezed her breasts before crawling down her t abdomen to the wetness between her legs.

    She gasped, moaning loudly and opening her legs wider to give him better ess.

    "Touch me too, baby."

    She wrapped his hard length with her hand and stroked him, as they continued kissing each other with open mouths. Their tongues danced together, sucking and nibbling each other¡¯s lips.

    Iris was the first one to break the kiss as she panted and cried out her release. She bit his chest hard and trembled, moaning and whimpering.

    When she finally calmed down, he kissed her cheek and then sucked his fingers dripping with her juices. He moaned as he tasted her. He felt his length hardening even more. He touched her wet slit again and then used her juices to lubricate his member.

    "Baby."

    "Hm?"

    "Want to try something new?"

    She looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "What?"

    He gently pinched her nipple. "Something that will make me feel really good."

    "Oh." She tilted her head. "Only you? What about me?"

    "Well, I¡¯m not sure if this will make you feel good. But let¡¯s try and then you can tell me if it feels good or not."

    "Hmm...okay."

    "Good girl." He gave her a quick peck on the lips. "Stay still."

    Then he sat up and straddled her waist.

    She watched him, curious as to what he wanted to do.

    He scooted forward until he was on top of her chest. Lowering himself without burdening her with his weight, he ced his hard length moistened with her juices between her breasts. Then he grabbed each of her breasts with his two hands and pressed them tightly together, sandwiching his hardness between them.

    "Ready, baby?" he asked in a low, excited voice, breathing heavily.

    Seeing his unusual position, she now somewhat understood what he wanted to do. "Yes," she replied.

    He tested the newfound heaven by slowly moving in and out. He closed his eyes and groaned deeply. Opening his eyes, he looked down at her and started pumping in a steady rhythm.

    She ced her hands on his thick, muscled thighs, as she watched him pleasure himself with her breasts. He looked like he was feeling really good. His sweat dripped down on her skin.

    Her breath quickened and she became even wetter. She pressed her thighs together and restlessly rubbed them, trying to ease the weird feeling of...emptiness between her legs. She didn¡¯t expect that watching him pleasure himself would also affect her this way.

    Jin Liwei rubbed her nipples with his thumbs as his rhythm became even faster. He hissed and closed his eyes, savouring the intense pleasure. When he heard a moan, his eyes snapped open and he looked down at her.

    She was biting her lip while moaning, her hands gripping his thighs.

    "Do you feel good too, baby? Tell me."

    "Oh. I don¡¯t know. Maybe. Yes. Liwei...darling, please. Me too..."

    He chuckled. He loved that she wasn¡¯t shy in demanding what she wanted from him. Pausing his hips, he released one breast and gently pushed his forefinger between her lips. When she licked it, he pushed it further inside her mouth.

    She sucked his finger and moaned, looking at him with hot eyes.

    Her action made him leak a little. An image of her taking him in her mouth appeared in his mind, almost making hime that very instant before he controlled himself.

    Next time, he inwardly promised. They would explore many things together.

    He took out his finger from her mouth and once again held her breast. He resumed pumping in and out between her breasts, moving in a very fast rhythm while panting and grunting, climbing quickly to the peak of his pleasure.

    Finally, he stiffened and groaned loudly, spraying his release all over his baby girl¡¯s neck and face.

 Chapter 86 - How It Feels Like To Have A Wife

    <h4>Chapter 86 - How It Feels Like To Have A Wife </h4>

    "Oh!" Iris was a little taken aback that he shot all over her face and neck. She didn¡¯t know how to react. She thought of getting angry, but she was surprised that she kind of liked it. As a result, she just waited for him to finish without saying anything.

    When he was done, he was panting. He climbed off her chest and kissed her gently on the mouth. "Sorry. I couldn¡¯t control myself."

    "Mmn...it¡¯s fine, I guess," she replied. "I think I read somewhere that it¡¯s actually good for the skin. Something like a natural moisturizer."

    Heughed. "Yeah. I heard that, too. Want me to fill a container for you to use on your skin? Then you won¡¯t need to buy lotion or facial moisturizer anymore. "

    "Eeew! That¡¯s disgusting!" She pped his chest. "No thanks."

    They bothughed for a few more moments.

    Then he went to the bathroom to wet a towel with warm water. He wiped his release from her neck and face when he returned.

    After he finished cleaning her, she grabbed his hand and ced it between her thighs. "I need...please..."

    Chuckling, he gave her a loud, smacking kiss on the lips. "Mydy¡¯s wish is mymand."

    He worked his fingers on her slit and was surprised to feel how wet she became. He lowered his head between her thighs and ate her.

    After pleasuring her with his mouth, she grabbed his hair and cried out as she convulsed. "Oh! It feels so good..."

    Theyid together in each other¡¯s arms after making love without going all the way. Both felt like they were floating on the clouds.

    "Baby."

    "Hm?"

    "I don¡¯t want to pressure you, but I just want to say that I want to enter you. I want us to be each other¡¯s first."

    She looked up at him. "To be honest, I don¡¯t really mind now."

    His eyes lit up.

    "But not tonight. We¡¯re both tired."

    "I¡¯m not tired yet."

    "Well, I¡¯m tired."

    "No problem. You justy there and I¡¯ll do all the work."

    "But that¡¯s unfair. I want to be active, too."

    He sighed, then smiled softly. "Alright, baby. I¡¯m ready anytime. Just tell me whenever you¡¯re ready."

    She caressed his chest. "Maybe I¡¯ll feel ready when youe back home from your business trip."

    His eyebrows rose and his smile widened. "Then I¡¯ll be sure to hurry home to you as soon as possible."

    "Hmm...I guess you should."

    They kissed once more before drifting off to sleep.

    ###

    The next morning, 4 AM.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s phone rm woke him up. The first thing he noticed was his warm, soft, and beautiful future wife sleeping in his arms.

    They were in a spooning position with her back on his chest. Her headid on top of his now stiff and numb left arm. His right arm embraced her close to his body with his hand subconsciously holding one of her breasts while they slept.

    He kneaded her soft breast and inhaled her hair. She smelled so good, making his morning hard-on even harder.

    Groping her, he softly called in a husky voice, "Baby girl..."

    However, she was deeply asleep and wouldn¡¯t wake up no matter how much his hand explored her body or how hard his erection poked her from behind.

    Sighing, he could only carefully remove her head from his arm. He looked at the sleeping beauty beside him and then rained kisses on her face, neck and breasts before heading to the bathroom.

    After showering, he went to the walk-in closet to put on his business suit that was delivered to himst night by his men.

    He heard a toilet flush and water running from the bathroom. Ah, his baby girl finally woke up.

    Momentster, Iris sleepily entered the walk-in closet wearing a satin kimono robe. She headed straight to his embrace, burying her face on his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist tightly.

    "Good morning, beautiful," he greeted.

    "Mmmn...morning," she mumbled, yawning. The she looked up at him with sleepy eyes. "Let me dry your hair."

    After blow drying his hair, she helped him with his suit, personally buttoning his shirt and putting on his necktie.

    ¡¯This must be how it feels like to have a wife,¡¯ he thought.

    He felt extremely pleased and almost wanted to carry her off to the Civil Affairs Bureau while she wasn¡¯t fully awake yet and register their marriage right then and there.

    "Eat breakfast first before you leave," she said after he suited up.

    "Alright, baby." He smiled and kissed her.

    They headed to the kitchen where the cook was already cooking breakfast for Jin Liwei. Iris instructed the cookst night to wake up early and prepare breakfast for him.

    The cook greeted them. The older woman¡¯s eyes shined meaningfully upon seeing the sleepy Young Miss¡¯s appearance. It was obvious that the Young Miss was naked under her satin kimono robe.

    She heard some of the maids gossiping by themselves after they reced the stained bedsheets and towels from the Young Miss¡¯s room yesterday before being harshly reprimanded by Yi Mei. Although she had these thoughts, she didn¡¯t let them show on her face and instead served the couple.

    Iris sat beside Jin Liwei while he ate breakfast. His breakfast consisted of a hearty wonton rice noodle soup with hard-boiled eggs and a separate dish of dim sum. He sipped a big mug of hot, freshly brewed Sumatra Mandheling premium coffee.

    "You¡¯re not eating?" he asked, upon seeing her only sipping a cup of in hot water.

    "Mmn...not yet. Later. I¡¯ll go back to sleep after I see you off."

    His lips curved into a smile. His future wife specially woke up early just to see him, her future husband, off. He dipped his head and captured her sweet lips.

 Chapter 87 - Youâ€™re Mine, Long Xiulan

    <h4>Chapter 87 - You¡¯re Mine, Long Xin </h4>

    When Jin Liwei was ready to leave, the two stood in front of the private elevator, both unwilling to part from each other. They just became an official couple, after all. They wanted to spend more time with each other.

    He couldn¡¯t stop a big smile from spreading on his handsome face because Iris was hugging him so tightly, showing him with her actions that she didn¡¯t want him to leave.

    Kissing the top of her head, he murmured, "I don¡¯t want to leave you."

    She sighed, and then reluctantly loosened her arms around his waist. She looked up at him. "It¡¯s alright. Your work is important. Just finish your own matters and thene back to me soon."

    He lowered his head and kissed her gently on the lips. "I haven¡¯t left yet but I¡¯m already missing you. So much."

    "Me too."

    He grinned and then his expression became stern. "Don¡¯t get too close to other men while I¡¯m not around."

    "Why would I? I already have you. You¡¯re the one who shouldn¡¯t get close to other women. I¡¯ll cut off your p*nis if you do."

    He chuckled. "Baby, I never get close to women. Only you."

    She smiled, but then tilted her head to the side, thinking of something. Then almost carelessly but with a sincere tone, she told him, "If you ever feel that you don¡¯t want me anymore or you meet another woman who you like more than me, just tell it to me straight. I¡¯ll feel angry but I¡¯ll try to understand. I¡¯m not unreasonable. Just don¡¯t cheat on me behind my back. At least break it off cleanly with me before you start another rtionship. Then I won¡¯t feel too hurt or hate you too much. I¡¯ll also do the same if ever I like another man more than I like you."

    His aura suddenly turned murderous. He grabbed the sides of her arms, squeezing them tightly. Then he shook her. In a dangerous tone, he whispered, "What did you say?"

    Iris tried to pull away, but his hold was too strong. "Stop!"

    "Long Xin, do you know what you just said?" he hissed.

    She felt rmed seeing his vicious expression. She was reminded of the feeling of danger she felt from him the first time they met at the hotel lobby. In fact, he felt even more dangerous now.

    "Don¡¯t say those things to me ever again! Do you understand?!"

    "Liwei, I..." She was starting to feel panicked.

    "You¡¯re mine, Long Xin. Only mine! I won¡¯t allow anyone, including you, to break us apart. Remember that!"

    Then he smashed her against his chest and hugged her fiercely, as if wanting to forcibly fuse the two of them into one being. Then he sucked her exposed ear.

    "Liwei! What are you doing?!"

    His mouth moved downwards to the side of her neck and sucked hard, leaving a dark red love bite. He alternated between licking and sucking.

    This man...she already told him not to leave hickeys on areas that were easy to see!

    After marking her, he finally straightened and red at her.

    Her eyes watered. She didn¡¯t like this Jin Liwei.

    Was what she said so wrong? She thought that she was just being mindful of their rtionship and the problems that may arise if their attraction towards each other faded. Why was he so angry?

    Then fury bubbled from inside her. How dare he treat her this way? How dare he im her? She was her own person! Not anyone¡¯s possession!

    She clenched her teeth and kneed him hard on the crotch.

    He groaned and doubled over, falling on his knees to the floor. He then looked up at her in disbelief.

    She wavered, instantly feeling sorry for hurting him, but the wet feeling on her ear and neck reminded her of how he treated her just a few seconds ago. She hardened her heart. "You deserve it," she told him.

    He gasped and gently massaged his poor little brother down below. It wasn¡¯t injured, right? It would still work properly, right? He would still be able to put a baby in his Xin¡¯s belly in the future, right?

    Iris began to worry when Jin Liwei didn¡¯t get up after a minute already passed. Did she knee him that hard? She began to feel guilty. "Uhm...are you okay?"

    He red at her.

    His look pissed her off. "What? You want me to knee you again? Come! This knee is still raring to go!"

    They red at each other.

    Finally, he stood up slowly. He was breathing heavily, his expressionpletely ck. Iris¡¯ expression wasn¡¯t any better either.

    After ring at each other some more, it was Jin Liwei who cracked first.

    "I¡¯m sorry..." he sighed. He still felt furious, but forced his tone to be gentle. "I lost control of myself. Xin, baby, you¡¯re the only woman for me. You¡¯re the only one I¡¯ll ever want. So I would never cheat on you. Trust me. And if I suddenly be crazy and stupid enough to cheat with some b*tch, I¡¯ll kill myself first. I¡¯d rather die than taint myself with some other woman. I swear!"

    She stared at his serious face, feeling his sincerity. "I don¡¯t want you to die," she whispered.

    She had already experienced too much death in her previous lifetime, more than the average person. She didn¡¯t want to go through that again, especially with him who she already considered as an important person to her. Even if they came to a point that they weren¡¯t attracted to each other or weren¡¯t in a rtionship any longer, she still wouldn¡¯t wish him dead.

    He pulled her into a tight embrace. "Baby, we belong together. Remember that!"

    She personally didn¡¯t believe in such words of finality because people¡¯s feelings change. Life was unpredictable. However, she still nodded at him because she could feel his sincerity at the moment. Whether or not his feelings would change in the future was something she only needed to deal with if it happened.

    Besides, she herself still wasn¡¯t sure exactly how she felt about him. The only thing she was sure of at the moment was her undoubted attraction to him. She lusted for him and wanted to spend time with him, to get to know him. She also realized that she now cared about him. But she still didn¡¯t know how falling in love felt like.

    As for promises of forever with him...she wouldn¡¯t make. Because there was no such thing as forever.

    Her previous life was a testament to this. Someone as powerful and formidable as her family who ruled the international Underworld for many generations was annihted in just a single night.

    Forever was just wishful thinking. It was better to enjoy the moment and try to live life to the fullest, so even when the good things ended, there wouldn¡¯t be any regrets.

 Chapter 88 - Endorsement Deal

    <h4>Chapter 88 - Endorsement Deal </h4>

    Iris sighed and caressed his face, pulling his head down to gently kiss his lips. "Alright. Just don¡¯t do it again. Does it still hurt?"

    "Yeah."

    She touched his crotch and massaged him gently.

    He groaned.

    She bit her lip. It seemed that it hurt quite a lot, since she didn¡¯t feel him harden even when she was already touching him. "I¡¯m sorry I kneed you. But you really deserved it..."

    He grunted and then sighed, taking her hand off his poor little brother. "I don¡¯t want us to fight anymore, especially since I¡¯m leaving soon."

    Hearing his words reminded her that they wouldn¡¯t be able to see each other for days. She felt her chest tighten. She immediately wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

    He embraced her as well. "Are we okay now?"

    "Mmn...yes."

    He released a breath of relief. "Good. But I hope that you remember what I said today."

    "Okay. But please don¡¯t do that again. I hate it."

    "Alright, baby. I¡¯m sorry. I just want you so much. Make sure to always answer my calls and reply to my messages, okay?"

    "Okay." She gave him a peck on the lips. "You have to take care of yourself while you¡¯re there. Don¡¯t tire yourself too much."

    "Alright. You too. Miss me while I¡¯m gone. Think of me every day. Dream of me every night. Because I will miss you, think of you, and dream of you every single day that we¡¯re not together."

    Her heart thumped at his words. How could he say such things so easily and so seriously? It sounded kind of stupid but a delicious warmth spread within her upon hearing his words.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against him. Pulling him down, she whispered to his ear, "Okay. I¡¯ll be waiting for you toe back home."

    "I want to hear you call me darling."

    "Darling."

    Her hot breath on his ear finally gave him a hard-on. Thank goodness! His little brother was still functioning properly. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have time. He had to go.

    His hands snaked down to her plump bottom and squeezed, feeling pleased when he heard her moan.

    "I have to go. Bye, baby."

    "Bye, Liwei...darling. Come back home safely."

    He gave her a final deep, searing kiss before reluctantly releasing her and stepping inside the private elevator. His eyes were hot and intense as he looked at her before the elevator door closed.

    Iris was already missing his kisses. Biting her lips, she righted her disheveled kimono robe. She stared at the closed elevator doors for a couple more minutes beforeing to terms that he would really be gone for a full workday week.

    Was this how having a boyfriend felt like? It seemed like she was discovering a new side of herself that she wasn¡¯t aware of before.

    If she wasn¡¯t so attracted to Jin Liwei, she was certain that she would never want to be involved with someone like him. His personalitypletely shed with her life goals.

    However, oddly enough, she epted him even when she felt bothered and a little scared at how fast their rtionship was progressing. Perhaps she was feeling too attracted to him at the moment that she subconsciously didn¡¯t want anything to dampen the euphoria of being in a rtionship for the first time.

    Sighing, she turned around and headed to the cat room.

    The kittens were asleep. She rubbed them softly with a finger,forted by their fluffiness and warmth. Carefully, she scooped them up with her hands and brought them to her bedroom.

    She ced them on her bed and enclosed them with pillows, so they wouldn¡¯t identally fall off the bed. Then sheid down beside them.

    It was still very early in the morning, only a few minutes after 5 AM.

    Although her quarrel with Jin Liwei was brief, it was very intense. She was now very awake with highly stimted emotions.

    Fortunately, the soft but deep breathing of both kittens plus the sound of falling water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain were both rxing andforting. After a few minutes, she drifted back to sleep.

    ###

    That morning, the rm Girls (Wanwan, Feifei and Mimi) with their manager woke up early to get ready for a contract signing to seal an endorsement deal with a local nail polishpany. It would be their biggest endorsement deal yet.

    Thepany couldn¡¯tpare to the big, high-end and signature brands but it enjoyed a considerable amount of poprity among the tween demographic. This was because thepany mostly used up-anding celebrities like girl groups to endorse its nail polish products.

    More than half of the endorsers thispany used eventually became quite popr, so thepany had a bit of a reputation within the industry of helping newbies on their road to sess.

    Although the rm Girls couldn¡¯t be described as "up-anding" anymore, their climb to poprity throughout the years was slow but sure. They weren¡¯t the most talented nor the most eye-catching but their years in the industry gained them a decent number of fans.

    Their manager worked very hard to obtain the trio this endorsement deal. He almost sold his soul in order to get the necessary connections. When he was finally able to meet with the right people, his excessive brown-nosing was cringe-worthy.

    There were many times that he was chased out and doors mmed on his face, but he was persistent. If he could get this endorsement deal for the girls, he would get a share as their manager.

    This thought alone motivated him. He would do anything just to get this endorsement deal, even if he had to lick shoes.

    In the end, he was doing this for himself. The rm Girls were just stepping stones for him on his road of bing a manager with a stable position in the industry.

    Finally, his persistence paid off and the rm Girls were scheduled to sign a contract that morning. The contract was only for a tentative period of one year, but the money and benefits involved were the best the trio would receive so far.

    The nail polishpany promised that the contract might be extended and the benefits increased based on the trio¡¯s effectiveness and performance in endorsing.

    As for the trio, they thought that this endorsement deal was a long timeing. Their hard work was finally starting to pay off. This endorsement deal couldn¡¯tpare to the big stars, but it was certainly better than what newbies would usually receive.

    Wanwan, Feifei and Mimi dressed to impress. They felt like bigshots as they sauntered inside thepany building. Business hours just started and employees streamed in to start another work week.

    The group headed to the reception desk.

    "Hello. Good morning," their manager greeted the pretty receptionist. "Thedies beside me are the girl group called rm Girls. And I¡¯m their manager. We have an appointment with Mr. Chen at 8:30 AM."

 Chapter 89 - Waiting Too Long

    <h4>Chapter 89 - Waiting Too Long </h4>

    "I understand. Please wait a moment while I confirm your appointment." The receptionist was very weing with a warm smile, her voice very pleasant to the ears.

    She picked up the phone and spoke with someone on the other end of the line for a few seconds. Then she frowned, but quickly smoothed out her face back to her usual weing expression. After hanging up the phone, she turned back to the rm Girls and their manager, looking apologetic.

    "I regret to inform our honourable guests that Mr. Chen is currently in an emergency meeting, so your appointment will have to be dyed. We don¡¯t know how long this meeting will take, so I suggest that the honourable guests wait in the waiting area. The meeting might end in a few minutes or a few hours, but it¡¯s best that you¡¯re ready to be called upstairs anytime."

    "I understand¨D," the manager was about to say but...

    "What?! We came so early and even called ahead to confirm our appointment but we still end up having to wait? This is so unprofessional!" Wanwan didn¡¯t hide her displeasure.

    The receptionist¡¯s warm smile immediately froze and her expression turned cold. However, she was still a professional. Her tone didn¡¯t change, but her words were biting. "We apologize for the inconvenience, honourable guests. Mr. Chen holds an important position in thepany and he has many responsibilities. Emergency meetings are normal urrences in ourpany, especially for a key officer like Mr. Chen. If you are unhappy with the current situation, rest assured that I will convey yourints to Mr. Chen once he¡¯s finished with his meeting."

    "No no no! This is just a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding!" The managerughed unnaturally. "Miss Receptionist, there is no need to bother Mr. Chen with such trifle matters. We will wait! Please don¡¯t concern yourself too much with us."

    Wanwan red at him, unsatisfied by his behaviour. Why must he lower himself to such a degree in front of a mere receptionist? She opened her mouth and was about to say something again but was stopped by Feifei.

    Feifei was also disgruntled at the situation, but she was coolheaded enough to remember how important this endorsement deal was to their career. It was better to maintain a good impression while the contract wasn¡¯t signed yet. They needed to make sure that the deal was 100% theirs before acting reckless.

    Wanwan calmed down after Feifei gave her a meaningful look. Right, they just had to wait and endure for a few hours at most. When they signed the contract, they would automatically be treated as VIPs by this unprofessionalpany. Then they would be the ones to get thestugh.

    Their manager sighed, relieved, upon seeing Wanwan hold back. He was cursing the impulsive idiot for almost ruining this endorsement deal that he worked so hard and so long to obtain for them.

    He gave a fawning smile to the receptionist before leading the three girls to the waiting area at the lobby.

    The couches were big and soft, veryfortable. Latest issues of magazines and newspapers were avable for reading on the tables. After a few minutes, a different receptionist served them hot tea and some biscuits.

    "Hmph. At least they know how to serve refreshments," Wanwan muttered as she sipped tea.

    Mimi immediately attacked the biscuits.

    Feifei pretended not to see. She was on diet.

    They read some of the fashion and entertainment magazines, looking at the clock every now and then.

    After more than an hour of waiting, the three girls couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    Mimi: "What¡¯s taking so long? How long do we still have to wait?"

    Wanwan: "Thispany is so unprofessional!"

    Feifei: "Manager, go and inquire."

    The manager smiled bitterly. He spent almost a year trying to obtain this endorsement deal for them, but these girls couldn¡¯t even wait for an hour.

    However, he too wondered what was taking so long. He was starting to feel uneasy.

    He stood up and headed to the reception desk to inquire. He was told that Mr. Chen was still at the meeting and was unavable to be contacted, so please be patient and wait until further notice.

    The three girls were clearly unhappy that they still had to wait for who knew how long, but they still had the presence of mind to know that this endorsement was important to their career. They had to endure this humiliation until the contract was signed.

    After another hour passed with no word from Mr. Chen, the three girls lost their patience.

    They marched to the reception desk and demanded to see Mr. Chen as soon as possible. They ganged up on the receptionist until the receptionist could no longer maintain her weing countenance.

    Their manager was in the washroom, so he wasn¡¯t able to stop them.

    "Honourable guests, please calm yourselves," the receptionist told them coldly. "I already informed you that Mr. Chen is still at the meeting. If you are unsatisfied with the current situation, please feel free to leave and I will be more than happy to inform Mr. Chen that you, honourable guests, are too busy to wait for him."

    "What did you say, you b*tch?" Wanwan finally lost her temper. "You¡¯re just a mere receptionist! How dare you speak to us this way? Where¡¯s your manager? You deserve to be fired! So unprofessional!"

    The receptionist inwardly sneered. Who did these girls think they were? She didn¡¯t even know who the hell these rm Girls were before they introduced themselves earlier. What were the higher-ups thinking wanting to sign these uncouth b*tches?

    "We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience," the receptionist robotically repeated. "I have no way of contacting Mr. Chen until hees out of the meeting. The honourable guests have two options: wait patiently until Mr. Chen is ready to see you or leave."

    "B*tch, say that again!" Wanwan almost climbed over the reception desk to p the receptionist.

    Feifei pulled Wanwan and tried to calm her down. "Leader, let¡¯s just wait for now, alright? It¡¯s only been two hours. I heard that some business meetings take the whole day. Hopefully, we don¡¯t have to wait that long."

    Wanwan red at Feifei.

    "I think Sis Feifei is right, leader. We can¡¯t lose this endorsement deal," Mimi interjected.

    Wanwan finally got a hold of herself. She took several deep breaths. Giving a vicious re at the receptionist, she stomped back to the waiting area. Feifei and Mimi followed after their leader.

 Chapter 90 - Offended Jin Corporation

    <h4>Chapter 90 - Offended Jin Corporation </h4>

    Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary watched her boss read the usual weekly reports before signing them. She served him a fresh mug of hot coffee. She cleared her throat.

    "Mr. Chen, the receptionist called again. I told her that you¡¯re still busy in a meeting. The rm Girls and their manager have been waiting downstairs for more than three hours already. Will you not see them?"

    "Hmph! Don¡¯t concern yourself with those insignificant people. Hand me the reports from thest week of the previous month, will you? I need to make someparisons."

    "Understood. Uhm, sir...excuse my ignorance, but aren¡¯t you supposed to sign the contract today with the rm Girls for ourtest endorsement deal?"

    "Hai. Didn¡¯t you hear what I just said? I told you not to concern yourself with them."

    "But you had me schedule this meeting with them a month in advance. So I thought that it¡¯s supposed to be important..."

    Mr. Chen finally put down the report in his hand and sighed. "To tell you the truth, I was also looking forward to signing them up. I liked their perseverance in trying to survive for years in the cruel world of showbiz. They¡¯re not the most popr but they¡¯re still holding on. I felt that ourpany has a simrity to them in that both of us aren¡¯t the best or the most popr, but we¡¯re seeding slowly but surely. Earlier this morning, however, I discovered that it¡¯s a big mistake to even think about signing them up as our endorsers."

    "Why is that, Mr. Chen?"

    "Hai! Did you know that ourpany CEO called me first thing in the morning and scolded me for getting involved with the rm Girls?"

    The secretary frowned, confused. "Why would our CEO scold you, sir? I thought that he was already informed and aware of your n to sign the rm Girls as endorsers? Didn¡¯t he approve it, too?"

    "Exactly! However, the CEO suddenly changed his tune." Then he lowered his voice and looked around, making sure that nobody else was listening. "Don¡¯t tell anyone this. It seems like those girls offended someone from Jin Corporation. Hai! They can offend anyone but why do they have to offend someone from the number onepany in the country? Are they stupid or what?"

    The secretary gasped. "Jin Corporation? They¡¯re crazy. What did those girls do?"

    Mr. Chen clicked his tongue. "Who knows? That¡¯s why our CEO backtracked from this endorsement deal. Ourpany can¡¯t afford to get involved with the rm Girls or else we¡¯ll offend Jin Corporation. One word from Jin Corporation and ourpany is finished. Do you understand?"

    The secretary nodded. "Uh, so sir...what do you n to do with the rm Girls now? They¡¯re still waiting downstairs. Isn¡¯t it better to just tell them that the deal is off so that they can leave?"

    "Hmph! Let them wait! I got scolded harshly by the CEO this morning. Do you think I enjoyed that? My mood is ruined for the entire day because of them! Let them wait until lunch time."

    "Er...alright, sir. Understood."

    ###

    Downstairs at the lobby waiting area.

    Mimi syed over the arm of the couch. "I¡¯m so hungry! We¡¯ve been waiting for over four hours already. I¡¯m so tired of waiting. My butt hurts from sitting for too long! Is he not done with that meeting yet? How long do we still have to wait?"

    "I think they¡¯re doing this on purpose!" Wanwan¡¯s expression was ugly. She rolled a magazine and was twisting it out of shape in frustration.

    Feifei turned to their manager. Her earlier impatience and anger already transformed into anxiousness. She felt that something was not right. "Didn¡¯t you say that this deal is a sure thing? They¡¯re not going to back out, right?"

    The manager was also feeling quite panicked, but he gave them a reassuring smile. "I already talked with Mr. Chen a few times both on the phone and in person. I can confidently say that he¡¯s very enthusiastic and excited about working with you, girls. So don¡¯t worry too much. We¡¯ll get this endorsement deal. I¡¯m sure that Mr. Chen is just really busy with that emergency meeting. We just need to wait until he¡¯s ready to see us."

    "But we¡¯ve already waited for so long!" Wanwan threw the crumpled magazine hard on the table. Since there was no Mr. Chen to direct her anger at, sheshed out at their manager instead. "This is all your fault! You¡¯re so ipetent! You can only connect us with this kind of unprofessional and small-timepany! We deserve better! We deserve endorsement deals with the bigpanies!"

    "Leader, not so loud!" Feifei warned her, looking around.

    There were already quite a few people, most of them employees of thepany, who were looking at them after hearing Wanwan¡¯s outburst. Their expressions showed obvious displeasure that theirpany was described as unprofessional and small-time.

    "Hmph!" Wanwan crossed her arms and lifted her chin.

    Mimi agreed with the leader 100%, but she also understood why Feifei was being so cautious.

    The manager clenched his hands into tight fists, his fingers digging painfully on his palms, trying to rein in his anger at Wanwan¡¯s insult. "I...let me inquire at the reception desk again."

    "Hmph! Ipetent!" Wanwan spat, watching their manager stand and walk for the nth time to talk to that b*tch of a receptionist.

    "Leader, I¡¯m really getting worried. What if we don¡¯t get this endorsement deal?" Mimi finally voiced out.

    Of course Wanwan was getting anxious as well. This was, after all, their biggest endorsement deal yet. It would be a huge boost to their career. But her pride wouldn¡¯t allow her to show it. Instead, she let her impatience and anger spill out.

    "Hmph! So what?! This is just a small-timepany anyway. I don¡¯t even like their nail polish products. So cheap!"

    Feifei: "Leader, please. Not so loud."

    The employees nearby were already ring at them. If these employees informed Mr. Chen, they would probably really lose this endorsement deal.

    Wanwan: "Tsk. Fine!"

    It was already lunch time and many of the employees were heading outside to eat. However, there was still no word from Mr. Chen.

 Chapter 91 - Catfigh

    <h4>Chapter 91 - Catfigh </h4>

    Another hour passed by. Lunch time was over. The employees returned to their work after eating.

    The rm Girls were hungry and angry. They snapped at their manager who offered to buy them lunch, telling them that they should eat while waiting.

    ¡¯Fine, if you don¡¯t wanna eat then don¡¯t eat. Hmph!¡¯ he thought as he chewed on another biscuit.

    Finally, after more than five hours of waiting. Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary stepped out of the elevator and found them.

    She introduced herself in a detached, professional manner, observing the bedraggled appearances of the three girls. She inwardly shook her head at the girls¡¯ stupidity and bad luck for offending someone they shouldn¡¯t have offended. Only someone with a screw loose would dare offend Jin Corporation, yet these girls did.

    "Hello," the manager immediately greeted the secretary with a fawning smile. "These are Wanwan, Feifei and Mimi. They¡¯re the rm Girls and I¡¯m their manager. Is Mr. Chen ready to see us?"

    "We¡¯ve been waiting for five hours," Wanwan grumbled.

    The secretary cast a cold look at theining girl.

    The managerughed awkwardly. He wanted to knock some sense into the stupid girl¡¯s head. He smiled at the secretary. "Please lead the way. We are looking forward to meeting with Mr. Chen."

    The secretary inwardly sighed at being assigned the unpleasant job of informing these unfortunate girls that they waited for so long in vain. s, her boss had no desire to meet them in person. She cleared her throat and spoke in a cold tone.

    "Miss Wanwan, Miss Feifei, Miss Mimi, Mr. Manager. I regret to inform you that ourpany cannot continue on with this endorsement deal with you. There are issues that cropped up at thest minute and we decided that the rm Girls aren¡¯t the best fit to endorse our products. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we stand behind our final decision. We wish you good luck on your career. The exit is that way. Please stay safe on the road. Have a good day."

    The manager blinked. His mind turned nk. W-what? This wasn¡¯t happening, right? He worked so hard and so long to obtain this deal. H-howe? What in the world happened?

    The three girls also froze, not believing what they just heard. The endorsement deal was off? Just like that?

    No way.

    Wanwan: "What the hell are you saying? Say that again!"

    The secretary ignored the girl¡¯s attitude and spoke in a cold voice. "Ourpany has decided that the endorsement agreement with you is now cancelled. After much consideration, we believe that your group is not suitable to endorse our products. Please kindly leave because Mr. Chen will not be meeting with you."

    "Wait! I...there must be some mistake," the manager said. He was sweating hard. "I talked with Mr. Chen a number of times and he assured me that the endorsement deal will be given to my girls."

    "Mr. Manager, there is no such thing as a sure thing in the business world, especially if the contract is not signed yet. I¡¯m sure you know that." The secretary made a show of looking at her wristwatch. "Please excuse me. I am quite busy at the moment. The exit is right there. Please show yourselves out."

    Feifei couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She had been the most understanding while they were forced to wait for hours. Now that they learned that they waited for nothing, she felt furious.

    "Is this how you treat your endorsers?! You made us wait for more than five hours! If the deal is off, you should¡¯ve told us earlier! Then we wouldn¡¯t have waited all this time!"

    "Miss Feifei, you are mistaken. First of all, we treat our endorsers very well. Some of the sessful ones evenunched their own nail polish line with us. Many of them are our bestsellers. Second of all, you are not our endorsers so we don¡¯t have any obligation to you."

    "You! How dare you?!" Mimi shrieked. Her voice was so shrill that it echoed across the entire lobby, attracting a lot of attention.

    People stopped what they were doing and looked at their direction. Many of the employees recognized Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary. Some of them called for security to intervene just in case the undisciplined girls hurt their fellow colleague.

    They already had a bad impression of the girls, especially after hearing them badmouthing theirpany earlier. Now they were even shouting at Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary. Were they crazy? How dare they?

    "Calm down, girls," their manager told them. "Let¡¯s try to talk this out. I¡¯m sure there must be some kind of mistake."

    Wanwan: "Calm down?! Mistake?! They made us wait for more than five f*cking hours and now they¡¯re telling us that the endorsement deal is off! How do you expect us to calm down?! This is all your fault! You¡¯re such an ipetent manager! You can¡¯t even connect us with a reputablepany!"

    "And what do you mean by that, Miss Wanwan? Are you saying that ourpany is not reputable?" The secretary¡¯s voice became colder.

    She started working for thepany since she graduated from university. She had only experienced working for thepany and was very loyal to it.

    Wanwan: "That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m saying! Because if you¡¯re really reputable, how can you treat us this way?! You¡¯re just a bunch of losers with trashy products! Who wants to endorse your cheap nail polish! We don¡¯t!"

    The manager was already beyond panicking. Everything was ruined! These idiotic girls ruined all his hard work!

    "I see. That¡¯s good to hear because ourpany doesn¡¯t want to work with you either. We don¡¯t associate with conceited spoiled brats like you who think too highly of yourselves. Who do you think you are? There are a lot of other girl groups who are more deserving to be our endorsers than you. If you don¡¯t have any more business with ourpany, please leave or do you want someone to show you where the exit is?"

    "You b*tch!" Wanwan pounced at the secretary, pulling hard at her hair.

    The secretary wasn¡¯t a pushover either. She pped and scratched at Wanwan¡¯s face.

    Of course, Feifei and Mimi jumped into the fray, ganging up on the secretary. Feifei and Mimi held the secretary while Wanwan attacked with all her might.

 Chapter 92 - See You In Cour

    <h4>Chapter 92 - See You In Cour </h4>

    The manager was so shocked that he wasn¡¯t able to react in time. He was frozen and stared with nk eyes at the women viciously fighting like wild beasts in front of him.

    Security guards quickly ran over to separate the women.

    The employees all came over, concerned and curious. They pulled and supported Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary, protecting her from the uncivilized girls who dared bully their colleague right in front of them in their own territory.

    What audacity!

    Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary was in a sorry state. Her clothes were ripped. There were small bald spots on her head where clumps of hair were pulled out. There were scratches and bruises all over her face and body. Her mouth was bleeding and she had a nasty ck eye.

    Wanwan was also scratched and had a couple of bruises, but she was in a much better condition than the secretary. Feifei and Mimi, on the other hand, had no injuries on them at all. They only looked disheveled.

    One look and it was in for everyone to see who the real victim of this altercation was.

    Each of the rm Girls were held by a security guard. They were struggling and shrieking about physical assault and sexual harassment. The security guards restraining them were males.

    The receptionist was on the phone calling for the police.

    The manager finally regained sense and realized how deep the trouble the stupid girls fell into this time. He immediately rebuked the girls, ignoring their ferocious res, and bowed and apologized to everyone, especially to Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary.

    He was, as expected, ignored and even denounced.

    Soon after, the police arrived.

    Seeing the police officers, the rm Girls finally panicked. Mimi broke down in tears, sobbing hysterically. Wanwan nched but determination shed across her fierce eyes. Feifei trembled but the same determination also appeared on her expression.

    The three girls realized that they totally lost control of themselves and the situation today. Ever since the altercation with that b*tch Iris Longst Friday at "MusicFest Tonight" and receiving an official order from their managementpany the day after to apologize to the b*tch, they were all in a foul mood for the entire weekend.

    They thought that everything would turn for the better once they seal this endorsement deal, but they were instead forced to wait for more than five hours. They were hungry, angry, and frustrated. But in the end, they were told that the endorsement deal was off the table. It was the final straw which triggered the volcano of negative emotions that they were bottling up the entire weekend. They just exploded.

    The police officers started asking questions to gain an understanding of what happened.

    The manager knew that the situation spiralled out of control, so he insisted that he and his girls wouldn¡¯t answer any questions from the police without the presence of theirwyer. He immediately contacted their managementpany to ask for awyer and instructions on how to handle the situation.

    Although the rm Girls and their manager refused to respond to the police officers¡¯ questioning, Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary and the people who witnessed the entire thing were more than willing to recount what really happened. Some of them even recorded the incident on their mobile phones.

    Upstairs, Mr. Chen received a call from the receptionist. After hearing what happened to his secretary, he hurried to the elevator and ran downstairs to the lobby.

    When he arrived at the scene and saw his secretary¡¯s sorry state, he was absolutely livid. How dare these girls beat up his secretary?!

    "Why didn¡¯t someone call for an ambnce?!" he yelled. "My secretary is injured! She¡¯s even bleeding! Hurry up!"

    "Mr. Chen, don¡¯t worry. We already called and the ambnce is on its way," someone informed him.

    "Sir..." The secretary finally broke down and cried when her boss arrived. Her hands touched the bald spots on her head. "My hair..."

    Mr. Chen finally noticed the bald spots on his secretary¡¯s head. He knew how she treasured her hair and would frequently catch herbing it while she was on her desk.

    He was furious. Turning to the three evil girls, he roared, "You b*tches! How dare you?!"

    He pounced at them, but several security guards and employees held him back. His legs iled in the air, struggling against the people restraining him.

    "Please calm down, Mr. Chen!"

    "Let me go! These b*tches hurt my secretary! I¡¯ll teach them a f*cking lesson!"

    "Mr. Chen, please stop! The police are already here."

    "Yes, Mr. Chen. Let the police handle this case. I¡¯m sure that they will give your secretary the justice that she deserves. All of us can serve as witnesses and we have evidence."

    He calmed down a bit after hearing everyone. Finally, he noticed the manager standing protectively in front of the evil girls. He snarled at him.

    "I¡¯m so relieved that ourpany didn¡¯tmit the mistake of signing your three b*tches as endorsers. You would¡¯ve destroyed us! Connecting with you is the biggest mistake of my career. I hope that you¡¯re ready because ourpany won¡¯t stop until we get justice. We will see you in court!"

    He broke away from the hands restraining him. When they were sure that he wouldn¡¯t suddenly attack, they released him. He took out his phone and contacted theirpany CEO, informing him of what transpired.

    The CEO was, of course, furious. He was currently out of town attending a business conference. Hearing about the trouble in hispany while he was gone, he immediately hurried back and contacted their corporatewyer.

    Back at the nail polishpany, the ambnce finally arrived. Mr. Chen apanied his secretary to the hospital.

    The police took the rm Girls and their manager to the police station for questioning.

    As for the people left in thepany, they burst into gossip. The ones who weren¡¯t present during the incident were promptly informed by their colleagues who witnessed the entire thing.

    Upon hearing the rm Girls¡¯ total disrespect to theirpany and how they attacked their fellow colleague, Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary, they were all indignant.

    Within an hour of the incident, videos of the rm Girls beating up a woman at apany lobby surfaced online and instantly went viral.

 Chapter 93 - Almost Within Reach

    <h4>Chapter 93 - Almost Within ReaChapter </h4>

    Bright Summit Entertainment Company.

    Iris and Dom quietly entered the building and headed to Tang Yiyi¡¯s office. They encountered familiar celebrities along the way, but nobody recognized Iris because she wore a mask and big sunsses.

    She didn¡¯t want to deal with the fuss of being recognized, especially since she was currently one of the hottest topics during the weekend after her hit performances on "MusicFest Tonight" and on DJ Song¡¯s radio show.

    Not to mention her previous infamy before the ident two years ago and her supposed scandal with Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo, plus the heavy promotion of both Bright Summit and JJ¡¯s recordbel for her uing album, many people were interested in Iris Long at the moment.

    Inside Tang Yiyi¡¯s office.

    The office was not veryrge, but there was enough room for a work desk, file cabs and drawers, a couple of chairs, a couch and a low table. It looked like the typical, boring office. A small pot of Pachira aquatica (a type of money tree) was the only attempt to liven up the room.

    "Sit down," Tang Yiyi instructed the two.

    When the three were seated, they began discussing Iris¡¯ work schedule for the week. She would be extremely busy.

    The release date of her album "Rebirth" was on Friday. They nned on holding aunch party where she would perform some of the songs from the album live. Her album in several formats and even merchandise would also be avable for sale right there at the party. There would be a signing event afterwards.

    "We already booked a venue for theunch party," Tang Yiyi said. "However, now it seems that the venue¡¯s size won¡¯t be enough anymore."

    Iris tilted her head to the side.

    "I have good news. This morning, I received a call from a representative of a group called ¡¯The ck Stars¡¯. They were just established over the weekend but they¡¯re already quite organized. They want to be recognized as your official fan club."

    Dom gasped in delight. "What? Really? That¡¯s so awesome! And they even called themselves ¡¯The ck Stars¡¯ after boss¡¯ song!"

    Iris remained quiet, waiting for Tang Yiyi to say more.

    "To be honest, I¡¯m already impressed by them. It¡¯s only been, what, a couple days since they got together? But they already have officers running the fan club. They even have their own funding and a working website. They look very professional. The report they provided me shows that there are currently about 50,000 members signed up. And the numbers are increasing by the day."

    "I see. So you mean that you invited them to myunch party this Friday?"

    "Exactly. Just from the ck Stars fan club alone, they already confirmed over a thousand people who are sure to attend yourunch party. And the number is still increasing at the moment. If the number exceeds 2,000 by tomorrow, we¡¯ll have to book a bigger ce, perhaps even a concert hall or a stadium."

    Dom: "Oh my God! Boss! This is amazing!"

    Iris: "Hmm... I would like theunch party to be casual. I prefer for the audience to be seated around tables rather than the normal concert seating arrangement. I want them to enjoy some food and drinks and be able to chat with each other."

    Tang Yiyi nodded. "Alright. So no concert hall. I¡¯ll go look for a big hall then. Maybe even a convention centre. I hope that there are still some ces that are avable this Friday."

    Iris: "I¡¯ll leave it to you, Elder Sister Yiyi."

    Dom: "Sis Yiyi! So this fan club is now boss¡¯ official fan club?"

    Iris looked at Tang Yiyi, also curious.

    Tang Yiyi tapped her fingers on her desk. "Not yet. Although they¡¯ve impressed me, we¡¯ll still have to personally see how they operate before we make any final decision. I also need to contact some of the higher-ups here at Bright Summit to hear what they think about this matter. I¡¯ll have to observe how these ck Stars members are like when we meet them at theunch party."

    Both Dom and Iris nodded.

    Tang Yiyi looked at Iris and changed the subject. "I didn¡¯t book any guesting for you this week, so you can focus on rehearsing the live performances for when you promote your album. However, starting from Saturday, you¡¯ll be extremely busy every day to promote your album. You¡¯ll barely have any day off for an entire month. Prepare yourself."

    Iris: "I understand, Elder Sister Yiyi."

    Tang Yiyi: "How¡¯s the progress of the album¡¯s piano transcription?"

    Iris: "I¡¯m actually already finished, but I still need to do a lot of tweaking and polishing before I¡¯m satisfied."

    Tang Yiyi: "Good, good. It would be great if you finish it within a month, so JJ¡¯s recordbel can get everything ready and release the piano version of ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ three to six months after the release date of the original album. Maybe even earlier. This way, the interest in your album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ will be prolonged. It also looks like JJ wants to widely release the piano version internationally."

    Iris: "Yes, Mr. JJ mentioned it to me before. I also want to publish the sheet music of each of the songs andpile them into a piano book. So if people are interested, they can buy the piano book with the album. Or they can buy them separately. I need to ask Mr. JJ what he thinks."

    Tang Yiyi: "That¡¯s a great idea. Wait, are you preparing the sheet music yourself?"

    Iris: "Of course."

    Tang Yiyi: "Are you sure you can do it by yourself? Just tell me if you need any help and I¡¯ll give you some people."

    Iris: "Thanks, Elder Sister Yiyi. But I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s not a problem for me at all. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m doing the transcribing by hand, drawing the notes one by one. I have a software which automatically transcribes whatever I y on the piano. Very easy and fast."

    Tang Yiyi sighed in relief and nodded.

    They talked a bit more before Tang Yiyi dismissed Iris and Dom.

    The two left Bright Summit and headed to a music rehearsal studio. Iris needed to rehearse for her performance at her uingunch party this Friday and also for her other future live performances.

    She had her own band and a full symphony orchestra (the very same one who performed with her at "MusicFest Tonight") to apany her throughout this album¡¯s live performances.

    Iris¡¯ blood pumped with excitement. Finally, her dream of sharing her music with the masses was almost within reach.

 Chapter 94 - How Stupid

    <h4>Chapter 94 - How Stupid </h4>

    After an intense rehearsal with her band and the symphony orchestra at the music rehearsal studio, Iris and Dom climbed into a waiting van.

    A cashmere scarf was wrapped around Iris¡¯ neck to protect her throat. It felt a little sore, so Dom bought a cup of hot ginger tea from a traditional tea house nearby. The rehearsals would only be more grueling from here on. She needed to protect her vocal chords, especially after the release of her album when she needed to perform on a regr basis.

    Anticipating that she and Dom would be both extremely busy promoting her album, they hired a driver. She didn¡¯t want to exhaust Dom by making him drive them around during this uing busy period.

    And she couldn¡¯t drive herself. She knew how to drive, but it appeared that Iris Long¡¯s body still held a deep trauma when it came to driving. After all, the previous Iris Long died in a car ident while she was driving.

    She actually tried driving before when she was well enough after thea, but when she sat on the driver¡¯s seat and started the engine, her body started trembling violently and she almost fainted.

    After that, no matter how many times she tried, she couldn¡¯t seem to ovee the trauma. She thought of epting Dr. Ching¡¯s suggestion of psychological therapy but quickly rejected the idea.

    It was too dangerous.

    She was a different person who mysteriously upied Iris Long¡¯s body. At the moment, her personality change could be exined by saying that she was too traumatized after experiencing a life-and-death situation. But when faced with a psychological expert, the gap between the personalities of the old and the new Iris would be too obvious. What if she was mistakenly diagnosed with some kind of mental disorder? As a celebrity, this was far from ideal.

    It was not worth the risk.

    So what if she couldn¡¯t drive?

    She could just hire a driver. Problem solved.

    Iris and Dom sat at the backseat. The traffic was quite heavy.

    Bach¡¯s "Brandenburg Concertos" softly yed inside the van. Iris closed her eyes and rxed while listening to the ssical orchestral music.

    She heard Dom gasp loudly beside her. Her eyes opened and she turned her head to see her assistant looking at his mobile phone with a shocked expression.

    "Oh my God! Boss! Look at this!" He held the phone in front of her.

    "Turn down the music," she told the driver.

    Then she watched a shaky video of what looked like some women fighting each other. No, it was three women ganging up on one woman.

    Hm? They looked familiar.

    "Are those the rm Girls?" she asked.

    "Yes!"

    "Who¡¯s the woman they¡¯re beating up? When did this happen?"

    "ording to the uploader, it just happened earlier today. Apparently, the rm Girls were supposed to sign an endorsement deal with apany but for some reason, the endorsement deal was suddenly cancelled. The woman is said to be the unfortunate employee who informed them of the bad news. Then I guess those three b*tches couldn¡¯t ept it and just beat her up. Tsk tsk. How barbaric!"

    Iris leaned her cheek on her hand, looking at the video. "How stupid."

    "Ahahaha! I know, right? They¡¯re gonna be in big trouble this time. Hmph! They deserve it! Especially after how they treated you bossst Friday. If they weren¡¯t girls, I would¡¯ve punched their ugly, fake, stic faces already. Hmph! Just remembering the things they said to you makes me so angry. Hmph hmph!"

    "Don¡¯t think about them anymore," she told Dom before leaning back on her seat. "Turn the music back on," she instructed the driver and Bach¡¯s "Brandenburg Concertos" resumed ying inside the van softly. She closed her eyes.

    Dom continued scrolling through his phone, even participating in the online discussion. Of course, he was condemning the trio for their barbaric actions. Being Iris¡¯ assistant, he learned some easy tricks from her on how toment online anonymously without being traced. After all, if his name was dragged in the mud, her name would also be dragged alongside his because she was his boss.

    Iris let the music gently wash the fatigue away.

    She sighed softly, disappointed with the rm Girls.

    What were they doing, ruining themselves publicly like that?

    She was actually looking forward to them provoking her again, so she would gain a legitimate reason to fight with them and ultimately destroy them with her own hands. That was, of course, if they provoked her too far.

    Their provocation during "MusicFest Tonight" was nothing to her. It was like the buzzing of bees. Annoying but could be ignored. They hadn¡¯t stung her yet.

    She was waiting for them to up their game and try to sting her, so that she could finally crush them.

    But from the look of things, she wouldn¡¯t even need to lift a finger and the rm Girls would already destroy themselves.

    Where was the excitement in that?

    This was the reason of her earlier "how stupid"ment.

    It seemed like she would need to cross out Wanwan, Feifei and Mimi¡¯s names from her ck notebook sooner than she expected.

    How boring.

 Chapter 95 - Already Over

    <h4>Chapter 95 - Already Over </h4>

    The following days were like an avnche of misfortune for the rm Girls. An oppressive atmosphere surrounded them, starting from when the police dragged them from the nail polishpany to the police station to be interrogated.

    The three girls and their manager refused to respond to the police¡¯s questions, resulting in the officers feeling frustrated and having a bad impression of them. Wanwan didn¡¯t help the situation either by losing control and threatening the officers of suing them for mistreatment.

    Feifei and their manager tried to stop her, but Wanwan was just like a crazy beast who snapped at everyone. Mimi was too preupied with her nonstop wailing. As a result, the police couldn¡¯t muster any niceness or sympathy towards the girls and threw them in jail.

    Their manager pleaded with all his might with the officers but he was ignored. The three girls thought that he was the most useless and ipetent manager for not only failing to secure an endorsement deal for them but also for allowing the police to throw them behind bars. Now they hated him as much as they hated that sl*t Iris Long.

    Finally, awyer arrived sent by their talent managementpany. The three girls grabbed at him like he was their lifeline, spilling all their grievances to him. Thewyer was able to bail them out.

    However, the nail polishpany¡¯s corporatewyer also arrived not long after, bringing a horde of reporters, journalists and cameramen with him. He formally pressed charges against the rm Girls on behalf of Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary who was still being treated at the hospital. He also even sued the rm Girls¡¯ manager and their talent managementpany on behalf of the nail polishpany for false and misleading representation of their artists, deceiving Mr. Chen and the nail polishpany of almost signing such violent people as endorsers.

    In other words, the three girls, their manager, and even their talent managementpany were all pped with numerous counts of charges.

    After leaving the police station and struggling through the bloodthirsty sea of hungry reporters and journalists, they were escorted back to theirpany-issued apartment.

    As soon as they arrived, Wanwan wrecked the entire ce and roared and screeched like a deranged animal. Mimi dove to her bed and burrowed under the covers, still crying her eyes out. Feifei did her best to control her emotions and checked what people were saying about them online.

    The results were horrendous. The catfight video instantly went viral. Everyone was denouncing and cursing them. Clearly, the nail polishpany moved quickly and mobilized people to defame them and exaggerate details about the incident.

    Then someone brought up the incident with Iris Long backstage during thest episode of "MusicFest Tonight". Now everyone believed that the rm Girls really bullied Iris and even caused her to faint.

    Since Iris Long¡¯s name was dragged, the ck Stars fan club members couldn¡¯t stay silent. They quickly mobilized and joined in on the online roasting.

    CaptainckStar: "Someone exorcise these three evil spirits! First they attacked our dear Iris causing her to faint. Now they attacked a poor woman and even sent her to the hospital with injuries. Despicable!"

    iEatSlippers: "Let my mighty slippers whack them all the way to the eighteen levels of hell!"

    MrsLovePhantom: "How can such nice-looking girls act like savage beasts? I am aghast. Didn¡¯t their parents teach them proper behaviour?"

    JJNumber2Fan: "The poor girl. She got beaten up so badly. I hope she¡¯s alright."

    JJNumber3Fan: "Heavens! I only noticed that the brats pulled the poor girl¡¯s hair so hard that there are now bald patches on her head! How horrible!"

    JJNumber1Fan: "Oh no! Not the hair!"

    Momentster, banners with "Lock the rm Girls in jail" written on them in big, bold characters appeared on various popr websites. Some of them even hijacked and reced the normal ads and had to be taken down by the websites. However, they just kept on reappearing, causing a massive headache to the website administrators.

    Some sharp-eyed people noticed a small dot at the low corner of the banners. When they zoomed in, they saw that the dot was actually a simple clip art of what looked like a monkey¡¯s head.

    The incident blew up to the point that even the major TV news programs and newspapers reported about the story. Following the trend online, many of them also mentioned the alleged altercation between the rm Girls and Iris Long at "MusicFest Tonight".

    Director He of the show was even intercepted and interviewed. He admitted that the incident really happened and it was also true that Iris Long fainted because of the stress of being bullied. After his admission, the people were in uproar.

    Seeing the issue blowing up to such a degree, the nail polishpany grabbed the opportunity to finally be in the limelight and milked the drama for all its worth, condemning the rm Girls as evil and painting Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary as the pitiful victim.

    The masses clearly sided with Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary and the nail polishpany.

    The nail polishpany might have lost their nned endorsers but this incident was proving to be many times better in advertising theirpany¡¯s name.

    Of course, the rm Girls¡¯ talent managementpany wasn¡¯t happy. In fact, they were furious.

    The very next morning, they banged on the girls¡¯ apartment and unceremoniously told them that their contract with the managementpany was terminated. They were also ordered to vacate the apartment within three days.

    The three girls didn¡¯t sleep at all. They looked like zombies. Hearing that they were being kicked out, they felt that their world was ending.

    Wanwan: "What do you mean that our contract is terminated? Didn¡¯t we just renew it? And leave this ce in three days? Where are we gonna go? You can¡¯t do this to us!"

    Mimi: "We¡¯re finished we¡¯re finished we¡¯re finished we¡¯re finished we¡¯re finished...."

    Feifei: "Please, please! Don¡¯t do this to us. We¡¯ll apologize to everyone. We¡¯ll do it! We¡¯ll exin ourselves and even offer to pay for the hospital fees of Mr. Chen. Just please don¡¯t terminate our contract. Our careers will be over if you give up on us at this critical time!"

    The managementpany¡¯s representative was unsympathetic. She scanned the three girls and told them coldly, "It seems that you still don¡¯t understand your situation. Your careers are ALREADY over."

 Chapter 96 - Falling In Love Is SuChapter A Hassle

    <h4>Chapter 96 - Falling In Love Is SuChapter A Hassle </h4>

    While the rm Girls were experiencing their worst life crisis yet, Iris was busy rehearsing with her band and the symphony orchestra every day.

    Dom would update her on thetest news about the rm Girls during breaks, but she already mentally tossed them away as not worth her time and precious brain cells. For now, all she wanted was to focus on perfecting every single live performance of her songs.

    Tang Yiyi visited her one time during rehearsals.

    "Iris, I received many interview requests. They want you to talk about the ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯ incident with the rm Girls and your fainting episode. And I¡¯m guessing that they also want to hear about your opinion about what the rm Girls are going through right now. What do you think? Do you want to ept an interview? Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll choose the safe ones who won¡¯t give you a hard time."

    Iris sipped hot ginger tea from a thermos. She waved a dismissive hand, looking uninterested. Then she returned to studying the sheet music for one of her songs again, mentally rehearsing while she rested her vocal chords during this break.

    Tang Yiyi sighed and then chuckled. She felt pleased seeing how dedicated Iris was in rehearsing. Tang Yiyi thought of one word to describe Iris at the moment: "obsessed".

    It wasn¡¯t just passion, but an obsession. Iris breathed music, lived music. It was deep within her bones.

    Usually, when an artist was too much of a perfectionist, nitpicking everything to the smallest detail, the band musicians would feel disgruntled and resentful for being made to work harder over and over a part that they personally thought couldn¡¯t be improved any further without changing the style.

    This was why JJ was a nightmare to work with. He would frequently reduce people to tears with his extreme perfectionism and overbearing attitude. However, it was a fact that his perfectionism wasn¡¯t for nothing. The music he produced were almost always phenomenal. It was just that his methods were extremely difficult to take especially for the faint-hearted.

    Iris was also a perfectionist, but her approach was totally different from JJ¡¯s. She knew what she wanted, and she also knew how to achieve it. She would exin her vision in a clear, easy to understand manner. When words weren¡¯t enough, she would just grab their instruments and personally show them the way she wanted them to sound.

    Whether it were the string or the percussion instruments, she could y them all with ease, surprising and impressing the musicians. Although she couldn¡¯t y the woodwind and brass instruments, she could still patiently exin what she required of them, and how she wanted them to sound like.

    Her obvious skills, creativity, professionalism and good attitudepletely won their respect.

    The grueling rehearsals went on every day. During these days, she rarely spoke aloud to protect her vocal chords.

    As a result, Jin Liwei forced her to video chat because she refused to speak more than a couple of sentences during a regr voice call and he was unsatisfied with just texts. During their video chats, Jin Liwei spoke while she typed.

    Seeing his face on her phone¡¯s screen, Iris was surprised of how much she missed him. She still felt a bit sullen at how he treated her before he left, but she was really missing him at the moment. She wished that he woulde home sooner, and hug and kiss her.

    Iris sighed.

    "What¡¯s wrong, baby?" Jin Liwei asked in the video chat.

    "I wish you¡¯re here," she whispered, wanting to say the words in her own voice.

    He looked surprised at first before his mouth curved into a delighted smile. "Me too. I wish I didn¡¯t have to leave you. I¡¯ll be back home soon. Wait for me."

    "Okay," she returned to typing. She paused and then typed again. "Ice Cream and Popcorn miss you, too."

    He chuckled. "Tell them be good and daddy will bring them some good stuff. How about their mommy? Does their mommy miss their daddy, too?"

    She blushed. "Yes."

    "Yes what?"

    "I miss you," she whispered.

    "Miss me what?"

    "I miss you...darling."

    His eyes darkened with desire. "I miss you too, baby. So much."

    Despite the half a day time difference and jetg, Jin Liwei never failed to call Iris every single day. She knew that he was exhausted from all the business meetings, but he ignored her repeated suggestions of limiting theirmunication so that he could rest up.

    "I need to talk to you or I¡¯ll feel even more tired," he told her.

    She shut up after hearing his reason. She realized that she also felt the same way as him. Her exhaustion from the rehearsals would mysteriously melt away whenever she talked to him. She even felt oddly energized.

    She didn¡¯t understand why. She needed to search this up.

    Later, however, her search results proved uncertain. She couldn¡¯t find any concrete or verified data or evidence. Most were personal feelings and experiences from random people.

    An overwhelming majority of them imed that the mysterious feeling was called "falling in love".

    She tilted her head, thinking deeply.

    Was she falling in love with Jin Liwei?

    She didn¡¯t know.

    It was frustrating for someone like her to be unsure of anything and to not be able to find a concrete answer.

    Falling in love was such a hassle.

    Since she was still unsure, she would not recklessly conclude that she had fallen in love with Jin Liwei. She would wait until she had gathered enough data. She had no idea how she would gather these data, but she would find a way.

    Then perhaps she could finally im that she had experienced falling in love for the first time in her two lives.

    In the meantime, officially in her mind, she had not fallen in love yet.

 Chapter 97 - Fifth Brother

    <h4>Chapter 97 - Fifth Brother </h4>

    Toronto, Canada.

    The sun zed brightly above the clear blue sky. The clouds floated like giant white cotton candies.

    It was the peak of summer, the weather quite hot. Fortunately, cool breeze from the greatke would blow now and then, making the otherwise humid temperature refreshing.

    Jin Liwei and Xu Tian exited the convention centre, alongside other business leaders from all around the world. The famousndmark tower of the city cast its tall shadow over them, as they strode to their waiting cars.

    The chauffeur opened the rear door and Jin Liwei climbed inside the car. Xu Tian sat at the front passenger seat. Jin Liwei instructed the chauffeur on where to go next.

    He loosened his necktie and opened the first two buttons of his dress shirt, sighing in relief. The small, red love bites were exposed on his neck.

    The chauffeur just happened to nce at the rear-view mirror and saw the hickeys on his boss¡¯ neck.

    "What happened?!" Jin Liwei barked when the car suddenly braked, but then smoothly resumed driving like nothing happened. Thank goodness for seat belts.

    The poor chauffeur coughed. "Pardon, sir. I thought there was a squirrel crossing the road. Must be my imagination."

    Ah, how dangerous. The chauffeur cautiously nced at the rear-view mirror again. The ring red marks on his boss¡¯ neck proved that the hickeys weren¡¯t just figments of his imagination. What the hell? Did this mean that the boss finally found a lover? But the most important question: was it a woman...or a man? The chauffeur mentally hit himself on the head. He needed to focus on driving or else they would really crash. Besides, his boss¡¯ love life was none of his business.

    Xu Tian saw everything. His mouth twitched. He could guess what the poor chauffeur was thinking. As a matter of fact, he was also shocked when he first saw the hickeys but he was not as surprised as the chauffeur because he already knew beforehand about the boss and Miss Long¡¯s rtionship.

    Jin Liwei frowned but didn¡¯t say anything.

    He fished out his phone. His wallpaper was a photo of him and Iris holding their two tiny kittens. His baby girl looked so beautiful with her enchanting smile. As for him, although he wore his usual cold expression, his eyes looked somewhat gentle. His arm wrapped possessively around Iris. Ice Cream stared at the camera looking like everyone in the world was beneath her, while her brother Popcorn lookedical with his little paws up in the air, mouth and eyes wide open, his little pink tongue out, as ifughing like a hooligan.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth curved into a slight smile, pleased with their family picture.

    He was tempted to call Iris, but looking at the time, he could only wait untilter. She should be in deep sleep now.

    Based on Dominic¡¯s daily reports, his baby girl worked extremely hard every day. Her assistant also sent him regr snapshots and even short videos of her during rehearsals. Jin Liwei was shocked to discover that she was skilled in many different instruments besides the piano.

    She was only bing more and more mysterious the longer he knew her.

    He was missing her so badly. So much. It almost drove him crazy that he couldn¡¯t see her in person for an entire workday week. He wanted to return to her as soon as possible, and hug her and kiss her...and finally to make love with her.

    He was starting to feel aroused just thinking about her. He took a deep breath and recited the value of pi in his mind, attempting to control himself.

    After reaching a couple hundred of digits, he finally calmed down.

    Aside from Dominic¡¯s daily reports, he also received a few photos and videos from his Fourth Brother, Yu Mo. Iris and Yu Mo saw each other on Monday and Tuesday for their Systema sses.

    Jin Liwei watched her nimble movements during sparring. He had to agree with his Fourth Brother that Iris was talented in Systema. She looked very natural and fluid. She almost looked like she was dancing.

    He had to recite the value of pi again because his body couldn¡¯t help but react thinking about her.

    Finally, they reached their destination. The car drove in front of the main entrance of a high-rise condominium. The modern, ss building stood tall, overlooking the greatke. It had a magnificent view of the yachts and sailboats cruising leisurely over the waters. Ferries transported tourists from the city harbour to the inds, and then back again.

    The chauffeur opened the rear door and Jin Liwei climbed out of the car. Jin Liwei entered the building by himself. After speaking to the inte, the sliding ss door opened.

    A private elevator took him to a penthouse unit. Immediately upon entering the unit, he heard Tchaikovsky¡¯s "Swan Lake" gently ying in the background. Nice speakers. Very clean and crisp. He would askter which brand they were.

    He walked to the modern, minimalist style living area. Everything was white and grey. The view of the greatke outside was spectacr. It almost didn¡¯t look like a bustling city at all.

    "Third Brother?" a male voice called out. "I¡¯m at my office."

    Jin Liwei headed to the office and saw a roguish man with a mischievous smile reclining on a chaise longue, a book in his hand.

    "Fifth Brother, good to see you alive and well," Jin Liwei greeted his friend.

 Chapter 98 - Russian Ladies Are Ho

    <h4>Chapter 98 - Russian Ladies Are Ho </h4>

    "Third Brother, good to see you too," Lu Zihao greeted back. He carefully stood up from his reclining position.

    Jin Liwei gently gave his youngest best friend a man hug. "How are you? I heard your injuries healed nicely."

    "Yes. I¡¯m now fully recovered but my doctor is too cautious. Tsk tsk. Once I get her approval, I¡¯ll immediately fly back home to China to see our other brothers."

    Jin Liwei nodded, patting his friend¡¯s shoulder.

    The two men sat in front of each other. Lu Zihao sat back on the chaise longue while Jin Liwei sat on an armchair.

    "You scared all of us when we heard that you wereatose. Good thing you woke up after a week. Grandfather Lu told everyone that you broke your neck from jumping off a snowy mountain. He called you the most stupid grandson in history."

    Lu Zihao chuckled. "I didn¡¯t break my neck but close enough. I was paralyzed, but look at me now. Aren¡¯t I just fine? You¡¯re all worrying too much."

    "You¡¯re too reckless."

    "You sound like the old man."

    "Grandfather Lu is just worried about you."

    Lu Zihao sighed. "I know. But he didn¡¯t have to burn all my ski equipment. He also used his influence to make my favourite ski resorts all around the world to ban me. Who does that?"

    "He did the right thing. If I was your grandfather, I would¡¯ve done the same thing."

    Lu Zihao burst into loudughter. His handsome, rakish face was hard to get angry at.

    Jin Liwei noticed the book that his Fifth brother was reading before he came. His brow knitted. "What¡¯s that book? It¡¯s not Chinese or English. It looks...Russian?"

    He didn¡¯t notice Lu Zihao stiffening for half a second. All he saw was his Fifth Brother¡¯s usual mischievous smile.

    "Yeah, it is. Good eye, Third Brother." He held the book up.

    Jin Liwei frowned. He recognized it. It was the same book that Iris was reading when they met for the first time at the hotel lobby. However, his Fifth Brother¡¯s book was a hardcover while his baby girl¡¯s was paperback. "When did you learn Russian?"

    "Oh, here and there when I had some free time." Lu Zihao shrugged. His lips curved into a devil-may-care smile.

    "Why?"

    "To pick up some Russiandies, of course! Russiandies are hot, don¡¯t you know?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes contracted, his eyes narrowing. This was like d¨¦j¨¤ vu.

    "Hm? Third Brother, what¡¯s wrong?"

    "Nothing. You just reminded me of my girlfriend."

    "Ohohoho. So now you¡¯re finally telling me. I¡¯ve been waiting for you to share it with me ever since I heard from Fourth Brother that you finally got yourself a woman. It¡¯s been a long timeing. To be honest, we¡¯ve all been worrying about you."

    "Fourth Brother is too much of a bbermouth." Jin Liwei felt irritated for having his thunder stolen. He already told their other brothers that he wanted to personally tell Lu Zihao about Iris.

    Lu Zihao chuckled. He stood up. "Cognac or whiskey? Or maybe something else?"

    "Cognac is fine."

    "Got it." Lu Zihao walked over to the small bar at the corner. He pulled a bottle of cognac and two snifters. He returned to his seat and poured for both of them.

    The two brothers enjoyed their drinks while listening to Tchaikovsky¡¯s "Path¨¦tique".

    Jin Liwei had a weird feeling with the atmosphere. It strongly reminded him of Iris. He looked at his Fifth Brother. He was still the same carefree guy, but there was something a little off about him. It was not too noticeable, but Lu Zihao seemed more intense than usual.

    Before, Lu Zihao was someone who wore his feelings on his sleeve. But now, it felt more like his usualid-back attitude was just a fa?ade, his real thoughts and feelings hidden within an endless, dark abyss. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t read this brother clearly anymore.

    Jin Liwei felt ufortable with the direction of his thoughts. What was he thinking? How could he doubt his own best friend, his brother? His Fifth Brother just survived from an otherwise deadly ident. If it weren¡¯t for the quick response of the emergency workers, his Fifth Brother would probably now be dead.

    Perhaps people who brushed closely with death all experienced some sort of change in personality, like Iris and Lu Zihao. However, it looked like his Fifth Brother¡¯s changes weren¡¯t as apparentpared to his baby girl.

    Yes, this must be the reason. Jin Liwei nodded to himself.

    "Third Brother, tell me about your girlfriend. What is she like? Fourth Brother is gushing nonstop about her, saying how she¡¯s such a beauty. The way he¡¯s praising her like she¡¯s the most perfect woman in the world made me so curious."

    Jin Liwei snapped out of his musing. "Her name is Long Xin. She¡¯s beautiful and I¡¯m going to marry her."

    "Hooo?" Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow. "Marry? You¡¯re engaged already? So fast?"

    "No. I haven¡¯t proposed to her yet. I don¡¯t want her running away for the hills. I¡¯m still letting her get used to me. Then I¡¯ll make her my wife. She won¡¯t be able to escape from me so easily then."

    "Wow. I¡¯m surprised that she¡¯s not jumping in a hurry to be your wife. So many women are vying for the position of Mrs. Jin Liwei. You¡¯re even telling me that she might run away if you propose too early? I almost can¡¯t believe what I¡¯m hearing."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth curved into a soft smile. "She¡¯s different."

    "By the way, why did you say that I remind you of your girlfriend earlier?"

    Jin Liwei exined about how he met Iris, how she was reading the same Russian book and said the exact same thing as Lu Zihao.

    "Hmmm...interesting..." Lu Zihao rubbed his chin. Something unreadable shed in his dark eyes, before reverting to his usual happy-go-lucky self. "Now I can¡¯t wait to meet her in person."

    "She¡¯s mine." Jin Liwei frowned, his tone frosty.

    Lu Zihaoughed out loud, clutching at his abdomen. "Of course she is. Only someone stupid with a death wish would snatch Jin Liwei¡¯s woman."

    Jin Liwei nodded, pleased to hear Iris being referred as his woman. Indeed, she was his woman and he would kill anyone who dare steal her away from him. Anyone who dare steal his wife and the mother of his children deserved to die a horrible death.

 Chapter 99 - LaunChapter Party

    <h4>Chapter 99 - LaunChapter Party </h4>

    Friday.

    "Rebirth" album release date.

    Tang Yiyi ended up booking a convention centre outside the city because it was the only ce avable at such short notice. All the other ces she inquired at were fully-booked.

    It was quite far and big for an event called a "party", so she was at first worried that nobody woulde. However, she was assured after talking with the ck Stars fan club. Just the people from this fan club alone who confirmed that they would attend theunch party were enough to fill the convention centre nicely without Iris and her team losing face.

    In addition to the fan club, there were also quite a lot of individuals who unofficially confirmed their attendance via the online invites posted by JJ¡¯s recordbel on its website and social media ounts.

    At the convention centre.

    Inside near the entrance, Iris Long¡¯s "Rebirth" album in several formats were disyed at a pop-up shop. There were also posters and other limited-edition "Rebirth" merchandise avable only at thisunch party for sale. Several cashier counters were already set up at the venue for convenience.

    The guests had the option to immediately purchase the album and the other avable merchandise at the pop-up shop upon being admitted inside. In fact, the majority of them did so, while the others wanted to explore the ce first and to im the best seats near the stage. They were assured by the on-site staff that the shop would be open all throughout theunch party.

    When the doors closed just a few minutes before theunch party¡¯s scheduled start time, the attendance exceeded 5,000 guests. This number was above JJ¡¯s recordbel¡¯s original estimates.

    This was no longer just a mereunch party. It was more like a concert, although an informal one at that.

    The on-site representative from JJ¡¯s recordbel was very pleased, immediately reporting the numbers to JJ himself on the phone.

    "I knew the brat can do it," JJ replied on the phone. "Do you think that a famous and award-winning music producer like myself will sign an untalented artist with no potential under my recordbel? Hah! I only work with the best! Make sure that there are enough albums and merchandise avable for sale there. You have my authority to order an additional expedited shipment if needed."

    "I was just going to ask about that, Mr. JJ," the representative said. "I understand. I will immediately make an additional order because they¡¯re selling out fast. Some people are buying more than one copy of each item. Hopefully, the shipment arrives before the party ends."

    "Hmph! Tell them that they better deliver the items on time or they¡¯ll face my wrath."

    "Understood, Mr. JJ."

    After bidding goodbye to his boss, the representative hung up the phone. Then he made another phone call to order an additional shipment of the album and merchandise.

    He had a great feeling about this album. He didn¡¯t want to jinx anything, but he had a feeling that it would make some sort of history in the music industry.

    A handful of reporters were also invited by Bright Summit and were given a media badge upon entering. Most of them were very young, only starting out in their careers. With this alone, it could be seen that the media didn¡¯t really put any importance in thisunch party, especially since it was held in such a faraway ce from the city. They only sent their most minor staff as a courtesy to Bright Summit.

    In the venue.

    Following Iris¡¯ preference, the seating arrangement was rather informal. It looked more like a restaurant bar with tables of different sizes. There were catering tables along the walls with simple buffet of refreshments. Nothing too grand or heavy on the stomach, but enough to whet the appetite. No alcoholic drinks.

    The guests already seated themselves. After saving their spots, many of them headed to the catering tables to grab some snacks and drinks.

    Everything was very casual. Although there were a lot people present, the open and rxed atmosphere made themfortable enough to start chatting, even if they didn¡¯t know each other before meeting at that moment.

    Momentster, the emcee informed the guests that theunch party would be officially starting shortly.

    They returned to their tables carrying tes filled with various snacks and drinks.

    The lights dimmed. A hush fell over the crowd. The big screens hanging from strategic parts of the ceiling yed the now viral video that Iris Long posted on her empty social media ounts to announce hereback.

    Everyone cheered.

    After the video, the emcee invited the representative from JJ¡¯s recordbel on-stage. The representative made a short speech. Next was another speech by a representative from Bright Summit Entertainment Company.

    The formal speeches done, the big screens yed a series of videos. They were select "making of" and "behind the scenes" footage during the album production. The full videos were avable in the DVD and Blu-ray formats of the album.

    They watched, impressed, as Iris argued with the legendary JJ without any fear. She held her own.

    "Listen, Iris Long! I¡¯m an award-winning music producer. I¡¯m always right when ites to music! I say we should change this part of the song to a faster tempo, so we should do it!"

    "No, Mr. JJ. You¡¯re wrong. That¡¯s so stupid. Are you nning to make this into a disco song?"

    "What did you say, you brat?!"

    The guests chattered as they watched, their hands constantly shoving food into their mouths.

    "So it¡¯s really true that Iris fought with JJ."

    "When did she say that she fought with Mr. JJ?"

    "Aiyaya! You didn¡¯t watch DJ Song¡¯s radio show when Iris guestedst Saturday? Hai. You missed out on something amazing!"

    "What? Really? Dammit! I had work that day! Can I still watch it?"

    "Yeah. The video is still up online. Here, I¡¯ll send you the link."

    At a nearby table, a small, young woman giggled. She nced at the man sitting beside her. The others at their table followed suit, looking at the man.

    "Bro, now it¡¯s proven that Iris really did fight with Mr. JJ," she said.

    Being looked at by so many, he gave a sheepish smile. He rummaged inside his backpack, finally taking out a new, clean slipper and then chewing on it.

    "Ahahaha! Bro, you¡¯re a real man!" the small, young woman eximed, taking photos of the man chewing on a slipper with her phone.

    The othersughed together.

 Chapter 100 - Her Star

    <h4>Chapter 100 - Her Star </h4>

    This particr tableprised of widely assorted individuals that, at first nce, didn¡¯t look like they would match each other. However, from the look of things, they got along pretty well. The camaraderie between them was very natural. They didn¡¯t look awkward at all.

    The giggling young woman taking photos with her phone looked like a teenager, but in fact she was the same age as Iris Long, a university student.

    Beside her was the man posing for her while chewing on a slipper he brought just for this event. He was a thin, grumpy-looking man who appeared to be in histe twenties.

    Laughing at the young people¡¯s antics were four posh middle-ageddies wearing stylish dresses and eye-popping jewelry. If Iris could see them now, she would recognize them as the widow and her three friends who she met back then after performing "Phantom of Your Love" live for the first time at the hotel restaurant.

    At the corner was a lone figure quietly eating and drinking. If one looked past his pallor and exhausted, listless eyes, he was actually quite good-looking. However, he had an unapproachable, bored vibe emanating from him. The others would ask for his opinion from time to time, but he would only give brief replies and resume minding his own business. Despite this, he still lookedfortable with this odd group.

    The series of video footage finished ying on the screens. The emcee chattered a bit, hyping the guests as much as he could.

    Finally, the red curtains on the stage opened, revealing a full symphony orchestra at the very back. In front of them to the sides was a four-part band of acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums. Off to the corner near the front of the stage were two backup singers, one female and one male.

    At the centre of the stage closest to the audience was a ck, shiny grand piano. It was currently empty, but just seeing the piano was enough to make everyone cheer in anticipation, knowing who was going to y it soon.

    Emcee: "I¡¯m sure that you can¡¯t wait anymore¨D"

    "Yeah! We can¡¯t wait anymore!"

    "Stop talking already!"

    "Hurry up and announce our fairy goddess Iris!"

    "We want to see her!"

    The emcee coughed and thenughed off all the curses being flung at him. "Alright. I¡¯ll stop talking now and get on with the show. I know that most of you have travelled quite far just to reach here today. Thank you foring. We really appreciate that you took the time and effort to attend today¡¯sunch party to celebrate the release of Iris Long¡¯seback album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯. I heard that some of you even came as far away as¨D"

    "What the fudge are you still talking for?!"

    "You just said that you¡¯ll stop talking yet you¡¯re still yapping!"

    "Stop talking already & hurry up!"

    "I want more osmanthus cake! The buffet table just ran out!"

    "Yeah! And more ck sesame rolls too!"

    "Hey, look! Someone¡¯s restocking the tables."

    "Yay! Let¡¯s go get some more food before they run out again!"

    "Who cares about the food?! I want Iris! I love you, Iris!"

    "Please marry me, Iris!"

    "You¡¯re killing us, emcee. We want Iris!"

    "IRIS! IRIS! IRIS!"

    Everyone started chanting her name, calling for her toe out.

    Emcee: "Okay, okay. I get it already. Calm down, everyone, and let me do my job."

    It took an additional couple of minutes for him to cate everyone. Finally, the audience settled down, their expressions strict, looking pointedly at the emcee, daring him to continue dilly-dallying.

    Of course, the emcee knew that enough was enough. Any more nonsense from him and the people might murder him. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, putting on his very best professional smile.

    Emcee: "Ladies and gentlemen! Without further ado, please give a warm wee to the one and only, the beautiful and talented pianist, vocalist andposer with the voice of an angel, our fairy goddess who descended from the ins of the immortals to grace us with her¨D"

    "F*ck this! Come,rades. Let¡¯s kill this man!"

    "Let¡¯s go!"

    "Mr. Emcee, you wanna die?!"

    "IRIS! IRIS! IRIS!"

    The representatives from both JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit shared the same desire as everyone else to strangle the emcee, especially after seeing the audience bing more and more unruly. They were about to call security to control the situation, and then drag the over-talkative emcee from the stage to p some sense back into him.

    However, they didn¡¯t need to because...

    A graceful woman in a sophisticated, sharp yet feminine white tuxedo suit suddenly appeared and walked elegantly to the stage. She looked tall in closed-toe silver high heels. Her long, ck hair was swept to one side in vintage waves. Bold, red lips and ck liner drawn into sharp cat eyes made her look like a femme fatale.

    Gasp!

    Hush immediately fell among the people, their eyes following the movements of the beautiful young woman. They couldn¡¯t tear their gazes away. It was as if she was the only existence in the world for them at that very moment.

    So beautiful that she should be illegal.

    Even the females felt themselves bending the other way upon seeing this kind of beauty.

    The emcee was so mesmerized by the beautiful woman walking towards him that he dropped the mic in his hand, causing a loud boom. However, everyone else was in the same mesmerized state that the loudness failed to register in their consciousness.

    Iris Long stopped in front of the emcee.

    He was frozen, mouth and eyes wide open, staring at her like an idiot.

    She smoothly bent her knees in an almost curtsy-like movement, and then picked up the mic from the floor. She stood straight back up in an equally smooth movement.

    She scanned the people all looking at her. Tang Yiyi told her back in the dressing room that the attendance exceeded 5,000. She understood how much this number was, but seeing all of the people in front of her was apletely different experience.

    5,000 wasn¡¯t just a number. They were real people who came to meet her, to listen to her music.

    Her blood sang, excitement bubbling from deep within her.

    This was it. This was the start. Her start.

    Lifting the mic, she finally spoke.

    "Hello, everyone," her lovely voice filled the entire the ce. "I am Iris Long."

 Chapter 101 - Masked Women

    <h4>Chapter 101 - Masked Women </h4>

    Silence.

    One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

    "Wee to myunch party," Iris spoke once again, not minding the zero response from the audience. "Thank you everyone foring here today to help me celebrate the release of my album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯."

    Silence.

    Iris lowered the mic, swept her eyes across everyone, and then smiled.

    Her blinding smile finally woke everyone up from their daze.

    "I-it¡¯s Iris...oh my god...It¡¯s really Iris!"

    "Iris, you¡¯re so beautiful!"

    "Wow. Just wow! I...wow! She¡¯s so...wow! Wow!"

    "How can someone be so beautiful? This is impossible."

    "Yes. She looks even more beautiful in person."

    "Wuwuwu. I can die happily now without any regrets. Wuwu..."

    "I love you, Iris!"

    They were screaming and cheering and whistling. The more extreme ones were crying, while some were still staring at Iris as if they couldn¡¯t believe that she was real. The majority of them were pping, praising her unexpectedly strong presence.

    "I¡¯m your number one fan, Iris!"

    "Hey! I¡¯m her number one fan!"

    "Dream on! This young master is her number one fan! Marry me, Iris Long! This young master will give you everything you want and take care of you for the rest of your life!"

    "Hah! You want me to whack you all with my mighty slippers? I¡¯m Iris¡¯ number one fan!"

    Thisment caused some good-natured booing from those who heard it.

    "What did you say? Is it just me or am I hearing things?"

    "Are you nuts? YOU¡¯RE her number one fan? Don¡¯t think that we¡¯ve forgotten how you criticized Iris online before!"

    "Yeah! I have screenshots of your earlier negativements! I have evidence! Let¡¯s see if you can still deny!"

    "Hey! What negativements?! Those are constructive criticisms, you know! My mighty slippers have always been used to fight for Iris! So I¡¯m her number one fan, okay?!"

    "Constructive criticism, my a**! Try iming to be her number one fan again and this uncle will fight you! Come at me!"

    This banter made the surrounding peopleugh. They were finally fully awake from their earlier stupor. Feeling rxed, they continued to tease the thin, grumpy-looking man.

    With her great ears, Iris heard most of the shout-outs.

    "Thank you everyone," Iris spoke to the mic again, eliciting another wave of loud apuse.

    She handed the mic to the emcee who was still staring at her like an idiot. She raised an eyebrow at him.

    The emcee finally regained some of his senses. "Oh!" He hurriedly received the mic from her, holding it like it was the most precious treasure in the world.

    His actions caused Iris to giggle.

    Hearing herughing at him, he blushed like a teenage boy meeting his long-time crush. "Uhm, haha. Thanks, Iris. I mean, Miss Long! Thank you very much, Miss Iris Long."

    "I think it¡¯s time to start the performance." Her light, lovelyugh was like music to his ears. "Our guests have waited long enough."

    "I...yes, yes! Of course! Right away, Iris. I mean, Miss Long!"

    Pause.

    Iris raised both of her eyebrows at him, silently reminding him that he was supposed to be the one to make the announcement for the performance.

    "Oh!" An awkwardugh.

    He had to take several deep breaths to calm his racing heart. Damn, he had never seen such a gorgeous woman up close and personal before. Was Iris Long this beautiful before? He didn¡¯t notice. He knew that the pop singer was pretty, but meeting her in person at this moment felt like all his breath was sucked away from his lungs. He even had the urge to prostrate on the ground and dere eternal loyalty and servitude to her.

    Her presence was that strong and maic!

    It was apletely different experience than just watching her on the screen.

    He shook his head, feeling ridiculous. Right, he had a job to do.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, the time hase! Please give it up for the one and only...Iris Long!!!"

    Deafening apuse!

    Iris waved at the 5,000 audience before walking to the piano. She was about to sit down when...

    "Go to hell, you evil b*tch!" A shrill, angry yell was heard.

    Then a masked woman ran forward and then jumped onstage like a crazed beast.

    "Everything is your fault! We hate you, Iris Long!" Another shriller voice yelled.

    A second masked woman threw raw eggs onstage, trying to hit Iris but Iris nimbly dodged. The eggs hit the emcee and two of the guitarists instead. The other musicians quickly backed away, trying to dodge the raining eggs.

    Meanwhile, a third masked woman threw an opened stic bottle filled with what looked like yellow water. The poor emcee was slow to dodge and was yet hit again.

    "F*ck! Is this urine?!" He sniffed at his dripping clothes and immediately gagged.

    Everyone was too shocked, watching the unbelievable scene ying in front of them. What in the world was happening? Just a few seconds ago, they were waiting and cheering in anticipation for Iris¡¯ performance. But suddenly...

    They were too slow to process what was happening, so they couldn¡¯t react in time.

    It was only when they saw the next actions of the first masked woman that they were jolted out of their shock.

    "Die, Iris Long! Die die die! I¡¯m gonna kill you, you sl*t!" The first masked woman grabbed the mic stand by the piano and chased after Iris, intending to violently hit her.

    The second masked woman ran out of eggs, so she too jumped onstage and chased after Iris.

    The drummer and the male backup singer immediately ran forward to try to stop the two crazy women. However, they were still a little too slow to react.

    "Security! Where¡¯s the security?!" The representative from JJ¡¯s recordbel frantically looked around, shouting.

    "Hurry up! Save Iris!" The representative from Bright Summit saw some of the security officers running all the way from the back. "What are you doing?! Why are you so far away?!"

    Tang Yiyi and Dom hurried from backstage after hearing the mour.

    "Boss!" Dom immediately ran to Iris upon seeing her about to be attacked.

    Chaos.

    Everything was in utter chaos.

    Many people screamed in fright when they saw the two masked women sessfully corner Iris.

    "No!" Tang Yiyi¡¯s heart felt like it dropped to the ground.

    The drummer reached them first, but was pushed back when the first masked woman swung the mic stand at him. He tried to dodge, but the crazy woman kept on swinging until she hit him hard on the crotch. He buckled and dropped to his knees.

    Seeing the drummer hit so horribly, the backup singer became wary and didn¡¯t immediately enter the fray, especially after the second woman grabbed her own mic stand belonging to the backup singers.

    "Boss!"

    "Iris, be careful!" Tang Yiyi shouted, scared to death.

    The second masked woman swung the mic stand towards Iris.

 Chapter 102 - How Dare They Hurt My People?

    <h4>Chapter 102 - How Dare They Hurt My People? </h4>

    People screamed. Some covered their eyes.

    "Die die die, you wh*re! How dare you destroy our lives?! We worked so hard! So hard! Why did you have toe back and sabotage us?! We¡¯re finished because of you, you f*cking sl*t!"

    "If we¡¯re going down, we¡¯re going to drag you with us!"

    "F*ck you! Burn in hell, you evil b*tch!"

    Iris already recognized the masked figures from their voices. She didn¡¯t expect these stupid girls to be so stupid as to attack her in a public setting. Weren¡¯t they just digging their own graves deeper?

    What a hassle, dealing with brainless idiots like these girls.

    Iris looked at the mess on the stage, the poor emcee dripping with both raw eggs and urine, the drummer hurting on the floor, and the backup singer trying to stop and dodge the other masked woman¡¯s attack.

    The third masked woman was surrounded by security personnel and some audience members down the stage. However, she was struggling with all her might, hitting and kicking, even scratching and biting. She already hurt quite a few people just by herself.

    So these girls had already given up in life, deciding instead to drag other people down who didn¡¯t even do anything to them. Just because things weren¡¯t going well in their lives, they would harm others including the innocent without hesitation.

    This kind of people, Iris hated the most.

    How dare they?

    Her eyes turned cold.

    Just when the mic stand was about to hit her, Iris¡¯ left hand caught it, pulling downwards as her body smoothly sidestepped, and then her right hand whipped and flicked, hitting the masked woman in several points in the body. Her movements were too quick for the people watching to catch all the details.

    The masked woman groaned in pain, releasing the mic stand. Iris tossed the mic stand far away. She didn¡¯t need a weapon to deal with a stupid girl.

    "Damn you, Iris! I¡¯ll kill you!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned even colder.

    She initially nned on quickly knocking the stupid girl unconscious, but scratch that. No mercy for these stupid, dumb, evil girls.

    How dare they interrupt her performance, try to destroy herunch party, and even hurt her people?

    Unforgivable.

    Her left arm locked around the stupid girl¡¯s head and then struck three times with her right hand. The headlock transitioned into a violent hair-pull downwards, as Iris¡¯ leg kicked the girl¡¯s shin, sessfully knocking the girl to the floor.

    The mask fell off, revealing Mimi. Tears, snot and a trace of blood were all mixed on her face. Bruises were already starting to form.

    "I hate you, Iris Long!" Mimi screamed.

    "I noticed." Iris stepped on Mimi¡¯s back while pulling on her hair upwards, locking Mimi in ce.

    Mimi tried to get up, but Iris was like an immovable mountain on top of her. The b*tch¡¯s high-heeled shoe ground painfully on her back, and she could feel some of her hair being wrenched out of her scalp. Not her hair!

    "I¡¯m gonna kill you, you evil b*tch!"

    "You don¡¯t have the ability."

    "Boss, watch out!"

    Iris wanted to hit Mimi more, but upon hearing Dom¡¯s warning, she decisively knocked the girl unconscious before jumping back to avoid another mic stand being swung at her.

    "Die die die!" Wanwan¡¯s mask also fell off some time ago, revealing crazed eyes filled with hatred. "Everything is your fault, you sl*t!"

    Dom and a security personnel were trying drag Wanwan back. Her blouse was already torn from all the pulling, but the crazy woman didn¡¯t care, still struggling and finally breaking free to jump on Iris.

    The backup singer looked like he suffered the same fate as the drummer, holding his crotch in pain.

    Iris dodged. She quickly nced behind Wanwan and saw blood trailing down Dom¡¯s mouth.

    Her vision turned red, an uncontroble loud hiss escaping from her lips.

    How dare this woman? How dare this woman make Dominic bleed?

    Wanwan stopped for a couple of seconds, instinctively sensing the change in Iris. However, her hatred for the b*tch overwhelmed her. She ignored her instincts¡¯ warning, once again charging forward.

    However, she suddenly cked out. She didn¡¯t even know what hit her. She regained consciousness a few secondster only to find herself lying on her back, Iris astride on top of her, raining strikes on her face.

    "Boss! Boss! Stop, please! That¡¯s enough!" Dom hugged Iris from behind, trying to pull his boss away but he couldn¡¯t. It felt like his boss was glued in ce.

    "No. This woman hurt you. She hurt my people."

    Dom froze. Then his eyes watered. So her boss went crazy because he was hurt. Boo hoo hoo! Where in the world could someone find a boss as awesome as Iris Long? What was he doing, trying to stop his boss? He was her assistant! Wasn¡¯t his job to support her in everything she wanted to do? He quickly made his decision.

    He released his boss and stood up. "That¡¯s right, boss! That ugly, evil b*tch hurt me! It¡¯s so painful. My handsome face is damaged because of her! Boss, avenge me! Yeah! Hit harder! If you¡¯re tired, just say so. We¡¯ll take turns. Go boss!"

    Dom started cheering, waving his imaginary pompoms. "Let¡¯s get fired up! Get rough, get tough, get mean! Let¡¯s get fired up and roll right over that ugly b*tch! My boss is ready! My boss is smooth! My boss will take control and stomp all over you! Hooray! Hooray!"

    "Iris, Iris! Please that¡¯s enough! Iris, please stop!" Tang Yiyi was finally able toe near. She tried pulling Iris off the now unconscious girl, but how could she? She turned. "Dominic Chua, help me!"

    But Dom was too busy cheering, busting his cheerleader moves. "My boss is number one! Never number two! And she¡¯s going to beat the crap out of you! Go boss! Go boss! L-O-V-E Iris Long! B-O-S-S that¡¯s my boss!"

    Tang Yiyi wanted to smack Dominic, but she had no time. She had to control the rampaging Iris. The reporters present were already filming the entire affair.

    She turned to the security personnel. "What are you doing? Help me get her off! And someone shut up that cheering idiot!"

    The security and some of the unharmed musicians stepped forward, trying to pull Iris off the unconscious Wanwan, asking her to stop. However, she was like a robot who never stopped her systematic hitting.

    "She hurt my people. Unforgivable. No mercy for hurting my people," they could hear her mumbling under her breath.

    "Your hands! Iris, please stop or you¡¯ll injure your hands!" Tang Yiyi cried.

    Mr. JJ already told her to treat Iris¡¯ hands like national treasures. What were they going to do if Iris injured her hands, making her unable to y the piano or other instruments?

    "You b*tch! How dare you hurt Leader Wanwan and Mimi?!"

    Iris suddenly stopped. Her head turned to Feifei who was being pulled by several security personnel and audience members down the stage.

    Slowly, Iris stood up and stepped off Wanwan.

    "How dare I?"

 Chapter 103 - Boss

    <h4>Chapter 103 - Boss </h4>

    Iris¡¯ voice was just a whisper, but it was enough to make those who heard her break into cold sweat. Her eyes and tone chilled the people, making them shudder.

    "How dare I?" she repeated, her tone evoking an image of frozen hell. "How dare YOU?"

    She tossed Feifei¡¯s words back at her.

    Iris raised her hands in front of her, examining them with her frighteningly cold eyes, checking whether they had been injured or not. Aside from some redness, fortunately, they weren¡¯t seriously hurt.

    She was well-trained in Systema. She wasn¡¯t passionate about it, but she acknowledged its benefits. She trained in other martial arts as well in her previous life, but she felt the mostfortable with Systema. It just felt natural to her. That was why she continued to train in it in this second life of hers.

    Her fighting style was self-defensive, focusing more on creating opportunities for escape. Thus, she was trained to fight while avoiding serious injuries.

    In her previous life, her bodyguards and servants were all trained assassins. She saw no need to train in a more aggressive style when there were so many people protecting her. If it was up to her, she wouldn¡¯t really want to train in any martial arts at all. However, her family dictated that she should, so she had to.

    Choice was an alien concept for the previous her.

    Although she was well-trained in Systema, she had never really applied it in real-lifebat except during sparring sessions. This was the first time in her two lives that she ever fought, not only because she had to defend herself, but also because she wanted to hurt other people.

    As ady, she could never hope to overpower a person physically stronger or more skilled than her using just her bare hands, but if it were only these three stupid girls, beating them was nothing but child¡¯s y to her.

    This was the first time that she ever physically punished another human being, or in this case, three stupid girls, for pissing her off.

    After all, her usual modus operandi was destruction through hacking.

    She had to take a few moments to try controlling the cold fury frompletely engulfing her, or else she would¡¯ve already beaten the lives out of the three stupid girls. Although they pissed her off, they didn¡¯t do anything to warrant death. And she didn¡¯t want to be a murderer either.

    So Iris continued to examine her hands with a cold expression, as she inwardly fought against her bloodthirst.

    Looking at her, everyone thought that she felt bored after beating up people, so she was checking the state of her manicure.

    Iris gently massaged her hands. Although they weren¡¯t injured, they still felt sore and tender from all the hitting.

    To those watching her, however, she looked like she was cracking her knuckles, preparing for another rampage.

    With her pristine white suit, barely out of ce hair and still immacte make-up, to everyone¡¯s eyes, she looked like a bad-ass gangsterdy boss.

    "S-so cool," a fanmented.

    "Yeah. Wow...she¡¯s just so...wow...Did she really just...wow..."

    "Iris, I don¡¯t mind that we¡¯re both girls! I want to bear your babies! I love you so much!"

    "Move aside! Mydy Iris, this young master begs your hand in marriage! This young master will give you the world! If you want to beat up people, this young master will find people for you to beat up! No problem!"

    "Hey! What nonsense are you punks spouting?! You want a taste of my mighty slippers?! Come here and I¡¯ll whack you! How dare you propose to Iris...no, to boss! Yes, she¡¯s our BOSS! You think nobodies like you are good enough for someone as amazing as the boss?!"

    "Boss!"

    "Boss, please ept me as your disciple!"

    "Me too, boss!"

    "As if the boss will take pussies like you as her disciples. Boss, this uncle is willing to be your subordinate! I will follow you wherever you go, even to the gates of hell!"

    "Boss, I¡¯m willing to be your punching bag!"

    "Me too, boss! Beat me up all you want. I offer you my body!"

    Just like that, everyone started calling Iris "boss". The ck Stars fan club would change the way they referred to Iris. From that moment on, Iris Long was known as the "Boss" to her fans.

    Dom stopped cheering when he heard what the people were calling his boss. He was angered. "Anak ng putakti! [1] What did you just call MY BOSS?! Find your own boss! Don¡¯t even think about stealing my boss!"

    "Isn¡¯t it good that everyone is calling Miss Iris boss?" a violinist spoke beside Dom. "It means that they¡¯ve acknowledged her and that they see her as a strong leader. Isn¡¯t that good?"

    Dom paused, his brows scrunching together, thinking. Then his eyes lit up. "Oh! You¡¯re right! Boss is indeed the most awesome leader in the world, so it¡¯s only natural for people to call her boss. Why am I being so petty earlier? Aiya! So what if all these people call her boss? I¡¯m still her number one follower! Ehehe. I¡¯m number one, never number two! My name is Dominic, and I¡¯m much better than all of you! Go me, go me!"

    The violinist was speechless, as Dom started busting his cheerleader moves again.

    "Shut up! Shut up!" Feifei¡¯s hysterical screaming once again interrupted the atmosphere which just lightened up. "How can all of you be so blind?! You¡¯re all so stupid to follow a sl*t like Iris Long! We worked so hard to reach where we are now! We rehearse day and night every single day! But all she has to do is to lie on her back and spread her legs, and all the good things fall on herp! So unfair! She¡¯s nothing but a wh*re! All of you stupid people are worshipping a wh*re!"

    The fans were enraged hearing such offensive words being directed at their idol.

    "What a barbaric child!" Feng Wan and her three friends couldn¡¯t believe what they were hearing from the mouth of a young woman. The four posh middle-ageddies felt absolute revulsion to such crass words.

    "Die, you evil demon! Comrades, attack!" The small 20-year old female university student beside the poshdies mobilized her fellow fan club members.

    Some immediately responded and charged forward, intending to beat Feifei up. However, they didn¡¯t get to do it because...

    Something extremely fast hit Feifei on the head. She copsed on the floor like a heavy sack of rice.

    Everyone: "..."

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] Literally means "wasp¡¯s offspring". It¡¯s sort of a softcore curse phrase in Filipino. At least you won¡¯t get into trouble, unlike when you use "Putang ina".

 Chapter 104 - War

    <h4>Chapter 104 - War </h4>

    A few moments earlier. Until that moment, Iris never took any insult hurled at her personally. In fact, she even felt amused sometimes. Although she was now Iris Long, she still considered herselfpletely separate from the original owner of the body.

    The original Iris had a severely damaged reputation. All she cared about were fame and spoiling herself. She was blessed with natural beauty and talent, but because she knew this, she grewcent and arrogant. Her ill temper rubbed others the wrong way, dragging down their impression of her even further.

    The rumours about her sleeping around to advance her career were utter rubbish. After all, she was the daughter of Long Tengfei and a legitimate heiress of the Long family¡¯s fortune. She was entitled to inherit, as long as she wasn¡¯t officially disowned. Why would an heiress need to sleep around just to advance her showbiz career?

    The current Iris had a niggling suspicion that someone was inciting these nderous rumours behind the scenes. Perhaps she should investigate itter. It was something to think about.

    Although the rumours about her being a sl*t and a wh*re were all untrue, it was a fact that the original Iris was a b*tch. She was confident that her status as Long Tengfei¡¯s legitimate daughter alone could protect her, no matter what ridiculous things she did. As a result, she had no qualms in recklessly fighting with others who provoked her in any way, like what happened with the rm Girls. This was one of the reasons why there was such bad blood between the girls.

    The current Iris already tossed the matter of the rm Girls verbally attacking her at "MusicFest Tonight". To her, they were just annoying flies buzzing around. She didn¡¯t want to waste her time and energy dealing with small, stupid flies like them.

    Now, however, was a different matter. These three stupid girls tried to destroy herunch party. She had been anticipating and preparing for this moment for so long. This was supposed to be the start of her music career, which she had been dreaming of since her previous life. How dare theye between her and her dream?

    Even worse was that they hurt her band members, some of her fans, and the one which enraged her the most was that they hurt Dominic. For that alone, she had the strongest urge to break all of the three girls¡¯ limbs without feeling the least bit of guilt.

    This time, it was personal. The rm Girls wanted to wage war with her? Fine, she would grant them their wish.

    It was now war.

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned colder with each derogatory wording out of the hysterical Feifei¡¯s mouth. Now that her perspective changed regarding the rm Girls, every insult fueled her cold fury.

    She, the former princess of the international Underworld and one of the most sought-after hacker in the world during her previous life, was being called a sl*t and a wh*re by such a stupid girl? Howughable!

    Her leg whipped into a high sidekick, her high-heeled shoe shooting like a silver bullet towards the screaming Feifei. Her kick was too quick and her shoe flew too fast. Everything was a blur, lending no time for the people to react.

    Feifei was hit on the head and she dropped to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Just a second ago, she was screaming her throat out. Now, sheid unmoving on the floor unconscious.

    The people couldn¡¯t process what just happened. They could find no words.

    Silence.

    Iris looked at the security officer beside her and extended her hand like ady.

    Dazed, the man took her fair hand, confused. Did she want to hold hands with him? Was he that handsome? Then a thought entered his mind and he became horrified.

    D-did she want to b-beat him up? She wasn¡¯t satisfied with beating those three girls, so she set her bloodthirsty eyes on his poor self? He almost pissed his pants.

    Iris didn¡¯t know that the poor man was treating her like a scary, violent monster in his mind. She ignored his trembling hand, thinking that he was just experiencing too much of an adrenaline rush because of the current situation. The truth was that she only wanted him as support to help her bnce on one leg now that she was only wearing one shoe.

    "Dom," she called in a voice so gentle, it sounded like crystal bells.

    The poor security officer shivered in fright. To his ears, her words sounded like the call of death.

    "Yes, boss!" Dom immediately stopped cheering and jogged to her. "What is it, boss? Tell me!"

    "Would you kindly pick up my shoe down the stage and bring it back to me?"

    "Eh? Oh okay, boss. Right away, boss!" He followed her instruction and returned a few secondster, kneeling in front of her like a knight to help her wear her high-heeled shoe.

    "Thank you, Dom."

    "My pleasure, boss. Ehehe."

    She removed her hand from the officer¡¯s hold. "Thank you."

    The man shook his head, his heart racing, feeling as if a deadly monster just transformed into a beautiful goddess. He was still frightened but at the same time, he couldn¡¯t stop staring like an idiot at her beauty. His mind was so muddled that he had no idea how to respond to her thanks.

    Remembering Dom kneeling in front of the monster goddess just a few seconds ago, he also kneeled in front of her without thinking. However, he looked more like a sacrificial maiden offering himself to the devil than a knight paying respects to his queen.

    Iris was taken aback by the man¡¯s sudden action. What a weirdo. She blinked a couple of times, then pretended that she didn¡¯t see anything.

    "Elder Sister Yiyi, please call the police and some ambnces. We have quite a few people injured. Those three also need immediate medical attention. They¡¯re still unconscious. I didn¡¯t hold back much when I beat them up."

    It took a few seconds before Tang Yiyi regained her senses. When Iris¡¯ words finally registered, she nodded her head and immediately started calling on her phone.

    "Dom, call mywyer."

    "Yes, yes. On it, boss!" Dom made a phone call as well.

    The representatives from JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit headed to her. They asked worriedly if she was okay. Both of them already concluded that theunch party was a total disaster, a failure.

    However, Iris thought otherwise. "Please have someone clean up the stage." Then she turned to the emcee and the musicians. "Hurry up and change into clean clothes. We still have a show to perform. Let¡¯s not keep our audience waiting any longer."

    "Wait, what? You¡¯re still performing?" The representative from JJ¡¯s recordbel couldn¡¯t believe her.

    "Of course," she replied with a matter-of-fact tone. "The show must go on."

 Chapter 105 - Just Cancel The Even

    <h4>Chapter 105 - Just Cancel The Even </h4>

    "It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a natural disaster so we have to cancel," Iris said. "This is only a minor hup. There are no serious injuries, aside from three unconscious girls who were, without a doubt, the perpetrators of this ruckus. There are no dead bodies. Just patch up the injured ones and haul those three girls away." She pped her hands and gave everyone a firm look. "Let¡¯s get moving."

    The band musicians didn¡¯t move.

    Iris narrowed her eyes. "You don¡¯t want to? Fine, you may all go. I¡¯ll perform by myself."

    "Dammit! I practiced so hard for this. I¡¯ll perform!" The drummer said aloud, massaging his crotch. "It¡¯s not like that b*tch castrated me. I¡¯ll be fine. It was just a mic stand, not a f*cking bulldozer."

    "Right. I never rehearsed so hard before this. I¡¯ll perform too," the male backup singer said. "But can someone bring me some ice? My balls still hurt. F*ck!"

    "Ah, me too! I hope my beloved sperm cells are okay. I still want to make a baby with my girlfriend someday."

    With these two¡¯s decision, the rest of the musicians announced that they too would perform. Most of them were still clean, so they didn¡¯t need to change clothes.

    The ones who were hit by raw eggs and sshed by urine had to change into regr clothes. They were no longer dressed as fancy as before, but at least they were clean. The ones who didn¡¯t bring any extra clothes had to buy T-shirts and sweatpants sold as merchandise at the pop-up shop.

    Iris promised to reimburse them, as long as they send the receipt to Dom. However, nobody nned on doing so. After working with her, they already grew great respect for Iris¡¯ creativity, skills, and professionalism as a fellow musician. They felt like it would be an insult to her if they allowed her to reimburse their merchandise purchases.

    The first-aid responders in the convention centre treated the injured. Nobody was heavily injured, just a few scratches, swelling and bruises.

    Some of the people were already preparing to leave, but stopped when they heard an announcement that theunch party would continue after the stage and the musicians were cleaned up. Everyone stayed after that. They excitedly chattered about the incident with each other and shared it online. The refreshments were also refilled because the majority of them ate as they waited.

    The police arrived and immediately started asking questions to understand the situation. After a few minutes, the ambnces arrived.

    By this time, the rm Girls finally woke up. They were groggy at first, but started screeching like tormented spirits in hell, especially when they saw the familiar police uniforms.

    ¡¯Not again,¡¯ they thought.

    Some of the police officers and the paramedics had to forcefully restrain them because they were getting violent in their struggles.

    The police got the gist of what happened after questioning a few people. They arrested the rm Girls on the spot, especially after one of the officers recognized them and revealed to his colleagues that the three girls already had a record. They were only out on bail. And their previous record was also because of physical assault, which they were once again being used of now.

    Backstage, Iris and her management were being questioned. The police wanted Iris and the others to follow them back to the police station for further questioning.

    "I will fully cooperate with the police," Iris told them. "However, I still have a show to perform so I can only go to the police station after this event ends."

    "Miss Long, this is a very important legal matter that we¡¯re talking about," the police officer replied. "Just cancel the event and do it another time."

    "The event is scheduled for today. I¡¯ve already kept the audience waiting for too long."

    "Miss Long, this is not some trivial matter that you can put aside. We are the police. We have the authority. We are asking you to cancel your event and follow us to the police station."

    Iris¡¯ eyes narrowed. Was he threatening her? Perhaps due to her previous life¡¯s identity, she never felt at ease with the police. She fought the urge to flee, reminding herself that she was a responsible andw-abiding citizen (except in hacking).

    She took a deep breath and spoke in a calm manner. "I already mentioned that I will fully cooperate with the police. I¡¯m not refusing to follow you to the police station. I¡¯m only asking for a dy of a few hours at most. Rest assured that I will immediately go to the police station as soon as I finish performing."

    "Miss Long¨D" The stern officer was interrupted by a colleague. The colleague held a phone and then whispered something to his ear. His eyes widened. He smoothed his stern expression into a mild one before answering the phone. "Hello, Chief! What an honour!"

    He spent a few minutes on the phone, his earlier sternness gone. Instead, he was very subservient, even fawning to the person on the other end of the line. Finally, the call ended. He turned back to Iris with a big smile on his face.

    "Miss Long, I didn¡¯t know that you are acquainted with the Chief of Police!"

    She frowned, confused. What did he say? Was he joking? How could a person like her who was allergic to the police be acquainted with their Chief? But before she could say anything, the officer continued babbling.

    "You should¡¯ve told us earlier, so that we didn¡¯t have to make it hard for you. Of course, you can finish up your performance. Go ahead, go ahead. I can see that everyone¡¯s been waiting for you. Wow. There are a lot of people here today. You can visit our police station anytime that¡¯s convenient for you. Even if it¡¯s tomorrow, no problem..."

    He was babbling so much that Iris couldn¡¯t find the right time to interrupt him.

    At one of the tables in front of the stage, Feng Wan sipped a ss of sparkling water. She nced at one of her friends who was talking on the phone. After a few seconds, the friend hung up and smiled.

    "All done?" Feng Wan asked.

    "Yes. My husband took care of everything. He¡¯s the best!"

    "That¡¯s great," the second friend said. "Now the performance won¡¯t be cancelled."

    "It must be amazing to have the Chief of Police as your husband," the third friendmented.

    "Of course!" The Chief¡¯s wife agreed, her expression very proud.

    Feng Wan smiled, happy for her friend, even when the word "husband" made her heart ache. She couldn¡¯t wait to hear Iris sing "The Phantom of Your Love" live again. She sighed. Then she saw the police dragging the rm Girls away. Her gentle eyes turned sharp.

    "I hope the Chief of Police makes sure that such malicious and violent people won¡¯t be able to attack or hurt others again," she said in a tone that sounded like she wasmenting on the weather.

    "Of course. My husband hates injustice the most," her friend replied in a simr tone.

    The four poshdies clinked their sses.

 Chapter 106 - Envoy Of Light And Dark

    <h4>Chapter 106 - Envoy Of Light And Dark </h4>

    The emcee once again stood on the stage, dressed in full "Rebirth" merchandise of T-shirt, sweatpants, head cap, and wristbands. His hair was still slightly damp from the quick shower he took to clean up the filth of raw eggs and urine.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, the moment that we¡¯ve all been waiting for is finally here! Although we¡¯ve experienced such an unexpected and shocking event today, resulting on thisunch party to be on the verge of getting canceled, everything worked out fine in the end. I wish for the injured people to get well soon. Ah, that was such a scary experience! I hope that everyone¨D"

    "Shut up, emcee!"

    "I¡¯ve h-had enough of t-this! I have s-stage fright and I s-stutter but I think that I¡¯ll b-be a better emcee than this ch-chatterbox!"

    The audienceined one after another, displeasing the representatives from JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit. They red at the emcee.

    The emcee cleared his throat and smiled bitterly. Seeing the audience getting rowdy once again, he was reminded of what he just went through earlier. He remembered all the raw eggs and urine he had to wash off and shuddered. Feeling traumatized, he didn¡¯t dare dilly-dally any longer.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, please wee to the stage, the one and only, our beloved boss, Miss Iris Long!!!"

    Everyone stood up and gave a deafening apuse to Iris who made another grand entrance.

    "You¡¯re so beautiful, boss!"

    "Boss is so cool!"

    "Uwah! She looked at me! Boss actually looked at me!" The overexcited girl fainted but woke up a few secondster, only to continue fangirling like nothing happened. And yes, she did faint. For real.

    "Boss!"

    "I love you, boss!"

    "Boss!"

    Iris blinked, puzzled, but continued to smile and wave at the audience. Did Dom clone himself or something? Why was everyone calling her boss? Was this a new trend that she wasn¡¯t aware of? She didn¡¯t understand.

    She set aside her confusion for now. It was time to perform. She sat in front of the piano, flexing her hands. She looked at her band, the backup singers, and the symphony orchestra, and then nodded.

    A now familiar mournful piano melody reverberated. All of the ck Stars fan club members stood up and cheered even louder.

    Then Iris opened her mouth and harmonized her voice with the piano melody. It was such a full, emotional, and beautiful sound that many of the audience were already tearing up. The symphony orchestra also began ying. The overall harmony gave everyone goosebumps.

    Iris began singing.

    "I was young and fearless

    zed through my dreams without direction

    Tried to reach the sea of the brightest stars in the sky..."

    The audience sang with her. They waved their hands up in the air, singing with all their heart. Their movements were so synchronized that they looked like one giant organism.

    "...The meaning of life is to live our dreams

    We fail, we fall

    Yet still we keep on dreaming

    No matter how far a ck star falls

    It¡¯s still a star that can glow again..."

    Iris would stop singing now and then, to let the audience sing by themselves. Everyone loved it. They felt as if they were an important part of the performance.

    Then Iris¡¯ fingers on the piano slowed down, her voice softening almost into a whisper. The audience also followed suit, singing as softly as they could.

    "I¡¯m a ck star with no light

    But so what? I¡¯ll glow again

    My dream glows bright in my heart

    I¡¯m a ck star that¡¯ll light up, you¡¯ll see~"

    Hearing more than 5,000 voices sing together was nothing new to the representatives from JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit. After all, both of them had experienced working with artists more famous than Iris who couldmand more than tens of thousands of audience per concert. However, there was something different in the audience this time. It was as if they were possessed by a single spirit, united as one, brought together by Iris Long¡¯s music.

    This performance had heart.

    After the song "ck Star" ended, there was another deafening standing ovation. Their cheering and apuse were tinged with pride. This time, it wasn¡¯t only directed at Iris and the musicians but also at themselves, the audience. It was like experiencing music on another level, giving them an exhrating feeling that many of them had never experienced before.

    Iris performed some of the other songs from her album, including the next popr one after "ck Star". When she sang "The Phantom of Your Love", Feng Wan burst into tears. Her three friends also had tears streaming down their faces, as they huddled andforted their dear friend together.

    "I¡¯m dead when awake

    Alive when asleep

    How do I live when there is no you

    Except in my dreams at night..."

    Even when her intense emotions threatened to choke her, Feng Wan still sang with everyone else through the torrent of her tears. She remembered the first time she saw Iris perform this beautiful, heartbreaking song for the first time at the hotel restaurant.

    Back then, Iris was wearing a flowing ck dress. This time, she was in a sharp white suit. The contrast made Feng Wan feel as if Iris was an envoy of both the light and the dark.

    "Oh, spend a thousand years

    With the PHANTOM OF...YOUR...LOOOOOOVE~"

    Everyone howled thest notes of the song. It wasn¡¯t only Feng Wan who was wailing in sorrow, affected by the dark music. People were hugging and crying on each other¡¯s shoulders, even though they were strangers before this day.

    Iris decided to give everyone a break to calm their highly stimted emotions. She yed Chopin¡¯s "Raindrops" on the piano, gently easing the atmosphere into that of a rxed one.

    During this break, some staggered to the buffet tables to gulp drinks. Some shoved cookies and pastries into their mouths tofort themselves. Some, still affected by their emotions, spilled their life stories to the people beside them, crying together like long-lost brothers and sisters. The others just closed their eyes, savouring the delicate piano melody Iris was ying, allowing the music to calm them.

    When the atmosphere became rxed, Iris¡¯ fingers suddenly became energetic, dancing swiftly on the keyboard. The music changed and a familiar piano melody reverberated.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up. They all stopped what they were doing and turned their heads, excitement evident on their faces.

    Then the beat changed and Iris began singing. The audience once again sang with her and many started dancing.

    "At first I was afraid, I was petrified~"

 Chapter 107 - Rising Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 107 - Rising Phoenix </h4>

    Iris left the piano at some point, grabbed the mic from the stand, and finally disyed the full might of her extraordinary stage presence. She sang and danced along with the audience.

    When she performed the now famous vocal acrobatics of her version of the song, everyone went wild. Then she did something even more amazing. The extremely high notes she reached when she guested at DJ Song¡¯s radio show before already left many in awe. This time, she went beyond her previous performance, reaching the shocking whistle register. She sustained the whistle notes for so long that everyone¡¯s jaws fell down and eyes almost popped out.

    Even the band musicians, the backup singers, and the symphony orchestra were all shocked. This wasn¡¯t in the rehearsals! Still they were professionals, and continued ying as if everything was as expected and nothing was amiss.

    Tang Yiyi¡¯s mind went nk.

    The representative from JJ¡¯s recordbel clutched his chest and staggered back, while the representative from Bright Summit covered his gaping mouth with his hands.

    Dom burst into tears and sobbed happily like a proud mama, recording everything on video to send to his sir boss, Jin Liwei,ter.

    Everyone else was staring at the performing Iris, their eyes and mouth wide open, looking at her as if she was a mythical creature.

    T-this...

    "I will survive!!!"

    Iris snapped her hand holding the mic up in the air when the music stopped. Her shoulders and chest heaved as she panted. An exhrated expression was on her face.

    Someone started screaming in a fervent frenzy. Then more followed suit. This standing ovation was even more deafening than the previous ones.

    "Boss, I love you! I love you so much!"

    "Uwah! So amazing!"

    "Wow! She¡¯s so wow...I don¡¯t think she¡¯s human...just wow."

    "I¡¯ll follow you for the rest of my life, boss!"

    "This young master has fallen even more deeply in love with you, oh mydy boss!"

    "My mighty slippers will fight exclusively for you, boss!"

    "Boss!"

    "Kyaaaah! Boss, please take me in as your concubine! I want to bear your babies!"

    "Ladies, hold me up. I¡¯m going to faint."

    And indeed, a lot of people fainted but nobody panicked. Most of them woke up a few secondster to continue cheering for their boss, Iris. Because of the incident earlier, the convention centre¡¯s management sent extra security and first-aid responders to theunch party. The ones who fainted were taken care of swiftly by these emergency workers.

    Iris returned to the piano and covered a couple of ssic Mandarin songs afterwards. Then finally, it was time for the finale performance.

    "This final song is, for me, the most special in the album." Her lovely voice was low and gentle, yet full of emotion. She swept her eyes across everyone. "It is also the hardest topose and write. I struggled so much that it hurt. I almost gave up to write another song. But I persisted because this song was desperately crying within me, begging me to give birth to it so that the whole world can listen."

    Everyone became curious hearing what she said.

    "This is the first time that you¡¯ll hear this song," she continued. "I asked Mr. JJ not to release any previews of it because it¡¯s too special for me. I wanted to personally be the one whom you¡¯ll hear it from today. So now I¡¯m going to perform the titr song of my album, "Rebirth".

    The audience pped but quickly hushed themselves. They were eager to listen to the song, to figure out why it was so special.

    Iris closed her eyes.

    A lone violin yed a mncholic melody. It was sad but not dark, gently making hearts ache. Then the other string instruments followed before gradually transitioning into a lone flute. This time, the melody was sweet but sounded much sadder. Then the other wood-wind instruments followed before transitioning again into the piano.

    Iris still had her eyes closed, her body swaying, as her fingers flowed softly like sea waves on the piano keys.

    Then she sang in a gentle voice, so gentle that everyone¡¯s chests twinged in pain.

    "Caged and chained in a tiny world

    Wondering what it¡¯s like outside

    A little bird imprisoned by love

    Dying little by little inside

    I want to be free

    Free as a bird

    But where are my wings

    I cannot fly"

    There was no outward emotion on her face. Iris looked calm, serene even. Her singing, however, conveyed heartache and longing. The audience¡¯s eyes watered, but they tried to be as quiet as possible. They didn¡¯t want to miss any note or lyrics.

    "I sing a song inside my cage

    While shadows destroy my tiny world

    Break my bones a thousand times

    Go ahead, I will not cry

    These red roses smell so sweet

    Atst, I¡¯m free

    Will I ever fly?"

    The full symphony orchestra finally yed, the harmony so full yet light. The audience felt like their bodies were rising with the melody. Goosebumps were all over their skin. Iris¡¯ voice also rose, effortlessly reaching high notes.

    "From the ashes, I rise like a phoenix

    A little bird no more

    I spread my wings, so big and wide

    Now I am free

    Now I can fly

    Oh, I can fly up in the sky

    While tears flow down my joyful eyes

    Up I fly, up I soar

    Until I brush against the clouds

    I¡¯ll stay up here and touch the stars

    I¡¯ll reach as high that I can"

    Everyone nodded. Many of them had their hands sped together like they were praying. They looked at Iris on the stage, as if they were seeing her as a tiny, delicate bird transform into a majestic phoenix.

    Iris¡¯ voice became fuller and more powerful. The symphony orchestra reached crescendo.

    "This rebirth of a tiny bird

    Into a rising phoenix

    Power courses through my veins

    To break the chains

    To spread my wings

    So this is freedom

    I am free"

    The melody erupted into a beautiful medley of triumph, longing, and sadness. Now it was only the piano and Iris singing thest notes of the song.

    "Oh yes, I am free~"

 Chapter 108 - Mighty Slippers

    <h4>Chapter 108 - Mighty Slippers </h4>

    What kind of song was this? Happiness and sadnessbined in harmony within their hearts. It was such a strange feeling. However, one thing was for certain. This song, "Rebirth", was indeed special.

    They could feel its heart and spirit. It was as if it was alive with its own unique aura. They doubt that another person could sing it the way Iris Long sang it, like she and the song were one being.

    The apuse for this final performance of the evening was of awe and of congrattions. Awe at the astounding performance, and congrattions at Iris¡¯ achievements for this album.

    The neutral fans remaining in the audience were allpletely won over. They were sold by Iris¡¯ sincerity, artistry, and skill in her music.

    After the performance was another short break, while the staff quickly prepared the venue for the signing session. The people were divided into groups, and when their groups were called out, they would line up to receive autographs. This way, everyone was orderly.

    Iris signed copies of her album, merchandise, personal notebooks, and even weird ces on people¡¯s bodies. The ones who requested for her to sign on their bodies proudly told her that they would turn her signature into permanent tattoos. She was amused and very touched. She also took quick pictures and chatted with them.

    "People keep on saying that she¡¯s a b*tch and all that sh*t, but just look at her. Will a b*tch have the patience to sign autographs and chat with 5,000 people? How many hours until she¡¯s done with everyone?"

    "Yeah. My thoughts exactly."

    "Hmph! Those people are just jealous because our boss is so talented. Can they even do what she did earlier?"

    "I know, right? Damn! I will never forget those whistle notes. Uwah!"

    The people talked with each other like old friends. They gossiped about the rm Girls and themotion they caused earlier, and gushed about Iris¡¯ unbelievable performance.

    It was during this signing session that Iris finally met the officers of the ck Stars fan club. The first people she recognized were Feng Wan and her three friends. The four posh middle-ageddies looked proudly at Iris like she was their beloved niece.

    "Madam Feng." Iris stood up and walked to the group, a smile on her face. She also greeted the other threedies. "It¡¯s a pleasure to see all of you again. Thank you foring today."

    Feng Wan took Iris¡¯ hands and held them. "Iris...may I call you Iris?"

    "Of course."

    "Thank you." Feng Wan¡¯s eyes watered. "Thank you for your music. Thank you for letting me see you perform ¡¯The Phantom of Your Love¡¯ again."

    "Madam, it is my pleasure."

    Then Feng Wan revealed that she and her friends were members of the newly-established ck Stars fan club. She introduced the others.

    First was the small young woman who valiantly hollered and led herrades to battle earlier when Feifei was insulting Iris. She looked more like a kid but was actually a 20-year old university student already.

    "Hello, Iris! I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m meeting you right now! I¡¯m a big fan of yours! My name is Zhou Mei¡¯er and I¡¯m the President of the ck Stars. I go by the username CaptainckStar online."

    "She¡¯s actually also the founder of the ck Stars fan club and the one who gathered all of us. It¡¯s all thanks to her that we¡¯re all standing here together at this moment to meet you," Feng Wan informed Iris.

    Iris shook Zhou Mei¡¯er¡¯s hand and smiled. "Thank you very much, Miss Zhou. You¡¯ve worked very hard. Your support means so much to me."

    Zhou Mei¡¯er teared up. Iris patted her shoulder.

    Feng Wan was about to introduce the next person, but the man already stepped forward before she could say anything.

    "Boss! To be honest, I didn¡¯t really like you before because I thought that you were a fake person and a factory-produced unoriginal pop idol like so many others who only knew how to act pretty and sexy. Your braindead songs didn¡¯t help either. Ah, they were so terrible that just thinking about them is making me want to burn all my precious slippers¨D"

    Zhou Mei¡¯er: "Aiyaya! Bro, what are you doing?"

    "¨Dbut then you suddenly made aeback. I still didn¡¯t like you. I thought that you were just fishing for fame and attention like before. So I continued to bash you on the inte because I¡¯m a troll. Not ashamed to admit that! Hah! Trolls are awesome, if we¡¯re on your side! But then you constantly pped my face so many times with your awesomeness that I had no choice but to convert into your number 1 fan¨D"

    When the surrounding people heard his im of being Iris¡¯ number 1 fan, they booed.

    The grumpy-looking man looked even grumpier. He red at the booing people and waved an actual slipper at them. "What? Wanna fight against my mighty slippers? Come at me! I¡¯ll whack you all!"

    Everyoneughed. They didn¡¯t take him seriously, as he was already quite famous in their web circle. In fact, he was the most famous among the officers of the ck Stars fan club.

    "Hmph! As expected, nobody dares to stand against my mighty slippers," the grumpy-looking man grumbled under his breath. Then he looked at Iris again. "As I was saying, I¡¯m your number 1 fan¨D"

    "Boo!"

    "Ah? Come at me and get a taste of my slippers!"

    Feng Wan chuckled. "Alright, boy. That¡¯s enough. How long do you need until you properly introduce yourself to our dear Iris? I can do it for you, if you want. I don¡¯t mind."

    The man¡¯s grumpy-looking face flushed red. "Ah, Madam Feng. No need, no need." He cleared his throat and once again turned to Iris. "Boss Iris, my name is Wu Chen, a simple office worker from a simplepany. But on the web, I hold great influence as the heroic iEatSlippers, fighting with my mighty slippers under your banner, to protect boss¡¯ name against evil-doers!"

    "Boo!"

    "What?! You got a problem with what I said?! Come at me if you have slippers mightier than mine! Ah?!"

    Irisughed, amused at the man¡¯s antics. She extended her hand. "Mr. Wu, d to finally meet you. I was actually looking forward to meeting the famous iEatSlippers. I¡¯m a fan of your many online trolling feats."

    Wu Chen, a.k.a. iEatSlippers, shook her hand with gusto. "Same here, same here. Nice to meet you too...eh? What? You¡¯re a fan?! Of ME?!"

 Chapter 109 - Deep Background

    <h4>Chapter 109 - Deep Background </h4>

    Iris¡¯ web bots would automatically catalogue all of the ounts and pages that made negativements about her. She would normally not care about them, but if one of her most active bashers suddenly turned into one of her most passionate supporters, of course she would notice.

    She began saying out loud the list of all of Wu Chen¡¯s previous usernames he used for online trolling off the top of her head.

    The grumpiness on Wu Chen¡¯s face was finally reced by an utterly shocked expression. He didn¡¯t know that he was this famous online. Even his idol, no, his boss knew about him. But wait! How did she know all of his usernames? Many of them were anonymous ounts that he got help to set up from his bro who was aputer expert. His bro assured him that they would be untraceable.

    The quiet and bored young man beside him looked at Iris, interest shing in his eyes.

    "It¡¯s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Wu. I¡¯m d that you¡¯re not trolling against me anymore, but trolling for me instead. Thank you."

    Wu Chen forgot his doubts andughed proudly, ttered by her words. "Of course! My mighty slippers will fight exclusively for you from now on, boss. Like I said, I¡¯m your number 1 fan¨D"

    "Boo!"

    He chased after the people booing at him, waving a slipper in the air.

    Everyoneughed.

    Iris turned to the quiet young man. He had an unhealthy pallor and tired eyes. He looked sleepy and exhausted. This time, however, his usually bored eyes were bright with curiosity as he looked back at her.

    "You must be Monkeyface, theputer expert. I¡¯ve also been wanting to meet you." She smiled at him and offered her hand.

    "Hou Liang," he introduced himself in a low voice. He reached for her hand, intending to quickly shake it and be done with it, but found his hand tightly grasped and squeezed hard. He frowned and looked up at her.

    Iris¡¯ eyes looked cold¨Dand challenging?¨Das he looked at him.

    Hou Liang tried to pull his hand back, but she wouldn¡¯t let it go. "Uhm...my hand..."

    Then she leaned forward and whispered something to his ear.

    An expression of shock, disbelief, and then horror appeared on his face.

    She finally released his hand and smiled widely at him. "What an honour to finally meet you in person, Mr. Hou. Thank you for your support."

    Hou Liang¡¯s scalp went numb and he felt cold sweat on his back. The hand that she squeezed was aching, but he didn¡¯t darein. In his mind, Iris Long transformed into a ferocious dragon looking down at him, daring him to go against her. As if he would do such a stupid thing!

    "H-how did you¨D"

    Herugh tinkled like crystal bells, but to him, it sounded like the evil cackle of the goddess of cmity.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not going to tell anyone," she told him. "Our kind should protect each other. Let¡¯spare notes when we both have free time."

    "Ah, you...who are you?"

    "You¡¯ll know soon enough. Besides, I have a feeling that we¡¯ll get along very well, Mr. Hou. Just remember that whatever you need the most now, I can provide. I¡¯ll let think you about it for now."

    Both of their voices were low, so the surrounding people couldn¡¯t hear what they were talking about. Although they were confused why Hou Liang suddenly looked so scared, Iris¡¯ calm and pleasant demeanour assured them that nothing was amiss. Perhaps the guy was just too excited as a fan that he became so scared and shy in front of such a beautiful celebrity like Iris Long. Yup, that must be it.

    Iris left the frozen Hou Liang and turned her back on him to chat with Feng Wan and the others. After a few more moments, the group finally allowed Iris to return to signing autographs for the rest of the people.

    It was alreadyte at night when theunch party finally ended. All the guests went their own ways, still gushing about everything that happened during the event. It certainly was an unforgettable day to all of them.

    Tang Yiyi, Dom and the two representatives from JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit all apanied Iris to the police station directly after leaving the convention centre. When they arrived at the station, Feng Wan and her three friends were already there, waiting for them.

    Additional officers were mobilized to ward off the reporters that were sure toe, especially after the incident of the rm Girls gatecrashing Iris¡¯unch party and creating such a ruckus already spread online.

    The invited reporters were lucky enough to get firsthand footage of the incident, but they still followed Iris and the others to the police station. Unfortunately, they were blocked froming closer to ask questions. Despite this, they were already more than satisfied because other reporters who initially disregarded theunch party were now all scrambling from the city to this remote ce. As for them, their news agencies now treated them as important correspondents. How lucky! This might be their ticket to brighter career prospects!

    One of Feng Wan¡¯s friends was the beloved wife of the Police Chief. As a result, all of the officers were respectful and hospitable to everyone, especially to Iris who was obviously being protected by the madam.

    Iris¡¯wyer also arrived after some time. On behalf of his client, Iris Long, he officially filed awsuit against the rm Girls for physical assault, nder and defamation of character, and a slew of other charges.

    The representatives from JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit, after speaking to their superiors on the phone, also informed Iris that they would send their ownwyers to support herwsuits against the rm Girls.

    Feng Wan added that the audience members injured by the rm Girls were also nning to file their own ss actionwsuit, and that she and her friends would provide awyer for them.

    The police officers present couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for the three girls. What madness controlled them to offend this group of powerful people?

    They looked at the four posh middle-ageddies. One of them was the wife of their esteemed chief. The other two were also of equal influence. Andstly, the one leading them, Madam Feng Wan, was from such a powerful background that only stupid people would dare offend her. Not even the Jin family and the other top business families in the country would dare slight her, lest they be ostracized from high society.

    And such powerful and influentialdies were supporting a second-rate pop singer? Even using their impressive backgrounds to help her? The officers looked at the calm Iris Long, curious as to why all these formidable people were assisting her.

    Sure, she was a daughter of the Long family. But wasn¡¯t she estranged? And even if the Longs had their own wealth, power and influence, they still couldn¡¯tpare to the deep background of Madam Feng Wan.

    The officers sighed.

    ¡¯These rm Girls are finished,¡¯ they thought, shaking their heads.

 Chapter 110 - Thatâ€™s My Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 110 - That¡¯s My Daughter </h4>

    In modern times, although the Longs were a prominent family, their wealth, power, and influence couldn¡¯tpare to the Jins and the Lus. The Jin and the Lu families didn¡¯t have deep rootspared to the other families who were already well-established for a long time. These two families were average people, out of high society¡¯s radar, but just a few decades ago, they suddenly skyrocketed to the top as the leading business families in the country.

    On the other hand, the Longs were already well-known for centuries. Then why the discrepancy in their current status in society? A big part of this was because the Longs were a proud, traditional family. They could trace their roots all the way back from ancient times when an ancestor was bestowed a noble title for meritorious deeds by the reigning Emperor of that period.

    Since then, the Longs believed that they were aristocrats by birthright. They saw and held themselves on a higher status than regr people. Even when times had changed and aristocracy was no longer widely recognized, they still held onto this self-importance, resulting in them being stuck in a backward mentality that merchants or people who worked in trade were of lower status than aristocrats like them.

    They were a piece of history who refused to move forward and adapt to the changing times.

    It was only when Long Tengfei¡¯s grandfather married an artisan¡¯s daughter that the Long family started to shift into a business family. Long Tengfei¡¯s grandmother had a ir for business from her experience of helping out in selling her father¡¯s works.

    She ignored the protests of the Long family members and opened a trading business under her husband¡¯s name. Her father was an artisan, so her expertise was in trading traditional arts such as pottery, porcin and silk. The business prospered under her leadership, effectively shutting up the rest of the Long rtives who disdained the idea of bing a business family. In fact, it fueled their self-importance even more, especially when the growing wealth was distributed to the entire n.

    The business expanded to include calligraphy, painting and sculpture in the hands of Long Tengfei¡¯s father. His father inherited his grandmother¡¯s ir for business and diversified into other industries as well, such as textiles,nd development, and food production and processing.

    When Long Tengfei took over, he led the business into even greater heights by entering the shipping industry, sessfully making it into the international stage. Under his leadership, the Longs stabilized their position as a wealthy and influential business family in the country.

    However, most of the Long family members, especially the elders, still retained their self-important aristocratic mentality. They cared a lot about their face and on preserving the Long family¡¯s noble name.

    They disapproved of Long Tengfei¡¯s decision to divorce the wife they arranged for him in order to marry a gold-digging, social-climbing model. They despised Wei Lan from the very beginning.

    When the Young Miss Xin was born, they were determined to mould her into a perfectdy. Unfortunately, they discovered that this daughter took after her disgraceful mother, entering the scandalous world of showbiz and besmirching their family¡¯s noble name again and again. They wanted to disown her, but Long Tengfei fiercely rejected their suggestion. They could only grumble to themselves, not daring to tantly go against him, because he was the current head of both the family and the business.

    Long family ancestral residence.

    As the head of the main family, Long Tengfei and his family lived in the ancestralpound where the Longs lived for many generations since ancient times when they were still a recognized aristocratic n.

    It was very grand and traditional, like travelling back in time. The hugepound was very difficult to maintain. It was a challenge to upgrade the amenities to modern ones while still preserving its original ancient dignity. However, Long Tengfei didn¡¯t mind the huge maintenance costs because the ce was a legacy from his noble ancestors.

    He lived at the master wing with his third wife. His eldest son from his first wife lived alone at the eastern wing. He originally nned for his daughter, Xin, to live in the western wing but she had other ideas, buying her own penthouse to live by herself.

    As for his two illegitimate children from his former mistresses, he didn¡¯t even attempt to take them in. The elders absolutely couldn¡¯t ept any illegitimate children living in the ancestral residence.

    Even so, Long Tengfei loved all his children. He was generous in financially supporting and providing them with the best education and opportunities. He might not be affectionate, but nobody could fault him for shirking his responsibilities as a father.

    Inside the study, Long Tengfei was watching thete night news on a huge t screen TV which looked odd among the antique decorations. His third wife, Yang Jiahui, served him hot Longjing tea [1].

    His assistant, Cao Guang, was also in the room speaking on the phone with the elders. He was trying to appease them. The elders wereining about the Young Miss Xin because she was once again involved in a scandalous incident earlier that day.

    The elders were livid that she beat up others like a thug in front of thousands of people¨Dvery udylike! What upset them the most was that she filedwsuits against the girls she beat up, earning so much attention that her face and name were stered all over the news. How embarrassing!

    While his assistant was busy on the phone, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui watched a footage of his daughter Xin dodging the attacks of the masked rm Girls. She looked stunning in her white suit. Her nimble movements were impressive. When she started fighting back and beating the girls, Yang Jiahui couldn¡¯t help but gasp.

    "Was Xin that strong? How did she learn to fight like that?" she asked.

    "I heard that she¡¯s training in some sort of Russian martial arts after shepleted her posta rehab. Looks like it¡¯s effective." He nodded.

    The next footage showed her kicking off her high-heeled shoe and urately hitting the other girl unconscious. Long Tengfeiughed aloud, pping his thighs in his excitement. "That¡¯s my daughter!" His voice was filled with pride.

    Yang Jiahui smiled. "Indeed, she is."

    Finally, Cao Guang was done with the phone calls.

    "Cao Guang, find out all the details about what happened to Xin today. Yi Mei already stopped giving me regr updates ever since Xin became financially independent, so I have no idea what¡¯s happening to her anymore. It seems that she totally won over the old housekeeper¡¯s loyalty. Also contact herwyer and tell him to put all his firm¡¯s resources into herwsuit. Tell him he can use my name if he needs to."

    "Right away, President."

    "Also call Qiao Yu and ask him whether Xin can afford the fees. Thatwyer is expensive. I know that Xin wants to bepletely independent, but she¡¯s just had hereback. I doubt that she has earned that much yet, especially now that she refused to receive allowance from me. Just tell Qiao Yu that I¡¯ll cover the fees and no need to tell my daughter."

    "Understood, President."

    Long Tengfei sipped his tea. "Hmph! These little girls dare attack my, Long Tengfei¡¯s, daughter? Serves them right that Xin beat them up. That¡¯s my daughter!"

    His delightedugh echoed through the ancient walls.

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] Also known as "Dragon Well tea". It has a gentle and sweet taste. Interestingly, the tea leaves can be eaten after infusion. Its top varieties can be expensive.

 Chapter 111 - Remember

    <h4>Chapter 111 - Remember </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    It was already past 3 AM when Iris, Dom and their driver arrived home. Even so, Yi Mei still weed them, her face filled with worry. She immediately fussed around Iris, making sure that her Young Miss was safe and uninjured.

    Dom ran straight to the kitchen to heat up an extremelyte dinner. He was so hungry that he could die! The driver joined him.

    Yi Mei encouraged her Young Miss to eat, but Iris declined. She had no appetite.

    Iris didn¡¯t feel well. She was still feeling alright while they were at the police station, but when they were in the van on the way home, her body started aching. She also felt a nagging headache. Perhaps she overexerted herself when she fought against the rm Girls, in addition to the umted exhaustion from the daily rehearsals and her performance at theunch party.

    She checked on Ice Cream and Popcorn who were sleeping soundly in the cat room. She gave them quick, gentle rubs before heading to her own bedroom. She took a quick shower. Originally, she wanted to soak in a long, hot bath but decided against it because she was too sleepy.

    As soon as sheid on the bed, she was fast asleep.

    Silence.

    Darkness.

    Her body felt like it was floating in a ck ocean, the viscous water pressing heavily against her, drowning her. She tried to swim, tried to escape, but she couldn¡¯t move.

    Then a whirlpool sucked her and threw her onto a ce so familiar, it was her only world once upon a time.

    Her little hands were pounding the piano, fumbling on the keys she couldn¡¯t reach with her short fingers. Rimsky-Korsakov¡¯s "Flight of the Bumblebee" yed over and over, not stopping even when her little hands started to cramp. She did her best to match the intended rapidity and chaos of the piece as best as she could.

    "That¡¯s enough for today," her strict music teacher announced.

    She immediately stood up and faced her teacher, her tiny back ramrod straight. Her little hands were tired and shaking, but she didn¡¯t darein.

    "Your techniques have improved, Miss Evelina. Teacher is very pleased. However, you¡¯re still hesitating. With the way you yed it today, it sounded like the wings of the bumblebee are damaged and couldn¡¯t fly properly. Learn how to fully embrace the music. Feel the music, be confident..."

    She tried listening to the rest of her teacher¡¯s lecture, but the sounds became distorted and her surroundings became hazy. Then everything warped and she was sitting by the garden for afternoon tea with her parents.

    "My dear Evelinochka [1], I heard from your tutors that you aced your Dutch and Germannguage tests. Congrattions, my little princess!"

    "Thank you, father," she replied, smiling shyly.

    Her mother set her teacup on the table and her frigid eyes looked at her. Her small body trembled under her mother¡¯s intense gaze.

    "I heard that you¡¯re not doing well on your shooting and closebat training." Her mother¡¯s voice was cold and devoid of any emotion. "Tell me the reason why."

    Her small lips shook, but she forced herself to answer. "Mother, I don¡¯t like shooting and fighting."

    "You are a member of the Vetrov family. We, the Vetrovs, must learn all these things whether we like it or not. Do not shirk your duties for such a silly reason ever again. Do you understand?"

    She blinked her green eyes, fighting against the tears. She didn¡¯t cry or else she would be punished. "I understand, Mother."

    "Now, now. Do not be too hard on my Evelinochka. My little princess is a good girl." Her father patted her golden hair.

    Her surroundings started warping once again, and she was now crying and screaming at a documentary on TV while burrowing her little self in the safety of her big brother¡¯s arms.

    "Don¡¯t cry, Evelinka [2]," her big brother rubbed her back. "It¡¯s just a bison. It¡¯s not scary at all."

    "B-but...the horns are so big and sharp..."

    He chuckled. "Don¡¯t worry, my little sister. Your big brother will make sure that no animals with horns wille near you. If they do, I¡¯ll kill them and cut off their horns. I¡¯ll exterminate all animals with horns for you. So don¡¯t cry now, okay?" He wiped her tears.

    "O-okay..."

    "Good girl."

    Her brother¡¯s face shifted into her father patting her head.

    "Good girl."

    Then it was her mother¡¯s beautiful, ice-cold face.

    "Be a good girl and improve your shooting and closebat skills."

    The faces of these three warped and interchanged with each other, again and again, faster and faster.

    "Good girl."

    "What a good girl."

    "Be a good girl."

    The voices multiplied. They were murmurs at first but gradually became shrieks, screaming "Good girl! Good girl!" at her.

    Sounds of helicopters added to this hellish cacophony. Doors banging, sses shattering. Howling, roaring.

    "We have orders. Fire!"

    Gunshots.

    "No, no, no. No!!!" She closed her eyes and covered her ears. "Stop it! Please stop!!!"

    Then a familiar pair of big, warm arms embraced her from behind. The sounds finally stopped. Relieved, she leaned back into the embrace and then turned around to see a handsome face smiling at her.

    "Liwei..." She threw herself at him, crying.

    He kissed her forehead. "I¡¯m here. Don¡¯t be afraid. We¡¯re together now."

    She hugged his waist tightly, afraid that he would leave her alone back to that hell.

    "Stay with me, baby," he said.

    "Yes."

    He ran his fingers down her long hair. "Good girl."

    She stiffened and looked up at him.

    "You¡¯re mine, Long Xin. Only mine."

    Her mind suddenly became befuddled. Her eyebrows scrunched together.

    "Long Xin...who¡¯s Xin?"

    He smiled and leaned down to kiss her on the lips. "You are Xin. My Xin."

    She was very confused. Her mind couldn¡¯t understand what the man in front of her was saying. "No...I¡¯m not. My name is...Evelina."

    Then his figure disappeared within a fog.

    She couldn¡¯t see anything besides the whiteness. She walked and walked, yet the fog stayed and surrounded her.

    Who was she?

    She had forgotten.

    Why was she walking for so long? For what purpose?

    Was she real? Did she exist?

    She couldn¡¯t remember.

    "Come back," a faint voice called for her from a distance.

    She stopped, but her mind was still muddled. So she continued walking.

    "No...don¡¯t go," the faint voice echoed.

    She stopped again and turned around.

    "Remember...remember that you are me now...you are...Long Xin..." The faint voice was getting weaker.

    "Remember?" Her head started aching and her lower abdomen felt heavy, as if her insides were being squeezed. It hurt.

    "Don¡¯t...erase my...existence...you are Long Xin..."

    "I am...Long Xin."

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] Nickname for Evelina.

    [2] Another nickname for Evelina

 Chapter 112 - Problematic Situation

    <h4>Chapter 112 - Problematic Situation </h4>

    Iris woke up gasping. Her heart raced, pounding so hard and so loud, as if it wanted to jump out of her chest. She was soaked in her own sweat, yet her body felt ice-cold and shivered uncontrobly. Her teeth was even chattering.

    She looked around her familiar dark bedroom, trying to ascertain that everything was real, that she wasn¡¯t dreaming anymore. Remembering her nightmare...her breath hitched and she shuddered. It felt so real.

    Forgetting her own self was the most frightening feeling that she had ever experienced in her two lives. It felt like she wasn¡¯t alive, like she didn¡¯t exist, like she was nothing...no one.

    She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, focusing on the sound of the falling water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain to slowly calm her down. It took a long time before her heartbeat slowed and her body stopped shaking. She still felt cold but at least it became more bearable than when she just woke up.

    Now that she calmed down enough, she noticed that her body felt heavy. She also felt light-headed. Her lower abdomen was cramping and there was something wet and sticky between her thighs.

    She sighed and climbed off the bed. Her pyjama pants and bed sheets were stained with blood.

    Just walking was difficult. Everything ached and she felt a bit dizzy. Dragging her heavy body, every movement was a challenge.

    She first headed to her walk-in closet to get a clean pair of pyjamas and underwear. Then she headed to the bathroom, opened a drawer for a sanitary pad, and cleaned herself up before changing into her clean clothes. She noticed that she was bleeding a lot heavier this timepared to her previous periods.

    Panting from these simple actions, she leaned over the sink to wash the sweat off her face. Her reflection stared at her in the mirror, looking very pale...Long Xin¡¯s reflection.

    "I am Long Xin." Her voice was a whisper. She spoke again, this time louder and stronger. "This is me. I am real. My name is Long Xin."

    Staring at her own reflection in the mirror by herself started to spook her.

    She forced a smile.

    ¡¯What am I doing? It was just a dream, only a dream. No need to be so freaked out.¡¯

    She patted her face dry with a towel and headed back to her bed. She looked at the bloodstain on her bed sheets and sighed. Then she thought of something. She grabbed her duvet, gathered it in her arms, and went out of her bedroom.

    Silently and carefully, she opened the door to the cat room. She peeked and saw her two kittens sleeping peacefully. Ice Cream was curled into a ball on her own small fluffy bed, while Popcorn was sprawled on the carpet with his belly up and tiny feet stretched in weird positions.

    Iris smiled and entered the room, closing the door gently behind her. She walked to the sofa, nning to sleep there but changed her mind upon seeing the cute Popcorn. She ced the duvet on the carpet instead, and thenid down beside the sleeping kitten. She grabbed the other half of the duvet and covered herself.

    Her cramps were bing more painful, making it hard for her to find afortable position to sleep. However, she felt too lethargic to stay awake.

    Giving a gentle rub to Popcorn with a finger, her eyes drooped close and her breathing became steady. Momentster, she was asleep.

    ###

    Up in the sky over the Pacific Ocean.

    Jin Liwei was on-board his private jet, typing on hisptop while reviewing the documents in front of him. His assistant, Xu Tian, was on the other side of the aisle also working.

    A male flight attendant served each of them a cup of freshly brewed Saint Helena coffee. Jin Liwei acknowledged him with a nod and resumed his work. Xu Tian thanked the flight attendant and immediately sipped his cup.

    Jin Liwei only employed male flight attendants. There were female ones before when he bought his first private jet, but he fired all of them when they continuously tried to seduce him. They were so annoying, disturbing him every few minutes, offering this drink or that snack or the creepy "let me give you a massage, sir". He never had any moment of peace, so he decided to only employ male flight attendants.

    Unbeknownst to him, this decision of his fueled rumours that he was gay.

    Xu Tian stood up from his seat and carried hisptop to Jin Liwei¡¯s desk. "President, this is the bid proposal prepared by the Fans for our next business project."

    "Rejected." Jin Liwei didn¡¯t even look at it.

    Xu Tian was taken aback. He blinked, wondering if he heard his boss correctly. "Uh, President...how about take a look at it first? Isn¡¯t this project in the area of their expertise?"

    Jin Liwei stopped typing and looked at his assistant, his expression colder than usual. "My Jin Corporation will not have any further business with the Fans. We can¡¯t pull out of our current partnerships with them now, but the moment that our contracts end, we¡¯re done. We¡¯re not renewing. From now on, reject any proposals sent by them. No need to inform me. I give you my authority. Understood?"

    Xu Tian was confused. Through their connection with the Old Madam, the President¡¯s mother, the Fans enjoyed a close connection with the Jins. The Second Master was even engaged to marry Miss Fan Luo. Everyone was already expecting a closer connection between the two families especially in business after the two married. In fact, the Fans were already using their status as the future-inws of the Jins to win advantageous business deals.

    As if hearing his assistant¡¯s inner thoughts, Jin Liwei said, "I¡¯m the boss of Jin Corporation, not my brother. He doesn¡¯t even work at thepany and from what he tells us, he has no n on doing so in this life. Fan Luo is marrying Chonglin, not Jin Corporation. There is no reason why I should let the Fans invade mypany.

    Xu Tian didn¡¯t know what to say. He wondered why his boss was suddenly taking an antagonistic stance against the Fans. Then he remembered. He nced at his boss who was now sipping his coffee.

    It must be because of Miss Long.

    Xu Tian felt troubled. He could sense that his boss was falling more deeply for Miss Long by the day. He was happy for his boss who was finally showing some human emotions.

    The reality, however, was far from ideal.

    No matter how much one turned the world upside-down, it wouldn¡¯t change the fact that the President got himself in a problematic situation. He wondered if his boss would ever confess the truth to Miss Long, or would he bury the truth forever?

    "Uhm, President, how about you..." Xu Tian¡¯s swallowed his next words. He didn¡¯t have the courage to suggest for his boss to confess everything to Miss Long.

 Chapter 113 - Do You Miss Daddy?

    <h4>Chapter 113 - Do You Miss Daddy? </h4>

    Jin Liwei could guess what his assistant wanted to say. His lips pressed together and a trace of anxiety shed in his cold eyes. "I¡¯ll tell her everything," he said in a soft voice. "I just need the right timing."

    Xu Tian nodded and returned to his seat. He had trouble focusing on his work because he couldn¡¯t help but worry for his boss.

    In his opinion, it was better if the boss confessed the truth to Miss Long, the sooner the better. Although they already erased all traces of the truth, keeping such a big secret from one¡¯s beloved would definitely have a heavy emotional toll.

    Who would have thought that the President would fall for Miss Long, of all people?

    What kind of stroke of fate was this?

    A rtionship built on shaky ground wouldn¡¯tst long. No matter how grand and beautiful, if the foundations were weak, it would eventually copse. This kind of secret would fester in the heart and eat away the love.

    As he thought more about it, Xu Tian agreed with the President¡¯s decision to gradually cut off his ties with the Fans. But he couldn¡¯t cut them outpletely because it was a fact that they were going to be inws through the Second Master.

    Xu Tian sighed. What a mess!

    If only the Second Master wasn¡¯t marrying Miss Fan Luo, then the President would have more wiggle room to deal with the Fans without ruffling too many feathers.

    Who ever said that being members of the country¡¯s prominent families was easy?

    He could only pray that Miss Long would understand the President¡¯s reasoning for doing what he did. She was also a daughter of a prominent family, so she should be familiar with the obsession of safeguarding the family reputation.

    "Xu Tian, stop thinking about it. Focus on your work."

    He flinched, feeling guilty upon hearing his boss¡¯ admonishment. "Apologies, President."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it anymore. This is my problem. I¡¯ll deal with it myself."

    "Understood, President."

    Although Jin Liwei said such words to his assistant, inside he was in turmoil. His hands clenched into fists, trying to control his anxiety. For the first time in his life, he didn¡¯t feel confident and was afraid of rejection.

    He could only do his best to show Xin his feelings and make her fall for him enough that she would be able to forgive him once he confessed everything to her.

    Hopefully...

    ###

    Saturday.

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Originally, Iris was supposed to have a full schedule everyday promoting her new album immediately after the release day. But because of the incident with the rm Girls during theunch party, Bright Summit instructed her toy low for now.

    "Let our PR team handle the media storm. Don¡¯t post anything on social media," Tang Yiyi told her on the phone. "Don¡¯t worry. Thew is on our side. You did nothing wrong. What you did was legitimate self-defence. Besides, those rm Girls already have a previous record. Just take this time to rest up and be ready to return to work anytime."

    "I understand, Elder Sister Yiyi. Thank you."

    Iris was actually relieved that she didn¡¯t have to work at the moment. Of course, she was excited to promote her new album especially since she had been looking forward to it for so long.

    But she was not feeling well.

    She was listless and had no appetite. Yi Mei almost resorted to force-feeding her before she could persuade Iris to eat a few spoonful of food. The housekeeper was so worried and suggested that they call for Dr. Ching, but Iris waved her away, saying that it was just a bad case of menstruation and that she would feel better after her period.

    The good news was that her album "Rebirth" was selling like crazy, even though she couldn¡¯t actively promote it for now. Many stores were already sold out and ordered another batch from JJ¡¯s recordbel. It also topped the bestseller daily rankings in all the major online music stores.

    Perhaps the incident with the rm Girls wasn¡¯t so bad after all. It was certainly bringing a lot of publicity to Iris and her new album.

    The biggest reason for the demand for her album, however, was the slew of videos taken during theunch party. The videos were currently hot on the inte, not to mention the high praises from the fans who personally attended theunch party. They showed and bragged about Iris¡¯ breathtaking performances.

    The most popr was the one showing her singing in whistle register. Everyone was so amazed that almost all programs on TV and radio were talking about it the entire day. Even some of the newspapers made it their headlines.

    Many were already giving Iris Long titles such as "Nation¡¯s Voice", "Nation¡¯s Diva", "Nation¡¯s Talent," and even "Nation¡¯s Siren". Theizens, however, gave her the title "Nation¡¯s Lady Boss" for her gangster aura when she dealt with the rm Girls.

    It was only the second day since her album "Rebirth" wasunched, but it was already exceeding expectations. Iris Long, in particr, was the current hottest topic.

    While everyone was talking about her, the person herself didn¡¯t have the energy to care about all of these. She tried ying the piano, but she couldn¡¯t sit for too long. She triedposing, but she couldn¡¯t focus.

    She took Jin Liwei¡¯s list and went to herputer room. She could only finish one report before she decided to stop.

    Not used to being idle, she had no idea what to do. She suddenly wished that Jin Liwei woulde home sooner. She wanted to call him, to hear his voice, but couldn¡¯t because he should still be on the ne at the moment.

    She could only settle for the next best thing and spent almost the entire dayzing around with her kittens, ying with them with what little energy she could eke out.

    Irisid on the carpet in the cat room, an electric heating pad on her abdomen. Ice Cream was curled on top it, sleeping contentedly. Popcorn was, as usual, jumping all around, trying to get her to y with him.

    "Do you miss daddy?" she suddenly asked them, and then blushed when she realized what she just said.

    But her kittens surprised her.

    Ice Cream opened her eyes, looked at her and then meowed softly, replying to her, before returning to sleep. Popcorn also responded by giving a series of loud meows, as if demanding where his daddy was.

    Iris smiled and petted the two kittens. "I miss daddy, too."

 Chapter 114 - Are These My Kids?

    <h4>Chapter 114 - Are These My Kids? </h4>

    It was already evening when Jin Liwei¡¯s private jetnded in the country. He was exhausted but also extremely excited to finally see his baby girl. He missed her so much. He wanted to embrace her and kiss her as soon as possible, and also to congratte her for the release of her new album.

    His subordinates picked him and Xu Tian up from the airport. They were the ones who helped carry the purchases for the kittens before to Iris¡¯ condo unit and even ate dinner there.

    "Did you bring the things I instructed to be prepared?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Yes, Master. Everything is packed in the car."

    "Good. To the penthouse."

    Jin Liwei nned on taking a nap until they arrived at the condo. He was already feeling the effects of jetg. He was about to sleep when his eyes caught the news ying on a nearby public TV outside.

    "Wait." He stopped the driver who was about to start the car.

    He continued to watch the news on the big TV screen outside. He couldn¡¯t hear the audio, but the big texts were clear enough. Then he noticed the newspapers some of the people were reading.

    "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

    Why was his baby girl all over the news?

    His expression turned furious when the news program showed a video clip of his Xin being chased by a mic stand-wielding attacker. He was too consumed by fury watching this scene that the next video clips of her fighting back and even beating the attackers failed to register with him.

    "Find out what happened!" he ordered Xu Tian. "Who the hell attacked her?!"

    Xu Tian immediately obeyed, checking the news sites on his phone.

    His subordinate who was sitting on the front passenger seat cleared his throat.

    "Master, I know what happened. It¡¯s all over the news, especiallyst night when it happened."

    "Tell me."

    Then his subordinate exined everything that happened at theunch party ording to what was shared on the news. When he mentioned the rm Girls, Jin Liwei exploded.

    "It¡¯s them again?! Didn¡¯t I already tell you to destroy them? Why are they still bothering my Xin?!"

    "I apologize, President. I wasn¡¯t thorough enough in dealing with them," Xu Tian said. "I didn¡¯t expect that they¡¯ll attack Miss Long when they¡¯re already cklisted from showbiz."

    The atmosphere inside the car was very cold and tense. Nobody dared breathe too loudly or make any noise, afraid of angering their master even more.

    "Drive!"

    The driver immediately obeyed and the car started moving.

    Jin Liwei took deep breaths, trying to control his fury. He wanted to hunt those three girls and strangle them himself. He was about to call Xin on the phone and hear what really happened from her own words, but decided that it was better to wait until he saw her and talk in person.

    Simmering in fury, he felt that the drive was taking too long. Damn the traffic!

    Finally, they arrived in front of the condo building. He called his baby girl but she wasn¡¯t answering his call. He tried a couple more times before giving up. Perhaps her phone wasn¡¯t with her. So he called Dominic instead.

    Dominic picked up quickly. His excited voice could be heard by the others inside the car even when the phone wasn¡¯t on speaker. He was so excited that he even went down to the lobby to pick up Jin Liwei in person.

    ###

    Prokofiev¡¯s "Dance of the Knights" yed inside the cat room.

    Irisid on the sofa, still feeling a little unwell, waving a teaser toy in time with the music¡¯s aggressive melody. The two kittens were ying, trying to catch the feathers at the end of the toy.

    Ice Cream was already very graceful, even if her tiny feet were not stable yet. She would observe the prey first, calcting the best time to pounce. Smart girl. Unfortunately, she was still too small. Iris imagined that Ice Cream¡¯s judgment might already be urate based on the initial trajectory of her jumps, but her body couldn¡¯t keep up yet. Nheless, the kitten already had the makings of a calctive hunter.

    Her brother Popcorn, on the other hand, was like a brainless buffoon jumping all around without any sense. He would often crash against the furniture and the floor. There were times that he would even forget that he was chasing the teaser toy and just continue to jump around until he reached the corner of room and crashed against the wall. He would cry pitifully until he saw his sister Ice Cream still ying with the toy. He would immediately run back and start ying again happily.

    Iris wondered if Ice Cream absorbed all the brain power while the siblings were still in their mother¡¯s womb, leaving nothing for her brother. Although Popcorn wasn¡¯t too smart, he had a lot of energy. Too much energy, in fact. He would still be raring to y more when Ice Cream already had enough and went back to sleeping.

    These differences between their personalities made Iris adore her kittens all the more. She was d that she adopted them. She wanted pets in her previous life, but her mother didn¡¯t allow her, telling her that pets would make her more softhearted than she already was.

    The original Iris had a few pets before, but they didn¡¯tst long with her. She would y with them like dolls for a few days before getting bored. Then she would just end up giving them away.

    Now in this new life, she was able to aplish this simple dream of having pets.

    The two kittens suddenly stopped ying and ran to the door. Ice Cream sat and stared at the closed door quietly while Popcorn was scratching it and meowing loudly.

    "Hm?" Iris watched their actions in confusion.

    Then the door opened revealing Jin Liwei.

    Their eyes met.

    This time, Iris actually noticed her heart skipping a beat. He was back. She wanted to run to him and jump in his arms but was toozy to get up. Well, it was only a few steps. The man could reach her more quickly with his long legs. So she continued toy on the sofa like a queen waiting to be served.

    Jin Liwei was about to walk to her when he felt something on his leg. He saw a small orange fur ball climbing up his pants. It was meowing nonstop. On the ground was another small grey fur ball staring up at him without blinking.

    He bent down and scooped them up in each of his hands. "Hm? Are these my kids? Why are they so fat?"

 Chapter 115 - Snapped At Him

    <h4>Chapter 115 - Snapped At Him </h4>

    "Not fat, just healthier," Iris corrected him. "They were too thin when we got them."

    "Hmm..." Jin Liwei carried the two kittens and walked to her.

    Ice Cream quickly rubbed her head against his hand, then got bored just as quickly. She remained still, looking at the floor, silently indicating that she wanted to be set down. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t notice her attempt at silentmunication. Popcorn continued to climb from his hand to his shirt, meowing loudly, as if demanding where his daddy went, why he was gone for so long.

    Jin Liwei set the two kittens gently on the floor. Ice Cream immediately walked to her fluffy bed and fell asleep. Popcorn tried catching his daddy¡¯s attention but soon gave up. Daddy was too preupied with mommy.

    Jin Liwei leaned down to finally gather his baby girl in his embrace, kissing her hungrily on the mouth.

    Iris wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, but then pushed him back and moved her face away after just a few seconds.

    He tried kissing her again but she blocked his mouth with a hand.

    "You didn¡¯t miss me?" he asked, a little hurt.

    "Of course I did. I missed you."

    "Then why?"

    She looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the universe. "So if I don¡¯t let you kiss me more, that means I don¡¯t miss you? What kind of stupid rule is that? Search it up and let me see! I¡¯ll give that stupid person who made that stupid rule a piece of my mind."

    He didn¡¯t know how to respond. Why was she in such a bad mood? She was usually very receptive to his kisses and touches. Was it because he was gone for too long? Or was it because of the incident during herunch party? Did the incident affect her too much?

    Feeling wary of her, he asked, "Are you angry?"

    "Of course not. Why would I be angry? Don¡¯t be stupid."

    Uh...how should he proceed? Something was really off about her today. It felt like any wrong move or wrong word and she would bite his head off.

    Then she suddenly spread her arms and smiled at him. "Hug me."

    Although he was still confused, he immediately obeyed. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her hair. "I missed you so much," he murmured.

    "I missed you, too." Then after a couple of seconds, she pushed him away again. "Okay, that¡¯s enough."

    He couldn¡¯t stop the hurt expression from showing on his face.

    She didn¡¯t bother toment, instead telling him, "Wee home."

    Instantly, he felt much better. His mouth curved into a smile. "I¡¯m back, baby."

    "Okay, you can kiss me."

    He immediately kissed her before she changed her mind. This time, she let him kiss her longer. He poured all his longing for her in the kiss, showing her how much he missed her. His hand crawled to one of her breasts and squeezed lightly.

    "Ouch! It hurts! YOU WANT TO DIE?!!!"

    Iris pushed him away with all her might. He fell backward on the floor. He stayed sitting on his butt, looking at her with a stupefied expression. He didn¡¯t even squeeze her that hard.

    She was ring at him so fiercely that he felt cold sweat on his back.

    "I...sorry." He had no idea what was going on but he instinctively apologized. "I¡¯m sorry, baby."

    "Okay." Her expression returned to normal, smiling at him again. Then she asked him about his trip, the flight, whether he had eaten or not, and why he came to the penthouse directly from the airport instead of going to his house first.

    He cautiously got up from the floor and sat down beside her on the sofa. He kept his hands to himself.

    She was her usual calm and amiable self, talking to him. Jin Liwei almost felt that it was just his imagination that she exploded earlier. He wanted to interrogate her about the incident at theunch party, but decided that this might not be the right time, especially since he was still unsure of her mood. His earlier fury during the drive home had to be temporarily suppressed in front of her.

    He held her hand, acting very cautious. Holding her hand should be okay, right? He waited and when she didn¡¯t snap at him, he released a breath of relief he didn¡¯t notice he was holding. Then he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. Again, he waited. And again, he sighed in relief when she didn¡¯t push him away.

    "Congrattions on the release of your album," he told her, looking directly at her eyes. "I¡¯m so proud of you, baby."

    She smiled. "Thank you. I¡¯m happy."

    "I had my men buy several copies of your album as soon as it was released. Even if I wasn¡¯t physically here that time, I wanted to be one of the first people to buy it."

    "Why didn¡¯t you just tell me? I could¡¯ve requested some copies for you from the recordbel."

    "No need. I want to support you this way. You have to sign my copies."

    "Sure."

    "Sign them ¡¯darling¡¯."

    "No way."

    "Please, baby?"

    She scowled. "I said no!"

    "..."

    He didn¡¯t dare say anything more, afraid of triggering her again.

    Then she tilted her head, looking at him. "Fine. But I¡¯ll only sign one with ¡¯darling¡¯. The others, I¡¯ll just write your name. Okay?"

    He quickly nodded. "Yes, yes. Of course. Thank you, baby."

    "And I¡¯ll kill you if you show that one copy to others."

    He blinked. Was her baby girl always this vicious? He knew she was brutally honest, but he never knew about this poison tongue of hers. But he still nodded, showing her that he agreed with her. He sighed in relief when he saw her pleased smile.

    A knock on the door.

    "Come in," Iris said.

    Xu Tian and Jin Liwei¡¯s two men entered. They lugged three huge boxes with them. They greeted the couple.

    "You can set them up now," Jin Liwei ordered.

    The three men immediately went to work, opening the boxes and taking out various weird-looking things.

    "My present for the kids," Jin Liwei exined when he saw her confused expression. "I got a Canadian pet designer to design and manufacture it for me."

    "Oh."

    Jin Liwei also helped while instructing everyone on where to ce what. She watched in interest as the men started setting up an intricate structure consisting of interconnected towers, houses, bridges, scratching posts, and ygrounds for the kittens throughout the entire room.

    When they were finished, Iris forgot her lethargy and stood up, marveling at the cat room¡¯s transformation. The ce transformed into a cat wondend.

    She scooped Ice Cream (awoken by all the activity) and Popcorn (still hopping all around) up in her arms.

    "Look what daddy got you!" she announced to them.

 Chapter 116 - Just Like Candies

    <h4>Chapter 116 - Just Like Candies </h4>

    After the cat wondend was set up, the men ate ate dinner. Dom, of course, the one with the bottomless stomach ate again, even though he already ate with the rest of the household earlier.

    Iris apanied them for about five minutes before excusing herself to the bedroom.

    Jin Liwei watched her go, concerned. He noticed that she was listless and sometimes even looked like she was in pain. He asked her about it, she gave a straight answer.

    "I have my period. My cramps are very painful this time."

    Xu Tian choked on his food and coughed violently. Jin Liwei¡¯s two subordinates remained expressionless, but a suspicious red flush crept up from their necks to their ears. Jin Liwei was also speechless. He red at the three, silently using them for not covering their ears in time. It was certainly their fault, not his baby girl¡¯s for being too brutally honest.

    When Iris left, Jin Liwei turned to her assistant who was currently shoving big spoonful of food into his mouth. Dom immediately understood and swallowed everything. Then he started spilling everything that happened during theunch party.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned cker the longer he listened. Thank goodness that his Fourth Brother¡¯s teachings seemed to be effective and his baby girl was able to sessfully apply her Systema skills in real life. If she wasn¡¯t equipped with any self-defence skills, then those b*tches would¡¯ve already smashed her with those mic stands. He would make sure that those three b*tches would be punished and far away from his baby girl.

    After dinner, he headed to the bedroom followed by his men lugging suitcases. Dom also called some of the maids to help out.

    Iris was on the bed resting, trying to find afortable position. She looked at the group and at the many suitcases, a question in her eyes.

    "My clothes and other stuff," he exined. "So I won¡¯t have to carry a sleepover bag every time I stay here."

    She looked at him, silent.

    He waited. Everyone waited for her decision.

    "You¡¯re moving in?" she asked.

    "I guess."

    "Yes or no."

    He took a deep breath. "Yes, I¡¯m moving in."

    She stared at him again. He had the urge to squirm under her intense gaze but stopped himself. He waited patiently without moving, like everyone else.

    "If you¡¯re moving in, you¡¯ll have to pay for half of the household expenses."

    "Of course!" His face was bright. "I¡¯ll even pay for everything, if you want."

    "What did you say?!" She suddenly sat up, mming a hand on a pillow. Her face contorted in anger, as she shouted at him. "You think I can¡¯t afford my own household?! Are you looking down on me, Jin Liwei?! You dare insult me this way?!"

    Everyone shrank back, almost wanting to run away and escape from the room. They all looked at Jin Liwei, mentally pushing him forward to fix the situation.

    ¡¯Why did you have to anger her? Do something! The Young Miss is too scary!" they all thought.

    Jin Liwei was taken aback at her sudden rage. For a few moments, he didn¡¯t know what to do. He felt a sense of danger if he didn¡¯t calm her down soon. He gathered all the courage he could muster and stepped forward.

    "Baby, I didn¡¯t mean it that way. I¡¯m sorry. I absolutely have no intention of insulting you. Believe me." He edged closer and cautiously sat down on the bed. He prayed that she could see his sincerity.

    "I¡¯ll pay half. Nothing more, nothing less. Forget about the other thing I said. It was careless and stupid. Okay, baby?"

    "Hmph!" She turned to the rest of the group. "Bring the suitcases to my closet and make space for his things."

    They hurriedly did her bidding, quickly escaping, afraid that she would explode again.

    "Go take a shower," she told Jin Liwei after the group left.

    "Okay, baby. Thank you." He tried his luck and leaned forward to kiss her.

    She stayed still and allowed his lips a quick peck before pushing him away.

    He sighed but didn¡¯t push it.

    Iris saw the sad expression on his face and felt guilty. She pressed herself against his chest and hugged him. "Sorry. I don¡¯t feel like myself today. I¡¯ll be fine after a few days."

    He kissed her forehead, already feeling so much better. He hugged her as well, careful to keep his touch as light as possible. "Don¡¯t worry. I understand. I¡¯m d I¡¯m home."

    She looked up and smiled softly. "Me too." Then her expression turned annoyed. "Go now." She plopped herself back on the bed, ignoring him.

    "..."

    He had no choice but to drag his pitiful self to the bathroom.

    After his shower, his baby girl wasn¡¯t on the bed anymore. He found her in the walk-in closet, instructing everyone where to put his stuff. She would take things from his suitcase and look at them with curiosity.

    He entered, wearing nothing except for the bath towel around his waist. Xu Tian and the two subordinates didn¡¯t react. Dom gasped loudly, covering his mouth with his hands in an exaggerated manner. The maids blushed and quickly avoided looking in his direction.

    Iris saw the maids¡¯ reaction and scowled. "You can all leave now," she said.

    Everyone scurried out, making sure to close the door behind them. They were afraid that she would direct her line of fire at them.

    She continued to ignore him, organizing his remaining things herself. Jin Liwei had no choice but to put on his pyjamas in silence.

    Iris removed a pair of folded pants from the suitcase and a small box fell off.

    "Hm?" She picked it up. She read thebel. She blinked.

    It was a box of condoms.

    Then she noticed that there were more at the bottom of the suitcase. She removed the clothes on top.

    Lo and behold!

    About a hundred boxes of condoms greeted her sight. They were in different types, colours and vours.

    Huh? Condoms had vours, too?

    How interesting.

    Just like candies.

 Chapter 117 - We Wonâ€™t Need Them!

    <h4>Chapter 117 - We Won¡¯t Need Them! </h4>

    Jin Liwei finished putting on pyjamas and then noticed his Xin looking at something in his suitcase. He walked closer and his eyes almost popped out when he saw the sheer number of condoms.

    He cursed his butler in his head. Did his butler raid a store or something? Why did he pack so many?

    While he was still in Toronto, he called his butler at home to pack luggage for him, exining that he was going to stay at his girlfriend¡¯s ce after he returned to the country.

    The poor butler was so shocked that he wasn¡¯t able to react in time. He wanted to confirm whether the Master really said "girlfriend" and not "boyfriend". Then he almost had a heart attack when Jin Liwei instructed him to include condoms with the luggage.

    Jin Liwei hung up before the butler could rify the instructions. Not knowing what kind of condoms his master wanted, the butler ordered almost every kind. His master could just test everything and then tell himter on what suited him and his mysterious girlfriend the best, so that he could just buy more of it next time.

    Iris looked at him, holding a couple of boxes in her hands. "Exin."

    He wanted to tell her that it wasn¡¯t his idea, that it was his butler¡¯s, but was worried that it would trigger her and snap at him again. She might use him of pushing the me on other people, so he decided to just own it up.

    "It¡¯s for us to use, baby."

    "I know, but why do you have so many? And there are so many kinds. What are these vours? Banana? Papaya? Seaweed? Spaghetti? Chili pepper? Are you supposed to eat these? Do you have a condom fetish? You¡¯re so weird."

    His mind nked for a couple of seconds before heat crawled up his neck. "Of course not! And we¡¯re not going to use those other freaky vours."

    He almost told her that if she didn¡¯t like condoms, then he was fine without them. If she wanted babies this early, he wouldn¡¯t mind. But he was able to stop himself in time. He had a feeling that she would explode on him again if he told her this. He cleared his throat.

    "They¡¯re...to add spice to our lovemaking. Yes, that¡¯s it. They¡¯re supposed to enhance our enjoyment."

    "Hmm..." She looked at the boxes in the suitcase again. She was very curious about them. However, she wasn¡¯t really in the mood to investigate at the moment. "Put them in the bedside table drawer. I¡¯m returning to bed. I¡¯m tired."

    "Okay, baby. Rest up. I¡¯ll take care of the rest." Jin Liwei immediately went to work.

    She walked away but then stopped, turned around and said, "You haven¡¯t shown me your STD test results yet. No sex until then."

    He froze. "Baby, I already told you I don¡¯t have STD. I¡¯ve never had sex with anyone before you."

    "It¡¯s just a simple test. Just do it and give me the results. How hard is that? You don¡¯t want to do it? Fine, I guess we¡¯ll both be virgins in this rtionship then! Burn those useless condoms since we won¡¯t need them!" She huffed and marched off, leaving him no chance to reply.

    Jin Liwei was speechless. He stood there like an idiot for about a minute before grabbing his phone. He dialed and waited.

    "Hello?" Wang Yingjie¡¯s voice answered on the other end of the line.

    "Second Brother, I need to get tested for STDs."

    "Ah? Third Brother, is this really you?"

    "Yes. You¡¯re a doctor. Tell me how to get tested for STDs."

    Wang Yingjie was silent for a few seconds. "Why do you need to get tested? Do you think you contracted anything? If so, this is serious."

    "No." Jin Liwei exined to his friend that his girlfriend, Xin, required him to get tested before allowing them to have sex.

    Wang Yingjieughed. "Wise girl. Alright, I understand. I¡¯m a surgeon so this isn¡¯t my area of expertise, but I¡¯ll refer you to a colleague of mine. He¡¯s discreet so you don¡¯t have to worry. When do you want to get tested?"

    "As soon as possible."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll call you when everything¡¯s set up."

    "Thanks." Jin Liwei hesitated but decided to go for it. He cleared his throat. "Second Brother, is it normal for women to be angry all the time when they¡¯re on their, er, period? Like...their personality is so different from normal."

    "Well, try bleeding from your organ for a few days and see if you don¡¯t feel angry too."

    "Oh."

    Wang Yingjie chuckled. "Yes, it¡¯s normal. It¡¯s due to hormone imbnces. Just be patient with her. It¡¯ll pass. And maybe she¡¯s also feeling stressed right now. I heard what happened to herst night. Don¡¯t add to her stress."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes turned cold as he was reminded by the incident during theunch party. He suppressed his fury. His Second Brother was right. He shouldn¡¯t add to his baby girl¡¯s stress at the moment. "I understand. Thanks, Second Brother."

    "No problem. Anytime. Let¡¯s hang out with the others sometime. You can bring Xin again if she wants to."

    The brothers hung up.

    Jin Liwei gathered all the condom boxes in a stic bag and walked out of the closet. He found his baby girl on the bed being massaged by Yi Mei. The housekeeper fussed and lectured about the traditional ways to take care of the body during menstruation.

    Good thing the stic bag wasn¡¯t translucent. If the old housekeeper saw what was inside it, there was a high chance that she would go crazy and murder the lusty brat.

    He ced the stic on the floor. At least he had the sense not to transfer the contents from the stic to the bedside drawer in front of the housekeeper. He would do itter when she left.

    "Teach me how to massage her," he asked the housekeeper.

    Yi Mei paused, not knowing how to respond. She turned to the Young Miss.

    "Go ahead." Iris sighed. "If he wants to learn, let him."

    Yi Mei had no choice but to teach the lusty brat.

 Chapter 118 - LX

    <h4>Chapter 118 - LX </h4>

    After teaching Jin Liwei, Yi Mei left the two alone in the bedroom. The housekeeper looked visibly reluctant to leave and couldn¡¯t help but throw warning looks at the lusty brat, to which Jin Liwei failed to notice. He was preupied in massaging his Xin.

    "Be gentler!" Iris pped his hands.

    "Sorry," he mumbled. He made sure to control the strength in his hands.

    She felt guilty for snapping at him. "Sorry. I don¡¯t feel well today."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it."

    "You must be exhausted from the long flight and yet I¡¯m having you massage me."

    "Like I said, don¡¯t worry about it. Anything for my baby."

    "Thanks." She stretched out her arms, inviting him for an embrace.

    Of course he epted, hugging her like she was his most precious treasure.

    "Oh, I almost forgot. I got you something. Wait here," he said.

    He carefully released her, and then headed to the walk-in closet. Momentster, he returned carrying two small velvet boxes.

    Iris sat up, curious.

    Jin Liwei opened the box which was slightly smaller than the other one. It was a tinum bangle. A dragon and a phoenix were lightly yet intricately carved on the surface of the entire bangle, facing each other as if looking at one another¡¯s souls. The centre of the bangle had a rose gold finish with the letters "LX" delicately engraved in an interlocked manner.

    "For you."

    She studied the bangle, admiring the exquisite design.

    "Let me," he said before she could reach for it. He fastened it carefully around her left wrist.

    "It¡¯s beautiful," she whispered, smiling softly. Then she looked at him. "Thank you."

    He opened the other box. It was another bangle, but this time it was bigger and thicker. The design was exactly the same as hers but this one had a ck rhodium finish in the centre rather than rose gold. "Put it on me?" he asked. "Okay." She took the bigger bangle and put it around his left wrist as well.

    They ced their wrists side-by-side, their matching bangles glinting in the light.

    "Why matching ones?" she asked. "You really like matching things, don¡¯t you? You made us wear matching outfits on our first date and now you got us this matching bangles."

    He smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "These are called couple¡¯s bracelets...well, in this case I got us bangles instead."

    "For what reason?"

    "Tomemorate our rtionship, baby. And they also serve as concrete symbols and proof that we¡¯re together."

    "Oh. Just like wedding rings. But without the marriage."

    His smile widened, his gaze on her bing more intense. "Yes, baby. Just like wedding rings. You like them?"

    "Yes. Thank you." She leaned forward and gave a lingering peck on his lips.

    Jin Liwei wanted more, to kiss her more deeply, but controlled his desire instead before he lost control of it. He didn¡¯t want her to push him away again. He didn¡¯t want her getting angry at him. This was such a sweet moment. He didn¡¯t want to ruin it because of his insatiable hunger for her. And besides, he was realizing that these light touches and gentle gestures of intimacy could actually feel even more sensual than their usual intense kissing and touching.

    The kiss ended.

    He inwardly sighed.

    She studied the engraving on her bangle.

    "What¡¯s LX?" she asked. "The Roman numeral 60? Is 60 important? Oh, my initials? Long Xin?"

    "Not 60, baby. You can also consider it as your initials. But it¡¯s actually both of our initials. LX is for Liwei and Xin."

    "Oh."

    "Imissioned a Canadian jewelry designer to make it for us while I was in Toronto. Good thing she finished it in time."

    "I see." In a good mood, she held his hands. "Tell me what you want."

    "Hm?" He didn¡¯t know what she meant.

    "You gave me this beautiful bangle. I also want to give you something."

    His mouth curved into a teasing smile. "Baby, I only want you."

    She frowned. "That¡¯s not what I mean. What gift do you want to receive from me?"

    "I already answered. I only want you, baby. You¡¯re more than enough to make me happy."

    She pursed her lips, but inside a warm and nice feeling flowed all over, making her feel good. But she continued to ask him. "Would you like a watch? Shoes? New car...no, I¡¯m not going to buy you a car. Hmm... This is actually hard. My boyfriend is a billionaire and I don¡¯t know what to give him. You can literally buy whatever you want."

    "Don¡¯t overthink. Whatever you give me, I¡¯ll surely like."

    "Hmm..." Iris ignored him, continuing to think of what return gift to get him while stroking her new bangle.

    Jin Liwei tested his luck and scooted nearer her, cautiously wrapping his arms around her. He released a breath of relief when she didn¡¯t push him away. He kissed her forehead and released her.

    "Why don¡¯t you lie down again and I¡¯ll continue to massage you?" he suggested.

    "Oh, okay. Thanks."

    He poured massage oil on his hands, rubbing them together, and began massaging her again like how the housekeeper taught him earlier. He made sure to monitor her expression. He would immediately lighten his touch whenever she showed even just a tiny hint of difort.

    "I don¡¯t want to get you something that you can easily buy for yourself," she told him. "How about this? If you have a major need for a hacker¨D" She coughed. "I mean, for a puter expert¡¯, then just call me. I won¡¯t charge you. But only for one time, okay? If you need me more than once, you¡¯ll have to pay. But since you¡¯re my boyfriend, I¡¯ll give you a small discount. I¡¯m expensive, you know."

    He chuckled.

    "Why are youughing?! You think I¡¯m joking?! Jin Liwei, are you looking down on me?!!!"

    He immediately froze, mentally cursing himself for being careless. "No, baby. I was actually agreeing with you. Don¡¯t be angry."

    "Really?"

    "Yes. I¡¯ll never look down on you," he said. Not ever again. He already made that stupid mistake before of judging her character too early before personally knowing her.

    Long Xin was now his woman. And she was the most amazing woman he had ever met in his life. She was his. And he was hers. He would show her and prove to her that despite of all the things that happened in the past, they belonged together.

    "Mmn...¡¯kay," she murmured.

    He massaged her until she fell asleep. Then he put the boxes of condoms in the drawers of their bedside table. He already discarded all the ones with weird vours. There was no way he was going to use the chili pepper one. What was his butler thinking?

    When he was done, he turned off all the lights and climbed under the covers beside his sleeping baby girl. Only the dim golden lights from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain remained.

    He carefully pulled his Xin in his arms. Sighing in satisfaction, he fell asleep.

 Chapter 119 - Collapsed

    <h4>Chapter 119 - Copsed </h4>

    White mist was everywhere. There was no direction. No up or down, left or right. It was just endless white mist.

    She walked on without stopping, neither fast nor slow. Her footsteps were even and regr, almost mechanical in how uniform they were. Her body moved on its own ord, feeling nothing.

    Her eyes were nk. So was her mind.

    Who was she?

    She had no idea.

    Where was she going?

    She didn¡¯t know.

    So she walked nonstop because that was the only thing she was capable of. She didn¡¯t even notice whether she was still breathing or not.

    Was she even alive? What was being alive?

    "...aby..."

    On she walked.

    "...ba...by..."

    Hm? She paused. What was that? The silence in this ce of mist felt absolute. When she didn¡¯t hear anything more, she resumed walking.

    "...baby girl...please...wake up..."

    Suddenly, her unfeeling body started hurting. Cold permeated her bones, making her shake violently without control.

    "...baby...Baby!"

    Iris was jolted awake, gasping for breath. It felt like there was something punching hard from inside her chest repeatedly trying to escape. She shook all over, drenched in her own cold sweat.

    "Are you awake? Baby, answer me! Please don¡¯t scare me like this."

    Jin Liwei held his shaking girlfriend in his arms. She felt ice-cold to the touch. He could even hear the sound of her teeth chattering. Fear and worry gripped his heart as he checked her. When he saw her eyes finally open, he felt relieved.

    "Baby, talk to me. Can you tell me what happened?"

    She was still feeling foggy, her mental state flitting between dream and reality. She wanted to move but her body felt heavy. It wasn¡¯t listening to her. She was shaking so hard, as if her body wanted to squeeze and toss her out of it. There was a feeling of disconnection between herself and the body.

    Jin Liwei continued to talk to her even when she was unresponsive. He rubbed her back and arms, trying to warm her cold body up.

    Finally, her body gradually calmed down. Jin Liwei¡¯s voice soothed her, and it felt like it was her only connection to the real world. It felt like she could fall back into that dream at any moment and never return.

    This was the second time that she experienced this. What was going on? She began to feel afraid. What would happen if this became a regr urrence? Would she still be able to wake up next time?

    "Just a dream...it was just a dream..." she mumbled to herself, chanting it over and over, convincing herself that there was no need to feel afraid.

    "Yes, baby. It was only a dream. Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re okay."

    She finally realized that she was in Jin Liwei¡¯s arms. "Liwei...darling..."

    "I¡¯m here, baby. I won¡¯t leave you."

    She buried herself in his chest, wrapping her arms around him so tight, making sure that he was real. That he was there with her. That she wasn¡¯t dreaming anymore.

    Her tight embrace hurt, but he didn¡¯tin. He just rubbed her back gently, trying to rx her. "Are you feeling better now?"

    He felt her nod.

    "Good girl," he said, kissing the top of her head.

    She stiffened and then pushed him away. The memory of her previous nightmare rushed in her mind. It was as if she could hear many voices shrieking "Good girl! Good girl!" at her again.

    "Never call me ¡¯good girl¡¯ ever again! Never! I don¡¯t want to hear those words again! Do you understand?! I hate ¡¯good girl¡¯!"

    He was confused at her sudden outburst, but when she started gasping for breath again, he panicked. "Yes, yes. I¡¯ll never call you ¡¯good girl¡¯ again. Baby, tell me what¡¯s happening. You¡¯re scaring me. Please..." He hugged her, trying to calm her down again.

    Iris had no idea how much time passed, but Jin Liwei knew from the clock that it had been more than an hour since she woke up.

    When she calmed down again, she felt exhausted. Jin Liwei already wiped the sweat from her body, so she knew that the wet feeling on her lower body wasn¡¯t sweat. She sighed.

    "I need to go to the bathroom."

    "Alright." He climbed off the bed and then carried her princess-style to the bathroom. He saw the big bloodstain on the bed sheets and on her pyjama pants but didn¡¯tment. However, he wondered if it was normal for women on their period to bleed so much.

    Inside the bathroom, he carefully set her down. She was still shaky, but pushed him out of the door. He didn¡¯t want to leave her, mentally debating whether to listen to her request or to insist on staying with her. In the end, he remembered his Second Brother¡¯s advice on the phone earlier. He shouldn¡¯t add to his girlfriend¡¯s stress. Reluctantly, he left her alone in the bathroom after delivering a clean set of clothing to her. He made sure to leave the door ajar so that he coulde instantly if she needed him.

    Jin Liwei was bone-tired from not having enough rest from his trip. However, all thoughts of sleep already flew out of his mind with her current worrying condition.

    The bathroom door finally opened. Iris looked extremely pale. Huge drops of sweat dripped down her face. She was holding on to the door frame.

    "Baby?"

    "Liwei...I..."

    She copsed.

    "Baby!" He caught her before she could hit the floor. "Xin, baby? Wake up! Baby, please. No no no. This is not happening."

    He felt terrified. Why did she look so lifeless? He checked her pulse and her breathing. He was relieved that she was still alive, but her vitals seemed weak.

    He carried her to the bed and called Dom on the phone. Dom¡¯s voice sounded sleepy when he answered. Jin Liwei had no time to exin, immediately instructing the assistant to quickly prepare a car to drive her boss to the hospital.

    The entire household was awoken by Dom¡¯s wailing. Both he and Yi Mei found Jin Liwei carrying their unconscious Young Miss out of the bedroom to the living area.

    Yi Meipletely lost it. She charged forward and hit Jin Liwei with her fists while crying. "You devil! What did you do to the Young Miss?! I knew it! You¡¯re no good! If something happens to the Young Miss, I¡¯ll kill you! I swear that even if I¡¯m cursed by the heavens, I¡¯ll kill you!"

    "Grandma Yi Mei, please stop!" Dom pulled the raging housekeeper away.

    "We need to get Xin to the hospital. Quickly!" He didn¡¯t have the time or the energy to care about the housekeeper. All his mind was focused on his baby girl.

    Everyone moved swiftly. Just momentster, they were on their way to the hospital.

 Chapter 120 - Iâ€™ll Fly With You

    <h4>Chapter 120 - I¡¯ll Fly With You </h4>

    On the road.

    Inside the car.

    It was still dark outside, only a few minutes past 3 AM.

    The driver drove under pressure to reach the hospital as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it was still too early and only a few cars were on the road.

    Dom sat on the front passenger seat while Jin Liwei cradled Iris in his arms at the backseat. Yi Mei had to be left behind because she was too distressed and would probably continue to attack Jin Liwei again if given the chance.

    Iris finally regained consciousness. However, she still looked pale and extremely weak.

    "Baby!"

    "Boss!" Dom was sobbing, his eyes and nose were red and swollen.

    Jin Liwei kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

    She was in a state of confusion, so she stayed quiet and didn¡¯t reply to him. When her mind cleared a bit, she focused on Jin Liwei¡¯s face.

    "Liwei..."

    "Yes, baby. I¡¯m here."

    Her eyes looked sad and shiny. Then she whispered, "Are you going to cage me too?"

    He didn¡¯t understand.

    "Tell me." She grabbed his arm, her grip weak. "Are you like them? Are you going to restrict me too? Imprison me? Are you?"

    He didn¡¯t know who "them" were. Was she talking about the Longs? Maybe this was why she was estranged with them?

    He suspected that she was in some sort of a delirious state but he didn¡¯t want to agitate her any further, so he answered honestly.

    "I want to," he said.

    Her face dropped. Her eyes went nk. It looked as if the world ended based on her expression alone. Her hand on his arm dropped down limply.

    "But I can¡¯t," he added. He gently swept a lock of hair from her forehead and then cupped the side of her face, silently urging her to look in his eyes. "I want to keep you all to myself, to be the only important existence in your life. But I can¡¯t. You are too magnificent. It will be a grave sin to deprive the world from witnessing your brilliance. You are born to shine, Long Xin."

    He leaned forward and gave a light kiss on her cold lips. "If you want to fly, I¡¯ll fly with you. But I have my limits. When I can¡¯t fly with you because of these limits, you go ahead and fly as far and as high as you can. But please, I beg you, alwayse back to me. You can do whatever you want, but don¡¯t forget toe back to me when you¡¯re done."

    Tears flowed down her face. She shakily pulled his head towards her and kissed him.

    This man...she hoped that he was true.

    She nuzzled against the crook of his neck. She still felt unwell, but his words somehow soothed her. Momentster, she fell asleep.

    ###

    In a big, private hospital.

    Same luxurious hotel-like room where Iris stayed when she wasatose a year ago.

    It was taking all of Dr. Ching¡¯s effort to maintain a professional expression on his face as he exined his patient¡¯s condition to the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world at the moment. He couldn¡¯t believe that he was meeting CEO Jin.

    This was THE Jin Liwei, President-CEO of Jin Corporation! And the man was wearing his pyjamas! What was more, the CEO was with a woman Dr. Ching would think to be thest person the business leader would be with.

    "Miss Long¡¯s outward physical condition is mostly recovered. However, her immune system is still very vulnerable," he exined to the cold-faced man in front of him. "It has only been a year since she woke up froma after all. Any sudden change or intense stimulus may trigger a copse of her constitution. In this case, I would say that due to umted exhaustion, stress, and perhaps experiencing unfamiliar situations within a short period of time resulted in extreme hormonal imbnces. This may exin her unusual heavy menstrual bleeding which then resulted to her current anemic condition. This is why she fainted. This kind of anemia should be temporary as long as she gets sufficient rest, continue her healthy lifestyle, and avoid too much stress. We will need to monitor her next menstrual cycles to determine whether this heavy bleeding is just a one-time thing or if this is a symptom of a more serious issue."

    "I understand," Jin Liwei replied. "Please take care of Xin, Doctor."

    "Of course. She is my patient and it¡¯s my duty as her doctor."

    Jin Liwei nodded, and then looked at the pale girl currently sleeping on the bed. He reached down and stroked her cheek gently.

    The doctor was dying with curiosity inside to know about the rtionship between the two. From what the doctor was seeing in front of him, he could sense that the two were lovers. And were his eyes ying tricks on him or the two had matching bangles on their wrists? Coincidence that they had the same jewelry design?

    Was that a tender look on the CEO¡¯s face? It was hard to tell because of the CEO¡¯s perpetual cial expression. He wanted to ask so badly, but discretion was always an important part of his job and the reason why he was chosen by the wealthy to be their doctor.

    Swallowing his curiosity, he performed a final check on Iris before excusing himself out of the room.

    There were only the two of them left alone in the big hospital room. Dom was downstairs taking care of all the paperwork and paying for whatever needed to be paid.

    Jin Liwei called his two subordinates, and they arrived at the hospital within an hour. He instructed them to guard the private room and make sure that nobody was snooping around.

    Jetg and exhaustion were finally catching up to him. He could barely keep his eyes open. His body felt heavy. He carefully climbed beside his baby girl and pulled the nket over both of them. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

 Chapter 121 Son - in

    <h4>Chapter 121 Son - in </h4>

    The sound of the ringing phone awakened Long Tengfei. He quickly answered it so as not to disturb his wife, Yang Jiahui, who was sleeping beside him.

    It was his assistant, Cao Guang, informing him that the Young Miss Xin was rushed to the hospital because she fainted in the middle of the night. It seemed that Cao Guang¡¯s nephew, Dominic Chua, called his uncle and wailed nonstop on the phone.

    The uncle couldn¡¯t understand what his nephew was saying, only able to squeeze out relevant keywords like "boss", "hospital", "fainted", "scary" and "dying". Knowing that his nephew had the tendency to exaggerate, Cao Guang immediately contacted the hospital and was able to speak directly to Dr. Ching. He was assured that the Young Miss Xin¡¯s condition was not too serious but was concerning enough not to take lightly. With this information, he called President Long and awaited instructions.

    Long Tengfei was, of course, worried about his daughter. She was doing so well since she woke up froma, appearing to live a healthy lifestyle. Then suddenly she was hospitalized again. He wanted to see her but their tense and distant rtionship in the past made him hesitate.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Yang Jiahui woke up and asked him sleepily.

    "Xin is in the hospital."

    "What?" She was instantly awake.

    "She apparently fainted."

    "Then what are you waiting for? Go see her."

    "But what if she doesn¡¯t want to see me?"

    She sighed at her husband. "How will you know if you don¡¯t even try? And stop waiting for her to make the first move. Both of you are really father and child, both so stubborn. You¡¯re the elder and should be the one who¡¯s more understanding. Don¡¯t expect her to be the first one to give in. Go get ready now and see her. Don¡¯t wait until you lose this chance or you may regret itter."

    Long Tengfei took a couple of minutes to make up his mind. Finally, he agreed with his wife. He rose from the bed.

    "Does Wei Lan know?" Yang Jiahui asked.

    He scowled, his tone was cold when he replied. "Why would I know whether she knows or not? I don¡¯t talk to that woman anymore."

    "She¡¯s your daughter¡¯s mother, Tengfei. You may have parted with bad feelings but she still deserves to know what happened to her daughter."

    "Fine. I¡¯ll tell Cao Guang to inform her."

    Within an hour, Long Tengfei reached the hospital, a bouquet of bright daffodils and daisies in his arms. Cao Guang apanied him carrying a big basket of various fruits. They took the elevator and headed to the private wing.

    However, they were blocked by two men wearing ck business suits and earpieces when they reached outside Iris¡¯ room.

    Long Tengfei frowned, displeased. He wasn¡¯t used to being blocked by anyone.

    "We are here to visit a patient named Miss Long Xin," Cao Guang told the two. "We are quite certain that this is her room."

    "Names?" One of the men asked in a t tone, making Long Tengfei feel even more displeased.

    "My name is Cao Guang and with me is Sir Long Tengfei, Miss Long¡¯s father."

    "Please wait here," the man said while hispanion knocked on the door and entered.

    The remaining man just stood there, his expression cold, not bothering to speak to them. A few secondster, hispanion returned and finally allowed Long Tengfei and Cao Guang through the door.

    As soon as Long Tengfei entered the room, he saw a tall man in pyjamas sitting on the bed beside his sleeping daughter, buttoning up his shirt. He knew it wasn¡¯t Cao Guang¡¯s nephew. Dominic Chua was sprawled on the extra bed at the far end of the room, snoring softly.

    "Who the hell are you?!" he roared.

    Then the man looked at him and he saw his face.

    Long Tengfei froze. "C-CEO Jin?"

    Jin Liwei stood up and nodded. "CEO Long."

    "What are you doing here?" Long Tengfei couldn¡¯t believe that he was meeting this man in his daughter¡¯s hospital room at this time of the day.

    "I was the one who brought Xin here. We were together when she fainted."

    Long Tengfei couldn¡¯t make sense of the situation. Cao Guang wasn¡¯t any better.

    "Xin and I are in a rtionship. She¡¯s my girlfriend and I¡¯m her boyfriend."

    "What..."

    "CEO Long. I am dating your daughter with the intention of marriage."

    Long Tengfei¡¯s mind went nk. Cao Guang¡¯s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. No one noticed that Dominic Chua suddenly stopped snoring.

    It took a good ten minutes before the two older men calmed down. Jin Liwei invited them to sit down on the couches.

    "If you want to speak with Xin, I suggest you wait until she wakes up naturally," Jin Liwei said. "She had a rough night. I want her to rest up as much as possible. Besides, she¡¯s a deep sleeper. It¡¯s very hard to wake her up once she¡¯s asleep."

    "Of course, of course. I understand. Let her sleep. I only want to see her and make sure that she¡¯s alright," Long Tengfei replied. Then he realized the meaning behind Jin Liwei¡¯s words.

    ¡¯How did he know that my daughter is a deep sleeper? Don¡¯t tell me that they¡¯re already sleeping together? Wait, didn¡¯t he say that he was the one who brought Xin to the hospital? Didn¡¯t Cao Guang said that Xin was taken to the hospital at around 3 to 4 AM? Oh yes, he was sleeping on the bed with my daughter when we entered the room. So they¡¯re really sleeping together?! Ah?!!¡¯

    As if reading the older man¡¯s mind, Jin Liwei nodded. "Yes. I just moved in with her. We¡¯re basically living together now."

    Long Tengfei inhaled sharply. Cao Guang almost dropped the vase he was nning to put the flowers on.

    "Y-you...CEO Jin¨D"

    "Please call me Liwei. Once Xin agrees to marry me, you are going to be my father-inw and I your son-inw. There is no need to be so formal."

 Chapter 122 - Liar

    <h4>Chapter 122 - Liar </h4>

    It was a good thing that Long Tengfei had a wife who was very fastidious in taking care of his health. Yang Jiahui could be such a nag when it came to maintaining good health, but now he was thankful for her. If not for her, he could very well likely be experiencing a heart attack at this very moment.

    Him? The father-inw of the current most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world? And what was more, it was because of his estranged daughter, Xin?

    "Father-inw, please be assured that I am serious in my intention of marrying Xin. We still have many issues that we need to face and ovee together, but I hope that when we are both ready to take the step, you¡¯ll be able to support our marriage," Jin Liwei said.

    Long Tengfei took slow, deep breaths to calm himself. He had met Jin Liwei several times before during some business and social events but their conversations revolved mainly around greetings and pleasantries. They may be both wealthy and powerful businessmen but the levels of theirpanies were vastly different, like that of Mt. Everest and a very small mountain or a big hill. He never imagined that such a figure would want to marry his estranged daughter and call him father-inw.

    Fortunately, Long Tengfei¡¯s innate astuteness kicked in. One must have the flexibility and ability to adapt into whatever unexpected situation in order to be a sessful businessperson. Although he was still perplexed at this turn of events, he was now calm when he spoke to Jin Liwei.

    "Are you and my daughter already engaged? Have you talked about when you want to get married?"

    "Not yet. As much as I want to marry her as soon as possible and build a family with her as my wife, I know that she wants to focus on developing a sessful career before anything else. I don¡¯t want to put her in a situation where she has to choose between me and her career. She doesn¡¯t need to choose because she can have both. But right now, her careercks stability. She needs to stabilize her career first. I can do it for her of course, but I know that she wants to do it using her own abilities. I also have the utmost trust on her talents and skills."

    Moreover, Jin Liwei knew deep inside that if his baby girl was ever given the choice between him and her career, she would choose her career over him without hesitation. It pained him to admit this to himself but he knew that this was true. That was why he needed to work harder on imprinting himself on her and on deepening their feelings for each other. He hoped that there woulde a day when her feelings for him woulde close to what he felt for her.

    Long Tengfei nodded.

    "Besides, she¡¯s still getting used to me. Now that we know what can happen to her health when she bes too overwhelmed, I don¡¯t want to add to her stress by rushing her. After all, I want a healthy and happy wife."

    "I understand," Long Tengfei finally said after digesting the things Jin Liwei just told him. Then he sighed. "I don¡¯t have a good rtionship with my daughter, so she may think that I don¡¯t have any right to act like a father. But no matter what, Xin is my daughter and I¡¯ll always love her. All I want for my daughter is to be healthy, happy and have a good life. If you can give her that, I¡¯ll be satisfied. She¡¯s been doing so well this past year. I think I can trust her decisions from now on. If she thinks that marrying you is the right choice for her, then all I can do is to support her as her father."

    "Thank you, father-inw."

    Long Tengfei cleared his throat, feeling awkward by Jin Liwei¡¯s address to him.

    "Father-inw, you must already know that Xin was attacked the other day. Fortunately, she was able to defend herself and her attackers were just three skinny girls. But what happens if she were to be attacked by men or stronger people next time? I¡¯m very worried for her safety. I believe that she needs some bodyguards."

    "I agree."

    The two men, one older and one younger, began discussing Iris¡¯ need for bodyguards.

    "You two have absolutely NO right to make decisions like that for me without informing me first. I am NOT getting bodyguards." Suddenly, Iris¡¯ hoarse, cold voice interrupted the men¡¯s deep discussion.

    "Baby!" Jin Liwei immediately stood up and crossed the space to reach her in just a few long steps. "How are you feeling? Are you hurting anywhere?"

    Iris pped his hand away. "Tell me what you two were just talking about."

    She didn¡¯t hear much of their conversation, only catching the part where they were debating whether to hire her some new bodyguards or to give her some of their own subordinates.

    Jin Liwei hesitated, not wanting to agitate his girlfriend who clearly awakened in a bad mood. But he would be in deeper trouble if he denied and lied to her, especially since she already overheard them. Having no choice but to be honest, he sighed. "Baby, your father and I are just concerned about your safety. You were attacked. You were able to defend yourself this time. But what about next time? That¡¯s why we think that you need some bodyguards to protect you. You¡¯re a celebrity. It¡¯s quite normal for celebrities to have bodyguards. This is for your own good, baby."

    Long Tengfei stood a few steps away, watching the two interact with each other.

    Iris was shaking in anger as she red at the two men. One was her boyfriend while the other was the original Iris¡¯ father. To her, Long Tengfei was a stranger. She had not personally met with him ever since she woke up in this new body.

    However, at this moment, Jin Liwei and Long Tengfei¡¯s figures ovepped with the images of her older brother and father in her previous life. They were all the same, these two pairs of different men. They wanted her followed by bodyguards...to protect her! It was for her own safety, for her own good...what bullsh*t! They just wanted to cage her like their own little bird!

    If now they wanted bodyguards to follow her everywhere, what would they do next? Give her a curfew? Then what? Lock her up in a mansion because the outside world was too dangerous?

    Did she have to live that kind of life again? That suffocating life of being watched all the time? Of having no freedom?

    No!

    A great panic flooded her like a tsunami. She couldn¡¯t live like that again! She would rather die than live a life of no freedom like that again!

    "You liar, Jin Liwei! You said you won¡¯t cage me! You said you¡¯re not going to restrict me, imprison me! You¡¯re the same as them! Liar!"

 Chapter 123 - Make Her Happy

    <h4>Chapter 123 - Make Her Happy </h4>

    Jin Liwei allowed himself to be hit by the pillows she threw at him in her distress. He fought to stay calm seeing her so agitated again. He couldn¡¯t understand why she was so against getting bodyguards, but this was not the right time to question her.

    Climbing on the bed, he firmly pulled her in his arms. She struggled and pushed him away, but he held on, stroking her back and gently soothing her. He didn¡¯t say anything, just continued to embrace her.

    "I don¡¯t want bodyguards," she mumbled.

    "Alright," he replied in a gentle tone. He would find another time to discuss it with her when she was feeling better and more receptive to the idea. He was really worried about her safety.

    "Really?"

    "Yes."

    "Promise?"

    He hesitated before carefully answering, "I promise, for now."

    She pursed her lips, understanding his meaning. Now that she calmed down, she realized that she overreacted. She knew that they were just concerned about her, but the idea of bodyguards following her around just reminded her too much of her previous life.

    Her father and older brother in her previous life loved her very much, that was why they wanted her safe and protected, especially with their family¡¯s special background. She loved them very much too, but deep inside there was a small part of her that hated them for loving her too much, too strongly, too tightly. Their love was suffocating.

    As Iris Long, she didn¡¯t want to experience that kind of love again. She didn¡¯t love Jin Liwei or Long Tengfei¨Dnot yet. She still hadn¡¯t developed her feelings for them to reach that level, especially when it came to Long Tengfei.

    She knew that the original Iris¡¯ father was a good man who cared for his children even when he wasn¡¯t an outwardly affectionate person. He was generous and protected his children behind the scenes. However, he was basically a stranger to the current her.

    These two men cared about her, she knew that. She also wanted to deepen her rtionships with them. As a daughter to Long Tengfei, and as a lover to Jin Liwei. But she wouldn¡¯t allow them to decide things for her without informing her or asking her permission first.

    Iris Long wasn¡¯t a caged bird like Evelina. She had a choice now which she never had before.

    She looked at Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes. "I will be the one to decide whether I want bodyguards or not. And if I ever do, I¡¯ll get my own."

    "Fine. But do think about it, baby. I don¡¯t want a repeat of you getting attacked again."

    "Okay."

    "Goo¨D" He was about to say "good girl" but stopped himself just in time. He cleared his throat. "Great to hear," he said instead.

    Fine. She didn¡¯t want him deciding for her, but she didn¡¯t forbid him from giving rmendations. He would make her a list of the best bodyguard agencies and help her choose which candidates would be the most suitable for her.

    Feeling much better, she leaned against his chest and hugged him back. His familiar embrace wasforting.

    He kissed the top of her head. She tilted her face up to him, inviting him. Of course he was more than happy to oblige. His mouth descended and kissed her.

    The two had already forgotten that there were other people in the room besides them.

    A cough. It was Long Tengfei.

    The couple continued kissing.

    A louder cough.

    Surprisingly, it was Jin Liwei who broke the kiss first. Iris finally remembered that her "father" was present. A blush crawled up her face, giving much-needed colour to her pallor.

    "Ehehehe." A familiarugh interrupted the awkward atmosphere.

    "Dominic Chua!" Cao Guang barked and then quickly turned to everyone. "I apologize for my nephew¡¯s bad manners. Please forgive him. I¡¯ll lecture himter."

    "It¡¯s alright," Iris said. "Dom is fine just the way he is."

    "Thank you, Young Miss! It¡¯s my nephew¡¯s good fortune to be your assistant. Dominic, you brat. Get up from the bed and stop pretending to be asleep. We already know that you¡¯re awake. Go apologize to everyone."

    Dom¡¯s sparkling eyes opened, his expression filled with mirth. "Ehehe."

    "You brat! How can you be so disrespectful? I¡¯ll call your motherter."

    Dom immediately looked rmed and jumped off the bed. "What?! No! Uncle, please don¡¯t! Momsy will beat the crap out of my handsome self! You want that dragon to fly over here all the way from the Philippines and terrorize everyone? I¡¯ll apologize, okay? I¡¯m sorry! Sorry, boss! Sorry, sir boss! Sorry, papa boss! I¡¯m sorry for...sorry for, uhm...eh? What did I do again? Uncle, why do I need to apologize?"

    "You¨D" Cao Guang clutched his chest and looked like he wanted to beat up this nephew of his. He regretted that he didn¡¯t train the young man in manners before sending him to work for the Young Miss. The worst part was that President Long Tengfei was there to witness everything. What would he do if the President thought that all his family members were without manners? He wouldn¡¯t have any face left. So shameful!

    Thenughter like the tinkle of crystal bells filled the room.

    Everyone stopped. It was as if they were all mesmerized by her lovely voice.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes darkened with desire, looking intensely at his baby girl. He wanted to kiss her again. Too bad there were other people in the room and one of them was her father. After the surge of lust was relief that she was finally showing a cheerful expression.

    Her bad mood that he experienced for the first time sincest night was like an unpredictable storm that he had no choice but to endure. Seeing her beautiful,ughing face again was like seeing the bright sun finally peeking through the dark thunderclouds. Such a wonderful feeling!

    "Don¡¯t be so strict on Dom," Iris told Cao Guang. "I can¡¯t imagine a better assistant for me than him."

    "Boss..." Dom¡¯s eyes watered. "And I can¡¯t imagine a better boss for me than you! You¡¯re the best boss in the whole wide world! I love you, boss!"

    Jin Liwei scowled. He had the urge to snarl at Dominic. Fortunately, he was able to stop himself in time. He forcefully tamped down the ugly feeling surging from within him. His logical mind knew that he shouldn¡¯t be worried about Dominic¡¯s "I love you", but his emotions always felt uncontroble when it came to his baby girl.

    But he had to control them. Seeing his baby girl copse like a lifeless body in front of him was terrifying. He didn¡¯t want to experience it ever again.

    He swore he was going to make her happy. If he had to spend the rest of his life to do so, so be it.

 Chapter 124 - Father And Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 124 - Father And Daughter </h4>

    After freshening up in the bathroom, Iris sat on the couch facing Long Tengfei. The others gave the father and daughter privacy by leaving the room.

    Jin Liwei instructed one of his subordinates to order some food, while he rested at a nearby empty private waiting room. Dom called Tang Yiyi to inform her of what happened to Iris and her current condition, and also called home to ask for some change of clothes and toiletries for the three of them. They left in such a hurry that they weren¡¯t able to take anything other than the clothes that they were wearing, their wallets and phones. Cao Guang went somewhere to make some business calls.

    Inside the room, the father and daughter studied each other, not saying anything.

    Iris was very curious about this man who fathered such a spoiled, unreasonable brat as the original Iris. He was a good father when it came to providing for his children. However, his hands-off approach of parenting andck of outward show of affection contributed a great deal to his estranged rtionship to his daughter, especially since the original Iris was someone who craved constant attention. Because she couldn¡¯t get the attention she desired from her family, she turned to the public to give it her, even if it was the wrong kind of attention.

    At the moment, she didn¡¯t have any special feelings for this man. He was basically a stranger to her. But since she was now Iris, Long Tengfei was now her father in this life. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to repair the rtionship between the father and daughter.

    "Hello, father. How have you been?"

    "I¡¯m alri¨D" He cleared his throat, embarrassed that his word got stuck. He tried again. "I¡¯m alright. Thank you, Xin...my daughter. How have you been...I mean, how are you feeling now? Do you still feel unwell?"

    "I¡¯m feeling much better, thank you."

    Silence.

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t know what to talk about with his daughter. He was feeling awkward. He opened his mouth but closed it again, unsure of what to say to her.

    On the other hand, Iris didn¡¯t feel awkward at all. She was busy observing this man who was now her father.

    "Congrattions on your album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯."

    "Thank you."

    Silence.

    Long Tengfei cleared his throat. "I bought a copy, I mean some copies of your album."

    "Thank you. Would you like me to sign them for you?"

    His eyes lit up. "Of course! Yes, yes. That would be great."

    "Alright. Just have them delivered to my ce and I¡¯ll sign them."

    "How about you visit home, maybe join us for dinner? Then you can sign the albums then? But only if you want to, of course, and if you have the time." Immediately, he felt unsure of his invitation. Was it a good idea? What if she rejected him like before?

    "Sure. When¡¯s a good time?"

    "It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to. You don¡¯t need to force¨Dah? What? You want toe?"

    She tilted her head to the side, looking at him, confused. "Didn¡¯t you want me toe?"

    "Yes, yes! Of course I want you toe," he quickly said. Joy flooded within him, but he controlled the expression on his face. ¡¯Be cool, Long Tengfei,¡¯ he mentally told himself. However, he couldn¡¯t stop his eyes from pricking.

    When he married Yang Jiahui, his daughter swore that she would never step foot back to the ancestral residence ever again. His wife tried to invite the girl several times for a meal but she was always rudely rejected and even insulted. She wanted to build an amicable rtionship with her step-daughter. After many attempts, however, Yang Jiahui had no choice but to give up. The girl seemed to hate her very much.

    But now this daughter of his agreed to visit home for dinner? This was a miracle!

    "Anytime is fine. Just give me a call whenever you want toe." He hesitated but decided to try testing her reaction. "Your Aunt Jiahui would be excited."

    Iris nodded. "What does she like? I¡¯ll bring something for her when Ie."

    A lump suddenly lodged itself in his throat and his eyes watered, but he forcefully pushed these sentimental feelings away. He didn¡¯t want his daughter to see her father crying in front of her. He cleared his throat. "You don¡¯t have to bring anything. Just bring yourself."

    "Just tell me what she likes, father. It¡¯s not a big deal."

    Although he wondered why his daughter stopped calling him "daddy" like she used to before, he was feeling happy that they were having an actual conversation. Before, she would only talk to him whenever she wanted him to buy something for her. If he refused to buy whatever she asked for, she would throw a tantrum and refuse to talk to him until she wanted something again.

    It seemed that his daughter had really matured this time. She was more sensible and calmer. Perhaps she had already outgrown her calling him "daddy", that was why she was now calling him "father" instead. Besides, "father" sounded more dignified so he wouldn¡¯tin.

    "Alright. Your Aunt Jiahui likes good tea."

    "Oh. That¡¯s great. I like good tea as well. I¡¯ll bring some tea when Ie over then. How about you, father? What would you like?"

    He blinked. Eh? Was she asking HIM what he would like? Someone pinch him, please.

    "Hm? Father?"

    "I...I sure would like a bottle of liquor." His daughter was going to give him something for the first time. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t miss this opportunity. He wouldn¡¯t ask for something too extravagant, but if she really gave him something, then it would be very special to him.

    "Hmm...I don¡¯t really know much about alcoholic drinks. I¡¯ll have to ask Liwei. Alright, I¡¯ll bring your wife tea and liquor for you, father."

    He nodded, unable to stop himself from smiling. He couldn¡¯t wait to tell his wife that his daughter wasing over for dinner. He hoped that it would be soon...no, tonight! Wait, she still had to stay at the hospital today for further monitoring. Maybe tomorrow night! Hopefully, she would be discharged by then. He would speak with Dr. Chingter and ask.

    He wanted to ask Xin when she would like toe over, but was worried that he would sound too pushy. He had to be patient and wait for her call.

    Today was the happiest day of Long Tengfei¡¯s life in a long time. He hoped that his rtionship with his daughter would continue to improve. Perhaps he could reintegrate her into the family and cement her position with the Longs. As the family head, he wanted his legitimate daughter to be fully epted by everyone, especially by those stuck-up Long elders. After all, Xin was their heiress whether they liked it or not.

    "Xin, thank you."

    Iris smiled. "You are my father. It¡¯s only natural."

    "Indeed, I¡¯m your father," he replied, fighting the tears threatening to spill over his eyes. "And you¡¯re my daughter."

 Chapter 125 - Photos Of The Boss

    <h4>Chapter 125 - Photos Of The Boss </h4>

    A nurse and a medical aide knocked and entered the room while Iris and Long Tengfei were still chatting. It was time for Iris¡¯ medical tests scheduled in the morning while she hadn¡¯t eaten or drank anything yet.

    They brought a wheelchair for her. Iris wanted to walk by herself, and she did until suddenly feeling lightheaded after walking just a few metres in the hallway. In the end, she still had to use the wheelchair. Dom went with his boss.

    Cao Guang returned to the room to apany Long Tengfei, waiting for Iris to return from her tests. Jin Liwei was fast asleep at the nearby waiting room, guarded by one of his subordinates while the other one followed Iris and Dom from a distance.

    ###

    A fifteen-year old teenage girl was walking around inside the hospital. Her mother just gave birth earlier that morning to her baby brother. Everyone was gushing about the new baby. At first, she was also very excited about her new sibling, but when everyone kept on talking about how wonderful it was to finally have a son, she couldn¡¯t help but feel sour inside.

    So they weren¡¯t happy with her, a daughter? Now that they had a son, they loved her less?

    She sneaked away from the room and started walking aimlessly in the hospital. She felt even worse because it seemed that nobody noticed that she was gone. If they did, they would surely call her phone which she always carried with her to ask where she was. But no, they were too busy with her baby brother to bother with her.

    Wearing earphones, she listened to music on her phone. "Rebirth" by Iris Long yed and she hummed quietly along with the song. She gradually felt better as she listened to the music.

    She felt like a little bird. As a teen and a student, she held no power of her own. Her own newborn baby brother could easily push aside her status in the family. But one day, she swore that she would rise like a phoenix and be an amazing person who would make her family proud, make them d that she was their daughter.

    The song ended, but she put it on repeat. After watching Iris Long¡¯seback performance on "MusicFest Tonight", she instantly became a fan. She became an even bigger fan when she watched Iris perform on DJ Song¡¯s radio show. She immediately joined the ck Stars fan club when she heard about it. And when Iris¡¯unch party was announced, she wanted to attend but it was a school day so her parents didn¡¯t allow her, especially since the venue was so far away. Also, her mother could give birth at any time.

    So she could only satisfy herself from the live posts from the ones who attended theunch party. She used her own allowance that she saved up to buy the entire digital album the moment it was released.

    Iris Long was so beautiful and talented. She wanted to be cool like Boss Iris when she grew up. She heard that Boss Iris was a horrible person, but she didn¡¯t believe those rumours. She bet that those rumours were all untrue and that they were made up by jealous haters like those despicable rm Girls who attacked her.

    The teenage girl continued to wander through the hallways while listening to the entire "Rebirth" album. She had no idea where she was heading, but she didn¡¯t care. As long as she was still inside the hospital, she would be able to find her way back.

    These particr hallways looked emptierpared to the ones where she came from. But since nobody was stopping her, she continued to walk.

    "Hai. I don¡¯t understand! Boss, you¡¯re already anemic and bleeding buckets from your period and yet these people are still collecting so much of your blood. Do they want to suck you dry? This is ridiculous! I object to their methods!"

    "Dom, they know what they¡¯re doing. I trust Dr. Ching."

    "Hmph! This is all the fault of those hateful rm Girls! You can deny it all you want, boss, but I still believe that it¡¯s those b*tches¡¯ fault that you¡¯re here in the hospital right now. They stressed you out and forced you to fight against them, overexerting your body! I¡¯m so angry! I want to have a go with them! My Momsy told me not to hit girls, but I don¡¯t see those b*tches as girls. They¡¯re monsters!"

    The teenage girl¡¯s eyes widened as she peeked from behind the wall. Was that Boss Iris Long? OMG! It must be her! She heard the young man call her boss and even mentioned the rm Girls, so the woman on the wheelchair must be Boss Iris!

    She snapped several photos using her phone, trying not to be too obvious. Her hands were trembling with excitement. She wanted to run forward to ask for an autograph but was too shy. No matter. She was already happy seeing Boss Iris in person. Satisfied, she pocketed her phone.

    "What are you doing here?"

    She jumped and turned around, looking scared and guilty. A scary-looking man in a ck business suit wearing an earpiece red down at her.

    "I-I...I got l-lost," she could only mumble, nervous.

    "This is the private wing. Are you visiting someone here?"

    "N-no. My m-mom just gave birth."

    "The maternity wing is at the other end of the hospital. Go that way and follow the arrows back to the main lobby and then ask from there. I suggest you leave immediately if you have no business here."

    She nodded and then ran away.

    The man watched the girl until she disappeared from view. He just returned from the washroom to quickly relieve himself. When he came out, he saw the teen snooping from behind the wall. But the girl was just watching the mistress from afar. He didn¡¯t see anything wrong with that. Besides, the girl was just a kid so what harm could she do? (He didn¡¯t see the teen taking photos of Iris with her phone.)

    Shrugging, he tossed the matter out of his mind and focused on following the mistress from a distance, making sure that she was safe, or else the master would kill him if something happened to her under his watch.

    ###

    The teenage girl found her way back to her mother¡¯s room. It was too crowded inside, so she sat at a nearby bench along the hallway. She was looking at her phone, giggling at the photos she had just taken of Boss Iris.

    Then she surfed online. Her expression turned furious when she read some of the stupidments denouncing Boss Iris as a violent person who beat up others until they were unconscious.

    How blind were these people? It was clearly those rm Girls who were the violent ones! Boss Iris was just defending herself!

    She immediately logged in to her ount and created a new post. She uploaded the photos of Boss Iris she had taken earlier.

    "Stop the nonsense," she wrote. "Look what those evil rm Girls did to Boss Iris! The boss is at the hospital right now sitting on a wheelchair, but do you see her whining about it? You haters, shut up!"

    Little did she know that this simple post of hers would cause another bigger media storm.

 Chapter 126 - Harsh Reality

    <h4>Chapter 126 - Harsh Reality </h4>

    When Iris and Dom returned to the room, breakfast was already prepared. Hot, traditional Chinese dishes were specially delivered from the nearest three-star restaurant. Jin Liwei, Long Tengfei and Cao Guang were waiting for her. All of them ate together, including Jin Liwei¡¯s two subordinates.

    Iris¡¯ appetite had returned which was a relief to everyone. Jin Liwei made sure to order special dishes for her condition. No spicy or greasy food. Lots of iron-rich ingredients in hot soup-based recipes.

    After the meal, Long Tengfei and Cao Guang bid their goodbyes.

    Iris wanted to go home that day because she didn¡¯t want to stay in the hospital any longer. However, Dr. Ching sternly told her that she needed to stay another night, so that they could continue monitoring her and make sure that she was recovering well.

    Jin Liwei looked exhausted and jetgged.

    "How about you go home and rest?" she suggested, feeling sorry for him. "Don¡¯t worry about me. Dom is here."

    "No, baby. I want to stay here with you."

    Her heart fluttered. She hugged him.

    Jin Liwei, of course, was delighted. His head dipped down and kissed her sweet lips. His breath quickened when her arms wrapped around his neck. He wanted more but held back. Reluctantly, he ended the kiss. The doctor hadn¡¯t cleared his baby girl yet. She might be feeling better now, but he might aggravate her condition with his intensity. Besides, he was exhausted and didn¡¯t have the energy to keep up with his desire. Next time he would show her how much he desired her when they were both recovered.

    "I need to sleep for a bit, baby," he said, sighing.

    "Go ahead. I¡¯ll just sit here and read a book. This room has a rather nice collection of paperbacks."

    "En. Don¡¯t move around too much. Sleep with me when you feel tired."

    "Okay."

    He gave her another lingering kiss before climbing on her hospital bed. He covered his entire body, even his head, with the nket. Momentster, his deep, steady breathing could be heard as he fell asleep.

    Iris reclined on the couch, a heat pack on her abdomen, enjoying a detective novel she chose from the shelf.

    Around lunchtime, Dom picked up Tang Yiyi from the hospital entrance. She carried several take-out boxes bought from a family restaurant on her way to the hospital

    "Iris! How are you feeling? I¡¯ve been so worried ever since Dom called me this morning!" Tang Yiyi immediately inspected his artist from head to toe after putting the food on the table.

    "I¡¯m feeling much better now, Elder Sister Yiyi. Sorry for making you worry. My doctor says that I¡¯ll probably be dismissed tomorrow."

    Tang Yiyi sighed in relief. "It¡¯s my mistake for not putting more importance in the security while I was organizing yourunch party. Who could¡¯ve thought that you¡¯ll be attacked while onstage? I¡¯ve never experienced something as scary like that before. I¡¯ve seen fans getting a little too excited and rough when meeting their idols, but I¡¯ve never seen people openly attacking a celebrity in such a violent manner in public before. This is the first time."

    Dom: "Hmph! Just remembering what happened makes me so angry!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold. "The rm Girls will get what they deserve."

    She personally didn¡¯t care about them, but remembering how they hurt Dom, her band musicians and some of her fans hardened her heart for them. For now, she would let herwyer deal with them. If they stopped bothering her, she would leave them alone and let thew decide their fate. But if they continued to be stupid and trouble her again, then she would show them the ruthlessness ofwless justice.

    Tang Yiyi continued to fuss around Iris, gently pushing her to rest on the couch and covering her with a warm nket. "I spoke with Mr. JJ and some of the Bright Summit higher-ups. We all know how much of a dedicated artist you are, Iris, that¡¯s why we¡¯ve allocated this much resources for you. However, it seems that your previous...uh, ¡¯unpleasant¡¯ reputation still lingers and there are still people who, uhm, how do I say this..."

    Iris: "I know that there are a lot of people who hate me. I¡¯m aware, Elder Sister Yiyi."

    Dom: "Hmph! Stupid blind fools!"

    Tang Yiyi coughed. "Well...yes." Then she sighed. "The rm Girls clearly hate you and me you for their misfortune. Hopefully, your haters are not all like them and this is only a one-time incident. However, we at Bright Summit and Mr. JJ don¡¯t want to take a chance. Your safety and well-being are of utmost importance. That¡¯s why we think that you need bodyguards."

    "No, I don¡¯t want bodyguards."

    Surprised at her quick rejection, Tang Yiyi frowned. "Iris, this is a serious matter. You need bodyguards."

    Iris¡¯ lips pressed hard together, subconsciously ncing at the big, long lump covered by a nket on the bed. Jin Liwei was just telling her the same thing this morning.

    Tang Yiyi: "Eh? Is someone on the bed? Who¡¯s that?"

    Iris: "My boyfriend."

    Tang Yiyi: "What?! You have a boyfriend?!"

    Iris: "Yes."

    Dom: "Ehehehe."

    Tang Yiyi: "Since when? Who is he?"

    Iris: "Last week. Hmm. He¡¯s a businessman."

    Jin Liwei thought that they were already boyfriend and girlfriend when he first came to her penthouse, but they only became an official couple when he slept over. She only recognized the moment he asked her and she agreed to be in a rtionship with him, not the other one without her knowledge.

    And he may be the head of the number onepany in the country, but technically speaking, he was still a businessman.

    She simplified her answers, but she didn¡¯t lie to her manager.

    "Iris, this..." Tang Yiyi looked worried. "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to be in a rtionship, especially right now that you¡¯ve just had youreback."

    "Hm? Why?" Iris tilted her head to the side.

    "Your fans idolize you and in a sense...feels possessive of you. They¡¯re not going to take it kindly if they discover that you have a boyfriend. They¡¯ll feel betrayed. Many celebrities have experienced bacsh from their fans when their rtionships were exposed to the public. That¡¯s why most celebs deny being in a rtionship, especially for young ones like you."

    "That¡¯s so stupid," Iris said. "My fans don¡¯t own me. Besides, I had mywyer remove that ridiculous ¡¯no rtionship¡¯ term in my contract before I signed with Bright Summit. So I¡¯ll be alright. Don¡¯t worry, Elder Sister Yiyi."

    "Hai. I¡¯m not worried about your contract. What I¡¯m worried about are your fans¡¯ reactions when they learn that you have a boyfriend."

    Iris waved a dismissive hand. "If they turn their backs on me just because of such a simple issue as having a boyfriend, then they¡¯re not real fans. I¡¯d rather not have those kind of people supporting me."

    Tang Yiyi sighed, shaking her head at Iris. "Since you¡¯re not viting your contract, I can¡¯t force you to break up with your boyfriend. However, I want you to be very careful. I suggest you don¡¯t openly reveal your rtionship status. You just returned to showbiz. Your footing is not stable yet. A slight mistake can end your career prematurely. That¡¯s how harsh this industry is."

    "It doesn¡¯t only apply to showbiz," Iris said softly, her eyes unreadable as if remembering something painful. "The entire world is harsh. But that¡¯s why we must keep on living, to triumph over the harsh reality of life."

 Chapter 127 - Music Charts

    <h4>Chapter 127 - Music Charts </h4>

    Tang Yiyi moved on from the unpleasant subjects and excitedly shared thetest updates on the performance of Iris¡¯ album "Rebirth". The three ate the lunch Tang Yiyi brought while they talked.

    Curious about Iris¡¯ boyfriend, Tang Yiyi suggested that Iris wake him up for lunch, but Iris declined. She wanted Jin Liwei to rest as much as possible. The man must have been so exhausted from his business trip, long ne ride, dealing with her bad mood when he returned, and now apanying her to the hospital. She felt sorry for him, but at the same time felt warm and sweet inside for the care he was showing her.

    "It¡¯s only been the third day since your album was released, but it has already surpassed our initial expectations," Tang Yiyi said with delight while eating. "JJ¡¯s recordbel was aiming for at least top 10 in the music charts¨D"

    Dom: "Eh? But I remember Mr. JJ saying that he¡¯s sure boss¡¯ album willnd in the top 3."

    Tang Yiyi: "Mr. JJ always says that for all the music he personally produces. The team he assigned for Iris had more conservative expectations. After all, thepetition is tough and this is Iris¡¯ first album since she disappeared for two years. Many currently popr artists also released their own music around this time. Not to mention a big-name like Jin Chonglin who released his album just a few weeks before Iris. His album has been sitting on number 1 ever since it debuted."

    Dom: "Ooooh. Jin Chonglin is so HOT! Did you see that music video where he was dancing without his shirt on, grinding on the floor, sweat dripping everywhere? Ah! So yum yum! But of course, sir boss is still the most handsome."

    Tang Yiyi: "Ah, what? Who¡¯s sir boss? Oh, you mean Iris¡¯ boyfriend? Really, he¡¯s more handsome than Jin Chonglin?"

    Dom: "OMG, yes! Sis Yiyi, you should see sir boss. He¡¯s, like, the most gorgeous man EVER! I see them this way: sir boss is the original, high-end, luxury model while Jin Chonglin is the affordable version even though both are high quality. Sir boss is out of reach to regr people, while Jin Chonglin is, uhm¨Dwhat¡¯s the word¨Dobtainable with some effort. You know what I mean?"

    "Hmm...I think I understand what you mean." Tang Yiyi tapped her chin, then nced at Iris. She was very curious about what Iris¡¯ boyfriend looked like. She didn¡¯t entirely believe Dominic¡¯s description because he had the tendency of exaggerating.

    She wanted to ask Iris to wake up her boyfriend so she could meet him. Then Tang Yiyi remembered that they were at the hospital. She controlled her curiosity, not wanting to upset Iris by forcing her to do something.

    Clearing her throat, Tang Yiyi ended the conversation about Iris¡¯ boyfriend. "As I was saying, JJ¡¯s recordbel was aiming for your album to debut in top 10 at least. Bright Summit¡¯s expectations were lower. They would¡¯ve been already happy with top 30, aiming for a gradual climb instead."

    Iris continued to slowly eat, keeping quiet and letting the two chatter on about her album. She didn¡¯t really care about things like ranking. All she cared about was sharing her music to the world and touch as many people as possible.

    "But who would¡¯ve thought that your album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ will debut and instantly im number 2? That¡¯s top 2! Only second to Jin Chonglin¡¯s album!" Tang Yiyi was so excited that she waved her chopsticks all around.

    Of course, Dom was even more excited. pping and cheering on his seat. "Of course! Boss is awesome! Ehehe! Congrats, boss!"

    "Thank you." Iris smiled gently.

    "What¡¯s more, your songs are even doing better! ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ debuted in number 2, ¡¯ck Star¡¯ in number 3, and ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ in number 9. Although Jin Chonglin¡¯s song is number 1, he only has that one song in the top 10. His other song recently dropped to number 11. You¡¯re the only artist right now who has three songs in the top 10 and all three managed to im their spots upon their debut."

    Dom: "Give it a few days and boss will kick Jin Chonglin¡¯s song off its number 1 spot."

    Tang Yiyi giggled, giving a meaningful look.

    Dom: "Eh? Why are youughing so weirdly like that, Sis Yiyi? Wait. Don¡¯t tell me..."

    Tang Yiyi: "Yes! Iris¡¯ song ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ just imed number 1 today!"

    Dom was so shocked that he dropped his chopsticks to the floor. His mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish out of water. "W-what?! Sis Yiyi! Please don¡¯t joke around!"

    "Dominic Chua, do I look like I¡¯m joking to you?"

    His eyes watered. "Sis Yiyi!"

    "Hold on. I¡¯ll show you." Tang Yiyi rummaged her pocket for phone. After tapping on the screen a few times, she held it to Dom.

    Dom grabbed it and focused all his attention to the phone. Momentster, he was sobbing. "Boss! Wuwuwu...it really is number 1...wuwuwu. You really did it, boss."

    Iris held her palm up and Dom gave her the phone. She nced at it quickly. Indeed, her song "Rebirth" was currently sitting at number 1 on the chart. It changed position with Jin Chonglin¡¯s song which was now at number 2. "ck Star" was still on number 3, while "Phantom of Your Love" climbed two spots to number 7.

    She felt pleased that her songs were doing well on the music charts, although she didn¡¯t really care about rankings. It meant that JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit would be happy with her and provide her with resources so that she could create more music to share with the world.

    Tang Yiyi: "In the albums chart, your album is still number 2. It won¡¯t be that easy to unseat Jin Chonglin¡¯s album. After all, he had a head start when he released his album weeks earlier than you. But no matter. Your songs¡¯ performances in the singles chart are good signs, especially since you haven¡¯t even started actively promoting your album yet. You have a high chance of iming the top spot in both music charts when you¡¯re well enough to start promotions."

    "I¡¯ll be discharged tomorrow," Iris said. "I¡¯ll return to work the day after."

    "Hmm...Let¡¯s wait until we receive the go ahead from the PR teams of both Bright Summit and JJ¡¯s recordbel. They¡¯re still dealing with the aftermath of the incident of you and the rm Girls. But don¡¯t worry about it too much," Tang Yiyi said quickly, worried that Iris would feel too stressed hearing about it. "Like I said, thew is on our side. And both Bright Summit and JJ¡¯s recordbel are experienced in PR."

    Iris nodded. She finished eating.

    Suddenly, Tang Yiyi¡¯s phone rang.

    "Hello?" Tang Yiyi answered, then she frowned. "Uh, yes. She¡¯s in the hospital and I¡¯m actually here with her right now. I was going to call to inform youter...eh? Someone took photos of her in the hospital?"

    Iris¡¯ full attention was now in the conversation.

    "What?!" Tang Yiyi¡¯s voice was almost shrill. "It¡¯s all over the inte?!"

 Chapter 128 - Medical Record

    <h4>Chapter 128 - Medical Record </h4>

    The next day, Iris was finally cleared to be discharged from the hospital.

    Since it was a Monday, Jin Liwei had to go to work. He didn¡¯t want to leave his baby girl but there were so many tasks needing his attention at thepany, especially after being gone for a full workday week. Iris assured him that she would be fine. He wished that he could just tie her to his waist and carry her around all day, so they wouldn¡¯t have to be separated even for just a day.

    He woke up hours before sunrise. Good thing that Iris managed to wake up from her usual deep sleep in time to send him off. She also felt disappointed that they weren¡¯t able to spend some quality time together after he returned from his business trip.

    Truly, life was unpredictable and ns could go awry without any warning. Despite this, she felt warm inside because Jin Liwei stuck with her and was extremely patient and caring, even when she almost bit his head off so many times during her extreme mood swings. She was beginning to see that the man genuinely cherished her.

    Seeing his baby girl awake, of course Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t miss the chance to thoroughly kiss her before leaving. He wasn¡¯t sure whether she would snap at him again, but he missed her so much. When she also responded to his deep kisses, he almost lost control. Finally, she was allowing him to kiss her again without pushing him away.

    He felt so aroused and wanted to devour her as soon as possible, but he forcefully fought his inner beast. His baby girl was not 100% recovered yet. He reminded himself that he had to be gentle with her at this time.

    Giving her another deep kiss, he reluctantly left to return to his mansion at Dragon Pce Homes to shower, change into his business suit, and eat breakfast before heading to hispany for work.

    Iris went back to sleep after he left.

    When she woke up againter, she underwent another series of medical tests before breakfast. Afterwards, she and Dom talked about what happened yesterday while eating breakfast.

    The hospital almost dered a state of emergency yesterday because the media suddenly swarmed the entire ce, attempting to fish for information about Iris Long. They disrupted the daily operations, forcing the hospital administration to ask for police intervention because there were other patients who needed immediate attention that were being pushed aside by the reporters.

    It wasn¡¯t only the media either. Curious rumourmongers also snooped around, giving the hospital workers, the patients and their families a big headache. Some of them began ming Iris Long for the disruption.

    When some of the ck Stars fan club members who also went to snoop around heard these people dissing their boss, they were enraged. A heated verbal battle ensued escting the chaos in the hospital.

    The officers of the fan club were quickly made aware of the situation by the online posts of the members present in the hospital. CaptainckStar messaged all the members to behave properly in order not to besmirch their boss Iris Long¡¯s name.

    Feng Wan¡¯s friend, the wife of the Police Chief, asked her husband to send more officers to control the situation. Of course, the Chief granted his beloved wife¡¯s request. Soon, more police officers arrived. The reporters and the civilian snoopers were driven away. A few officers stationed themselves around the hospital to block anyone who had no business in the hospital.

    While all of these were happening, Dr. Ching and a couple of hospital administrators met with Iris and Tang Yiyi at a nearby empty private room. Jin Liwei was still sleeping soundly and Iris didn¡¯t want to disturb him.

    The administrators apologized for failing to protect her privacy as a VIP patient.

    "It¡¯s not your fault. I¡¯m sorry for the trouble my presence here in your hospital is causing you. I heard that people are making a ruckus outside."

    "Miss Long, please don¡¯t worry about it. We are already dealing with the matter. We want you to focus on recovering. Your father has always been a great supporter of our hospital by making big donations every year. As his daughter, we will do our best to ensure that you are safe as our patient.

    Tang Yiyi was busy on her phone, reading Dom¡¯s live updates. Dom went down to see what was happening with his own eyes.

    "These reporters are really vicious, insinuating that you¡¯re faking your condition in order to garner more publicity for your album." Tang Yiyi harrumphed. "They¡¯re also saying that you¡¯re colluding with the hospital in order to make you look weak to shift the attention from you beating up the rm Girls. All rubbish!"

    Iris sighed.

    "If only we could show them your hospital record, then we could p them with the truth and shut them up all at once," Tang Yiyi said.

    "Sorry but we can¡¯t do that," Dr. Ching interjected. "Patient confidentiality is sacred to us here. The only exception is if we¡¯re ordered to surrender the record by the court."

    The two administrators nodded.

    "Just show them," Iris suddenly said.

    Dr. Ching: "What? But Miss Long, the patient confidentiality states¨D"

    Iris: "I¡¯m the patient so I have the authority to permit the release of my medical record, am I right?"

    The doctor hesitated, but finally nodded.

    Iris: "Then there should be no problem. They won¡¯t believe my words alone, anyway. Show them my official medical record. That should give them enough material to report about, then they¡¯ll stop pestering the hospital. Besides, I have nothing to hide because it¡¯s true that I¡¯m a patient of this hospital."

    The administrators asked her one more time if she was sure of her decision.

    "Yes. I give you my consent."

    That same afternoon, the hospital arranged for a sudden press conference. Almost all the media outlets hurriedly sent their representatives to attend.

    Dr. Ching and his team of doctors faced the reporters. The press conference was very brief. As doctors, they went straight to the point, showing Iris Long¡¯s actual medical record starting from when she stayed in the hospital as aatose patient due to severe trauma from a vehicr ident. It also showed her recovery process consisting of her physiotherapy and rehabilitation sessions. The most recent entry was her current condition which was fainting due to iron-deficiency anemia and sudden physical overexertion.

    They answered a few questions from the reporters, rifying details from the medical record. Dr. Ching had a good reputation within the medicalmunity. Just his words alone was enough to dispel the lingering doubts, not to mention the hospital¡¯s own prestige.

    The skeptics had no choice but to ept the authenticity of the medical record. Many reasoned that Iris Long, even with the backing of the Long family, still didn¡¯t have enough influence to make such a well-respected hospital endanger its reputation just to fake a mere medical record.

    After the press conference, the reporters immediately wrote their drafts. Within an hour, all the news confirmed that Iris Long¡¯sa and her current hospitalization were all true.

 Chapter 129 - Slippers Of Justice

    <h4>Chapter 129 - Slippers Of Justice </h4>

    The news caused an uproar online, especially among the ck Stars fan club. Although Iris herself confirmed that she wasatose for a year during her interviews on "MusicFest Tonight" and on DJ Song¡¯s radio show, it was still only her words. And she didn¡¯t borate much on her condition.

    But now that her medical record was revealed for everyone to see, people realized the gravity of what she went through.

    Those who were bashing her and using her of faking being in aa and staging a hospitalization to generate publicity for her album had no choice but to shut up and retreat (for now).

    Of course, there were a few who didn¡¯t care about the concrete evidence and continued spouting conspiracy theories, but the ck Stars moved swiftly and suppressed these trolls with their numbers and unity.

    Leading the charge against the bashers were CaptainckStar and iEatSlippers. They divided their army and swarmed against those haters online spreading malicious rumours about their boss. Directing the entire ck Stars army on which web pages to go was Monkeyface.

    CaptainckStar: "Defend our boss Iris! Comrades, attack!"

    "Aye aye, Captain!"

    iEatSlippers: "Those who said that our boss Iris was faking her hospitalizations, where are you? Hiding like spineless cowards, I see. Come out,e out, wherever you are! Still noting out? Hah! As expected, all evil-doers scurry away with tails between their legs as soon as they see my mighty slippers of justice!"

    "All hail the mighty slippers!"

    "All hail!"

    "Slippers of justice!"

    In the ck Stars fan club website¡¯s group chat.

    LittlePhoenix: "It¡¯s my fault for posting those photos. I only wanted to prove to those haters that boss Iris was hurt too during the fight with the rm Girls. I didn¡¯t expect that my post will blow up this big and force boss Iris to show her private medical record. Will boss Iris hate me?"

    MrsLovePhantom: "Oh, my dear child. I¡¯m sure Iris won¡¯t hate you."

    JJNumber3Fan: "That¡¯s right, sweetie. It¡¯s not your fault."

    JJNumber1Fan: "Don¡¯t be too hard on yourself, my girl."

    JJNumber2Fan: "Don¡¯t worry about it too much, sweetheart. Iris will surely understand your good intentions."

    LittlePhoenix: "Really?"

    MrsLovePhantom: "Yes."

    LittlePhoenix: "I still want to apologize to boss Iris but I don¡¯t know how."

    MrsLovePhantom: "How about you write a letter to her? Then we aunties will find a way to deliver your letter to her."

    LittlePhoenix: "Is that true? Promise?"

    MrsLovePhantom: "Yes, we promise."

    JJNumber2Fan: "We promise."

    JJNumber3Fan: "Promise!"

    JJNumber1Fan: "We promise, my girl."

    LittlePhoenix: "Thank you very much, Aunties! I¡¯ll go buy a nice stationery paper now. I still have some allowance left after buying boss Iris¡¯ album. I¡¯ll message you after I¡¯ve written my apology letter."

    That day, it seemed as if the ck Stars invaded the inte. Wherever Iris Long¡¯s name was mentioned, the ck Stars were there either proudly waving their boss¡¯ banner (and their mighty virtual slippers) or valiantly fighting against the stubborn anti-Iris Long trolls.

    Iris Long topped the most-searched for rankings. Whether it was her recent album and songs, her amazing performances since hereback, her shocking whistle register, the incident with the rm Girls during herunch party, and the reveal of her medical record¨Dmore and more people wanted to know more about Iris.

    However, the reactions to the incident with the rm Girls during herunch party still remained mixed. The harsher critics didn¡¯t approve of her violent response to the situation, especially since it was clear for everyone to see that she beat up the three girls until they fell unconscious. It didn¡¯t matter to these people that it was the rm Girls who started the fight first. What mattered to them was that the fight looked extremely one-sided and Iris didn¡¯t show any mercy to her fellow girls. They didn¡¯t even imagine what it must have felt like to be chased around suddenly by masked attackers wielding metal mic stands. To them, Iris should also face the consequences of violent behaviour like the rm Girls.

    Of course, there were also many who supported Iris Long. They reasoned that if they were put in the same situation as Iris, they would also do the same...and maybe more. Survival was the most basic instinct, after all.

    While all of these were happening online, Tang Yiyi left the hospital. Thanks to the consecutive media storms involving her artist, she was very busy as Iris¡¯ manager. There was no time to rest. It was her and Bright Summit¡¯s job to turn the situation into something advantageous for their artist. This was what they were good at.

    Back in the hospital, Jin Liwei finally woke up.

    Dom, of course, spilled everything that happened earlier to his sir boss.

    "What?!" Jin Liwei was enraged. He immediately marched outside the room and reprimanded his subordinate who he assigned to protect his Xin.

    The subordinate bowed and apologized. His expression remained stoic, but sweat beaded on his forehead.

    "What the hell were you doing?! This is the private wing and you let someone take a picture¨D"

    Jin Liwei stopped when a pair of graceful arms wrapped around his waist from behind. He felt his baby girl¡¯s body press against his back.

    "Liwei, that¡¯s enough. Don¡¯t scold him anymore. It¡¯s not his fault."

    "But¨D"

    "Liwei...darling, please stop."

    "Okay." He immediately obeyed when he heard her call him "darling".

    She pulled him back inside the room. She nodded at the subordinate who apologized to her.

    Back inside the room, Iris instructed Dom to order dinner. While Dom was gone, Iris and Jin Liwei cuddled on the sofa.

    "I¡¯m sorry I slept through everything," he said, kissing her head.

    Iris looked at him with a serious expression on her face.

    He began to feel ufortable under her gaze. "Baby?"

    "You had your man follow me? Hm, darling?"

    "Uh...I really think that you need a bodyguard. I know that you don¡¯t want to," he quickly said after seeing her narrowing eyes. "But baby, please consider it. I¡¯m really worried about your safety."

    She continued to look at him, but finally sighed. "I really don¡¯t want bodyguards but you might be right about my safety. Elder Sister Yiyi also mentioned it to me earlier today."

    His eyes lit up. "Then?"

    "Yes, I think I¡¯ll hire a bodyguard."

    Jin Liwei smiled widely, relieved that she finally relented. "Great, baby. I¡¯ll help you."

    "I want my own. Don¡¯t give me yours. I want to be my bodyguard¡¯s boss, not you."

    "Alright."

    Iris smiled. She was feeling so much better. Suddenly she moved and sat on hisp, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I missed you."

    He pulled her closer. "I missed you too, baby."

    Outside the room, Dom was finally back. He opened the door.

    "Boss, sir boss! I¡¯ve ordered dinner¨Dkyaaah! Oopsie doopsie, sorry! Please continue!" He shut the door.

    He patted his chest, trying to calm his excited heart. His eyes were sparkling as he nced at the two subordinates guarding in the hallway.

    "Ehehehe."

 Chapter 130 - Mother Figure

    <h4>Chapter 130 - Mother Figure </h4>

    Iris and Dom slipped out of the hospital following Jin Liwei¡¯s arrangement after she was discharged. His two subordinates drove her and Dom in an unassuming car.

    Noticing that another car was following them, she expressed her concern. What if a reporter recognized her and was now following?

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinate assured her that the car following them were their colleagues. Meaning, they were Jin Liwei¡¯s people as well. He exined that their boss called for more men in order to ensure that she was well-protected and can leave safely under the noses of all the reporters and rumourmongers still snooping around the hospital¡¯s vicinity.

    Iris closed her eyes, her hands tightening into fists. She took deep breaths, trying to control her frustration. Yes, she agreed to hire a bodyguard but that didn¡¯t mean that she gave Jin Liwei free rein to surround her with his men. She would have to discuss this with himter when he returned home from work.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Yi Mei burst into tears when Iris and Dom arrived home. The old housekeeper forgot her usualposure, pulling her Young Miss in a tight hug.

    Iris¡¯ chest filled with warmth and her eyes moistened. She blinked her eyes and patted Yi Mei¡¯s trembling back, letting the housekeeper release her concern and emotions through tears.

    Finally, Yi Mei calmed down and released Iris. While struggling to regain her usualposure, she started fussing around her Young Miss. She didn¡¯t even notice Dom greeting her before running to the kitchen to look for something to eat.

    Iris felt extremely pampered. Yi Mei was like a mother hen making sure that she was warm andfortable. She realized that this was the first time she experienced such warmth, concern and pampering from an older female figure.

    In her previous life, her mother¡¯s priority was the family organization. She was cold and ruthless, even to her own children. To her, a mother¡¯s role was to give birth to the next generation who would continue the legacy of the Vetrovs as the leader of the international Underworld.

    Simrly as the new Iris Long, she didn¡¯t have any mother-daughter rtionship with Wei Lan. Their rtionship was more like friendly acquaintances who saw each other asionally. The woman woulde and go whenever she felt like it. Now and then, Wei Lan would drop by the penthouse unannounced to gossip and chatter about her recent escapades. She would give her daughter expensive things she bought from her travels and shopping sprees. Things like brand-name dresses and shoes (in the wrong size), exotic bags (too outrageous for Iris to use), expensive bottles of wine (Iris didn¡¯t drink), etc. Wei Lan didn¡¯t know that her daughter¡¯s tastes vastly changed since she woke up froma. She also didn¡¯t stay more than an hour when visiting, quickly leaving when she finished chattering. She would be gone for weeks, sometimes for months, before she popped by again.

    Compared to her mother in her previous life and Wei Lan, Yi Mei fitted the role of mother figure better than the two. To her, Yi Mei, Dom and her household staff were her family. And Jin Liwei too, as long as they remained lovers. Long Tengfei also seemed like he wanted to have a proper father-daughter rtionship with her.

    All of these connections were something that she never had in her previous life. She was only close to her father and older brother back then. However, they were always away and busy running the organization. Her mother frightened her, so she avoided the cold woman whenever she could.

    Now it felt like she was really living life. There were so many things that were avable for her to explore, so many people that she could connect with. Most importantly, she could openly work towards reaching her dream of sharing and performing her music to the world. She could do all of these whenever she wanted to without having anyone restrict or stop her.

    She was still getting used to this newfound freedom and independence. She lived her entire previous life in such a sheltered manner that she couldn¡¯t instantly get rid of its lingering effects on her mentality. However, she wasn¡¯t worried because she had been given this second life to learn and experience all the things she was deprived of in her previous life.

    For the rest of the day, Iris enjoyed everyone¡¯s care. Just before dinner, Jin Liwei called that he would being homete because it was very busy in hispany. She felt disappointed that they wouldn¡¯t be able to eat dinner together. However, she also understood that hispany needed him.

    11 PM.

    Iris was in the cat room, ying with Popcorn with aser pointer. Ice Cream was already sleeping on her soft fluffy bed. The door was ajar so she immediately heard it when someone began shouting from outside the room. She stopped ying with the kitten and hurried to the living area where themotion wasing from.

    "How dare you return here, you devil?! Stay away from the Young Miss! You¡¯re no good for her! You¡¯re just going to hurt and ruin our Young Miss!" Yi Mei was in berserk mode as she tried to attack Jin Liwei who just arrived from work. However, she couldn¡¯t even touch him because Dom had his arms wrapped tightly around her.

    "Grandma Yi Mei, please calm down!" Dom was trying to calm the housekeeper.

    Yi Mei wasn¡¯t listening to him.

    Jin Liwei just stood there silently, his expression cold. However, his usual indifference was absent. Although he was still cold, he looked more like someone who disassociated his mind while his body was taking a beating.

    "Yi Mei, please stop," Iris said when she arrived. She stood in front of Jin Liwei facing the housekeeper. She already heard from Dom how Yi Mei med Jin Liwei for her fainting episode.

    "Young Miss, this man is no good for you. I beg you to think more carefully. You¡¯re still young. There are many men in the world. You still have many years ahead of you to meet other nicer men. Why must you stay with this man when you just met him? Powerful men like him only y with young girls¡¯ hearts."

    Iris hesitated and then turned her head to nce at Jin Liwei.

    Jin Liwei saw her hesitation and his cold expression cracked. Panic bubbled inside him. "Baby..." He wanted to persuade her that he was the best man for her but couldn¡¯t find the right words. His hand reached out to her but dropped it. A sense of insecurity flowed like sticky goo all over him.

    Iris looked at him and her heart leaped. Taking a deep breath, she turned again and looked at the raging housekeeper.

    "Yi Mei, Jin Liwei is important to me," she said, her voice calm and sincere. "Please don¡¯t me him. It¡¯s not his fault that I fainted. In fact, he took care of me."

    Behind her, Jin Liwei¡¯s heart was racing inside his chest. He was important to his baby girl! Relief was quickly followed by joy. He wanted to envelop her in his arms and kiss her but stopped himself. This wasn¡¯t the right time. The atmosphere was still tense.

    "But Young Miss..."

    "Thank you for caring about me, Yi Mei. I¡¯m very thankful. I also care about you. You and Dom are both important to me."

    "Oh boss..." Dom¡¯s eyes watered. His arms were still wrapped around Yi Mei.

    "But Jin Liwei is also important to me. All of you who care about me, you¡¯re all important people in my life. Yi Mei, I don¡¯t know if Jin Liwei will hurt me. But I also don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll hurt him. In life, how do we know if we¡¯ll hurt each other? I don¡¯t want to avoid something because I¡¯m afraid of getting hurt."

 Chapter 131 - Unexpected Confession

    <h4>Chapter 131 - Unexpected Confession </h4>

    The atmosphere in the living area remained tense. It was as if everyone was frozen while looking at each other.

    Iris didn¡¯t say anything more. She already said what she needed to say. She couldn¡¯t control other people¡¯s thoughts and feelings. Yi Mei was her own person. She had the right to think and feel on her own. All Iris could do was exin to the housekeeper that Jin Liwei was someone important to her.

    The silence just made the atmosphere heavier. Iris was calm. Jin Liwei followed her lead. Only Dom felt stifled. He almost cracked a joke just to lighten the mood but judged that this wasn¡¯t the right time to act like a clown.

    Finally, it was Yi Mei who broke the tense silence. She red at Jin Liwei and looked like she wanted nothing more in the world than to pummel the lusty brat into oblivion. "You." She pointed at him. "Do you love Young Miss?"

    Iris stiffened, instinctively turning to look at Jin Liwei.

    "Yes, I love Xin," Jin Liwei immediately answered. There was no hesitation. He was answering Yi Mei¡¯s question but his eyes were looking directly at Iris. His expression was grave, filled with determination to convey his sincerity. "She is the only woman that I¡¯ll ever love like this, the only woman that I want to be with for the rest of my life. Just weeks ago, we were strangers, but now I can¡¯t imagine my life without her. I dream about her every night. And I wake up every day only to realize that I¡¯m falling in love with her more deeply than the day before."

    Dom, the first ever to ship the couple and the number one fan of their rtionship, immediately burst into tears upon hearing such romantic wordsing out of his sir boss¡¯ lips. He was so overwhelmed by emotions that he let go of Yi Mei to clutch his chest and cover his mouth. He was doing his best not to cry loudly because he didn¡¯t want to ruin the moment.

    Although Dom already released her, Yi Mei didn¡¯t attack Jin Liwei. She was also shocked by the lusty brat¡¯s words. She wanted to disregard it as mere lip service to escape the situation, but she couldn¡¯t deny feeling touched by his sincerity. Maybe the brat really loved the Young Miss. She wavered and her anger subsided a little. Yi Mei nced at her Young Miss.

    Iris had aplicated expression on her face. Her confusion was apparent to everyone. Her eyes would look directly at Jin Liwei but would quickly look away to avoid his passionate expression before looking at him again.

    "I love you, Long Xin. So much."

    "Liwei, I¨D"

    "I know that you don¡¯t love me. Not yet," he continued. A trace of a sad smile appeared on his face before transforming into a determined expression. "But I will do my best to show my love for you and make you fall in love with me, too. I hope that one day, you¡¯ll also feel the same way as I do."

    "Liwei, I don¨D"

    He crossed the short distance between them in just a couple of steps and pressed his index finger to her lips, stopping whatever she was going to say.

    "Please don¡¯t say anything now," he said in a voice so soft that it was almost a whisper. "Just allow me to love you."

    Iris blinked. Then she slowly grabbed his hand to release her lips. She pulled his palm and pressed it onto her chest, so that he could feel her racing heartbeat.

    They looked at each other¡¯s eyes, as if trying to dig underneath the other¡¯s soul.

    "Baby, let me love you."

    Ten seconds of silence.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t dare breathe as he awaited her answer.

    Finally...

    "Okay."

    Joy filled him, as he released the breath he was holding. But he wanted to make sure. "Really?"

    Iris nodded.

    Jin Liwei pulled her into his arms, lifted her up and kissed her. He kissed her as if doing so would fuse them together as one for eternity.

    Confessing his feelings for her felt very liberating. Before this, love felt like a formless gas. But now that he voiced it out aloud in front of her, it suddenly took shape and solidified, growing denser and more intense with every passing moment.

    They were both gasping when the kiss ended.

    "I love you," he said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

    She smiled. "Thank you."

    A hint of sadness shed in his eyes after hearing her reply, but it quickly disappeared. He smiled back at her.

    Their moment was interrupted by a loud, forceful cough. It was Yi Mei.

    They turned to her.

    "Young Miss, please forgive this old housekeeper for acting above her station but I still think that this man is no good for you."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s lips pressed into a thin line but he remained quiet.

    "Grandma Yi Mei¨D"

    "Dominic, let me finish." Yi Mei took a couple of deep breaths before speaking to Iris again. "I think that this man will only hurt you. Young Miss, I only want you to be happy, to meet a nice young man someday who will love and worship you, make you the number one person in his life, to build a wonderful and beautiful family together, and to spend your life in happiness without suffering disappointment, pain or betrayal. I don¡¯t think this man can give you that kind of happiness. Men of status like him can never treat just one woman their number one priority. They have too many responsibilities, duties...and temptations."

    Iris sighed. "Yi Mei¨D"

    "But I can see that you¡¯re happy with him. For now. As long as you¡¯re happy, this old woman is also happy. If Young Miss wants to stay with him, then it¡¯s your decision. Please forgive this old woman for interfering with Young Miss¡¯ life." Tears fell from Yi Mei¡¯s wrinkled eyes. "I just want you to live a good life. You went through so much. Nobody really guided you while growing up. You were basically on your own, a young girl left to her own devices. You had to experience such a scary event, almost dying, to grow up quickly and be such an amazing young woman. You deserve so much better, Young Miss. He doesn¡¯t deserve you. But if you think that he makes you happy, then this old woman has no choice but to support you."

    Heat welled up from Iris¡¯ chest and rushed all over her entire body. Her vision suddenly blurred. Confused, she blinked andrge drops of tears fell down her eyes. She touched her now wet face, surprised. She was confused especially since she couldn¡¯t seem to control her tears which kept on flowing.

    Yi Mei staggered to Iris and clutched her hands. "Young Miss, no matter what happens, as long as I live, this old bones of mine will support you until the day my flesh turns to ashes."

    "Thank you." Iris wanted to say so much more, to express the depth of her emotions, but no words could express her gratitude to Yi Mei as much as this simple yet very meaningful phrase.

    "Wuwuwu...Boss! Sir boss! Grandma Yi Mei! I love you all so much! Wuwuwu..." Dom could no longer stop himself and began a full-force sobbing.

    Yi Mei wiped the tears from Iris¡¯ cheeks with her shaking, wrinkled hands.

    ¡¯So a family could feel like this,¡¯ Iris thought. ¡¯So warm, so loving, so supportive. So...uplifting.¡¯

    She was really d and thankful to have been given a second life.

 Chapter 132 - Commando

    <h4>Chapter 132 - Commando </h4>

    Inside the bedroom.

    Irisid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. For the first time, the sound of water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain failed to rx her.

    ¡¯I love you.¡¯

    Jin Liwei¡¯s voice echoed in her mind.

    Her breath suddenly couldn¡¯t keep up with the fast beating of her heart. Was she having a panic attack? But upon closer inspection, it didn¡¯t feel like anxiety. It felt more like...excitement?

    "I need to search this up."

    She was about to climb off the bed to grab herptop from the study table when the bathroom door opened, revealing a freshly-showered Jin Liwei. He looked flushed from the hot shower. A towel was wrapped low around his hips. He was drying his wet hair with another towel.

    Iris immediately forgot about herptop. Her full attention was on Jin Liwei¡¯s long, lean and strong body which was muscled in the right ces. She didn¡¯t notice that she swallowed a more than usual amount of saliva pooling inside her mouth.

    Jin Liwei saw his baby girl ogling him. His mouth curved into a devilish smile. He was initially on his way to the walk-in closet for pyjamas but seeing his baby girl¡¯s current expression, he changed his mind. He headed straight to the bed instead.

    The bed dipped under his weight.

    Iris finally regained her senses. She blinked. "Put some clothes on first."

    Instead of replying, he removed the towel around his hips. He was already hard and standing.

    It wasn¡¯t her first time seeing his erection, but she still couldn¡¯t help but widen her eyes. She inhaled sharply.

    "I¡¯ll sleepmando tonight," he announced, tossing the towel to the bottom corner of the bed. He sat beside her in his full naked glory, nonchntly drying his hair with the other towel.

    "I...let me help you." She took the towel from him and gently rubbed it on his hair, trying not to stare at his little brother standing strong and proud. However, her traitor eyes kept on swerving to the direction of his crotch. Clearing her throat, she casually covered his lower body with the duvet before continuing to dry his hair.

    Jin Liwei smirked, but didn¡¯t remove the duvet. He kept still and enjoyed this simple yet enjoyable moment of his baby girl drying his hair.

    "I think it¡¯s dry enough," she announced when his hair felt only slightly damp. Then the towel in her hand followed the first towel at the foot of the bed.

    "Thanks, baby."

    She smiled at him.

    He leaned closer until his face was only a couple of inches from hers. His eyes were dark and heavy with desire.

    "I love you, Xin."

    She forgot to breathe until her lungs protested and forced her to gasp much-needed air. Jin Liwei¡¯s gaze was too intense, so she avoided his eyes.

    "Baby, look at me." He held her chin with his thumb and index finger, gently turning her face towards him.

    She looked at him, feeling as if his eyes were burning her. She felt warm...and then hot.

    He continued to look at her with his intense gaze, until she felt so hot that she couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "Kiss me, Liwei...please...darling..."

    Of course he granted her request. Softly, he pressed his lips on her sweet lips. Her eyes closed, sighing in satisfaction. However, he kept his eyes slightly open, watching her beautiful and sexy expressions as he kissed her.

    He traced her lips with the tip of his tongue, and then nibbled on her lower lip. One of his hands slipped on her nape, gently holding her in ce, while her other hand circled around her tiny waist, pulling her closer to him.

    Her arms wrapped around his neck. She attempted to deepen the kiss, but he held back. A furrow formed between her brows. She opened her eyes and pouted, silently expressing her dissatisfaction.

    His mouth curved into a smile. He traced light kisses from the corner of her mouth to her cheeks and finally to her ear. Then he whispered, "Are you still on your period?"

    "Oh." She blinked, remembering that, indeed, she was still on her period. Fortunately, it was now the light flow towards the end of a normal menstruation. Her hospital stay helped regte the unusual heavy bleeding she experienced at the start.

    "Yes," she replied.

    He kissed the side of her neck. "Are you still in pain?"

    She tilted her head to the side, thinking, but this position also gave him easier ess to her neck. She shivered when he licked it. "No...well, a little..." she admitted, panting a little from his touch. "But it¡¯s more tender than painful."

    "Where?" His voice was low and husky.

    "My breasts..."

    "Where else?"

    "My lower abdomen...and my lower back..."

    He straightened and looked at her. His earlier desire-filled face was now marred by a concerned frown. "I think you should still be in the hospital." Then he released her and started climbing off the bed. His movements caused the duvet to slide off his lower body, and his little brother down below popped out again to greet her. "Let¡¯s go back to the hospital. Let me just put on some clothes."

    Iris blinked, needing a couple of seconds to process what he just said. "Wait, no! Liwei, I¡¯m alright now. I don¡¯t need to go back to the hospital."

    "But your breasts, abdomen and lower back are not alright yet."

    "I¡¯m on my period, Liwei. This is normal."

    "But¨D"

    "Dr. Ching already discharged me, so it means that I¡¯m alright. I trust my doctor. If I¡¯m really not well yet, he won¡¯t let me out of the hospital."

    His lips pressed together. He was still clearly worried for her. His erection was now softening up.

    Iris noticed this and sighed. She felt a little disappointed, but she was more touched by his concern for her health.

    She smiled andid back on the bed. She pulled on his arm, wordlessly telling him toy beside her. When he still hesitated, she pulled harder.

    Having no choice but to obey his beautiful baby girl, he sighed andid beside her, pulling the duvet over them.

    She immediately ced her head on his arm and pressed her body close to his, throwing her arm and leg over him.

    The corners of his mouth lifted. Following her lead, he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Then he kissed her forehead.

    The two inhaled each other¡¯s scents, feeling content, as they savoured this sweet moment of cuddling.

 Chapter 133 - Compromise

    <h4>Chapter 133 - Compromise </h4>

    The two of them cuddled. The flowing sound of water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain was slowly lulling them to sleep.

    Jin Liwei reached over to switch off the lights, so that the dim golden lights from the fountain were the only illumination remaining in the dark bedroom. For the entire time during his business trip, he was looking forward to making love with his Xin for the first time. But now that they reunited, life threw a sh*tty curveball.

    Of course, he could seduce her into making love right now, but both of them weren¡¯t in their peak conditions. She was still recovering from her recent health scare, while he was still suffering from the lingering effects of jetg. This was not the ideal time to make love. He wanted their first times to be special for both of them.

    He didn¡¯t want exhaustion to spoil their eventual lovemaking. That was why he needed to wait until both of them were recovered and full of vigour again.

    "Liwei?"

    He was about to fall asleep when her lovely voice called for him. "Mmn...what is it, baby?"

    "Please don¡¯t think badly of Yi Mei after the things she said about you earlier. She was just acting out of concern for me."

    He stroked her head, running his fingers through her long, silky hair.

    "She¡¯s not unreasonable," she continued. "I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll try to attack you again. Both of you are important to me. I don¡¯t want you to fight."

    "I understand. Don¡¯t worry about it," he said, kissing her head and pulling her waist for a closer cuddle.

    "Thank you, Liwei."

    "I would like to hear you call me ¡¯darling¡¯ more."

    "I still think it sounds stupid."

    He chuckled. "But I hope you get used to it soon."

    She was silent for a few moments before replying, "I¡¯ll try."

    His hand continued stroking her hair before gradually slowing down. His eyes drooped close.

    "Liwei?"

    No answer.

    "Are you asleep? Liwei...darling?"

    "Hm?" The ¡¯darling¡¯ pulled him out of near-slumber. "Baby?"

    "Oh, it¡¯s okay. Go back to sleep. We¡¯ll talk about it another day."

    It sounded like she wanted to talk about something important, so he forced himself to stay awake. "It¡¯s fine. Tell me."

    "I want to say that I don¡¯t like that you just decided to send your subordinates to guard me without speaking to me about it first."

    He frowned. "You mean the escort I arranged for you earlier today?"

    She nodded.

    He sighed. "Baby, there were a lot of reporters and snoopers milling around the hospital area. All of them came for you. Yes, there were police officers patrolling but their only job was to prevent them from entering the hospital building, not drive thempletely away from the area. If I didn¡¯t arrange the escort beforehand to slip you out of the hospital secretly, they would¡¯ve swarmed like locusts the moment they saw you. I sent my subordinates to ensure your safety."

    "I know!" She disentangled herself from his embrace and sat up, looking down at him. Her expression clearly showed frustration. "But Liwei! You didn¡¯t have to send so many people just to guard me. Why do you have to send an...an army to guard one person?"

    "I just want to make sure that you¡¯re safe and protected from all kinds of danger."

    "So you surround me with your people? Liwei, you¡¯re trying to control my life! You said you¡¯re not going to cage or restrict me. Were you lying?"

    "Instructing my men to guard you counts as caging you?" he asked.

    "Yes!"

    His mouth pressed together into a thin line. He didn¡¯t agree with her. As a man, he thought that it was only natural to want to ensure his woman¡¯s safety, especially now that she had a history of being attacked.

    "So you want me to just leave you alone? Baby, I can¡¯t do that. I love you. I want you to be safe."

    Her heart couldn¡¯t help but skip a beat. The words "I love you" rolled off his tongue so naturally.

    "Liwei...darling, please try to understand. I¡¯m not telling you to leave me alone. We¡¯re lovers and you¡¯re important to me. It¡¯s just that you can be so excessive that it¡¯s...it feels stifling."

    Stifling? She felt that he was stifling? He pondered over her words silently.

    In all honesty, he wanted to have at least ten of his people follow, monitor and guard her no matter where she wanted to go. This was to give him peace of mind knowing that his baby girl was safe at all times. But also so that he could know where she was at any time, what she was doing, who she was meeting and speaking with, and to make sure that no annoying flies were flying around trying to steal her away from him.

    If they didn¡¯t have their own respective careers, he would have liked to tie her to his waist and spend every single moment together without being separated. s, he had apany to run and she was currently working hard to build a sessful career. It would have been perfect if she just let him take care of her, but he knew that her career was important to her. He didn¡¯t want to block her from achieving her ambitions.

    She took his hand and held it. "I already agreed to hire a bodyguard. Surely, I¡¯ll be protected then. You don¡¯t have to send so many of your subordinates to guard me. Liwei, I really don¡¯t like being surrounded by bodyguards. To be honest, I hate it."

    He wanted to argue with her, to persuade and make her understand that all of these was for her own safety. However, he could sense her frustration. He had a feeling that if he continued to insist, she would end up resenting him. That was thest thing that he wanted.

    He already told her that he loved her. What he needed to do now was to make her fall in love with him too, not make her hate him. So even though it was against his wish, he had to ede to her.

    "Alright, baby." He reached up with his other hand and stroked her cheek. "I won¡¯t send so many of my subordinates to guard you next time."

    "Really? Promise?"

    He sat up. "Yes, I promise. I won¡¯t interfere with your daily safety. I¡¯ll leave it for you and your future bodyguard to handle. BUT if you¡¯re in any danger, I¡¯ll still send my subordinates to protect you. I can¡¯t sit still and do nothing when I know that you¡¯re in danger."

    She pursed her lips. She was unsatisfied but at least the conversation was heading to apromise. This was a good sign. "Fine, but you have to inform me first."

    "Alright. If the situation allows it, I¡¯ll inform you beforehand. But if it¡¯s an emergency, you have to understand that my priority is to remove you from the dangerous situation first over informing you."

    "How about this? You may send your subordinates to me only during emergencies or after you inform me first. And when the emergency ends, you retrieve your men. Deal?"

    Five seconds of silence.

    "Okay, baby. We have a deal."

    She beamed at him.

    He stopped breathing for a moment, blinded by her beauty. He pulled her to him and kissed her hungrily on the mouth.

    She responded with all her might, pushing him down on the bed. Desire for him flowed within her...then she yawned. Sleepiness and desire fought inside her.

    Jin Liwei chuckled seeing his baby girl¡¯s struggle. He kissed her forehead. "Let¡¯s sleep, baby."

    "Mmn..." She settled beside him, her arm and leg over him.

    Momentster, both were deeply asleep.

 Chapter 134 - Slippers Army

    <h4>Chapter 134 - Slippers Army </h4>

    The following days were extremely busy for both Jin Liwei and Iris.

    Jin Liwei was busy developing hispany¡¯s newest business project and looking for a partner for it. There were manypanies, both local and foreign, that were interested in partnering with Jin Corporation but he had to carefully choose the best fit for this project. Most business insiders were expecting the Fans to win the bid, not only because it was in their area of expertise but also because of their status as future inws to the Jins. This was why everyone was shocked when they heard that Jin Corporation rejected the Fans¡¯ bid proposal.

    Right away, rumours started flying saying that the wedding between Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo was called off and must be the reason why the Fans¡¯ bid proposal to the business project was rejected. Those who were envious of the Fans for their close rtionship to the Jins were gleeful. They didn¡¯t appreciate the Fans¡¯ recent aggressive business activities, using their connection to the Jins to win potentially lucrative deals. They thought that the Fans were getting too ahead of themselves, prancing about like the rtives of royalty, when their daughter wasn¡¯t even married to the Jins¡¯ Second Master yet. They wanted to see the Fans fall because they climbed too high up using borroweddder from the Jins and stepping on too many people in the process.

    The rumours reached a point that the Fan family was forced to release an official statement saying that their daughter Fan Luo and Jin Chonglin were still very much in love with each other, and that their wedding would still happen at the right time. Their statement somewhat calmed the rumours, but the seed of doubt was already nted, especially since they hadn¡¯t heard anything from the Jins.

    Everybody waited for a statement from the Jins to rify this issue, but the Jins maintained their silence. No, it was more indifference than silence. Seeing the Jins¡¯ stance just made everyone specte harder that all was not well between the Jins and the Fans.

    The Fan family was, of course, upset about all of these. They demanded an exnation from the Jins. But who was the head of the Jin family? It was Jin Liwei. And who was Jin Liwei? The current most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world who was known for his cold, dispassionate and sometimes ruthless leadership. Even the Fans wouldn¡¯t directly dare offend him. So their only option was to ask Jin Liwei¡¯s mother for help. After all, it was through her first that the Fans had such close connection to the Jins.

    As for Iris, Bright Summit finally allowed her to return to work after assuring them that she was recovered and healthy. On their end, Bright Summit¡¯s PR team somewhat sessfully spun theunch party incident as solely the rm Girls¡¯ fault and that Iris Long beating them up was legitimate self-defence.

    Of course, there were still many Iris Long haters who continued to use her of violence, calling for her punishment alongside the rm Girls. However, whenever they posted anything against Iris online, the ck Stars would immediately swarm over them. The ck Stars were very organized and thorough in defending their boss online. Whenever a negativement about their boss Iris was posted anywhere online, it would only take them seconds to arrive and virtually beat the hater ck and blue.

    The most notorious division of the ck Stars was the Slippers Army led by the infamous iEatSlippers. They were extremely vicious, an army made up of trolls who didn¡¯t give a damn aboutiquette. They were quickly bing the most hated and frightening group on the web. Anyone they targeted would bepletely decimated. No matter how many alt ounts the haters created, the Slippers Army had more alt ounts than them. The majority of them were experienced trolls after all.

    The day before Iris returned to work.

    ck Stars website.

    CaptainckStar: "My fellow ck Stars, I have an important and exciting announcement to share with all of you. Thanks to the initiative of MrsLovePhantom, JJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan and JJNumber3Fan, Bright Summit Entertainment Company has invited us for a meeting. I personally went with MrsLovePhantom and the threedies to meet with our boss Iris¡¯ management. Guess what? We, the ck Stars, are finally recognized and certified as the official fan club of our boss Iris Long!!! We did it!"

    The replies were instantaneous.

    "!!!"

    "Oh my god!"

    "Uwah! I¡¯m crying. I¡¯m so happy. We did it!"

    LittlePhoenix: "(squealing and jumping all around in excitement)"

    "Wow! This is just so wow. Absolutely wow!"

    iEatSlippers: "Comrades, this is all thanks to our mighty slippers of justice! Our heroic battles in the name of our boss are finally recognized!"

    "All hail our mighty slippers of justice!"

    "Slippers are the mightiest weapons of all!"

    iEatSlippers: "Bro Monkeyface, continue to direct us to our next online battlefields. Our mighty slippers of justice are still hungry for more whacking!"

    "Yeah! Whack all those haters! How dare they bash our boss Iris?!"

    Thements continued pouring from the ck Stars members, celebrating their new status as their boss Iris Long¡¯s official fan club.

    However, they were soon interrupted when their website suddenly cked out. They tried refreshing the website but to no avail. Zhou Mei¡¯er (CaptainckStar) and Wu Chen (iEatSlippers) directly called Hou Liang (Monkeyface), asking him what was happening.

    "Give me a few minutes to figure it out," he told them.

    His fingers flew on his keyboard. His usual bored and exhausted expression was nowhere to be seen. At the moment, his eyes were bright and focused. However, he frowned after a minute. His expression turned bewildered when he failed to regain ess to the website.

    "It seems...our website is being hacked," he muttered to his headset.

    "What? Hacked? Oh no!" Zhou Mei¡¯er cried out.

    "Dammit! It must be those haters that our Slippers Army have crushed. They must¡¯ve hired a hacker to try and destroy our online headquarters! Vindictive bastards! They deserve more whacking from my mighty slippers!"

    "Hmm...Let¡¯s see what you got." Excitement danced in Hou Liang¡¯s eyes as his fingers flew over his keyboard. He didn¡¯t bother defending the website from the hacking. Instead, he focused on trying to trace the intruder. However, it was like trying to chase after a formless and invisible phantom.

    While he was busy tracing, the cked out website finally showed some activity.

    At first the ck screen rippled until it brightened and showed a sleeker version of the website. It looked less cluttered yet more visually appealing. In fact, it looked easier to use than the previous design. When the members started exploring the new website, they were delighted at how fast and responsive it was. The features were also all improved.

    Of course Hou Liang saw the new design. He pulled out the new website code and studied it. Indeed, it was so much better than his by several degrees.

    The security was also tighter and less vulnerable to hackers and other breaches.

    "Who are you?" he murmured, feeling very excited.

 Chapter 135 - Drakon

    <h4>Chapter 135 - Drakon </h4>

    Zhou Mei¡¯er and Wu Chen¡¯s gasps of amazement over their new website were transmitted through Hou Liang¡¯s headset, but he didn¡¯t hear them. He was eagerly analyzing the new codes,paring them to his own.

    Then suddenly he was interrupted when his otherputer received a message. His heart thumped. He immediately clicked it open.

    "My fees are expensive but I won¡¯t collect payment from the ck Stars. You¡¯re wee. You need to up your game, KeymonSTER. You have the ability but not enough confidence. ¨CDrakon"

    Hou Liang cried out, standing so abruptly that he knocked over his chair to the floor.

    "D-drakon? Is this the same Drakon that I¡¯m thinking of? No way..."

    "Hey bro. Are you okay?"

    Wu Chen and Zhou Mei¡¯er heard Hou Liang¡¯s exmation.

    "What¡¯s happening? Why did you¨D"

    Hou Liang hung up the call. He was too excited that he forgot to bid proper goodbyes to his friends.

    He quickly typed a reply, not even bothering to pick up his chair.

    "Are you really Drakon?"

    However, his reply bounced. He tried tracing the message but like before, it was like chasing after a phantom. There were no trails at all, or even if there were, his ability was not enough to find them. This only strengthened the possibility that it was really THE Drakon who redesigned the ck Stars website and sent him a message.

    Of course, being unable to trace wasn¡¯t enough to prove anything. After all, there were many hackers in the world who excelled in erasing their tracks. Were they all Drakon? Of course not.

    Drakon was a recently famous hacker who emerged out of nowhere less than a year ago. Nobody knew where he came from because the guymunicated in many, differentnguages. Whatevernguage his client used, he would fluently use it as well.

    He first gained a bit of attention when he epted lucrative jobs troubleshooting and improving variouspanies¡¯ system securities around the world. He was very thorough that he would always catch the smallest of errors overlooked by most hackers, and then offer sophisticated methods on how to improve their systems.

    Afterpleting the jobs, thepanies would offer permanent positions to him but he always declined, disappearing without a trace until he epted another job from anotherpany. The amount of jobs he epted andpleted in a short period of time was impressive. It was estimated by those who tried to closely follow his activities that the money Drakon earned from these jobs was in the tens of millions in US dors.

    Hearing about his track record, morepanies sought his services but they had no way of directly contacting him. All they could do was announce the job online and hope that Drakon would pop by and ept it.

    He gained even more attention when rumours leaked that a few governments tried to recruit him. There was no concrete evidence to prove that Drakon epted any of these governments¡¯ offers, but some said that he epted some of the offers when the pay was high enough. Nobody really knew whether these rumours were true or not. After all, most dealings with the government were highly ssified.

    Despite all these lucrative undertakings, the top hackers didn¡¯t really put Drakon in their sights. Yes, he earned tens of millions in such a short period of time but what he did was nothing special orplicated. To top hackers, system securities were child¡¯s y. Some of them even looked down on him for being a white hat, for not being daring enough toe to the dark side.

    Soon, however, they were forced to take Drakon seriously. Very, very seriously. Drakon finally started epting jobs from the dark web.

    He didn¡¯t dip his toes to test the waters first. Oh no, he didn¡¯t. He f*cking conquered all the highest paying jobs! As long as the job didn¡¯t involve murder or female, child, and sexual exploitation or other crimes deserving capital punishment, Drakon would ept it if the pay was high enough.

    High-profile figures such as politicians,pany heads, organized crime bosses, even religious leaders, and other such personalities were destroyed by Drakon overnight. Companies and organizations copsed due to the frighteningly extensive and detailed reports he provided. Even some minor governments in different parts of the world were forced to change leaders because of the dirt he dug out.

    His calm, detail-oriented, thorough, and untraceable style was very simr to that legendary world-ss hacker who mysteriously disappeared some years ago. Some were even specting that perhaps the legendary hacker was actually Drakon re-emerging under another name.

    However, the veteran hackers disagreed. Indeed, their styles were simr but Drakon clearly prioritized money. On the other hand, that legendary hacker couldn¡¯t care less about earning anything. He would hack to amuse himself to the point that his objectives were difficult to understand bymon sense.

    That legendary hacker would often hack into various governments¡¯ intelligence agencies, not to cause any trouble, but only to read ssified files like someone borrowing books from a public library. The agencies wouldn¡¯t even know that they were hacked. They would only discover by chance when they routinely checked old files only to discover added notes that weren¡¯t there before.

    The notes usually went along these lines:

    "That was so entertaining. Thank you!"

    "This is a page-turner. Highly rmended!"

    "What a tragic story. Made me teary-eyed."

    Like a phantom, he woulde and go as he pleased. Like a phantom, he would vanish without any trace.

    To the veteran hackers, this legendary hacker who disappeared some years ago had a very different personality than the money-oriented Drakon. Compared to Drakon who chose jobs based on the pay, the legendary hacker would help or destroy in ordance to his mood. This was why he was so terrifying because he couldn¡¯t be tempted by anything, not even when offered billions in money.

    Back in his cramped apartment filled with disorganizedputer parts and other electronic devices, Hou Liang felt star-struck. Drakon was like the hottest new celebrity in the hacking world.

    The top hackers might not bepletely sold on Drakon yet, but to plebeians like Hou Liang, he was already a star deserving to be idolized.

    Hou Liang wondered why someone like Drakon would concern himself with something like the ck Stars fan club. What was even more amazing was Drakon knew his main hacker name, KeymonSTER. Nobody really made this connection to him before. This was the first time. Most people knew him as Monkeyface, a normal puter expert".

    ¡¯No, wait.¡¯

    Suddenly, he remembered something.

    There was one more person who knew that he was KeymonSTER.

    Iris Long whispered this very word to his ear during herunch party.

    "Drakon must be connected to Iris Long," he murmured to himself. "Perhaps they even know each other in person. This exins why she knows that I¡¯m KeymonSTER and why Drakon got involved with the ck Stars website. Hmm...this must be it."

    Hou Liang nodded, thinking that his conjecture made sense.

 Chapter 136 - What Baby?

    <h4>Chapter 136 - What Baby? </h4>

    Jin Liwei helped Iris choose a suitable bodyguard to hire before she started working again. He tried suggesting that she choose from his subordinates because he was certain that his own men were well-trained and loyal. But she quickly rejected his idea. Yes, she had no doubt that his men would be well-trained and loyal...but loyal to HIM, not to her.

    In the end, he didn¡¯t push it and just provided her with a list of candidates he already filtered through for her.

    "They¡¯re all males," shemented while looking at the list.

    "En."

    "Aren¡¯t there any female bodyguards?"

    He paused before replying. "There are. You want a female bodyguard?"

    She nodded.

    "Hmm...How about this? Hire one male bodyguard from this list first. Give me some time and I¡¯llpile another list of female bodyguards for you. This way, you get two bodyguards. A male and a female."

    "I don¡¯t need two bodyguards!"

    "Baby, do you expect one bodyguard to work for you 24/7? With two bodyguards, they can work in shifts and you¡¯re protected all the time."

    She was silent, thinking on his words for about a minute, before agreeing after some reluctance.

    He breathed a sigh of relief when she finally acquiesced, and immediatelymenced the hiring procedure for her.

    Now that his baby girl had a bodyguard, Jin Liwei felt a little more assured about her safety. He would feel even more assured if it were his own men protecting her, but since she didn¡¯t like the idea, all he could do waspromise. At least, he was 100% involved in the choosing and hiring process.

    The days flew by as Iris and Jin Liwei busied themselves with their own respective work.

    Due to Iris having just recovered from her recent hospitalization, Bright Summit was careful in easing her back to work. For the first few days, Tang Yiyi limited Iris¡¯ working hours up to six hours a day at most. This allowed Iris to return home every day to rest.

    Jin Liwei, on the other hand, worked long hours. Hispany¡¯stest business project was reaching a critical stage and he had to be present to actively oversee it. Despite this, he always came home to the penthouse.

    The two, however, couldn¡¯t spend quality time together. Jin Liwei was gone for most of the day. Iris would already be deeply asleep when he came home past midnight. Then he would wake up at dawn a few hourster to get ready for another day of work. Iris would usually still be asleep when he left, but sometimes she would wake up to see him off.

    In the past, when business projects reached a critical stage like this and he had to spend a lot of time at work, he usually slept right in hispany office bedroom. This time, however, he made sure that he returned to the penthouse every night even though it was very inconvenient because he was worried about his baby girl.

    Iris would sometimes thrash in her sleep, obviously from a nightmare. She would feel cold to the touch, sweat heavily and gasp for breath. Jin Liwei worried that there would be a repeat of that terrifying night when she copsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. There was also a fear within him that she would fail to wake up because he heard that there were cases of people suddenly dying in their sleep despite appearing healthy.

    Fortunately, the nightmares weren¡¯t regr nightly urrences. Often, she wouldn¡¯t even remember having a nightmare at all. This was a good thing because she would be her usual self when she woke up. However, he was still worried for her and wondered why she kept experiencing these sleep disturbances.

    He wanted to suggest for her to go for a medical consultation or perhaps a psychological evaluation but stopped himself because she wasn¡¯tining about them. As long as she wasn¡¯t bothered, he would try not to worry too much. Perhaps he was overthinking.

    Although both of them were busy and barely had time for each other, Jin Liwei regrly phoned to talk to her and hear her voice whenever he had time to spare.

    She was busy promoting her album "Rebirth".

    Dom documented her activities and would regrly report all of them to Jin Liwei. Based on Dom¡¯s reports, Jin Liwei was assured that the bodyguard they hired was properly doing his job in protecting his baby girl.

    After a week, Tang Yiyi informed Iris that she would be increasing her workload to get back on track with their original promotional ns. Iris agreed, assuring her manager that her health could take it.

    But before she became busier, Iris called Long Tengfei and scheduled dinner with him and his wife at the Long ancestral residence.

    Then she tried calling Jin Liwei after speaking with Long Tengfei. She didn¡¯t really expect for him to pick up because she knew that he was busy at work. She was ready to leave a voice message.

    "Hello, baby?" Jin Liwei¡¯s deep voice answered.

    She was caught unawares when he actually picked up her call that she wasn¡¯t able to speak for a couple of seconds. "Oh. Sorry to disturb you. I just want to ask you about something."

    "No, you¡¯re not disturbing me. What is it? Are you alright?"

    Jin Liwei was actually in the middle of an important meeting. Everyone froze when the President suddenly raised a hand to stop the person currently presenting. His phone was vibrating on the conference table. They were confused because the President would usually reject calls during meetings, but this time he answered. The person calling must be someone important, perhaps a fellow business leader.

    Then everyone was shocked out of their wits when their cold and dispassionate President answered the phone with a gentle tone. But what shocked them the most was that he called the person on the other end of the line "baby".

    Baby? What baby?

    Baby as in "offspring"? Or baby as in "lover"? Or maybe a person named Baby?

    Which was it?!!!

    They wanted to know so badly.

    All their bodies slightly shifted towards his direction, straining to hear the phone conversation. They wished that it was on speakerphone.

    "Oh, you want to give a present to your father?" Jin Liwei continued to talk on the phone, ignoring all the people around him.

    No, it wasn¡¯t that he was ignoring them. It was just that all these people ceased to exist for him at that very moment because all his senses were focused on his baby girl.

    "Hmm...Alright, I got it. I¡¯ll ask someone to pick up a bottle from my house and deliver it to you today. I have some of the best bottles in the world...No, baby. Don¡¯t worry about paying anything. Just treat it as a present to your father from both of us..."

    The surrounding people felt like their eyes were going to pop out of their heads at what they were hearing. Based on the President¡¯s tone and the conversation, it seemed that "baby" was referring to a lover.

    "Alright. Take care. Don¡¯t overwork yourself. I think I¡¯ll be home before midnight tonight. I¡¯ll see you. I love you, baby. Bye."

    Some of them were already hyperventting, while the others were simply frozen, unable to process what they just heard.

    The President just said ¡¯I love you, baby¡¯ to someone! This was Jin Liwei saying such mushy words!

    Un-f*cking-believable!

    Big news!

    The King Yama of the business world was in a rtionship!

    But the most important question was...

    Was ¡¯baby¡¯ a woman or a...man?

 Chapter 137 - Will You Wait For Me?

    <h4>Chapter 137 - Will You Wait For Me? </h4>

    Saturday.

    At 4:30 PM, Iris was sitting with Jin Liwei at the backseat of his car. Xu Tian was driving. They picked her up from the penthouse, so that they could drop her off at the Long ancestral residence for her dinner agreement with Long Tengfei.

    Jin Liwei was in his business suit. He left at dawn for work as usual, even though it was a weekend. Hispany was still very busy due to theirtest business project. But still he promised to leave work early just to pick her up this afternoon.

    As soon as Iris climbed inside the car, he pulled her in his arms and kissed her hungrily.

    Xu Tian immediately pushed a button and a partition wall rose between the front and backseats, giving the lovey-dovey couple behind him some privacy and most importantly peace to HIS mind. Out of sight, out of mind. Oh, how much he wished that the partition wall was also soundproofed. He couldn¡¯t stop his neck, ears and face from flushing red.

    ¡¯This is going to be a long drive,¡¯ he thought, sighing.

    He began driving.

    At the backseat, Iris responded to Jin Liwei¡¯s kiss just as hungrily. They hadn¡¯t pleasured each other for days. She missed his touches. She climbed on hisp.

    "Baby..."

    He was about to stop her when she pulled hard on the cor of his dress shirt. Two buttons snapped off, falling somewhere on the car floor.

    She trailed wet kisses on his jaw down to his neck. She sucked and nibbled on his skin, leaving small red love bites. Most of the hickeys she put on his neck and chestst time already faded. He was already past due for a touch-up from her.

    He gasped, feeling tightness in his pants. He was already hard and getting harder by the second in response to his baby girl¡¯s unrestrained actions.

    Iris¡¯ wild hands were already on his belt buckle when he managed to regain a sliver of his rational mind. They were in a moving car with Xu Tian right in front of them driving. Although he knew that his assistant was discreet, loyal, trustworthy and wouldn¡¯t gossip, he still didn¡¯t want Xu Tian to personally witness or even just hear their intimate activities.

    He didn¡¯t want anyone besides himself to hear his Xin making sexy noises. This side of hers was his alone to experience. Nobody else¡¯s but his!

    With great effort and thest bit of his self-control, he gently but firmly caught his baby girl¡¯s naughty hands and held them away from his hungry little brother down below.

    She made a noise of protest and tried to return to where she left off, but his grip was strong, not allowing her naughty hands to get any naughtier.

    "Baby, we need to stop."

    "No, I want..."

    "Listen to me, baby. Do you want Xu Tian to hear us?"

    She pursed her lips, annoyed at being stopped. She wanted him so much at the moment. "So what? Let him hear. He already knows about our rtionship anyway. Besides, if he bes stupid enough to breathe a word about what we¡¯re doing, I¡¯ll destroy him."

    Hearing every single word they were saying about him, Xu Tian had no idea how to react. He felt extremely ufortable, especially after hearing what Miss Long just said. Given how deeply the President had already fallen for her, he probably would even help her destroy Xu Tian, his long-time assistant, just to make her happy. Poor Xu Tian wanted to cry. It seemed like he needed to be extra careful not to displease Miss Long, his futuredy boss, in any way.

    "Absolutely not." Jin Liwei¡¯s tone was unyielding.

    ¡¯Hooray! The boss still cares about me,¡¯ Xu Tian rejoiced inside. It seemed like the President cared for him enough not to allow Miss Long to even think about destroying him. But the President¡¯s next words almost made poor Xu Tian spit out blood.

    "I just don¡¯t want Xu Tian to get any ideas in his head about you after hearing us. You¡¯re so beautiful and sexy, baby. I don¡¯t want to give other men opportunities to fantasize about you. I¡¯ll probably want to kill Xu Tian myself if I allow that to happen."

    ¡¯Oh my lord Jin, how can you forsake your pitiful servant like this?¡¯ Xu Tian inwardly cried. He wanted to defend himself and say that he would never fantasize about Miss Long. He wasn¡¯t stupid. Why would he dare fantasize about the President¡¯s woman? He didn¡¯t want to die yet!

    Iris was very unhappy, but Jin Liwei¡¯s words managed to prate through her desire-filled thoughts. Her rationality slowly returned.

    "Okay," she said, her expression very disappointed.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes darkened with desire seeing such a cute expression on her face. He clenched his teeth hard to prevent himself from losing control.

    "It¡¯s just that..." Iris fiddled with his now broken cor. "I missed you so much."

    His mouth curved into a smug smile, as his heart skipped a beat hearing her words. "I missed you too, baby. So much." He kissed her chin because he wasn¡¯t sure that he would be able to stop once he started kissing her on the mouth again.

    Iris pressed her body against him andid her head on his shoulder. "I know you¡¯re very busy at work. You didn¡¯t have to interrupt your work just to pick me up, you know. I have my own driver. Even father offered to send a chauffeur to pick me up if I want."

    "I want to spend as much time with you as possible," he said, rubbing her back. Then he sighed. "I wish we didn¡¯t have to go to work and just spend time together all the time."

    "But that¡¯s boring. Besides I love my work."

    He squinted at her. "Did you just say that I¡¯m boring?"

    She giggled. "No, not you. Not working is boring."

    "I thought you think that I¡¯m boring." He gently poked at the tip of her nose, kissing it afterwards.

    "Of course not. Well, you can be annoying at times but not boring."

    "I¡¯m annoying?"

    She nodded. "But it¡¯s okay. I still like you."

    He stopped and pulled her up from his shoulder, straightening her so that they were once again facing each other. He looked deeply into her eyes.

    "I love you, baby."

    She stiffened but immediately felt warm and nice. This time, she didn¡¯t avoid his eyes but stared back at him. Sheid her hands on his chest, feeling his strong heartbeat through her palms.

    "I¡¯ll learn to love you, Liwei. Will you wait for me?"

    He inhaled sharply. "Of course. I¡¯ll wait for you to love me too."

 Chapter 138 - The Long Ancestral Residence

    <h4>Chapter 138 - The Long Ancestral Residence </h4>

    Iris and Jin Liwei cuddled until the car stopped. They finally reached the majestic gate of the Long ancestralpound.

    The partition wall lowered. Xu Tian announced that they arrived.

    Jin Liwei kissed Iris¡¯ forehead. "Go. Spend time with your father. Call meter when you¡¯re ready to leave. I¡¯ll pick you up."

    "Would you like to go with me inside?"

    "Hmm...next time. We¡¯ll visit and have dinner with your father as a couple. But for now, I think that it¡¯s better for you to go alone. I¡¯m sure your father also wants to spend more time with you."

    "Okay."

    "Go, baby. Have fun. See youter." He handed her the presents they prepared for Long Tengfei and his wife.

    "See youter." Then she turned to Xu Tian. "Drive safely."

    "Understood, Miss Long."

    The two kissed each other one more time before Iris climbed off the car.

    She stood in front of the massive main gate. The stones and the tall wooden doors emanated an ancient aura. Two big, ferocious-looking stone lions guarded each side of the gate. On the archway above the wooden doors hung the Long family crest. It showed a mighty yet benevolent dragon looking up at the heavens.

    Iris walked forward and pressed the inte. Yes, there was an inte despite the ancient ce. This was the modern times of technological advancements after all.

    After just a few seconds of wait, a guard opened the door to let her in. Iris turned back to look at Jin Liwei before heading inside. His window was down and he waved at her, urging her to go. The car only left when the gate closed behind her.

    Once inside thepound, she followed the guard. She sifted through the original Iris¡¯ memories and found that nothing really changed in the ce. Long Tengfei was reallymitted to preserving thepound¡¯s ancient dignity.

    They walked through the outer courtyard where there was a simple yet elegant green garden. It was very clean and well-maintained. Then the guard opened the second gate leading to the inner courtyard which was many timesrger than the outer courtyard.

    Iris gasped when she saw the inner courtyard. She already knew what it looked like from the original Iris¡¯ memories, but seeing and experiencing the ce herself was still different. The view was breathtaking. Calm, serene, and elegant. It was like looking at a real, live, breathing painting. So beautiful.

    There was a pond with colourful koi fishes swimming underneath the clear water. Pink and white lotus blooms floated on its surface. At the middle of the pond was a natural-looking waterfall fountain made up of irregr moss-covered rocks stacked on top of one another.

    Iris followed the guard and crossed the stone bridge over the pond. The lush leaves from the big, old willow tree was like a green curtain hanging over the bridge. Everywhere she looked were green trees and shrubs entuated by the colourful blossoms of magnolias, chrysanthemums, azaleas and spireas. There were also some carefully cultivated potted bonsai trees. The traditional garden was vibrant yet calm and organized.

    She could see the western wing on her far left where Long Tengfei¡¯s eldest son from the first wife was living. On her far right was the eastern wing. Long Tengfei suggested for the original Iris to live there before but she rejected his offer, and then proceeded to buy a penthouse instead.

    The original Iris hated living in thispound. First of all, the elders often dropped by. She knew that they disapproved of her and her mother Wei Lan. All they did was criticize her in whatever she did. She could never do anything right in their eyes. Second of all, it was an ancient ce, so old-fashioned. Long Tengfei did his best to upgrade the living quarters with modern conveniences but the original Iris still felt that they were too primitivepared to living in an actual modern residence. Andstly, the original Iris was afraid to live in this scary, haunted ce. While growing up, she heard some of the servants gossiping about seeing ghosts in this ce. There was absolutely no way that she would agree to her father¡¯s suggestion to live in the eastern wing. This was what the original Iris thought.

    Finally, Iris and the guard reached the master wing. It was the grandest building in the entirepound. The old chambein stepped forward and greeted her, taking over in leading her inside the residence. The guard excused himself before leaving.

    The chambein led her inside. Iris felt like she was walking inside a museum with all the various relics, artifacts, and ancient art and furniture¨Dbut without the cordons. This ce was simply amazing.

    However, she also personally thought that there was something off-putting in living in this kind of ancient ce on a daily basis. It felt like entering a time warp to the ancient times. There was so much established history in every nook and cranny that there was basically no freedom at all for change without disrespecting the ce¡¯s dignity.

    She finally saw other people when they reached the hall. Long Tengfei, his wife Yang Jiahui, and a young woman around Iris¡¯ age were standing and waiting for her.

    "Xin, wee back," Long Tengfei greeted her. His expression looked unemotional at first nce, but the sparkle in his eyes betrayed his delight.

    "Hello, Father," she greeted him back and handed him one of the presents she was carrying. "This is from me and Liwei. He chose it for you."

    Long Tengfei¡¯s expression stiffened for about a second after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s name, but he quickly nodded and received the present. "Would you mind if I open it now?"

    "Not at all. Please open it, Father."

    He carefully tore the wrapping paper and opened the box. He reached inside and pulled a bottle.

    "Oh! This is a 55-year old single malt scotch whisky. I think I recognize this. I remember seeing a few bottles being auctioned before and the final price for each bottle reached five figures in US dors. If I¡¯m not mistaken, there are only about 150 bottles of this in the entire world. This is great."

    Iris blinked, not really understanding the excitement over a single bottle of smelly liquid. But she still smiled, pleased that Long Tengfei liked the present.

    "Thank you, my daughter. And to CEO...I mean, to Liwei too."

    She nodded. Then she turned to the older woman quietly standing beside him. Yang Jiahui was not a beauty. Compared to Wei Lan¡¯s gorgeous and seductive beauty, Yang Jiahui looked too simple and average. Her features were the kind that would be forgotten immediately within a crowd. However, when she smiled, one couldn¡¯t help but be drawn to her. Her eyes were bright and warm and she exuded a pleasant aura that would make people around herfortable.

    At the moment, however, Yang Jiahui¡¯s smile was nervous. "Xin, thank you foring today. We¡¯re all very happy for your visit."

    "Hello, Madam. Thank you."

    Yang Jiahui¡¯s expression fell a little, but she quickly recovered and smiled warmly once again.

 Chapter 139 - Aunt And Niece

    <h4>Chapter 139 - Aunt And Niece </h4>

    Long Tengfei and his wife were tense as Iris finally started interacting with Yang Jiahui. They knew how Iris hated her father¡¯s third wife and how she repeatedly rejected Yang Jiahui¡¯s attempts to have a cordial rtionship with her.

    Iris caught Yang Jiahui¡¯s almost unnoticeable change in expression. She tilted her head to side, wondering what could be the reason. She didn¡¯t think that she said anything hurtful to the older woman just now. Since she had no idea, she decided to ask directly.

    "Did I say something to make you unhappy, Madam?"

    Yang Jiahui¡¯s smile stiffened and quickly shook her head. "No, no. I¡¯m very happy that you¡¯re here with us today, Xin. Please don¡¯t think that I¡¯m unhappy with you."

    Iris continued to observe Yang Jiahui¡¯s expression, making the older woman almost squirm. Long Tengfei and his wife were beginning to feel nervous, fearing that Iris might start raging again like before. Unknown to them, Iris was just pondering whether she made a mistake interpreting Yang Jiahui¡¯s earlier change in expression.

    The young woman beside Yang Jiahui couldn¡¯t take the strained atmosphere any longer. She stepped forward and blurted out, "My aunt is just upset that you¡¯re calling her ¡¯Madam¡¯. She wants you to call her ¡¯Aunt Jiahui¡¯."

    "Xiao Mei!" Yang Jiahui pulled the young woman back. Then she looked nervously at Iris. "Don¡¯t listen to my niece. You can call me however you want, Xin."

    "Auntie, was what I said wrong? I heard you tell Uncle Tengfei before that you¡¯re hoping for Xin to treat you like family and call you ¡¯Aunt¡¯. I know what I heard."

    "You!" Yang Jiahui¡¯s face was red. She almost couldn¡¯t look at Iris anymore.

    "Hmm...Is that all?" Iris¡¯ calm voice interrupted them. "Why didn¡¯t you say so? Aunt Jiahui, you just had to ask me. There¡¯s no need to feel so shy."

    Both Yang Jiahui and Long Tengfei looked stupefied.

    The young woman also looked surprised at first but then beamed.

    "W-what did you just call me?" Yang Jiahui stammered.

    "Hm?" Iris was confused. Why were they reacting so weirdly over such a simple matter? "Aunt Jiahui?"

    Tears escaped from Yang Jiahui¡¯s eyes, but she quickly wiped them and smiled widely at Iris.

    Iris became even more confused. Why was she crying? She turned to the young woman, silently asking her.

    The young woman giggled. "Don¡¯t worry. Auntie is just happy that you finally called her ¡¯Aunt¡¯."

    "Oh, okay." Iris turned to Yang Jiahui again and handed the other present to her. "This is for you, Aunt Jiahui."

    "Oh. You didn¡¯t have to bring me anything, Xin." Yang Jiahui¡¯s attempt of rejecting the present was weak. It was obvious that she was excited and emotional.

    Iris didn¡¯t reply, firmly pushing the present to the older woman.

    Yang Jiahui sniffed. Her eyes were still watery but her smile lit up her face, making her pretty in a special way that couldn¡¯t be exined by mere outer appearance alone. "Thank you, Xin. Do you mind if I open it now?"

    "No. Go head, Aunt."

    Yang Jiahui¡¯s hands trembled a little as she carefully tore the wrapping paper. A beautiful carved box was revealed. She opened it and the faint smell of dried tea leaves wafted in her nose. There was a handwritten note from a tea farmer indicating that the box contained Da Hong Pao tea [1].

    Iris was able to get her hands on the tea through her connection with Lin Yehan.

    The young woman beside her peered at the box. "Uwah! It¡¯s Da Hong Pao! Auntie, I want some too! Oh, I know! Let¡¯s use that for tea today."

    Yang Jiahui hugged the box closer to her body and moved it away from her niece, like a kid hiding her favourite toy from a ymate. She closed the box and murmured, "Next time, next time." Then she turned to Iris. "Thank you very much, Xin. I love it."

    Iris nodded.

    Yang Jiahui beamed.

    "Stingy," the young woman pouted seeing her aunt¡¯s actions.

    Iris turned to her, curious as to who this young woman was. She tried searching from the original Iris¡¯ memories but to no avail.

    "Xin, this girl here is my niece," Yang Jiahui introduced.

    "Hello. My name is Yang Mei. My father and Auntie are siblings. I¡¯m an orphan, that¡¯s why Auntie and Uncle Tengfei took me in about...hmm...more than a year ago, I guess."

    "Nice to meet you, Yang Mei. I¡¯m Long Xin. And I¡¯m sorry for your loss."

    "Please call me Meimei. And thank you. I miss my parents but I believe that they¡¯re in a much better ce now. Uncle Tengfei has been really good to me. He and Auntie treat me like their own daughter, so I¡¯m very thankful."

    Long Tengfei cleared his throat. Yang Jiahui looked anxious again. They worried that Yang Mei¡¯s words would make Iris feel resentful that her father was treating another child like a daughter when their own rtionship was not close.

    "I see. That¡¯s good to hear." Iris¡¯ voice was calm. "My apologies. I didn¡¯t know about you before this, so I didn¡¯t bring anything for you."

    "That¡¯s okay," Yang Mei said, waving away the apology. Then she stared at Iris. "You know, I heard that you¡¯re a b*tchy, spoiled brat but you¡¯re actually pretty nice. I also heard that you were very rude to Auntie before so I was already ready to hate you, but I¡¯m actually liking you right now. Were those fake news or were you really b*tchy before?"

    "Xiao Mei! What are you saying?!" Yang Jiahui was horrified. "Xin, please excuse this girl¡¯s bad manners. Ignore what she says."

    "Indeed, I was rude to her before." Iris looked at Yang Jiahui. "Aunt Jiahui, I¡¯m sorry for all the hurtful words I said to you before. I hope that you¡¯ll forgive me."

    Yang Jiahui froze,pletely caught unawares at Iris¡¯ sudden apology. Then huge drops of tears dropped from her eyes, quickly turning into a steady stream of tears. "Oh, oh. Xin..." she sobbed. "Yes, o-of course. Thank you..."

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] A heavily oxidized, dark oolong tea and is currently considered the most expensive tea in the world, dubbed as the "tea worth more than gold".

 Chapter 140 - Life Of Regrets

    <h4>Chapter 140 - Life Of Regrets </h4>

    The four headed to one of the minor courtyards after Yang Jiahui finally calmed down. Long Tengfei awkwardlyforted her. He wasn¡¯t an affectionate person to begin with, so his movements looked stiff and unnatural as he patted his wife¡¯s back.

    They followed the old chambein who led the way. A servant took Iris¡¯ presents from Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui to be ced in their bedchamber.

    Yang Mei walked beside Iris and started chattering. She asked Iris various questions but also talked about herself in an endless stream of words. Her energy reminded Iris a little of Dom. Perhaps that was why she immediately felt at ease with the young woman.

    "Do I call you Xin or Iris?"

    "Either is fine, Yang Mei."

    "I told you to call me Meimei."

    "Alright, Meimei."

    "I¡¯ll call you Xin then! The public knows you as Iris, so it kinda feels exciting to be one of the few people who knows your real name." Meimei giggled. "By the way, I love your album! My favourite song is ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯. So tragically romantic! Ah, my heart! I cry whenever I listen to it! Did you reallypose all the songs in your album by yourself?"

    "Yes, I did."

    "You¡¯re so amazing! Can you sign my copy of your album?"

    "Of course."

    "Yay! To tell you the truth, I didn¡¯t buy it myself. Uncle Tengfei bought a lot of copies of your album. So I just stole¨DI mean, I took a copy for myself. He has so many so I don¡¯t think he¡¯ll mind if I take one. Don¡¯t forget to write my name when you sign it, okay? Write ¡¯Meimei¡¯."

    "Sure."

    Meimei continued to bber on as they neared the small courtyard. Iris learned that Meimei was a few months older than her. Iris was 20, while Meimei was 21. Meimei was currently attending university studying Digital Media Arts and Design. Iris¡¯ interest was piqued so she asked questions about the digital arts program.

    "Uncle Tengfei told me that if I want I can work at Long Industries after I graduate but the truth is that I really want to be a digital manhuajia [1]," Yang Mei whispered to her, dramatically ncing at Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui who were walking ahead of them, making sure that they wouldn¡¯t hear her.

    Iris couldn¡¯t help but smile at her antics. Indeed, Meimei reminded her of Dom. "Meimei, if you want to be a digital manhuajia, then be one."

    Meimei pouted. "I really want to but bing one is basically gambling, you know. Sess is not guaranteed and I might be one of those stereotypical starving artists who can¡¯t even make ends meet. At least, if I work at Uncle Tengfei¡¯spany, I know I¡¯ll have regr sry and great benefits. Besides, Uncle and Auntie have already been so kind to me, inviting me to live with them when I became alone and even paying for my education. I feel like I¡¯ll be returning their generosity with unkindness if I throw away my education to be a manhuajia instead."

    "Hmm...Then I¡¯m also basically gambling. As a musician, a celebrity, I have no insurance whether my music or work will sell or not. I observed that fame is a fickle thing. Hard work doesn¡¯t always equals sess, especially in the world of us artists. But you can¡¯t be sessful without hard work. One day, you¡¯re the object of everyone¡¯s adoration but the next day, you might be the object of everyone¡¯s scorn until you¡¯re forgotten and your career is over. Knowing this, I still pursue this career because I love it. Sess is nice and what we all aim for, but what drives me is the freedom to pursue my passion. I know that there are many people who disapprove of my career, but this is my life, not theirs. I don¡¯t want to live a life of regrets."

    ¡¯Not again¡¯, Iris thought to herself. In this life, she would do her best to live without regrets.

    "Wow, Xin. That¡¯s deep." Meimei pondered over Iris¡¯ words. "Don¡¯t want to live a life of regrets, huh?"

    "But of course, the final decision will be yours to make. It¡¯s your life after all."

    Meimei nodded. "Right."

    They finally arrived at the small courtyard. Meimei revealed that the garden was personally cultivated by her aunt. Compared to the sophisticated gardensprising the main inner courtyard, this garden indeed looked more like a normal, personal garden. There were more colourful flowers than trees and shrubs. There were even some vegetables being grown. Everything looked a little disorganized, yet there was an unmistakable homely feeling here which the other areas in thepoundcked.

    The old chambein led them to a traditional pavilion within the courtyard. There was a table and chairs big enough to amodate them. A servant was already waiting to serve them hot tea and pastries.

    The four sat down and chatted as they ate. Long Tengfei was very pleased that his daughter didn¡¯t make any trouble with his wife. In fact, the interaction between the four of them was light and friendly. Although he and his wife still felt a little awkward when speaking to his daughter, they were bing morefortable as time passed by.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui watched the two young women chatting like close friends. Yang Jiahui was delighted that Xin and her niece were getting along very well. She wished that they could treat each other like sisters. Then perhaps Xin would be more willing to visit thepound more often.

    When the sun started setting, they stood up and headed inside for dinner. They continued chatting with each other as they seated themselves.

    Momentster, a man in histe twenties arrived and joined them. He was Long Hui, Iris¡¯ eldest half-brother. He was Long Tengfei¡¯s heir and eldest son born with his first wife.

    Long Hui¡¯s cold and indifferent expression reminded Iris so much of Jin Liwei. They had the same innate arrogant aura found in most firstborn sons and heirs of prestigious families.

    Iris and Meimei stood up from their seats to greet him.

    Meimei: "Hello, Big Brother Hui."

    Long Hui nodded at her. "Hello." Then he turned to look at Iris. He looked a lot like Long Tengfei, but his features were a little more delicatepared to his father¡¯s chiselled appearance.

    "It¡¯s good to see you, Elder Brother," Iris greeted.

    "So you finally return here, Little Sister. Didn¡¯t you say before that you¡¯re never ever setting foot here again?"

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] Person who draws/creates manhua (Chineseics)

 Chapter 141 - Long Hui

    <h4>Chapter 141 - Long Hui </h4>

    The temperature within the dining hall immediately plummeted. Yang Jiahui and Meimei wanted to defend Iris but stopped themselves. If there was one person in the residence that they didn¡¯t want to offend, it would be Long Hui. He was, after all, the Long family¡¯s legitimate heir. If something ever happened to Long Tengfei, Long Hui would immediately take over as the head of the family and the business.

    Iris was, of course, also a legitimate heiress but she wasn¡¯t expected to seed Long Industries. Thepany was the family¡¯s lifeblood and the reason why the Longs were enjoying their current status as a prominent business family.

    To all of the Longs, Long Hui was their crown prince and one of the most important figures in the family, second only to Long Tengfei himself. Compared to him, Iris¡¯ importance in the family was negligible except for the legitimacy of her birth, automaticallybeling her as an heiress. As long as she wasn¡¯t officially disowned, she would inherit arge share whether the rest of the family liked it or not. And Long Tengfei had no intention of disowning any of his children, either legitimate or illegitimate. In short, her role was only that of a decorative princess who held no authority over the family.

    "Son, your sister has greeted you properly," Long Tengfei¡¯s strict voice cut through the tense atmosphere. "Is that how you wee her after not seeing her for so long?"

    "My apologies. I was rude." Long Hui slightly bowed his head to Long Tengfei¡¯s direction before turning back to Iris. "Good to see you too, Little Sister."

    Iris nodded, looking unruffled despite the tense atmosphere.

    They ate a sumptuous meal of traditional Chinese cuisine. The aunt and niece continued to chat with Iris while eating. The father and son, on the other hand, ate in rtive silence. They weren¡¯t the talkative type of people to begin with.

    Perhaps due to the slight tension in the air, the aunt and niece did their best in maintaining the lighthearted conversation.

    After dinner, they all headed to a living area connected to a veranda overlooking one of the beautiful gardens of the inner courtyard. It was a great ce to rx while watching the moon and the stars in the night sky.

    The five seated themselves and were served a light blend of hot osmanthus tea [1]. The women continued to chat with each other, while the two men sipped their tea, only speaking briefly when spoken to.

    Momentster, a maid delivered a stack of Iris¡¯ album "Rebirth". There were 29 copies in CD format.

    Long Tengfei coughed and then gave the maid a stern look. "I didn¡¯t say to bring them all out."

    The maid blinked, confused. "Master, I didn¡¯t bring everything out. These are only a third of the CDs. There are still more of the DVDs, the Blu-rays¨D"

    "Alright, enough!"

    Long Tengfei¡¯s expression was cold, but Yang Jiahui noticed the tip of her husband¡¯s ears turning red. Sheughed quietly to herself, not wanting to embarrass her husband in front of his daughter.

    "Xin...my daughter, you don¡¯t have to sign all of them. You can sign just one...maybe two or three...or if it¡¯s not too tiring, sign ten of them. It¡¯s up to you, of course."

    "It¡¯s fine, Father. I¡¯ll sign all of them."

    "Good, good." Long Tengfei nodded, keeping his expression stoic when inside he was delighted.

    "Ah! Wait, Xin! Let me grab my copy from my room first!" Meimei eximed before dashing off.

    The maid handed a ck marker to Iris. She wrote "Father" on the first one before signing it and then gave it to Long Tengfei. This time, he couldn¡¯t stop the smile from appearing on his face.

    Seeing this, Yang Jiahui also grabbed one of the CDs and handed it to Iris, smiling shyly.

    Iris understood and signed "Aunt Jiahui".

    "Thank you, Xin."

    Iris smiled and continued signing the rest of the CDs.

    Long Hui watched everything in silence, an indifferent expression on his face, sipping his tea.

    Meimei finally returned and shoved her copy to Iris. Iris wrote "Meimei" and then signed it.

    "Yay!" Meimei hugged the CD to her chest. "Wow. This feels like you¡¯re really a celebrity."

    "I am a celebrity."

    Meimei giggled. "I know." Then she took out her phone and sat beside Iris, taking a selfie of the two of them. "Now I have proof that I met a celebrity today."

    Iris chuckled. She almost finished signing everything. She was about to reach for thest CD when someone beat her to it.

    Long Hui grabbed thest copy, studying the CD carefully from the front to the back. Everyone looked at him, wondering what he was up to.

    Meimei was displeased. Was he nning on provoking Xin again? She liked Xin and already considered her as her friend. Meimei was about to open her mouth and say something to Long Hui but Yang Jiahui hurriedly stopped her niece with a look. Meimei pouted but obeyed.

    "Is something the matter, Elder Brother?" Iris asked in a calm tone.

    "Long Hui," he said, handing the CD to her.

    Iris didn¡¯t understand.

    He sighed, looking like an adult who was being forced to exin something to a child who couldn¡¯t understand the meaning of his words.

    "What I mean is give me an autograph. Write my name ¡¯Long Hui¡¯ because I¡¯m going to keep this CD. Now do you understand?"

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] Osmanthus is a yellow-gold blossom grown in Southern China. The dried flowers can be steeped into pure tea or as part of an herbal tea blend with other teas. Osmanthus is also a popr ingredient used in Chinese desserts because of its uniquely sweet, buttery taste and fragrance.

 Chapter 142 - Playing Around

    <h4>Chapter 142 - ying Around </h4>

    Iris blinked a couple of times before taking the CD and writing "Elder Brother Hui" instead of his requested "Long Hui". She didn¡¯t like how he was talking down at her like a child, so why should shepletely heed to his request? She gave the signed CD back to him.

    Long Hui frowned, displeased that she didn¡¯t follow his exact instructions. However, he didn¡¯tin, nodding at her instead.

    She smiled sweetly at him, oddly enjoying his expression of displeasure.

    Long Tengfei nodded. He was pleased that his two legitimate children were acting in a civil manner to each other. Yang Jiahui released the breath she was holding and smiled. Meimei started chatting again with Iris.

    The topics of their conversations changed frequently. Iris mentioned that she was looking for a female bodyguard. Long Tengfei offered to help her look for one.

    "Thank you, Father."

    "En." Long Tengfei nodded.

    "Do you have any specific requirements for a female bodyguard?" Long Hui unexpectedly asked, joining the conversation on his own ord.

    She tilted her head to the side, thinking. "I personally don¡¯t have any specific requirements other than loyalty, trustworthiness, and of course martial arts skills. I actually don¡¯t want bodyguards but my boyfriend and my manager, even Father, want me to have at least two. They managed to convince me so I¡¯m currently hiring."

    Long Hui had a serious look on his face as if thinking deeply of something.

    "Wait!" Meimei interrupted. "Xin, you have a boyfriend?"

    Iris nodded.

    "Really? Howe we don¡¯t know? Oh, is it supposed to be a secret? Is he from showbiz too? Who is he? Oh, it¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t want to say."

    "He¡¯s not from showbiz. He¡¯s just a regr businessman, no one special."

    Long Tengfei coughed hearing his daughter¡¯s description of Jin Liwei. When did the President-CEO of the number onepany in the country be just a "regr businessman" who was "no one special"?

    For Iris, Jin Liwei was indeed just as she described him. In her definition, anyone legally running their businesses out in the open¨Da.k.a. not directly rted to the ck market or criminal organizations¨Dwere "regr" and "no one special". So what if Jin Liwei was a multi-billionaire and the head of the number onepany in the country? Lots of crime bosses were multi-billionaires as well with organizations spanning several countries, even continents. Compared to these hidden dragons and crouching tigers of the underworld, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t be any more than regr. Besides, Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t the only business leader in the world. Each country had its own business leader, so Jin Liwei was really no one special¨Dthis was ording to Iris. (Poor guy! His own girlfriend thought that he was no one special.)

    If Long Tengfei knew what his daughter¡¯s thoughts were, he would probably choke on his own disbelief.

    The conversation changed topics several times afterwards before moving on to Long Tengfei¡¯s offer to Meimei to work at Long Industries after she graduated.

    Iris was the only one who noticed Meimei¡¯s difort because she knew that the other¡¯s true ambition was not to be a corporate worker but a digital manhuajia instead.

    "Digital artists are increasingly bing important in thepany, especially in the advertising department," Long Hui said. "Long Industries pays well with good benefits. Many newly-graduated digital artists will fight for you for this job offer, so don¡¯t waste it. However, don¡¯t expect any preferential treatment once you start working. I will not allow you to use your connection with Father once you¡¯re inside thepany. You can only use your own skills and hard work to climb up."

    The corners of Meimei¡¯s mouth turned down. She knew that he was right, but the way he said it was just too insensitive for her. She could only mumble, "Yes, Big Brother. I understand."

    Long Hui nodded before turning to Iris. "How about you, Little Sister? Are you nning on working in showbiz for the rest of your life? I think that you need to start thinking about your future seriously. A showbiz career is very uncertain and irregr. You might be popr now but what about in 3 years? 5 years? 10 years? The two of us are the only legitimate heir and heiress. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re nning on receiving your portion of the inheritance without even making any contribution to the family?"

    Yang Jiahui paled hearing the word "inheritance" because this would only be received once her husband was dead. She didn¡¯t even want to think about it.

    On the other hand, Long Tengfei was silently listening to his children¡¯s conversation. As a matter of fact, he approved of this kind of discussion. He didn¡¯t mind their talks about inheritance because it was indeed inevitable that he would die someday and pass on his wealth to his own children. Except for Long Hui who was his immediate heir, he never forced any of his other children to work at hispany. He let them decide what careers they wanted to pursue, but deep inside he still wanted all his children to follow in his footsteps and continue his legacy by working for the family business.

    "Even our other siblings are aiming to work at the mainpany," Long Hui continued. "Our brother is already working at a small branch division. Once he gains enough experience and skills, he¡¯ll transfer to the mainpany. Our sister is in herst year of university and has also expressed interest in entering thepany like our brother by starting at a small branch division first. You¡¯re the only one who¡¯s still ying around. I know that you¡¯re the youngest, but you¡¯re already 20. You¡¯re now an adult, no longer a child."

    Iris¡¯ eyes narrowed, but her face remained calm. This man said that she was ¡¯ying around¡¯?

    "Thank you for your advice, Elder Brother Hui," she replied in a light yet cold tone. "I¡¯ll be sure to never forget what you just said to me."

    She would indeed never forget how he described her current career as ¡¯ying around¡¯.

    Meimei felt sorry for Iris, so she ended up speaking before thinking. "Xin¡¯s career is off to a great start ever since hereback. Her songs and album debuted within the top 10 rankings in the music charts and they¡¯re only getting more popr by the day. And even if her showbiz career isn¡¯t doing well, Big Brother just said that she¡¯s an heiress of this family. I¡¯m sure she can also enter thepany and start working anytime she wants like your other siblings."

    "Oh?" Long Hui raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you think?"

 Chapter 143 - Unqualified

    <h4>Chapter 143 - Unqualified </h4>

    "Xiao Mei!" Yang Jiahui wished she could gather his niece¡¯s thoughtless words and put them back in her mouth. She hurriedly looked apologetically at everyone. "Please don¡¯t mind what this girl said. She doesn¡¯t know what she¡¯s saying."

    Meimei was confused at her aunt¡¯s reaction. Her aunt was giving her a warning look, so she shut her mouth, but she still didn¡¯t know what she said wrong.

    "You are right. Little Sister Xin is indeed a legitimate heiress of this family," Long Hui said. "However, she¡¯s currently the only one among us siblings who can¡¯t work at thepany even if she wants to."

    Understanding shed in Iris¡¯ eyes, but she remained quiet.

    "Eh? Why is that?" Meimei still didn¡¯t understand.

    "Xiao Mei, please stop talking." Yang Jiahui sighed heavily.

    "It¡¯s because she¡¯s not qualified. Except for her, all of us siblings have university-level education. That¡¯s why we¡¯re qualified to work at thepany, not just because we are the children of thepany head. Even you, Little Sister Mei, also need to finish your degree in digital arts before you can work at thepany even though you already have a job offer. Do you think that it will sit well with everybody if Little Sister Xin was allowed to work at thepany despite being undereducated and unqualified? She barelypleted senior high school. Even Father will face harsh criticisms if she was allowed to work at thepany with her current education level."

    "Oh." Meimei finally understood. She nced guiltily at Iris, wishing that she didn¡¯t say anything at all. Now it felt awkward because of her ignorance.

    Iris¡¯ expression remained calm, but there was a thoughtful look in her eyes.

    Long Hui looked directly at Iris¡¯ eyes. "That¡¯s why I suggest that you stop ying around in showbiz and start attending university. You¡¯re a celebrity and popr enough in this country that attending a local university might not be a good idea. If you¡¯re willing, I¡¯m sure Father can find a good university abroad where you can get your degree in peace."

    "Hmm...I¡¯ll keep that mind," Iris replied lightly. "Thank you for the concern, Elder Brother Hui."

    A displeased expression appeared on his face. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but closed it again instead.

    Silence.

    The atmosphere felt very awkward.

    Meimei wanted to lighten the mood but stopped herself. What if she said something wrong again? She wanted to console her new friend but saw that Iris still looked unruffled.

    ¡¯Xin must be feeling embarrassed but she¡¯s acting like she¡¯s not affected at all," Meimei thought. ¡¯Big Brother Hui is really too insensitive.¡¯

    Although displeased that Iris didn¡¯t seem to be taking his advice seriously, a trace of approval shed in Long Hui¡¯s eyes. If this was before, his youngest sister would have already been throwing a tantrum, fighting with him, and storming out of the residence before he could even utter another word. It seemed that this sister of hers really had matured and grew sensible after waking up froma.

    The four Long siblings were never close to each other due to not growing up together and having different mothers. Long Hui¡¯s position as the heir apparent was unshakeable so the other siblings never really challenged him, opting to maintain a civil rtionship with him instead. It was only Xin who dared to fight him because she felt secured of her status as a legitimate daughter.

    All the siblings, including Long Hui, looked down on this youngest sister of theirs who was the most spoiled and entitled of them all. Because she was the youngest, their father would always tell them to back down whenever they had a disagreement with her. They resented that their father was too soft on her and never harshly disciplined or reprimanded her whenever she besmirched the Long family name. It was so unfair because they had to always act their best, careful not to shame the Long family name in any way.

    Long Hui had long heard that his youngest sister had a drastic change in personality after waking up froma. Of course, he didn¡¯t believe it at first. But when she made a showbizeback and her songs started ying almost everywhere, he began to believe. Her new music was able to affect him to the point that he began to doubt if this new and elegant Iris Long was the same person as his spoiled youngest sister.

    Meeting her now for the first time after so long, he decided to test whether her personality change was genuine or perhaps just mere acting to get into their father¡¯s good graces. Either she unlocked a hidden talent for acting or she really changed for the better because he was impressed that she was able to keep her cool after his repeated provocations.

    Iris finished her cup of tea and then made a show of ncing at her wristwatch. "It¡¯s gettingte. Please excuse me. I need to call my boyfriend to pick me up."

    "Eh? What? You¡¯re leaving already?" Meimei whined.

    "Not immediately. I¡¯ll still have to wait until my boyfriend arrives to pick me up."

    "Xin, why don¡¯t stay over tonight?" Yang Jiahui suggested.

    Meimei: "Yes! Then we can continue to hang out."

    Iris: "Thank you but I¡¯ll have to decline. My workload will increase starting tomorrow. That¡¯s why I visited today before I be too busy."

    Besides, Iris was already missing Jin Liwei despite it only being a few hours since he dropped her off earlier. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, especially now that both of them were so busy. Now that her workload would start increasing, they would have even less time to spend together.

    Meimei: "Aaaw! Fine. But will you visit us here again?"

    Iris: "Yes, when I have the time. If you¡¯re free and don¡¯t have any sses, you cane over to y at my ce or apany me at work if you want."

    Meimei: "What, really?! I can?!"

    Iris: "Of course. Just give me a call beforehand."

    Meimei: "Yes, of course! Oh wow. I¡¯m so excited. I¡¯ve always wanted to see what goes on in celebrity¡¯s daily life."

    Iris chuckled before excusing herself to give Jin Liwei a call. Within half an hour, Jin Liwei called informing her that he was already waiting outside thepound¡¯s main gate.

 Chapter 144 - Negative

    <h4>Chapter 144 - Negative </h4>

    Everyone walked Iris to the main wing¡¯s entranceway. Yang Jiahui handed her a big box of different pastries. Iris and Meimei exchanged phone numbers.

    "It¡¯s good to see you again after so long, Little Sister," Long Hui told her. His expression was cold as usual, but his tone sounded sincere enough. "And my congrattions on your new album."

    "Thank you, Elder Brother Hui," Iris replied.

    "I hope that you¡¯ll consider the things I told you today. Never forget that you have the blood of the Longs running in your veins."

    A slight frown briefly appeared on her face before she smiled at Long Hui. "I will keep your words in mind."

    He nodded.

    Long Tengfei stepped forward. "Xin, my daughter,e visit us again when you have time. You¡¯re always wee here."

    "I will. Thank you, Father."

    He cleared his throat and then remembered something. "By the way, has your mother visited you yet since your recent hospitalization?"

    "No, but Mother called saying that Cao Guang contacted her. She said that she¡¯s somewhere in the Mediterranean and can¡¯t immediately return to the country."

    Long Tengfei scowled. He was about toment on his ex-wife¡¯s irresponsible behaviour but thought better of it. He didn¡¯t want to agitate his daughter, especially now that they were just starting to repair their rtionship. And besides, Dr. Ching told him that his daughter¡¯s emotional and mental wellness should be prioritized, not just her physical health, or else a repeat of her previous copse might happen again.

    He took a deep breath and smoothed out the scowl from his expression. He nodded. "Alright. Take care on the road."

    She bid them goodbye and goodnight before following the guard all the way to the main gate. It was already past 9 in the evening. There was a slight coolness in the air. She rubbed her exposed arms to warm them up a little.

    Outside thepound, a car was already waiting. Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinate opened the door for her and she hurriedly climbed inside into the arms of her man.

    The couple cuddled in the backseat as the car drove home.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Later that night, in their bedroom.

    They were preparing for bed when Jin Liwei handed Iris an envelope.

    "Hm? What¡¯s this?" she asked.

    He just pushed the envelope to her, silently telling her to open it herself.

    She took out the documents and began reading. Her eyes widened and she nced at Jin Liwei. Then she carefully read every single word. When she was done, she smiled at him.

    "Satisfied?" he asked her.

    She nodded and opened her arms wide, inviting him for a hug.

    Of course he obliged her. He pulled her into his arms, kissed the side of her neck, and then nibbled on her earlobe.

    She shivered and then sighed in satisfaction. The she looked at the documents again. "Negative, negative...Everything is negative. Excellent. I thought you¡¯ve already forgotten."

    "Baby, you want it so of course I¡¯ll get it. I got tested three days ago. I only received the results today. I was actually supposed to get tested a few days earlier but I had to cancel my first appointment because I was too busy at work and had no time."

    She pulled his face so that they¡¯re looking at each other. Then she gave a quick peck to his lips. "We can have full sex now."

    His eyes immediately darkened with desire and his breath quickened, but he controlled himself. "Yes, we can. And we will, baby. But not now."

    "Hm?" She tilted her head to the side, studying him. "Am I hearing things? Aren¡¯t you the one who¡¯s the most eager for us to have full sex?"

    He chuckled, tucking a lock of long, silky hair behind her ear. "Indeed."

    "Then why?"

    "Baby, I love you. Now I realize that I just don¡¯t want to have sex with you. I want to make love with you. I want both our first time to be special."

    "Special? How?"

    "Hmm...Let me n it first, okay?"

    "You want to n it? How? Having sex...I mean, making love needs a n?"

    A furrow appeared between her brows. Her expression was so cute that he couldn¡¯t help but kiss the furrow.

    "Oh!" Her eyes lit up. "I think I know what you mean. You want to make a n for our positions? You want to choreograph our movements? Hmm...but that doesn¡¯t sound like it¡¯ll be fun. Won¡¯t it be boring if sex¨DI mean, if making love is choreographed? I don¡¯t want that, Liwei."

    He threw his head back andughed.

    "Why are youughing? Hey!"

    "Sorry, baby. You¡¯re just too cute."

    She pouted at first but quickly smiled after.

    Jin Liwei was feeling very happy (and relieved) that his baby girl¡¯s period was over. She was back to her usual calm and good-natured self. He didn¡¯t need to be so cautious around her anymore, afraid that she would snap at him without any warning.

    He held her hand, the bracelet he gave her glinting in the light. "Don¡¯t worry about it. Leave everything for me to n."

    "But I¡¯m so curious. I want to know! Liwei, tell me. Please...darling?"

    He immediately wavered upon hearing her say "darling". He almost spilled all his ideas to her but was able to catch himself. Ah, how dangerous! His baby girl seemed to be gathering more and more weapons to her arsenal on how to make him do anything she wanted. Not that he wasining.

    He was more than happy to give her everything she wanted as long as they remained together for all time.

    "Be patient, baby. Okay? I want it to be a surprise."

    She pouted again, making him smile.

    "Fine," she finally muttered.

    Afterwards, Iris kept his STD test results in a safe ce. Then theyid down together on the bed in each other¡¯s arms.

    Jin Liwei asked her about what happened during her visit to the Long residence. She told him everything that happened.

    "I actually agree with my brother. He¡¯s right. I¡¯m not qualified to work in any corporate jobs because I¡¯m undereducated. I don¡¯t have a university degree."

    He frowned. "Are you nning on working in the business industry?"

    If she was really nning on it, he would prefer it if she worked at hispany instead. She would end up as his wife anyway (ording to his ns), so it would be better for her to establish her authority at his Jin Corporation.

 Chapter 145 - Loverâ€™s Privilege

    <h4>Chapter 145 - Lover¡¯s Privilege </h4>

    "I¡¯m open to the idea," Iris replied to Jin Liwei¡¯s question. "If there is a good opportunity to establish myself in the business world, why not? Only if it doesn¡¯t directly conflict with my music career, of course."

    "If you really want to establish yourself in the business world, remember that your boyfriend is a businessman. And the top businessman in the country, if I may say so myself," he told her. "Use him however you want."

    She giggled, and then looked up at his face with a teasing glint in her eyes. "What if I say I want Jin Corporation? What would you do?"

    He raised his eyebrows, his mouth curved up into smile. "Easy. You¡¯ll just have to marry me and we¡¯ll own it together."

    Her expression instantly froze and her body stiffened. She avoided his eyes.

    Awkward silence.

    There was a painful tightening in his chest at her reaction. Although he didn¡¯t regret his words, he regretted that they were uttered in such a teasing and casual manner. As a result, it sounded like a careless proposal. He wanted his proposal to her to be special, not like this.

    First, he needed to diffuse this awkwardness. He measured his words before speaking to her again.

    "Don¡¯t think about it too much, baby. Just know that whatever you want to do with your career, I¡¯m here to support you. I know that you like doing things on your own, but you have a lover¡¯s privilege to ask me for help whenever you need it. Likewise, I¡¯ll ask for your help if I need it because it¡¯s also my privilege as your lover. Okay?"

    "Hmm...Lover¡¯s privilege..." She finally looked up at him again, a soft smile on her face. "I like that."

    Jin Liwei was relieved seeing her look and smile at him again. He held her chin, tilting it up, and kissed her. His tongue plunged deep inside her sweet mouth.

    She moaned and gave as much as she got.

    He climbed on top of her, supporting his weight on one arm while his other arm slipped under her silk pyjama top. His hand closed in one of her soft mounds, squeezing it lightly and flicking his fingers over her nipple.

    She gasped. Her hands also slipped under his T-shirt, feeling his abs and the hard muscles of his chest. She lightly run her fingernails across his bare skin, earning a low yet loud growl from him. Delighted by his reaction, she nipped at his lower lip.

    Their tongues danced together. Sometimes gentle, sometimes fierce. They sucked each other¡¯s gradually swelling lips.

    When their glistening mouths separated, they looked at each other¡¯s desire-filled eyes.

    Jin Liwei gave her another series of quick, surface kisses beforeying down beside her. He was breathing heavily.

    Iris turned her body to watch him trying to calm himself. She knew that he was already hard because she felt him through his pyjama pants while he was on top of her. She was a little perplexed why he was holding back for quite some time now. Before, he could barely control himself and would strip both of them naked for several rounds of pleasuring each other without going all the way until she falls asleep due to sheer exhaustion.

    "Do you want me to help you?" she asked, seeing that he was still struggling to calm down.

    Her hand reached for his crotch but he caught it before she could touch him.

    "I¡¯ll be fine, baby."

    "Are you sure?"

    He looked at her, a gentle expression on his face. "Yes." Then he rose from the bed to turn off the lights. "Let¡¯s sleep now. You have a busy schedule tomorrow and I still need to go to thepany to take care of some tasks."

    "Okay."

    They fell asleep in each other¡¯s arms.

    ###

    The next day, both of them woke up at the same time. The sky was still dark outside.

    Iris almost didn¡¯t want to get up from the bed but Jin Liwei carried her off to the bathroom. Her sleepiness gradually faded away as Jin Liwei washed her body under the shower. She saw that he was already hard and standing.

    Unlike before, he didn¡¯t grab her hand to pleasure him. He was simply washing both of their bodies.

    "Baby, no," he gasped when her hand wrapped around his erection. "We don¡¯t have time. You said that you have to be early today."

    She was already stroking him. "Be quick, then."

    He hissed and closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of her pleasuring him. It had been so long. Then he opened his eyes, pulled her against him and kissed her hungrily on the mouth.

    Momentster, his loud groans echoed inside the bathroom. He spurted his white release all over her but was soon washed away by the water from the shower.

    "Better?" she asked, grabbing the soap to take over washing the two of them.

    He grunted, still savouring the remnants of his spent pleasure. When he finally calmed down, he looked at her, satisfied. "Thanks, baby."

    "Lover¡¯s privilege, remember?"

    He grinned. Then his hands reached for her plump bottom cheeks, squeezing lightly. "Your turn?"

    "No time. Let¡¯s hurry up. We¡¯re going to bete."

    He hesitated for only a few seconds before nodding.

    Within the next minute, they finished showering. They quickly dressed and then headed out to the kitchen for breakfast. Dom and the driver were already there waiting. Dom was, as usual, whining for food.

    After breakfast, Jin Liwei and Iris¡¯ group went down together but separated into two vehicles.

    And so their busy day started.

 Chapter 146 - Pipsqueak

    <h4>Chapter 146 - Pipsqueak </h4>

    When Tang Yiyi said that she would increase Iris¡¯ workload, she really increased it to the point that Iris barely had any time to rest after a job before travelling to her next jobmitment. Even the time spent inside her executive van travelling between locations was spent on Tang Yiyi briefing her about her next job. Sometimes when time was really tight, her hair, make-up and wardrobe change would all be done in the van while on the road.

    JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit decided to put more focus and resources on Iris¡¯ career, especially now that her album "Rebirth" was proving to be more sessful than they initially anticipated. Bright Summit, in particr, was ecstatic that the top two albums in the music charts were by its own artists.

    Jin Chonglin was such a big star that directlypeting against him in the music charts would only end up in devastating disappointment for other musicians, unless they were bigger stars than him. His star power was just on another level. Bright Summit was already more than satisfied with the number 2 position of Iris Long¡¯s album. They didn¡¯t expect her topete against Jin Chonglin for the number 1 position. They just wanted her to maintain her second ce.

    JJ, however, wasn¡¯t satisfied with just number 2. Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t signed under his recordbel so for JJ, Jin Chonglin was an opponent. As Iris Long¡¯s music producer, JJ wanted her to unseat Jin Chonglin from his throne in the music charts.

    When the song "Rebirth" beat Jin Chonglin¡¯s song for the first time to im number 1 in the singles ranking, JJ was so delighted that heughed and chatted for the entire day, scaring his employees, making them wonder if their boss finally lost his marbles.

    The next day, however, Jin Chonglin¡¯s song reimed the number 1 spot. It appeared that his army of fans did everything in their power to boost his song back to the top position.

    JJ was so enraged that he immediately called Iris on the phone.

    "Hello?" Iris¡¯ voice was lovely as usual.

    "Hey, brat! I want you to beat the sh*t out of that pipsqueak Jin Chonglin! You hear me!"

    Silence.

    "Hello? Brat, are you still there?"

    "Excuse me?"

    "Good, you¡¯re still there. Hmph! I admit that his song is good but hello? ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ is many leagues better! Even ¡¯ck Star¡¯, ¡¯The Phantom of Your Love¡¯ and all the other f*cking songs in your album are so much better than his song! His song is basically just gigolo music¨Dwell, ¡¯great¡¯ gigolo music, I¡¯ll admit that. But your songs are works of art! They¡¯re masterpieces! An award-winning music producer like me ought to know what I¡¯m talking about!"

    "Oh." Iris¡¯ughter sounded like the tinkle of crystal bells. "So that¡¯s what you¡¯re talking about, Mr. JJ. I thought you wanted me to beat him up like what I did to the rm Girls. I was wondering why you want me to get into deeper trouble by beating up someone like Senior Jin Chonglin."

    "Ah? What are you talking about? Of course I¡¯m talking about the music charts! Forget about those stupid girls!" JJ¡¯s voice boomed. "Listen to me, you brat. That pipsqueak Jin Chonglin might be many times more famous than you now but music quality never lies. That gigolo music of his has indeed great musicality, but if we¡¯re talking about fundamental quality, your songs are way superior than his."

    "I know."

    JJ was a little taken aback by her nonchnt yet confident response that he wasn¡¯t able to react for a few seconds. When he finally processed what she said, he threw his head back andughed uproariously. "Yes! You should be confident of your own music!"

    Iris waited for him to finishughing.

    "Here¡¯s what you gotta do, brat. You must im the number 1 position in both the singles and album rankings and be the undisputed queen of the music charts! Your music is already more than qualified to reach the top, so it¡¯s gonna be up to the musician¨Dyou¨Dto work hard to increase your own star power topete against the likes of that pipsqueak. You hear me?!"

    "Hmm..."

    "Whatever you need to im the top, just ask and my recordbel will do its best to provide. Anything! Bright Summit has the best of both worlds at the moment. But I bet that if they¡¯re forced to choose between that pipsqueak and you, they¡¯ll choose him. Hmph! So your best support to reach the top is ME! You hear me?"

    A light chuckle. "I understand, Mr. JJ. I¡¯ll do my best."

    "Hah! You better be, you brat! I¡¯m betting on you."

    The two talked some more. Iris told JJ that theplete piano version of her "Rebirth" album including the sheet music for each of the songs would be ready soon. She promised to submit everything to him for inspection in the next few days.

    After their phone conversation, Iris still didn¡¯t care about rankings. However, she kept JJ¡¯s words in mind. Although she didn¡¯t personally care about the rankings, she thought that it might be fun to trypeting against someone like Jin Chonglin, a musician currently at the top of his game.

    That was why for the next few days, Iris worked like she was on stimnts.

    At first, everyone in the penthouse were concerned that Iris might be overworking herself with the workload increase but contrary to their worries, Iris looked energized instead. She was very much in her element in all of her live performances. The more she performed, the better she became. Her stage presence only became stronger with every performance.

    Tang Yiyi had noints in regards to Iris¡¯ music performances. As for the interviews, however, she was worried almost to death. Tang Yiyi knew that Iris could be brutally honest to the point that she sometimes had no filter at all. Tang Yiyi feared that if asked suddenly, Iris might admit that she had a boyfriend. So the manager decided to give Iris a personal coaching on how to answer tricky interview questions.

    "This is so stupid," Irismented in their first session.

    "Iris, please take this seriously. This is necessary." Tang Yiyi pleaded with her.

    "I am NOT going to lie and say that I don¡¯t have a boyfriend," Iris said, looking directly at her manager¡¯s eyes. "Please don¡¯t force me, Elder Sister Yiyi, because I¡¯m never going to do it. My boyfriend is important to me. I like you and I don¡¯t want to be on bad terms with you."

 Chapter 147 - Got Her Pregnan

    <h4>Chapter 147 - Got Her Pregnan </h4>

    Tang Yiyi opened her mouth to argue but upon seeing Iris¡¯ stubborn expression, she gave up. To be honest, even she thought it stupid that celebrities, especially young ones like Iris, were forbidden to have romantic rtionships.

    Many managementpanies had a "no rtionship" term in the contracts offered to talents. Iris¡¯wyer was from a well-knownw firm so Bright Summit didn¡¯t fight against her demand to remove this ridiculous term from her contract before signing.

    Tang Yiyi thought that this was a smart move from Iris. However, as a manager, her main priority was to ensure that her artist¡¯s career would not only be sessful but also be sustainable in the long run. Iris was very talented and beautiful that it wouldn¡¯t surprise Tang Yiyi if Iris became a big star in the future. That was why Tang Yiyi wanted to prevent any mishaps that may destroy such a bright future before they could even happen.

    But it seemed that Iris had no intentions of lying about her rtionship status.

    "Fine," Tang Yiyi could only sigh. "You don¡¯t have to lie. You can just deflect the question and not admit to anything."

    Iris frowned, showing her dislike to the suggestion. "What a hassle."

    Tang Yiyi wanted to bang her head against the wall. Iris¡¯ straightforward personality was a double-edged sword. On one hand, it was endearing because it set her apart from the other two-faced celebrities who were all smiles andpliments on the surface but were actually vicious backstabbers behind the scenes. On the other hand, her straightforwardness could backfire and be used against her. Tang Yiyi could only hope that nobody would ask Iris about her rtionship status.

    ###

    Iris¡¯ busy schedule continued. Likewise, Jin Liwei was also extremely busy. Hispany¡¯stest business project finallypleted its development stage and was now starting to be implemented. He needed to fly all over the country for business trips, so he and Iris barely had any time to actually spend together. Despite this, Jin Liwei made sure to call her several times a day.

    Since both of them were so busy, they temporarily put aside the hiring of a female bodyguard. Jin Liwei was able to persuade Iris to lend her one of his subordinates as a bodyguard in addition to the one she hired. He promised her that he would retrieve his subordinate once they hired a female bodyguard for her.

    A few nightster, while Iris was preparing for bed, her phone rang. She thought it was Jin Liwei. He was away on a two-night business trip to the southern part of the country. But when she looked at the number, she was surprised at the name being disyed.

    "Hello?" she answered the phone.

    "Little Sister, it¡¯s me," a cold voice replied on the other end of the line.

    "Hello, Elder Brother Hui. What a surprise."

    "I got your new number from Little Sister Mei."

    "I see. Is there anything I can help you with?"

    "Are you still looking for a female bodyguard?"

    "Yes."

    "Good. I have someone I would like to rmend. I hope that you¡¯ll meet her and see if she¡¯ll be a good fit for you."

    Iris tilted her head to the side. How interesting. Who was this woman that Long Hui, heir of Long Industries, would go to such lengths to help find a job?

    "Hmm...I need someone qualified." Iris made sure to emphasize the word "qualified", especially after how much he previously stated that she was unqualified to work at Long Industries. "Does she have any experience working as a bodyguard?"

    "Of course she¡¯s qualified. She¡¯s a certified professional bodyguard. She¡¯s well-trained in several martial arts and could also handle weapons if needed. As a matter of fact, she¡¯s actually overqualified. She has a degree in criminology."

    "Hm? Then why would she choose to work as a bodyguard?"

    "I don¡¯t understand it either but she says that it¡¯s her passion, what she loves doing."

    "Oh." Iris nodded, immediately understanding. Then she thought for a moment. "If she¡¯s so great, why are you rmending her to me?"

    Silence.

    Iris waited patiently. After about ten seconds, she heard him sigh deeply.

    "Actually, she was one of my bodyguards but she had to quit about two years ago. That¡¯s why I can personally attest to her skills."

    "Hmm. Why did she quit?"

    Another few seconds of silence.

    "She got pregnant," he said.

    "Oh. You mean you got her pregnant?"

    "Yes."

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened. She only asked to tease him a bit, but her question actually hit the nail on the head. This was getting more and more interesting.

    "Did she keep the baby?" she continued to ask.

    "Yes."

    "Oh."

    So this was the reason why Long Hui went out of his way to rmend someone to his sister. The woman was his child¡¯s mother.

    "Does Father know?" she asked after the pause.

    "I didn¡¯t tell him but I¡¯m sure he knows. He keeps tabs on all of us his children."

    "Hmm..."

    "Will her being a mother be a problem for you?" he asked her.

    "If I say yes, what would you do?" Iris wanted to test how far Long Hui would go for this woman.

    "I really hope that you¡¯ll hire her."

    "Why?"

    "So that I can see her and my child. You¡¯re my sister and you coincidentally need a female bodyguard. If you hire her, I¡¯ll have a reason to regrly see them."

    Iris couldn¡¯t stop herself fromughing.

    "I am serious here, " he said through gritted teeth.

    "So you only want to use your sister to get closer to them. What a hassle. If you really want to see her and your child on a regr basis, why don¡¯t you just take her as your wife or mistress? Elder Brother, you¡¯re being soplicated and you¡¯re even involving me, an innocent bystander, in your schemes"

    "Do you really think that I didn¡¯t try?" Long Hui sounded exasperated. "I want my child to be legitimate, so I proposed marriage to her but she rejected me! She¡¯s the one who left me! I tried but she gave up on us! Do you understand?!"

 Chapter 148 - Jiang Ying Yue

    <h4>Chapter 148 - Jiang Ying Yue </h4>

    Iris could hear Long Hui panting after his outburst. She waited for him to calm down. It seemed that the man wasn¡¯t so cold and indifferent after all.

    "I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m telling you all of these," Long Hui finally said. "You must be thinking that I¡¯m being ridiculous."

    "Yes."

    "You..." He was speechless for a few moments. "You could¡¯ve just denied it, you know."

    "Why?"

    "To make me feel better and not embarrass me."

    "But I don¡¯t care if you feel better or embarrassed."

    "You! I¡¯m your elder brother, you know!"

    "I know. But I still don¡¯t care."

    He didn¡¯t know how to respond to her nonchnt, brutal honesty. Afterwards, he sighed deeply. "Forget it. I shouldn¡¯t have even called you. If you¡¯re not interested in helping me, just say so."

    Iris chuckled. Teasing this man was proving to be quite enjoyable. "I didn¡¯t say that I¡¯m not interested. Actually, I¡¯m very interested."

    "Really?"

    "Yes. By the way, how old is your child?"

    "My son is one-year old." His tone noticeably became gentler.

    "Only one. So young. Why is the mother already in a hurry to work?"

    "She refuses to take my offer of child support," he said, sighing.

    "Oh."

    "She¡¯s not from an affluent family like us. She needs to work in order to survive. She was able tost this long without working because I gave her quite a big sum of money when she left my employment."

    "Why won¡¯t she take child support from you? Does she hate you?"

    "You ask too many questions," he grumbled.

    "Of course I¡¯m going to ask questions. I¡¯m a potential employer of this woman you¡¯re rmending to me."

    "Fair enough." He thought for a few seconds. "I don¡¯t know if she hates me or not. Although she¡¯s refusing financial help from me, at least she¡¯s allowing me to see our son. I want to give my son the best of everything but I don¡¯t want to take him away from her. She won¡¯t marry me either. So I can only think of this."

    "Will she even agree to work as my bodyguard?" she asked.

    "She will."

    "How can you be so sure?"

    "Because she has no choice. Unless she lies about being a mother, nobody will hire a bodyguard with such a young child."

    "Don¡¯t children that age need constant attention? Will she even be able to work properly?"

    "Don¡¯t give her long hours! One or two days per week max."

    Iris blinked. "Elder brother, I need a permanent bodyguard."

    "Just hire her, Little Sister. Even if it¡¯s only in name. I¡¯ll even pay her sry if you want. Just don¡¯t tell her. You can always hire another one who will be your actual female bodyguard if you really want a permanent one."

    She was impressed at the great lengths Long Hui was going through for this woman. She must be really important to him, in addition to her being the mother of his child.

    "Fine," she said. "I¡¯ll have my assistant invite her for an interview."

    "Really? Thanks."

    "Don¡¯t thank me yet. If she doesn¡¯t want to work for me, I can¡¯t do anything about that. Simrly, if I don¡¯t like her, I won¡¯t hire her no matter how much you beg me. I¡¯m not running a charity, Elder Brother."

    A long sigh. "Fair enough. But can you let me know whatever your decision is after meeting her?"

    "Sure."

    After the phone call, Long Hui sent her the woman¡¯s contact information. Iris forwarded it to Dom, instructing him to schedule an interview.

    It seemed that Dom immediately took action even though it was already veryte at night because within half an hour, Iris¡¯ phone received a text message from him saying that the interview was scheduled tomorrow morning before they leave for a magazine photo shoot at around noon. Unfortunately, she was already deeply asleep when he sent it so she only read his text when she woke up the next day.

    ###

    It was raining heavily outside. The sun couldn¡¯t be seen behind the thick clouds in the grey sky. The temperature was also a bit chilly and damp.

    In short, it wasn¡¯t the greatest start for an important day. Jiang Ying Yue was headed for a job interview. She was feeling a little nervous because she hadn¡¯t worked in the past two years. Her one-year old son was still sleeping when she left him in the care of her kind neighbour who was a housewife taking care of her own child.

    Jiang Ying Yue wore her usual bodyguard uniform which was a three-piece suit with a simple necktie andfortable ck shoes. It now felt a little tight because of the bit of weight she gained after her pregnancy.

    Her pant legs were immediately soaked by the rain even with an umbre. She walked alongside students and corporate workers who were hurrying for school and work to the subway station. Finally, she was able to squeeze into a jam-packed train. She thought about what happenedst night.

    A young man called her before midnight inviting her for a job interview. It was for a bodyguard position for a celebrity.

    "May I ask which celebrity?" she asked.

    "Of course. It¡¯s Boss¨DI mean Miss Iris Long."

    Jiang Ying Yue immediately knew that Long Hui must have rmended her for this job. After all, Iris Long was his sister. Then she wondered if the siblings somehow improved their rtionship. Why would the bratty Iris Long help her older brother?

    "Hello? Are you still there? Do you want toe for an interview?"

    She thought of rejecting the offer. She didn¡¯t want to have any more connections with Long Hui if she could help it. However, she really needed a job right now but potential employers would immediately reject her application once they learned that she was a mother of a baby. She could always lie but decided against it. She loved her son and would never deny his existence.

    Her agency also wasn¡¯t too enthusiastic of her job prospects, prioritizing the young new recruits instead of helping someone like her to find an employer.

    Rejection after rejection. Failure after failure.

    The money Long Hui gave her when she quit being his bodyguard was dwindling quickly. She thought about abandoning the idea of working as a bodyguard to work at any avable jobs, but her heart resisted. This was her passion, to serve and protect her designated charge.

    She took a deep breath. "Yes, I would like toe for an interview."

    Back to the present.

    It was finally Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s stop. She squeezed through the packed crowd of bodies, almost falling on the railway tform outside the train doors.

    She followed the directions given to herst night by the young man on the phone. She needed to take a taxi to reach the ce. After about twenty minutes, she finally reached her destination. She paid the taxi driver, feeling the pinch to her wallet.

    It was a high-rise building located at a rather wealthy area. She walked to the entrance and read the sign.

    "Gold Heights Condominium."

 Chapter 149 - Are You Hiring Me?

    <h4>Chapter 149 - Are You Hiring Me? </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue stepped out of the private elevator into a beautiful penthouse unit. The ce looked elegant and luxurious without being ostentatious. She was greeted by a cute young man. He gave her a weing smile.

    "Hello. You must be Miss Jiang. My name is Dominic Chua. I¡¯m Boss¨DI mean Miss Long¡¯s assistant. We spoke on the phonest night."

    She shook his offered hand. "Hello, Mr. Chua. Thank you for this opportunity."

    "Please call me Dominic."

    "Thank you, Mr. Dominic."

    The young man gave a small cute pout before smiling again. He led her through the massive unit into what looked like a library.

    Her mouth opened and her eyes widened seeing the amazing collection of books. They were even in differentnguages. She caught herself just in time to arrange her expression into a neutral one.

    They walked further inside the library until she saw a beautiful young woman sitting behind a big, dark desk. The desk was made of a kind of wood that she hadn¡¯t seen before. The irregr wavy ck lines on the wood made the desk look very exotic.

    The young woman sat in front of aputer, her expression focused. Her slender fingers flew rapidly yet silently over the keyboard. She didn¡¯t appear to notice that they had arrived.

    "Please take a seat, Miss Jiang."

    She was offered a cup of hot lemongrass green tea. They waited for a little over five minutes before the young woman behind the desk finally nced at them.

    "Boss, this is Miss Jiang," Dom told the young woman.

    "I know." Iris Long stood up and walked around the desk. "Thanks, Dom."

    "No problem, boss. Ehehe."

    Jiang Ying Yue also stood up and admired the young woman as she walked towards her. Iris Long was wearing a peach-coloured knitted sweater dress. The dress hugged her hour-ss body perfectly. Jiang Ying Yue envied the other¡¯s figure a little because her own figure was more on the muscr side. Nevertheless, she was proud of her muscles because she would rather look strong and powerful than delicate and weak.

    "Hello, Jiang Ying Yue," Iris greeted her and shook her hand. "I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you ever since I heard about you from my brother."

    Jiang Ying Yue stiffened but managed to give a polite smile. "Hello, Miss Long. Thank you for this opportunity."

    Iris nodded and gestured for her to sit back down while she also took a seat across her.

    Jiang Ying Yue handed Dominic her r¨¦sum¨¦ and Dominic passed it to Iris. Iris only took a cursory nce at the r¨¦sum¨¦ before setting it down on the low table between them, not bothering to look at it again.

    ¡¯Has she decided not to hire me anymore? Why isn¡¯t she taking a closer look at my r¨¦sum¨¦? If she has no intentions of hiring me, why bother inviting me for an interview in the first ce? Maybe she¡¯s only doing this as a favour to her brother. Just doing the motions and wash her hands off me. I shouldn¡¯t have epted this interview.¡¯

    "So when can you start working?" Iris suddenly asked.

    Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t process immediately process the question. What did she mean? Was she hiring her or not? She blinked, unable to quickly give an answer.

    "Hm?" Iris tilted her head looking at her. "Is there a problem?"

    "No!" she hurriedly replied. "I mean, no, there¡¯s no problem at all. I can start working any time."

    "Good. I have a photo shootter. We leave at lunch time." Iris stood up.

    Eh? Jiang Ying Yue was confused. Was she hired or not?

    "Dom, finalize the hiring procedure. I already signed the employment contract. I need to start getting ready." Then she turned to Jiang Ying Yue. "Go follow Dom. He¡¯ll introduce you to my other bodyguard who¡¯ll be your colleague from now on. He¡¯ll exin what you¡¯ll need to know when ites to working as my bodyguard. There¡¯s another bodyguard but he¡¯s only a temporary one. He¡¯ll leave now that you¡¯re here." Iris briefly nodded and was about to leave.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt dazed for a few moments before regaining her senses. "Wait! Miss Long, I... Are you hiring me?"

    "Yes."

    "B-but...you haven¡¯t even checked my r¨¦sum¨¦ yet."

    "I did."

    "There¡¯s another page to my r¨¦sum¨¦. You didn¡¯t look at it yet. Miss Long, I really appreciate this opportunity but I would like to be hired based on my qualifications and skills, not just because I have a connection with your brother."

    "Hmm..." Iris studied her quietly.

    She almost squirmed under the young woman¡¯s gaze but fought against it, instead making her already ramrod straight back even straighter.

    Iris finally spoke again. "Don¡¯t worry, Jiang Ying Yue. I already know about all of your qualifications, skills, experience and achievements beyond what¡¯s written on your r¨¦sum¨¦. What did you think I was doing in front of theputer earlier? ying games?"

    "Oh." Jiang Ying Yue knitted her brows. "Did your brother send my information to you in advance?"

    Irisughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. "I don¡¯t need my brother or any other people to send me information. I can gather whatever information that I need on my own. And Jiang Ying Yue, it seems that you¡¯re misinterpreting something. Don¡¯t think that I hired you as a favour to my brother. I don¡¯t give a whit about his feelings. Although I admit that your connection to him interests me, I¡¯m not going to hire someone just because of that. Whatever happened between the two of you is none of my business. From now on, you¡¯re my bodyguard. You now belong to this household which has nothing to do with my brother. As long as you do your job properly, I¡¯ll treat you well. That¡¯s all."

    Jiang Ying Yue took several deep breaths. She couldn¡¯t describe what she was exactly feeling at the moment. She heard that Iris Long was a temperamental spoiled brat, so she already readied herself to deal with prima donna attitude typical to spoiled heiresses. But now, contrary to her expectations, she was faced with a no-nonsense Iris Long who acted like a real boss. She made a decision.

    "Thank you very much, Miss Long," she said, bowing her head. "I¡¯ll do my best to protect you and to ensure your safety as your bodyguard."

    "That¡¯s what I want to hear," Iris said, smiling gently.

 Chapter 150 - The Suits

    <h4>Chapter 150 - The Suits </h4>

    A month flew by. To Iris, it felt like a blur. She was busy every day, her full schedule packed almost to the brim.

    She guested in several TV and radio programs to perform and to sit down for interviews. She posed for magazines. She appeared as a guest performer at various events such as festivals, grand openings, road shows, sports events, and even at the concerts of other more established musicians than her.

    She also granted one-on-one interviews with some of the most popr social media influencers in the country. Because these influencers belonged outside the traditional showbiz culture, most of them weren¡¯t aware of the unspoken rules. At the moment, Iris Long was being carefully nurtured by both JJ and Bright Summit. This was why traditional interviewers didn¡¯t pry too much into her personal life as a courtesy to these two giants in showbiz.

    Social media, on the other hand, was free-for-all. Tang Yiyi almost didn¡¯t permit Iris these interviews because she wasn¡¯t sure that she would be able to control the situation once these social media influencers started asking questions that were too personal. Additionally, Iris herself had a straightforward personality, preferring the hassle-free truth over the art of deflecting questions.

    Iris assured her manager that she would be fine. She was even the one who personally chose which social media influencers to grant interviews. Iris just gave Tang Yiyi a list of names. Tang Yiyi asked Iris how she decided which names to put into the list, but Iris just gave her a mysterious smile.

    Fortunately, much to Tang Yiyi¡¯s relief, all the interviews went smoothly just as Iris assured her. She didn¡¯t know how Iris did it, but she indeed chose the right social media influencers.

    In addition to these, Iris also held her own mini-concerts and signing events where the ck Stars proved that they were quickly bing a powerhouse among the fan clubs in terms of showing their undying support to their boss.

    The ck Stars fan club gained poprity in their own right because whenever they showed up at Iris Long¡¯s public appearances, they would collectively wear tuxedo suits. They decided to do this to pay homage to Iris¡¯ outfit when they first recognized her as their boss during herunch party.

    Although the quality of their tuxedo suits varied depending on what they could afford¨Dfrom custom-made ones to rental and even handmade ones¨Dseeing arge group of people looking sharp in tuxedo suits was an experience unto itself. When others saw them more than a couple of times, the ck Stars began to be informally known as "The Suits".

    "Oh, it¡¯s The Suits. Seems like Iris Long will be here today."

    "Uwah! Is it just me or The Suits look like they¡¯re triad [1] members or something?"

    "I wish our fan club has a dress code like The Suits. Looks so d*mn cool. Maybe we can wear denim from head to toe and then we¡¯ll be called The Denims."

    "That¡¯s some, bro."

    The ck Stars, a.k.a. The Suits, only grew more and more loyal to their boss. To celebrate the recognition of their status as her official fan club, Iris Long gave them an exclusive fan concert for free.

    After the concert, she invited the fan club officers to her dressing room. Because it was a weekend, Meimei tagged along. Immediately upon meeting each other, Meimei and Dom got along extremely well to the point that they swore they were twins from different parents. The dressing room was alive with their constant chatter. Jiang Ying Yue was also there with her male colleague, looking all stern and alert.

    The ck Stars fan club officers finally arrived. Zhou Mei¡¯er led the group, followed by Wu Chen, Feng Wan and her three friends. Hou Liang didn¡¯te this time but a teenage girl was shyly standing behind the four poshdies.

    "Child, go on and introduce yourself to Iris." Feng Wan gently pushed the shy girl to the front.

    The girl was red in the face and almost couldn¡¯t look directly at Iris. "U-uhm...hello, boss Iris. M-my name is Ming Li and I...love you...I mean, I¡¯m a big fan."

    "Oh, so you¡¯re Ming Li," Iris smiled gently and grabbed the girl¡¯s hand.

    Ming Li¡¯s face became redder.

    Iris: "I remember you. Madam Feng Wan sent me your letter. It was lovely. Thank you very much."

    Ming Li: "You read my letter?"

    Iris nodded.

    Ming Li turned her head to Feng Wan and her three friends. "Thank you so much, Aunties!"

    The four poshdies smiled at her.

    Ming Li looked at Iris again but still couldn¡¯t meet her eyes. The girl¡¯s eyes became teary. "I-I¡¯m really sorry for posting your photos at the hospital online...I didn¡¯t mean to cause you so much trouble. I¡¯m sorry. Will you forgive me?"

    Iris: "I forgive you. Don¡¯t think about it anymore. Just don¡¯t do it again next time, okay?"

    Ming Li nodded quickly. "Yes, yes! I promise!"

    After the meeting, the girl became one of Iris¡¯ most die-hard fans. As LittlePhoenix online, she joined the Slippers Army and followed iEatSlippers¡¯ lead in whacking the bashers of their boss Iris with their virtual mighty slippers of justice.

    During this eventful month, the singles music chart saw the most activity. Iris¡¯ "Rebirth" and Jin Chonglin¡¯s song were in fiercepetition against each other, constantly changing positions between rank 1 and rank 2. One day, it would be Jin Chonglin¡¯s song at the top. The next day, it would be Iris¡¯ "Rebirth".

    This closepetition between Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s music also sparked a fierce rivalry between the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans.

    At the end of the month, Iris finally secured a stable hold in the singles chart. "Rebirth" was able to maintain its number 1 position for more than a week. Jin Chonglin¡¯s song was currently at number 2 but it was now the turn of Iris¡¯ other song "ck Star" to start another fiercepetition against it. "ck Star" and Jin Chonglin¡¯s song started fluctuating between numbers 2 and 3. As for "Phantom of Your Love", it had afortable hold on its number 5 position.

    In the albums chart, the month ended with Jin Chonglin as the reigning king. His album remained at number 1, not budging even a little. His army of fans felt relief at their idol¡¯s superiority in the albums chart despite the unexpectedpetitiveness of Iris Long¡¯s songs in the singles chart, ending with her victory.

    When the new month just started, however, their security and sense of superiority soon shattered. A great upheaval shook the music charts.

    All it took was a single announcement by JJ¡¯s recordbel.

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] A term used to refer to organized crime groups in China, simr to how "yakuza" or "mafia" are used.

 Chapter 151 - Mommy And Daddy Ice Cream And Popcorn Side Story

    <h4>Chapter 151 - Mommy And Daddy Ice Cream And Popcorn Side Story </h4>

    Their memories before Mommy and Daddy were hazy. They vaguely remembered a bigger, warm, furry body who frequently licked them clean. The body feltfortable and safe. There also seemed other little ones besides the two of them.

    Then one day, several scary-sounding monsters took everyone away, leaving only the two of them behind. They felt so hungry and so cold. They could only rub against each other to make themselves feel warmer. They cried and cried, but still nobody came.

    After what felt like forever, they heard a pretty voice. Momentster, there was another voice, deep and scary. They felt afraid of the second voice, but the pretty voice rubbed them gently, calming them down.

    The pretty voice and the scary voice took them somewhere. They were very scared, but they felt safe with the two voices.

    Everything was a blur during that day, but it was the best day of their lives. They were fed with milk. Though the milk wasn¡¯t as yummy as the one they got from the bigger, warm, furry body before. Finally, they were warm,fortable and safe again.

    Later, they learned that the pretty voice was their Mommy and the scary voice was their Daddy. They also began to learn of their own names: Ice Cream and Popcorn.

    Mommy was the best. She would talk and sing to them with her pretty voice. They would always feel calm and safe whenever she was near.

    Daddy was still a little scary, but he treated them nicely. He wasn¡¯t as gentle as Mommy, but he never hurt them. He would also often stick close to Mommy. They liked him better when he smelled a little like Mommy.

    Ice Cream and Popcorn were very happy. They loved their Mommy and Daddy the most in the whole world. Well, the truth was that they loved Mommy way more than Daddy. But it was okay because they knew that Daddy also loved Mommy more than the two of them.

    To Ice Cream and Popcorn, there were only two types of people in the world.

    First were Mommy and Daddy who were the most important to them. It was because of Mommy and Daddy that they were able to have such a wonderful and safe home.

    Second were their ves. Everyone at home, except for Mommy and Daddy, were their ves. The one called Dom was ve #1. They liked him the most among their ves because he always seemed to know what they wanted. If they wanted milk or food, he would feed them. If they wanted to y, he would y with them. Their other ves were also nice but they couldn¡¯t understand them the way ve #1 understood them.

    However, there were times that they hated ve #1 because he would bring them to a nice-looking man who they already met on the same day Mommy and Daddy found them. He had a nice and gentle voice but deep inside, he was actually a monster in disguise!

    The monster in disguise would ufortably rub and press all over their bodies, force their mouths wide open, and then shine bright lights in their eyes making them go blind for a few seconds. Then he would stick something cold and hard in their butts. Unforgivable! But this was not the worst thing that he did to them.

    The worst thing was the Ouchy! The Ouchy was a very thin, sharp thing that he would use to stab them. So painful! They would scratch and roar, showing everyone not to mess with them, but the monster would just hold them down and continue to stab them! They would cry painfully, calling for their Mommy and Daddy to save them. They hated ve #1 during those times because he would beughing happily and taking photos of their suffering.

    The monster was called "doctor" or "vet".

    Popcorn wasn¡¯t too smart so he turned to Ice Cream. "Big Sister, what do ¡¯doctor¡¯ and ¡¯vet¡¯ mean?"

    Ice Cream gave him a bored nce, licking her paw. "It means ¡¯evil monster¡¯. So Popcorn, whenever you hear those words, you have to run and hide quickly."

    "Oh, I see. You¡¯re so smart! Wanna y? Let¡¯s y! I wanna y!"

    Their daily life was full of adventures. When they grew a little bigger and stronger, Mommy finally let them out of the big door. They didn¡¯t know that their home was actually bigger than they imagined.

    They loved it whenever Mommy sat in front of a big, white thing called the piano and make wonderful soundse out of it. Ice Cream would rub against Mommy¡¯s leg until Mommy ced her on top of the piano. Popcorn preferred to run all around, singing along with the wonderful sounds. Mommy would praise him, making him happy.

    One day, they were in their room. Ice Cream, sleeping peacefully on her fluffy bed, was abruptly awoken by Popcorn.

    "Big Sister, wake up! Something bad is happening!"

    "What is it?" Ice Cream felt grumpy from having her beauty sleep disturbed by her hyperactive brother.

    "We gotta help Mommy! Mommy¡¯s in danger!"

    "What?!" Ice Cream was instantly awake.

    "Look there! Daddy is hurting Mommy!"

    Ice Cream turned and saw Mommy lying on the couch, Daddy on top of her.

    Popcorn: "Daddy¡¯s eating Mommy¡¯s face! Listen, Mommy¡¯s making crying noises. I bet she¡¯s in pain! She also sounds like she can¡¯t breathe! We gotta save her! Bad Daddy!"

    The two ran to save their precious Mommy. Popcorn arrived first, biting Daddy¡¯s pants. He shook his head and roared. Ice Cream also arrived and tried to climb up the couch, crying loudly, trying to make Daddy stop.

    "You always tastes so sweet, baby." Jin Liwei panted.

    Iris moaned. "Liwei...kiss me more..."

    They were so into each other that they didn¡¯t notice their kittens making a ruckus below them.

    Popcorn: "Big Sister, Daddy won¡¯t stop! What should we do?"

    Ice Cream: "Bite him."

    "Okay!" Popcorn opened his mouth and then bit hard on Daddy¡¯s leg. Unfortunately, he still loved his Daddy, so he held back from drawing blood.

    "Ah!" The sharp pain on his leg snapped Jin Liwei out of his desire. "What the he¨D Popcorn! What are you doing?! Stop! Let go!"

    He grabbed the kitten by the scruff of its neck.

    Popcorn hissed and swiped his extended ws at his Daddy.

    "Stop it," Jin Liwei growled.

    The kitten started crying pitifully.

    "Okay, that¡¯s enough. Don¡¯t be so harsh on him. He¡¯s still a baby." Iris took Popcorn gently from Jin Liwei¡¯s hand. She also scooped up the meowing Ice Cream from the floor.

    The two immediately dove into their Mommy¡¯s embrace and looked up at her face, checking to see if she was alright.

    "Why are you suddenly acting like this? Are you two in pain?" Iris asked in concern. Then she turned to Jin Liwei. "Should we take them to the vet?"

    The two kittens immediately froze. They hurriedly jumped off the couch and ran to hide.

    Iris: "What was that about?"

    Jin Liwei: "Who knows?"

    Iris: "Are they sick?"

    Jin Liwei: "Doesn¡¯t look like it. Don¡¯t worry about them. Our kids are healthy."

    When Mommy and Daddy left, Ice Cream and Popcorn were already sleeping in their hiding spots.

    The next day, they had already forgotten the incident of Daddy eating Mommy¡¯s face. Upon hearing the cursed word "vet", this entire chunk of yesterday¡¯s memories were automatically erased from their minds.

    And so the wonderful life of Ice Cream and Popcorn continued.

 Chapter 152 - Second Date Part I

    <h4>Chapter 152 - Second Date Part I </h4>

    Jin Liwei woke up that morning feeling refreshed. As usual, he finished work verytest night, returning to the penthouse past 1 AM. His baby girl was already deeply sleeping. He joined her under the warm covers after a quick shower.

    Yawning, he looked at the time. 8:19 AM. This was the first time since working on hispany¡¯s current business project that he slept for so long. He felt lighter and energetic. He almost forgot the wonderful feeling of being well-rested.

    His baby girl was still deeply asleep in his embrace. He ran his fingers through her long, silky hair and inhaled her sweet scent that was unique to her. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t experience any nightmarest night. He also noticed that the frequency of her nightmares gradually dwindled now that she was preupied with work. This was a good sign, right? He hoped that they would disappear altogether.

    Aside from feeling refreshed, he was also feeling very excited. Ever since both of them started bing very busy at their own respective work, this was the first time that his baby girl had a full day off. As the boss of his ownpany, he scheduled a day off for himself on the same day even though it was in the middle of a workday week. The business project was important but it would survive a single day without him. Besides, he needed to spend more quality time with his girlfriend.

    Every time he watched her on TV or read Dominic¡¯s reports about her activities, he knew that she encountered a lot of other men while working. It would always take a lot of his self-control not to abandon work and rush to where she was to personally drive away all those salivating wolves eyeing his woman. If he ever did that, he knew that she would be very upset with him. He didn¡¯t want to give her any reason to harbour any negative feelings for him.

    Finally, today was the day they agreed to have their second date. A date with only the two of them. No annoying flies this time (a.k.a. his brothers). That was why he felt so excited upon waking up. He researched (a.k.a. ask his assistant Xu Tian) on how to make a date romantic and made ns for today ordingly.

    He nuzzled her hair and tried to wake her up. s, she continued to sleep peacefully. After a few more failed attempts, he could only give up and wait for her to wake up naturallyter. Besides, she deserved to rest as much as possible especially after working almost nonstop for weeks.

    After showering her face with light kisses, he reluctantly rose from the bed.

    He worked out at the gym. He added a lot of machines and equipment to the sadlycking ce. Now it looked like a proper gym instead of a in dance studio. Then he showered and ate a big breakfast. The old housekeeper was still cold towards him, but at least she treated him politely and stopped trying to attack him. He didn¡¯t mind the treatment. After all, the only important person to him in this ce was his baby girl. Oh, and their kids, Ice Cream and Popcorn.

    Two hourster, he returned to the bedroom yet his baby girl was still sleeping soundly. He tried waking her up but to no avail. He was very excited for their date today. He was looking forward to it for days now.

    While waiting for her to wake up, he quietly stationed himself at her study desk to finish some work. He would frequently nce towards the bed to check on his baby girl.

    Unfortunately for him, it looked like she had no intention of waking up anytime soon.

    And he was right.

    When Iris woke up, it was almost noon.

    Already a third of the activities on his date n now had to be cancelled because they could only do them in the morning.

    "Good morning, baby," he greeted her. He walked to the bed, leaned down and gave a light kiss on her lips. "Are you excited for today?"

    "Mmn...morning... Hm?" She yawned, stretching her body. "Why?"

    His face fell.

    Then she remembered. "Oh. It¡¯s our date today."

    His expression brightened. "Yes."

    He didn¡¯t urge her to hurry up and get ready, but she could feel the excitement emanating from him. Truth be told, she was also excited for today, so she got ready in no time.

    Jin Liwei suggested that they wear matching outfits again, but she declined.

    "I want to wear a dress today," she told him.

    He felt a little disappointed that she didn¡¯t want to match outfits but seeing her beautiful figure entuated by a long, flowing floral sundress, the disappointment instantly flew away. She looked very casual yet still elegant. Looking down at his formal dress shirt and trousers, he took them off and changed into a casual long-sleeved navy blue polo shirt and ck jeans instead.

    The two left the bedroom. Iris wanted to eat brunch first at home but Jin Liwei said that they would eat outside. She nodded but still grabbed a banana from the kitchen to tide her hunger.

    They rode the elevator down to the private underground parking area. Three of the cars were Jin Liwei¡¯s. This time, they chose a red two-door coupe.

    As they drove away from the condo building, Iris ate her banana.

    Jin Liwei mentally reviewed his ns for today¡¯s date. First would be a romantic lunch at the best French restaurant in the country which was conveniently located just half an hour drive away.

    On the way, however, Iris saw a lively street food market. She turned to him, her eyes bright and curious.

    "Liwei, can we eat there?"

    A slight frowned appeared on his face. "Baby, we already have a reservation at a restaurant."

    "Oh. Okay. Never mind."

    Her obvious look of disappointment stabbed at his heart. He cleared his throat. "Do you really want to eat at that market?"

    Her eyes immediately lit up. "Yes! Can we?"

    "Of course, baby." He smiled at her while sighing inside. He turned the car towards the street food market.

    It was unfortunate that they couldn¡¯t do exactly as he nned. Oh well. As long as his baby girl was happy. Besides, he had many other activities nned for today. Crossing one out wasn¡¯t a big deal.

    Or so he thought.

 Chapter 153 - Second Date Part II

    <h4>Chapter 153 - Second Date Part II </h4>

    Although it was a weekday and not as busy as a weekend, finding a parking spot was still a challenge. Jin Liwei had to drive around the area several times before they were able to find a spot on the roadside. Iris was so excited that she almost jumped out of the car as soon as they parked. Fortunately, Jin Liwei was quicker and was able to stop her.

    "Baby, wait. Wear your mask and your sunsses first."

    "Oh, right. Thanks."

    They walked together to the bustling street food market.

    Colourful and vibrant food stalls were crammed together selling various food products. Vendors frequently yelled out, trying to attract customers to their stalls. Smoke was everywhere and different smells mixed in the air.

    Iris pulled Jin Liwei all over the ce, curious at everything. She knew that Dom, the glutton, frequented street food markets during his days off. She had always been interested but never really had the chance to go until today.

    Jin Liwei held her hand firmly to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t lose her in this crowded ce. On the outside, he had his usual cold and indifferent expression. Inside, however, he had the urge to vomit seeing some of the things being sold. He was about to suggest for them to go to the French restaurant after all but stopped himself upon seeing his baby girl¡¯s enthusiasm. He could only sigh and let himself be pulled along by her.

    For lunch, he made safe choices like barbequed chicken and duck chops with noodles. On the other hand, his baby girl was more...er, adventurous. Skewered scorpions, ck spiders, water beetles, and silkworm chrysalis were on her paper te alongside the more ptable fried rice and cmari.

    Holding one side of her mask to have enough space to eat, she took small bites of each of her "adventurous" choices before grimacing in disgust. Then she would offer them all to him.

    It took him a lot of effort not to visibly cringe. He forced out a smile and took the skewers from her before cing them on the edge of his te. He had no intention of trying them whatsoever. He tried ignoring that part of his te but toote. His appetite was already gone. Giving up on eating, he just sat back to admire his baby girl enjoying her fried rice and cmari.

    Finally, they left the market. He felt so relieved. This wasn¡¯t how he imagined their romantic lunch date would be, but what was done was done.

    Once inside the car, their clothes stank of smoke. He activated the air freshener and hurriedly drove away from the ce.

    Next on his date n was to watch a romantic movie at the cinema. He drove to an upscale mall. Parking was no problem this time.

    The line-up at the box office wasn¡¯t long, so they took their time to choose which movie to watch. Of course, Jin Liwei already checked which romance movies were currently showing beforehand.

    Jin Liwei: "How about we watch ¡¯A Love Across Time¡¯?"

    Iris: "Hmm..."

    Jin Liwei: "Or maybe ¡¯Never Let You Go¡¯?"

    She frowned.

    Jin Liwei: "I heard ¡¯Where the Heart Lies¡¯ is getting rave reviews from critics. Would you like to watch it?"

    "No. I want to watch that." She pointed at a movie poster.

    The title read "The Hit List", a gangster movie.

    Iris: "Can we?"

    How could he reject her when she was looking at him with those beautiful eyes? He immediately bought tickets, then lined up again for a bag of popcorn and a big bottle of room temperature water. Although he preferred chilled drinks, his baby girl avoided them because she was a singer. But still he bought only one big bottle because he wanted the two of them to share.

    When they entered the auditorium, there were only about twenty people in addition to the two of them. Most were males. There were only three females watching including Iris.

    Iris and Jin Liwei chose seats at the very back. The movie started after a few minutes. Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t paying attention to the movie at all. This kind of gangster movies didn¡¯t interest him, unless they were rare ssic masterpieces. Instead, his eyes were directed at his baby girl¡¯s expression for the entire duration of the movie.

    She took off her mask and sunsses since nobody was paying attention to them anyway in this dark ce.

    Her expressions and reactions while watching the movie were amusing, especially her mumbledments.

    "Who shoots a gun like that? So stupid. And he¡¯s supposed to be a trained assassin?"

    "This brawl looks too choreographed. Ill-choreographed at that. Very unrealistic."

    "Hmph. What kind of criminal organization is this? They¡¯re all filled with stupid, brainless idiots. Disgraceful!"

    Initially, he was already prepared to endure two boring hours sitting here but surprisingly, he felt entertained. The movie was boring as expected, but watching his baby girl¡¯s contempt for it was entertainment in itself. She was so cute! He smiled in amusement, popping popcorn into his mouth now and then. His eyes never stopped looking at her the whole time.

    After the movie, Iris continued to grumble about the movie¡¯s stupidity. Jin Liwei had no idea what happened in the movie but he nodded and agreed at everything she said.

    There was absolutely zero romance in the movie. This wasn¡¯t how he imagined their romantic movie date would be, but what was done was done.

    Next activity on his romantic date n was to go shopping together. Although he knew that she could buy whatever she wanted with her own money, he still wanted to buy things for her. He also wanted for them to buy more matching outfits or any other matching things, especially now that they were living together.

    Walking inside the mall, they heard her songs from her album "Rebirth" being yed at various shops. He felt very proud of her, wanting to shout out to everyone that she was his.

    His good mood, however, was short-lived. Most of the men they passed by would ogle his baby girl¡¯s body. He put his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to him while scowling and ring at the lecherous men. How dare they look at his woman with their dirty eyes?! He felt the strongest urge to gouge their eyes out.

    Simrly beside him, Iris¡¯ mood was also taking a dive. Her expression was hidden by her face mask and big sunsses but her eyes were shooting daggers at the females ogling her man. She ced her arm around his waist, staking her im.

    The temperature around this gorgeous couple was like that of frozen hell. People subconsciously gave them a wide berth to avoid the threatening aura surrounding the couple. Even so, the people couldn¡¯t take their eyes off of them because they looked so beautiful together. Even though they couldn¡¯t see what the girlfriend looked like, they knew that she must be gorgeous.

    The lechers needed some good thrashing, Jin Liwei thought, but he had a more important mission for today which was to have a romantic date with his baby girl. So far, they weren¡¯t able to aplish anything ording to his n but he refused to give up.

    Of course, he researched which shops sold matching outfits for couples beforehand. He was about to suggest going into one of the shops when...

    "Oh, a pet store!" Iris eximed. "Liwei, let¡¯s go buy some stuff for Ice Cream and Popcorn."

    Those eyes again. How could he ever resist?

    "Of course, baby," he immediately said, allowing himself to be pulled along by her.

 Chapter 154 - Second Date Part III

    <h4>Chapter 154 - Second Date Part III </h4>

    This time, both of them were a little more knowledgeable about various pet products so they didn¡¯t take almost everything from the shelves unlike the first time they shopped for their kittens. Despite this, they still bought a lot. The car they brought was too small so they asked the shop to deliver their purchases to the penthouse instead. Like before, the manager catered to them, smelling big money from the couple. He immediately agreed. They only needed to pay extra.

    Iris beat Jin Liwei, taking out her credit card faster than him. Hers wasn¡¯t ck like his, but it was still one of the higher end privilege cards avable only for the rich.

    The manager didn¡¯t bat an eye seeing the card. After all, this was an upscale mall and most of the shoppers in this ce were wealthy people. He already encountered this card before, but he would still probably freak out if he saw Jin Liwei¡¯s legendary ck one. It was, after all, only a card offered to a select few among the wealthiest in the world.

    Fortunately, the name on Iris¡¯ credit card was her real name, so she wasn¡¯t recognized. Coincidentally, "Rebirth" was ying inside the store.

    Jin Liwei looked at the time, it was alreadyte afternoon. They spent more time in the pet store than he intended, but he didn¡¯t have the heart to rush his baby girl when she was clearly enjoying choosing items for their kids. It seemed that his original n of shopping for matching outfits together would have to wait another day. This wasn¡¯t how he imagined this shopping date would be, but what was done was done.

    Next up on his date n was to enjoy culture together at an art gallery. Xu Tian warned him that depending on the woman, an art gallery date might be seen as boring and unromantic. Jin Liwei waved his assistant¡¯s concerns away. He knew that his baby girl appreciated and had great taste in art. He was pretty sure that his n would be sessful this time, especially since she was a creative and artistic person herself, although more on the field of music than fine arts.

    They exited the mall to their parked car outside.

    While Jin Liwei drove, Iris was busy texting on her phone.

    "Baby, would you like to go to an art gallery?"

    "Hm? Yes. That would be lovely," she replied but her attention was still on her phone.

    Who was she texting? He was curious but didn¡¯t ask.

    After some time, she ced her phone back inside her purse. They chatted until something caught her eye.

    "Oh, look! It¡¯s a KTV!" [1] She turned to him. "I¡¯ve never been to one before. Can we go?"

    This time, he hesitated even when faced with her beautiful eyes. If he agreed to her again, he would have to cancel their date at the art gallery. None of the activities he arranged for today¡¯s date was going ording to his original n.

    Iris: "You don¡¯t want to? Oh, it¡¯s okay. Let¡¯s continue to the art gallery then."

    Seeing her disappointed expression, he sighed; a helpless smile on his face. He turned the car and drove towards the KTV she pointed at.

    "Eh? Where are we going?"

    "To where you want to go."

    "Really?"

    "Yes, baby." He nced at her and saw her beaming at him. His heart momentarily stopped before beating wildly inside his chest. He immediately felt d giving in to her.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of people so they were able to quickly settle in one of the karaoke boxes. Being a singer, Iris wasn¡¯t shy at all, immediately choosing songs and started singing. All the songs from her album "Rebirth" were already avable so she chose them first and gave Jin Liwei a private concert.

    Intense emotions surged through him as he watched and listened to his baby girl singing only for him. They looked at each other¡¯s eyes the entire time.

    She was so beautiful, so talented, so amazing. And she was his.

    He could feel his love for her deepening with every passing moment.

    After singing her own songs, she also sang other songs and urged him to sing together with her. He didn¡¯t have a great singing voice but he was able to hold most of the tunes.

    They only stayed for 45 minutes because Iris didn¡¯t want to overwork her vocal chords. Then they left.

    There was not enough time anymore to go to the art gallery, so he could only give up on it. Karaoke wasn¡¯t in his ns, but what was done was done.

    It was already evening. There was only one activity left on his date n. To have a romantic dinner date. He already booked a private table at an exclusive seafood restaurant well-known in high society. Dining was only avable for its members. Jin Liwei was, of course, a top member.

    He was about to tell her that he was going to take her to dinner when...

    "Liwei, I¡¯m tired. Can we go home now?"

    He froze. He took a couple of deep breaths to prevent himself from panicking. "Baby, don¡¯t you want dinner?"

    "Let¡¯s eat at home."

    "But¨D"

    "Please, Liwei...darling. I feel really tired."

    "Alright, baby." All he could do was sigh. If this was what she wanted, so be it.

    Finally, they arrived at the condo. Inside the elevator, Iris leaned against Jin Liwei. He kissed the top of her head. He was feeling a little down that nothing went ording to his ns today. But what was done was already done. Though he would be lying if he said that he wasn¡¯t disappointed.

    The elevator door opened and they entered the penthouse.

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei looked around, confused.

    There was nobody in sight. The ce was dimly-lit. A trail of red rose petals was on the floor.

    He looked at his baby girl to see her smiling nervously at him. Did she n this?

    She held his hand and pulled him. They followed the path of red petals until they arrived at a candlelit dinner table for two in front of the ceiling high ss windows overlooking the lovely night lights of the city outside. A romantic violin tune was ying softly in the background.

    Dom was waiting for them in a waiter-style tuxedo suit.

    "Wee, Sir and Madam. My name is Dom and I¡¯ll be your server for tonight. Ehehe."

    Jin Liwei turned to his baby girl. "Did you n this?"

    She nodded.

    "Oh, baby." He pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly.

    Wrapping her arms around his waist, she lifted her head to look at his face. "Do you like it?"

    "I love it."

    She smiled at him so brightly that his breath caught. He lifted her up and crushed his mouth to her sweet lips.

    The two failed to hear Dom¡¯s squeals as they kissed each other hungrily. When their mouths separated, both were panting. Their eyes zed with desire.

    "I think we should eat," she mumbled.

    "En. I¡¯m hungry," he said, nibbling her earlobe and making her shiver.

    Finally, they seated themselves. Dom poured them warm apple cider on wine sses. Iris didn¡¯t drink alcohol, so Jin Liwei avoided drinking too when they were together. Then Dom left to get their dinner.

    "Is this the reason why you were busy texting earlier?"

    She nodded. "I was coordinating with Dom."

    He reached across the table and held her hand. "Baby, thank you. I¡¯m so happy."

    "I¡¯m d."

    They smiled at each other.

    So what if nothing went ording to Jin Liwei¡¯s ns today? His ns were nothingpared to his baby girl¡¯s sweet surprise for him. For him, today was the most romantic day of his life yet. He never imagined that one day he would be the one romanced by his woman. He never expected it to feel so good. Happiness sang in his blood.

    "I love you, baby."

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] A karaoke establishmentmonly found in Asia. Also known as "karaoke box". The term "KTV" (abbreviation for "karaoke television") is particrly used in China, Singapore and Cambodia.

 Chapter 155 - A Force To Be Reckoned With

    <h4>Chapter 155 - A Force To Be Reckoned With </h4>

    In the music charts, the month ended with Iris Long¡¯s victory in the singles rankings while Jin Chonglin retained his title as reigning king in the album rankings.

    The ck Stars celebrated with gusto over their victory on the singles chart and were now eyeing the albums chart. On the other hand, Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were sullen that they lost in the singles chart. As a result, they became even more determined to defend the number 1 position of their idol¡¯s album.

    Both of these fan clubs poured tremendous support to their respective celebrities¡¯ albums. It was in this way that Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans regained their confidence because the gap between them and the ck Stars was still too big. Jin Chonglin had been at the top of his game for years now. Additionally, he wasn¡¯t just popr in the country but across Asia as well. Compared to Iris Long who just made hereback, not to mention her past as a second-rate pop star, Jin Chonglin had already rooted himself deeply in the music industry.

    But as soon as the new month started, JJ¡¯s recordbel released an official announcement.

    "We are excited to announce the uing release of the piano version of Iris Long¡¯s album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ next month. This new album will be titled ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯. All of the songs in the album are singlehandedly transcribed for solo piano by Iris herself. So for her fans who are pianists, we have another exciting news. We havepiled the sheet music for all of the songs into a piano songbook which will be avable for purchase separately or as a package with the album. One month from now, Iris Long¡¯s new album ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ and the piano songbook will be officially avable for sale in the country and internationally as well. Please look forward to Iris Long¡¯s next album!"

    JJ¡¯s recordbel also released thirty-second audio samples for the piano versions of "Rebirth", "ck Star" and "Phantom of Your Love", the current top songs from the original album.

    As expected, the ck Stars were ecstatic upon hearing this news. Although "Rebirth Melodies" technically contained the same songs as the original "Rebirth" album, it was still considered as a new album. Coming up with a new album so quickly was already an aplishment to be proud of. What was more, this new album was nned for international release! How exciting was that?

    The pianists among them were the most excited. Many of them already made their own fan transcriptions of the songs from the album, but they still wanted to get their hands on the piano songbook as soon as possible. They wanted topare their boss Iris¡¯ original transcriptions to their own versions.

    Listening to the audio samples, they were already quite impressed. It seemed that their boss Iris didn¡¯t just transcribe the songs as they were but also took creative liberties and rearranged them to elicit more powerful emotions.

    They were all so excited about this new album that it took some time before someone noticed that there was more to the announcement. When someone pointed it out, people began reading the next lines of text at the bottom.

    "The song ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ has been chosen as the official theme song for an uing film. Iris took it upon herself to rearrange the song to make it more cinematic and fitting for the movie¡¯s overall theme. In addition to this, we are also confirming that Iris has been appointed as the film¡¯s official musicposer. She is currently working hard in cooperation with the film¡¯s director and producers topose a film score for the entire movie. We will reveal more information in ordance to the film¡¯s production progress. Thank you."

    After reading, everyone waspletely shocked.

    Iris Long was going topose a film score for a movie?!

    What the hell?! How did that happen? Could she reallypose an entire film score by herself?

    This bombshell instantly overshadowed the news of the uing release of her piano album "Rebirth Melodies". People wanted to know more about this mysterious film and how Iris Long became its official musicposer. They bombarded JJ¡¯s recordbel with onlinements, e-mails, and even with phone calls. However, the recordbel refused to say anything more. The people turned to Iris Long¡¯s social media pages and even to Bright Summit but both kept silent just like JJ¡¯s recordbel.

    And so everyone started ying detective. In the following days, people started investigating which films were currently in production. As a result, some directors and producers had to release official statements denying that Iris Long was working with them because they were being constantly bothered by these wannabe detectives.

    There was another oue to this huge revtion. "Phantom of Your Love" finally moved from its stable fifth position in the singles chart, jumping all the way to number 2. It unexpectedly joined the fierce battle between Jin Chonglin¡¯s song and "ck Star".

    Fans were curious about how their boss Iris would make "Phantom of Your Love" more cinematic. The musicians among the fans even started making their own cinematic versions of the song even without knowing what the film was about. As a result, there was a great surge of fan covers of this song being uploaded online. A betting pool was even set up to see which of these fan covers would be the most simr to Iris¡¯ official version when it was released.

    After a couple of weeks, a much bigger shock swept everyone.

    The album "Rebirth" finally kicked Jin Chonglin¡¯s album from its number 1 position in the music chart.

    Although its hold to the top position was not stable yet, the fact that Iris Long¡¯s album was even able to reach this position and rece an album by a big star like Jin Chonglin was already unbelievable to many. After all, there were still a lot people who viewied Iris Long as a second-rate pop star despite her image change and recent aplishments.

    As the new queen of the music charts, taking the sought-after double crown, Iris Long was finally starting to be recognized as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

 Chapter 156 - Little Jun

    <h4>Chapter 156 - Little Jun </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    The mouth-watering smell of bacon and eggs permeated the kitchen. Everyone sat around the kitchen ind while the cook and Yi Mei served them food.

    Iris and Jin Liwei sat together on one side. Dom and Meimei sat on the other side. Their nonstop chatter livened up the atmosphere. Meimei regrly slept over whenever she had no sses.

    Jiang Ying Yue sat on another side with her one-year old son, Long Jun. The child sat on a high chair. A nanny was beside them. Everyone in the penthouse immediately fell in love with the toddler when they saw him for the first time. He looked a lot like his father, Long Hui.

    Because Jiang Ying Yue lived quite far from the penthouse, Iris arranged for a two-bedroom unit for her and her son right in the same condo building. Jiang Ying Yue tried to decline the offer, knowing that she could never afford the price of living in this wealthy area.

    But Iris told her, "Don¡¯t decline. It¡¯s not for you. I already bought it as a gift for my first nephew. The unit is under Little Jun¡¯s name and will be officially transferred to him once he reaches the age of majority. And it¡¯s more convenient that you move here so that you cane quickly whenever I need you."

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t have any reason to reject Iris¡¯ generous offer, especially since it was all for her son.

    "I also arranged for a nanny to care for Little Jun when you¡¯re working," Iris added. "The nanny¡¯s sry is paid for by my brother."

    Jiang Ying Yue opened her mouth to protest but Iris raised her hand to stop her.

    "If you have any objections about him paying for his son¡¯s nanny, go talk to him," Iris said. "Like I said before, your rtionship with my brother is none of my business. I won¡¯t tell you what to do, but don¡¯t forget that my brother is your son¡¯s father. I¡¯m also your son¡¯s aunt. All we want is the best for Little Jun. But of course, you¡¯re the mother so we¡¯ll respect your decisions regarding your own child."

    In the end, Jiang Ying Yue decided to ept the siblings¡¯ offers. After all, they were all for her son. Iris¡¯ words managed to prate through her pride. Despite this, she still felt a little resistant to epting help from other people. She felt that she could do everything by herself as long as she worked hard enough.

    Her rtionship with Long Hui was a big mistake, but the fruit of their mistake was the biggest blessing in her life. She would never regret giving birth to her son, Long Jun. Her sonpleted her existence. She still didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with Long Hui, but she could never deny the fact that he was her son¡¯s father. Iris was able to make her realize that she shouldn¡¯t deprive her son the opportunity to be provided for by his own father. She still didn¡¯t like it, but she would stop resisting so strongly because this was for her son¡¯s sake.

    Back to the present, Jiang Ying Yue silently observed everyone. She was surprised by the warmth in this household. While she was still working as Long Hui¡¯s bodyguard, she often heard the various Long family members disparaging the Young Miss Xin. But she could see nothing of that sort here.

    Iris had been very generous to her ever since she started working for her, especially to Little Jun. The penthouse was basically her son¡¯s home. He would spend the entire day here being doted upon by everyone. Their two-bedroom unit a few floors down was just a ce to sleep. She worried a little that her son was being spoiled too much, but as a mother, she didn¡¯t have the heart to tell them to stop.

    She looked at her new boss and the man sitting beside her. She frequently caught them staring into each other¡¯s eyes as if they were the only ones present in the world.

    It was only because of her training as a bodyguard that was letting Jiang Ying Yue maintain an impassive expression on her face. The first time she saw Jin Liwei in the penthouse was a few days after she was hired. She immediately recognized him because she worked as Long Hui¡¯s bodyguard for a few years. Long Hui was the heir of Long Industries. She often apanied him to business meetings and events, so she was familiar with some of the key figures in the business world, especially someone as powerful as Jin Liwei.

    She wondered what business the President-CEO of Jin Corporation had with her boss that he went out of his way to personally go to the penthouse. Then she learned that the two were in a rtionship. They were even living together! She was so shocked that she questioned whether she was hallucinating or not.

    Now a few weekster, she was starting to get used to the possibility that her boss could be the next madam of Jin Corporation. Even she could see that the feelings between the lovers were real, especially Jin Liwei¡¯s.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by the crying of her child.

    "What¡¯s wrong, Junie boy?" Dom asked.

    Jiang Ying Yue checked. "His diaper just needs to be changed. Please excuse us."

    Iris nodded.

    Jiang Ying Yue left carrying Little Jun in her arms, the nanny following them.

    "Big Brother Liwei, what are you reading?" Meimei asked.

    Jin Liwei was reading the newspaper while they ate breakfast.

    Unlike Jiang Ying Yue, Meimei didn¡¯t recognize Jin Liwei when she first met him as Iris¡¯ boyfriend. Or more specifically, she didn¡¯t know him in the first ce. She had no interest in the corporate world. Iris¡¯ words when she visited the Long ancestral residence stuck with her. She believed Iris when she said that her boyfriend was just a "regr businessman" who was "no one special".

    Even when Dom told her that Jin Liwei was the head of the number onepany in the country, she didn¡¯t feel excited or amazed. To her, apany was apany. In other words, boring.

    Jin Liwei showed the girl the page he was reading. It was the entertainment section. The headlines were all about Iris.

    "Iris Long: the Newly Crowned Queen of the Music Charts!"

    "Iris Long¡¯s Uing Album ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ Already Breaking Pre-order Records for an Instrumental Album!"

    "Film Critic: ¡¯Only an Indie Film With Low Budget Will Have the Guts to Appoint Someone Like Iris Long to Compose an Entire Film Score.¡¯"

 Chapter 157 - Third Album

    <h4>Chapter 157 - Third Album </h4>

    Dom and Meimei leaned forward to read the headlines from the newspaper.

    Meimei: "Oh wow! They¡¯re all about you, Xin!"

    Dom: "Of course! It¡¯s because Boss is the best."

    Meimei: "Your uing album is already breaking records! Amazing!"

    Dom: "Ehehe. As expected, Boss is awesome."

    Meimei: "Uwah! Xin, can you give me a signed copy?"

    Dom: "Hey! Don¡¯t ask boss for a copy. You should buy one!"

    Meimei: "Aaaw. Come on. Fine, I¡¯ll just steal¨DI mean, ask for another one from Uncle Tengfei. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll buy lots again."

    The two high-fived andughed.

    Meimei: "Eh? What did that stupid film critic say? ¡¯Someone like Iris Long¡¯? What¡¯s that supposed to mean? Is that an insult?"

    Dom: "Hmph! Film critic, my a**! Posing as an expert when he doesn¡¯t even know what he¡¯s talking about!"

    Iris took the newspaper from Jin Liwei and speed read the article containing an interview with a film critic.

    "Hmm... He¡¯s not wrong," Iris said. "I¡¯m indeedposing a film score for an indie film. And yes, they have low budget."

    Meimei: "Oh, is that true?"

    Iris nodded, returning the newspaper back to Jin Liwei. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before continuing to read.

    Dom: "Hmph! So what if it¡¯s an indie film with low budget? Being indie doesn¡¯t mean low quality! Boss dared to ept the offer to be their officialposer so of course the story is awesome! Not that I know what the story is about because it¡¯s supposed to be a secret but I trust Boss¡¯ judgment. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s a super duper great story. That film critic doesn¡¯t even know what movie he¡¯s talking about and he¡¯s already judging it! So unprofessional! And he calls himself an expert? Pweh!"

    "Oooh." Meimei bobbed her head. "I see. You¡¯re right! I¡¯ve watched awesome indie films before. How dare that film critic! He¡¯s just a hater. Haters gonna hate. Hmph!"

    Dom: "Yeah!"

    The two grumbled together and bad-mouthed the critic.

    Iris watched them, a warm smile on her face. She didn¡¯t really care about what strangers were saying about her. But she felt grateful that she had people who would readily defend her name because they liked her as a person and not because it was their job or duty to do so.

    She finished eating and sipped hot ginger tea. These days, her schedule wasn¡¯t as packed to the brim. Likewise, Jin Liwei¡¯s business project was already running smoothly so his schedule also eased up. That was why they had more times like these when they could eat meals together without rushing for work.

    It was a Saturday. At the moment, their morning was very rxed. Butter in the afternoon, she would be guesting on a TV show. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t need to go to work today. He said that he would be meeting with his brothers Lin Yehan, Wang Yingjie and Yu Moter to hang out.

    She leaned against Jin Liwei, looking over his shoulder to read the newspaper with him. Over half of the entire entertainment section was talking about her. The main interest, however, was on her appointment as the officialposer for a currently unknown film.

    Iris remembered how it came about.

    She met with JJ at his office. Tang Yiyi was with them and it seemed that the manager was already informed beforehand. There were two other people in the office. Iris didn¡¯t recognize them.

    JJ introduced them as the director and executive producer of an indie film that was still in production stage. After the greetings, they immediately talked business.

    "Miss Long, we would like to use your song ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ as our film¡¯s official theme song," the producer said.

    "I was actually the one who wants to use your song," the director interjected. "The first time I heard the full song, I knew that it¡¯s the perfect theme song for our film."

    Iris was silent for a few moments, thinking. Then she asked, "May I know first what your film is about?"

    "Of course!" The producer then looked at the director.

    The director nodded. Then he began describing the story in detail to Iris.

    Her eyes lit up in wonder as she listened. Her head tilted to the side, imagining the story the director was telling her. What was even more amazing was that it was based on a true story.

    After the director finished talking, they all looked at Iris. Expectation and nervousness were in their eyes. Finally, they received her answer.

    "It would be my honour to grant your request," she told them. "But I have one condition."

    Director: "What is it?"

    "I want to read the full script first and then rearrange the song to perfectly match the story."

    The director and the producer hesitated.

    "I¡¯ll sign an NDA if you need me to."

    "Deal," the director immediately said.

    The next day, Iris received a sealed copy of the script from Tang Yiyi. They didn¡¯t require her to sign an NDA but just asked her to keep the script¡¯s existence a secret. She assured them that she would.

    After reading the script, she immediately began rearranging "Phantom of Your Love", making it darker than it already was, more soulful to the point of eerie, and of course cinematic. She worked with her symphony orchestra to record the new version of the song.

    Less than a weekter, she submitted the song to JJ. Within a few hours, JJ called her on the phone. He excitedly told her that the director and producer loved the song so much that they wanted her topose the film score for the entire movie.

    "This is a great opportunity for you as a musician," JJ told her. "Think about it carefully, brat."

    Iris was moved by the story so she agreed without hesitation.

    JJ was pleased with her answer but he still had to warn her. "They can¡¯t pay you a lot, you know. They don¡¯t have the budget."

    "It¡¯s okay."

    After a quick negotiation, everyone met up again for the contract signing, officially weing Iris as part of the film production team.

    Additionally, it was decided that JJ¡¯s recordbel would release the soundtrack album of the film. Of course, since Iris would be the oneposing the entire film score, all the rights were hers and it would count as another full album under her name.

    It was scheduled to be her third official album.

 Chapter 158 - Chaos Around The World

    <h4>Chapter 158 - Chaos Around The World </h4>

    Dragon Pce Homes #10.

    Thest time the four brothers hung out together was when Jin Liwei took Iris to the farm vi for their first date. Each of them had their own different careers. It was not easy for them to match their schedules, especially for Jin Liwei who was the head of the number onepany in the country and Wang Yingjie who was a surgeon from a busy hospital. Compared to the two of them, Lin Yehan and Yu Mo had more regr schedules.

    Today, the four brothers gathered at Jin Liwei¡¯s enormous residence. They were at the indoor tennis courts.

    They alternated opponents until they all yed against each other a few times. Finally, they decided to stop when they felt too tired to continue. They were all panting and drenched in sweat.

    Servants instantly appeared to give them water bottles and towels before withdrawing to give the brothers privacy.

    Wang Yingjie was very observant. He turned to Jin Liwei. "Third Brother, is it just me or are your servants more eager to serve than usual? There¡¯s also something that I noticed. I¡¯ve seen no signs of your presence in your house. Perhaps you were just too busy working that you haven¡¯t stayed here for a while?"

    "En. I haven¡¯t been staying here. Xin and I have been living together at her ce."

    "What?!" Yu Mo eximed. "Third Bro, is that true?! Since when?! Why haven¡¯t you told us?! And I¡¯m so sad! I go to Xiao Xiu¡¯s ce every week but she never told me. I had no idea."

    "I moved in with Xin after I returned from my Canadian business trip."

    Yu Mo: "So long ago and you never told us! Are we still your brothers?"

    Jin Liwei gave his Fourth Brother a side-eye, not bothering to reply.

    "Seems like you¡¯re quite serious about your rtionship with her," Lin Yehanmented with his usual gentle voice.

    "En. I n to marry her," Jin Liwei said with a nod.

    All three brothers stared at him with wide eyes. Yu Mo¡¯s expression was the mostical. His mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish out of water. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

    Yu Mo: "Y-you...what..."

    Lin Yehan had a thoughtful expression.

    Wang Yingjie just nodded, as if he already expected it. His eyes were on Jin Liwei¡¯s left wrist. He immediately knew what LX on his brother¡¯s bangle stood for even without asking.

    The four brothers headed to the showers. Yu Mo pestered Jin Liwei on the way, asking him all sorts of questions about his rtionship with Iris. Jin Liwei answered some of them, but mostly just ignored his Fourth Brother¡¯s nonsense. After showering, they entered the adjoining sauna buck naked with only a single towel each.

    "It would have been better if Fifth Brother is with us," Lin Yehan sighed. "Third Brother, you met with Fifth Brother while you were in Toronto, right? How is he?"

    Jin Liwei nodded. "He¡¯s doing well. He looked healthy when I saw him. He also recovered his mobility."

    Wang Yingjie: "That¡¯s a great relief. Paralysis can be a tricky condition to recover from."

    Yu Mo: "I wonder when Fourth Bro wille back."

    The brothers became quiet, thinking about their youngest brother. They thought that they were going to lose him when they first heard about the ident. Thank the heavens that he managed to hold on to his life. All of them were looking forward to the day that all five of them could gather together again.

    Lin Yehan cleared his throat. He wanted to dissolve the suddenly somber atmosphere, so he changed the subject. "By the way, Third Brother. Is yourpany alright? There are a lot ofpanies all around the world that have been struck by the recent hacking which exposed shocking scandals to the public. I heard that Europe and North America are the ones affected the most."

    Yu Mo: "Oh yeah, I heard about that! It¡¯s all over the news. The scandals sparked public outrage with millions of clients suing thepanies. Company chief officers are either resigning or are being fired. Almost all of them are facing police investigations."

    "Mypany is not affected at all," Jin Liwei replied. Then he paused, realizing something. "Now that I think about it, thepanies that are rted to Jin Corporation aren¡¯t affected either. Perhaps that¡¯s why only very few have been hit in the countrypared to abroad."

    Lin Yehan: "That¡¯s great to hear."

    Wang Yingjie: "It¡¯s not only businesses. Research facilities and even universities have been hit. The worst are the ones involving politicians. New reports are popping up every day. Nobody has noticed any patterns yet based on the ones affected so far. It seems that the hacker is hitting randomly. I wonder what his goal is."

    Yu Mo: "Isn¡¯t it obvious? He wants justice! I, for one, approve of this hacker! Those who have been exposed need to pay for the crimes theymitted! What¡¯s the name of the hacker again? I forgot."

    "Drakon," Jin Liwei answered.

    Yu Mo: "Yeah! I think Drakon is cool! I heard that he didn¡¯t make any money from this recent hacking. He just wants to expose the evildoers."

    Lin Yehan sighed and shook his head. "Fourth Brother, don¡¯t idolize that hacker. He¡¯s now a wanted criminal. Many authorities from all over the world are now hunting for him. He should¡¯ve contacted the police and shared his findings with them instead of carelessly dumping everything to the public. The chaos he caused all around the world is no joke. Stock prices crashing, riots everywhere. There have even been unverified reports that people are being assassinated because of the exposed scandals."

    Wang Yinjie turned to Jin Liwei. "What do you think about it, Third Brother?"

    "I agree with the analyst who said that the hacker doesn¡¯t care about justice," Jin Liwei replied while wiping the sweat off his body with a towel. "That hacker is just looking for attention. It seems that he only surfaced about a year ago. He¡¯s doing all of these to make a name for himself. That¡¯s all."

    Lin Yehan: "Whatever his reason for hacking and causing all this chaos, I¡¯m d that he didn¡¯t touch Jin Corporation."

    Jin Liwei: "En."

    Wang Yingjie nodded.

    Yu Mo muttered, "I still think that Drakon is cool."

 Chapter 159 - Cross Academy

    <h4>Chapter 159 - Cross Academy </h4>

    The delicate, traditional koto [1] music ying in the background evoked an image of a rxing stroll in a bamboo forest. Iris sat inside a private room at the best Japanese restaurant in the city, sipping a hot tea blend of Gyokuro and dried sakura blossoms. The ambience was abination of modern and traditional aesthetics.

    Jiang Ying Yue stood stone-faced by the door, while Iris waited at the plush leather seats amidst the traditional d¨¦cor. The two of them were currently the only ones in the room.

    Momentster, there was a knock on the door. Jiang Ying Yue opened it and three people entered. A server led two foreign people into the room.

    The foreign man was advanced in age but he still looked tall and imposing. His back was straight, not stooped at all unlike other men his age. He had a full head of white hair connected to his equally white beard and mustache. The wrinkles on his face didn¡¯t diminish the stern and sharp look in his eyes. Walking beside him was a middle aged petite blonde woman who looked like she had a perpetual smile on her face.

    Iris stood up and gave them a weing smile. She nced at Jiang Ying Yue and nodded. Jiang Ying Yue bowed her head before exiting the room.

    The blonde woman stepped forward and extended a hand to Iris. She spoke in German. "Hello. My name is Giulia Moretti. You must be Miss Xin Long. We have spoken on the phone before. It¡¯s a pleasure to finally meet you."

    "Hello, Madame Moretti. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you too," Iris replied in fluent German.

    Then they turned to the older man. Giulia Moretti introduced him.

    "This is Professor Erwan Dupont, Headmaster of Cross Academy."

    "Professor Dupont, it is my great honour to meet you, sir," Iris respectfully greeted the Headmaster. "Thank you very much for taking the time to fly here all the way from Switzend to meet me despite your busy schedule."

    Professor Dupont nodded and shook hands with Iris. "I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you, Miss Long."

    They seated themselves. The server poured tea to the two new arrivals and then took their orders. The food arrived a few minutester. They chatted good-naturedly about each other¡¯s countries while eating. Though it was mostly the women doing most of the talking.

    After eating, they finally talked about the purpose of this meeting.

    "Miss Long, the Headmaster and I, with my capacity as the admissions counselor, havee here today to officially invite you to be a student of Cross Academy." Giulia Moretti handed Iris a thick envelope.

    "Thank you." Iris received it with a smile and opened it, reading the official offer from the academy, an enrollment form, and other documents.

    Giulia Moretti: "As you may already know, Cross Academy is an exclusive, one-of-a-kind institution. Nothing like it exists anywhere else in the entire world. Following the original purpose of our great founder 250 years ago, we continue to gather only the most talented and skilled individuals in various fields across the world. Sessful enrollment is only avable through direct offer from us and never by application. Miss Long, do you know why we extended an offer to you?"

    "Yes," Iris answered.

    Professor Dupont finally spoke. "Your recent hacking exploits have left a trail of chaos all over the world. As an individual, I say your actions were utterly irresponsible and cruel. However, as the Headmaster of Cross Academy, I daresay that your superior skills undoubtedly make you deserving to be a student of our academy. We only care about skills, not motivation or reputation. We nurture but it¡¯s up to the individual to grow."

    Iris bowed her head, acknowledging his words.

    Professor Dupont: "You say that you know the reason why we extended an offer to you. Pray tell."

    Iris: "Because my style and skills in hacking remind you of someone."

    "Correct." Then his eyes became sharper as he directed them at her. "Drakon, what is your connection to Fantom?"

    She took two deep breaths before answering. "Fantom...taught me everything I need to know about hacking andputers. You can say that Fantom is my master."

    Professor Dupont looked like he already expected her answer. "Since that¡¯s the case, do you know Fantom¡¯s real identity?"

    Her eyes darkened. "Yes."

    They waited for her to say more. It took almost a full minute before she finally answered.

    "Fantom is...was Evelina Vetrova, a Cross Academy alumni," she whispered in a t tone. "And she¡¯s dead."

    Everyone was quiet after that. Nobody said a word. The atmosphere became heavy, almost suffocating.

    Professor Dupont sighed heavily. "Indeed. What a sad life she lived. She was one of the brightest talents that I have known. Our Cross Academy will always be proud of her."

    Iris¡¯ hands clenched into fists. They trembled a bit, before she forced them to rx.

    The he looked at her again. "But her amazing skills live through you. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here today. Tell me, Miss Long. Did you create that ruckus all over the world just to get our attention?"

    "Yes, sir. I want education but I have no interest in wasting my time at a regr school."

    He nodded. "Indeed, your past school records are horrendous. Fortunately, Cross Academy doesn¡¯t judge base on that. Specialized talent and skills aren¡¯t necessarily reflected on school report cards. Miss Long, you are indeed a disciple of thete Miss Vetrova. Not only did you inherit her world-ss skills as a hacker, but you¡¯re also skilled innguages. As you requested, we will not enroll you to our Computer Science Program like her but in the Foreign Languages Program instead with minor focus on Business Administration. After all, with Fantom as your master, we can¡¯t really teach you anything new as a hacker since she herself had a huge influence to the development of our current Computer Science program when she was still a student andter on as an alumni."

    Then he gestured to the blonde woman sitting beside him, silently instructing her to take over.

    Giulia Moretti nodded and then smiled at Iris. "Miss Long, would you be willing to ept our offer to be a student of Cross Academy?"

    "Of course," Iris answered. "It will be my honour."

    Giulia Moretti: "Excellent! Pleaseplete the form I gave you and provide the necessary documents. The Headmaster and I will be staying in this country for a week to process your official enrollment. If you have any questions or issues, please feel free to give me a call and I¡¯ll do my best to assist you."

    "Thank you very much, Professor Dupont and Madame Moretti."

    The Headmaster¡¯s stern and sharp eyes softened a bit, showing a pleased glint within them. "Miss Xin Long, as the Headmaster, I wee you to Cross Academy."

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] A Japanese 13-stringed musical instrument which is also Japan¡¯s national instrument.

 Chapter 160 - Legendary School For Geniuses

    <h4>Chapter 160 - Legendary School For Geniuses </h4>

    On the way home inside the car, Iris studied the documents Giulia Moretti gave her. She nned onpleting all the necessary requirements for enrollment today and submit everything to the admissions counselor tomorrow.

    After reading through them, she leaned back and closed her eyes. She was at the backseat. Jiang Ying Yue was sitting at the front with the driver. They left Dom at the penthouse. He was busy with paperwork regarding her recent jobmitments.

    Iris¡¯ feelings at the moment about her enrollment to Cross Academy wereplicated.

    Cross Academy was viewed by most of the world as a legendary school for geniuses. It was situated at a remote location in the Swiss Alps. Not much was known about its history other than what they revealed to the public. Nevertheless, most textbooks agreed that the academy was founded by a mysterious explorer and educator named Professor Gxianne Arria von Cross about 250 years ago.

    The first students she recruited to establish the Cross Academy when they settled in the Swiss Alps all became key historical figures with great aplishments after they returned to their own homnds. She passed down the academy to one of her students and disappeared thereafter, never to be seen or heard from again.

    The academy continued to follow the missionid down by its great founder¡ªto gather and nurture the most talented and skilled individuals in the world. However, throughout its two and a half centuries of existence, it also evolved to be an independent, neutral superpower with assets andworksparable to a wealthy country. After all, most of its alumni were world-ss leaders in their own fields of expertise.

    What made it unique was that once enrolled, its students didn¡¯t need to travel all the way to Switzend to study. Instead, the academy would send highly skilled instructors to wherever part of the world its students lived. Despite this option, most students still chose to study directly at the campus in Switzend.

    In her previous life as Evelina, she was recruited by the academy in her early teens after ying around in the deep web. Bored and curious, she epted the offer without thinking too much. She only thought that it would be interesting.

    What she didn¡¯t expect was the delighted reactions from her family after they learned that Cross Academy made an offer to her. They were absolutely ecstatic. Even her cold mother had a rare pleased expression on her face. It was only afterwards that she realized how prestigious a standing Cross Academy held on the world stage.

    Since her background was special and her family rarely permitted her to leave the estate, the academy sent instructors to her. She officially enrolled as a Computer Science student. But seeing her talent in music, the academy decided to nurture her in this field as well, recing her private music teacher with some of the top musicians in the world who were also alumni of the academy. That was how her skills in bothputers and music were developed to such a high degree.

    The number of times she actually visited the Swiss campus could be counted in one hand. And each time, her entourage was like a small army.

    Now as Iris Long, she never really thought about getting a regr university degree because she already received the best education in the world in her previous life. That was until Long Hui pointed out that she was undereducated and unqualified to work at Long Industries.

    She realized that to others, she barelypleted senior high school. It was unfortunate that no matter how intelligent or skilled a person was, he or she would still be looked down upon by most of society if he or shecked a university degree or an equivalent proof of higher education or training.

    Unless a person developed a massively sessful career or was earning millions or better yet billions of money, others would have preconceived notions that the undereducated were automatic failures in life.

    Iris personally didn¡¯t give a whit about what others thought about her. She just wanted to live her life the way she wanted it, enjoying her passions, discovering new things, and most importantly pursuing her dreams. However, she was slowly realizing that she was now living in society, not in a closed off environment anymore. She still didn¡¯t care about others¡¯ unwanted opinions, but Long Hui¡¯s words stuck with her.

    She had the education but no proof. Of course, she could always enroll at a regr university and easily pass everything, but she didn¡¯t want to take time off from her showbiz career to spend years studying. So she decided that her best option was Cross Academy.

    Now that she was about to be a student in the academy once again, Iris couldn¡¯t help but feel ufortable using her connection to her previous life. She was both Evelina and Iris, but they were two different people.

    She wanted a fresh start as Iris Long, but it seemed that she still needed Evelina Vetrova.

    This was making her a little nervous. It felt like she just opened a door which she couldn¡¯t close¡ªthe door separating her past and present lives.

    Iris shook her head, not liking the direction of her thoughts.

    "Ying Yue, could you please put on some music?"

    Jiang Ying Yue turned on the radio. Jin Chonglin¡¯s song was currently ying. She was about to change to another station but Iris stopped her.

    "No, that¡¯s fine. Thank you."

    Iris leaned back and focused on the sexy R&B song to distract herself. Her fingers tapped with the beat of the music.

    For some reason, the song was making her think of Jin Liwei.

    Taking out her phone, she started typing.

    "I think I miss you."

    Then she hesitated, contemting whether to send the text or not.

    ¡¯He¡¯s my boyfriend. There¡¯s nothing wrong in texting him to say that I miss him.¡¯

    Persuading herself like this, she finally sent the text.

    Ding!

    Barely three seconds had passed and he already replied.

    Liwei: "I miss you too, baby. So much. Wille home early tonight in time for dinner. I love you."

    She was already smiling before she even realized it. And just like that, all her earlier worries were blown away by a single text from her man.

 Chapter 161 - Iâ€™ll Go With You

    <h4>Chapter 161 - I¡¯ll Go With You </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Later that night, Iris was at the library office reviewing somenguage textbooks. She figured that she should at least refresh her knowledge before she started her formal education as a Cross Academy student.

    She was reclining on the chaise longue surrounded by several books when Jin Liwei came to see what she was up to. After dinner, they went to their bedroom. She washed up first because he needed to take an important call. When it was his turn at the bathroom, he thought that she was waiting on their bed but when he was done, she was nowhere in sight. He went out of the room and started looking for her. One of the maids told him that his baby girl headed to the library office.

    Seeing her so serious, he stood back. He wanted to admire her a bit first. As usual, whenever she was too engrossed in something, she would lose awareness of her surroundings. She hadn¡¯t noticed him yet.

    Finally, he couldn¡¯t hold it any longer. He wanted to touch her now, so he walked the distance between them in just a few long strides. Despite the sound of his footsteps, she still failed to notice him.

    A bit displeased, he sat down beside her and pulled her in his arms, nuzzling her neck.

    "What¡ª" Annoyed at being abruptly disturbed, she frowned and was about to rebuke him but his lips on her neck deliciously tickled her. She shivered a bit before stretching her neck to give him better ess.

    He inhaled her sweet scent, and then gave a long lick from her corbone, up her neck, to her earlobe. He started feeling the familiar desire building within his lower abdomen.

    "What are you doing?" he whispered to her ear.

    She lightly ran her fingers through his hair. "Studying."

    "For what?"

    "Mmn...I¡¯m enrolling in a school."

    He was a little surprised. He straightened and looked at her. "That¡¯s great. Congrattions, baby."

    "Thank you." She smiled at him.

    "What are you studying?" he asked, although he already had an idea seeing the kind of books currently scattered around her.

    "Foreignnguages."

    "That¡¯s good." He nodded, smiling, and then kissed her forehead. "So which school are you going to?"

    "Hmm...a Swiss school."

    His smile froze. "What?"

    "You know, a school in Switzend."

    A sense of panic suddenly rushed over him. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself but the expression on his face was already beginning to turn ugly.

    "Baby, have you thought about this carefully?"

    "Yes." She sensed the change in his emotions. She tilted her head to the side, wondering why.

    "Have you enrolled already?"

    "The process will probably bepleted tomorrow. I already met with the academy¡¯s Headmaster and the admissions counselor earlier today. They specifically flew all the way from Switzend just to meet me. There should be no problems in my enrollment."

    He was dismayed that she nned and did all of these things without his knowledge. He took several more deep breaths to try controlling his now increasingly turbulent emotions.

    "So you¡¯re going to Switzend?"

    "Hm?" She blinked, a bit confused. She was about to say no but he spoke before she could.

    "That¡¯s very far, baby."

    Then she finally understood.

    ¡¯Oh. So that¡¯s why he¡¯s acting so weirdly. He doesn¡¯t want me to leave him. Annoying. But why am I thinking he¡¯s...cute?¡¯

    She was now getting a little better in understanding him. Feeling a little mischievous, she put on a solemn expression. "What would you do if I go to Switzend?"

    He was now really panicking. He couldn¡¯t help it. He tried fixing his expression but to no avail.

    "I¡¯ll go with you," he suddenly dered. "Where¡¯s your school? I¡¯ll buy us a house near it. Wait, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to stay at the dorms."

    She fought against the big smile threatening to break out of her expression. Howe she was only just noticing how cute he was?

    "Hmm... What if I am?" she asked.

    "I¡¯ll start looking for a house now. I¡¯ll have it ready before you start school. Don¡¯t stay at the dorms. They¡¯re smelly, dirty, and noisy. Plus you have to share the space with other people who I¡¯m sure will be annoying. It¡¯s better to have our own ce there. Okay, baby?"

    "Hmm..."

    "Give me your school information. We¡¯ll have a house by the end of the week."

    She rubbed her hands on his chest, enjoying the hard muscles against her palms. "You¡¯ll really go with me to Switzend?"

    "Of course."

    "What if I want to go alone?"

    "Baby, please..."

    "And what about Jin Corporation? Are you just going to leave it?"

    A determined look appeared on his face. "Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll make it work. I¡¯m going with you," he insisted.

    She couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. She threw her head back andughed out loud.

    "Oh Liwei."

    She moved and sat on hisp, wrapping her arms around his neck. She looked at his confused expression, giggling.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not going to Switzend. At least, not anytime soon," she told him. "But it¡¯s true that I¡¯m enrolling in a Swiss school."

    "Wait... I don¡¯t understand."

    "It¡¯s kind of a...hmm...weird school, I guess. They¡¯ll send instructors to me instead so I won¡¯t need to personally be in Switzend."

    He was only getting more confused. "Like homeschooling?"

    She thought for a moment. "Something like that."

    "Can you tell me what school it is?"

    Smiling mischievously, she shook her head. "It¡¯s a surprise."

    "Please, baby?"

    She thought for a moment, but then shook her head again. "I¡¯ll tell you but not right now. Like I said, it¡¯s a surprise."

    He could only sigh. He really wanted to know what school it was so that he could research everything about it. But he was feeling more relieved at the moment to know that she wouldn¡¯t be leaving him after all to go study in another country.

    "Okay, baby." He finally started smiling again. "I understand."

    "Mmn..." Sheid her head on his shoulder and then murmured, "Let¡¯s go to bed."

    "En." He wrapped his arms around her body and stood up.

    He carried his precious baby girl to their bedroom. As they slept, he subconsciously embraced her tightly, not wanting to let her go.

 Chapter 162 - That Mannerism

    <h4>Chapter 162 - That Mannerism </h4>

    Toronto, Canada.

    The city¡¯s nightlights were reflected on the greatke, shimmering under the not-so-dark sky. The city lights were so bright that only a handful of stars could be seen in the sky. Although the view was not breathtaking, it was still beautiful and some may even call it romantic.

    Inside his penthouse unit, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t even notice the view. He was so used to seeing it every day that it no longer moved him. Even though he paid a fortune for this very view when he purchased his condo unit.

    He was reclining on his king-sized bed, preupied with hisptopputer on ap desk. His usualid-back countenance was nowhere to be seen. It was reced by an intense, almost demonic expression which made his already roguish looks even more alluring. His handsomeness no longer expressed a carefree attitude but an aura of danger instead.

    All of his attention was on the screen of hisptop. He was watching a recording of Iris Long¡¯s recent live performance at a morning TV show. She sung one of her hit songs "Phantom of Your Love". When the video finished, he clicked on the next one which was another performance by her.

    For the past few weeks, he had been poring over any avable information about Iris Long. His curiosity about her was first piqued when Jin Liwei visited him in Toronto. Jin Liwei mentioned that Lu Zihao reminded him of his girlfriend when they first met each other.

    During that time, he only felt a mild curiosity. True, there was an unmistakable tug to his instincts when he first heard about the girl, but he didn¡¯t really think too much about it. He had no interest in someone else¡¯s woman.

    It was only when Yu Mo began sending him links to videos of the girl that Lu Zihao felt something more than just passing interest. Among the brothers, Yu Mo was the one he regrlymunicated with. Even when he didn¡¯t reply, the guy would frequently send him e-mails, texts, and voice mails. He didn¡¯t really mind because Yu Mo was a fun guy.

    Yu Mo often talked about Jin Liwei¡¯s girlfriend who he proudly referred to as his "beloved student". At first, he just listened to the guy¡¯s chatter. It somewhat helped relieve his boredom, especially since everyone was so d*mn cautious around him, afraid that he would injure himself and be paralyzed again. How annoying.

    Then a few weeks ago, Yu Mo sent him a link to a music video. It was of the song "Rebirth" by Iris Long when her album just released.

    He was instantly riveted, not only by the song itself but by the woman singing it.

    His heart started pounding. He watched the music video again and again, and then started searching for her other music videos.

    He found that her older music videos when she was still a teenager didn¡¯t elicit the same reaction from him. In fact, he thought that her earlier songs were pure trash.

    As he started searching for more information about her, he discovered that she disappeared from the limelight for two years and then made aeback just recently. He directly called Yu Mo to ask about her.

    "I really don¡¯t know much," Yu Mo told him. "You should ask Third Bro. Xiao Xiu is his girlfriend after all."

    Lu Zihao thanked Yu Mo, but personally didn¡¯t think his suggestion was a good idea. He saw how possessive Jin Liwei was towards his girlfriend when they briefly talked about her during his visit. He didn¡¯t fear the man, but it was better not to create any tension in their rtionship as brothers. He had a strong feeling that if he started asking Jin Liwei about his girlfriend, the man would grow suspicious and question him about his motives.

    So he took matters on his own hands and started searching on his own.

    There wasn¡¯t much information but from what he gathered, Iris Long becameatose after a car ident. She had a very bad reputation before but had a drastic change in personality after her recenteback. Many attributed it to a strategic image change from a bratty teen pop singer to a more mature adult musician. This logic made sense, but there was something about it that bothered him. He just couldn¡¯t put his finger on it.

    That was why he bought a digital copy of the entire "Rebirth" album and watched all of Iris Long¡¯s music videos over and over again. Then he started watching her live performances that were uploaded online.

    The voice was different, but that singing...

    It felt familiar.

    And whenever she yed the piano, her movements...

    All felt too familiar.

    He started trembling, feeling excited and emotional, yet not daring to believe.

    What if?

    At the moment, he was now watching Iris Long¡¯s interviews. They were the interviews she did with the social media influencers because they were the ones readily avable on the web.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s focus was entirely on her. The way she talked, her expressions and movements. His heart rate was jumping all over the ce. He felt sweaty and he was breathing quickly, almost panting.

    Thest straw for him was when she tilted her head to the side as she mulled over a question.

    That mannerism!

    With a shaking hand, he scrolled back on the video to rey that part again.

    Iris tilted her head to the side, a thoughtful expression on her face.

    "This..."

    He removed thep desk over him and tumbled off the bed. He started pacing around his room, trying to calm himself down but to no avail. He would return to hisptop to rey that scene again. Then he would pace again, rubbing his face with his hands.

    "Is it possible?"

    Returning to the bed, he paused the video showing her head tilt. His chest heaved with intense emotions.

    "Is it really you?"

    Then a determined expression appeared on his face. "I need to meet her," he mumbled.

    He grabbed his phone from the bedside table. His trembling hands felt clumsy. He cursed a few times before he was able to dial correctly.

    Impatient, he continued pacing until the other person picked up his call.

    "Hello, Doctor?"

 Chapter 163 - Beloved Grandpa And Unfilial Grandson

    <h4>Chapter 163 - Beloved Grandpa And Unfilial Grandson </h4>

    The annoying sound of the ringing phone awakened Lu Zihao from a restless sleep. Annoyed, he covered his ear with a pillow and buried himself deeper under the thick duvet. He desperately tried returning to sleep. However, the sted phone kept on ringing.

    Finally, it stopped and the call went to voice mail.

    "Hello? Hello! Are you there, my boy? Are you awake yet? Wake up! It¡¯s already morning there in Toronto! Why don¡¯t you answer the d*mn phone?! Your beloved Grandpa is calling you yet you¡¯re ignoring me?! You unfilial grandson! I¡¯ll let you know that when your parents were too busy when you were still a baby, I fed you milk and changed your diapers! I took care of you even when you frequently vomited all over me. You were so cute back then, but now you¡¯re¡ª"

    Beep.

    One second. Two seconds.

    Ring! Ring! Ring!

    Lu Zihao pressed the pillow harder over his ear, determined to ignore the ringing phone. He spent the entire night watching all the avable videos of Iris Long on the web. He had only slept for a couple of hours. He felt exhausted.

    The call went to voice mail again.

    "This bloody machine dare cut me off! Answer the phone right now! What are you doing? Are you still sleeping? Don¡¯t you know that sleeping too much is bad for your health? Men your age should be up and about being active and looking for a nicedy to marry! When I was your age, I was already raising your father! You¡¯re not getting any younger, boy! When are you going to give me great-grandbabies?! I can never rest in eternal peace knowing that you still haven¡¯t done your duty to continue our bloodline! You should¡ª"

    Beep.

    The phone started ringing again.

    Lu Zihao groaned. He was now fully awake. Tossing the pillow, he squinted against the bright sunlight peeking through the curtains. He yawned but still didn¡¯t move to answer the phone.

    "My dear boy! Are you alright? Why aren¡¯t you answering the phone? Did you break your neck again? I knew it! I shouldn¡¯t have listened to you, you hard-headed dunderhead! I shouldn¡¯t have allowed you to live there alone! Don¡¯t worry, my boy. Your beloved Grandpa will send someone to break open your door and save you!"

    Sighing in exasperation, Lu Zihao reached over and grabbed the phone from the bedside table.

    "Hello, Grandfather?" His voice sounded groggy.

    "There¡¯s my boy! Did you just wake up? It¡¯s already sote! Why are you only waking up now?"

    He nced at the digital clock on the bedside table. Yawning again, he replied, "Grandfather, it¡¯s not even 7 AM yet."

    "7 iste! A man¡¯s day begins at 5 in the morning! And call me Grandpa! Do you think that just because you¡¯ve grown up, you¡¯re now an adult? Hah! You¡¯ll always be a little boy in your Grandpa¡¯s eyes!"

    Distaste appeared on Lu Zihao¡¯s face. He looked ready to murder someone, but was able to control himself. Forcing a pleasant expression and tone of voice, he spoke to the old man. "Alright, Grandpa. Is something the matter? Why are you calling me?"

    "Hmph! Do I need a reason every time I want to call my favourite grandson?"

    He rubbed his temples. He felt a throbbing headache. Probably from theck of sleep. The old man was still yapping, so he decided to change the subject. "How¡¯s Greece, Grandpa?"

    "Beautiful, as usual. I¡¯m thinking of selling this ind of mine. I¡¯ve had it for years now. It¡¯s starting to feel boring. I was nning on buying another ind to develop again, but then I received a call from a friend in Switzend, so now I have to return to China."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes lit up. "I want to return to China, too."

    "Oh no, you don¡¯t. You¡¯re not finished with your rehabilitation yet. Did you forget that you were paralyzed? What are you going to do if you break your neck again? You haven¡¯t given me great-grandbabies yet! Be a good boy and stay there for now."

    Sighing, he looked up at the ceiling, desperately trying to be patient with the old man. "Grandpa, I already talked to my doctorst night. She said that if I clear my next tests this week, I¡¯ll be safe for long travels."

    "Hmph! Clear those tests first and then we¡¯ll talk. But for now, be a good boy and focus on getting well. Also make sure to ask your doctor if your sperm cells are okay. What if they were damaged in the ident? Then you won¡¯t be able to give me great-grandbabies."

    He scowled. "Grandpa, my sperm cells are fine."

    "How do you know?! Have you impregnated a nicedy yet?"

    "Of course not."

    "Then you don¡¯t know if they¡¯re fine or not. Have them checked and tell me the results! Do you understand?"

    "No way."

    "You unfilial grandson! You¡ª"

    Lu Zihao quickly changed the subject. "So why are you returning to China?"

    "Oh." The old manughed mischievously. "It¡¯s for a youngdy. I haven¡¯t met her yet, but apparently she¡¯s a genius. Let me check her out first and then we¡¯ll see. Maybe she¡¯ll be a good match for you. If she is, I¡¯ll let you meet her. Then the two of you can give me great-grandbabies together. You should be thankful. Your Grandpa is doing all the work in finding a mate for you, youzy boy!"

    He rolled his eyes. "No need, Grandpa. I can find my own woman."

    "Hah! If I allow you to find your own woman, I¡¯ll already be dead by that time! I can¡¯t wait that long. All you five brothers are the same! You¡¯re already in your thirties but you all haven¡¯t settled down yet. You unfilial boys!"

    "Hmm. Actually Third Brother already has a girlfriend and it seems like he ns to marry her."

    Thinking about Iris Long, Lu Zihao¡¯s expression became serious. He felt an unwillingness within him when he thought about Jin Liwei marrying her. He pushed the feeling away. He still needed to ascertain things first.

    "What?! Is that true? So that boy is not gay after all!" The old man¡¯sughter boomed over the phone. "Good, good. I¡¯ll make that boy show me his woman when I see him. You should follow your Third Brother¡¯s example!"

    His headache was getting worse. He sighed. "Fine, Grandpa."

    "Well, my boy. If you really can¡¯t find your own woman, don¡¯t worry. Grandpa will check that genius girl and see if she¡¯ll be a good match for you."

 Chapter 164 - Hit The Jackpo

    <h4>Chapter 164 - Hit The Jackpo </h4>

    Iris¡¯ enrollment to Cross Academy was processed immediately. She met one more time with Professor Erwan Dupont and Giulia Moretti before they left the country to return to Switzend. They told her that they would arrange for suitable instructors for her as soon as possible.

    And they were true to their word.

    By the following week, Iris weed her new instructors. There were two of them for now. Both were aplished polyglots and Cross Academy alumni.

    She was told that there was one moreing who would mentor her on business matters. However, she had no idea who this mentor was or when he or she would being.

    The first instructor was Professor Kalisha Schwarz. The attractive half-German and half-Nigeriandy was a famous interpreter and trantor with extensive experience working with the most notable figures in the world including multinational organizations andpanies. Some of the most sought-after interpreters and trantors in the world were trained by her. Her expertisey in the major European and Africannguages.

    The other instructor was Professor Hisakawa Akio who was currently one of the most celebrated authors in his home country of Japan. He frequently tranted his own books to othernguages for international release. He was assigned to train Iris in Asiannguages.

    Compared to Europeannguages, Iris wasn¡¯t as proficient in othernguages. Although this was the case, her proficiency level in these othernguages were still leagues better than most regr people. However, as a Cross Academy student, this level was still not quite good enough. That was why she needed to study hard under the tutge of her assigned instructors.

    Professor Schwarz flew all the way from Ennd where she had been living for the past decade. Professor Hisakawa was nearer, flying from Japan. The academy arranged separate amodations for them a few minutes¡¯ drive away from Iris¡¯ condo building.

    Before officially starting her studies, Iris invited the two instructors for dinner at her penthouse. She made sure to inform Jin Liwei in advance so that he could clear his schedule. She wanted him to meet her instructors because they were going to be a big part of her daily life from now on.

    Iris and Jin Liwei weed the two instructors together at the penthouse.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes widened as he recognized the older woman.

    "Madame Schwarz?" he blurted out even before the greetings.

    The female professor took a few seconds before recognizing him. Then she replied in English with a posh British ent, a bit different from Iris¡¯ ent. "Oh, aren¡¯t you CEO Jin? What a surprise to see you here." Then she turned to Iris. "Xin, my dear, is he your lover?"

    Iris nodded, a smile on her face. "Yes, Professor."

    "Oh my." Professor Schwarz turned to Jin Liwei again. "What a lucky man you are. Seems like you hit the jackpot."

    Iris giggled and looked at her man¡¯s astonished expression.

    Of course Jin Liwei recognized Professor Schwarz. As the President-CEO of Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country, he often met up with other business leaders from other countries. During these meetings, they would often need the assistance of an interpreter and Professor Schwarz was one of the best in the world. As a result, he met the Professor a number of times in the past especially when he travelled to Europe for business meetings or conferences.

    While he was still making sense of the situation, Iris formally greeted her instructors. She spoke in English. Both the professors could speak Mandarin, but Professor Schwarz wasn¡¯t quite as skilled in Asiannguages. Her Mandarin sounded awkward.

    "Professor Schwarz, Hisakawa-sensei, thank you very much for epting me as your student. Both of you must be busy, so I appreciate that you flew all the way here to guide my education. I am looking forward to learning from both of you. I¡¯ll do my best." Iris spoke these words with great respect and sincerity.

    "Ah, don¡¯t worry about it, child," Professor Hisakawa said, waving his hand. "I was getting bored anyway holed up in my house after finishing my recent novel, so I¡¯m d that Professor Dupont asked for me. I¡¯ve never had a Chinese student before so I¡¯m excited. I¡¯m very strict, so you better be ready."

    "Thank you, Sensei. I¡¯ll do my best."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t recognize Professor Hisakawa but he figured that he must be an important figure if he was with someone like Professor Schwarz.

    "My dear, I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you ever since I heard about you from Professor Dupont," Professor Schwarz said. "He rarely asks for me, you know."

    Iris smiled. Afterwards, she formally introduced Jin Liwei and the two instructors to each other.

    For people who belonged to the one and only Cross Academy, they knew that they were the most elite among the elites in the world. Most of them wouldn¡¯t go around bragging to everyone that they were from Cross Academy, but in their hearts, they knew that they were special and that others were "regr" people.

    That was why, no matter how wealthy or powerful Jin Liwei was, he was still a regr person to people like Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa or anyone else from Cross Academy. For people like them, they would never feel awed upon meeting Jin Liwei.

    In front of the two professors, Jin Liwei felt like a child or someone insignificant. They were nice and polite, but he could feel that they didn¡¯t think much of him. This was the first in a long time that he felt this way, ever since seeding the leadership of Jin Corporation.

    Iris and Jin Liwei led their two guests to the living area for some tea while they waited for dinner.

    Jin Liwei sat back and listened to their conversation. He only spoke when directly asked. The puzzle pieces were falling into ce in his mind. He now had an idea which school his baby girl enrolled to.

    Not many people were aware of it, but he knew that Professor Schwarz studied in that legendary Swiss school. He didn¡¯t really know Professor Hisakawa before this, but he suspected that he must also be affiliated with that school.

    Jin Liwei personally never had any direct dealings with the legendary school, but he still knew a lot about itpared to the general public because Jin Corporation itself had an unexpected connection to it.

    He wanted confirmation.

    Clearing his throat, he asked, "Xin, is the school you¡¯re enrolled in perhaps...Cross Academy?"

    Iris smiled. "Yes."

    Although he already suspected it, he still felt shocked when she confirmed it. He looked at the two instructors.

    Professor Schwarz chuckled seeing his reaction. Then she turned to Iris. "My dear, don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t mention it to your lover?"

    Iris nodded. "I wanted to surprise him."

    "Well, my dear. Looks like you seeded. Just look at him."

    Jin Liwei was looking at his baby girl in amazed disbelief. He already knew that she was a genius, but he still never expected that she would reach such a level to be admitted to THE Cross Academy.

    Intense pride surged through him. Before he even realized it, he was already pulling her into a tight embrace.

    "You¡¯re the best, baby."

 Chapter 165 - Mysterious Supporter

    <h4>Chapter 165 - Mysterious Supporter </h4>

    The following days were extremely busy for Iris. She officially began her education as a Cross Academy student. Despite this, she still continued working as usual.

    Iris was currently one of the hottest figures in showbiz with the continued sess of her album "Rebirth", her uing album "Rebirth Melodies", and her appointment as officialposer to a still unknown film. People were constantly talking about her.

    Suddenly, news came out about the rm Girls. A court hearing was finally scheduled for their case of assaulting Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary, in addition to the slew of other charges pressed against them by the nail polishpany.

    In addition to this, someone bailed them out of jail, even providing them with awyer. Even more surprising was that thewyer was from a well-knownw firm. It appeared that the girls managed to snag a powerful supporter.

    A conspiracy theory quickly became popr online. It said that the girls¡¯ mysterious supporter must be an Iris Long hater.

    With some digging, it was revealed that thewyer¡¯s firm was fierce rivals with thew firm of Iris Long¡¯swyer. It should be remembered that Iris Long¡¯wyer also pressed charges against the rm Girls for the incident during herunch party. Plus her injured fans took a ss actionwsuit against the three girls with anotherwyer financed by Madam Feng Wan and her friends. However, the court hearing for these cases had no schedules yet.

    The theory also pointed out that ever since the rm Girls were bailed out, they always made sure to me Iris Long for their predicament during interviews, even though the current case they were facing was the one against Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary and the nail polishpany.

    With these observations, it really seemed like someone intended to taint Iris Long¡¯s name and reputation, especially now that her star was on the rise.

    Of course, Iris heard about all of these. Her assistant was a big chatterbox after all.

    "Boss, look at this!" Dom showed her the news on his phone. "Which stupid a**hole gave those three b*tches a d*mnwyer?! And they¡¯re still spouting bullsh*t about you! Such evil! They¡¯re not humans. They¡¯re scum!"

    Iris was doing a trantion exercise on herptop. It was an assignment given by Professor Hisakawa. She just finished the one Professor Schwarz gave her.

    She only gave a cursory nce at the phone before ignoring it, focusing once again on her assignment.

    "Boss! They¡¯re too much! They¡¯re clearly up to no good. I¡¯m so upset!"

    Iris sighed, a bit annoyed of being disturbed. "Dom, don¡¯t waste your time and energy on them. It¡¯s not our turn yet to fight against them. They still need to face the nail polishpany first. They¡¯re just trying to provoke us. We have more important things to do at the moment than react to their petty jabs. Let¡¯s focus on our work, okay?"

    Dom pouted and grumbled before reluctantly nodding. "Okay, boss. It¡¯s just that I have a bad feeling about this, especially about that b*stard who¡¯s supporting them behind the scenes. I wonder who it is. Should we investigate?"

    If Iris wasn¡¯t so busy, she would¡¯ve already investigated it. But at the moment, she just had no time to spare on the rm Girls and whoever was supporting them.

    She was now moving forward with her life. To her, the rm Girls were just brief stumbling blocks on the road. Why look back and start concerning herself again with insignificant roadblocks when she was already running forward?

    Her current priorities didn¡¯t include the three stupid girls.

    She would let herwyer handle the matter with them. Only if he couldn¡¯t deal with them by himself would she step forward. But if he really failed, then she would have to start looking for a morepetentwyer next time.

    These days, her break times weren¡¯t for resting but for studying. All her free time consisted of studying resource materials,pleting assignments, or video calling her instructors for e-lessons.

    Then after work, depending on who was scheduled to teach for the day, either Professor Schwarz or Professor Hisakawa would be waiting for her at the penthouse when she arrived home. She would quickly wash up and then start their personal lessons. The lessons usuallysted until veryte into the night.

    Iris would be so exhausted afterwards.

    Jin Liwei would pick her up at the library office and carry her to their bedroom. She would already be sleeping by the time heid her on their bed. He would remove her clothes and put on her pyjamas for her before joining her on the bed to sleep.

    One night after her lessons, she managed to stay awake when Jin Liwei picked her up at the library office.

    Seeing her exhaustion, he was bing increasingly worried about her health. He felt very proud of her achievements and would always support her, but if she continued to work and study in this grueling pace, she might copse again. He didn¡¯t want a repeat of that terrifying night when she fell unconscious in front of him.

    "Baby, what if you temporarily stop working? You can always make anothereback once you finish your studies," he suggested.

    "No," she immediately replied.

    "But baby¡ª"

    "Liwei, I love my work and I¡¯m also enjoying my studies. Yes, it¡¯s tiring to do both at the same time but...I feel so alive right now."

    He opened his mouth to reason with her but seeing her earnest look, he swallowed the words he was about to say. Sighing, he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I just want you to be healthy."

    "I know." She smiled and hugged his waist while looking up at him. "Thank you."

    He looked at her, his face serious. "If you get sick, you¡¯ll drop everything and focus on resting. Okay, baby?"

    She frowned.

    He lifted her chin with his fingers. "Promise me, baby."

    "Fine," she mumbled with great reluctance.

    He smiled and quickly kissed her lips, before carrying her to bed.

 Chapter 166 - Rebirth Melodies

    <h4>Chapter 166 - Rebirth Melodies </h4>

    The hype surrounding the uing release of Iris Long¡¯s new album "Rebirth Melodies" was due to several factors.

    First was that it was the piano version of the already sessful "Rebirth" album.

    Second was that it would be apanied by aplete piano songbook which was of great interest not only to pianists but also to other instrumental musicians as well. Even to those who weren¡¯t musicians but were Iris Long fans, especially the ck Stars, the songbook was a great collectible.

    Third was that it was an album intended to be released internationally right from the start.

    Fourth and the biggest factor of all was that the album was first announced alongside the bombshell about Iris Long being appointed as officialposer for an as of yet unknown film.

    These were the reasons why it broke pre-order records for instrumental albums in the country¡¯s music history.

    Despite the hype and the record-breaking pre-order sales, many music industry experts still predicted that "Rebirth Melodies" wouldn¡¯t be able to directlypete against the usual pop albums because it was an instrumental album. They reasoned that the majority of people weren¡¯t that interested in purely instrumental music.

    In the past, the only instrumental albums that could directlypete in the music charts were the official soundtracks of popr TV drama and movies. Even albums by the country¡¯s most celebrated ssic instrumental musicians rarely entered the music charts.

    "Rebirth Melodies" wasn¡¯t any of these, not an official soundtrack of a popr TV drama or film, and Iris Long wasn¡¯t a celebrated ssic instrumental musician either. So the music industry experts¡¯ skepticism about the album made sense.

    Finally, the release day of Iris Long¡¯s album "Rebirth Melodies" arrived. Following the music industry experts¡¯ skepticism, many radio stations declined to y the album¡¯s piano songs. Only a handful readily yed them, including DJ Song¡¯s radio show.

    Despite not getting sufficient radio airy, "Rebirth Melodies" still managed to debut at number 8 in the music charts. It aplished this feat based purely on streaming power and sales. It was currently the only instrumental album in the music charts¡¯ top 100.

    Its daily streaming power was on its way to catching up to the original "Rebirth" album. People liked to listen to "Rebirth" and "Rebirth Melodies" simultaneously topare. The two albums technically contained the same songs, but listeners were quickly discovering that "Rebirth Melodies" had apletely different vibe from the original album.

    Iris Long didn¡¯t just transcribe the original songs as they were but rearranged them to evoke purer and rawer emotions from the listeners.

    In the original "Rebirth" album, the presence of Iris Long herself and her amazing vocals added a big entertainment element to the listening experience. Her skillful and emotional singing was the album¡¯s most important quality.

    In "Rebirth Melodies", however, this element was not present. There were no vocals, so the listeners were left only with their pure emotions evoked directly by the piano music.

    As for the piano songbook, people had the option of buying it separately or with the album, no matter if the album was a physical or a digital copy. Since the songbook was published in book format, it was listed as such and was also avable in all major bookstores. It quickly became a bestseller, breaking records for the fastest selling sheet music in the country.

    The industry experts were stunned. Then some ssic instrumental musicians expressed their displeasure with how "Rebirth Melodies" continued to break records.

    One of the most aplished ssical pianists in the country who was treated as a national pride for decades was recorded saying, "I¡¯m utterly disappointed that instead of learning to appreciate proper ssical music, our younger generation today are choosing to listen to some pop singer¡¯s simplistic piano transcription. This is further proof of the degradation in the education of our youth today. They don¡¯t know how to discern real art from sham. I feel insulted not only for myself but for all the real pianists in the world that a mere pop singer is pretending to be one of us."

    Thisment by such a famous pianist caused headlines.

    The ck Stars were, of course, enraged. And since the pianist also criticized young people, even those who weren¡¯t Iris Long fans felt offended by hisment.

    "What a snob! I hate people like him the most who think that they¡¯re better than the rest of us just because we don¡¯t know how to ¡¯appreciate proper ssical music¡¯. Proper, my a**! Boring is more like it!"

    "He¡¯s just jealous because despite winning many awards, his albums never sold well. Why? Because he¡¯s just ying the same ssical music over and over. Even his ownpositions sound like the onesposed by Beethoven, Mozart and the other greats. No originality at all. He just ys the piano really well. At least, Iris Long creates her own music AND ys well."

    "Your time is up, old man. Stay in the past where you belong! This is the era of our generation. And if we choose to like Iris Long, we¡¯ll like her! Backward people like you don¡¯t have any right to tell us what to do!"

    The pianist didn¡¯t expect such a bacsh from hisment. He felt upset and humiliated. As a result, his fellow ssical musicians quickly banded together to defend him.

    Although Iris Long personally didn¡¯t say or do anything against them, these ssical musicians still med her for disrespecting one of the most respected pianists in the country. They demanded an apology from her.

 Chapter 167 - Good News And Bad News

    <h4>Chapter 167 - Good News And Bad News </h4>

    Jin Corporation.

    Thepany settled in its usual workday pace now that its recent big business project was running smoothly without needing constant attention from the President-CEO.

    Jin Liwei sat behind his massive dalbergia desk while his assistant stood a few steps away from him. Xu Tian just finished rying the most relevant daily business news.

    Afterwards, Xu Tian cleared his throat and began his next daily task which was rying public news about his futuredy boss. "President, I have several news concerning Miss Long. Which would you like to hear first? The good news or the bad news?"

    Jin Liwei frowned. "There¡¯s bad news?"

    "Yes, President. Unfortunately."

    "Good news first."

    Xu Tian nodded and then looked at his notes as he spoke. "Miss Long¡¯s album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ is still reigning at the top of the music charts. Today, all the top 3 positions in the singles ranking are taken by ¡¯Rebirth¡¯, ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ and ¡¯ck Star¡¯. Second Master¡¯s song is in fourth ce. It has been struggling to ce third for more than a week now. It¡¯s even in danger of falling down further because the song behind it is the theme song for a very popr TV drama right now."

    "Hmm. Excellent. Good. Continue."

    Xu Tian blinked a couple of times. He immediately interpreted the President¡¯s briefments. "Excellent" was obviously for Miss Long¡¯s achievements in the music charts. How about the "good" then? Did the President mean that it was "good" that his younger brother¡¯s song was falling down the ranks in the music charts? Xu Tian suddenly felt a little sorry for the Second Master. But he didn¡¯t have time to think about the matter because he still had more news to ry.

    "Miss Long¡¯s new album ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ is doing extremely well. Both the album and its apanying piano songbook are already breaking records in the country. In the international market, it is being well-received in Singapore, South Korea and Japan in Asia, the U.S. and Canada in North America, many countries in Europe especially in Austria, Germany and the U.K., and also in Australia. In Austria and Germany, it has even debuted within the top 10 of the music charts. Number 7 in Austria and number 10 in Germany."

    A pleased smile appeared on Jin Liwei¡¯s face.

    "JJ¡¯s recordbel did an outstanding job in promoting Miss Long¡¯s album overseas, especially since Miss Long is more or lesspletely unknown outside the country. She¡¯s beingbelled as an up-anding original musicposer. There aren¡¯t a lot of reviews yet but most of the early ones gave positive reviews. It seems that critics are having a difficult time properly categorizing the album¡¯s musical style because although the music employs ssical piano techniques, it doesn¡¯tpletely rely on ssical interpretation."

    ¡¯Whatever that means,¡¯ Xu Tian thought as he read from his notes.

    He continued, "Some foreign music analysts arebelling ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ as contemporary ssical but others are disagreeing. It seems that there is a debate going on about how to categorize Miss Long¡¯s album."

    "Hmm... A debate can be good. Keeps up the interest," Jin Liwei murmured.

    Then Xu Tian hesitated. At the moment, the President looked very pleased. Xu Tian was certain that the next news he was about to ry would wipe his boss¡¯ pleasant expression. Sighing inside, he steeled himself.

    "President, would you like to hear the...bad news now?" As expected, he didn¡¯t even say anything yet but his boss already looked displeased.

    "Go," Jin Liwei ordered, his voice cold.

    Clearing his throat, Xu Tian flipped to his next notes. "Miss Long is currently under fire from some of ssical musicians led by Maestro Liu Wei."

    He exined what happened to his boss.

    Jin Liwei was enraged. "I often attend Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s performances and even invite him as an honourable guest for social events that I host. I respected him but I didn¡¯t know that he can be this spiteful just because he¡¯s jealous of my Xin¡¯s sess. Preposterous!" Then he ordered, "Give me a list of the other bastards who are bullying my Xin."

    "Here they are, President." Xu Tian was ready and immediately handed him a printed sheet of paper with a list of names.

    Jin Liwei nced at the names. Number one on the list was Maestro Liu Wei followed by sixteen other names. He only recognized two names besides the maestro¡¯s.

    "Make it hard for them to book concert locations in the country," he ordered. "Also dig dirt about him and these other people."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s influence might be insignificant within the ssical music industry, but his Jin Corporation was the number onepany in the country. It pervaded many industries including much of the property sector. There were many ces used as venues for ssical music concerts that belonged to hispany.

    He might not be able topletely prevent the maestro and hisckeys from booking other ces in the country, but at the very least, they wouldn¡¯t be able to book most of the major venues because they belonged to Jin Corporation.

    This was the price for antagonizing the future Madam of Jin Corporation. How dare they bully his baby girl? His respect and admiration for the maestro was nowpletely gone.

    "Understood," Xu Tian replied. "And also..."

    "There¡¯s more?" Jin Liwei¡¯s expression was nowpletely ugly.

    "Unfortunately, yes."

    Jin Liwei leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to calm his anger. He waved his hand, gesturing for his assistant to continue.

    "The investigation results you ordered to find the identity of the rm Girls¡¯ new backer has arrived."

    "Oh?" Jin Liwei opened his eyes, a dangerous glint in them. "Who is it?"

    Xu Tian hesitated before handing him a file folder.

    Jin Liwei opened the folder and began reading.

    Shock and then fury appeared one after the other on his face. Then he threw the folder hard on his desk. It slid on the surface before falling to the floor.

    "B*tch!"

    Xu Tian waited for a couple of seconds before cautiously retrieving the folder, tucking it between the other folders in his arms.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hands clenched tightly into fists, mming one onto his desk. His eyes burned with cold fury.

    "This has to stop," he said through gritted teeth. "My Jin family has topletely cut ties with this kind of insane people."

 Chapter 168 - True King Of The Business World

    <h4>Chapter 168 - True King Of The Business World </h4>

    After Xu Tian left the office to return to his own desk outside, Jin Liwei stood up and walked to the ss wall overlooking the bustling business district. His eyes were trained on the concrete buildings and giant shy logos of variouspanies, but he wasn¡¯t seeing any of them. His mind was elsewhere.

    His expression remained cold as usual, but his eyes showed the turmoil within him. He continued standing without moving until the sound of a ringing phone interrupted him.

    Quickly reorienting himself, he walked to his desk and pressed a button, picking up the call on speakerphone.

    "President, you have a call from Sir Lu Jianhong." It was Xu Tian and he sounded excited.

    A trace of surprise shed in Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes. Then his lips curved into a fond smile. "I¡¯ll take it," he told his assistant.

    The call was transferred.

    "Hello? Hello! Hey, Mr. Secretary! Did you really transfer me? How long do I have to wait to speak to that boy! I want to know!" An elderly man¡¯s voice boomed over the speakerphone.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s smile became deeper upon hearing the familiar voice. "Grandfather Lu, it¡¯s me."

    "There you are, Liwei my boy! How are you? And quit with the ¡¯Grandfather¡¯! I already told you long ago to call me Grandpa! You¡¯re just like that pinheaded grandson of mine! All you brothers are the same!"

    Inwardly chuckling, Jin Liwei maintained a calm voice as he talked to the elderly man. "Grandpa Lu, to what do I owe this honour of receiving a call from you?"

    "Oh, right. I¡¯m calling to let you know that I¡¯m returning to China in a few days...I think. Hai. I was supposed to return weeks ago but my friends here in Greece wanted to throw me farewell parties. I have lots of friends, you know, and each of them hosted a party for me. What can I do? I can¡¯t just reject their kindness! So my friends and I partied every day. And before I knew it, weeks have already passed. Ah! That bossy Dupont bastard keeps on badgering and rushing me every single day to return to China immediately! Can¡¯t a man enjoy himself with his friends? Bah! What a killjoy! Though I¡¯m not surprised given that he holes himself up in that fortress deep within the mountains every day."

    Jin Liwei quietly listened to Grandpa Lu¡¯s livelyints. He didn¡¯t know who this Dupont bastard was but he figured he must be an impressive figure if he was able to badger and rush someone like Lu Jianhong.

    Most people considered Jin Liwei as the current most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world. However, this was only the case if Lu Jianhong was not in the country. Now that Lu Jianhong nned to return, the country¡¯s business world needed to wee their true king.

    "By the way, Liwei my boy! I heard from Haohao that you now have a girlfriend? And that you¡¯re even nning to marry her?"

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu. That is true." Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became gentler as he thought of his baby girl.

    The elderly man¡¯s boomingughter echoed throughout the spacious office. "Good! That¡¯s good, boy! To be honest, your grandmother and I were deeply worried about you. Both your grandfather and father¡ªbless their souls¡ªare no longer with us, so your grandmother is always fretting that her beloved husband¡¯s business genes won¡¯t be able to continue after you."

    ¡¯Business genes?¡¯ Jin Liwei fought hard not tough out loud.

    "You surely inherited your grandfather¡¯s head for business. You¡¯re even better than your father in leading Jin Corporation. It¡¯s just a pity that you didn¡¯t inherit your grandfather¡¯s level. If that was the case, I could¡¯ve helped you get admitted to...hai. Never mind that. You¡¯re already doing an excellent job in continuing the legacy of your grandfather and I. We¡¯re all proud of you, Liwei boy!"

    "Thank you, Grandpa Lu. I¡¯ll continue to do my best in ensuring the continued sess of Jin Corporation," Jin Liwei said seriously.

    "That¡¯s a good boy! Oh, what I really wanted to say is that I am d that you¡¯re not gay after all! Ahaha!"

    Jin Liwei scowled but didn¡¯t dare retort.

    "Your grandfather¡¯s business genes can now continue to be passed on to the next generation after you. What a great relief! I¡¯m sure that your grandmother and also your mother will be happy. Oh, speaking of them, have you told them about your woman yet?"

    He froze for a couple of beats, then his eyes showed a sudden sh of realization. "No, not yet. But I will. Soon."

    "Oho~ Why the hesitation? Liwei my boy, is your woman someone that your grandmother and mother wouldn¡¯t approve of?"

    "My girlfriend is amazing and special."

    "That¡¯s not an answer, boy!" Grandpa Lu said in a knowing tone. "Fine, let¡¯s say that your woman is indeed amazing and special but I bet she¡¯s nothingpared to the girl I want to matchmake for my Haohao. I saw a picture of her and she¡¯s beautiful. A bit too young so their gap will be a bit big, but she¡¯s already an adult so she can make her own decisions. And the most important thing is that the girl is a genius! Ah, I can¡¯t wait for them to make me beautiful great-grandbabies! Maybe they¡¯ll inherit their mother¡¯s brains and be geniuses too!"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care about this girl Grandpa Lu was trying to matchmake for his Fifth Brother, but he was sure that she would never be able topare to his baby girl. To him, no other woman coulde close to his Xin, not even his own mother and grandmother. That was why, he couldn¡¯t help but retort this time.

    "No. Grandpa Lu, I disagree with you. My girlfriend is the best. She¡¯s the real genius."

    "Fine, I get it. Of course you think that your own woman is the best. That¡¯s the correct mindset if you want to have a peaceful life! But don¡¯t be so uptight, boy! You¡¯ll age faster, then you wouldn¡¯t be able to satisfy your woman. When I return, you must show her to me! I want to meet the girl who managed to ungay you!"

    Jin Liwei almost choked. "I¡¯m not gay!"

    "Ahahaha! There¡¯s nothing wrong with being gay, my boy. In the end, we¡¯re all human beings."

    "I really am not gay," he said through gritted teeth. Then he realized that he had almost the same conversation with his baby girl before.

    "Your woman has already ungayed you so of course you¡¯re not one anymore."

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes and sighed deeply, giving up on trying to reason with Grandpa Lu. He knew that the elderly man was just teasing him. Grandpa Lu was just too mischievous!

    "Alright, I¡¯m going to stop now. You¡¯re always so serious, Liwei boy! You need to learn how to loosen up!"

    "I understand, Grandpa Lu."

    "That¡¯s a good boy! Oh, I almost forgot! Can you talk to your Fifth Brother? That dunderhead is insisting on flying back to China. He¡¯s notpleted all his treatment yet! What if he aggravates his body and breaks his neck again? Ah, does he not know that his beloved Grandpa is worried sick about him?! I don¡¯t know from who he inherited that hard head of his from!"

    ¡¯He obviously got it from you,¡¯ Jin Liwei thought but didn¡¯t say out loud.

    "Grandpa Lu, why don¡¯t you let Fifth Brother return here if he wants to? His condition has improved greatly. The best hospitals in our country are also great. They can resume the rest of his treatment without any problem."

    "Hmm... You may be right, boy. I¡¯ll think about it first!"

    The two talked some more about other matters before ending the call.

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei leaned back on his opulent leather seat. Now that the legendary Lu Jianhong was returning, it seemed that the country¡¯s business world needed to prepare itself for lots of disturbance and excitement.

 Chapter 169 - Itâ€™s My Fault, Even If Itâ€™s No

    <h4>Chapter 169 - It¡¯s My Fault, Even If It¡¯s No </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Later that night, Iris was studying at the library office as usual. After the first two grueling weeks, she had nowpletely adjusted to juggling work and studies.

    The assignments that took her over an hour to do before, she could do now in less than half of the time. She was improving at a rapid rate, greatly pleasing Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa.

    She was tidying up her books and notes when Jin Liwei came to pick her up as usual. She was still energetic unlike before when she just started with her lessons.

    "Hi baby."

    Iris smiled at him, continuing to organize her things.

    He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, while his head dipped down and kissed her cheek.

    She turned her head towards him.

    "Mmn..." He quickly nibbled on her lower lip before letting her go. Then he helped her in tidying up.

    Afterwards, he carried her princess-style and headed to their bedroom.

    Iris hooked her arms around his neck, enjoying the feeling of being carried. She gazed at his handsome face. He had been really supportive and understanding of her busy schedule ever since she started her studies. He neverined about her not having enough time for him. For that, she felt really grateful.

    "Thank you," she told him.

    "Hm? For what?" he asked.

    "For being with me."

    He paused walking and then looked at her beautiful face. "Baby, you don¡¯t need to thank me. You know I love you so I want to be with you always."

    Her heart skipped a beat. Before she even realized what she was doing, she was already pulling his head and kissing him hard.

    Jin Liwei was momentarily surprised at her sudden passion but desire for her quickly flooded within him. He groaned and then kissed her just as hard.

    Their tongues tangled together, fierce and hungry for each other. There was no sweetness, only pure overwhelming desire.

    Iris was the first one to end the kiss, roughly turning her head to the side to breathe much-needed air. She felt a little giddy as she continued gasping for breath.

    Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t had enough, so he trailed hot and wet kisses from the corner of her mouth to her jawline and then to her ear, feeling delighted when he felt her shiver. He was still carrying her in his arms in the middle of the hallway.

    The two vaguely heard someone exim in surprise up ahead followed by a scurry of footsteps, but they didn¡¯t bother checking who it was because what did it matter? It wasn¡¯t like they were hiding their rtionship from the people in their household.

    If Iris was in her normal state of mind, she would probably feel a little embarrassed but she was currently ovee by desire for him.

    "Let¡¯s go to bed," she murmured.

    Of course he immediately listened to his baby girl, walking quickly to their bedroom. If only he didn¡¯t want her to experience a bumpy ride in his arms, he would¡¯ve already ran as fast as he could.

    Iris opened the door and they finally entered the room.

    He continued walking until they fell on the bed with her on her back and him on top of her. Once again, they kissed each other intensely.

    He grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it up. She helped him remove her top before resuming their hungry kiss. One of his hands slid down from her waist to her hips and then finally to her plump behind, squeezing her, as his tongue continued to delve deeper inside her mouth.

    Iris moaned when his hand traced its way up from her bottom to her waist before finally settling on one of her breasts, freeing it from its bra cup. He began fondling her, flicking her already hard nipple with his fingers. She impatiently tugged at his shirt, silently telling him to take it off.

    Chuckling softly, he temporarily broke their kiss and obeyed. He was about to dive for her sweet mouth again when the sound of a phone¡¯s ringtone red across the room.

    "Oh, it¡¯s mine," Iris said and then tried to push him off her.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t budge and continued to lower his head for another kiss.

    She covered his mouth with her hand and gently pushed his head away. "Liwei! I need to answer my phone."

    "Baby...ignore it."

    "No."

    Sighing deeply, he VERY reluctantly got off her and sat on the bed, watching her scramble towards the bedside table for her phone.

    "Hello?" she answered while fixing her bra. "Professor Schwarz! How may I help you?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s roving hands touched her abdomen and thigh from behind her.

    She turned and red at him, pushing against his chest to make him stop.

    Fortunately, he stopped and sat back, but was now looking at her with a forlorn expression. She decided to ignore him for now and climbed off the bed. She needed to focus on the conversation with her instructor.

    Professor Schwarz called to ask if Iris saw her wallet, thinking that perhaps it might have dropped from inside her bag. While still on the phone, Iris quickly donned a satin kimono robe. Then she headed back to the library office to check for the wallet.

    Jin Liwei put on the shirt that he just took off and followed her like a big abandoned puppy. He helped her look around for the missing wallet. It was him who found itter under one of the couches.

    Iris reported it to her instructor. Professor Schwarz said that she would get it back the next day before ending the call.

    "Done, baby?"

    She nodded.

    His eyes lit up and walked towards her.

    She smiled and waited for him, but then remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. I was going to talk to you about this when you picked me up earlier but you distracted me."

    ¡¯I distracted you? You¡¯re the one who kissed me first,¡¯ he thought to himself but still didn¡¯t correct her. ¡¯Fine. It¡¯s my fault, even if it¡¯s not.¡¯

    "What is it, baby?" he asked instead.

    "Earlier today, I was working with the director and producer about the film score I¡¯mposing and they mentioned that they epted an offer from a new productionpany to help finance the movie."

    He stayed silent under her scrutinizing gaze.

    "The name of thepany is LX Productions," she said.

 Chapter 170 - Stupid Question

    <h4>Chapter 170 - Stupid Question </h4>

    Iris observed Jin Liwei¡¯s expression. His poker face was almost perfect, but she still caught the sh of wariness in his eyes when she mentioned the name of the productionpany. She really was getting better in reading him.

    "It¡¯s you, isn¡¯t it?" she asked.

    "Hmm..."

    "Well...darling?"

    He stayed silent.

    She felt displeased that he wasn¡¯t telling her. "Fine. I¡¯ll just confirm it myself." Then she headed to her desk, intending to search up the new productionpany using herputer.

    "Baby, no need!" he said hurriedly, pulling her arm. He took a couple of deep breaths before telling her, "Alright. It¡¯s me."

    "I knew it. It¡¯s so obvious. LX?"

    "Are you angry?" he asked.

    Her head tilted to the side, thinking whether she was feeling angry or not. Then she replied, "Not really."

    He released a sigh of relief.

    "But I wish you told me first," she said.

    "Sorry, baby. I know that you don¡¯t like me directly supporting your career, so I can only do it this way by supporting the film that you¡¯re involved with. But even so, I was still worried that you wouldn¡¯t allow me if I told you."

    "You¡¯re right. I would¡¯ve probably discouraged you if you told me first."

    "That¡¯s what I thought," he said with a sigh.

    "Well, it¡¯s toote now. The director and the producer already announced to the rest of the film crew that LX Productions will be co-producing. They¡¯ll be dejected if you suddenly pull out. Besides, I also think that they need the additional financing. It will provide them with more resources to improve the production and make the film more amazing."

    He nodded, agreeing with her.

    "By the way, is LX Productions registered under your name?"

    "I¡¯m registered as the owner but I appointed somebody else to run it for me. So publicly, nobody will know that I¡¯m involved with thepany, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about."

    "Hmm...okay," she said, although she wasn¡¯t really worried.

    She personally didn¡¯t mind if others discovered their rtionship. After all, she didn¡¯t give a whit about what others thought. However, she wouldn¡¯t reveal it if nobody asked her. And even if someone asked her if she had a boyfriend, she would probably just confirm the rtionship without revealing Jin Liwei¡¯s identity. She didn¡¯t want people hounding either of them. Besides, she imagined that it was nicer to enjoy their rtionship in peace without the entire world looking at their every single movement.

    And also what if others started fantasizing about her man? She immediately felt angry just thinking about it. Jin Liwei was hers!

    Jin Liwei saw her scowling. He thought that she was angry after all that he secretly set up a productionpany to support her from the shadows. He pulled her into his arms and embraced her tightly.

    "Don¡¯t be angry," he said.

    "Hm? I just told you I¡¯m not angry."

    "Really?"

    She nodded. "Well, I feel a little annoyed that you went behind my back, but it¡¯s okay. You¡¯re already a little annoying to begin with. It¡¯s not like this is the first time."

    He looked crushed for a couple of seconds before managing to fix his expression. ¡¯At least she only thinks I¡¯m a little annoying and not boring. It will tragic if there everes a day she thinks I¡¯m boring,¡¯ he thought, trying to stay positive. He felt somewhat better.

    Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself closer against his body. She returned his tight embrace. She lifted her head so that she was looking at his face.

    "Don¡¯t feel bad anymore. I know you only did it for me. So thank you."

    He gave a relieved smile. "Anything for you, baby." Then he lifted her up and began kissing her.

    Iris opened her mouth to allow him in. Her eyes closed, feeling the desire for him building up within her once again.

    This time, the kiss was slow and passionate. The two of them slowly tasted, pleasured, and enjoyed each other using their mouths and tongues.

    A few seconds had passed since they started kissing and she could already feel something hard poking against her abdomen. Then just as she expected, he broke the kiss and gently set her down on her feet.

    He stepped back from her so that their bodies weren¡¯t intimately touching anymore. He panted and looked up at the ceiling, obviously trying to control himself.

    She watched him struggling with his desire for her. She realized that she liked seeing him like this, so very different to the cold and indifferent Jin Liwei he presented to the public, and it was all because of her. Her eyes glinted and her lips lifted into a mischievous smile.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t notice anything amiss because he was still looking up at the ceiling, trying to calm his raging desire. That was until he tumbled back andnded hard on the couch behind him. He looked up at his baby girl in shock. She just suddenly pushed him hard on his chest.

    He was about to ask her why when he saw her untie her robe and let it fall from her shoulders to the floor, leaving only her bra on.

    "What..." His throat suddenly felt dry, as he watched his baby girl suddenly transform into a seductress.

    She walked slowly towards him and then put one of her knees on the couch beside him. She leaned forward so that she was above him, looking at him with such a sexy smile that he felt likeing that very instant. Fortunately, he was able to control himself...barely.

    "Baby, what are you doing?" he asked, keeping his tone light even though he was visibly trembling in excitement.

    "What a stupid question," she said in a low voice. Then she lifted her other leg so that she was kneeling astride him. However, she didn¡¯t sit directly on hisp. She remained in a kneeling position, looking down at him. "Take off your shirt," she ordered.

    His queen had spoken. It would be a crime to defy her.

    His hands seemed to be in super speed mode because his shirt was taken off in no time. Afterwards, he looked up at her in anticipation.

    Iris felt so entertained watching him. His expression looked like he was telling her, ¡¯I did what you told me. Aren¡¯t I a good boy? Praise me. Reward me.¡¯

    She couldn¡¯t help it. He threw her head back andughed. She even clutched her abdomen because she wasughing so hard.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s face fell. Did he do something wrong? Why was sheughing at him?

    "Oh, Liwei. You¡¯re so cute."

 Chapter 171 - Tonight Will Be For You

    <h4>Chapter 171 - Tonight Will Be For You </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mind went nk for a couple of seconds as Iris desperately tried controlling herughter. She fell beside him on the couch, giggling.

    The seductress was gone, reced by a mischievous girl instead.

    She said he was cute. If it was another person who called him this way, he would¡¯ve already showed that person that "cute" should never be a word used to describe him. But since it was his baby girl, he was kind of liking it...but only a little.

    Although he personally liked it (a little), his little brother down below clearly didn¡¯t. His hard-on was already softening. He sighed.

    However, he was still very surprised by her sudden seductive actions just a few moments ago. Recently, he was noticing that she was bing more yful with him. Of course he was happy because it meant that she was feeling morefortable with him. But now it seemed that her newfound yfulness could also transform her into an irresistible seductress. If this happened again, he didn¡¯t think he would be able to control himself anymore.

    He wondered from who she was learning this from. An image of Dominic quickly appeared in his mind. It seemed that he needed to talk to the assistant and tell him not to teach his baby girl this kind of things.

    As for Iris, she finally calmed down and was now looking at Jin Liwei with teasing eyes. She just imitated his actions a little from when he seduced her before. When he was the one seducing her, he would take off all his clothes and stand in front of herpletely naked. But she just took off her robe this time, leaving her bra and pants on, and he already looked so excited. She didn¡¯t expect that such a simple thing would be so effective on him. Was it this easy to seduce him?

    If Jin Liwei could only hear her thoughts, he would know that it was wrong of him to me Dom for corrupting his baby girl when it was actually all his fault! Poor innocent Dom!

    Iris stood up and picked up the robe she dropped earlier before putting it back on.

    He stood up as well, sighing. It seemed that sexy time was over. He felt a little disappointed but told himself that this was for the best. After all, he wanted both of their first time to be special.

    Then he heard her say, "Let¡¯s continue in our bedroom."

    ¡¯Damn you, Dominic!¡¯ he cursed in his mind, even as he began to feel aroused again.

    ###

    Dom was about to sleep on his bed when he sneezed. Not once but twice.

    "Eh? Someone must be talking sh*t about me. I wonder who. Hmph! Must be some insecure bastard jealous of my handsomeness!"

    ###

    Back in the couple¡¯s bedroom.

    The two were once again kissing as they tumbled on the bed. This time, Iris was on top. Her robe was already discarded on the floor. Seeing that Jin Liwei¡¯s skin was clear, she began sucking and nibbling on his neck, chest and even his abs, leaving tiny red love bites.

    She straightened and looked down at her new markings in triumph. Now she understood when he told her before that he liked seeing the hickeys he made on her.

    Suddenly, she was flipped over. Now she was on her back while he was on top of her.

    "You¡¯re very naughty today," he said in a low, husky voice. His eyes were dark and his expression looked like he wanted to devour her whole.

    "Am I?" She blinked at him a few times.

    "Yeah. I can barely control myself."

    "Then don¡¯t," she said. Her hands reached between them to the waistband of his pyjama pants. She could feel his erection through the cloth. "You¡¯ve been very understanding and supportive of me these past few weeks even when I don¡¯t have time for you. You¡¯ve been holding yourself back and I know that you¡¯ve been ufortable sleeping on the same bed and not doing anything because I¡¯ve been so tired. So tonight will be for you, okay?"

    He inhaled sharply, feeling his erection bing even harder. His eyes darkened with anticipation and desire.

    "Oh baby."

    He gave her a hot and wet open-mouthed kiss, sucking at her lips and tongue.

    Iris moaned, letting him feast on her mouth, while her hands were busy tugging his pyjama pants down. Finally, his erection sprang free, poking her on the abdomen. She wrapped her hands around his length, stroking him slowly.

    Jin Liwei hissed and closed his eyes. His hips couldn¡¯t help moving a little in time with her strokes. When he opened his eyes, they were predatory. He lifted her upper body and reached behind her to unhook her bra. He tossed the bra to the floor and immediately cupped her breasts with his hands. Then he captured a nipple in his mouth and sucked hard.

    She gasped and threw her head back, moaning. One hand continued to stroke his erection while she ran her other hand all over his back.

    Then she told him, "I said tonight will be for you. Lie down."

    He lifted his head to look at her. The corner of his mouth curved up. Giving her a quick kiss, he obeyed and got off her toy on his back.

    Iris sat and focused on stroking his erection. She was observing his facial reactions, trying to see if she was pleasuring him enough.

    "Baby..."

    "Hm?"

    "Do you want to try something that will make me feel even better than this?"

    "Oh? What is it?"

    He raised his hand and traced her lips with a finger before gently pushing it inside her mouth.

    Later...

    "Jin Liwei! This tastes horrible!"

    "That¡¯s the strawberry one. Here, let¡¯s try the mint. Maybe it¡¯ll taste better."

    He tore open a new packet and reced the strawberry-voured condom from his erection with a mint-voured one.

    "Here."

    Iris didn¡¯t look enthusiastic but seeing his excited expression, she lowered her head and took him in her mouth. She heard him groan and was pleased, but then the horrible taste assaulted her. Grimacing, she immediately let him go and lifted her head.

    "I don¡¯t like this either," she said. She desperately wanted to run to the bathroom to rinse her mouth.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s try another one. How about banana?"

    "No."

    "Vani?"

    "No! I don¡¯t want these condoms! They taste horrible, like chemicals! Why don¡¯t you try tasting them too?"

    He gave a disgusted look. "No way."

    Her eyes narrowed. "What?" she asked in a dangerous tone. "You made me taste all these crap but you won¡¯t even try them yourself? You¡¯re despicable!"

    "Baby, wait!" He pulled her when she tried to climb off the bed. "Alright. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll try tasting them, okay?"

    Crossing her arms across her breasts, she watched him open a new condom. He swiped a finger on it and then brought the finger to his tongue.

    "You¡¯re right, baby. It doesn¡¯t taste good."

    She pursed her lips at his action. "Hmph." Then she took off the condom from his erection and threw it away. "I¡¯ll do it without a condom. It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll get pregnant using my mouth."

    "Are you sure?" he asked, even though he was already trembling in excitement.

    She nodded then went to work immediately without waiting for his reply. She first licked the head, swirling her tongue around it, and then slowly took his erection inside her mouth. Then she paused.

    He could feel her uncertainty, so he encouraged her. "Just like that, baby. It feels good."

    She continued for about a few more times before letting him go and sitting up. Wiping her lips with the back of her hand, she said, "I think I need to search how to do this properly."

    "No need!" He grabbed her before she could get herptop. "I¡¯ll teach you."

    "Teach me? Have you had this done on you before?" she asked, ring at him.

    "Of course not!"

    "Then how can you teach me?"

    "Baby, it¡¯s my p*nis. I know what makes it feel good. So you don¡¯t need to search it up. I don¡¯t want you watching some other guy¡¯s d*ck, even if it¡¯s for research purposes."

    She pouted but eventually agreed. After all, she also didn¡¯t want him looking at another woman¡¯s naked body, even for research purposes. "Fine."

    Then she lowered her head once again and took him in her mouth.

    He constantly encouraged her and told her what felt good.

    "Try sucking it, baby. Yes, ah. A bit gentler. Oh, yes. Like that."

    After some time, Iris was getting the hang of it. She bobbed her head up and down faster and sucked hard until Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but tighten his hold on her hair, as he stiffened and groaned loudly.

    His hot release flooded inside her mouth and she instinctively swallowed.

    When he was done, she rose and covered her mouth. She felt like gagging but when she saw his pleased expression, she fought against the urge to spit.

    "You swallowed it," he looked at her, a smug expression on his face.

    "It tastes bad."

    He onlyughed weakly.

    "But I guess I¡¯ll get used to it."

    He stoppedughing. His eyes darkened once again.

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened as she saw something stirring and standing up once again.

    "No way. My mouth is already tired. I¡¯m going to sleep. Goodnight!"

 Chapter 172 - Godchild

    <h4>Chapter 172 - Godchild </h4>

    In the next few days, Jin Liwei noticed that everyone in the household kept on giving him fruits to eat even when he didn¡¯t ask for it. He didn¡¯t mind and ate them all without protesting but after more than a week, he started thinking that something was up.

    So when a maid gently ced a te of freshly cut honeydew melon and cantaloupe beside him while he was reviewing some documents at the library office, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking.

    "Why do you keep giving me fruits every day?"

    "It¡¯s what the Young Miss instructed us to do, sir."

    He already suspected as much. "I see. Alright, thank you. You can go."

    When the maid left, he looked at the clock. It was a weekend and both he and Iris didn¡¯t need to go out for work today. However, his baby girl was very busy at her music studio at home working on the film score. Although he wanted to spend time together with her, he also didn¡¯t want to bother her so he could only wait until she was finished.

    Later at lunch time.

    Iris joined everyone for lunch. Jin Liwei greeted her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before pulling a chair for her. He was now used to eating together with everyone in the household. They usually ate in the kitchen and would only use the formal dining area when Iris¡¯ instructors stayed for dinner.

    Jiang Ying Yue and her son, Little Jun, also joined them. They spent the morning ying with Ice Cream and Popcorn at the cat room. The nanny was on day off today.

    When Little Jun saw Iris, he immediately stretched out his little arms and struggled within his mother¡¯s embrace, crying out for Iris. He wanted to be held by his aunt.

    "Little Jun, let your Aunt Xin eat her meal first. Be good," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    Little Jun¡¯s cute little face scrunched up and he started crying. Jiang Ying Yue looked at everyone helplessly.

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll hold him," Iris said and gestured for Jiang Ying Yue to give her the toddler. Little Jun immediately stopped crying and started babbling happily to his aunt.

    "Sorry about this, Xin," Jiang Ying Yue said. Upon Iris¡¯ request, she stopped calling her Miss Xin. After all, as Iris exined it, she was the mother of Iris¡¯ nephew. She could act formally when she was at work as Iris¡¯ bodyguard but once she wasn¡¯t on duty, there was no need to be so formal.

    Iris sat Little Jun on herp. Jiang Ying Yue moved and sat on the chair beside Iris to feed her child. Jin Liwei sat on Iris¡¯ other side.

    He watched his baby girl pampering the child. He couldn¡¯t help but imagine how it would feel if it was their own child on herp instead. How wonderful it must be if he could have a child (or two) with her in the future.

    Little Jun turned his head and looked straight at Jin Liwei. The baby and the man looked at each other with curiosity. Suddenly, Little Jun beamed and giggled. Then he stretched out his little arms towards Jin Liwei.

    Iris chuckled and told Jin Liwei, "He wants you to hold him. Here."

    Jin Liwei moved his torso away and put his hands up in front of him, looking rmed and shaking his head. "No, no. Baby, please no. I don¡¯t know how to hold a child."

    She ignored him and pushed Little Jun in his arms.

    He didn¡¯t have any choice, so he cautiously held the baby. He was worried that he would drop the child, so he didn¡¯t dare move.

    Then Little Jun pointed a finger at Jin Liwei¡¯s face and said, "Papa!"

    Everyone was shocked.

    Iris immediately took the child from him and gently told the child, "No, Little Jun. He¡¯s not your father."

    Little Jun gave her a confused look, then pointed at Jin Liwei again. "Papa?"

    "No, not Papa. He¡¯s your Uncle Liwei."

    The child scrunched his face. Then he pointed a finger at Iris. "Mama?"

    Iris froze and then blinked. "No, Little Jun. I¡¯m not your Mama. I¡¯m your Aunt Xin. This is your Mama," she said, pulling Jiang Ying Yue who was sitting beside her.

    Jiang Ying Yue had an awkward expression on her face.

    Little Jun looked confused. He pointed at Jiang Ying Yue. "Mommi!" Then he pointed at Iris. "Mama!"

    "Oh! I get it!" Dom eximed, pping his hands together. "Big Sis Yue is Mommy and boss is Mama! And then sir boss is Papa! Kyaaah! This is so adorbs! Wait! Let me take a video of this!" He took out his phone and started recording. "Junie boy, where¡¯s Mommy?"

    Little Jun pointed at Jiang Ying Yue. "Mommi!"

    "Where¡¯s Mama?"

    The child pointed at Iris. "Mama!"

    "Where¡¯s Papa?"

    The child pointed at Jin Liwei. "Papa!"

    "Uwah! My heart can¡¯t take this cuteness! My cutey patootie Junie boy is so adorbs! So smart!" Dom bounced on his seat in excitement as he continued recording.

    Of course, everyone started praising the toddler and gushing about him.

    Iris turned to Jiang Ying Yue beside her. "Where did he learn to say all these?"

    "I honestly don¡¯t know," Jiang Ying Yue answered helplessly. Then she looked at Dom with a suspicious expression on her face.

    "Hey! Why are you looking at me like that, Big Sis Yue?" Dom pouted and then looked at his sir boss mournfully. "Why is everyone ming me when I didn¡¯t even do anything?"

    "What does he call my brother then?" Iris asked Jiang Ying Yue.

    Jiang Ying Yue stiffened at the mention of Long Hui but still answered, "He calls him Dada."

    "Hmm... I see." Iris gently poked her finger on Little Jun¡¯s squishy cheek. "At least he¡¯s not confused. He calls us differently."

    Jiang Ying Yueughed awkwardly.

    Then Iris turned to Jin Liwei. "So you¡¯re now his Papa."

    Jin Liwei nodded. Surprisingly, he didn¡¯t mind it especially since he was paired up with his baby girl. He was the Papa and she was the Mama. He also gently poked the child on the cheek, making Little Jun giggle.

    He looked at Jiang Ying Yue. "From now on, Xin and I are his godparents."

    Jiang Ying Yue was taken aback at first and then her eyes filled with tears. "Yes. Thank you very much! Please take care of Little Jun."

    "En."

    Everyone was in high spirits. The cook announced that she would prepare a sumptuous meal for dinnerter to celebrate. Since Little Jun was still too young, they would need to wait a few more years for him to formally pay his respects to his godparents.

    Jin Liwei looked at the child sitting on his baby girl¡¯sp. He would call his butlerter and instruct him to buy some baby clothes and other baby things to gift to his first godchild.

 Chapter 173 - Test Subjec

    <h4>Chapter 173 - Test Subjec </h4>

    After the meal, Jiang Ying Yue took Little Jun to one of the spare bedrooms for a nap. Dom and one of the maids headed to the cat room to feed and y with Ice Cream and Popcorn. Yi Mei and the cook began nning the sumptuous dinner forter to celebrate the appointment of Iris and Jin Liwei as Little Jun¡¯s godparents.

    Iris and Jin Liwei headed to the living area to rx and cuddle on the couch while watching random shows on TV. Iris wanted to rest before returning to her music studio to continue working on the film score. She already finishedposing more than half of the nned music pieces and even recorded some of them with her symphony orchestra and four-piece band.

    The overall atmosphere of most of the pieces were dark, depressing, and foreboding. Iris would always feel emotionally drained whenever she finished working on them. Only thest pieces meant for the film¡¯s ending had brighter, more hopeful yet bittersweet tone.

    For now, she needed some time to recharge. She felt very motivated to finish the film score as soon as possible without rushing it. After all, quality was her utmost priority. She almost couldn¡¯t wait for the moment to hear her music used on a film.

    A little sleepy, she yawned. She rested her head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder. She felt him kiss her forehead, making her smile. She was about to take a nap when Jin Liwei started talking.

    "Baby."

    "Hm?"

    "Why did you instruct everyone to keep feeding me fruits every day?"

    "Oh, that." She shifted her head so that she was looking at his face. "It¡¯s to improve the taste of your semen. It tastes bad, you know. I read from various sources that certain foods, especially fruits, can improve the taste. I want to know if it¡¯s really true, that¡¯s why I¡¯m experimenting on you."

    He couldn¡¯t help it. This talk was arousing him. But his baby girl was exhausted right now. He took a few deep breaths to control himself.

    "I see," he said, keeping his tone light. "I think I also heard about this before. So I¡¯m your test subject?"

    "Mmn...yes."

    "Use me all you want then. This body of mine is all yours, baby."

    She giggled and then bit his neck, not too hard but not too light either.

    He groaned. It hurt but he didn¡¯t mind. She was just being yful with him again.

    "You make it sound like I¡¯m exploiting you," she said. "You just need to eat the fruits. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s going to do the tasting anyway so don¡¯t act like you¡¯re being taken advantage of."

    He chuckled. "True."

    To be honest, he was feeling very excited about this experiment of hers. He was hoping that she would start with the actual investigation (a.k.a. the tasting) very soon. A certain something on the lower half of his body was also getting excited, slowlying to life and straining against his pants. He recited the value of pi to calm down and to control the dangerous direction of his thoughts.

    Iris burrowed deeper in Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace, inhaling his familiar masculine scent. His breathing was slowly lulling her to sleep.

    "Baby?"

    "Hm? What?"

    "Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s about time we visit your father and his wife and have dinner with them as a couple?"

    "Oh." She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him. "You want to go with me to the Longpound for dinner?"

    "En. Your father already knows about our rtionship but I still haven¡¯t paid my respects to him as your boyfriend. We¡¯re living together now. I think it¡¯s only proper that I assure him that I¡¯m serious with my intentions to his daughter."

    "Hmm. Alright. I¡¯ll give him a call and coordinate a schedule."

    He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "No rush. I know you¡¯re busy. I was just telling you so that you¡¯ll keep it in mind."

    "Okay."

    He was about to say something but hesitated.

    "Hm?" She tilted her head to the side. "What is it?"

    "After we meet with your father, I was thinking..."

    "What?"

    A few seconds passed before he spoke again. "I was thinking that if you don¡¯t mind, I would like to introduce you to my family¡ªmy grandmother and mother."

    He didn¡¯t mention his younger brother, Jin Chonglin. Although his baby girl already assured him that she felt nothing for his brother, he still felt a little jealous.

    "Oh." Iris was surprised.

    "I won¡¯t force you if you don¡¯t want to," he said hurriedly. "It¡¯s just that I want them to meet the woman I love who is also the most important person in my life right now."

    Her heart skipped a beat and she felt warm inside. "Okay."

    "Really? You¡¯ll meet them?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    He sighed in relief. "Great. I¡¯ll introduce you to my grandmother and mother after we have dinner with your father."

    "Okay." Then suddenly she began to feel nervous.

    Noticing the change in her emotions, he pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head. "Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re amazing. Just be yourself."

    Iris nodded and continued cuddling with him.

    She had the urge to investigate Jin Liwei¡¯s grandmother and mother so that she would know what they were like before meeting them but quickly discarded the idea as soon as it entered her mind. Jin Liwei was her boyfriend. She felt that it would be rude and disrespectful to investigate his family members without his knowledge.

    She was originally nning to take a nap but her earlier sleepiness was now gone. This feeling of nervousness was very unpleasant.

 Chapter 174 - Meeting Grandpa Lu

    <h4>Chapter 174 - Meeting Grandpa Lu </h4>

    A white limousine waited outside the condominium building. Although it was a wealthy area with most of the residents owning luxury cars, passersby still couldn¡¯t help but gawk at the vehicle because some of them recognized that it was custom-made from a limited edition series.

    Iris, together with her instructors Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa, walked out of the lobby to the limo. It was a bright sunny day and there were plenty of people walking about on the streets. Iris made sure to wear big sunsses and face mask to avoid being recognized.

    A chauffeur greeted them and opened the limo door. Professor Schwarz climbed in first, then Iris, and finally Professor Hisakawa.

    They were on their way to meet the business mentor Professor Erwan Dupont personally assigned for Iris. The mentor was supposed to arrive weeks ago but for some reason, he or she kept on being dyed.

    Based on her instructors¡¯ barely controlled excitement, Iris figured that the mentor was someone they greatly respected. She could sense that they even regarded the mentor on the same level as Professor Dupont.

    Who was this person that he or she would be on the same level as the Headmaster of Cross Academy?

    The mysterious mentor sent the chauffeured limousine to pick them up. She was very curious about what kind of person her mentor would be.

    She had no idea where they were going, but she was not alone. It seemed that her instructors also didn¡¯t know. All they knew was that they were going to one of the mentor¡¯s residences in the country.

    About an hourter, the car entered a suburban area. It looked like a peaceful neighbourhood with big quaint houses. The residences looked well-to-do but still rtively humblepared to the ostentatious mansions in many exclusive viges.

    Iris initially thought that their destination was one of the quaint houses, but she was wrong. They passed through the lovely neighbourhood to drive along a cemented road within a forest.

    They were stopped at a checkpoint before a massive gilded gate with a golden que embossed with the character "Lu". The uniformed security guards manning the gate recognized the limousine and even greeted the chauffeur with a nod, yet they still checked the passengers inside.

    Professor Hisakawa confirmed their identities to the guards before the massive gilded gate was opened.

    They drove for another twenty minutes before finally seeing a huge sprawling Mediterranean-style mansion. Tall palm trees lined the long cobblestone driveway leading to the mansion¡¯s main entrance.

    The limo parked at the end of the driveway. The chauffeur opened the door for them and they disembarked.

    Iris looked around, wondering if they were still in China. It felt like they were transported to another country. She inhaled deeply. Even the air felt fresher here.

    "Ahaha! You¡¯re finally here! I almost fell asleep waiting for all of you! What took you so long? I want to know!" An elderly man¡¯s voice speaking in English boomed from within the entranceway.

    They all watched as a tall sprightly elderly man walked towards them. He had a head full of grey hair styled in the ssic side part. His neatly groomed grey mustache couldn¡¯t hide the big smile on his still handsome face. Obviously, he had wrinkles due to his advanced age, butpared to other elderly men, he looked decades younger. He brimmed with energy.

    Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa stepped forward and respectfully greeted him.

    "Professor Lu, what an honour to finally meet you again after so long."

    "Greetings, Professor Lu. Thank you for inviting us here today."

    "Bah! What Professor Lu? Stop calling me that!" The elderly man expressed his displeasure. "That Dupont bastard only gave me such a stuck-up title so that he could order me around because he¡¯s the Headmaster. Hmph!"

    The two professorsughed awkwardly. They shook the elderly man¡¯s hand. Both of them tried hard not to wince by his tight grip and energetic handshake.

    "Still beautiful, Kalisha."

    "Thank you, Sir Lu."

    "And you, Akio. I know you¡¯re a writer but don¡¯t spend all your time holed up indoors. You look so sallow! Spend more time outside and soak in some sunlight!"

    Professor Hisakawa coughed in embarrassment. "I understand, Sir Lu."

    "And you little girl, don¡¯t just stand there. Come and let me see you."

    Iris smiled and stepped forward. "Hello, sir. My name is Long Xin. I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you, sir. Thank you for having us today."

    "Good. Very good." The elderly man nodded as he examined Iris from head to toe and back up again. He looked pleased at what he was seeing. "You look even prettier than the photo that Dupont bastard sent me."

    Iris didn¡¯t know how to respond so she just smiled respectfully.

    "Well, girl. My name is Lu Jianhong and starting today, I¡¯ll be your business mentor. So call me Grandpa!"

    She blinked a few times. Eh? They just met and he already wanted her to call him Grandpa? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be her business mentor? Shouldn¡¯t she call him Sir Lu like the others or perhaps even Teacher?

    "Where¡¯s your tongue, girl?" He asked in an impatient tone. "Hurry up and call me Grandpa!"

    "Uh..." Iris hesitated. "I look forward to learning from you, Grandpa Lu..."

    "Ahaha! Very good! Come, Xin my girl. You too Kalisha and Akio. Let me show you inside my humble home!"

    Iris looked around. Humble? This massive mansion?

    They followed Grandpa Lu as he showed them around while chatting.

    Suddenly, he turned to Iris and asked, "Your father is the head of Long Industries, correct?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "What sir? I told you to call me Grandpa!"

    "My apologies, Grandpa Lu."

    He nodded, satisfied with her response. Then he continued, "So how is your rtionship with the Longs? Are they supportive of you being admitted to Cross Academy?"

    "They don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t tell them."

    "What?! Why not? Are you on bad terms with your family?"

    "I was but recently my rtionship with my father has improved. As for the others..." She shrugged.

    "Ahahaha! I¡¯m not the least bit surprised. The Longs are a bunch of snobs since long ago! I was worried that you¡¯ll be stuck-up like them. I¡¯m d that you seem like a nice girl." Grandpa looked very pleased.

    Then he asked, "So Xin my girl, tell Grandpa, are you single?"

 Chapter 175 - My Special Fish

    <h4>Chapter 175 - My Special Fish </h4>

    "Well? Why aren¡¯t you answering? Are you single or not? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu continued to ask when Iris failed to reply immediately.

    After a few more seconds of hesitation, she finally answered, "I¡¯m not single, Grandpa Lu. I have a boyfriend."

    "What?!" He looked surprised and...enraged.

    "Yes, it¡¯s true," Professor Schwarz said. "Akio and I already met him."

    Professor Hisakawa nodded. "He¡¯s not bad."

    Grandpa Lu scowled. He asked Iris. "How long have you been in a rtionship with your¡ªhmph¡ªboyfriend?"

    "A few months."

    "Oh?" Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes lit up. "Not that long yet! Ahaha! I see. Good!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side, confused.

    "Xin my girl, you¡¯re still very young. Not to mention you¡¯re beautiful, talented and a Cross Academy student! You should allow yourself to explore the world and meet lots of other people first. I¡¯m sure that you like your boyfriend now, but what do you know? You might meet someone else who you¡¯ll like more than him in the future. So don¡¯t be so hasty! What would you do if you discover that your boyfriend is not the right man for you? As the saying goes, there are plenty more fish in the sea!"

    Although Iris agreed with Grandpa Lu¡¯s words, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel defensive of Jin Liwei. "Grandpa Lu, I know that there are plenty more fish in the sea, but right now my boyfriend is my special fish. I like him very much!"

    Grandpa Lu was slightly taken aback by her strong-willed response. It seemed like the girl had quite the stubborn streak. Not bad. He inwardly approved of it. However, he was unhappy that she seemed to really like her boyfriend. At this rate, matchmaking her to his grandson would be more challenging than he first thought.

    ¡¯Dammit! Who¡¯s her boyfriend? That bastard! How dare he get his ws on this girl before my Haohao?! Should I investigate him and then scare him off?! Well, a boyfriend is not a husband so my Haohao still has a chance!"

    While Grandpa Lu was mentally cursing Iris¡¯ boyfriend, they arrived at a wide veranda overlooking a beautiful and lush rose garden. They sat onfortable barrel chairs. A butler appeared and began serving them refreshments.

    Iris listened in fascination to her instructors¡¯ conversations about their rich experiences at Cross Academy. Although she was also an alumnus of the academy in her previous life, her education was extremely cloistered. Her interactions were limited to only her instructors and Professor Erwan Dupont who she also met as Evelina.

    And because of her special family background, Professor Dupont also made sure to limit the people who knew about her even within the academy itself. Although most of the Cross Academy students and alumni were trustworthy, the Vetrovs had many enemies. It was better to be safe than sorry.

    This was why she wasn¡¯t familiar with her current instructors before meeting them, especially Grandpa Lu who seemed to be on the same level as Professor Dupont when it came to standing among the Cross Academy alumni.

    Then the conversation moved to Iris¡¯ progress in her studies.

    Professor Schwarz: "Xin is improving very quickly. I actually have to revise my lesson ns several times because her level is increasing by leaps and bounds."

    Professor Hisakawa: "Same here. Xin¡¯sprehension skills are perhaps the best I¡¯ve ever encountered among my students. She just absorbs everything. That¡¯s why Kalisha and I are thinking that maybe she¡¯s ready to apply her skills in real life."

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up. This was the first time she heard about this. She also wanted to test the knowledge and skills she learned from their lessons in real life situations.

    "Ho~" Grandpa Lu stroked his perfectly groomed mustache. "So how do you n on doing that?"

    Professor Schwarz: "My idea is to have Xin do some interpreting jobs. Something easy at the start."

    Professor Hisakawa: "I¡¯ll probably just have her trante some printed documents or even books."

    "What kind of ideas are those? Do you think she¡¯s a grade schooler?" Grandpa Lu shook his head, his expression showing displeasure. "She¡¯s a Cross Academy student, for goodness¡¯ sake! From what I¡¯m hearing so far, Xin is a fast learner. How can she improve even further if you don¡¯t give her something challenging?"

    The two instructors were quiet for a few seconds.

    Professor Hisakawa: "Sir Lu, do you have an idea on how we should test her?"

    Professor Schwarz: "Please advise us."

    "Hah! Of course I have a great idea. China will be hosting a huge international business conference in a few months. Many foreign leaders and representatives from some of the biggestpanies in the world will be attending, including the business leaders in this country. Let¡¯s just throw the girl in there and see if she can take the pressure and survive in one piece! Ahahaha!"

    Professor Schwarz frowned. "Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too early for that, Sir Lu? It hasn¡¯t been that long yet since she started studying with us."

    "I agree. It might be too much for her especially since it¡¯s going to be her first time," Professor Hisakawa said.

    "Tsk tsk. Don¡¯t you know that coddling your students too much will stunt their development? You¡¯ll never know what she¡¯s really capable of if you¡¯re afraid of throwing her in hot water! A restrained genius is no genius at all!"

    "Please let me do it," Iris spoke up.

    The two professors looked at her. Seeing her determined expression, they could only sigh.

    Professor Schwarz: "Are you sure?"

    Iris nodded. "I want to do it!"

    "Ahahaha! Very good, Xin my girl!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s delighted voice boomed. "That¡¯s the spirit! A Cross Academy student must have that kind of guts! Or else I¡¯ll have to me that Dupont bastard for weakening the academy with spineless recruits!"

    Professor Hisakawa cleared his throat awkwardly.

    "Don¡¯t worry, my girl! Grandpa will make sure you¡¯re more than ready and fully-equipped for your test during the conference! Leave everything to Grandpa! I¡¯ll teach you all about business so you never stumble on any unfamiliar terms when you¡¯re interpreting or tranting. Then a time wille that you¡¯ll participate in the conference as a business leader and not just as an interpreter!"

    Iris started to feel excited. She bowed her head respectfully. "Please guide me, Grandpa Lu."

    "Of course!" Grandpa Lu felt pleased with her. "By the way, I think some Canadian representatives will be present in the conference. You¡¯ll likely meet some of them. Have you been to Canada? It¡¯s nice and fresh out there. My grandson lives in Toronto. He¡¯s handsome and charming. I think the two of you will get along well."

 Chapter 176 - A Student Of Lu Jianhong

    <h4>Chapter 176 - A Student Of Lu Jianhong </h4>

    Iris smiled politely, nodding. She wondered why Grandpa Lu suddenly started talking about his grandson out of nowhere. However, she wasn¡¯t really surprised because she noticed that he had a tendency to suddenly veer off-topic during conversations. It seemed that Grandpa Lu really doted on his grandson. He spent a few minutes raving about his beloved grandson.

    "My Haohao¡ªI mean Zihao is thirty years old this year so he¡¯s a whole decade older than you. But that shouldn¡¯t matter! Age shouldn¡¯t be an issue when ites to rtionships¡ªI mean ¡¯friendships¡¯! Am I right?"

    "Yes," Iris agreed.

    The two professors also nodded.

    "Xin my girl, tell Grandpa, how old is your boyfriend? I think that having a mature older man like my grandson is better than a young boy around your age. Mature older men tend to be already financially secured and established in their careers, so they¡¯ll more likely dote and pamper their loverspared to younger fellows who are still struggling to establish themselves."

    She nodded again, agreeing with him. "My boyfriend is thirty-one. He¡¯s also already financially secured and established in his career."

    Grandpa Lu was surprised and couldn¡¯t say anything for a few moments.

    ¡¯What?! Her boyfriend is even older than my Haohao?! Dammit! Who is this bastard?! I want to know!"

    Professor Schwarz couldn¡¯t help but giggle. Professor Hisakawa was able to maintain hisposure but his twitching mouth betrayed his real emotions.

    Unlike Iris who still had no idea what was going on, the two professors knew exactly what Grandpa Lu was trying to do. Iris only thought that Grandpa Lu was really proud of his grandson so he couldn¡¯t help but rave about him to other people.

    The two professors knew the identity of Iris¡¯ boyfriend. They also knew that Lu Jianhong had a connection with Jin Liwei and Jin Corporation. They could¡¯ve chosen to rify the situation to the elderly man but they chose to remain silent. They were feeling very entertained. They couldn¡¯t wait until both Lu Jianhong and Jin Liwei figured out their unexpected new connection through Iris.

    Later, Iris and the two professors stayed for dinner. They ate avish Greek feast which tasted even better when eaten in the Mediterranean-style home.

    After dinner, Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa excused themselves after Lu Jianhong suggested for them to tour the rest of the mansion. Although it was worded as a suggestion, the two professors knew that it was more of an order. It seemed that Lu Jianhong wanted to have a private talk with his new student. They followed the housekeeper for the tour.

    Lu Jianhong led Iris from the dining area to an opulent lounge room. It had a big enclosed stone firece. It wasn¡¯t burning at the moment, but Iris imagined that it must be nice to stay in this room during winter. There were small olive trees nted in big terracotta pots and some flowering nts to add colour. In the middle of the room, there was a tiered fountain with a statue of a voluptuous woman on top holding a jug from which water poured out. Itpleted the ssic Mediterranean ambiance.

    Iris felt very impressed. She thought that the entire property was ostentatious when she first saw it, but as she spent more time inside the mansion, she began to appreciate its ssic and luxurious elegance.

    They sat down and the butler began serving them hot rooibos herbal tea blend [1]. Iris sipped her cup and nodded in appreciation.

    After serving them, the butler left and returned a few minutester to hand his master an envelope. He bowed before leaving again to give them privacy.

    "Alright, Xin my girl. Let¡¯s start talking business," Grandpa Lu said.

    Iris set her cup down on the low table in front of her. She straightened and faced Grandpa Lu, an attentive expression on her face.

    He started by asking her about her current financial situation. Iris wasfortable at the moment. "Very"fortable to be exact.

    A few weeks ago, Qiao Yu finally reached the one billion RMB mark, officially making Iris a billionaire in the country. In addition to this, her money that she stowed in various bank ounts across the world had a collective total amount of about 60 million US dors. It was actually less than half of what Qiao Yu was currently managing.

    Iris was truthful, admitting that the majority of the 60 million was earned from hacking jobs. Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t bat an eye since he was already aware of how she was admitted to Cross Academy. He knew that she was an excellent hacker but didn¡¯t really know the specifics. He wasn¡¯t really well-versed in this field.

    He trusted Professor Dupont¡¯s decision. If Professor Dupont dared admit Iris personally, then it meant that he saw something special in her. This was proven by assigning her notable instructors like Professor Schwarz, Professor Hisakawa, and of course the legendary business genius Lu Jianhong.

    "Hmm... Not bad," Grandpa Lumented, rubbing his perfectly groomed mustache. "Especially since you¡¯re still so young. However, as my student, this is far from my standards. Let me take a look at your financial portfolio in our next meeting. Better that you bring your financial manager as well."

    "I understand, Grandpa Lu."

    Next, they talked about properties. Iris actually didn¡¯t own other properties besides her penthouse. Properties didn¡¯t really interest her that much. She was already satisfied with her penthouse.

    "How na?ve! Xin my girl, as my student, real estate should be one of your priorities. I¡¯ll teach you its importance next time."

    She nodded, mentally taking note.

    They discussed her other sources of ie as well. Currently, she was already starting to earn from her music career. Compared to the rate Qiao Yu was earning for her, her current music earnings were rather insignificant. However, Iris didn¡¯t mind. She loved music and even if she didn¡¯t earn anything from it, she would still dly do it withoutining. Besides, she technically just started out. Once she stabilized her music career, the money would surelye.

    After revealing her finances, Grandpa Lu had a thoughtful expression. He was already starting to formte a rough financial n for her. As his student, it was his mission to mould her into a sessful business figure.

    "This is for you," he said, handing her the envelope his butler gave to him earlier.

    Iris opened it and took out what was inside. Her eyes widened and she looked at him in shock.

    "Grandpa Lu, this..."

    "Ahaha! Consider it as a wee gift to my student!"

    She ran her fingers on it, smiling. "Thank you very much, Grandpa Lu."

    "You¡¯re wee, my girl! As my student, it¡¯s only natural that you should have one. Use it wisely! If you don¡¯t, I have the power to ask them to revoke it. Understood?"

    She nodded.

    It was the legendary exclusive ck card with her name on it.

    Then she read the apanying document. Once again, she was surprised because unlike the exorbitant amount other cardholders were paying, she didn¡¯t need to pay any annual fees while enjoying the same privileges as them.

    So this was how it felt like to be a student of Lu Jianhong.

    ###

    Footnotes:

    [1] An herb grown in South Africa which can be brewed into an herbal tea. Also called "red bush tea".

 Chapter 177 - The Next Dragon

    <h4>Chapter 177 - The Next Dragon </h4>

    Two dayster, Iris began her official lessons with Grandpa Lu. Since his Mediterranean property was quite far from her penthouse, Grandpa Lu moved to one of his properties that was the nearest to her ce.

    It was a penthouse unit in a condominium building called tinum Sky only a few blocks away from Gold Heights. Professor Schwarz revealed to Iris that Lu Jianhong owned all the tinum Sky buildings in the country. It seemed that there were also other tinum Sky properties in other countries across Asia as well.

    Qiao Yu also came with her. He had no idea who he was meeting with. Iris only told him that her new business mentor wanted to examine her entire financial portfolio and also to talk to her financial manager.

    When he first heard about it, Qiao Yu was very unhappy. He thought that he was more than enough to manage her finances. There was no need for a business mentor. After all, he already achieved their goal of making her into a billionaire in her early twenties. He was doing an excellent job, if he may say so himself.

    He initially declined but Iris was insistent. She was the boss, so even if he didn¡¯t like it, he still went with her to meet this so-called business mentor. It felt like he was getting ready for battle. He was already assuming that the business mentor would not be able topare to his knowledge and skills. He would surely show Iris that he alone was enough to handle her finances.

    But when he met Iris¡¯ so-called business mentor, Qiao Yu¡¯s mind went nk. He stood frozen and stared with unseeing eyes at Grandpa Lu.

    "Eh? What¡¯s wrong with him?! I want to know! I said hello but he¡¯s not responding!" Grandpa Lu squinted his eyes at the frozen financial manager.

    Iris shrugged. "He¡¯ll be fine, Grandpa Lu. I think that¡¯s a normal reaction from him. He did that with me before too. My assistant and I thought that he was having a stroke. He¡¯ll return to normal soon."

    When Qiao Yu regained his senses, he watched Iris and the legendary Lu Jianhong chattingfortably with each other. What was going on? Was it the end of the world?

    "S-sir L-lu Jianhong!" he eximed. His usually stern expression was reced with disbelief.

    "Don¡¯t shout! I may be old but I¡¯m not deaf! So I hear you¡¯re the financial advisor of Xin my girl? What are you waiting for? Introduce yourself!"

    "A-ah, yes!" Qiao Yu almost stumbled on his own feet as he hurriedly stepped forward and almost bit his tongue in his excitement to introduce himself.

    This was Lu Jianhong! The legendary business genius and the true king of the country¡¯s business world!

    After introducing himself, Qiao Yu handed the elderly man his business card with trembling fingers.

    Iris stood at the side, amused at her financial manager¡¯s sudden subservient behaviour. It seemed that her new mentor was really someone impressive and respected by people of the business world.

    After the greetings, Grandpa Lu led Iris and Qiao Yu to his home office. The ce was almost bare and looked like it wasn¡¯t used often.

    "I¡¯ve had this ce for years, but this is actually the first time that I¡¯m staying here. I even forgot that I have this property! Ahahaha! But I still prefer the open fields and nature than the bustling city!" Grandpa Lu turned to Iris. "Xin my girl, why don¡¯t you, Kalisha and Akio move to my mansion instead? It¡¯s pretty big. We¡¯ll all fit in there!"

    Iris smiled before shaking her head. "Thank you for the invitation, Grandpa Lu, but I can¡¯t. I¡¯m currently living with my boyfriend."

    "What?! Aren¡¯t you progressing too fast in your rtionship?! You have to think things through carefully first!"

    She just smiled politely, not saying anything, but Grandpa Lu could feel her stubbornness.

    While the two were talking, Qiao Yu sat in a daze. Was he dreaming? If he wasn¡¯t seeing the evidence with his own eyes, he would never believe that Iris¡¯ new business mentor was THE Lu Jianhong. How did this happen? And from hearing them talk, it seemed that they were quite close. She was calling him Grandpa, for goodness¡¯ sake! This was just unbelievable!

    After the small talk and refreshments, they began to talk business.

    The boisterous Grandpa Lu suddenly became serious, strict and focused. He carefully studied every detail of Iris¡¯ financial portfolio that Qiao Yu was currently managing. He questioned Qiao Yu several times.

    At first, Qiao Yu felt very nervous (and honestly scared) in front of the business legend but as time went on, he calmed down and stopped hesitating in his answers. After all, this was his element and what he was good at.

    Grandpa Lu stroked his mustache as he listened to the financial manager. He nodded, approving of him.

    "From now on, you¡¯ll also meet me regrly," he told Qiao Yu. "The three of us will strategize on how to improve this girl¡¯s finances. We are going to raise the next dragon of the business world! Don¡¯t you find it exciting? Ahahaha!"

    Qiao Yu was shocked but his head was already nodding on its own. Then he looked at the nonchnt Iris who was calmly sipping her tea, as if she wasn¡¯t the dragon the business legend was referring to.

    This...what in the world was happening today?

 Chapter 178 - For The Sake Of Her Experimen

    <h4>Chapter 178 - For The Sake Of Her Experimen </h4>

    Jin Corporation.

    "President, here is the ripe papaya that you ordered," Xu Tian said as he set the te of the sliced fruit on his boss¡¯ desk.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. He picked up the fork and started eating while reading documents.

    Xu Tian bowed before returning to his own desk outside the door. In the past few days, the President suddenly started eating lots of fruits. Before this, the President barely ate anything while working. He would even skip meals, especially lunch, if work became too busy. Food was just a necessity to fuel the body for him.

    But now, the President suddenly started eating fruits regrly to the point that he even set a schedule for Xu Tian to deliver him small servings every day. Once in the morning, then as a side with lunch, and then once again in the afternoon. Xu Tian wondered if perhaps his boss was on some kind of a special diet.

    Back at his desk, Jin Liwei quickly finished the papaya. The main reason that he was eating fruits regrly was of course to fulfill his role as test subject for his baby girl¡¯s experiment. He would dly sacrifice his body for the sake of her experiment.

    He was in an excellent mood for the past few days because she finally began testing her experiment¡¯s hypothesis. Needless to say, he felt EXTREMELY satisfied every night before they went to sleep.

    What amazed him the most was that she was an incredibly fast learner. In just a few tries, she already developed her own technique on how to make hime faster. Of course, he tried very hard to dy his ejaction but to no avail. Just seeing her take him inside her mouth was already enough to make him lose control and send him into overdrive.

    He remembered what happenedst night.

    They were on the bed. He satpletely naked with his back restingfortably on pillows stacked before the bed¡¯s headboard. On the other hand, Iris was still wearing her full pyjamas. He tried taking them off but she swatted his hands.

    "We¡¯re conducting an experiment," she told him sternly. "I need to keep my wits to focus on the experiment. If I¡¯m also naked, I will most likely get carried away. So don¡¯t touch me during the process, okay? Just sit there and let me do the work."

    He didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. She looked so adorable wearing such a serious expression on her face while talking about giving him a blowjob.

    Finally, they started conducting the experiment.

    They kissed each other and she started stroking his already excited little brother down below. His hands started roaming under her pyjama top, but she pped his hand and red at him. She was true to her word. She didn¡¯t want him touching her at this time. Sighing, he touched her face and her back instead, struggling very hard to not let his hands wander all over her sexy body.

    Then she broke the kiss, lowered her head and began taking him inside her mouth. He couldn¡¯t help but groan deeply, as he threw his head back and closed his eyes, enjoying the pure pleasure of her hot and wet mouth. He opened his eyes and watched her head bobbing slowly up and down.

    They stared into each other¡¯s eyes as she pleasured him. It was so sensual that Iris also couldn¡¯t stop herself from moaning.

    "Baby, let me touch you."

    For a moment, she was tempted. But then her stubborn determination kicked in. She lightly shook her head and continued bobbing her head up and down while sucking him. Her hands were also busy roaming all over his abdomen, hips, inner thighs and then to his balls and finally to work in conjunction with her mouth, stroking the base of his shaft.

    When he started stiffening and panting, she sped up.

    "Oh sh*t, baby! F*ck!" The pleasure was so intense that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from cursing.

    His hips thrust upwards into her mouth. His hand tightened on her hair but when she yelped, he quickly loosened his hold and grabbed the duvet instead, gripping it hard.

    He released a deep sound which sounded like abination between a groan and a growl, as he released all of his pleasure inside her mouth.

    This time, she didn¡¯t swallow everything. She only took a small portion in her mouth before quickly pointing his d*ck towards him. Using her hand, she pumped the rest of his ejaction on his own abdomen.

    As she did so, she focused on the taste of his semen. There was a look of deep concentration on her face. She frowned for a bit.

    "Hmm...It still tastes bad but yes, there is indeed a slight sweetness to it this time," she murmured. "But it¡¯s very slight, almost negligible. Let¡¯s have you continue to eat fruits."

    When he finished, she climbed off the bed and headed to the bathroom to wash her hands and to rinse her mouth. Then she returned to the room but headed to her study desk instead. She turned on herptop and started documenting her findings.

    Jin Liwei sighed as his baby girlpletely ignored him. Then his mouth curved into a smug smile, feeling extremely satisfied. He wanted to eat her tonight as well. Perhaps he could get a second round. Just thinking about it was already making him feel aroused again. His limp little brother started stirring back to life.

    After Iris was done, she headed back to the bed but stopped in her tracks. Her eyes widened seeing him fully erect again.

    "Done with the experiments for tonight?" he asked while stroking himself with his hand.

    She nodded.

    "Good. This time is for us. Okay, baby?"

    She nodded and then hurried back to bed. Her clothes was torn off her in no time.

    He got what he wanted. He ate her, making her scream, and got a second round.

    Back to the present.

    Jin Liwei felt a tightness in his trousers. He sighed, mentally reciting the value of pi to calm himself down.

    Then the sound of his mobile phone ringing interrupted him. He looked at the caller and immediately answered.

    "Hello, Mother?"

 Chapter 179 - Whereâ€™s My Grandchild?

    <h4>Chapter 179 - Where¡¯s My Grandchild? </h4>

    "Son, are you busy?"

    "Not too busy. I can talk," Jin Liwei replied. "Is there something you need to speak with me about, Mother?"

    His mother hesitated before saying, "Yes."

    "What is it?"

    Silence.

    He sighed. "If it¡¯s about the Fans, I won¡¯t change my mind. Mother, I know that you¡¯re close to them and that our family will be inws through Chonglin, but these alone don¡¯t give them automatic ess to Jin Corporation. I¡¯m the head of thepany, so I know that they¡¯re notpatible with Jin Corporation. Mother, please stop¡ª"

    "Son, I didn¡¯t call to talk about the Fans. Even though your decision makes me sad, I trust in your judgment. I don¡¯t understand business, so I can¡¯t tell you how to run thepany."

    He felt relieved. "So why did you call, Mother?"

    His mother paused again. "Son..."

    "Hm?"

    "SON PLEASE TELL ME DO YOU HAVE A CHILD?!" His mother¡¯s words tumbled out of her mouth in quick session.

    Jin Liwei froze, confused. "Mother, what are you saying?"

    "Please tell me the truth. Did you father a child?" She sounded upset.

    "What child?" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing.

    He didn¡¯t know from where his mother got this ridiculous idea from. He and his baby girl hadn¡¯t gone all the way yet, so he knew that she wasn¡¯t pregnant. Well, they had Ice Cream and Popcorn but he didn¡¯t think his mother would be this distressed for kittens.

    "Don¡¯t lie to me! Jin Liwei, I know that you¡¯re a sessful businessman but you¡¯re still my son! Why are you hiding my grandchild?! Is it because he or she is illegitimate?! I don¡¯t care about that! Your grandmother and I will surely love any child of yours! This is the first time that I feel very disappointed of you! How can you hide your own child from us?! Where¡¯s my grandchild?! I want to meet my grandchild!"

    He felt utterly confused. What grandchild? "Mother, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. I don¡¯t have a child. I have two kittens and I consider them my kids. Are you talking about them?"

    "Son, I¡¯m serious! What kittens?! Don¡¯t joke around! I¡¯m talking about a human child! Why are you lying to your own mother?! Let me see my grandchild!"

    He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. He didn¡¯t understand what was going on. He was starting to feel annoyed. "Mother, I really am not lying. I didn¡¯t father any human child. Where did you hear this from?"

    A few seconds of silence.

    "Really?"

    "Yes."

    "You¡¯re not lying? You really don¡¯t have a child?"

    "I¡¯m not lying. I already told you I don¡¯t have a child, only kittens."

    "Then why did you instruct your butler to buy all those baby clothes, toys, and other baby things? And they¡¯re for a one-year-old! I also heard that you¡¯re not staying at your house anymore, that you¡¯ve been living with a girlfriend! Tell me, am I not supposed to think that you have a secret family after hearing all of these?"

    Jin Liwei rubbed his temple and sighed. Ah, so it seemed that his mother had a spy in his household. He knew that his butler was loyal and trustworthy. His butler only answered to him and wouldn¡¯t betray Jin Liwei¡¯s trust even to his mother. He had various suspects in mind, including one of the older maids or theundress or perhaps even his gardener. These people came from the old house before they transferred to his employment when he bought his Dragon Pce property.

    "Mother, yes, it¡¯s true that I¡¯m currently living with my girlfriend but we don¡¯t have any children yet. I n to marry her first before getting her pregnant."

    He heard his mother gasp.

    "M-marry? Really? Who¡¯s your girlfriend? Why haven¡¯t you introduced her to us yet?! Son, I know that you like doing your own thing and I respect that. But for important things like these, you should tell me. Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m your mother! I have the right to know these things!"

    "I¡¯m already nning to introduce her to you and grandmother, but we have to meet with her family first."

    "Oh!"

    He heard whimpering noises.

    "Mother? Are you crying?"

    "Of course I am! I¡¯m so happy that you finally have a girlfriend. To be honest, both your grandmother and I have been so worried that you¡¯re gay. Not that we¡¯re against it. We love you even if you¡¯re really gay. It¡¯s just that we want you to father a child naturally with a wife, you know."

    He rubbed his temples once again.

    ¡¯Why does everyone think I¡¯m gay? I don¡¯t understand.¡¯

    "So tell me about your girlfriend, son. Who is she? What¡¯s her name? What is she like? How did you meet? Is she beautiful?"

    "You¡¯ll know who she is and what she¡¯s like when you meet her in person. And yes, she¡¯s beautiful."

    "You seem to really like her. You¡¯re even living with her."

    "Mother, I love her. I want to marry her and build a family with her. I want her to be the mother of my children. She¡¯s the only woman for me."

    His mother wasn¡¯t able to say anything for almost a minute. "Oh...oh...oh my. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m listening to you say those words, son. Now I really can¡¯t wait to meet your girlfriend."

    "You¡¯ll meet her soon. She¡¯s currently busy with her work, but I already told her I want to introduce her to you. She already agreed, so we¡¯re just waiting for when she¡¯s free. But like I said, we¡¯re going to meet her family first before you and grandmother."

    "I understand, son." Her voice finally sounded excited. "So what about the baby clothes? Who are they for?"

    "For my godson. My girlfriend and I became the godparents of her nephew. He¡¯s one-year-old and the son of my girlfriend¡¯s older brother," he exined.

    "I see. I understand now. So that¡¯s how it is." His mother sighed. "I was so shocked when I first heard about it. I really thought that you¡¯re hiding a grandchild from me. I felt so excited and upset at the same time. I didn¡¯t tell your grandmother because knowing her, she would¡¯ve already investigated everything. You know what she¡¯s like. I didn¡¯t want that to happen because I know you wouldn¡¯t like it. Besides, I wanted to know the truth from your own mouth and not from a detective."

    "En. Thank you, Mother."

    Afterwards, the mother and son talked about other things. It was mostly her fretting about him, making sure that he was living healthy. Then as if she couldn¡¯t help herself, she brought up the Fans.

    "I don¡¯t know what the Fans did wrong, but son, can you please be a little more lenient with them? They¡¯re really suffering right now because others are making fun of them, saying that we threw them aside. I feel so sorry for Little Luo Luo. She¡¯s been crying to me¡ª"

    "Mother, please. My decision is final." He gritted his teeth and said, "If Chonglin really wants her as his wife, then it¡¯s his freedom to do so. But I see no reason why Jin Corporation should be involved in the marriage. Yes, thepany is a family business but please remember that we Jins are not the only ones who have a im to it. Grandpa Lu is back in the country and as far as I know, he doesn¡¯t even know who the Fans are."

    His mother sighed. "I know. I don¡¯t intend to interfere with the business. I just feel so sorry for the Fans, especially for Little Luo Luo."

    Fortunately, she changed the topic and after a few more minutes, they hung up the phone call.

    Jin Liwei leaned back on his chair, feeling like he just climbed up a mountain and back. However, he also felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. Now his mother knew about his girlfriend. He couldn¡¯t wait to introduce his Xin to his mother and grandmother. He felt nervous and excited at the same time.

    As for the Fans, he felt displeased that his mother continued to defend them. He needed to be very careful when dealing with them. It wouldn¡¯t be so easy to cut them off without triggering huge emotional bombs.

    Jin Liwei decided that he needed to find the time to speak to his younger brother, Jin Chonglin.

 Chapter 180 - Rightful Throne

    <h4>Chapter 180 - Rightful Throne </h4>

    Upbeat pop remix music boomed inside the home gym. Jin Chonglin roared as he finished his final burpee. His chest heaved, gasping for air. He waspletely drenched in sweat. He removed his sleeveless hoodie, revealing his extremely toned upper body. The sweat entuated his muscles, especially his eight-pack abs.

    Lin Dong threw him a bottle of chilled water and a towel.

    "Thanks," he said, immediately chugging the water. Water always tasted the best after an intense workout. He finished the entire bottle, and then began wiping the sweat off his body with the towel.

    "You¡¯re falling down the music charts," Lin Dong said.

    "I know."

    "So what are you gonna do about it?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "You¡¯re not gonna post something online to encourage your fans to help boost your music back to the top?"

    Jin Chonglin pretended to think for a couple of seconds before saying, "Nah, not interested."

    "What do you mean you¡¯re not interested? You¡¯re Jin Chonglin!"

    "What does that even mean?"

    Lin Dong sighed deeply, feeling frustrated. "You know exactly what I mean. You¡¯re being trampled by a second-rate pop singer who used to chase you around and a horrible theme song from a popr romance TV drama."

    "Second-rate pop singer?" Jin Chonglin threw the towel hard near Lin Dong¡¯s feet. He looked furious. "Say that again!"

    "Ah?"

    "If Iris Long is second-rate, then nobody is first-rate! Are you deaf or what? Have even listened to her music? How dare you call her second-rate?!"

    Lin Dong was taken aback by his sudden outburst. He didn¡¯t know how to react.

    "I¡¯m Jin Chonglin! I¡¯m an artist, a musician! I know music when I hear it! I can differentiate between first-rate and second-rate! Don¡¯t you dare degrade a musician¡¯s work with your carelessments, you bastard!"

    "Ah... Alright, I get it. Calm down now, okay? I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t really mean it," Lin Dong hurriedly said.

    "Hmph!" Jin Chonglin red at his manager onest time before starting his cool down exercises.

    Lin Dong sighed. He was careless this time. He momentarily forgot that Jin Chonglin was extremely serious when it came to music. He didn¡¯t want to trigger Jin Chonglin again, but he was the manager and it was his job to be concerned about his artist¡¯s career.

    "So...are you really not gonna do anything about the situation in the music charts?" he asked cautiously.

    "No." Jin Chonglin¡¯s tone sounded final.

    Lin Dong sighed.

    Jin Chonglin gave his manager a side-eye. "Why do you look disappointed? My song and album both debuted at number 1."

    "I know. But you¡¯re not number 1 anymore."

    "The music charts aren¡¯t meant to be dominated by a single artist for a long period of time. If something better is released, then it¡¯s only natural that it reces the one on top. That¡¯s just how this game works."

    "So you¡¯re admitting that Iris Long¡¯s music is better than yours?"

    Jin Chonglin paused before replying. "Yes, her ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ album is certainly better than my current album, but that doesn¡¯t mean that she¡¯s a better musician than me. She may have won the battle this time, but she hasn¡¯t won the war. She has a long way to go before she canpletely defeat me, Jin Chonglin. She needs to get to my level first."

    Lin Dong sighed again.

    "Let her enjoy the feeling of being on top for now," Jin Chonglin continued as he did some stretching on a mat. "She deserves it. ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ is also great in its own right but too bad it¡¯s not mainstream. It won¡¯t reach the top of the music charts like ¡¯Rebirth¡¯, especially in this country. I think other countries will appreciate it more than here, especially in Europe. They love that kind of instrumental music."

    "It seems that you really think highly of Iris Long now."

    "Like I said, I¡¯m a musician. I respect other musicians who create great music. Iris Long creates great music, at least the music after hereback."

    "Fine. I get it."

    Jin Chonglin had a deep and thoughtful expression. "You know what? I think I need to thank Iris Long for defeating my music in the music charts."

    Lin Dong frowned. ¡¯What is he saying? Did he turn into a masochist?¡¯

    "I now realize that I¡¯ve let fame get into my head and focused too much on pleasing my fans. Analyzing my music from when I just debuted to my current music, I feel very ashamed of myself. I unknowingly lost my true essence as a musician. Ever since I became famous, it was all about choosing the kind of music that will likely sell the most. Listening to ¡¯Rebirth¡¯ reminded me that quality music never lies. That¡¯s why I¡¯m not going to act bullheaded and insist on boosting my current album when I know that it¡¯s inferior to ¡¯Rebirth¡¯. I don¡¯t want to sacrifice my dignity as a musician and use my fans to beat someone¡¯s music which I know is better than mine."

    Lin Dong couldn¡¯t count how many times he sighed in thest few minutes.

    "Fortunately, I realized this just in time. From now on, I want to return to the basics, to my roots, and to rediscover my true essence as a musician."

    "Eh?" Lin Dong didn¡¯t understand.

    Jin Chonglin gave him a mysterious smile. "Like I said, Iris Long still has a long way to go to reach my level. She¡¯s not the only one who canpose her own music."

    Lin Dong looked shocked and then his eyes lit up. "You mean?"

    Jin Chonglin nodded. "Yes, I¡¯m going topose my next music by myself like I used to do when I just debuted. I feel very inspired. I¡¯m not sure whether it¡¯s going to be a single or a full album. We¡¯ll see."

    "That¡¯s great! No, that¡¯s awesome!"

    It had been years since Jin Chonglinposed his own music. Lin Dong couldn¡¯t help but feel excited, especially because he had been with Jin Chonglin ever since he debuted.

    Lin Dong smiled and rubbed his hands together. ¡¯Iris Long, beware. Jin Chonglin ising. The true king of the music charts will return to take back his rightful throne from you.¡¯

 Chapter 181 - When Are We Going To Marry?

    <h4>Chapter 181 - When Are We Going To Marry? </h4>

    After Jin Chonglinpleted his cool down exercises, he headed for the showers.

    Lin Dong went to the kitchen for something to eat. As a celebrity, Jin Chonglin was very weight conscious and strict of his own diet so all the food in his kitchen were "healthy". Lin Dong sighed looking at the unappetizing (for him) choices. In the end, he settled for some dried squid before heading to the living room to watch TV.

    Finally, Jin Chonglin appeared. His hair was still damp. He went to his kitchen and started cooking.

    "Want some eggs?" he hollered to his manager.

    "Yeah!" Lin Dong immediately abandoned the dried squid and returned to the kitchen.

    Within a few minutes, Jin Chonglin cooked egg omelettes. He gave two to his manager and made one for himself. Lin Dong started eating immediately, while Jin Chonglin prepared a ripe avocado to go with his own omelette.

    They were interrupted by the sound of Jin Chonglin¡¯s ringing phone.

    He nced at the caller. He frowned, deciding not to answer it.

    Lin Dong could already guess who it was just based on Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression.

    The phone stopped ringing but two secondster, it rang again. Jin Chonglin sighed deeply before answering the phone. His unwillingness was clear on his face.

    "Hello, Xiao Luo?"

    "Big Brother Lin, what took you so long to answer my call? Where are you? Who are you with?" Fan Luo¡¯s voice could be heard even when the call wasn¡¯t on speakerphone. Even Lin Dong could hear her.

    Jin Chonglin scowled, feeling irritated. She didn¡¯t even greet him properly, bombarding him instead with her suspicious questions. "Why did you call, Xiao Luo?"

    "Oh Big Brother Lin, you¡¯re so cold to me now!" She began making crying noises.

    He fought the urge to roll his eyes. He gave his manager a helpless look. "Tell me why you called."

    "I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e! Do I need a reason every time I want to call you?! We never spend time together anymore. I miss you so much, Big Brother Lin! Can Ie over to your house today?"

    "No," he immediately said. "Sorry, but I¡¯m busy right now. I¡¯m nning to write my next music so I don¡¯t want to be disturbed."

    "Busy! You¡¯re always busy every time I want to spend time with you! You don¡¯t love me anymore!"

    Jin Chonglin sighed, looking up at the ceiling. He wished for more patience. He never loved Fan Luo. He only cared about her as a childhood friend and almost like a sister. Then he became attracted to her body as a lover. Recently, however, Fan Luo was getting on his nerves more frequently that he could feel his heart turning cold towards her.

    "Xiao Luo, if that¡¯s all you have to say, I¡¯m hanging up."

    "No! Please don¡¯t, Big Brother Lin! I need to talk to you!"

    "Alright. What do you want to talk about?"

    "Big Brother, when are we going to marry? We¡¯ve been engaged for almost two years now, but you still won¡¯t allow me to start nning our wedding. Everyone is getting impatient. Our parents want to have grandchildren soon."

    He frowned. "It¡¯s not the right time yet."

    "You always say that! When will be the right time for you? If I continue to wait, I¡¯ll be an old maid by then."

    "I told you I¡¯m busy right now. I have a lot of workmitments that I just can¡¯t abandon."

    "Big Brother, you¡¯re Jin Chonglin! You¡¯re already a big star! It won¡¯t hurt you even if you take an entire year off or more."

    "Xiao Luo! You don¡¯t know how brutal it is working in showbiz. Don¡¯t talk like you know what it¡¯s like! Bing a big star doesn¡¯t give anyone immunity in this industry!"

    "Why are you yelling at me?" she whined. "You¡¯ve be so harsh to me!"

    Jin Chonglin closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. When he calmed down a little, he said, "I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to yell at you. I just don¡¯t like that you make it sound as if showbiz is easy when it isn¡¯t."

    "Alright, Big Brother," she said. "Even if you¡¯re treating me so coldly and harshly, I still love you."

    "Mmn." He made a noise, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

    "So can we marry soon?"

    He scowled.

    "I think that we should marry soon and prove to everyone that our families are still close as ever! You don¡¯t know how my family is suffering right now!" She began sobbing. "Oh Big Brother Lin, everyone is mocking us because Jin Corporation doesn¡¯t want to work with ourpany anymore. They¡¯re saying that our families have be estranged and that our wedding is cancelled! My entire Fan family feels so humiliated! My mother and I are both suffering from depression! My dad, brothers and uncles barely have any face left in the business industry. Why is Elder Brother Liwei suddenly acting so cruel to us?!"

    "I¡¯m sure my brother has a reason. Don¡¯t think too much about it," he told her.

    "But Big Brother Lin! We can¡¯t take the mockery and humiliation any longer! Elder Brother Liwei refuses to give us an exnation. Even when Auntie spoke to him on our behalf, he¡¯s still continuing to be cruel to us!"

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t like how she was using his older brother. He might not be very close to his older brother especially in recent years but Jin Liwei was still his brother. He felt defensive hearing other people badmouthing his family.

    "It¡¯s not my brother¡¯s fault. He¡¯s not the one mocking or humiliating your family. All he did was to reject yourpany¡¯s business proposals. My brother is an excellent businessman. All of us Jins trust in his leadership. I¡¯m sure that he has a logical reason for his decision to reject yourpany¡¯s proposals. Perhaps there¡¯s something wrong with the proposals you presented."

    "What logical reason? He just clearly hates us! And our proposals are perfect!" Fan Luo was beyond reason now.

    "Stop it! I refuse to talk to you if you continue being unreasonable like this. Stop ming my brother, do you understand?"

    Then he hung up the phone without waiting for her reply.

 Chapter 182 - Yes Or No

    <h4>Chapter 182 - Yes Or No </h4>

    Ten secondster, the phone started ringing again.

    Jin Chonglin thought of ignoring it but thinking of the consequences, he still decided to answer the phone. If he ignored Fan Luo¡¯s call, she would likely call him nonstop. Worse, she might decide to storm his house.

    When he picked up the call, he hadn¡¯t even said anything yet before hearing her crying loudly.

    "Big Brother Lin, I¡¯m so sorry! I just feel so upset about what¡¯s happening to my family. Please don¡¯t be mad at me!" She sobbed hard.

    His heart softened a bit. Although she frequently got on his nerves, he couldn¡¯t just discard the fact that he watched her grow up from a little girl to a woman.

    Sighing, he told her in a gentler voice, "Alright. Don¡¯t cry anymore."

    She cried some more before calming down. The she asked, "Can I ask a favour?"

    "What favour?"

    "It¡¯s like this... Can you speak to Elder Brother Liwei? My dad, brothers and uncles don¡¯t mind the proposals he rejected anymore. Honestly! It¡¯s just that...there¡¯s this business project that ourpany really wants to participate in. My father says that we need this project to grow ourpany to the next level."

    "Is it a Jin Corporation project?" he asked.

    "No."

    He frowned, confused. "Then why do you need me to talk to my brother when it¡¯s not even his business project?"

    "It¡¯s because ever since Jin Corporation rejected ourst proposals, otherpanies started snubbing us. Even though Jin Corporation is not directly involved in this uing business project, the ones involved have connections with Jin Corporation. All we need is a good word from Elder Brother Liwei. Although he doesn¡¯t want to work with us anymore, that doesn¡¯t mean that he¡¯ll stop us from working with others, right? Please, Big Brother Lin! Can you talk to him? This is really important to my family!"

    Jin Chonglin hesitated. "I need to think about this first."

    "Big Brother Lin, please! I¡¯m begging you!"

    "Have you talked to my mother about this yet?"

    "We did. Both Mom and I talked to Auntie. She said that she already tried talking to Elder Brother Liwei but he won¡¯t do anything. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you, Big Brother Lin. Please do this for me! Or even just for the sake of our dead baby!"

    He immediately scowled. "Xiao Luo! We already talked about this. I told you not to use the child you miscarried like this."

    She started crying again. "I know. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m just still so depressed over my miscarriage. Big Brother Lin, I want a baby!"

    His lips pressed together into a thin line. "We¡¯re not going to talk about this right now."

    "But I really want a baby. Mom and Auntie are also looking forward to a grandchild."

    "Xiao Luo!"

    "Fine. I¡¯ll stop but I hope that you won¡¯t forget that we have a dead baby. Even if you don¡¯t want to talk about it, you can¡¯t erase that part of our past."

    Jin Chonglin massaged his temples. Lin Dong poured him a cup of orange juice. He nodded his thanks to his manager before drinking.

    "Alright," he said, sighing. "I¡¯ll try talking to my brother."

    "Really? Thank you!"

    "But don¡¯t get your hopes up. If even our mother can¡¯t persuade him, there¡¯s even less chance that he¡¯ll listen to me."

    "Please just try!"

    He sighed again. "Okay."

    "Thank you, Big Brother Lin! I love you so much!"

    He made a nomittal sound. He let her chatter for a few more moments before finally hanging up the phone. Slumping on a stool, he felt exhausted all of a sudden.

    "Why don¡¯t you break up with her?" Lin Dong asked, patting him on the shoulder. "You¡¯re so miserable now. You¡¯re clearly not happy. This is not the Jin Chonglin that I know."

    Jin Chonglin sighed deeply. "You think it¡¯s that easy to break up? If it¡¯s just her, I would¡¯ve broken up with her long ago. But there¡¯s our families that I need to consider. I personally don¡¯t care about the Fans, but my mother adores them. With my brother suddenly distancing Jin Corporation from the Fans, if I break up with Xiao Luo, there¡¯s no doubt that our two families will immediately turn hostile and be enemies. My mother will be heartbroken if that happens. I shouldn¡¯t have proposed to her in the first ce."

    "What a pain in the a**," Lin Dongmented. "I often envy you for being born into such a prestigious and rich family but in a situation like this, I¡¯m d that I¡¯m from a normal household. You can¡¯t even break up with your girlfriend, I mean your fianc¨¦e, without triggering a war between families. Hai! Soplicated."

    "Yeah, unfortunately."

    They were interrupted once again by another phone call.

    "Is it her again?" Lin Dong asked.

    Jin Chonglin checked, his eyes widening in surprise.

    Curious, Lin Dong peeked and saw "Big Bro" on the caller disy. "Whoa. Is that who I think it is?"

    "Yeah."

    "Holy sh*t! Answer it quickly! This is Jin Liwei we¡¯re talking about!"

    Jin Chonglin gave him a side-eye. "He¡¯s just my brother, you know. Why are you acting so starstruck?"

    "Are you kidding me?! I know he¡¯s your brother, but he¡¯s also THE Jin Liwei! Hurry up and answer! I wanna hear his voice."

    Jin Chonglin rolled his eyes, and then answered the phone. "Hello?"

    "It¡¯s me," Jin Liwei¡¯s cold voice said as a greeting.

    "I know. It¡¯s so rare that you¡¯re calling me, Big Bro."

    "I need to talk to you."

    "Alright. What is it?"

    "Are you alone?"

    Jin Chonglin nced at the excited Lin Dong. "No, my manager is with me."

    "Either ask him to leave or you go somewhere else."

    He immediately felt curious. "Alright. Wait." Turning to his manager, he told him, "Sorry, can you go to the living room for now? My brother has something important to tell me."

    "Oh. Okay," Lin Dong was disappointed but respected the request. He left the kitchen to give the brothers privacy.

    "He¡¯s gone," Jin Chonglin said.

    "Good." Jin Liwei hesitated for a couple of seconds before asking, "Do you really want to marry Fan Luo?"

    Jin Chonglin was surprised. "Why do you ask?"

    "Answer me. Yes or no."

    "I..."

    Jin Chonglin was indecisive but Jin Liwei waited for his reply patiently. More than a minute passed before he finally answered.

    "No, I don¡¯t want to marry her."

 Chapter 183 - Weâ€™re Brothers

    <h4>Chapter 183 - We¡¯re Brothers </h4>

    As soon as the words left his mouth, Jin Chonglin immediately felt lighter. It felt good to admit aloud that he no longer wanted to marry his fianc¨¦e. However, he still couldn¡¯t stop the feeling of guilt because after all he was the one who proposed to Fan Luo in the first ce.

    He had no idea why his brother was suddenly asking him this. Jin Liwei was cold and bossy, so for a rebel like Jin Chonglin who refused to work for thepany and carved his own path in showbiz instead, it may appear to others that the brothers didn¡¯t get along. Their five-year age gap also fueled this spection even further.

    Contrary to what others thought, the brothers actually got along well. Although it was true that they didn¡¯t interact much in recent years, it was only because Jin Liwei had to abruptly seed as head of Jin Corporation during his mid-twenties after their father died due to heart failure. Jin Liwei became too busy with stabilizing thepany after their father¡¯s death and also in establishing his own position.

    Jin Chonglin could still remember when they were children that his older brother always looked out for him. Even then, Jin Liwei already had a cold and indifferent personality but he cared for the people important to him.

    He always held great respect for his older brother because he knew that he could never be as firm or reliable as Jin Liwei. Jin Chonglin could be as wild and unfettered as he wanted because he knew that his older brother would always be there to clean up his mess and bnce things out.

    However, at the end of the day, he was still a member of the Jin family. He knew that there were some limits that he couldn¡¯t cross. If there was no Fan family attached to his fianc¨¦e, he would¡¯ve broken up with her long ago. To make matters moreplicated was that his mother treated the Fans as family and adored Fan Luo like her own daughter.

    Jin Chonglin was a rebel but he wasn¡¯t heartless. He could forsake the Jins and perhaps even his older brother, but never would he dare hurt his mother.

    So in this matter with Fan Luo, he felt torn. He knew that his brother prioritized the good of the family. Jin Chonglin honestly didn¡¯t know how Jin Liwei would react to his admission.

    Finally, Jin Liwei replied. "Good. You shouldn¡¯t marry that kind of insane woman."

    "Eh?" Jin Chonglin was taken aback. Did his brother just refer to Fan Luo as an insane woman?

    "Now listen to what I¡¯m going to say," Jin Liwei continued, oblivious to his brother¡¯s surprise. "We¡¯re going to n your breakup in a way that minimizes the impact on both families, especially on Mother."

    "Ah? What?" Jin Chonglin was too stunned to make sense of what his brother was saying.

    "The Fans are very ambitious and had clung to their connection to us Jins in order to reach their current status. They won¡¯t allow you to escape their clutches that easily. I¡¯m already starting to distance Jin Corporation from them, but if your marriage with their daughter continued as nned, I¡¯m sure they will find various ways to worm inside thepany."

    "Why the sudden aversion to the Fans? Did they do something against you?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t answer immediately.

    "Not to me personally," he eventually said. "But to someone important to me. Now I¡¯m regretting my connection to the Fans. I wish I didn¡¯t directly involve myself in their matters, even though my intention was to protect our family."

    "Someone important to you? Who?" Jin Chonglin was confused. Was it their mother? But their mother was still close to the Fans as ever. Who else was close to his brother? Was it his four best friends? But those guys could take care of themselves. Or was it him?

    "Never mind about that for now. You¡¯ll eventually find out."

    "Alright. So what¡¯s your n, Big Bro?"

    "You can¡¯t breakup with Fan Luo for now because she¡¯ll most likely go crazy. Just distance yourself from her and avoid any interactions with her as much as possible. If she or her family starts harassing you or asks our mother to intervene, call me immediately. I¡¯ll send some of my subordinates to guard you if you need them."

    Jin Chonglin listened attentively as Jin Liwei gave more specific instructions. Afterwards, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh. "I know that the situation is serious but I didn¡¯t realize that it¡¯s this serious. It won¡¯t be very easy for us to disentangle ourselves from the Fans, especially with Mom involved. I wish I didn¡¯t do what I did. I¡¯m regretting it so badly now. I didn¡¯t think that I would change my mind and feelings like this when I made that decision in the past."

    "Yeah. Me too," Jin Liwei also said with a deep sigh. "But what¡¯s past is already in the past. All we can do is change ourselves in the present and work for a different future."

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t know why his brother said these words but he decided not toment. The brothers discussed their ns some more. Now Jin Chonglin felt less indecisive and a little more confident. He wished he talked to his older brother sooner. Jin Liwei always solved things.

    "Thanks, Big Bro," he said.

    "We¡¯re brothers," Jin Liwei¡¯s calm voice replied.

    "Yeah, we¡¯re brothers."

 Chapter 184 - KeymonSTER

    <h4>Chapter 184 - KeymonSTER </h4>

    Just like Jin Chonglin predicted, "Rebirth Melodies" couldn¡¯t reach the top of the music charts. It fluctuated around the eighth, ninth and tenth positions, sometimes even looking like it would fall down from the top 10.

    The piano version of "Rebirth" and "Phantom of Your Love" were in the tenth and eighteenth positions respectively while "ck Star" was thirty-sixth in the singles ranking.

    Although these results looked disappointing, especially whenpared to the sess of the original "Rebirth" album which was still reigning at the top of the music charts, it already defied the predictions made by most of the music industry experts. For an instrumental album like this to reach this height was already a great and unexpected achievement, especially when it was by a musician who many considered as a "second-rate pop singer".

    Only Iris Long¡¯s dedicated haters mocked her piano album for not reaching the same level of sess as the original "Rebirth" album. They chose to ignore the piano album¡¯s growing sess overseas, especially in Europe. It had now entered the top 20 in six European countries. In three of these countries, "Rebirth Melodies" was in the top 10 in the music charts.

    In fact, JJ¡¯s recordbel was already receiving various offers from abroad inviting Iris Long to perform in those countries. Of course JJ wouldn¡¯t let this opportunity go to waste, deliberately leaking the information to the public.

    When Iris¡¯ fans learned of this, they went crazy with delight. Her official fan club, the ck Stars, were especially ecstatic and proud.

    CaptainckStar: "Listen up,rades! This is the proof that our boss is now a world-ss musician! We, the ck Stars, need to prepare ourselves when our boss decides to take on the international scene. We need to be there to support her all the way!"

    "Yeah! Our boss is the best!"

    "I¡¯m crying. I feel so emotional. Someone pinch me. I think I¡¯m dreaming."

    iEatSlippers: "What pinch? Here, I¡¯ll whack you with my mighty slippers instead! You¡¯re not dreaming! THIS IS NOT A DREAM!!!"

    "Wow. Just wow. Boss is just so wow."

    iEatSlippers: "Slippers Army, let¡¯s follow Captain¡¯s instructions and prepare ourselves. Go polish your slippers because when our boss ventures out into the international scene, we need to be ready to wave our mighty slippers in her honour and whack anyone who dares stand in her way!"

    LittlePhoenix: "Yeah! All hail our mighty slippers! In the name of Boss Iris!"

    "This uncle will follow the boss wherever she wants to go! I¡¯m ready! Let¡¯s go!"

    MrsLovePhantom: "I¡¯m so proud of Iris. She deserves the recognition she¡¯s getting both in our country and abroad as well. She¡¯s such a talented girl. I can¡¯t wait to see how far she¡¯ll go. I¡¯ll continue to support her."

    Her three friends echoed her statement.

    Manyizens alsomented on this leak. Although many were like the ck Stars, supporting and congratting Iris Long, there were also some who were skeptical.

    "This is just unsubstantiated rumour. There is no confirmation whether these alleged offers from abroad are real or not."

    "Who leaked this? Answer: Iris Long!"

    "Iris Long is getting too ahead of herself. She just wants more publicity to maintain her current top position in the music charts."

    Of course, her haters wouldn¡¯t miss this chance to hate on her even more.

    "Hah! I told you. A fame wh*re will always be a fame wh*re! Iris changed her image to a goody two-shoes but deep inside she¡¯s still the same ck-hearted fame wh*re!"

    "What invitations from abroad? They¡¯re probably sent by strip clubs or something. Maybe even brothels! Because that¡¯s where sl*ts like her belong!"

    "I hate you, Iris Long! I wish you died in the car crash! Go kill yourself!"

    Thestment was reported by many users as abusive and the web admins eventually removed it. There were many other dummy ounts like this. Their sole purpose was to hate on Iris Long.

    A few hourster, a number of people¡¯s identities and personal information were all revealed to the inte. These people were apparently connected to the anti-Iris dummy ounts, either by using the ounts themselves or by hiring others to leave hatements about Iris Long on the web.

    When their real identities and personal information were revealed to the public, many people were shocked because most of them were young socialites from some of the most prominent families in the country.

    But this was not all.

    In addition to their real identities and personal information, scandals about them were also exposed for everyone to see. A lot of them were featured in nude photos and a couple of them even had sex tapes. Records of abortions, secret children, and all kinds of dirt were also dug out.

    The families of these socialites immediately went into lockdown mode, refusing to speak to the media, as they frantically contacted their respective PR teams to salvage their reputation.

    A few dayster, the authorities issued a search warrant for a hacker named KeymonSTER. It seemed that the hacker taunted the socialites¡¯ families that if they didn¡¯t control their children, he would expose all the dirtyundry these families were hiding. He was very bold by revealing his hacker name.

    Overnight, KeymonSTER became a household name as an infamous hacker.

 Chapter 185 - Posh Gossip Over Champagne

    <h4>Chapter 185 - Posh Gossip Over Champagne </h4>

    Feng Wan and her three friends were watching the evening news on TV inside her mansion. They just ate a fine French-inspired dinner cooked by a private chef. Now they were rxing in the living area while sipping ros¨¦ champagne in sparkling crystal flutes.

    The news were currently covering the recent scandals surrounding the young socialites and the newly infamous hacker who exposed them, KeymonSTER.

    Although the four poshdies disapproved of the hacker¡¯s cruel method, they didn¡¯t have any sympathy for the socialites either. After all, they wrote such hateful and abusivements about Iris Long on the inte. For that alone, thedies already thought badly of them.

    "We know many of these children," Feng Wan¡¯s first friendmented, shaking her head. "I can¡¯t believe that they can be so despicable!"

    The second friend nodded. "I¡¯m even friends with some of their parents. Now I have to re-evaluate my rtionship with them. I¡¯m so aghast!"

    "Hmm... I always see this group of children together," the third friend who was also the wife of the Police Chief said. "They¡¯re all friends, but I think they¡¯re missing someone. I can¡¯t remember who..."

    "It¡¯s the Fan girl," Feng Wan replied after sipping her champagne. "If I remember correctly, she¡¯s the leader of this group. How odd that she¡¯s not included."

    First friend: "Oh! You¡¯re right! Now I remember."

    Second friend: "I wonder why she¡¯s not included in this disgraced group. Perhaps she¡¯s a real good girl and has no scandal that can be exposed."

    The Chief of Police¡¯s wife scoffed. "Good girl? I doubt it. It¡¯s an open secret that the Fans are slimy opportunists who keep on using their connection to the Jins to raise their status."

    "True." The second friend nodded. "The Fans were originally just a local pawnshop in their province before their current Madam married into the Fan family. Madam Fan¡¯s former school friend was already Madam Jin that time, so she reconnected with her.

    First friend: "Yes, I also know this story. The Jins were already at the top of the business world by that time along with the Lus. If we really think about it, if she didn¡¯t reconnect with Madam Jin, the Fans would probably still be in their province running their little pawnshop. But look at them now."

    "Indeed," the Chief of Police¡¯s wife agreed. "They¡¯ve expanded their business big time and even crossed over to several other fields, using their connection to the Jins. My husband tells me that the Fans are involved in some corruption but since nobody has exposed or reported them yet, the police can¡¯t do anything. Besides, their connection to the Jins is something to be wary of."

    Second friend: "But I heard that the two families aren¡¯t on good terms anymore. I¡¯m sure all of you heard about Jin Corporation rejecting all of the Fans¡¯ proposals to participate in the corporation¡¯s business projects. There are also rumours that the Fan girl and the Jin¡¯s second son have broken up."

    First friend: "Those are just rumours. The Jin¡¯s Second Master is a big celebrity, even more famous than our dear Iris. If he really broke up with the Fan girl, I¡¯m sure that it¡¯ll be all over the news."

    Thedies nodded.

    "If they¡¯re still engaged and have not broken up, then why would Jin Corporation suddenly stop wanting to work with the Fans?" The Chief of Police¡¯s wife was puzzled.

    Feng Wan set her champagne flute on the ent table beside her. "You just said that your husband knows that the Fans are involved in some kind of corruption. Perhaps Jin Liwei also became aware of it. That boy is smart and knows his priorities. Although he hasn¡¯t been able to take Jin Corporation to a new higher level, he¡¯s doing an excellent job in maintaining thepany¡¯s top position in the country¡¯s business world. That alone already shows his topnotch abilities. The Fans may be a family friend but it¡¯s not worth it to be dragged in the mud with them when their dirtyundry is aired to the public. That boy will prioritize his family and Jin Corporation over others."

    Second friend: "You seem to know a lot about Jin Liwei."

    Feng Wan shrugged. "Not really. This is just my own conjecture. Who knows? Perhaps the Fans¡¯ business proposals just sucked very badly that the boy had no choice but to reject them. Maybe that¡¯s the real reason why he¡¯s suddenly distancing Jin Corporation from the Fans."

    Thedies allughed.

    Afterwards, the first friend returned to the earlier topic they were discussing. "So do you think the Fan girl is also involved in these young socialites¡¯ hate campaign against our dear Iris?"

    Second friend: "Yes."

    The wife of the Police Chief nodded.

    "It¡¯s possible," Feng Wan said. "If I remember correctly, there were rumours about an affair between our dear Iris and that Jin Chonglin boy. There also seems to be an incident when the Fan girl denounced our dear Iris as the ¡¯other woman¡¯. Just with these alone, I¡¯m sure that the Fan girl has bad feelings for our dear Iris."

    Her friends all agreed with her.

    "If she really has something to do with this hate campaign, then she¡¯s really crafty," Feng Wan continued. "I don¡¯t believe that KeymonSTER hacker will exclude her if he found about her, so she must¡¯ve directed her friends on the hate campaign without doing the dirty deeds herself. But who knows? Perhaps the Fan girl is really innocent in this matter and we¡¯re just overthinking."

    Her friends scoffed. Innocent? Someone spawned by the Fans?

    The four poshdies continued to gossip over champagne well into the night.

 Chapter 186 - Cuckoo Monster

    <h4>Chapter 186 - Cuckoo Monster </h4>

    tinum Sky Condominium.

    After their business lesson that day, Grandpa Lu invited Iris to go with him somewhere. He said that he wanted to introduce her to his dearest friend who was currently staying in the countryside. Iris had no reason to decline and she was also curious, so she agreed.

    She followed him up to the rooftop where a private helicopter was already waiting for them. She was only momentarily surprised seeing a helipad on top of the building, but since this was Grandpa Lu¡¯s property, she didn¡¯t think it was that unusual.

    The pilot greeted them and assisted the two of them into the helicopter. Grandpa Lu red at the male pilot who tried to fasten Iris¡¯ seat belt.

    "No touching my granddaughter, boy!"

    The poor pilot flinched at the sharp warning, but he was a professional and quickly recovered. He apologized before backing away.

    Iris nced at Grandpa Lu. Did he just call her his granddaughter?

    "What?" Grandpa Lu asked, catching her looking at him. "You¡¯re my student but I already consider you as my granddaughter. You¡¯re already family to me. Besides, you¡¯re already calling me Grandpa! What¡¯s wrong with me calling you my granddaughter? I want to know!"

    She felt touched by his words. "There¡¯s nothing wrong, Grandpa Lu. Thank you."

    "Ahaha! Good. Very good!" Then he personally helped her fasten her seat belt.

    The pilot handed each of them aviation headsets before heading to the cockpit at the front. Grandpa Lu¡¯s two bodyguards sat at the back.

    Momentster, they were flying in the air.

    Iris watched in fascination at the aerial view of the city she now called home. It was all concrete and modern buildings. Not really beautiful or breathtaking, but she imagined that it would be mesmerizing at night with all the city lights. Perhaps she would be able to see the aerial night view of the cityter depending on what time they returned from wherever they were going.

    "Xin my girl, I heard that you¡¯re having trouble with some young socialites around your age? Why do they hate you so much? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice sounded over her headset.

    She shrugged. "I¡¯m not having trouble with them. I don¡¯t even know most of them. Besides, there are many people who hate me. They¡¯re not the first ones."

    "Hmph! They¡¯re just entitled brats who are jealous that you¡¯re working for your own sess when all they¡¯re doing is waiting for their parents to drop dead so that they could start collecting their inheritance! Absolute garbage! Those socialites have always been a bunch of snobs!"

    Iris looked uninterested.

    Grandpa Lu saw her reaction orck thereof. He threw his head back andugh uproariously. "Ahaha! That¡¯s my granddaughter! I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re not like those Longs who¡¯re some of the most snobbish people I¡¯ve ever encountered in my life. They look down on other people too much that they¡¯re looking up instead. Maybe that¡¯s why your family crest depicts a dragon looking up! The Longs think too highly of themselves that they¡¯re forgetting to keep their feet on the ground!"

    She leaned to the window and continued to observe the aerial view of the ground. They already left the city and was now above the highways.

    "Don¡¯t take my words as an insult to your family, my girl! Your father, Long Tengfei, is a good man. He is like his father, your grandfather¡ªbless his soul¡ªwho was a talented businessman. Not as good as me, of course! Ahahaha! Good men, both of them. A bit stupid when ites to women but other than that, they¡¯re unlike the rest of the Longs, especially the old ones."

    Iris nodded, agreeing that Long Tengfei was indeed a good man. As for the rest of the Longs, she didn¡¯t really have much opinion about them. All she had were the unpleasant memories of the original Iris about them, especially of the elders who kept on criticizing her and her mother, Wei Lan. They were strangers to her, so she didn¡¯t really care about them.

    "By the way, my girl! That hacker who exposed those brats on the inte, I forgot the name, Cookie Monster or something? Are you that Cookie Monster hacker?"

    "No, Grandpa Lu," she said, chuckling at his mistake. "It wasn¡¯t me. And it¡¯s KeymonSTER, not Cookie Monster."

    "KeymonSTER, Cookie Monster...Cuckoo Monster. They all sound the same! Why choose such a weird and ugly name when there are so many other cooler names to choose from? I want to know!"

    Iris justughed, feeling very entertained by his words.

    Grandpa Lu looked pleased that she was now showing interest in what he was saying. He didn¡¯t really mind her earlier disinterest because both of them were from Cross Academy. He understood and could rte to her. After all, most geniuses followed their own pace without really caring about what other people thought of them.

    However, he must train her not to show her disinterest so obviously to others especially in the world of business. Networking was extremely important in business. Showing disinterest whileworking was detrimental. He wasn¡¯t worried, though. The girl was a fast learner and would surely improve in this aspect.

    "So you¡¯re not Cuckoo Monster. Then it means that there¡¯s another hacker who¡¯s helping you."

    "Yes."

    "Do you know who Cuckoo Monster is?"

    She nodded.

    "You do? Ahaha! Are you friends? Did you tell him to help you? I want to know!"

    "No, we¡¯re not friends. I just met him once before, but he doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m also a hacker. He only knows me as Iris Long. And no, I didn¡¯t ask him to do anything for me. He did everything on his own volition."

    "Well, Xin my girl. You may have many haters, but it seems that you also have many supporters. Good. Very good!" He reached over and patted her shoulder. "Don¡¯t mind the haters. The higher you go, the more haters you¡¯ll acquire and the bigger their jealousy will grow because they wish they can climb as high as you but can¡¯t. That¡¯s why they wish for your downfall, so that they can feel better about their pathetic selves."

    Iris shrugged, beginning to be disinterested again. "I don¡¯t care about what the haters think about me. I don¡¯t think about them at all."

    "Ahaha! That¡¯s what I want to hear!"

 Chapter 187 - The Two Madams

    <h4>Chapter 187 - The Two Madams </h4>

    The helicopternded in a designated helipad within a mountainous estate. The nt life in the ce looked abundant and natural yet also orderly. At first nce, the ce looked untouched yet the man-made infrastructures such as the helipad, power lines, and paved roads obviously meant that it was already developed for human living.

    Everyone disembarked from the helicopter. A man in a ck coat weed them.

    "Wee back, Sir Lu and...Miss. The two Madams are already waiting for you in the country house."

    "Oh? Yuyan is here too?" Grandpa Lu asked.

    "Yes, sir Lu."

    "Good!" Grandpa Lu turned to Iris. "It seems that my dearest friend¡¯s daughter-inw is also here. I¡¯ll introduce you to both of them, my girl."

    "Alright, Grandpa Lu."

    "Don¡¯t worry! Both of them are nice! Nobody will dare disrespect Lu Jianhong¡¯s student!"

    The man who weed them looked surprised after hearing Grandpa Lu. Then he looked at Iris with more curiosity. However, he only looked for a few seconds before reverting to his professional bearing.

    Everyone followed him up a beautiful stone steps towards a huge brick country house visible in the distance. Iris thought that it looked very lovely, especially with such a beautiful view on top of the mountains.

    As it was already autumn, she wore a maxi coat. However, the mountains were much colder, almost feeling like winter. Grandpa Lu noticed her difort so he gave a meaningful look at his bodyguards. One of them handed Iris a thick knitted shawl still in its original packaging.

    "Thank you." She wrapped the shawl around her neck and mouth. Her vocal chords must always be protected as a singer.

    Finally, they reached the country house and quickly entered. The warmth inside weed them.

    "Brother Jianhong, you¡¯re finally here," an elderly woman¡¯s smooth voice said.

    Twodies walked towards them. The one who had spoken was an elegant willowy woman. Her back stooped a little but other than that, her entire posture was tall and regal. Her white hair was styled into a beautiful chignon. The wrinkles on her face didn¡¯t diminish her cold beauty.

    The otherdy looked young at first nce but was actually already middle aged. Unlike the elderly one, she was small and looked almost cute. Even with her age, she still had an air of innocence around her. She had a bashful smile on her face. She looked pretty more than beautiful.

    "Ahaha! Yes, we¡¯re here!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice echoed in the entrance hall. "Sister Zhiruo, you look beautiful as always. And you, Yuyan. Nice to see you here. I swear you never age! You still look like a kid!"

    "And you¡¯re still as loud as ever, Brother Jianhong."

    "Uncle, you¡¯re so mean."

    "I¡¯m mean? Yuyan, I¡¯m praising you! What part of my words was I mean to you, ah? I want to know!"

    "Alright, you two, that¡¯s enough. Brother, won¡¯t you introduce us to the youngdy with you?"

    "Ahahaha! Of course! Xin my girl,e here."

    Iris stepped forward and smiled at the twodies.

    "Xin my girl, this is my dearest friend, Li Zhiruo. Her husband and I were the best of friends, brothers! We miss him every day." The atmosphere turned sad for a few seconds before Grandpa Lu gestured to the otherdy. "And this is her daughter-inw, Huang Yuyan. She may look like she¡¯s about your age but the truth is that she¡¯s already in her¡ª"

    "Uncle, please!" Huang Yuyan¡¯s face was all red.

    Li Zhiruo sighed but her sharp eyes were dancing in amusement. "Stop teasing Yuyan, Brother."

    "Ahahaha! I wasplimenting her!"

    Iris was amused that the three older people were acting like children teasing each other. Then Grandpa Lu pulled her closer and continued the introductions.

    "And this is my new student who I already consider as my granddaughter, Long Xin. Beautiful, isn¡¯t she?"

    "Indeed, what a beautiful child," Li Zhiruo said. "Come closer, Xin my dear. Let me see your face."

    Iris obeyed. "Hello, Madam Li. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for having me in your beautiful home."

    Li Zhiruo nodded after she studied Iris¡¯ face, looking pleased at what she was seeing. "You¡¯re very wee. I¡¯m d to meet you today. Since Brother Jianhong already considers you as his grandchild, please call me Grandma as well."

    Iris hesitated.

    "My girl, what are you waiting for? Just call her Grandma already!"

    Iris blinked. It seemed that these two were really the dearest of friends. When they met her for the first time, they already wanted her to call them Grandpa and Grandma. Was this the norm for them?

    "Grandma Li," she finally said.

    "En." Grandma Li nodded, pleased.

    "Ahaha! Good!"

    Then Iris turned to the otherdy and greeted her. "Hello, Madam Huang. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you."

    "Hello, my dear. Please call me Auntie Yuyan. But only if you¡¯refortable, of course. If not, it¡¯spletely fine. You don¡¯t need to force yourself."

    "Auntie Yuyan," Iris said.

    Then Huang Yuyan suddenly grabbed Iris¡¯ hands. "Oh, you¡¯re so beautiful! I wish I have a daughter like you. I only have two sons. I love them very much but they don¡¯t spend much time with me anymore. They¡¯re too busy with their own careers. Daughters spend more time with their mothers. Too bad that I don¡¯t have any."

    Iris just smiled politely, not knowing how to respond. She couldn¡¯t rte. She never had a close rtionship to either of her mothers both in her previous and present lives.

    After the pleasantries, the man who weed them at the helipad took their coats. Then they all headed to the living area where arge stone firece was currently burning. It was enclosed by ss. The heat felt heavenly especially in this chilly mountain weather.

    "Hai! Why do you insist on staying here in the mountains? I want to know!" Grandpa Luined as he upied an armchair. "Nobody is around and it¡¯s so hard to get here. If I don¡¯t have a helicopter, do you expect me to climb all the way here with my old frail legs?!"

    Grandma Li scoffed elegantly. She upied the other armchair opposite him. "You? Frail? You can be described in many different ways but frail is not one of them."

    Iris and Huang Yuyan sat together on the sofa. They watched the two elders bantering with each other. A maid appeared to serve them hot Pu¡¯erh tea with dried osmanthus flowers.

    Grandma Li ignored Grandpa Lu. She turned to Iris and suddenly asked, "Xin my dear, tell Grandma, are you single?"

 Chapter 188 - Birds And A Worm

    <h4>Chapter 188 - Birds And A Worm </h4>

    Iris couldn¡¯t stop herself from giggling. She was amused that Grandpa Lu and Grandma Li would be so simr to each other when she met them for the first time on different asions.

    Grandma Li raised an eyebrow.

    "My apologies, Grandma Li. I wasn¡¯tughing at you. I just remembered Grandpa Lu asking me the same question."

    "Oh? So he also asked whether you¡¯re single or not?" Grandma Li gave Grandpa Lu a side-eye, narrowing her eyes.

    "Sister Zhiruo, why are you looking at me like that? I want to know! As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm!"

    Grandma Li lifted her chin at him. "But this worm has free will so she has the right to choose which bird she wants to be with."

    "Y-you! Don¡¯t you dare! My bird has first priority!" Grandpa Lu looked enraged.

    Iris knew what the saying meant, but she couldn¡¯t understand what they were talking about. So she turned to Huang Yuyan beside her. "Auntie Yuyan, what do they mean? I don¡¯t understand."

    "Oh..." Huang Yuyanughed awkwardly, her face turning red.

    Iris tilted her head to the side. It seemed that Auntie Yuyan didn¡¯t want to answer her. What was going on? It seemed that she was the only one who didn¡¯t understand.

    Before she could ask either Grandpa Lu or Grandma Li to rify, Huang Yuyan nervously interjected.

    "Mother, actually...well, the truth is...our two birds are already taken. I mean, they already have their own...worms."

    Grandma Li: "Yuyan, what are you talking about? I know that our youngest bird is already taken but our eldest is still avable."

    Huang Yuyan: "Actually...he¡¯s already taken as well."

    Pause.

    "Ahahaha! What? You didn¡¯t know?" Grandpa Lu smacked his thighs as heughed out loud. "Even I know about this!"

    Grandma Li didn¡¯t look pleased. She turned to her daughter-inw. Even though she was frowning, she still looked graceful. "Why wasn¡¯t I informed about this?"

    Huang Yuyan bowed her head. "Sorry, Mother. I was going to tell you today, that¡¯s why I came here. But I just couldn¡¯t find the right time."

    "Oh, my dear Yuyan. After all these years, you¡¯re still so timid," Grandma Li said with a sigh.

    Huang Yuyan bit her lip.

    Grandpa Lu: "Don¡¯t be so hard on Yuyan! That¡¯s part of her charms! That¡¯s why your son fell in love with her in the first ce! Ahaha!"

    Huang Yuyan reddened.

    Grandma Li¡¯s eyes saddened for a moment before smiling softly. Then she turned to Iris. "So? You still haven¡¯t answered my question, my dear. Are you single or not?"

    "I¡¯m not, Grandma Li. I have a boyfriend," Iris said. Then she added, "And I like him very much."

    Grandpa Lu: "Hmph!"

    "I see. How unfortunate. It seems that everyone is already taken." Grandma Li sighed but after a few moments, she smiled again. "I have two grandsons. They¡¯re both a little older than you. You won¡¯t mind meeting them, would you, Xin my dear? If possible, I would like you to be friends with them."

    Friends? Iris¡¯ eyes lit up. If the grandsons were like Grandpa Lu and Grandma Li, she wouldn¡¯t mind being friends with them for sure. So she agreed. "Of course, Grandma Li. I would be d to meet them."

    Grandma Li smiled, her sharp eyes glinting. She ignored her scowling friend who was ring daggers at her.

    They chatted about other topics afterwards. Grandpa Lu started raving about Iris and how he was so proud to be her mentor. He also mentioned Cross Academy several times. Iris observed that Grandma Li didn¡¯t even bat an eye at the mention of the academy. Well, it was only natural. Grandpa Lu and Grandma Li were dear friends so she must have known that he was an important figure at the academy.

    On the other hand, Huang Yuyan looked very shocked when she heard that Iris was a Cross Academy student. She stared at Iris for a long time, as if looking at a rare creature. Then she grabbed Iris¡¯ hands. "Oh, Xin! How I wish you were my daughter!"

    "Oy oy oy! Yuyan, what are you saying? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed. "Xin is my granddaughter!"

    Grandma Li chuckled coldly. "Brother Jianhong, didn¡¯t you hear Xin call me Grandma? It means that she¡¯s already my granddaughter as well."

    "You!" Grandpa Lu looked like he would choke on his own anger.

    Iris felt warmth spread within her. Her eyes pricked. She blinked quickly and took deep breaths to control her emotions. Although the two were arguing, there was fondness in how they treated each other. And they were extending their fondness to her. They just met her but they were already treating her like family.

    "Grandpa Lu, Grandma Li, Auntie Yuyan," Iris called. "Thank you very much for your kindness! I will never forget how well you¡¯re treating me."

    Grandpa Lu: "Don¡¯t be so formal, my girl!"

    Grandma Li nodded and smiled at kindly at her.

    Huang Yuyan continued to grip Iris¡¯ hands. She sighed. "How I wish I have another son to introduce to you!"

    ¡¯What nice people,¡¯ Iris thought. They really were treating her like family and wanted her to be friends with their sons or grandsons.

    "What¡¯s wrong with introducing her to your two sons?" Grandma Li asked, raising an eyebrow.

    "But Mother...they¡¯re already taken."

    Grandma Li scoffed. "For our youngest, almost two years of engagement but still no signs of tying the knot. I may not be a man but even I know when a man doesn¡¯t want to marry the woman he¡¯s engaged to."

    "I¡¯m sure they¡¯re just taking their time."

    "Oh?" Grandma Li raised her eyebrow even more. "Or perhaps they¡¯re just not meant to be together. I keep saying this but it¡¯s beyond myprehension why he even proposed to that girl in the first ce! Absolutely ridiculous!"

    "Mother! Little Luo Luo is a nice girl!"

    Grandma Li sniffed in contempt. "I promised your husband, my son, that I wouldn¡¯t meddle in his sons¡¯ lives too much. That¡¯s why I stay here in the mountains to prevent myself from prying too much in their personal affairs. So even if I disagree, I¡¯ll let our youngest make his own decisions. But if he still goes ahead and marries that girl, then I daresay that he¡¯s a stupid blind idiot! I¡¯ll feel truly ashamed to have a fool like him in our Jin family!"

    "Mother, that¡¯s too harsh!"

    "Harsh? I¡¯m only telling the truth, my dear."

 Chapter 189 - As Handsome As My Boyfriend

    <h4>Chapter 189 - As Handsome As My Boyfriend </h4>

    Iris felt like she shouldn¡¯t be listening to this kind of private family matters. Although they were very nice to her and insisted on treating her like family, they just met each other today for the first time after all. So she cleared her throat to get everyone¡¯s attention. Then she excused herself to go the washroom.

    Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan finally realized that they said too much in front of her. They stiffened. On the other hand, Grandpa Lu looked carefree.

    A maid led Iris to the nearest powder room.

    When she was gone, Grandpa Lu¡¯s carefree expression turned into a scowl. "Hmph! Just so you know, I¡¯m already eyeing Xin for my Haohao!" He red at his friend. "Your grandsons are already taken so don¡¯t even try stealing her away!"

    "Our youngest might be engaged, but there¡¯s still our eldest," Grandma Li retorted.

    "But Mother, he already has a girlfriend," Huang Yuyan said.

    Grandma Li: "A girlfriend is not a wife, nor a fianc¨¦e. Wait, are you sure it¡¯s girlfriend and not a boyfriend?"

    "Uh, I¡¯m sure he said that it¡¯s a girlfriend."

    Grandpa Lu: "Ahahaha!"

    "He also told me that he ns to marry his girlfriend."

    "What? Marry?!" Grandma Li looked stunned. "Who¡¯s his girlfriend?"

    "I don¡¯t know. But he said that he¡¯ll introduce her to us soon."

    "He sounds serious. It matches his personality. He¡¯s very decisive, just like his grandfather." Grandma Li sighed. "I just wish he met Xin earlier than his girlfriend. It would be great to have a granddaughter-inw who¡¯s a Cross Academy student. Brother Jianhong, why didn¡¯t you introduce Xin to us sooner?"

    "Hmph! I¡¯m now regretting introducing her to you in the first ce! If I only knew that you¡¯ll also eye her, I would¡¯ve hidden her until my Haohao returns to the country!"

    "You selfish, old man." Grandma Li rolled her eyes.

    "You thieving, old hag!"

    "Say that again, you loud-mouthed gori!"

    The two continued to insult and re at each other, while Huang Yuyan looked at them helplessly.

    Finally, Iris returned. The two bickering friends immediately transformed into dignified elders. They began chatting pleasantly with each other, as if they weren¡¯t bickering like two unruly children just a few seconds ago.

    Huang Yuyan sighed in relief and gave Iris a grateful smile.

    Iris smiled back, clueless as to what happened.

    The four chatted together. The two olderdies were very curious about Iris. Grandpa Lu mentioned that Iris was busy with her career in addition to learning from him and her other instructors. They asked what her work was.

    "I¡¯m a musician," she answered.

    "Oh! My younger son is also a musician," Huang Yuyan said.

    Grandma Li nodded.

    "Hmm. Now that you mention it, I do feel like I¡¯ve seen you before. You look familiar," Huang Yuyan said, studying Iris. "Have you released any songs recently?"

    Before Iris could answer, Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed. "Of course! Xin is a popr celebrity! Her music is currently number 1 in the music charts! She even defeated your son! Ahahaha!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side. What did he mean by she defeated Auntie Yuyan¡¯s son?

    "No, the one who defeated my son is the singer named Iris Long..." Then Huang Yuyan¡¯s eyes widened. "Long Xin...Iris Long...Long... Wait, don¡¯t tell me!"

    Iris had no reason to lie. "Yes, Auntie. I am Iris Long."

    "Oh!"

    Grandma Li looked at them. She had no interest in showbiz matters, so she had no idea what they were talking about. She asked her daughter-inw. "You recognize Xin?"

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "Yes, Mother. Her music is currently being yed everywhere. Like Uncle Jianhong said, her music is currently number 1 in the music charts. My son was originally number 1 but she kicked him off."

    Realization dawned on Iris. "Auntie, is your son Jin Chonglin?"

    "Yes, he¡¯s my son."

    "Oh." Then another more important realization struck Iris. "Then your older son is Jin Liwei?"

    "Yes."

    Iris bit her lower lip, trying hard not tough out loud at the sheer coincidence. It was only a few days ago when Jin Liwei told her that he wanted to introduce her to his grandmother and mother. She felt really nervous and worried at that time, but today she unknowingly met them and was even calling them Grandma and Auntie.

    She could¡¯ve told the twodies that she was Jin Liwei¡¯s girlfriend but suddenly feeling mischievous, she ended up not telling them. How amusing it would be to watch everyone¡¯s reactions when they learned about the truth. She was looking forward to her man¡¯s reaction the most. She bet that he would be stupefied. Just imagining his reaction was making her giggle.

    "Oy oy, girl!" Grandpa Lu gave Iris a suspicious look. "Why are you smiling like that? Do you have a crush on that Liwei boy? I want to know!"

    "Hmm... Jin Liwei is handsome. He¡¯s as handsome as my boyfriend."

    "Hmph! My Haohao is the most handsome! Only second to me, of course!"

    "How shameless," Grandma Li retorted. "Myte husband was more handsome than you, so of course our grandson will be more handsome than your grandson."

    "What did you say?!"

    The two bickered once again like children. Iris chatted with Huang Yuyan. Now that Iris knew that she was Jin Liwei¡¯s mother, she treated her even more warmly.

    Later, they were called for dinner. They headed to the dining area and ate an array of dishes. The food was moreforting than sumptuous. They looked and tasted very much like delicious homemade food. They were very appropriate for the cold weather.

    After dinner, they headed to a lounge room to drink digestive tea. Iris had another busy schedule the next day, so she and Grandpa Lu only stayed for another thirty minutes before bidding goodbye to the two Madams.

    Huang Yuyan already felt attached to her and almost didn¡¯t want to let her go. She tried inviting Iris to sleep over, but Iris had to decline. In the end, Grandma Li needed to pull her daughter-inw from Iris.

    "Grandma Li, Auntie Yuyan, thank you very much for today. I promise that we¡¯ll see each other again soon," Iris told him. ¡¯Perhaps the next time will be with Liwei,¡¯ she thought.

    "Good," Grandma Li said. "You cane back whenever you want to. If your Grandpa Lu doesn¡¯t lend you his helicopter, just give me a call, my dear, and I¡¯ll send one to pick you up."

    "Who¡¯re you calling selfish?!"

    Iris thanked them once again. They bid each other goodbye and goodnight.

    Later, the twodies heard the sound of a helicopter taking off from a distance.

 Chapter 190 - Dont Worry, Mommy!

    <h4>Chapter 190 - Don''t Worry, Mommy! </h4>

    At longst, Iris finally finishedposing the entire film score that she had been working on. All that was left was to record them. JJ was personally involved in the recording process, since his recordbel would be the one releasing the film¡¯s soundtrack album.

    As usual, he and Iris argued like two evil dragons as to how the music should sound. The staff and the musicians working with them were already used to their arguments, so they didn¡¯t think much about them anymore. All they knew was that after the two reached apromise, the final music they came up with would be amazing.

    However, the film¡¯s representative who was sent to observe the recording process was shocked. She bought the "Rebirth" album, so she had watched the "making of" footage of Iris and JJ quarreling but she always thought that it was staged and scripted. After all, this was THE JJ they were talking about. He was notorious for reducing his artists to tears, even the veterans, with his extremely high standards and demands. Who had the guts to argue against someone like him?

    Iris Long, apparently.

    ¡¯So it¡¯s true,¡¯ she thought. ¡¯Iris is actually so amazing!¡¯

    She was doubtful about the authenticity of Iris¡¯ skills before but at that moment, she converted into a true Iris Long fan.

    Holding a video camera, she filmed Iris and JJ¡¯s arguments and the entire recording process. The video recordings would be used as part of the film¡¯s own special "making of" footage.

    As a new college graduate, she originally treated this indie film as a necessary stepping stone to advance her career. She had no hopes of it bing a hit, especially with the limited production budget. But when the director and the producer pulled Iris Long into the film, good fortune started raining down on them. They even obtained a production partner. LX Productions was just a newly establishedpany, but it was very generous and professional in its assistance to the film.

    Watching Iris Long and JJ record the film score, her initial low expectations for the film disappeared. She had not heard the entire score yet but from what she heard so far, she knew that it would sound phenomenal. Excitement and anticipation bubbled within her.

    This film would be a dark horse, she bet.

    ###

    The appointed day finally arrived. Iris and Jin Liwei would be visiting the Long ancestral residence for dinner. This would be their first visit as a couple.

    They rode arge 3-row luxury SUV. Jin Liwei¡¯s two subordinates were at the front; one driving and the other one sitting beside his colleague. Iris and Jin Liwei sat behind them. Jin Liwei was a little displeased because there was a space between their seats. He wanted to feel her body close to him. Unfortunately, this was the best seat arrangement for the current asion because behind them sat Dom, Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue.

    When Long Hui heard that Iris would be formally introducing her boyfriend to the family during dinner, he called Iris and requested that they bring his son as well. He finally wanted to introduce his son to Long Tengfei.

    Iris was amused. "So you wanted to piggyback on me introducing my boyfriend to lessen the pressure on you when you introduce Little Jun to Father. What a scaredy-cat."

    "You!" Long Hui sounded enraged but couldn¡¯t retort because she was right.

    "Well, I don¡¯t mind," Iris said. "However, you need to speak to your child¡¯s mother first."

    "Can you¡ª"

    "No. I already told you, Elder Brother. Your rtionship with Ying Yue is none of my business. All I care about is my nephew. I¡¯m not going to interfere with the rtionship between the two of you. You¡¯re a grown man. Don¡¯t ask your little sister to solve your problems."

    "I really hate your poison tongue."

    "Hm? What do you mean? I¡¯m only telling the truth."

    "That¡¯s why I hate it." He sighed. "Fine. I¡¯ll talk to Ying Yue first, then I¡¯ll call you."

    In the end, Jiang Ying Yue reluctantly agreed. At first, Long Hui wanted to introduce her and their son together to Long Tengfei but she quickly rejected his suggestion. She now understood that she shouldn¡¯t deprive her son of his connection to his paternal side of the family but as for her, she personally didn¡¯t want to have anything to do with the Longs. They hurt her too much.

    That was why she would only be apanying them in the vehicle. She trusted Iris. She felt assured that her son would be safe in her care while they introduced Little Jun to his grandfather. Despite this, Jiang Ying Yue still couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious.

    What if Long Tengfei didn¡¯t acknowledge Little Jun?

    Jiang Ying Yue told herself that she didn¡¯t care, that she didn¡¯t need the Longs to raise her child. But just thinking about the possibility that her son would be forsaken by his own grandfather was heartbreaking for her.

    "Mommi!" Little Jun called and then smiled at her. He sat in a car seat between Jiang Ying Yue and Dom.

    Dom tranted, "Junie boy said, ¡¯Don¡¯t worry, Mommy! I¡¯ll be okay! Mama Xin, Papa Liwei and my super-duper handsome and gorgeous Uncle Dom will take care of me. Grandpa will surely love me!¡¯ Ehehe."

    Little Jun squealed and started giggling. Everyoneughed, except for Jin Liwei and his two stoic subordinates. But their mouths curved up a bit.

    "Thank you," Jiang Ying Yue said. She kissed her son¡¯s forehead. "Please take care of Little Jun."

    Dom put a hand on his chest. "Don¡¯t worry, Big Sis Yue! My gorgeous self won¡¯t let anything happen to Junie boy. Not to mention that boss and sir boss are with us. Additionally, my twin sister Meimei will also be there. She adores Junie boy. The two of us will be his knights in sparkling and glittering armours! Ehehe."

    "Anko!" Little Jun said, pointing at Dom.

    He looked shocked. "W-what?"

    The others also froze.

    "What did you say, Junie boy?"

    "Anko!" Little Jun repeated, pping his tiny hands.

    "Uwah! He called me Uncle! He just called my Uncle!" Dom started sobbing. "Wuwuwu! I¡¯m so happy! I love you so much, Junie boy! Wuwuwu!"

    Little Jun was shocked to see his Uncle Dom crying. His little face scrunched up and he started crying as well.

 Chapter 191 - Introducing The Boyfriend

    <h4>Chapter 191 - Introducing The Boyfriend </h4>

    The vehicle was now filled with Little Jun¡¯s cries. Iris sighed while Jin Liwei threw a cold look at Dom.

    "Oh no, Junie boy! Please don¡¯t cry!"

    It took a couple of minutes before Jiang Ying Yue and Dom managed to calm Little Jun. Dom frantically sang nonsense songs and made funny faces just to make the toddlerugh again.

    Finally, the SUV stopped in front of the Long ancestralpound¡¯s massive gates.

    "Whoa! Look at that!" Dom eximed. "It¡¯s like the setting from all those period dramas! Boss, this is your home?"

    "No, it¡¯s not. It¡¯s my father¡¯s and will eventually be my elder brother¡¯s. The penthouse is my home, our home."

    "Oh, right. Ehehe."

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s eyes darkened as she looked at the towering walls and the massive gates. As a former bodyguard to Long Hui, she frequently entered thepound before.

    They climbed out of the vehicle. Jin Liwei¡¯s two subordinates took out the baby stroller and the presents from the trunk. Since this was Jin Liwei¡¯s first time visiting, he preparedvish presents for his future inws. He and Dom carried several big cloth bags containing numerous wrapped presents. There were so many that they had to put some on the stroller.

    Jiang Ying Yue carried Little Jun in her arms. She looked very uneasy. It was obvious that she didn¡¯t want to let go of her baby. Iris didn¡¯t rush her, waiting patiently until Jiang Ying Yue was ready.

    Finally, everyone was ready to go. They were just waiting for Jiang Ying Yue to let go of Little Jun. They were standing in front of the gates for more than five minutes now, but no one rushed her. The gates were already open for them. A guard waited for them to enter.

    Reluctantly, she handed Little Jun to Iris.

    "Please take care of him," she whispered.

    "Of course," Iris replied.

    Jiang Ying Yue kissed her son¡¯s forehead before backing away to join Jin Liwei¡¯s two subordinates.

    "Mommi?"

    Iris shook a rattle, distracting the toddler. The group quickly entered thepound before Little Jun noticed that his mother wasn¡¯ting with them.

    Jiang Ying Yue watched as the gates closed. As a bodyguard, she always had firm control of her emotions. However, ever since giving birth, she noticed that she had be more emotional. She knew that she would see her son again tonight when they returned, yet she still couldn¡¯t stop the panicked feeling inside of her. It was the fear of losing her son, of him being taken away from her.

    Giving onest look at thepound, Jiang Ying Yue and Jin Liwei¡¯s two subordinates drove away back to the penthouse.

    Inside thepound, Dom¡¯s head swivelled all around as he looked at everything. His loud and dramatic exmations turned the quiet walk through the courtyards into an entertaining tour. Pushing the stroller loaded with the presents, Domtched to the guard, asking him all sorts of questions about the ce. The guard answered the hyperactive young man¡¯s questions to the best of his ability.

    They frequently stopped to take photos. Of course, the role of photographer was dumped on the guard. At first, the guard was reluctant and only snapped photos using Dom¡¯s phone out of duty because of Iris¡¯ presence. But somewhere along the way, he got infected by Dom and became a loud chatterbox as well.

    Iris and Jin Liwei walked behind the talkative duo. She carried Little Jun in her arms while Jin Liwei carried several bags of presents.

    "Papa!" Little Jun called out, reaching his short little arms towards Jin Liwei.

    "I think he wants you to carry him," Iris said.

    "I can¡¯t. I¡¯m carrying the presents," he replied.

    "I¡¯ll carry them."

    "No," Jin Liwei quickly rejected her idea. "These are heavy."

    Little Jun continued to struggle in Iris¡¯ arms, crying for Jin Liwei. Sighing, she called Dom and the guard to take the bags from Jin Liwei. Despite Jin Liwei¡¯s protests, she pushed the toddler into his arms.

    Jin Liwei looked stiff and unnatural carrying Little Jun, but the toddler didn¡¯t notice. Little Junid his adorable little head on his Papa¡¯s shoulder, snuggling against him. Although Iris felt softer, Jin Liwei was wider and sturdier. Little Jun liked being carried by both of them.

    Of course, Dom wouldn¡¯t let this chance pass by. He snatched his phone from the guard and snapped several photos of Jin Liwei carrying Little Jun.

    Iris carried one cloth bag because Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t allow her to carry more. It was also the lightest. The rest were carried by the guard and dumped on the stroller by Dom.

    They finally reached the main wing of the residence. The old chambein weed them. Despite his decades of training, the chambein still couldn¡¯t hide the trace of shock from showing on his face as soon as heid eyes on Jin Liwei carrying a toddler. He instantly recognized the President-CEO of Jin Corporation.

    However, he didn¡¯t serve the Longs for such a long time for nothing. He quickly readjusted his expression and called for some servants to help carry the many bulky bags. Then he led everyone through the big doors.

    Once inside, they saw Long Tengfei, Long Hui, Yang Jiahui and Meimei waiting for them at the entrance hall.

    "Twin bro!"

    "Twin sis!"

    Dom and Meimei ran towards each other and the chatter instantly started.

    Iris hooked her hand on Jin Liwei¡¯s arm. He was still carrying Little Jun. She led him forward.

    "Hello, Father, Aunt Jiahui, Elder Brother. Let me introduce you to my boyfriend, Jin Liwei."

    Jin Liwei shifted Little Jun to one arm and extended his other arm to shake their hands. "Hello. Father-inw, nice to see you again. Aunt Jiahui, nice to meet you. Elder Brother Hui, good to see you. We¡¯ve met before at some asions."

    Everyone¡¯s minds went nk at the way he addressed the three. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui looked awkward. Long Hui¡¯s eyes and mouth opened in shock and disbelief. Even Iris was taken aback.

    Did he just call Long Tengfei "Father-inw"? Calling Yang Jiahui "Aunt" was within propriety so it was still eptable. But what about calling Long Hui "Elder Brother"? Was he serious? Jin Liwei was older than Long Hui!

 Chapter 192 - Youâ€™re Not His Papa!

    <h4>Chapter 192 - You¡¯re Not His Papa! </h4>

    Long Tengfei was the first one to recover. He cleared his throat and nodded stiffly.

    "CEO Jin, wee to our home," he said. "Thank you foring today with my daughter to join us for dinner."

    "Father-inw, please call me Liwei. I already told you before that there¡¯s no need to be so formal between us," Jin Liwei said smoothly.

    Iris tugged at his arm. "Liwei, why are you calling my father ¡¯Father-inw¡¯? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s right."

    "Hm? We¡¯re boyfriend and girlfriend. It¡¯s normal for a boyfriend to call his girlfriend¡¯s family like this. So don¡¯t think too much about the literal meaning. Okay, baby?"

    She tilted her head to the side. "Really? This is normal?"

    "Of course, baby. It¡¯s very normal," Jin Liwei told her seriously.

    "Oh. Okay, then."

    Hearing their conversation, the people around them were shouting in their minds, ¡¯No, it¡¯s not! Young Miss, your boyfriend is acting too forward! You¡¯re not married yet! Don¡¯t believe him!¡¯ However, they didn¡¯t have the courage to say their thoughts out loud because the boyfriend in question was Jin Liwei. Even their Master Long Tengfei was respectful to him as fellow businessmen.

    Long Tengfei¡¯s emotions at the moment were ratherplicated. On one hand, he personally approved of Jin Liwei. He thought that his daughter couldn¡¯t ask for anyone better for a boyfriend (and perhapster as a husband). If the two really married, his daughter would be the next Madam of Jin Corporation, automatically cing her at the top of the hierarchy in their social circles. This was already more than he could hope for when it came to this daughter of his.

    On the other hand, Long Tengfei felt enraged watching the man dupe his own daughter right in front of everybody. Was his daughter this na?ve? How could she believe such a ridiculous thing? Or was she too in love with Jin Liwei that she would believe every wording out from his mouth?

    Long Tengfei had the strongest urge to tell Jin Liwei off from his daughter and maybe even throw a punch or two at his cold, handsome face. He never thought that he would experience this kind of situation with his daughter Xin¡ªthat of a father feeling threatened by a wild man taking his precious daughter away.

    Noticing her husband¡¯s difort, Yang Jiahui patted his lower back. The atmosphere was very awkward, so she hurriedly thought of a way to lighten it. Her eyesnded on the toddlerying his little head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder.

    "Oh my! What a cute baby!" she eximed.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s expressions softened, though it was hard to notice the difference on thetter¡¯s expression if one didn¡¯t know him enough.

    "Yes, he¡¯s cute. His name is Little Jun," Iris replied. Then she gave a meaningful look at the still frozen and stupefied Long Hui. She tried several times to silently give him the chance to introduce his own son himself, but Long Hui was still staring like a stupid idiot at Jin Liwei. ¡¯How useless,¡¯ she thought, pursing her lips.

    She gently tapped the toddler. "Little Jun,e and meet your Grandpa and Grandma."

    Little Jun immediately straightened, but wrapped his little arms tightly around Jin Liwei¡¯s neck. He looked over at Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui warily, pressing his little body closer to Jin Liwei. Although he seemed to recognize his father, Long Hui was standing too far away that he wasn¡¯t sure whether it was really his Dada. Besides, he felt safer with his Papa and Mama.

    "Oh! So his name is Little Jun? How adorable!" Yang Jiahui said.

    "Little Jun, say hello to Grandpa and Grandma," Iris said.

    Little Jun looked at Iris and then pointed at Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui¡¯s direction. Iris smiled and nodded encouragingly. Little Jun turned to them and babbled an unintelligible greeting, and then looked at Iris again.

    "Mama!"

    Iris chuckled. "Good job, Little Jun."

    Then Little Jun looked at Jin Liwei. "Papa?"

    "En. Good job," Jin Liwei said.

    Little Jun giggled and pped his little hands.

    Everyone around them, excluding Dom and Meimei, were shocked. Long Tengfei looked confused, while Yang Jiahui covered her open mouth with her hand. Suddenly they heard Long Hui¡¯s voice. He finally regained sense from his frozen state.

    "What Papa?!" he roared. "Why is my son calling you Papa?! You¡¯re not his Papa! I am!"

    The servants standing close by, especially the maids, all gasped when they heard their Young Master¡¯s words.

    Long Hui marched angrily towards Iris and Jin Liwei. He intended to snatch Little Jun away from Jin Liwei¡¯s arms, but when Little Jun saw his angry face, he got scared and started wailing. Long Hui immediately stopped in his tracks, unsure of what to do. He turned to Iris and gave her a ¡¯do something¡¯ look.

    Iris sighed and rolled her eyes. "You scared him," she told Long Hui before taking the distressed toddler from Jin Liwei.

    She started rocking him. "You¡¯re okay, Little Jun. Don¡¯t be scared anymore. That¡¯s your Daddy. See? Look."

    Little Jun buried his crying face against Iris¡¯ neck, refusing to open his eyes and look at anyone. Dom and Meimei hurried over and tried their best to coax the child out of his fright.

    Long Hui felt guilty and anxious that he made his son cry. He felt a painful pinch within his chest seeing his own son refusing to look at him. Then he turned to Jin Liwei with an using expression.

    At first, Long Hui felt thoroughly shocked that his little sister introduced the President-CEO of Jin Corporation as her boyfriend. He never expected this kind of development, but the evidence was in front of him. As the current top businessman (except when the legendary business genius Lu Jianhong was in the country), Jin Liwei was someone Long Hui admired and wanted to be like.

    However, when he heard his own beloved son refer to Jin Liwei as "Papa", he just couldn¡¯t ept it. His son was his son! If Jin Liwei wanted a son, he should make his own!

    Jin Liwei noticed that Long Hui was ring at him. He frowned, not liking it.

    As everyone focused onforting Little Jun, the two grown men who the child referred to as his "Papa" and "Dada" looked like they were going to fight at any second.

 Chapter 193 Papa Vs - Dada

    <h4>Chapter 193 Papa Vs - Dada </h4>

    Everyone was relieved when Little Jun finally stopped crying and responded to Dom and Meimei¡¯s funny faces. He looked so adorableughing and giggling that everyone¡¯s hearts melted for him.

    Carrying the toddler in her arms, Iris pulled Jin Liwei closer to her. She was oblivious to the tension between him and Long Hui.

    Dom also formally introduced himself. He had already met Long Tengfei in the hospital before, but this was the first time he was meeting Long Hui and Yang Jiahui.

    After the introductions and pleasantries, Jin Liwei began giving out the presents. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui tried to decline thevish gifts at first, but Jin Liwei was insistent.

    "Papa!" Little Jun reached out his little arms towards Jin Liwei.

    Long Hui¡¯s expression turned ugly once again. He shot a jealous re at Jin Liwei.

    Jin Liwei saw the re, so he decided to add fuel to the fire. He turned to the child and said, "Stay with Mama for now. Papa is doing something. Wait until I¡¯m done, okay?"

    Long Hui looked like he wanted to beat up Jin Liwei. His hands clenched into tight fists. Long Tengfei noticed that his son was reaching his limit, so he threw him a warning look. Long Hui was unwilling but nodded. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

    Jin Liwei gave eight cloth bags filled with presents to Long Tengfei. Yang Jiahui received six. Both thanked him. Long Hui received one cloth bag. He thanked Jin Liwei stiffly.

    "Big Brother Liwei, what about me? Do I get presents too?" Meimei asked.

    "Meimei! Mind your manners," Yang Jiahui reprimanded her niece.

    "Eh? But it¡¯s only Big Brother Liwei. We¡¯re already family."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Yes, Mei is right. We¡¯re already family," he said, looking at his baby girl and godson with gentle eyes.

    "So? Do I get presents too? There¡¯s one bag left. Is it mine? Oh, please tell me it¡¯s mine!"

    Instead of answering, he just gave it to her.

    Meimei squealed and hugged the bulky bag. "Thank you so much, Big Brother Liwei! You¡¯re the best!"

    Afterwards, they headed to arge sitting room for tea. It was now autumn and a bit chilly outside, so they decided to stay indoors today. The servants took the presents away. There were so many that they decided not to open them immediately.

    Iris and Jin Liwei sat together on one sofa. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui sat on another. Long Hui sat alone on an armchair. Dom and Meimei yed with Little Jun on the carpet.

    All the adults watched the toddler for a few minutes while sipping Longjing tea.

    Finally, Long Hui couldn¡¯t hold it any longer. He red at Jin Liwei fiercely. "How about you exin to me now why my son is calling you Papa? And you too, little sister. Why is my son calling you Mama? You two, go make your own baby! Little Jun is my son and I¡¯m his Papa!"

    Long Tengfei shot a cold re at his son. Did his son just encourage Jin Liwei to impregnate his daughter?

    "You¡¯re wrong," Jin Liwei said.

    "What do you mean I¡¯m wrong?"

    "You¡¯re not Little Jun¡¯s Papa. I am."

    "You! What did you say?!" Long Hui was enraged. He wanted to bolt out of his seat and pounce on the bastard. He didn¡¯t care anymore that the other man was the President-CEO of Jin Corporation.

    Jin Liwei continued to speak seriously. "Like I said, I¡¯m his Papa."

    "You¡¯re shamele¡ª"

    "Liwei is right," Iris interjected. She didn¡¯t like how Long Hui was treating her man. She sped her hand with Jin Liwei¡¯s while continuing to speak to Long Hui. "Liwei is Little Jun¡¯s Papa. You¡¯re Daddy. Don¡¯t confuse the two. They¡¯re different."

    Dom: "It¡¯s true, Big Bro Boss! Junie boy calls boss Mama, sir boss Papa, Big Sis Yue Mommi and you Dada."

    Meimei: "Yes, I know this too!"

    Dom: "Twin sis, did you know that Junie boy called me Uncle?"

    Meimei: "Really?"

    Dom: "Yes! I cried so hard! It made me so happy! Junie boy, say Uncle!"

    Little Jun: "Anko!"

    Dom: "See?"

    Meimei: "Uwah! Junie boy, call me Big Sister!"

    Dom: "What Big Sister? Junie boy, call her Auntie Meimei!"

    Little Jun: "Meh-meh!"

    Dom: "Pft! Meh-meh? Bwahahaha!"

    Long Hui began ignoring the two chatterboxes when they went out of topic. He frowned deeply. He asked Iris and Jin Liwei again, "Why is my son calling you Mama and Papa?"

    "Little Jun is our godson," Iris said.

    "What? I wasn¡¯t informed about this."

    Iris shrugged. "Little Jun¡¯s mother decided it." Actually, it was Jin Liwei who first decided it, but it was still approved by Jiang Ying Yue in the end. "If you have any issues about us being your son¡¯s godparents, then you should speak to your son¡¯s mother."

    Long Hui scowled.

    "Before you start questioning me and my boyfriend, don¡¯t you still have an important thing to do, Elder Brother?"

    It took him a few seconds to realize what she meant. When he did, he suddenly looked nervous. He stood up and walked towards Dom¡¯s group sitting on the floor. He bent down and gently took his son in his arms.

    At first, Little Jun struggled and looked like he was going to cry, but then he recognized Long Hui. "Dada?"

    "Yes, Little Jun. I¡¯m Daddy."

    "Dada!"

    Long Hui carried Little Jun and walked in front of Long Tengfei.

    "Father...I would like to introduce you to your grandson. This is my son, Long Jun."

 Chapter 194 - Iâ€™ll Kill You If You Hurt Them

    <h4>Chapter 194 - I¡¯ll Kill You If You Hurt Them </h4>

    Long Hui didn¡¯t wait for Long Tengfei to respond. Perhaps to get it out of his chest as quickly as possible, he briefly exined how he came to father a child. He didn¡¯t delve into too much details about his affair with Jiang Ying Yue, only saying that she was his former bodyguard. He insisted to Long Tengfei that he offered marriage to her in an attempt to make their child legitimate. There was an using tone in his voice when he shared that she rejected his offer.

    Due to his stiff and nervous posture, he unknowingly tightened his hold on Little Jun. The toddler became ufortable and started struggling in his arms, crying out to Iris and Jin Liwei toe take him.

    "Mama! Papa!"

    Hearing his own son crying out for another couple, Long Hui felt upset and jealous. "No, Little Jun. Stay with me. I¡¯m your Daddy."

    However, Little Jun started crying and looked like he was going to throw a full-blown tantrum. Long Hui was helpless but still refused to give his son to Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Hand your son to your little sister for now," Long Tengfei told him. He didn¡¯t look surprised at all by the revtion. It looked as if he already expected it. "Follow me to the other room. Let¡¯s talk."

    Long Hui hesitated. He didn¡¯t mind handing his son to Iris, but he was unwilling because of Jin Liwei.

    Long Tengfei stood up. "Hurry up. Let¡¯s go."

    "I understand, Father." Long Hui sighed and gave Little Jun to Iris while ring at Jin Liwei.

    Jin Liwei gave him a cold look in response.

    Then Little Jun who was already in Iris¡¯ arms stretched out his arms to Jin Liwei. "Papa!"

    "Yes. Come to Papa, Little Jun," Jin Liwei said and took the child from Iris. He turned to Long Hui and smirked.

    Seeing his adult son about to pounce on his daughter¡¯s boyfriend, Long Tengfei grabbed Long Hui by the arm. He gave him a warning look. Long Hui looked like he was going to protest but eventually obeyed his father. He withdrew, throwing onest re at Jin Liwei, before following Long Tengfei out of the sitting room.

    Long Tengfei sighed at the two men¡¯s behaviour. They were grown men, yet they werepeting for a toddler¡¯s attention. He was especially surprised to see Jin Liwei acting so childish. He was in his thirties (for goodness¡¯ sake!) and also the head of the number onepany in the country. He was also older than all of Long Tengfei¡¯s children, yet here he was, taunting his eldest son, Long Hui.

    While the father and son were gone from the room, Dom and Meimei started chattering in full force. They moved over and sat on the carpet near Yang Jiahui, telling her about Little Jun.

    Meimei: "I already knew about Little Jun before because I frequently stay over at Xin¡¯s ce whenever I don¡¯t have sses. But I didn¡¯t dare say anything to you, Auntie, because it¡¯s not my ce. Especially since Big Brother Hui hasn¡¯t formally introduced his son yet until now."

    "I understand, Meimei." Yang Jiahui watched Little Jun babbling in Jin Liwei¡¯s arms.

    As someone who marriedte in life, she could no longer conceive and give birth to her own child. Long Tengfei suggested the surrogacy route if she wanted, but Yang Jiahui declined. Of course she was tempted. There was an instinctive desire within her to have her own child. However, she didn¡¯t want to embroil her own child into theplicated politics within the Long family, especially regarding the inheritance issue. After all, it wasn¡¯t only Long Tengfei¡¯s children who were vying for his wealth. There were also countless rtives and ex-wives wanting to grab their own slices of his pie.

    Watching Little Jun made her heart ache a little for the lost opportunity of having her own child.

    "Would you like to hold him?" Iris suddenly asked her.

    "Oh! No no, it¡¯s fine," she said at first but the desire within her grew stronger. "May I?"

    "Of course," Iris replied. "Liwei."

    Jin Liwei stood up and handed Little Jun to Yang Jiahui.

    "Papa?" Little Jun held Jin Liwei¡¯s neck tighter.

    "It¡¯s alright, Little Jun," he said, gently patting the child¡¯s back. "Go to Grandma."

    After some hesitation, Little Jun allowed Yang Jiahui to hold him. He sat on herp and stared at her.

    When Long Tengfei and Long Hui finally returned, they were greeted by Little Jun bouncing and babbling on thep of a delighted Yang Jiahui. Dom and Meimei were busy snapping photos with their phones from all angles.

    Long Tengfei looked like his usual self. On the other hand, Long Hui looked like he aged in just a few minutes. He looked utterly exhausted, yet also relieved at the same time. Their private conversation must have been intense.

    Yang Jiahui totally fell in love with Little Jun. Simrly, Little Jun also liked his new Grandma. Yang Jiahui stood up when he saw her husband and pushed Little Jun into his arms.

    "Little Jun, look. It¡¯s Grandpa!"

    Long Tengfei looked cold, stiff and ufortable but his eyes couldn¡¯t hide his delight. He started rocking Little Jun in his arms, looking very awkward doing so. But momentster, hepletely melted and even started cooing at his first grandchild.

    For the rest of the visit, the two grandparents monopolized Little Junpletely to themselves. Poor Long Hui sulked the entire time. He wanted to spend quality time with his son, but his own father refused to let go. What was worse was that Little Jun said "Papa" more than "Dada". Long Hui kept a mental tally. His resentment towards Jin Liwei kept growing.

    This continued until dinner time. Long Tengfei insisted that he wanted Little Jun on hisp while eating. Dom handed Long Tengfei baby food.

    The image of their Master personally feeding a baby was too much for the servants that they couldn¡¯t bear to look directly. He didn¡¯t do that to his own children!

    The atmosphere was very light and most of the conversations focused on Little Jun. He was the star today. Except for Iris who was stillpletely oblivious, the others chose to ignore the tension between Jin Liwei and Long Hui.

    After dinner, Iris¡¯ group stayed well into the night. Little Jun was already sleeping in Long Tengfei¡¯s arms. Iris attempted to leave several times, but Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui used all kinds of persuasion to make them stay longer.

    When it was 10 PM, they really needed to go. The grandparents suggested that they all sleep over.

    "Sorry, but we can¡¯t." Iris¡¯ voice was firm. "Little Jun¡¯s mother will worry if we don¡¯t return tonight. We can bring him again next time we visit."

    The grandparents couldn¡¯t hide their disappointment.

    "Or you can always visit him at my ce. Juste anytime. Yi Mei will let you in even when I¡¯m not there. Little Jun spends the day at the penthouse anyway."

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui couldn¡¯t stop them from leaving. Dom was about to take Little Jun from Long Tengfei but Long Hui stopped him.

    "Let me do it," he said.

    After saying their goodbyes and good nights, the group left and made their way to the entrance. Long Hui walked with them, carrying his sleeping son. He frequently kissed Little Jun¡¯s head.

    Finally, they reached the gates. Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates were already waiting outside with the vehicle. Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯te.

    Long Hui¡¯s eyes actually moistened, unwilling to let go of his son.

    Seeing him like this, Iris felt sorry for him. She hugged Jin Liwei as they waited for him.

    It was cold so Long Hui had no choice but to let go. He didn¡¯t want to make his son sick. Surprisingly, he handed Little Jun to Jin Liwei instead of Iris. "Take care of my son and my little sister," he said. "I¡¯ll kill you if you hurt them."

    "I¡¯ll protect them with my life," Jin Liwei replied.

    Long Hui nodded before stepping back.

    Momentster, he watched as they drove away with his son. He remained standing in the cold even when the vehicle disappeared from sight.

 Chapter 195 - Soon

    <h4>Chapter 195 - Soon </h4>

    Toronto, Canada.

    It was autumn. The air was cool and crisp. The vibrant fall colours looked so spectacr that many people couldn¡¯t help but stop to snap photos.

    Three men walked together in the park under the beautiful canopy of autumn trees and a carpet of colourful leaves.

    When they felt cold, they left the park and headed to a nearby caf¨¦. They ordered hot coffee and pastries, and then sat down to warm up.

    "You look healthy, Fifth Brother," Lin Yehan said. "I¡¯m d."

    Lu Zihao nodded. "I¡¯m recovered now."

    "Are you really?" Lin Yehan asked.

    "Yeah. I¡¯m not that fragile, you know. Maybe I¡¯m not as flexible or as strong like before but I¡¯ll live."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Third Bro," Yu Mo said. "I¡¯ll help you regain your flexibility and strength, if you want. My beloved student, Xiao Xiu, was alsoatose before but because of Systema, she has the power to kick as*es now."

    A mysterious look shed in Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes at the mention of Iris, but it disappeared quickly. It was reced by his usual roguish smile. "Sure."

    "Eh, really? You agree?" Yu Mo asked, surprised.

    If this was Lu Zihao from before, he wouldn¡¯t even be interested because he wasn¡¯t good at anything that required discipline and perseverance like martial arts. He was impulsive, wild and carefree. His devil-may-care attitude made him live his life based on mood rather than logic. If it was fun, he would do it.

    "Yeah, why not? I have a lot of free time these days," he said. "Since I have nothing to do in particr, maybe Systema can help shorten the amount of time I need to spend onpleting my treatment and rehabilitation. Maybe I can even regain my previous flexibility and strength."

    Yu Mo: "Oh! You¡¯ve grown up now, Fifth Bro! I¡¯m so proud. Rest assured, I¡¯ll help you to the best of my abilities!"

    "I¡¯m so d that you¡¯re finally returning to the country," Lin Yehan said. "It has been so long."

    "I¡¯ve been looking forward to it for so long but my doctor is too cautious. She and the old man are too naggy. I actually tried secretly booking a flight by myself but I discovered that the old man had me temporarily banned from booking at all airlines. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been stuck here for so long. Who does that? He¡¯s so extreme." Lu Zihao had an annoyed expression.

    Yu Mo: "Ahahaha! That¡¯s Grandpa Lu, alright!"

    Lin Yehan chuckled. "You¡¯re Grandpa Lu¡¯s favourite, so he¡¯s very protective of you. But at least he has allowed you to return now."

    "It¡¯s only because Third Brother managed to convince the old man that the hospitals back there will also be able to treat me just fine. If not for him, I¡¯ll probably be still stuck here for at least one more year or maybe even more."

    "Well, Third Brother¡¯s grandfather was Grandpa Lu¡¯s best friend. They were close brothers," Lin Yehan said. "They were the genius duo who built Jin Corporation from the ground up and quickly made it into the number onepany in the country. And now Third Brother is the head of thepany. Grandpa Lu always says that Third Brother is a lot like Grandfather Jin. Maybe that¡¯s why Grandpa Lu listens more to Third Brother than the rest of usbined."

    After finishing their coffee and pastries, they left the caf¨¦. Yu Mo drove them back to Lu Zihao¡¯s penthouse.

    A few weeks ago, Lu Zihao already cleared his medical tests and received permission from his doctor. The doctor deemed that he was now safe for long travels. However, Grandpa Lu was stubborn and wouldn¡¯t allow him to return to the country until a couple of days ago. The old man called him very early in the morning.

    "Hello? Hello! What took you so long to answer the phone, youzy boy! I want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed.

    Lu Zihao grunted, still sleepy.

    "Hai! You¡¯re sleeping too much! Your sperm cells are going to bezy and sluggish at this rate! Then you won¡¯t be able to give me great-grandbabies!"

    He yawned. "Mmn... Why are you calling, Grandpa?"

    "You still sound sleepy. Fine, then! Go back to sleep, you sleepyhead! Then I won¡¯t tell you that you can return to the country! Hmph! Bye!"

    Lu Zihao instantly felt awake. He rose from the bed. "What? Really?"

    "Hmph! Now you¡¯re awake? Yes! You can return home! Go pack your things!"

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do that right away. So the airlines ban for me has been lifted?"

    "No, of course not! What if you fly somewhere else to some snow mountains to ski and break your neck again?"

    "Then how am I supposed to return? Are you going to send a ne?"

    "Hah! I¡¯m too busy with my new granddaughter! She¡¯s so much nicer and appreciates me more than you do, you ungrateful boy! I don¡¯t have time to waste on you!"

    Granddaughter? Who was the old man talking about? However, Lu Zihao had no interest in this. He was more concerned on how he was going to fly to China.

    "Go ask your Third Brother to send one of his private jets for you!" Grandpa Lu said. "But if you brothers dare deceive me and you fly to another country, I¡¯ll hunt you down and dump you on a private ind and lock you up there for the rest of your life! Don¡¯t try me, boy! I¡¯ll really do it! I¡¯m serious!"

    "Fine, fine," Lu Zihao said in a hurry. "Bye now, Grandpa. I need to call Third Brother."

    As expected, Grandpa Lu refused to hang up so quickly and continued to nag at him for over half an hour. Finally, the call ended. Lu Zihao immediately called Jin Liwei next and without any fuss, Jin Liwei agreed.

    Jin Liwei sent one of his private jets but Lin Yehan and Yu Mo came as well. The two of them immediately volunteered to pick up Lu Zihao when they heard that he was now allowed to return. Both Jin Liwei and Wang Yingjie were busy at work, so they couldn¡¯te. Lin Yehan and Yu Mo arrived yesterday.

    Lu Zihao wanted to return to the country as soon as possible, but the two wanted to enjoy the Canadian autumn season first. Two against one. He had no choice but to wait a week.

    He wasn¡¯tining much, however. It was only one more week. He could wait that much.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll meet you soon,¡¯ he thought. His eyes darkened and his carefree attitude disappeared, reced by an intense, almost dangerous aura.

    In his mind, the image of Iris Long was merging with the image of a beautiful golden-haired woman with green eyes.

 Chapter 196 - Deserve

    <h4>Chapter 196 - Deserve </h4>

    Jin Liwei was at the backseat of his car reviewing some documents. One of his subordinates was driving. Xu Tian sat on the front passenger seat, busy replying to e-mails on hisptop.

    They were on their way to a business meeting at anotherpany.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mobile phone rang. He clicked on the wireless earpiece he was already wearing to answer the call. He didn¡¯t bother looking at the caller because only a few people were able to contact his personal number.

    "Hello?"

    "Liwei my dear, how are you?" A familiar elegant, elderly female voice asked him.

    Jin Liwei immediately stopped what he was doing. He put aside the documents and focused on the call. "I¡¯m doing well, Grandmother. How are you?"

    "I¡¯m getting old," she replied, sighing.

    "I disagree. You haven¡¯t aged in years. You¡¯re still beautiful as always."

    His grandmother chuckled. "It seems like it¡¯s true that you have a girlfriend. You¡¯re now quite the sweet talker."

    "I¡¯m only telling the truth, Grandmother."

    Sheughed in delight. Then she asked, "Are you busy?"

    "Not yet. I¡¯m in the car. But I¡¯ll be busyter."

    "I see. I¡¯ll make this quick then. When are you going to introduce your girlfriend to your mother and I?"

    "Soon, Grandmother," he answered. "We just met with her family, so we¡¯ll be meeting with you next. We¡¯re just waiting for a good time when both of us aren¡¯t so busy."

    "May I know her name?"

    Jin Liwei hesitated. "How about you wait until I introduce her to you?"

    He was sure that if he revealed his baby girl¡¯s name to his grandmother, she would immediately order an investigation on her. He wanted to be the one to introduce his own girlfriend instead of a private detective.

    Besides, his grandmother might misunderstand some of the unpleasant details in his baby girl¡¯s dossier just like he did before he got to know and fell in love with her. His baby girl was amazing but even he couldn¡¯t erase her bad reputation in the past. He didn¡¯t want her past to affect his grandmother¡¯s impression of her.

    "Fine. I hope that you bring her soon. I want to meet this girl who managed to catch your interest." Then she paused. "rify this for me, my dear. It¡¯s a girl, right? Not a boy?"

    Jin Liwei scowled. He closed his eyes to control his temper, not wanting to snap at his own grandmother. "Yes, Grandmother. My girlfriend is a girl, not a boy."

    "Don¡¯t be angry, my dear. I just want to make sure," she said,ughing. Then she sighed. "I¡¯m happy that you finally have a girlfriend. Your mother, Grandpa Lu and I have been so worried that you¡¯ll stay a bachelor for your entire life."

    "I would probably stay a bachelor, if I didn¡¯t meet my girlfriend."

    "Oh, you sound exactly like your grandfather! That¡¯s exactly what he said about me!"

    Jin Liwei gave his grandmother a few moments to collect herself. He knew how much she missed his grandfather. She didn¡¯t cry, but he could almost feel her sadness and longing through the phone. It didn¡¯t take long for her to calm down, though. She had always been excellent in managing her emotions.

    "By the way, your Grandpa Lu introduced a lovely young woman to me and your mother a few days ago. They visited me all the way here in the mountains. She¡¯s very nice and smart. I want you to meet her."

    "No," he immediately rejected. He had no interest in other young women besides his baby girl.

    "Liwei my dear, she¡¯s a genius. It would be advantageous for you to befriend someone like her."

    He frowned. Did the young woman describe herself as a genius to his grandmother? How conceited! He already formed a bad impression of the young woman without even meeting her. A genius, she said? He bet that she was nothingpared to his baby girl who didn¡¯t brag about her IQ and talents.

    "My girlfriend is a genius and she¡¯s enough for me. I don¡¯t need anyone else."

    "My dear, this young woman is a student of the world-renowned¡ª"

    "Grandmother, I¡¯m not interested." His tone was final.

    He didn¡¯t give a d*mn about what kind of famous school the young woman attended. Could she evenpare to his baby girl who was a student at the one and only Cross Academy? Of course not! His baby girl was one of a kind!

    "You¡¯re really like your grandfather," she said, sighing. "You¡¯re loyal to your lover and also stubborn to a fault. I hope that your girlfriend deserves you."

    "Grandmother, it¡¯s the other way around. It should be, do I deserve her? I might not deserve her, but I love her. If she¡¯ll have me, I¡¯ll make her happy for the rest of my life."

    "Oh, you silly boy. What kind of love potion did that girl feed you? I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re saying these things! I¡¯m having goosebumps."

    "She didn¡¯t feed me anything like that, Grandmother. I just came to know the real her and fell in love with her as a result."

    ¡¯It¡¯s actually me who¡¯s wishing that I have a love potion to feed her instead,¡¯ he thought before shaking his head. He scolded himself, ¡¯If I can¡¯t make her fall in love with me through my own efforts, then I really don¡¯t deserve her.¡¯

    "Now I feel more curious about your girlfriend. Introduce her to me and your mother soon."

    "Yes, Grandmother. Don¡¯t worry, I will."

    The two chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up.

    He would ask his baby girlter if they could meet his grandmother and mother sooner. He could tell that his grandmother was looking down on his girlfriend a little. He wanted to show her that his baby girl was amazing than that self-proimed "genius" young woman she just met.

    He didn¡¯t think much that it was Grandpa Lu who introduced the young woman. If the young woman was really great like how his grandmother described her, then Grandpa Lu would¡¯ve hidden her away and saved her for his Fifth Brother instead. Jin Liwei knew what Grandpa Lu was like. That was why Jin Liwei figured that the young woman should just be a daughter of a friend or someone like that.

    Jin Liwei tossed the matter out of his mind and resumed reviewing documents. He had no interest in other females.

    For him, his baby girl was the best.

 Chapter 197 - Meeting Drakon

    <h4>Chapter 197 - Meeting Drakon </h4>

    "You need to up your game, KeymonSTER. You have the ability but not enough confidence."

    These words were forever imprinted in Hou Liang¡¯s mind. This was Drakon¡¯s first message to him when he hacked and improved the ck Stars¡¯ website. Ever since then, Hou Liang thought about these words every single day to the point that it became his mantra.

    Indeed, it was true. He didn¡¯t really have that much confidence in his abilities. He had big dreams but thought that his skills weren¡¯t enough to make theme true.

    But Drakon¡¯s message nted a seed of hope inside him. Did he really have the ability? Can he really up his game?

    All these wonderings were useless without action, so he immersed himself in trying to improve his skills. When Drakon caused worldwide chaos with his hacking exploits, the seed of hope inside Hou Liang turned into determination.

    He wanted to be like Drakon: brazen, confident and unapologetic.

    If he continued to be hesitant and afraid of risks, then he would remain the same for the rest of his life. That was why he took the chance and went for it with all he got.

    Just like Drakon, he caused chaos but this time among the prominent families in the country. He already sensed that Drakon was somehow connected to Iris Long. He figured that if he did something rted to Iris Long, Drakon would notice him. Armed with new determination to prove himself, he performed his biggest hacking exploit so far.

    The result? He immediately became a wanted man in the country. It was a weird a feeling.

    On one hand, he was frightened. He didn¡¯t want to be a criminal. What if he got caught? He didn¡¯t want to go to prison. Despite being a hacker, he was still just a normal guy.

    On the other hand, he felt extremely proud of himself. Yes, he was a wanted man but the authorities still had no idea about his real identity. He was nowhere near Drakon¡¯s level who was untraceable, but at least Hou Liang improved his skills enough that he would be able to protect his real identity from the authorities. For now, at least.

    What was more, he aplished his main objective. The infamous hacker, Drakon, noticed him.

    Drakon sent him a message.

    "Let¡¯s meet."

    Hou Liang was so stunned that he froze. He stood unmoving and unthinking for a few minutes before he regained his senses.

    The two hackers briefly chatted with each other. They arranged a meeting for the next day.

    The next morning, a car picked Hou Liang up from his apartment. Seeing the expensive car and the tough and stoic man who picked him up, he was impressed once again by Drakon.

    Excitement coursed through his entire body as he sat at the backseat. He could barely sit still. He imagined what Drakon would look like. Was he even Chinese? He really didn¡¯t know what to expect. Drakon was such a mystery.

    They reached an affluent urban area and slowed down in front of a building called Gold Heights Condominium. The car drove into a private underground parking area.

    Hou Liang followed the man to an elevator. As the elevator moved up, he became more and more nervous. He started sweating. However, he also couldn¡¯t wait to meet Drakon.

    Ding!

    The elevator door opened. They stepped out of the elevator into arge, elegant unit. A familiar young man greeted him.

    "Hello, Mr. Hou!"

    "Hello..." He epted the handshake. He felt like he had met the guy before, but he just couldn¡¯t remember him.

    "Wee! We¡¯ve been expecting you, Mr. Hou. My name is Dominic Chua, Miss Iris Long¡¯s assistant. Boss¡ªI mean Miss Long is waiting for you. Please follow me."

    Hou Liang finally remembered. He finally recognized the young man from theunch party. Then he frowned. "Wait..."

    "Yes?"

    "Uhm...I¡¯m not here to see Iris¡ªI mean Miss Long. I think there¡¯s a mistake. I¡¯m here to meet someone else."

    "Eh? That¡¯s weird. Miss Long informed me that she¡¯s expecting you today. How about you meet her first and ask her?"

    Hou Liang was still frowning but he reluctantly agreed. He followed the assistant to arge library filled with books in severalnguages. However, he saw no one inside. The assistant continued walking and then stopped in front of a nondescript door. At first nce, it looked like it was a part of the wall, except that it had a knob and a state of the art password lock.

    Instead of knocking, the assistant took out his phone and dialed.

    "Hello, boss? Your guest has arrived. We¡¯re outside the door."

    Two secondster, the door opened by itself.

    "Please enter."

    "By myself?" Hou Liang asked.

    "Yes. I¡¯m not allowed to enter this room. Don¡¯t worry. Miss Long is waiting for you inside."

    ¡¯Oh, I see. Maybe Drakon is inside with Iris. That¡¯s why this assistant is not allowed to enter,¡¯ Hou Liang thought. ¡¯So my theory that Iris knows Drakon is true.¡¯

    "Okay. Thanks," he said.

    "You¡¯re wee!"

    Hou Liang entered the room. The door silently closed behind him. He stopped in his tracks and stared, stupefied, at the sight before him.

    "What the hell?!" He couldn¡¯t stop himself from eximing out loud.

    There wereputers everywhere. He estimated that there were more than fifty. His heart raced inside his chest. He didn¡¯t recognize most of them because they were unbranded, but he knew that they were top-notch in just a single nce. For the ones he recognized, he felt himself drooling.

    "What the f*ck is this ce?"

    This was his dreamputer room and more! As expected of Drakon! His respect for the hacker increased even more.

    Finally, he noticed Iris sitting in front of a multiputer station. The set-up looked like the cockpit of a spaceship. It was super cool. He hurried towards her.

    "Hey, Iris..." He greeted her awkwardly. "Where¡¯s Drakon? I don¡¯t see him here. Is heing?"

    However, she ignored him. Hou Liang felt even more awkward, but then his attention was drawn to her super-fast fingers on the keyboard. Then he looked at the multiple screens in front of them. It only took him a couple of seconds to recognize what she was doing.

    She was hacking!

    So Iris was a hacker too. As he continued to observe, however, he finally realized what was going on. Once again, he waspletely stunned. He stared at Iris like she was monster.

    "F*ck me! You¡¯re Drakon?!"

 Chapter 198 - Deal Or No Deal

    <h4>Chapter 198 - Deal Or No Deal </h4>

    "Good. It looks like you¡¯re not stupid," Iris said.

    Hou Liang cursed again. "You¡¯re really Drakon? You¡¯re not sh*tting me, are you?"

    She ignored him and continued to focus on what she was doing. It was better to show him than tell. In this case, her skills would be proof enough for him.

    He still hadn¡¯t recovered from his shock, but watching another hacker in action was a great opportunity that shouldn¡¯t be wasted. He sat down on the other ergonomic chair beside her. The seat was so amazing that he was tempted to carry it and run away. He had a feeling that it was entirely customized because he hadn¡¯t seen anything like it in the market.

    After some time, he became absorbed in observing her. He began asking questions on why she was doing this or that. She answered all of his questions clearly and even borated. He was learning so much from her in this short period of time. He now believed that Iris was really Drakon.

    Finally, she stopped and turned to face him.

    "Now exin your recent exploit to me," Iris said.

    "Well...I¡¯m a member of your fan club, the ck Stars, so..."

    She waved a dismissive hand. "Tell me the truth."

    "Fine." He sighed. "I was just hoping that Drakon...I mean, I was hoping that you¡¯ll notice me. And it worked."

    "Yes, it did."

    "So you¡¯re Drakon."

    "Yes."

    "You¡¯re Drakon, yet you¡¯re letting those Iris Long haters run freely online. I don¡¯t understand. You could destroy them easily with your skills but you¡¯re not doing anything. Like with those socialites. Sure, they¡¯re from prominent families in the country but you¡¯re someone who toppledpanies and governments all around the world. If you were the one who dealt with them instead of me, I bet that they¡¯d bepletely destroyed and have no chance of recovering until maybe after nine generations when no one remembers them anymore."

    Iris shrugged. "I¡¯m really not interested. I have more important things to aplish than waste my precious time on trash like them."

    Hou Liang looked at her and saw that she was serious. Then he chuckled. "I see. So that¡¯s how it is."

    "Now let¡¯s talk about why I invited you here today," she said.

    His eyes immediately lit up. He sat straighter and looked more attentive.

    "Remember what I told you when we first met at myunch party? I told you that whatever you need the most now, I can provide. Tell me what you need."

    Hou Liang hesitated, but he couldn¡¯t hide the hope and excitement in his eyes. "It¡¯s not really a need...more like a want."

    She shrugged, gesturing for him to go on.

    "I¡¯m a hacker but it¡¯s not really my main passion. The truth is...I want to create my own video games. I want to have the time, the resources, and the freedom to create video games."

    She didn¡¯t look surprised. It was as if she already expected his answer. Perhaps she already knew about it, that was why she said those words during theunch party. However, Hou Liang still felt unsure.

    "A childish dream, right? If I really want to create video games, I should just work at a gamingpany but I chose not to because I don¡¯t want to create other people¡¯s games. I want to create my own. But I¡¯m just a normal, working-ss guy. I can¡¯t just stop working to create my own video games. If I don¡¯t work, I can¡¯t pay for my living expenses. It¡¯s already tight as it is, especially since I prioritize food, rent andputer equipment over anything else."

    There was silence after he stopped talking. She didn¡¯t speak but studied him intently, making him want to squirm under her gaze. He felt nervous and started sweating despite the cool temperature within theputer room.

    "Do you have a game that you¡¯re working on now during your free time?" she finally asked.

    "Uh, yes. Actually, a few friends and I have been working on some video games for fun."

    "Do you have some samples?"

    "Not with me right now. They¡¯re at my apartment. I can go get them for you, if you want."

    "Are they on yourputer?"

    "Uh, yes."

    "Alright." Then she turned back to her multiputer station and started hacking into Hou Liang¡¯sputer. In just a few minutes, she broke into all the security he personally set up. She was now rifling through his files. "Where are they?"

    "Uh..." He had no choice but to direct her which files to open. Thank goodness he didn¡¯t store any porn in thisputer.

    Momentster, she was viewing and testing one of the video games. It didn¡¯t look visually appealing. The characters and background looked like drawings made by a toddler. However, Iris could see the concept. She examined the other samples.

    Afterwards, she faced Hou Liang again. "Here¡¯s my offer. You and I will build a gamingpany together. You¡¯ll create the games, I¡¯ll provide the finances and the business management. Deal?"

    "W-what?" He couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing.

    Impatient, she asked again. "Deal or no deal? Tell me if you¡¯re interested or not."

    "Deal! A hundred and ny-nine percent deal!"

    "Good. We got a deal, then." She stood up and offered a hand.

    Hou Liang hurriedly stood up and grabbed her hand, shaking it enthusiastically. If she was really serious in this offer, he wouldn¡¯t hesitate even for a second.

    Was his dream going to reallye true?

 Chapter 199 - Jin Liwei Goes Berserk

    <h4>Chapter 199 - Jin Liwei Goes Berserk </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Jin Liwei arrived home just in time for dinner. He knew that his baby girl didn¡¯t leave the house for the entire day. She must¡¯ve been busyposing music again. He could hear Dom¡¯s loud whining in the kitchen, so he headed there.

    As usual, Dom was trying to have an early taste of dinner but the cook wouldn¡¯t allow him.

    "Oh! Hi, sir boss! Wee back!" Dom greeted Jin Liwei when he saw him.

    Jin Liwei nodded, looking around. "Where¡¯s Xin?"

    "Boss is inside theputer room. She¡¯s with a guest. We were told not to bother them."

    Jin Liwei frowned. Guest? Inside her sacredputer room? Even he wasn¡¯t allowed to enter it and now someone else was in there with her. "Who¡¯s with her? How long have they been in there?"

    "It¡¯s Mr. Hou Liang. They¡¯ve been in there since mid-afternoon."

    "What?" Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ck. There was a man with her and they had been inside theputer room for hours? He marched to the library office.

    Standing in front of the password-locked door, he had the strongest urge to kick it down. He fished out his phone from his pocket and called his baby girl¡¯s phone.

    "Hello?" Her lovely voice answered but she sounded distracted.

    "Baby, I¡¯m home."

    "Oh, hi. Wee back."

    "What are you doing? I want to see you."

    "I¡¯m a little busy at the moment. Can you wait a bit more? I¡¯ll be done soon. Okay?"

    His hand tightened on his phone, but he forced his tone to be light. "Alright, baby. I¡¯ll wait for you. Don¡¯t take too long. It¡¯s almost dinner."

    "Okay. I¡¯ll see you in a bit."

    Before she hung up, he heard a male voice speaking in the background. Before he could ask who it was, the call already ended. He was tempted to call her again to ask who the other man was but stopped himself. He would just wait for them toe out and see for himself which bastard dared to be alone inside a room with his baby girl.

    Jin Liwei paced back and forth in front of the door to theputer room while frequently ncing at his wristwatch. His expression turned uglier every minute that they didn¡¯te out.

    Dom arrived to call them for dinner but seeing his sir boss, he stopped in his tracks and stayed far away. The sir boss looked like a bloodthirsty lion prowling for a prey. He looked so scary!

    The two waited for the door to open.

    ###

    After discussing Iris¡¯ business proposal, the two ended up ying around (a.k.a. hacking) together. It was nothing too major. She just wanted to gauge the extent of Hou Liang¡¯s skills. She already had an idea based on his barely-there online footprints, but she wanted to see for herself.

    ¡¯Not bad,¡¯ she thought. ¡¯Too hesitant and too cautious, but not bad.¡¯

    Before they knew it, hours had already passed. If Jin Liwei didn¡¯t call her, she wouldn¡¯t have noticed that it was already almost dinner time. About fifteen minutes after he called, she finally announced that they should call it a day.

    Hou Liang helped her turn off everything in the room. When they were done, he looked around, trying to permanently stamp this wonderful ce in his memory. He swore that one day, he would also have his own state of the artputer room like this. Reluctantly, he followed her out of the room.

    As soon as he stepped out of the door, the front of his shirt was grabbed by a tall and furious-looking man and then mmed against the wall.

    "Who the hell are you?!" Jin Liwei roared at Hou Liang¡¯s face.

    Hou Liang groaned in pain. He looked up in anger at the bastard who suddenly attacked him, but seeing the murderous expression of the man, he cowered. "W-what..."

    What the hell did he do? He didn¡¯t remember offending this man. He didn¡¯t even know him! Why was he being attacked?

    "Answer me, you bastard!" Jin Liwei continued to roar. "Who are you and what are you doing alone with my wife¡ªgirlfriend?!"

    Iris and Dom were so shocked at Jin Liwei¡¯s sudden aggression that they weren¡¯t able to react in time before Hou Liang was mmed against the wall. He started shouting at the poor guy¡¯s face. They were so shocked that they didn¡¯t even notice Jin Liwei¡¯s slip of the tongue, calling Iris his wife.

    Then they saw that Jin Liwei was about to punch Hou Liang.

    "Sir boss, no!!! You¡¯ll break him!!!"

    Iris moved so fast that she looked like she flew the short distance between them. Her hands flicked on Jin Liwei¡¯s body and he dropped to his knees. Dom immediately pulled the badly frightened Hou Liang away.

    Jin Liwei grunted. He suddenly lost feeling and control of his legs. D*mn his Fourth Brother for teaching this brutal move to his baby girl!

    Then he felt angry all over again. Why did she stop him? Did she like that bastard so much that she couldn¡¯t bear to see him hurt? He was too consumed by jealous fury that his rationality was all gone. All that was left was the threatened feeling of his woman being stolen away from him.

    "Liwei, calm down," Iris said, hugging him from behind. But more than that, she was preventing him from getting up to attack again. She looked at Dom and instructed, "Take Mr. Hou out and check if he¡¯s injured. If he is, treat him. Wait for us. We¡¯lle join you for dinner in a bit."

    "Yes, boss! Leave it to me!" Dom dragged Hou Liang out of the library office.

    Once the two were alone, Iris could feel how tense Jin Liwei¡¯s body was. He was almost trembling, barely able to control himself. Their positions at the moment was that he was on his knees on the floor while she was hugging him from behind.

    She rubbed his hard chest and stomach with her hands and kissed the side of his neck, trying to soothe him. "Calm down, okay?" she whispered in his ear.

    He turned around so that they were face to face. His expression still looked ferocious.

    Then he pounced.

 Chapter 200 - Jealous

    <h4>Chapter 200 - Jealous </h4>

    Iris fell on her back to the floor. Jin Liwei¡¯s body crushed on top of her.

    "Liwei, you¡¯re heavy!"

    He nuzzled up against her neck, inhaling her scent. He gave her neck a long lick before nipping her earlobe. "Baby, what¡¯s so good about that skinny man? You already have me. He won¡¯t be able to satisfy you with his weak body. I¡¯m more than enough for you."

    "What are you talking about?"

    After her earlobe, he nibbled on her jaw. "Don¡¯t leave me for that bastard. I¡¯m so much better than him."

    ¡¯Leave him? What¡¯s he talking about?¡¯

    She wormed her arms out from between them and grabbed his head, forcing him to look at her. She was initially feeling annoyed, but seeing his pained and troubled expression tugged at her heart.

    "You stupid man, I¡¯m not going to leave you for him," she said, sighing.

    "Really?"

    "Yes! I only want his brain, that¡¯s all."

    He frowned, not understanding what she meant.

    "I¡¯ll exin so get off me now. You¡¯re heavy. I can¡¯t breathe."

    "Okay." He got off her but before she could get up by herself, he was already lifting her up. He made her wrap her legs around his waist as he stood up from the floor.

    Iris allowed herself to be carried. "Hm? What are you¡ª"

    She felt her back pressed against the wall. His hot and wet mouth swallowed her next words, as he kissed her hungrily. She moaned when his tongue stabbed inside her mouth, wildly sweeping everything, as if making sure that nobody else invaded it except for him. He sucked hard on her tongue and on her lips, making them swell a little.

    "Oh Liwei..."

    He released her mouth and trailed wet kisses along her jaw to her neck.

    Her eyes opened when she felt him suck hard on her neck.

    "What are you doing?!"

    She already told him not to leave hickeys on visible parts of her body! She was about to snap at him but felt that his body was still very tense. Was he still upset about Hou Liang? What a silly man.

    Sighing, she rxed her body and allowed him to mark her. For now. She rubbed his back, trying to soothe his tense muscles.

    When he was done, he looked at her with dark and fiercely passionate eyes. "You¡¯re mine, baby. I¡¯m not going to let that skinny bastard have you."

    "Hmph. I don¡¯t want to talk to you when you¡¯re being so stupid," she said, pursing her lips at him. "And I¡¯m going to get you for this hickeyter."

    Finally, his mouth curved up and his expression softened. "You can get me anytime, baby. I¡¯m all yours."

    She couldn¡¯t help it. Her lips also curved up and a giggle escaped from her. "You¡¯re so annoying," she told him, continuing to giggle.

    He kissed her again. This time, it was gentler and more lingering. He didn¡¯tpletely close his eyes. He wanted to watch her beautiful and sexy expressions with half-lidded eyes.

    Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. "You¡¯re so silly, Liwei. You really think that I¡¯ll leave you for Hou Liang? Where did you get that ridiculous idea?"

    Jin Liwei tensed up again. "Is that his name? Hou Liang?"

    "Calm down. Why are you being like this today?"

    "Why? Because I¡¯m jealous, that¡¯s why!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened. "Oh."

    They looked at each other for a few moments. Her expression was that of wonder, while his was barely controlled ferociousness.

    "Don¡¯t feel jealous of Hou Liang," she told him. "I¡¯m not attracted to him, nor am I attracted to any other men. I only feel attracted to you."

    "Oh yeah? You only feel attracted to me?" His hands began kneading her butt.

    She suppressed a moan and then bit his shoulder hard. "Stop it. Let me down. I¡¯ll exin everything to you."

    He chuckled, giving her plump bottom a pat before gently putting her down on her feet.

    She pulled him to one of the couches and they sat down. Then she began telling him about her business n with Hou Liang.

    When she was done, Jin Liwei frowned.

    "Baby, you don¡¯t need him. If you want to build a business, I can help you so much better than that skinny man. Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m a businessman. Does he even know how to run a business? If you really need a business partner, I can find one for you."

    "Liwei, don¡¯t underestimate Hou Liang. His skills might not be as good as mine, but he can make trouble with Jin Corporation if he wants to. He might not be able topletely topple yourpany but he can make it so that it won¡¯t be number one anymore."

    He scowled.

    "What? You don¡¯t believe me?"

    He was unwilling to believe but if his baby girl was saying it was true, then it must be true. Sighing, he pulled her into his arms. "Fine, do what you want. But why won¡¯t you ask me to do anything for you? I want to do things for you. I want you to use your lover¡¯s privilege on me."

    She moved to sit on hisp and gave a quick peck on his lips. "I will but not now. I want to see how far I can go by myself."

    He wanted another kiss so he puckered his lips to ask for one. She granted his silent request and gave him another quick peck.

    "I understand," he said. "I just wish you¡¯ll depend on me more."

    She just smiled, not replying. She gave him a third peck on the lips. "Hou Liang will be my business partner so be nice to him, okay? Don¡¯t scare or hurt him anymore."

    He looked displeased.

    "Okay, Liwei...darling?"

    "Okay," he instantly replied.

    She beamed at him. "Now let¡¯s join the others and eat. I¡¯m so hungry."

    "Me, too. I¡¯m starving," he said, squeezing her butt while looking at her with his desire-filled eyes.

    She pped his arm. "Stop it."

    It was a struggle but Jin Liwei was able to hold himself back. He was feeling two different types of hunger at the moment. The first one was the hunger for food, while the second one was his endless hunger for his baby girl.

    ¡¯Not yet,¡¯ he told himself.

    The two left the library office and headed to the kitchen where everyone else was waiting for them. Everyone saw the big hickey on their Young Miss¡¯s neck but they pretended not to see anything.

    Hou Liang was still there. Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t injured. His back was only a little bruised. He looked scared of Jin Liwei. He felt relieved when Jin Liwei just ignored him. He certainly didn¡¯t recognize him as the President-CEO of Jin Corporation. All he knew was that Iris¡¯ boyfriend was a scary and violent man.

    After dinner, Iris told Hou Liang to wait for her call. In the meantime, he should decide which game he wanted to develop first. She sent his driver to drive Hou Liang home.

    When he was gone, Iris turned to Jin Liwei. "See? I told you that there¡¯s no need to feel jealous of him."

    "En."

    He kissed her before carrying her to their bedroom.

 Chapter 201 - She Likes Me Very Much

    <h4>Chapter 201 - She Likes Me Very MuChapter </h4>

    The next day, Hou Liang quit his office job. A couple of his friends also quit their jobs to join him. They all worked at the samepany. Surprisingly, one of his friends was Wu Chen (a.k.a. iEatSlippers) who was an ountant.

    Hou Liang and Wu Chen worked at the samepany but in different departments. Hou Liang worked at the IT department; Wu Chen at the Finance Department.

    When Hou Liang announced to his friends that he would quit his job to form his own gamingpany with the help of a business partner, Wu Chen was the first one to follow him without asking any question. His other friend who was a programmer asked a few questions before following them. His other friends were hesitant to quit their jobs. However, they said that they would join him after he actually formed hispany.

    Hou Liang didn¡¯t tell Wu Chen yet that Iris would be his new business partner. So Wu Chen had no idea that his new future boss would be Boss Iris.

    Iris advised Hou Liang to stay put for now. She said that she still needed a few days to consult with her business mentor and financial manager.

    In the meantime, Hou Liang and his programmer friend chose one of their most ambitious video game ideas to work on. The current sample they had was horrible and extremely skeletal because they didn¡¯t have the resources or the manpower to even create a decent sample. With just the two of them, they couldn¡¯t do much but they were determined to improve on their initial concept.

    While the two were busy, Wu Chen logged online as iEatSlippers and once again led the Slippers Army to defend their Boss Iris¡¯ name against the haters.

    ###

    Iris just finished a magazine photo shoot and interview. Tang Yiyi, Dom and Jiang Ying Yue apanied her. It went well and they were on their way to another interview, but this time on a music program at a cable TV channel.

    Inside the executive van, Iris was busypleting trantion exercises given by her two instructors.

    Ring! Ring!

    Tang Yiyi answered her phone.

    Iris was very absorbed in what she was doing that Tang Yiyi¡¯s phone conversation and Dom¡¯s constant chatter failed to prate her concentration. It was only when she felt someone shaking her shoulder that she forced herself out of this flow state.

    "Hm?"

    "Sorry to bother you, Iris," Tang Yiyi said. "But I have something important to tell you."

    "What is it?"

    "The film producer just called me. He wanted you to know that they¡¯re finally releasing the trailer soon. Of course, the new version of ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ will also be featured since it¡¯s the theme song. It seems that JJ has already been informed. His recordbel will release a sample audio of the song and promote it around the same time the trailer is released."

    "I see. That¡¯s great to hear," Iris said before returning to her trantion exercises. She instantly became immersed once again.

    Tang Yiyi didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry. "That¡¯s it?" she asked. She was so excited yet Iris acted like it was a very normal urrence, even looking somewhat disinterested.

    "Ehehe. That¡¯s just how boss is," Dom said.

    Tang Yiyi had no choice but to share her happiness with Dom instead. She wanted to suggest that they go somewhere for dinner tonight to celebrate, but it seemed that Iris was very busy. When the film released, she would drag Iris for sure to celebrate whether she liked it or not.

    ###

    Jin Corporation

    As the true owner of LX Productions, of course Jin Liwei was informed of the news about the film trailer¡¯s uing release. He had first priority to see everything about the film. He already saw several versions of the trailer.

    He wasn¡¯t a film expert, so he left the final decision to the person he appointed to run LX Productions. However, he had one request. It was about the font size of the credits showing "Original Music by Iris Long".

    "It¡¯s too small. Make it bigger!" he ordered. "I can barely read her name."

    "But President, they¡¯ve already given Miss Long¡¯s name its own frame in the trailer..."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "The font is still too small. Make it big enough that it fills the entire screen."

    "Uh...understood, President."

    In the end, they only increased the font size a little. Jin Liwei was unhappy but Xu Tian assured him that it was a great trailer and that Iris¡¯ name was the most noticeable one among the credits.

    The production team was still polishing the trailer until they officially release it.

    Jin Liwei wondered if his baby girl already knew about it. He looked at his wristwatch. She should be on the road by now for her next interview. He knew her schedule because Dom always gave it to him. He decided to give her call.

    "Hello?" His baby girl¡¯s lovely voice answered, sounding distracted.

    Ah, she must be studying again. As a good boyfriend, he should leave her alone for now and allow her to focus on her studies. However, he wanted to talk to her. She was still asleep when he left for work this morning. He was already missing her.

    "Hi baby," he greeted.

    He asked if she knew about the film trailer yet. She told him that Tang Yiyi just informed her.

    "Congrattions onpleting the film score. I¡¯m so proud of you, baby."

    "Thank you."

    He knew that she was smiling which made him smile as well. Then he changed the subject.

    "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

    "Yes. I¡¯m ready to meet your grandmother and mother. Do you think they¡¯ll like me?"

    "Baby, don¡¯t worry too much. Just be yourself. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll see how amazing you are."

    She giggled. "Okay." There was some noise on her end of the line. "Oh, we¡¯ve arrived. I need to go."

    "Alright. Take care, baby. See youter at home."

    "You too, Liwei. See youter."

    "I love you."

    "I like you very much."

    His eyebrows rose and his whole expression became happy. Even when the call ended, he continued to grin like an idiot. Before, she would just stay silent or say "thank you" whenever he said "I love you". But now she replied. Granted, it wasn¡¯t "I love you, too" but it was already a great progress.

    When Xu Tian entered his office to submit some reports, he immediately became concerned.

    "P-president? Are you alright?"

    He chuckled. Yes, the President "chuckled"! Xu Tian would never describe his boss¡¯ weirdugh as a "giggle"! Never! This was a "chuckle", not a "giggle"!

    "She said she likes me very much," Jin Liwei told him, continuing to gigg¡ªchuckle.

    "Uh...congrattions, President..."

    "Xu Tian, you¡¯re a great and loyal assistant. I¡¯ll give you a raise and a bonus this month!"

    Xu Tian immediately bowed. "Thank you very much, President! I always pray that Miss Long¡¯s feelings for you deepen every single day!"

    "Good man! I¡¯ll give you another bonus next month!"

 Chapter 202 - Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 202 - Surprise </h4>

    It was a windy day, yet Iris and Jin Liwei still bravely rode his helicopter. The turbulence was a little rming but the pilot deemed that the windy weather was still within the safe limits the aircraft and his abilities could handle.

    The wind grew stronger as they reached the mountains, yet true to the pilot¡¯s word, the aircraft soldiered on like a bulldozer.

    Finally, the helicopternded. Iris and Jin Liwei disembarked together with his two subordinates.

    "Wee back, Master Liwei!" A man greeted him. It was the same man who greeted Grandpa Lu and Iris before. His eyes widened in surprise when he recognized Iris.

    He was about to greet her as well when Iris stopped him with a look. He seemed to understand because he stopped himself and reverted to a neutral expression. Indeed, he was a professional.

    "The two Madams and Sir Lu are waiting for you inside," he informed them.

    "Oh? Grandpa Lu is here as well?"

    "Yes, Master Liwei."

    Jin Liwei turned to Iris, pulling her close to his body. "Baby, there¡¯s one more person that I want you to meet. We aren¡¯t blood-rted but he¡¯s a very important part of our family. I consider him as my grandfather. He can be a little weird but that¡¯s just the way he is. Don¡¯t feel offended at some of the things he might say. He¡¯s a jokester but he has a good heart. Okay, baby?"

    She nodded. She almost burst intoughter at how Jin Liwei described Grandpa Lu. If Grandpa Lu could only hear what Jin Liwei said about him, she bet that the elderly man would scold Jin Liwei for an entire day.

    They began walking up the stone steps. It was colder than when Iris first came here. Even with a thicker coat, a scarf, and gloves, she still felt cold. Jin Liwei pulled her closer to his body. He rearranged her scarf so that it covered her more and pulled her hood over her head. Then he kissed her between the brows.

    The eyes of the man leading them almost popped out of his head. He couldn¡¯t believe that Master Liwei was acting so intimate with a woman. What was even more shocking was that the woman was none other than Miss Xin who the two Madams fell in love with. What was going on? He had the impression that Sir Lu wanted Miss Xin for his own grandson. If that was the case, why was Miss Xin suddenly with Master Liwei?

    Finally, they reached the huge brick country house.

    "There you are, Liwei my boy! I heard that you¡¯re introducing your girlfriend today so I came! Oh! Looks like it¡¯s really a girl! Good! Very good! Ahaha!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice immediately boomed when they entered.

    Iris¡¯ face was covered by her scarf and hood, so only her eyes were visible. Grandpa Lu and the others didn¡¯t recognize her yet.

    "Grandpa Lu, good to see you," Liwei greeted.

    "Close the door," Grandma Li ordered. The man who led them inside obeyed and closed the massive wooden doors. "Liwei, my dear. It¡¯s so windy today. We could¡¯ve postponed this until tomorrow or when the weather¡ª"

    Grandma Li wasn¡¯t able to finish her sentence because she saw Iris taking off her hood and her scarf. She immediately recognized her.

    "Xin?" she asked.

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan covered her open mouth with a delicate hand.

    "Oy oy oy! What are you doing here, my girl?! And why are you with Liwei boy?! I want to know! Wait! Don¡¯t tell me that you two are¡ªno way!"

    Iris smiled sweetly and walked towards them, leaving behind an utterly confused Jin Liwei.

    "Hello, Grandma Li, Grandpa Lu, Auntie Yuyan," she greeted them. "It¡¯s so great to see you all again."

    Grandma Li held Iris¡¯ upper arms. "Xin my dear, what¡¯s going on?"

    She already had an idea as evident by her excited eyes, but she still wanted the confirmation.

    "Yes, I want to know what¡¯s going on as well," Jin Liwei said as he also walked and stood beside Iris. "Baby, what¡¯s going on? You met my family before?"

    "B-baby?! What did you just call my granddaughter, boy?!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s expression of disbelief was a sight to see. He also looked enraged at the same time.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Grandpa Lu, why are you calling my girlfriend your granddaughter?"

    "Girlfriend?!!! No!!!" Grandpa Lu looked like his world just ended. He turned to Iris, looking very heartbroken. "Xin my girl, tell Grandpa you¡¯re not really this boy¡¯s girlfriend."

    "What are you saying, you old buffoon? My grandson just said that Xin is his girlfriend." Grandma Li looked at him in triumph.

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu decided to ignore her for now and turned back to Iris. "Well, my girl?"

    "Grandpa Lu, Liwei is indeed my boyfriend."

    "You naughty girl! Why didn¡¯t you tell me?! I want to know!"

    "Yes, my dear. Why didn¡¯t you tell us?" Grandma Li asked as well. "Did you know about our rtionship with Liwei when you met us before?"

    "At first, I didn¡¯t know. It was only when Auntie Yuyan confirmed his two son¡¯s names did I learn of Liwei¡¯s connection to you. Please forgive me for not telling you right away. I wanted to surprise you."

    Grandma Liughed in delight. She gently patted Iris¡¯ cheek. "Silly girl. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m very happy that you¡¯re my grandson¡¯s girlfriend. In fact, this is the best situation that I can hope for."

    "Son, is it really true?" Huang Yuyan asked Jin Liwei.

    "En."

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan burst into tears.

    "My dear! Why are you crying?" Grandma Li went to her daughter-inw and rubbed her back.

    "I-I¡¯m just so...happy! I already...love Xin and I want her to be my...d-daughter. And now she has r-really be my daughter!"

    Grandma Li chuckled.

    "Hmph! What are you talking about, Yuyan?! What daughter?! Xin is only the boy¡¯s girlfriend! They¡¯re not married yet!"

    "Oh, be quiet," Grandma Li snapped at Grandpa Li.

    "What did you say, you old hag?!"

    "What did you call me, you old gori?!"

    "Auntie Yuyan, please don¡¯t cry," Iris said.

    "Oh, Xin!" Huang Yuyan ran and threw herself at Iris, hugging her tightly.

    Afterwards, the three led Iris away to the living area.

    Jin Liwei stood in a daze, as he watched his baby girl being led by his family. What was going on? They were too preupied with her that theypletely forgot about him!

 Chapter 203 - Kids These Days

    <h4>Chapter 203 - Kids These Days </h4>

    Everyone was already settled in the living area when Jin Liwei regained his senses and followed them. He watched how his family interacted with his baby girl from a distance. He could see that they absolutely adored her. His mother was stuck to her like glue, sitting beside her and even holding her hands.

    Iris caught sight of Jin Liwei. She tilted her head to the side and smiled mischievously.

    The others saw her expression. They followed her sight and saw Jin Liwei.

    "What are you doing standing there all alone?! Are you a ghost?! Come here, boy!" Grandpa Lu sounded like he was in a bad temper. It didn¡¯t help that Grandma Li was giving him a triumphant smile like she defeated him in some kind of a contest.

    Jin Liwei moved and headed towards his baby girl. She and his mother scooted over to give space for him on the sofa. When he sat down, his arm snaked around her waist pulling her closer to his body. His eyes never left hers. They stared at each other, oblivious to his family watching them.

    When Jin Liwei¡¯s face started inching closer to Iris¡¯ face, Grandpa Lu couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. "Control yourself, you lusty boy! Is that how you behave in front of your elders?!"

    "Who are you calling lusty? That¡¯s my grandson, you noisy baboon!" Grandma Li snapped at Grandpa Lu. Then she turned to Jin Liwei. "Liwei my dear, how about you...Liwei?"

    Grandpa Lu: "Hah! Look at him! This is the result of not having girlfriend and being celibate for thirty-one years! When he finally gets a girlfriend, his brain ispletely filled with nothing but sperm!"

    "You are so gross," Grandma Li told him in a disgusted tone.

    Although Iris was also caught up in desire, she was still able to hear the two elders¡¯ squabble unlike Liwei who was already far gone. Her neck and face heated up. Jin Liwei looked like he still wanted to kiss her in front of everyone, so she grabbed his face and turned it forward to the direction of the elders.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Baby, what¡ª"

    Then he finally noticed his family looking at him. He actually forgot where they were! His baby girl was just too beautiful that everything around him just faded away, leaving nothing but her in his consciousness. He cleared his throat and straightened on his seat but still didn¡¯t release his baby girl¡¯s waist.

    Iris sighed in relief. She nced at the two elders. Grandma Li was looking at them in amusement, while Grandpa Lu looked displeased. Then she nced at Huang Yuyan beside her who was also blushing like her.

    "How about you tell us how the two of you met?" Grandma Li asked to make conversation.

    Iris recounted exactly how she and Jin Liwei met at the hotel lobby. Grandpa Lu and Grandma Li didn¡¯t bat their eyes about the part of her knowing the criminal activities of a Russianpany called Gktika. After all, she was a Cross Academy student. She was currently studying Foreign Languages, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that she knew Russian.

    Grandpa Lu was also aware that she was a hacker, so he figured that she became aware of Gktika through hacking. It seemed that Grandma Li also already knew about it based on her expression. It was only Huang Yuyan who looked confused, but she just epted the story as it was.

    "Liwei was very rude and arrogant. I really didn¡¯t like him. At one point, I almost hated him," Iris continued.

    Jin Liwei scowled when he heard her.

    "But he repeatedly seduced me and I discovered that I also feel attracted to him. Now I like him very much."

    His scowl instantly transformed into a delighted expression. Without thinking, he was already kissing her lips right in front of everybody.

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan eximed. Sitting beside them, she had a direct view of their kissing scene.

    "See? I told you! Your grandson has sperm brain!" Grandpa Lu told his friend in a booming voice while pointing at the kissing couple.

    Grandma Li¡¯s mouth twitched, not knowing what to say. She also couldn¡¯t believe that her usually indifferent and well-behaved grandson was acting like a teenage boy who couldn¡¯t keep his hands away from his first girlfriend.

    "Liwei!" Iris firmly pushed Jin Liwei away, her face and neck turning even more crimson. "We¡¯re in front of your family!"

    "Hm?" It took a few moments for Jin Liwei to get a hold of himself. He just lost it when his baby girl said she liked him very much in front of his family. Happiness filled his heart.

    "Can you behave? This is embarrassing," Iris whispered to him.

    He chuckled. "Okay, baby. Sorry." Well, he wasn¡¯t really sorry but he wouldn¡¯t let her know that. Why would he ever feel sorry when kissing her? Never.

    "Xin my girl, if this boy is too much for you to handle, you can always tell me and Grandpa will give him a good spanking!"

    Iris burst into a fit of giggles. The image of Grandpa Lu spanking Jin Liwei who was taller than him was just too funny. "Thank you, Grandpa, but I¡¯m alright. I think I can handle Liwei by myself."

    "Oh?" Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Really? You can handle me?"

    Feeling challenged, she raised her chin. "Of course."

    "Alright, you two! Stop flirting!" Grandpa Lu scolded them. "Hai! Kids these days! They don¡¯t have any sense of propriety anymore!"

    "Oh, be quiet," Grandma Li told him. "They¡¯re not doing anything immoral."

    "Hmph!"

    "Why don¡¯t you just be happy for the two of them?"

    Grandpa Lu sulked. "I am! Liwei boy is also my grandson, you know, so I¡¯m happy! But I was hoping to pair up Xin with my Haohao so¡ª"

    "Absolutely not!" Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was cold. "Grandpa Lu, Xin is mine. Besides, Zihao and I are brothers. He would never dare steal my woman from me."

 Chapter 204 - Passionate Lover

    <h4>Chapter 204 - Passionate Lover </h4>

    The atmosphere became ufortable. Jin Liwei looked cold as always, but everyone in the room was familiar with him. They knew that he was seething underneath his cold demeanour.

    Grandpa Lu realized that he went a little too far this time. He loved Jin Liwei and considered him as a grandson. However, he still couldn¡¯t help but prioritize his own flesh and blood grandson, Lu Zihao.

    Iris was just too beautiful and brilliant that he wanted her for his own grandson. He inwardly hoped that the children she birthed would bear the name Lu, not Jin. But Jin Liwei¡¯s words reminded him that the two boys were best friends and brothers. Stealing the woman of one¡¯s brother was a grave sin.

    Realizing his selfishness and unfairness to Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu felt ashamed of himself. He sighed.

    "Sorry, my boy. Grandpa was just too caught up in his emotions. Don¡¯t worry, I will erase this kind of thoughts from now on and support your rtionship with Xin. You¡¯re all my grandchildren. I want you all to be happy."

    Jin Liwei still felt provoked but since this was Grandpa Lu, he forced himself to nod. He knew that the elder didn¡¯t mean any harm.

    Grandpa Lu cleared his throat. "I hope that you and Haohao will forever treat each other as brothers like your grandfather and I. Haohao is returning to the country in a few days. He¡¯s not in the best of health, so he¡¯ll need you brothers."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded more readily this time.

    Having been reminded of his Fifth Brother¡¯s health, the negative feelings inside Jin Liwei slowly faded away. Indeed, their brotherhood was forged by a strong bond of loyalty and trust throughout the years. It wasn¡¯t something that was easily broken.

    The tense aura dissipated. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan released sighs of relief. Both of them knew that Jin Liwei had an extremely serious personality. Once provoked, he could be ruthless when he decided to retaliate, even to his loved ones.

    "Is Grandpa Lu¡¯s grandson your Fifth Brother, Liwei?" Iris asked.

    "En."

    "Oh. So he¡¯sing back soon? Will I meet him?"

    Jin Liwei observed her. "You want to meet him?"

    "Of course. He¡¯s your brother. I already met Eldest Brother, Second Brother and Teacher Yu Mo. Your Fifth Brother is the only one I haven¡¯t met yet. You told me before that your brothers are my brothers too, so I want to meet him."

    He didn¡¯t answer right away. He continued to look at her for a few moments. Finally, he told her, "Alright, baby. I¡¯ll introduce you when he¡¯s settled down after arriving. Let¡¯s give him a week or so to adjust from jetg."

    "Okay."

    The conversation gradually moved to lighter and more pleasant topics.

    Jin Liwei finally realized that the genius girl his grandmother was talking about when she phoned him before was his own baby girl. He also learned that Grandpa Lu was his baby girl¡¯s business mentor. Of course he was happy and proud of her, but there was a small part of him that wanted to be the one to guide her through the business world. However, he would neverin because he knew that Grandpa Lu was a business genius. There was no doubt that she got the best business mentor avable in the country.

    Later, they all ate a sumptuous dinner. It was extra special because of Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s revtion of their rtionship. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan were delighted for them. The awkwardness between Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu already disappeared as well. Everyone was in great spirits.

    As they ate and chatted, the two elders and Huang Yuyan observed the couple. There were so many instances that they caught the two just staring into each other¡¯s eyes.

    Jin Liwei also couldn¡¯t keep his hands to himself, constantly touching Iris. He would hold her hands, stroke her hair, touch her face, or nuzzle her shoulder. Although Iris didn¡¯t initiate any of their public disys of affection, she didn¡¯t reject him. In fact, she felt at ease and pleased with all his ministrations. Sometimes, as if she couldn¡¯t help herself, she would also respond with her own little touches.

    There was a moment when Iris excused herself to go to the washroom, Jin Liwei also stood up with the intent of following her.

    "I can go by myself," Iris told him.

    "I¡¯ll go with you. You might get lost. This is a big house," he replied.

    "I¡¯ve been here before. I know where I¡¯m going. I won¡¯t get lost. Stay here and chat with them, okay?"

    "No, I also need to go."

    "Oh. Okay, then."

    When they were gone, the two elders and Huang Yuyan immediately talked about them.

    "I never expected for my son to be like this," Huang Yuyan said. "I always thought that he¡¯d be cool and detached like his personality when ites to romance, but it appears that he¡¯s actually quite the passionate lover. I¡¯m very surprised as his mother."

    Grandma Li looked nostalgic. "He reminds me of his grandfather. They¡¯re very simr. You think at first that they¡¯re ice blocks but in reality, they¡¯re zing hot volcanoes inside. The Jins have always been intense men. It¡¯s only Little Chonglin who¡¯s a bit of a wishy-washy. Well, it¡¯s true that he¡¯s intense when ites to his career but as for the other aspects of his life? Hai."

    "Mother, Chonglin has matured a lot in recent years..."

    Huang Yuyan felt defensive for her youngest son. She felt that her mother-inw was being too critical of the poor boy ever since he got engaged to Fan Luo. She couldn¡¯t understand why her mother-inw didn¡¯t like his son¡¯s fianc¨¦e. Fan Luo was such a nice girl.

    Grandpa Lu sensed that the twodies were about to argue, so he deliberately butted in and sharply changed the topic. He made some jokes to make themugh.

    It was at this moment that Iris and Jin Liwei returned.

    Iris looked a little flushed. Her lips were noticeably swollen. Beside her, Jin Liwei looked like a cat who ate the canary. He had a smug smile on his face, lookingpletely pleased with himself.

    The three immediately figured out what the two had been doing while they were gone. However, they pretended not to notice, weing them back. Huang Yuyan couldn¡¯t stop herself from blushing, though.

    Later that night, the pilot informed Jin Liwei that the windy condition worsened. It wasn¡¯t safe to fly. Iris and Jin Liwei were forced to sleep over.

    Grandma Li instructed for two separate bedrooms to be prepared for Iris and Jin Liwei. However, one of her maidster informed her that Jin Liwei¡¯s bedroom was empty. It only meant one thing. He decided to sleep together in the same room with his girlfriend.

    "Oh well. Maybe I¡¯ll have a great-grandchild sooner than I thought."

    With a chuckle and a sigh, Grandma Li turned off the lights in her room and went to sleep, dreaming of her beloved husband.

 Chapter 205 - Strong Yet Broken

    <h4>Chapter 205 - Strong Yet Broken </h4>

    The film trailer was finally released. If it were any other indie film, it wouldn¡¯t garner much attention. After all, most indie film productions didn¡¯t have the resources to widely promote their films unlike major production studios.

    This film, however, wasn¡¯t just any other indie film. It had LX Productions as its backer. Although the film couldn¡¯t be promoted through traditional means like on TV or radiomercials, the web was another matter.

    As soon as the trailer was released, it became top featured on video streaming websites. It also yed as an online ad in all major websites. This kind of heavy promotion was something only major productionpanies could afford. It immediately caught people¡¯s attention.

    The film was titled "Strong Yet Broken". It was based on a true story. A life story that was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.

    It was familiar because it featured the story of Guan Jintao, the blind Paralympian gold-medalist swimmer who was the most famous disabled athlete in the country. His fame rivalled that of famous Olympian athletes because his inspiring life story was already adapted into movies, documentaries, and books. He was undoubtedly a legend in the country.

    Given his fame and influence, why then was this new film an indie one?

    The answer was simple. The film wasn¡¯t about Guan Jintao. It was about the unfamiliar life story of his mother.

    It seemed that major production studios weren¡¯t interested in making this film because the main character was a broken woman. It was, in simple terms, a very dark story.

    Unlike the hopeful and triumphant adaptations of Guan Jintao¡¯s life story, this indie film about his mother heavily focused on the subject of dealing with depression after the death of a lover which morphed into postpartum depression that never really went away, eventually ending in suicide. It was the story of a woman desperately trying to stay strong for the sake of her disabled child when she was all broken inside from the death of her lover.

    It was emotional, heavy, dark, and suffocating. An eerie sense of hopelessness and death permeated the story.

    No major film productionpany wanted to make this kind of depressing film. Some of them expressed interest if more focus was given to Guan Jintao¡¯s character rather than on his mother, but doing so would change the essence of the story.

    In the end, it could only be made into an indie film.

    When people started watching the trailer, the reactions were mixed. Some were instantly drawn to it, while some were turned off by the dark tone. However, halfway through the trailer, their attentions were piqued once again.

    An oddly familiar voice started singing familiar lyrics.

    They finally realized what was going on.

    The song was "Phantom of Your Love" by Iris Long!

    It sounded so different from the original version. Only the lyrics were the same. The melody only retained a shadow of the original. Even Iris Long¡¯s voice sounded different¡ªlower, deeper and more haunting.

    "OMG! It¡¯s the mysterious film that Iris Long has been working on. Look at the credit. It says ¡¯Original Music by Iris Long¡¯!"

    "I¡¯m having chills. I think this new version of ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ sounds even better than the original."

    "Poster above, I disagree! I like the original version better. I don¡¯t like this new version at all! It sounds too dark. Thank goodness the trailer didn¡¯t y the entire song. I think I¡¯m gonna have nightmares if I listen to the whole song. Ugh. I¡¯m shuddering just thinking about it."

    "Yeah! This new version is too dark! But based on the trailer, I think that it fits the film very well."

    "Wow! It doesn¡¯t sound like Iris Long. The voice sounds more like the goddess of death. So dope!"

    An hourter, JJ¡¯s recordbel made an official announcement.

    "We are proud to announce that the new version of ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ by Iris Long will be used as the official theme song of the uing independent film ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯, based on the riveting true life story of thete mother of Paralympian gold-medalist swimmer Guan Jintao. Iris single-handedlyposed the entire film score. We are also excited to announce that we will be releasing the new version of ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ together with the entire film score as a soundtrack album. It will be Iris Long¡¯s third official album with our recordbel. Please support the film and Iris Long¡¯s music. Thank you very much!"

    JJ¡¯s recordbel also released an official sample audio of the song.

    Iris and Bright Summit shared this post to their own followers. Because of this, "Strong Yet Broken" received even more attention. By the end of the day, the trailer became the number 1 trending video on the web. In extension, Iris¡¯ new version of "Phantom of Your Love" was also receiving a lot of attention.

    When it was first announced that Iris Long was rearranging "Phantom of Your Love" to be more cinematic to make it suitable as a film¡¯s theme song, many fans made their own cinematic covers of the song. They even set up a betting pool online,peting against each other to see whose cover would be the most simr to Iris Long¡¯s version.

    Now, however, after listening to the official audio sample, they unanimously agreed that nobody among them came even close to Iris¡¯ version. They didn¡¯t expect that she would make the already dark "Phantom of Your Love" even darker to the point that it sounded like music that came directly from theherworld.

    It sounded so eerie¡ªthe melody and most especially Iris¡¯ voice. Her vocalscked the usual showmanship of high notes and modtion. This new version of "Phantom of Your Love" sounded like pure longing and darkness. It was beautiful to the point of being scary.

    Those listening would feel their hair standing on end, like darkness was embracing and suffocating them, making their hearts tremble. The feeling was so unusual yet oddly thrilling at the same time. They couldn¡¯t wait to listen to the whole song. It was also making them want to watch the film.

    Of course, the entire ck Stars were there to support their Boss Iris. With LX Productions¡¯ powerful promotions, the film was already making waves on the inte. But with the addition of the ck Stars and the buzz around Iris¡¯ new version of "Phantom of Your Love", an indie film managed to outshine other film trailers intended to be blockbusters by major productionpanies.

    While all of this was happening online, Iris and Jin Liwei were on their way to Lin Yehan¡¯s farm vi. Jin Liwei was finally going to introduce his baby girl to his Fifth Brother.

 Chapter 206 - Meeting Fifth Brother

    <h4>Chapter 206 - Meeting Fifth Brother </h4>

    While Jin Liwei was driving, Iris couldn¡¯t stop herself from staring at him. They had been living together for quite some time that she should be used to him by now. After all, she already saw every inch of his body. After seeing so much of him, there shouldn¡¯t be anything interesting about him for her anymore. However, she just couldn¡¯t tear her eyes away from him at the moment. She thought that he was bing more and more attractivetely.

    He could feel his baby girl¡¯s eyes on him. He let her ogle as much as she wanted. Happiness filled him. When he nced at her, she was still looking intently at him. His mouth curved up into azy smile.

    "Like what you¡¯re seeing, baby?"

    "Mmn...yes."

    Thezy smile immediately turned into a smug smile.

    "Liwei."

    "Hm?"

    "I like you very much," she suddenly said. Her voice was so soft, it was almost a whisper.

    His heart skipped a beat. He nced at her again and saw that she was looking at him more deeply. If only he wasn¡¯t driving, he would¡¯ve kissed her already. Unfortunately, they were currently on the highway. He couldn¡¯t randomly stop just to kiss her.

    "I love you, baby. So much."

    She smiled softly. "I like you very much, Liwei." Then she asked, "How will I know if I¡¯m falling in love with you?"

    His heart started beating like crazy. His hands trembled a bit on the steering wheel. He took a couple of deep breaths to steady his emotions. He forced himself to be calm down.

    "You¡¯ll just have to realize it for yourself, baby," he told her in a serious tone. "Even I¡¯ve never fallen in love before but I just knew it deep inside when I fell for you. I never expected that you¡¯ll be the woman I¡¯ll end up loving."

    She listened to him, memorizing his every word. His voice felt like warm caramel, sweet and sticky. She gradually felt her chest swelling with feelings that she couldn¡¯t determine.

    "I really hope that you can love me too," he continued. "I¡¯ll do my best to make you fall for me."

    "I¡¯m looking forward to it."

    When they stopped at a red light, both leaned towards each other for a deep, hungry kiss. Nobody initiated. They simply did it at the same time. They had to stop when the cars behind them started honking.

    Jin Liwei had no choice but to keep on driving. Her eyes never left him. He could feel her looking at him the entire time. As a result, he was in a constant semi-aroused state. He kept on chatting with her about different things to distract himself.

    It didn¡¯t help that every time they stopped at a red light, they would start making out. And each time, they were forced to stop and continue driving. Damn green light for lighting up so quickly! The cars honking behind them were also very annoying. He wanted to stop the car so badly and just continue kissing his baby girl.

    Iris noticed that Jin Liwei was starting to lose his cool. Maybe they shouldn¡¯t kiss each other anymore while he was driving. It wasn¡¯t safe. Sighing, she stopped looking at him, turning her head to look outside the window instead.

    He immediately noticed it when her eyes left him. He felt empty and disappointed but told himself that this was for the best. Any more kissing and he might lose control. A car crash was thest thing he wanted his baby girl to experience again. This thought was like a bucket of ice water dumped over him, instantly killing his arousal.

    Finally, the scenery started changing from urban to rural. After driving some more, they finally arrived at their destination.

    They drove inside the gated property and entered the farm vi. A few minutester, they parked in front of Lin Yehan¡¯s big country mansion. There were other cars parked. Jin Liwei¡¯s brothers already arrived before them.

    Jin Liwei opened the door for her. He wrapped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close to his body. The weather was chilly. They didn¡¯t waste any time and quickly climbed up the steps to the mansion. The big doors were unlocked, so they just entered. Thefortable warmth inside greeted them.

    "Ah, speak of the devil. Here they are," they heard Lin Yehan say.

    "Third Bro! Xiao Xiu! What took you so long? We¡¯ve been waiting for you!" Yu Mo asked them.

    "Let them warm up first, Fourth Brother," Wang Yingjie advised.

    Jin Liwei sped hands with Iris, as they walked to the living area where his brothers were currently lounging. Iris greeted the brothers while Jin Liwei nodded at them.

    She was immediately drawn to the unfamiliar figure beside Yu Mo. He must be their Fifth Brother. Their eyes met, curious at each other. She gave him a friendly smile. His mouth also curved up.

    Jin Liwei began the introductions.

    "Baby, this is our Fifth Brother, Lu Zihao. He¡¯s Grandpa Lu¡¯s grandson."

    Iris studied Lu Zihao. Indeed, he resembled Grandpa Lu. Both looked mischievous.

    He was handsome in a different way from Jin Liwei. Lu Zihao was attractive in a wild and roguish way, while Jin Liwei was the cold and serious type.

    "Fifth Brother, this is my girlfriend, Long Xin."

    "Hello, Fifth Brother," Iris greeted him. "It¡¯s a pleasure to finally meet you."

    "Xin, I¡¯ve been looking forward to meeting you. I¡¯ve heard so much about you." He shook hands with her. He didn¡¯t release her hand right away.

    Iris didn¡¯t find it odd that their handshakested a bit longer than necessary. She thought that he was a nice person just like the rest of the brothers. He had a rxed and easygoing manner about him. However, she began to feel a little ufortable when he continued to look at her. His expression lookedid-back but Iris felt an inexplicable intense pressure from his gaze.

    There was something familiar about the feeling. She frowned, and then lightly shook her head. What familiar? This was the first time she was meeting him. She must be overthinking.

    Finally, Lu Zihao released her hand before turning to Jin Liwei. "Third Brother, how lucky you are. Your girlfriend is a beauty."

    "En," Jin Liwei replied with a nod.

    Lu Zihao shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He looked at Iris again. "So you¡¯re the old man¡¯s new granddaughter?"

    "Yes. Grandpa Lu has been taking care of me," she answered.

    "Hmm..." One corner of Lu Zihao¡¯s lifted into a devilish smile. "Did you know that the old man intended to pair you up with me? He can¡¯t stop raving about you. If you weren¡¯t already with Third Brother, you¡¯ll probably end up as my girlfriend instead."

 Chapter 207 - Familiar

    <h4>Chapter 207 - Familiar </h4>

    The atmosphere instantly became ufortable. Jin Liwei was quiet and unmoving, but they knew that he must be boiling with fury inside, as evidenced by his tense jaw and body. His hands were also clenched into tight fists. His cold eyes looked straight at Lu Zihao, silently telling him to back off.

    However, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t even look at him. He was still looking at Iris, acting oblivious to Jin Liwei. With hands tucked inside the pockets of his jeans and his devilish smile, he looked very much like the handsome rogue that he was.

    Iris tilted her head to the side and frowned. There really was something familiar about Lu Zihao, but she was certain that she had never met him before. She couldn¡¯t pinpoint in what way he was familiar. It was making her feel confused.

    His words sounded like he was out to make trouble with her and Jin Liwei, but she couldn¡¯t sense any bad intentions from him. And also for some reason, she couldn¡¯t make herself dislike him. Her intuition was telling her that Lu Zihao wouldn¡¯t harm her.

    "You¡¯re weird," she told him.

    Indeed, she thought that he was weird. How else would she feel familiar to someone she had never met before? To her, that was weird.

    Lu Zihao blinked a couple of times before throwing his head back inughter. Then he clutched his abdomen and continuedughing.

    His brothers looked at him like he was going crazy right in front of their eyes. Jin Liwei¡¯s brows scrunched together. The coldness in his eyes dissipated, reced by concern for his Fifth Brother.

    "Why are youughing?" Iris asked in confusion. "You¡¯re a really weird person."

    "Pft." Wang Yingjie¡¯s expressionless face cracked, but he was able to stop himself fromughing.

    Both Lin Yehan and Yu Mo looked perplexed.

    Lu Zihao calmed down, but there was a big smile on his face afterughing so much. "Yeah, I guess I¡¯m weird. And you¡¯re very straightforward, little sister."

    Iris felt her heart jump when he called her "little sister". Excitement stirred within her but confusion drowned it. She didn¡¯t know exactly what she was feeling.

    Before she knew it, she was already smiling. She couldn¡¯t help it. His smile was infectious. She felt very much at ease with Lu Zihao. She didn¡¯t understand why, so she just shrugged it off. Perhaps he was just a naturally friendly person.

    She grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s arm and hugged it. "Weird Fifth Brother, even if Grandpa Lu intended to pair us together, I won¡¯t end up as your girlfriend. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll like you the same way that I like Liwei."

    "Hmm..." Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes narrowed a bit seeing her clinging to Jin Liwei¡¯s arm. This onlysted for a second before he reverted back to his usual carefree expression. "Well, regardless of what could¡¯ve been, you¡¯re now Third Brother¡¯s girlfriend, so it means that you¡¯re now my little sister. Let¡¯s get along, little sister."

    "Yes!" Iris beamed.

    Lu Zihao froze at her smile, his breath catching in his throat. He wasn¡¯t the only one. All of the brothers stared at her beautiful smile.

    Jin Liwei gently grabbed her chin and turned it so that she was facing him. Then he rubbed her lips with his thumb. Iris opened her mouth and bit his thumb, looking up at him mischievously. His eyes darkened with desire. He was about to dive in for a kiss when he was interrupted.

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough flirting." Surprisingly, it was Lu Zihao.

    "Ahaha! Yeah! Stop flirting in front of us single dogs, Third Bro and Xiao Xiu! I¡¯m gonna get diabetes with all the dog food." Yu Mo said.

    Lu Zihao was smiling in amusement, but the observant Wang Yingjie noticed the sharp look in his eyes. Wang Yingjie rubbed his chin, continuing to silently observe everyone, most especially their Fifth Brother who he had not seen for a long time.

    After joking around, everyone sat down in the living area. A maid served fresh cups of hot tea blend to Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Iris inhaled the steam from her cup. She couldn¡¯t determine right away what tea it was. She took a sip. The taste of cranberry, hibiscus and cinnamon were the most detectable. There were other vours within the tea but they were too weak that she couldn¡¯t identify them all.

    "Good tea," she murmured, nodding in appreciation.

    Lin Yehan heard her. "You like it? I bought it from Canada when we picked up Fifth Brother. Actually, Fifth Brother was the one who chose it."

    "You have good taste, Fifth Brother," she said.

    "Of course," Lu Zihao replied. He picked up his own cup and sipped tea as well.

    The atmosphere was very light. Everyone was chatting with each other. Iris and Lu Zihao seemed to be getting along rather well. Jin Liwei paid close attention at the two of them, but otherwise left them alone. After all, they weren¡¯t doing anything other than chatting with each other.

    Wang Yingjie quietly observed Iris and Lu Zihao. His sharp eyes noticed a few peculiarities. The way his Fifth Brother and Iris handled their teacups were very simr to each other, even the way they sipped and appreciated the tea. Both looked very elegant and natural in doing so. He didn¡¯t think much about Iris because she was already very elegant when he met her. But as for his Fifth Brother, when did he start acting so elegantly?

    After some time, Jin Liwei¡¯s phone started ringing. He nced at the caller.

    "I need to take this call. Wait for me here. Okay, baby? I¡¯ll be back."

    "Okay."

    He gave her a quick peck on the lips before leaving the living area to answer the phone call.

    At that moment, Yu Mo was telling the story of Iris¡¯ first visit to the farm vi to Lu Zihao.

    "We were so shocked when Third Bro suddenly brought a girlfriend. I was even more shocked because Xiao Xiu is my beloved Systema student."

    Lu Zihao turned to Iris. "Do you like Systema?"

    She nodded.

    He changed the question. "Do you like fighting?"

    "No. I don¡¯t like fighting."

    "Hmm..."

    Yu Mo continued regaling about Iris.

    "She was so cool! She hit the bullseye with every shot and what¡¯s even more amazing was that there was only one hole where all the bullets went through! I mean, who else can do that? Eldest Bro was so excited that he tried recruiting her to be a shooting athlete!"

    "Hmm..." Lu Zihao was slightly smiling, looking very rxed, but his eyes looked deep.

    "Oh oh! I forgot to mention something very funny!" Yu Mo eximed. "Xiao Xiu jumped over the fence because a goat was chasing her. She thought that the goat was going to kill her! Ahaha!"

    Iris scowled.

    "That¡¯s enough, Fourth Brother. You¡¯reughing too much," Lin Yehan gently reprimanded.

    "You¡¯re afraid of goats?" Lu Zihao asked Iris.

    She reluctantly nodded.

    Yu Mo: "Ahahaha!"

    She huffed, pursing her lips at Yu Mo.

    "Are there other animals that you¡¯re afraid of?" Lu Zihao continued to ask.

    Iris paused before answering. "No."

    "How about cattle? Like bulls, for example."

    Her body involuntarily shrank back, her eyes widening in horror.

    Yu Mo: "Whoa. Seriously? You¡¯re also afraid of bulls?"

    She red at Yu Mo.

    Yu Mo: "Well, I guess being afraid of bulls makes much more sense than being afraid of goats. Anything else you¡¯re afraid of, Xiao Xiu? Come on and tell Teacher! I promise I won¡¯tugh at you anymore. Ahahaha! Oops."

    She decided to ignore him, sipping tea instead.

    "You¡¯re afraid of animals with horns," Lu Zihao said. It wasn¡¯t a question. He said it in a way as if he was certain of it.

    Iris looked at him, not answering right away. Finally, she nodded.

    "Hmm..." Lu Zihao gently swirled the tea remaining in his cup. "Don¡¯t worry, little sister. There¡¯s no need to be afraid. Big brother will protect you from all horned animals."

    She froze, her eyes widening.

    Yu Mo: "That¡¯s right, Xiao Xiu! You have us, your four big brothers, plus your boyfriend! With the five of us to protect you, there¡¯s no need to be afraid of anything!"

    Iris ignored Yu Mo. Her brows knitted together, studying Lu Zihao who looked rxed. "Fifth Brother, have we met before?"

    One corner of his mouth curved up. "Maybe."

    Her frown deepened. "I don¡¯t remember meeting you, but you feel very familiar."

    "Eh? What do you mean by that, Xiao Xiu?" Yu Mo asked.

    Lin Yehan and Wang Yingjie also looked very interested.

    Not getting an answer from Iris, Yu Mo turned to Lu Zihao instead. "Fifth Bro, do you also find Xiao familiar?"

    "Mmn... Of course. We¡¯ve certainly met before, but it seems that she doesn¡¯t remember me anymore."

    Yu Mo: "What?! How? When? Tell us!"

    Iris was very confused. She had an excellent memory. Did they really meet before? Shebed through all the memories of the original Iris Long but she couldn¡¯t find anything about Lu Zihao.

    "Ah, my dear Evelinka. You haven¡¯t changed one bit. You¡¯re still as straightforward as ever. I can read you so easily."

    Lu Zihao spoke in Russian.

 Chapter 208 - Dangerous

    <h4>Chapter 208 - Dangerous </h4>

    Iris froze, feeling the blood drain from her face. She stared at Lu Zihao, her expression filled with incredulity. Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. So many thoughts ran chaotically inside her mind, but she couldn¡¯t make sense of any of them.

    Was it really possible that he could be...?

    "Eh? Why are you speaking in Russian? Who¡¯s Evelinka?" Yu Mo asked. As a Systema instructor, he knew some basic Russian. However, Lu Zihao spoke too quickly for him to catch everything he said.

    Lu Zihao ignored him, continuing to look at Iris. His posture and expression looked rxed and carefree, but his eyes were deep and unfathomable.

    Lin Yehan was about to open his mouth to say something but Wang Yingjie stopped him with a gesture. The three brothers were confused about what was going on between their Fifth Brother and their Third Brother¡¯s girlfriend.

    After a minute of silence, Iris hesitantly spoke. "B-big brother?" she asked in Russian.

    This time, Yu Mo understood it clearly. He didn¡¯t think anything was wrong with Iris calling Lu Zihao big brother. After all, just based on age, all of them were her big brothers. But why were the two of them speaking in Russian?

    "I¡¯m back, little sister," Lu Zihao replied with a soft smile.

    Torrents of tears gushed down Iris¡¯ eyes. Her lips trembled, releasing soft whimpers.

    The three brothers were rmed.

    Yu Mo: "Eh? What¡¯s wrong, Xiao Xiu? Why are you crying?!"

    Lin Yehan: "Xin, are you alright?"

    Wang Yingjie silently observed her, but his brows knitted together. She was looking too pale.

    "Come," Lu Zihao said, opening up his arms to her.

    The next scene shocked the three brothers.

    Iris jumped from her seat and dove into their Fifth Brother¡¯s arms. She clung to his waist and started wailing, her whole body shaking. The harder she cried, the harder her body shook. Their Fifth Brother was murmuring something they couldn¡¯t hear, but whatever he was saying, it was just making her cry even harder.

    "Looks like they really know each other," Wang Yingjiemented.

    Iris¡¯ cries were getting louder and more sorrowful that it rmed even the servants. They ran to the living area to see what was going on. Seeing the scene, they didn¡¯t know how to respond. They decided to stand back and await their master¡¯s instructions, if there were any.

    ###

    The phone call Jin Liwei received was an important business one. He took it in a nearby room so that he could speak in private. He just exited the room after finishing the call when he heard the loud cries. He immediately recognized the voice. His heart stopped for a moment before racing wildly inside his chest.

    He ran back to the living area as fast as he could while trying to control his panic. When he arrived, an unbelievable sight greeted him.

    His baby girl was wailing while hugging his Fifth Brother¡¯s waist. He had never seen her cry this hard before.

    "What the hell is going on?" His cold voice cut through the confusing atmosphere.

    Everyone turned to look at him except for his baby girl and Fifth Brother. The two felt like they were in their own little bubble separated from the rest of the world. He didn¡¯t like it at all.

    Since Lu Zihao was still sitting down on the couch, Iris looked like she wasying on top of hisp.

    An ugly feeling surged up within Jin Liwei. He marched towards the two and pulled his baby girl up from his Fifth Brother. She flopped like a limp doll in his arms, still crying. He held her tightly in one arm while his other hand reached for the front of Lu Zihao¡¯s shirt.

    "What the hell did you do to her?" he growled.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply, but he looked at him with extremely cold eyes.

    For a moment, Jin Liwei was taken aback by the coldness in his Fifth Brother¡¯s eyes. But then he felt his baby girl trembling in his other arm and the fury returned in full force.

    "Third Brother, calm down. Let¡¯s listen to the two of them first," Lin Yehan tried to reason but he was ignored.

    "Let me go," Lu Zihao said. He wrapped his hand around Jin Liwei¡¯s wrist and squeezed hard.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hold on Lu Zihao¡¯s shirt loosened. He felt surprised at his Fifth Brother¡¯s strength. However, he still didn¡¯t let go of the shirt.

    "We need to calm her down first," Lu Zihao added, looking at Iris.

    "Stay away from her!" Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want to listen. In his anger, he unconsciously tightened his hold of Iris, making her groan in pain.

    Before he knew what was happening, his hand holding Lu Zihao¡¯s shirt was grabbed and twisted. He winced as his arm was bent into a painful position. His other arm released Iris and she staggered to the couch.

    "How dare you hurt her, you bastard?" Lu Zihao hissed at Jin Liwei. His eyes looked cold yet feral at the same time.

    "Third Brother, Fifth Brother, don¡¯t fight!" Lin Yehan stepped forward, but backed away again. His instincts were telling him not to go near the two.

    "Fourth Brother, break them apart," Wang Yingjie instructed. He looked calm but the furrow between his brows and his narrowed eyes betrayed his anxiety.

    Yu Mo didn¡¯t respond right away. He was still shocked at his Fifth Brother¡¯s smooth move. It was an advanced joint lock. A little more angle and Jin Liwei would¡¯ve been thrown to the ground. A little more force and his arm would¡¯ve been broken. To Yu Mo¡¯s expert eyes, Lu Zihao was holding back but not too much. It was obvious that Jin Liwei was in extreme pain, even though he was doing his best not to let it show.

    "Hurt her again and I¡¯ll break your arm," Lu Zihao threatened in a low voice.

    Jealousy filled Jin Liwei until it was all he could feel. "Why do you care so much about Xin? What¡¯s your rtionship with her?"

    "You stupid bastard." Lu Zihao¡¯s aurapletely changed, turning murderous.

    Even the martial artist Yu Mo flinched and stepped back.

    The sense of impending danger prated through Iris¡¯ chaos of emotions. rm cleared her thoughts, finally allowing her to clearly see what was happening in front of her. Jin Liwei was bent into a painful position by Lu Zihao.

    When she saw Lu Zihao shape his other hand into a w and aim for Jin Liwei¡¯s throat, her body moved before she could even think. She leaped over to them and started attacking Lu Zihao, trying to make him release Jin Liwei.

    Lu Zihao blocked all her moves, releasing Jin Liwei in the process. Once Jin Liwei was released, she stopped attacking and went over to Jin Liwei. She quickly checked him for injuries, sighing in relief when he looked alright.

    Her heart was still thundering in her chest. If Lu Zihao was really her brother, then that w would have crushed Jin Liwei¡¯s windpipe. It was one of her brother¡¯s favourite moves in the past. It almost always resulted in death.

    She hugged Jin Liwei, cing her body between the two men. Her eyes were wide in fear. In this position, she looked like she was seekingfort from Jin Liwei but in actuality, she was protecting him from danger.

    "Big Brother, please don¡¯t hurt Liwei."

    This time she spoke in Mandarin. Everyone understood her.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply, continuing to release a threatening aura.

    Jin Liwei, who was still drowning in jealousy, frowned. "Baby, let me go. He can¡¯t hurt me."

    "You stupid man!" Iris snapped at him. He had no idea how dangerous a situation he was just in.

    He was taken aback by her reaction. All he could do was look at his baby girl in confusion.

    Iris turned to Lu Zihao again. "Big brother, please. I like Liwei very much."

    "Fifth Bro...let¡¯s stop this, alright?" Yu Mo finally stepped forward and cautiously put a hand on Lu Zihao¡¯s shoulder.

    Everyone was very confused but the priority was to break up the fight first. To their relief, Lu Zihao rxed and reverted to his usual easygoing self. The threatening aura also disappeared. He stuck his hands inside the pockets of his jeans. Then he looked straight at Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes.

    "Third Brother, I don¡¯t see Eveli¡ªXin in the same way that you see her. For me, she¡¯s a precious little sister. Don¡¯t let jealousy turn you stupid. My rtionship with her is purely that of a brother and sister. Let¡¯s sit down and talk, shall we? I¡¯ll exin everything."

 Chapter 209 - Not Again

    <h4>Chapter 209 - Not Again </h4>

    They all sat back down. Everyone was still feeling tense, except for Lu Zihao who appeared very rxed. He even requested one of the maids for a fresh cup of tea and pastries.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s entire body was taut. It was taking almost all his willpower to control his temper. Jealousy was still whirling inside him.

    Simrly, Iris¡¯ emotions were in turmoil. Waking up in another body was already unbelievable. But if it happened to her, was it possible that it happened to her brother as well?

    Jin Liwei wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his body, almost making her sit on hisp but not quite. He was very tense. It wasn¡¯t helping her deal with her own emotions.

    "Liwei, he¡¯s my big brother," she whispered to him. "Don¡¯t fight anymore. Okay?"

    He looked at her troubled face. She wasn¡¯t crying anymore, but her eyes still glistened with tears. Her cheeks were wet, her nose and lips tender. She looked beautiful even with such a pitiful expression. He couldn¡¯t help but soften seeing her like this.

    He removed a handkerchief from his pocket and began gently wiping her face. Afterwards, he lightly kissed her lips and then her forehead. He frowned. Her skin felt too cold.

    "Liwei...darling." Her eyes implored him.

    Although he still felt jealous, he just couldn¡¯t say no to her. "Okay, baby. I won¡¯t fight with him. So don¡¯t cry anymore, okay?"

    She nodded, smiling a little.

    Opposite them, Lin Yehan was very unhappy. He didn¡¯t know what was going on between his Fifth Brother and Iris. All he knew was that two of his beloved brothers were fighting because of a woman. His prejudice against Iris from before starteding back. He wouldn¡¯t allow someone like her to destroy their precious brotherhood.

    Wang Yingjie seemed to notice the direction of Lin Yehan¡¯s thoughts. "Eldest Brother, Xin is a good person. We recently heard from Grandpa Lu himself that she¡¯s his student and that he¡¯s very pleased with her. If her character really has a problem, with Grandpa Lu¡¯s personality, he would immediately refuse her as his student. I think we should hear Fifth Brother¡¯s exnation first before we judge the current situation, don¡¯t you think?"

    With this voice of reason, Lin Yehan¡¯s mind opened up. He was a naturally gentle person but his protectiveness towards his brothers tend to make him close-minded at times. Grandpa Lu was someone who never took sh*t from anybody, so they all trusted the elder¡¯s judgment.

    "Is everyone ready to listen to what I have to say?" Lu Zihao asked. He lounged on his seat, looking rxed and sipping tea.

    "Yeah! We want to know what¡¯s up with you and Xiao Xiu!" Yu Mo said.

    The others nodded.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s lips pressed together into a thin line. Iris felt him tense up again, so she pressed herself closer to him. He kissed her temple and rxed but only for a bit.

    "Xin and I were online friends since long ago. That¡¯s how we knew each other. We met in an onlineputer game. Since then, we often yedputer games together. We sent each other photos of each other so we knew what the other looks like, but we didn¡¯t know each other¡¯s real names. I only know her as Evelinka which was one of her online usernames. And she just calls me Big Brother."

    Iris blinked, not showing any reaction. She needed to corroborate with whatever he was saying. Inside, however, she was criticizing his made-up story.

    ¡¯What a stupid story,¡¯ she thought.

    "However, we lost contact more than two years ago. Now I know that both of us got into serious idents and were evenatose. What a coincidence, right? Perhaps that¡¯s why she wasn¡¯t able to recognize me earlier. I lost a lot of weight since my ident."

    Iris was displeased with the story, but still nodded, agreeing with everything he said.

    Yu Mo: "Oh! So that¡¯s why you were calling Xiao Xiu Evelinka. But why were you speaking in Russian earlier?"

    Lu Zihao shrugged like it was no big deal. "Evelinka¡ªI mean Xin has always been multilingual. She mentioned before that Russian is one of her favouritenguages. Before the ident, I wasn¡¯t really interested in learning othernguages but during my recovery, I suddenly had a lot of free time. I decided why not use my free time to learn some newnguages? So I learned Russian because I remembered her. Not to mention that it¡¯s really helpful in picking up some hot Russiandies."

    Yu Mo snickered. He and Lu Zihao high-fived.

    Iris fought the urge to roll her eyes. This stupid story was making her feel dizzy. Although she was now starting to ept that Lu Zihao might really be her Big Brother Niki from her past life, there was a part of her that resisted this idea. A trace of panic was starting to grow from within her. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself but her current emotions were still too chaotic.

    "Is it true, baby?" Jin Liwei asked her.

    She nodded immediately, not daring to hesitate for fear of arousing suspicion. "Yes, everything that Big Brother said is true."

    Jin Liwei was still a little suspicious but he knew that his baby girl spent a lot of time online. He even needed topete with her stupidputers sometimes. So Lu Zihao¡¯s exnation sounded reasonable to him.

    "Wow! This is so cool!" Yu Mo eximed. "Fifth Bro and Xiao Xiu actually knew each other from way before."

    He seemed to ept the story as it was.

    "Fifth Brother, have you ever felt attracted to Xin?" Lin Yehan asked.

    Jin Liwei immediately tensed up again.

    Yu Mo: "Eldest Bro! What are you¡ª"

    Lin Yehan raised a hand to stop him. His eyes were determined, looking straight at Lu Zihao.

    "Eldest Brother, I already said that I only see Eveli¡ªXin as a precious little sister. For us, we are brother and sister. I don¡¯t practice incest. Besides, even if we don¡¯t have this kind of sibling rtionship, she¡¯s too young for my taste. I prefer my women mature and well-developed," Lu Zihao said, smirking at Jin Liwei.

    Yu Mo: "Ahahaha!"

    Lin Yehan¡¯s mouth twitched.

    "Pft." Wang Yingjie¡¯s expressionless face cracked.

    Jin Liwei scowled while Iris pouted. She threw a sullen look at Lu Zihao.

    He winked at her.

    After that, the atmosphere lightened up greatly. The brothers chatted. They decided to move on to other topics. Lin Yehan also returned to his usual gentle self, smiling once again at Iris.

    Yu Mo asked Lu Zihao about the smooth joint lock move he executed earlier. "That was so awesome, Fifth Bro! Where did you learn it?"

    "Oh, that? I just randomly watched an online video showing that technique. Didn¡¯t know it¡¯d be so effective," he replied nonchntly.

    Yu Mo: "What?! Are you for real?"

    "Yeah."

    The brothers continued to chat and the conversation revolved around martial arts techniques. All the brothers, except for Lu Zihao, were trained in martial arts. Yu Mo was, of course, a licensed Systema expert. Jin Liwei, Lin Yehan and Wang Yingjie were all karate ck belters. Lin Yehan had a second-degree ck belt, Jin Liwei third-degree, while Wang Yingjie surprisingly had a fifth-degree ck belt. The three, however, weren¡¯t active practitioners anymore.

    While they were talking, Iris began to feel unwell. She felt lightheaded and dizzy. It was bing hard for her to breathe. Her head dropped heavily on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder.

    "Baby?" He looked down and touched her in concern. She was pale, cold and sweating profusely.

    Her only response was a soft groan.

    Jin Liwei began to panic. "Second Brother!"

    Wang Yingjie stood up and quickly walked over to them. "Fourth Brother, get my medical bag from my car."

    Yu Mo immediately ran out.

    Iris was still conscious but she already lost awareness of her surroundings.

    When her eyes started to roll back in her head, Jin Liwei went into full panic mode.

    "No no no. Not again. Baby, stay awake! Answer me!"

 Chapter 210 - Face The Phantoms

    <h4>Chapter 210 - Face The Phantoms </h4>

    Everyone started crowding around Iris. Jin Liwei cradled her in his arms, repeatedly calling her name. Although her eyes were closed, she still appeared conscious. They could hear her soft whimpers. However, she was totally unresponsive to them.

    "Third Brother, calm down. Lay her down on the couch," Wang Yingjie instructed.

    Jin Liwei immediately obeyed.

    "All of you, don¡¯t crowd too close. Let her breathe."

    Wang Yingjie began instructing everyone on what to do.

    Iris began mumbling something. They thought she was just speaking incoherently due to her condition. Nobody understood her except for Lu Zihao who was standing near. She was actually mumbling in Russian.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes darkened hearing her words.

    Yu Mo finally returned with the medical bag. Wang Yingjie immediately went to work, taking out his medical instruments to examine Iris. First, he took out scissors and moved to cut Iris¡¯ shirt open.

    Jin Liwei looked enraged and was about to snatch the scissors but Wang Yingjie calmly exined, "She needs to breathe."

    Iris was wearing a long-sleeved body-hugging turtleneck shirt. It wasn¡¯t too tight but in her current condition, it was definitely restricting her breathing. Wang Yingjie cut the shirt open, including the bridge of her bra. It exposed her upper body, but the cups of her bra still covered her breasts.

    "Don¡¯t look!" Jin Liwei barked at everyone. He could tolerate Wang Yingjie because he was a professional doctor but not the others.

    Lin Yehan, Yu Mo and the servants quickly looked away. Lu Zihao, however, continued to look. His eyes looked unfathomable. Fortunately, Jin Liwei was too preupied with Iris to notice.

    "Second Brother, will Xin be okay?" he asked. His distress was clear in his voice.

    Wang Yingjie didn¡¯t respond, concentrating on checking her blood pressure.

    "She¡¯ll be fine," Lu Zihao suddenly said. "She needs to go through this. This is necessary or she won¡¯t be able to move forward."

    Jin Liwei red at him.

    ¡¯What¡¯s he talking about?¡¯ everyone thought. However, nobody asked Lu Zihao to rify what he meant. They were all too concerned about Iris to bother with him. They waited anxiously for Wang Yingjie¡¯s verdict.

    "Her vitals are too low for my liking," Wang Yingjie finally said. "I don¡¯t think she¡¯s in any danger but I want her in the hospital to find out what¡¯s really happening to her. Let¡¯s go to my hospital. It¡¯s nearer here than the hospital Xin usually goes to. I¡¯ll contact Dr. Ching to let him know what happened to his patient. We¡¯re acquaintances."

    Yu Mo ran out to prepare the car. Wang Yingjie rearranged his instruments back into his medical bag, continuing to instruct everyone on what to do. Jin Liwei covered Iris with a thick nket provided by a maid and then carried her out to the car. Lu Zihao moved to follow them.

    "Stay here with me, Fifth Brother," Lin Yehan stopped him. "Second Brother is with them. He¡¯s a doctor. Xin is in good hands."

    "I¡¯m going with them."

    "Fifth Brother, your health isn¡¯t the best. You¡¯ll just get tired and stress yourself out if you go with them. Just stay here and rest."

    "No, I¡¯ll go." Lu Zihao¡¯s tone was final. His usual easygoing self was nowhere to be seen. There was intensity in his expression that silently dared anyone to go against him.

    Lin Yehan felt intimidated. He could only watch as his Fifth Brother followed the others outside into the waiting car.

    ###

    Within the world of endless white mist, she sat frozen on the ground. Her eyes were wide in fear staring at the huge mirror in front of her. Behind her was nothing but endless whiteness, yet the reflection on the mirror showed the Vetrov estate during its final moments before their annihtion.

    She wanted to run away but it was as if she was rooted in ce, forced to watch the nightmare all over again. She closed her eyes, refusing to look any further.

    "Why are you closing your eyes?" a beautiful voice asked.

    Her eyes snapped open. The reflection on the mirror showed a woman in a white dress standing behind her. The woman¡¯s golden hair and emerald eyes were very familiar to her.

    The image of past self, Evelina, gracefully knelt down and embraced her from behind. She rested her chin over her shoulder and pressed their cheeks together. Their reflections on the mirror showed two very different yet equally beautiful women.

    One was her face from her past life while the other one was the face of Iris Long, her current self. Though at the moment, Iris¡¯ face looked pale and horrified.

    There was actually nobody behind her. Everything was only in the reflection. However, she could feel the phantom embrace of her past self even if nobody was there.

    "Even if you close your eyes, your past will still be there. It will never disappear. Our past will always exist," Evelina whispered.

    "I am...Long Xin now," she managed to croak.

    "Yes. But you are also Evelina."

    The mirror started to waver and tremble. The images on the reflection started to seep out of the mirror over to her side.

    "No!"

    She wanted to run away but Evelina held her tightly, locking her in ce.

    "You can¡¯t run away from your past. And you definitely can¡¯t run away from yourself. Aren¡¯t you happy? Big Brother Niki is back."

    She sobbed. Of course she was happy. She loved her big brother very much. However, she was also afraid. She wanted to start a new life as Iris Long, and that was what she had been doing ever since waking up in her new body. But now her Big Brother Niki turned out to be Lu Zihao, a very close person to her lover Jin Liwei. His existence alone was a strong connection to her past life.

    "Why are you crying? Your big brother and lover are both with you. You are all together. Isn¡¯t it wonderful? You have the best of both worlds. You should be happy."

    Best of both worlds? Past and present?

    "No!" She didn¡¯t want it. She wanted the past to stay in the past and not interfere with her present. She didn¡¯t want to be caged again.

    Evelina¡¯s expression instantly turned cold. Her embrace also tightened until she gasped in pain.

    "Just because you¡¯re Long Xin now doesn¡¯t mean that you were born as her. Don¡¯t forget who you are. You¡¯re Evelina Armanovna Vetrova living inside Long Xin¡¯s body. You can try running away from your past, but you can never escape from who you are."

    "I..."

    "Why are you still afraid? So what if your past is intersecting with your present? You are not what happened to you. You are what you choose to be. You can never be free if you keep running away and being afraid. You can only be free if you ept your past and use it to live your present and create the future that you always dreamed of."

    Iris conversed with her own phantom in this dream-like state. This ce had no concept of time. She didn¡¯t know how long she had been in this world of endless white mist. All she knew was that she needed to face the phantoms of her past before she could leave this ce.

    The fear within her didn¡¯t disappear. It was still there, but she realized that as time passed, it didn¡¯t overwhelm her as much as before. She began to ept that her past life would always be a part of her. It was futile trying to run away from it.

    While all of these were happening within herself, she had no idea that everyone was in a panic because of her.

    By the time she was admitted to the hospital where Wang Yingjie worked, she already fell unconscious. An hour after being admitted, she began to suffer from high fever, rming everyone. Despite this, she remained unconscious. Wang Yingjie and the other doctors managed to control her fever, but they still couldn¡¯t wake her up.

    Later that night, Wang Yingjie pronounced Iris asatose once again.

 Chapter 211 In - Laws

    <h4>Chapter 211 In - Laws </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mind went nk. His body became numb. Even his heart felt like it stopped beating. When he regained senses, the gravity of the situation hit him in full force. He felt utterly devastated.

    "Second Brother, you said that she¡¯s not in any danger," Jin Liwei whispered. "Then why is she ina now?"

    "I don¡¯t know," Wang Yingjie admitted.

    "How can you not know?! You¡¯re a doctor!"

    "Third Bro, calm down." Yu Mo held onto Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulders, afraid that he would start attacking Wang Yingjie in his distress.

    "I¡¯m a doctor, not a god," Wang Yingjie said. Bafflement could be seen in his eyes. "Her vitals are low but not dangerously low. Her other test results also all came out normal. Medically speaking, she¡¯s rtively healthy with only a slightly lowered immune system because of her previousa. I don¡¯t understand why she¡¯s not waking up right now."

    He already contacted Dr. Ching. Iris¡¯ doctor would arrive at the hospital tomorrow. Wang Yingjie nned to discuss Iris¡¯ condition and to figure out why she kept on having these fainting episodes.

    Jin Liwei rubbed his face with his hands. He looked miserable. He sat beside his unconscious baby girl on the bed. She looked like she was just sleeping. He gently held her hand which was still a bit hot from the fever.

    "Baby, please wake up." He lifted her limp hand and kissed it.

    "She¡¯ll be fine," Lu Zihao said. He sat on one of the couches.

    Jin Liwei only grunted.

    "Fifth Brother, it¡¯ste. You should go home first. You¡¯re due for a check-up tomorrow morning," Wang Yingjie told him.

    "No need. I¡¯ll sleep on the extra bed here."

    Wang Yingjie was about to argue but sighed instead. "Suit yourself. I¡¯ll ask for extra pillows and nkets and also some toiletries for the two of you."

    Yu Mo and Wang Yingjie left and went home. Lu Zihao slept on the extra bed while Jin Liweiy beside Iris. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t notice the dark look Lu Zihao gave him when he embraced Iris on the bed.

    The next day, Iris still didn¡¯t wake up. Dom arrived at the hospital first thing in the morning. He cried his eyes out when he saw hisatose boss. If an outsider saw and heard him, they would think that he was grieving a loved one who just passed away.

    Lu Zihao rebuked him. "She¡¯s not dead. Don¡¯t cry like that. It¡¯s bad luck."

    Dom immediately stopped crying, staring in wonder at such a handsome hunk. Momentster, a nurse fetched Lu Zihao from the room for his check-up in the same hospital.

    After some time, Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Meimei arrived. Meimei immediately sat beside Dom.

    "What happened?" Long Tengfei asked Jin Liwei.

    Jin Liwei looked horrible. Dark circles were under his red eyes. His hair was a mess and his clothes wrinkled. He exined to Long Tengfei that Iris copsed while the two of them were visiting his best friends.

    "I¡¯m sorry," Jin Liwei said. "I didn¡¯t take care of her."

    Long Tengfei looked expressionless but Yang Jiahui knew that her husband was distraught inside. She rubbed his back, trying tofort him.

    "It¡¯s not your fault," Long Tengfei told Jin Liwei in a stiff voice. "My daughter already had this issue before. Don¡¯t be too hard on yourself. She¡¯ll wake up soon. I know she will." His voice shook at thest sentence.

    About an hourter, another group arrived. Grandpa Lu, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan came together. Lu Zihao was already back by that time from his check-up, chatting with Dom and Meimei, asking them about Iris.

    When Long Tengfei saw the new arrivals, he needed a double take. Of course, he recognized them! Lu Jianhong was a business legend. All serious businessmen in the country knew and looked up to him. As for the twodies with him, they were two generations of Jin Madams.

    Long Tengfei couldn¡¯t believe that he was meeting such big-shots in his daughter¡¯s hospital room. Then he paused, remembering that it was also in a hospital room that he was shocked by Jin Liwei iming to be his daughter¡¯s boyfriend.

    Huang Yuyan burst into tears as soon as she saw Iris and her disheveled son. Grandma Liforted her daughter-inw.

    "Liwei my boy, go take a shower! Your mother brought you a change of clothes. You look terrible! You¡¯ll scare Xin looking like that when she wakes up. Hurry up! We also ordered breakfast." Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice wasn¡¯t as booming this time.

    "Later," Jin Liwei mumbled, refusing to let go of his baby girl¡¯s hand.

    Grandpa Lu just sighed, not pushing him. He turned to his grandson instead. He wanted to ask his grandson a lot of questions, but decided to wait when everything was better. Now was not the right time. Instead, he said, "Haohao my boy! I brought you a change of clothes as well. Go take a shower!"

    Unlike Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao looked fresh and well-rested. He looked wild and handsome as usual. Both Meimei and Dom were looking at him with sparkling eyes. If their pupils could change shape, their eyes would turn into hearts.

    While Lu Zihao showered in the private bathroom, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui greeted Grandpa Lu, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan.

    "It¡¯s unfortunate that we¡¯re meeting in this kind of situation," Grandma Li said, sighing. "This wasn¡¯t how I imagined meeting Xin¡¯s family. Yuyan and I were nning to invite you for dinner soon so that our two families can formally meet, yet here we are now. My heart aches for dear Xin. I hope she wakes up soon."

    Huang Yuyan wiped the tears flowing from her eyes as she looked at her son and heratose future daughter-inw.

    "She¡¯ll be alright!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice was determined. "If she doesn¡¯t wake up soon, I¡¯ll ask my doctor friends to fly over here and take a look at Xin. They¡¯re leading experts in the world¡¯s medical field. I¡¯m sure they can figure out what¡¯s happening to her."

    Breakfast arrived and they all ate together. Everyone tried to persuade Jin Liwei to eat but he refused. In the end, it was Lu Zihao who managed to persuade him with biting words.

    "Heh, so you¡¯re gonna starve yourself? Go ahead. A weak and useless man like you can¡¯t protect Xin anyway. How can a man who can¡¯t even take care of himself take care of his woman? He can¡¯t because he¡¯s ipetent!"

    Jin Liwei red at Lu Zihao.

    Lu Zihao just raised an eyebrow and smirked while deliberately eating his meal in slow motion.

    The others just watched the brothers in silence. Grandpa Lu was surprised at his grandson¡¯s savage words but he nodded in approval. Sometimes, being hard to one¡¯s loved ones was the way to go.

    Jin Liwei scowled before standing up. He bent down to kiss Iris¡¯ forehead before heading to the table to eat with everyone. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan looked relieved. They nodded their thanks at Lu Zihao.

    Lu Zihao responded by giving them a dazzling smile.

    It was during the meal that Long Tengfei learned that his daughter was taken by the legendary Lu Jianhong as his student. Of course he was ecstatic. But what he learned next shocked him to the core.

    "C-cross Academy?" Long Tengfei stammered,ughing awkwardly. "You must be mistaken, Sir Lu."

    "You think that I, Lu Jianhong, will make a mistake in this matter? Hai! How can you not know that your own daughter is a genius? I want to know!"

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t know how to respond. He looked at hisatose daughter in disbelief. She was a genius? Howe she didn¡¯t disy any of her genius abilities while she was growing up? Was he really too busy that he never noticed that his daughter was actually a genius? It would take him a while to digest this revtion.

    They continued to chat with each other, trying to lighten the mood even though they were all worrying about Iris¡¯ condition. In this kind of situation, they grew closer. Nobody said it out loud, but they already considered each other as inws in their hearts.

    Evening came once again. They went home, except for Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao and Dom who refused to leave Iris.

    Three days passed by, yet Iris still failed to wake up.

 Chapter 212 - Sleeping Beauty

    <h4>Chapter 212 - Sleeping Beauty </h4>

    In these three days, Jin Liwei felt barely alive. He refused to leave Iris¡¯ side. As a result, Grandpa Lu stepped in as acting President-CEO of Jin Corporation, astonishing everyone in the country¡¯s business world.

    Immediately after, rumours started flying around. Did this mean that the Lus would finally demand their im on half of Jin Corporation? Sir Lu Jianhong had always allowed the Jins to reign over thepany after he stepped down and allowed Jin Liwei¡¯s father to take over as head.

    It was still a big mystery who would inherit Lu Jianhong¡¯s half portion of thepany. He already announced before that he would pass it down to the person he deemed the most worthy and capable, regardless of whether that person was a Lu or not.

    Many business insiders interpreted this as Lu Jianhong nning to give the portion to Jin Liwei. It certainly wouldn¡¯t go to that happy-go-lucky Lu grandson who almost died skiing on some snowy mountain somewhere in the world.

    Jin Corporation¡¯s stock prices rose with the return of the business legend.

    As for Iris beingatose, the news was kept secret with thebined power and influence of the Jins, the Lus and the Longs. It also greatly helped that Wang Yingjie had the presence of mind to limit the hospital staff who knew about Iris right from the start. He only allowed people that he trusted toe close to her.

    Even Tang Yiyi wasn¡¯t informed. It was up to Dom to think up of various excuses to exin why Iris couldn¡¯t be contacted. Tang Yiyi was trustworthy, but the same thing couldn¡¯t be said for the Bright Summit higher-ups. Dom and the others worried that if the managementpany learned that Iris wasatose again, they would stop prioritizing her career due to her health. As a result, Dom had to return to the penthouse to continue handling her affairs as usual while she was ina.

    However, Dom could only make excuses for a few days at most. Iris was currently one of the hottest musicians in the country. Not to mention that she was trending because of the uing film "Strong Yet Broken". People would be suspicious if she disappeared for too long. Dom prayed that his boss would wake up soon.

    His prayer was finally answered.

    The morning of the fourth day, Iris finally opened her eyes.

    She immediately felt disoriented not recognizing where she was. But she soon calmed down when she felt a familiar warmth beside her.

    She turned her head and looked at the sleeping Jin Liwei. He looked terrible. He hadn¡¯t shaved for days. He also looked a little thinner. The area around his eyes were dark and sunken. His brows were scrunched together from worry even in his sleep.

    Jin Liwei woke up from a restless sleep when he felt featherlight touches on his face. His eyes snapped open.

    What he saw was his baby girl¡¯s beautiful face smiling softly at him. She was looking at him while touching his face.

    Was he still dreaming? Could it be...?

    "Baby?" His heart began thumping.

    "Good morning, darling," Iris greeted him in a dry whisper.

    His eyes watered as relief flooded him, mixed in with excitement, joy and of course worry. He tensed his jaw as he tried to control his emotions.

    Iris wiped the corner of his eyes with her fingers.

    He carefully gathered her in his embrace and kissed her forehead. "Thank the heavens you¡¯re awake. I¡¯m so sorry, baby."

    She felt him tremble. "Why are saying sorry? It¡¯s not your fault."

    He opened his mouth but closed it again. His eyes looked miserable. He looked like he wanted to say something to her but couldn¡¯t find the words. In the end, he asked her instead, "How are you feeling? Are you hurting anywhere?"

    "No, but I¡¯m thirsty."

    "Alright. Wait here. I¡¯ll get you water." He sat up from the bed and was about to leave when she tugged at his shirt. "What¡¯s wrong, baby? Do you need something?"

    She nodded.

    "What is it? Tell me."

    "Mmn...I need a kiss first."

    Jin Liwei blinked, not sure if he heard her correctly. "What?"

    She pouted and tugged him again. "Hurry up. I need a kiss to make me feel better."

    For the first time in days, his mouth twitched. His exhausted eyes danced with amusement. His baby girl was asking for something so of course he would give it to her.

    He leaned down, making sure to support his weight on his arm, and then imed her lips. He did his best to keep the kiss light, afraid that he would give her too much stimulus and cause her to rpse again.

    For Iris¡¯ part, she didn¡¯t attempt to deepen the kiss. She had no energy, anyway. She just smiled in satisfaction when the kiss ended. "Mmm. Very nice. I¡¯m thirsty..."

    "Okay. I¡¯ll get you water," he said, chuckling. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before climbing off the bed.

    "Heh~ Instead of being awakened by Prince Charming¡¯s kiss, it seems that our Sleeping Beauty is the one demanding a kiss upon waking up by herself. Oh my, what a bold Sleeping Beauty!"

    Iris and Jin Liwei turned their heads and saw Lu Zihao sitting on the extra bed, looking attractive despite his ruffled hair. His expression looked teasing but his eyes made Iris shiver a little.

    Jin Liwei pulled up the nket to cover her more, thinking that she was feeling cold. Then he nodded at Lu Zihao. "Fifth Brother."

    "Good morning, Third Brother," Lu Zihao greeted. "You look terrible! Little sister must really like you a lot, asking for a kiss when you look like a caveman who never had a shower."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s response was a grunt. He left to get water from the kitchte.

    "Big Brother? Are you really Big Brother?" Iris asked Lu Zihao in a small voice while Jin Liwei was away.

    "Ah, dear Evelinka. I am hurt! Oh, right. I should call you Xin now. I recognized my little sister right away but she¡¯s not even sure if I¡¯m her big brother or not."

    His devilish smile made her heart skip a beat with its familiarity. Indeed, he really felt like her Big Brother Niki. She noticed that Jin Liwei was on his way back, so she hurriedly pleaded, "Big Brother, please don¡¯t do anything to Liwei. I like him very much."

    "Hmm...I won¡¯t," he said. But before she could sigh in relief, he added, "For now. He¡¯s Lu Zihao¡¯s brother and from his memories, I know that your lover is a dependable man. But my little sister deserves only the best. Is he the best?"

 Chapter 213 - New Slave?

    <h4>Chapter 213 - New ve? </h4>

    Gathering her courage, Iris forced herself to look directly at Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes. "I won¡¯t let you hurt him, Big Brother."

    He narrowed his eyes. "Heh~ What¡¯s this? You¡¯re really in love with him?"

    "I..."

    "What are you two talking about?" Jin Liwei asked when he arrived carrying a ss of water. He didn¡¯t sound jealous, just genuinely curious.

    "Oh, I¡¯m just asking her if she loves you."

    Jin Liwei froze.

    "Help me drink," she quickly requested, trying to diffuse the awkwardness.

    Jin Liwei helped her drink water. Her body was still feeling sluggish. He supported her while she drank slowly. She was so thirsty that she finished the tall ss of water.

    "So what¡¯s your answer, Little Sister? Do you love Third Brother?" Lu Zihao insisted on asking.

    She pouted at him.

    Jin Liwei kissed her forehead. "It¡¯s okay, baby. Don¡¯t mind Fifth Brother. He¡¯s just messing around."

    "Liwei, I¡ª"

    A brief knock on the door interrupted them. It opened and Wang Yingjie entered apanied by Dr. Ching. Jin Liwei apparently contacted them when Iris woke up.

    The doctors examined Iris and ordered a series of tests on her. They discussed her condition between themselves. Both felt baffled because all the test results came out normal. Medically speaking, Iris was healthy. Then why did she keep having these fainting episodes, even going intoa for a second time?

    Wang Yingjie felt especially frustrated. He was a surgeon so this wasn¡¯t in his area of expertise, but he wanted to personally involve himself with Iris¡¯ case because he already considered her as a sister. He pored over countless medical texts, trying to find some answers but to no avail. He could only call her condition a medical mystery.

    Lu Zihao noticed his frustration. "Second Brother, don¡¯t stress yourself too much. Look. Little Sister Xin is fine now. Even the test results are saying that she¡¯s fine."

    "Yes, I¡¯m fine now," she echoed.

    Both of them knew that her recenta wasn¡¯t something that could be exined by today¡¯s doctors.

    Iris stayed at the hospital for one more night before she was discharged the next morning.

    Lu Zihao came with them to the penthouse. He told them that he wanted to sleep over at his brother and sister¡¯s ce.

    Of course Iris agreed, saying she didn¡¯t mind. After all, he was her big brother.

    Surprisingly, Jin Liwei also agreed. His usual jealousy and possessiveness didn¡¯t rear their ugly heads this time. He just felt too happy at the moment that his baby girl finally woke up froma. His entire thoughts were all about his baby girl. He nned to pamper her and shower her with love in the next few days while she recovered her energy. He had no time to entertain negative thoughts.

    As soon as they entered the penthouse, they were greeted by the entire household. All of them had tears in their eyes. Leading them was Yi Mei.

    "Wee back, Young Miss! We¡¯re so d that you¡¯re back with us. We¡¯ve been so worried."

    Ice Cream and Popcorn ran to them and rubbed themselves against Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s legs¡ªmostly Iris¡¯. They meowed loudly, as if asking their Mommy and Daddy where they had been for the past few days. The two were big now. They were still considered kittens based on their age, but they were already close to full-grown cats in size.

    "Mama! Papa!" Little Jun called out. He struggled against his mother¡¯s arms, reaching for them with his little arms.

    "Mama? Papa?" Lu Zihao sounded shocked. He frowned and looked at the toddler. He noticed that the child resembled Iris a little, especially in their phoenix eyes. He turned to Iris and Jin Liwei. "You two already have a child together?!"

    Jin Liwei frowned, not liking Lu Zihao¡¯s tone. Why did he sound so enraged? So what if he and his baby girl had a child together? If that was the case, it was definitely something to celebrate about, not criticized.

    "Big Brother, Little Jun is my nephew. He¡¯s also our godson. Jin Liwei and I are his godparents."

    "Oh. So that¡¯s how it is. I thought that you...I see. Good. But calling you Mama and Papa is just inviting misunderstanding, you know."

    "I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll teach my son not to call them Mama and Papa anymore," Jiang Ying Yue looked embarrassed.

    "No need. Mama and Papa are fine. Let him call us whatever he wants," Jin Liwei said coldly. He took Little Jun from Jiang Ying Yue.

    Little Jun immediately started babbling to his Mama and Papa.

    Iris picked up Ice Cream from the floor and began petting her in her arms.

    Popcorn, on the other hand, leaped up Lu Zihao¡¯s pants and climbed to his shirt. Lu Zihao had no choice but to carry him as well. Popcorn kept on meowing, curious at this new person his Mommy and Daddy brought home. Maybe a new ve? How exciting!

    Dom hopped beside Lu Zihao. "Big Brother boss, do you remember me?"

    "Oh. You¡¯re the crybaby."

    "Ehehe. Yes." Then Dom batted his eyshes. "You¡¯re so handsome, Big Brother boss."

    Lu Zihao gave Dom a taste of his devilish smile.

    Dom gasped and stopped in his tracks, clutching at his chest. His eyes zed over.

    "Yi Mei, this is Lu Zihao. He¡¯s a brother of both Liwei and I. Have someone prepare one of the guest bedrooms. He¡¯s sleeping over," Iris instructed.

    "Understood, Young Miss."

    Lu Zihao winked at the old housekeeper. His charisma was so strong that even Yi Mei couldn¡¯t stop herself from blushing. However, she was a professional with decades of experience as a housekeeper. She was able to quickly recover from her momentarypse.

    ¡¯It seems that Young Miss brought another dangerous man home,¡¯ she thought.

    After freshening up, they lounged at the living area while waiting for lunch. Popcorn fell in love with Lu Zihao, constantly rubbing himself against him and asking to be petted. On the other hand, Ice Cream didn¡¯t go anywhere near Lu Zihao, staring at him with suspicious eyes. She also stayed in her Mommy¡¯s embrace, hissing at Lu Zihao whenever he came close to Iris.

    Little Jun sat on Jin Liwei¡¯sp, entertaining himself with a rattle.

    "Oh right! I almost forgot!" Dom suddenly eximed. "Boss, I have news about the rm Girls. They¡ª"

    He shut his mouth when Jin Liwei red at him.

    ¡¯Wuwuwu! What did I do? Don¡¯t murder me with your eyes, sir boss!¡¯ Dom cried inside.

 Chapter 214 - Trus

    <h4>Chapter 214 - Trus </h4>

    "Hm? What is it?" Iris asked.

    "Don¡¯t mind those insignificant girls," Jin Liwei told her. "You just woke up froma. What you need right now is to rest. Focus on your recovery first. Okay, baby?"

    "No, I want to know. Tell me."

    Dom felt torn. Sir boss was too scary!

    "Dom." Iris¡¯ tone wasmanding.

    ¡¯Wuwuwu! Sir boss is scary but boss can be really scary too. Poor me. Wuwuwu!¡¯ Dom cried inside.

    Dom had no choice but to reveal thetest news about the rm Girls. During the court hearing, the rm Girls pleaded not guilty against assaulting Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary and the other charges pressed on behalf of the nail polishpany. The nail polishpany¡¯swyer said in an interview that they had strong evidence and witnesses to support their case against the rm Girls.

    The next day, however, the case was muddied when several young women sought out the media and began throwing allegations against Mr. Chen and several higher-ups of the nail polishpany. The young women used them of sexual harassment, sextortion and bribery.

    The nail polishpany quickly released a formal statement denying all these allegations. However, the public was already starting to sympathize with the young women, especially after watching them reveal their alleged traumatic experiences while crying.

    How could such innocent-looking young women lie? And they looked so traumatized too. Of course the public would believe them more than the wealthy and powerful old men running the nail polishpany. This type of men often used their status to get what they wanted.

    Even though these young women didn¡¯t go to the police to formally report their usations, the mass media headlined their stories. There weren¡¯t any conclusive evidence but because of the media, public sympathy was with the young women. The nail polishpany became a big target for bashing, damaging its reputation.

    While all of these were happening, the actual case against the rm Girls escaped the media spotlight. In an interview, the rm Girls¡¯wyer used these allegations to question the integrity of Mr. Chen and the nail polishpany. Although it wouldn¡¯t help the rm Girls¡¯ case by serving as concrete evidence, it would nevertheless cause the nail polishpany a huge setback in terms of their public image.

    "These are what happened in thest few days while boss was in co¡ªI mean while you were sleeping," Dom told Iris. "At first, I felt sorry for the young women. There are so many like them who are being preyed upon by men of power. But when I thought about it more carefully, I don¡¯t understand why they won¡¯t go to the police and request for an official investigation. Then I thought maybe they¡¯re lying! Of course, it could also be because they¡¯re too scared. But they¡¯re already talking to the media. Surely, it¡¯s better to talk to the police as well. I don¡¯t know what to believe. If it¡¯s true that they are victims, I feel so sorry for them and I hope that they get the justice that they deserve. Women shouldn¡¯t continue to suffer traumatic experiences from men! But if they¡¯re lying, then they¡¯re horrible! It should be a crime to use someone of **** or sexual assault when it didn¡¯t really happen! Pinning such serious crimes on innocent men, how horrible is that?! They should be legally punished for their unjust usations!"

    Iris frowned as she thought over what she just heard.

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough," Jin Liwei said firmly. He worried that such a heavy issue would stress his baby girl out and make her rpse again.

    He also just learned about thesetest development regarding the rm Girls¡¯ case from his assistant, Xu Tian. However, he was too worried for his baby girl in the past few days while she was ina to care about others. He instructed Xu Tian to find out more about the young women, but he already had an idea who might be behind all the ruckus.

    "Baby, don¡¯t think about them for now," he repeated. "Let¡¯s focus on your health first, okay?"

    "Fine," Iris finally said.

    Fortunately, Yi Mei appeared at this time to call them for lunch. They all went into the formal dining area to eat because they had a guest, Lu Zihao.

    The cook prepared special light but nourishing soup-based dishes for Iris to ease her recovery. Then she prepared heavy dishes for the men, especially after seeing Jin Liwei who lost some weight in just a few days.

    After lunch, Iris and Jin Liwei headed to their bedroom. Lu Zihao followed them like it was the most natural thing in the world to apany a couple to their bedroom. Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow at him, but Lu Zihao just winked.

    Once inside, Jin Liwei helped Iris on the bed. She was feeling tired. Jin Liwei was about to shower but hesitated, looking pointedly at Lu Zihao who was checking out some of the books on the shelf. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want to leave the two of them together alone, especially when there was a bed present.

    Lu Zihao immediately knew what he was thinking. He smirked. "Heh~ Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t trust your girlfriend alone with a man? You don¡¯t think she¡¯ll stay faithful to you and will leave you when faced with a gorgeous man like me? Tsk tsk." Then he turned to Iris. "Look at your boyfriend, Little Sister Xin! He doesn¡¯t trust you at all!"

    Jin Liwei scowled at his brother. But when he nced at his baby girl, he saw her looking at him with sad and disappointed eyes. Her expression stabbed directly at his heart.

    "Baby, I trust you," he told her. He lifted her chin up with his fingers, so that they were looking at each other¡¯s eyes. "Do you believe me?"

    She blinked. Then she smiled softly and nodded.

    His baby girl was too beautiful!

    His body moved on its own, diving for a kiss. He kissed her deeply this time, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth. The kiss became intense in no time.

    Before they knew it, she was already t on her back with him on top of her. Both of them had already forgotten that there was another person in the room with them. When Iris moaned and started pulling off Jin Liwei¡¯s shirt, a loud cough made her freeze.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t hear it, continuing to kiss her passionately. She could feel his erection on her abdomen straining against his trousers. However, her lust already evaporated as she felt a strong murderous auraing from one direction.

 Chapter 215 - Never Good Enough

    <h4>Chapter 215 - Never Good Enough </h4>

    Iris broke out in a cold sweat. She peeked from the corner of her eyes and saw Lu Zihao wearing a ck expression. He looked like he wanted to behead Jin Liwei.

    "Baby..." Jin Liwei murmured, sucking on her lips, trying to make her respond to his kisses. His hand crawled up inside her shirt and cupped her breast.

    She wasn¡¯t wearing a bra. If there wasn¡¯t impending danger, she would¡¯ve moaned and encouraged Jin Liwei to continue. However, she had to stop this right now or blood will flow¡ªJin Liwei¡¯s blood, of course.

    "Liwei, stop." She pushed him off of her.

    "Hm?" He was still very aroused. He trailed wet kisses from her mouth to her neck.

    "Liwei...Big Brother is still in the room..."

    Jin Liwei froze.

    "Heh~ Is my presence that easily forgotten or are the two of you just too horny?"

    "Go away," Jin Liwei muttered, ring at his Fifth Brother. "It¡¯s none of your business when I make love with my girlfriend."

    The murderous aura grew stronger. Iris paled. She pushed Jin Liwei off of her more forcefully. "Aren¡¯t you going to shower?"

    "Wanna join me?" he whispered, squeezing her breast lightly.

    ¡¯This stupid man!¡¯ she yelled in her mind.

    "Second Brother said I can¡¯t take a shower for a couple of days. Towel baths only to be safe."

    "Oh. Right." Jin Liwei¡¯s arousal dissipated as he remembered that his baby girl just came out ofa. He immediately straightened and released her breast. He mentally scolded himself for losing control when she was still recovering.

    "Go shower now, okay? I¡¯m going to rest. I feel a little tired."

    "Okay." He kissed her forehead and stood up. He threw a warning look at Lu Zihao before heading to the bathroom.

    When he was gone, Lu Zihao looked at Iris. He was expressionless but a dangerous aura emanated from him.

    "So...you two are really sleeping together?"

    "He sleeps here in my bedroom. Well, it¡¯s our bedroom now since we¡¯ve been living together."

    Lu Zihao rephrased his question, knowing that his sister could be dense when it came to things like this. "What I mean is are the two of you having sex?"

    "..."

    "Well?"

    "Uh...if I say yes, will you hurt Liwei?" she cautiously asked instead.

    His eyes narrowed. "So that¡¯s a yes?"

    "No!"

    "Then what is it? Have you had sex with him or not? Yes or no."

    "I...we do a lot of things together but we haven¡¯t gone all the way yet. So no for full sex...but yes to the other ones. Please don¡¯t ask what they are," she quickly added.

    "Heh..."

    "Big Brother, I like Liwei very much."

    "I noticed. So if he wants to have sex with you, you¡¯ll agree?"

    "Yes," she answered without thinking. Her face burned up when she realized what she just said. "Oh. I mean...well, yes...I guess. I like him very much so...yes."

    In the end, her honesty still prevailed. She just couldn¡¯t deny it when it was what she really felt.

    Lu Zihao sighed deeply. "You..." And then sighed some more. "You¡¯re still too honest for your own good. Well, I guess he¡¯s not bad. If you were an ordinary girl, he¡¯ll be a great catch. But the problem is that you are not. Even if we don¡¯t include your identity in your past life, you are still a Cross Academy student right now. Your abilities and talents alone are already several levels higher than everybody else¡¯s, including mine. What about him? If he wasn¡¯t born a Jin, he would be no one."

    "I don¡¯t care!" She finally lost her temper. She didn¡¯t like how he kept on disparaging her man. "I like Liwei because he¡¯s Liwei. He¡¯s who I like, so I¡¯m going to keep him! If I want to have sex with him, I will! If I want to marry him, I will! If I want to make babies with him, I will! You¡¯re not going to stop me!"

    Lu Zihao mmed his hand on the bookshelf. Several books fell to the floor.

    Iris flinched but she lifted her chin in defiance. She could sense his cold fury but she still looked at him straight in the eyes. Her body trembled under his cold gaze, but she felt indignant on behalf of Jin Liwei.

    He narrowed his eyes at her, but she didn¡¯t let up. She lifted her chin even higher to show her determination. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

    When he opened his eyes, the scary auraing from him disappeared. He reverted to Lu Zihao¡¯s usual easygoing manner.

    "Rx, Little Sister," he said in a light tone. Then he began picking up the books from the floor, rearranging them on the bookshelf. "I¡¯m not really against Jin Liwei. Although I still think that he¡¯ll never be good enough for you, at least he¡¯s the most qualified man in this country right now. His wealth, status, power and influence are adequate enough, I guess."

    "Hmph! In your eyes, nobody is good enough for me."

    He chuckled. "That¡¯s very true. If we are still the Vetrovs, I wouldn¡¯t have to lower my standards like this for a suitable partner for you. s, I am no longer Niki Vetrov and you are no longer Evelina Vetrova. I guess we both have to make do with what we have now." He continued chuckling but there was bitterness in his tone.

    Iris¡¯ chest tightened hearing him. She was perfectly happy with her new life, but what about her brother?

    Their past situations werepletely different. While she was a caged bird, protected and isted to the point of suffocation, he was actively helping run the organization with their parents. He had the wealth, status, power and influence as the Crown Prince of the international Underworld. Was he missing his past life?

    "Hm? What¡¯s this?" Lu Zihao suddenly asked. He was holding a ck notebook.

    Her eyes widened. "Oh. That¡¯s¡ª"

    He opened it and looked at the first page.

    "Fan Luo, Wanwan, Feifei, Mimi," he read aloud. "Hmm... Fan Luo... Isn¡¯t she the fianc¨¦e of Jin Chonglin? And these three other names... Aren¡¯t these the rm b*tches?"

    "Yes."

    "Heh~ What is this, Little Sister? You copied my ck Note? But why haven¡¯t you crossed out any of the names yet?"

 Chapter 216 - Nothing But A Coward

    <h4>Chapter 216 - Nothing But A Coward </h4>

    "I¡¯m too busy and it¡¯s too bothersome. I almost forgot I even have that notebook," Iris said, shrugging.

    "Little Sister, that¡¯s not how you use the ck Note," Lu Zihao told her. "Once you write a name, you don¡¯t procrastinate. You immediately erase the person and cross out the name."

    Iris frowned. "I¡¯m not going to kill anyone."

    "There are many ways to make people suffer fates worse than death." A dangerous look glinted in his eyes. "You are really too kind-hearted, dear Little Sister. For people like these, you have to root them out as soon as possible to prevent them from plotting against you again."

    "I¡¯ll let mywyer deal with the rm Girls. Thew will decide an appropriate punishment for them."

    "You¡¯ll trust awyer? Thew?" He threw his head back andughed like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard.

    "Big Brother, I¡¯m Long Xin now and you are Lu Zihao. We arew-abiding citizens, at least I am. We can¡¯t erase who we were during our past lives, but we no longer live in that kind ofwless world."

    "Oh? And Drakon is aw-abiding citizen? I know that hacker is you, Little Sister. You caused so much chaos all over the world. You¡¯re a wanted person being hunted by several authorities in many different countries, yet you dare call yourself aw-abiding citizen?"

    She pursed her lips. "But they don¡¯t know that I¡¯m Drakon. Long Xin is aw-abiding citizen."

    He chuckled in amusement at her logic.

    "And as for Fan Luo, she only wrote some negativements about me on the inte. She didn¡¯t really directly attack or hurt me or anything like that. I think I was too hasty when I wrote her name in the notebook in the first ce."

    "Is that what you think? That she didn¡¯t directly attack or hurt you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

    "Have you even ran a background check on her?"

    "No."

    "Have you ever ran background checks on the people around you? Your household staff?"

    She hesitated. "I did a background check on Dom and then on my two bodyguards. Only on the people that I personally hired after I woke up in this body. As for my housekeeper and the others, no. I didn¡¯t think that I needed to."

    "How about on Liwei? Did you run a background check on him?"

    "Why should I?" she asked, confused.

    Lu Zihao looked exasperated. He released a heavy sigh. "You! How can you be so careless? You¡¯re a hacker and you don¡¯t even run basic background checks on the people around you? You¡¯re the most intelligent person that I know but you can also be so dumb."

    She threw a sullen look at him. So mean. He just called her dumb.

    "Little Sister, don¡¯t trust anyone. Not even me. Do you hear me? Only trust yourself."

    "That¡¯s such a sad way to live life, not trusting anyone."

    "It¡¯s the safest way to live."

    "I don¡¯t want to live like that," she said. "I want to create genuine rtionships with people. I can¡¯t do that if I act paranoid all the time, checking the backgrounds of everyone I meet. If someone betrays or hurts me, I¡¯ll just deal with it when it happens. I want to trust people ording to my own judgment and not based on background check results."

    He looked even more exasperated this time. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Then he shook his head, sighing. "Our parents and I have always wondered how the Vetrovs could have produced someone like you. Your heart is too good, but that¡¯s also what makes you so precious. You were totally ipatible with the Vetrov¡¯s way of life. We had many enemies and someone like you was an easy target. That¡¯s why we fiercely shielded you from the outside. You always had been our treasure, Evelinka. Even if you¡¯re Xin now, you¡¯ll always remain my treasure. I¡¯ll kill anyone who dares hurt you."

    "Big Brother¡ª"

    Her phone rang. She nced at the caller and then answered the call.

    "Hello, Mr. JJ?"

    She gestured at Lu Zihao and rose from the bed. She walked out of the bedroom to speak with her music producer in private.

    Lu Zihao was left alone. He sat by the study desk, fiddling with the ck notebook.

    Momentster, the bathroom door opened. A freshly-showered and freshly-shaved Jin Liwei walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

    "Hm? Where¡¯s Xin?" he immediately asked.

    "Taking a call from JJ," Lu Zihao replied.

    "Oh." Jin Liwei nodded and then headed to the walk-in closet. He returned to the bedroom fully clothed, rubbing his wet hair with a towel.

    "How long has she been gone?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "She just left." Then Lu Zihao raised the ck notebook in his hand. "Do you know what this is?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t answer. He saw it before, but he didn¡¯t really know what its purpose was.

    "I¡¯ll tell you," Lu Zihao said with a devilish smile. "It¡¯s a hit list."

    Jin Liwei frowned.

    "And do you know the lucky person who had her name written first?"

    "Fan Luo."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s smile became even more devilish. "Ah, so you know! It seems that you¡¯ve seen this notebook before. So how do you feel that your future sister-inw¡¯s name is written in your girlfriend¡¯s personal hit list?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened.

    "Heh~ Don¡¯t tell me you think that this Fan Luo is different from the Fan Luo you know? Come on, Third Brother. You¡¯re not that stupid."

    Lu Zihao smirked when Jin Liwei stayed silent. "Feeling guilty?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "I know what you did, Third Brother."

    "Speak clearly. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about."

    "Heh~ Fine, I¡¯ll tell you. Isn¡¯t it funny how two years ago, you didn¡¯t even care about a dying girl and even covered up the truth about her attempted murder all for the sake of avoiding scandal for your family? Loyal and protective of his family, ruthless to his enemies. That¡¯s who Jin Liwei is, the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of today¡¯s generation. For the sake of maintaining the Jin family¡¯s pristine image and for making your beloved mother happy, you¡¯ll even allow a psycho to be your sister-inw." Lu Zihao threw his head back andughed. He sounded like the devil.

    "What loyal and protective of his family? You just don¡¯t want the hassle of dealing with the sh*tstorm once that b*tch¡¯s real colours are exposed. You¡¯d rather have things remain as they are and maintain the illusion of perfection." Lu Zihao sneered. "But wait a minute. Lo and behold! You suddenly fall in love with the girl you f*cked over! Funny, isn¡¯t it?"

    "You...How did you¡ª" Jin Liwei looked at him in shocked disbelief.

    "You feel sorry and regret what you did," Lu Zihao continued as if not hearing him. "You love her so much that you want to marry her. You try to forget what you did and hope that she¡¯ll never find out. You tell yourself that you¡¯ll confess the truth. You¡¯re just looking for the right timing. But when will that be?"

    An expression of utter shock was on Jin Liwei¡¯s face. He quickly turned pale. It felt like his entire body was suddenly submerged in freezing water. He couldn¡¯t breathe. His heart seized beating for a few beats before hammering wildly in his chest. All of Lu Zihao¡¯s words were like knives being stabbed into his heart.

    "You want to redeem yourself, so you begin suppressing that b*tch¡¯s family. But oh! Here¡¯s the thing, you do it in a gentle and imperceptible way because you still don¡¯t want the hassle of dealing with a scandal. You don¡¯t want to rock the boat. Your mother will continue treating a cold-blooded snake like a cute furry bunny, and everyone will continue thinking that the Jin family is the epitome of perfection. At the same time, you¡¯ll be having your happily ever after with the girl who had no idea that she was f*cked over. Everyone¡¯s happy! Hooray! Wonderful, isn¡¯t it?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s devilish smile disappeared, reced by a cold and merciless judge. "You¡¯re nothing but a coward, Jin Liwei."

    ¡¯You¡¯re nothing but a coward nothing but a coward a coward A COWARD,¡¯ the damning words echoed endlessly inside Jin Liwei¡¯s mind.

 Chapter 217 - Moulding The Ultimate Protector

    <h4>Chapter 217 - Moulding The Ultimate Protector </h4>

    Lu Zihao watched as Jin Liwei froze into a horrified statue. A wave of dizziness overcame him as his body protested against hurting its Third Brother like this.

    ¡¯Stop it. Lu Zihao is gone. You¡¯re my body now,¡¯ he mentally hissed.

    The original Lu Zihao was already dead and gone, but the body still retained strong remnants of its original owner like muscle memory. After all, they had been together since conception in the womb up until the original Lu Zihao died and was reced by the soul of Niki Vetrov. Suddenly finding itself housing a strange soul, of course there would be some form of rejection in the body one way or another.

    To reduce rejection and increasepatibility, he did his best to match the original Lu Zihao¡¯s personality and habits. It proved to be an effective method, except at times like this when he reverted back to Niki¡¯s strong and intense personality.

    The brotherhood between Jin Liwei and the original Lu Zihao was so deep that the body instinctively fought against him. He gritted his teeth and fought off the dizziness, feeling a little nauseous doing so.

    "How do you know all of these?" the pale Jin Liwei asked in a whisper.

    "I have my ways, Third Brother," he spoke in a cold tone.

    Lu Zihao knew because once he recognized Iris as his beloved little sister Evelinka, he gathered all avable information about Iris Long but it wasn¡¯t enough. Navigating through the familiar underworld channels, he hired a ck hat hacker to dig more information about Iris Long and all the people around her. The hacker was above Hou Liang¡¯s level but nowhere near Iris¡¯ superior level.

    When the hacker sent him the information, Lu Zihao was surprised to discover Jin Liwei¡¯s involvement in the original Iris Long¡¯s ident. The hacker even asked for extra payment for this information because it was harder to dig out.

    "I almost missed it. Someone did a great job of erasing all the evidence. It¡¯s just that my skills are at a higher level so I was able to spot the small remaining trace. Only those at my level or higher will be able to pick up the trail," the hacker told him.

    When Lu Zihao found out about Jin Liwei¡¯s involvement in the ident, he found itughable that the man was now in love with Iris. That was until he realized that the current Iris was actually his sister. Then he began to treat it as serious business.

    In all honestly, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t give a f*ck about the ident. After all, the original Iris was a stranger to him. He didn¡¯t give a f*ck that the girl died. In fact, he felt d that she died in order for his precious little sister Evelinka to have a second chance in life like him.

    "Are you going to tell Xin?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Are YOU going to tell her?" Lu Zihao threw the question right back at him.

    "I...yes. I n to. I love her so much." Sighing heavily, Jin Liwei rubbed his hands over his face. His expression looked extremely pained. "You¡¯re right. I¡¯m a coward. I¡¯m so afraid that she¡¯ll leave me once I tell her the truth."

    ¡¯She probably won¡¯t care,¡¯ Lu Zihao thought but didn¡¯t say out loud. ¡¯But the remnants of the original Iris in her body will.¡¯

    Thinking like this, he suddenly felt worried for his little sister. Unlike him, it was obvious that his sister didn¡¯t even bother matching the original Iris¡¯ personality or habits. She just did her own thing, not caring if others thought that her personality change was too drastic.

    It was no wonder that her body was so fragile and would copse whenever she experienced anything overly emotional. Despite this, he wasn¡¯t going toin because he heard that the original Iris Long was a total b*tch and a spoiled brat.

    Lu Zihao could see that his sister liked Jin Liwei very much. Perhaps she already fell in love with him but just didn¡¯t realize it yet. Since the original Iris¡¯ ident had no direct connection to Evelina, learning about Jin Liwei¡¯s involvement most likely wouldn¡¯t affect how she felt about him.

    However, the same couldn¡¯t be said about her body. After all, its original owner was the one who was killed in the car ident. Lu Zihao feared that such a shocking revtion would increase the rejection between Iris¡¯ body and soul. It might evene to a point where her soul might bepletely kicked out of the body.

    He felt great dread but pushed it down. He had important business to aplish today. He needed to be harsh on Jin Liwei and prompt the man topletely erase all the people that may endanger her sister. He needed to guilt the man to take action and ensure that his sister would always be protected and safe.

    Although he belittled Jin Liwei earlier, he knew that the man had the wealth, status, power and influence to safeguard Iris. Jin Liwei was in a much better position than Lu Zihao to protect her from any danger.

    And he knew that there would be danger. Immense danger. A fire burned within Lu Zihao.

    He tried asking the ck hat hacker to investigate what happened to the Vetrov family but the hacker panicked and ended allmunications with him. He wasn¡¯t surprised at all. So he nned on asking his little sister to help him avenge their Vetrov family and their organization with her godly hacking skills.

    But when he finally met her as Iris, he could sense that she was already happy with her new life. In their past lives, their family couldn¡¯t afford to give her the freedom that she desired. It was too dangerous. It was different now, though. For the sake of her happiness, he decided not to involve her in his dark and bloody path of revenge.

    Of course without her, revenge would be harder to achieve especially since he currently had no power of his own. It would take time for him to gain power but he would do it, no matter how long it took. He swore that he would get revenge in this lifetime.

    And if his sister were to learn of his goal, she might even volunteer to help him. If that happened, he wouldn¡¯t reject her help but that would endanger her.

    That was why he needed to mould Jin Liwei to be Iris¡¯ ultimate protector. When Lu Zihao became too preupied with revenge, Jin Liwei would be able to keep Iris safe from any danger.

    Using the original Lu Zihao¡¯s memories and knowledge about Jin Liwei¡¯s character, he guilt-tripped his sister¡¯s lover and steered him to the direction he wanted.

    He cruelly mocked Jin Liwei and criticized the man¡¯s cowardly behaviour to force him to grow a stronger backbone and unwavering loyalty to his sister. He must make it so that Jin Liwei¡¯s number one priority would always be Iris and Iris only, not even his family orpany.

    It was only this way that he would feel at ease in pursuing revenge without worrying about his sister. Jin Liwei would keep Iris safe for the rest of her life, even if Lu Zihao were to die on his road of vengeance and leave this world forever.

 Chapter 218 - Exhausted

    <h4>Chapter 218 - Exhausted </h4>

    There was strong unwillingness within Lu Zihao to entrust his precious little sister to another man, but he just couldn¡¯t leave her unprotected. No matter what kind of life she lived from now on, whether it would be peaceful or not, he needed the assurance that she would be protected at all times.

    So he continued to goad his sister¡¯s lover.

    "Do you really love her?" Lu Zihao asked Jin Liwei.

    "Yes, of course," Jin Liwei immediately answered.

    "Then why the half-ass job in dealing with that psycho Fan b*tch and her family? Is your love for Xin also half-ass?"

    "Of course not! My love for her is not half-ass! I love her with all that I am!"

    "Heh... Is that so? Can¡¯t see it." Lu Zihao deliberately looked at Jin Liwei with critical eyes. "You know what that psycho b*tch has been doing behind the scenes, right? If you don¡¯t deal with her soon, it¡¯ll only be a matter of time before she tries killing Xin again."

    Jin Liwei held his head with his hands, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. Then determination shed in his eyes. He dropped his hands to his sides and clenched them. "I¡¯ll deal with Fan Luo and the Fans. No more half-assery," he dered through gritted teeth.

    "What about those rm b*tches? That psycho b*tch even resorted to using them."

    "They¡¯ll be dealt with as well."

    Lu Zihao was pleased with his sess but maintained a serious expression. This was only the first step. He had to see first whether his sister¡¯s lover would deliver on his deration. If not, Lu Zihao would be forced to make alternative arrangements to ensure his sister¡¯s safety, whether she liked it or not.

    "Fifth Brother, you really care about Xin that much?" Jin Liwei suddenly asked. He couldn¡¯t hide the suspicion and a hint of jealousy in his tone.

    "Of course I care about her," Lu Zihao replied, raising an eyebrow. "I told you. She¡¯s my little sister. Do you have a problem with that, Third Brother?"

    "I...no." Jin Liwei frowned. His expression kept on changing, unsure of what to think or feel.

    "Don¡¯t waste your time feeling jealous at me. I already told you before that I don¡¯t see her the same way that you do. She¡¯ll always be a little sister to me. Nothing more, nothing less. But that also makes her very important to me. You¡¯re also my brother, but I¡¯m going to tell you this now so that we¡¯re clear. If the two of you ever fight, I¡¯ll take her side. Always."

    Another wave of dizziness overcame Lu Zihao. His body protested against his statement. Of course the body would side with Jin Liwei.

    ¡¯Behave! Of course I¡¯ll side with my own sister, you idiot. Stop fighting against me,¡¯ Lu Zihao scolded his body.

    Jin Liwei looked surprised and confused but in the end, he just nodded his head. If he fought with his baby girl, he wouldn¡¯t take his own side either.

    "Ugh." Lu Zihao staggered and grabbed the edge of the study table to steady himself.

    "Fifth Brother? What¡¯s wrong?" Jin Liwei quickly crossed the distance between them. "Sh*t. You look like Xin when she¡¯s gonna copse. Here, sit down first. I¡¯ll call Second Brother...no, I better call an ambnce."

    Lu Zihao sat down heavily on the swivel chair. "Don¡¯t bother." He waved a dismissive hand. "Just give me a couple of minutes and I¡¯ll be fine."

    "Are you sure? You don¡¯t look well." Jin Liwei looked worried. His baby girl just came out of the hospital. He didn¡¯t want his Fifth Brother to go next.

    "Yeah, I¡¯ll be fine." Lu Zihao closed his eyes and focused on steadying his erratic breathing. He was instantly drenched with his own cold sweat.

    Jin Liwei observed him while holding his phone. He would immediately call an ambnce the moment his Fifth Brother¡¯s condition worsened.

    Fortunately, Lu Zihao indeed recovered in about a couple of minutes. He opened his eyes and blew a big puff of breath.

    "How are you feeling?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "I¡¯m okay now. I just feel...f*ck, I¡¯m exhausted."

    Jin Liwei looked relieved. "You need to rest, Fifth Brother. Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll help you to your room."

    "No need." Lu Zihao waved him off. "I¡¯ll go on my own. I¡¯ll ask Dominic or someone else to show me the way."

    "Alright. Don¡¯t push yourself too hard. You¡¯re not fully recovered yet," Jin Liwei reminded him.

    "Yeah, yeah." Lu Zihao pushed himself up with great effort. He felt like all his energy had been drained. He began to walk but stopped when he remembered something. "Third Brother, be careful when you tell the truth about the ident to little sister. We know what happens to her when she bes overly emotional or stressed. We don¡¯t want her copsing or going intoa again." He paused before adding, "She might not wake up next time."

    Jin Liwei immediately became more serious. "Yes. I won¡¯t tell her right away. I don¡¯t want her to rpse again. I¡¯ll deal with Fan Luo, her family and the rm Girls first. When everything¡¯s resolved, then I¡¯ll tell her everything."

    Lu Zihao nodded. "That¡¯s for the best."

    The two brothers parted. Jin Liwei stayed in the bedroom while Lu Zihao headed out of the door. Dom was nowhere in sight, so he asked a maid to show him to his bedroom.

    As soon as heid down on the bed, he instantly fell asleep and battled himself within a world of white mist.

 Chapter 219 - I Feel Weird

    <h4>Chapter 219 - I Feel Weird </h4>

    "Thank you, Mr. JJ. Goodbye." Iris hung up the phone.

    She and her music producer discussed her uing soundtrack album for the film "Strong Yet Broken" which would be released on the same day as the movie premiere. Although she wouldn¡¯t be part of the official movie promotions, she still needed to attend select interviews for her contribution as the officialposer. In addition to this, she had to do her own promotions for the soundtrack album which would be under her name.

    Excitement bubbled within her. She couldn¡¯t wait to hear her own music in a movie. This was something she only dreamed about in her past life. Now she was on the verge of achieving it. Once again, she felt thankful to have been given a second chance in life.

    Ice Cream meowed daintily from herp. Iris petted the plump and fluffy grey kitten. Popcorn was sprawled belly up by her feet on the carpet. He was sleeping soundly after tiring himself from running around the entire penthouse.

    "Go back to sleep, Ice Cream. I need to return to Daddy," Iris whispered. Then she gently removed Ice Cream from herp and transferred the kitten onto the couch.

    Ice Cream was quite heavy now. Popcorn was slimmer because he always ran around whenever he was awake, unlike Ice Cream who liked sleeping and lounging the entire day.

    Iris petted her two kittens before exiting the cat room.

    When she returned to the bedroom, she saw Jin Liwei sitting on the edge of their bed with his head hanging down and his hands covering his face. He looked forlorn.

    "Liwei, what¡¯s wrong?" she asked, quickly walking to him.

    He raised his head and looked at her with a pained expression. "Baby..."

    She sat on hisp and wrapped one of her arms behind his shoulders. She touched his face with her other hand. "What¡¯s the matter?" Then she frowned. "Did Big Brother bully you? Wait here, I¡¯ll talk to him."

    She tried to stand up but he pulled her back down on hisp.

    "No," he said. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and pulled her closer to him. Then he turned his face towards her neck and inhaled her sweet scent.

    Iris could sense that he was troubled, but she didn¡¯t ask him again. She waited for him to speak instead.

    "I¡¯m such a coward," he said. "I love you so much, baby. I can¡¯t bear for you to hate me."

    She felt confused. She already knew that he loved her but what did he mean by his other words? She didn¡¯t understand.

    He took her hand and kissed it. Then he looked directly at her eyes. "Baby, I..." He stopped and took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. "I have a secret. I¡¯m afraid that if I tell you, you¡¯re going to hate me and then leave me."

    Her head tilted to one side, immediately feeling curious. However, she controlled her curiosity because he looked so distressed. Her chest tightened seeing him like this. She leaned down and pecked him on the lips. "Just tell me whenever you¡¯re ready. I¡¯ll listen to you and do my best to be understanding whatever it is."

    His eyes widened at her in wonder.

    "I don¡¯t know what your secret is but what I do know right now is that I don¡¯t want to leave you. I want to be with you." She released her hand from his hold and began caressing his face. Then she whispered, "I like you very much, Liwei."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s breath hitched and his eyes watered before quickly leaning his head against the crook of her neck and shoulder. He tightened his embrace around her.

    Iris rubbed his back while her other hand stroked his hair, soothing him. She patiently waited for him to control his emotions. Although she had no idea what kind of secret he was keeping that he would be like this, she didn¡¯t think much about it.

    ¡¯Whatever your secret is, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothing to my secret,¡¯ she thought.

    What would be his reaction if she told him that she wasn¡¯t actually Long Xin but was someone else who transmigrated into this body? Would he even believe her? She didn¡¯t think so. Who in their right mind would believe such a im?

    She knew that he would never mock her. He would probably just think that she was joking or perhaps even hallucinating if she ever told him that she was a transmigrated soul. So as not to upset her, he would probably humour her and pretend to believe her. She smiled thinking about it. It was so like him.

    She continued to rub his back and stroke his hair.

    They remained in that position for a while. Nobody spoke. They just quietly embraced each other.

    Finally, Jin Liwei lifted his head. His expression was no longer distressed but loving instead. He still looked a little troubled but he felt much better. He already cemented his resolve when it came to his baby girl.

    "How about you rest, baby? You¡¯re still recovering," he said, tucking a lock of her long hair behind her ear.

    "I want a towel bath first. I¡¯ll take a nap after."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do it for you."

    "Okay."

    He stood up and carried her to the bathroom.

    She whispered close to his ear, "Thank you for taking care of me."

    He stopped and looked at her.

    They gazed at each other¡¯s eyes.

    Guilt shed in Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes before it transformed into a resolute expression. "I¡¯ll take care of you for the rest of our lives. I¡¯ll do anything for you, baby. Anything. Just please don¡¯t leave me."

    Iris¡¯ heart skipped a beat, and then it started racing wildly inside her chest. She suddenly felt flustered and shy, so she hid her face against his neck.

    What was this feeling? Was she going to faint again? But she didn¡¯t feel unwell. It felt weird but it wasn¡¯t unpleasant. In fact, she felt excited mixed with...something else. She didn¡¯t know what she was feeling.

    "Liwei, I feel weird."

    "Are you feeling sick again, baby?" he asked in a worried tone. He tried to put her down on her feet to carefully inspect her but she tightened her arms around his neck, refusing to leave his arms.

    "No."

    "Tell me what you¡¯re feeling. We¡¯ll call Second Brother and ask him, okay?"

    "No!" She lifted her head but felt flustered again when she saw his face. "I mean, let¡¯s not bother Second Brother. I don¡¯t feel sick. Really."

    He observed her face. Indeed, she didn¡¯t look pale. On the contrary, she looked flushed. He pressed their foreheads together. Her temperature felt normal. Thank goodness she didn¡¯t have a fever.

    "Oh." Iris felt her heartbeat race even faster.

    What was wrong with her?!

    After the towel bath, she would search this up.

 Chapter 220 - A Change In His Baby Girl

    <h4>Chapter 220 - A Change In His Baby Girl </h4>

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei endured their own arousals during her towel bath. He wiped her naked body with a warm and damp cloth, fighting against the urge to rece the cloth with his mouth and tongue instead.

    His raging hard-on felt like it was going to burst out of his pants, especially seeing his baby girl looking so sexy. She looked even more flushed than earlier. She panted and bit her bottom lip, as her half-lidded eyes watched him wiping her body.

    However, neither of them acted on their desire.

    Although Iris woke up from her recenta after just a few days, it still took a toll on her body. She wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with both of their libidos at the moment. It would only frustrate both of them if they started something that they couldn¡¯t finish.

    After the towel bath, he dressed her in pyjamas and carried her to the bed.

    Her eyes were trained on his bulging pants. "Want me to help you?"

    He became even more aroused hearing her offer, but he shook his head. "No need. You need to rest, baby."

    "You can...you know...go back to the bathroom and take care of it."

    That was what he originally nned on doing but now decided against it. From now on, he wouldn¡¯t waste his sperm anymore. Everything would be for his baby girl. If she was not present, he wouldn¡¯t allow himself to spew it out. He wanted to share all his pleasure with her.

    "It¡¯s alright, baby. It¡¯ll go down on its own. Don¡¯t worry about it."

    "Are you sure?"

    "En."

    "Okay."

    Theyy on the bed together in each other¡¯s arms. Iris asked him to fetch herptop because she wanted to search something up.

    "Is it important? Why don¡¯t you take a nap first? You can always do it after you wake up," he suggested instead.

    "Okay."

    Tilting her head, she looked up at his face. He felt her gaze on him so he looked back at her. Her heart fluttered when their eyes met and before she knew it, the corners of her mouth lifted up and she was already smiling at him.

    His breath caught seeing her dazzling smile. She looked so beautiful. He had no idea why his baby girl was smiling but he wasn¡¯tining. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from returning her smile.

    Good thing that the two of them were alone in the room because they looked like two idiots doing nothing but grinning and looking at each other.

    When Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes became intense, Iris began to feel flustered and shy again. She looked away, ending their eye contact. She hid her face against his chest. However, she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. She even started giggling because she just felt so happy being with him right now.

    "Hm?" He looked at his giggling baby girl but couldn¡¯t see her face. "What¡¯s funny?" he asked, stroking her long silky hair.

    "Nothing." Finally, she stopped giggling but the smile remained on her face. She looked up at him again. "Liwei..."

    "Hm? What is it, baby?"

    She didn¡¯t answer right away, tracing random shapes on his chest with her index finger instead.

    Jin Liwei waited for her to talk while enjoying her touch on his chest.

    Her hand stopped moving. She pressed her palm on the left side of his chest, so that she could feel his heart beating against her hand. Then she raised her upper body, not all the way, just enough so that she was looking down directly at his face.

    "I¡¯m so d that I met you, Liwei," she whispered.

    He froze, his eyes widening in surprise. The hand stroking her hair stopped in mid-air. Countless emotions shed in his eyes.

    Iris felt amused watching the various changes in his expression. Giggling, she gave him a quick peck on the lips before settling down in afortable position halfway on top of him.

    A few secondster, she was fast asleep with a smile on her face.

    Jin Liwei regained his senses afterwards. His heart galloped in his chest. He pulled her closer to him, wanting to fill up any space between them.

    "Meeting you is the best decision of my life," he whispered even though he knew that she wouldn¡¯t hear him in her sleep. "I¡¯ll make everything right, baby. I hope you¡¯ll forgive me when you learn about the truth. I love you so much."

    He held his sleeping baby girl, wishing that they would be together forever. He would probably go insane if he ever lost her.

    The warmth of her body and her deep, gentle breathing lulled him to sleep.

    ###

    For the next few days, Iris and Jin Liwei stayed at home. They debated how long she should take to rest before returning to work. She felt that a couple of days was already more than enough. He disagreed, wanting her to take a whole week off from work to make sure that she was fully recovered.

    He even called Wang Yingjie to ask for his opinion. Wang Yingjie was of the same opinion as Jin Liwei, telling Iris that resting for a week was the safest.

    In the end, she could only acquiesce. Second Brother was a doctor after all. He knew what he was talking about.

    Lu Zihao stayed with them, showing no signs of leaving. Someone even delivered his luggage to the penthouse and he just settled in just like that. Unlike the cold Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao was very charming. Everyone in the household quickly warmed up to him, even Yi Mei, who thought that he might be a better choice for the Young Miss than Jin Liwei.

    However, Lu Zihao often went out somewhere during the day and only returned in time for dinner in the evening. He didn¡¯t bother Iris or Jin Liwei that much.

    As for Jin Liwei and Iris, their lovey-doveyness during this week reached another level that the household sometimes couldn¡¯t bear to watch them anymore. Dom almost looked like a drooling crazed fan, cheering and bouncing and squealing at his boss and sir boss.

    At first, it was just Jin Liwei over-pampering Iris. But after spending a few hours looking up something on herputer, Iris started openly expressing her affection for Jin Liwei. She began initiating their public disys of affection instead of just responding to him like usual.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know what triggered this change in his baby girl but he wasn¡¯t going toin. In fact, he loved it!

    One day, the two of them were lounging in the living area. They were sitting together on the couch but doing different things. He was watching the business news on TV while she was busy with something on herptop.

    Suddenly, she closed herptop and stared at him.

    "Baby?"

    She didn¡¯t reply right away, just continued staring at him.

    "Liwei darling..."

    "Yes, baby?" He felt delighted hearing her call him "darling".

    "I don¡¯t know... I¡¯m not sure... But it¡¯s possible," she mumbled under her breath, looking nervous.

    He switched off the TV with the remote and then pulled her to sit on hisp. "Tell me."

    She fidgeted for some time but he waited patiently.

    "Liwei darling, I think..."

    "Hm?" He encouraged her with his eyes.

    "I think I¡¯m falling in love with you."

 Chapter 221 - Stupid Grin

    <h4>Chapter 221 - Stupid Grin </h4>

    It felt like something exploded inside Jin Liwei¡¯s head. He actually nked out for a few moments. It felt like he was sucked out of his body and then mmed back, making him reel from the shock. When he regained some of his senses, he thought that maybe he was hallucinating. Did his baby girl just say...?

    "W-what?" He looked and sounded like he turned stupid.

    Iris felt shy but seeing his reaction made her feel good. She liked that she could make him speechless. At the same time, she felt excited and could barely handle her racing heart. She forced herself to maintain eye contact with him which made her feel warm and fuzzy and giddy and...what was happening to her? Experiencing all of these feelings at the same time felt a little scary.

    "Baby, what did you say?" he asked her again in nervous anticipation.

    His whole body was tense. The hammering of his heart was so hard and wild that it showed in the pulse of his neck. It looked like there was a small creature trying to break out of his neck. If he wasn¡¯t wearing a shirt, his heartbeat would also be visible on his naked chest. He tightened his arms around her tiny waist.

    "I...I think I¡¯m falling in love with you," she said in a whisper, biting her lower lip. "Liwei, I feel so weird. I¡¯ve never felt¡ªumph!"

    Her head was suddenly grabbed and her next words swallowed by a hot open-mouthed kiss. He was so intense, sucking hard and almost biting her lips, her tongue and everything inside her mouth. His tongue bullied her tongue, making her whimper and melt all over him.

    All she could do was close her eyes and hold on to him, taking everything he was giving her. It felt like her whole body became alive and sensitive to his every touch, sending delicious electrical currents inside her. She shivered in delight.

    The two of them weren¡¯t aware that they were moaning and making erotic noises. The living area became off-limits to the rest of the household.

    Dom wanted to peek but his ears was pulled and twisted by Yi Mei, dragging him away to lecture him. The cook joined in scolding Dom, waving a spat in a threatening manner.

    Back in the living area, Iris snapped her head to the side, forcefully separating their locked mouths because she couldn¡¯t breathe. She gasped and dropped her head to his shoulder, feeling like her entire body just turned into jelly.

    Dazed, she could hear Jin Liwei murmuring "I love you" over and over, as his mouth became hungrier for her. He allowed her to breathe, kissing her jaw, neck and shoulders instead.

    "Alright, the horny couple over there. That¡¯s enough. Have you forgotten that you¡¯re not the only ones living here? What if Little Jun sees you? You wanna corrupt a kid that young?" a voice tried to interrupt them but failed.

    Iris and Jin Liwei were so into each other that they didn¡¯t even notice or hear anything. Perhaps they heard something but their minds automatically treated it as unimportant background noise.

    It was Iris who eventually noticed that something was amiss when she felt a dangerous auraing from one direction. She stiffened and became alert, turning her head to the source of danger and saw her big brother wearing a scary expression.

    "B-big Brother!" Iris tried to stand up but Jin Liwei embraced her in a vice-like grip. "Liwei darling, stop. Big Brother is here."

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei nibbled on her neck before lifting his head to look at Lu Zihao. "Fifth Brother, you¡¯re back." He leaned back on the couch, not letting go of his baby girl on hisp. He was grinning like a stupid idiot.

    Lu Zihao looked at them with cold eyes. He returned earlier than usual today, only to be greeted with such a sight as soon as the elevator door opened. Good thing he arrived when they were still wearing their clothes.

    His sister looked flushed and embarrassed but still very pleased. Her lips were moist and swollen. She looked so erotic that Lu Zihao wanted to beat up Jin Liwei for turning his precious little sister into a sexy seductress.

    As for Jin Liwei, the man was overflowing with happiness. His smile was so wide that it looked unnatural on him. It didn¡¯t match his usual cold and indifferent persona.

    Lu Zihao had the strongest urge to punch the stupid smile out of the man¡¯s face. He took a few deep breaths to calm his murderous intent. It was difficult but he was alreadying to terms with his sister¡¯s rtionship with Jin Liwei. However, that didn¡¯t mean that he was fine with seeing them make out in front of him. He wanted to keep his little sister¡¯s pure image in his mind.

    Iris was able to untangle herself from Jin Liwei. She skipped to Lu Zihao, looking shy but excited. Jin Liwei followed her with a smug expression on his face.

    "Big Brother, we have something to tell you." Then she pulled Jin Liwei, clinging on his arm.

    They were so sweet to each other that it was nauseating to watch.

    Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes, suspicious. He immediately looked at his sister¡¯s hands, feeling relieved when he saw no ring.

    "What is it?" he asked.

    She giggled, making him even more suspicious. Jin Liwei changed their position, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her from behind.

    To Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes, however, Jin Liwei looked like he was putting his hands on Iris¡¯ stomach. Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes darkened at the implication and he lost control.

    "What the hell?! Getting pregnant before marriage?! I taught you to be better than this!" he roared at Iris.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei froze in shock.

    Then Lu Zihao turned to Jin Liwei. He looked furious and murderous. "You beast! How dare you knock her up so soon?! At least propose to her and marry her first, you bastard! Come here! Fight me!"

    The two hadn¡¯t recovered from their shock yet when Lu Zihao bounded to them and grabbed Jin Liwei by the cor.

 Chapter 222 - An Important Even

    <h4>Chapter 222 - An Important Even </h4>

    "W-what? No! Big Brother, wait!" Iris squeezed herself between the two men. "Please let go of Liwei! Stop!"

    Lu Zihao was too enraged to listen to her. He continued roaring at Jin Liwei¡¯s face and shaking him by the cor.

    "Fifth Brother, calm down," Jin Liwei said.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s shock already wore off, but he wasn¡¯t angry at being attacked by his Fifth Brother. Not at all. He was too happy to be angry at the moment. His baby girl just told him that she was falling in love with him! How could he not be happy? So he rooted himself to the floor and stood like a mountain, not retaliating against Lu Zihao.

    His stupid grin enraged Lu Zihao even more.

    "Big Brother, listen to what I¡¯m going to say first," Iris pleaded, feeling frantic and annoyed at the same time. "You¡¯re mistaken! I¡¯m not pregnant! Big Brother, you idiot!"

    Lu Zihao stopped but didn¡¯t release Jin Liwei¡¯s cor yet. "You¡¯re not pregnant?"

    "I¡¯m not! I already told you!"

    "Oh." He finally released Jin Liwei. "Why didn¡¯t you say so?"

    "I was going to but you just assumed that I¡¯m pregnant and then started attacking Liwei." Iris harrumphed. "Where did you even get the idea that I¡¯m pregnant? We haven¡¯t even had full sex yet! How can I get pregnant?"

    "Baby, there¡¯s no need to tell him that," Jin Liwei interjected but was ignored.

    "Oh. Then what were you going to say earlier?" Lu Zihao asked.

    "I was going to share with you that I just told Liwei that I think I¡¯m falling in love with him." Iris began to feel shy again after speaking. She nced at Jin Liwei and smiled.

    Of course, the idiot gave her a loving grin.

    Lu Zihao wanted to vomit watching the two.

    "That¡¯s it?" he said.

    Iris looked at him and blinked a few times. "What do you mean ¡¯that¡¯s it¡¯? Big Brother, this is my first time falling in love. It¡¯s an important event!"

    Lu Zihao looked at his excited sister. Pain and unwillingness constricted his chest. His little sister would always remain his baby little sister in his eyes. He forced himself to calm down. After calming down, he realized that he was actually feeling dizzy.

    ¡¯This body is too weak,¡¯ he thought, sighing.

    The dizziness intensified as if his body was protesting against being called weak.

    "Ugh."

    "Big Brother?"

    Jin Liwei caught him as he staggered.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Iris panicked.

    She was concerned about her big brother, but the two men were more concerned about her. They didn¡¯t want to stress her out. What if she copsed again?

    So Lu Zihao gritted his teeth and fought against the dizziness. Jin Liwei helped him sit down on the couch.

    "Little Sister, I¡¯m fine," Lu Zihao said, waving his hand in a dismissive manner, even though he sounded weak.

    "Don¡¯t worry, baby. Fifth Brother will be fine."

    "But he doesn¡¯t look fine!"

    Jin Liwei tried to calm her, while Lu Zihao focused on breathing. Lu Zihao felt better after a few minutes. He was soaked in sweat and looked pale, though.

    Damn this body! Even if he wanted to beat up Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao wouldn¡¯t be able to because his body wouldn¡¯t allow him. He would most likely be the one knocked out first if they ever fought¡ªknocked out by his own damn body!

    "Calm down, Little Sister," he told Iris. He stood up feeling drained. "I¡¯m fine now. I¡¯m just going to my room to rest. I¡¯m a little tired."

    "Are you sure?" she asked.

    "Yeah. When I wake upter, I want a feast. We have to celebrate this ¡¯important event¡¯ of you falling in love." He was unwilling but he still told her, "Congrattions, Little Sister."

    Iris dove into his chest and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you, Big Brother."

    Chuckling, Lu Zihao rubbed her head.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly seeing them embrace. His jealousy and possessiveness were about to rear their ugly heads again when Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow at him. He closed his eyes and controlled himself, reminding himself that the two treated each other as siblings. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Besides, his baby girl loved HIM, Jin Liwei! Haha!

    The stupid grin returned to his face. The love-struck Jin Liwei was already thinking that Iris loved him when all she said was "I think I¡¯m falling in love with you" and not "I love you".

    Lu Zihao headed to his room to rest. Iris and Jin Liwei informed the cook to prepare a celebratory feast for dinner. Then they continued being lovey-dovey, sending Dom into cheering hysterics.

    Later that evening, the entire household had a sumptuous dinner feast.

    This was the happiest day of Jin Liwei¡¯s life so far. He couldn¡¯t wait to have more happy days with his baby girl. His Fifth Brother¡¯s earlier misunderstanding reinforced his desire to build a family with her. He could already imagine her pregnant with his child.

    But of course, he needed to persuade her to marry him first.

    ###

    Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s week off from work ended on a high note.

    He liked to believe that his baby girl recovered well because he showered her with his constant love and pampering. As for him, he was of course brimming with love and happiness.

    Too bad that they only had one week off. He wanted to extend it but Iris was adamant in returning to work. Hisdy¡¯s wish was hismand, but he made her promise not to push herself too hard in the following days.

    First day of their return to work.

    His baby girl was still deeply sleeping when he left home before sunrise. He immediately dove back to work as if he didn¡¯t leave at all. There were no problems during his absence because Grandpa Lu took care of everything. In fact, thepany¡¯s performance increased under Grandpa Lu¡¯s leadership.

    Jin Liwei was still love-struck but he didn¡¯t let it affect his work performance. He was even more serious and motivated now because in addition to running hispany, he was also pushing his ns to right his wrongs into motion.

    He needed to do all of these before he could tell his baby girl the truth to show her his sincerity and resolve in asking for her forgiveness.

 Chapter 223 - Road To Redemption

    <h4>Chapter 223 - Road To Redemption </h4>

    The country¡¯s business world was thrown into disarray when Jin Corporation suddenly announced the termination of all its existing business partnerships with the Fan family. The news came out of nowhere. It became the headlines.

    "Jin Corporation Vites Several Active Contracts With the Fans!"

    "Jin Corporation Forms a Team of Star Lawyers and Sues the Fans for Breach of Contract!"

    "Who¡¯s Really Guilty of Breach of Contract: Jin Corporation or the Fans?"

    "Jin Corporation Bullying the Fans? An Unjustified Show of Power!"

    Business insiders already spected that there were problems between the Jins and the Fans ever since Jin Corporation rejected the Fans¡¯ business proposals this year. However, they didn¡¯t expect that Jin Corporation would take such a drastic measure and terminate their existing business partnerships with the Fans.

    This was severe vition of their valid contracts. Jin Corporation was clearly in the wrong! Just because they were number one in the country, they could do whatever they wanted? Did they think that they could use their power and influence to emerge from this ordeal unscathed? This was pure bullying!

    Many criticized Jin Corporation, feeling sorry for the Fans. They felt that this was a ssic case of the strong bullying the weak.

    At Jin Liwei¡¯s office.

    "President, are you sure that you want to go ahead with your ns?" Xu Tian asked in an anxious tone. "I know that you won¡¯t change your mind about the Fans but does it have to be this extreme? Ourpany¡¯s stock prices are currently plummeting. Some are even demanding for you to resign from your position as President-CEO. Many are ming you, President, because when Sir Lu Jianhong temporarily stepped in aspany head, the stock prices soared but when you returned, you caused such a serious problem like this."

    Jin Liwei cast his assistant a cold gaze causing Xu Tian to shiver inside. "There will be no changes to the ns. Once we get all the evidence, the tables will be turned. Let¡¯s see if the public will still sympathize with the Fans then."

    "Understood, President," was all Xu Tian could say.

    Xu Tian was hoping that Sir Lu Jianhong would intervene. Unfortunately, the business legend had no intention of doing so. He personally heard the President and Sir Lu Jianhong speaking about this issue during a phone call on speaker.

    "You¡¯re now the head of thepany, Liwei my boy! Whatever you decide to do will be your sole responsibility!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed. "If thepany prospers, the credit goes to you! But if it copses, then it¡¯ll be your fault! Whatever happens, I¡¯m not going to intervene! I only stepped in temporarily because of my precious granddaughter Xin, not for you! Do you hear me?"

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu. I know," Jin Liwei replied.

    "Do what you need to do, my boy! My time with Jin Corporation is now done. I¡¯m going to spend my remaining years enjoying the fruits of mybour that I earned during my youth! Ahaha!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, Grandpa Lu. I¡¯ll take care of thepany."

    "Hmph! Who¡¯s worrying about you? By the way, why is my Haohao living with you? I want to know!"

    This change of topic showed that Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t think of this whole matter with the Fans as something serious.

    When the call ended, Jin Liwei continued working as usual, as if unbothered by all the condemnation being thrown at him and hispany. His mother already started calling him nonstop, pleading for the Fans. He almost wavered hearing her distress, but he hardened his heart towards her just this once.

    ¡¯Everything will work out in the end,¡¯ he told himself.

    Why was he targeting the Fan family first instead of Fan Luo? The answer was simple: to reduce the likelihood of Fan Luo recovering.

    Fan Luo was the main culprit but if he only dealt with her, the Fan family would surely do everything to protect her. After all, the Fans were now considered one of the most prominent business families in the country thanks to their connection to his Jin family. They had built their own connections using the Jins. Even without the Jins, the Fans now were already a formidable family by themselves.

    Crushing the Fan family first was equal to cutting off Fan Luo¡¯s wings. She would be nobody without her family backing her up. Dealing with her then would be easier.

    Jin Liwei was now only waiting for enough incriminating evidence to be gathered against the Fans. He hired several private investigators and hackers to gather information, but they were still too slow for his liking.

    If this was his baby girl, it would only take her a few hours at most to gather a frighteningly detailed andprehensive report that would send the Fans straight to hell. Even so, he didn¡¯t ask her for help.

    She offered, of course. When she heard about the news, she immediately offered to help but he declined. She respected his decision to solve it by himself.

    "Let me know if you need help," she told him. "Lover¡¯s privilege, remember?"

    His heart filled with even more love hearing her. "Thanks, baby."

    This was his own battle and his own road to redemption. He needed to do this in order to prove to himself that he was at least worthy of her.

    The criticisms and condemnations continued to batter Jin Corporation for several days.

    Then a new shocking development urred.

    Evidence of many serious misdeeds by the Fans surfaced. They were leaked to the public first via mass media before they were handed to the police. The Chief of Police even personally handled the case.

    The evidence showed that the Fans were involved in many forms of corruption over the years. Some of them included bribery, falsifying financial statements, fraudulent spending, moneyundering, selling clients¡¯ data to third parties and tax evasion. There were even inconclusive usations from anonymous sources that the Fans hired hitmen to silence enemies andpetitors.

    When all of these came out, there was massive uproar. Now everyone knew why Jin Corporation wanted to cut ties with the Fans.

    The Fans were a corrupt family!

    Jin Corporation¡¯s team of starwyers revved up. They were formed not only to protect thepany¡¯s interests but also to drive the Fans to the point of no return. The case became even more serious when the government joined in on the investigation because of the tax evasion.

    With the government¡¯s involvement, the Fans¡¯ reputation as criminals was cemented in the eyes of the public. Even if a miracle somehow happened and they were found innocent, they would still be guilty in the eyes of most of the people.

    Back in his office, Jin Liwei watched the news. The first step waspleted. Now for the next step...

    He dialled someone on the phone.

    "Hello, Big Bro?" Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice answered.

    "Break up with Fan Luo now. Make it public."

 Chapter 224 - Just The Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 224 - Just The Beginning </h4>

    Jin Liwei waited for his brother to digest what he just said. It took a few moments before Jin Chonglin spoke again.

    "I understand, Big Bro," he replied. Another pause. "I was wondering why you¡¯ve been distancing Jin Corporation from the Fans but now I see why." He sighed. "I can¡¯t believe all of the things they have done. Are they all true?"

    "En."

    Jin Chonglin sighed again. "Mom is heartbroken, did you know? It¡¯s like when Dad died. She won¡¯t eat or go out of her room. I¡¯m worried for Mom, Big Bro."

    This time, it was Jin Liwei¡¯s turn to sigh. His chest tightened. Their mother, Huang Yuyan, had always been delicate at heart. She almost broke beyond repair when their father died. It was actually Fan Luo and her mother who helped Huang Yuyan recover from her debilitating grief.

    And now this happened. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but feel guilty towards his mother. Noticing the direction of his thoughts, he hardened his heart. It was better this way. The truth was hard to swallow, but it was better than living in an illusion.

    "Mother recovered then. She will recover this time as well," Jin Liwei said. His words were meant to persuade not only Jin Chonglin but also himself. "I¡¯ll ask Grandmother to stay with her."

    "Good idea. Mom needs someone with her right now."

    "En."

    The two brothers didn¡¯t have much to talk about to each other. It was mostly Jin Liwei instructing his brother on what to do.

    "Remember, our Jin family has now severed ties with the Fans. We have nothing to do with them anymore. Whatever happens to them during this time, don¡¯t soften your heart and make the mistake of helping them in any way. This is just the beginning," Jin Liwei reminded his brother before the call ended.

    Jin Liwei stared at the phone. Making up his mind, he dialled. It rang and rang and rang but nobody answered. He tried calling two more times before giving up.

    He sighed and leaned back on his seat. It seemed that his mother was still angry at him. She wouldn¡¯t answer any of his calls. He wasn¡¯t surprised but it still hurt.

    All he could do was endure for now. She would eventuallye around. He was her own son after all.

    He made another call; this time, to his grandmother. Grandma Li agreed to leave the mountains and return to the old house to apany Huang Yuyan.

    She sniffed in disdain. "I knew that the Fans are no good, but I never imagined that they would be this bad. If your grandfather were still alive, he wouldn¡¯t let them get close to our family in the first ce. It¡¯s beyond me how they could brainwash your mother to this degree. Don¡¯t worry, my dear. I¡¯ll take care of your mother. Just do what you need to do."

    "Thank you, Grandmother."

    "Good. Don¡¯t forget to send my regards to dear Xin. Tell her that Grandma misses her."

    "En, I will."

    After the call, Jin Liwei returned to directing the Fan family¡¯s downfall. Fan Luo was still rtively unscathed at the moment. Next would be her turn and in extension, the rm Girls. Just like what he told his brother Jin Chonglin, this was just the beginning.

    ###

    Before everyone could recover from the shocking expos¨¦ of the Fan family¡¯s crimes, showbiz was rocked by its own big news.

    "Jin Chonglin Breaks Off Engagement to Fan Luo!"

    "Big Star Jin Chonglin Gives Official Press Release: ¡¯Our Rtionship Was a Big Mistake¡¯"

    "Fairy Tale Couple ¡¯LinLuo¡¯ Ends Before Reaching Happily Ever After"

    "Jin Chonglin Dumps Fianc¨¦e, Chooses Family Over Love"

    Many of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans shipped the couple. They believed that LinLuo was the best couple ever. There was no woman in the world who could match their Prince Lin Lin as perfectly as Princess Luo Luo.

    She was just so beautiful, elegant, intelligent and ssy. Some thought that it was unfair for her to suffer for the crimes of her family. They refused to believe that she had knowledge about the crimes. To them, she was innocent.

    Although they already expected this break up to happen after the crimes of the Fan family were exposed, it was still shocking when Jin Chonglin officially dumped Fan Luo. Their perfect fairy tale was shattered just like that.

    While everyone was still talking about the break up, another news rocked them a few hourster.

    For more, visit novelpub[.

    "Fan Luo Rushed to the Hospital After Trying to Kill Herself!"

    "Heartbroken Fan Luo Cuts Her Wrists After Jin Chonglin Ends Engagement!"

    "Jin Chonglin Drives Now Ex-Fianc¨¦e to Suicide!"

    "The Tragic Fate of an Innocent Princess Condemned for the Crimes of Her Family: Is Jin Chonglin Heartless for Abandoning Her?"

    A live interview with one of Fan Luo¡¯s aunt-inws was aired outside the hospital where she was rushed to. Fan Luo was apparently apanied by her mother and aunts.

    Only the family members who were working at theirpany were taken into police custody, including her father, brothers, uncles, some aunts and cousins. As for the rest of them, they were only being monitored and forbidden from leaving the country but otherwise, they were free to move as they wished.

    The aunt-inw condemned Jin Chonglin for her niece¡¯s attempted suicide and the entire Jin family for their family¡¯s misfortune.

    "Our Fan family has always loved and treated the Jins like our own family. I don¡¯t know why they decided to frame us for all of these crimes! We built our own fortune and reached our high status from our own hard work and dedication! We are innocent! My niece is innocent! How can Little Chonglin do this to her?! Our Luo Luo has been suffering from depression ever since she miscarried Little Chonglin¡¯s child! How can he just abandon the mother of his child like this?! He¡¯s heartless! The entire Jin family is heartless!"

    She sobbed in such a tragic manner that those watching her couldn¡¯t help but sympathize with her. Then her eyes rolled back and she fainted...or appeared to faint. She was carried back to the hospital.

    Of course, the mediapped all of these up. Cameras shed everywhere and on-site reporters narrated everything for live broadcast.

    New headlines were released. This time, the shock was even greater especially to Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans.

    "Fan Luo Allegedly Miscarried Jin Chonglin¡¯s Baby, Suffers Depression!"

    "Jin Chonglin Already a Father to Fan Luo¡¯s Miscarried Child!"

    "Fan Luo, the Biggest Victim in the War Between the Jins and the Fans!"

    This time, the condemnation thrown at Jin Chonglin was even worse than what Jin Liwei received when he terminated the business partnership between Jin Corporation and the Fans.

    It even reached a point that some of Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans abandoned him, protesting against his heartlessness. They felt enraged on behalf of Fan Luo.

    "Justice for Fan Luo! Be a man and apologize, Jin Chonglin!" they shouted in protest.

 Chapter 225 - The Evil Called Fan Luo

    <h4>Chapter 225 - The Evil Called Fan Luo </h4>

    "F*ck! This is insane!" Lin Dong cursed.

    He was looking at posts on his smartphone of people destroying or burning Jin Chonglin¡¯s albums, posters and other products associated with him.

    Jin Chonglin sat on his couch, flipping channels on TV. All the news were about him and Fan Luo.

    "Chonglin, this is serious. I think you should take a few months break. Better yet, go on a year-long hiatus! Maybe more. Go abroad or something. I¡¯m sure we can arrange a grandeback for you once all of this is over. You¡¯ve been working very hard all these years. I think this is a good time to rest up and refresh your energy."

    "No way. I¡¯m not taking a break," Jin Chonglin immediately refused his manager¡¯s suggestion. "I¡¯m nning to release my next single soon. I already have the melody, I just can¡¯t decide on the lyrics yet. But I have a feeling that I¡¯ll receive an inspiration soon. I¡¯m not going to wait a year to release this song."

    "Chonglin¡ª"

    Jin Chonglin raised a hand to stop him.

    Lin Dong shut up. He still wanted to persuade him but seeing Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression, he knew that his words wouldn¡¯t be able to move him.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes were cold yet calm. He looked unaffected by the media sh*tstorm currently going on about him.

    "Don¡¯t worry," he told his manager. "This is just temporary. Everything will be fine."

    Lin Dong opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the sound of his ringing phone. He nced at the caller and groaned. It was Bright Summit¡¯s big boss. Only a big star like Jin Chonglin could summon the big boss like this. He sighed and answered the call.

    While his manager was busy reassuring Bright Summit¡¯s big boss, Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes darkened and his hands clenched into tight fists. Contrary to his calm appearance, he was actually feeling extreme anxiety.

    His heart wavered when he heard Fan Luo attempted to kill herself. He almost ran off to the hospital to see her before remembering what his older brother told him. Even though he didn¡¯t love Fan Luo, he still cared about her like a sister, not to mention that they were lovers. He prayed that she would be alright from her attempted suicide.

    In addition to this, he was also worried about his career. He loved being a celebrity and was proud to be one of the most famous in the country, and also the few ones who were also popr across Asia. If he lost his ce in this industry, it would be a huge blow for him.

    "Come on, Big Bro," he murmured under his breath. "I trust in you."

    ###

    The situation continued to worsen.

    The media was having a field day at the expense of Jin Chonglin. Although the majority of his army of fans still defended him with all they¡¯ve got, there were many who became his haters. They felt indignant on behalf of poor Fan Luo who they thought was the biggest victim in this entire affair. He became public enemy number one for all scorned women.

    Despite all the outrage, Jin Chonglin retained his silence. People took his silence as an indirect admission to his guilt.

    The remaining Fan family members used this opportunity to fuel the fire by giving countless interviews to the media condemning Jin Chonglin. Public outrage reached fever pitch when Fan Luo who was still recovering in the hospital posted on her social media ounts.

    For more, visit novelpub[.

    LuoFanFan: "Thank you everyone for your support during the most difficult time of my life. I¡¯m so heartbroken that I don¡¯t want to live anymore. Despite all these shocking things he and his family did to me and my family, I still can¡¯t stop myself from loving him. Call me crazy, but I still love Big Brother Lin with all my heart. How can I not? He gave me a baby, the greatest gift that I could ever ask for. Baby, please forgive Mommy for losing you. Don¡¯t me Daddy for hurting Mommy. Mommy loves you and Daddy very much. Maybe Mommy will see you soon."

    Fan Luo¡¯s post made many of the LinLuo shippers cry. It made them angrier at Jin Chonglin for hurting her. Herst sentence also made them afraid that she would try to take her own life again. They cried out to her, showing their support.

    She made another post.

    LuoFanFan: "Are you happy now? You tried so hard again and again to steal him away from me. You changed your image and followed him to the samepany. I know that you seduced him. I could smell the scent of another woman from him whenever he came home to me at night. You¡¯ve seeded! He left me for you! I hope you can sleep peacefully at night knowing that you just stole the father of my dead baby."

    It was obvious to everyone who Fan Luo was referring to. Without even doing anything, Iris Long was dragged into the scandal. The LinLuo shippers and even a good portion of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans bashed Iris online.

    Of course the ck Stars wouldn¡¯t just stand and do nothing when their boss¡¯ name was being dragged through the mud. The infamous Slippers Army descended in droves, led by the notorious iEatSlippers and his loyal sidekick LittlePhoenix, to whack everyone attacking their Boss Iris¡¯ name online with their virtual mighty slippers. The unit led by CaptainckStar utilized a less troll-like approach but they still defended Iris¡¯ name with as much passion as the Slippers Army.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Iris narrowed her eyes as she read the hateful usations against her online using Dom¡¯s smartphone. Her eyes turned cold.

    ¡¯Fan Luo. I¡¯ve already dismissed you but you just have to bother me again. I honestly don¡¯t care about your lies about me but I can¡¯t forgive how you implicated my Liwei¡¯s brother and his family.¡¯

    Dom and Meimei were huffing in anger and cursing at Fan Luo while reading the online posts andments on Meimei¡¯s smartphone.

    "Dom, get myptop," Iris ordered.

    Jin Liwei declined her offer of help, but she couldn¡¯t hold it any longer. Even if he didn¡¯t ask for it, she would use her lover¡¯s privilege to help him, his brother and his family.

    "Yes, boss!"

    But before he could leave, Meimei eximed, "Wait, twin bro! Xin, look at this!"

    Dom peeked at the phone. His eyes widened. "What the hell?! Oh no. Twin sis, I think I¡¯m gonna faint."

    "Hm? What is it?" Iris asked.

    Meimei handed her phone to Iris in a hurry and supported Dom to sit on the couch.

    Iris read thetest headlines.

    "Fan Luo Cheats, Gets Pregnant and ims Baby to be Jin Chonglin¡¯s to Get a Ring on Her Finger!"

    "Evidence Shows Fan Luo Aborted Baby When Jin Chonglin Demanded a DNA Test After Birth"

    "Fan Luo Ordered Hits Injuring and Even Killing Women Who Got Close to Jin Chonglin!"

    "14 and Counting: the Number of Women Harmed in the Hands of Fan Luo Due to Jealousy"

    "Fan Luo is Indeed a Daughter of the Nefarious Fan Family"

    "Iris Long¡¯s Car Crash 2 Years Ago Masterminded By Fan Luo!"

    "Iris Long, the Real Victim of the Evil Called Fan Luo"

    The phone dropped to the floor.

    Iris gasped as a shrill scream exploded inside her head. Then everything went ck.

 Chapter 226 - Struggle For Control

    <h4>Chapter 226 - Struggle For Control </h4>

    When Iris fainted, Dom and Meimei panicked, rming the entire household. They thought that she went intoa again. Everyone was frantic. They were about to call an ambnce when Lu Zihao emerged from the elevator.

    He immediately ran over to them and gathered Iris in his arms. To everyone¡¯s surprise and relief, he managed to wake her up. He was speaking to Iris in Russian which they couldn¡¯t understand.

    Iris looked dazed at first. Then she began trembling. Her face suddenly contorted into a savage expression and a loud hiss escaped from her lips. "Fan Luo!"

    "Little Sister, control your body!" Lu Zihao snapped at her.

    "I¡¯m gonna kill you, b*tch!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

    Her voice was filled with such menace that everyone except Lu Zihao felt chills down their spines. Yi Mei, the cook and some of the older maids shivered as they watched their raging Young Miss. They were suddenly reminded of the Young Miss before the car ident.

    "Let me go! I need to kill that b*tch!"

    Lu Zihao shackled her with his arms while she struggled to escape. He didn¡¯t budge a bit even when she resorted to hitting, kicking, and even biting him.

    "You will get your revenge, Long Xin," he said in a calm tone. "Little Sister, don¡¯t let your body control you."

    Iris struggled a bit more. Her expression kept on changing, freaking out Yi Mei and the others. Finally, she stopped struggling and plopped like a limp doll on Lu Zihao. She was gasping for breath and drenched in her own sweat.

    "Big Brother..."

    "You¡¯ll be fine. Just keep on breathing."

    She obeyed. A few minutester, she felt a bit better.

    "I want Liwei..."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes darkened and his arms around her tightened.

    The home phone rang. Yi Mei went to answer it. After the call, she informed everyone that the condominium¡¯s security called because reporters were swarming the building outside.

    "It¡¯s not safe here anymore," Lu Zihao said, frowning.

    Another phone started ringing. It was Iris¡¯ phone. Dom went to answer it. "Hello, sir boss! Pleasee back home! Boss is...wuwuwu!"

    "Give me the phone!" Lu Zihao ordered.

    Dom handed him the phone, still sobbing.

    Lu Zihao spoke to Jin Liwei, exining to him what happened to Iris.

    While he was talking on the phone, Iris was busy struggling within herself. She was focusing on maintaining control of her body. An intense fury that didn¡¯t belong to her threatened to overwhelm her at any given moment. Now she could discern the disconnect between her and her body a little more clearly.

    ¡¯Cooperate with me,¡¯ shemunicated to her body. ¡¯We are one now. If you need revenge to be at peace, I¡¯ll help you obtain it. Just don¡¯t fight with me anymore.¡¯

    To her surprise, her body immediately calmed down. The fury and desire for revenge was still there but they weren¡¯t trying to overwhelm her anymore. She sighed in relief and was now able to rx, but she felt weak and exhausted. Her eyes started to droop.

    "So sleepy," she murmured.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s heart almost stopped when her eyes closed. Did she go intoa again? Then he noticed her deep, steady breathing. She also didn¡¯t feel ice-cold or looked pale anymore. He released a breath of relief. She just fell asleep.

    ###

    That same day, Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates arrived at the penthouse to help Iris leave the condominium building and escape from the reporters waiting outside. She was still asleep, so Lu Zihao carried her. Dom also came with them carrying Ice Cream and Popcorn inside carriers.

    They were headed to Jin Liwei¡¯s mansion at Dragon Pce Home #10. Jin Liwei was already on his way to meet them there.

    It seemed that the Long ancestral residence was also surrounded by reporters just like the condo. Jin Liwei¡¯s property was the safest ce for Iris at the moment. Nobody would expect to find her there.

    Yi Mei and the others were left behind. Jiang Ying Yue also stayed because of Little Jun. They were busy packing luggage for their Young Miss, Lu Zihao, Dom and the kittens to send after themter.

    Meimei returned to the Long ancestral residence to personally report what happened to Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui.

    Needless to say, Long Tengfei was extremely furious. He wanted to storm into the hospital where Fan Luo was staying and strangle her with his own bare hands. So she was the reason why his daughter almost died in that car crash two years ago! Unforgivable!

    The war between the Jins and the Fans became even moreplicated when the Longs officially joined the fray.

    ###

    Jin Family¡¯s Old Mansion.

    Grandma Li knocked on Huang Yuyan¡¯s bedroom door. She tried to open it but it was locked.

    "Get the key," she instructed a maid.

    Momentster, the door was unlocked. Grandma Li strode into the dark bedroom. She saw the lump on the bed that was his daughter-inw. Sighing, she gestured at the maid to open the curtains while she walked towards the bed.

    "Yuyan my dear, you haven¡¯t eaten anything today yet. I asked them to prepare rice porridge for you."

    A whimper was the only reply she received. Grandma Li sighed once more. She wanted to say a lot of things to her daughter-inw but she decided to say nothing for now. She would allow Huang Yuyan a few days toe to terms with reality first before giving her a piece of her mind.

    "Try to eat the rice porridgeter," was all Grandma Li could say before making her way out of the bedroom.

    "Why did all of these have to happen?" Huang Yuyan finally spoke in a small and hoarse voice. "The Fans are like our family. I don¡¯t know if those usations about theirpany are true or not, but my sister and Little Luo Luo are surely innocent! Why do they have to suffer like this? Poor Little Luo Luo. I want to visit her at the hospital but I no longer have a face to show her and her mother after what Chonglin did. I can¡¯t believe that my two sons could be so ruthless!"

    Grandma Li¡¯s patience snapped. "Listen to yourself, Yuyan! Are you a member of our Jin family or the Fans?! How can you side with those criminals and me your own children?! I¡¯m so disappointed in you!"

    Huang Yuyan sobbed hard.

    Grandma Li wavered seeing her daughter-inw¡¯s pitiful state. However, her anger was greater. Huang Yuyan¡¯s words crossed her bottom line. She felt indignant on behalf of her two grandsons. To her, family was number one. Even if her grandsons were tomit murder, she would continue to love and defend them with her life. She would never abandon them for other people.

 Chapter 227 - The Jins React To The News

    <h4>Chapter 227 - The Jins React To The News </h4>

    "I¡¯m s-sorry..." Huang Yuyan sobbed, covering her wet face with her hands. "I l-love my children the most b-but...I also love my sister and L-little Luo Luo..." She looked up at Grandma Li with pitiful eyes. "Mother...w-what should I do? I¡¯m so confused...I don¡¯t know what to d-do..."

    Grandma Li sighed. Her daughter-inw had always been pure at heart, generous in her affection, loving and loyal to the people she trusted. Huang Yuyan¡¯s unchanging innocence was what endeared her to everyone when she married into the Jin family. It made all the men in the family, including her own two sons Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin, to want to protect her like a delicate treasure.

    In short, Huang Yuyan was very spoiled by the Jin family. Not in a bad way. It was actually adorable. However, this made her too emotionally dependent on other people. She was already delicate to begin with. If anything happened that was more than she could bear, she would break down like this. She always needed someone to lift her up and support her.

    "Yuyan my dear¡ªhm?" Grandma Li saw her assistant in her peripheral vision standing by the door. "What is it?"

    It was the man from the helipad who weed visitors to Grandma Li¡¯s mountain estate. He gave an apologetic bow. "Please forgive this humble one for interrupting the two madams. But I have urgent news that I believe the two madams need to know."

    "Alright. Come in and show us," Grandma Li said.

    The man bowed in respect before entering the bedroom and handing a tablet to Grandma Li. Huang Yuyan sat up on the bed with great effort from her lying position. She was also curious about what kind of urgent news it was.

    Grandma Li gasped in shock. "This...good heavens!"

    "Mother...what is it?"

    Grandma Li red at her daughter-inw, her eyes shing. She also began trembling in fury.

    Huang Yuyan flinched at her mother-inw¡¯s hostile look. Her eyes watered once again. "M-mother...?"

    "So this is the kind of girl that you love so much?!" Grandma Li threw the tablet on the bed in front of Huang Yuyan. "You¡¯re willing to defend such an evil person to the point that you¡¯ll me your own children?! I have never been so disappointed in you, Yuyan! Read it! Now!"

    Huang Yuyan began crying again but still took the tablet with shaking hands and began reading. Then she gasped. The tablet fell from her hands to bounce on the bed. "Th-this...no. There must be some m-mistake... Little Luo Luo is not like this... She would n-never do something like this..."

    "Yuyan! Listen to yourself! That evil girl did such wicked things to trap your own son and you¡¯re still defending her?! Even Liwei¡¯s Xin has fallen victim to her! Oh! I can¡¯t imagine what Xin must be feeling now, poor girl. Her parents, too. This must be so traumatizing for her." Grandma Li touched her forehead in distress before ring at her daughter-inw again.

    "Xin...?" Huang Yuyan didn¡¯t read the part about Iris¡¯ car ident, so she grabbed the tablet again and began reading. "W-what...? No... H-how could this be? Xin...oh no..."

    "I¡¯ve had enough of your denial, Yuyan! Listen to me!" Grandma Li pointed a shaking finger at her daughter-inw. Her rage was so palpable that the maid and her assistant cowered and retreated a few steps away. "If you still dare to defend that evil girl and her family of criminals, even if my son¡ªyour husband¡ªcurses me from heaven, I would stop recognizing you as a member of this family! My heart breaks that my two grandsons have a mother like you who¡¯ll choose a criminal over her own children! My Jin family doesn¡¯t need a blind, stupid and spineless fool like you!"

    Grandma Li stormed off the bedroom. Her assistant and the maid followed behind her, leaving the shocked Huang Yuyan staring after them.

    She continued reading on the tablet until she couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. Then she broke down and sobbed with all her heart.

    "I¡¯m so sorry...."

    ###

    Lin Dong was driving on his way to Jin Chonglin¡¯s house when he heard the news about Fan Luo¡¯s crimes on the radio. He almost crashed the car in his shock. He hurriedly stopped over at a za to park, and then searched the news on his smartphone.

    What he read sent chills down his spine. He immediately tried calling Jin Chonglin but the guy wasn¡¯t answering. He tried several more times but to no avail. He became worried, so he rushed to Jin Chonglin¡¯s house.

    When Lin Dong arrived at the house, the living area was a total wreck. He could hear banging soundsing from upstairs. He ran, following the sounds. He winced at all the wreckage he passed by along the way.

    He found Jin Chonglin wreaking havoc inside his bedroom. Jin Chonglin was silent yet his whole body was emanating unbridled fury. Lin Dong hesitated and didn¡¯t go near him.

    "Chonglin?" he cautiously called out.

    Jin Chonglin stopped and gave him a cold nce. "Oh, you¡¯re here. Based on your expression, you must¡¯ve seen the news."

    "Yeah."

    Jin Chonglin threw his head back andughed in a mocking way. Lin Dong cringed at the sound.

    "This is just great! Now the world knows that I, Jin Chonglin, had been cuckolded! I, the one who was once known as the national yboy! Ahahaha! What a f*cking reversal!"

    Lin Dong didn¡¯t know what to say, so he just stayed silent.

    "I knew it. I f*cking knew it! I¡¯ve always been very careful about using condoms. I only use my own and never ept the ones in my partner¡¯s possession because I heard that some girls tamper with condoms to get pregnant. But because it¡¯s Fan Luo, I f*cking proposed to her even when she miscarried. Oh right. She didn¡¯t miscarry. She f*cking aborted it because I wanted a DNA test! Ahahaha!" He kicked a chair and it fell to the floor with a loud bang. "F*ck you, Fan Luo! F*ck all of you from the entire Fan family!"

    Then he punched hard at the wall, rming Lin Dong.

    "Chonglin, stop! Your hands! You¡¯re gonna break your hands!"

    Lin Dong grabbed Jin Chonglin¡¯s hand and saw that his knuckles were now angry red. They were going to bruise badlyter on. Lin Dong felt the hand and sighed in relief when nothing was broken.

    Ever since Jin Chonglin announced that he was going to write his own music once again, he returned to ying the guitar and even the piano. His hands should be protected from now on.

    Thankfully, Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t struggle and stopped punching. Then he dropped to sit on the floor, cradling his head with his hands. "F*ck! Those fourteen women were harmed and some were even killed because of me! Sh*t!"

    "No, Chonglin! Don¡¯t you dare me yourself. It¡¯s that evil woman who harmed them, not you. It¡¯s not your fault! Okay?"

    Lin Dong was now worried. It was outside his expectations that Jin Chonglin would feel guilty for the fourteen women harmed by Fan Luo. He didn¡¯t want his artist to bear such a heavy emotional burden like this. It might affect him in a detrimental way. Lin Dong must not let that happen.

    "Even Iris Long..." Jin Chonglin rubbed his hands over his face, as if trying to erase the surface of his skin. "I didn¡¯t even interact with her that much and she was...she spent one whole f*cking year ina! F*ck! I can¡¯t believe all of this..."

    ¡¯Me neither,¡¯ Lin Dong thought.

    "I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to face Iris Long from now on."

    Jin Chonglin knew that it wasn¡¯t his fault. He wasn¡¯t the one who harmed and killed the women, but he still couldn¡¯t stop the feeling of guilt from growing within him. It ate at him, making him hate himself for the first time ever for being such a yboy. If only he wasn¡¯t such adies ma, perhaps those fourteen women would still be safe and alive.

    He hated himself but he hated Fan Luo even more. All the tender feelings he felt for her from watching her grow up since childhood disintegrated, reced by hatred so intense that he imagined wrapping his hands around her throat and squeezing the life out of her.

    "Don¡¯t let me see you again, Fan Luo, or I won¡¯t be able to control myself," he hissed.

 Chapter 228 - Family

    <h4>Chapter 228 - Family </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    ording to Dom, Iris woke up once in the vehicle while they were on their way to Jin Liwei¡¯s property but slept again. Once they arrived at the mansion, Lu Zihao carried her to Jin Liwei¡¯s bedroom suite. He and Dom stayed with her until Jin Liwei arrived from Jin Corporation.

    The butler and the household staff were already informed beforehand that their master¡¯s girlfriend would be arriving. Everyone was curious about who would be their potential future madam. After all, their master left the mansion to live with her a while ago. But when they finally saw her, they didn¡¯t expect that she would arrive sleeping in the arms of Master Lu Zihao, one of their master¡¯s best friends.

    Then they became shocked when some of the younger servants recognized the beautiful sleeping woman as the celebrity Iris Long. Some of the maids and the houseboys were even members of the ck Stars. They felt excited finally seeing their Boss Iris in the flesh, but then they remembered the news that broke out earlier. They felt enraged on her behalf and now understood why their master brought her to his mansion.

    Dragon Pce Homes was one of the most fortified exclusive viges in the country with the best security. She would be safe here from prying eyes or anyone who wanted to harm her.

    Inside the bedroom, Jin Liwei headed straight to his baby girl who was still sleeping on his bed. He sat beside her and stroked her cheek, a pained expression on his face.

    "Dominic, step outside, will you? I need to have an important talk with my Third Brother," Lu Zihao said.

    "Okay, Big brother boss and sir boss. Please take care of boss!"

    Dom tried taking Ice Cream and Popcorn with him outside, but the two kittens refused to leave Iris. They even started hissing and baring their ws at him in a threatening manner.

    "Leave them," Jin Liwei said.

    His kids wanted to stay with their Mommy. He would allow them for now, especially since it was their first time in his house. They must be feeling ufortable in this new environment.

    After Dom left, the kittens quickly greeted Jin Liwei and rubbed themselves against him before curling into two plump fur balls beside their sleeping Mommy.

    Jin Liwei kissed his baby girl¡¯s forehead before standing up and leaving the bedroom with Lu Zihao. They sat in the suite¡¯s lounging area just outside the bedroom. Jin Liwei looked very tense, clenching and unclenching his hands.

    "Be careful when you tell her, Third Brother," Lu Zihao spoke first. "Choose your words wisely and be ready to face her wrath. She might even leave you."

    Lu Zihao said this because he witnessed the remnant of the original Long Xin taking over his little sister¡¯s body earlier in the penthouse. Although he felt confident that his little sister was growing stronger in her control of her body, he was still worried that she might be overwhelmed by the intense feelings of the original¡¯s remnant. If this happened, she wouldn¡¯t be able to differentiate her feelings from the original and might grow to hate Jin Liwei without her control.

    Based on his own experience, the original¡¯s soul was long gone and wouldn¡¯t return to the body. However, there was still a possibility that the two of them might get kicked out of their current bodies if they weren¡¯t careful enough in dealing with the remnants of the originals. Since his sister didn¡¯t go intoa this time, it appeared that she was able to calm the original¡¯s remnant. For now, at least.

    Although there was still a big part of Lu Zihao that was against his sister having a lover, he hoped that she would stay with Jin Liwei after learning the truth. He still thought that Jin Liwei was the best protector for his sister and also the most essible because the two were already lovers. He needed Jin Liwei¡¯s power and influence for his sister¡¯s protection.

    "Like I told you before, whatever she decides to do, I¡¯ll side with her no matter what," Lu Zihao added.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s lips pressed hard together into a thin line but still nodded. Then he looked up at the ceiling and released a shaky breath. "I¡¯m such an idiot."

    "Yeah, you¡¯re an idiot." Lu Zihao didn¡¯t mince his words or try to make Jin Liwei feel better.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t mind. In fact, he weed it.

    "I thought that Fan Luo only harmed Xin back then, that¡¯s why I readily covered for her. I wasn¡¯t personally close to her but I watched her grow up since childhood. We all thought that she was such a nice girl. I thought that what she did was just apse of judgment caused by jealousy between girls vying for my brother. If my brother or any of my family members did what she did, I would also cover for them without question because they¡¯re family."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t say anything but his head moved in an imperceptible nod. He also believed that family was number one. The Vetrovs were the number one crime family in the world until their annihtion. Even if a family member killed someone, the family would ensure that the member was protected and wouldn¡¯t get caught.

    Eternal damnation in exchange for the safety of one¡¯s family or a righteous life in exchange of sacrificing one¡¯s family? Lu Zihao would choose eternal damnation, hands down. F*ck righteousness! He would rather suffer the torments of hell for eternity rather than see his family suffer. Criminal or not, a family was a family.

    Jin Liwei ran his hands through his hair in a rough manner. "I treated Fan Luo like family. F*ck! I¡¯ve been so blind and stupid. I never expected that she harmed thirteen other women in addition to Xin. Four of them even died! If Xin wasn¡¯t so lucky, she would¡¯ve also died!"

    ¡¯She already died,¡¯ Lu Zihaomented in his mind.

    "It¡¯s only now when I ordered a full and thorough investigation on Fan Luo that I discovered that I¡¯ve been protecting such an evil person. I almost allowed such a psycho to marry my own brother and be an official member of my family. This...I¡¯ve wronged not only Xin but also my brother. I wish I had known earlier. My mother loved Fan Luo and the Fans so much that I just epted them without thinking too much."

    Lu Zihao watched Jin Liwei agonize in self-guilt. In his opinion, the mistake of the Jin family was trusting the Fans in the first ce. They treated them like family, not knowing that they just invited a group of poisonous snakes inside their hearts. The Jins lowered their guards, making them prone to dismiss or ignore the Fans¡¯ questionable deeds.

    And now that the Fans¡¯ mask had been shattered and their true nature revealed for everyone to see, the Jins were suffering from guilt because of their close connection to them.

    ¡¯How stupid,¡¯ Lu Zihao thought.

 Chapter 229 - Two Years Ago

    <h4>Chapter 229 - Two Years Ago </h4>

    Lu Zihao thought it stupid that the Jins were suffering and agonizing over their self-guilt like this. The Fans were undeserving. Why let such trash affect them to this extent?

    He didn¡¯t care about the rtionship and betrayal between the Jins and the Fans. All he cared about was his sister¡¯s safety. Now that his sister was connected to the Jins through Jin Liwei, he thought that it was only natural that the Fans were wiped out of the picture to remove any threats to his sister.

    However, he kept these thoughts to himself. He was supposed to be Lu Zihao, Jin Liwei¡¯s Fifth Brother. So he didn¡¯t say anything, giving the impression of silent support and sympathy. If Jin Liwei¡¯s self-guilt would make him a better protector to his sister, he wouldn¡¯t stop him.

    When the talk began to peter out, Lu Zihao left the suite and headed to his own assigned bedroom. Jin Liwei stayed where he was for a few more minutes, trying to deal with his turbulent emotions before returning to the bedroom. He stood by the door and watched his baby girl and their kittens sleep on his bed. Popcorn opened his eyes and meowed at him before returning to sleep.

    Then he walked over, climbed on the bed andy beside his baby girl. He gathered her in his arms and pulled her close to his body, inhaling her sweet scent. His love for her was mixed with the heavy feeling of guilt.

    Discovering the gravity of Fan Luo¡¯s crimes made him realize how badly he f*cked up. He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if his baby girl refused to forgive him at all. However, he still hoped that she would. And if she did, he swore that he would dedicate the rest of his life to her. He wouldn¡¯t allow anything bad to happen to her again. He would love her and protect her for as long as he could.

    He stroked her cheek and showered light kisses all over her face, saving her slightly open mouth forst. Then he justy there, gazing at her beautiful sleeping face. Her deep, steady breathing calmed him somewhat but couldn¡¯t erase the guilt and anxiety he was feeling.

    Sighing, he kissed her temple before looking up at the ceiling. Memories of that fateful night rushed in his mind.

    ###

    Two years ago.

    Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    It was called the "Old House" but it was actually a mansion built by Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather. It was one of the first fruits of hisbour for founding the Jin & Lu Company with his best friend, whichter became Jin Corporation.

    Tonight, the Old House was decorated with celebratorynterns and ornaments. Luxury cars kept on arriving with guests stepping out in ck tie wear. The women wore elegant evening gowns and cocktail dresses, while the men wore tuxedos.

    Everyone was celebrating Huang Yuyan¡¯s birthday. She actually didn¡¯t want such a grand affair, preferring a simple dinner with family and close friends instead. However, her best friend Fan Yuming was able to persuade her to hold avish birthday ball and to invite select important and influential figures in both business and high society.

    The Jins and the Fans became even closer at this time because it was confirmed that Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo were now lovers. The two attended the ball together, arousing the envy of the otherdies who were gunning to marry into the Jin family.

    Marrying Jin Liwei was equal to bing the next Madam Jin, but nobody seeded in even getting his attention, much less in seducing him. There were also already rumours that he was gay. So for thesedies, Jin Chonglin was the easier target. Although marrying him wouldn¡¯t make them the next Madam Jin, at least they would still be part of such a wealthy and powerful family.

    But now Jin Chonglin was taken by Fan Luo. They congratted her on her face while calling her a sl*t behind her back. However, they didn¡¯t go too far because it seemed that the Fans were now under the Jins¡¯ protection. They didn¡¯t want to offend them.

    Jin Liwei also attended the ball but his cold and intimidating aura prevented others from getting too close to him. He also didn¡¯t like getting close to others he deemed unimportant. He stayed with a group of fellow business leaders and conversed with them about...well, business. What else?

    After a while, he felt stifled by all the shallow tteries and cringe-worthy brown-nosing. He excused himself and slipped out of the ball. He headed to a darker and empty part of the garden to breathe in some fresh air.

    He stopped when he heard some voices. It was Fan Luo with one of her female cousins.

    "I want to stay with Big Brother Lin but he went to the cardroom to y poker with the other men. So boring!" Fan Luo said.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Luo Luo. Everyone at the ball already saw you together with Big Brother Lin earlier. Now everyone knows that you¡¯re his girlfriend. Have you seen the envious looks on those b*tches?"

    The twoughed and giggled.

    Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t interested in listening to such petty female conversation. Fan Luo and her cousin also sounded like were a little drunk. He was about to leave to find another ce to rx when their next topic caught his attention.

    "Speaking of b*tches, there¡¯s a particr annoying one who keeps on following Big Brother Lin around. She¡¯s always popping up wherever Big Brother goes. Hmph! Like I don¡¯t know that she also wants to seduce my BOYFRIEND like so many of the other sl*ts."

    "Oooh. I think I know who you¡¯re talking about. Is it that pop singer?"

    "Yeah. Iris Long, that¡¯s her name." Fan Luo produced some vomiting sounds which sent the two of them into another fit of giggles.

    ¡¯They¡¯re drunk,¡¯ Jin Liwei thought. Shrugging, he moved to leave but stopped again after hearing Fan Luo¡¯s next words.

    "Trying to steal Fan Luo¡¯s man is a big crime! Big Brother Lin is mine. We belong together! I¡¯m gonna teach that Iris Long a lesson. I heard the b*tch went clubbing tonight. So I asked someone to mess with her car. Let¡¯s see if she can still prance her disgusting a** in front of Big Brother Lin after this."

    The cousinsughed like it was the funniest thing ever.

 Chapter 230 - Fateful Decision

    <h4>Chapter 230 - Fateful Decision </h4>

    Jin Liwei frowned. He didn¡¯t expect that this was what Fan Luo was like when drunk. She had always been a sweet and proper youngdy. So she also had this kind of side.

    Shrugging, he dismissed her words as a careless joke made in a drunken state. He had no more interest in listening to such petty female drivels, so he silently left to find another quiet ce to rx.

    After some time, he finally returned to his mother¡¯s birthday ball. The youthful Huang Yuyan didn¡¯t look like his mother but looked like his older sister instead.

    Although this was her birthday ball, she was bashful when meeting and talking to her own guests. It was her best friend, Fan Yuming, who actively chatted with everyone. Fan Yuming was Fan Luo¡¯s mother. Huang Yuyan treated her like her dearest sister. She allowed Fan Yuming to lead the conversations, as if it was Fan Yuming¡¯s party and not hers.

    Huang Yuyan¡¯s eyes lit up when she saw Jin Liwei. She excused herself from the group and headed towards him.

    "Happy Birthday, Mother," he greeted.

    To others, his expression looked cold and indifferent as usual, but Huang Yuyan detected the gentleness in her son¡¯s eyes and tone.

    "Thank you, son. I¡¯m d you came. I know you¡¯re very busy at work."

    "En."

    He didn¡¯t deny it. He was indeed extremely busy at work. Jin Corporation would beunching a new product line in the international market soon. He was flying all around the world personally meeting with business partners and investors.

    In addition to this, he was dealing with internal strife within thepany because one of the board members was being suspected of selling Jin Corporation secrets topetitors. It was such a headache because the board member was a close friend of histe father¡¯s. He alreadyunched an investigation which soured their personal rtionship.

    Another matter that he was busy with was the new business partnership between Jin Corporation and the Fans. The twopanies already had a couple of older partnerships during his father¡¯s time. This was the first time that he personally approved a partnership between the twopanies as a favour to the Fans for their friendship to his mother.

    He had a lot on his te at the moment, but tonight was his mother¡¯s birthday. So even if he had much more important things to do at work than listen to all the shallow pleasantries, he still did his duty as the firstborn son and attended the ball.

    "Son, did you congratte your brother and Little Luo Luo? They¡¯re together now," Huang Yuyan gushed. Her excitement was obvious in her sparkling eyes. "I¡¯m so happy. I¡¯ve always treated Little Luo Luo like my own daughter and now maybe she can be my official daughter in the future. Wouldn¡¯t that be wonderful?"

    "En."

    Then she looked up at him in a teasing manner. "How about you, son? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time for you to find a girlfriend as well? If you like, we can ask your Aunt Yuming to look for some nice youngdies¡ª"

    "Not interested."

    Huang Yuyan pouted but didn¡¯t force the issue.

    The birthday ball ended as a big sess. It was even featured in the news because of all the impressive guests who attended.

    The next day, Jin Liwei went back to work at Jin Corporation. His schedule was tight with barely any breaks. He was focused on work and had no time to spare about anything else. His mood wasn¡¯t the best at the moment.

    After an intense board meeting, he and Xu Tian made their way back to his office at the top floor. Even while walking, they were discussing about the next task he needed toplete by today.

    They passed by several departments along the way. A department chief called out to them to ask for approval about something. After signing the approved documents, Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes caught the news ying on the wall TV.

    "Pop singer Iris Long in critical condition after car crashst night."

    The news anchor made a brief introduction about Iris Long and showed some short clips of hertest viral music video. Then the avable information about the car crash was reported.

    Jin Liwei frowned when he heard that the girl was just 18-years old who crashed her sports car after clubbing. She must be some spoiled kid who was probably drunk out of her mind but still decided to drive by herself. No wonder she crashed.

    He didn¡¯t immediately recognize Iris Long and dismissed the news out of his mind. He had more important things to do. He returned to his office and buried himself in his work. It was only muchter when the name Iris Long registered in his mind.

    ¡¯Isn¡¯t that the girl Fan Luo and her cousin were talking aboutst night?¡¯ he thought, frowning. ¡¯Did Fan Luo actually do what she said about messing with the girl¡¯s car? No way. Must be a coincidence.¡¯

    He continued working but it continued to bother him. Unable to concentrate, he called Xu Tian from outside the door and instructed him to do a quick background check on the pop singer Iris Long.

    Xu Tian was perplexed, but he still obeyed the order. Within a couple of hours, he presented Iris Long¡¯s dossier to Jin Liwei. The girl didn¡¯t have anything that was difficult to dig out.

    Jin Liwei scanned her dossier.

    Iris Long. Real name: Long Xin. A typical rich, spoiled brat who often used her father¡¯s name to throw her weight around. Lots of petty enemies. A wild party girl who attended parties almost every week whether she was invited or not. She was talented but extremely conceited. She was also notorious for chasing famous celebrities, both male and female alike.

    One name stood out to Jin Liwei.

    Jin Chonglin, his brother.

    It seemed that this Long Xin sent someone to monitor Jin Chonglin¡¯s whereabouts so that she could pop up wherever he went. Jin Liwei¡¯s impression of her went from bad to worse.

    "A stalker," he concluded.

    After reviewing her dossier, he wanted to dismiss the car crash as mere coincidence after hearing Fan Luo¡¯s wordsst night. However, he continued to feel bothered and couldn¡¯t concentrate on his work. He called Xu Tian again and instructed him to investigate the car crash.

    The police made an early conclusion that the car crash was a result of drunk driving. An 18-year old known for being a party girl driving a sports car after clubbing also gave them a bad impression. Verifying the cause of the crash wasn¡¯t their immediate priority.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s investigation waspleted during this window of time.

    It was only when Long Tengfei discovered what happened to his daughter that he requested the police to do a full investigation. Hours already passed since the ident urred when he made the request.

    When Jin Liwei received the investigation results, he was stunned. It confirmed that the car crash was indeed connected to Fan Luo. She really did what she saidst night.

    Before he could carefully think about what to do, Xu Tian¡¯s phone chimed.

    "Uh...President, it¡¯s a reminder for your conference call with our British partner in five minutes. Would you like me to cancel it?"

    Jin Liwei frowned. "No. I¡¯ll do the conference call."

    This was an important call for theunch of their new product line. There was no way he would cancel it. He looked at the investigation results again and made a quick decision.

    Fan Luo was his brother¡¯s girlfriend. His mother loved her like a daughter. Perhaps the car crash was just a prank gone wrong. Fan Luo must¡¯ve been drunk when she ordered the tampering of the car. She was a nice girl and wouldn¡¯t deliberately kill someone. She must¡¯ve not expected that the tampering would lead to such a serious car crash.

    ¡¯Yes, that must be what happened,¡¯ Jin Liwei persuaded himself.

    Besides, if this went public, it would be a huge scandal involving not only her but also his brother Jin Chonglin. Their families couldn¡¯t afford a scandal like this especially now that they were working on a new business partnership. Not to mention that his mother would be heartbroken if this came to light.

    ¡¯Well, thank goodness the girl didn¡¯t die,¡¯ he thought.

    He turned to Xu Tian and ordered, "Erase all evidence pointing to Fan Luo in this car crash."

    Xu Tian hesitated but still obeyed.

    Jin Liwei tried to forget about this matter as he returned to running his business empire and maintaining his family¡¯s prestige. Cold and ruthless, that was him.

    Then everything changed about a year and halfter when he met a beautiful young woman reading a Russian book at a hotel lobby.

 Chapter 231 - Destiny

    <h4>Chapter 231 - Destiny </h4>

    Back to the present.

    Watching the beautiful young woman sleeping in his arms, Jin Liwei thought that destiny was cruel. However, when thinking about it carefully, his destiny was determined not by pure chances alone but also by his own goddamn choices.

    He was the one who chose to slip away from his mother¡¯s birthday ball two years ago and overheard Fan Luo¡¯s words. He was the one who chose to believe Fan Luo over the girl named Iris Long even when the evidence pointed at Fan Luo¡¯s fault. He was the one who chose to erase all the evidence, not knowing that he was protecting an evil monster who already harmed other women before.

    Then a year and a halfter, he was the one who decided to approach the beautiful young woman reading a Russian book at the hotel lobby. He was the one who decided to pursue her even knowing that she was the girl he helped f*ck over. He was the one who allowed himself to fall so mindlessly in love with his baby girl.

    Falling in love with Long Xin was the most unexpected thing that happened to him. The girl he thought insignificant two years ago turned out to be the most important person in his life.

    The saying was true. Love indeed moved in mysterious ways.

    At first, he only felt a primal and animalistic desire to obtain her after realizing what a genius she was. For the first time in his life, he felt lust for another human being. It didn¡¯t matter that she was the girl who he helped f*ck over by erasing the evidence of her past ident. He just simply wanted her for himself.

    He didn¡¯t know exactly when his feelings started to evolve into love. She was like a ck hole that sucked him in without any chances of escape. His fall was very quick¡ªboom! He was never the same again.

    Now that he waspletely in love with her, he realized that he just didn¡¯t want her as his wife. He wanted her love, her everything. He also wanted her to ept him for who he was.

    But how could she do that when he was hiding such a terrible secret from her?

    His secret was like a ticking time bomb. Any moment it could explode and when it did, everything he built with her so far would be destroyed into smithereens without any hope of recovery. He needed to defuse the bomb himself by telling her the truth.

    "When you wake up, I¡¯ll tell you everything," he whispered to her.

    He pulled her closer to his body, as if trying to fuse her with him so that they could never be separated. Fear of losing her prevented him from falling asleep. He could deal with her fury and even her hatred, but he didn¡¯t think he could deal with it if she decided to leave him forever.

    A great pain squeezed his heart. He continued to agonize over his guilt and fear while he waited for her to wake up.

    ###

    When the news broke out, everyone was shocked. All the condemnations and usations thrown at both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long immediately stopped.

    The LinLuo shippers and the haters of Jin Chonglin and Iris Long all shut up. They couldn¡¯t believe that Fan Luo, the most perfect woman in their eyes, was actually such an evil woman. Many of them were in denial, even yelling fake news. However, the evidence was strong against Fan Luo.

    As for the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, they were stunned and then enraged. They screamed bloody murder and denounced Fan Luo. They also cried in heartbreak over what their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin suffered because of this evil monster.

    Some of them even rallied and formed an angry mob outside the hospital where Fan Luo was staying, demanding that she surrender herself to the police.

    Not even an hourter, all the young socialites who had been exposed by the hacker KeymonSTER called for a group press conference. All of them confessed that their leader was Fan Luo, pushing all the me on her for instigating them to organize the online hate campaign against Iris Long.

    "We extend our deepest and sincerest formal apologies to Miss Iris Long for all the harm and hurt that we have caused due to our malice and immaturity. We have been led astray by a person who we thought was our friend but turned out to be a frighteningly evil person named Fan Luo. Today, we are officially dering that we and our families are cutting ties with Fan Luo and the entire Fan family! Once again, we are very sorry for what we did in the past. We promise that we will never do it again and that we will change for the better!"

    Some praised the socialites for owning up to their mistakes, but many were doubting their sincerity. They thought that the socialites were just saving their own a**es by throwing all the me on Fan Luo now that her reputation was unrepairable.

    Regardless of what their real reasons were for apologizing, the ck Stars still didn¡¯t have any good feelings about these socialites who trampled upon their Boss Iris¡¯ name.

    The socialites¡¯ press conference barely ended when another news broke out.

    "Nation¡¯s Most Evil Woman Fan Luo Supporting the rm Girls"

    "rm Girls¡¯ Lawyer Reportedly Paid by Fan Luo"

    "Fan Luo Teamed Up with rm Girls, Known to be Long-Time Enemies of Iris Long"

    By this time, the public already grew somewhat numb to the news revealing how evil Fan Luo was. The expos¨¦s were like an avnche¡ªnonstop, uncontroble and destructive.

    Thew firm handling the rm Girls¡¯ case released an official statement. They announced that theirwyer representing the girls was quitting, leaving the rm Girls to fend for themselves in the middle of their battle against Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary and the nail polishpany.

    At this moment, the hacker KeymonSTER struck again. He exposed the young women using Mr. Chen and several higher-ups of the nail polishpany as liars paid by Fan Luo to sabotage the trial against the rm Girls. Their usations of sexual harassment, bribery and sextortion were done to damage the reputations of Mr. Chen and his colleagues.

    Some of the women came forward to apologize for fear of their lives. They were already receiving death threats from random people.

    "Fan Luo, that evil woman, was only treating the case between the rm Girls and the nail polishpany as a test run. She said that if the rm Girls can get away with this case, they have a high chance of winning their next case against Miss Iris Long and her fans," one of the women revealed.

    It was uncertain whether this woman was telling the truth or not. Would Fan Luo really reveal her intentions to someone she just paid to do her bidding? Perhaps the woman was just fanning the mes that was currently burning Fan Luo. No matter what the truth was, the media and the public werepping all the details regarding Fan Luo¡¯s wickedness.

    Everyone wanted to hear from Iris Long herself but she hadn¡¯t made any statements so far. Her social media ounts hadn¡¯t been updated. People felt sorry for her and were enraged on her behalf. She had suffered so much, almost dying and having her reputation dragged through the mud over and over again, just because Fan Luo was jealous of her.

    Bright Summit and JJ¡¯s recordbel all released official statements condemning Fan Luo and stating their full support for Iris Long. Bright Summit especially emphasized their support because two of their current best-selling artists, Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, were involved in the current scandal with Fan Luo.

    It was one revtion after another. The nation had more than enough to talk about with just these news alone.

    Everyone was so absorbed at these explosive news that nobody noticed the recent news about the obliteration of three infamous gangs by a single new group. The authorities were still gathering information about this new group. They didn¡¯t ssify the group as a gang but temporarily called it an anti-gang instead.

    Its leader was still unknown. However, they spected that the leader must be someone with great wealth and outstanding leadership to be able to gather skilled members and to rise to prominence in such a short period of time.

    With everyone focused on Fan Luo, Iris Long, Jin Chonglin and the rm Girls, this new group continued on their quest to destroy gangs unhindered. The police didn¡¯t stop them, even encouraging them in their hearts for doing their job for them.

    The wheels of destiny started turning a little faster.

 Chapter 232 - Useless

    <h4>Chapter 232 - Useless </h4>

    Chief of Police residence.

    Si Xinyue invited her best friends and sisters Feng Wan, Bai Li and Kung Mian. As the Police Chief, her husband had been very busy ever since the Fan family¡¯s crimes were exposed to the public. He became even busier when the crimes of Fan Luo were revealed earlier today.

    She wasn¡¯tining because these cases were very important to her and her sisters. They only found out that their dear Iris suffered so much in the hands of that evil monster Fan Luo!

    The four poshdies were all aghast and enraged when they heard thetest news. They couldn¡¯t even drink good champagne because they felt too upset.

    "My husband told me that the police already submitted a request for a warrant to arrest that evil girl Fan Luo," Si Xinyue informed her friends. "They¡¯re just waiting for the judge to approve and sign the document."

    "What¡¯s the judge doing? Why¡¯s he taking so long?" Bai Li asked. She was from a family of schrs and national artists. They owned one of the top private universities in the country.

    "Be patient. That girl¡¯s crimes were only revealed today. They still need to confirm the authenticity of the crimes shemitted. There¡¯s not only one crime that shemitted after all. But I agree with you. I hope that the judge can sign the arrest warrant today," Kung Mian said. She was from a family of influential politicians.

    "I just hope that Fan Luo won¡¯t escape from the hospital before she¡¯s arrested," Feng Wan said, her narrowed eyes zing with suppressed anger.

    Among the four friends, Feng Wan was the one with the deepest background. She was born into a prestigious family of diplomats. Herte husband was from a distinguished military family. Both of their families came from a long line of old money and power whose influence extended across all the major sectors in the country. Although the Jins and the Lus shined the brightest right now, they couldn¡¯t evenpare to thebined status of Feng Wan and herte husband within the exclusive circles of high society within the country and beyond. She and her family just lived low-key lives despite their high status.

    "It will be difficult for that evil girl to escape," Si Xinyue replied. "My husband sent a number of police officers to surround the hospital to block any of her attempts of escaping. They¡¯re also there to prevent the angry mob outside the hospital from going out of control. They¡¯re not stopping the mob, though."

    "Good," Feng Wanmented with a nod.

    "I feel so sorry for our dear Iris. Poor girl." Bai Li sighed, shaking her head.

    Kung Mian shook her head as well. "I wonder how she¡¯s doing now. I hope she¡¯s alright."

    The four poshdies continued to talk about Iris. They were waiting for the next development in this situation, ready to use their own respective backgrounds to provide support if needed.

    ###

    Shrill screams and banging sounds filled a private hospital room. The doctors, nurses and other medical staff passing by the hallway outside red at the door after hearing the noises. They all knew about the criminal staying in that room. Many of them were tempted to storm inside the room and beat the crap out of that evil woman. However, they were still medical professionals at the end of the day.

    Inside the room, everything was a mess. Fan Luo was screaming and throwing everything she could get her hands on. Her mother just stood there, silently watching her with a cold expression.

    "Why?! Why is this happening to me?!!" Fan Luo cried.

    Just this morning, everyone was still on her side despite the expos¨¦ of her family¡¯s crimes. She was still the perfectdy that people looked up to. But now everything turned upside-down!

    She wasn¡¯t really ill after her "attempted suicide". The sh on her wrist was just a superficial wound. The doctor who admitted her was on their side. He was also the one who helped her with the abortion, writing it off as miscarriage on her medical record, and also for "diagnosing" her with depression when she wasn¡¯t really depressed.

    "Mom, what are we going to do? They¡¯re going to arrest me!"

    Fan Yuming¡¯s expression became ugly. They tried escaping earlier with the help of the doctor but a nurse snitched on them and they were caught. They also didn¡¯t expect that the police had already surrounded the entire hospital. At the moment, police officers were already stationed outside the room locking them in even without an arrest warrant. The doctor was also being held for helping them.

    "I noticed that the Chief of Police has been extra hard on us ever since your father, uncles, and cousins were arrested. And now this! The police won¡¯t even let you, ady, off!"

    "Mom, I don¡¯t want to go to prison!"

    "Stop whining, Luo Luo!" Fan Yuming snapped. "Let me think. Our friends have all turned their backs on us, those bastards and b*tches. We¡¯ve helped them so much by connecting them to the Jins but this is the thanks we get? And this is all Liwei¡¯s fault! Everything started going downhill ever since he rejected ourpany¡¯s business proposals. He must¡¯ve already nned our downfall since then. I don¡¯t know how our family offended him but he¡¯s an a**hole! Curse him to hell!"

    "Think of something, Mom! Time is running out!"

    "Be quiet. I guess our best choice is to ask Huang Yuyan for help. Although we¡¯re now on bad terms with her sons and the Jins, that fool is so easy to manipte. I¡¯ll just cry a little and she¡¯ll help us for sure. She also loves you like a daughter. You have to do your part and cry to her as well."

    "I understand, Mom."

    Fan Yuming called Huang Yuyan on the phone but discovered that her number had been blocked. She threw her phone against the wall in rage.

    "That disloyal b*tch! I¡¯ve sacrificed so much of my time pleasing her and even helping her weak pathetic self after her husband¡¯s death! And this is how she repays me?! F*ck you, Huang Yuyan!"

    For more, visit novelpub[.

    Fan Luo¡¯s panic jumped to overdrive. "Mom! What are we¡ª"

    "Shut up! You¡¯re useless! I already paved the way for you to wrap your little finger around Chonglin, but look! You couldn¡¯t even control him! Despite bing his fianc¨¦e, you only let him be estranged from you! I regret marrying into this family, even changing my surname to Fan. I made the Fans great! Without me, the Fans will still be a little local pawnshop! Even with all my hard work, all of you Fans are still so useless!"

    "Mom..."

    Fan Yuming¡¯s face was filled with resentment and hatred. "Just because that Huang Yuyan is pretty, she managed to reel in the Jin heir. She has nothing besides her beauty! She¡¯s dumb and weak. If I met the Jin heir first, I would¡¯ve been Madam Jin instead of a fool like her. Then all of these wouldn¡¯t have happened!"

    Fan Luo couldn¡¯t refute her own mother, so she directed her fury at another person instead. "This is all the fault of that sl*t Iris Long! My perfect image is ruined and everyone hates me now because of her!"

    Fan Yuming and Fan Luo were indeed mother and daughter. Both of them were hating and ming other women for their own misfortune. The mother hated Huang Yuyan, while the daughter med Iris Long.

 Chapter 233 - Forgive Me

    <h4>Chapter 233 - Forgive Me </h4>

    The mother and daughter had no idea that ever since the police surrounded the hospital, they had been under surveince. The hospital fully cooperated with the authorities, not wanting to damage their reputation by protecting a criminal.

    All of their conversations were being recorded both on video and audio. The police nned on using the surveince tapes as part of the evidence against Fan Luo and even Fan Yuming at the criminal trial that was sure to happen.

    However, the hacker KeymonSTER didn¡¯t want to wait until a criminal trial was scheduled. He hacked into the police system, stole the recordings, and then released them online for everyone to see.

    In public, the police condemned the hacker for breaching their security system but they didn¡¯t do anything to stop the spread of the tapes. Their Chief ordered them to stay put. By this time, many already noticed that the Chief of Police must have had some sort of grudge against the Fans.

    They were wrong, though. The Chief didn¡¯t have any grudge against the Fans at all. He was just granting his beloved wife¡¯s request to make sure that the Fans, especially Fan Luo, wouldn¡¯t have any chance of escaping.

    Now the people didn¡¯t only hate Fan Luo but also her mother, Fan Yuming. The headlines exploded once again.

    "Like Mother, Like Daughter: Evil Spawns Evil"

    "¡¯I Made the Fans Great!¡¯, Fan Yuming Says, Reveals She Used Friendship With Madam Jin to Climb the Social Ladder"

    "Fan Yuming Insults Madam Jin, Calls Her a Dumb Fool Who Has Nothing But Beauty"

    "Fan Yuming Wanted to Be Madam Jin?"

    ###

    Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    The tablet fell to the floor. The video of Fan Yuming insulting Huang Yuyan was still ying. Each and every hurtful words were like knives stabbing painfully at Huang Yuyan¡¯s heart. She couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing.

    Was this her best friend? Her sister?

    Perhaps Huang Yuyan still could¡¯ve ignored the insults to her person. After all, she was well aware that she wasn¡¯t the smartest nor the strongest woman. She knew her own weaknesses. She could¡¯ve written off the insults as something that Fan Yuming said at the heat of the moment.

    However, Huang Yuyan couldn¡¯t ept that the person she treated like her closest sister wanted to marry herte husband, even fantasizing about bing Madam Jin. For Huang Yuyan, her husband was her bottom line. What Fan Yuming said was just too shameless. Itpletely shattered her illusion of friendship.

    Huang Yuyan bit hard on her lower lip in frustration until it bled. Her eyes watered but she wiped them furiously. She didn¡¯t want to cry over a traitor who used her in the pretense of friendship and sisterhood.

    "I¡¯m so stupid," she said.

    "Yes. You¡¯ve been very stupid," Grandma Li replied.

    "Mother...please tell me how I can be strong. I know that I¡¯m dumb, weak and gullible. And that my own children coddle me. I want to be stronger for them, for our Jin family and for myself. I don¡¯t want anyone to suffer anymore because of my own weakness. Please tell me, Mother."

    Grandma Li looked at her daughter-inw with a serious expression. "You¡¯ve already taken the first step. You don¡¯t be strong in a day. Learn from your past mistakes."

    Huang Yuyan nodded, her lips trembling. "I¡¯m so sorry..."

    "My dear, it¡¯s not me who you should apologize to. Our Liwei isn¡¯t saying anything, but I know that you¡¯ve hurt your eldest son¡¯s feelings by ignoring his many attempts to talk to you. Your refusal to speak with him because of those evil Fans is an unjustified punishment. As for Little Chonglin, hai, what can I say? I don¡¯t think he would even give that evil girl attention if not for you." Grandma Li shook her head, sighing. "So Yuyan, if you want to redeem yourself and be stronger, start making amends with your own children first."

    With that, Grandma Li left Huang Yuyan to ponder over her own foolishness.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    It was already evening when Iris woke up. Although her surroundings were unfamiliar to her, she still felt at home in the arms of her man and the purring warmth of their two fur ball kids. She snuggled deeper in Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace, inhaling his masculine scent that she liked so much.

    "Baby?" He stayed awake holding her the entire time.

    "Mmn...Missed you..." she murmured.

    His arms tightened around her. They embraced each other until Ice Cream and Popcorn started meowing loudly at them. The kittens were hungry.

    "Are you hungry, too?" Jin Liwei asked her.

    "No. I don¡¯t really have an appetite especially after what happened today, but I¡¯ll try to eat."

    At the mention of what happened earlier, her expression suddenly turned vicious before she was able to control it.

    The expression was so unlike her that Jin Liwei was taken aback. His heart hammered inside his chest. Apprehension whirled within him, threatening to overwhelm him until he almost couldn¡¯t breathe. He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. He strengthened his resolve in preparation for his confessionter.

    The two freshened up before carrying their kittens out of the bedroom suite. They headed to the dining area.

    Iris kept looking around, curious at Jin Liwei¡¯s mansion. It was massive...and lifeless. The servants avoided eye contact and stayed quiet as much as possible, only greeting them briefly as per their duty. The ce reminded her of the Vetrov estate.

    Jin Liwei noticed her expression. "You don¡¯t like my house?"

    She hesitated before answering. "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t like it. This ce is beautiful and elegant but...it feels like a necropolis."

    He nodded, not surprised by her answer. "I get that a lot. If you don¡¯t like it here, we can buy another house together. Whatever you want, we¡¯ll get it."

    She smiled at him. "Okay. I¡¯ll think about it. Grandpa Lu says that I should start investing in real estate anyway. But this ce is good. Let¡¯s keep it. We just need to add more life to it."

    "En."

    His heart was filled with so much love for her that it felt like it was going to burst. However, fear and anxiety tainted the wonderful feeling. He almost blurted out the truth to her right then and there but stopped himself. He decided that he would confess everything to her after dinner.

    The household staff served them ate dinner. They were extra attentive and more enthusiastic than usual because of Iris¡¯ presence. She smiled and thanked them, making them blush regardless of their age and gender.

    Lu Zihao and Dom already ate earlier, but the glutton Dom joined them again to have another round of dinner. But first, he fed Ice Cream and Popcorn. A maid tried taking the kittens, but they hissed and bared their ws at the stranger. They only calmed down and reluctantly left their Mommy and Daddy¡¯s side once Dom arrived to take them. As for Lu Zihao, he seemed to have left and went somewhere.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei had no appetite during dinner. Ice Cream and Popcorn ate more than them.

    After dinner, Jin Liwei toured Iris around the mansion while Dom took care of the kittens, helping them familiarize with the ce and the household staff.

    The two reached a rotunda with a ss dome where they could see all the twinkling stars in the night sky up above their heads.

    Iris was admiring the ce, while Jin Liwei was soaking in his own sweat because of his anxiety. He had met so many famous figures in the world and gave important speeches before, but he had never felt this nervous and afraid.

    Finally, he decided to do it.

    "Baby...I need to...I have something important to tell you."

    Sensing his anxiety, Iris tilted her head to the side. "Hm?"

    "I¡¯ve done something unforgivable to you. But even so, I still hope that you¡¯ll forgive me." He reached for her hands and held them. Without breaking eye contact, he knelt in front of her.

    "Liwei! What are you doing?!" Iris was confused. At first, she thought he was going to propose but his expression looked off. She tried pulling him up but couldn¡¯t.

    He tightened his hold on her hands. "Please listen to me. I..."

    He confessed everything that happened two years ago. He started from his mother¡¯s birthday ball and overhearing Fan Luo. He told her all the sequences of events as he remembered them without trying to justify himself in the process. He gave her the unvarnished truth, the words rushing out of his mouth in an almost mechanical manner. Nevertheless, his trembling voice and pleading expression gave away his real emotional state.

    "I¡¯m so sorry," he said when he finished confessing. "Baby, I love you so much! Please forgive me. I regret all of the things I¡¯ve done to you in the past. Believe me. I promise that I¡¯ll do anything for you from now on. You¡¯re the most important person in my life. Just please, I beg you, forgive me."

    Iris froze into a statue of shocked disbelief, but her heart melted seeing him agonizing so much. Her expression softened.

    "Liwei, I¡ª"

    She gasped.

    Intense fury suddenly red within her. Murderous intent flooded her veins like ava zing through her rationality.

    "How dare you?!" she screeched.

    Then she attacked him.

 Chapter 234 - Promise

    <h4>Chapter 234 - Promise </h4>

    Jin Liwei tumbled onto his back on the floor with Iris on top of him. She pounded on his chest with her fists, scratched his neck and shoulders, and tore at his shirt.

    His eyes widened in shock at her sudden violence, but he stayed still and endured all of her attacks. Her fists may look delicate but they sure could pack a punch. He didn¡¯t try protecting himself, gritting his teeth instead to stop himself from groaning in pain.

    It was a little odd because she appeared to be aiming at his face but for some reason, her hands would veer off course and hit his body instead. Her screeches and curses of bloody murder echoed throughout therge, empty rotunda, sounding like a demented evil spirit terrorizing thend of the living.

    He thought that he was prepared to face her wrath and the possibility of her attacking him which were already happening right now, but he never expected to see such a ferocious expression on her face.

    Something was telling him that the woman on top of him wasn¡¯t his baby girl. He didn¡¯t feel any sense of familiarity with this raging woman at all. The feeling was unexinable and freaky.

    It was only when her attacks started slowing down, or more urately, when she was trying hard to restrain herself that the sense of familiarity returned to him. Her expression also changed from vicious to torn. Tears started flowing down her face.

    "No no no... Not Liwei not Liwei... I don¡¯t want to hurt Liwei...no..." she would cry one moment before once again screaming, "How dare you, you bastard?! I¡¯ll scratch your f*cking face off! Cut off your d*ck and shove it down your throat! F*ck you, a**hole!"

    Her sudden crassnguage made him cringe, but he just attributed it to her fury.

    He looked at her and in his sincerest voice, he told her, "I love you. I¡¯m so sorry."

    She stopped when she heard his words. Her expression kept on shifting between looking like she wanted to skin him alive and wanting to embrace and kiss him.

    In the end, she roughly grabbed his chin and smashed her mouth against his mouth in a hot, brutal kiss. She bit and sucked hard on his lips and tongue, making them bleed. Both of them tasted his blood.

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself from responding to her even when her ruthless kiss hurt so much. It felt like she wanted to bite his lips and tongue off and eat them. But he didn¡¯t care. If she wanted to eat him alive, he would readily offer himself to her.

    The kiss eventually became less violent and more sensual. Jin Liwei¡¯s hands started roaming on her body, but she grabbed both of them and held them down above his head. Then she resumed kissing him hungrily.

    When both of them were gasping for breath, she released his mouth and red down at him. "F*ck you, Jin Liwei. You¡¯re an a**hole."

    "Yes. I¡¯m an a**hole."

    Then her angry re transformed into a sad expression. She blinked and tears fell from her eyes, sshing down on his face. Some of her tears mixed with the blood around his mouth. Her tears gave him more pain than her attacks.

    "Baby, I¡¯m sorry. Please don¡¯t cry."

    "Liwei...I...I need to leave you."

    Both his breathing and heart stopped for a few seconds. Then he panicked. The hands held down above his head escaped from her grasp. Sitting up with her still on top of him, he desperately clung to her.

    "No! Baby, please no. I¡¯ll do anything you want. Anything! Just say it, I¡¯ll do it! Please don¡¯t leave me."

    She closed her eyes, avoiding his pleading face. She looked like she was in great pain. When she opened her eyes, there was a firm determination within them. Then she started disentangling herself from him.

    "Liwei, let me go," she said in a strained voice. "I...I want to stay with you but...I can¡¯t be with you right now."

    He hugged her more tightly. His eyes also started welling up. "Baby, please. I¡¯m begging you. Don¡¯t leave me."

    When he refused to release her, she snapped and pushed him away with all her might. "Let go, a**hole!"

    It felt like she just stabbed a pole into his heart and twisted it. His arms loosened around her, and then fell down to his sides.

    Seeing his hurt expression, she wavered for a moment before she hardened once again. She avoided looking at his face, while she continued disentangling herself from him.

    He no longer tried to stop her. He just watched her with heartbroken eyes, as she got off him.

    As for Iris, she was fighting a fierce internal battle. Hatred boiled within her, threatening to explode any second, but she forcefully tamped it down. The need to raise hell and go berserk was so intense that she could barely control herself.

    But she couldn¡¯t bear to hit Jin Liwei again. When she lost control earlier, it also hurt her when her fists struck him. It was a pain that battered at her heart. It felt like his pain was also her pain.

    All she wanted was to console him and to stay with him. However, she just couldn¡¯t disregard the overwhelming bloodthirst of her body.

    Jin Liwei wanted forgiveness, but it wasn¡¯t her who needed to forgive him. The soul of the original Iris might be gone, but her remnant was still very much alive inside her body. The remnant consisted of pure and unadulterated emotions. This time, it was of pure hatred.

    She needed to appease the remnant¡¯s desire for revenge first before she could live in peace with Jin Liwei.

    If she stayed with him at this time, she feared that the remnant would only engulf her and make her hate Jin Liwei. She didn¡¯t want that to happen. So she could only leave him...for now.

    She crouched and then hugged his neck tightly. Speaking directly to his ear, she told him, "I can¡¯t stay with you for now because I don¡¯t want to hate you. I need to leave and resolve something on my own first. After I¡¯m done, I...I¡¯lle back." She released his neck.

    They looked at one another.

    "You¡¯lle back? Promise?"

    "I promise."

    He looked unwilling to let her go, but he still nodded. "I¡¯ll wait for you. Please...please don¡¯t forget toe back to me. I love you so much."

    She looked at him onest time, memorizing every detail of him.

    "I need to go," she said, standing up. Taking a few deep breaths, she turned around and walked away.

    Jin Liwei remained on the floor, watching his baby girl¡¯s back get farther and farther away from him, until shepletely disappeared from his view. He wanted to chase after her but stopped himself. He trusted her. She said she was going toe back, so he would wait for her.

    He dropped on his back, lying on the cold hard floor. He looked up at the night sky through the ss dome. It was as if the twinkling stars lost their lustre. His baby girl took all the beauty and colour of his world with her. He would need to live in a dark, colourless and joyless world from now on until she returned to him.

    "What am I going to do? You just left but I¡¯m already missing you."

    Covering his eyes with his arm, he began to cry.

 Chapter 235 - Come Back Soon

    <h4>Chapter 235 - Come Back Soon </h4>

    Dom burst into tears when Iris informed him that she was leaving. She let him decide whether he wanted to return to the penthouse or stay here at the mansion with Jin Liwei and the kittens.

    "Wuwuwu! Boss, I¡¯ll stay here with sir boss and Ice Cream and Popcorn! I¡¯ll take care of them, so that they won¡¯t feel too lonely without you! Wuwuwu!"

    "I¡¯m counting on you, Dom," she told him. Then she hugged and nuzzled each of her kittens. "Ice Cream, Popcorn, stay with Daddy, okay? Don¡¯t let him feel too sad. I also give you permission to scratch the faces off of anyone who dares steal Daddy away while Mommy is gone, okay?"

    Ice Cream tilted her head to the side and meowed in assent. Her action resembled her Mommy so much that Dom¡¯s hands moved on their own, fishing out his phone from his pocket and taking pictures of the cute plump, grey kitten.

    On the other hand, Popcorn was meowing and rubbing himself all over Iris. He didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but he could feel something was off. He felt restless and soughtfort from his Mommy.

    Of course, Iris did her best to soothe the kittens.

    Momentster...

    "Ready, little sister?" Lu Zihao¡¯s smooth and alluring voice asked.

    He seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Iris barely detected him, while Dom jumped in surprise at the sound of his voice.

    Lu Zihao was leaning his back against the doorway with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his jeans. As usual, he looked devilishly handsome.

    Dom stopped sobbing and stared at Lu Zihao with fangirlish eyes.

    Lu Zihao smirked at him. "Still a crybaby, I see."

    "Ah!" Dom clutched his chest and staggered back. If he wasn¡¯t feeling upset because of his boss¡¯ departure, he would¡¯ve already started squealing like a crazed fangirl.

    "Big Brother, let¡¯s go." She slung a backpack behind her.

    Dom found the medium-sized bag from Jin Liwei¡¯s walk-in closet, and then packed some of Iris¡¯ essentials from the luggage Yi Mei sent earlier. Iris didn¡¯t bring everything. All she needed was a few clothes, herptop, phone and wallet.

    "Give me." Lu Zihao took the backpack from her and carried it instead.

    They walked out of the bedroom suite. Ice Cream and Popcorn trotted beside their Mommy¡¯s feet. Dom followed closely behind Lu Zihao, admiring his tall back.

    When they reached the grand foyer, Jin Liwei was standing there waiting for them. He looked like a zombie with his red eyes, bleeding mouth and ripped shirt. The scratches on his neck and shoulders were red and swollen.

    The butler and servants pretended that everything was normal, even though they were extremely shocked inside seeing their master¡¯s sorry appearance. What happened between Miss Long and their master? Did they break up? What did their master do that Miss Long beat him up so badly? They were many questions they wanted to ask but didn¡¯t dare to.

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow at the sight of Jin Liwei. He gave his sister a side-eye. "You did that to him?"

    For more, visit novelpub[.

    She didn¡¯t reply, biting her lip instead. Taking a few deep breaths, she bent down and carried the kittens in her arms. Then she walked towards Jin Liwei and gently handed them to him.

    "I¡¯ll punish you if you neglect our kids," she whispered.

    His eyes reddened a bit more. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of them."

    She nodded and stepped back.

    "Can...can I kiss you before you go?" he asked.

    "I..." She hesitated, afraid that the original¡¯s remnant would re up again. Her heart ached seeing his bleeding mouth. She didn¡¯t want to bite him again.

    "It¡¯s okay. Bite me all you want. It doesn¡¯t hurt."

    "Liar," she told him before turning around and walking away.

    Jin Liwei released a shaky breath, depressed by her refusal. It hurt. He involuntarily tightened his hold on the kittens, eliciting meows ofints from them. He forced himself to loosen his arms.

    His eyes were downcast while he focused on controlling his emotions. He didn¡¯t see it when Iris suddenly turned and strode back. He only noticed her when she was already right in front of him.

    She grabbed his head and kissed him hard. Both of their eyes were open, looking at each other. Iris¡¯ eyes were intense, while his were surprised. He wasn¡¯t able to react in time. The kiss ended so soon. She turned around again and walked quickly away without looking back at him.

    Dom started sobbing again.

    "Take care of her, Fifth Brother," Jin Liwei said, his voice hoarse. "Keep her safe."

    "Of course," Lu Zihao replied.

    Iris and Lu Zihao finally left.

    Popcorn started freaking out and attempted to jump out of Jin Liwei¡¯s arms, wanting to follow after his Mommy. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t allow him. Ice Cream didn¡¯t struggle but meowed mournfully while looking at the direction her Mommy disappeared to.

    That night, Jin Liweiy with the kittens on his bed, staring up at the ceiling unable to sleep. He inhaled his baby girl¡¯s scent from the pillows and the sheets she used when she slept earlier.

    "She¡¯lle back," he persuaded himself.

    However, he still couldn¡¯t stop the feeling of loss. It felt like a part of him just died from her absence, even if it was only temporary. Especially since he didn¡¯t know how long she would be gone.

    "Come back soon," he whispered into the silence of the night.

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    ###

    Inside the car, Iris sat with Lu Zihao in the backseat. She observed the two men at the front who her brother introduced earlier as his new subordinates. One was driving while the other sat stone-faced.

    Upon meeting them, she immediately sensed that they were dangerous. Appearance-wise, they looked harmless and average-looking. They were the type that was easily forgotten in a crowd or in the streets. To her, however, their lethal aura was very familiar, something that she regrly encountered from her bodyguards in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    Lu Zihao chuckled like the devil. He instantly knew what she was thinking about. "Don¡¯tpare them to our people in the past," he told her in Russian. "These two couldn¡¯t evenpare to the pinkie of one of your maids. But they have potential. We¡¯ll see how far they can go."

    Her brows knitted in apprehension after hearing his words. She didn¡¯t like the sound of what he said.

    "Big brother, what are you nning?"

    A bad feeling filled her regarding her brother.

 Chapter 236 - Shadow Winds

    <h4>Chapter 236 - Shadow Winds </h4>

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t answer but gave a mysterious smile instead. With that, he leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and ignored Iris.

    The carpsed into silence.

    She opened her mouth to ask him again, but then noticed the weary lines on his face. He looked exhausted! She immediately felt guilty. She had been too preupied with her own matters that she didn¡¯t notice his tired condition.

    It was already way past midnight. She let her brother rest. He only told her that they were heading to one of his recently bought properties, but she didn¡¯t know where.

    In the meantime, she took herptop out of the backpack. She began looking up thetest news about Fan Luo.

    The remnant within her red up. This time, she didn¡¯t fight against it, letting the hatred and fury flood within her. There was no Jin Liwei that she needed to worry about hurting. Despite allowing the bloodthirst to fill her, she still retained some measure of control on her body. Her expression was cold and an intense murderous intent emanated from her.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s two subordinates sitting at the front sensed it. They became alert, preparing themselves to face a lethal enemy. When they realized that the thick aura of danger wasing from her, they were shocked.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes opened and nced at her. But he closed them again as if it didn¡¯t bother him.

    About half an hourter, the car drove inside a gatedpound. It was the only residence in an industrial area filled with old closed-down warehouses and factories. In fact, the residence was originally a warehouse but was converted into an impressive mansion.

    "You did this, Big Brother?" she asked.

    "No. I bought it like this."

    Iris could see a number of people patrolling around the property. Her eyes narrowed. She could sense that these people were all trained and dangerous. The scene reminded her so much of the Vetrov estate in the past.

    He noticed her expression. He told her in Russian, "Like I said, don¡¯tpare these people to our people in the past. And little sister, you still suck at concealing your emotions from your face. Normal people might not be able to read you but to trained experts like me and my subordinates, we can read you like a book. Improve on it."

    She pouted but still nodded. She really didn¡¯t care whether others could read her or not. What others thought about her was none of her business. They could think whatever they wanted about her for all she cared. But her big brother said to improve on it, so she would. It wasn¡¯t like she would lose anything from it.

    The car stopped in front of the main entrance. One of Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates opened the car door for them.

    Lu Zihao carried her backpack and led her inside the mansion. The ones patrolling outside were all stone-faced, but the ones waiting inside greeted them good-naturedly. There were also some women among the group. Their eyes lit up when they recognized her.

    "Holy sh*t! Iris Long?! You¡¯re Iris Long, right?"

    "F*ck me! I¡¯m a big fan! Can I get your autograph?"

    "Sign my shirt, please! I also want a photo with you. Is it okay?"

    "Boss Iris, I¡¯m a member of the ck Stars! I¡¯m with the Slippers Army! Uwah! Wait until my fellow ck Stars hear about this. They¡¯re gonna be so envious that I met you in the flesh."

    Iris was surprised by the warm wee. She smiled at them and agreed to their requests of autographs and photos.

    "Boss Hao, is Iris your girlfriend?" one of them suddenly asked.

    A deadly aura burst from Lu Zihao. Everyone froze and went silent. Their earlier exuberance was reced byplete submission. Even Iris couldn¡¯t help but shiver a bit.

    She cleared her throat. "No, Big Brother Zihao is my brother. I have my own boyfriend."

    "Oh." They appeared curious at her revtion of having a boyfriend but nobody asked her for more information because of Lu Zihao¡¯s silent warning.

    "Call my sister Miss Xin, not Iris," Lu Zihao ordered them.

    All of them obeyed.

    "Little sister, these are my subordinates. We call ourselves the Shadow Winds. It seems that the authorities are describing us as an anti-gang." He sneered. "It¡¯s like calling a shark a tadpole."

    Iris looked at everyone and bit her lip. She could tell that her big brother was very much in his element right now. It was scaring her. "Big Brother, why did you form Shadow Winds? What is this group for?"

    "Don¡¯t think too much about it, little sister," he said, rubbing the top of her head. "Don¡¯t you know that we stand on the side of justice? Those gangs bullied some of my subordinates before. We are just carrying out retribution. My people shall never cower or bow down to anyone!"

    "Yeah!" His subordinates yelled in agreement, pumping their arms up in the air. Their eyes burned with fervour.

    Lu Zihao nodded and then continued to tell her, "As the saying goes, ¡¯Do not do unto others what you don¡¯t want others do unto you.¡¯ We won¡¯t touch anyone as long as they don¡¯t bother us. But if they do, well, ¡¯An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.¡¯ That¡¯s all."

    His words resonated with the remnant within her. It red up with more force this time. Iris didn¡¯t fight against it. After all, her mission at the moment was to appease its need for revenge.

    She hoped that once the remnant achieved revenge for the original Iris, it wouldn¡¯t bother her or fight for control with her body anymore. She wasn¡¯t expecting for the remnant topletely disappear but to at least co-exist with her without trying to overwhelm her with emotions that wasn¡¯t hers. If they managed to co-exist, perhaps her body would ept her more fully and stop trying to reject her.

    "You want revenge?" Lu Zihao asked. He already sensed that the bloodthirsty woman beside him wasn¡¯t his sister.

    She red at him. "What? You¡¯re gonna stop me?"

    "Who said I¡¯m stopping you?" He raised an eyebrow and tucked his hands inside his jeans¡¯ pockets. "I don¡¯t give a f*ck about you but I care about my sister. You need revenge? I¡¯ll help you."

    He swept his arms wide open. "I¡¯ll allow you to borrow my Shadow Winds. Their levels are still not up to my standards but dealing with a small cockroach like that psycho b*tch Fan Luo is child¡¯s y to them."

    "Oh?" She looked delighted. Then she turned to his subordinates, lifting her chin in an arrogant manner. "You heard your boss. From this moment until I get my revenge, you must obey my orders!"

    Lu Zihao crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his subordinates.

    "Yes, Miss Xin! We, the Shadow Winds, shall obey your orders!"

    She giggled and pped her hands. "How wonderful! I can get used to this."

    Lu Zihao roughly grabbed her cor. His intense, cold eyes intimidated her, making her cower. "This is for my sister, not for you."

    "Big Brother, let go..." Iris¡¯ sweet voice returned. The remnant ran back and hid deep within her, frightened by Lu Zihao.

    He let go. His expression also softened and became gentle.

    His subordinates were confused at what they were witnessing. Why did it feel like their boss was treating Miss Xin as two people? Some of them suspected that she might have a split personality. They were curious, but they didn¡¯t ask. For people like them, all they needed to do was follow orders.

    Although reluctant, Iris took charge. It was the remnant that needed the revenge but it had no abilities or skills to achieve it. It was up to her, Lu Zihao and the Shadow Winds to give it to her.

    She and Lu Zihao immediately made a quick but detailed n for this revenge mission. There were many times that Iris wavered during the process, but the remnant would flood her with feelings of fury and hatred as a way of keeping her in check. She and the remnant reached an odd partnership this way.

    After making the n, everyone prepared to put it into action. Iris gathered the hackers from the group. Fortunately, Lu Zihao already equipped the ce with high-performanceputers. Of course, they couldn¡¯tpare to the ones inside her ownputer room but they would suffice for this mission.

    Two other groups left thepound to fulfill their assigned roles in the n.

    When Iris started hacking, there were loud gasps.

    "Holy f*ck! You¡¯re Drakon?!"

    "Am I dreaming? It¡¯s Drakon...it¡¯s really Drakon..."

    "Master, please take me in as your disciple!"

    Iris ignored them, focused on hacking. They needed to move fast. She discovered that the police already received a signed arrest warrant for Fan Luo. They could arrest her anytime. However, it seemed that the police nned to do it in the morning as a fanfare to the media and the public. In the meantime, the hospital was heavily guarded by the police to prevent her from escaping.

    "I forgot to bring my ck notebook," she muttered.

    "Don¡¯t worry, little sister. I took it," Lu Zihao said with a devilish smirk. "Looks like we can finally cross out the names today."

    She sighed, not feeling any excitement at all. She wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

    "I miss Liwei."

 Chapter 237 - You Canâ€™t, But I Can

    <h4>Chapter 237 - You Can¡¯t, But I Can </h4>

    The revenge mission started.

    The first group sent out reached their destination. It was the hospital where Fan Luo was being held. The police security was tight.

    But who were the Shadow Winds?

    They were people carefully chosen and recruited by Lu Zihao. He only epted the very best. They may not be at the level of the Vetrovs, but their skills were already top-notch within the country. They just didn¡¯t know how to utilize their talents and skills before. It wasn¡¯t until Lu Zihao gathered them together and provided them with direction that they learned how to use their full potentials and even go beyond their limits.

    With Iris and her hacker team directing them through their earpieces, the group managed to slip past the police security. Iris hacked into the CCTV, wlessly changing the real time footages with fake ones. She also raised several false rms in the hospital¡¯s system to keep the doctors, nurses and other medical staff busy and away from Fan Luo¡¯s room.

    The group sent to infiltrate had no choice but to immobilize the police officers standing guard outside Fan Luo¡¯s room. True to their namesake, they moved quietly like the shadows and swiftly like the wind. The police officers didn¡¯t even know what hit them before they fell unconscious.

    Iris also hacked into the policemunications system, making sure that the unconscious officers¡¯ devices continued to transmit regr updates, so that their superiors wouldn¡¯t grow suspicious.

    Afterwards, the group pumped knock-out gas through the slit below the door into the room to make sure that everyone inside wouldn¡¯t wake up. Then the group kidnapped Fan Luo.

    Iris ordered them to take Fan Luo only. As for her mother, Fan Yuming, Iris had a present waiting for her in the morning.

    The original Iris didn¡¯t care about Fan Yuming, but she did. She watched the surveince footage of her dissing Jin Liwei, Huang Yuyan and Jin Chonglin. How dare she use her man¡¯s family and then insult them like that? She wouldn¡¯t let her off so easily.

    It wasn¡¯t only Fan Luo who had a lot of hidden dirt. Fan Yuming¡¯s secrets were also as filthy as her daughter¡¯s. Once the sun rose in a few hours, all of Fan Yuming¡¯s dirty secrets would be revealed for everyone to see.

    Now that Fan Luo was sessfully kidnapped, she handed that part of the mission to the other hackers. She then focused on the second part of the mission.

    The second group also already arrived at their assigned location. They were on standby, just waiting for her instructions.

    It was the house where the rm Girls were staying. Thewyer paid by Fan Luo, when he was still representing them, was able to negotiate with the judge to let the girls out of jail and ce them in house arrest instead. Of course, Fan Luo was the one paying for all their expenses.

    Like what happened in the hospital, the Shadow Winds immobilized the police officers guarding the house. Then they also kidnapped the rm Girls just like Fan Luo.

    The two groups, carrying their kidnapped targets, made their way back to the Shadow Windspound.

    Iris made sure topletely erase their tracks. With her superior level of skills, the authorities had no chance of finding out who took Fan Luo and the rm Girls right under the noses of the police guarding them.

    ###

    7 AM.

    Information was deliberately leaked by the police to the media that Fan Luo would be arrested that morning. As a result, arge number of reporters and cameramen stationed themselves outside the hospital, ready to document and broadcast the moment Fan Luo was arrested.

    However, everyone was shocked when they found out that Fan Luo was missing. The police condemned the incident, especially since their officers guarding outside Fan Luo¡¯s room were knocked unconscious. They also revealed that the hospital¡¯s CCTV and even the police¡¯smunications system were hacked.

    At first, people assumed that Fan Luo must have escaped. However, this waster debunked by the authorities because scandalous information about her mother, Fan Yuming, was spread online.

    Fan Yuming had many affairs with several business leaders to obtain advantageous deals for the Fan family. She also pimped her nieces, nephews, even her own children including Fan Luo. She encouraged them to seduce wealthy and powerful people, not only in business but also in politics and other industries such as showbiz.

    They were able to climb more quickly in their chosen careers this way and also provided great opportunities for the entire Fan family. Some of them even married their targets, and thenter, Fan Yuming persuaded them to get divorce after giving birth to their children. The substantial alimony and child support already set them for life.

    There was no need for them to work anymore. They could just enjoy the rest of their lives spending the money they received from their exes. Of course, Fan Yuming also received a share. After all, they wouldn¡¯t be able to achieve such wealth without her devious maneuverings.

    It was also revealed that Fan Yuming was the one who urged Fan Luo to saddle Jin Chonglin with the responsibility of being a father when her daughter found out that she was pregnant. It was also Fan Yuming who arranged for the doctor to write off Fan Luo¡¯s abortion as miscarriage when Jin Chonglin insisted for a DNA test. It turned out that the doctor was one of Fan Yuming¡¯s lovers.

    There were many other shocking revtions about Fan Yuming. When the people read about them, they were disgusted by her.

    "Fan Yuming ran the Fan family like a brothel. She pimped out not only herself but also her own children, nieces and nephews! I¡¯ve never been so disgusted by a person!"

    "Every single member of the Fan family are crooks!"

    Of course, the list of powerful people the Fans¡¯ slept with was also revealed to the public. It caused a domino effect of scandals to rock the entire nation. Many of these people were leaders in their fields. Many of them were fired or were forced to resign. Their spouses also filed for divorce.

    It was utter chaos.

    Hawk-eyed hackers recognized the destructive style as Drakon¡¯s work, even though the new hacker superstar didn¡¯t im credit this time. Who else could cause so much chaos in a country in just a day?

    Because of this scandal involving Fan Yuming and the younger generation of the Fan family, the authorities dismissed the possibility that Fan Luo escaped. If the Fans were really the ones who arranged Fan Luo¡¯s escape, why damage their reputation in the process? It was obvious that someone was trying to destroy the Fans to the point of no return.

    The police began to treat this as kidnapping. Their conjecture was further strengthened when they discovered that the rm Girls also went missing. Simr to Fan Luo¡¯s case, the police officers guarding the girls were also knocked out.

    The headlines went nuts with wild spections.

    "Fan Luo and rm Girls Kidnapped! Will They Still Be Found?"

    "Who Kidnapped Fan Luo and the rm Girls? The Jins, the Longs, or the Many Newly-Turned Enemies of the Fans?"

    "Expect to Find Four Dead Female Bodies Somewhere Soon."

    The authorities tried everything to find the women, sending their best detectives and hackers to track them, but it was as if they disappeared into thin air.

    As a result, they decided to redirect their focus on Fan Yuming and the rest of the Fans instead, arresting them on prostitution grounds and other charges.

    ###

    While the rest of the nation was in uproar, Iris was with Lu Zihao inside a room he aptly called the "dungeon".

    It was originally a cer as evidenced by the empty wine racks. Now, however, the room was equipped with various torture tools. In short, the cer was converted into a torture chamber.

    The unconscious Fan Luo, Wanwan, Feifei and Mimi were gagged and chained up. The Shadow Winds didn¡¯t hurt any of them. They were waiting for Iris¡¯ instruction.

    Iris looked at them and then at the torture tools.

    "I don¡¯t think I can do this," she said, shivering.

    At that moment, an already familiar re up of bloodthirst overwhelmed her. She didn¡¯t resist and even willingly allowed the remnant to take over this time.

    "You can¡¯t, but I can."

    Her expression turned vicious. There was cruel excitement in her eyes at what she was about to do to the four b*tches in front of her.

 Chapter 238 - Remnan

    <h4>Chapter 238 - Remnan </h4>

    Screams of agony, hatred and fear filled the entire dungeon.

    The rm Girls were targeted first. They hadn¡¯t even made sense of their current situations yet when they were already howling in pure pain. They were forcefully awakened from their unconscious states when boiling hot water was sshed on the lower half of their bodies.

    It would¡¯ve been better if they didn¡¯t wake up at all because the moment they opened their eyes, their worst nightmare began.

    The remnant-controlled Iris was like a crazed demoness from hell. She didn¡¯t know any proper torture techniques nor did she know how to use the torture instruments avable in the room. But it didn¡¯t matter. Her maniacal cruelty was enough to inflict the worst pain possible to the rm Girls even without following a set method of torture.

    "Damn you to hell, Iris Long! You¡¯ll pay for this!" Wanwan screeched at her.

    Iris cut off her tongue.

    Feifei and Wanwan were so frightened that they stopped cursing and screaming.

    "P-please...forgive us! We were wrong...we shouldn¡¯t h-have gone against y-you... Please Iris...d-don¡¯t this to us," Feifei begged.

    Iris also cut off her tongue.

    "Nooooo!" Meimei shrieked. "S-stay away from me! You¡¯re not human! You¡¯re a devil!"

    Iris froze. The cruel expression on her face was reced by horror. The bloody knife in her hand ttered to the floor. She staggered back and started trembling. Then she doubled over, falling to her knees. She groaned as she tried to wrestle for control against the bloodthirsty remnant within her.

    Lu Zihao ran to her and pulled her in his arms.

    "N-no. I don¡¯t want to d-do this..."

    She cried out as her expression kept on changing. Tears ran down her eyes. The remnant within her was drunk with the scent of blood. It was far from appeased yet. It wanted more cruelty and violence in order to satisfy its desire for revenge.

    However, Iris couldn¡¯t stomach such brutality, especially since it was done by her own hands. As she continued fighting against the crazed remnant within her, the disconnect between her and her body was dangerously reaching its limit. If the struggle continued, the connection would snap.

    The remnant battered against her will. It was like trying to restrain an out of control wild beast with nothing but her own body. Reasoning with it was futile.

    Lu Zihao somehow sensed the dangerous situation within her. Panic flooded him and he shook Iris. "No! Little sister, listen to me!"

    Her consciousness was gradually fading away, but she still forced herself to look at her brother. It felt like some phantom white mist was melting the connection between her and the body, trying to suck her away into a world of nothingness.

    "Don¡¯t fight against it. Let it get its revenge," he told her in a desperate tone. Cold fear enveloped him seeing her eyes slowly losing the light of life. No! He wasn¡¯t going to lose his sister a second time! "Please, Evelinka. Let go just this once. Consider this as a gift to the original Long Xin for letting you use her body."

    Iris held onto her consciousness, struggling to hear her brother¡¯s words. It felt like she was drowning, big and angry waves buffeting against her, pulling her down to the dark depths. Her brother was now her only lifeline.

    "Remember, it¡¯s not you. Treat your body like you¡¯re sharing a car with another driver. Even if the other driver runs over and kills someone using your shared car, it doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re also guilty of the same crime. You¡¯re not the one driving that time." Lu Zihao patted her cheek, but when she didn¡¯t respond, he pped her instead to keep her awake. "Little sister! Listen to me! Don¡¯t fight against it this time! Otherwise...no!"

    "Big brother..." she said in a weak, almost inaudible voice. Then her eyes fluttered close.

    "No! Evelinka! Wake up! Are you really going to end this second life of yours like this?! What about Jin Liwei?! Are you going to leave him?!"

    Her eyes snapped open. "Liwei... I...I want Liwei...I m-miss him..."

    "That¡¯s right. You have to live if you want to be with him. And in order for you to live, you have to do this. Little sister, let it out."

    "Liwei..."

    The image of Jin Liwei pulled her from the tentacles of the white mist, dissipating them. Her heart thundered inside her chest, as if urging her to get this done as soon as possible so that she could return to her man.

    She became alert again. Sensing her change of heart, the remnant within her became excited, battering against her more forcefully to be let out.

    Her eyes narrowed.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll let you have this revenge, but after this, give me full control of this body.¡¯

    There were no words, but she sensed the impatient assent of the remnant.

    ¡¯Fine.¡¯ She sighed and withdrew herself inside, allowing the remnant to once again take control of her body.

    The moment the remnant took over, Lu Zihao immediately knew that the woman in his arms wasn¡¯t his sister anymore. His expression became cold and he let go of her, almost pushing her away from him like a dirty piece of garbage. He stood up and walked to a wall, leaning his back against it with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his jeans.

    His subordinates witnessed everything that happened. Although they couldn¡¯t understand their conversation because they were speaking in Russian, they could see that Miss Xin showed two different personalities and that their leader treated the personalities differently. It seemed that Miss Xin really did have split personality.

    The cruel and bloodthirsty Iris was back. She picked up the bloody knife from the floor and proceeded to cut off Meimei¡¯s tongue as well, ignoring the pleas of forgiveness.

    She broke their fingers and several other bones in their bodies. Then she destroyed their faces,pletely shattering their pride in their appearances. To celebrities like them, it was the biggest and the most painful blow. As a result, they stopped struggling, surrendering themselves to their tragic fates. They now lost their will to live, wishing instead for the quick release of death.

    However, they were bound to be disappointed. Iris had no intention of killing them. She wanted them to suffer while alive.

    The remnant wasn¡¯t the original Iris. It was only a part of her remaining in the body like muscle memory. However, this part was very potent, made up of extreme emotions and memories. In this case, it was made up of pure desire for revenge against the original Iris¡¯ enemies.

    Unfortunately, the original Iris¡¯ enmity against the rm Girls were stamped too deeply from their years of shing against each other. Even though the rm Girls didn¡¯t cause her death, hatred was hatred so they needed to be punished. The remnant wasn¡¯t able to realize for itself that its punishment was too extreme for the level of the girls¡¯ offenses.

    The remnant was like a final securitymand after its original owner¡¯s death. It was on autopilot mode with a single mission to avenge its original owner. Until it achieved its purpose, it wouldn¡¯t allow anyone else to gain full control of its owner¡¯s body.

    Iris continued to torture them without mercy that even some members of the Shadow Winds couldn¡¯t help but recoil. Most of them weren¡¯t strangers to torturing others, but when they did, it was methodical and mostly for the purpose of obtaining information. In this case, however, Iris was just torturing the girls for the sake of inflicting pain and making them suffer.

    She only stopped when the rm Girls lost consciousness due to extreme pain. They finally reached the limits that they could take.

    "Hmph! How weak," she spat at them in derision.

    Then her eyes zeroed in on the still unconscious Fan Luo. This time, her eyes shed with extreme loathing. This was her murderer!

    "Fan Luo!!!" she roared and pounced.

 Chapter 239 - Clicked Into Place

    <h4>Chapter 239 - Clicked Into ce </h4>

    Fan Luo was harder to break than the rm Girls. No matter how hard the remnant-controlled Iris beat her up, she refused to give in.

    "Hah! Who do you think you are? You¡¯re nothing but a sl*t, Iris Long! Even if you cut off my head, I will NEVER grovel at your feet! Ahahaha!"

    "F*ck you, Fan Luo! I¡¯m gonna kill you, you f*cking wh*re!"

    "Go ahead and kill me, b*tch! I despise you so much that if you don¡¯t kill me, I¡¯ll f*cking find a way to kill you! I had the perfect man! I had everything! But because of you, I lost it all!"

    Fan Luo continued to taunt Iris, even when she was no longer recognizable with all the blood and ugly wounds covering her once fair skin. Unfortunately, the remnant-controlled Iris was easily taunted. She lost her temper and proceeded to beat up Fan Luo harder.

    The two cursed and threw insults at each other. Didn¡¯t they know that to those watching them right now, they were like two peas in a pod? Both were cruel, vicious and conceited.

    Lu Zihao watched everything in silence without any change in his cold expression. He didn¡¯t give a f*ck for this Iris. She wasn¡¯t his sister. He wouldn¡¯t care even if this woman murdered these four b*tches. His only worry was that doing so would traumatize his sister.

    So even if it wasn¡¯t obvious, he was actually monitoring the tortured women¡¯s states, ready to interrupt the moment they were about to die. They could die for all he cared, but they must not die in his sister¡¯s presence.

    His sister needed to resolve this issue with her body¡¯s remnant so that she could have a chance to live this second life of hers in peace.

    The remnant-controlled Iris and Fan Luo continued their pathetic battle of wills. They were made in the same cloth. Perhaps if the original Iris lived, she might end up bing someone like Fan Luo. Or perhaps not. Who could know exactly what could¡¯ve been?

    Lu Zihao thought it ironic that these two civilian women were so viciouspared to his own little sister who was the one originally born into the number one criminal family in the international Underworld.

    Criminals were made, not born. It was one¡¯s own decision to be a criminal, not because one was born to.

    Take for example his little sister. Like all of the Vetrovs, she was trained since young to be cold-blooded and to throw away herpassion. However, she resisted, refusing to take the path the Vetrovs arranged for her.

    That was why the family had no choice but to shelter her in order to protect her. At the end of the day, she was still a Vetrov and they couldn¡¯t just abandon her to the outside world where she could be targeted by their enemies. Besides, they never stopped hoping that she would one day change her mind and decide to help run the organization. She was a genius and a world-ss hacker, after all. It would be a great boost to their power if she joined them. However, it never happened because all of them were annihted.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes turned colder at the memories of his past life, his aura emitting danger. His subordinates sensed his cold fury, instantly bing alert and cautious around him.

    As for the two vicious women, there were no clear winners. Even though Fan Luo was in agony and in extreme pain due to her injuries, she never admitted defeat. Her eyes were still full of challenge, continuing to provoke Iris.

    "B*tch!"

    Iris couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She gouged Fan Luo¡¯s eyes out and broke her jaw with a bat. Only then was a sense of satisfaction could be seen on her expression.

    She turned to the Shadow Winds and ordered them, "Throw the rm Girls back to the police. I don¡¯t care about them anymore. As for this b*tch," she spat as she looked at the bloody Fan Luo, kicking her several times. "Tie her up to a car. Destroy the brakes."

    The Shadow Winds didn¡¯t respond, looking at Lu Zihao instead.

    "What the f*ck are you still waiting for?! Have you forgotten that you are to follow my orders?!" Iris was enraged that her orders were being disregarded.

    "Sh*t up," Lu Zihao rebuked her in a cold voice.

    She immediately cowered and stepped back, frightened by him.

    But still he instructed his subordinates, "Do as she says."

    "Yes, boss!"

    While they carried out the orders, Iris escaped from the room, afraid of Lu Zihao. It was still the remnant controlling the body.

    The other Shadow Winds members avoided her. They already concluded that she had a split personality, and the current personality was the one their leader hated. They followed Lu Zihao¡¯s lead and ignored the remnant-controlled Iris.

    Iris¡¯ torture of the rm Girls and Fan Luo took almost the entire daytime. Most of them were exhausted and hungry because they stayed up ever since the mission started all throughout the entire torture.

    However, the remnant didn¡¯t care about food or rest at the moment. All it cared about waspleting its revenge.

    The barely alive Wanwan, Feifei and Mimi were packed in a vehicle and dumped back to an area close to a police station far from the Shadow Windspound. The other hackers had no choice but to lead this part of the mission because it seemed that Miss Xin¡¯s other personality who was also the great hacker Drakon wasn¡¯ting out to take care of this herself.

    As for the now blind, mute and cripple Fan Luo, she was strapped inside another car. A Shadow Winds member drove her out of thepound. Iris, Lu Zihao and some of his subordinates followed in additional vehicles.

    They drove quite far in a remote rural area. It was a hilly forest. Finally, they all stopped and got out of the vehicles.

    The remnant-controlled Iris walked to the other car. The window was down, so she could see Fan Luo who didn¡¯t even look like a human anymore. Surprisingly, she was still conscious and whimpering in pain.

    Iris leaned down. "Now, I¡¯ll give you a taste of what you made me go through during that car crash. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Whether you live or die today will depend on your fate. I won¡¯t care about you anymore. Goodbye, Fan Luo. May you rot wherever you end up at."

    Then she stepped back and allowed the Shadow Winds to modify the car¡¯s controls.

    Momentster, the car sped along the dirt road. Fan Luo was inside by herself.

    BOOM!

    The car crashed against a rocky cliffside.

    A smile lifted Iris¡¯ lips, her eyes glinting in satisfaction. Then her expression changed. Tears began to roll down her face. Her knees buckled but Lu Zihao caught her before she fell to the ground.

    "Big brother..." Iris buried her face against his chest.

    "I¡¯m here. You¡¯re alright now. It¡¯s not you who did all these things," he told her, rubbing his hand on her back, soothing her. "Don¡¯t cry. They¡¯re not worth your tears."

    Iris cried hard, her whole body shaking. She felt tainted by all the experience, especially since she retained all the memories during the torture.

    Despite this, there was a sense of relief within her. It felt as if a great load was lifted from her shoulders. She had no idea whether the remnant was still in her body or not. She couldn¡¯t sense it anymore, but that didn¡¯t mean that it waspletely gone.

    Nevertheless, it was as if something clicked into ce inside her, like a puzzle piece finally fitting in. She felt it. The body was now starting to ept her more fully.

    Now that this revenge was finally over, exhaustion started catching up to her.

    "Big Brother, I feel¡ª"

    She fainted before she could even finish what she was going to say.

 Chapter 240 - Alibi

    <h4>Chapter 240 - Alibi </h4>

    Shocking headlines bombarded the nation one after another. The media outlets were having a field day pumping out articles, broadcasting news reports and interviews almost without any break. The police were also very busy.

    Three days had passed since Fan Luo and the rm Girls were discovered after two separate police stations were tipped by anonymous callers. The police still didn¡¯t have any leads as to who might be the perpetrators who kidnapped and tortured the four women.

    All useful clues were wiped away. It seemed that the perpetrators had a formidable hacker erasing their tracks. Even the crashed car in which Fan Luo was strapped in was untraceable. It was an amazing work of engineering, pieced together from different auto parts. Some of the parts were even self-made. Any serial numbers or other identifying codes in the car were erased.

    At the moment, the four women were in the hospital.

    The rm Girls had serious injuries but they would recover in time. However, the severity of their torture traumatized them to the point that their psychological states were permanently damaged. Even if they recovered physically, they were no longer well enough to face their pending court trials. They would most likely be sent to a mental institution for the rest of their lives instead.

    As for Fan Luo, her condition was much worse than the rm Girls. She suffered serious brain damage and fell intoa. Even if a miracle happened and she woke up, her life would only be a living hell. She was not only disfigured but also blinded, muted and crippled. She wouldn¡¯t be able to function normally anymore.

    Not to mention that she was currently the most hated woman in the country besides her mother, Fan Yuming. If she woke up, she would need to face the legal punishment for her crimes and spend the rest of her life inside prison.

    In response to the news about what Fan Luo and the rm Girls went through, the people¡¯s opinions were mixed.

    "Fan Luo and the rm Girls deserve it! They¡¯re evil! This is retribution for their crimes! This is justice!"

    "Although I agree that Fan Luo deserves it, I don¡¯t think that the rm Girls¡¯ crimes justify the torture they experienced. This is too extreme."

    "Yes, Fan Luo is evil. She¡¯s a murderer! The rm Girls were also malicious for what they¡¯ve done, but their crimes aren¡¯t grave enough to warrant torture! Nobody deserves to be tortured! Not the rm Girls, not even Fan Luo! Fan Luo is a criminal but nobody has the right to torture her. Let thew decide the appropriate punishment for her crimes and bring legal justice to her victims! The people who tortured them must be condemned! They¡¯re not heroes but criminals!"

    Amidst this debate of whether the four women deserved their tragic fates or not, the people also spected as to who might be the one who kidnapped and tortured them.

    The most popr suspects were Jin Chonglin and the Jins, Iris Long and the Longs, Fan Luo¡¯s other victims and their families, and also the now disgraced industry leaders who had sexual affairs with her and the other members of the Fan family.

    Of course, the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans wouldn¡¯t stay quiet while their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin were being suspected. A partnership between the two fan clubs formed to defend their boss and prince.

    While Jin Chonglin reassured his fans through his blog, there was still no updates from Iris Long. The ones suspecting her used her absence to prove their point.

    It was at this moment that Bright Summit released an official statement.

    "We have received official confirmation that Iris Long is not in the country. She is currently recuperating at a private hospital abroad. The trauma of discovering the real cause of her ident two years ago triggered a health rpse. As for those who are doubting her innocence, we, Bright Summit Entertainment Company, stand behind our artist. We believe that she is innocent and incapable of the usations being thrown at her. We also believe that she is one of the biggest victims in this entire affair, so shame on all of those who are still using her. We do not understand why people can continue to defend the criminals while using the real victim. We hope that Iris Long recovers and returns to grace us with her talent. We are all waiting for you, Iris Long!"

    JJ¡¯s recordbel also echoed Bright Summit¡¯s sentiments.

    After some time, the police officially cleared Jin Chonglin and Iris Long from the usations of harming Fan Luo and the rm Girls. Jin Chonglin had a strong alibi. He stayed with his mother and grandmother at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House the whole time.

    As for Iris Long, several people also stepped forward to vouch for her innocence. Most of them were airport and airline employees who swore that they witnessed Iris Long stepping into a ne to leave the country. They said that this happened just a couple of hours after the revtion of Fan Luo¡¯s crimes. Meaning, there was no way that Iris Long was the one who kidnapped and tortured Fan Luo and the rm Girls because she wasn¡¯t even in the country during that time. Airport records and CCTV footage also supported Iris Long¡¯s alibi.

    Unbeknownst to the people, these were all arranged by Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao.

    Jin Liwei used his influence to pay the airport and the airline employees to create an alibi for Iris. It wasn¡¯t that hard because these people had family members who were beneficiaries of Jin Corporation¡¯s foundation. Their gratitude to the foundation made them willing to help him make up an alibi. Jin Corporation was also a major investor of the airline.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s team of hackers nted the fake records and CCTV footage. They might not be on Drakon¡¯s level, but they were still skilled hackers who were better than KeymonSTER.

    After securing Iris¡¯ alibi, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao continued to speak on the phone.

    "Is she okay? Can I see her?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Yeah, she¡¯s fine," Lu Zihao replied. "If she wants to see you, she¡¯ll tell you herself."

    "Is she really out of the country? Can you tell me where she is?"

    "Yeah. She¡¯s not in China anymore. I can¡¯t tell you where. You have to wait until she tells you herself. Grandpa took her somewhere. Don¡¯t worry. She¡¯ll be alright. The old man won¡¯t let anything bad happen to her."

    Jin Liwei sighed. Intense longing for his baby girl weighed down on his heart, making it hard for him to live each day without her.

    ¡¯Be patient. She promised that she¡¯lle back, so she will,¡¯ he persuaded himself.

    After speaking with his Fifth Brother, Jin Liwei tried calling his baby girl¡¯s phone but failed yet again. He missed her so much that it hurt.

    "Meow~"

    Ice Cream and Popcorn rubbed themselves against him. He petted them and nuzzled against them.

    "You miss Mommy, right? Me too. Let¡¯s wait for her toe back. Hopefully soon."

    These days, the kittens were always with him. Without their Mommy, they only felt safe with their Daddy. They refused to leave his side. As a result, he brought them wherever he went, even when he went to work at Jin Corporation. The first time he brought them to thepany, his employees couldn¡¯t believe their eyes.

    Their frigid President actually brought KITTENS to work! Kittens! The adorable, furry creatures known to enve humans with their irresistible cuteness.

    Not only that, he carried the fat grey one in his arms, stroking it in a loving manner, while the hyperactive orange kitten ran around everywhere. Two personal cat sitters followed them.

    "Young Master Popcorn! Please don¡¯t run around. You might get lost!" the cat sitter called while chasing after the orange kitten.

    The other cat sitter informed Jin Liwei, "Master, it is now time for Young Miss Ice Cream¡¯s snack. Please give her to me so that I can feed her."

    The minds of Jin Liwei¡¯s employees, including Xu Tian, went nk.

    ¡¯Young Master Popcorn? Young Miss Ice Cream? What in the world?!¡¯

    Jin Liwei noticed their stares. His eyes turned even colder.

    "Ice Cream and Popcorn are my children. You must treat them with utmost respect. If I learn that any of you harmed my children in any way, say goodbye to your jobs," he told them.

    Their eyes almost popped out of their heads.

    ¡¯Ch-children?!!!¡¯

 Chapter 241 - Where Is Iris Long?

    <h4>Chapter 241 - Where Is Iris Long? </h4>

    At first, it was very difficult for Jin Liwei¡¯s employees to get used to seeing their President being followed around by kittens and cat sitters everywhere. He even brought them to important meetings. His employees began to wonder if their President finally snapped and went cuckoo in the head after the scandal with the Fans.

    However, like so many generations of humans before them, they became utterly charmed and enved by the irresistible power of feline cuteness. They began taking sneak photos of the kittens when their President wasn¡¯t looking. Some even ran outside to buy some treats to try tempting the kittens and earn brownie points from them.

    They also started calling the kittens "Young Miss Ice Cream" and "Young Master Popcorn". They thought it was hrious at first, but they began to feel like it was just right. Of course the kittens of someone like their President Jin Liwei needed to be treated in a special way.

    Popcorn ran around everywhere, curious at everything. His poor cat sitter huffed and puffed chasing after him all day. On the other hand, Ice Cream just stayed with her Daddy, eitherying on hisp or on his desk while he worked.

    She was very well-behaved, except when female employees tried to go near Jin Liwei. Then she would transform into a little tigress, hissing and baring her ws in a threatening manner, warning the female pests to stay away from her Daddy. Daddy only belonged to Mommy! She and Popcorn were given permission by their Mommy to scratch the faces off of anyone who dared steal away their Daddy! Until Mommy returned, she would safeguard Daddy!

    Spending time with the kittens somewhat helped ease Jin Liwei¡¯s heartache as he continued longing for his baby girl. He still wasn¡¯t able to contact her. He had no idea where she was, but he trusted Grandpa Lu to keep her safe.

    Besides running Jin Corporation, Jin Liwei partnered with Long Tengfei to help the other victims of Fan Luo and also the families of those unfortunate ones who lost their lives from her schemes. Based on the timeline, Iris was the eighth among the fourteen women harmed by Fan Luo.

    Most of the women who survived Fan Luo¡¯s evil machinations became disabled because of their injuries. As a result, they couldn¡¯t find decent jobs, bing burdens to their families instead. The ones who recovered well from their injuries only discovered now that the reason why they were cklisted from their previous work was because of Fan Luo.

    Learning about the truth of who caused their suffering ignited the hatred within their hearts.

    "I hope that evil b*tch Fan Luo dies!"

    "I¡¯m very thankful for the one who kidnapped and tortured that evil woman. However, I wish he killed her instead of letting her go alive! I¡¯m lucky that I only became paraplegic, but what about the other women who died because of her? She deserves death!"

    It wasn¡¯t widely reported in the news, but it was briefly included in the expos¨¦ about Fan Luo that she ordered a hit on the people she paid to harm the fourteen women. So it wasn¡¯t only the families of the dead women who hated Fan Luo, but also the families of the ones she hired to harm the women. Yes, technically, they were also criminals but it didn¡¯t change the fact that they were still killed on the orders of Fan Luo after she used them.

    Her evil knew no bounds.

    These families stormed the hospital where Fan Luo was lying ina and attempted to kill her themselves. However, her room was surrounded by police officers so they couldn¡¯t aplish their objective.

    Jin Liwei and Long Tengfei¡¯s offer of help somewhat mollified their desire for revenge. Both Jin Liwei and Long Tengfei gave the women and the families financial aid in the name of their fellow victim, Iris Long. They helped them secure good jobs based on their skill levels. They also paid the tuition fees of those who wanted to go back to school or get a certificate from a training institution with a promise of good jobs waiting for them after they finished their studies.

    All of these were arranged in secret, but the information was still leaked to the media by the women and the families themselves.

    "Iris Long Helps Fellow Victims to Start a New Life!"

    "Generous Act of Musician Iris Long Earns Gratitude From the Other Survivors & the Families of the Deceased Victims of Fan Luo"

    "Where is Iris Long? Everyone Still Waiting to Hear From Her"

    There was still no word from Iris Long herself. Her social media ounts weren¡¯t updated for many days now. The ck Stars were reassured by Bright Summit¡¯s official statement that she was alright and recuperating at a hospital in another country. However, they still worried about her and wanted to know how she was doing from her own words.

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    Unlike her silence, Jin Chonglin released an official statement through a video yed in all media outlets. He looked hot as usual, but there was an unmistakable weariness on his expression.

    "I, Jin Chonglin, would like to officially announce that I will be taking a hiatus for an indefinite period of time. This wasn¡¯t originally in my ns. I didn¡¯t want to take a break. I wanted to continue working. But because of the shocking revtions regarding...regarding that evil woman...Fan Luo...who used to be my...my fianc¨¦e, I decided that I need some time to digest everything and to deal with the emotional shock."

    He paused for a few moments. There was an obvious disgust when he said Fan Luo¡¯s name. He took some deep breaths before he continued speaking while looking directly at the camera.

    "I don¡¯t know how long this hiatus willst. Maybe only for a few weeks or maybe months...perhaps even years. I don¡¯t know. It will depend on how ready I feel to face the world again after what happened. I apologize to my fans. I hope that you understand my current situation. Thank you very much for your support! I also would like to extend my support for Iris Long for what she¡¯s going through right now. I¡¯m so sorry for what happened to her. My thoughts are with her. Please get well soon, Junior Iris! And I sincerely hope that we can work together in the future."

    An outpouring of support flooded Jin Chonglin, not only from his army of fans, but also from the ck Stars. It was at this moment that the two fan clubs became closer to each other and treated each other as allies.

    There were even some of them who started shipping Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, referring to them as LinRis.

 Chapter 242 - I Miss You So Much

    <h4>Chapter 242 - I Miss You So MuChapter </h4>

    Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    For the first time since the sessive scandals with the Fan family rocked the entire nation, the main members of the Jin family gathered together. Actually the rest was just waiting for Jin Liwei toe.

    Jin Chonglin had been staying at the old house ever since Fan Luo¡¯s crimes were exposed to the public. He moved back because his own ce was surrounded by reporters. The old house was more secure and safe.

    While waiting for her eldest son to arrive, Huang Yuyan was very nervous. She paced back and forth, looking like she was about to cry at any moment.

    Jin Chonglin sighed watching his mother. "Mom, don¡¯t be so nervous. Big Bro won¡¯t eat you or anything like that."

    "I know that, son. But your big brother can be scary sometimes, you know. Just like your grandfather." She then cast a nce at her mother-inw who was reading a ssic book of poetry near the firece.

    "Hmm. Indeed, our Liwei takes after my dear husband, your grandfather," Grandma Li said without taking her eyes off the book she was reading.

    Shrugging, Jin Chonglin put on his headphones and started bopping to the beat of the music.

    Momentster, Grandma Li¡¯s assistant appeared and informed them, "Master Liwei has arrived."

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan paled and became even more nervous.

    "Yuyan, get a hold of yourself," Grandma Li snapped at her. "Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s ridiculous that you¡¯re acting so afraid of your own son? I know that you¡¯re feeling guilty but you don¡¯t need to act so afraid. He¡¯s your son, for goodness¡¯ sake! Didn¡¯t you say that you want to be strong?"

    "I...I¡¯m sorry, Mother."

    "Aaw, Grandma. Don¡¯t be so hard on Mom. She¡¯s trying her best." Jin Chonglin came to his mother¡¯s defense.

    Grandma Li shot him a re. "Stop coddling your mother."

    "Come on, Grandma. Don¡¯t be angry at Mom anymore." Jin Chonglin went to hug his grandmother and sweet talked her.

    Even someone like Grandma Li was defenseless against her own grandson¡¯s oozing charm. She red at him, but her expression already softened.

    Finally, Jin Liwei appeared carrying a fat grey cat in his arms. An orange cat was also perched on his shoulder. Two people followed behind him carrying cat stuff.

    "What in the world?!" Jin Chonglin eximed. "Big Bro, are you alright? I think maybe you should take a break from work or something. Too much stress is not good, you know. Stress can make even the sanest person a little bonkers. I¡¯m also taking a break right now. Why don¡¯t you take one, too?"

    Jin Liwei looked at him without saying anything, and then decided to ignore him. He turned to his grandmother and mother instead, greeting them.

    "Grandmother, Mother, I want you to meet the children of Xin and I. The grey one is Ice Cream and the orange...I mean the ginger one is Popcorn," he introduced the kittens with a straight face.

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    "Pft!" Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He doubled over and startedughing, clutching his stomach.

    Grandma Li¡¯s mouth twitched, but she was able to maintain a calm expression unlike her second grandson who was already tearing up fromughing so hard.

    "Oh~ They¡¯re so cute~" Huang Yuyan gushed and extended her arms, trying to get the kittens¡¯ attention.

    Ice Cream just stared at her, but Popcorn leaped from Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder into her arms.

    "Mother, that¡¯s Popcorn, your grandson," Jin Liwei told her in a serious tone. "This is Ice Cream, your granddaughter. She¡¯s a little shy, especially to people she hasn¡¯t met before. She needs to get used to you first before she¡¯ll let you hold her."

    "Oh, Big Bro... I can¡¯t... This is too much..." Jin Chonglin tried to suppress hisughter but failed.

    Huang Yuyan smiled. Her anxiety from earlier already dissipated because of the kittens and her eldest son¡¯s unexpected cuteness.

    Everyone sat down and chatted. Jin Chonglin began ying with the kittens together with their cat sitters. Surprisingly, Ice Cream liked Jin Chonglin right away, leaving her Daddy¡¯sp to join the y.

    Huang Yuyan gathered her courage and sat beside her eldest son. She grabbed his hand and held it tightly. Her eyes watered.

    Jin Liwei frowned seeing his mother about to cry but he stayed silent and waited for her to speak first.

    "Son... I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯m such a bad mother. I shouldn¡¯t have med you for...for...distancing our family from the Fans. It¡¯s all my fault. Everything is my fault! I was the one who let them enter our family and lives." She burst into tears.

    "Mother, please don¡¯t cry," Jin Liwei told her.

    "Son, please forgive me..."

    "Of course. Don¡¯t think about it anymore, Mother. It¡¯s all in the past."

    Huang Yuyan hugged her eldest son and cried harder. Jin Liwei held his mother, patting her back in an awkward manner.

    Jin Chonglin stopped ying with the kittens as he watched his mother crying on his brother¡¯s chest. She also cried hard when she apologized to him after he moved back to the house.

    The brothers never med their mother regarding the matter with the Fan family. It was the Fans¡¯ fault for deceiving her and everyone from their Jin family. Of course, they were also stupid for trusting the family of vipers.

    "The two of you should stop spoiling your mother too much," Grandma Li interrupted the emotional atmosphere. "She is your mother and you two are her sons. The way you¡¯re treating each other is like your roles are reversed. Is she your child and are you her parents?"

    "Aaw, Grandma¡ª"

    Grandma Li red at Jin Chonglin. She was serious this time, so he had no choice but to shut his mouth.

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    "Yuyan my dear, I won¡¯t always be here to pour sense to you. You said that you want to be stronger, so you have to start learning how to depend on yourself first. Do you want to burden your own children and depend on them for the rest of your life?"

    "I...I understand, Mother." Huang Yuyan tried to stop crying.

    It was at this moment that Popcorn started clowning around, jumping and running and flipping all over the ce. His antics elicited chuckles from everyone, most especially from the crying Huang Yuyan. The atmosphere lightened because of him. As for Ice Cream, she got bored. She returned to Jin Liwei, curling herself beside him and began sleeping.

    Huang Yuyan wiped thest of her tears and turned to his eldest son. "By the way, how¡¯s Xin? Is she alright?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression cracked. Sadness and longing escaped from his eyes.

    "Meow..."

    Ice Cream sensed his heavy feelings, so she moved from herfortable position and settled herself on Jin Liwei¡¯sp. Then she began rubbing herself against him. He petted her.

    "Grandpa Lu took Xin somewhere. I don¡¯t know where he took her," he said.

    "What?! That wily old man!" Grandma Li huffed. "How dare he steal our dear Xin? I¡¯m going to call that old buffoon and give him a piece of my mind. Hmph!"

    "Wait. I keep hearing the name Xin since you arrived, Big Bro. Who¡¯s she?" Jin Chonglin asked.

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    "Xin is your future sister-inw."

    "Sister-in...ah?"

    "My future wife."

    Jin Chonglin looked shocked. Then he released a string of loud and graphic curses out of his mouth.

    "Mind yournguage, Mr. Jin Chonglin," Grandma Li rebuked him.

    "Sorry, Grandma. I¡¯m just so surprised. I mean, wow. I never expected that my ice block brother will say these words. Wow."

    Jin Chonglin had no idea that his older brother already had a girlfriend. Even though he stayed with his mother and grandmother in the old house, they never mentioned this matter in his presence. They figured that it would be best if Jin Liwei was the one to mention and introduce his girlfriend to his brother.

    Now that Jin Chonglin knew, he became curious. The name Xin didn¡¯t ring any bell to him at all. He didn¡¯t know that Iris Long¡¯s real name was Long Xin. They also didn¡¯t tell him that Iris and Xin were the same person.

    "So when am I gonna meet my sister-inw?"

    "When shees back," Jin Liwei replied, sighing sadly while he continued to stroke Ice Cream.

    "Eh? You don¡¯t know where she is and you don¡¯t know when she¡¯s going toe back. Howe?"

    "Chonglin, stop asking your brother," Grandma Li told him. "You¡¯ll eventually meet Xin when the time is right."

    "I miss Xin. I want to see her again," Huang Yuyan interjected. "I hope shees back soon."

    Jin Liwei controlled his expression which cracked even more. "She¡¯s going toe back. She¡¯ll definitelye back. She promised."

    ¡¯Baby, where are you? Pleasee back. I miss you so much,¡¯ his heart called out to wherever she was.

 Chapter 243 - Unbalanced

    <h4>Chapter 243 - Unbnced </h4>

    Z¨¹rich, Switzend.

    Iris woke up from yet another nightmare. She was panting and trembling, drenched in her own cold sweat. Her heart raced wildly inside her chest.

    "I¡¯m alright it¡¯s just a dream I didn¡¯t do it it¡¯s not me," she chanted to herself again and again, trying hard to calm herself down.

    The nightmare was always the same. It was of her torturing the rm Girls and Fan Luo. She could hear all their screams of pain, agony, hatred and fear directed at her. She cried for her body to stop, but it wouldn¡¯t listen. She couldn¡¯t control it. Her body kept on torturing the women in bloodthirsty ecstasy.

    The blood staining her hands felt like permanent marks slowly ckening her soul. No matter how hard she tried to clean off all the blood, it felt like she would never feel truly clean again.

    Ever since she woke up from fainting after the remnant punished Fan Luo and the rm Girls, she had been having these nightmares almost every time she fell asleep. It came to a point that she didn¡¯t want to sleep anymore.

    After a few days of severe insomnia, she knew that she couldn¡¯t live like this. She had to do something to deal with it herself. Getting psychological help from a professional was out of question because they might wrongfully diagnose her as having dissociative identity disorder. Nobody except her brother Lu Zihao would believe that she transmigrated, anyway.

    That was why she decided to leave the country. She hoped that distancing herself from the ce where these traumatic events happened would help her regain a sense of bnce within herself.

    She felt unwilling to leave Jin Liwei, but he had a close connection to the events. He was one of the reasons, alongside Fan Luo and the rm Girls, why the remnant within her went berserk. She worried that staying with him while she was still feeling unbnced would only worsen her state.

    Besides, she also wanted to take this time away from him to fully figure out her feelings for him. Their rtionship had been so fast that they already became lovers before she could even make sense of the situation. Ever since he barged into her life, they had been together. She wanted to know if her deepening feelings for him would change now that they weren¡¯t seeing or talking to each other on a daily basis.

    So far, the result was that she was missing Jin Liwei every single day. Her heart longed for him. She was tempted to call him, but she stopped herself. She had a feeling that if she heard his voice, her resolve to fix herself first would go down the drain and she would want to immediately fly back to him.

    She grabbed a pillow and hugged it, imagining that it was Jin Liwei. His image in her mindforted her until she finally calmed down.

    "I miss you so much, Liwei," she murmured, tightening her arms around the pillow.

    Sighing, she rose from the bed. The sky was dark outside. As usual, she woke up from the nightmares while it was still dawn. The sun would rise in about an hour.

    She wore a fluffy robe and headed downstairs to the kitchen. The middle-aged female caretaker was already awake and greeted her in German. The caretaker brewed some calming Kava tea blend for Iris.

    They were at Grandpa Lu¡¯s mansion vi which was located in one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city. The area was picturesque with sprawling hills and forests, overlooking theke.

    Unfortunately, Iris hadn¡¯t gone out exploring yet. At the moment, she just couldn¡¯t find it in herself to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of this ce. She was still dealing with the emotional trauma the torture gave her. As a result, she spent her days inside the vi ying the piano almost nonstop.

    Immersing herself in music helped her in escaping from the memories of the torture. It seemed that this method was somewhat effective because her nightmares weren¡¯t as frequent anymore. Sometimes three days would pass by without a nightmare.

    The sky outside began to lighten. Iris sipped her tea and waited for the sunrise. The caretaker began cooking breakfast.

    "Good morning!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed while walking down the staircase. He was already dressed impably, ready for the day.

    Iris and the caretaker greeted him back.

    "Wah!" he suddenly eximed, clutching his chest in a dramatic manner. "Oh. It¡¯s just you, Xin my girl. I thought it was a ghost! You¡¯re still beautiful, but let me just say that you look TERRIBLE! I didn¡¯t want to force you before and allowed you to be by yourself, but enough is enough! After breakfast, go get dressed. We¡¯re going out!"

    Iris protested. "But Grandpa Lu, I don¡¯t think¡ª"

    "We¡¯re going out even if I have to drag you! You¡¯re gonna grow moulds and mushrooms at this rate if you continue holing yourself inside the house! I don¡¯t know what happened to you, and I respect that you don¡¯t want to tell me, but I can¡¯t take it anymore seeing you like this! So we¡¯re going out today whether you like it or not!"

    Iris sighed, not really looking forward to the idea. "Alright, Grandpa Lu. May I know where we¡¯re going?"

    "To Cross Academy, of course! You haven¡¯t been there yet, right? So I¡¯m taking you! That Dupont bastard has been pestering me every single day to bring you to the academy ever since he learned that you¡¯re here in Switzend! Hmph! I¡¯m so tired listening to his nonstop nagging! So annoying! If he really wants to see you so badly, why doesn¡¯t he juste here instead? I know! He¡¯s just toozy toe down from the mountains! Bossy bastard!"

    A lovely chuckle escaped from her lips. It felt like it had been so long since sheughed. Grandpa Lu¡¯s expression looked satisfied after seeing herugh. He nodded.

    After breakfast and a shower, Iris boarded a helicopter with Grandpa Lu. They wore thick coats because it was winter cold in the Swiss Alps.

    Iris¡¯ earlier reluctance to go out was now reced by excitement. She visited the academy as Evelina in the past, but it wasn¡¯t a very enjoyable experience because her small army of entourage severely restricted her. They only allowed her a short amount of time to tour the academy and limited the people she met.

    This time, she didn¡¯t have any such restrictions. She could finally explore the academy in its entirety and meet the peopleprising it.

    Grandpa Lu noticed her excitement. "We came at a good time. There are quite a number of people staying at the academy right now. You¡¯ll be able to meet some of your fellow students and their instructors. Some alumni are also visiting. Oh, your instructors will also be there. Kalisha and Akio decided to drop by the academy when I told them that I brought you to Switzend."

    "I can¡¯t wait to meet all of them," she said with a smile.

 Chapter 244 World - Renowned Campus

    <h4>Chapter 244 World - Renowned Campus </h4>

    The helicopter flew for more than an hour before they reached a remote part of the Alps. This part of the mountain range was off-limits to outsiders. Cross Academy basically owned several whole mountains as private property.

    Momentster, a great sprawling fortress became visible. It spanned several mountains, a marvel of architecture and engineering. Most of the man-made structures were built below the permanent snow line, where there were forests and even pastures further below.

    However, the entirety of Cross Academy reached up to the cial region on top. This was where the observatories, research facilities and focused training grounds were located.

    The helicopternded on a designated helipad within a retractable dome. It opened for them and then closed again after theynded. There were several other helicopters parked inside.

    On another side of the mountain was a runway and a massive interconnected hangar for the airnes. Cross Academy owned several helicopter and airnes, but most of its alumni had their own private aircraft. After all, they were some of the most sessful and wealthiest figures in the world.

    Afternding, Iris and Grandpa Lu rode a minibus to reach the main castle which was also the academy¡¯s administrative building. The castle was the first structure built when the great founder Professor Gxianne Arria von Cross established the academy. The fortress and the other buildings were added muchter by her sessors.

    The journey from the helipad to the main castle took about thirty minutes. They passed through several districts along the way. Since the entire campus spanned several mountains, Cross Academy was like a small country in itself.

    The helipad and the hangar were considered as the airports. The campus also had its own private bank with several exclusive branches in other countries to serve its students and alumni. It had its own hospital, public transportation, gas station, restaurants, mall, cinema, parks and many more.

    The academy¡¯s security force acted like the campus¡¯ private police, enforcing the academy¡¯s rules. It also had a private fire station with trained firefighters.

    There were also residential neighbourhoods for the students, alumni and all the staff working permanently for the academy.

    Further down the mountains were crop and livestock farms, orchards, vineyards and woonds. The academy had its own food business supplying its residents and exporting any excess products to Switzend and other partner countries. Its top-ss brewery and winery produced world-famous beer and wines.

    Visitors could also stay at a five-star hotel. Of course, they would need to pay for their amodations from their own pocket. Not everyone could just enter the campus, so visitors needed to obtain special permission from the academy before they coulde. Most of the time, the visitors were world and business leaders, royalty and other important figures who wanted to develop a close rtionship with Cross Academy.

    Basically, the campus had everything they needed to live conveniently, even luxuriously.

    Despite all of these, the academy¡¯s official students and alumni rarely ventured outside to enjoy the campus¡¯ convenient recreational features. The geniuses would rather spend all their time studying, learning and improving their skills with their instructors and peers.

    The districts were mainly popted by the workers and their families. Not all people staying in the academy were students, alumni and instructors. Some were regr people who came to work. Many of them lived in the campus permanently with their families.

    Finally, the minibus arrived in front of the main castle. Iris and Grandpa Lu disembarked and entered the intimidating castle made of stone.

    It wasn¡¯t a pretty castle like the ones built for royalty or nobility. It was big, crude and unsophisticated. It was a castle built to weather the harsh elements of the Swiss Alps and to provide a safe haven for the Cross Academy students when it was just founded.

    In all honesty, it was the ugliest building in the entire campus. However, it was also the source of pride for everyone. After all, this was the building built by the great founder and the start of the long and magnificent history of Cross Academy. To the students, instructors and alumni, this ugly castle was a sacred ce.

    Grandpa Lu turned to Iris, waggling his eyebrows. "What do you think? Hideous, isn¡¯t it? Such a shame that Professor Cross had such horrible taste in architecture. Bwahaha!"

    Iris pressed her lips tight to prevent herself fromughing.

    "I don¡¯t know what you told Miss Long but based on your evilughter, I bet you¡¯re once again criticizing the founder¡¯s taste. Jianhong, have a little respect for our founder Professor Cross," Professor Erwan Dupont¡¯s stern voice rebuked Grandpa Lu.

    "Herees the bossy bastard," Grandpa Lu whispered to Iris.

    She just smiled a little, not replying.

    Professor Erwan Dupont and Giulia Moretti weed them. They spoke in German, including Grandpa Lu.

    "Miss Long, it¡¯s been a while. I¡¯m d you finally have the chance to visit the campus. Wee to Cross Academy!" Professor Dupont¡¯s stern tone became a little gentle when he greeted Iris.

    "Thank you, Professor Dupont. It¡¯s an honour to be here."

    They first headed to the headmaster¡¯s office for some tea to warm up. The castle¡¯s crude architecture shed with the elegant interior design, somehow managing to produce a unique charm.

    One of Professor Dupont¡¯s assistants served them tea and some biscuits. Like Giulia Moretti, the assistant wasn¡¯t a student or alumnus. Although they didn¡¯t hold the title of geniuses, all of the regr employees were still proud to work for such a world-renowned institution as the Cross Academy.

    "How long do you n on staying in Switzend?" Giulia Moretti asked Iris.

    Iris hesitated before replying, "I¡¯m not sure."

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu snorted, crossing his arms across his chest. "If I didn¡¯t drag her out, that girl would¡¯ve holed herself up in my house! Switzend is such a beautiful country and yet she doesn¡¯t go out to appreciate it!"

    She looked down, a bit embarrassed.

    Fortunately, neither Professor Dupont nor Giulia Morettimented about it, deciding to move on to another topic instead. After talking for some time, Giulia Moretti invited Iris for a tour. The two old men waved them away, iming that they had important things to discuss.

    Giulia Moretti leaned close to Iris and whispered, "They just don¡¯t want to walk because their knees might not take it."

    "I heard you Giulia, you brat!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed, disgruntled. "This old man¡¯s knees are stronger than yours! And of course, stronger than Dupont¡¯s! Hah!"

    "What did you say? Jianhong, you¡¯re older than me," Professor Dupont said.

    "What does age has to do with one¡¯s strength? I want to know! I take care of myself, so I¡¯m healthier and stronger than people three, no, four times younger than me! I¡¯m not like you who sits on a desk all day!"

    The two started arguing.

    Giulia Moretti and Iris giggled before leaving the two old men. Giulia toured her around the castle, introducing her to the employees they met on the way. So far, they hadn¡¯t met other students or instructors yet. They were probably busy with their own studies.

    "We don¡¯t have a lot of current students. Even among the geniuses in the world, we have an extremely high criteria and only ept the very best," Giulia told her. "Sometimes years pass by without us admitting a new student. You¡¯re actually the only student we admitted in the past two years. You¡¯re also one of the rare ones who chose to stay in your home country after enrollment. Most students choose to move here at the campus and directly study here."

    Iris nodded.

    "The education system here is abination of self-directed and one-on-one with instructors. There really isn¡¯t a ssroom setting, except for when a notable expertes and gives a lecture. Then the students attend the lecture on their own ord. Sometimes instructors will also want to bring their students out of the academy for practical experience. That¡¯s why there are times when the academy doesn¡¯t have any students at all because they¡¯re all out getting experience in the real world."

    Giulia turned to Iris. "Although you didn¡¯t choose to stay here at the campus, you¡¯re still a student of the academy. All of our resources are avable to you. You¡¯re also quite fortunate because there are quite a number of instructors and alumni who are visiting right now. Perhaps you can learn something from them."

    "That sounds great, Madame Moretti. I¡¯m looking forward to meeting them." Then Iris paused, tilting her head to the side as she thought over something. "Hmm... Maybe I¡¯ll stay here at the campus for the time being."

    "I was waiting for you to say that," Giulia Moretti said with a pleased smile. "I¡¯ve already prepared amodations for you at the dormitory. Compared to the houses in the districts, it¡¯s more essible to the learning centres and libraries."

    Iris smiled, feeling excited. She would have to thank Grandpa Luter for bringing her here.

    The desire for new knowledge began bubbling within her, gradually drowning the painful memories of the torture. Perhaps staying at the academy was what she needed to recover from her emotional trauma.

 Chapter 245 - The Other Geniuses

    <h4>Chapter 245 - The Other Geniuses </h4>

    Iris and Grandpa Lu both stayed at the campus. He had a house in one of the residential districts which was mostly upied by instructors. He sent someone to pick up her luggage from his mansion in Z¨¹rich and sent it to her dorm.

    The unit she was assigned to was more like an apartment suite. It had a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom, a study room and a kitchte.

    What pleased Iris the most was that it also had aputer room already equipped with three high-performanceputers. Of course theputers couldn¡¯tpare to her own back at the penthouse, but she knew that the academy had more advancedputers in the Computer Department avable for her to use.

    She hadn¡¯t met with any of the other students yet, probably busy with their own studies. However, Giulia Moretti assured her that Professor Dupont would be throwing a weing dinner for her and Grandpa Lu soon. She would have a chance to meet her fellow students then.

    In the meantime, Iris began immersing herself in her own studies. She met with Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio.

    Besides hernguage studies, she also visited the Computer Department. They were informed that the hacker Drakon would being. When the current department head saw her, he teared up.

    Iris also blinked her eyes rapidly, trying hard not to cry. He was one of her previous instructors as Evelina.

    "Oh, forgive me. I thought that you¡¯re one of my former students. For some reason, you give off the same vibes," he said, wiping his eyes with his sleeves. "But that¡¯s impossible. You¡¯re clearly a different person. And besides, she¡¯s...she¡¯s not with us anymore."

    "Are you talking about Fantom? Or should I say Evelina?" she asked in a soft voice.

    His eyes widened. "You know her?"

    She nodded. "She¡¯s...she¡¯s my master. She taught me everything aboutputers before she...passed away."

    "Oh! So that¡¯s why your style, Drakon¡¯s style, is so eerily simr to Fantom¡¯s. I see."

    It seemed that Professor Dupont didn¡¯t inform others about Iris¡¯ im of being Evelina¡¯s student.

    "So you¡¯re the student of my student. I was a little disappointed when I heard that Drakon didn¡¯t enroll in our Computer Department, but now that I know that you¡¯re Evelina¡¯s student, I¡¯m not surprised. She had been a key force in advancing the development of our department to what it is now. She had long surpassed me and her otherputer instructors in just two years since her enrollment." He sighed, shaking his head. "It¡¯s unfortunate to lose such a genius among genius like her."

    A lump caught in her throat. She took a few deep breaths to control her emotions.

    After that, she beganing to the Computer Department regrly.

    In just a couple of days, she reinforced the campus¡¯puter security system. They were still using the old system she developed as Evelina in the past, albeit they made several improvements on it. However, she developed a newer, sleeker and more secure version. It was also more aggressive against attackers.

    The department head and the other instructors verified the security of her version. In the end, Professor Dupont approved it and it became the academy¡¯s new security system.

    When they finished installing it, the department head teared up again.

    "Ah, I must be getting old," he said, giving a sheepishugh as he wiped his tears. "You just remind me of Evelina so much. I¡¯m sure that she¡¯s proud of you as her student. I wish she¡¯s here with us to see your achievements."

    ¡¯I¡¯m here. I can see everything,¡¯ she replied inside, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

    Finally, it was the night of the weing dinner. All the students, instructors and alumni gathered at the main castle¡¯s dining hall. The walls, windows, ceiling and the floor were ugly as always but the elegant furniture and decorations made up for the architecture¡¯s ugliness.

    Grandpa Lu chatted with his fellow alumni, their loud conversations and boisterousughter livening up the atmosphere.

    Iris also finally met her fellow students. All of them were older and enrolled years before her. Thus, they were her seniors. But if she was still Evelina, they would be her juniors instead.

    At the moment, there were eight current students staying at the campus in addition to Iris.

    The first one was Logann Wiztein, an attractive man. He was a brilliant student specializing in gic engineering. His research involved evolution and bloodlines. His work was very controversial. The academy kept a close watch on him so he wouldn¡¯t go too far when it came to morals and ethics in the sciencemunity.

    Second was AJ Zheneres, an economist. She was a small and bubbly woman, but her gaze was sharp. Although she was still technically a student, she already started working for the academy. Her instructors swore that she had a frighteningly urate intuition, bordering on psychic, when it came to predicting market trends. This innate talent was so valuable that the academy didn¡¯t think twice to recruit her. It was rumoured that the academy¡¯s business profits tripled because of her.

    Third was Amanpio Kileksky, an inventor. He was an attractive guy in a nerdy way. He was charming but sometimes would speak utter nonsense. His inventions were also a mixed bag. Some of them were simply useless. But his best inventions were so ingenious that he already received world recognition, possessing several patents under his name. He could invent anything from the simplest daily tools to the mostplicated mechanisms used by space agencies.

    Another inventor was Florence O¡¯Sevan, a pretty woman. Unlike Amanpio who invented random things, her inventions focused on environmental sustainability. So besides being an inventor, she was also a sustainability specialist. She was one of the students who rarely stayed in the campus. She preferred travelling to different ces around the world with her instructor, mostly helping poor viges to live morefortable lives with her inventions without relying too much on wasteful technology.

    Fifth was the gorgeous Ashandra Knightson. While Iris¡¯ beauty was ethereal, Ashandra¡¯s beauty was almost demonic. She looked like a vampire goddess. Despite her dangerous beauty that could destroy nations, she was actually very nice, sweet and quite shy. She was an artist, specializing in paintings but she also liked making sculptures and fashion designing. Her works always sold well in auctions.

    The sixth was Trumann Seekerton, an aerospace engineer. All the major space agencies already tried recruiting him but he declined. He preferred exploiting the academy¡¯s generous resources to fund his forward-thinking ideas, instead of being restricted by the budget limitations of space agencies. His ambition was to establish the academy¡¯s own private space agency.

    Next was the lovely Theresa Blipsburg, a biomedical engineer. Together with her instructors, they already developed innovative state-of-the-art medical instruments that were gradually bing avable in some of the best hospitals in the world. She also minored in chemical engineering with focus on synthesizing new medications. Her research was still in the early stages but if she seeded, she would save a lot of lives.

    Last was the serious Michael Exlorsson. He was a taciturn man who had an intimidating gaze. His hands wererge and calloused, but those hands created marvels of advanced technology. He was a mechatronics engineer. Of course, he specialized in robotics and automation, but his ingenious designs were already making waves in the automotive, manufacturing, and even the medical industries.

    Iris had never met other Cross Academy students in person before as Evelina because her small army of entourage didn¡¯t allow her. That was why she was excited and curious meeting other students in this lifetime.

    Comparing herself to their numerous achievements, she realized that she still had a long way to go. These people were, without a doubt, geniuses.

    Although their fields of expertise were different from each other, they were still able to find interesting topics of conversation, especially thedies. They all spoke in English because only Iris could speak German among them.

    Amanpio sidled close to her. "Hey. Can I get your number? I also want to invite you for lunch or something. I know a good restaurant near the mall. And...do you have a boyfriend?"

    Iris gave him a polite smile. "I can give you my e-mail address. If the others are willing to join us, we can have lunch together. And yes, I do have a boyfriend."

    "Oh dang. Tsk. Oh well. I tried. By the way, you¡¯re my type." He winked at her, only leaving her side when she gave him her e-mail address.

    She didn¡¯t really think much about it. He didn¡¯t look serious. Besides, they were fellow students. Forging close connections with anyone from Cross Academy was always a good idea.

    After dinner, the group dispersed. The males returned to their own respective research while thedies made a promise to meet the next day for a girls day out. They nned to watch a movie, go shopping and eat dinner together.

    ¡¯I¡¯m so d I decided to stay here at the campus,¡¯ she thought. ¡¯But I miss Liwei. I wonder if he¡¯s alright and taking care of Ice Cream and Popcorn. I miss them so much.¡¯

    Her heart longed for him...for home. But she must regain her inner bnce first before returning to him.

 Chapter 246 - Letâ€™s Talk About Love

    <h4>Chapter 246 - Let¡¯s Talk About Love </h4>

    The next day, thedies met at the dorm and went together for their girls day out. However, Amanpio Kileksky invited himself and joined them, so it wasn¡¯t really a girls day out anymore.

    "Oh, look at me. It¡¯s like I have my own harem! Dreams doe true," he said.

    "Harem, my a**!" AJ Zheneres snorted. "It seems that inventors really are delusional!"

    "Hey!" the other inventor Florence O¡¯Sevan protested. Then she red at Amanpio. "This is a GIRLS day out. You¡¯re not a girl, so shoo shoo!"

    "Aaaw. Come on. I was just joking." Amanpio batted his charming eyes and shed his best smile. "Just treat me like a girl today, okay? We Cross Academy students shouldn¡¯t discriminate based on gender."

    Theresa Blipsburg grabbed Iris and Ashandra Knightson¡¯s hands and dragged them away, ignoring Amanpio. "Let¡¯s go. We don¡¯t want to bete for the movie."

    They began walking to the nearest bus shuttle stop. The weather was quite nice. The sun shined brightly. Some of the wispy clouds floated below them because of the elevation. It was cold but not biting. Their winter attires protected them from the wind chill.

    Amanpio caught Iris¡¯ eyes and winked at her. She just blinked, not feeling anything. She thought that her Liwei was still more handsome than Amanpio or any of the other men she met in the academy. Thinking about Jin Liwei, she felt a little depressed. The longing in her heart intensified. She was tempted to drop everything and fly back to him.

    ¡¯Not yet,¡¯ she reminded herself.

    Staying at the academy was doing wonders for her psyche. She would be so mentally exhausted from all the studying that the nightmares were bing less frequent. She also had less time to think about the memories of the torture because she was too busy.

    She was now in a better state of mind, but the memories of the torture continued to linger and affect her. She needed more time to strengthen her mind so that the memories and the nightmares would stop affecting her so much.

    Even though she longed to see and talk to Jin Liwei so badly, she needed to ascertain her feelings for him first. She already told him that she was falling in love with him, but what if she only got influenced because he kept telling her that he loved her?

    At first, she thought that distance would somehow lessen her feelings for Jin Liwei. But now she was discovering that it was the exact opposite. Her feelings for him were bing deeper and heavier each day they were apart that it hurt.

    There was a good-looking man like Amanpio who was showing interest in her, but all she could think about was Jin Liwei.

    "How do you know if you¡¯re in love?" Iris suddenly asked aloud.

    Amanpio¡¯s eyes lit up. "Aaaw. We just met each other and you already think that you¡¯re in love with me? I know that I¡¯m gorgeous and a genius, but this is still a bit too fast. Is this what they call love at first sight? Don¡¯t worry. You¡¯re my type so even if I have no idea what it¡¯s like to be in love, I¡¯ll give us a chance."

    Iris frowned. "You¡¯re weird."

    "Ahaha! Proudly! Weird is my middle name," he dered, winking at her.

    Theresa red at him. "Oh, shut it!"

    Thedies began scolding Amanpio. He stood there in a rxed manner, looking like he was having the time of his life surrounded by women.

    Ashandra ignored them, turning to Iris instead. "Why do you ask? Do you think you¡¯re in love?"

    "Yes. I want to know if I¡¯m in love with my boyfriend or not," Iris answered honestly.

    Her words caught everyone¡¯s attention. They stopped bullying Amanpio, throwing him aside to concentrate on Iris instead.

    "Dear, why don¡¯t you describe to us how you¡¯re feeling about your boyfriend? Maybe we¡¯ll be able to help you determine whether you¡¯re in love or not," Florence suggested.

    The others nodded, encouraging Iris.

    "Okay."

    Iris began a detailed description of how she felt about Jin Liwei. Her expression was serious. The way she was describing her feelings, it sounded like she was presenting aplicated scientific report.

    As for the others, they also looked serious. They even interrupted her and asked questions for rification. If an average person listened to their conversation, they would assume that the group was discussing a scientific theory rather than talking about love.

    Amanpio tried interjecting but he was repeatedly shot down by thedies. His words were pure nonsense anyway.

    The shuttle bus finally arrived. They climbed inside and sat together at the very back, continuing their love discussion.

    "Girl! You¡¯re definitely in love!" AJ was the first one to say.

    "Oh?" Iris tilted her head to the side. "Really? I am? How do you know? Is there some sort of guide that I can read to determine exactly if I¡¯m in love or not? I tried searching online, but I can¡¯t find any reliable sources no matter how hard I try."

    "Pft!"

    AJ and Theresa burst intoughter. Florence chuckled while Ashandra giggled.

    Amanpio looked as confused as Iris.

    "Sorry, we¡¯re not making fun of you," Theresa said, the first one to control herughter. "You¡¯re just so cute. Listen, Xin. There¡¯s no such thing as an ultimate guide to know if you¡¯re in love or not."

    "What? No guide? What is humanity doing? No one has developed an algorithm yet to determine whether a person is in love or not? There should already be an instrument to measure the level of one¡¯s love!" Then Amanpio¡¯s eyes lit up. "Wait. Maybe I should build one! Ahahaha! I now have an idea for my next experiment!"

    Everyone looked at him like he was of a different species from them. Well, except for Iris. Her eyes also lit up when she heard him.

    "Oh. That¡¯s a great idea," she said. "Life would be much easier if we have a device like that."

    The otherdies looked at her in disbelief.

    ¡¯Is she serious?¡¯ they thought to themselves.

    "I know, right?" Amanpio was delighted to hear her interest in his idea. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll surely build a lovememometer! Ahaha!" Then he suddenly stood up and yelled, "Madame Driver, please turn the bus back to the academy! I must return to myb!"

    In the end, the driver kicked out Amanpio from the shuttle bus. There were also other passengers riding the bus, and the driver couldn¡¯t just turn around for the sake of a single person even if he was a student of the academy.

    Thedies rejoiced that the annoying guy finally left. They once again focused on Iris¡¯ matter.

    AJ: "To answer your earlier question on how we know that you¡¯re in love, it¡¯s because all of us have been in love before. Right,dies?"

    The others all nodded their heads in agreement.

    "I was even married once when I was only neen," Ashandra revealed. "But that son of a b*tch is a womanizer so I divorced him. I still love him a little even now, but I respect myself more."

    "My fianc¨¦ moved here just for me," Theresa said, showing her engagement ring. "He¡¯s working as a nurse at the hospital. I often stay at the dorm because of my research but I go home to our apartment in the districts during the weekends."

    Iris turned to Florence, an expectant look on her face.

    Florence sighed. "Several boyfriends, all led to heartache. They can¡¯t handle my lifestyle of always travelling around in the world. I¡¯m still optimistic about love, though."

    "As for me, I¡¯m happily married," AJ announced. "I live in the districts with my husband and our baby girl. He¡¯s my first love and I still love him up to this day."

    "Oh." Iris¡¯ eyes sparkled as she looked at everyone like they were living textbooks.

    She began asking them all sorts of questions about their love life. They answered her with gusto, reminiscing about their best romantic moments.

    In the end, Iris clutched her chest with her hands. Her eyes were filled with wonder.

    "I...I¡¯m in love with Liwei..."

    A smile bloomed on her face with the realization.

 Chapter 247 - The Maestro And The Hitmaker

    <h4>Chapter 247 - The Maestro And The Hitmaker </h4>

    ¡¯So this is what being in love feels like,¡¯ Iris thought, giggling to herself.

    There were still a lot of things that she was unsure of, but her new friends advised her not to rush or force things but just to let everything happen naturally. Iris was now looking forward to seeing Jin Liwei in person so that she could hug and kiss him, and of course tell him that she loved him.

    Then a small sense of insecurity crept in. They hadn¡¯t seen or spoken to each other for so long. Would he still love her?

    Determination shed in her eyes. Well, she would just have to remind him. If he dared forget his love for her, she would just have to beat it back to him until he remembered again. Besides, she trusted Ice Cream and Popcorn to constantly remind him of her. Satisfied of her n, she nodded.

    Finally, the group arrived downtown. First, they watched a sci-fi movie which they harshly criticized as illogical and scientifically inurate.

    Then they went shopping at the mall. Only AJ and Iris had ck cards. The others stared at them in envy, even though all of them were already wealthy in their own right since bing Cross Academy students.

    "Ah, the difference in treatment between us students," Theresa sighed, shaking her head.

    Florence followed suit, sighing as well. "Xin is the student of the business genius Sir Lu Jianhong, while AJ is the academy¡¯s star child because she¡¯s making them so much money than they know how to spend."

    Ashandra giggled. She was actually offered a ck card before because her artworks always sold well during auctions. However, she declined it because she didn¡¯t think that she needed it. She lived quite modestlypared to the others. As long as she could make art, she was happy.

    Afterwards, they pampered themselves at the hotel spa and then ate dinner at a family restaurant popr throughout the entire campus for their homemade recipes.

    Besides spending time with Jin Liwei, this was the happiest and the most rxed Iris felt with other people. She liked the feeling that within this new circle of friends, they treated each other as equals.

    The group then separated into two groups after dinner. AJ and Theresa headed to their district homes, while the rest returned to the dorm.

    It was such a fun day, but it wouldn¡¯t happen anytime again soon. All of them were busy with their own studies, research and work. However, they promised to keep in touch with each other.

    With that, the day drew to a close. Iris slept well without experiencing any nightmare.

    The next day, Iris had an appointment to meet two of the current most famous musicians in the world. She felt extremely nervous because both had such huge influence in her own music. The truth was that they were two of her main music instructors in the past when she was still Evelina.

    When she arrived at the meeting ce which was a rehearsal room in the Music Department, nobody was there yet. She came ten minutes earlier than the agreed time.

    Her heart thudded inside her chest. Her palms also began to sweat. She had great respect for the two musicians. She was anxious and of course excited to meet them again, even though they wouldn¡¯t know that she was also Evelina.

    It was actually them who set up the appointment with her when Grandpa Lu introduced her to them as his student during the weing dinner. They recognized her as Iris Long, theposer and pianist behind the album "Rebirth Melodies" which was still performing well in the European market.

    To distract and calm herself, she sat in front of the grand piano in the room. Then she began ying Liszt¡¯s "La Campane". The highly technical piece immediately sucked her into a flow state with its swift and energetic tempo.

    Her surroundings disappeared as she immersed herself within the light, airy and charming music. The nervousness she felt earlier was forgotten, as her hands skipped over the keyboard. It was a short piece but a fulfilling one.

    When she finished ying, she smiled looking rxed. Then she was interrupted by the sound of a lone apuse.

    She turned and saw two older men standing by the doorway.

    The one pping was Maestro Ludovico De Luca, a world-renowned ssicalposer and musical director who was also known for his piano scores. His greying hair was bald on top of his head. At first, he looked intimidating but he was passionate, kind and helpful to those he found worthy or deemed to have potential as musicians.

    Standing a little behind him was the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez, whose music had won an unprecedented number of awards. He started as the vocalist and lead guitarist of one of the most famous rock bands in the world. When it disbanded, he pursued a solo career and then started writing music in many genres for other artists, films, musicals and many more.

    He was also called as the number one southpaw guitarist in the world. He was actually ambidextrous and could also y the regr right-handed guitar, but he favoured his left hand more as it was what he used to write with.

    Although he was almost in his sixties, he still looked ageless with his chiselled facial features, mesmerizing hazel eyes, gorgeous olive skin and toned body. He could pass as someone in his thirties. He was a taciturn man who preferred to let his music talk than opening his mouth to exin himself.

    Both musicians were skilled in ying many different instruments. They were the ones who encouraged Evelina to learn other instruments besides the piano. Nevertheless, her favourite instrument would always be the piano.

    Iris immediately stood up and greeted them respectfully.

    "Hmm. Excellent technique, great control of tempo. Very detailed, refined and graceful. Most importantly, I can feel your joy while ying the piece. Overall, a delightful ¡¯La Campane¡¯!" Maestro De Luca praised as he walked closer.

    She thanked him modestly.

    The silent Enrique Valdez spoke. "Sit. y the entire ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯."

    Iris wasn¡¯t surprised. The hitmaker always went straight to the point. She obeyed. Soon, the soulful piano melodies of ¡¯Rebirth¡¯, ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯, ¡¯ck Star¡¯ and the ten other songs in the album filled the entire music room. She yed nonstop for almost an hour.

    When she was done, she needed a few minutes to stabilize her emotions. Then she remembered that there were other people in the room. She stood up in haste and looked at them, a little embarrassed and nervous.

    Maestro De Luca¡¯s eyes shined with unshed tears, while Enrique Valdez looked even more brooding than usual. They looked at each other and then at Iris.

    "You really y and sound like her," Maestro Deluca murmured, sighing.

    He didn¡¯t borate but Iris immediately knew that he was talking about her past life as Evelina.

    "Be my student. Yes or no?" Enrique Valdez suddenly asked.

    "Yes!" She didn¡¯t hesitate.

    Maestro De Luca scowled at his colleague. "I was going to offer first," he mumbled under his breath. Then he faced Iris with a gentle expression. "I can tell that you have a deep ssical music background, so how about bing my student as well?"

    "Yes, Maestro." She looked at both of them. "It¡¯s my great honour to be a student of such great teachers. I¡¯ll be in your care!"

    Although technically she already graduated from their tutge in her past life, music was something that could never be perfected. She knew that she still had a lot to learn from these two music legends. If she could improve her own music even further by bing their student again, she would dly do so.

    Just like that, Iris became an official student of Maestro Ludovico De Luca and the hitmaker Enrique Valdez. Her busy schedule was about to be even busier.

    That night in her dorm suite, Iris stared at her newly-charged phone that she hadn¡¯t used in a long time. She looked at the time. It was already past midnight there. He must be sleeping now, so she shouldn¡¯t disturb him.

    She put down the phone and tried working on some trantion exercises her instructors assigned for her. However, she couldn¡¯t concentrate. Sighing, she grabbed her phone again.

    There were hundreds of messages and voice mails from Jin Liwei. Her heart fluttered, also feeling a little guilty for not contacting him since she left. However, she needed the time and distance away from him in order to regain her inner bnce.

    Taking a deep breath, she dialled and waited. If he didn¡¯t answer, she would leave a voice mail and a text message.

    Ring ring ring¡ª

    "Hello baby?" a familiar male voice answered.

    A beautiful smile lit up her face when she heard his voice. Then her eyes suddenly filled up with tears, flowing down her cheeks.

 Chapter 248 - Iâ€™ll Be There Soon

    <h4>Chapter 248 - I¡¯ll Be There Soon </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    It was already past 1:30 AM but Jin Liwei still couldn¡¯t sleep. Ever since his baby girl left, he barely had any decent night of sleep. He only slept when his body couldn¡¯t take it anymore and shut down by itself.

    He missed his baby girl so much. It felt like she took a big part of him with her when she left. He felt iplete without her.

    Even though she never replied, he sent her multiple messages and voice mails every single day. He woke up every morning after a couple hours of sleep (if he was lucky) hoping that she would at least send him a message or call him. And every day, he hurt when she didn¡¯t.

    It felt like he was going crazy with every passing day that she was gone. He looked terrible. He looked thinner with dark circles around his sunken eyes. If it wasn¡¯t for his assistant Xu Tian who sent a barber to his mansion, his hair, beard and mustache would have already grown wildly like that of a caveman. Dominic also pestered him to eat his meals.

    He was sprawled on the chaise longue by the ss windows in his bedroom. The night sky was dark, almost pitch-ck because thick clouds covered the moon and the stars.

    Depressed, he downed brandy directly from the bottle while staring at the darkness outside the windows. His other hand stroked Ice Cream who was curled beside him, her head resting on his thigh. Popcorn was sleeping belly up in the middle of the enormous bed as if he owned the entire thing.

    "Baby, when are youing back? Pleasee back," he pleaded, hoping his feelings could somehow reach her wherever she was.

    He almost broke down. So he took another swig of the brandy, trying to numb the pain of missing her.

    Then his phone which he always kept beside him lit up. He nced at it and froze when he saw the caller on the disy. His heart jumped, almost as if he couldn¡¯t believe it was real.

    The piano melody of "Phantom of Your Love" began ying. It was his special ringtone for his baby girl¡¯s number.

    "Hello baby?" His voice shook when he answered the phone, gripping it tightly in his hand. "Are you alright? Please be okay. I¡¯ve been so worried about you. Where are you? Can I see you? Are you ready toe back? I want to see you so badly. I miss you so much."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s words rushed out of his mouth in quick session. He almost didn¡¯t breathe as he spoke. His heart hammered inside his chest.

    When he didn¡¯t hear anything from the other side of the line, he looked at the phone¡¯s disy again to check if the call was still connected. It was. He returned the phone to his ear.

    "Hello? Baby, are you there?"

    Silence.

    His expression fell and he slumped back to the couch. Ice Cream mewled,ining from the sudden movement before returning to sleep.

    "Liwei..."

    Atst, he heard the voice that he had been waiting to hear for so long. His eyes watered, his grip on the phone tightening once again.

    "Baby?"

    Then he heard sniffing noises.

    "Are you crying? Are you hurt? Please don¡¯t cry," he told her, even when he wanted to cry as well. But he didn¡¯t let the tears spill from his eyes.

    "I miss you..." she said.

    Her voice was a whisper, almost inaudible. But he heard every single word and his heart soared.

    "I miss you too, baby. So much."

    "I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t contact you. I...I needed some time alone to...to figure things out..."

    "No, no. Don¡¯t apologize to me," he said in a hurried tone. "I¡¯m the one who wronged you."

    "Oh Liwei..."

    They stopped speaking for a few moments, but the silence wasn¡¯t awkward at all. They listened to each other¡¯s breathing, feeling the connection between them. No words were necessary to convey how much they missed each other. They just knew.

    It was Iris who broke the silence first.

    "I have something that I want to tell you," she said.

    "What is it?"

    "I want to tell you in person. I want to see you, Liwei."

    "I want to see you too, baby. So much. When are youing back?"

    "I..." She hesitated and then sighed. "I can¡¯t right now. I still have some matters that I want to finish here."

    The anticipation he was feeling crashed down, reced by disappointment. He took a few deep breaths to control his emotions.

    "Alright..." he forced himself to say. Then cautiously he asked her, "Then can Ie see you instead? Is that okay with you?"

    "Really?" He could hear the excitement in her voice, making him hopeful once again.

    "Yes, of course! Tell me where you are."

    "But...I¡¯m far away. You have Jin Corporation to run..."

    "Baby, you¡¯re more important to me than thepany. Please just tell me where you are."

    She hesitated once again. He waited patiently for her to answer.

    "I¡¯m at Cross Academy in Switzend," she finally said.

    "I¡¯ming right away, baby. Wait for me."

    He stood up, headed for the bathroom to quickly wash up and change into clean clothes. He was already making ns in his head to arrange his flight at the shortest amount of time as possible. He would need to rouse people from their sleep, but he honestly couldn¡¯t care about them right now. His baby girl was more important than them.

    "I know that it¡¯s alreadyte there. Why don¡¯t you sleep first and fly in the morning instead?" she suggested.

    "I want to see you...I NEED to see you as quickly as possible. Besides I won¡¯t be able to sleep anyway. I¡¯ll just sleep on the ne."

    "What about Ice Cream and Popcorn?"

    "They don¡¯t have the necessary travel papers. I¡¯ll leave them to Dominic. He¡¯s still staying here at the mansion."

    "Okay," she said. He could hear the smile in her voice, making him smile as well. "I¡¯ll inform Grandpa Lu that you¡¯reing then. I¡¯m sure he can do something so that the academy can grant you permission to enter even in such short notice. Keep your phone on. He¡¯ll most likely call you after I tell him."

    "En."

    He was now smiling with joy, almost grinning. Finally! He could see his baby girl and hug her and kiss her.

    "I can¡¯t wait to see you, Liwei." Then she whispered, "I¡¯ll be waiting for you, darling."

    "I¡¯ll be there soon, baby. I love you."

 Chapter 249 - Fall In Love All Over Again

    <h4>Chapter 249 - Fall In Love All Over Again </h4>

    Z¨¹rich, Switzend.

    After what felt like forever, Jin Liwei finally arrived at Grandpa Lu¡¯s mansion vi where a helicopter was waiting for him. The property was beautiful and the view stunning, but he didn¡¯t notice any of it at all.

    He didn¡¯t even ept the caretaker¡¯s invitation to go inside the mansion for some refreshments because he felt too excited and impatient. He couldn¡¯t wait to see his baby girl again! His mind was only filled with thoughts of her.

    Exhaustion made his body feel heavy and sluggish. His bloodshot eyes were dry and even painful. He also felt a nagging headache in his temples. He didn¡¯t sleep at all during the twelve-hour flight.

    Despite all of these, happiness and anticipation filled his heart. He wished he could just teleport to Cross Academy, so that he could see, hug and kiss his baby girl sooner.

    The helicopter flight took more than an hour. Jin Liwei forced himself to be patient. He was indifferent to the breathtaking view of the Swiss Alps at first, but when the academy¡¯s sprawling fortress came into view, he couldn¡¯t help but gasp at its sheer majesty.

    He already had some idea of what to expect, but seeing the unbelievable expanse of Cross Academy with his own eyes was still very shocking. It felt like he was entering another world isted from the regr outside world he came from. And in a sense, he was. He might as well be an alien visiting a new mysterious.

    "So this is Cross Academy," he murmured.

    The school for geniuses. This was where Grandpa Lu and his own grandfather studied, known as the business genius duo, before building what was now the number onepany in their country, Jin Corporation.

    And now his baby girl was enrolled in such a legendary academy. It only really hit him now that she was a GENIUS recognized by other geniuses.

    He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, sighing. The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. Instead of feeling insecure, he felt proud of her.

    Finally, the helicopternded. A guide sent by Grandpa Lu weed him at the helipad. They rode a minibus to Grandpa Lu¡¯s district house.

    Compared to his grand mansion vi in Z¨¹rich, Grandpa Lu¡¯s house in the campus was a quaint two-storey chalet. It was very modest, unlike his other luxurious properties all around the world.

    The guide led him inside the house without knocking. The front door was unlocked. Immediately after entering, they heard the beautiful, flowing piano melody of Faur¨¦¡¯s "Pavane" in F-sharp minor, Op. 5.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s heart skipped. He immediately knew that it was his baby girl ying.

    "Liwei my boy! There you are! I¡¯ve been waiting for¡ªhey!"

    It was as if a trail appeared in Jin Liwei¡¯s mind, lighting up his way towards his baby girl. Everything and everyone else disappeared. He couldn¡¯t hear anything besides the piano melody. It spellbound him like a siren luring him to a point of no return.

    He didn¡¯t even notice Grandpa Lu who was now scowling at him, as he rushed past the grumpy old man.

    "Hmph! Look at the kids these days! Is it that difficult to greet your elders first? I want to know!" Grandpa Luined at the young man he sent to fetch Jin Liwei.

    The young man only smiled, not saying anything. He also tried making conversation with Jin Liwei during their trip from the helipad to the elder¡¯s house, but Jin Liwei was too distracted to respond to him.

    While Grandpa Lu continued to grumble, Jin Liwei finally saw his baby girl ying the piano near the firece in front of the window. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her.

    The sunlight shining through the window behind her looked like a divine halo, and she was the beautiful angel ying a heavenly melody. He was already in love with her but seeing her at the moment, he fell in love with her all over again.

    For him, she was the most beautiful woman in the universe.

    He was so struck by his overwhelming love for her that he just stood there like an idiot with open mouth and eyes filled with awe.

    As the final notes drifted to a stop, Iris¡¯ hands floated over the piano keys for a few moments before she finally turned to look at him.

    When their eyes met, it was as if electricity zapped both of them. They ran, practically flying to each other.

    Iris leaped into his waiting arms, and he caught her. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Then she grabbed his head for a hungry kiss. Their mouths smashed together, fusing, opening to devour and to be devoured.

    Their moans only fueled their feelings and desire, intensifying an already scorching kiss. They didn¡¯t care anymore if they couldn¡¯t breathe, as long as they got their fill of each other. No words were needed for now. They wanted to convey how much they missed each other through the kiss.

    "Oy oy! You know that this is my house, right?" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed, interrupting their fiery kiss. "Although I want to have great-grandbabies as soon as possible, it doesn¡¯t mean that I want to see you making them in front of me! Liwei, you spermy-headed rascal! How dare you ignore and not greet your grandpa! Don¡¯t you know the strings I pulled just so you can enter the academy on such short notice?! When did you be so ungrateful? I want to know! Hmph!"

    Iris was the first one to regain her senses. Her neck and face turned crimson after hearing Grandpa Lu¡¯s words.

    "Liwei..." She tapped his back, trying to get his attention.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes were still trained at her luscious lips. He looked like he still wanted to kiss her. Well, she also wanted to kiss him but Grandpa Lu deserved respect from the two of them. He had done so much for them.

    "Liwei! Darling, put me down!"

    "Hm?" Finally, Jin Liwei¡¯s desire-filled eyes cleared a bit. He blinked several times, looking confused as to what was happening in his surroundings.

    "Hai! This is what happens when sperm fills a man¡¯s brain! He can¡¯t even think properly anymore!" Grandpa Lu continued toin. "Hmph! Fine! This old man won¡¯t interrupt you young lusty kids anymore! But if you really want to make babies, go upstairs and do it in a room! Hmph!"

    Iris gave an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, Grand¡ª"

    "Hello, Grandpa Lu. Thank you very much for everything. You¡¯re the best," Jin Liwei told Grandpa Lu in a hurry, and then continued to carry Iris as he headed upstairs into one of the guest bedrooms.

    "Hmph! Don¡¯t take too long! It¡¯s almost lunch time!"

    Iris hid her burning face against Jin Liwei¡¯s neck. But despite her embarrassment, excitement and desire roared to life within her. She started sucking his neck, leaving her marks on his skin.

    "Mine," she whispered.

    Jin Liwei groaned and then replied in a husky voice. "Always."

    He caught her lips once again. He reluctantly stopped kissing her when they reached the second floor. He opened a door in random, but it turned out to be a bathroom. He tried another one. Sess! It looked like an unupied bedroom. They entered and closed the door, once again kissing each other hungrily.

    He walked to the bed and they fell down together, her on her back and him on top of her. The desperate kiss slowed into a sensual yet gentle one. They opened their eyes and just gazed at each other, pressing their lips together every few seconds.

    "I missed you so much, baby," he told her, stroking her face.

    "I missed you, too."

    They continued gazing at each other¡¯s eyes.

    "Thank you," he said.

    Her head tilted to the side. "For what?"

    "For letting me see you. For staying with me. I know you said that you¡¯reing back, but I was still afraid that you¡¯ll hate me and leave me."

    "Oh Liwei."

    Heid the side of his head above her chest, near the crook of her neck. She wrapped her arms around him, rubbing his back with one hand while her other hand ran its fingers through his hair.

    They stayed in that position, not speaking, just basking in each other¡¯s embrace. Their earlier hungry desire transformed into tenderfort, simply thankful that they were together once again.

    "...love you..." Jin Liwei mumbled before his eyes fluttered close, a soft smile on his lips.

 Chapter 250 - Best Morning Ever

    <h4>Chapter 250 - Best Morning Ever </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s full weight bore down on top of her, crushing her down the bed.

    "Liwei? Get off, you¡¯re heavy..."

    He didn¡¯t respond. His entire body became rxed and unmoving, his breathing deep and regr.

    Iris blinked. The man actually fell asleep on top of her! She lifted her head and peeked at him. When she saw the dark circles around his sunken eyes and the weary lines on his face, her brows scrunched together in concern.

    She was too preupied by desire and excitement at finally seeing him again that she failed to notice his exhaustion earlier.

    Sighing, she kissed the top of his head and struggled to get him off her. He was heavy, but she somehow managed to slide him beside her on the bed. She was gasping and sweating after the struggle.

    How worn out he must be to not even rouse with all the movements? Her heart ached, knowing that she must be the reason why he ended up like this.

    "Sorry," she murmured, giving a gentle kiss on his lips.

    Then she proceeded to take off his coat, muffler, boots and socks. Taking his coat off was very hard, but she didn¡¯tin. The man just flew thousands of kilometres in the shortest time possible just to see her. How could shein? Although she wanted to spend time with him, he needed to sleep first.

    She stroked his face.

    "I love you, Jin Liwei. I¡¯ll tell you again sometime when you¡¯re awake."

    She gave him one more kiss before quietly leaving the room and closing the door. Then she headed downstairs. She could already smell the delicious aroma of lunch.

    Grandpa Lu sat on the couch in the living room, watching the world business news. He turned when he heard her, frowning.

    "What? Done already? I know I said to hurry up and not take too long, but that was too quick! Hai! Kids these days don¡¯t have stamina anymore! Tsk tsk."

    Iris¡¯ face and neck turned crimson. She cleared his throat. "Liwei is asleep."

    "Even worse! Sleeping right after getting what he wants and so fast too? It seems that I need to have a man-to-man talk with that boy and teach him how to properly romance hisdy!"

    Iris¡¯ face burned even more. "No, Grandpa Lu...uh, we didn¡¯t do it. He¡¯s exhausted from the long flight. Let¡¯s let him sleep for now."

    "Bahahaha! My girl, I was just teasing you! I already noticed that he¡¯s exhausted. Alright, I guess it¡¯ll just be the two of us for lunch then. Come, let¡¯s eat! This old man is starving!"

    ###

    Within the restful haze of nothingness, he heard a familiar voice from far away, the most beautiful voice that he had ever heard in his entire life.

    "...I...love...you...Jin...Liwei..."

    The words echoed within his heart, resonating with his own love for the owner of the beautiful voice.

    He was uncertain whether it was just a dream or not, but happiness still filled him before he sunk even more deeply into the cocoon of dreamless sleep. His consciousness floated within thisfortable nkness, slowly recharging his worn out mind and body.

    Then suddenly, his entire body began to burn with ava of desire. The haze of nothingness transformed into a fiery passion of two glistening, hot, tangled bodies.

    He was vaguely aware that this was just a dream, but he didn¡¯t care. He often had these erotic dreams ever since getting to know his baby girl. However, this dream in particr felt more realistic than usual.

    Phantom touches zed a trail of pure pleasure all over his chest, abdomen, hips and thighs. And most importantly, a delicious wet heat stroked his rock-hard length sending his nerve endings into frenzy.

    A moan escaped from his throat, as a wet sucking force squeezed him. His hips unconsciously thrust hard into the wet heat. He heard a yelp from far away, but he disregarded it, thrusting deeper. He wanted more, craved more of that pleasurable wet heat.

    Then a sharp pain made him gasp.

    His eyes snapped open.

    Disoriented at being startled awake, he didn¡¯t immediately recognize where he was. However, the highly sensitive condition of his body and the pain in his hard length made him disregard his current surroundings.

    His vision zeroed in on his flushed baby girl sitting beside him. She was ring down at him while massaging her jaw. His mind started to clear, piecing together what might have been happening while he was asleep. Then he looked at his hard little brother who was standing strong and proud, but was now decorated by faint teeth marks.

    "You...baby, did you...bite me?" he asked, his voice husky from sleep.

    She pursed her lips, continuing to re at him. "Well, it¡¯s because you startled me. You were sleeping but suddenly mmed inside my mouth. It hurt, you know. I bit you in reflex."

    "Sorry..." he apologized, pulling her to his embrace.

    Eh? Why was he the one apologizing? He was the one who got his d*ck bitten! Then he mentally scolded himself. He hurt his baby girl¡¯s mouth, so of course he should apologize! It was his fault, even if it wasn¡¯t! Anything he did that hurt his baby girl, even if it wasn¡¯t intentional, was his fault! Everything was his fault!

    "It¡¯s okay. It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore," she said, kissing him on the mouth. Her hand reached his still hard length and started stroking him.

    "Baby, you¡¯re killing me," he gasped, groaning.

    Her thumb rubbed the teeth marks. "Does it still hurt? I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean it. It¡¯s your fault, you know."

    "Yes, yes. It¡¯s my fault. Ah. How about you give it another kiss? So it won¡¯t hurt anymore."

    Her fingers tightened dangerously around it.

    "Whoa, baby. Careful! Be gentle."

    "You want me to bite it again?"

    The pain and pleasure mixing together almost made hime, but he controlled himself. He gave her a sexy smile. "Go ahead. Bite me all you want. I¡¯m all yours."

    She tried to maintain her re but failed, giggling instead. "Don¡¯t tempt me. Just lie back and don¡¯t move. If you do, I¡¯ll stop."

    "No, don¡¯t stop! I¡¯ll be good. Promise."

    "Good." She moved closer to his lower body, dipped her head down and then took him once again in her mouth.

    He closed his eyes and gasped. When his eyes opened, he saw her looking at him as she pleasured him. The sight was so sexy that he...

    He groaned in protest when she stopped. "Baby, please... I was so close..."

    "I know. That¡¯s why I stopped."

    "Hah..."

    His baby girl was bing more and more wicked. And he loved it!

    Then she started removing her pyjamas. His hands moved to help, but she pped them. He just chuckled andid there, enjoying the view of her stripping in front of him.

    "Take off your shirt," she ordered.

    Of course, he immediately obeyed his queen. He also removed his pants which was already lowered to his thighs.

    When she waspletely naked, she climbed on top of him. His eyes widened.

    "Baby, wait...I didn¡¯t bring condoms."

    "It¡¯s okay."

    He frowned. "Are you on the pill?"

    "No."

    "Then¡ª"

    "Ssshh." She pressed a finger on his lips, shutting him up.

    Afterwards, she pressed his erection down until it was t against his stomach, and then sat directly against his length. They both closed their eyes and moaned at the contact. Her wet heat against his hot hardness.

    He gripped her hips when she started grinding herself on top of him, helping her set a firm rhythm. He wasn¡¯t inside her yet, but he was already going crazy. It was taking all of his effort not to go wild and just stab himself inside her. If he was already like this, what would he be like if they went all the way? He would probably lose his mind.

    The louder her moans, the harsher his breathing. He pulled her down and kissed her, devouring her cries of pleasure. She pulled away from the kiss when she couldn¡¯t breathe anymore. His mouth caught her nipple instead, sucking hard. Of course, he made sure to give equal attention to her other nipple so it wouldn¡¯t feel left out.

    "Oh Liwei!"

    Her nails scraped against his chest, leaving ring red marks. Her hips became wilder, grinding on him faster and harder.

    He gritted his teeth, his body taut as a bowstring, as he matched her frenzied rhythm with his hips. He tried dying his climax to let here first, but when he looked up and saw her beautiful and flushed self moving in ecstasy on top of him, his control snapped.

    A roar escaped from his throat when he reached the peak of his pleasure. His mind exploded in bright white lights, and he felt his warm release spurting onto his own abdomen between them.

    She continued grinding against him even when he finished, chasing for her own orgasm. When she started stiffening, he made it more intense for her by gripping her hips and increasing her pace.

    "Liwei! Oh Liwei!"

    "Yes, baby!"

    Her body pressed hard on top of him, as she screamed her climax. It was the most glorious sound he had ever heard from her. Her screams gradually became whimpers, her body trembling. He rubbed her back, soothing her after her most intense orgasm yet.

    When they both calmed down afterwards, she lifted her head and looked at him with a satisfied smile. "Good morning."

    He also smiled. "G¡¯morning, beautiful. Best morning ever."

 Chapter 251 - Not Soundproofed

    <h4>Chapter 251 - Not Soundproofed </h4>

    Looking like a cat who ate the canary, Iris gave Jin Liwei a sloppy kiss on the mouth before sliding off from on top of him to lie beside him on the bed. Stretching her body in azy manner, she pulled the duvet over them and curled into afortable position.

    "Mmm...that felt amazing. Going back to sleep...still early..." And with that, she closed her eyes and slept with a pleased smile on her face.

    Jin Liwei blinked, not knowing whether tough or cry. She finished using his body so now that she was satisfied, she was going to sleep? Also the way she curled herself to sleep after getting what she wanted was so much like Ice Cream. They were bing more and more alike as time went by.

    ¡¯Just like a real mother and daughter,¡¯ he thought, chuckling.

    The thought made him pause. An image of her pregnant with his child appeared in his mind. He smiled, feeling warm at the beautiful image. He was looking forward to building a family with her.

    ¡¯Someday.¡¯

    He showered kisses all over her face. Of course she didn¡¯t wake up as she was already in deep sleep.

    The sky outside was still dark. He looked at the time. 5:47 AM.

    It seemed that he slept the whole time since yesterday. He felt recharged and refreshed. He hadn¡¯t felt this well-rested since his baby girl left him. Now he was brimming with energy and happiness, especially after such an amazing wake-up surprise.

    His lips lifted into a smug smile remembering what just happened. His baby girl was wearing pyjamas before removing them, so she must have been sleeping beside him. But then she woke up at dawn and began taking advantage of him while he slept.

    Not that he wasining. In fact, he loved it! He wished it would be a regr thing. He chuckled at the thought.

    After such a highly-stimting morning activity, he was now fully awake. He rose from the bed and saw that someone delivered his small suitcase to the room.

    Seeing some folded towels on a nearby chair, he took a small one to wipe his sem*n from his abdomen. He also returned to the bed and wiped his baby girl. Then he took arge bath towel, wrapped it around his waist and headed outside the room.

    The rooms didn¡¯t have their own bathrooms. Only Grandpa Lu¡¯s master bedroom had its own small personal one. So Jin Liwei used the bathroom he remembered opening the day before.

    Later...

    Freshly showered and clothed, he went downstairs to the kitchen. He could already smell the strong aroma of coffee.

    "There you are, my boy!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed by the coffee maker. "Good morning! You look much better! Very good!"

    "Good morning, Grandpa Lu. Yes, I feel so much better."

    "I bet." A teasing glint shed in the elder¡¯s eyes. "I was going to invite you for a jog outside¡ªit¡¯s nice to run when it¡¯s cold¡ªbut it seems that you already had a vigorous workout so early in the morning. Just so you know, my chalet is not soundproofed."

    The tips of Jin Liwei¡¯s ears turned red, but his face maintained an impassive expression.

    "I thought there was a fire or a natural disaster with all the roaring and screaming! I woke up in a panic! Oh, my old heart! Good thing I realized what was going on or else I would¡¯ve smashed the door open to rescue the two of you. Bahahaha!"

    Jin Liwei cleared his throat, deliberately ignoring the old man¡¯s mischievousness. He took over the coffee maker and poured a cup for each of them.

    Fortunately, Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t push the topic and moved on from the teasing.

    "I don¡¯t know what happened between the two of you that you needed to separate temporarily. Your Fifth Brother, that dunderhead grandson of mine, called me out of nowhere and told me to bring Xin out of the country. I asked why but he wouldn¡¯t tell me anything! That girl also won¡¯t tell me anything! Well, I respect your secrets so I didn¡¯t investigate, even though I was burning in curiosity. Never mind that. It looks like everything is fine now. I¡¯m d that you two are together again and very active in fulfilling this old man¡¯s wish of giving me great-grandbabies."

    "Thank you very much for taking care of Xin, Grandpa Lu. I knew that she was in safe hands when I heard that she was with you." Then a faint smile tugged Jin Liwei¡¯s lips. "I don¡¯t mind having children now, but I want to marry her first. You¡¯ll have to wait after our wedding before you can have your long-awaited great-grandbabies. And also she¡¯s still young. I¡¯m not sure whether she wants to have children right away."

    Grandpa Lu squinted his eyes at him. "Wedding, eh? Well, you better move fast, my boy. That girl will only shine more brightly from here on. It¡¯s inevitable that there will be other men who¡¯ll want and desire her. If you ever take her for granted, I¡¯m sure someone else will quickly steal her away from you."

    "I¡¯ll never take her for granted. I love her," Jin Liwei said in a serious tone.

    "That¡¯s what I want to hear! Very good! This old man will have to stay healthy then, so that I will still have the energy to carry and spoil my future great-grandbabies! Don¡¯t take too long, alright? Ahahaha!"

    After coffee, the two still went out for a jog around the hilly neighbourhood. The weather was cold and running in winter attire was hard, but it was refreshing especially with such a breathtaking view of the Swiss Alps.

    They jogged back to the chalet when the sky began to lighten moments before sunrise. Iris was already awake when they returned. She was in the kitchen drinking tea while watching the chalet¡¯s caretaker cook eggs, bacons and sausages for breakfast.

    Everyone greeted each other.

    Iris was glowing, her bright eyes sparkling. She jumped from her seat, ran into Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace, and then pulled his head down for a kiss.

    Jin Liwei was a bit surprised but also very pleased at how forward she was bing in showing her affection for him, especially in front of other people. His heart filled with pure happiness. He hooked his arms around her waist. When they finished kissing, there was a stupid grin on his face.

    "You two haven¡¯t even married yet, but you¡¯re already acting like you¡¯re on your honeymoon! Hmph! Let this old man eat proper breakfast, not dog food!" Grandpa Lu grumbled, but his eyes danced in amusement.

    They ate together, a picture of a happy family.

 Chapter 252 - Smacked In The Face

    <h4>Chapter 252 - Smacked In The Face </h4>

    After breakfast, Grandpa Lu waved the lovers away. He said he needed some peace and quiet. Although he sounded like he wasining and chasing them out of his chalet, the lovers knew that the elder was just giving them the opportunity to spend more time together.

    Iris freed her schedule for the entire morning and moved her lessons in the afternoon instead. They rode the shuttle bus to the main castle. She toured Jin Liwei around the academy, showing him where she usually spent most of her time.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of people, as most of the alumni and even some of her fellow students already left the academy after the weing dinner for her and Grandpa Lu.

    Nevertheless, they still met some alumni along the way who were even familiar with Jin Liwei. Most of them worked in the financial and business industries.

    "Liam, what a surprise!" one of them greeted Jin Liwei in English. "I didn¡¯t expect to see you here. How have you been? Oh. Hello, Xin. We met at the dinner. Are you two...together?"

    Jin Liwei and Iris greeted the man. Then Iris looked at Jin Liwei, tilting her head to the side.

    "I¡¯m doing well, thank you," Jin Liwei said, pulling her closer to him by her waist. "Yes, Xin and I are together. I¡¯m here at the academy to visit her, my girlfriend.

    "Oh! I thought so! You two look great together. Truly a match!"

    They exchanged pleasantries and then briefly talked about general topics before easing the conversation to an end. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

    When the man was gone, Iris looked at Jin Liwei with deep, questioning eyes. He raised his eyebrows, a faint smile on his lips.

    "Liam?" she asked.

    "En. My English name."

    "Oh. It¡¯s a nice name." Then she paused. "But I still like Liwei better."

    He chuckled. "Of course. I¡¯ll always be Liwei. Liam is just a name I use for convenience whenever I travel overseas."

    "Mmn." She nodded and then pulled his hand. "Come. Let¡¯s go downtown and go on a date instead."

    "Okay, baby."

    Excitement bubbled within her. She nned on confessing her love for him at a good spot she found downtown.

    They were about to leave when...

    "Xin! Xin!" Amanpio chased after them. "There you are! I¡¯ve been looking for you all over the ce. I miss you so much!"

    Jin Liwei frowned. Who was this punk and how dare he tell his baby girl ¡¯I miss you so much¡¯? Also the guy kept his eyes on his baby girl, not acknowledging his presence even for a bit.

    "Amanpio, why were you looking for me?" she asked, feeling a bit annoyed at being interrupted during her time with her man. She disregarded his ¡¯I miss you so much¡¯ as part of his usual nonsense. "I gave you my e-mail address, remember? If you need something, just send me an e-mail and I¡¯ll see if I¡¯ll be able to help you during my free time."

    "Oh, that. I lost the strip of paper with your e-mail address on it." Amanpio shrugged, waving a dismissive hand. "Anyway, I was looking for you because I wanted to ask for your opinion about the lovememometer prototype that I¡¯m building. It¡¯s because of you that I got the idea, anyway. So will youe to myb and check it out?"

    "Sorry, Amanpio. I can¡¯t. I¡¯m with my boyfriend right now. He just arrived and I want to spend more time with him. Maybe you can ask some of the academy staff if they want to volunteer as your test subjects. And by the way, this is Liwei, my boyfriend. Liwei, this is Amanpio, an inventor. He¡¯s a fellow student."

    Amanpio finally looked at Jin Liwei, sweeping his narrowed eyes at Jin Liwei¡¯s head to toe and then back up again. "Huh. So this is the boyfriend you¡¯ve been talking about? What¡¯s so special about him? I¡¯m more gorgeous than him and most importantly, I¡¯m a genius. You¡¯re better off with someone like me who¡¯s on the same level as you..." He continued to babble such offending words in a careless manner.

    Jin Liwei scowled, his hands tightening into fists. This bastard was just asking for a punch. How dare he flirt with his baby girl right in front of him and insult him at the same time? He might not be a geniuspared to them who were Cross Academy students, but he was still an important business leader recognized in the international level.

    He wanted to beat this bastard so badly, but he controlled his temper. This wasn¡¯t his territory. He didn¡¯t want to make a scene and trouble his baby girl who was the newest student in the academy.

    ¡¯Calm down,¡¯ he told himself. ¡¯Just ignore¡ª¡¯

    "You a**hole!" Iris pounced.

    Before the two men could react, she already smacked Amanpio¡¯s face with a powerful open palm strike. Amanpio was tall but was thin. Not to mention that he was unprepared, he fell sideways and even rolled a few times on the stone floor.

    Iris was still raging and was about to attack the already fallen inventor again when Jin Liwei recovered from his surprise. He caught his baby girl, wrapping his arms tightly around her iling body.

    "Calm down, baby. That¡¯s enough, okay?" he told her even as a wide grin broke upon his face.

    The sight of her smacking the bastard was just too satisfying, but he didn¡¯t want to get her into trouble. He already saw some people making their way towards their direction. He continued to calm her down.

    "F*ck. My handsome face...you actually hit my handsome face!" Amanpio touched his nose and mouth, checking if there was any bleeding.

    "What¡¯s going on here?" a deep, stern voice barked at them.

    It was Professor Erwan Dupont, followed by Giulia Moretti. The two were on their way to their offices to start another working day when they heard themotion. They actually witnessed Iris¡¯ impressively quick movement of smacking Amanpio and sending him rolling to the floor.

    "Headmaster! I¡¯ve been wronged!" Amanpio cried. "Xin suddenly beat me up out of nowhere!"

    Everyone frowned at his im.

    ¡¯What beat you up? She just hit you one time!¡¯ they thought to themselves.

    Jin Liwei and Iris red at Amanpio at the same time.

    "Ah! Look, Headmaster! Xin and her boyfriend are bullying me! Please give justice for my handsome face...I mean, for my injured body!"

    "That¡¯s enough, Mr. Kileksky," Professor Dupont rebuked him. Then he turned to Iris with a stern expression. "Miss Long, pray tell what actually happened here."

    "But I already told you what happened!" Amanpioined.

    "Mr. Kileksky, the Headmaster wants to hear both sides. Please don¡¯t interrupt," Giulia Moretti snapped at the overdramatic inventor.

    Jin Liwei drew Iris closer to him in a protective manner, but she reassured him with a pat. Then she stepped forward.

    "Professor Dupont, I apologize for causing a ruckus within the academy grounds," she said in a sincere tone. "I know that I vited the rules, so I¡¯ll ept whatever punishment you deem fit to give me." Then her expression hardened. "However, I¡¯m not sorry for hitting Amanpio..."

    "Listen to her! She¡¯s not even sorry!" Amanpio finally stood up from the ground, pointing an using finger at Iris.

    Professor Dupont gave him a hard look with such intensity that Amanpio instinctively stepped back, shutting his mouth.

    Iris continued, "I¡¯m not sorry for hitting Amanpio because he insulted my boyfriend right in our faces. For me, that¡¯s unforgivable. He deserves the smack on his face."

 Chapter 253 - The â€œGeniusâ€ Label

    <h4>Chapter 253 - The ¡°Genius¡± Label </h4>

    "You¡ª" Amanpio was about to argue with Iris but one look from Professor Dupont and he shut his mouth again.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s heart filled with warmth hearing his baby girl¡¯s words. She defended him! Ah, what a wonderful feeling! However, he hoped that she wouldn¡¯t get into too much trouble. So he spoke up.

    "Headmaster, it¡¯s not Xin¡¯s fault. This wouldn¡¯t have happened if I weren¡¯t here. I¡¯m sorry that my presence has caused this much trouble. I¡¯ll leave the academy immediately. Just please don¡¯t punish Xin too harshly."

    "No! Don¡¯t leave!" Iris protested. "You just arrived."

    "Hmph! Go leave. Who needs you here?" Amanpio grumbled, massaging his now throbbing face. It was already swelling.

    "Mr. Kileksky, mind your words. Say anything more and I¡¯ll take it as a challenge of my authority as the Headmaster!" Professor Dupont scolded, effectively shutting up the inventor for real this time.

    Amanpio could piss anyone in the academy and suffer, but he wouldn¡¯t care too much. But if he pissed off the headmaster, it was a different story. The headmaster had the power to kick him out of the academy. Getting kicked out of Cross Academy would be the biggest shame of his life!

    Professor Dupont turned to Jin Liwei. "Mr. Jin, there¡¯s no need to leave. You¡¯re a guest of my good friend, Lu Jianhong, who¡¯s not only an important alumnus but also a registered instructor, albeit a semi-retired one. He only has Miss Long as his current student now. So of course, you¡¯re wee to Cross Academy."

    "Thank you very much, Headmaster," Jin Liwei replied in a sincere tone.

    He was about to speak up on behalf of his baby girl again when a couple of cleaners stepped forward. They were husband and wife. The husband was pushing a cleaning cart. His wife had a slightly intimidated expression on her face seeing the headmaster himself.

    Earlier, they were passing by on their way to the next area they were going to clean when they saw and heard what happened between Iris, Jin Liwei and Amanpio.

    The couple exined everything to Professor Dupont. The headmaster¡¯s expression turned uglier as he listened to the story. After hearing everything, he red at Amanpio, causing the inventor to quail and look down to the floor. Guilt shed in his eyes.

    "Mr. Kileksky, one of our most important values is that we never, I repeat, we NEVER discriminate or look down on people who aren¡¯t enrolled or didn¡¯t graduate from our Cross Academy! Yes, this is a school of geniuses. And by being enrolled here, you automatically bear thebel of genius. However, ¡¯genius¡¯ is only abel given to you by other people. You won¡¯t be a ¡¯genius¡¯ anymore if others stopped recognizing you as one. Even if you really are a genius and you know it yourself, if others don¡¯t call you as such, they¡¯ll only think you¡¯re a fool who¡¯s only too full of yourself."

    Professor Dupont¡¯s tone was grave yet biting. He didn¡¯t raise his voice but every word he said held weight. He continued, "Remember, thebel of ¡¯genius¡¯ you¡¯re currently enjoying is a privilege, not a right. If you¡¯re not careful and take it for granted, it can be stripped away from you. Do you understand, Mr. Kileksky?"

    Amanpio¡¯s body shook a little. "Y-yes, Headmaster. I understand. I apologize! I became too full of myself. I¡¯ll make sure to reflect on my mistake!"

    "It¡¯s not me who you should be apologizing to."

    Amanpio hesitated. He was slightly unwilling, but the headmaster¡¯s words made him realize how offensive he had been. He turned to Jin Liwei. "Sorry, bro. I was rude. I don¡¯t have the best social skills in the world. I¡¯m too focused with my inventions. It¡¯s just that I wanted to talk to Xin about mytest invention but she rejected me because of you, so I thought that you were an eyesore. That¡¯s why I treated you like that...so I apologize."

    Jin Liwei still didn¡¯t have any good feelings for the man. Even if he ignored the way the man insulted him, he couldn¡¯t ignore how he flirted with his baby girl. However, he could sense that Amanpio was sincere enough.

    Besides, the academy¡¯s own headmaster was intervening in person. He didn¡¯t want to be the difficult and petty person who refused a person¡¯s sincerity. So with a cold expression, he stiffly nodded his head as an eptance of Amanpio¡¯s apology.

    "Thanks, bro." Then Amanpio turned to Iris next. "Sorry to you as well, Xin. I hope that we can still be friends after this. I don¡¯t really have many friends... There aren¡¯t many people who like being with me."

    ¡¯Well, that¡¯s because you tend to be too full of yourself and your attitude can rub others the wrong way,¡¯ Giulia Moretti thought to herself but didn¡¯t say out loud.

    Iris harrumphed softly, still feeling angry on behalf of Jin Liwei. However, she could rte with Amanpio when he said that he didn¡¯t have many friends. It was only now in this second life of hers that she had the opportunity to make friends. She understood very clearly how lonely it could be without any close friends.

    That was why even when she was still a little mad at him, she also epted his apology like Jin Liwei. Besides, she already smacked and sent him rolling to the floor. That was very satisfying!

    Everyone released sighs of relief that the conflict between them had been resolved in a peaceful manner.

    "But Xin...your punch really hurt, you know?" Amanpioined.

    She scoffed. "It wasn¡¯t a punch. It was only a p."

    "A SLAP?!! I rolled on the floor a few times, you know! How can that be a mere p?!"

    "Fine. It was a smack, not a p. Happy?"

    "How can I be happy?! You just smacked my face and made me roll on the floor! I¡¯m not a masochist!"

    Jin Liwei narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of his baby girl when the two began arguing again.

    "Enough!" Professor Dupont barked at them. It was still early in the morning, but he was already having a headache. He felt like a daycare teacher trying to discipline two naughty kids during a petty and childish fight.

    Fortunately, the two respected the headmaster and stopped. The atmosphere also wasn¡¯t tense anymore. The argument was more like a friendly banter, rather than a heated one.

    "Let¡¯s put this matter in the past now that it¡¯s settled," he said.

    "Yes, Professor."

    "Yes, Headmaster."

    "However, both of you still vited academy rules. And for that, I have to give each of you appropriate punishments."

    Amanpio groaned, while Iris already expected it. Jin Liwei stiffened and was about to speak up, but Iris stopped him with a tug in the arm.

    "Mr. Kileksky, you will only receive one-fourth of your regr funds for an entire month starting today."

    "No! What about my research and inventions? I won¡¯t be able to finish what I have nned without funds!" Amanpio looked like the world just ended for him.

    Professor Dupont ignored him and turned to Iris. "As for you, Miss Long, you will perform exactly ten requests of the academy free of charge. That is your punishment."

    "I understand, Professor." Iris epted without anyints.

    "What does that mean?" Amanpio didn¡¯t understand.

    Jin Liwei was also confused but didn¡¯t ask for rification. His baby girl didn¡¯t look troubled, so it shouldn¡¯t be too harsh.

    Iris immediately understood what the headmaster meant. It simply meant that she needed to do whatever ten hacking jobs the academy requested without paying her.

    Amanpio thought that he got a worse punishmentpared to her, but he was wrong. Professor Dupont decided to punish them in a financial sense. Although Amanpio was receiving substantial monthly funds from the academy to finance his inventions, Iris was a world-ss hacker. She couldmand the highest fees with just one job. And now, she had to perform ten requests for the academy free of charge. This was an enormous bargain for the academy. Professor Dupont showed his hidden shrewdness in meting out their punishments.

    When everything was settled, the group went their separate ways. Amanpio was almost crying because of his punishment. On the other hand, Iris looked unfazed. With the education she received and continued to receive from the academy, she would dly hack ten times for them.

    Iris led Jin Liwei out of the main castle. They headed downtown. Her heart began thumping wildly in excitement and nervousness.

    She was going to confess her love for him.

    Very soon.

 Chapter 254 - Come Closer

    <h4>Chapter 254 - Come Closer </h4>

    It was a beautiful, bright day in the Swiss Alps. Delicate snow flurries began drifting down, adding more to the mountains¡¯ natural beauty. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t too windy so the temperature was bearable with the proper winter attire.

    Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s date consisted of walking around downtown, appreciating nature, and taking photos together in such a breathtaking ce. However, they didn¡¯t stay outdoors for too long because Iris needed to protect her throat and vocal chords from the cold.

    They headed inside the mall to warm up. They didn¡¯t do any shopping but just continued walking around while holding hands. Iris was very distracted because she kept thinking about how she was going to confess to Jin Liwei. She didn¡¯t know why she felt so nervous.

    ¡¯Just say ¡¯I love you¡¯. What¡¯s so hard about it?¡¯ she challenged herself, but she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling jittery.

    "What¡¯s wrong, baby?" Jin Liwei asked, noticing her restlessness.

    She shook her head and asked him instead, "Are you warm now? I want to bring you somewhere else."

    "I always feel warm with you. Hot, actually," he said with a sexy smile.

    Her eyes darkened with desire. Unlike when they just first met, she could now understand some sexual innuendos. She grabbed his head for a hard kiss in the middle of the mall. The people just nced at them in amusement before returning to mind their own business.

    When the kiss ended, they were both panting.

    "How about now? Do you feel hotter?" she whispered.

    "Boiling."

    She giggled and then pulled his arm. "The flurries have stopped. Let¡¯s go before it starts snowing again."

    "Okay, baby. Lead the way."

    They rode another shuttle bus to their next destination. It was a natural park just outside the downtown area.

    When the two disembarked, there was a roaring sound from a distance. It was also colder in this ce. There were other people besides the two of them, mostly hikers. Some of them would probably climb all the way up to the cial region of the mountains.

    Iris dragged Jin Liwei, almost bouncing in her nervous excitement. The roaring sound grew louder as they followed a footpath deeper into the woods. Finally, they reached a clearing and a stunning multi-tiered waterfall appeared before them.

    The rushing cier waters sparkled under the bright sunlight like pristine liquid crystals. It wasn¡¯t arge waterfall but was enough to impress people with its beauty, emphasized by its unspoiled surroundings.

    "It¡¯s beautiful," Jin Liwei breathed, but she still heard him despite the roaring waters.

    She smiled, pleased that he liked the ce.

    Then he looked at her. "But you¡¯re more beautiful."

    Her smile widened and her heart beat faster.

    "Liwei..."

    "Yes, baby?"

    "Come closer. I need to tell you something."

    He leaned to her.

    "Closer," she urged.

    Bending his head, he leaned closer until his face was only inches from hers.

    She used her hands to gently turn his head to the side so that his ear was directly in front of her mouth.

    Then she whispered, "I love you, Jin Liwei."

    He froze. His head snapped to look at her, his eyes widening in shock. He couldn¡¯t tell anymore if the roaring in his head was from the waterfall or from his own jumbled thoughts.

    She began to feel nervous. Why wasn¡¯t he saying anything? Uncertainty tightened her chest, squeezing her wildly beating heart.

    "L-let¡¯s go... It¡¯s getting cold," she said, forcing a smile. She felt disappointed by his reaction, orck thereof. Her chest hurt.

    She turned and began to walk away, leaving him frozen on the spot. She only walked five steps before a tight embrace stopped her from behind.

    "Say it again." His tone was urgent.

    Her uncertainty disappeared, reced by a warm feeling. A soft smile tugged the corner of her lips. She turned around in his embrace until she was facing him. Framing his face with her gloved hands, she repeated her confession.

    "Jin Liwei, I love you."

    His eyes shook as a myriad of emotions shed within them.

    "Again."

    "I love you."

    "Again."

    She giggled. Then she said "I love you" to him in differentnguages. When she was on the eighthnguage, he crushed her lips with his mouth. She opened up for him, epting his tongue¡¯s invasion. Of course, she invaded inside his mouth as well.

    It was freezing cold, especially near the waterfall, but their bodies felt burning hot. They devoured each other, barely breathing in their passionate hunger. When their mouths separated, they were dazed for a few moments.

    Jin Liwei kissed her a few more times, gazing at her in-between kisses. He couldn¡¯t believe that she just told him that she loved him. His heart felt like it was going to burst from love and happiness.

    "I love you too, baby. So much," he said, stroking her now red cheeks with his gloved hands. "Thank you for loving me, too. I¡¯m so happy. I feel like I¡¯m dreaming."

    "You¡¯re not dreaming. I love you, Liwei." Then she added, "You¡¯re mine."

    "I¡¯m yours, always." His expression turned serious. "And you¡¯re mine."

    "Yes, I¡¯m yours."

    Surprisingly, Iris wasn¡¯t so against this kind of iming unlike before. Now she understood what it felt like to desire someone so much to make a im on that person. It wasn¡¯t a matter of possession or ownership, like so many others wereining about. Not at all. They weren¡¯t ves or masters of each other. Rather, they were lovers.

    iming was a deration of their feelings and desire to belong with one another. They were a man and a woman equal in love. This iming was a promise and amitment to each other and to not allow an outsider toe between them. It was as simple as that.

    Jin Liwei threw his head back in delight when he heard her words. He had been waiting for this day. Finally.

    "This is the happiest day of my life so far," he told her. "And I¡¯m certain that my next happiest day will also be with you."

    A sweet smile blossomed on her face, making her even more beautiful. Then a warning glint shed in her eyes. "It better be with me or else you¡¯ll be in trouble."

    He chuckled, loving this new side of her.

    "Of course, baby. There¡¯s only you in here," he said, grabbing her hand and pressing it on his chest.

    Snow flurries began falling down again. It was as if the heavens were showering blessings on the two of them. It made the moment more memorable, forever imprinting it in their memories.

 Chapter 255 - Underworld Apocalypse

    <h4>Chapter 255 - Underworld Apocalypse </h4>

    After Iris¡¯ confession, the lovers became even more inseparable. She could barely leave Jin Liwei to attend her lessons in the afternoon with her instructors. She wished that she had cleared her entire schedule for the day to spend more time with him.

    "Being in love is great and all but make sure to learn how to bnce it with the other aspects of your life," Grandpa Lu reminded her when the lovers returned to the chalet after their date. "Treat love as your inspiration, not as a distraction."

    The elder¡¯s words of wisdom enlightened not only Iris but also Jin Liwei. Compared to Iris, however, Jin Liwei could afford to focus on their rtionship a bit more because he was already sessful and stable. All he needed to do was to maintain the quality of his work.

    On the other hand, Iris was still on her way up. Yes, she was already enjoying the first fruits of sess, but it wasn¡¯t stable yet. Any missteps or carelessness on her part and everything woulde crashing down back to square one.

    So with a lingering kiss, Iris left Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu at the chalet and headed to her lessons after lunch.

    As for Jin Liwei, he wore a stupid grin on his face for the entire time before Grandpa Lu couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    Grandpa Lu left the chalet and headed to the main castle to bother Professor Erwan Dupont in his office. It was only then that he learned about the altercation between Iris, Jin Liwei and Amanpio Kileksky.

    "You cunning old bastard! Ten requests free of charge?! That¡¯s not a punishment but a rip-off! How dare you swindle my granddaughter?! Hmph!" Grandpa Lu huffed.

    The headmaster ignored him, continuing to work on his desk. A smug smile could be faintly seen on his face.

    For the next couple of days, Jin Liwei and Iris were always together except when she had lessons. He refused to leave and return to China before her. She still couldn¡¯t go home right away because she had amitment with Maestro Ludovico De Luca to perform with him in his uing orchestra concert in Germany.

    There were quite a few urgent matters that Jin Liwei needed to attend to at work, but he insisted on making it harder for himself and worked remotely instead through e-mails, phone calls and online conferences. He didn¡¯t inform Iris because she might send him back, but Grandpa Lu was aware of his situation.

    "Fine! Your grandpa will run Jin Corporation in your stead again while you young lusty lovers enjoy yourselves," he announced. "I¡¯m bored out of my mind here in the mountains, anyway! That Dupont bastard works all day and won¡¯t y with me. Boooriiing! And it¡¯s also getting colder here each day! Not good for this old man¡¯s creaking bones! So better for me to return to China and do something productive. I also need to check in on your Fifth Brother, that pinheaded grandson of mine! I hear he¡¯s always out, but what in cuckoo¡¯s head is he doing?! I want to know!"

    "Thank you, Grandpa Lu. I owe you," Jin Liwei said in his sincerest tone.

    "Indeed! You owe me great-grandbabies! Don¡¯t make me wait too long! This old man is not getting any younger!"

    With that, Grandpa Lu dragged Professor Erwan Dupont and everyone else still remaining in the academy to party before he left and flew back to China. Before he left, he promised Iris that he would fly to Germany to watch her performance with Maestro De Luca.

    ###

    Shadow Winds Headquarters.

    While Iris and Jin Liwei were basking in their love in the Swiss Alps, Lu Zihao was busy developing and strengthening his group. His identity as Lu Zihao didn¡¯t have any roots at all in the Underworld, so he decided not to make Shadow Winds an outright criminal group.

    Instead, they were bing more known as an increasingly powerful vignte group. A group which skirted the lines between crime and justice.

    Criminals were afraid of being targeted by them, while the authorities were wary of them. For now, the authorities were turning a blind eye on their activities to a certain extent. After all, they were helping purge the country of the most heinous of criminals while the authorities were restricted by legal boundaries.

    But at the end of the day, they were still only vigntes who didn¡¯t have any legal capacity to punish criminals under thew. As long as the authorities deemed that they were still useful and within their realm of control, the Shadow Winds were allowed to run freely.

    Of course, Lu Zihao took advantage of the authorities¡¯ currentx attitude towards them. He knew that there woulde a day when they would be a big threat and would eventually be suppressed. He needed to grow Shadow Winds into an unshakable force before then.

    At times, they were bounty hunters. At other times, they were "Good Samaritans". They dispensed justice in a vicious manner, not allowing their targets any chances of recovery. Their methods earned the gratitude and respect of the criminals¡¯ victims and their families. Some of them even readily joined the group, but only a few of them were epted. Lu Zihao only chose those who met his high standards and of course those he could make loyal to him.

    Despite their reputation as unofficial agents of justice, Shadow Winds wasn¡¯t a charity. They weren¡¯t doing all of these out of the goodness of their hearts. Everything they did was because they had ulterior motives.

    They chose targets based on how much resources they would be able to obtain in the end. Every single thing was nned to the smallest detail by their meticulous, cunning and ruthless leader.

    Lu Zihao was reviewing a blueprint of their next mission with his subordinates when someone from the hacker team interrupted them.

    "Boss Hao, we found something about the matter you told us to keep an eye on."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes lit up but for only a fraction of a second, so nobody noticed his excitement.

    "Give it to me."

    The hacker handed him a tablet.

    Everyone was silent and unmoving as their leader read on the tablet. After a few moments of reading, Lu Zihao unleashed a bloodthirsty and murderous aura, frightening his surrounding subordinates.

    They looked at him in rm but still forced themselves to act impassive, even when they were sweating bullets and shaking in their shoes. Fortunately, the aura was quickly controlled, disappearing until the subordinates felt like they just imagined it.

    "Heh~ I see. So this is how they want to y it. I understand now."

    His devilish smile made everyone shiver.

    "I¡¯ll keep this," he said, referring to the tablet. He ced it on the table in front of him. "Return to your post now and continue keeping an eye on this matter," he instructed the hacker.

    "Yes, boss!"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes nced once again at the tablet. A working title for a biography was disyed on the screen.

    "Underworld Apocalypse: The Fall of a Criminal Empire and the Tragic Demise of the Most Evil Family in History"

 Chapter 256 - One Of Everything

    <h4>Chapter 256 - One Of Everything </h4>

    Munich, Germany.

    Iris, Jin Liwei, Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Professor Kalisha Schwarz boarded Enrique Valdez¡¯s private jet. The flight to Munich was short, only a little more than an hour.

    After disembarking from the jet, they were chauffeured to the charming historical Old Town. They checked in at a five-star Asian hotel, booking three suites for their group. Iris and Jin Liwei shared one, Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez another, while Professor Schwarz had an entire suite to herself.

    Since the group consisted of prominent figures, the hotel gave them the best suites and service. As an Asian hotel, of course they immediately recognized Jin Liwei. His presence even prompted the hotel¡¯s general manager toe out and greet them personally.

    The hotel staff was curious about the beautiful woman beside Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO, but they didn¡¯t want to get on Jin Liwei¡¯s bad side so they controlled themselves. They didn¡¯t recognize that it was Iris Long. She still wasn¡¯t famous enough outside China.

    After settling in at their own suites, they went their separate ways.

    Maestro De Luca headed to the historic opera house a walking distance away from the hotel where the orchestra concert would be held. He wanted to check the venue first and meet with his orchestra. Iris was ast-minute guest performer for one solo piece and another one with the orchestra, so she only needed to join them for rehearsal the next day.

    Enrique Valdez went to meet some of his friends living in the city to drink some beer and go clubbing in the evening.

    Iris and Jin Liwei followed Professor Schwarz. This was her home country before she moved to Ennd. The professor toured the lovers around the beautiful town where the medieval and the modern melded together.

    After walking around and taking pictures, they went to a bustling street market. Jin Liwei kept Iris close to him, protecting her from the crowd bumping against them. Professor Schwarz expertly weaved through the people, leading them deeper into the market. Of course, they bought souvenirs and other goodies along the way.

    While Jin Liwei was paying for an impressive ship in a bottle, Iris¡¯ attention was caught by a stall across them. She tilted her to the side, observing first, before giving in to her curiosity and walking towards it.

    "Baby? Where are you going? Wait for me," Jin Liwei called out, but she didn¡¯t hear him because of the ce¡¯s noise.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll go with her. Follow us when you¡¯re done," Professor Schwarz told him after she finished her own purchases.

    He nodded.

    Iris arrived in front of the stall. Different kinds of liquids and creams in ss bottles and jars were disyed. The packaging didn¡¯t look appealing, but Iris¡¯ intuition urged her to look more closely.

    The stall wasn¡¯t as busypared to the souvenir shops around it, but there were quite a number of local women who dropped by to buy some of the liquids and creams. They looked like regr customers based on how they interacted with the seller. Iris immediately noticed that all of them had bright, glowing skin.

    After taking care of a customer, the female seller made eye contact with Iris. She was a cheery blonde woman in her thirties. Smiling, she greeted Iris in German.

    "Wee! Beautifuldy, are you a tourist? You¡¯vee to the right ce! We sell the best homemade skincare products in entire Germany. If you buy and use our products, I guarantee that you¡¯ll be even more beautiful! We sell lotions, moisturizers, cleansers, toners, masks and other good stuff to improve your skin!"

    Iris picked up a random bottle. "What is this? Can you also tell me what¡¯s in it and how it can improve my skin?"

    The seller¡¯s eyes widened at Iris¡¯ perfect German. It was even more perfect and formal than her own German which was tinged by her native tongue, a local dialect. Then she smiled and began promoting the product in Iris¡¯ hand.

    "That is our special night cream. It not only moisturizes and soothes your skin, it also boosts cogen production and cell renewal. What¡¯s more, it has effective anti-aging properties!"

    She then proceeded to exin that all the ingredients used in their products were 100% natural and pure which underwent chemical changes through naturally urring biological processes, not synthetic ones. She also raved about using secret technology she developed with her brother to increase the effectiveness and longevity of the ingredients for better results while maintaining their gentle qualities.

    "Xin, my dear. Don¡¯t believe everything she says," Professor Schwarz said when she arrived beside Iris. "These people will say anything to sell their products. Just look at these shabby bottles. You might ruin your skin if you try them. Let¡¯s go, my dear."

    "Madame, I¡¯m not lying. Everything I said is true." The seller defended her products, but still maintained a friendly tone. Though there was an insulted look in her eyes.

    Iris just smiled. "Give me one of everything."

    The seller blinked, while Professor Schwarz frowned.

    "What?" The seller thought that she must be hearing things. There were at least thirty kinds of different products in her stall right now.

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "You don¡¯t want to sell?"

    "I want! Of course! Right away, Miss! I¡¯ll wrap everything nicely for you! I¡¯ll even give you discount!"

    The seller moved fast, her hands shing as she packed one of everything. She wanted to finalize the sale before the customer changed her mind.

    "My dear, tell me why you¡¯re doing this." Professor Schwarz didn¡¯t understand her.

    "I just feel curious, Professor."

    The professor only sighed, shaking her head. She thought that her student was wasting her money on such garbage products.

    Jin Liwei also arrived by their side and asked what was happening. The professor told him. He didn¡¯t say anything. He wouldn¡¯t say anything even if his baby girl decided that she wanted to buy the entire street market. He would even buy it for her if she let him.

    When everything was packed, the seller gave Iris not only a discount but some extra products as well. She was nervous because the total price was considerable. She was worried that the customer would balk after seeing the price. However, she didn¡¯t need to worry because the people in front of her didn¡¯t even bat their eyes.

    "Let me pay this," Jin Liwei offered.

    Iris shook her head, handing him her wallet instead. It would be faster if he was the one who counted the banknotes. She wasn¡¯t really used to handling physical money, especially in a foreign country.

    With a small sigh at her rejection, he paid the purchases with her money. Then he carried the bags, only allowing his baby girl to carry the lightest ones.

    Before they left, Iris asked the seller, "Are you here every day? What time do you usually open your stall?"

    "No, I¡¯m not here every day and the time varies. However, if you need more products, you can order from me directly. If you want, I can have it delivered to you or you can pick it up here. Oh, here¡¯s my business card! Feel free to contact me anytime!"

    "Okay." Iris tucked the card inside her bag.

    That night at their hotel suite, Jin Liwei was busy working on hisptop. Although Grandpa Lu stepped in as acting President-CEO, there were still some matters that needed Jin Liwei to personally inspect.

    Iris took a shower by herself and used some of the skincare products she bought earlier. Her eyes lit up because they smelled good, like actual fruits and flowers. She didn¡¯t really notice any improvements on her skin right after using them. She knew she was taking a gamble because they might ruin her skin, but she had a good feeling about them.

    It was in the next morning when she noticed a difference. Her skin felt softer and suppler. She couldn¡¯t stop touching her face.

    "Hmm..." She took the seller¡¯s business card and studied it.

    Jin Liwei woke up when he felt her move. The first thing he saw was his baby girl thinking deeply. She looked so cute!

    "Morning, baby. What¡¯re you doing?"

    She smiled at him. "Good morning. Oh, I was just thinking about a business idea. If everything goes well, I might soon have my ownpany."

 Chapter 257 - Do What You Want To Do

    <h4>Chapter 257 - Do What You Want To Do </h4>

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t question his baby girl. He already had an idea of what she was nning.

    Whatever his wife¡ªCOUGH COUGH¡ª¡¯girlfriend¡¯ (for now) wanted to do, all he needed was to support her with everything he got.

    Even if she wanted to take over the world, he would readily provide her with the resources she needed to achieve her goals. Her happiness was his happiness.

    They cuddled on the bed for a few moments before they forced themselves to rise. Iris would be very busy today rehearsing for her performances at Maestro De Luca¡¯s orchestra concert. She wasn¡¯t worried for her solo performance because she already mastered the piece in her past life.

    It was her performance with the orchestra that she felt nervous about. But at the same time, she was also feeling excited. This would be the first time in both of her lives that she would be performing purely ssical music with a live world-ss symphony orchestra in front of arge audience. For her, this was a dreame true.

    After eating breakfast they ordered through room service, Iris and Jin Liwei headed down to the hotel lobby to wait for Maestro De Luca. While waiting, Iris updated Dom by video calling him.

    "Wuwuwu! I miss you so much, boss!" Dom wailed. "I returned to the penthouse with Ice Cream and Popcorn because sir boss is gone from the mansion. It¡¯s too lonely there without the two of you. We¡¯re fine, boss. Don¡¯t worry! Would you like to talk to Ice Cream and Popcorn? Oh, Little Jun is also here. Come here, cutey patootie pies! Look, it¡¯s Mommy! Junie boy, say hi to Mama!"

    Iris chuckled as she watched the kittens rush towards Dom¡¯s phone, meowing loudly. She pulled Jin Liwei close beside her so that they could be seen together on the screen. They saw Little Jun squeezing in between the kittens and calling out to them.

    "Meow! Meow!"

    "Mama...Papa!"

    "Meow~ Meow~"

    For more than a minute, all they heard were the sounds of the kittens¡¯ meowing, Little Jun¡¯s babbling, and Dom¡¯s sobbing.

    "We¡¯ll be back soon, maybe in a couple of weeks," Iris promised before ending the video call.

    Next she called her manager, Tang Yiyi. It was not a video call this time, but only a voice call.

    "Oh! Iris! Thank goodness you finally called me! I¡¯ve been so worried! Are you still in the hospital? How are you feeling? Are you alright?"

    Iris felt guilty. It was Lu Zihao who made up the excuse of her recuperating at a hospital abroad. Although she indeed spent time to recover from her emotional trauma, she wasn¡¯t really in a hospital. She mentally apologized to her manager and to her fans for lying, but it was necessary. After all, she couldn¡¯t just tell them that a remnant within her tortured Fan Luo and the rm Girls, making her suffer from trauma as a result. They would most likely think that she went crazy or throw her in prison.

    "I¡¯m sorry for worrying you, Elder Sister Yiyi. I feel much better now. I¡¯m nning to return in maybe a couple of weeks before the movie premiere of ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ and theunch of my soundtrack album. Sorry for not doing my job of promoting."

    "What are you saying? Don¡¯t apologize! What you went through was horrible! I can¡¯t imagine how you must have felt when you learned that Fan Luo was the one who...sorry. Let¡¯s not talk about this now. Anyway, what I¡¯m trying to say is that we understand why you had to disappear so suddenly. If this album isn¡¯t connected to a movie, we could dy itsunch until you¡¯re 100% well. Even if it¡¯s a yearter or however much time you need. Unfortunately, we have tounch it at the same time as the movie because it¡¯s part of the contract terms."

    "I understand. Don¡¯t worry, Elder Sister Yiyi. I¡¯ll do my part of promoting when I return."

    "Good. Your promotion time will be tight, but we¡¯ll make it work. Mr. JJ is determined to make this album another sess." Then Tang Yiyi sighed. "But it¡¯s true that the interest for the movie and your album has waned a lot after your disappearance and even more so when the scandals about you and Fan Luo started dying down. Mr. JJ is still heavily promoting your album despite your absence but as for Bright Summit...well, since you and Jin Chonglin are on hiatus, they decided to focus on other artists instead. They¡¯re still a business, after all."

    "Hmm... I see."

    They spoke a bit more before ending the call.

    "Are you okay?" Jin Liwei asked, seeing the furrow between her brows.

    She nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. Her mind was already organizing what she needed to finish here in Europe, so that she could return to China soon. She was already missing working on her own music and performing for her fans.

    "Thank you," she suddenly said, hugging Jin Liwei.

    "Hm? For what?"

    "For being with me."

    For some reason, his presence gave her peace of mind to do the things she needed to do without feeling too pressured. Even if he wasn¡¯t saying it in actual words, his actions and just his presence alone were already telling her, "Go ahead and do what you want to do. I¡¯ll be here to support you. Don¡¯t worry."

    "I love you, Liwei."

    He took a sharp inhale of breath, his eyes darkening with emotion. He kissed her hard on the mouth and then hugged her just as hard.

    "I love you too, baby. So much."

    A loud, deliberate cough interrupted them. It was Maestro De Luca, his amused eyes looking at them. The couple greeted him.

    "Let¡¯s go," he announced, leading them out of the hotel.

    The three walked to the nearby opera house. Although the maestro gave permission for Jin Liwei to watch the rehearsals, he declined, saying that he had some matters he needed to attend to. Iris was a little disappointed but understood that he was also busy like her.

    "I¡¯lle back and see youter for lunch," he said, kissing her. "Have fun."

    With that, Maestro De Luca and Iris walked inside the opera house for their rehearsal. Jin Liwei waited until they disappeared from his view before he left to return to the hotel.

    Inside the suite, he immediately busied himself making phone calls. Excitement coursed within him as he made ns. He couldn¡¯t wait to...

    A grin spread on his face.

    "Soon," he whispered to himself.

 Chapter 258 - Goddess Of Fire

    <h4>Chapter 258 - Goddess Of Fire </h4>

    For the next days, while Iris was busy rehearsing with Maestro De Luca and his orchestra, Jin Liwei was also busy nning and organizing something in secret.

    Iris knew that he was hiding something from her. Although she felt curious and wanted to know what it was, she didn¡¯t force him to tell her. He would reveal it on his own when he was ready.

    She also continued using the skincare products she bought at the street market. The improvements on her skin only became even more visible, especially every morning when she woke up. It seemed that the products¡¯ effectiveness increased during sleep.

    However, she also noticed that some of the products didn¡¯t work quite well. Either there were no improvements at all or her skin didn¡¯t feelfortable after using them. Perhaps it was because these particr products weren¡¯t designed for her skin type. Or maybe they just didn¡¯t work well with Asian skin. She would need to ask the seller about it.

    There was another issue which was that once the products were opened, they had shorter shelf lifepared to themercial products avable on the market. True, they worked extremely well, almost miraculously so, but they needed to be used quickly or they would expire. If she wanted to build apany with these products, this issue must be addressed and solved first.

    Despite this, she was confident that with enough funding, resources, research and equipment, these already amazing products would be improved close to perfection.

    She made ns in her head about how to approach to the seller, but for now, she needed to focus on the uing orchestra concert.

    The day before the concert, Grandpa Lu arrived to Germany like he promised to watch Iris¡¯ performance. Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s hotel suite had an extra bedroom, so he stayed with them.

    Iris was at the opera house rehearsing when he arrived. Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu were the only ones at the suite.

    Grandpa Lu handed something to Jin Liwei. "Here¡¯s what your assistant gave me to pass to you," he said, waggling his eyebrows. Then he thumped Jin Liwei on the back. "Good luck, my boy! Ahahaha!"

    Jin Liwei smiled, looking at the small package he received. His hand tightened around it, as if infusing it with his feelings.

    ###

    The day of the concert at the historic opera house finally arrived. It would feature music by the great ssicalposers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Robert Schumann.

    The concert itself would start at 5 PM sharp, but people already started flocking in front of the opera house hours before, especially spontaneous visitors. Usually, there were individual ticket sellers loitering outside in addition to the theatre¡¯s official box office but it wasn¡¯t like that today.

    Everything was sold out, even the tickets for the listening and standing only areas. This was a concert held by the celebrated Maestro Ludovico De Luca and his world-ss symphony orchestra. The more than 2,000 tickets for this concert were all sold out months ago.

    What was more, the ticket holders were not only from Germany but from all over the world. They travelled from other countries and continents just to watch this concert. Not just any concert, but THE Maestro Ludovico De Luca¡¯s concert. There were even famous celebrities and socialites among the audience.

    An hour before the performance, the theatre opened its doors. This opera house was usuallyx in its dress code, but all the ticket holders this time opted to wear formal ck-tie attire to show their respect for Maestro De Luca.

    Because most of the performers and the audience wereprised of famous celebrities and influential people, the media was present, turning the hour before the concert into a red carpet event.

    Iris went inside with Maestro De Luca and the orchestra musicians ahead of everyone else to warm up and make sure that everything was functioning as they should be.

    As for Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, Enrique Valdez and Professor Kalisha Schwarz, they walked the red carpet together, posed for the cameras and even answered some questions from the reporters. Among them, the legendary hitmaker Enrique Valdez was the most recognizable. Everyone almost went crazy when they saw him. A few recognized the business leaders Lu Jianhong and Jin Liwei, while only a couple knew who Professor Schwarz was.

    The group found their seats near the stage, not too far but not too close either. Just the right distance for optimal viewing. They chatted and exchanged pleasantries with the other attendees that they were acquainted with.

    Five minutes before the concert, Iris appeared and took her seat between Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu. Many heads turned when they saw her. They were wondering who this beautiful woman was.

    Most of the people here, especially the famous ones, recognized each other but this was the first time they saw her. They were especially curious because she was in such an impressive group. Tongues began wagging when they saw that she seemed to be close to Enrique Valdez. The legendary hitmaker who was usually taciturn actually spent a few moments conversing with her.

    Iris didn¡¯t notice all the people whispering about her. Even if she did, she wouldn¡¯t care anyway. Her mind was focused on the concert.

    At first nce, Iris looked like she was wearing a simple, long ck dress. However, it was actually a long ck sweater over her real dress. She nned to remove the sweater and show her dress when it was time for her performance after the intermission. In addition, she was also wearing long gloves to protect and warm her hands so they would remain nice and flexible when she yed the pianoter.

    Jin Liwei leaned close to her and asked, "Excited, baby?"

    She nodded, her eyes sparkling.

    "Nervous?"

    "A bit."

    "You¡¯ll be amazing, I¡¯m sure."

    She smiled, sping their hands together. "Thank you. I¡¯ll do my best."

    "I can¡¯t wait to watch you perform."

    Finally, the concert started. The concertmaster stood up. He was a skilled African-American violinist who gradually made a name for himself after joining the maestro¡¯s orchestra. He stood up, leading the musicians to wee Maestro Ludovico De Luca as he made his way to the conductor¡¯s podium amidst everyone¡¯s apuse.

    Momentster, Maestro De Luca and his orchestra¡¯s interpretation of Mozart¡¯s symphonies captivated the audience. Nobody fell asleep as they felt the music vibrate inside their bodies, resonating with their emotions and deepest desires. Of course, the performance was met with a thunderous standing ovation after it ended.

    Most of the audience left their seats for the intermission. Iris also excused herself, tipping her head up to silently ask for a kiss from her man before she left.

    Twenty minutester, the intermission ended and everyone returned to their seats, except for the beautifuldy in ck who sat between the former and current President-CEOs of Jin Corporation. Some of the people who noticed her absence wondered where she went.

    Surprisingly, Maestro De Luca didn¡¯t start right away like he usually did. Instead, he spoke to everyone on the mic first. After greeting and thanking everyone foring, he paused before speaking again.

    "There is a change for the second half of this concert. It will be different from what¡¯s printed on your programmes. Tonight, we have a special guest who travelled all the way from China to perform with us. She is young and talented...extremely talented that I just had to drag her here to perform with us. Please wee the beautiful and gifted...IRIS LONG!"

    A young woman in a fiery red dress appeared and walked to the centre of the stage. Everyone gasped when they saw her. The dress smouldered and zed under the light like flowingva every time she moved.

    "A goddess of fire," someone breathed,pletely mesmerized.

 Chapter 259 - Sold Her Soul To The Devil

    <h4>Chapter 259 - Sold Her Soul To The Devil </h4>

    Jin Liwei and his group led the weing apuse as Iris reached centre stage to greet Maestro Ludovico De Luca.

    Her fiery dress made her stick out like a lone bright me among the musicians who were all wearing ck and white. She looked radiant with just the rightbination of modest and fierceness.

    She faced the audience after greeting the maestro. Her eyes swept across the more than 2,000 people before zeroing in on Jin Liwei. The corners of her lips lifted into a slow smile, giving her man a deep look. She didn¡¯t realize that her expression made her look extremely seductive especially while wearing such an eye-catching red dress.

    Right then and there, a number of men and even women fell in love with her.

    Maintaining eye contact with her man, she gave the audience an elegant curtsy bow. Then she took a seat in front of the grand piano. Her eyes closed, waiting a few moments for the apuse to die down.

    Pin-drop silence.

    Her eyes opened and she raised her delicate-looking hands over the keys. The modest part of her aura disappeared,pletely engulfed by fierceness.

    She moved and the first chords of Schumann¡¯s "Tata in C Major, Op. 7" began ying. Everyone sat up straighter in their seats as they recognized the showpiece famous for its legendary difficulty.

    It felt like every note was jumping, skipping and grabbing hold of the audience¡¯s full attention, never letting them go until the end. With her fiery red dress smouldering and zing under the light and her fierce aura to match it, Iris looked like a sorceress spellbinding them with her manic music.

    Her fluid movements made the difficult piece look easy and effortless. Her interpretation was energetic and charming, fierce and slightly crazed. The music didn¡¯t drag, engaging the audience throughout the entire performance.

    It was like she was telling everyone through her ying, "Look at me! This is what I can do! Remember this, remember me! This is me!"

    Perhaps it was a trick of the mind but as the music became more feverish, Iris¡¯ red dress seemed to ze even more brightly under the light.

    "She must have sold her soul to the devil. How can someone y like that? This isn¡¯t normal," was the thought of several of the audience members.

    Iris threw her head back and her hands up when she finished ying the piece. It was such a perfect and beautiful exmation of a powerful performance that people wished they had cameras to capture the moment. They already couldn¡¯t wait to order the full recording of the concert just so they could watch and relive this moment again.

    There was a beat of silence before thunderous apuse and whistles reverberated throughout the entire concert hall. Everyone stood up, including Maestro De Luca and the orchestra musicians, to give her a well-deserved standing ovation.

    Standing up and facing the audience, Iris smiled and gestured her thanks. She gave a deep curtsy bow.

    Schumann¡¯s "Tata" was a short piece. But in the short period of time ying it, Iris managed to showcase her prowess on the piano, gaining the acknowledgement of the musicians, music critics and the audience.

    Maestro De Luca nodded in satisfaction. He intentionally didn¡¯t introduce her as his student because he wanted the people to acknowledge her own talents, skills and capabilities and not her connection to him.

    It was the correct decision. Now everyone wanted to know more about her.

    "Bravo!"

    "Genius!"

    "Best ¡¯Tata¡¯ I¡¯ve heard in a long time. It¡¯s already on par with Maestro De Luca¡¯s ¡¯Tata¡¯, even though their interpretations are different from each other. Now I know why the maestro changed the programme to include her."

    "Her name is Iris Long, right? Why do I think that her name sounds familiar?"

    "Wait. I bought this album called ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯. If I remember correctly, the pianist andposer is called Iris Long."

    "Oh, you¡¯re right! I think they¡¯re the same person! I love that album! Makes me cry every time I listen to it."

    Some people already started recognizing her name from her piano album "Rebirth Melodies". It did well on the German music charts, peaking at number 6. Germany was one of the countries who sent a request to JJ¡¯s recordbel to invite Iris to perform.

    The apuse and chatter died down when Maestro De Luca motioned for the audience to settle down. It was now time for the next performance.

    He looked at Iris and then at his musicians, checking to see if they were all ready. He waved his baton and the powerful opening of Schumann¡¯s "Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54" resounded. Then the melodious duet of the r and the piano transported the audience into a romantic fantasy.

    This time, Iris¡¯ aura of ying was slightly different from when she yed "Tata" earlier. She still made the piano concerto look easy and electrifying, but her movements were more graceful...more romantic.

    The zing energy she had earlier in "Tocatta" became sweeter and passionate without being too melodramatic. She harmonized perfectly with the orchestra, touching and captivating everyone.

    It was like she was serenading her lover with her sensual ying. And indeed, she was.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes never left her. It was as if everyone else disappeared, leaving only the two of them in that moment. The music was like an invisible bridge connecting the two of them.

    Half an hour to finish all movements of the piano concerto, yet nobody felt bored. They savoured everything from the music itself to the impressive musicians and the emotions evoked from within them.

    Maestro De Luca gave a final wave of his baton while Iris held the notes down before releasing them, signalling the end of the performance.

    There was no hesitation this time. The audience rose from their seats and gave a roaring standing ovation. Many of them even had tears in their eyes, still feeling the music even after it ended.

    Iris stood up with a big smile. She and the maestro walked hand-in-hand together to the front of the stage. They raised their held hands high up in the air. She gave a curtsy bow while he bowed like a gentleman to the audience. Then they turned around and acknowledged the orchestra musicians.

    "Well done. You were magnificent," Maestro De Luca told Iris.

    "Thank you very much, Maestro, for giving me this opportunity."

    "We¡¯ll have more opportunities to perform together. I know that what you showed tonight is nowhere near your limit."

    A staff member from backstage appeared and gave a bouquet of flowers to Iris. She thanked everyone again before heading down the stage. She became the centre of everyone¡¯s attention as she walked back to her seat.

    To everyone, this beautiful woman in a fiery red dress was without a doubt the highlight of the evening. She wasn¡¯t only a talented and skilled pianist but was also beautiful and alluring.

    Back in her seat beside Jin Liwei, she received congrattions andpliments from the people around her, including Grandpa Lu, the teary-eyed Professor Schwarz, and her other music instructor Enrique Valdez.

    "Next will be my turn. Our coboration will be grander than this," Enrique Valdez told her.

    "I¡¯m looking forward to it, Teacher."

    Afterwards, she rested her head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder, feeling him kiss the top of her head. She wanted to rx and enjoy the rest of the concert with her man now that her own performance was over.

    "You were amazing, baby. I¡¯m so proud of you," he whispered.

    "I was ying for you during my second performance."

    "I know. I felt it."

    "Shush! Stop flirting. The concert hasn¡¯t ended yet. Hai, kids these days don¡¯t know how to control themselves," Grandpa Lu grumbled in a low voice,ining yet the yful glint in his eyes made it obvious that he was teasing them.

    Finally, the entire concert ended. It was a huge sess.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and the others attended the after-party. Maestro De Luca took this opportunity to introduce Iris to some of the influential figures in the world of ssical music. He still hadn¡¯t introduced her as his student yet, opting to wait instead for the right opportunity in the future when she became more well-known as a ssical musician in her own right.

    The sky was already dark when Iris and Jin Liwei returned to their hotel suite. The elders chose to remain and socialize at the after-party.

    Iris felt drained, so Jin Liwei carried her princess-style. He looked like a cold demon lord kidnapping a goddess of fire. People stopped in their tracks to gape at the sight of such a beautiful couple.

    The night drew to a close.

    Iris slept peacefully that night in the arms of Jin Liwei, not knowing that when she woke up the next day, her face would be sshed all over the European news.

 Chapter 260 - Orchidia Beauty

    <h4>Chapter 260 - Orchidia Beauty </h4>

    The next day, Iris Long¡¯s name and photos of her in a fiery red dress were all over the newspapers, TV and several websites. For now, they still didn¡¯t know much about her. All they knew was that she was a popr musician in China.

    Most of the music critics praised her interpretation of the two pieces she performedst night. There were a couple who didn¡¯t like her ying, but these particr critics were anti-fans of Maestro De Luca in the first ce. Because Iris performed at the maestro¡¯s concert, they were already biased against her. Overall, people raved about her performances, even going as far as to call her a rising star in the world of ssical music.

    In addition to her prowess on the piano, everyone was also talking about her red dress. Her photos wearing it topped several best-dressed lists. Many fashionistas, celebrities and socialites wanted to know who designed it, hoping that they could also wear the same dress.

    Then an art collector posted a photo of a painting on his blog. It was an oil painting of a fierce woman rising from the mouth of a volcano,va covering her body. The image looked extremely simr to Iris¡¯ red dress. The painting was titled "Forged in Fire" by the artist Ashandra Knightson.

    Some people, especially Ashandra¡¯s fans, started using Iris of giarism. But before the situation escted, the art collector made another post.

    "Ash and I are good friends," the art collector wrote on his blog. "So I called her and spoke to her about this issue. To my surprise, Ash said that she was the one who designed the dress based on her own painting. Some of you may not know but Ash also dabbles in fashion design. She also told me that she and the pianist Iris Long are friends. I¡¯ve also been tasked by Ash to let everyone know that she made the fiery red dress exclusively for her friend. She won¡¯t make the same dress for other people. That¡¯s all. So stop attacking my friend¡¯s friend. Iris Long didn¡¯t giarize."

    The art collector¡¯s blog posts quickly went viral. Now people became even more curious about Iris Long.

    Who was this young woman that she was friends with the artist Ashandra Knightson? Not only that, she was also seen with a group of impressive people during the concert.

    After watching her piano performance, nobody doubted her connection to Maestro De Luca who valued talent and potential in young ssical musicians.

    But why did she also seem to be close to Enrique Valdez? The legendary hitmaker wasn¡¯t a ssical musician. Tabloids imed that ording to "insiders", Iris Long was the hitmaker¡¯stest lover. He never married but was known to have a string of lovers. Each fling neversted for more than a few months.

    There weren¡¯t a lot of mention about Jin Liwei in the media, even though there were many people in the concert who witnessed him and Iris acting intimate on several asions, kissing and cuddling.

    It was just the nature of the media. A rtionship with the famous hitmaker Enrique Valdez sounded more exciting, more scandalous especially in the West. Jin Liwei and Iris¡¯ rtionship would only be big news if it was revealed in China.

    Jin Liwei already took steps to control the flow of information so that the news about him and Iris wouldn¡¯t reach China. Although he wanted to shout out their rtionship to the whole world, he knew that doing so would only make it harder for her to prove herself in her career. They would naturally reveal their rtionship to everyone in the right time.

    Several European media outlets reached out to her, inviting her for interviews. However, she declined all of them. She didn¡¯t have time for interviews. She had a more important matter she needed to do at the moment.

    The siblings Alona and Alric Bauer met with Iris in the hotel suite¡¯s living room. Alona was the one who sold the skincare products to Iris at the street market a few days ago. Her brother, Alric, was a gangling man with hair as blonde as his sister.

    Iris noticed that both the siblings¡¯ skin looked smooth and clear, making them look younger than their actual age. They were older than Jin Liwei, but they looked about the same age as Iris.

    Grandpa Lu and Jin Liwei observed the meeting but didn¡¯t interfere. Iris also didn¡¯t n on asking for their opinions. She knew that Grandpa Lu was treating this as a test on how she would apply the things she learned from him.

    "Are you interested in mass producing your products and selling it to a wider consumer market?" she asked.

    Alona was still dazed, especially after recognizing Iris on the news. Who could¡¯ve expected that her previous customer would be so popr after only a few days?

    Since his sister wasn¡¯t speaking, Alric had no choice but to answer the question himself. He had a mumbling voice, making it difficult for most people to understand him. Fortunately, Iris had great ears so she understood what he was saying.

    "Of course, we want to mass produce, have more people use our products...but we don¡¯t have enough money or experience to build our ownpany. Tried approaching otherpanies but rejected us without even trying our products...a**holes. Those who did try liked our products but they want to buy all our rights, kick us out and let their own people develop our products...bastards. Offered big money but I told them f*ck you so they chased us out."

    "I see. I¡¯m not surprised. Well, I like your products. However, I have some issues with them." Iris told him about the short shelf life and some of the products not working well on her skin. "Can you improve the form?"

    "Of course," he said.

    Then he talked about having several ideas on how to improve the issues she mentioned plus other issues he noticed himself. It became apparent that he was the true brain behind the skincare products.

    He told Iris he needed several specific equipment that didn¡¯t exist yet. He knew how they would work, but didn¡¯t know how to build them. He also already developed some newpounds all made from natural ingredients that may improve the products, but he needed an expert¡¯s opinion to verify whether he was on the right track or not.

    ¡¯Amanpio can build the equipment. And I¡¯m sure Theresa can verify thepounds easily,¡¯ Iris thought.

    Making a decision, she looked at Alric straight in the eyes. "I¡¯ll provide you with whatever you need. Money, equipment, even experts...no problem. I want to build apany with your products. I¡¯ll also help you patent whatever technology you develop under your name, but you¡¯ll have to sign an exclusive license to mypany for a number of agreed years. As the developer of the products, you¡¯re entitled to shares but of course, I¡¯ll still be the major share holder and the boss since I¡¯ll be financing everything."

    Alric stared at her for a long time. She waited patiently, looking very calm when she was actually feeling nervous inside.

    "You¡¯ll let me do what I want in terms of product development?"

    "Yes."

    He stood up and extended his hand. "Deal."

    "Wait!" Alona finally regained her senses. She pulled her brother. "Let¡¯s talk about the terms first."

    "No need," he said. "Don¡¯t care about shares...just want to have the freedom and resources to develop my products...see them used by other people. As long as she treats us right, noints."

    "But I want shares! I mean, we want shares!" Alona dered.

    "No problem," Iris reassured her. "Do we have a deal then?"

    "Yes."

    After shaking hands with the siblings, Iris made ns with them.

    "I¡¯ll be leaving soon, but I¡¯ll send some representatives to perform due diligence here with you. Hopefully we can sign a contract after that. Then you¡¯ll have to move to China. We¡¯ll build thepany there."

    Alric shrugged, not really caring about the location. His sister, Alona, was excited as she had never experienced riding a ne or leaving Europe before.

    "It will take some time for your papers to be approved, but I¡¯ll start making preparations in China so that everything is ready when youe."

    They also discussed other details. The conversation became chattier with the excited Alona.

    "I know that it¡¯s still too early but do we have a name for ourpany?" Alona asked. "My brother and I suck at naming so we justbelled our products ¡¯Amazing Homemade Lotion¡¯ or ¡¯Amazing Homemade Toner¡¯, and so on and so forth."

    "Hmm..." Iris tilted her head to the side, thinking. Then her eyes lit up. "Ourpany will be called...Orchidia Beauty."

 Chapter 261 - Bad Boy

    <h4>Chapter 261 - Bad Boy </h4>

    In the next days, Iris finished all matters concerning her tentative deal with the Bauer siblings. They needed to wait until everything was ironed out before signing a contract to build thepany, Orchidia Beauty.

    She also connected them with Amanpio Kileksky and Theresa Blipsburg to help build the equipment Alric needed and to verify the newpounds he developed. Fortunately, Theresa was kind enough to spare some time despite her busy schedule.

    As for Amanpio, he was unwilling at first but when he heard what kind of equipment were needed, his curiosity won out and he epted the project.

    "Fine, but you¡¯ll have to pay for everything. My monthly funding from the academy is for my own projects, not to mention that three-fourth of my funds is cut off for a whole month as punishment because you smacked my handsome face."

    "Of course, I¡¯ll fund the development of the equipment. It¡¯s for mypany after all," she replied.

    "Good! I need this change of pace because building the lovememometer is not going well. I don¡¯t have enough funds!"

    Then heined about how his punishment was so unfairpared to her "lighter" punishment. Iris had no time to listen to his nonsense, so she quickly said goodbye and hung up.

    So far, she had alreadypleted two out of ten requests from the academy. They were moderately challenging but nothing too difficult for her skill level, at least for now. She wanted toplete her punishment as soon as possible but could only wait for the academy to send requests.

    Finally, Iris didn¡¯t have a reason to stay in Munich any longer. She was ready to go home to China. The others already left, leaving only her and Jin Liwei behind.

    Grandpa Lu returned ahead of them to run Jin Corporation in Jin Liwei¡¯s stead. Professor Kalisha Schwarz went to Berlin to visit her rtives. Enrique Valdez flew to America to record an album with a famous diva. Maestro Ludovico De Luca flew to Austria next for another concert.

    Before the maestro left, he spoke a lot in secret with Jin Liwei. They didn¡¯t let her hear what they were talking about, making her very curious. She tried asking Jin Liwei, but he just gave her a mysterious smile.

    "You¡¯ll know soon, baby."

    She was unsatisfied but didn¡¯t force him to tell her.

    "Let¡¯s go home, then," she said.

    "Not yet."

    She tilted her head to the side, confused. "Why? Do you still have something to do here?"

    "Not here but somewhere else. We¡¯re leaving tomorrow."

    He wouldn¡¯t tell her anything more. Of course she could just search it up and try to discover what he was hiding from her, but her love for him was greater than her curiosity. She just had to trust him to reveal it to her when he was ready.

    The next morning, Jin Liwei¡¯s private jet picked them up at the airport. Iris didn¡¯t know where they were going. Surprisingly, the flight was quick. It only took a little more than an hour.

    When they disembarked, her eyes widened as she recognized thenguage. She looked at Jin Liwei with a mixture of confusion and excitement.

    He gave her a light kiss on the lips. "You¡¯ve been working so hard. Let¡¯s rx here for five days or so. You¡¯re going to be very busy once we return to China."

    "Okay."

    ###

    Stresa, Italy.

    They spent the first day enjoying Mn before travelling by car to Stresa. They arrived at a beautiful ptial vi standing on a hill overlooking a greatke. The Alps could be seen from a distance.

    Iris discovered that the vi belonged to Maestro De Luca. It seemed that this was the reason why the two had been talking a lot behind her back. Jin Liwei borrowed the property from the maestro. However, she still didn¡¯t understand why they had to act so secretive.

    The town was very quiet at this time of year. There weren¡¯t a lot of tourists. Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t kidding when he said that he wanted them to rx for a few days. Many of the attractions in the ce were closed down because it was low season, but there were still good ces they visited like family diners and the local market.

    For the most part, the two just stayed in the vi enjoying each other¡¯spany.

    It was on the third day of their stay that Iris felt something weird. The household staff looked busy. She also caught a glimpse of delivery trucks outside. It looked like they were preparing something.

    "What¡¯s going on?" she asked.

    "You¡¯ll seeter. It¡¯s a surprise. Come, baby. Let¡¯s work out at the gym." He pulled her from the window. It was obvious that he was distracting her.

    She had the strongest urge to pinch his cheeks for acting so mysterious and not telling her anything. Feeling a bit annoyed, she went ahead and pinched both of his cheeks hard.

    He just grunted but didn¡¯t make any move to stop her. He even bent down a little to give her easier ess. He just stood there like a good boy and let her hurt him until his cheeks turned red.

    Her annoyance was quickly reced by guilt. He released his poor cheeks and wrapped her arms around his waist instead, hugging him.

    "Sorry," she said against his chest.

    "It¡¯s okay, baby," he said, stroking her hair with his fingers.

    She lifted her head and touched his cheeks. "Painful?"

    He was about to say no but changed his mind. He deliberately put on a sad expression. "Yes. They hurt so much."

    "Really? I¡¯m sorry, Liwei." She gently massaged his cheeks, a concerned look in her eyes.

    "They¡¯re so painful. I think I need some kisses to feel better."

    Her hands paused in the middle of massage, then her fingers curled and pinched his cheeks even harder.

    "Ow! Baby, stop! Please...ah! It hurts..."

    She harrumphed but let go of his poor cheeks. They looked tender and redder than before. Annoyance, guilt and love all mixed together within her.

    "You¡¯re a bad boy," she said, wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him down so that their faces were only inches away from each other.

    "Yes, I¡¯m a bad boy. I deserve to be punished. Are you going to punish me?" His eyes began darkening with desire. He held her waist and pulled her against his body.

    A giggle escaped from her lips. "I already did. You want me to pinch your cheeks again?"

    "If it makes you happy."

    "Oh, Liwei."

    Then she kissed him, thoroughly exploring his mouth. She lightly bit his lip when he tried taking over the kiss.

    "Be good boy," she murmured while fighting against him for control of the kiss.

    A low growl sounded deep within his throat but he held back and allowed her to lead the slow, torturous kiss, even though all he wanted was to devour her mouth. His hands slid down her hips to her plump butt and squeezed them hard, earning a moan from her.

    Iris could feel his erection against her stomach. It only intensified her desire for him. Her hands crawled down from around his neck to his chest, down his abs...lower...and lower...

    "Baby, wait...not now..."

    Jin Liwei caught her naughty hands. He was panting. His expression looked pained as he restrained the wild beast inside him. It never failed to amaze him how his baby girl was bing more and more skilled in seducing him.

    He wanted her, of course. So much. However, he still needed to do something special tonight. He needed to think with his heart and head for now and not with his d*ck.

    Seeing her frustration, the corners of his lips couldn¡¯t help but lift into a smug smile. Her expression showed that she also wanted him as much as he wanted her.

    "You¡¯ve changed a lot, Liwei," she said, pouting. She still looked annoyed and frustrated, but there was also approval in her eyes.

    "I¡¯ve changed for you, baby. Only for you," he told her in a serious tone.

    She tried to stop it but her mouth twitched and a big smile broke out of her face. She buried her face against his chest, grinning like an idiot.

    Of course, Jin Liwei was also grinning like an idiot. He hugged her, inhaling her scent that he loved so much. Then uncertainty clouded the smile on his face. He forced himself to calm down because he was starting to feel nervous.

    He couldn¡¯t wait for the night toe sooner. He felt anxious and excited at the same time.

    ¡¯Whatever happens tonight, I¡¯ll always love you,¡¯ he told her in his mind. He tightened his arms around her, not wanting to let her go.

 Chapter 262 - My Lady, My Man

    <h4>Chapter 262 - My Lady, My Man </h4>

    The sun began to set, casting a stunningbination of orange and purple glow in the sky. It reflected on theke, creating an illusion of two parallel worlds about to meet and merge.

    Iris stared at the breathtaking view from therge window of the bedroom. She wished she could paint like Ashandra and immortalize the picture on canvas.

    Behind her, Jin Liwei admired her breathtaking beauty. She wore a long, white dress that was both flowy and airy. She looked like a fairy...who was about to be a bride. He already stamped this sight of her in his heart and mind, preserving the picture for as long as he lived.

    Then she turned around and looked at him. Their eyes met, feeling the connection between them. It felt like there was an invisible rope drawing them closer to each other.

    He stretched out a hand in silence. There was no need for words. Her feet started walking towards him, and she epted his hand.

    Maintaining eye contact, Jin Liwei raised and kissed the back of her hand. "Mydy."

    "Mmm..." Her other hand grabbed the cor of his shirt, pulling him down to her level. She caught his lower lip and sucked hard on it. "My man," she countered after releasing his lip.

    The tip of his tongue slowly licked his moist lower lip, faintly tasting her. A slow, sexy smile lifted the corner of his lips. He wanted to dive into her sweet mouth for more but held himself back.

    He had an important mission tonight. Remembering it, anxiety shed in his eyes but he quickly controlled it.

    "Shall we?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    They headed to the farthest wing at the end of the mansion. It was the side that was situated at the edge of a cliff with the most direct view of the greatke. The entire wing was a huge srium. The roof and the walls were all made of ss pieced together by artful beams. It was a great ce to enjoy nature without actually being outside.

    They passed through a walkway on a mezzanine over the grand greenhouse where an impressive collection of trees, nts and flowers were nted in a stylish indoor garden.

    When they reached the end of the walkway, Iris¡¯ breath caught in her throat. Her eyes widened as she looked around the ce. It was originally a lounge area but was now transformed into a flower wondend.

    Thousands of white and pink roses on green vines attached from the high ceiling swayed like curtains. Between the curtains was a pathway framed by rows ofvenders and forget-me-nots. In the middle was a red carpet of rose petals lit by candles.

    "Liwei...what..."

    She didn¡¯t know what to say. Did he do all of these for her? What for? Aren¡¯t these thousands of flowers too much? It wasn¡¯t her birthday yet, nor was it his birthday. She wracked her brain for a special asion to warrant such an extravagant surprise but came out nk. Her hands tightened on his hand, silently asking him what was going on.

    He leaned closer to her and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Congrattions on your amazing performances at the concert and also on your uingpanies and album...and all of your other achievements so far. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll achieve more sess in the future. I¡¯m so proud of you, baby."

    "Oh." So that was the reason for all of these. She smiled. "Thank you, Liwei." Then she looked around again. "This is so beautiful. So this is why you¡¯ve been so secretive since we were in Munich?"

    He didn¡¯t reply, only giving her another mysterious smile.

    They walked together holding each other¡¯s hands over the red carpet of rose petals. When they reached the end of the pathway, Iris was in for another surprise.

    A romantic candlelit dinner table for two was set up in the middle of a heart-shaped formation of more red petals. The ss wall behind showed the beautiful view of the shimmeringke under the evening sky.

    Iris¡¯ smile widened. Her heart fluttered seeing all the effort Jin Liwei made for her just to congratte her on her achievements. When she turned to him, he was looking at her, as if memorizing every nuance of her reactions.

    "You like it?" His voice was low and sensuous.

    "Yes, very much."

    "Good."

    He led her to the table and pulled a chair for her before taking a seat on the opposite chair. His hand reached over the table and continued to hold her hand, never taking his eyes off of her.

    At that moment, a group of people carrying instruments walked to them. It was a four-piece band consisting of guitar, orgto, tambourine and harmonica. They began serenading the couple with Italian love songs.

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up, enjoying the folk-style melody and the sharine lyrics. Although she was just starting to understand and appreciate romance, she now knew why many people would say that Italian was a romantguage.

    When the first song ended, she wanted to p but Jin Liwei was holding one of her hands. She raised an eyebrow at him but his gaze on her never wavered. It made her heart skip a beat. Clearing her throat, she looked at the musicians again.

    "Bravo!" Because she couldn¡¯t p, she praised them instead.

    They bowed in thanks and started ying another song. A waiter in crisp ck tuxedo appeared carrying a pitcher of non-alcoholic sangria. Jin Liwei took into ount that his baby girl didn¡¯t drink alcohol.

    The couple enjoyed a full-course Italian dinner. All of the dishes were delicious and artfully presented. They weren¡¯t only a feast for the taste buds but also for the eyes. They were all cooked and prepared by a famous Italian chef who flew all the way from Venice.

    Iris didn¡¯t know but Jin Liwei spent a big amount of time, effort and of course money to persuade the chef. Despite this, the chef was still hesitant. It was only when he used his connection with Maestro De Luca that the chef finally epted his offer.

    After the delightful dinner, the couple chatted for a bit. Jin Liwei kept his tone light, but inside he was barely keeping everything together. His heart was racing and he was sweating under his clothes.

    "Are you alright?" Iris asked, noticing his difort.

    "En." Then he stood up and held up his hand to her. "Come, baby. There¡¯s something I want to show you."

    She tilted her head to the side. There was more?

    "Okay," she said and epted his hand. "Hm?" She raised an eyebrow when she felt his damp hand. She opened her mouth, about to ask what was wrong with him but stopped when she saw his serious expression.

    So she allowed him to lead her to the other end of the hall. Amazement struck her when she discovered that the entire mezzanine was decorated with the seemingly endless roses and other flowers.

    Finally, they stopped a few steps away from the railing.

    Iris became confused. When she looked at Jin Liwei again, she grew concerned because huge drops of sweat were now flowing down his face.

    "Liwei, are you ok¡ª"

    "Baby," he interrupted her. "I¡¯m going to show you something."

    She hesitated before nodding.

    He led her to the railing. "Look down."

    She did.

    What she saw down there shocked her, making her gasp. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened. Then she felt Jin Liwei move beside her.

    She turned, bing even more shocked. Her heart almost jumped out of her throat because of his next actions.

    Jin Liwei fell down on one knee in front of her.

 Chapter 263 - Title Is A Spoiler

    <h4>Chapter 263 - Title Is A Spoiler </h4>

    On the floor below the mezzanine, hundreds of lit candles spelled out the words "Marry Me?" encircled by a heart-shaped formation of more candles.

    The sight dumbfounded Iris. She knew what the words meant but they didn¡¯t seem to make sense in her head.

    When Jin Liwei fell down on one knee, it confused and shocked her so much that she forgot how to think.

    What genius? In front of love, all became stupid.

    "I love you the most in this entire world, Long Xin," he began speaking. His voice trembled, filled with emotion. "I never imagined that I would ever feel this way or love another person this much in my life. I promise to love you, take care of you, and cherish you. I¡¯ll support you in whatever you want to do and be there for you whenever you need me. I love you so much."

    He pulled out something from his pocket and held it up to her. It was a small red velvet box. He opened it and a diamond ring sparkled inside.

    "Baby, will you marry me?"

    Iris froze, her mind goingpletely nk.

    Jin Liwei held his breath, waiting in anxiety for her reaction and response. The chef, the waiter, the musicians and all the household staff also held their breaths, anticipation in their eyes.

    The clock ticked, heightening the tension.

    He began to sweat even more. The hand holding the box started shaking but he controlled it.

    A full minute passed but still she didn¡¯t move or say anything. Jin Liwei¡¯s heart became heavier and heavier as more seconds ticked by.

    His face fell.

    It hurt.

    The other people witnessing the scene looked at each other in dismay, shaking their heads in pity at the poor man. They sighed and began to silently withdraw from the depressing atmosphere.

    "Baby..." His voice broke. He was unable to say anything more. "Hah..." Gulping air to control his turbulent emotions, he began to lower the box.

    Suddenly, Iris pounced on him. He was knocked down and he fell on his back to the floor, making him groan. He hurriedly snapped the box closed because the ring almost fell out.

    He felt her squeeze herself close to him, as if trying to bury herself inside him.

    "Baby?"

    He had no idea what was happening. Was she mad at him? It didn¡¯t feel like it. Then what was she doing? He was perplexed.

    She finally lifted her head and looked down at him. Her eyes glistened before tears fell down, sshing on to his face.

    His heart stopped for a beat. Then he panicked. "Baby, what¡¯s wrong? Why are you crying? Please don¡¯t cry. I¡¯m sorry."

    He clumsily wiped her tears with his fingers.

    She framed his face with her hands. Tears continued to fall down from her eyes, but she didn¡¯t look upset. In fact, there was a soft smile on her face.

    "I love you too, Liwei," she told him.

    His heart stopped for a beat again before racing wildly inside his chest. Hope filled him once more, but he restrained it and acted cautious instead.

    "So...will you...will you marry me?" he asked again.

    She nodded.

    Now it was his turn to have his mind go nk. "Wha-what?"

    Lowering her head, Iris gave him a sweet kiss on his slightly open mouth. Then she breathed her reply into his mouth, "Yes, I¡¯ll marry you, Jin Liwei."

    He inhaled sharply. Was this really happening? Did she really say yes? Please someone tell him that this was really happening! It felt like his soul flew out of his body and then mmed back inside. After the initial shock, a wave of pure happiness flooded him.

    "Really? Baby, say it again." His tone was intense and urgent. He was afraid that he heard her wrongly earlier.

    "I said I¡¯ll marry you," she repeated.

    "Oh." His eyes widened in wonder. "Oh," he repeated and then began tough. "Oh baby!"

    Grabbing her head, he kissed her hungrily and happily on the mouth. He continued tough. Delighted, he felt like he was floating in the air. He pressed their foreheads together, looking deep into each other¡¯s eyes. Then he remembered something important.

    "The ring!" He turned his head and reached for the velvet box which was now lying carelessly beside them on the floor. He asked her. "Can I put the ring on you now?"

    "Okay."

    They sat up while still staying close to each other. Iris sat between his legs. She rested her head on his shoulder, watching him fumble with the box before managing to open it. The diamond ring seemed to gleam even more brightly than the first time he opened the box.

    Jin Liwei took the ring out. Finally, he slid it on Iris¡¯ finger. It fit perfectly.

    Seeing the ring he chose on his baby girl¡¯s finger made him choke up with emotion. Love and happiness overflowed from within him. He couldn¡¯t help but grab her head again, kissing her more deeply and more passionately.

    The other people watching didn¡¯t understand Chinese, so they were caught off-guard by this development. They thought that all was lost when Iris failed to respond earlier. But seeing Jin Liwei grinning so widely that his face might split and putting the ring on hisdy¡¯s finger, the others knew that the proposal was a sess.

    They cheered, whistled, pped their hands and expressed their congrattions to the newly engaged couple. The musicians took their instruments and began ying a congrattory tune.

    Iris¡¯ tears of happiness stopped. It transformed into a big smile of happiness, matching Jin Liwei¡¯s wide grin.

    "You like it?" He asked her, referring to the ring.

    "Yes." She wiggled her fingers, marvelling at the weightlessness. It didn¡¯t feel like she had a ring on at all.

    The ring looked delicate and elegant, unlike the ostentatious engagement rings with giant rocks many men of Jin Liwei¡¯s wealth and status gave theirdies. However, it didn¡¯t mean that this ring was simple. On the contrary, the design was exquisite. A round diamond¡ªnot too big but not too small either¡ªsat at the centre, surrounded by other tiny diamonds in a flower-like pattern. There were also other tinier diamonds artfully iid on the ring¡¯s surface.

    Despite its appearance, it was surprisingly light.

    "I had it specially designed and made from a super lightweight material," he told her. "You¡¯re a pianist and I know that heavy rings will interfere with your ying. That¡¯s why I got you this. I want you to wear your engagement ring even when you¡¯re ying. I hope that you won¡¯t have to take it off."

    Iris was touched by his thoughtfulness.

    "Thank you."

    "No, baby. Thank YOU for epting my proposal. You¡¯ve made me the happiest man in the world."

    The musicians changed up the lively, celebratory tune to a slow, romantic music.

    "Would mydy grant me a dance?"

    She giggled. "Yes, of course."

    They stood up. She wrapped her arms around his neck while he encircled her waist with his hands, pressing their bodies close together. They started swaying with the music, looking deeply at each other¡¯s eyes. They kissed each other; sometimes gentle, sometimes intense.

    "I love you, baby."

    "I love you too, darling."

    The two basked in their love and happiness, savouring the moment like they were the only two people in the world.

    Happily ever after?

    Not yet.

    This wasn¡¯t an ending, but a new beginning.

    ###

    Chapter Title: Will You Marry Me?

 Chapter 264 - No Going Back

    <h4>Chapter 264 - No Going Back </h4>

    Jin Liwei carried Iris in his arms like a princess...no, like his queen. He carried her like she was his most precious treasure. The distance from the srium wing to their bedroom was far, but he insisted on carrying her all the way.

    It didn¡¯t help that she was kissing and caressing him all over. He felt like he was burning in a delicious fire the entire time he was walking while carrying her. He needed her water to douse his fire...but not yet.

    Finally, they reached the bedroom. The lights were turned off but the moonlight cast a soft, dreamy glow inside. Long shadows danced as dark clouds moved to obstruct and reveal the moon in mysterious undtions.

    He set her down on her feet. For a few moments, they just stared at each other.

    "You¡¯re so beautiful," he whispered.

    She looked flushed, her eyes heavy with desire. Her hair framed her small, alluring face like midnight silk. Her long white dress fluttered with each tiny movement. Under the moonlight, she became even more beautiful.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that such an amazing woman was his.

    It was Iris who moved first. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down as she stood on her tippy-toes to kiss him.

    The kiss was slow and sensual. They savoured each other as if they had all the time in the world. However, the mes of desire inside their bodies only burned hotter the longer they kissed. Their breathing quickened. Their kiss became hungrier.

    "Darling..." Her arms tightened around his neck and she pressed her body more urgently against him. Her eyes silently asked him...demanded him.

    Desire raged in full-force when he saw her expression. He knew what she wanted. He wanted it too, of course. So much. But...

    "Baby, we¡¯re not married yet." Oh, the self-control he needed to say these words.

    She pursed her lips at him, displeased. "We¡¯re engaged," she countered.

    Inside his mind, a fierce battle was being fought between Liwei the Angel and Liwei the Devil.

    Angel Liwei: "Wait until you¡¯re married. It will make the moment more special."

    Devil Liwei: "She wants it, you want it. Why wait? You¡¯re already engaged. Go for it!"

    Angel Liwei: "Waiting for the right moment¡ªyour wedding night¡ªwill increase the anticipation you have for each other. In turn, it will make it more pleasurable for both of you when you finally do it."

    Devil Liwei: "Are you stupid? The right moment is right now! If you continue to wait any longer, instead of increasing anticipation, you¡¯ll both die of frustration instead!"

    Jin Liwei continued to debate inside his mind. Should they wait? Or should they do it now?

    In the end, it was Iris who decided for both of them. She lost patience waiting for his response. While he stood there in a daze like a stupid idiot, her hands went to work unbuttoning his shirt.

    He finally regained his senses. He caught her hands. "Baby, wait."

    "Shut up."

    His mouth mmed shut, a bit surprised by her aggressiveness. He allowed her to take his shirt off. She tossed it away. Then she looked up at him with a serious expression.

    "Liwei, I want you. Do you want me?"

    "Yes, of course. I not only want you, I also love you. So much."

    She hooked her fingers on the waistband of his trousers, pulling him closer to her. "I said it earlier today. You¡¯ve really changed. If this was before, you¡¯d have already pushed me down the bed and had your way with me. You were so shameless, even though you im that you¡¯ve never touched other women before."

    "You¡¯re the only one," he said, frowning at the mention of other women. "You¡¯re the first and only woman to awaken my desire, that I always found myself on the verge of losing control around you back then...and you¡¯re also the only woman that I¡¯ll love so much like this."

    He stroked her cheek. "Long Xin, I want to marry you. I want to make love with you. I want you to be the mother of my children. I want us to build a family together."

    "Jin Liwei, we¡¯ll do all those things together. But first, I need you tonight."

    His breath sped up. He looked at her deep in the eyes. "Are you sure?"

    "Yes."

    "If we do this, there¡¯s no going back."

    "Darling, when you first barged into my life, there was already no going back."

    These words of hers unleashed the raging desire he was controlling so hard. His hands slid down her back to her butt, squeezing her plump behind before lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed each other hungrily...desperately.

    He carried her to the bed and lowered her on it. He looked down at her, admiring her sensual appearance contrasted by her demure white dress. The sight made his already hard little brother down below be even harder.

    Leaning forward over her, he supported his weight with one hand on the bed while his other hand trailed a scorching caress up her leg. His hand went up...up...up under her dress, trailing further until it reached her hip.

    "Liwei..."

    "Patience, my love."

    A whine escaped from her lips but she stayed still and tried to be patient.

    He gave her a soft kiss before proceeding to remove her dress. He gently gathered it and pulled it up over her head, tossing it to the floor.

    Her hands reached his pants. She unzipped him. But before she could free his erection, he caught her hands and kissed each of them. Then he lowered his head and kissed her on the mouth.

    Their tongues dueled against each other which only made their desire more desperate.

    He unsped her bra and it followed her dress on the floor. He continued to kiss her mouth while his hands became busy kneading her soft breasts, making her moan.

    Then he released her mouth and trailed wet kisses down her neck, chest, licking a path towards one of her breasts. His mouth closed in on a nipple and sucked hard.

    She gasped and held his head in ce. Her back arched, pushing her breasts even more towards him.

    Of course, he made sure not to neglect her other nipple, sucking it as hard as he sucked the first one. While his mouth was preupied with her breasts, his hand crawled down to her hips. He tugged her panties off. It soon followed her dress and bra on the floor.

    Finally, she waspletely naked. He looked down at her, admiring her. The moonlight streaming from the windows made her look all the more tantalizing in his eyes.

    The wild beast inside him roared to life, hungry for her. He opened her legs wide, exposing everything of her for him to see.

    She turned her head to the side, feeling a bit shy. However, she didn¡¯t close her legs. She was also hungry for him.

    "So cute," he whispered, smiling at her shyness.

    His hands reached down at the apex of her thighs, inhaling sharply when he felt her wetness. He rubbed her soft and wet folds, making her twitch and moan. He watched her expression as he pleasured her with his hands. But he wanted more. He wanted to taste her.

    She whined when he removed his hand. Chuckling, he sucked his fingers dripping with her juices before lowering his head between her thighs. Her scent made him leak a little inside his pants.

    He licked her wet slit and felt her shiver. Then he began top and suck her. His arms circled around her thighs to keep her jerking hips in ce. He ate her until she thrashed on the bed sheets and cried out again and again.

    "Liwei! Oh Liwei! Ah!" She stiffened and then trembled violently as she reached her orgasm.

    He continued to eat her without mercy, intensifying her climax. He didn¡¯t care that she was pulling his hair, almost yanking them out from his scalp. When she was done, shey weakly on the bed.

    "We¡¯re not done yet, baby."

    "Mmn..."

    He climbed off the bed and headed to the connecting walk-in wardrobe. Momentster, he returned with a box of condoms. He discovered a few boxes at the bottom of his suitcase while they were still in Munich. It seemed that his butler remembered to pack them without being instructed. He should give the good man a raise when they returned.

    After cing the box on the bedside table, he removed his pants. His erection sprang free. He stroked himself first, catching Iris licking her lips while watching him pleasure himself. His lips curved into a smug smile. He took one foil of condom from the box and climbed on the bed.

    "Are you sure about this?" He had to ask again when he reached her.

    "Yes. I¡¯m sure. Darling, don¡¯t worry."

    Her answer was all he needed to hear. He ced himself between her legs. Then he tore the foil open and covered himself with the condom.

    Lowering his hips, he positioned his erection at her wet entrance.

 Chapter 265 - Best Night Ever

    <h4>Chapter 265 - Best Night Ever </h4>

    Both of them panted in anticipation at what was about to happen. Their hearts raced inside their chests.

    Iris bit her lip and watched Jin Liwei. He was drenched in sweat, his expression strained. A vein throbbed in his forehead. Nevertheless, these only made him look sexier to her.

    Although they already did so many erotic deeds together before, she still felt nervous right now. This was the first time that they would make love all the way after all.

    Holding his erection, he didn¡¯t enter her right away. He rubbed his tip all over her wet entrance first.

    Her eyes closed. She touched her own breasts, kneading them, as she enjoyed the pleasure he was giving her. She was vaguely aware of her hips moving in a restless manner.

    She opened her heavy-lidded eyes when she felt his hard, sweaty body press on top of her. They kissed with open mouths. She ran her hands all over his hair and muscled back.

    He continued to kiss her while beginning to push inside her. It was still only his tip that entered her but it already felt so d*mn good. His heart hammered in excitement inside his chest. Using his elbow as support, he raised his upper body so that he could have a better view of her flushed face.

    She looked so sexy that he felt his erection harden even more.

    Maintaining eye contact, he gritted his teeth and pushed all the way inside her. He felt the fragile obstruction of her hymen tearing from his invasion.

    "Ah!" Her body stiffened and she hugged his neck tightly.

    He released a loud groan at the pleasure of finally being inside her. It felt so d*mn good! She felt so f*cking good!

    His instincts told him to ram himself into her, but he controlled himself. Her arms around his neck was so tight that it felt like she was choking him. She was also stiff, squeezing his erection inside her.

    "You¡¯re so tight...are you alright?"

    "It hurts..."

    He coaxed her to open her eyes and to look at him. Her eyes were watery, both from pleasure and pain. He kissed her eyes, tasting her tears.

    "Rx. I¡¯ll make you feel good soon. Okay, baby?"

    "...¡¯kay."

    He kissed her mouth and massaged her breasts. Then his hips began to slowly grind against her. Her tense body gradually rxed. She began to undte her hips in time with his grinding.

    When she began moaning, it was as if he received a signal. He pulled his length until it was almost out of her. Then he thrust back hard, earning a loud moan from her. Seeing that she didn¡¯t look like she was in pain anymore, he began thrusting in and out of her.

    Iris felt like her entire body was alive and on fire, like all of her nerve endings were active and stimted all at the same time. It still hurt but the pleasure was quickly overshadowing the pain.

    Jin Liwei straightened his arms, pressing his hands on the bed beside her shoulders to support his weight. Having a clear view of her below him, he increased his rhythm.

    Their sounds of pleasure fueled their desire for each other.

    She reached up and touched his face and body, as he continued his delicious thrusts inside her. Huge drops of his sweat fell down on her naked skin, mixing with her own. She knew from his taut expression that he was still controlling his pace for her.

    "Darling...it¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t hold back. Give me everything you¡¯ve got."

    It was as if her words snapped his control. He growled and seemed to transform into a wild and hungry beast. His hips pumped her hard and fast, making her bounce upwards on the bed. One of his arms circled her waist to hold her in ce, as he continued to thrust inside her in reckless abandon.

    "Oh! Liwei! Oh f*ck!" Iris couldn¡¯t stop her uncharacteristic cursing because it felt like she was drowning in pleasure.

    But this wasn¡¯t enough for Jin Liwei. He sat up, grabbed her legs and ced them over his shoulders. Then he pushed forward, folding her in half until her own legs touched her shoulders between the two of them.

    The position made her feel him deeper inside her, making her cry out in pleasure.

    "Baby, look at me!"

    Her eyes snapped open and saw his savage expression. He looked like he was about to devour her. And in a sense, he was already devouring her.

    His next actions made her feel like she was losing her mind. He mmed his hips from above her again and again. They could hear the loud, wet, pping sounds of their flesh. The sounds only served to turn them on even more.

    Tears flowed down Iris¡¯ eyes from the sheer pleasure. She couldn¡¯t really move in this position. All she could do was to hold on to him for dear life and take everything he was giving her. The ball of intense pleasure was building up quickly inside her until she couldn¡¯t hold it anymore. It exploded, making her scream so loud the entire mansion must have heard her.

    He followed her soon after with a roar as loud as her scream. He stiffened and twitched as he spurted his release while inside her. Catching her mouth, he kissed her hard and swallowed her whimpers.

    She groaned when he slid out of her. He quickly tied up the used condom which was stained a little with blood and discarded it.

    Both of them were breathing hard, but their eyes were bright. They almost couldn¡¯t believe how amazing it felt. So this was making love. What they did before was just scratching the tip of an iceberg. The real thing felt many times better.

    "Liwei...that was so amazing."

    "En."

    "Let¡¯s do it again."

    His mouth lifted into a sexy smile. "As mydymands."

    They kissed, more rxed this time. His hand crawled down to her wet folds, rubbing and stroking. Then a long finger slid inside her, imitating what his d*ck did earlier. When her hips started gyrating, he added another finger and increased the pace. Very soon, she was panting and moaning.

    His little brother down below awakened in no time. It stood up hard in excitement, ready for another round of action.

    She reached for his erection, wrapped it around her fingers, and began stroking him. They pleasured each other with their hands like this.

    When he removed his fingers, she released a sound ofint. He reassured her with a kiss before getting another condom. He tore the foil and sheathed himself again.

    "Turn over, baby."

    She turned to lie on her stomach. He pulled her hips so that her butt was sticking up in the air while her upper body remained pressed down on the bed. He separated her legs wide apart and positioned himself behind her.

    They both moaned in pleasure when he slid smoothly inside her. Holding her hips, he began pumping.

    "Ah! So good, baby."

    "Yes...more..."

    Their flesh pped against each other. He pulled her up until she was sitting in front of him with her back against his chest. They moved together in a sensual rhythm. She threw her head back, resting it beside his head.

    One of his hands yed with her breasts while his other hand rubbed her down there, making her cry out. She turned her head towards him for a kiss.

    When the pleasure became too much for her, she returned her upper body to the bed. She clutched the bed sheets as he increased his pace behind her. Her toes curled as pleasure built up inside her again. She bit on a pillow with a muffled scream upon reaching another climax.

    As for Jin Liwei, he continued to pound into her. He was nowhere near his own orgasm yet. He continued his relentless rhythm until she experienced another building up within her.

    She was helpless, almost sobbing from the pure pleasure. Her entire mind at the moment waspletely filled with him and the sensations he was making her feel.

    He pushed her down the bed with his body, going into hyper-drive, sending both of them to another triumphant climax.

    ###

    For the rest of the night, the newly engaged couple continued to make love. The two of them had matching libidos. They couldn¡¯t get enough of each other.

    At first, Iris could still keep up with Jin Liwei. But by the fourth round, it was obvious that he had more stamina than her. She was also beginning to feel sore. However, she refused to lose to him.

    It was after the fifth round that she couldn¡¯t hold on any longer. She just passed out after her orgasm.

    Ready for the sixth round, Jin Liwei found his baby girl already in deep sleep. He chuckled. He was still feeling energetic but he couldn¡¯t do anything because Iris was the type that was difficult to wake up once asleep.

    He cleaned both of them with a wet towel before lying beside her. He pulled her in his embrace and covered them with the duvet.

    Happiness flowed within him. Being engaged to marry felt awesome. He felt like his love for her just grew deeper.

    "Best night ever, my love," he whispered.

    He kissed her before sleeping with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 266 - Coming Back Soon

    <h4>Chapter 266 - Coming Back Soon </h4>

    Apart from JJ¡¯s recordbel¡¯s consistent promotions and the ck Stars¡¯ undying support, Iris Long¡¯s position in showbiz began to diminish. Even the hype surrounding the uing indie film "Strong Yet Broken" eventually dwindled after her sudden disappearance. Her music had also fallen from the charts.

    The upward trajectory of her music career which took off with such a powerful momentum during hereback suddenly halted. Many shook their heads in regret, thinking that she had missed her chance to gain a stable foothold in the music industry.

    Bright Summitbelled both Iris and Jin Chonglin as artists on hiatus. Unlike Iris, however, Jin Chonglin¡¯s position in the industry remained as solid as ever. Not only had he been in showbiz longer, but he was also already one of the biggest stars. His fan base was alsorger with members not only in the country but also across Asia. He could afford a hiatus and not suffer too much unlike her.

    The public had moved on from the shocking scandals that caused the abrupt hiatuses of these two artists.

    The ck Stars fan club, especially the Slippers Army, became temporarily inactive because there weren¡¯t a lot of people bashing their Boss Iris online anymore. To be more specific, there weren¡¯t a lot of people talking about their boss anymore besides them.

    Some of them were missing the thrilling chaos of their online battles as they waved their virtual mighty slippers in the name of their Boss Iris. In addition to their boss¡¯ disappearance, their troll leader iEatSlippers wasn¡¯t online that much anymore as well. He told them he was busy helping a friend set up apany.

    In short, Iris Long was already being forgotten.

    Then one day, people noticed that she finally updated her social media pages. She posted:

    "I¡¯m sorry and thank you for waiting. I¡¯ming back soon."

    A short video was attached. It showed her ying a few chords on the piano of the film version of "Phantom of Your Love". After the thirty-second melody teaser, she closed her eyes and gave a soft, gentle smile. Somehow, she looked even more beautiful than before, as if there was a radiant glow within her.

    The reaction was instantaneous.

    +99,984

    +896,003

    +1,726,903 likes and counting.

    In just about an hour, it already received more than a million views. The ck Stars went crazy with delight, excitement and anticipation. They had been so worried about her. They couldn¡¯t wait to see their Boss Iris and listen to her music again.

    CaptainckStar: "Wee back, Boss! The entire ck Stars fan club and the mighty Slipper Army unit are all awaiting for your grand return! We hope that you¡¯re in good health and spirits. Thank you very much for not abandoning us! We love you, Boss Iris Long!"

    While the ck Stars celebrated their boss¡¯ uing return, the media also caught up with the news. The media¡¯s interest in Iris reignited. The almost forgotten scandal of Fan Luo ordering her car ident because of jealousy was ced under the spotlight once again.

    Of course, Jin Chonglin¡¯s name was dragged into the mix because he was the reason for Fan Luo¡¯s jealousy. Jin Chonglin had previously spoken out about the scandal before he went on hiatus, denouncing his ex-fianc¨¦e as an evil woman.

    They already heard from him, so people were eager to hear from Iris as the victim next.

    Everyone had been waiting for her own statement. They wanted to ask her so many questions. What were her thoughts about the crime? How did she handle the truth when she learned about it? Did she hate Jin Chonglin? He was technically the reason why Fan Luo attempted to kill her.

    "Iris Long" became the most searched keyword on the inte in just a day.

    Then aizen made an astonishing discovery while searching for information about her. He found photos of her all over the European news. It showed various images of her wearing a gorgeous fiery red dress.

    Theizens used an online trantor to read the contents of the articles featuring her. They became shocked when they finished reading and learned what she had been up to while she was gone.

    "Holy sh*t! The articles say that Iris performed at Maestro De Luca¡¯s concert!"

    "How can this be? She¡¯s not even a ssical musician. Why would a maestro of such high standing invite her to perform with him at his own concert? This doesn¡¯t make sense."

    Of course, the ck Stars were ecstatic and proud. They celebrated more, almost taking over the discussion forums. They asked Iris if it was true.

    Iris actually replied to them. She posted:

    "Yes, it¡¯s true. I had the opportunity to perform with the great Maestro Ludovico De Luca at his orchestra concert in Munich, Germany. It was such a wonderful experience that I will never forget in this lifetime."

    Everyone became even crazier after her confirmation. Most people congratted her and felt proud as her fellow countrymen. However, there were some who criticized her.

    "I thought Iris Long was recuperating at a hospital. They said she was traumatized but look! She was having the time of her life rubbing shoulders with famous people and even performing at such an important concert. She doesn¡¯t look traumatized at all! What a liar!"

    These criticisms angered the ck Stars. The Slippers Army immediately mobilized. This time, they were led by LittlePhoenix. They were a little disorganized in the absence of their troll leader iEatSlippers and strategist MonkeyFace. However, they felt energized at being able to freely wave their virtual mighty slippers again and whack all the enemies bashing their Boss Iris.

    While the Slippers Army was finally back in action, the discussion in the forums continued.

    MrsLovePhantom: "Maestro De Luca is also well-respected in our country and has coborated with some of our own country¡¯s musical prides. I remember attending a concert of him and Maestro Liu Wei a few years ago."

    CaptainckStar: "Liu Wei? That snob pianist who belittled our boss?"

    When Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s name was brought up, many remembered how he criticized Iris as a mere pop singer pretending to be a ssical musician with her simplistic piano transcription. He couldn¡¯t ept that Iris¡¯ sessful piano album "Rebirth Melodies" wasbelled as ssical music.

    Comments popped up making fun of the maestro.

    "Hahaha! What a p in the face! He criticized Iris as someone pretending to be a ssical musician, but then another maestro who¡¯s more respected and renowned than him invited her to y in a ssical concert! The European music critics are even calling Iris as a rising star of ssical music! Let¡¯s hear what that oh so high and mighty maestro has to say."

    The issue was blown out of proportion that even the media got involved, seeking out the ssical pianist. A reporter recorded his response.

    "From which source did you get this information? From the inte? Although I¡¯m not young anymore, even I¡¯m aware of the proliferation of fake news online," Maestro Liu Wei said. "I won¡¯t believe this im until I watch the actual video recording of her ying at Maestro De Luca¡¯s concert. iming to perform with a world-renowned ssical musician without proof is so shameless. It¡¯s sacrilege! Maybe she just attended the concert as part of the audience."

    Supporters of the maestro voiced out their agreement with him. They demanded for Iris to show a video of her performance at Maestro De Luca¡¯s concert.

    Unfortunately, the recorded version of the Munich concert hadn¡¯t been released yet. It would take some time before they would be made avable. The audience weren¡¯t allowed to record the concert with their own devices.

    Without this evidence, the ssical musicians siding with Maestro Liu Wei called Iris an attention seeker and a liar.

    As for Maestro Liu Wei, he was holding a grudge against Iris ever since he noticed that someone was suppressing him from the shadows. Many wealthy and influential people started snubbing him, not inviting him to important social events anymore. He also noticed that his attempts to book the best concert halls in the country were being denied.

    He didn¡¯t know what was happening at first until someone gave him a hint.

    "You offended someone powerful."

    All the maestro could think about was that it started after he criticized Iris Long. She must¡¯ve used the Long family¡¯s influence to suppress him. He began to hate her.

    "Who does she think she is? Just because she¡¯s born into a prominent family, she thinks she owns the world and can control the lives of other people? And now she¡¯s even iming to perform with Maestro De Luca? Preposterous!"

    Even though high society began ostracizing him, Maestro Liu Wei still held great influence in the country¡¯s world of ssical music. So with just a few words from him, several ssical musicians began discrediting Iris even before making her secondeback.

 Chapter 267 - Do You Want To Have A Baby?

    <h4>Chapter 267 - Do You Want To Have A Baby? </h4>

    While themotion online and on the media about Iris continued to escte in the next days, the newly engaged couple finally returned to the country.

    Xu Tian and Jin Liwei¡¯s other subordinates picked them up from the airport.

    "Wee back, President and Miss Long," Xu Tian greeted them.

    His eyes immediately zeroed in on the engagement ring on Iris¡¯ finger. He inwardly released a sigh of relief. The President barely functioned like a human being when she left him. Xu Tian didn¡¯t want to imagine what would be of the President if she rejected his proposal.

    After all the luggage were loaded, they drove away from the airport. Iris and Jin Liwei sat together at the backseat. Xu Tian sat on the front passenger seat beside the driver. Another vehicle with Jin Liwei¡¯s other subordinates followed close behind carrying the rest of the luggage.

    Xu Tian informed the couple that the condominium building and the Long ancestral residence were once again surrounded by reporters after Iris announced her return. So even when Iris wanted to go home to the penthouse, it wasn¡¯t safe to do so at the moment. They headed straight to Jin Liwei¡¯s mansion at Dragon Pce Home #10 instead.

    Seeing his baby girl¡¯s disappointment, he felt determined to make her feel at home in the mansion. He already began making ns in his head on how to aplish this.

    When they arrived at the mansion, they were weed by familiar faces. Two streaks of grey and orange shot towards Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Meow! Meow!"

    "Meow~ Meow~"

    Ice Cream and Popcorn both leaped up to Iris¡¯ arms. Jin Liwei moved fast and caught Popcorn first, while Iris caught the slower and heavier Ice Cream.

    Popcorn whined a bit because he intended to be hugged by his Mommy first. But he also missed his Daddy so he rubbed himself against Jin Liwei, begging to be petted.

    While the two petted their excited kittens who were meowing and purring nonstop, a toddler also made his way towards them.

    "Mama! Papa!"

    Little Jun had his little arms extended towards them as he toddled with a big smile on his cute face.

    Still carrying Ice Cream in her arms, Iris walked with long strides to her godson. Then she shifted Ice Cream to one arm and squatted to hug Little Jun with her other arm. The boy wrapped his little arms around her neck and gave her a wet kiss on the cheek.

    "Wuwuwu! Boss! I missed you so much! I¡¯m so happy you¡¯re back! Wuwuwu!" Dom sobbed.

    Jiang Ying Yue stood beside him with a weing expression. "Little Jun missed you so much. He wouldn¡¯t let go of his Uncle Dom¡¯s leg when he heard him say your name before leaving the penthouse earlier. So we ended up tagging along. I hope we¡¯re not a bother."

    "Not at all. I¡¯m d that you¡¯re all here to wee us back. I also missed my godson."

    Jin Liwei was still in his original position carrying Popcorn a few steps behind Iris and the others. Popcorn jumped out of his arms to join them. While the group was talking, Jin Liwei turned to Xu Tian beside him.

    "Buy the condominium," he instructed.

    His assistant wasn¡¯t surprised, immediately going into business mode. "Are we buying Miss Long¡¯s building by itself from Gold Heights? Or are we buying Gold Heights? Thepany has several condominium buildings scattered in three major cities in the country."

    "Hmm... Make an offer to buy the entire Gold Heightspany. If they agree, go for it. If not, just buy the condo building by itself. We can always set up a new real estatepany to manage it. Either way, put the purchase under my fianc¨¦e¡¯s name."

    "Understood, President. I¡¯ll start working on it right away."

    Jin Liwei nodded. A faint smile was obvious on his face. He felt pleased referring to Iris as his fianc¨¦e. He couldn¡¯t wait until he could openly refer to her as his wife.

    "Once the purchase is finalized, improve the building¡¯s security, especially in the penthouse and my godson¡¯s unit."

    After giving instructions concerning the penthouse, he also gave renovation and redecoration orders for the mansion. He wanted his baby girl to treat this ce as home like the penthouse. He wanted to add a recording studio and aputer room for her, and also a cat room for the kittens.

    When she left him, he slept with the kittens in his bedroom. Now that they were together again, he decided that the kittens should have their own room just like in the penthouse. It was important because he and his baby girl had started making love. He didn¡¯t want the kids in the same room during their sexy time.

    In addition to the renovations, he also ordered for aplete redecoration of the mansion. He wanted the interior design to reflect their status as a couple.

    He had no intention of persuading Iris to give up the penthouse as primary residence. They could have both. There would be times that they would need to stay at the penthouse. Compared to the mansion, it was at a convenient location that was rtively near Bright Summit, JJ¡¯s recordbel and the major TV stations. On the other hand, the mansion was nearer Jin Corporation.

    After giving out the instructions to Xu Tian, Jin Liwei joined the group. They were still talking.

    "Papa!" Little Jun called out, reaching for him from Iris¡¯ arms.

    He took the child and carried him, listening to his happy babbling. Jin Liwei¡¯s expression looked cold and serious, but everyone in the group already knew him enough by now to notice the gentleness in his eyes while looking at his godson.

    "Ehehe. I see that boss is wearing a diamond ring. Since boss is a pianist, I know that she only wears rings on rare asions. So the fact that she¡¯s wearing a ring right now immediately caught my attention. I don¡¯t want to assume but I¡¯m assuming... Could it be? Ehehe." Dom waggled his eyebrows in unconcealed excitement.

    Iris smiled, continuing to pet the kittens. "Mmn...yes. We¡¯re engaged," she murmured.

    Dom froze.

    Jiang Ying Yue gasped, surprised. Then she nodded afterwards, as if she already expected it.

    As for Dom, his reaction looked like it was in slow motion. His mouth fell down first, then his eyes opened wide. Even his gasp was drawn-out.

    Little Jun giggled and pped his hands when he saw his Uncle Dom¡¯sical expression. The child must¡¯ve thought that his uncle was making funny faces for him.

    "Anko! Anko Dom!"

    Iris and Jin Liwei shared an amused look.

    "Waaaah! Is this really happening?!" Dom finally regained his senses. He looked at his two bosses, his eyes streaming with flood of happy tears. He jumped up and down. "Wuwuwu! I knew it! I knew it from the start that boss and sir boss are meant for each other! My Momsy always told me that I have super-duper urate intuition. See? I¡¯m right! Wuwuwu! I¡¯m so happy! Boss, sir boss! May you live happily ever after and make beautiful babies, so that Ice Cream, Popcorn and Little Jun can have ymates! I love your babies already even though they¡¯re not born yet!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened at the mention of babies. Her hand subconsciously went to rest on her stomach.

    Jin Liwei saw her action. A desire to impregnate her rose within him. He took a few deep breaths to control himself.

    "We¡¯ll have a wedding first and then have children," he announced. "We can have them anytime whenever you¡¯re ready. Don¡¯t feel pressured, love."

    "Do you want to have a baby?" she asked, observing his expression.

    "Of course."

    "Oh... Okay."

 Chapter 268 - Your Happiness Is My Happiness

    <h4>Chapter 268 - Your Happiness Is My Happiness </h4>

    Now that Iris was engaged to Jin Liwei, the idea of building their own family together started to solidify in her mind. Excitement grew within her at the thought of giving birth to her own child. This was the first time that she thought of wanting to raise her own family. However, it was quickly drowned by anxiety.

    Her mothers in her past and present lives weren¡¯t exactly loving and nurturing. Iris worried that she wouldn¡¯t know how to be a good mother to her own children. Then her brows furrowed, thinking of something.

    Jin Liwei saw her expression. He handed Little Jun to Jiang Ying Yue before holding Iris¡¯ hand.

    "Let¡¯s rest in our room first," he suggested. "We had a long flight and we¡¯re both tired. We¡¯ll join the others again for dinnerter. Okay, love?"

    She hesitated before nodding.

    Ice Cream and Popcorn attempted to follow them, but Dom stopped the kittens and carried them away.

    Inside the bedroom suite, the couple changed into morefortable clothes andy down on the bed. They cuddled, too exhausted from their long travel to do anything else.

    Iris felt sleepy but her earlier thoughts continued to bother her.

    "What¡¯s on your mind?" Jin Liwei asked, noticing her troubled expression.

    She didn¡¯t answer right away. "I love you, Liwei. And I¡¯m happy that we¡¯re engaged...but..."

    "But?"

    "All of these talks of marriage and children... Well, I want them too...but I..." She looked directly at his eyes. "I still have lots of things that I want to do. There are so many goals that I have yet to aplish. I feel like if I marry you now and have children, I won¡¯t be able achieve any of my dreams. Liwei, am I being selfish?"

    "Yes, you are."

    Her eyes widened. She blinked a few times. Then her face fell.

    He brushed away a lock of hair from her face and stroked her cheek. "But what¡¯s wrong with that? I love you, so go ahead and act selfish with me. Like I told you earlier, we¡¯ll marry and have children only when you¡¯re ready. And I promise that even when we¡¯re married or have children, I won¡¯t hinder you from achieving your dreams. I¡¯ll support you all the way. Your happiness is my happiness. Fly freely during the day but alwayse back to me at night. Okay, love?"

    Warmth and love filled Iris¡¯ heart until she felt like it was going to burst. She hugged and kissed him. "Thank you, darling. I¡¯ll also support you whenever you need me."

    "En."

    Feeling relieved by his assurance, Iris changed the subject. "I think we should let our families know about our engagement."

    "Of course. I¡¯ll arrange a dinner for our two families."

    "Okay."

    Hesitating for a few moments, he asked carefully, "When do you want to get married?"

    She went quiet.

    "I¡¯m not rushing or pressuring you," he said hurriedly. "I just want to have an idea. It¡¯s alright if you can¡¯t answer right now. We just got engaged after all."

    "Hmm... I don¡¯t mind registering our marriage now, but I figured that if we¡¯re going to marry, I want to be proud and tell everyone. I usually don¡¯t give a whit about what others think of me, but there¡¯s you now. Despite my little triumphs, I still don¡¯t have the best reputation nor my status the same level as yours at the moment."

    He frowned. "You don¡¯t have to worry about any of that. Who cares what they say?"

    "I know but listen. I want to stand beside you proudly. So can you wait for me? I want to achieve more with my own effort and abilities. Then we can marry without any worries."

    "As you wish, love," he replied, kissing the tip of her nose. "Your man will wait for you."

    A sweet smiled blossomed on her face.

    With that, the lovers sumbed to their exhaustion and slept together while embracing. Their hearts grew a little closer and their love a little stronger.

    ###

    Hourster, they woke up and ate dinner with the others. After dinner, Jin Liwei received an urgent business call.

    While he was gone taking the call, Iris left Dom and the others at a lounge area to walk in the hallway. She sat on a window sill and made a phone call.

    "Hello?" An alluring male voice answered.

    "Big Brother, it¡¯s me."

    "I know," Lu Zihao replied. "I heard from the old man that you¡¯re back."

    "Why weren¡¯t you here to wee us back? I want to see you."

    She heard him sigh. "I¡¯m quite busy at the moment. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯lle see my little sister soon."

    Iris paced in the hallway. She opened her mouth but then closed it again.

    "Spit it out. What is it?" He was indeed her brother. He knew exactly that she wanted to tell him something, even when they weren¡¯t face-to-face.

    She took a deep breath. "Big Brother...I¡¯m now engaged to Liwei."

    Silence.

    When more a long time passed of not hearing anything from him, her anxiety increased.

    "Big Brother? Please say something."

    "Heh~ I see. So you¡¯re engaged now." There was a dangerous edge in his tone.

    "I love him."

    More silence, then several deep sighs. "I know. Well, as long as he loves you, treats you right, protects you and doesn¡¯t hurt you, I won¡¯t kill¡ªugh..."

    "Hello? Big Brother? Are you okay?" Iris became concerned when she heard a loud ttering on his side of the line. He also sounded like he was groaning.

    "I...I¡¯m okay. Dammit! This body is so..."

    Her eyes widened, immediately thinking of the remnant in her own body. "Are you also¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯m fine." He returned to the topic of her engagement. "Before you marry him, make sure to sign a prenuptial agreement. What belongs to you will always belong to you. What belongs to him will also belong to you. You also have to get full custody of your children, including your cats. Your current wealth and status may notpare to him right now but I know that you¡¯ll rise higher in the future."

    "But that¡¯s too..."

    "Little sister, I know that you want to trust him. This is just a precaution. If you don¡¯t divorceter on, great. No problem. But if you do, at least you¡¯re protected and won¡¯t be at a disadvantage."

    She remained quiet.

    "Don¡¯t marry without a prenup, understand? If you don¡¯t want to raise the subject to him yourself, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll get the old man to facilitate it. You¡¯re the old man¡¯s new favourite now. Liwei won¡¯t dare say no."

    "No need," she said, sighing. "I¡¯ll talk to Liwei about it."

    "Good."

    "Where are you, Big Brother? If you¡¯re busy, I cane see you instead."

    "I¡¯m at thepound. It¡¯s not really a good time toe right now. I¡¯ll make time and see you soon."

    She was a little disappointed but still made a noise of agreement.

    "Little sister, can you...never mind."

    "What is it?"

    "Nothing. Forget about it." He paused. "Listen to me. If you ever discover something...anything that¡¯s gravely important, you have to talk to me first. Don¡¯t ever go off or investigate on your own. This is serious. Understand?"

    "What do you mean?" She felt confused.

    "Just keep what I said in mind."

    "Okay," she replied, although still confused. Then she told him, "I missed you, Big Brother."

    His tone became gentler. "I missed you too, little sister."

    Iris smiled. She was now d that her brother had been reborn like her. Hopefully, both of them could live happy and peaceful lives with this second chance that had been given to them.

 Chapter 269 - Planet Monkey And Pandemonium

    <h4>Chapter 269 - Monkey And Pandemonium </h4>

    After speaking to her brother, Iris called Hou Liang next. They had been keeping in touch while she was at Cross Academy. She sent her financial manager, Qiao Yu, to connect with Hou Liang and provide the initial funds to set up their gamingpany.

    Qiao Yu reported to her that Hou Liang¡¯s friend, Wu Chen, was also an ountant. It was decided that he would be thepany¡¯s CFO who would be in direct contact with Qiao Yu regarding the finances.

    Hou Liang would be the CEO, while Iris would hold the titles of President and Owner. They all decided that Hou Liang would be the public face and leader of thepany because he was the main game developer.

    Iris wasn¡¯t really involved in the game development process, leaving everything to Hou Liang. Her main responsibility was to finance thepany, provide manpower, connections, and other resources. Also as a better hacker than Hou Liang and the others, she was thest line of thepany system¡¯s defence security. She had to make sure that the security was airtight.

    The game development was going well. Thepany also moved to their own headquarters in amercial building unit. It was small for now. Iris treated it as temporary. She was already on the look-out for a property that theirpany could wholly own.

    She would meet with Hou Liang and Wu Chen in a few days to finally register their gamingpany together.

    "So have you thought of ourpany name yet?" Iris asked Hou Liang.

    "Are you sure you don¡¯t want to name it yourself?"

    "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to, but I prefer if you¡¯re the one to name it. It¡¯s your game, after all."

    "Yes, I have thought of a name."

    "What is it?"

    He hesitated and took a few deep breaths. Then he said, "I decided that ourpany name will be Monkey."

    "Oh." Her eyebrows rose, but she nodded. "Not bad."

    "What do you mean ¡¯not bad¡¯?" She heard another male voice interrupt on the phone. It was Wu Chen. "I have a much better suggestion but this guy refused! I want to whack him with my mighty slippers! So unimaginative!"

    "What¡¯s your suggestion?" she asked, curious.

    "I want to name thepany I Eat Monkeys! It¡¯s so much better than in Monkey, don¡¯t you think? Right, boss?"

    Iris blinked. "Alright, it¡¯s finalized. Ourpany name will be Monkey. I¡¯ll call you again in a few days so that we can register thepany."

    "Understood," Hou Liang replied.

    "Hey! Hey, boss! What about I Eat Monkeys¡ª"

    She hung up.

    Then she made another series of phone calls to make arrangements for the establishment of her other futurepany, Orchidia Beauty. It would take some time before everything was set up, but Iris was pleased with the current progress.

    ###

    Bright Summit Entertainment Company.

    Ever since Iris announced her return on her social media pages, some fans and members of the media camped outside the managementpany hoping to be the first ones to see and talk to her after her abrupt disappearance.

    Iris together with Dom, Jiang Ying Yue and her other bodyguard sneaked inside Bright Summit. All of them were in disguise as some could already recognize Dom and the others as Iris¡¯ people, especially Dom who was always with her.

    Fortunately, nobody recognized the usually elegant and stylish Iris in baggy sweats and a hoodie. The group was able to safely meet with Tang Yiyi inside her office.

    "Oh Iris! I¡¯m so d to see you again!" Tang Yiyi eximed. "I¡¯ve been so worried. Let me look at you. Good. You look healthy. Thank goodness! Come and sit down."

    Tang Yiyi, Iris and Dom sat down. Jiang Ying Yue found a seat at a corner while her male colleague guarded outside the door.

    After catching up, they discussed Iris¡¯ work schedule. Her main priority was to promote her uing soundtrack album immediately. Thising Friday, she would be performing at "MusicFest Tonight".

    While they were talking, they heard amotion outside the door. Jiang Ying Yue stood up and cautiously peeked outside. Her male colleague was trying to stop a group of young men from entering the office.

    Tang Yiyi frowned, recognizing the voices. She marched and opened the door wide with a displeased expression.

    "Why did youe here so early? There¡¯s still one hour before our meeting!"

    "Big Sis Yiyi, you always tell us not to bete. Now that we¡¯re early, you¡¯re scolding us. It¡¯s so hard to please you," a charming male voice replied.

    Then a group of four attractive young men entered the office. Jiang Ying Yue and her male colleague attempted to stop them, but Iris gestured to her bodyguards that it was alright.

    "Holy sh*t! Is that Iris Long?"

    "It¡¯s Iris Long!"

    "Ah, I¡¯m finally meeting my goddess in person!"

    The quietest one with lots of piercings on his ears and one on his nose stepped forward. He looked around and took a ck marker from Tang Yiyi¡¯s desk. Then he handed it to Iris, turned around and squatted in front of her.

    "I¡¯m a fan. Please sign."

    "Of course," Iris replied, looking unfazed by the situation. She signed the young man¡¯s white shirt.

    "No fair! Us too!"

    The others took turns getting autographs from her. One also wanted his shirt signed but the other two grabbed sheets of paper from Tang Yiyi¡¯s desk and had Iris sign them instead.

    "Sorry about this, Iris. This group of rowdy hellions are the newest artists thepany has assigned to me. They¡¯re your juniors," Tang Yiyi exined to her, sighing while massaging her temples.

    "Please take care of us, Senior Iris!"

    "Wow. You¡¯re even more beautiful in person. You¡¯re so hawt!"

    "Behave or I¡¯ll kick you out!" Tang Yiyi threatened. Then she finally introduced them to Iris.

    The four were members of a rock band called Pandemonium. All of them were good-looking and had undeniable individual charisma that many girls and young women found attractive.

    The first one was ze, the vocalist. He was a former child actor who retired when he hit puberty. He was very expressive from his voice to his face and his gestures.

    Second was the lead guitarist and the most attractive among them, Eros. He was like seduction personified. He had an unexinable feminine quality to him but he was also oozing in masculinity. He was the type who could seduce all genders and any sexuality.

    The next one was the bass guitarist, Night. He was the one who asked Iris for an autograph first. He was quiet and brooding, looking very much like a dangerous bad boy.

    Thest one was Thunder, the drummer. He was the smallest among them but was also the most energetic. He looked adorable with his big goofy grin and friendly attitude.

    All four of them also worked as models in addition to ying as a rock band. However, their biggest passion was music so they wanted to focus more on their band rather than on modelling. They were included in the new artists that Bright Summit was promoting especially after both Iris and Jin Chonglin took a break.

    "Iris, they¡¯ll also perform at ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯ this Friday," Tang Yiyi informed her. "You boys, make sure to learn from your senior and not cause any trouble."

    "Wow! Goddess Iris is also performing? Awesome! I can¡¯t wait! Don¡¯t worry, Big Sis Yiyi! We¡¯ll be good boys! We¡¯ll do our best to impress our beautiful senior!"

    After chatting a bit more, Iris and her group left Bright Summit. The young men tried to persuade her to stay a bit more but Tang Yiyi scolded them.

    Inside the executive van, Iris continued to think about the four young men. Although she was considered their senior, they were actually all around the same age in their early twenties. Actually, except for the youngest Thunder who was only eighteen, the other three were slightly older than her.

    "Dom, get me all of Pandemonium¡¯s music," she instructed, feeling curious about them.

    "No need, boss. I have their debut album. I¡¯m actually a fan of theirs because they¡¯re all so hot and yummylicious, especially Eros. Ehehe."

    Dom handed her his phone. Iris listened to all of the songs from the band¡¯s debut album. She returned the phone to Dom after she was finished.

    "Hmmm. Not bad. Great vocals, very distinctive. Can be strong or gentle. Musicality is good. Lyrics are excellent, the best part of their music, in my opinion. But their ying is too rough and scattered. They¡¯re able to convey their emotions in the music well, though. Overall, a good band with lots of potential."

    ¡¯With a wellposed song, they¡¯ll be even better,¡¯ she thought to herself.

    In short, she liked them as musicians. She sank into deep thought, thinking about the possibilities.

 Chapter 270 - Lead Guitar

    <h4>Chapter 270 - Lead Guitar </h4>

    Friday.

    The executive van neared the TV station building which was home to the big studio for the show "MusicFest Tonight".

    Iris and Jin Liwei sat at the very back cuddling while Dom was in front of them busy messaging Tang Yiyi on the phone. Jiang Ying Yue was at the front passenger seat beside the driver. Another car was following the van with Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates for additional security.

    When they arrived in front of the TV station, it was flooded by screaming fans. One group was very distinctive as they were all wearing suits carrying banners and pictures of Iris. They all patiently stood outside despite the cold weather.

    "Oh look!" Dom eximed. "It¡¯s the Suits, the ck Stars! Your fans are always the coolest, boss!

    Iris smiled, watching her supporters from inside the van.

    "Do you want me toe with you inside?" Jin Liwei asked her.

    "Of course I do. But everyone will go crazy if Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO suddenly appears. You¡¯ll probably outshine all the artists tonight."

    He chuckled. "You¡¯ll never be outshone by anyone, love."

    She giggled.

    "Kyaaaaah~" Dom fanned himself dramatically with his hands while watching his bosses flirt with each other.

    "I¡¯ll wear a mask and disguise myself as your bodyguard," Jin Liwei suggested.

    "What about your work? You still have lots of catching up to do. Grandpa Lu has beenining and saying that he won¡¯t step in for you anymore."

    "I already told you that you¡¯re more important than anyone and anything, including Jin Corporation. I want toe with you. Okay?"

    "Okay."

    She smiled and turned her head towards him, silently asking for a kiss. Of course, he obliged her, giving her a sensual kiss.

    Dom covered his eyes but still peeked through the wide gaps between his fingers. "Ehehe."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates climbed out of the other car and formed a protective barrier outside the executive van¡¯s door. Jiang Ying Yue and Dom got off first. The ck Stars immediately recognized the two.

    "Aaaaah! It¡¯s boss! Boss Iris is here!"

    A masked and shades-wearing Jin Liwei got off after them, turned around and held out his hand. A delicately gloved hand appeared and epted his offered hand.

    The fans went crazy when Iris climbed out of the van. They released loud screams. Some of them even started crying.

    "Boss Iris! We missed you so much!"

    "Wee back, Boss Iris!"

    "Wow! Boss Iris, you look even more beautiful now. You¡¯re so...wow. Just wow!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates encircled Iris and the others. Jin Liwei and Jiang Ying Yue sandwiched Iris between them while Dom positioned himself at the front, leading them towards the building¡¯s entrance.

    Iris greeted her fans with a big smile, waving at them. She thanked them and even chatted with some of the ck Stars she recognized from her previous performances. While she signed autographs and took photos with her fans, the paparazzi threw questions at her.

    "Iris, where have you been? Is it true that you went insane and had to check in at a mental institution abroad? Are you really okay now? Are you taking any medication?"

    "How did you react when you learned that Fan Luo was the one behind the car crash that almost killed you a couple of years ago?"

    "Is it true that you¡¯re lovers with the hitmaker Enrique Valdez? Or is your lover Maestro De Luca, that¡¯s why he allowed you to perform at his concert? Or maybe you¡¯re lovers with both of them at the same time?"

    Jin Liwei stiffened and was about to punch the motherf*cker who asked such an immoral question but Iris stopped him by grabbing his arm. She gave him a meaningful look and shook her head. He was furious but controlled himself, reminding himself not to cause any scene that wouldnd his baby girl in trouble. For now, he would behave. That paparazzo better prepare himself after this day, though.

    The questions continued.

    "Iris, were you the one who kidnapped and tortured Fan Luo and the rm Girls?"

    The question made Iris nch and shudder. Fortunately, she had been improving on not letting her emotions and thoughts show on her expression as per her brother Lu Zihao¡¯s advice, especially when she was meeting other people. She tamped the memories of the torture down, trying hard not to let them affect her again.

    Nobody noticed her reaction, except for Jin Liwei who was in tune with any changes in her. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective manner. Fortunately, the crowd just viewed him as one of her bodyguards.

    Jin Liwei was fighting hard to control himself, but Dom lost it. He turned to the paparazzi.

    "I¡¯m recording everything on video!" He waved his phone. "If you want to be sued for libel, go ahead and continue to ask such ridiculous questions. I¡¯m sure all the ck Stars present here will be willing to act as witnesses to your nderous remarks to Miss Iris Long!"

    "Yeah! We¡¯re willing! Who dares nder our boss?!"

    "Come, my fellowrades of the mighty Slippers Army! Let¡¯s whack these scumbags together!"

    The threat seemed to work because some of the paparazzi withdrew. However, there were still some who continued to ask Iris malicious questions. This angered the ck Stars and they formed a human barricade to block these insistent paparazzi from getting near Iris. Then they started harshly scolding the paparazzi.

    "Don¡¯t hurt each other," Iris called out to her fans. "And don¡¯t stay out here for too long. It¡¯s very cold."

    Her concern melted the hearts of her fans even more. They didn¡¯t try to hold her back anymore, even creating a pathway for her amidst the sea of different fans so that her group could safely enter the building.

    "Thank you, everyone! Please take care. I¡¯ll do my best to give you a great performance tonight. I am back," she told them before disappearing inside the entrance.

    Once inside, a staff member weed and led them to her own dressing room. A make-up artist and hair stylist were already waiting for her inside. They immediately started working on her as soon as she came in.

    Tang Yiyi was in another dressing room, taking care of her other artists, the young men of the rock band Pandemonium. She promised that she would check on Irister.

    Iris didn¡¯t mind. She already performed in the show before and knew how things worked.

    While Iris was having her face painted and her hair styled, Jin Liwei was busy taking photos of her from every angle. He didn¡¯t remove his mask and shades, earning weird looks from the make-up artist and hair stylist. They were surprised that Iris and the others weren¡¯t reprimanding the audacious bodyguard.

    When her hair and make-up were almost done, Dom who was still messaging with Tang Yiyi on his phone gasped.

    "What is it?" Iris asked.

    "Uh oh. There¡¯s trouble. Big Sis Yiyi is panicking."

    "Why?"

    "Seems like Eros scalded his hands with boiled water in their dressing room. Apparently, he¡¯s making tea but his hand slipped. Big Sis Yiyi says that he might not be able to y. If they can¡¯t find a substitute lead guitarist, Pandemonium might cancel their performance for tonight."

    Iris stood up. "Let¡¯s go to their dressing room."

    Staff members and other nosy artists crowded outside Pandemonium¡¯s dressing room. The door was open. When they saw that it was Irising, they made way for her.

    Eros was being treated by the show¡¯s first aid responders. Both of his hands were scalded, but his left hand had it worst. The entire hand, including the fingers and the upper arm were angry red. Some parts were even starting to blister.

    Tang Yiyi was currently talking with the staff, asking if they could provide a guitarist.

    "We can, but are you sure you want to perform with someone who hasn¡¯t practiced with you? Your band is scheduled to perform soon."

    "I¡¯ll perform tonight," Eros said.

    "Don¡¯t be stupid! You¡¯re going to the hospital!" Tang Yiyi scolded him.

    "We won¡¯t y with a stranger," ze added.

    Night and Thunder nodded their heads.

    "I¡¯ll y lead guitar," Iris suddenly announced. "Or do you consider me a stranger, as well?"

 Chapter 271 - Erosâ€™ Substitute

    <h4>Chapter 271 - Eros¡¯ Substitute </h4>

    "Iris, what are you saying? You have your own performance to worry about," Tang Yiyi told her.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, Elder Sister Yiyi. My performance will not be until thetter half of the show," Iris reassured her manager. "Besides, they¡¯re my juniors. I can help them so why not let me?"

    It was Night who spoke up from the band first. He looked at Iris straight in the eyes. "We¡¯ve never yed together before. And we don¡¯t have time to practice now."

    "I can coordinate with you. I¡¯ve listened to your music in thest few days. I know how to y your songs." Then she turned to Eros. "Can you let me borrow your guitar? If not, I can borrow one from the show."

    "Of course you can borrow my guitar," Eros replied with his mesmerizing voice. "But I use a left-handed guitar..."

    "No problem. I can use either right-handed or left-handed."

    "Wow, goddess! For real? You¡¯re gonna y with us? I¡¯m so stoked!" Thunder was almost bouncing in his excitement.

    "Ahaha! This is great! I don¡¯t even care anymore if we mess up our performance tonight. Just having Senior Iris perform together on the same stage tonight will guarantee that we¡¯re gonna be the talk of the town afterwards." ze turned to their manager. "Big Sis Yiyi, let us do this! We want to do this!"

    "You!" Tang Yiyi sighed, massaging her temples.

    In the end, the manager agreed to the idea. She trusted Iris but not so much the young men. After asking Iris to look out for her juniors, Tang Yiyi left to bring Eros to the hospital for treatment.

    Iris returned to her dressing room to change into one of her back-up dresses. She also asked her hair stylist and make-up artist to make some changes in her appearance. After a few minutes, a staff member called Iris to stand-by backstage with the band members.

    Jin Liwei walked beside her and she could feel that something was bothering him. He looked stiff and although most of his face was covered by a mask and shades, she knew that his expression looked unpleasant.

    "What is it?" She asked him in a whisper.

    He hesitated before saying, "Nothing. Don¡¯t worry about me. Just do your best on the stage out there. I¡¯ll be watching and waiting for you backstage. I know you¡¯re going to be amazing, love."

    "Okay. Watch me, darling."

    "En."

    She met up with ze, Night and Thunder who were already on stand-by.

    The young men¡¯s eyes lit up when they saw her, looking at her up and down with appreciation. But when they tried to stand closer to her, they felt a cold and dangerous aura from the tall bodyguard beside her. They instinctively stepped back.

    The three young men chatted with each other instead, but as their performance drew nearer by the second, they began to feel nervous. Fortunately, seeing Iris looking unfazed, they were somewhat able to force themselves to calm down.

    ###

    On the stage, the male and female hosts smiled at the camera in front of them when they received the signal from the director that themercials just ended.

    "Wee back to ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯!" They said together.

    "Are you ready for the next performance?" The male host asked the audience.

    Audience: "Yes!"

    "Our next performers are a rock band that is gaining attention because all of their members are very good-looking¡ª"

    The female host couldn¡¯t finish her introduction because a group of teenage girls and young women began screaming.

    "Uwah! Is it Pandemonium? Finally! It¡¯s the turn of my four husbands!"

    "Eros, my love! I can¡¯t wait to see you!"

    "ze, I love you!"

    "I offer myself to you, Night! You can do whatever you want to me!"

    "Thunder,e to Momma!"

    The male and female hosts looked at each other and smiled wryly. Fortunately, they were able to calm the overexcited fangirls to a certain degree.

    "Yes, you got it right. Our next performance will be by the rock band, Pandemonium!" The female host continued.

    Excited screaming once again.

    "However, there seems to be some sort of trouble backstage," the male host informed them. "The lead guitarist, Eros, got injured earlier and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment."

    "What?! My Eros is injured?! What happened?!"

    The fangirls started freaking out. Even the male fans of the rock band expressed their concern.

    The hosts didn¡¯t give any additional details about Eros¡¯ injury as the show was in a tight time schedule. They hurried to finish the introduction.

    Female host: "Despite the ident, Pandemonium still showed their desire to perform tonight. How admirable! Very professional!"

    Male host: "Indeed. Fortunately, the band managed to get a lead guitarist to substitute for Eros..."

    "Who cares about the substitute? We only want Eros!"

    "Yeah! Eros is the only lead guitarist that we¡¯ll ept for Pandemonium!"

    The fans were starting to get unruly, expressing their dissatisfaction at the current situation. They wanted to know more about what happened to Eros. They also couldn¡¯t ept that the band decided to perform with another person.

    The hosts pretended not to hear theints and continued.

    Female host: "I think that all of you will be so shocked once you see who the band got to substitute for Eros."

    Male host: "I agree. When I saw the name, I thought that it was a misprint at first. To be honest, I¡¯m excited myself to see this person y lead guitar in a rock band. I just can¡¯t imagine it!"

    Female host: "Exactly! So without further ado, please wee our next performers, the rock band Pandemonium¡ª"

    Male host: "And the one and only Iris Long!"

    "Ah?"

    The audience stopped, all looking confused. Did they hear it correctly? Iris Long was ying lead guitar in a rock band? What in the world?

    Even the ck Stars were taken aback.

    The fans of Pandemonium became even more unruly.

    "What the hell? Why is Iris substituting for Eros? Can she even y lead guitar? This is ridiculous!"

    "Damn! Is she using our boys to gain publicity for hereback? I object! She should just mind her own business!"

    "Maybe the lead guitar part is already prerecorded and she¡¯ll just stand there pretending to y."

    Hearing the insults to their boss, the ck Stars felt offended. They started quarreling with the Pandemonium fans.

    The lights dimmed for a few seconds before the spotlight hit the centre of the stage.

    ze stood at the very front, looking very dashing in front of the mic stand. Night looked as dangerously handsome as ever with his bass guitar. The ever smiling Thunder looked cute as always as he bounced on his seat in excitement behind the drums.

    Then everyone saw Iris. Her elegant off-shoulder long ck dress with thigh-high slit on one side contrasted with the band member¡¯s leather, spikes, metal and biker outfits. She should¡¯ve looked out of ce with her sophisticated outfit, but her high and sleek ponytail, bold cat eyeliner and blood-red lipstick sessfully made her look as if she belonged.

    That was until the fans recognized the guitar in her arms.

    "What the f*ck?! That¡¯s Eros¡¯ guitar! I can¡¯t ept this!"

    "What is she thinking? Does she think that everyone can y left-handed guitars just like that? She must be dreaming!"

    Iris swept her eyes across the rowdy fans. Raising an eyebrow at them, her hands moved. Her fingers were quick like lightning yet smooth like fluid, as she produced an eruptive tune made up of aplicated chord progression. It was swift, sharp, heavy and electrically AWESOME!

    Then she stopped.

    One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

    Loud apuse and screaming.

    The ck Stars went crazy with delight. The Pandemonium fans went crazy with shock. The rest of the audience was captivated. Everyone asked for more.

    Iris looked at the three band members and nodded. Even the three looked shocked but quickly recovered. Excitement glittered in their eyes as they looked at Iris in a new light.

    ze spoke to the mic in a low voice. "My fellow souls, both living and lost, are you ready to experience a ¡¯Nightmare¡¯?"

    The drummer, Thunder, tapped his sticks. "Three, two, one!"

    And the song began.

 Chapter 272 - Nightmare

    <h4>Chapter 272 - Nightmare </h4>

    Iris started off the song, ying a dark opening melody with the lead guitar. The Pandemonium fans got excited because it sounded exactly the same as how Eros usually yed it.

    The bass guitar added texture a few sequencester, followed by the slow yet prating rhythm of the drums.

    Then ze began singing in a whispering voice. Pandemonium fans thought it was very sexy. His voice gradually sounded solid as the melody and rhythm became thicker and heavier.

    "Here ites

    The nightmare starts

    Once we close our eyes

    In the dead of the night

    The ghostse out, the demons prowl

    If you¡¯re not careful

    They¡¯re gonna get you! Get you! Get you!

    Pull you, drag you

    Until your soul is all swallowed up"

    The beat changed. It became faster and heavier, making the audience jump up and down, pumping their hands up and banging their heads in the air. This was also the time that Iris began to slightly change the way she yed the guitar. The expert guitarists watching the live performance narrowed their eyes and began to observe her more closely. However, the other band members didn¡¯t seem to notice anything different.

    ze¡¯s singing became stronger, almost shouting out the lyrics but still remained captivating to the ears.

    "The haunting starts

    Get ready now

    Don¡¯t lose your way

    Or you¡¯ll never see the light of day

    Just hold my hand and follow me

    Together we¡¯ll jump down the dark abyss"

    Iris began to provide the second voice. Unlike the usual seductive singing of Eros, Iris sang in a haunting manner that the audience couldn¡¯t help but feel chills down their spines while listening. They shivered, feeling as if a goddess of death was singing close to their ears. But still they felt thrilled by the eerie yet exhrating experience.

    "Let the ghostse out!

    Let the demons prowl!

    I¡¯m not afraid ¡¯cuz you¡¯re here with me!

    Let¡¯s run, run, run

    Don¡¯t ever stop, don¡¯t look back

    Or you¡¯ll get all swallowed up!"

    The melody and the rhythm went into overdrive. The expert guitarists watching the live performance in the audience, backstage and at home, finally noticed what sounded different in Iris¡¯ ying. At the beginning, she was just ying like how Eros usually yed the guitar. She followed and coordinated with the rest of the members, but somewhere along the way, she began to take over the lead until the other band members were following her pace instead.

    ¡¯A true lead guitarist,¡¯ they thought, bing more and more impressed the longer they listened.

    ze was already sweating as he sang with all his might. He held the mic and used his natural stage presence to make the screaming fans go even crazier.

    "Let the blood-red moon be our guide

    Blend in the shadows

    Avoid the traps

    Who¡¯s a friend? Who¡¯s a foe?

    We don¡¯t know, oh no we don¡¯t

    The sky can fall

    The world can end

    I don¡¯t care as long as you¡¯re with me

    You¡¯re all I need

    So just follow me

    Together we¡¯ll jump down the dark abyss"

    Iris walked forward to the front of the stage beside the euphoric ze. Then her guitar solo began. She stepped one of her foot forward, letting her long smooth leg out of her dress¡¯ thigh-high slit. Her high heels were like cold and shining daggers, matching the dangerous yet bewitching aura she was currently emitting.

    The electrifying solo guitar riff instantly made the fans go wild. They shrieked like they were going insane. Both the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans screamed Iris¡¯ name over and over again.

    ze, Night and Thunder finally noticed the difference in quality between Iris and their band mate Eros¡¯ ying. Their eyes widened in amazement, especially after discovering that they were also ying better together with her. She used her advanced techniques to control the band¡¯s chaos, elevating the song¡¯s overall musicality to another level.

    To show the extent of his amazement and to add excitement to the performance, ze fell down on one knee facing Iris while holding his chest.

    Backstage, a certain man wearing a mask and shades unleashed a malevolent aura as he stood watching the performance live on the monitor. Jiang Ying Yue paled and moved a few steps away from the man, while Dom squawked, turned tail and ran far away. The masked man was able to control himself quickly, focusing instead on his amazing baby girl,pletely erasing from his mind the existence of the three pests performing on the stage with her.

    On the stage, Iris¡¯ hands and fingers began to blur as they moved swiftly on the guitar strings. She changed up the melody, adding more punch and dimension to it than the original. Her version was cleaner, crisper, moreplicated and intense.

    She was rocking it but still managed to look elegant. Her movements were very fluid.

    Then she ended the guitar solo with a flourish, bending her back low and kicking her exposed leg. Some audience members passed out from too much excitement.

    ze sang with even more gusto after such an electrifying guitar solo. Sweat spritzed out from him as he jumped up and down and rocked all around while singing thest parts of the song.

    "It¡¯s almost here

    The dawn is near

    I know you¡¯re tired but stay with me

    Just keep on running, don¡¯t look back

    Or else this nightmare will never stop

    We¡¯ll soon see the light of day

    Just hold my hand and follow me!

    Let¡¯s run, run, run

    Until our breaths run out

    Open your eyes

    Look wide and see

    Now we¡¯re out of the nightmare

    Oh yes we¡¯re out!

    Oh yeah!"

    All the band members, including Iris, jumped to end the song in a jarringst beat. As soon as their feet touched the floor again, the entire studio was filled with a deafening noise.

    The audience all stood up. Their thunderous apuse and roaring cheers drowned the hosts¡¯ voice who were now trying to talk to Pandemonium and Iris.

    "Iris! No, Boss Iris! You¡¯re so cool! Please stay with Pandemonium forever and ever! I¡¯ll be a ck Star just for you!"

    "Sh*t! Is it just me or she¡¯s way cooler than Eros? Sorry, Eros my love. I love you, but Iris is just on another level!"

    "Oh damn! I¡¯m straight and have dedicated myself to my four Pandemonium husbands but I think Iris just bent me to swing the other way!"

    "Hah! Look at how awesome our Boss Iris is! You were all insulting her earlier but now look at you!"

    "Come, newrades! The ck Stars wee new people!"

    "I¡¯m a ck Star but I think Pandemonium is cool too!"

    "Pandemonium fans wee the ck Stars!"

    Many Pandemonium fans became ck Stars, and some ck Stars also became Pandemonium fans at the same time. This development wasn¡¯t just a mere alliance but a sort of merging between the two fandoms.

    Finally, the audience started to settle down. The interview began.

    Male host: "Wow! That was so amazing! Impressive! My heart is still beating so fast!"

    Female host: "Exactly! Look, I¡¯m sweating."

    The band members and Iris thanked them. The hosts asked most of the questions to Iris at first. However, she redirected the focus back to Pandemonium.

    "I¡¯m just a substitute for Eros tonight and this is Pandemonium¡¯s performance," she said. "I yed this performance as part of Pandemonium."

    Fortunately, the hosts understood her intention and began asking the other band members. Because of Iris¡¯ presence and their awesome performance, their interview went on longer than what was usually done with new acts.

    "We would like to work more with Senior Iris in the future if we¡¯re given the chance," ze said.

    "Yeah!" Thunder agreed.

    Night nodded.

    Male host: "What do you say, Iris?"

    "Sure," she replied.

    Her affirmative answer made the ck Stars and Pandemonium fans cheer in excitement and anticipation.

    The hosts finished the interview and announced a short break for themercials. As Iris and the band members waved at their fans and the audience before returning backstage, the female host couldn¡¯t stop herself from staring at the diamond ring on Iris¡¯ finger.

    "What is it?" The male host asked his partner.

    The female host shook her head. "Nothing. Maybe I¡¯m just thinking too much."

 Chapter 273 - Punishment Or Present?

    <h4>Chapter 273 - Punishment Or Present? </h4>

    As soon as Iris and the band members reached backstage, ze and Thunder started cheering in triumph. Even the usually silent and brooding Night had an uncharacteristic grin on his face.

    "That was out of this world, Senior Iris!" ze eximed. "We had no idea that you can y the guitar like that! It¡¯s official. You¡¯re the coolest female I know in my entire life!"

    "Yeah! I think that was the best performance we ever had as a band. Goddess, you¡¯re the best!" Thunder added.

    Night nodded.

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "You¡¯re iplete as a band tonight, so it doesn¡¯t count."

    At the reminder of their missing band mate, Eros, the three felt guilty. They were still happy about their performance but now they realized that the feeling was iplete because they weren¡¯t sharing it with their brother.

    She smiled seeing their expressions. "Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll perform again when Eros is healed from his injuries. Then we¡¯ll aim to really have your best performance as aplete band."

    "Really, Senior? You want to perform with us again? That¡¯s not just lip service, right?" ze asked.

    "Yes, I want to work with you again after this," she replied.

    "I¡¯m so stoked!" Thunder pumped his fists in the air and moved to pounce on Iris for a friendly hug but someone grabbed the back of his cor and pulled him forcefully away. "What the hell, man?! What are you do¡ª"

    Although the face was covered, poor Thunder could still feel the ferocious re behind the mask and shades.

    "S-sorry, man...Ch-chill out, ¡¯kay?"

    Iris gently removed the hand gripping Thunder¡¯s cor. Then she rubbed the hand and smiled at the masked man. The dangerous auraing from the tall man disappeared.

    The three band members heaved sighs of big relief. However, they soon watched Iris and her bodyguard more carefully. The two weren¡¯t doing anything inappropriate, but they could see that Iris treated her bodyguard with affection. In turn, they noticed that the bodyguard stood too closely to her.

    They had suspicions about the rtionship between the two, but it wasn¡¯t any of their business. Besides, she helped them tremendously tonight. Not only that, she made their performance shine in many ways that they couldn¡¯t achieve on their own. They might be foolish at times, but they wouldn¡¯t bite the hand that fed them.

    "I had a great time performing with you. I need to return to my dressing room now and get ready for my next performance," she told them.

    "Of course, Senior. Thank you very much for your help tonight! We¡¯ll stay and make sure to watch your performanceter and cheer for you."

    She nodded and left them. The masked Jin Liwei walked beside her while Dom and Jiang Ying Yue followed behind them. On their way to the dressing room, the show¡¯s staff and the other artists greeted her warmly, and praised and congratted her for her performance with Pandemonium.

    Finally, they reached her dressing room. As soon as the door closed, Jin Liwei removed his mask, pulled Iris in his arms and kissed her deeply.

    "Turn around!" Jiang Ying Yue barked at the shocked make-up artist and hair stylist. "You too, Dom!"

    Dom pretended not to hear her, opening his eyes wider as if doing so could make him see the hot scene in front of him more clearly. However, Jiang Ying Yue was serious. She threw a towel over Dom¡¯s head to obstruct his view. Then she promptly turned around from the couple.

    "Sorry, love. I couldn¡¯t stop myself," Jin Liwei murmured after the kiss.

    He felt so much better now that his baby girl was in his arms. He knew that he had no reason to feel jealous of the three pests, but seeing them acting too familiarly with her just awakened the ugly green-eyed monster within him.

    "Mmn..." Iris hugged his waist, feeling good after the kiss.

    She had no idea that it was a punishment kiss because he was jealous. She thought that it was her present for performing well onstage.

    "You were magnificent. So beautiful. The best," he told her while stroking her hair and kissing her head.

    She smiled and hugged him tighter. "Thanks, darling."

    They were interrupted by the loud sound of a ringing phone.

    "Oopsie doopsie~ Sorry boss, sir boss!" Dom removed the towel from his head and answered his phone. "Hello, Big Sis Yiyi? How¡¯s Eros? Oh, that¡¯s a relief. I¡¯m d that he¡¯s okay. Ehehe. I know, right? Boss was so amazing! She rocked the stage! Of course, the others were great too... Okay, okay. Here¡¯s boss."

    Iris released Jin Liwei¡¯s waist and spoke to her manager on the phone. Jin Liwei wore the mask again and then sat on the couch.

    The make-up artist and hair stylist cautiously turned around, looking at him. They weren¡¯t able to clearly see his features earlier when he removed his mask. They were burning with curiosity, but they held their tongues. Unlike before, Iris hired her own make-up artist and hair stylist. She didn¡¯t want to depend on Bright Summit to provide her with a m team all the time. Before she hired them, she made them sign Non-Disclosure Agreements to protect her private matters. This was the first time that these two worked with her.

    They thought that the tall masked man was Iris¡¯ bodyguard but after seeing the two acting so intimate, they now concluded that the two were lovers. Their attention was also now caught by the diamond ring on Iris¡¯ finger. Their tongues wanted to wag so badly, but they stopped themselves. Not only would they get into legal trouble for viting the NDA if they gossiped, but they also didn¡¯t want to lose their jobs because Iris paid well.

    After the phone call, Iris instructed the two to change her hairstyle and modify her make-up for her solo performanceter. She also changed into another dress. They watched the other performances on the TV in the room while waiting for her turn.

    ###

    "I¡¯m dead when awake

    Alive when asleep

    How do I live when there is no you

    Except in my dreams at night..."

    The audience waspletely silent as they watched Iris perform a second time tonight. She sat ying in front of the piano, wearing an elegant ck and red gown. She was like a dark empress instilling sadness, loneliness and even fear to her subjects.

    Her voice sounded so otherworldly in this version of "Phantom of Your Love" that many in the audience shrank into their seats. The music was beautiful and mind-blowing but it was also...frightening. It didn¡¯t sound like music from the human world but from theherworld instead.

    Iris¡¯ pale make-up and dark, smoky eyeshadow made her look like a phantom beauty. Her current performance was the total opposite of her shy performance with Pandemonium earlier.

    Usually, total silence was an indication of disinterest and boredom from the audience during a performance. This time, however, it was an indication of total focus and immersion with the music.

    Even the director became too dazed that he forgot to switch cameras many times during the broadcast. However, nobody really noticed his mistakes because everyone else was also dazed like him. It was like Iris hypnotized them with her music. It was actually scary.

    "Oh oh oh... Spend a thousand years

    With the phantom of your...love...."

    After the performance, there was pin-drop silence. The audience couldn¡¯t think clearly yet. It was only when some of the ck Stars automatically pped their hands for their Boss Iris that the other members of the audience began pping as well. The apuse was weak and scattered at first but became stronger, louder and more enthusiastic as the people gradually recovered from their musical daze.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!"

    They chanted her name. Her doubleeback performances for tonight exceeded all of their expectations. She was so impressive that it was unbelievable.

    Iris gave a deep curtsy bow to the audience and then to her symphony orchestra. The apuse and cheers roared even more loudly.

    Finally, the long-awaited interview arrived. As this wasn¡¯t a formal interview and because of Tang Yiyi¡¯s request beforehand, the hosts didn¡¯t ask Iris anything about Fan Luo or the other rumours surrounding her abrupt disappearance. They focused on her two performances tonight instead.

    After Iris promoted her uing soundtrack album and the soon-to-be-released film "Strong Yet Broken", the hosts received signal from their earpieces that they should end the interview. The male host was about to end it, but the female host couldn¡¯t hold herself back anymore.

    "Iris, I can¡¯t take my eyes off your diamond ring," she said. "It¡¯s so beautiful."

 Chapter 274 - Dare To Suppress His Baby Girl?

    <h4>Chapter 274 - Dare To Suppress His Baby Girl? </h4>

    A soft expression appeared on Iris¡¯ face. "Thank you."

    "Can you tell us more about it? I really like it and would like to buy one for myself."

    "What are you doing?" Director He¡¯s voice rebuked the female host through her earpiece.

    However, the host ignored the director. Something was telling her that she should pursue this line of questioning. If nothing came out of it, she would just apologize to the directorter. But if she was on to something, the show would surely thank her.

    "Hmm... I didn¡¯t buy it," Iris replied.

    "Oh? Then where did you get it? Was it given to you as a gift?"

    "Yes, something like that."

    Some of the people finally understood the host¡¯s purpose for asking these questions. The camera zoomed in on Iris¡¯ diamond ring. It sparkled under the lights. The design fit Iris extremely well. The people, be it the audience, the staff, the other performers and the viewers at home, stopped talking and listened intently to the interview, not wanting to miss even a single word.

    "How nice! Who gave it to you?" The female host continued to ask. "Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s an engagement ring. Ahaha!"

    The male host also chuckled, including some of the people. They treated is as a good joke.

    "Yes." Iris nodded.

    Theughter stopped. Eyes widened.

    "Camera #6 and #10, focus on Iris¡¯ face. Make sure not to miss any of her expression," Director He instructed. He almost rubbed his hands together. He had a feeling that this would drive up the ratings of tonight¡¯s episode.

    "Iris, what did you say? You¡¯re engaged?" The male host asked this time.

    "Yes, I am engaged," Iris answered with a soft smile.

    Gasps everywhere.

    Male host: "Uh...wow. What a surprise...er...congrattions, Iris..."

    Female host: "Congrattions! That¡¯s wonderful!"

    Iris: "Thank you."

    Female host: "Can we know who your lucky fianc¨¦ is? Is he from showbiz as well? How long have you been engaged?"

    Iris: "I want to keep him to myself first. No, he¡¯s not from showbiz. Not that long ago. Only a few days before I returned to the country."

    Female host: "I see. Do you love your fianc¨¦?"

    "Of course. I love him very much," Iris answered, looking directly at the camera in front of her, knowing that Jin Liwei was watching. "I love you, darling."

    Many people, especially the females, squealed when they heard her public deration of love to her mystery man.

    Unfortunately, Director He had to cut the interview at that point even when everyone wanted to hear more. Iris¡¯ manager and even a Bright Summit higher-up were already calling the show requesting him to put a stop to the interview. It seemed that Iris didn¡¯t inform her management that she would be revealing her rtionship status in the show tonight. They were freaking out. As a courtesy to Bright Summit and to maintain a good rtionship with them, he instructed the hosts to wrap up the interview. The show took a shortmercial break.

    Once Iris returned backstage, Jin Liwei embraced her. Many staff and other artists saw them.

    "I love you, too," he whispered.

    The way she looked at him was no doubt that of a woman in love.

    Seeing that some people were taking photos and recording them on video with their phones, Jin Liwei was about to threaten them but Iris stopped him.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of them. No photo or video of us will be leaked to the public before we reveal it ourselves. When we reveal you and our rtionship, it will be on our own terms," she assured him.

    Then she took her phone from Dom and messaged Hou Liang to hack into all the devices in the ce right now, from the people¡¯s mobile phones to the show¡¯s cameras and the building¡¯s CCTVs. He was to delete any photos or videos showing her and Jin Liwei.

    She would¡¯ve done it herself, but the situation called for urgency because some people might upload the images or videos to the inte immediately after taking them.

    Dom¡¯s phone was ringing nonstop. It was Tang Yiyi, but he didn¡¯t answer it in front of other people. Jiang Ying Yue and her male colleague went into protective mode, preventing others from getting near Iris¡¯ group, as they made their way back to her dressing room.

    Jin Liwei made a quick call to his subordinates waiting outside the building to quickly gather, pick them up and escort them safely out of the building. He also called for additional back-up security from his mansion just in case the media started following them.

    Once the group entered the dressing room, they locked the door. The make-up artist and hair stylist were watching the broadcast on TV. They were able to put two and two together. So the masked man must be Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦. They hoped that he would uncover his face so that they could see what he looked like. However, they also knew that the two of them hadn¡¯t earned their new employer¡¯s trust yet to have that privilege.

    Dom¡¯s phone started ringing again. He answered it.

    "Hello, Big Sis Yi¡ª Ah! My ear! Please calm down, Big Sis Yiyi. Please don¡¯t yell...."

    Everyone in the room could hear the manager yelling even when the phone wasn¡¯t on speaker.

    "Give me the phone," Iris said.

    When she answered the phone, Tang Yiyi scolded her seriously for the first time since they started working together.

    "Iris! I can¡¯t believe this! I thought that the Pandemonium boys already gave me a big headache tonight, but I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯ll give me an even bigger headache! Why didn¡¯t you tell me you¡¯re engaged?"

    "Elder Sister Yiyi, you haven¡¯t seen my ring? I was wearing it the entire time."

    "Of course I did, but I thought that it was just an essory! There are many celebrities who wear diamond rings even though they¡¯re not engaged. You¡¯re still very young, so I never expected that you¡¯re already nning on marrying! Next time, tell me these things first so that I and Bright Summit can make ns on how to handle the press! I knew something like this will happen one day. You¡¯re too straightforward!"

    Iris listened to her manager calmly. She sat beside Jin Liwei, feelingforted when he wrapped his arm around her. She rested her head on the crook between his neck and shoulder.

    The short gist of Tang Yiyi¡¯sint was that it wasn¡¯t the right time to reveal her engagement to the public yet, especially since she just returned to the limelight. This was a critical time for her to re-establish her foothold in showbiz. However, this kind of news might be a setback to her career instead.

    "Some Bright Summit higher-ups are suggesting that I persuade you to retract your words."

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold. "Elder Sister Yiyi, may I remind you that the ¡¯no rtionship¡¯ use in my contract was removed when I signed it? If thepany pressures me about my rtionship with my fianc¨¦, I¡¯ll terminate my contract with Bright Summit. I can afford any penalty fees. Not only that, I can even sue thepany for viting our contract. If I do that and I win, perhaps I won¡¯t even have to pay any penalty at all. As for retracting my words, I will never do that. I am engaged and that is final."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s arm tightened around her, showing his support. He also felt warm inside as his baby girl defended him and their rtionship. If Bright Summit dared to suppress his baby girl, they needed to be ready to face his wrath.

 Chapter 275 - May The Best Musician Win

    <h4>Chapter 275 - May The Best Musician Win </h4>

    Bright Summit Entertainment Company might be one of the juggernauts in showbiz, but to Jin Corporation, it was just a mere ant. Jin Liwei could squash such an ant and build another managementpany for the sake of his baby girl¡ªoh right, and for his brother too. (Poor Jin Chonglin became just an afterthought to his brother because of Iris.)

    If Bright Summit knew what was right for them, they wouldn¡¯t dare to suppress his baby girl.

    "No! Iris, what are you saying? I said that some of them are just ¡¯suggesting¡¯. It¡¯s just a suggestion, okay? Nobody¡¯s pressuring anyone," Tang Yiyi reassured Iris in a hurry. "We¡¯re just worried of the bacsh you might face from the fans. I already exined to you before that some fans don¡¯t take kindly to their favourite celebrities dating. They be vindictive and turn into instant haters. There were some celebrities whose careers have been destroyed because of fan bacsh. I don¡¯t want something like that to happen to you."

    "I see." Iris¡¯ cold eyes eased a bit. "Thank you for your concern, Elder Sister Yiyi. But I also told you before that I don¡¯t need fans who¡¯ll turn their backs on me just because I¡¯m in a rtionship. And I don¡¯t give a whit about haters. I¡¯ll always have haters. It¡¯s part of my life, not only as a celebrity but also as a person. Also don¡¯t worry too much about haters destroying my career. If I let them destroy my career, then that just means that I¡¯m not strong enough to face them. This is my career, my life, and I won¡¯t let anyone block my way in reaching my dreams."

    Jin Liwei kissed her temple, fighting the urge to give the manager a piece of his mind. He controlled himself knowing that his amazing baby girl had everything in control. As if he would let anyone block his future wife¡¯s way. He would bulldoze them out of the way and then roll the red carpet for his baby girl afterwards.

    Iris and Tang Yiyi talked some more. Iris knew that her manager was just genuinely concerned about her, and for that, she was grateful. Based on what Tang Yiyi had been hinting through her words, Iris could sense that she wasn¡¯t really a priority for Bright Summit anymore. They were busy promoting other artists during her disappearance.

    ¡¯I can only depend on my own abilities,¡¯ she thought. ¡¯As long as thepany doesn¡¯t suppress me, I don¡¯t need their full support. I can grab and create opportunities for myself with my own hands. If they see me seeding, they¡¯ll naturally start supporting me again.¡¯

    The call ended with Tang Yiyi warning Iris to be careful of the media. They would surely start hounding her and start investigating about her unknown fianc¨¦. The manager also assured that she would fight for resources for Iris within thepany.

    Afterwards, Iris said goodbye to the show¡¯s staff. They persuaded her to stay until the show ended, but she declined.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates arrived and they escorted the group out of the TV station building. And indeed, a crowd of reporters, paparazzi, fans and rumourmongers flocked outside for Iris. Fortunately, they were duped by Dom and Jiang Ying Yue disguised as Iris, while the real Iris escaped with Jin Liwei in another vehicle.

    ###

    At a high-end nightclub frequented by celebrities and socialites.

    JJ was hanging out with his friends. DJ Song was there and other quite influential figures in the country¡¯s music industry. They were inside a VIP lounge.

    However, instead of enjoying the club¡¯s party music, they used the room¡¯s soundproof feature to mute outside noise. Instead, they all focused on the huge t-screen TV hanging on the wall. It was ying "MusicFest Tonight".

    "Old J, did you know that Iris can y the guitar like that?" DJ Song asked.

    "Yeah. I discovered early on that the brat is a multi-instrumentalist while we were making her album ¡¯Rebirth¡¯," JJ replied. "But I had no idea that she could also y a left-handed guitar nor did I know that her skill level with the guitar was that advanced."

    "Are you kidding me? That level isn¡¯t merely ¡¯advanced¡¯. It¡¯s expert level! No, I think it¡¯s beyond that. It¡¯s just that the skill levels of those Pandemonium kids aren¡¯t high enough to match her, so she¡¯s the one who has to lower her level a bit to match them," a famous songwriter observed.

    "That¡¯s what I think, too," a well-respected studio musician said. "My main instrument is the guitar, so I know what I¡¯m saying. I can say that what she showed tonight is just the tip of the iceberg. Old J, you say that you didn¡¯t know that she can y a left-handed guitar. Does that mean that she can y the regr right-handed guitar as well?"

    "Yeah."

    "Is she right-handed or left-handed?"

    "As far as I know, she writes with her right hand."

    "Hmm..." The studio musician swirled tequ as he thought deeply about something. "The way she ys the left-handed guitar reminds me of someone."

    "I know, right? That¡¯s what I was thinking too," the songwriter said.

    DJ Song: "Enrique Valdez."

    "Exactly." The studio musician nodded his head. "Enrique Valdez, the legendary hitmaker, also considered as the #1 southpaw guitarist in the world. The way Iris yed the guitar tonight demonstrates his exquisite style of ying. The advanced technical skills are a given, but even more than that, she even captured his total control of the music and the band¡¯s pace, and also his detailed, fluid and seductive style of ying. And of course, it¡¯s even more noticeable because she yed the left-handed guitar."

    "Now that you mention it, I remember seeing on the news that Iris has been spotted with Enrique Valdez in Europe," the songwriter said.

    DJ Song: "If I¡¯m not mistaken, it was when Iris allegedly performed at Maestro De Luca¡¯s concert in Germany. There are even rumours that she¡¯s lovers with both the maestro and Enrique Valdez."

    "Hmph! Ridiculous! Those are just rumours! I know the brat and I can feel her hunger and passion for music. She even dares to quarrel with someone as awesome as me! The brat is not a stupid idiot to ruin her future by entering a rtionship with Maestro De Luca¡ªhe¡¯s married and has grandchildren!¡ªand Enrique Valdez who¡¯s also known for his string of lovers. Besides, she doesn¡¯t need to sleep with people like them to seed. She can seed with her own abilities and talents, and of course, as long as she continues to work with a music producer as amazing as me!"

    The friendsughed and continued to discuss Iris¡¯ performances on the show while drinking alcohol. They didn¡¯t care much about her engagement. They were all music professionals. Once they considered someone worthy of respect as a musician, they wouldn¡¯t care about the individual¡¯s personal circumstances.

    Iris was such a person. They already recognized her as someone worthy of their respect as fellow musicians.

    ###

    Inside his music studio at home, Jin Chonglin strummed his acoustic guitar. His eyes were intense, as he jotted down several chords on paper to form a melody. He looked like a possessed man.

    Earlier, he was rxing while watching "MusicFest Tonight" on bed. When Iris appeared as substitute lead guitarist of the rock band Pandemonium, he was surprised.

    He was watching the show because he knew that Iris was going to perform tonight. He didn¡¯t expect that she would make aeback before him. He wanted to see if she was alright.

    Then he watched her electrifying guitar performance. Guitar was also his main instrument, especially when he just debuted as a musician years ago. Seeing her y the guitar like an expert pricked at his self-confidence.

    "I thought you¡¯re a pianist," he muttered. "Why are you ying the guitar like you¡¯re f*cking Enrique Valdez? Are you high or something?"

    After the performance, he turned off the TV and hurried to his music studio. He didn¡¯t watch her solo performance and had no idea about her engagement.

    A sense of urgency overwhelmed him after watching her. He was Jin Chonglin, a superstar. However, he felt like if he didn¡¯t do something right now, a bigger superstar would soon surpass him.

    Iris Long was back. And she was stronger than ever.

    "I won¡¯t let you have the throne that easily. May the best musician win."

 Chapter 276 - IEatSlippers Is Back

    <h4>Chapter 276 - IEatSlippers Is Back </h4>

    The next day, thetest episode of "MusicFest Tonight" was trending online. The episode also swept the TV ratings against other shows broadcasting at the same time slot. Not only that, the episode¡¯s video recording posted online received a staggering number of views within a 24-hour period. Although it didn¡¯t break any records, it was still very impressive for a regr episode.

    Everything was because of Iris Long.

    First of all, nobody could deny that her two performances on the show were both outstanding. The people already expected that she would give an exceptional solo performance. She had established a track record of always delivering ever since her firsteback.

    What nobody expected was her surprise performance with the Pandemonium rock band. People couldn¡¯t stop talking about it. They were all shocked and amazed at her skillful ying of the lead guitar. Other musicians were now paying closer attention to Iris because they wanted to know how skilled she really was in ying the piano, the guitar and other instruments.

    So Iris could also do rock. What else could she do? Were there things in music that she could NOT do?

    These questions swirled in people¡¯s minds. Many were already starting to believe that she must be some kind of a musical genius. That was why they felt so puzzled by her choices of trashy songs during her teenage years.

    Why did she allow herself to sing those kind of songs when she was actually so brilliant? Was it because she was going through a rebellious period that time?

    And the second reason whyst night¡¯s episode of "MusicFest Tonight" trended so much was because of Iris¡¯ shocking confession that she was engaged. Not only was it trending online, it also became the headlines on TV and newspapers.

    "Iris Long is Engaged!"

    "Who is Iris Long¡¯s Mysterious Fianc¨¦?"

    There was even a poll listing possible men who could be her fianc¨¦.

    Leading the poll was Jin Chonglin. Second was Eros. Third, Enrique Valdez. Fourth, Maestro Ludovico De Luca¡ªif he would divorce his beloved wife. Fifth and onward were the other members of Pandemonium. Even further down the list were other male idols, models and actors.

    The pollpletely ignored Iris¡¯ statement saying that her fianc¨¦ didn¡¯t work in showbiz.

    Most of the ck Stars and even Pandemonium fans were supportive of Iris¡¯ engagement. They congratted her and begged for her to reveal her fianc¨¦¡¯s identity soon, or even just give some hints so that they could figure it out for themselves.

    Unfortunately, there were also some who didn¡¯t like the fact the she got engaged. They expressed their dismay and the feeling of betrayal online.

    "I can¡¯t bear this! I spent so much money buying the digital and hard copies of all her albums, merchandise, and the travel expenses just to watch her guesting and live performances. She¡¯s just an idol who depends on us fans for her livelihood! How dare she publicly announce that she¡¯s engaged?!"

    "It¡¯s us fans who got her where she is today! She¡¯s nothing without us! We spent so much money on her and now she¡¯s going to use our money to pay for her wedding? Uneptable!"

    "She¡¯s a product and we fans are customers. I don¡¯t want to spend my money anymore on a product that I find unsatisfactory."

    "She doesn¡¯t care about us. No gratitude at all. She doesn¡¯t even know that she needs to be responsible for fans¡¯ expectations of her."

    They posted photos and videos online of themselves burning Iris¡¯ images, albums and other merchandise.

    Of course, the ck Stars wouldn¡¯t allow these former fans turned haters to continue bashing their Boss Iris. They immediately came in droves to defend their boss¡¯ name. Another online war involved the ck Stars and the infamous troll unit, the Slippers Army. Surprisingly, some Pandemonium fans joined the online battle in the name of Iris Long.

    CaptainckStar: "All of you are a**holes! How dare you call Boss Iris an idol! She¡¯s not an idol! She¡¯s a full-fledged musician! Learn the difference first, you morons! I even doubt that you were her fans to begin with. True fans will never turn their backs. Besides, I find your reasons for suddenly hating her utterly delusional and psychotic. So you think you own her just because you spent money? She sells music, not her body and soul! You¡¯re all twisted sons of b*tches! You don¡¯t own her and never will!"

    LittlePhoenix: "Yeah! Although I¡¯m still young and not an adult yet, I know that you¡¯re all sick in the head. Eat my slippers!"

    iEatSlippers: "I disappear for some time and Ie back to find traitors within our ck Stars and even in my beloved Slippers Army. Unforgivable! I¡¯ll whack all turncoats with my mighty slippers!"

    LittlePhoenix: "Uwah! Wee back, Big Brother!"

    All the ck Stars, especially the Slippers Army, were delighted that iEatSlippers was finally back. Their blood boiled in anticipation for what would surely be a spectacr online battle.

    iEatSlippers: "Listen up, all of you toxic vermin! Boss Iris is already wealthy even without your money! Go take your stinking money elsewhere! Boss doesn¡¯t need you! The ck Stars don¡¯t need you! And squeeze this in those pea-sized brains of yours that boss got to where she¡¯s now because of her own talent, abilities and hard work. Those who say otherwise are delusional ingrates who deserve some serious whacking! Come, Slippers Army! Prepare your mighty slippers and let¡¯s get whacking!"

    "All hail our mighty slippers of justice!"

    CaptainckStar: "Comrades, attack!"

    MonkeyFace also appeared and directed the divisions to several online battlefields. The Pandemonium fans were dumbfounded by the might and organization of the ck Stars. Some of them already heard about the fan club¡¯s reputation on the web before, especially the notoriety of the Slippers Army who were some of the worst trolls on the inte. But of course, they only trolled when their Boss Iris was attacked in any way. This experience only pumped the Pandemonium fans and fought just as fiercely as the ck Stars against the anti-Iris Long haters.

    While all of these were happening online, Maestro Liu Wei and his followers continued to discredit Iris Long to the media. They taunted her, challenging her to show evidence that she really performed with Maestro Ludovico De Luca in his orchestra concert in Germany.

    "See? She can¡¯t show any evidence because there are none," a reporter recorded him saying. "I bet that she¡¯s just banking on the fact that Maestro De Luca will ignore her and therefore won¡¯t refute her im of performing with him. She¡¯s a liar, that¡¯s what she is. I don¡¯t understand why people are following her, bing her brain dead fans. I constantly worry about our youths today with bad role models like her."

 Chapter 277 - A Closer Look

    <h4>Chapter 277 - A Closer Look </h4>

    Bright Summit scheduled a major interview for Iris to answer all the questions and rumours surrounding her once and for all. Originally, Bright Summit wanted to hold a press conference for Iris but Tang Yiyi fought for a one-to-one interview instead. It would be a safer bet especially for someone as straightforward as Iris because at least they could choose the interviewer, unlike a press conference which was free-for-all.

    Before the interview, Iris invited Tang Yiyi to Dragon Pce Home #10.

    "Iris, you bought a new mansion?" The manager asked when she arrived. She took off her coat and handed it to the butler.

    "No. This is my fianc¨¦¡¯s, but it¡¯s our home now," Iris replied while stroking the plump Ice Cream in her arms. Popcorn was sniffing Tang Yiyi¡¯s feet.

    They were at the grand foyer. Tang Yiyi had seen a fair share of luxurious and ptial residences especially since she worked in showbiz, but this mansion was on another level. After the redecoration, the mansion was now warm and weingpared to its previous cold and crypt-like atmosphere. There were monograms with the letters LX everywhere from the pillowcases to the curtains and other decorations.

    "LX? Sounds familiar...hmmm..." Tang Yiyi murmured. "Iris, your fianc¨¦ is rich."

    "I know."

    Iris led her manager further inside the grand foyer. Popcorn trotted beside them while Ice Cream enjoyed her Mommy¡¯s embrace.

    "Oh!" Tang Yiyi stopped. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the top of the twin staircases. There was a huge portrait of Iris and a cold handsome man together with the two cats. "Iris, is that your fianc¨¦?"

    "Yes."

    "Why do I think he looks familiar? I think I¡¯ve seen him before..."

    Iris didn¡¯t reply, leading her manager to the drawing room instead. A tall man was sitting on one of the sofas reading a newspaper. Popcorn immediately ran to the man and rubbed himself against him, meowing loudly, asking to be petted. Ice Cream also wiggled in Iris¡¯ arms, asking to be put down so that she could also go to the man.

    "Darling, my manager is here," Iris said as she walked towards him.

    The tall man stood up after petting the two cats. Then he gave Iris a quick nuzzle before facing the manager.

    Tang Yiyi was struck by the beautiful couple in front of her. She just stood there like a stupid idiot, her eyes goggling at them. They looked so perfect together that they didn¡¯t seem real. When she finally regained her senses, Tang Yiyi had the strongest feeling that she knew this man. She just couldn¡¯t remember who he was at the moment.

    "Hello, my name is Tang Yiyi of Bright Summit Entertainment Company. I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e Iris Long¡¯s manager. It¡¯s nice to meet you, Mister?"

    The man stepped forward and shook hands with her. "Hello. Wee to our home, Miss Tang. Thank you for taking care of my fianc¨¦. My name is Jin Liwei. It¡¯s also nice to meet you."

    "J-jin Liwei?!!!"

    Tang Yiyi¡¯s heart stopped for a few seconds. Her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head while her jaw felt like it was going to dislocate from her shock. Of course she recognized the President-CEO of Jin Corporation! Not to mention that he was also the elder brother of Jin Chonglin who was one of Bright Summit¡¯s biggest prides.

    "Y-you...Iris...you¡¯re engaged to J-jin Liwei?! The Jin Liwei?!!" She asked in disbelief.

    Iris nodded. "Please sit down, Elder Sis Yiyi."

    "Yes! Yes, I need to sit down...oh..." The manager dropped on the sofa like a heavy rock. Her wide eyes stared at the couple like they were extinct creatures brought back to life.

    The butler wheeled in some hot Da Hong Pao tea and biscuits. Tang Yiyi shoved biscuits into her mouth. She gradually recovered from her shock only to discover that she already finished the entire te of biscuits. She gulped down tea.

    Then they began to talk. Tang Yiyi was excited after knowing the identity of Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦. She suggested revealing his identity to the public to stop all the rumours saying that Iris was lovers with Enrique Valdez and Maestro De Luca. However, Iris rejected the idea.

    "Hmm. You¡¯re right. Now is not a good time to reveal that your fianc¨¦ is Jin Liwei. You still haven¡¯t stabilized your foothold in the industry yet. People will think that you used him to advance your career."

    The three talked about the engagement and Iris¡¯ uing interview. They thought about the best ways to answer some questions that were sure to be asked.

    When Tang Yiyi was about to leave, she finally realized the meaning of the LX monograms around the mansion.

    "How sweet and romantic using your initials together all over your home. Maybe it¡¯s just a coincidence, but thepany that is co-producing the film ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ which Iris is involved in is also called LX Productions."

    "En. It¡¯s mypany," Jin Liwei told her.

    The poor manager was once again shocked out of her wits.

    ###

    The day of the interview.

    Iris and her people arrived at a TV station building. It was different from the TV station of "MusicFest Tonight". As expected, a horde of fans and paparazzi waited outside the building for Iris. When she arrived, they swarmed to her. Jiang Ying Yue and Dom stuck close to her while several bodyguards encircled them.

    "We love you, Boss Iris!"

    A group wearing suits indicated that they were ck Stars. Iris spent some time interacting with them, signing autographs and taking pictures.

    Then suddenly, tomatoes started raining down on Iris and her group. Iris calmly took the umbre from Dom¡¯s bag and opened it over their heads. Tomatoes sttered on the umbre, making Iris¡¯ hands shake from the force but the important thing was that they weren¡¯t hit. Some of the bodyguards were hit, though.

    "I don¡¯t ept your engagement, Iris Long! Break up with your fianc¨¦ and I¡¯ll forget about my anger and return to being a ck Star!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold.

    The ck Stars present were enraged.

    "Who wants you back? The ck Stars don¡¯t need you! Even if you want to return, you¡¯re not wee anymore! Go away and don¡¯t bother our boss!"

    "Xin, we need to hurry inside and get out of here," Jiang Ying Yue told her in an urgent whisper.

    Iris nodded. Then she turned to her true fans. "Everyone, please hold your temper. I don¡¯t want anyone getting hurt because of me. Thank you very much for your support. Please know that I always appreciate you."

    "Boss Iris, we¡¯re always here for you! We¡¯re not like these fake fans! We¡¯ll follow you forever and ever!"

    With ast smile and a wave, Iris was led inside the building. The tomatoes and the hateful shouts continued to rain, but Iris¡¯ determination to not back down was way stronger than the umbre she was holding. Her hands tightened around the umbre. She felt angry that someone dared to order her around to break up with Jin Liwei.

    The building¡¯s security finally responded and controlled the anti-fan who threw the tomatoes.

    An assistant director weed Iris and her group inside and apologized for allowing such an incident to happen to her. She waved it off, not wanting to make it into a big deal. Relieved, the AD smiled and led them to the studio where the interview would be held.

    The studio housed the long-time talk show "A Closer Look with Feng Jiu", hosted by the well-respected Madam Feng Jiu. She was a vivacious middle-ageddy who had interviewed countless personalities throughout her long career. She had interviewed some of the most famous figures not only in the country but also around the world. Not much was known about her personal life. She preferred to live a low-key lifestyle despite her celebrity status.

    Inside Madam Feng Jiu¡¯s dressing room, she reviewed her list of questions while having her hair and make-up done.

    "Sister Jiujiu, take care of dear Iris, alright?" A posh middle-ageddy asked beside her.

    Feng Jiu sighed. "I know, but I still have to do a proper job as an interviewer. I just can¡¯t not ask her some juicy questions."

    "I understand. But I hope that you won¡¯t be too hard on her. The poor girl must still be feeling traumatized after learning that her car ident was an attempted murder."

    "Fine, I get it. You¡¯re my cousin so I¡¯ll give you face in this matter. I¡¯ll be nice to her," Feng Jiu promised the poshdy.

 Chapter 278 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part I

    <h4>Chapter 278 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part I </h4>

    The talk show "A Closer Look with Feng Jiu" started. While Madam Feng Jiu was doing her opening monologue, Iris stood backstage waiting for the signal for her to head out. Tang Yiyi was beside her, whispering reminders for her to control her straightforwardness even for just a bit.

    Dom and Jiang Ying Yue were already sitting in the audience. The other bodyguards ced themselves in strategic ces throughout the studio, so that they could respond and protect her immediately if something happened.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Elder Sister Yiyi. I¡¯ll be fine," Iris assured her manager.

    Tang Yiyi wanted to say more, but they heard Madam Feng Jiu¡¯s words.

    "Please wee the beautiful and talented...IRIS LONG!!!"

    Iris gave a reassuring smile to her manager before straightening her back and walking out with confidence and elegance. She was wearing a tailored purple jumpsuit which entuated her svelte hourss figure and long legs. Soft, shimmery make-up and a French braid updo hairstylepleted her sophisticated look.

    Loud apuse greeted her as she reached the set. She smiled and waved at Dom, Jiang Ying Yue and the suits-wearing ck Stars all sitting together. They upied more than half of the audience. She also saw Madam Feng Wan at the very front, looking posh as always. They nodded at each other.

    "Wee to my show, Iris!" Feng Jiu greeted her.

    "Thank you very much for having me, Madam Feng Jiu. It¡¯s a great honour to be here."

    After the greetings, the two sat down facing each other on big,fortable armchairs. They first chatted about trivial topics before Feng Jiu eased the conversation to the interview.

    "I watched ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯st Friday. Even though I¡¯m not fond of rock music, I found myself totally captivated watching you perform with the rock band Pandemonium. I¡¯m sure that everyone is shocked as I was to see you suddenly ying the electric guitar so skillfully. Can you tell us what happened and how you became a substitute for the band¡¯s lead guitarist Eros?"

    Iris recounted the story about how Eros got injured before their performance.

    "We have the same manager so I think that it¡¯s only natural that we help each other out. We¡¯re like family. We¡¯re the siblings and our manager is our parent," she said. "It was the first time that we yed together, so we sounded quite rough. Fortunately, we didn¡¯t make any big mistakes during our performance."

    "What rough? I couldn¡¯t tell at all. All I know was that you were amazing while rocking that lead guitar. You looked so natural that it was as if you¡¯ve been ying with them for a long time."

    Then they talked about her solo performance which Feng Jiu praised even more.

    "I have a cousin who loves ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ so much," Feng Jiu shared.

    After talking about ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯, Iris promoted her uing soundtrack album and the soon-to-be released film "Strong Yet Broken".

    "Alright. Let¡¯s move back a bit in time and talk about the reason why you suddenly disappeared again from the limelight for a second time," Feng Jiu said. Her tone sounded more serious. "And it¡¯s safe to say that both times you disappeared were caused by the same person. Iris, can you tell us how you felt when you learned that it was Fan Luo who ordered your car ident two years ago? We all know that it almost killed you and that you wereatose for a whole year as a result."

    Most of the audience, especially Dom and the ck Stars, all hissed when they heard Fan Luo¡¯s name. They cursed her but soon became quiet again because they also wanted to hear Iris¡¯ answer to the question.

    Iris paused and tried to remember how the remnant inside her reacted. She couldn¡¯t help but shudder at the memory of the intense bloodthirst and desire for revenge overwhelming her that time.

    Feng Jiu caught her reaction and her heart softened for the girl. She thought that Iris must still be feeling traumatized by what Fan Luo did to her. At first, Feng Jiu was just acting extra warm to Iris because of her cousin Feng Wan¡¯s request. But now she really felt sympathetic to Iris¡¯ traumatic experience. Although she couldn¡¯t avoid asking these probing questions, as a skilled interviewer, she could choose the manner on how to ask them.

    "I was angry...furious. I lost control of myself. Immense anger...it¡¯s all I felt," Iris finally answered.

    "Did you ever think about revenge?"

    "Of course," Iris said with honesty.

    Feng Jiu nodded in understanding, not the least bit judgmental. "We can¡¯t me you. If I was in your shoes, I would also feel the same way."

    The audience murmured their agreement.

    Feng Jiu: "Now on to a more sensitive topic. Despite the evidence gathered by the police and your strong alibi, there are still rumours saying that you were the one who kidnapped and tortured Fan Luo and the rm Girls. What do you say about that?"

    Dom and the ck Stars expressed their dismay at the question. Some staff members requested them to calm down.

    Iris already expected and prepared herself for this question. But it didn¡¯t mean that she wasn¡¯t affected. Her outward expression showed no visible reaction, but deep inside she felt panicked. Fortunately, she was able to tamp it down. She mentally reminded herself that it wasn¡¯t her who did it, that she had to allow the remnant to do it because if she didn¡¯t, she would die a second time after the connection between her soul and body was severed. This calmed her down but still left a bad taste in her mouth. It would forever be a stain on her that she could never wash away.

    "The evidence is already avable for everyone to see. Those who are still choosing to ignore the evidence are just creating an issue where there is none," she answered.

    The deflection pricked at her but it was necessary.

    "Alright." Feng Jiu epted her answer. She didn¡¯t ask for additional details, choosing to move on to the next question instead. "Iris, where have you been while you were gone? We know that you were in Germany. Did you stay there the entire time?"

    Iris: "No, I recuperated at a private ce in Switzend. It¡¯s where I met Maestro Ludovico De Luca. Sometime afterwards, he invited me to perform with him at his concert so we all flew to Germany together."

    Feng Jiu: "Good thing that you mentioned Maestro De Luca. My next question is actually about him. I admire him greatly and he¡¯s one of my favourite living ssical musicians. How did you meet the maestro?"

    Knowing that Maestro De Luca hadn¡¯t introduced her as his student yet, Iris didn¡¯t want to be the one to reveal the fact.

    "We met through a mutual acquaintance. Maestro recognized me through my piano album ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯. It¡¯s doing well in Europe, if I may say so myself."

    Feng Jiu: "Ah, how interesting! I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re aware that one of our very own maestros have criticized your piano album harshly before. And now you¡¯re saying that Maestro De Luca recognized you through that very album and even became the catalyst for him to invite you to perform with him on his concert?"

    "Yes." Iris nodded.

    "What a liar!"

    "Show us proof that you performed with Maestro De Luca first!"

    Loud, angry voices interrupted the interview. Everyone turned their heads and saw two people, a male and a female, standing up from their seats in the audience. They pointed usatory fingers at Iris. Their expressions looked ugly and mocking.

    "Who the hell are you two?" A ck Star asked them.

    "We¡¯re Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s students. We won¡¯t tolerate a mere pop singer making our maestro look bad in front of everyone. Why don¡¯t you all open your eyes and see that the person you¡¯re following is nothing but a liar?!"

    "What did you say about our boss?!"

    The ck Stars started quarreling with them. Despite being only two people, Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s students didn¡¯t back down and traded insults with Iris¡¯ fans.

    Feng Jiu was very displeased watching this scene. She didn¡¯t like people interrupting her own show.

    Iris stood up. "Please calm down, everyone. There is no need to get riled up."

    Her bodyguards all became alert, ready to shield her at any given moment.

    The ck Stars reluctantly listened to her. They returned to their seats but made sure to shoot nasty res at the two f*ckers who continued to insult their boss.

    "You can¡¯t show any evidence because you¡¯re a liar! You¡¯re just someone pretending to be a ssical musician. Stay in pop music where you belong! We don¡¯t need a lowlife like you in our respectable world of ssical music!"

    "You¡¯re the lowlife! Your whole family consists of lowlife!" One ck Star couldn¡¯t stop herself anymore. "If the world of ssical music is filled with people like you and your maestro, then it¡¯s clearly not respectable! Ptui!"

    "You! How dare you?!"

    Iris was about to move and intervene herself, but Feng Jiu stopped her. The host was listening to some new information from the show¡¯s director.

    "Oh, we are receiving a call right now. From who?"

    Then Feng Jiu gasped in shock. Her reaction drew everyone¡¯s attention. They stopped the ruckus and looked at her curiously.

    "Oh my! On the line right now is someone that...I can¡¯t believe this...wow. Ladies and gentlemen, please wee the one and only, MAESTRO LUDOVICO DE LUCA!!!"

 Chapter 279 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part II

    <h4>Chapter 279 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part II </h4>

    Several screens in the studio flickered and Maestro Ludovico De Luca¡¯s image appeared. The screen was split into two. A big square showed him while a small square showed another person who was his trantor.

    Everyone was very surprised because they expected that it would only be a phone call, but it turned out to be a video call instead.

    Feng Jiu greeted the maestro and introduced herself. The trantor tranted the maestro¡¯s introduction. The people were impressed even though a lot of them didn¡¯t know much about him because they weren¡¯t really interested in ssical music. It was only when the issue about Iris performing at his concert became the news topic that they learned about him.

    "There you are, Xiu¡ªIris! We talked on the phone the other day, but you never mentioned that you¡¯re facing all these problems regarding your performance at my concert. Why didn¡¯t you tell me?" Maestro De Luca demanded.

    "Hello, Maestro. Lovely to talk to you again. I didn¡¯t tell you because it¡¯s not a big deal," she answered, waving a dismissive hand.

    "You silly child." He started lecturing her. "Next time, tell me these things!"

    "I understand, Maestro."

    Everyone was too dumbfounded watching the exchange between the two. Most of them couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying because they were speaking in Italian. The trantor was doing his best to keep up with them.

    Iris looked too calm andfortable talking to such a distinguished figure. She looked like she was just speaking to a family member she met every day. Even the experienced interviewer Feng Jiu stuttered a bit while she was introducing herself to the maestro earlier.

    What was more, the people were surprised to discover that Iris spoke fluent Italian. The ck Stars became even more die hard fans than before. Their boss was just too amazing! Was there anything that their boss could NOT do?

    As for Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s two students, their mockery turned into expressions of utter disbelief...and horror. Of course they immediately recognized Maestro Ludovico De Luca. They admired and respected him, even idolized him more than their own Maestro Liu Wei. His level was just beyond their own maestro.

    The director signaled for Feng Jiu to take over the situation as Iris and Maestro De Luca were getting carried away by their own conversation.

    "Maestro De Luca, we are all so pleased and excited to have this opportunity to speak with you directly. It¡¯s such a great honour!" Feng Wan skillfully interrupted the two. "May I ask the reason why you decided to call us here today?"

    "I called because I was informed that Xiu¡ªIris is being bullied by some of the ssical musicians there," Maestro De Luca said. "If I had known earlier and if I¡¯m not so busy preparing for my next concert, I would¡¯ve flown there right now. I¡¯m severely disappointed in Maestro Wei Liu and the other musicians teaming up with him to harass Iris. I respected him as a fellow ssical musician before but I had no idea that he¡¯s actually a narrow-minded snob who bullies young, talented musicians. Music, be it ssical or not, is meant for everyone! Music has no borders and shame on those who create them from their own misguided sense of discrimination!"

    The faces of Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s two students in the audience paled. They wished that the ground could just open up and swallow them whole. They mentally beat themselves up for listening to their maestro and joining in his hate campaign against Iris Long. Now their hopes and dreams of venturing outside the country to further their ssical music careers abroad were all crushed. Who would respect them after Maestro De Luca pped their faces alongside their own maestro?

    They tried to quietly leave the studio, but they were blocked by several ck Stars and the studio¡¯s security who just arrived at the scene.

    "I¡¯m here to confirm that Iris Long performed with me at my orchestra concert in Germany," Maestro De Luca continued. His voice was heated andced with anger. "You are all demanding recordings from Iris? Are you just acting ignorant or what? You¡¯re all ssical musicians and yet you don¡¯t know that cameras or any recording devices aren¡¯t allowed in my concerts? If you want recordings then ask them from me, not from her! Although the recording for my entire concert is not released yet, I¡¯ll post Iris¡¯ two performances on my website. Go take a look and see for yourselves. If you still spout any nonsense after this, then you really have serious problems in your heads!"

    The trantor winced a bit at the harsh words the maestro said. She tried to soften the words with less urate trantions with simr meanings in order to make them more eptable for general viewing on TV. Of course, she filtered out the curse words as well.

    "If Iris is not appreciated there, she¡¯s always wee here in Europe," Maestro De Luca said to finish his tirade.

    Feng Jiu asked him a few more questions to which he was surprisingly amodating to answer. After speaking to Iris and telling her not to let anyone bully her, he ended the video call.

    Everyone in the studio was in uproar after the call. Even Feng Jiu could barely contain her excitement. She instructed her staff to check Maestro De Luca¡¯s website immediately.

    Iris watched all of these happening with a calm and unfazed expression. She wasn¡¯t really bothered by Maestro Liu Wei. Like all the other haters bashing her, he was just part of an unpleasant background noise in her life. Annoying, yes, but couldn¡¯t affect her in any significant way.

    She didn¡¯t tell Maestro De Luca about this matter, so someone must¡¯ve told him. Grandpa Lu? Jin Liwei? It wasn¡¯t Grandpa Lu¡¯s style to directly interfere with her career because he wanted her to learn how to handle everything herself. So it should be her man, Jin Liwei.

    A smile softened her expression. Although she preferred handling things on her own, it felt good that someone was taking care of her even when she didn¡¯t ask for help.

    Her heart warmed up. She couldn¡¯t wait for the interview to be over, so that she could go home to her darling.

 Chapter 280 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part III

    <h4>Chapter 280 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part III </h4>

    The screens in the studio flickered once again. They began showing a video of Iris in a drop-dead gorgeous fiery red dress ying Schumann¡¯s "Tata in C Major, Op. 7". Her swift fingers skipping over the piano keys astounded everyone. The quick performance ended too soon.

    Fortunately, another video yed right after. It showed Iris performing Schumann¡¯s "Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54" with Maestro Ludovico De Luca and his symphony orchestra. Because the original performance was half an hour long, only the highlights were shown in the video.

    Those who weren¡¯t interested in ssical music before instantly became converts after watching the two videos. They found that they also enjoyed Iris ying ssical music as much as when she performed pop and rock.

    The ck Stars and the rest of the audience cheered and gave Iris a standing ovation. Even the show¡¯s host, Feng Jiu, stood up and pped her hands. Iris stood up and bowed her thanks to everyone.

    "Boss Iris, you¡¯re the best! Cool! Amazing! Beautiful! Nobody canpare to you!"

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!"

    Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s two students felt like outcasts. They were also tempted to p their hands after watching the videos but felt that they lost the right to do so after mocking Iris earlier. They just stood there with stiff expressions, as they endured the nasty res and contemptuous looks from the people around them. They wanted to run away, but the security wouldn¡¯t allow them. They had to suffer the humiliation that they brought to themselves.

    Everyone finally settled down and returned to their seats, including Feng Jiu and Iris.

    "Wow, Iris! That was so mind-blowing!" Feng Jiu eximed. She was truly impressed by the youngdy sitting opposite her. "I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯ll be this skilled in ssical music. Is there anything that you cannot do?"

    Iris chuckled. "Of course, there are many things that I can¡¯t do. But when ites to music, I love it so much that I constantly desire to improve my skills and abilities. I¡¯m never satisfied because I believe that there will always be room for improvement. Saying all of these, the most important thing for me in music is the freedom to enjoy it and to express my emotions and interpretations through it. Music is such a wonder and I feel blessed to be able to be a part of its marvelous world."

    Feng Jiu: "You sound very wise for your age. I¡¯m sure that there are many people who¡¯ll start seeing you in a new light after this."

    Feng Jiu asked Iris for more details about her performances at Maestro De Luca¡¯s concert. Everyone listened intently, not wanting to miss any details.

    "Wow. Not only did you perform with the world-renowned Maestro Ludovico De Luca and his award-winning symphony orchestra, but you also performed at the historical opera house in Germany in front of so many distinguished people from all around the world. I can¡¯t wrap my head around what you experienced. This is such a great achievement! I¡¯m so proud of you as my fellow countrywoman. Congrattions, Iris!" Feng Jiu led another round of apuse for Iris.

    Iris: "Thank you, Madam Feng. Thank you, everyone!"

    Feng Jiu: "And of course, I also want to thank you because if it weren¡¯t for you, I don¡¯t think my show and everyone present here today will have the chance to receive a call from Maestro De Luca himself and speak with him directly. Let me tell you that this is a dreame true for me. So thank you, Iris."

    Before they moved to the next topic of the interview, both Iris and Feng Jiu drank water from the cups beside them.

    Feng Jiu: "My next question is about Enrique Valdez. If my information is correct, you¡¯ve been seen together with him in Germany. And also some have noticed that your way of ying the electric guitar is very simr to the legendary hitmaker¡¯s southpaw style. How did you meet him? What¡¯s your rtionship with each other?"

    "I met Mr. Valdez at the same time I met Maestro De Luca in Switzend," Iris replied. "They were actually together that time. In fact, we all flew together from Switzend to Germany in his private jet. Of course, there were other people with us who were our mutual acquaintances. As for my ying style being simr to his, that¡¯s because he¡¯s one of my biggest musical influences alongside Maestro De Luca."

    "I see." Feng Jiu nodded and asked more about what Enrique was like in person.

    Iris answered all of the questions with ease. She didn¡¯t bat her eyes even when Feng Jiu asked her about the rumours saying that she was lovers with Enrique Valdez.

    "I only have one lover and that is my fianc¨¦," she said.

    The ck Stars and the other audience members squealed when they heard her words. The camera zoomed in on the diamond ring around her finger.

    Feng Jiu: "Before anything else, I want to say congrattions on your engagement, Iris!"

    More congrattions poured out to her from everyone. She thanked them.

    "I can tell that you¡¯re in love. You¡¯re blooming and you look very happy," Feng Jiu told her. "My next question is about your engagement. That is one beautiful ring. Can you show it to us one more time?"

    Iris raised her hand and allowed the camera to have a better view of it. Then she exined how it was the perfect ring for a pianist like her because it was made from a super lightweight material. She also briefly told them how her man proposed to her in Italy, but didn¡¯t share anything more. She wanted to keep the special memory of the proposal between her and Jin Liwei.

    Feng Jiu: "I know that my next question is something that many want to ask you. Who is your mysterious fianc¨¦?"

    "My fianc¨¦ is a businessman," Iris answered with a soft smile. "I don¡¯t want to reveal who he is yet. I want to enjoy our privacy as a couple first. But someday, I¡¯ll introduce him to everyone."

    Feng Jiu: "Can you tell us more about the love story between the two of you?"

    Iris shared a brief recounting of how she and Jin Liwei met at a hotel lobby after Mr. JJ made her "audition" at a restaurant. The ck Stars knew this audition story. Madam Feng Wan¡¯s eyes also lit up at the memory of meeting Iris for the first time. They were all fascinated how she met her fianc¨¦ on the same day.

    "You really look like a woman in love. Your face just lights up whenever you talk about your fianc¨¦," Feng Jiu told her. "He¡¯s a lucky man. I hope...no, we all hope to meet him soon."

    "Yes, I love him very much. I never expected that I¡¯ll love a man like this. I also feel lucky because he loves me, supports me and lets me chase after my dreams withoutining," Iris replied.

    Feng Jiu: "Have you already decided on a wedding date?"

    Iris: "Not yet."

    Feng Jiu: "Do you want to have children?"

    "Yes, but not too soon. I¡¯m still young after all," she answered after hesitating for a few seconds. "But we have two adorable kittens. We consider them as our children."

    A photo of Ice Cream and Popcorn was shown on the screens. The kittens, who didn¡¯t look like kittens anymore because they were so big now, were together on the floor with a tall man whose face wasn¡¯t shown. His strong, lean muscles were obvious even beneath a long-sleeved shirt and trousers. His wide chest and tight abdomen looked very attractive.

    "Oooooh~"

    "Uwah! So cute~"

    "Look at his body!"

    Everyone was filled with excitement upon seeing the man¡¯s figure.

    "Iris, is that your fianc¨¦?" Feng Jiu asked.

    "Yes."

    "He already looks handsome even without showing his face."

    Irisughed along with everyone else. She nodded. "Yes, he¡¯s very handsome."

    Dom squealed with the rest of the audience. The ck Stars begged Iris to give hints about her fianc¨¦¡¯s identity. She only smiled, not responding to their request.

    "I can¡¯t take this anymore! Iris Long, you sl*t! How dare you show off your fianc¨¦ and brag about him in front of us?!" A man stood up and yelled from the audience. His eyes looked furious and crazed. "You ungrateful b*tch! I spent so much money on you but here you are enjoying yourself and sleeping with a man instead of working hard to give me my money¡¯s worth!"

 Chapter 281 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 281 - Feng Jiu Interviews Iris Long Part IV </h4>

    The man was wearing a suit, indicating that he came as a ck Star to watch Iris¡¯ interview. Hispanions sitting beside him were horrified at his outburst. He continued his condemnation of Iris, throwing graphic curses at her that werepletely inappropriate for general viewers.

    "Break up with that motherf*cking fianc¨¦ of yours! He¡¯s nothing but a bastard who¡¯s robbing you of your career and fans like me! If you stop acting like a sl*t now, I can still forgive you as long as you remain pure and continue to work hard pleasing us fans!"

    All of the ck Stars felt enraged, not only because their Boss Iris was being insulted, but also because at the betrayal. The fact that they had been sitting together with a traitor all this time and treating him as theirrade left a nasty taste in their mouths.

    They immediately banded together and scolded the traitor. They felt more furious now than when they quarreled earlier with Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s two students. Even as they were angry at him, they were also angry at themselves. It felt as if they failed to uphold the unity of ck Stars that they were so proud of.

    Watching anothermotion happen in the audience, Feng Jiu was dismayed. This was her show and it didn¡¯t sit well with her that things were going out of her control. The director, however, was filled with excitement. He fought the urge to rub his hands together. He instructed the cameramen to record everything.

    ¡¯This will definitely make for a good show,¡¯ he thought.

    All the drama in one episode! He was already fantasizing about the high ratings the show would rake in after this episode aired.

    As for Iris, she watched everything with cold eyes. She stood up, looking directly at the crazed man. Her aura changed. She was now like an empress whose decree was being questioned by one of her rebellious subjects.

    The crazed man flinched at her heavy stare. "W-what?"

    "Thank you very much for your past support of my music," Iris spoke to him in a clear voice. It wasn¡¯t loud but it was still heard throughout the studio. Her tone was cold and unyielding, giving off pressure not only to the man but also to everyone else. "However, I don¡¯t owe you anything outside my career as an artist. You used your money to buy my music, not my freedom or my life. I am not your ve. Just as you and everyone else here have the right to enter a proper rtionship, I also have the same right to be with my fianc¨¦."

    Everyone was silent now. They were all listening to her. Even the crazed man stopped shouting.

    Iris continued, her tone bing gentle yet also determined. "I assure all of you that being engaged or married will NOT affect my ability to create and share my music with you. In fact, I feel very inspired right now. If you can¡¯t ept my rtionship, then I can only thank you for your past support to me. I love my man and won¡¯t break up with him just because you asked me to. And to those who are still supporting me up to this point, you have my deepest gratitude. Always know that I appreciate all of you. Even when I¡¯m married and have my own family, I¡¯ll continue to work hard to give you the best music that I can create to pay back all of the support you constantly give me. True ck Stars will always have a big ce in my heart."

    Her speech touched all of the ck Stars. Even the crazed man was affected. After all, he was a ck Star up until a few moments ago.

    "Don¡¯t worry, boss! We support you! People like him aren¡¯t true fans! We are! They¡¯re just sick psychos who have holes in their brains! We¡¯ll follow you until the end!"

    The crazed man looked conflicted. He wiped tears and snot from his face.

    It was the kind of atmosphere that easily overwhelmed people. The feeling of devotion the ck Stars had for Iris was like a living entity influencing all the surrounding individuals. Iris was their queen. All of these trials they were experiencing together with her only reinforced their loyalty towards their queen.

    The interview officially ended in an emotional note. It was a roller coaster of surprises both good and bad, but most would agree that it was a great interview with lots of juicy details.

    ###

    After the show, Iris chatted with Feng Jiu and Feng Wan. She discovered that the two madams were cousins. They invited her to eat dinner together but she regretfully declined. She felt drained after the interview. The two madams were understanding and let her go.

    Inside the executive van, Iris called Maestro Ludovico De Luca on the phone while Dom was gushing about everything that happened during the interview with Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Yes, Liwei is the one who informed me about the matter between you and Maestro Wei Liu," he told her, confirming her suspicion. "Maybe I should¡¯ve revealed that you¡¯re my student earlier."

    "No, Maestro. I don¡¯t want to be given special treatment because I¡¯m your student. I want to gain achievements through my own abilities and not because of my connection to you."

    After the phone call, Iris closed her eyes to rest. She yed with the diamond ring on her finger. So it really was Jin Liwei who called Maestro De Luca.

    A soft smile lifted the corners of her lips. Everything she said about Jin Liwei during the interview was the truth. She loved him and wouldn¡¯t break up with him even if some of her fans turned their backs on her.

    ###

    A few nightster, thetest episode of "A Closer Look with Feng Jiu" finally aired on TV. Many people tuned in because they all wanted to hear what Iris had to say regarding all of the issues surrounding her.

    The episode showed all of the major incidents during the taping. It was the first time the show featured the audience so heavily. It was as if the audience kept on spitting out problems after problems for Iris to face.

    People actively discussed as they watched the show.

    "Whoa! Did all of these really happen? I feel like I¡¯m watching a drama instead of a talk show!"

    "I know, right? The events are so gripping and exciting that I can¡¯t even make myself run to the toilet to relieve myself because I don¡¯t want to miss anything."

    "I checked Maestro De Luca¡¯s website and Iris¡¯ performances are really posted there. Ahaha! Did you see the reactions of Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s two students? Priceless! I wish their maestro was together with them. I would love to see the old man¡¯s reaction as well!"

    "Maestro Liu had been busymbasting Iris to the reporterstely, calling her a liar every chance he gets. Let¡¯s see what he has to say after his face got pped by Maestro De Luca himself."

    "Serves him right. He thinks too highly of himself. Just like what Maestro De Luca said during the interview, shame on him for putting borders on music when there should be none."

    Theizens were unforgiving. Just as how harsh Maestro Liu Wei was in criticizing Iris before, theizens also harshly made fun of him. He was trending online alongside Iris Long for all the wrong reasons.

    "Maestro Liu Wei: The Biggest Disgrace of our Country¡¯s ssical Music Scene!"

 Chapter 282 - Time Is Up

    <h4>Chapter 282 - Time Is Up </h4>

    Ever since Maestro Liu Wei got unofficially banned from most of the country¡¯s major concert halls and high society events, he took sce from the ssical musicmunity. Even though his connections to high society were stripped away from him, he remained an influential figure in the country¡¯s ssical music scene. He was still Maestro Liu Wei, after all.

    At the request of a long-time friend who was the president of a private music academy, Maestro Liu Wei guested as a special one-time lecturer. Almost all the students and the instructors attended, so it was a big event. The lecture was scheduled on the same night as when thetest episode of "A Closer Look with Feng Jiu" aired.

    Of course he was aware that Iris Long¡¯s interview would be airing. He wanted to watch it, but since he had an earliermitment with the music academy, watching the interview had to wait.

    There was also something bothering him for the past few days. Two of his students suddenly stoppeding to see him. He also couldn¡¯t contact them. He asked around and it seemed that the two returned to their hometowns. He was feeling a bit peeved because the two didn¡¯t even inform him. Was it that difficult to send him a text message?

    Putting the matter of his students aside, Maestro Liu Wei sessfullypleted his lecture at the academy. He was gathering his notes from the lectern on the stage when he heard some disturbance arising from the students who had yet to leave from their seats in the audience. Almost all of them were looking at their phones, tablets andptops.

    A disapproving frown appeared on his face. Young people these days just didn¡¯t have the same discipline as his generation. He, the lecturer, hadn¡¯t even left yet and they were already acting like monkeys let loose in the jungle.

    After a few moments, he realized that something was amiss. Why were they whispering to each other while looking at him? Why did it feel like they were mocking him?

    He scowled, intending toin to his long-time friend. As the president, he should discipline the students of his music academy and teach them how to respect their elders. He was about to leave the stage when some of the conversations reached his ears.

    "I really didn¡¯t think much of Iris Long before, but now I think that she¡¯s very impressive. It seems that she has a close rtionship with Maestro De Luca based on their conversation during the video call. Even our own maestros in this country can¡¯t boast such a level of familiarity with him. I¡¯m also very surprised that she can speak fluent Italian."

    "Exactly. If she didn¡¯t perform with Maestro De Luca at his concert in Germany, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll even know that she¡¯s such a talented ssical pianist. That ¡¯Tata¡¯ was insane! I think she yed it better than my professor."

    Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s mood plunged down even more. Iris Long was a talented ssical pianist?

    ¡¯Don¡¯t make meugh,¡¯ he sneered.

    Then he heard something that made him stop in his tracks.

    "I agree with what Maestro De Luca said. Music, be it ssical or not, shouldn¡¯t have any borders. As ssical music students or professionals, our training or skills shouldn¡¯t be a reason for us to discriminate against others when ites to music."

    "Uwah. This is so embarrassing. If I were Maestro Liu Wei and a world-renowned figure like Maestro De Luca called me out on national television, I wouldn¡¯t have any face left to show the world. I¡¯ll probably hide inside my house and nevere out until I die."

    "Sssh! Look at him. It looks like he doesn¡¯t know what happened yet."

    What were they talking about? Maestro Liu Wei was very confused. Although he didn¡¯t yet understand what was going on, something was telling him that it wasn¡¯t anything good. A sense of dread started to weigh heavily on his chest, especially at the mention of Maestro De Luca.

    Finally, his long-time friend and the music instructors came to him, handing him a tablet. It showed several video snippets of Iris Long¡¯s interview with Feng Jiu.

    Hisplexion turned paler and paler the more video snippets he watched. So this was the reason why his two students suddenly disappeared! Those rascals! Their presence in the show only worsened his image to the public, especially since Maestro De Luca appeared in a video call immediately afterwards.

    Then he watched the videos of Iris¡¯ two performances at Maestro De Luca¡¯s orchestra concert.

    "This..." His hands tightened on the tablet. "So she really performed at his concert..."

    Despite his feelings of animosity towards Iris Long, he was still a ssical musician at the end of the day. Her masterful interpretations of Schumann¡¯s two pieces impressed him. Based on what he watched, she was definitely on a different league from any of his own students.

    A group of students sitting in front of the audience walked near the stage. They looked at Maestro Liu Wei, the academy president and the instructors. Barely concealed scorn could be seen from their expressions.

    "Maestro Liu Wei, Iris Long is a great and talented pianist. Why are you so critical of her? As far as we know, she never did anything to you."

    "I¡ª"

    He was about to defend himself and say that Iris used her family¡¯s influence to suppress him but stopped. He thought about the situation more carefully. He didn¡¯t have any evidence for his usation. If he continued to badmouth her, he would just project himself to others as a petty and spiteful person.

    A young female beside the guy who just spoke up stepped forward and curled her lips in disdain. "Hmph! I respect your achievements as a ssical musician but as a person, you suck, Maestro Liu Wei! So unlike our Boss Iris who¡¯s beautiful in and out. Not to mention she¡¯s very talented as a musician. And yes, in ssical music too!"

    "Yeah, Boss Iris is the best! Aren¡¯t you ashamed that someone you¡¯re criticizing has been acknowledged by Maestro De Luca himself? It¡¯s disgraceful that Europe appreciates her talents but her own countrymen do nothing but pull her down. I feel so bad for her!"

    The others in the group nodded their heads in agreement.

    "Shush! The academy president and the instructors are in front of us," another guy scolded hispanions. He looked up at Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s group and bowed apologetically. Then he pulled hispanions out of the ce while continuing to scold them. "Are you all nuts? Do you want to be kicked out?"

    "Hmph! We¡¯re just telling the truth. Maestro Liu Wei suck as a person. Boss Iris is the best!"

    It turned out that this group of ssical music students were all ck Stars. If it wasn¡¯t mandatory for them to attend Maestro Liu Wei¡¯s lecture, they wouldn¡¯t even bother attending. Not only because they had bad feelings against the maestro for criticizing their boss, but also because they would rather watch the interview with Feng Jiu than listen to the maestro¡¯s boring lecture.

    As for Maestro Liu Wei, he felt mortified after the scene with the students. He could feel the mocking eyes of the surrounding people stabbing at him.

    "Old Wei, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll make sure to punish those students and discipline them," his friend told him.

    "No need," he said in a stiff tone, shaking his head. "I¡¯m tired. If you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯ll head home now."

    His friend sighed and then patted his shoulder. "Alright. I¡¯ll walk you to your car."

    An hourter, Maestro Liu Wei sat in his living room watching the full interview of Iris Long on hisptop. He tried contacting his two students many times but it seemed that they blocked him.

    He felt furious and humiliated. He cursed Iris Long, Maestro De Luca, his two students, and all the people mocking him. He began to hate Iris even more now.

    Many times he watched the part where Maestro De Luca spoke about music. Gradually, his fury and hatred transformed into self-reflection and then shame.

    Maestro De Luca¡¯s words struck a chord in him. His pride of being a celebrated national maestro made him forget the essence of his passion for music. He had been blinded by all the recognition and awards he received earlier in his career. Now he realized that he had be too cocky.

    There was still a strong part of him urging to retaliate against Iris Long and to avenge his now ruined reputation, but he stopped himself.

    This was enough. He already fell from grace.

    He wouldn¡¯t allow himself to fall even further because of his pride. His reputation in the ssical music world was in tatters now, but no matter what, he was still a maestro. It was a fact that he made a lot of contributions to the country¡¯s ssical music world throughout the years. Nobody could take that away from him.

    "I guess it¡¯s time to retire," he sighed in a sad and regretful tone. "Seems like my time is really up. It¡¯s time for the next generation to take over. Iris Long, I¡¯ll be watching you. Let¡¯s see how high you¡¯ll ascend or whether you¡¯re really worthy of Maestro De Luca¡¯s acknowledgement."

 Chapter 283 - More Important Than Royalty

    <h4>Chapter 283 - More Important Than Royalty </h4>

    Meanwhile, some of the employees of Jin Corporation who were watching Iris Long¡¯s interview paused at the photo showing her two cats and the figure of her fianc¨¦.

    "Eh? Is it just me or the cats look like Young Miss Ice Cream and Young Master Popcorn? And is that man President Jin?" A marketing associate asked her colleagues who were also her tmates.

    "Hmm. Now that you mention it, they really do look like the President¡¯s cats. As for the President...I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s him in the picture. I¡¯ve never seen him in casual clothing before."

    "No! That¡¯s definitely not the President or his cats! Are you both crazy? President Jin and Iris Long are engaged? No way! There is absolutely no way that¡¯s true! Look at the picture again. That grey cat is so much fatter than Young Miss Ice Cream! And that orange cat...uh...the direction of his stripes is wrong! Young Master Popcorn¡¯s stripes go to the left while the stripes of that cat go to the right! And look, their cors are different! Young Miss and Young Master wear silver cors. Those cats are wearing gold cors! As for the man in the picture, that¡¯s clearly not the President. President Jin is taller and more dignified. He¡¯ll never sit on the floor like that!"

    "Yeah, I think you¡¯re right," her friends murmured, even though they knew that her reasoning waspletely illogical.

    "But if, and I¡¯m only saying IF the President and Iris Long are really engaged, I actually think that they look good together. I mean, the President is handsome and Iris is beautiful. They¡¯re both gorgeous."

    "Yeah. I didn¡¯t like Iris Long before when she was still a teenager but ever since hereback, I became a fan of hers. She¡¯s a very talented musician. I think she¡¯ll be a good match for the President. I¡¯d rather have her as ourdy boss than some other snobbish heiress who only knows how to throw money away and look pretty."

    "Noooooo! I refuse to believe this!"

    Their friend resisted the idea. She always had a crush on President Jin. She worked hard to get into Jin Corporation just because she wanted the opportunity to see President Jin on a regr basis.

    "Whether it¡¯s true or not is none of our business. It¡¯s best to keep our spections to ourselves. You know the rumours in thepany about those who offended President Jin before. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re true or not, but it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry."

    They all nodded.

    Simr scenes were happening in different ces. All of these Jin Corporation employees had the same spections but not one of them dared to share their thoughts to others. A big reason of this was because they were terrified of their President. They only knew him as a cold and ruthless leader.

    Another reason why they chose to remain silent was because they were proud working for the number onepany in the country. It wasn¡¯t worth it to destroy their respectable status in the business industry as Jin Corporation employees and their career prospects within thepany just for some quick cash by selling information to the media.

    Besides, they weren¡¯t even sure if their spections were correct. What if they were wrong? They would just end up with a libelwsuit. It wasn¡¯t worth it.

    The employees could only gossip among themselves, careful not to let any outsiders hear them. If it was really true that President Jin Liwei and Iris Long were engaged, then Iris was truly impressive. She seeded where countless women failed 100% of the time in seducing such a terrifying ice block.

    "Wait! What if President Jin is just using her to cover up that he¡¯s gay?!" A junior financial analyst suddenly wondered out loud.

    "Sssh! Not so loud! What if someone hears you?" His colleague looked around the bar they were in, a paranoid expression on his face.

    "Nooo!" The junior financial analyst sobbed on the bar counter. "Poor Boss Iris! She deserves better than that unfeeling King Yama. Boss Iris, find someone who¡¯s more capable of emotions. Even Jin Chonglin is better than the President!"

    "You¡¯re drunk. Let¡¯s go home."

    Among these Jin Corporation employees, some were ck Stars. If they were to choose between their two bosses, Jin Liwei or Iris Long, they would hands down go with their Boss Iris.

    ###

    Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    The ce was bustling with activity. Huang Yuyan directed the household staff to clean, decorate, cook and make everything look as perfect as possible. She checked the table settings on the dining table. She tasted the dishes being cooked and prepared in the kitchen. She was all over the ce.

    "Maybe we should change the curtains to bright red," she suggested.

    "Yuyan my dear, the curtains are fine. You already had them changed six times today. Why don¡¯t you rx?" Grandma Li told her in a lightly exasperated tone. "The way you¡¯re acting, it¡¯s as if some members of royalty are visiting."

    "Mother, it¡¯s a special day! My son is bringing Xin and the Long familyter. They¡¯re more important than royalty! We need to present a good image to the Longs, so that they can feel at ease when Xin marries into our Jin family."

    Grandma Li chuckled at her daughter-inw. "Alright. It looks like you have things under control here. I¡¯ll leave everything to you, then. I¡¯m already old and don¡¯t have the energy for all of these preparations."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Mother. I¡¯ll take care of everything. Please rest for now." Huang Yuyan looked at the time. She took her phone and called someone. "Hello, son? Where are you? Are you on your way here?... What? You¡¯re still at home? I already told you that you need to be here. Your brother is bringing your future sister-inw and her family today! What are you waiting for? Hurry up, get ready ande here!"

    "Is Chonglining?" Grandma Li asked after the phone call.

    "Yes, Mother. He said he¡¯s going to get ready."

    "Well, if he doesn¡¯t arrive in an hour, I¡¯ll send my assistant to drag him over here," Grandma Li said like it was nothing.

    Huang Yuyan gave a sheepish smile and then sighed. "I¡¯m d that he took a break from showbiz. He needs the rest. He worked nonstop while he was engaged to..." Her voice shook. She pressed her lips together before continuing to speak. "He was doing well when he left here and returned to his house. Buttely I¡¯ve been worrying about that boy. I heard that he¡¯s been locking himself inside his music studio for many days now. Sometimes he even forgets to eat."

    Grandma Li: "We¡¯ll make sure that he eats his fill at dinnerter."

    "Yes, Mother. Hm?"

    They both turned their heads at the sound of loud, purposeful footsteps.

    "What is this? We¡¯re the first ones to arrive?" A booming voice sounded across the grand hall. "Why is nobody here yet?! I want to know!"

 Chapter 284 - Jin Chonglin Arrives

    <h4>Chapter 284 - Jin Chonglin Arrives </h4>

    The household staff paused what they were doing to bow in greeting and show their respect to the sprightly old man. They treated the elder as if he was the Jin patriarch. And in a sense, he was. A handsome, roguish younger man followed closely behind him.

    "Sister Zhiruo, Yuyan, did you give me the wrong time? Look at your household staff. It¡¯s obvious they¡¯re still preparing! Did you call me and my Haohao this early to help out with the preparations? I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯m old already! I don¡¯t have the energy to work! Do you want this old man to break his back, ah?" Grandpa Luined in a loud, booming voice. However, it was obvious in the twinkle in his eyes that he was just teasing the two Jin madams. "Haohao my boy, your Aunt Yuyan wants to enve you today. Go help her out!"

    "Hello, Grandma Li and Aunt Yuyan. It¡¯s been a long time. Good to see you all again," Lu Zihao ignored Grandpa Lu and greeted the two madams instead, shing them a devilish smile.

    They were slightly taken aback by his overflowing charm. Huang Yuyan couldn¡¯t stop herself from blushing. Grandma Li squinted her sharp eyes and looked more carefully at Lu Zihao. She nodded with a pleased expression.

    "Zihao my dear, you look absolutely dashing. You look more mature now than thest time I saw you," Grandma Li told him.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s smile became even more roguish. "Grandma Li, what can I say? I¡¯ve grown up."

    "That you are. Very good. Grandma is happy for you."

    "Oh, I¡¯m so d that Liwei snatched Xin early," Huang Yuyan mumbled before she could stop herself. She covered her mouth when she realized what she just said, blushing even more.

    "Oy oy, Yuyan! What did you just say? Are you rubbing in this old man¡¯s face that my Haohao didn¡¯t get Xin? I want to know!"

    "N-no...of course not, Uncle..." Huang Yuyan began fidgeting.

    A devilish chuckle made Lu Zihao even more handsome. "Aunt Yuyan, don¡¯t worry. Even if Third Brother and Xin aren¡¯t lovers, there¡¯s no way I¡¯d pursue her. Xin and I are brother and sister. A romantic rtionship between us is out of question. We don¡¯t practice incest."

    "Oh...I see..." Huang Yuyan felt a little confused at how serious Lu Zihao was treating his sibling-like rtionship with Iris. However, she didn¡¯t ask him why because she was just relieved that her own son got Iris.

    Grandma Li led her noisy friend and Lu Zihao to the living area for some tea while Huang Yuyan returned to the kitchen to make sure that all the dishes would be ready in time for dinner. Lu Zihao charmed Grandma Li, making herugh and feel like a younger woman.

    "Zihao my dear, you¡¯re still as naughty as ever, just like your grandfather, but there¡¯s something different about you. I can¡¯t pinpoint what it is but I know you¡¯ve changed somehow. Whatever it is, I like that you seem more mature now," Grandma Li said.

    Lu Zihao kept the roguish smile on his face, but his eyes darkened dangerously for a few moments before the yful twinkle in his eyes returned. Nobody noticed the quick change in his expression.

    He quietly sipped tea, not really listening to the two elders who were bickering about various trivial things. If not for his little sister, he wouldn¡¯t even bothering here. He had so many things to do as leader of the Shadow Winds. This was a critical time for his group to consolidate their power before the authorities started suppressing them.

    About half an hourter, someone arrived.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s sharp senses allowed him to be the first one to notice Jin Chonglin¡¯s arrival. However, he didn¡¯t really care much about the younger man so he just stayed silent, continuing to sip his tea.

    Grandpa Lu soon noticed the new arrival. "There you are, Chonglin my boy!" His voice boomed, catching the attention of Grandma Li.

    "Hello, Grandma, Grandpa Lu, Brother Hao," Jin Chonglin greeted them. He walked to his grandmother and gave her a hug and a kiss on her cheek.

    Dark shadows encircled his red eyes. He looked exhausted and thinner. Nevertheless, he still looked hot and stylish as always.

    "You look terrible, my boy! Why do you look like a zombie? I want to know!"

    Jin Chonglinughed weakly, scratching his head in an awkward manner. "I¡¯ve been busy writing some new songs for myeback."

    "Hai! You musicians are a bunch of weirdos, that¡¯s what! Xin also looked like a zombie ying the piano all day when we were at Switzend...oh! She was depressed that time. Are you also depressed, Chonglin my boy? Tell Grandpa! Maybe I can help."

    "No, Grandpa Lu. I¡¯m not depressed. I¡¯m alright, really. Just feeling inspired to write some music."

    "That¡¯s how you look when you¡¯re inspired? Bah! It¡¯s better if you¡¯re not inspired then. Otherwise, you¡¯ll turn uglier the more inspiration hits you. Bahahaha!"

    "Oh be quiet, you old gori! Stop bullying my grandson," Grandma Li rebuked her noisy friend.

    "Who¡¯re you calling old gori, you old hag? And I¡¯m not bullying the boy! I¡¯m just showing him my grandfatherly love and concern!"

    Before the two elders could bicker again, Jin Chonglin interrupted them. "Grandpa Lu, you mentioned Xin. Is she the same Xin who¡¯s the fianc¨¦e of my brother? The one he¡¯ll bring today?"

    "Of course she¡¯s the same Xin! Why do you look so clueless, my boy? Eh? Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know who Xin is?"

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t really know her. I haven¡¯t met my brother¡¯s girlfriend...I mean, his fianc¨¦e yet."

    "Bahahaha! You dunderheaded boy! You obviously know who¡ªah! Never mind." Grandpa Lu gave an evil chuckle. "It¡¯s better that you meet your future sister-inw in personter. It¡¯s going to be fun! Bahahaha! Haohao my boy. Make sure to take good pictures of your Brother Chonglin¡¯s reactionter."

    "You wicked old gori," Grandma Li muttered while chuckling and sighing at the same time at her friend¡¯s antics. However, she didn¡¯t tell her grandson the truth either.

    They all sat down. Jin Chonglin sat beside Lu Zihao while the two elders started squabbling once again.

    "Brother Hao, have you met sister-inw yet?"

    "Hm, yeah."

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t notice Lu Zihao¡¯s disinterest. He was too curious about his brother¡¯s fianc¨¦e. It seemed that he was the only one who hadn¡¯t met her yet.

    "What is she like? Is she beautiful? How old is she? What does she do? Is she cold and scary like Big Bro?"

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow at Jin Chonglin¡¯s nonstop questions. "You really don¡¯t know who she is?"

    "If I knew, I wouldn¡¯t be asking you all of these questions. The elders won¡¯t tell me anything. All I know is that she¡¯s named Xin. I don¡¯t know anything else."

    "Heh~" Lu Zihao studied him with intense eyes.

    Jin Chonglin began to feel ufortable under Lu Zihao¡¯s probing gaze. "Brother Hao? Is there something on my face?"

    Lu Zihao looked away. "Nothing," he said. His tone and expression were light, but there was an unreadable look in his eyes. Then he smirked. ¡¯She¡¯ll never like you. Youck substancepared to your brother,¡¯ he thought to himself.

    He turned to Jin Chonglin again. "You want to know what Xin is like?"

    "Yes, of course. She¡¯s my future sister-inw after all."

    "Well...she¡¯s the most beautiful, talented and intelligent woman I know in the world," Lu Zihao told him with an affectionate smile.

 Chapter 285 - Shock After Shock After Shock

    <h4>Chapter 285 - Shock After Shock After Shock </h4>

    The most important dinner preparations were finallypleted. Huang Yuyan joined the group in the living area. She already changed into her dinner outfit which was a long elegant dress. It looked a little too formal for the asion. She was excited and anxious to present a good impression to the Long family.

    But as soon as she saw her youngest son, she cried out in worry. "Son, you look like a skeleton! This can¡¯t go on. I¡¯ll be sending meals to you starting tomorrow. You¡¯ll also take home all of the leftovers tonight."

    "Mom, I¡¯m fine," Jin Chonglin replied.

    The group continued to chat untilte afternoon. Finally, they heard several footsteps. They all turned to look. Jin Liwei was leading several people.

    "There you are, Xin my girl, Liwei my boy!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed as he smacked his thighs with his palms before standing up to greet the new arrivals. "What took you so long? I want to know! I have been waiting so long for you that I almost fell asleep!"

    Grandma Li rolled her eyes at her friend¡¯s dramatic exaggerations. What almost fell asleep? He chattered nonstop the whole time.

    Iris and Jin Liwei came with Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. Surprisingly, Long Hui also came with them. He was carrying his son, Little Jun. Dom and Meimei also tagged along carrying Ice Cream and Popcorn respectively.

    Popcorn jumped out of Meimei¡¯s arms and ran towards Lu Zihao who he immediately recognized. He leaped into Lu Zihao¡¯s arms, rubbed himself all over him and meowed loudly, asking to be petted. The fat Ice Cream just watched safely in Dom a.k.a. ve #1¡¯s arms, her expression cautious. She still didn¡¯t like Lu Zihao at all.

    Since the two groups already met each other before in the hospital when Iris went intoa for the second time, there wasn¡¯t really any need for introductions. They greeted each other like old friends...no, this time, they greeted each other like family.

    It was only Jin Chonglin, Long Hui and Little Jun who were unfamiliar with the other people. Needless to say, both Jin Chonglin and Long Hui were shocked out of their wits, while Little Jun just looked curious and shy meeting these new people.

    "S-sir Lu Jianhong..." Long Hui couldn¡¯t believe that he was meeting the business legend in the flesh. As the heir of Long Industries and like so many other businesspeople, he admired and looked up to the true king of the country¡¯s business world.

    As for Jin Chonglin, his expression was a sight to see. His eyes widened so much that they looked like they were about to pop out of his head. He kept closing and opening his eyes, even rubbing them, to make sure that what he was seeing was actually real and happening.

    He looked at his brother and his...his fianc¨¦e. His brother¡¯s arm was wrapped possessively around the beautiful young woman¡¯s waist. There was also a gentleness in his brother¡¯s expression whenever he gazed down at the woman beside him. The expression looked so foreign on his brother that Jin Chonglin suspected for a moment that he must be an impostor.

    "I-Iris? Is that you, Iris Long?"

    Iris finally turned to look at Jin Chonglin. She gave him a smile so lovely that his breath caught in his throat.

    "Hello, Senior Jin Chonglin," she greeted. "It¡¯s lovely to see you."

    "You..." He looked at her then at his brother, and then back at her again. His eyes zeroed in on the diamond ring on her finger. It sparkled under the light. "Y-you...and Big Bro...ah...hold on, I think I exhausted myself too much these past few days that I didn¡¯t realize I¡¯ve fallen asleep and now I¡¯m dreaming. This must be a dream..."

    Heughed weakly. The others just looked at him in amusement.

    Grandpa Lu was busy recording Jin Chonglin¡¯s reaction on video with his phone. His expression was filled with merriment and mischief. He tried ordering Lu Zihao to do it, but his grandson ignored him. Lu Zihao chatted with Dom and Meimei instead while he stroked the purring Popcorn in his arms.

    The reality was gradually starting to register in Jin Chonglin¡¯s dumbfounded brain. However, his disbelief only heightened as he observed the intimate touches and gestures between his brother and Iris.

    "Unbelievable... Impossible..." He kept on mumbling under his breath.

    Jin Liwei led Iris towards his brother. "Chonglin, meet Long Xin, my fianc¨¦e. Love, this is my younger brother, Jin Chonglin. You already know each other."

    "It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯vest seen each other, Senior," Iris said.

    Jin Chonglin marched forward until he was directly in front of her. Before anyone could react, he grabbed her shoulders and stared at her face.

    "You...you¡¯re really Iris Long?"

    The ugly, green-eyed monster roared to life inside Jin Liwei. He grabbed his brother¡¯s hands and wrenched them away from his baby girl¡¯s shoulders. Then he ced himself between them. He red at his brother, warning him away.

    Jin Chonglin was too shocked to react in time. He just stood there like a moron, confused at his brother¡¯s scary expression.

    Dom and Meimei almost squealed out loud in excitement at the drama unfolding in front of them. This was better than any of the TV dramas they were watching.

    "Whoa whoa! Easy there now!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice interrupted the sudden tense atmosphere. "You two rascals! This is a happy family gathering! Stop acting like two alpha wolves fighting over a female! Are you listening to me? Keep ignoring me and I¡¯ll bang you two brothers¡¯ heads together!"

    "Darling." Iris pulled Jin Liwei back. She reached her hand up to his face and forced him to look at her. "Calm down, okay?" She whispered to him while stroking his cheek.

    His cold eyes became gentle. "Okay." He held her hand that was stroking his cheek. Then he turned his head slightly to the side and gave it a kiss.

    Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t believe that the passionate man in front of him was his own brother. It was like he was meeting him for the first time. Who was this person acting all lovey-dovey with Iris Long in front of everyone? Where was his cold and indifferent brother?

    He was about to open his mouth to ask them questions when...

    "Mama! Papa!" A child¡¯s voice called out.

    Jin Chonglin looked at the toddler struggling in the arms of Iris¡¯ brother. The toddler was reaching his little arms to...to...eh? Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes widened once again, as he watched his brother move and take the toddler.

    "Hm. Papa and Mama are here," Jin Liwei murmured, patting the child¡¯s back gently.

    "Ah?" Jin Chonglin¡¯s mind went nk.

 Chapter 286 - Envious

    <h4>Chapter 286 - Envious </h4>

    "Mama? Papa? You two have a child together already?!" Jin Chonglin was almost shouting in shock and disbelief.

    "I knew I wasn¡¯t the only one who misunderstood," Lu Zihao said, sighing softly.

    However, Jin Chonglin was too preupied with the unbelievable scene of his brother¡¯s happy family of three in front of him that he didn¡¯t hear Lu Zihao¡¯s words.

    His loud voice startled Little Jun. The toddler¡¯s little face scrunched up. He began to wail in Jin Liwei¡¯s neck.

    "Mamaaaaaa! Mamaaaaaa!"

    Iris immediately took the child from Jin Liwei and started rocking him and murmuring reassurances to him.

    Jin Liwei swept his frosty eyes at his brother. "You made him cry," he said with a tone that could freeze hell. His arm wrapped protectively around his beloved "wife and child".

    "B-big bro..." Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t know what to do. He instinctively stepped forward to Iris and the child but his brother blocked him with a cold re. He mumbled, "Sorry...didn¡¯t mean to scare your son. My dear nephew, please stop crying. Your uncle was just surprised earlier. I¡¯ll buy you lots of toys and treats. Please don¡¯t cry anymore, okay?"

    "Long Jun is MY SON!"

    Long Hui stepped forward and tried to take Little Jun from Iris, but his son wouldn¡¯t let go of her neck. Feeling a bit awkward after being rejected by his own son, he satisfied himself by ring at the Jin brothers instead. How dare they im his Little Jun as their son and nephew?

    "Ah?" Jin Chonglin was very confused. It felt like his brain stopped working properly ever since his brother arrived with Iris Long.

    "Oh! Is this the godson you were talking about?" Huang Yuyan asked Jin Liwei, breaking the confusing atmosphere with her question. She walked to Iris and peered curiously at the toddler whose cries were subsiding.

    "En". Jin Liwei confirmed while ignoring his future brother-inw¡¯s re.

    "Little Jun, look. This is Grandmother Huang." Iris tried to coax the child.

    Little Jun sniffled and peeked at the unfamiliardy smiling at him. She looked nice, pretty and friendly so he smiled shyly at her despite his tearful eyes.

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan clutched her chest, feeling like Cupid shot a love arrow straight to her heart. "Oh, how adorable! Hello, Little Jun~ I¡¯m your Grandma Yuyan~" She started cooing at the child.

    Next came the two elders. They introduced themselves to the child as Great-Grandpa Lu and Great-Grandma Li. Surprisingly, Little Jun didn¡¯t feel scared of his new great-grandfather¡¯s loud, booming voice. In fact, he even reached out his cute little arms to the old man, wanting to be carried by him.

    "Bahahaha! Good boy! Come to Great-Grandpa Lu! What a handsome boy! What a smart boy!" Grandpa Lu was over the moon in happiness as he carried the child in his arms.

    Little Jun giggled at his Great-Grandpa Lu, finding him funny. He yed with the old man¡¯s neatly groomed grey mustache. Grinning in delight, he showed everyone his three little milky white teeth.

    And just like that, everyone fell in love with Little Jun. All the grandparents fought over who was going to hold the child next. They even seemed to forget that this gathering¡¯s celebrants were supposed to be the newly engaged couple, Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Poor Long Hui had topete with more people now for his own child¡¯s attention.

    Finally, everyone settled down in the living area. The two families exchanged presents to each other. They also gave gifts to the engaged couple.

    Afterwards, Dom and Meimei yed with Little Jun and the two cats on the floor while the rest chatted with each other on the sofas.

    "I¡¯m a little disappointed that we have to learn about your engagement on the news instead of you telling us first," Grandma Li told Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Sorry, Grandma Li. It¡¯s my fault," Iris replied. "We wanted to tell you all today, but I just couldn¡¯t lie when I was asked during the interview in ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯."

    Jin Liwei nuzzled her hair and tightened his arm around her waist.

    "It¡¯s alright, Xin. What¡¯s important is that our two families are finally gathering together today in celebration of your engagement," Huang Yuyan said with a smile.

    "Hah! I already knew that they¡¯re engaged before any of you! I was the one who delivered the ring to Liwei boy! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu boasted to everyone. "Everything is thanks to me! If I didn¡¯t drag Xin girl to Cross Academy, she probably wouldn¡¯t recover from her depression so quickly! Then Liwei boy wouldn¡¯t be able to follow her all the way to Switzend and have the opportunity to propose to her! I even returned to the country ahead of them just to manage thepany in Liwei boy¡¯s ce, so that the lovebirds can enjoy their premarital honeymoon in Italy! So if it wasn¡¯t for me, we wouldn¡¯t be sitting here together celebrating their engagement! Bahahaha! Where¡¯s my thanks?"

    "Thank you, Grandpa Lu," Iris said to the old man. Even though she was chuckling, there was deep sincerity in her tone.

    "En. I owe so much to you, Grandpa Lu. Thank you," Jin Liwei said as well.

    "Bahahaha! If you want to thank this old man, go marry as soon as possible and start making great-grandbabies! Little Jun needs some ymates!"

    Iris squeezed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand, feeling a bit nervous when she heard Grandpa Lu talking about babies.

    Jin Liwei noticed and understood her reaction. He leaned closer and whispered to her ear, "Don¡¯t worry, love. There¡¯s no rush. We¡¯ll take our time. We¡¯re in this together, okay?"

    "Okay."

    The two stared into each other¡¯s eyes. The others could almost see red and pink flowers, hearts, bubbles and sparkles surrounding the lovebirds who were now absorbed in their own little world.

    As for Jin Chonglin and Long Hui, the two still hadn¡¯tpletely recovered from their earlier shock. Jin Chonglin stared at his brother and Iris Long acting lovey-dovey to each other, while Long Hui looked star-struck whenever Grandpa Lu spoke. Then something finally registered in their stupefied brains.

    "Eh? Grandpa Lu, you said that you brought Iris...I mean, Xin to Cross Academy?" Jin Chonglin asked. "For what reason? Did she have some business there? You and Grandpa Jin never brought any of us to the academy before."

    Long Hui also wanted to know. Cross Academy was a legendary ce and outsiders weren¡¯t allowed to visit without any special permission from the academy itself. Howe his sister was able to go? He felt envious of her.

    "Of course she has business there! Your sister-inw is a Cross Academy student! Even if I didn¡¯t bring her, she has every right to go there herself!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed.

    "Ah?!"

    "What?!"

    Once again, both Jin Chonglin and Long Hui were dumbfounded. If the two of them weren¡¯t young and healthy, they would probably have already suffered multiple heart attacks from all the shocks they were experiencing today.

    "Iris, y-you¡¯re a genius?!" Jin Chonglin stood up and asked in incredulity.

    Long Hui also felt incredulous. He knew his sister¡¯s grades in school. She barely graduated from senior high school. If it wasn¡¯t for their father, she probably would¡¯ve failed and dropped out of school. Then he remembered challenging her to get a university diploma when she visited the Long ancestral residence.

    He thought that she ignored his words because he hadn¡¯t heard anything about her enrolling in a university. But now he was hearing that she was actually enrolled in Cross Academy? The legendary school for geniuses?! How did it happen? Did their father know?

    He nced at their father. Long Tengfei didn¡¯t look surprised at all. It seemed that he was already aware. There was unmistakable pride in their father¡¯s eyes for his sister.

    "I was assigned to be Xin¡¯s business mentor," Grandpa Lu added. "So in addition to being my beloved granddaughter, she is also my treasured student! I don¡¯t n on taking any more students after her!"

    "Grandpa Lu." Iris¡¯ eyes watered, feeling touched by his words. She stood up, walked to where the old man was sitting and gave him a hug. "Thank you very much, Grandpa Lu. I feel blessed to have you not only as my mentor and teacher but also as grandfather. I can¡¯t thank you enough for all the things you¡¯ve done for me and Liwei."

    "You silly girl! Why are you being so emotional?! I want to know!" After the hug, Grandpa Lu took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his tears. "What?! I¡¯m not crying! My eyes are watery because it¡¯s allergy season!"

    "What allergy season? It¡¯s almost winter, you old gori," Grandma Li retorted.

    "Well, my allergy arrived ahead of time!"

    While the two elders bickered once again, Long Hui thought deeply. He looked at his sister who returned beside her fianc¨¦, then at Sir Lu Jianhong who considered her as his beloved granddaughter and treasured student.

    Business mentor? Cross Academy student? Did his sister n on working in the business industry? A sense of anxiety bubbled inside Long Hui, especially after seeing their father¡¯s proud expression for his sister. His hands clenched into tight fists.

    ¡¯I¡¯m the sessor of Long Industries, not her,¡¯ he told himself.

 Chapter 287 - One Family

    <h4>Chapter 287 - One Family </h4>

    Nobody noticed the change of expression in Long Hui. Everyone was busy chatting with each other, congratting the newly engaged couple, and doting on cute Little Jun.

    Finally, it was dinner time. They all moved to the dining hall where avish feast was prepared. Huang Yuyan and her staff really went all out. She even asked someone to quickly go out and buy the best cat food and treats for Ice Cream and Popcorn, so that they could also eat together with all of them.

    At this rate, it was inevitable that Ice Cream would only get fatter after this. Dom was already scolded by the veterinarian when he brought the cats for theirtest check-up. The vet ordered for Ice Cream to start losing weight. However, Iris couldn¡¯t bear to deprive Ice Cream today¡¯s feast.

    "Today¡¯s a special day. Let her eat whatever she wants, but only for today. Restart her diet and exercise tomorrow," she instructed Dom.

    And indeed, Ice Cream started eating like there was no tomorrow. She wolfed down all the cat food and treats, demanding the staff for continued refills. If Popcorn had endless energy for y, then Ice Cream had endless appetite for food.

    While the cats were feasting, the humans were also enjoying the many different delectable dishes. They continued their conversations as they ate on the dining table.

    After dinner, the group moved to another lounge area for some digestive tea. The atmosphere was light and cheerful.

    Sometimeter, Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu went to another room to discuss some important business matters regarding Jin Corporation. Iris and Lu Zihao were chatting when Jin Chonglin sat beside Iris. He took this chance to talk to her while his brother was gone.

    "So Iris...it looks like you¡¯re really my sister-inw."

    "Senior, it¡¯s ¡¯future¡¯ sister-inw," Iris corrected him.

    "I¡¯ll just call you Sister Iris then, I mean Xin."

    She nodded.

    "Sister Xin, you should call me Brother Chonglin from now on too, not Senior."

    "Alright, Brother Chonglin."

    Lu Zihao sipped his tea in silence while listening to their conversation.

    "Are you working on some new music? Or are you just focusing on promoting your uing soundtrack album?" Jin Chonglin asked. "By the way, congrattions onposing an entire film score. That¡¯s a big achievement, something that even I haven¡¯t tried before yet."

    "Thank you. Yes, I¡¯m working on something right now that I n on releasing sometime in the near future. How about you?"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes twitched when he heard that she would be releasing something soon. It had only been a few months and she already had two, almost three albums under her belt ever since her firsteback. How could she create quality music so quickly like it was nothing?

    He was supposed to be the superstar, and yet he was struggling to single-handedlyplete his nned album. Letting others write andpose songs for him over the years had taken a toll on his own creativity. He remembered the time when he just debuted as a musician. He only needed a few hours toplete writing and recording an entire song. But now, it felt like trying to make a rusty engine run again. It was a struggle to start and keep it going.

    "I see. That¡¯s good," he replied. "I¡¯m also working on something new. Once it¡¯splete, I¡¯ll make aeback and release it."

    "Good luck, Brother Chonglin."

    "Thanks. You too."

    He wanted to tell her something but hesitated. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but it seemed that he couldn¡¯t say it.

    "Spit it out. How annoying," Lu Zihao muttered when he lost patience watching the younger man¡¯s repeated hesitations.

    "I...I want to apologize for what you went through because of Fan...that woman. Because of her obsession with me, you and those other women had to suffer from her evil schemes," he finally told her in a low tone.

    Iris shuddered. She couldn¡¯t stop the memory of the torture from popping in her mind. But she was much stronger now and wouldn¡¯t break down anymore remembering what the remnant within her did. She was already starting to ept that the torture was something that she could never get rid herself of. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

    The two men beside her saw her reaction.

    Jin Chonglin apologized to her again. He mentally scolded himself for reminding her of such a horrible, traumatizing memory. However, he needed to say sorry to get closure from what happened.

    "It¡¯s not your fault. You weren¡¯t the one who harmed us," she replied. "Let¡¯s put the past where it belongs and move forward."

    "Yes, you¡¯re right."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes darkened. Danger lurked within their depths, but he tightly controlled it. He could see that his sister was still affected by the memory of the torture. He wanted to protect her from everything, but he was also d that she growing stronger from these bad experiences. Fan Luo and the rm Girls needed to be thankful that his sister was recovering from the trauma well. If she failed to recover, he would¡¯ve ended those b*tches with his own hands once and for all.

    While Lu Zihao restrained his murderous intent, Jin Chonglin changed the unpleasant topic.

    "Since you¡¯re my future sister-inw, we¡¯re like family now. When both of us have some free time, how about working on something together? Maybe a single or two. I¡¯d love to work with you, you know. And it¡¯s also easier to work together now especially after...after what happened. What do you think?"

    She tilted her head to the side, thinking about his suggestion carefully.

    "Sure," she finally said.

    He shed her his best smile. "Cool! I¡¯ll take that as a promise then."

    It was at this moment that Jin Liwei returned with Grandpa Lu. He saw his baby girl and brother sitting together. All he could see was his brother flirting with his baby girl, trying to seduce her with his smile. With a dark expression, he marched towards them.

    Lu Zihao noticed his arrival and smirked. He swirled the tea in his cup and watched the show.

    Jin Chonglin was oblivious of the approaching danger. He continued to chat with Iris, subconsciously exuding his sex appeal in front of a beautifuldy.

    Iris noticed Jin Liwei a few beats slower than Lu Zihao. She turned her head. Her lovely smile turned into a confused expression when she saw the dark and ugly expression on his face.

    "Darling?" She asked when he arrived in front of them.

    He didn¡¯t answer. Instead, he carelessly pushed his brother to the side and squeezed himself between them on the couch.

    "Ow! What the hell, Big Bro?" Jin Chonglinined but unsurprisingly, his brother ignored him.

    Jin Liwei looked at his baby girl. His expression softened seeing her beautiful eyes blinking in confusion at him. Before he realized what he was doing, he was already kissing her on the mouth in front of everyone. Iris was only startled for a few seconds before responding to his kiss. The two of them were quickly consumed by their own passion and had forgotten that there were other people around them.

    "Quick! Someone cover Little Jun¡¯s eyes!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voiced boomed amidst the gasps and giggles. "Hai! Kids these days can¡¯t control themselves! You two! If you can¡¯t hold it in, is it that hard to excuse yourselves and find an empty room? This house has lots of rooms, you know!"

    Surprisingly, it was Jin Liwei who stopped the kiss first. Iris flopped like jelly on his chest. She hid her face against his neck while desperately trying to calm her own arousal. He stroked her back to soothe her.

    Sitting beside them, Lu Zihao closed his eyes and thought about other things to prevent himself from punching the bastard Jin Liwei¡¯s face.

    Jin Chonglin, on the other hand, was once again a picture of utter shock. He was still finding it hard to believe that this passionate man was his own brother. Did his brother die and another soul transmigrated into his body? Heughed at his absurd thoughts.

    The teasing and conversations continued untilte into the night. The family gathering drew to a close. They dispersed and returned to their own homes.

    Although the two families weren¡¯t officially connected by marriage yet, the Jins and the Longs already considered themselves as one family.

 Chapter 288 - Lucky Charm

    <h4>Chapter 288 - Lucky Charm </h4>

    As the seasons started to transition from autumn to winter, the film "Strong Yet Broken" finally premiered. Although its premiere couldn¡¯tpare to the huge blockbuster-intended movies, it was still leagues better than most indie films. There was even a small red carpet event and select media representatives were also invited.

    The majority of the people who waited behind the barricades to watch the red carpet event were the ck Stars. Their suits couldn¡¯t be seen beneath their coats, but they still wore them nheless. It was like their uniform whenever they went out to support their Boss Iris. Joining their ranks were their newrades, the Pandemonium fans. They also wore suits but their metal rock background was still apparent in their essories, piercings and make-up.

    Another distinctive group who attended the premiere consisted of the supporters of Guan Jintao, the famous blind Paralympian gold-medalist. The film was based on histe mother¡¯s story. About half of them were persons with disabilities.

    LX Productions already expected this, so they reserved the best ce behind the barricades for the group. It was more spacious and even had portable heaters to make themfortable in the cold weather.

    The actors and actresses starring in the film weren¡¯t really popr. In fact, most of them were total newbies. It was only Iris Long and Guan Jintao¡¯s connections to the film that garnered interest for it. The anticipation for the film waned after Iris¡¯ abrupt disappearance. Then the interest reignited once again when she returned and began promoting it.

    Finally, the film¡¯s production team and the stars began arriving. The crowd began to chatter in excitement. The media also started snapping photos.

    First to arrive were the director, the executive producers (including the person Jin Liwei appointed to run LX Productions), and all the other members of the production team.

    Then Paralympian Guan Jintao also arrived apanied by his beloved wife. His fans cheered when they saw him. His wife led him to them. He took some time signing autographs and posing for photos with his fans. As a famous figure in the sports world, he learned to sign his name despite his blindness. After interacting with his fans, he answered some questions from the media.

    Momentster, deafening screams and shrieks arose from the crowd. They saw JJ arriving together with a beautiful woman. The woman looked familiar. People gasped when they realized who it was.

    It was Iris Long!

    She looked so gorgeous that everyone had to take a closer look to make sure that it was really her. Her hair was styled in wless waves behind her. Her make-up was striking and more dramatic than usual. She was wearing a long, white mermaid dress with colourful embroidered leaves, vines, flowers and birds on the entire upper body and the hem of the dress. Her natural poise and elegance together with the stunning dress only enhanced her beauty.

    The diamond ring on her finger and the LX bangle around her wrist sparkled under the nonstop camera shes.

    "Boss Iris!"

    "I love you, Boss Iris!"

    "You¡¯re so beautiful!"

    She waved at her fans, making them scream even louder.

    "Mr. JJ, you¡¯re so handsome!"

    "Marry me, Mr. JJ!"

    JJ straightened his back and puffed out his chest after hearing some people screaming his name. He was pleased that they recognized him, the famous and award-winning music producer, JJ. Haha!

    Like Guan Jintao, Iris spent some time interacting with her fans. She signed autographs and posed for pictures. She also saw some familiar people among the ck Stars such as Zhou Mei¡¯er (CaptainckStar) and Ming Li (Little Phoenix). She thanked them foring and even gave them hugs. Ming Li was so happy that she almost fainted.

    Afterwards, she posed for the media beside JJ. She granted a couple of short interviews on the red carpet.

    "Iris, wow! You look so beautiful tonight! That dress is to die for! Who are you wearing?" The interviewer asked her.

    "Thank you," she replied before saying the name of the designer of her dress.

    "There are so many reasons to congratte you tonight. First and the most obvious of all is for the premiere of this movie ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ which you¡¯re actively involved in given that youposed its entire film score. So big congrattions for that! What a great achievement! How do you feel right now?"

    "This is actually my first time attending a film premiere. There¡¯s so much going on but I¡¯m just enjoying myself and savouring this experience. I¡¯m so excited to watch the film and of course to hear the music that I speciallyposed for it."

    "What¡¯s it like topose a film score? Was it hard? Easy?"

    "Both," Iris answered. "There were times that the music just flowed and it was very easy. Then there were also times that I had to struggle imagining what kind of music fits a certain scene the most. Those were the hard times. But regardless of the difficulties I experienced during theposition process, the excitement and the passion were strong inside me and they kept me going until Ipleted everything. This is a dreame true for me, so I was determined to do my best."

    "Impressive. Moving on to the second reason to congratte you, today is also the release day of your soundtrack album. This is the third album you released since your firsteback a few months ago. Wow, Iris. You¡¯re on a roll!"

    "Thank you."

    After asking Iris a few more questions about her album and other future projects, the interview moved on to more personal topics. Of course, her engagement was the primary subject but Iris kept mum about her fianc¨¦¡¯s identity. The interviewer was unsatisfied by her answers, but he didn¡¯t force the issue because the scary Mr. JJ was standing behind Iris.

    When the short interview was done, Iris and JJ joined the director, the producers, production team members, and Guan Jintao and his wife.

    The head of LX Productions greeted Iris with great respect. He was aware of her rtionship with his real boss, Jin Liwei. After all, the productionpany was created solely to support her showbiz career.

    The actors and actresses arrived next. Since most of them weren¡¯t that popr, the attention showered upon them by the crowd and the media couldn¡¯tpare to what Guan Jintao and Iris received earlier. Nevertheless, they still enjoyed the moment because they never expected that the indie film they decided to partake in would receive this kind of reception in the first ce.

    When everyone had arrived, they all posed together in a group photo. They didn¡¯t really have any high expectations. "Strong Yet Broken" was still an indie film, after all. They were already happy receiving this much attention.

    Before getting Iris Long involved in this movie project, the original producer never imagined that his film would have such a grand premiere night like this,plete with screaming fans and various media representatives attending.

    He treated Iris as his lucky charm because after she joined the film production, they not only received overwhelming attention and interest for the movie but also financial assistance from LX Productions. Not to mention that Guan Jintao himself started showing his support for the film after listening to the cinematic version of "Phantom of Your Love" and the other soundtracks from the film score.

    The producer asked Guan Jintao why he was suddenly showing interest in the film when the Paralympian ignored his previous attempts ofmunication.

    "It¡¯s because of the music you sent me," Guan Jintao answered. "I could almost hear my mother¡¯s anguish again when I listened to the music. With that kind of music, I think that you¡¯ll do a good job in depicting my mother¡¯s story."

    So in short, all the blessings raining down upon the film was because of Iris Long. This was what the producer thought. He could never thank her enough. Even if his film flopped in the box office, he would still be proud.

    "Thank you for everything, Iris," he made sure to tell her before they entered the movie theatre after the red carpet event.

    "Sir, this is your film. I should be the one thanking you for giving me this opportunity," she told him instead.

    He smiled, still feeling grateful to her.

    As they entered the movie theatre, they had no idea that this moment was the start of their legend.

 Chapter 289 - Dead When Awake, Alive When Asleep

    <h4>Chapter 289 - Dead When Awake, Alive When Asleep </h4>

    After the film finished ying on the big screen, there wasn¡¯t a dry eye in the theatre. "Strong Yet Broken" was, in simple terms, a very depressing movie.

    From the beginning to the end, a great sense of destion permeated the entire film. Despite its almost unbearable atmosphere, the viewers could still feel the hope weaved seamlessly within the agony.

    This kept them engaged and emotionally invested for the whole duration of the movie. The background music in every scene only intensified their already high-strung emotional states. Even when it ended in a tragic manner, it was still a form of release and relief from all of the anguish. A good portion of the audience wailed loudly during the ending, as the theme song "Phantom of Your Love" yed.

    Everyone needed some time to get a hold of themselves. Their emotions were so intense that they could almost touch and taste them in the air like a big viscous cloud floating all over them.

    When they calmed down enough, the film¡¯s production crew and cast gathered at the front facing all of the viewers. Of course, Iris was included in the line-up. They all spoke one by one, talking about their experiences working for the film and thanking everyone foring to watch.

    The premiere night sessfully ended. Iris, JJ and the others headed to the private after-party celebration. It wasn¡¯tvish. Just a simple buffet meal in a private room at a restaurant. Tears of happiness were shed as everyone reminisced about their memories working together.

    During the party, Guan Jintao¡¯s wife led him to speak to Iris. Iris greeted the sports legend with great respect. After learning about his life story, she admired him not only for his aplishments as an athlete but also as a person. He was truly inspiring, even more so because of his disability.

    "Miss Long, I want to thank you for your contribution in bringing my mother¡¯s story to life," Guan Jintao told Iris. "To tell you the truth, I was unhappy at first when I discovered that people wanted to make a film based on my mother¡¯s life. I felt that creating this film would only disturb her eternal rest because it would reopen painful memories. However, when the producer sent me the theme song ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ and some of the music from the film score, I swear I felt my mother¡¯s presence again. At that moment, I knew that this film isn¡¯t a disturbance to her eternal rest but a respectful memorial to the life she lived instead. So thank you for bringing back a piece of my mother with your music."

    Even though Guan Jintao had his eyes closed as he talked to her, Iris felt like he could see her and everything around him. There was a sharpness and intensity in his invisible gaze.

    "Sir Guan, please, it¡¯s an honour," she replied. "Thank you for giving us your blessings for this film. Your mother was a very strong woman. Despite her tragic fate, I¡¯m sure that she¡¯ll inspire a lot of people like me through this film."

    "Indeed. Just like the film title, my mother was strong yet broken at the same time. Although the end she chose causes me pain for as long as I live, she¡¯s the strongest woman that I know. Her broken strength will forever live through this film."

    The night drew to a close. Everyone in the after-party went home with a giddy feeling of aplishment forpleting the film they had worked on for so long.

    However, they all knew that this wasn¡¯t the end. It was just the beginning.

    ###

    Although the films released around this time were fewer than during the summer season, "Strong Yet Broken" still had plenty ofpetition. There were other indie and less popr films, not to mention the highly popr big budget films that drew most of the moviegoers.

    Thepetition at the cinemas were extremely fierce.

    Compared to the big budget films, the line ups for "Strong Yet Broken" were pitiful. Their opening day and week was just a drop in the oceanpared to the massive crowds the big films were drawing in.

    But as word of mouth started spreading and critic reviews were published, more and more people decided to watch "Strong Yet Broken". Both the star powers of Iris Long and Guan Jintao were also a big help in promoting the film to the general public.

    LX Productions were also closely monitoring the growth rate of the film¡¯s viewership. As the viewership gradually increased, the productionpany was able to negotiate with movie theatres to increase showtimes for "Strong Yet Broken".

    This was another unprecedented instance for an indie film. Many film industry insiders began paying close attention to the mysterious LX Productions. How could a newly created productionpany have such financial resources, connections and influence? Who was the person behind it? They didn¡¯t believe that the CEO running it was actually the person pulling the strings.

    The ck Stars and theirrades, the Pandemonium fans, watched in droves to support their Boss Iris. Even though Iris herself didn¡¯t appear in the movie at all, her film score was still the biggest star for them.

    In all honesty, they didn¡¯t have that much expectations for the film at all. They had this misconception that all indie films were boring. They only watched because of their Boss Iris.

    However, when they finally watched the movie, it was as if they were swept away by a tsunami of overwhelming emotions. It was so painful that it felt like they were drowning in their own grief. All of them were sobbing and wailing in the film theatres. It came to a point that the ck Stars allocated part of its funds to buy boxes of facial tissues to distribute to moviegoers watching "Strong Yet Broken".

    Whenever a batch of viewers came out of the movie theatre, they were a sight to see with their teary eyes, snotty noses and red, swollen faces.

    "What happened to all of you?" A curious passerby asked them.

    "We watched a movie and it was so SAAAAAAAAD!" The person who was asked started sobbing again as she remembered what she just watched.

    "What? A movie? I thought you all came from a funeral! What movie was it that made you look like that?"

    "It¡¯s called ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯. Wuwuwu! Go watch it. You¡¯re gonna cry so HAAAAAAARD!"

    "What¡¯s it about?"

    "The movie tells the life story of the mother of Paralympian Guan Jintao..."

    "Strong Yet Broken" was about a pregnant young woman who waspletely in love with her equally young husband. She grew up an orphan. That was why she was very excited to build a loving family with her husband. However, just months after she got pregnant with their child, she lost her husband due to terminal illness. It came so suddenly. Her husband didn¡¯t tell her until he was already dying. In the end, he died before she gave birth to their child.

    Alone and depressed, she wanted to take her own life and follow her husband. However, he made her promise before he died to take care of their child. A few monthster, she gave birth to a normal, healthy baby boy she named Guan Jintao.

    Her depression only worsened after the birth. What she suffered back then was called postpartum depression in today¡¯s terms. But back then, nobody diagnosed her. They just told her to deal with it, suck it up and fulfill her responsibility as a mother.

    When her son was about five years old, he began losing his vision, eventually bingpletely blind within two years. Not only was she a single mother, but she also now had to raise a blind child in times when the disabled were ostracized by most of society.

    Public schools rejected her son, so she had to enroll him to a private school which catered to children with special needs. It was expensive. She worked multiple jobs while raising her blind son. It didn¡¯t help that Little Jintao was always being bullied. She did her best tofort and protect him, even when she couldn¡¯t even protect herself.

    Throughout all of these struggles, she was desperately trying to stay strong and deal with her depression by herself even though all she wanted was to give up and follow her husband.

    It was during her son¡¯s puberty age that he showed signs of talent in swimming. She supported him with all she had. She would borrow money from her coworkers and neighbours just to support his training andpetitions. She didn¡¯t really have any big dreams for him. All she wanted was for him to have some respite from all the bullying outside the pool.

    In public, she was the most supportive mother but in private, she attempted to kill herself many times. Each time, however, her husband¡¯s dying words would y in her mind.

    "Take care of our child for me."

    She would cry herself to sleep after her failed suicide attempts, dreaming of happy times with her beloved husband until she had to wake up to reality the next day again.

    Dead when awake, alive when asleep.

    This was how she felt for the rest of her life.

 Chapter 290 - The Power Of Mothers

    <h4>Chapter 290 - The Power Of Mothers </h4>

    The rare cheerful parts of the film was when the young Guan Jintao started winning some minorpetitions in his teenage years. His proud mother was happy, but deep inside she was hurting because her beloved husband couldn¡¯t celebrate their son¡¯s achievements together with them.

    She continued to work hard to support her son¡¯s increasing expenses. Guan Jintao wanted to help earn some money, suggesting that he work part-time but she rejected his idea. She wanted him to focus on his training and leave all the money worries to her.

    This was also around the time Guan Jintao finally noticed that his mother was suffering from depression, though she tried hard to keep it to herself. However, she just dismissed his concerns, telling him not to worry about her.

    "It¡¯s a mother¡¯s job to worry about her child, not the other way around," she told him.

    After winning a major swimmingpetition, a coach noticed Guan Jintao¡¯s talent. Many already knew about this part of the story from Guan Jintao¡¯s own biopics. The coach and athlete would create history together.

    The coach took the teenager under his tutge, greatly easing off most of the financial burdens from Guan Jintao¡¯s mother.

    Guan Jintao started to dominate swimmingpetitions nationally and internationally. He gradually became a well-known figure in both parasports [1] and unified sports [2].

    Knowing that his mother was cheering for him among the stands, he thought that perhaps she was already recovering from her depression. He was wrong.

    Her depression continued to fester within her, killing her slowly day by day.

    Finally, Guan Jintao¡¯s biggest dream came true. He participated in the Paralympics held in another country and took home multiple gold medals. When he returned to the country, he received a hero¡¯s wee and was even awarded recognition by the country¡¯s president for his achievements.

    He promised his mother that he would make life easier for her from now on. Although he couldn¡¯t see her smiling because of his blindness, he still felt it. It warmed his heart and made him hopeful that his mother was finally alright.

    Throughout his rise as a Paralympian star in the country in the next few years, his mother appeared to be more serene. He took this as good sign and continued to work hard in his sports career. He eventually met and fell in love with a woman. They married and lived together with his mother.

    Everything was perfect. Despite his disability, he felt like the happiest man in the world.

    Or so he thought.

    One day, they found his mother dead on her bed clutching a framed picture of her beloved husband. People who saw her observed that she looked like she was just sleeping peacefully. There was even a soft smile on her face.

    An empty packet with traces of an unidentified powder was found on her bedside table beside a sealed envelopedbelled "To My Son". It contained herst words before she ended her own life.

    It took a few months after his mother¡¯s funeral before Guan Jintao gathered enough courage to open her suicide note. His wife read it for him.

    The suicide note was several pages long. It was through the letter that Guan Jintao finally learned the whole story of his mother¡¯s struggles and sufferings throughout her whole life, especially after his father died before his birth.

    His mother fought her inner demons by herself. She must¡¯ve felt so alone, yet she tried to be strong for his sake.

    At the end of the letter, she wrote:

    "I¡¯m tired. I¡¯ve been tired for a long time, but I couldn¡¯t leave you just yet. Now that you have a loving family of your own and a sessful career, I¡¯ve fulfilled my promise to your father. I can finally rest in peace after so many years of yearning for my other half. Never forget that I love you so much and that I¡¯ll always be proud of you. Now I¡¯m off to meet up with my lover, my husband, your father. I¡¯m happy so please be happy for me too. Farewell, my beloved son. Your father and I will continue to watch over you and your family."

    Guan Jintao continued to grieve for his mother. But at the same time, he was also relieved that she was finally free from all her living sufferings in this cruel world.

    ###

    The film¡¯s exposure during the first weeks since it premiered was excellent for an indie film but nowhere near the level of the big budget blockbuster movies.

    Arge part of its publicity was attributed to Iris Long¡¯s continued promotion of both the film and her apanying soundtrack album.

    Paralympian Guan Jintao also took a break from his job to help promote the film, guesting in radio and TV shows and granting interviews for newspapers and magazines. After he retired from his sports career, he began travelling around the world as a motivational speaker. He was also serving as an active ambassador for the country¡¯s sports association for persons with disabilities.

    Despite the effort of these two, they still couldn¡¯tpare to the promotional prowess of the blockbuster movies¡¯ superstar actors and actresses. Most people in the country preferred to watch these popr superstars over some unknown actors and actresses in an indie film.

    The viewership growth rate of "Strong Yet Broken" was slow and mostly depended from word of mouth and the fans of both Iris Long and Guan Jintao. Although the majority of critic reviews being published praised and raved about the film, the general public avoided it because they heard it was a tragedy. They preferred the usualedy, romance or action over a serious, true to life tragic movie.

    This continued for almost a month until an unexpected development urred. A leading non-profit organization advocating for mental healthcare in the country suddenly started a vocal support for "Strong Yet Broken".

    Some dayster, other organizations followed suit. First was a supportwork of mothers with postpartum depression. Next was an association of parents with children with disabilities. Finally, a women¡¯s issues society joined in supporting the film.

    The support from all of these groups was like putting the movie on a rocket andunching it high up the sky for everyone to see. Suddenly, everyone was talking about it.

    Using the film as reference, TV programs started featuring serious conversations about motherhood, mental health issues and parenting children with special needs. A few university professors teaching psychology across the country even began making it mandatory for their students to watch the movie.

    Before the production crew and cast realized what was happening, "Strong Yet Broken" suddenly became a catalyst for serious conversations about important issues throughout the country. It wasn¡¯t just the film industry that was paying attention to it anymore. Even experts from several other fields such as mental health wereuding its raw and unromanticized depiction of depression.

    Finally, the general public started to take notice. Groups of mothers started lining up at the theatres because they heard that the film was about the struggles of motherhood. After watching the film, they all came out of the theatres feeling like they were all squeezed dry of their emotions. They went home to their families and used the film as an example to remind their husbands and children to treasure them, the mothers.

    The film wasn¡¯t the only one that benefited from this. A horde of mothers suddenly became freshly minted ck Stars.

    With the purchasing power of these mothers, Iris¡¯ soundtrack album which debuted at an underwhelming number 13 in the music charts suddenly skyrocketed up to sit securely at number 2. The cinematic version of "Phantom of Your Love" also reached number 2 in the singles ranking.

    Number 1 was taken by a duet of much-loved veteran singers who finally released a love song together after more than a decade. Kicking them off from their top spot would be very difficult even for Iris.

    "I can¡¯t believe that the entire film score wasposed by a twenty-year old kid!" A mother eximed to her fellow new ck Stars who were also mothers.

    "I know, right? My eldest son is older than Iris Long, butpared to her achievements, my son still has no idea what to do with his life."

    "Iris Long, I want to hate you because every time I hear ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯, I start remembering the film and cry. You don¡¯t understand how embarrassing it is to suddenly start bawling in the middle of shopping for groceries when the song ys inside the store!"

    Iris weed her new fans and thanked them for their support. Although she never experienced the warmth and love of a mother, she stillmended these mothers for all of their sacrifices.

    While all of these were happening, LX Productions called the film¡¯s original producer and the director for a meeting.

    The topic?

    Award submissions.

    ###

    Notes:

    [1] Sports yed by people with a disabilities, including physical and intellectual disabilities

    [2] Sports involving teams made up of athletes with or without disabilities.

 Chapter 291 - Different Paths

    <h4>Chapter 291 - Different Paths </h4>

    Shadow Winds Headquarters.

    While Iris¡¯ halted showbiz career started taking off again with the now socially relevant film "Strong Yet Broken" and her soundtrack album, Lu Zihao was busy gathering power and resources for his group.

    The authorities remained lenient towards the Shadow Winds, still considering them a vignte group. Although they were already starting to be warier of the group, they hadn¡¯t be antagonistic yet. For now, at least.

    Security in the Shadow Windspound was tightened. Things inside became more organized, even starting to give off a militaristic feel. Not only was the group growing in power as a whole, but each of the individual members were also growing stronger. Training took up most of their time.

    Inside the control room, Lu Zihao was currently reviewing a failed mission and reprimanding the assigned team when the leader of his hacker team asked for permission to speak to him.

    "What is it?" he asked.

    The hacker looked around, feeling hesitant to speak about the matter in front of other people.

    Lu Zihao understood. "Leave for now. I¡¯ll call you againter to continue our discussion," he instructed his subordinates.

    When the two of them were the only ones left inside the room, the hacker handed him a tablet.

    "Boss Hao, we finally found traces of the person writing the biography about the Vetrov family. He was moving from country to country in the Mediterranean. We first tracked him down in Spain, then in Moro. From there, he moved through North Africa until we lost track of him somewhere in Egypt. It¡¯s very hard for us to pinpoint his exact locations. We can only track him down when he¡¯s in ces where inte is avable. Whenever he goes to rural areas, wepletely lose track of him."

    "He¡¯s being very careful." Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes narrowed as he viewed the investigation results of his hacker team on the tablet.

    His team concluded that the person¡¯s identity must be fake. No matter how hard his hacker team tried, they couldn¡¯t dig through his fake background and uncover his real identity.

    "We know that several powers are helping and protecting him," the hacker continued. "Some of them are from governments of different countries while others are from criminal groups. They are also the ones feeding information to him so that he can write the biography. We know that he¡¯s writing it under the orders of someone else but as to who, we have no leads yet at the moment."

    Lu Zihao tapped the tablet screen. It showed a photo of a middle-aged white male who looked gentle and quite dignified. He didn¡¯t recognize the man. He examined the photo carefully, trying to find traces of stic surgery.

    If the man really had his looks altered, then his stic surgeon did an excellent job. However, it might also be that this was the man¡¯s real appearance and that Lu Zihao had never met him before. If so, finding the real culprits of the Vetrovs¡¯ downfall and total annihtion would only be much more difficult.

    "Boss Hao, it appears that this man is wealthy in his own right even without the assistance of the various powers protecting him. But since we already know that his current identity is fake, we can¡¯t determine the origins of his wealth. It also seems that he has other identities that he switches to when it¡¯s convenient. One of those identities is that of an American investigative journalist. This identity is probably the one he¡¯ll use when he publishes the biography. We¡¯re unsure of his true citizenship as the identity he was using before we lost track of him is that of a Spanish citizen."

    Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t surprised. Fake identities weremon in the Underworld. Even he had several ones in his past life as well.

    "You mentioned that he has helpers from several governments. Are they authorized by their respective governments or are they acting independently?"

    Helplessness shed in the hacker¡¯s eyes before he was able to smooth out his expression. But of course Lu Zihao caught it. He already knew the answer before the hacker replied.

    "Sorry, Boss Hao. My team and I are already doing our best, but our current skill levels are still not enough to dig and gather all the information that you need. Not to mention that there are a lot of major powers involved that we have to evade as well, so as not to let them track us back instead. We¡¯re not sure whether the helpers from the government are authorized or not."

    "I see." Lu Zihao sighed. He had the urge to massage his temples but fought against it. He wouldn¡¯t show any signs of weakness in front of his own subordinates. "Anything else?"

    "Uh..." The hacker hesitated.

    "Spit it out."

    "I think that all of these will be so much easier if we have Boss Drakon¡ªI mean Miss Xin working together with us. Her skill levels are several leagues more superior than any of us in the hacker teambined. So...uhm...what I¡¯m saying is that, uh, if Boss Hao can just ask Miss Xin to¡ª"

    "Enough!"

    The hacker immediately shut up. The boss¡¯ aura was too scary! Fortunately, Lu Zihao was able to control himself.

    "Good job in gathering all of these information so far. Continue digging and updating me. You may go now."

    "Yes, Boss Hao!"

    The hacker was relieved to be dismissed. He immediately fled out of the room.

    As for Lu Zihao, he sank in a contemtive silence alone in the room. He read through the information on the tablet once again but felt that it was far from enough. The progress of his team¡¯s investigations was too slow.

    Perhaps his hacker subordinate was right. Maybe he should ask his little sister to¡ª

    No!

    ¡¯She¡¯s already happy living her second life. Her career is doing well and will only improve in the future. She¡¯s also newly engaged and will soon build her own family. I should support her happiness and not involve her in this dangerous business.¡¯

    His hands clenched into tight fists.

    ¡¯Yes, it¡¯ll be faster if I ask for her help but I can do this without her. This second chance in life has given me plenty of time. Let¡¯s take this one step at a time. Even if it takes years or decades, I swear that I¡¯ll have revenge. And even if something happens to me, she has Jin Liwei to take care of her and protect her from danger. I don¡¯t have to worry about her much.¡¯

    A determined look shed in his intense eyes.

    "I have to do this alone," he murmured to himself.

    The two siblings had chosen different paths from each other.

    One was growing her wings and flying as high as she could to reach her dreams and happiness. If she failed, she could still stand up and try again. If she seeded, virtually nothing would be impossible for her anymore. She could do whatever she wanted.

    The other chained himself to the past and was trudging towards the dangerous and deadly pits of vengeance. If he continued at this rate, he would eventually reach a point of no return where sess and failure no longer mattered. The end result would be the same either way. He would burn in the fires of hell.

    Would their paths remain separate? Or would their paths meet up somewhere along the way?

    The wheels of fate were slowly sealing the destiny of these two siblings. It would be up to them whether to follow this destiny or fight against it.

 Chapter 292 Boss Iris VS - Prince Lin Lin

    <h4>Chapter 292 Boss Iris VS - Prince Lin Lin </h4>

    The elevated status of "Strong Yet Broken" to a socially relevant film improved its performance at the box office. The longer it yed at the cinemas, the more interest it garnered. LX Productions managed to negotiate with the theatres to extend its cinema run. Its viewership was only growing with each passing day.

    Its sales trajectory was also the exact opposite of the other movies released at the same time, including the blockbusters. Compared to "Strong Yet Broken" which opened modestly, the others already reached their peaks within the first two weeks. Their ticket sales began gradually declining and many of them were already taken off the cinemas. On the contrary, the sales of "Strong Yet Broken" were increasing in a steady manner week after week.

    There were also several talks among experts in the film industry of its eligibility to join various international film festivals. They thought that the film had a good chance of making it to the final selections.

    This spection was only reinforced when they heard that LX Productions rejected offers of an international release in foreign movie theatres at this time. It was because most film festivals didn¡¯t ept movies that had been released anywhere other than their country of origin. Since LX Productions was containing the film within the country for now, then perhaps they were really nning to join international film festivals next year.

    As for Iris¡¯ soundtrack album, it held afortable number 2 position in the music charts. JJ wanted her to overtake the number 1 song held by the formidable duo of veteran singers, but it was proving to be difficult.

    This only made it apparent that Iris Long still had a long way to go. Her music was high quality, but there were other musicians especially the veterans who could also produce quality music. If both sides had music of simr levels, then the winner would be decided by status and poprity.

    Iris Long was only beginning to stabilize her music career, while the two veterans had already grown deep roots in the industry for decades. Their experiences and connections to the masses weren¡¯t something Iris could obtain in a short amount of time.

    Although she couldn¡¯t obtain the top spot in the music charts this time, she wasn¡¯t bothered. The music charts rankings were only an afterthought to her. Besides, she thought that the number 1 song was really good as well.

    The music charts this timecked drama. There were no fiercepetitions. The fans wanted some action and excitement but they could only be disappointed.

    That was until one day, Jin Chonglin posted an official announcement on his blog. He wrote:

    "The year is almost ending. My hiatus will also be ending soon. I am excited to announce that I will being back some time after the new calendar year with a new album. This album is extra special because I wrote all of the songs myself. It¡¯s partly a rediscovery of my core musical style and partly a reinvention of myself as an artist. You¡¯ll soon be able to meet a new Jin Chonglin and listen to my new album before Spring Festival. Please look forward to myeback because I can¡¯t want to see you all again. I hope that you¡¯ll support my uing album titled ¡¯Hey, It¡¯s Me¡¯. See you soon!"

    The post was shared and confirmed by Bright Summit and the recordbel producing Jin Chonglin¡¯s music.

    As soon as it was posted, his army of fans went into frenzy. The anticipation only heightened when Jin Chonglin began releasing a music video teaser and promotional posters. His uing album trended online and even became the headlines in the entertainment news.

    Many were already predicting that Jin Chonglin would y the music charts once he made hiseback.

    That was until JJ¡¯s recordbel released its own announcement on its website and social media pages. The announcement said:

    "We are beyond excited to announce that Iris Long will be releasing a new single with the rock band Pandemonium. Iris is the sole songwriter. She created the song specifically to perform it with the talented ze, Eros, Night and Thunder of Pandemonium. What¡¯s more, Iris will also be the single¡¯s official co-producer together with Mr. JJ! Release date is scheduled some time after the new calendar year and before Spring Festival. Title is to be announced, but we guarantee that it¡¯s a song that will rock your world!"

    Iris, JJ himself, the Pandemonium members and Bright Summit all shared the announcement to their own followers.

    Needless to say, the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans all went crazy with excitement. After Iris and Pandemonium¡¯s impromptu performance in "MusicFest Tonight" when Eros got injured, both their fans wanted them to perform together again. Although Iris and Pandemonium expressed their desire to work together, their fans didn¡¯t expect that it would happen so soon. This time, Eros would also get to perform together with Iris. His burns already recovered, although the marks could still be seen on his skin.

    Finally, someone noticed an important detail in both the announcements.

    "WAIT A MINUTE!!! Is it just me or did someone else notice that Lin Lin¡¯s album and Iris¡¯ single with Pandemonium will be debuting at around the same time? Is this intentional?"

    "Oh sh*t, you¡¯re right! Ohohoho! This is war!"

    "Our Prince Lin Lin made the announcement first, so it¡¯s obvious that Iris and Pandemonium are the ones who intentionally set their release date topete against our prince! How audacious! It seems that Iris had be too full of herself when she beat Prince Lin Lin in the music charts before!"

    "Hey, poster above! Don¡¯t you dare me our Boss Iris! The one who made the announcement is JJ¡¯s recordbel! It should be JJ¡¯s fault! And besides, there¡¯s nothing wrong with our boss and Pandemonium releasing a song at the same time with Jin Chonglin. It¡¯s not like Jin Chonglin has the only right to release music during that time!"

    "Did you really read the announcement? It says that Iris Long is the co-producer! It means that she has the same authority as JJ to decide the release date!"

    "Why the hell are you all fighting? I, for one, am d that Jin Chonglin and Iris (oh and Pandemonium too) are releasing music at the same time. Both are excellent musicians! This just means that we have more great music to enjoy. I also can¡¯t wait to see another fiercepetition between them in the music charts! This is going to be so fun!"

    "Jin Chonglin VS. Iris Long: Who will win?"

    "No! Please don¡¯t fight against each other, Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris! You two are meant for each other! Perfect together! #TeamLinRis #WeLoveLinRis #LinRisForever"

    Before the actual album and single were even released, there was already a fierce rivalry between Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans and thebined forces of the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans.

    Fortunately, thepetition between the fandoms was quite friendly and respectful. Of course there were some stray insults being thrown around, but they weren¡¯t considered overly offensivepared to the usual fandom wars.

    This was because the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans already felt a kinship to each other, especially after going through the difficult time together when Fan Luo¡¯s scandals rained down upon their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin.

    All of them couldn¡¯t wait for the New Year to arrive.

 Chapter 293 - Competitive Spiri

    <h4>Chapter 293 - Competitive Spiri </h4>

    When Iris first informed JJ that she wanted to coborate with Pandemonium, JJ didn¡¯t like the idea. He thought that she should coborate "up" with veteran musicians rather than "down" with newbies like Pandemonium.

    "We can coborate ¡¯up¡¯ as you say, Mr. JJ, butter. I want to work with Pandemonium now. I already wrote a song for us," she told him.

    When it came to music, she knew what she wanted and could be very stubborn when persuaded to change her mind.

    "You brat! My advice is for your own good but you never listen to me! Hmph! Where¡¯s the song then? Let me listen to it!"

    Iris yed the demo tape.

    As soon as JJ began listening, shock appeared on his face. He frowned and looked at Iris.

    "What the hell is this?!"

    She nonchntly sipped tea instead of replying to him. Her calm expression was the total opposite of JJ¡¯s. She wanted her music to speak for itself. Just as she had confidence in the music she created, she also had confidence in JJ¡¯s ability to judge quality music.

    Seeing that she was ignoring him, JJ harrumphed and continued to listen to the song. The frown never left his face. In fact, it only deepened after the song ended. He yed the song again, listening more intently this time. In the end, he listened to the whole song a total of eight times before stopping.

    He was frowning the entire time. His frown, however, wasn¡¯t because he was displeased but because he was bewildered.

    "Dammit, brat! Tell me the truth, did you reallypose this song?"

    "Of course," Iris replied, tilting her head to the side and raising her eyebrow at what she thought was a stupid question. Of course sheposed the song. Who else?

    "This...I don¡¯t know how to categorize this kind of music," JJ mumbled. Although he was frowning, there was excitement in his eyes. "It¡¯s hardcore rock but more fluid and melodic...and at the same time, it¡¯s also ssical music. What the hell is this? It¡¯s like you¡¯vebined pieces of heaven and hell and made a harmony out of such ipatible elements."

    "I think it¡¯s the most appropriate song for a coboration between me and Pandemonium given that we have very different musical backgrounds. I want to coborate with them but I¡¯m notfortable releasing an entirely rock music under my name. And I¡¯m sure that they also won¡¯t appreciate leaving rock aside to perform my ssical-inspired style. So why not merge the two?"

    JJ looked at her in amazed disbelief. "You make it sound so easy. I¡¯m sure that there are other musicians in the world who have done this before, but I bet that nobody could do this as well as you do, brat. This is a highly technical piece that needs a lot of finesse in order to make the merging of the different styles as seamless as possible. I have no doubt that this is a breeze for you, but can those Pandemonium brats even perform this?"

    "Not sure," Iris replied in a careless manner, shrugging her shoulders. Then she continued to sip her tea.

    "You! If they can¡¯t do it, we still have time to find a more capable rock band."

    "No, Mr. JJ. I wrote this song because I want to coborate with Pandemonium. If I can¡¯t perform this song with them, then I won¡¯t release it."

    "You brat!"

    After ironing out the details, JJ was able to frighten the smaller recordbel handling Pandemonium¡¯s music into lending the rock band to his recordbel for this one-time coboration with Iris Long. JJ¡¯s recordbel would be producing the single.

    Iris was also adamant on being a co-producer this time. She wanted the title and the experience. Surprisingly, JJ didn¡¯t put up a fight against the idea. He allowed her because he knew that she was capable of the role.

    As a result, he appointed himself as her mentor, showing her the ropes in bing a music producer. After all, a music producer¡¯s job wasn¡¯t just limited to recording songs inside the music studio. Good producers also needed to have extensive connections within the music industry.

    But before anything else, Pandemonium needed to learn the song first. When they first listened to it, their eyes nked out for a few moments. Could they even y this?

    "Senior, are you sure this is the song that youposed for us?" zed asked her.

    "Yes."

    Eros had a worried expression. He clenched and unclenched his hands. "This kind of lead guitar...I think it¡¯s beyond my current ability."

    The quiet Night also looked worried. However, determination shed in his eyes.

    "Giving up?" she asked them.

    "No!" Eros said in a hurry. "I said it¡¯s beyond my ¡¯current¡¯ ability. I¡¯ll train hard. I¡¯m sure that I¡¯ll be able to y this. F*ck! This song is amazing. I want to y! I will y it!"

    Night nodded his agreement.

    "Oh oh! Goddess Iris, let¡¯s start! Come on! I can¡¯t wait! I¡¯m so stoked!" Thunder was already bouncing in excitement.

    While they were learning the song, they were also training to improve their technical skills. Iris took it upon herself to coach the four. She was very strict and her standards were extremely high. The four band members trained almost every day. They had never worked so hard like this in improving their technical skills.

    The four were already talented to begin with. Iris was pleased that they learned fast, especially Night. He only needed to be shown something once or twice.

    Finally, it was time to start the recording sessions.

    Eros would y lead guitar, Night the bass guitar, Thunder the drums. Iris would y the piano in addition to being the lead vocalists together with ze. They also hired other musicians to y the flute, violin and cello.

    As usual during the recording sessions, Iris and JJ butted heads like two evil dragons. The arguments were even more intense this time because Iris had more authority as co-producer.

    The poor Pandemonium members who never experienced working with these two stubborn perfectionists quailed and quaked every time Iris and JJ halted the recording to bare their fangs and ws to breathe fire¡ªCOUGH COUGH¡ªto argue with each other. They already expected that JJ would be scary based on his reputation in the music industry. What they didn¡¯t expect was that Iris would be scary as well.

    While they were busy recording, Jin Chonglin¡¯s announcement of hiseback album reached their ears. JJ became excited and wanted to release the single around the same time as Jin Chonglin¡¯s album.

    "Mr. JJ, we are NOT rushing the production of this single," Iris said, displeased at the idea. "There¡¯s only about a month left before Senior Jin Chonglin makes hiseback and releases his new album. With our current slow progress, we won¡¯t make it in time. I don¡¯t want to release substandard music just because we¡¯re chasing a deadline."

    "And whose fault is it that we¡¯re so slow? Tell me, brat! If you¡¯ll just listen and follow my suggestions, we would¡¯ve finished this song ages ago!"

    "Please, Mr. JJ. Why are you ming me when your suggestions don¡¯t make sense?"

    "What did you say, brat?!"

    Before the two could start arguing again, the usually quiet Night interrupted them.

    "I know that a big part of the dy is because our skills aren¡¯t up to your high standards yet. I have no problem with that. In fact, I want to improve my skills to make this song as perfect as we can. But I¡¯m going to side with Mr. JJ this time. I want topete against someone like Senior Jin Chonglin."

    ze: "I want topete, too! Senior Iris, please make it possible!"

    Eros: "Competing against Senior Jin Chonglin? Hmm. Sounds interesting. I¡¯m in!"

    Thunder: "Goddess Iris, please let¡¯s do it! Come on! I¡¯m so stoked!"

    JJ straightened his back and crossed his arms over his puffed out chest, while looking at Iris with a smug expression on his face.

    Iris swept her cold eyes across the four band members. ze and Thunder shivered under her gaze, but Night and Eros looked back at her with determined eyes.

    "Fine," she said, sighing. But before they could celebrate, she added, "We¡¯ll only release it that time IF I¡¯m satisfied with it. If not, even if we have to renege on a promise, we¡¯ll have to dy the release until the song meets my standards."

    "Hmph! Of course we¡¯re going to meet the deadline with a high-quality song! Listen to me, you rascals! This brat, your senior, is hard-headed so put in all of your effort to convince her even if you have to vomit blood to do so! We¡¯re going to beat the sh*t out of Jin Chonglin in the music charts!" JJ dered.

    "Yeah!"

    Everyone was pumped.

    Iris may look disinterested, but herpetitive spirit already began burning inside.

 Chapter 294 - The Chua Family

    <h4>Chapter 294 - The Chua Family </h4>

    Light snow started to coat the city, as December weed another cold winter season. Malls, shops, restaurants and othermercial ces began to have festive Christmas decorations. Shoppers swarmed the malls in droves, attracted by the Christmas-themed sales and limited edition products.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t celebrate Christmas. In her past life as Evelina, Christmas was celebrated sometime in January. And even then, it wasn¡¯t a joyous family-oriented asion. Her mother used it as an opportunity to review the organization¡¯s yearly performance.

    Even now as Iris, she didn¡¯t think much of Christmas. It wasn¡¯t a public holiday in the country, so she nned on working as usual. JJ and the members of Pandemonium wanted to release the single next month, so she needed to whip them harder to finish it in time.

    In addition to this, she also continued to study with Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio who returned to the country just for her. Not to mention her business lessons with Grandpa Lu.

    She was also preparing for theunch of her gamingpany, Monkey, with Hou Liang sometime next year. And also to finish preparations for when the Bauer siblings arrived from Germany to start working on her otherpany, Orchidia Beauty.

    In short, she was very busy this December.

    However, Dom begged her and Jin Liwei to decorate both the mansion and the penthouse for Christmas. She agreed, feeling a bit guilty of not allowing him to go home to the Philippines to celebrate Christmas and New Year with his family. She needed him because it was a very busy month.

    Although Dom neverined, she knew that he must be feeling disappointed and missing his family. So she made a win-win decision for both of them.

    "Dom, why don¡¯t you bring over your family here instead? You can celebrate Christmas and New Year here together."

    For the first time ever, Dom was speechless. After the initial shock, he burst into tears. He continuously thanked Iris while sobbing in happiness.

    In just a week, Dom¡¯s family arrived from the Philippines. Jin Liwei lent one of his private jets after hearing about the matter. Iris also lent her penthouse at Gold Heights Condominium to them. Dom was so overwhelmed by both of his bosses¡¯ kindness and generosity that he swore eternal loyalty to them and their descendants.

    Dom temporarily moved out of the mansion to spend time with his family at the penthouse. Of course, he travelled back to the mansion every morning to continue his work as Iris¡¯ assistant.

    The ones who arrived were his mother (the undisputed boss of the family), father, older sister and her husband and their two children, his other older sister and younger sister. It seemed that his aunts, uncles and numerous cousins also wanted to go but he and his mother shot them down because they didn¡¯t want to be seen as taking advantage of Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s hospitality.

    His mother told them that if they wanted to go, they should buy their own ne tickets and book their own hotel rooms. When his mother spoke, it was the end of discussion. Nobody dared to face against this terrifying mother dragon.

    The family visited the mansion the next day to have dinner with Iris and Jin Liwei. They all thanked them, especially Iris, for being good to Dom and for being so generous to them. They also brought a lot of souvenirs from the Philippines.

    Afterwards, they visited the main branch of the Cao family. The Chua family was the Filipino branch of the Caos. Dom¡¯s father was a distant cousin to Cao Guang, Long Tengfei¡¯s assistant.

    Despite all the excitement with the arrival of Dom¡¯s family, Iris continued to work hard. Dom¡¯s twenty two-year old younger sister named Clover apanied Dom and Iris while they worked. Clover¡¯s exuberant personality was very simr to her brother. She also started calling Iris boss and Jin Liwei sir boss. The siblings both fangirled over Iris and Jin Liwei.

    24th of December.

    Even though Iris and Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t normally celebrate Christmas, they ordered a Christmas Eve dinner at the mansion for the Chua family. Little Jun, Jiang Ying Yue, Yi Mei and all the household staff from the penthouse came over to the mansion to celebrate with them. Meimei also came, immediately getting along with Dom¡¯s younger sister. The twins Dom and Meimei became triplets with the addition of Clover.

    Iris invited her big brother Lu Zihao, but he declined saying that he was busy. She was disappointed but didn¡¯t force him toe.

    The Christmas Eve dinner was prepared in cooperation of Jin Liwei¡¯s private chef, Iris¡¯ penthouse cook, Dom¡¯s mother and first older sister. The chef and the cook were in charge of the Chinese dishes, while Dom¡¯s mother and older sister cooked Filipino food.

    Before dinner, Dom¡¯s father connected a home karaoke system they brought from the Philippines. Iris was very entertained by the family because they all sang with gusto. Even when their singing voices weren¡¯t all that pleasing to the ears, it was still fun watching them because of their enthusiasm. They seemed happy all the time.

    "Boss, please sing. We want to hear you sing live," Clover begged Iris. She spoke in English so that her family members could understand.

    The only ones in their family who were proficient in Mandarin were Dom, Clover and their father. That was why both Iris and Jin Liwei also spoke English tomunicate with them.

    "Alright."

    Iris wasn¡¯t shy. She took the mic and then started singing a ssic song in English. Jin Liwei whipped out his phone and started recording his baby girl on video.

    When everyone heard the opening tune, all the Chuas cheered. They stood up and started sway-dancing to the music.

    "Left a good job in the city

    Workin¡¯ for the man ev¡¯ry night and day..."

    The beat started to change. The Chuas¡¯ booties also started shaking and their bodies shimmying. Meimei joined them, copying their dance movies. Even Little Jun started bouncing in delight as he danced with her new ymates, Dom¡¯s 10-year old niece and 2-year old nephew.

    "Big wheel keep on turnin¡¯

    Proud Mary keep on burnin¡¯

    Rollin¡¯, rollin¡¯, rollin¡¯ on the river..."

    Iris winked at her darling who was recording her, as she danced and continued to sing the catchy song. Her voice also became stronger and growlier, reaching high notes that sent the Chuas into frenzy. They acted as if they were in a concert.

    Everyone gave a loud apuse when the song ended. Iris gave her small private audience a fancy curtsy bow.

    "The best version of ¡¯Proud Mary¡¯ I¡¯ve ever heard in my life!" Dom¡¯s father dered, giving two thumbs up to Iris.

    "Thank you, Uncle Domingo," she replied.

    After their fun karaoke session, they finally ate a hearty Christmas Eve dinner. It was in buffet style, so everyone enjoyed the food at the same time, including the penthouse and the mansion¡¯s household staff.

    Everything was delicious. Jin Liwei and Meimei ate more than usual, liking the taste of authentic Filipino food. Iris had to watch her figure as a celebrity, so she only ate the same amount as usual.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s butler and other household staff couldn¡¯t believe how much the mansion had changed ever since Iris came to live with their master. It was warmer and felt more like a ce where a family lived. They also felt more appreciated as employees. Like right now, they never would¡¯ve imagined that they would be eating and chatting with their master and mistress and their guests like equals.

    During dinner, Iris asked about Dom¡¯s sisters. The youngest, Clover, was going to graduate with a Business Administration degree in a few months.

    "Do you already know where you¡¯re going to work after you graduate?" Iris asked Clover.

    "Not yet. I¡¯m eyeing a fewpanies in the Philippines but thepetition among new graduates is fierce. Only a small number of us will get hired."

    "What do you think about working here instead? Or do you want to stay in the Philippines?"

    Clover¡¯s eyes lit up. "Oh! I would love to work here! That¡¯s why I did my best to learn Mandarin."

    "Good. Come work for me then, if you want. I n on creating a beautypany in the near future. You can help me set it up," Iris told her.

    "YES!"

 Chapter 295 - My Present For You

    <h4>Chapter 295 - My Present For You </h4>

    It wasn¡¯t only Clover who answered. All of the Chuas answered with a resounding yes, looking very excited.

    Iris chuckled. "Alright then. It¡¯s decided. Dom, help your sister process her papers so that she cane here immediately after her graduation."

    "Yes, boss!" Dom answered right away.

    "Oh boss! Thank you so much!!!" Clover clutched her chest, as she was ovee with emotions.

    Their mother, Reina Chua, burst into tears. "Miss Xiaaaaan! You¡¯re an angel sent from heaven to my family! Thank you soooo much! Wuwuwu! Please continue to be good to my son, ha. I¡¯ll also leave my youngest daughter in your care. Wuwuwu! Can I hug you?"

    "Of course, Auntie." Iris smiled at the emotional madam.

    Reina hugged Iris tightly while sobbing hard because of gratitude and happiness. Her husband, Domingo Chua, also had glistening eyes but didn¡¯t cry like his wife.

    Afterwards, Iris asked about the other sisters. Dom¡¯s eldest sister, Marjorie, was a stay-at-home mom to her two children. Her husband was a real estate agent.

    Jin Liwei looked interested after hearing that. He then began talking to Marjorie¡¯s husband, asking him about his work. Jin Liwei was thinking that it would be nice to buy a vacation home in the Philippines for him and his bride.

    Dom¡¯s second older sister, Linda Chua, was a marketing professional working for a Filipinopany. Iris wasn¡¯t saying anything now, but she nned on poaching this sister to open Orchidia Beauty¡¯s Filipino branch in the future.

    Later after dinner, everyone exchanged Christmas presents. Iris and Jin Liwei were very generous and extravagant in their gifts. Both the penthouse and mansion household staff received not only gifts but also bonuses in their sries as well.

    Of course, the children got the most presents. Little Jun, Ice Cream, Popcorn and Dom¡¯s two-year old nephew looked delighted at first but quickly became bored after opening only a few presents. The cats especially were only interested in the wrappings and boxes. They abandoned their mountain of gifts to resume ying with each other instead. It was Dom¡¯s ten-year old niece who was old enough to feel excited at all the presents and continued to open hers.

    The Christmas celebration drew to a close. The children fell asleep and soon the adults felt tired as well. Everyone stayed and slept over at the mansion.

    Iris and Jin Liwei returned to their suite. Both looked excited because they each had their own surprises for each other.

    Jin Liwei stopped before they could enter their bedroom.

    "Wait, love. I haven¡¯t given my Christmas present for you yet."

    Jin Liwei opened a drawer at the suite¡¯s lounge room and took out a thick envelope. Then he handed it to her.

    She tilted her head to the side when she felt the weight of the envelope.

    "Open it," he urged her.

    She did. When she saw what was inside, she frowned, feeling confused. Then as she read on, her eyes widened and she gasped.

    "Darling! Is this real?"

    "En. Merry Christmas, love," he said. "You like it?"

    "I... This is too much..."

    The envelope contained a purchase of business agreement. Jin Liwei bought the entirepany of Gold Heights Condominiums and named Iris as its sole owner. Meaning, Iris now owned several buildings and properties across the country.

    "Nothing is too much when ites to you," Jin Liwei told her. "You deserve this and more."

    "But darling¡ª"

    "It¡¯s yours." His tone was final.

    Iris tried to negotiate. "How about this? Let¡¯s be co-owners instead. Okay?"

    Jin Liwei put on a pitiful expression. "I¡¯m already busy running the toppany in the country. But if you really want to dump more work on my poor exhausted shoulders, then of course I¡¯ll do my best to be a co-owner and run thispany with you."

    s, Iris didn¡¯t catch that her darling was just acting to make her ept his Christmas present for her. Even though her emotional range already widened by a lot in recent months, her naivet¨¦ would still kick in sometimes.

    "Oh. I¡¯m sorry. I was too selfish and didn¡¯t think about how busy you are. Alright. I ept this present. I¡¯ll do my best to run thepany and make it more prosperous. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t let your purchase go to waste. Thank you, darling," she said, hugging his waist.

    He hugged her as well and kissed her head. He felt a little guilty for duping her but it was for a good cause.

    "I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll run it well. And you¡¯re wee, love," he murmured.

    "Mmn." Iris inhaled his masculine scent that she liked so much. Still hugging him, she looked up at his face. "Darling..."

    "Hm? What is it?"

    "It¡¯s my turn to give my Christmas present to you."

    "Oh."

    "Let¡¯s go to the bedroom," she whispered.

    He raised an eyebrow at her suddenly sultry tone but followed her like a puppy as she pulled him to their bedroom.

    When they entered inside, his eyes widened in surprise. Petals of red roses were all over the bed and the floor. Scented red candles burned on tall golden stands, casting a soft, romantic glow across the room. He turned to look at his baby girl, silently asking her with his eyes what was going on.

    She smiled and then ran her fingers over his clothed chest. However, Jin Liwei still felt the heat from her light touch.

    "I¡¯m not giving you any normal gifts because you can buy all the material things you want. So I decided that I¡¯ll give you a special treat tonight instead."

    He took a sharp inhale of breath, his eyes darkening with desire. But before he could wrap his arms around her and carry her to the waiting bed, she pushed him away and stepped back.

    "Go shower first. I¡¯ll read through this purchase of business agreement while I wait for you to finish."

    "Let¡¯s shower together," he said in a husky voice

    "No, thanks. You go first," she insisted.

    He groaned and was about to persuade her to join him in the bathroom, but she already sat on the chaise longue and began reading the documents. Ignored by her, he sighed and entered the bathroom alone. He showered as quickly as he could, excited about what was soon to happen.

 Chapter 296 - I Wonâ€™t Run Away

    <h4>Chapter 296 - I Won¡¯t Run Away </h4>

    After using the bathroom at the fastest speed possible, Jin Liwei returned to the bedroom. He was already primed and ready for action. With just a towel around his tight muscled waist to cover his already half-hard little brother down below, he strode over to his baby girl who was still reading the documents on the chaise longue.

    His desire, however, still needed to wait. Iris ced the documents safely inside a drawer and headed to the bathroom for her turn. He pulled her arm.

    "Love, it¡¯s okay if you don¡¯t shower," he said.

    She frowned. "I sweated a lot during our karaoke session earlier. I want to shower."

    Sighing, he let her go. "Okay. I¡¯ll wait for you here."

    She nodded. Her eyes lingered all over his bare muscled chest.

    He could feel her heavy gaze on his skin like a burning touch. But before he lost control of his desire, she turned around and disappeared inside the bathroom. He blew out a shaky breath, trying to calm himself.

    He could hear the water running inside the bathroom. He started to pace around the room, ncing at the closed bathroom door now and then. The temptation to open it and join her under the shower was strong, but he controlled himself. This was her Christmas present for him. He shouldn¡¯t ruin it and just allow her to run the show tonight.

    After what felt like forever, the bathroom door finally opened. His heart rate and breathing sped up in excitement. Iris came out wearing a fluffy bathrobe. She looked flushed from her steamy shower.

    ¡¯So sexy,¡¯ he thought, feeling saliva pool inside his mouth at the sight of her.

    He started walking towards her, but she raised a hand to stop him and shook her head. Her eyes dropped at the noticeable protrusion underneath the towel wrapped around his waist. She became even more flushed but still managed to tear her gaze away from his groin area.

    "Wait for me. I¡¯ll be back quickly," she told him. Her voice sounded low and husky. Then she hurried to the walk-in closet before he could reply.

    Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t gone for too long. She returned in a minute, still wearing her bathrobe. She held two of his own neckties.

    His eyes narrowed at the objects in her hand, but he didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Remove your towel and lie on the bed," she ordered.

    There was no need for her to tell him twice. Of course he immediately obeyed his queen. The towel dropped to the floor covered by red rose petals. His erection sprang free, pointing and waving at her.

    Her eyes darkened with desire at the sight, but she didn¡¯t move or say anything. She just stood there, waiting for him to climb on the bed.

    When he was lying on his back on the centre of the bed, she followed and crawled beside him. Then she started tying both of his hands with his own neckties to the slits of the headboard.

    "What are you doing?" he asked, although he already had an idea of what she was up to. His erection got harder just thinking about it.

    "Preparing my Christmas present to you," she replied.

    "Love, no need to tie me up. I¡¯m already yours. I won¡¯t run away."

    She pouted. "That¡¯s not it. I¡¯m tying you up to keep you still. Whenever we make love, you¡¯re always the one in control. This time, just lie back there, enjoy and let me do all the work. Okay?"

    "Oh." The corners of his lips lifted into a sexy smile. He stayed still like a good boy and let her tie him up. He was already panting in anticipation.

    Iris finished tying both of his hands. They may look loose at first nce, but she was trained to tie excellent knots in her past life. Her darling wouldn¡¯t be able to remove the bindings as easily as he thought. She sat back and admired the sight of him.

    "Ready?" she asked in a whisper.

    He answered her with a groan.

    While looking at each other deep in the eyes, she slowly untied her bathrobe and let it fall from her shoulders. Her milky-white skin glowed under the soft candlelight. She tossed the bathrobe to the floor.

    Jin Liwei inhaled sharply at the sight of her nude body. No matter how many times he saw her naked, he only felt more desire for her.

    She leaned down and started raining light kisses all over his face.

    He moved his head, trying to catch her lips with his mouth but she pulled away. A deep growl sounded inside his throat.

    "Darling, rx. Okay?"

    His eyes looked wild and he was gritting his teeth, but still nodded.

    Iris continued torturing him with her oh so light kisses. After his face, she moved down to his neck. Her kisses were still light, but she started sucking his skin.

    A pleased expression appeared on Jin Liwei¡¯s face, as he watched his baby girl leaving several tiny red marks on him. Every time the old hickeys started to fade on his skin, she would make sure to make new ones. He was never without hickeys anymore.

    Of course, it was the same with her. Although he couldn¡¯t leave his marks on visible parts of her body, the undersides of her breasts, her inner thighs, lower back and buttocks were all filled with hickeys. These were the only ces that she allowed him to mark.

    After marking him, Iris pressed her body on top of him and finally gave him an open-mouthed kiss. The skin-to-skin contact ignited the already burning fire of desire within him even more.

    His hands automatically moved to embrace her, but they were stopped by the bindings. He had forgotten that she tied him up! He wanted to touch her so badly. He tugged hard at the bindings but was surprised that he couldn¡¯t escape. He tried again, harder this time, but the bindings were still secured around his wrists.

    "Be good," she whispered to his ear.

    "I want to touch you."

    "I told you that this is your Christmas present. Just rx and enjoy. Okay?"

    He growled loudly, looking like a hungry beast about to lose control. However, Iris looked at him straight in the eyes and stroked his hair and face.

    "Alright." He forced his arms to rx. If he continued to struggle against his bindings, he might pull off their bed¡¯s entire headboard instead.

    She kissed him again. Her hand move downwards and wrapped around his erection. She started stroking him. His hips started thrusting in time with her strokes. Releasing his mouth, she climbed off him and moved to take him inside her mouth.

    As soon as the wet heat of her mouth enveloped his hot rod, Jin Liwei closed his eyes and moaned. It felt so good! He opened his eyes once again to watch her pleasuring him. They maintained eye contact while her head bobbed up and down.

    "Love, I want to taste you too."

    "Later. Let me pleasure you first."

    "We can taste each other at the same time," he told her.

    Her head tilted to the side, confused. "How?"

    "Come here. No. The other way," he began instructing her. "Sit on me. Yes. Like this."

    Iris finally understood. They had never tried this position before. She lowered her hips until her wet core touched his mouth. He immediately started eating her, sucking her wet quivering folds, and thrusting his tongue inside her slit.

    She moaned, enjoying it for a few moments before leaning down to take his erection inside her mouth once again. And just like this, they pleasured each other with their mouths at the same time.

    Iris was the first one to reach her climax. She stopped sucking him and started crying out in pleasure.

    "Oh Liwei!"

    She continued to pump his d*ck with her hand in a clumsy manner, even as she orgasmed on his face. Her eyes were tightly shut, her body stiffening and trembling.

    Jin Liweipped her, savouring her sweet, musky taste.

    When her body calmed down, she opened her eyes and saw his erection around her hand. She almost forgot! She immediately returned to pleasuring him with her mouth and hands until he shot his release. She pointed it to his abdomen, not really wanting to swallow.

    She climbed off him and kissed him on the mouth again, tasting herself on him. They continued to kiss until she noticed that his little brother down below was standing up once again, ready for round two.

    "I want to be inside you," he told her. His half-lidded eyes looked dark and feral.

    "Mmn. Okay."

 Chapter 297 - Only For You

    <h4>Chapter 297 - Only For You </h4>

    Iris left the still tied-up Jin Liwei on the bed and headed to the bathroom. She returned with a small wet towel and cleaned him up.

    "Can you untie me now?" he asked.

    "Not yet."

    "Hah..." He closed his eyes, trying hard to calm his inner beast whose sole desire was to devour herpletely and make her cry out in pleasure again and again for the entire night.

    Seeing his inner struggle visible on his facial expressions, Iris contemted on releasing him from his bindings. However, she stopped herself. If she did that, he would just take control like always.

    Although she was calling this her Christmas present for him, it was actually more of a treat for her than for him. Well, both of them were enjoying it so no harm done. Besides, she would still allow him to do whatever he wanted with her but onlyter. For now, she liked the feeling of being in control of their lovemaking. She intended to savour this experience before she relinquished the reins to himter on.

    She tossed the towel to the foot of the bed. Then she reached over to the bedside table, taking out a box of condoms from a drawer. The sound of tearing foil made Jin Liwei¡¯s erection twitch in anticipation. Iris sheathed him with the condom, and then climbed on top of him.

    Holding his hot throbbing rod, she positioned it over her wet entrance. She first rubbed it all over her folds, making them pant. Then she began to lower herself. They both groaned when she slid all the way down, taking his entire length inside of her.

    She looked at him with half-lidded eyes, as she began bouncing up and down on top of him.

    His hands struggled against the bindings once again. He wanted to hold her hips and set a firm and deep rhythm that he liked. However, she wouldn¡¯t untie him. He could only grit his teeth and allow her slow, sensual pace.

    She leaned over and began kissing him on the mouth, as she continued to move. His hips began thrusting up, trying to increase the pace. She didn¡¯tin, even matching the new rhythm with her hips. She sat up once again, throwing her head back and kneading her own breasts.

    "I want to see you," he said in a low, urgent tone.

    She didn¡¯t understand. Wasn¡¯t he seeing her already?

    "Lean back, love."

    "Oh. Okay."

    Using her hands to support her from behind, she leaned back. The position gave him a much better view of their connected bodies.

    "Open your legs wider for me," he said. His eyes were looking straight at their glistening wet connection.

    "You¡¯re such a pervert, Jin Liwei," she told him but still opened her legs wider as he requested.

    "Only for you. You¡¯re the only one who can make me feel this way, the only one allowed to use me this way."

    She smiled and bounced harder on top of him. He also thrust his hips up, setting a wild and hungry rhythm together with her.

    The pleasure began to build and burn hotter within them. Their moans, harsh breathing, and the wet pping sounds of their flesh only intensified their desire for each other.

    "Ah sh*t, baby! You feel so good. Yes, love. Don¡¯t stop."

    Iris felt like she was drowning in ava of pleasure. She reached one hand between her thighs and began rubbing herself, feeling their connected bodies at the same time. The sensations only heightened, as Jin Liwei pounded upwards even faster.

    She reached her climax with a scream. Jin Liwei¡¯s roar followed soon after as he also orgasmed while still inside her.

    Iris flopped over him like a limp doll, releasing sexy cries from her throat. He twitched a couple more times inside her wet convulsing heat before his length slid out of her.

    When their breathing and heart rate calmed down, Iris lifted her upper body and looked down at him. A satisfied expression was obvious on her face.

    "Merry Christmas, darling."

    He chuckled. "Thanks, love. Best Christmas ever."

    "You liked it?"

    "En."

    A bright smile broke out of her face.

    His breath caught inside his throat. She looked so beautiful. He was once again reminded how lucky he was to have her as his lover, his fianc¨¦e, his future wife.

    "I love you so much," he told her with such a sincere tone that it went straight to her heart.

    "I love you too, Jin Liwei," she replied before giving him a light, sweet kiss on the lips.

    Then they just looked at each other¡¯s face, smiling like idiots.

    "So...can you untie me now?"

    "Oh. Right."

    Finally, Jin Liwei was freed from his bindings. He held his two neckties, looking at them with affection. He folded them neatly and ced them on the bedside table like treasures. He nned on framing themter as a memento of this wonderful night.

    Iris discarded the used condom for him and cleaned up the two of them with the wet towel. Her eyes widened as she noticed something starting to harden and stand up once again.

    He smirked seeing her reaction.

    "I¡¯m not finished yet," he told her.

    "I noticed."

    He pulled her and flipped her on her back to the bed. Then he climbed on top of her.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and willingly gave him control for the next round.

    For the rest of the night, the sounds of their lovemaking filled their bedroom. This was their first Christmas together, and it was surely an unforgettable one.

    ###

    The calendar officially changed to a new year. Like Christmas, both Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t normally ce much importance on the December 31-January 1 New Year, but the Chua family once again made the asion special.

    They celebrated New Year at the mansion with the same people as before when they celebrated Christmas a few nights earlier.

    Iris once again tried inviting her big brother Lu Zihao. She was ecstatic when he finally epted. Knowing that he wasing over, she instructed the household staff to make more delicious food.

    The triplets¡ªDom, Meimei and Clover¡ªimmediately went into hyper fangirl mode when Lu Zihao arrived. They squealed and giggled, as if they were meeting their favourite idol in the flesh.

    Lu Zihao shed them his signature devilish smile when he noticed them ogling him. The three almost went crazy with excitement. Clover looked like she was going to faint. She thought that Jin Liwei was the most handsome man she had ever met, but she changed her mind upon seeing Lu Zihao.

    Although Jin Liwei had the advantage in overall physical looks, Lu Zihao had a special charisma. He may look carefree and friendly at first, but there was a sense of danger in his aura. It was a very attractivebination.

    The New Year celebration was once again very fun thanks to the Chua family. They were such a delightful group of people to be with. They seemed happy all the time. They were also very warm, loving and affectionate.

    Dom¡¯s family stayed a couple more days after New Year before they prepared to return to the Philippines. Iris tried inviting them to extend their stay and celebrate Spring Festival a.k.a. the Lunar New Year with them. However, they declined with regret saying that they needed to return to work or school after the holiday season.

    Iris was a little disappointed, but she didn¡¯t force them. It was already enough that they made Christmas and New Year special for her and Jin Liwei for the first time.

    So the Chua family all flew back to the Philippines using Jin Liwei¡¯s private jet again. If everything went well, Clover would be returning in a few months after her graduation to work for Iris.

    With them gone, Iris and Jin Liwei returned to their usual schedule. They both worked hard, especially Iris. Her single with Pandemonium was finally done. They also finished shooting the music video. She was just polishing it with JJ to make it better before they released it.

    When Jin Chonglin announced the official release date of his album, JJ¡¯s recordbel followed suit. Of course, the release date of Iris¡¯ single with Pandemonium was also scheduled on the same exact day.

    Now everyone was certain that Iris and Pandemonium wanted to directlypete against Jin Chonglin. Their fans escted their rivalry against each other. Even though thebined forces of the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans still couldn¡¯tpare to Jin Chonglin¡¯srge army of fans, they refused to back down.

    Seeing the friendly fandom war online, Iris turned to Jin Liwei beside her.

    "Darling, my music with Pandemonium is set topete against your brother soon. JJ especially wants us to beat Brother Chonglin in the music charts. How are you feeling?" she asked him.

    "Hm? Go beat him, love. I know you can do it. You¡¯re the best," he told her.

    "But he¡¯s your own brother."

    He shrugged. "He¡¯s a grown man. He can handle himself. Besides, you¡¯re my lover. I¡¯m always on your side."

    "You¡¯ll be used of showing favouritism, you know," she told him, giggling.

    "So what? I told you. You¡¯re the most important person to me now."

    Once again, the couple spent a long time just staring at each other, smiling like idiots.

 Chapter 298 - Own The Stage Tonigh

    <h4>Chapter 298 - Own The Stage Tonigh </h4>

    Friday.

    Another episode of "MusicFest Tonight" was about to be broadcast live in just a few hours. Exactly a week before the release of their new music, Jin Chonglin and Iris Long plus Pandemonium were all scheduled to perform this night.

    As a result, the studio¡¯s audience was filled with almost all of their fans. Those who couldn¡¯t fit inside the studio waited patiently outside the TV station building, even though it was winter cold. They were dering tonight¡¯s episode as a showdown between their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris plus their Pandemonium hubbies.

    When Iris and Jin Chonglin learned about their fans¡¯ situation, it was as if they were of the same mind. They both ordered huge tents and portable heaters to be delivered in order to shelter their fans from the cold. Of course, Iris took care of the Pandemonium fans as well. She even went the extra mile and ordered some food and hot beverages to be delivered.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans watched the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans in envy as they ate. The ck Stars weren¡¯t petty people, so they shared some of the food and drinks to them. The two separate groups intermingled and began to cross over the tents. It didn¡¯t look like a fandom war at all but a festival instead.

    All of them were touched by the actions of their prince and boss, even though the two hadn¡¯t arrived at the location yet. The people among them shipping LinRis increased after this. Some even spected that perhaps Jin Chonglin and Iris were together when they heard about their fans¡¯ situation because they acted almost at the same time.

    Director He of "MusicFest Tonight" heard about the situation outside. Wanting the publicity, he ordered to have several big TV screens ced outside so that the fans could still watch the show.

    Some hourster, "MusicFest Tonight" finally started broadcasting live.

    Jin Chonglin was scheduled to be the finale performance, while Iris Long and Pandemonium would perform just before him.

    Director He decided on this order because he was sure that the two wouldpletely overshadow the other artists performing on tonight¡¯s show if they were to perform before anyone else.

    As for the other artists, they felt more like opening acts for the main stars in a concert. They were already regretting having been scheduled to perform in the same episode as Jin Chonglin and Iris Long. It was obvious that most of the audience tonight were their fans and were waiting for the performances of these two.

    ###

    The moment hade.

    Iris and the members of Pandemonium were called for standby from their separate dressing rooms. They walked together with Tang Yiyi who looked excited and nervous at the same time. She knew that this performance was going to either make or break Pandemonium. She felt anxious because if the performance failed, Iris would also get dragged down with them.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Big Sis Yiyi. We rehearsed this performance so many times until we puked. Besides, we have Senior Iris with us. She won¡¯t allow any of us to make mistakes," ze reassured their manager.

    The other band members nodded in agreement.

    Iris looked calm as always, even posing for Dom who was snapping photos of her. Some would be posted on her social media pages, while the majority would be sent to Jin Liwei.

    They finally arrived backstage. To their surprise, Jin Chonglin was already standing there waiting for them. He was apanied by his manager, Lin Dong. They greeted him because he was their senior at Bright Summit. Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong greeted each other with a nod.

    "Sister Xin, didn¡¯t we already agree that you¡¯ll call me Brother Chonglin from now on instead of Senior? After all, we¡¯re already family," he said to Iris. His eyes roved in an admiring manner over her beautiful appearance.

    "I understand, Brother Chonglin," she replied.

    Lin Dong, Tang Yiyi and the Pandemonium boys all looked surprised and curious at how familiar the two were acting.

    Although the boys wanted to know the rtionship between the two, they didn¡¯t ask because it was none of their business. However, their eyes lit up at another part. So Xin was their Senior Iris¡¯ real name! So very fitting for such a beautiful woman.

    As for Tang Yiyi, she intended to ask Iris about her rtionship with Jin Chonglinter. Her eyes dropped at the diamond ring on her finger.

    ¡¯Maybe her fianc¨¦ is...? No. Iris is straightforward and honest to a fault. She said that her fianc¨¦ is not from showbiz so it can¡¯t be Jin Chonglin. I¡¯m just overthinking,¡¯ Tang Yiyi thought to herself.

    Lin Dong was actually having simr thoughts as her. His eyes flitted back and forth between Jin Chonglin and Iris, suspicion clear in his eyes.

    "Good luck, Sister Xin. And you too," Jin Chonglin told Iris and the Pandemonium boys. Then he gave them a confident smile. "You¡¯ll need it because I¡¯m going to own the stage tonight."

    Iris raised an eyebrow at his statement. "Thank you very much for your well wishes, Brother Chonglin. It¡¯s too bad that we¡¯re going to perform before you because people will be thinking of our performance instead when it¡¯s your turn."

    The eyes of Lin Dong, Tang Yiyi and the Pandemonium boys all widened. They didn¡¯t expect for Iris to respond to Jin Chonglin¡¯s provocation. What was more, she even threw a more biting provocation back at him.

    Even the staff and the other artists around them felt excited while watching the great stare-down between Iris and Jin Chonglin who were tonight¡¯s most important stars of the show. Thepetition between them was on fire!

    "Ehehe."

    Dom giggled quietly by himself and snapped a photo of the stare-down between the two. Then he sent it directly to Jin Liwei. The phone in his hand immediately rang.

    "Aiya!" He yelped in surprise, almost dropping the phone to the floor. He picked up the call.

    "Hello, sir boss? Okay, got it!" Dom turned to Iris. "Boss, it¡¯s sir boss! He wants to talk to you quickly."

    Iris took the phone. "Hello, darling?"

    Jin Chonglin narrowed his eyes when he heard her words, knowing already who was on the other end of the line.

    "Yes, it¡¯s almost our turn... Oh. Brother Chonglin and I were just wishing each other good luck. Yes, of course. Thank you, darling... Hey! What are you¡ª"

    Jin Chonglin snatched the phone from her, surprising not only Iris but also their managers and the others as well. What surprised them even more was that he began talking to who was obviously Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦.

    Lin Dong couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. Was Jin Chonglin crazy? Was he picking a fight with Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦?

    "Don¡¯t worry about your wife too much. I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll take care of your wife in your stead¡ªhuh? Hello? Hello, are you still there?" Jin Chonglin looked at the phone¡¯s disy and scowled. "What the hell? He hung up on me? Am I still his bro¡ªhey!"

    Iris snatched the phone back from him. Her cold eyes made him flinch a bit inside. The phone beeped. Her expression became gentle when she saw that it was a text message from Jin Liwei.

    "You¡¯ll own the stage tonight, love. No one else can outshine you. I¡¯ll be watching you on TV and will be waiting for you toe home," he texted.

    She sent a quick reply, giggling. Jin Chonglin rolled his eyes at the dog food being thrown at his face.

    Finally, a staff member motioned for Iris and Pandemonium to get ready. Jin Chonglin stepped aside, ignoring the warning looks Lin Dong was giving him.

    The countdown started.

    Iris and the members of Pandemonium stepped onto the stage.

 Chapter 299 - Monster Of Insanity

    <h4>Chapter 299 - Monster Of Insanity </h4>

    "Performing this new single for the first time ever on television, please wee Iris Long and Pandemonium singing ¡¯Monster of Insanity!"

    The audience all stood up and cheered like crazy when the hosts introduced the next act. They had been waiting for this moment. Finally, the first of the two most anticipated acts that night was about to start.

    Although the stage was still covered in darkness, the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans could already feel their boss and their hubbies¡¯ aura emanating from the front. At least, that was what they were imagining.

    The lights turned on with a loud click, illuminating the stage.

    Everyone gasped when they saw Iris Long wearing a beautiful ck and purple ombr¨¦ gown. Her dark and dramatic hair and make-up made her look like a stunning evil demonic queen. Her cold eyes swept across the audience, making them squeal and shiver in excitement.

    The Pandemonium members were dressed like gorgeous and sinful vampires about to seduce mortals with their music. Even the musicians ying the flute, violin and cello looked striking in their dark outfits as well.

    They hadn¡¯t started performing yet but some of their fans were already starting to feel faint. They cheered and pped their hands with everything they had.

    Iris slowly raised her index finger and pressed it over her blood-red lips, gesturing for everyone to be quiet.

    Director He, the two hosts, the show¡¯s staff and the other artists watching backstage were all amazed when everyone was silenced by just a single action from Iris.

    "What powerful charisma," Director Hemented.

    Iris lowered her finger and gave a lingering cold gaze to the audience before smoothly sitting in front of the grand piano at the centre of the stage. After positioning her hands over the piano keys, she closed her eyes and stopped moving. It was as if she froze into a beautiful statue.

    The others were also frozen onstage, giving the audience a dark and alluring tableau of wickedly beautiful creatures.

    Then ze suddenly opened his piercing eyes and swept his arms high up in the air. Thunder sharply beat the drums to match his action, making it more dramatic.

    Silence once again.

    Nervous anticipation and excitement made the audience tremble on their seats. Oh, they couldn¡¯t wait!

    ze lowered his hands and wrapped them around the microphone and the mic stand. Then he began to sing in a whispering voice without music.

    "I shout, oh I shout out loud

    But nobody can hear my voice"

    When he began to sing the next lines, Iris opened her eyes and her hands finally moved over the piano keys to y a mysterious melody.

    "My words keep on drowning

    Drowning in this sea of silence"

    Then the beat changed. The drums suddenly upped the tempo for a short time, followed by aplicated opening riff from the lead guitar with the bass guitar adding texture. It transitioned to a mesmerizing piano melody, showing off Iris¡¯ swift fingers on the piano keys.

    Both the guitars erupted now and then, yet they didn¡¯t overpower the piano. In fact, all the instruments harmonized in an unusually pleasing way. The violin and cello added another dimension towards the end of such a powerful opening.

    The melody and tempo slowed down once again, making the listeners gasp in confusion. However, the thrill of the music boiled in their veins. What kind of music was this?

    ze continued to sing in a stronger voice this time. Iris and the others yed their instruments in a contrasting manner. It was light yet also foreboding at the same time.

    "Demons in my mind, chaos in my heart

    I lose control, oh I lose control

    The world turns crimson

    The darkness descends

    I¡¯m going insane, oh I¡¯m going insane"

    A haunting flute melody was like the call of the devil. The audience shivered until they were once again jolted by another change of tempo.

    Iris sang next. Her voice was so sweet that it was the total opposite of the heavy music. Yet everything was oddly harmonizing. It should¡¯ve sounded chaotic, but there was a seamless orderliness within the chaos of contrasting musicality in the song. It was so weird, yet very delightful.

    "Cut me up, shoot me down

    I¡¯m a monster born from the heart

    Your tainted love, your crazy love

    Destroying me from deep inside

    Save me, oh save me

    I¡¯m losing myself

    I¡¯m a monster created by love"

    ze joined her and they sang together.

    "Your love, oh your love

    It¡¯s haunting me, it¡¯s turning me

    Into a monster of insanity!"

    The drums took over the music with Iris¡¯ piano providing the melody¡¯s undertone. Then to everyone¡¯s shock, the usually silent Night opened his mouth and began rapping. The original Pandemonium fans almost had a collective heart attack. What the hell?!

    "Listen to me!

    I cannot breathe

    Your love is suffocating me

    You think it¡¯s right but it¡¯s oh so wrong

    Don¡¯t twist my words to hurt me more

    I¡¯m going crazy

    I¡¯m feeling dizzy

    I still love you but I also hate you

    You made me like this

    I¡¯m so insane

    So drunk in love

    There¡¯s no restraint

    The rage inside is controlling me

    It¡¯s a poison that¡¯s tainting me

    It¡¯s like our world is made only of us

    There¡¯s no one else allowed between us

    You nurtured this monster inside of me

    Our twisted love born from insanity!"

    When Night finished rapping, the audience went crazy. So many panties got wet because of his shockingly amazing rap. But before they could even make sense of the situation, the melody changed yet again.

    The drums slowed down and the ssical instruments took over. Iris¡¯ fingers glided swiftly over the piano keys while the flute, violin and cello made the music soar. She began to sing, her voice so powerful and high that everyone got goosebumps.

    "Take me away, oh take me away!

    This sweet love, this poisonous love

    It¡¯s killing me, oh killing me

    Can someone hear me?

    Can someone save me?

    Oh that light, that glorious light

    Is it salvation or just delusion?

    Bathe me in the light

    Cleanse me of this love

    Oh, cleanse me of this tainted love

    Ah ah ah~"

    She punctuated it by singing in mind-blowing whistle notes. It sent the audience into frenzy. Everyone¡¯s minds went into hyper-drive. They couldn¡¯t think of anything else but the amazing performance in front of them. What the f*ck was going on with this performance?!

    Then the seductive Eros stepped forward to the front of the stage for his guitar solo. More panties got wet (and also a lot of briefs and boxers). What was happening? Eros was ying so much better nowpared to before his injury.

    After the superb guitar solo, the melody and tempo reached crescendo. It was a brilliant harmony between heavy rock and ssical music. ze finished up the song, almost shouting the lyrics yet still retaining the graceful melody.

    "I¡¯m a monster created by love

    Your love, of your love

    It¡¯s haunting me, it¡¯s turning me

    Into a Monster, a Monster, a Monster of Insanity!!!"

    The music abruptly ended.

    One second. Two sec¡ª

    A deafening apuse and cheers filled the entire studio and the tents outside the TV station building. Even the viewers watching the show at home couldn¡¯t help but join the studio audience in cheering for such a spectacr performance.

    "I don¡¯t know what I just listened to but it¡¯s so freaking awesome!"

    "Kyaaaah! Kyaaaaah! Kya¡ª" This particr fan fainted in the middle of screaming.

    Everyone chanted the names of Iris and all the members of Pandemonium. The situation was chaotic and insane. There was no order and the hosts couldn¡¯t find the chance to begin the after-performance interview.

    ze helped Iris stand up from the piano bench like a knight, sending the fans into frenzy even more.

    Iris faced the audience. Repeating her earlier actions before their performance, she swept her cold eyes across the audience. She slowly raised a finger and pressed it over her blood-red lips, gesturing for everyone to be quiet.

    And just like before, everyone turned silent.

    Director Heughed in delight, shaking his head in amazement.

    Backstage, Jin Chonglin who was watching everything from the monitor closed his eyes. His hands clenched into tight fists. They trembled a bit. When he opened his eyes again, they looked dark and stormy.

    His manager, Lin Dong, saw his reaction. Just like everyone else, he was also shocked beyond belief by Iris¡¯ performance with Pandemonium.

    "What the hell is that song?" Lin Dong muttered under his breath.

    Jin Chonglin gave a bitter smile. "F*ck. It¡¯s my turn next."

 Chapter 300 - Back To The Basics

    <h4>Chapter 300 - Back To The Basics </h4>

    Nobody really knew what kind of song Iris Long and Pandemonium were working on because unlike the usual pre-release promotions, they didn¡¯t release any music teasers. The people assumed that it was rock from the brief statement from JJ¡¯s recordbel. So it was quite a shock to hear such bizarre music from Iris Long and Pandemonium in this episode of "MusicFest Tonight".

    For most of the people, it was the first time that they heard this kind of music. It was very strange yet oddly familiar at the same time. Although it was different, it fit Iris Long¡¯s musical style that she had been using ever since her firsteback. Dark and technically detailed but also soulful.

    The after-performance interview started off with the hosts praising Iris Long and Pandemonium on their mind-blowing performance. Then they asked about the conception and development of the song.

    "I wanted to work with Pandemonium, so I wrote a song that we could use for a coboration. It was as simple as that," Iris answered in a straightforward, nonchnt manner.

    Then all the members of Pandemonium shared their experiences working with her on the song.

    ze: "The song was too hard that we couldn¡¯t record it right away. We needed to train first before we could even y it properly. Senior Iris helped improve our individual techniques. I¡¯ve learned so much from her and my voice has definitely improved a lot ever since I started training with Senior."

    Eros: "I actually had the most difficulty in keeping up with the song¡¯s advanced techniques. It¡¯s the first time that I realized how much a song can improve if the lead guitar pays more attention to every little detail of the entire song. Now I know that lead guitar doesn¡¯t mean to be the shiest but to actually ¡¯lead¡¯ and make sure that everything sounds good together. So I¡¯m very thankful to Senior Iris for squeezing that into my brain."

    Iris responded to their words with a smile.

    The hosts turned to Night next. The female host looked especially interested in him. She was one of the many whose panties got wet while listening to Night rapping earlier. Her eyes sparkled as she asked him directly.

    "I think that one of my most favourite parts of the performance is when you rapped. Night, you were so good! We didn¡¯t know that you can rap so well! How did this rap parte about? Were you assigned to do it since the beginning?"

    Night looked at Iris first, silently asking if it was alright to answer the question. Iris nodded.

    "No. The rap part wasn¡¯t actually part of the original song. It was only addedter on," he replied. "Mr. JJ wanted to add a rap. He and Senior Iris argued a lot about it. In the end, Senior gave in to Mr. JJ when the majority of us voted to have the rap added. So she wrote it and made all of us try it out. In the end, she chose me to do it."

    "I actually was almost chosen to do it! Made me so stoked!" Thunder interjected.

    ze: "No way. Senior said that your rapping sounds too baby-ish for the song."

    Everyoneughed when they heard that. Thunder pouted but wasn¡¯t offended at all. He evenughed with everyone else.

    "Thunder is also a talented rapper. His tone just doesn¡¯t fit this particr song very well. With the right song, his rapping style will shine for sure," Iris said.

    "Yay! Goddess Iris praised me! I¡¯m so stoked!" Thunder bounced on the balls of his feet. He looked adorable while doing so. He was the type of guy that awakened the maternal instincts among females.

    The interview ended after Iris and Pandemonium promoted their single "Monster of Insanity". The show went into amercial break. Iris and the band members spent some time waving at their fans before returning backstage. They saw Jin Chonglin preparing for his turn.

    "Great performance," he told them. "Magnificent song."

    "Thank you, Brother Chonglin," Iris replied with a smile. "Do your best on your performance."

    "Oh, I will."

    Another great stare-down urred between Iris and Jin Chonglin.

    Finally, themercial break ended and Jin Chonglin walked to the dimly lit stage for his performance.

    Iris and the Pandemonium members stayed backstage to watch. She looked calm, but the band members looked nervous. They sided with JJ to release the song earlier in order to directlypete against Jin Chonglin.

    Although Iris was the one exchanging provocations with Jin Chonglin, it wasn¡¯t actually her idea topete with the big star. ze, Eros, Night and Thunder wanted to win against Jin Chonglin. However, they weren¡¯t praying for him to fail. On the contrary, they wanted him to perform his best. It was only right because they also did their best during their just finished performance.

    Iris sat down and watched the show on the monitor. The hosts were still speaking to the audience, increasing the suspense for the finale performance. She couldn¡¯t wait to watch Jin Chonglin¡¯s performance. He was a talented artist who had great versatility.

    It was just that in recent years, he focused a lot more on sexy R&B songs and hip hop. Based on the teasers he released for his new album, it seemed that the sexy element was either toned down orpletely removed from his new music. He went back to the basics, obtaining inspiration from his own emotions rather than relying on his natural sex appeal like he had been doing so for thest few years.

    "Back to the basics. The total opposite of our technicallyplicated and detail-oriented single. He¡¯s going to be a tough opponent," she murmured.

    The Pandemonium members heard her. They straightened and became more focused. They looked straight at the monitor, not wanting to miss anything from the performance. Their hands were clenched tight.

    Iris saw their reactions and chuckled.

    "Why do you all look so nervous? Sit back and rx. Music is meant to be enjoyed. Don¡¯t ruin the music experience by thinking too much about it."

    "You¡¯re right, Senior."

    They forced themselves to rx. However, they still couldn¡¯t stop themselves from feeling nervous. They never could¡¯ve imagined that one day they would be going against a big star like Jin Chonglin.

    This only became possible because of Iris Long. They were telling the truth when they said that they were grateful to her during the interview. She not only gave them the opportunity to go head-to-head against someone as impressive as Jin Chonglin, but she also helped them improve their musical techniques.

    "Thank you, Senior Iris," they told her.

    She looked at them and smiled. At that exact time, the hosts finally ended the suspense and began introducing the much-awaited final act of the night.

 Chapter 301 - Hey, Itâ€™s Me

    <h4>Chapter 301 - Hey, It¡¯s Me </h4>

    "Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived. Performing the titr song of his new album for the first time on television, please wee the one and only Jin Chonglin singing "Hey, It¡¯s Me"!!!"

    His army of fans went crazy. They cheered for him and unfurled huge banners saying, "Wee back, Prince Lin Lin! Always #1!" They chanted his name. Many of them even burst into tears. They missed him so much.

    He took a break for only a few months around the same time Iris Long disappeared but the way his fans were acting, it was as if he had been gone for years. His connection to his fans was definitely on a deeper level than what Iris had with the ck Stars. Many of them started following him way back since he debuted during his teens.

    They literally watched him grow and develop into who he was now as one of the most sessful artists in the country. As for the ck Stars, they only formed when Iris made her firsteback after recovering froma.

    Finally, Jin Chonglin appeared on stage. His get-up looked a lot more casual than what he usually wore in his performances before. Nevertheless, he still looked as handsome and charismatic as ever. His natural sex appeal was something that could never be taken away from him no matter how much he changed the way he dressed. At the moment, however, his sex appeal was toned down, overshadowed by a refreshing ease and gentleness in his countenance.

    Another thing that was different from usual was that he was carrying a guitar slung across his shoulder. What was more, he had other musicians and a DJ performing with him. It seemed that he was going to y the music with actual instruments instead of performing a recorded track with his back-up dancers. He looked so different from the usual sexy and shy Jin Chonglin.

    He smiled at everyone as if seeing his old friends. Then he spoke to the microphone.

    "Hey, everyone. It¡¯s me, Jin Chonglin. How are you all doing? Thank you for weing me back. I also missed all of you. This song is very special for me because it reminds me of who I am as an artist, as a musician. I wouldn¡¯t be the Jin Chonglin that I am today without music. So please listen. This is my voice, my music. This is for me and for you."

    Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and began strumming his guitar. The keyboardist harmonized with him, ying a rxing melodious music. Then the DJ added a slow catchy hip hop rhythm.

    Jin Chonglin opened his eyes and began singing in a smooth voice that seemed to cling to the listeners like warm and sweet caramel.

    "The golden sun or the thunderous storm

    Everything has music if you open your heart"

    Then the beat slightly changed and he began semi-singing and semi-rapping in a wonderful pop-rap tune.

    "Hey, it¡¯s me

    Do you wanna know

    Where the music ys in this great big world?

    Close your eyes

    Listen with your heart

    Look deep inside

    You¡¯ll find music everywhere"

    A violinist joined the serene melody, adding more emotion to the music. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans began waving their light sticks up in the air. The ck Stars, the Pandemonium fans and the rest of the audience all followed suit.

    "Hey, it¡¯s me

    Do you wanna know

    That everyone can sing without any words?

    Words are just words

    Sing with your heart and soul

    You can make your own music

    If you just let your feelings flow"

    He looked directly at the camera in front of him. All the people watching him on TV felt like he was looking straight at their souls. They could feel the sincerity of his feelings in this performance.

    "What do I do?

    Who would I be?

    I would be no one without music deep inside me

    Can you imagine a silent world?

    A world without music

    To feed our very souls?"

    Usually, his audience wouldn¡¯t stop screaming or singing with him during his performances. This time, however, the people just savoured the easy melody and his smooth singing while clutching their chests or swaying their hands up in the air.

    Jin Chonglin continued to sing while strumming his guitar. His eyes glistened, as if he was holding back unshed tears.

    "How can I live in a world

    Without the beat of the music?

    Such a world without melody

    Such a world without beauty

    Such a dark, silent world

    Without music filling you and me"

    Some of his fans began sniffing and wiping the corners of their eyes. The song started off as lighthearted¡ªit was still light¡ªbut somewhere along the way, their chests just filled up with so much emotions that they couldn¡¯t help but be teary-eyed. The feeling, however, wasn¡¯t sad. It was joyful and somewhat nostalgic.

    "Hey, it¡¯s me

    Listen to my song

    Everything has music

    Just open up your soul

    Look deep inside

    Let it all out

    Sing like a bird

    Sing it to the world"

    The pop-rap melody started to transition into something akin to sentimental bad. The violin and the keyboard made the music soar and Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice followed suit.

    "Life might be rocky

    Life might be hard

    But every day I¡¯m thankful that I¡¯m still alive

    Every day I feel my soul sing like a bird

    Every day I sing my heart out to the world"

    His voice reached impressive high notes but still managed to sound smooth and effortless. He made the feat look so easy. It was incredible.

    Many of his fans started crying, but still continued to sway and wave their hands up in the air. They also started singing along the easy and catchy melody. It was rxing yet still very emotional. They felt like their troubles were melting away while listening to him sing this song.

    Suddenly, he stopped ying his guitar. The keyboardist and the violinist also stopped. It was only the DJ¡¯s slow hip hop rhythm that was left. Then he began singing in a soft voice, just him providing the melody without any musical instruments.

    "Thank you for the music

    Thank you for the beauty"

    He slowly began strumming his guitar again, as he sang thest lines of the song.

    "I am who I am

    Because of the music in...you...and...me~"

    The song ended softly and smoothly like how it began. He closed his eyes, even trembling a bit from the emotions that he could barely hold back from spilling.

    His eyes were still closed when the apuse started like the pitter-pattering of raindrops. The standing ovation was as gentle like his song. It started like a drizzle but then gradually intensified into a heavy rain. More than the sound of the apuse, it was the audience¡¯s emotions that could be felt by everyone in the studio.

    Jin Chonglin finally opened his eyes. They were slightly red. He gave everyone a grateful smile. He raised both of his hands high up in the air and took a bow.

    Backstage, Iris and Pandemonium watched everything on the monitor. The members of Pandemonium looked dazed, still affected by Jin Chonglin¡¯s song.

    Admiration shone in Iris¡¯ eyes. She pped her hands along with the audience.

    "Amazing," she said in a soft voice.

 Chapter 302 - True Battlefield

    <h4>Chapter 302 - True Battlefield </h4>

    After the interview, the show officially ended. Jin Chonglin returned backstage. He was greeted by the staff and the other artists congratting him on a great performance. He thanked them in a hurry, looking for the one person he wanted topete with. He wanted to know her reaction to his performance.

    Fortunately, Iris Long and Pandemonium stayed backstage to wait for him. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them. At least, he wouldn¡¯t have to look for her in the dressing rooms. He immediately marched towards her.

    Before they could greet him, he asked her, "What did you think about my song? My performance?"

    "Simple yet genuinely emotional." She looked at him straight in the eyes. "It was a great song, Brother Chonglin. I felt it here," she said, touching her chest above her heart. "You should be proud for creating such music."

    "I am," he replied, also looking at her straight in the eyes. He could see that she was sincere in her words of praise to him.

    "Hmm..." She nodded but then added, "But our performance was better than yours."

    Pandemonium¡¯s eyes widened in surprise at her words, but they quickly became excited and proud. Their backs straightened and they all stood behind her to show their solidarity and agreement with her words.

    Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong also appeared shocked. However, they remained quiet, not interrupting the conversation between the two. Their artists were still acting civil to each other. They would only step forward and separate the two if the situation escted into a full-blown argument. Tang Yiyi especially wasn¡¯t that worried because she already knew the rtionship between Iris and Jin Chonglin. They were future inws.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes narrowed but he didn¡¯t contradict her im.

    Another great stare-down arose between the two of them. This time, however, Jin Chonglin appeared more subdued. It seemed that he somewhat epted her im.

    The sound of a ringing phone interrupted them.

    "Aiya!" Dom eximed. When he saw the caller, he immediately answered it. "Hello, sir boss? Yes, please hold on. Boss, it¡¯s sir boss!"

    "Hello, darling?" Iris¡¯ demeanour became sweeter and more feminine. She instantly became more attractive than she already was.

    Jin Chonglin looked away and took a few deep breaths. For some reason, he didn¡¯t want to watch Iris acting all lovey-dovey to who he knew was his brother on the other end of the phone line. He was about to leave and return to his dressing room when Iris called him.

    "Brother Chonglin, wait!"

    "What?" he asked, a little annoyed.

    She handed him the phone.

    Sighing, he answered.

    "You did well," Jin Liwei¡¯s voice told him without even a greeting.

    "Thanks." Jin Chonglin felt a bit better.

    "But my wife shone the brightest tonight."

    Jin Chonglin scowled. Although he inwardly agreed, it still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He grunted in response and shoved the phone right back to Iris. With a nod to her and to the others, he turned and left. His manager, Lin Dong, followed after him.

    "What did you say to him? His expression didn¡¯t look good," Iris asked.

    "I praised him," Jin Liwei said.

    She tilted her head to the side. ¡¯If you praised him, why did your younger brother look like he¡¯s sulking?¡¯ she thought to herself.

    "Don¡¯t mind him anymore, love. Like I told you before, he¡¯s a grown man. He can take care of himself." He changed the subject. "I can¡¯t wait for you toe home. I miss you already."

    A big smile blossomed on her face. Her eyes softened and sparkled as she continued to exchange cloyingly sweet words with her darling. The other people around them couldn¡¯t stop looking at her. Her sweet expression didn¡¯t match her evil demonic queen attire, but the contrast only made her more alluring.

    The members of Pandemonium all stared at her. They couldn¡¯t tear their gazes away, mesmerized by her beauty. Tang Yiyi looked a little rmed and distracted them.

    "Come on. Let¡¯s say goodbye to Director He and the others before we head home. You did well tonight. Make sure to rest up. You deserve it," she told them and started pulling them away.

    She wanted to tell these rascals not to have any wayward thoughts for Iris. Their senior¡¯s fianc¨¦ was too powerful. If these rascals did anything to displease or offend Jin Liwei, their careers would be over. Even Bright Summit wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything to protect them.

    ###

    Inside his executive van on the way home, Jin Chonglin felt exhausted. He set his seat on a reclining position and rested with his eyes closed. He wondered why he was feeling so tired. It was weird because he didn¡¯t even dance during his performance earlier.

    The exhaustion he felt wasn¡¯t really physical but mental instead. He put so much of himself in his new music. From the conception, development and finally performing one of the songs for the first time to the public, he felt proud of himself. He knew that he improved so much as a musician this time.

    Yet what was this feeling of dissatisfaction that was weighing down on him right now?

    An image of Iris Long¡¯s performance with Pandemonium shed in his mind. His hands clenched into tight fists.

    As a musician, he recognized the technical genius of the song "Monster of Insanity". It was an explosive powerhouse when it came to difficulty in terms of ying and even singing. He was once again in awe of Iris Long¡¯s ability as a musician.

    ¡¯I want to see how her mind works,¡¯ he thought.

    He wondered if her brain consisted of musical notes or something. It was like all she needed was to sneeze and voil¨¤! She just produced another masterpiece.

    Compared to the innovative "Monster of Insanity", his song seemed too easy, simple and uplicated. He didn¡¯t think that "Hey, It¡¯s Me" was in any way inferior to "Monster of Insanity", but if the criteria was about musical techniques, then Iris Long would win hands down.

    As for their performances, he also had to give this round to Iris and Pandemonium. Theirs was just too mind-blowing. He definitely believed it when they said during the interview that they trained long and hard just to be able to y the song at that level.

    "Your performance was amazing, Chonglin," Lin Dong told him. His manager was sitting on the seat beside him.

    Jin Chonglin opened his eyes. The vehicle¡¯s dark ceiling greeted his sight. "Yeah, I know. But¡ª"

    "You were amazing," Lin Dong insisted in a firm voice. They had been working together for so long now that he already knew what was bothering Jin Chonglin even though the guy wasn¡¯t telling him anything. "Yes, their performance was more spectacr but yours was more heartfelt. I¡¯m sure that the audience resonated more with you."

    Jin Chonglin frowned. He was about to open his mouth to refute his manager, but Lin Dong¡¯s resolute gaze stopped him. He smiled instead.

    "Thanks, man."

    "At your service."

    They chuckled. The two assistants in the driver¡¯s seat and front passenger seat also smiled. All of them had been working together for so long now, that they already started treating each other like brothers. Whatever happened, these guys would always support Jin Chonglin no matter what.

    "Well, this is just the beginning. The true battlefield will be on the music charts when both our music debut next week. I¡¯m Jin Chonglin, the king of the music charts. I¡¯m not going to back down against anyone, especially since this is the best music that I¡¯ve ever worked on so far in my career."

    "Hear! Hear!" Lin Dong and the other two guys called out in agreement.

    With that, the dissatisfaction roiling within Jin Chonglin transformed into determination and motivation.

 Chapter 303 - Loversâ€™ Quarrel

    <h4>Chapter 303 - Lovers¡¯ Quarrel </h4>

    The next day, all the entertainment news and online discussions were talking aboutst night¡¯s episode of "MusicFest Tonight". It topped the TV ratings and even broke an online record as the most viewed local episode within 24 hours.

    Needless to say, Director He was very pleased. It even made the national news, featuring the festival-like atmosphere among the fans watching the show in tents outside the TV station building. The people praised Iris Long, Jin Chonglin and Director He for taking care of the fans waiting outside in the cold. It even prompted the other fandoms toin and demand their respective celebrities to treat them better.

    Both the final two performances of the episode became top trending online. The people couldn¡¯t get enough of Iris Long and Pandemonium¡¯s spectacr performance and their bizarre music. Simrly, many swooned after watching Jin Chonglin¡¯s emotional performance.

    Their music were the total opposite of each other. The people couldn¡¯t decide which one was better. Finally, someone posted an online poll. It was titled "Which song is better?". So far, the results were:

    69.73% - "Hey, It¡¯s Me" by Jin Chonglin

    30.27% - "Monster of Insanity" by Iris Long and Pandemonium

    Jin Chonglin was winning. However, it was not surprising. His army of fans far outnumbered thebined forces of the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fans by arge margin.

    A fairer result would only be obtained once their music debuted in less than a week, and the reviews of music critics and the response of the general public started pouring in. The moment of truth would be determined by how "Monster of Insanity" and "Hey, It¡¯s Me" performed in the music charts.

    While all of these were happening, the artists in question were hard at work in promoting their uing music. Bright Summit spared no expense in giving the best resources to their artists. But of course, the higher-ups still ced more importance on Jin Chonglin based on his longer track record and extent of poprity.

    Despite this, Tang Yiyi fought fiercely to obtain top-notch resources for both Iris Long and Pandemonium. She was determined to elevate the status of her own artists she was managing within thepany. She wanted to show the higher-ups that Iris Long would be the next big thing alongside Jin Chonglin.

    She found it quite funny that these two artists were actually future inws. It would benefit Bright Summit tremendously to treat Iris Long well. After all, she was the future wife of THE Jin Liwei and the future madam of Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country.

    The buzz and anticipation for Jin Chonglin¡¯s new album and Iris Long and Pandemonium¡¯s uing single continued to increase as the days passed by.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Monday night. Four more days until theunch of Iris and Pandemonium¡¯s single "Monster of Insanity".

    Jin Liwei stepped out of the walk-in closet. He was wearing pyjama pants with no top on. His bare muscled chest was on full disy. He rubbed his wet hair with a towel, as he walked to the bedroom. He wanted to shower together with his baby girl earlier, but she was busy on the phone. Not only was she discussing her work schedule with her manager, but she was also busy making important business calls regarding herpanies.

    She was still on the phone by the window. She spoke in German, so it was likely that she was talking to the Bauer siblings about Orchidia Beauty. He didn¡¯t want to interrupt her, so he just waited. He saw some documents on the low table. Curious, he sat down on the chaise longue and began checking them out.

    About half an hourter, Iris finallypleted all the phone calls. She heaved a big sigh of relief. When she turned, she saw Jin Liwei looking through the documents she left on the low table earlier. They were endorsement offers for her. She frowned when she realized that he messed up the organized piles she made.

    "Darling, please don¡¯t mix them up. I already separated them into the ones I¡¯ll ept and the ones I¡¯ll reject."

    "I know," he murmured.

    She walked to him and tried to rearrange the documents back to how she originally organized them, but he didn¡¯t let her. Annoyed, she scowled at him.

    "Darling, what are you doing?"

    "This is the ept pile and this is the reject pile. Am I right?"

    "Yes. So you knew. Why did you mess them up then?" She sighed, feeling a bit exasperated at him.

    "You made a mistake and put one of the endorsements in the wrong pile," he said.

    "Hm? Really? Which one?"

    "This." He showed her the document.

    It was an endorsement offer from a high-end lingerie brand. Many famous celebrities, models and even socialites already confirmed that they loved the products. Even some foreign celebrities and supermodels reportedly liked using them.

    "Oh, it¡¯s not a mistake. I was nning on epting that endorsement offer," she told him.

    He immediately stiffened and scowled.

    She ignored him and tried taking the document from his hand but he refused to let it go. He even gripped it harder, making the papers wrinkle.

    "What are you doing?! Darling, why are you being so obnoxious? Give it to me!" Her patience reached its limit. She was tired and didn¡¯t want to deal with his childishness. So she snapped at him.

    "Love, you are NOT going to ept this endorsement." There was anger in his tone.

    "What did you say?! You¡¯re not going to make that decision for me! I already decided that I want to ept this endorsement so I will!"

    His face contorted in fury. Iris didn¡¯t back down and red at him.

    He abruptly stood up and paced back and forth. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. His hands continued to grip the document, wrinkling it more. He wanted to rip the sted endorsement offer into pieces, but he knew that it was just going to upset his baby girl even further. He was desperately trying to calm himself down, but he just couldn¡¯t ept her decision. He stopped pacing and faced her.

    "Love, think more carefully about this, okay? Please don¡¯t ept this endorsement offer," he begged her.

    Iris already felt angry seeing the wrinkled state of the document. She didn¡¯t understand why he was so upset. The brand was by a well-known and respectedpany who waspetitive in the international market. Why wasn¡¯t he happy that she received an endorsement from such a greatpany?

    "Darling, I really want to ept that endorsement offer," she told him. "The majority of my lingerie and nightwear are from that brand. I love using their products. They¡¯re beautiful, high quality and veryfortable to wear. You even told me before that you like them too and that I look sexy wearing them!"

    "Yes, I like them when you wear them in PRIVATE, showing only to me." He waved the document in his hand. "If you really love their products, I¡¯ll buy the whole d*mnpany for you! You¡¯ll have a lifetime supply! Why must you endorse them? Endorsing means you¡¯ll have to do a photo shoot while wearing these...these lingerie...and then they¡¯ll use your photos and videos wearing only underwear in their ads for all the world to see! How do you think I¡¯ll feel knowing that other men are ogling your beautiful body wearing only underwear?! Love, I can¡¯t! Please, I beg you. Don¡¯t do this!"

    Iris froze and blinked her eyes a few times after hearing his reason.

    His shoulders were heaving as he panted. He continued to grip the document. His eyes implored her to understand him.

    "Love, look at it this way. Imagine a photo or video of me naked being seen by countless other women. How would you feel?"

    "No way! You¡¯re mine!"

    Intense possessiveness and fury gushed forth from within her as she imagined such a situation. A strong urge to strangle all those women overwhelmed her.

 Chapter 304 - My Everything Belongs To You

    <h4>Chapter 304 - My Everything Belongs To You </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s heart skipped a beat after hearing Iris¡¯ possessive words. He was actually a bit taken aback by the extent of her reaction. His baby girl was so furious that her face turnedpletely red. She looked like she wanted to beat up someone and cry at the same time.

    How cute!

    His mouth twitched, but he fought against the wide grin threatening to break out of his face. He covered it up by clearing his throat instead. Although he was extremely pleased by her reaction, he forced a serious expression on his face.

    "See? What you¡¯re feeling right now is the same as how I¡¯m feeling just imagining you being ogled by other men," he told her. "It¡¯s not a great feeling, is it?"

    She shook her head. Her delectable lips formed into a cute pout. With her contrite expression, she looked absolutely adorable. Jin Liwei¡¯s breathing sped up and his eyes became a bit dazed at the sight of her, as a familiar hot ball of desire started burning in his lower abdomen.

    ¡¯Calm down, Liwei. Now¡¯s not the time. The two of you are having a serious conversation,¡¯ he scolded himself.

    Then Iris suddenly ran and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist in a fierce hug. She rubbed her face against his bare chest, inhaling his scent before biting him hard.

    He grunted from the pain. But other than that, he showed no reaction from her bite. He even hugged her more tightly. He began rubbing her back and stroking her hair to soothe her because he could feel her frustration. At herself, perhaps.

    After biting him, she licked the deep bite mark on his chest. "Sorry," she mumbled.

    "Hmm. It¡¯s okay. You can bite me more," he murmured.

    "No, I don¡¯t mean that." She lifted her head from his chest and looked up his face. "Well, I¡¯m also sorry for biting you but I¡¯m sorrier for fighting with you. I wasn¡¯t thinking about how you¡¯ll feel."

    He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m d we¡¯re able to talk it out. I¡¯m also sorry that I raised my voice at you. I almost lost control of my anger."

    "Mmn. It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not hurt." She moved her arms from around his waist and wrapped them around his neck instead. "How about this? Let¡¯s look at my endorsement offers and then let¡¯s decide which ones to ept together."

    "En."

    Iris stood on her tippy-toes and pulled his head down. Then she pressed her lips against his for a chaste kiss. Afterwards, she led the two of them to sit down on the chaise longue together. But before they could look at the documents on the low table, she stopped as she remembered something. She faced him, giving him a strict look.

    He raised both of his eyebrows.

    "I¡¯m not going to ept the endorsement offer from that lingerie brand," she told him.

    "En. Good."

    "Darling..."

    "Hm?"

    "Don¡¯t show your body to other people besides me, okay? If they¡¯re not your doctor or masseur, nobody is allowed to see your body except me. Understand?"

    A chuckle escaped from his lips.

    She huffed, displeased at his reaction. "I¡¯m serious!"

    He stoppedughing but his eyes still looked amused. When he replied to her, however, his tone was sincere.

    "Of course, love. My body, all of me, my everything belongs only to you. Happy?"

    She nodded, pleased at his deration.

    After smiling at each other like idiots, the couple finally started reviewing and discussing her endorsement offers together. There were two others besides the lingerie brand that they tossed to the reject pile.

    One was for a perfume line by a famous European fashionpany.

    "This is an excellent offer and will definitely boost your poprity by a lot, not only in the country but also in the international level. However, I suggest that you don¡¯t ept this," Jin Liwei told her. "I personally think that you can have your own perfume line if you want to. You can even put it under Orchidia Beauty or release it independently. Totally up to you. No need to endorse anotherpany¡¯s products when you can manufacture and sell your own. Won¡¯t it be so much better to endorse your own products?"

    Iris thought about his suggestion and agreed with him. She thought that his idea was great. Now she was d that they were discussing her endorsement offers together. Jin Liwei was really an experienced businessman. Although she was Grandpa Lu¡¯s student, there were still a lot of things that she didn¡¯t know in the world of business. Jin Liwei could provide her with an additional set of advice to steer her to a more advantageous direction.

    As for the other offer, they argued about it for some time before Iris "tentatively" agreed to reject it. It was an offer from a premium teapany. For a tea lover like herself, she was excited to ept this endorsement. It was actually her first choice in her original ept pile. That was why she was dismayed that Jin Liwei was discouraging her from epting it.

    "Why?" she asked him.

    "I¡¯ll get you another tea endorsement," he told her.

    "Whichpany?"

    He hesitated before giving her an unclear answer. "Give me some time to prepare everything. I¡¯ll have the offer drafted out soon. Okay?"

    She was very unhappy with his answer.

    Seeing her expression, he kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry, love. I want it to be a surprise. But I think that you¡¯ll like it more than this one."

    "Really?"

    "Yeah."

    "Tell me, is it yourpany?" she asked.

    "No, it¡¯s not."

    She tilted her head to the side, confused. "If it¡¯s not yours, how are you so sure that thepany will want me as endorser?"

    He just gave her a mysterious smile and told her, "I just know."

    After some time, they finally finished going through all of the endorsement offers. Iris took a quick shower before joining Jin Liwei on the bed. Although he wanted to make love with her, he controlled himself because she looked so exhausted. So he just satisfied himself by embracing her in his arms.

    She was about to sleep when she remembered something important.

    "Darling?"

    "Hm?" He stroked her back.

    "Please don¡¯t buy that lingeriepany. I don¡¯t want it. I¡¯ll just stay as a customer. I don¡¯t want to be its owner. I already have my hands full with my ownpanies plus Gold Heights which you gifted me. I don¡¯t need a newpany for now. Okay?"

    He chuckled softly. "Alright. I won¡¯t buy it. Now let¡¯s sleep."

    "Mmn...¡¯kay."

    She snuggled deeper in his embrace while he continued stroking her back. Momentster, she fell asleep.

    "G¡¯night, love," he murmured before following her into another sweet dream.

 Chapter 305 - Sacrilege

    <h4>Chapter 305 - Sacrilege </h4>

    The next night, Iris returned home to the mansion after another busy workday promoting her uing single "Monster of Insanity" with Pandemonium. There were only three more days left until its release.

    To her surprise, Lin Yehan was there to wee her home with Jin Liwei. There was also a stern-looking woman he introduced as hiswyer.

    Iris figured that they came for Jin Liwei to talk about some business. After eating dinner, however, she realized that Lin Yehan and hiswyer actually came for her.

    They handed her an endorsement deal offer for a teapany. It turned out that Lin Yehan acquired an enormous tea ntation about a couple months ago. It was a ntation which originally produced tea for severalpanies in the country. However, after acquiring the ntation for himself, Lin Yehan stopped selling the tea to thesepanies and created his own teapany instead. He wanted his ntation to produce tea solely for his ownpany.

    Since it was apletely new and unknownpany, it would benefit them greatly to use a celebrity to endorse their products. Hence, the idea to use Iris as an endorser.

    Of course, it was Jin Liwei¡¯s idea. What better way to help his brother promote his newpany than rmend his future wife as the endorser? It was killing two birds with one stone. This way, he could also make sure that Iris would be getting a fair and trustworthy deal. One that would never f*ck her over if thepany ever got into trouble.

    "We will send a copy of the official endorsement offer to Bright Summit, but we want you to see it first," Lin Yehan¡¯swyer told Iris. "Let¡¯s review the contract together. Feel free to ask if there¡¯s anything you don¡¯t understand. I¡¯m here to exin every single detail to you. If you want to change anything, we¡¯ll negotiate."

    The money in this endorsement deal was lower than the offer she received from the other teapany, but not by much. It was understandable as this was still apletely newpany which onlyunched on a small scale a few weeks ago. In fact, Lin Yehan was the one taking a gamble by paying her this much to endorse.

    "Yes, I ept this offer," Iris decisively announced after only a few minutes of discussion.

    Jin Liwei smiled, but Lin Yehan and hiswyer were both surprised by her quick decision.

    "Xin, are you sure? You¡¯re not going to discuss this with your ownwyer first? What if I¡¯m swindling you?" Lin Yehan cautioned her.

    She tilted her head to the side. "Eldest Brother, Liwei is here. He would never let me be at a disadvantage," she answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s smile widened before nodding his head.

    "Besides, I prefer to endorse yourpany rather than others," she added.

    "I¡¯m going to ask you one more time, Xin. Are you sure? Once you say yes, I won¡¯t allow you to back out anymore," Lin Yehan told her.

    "Yes."

    "Alright then. We have a deal." Lin Yehan stood up and extended his hand towards her.

    Iris epted his offered hand and they shook hands to symbolize the sealing of their deal. Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan¡¯swyer also joined in the handshaking.

    With the matter about the endorsement deal done, Lin Yehan and hiswyer prepared to leave. It was alreadyte in the evening and everyone still had work early the next morning.

    As Iris and Jin Liwei stood in the grand foyer to see them off, Lin Yehan observed the couple. His eyes fell on the sparkling diamond ring on her finger. When he first heard that the two were engaged, he thought that their rtionship was progressing too fast.

    Although he liked Iris as a person, he still harboured some reservations about her based on her troublesome history and past reputation. Though they were slowly diminishing especially after knowing that she was Grandpa Lu¡¯s student and his new favourite grandchild.

    He could also see that she was a hard worker and dedicated to her craft as an artist. A person like that wasn¡¯t just some wishy-washy spoiled brat who would drag his Third Brother into trouble with her. At least, Lin Yehan hoped not.

    In addition to this, he also thought that she was too young for his Third Brother. However, seeing them together now, he could tell that the two were genuinely in love with each other. He also had never seen his Third Brother so happy and rxed before.

    ¡¯I hope their lovests, and that she¡¯s really true to Third Brother and she continues to make him happy,¡¯ he wished.

    After saying goodbye to the couple, he left with hiswyer.

    ¡¯Third Brother looks really happy. I won¡¯t have to worry about him too much anymore. As for our other brothers..."

    He sighed.

    "Fifth Brother, what is really happening with you?"

    "Sir? Did you say something?" hiswyer asked beside him inside his car.

    "Oh, nothing," he replied.

    However, his usual gentle expression was marred by a frown. There was something off about their Fifth Brothertely and it was worrying him to no end. He had no idea what was going on with Lu Zihao. He still acted like his usual easygoing self whenever they spoke on the phone, but Lin Yehan¡¯s gut feeling was telling him that something wasn¡¯t right.

    ¡¯Maybe I¡¯m just overthinking. This newpany is stressing me out. Maybe it¡¯s time for me to take some time off to rx.¡¯

    ###

    Friday.

    The most awaited day of the week in the country¡¯s music industry finally arrived.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s album "Hey, It¡¯s Me" and the single "Monster of Insanity" by Iris Long and Pandemonium were both released at exactly the same time. They were the most anticipated music since the new calendar year started.

    As soon as they were released, their fans¡ªJin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans and thebined forces of the ck Stars and the Pandemonium fansmenced their step-by-step ns to help boost their prince, boss and hubbies¡¯ music. With the fans¡¯ power, "Hey, It¡¯s Me" and "Monster of Insanity" trended online as soon as they were released.

    "Hey, It¡¯s Me" ranked number 1 in the trending lists in various websites while "Monster of Insanity" ranked number 2. It could be seen just how massive Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were. He even trended in other Asian countries courtesy of his fans abroad.

    Compared to him, Iris Long and Pandemonium¡¯s poprity and influence were mostly contained within the country. It wasn¡¯t such a big surprise that Jin Chonglin held the advantage when it came to online social media influence.

    As a result, "Hey, It¡¯s Me" by Jin Chonglin debuted at number 1 in the music charts while "Monster of Insanity" by Iris Long and Pandemonium debuted at number 2.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans celebrated their victory.

    The ck Stars and Pandemonium felt disappointed but only for a short moment before they quickly recovered and continued to support their boss and hubbies¡¯ music. The fight had just began. They truly believed that "Monster of Insanity" deserved number 1 more than "Hey, It¡¯s Me."

    "Hey, It¡¯s Me" continued to rule the music charts and the radio airwaves for the next few days. The general public seemed to react more favourably to it. Its type of music was more familiar. "Monster of Insanity", on the other hand, sounded too bizarre to most of them.

    While "Hey, It¡¯s Me" continued to reign supreme in the music charts, the musicians, the experts and critics in the music industry were all busy studying, deconstructing and analyzing everything about "Monster of Insanity". It was a treasure trove of advanced musical techniques that were rarely used by musicians in the country. Some of the experts even concluded that Iris Long created some new techniques that was uniquely hers. Overall, they all could agree that it was definitely one of the most original songs that they had ever heard in their careers.

    Finally, the reviews started pouring in.

    "Hey, It¡¯s Me" received mostly great reviews. Critics praised Jin Chonglin for focusing more on emotions and connecting to the listeners instead of relying on his sexual appeal like usual. Of course, there were a few critics who sted him for producing such a simplistic and effortless music. For the most part, Jin Chonglin¡¯s new album was well-received among the critics.

    As for "Monster of Insanity", the reviews werepletely mixed. There was a clear division between the critics.

    One side absolutely hated it, calling it a sacrilege to both rock and ssical music. A critic wrote:

    "What kind of music is this? It¡¯s just painful noise wronglybelled as music. Does Iris Long think that music is a hotpot that she can just throw whatever ingredients she wants to and it¡¯ll taste good? ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ is absolutely revolting, horrendous and a torture to the ears. This single just demonstrates how the songwriter is trying too hard to prove herself but failing to do so. The advanced techniques are too much and overplicated. They don¡¯t make any sense! Don¡¯t waste your time listening to this garbage. You¡¯ll thank me for saving your eardrums from bleeding."

    These were mostly the purists who didn¡¯t respond well to unconventional music.

 Chapter 306 - History Maker

    <h4>Chapter 306 - History Maker </h4>

    The other side of the critics absolutely loved "Monster of Insanity" by Iris Long and Pandemonium. Many of them even dared to call it a new masterpiece of the country¡¯s music industry. One such critic, DJ Song, wrote:

    "I have never heard of such a masterful musicalposition and songwriting as ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ before. The details, techniques, lyrics and overall musicality are all superb. I know that there had been many attempts before in other countries to seamlessly harmonize hard rock and ssical music, but I personally think that ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ is the only one that seeded with such precision.

    "I almost can¡¯t believe that a song with such technical difficulty that could even make seasoned musicians puke from attempting to y it was created by a young woman with the tender age of twenty years. I also heard that some experts, historians and even academics in the music field are now trying to confirm whether Iris Long has really created new musical techniques. If she really did, then it¡¯s a great achievement and pride for our country¡¯s music industry. Even if she didn¡¯t, it¡¯s already a big aplishment to utilize all of these advanced techniques that are rarely used by our own musicians.

    "I don¡¯t throw this word around carelessly, but I¡¯m going to say it today. In my decades working in the music industry, I daresay that Iris Long is a musical genius. We should be encouraging her to nurture her talents. I¡¯m looking forward to how she¡¯ll develop and what kind of music she¡¯ll release in the future. With a figure like her, I¡¯m reassured and optimistic about the future of our country¡¯s music industry."

    Although DJ Song focused a lot on Iris Long in his review, he also praised the members of Pandemonium for their contribution to the song. He especiallymended Eros. Besides the piano and the vocalists, the lead guitar had the most technically difficult role in "Monster of Insanity". Of course, he didn¡¯t forget to throw some words of praise for his dear friend JJ who co-produced the song and was the mastermind behind Night¡¯s rap which got a lot of panties wet.

    When all of these mixed reviews started pouring in, others joined in on the debate of whether "Monster of Insanity" was a musical sacrilege or masterpiece. The debate was a popr topic everywhere. Many music schools started using it as a topic for lessons. Popr TV programs also invited various experts to weigh their opinions in on the debate.

    And just like that, the interest for "Monster of Insanity" increased day by day. It went beyond casual listening to a serious topic of discussion.

    While all of these were happening, "Hey, It¡¯s Me" by Jin Chonglin continued to reign at the top of the music charts. "Monster of Insanity" by Iris Long and Pandemonium was close behind at number 2. With these two music at the top, all the other music had no choice but topete for number 3 instead because they just couldn¡¯t reach the level of these two songs.

    By the third week, however, a great disruption in the music charts urred. The group of experts, historians and academics who made it a mission to research and confirm whether Iris Long created new musical techniques or not finally released a statement. In an informal press conference in front of a top university, their representative, a well-respected music professor announced:

    "Of the eight unfamiliar music techniques we found in the musical piece ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯, we have confirmed three to bepletely new, original, never recorded in the history of music in the entire world. Therefore, our team of experts with the assistance of other experts from other countries, all have concluded that ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ has one new instrumental technique and two newpositional techniques that have never been seen or heard of before in music history. We¡¯d like to offer our deepest and sincerest congrattions to Miss Iris Long. Miss Long, we¡¯re all extremely proud of you as your fellow countrymen and women for such a groundbreaking and history-making achievement!"

    Once this announcement was televised and reported in various media outlets, everyone went crazy. Sales of "Monster of Insanity" soared exponentially in just a single day. Countless people called radio stations to request them to y it more.

    Music students started feeling important because almost everyone they knew constantly asked them to exin the music techniques in "Monster of Insanity".

    Regr TV programming was even interrupted to report on these history-making musical techniques by Iris Long as breaking news. They even revealed that the achievement was also featured in some foreign news in several countries around the world.

    When it came to the point that even the government¡¯s press secretary also offered his congrattions to Iris Long during his regr briefing, the citizens had no choice but to know about Iris Long and hertest music "Monster of Insanity", regardless of whether they liked the song or not.

    Needless to say, all of these contributed to a colossal amount of buzz for "Monster of Insanity". No one was surprised when immediately the next day after the music academics¡¯ announcement, "Monster of Insanity" kicked off Jin Chonglin¡¯s "Hey, It¡¯s Me" from its number 1 spot in the music charts. Finally, "Monster of Insanity" took the music charts crown.

    Even the ck Stars and Pandemonium fans didn¡¯t know how to react for a moment with how things developed and escted in just a day. Everything happened so abruptly and so quickly!

    CaptainckStar: "Can someone pinch me? I think I¡¯m dreaming. Is this...is this really happening? Tell me this isn¡¯t a dream!"

    LittlePhoenix: "Big sister Captain, it¡¯s not a dream. .:©b(;¡ä¡É£à;)©b:."

    iEatSlippers: "Pinch? Let me whack you with my mighty slippers instead, Captain! Our boss is really the best! Who else can top our boss when ites to musical prowess in this generation? No one! Comrades, all the ck Stars and Pandemonium fans, especially my beloved Slippers Army, raise all of your mighty slippers high up in the air and let¡¯s show our congrattions and support to our unrivaled Boss Iris!"

    "All hail Boss Iris!"

    "Congrats, boss! You¡¯re the best! We¡¯re so proud of you!"

    "Hahaha! I¡¯m waiting for those narrow-minded critics who were so savage before in ridiculing our Boss Iris and calling ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ as painful noise and garbage. Where are you now? Come on, say something! I can¡¯t hear you~ Never mind. We¡¯ll never hear from them again because they¡¯re all choking from eating their own disgusting words!"

    "Hmph! They¡¯re just idiots who pretend to know everything about music when they¡¯re all just bitter and jealous idiots who criticize our boss and her music because they can never reach her level of genius."

    The outpouring of support and congrattions continued. Pandemonium was also riding this gigantic wave of sess, pulling their careers to new heights thanks to Iris Long¡¯s achievement.

    Amidst all of these hubaloo, Iris Long¡¯s first informal statement since the news came out was recorded by a horde of reporters waiting for her after a magazine photo shoot. When asked about how she was feeling about her achievements, she tilted her head to the side.

    "Hmm. Yes, some people were telling me about it just now. But really? Three new musical techniques? I had no idea. I need to search this up myself. Hmm... How nice," she replied in a careless manner before disappearing inside her executive van like it was just a regr day like always.

 Chapter 307 - A Day Of Congratulations

    <h4>Chapter 307 - A Day Of Congrattions </h4>

    Iris called her two music instructors Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez to inform them about the reports saying that she invented three new music techniques in "Monster of Insanity". And simr to her reaction earlier when asked by the reporters, her two instructors were also unmoved by the information.

    They were more interested and pleased by the song "Monster of Insanity" itself than by the individual techniques used in it. Enrique Valdez was especially happy by the song. It was something right up his alley. In fact, Iris took a lot of inspiration from him when she created the song.

    Of course techniques were also important because the way they were used greatly contributed to the development of a musician¡¯s unique style. But at the end of the day, they were just techniques. They were only tools to create music and make it sound better, not music itself.

    Moreover, both Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez were aplishedposers and songwriters in their own right. If someone made a tally of all the techniques they used throughout their entire music careers, one was bound to discoverpletely new techniques that they "invented" as well. Their "inventions" were surely more than Iris¡¯ current three.

    Of course, there were some techniques that were officially credited to Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez in the past (when someone noticed them). But for the most part, they didn¡¯t make a fuss and boast to the whole world about inventing new techniques. What they cared about the most was the final music they created in the end, not the individual techniques.

    It was only the country¡¯s music experts that made such a big fuss about Iris¡¯ supposed new music techniques, even involving the world of academia to ask for confirmation. Although she was d that she would be given credit for inventing those techniques, she was happier that "Monster of Insanity" finally reached the number 1 rank in the music charts.

    She had achieved the goal she set together with JJ and Pandemonium.

    "Now let¡¯s make sure to hold the position as long as we can," she murmured to herself, determination shing in her eyes.

    ###

    For the next few days, Iris received congrattions from many people.

    Of course, the first person to congratte her was her darling. Jin Liwei immediately called when the news broke out. They spent quite a long time telling each other sweet nothings before she realized that he was actually in an important business meeting. She scolded him first before spending another five minutes just saying goodbye to each other.

    After hanging up, her phone rang again. It was JJ.

    "Hello, Mr. JJ?"

    "Ahahaha! Ahahaha!"

    Iris waited patiently for him to calm his delightedughter. It took an entire two minutes before they were able to talk properly.

    "Brat! Why didn¡¯t you tell me that you invented new music techniques?"

    "I didn¡¯t know."

    "Ahahaha! Fine. Never mind that! What¡¯s more important is that we finally beat the sh*t out of Jin Chonglin in the music charts! The veins in my head were just about to pop out when we failed to move from the number 2 position. But now, ahahaha! Finally! Serves him right for not epting my invitation to sign under my recordbel when I graciously extended it years ago!"

    "Brother Chonglin is a loyal artist. He has stayed with Bright Summit and the recordbel he started with since he debuted."

    "Hmph! Whatever! Listen to me, make sure to work hard with those Pandemonium rascals to maintain our top position."

    "Naturally."

    Then JJ¡¯s voice lowered into a dramatic whisper. "Listen to me, brat. I heard some rumours that they¡¯re thinking about giving you a special award for your achievement. They are apparently still debating whether you deserve such an award or not. Hmph! Of course you deserve it! Those music purists are just too bitter that you achieved such a history-making feat after they spouted so much nonsense in their vile reviews. I bet they¡¯re all drowning in envy, that¡¯s why they¡¯re protesting against you getting the award. Bunch of petty a**holes."

    "I see."

    Iris listened patiently to JJ chatter on. Finally, he ran out of things to say so they ended the call.

    Next, she received a call from Tang Yiyi.

    "Oh my goodness! I¡¯m so proud of you, Iris!"

    "Thank you, Elder Sister Yiyi."

    Then her manager gave the phone to Bright Summit¡¯s president. The president personally congratted Iris for her achievements and invited her to have a meal with several Bright Summit higher-ups. Iris was not really interested, even thinking it as a hassle, but she epted the invitation because she knew that this meant so much to Tang Yiyi as her manager.

    After the calls, Iris worked on some trantion exercises Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa assigned to her. Her lessons were bing more intense and difficult now because the international business conference wasing soon.

    She was interrupted by another phone call. She answered it without looking at the caller disy.

    "It¡¯s me, Chonglin."

    "Oh." Iris was surprised. She stopped what she was doing to concentrate on this conversation. "Hello, Brother Chonglin. How may I help you?"

    "Before anything else, I just want you to know that I¡¯m not stalking you. I had to beg Big Bro many times before he ¡¯very reluctantly¡¯ gave me your number so that I can call you."

    "That¡¯s fine," she replied. She could imagine her darling doing just that. She was actually surprised that he gave in to his younger brother¡¯s request.

    "I called because..."

    A long pause.

    Iris could almost see Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression as he struggled to speak.

    Finally, he told her, "Congrattions. Not only did your music with Pandemonium took the number 1 spot from me in the music charts, but you also achieved something that¡¯ll forever be recorded in the history books. ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ is a magnificent song. Ignore the haters. They don¡¯t know good music when they hear one."

    She smiled. She could hear the sincerity in his voice. "Thank you, Brother Chonglin."

    "Uh...Sister Xin?"

    "Yes?"

    "You haven¡¯t forgotten that you agreed to make some music with me, right?"

    "I still remember. If there¡¯s an opportunity and both our schedules permit it, we can start working together anytime."

    "Alright! I¡¯m looking forward to it. Don¡¯t go back on your words."

    "Me too. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t."

    "And also..." He hesitated once again. However, it sounded deliberate this time.

    "Yes?"

    "Don¡¯t get toofortable. I haven¡¯t given up yet. ¡¯Hey, It¡¯s Me¡¯ will reim the number 1 spot in the music charts again," he told her in a determined voice.

    Her eyes narrowed as she smiled, epting his challenge. "Ah, but Pandemonium and I rather like the feeling of being on top. We won¡¯t let go of it so easily."

    The two of them had another great stare-down even though they couldn¡¯t see each other. Thepetitiveness between them was born from their respect of each other as musicians.

    Music was a connection that even Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t insert himself between the two of them. Whether he liked it or not, his future wife and younger brother would always have this connection. He had no choice but to ept it because music ran in the blood of both Iris and Jin Chonglin.

 Chapter 308 - Meltdown

    <h4>Chapter 308 - Meltdown </h4>

    About a week before the much-awaited Spring Festival holidays, a.k.a. Lunar New Year, Iris and Jin Liwei had a rare matching day off. They decided to spend the day with family, visiting the Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    They brought Little Jun with them at the request of the elders. They absolutely adored the child and couldn¡¯t wait to see him again. When Grandpa Lu heard that Little Jun wasing over, he also invited himself.

    Both Dom and Jiang Ying Yue caught bad colds, so they stayed at home. Dom at the mansion, Jiang Ying Yue at Gold Heights.

    This time, the couple didn¡¯t bring any bodyguards. It was only the three of them like a happy family. Iris just had to make sure that her face was covered well. She wore dark sunsses, face mask, scarf and a hat.

    When they arrived at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House, Jin Chonglin was also surprisingly there. It seemed that he volunteered toe when Huang Yuyan mentioned that Iris and Jin Liwei wereing over. Coincidentally, it was also his day off.

    "You¡¯re tough to beat, Sister Xin," Jin Chonglin told her. "However, there¡¯s still time. ¡¯Hey, It¡¯s Me¡¯ will reim the number 1 spot in the music charts again."

    "Give it your best shot, Brother Chonglin."

    The two had another great stare-down. Jin Liwei decisively stretched his hand between them, cutting their eye contact with each other.

    Jin Chonglin could only smirk at his brother¡¯s antics. The elders were too busy ying and doting on Little Jun to notice what happened between the three younger adults. For the elders, the three were just extras. Little Jun was the current apple of their eyes.

    After eating lunch together, Jin Liwei suddenly received an emergency business call. His assistant Xu Tian informed him that an important foreign business partner, a CEO, suddenly arrived in the country and wanted to meet up with him on short notice.

    "Schedule it tomorrow," he instructed Xu Tian.

    "I¡¯m sorry, President. It seems that he¡¯s leaving the country tomorrow, so the only time that you can meet up is today."

    Jin Liwei was very displeased. He didn¡¯t want to leave his baby girl. He wanted to spend the entire day with her, especially since she had been so busy working and studying every day. The only time that they could really spend together was the short time before they went to bed at night. He was about to reject the meeting when Iris caught what the call was about.

    "Darling, it¡¯s alright. Go to that meeting. It sounds important," she told him.

    "But¡ª"

    "Little Jun and I will stay here for a little bit more. I¡¯ll just call home and ask someone to pick us up from here."

    "No need. I¡¯ll send Sister Xin and Little Jun hometer. I brought my car," Jin Chonglin spoke up.

    Jin Liwei frowned. He didn¡¯t like the idea of his baby girl and his younger brother alone together. But since Little Jun would be with them, he didn¡¯t protest against Jin Chonglin¡¯s suggestion.

    "What kind of car? I hope it¡¯s not a sports car. There has to be space for a child¡¯s car seat at the back."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Big Bro. I brought a sedan. Your wife and son...I mean, godson will be safe with me in my car."

    Iris stood up. "Hurry up. I¡¯ll see you off."

    Jin Liwei nodded and then turned to his brother. "Come with us. We¡¯ll transfer Little Jun¡¯s car seat into your car."

    The three told the elders what happened and what they were going to do. The elders just waved them away, continuing to focus all of their attention to Little Jun.

    After the car seat was transferred from Jin Liwei¡¯s car to Jin Chonglin¡¯s, Iris gave her darling a kiss. He hugged her tightly and deepened the kiss. It was obvious that he was reluctant to leave her.

    "If my brother makes any moves on you, feel free to castrate him," he told her in a very serious voice.

    "Hey! I heard you!" Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice sounded a few steps away from them. "Am I still your brother?"

    Iris couldn¡¯t stop herself from giggling. However, she still replied to her darling. "Okay."

    "Gah! I¡¯m done with you both! You couple are too much. How dare you treat me this way? I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯re doubting me, your own brother! Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not such an immoral person as to cuckold anyone, much less my own brother with his own wife! Hmph! I¡¯m going back inside! I¡¯ve had enough dog food for today. I¡¯m about to puke from it all."

    The couple watched Jin Chonglin march off back inside the house. They felt a little guilty after hearing his rant.

    "Let¡¯s buy him a gift or something," she suggested.

    "Yeah," he agreed. Then he gave her another lingering kiss before sighing. "Go back inside now, love. It¡¯s cold. I don¡¯t want you to get sick like Dominic and Jiang Ying Yue."

    Jin Liwei only left when he saw his baby girl safely back inside the house.

    Iris, Little Jun and Jin Chonglin spent a couple more hours with the elders when it was Iris¡¯ turn to receive an emergency call. It was from the cat sitters.

    Since Dom was sick, the cat sitters were the ones who took Ice Cream and Popcorn to the veterinarian that day. The cats were scheduled to be spayed and neutered respectively. The cat sitters informed them that the procedures were sessful.

    Popcorn was still groggy and preferred to sleep the anesthesia off. Ice Cream, on the other hand, was having a full-blown tantrum. Even though she was also groggy from her own procedure, she had already scratched the vet, the nurses and the cat sitters.

    The poor cat hadn¡¯t been in the best of moodstely because she had been forced to diet and exercise. And now she had to go through such a scary procedure without her Mommy or Daddy or even ve #1. She just snapped and was having aplete meltdown.

    Everyone became rmed when she started banging her head and body against the walls. The vet didn¡¯t want to use a tranquilizer because her body was still full of anesthesia from the procedure. They could only wrap the cage with nkets to prevent Ice Cream from hurting herself even more.

    Iris¡¯ eyes watered when she heard the painful and pitiful cries of Ice Cream over the phone. The sounds went straight to her heart, squeezing it painfully.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ming," she promised.

 Chapter 309 - Clandestine Affairs

    <h4>Chapter 309 - ndestine Affairs </h4>

    Although the elders were regretful that Little Jun needed to leave, they understood Iris¡¯ predicament. They also adored Ice Cream and Popcorn, especially after Jin Liwei brought them to the house for the first time and announced them as his children.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll bring Little Jun again next time," Iris told the elders.

    "Xin my dear, don¡¯t apologize. Go now. I hope dear Ice Cream is alright," Grandma Li said.

    "Son, drive safely. You have a child with you," Huang Yuyan reminded Jin Chonglin.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Mom. I will."

    "Here, Little Junjun. This is from Great-Grandpa Lu. And this and this and this...oh, and this too..." Grandpa Lu gave a lot of treats, toys, picture books, clothes, shoes and a lot of other presents to the child.

    Little Jun pped his hands and gave the old man a hug and a wet kiss on the cheek, delighting Grandpa Lu to no end. He almost didn¡¯t want to let go of the child when Iris tried to take him.

    "Xin my girl, how about Little Junjun stay here for now? I¡¯ll send him hometer! What do you say? Good idea, right?"

    "Ah, I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that. I¡¯m sorry, Grandpa Lu. Little Jun¡¯s mother will worry if her son is not with me. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll try to bring him to see you next time," Iris promised.

    Grandpa Lu was disappointed but felt better after her promise.

    After packing all the presents in the car and buckling Little Jun in his car seat at the back, they drove away. Iris gave Jin Chonglin the veterinarian¡¯s address.

    During the entire drive, Iris felt extremely worried for Ice Cream. Her eyes filled up with tears, but she didn¡¯t cry. She forced herself to calm down instead. If she could, she would¡¯ve flown to her cats to reach them faster. She wanted to tell Jin Chonglin to hurry up, but she noticed that he was already driving at the speed limit. Not to mention that they had a child with them, it was not safe to speed up on such busy roads.

    Within half an hour, they finally arrived at the small za where the veterinarian¡¯s clinic was located. Fortunately, there weren¡¯t a lot of cars in the parking lot so they quickly found a spot.

    Iris opened her door in a hurry and was about to run to the clinic when both Little Jun and Jin Chonglin called to stop her.

    "Mama! Mama!" Little Jun reached out his cute little arms towards her, wanting her to bring him along with her.

    "Are you crazy?! Have you forgotten you¡¯re a freaking celebrity? Cover up your face first, for goodness¡¯ sake! Where¡¯s your sunsses? Your mask? How careless! Good grief!"

    "Oh, right." Iris fumbled inside her purse and put on her dark sunsses. She didn¡¯t wear the mask, but just covered the lower half of her face with her scarf.

    "I¡¯ll take the little guy. You go ahead to the clinic first. We¡¯ll follow you," Jin Chonglin told her.

    "Thanks," she said before climbing out of the car and running to the clinic.

    As soon as she entered inside, Iris could hear Ice Cream¡¯s loud crying meows. The cat sitters immediately recognized her. Everyone was relieved that she had arrived.

    Iris couldn¡¯t spare any time greeting the people, immediately heading to the cage padded with towels and nkets. A pitiful looking Ice Cream was still throwing a tantrum inside. She was wearing a big and ugly cone around her neck. She lost a little bit of weight from her diet, but she was still very fatpared to her brother, Popcorn.

    "Ice Cream," Iris called out.

    It was as if the cat was jolted. Her head snapped towards Iris¡¯ direction. It was amazing because everyone could see the expressions of relief and happiness on her round, grey face when she saw her Mommy.

    "Meow! Meow! Meow!" She reached out her front paws through the cage¡¯s slits, trying to reach for her Mommy.

    "Please open her cage quickly!"

    A nurse opened it.

    Iris reached inside and took Ice Cream in her arms. "Oh, my baby. I¡¯m so sorry. Don¡¯t worry. Mommy¡¯s here. Ssssh. It¡¯s okay."

    Ice Cream¡¯s loud tantrums stopped. She began purring and whining instead, as if asking her Mommy why she didn¡¯te with them.

    Finally, Ice Cream calmed down after beingforted by her Mommy¡¯s tender loving care. She didn¡¯tin when the vet started examining her wound again. As long as she was in Mommy¡¯s arms, she didn¡¯t care if the evil monster (a.k.a. the vet) stabbed her with the Ouchy once again.

    It was this sight that greeted Jin Chonglin when he arrived inside the clinic carrying Little Jun in his arms. He had to blink a few times because for a moment, he saw a baby in Iris¡¯ arms instead of a cat.

    They stayed at the clinic for an hour, as the veterinarian continued to monitor the cats¡¯ condition. He also exined the cats¡¯ after care for the next few days to Iris.

    Ice Cream finally sumbed to the anesthesia¡¯s after-effects plus her exhaustion from throwing a tantrum for so long. She fell in deep sleep in her Mommy¡¯s arms.

    When it was time to leave, Iris continued to carry Ice Cream. One of the cat sitters carried the sleeping Popcorn.

    Jin Chonglin carried Little Jun. The little guy wanted his Mama but he already had some understanding that his sister Ice Cream was sick, so he didn¡¯t insist on wanting to be carried by her. It was not veryfortable being carried by this uncle, but he somehow reminded him a little of his Papa. Although the feeling was different, it was still a littleforting to Little Jun.

    ###

    At a small congee eatery in the same za, a man finished his first meal of the day. He had been following a famous actress around for almost a week now who was rumoured to be dating a director twice her age.

    The man received a tip from one of his sources that the actress and the director would be meeting at a secret apartment unit around this area. He had been waiting for them since the crack of dawn, but he saw no signs of them for the entire day.

    A paparazzo¡¯s job was really hard. The amount of work he put in didn¡¯t always equal the pay he received. Many also condemned his job as low-taste. Sometimes he wondered why he entered this kind of work. However, whenever he snapped photos of celebrities¡¯ ndestine affairs, the thrill and excitement of being the one to reveal it to the public was something that he wanted to experience again and again.

    Today was an unfruitful day. He was terribly disappointed that he wasn¡¯t able to snap even a shadow of the actress and the director. However, this kind of disappointments was part of the job.

    After paying for his meal, he left the eatery. He intended to return near the apartment building, hoping that he would still catch a sight of his targets. But before he could leave the za, his paparazzo senses started tingling.

    "Huh?"

    He squinted his eyes, looking at the group of people exiting a nearby vet clinic. A tall masked man wearing stylish shades looked terribly familiar. What was more, he was carrying a child and was together with a woman whose face was also covered. The woman also looked a little familiar.

    Hiding behind a concrete column, the paparazzo zoomed in on the group with his camera and started snapping photos.

 Chapter 310 - LinRis

    <h4>Chapter 310 - LinRis </h4>

    Two days passed by in rtive peacefulness.

    At home, Jin Liwei had no choice but to temporarily allow their cats to sleep in their bedroom at night because Iris couldn¡¯t bear to leave them especially after Ice Cream¡¯s meltdown at the veterinarian¡¯s clinic.

    When she told him all that happened after he left for his emergency meeting, he felt guilty for not being there with them. Even though Ice Cream and Popcorn were currently hogging all of Iris¡¯ tender loving care, he didn¡¯t darein. The two poor cats looked so pitiful and in pain after their procedure.

    During the day, the couple left the cats to the sitters. Dom and Jiang Ying Yue were already feeling better from their colds, but Iris didn¡¯t allow them to return to work until they were fully recovered.

    She continued to work hard with Pandemonium in promoting their single "Monster of Insanity." Their careers were all going extremely well. Their song maintained its number 1 spot in the music charts with no signs of being ousted.

    "Monster of Insanity" was the kind of song that the more people listened to it, the more they loved it. Even if they didn¡¯t like it at all when they heard it for the first time.

    Moreover, people really didn¡¯t have much of a choice but hear it multiple times every day. Especially after being featured in the news so much after Iris Long was confirmed to have invented three new musical techniques. There was a sense of pride within the people while listening to the song because their fellow countrywoman, Iris Long, did something that would forever be recorded in the history books.

    With all of these attention, Iris Long was now quickly bing Bright Summit¡¯s darling artist alongside Jin Chonglin. She hadn¡¯t reached his level of stardom yet, but Bright Summit now had great expectations of her career prospects and was ready to support her.

    As her status within the managementpany was elevated, so was the status of her manager Tang Yiyi. In extension, the other artists under Tang Yiyi were also enjoying an increase in resources, most especially Pandemonium who coborated with Iris in "Monster of Insanity." After all, Iris repeatedly stated during interviews that she wrote the song because she wanted to coborate with them. They jokingly imed that if it weren¡¯t for them, there would be no "Monster of Insanity".

    Everything was going well.

    That was until a tabloid paper published a shocking headline apanied by secretly taken photos. It had tremendous scandalous implications.

    "Jin Chonglin and Iris Long Have a Secret Love Child All Along!"

    The photos showed a disguised Jin Chonglin and Iris Long together at a small za. For hawk-eyed people, it wasn¡¯t that difficult to identify him even when he was wearing dark shades, mask and a cap.

    As for Iris Long, it was a bit more difficult to recognize that it was her but her cats¡¯ appearance gave away her identity. Actually it was Ice Cream¡¯s fatness that gave Iris away, in addition to the cats¡¯ unique gold cors. Many remembered the cors when Iris showed a photo of her cats during her interview with Feng Jiu. The gold cors wouldn¡¯t be noticed if it wasn¡¯t for the paparazzo zooming in on them.

    If it was only Jin Chonglin, Iris and her cats in the photos, they could still exin it as just friends hanging out together. However, Jin Chonglin was clearly shown carrying a toddler in the photo.

    Although the child¡¯s face was blurred out in the tabloid¡¯s publication, the paparazzo who took the photos imed that the toddler¡¯s features looked very simr to Iris Long¡¯s. He also imed hearing the child calling Iris "Mama".

    The tabloid article insinuated that all of Jin Chonglin and Iris Long denials in the past about their rtionship were all lies. That they really had an affair when Jin Chonglin was still in a rtionship with Fan Luo. It even insensitively said in an indirect manner that Fan Luo had grounds in attempting to murder Iris a couple of years ago and that her jealousy was justified.

    What was more, it used Iris Long of lying about hera despite the fact the she already showed her medical records to the public before. The article implied that it was a trick to cover up the real truth which was that Iris Long had been pregnant with Jin Chonglin¡¯s child all along. And she had to take a long break from showbiz to give birth to their love child.

    The article added:

    "Don¡¯t be surprised when it¡¯s revealedter on that Iris Long¡¯s mysterious fianc¨¦ is actually Jin Chonglin. She said that her fianc¨¦ is a businessman and not from showbiz during her interview with Feng Jiu. The photo of the man she showed at Feng Jiu¡¯s talk show must be an actor to misdirect us from the truth that Jin Chonglin is her real fianc¨¦. With all the lies she had been telling us in the past, her credibility is not the most trustworthy at the moment. Perhaps the two think we would all forgive and forget all of their lies with the passing of time."

    When the tabloid was published, it caused a great uproar.

    Bright Summit was caughtpletely unawares. One moment it was basking in its artists¡¯ sesses. The next moment, the same artists that it was so proud of were involved in a scandal together. They immediately contacted Jin Chonglin and Iris Long to ask them about the truth of the matter.

    The general public, who was proud and celebrating Iris Long¡¯s history-making aplishments in music earlier, was now viciously criticizing her. They called her an immoral woman for having an affair and bearing a love child with the then engaged Jin Chonglin. They especially condemned her for lying to the public.

    Compared to Iris, the attacks to Jin Chonglin weren¡¯t as harsh. He was a man, the people said. Besides, he was already a known yboy even before all of these happened.

    The people were more critical to the woman, Iris, calling her a sl*t and a homewrecker because Jin Chonglin was already in a rtionship with Fan Luo during that time. Some malicious people even started saying that Iris Long should¡¯ve died in the car ident nned by Fan Luo as punishment for having an affair with a taken man.

    With all of the bashing, the ck Stars and some of the Pandemonium fans were quick to defend Iris Long. However, as they did so, they still begged their Boss Iris to tell them the real truth. Some of them were already wavering, feeling betrayed at the thought that she lied to them for so long.

    CaptainckStar: "Don¡¯t waver,rades! Let¡¯s believe in our Boss Iris! Some of us have met her personally several times before. We know that she has a straightforward personality. She wouldn¡¯t lie about something as important as this. The tabloid is the one that¡¯s full of lies! If you¡¯re going to believe a tabloid, then you don¡¯t belong to the ck Stars!"

    Their leader¡¯s words somewhat reassured the ck Stars. They continued to defend their Boss Iris while waiting for her to release an official statement.

    Amidst all of these, a distinct group of ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans started rejoicing. Their stance was theplete opposite of everyone else¡¯s. They wanted for the contents of the tabloid to be the real truth.

    "OMG! It would be amazing if Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin really have a child together and are engaged! Then they would get married and be together forever!"

    "Kyaaaah! Oh please let it be true! With the genes of these two gorgeous people, I¡¯m sure that their kid looks adorable! The tabloid says that their son looks like Boss Iris. I really want to see how he looks like. Maybe he¡¯ll follow in the footsteps of his parents and be a hunk celebrity in the future. Uwah! I¡¯m so looking forward to that day!"

    "LinRis is the ultimate couple in this century! All the people wanting to break them apart are our enemies! #LinRis #WeLoveLinRis #LinRisForever"

    All of these LinRis shippers were thanking the tabloid for revealing the "truth". They were all excited and looking forward for their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris¡¯ official confirmation of their rtionship. They couldn¡¯t wait for LinRis to be official. They even started calling the child as "Baby LinRis."

    That same day, both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long released official statements through Bright Summit and on their own social media pages. They denied the tabloid¡¯s allegations of any affair between the two of them. They imed that it was only recently that they had grown closer as friends and fellow artists under the same managementpany.

    Iris also cleared up the matter about the child. She said that it was her godson and that her godson called her "Mama."

    The ck Stars believed her wholeheartedly. As for the general public, some believed her, some didn¡¯t. They were unsatisfied by her statement. If she and Jin Chonglin weren¡¯t really the child¡¯s parents, then why didn¡¯t she reveal anything about his real parents? They felt that the couple should just admit that they had an affair and a love child together.

    Despite all the criticisms and Bright Summit¡¯s advice, Iris continued to work as if not affected by the attacks being thrown at her.

 Chapter 311 - The Long Family Elders

    <h4>Chapter 311 - The Long Family Elders </h4>

    Long Ancestral Residence.

    The elders gathered together to speak with Long Tengfei and Long Hui at thepound¡¯s main wing. All of the elders were very displeased at the recent scandal of their Young Miss Xin.

    The atmosphere within the meeting hall was so oppressive that Yang Jiahui wanted to bolt out of the ce. However, she endured and stayed beside her husband to give him moral support. She had always been ill at ease with the Long elders. They only treated her as "barely eptable" as the current madam of the Long family. She wasn¡¯t from a wealthy, aristocratic or influential family, but she was well-educated and had a modestly sessful career before she married Long Tengfei.

    This was the only reason that they weren¡¯t treating her like aplete sh*t, unlike how they treated Wei Lan, Iris¡¯ mother, and Long Tengfei¡¯s former mistresses, the mothers of his two illegitimate children.

    Although this gathering pertained to their Young Miss¡¯stest scandal, it wasn¡¯t their main concern. After all, they were already used to her being featured on the news all the time and "shaming" the Long family name again and again.

    This time, everyone was more concerned about the inclusion of Long Jun, a.k.a. Little Jun, in the recent tabloid news.

    "Hai! The Young Miss Xin only knows how to bring trouble to our family! Because of her, it¡¯s only a matter of time before the existence of Young Master Hui¡¯s bastard son is exposed to the public!" Long Mengined.

    She was the second most prominent elder in the n. She was the cousin of Long Tengfei¡¯s father and the head of one of the branch families.

    Long Hui¡¯s expression darkened when his son was called a bastard. Although it was true in the literal meaning of the word, the way Elder Long Meng said it sounded too offensive for him as a father. He was about to protest when Long Tengfei gestured for him to calm down. It was difficult, but he sat back and tried to control himself.

    "Hmph! I¡¯ve already said this a million times before. Xin will one day cause our Long family¡¯s downfall! She has always been the shame of our family. And now she is the reason why the newest shame of our family will be exposed for all the world to see! At this rate, our Long family won¡¯t have any face left to show other people!" Another Long family elder added.

    Long Jufang was the most prominent elder in the family. He was Long Tengfei¡¯s uncle, his father¡¯s younger brother. He was also the head of the most powerful branch in the family after the main family headed by Long Tengfei. If the main family ever copsed, his branch family would be the next in line to take over as head of the entire Long n.

    "Newest shame? Are you calling my son a shame of the family, Granduncle Jufang?" Long Hui could no longer stop himself from speaking out. He stood up with a furious expression on his face.

    "You dare speak and look at your elder like that, Little Hui? Perhaps being the heir has already gone to your head that you think that you can order your elders around and disrespect us?" Elder Long Jufang¡¯s sharp tone was like a whip.

    Long Hui couldn¡¯t help but flinch a bit at the memory of the elder disciplining him in his childhood. The other family members in the meeting hall also had simr reactions to him. Elder Long Jufang was a frightening existence to most of them. Only Long Tengfei faced him without any fear.

    "Well, Little Hui?"

    "Son, Uncle Jufang. Both of you please calm down. This is not the time for arguments like this. Remember the reason why you all came and gathered here today," Long Tengfei spoke in a voice filled with authority.

    Long Hui took a couple of deep breaths and returned to his seat. Elder Long Jufang was still disgruntled, but he listened to Long Tengfei and stopped reprimanding Long Hui. For now.

    "So...let¡¯s hear what you want to do regarding this matter with my grandson, Long Jun," Long Tengfei said to start the discussion.

    Before anyone could do so, Long Hui spoke up. "Father, I would like to make a public statement and im Long Jun as my son."

    "Absolutely not!" Elder Long Meng fiercely rejected the idea. The disapproval on her face was obvious to everyone. "Young Master Hui, if you do that, everyone will know that your firstborn is a bastard. Your heir shouldn¡¯t be illegitimate! It will be a great embarrassment to our Long family! And we would never ept a bastard as our next heir! We should keep the existence of your illegitimate child as a secret for now until you marry a nice woman from a good family. When you produce your first legitimate child and name the child as your heir, then it won¡¯t matter as much anymore for others to know the existence of your bastard son. We can just say that he was a mistake with a former mistress."

    Elder Long Jufang nodded in agreement with her.

    Both Long Tengfei and Long Hui felt angry at the words she uttered. The father and son didn¡¯t appreciate the elders repeatedly calling Long Jun as a bastard child. The two of them were simr in the sense that they loved their own children very much regardless of whether they were legitimate or not.

    Long Hui was barely controlling his temper. The respect he had for these elders was slowly being chipped away every time they referred to his child as a bastard.

    "You don¡¯t look like you want to listen to your elders¡¯ advice. We¡¯re only saying this for your own good, Young Master Hui," Elder Long Meng told him in a lecturing tone.

    ¡¯For my own good? It¡¯s not for my own good but for your own sense of bigotry that you¡¯re spouting all of these bullsh*t,¡¯ Long Hui thought to himself. ¡¯Now I¡¯m beginning to see why my sister Xin can¡¯t bear to see any of you.¡¯

    Another elder spoke up and suggested, "If you really want to im the child as your son in public, why don¡¯t you go and register your marriage with the child¡¯s mother? This way, your son will automatically be legitimate. Then we wouldn¡¯t have this problem anymore."

    "I wish it¡¯s that easy. I already tried asking her to marry me many times already," Long Hui muttered.

    "What a ridiculous idea!" Elder Long Jufang eximed. The disapproval on his face was even more intense than what Elder Long Meng wore earlier. "That woman is just a lowly bodyguard! There¡¯s no way that she¡¯s appropriate to be our Long family¡¯s next madam! What will the people say? That we, the Longs, are sleeping and breeding with our own servants? How shameful! We barely recovered from the ck mark that...that gold-digging model...Wei Lan left when she became our madam for a short period of time. Such an embarrassment! Little Hui, keep that bodyguard as your mistress if you really want her, but she¡¯s not fit to be your legal wife!"

    "Don¡¯t talk about Ying Yue like that!" Long Hui finally exploded. His expression was extremely ugly, his eyes zing in fury. "She¡¯s a strong and intelligent woman! She¡¯s the mother of my child and as soon as she agrees to be my wife, I¡¯ll marry her in an instant! Nobody is allowed to insult her in my presence!"

 Chapter 312 - Blessings, Not Weapons

    <h4>Chapter 312 - Blessings, Not Weapons </h4>

    "You disrespectful child! You dare raise your voice at me, your elder?!" Elder Long Jufang was apoplectic with rage at Long Hui¡¯s attitude to him.

    "I¡¯m not a child anymore, Granduncle Jufang. I¡¯m now an adult and have my own son who I intend to im proudly in front of everyone!"

    "You¡ª"

    "Enough!" Long Tengfei¡¯s authoritative voice was like thunder which stopped everyone and put them in their ce.

    He was very displeased at the elders. As a man who loved all of his children, he was opposed to the elders¡¯ discrimination against illegitimate children. It wasughable that they would be so critical when many of them also fathered their own illegitimate offspring. They thought that he, the head of the family, wouldn¡¯t know about their secrets? They were clearly underestimating him. However, he wasn¡¯t the kind of man to use illegitimate children to ckmail people to get them to do his bidding. For him, children were blessings, not weapons.

    "Son, if you really want to make a public statement and im Long Jun as your child, go ahead. I¡¯ll support you as the head of our Long family," Long Tengfei told his son, ignoring the elders¡¯ protests around him.

    "Thank you, Father!" Long Hui was greatly relieved that his father approved of his decision.

    "But be decisive about it and don¡¯t dawdle. Your sister is also suffering in this. The more time you take, the more her reputation will be damaged," Long Tengfei reminded him.

    "Yes, Father. I¡¯ll do it right away."

    Elder Long Meng scoffed. "Young Miss Xin is suffering? I don¡¯t believe that even for a second. I bet she¡¯s enjoying all the attention right now. Isn¡¯t that what she loves the most? The attention? She always gives us headaches. All she knows is to create scandal after scandal to shame our entire family! And because of her, another bastard child of our family will be exposed to the entire nation! I also heard that your bodyguard mistress is working for her now? Birds of a feather really do flock together! They will be the ones who¡¯ll cause irreparable damage to our family¡¯s noble name!"

    "You¡¯re wrong, Grandaunt Meng. My sister Xin is not a shame at all! In fact, she¡¯s the greatest pride of our family! You have no idea how amazing all of her achievements are! If you continue to look down on her, you¡¯ll be the one shaming our family to the entire world instead!" Long Hui had enough of the elders¡¯ bigotry towards his son, his son¡¯s mother and his youngest sister. After saying his piece, he stormed out of the meeting hall.

    Of course, his action and attitude angered the elders, especially Elder Long Jufang and Elder Long Meng. Theyined to Long Tengfei.

    Storming off without the family head¡¯s permission was a great affront to his authority, but Long Tengfei didn¡¯t take it personally. He understood his son¡¯s feelings and agreed to everything Long Hui said.

    "Unbelievable! Xin is the greatest pride of our family and has amazing achievements?" Elder Long Jufang snorted. "Did he mean the three music techniques she identally invented? What¡¯s so great about them? That song she created is such a torture to listen to."

    "Ah, you¡¯re absolutely right, Brother Jufang," Elder Long Meng sighed in agreement. "I get a bad headache every time I hear that dreadful song."

    Long Tengfei narrowed his eyes at the elders mocking his daughter¡¯s aplishments. He felt Yang Jiahui¡¯s gentle touches on his arm, trying to calm him down.

    "I¡¯m more surprised that Little Hui is defending Xin," Elder Long Jufang said. "What kind of poison Xin has been feeding him? I hear that they¡¯ve been pretty closetely."

    "Of course they are. They are brother and sister. They¡¯re both my children. They¡¯re family. Uncle Jufang, I¡¯ll appreciate it more if you stop creating discord among my children and our family," Long Tengfei told the elder in a warning tone.

    Elder Long Jufang looked indignant, but he didn¡¯t retort. For someone like him who maintained an old-fashioned thinking, the family head shouldn¡¯t be disrespected without good reason. Long Tengfei was the undisputed family head. Even if Long Jufang was the elder between the two, their status within the family waspletely different.

    "Long Jun is my grandson. If my son wants to name him as his heir and if in the future, Long Jun proves himself to be capable in leading our entire family, then I have no problems with that. Legitimacy of birth is not the ultimate requirement to inherit the Long family¡¯s head position and business. Rather, it is ability. Long Hui is my heir, not because he¡¯s the eldest legitimate son, but because I deemed him to be the most capable of seeding after me. If his illegitimate siblings prove themselves more capable than him, then I¡¯ll change my will and let them inherit instead."

    Everyone was shocked when they heard Long Tengfei¡¯s deration. To them, allowing an illegitimate child to inherit the family¡¯s head position was absolutely uneptable! They thought that Long Tengfei was losing his mind to even think this way.

    "The same goes for my youngest daughter, Xin. But I don¡¯t think that she wants to work with Long Industries even if I name her as the heiress of the business."

    "Get a hold of yourself, Tengfei! I beg you not to make such a frightening joke," Elder Long Jufang said. "Xin as heiress of Long Industries? Aiyo! Do you really want to end our Long family so badly? She¡¯ll waste away all of our fortune in a heartbeat as soon as she gets her hands on it."

    The other elders also shuddered at the idea of their Young Miss Xin inheriting the family head position and the business. They imagined her as a big ck hole swallowing all the family¡¯s wealth until nothing was left.

    Long Tengfei wanted to tell everyone that giving the family business to his youngest daughter would probably be the smartest decision he could make for the entire family. After all, she was the student of the business legend Sir Lu Jianhong. They had no idea that his daughter was actually receiving direct tutge from the business legend himself. It was just too bad that he couldn¡¯t sense any interest in her to be involved in the family business.

    In addition to this, his daughter was also enrolled in the legendary school for geniuses, Cross Academy. He wanted to shout to the whole world how proud he was of his youngest daughter. And most importantly, to show these elders that the girl they were ridiculing was actually a genius and would ultimately be the most famous and most respected Long in the world.

    What was more, once she married Jin Liwei, her status would immediately raise her up to the highest level within their circles¡¯ hierarchies. As the Madam of the Jin family, not a lot of people would dare disrespect her.

    He wanted to reveal all of these but stopped himself. He didn¡¯t want to be the one to reveal the truth to everyone. It was difficult, but he needed to be patient and wait until his daughter made the revtion herself. Besides, he thought that it would be more fun to see the shocked expressions of the elders when they finally learned about his daughter¡¯s real abilities and secret status.

    The gathering ended with many ruffled feathers. The elders were very unhappy about Long Tengfei¡¯s decision to allow Long Hui to publicly im his illegitimate son.

    The ones content with the current status quo just shrugged their shoulders and returned to theirfortable lives. The discontented ones were already busy making ns.

    A great storm was about to descend over the entire Long n.

 Chapter 313 - Give It To Me Or Iâ€™llâ€¦

    <h4>Chapter 313 - Give It To Me Or I¡¯ll¡­ </h4>

    Later that night, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui released big sighs of relief when they finallyy down on their bed. They talked about what happened earlier during the meeting with the elders.

    The tense atmosphere and arguments during the meeting was very exhausting to both of them. Even more so for Long Tengfei who had to mediate between his son and the elders. But he wasn¡¯t the head of the family for nothing. After a few moments of venting his frustrations to his wife, he put the matter of the elders aside.

    He began to worry about his youngest daughter instead. He partly med himself for not properly monitoring contents about Iris in the news. If he had caught a whiff of thetest tabloid news about her, then perhaps he would¡¯ve been able to stop it from being published.

    Yang Jiahuiforted him. "Tengfei, Xin is a celebrity. Something like this ismon and a way of life for celebrities like her. This is the choice she made for her career. I know that you don¡¯t want your daughter to suffer, but she¡¯s already an adult. Besides, it¡¯s impossible for you to protect her from the harsh realities of life. She also needs to experience all of these in order for her to grow stronger and be more independent. She¡¯s doing an excellent job so far, isn¡¯t she? All you can do as her parent is to watch over her and lend her a helping hand whenever she needs it."

    "You¡¯re right."

    "And you don¡¯t need to worry about her too much anymore. Not only has she grown into an amazing young woman, but she also has Jin Liwei by her side. That boy loves your daughter very much."

    Aplicated expression appeared on Long Tengfei¡¯s face. On one hand, he was happy that his daughter was engaged to a powerful man like Jin Liwei. But on another hand, he thought that his daughter was too young to marry. She should be enjoying her youth more as a singledy. Being a father to a daughter was really difficult. It was hard to let go of his beloved princess and give her hand away in marriage to another man.

    He could only sigh and nod. Then he frowned, remembering something.

    "I wonder where Wei Lan is right now. What is that woman doing? Our daughter has suffered so many things, yet she has not visited our Xin. She hasn¡¯t shown herself ever since Xin¡¯s seconda. Thest time we heard from her, she was somewhere in the Mediterranean. Has she abandoned our daughter just because Xin is now an adult? Is she still a mother?

    Long Tengfei was very displeased about his ex-wife.

    Yang Jiahui wasn¡¯t a mother herself, so she chose her words carefully before speaking. "Of course, she¡¯s a mother. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll never abandon her own daughter. Perhaps she has been really busy."

    "Busy? You mean busy enjoying herself."

    "I don¡¯t really know Wei Lan personally, but as a fellow woman, I¡¯m sure that she loves her own daughter. She may not know how to act like a proper and caring mother, but there¡¯s no way that she¡¯ll forget about Xin. Your daughter is not someone that is easily forgotten, you know."

    Long Tengfei smiled. "Indeed. My daughter is unforgettable."

    "I think I heard from Xiao Mei before that Wei Lan sometimes sends Xin text messages or pictures of ces she visited. I think thest message was sent from Egypt. I¡¯m not very sure."

    He frowned. "What¡¯s she doing in Egypt? Building a pyramid? Raiding a pharaoh¡¯s tomb?"

    Yang Jiahui only sighed at her husband¡¯s sarcasm. "Anyway, Xin doesn¡¯t look bothered by her mother¡¯s absence, so you shouldn¡¯t be. But I still think that it¡¯s better to try to find Wei Lan and check up on her just to make sure that she¡¯s safe and alright."

    "Why should I? We¡¯re not married anymore. She¡¯s no longer my responsibility."

    "I know, but she¡¯s still the mother your child. What if we discover that something bad happened to her? Xin will be so heartbroken."

    Long Tengfei looked unwilling. However, at the mention of his daughter, he could only sigh. "Fine," he muttered, massaging his temples. "I¡¯ll ask Cao Guang to assign some people to try and locate Wei Lan. But I bet she¡¯s having the time of her life living in luxury with a lover."

    "You¡¯re one to talk," Yang Jiahui harrumphed in a yful manner. "You had many lovers, too."

    "My beloved wife, that was before I met you. Now I only have you in my heart."

    Giggles gradually turned into quick breaths and then gentle moans of pleasure. The night drew to a close with satisfied smiles on the husband and wife¡¯s faces, as they slept in each other¡¯s arms.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Everyone at the mansion felt absolutely terrified. Their master was like a walking, seething, furious beast that could explode and rain terror on them at any given moment. Their mistress wasn¡¯t any better either. She was like a cold demon queen who could freeze even hell with just a single look. The two of them weren¡¯t talking, so the staff didn¡¯t dare make any unnecessary sounds.

    Jin Liwei fished out his phone from his pocket, but before he could use it, Iris took it from him. He scowled at her.

    "Don¡¯t be rash," she told him.

    "The longer we leave those motherf*ckers alone, the more damaged your reputation bes," he said through gritted teeth.

    She gave him a cold nce but he didn¡¯t flinch at all, unlike the poor staff who quaked and quailed. He was too upset to be affected by her icy look.

    "We need to ensure that our godson is safe first. It¡¯s not only me or your brother that¡¯s involved in this matter. My damaged reputation can wait. Our priority right now should be Little Jun," Iris reminded him.

    Jin Liwei looked torn, on the verge of going berserk against the people ndering his baby girl, but he forced himself to nod at her. If she wasn¡¯t there trying to stop him, he would¡¯ve already razed the tabloid paper and the paparazzo who secretly took the photos to the ground. It was difficult, but he controlled his fury.

    Yi Mei called them earlier saying that the condo building was once again surrounded by reporters. Although Jin Liwei already upgraded the building¡¯s overall security, the risk was still great as there were some residents who began talking to the reporters, telling them stories about seeing Iris with a toddler.

    Iris felt furious after hearing about it. When this ordeal was over, she would send out eviction notices to some of the building¡¯s loose-tongued residents. It wouldn¡¯t be too hard to find reasons for the evictions. Besides, she was the new owner of Gold Heightspany. She had all the authority to evict people.

    The reporters and rumourmongers wanted to catch sight of Little Jun. It came to a point that some of the reporters managed to infiltrate inside the building with the help of the loose-tongued residents.

    It rmed Jiang Ying Yue. She carried her son and ran to the penthouse, not daring toe out for fear of being mobbed by reporters. The penthouse had the best security in the entire building. However, they couldn¡¯t just lock themselves up there forever.

    That was why Iris and Jin Liwei sent several groups of his subordinates to help the mother and son escape from the penthouse. Iris would only feel at ease once Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue safely arrived at the mansion.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s phone beeped in Iris¡¯ hand. It was a message from his subordinate. It read:

    "We got them. On our way to the mansion."

    Iris felt relieved after reading the message. Then it was her phone that rang next. It was a call from Jin Chonglin. But before she could answer it, Jin Liwei grabbed the phone from her and rejected the call.

    She stared at him, incredulous at his action. "Darling! How could you do that to your own brother?"

    "I¡¯m not in the mood to talk to him at the moment. Maybe in a few days," he told her.

    "Well, it¡¯s my phone he¡¯s calling. You don¡¯t have to talk to him if you don¡¯t want to."

    "I¡¯m not in the mood to allow him to talk to you either."

    Her phone started ringing once again. It was still Jin Chonglin. And just like before, Jin Liwei rejected the call.

    "You¡¯re so childish, Jin Liwei! Give me my phone." She tried reaching for it, but he refused to return it to her. "Give it to me or I¡¯ll...I¡¯ll...I¡¯ll bite you! Very hard!" It was the only threat the she could think of at the moment.

    Then the man pulled down his cor and offered his chest to her. "Here, love. Bite me all you want."

 Chapter 314 - Dog Food Overdose

    <h4>Chapter 314 - Dog Food Overdose </h4>

    Iris red at Jin Liwei, but he only pulled his cor lower, exposing more of his flesh to her. She saw all of the previous hickeys she left on his skin.

    "What are you doing?" She scolded him, but her tone didn¡¯t really sound angry.

    "Hm? I thought you want to bite me?"

    "I do not! Well, maybe a little..." Her eyes darkened with desire as she looked longer at the exposed part of his chest. Saliva began to pool in her mouth. A strong urge to kiss his bare skin fogged her mind before she realized what was happening. "Wait! Stop distracting me. That¡¯s not the point. I said give me my phone!"

    Jin Liwei looked at her for a few seconds. "My chest is not enough for you? Alright then."

    He grabbed the bottom hem of his long-sleeved shirt and began to take it off. His tight, hard abs were exposed for everyone to see.

    Iris was shocked by his sudden action. Then she heard the loud gasps of some of the maids. Her own green-eyed monster started rearing its ugly head within her.

    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! STOP!!!" She leaped towards him and quickly pulled his shirt down before he couldpletely take it off. Then she red at the blushing maids and houseboys. "Don¡¯t look!"

    The startled staff immediately covered their eyes and turned around.

    ¡¯Uwah! The mistress is so scary...how cute...¡¯

    Jin Liwei looked extremely smug at her overreaction. He chuckled softly before pulling her to sit on hisp. Then he began hugging and nuzzling her.

    "You! Are you crazy?!" Annoyed at him, she tried getting off hisp, but he just pulled her back down again.

    "Yeah. Crazy for you." He smirked at her.

    She pursed her lips at him, trying to stay annoyed. However, her own mouth betrayed her by twitching until it smiled. Then without her control, she began giggling. "You¡¯re so annoying."

    "Yeah. But you love me."

    She nodded, confirming his words, and then hid her face against his neck.

    The household staff were all speechless. One moment, they were terrified of their master and mistress. Then the next moment, they were being drowned by dog food. They were also beginning to realize just how shameless their master could be in front of their mistress. It was such a shock. If they weren¡¯t seeing him with their own eyes, they would suspect that their current master was an impostor.

    Fortunately, they were saved from dog food overdose by the arrival of Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun. The toddler was currently sleeping in his mother¡¯s embrace. Although half of Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s face was covered by a mask from her recent cold, the worry and exhaustion could be clearly seen in her eyes.

    Iris jumped off Jin Liwei¡¯sp and headed to meet the mother and son. He didn¡¯t stop her. The sight of Little Jun instantly reminded him of his fury about the tabloid scandal involving his baby girl and godson (oh, and his brother too).

    Afterying Little Jun on the couch and covering him with a nket, the adults began their serious talk.

    "Ying Yue, I¡¯m very sorry. Because of me, Little Jun¡¯s image has been stered all over the news. Although his face is blurred out in the photos, there are still people who are trying to dig out what he looks like. It¡¯s my fault for being careless." Iris apologized to Jiang Ying Yue.

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head, releasing a weary sigh. "Xin, it¡¯s not your fault. Yes, I can¡¯t stop myself from feeling upset but I can never me you. You and Sir Liwei have been very good to me and my son. I¡¯m very thankful to both of you. Actually, I¡¯m the one feeling guilty because people are now thinking that Little Jun is your love child with Jin Chonglin."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes narrowed and the temperature around him turned colder. However, Iris wasn¡¯t affected. She waved Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s concerns away.

    "Don¡¯t worry about me. I can take care of myself. We should focus on Little Jun¡¯s safety above anything else. There are people who are now trying to find out more about him. The two of you will have to stay here for a while until it¡¯s safe for you to return to the condo," Iris told her.

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded but still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling guilty. She wanted to help Iris, but she just couldn¡¯t reveal to everyone that Little Jun was her illegitimate son with Long Hui. A memory of those people insulting and threatening her while she was still pregnant surfaced in her mind. Anger, humiliation and fear almost overwhelmed her before she was able to control herself.

    While she was dealing with her own emotions, the couple continued to discuss the tabloid scandal.

    "Love, let¡¯s announce our rtionship. All of these will be over once everyone knows that I¡¯m your fianc¨¦. Only stupid people will dare nder you even after knowing that you¡¯re engaged to Jin Liwei," he suggested.

    Iris tilted her head, seriously considering it. However, she shook her head after much thought. "It¡¯s not the right time yet."

    He was unhappy with her decision, but he didn¡¯t force her to follow his suggestion. For him, any time was the right time to reveal their rtionship. But he also wanted the revtion to be agreed upon by both of them. It would make the moment more special and memorable.

    "Fine," he mumbled, sulking a little bit. "Now that Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue are both safe and here with us, I can now take care of those motherf*ckers, right?"

    His rage started burning once again. He couldn¡¯t wait to make the people behind the tabloid paper and the paparazzo who took the photos realize their idiocy for targeting his baby girl and godson (oh, and his brother too) just to make up a scandalous story.

    "Darling, I know that you can¡¯t wait to punish them, but can you leave them to me instead?"

    He frowned. He was about to insist on doing it himself, but when he saw her directly looking at him with her beautiful eyes, he found that he couldn¡¯t deny her request. Sighing, he reluctantly nodded. "Alright, love. But don¡¯t hesitate to tell me if you need my help."

    "Of course." Iris smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

    Then she looked at Little Jun who was sleeping peacefully on the couch. He looked so angelic. He was her body¡¯s nephew, her body¡¯s flesh and blood. He was also her godson and that connection was stronger for her. She vowed to protect his innocence and to allow him to enjoy his childhood.

    While Jin Liwei was enraged about the nder being thrown at her, she was furious about the fact that the tabloid involved Little Jun. She wouldn¡¯t have cared so much if it were only her and Jin Chonglin. But they just had to drag an innocent child into the mix.

    What made her the most furious, however, was the fact that the tabloid and the people¡¯sments began referring to Little Jun as a "child born from immorality". Although they didn¡¯t know his name or his identity, they were saying all of these malicious things about him. To Iris, this was simply unforgivable.

    Her eyes turned cold. Anyone who dared try to harm her beloved godson must be punished.

    If only Lu Zihao could see her expression at the moment, he would say that she looked very much like a Vetrov.

 Chapter 315 - I Need Your Help

    <h4>Chapter 315 - I Need Your Help </h4>

    With a clear goal in mind, Iris headed to her newputer room.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t follow her, knowing that he wouldn¡¯t be of much help to her when it came to hacking. He met with his subordinates instead and ordered them to monitor the tabloid publisher and the paparazzo. Although he promised his baby girl earlier to leave everything to her, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to observe the situation and make sure that the mice wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from her trap.

    Iris¡¯puter room at the penthouse was already impressive, but this newputer room in the mansion was many times more so. Jin Liwei surprised her by building aputer room that was basically a giant vault made of tens of thousands of bulletproof stainless steel. It had state-of-the-art security. A fingerprint and retina scanner, voice recognition system, plus a password entered into a keypad were needed in order to unlock the door. Jin Liwei presented it to her as aputer room but it could also serve as a panic room in times of danger.

    She was extremely impressed and delighted by its design and features. She could see that Jin Liwei spared no expense in building the space for her.

    It took many weeks to fill up the room but it was worth it. Her newputer room now contained some of the fastest, most sophisticated and advancedputers and devices in existence so far. Herplete set-up could rival that of the best research, security and even space agencies in the world.

    Now that she was wealthier, she splurged a bit morepared to when she was filling up herputer room at the penthouse before.

    It was time to fully utilize her newputer room for the first time.

    She hacked into the tabloid publisher. She initially only intended on digging dirt on the people who were directly involved in the tabloid story about her, but she unexpectedly stumbled upon a cesspool of materials regarding various forms of corruption and illegal activities. The discovery was unexpected but not very surprising.

    She copied everything. Afterwards, she made sure to delete all copies of Little Jun¡¯s photos. There were unedited versions fully showing his adorable little face.

    Just to be thorough, she deleted everything pertaining to her, Jin Chonglin and even Jin Liwei. She scowled as she read through many alleged ounts of several women and even men iming to be lovers with her darling. However, these stories never saw the light of day. It seemed that there really were quite a number of people who feared incurring the wrath of Jin Liwei.

    Unfortunately, this fear didn¡¯t extend to his brother, Jin Chonglin. By the vast number of rumours and fake stories being released about Jin Chonglin, it appeared that sometimes people were forgetting that Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin were brothers.

    Her next target was the paparazzo. What she discovered creeped her out.

    For the sake of snapping photos of his various celebrity targets, the man would covertly trespass on private properties, bribe hotel employees, illegally nt surveince devices, stalk, and hide in bushes, closets, garbage bins and even sewers.

    He was basically a paid stalker.

    Yet, it didn¡¯t seem that he was living well. His meagre and irregr ie made him hover around the urban poverty line. It was only when he snapped incriminating photos of big celebrities that he received good pay. But this was very rare. Most of the time, he survived by taking photos of starlets or non-famous celebrities.

    If it were any other time, Iris would perhaps feel sorry for the man. This time, however, he made the mistake of involving her godson, Little Jun. She hardened her heart and dug all the dirt about him.

    Unlike the tabloid publisher, there wasn¡¯t a lot of dirt about him. It was just that his choice of work inevitably ended a lot of celebrity careers. He wasn¡¯t entirely innocent in destroying the bright futures of these celebrities.

    After erasing all the digital photos of her, Little Jun and the others, she felt that she wasn¡¯t thorough enough. What if the paparazzo and the tabloid kept physical copies? She couldn¡¯t hack into them.

    Putting this concern aside for now, Iris sifted through the mountains of information she just gathered. Using her powerfulputers and customized software she developed, the speed of this task was extremely fast.

    After organizing everything, she sent a copy directly to the Chief of Police before releasing a public copy to the inte for everyone to see. In the public version, however, she cked out names. Despite this, the celebrities would still be recognizable based on the other information in the expos¨¦.

    She released everything anonymously this time instead of using her hacker name, Drakon. She didn¡¯t want people drawing connections between Drakon and Iris Long.

    It was already enough that the hacker KeymonSTER became a wanted figure because he tried to clean her name on the web before. People, or worse, the authorities might began suspecting her if another world-famous hacker became connected to her name yet again.

    When she finished everything, it was already a couple of hours past midnight. There was one more thing that she needed to do, but it was already sote.

    "I wonder if he¡¯s still awake," she muttered.

    She thought for only a moment before deciding to just go ahead with it. She grabbed her phone and dialed.

    "Hello?" An alluring male voice answered her call.

    "Big brother, it¡¯s me."

    "I know." She could hear the smile in Lu Zihao¡¯s voice. "Why are you still awake? Is it about the trouble you got yourself into with those tabloid pests? Dealing with them should be easy. Don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t solved it yet."

    "I did...well, not quite. Big Brother, I need your help."

    "Heh~ Let¡¯s hear it, then."

    She exined to him her concern about the tabloid publisher and the paparazzo having physical copies of the photos and the information about her, Little Jun and the others. She also told him about all the dirt she found about them.

    "Oh? ckmail material? Interesting but not surprising. Tabloids are usually filled with shady business like that," Lu Zihao said.

    When she told him that she already released the incriminating evidence of the tabloid¡¯s illegal activities online and even sent a copy to the police, he was clearly displeased by her decision. She understood his aversion to the police (she had it, too), but they were living different lives now. They should be learning how to live as responsible,w-abiding citizens as much as possible. (Well, except when it came to hacking for her.)

    "So will you help me, Big Brother?" she asked him. "But no need to hurt any of them, especially that paparazzo. I just need all the physical data to be destroyed."

    "No problem. I¡¯ll send several teams right away. There¡¯s still a lot of time before sunrise. It will be done before the workday starts." he assured her.

    She was relieved hearing his words. If her brother said that it would be done, it would certainly be done. "Thank you."

    "Anything for my little sister."

    After a few seconds of silence...

    "I want to see you," she told him in a soft voice. "Thest time we saw each other was when we celebrated New Year with the Chua family."

    "I¡¯m really busy right now, but I¡¯ll try to see you again sometime."

    "Can we celebrate Spring Festival together?" she asked.

    "Hmm..." He didn¡¯t answer right away.

    "Please, Big Brother."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll find time to celebrate with you."

    She instantly felt happy.

    "Little sister?"

    "Yes?"

    He paused before asking her, "If I ask you for help about something extremely difficult, would you help me?"

    "Of course!" There was no hesitation in her answer. "As long as it¡¯s within my abilities, I¡¯ll help you no matter how difficult it is. You¡¯re my brother. Is there anything you need help with?"

    "I..." He sighed. "No, I was just asking. Don¡¯t think about it too much. But I¡¯m d to hear your answer. Go to sleep now. You¡¯ll receive an update from me about the matter with the tabloid and the paparazzo when you wake upter."

    The brother and sister chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up. Iris returned to the bedroom suite. Her darling was already sleeping. After cleaning herself up, she snuggled close to Jin Liwei and fell asleep as well.

 Chapter 316 - Press Conference

    <h4>Chapter 316 - Press Conference </h4>

    The next morning, the tabloid publisher¡¯s illegal activities hit the news. It originated from an online expos¨¦ released by an anonymous source. Many of theizens spected that perhaps it was the hacker KeymonSTER who did it, but the veteran hackers disagreed.

    The thorough, organized and detailed style was very simr to how Drakon usually released expos¨¦s, but the impression it evoked to them felt slightly different. It wasn¡¯t destructive enough. The hackers concluded that it must not be Drakon.

    This hacker was too cautious with all the cking out of names. Drakon usually didn¡¯t care for how many people his expos¨¦s affected. Besides, they thought that for a fast-rising hacking superstar like Drakon, he would never do something anonymously. iming responsibility of every hacking feat was a must-do to increase one¡¯s reputation and prestige.

    As for the cked-out names, the general public and the media were having a field day identifying all of them. It became a fun guessing game.

    The celebrities involved were horrified, especially the ones who were ckmailed and already paid the tabloid huge amounts of hush money to not release the scandalous stories about them.

    For the celebrities who couldn¡¯t pay or refused to do so, they surfaced once again to use this is an opportunity to finally clear up their names. Many of them suffered tremendous damage to their reputations, while some of them had to prematurely end their careers as a result of the stories released by the tabloid about them.

    Not only the celebrities and their families were enraged but also their fans. As a result, many of them stepped forward to officially sue the tabloid. In the next few days, the tabloid was sued for a number of crimes such as libel, extortion, corruption, trespassing and invasion of privacy.

    The police was very quick in responding to all of thesewsuits. They quickly apprehended the key people from the tabloid. It seemed that the Police Chief personally involved himself in the investigations of these cases. He eventually revealed that he held a more detailed version of the expos¨¦ containing names that weren¡¯t cked out.

    While the press was busy gathering more information about these cases, they were suddenly invited for a press conference. The heir of Long Industries, Long Hui, wanted to make an announcement.

    Only a few representatives from the media attended. Although the Longs were included in the list of the country¡¯s most prominent families, their importance wasn¡¯t very significantpared to the likes of the Jins, the Lus, and most especially the Fengs whose influence went beyond wealth.

    Not many people were interested in hearing announcements from them. They thought that Long Hui would just probably announce some new business acquisitions, or perhaps an engagement or even a marriage.

    ¡¯Why bother calling for a press conference? A simple press release or a social media post should suffice. The Longs think too highly of themselves,¡¯ the reporters sent to the press conference grumbled to themselves.

    The only member of the Long family that they were interested in at the moment was Iris Long. However, most of them already knew that she had an estranged rtionship with the Long family. Though there were rumours that she had been repairing her rtionship with her family in recent months.

    As if anticipating the poor turn-out, the ce Long Hui booked for the press conference was not very big. He had participated in other press conferences in the past, but most of them were regarding Long Industries. This was the first time that he would be conducting a press conference for a personal matter concerning him and his family. He felt nervous but also excited at the same time.

    Remembering his conversation with Jiang Ying Yue on the phone earlier today, he was surprised that she was agreeable to his n. Although she wasn¡¯t happy, she didn¡¯t resist. Then he learned that it was because of his sister.

    "Xin¡¯s reputation has taken a severe hit because people are thinking that Little Jun is her love child with Jin Chonglin. If you announce that Little Jun is actually your son, then all these bad rumours about her will stop," Jiang Ying Yue told him.

    He sulked a little after hearing her reason for giving permission. Actually, with or without her approval, he would still go ahead and make the announcement. He just informed her as courtesy and respect as the mother of their child. And of course, he was hoping to earn some brownie points from her.

    "Do...does your family know that you¡¯re doing this?" she asked in a cautious and anxious manner.

    "Yes, of course. Father approved of my n," he told her.

    "Only your father?"

    He hesitated before replying. "Uh, yes..."

    Silence.

    "Ying Yue?"

    She chuckled bitterly. Then she sighed and said, "At least your father permitted you to do this."

    "Yeah."

    "Long Hui..."

    He frowned, not liking how she was addressing him using his full name.

    "Please, I beg you. Protect our son." Her voice shook a bit. "I know that we¡¯ll never be good enough for your family...but please, don¡¯t let them hurt our son. I can¡¯t...I can¡¯t bear it..."

    "What are you talking about? Ying Yue, tell me!"

    "I...just promise me, please."

    "Yes, of course. I¡¯ll naturally protect Long Jun. He¡¯s my son, our son. I won¡¯t let anyone hurt him."

    When the call ended, he couldn¡¯t stop thinking about what she said. He felt confused but also suspicious, especially after personally experiencing the elders¡¯ extreme discrimination against his son.

    But before he could think more deeply and carefully about the matter, he received a signal that the press conference was about the start. He cleared his mind of any unnecessary thoughts. He focused instead on the important task that he was about to aplish in this press conference.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The huge t screen TV was showing the live telecast of Long Hui¡¯s press conference. It was currently being broadcast on a minor news channel.

    Iris¡¯ head wasying on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder while they watched the press conference together on the couch. Little Jun sat on Jin Liwei¡¯sp while ying with a toy given to him by his Great-Grandpa Lu a few days ago.

    Jiang Ying Yue sat on another couch with Dom. The two of them were still wearing masks just until they were sure that they were fully recovered from their colds. She wore her neutral bodyguard expression, not showing any emotions as she watched her ex-lover and the father of her child on TV.

    Long Hui looked very dashing with his crisp business suit. He was cold, handsome and graceful.

    "Good afternoon,dies and gentlemen. My name is Long Hui. I am also Iris Long¡¯s eldest brother. I am here to announce today that the child pictured with my sister in a recent tabloid story is my son. The child is my biological son, my own flesh and blood. I had him with my lover. He is not, I repeat, he is NOT the son of my sister Iris Long or the celebrity Jin Chonglin."

    The cameras began shing, snapping photos of him. The reporters suddenly grew interested in what he had to say.

    He continued, "My son looks a little like my sister because he¡¯s her nephew. She is also my son¡¯s godmother, that¡¯s why he calls her Mama. My sister was never pregnant before. Based on my son¡¯s age, she couldn¡¯t have given birth to him. She wasatose at that time. Please stop spreading false rumours about my sister and my son. That¡¯s all I have to say."

 Chapter 317 - Happy Family

    <h4>Chapter 317 - Happy Family </h4>

    "The floor is now open for questions," the press conference host announced.

    Long Hui took a few deep breaths when all of the reporters present raised their hands. Before the press conference started, they looked bored and uninterested. But now they were like slobbering jackals who smelled prime meat.

    "Mr. Long, are you married? If so, howe we don¡¯t know about it? Was it kept a secret?" a reporter asked.

    "No, I¡¯m not married." he answered.

    "Then your child is illegitimate?"

    Long Hui had to calm himself down first because a strong urge to punch the son of a b*tch in the face almost made him lose control. He was seething in anger but he forced a calm tone when he answered.

    "Yes." Then he quickly added, "But that may change in the future if the mother of my child agrees to marry me."

    The reporters¡¯ eyes lit up. Their hands became even more aggressive, as if raising them higher or waving them around would make them more likely to be chosen to ask the next question.

    "So you proposed to the mother of your child before but she rejected you? There¡¯s a woman who doesn¡¯t want to marry the heir of the Long family? Can you please tell us who the mother of your child is?"

    "My son¡¯s mother is a beautiful, intelligent and strong woman. I am d that she is the mother of my child. Things have not worked out between us, but I¡¯m willing to try again. I hope that I can change her mind and that someday she¡¯ll ept my offer of marriage. I hope for the day that the three of us can be a happy family together, not only based on rtions but also on paper. I want my son and also her, if she¡¯ll ept me, to be proud members of my Long family."

    He looked directly at the camera while he said these words slowly and clearly, conveying his sincerity and seriousness as much as possible through the telecast.

    The reporters weren¡¯t satisfied by his answer because he didn¡¯t reveal the identity of his child¡¯s mother. However, no matter how many times they tried asking him in different ways, he remained tight-lipped, only repeating his praises about how she was such as good mother to their son.

    After their repeated failures of obtaining more information about Long Hui¡¯s son and his former lover, the reporters switched targets and asked about Iris Long instead.

    "Mr. Long, seeing that you chose your sister to be your son¡¯s godmother, does this mean that you¡¯re close to her? There are rumours from long ago saying that Iris Long is estranged from the Long family. Is this still the case right now?"

    Long Hui hesitated, choosing his words carefully before answering. "Yes, you can say that my youngest sister and I have gotten closer recently. Actually, she sees my son and my son¡¯s mother on a regr basis. They are very close to each other. That¡¯s why my son also calls my sister Mama. It only makes sense that she became my son¡¯s godmother. She loves my son like her own and for that, I¡¯m very thankful to her. Also, I know that many of you have observed that she has matured a lot ever since she recovered from being in aa for a year. There had been some misunderstandings between her and our family in the past but at the end of the day, we¡¯re all family. She¡¯s always wee in our home and she sometimes visits to eat meals with our father."

    The reporters didn¡¯t entirely believe what he said. They wanted some family drama, especially since it involved one of the hottest young celebrities at the moment, Iris Long. However, no matter how hard they tried to stir him up, Long Hui refused to badmouth his sister.

    After a few more questions and answers, the press conference officially ended. The reporters hurried to theirpanies to finish the drafts for their articles. At first, they thought that the press conference would be about something uneventful but it surprisingly was full of juicy content. Although it wasn¡¯t focused on Iris Long, the reporters decided to increase the focus on her in order to gain more interest to the story.

    As for Long Hui, he felt relieved that the press conference was finally over. It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted off from his shoulders. He felt lighter and refreshed.

    He knew that the elders would be terribly unhappy by what he said during the press conference, but he was unhappy with them as well. Resentment grew within him from their tant discrimination against his son.

    He was only realizing now how hurtful they were for discriminating against his illegitimate siblings. Now that they were doing it to his own son, he felt guilty towards his illegitimate brother and sister for not standing up for them when the other members of the family made snide remarks against them.

    ¡¯Now I know. I have to treat my other siblings better,¡¯ he inwardly promised.

    Disregarding the elders, the most important thing to him was receiving his father¡¯s blessings as the head of the Long family in his decision to im Little Jun as his son. He was very thankful to Long Tengfei for epting Little Jun with open arms and open heart.

    Thinking about his son made him think about Jiang Ying Yue. He hoped that she watched the press conference. Hopefully, she was able to see his sincerity of wanting to try again with her.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    "Dada! Dada!" Little Jun bounced excitedly on Jin Liwei¡¯sp as he pointed at his father on the TV.

    "Yes, Little Jun. That¡¯s your daddy," Iris said.

    The toddler pped his hands and continued to bounce. Jin Liwei stroked Little Jun¡¯s hair, not the least bit bothered by his wild movements on hisp.

    On the other couch, Dom stood up and squealed. He fanned himself with his hands in a dramatic manner. "Oh wow! That was so romantic! Big Brother Boss just announced to the entire nation that he wants to marry you, Big Sis Yue, and be a happy family together with Junie boy. Ah, be still my heart! Why do you not want to marry him? He looked and sounded so sincere!"

    A mask covered Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s face but it couldn¡¯t hide theplicated expression in her eyes. Her hands gripped her pants in a tensed manner. She stared at the now finished press conference on the TV, as if she could still see Long Hui.

    There was deep longing in her eyes, but there was also hurt...and humiliation.

 Chapter 318 - More Capable

    <h4>Chapter 318 - More Capable </h4>

    Iris observed Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s expression. She could sense that Jiang Ying Yue still had feelings for Long Hui. Something must¡¯ve happened for her to reject Long Hui¡¯s repeated proposals. She inwardly shrugged, not wanting to interfere in other people¡¯s rtionships. As long as her godson was safe and well, she didn¡¯t care how Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui dealt with their own rtionship with each other.

    Dom continued to prattle on and on about Long Hui¡¯s heartfelt "confession" on TV. Iris could see that Jiang Ying Yue was beginning to feel ufortable.

    "Your voice still sounds a little stuffy, Dom. Why don¡¯t you go rest?" she suggested just to get him off of Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Eh? But I feel alright, boss. Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯m already reco¡ª" Dom sneezed hard, not once but two times. "Who is it?! Who¡¯s talking badly about my handsome and gorgeous self?!" Then he sneezed again.

    "See? You¡¯re not fully recovered yet. Go take a rest, Dom," Iris told him.

    Dom could only nod his head. He excused himself and headed to his own room.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s eyes showed a grateful expression to Iris. Then her gaze fell on her son cuddling with Jin Liwei. If only it was Long Hui who was doting on Little Jun right now... She forcefully stopped herself from going in that direction.

    Thinking about Long Hui and looking at their son, she didn¡¯t realize that her expression was bing more and more worried and troubled.

    Seeing her expression, Iris told her, "Ying Yue, you don¡¯t have to worry about Little Jun. He is my and Liwei¡¯s godson. We¡¯ll protect him no matter what and won¡¯t let anything bad happen to him. So calm your mind and just focus on being a good mother to him."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Jiang Ying Yue teared up. "Thank you so much, Xin and Sir Liwei."

    "Mommi?" Little Jun stopped ying with his toy when he saw his mother¡¯s tearful eyes. Then he stretched his little arms, reaching for her.

    Jiang Ying Yue walked over and took him from Jin Liwei. She hugged her son tightly without hurting him. There was a sense of desperation in her embrace.

    "Mommi?" Little Jun touched her face. "No cwy, Mommi."

    Everyone was shocked by what he said. Iris and Jin Liwei looked excited. He whipped out his phone, hoping for Little Jun to talk more.

    "Oh!" Jiang Ying Yue burst into tears.

    ###

    At a middle-ss neighbourhood, there stood a big two-storey house. It wasn¡¯t a mansion but it was thergest and most impressive house in the neighbourhood. The people living in it were a popr topic of discussion among the residents.

    Many years ago, the big house wasn¡¯t there yet and the actual property was quite small. However, when the daughter of the family who lived there returned with a baby son, everything started to change.

    She bought the surrounding properties and expanded her family¡¯s own property. Then she had the small house demolished and built a bigger house in its ce. Throughout the years, various renovations were made to the house, making it more impressive.

    When asked about how she was able to make such grand improvements, she said that it was all thanks to her husband, her son¡¯s father. However, theyter discovered that she was never married and that she was only a mistress. By giving birth to a son for a wealthy man, she was able to elevate her entire family¡¯s economic status.

    More than two decadester, her son was now a handsome twenty-five year old young man who graduated from a C9 League university at the top of his ss. He was currently working at a small branch division of his father¡¯spany with the intention of being eventually transferred to the mainpany in the near future. He was the pride and joy of his mother and everyone from his maternal side of the family. All the youngdies in the neighbourhood desired to marry him.

    Long Jian was the second son of Long Tengfei with a former mistress. Long Tengfei was very pleased with this son of his. Long Jian was smart, hard-working and ambitious. He had high expectations of himself and always pushed himself to be the best in almost everything. Long Tengfei hoped that Long Jian would help his elder brother, Long Hui, to run Long Industries in the future when he was gone from this world.

    At the moment, Long Jian was leaning against the ss window, looking out at the night sky. Light snow was currently falling down.

    "Is that true? Tengfei really said that?" His mother, Zhu Ning, asked an older man sitting across from her in the living room.

    "Yes, I heard his words loud and clear with my own ears during the family meeting with the elders and the other members of the branch families. My cousin Tengfei said that he¡¯ll change his will if any of his other children proves to be more capable than Young Master Hui," Long Xiaopeng informed them.

    He was Long Tengfei¡¯s distant cousin from a less powerful branch family. For a number of years now, he had be Zhu Ning¡¯s informant about the happenings within the Long family.

    Zhu Ning looked excitedly at Long Jian. "Son, this is your chance! Long Hui¡¯s reputation will surely take a dive now that he announced in a press conference that his firstborn is illegitimate."

    Long Jian scowled. He hated the word "illegitimate". However, he still nodded in agreement with his mother. Great determination and ambition burned in his eyes as he red at their small yard.

    Someday, he would be the most important and respected member of the Long family. He would buy himself and his mother a big mansion fit for a king. He would prove to everyone that despite being illegitimate, he could still achieve the highest heights in wealth, status and power. Then no one would dare mock him for being illegitimate again.

    "Don¡¯t worry. Just continue to work hard and focus on being transferred to the mainpany as soon as possible, Jian¡¯er. Leave the inner workings of the Long family to me. The members, especially the elders, are very incensed by Young Master Hui right now. I¡¯ll try influencing the other branches and make them believe that Young Master Hui is unfit to be the next head of the family and Long Industries," Long Xiaopeng assured them.

    Zhu Ning smiled, looking very pleased at what she was hearing.

 Chapter 319 - Team Up

    <h4>Chapter 319 - Team Up </h4>

    Long Jian straightened to his full height. He was taller than either his father Long Tengfei or his older brother Long Hui. He walked to the living room and sat on the couch beside his mother.

    Zhu Ning poured hot tea for her son.

    "There is no need to remind me, Uncle Xiaopeng. I already received information from my business insiders that Father is nning on promoting me to work at the mainpany soon. Maybe within this year. When that happens, everyone will soon know that I¡¯m more capable than Long Hui. I¡¯ll make it into a situation that Father will have no choice but to appoint me as his sessor because it will be for thepany¡¯s best interests to do so."

    "That¡¯s my son!"

    Zhu Ning looked very proud. An almost maniacal ambition danced in her eyes. She couldn¡¯t wait for the moment when her son seeded as the next head of the Longs. Wouldn¡¯t that make her the Long family¡¯s Old Madam? She felt absolutely gleeful at the thought.

    "Mother, I would like to talk with Uncle Xiaopeng alone," Long Jian told her.

    "Fine, fine. I¡¯ll leave the two of you with your manly talk, then." She chuckled. "It¡¯s time for my beauty sleep anyway. Goodnight!"

    The two men waited until she was gone before they began talking once again.

    "I asked my mother to go because she has a tendency to be too caught up in her emotions whenever we talk about the Longs."

    Long Xiaopeng nodded in agreement.

    "Now tell me the real situation regarding Long Hui and the elders, Uncle Xiaopeng. You make it sound as if it¡¯s so easy to influence the other branches and to decrease Long Hui¡¯s influence within the family." Long Jian steepled his fingers together as heid inquisitive eyes on the older man sitting across from him. "Although I very much believe that the elders are furious about Long Hui¡¯s decision to reveal his son to everyone, I doubt that they¡¯ll try to unseat him from his position of heir."

    Long Xiaopeng cleared his throat, feeling ufortable by the younger man¡¯s heavy gaze. He sighed. "You¡¯re right. The elders¡¯ way of thinking are too old-fashioned. You already know this. To them, only Young Master Hui is the one fit to seed by virtue of him being the eldest legitimate son."

    Despite hating the words "legitimate" and "illegitimate", Long Jian still nodded and encouraged the older man to continue talking. His steepled fingers, however, were now sped together so hard that his hands shook a little and veins popped on the surface of his arms.

    "Even if Young Master Hui isn¡¯t in the picture, if given the choice between you, your other sister, and the Young Miss Xin, the elders will most likely choose Young Miss Xin over the two of you just because she¡¯s a legitimate child and you are not. Even when they hate her guts, they¡¯ll grudgingly let her seed the head position. That¡¯s just how backward the elders¡¯ minds work."

    Long Hui¡¯s face contorted in fury, but he was able to quickly control his expression. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. This was to prevent himself from flipping the low table in front of him or from punching the wall.

    When he calmed down enough, he opened his eyes and spoke in a much calmer voice. "Let¡¯s stay focused. Long Hui is the biggest block in my way. Xin is a good-for-nothing spoiled brat. She¡¯s a pathetic excuse for a Long heiress. She¡¯ll never be a threat to me."

    "Don¡¯t underestimate her, Jian¡¯er," Long Xiaopeng cautioned him. "She has grown more sensible ever since she woke up from hera. Your father is very pleased with the improvements in her attitude. He and Madam Yang Jiahui are growing increasingly close to her right now. Young Master Hui, too. If Young Miss Xin and Young Master Hui team up, they¡¯ll definitely have the advantagepared to you."

    Long Jianughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. Then he sneered. "Go ahead. Let them team up. What good does it do for Long Hui to team up with a good-for-nothing like Xin? Isn¡¯t he just dragging himself down? Sure, she has achieved some little sesses recently but she¡¯s still nothing but a showgirl. What does she know other than singing and dancing and selling her pretty face to the public? What does she know when ites to working in the business industry? Nothing! By teaming up with her, Long Hui will just obtain a useless burden for himself."

    "You¡¯re right," Long Xiapeng nodded. "But it¡¯s still better to be cautious. I hear that Young Miss Xin is like apletely different person now. She doesn¡¯t act like a spoiled brat anymore."

    Long Jian scoffed. "A leopard cannot change its spots. Don¡¯t forget that Xin works in showbiz. People of her kind excel in acting. She¡¯s probably just acting to be more mature and sensible to butter up our father. Let¡¯s see how long she can maintain her act. She¡¯ll revert back to her usual b*tchy and bratty self again one day."

    "Hmm. Maybe..."

    Long Xiaopeng sank into deep thought. He agreed with Long Jian¡¯s opinions, but there was a niggling feeling inside him, warning him to be cautious of Young Miss Xin. He had not personally met with her yet since she woke up froma, but he had heard many things about her from his informants within the Long ancestral residence.

    He just hoped that it was just as Long Jian suspected, that she was just acting and would eventually revert to her previous unpleasant personality. If not, she would be a tough adversary to beat especially if she started gaining the elders¡¯ good graces.

    "Regardless of whether Young Miss Xin is a threat or not, I think we should still have some ns in ce for when she and Young Master Hui really decide to team up together," Long Xiaopeng insisted. "What about you team up with your other sister? Both of you are in a simr situation of being ostracized by the elders just because of your illegitimacy. If you unite, you¡¯ll have a higher chance of seeding. Especially since your sister is also a high-achiever like you. The two of you can show everyone that despite being illegitimate, you¡¯re more capable than the legitimate children."

    "Stop calling us illegitimate!" Long Jian finally couldn¡¯t stop himself from exploding.

    "I..." Long Xiaopeng was shocked at his outburst.

    Long Jian sat back down and sighed heavily. "Sorry for raising my voice at you, Uncle. Anyway, about my other sister. Yes, she¡¯s a high-achiever but she has no ambitious bones in her body at all. I already tried pulling her to my side before but she¡¯s already content of her own position. It¡¯s beyond myprehension how she can tolerate being treated like sh*t by the elders and the other members of the Longs. She¡¯s definitely so much better than that good-for-nothing Xin, yet she doesn¡¯tin when our father shows obvious favouritism to that spoiled brat."

    "Is that so? How unfortunate. And here I thought we can use her..."

    "Let¡¯s forget about her." Long Jian waved a dismissive hand. "Besides, my mother will be upset if I team up with any of my siblings. She hates the guts of Father¡¯s other women and their children."

    The two men continued to talk about their ns. As the night grew deeper, their ambitions also grew bigger and hungrier.

 Chapter 320 - Family Banquets

    <h4>Chapter 320 - Family Banquets </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    As thepetition and disunity started simmering beneath the surface among the members of the Long family, Spring Festival finally arrived. Wanting to impress their mistress, the household staff went all out in decorating the entire mansion. There was red and gold colours everywhere.

    On the day of the Lunar New Year¡¯s Eve, Yi Mei, the cook and the older staff from the penthouse all came to the mansion to celebrate with their Young Miss. The younger staff from both the mansion and the penthouse returned to their hometowns to celebrate the holidays with their own families. The older staff stayed and prepared for the celebration.

    As this was an important asion, both the Jin, the Long and the Lu families all had their own respective reunion banquets. All rtives from the branch families woulde over to celebrate with the main families.

    Since Iris and Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t publicly announced their rtionship yet, they decided not to attend together. It wasn¡¯t the right time yet.

    Jin Liwei had to attend the Jins¡¯ New Year banquet because he was the head of the family. It was part of his duty to attend important family asions like these.

    On the other hand, Iris had no interest whatsoever in attending the Long family¡¯s reunion banquet. Except for Long Tengfei, Long Hui, Yang Jiahui and Meimei, she had no attachments to anyone from the Long family. She didn¡¯t consider them as family at all. Even the original Iris already stopped attending such asions before because all she received from the rtives were constant mocking and criticisms.

    When Iris and Jin Liwei informed Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan that Iris wouldn¡¯t being to the New Year¡¯s Eve banquet, they were disappointed but they understood the couple¡¯s current situation. Although they adored Iris and couldn¡¯t wait for her to marry Jin Liwei, it didn¡¯t mean that the other Jin rtives would ept her immediately as their next madam.

    Simrly, Long Tengfei was very disappointed when Iris informed her that she wouldn¡¯t be attending the family¡¯s banquet. He thought that perhaps she would be willing to attend this year because she had been so agreeable in repairing their father-daughter rtionship. But it turned out that her willingness didn¡¯t extend to the other members of the family.

    "Liwei and I will visit you some other time," Irispromised and then quickly added, "We¡¯ll bring Little Jun."

    Long Tengfei immediately softened after hearing about his beloved first grandson. He no longer tried persuading her to attend the banquet.

    The Lunar New Year¡¯s Eve celebrations began all throughout the nation and in other countries celebrating this important asion.

    Jin Liwei was unhappy and his heart heavy. He almost didn¡¯t want to attend the Jin family¡¯s banquet because he didn¡¯t want to leave his baby girl. However, she persuaded him to go.

    "I¡¯lle back as soon as I can," he promised her.

    "Okay. Take care, darling. Come back to me safely," she told him before standing on her tippy-toes to give him a hard and hot kiss on the mouth.

    He groaned and lifted her up, and then deepened the kiss. They reluctantly ended the kiss. "On second thought, how about I don¡¯t go and just stay here with you?"

    Iris giggled and hugged him. "No, you should go. I don¡¯t want any of your rtivesining that their family head has be irresponsible. Next Lunar New Year, we¡¯ll surely celebrate together with everyone else in your family."

    His eyes widened and then a joyful expression broke out of his face. "I¡¯m looking forward to that. I can¡¯t wait."

    She hugged him and inhaled his masculine scent that she liked so much. "Mmn. Have fun tonight."

    "It¡¯s not going to be fun because you won¡¯t be with me."

    "Well, I¡¯ll be having fun tonight with Little Jun, Big Brother Zihao and the others," she told him.

    He sulked for a bit hearing her words before she made him feel better by giving him another mind-blowing kiss. Afterwards, he really needed to go. He left the mansion in a not so pleasant mood. He just left but he already couldn¡¯t wait toe back home to her.

    Later, Lu Zihao was on his way to mansion. It turned out that he came from the Lu family¡¯s own New Year¡¯s Eve banquet. Just like Iris to the Longs, he had no close attachments to the other members of the Lu family except for Grandpa Lu. Bored out of his mind, he slipped away and drove directly to Dragon Pce Homes. Of course, his phone started ringing just a few minutes after he disappeared.

    "Hello? Hello?! Haohao my boy, where in the bloody hell are you right now? Tell me! I want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed when he answered the phone on speaker while driving.

    He decided to answer the call because if he just ignored it, the old man might send his army of subordinates to follow him and drag him back to the banquet.

    "How dare you leave our family gathering at New Year?! Come back here right now or I¡¯ll have you dragged back here!"

    See?

    Lu Zihao forced the annoyance out of his voice and exined to the old man, "I¡¯m heading to Third Brother¡¯s ce. Xin is alone there right now because Third Brother has to attend the Jin family¡¯s banquet. And she¡¯s not attending the Longs¡¯ banquet. So I¡¯m apanying her to celebrate the New Year. Are you telling me to leave her alone instead?"

    "What?! My girl Xin is left alone on such an important asion?! Poor girl! Why didn¡¯t any of you tell me?! I want to know! Pick her up quickly and bring her here! If she doesn¡¯t want to celebrate with the Jins or the Longs, she¡¯s more than wee to celebrate Lunar New Year with us, the Lus!"

    "No, it¡¯s fine. She doesn¡¯t know anyone else in our family. She¡¯ll just feel ufortable and out of ce."

    Grandpa Lu grumbled for a bit before acquiescing. Lu Zihao was relieved when the phone call ended.

    When he finally arrived at the mansion, he was surprised by the festive atmosphere. Some of the male staff already started lighting up firecrackers outside while the others were busy preparing the dinner table.

    He found Iris at the living area watching the Spring Festival G on TV. She was petting Ice Cream on herp. The grey cat wasn¡¯t as fat as before, but still nowhere as slim as her brother. Popcorn already recovered from his neutering procedure and was now ying with Little Jun and Dom (a.k.a. ve #1). Jiang Ying Yue watched over them, making sure that her son and the cat wouldn¡¯t hurt themselves.

    Iris¡¯ face lit up when she saw Lu Zihao. "You came."

    "Of course. I promised you."

    She smiled.

    Popcorn immediately ran over to him and leaped into his arms. He stroked the needy cat as he walked over and sat beside his sister. He looked at the TV show. "They didn¡¯t invite you to perform?"

    "No," she said, shrugging. "I heard that they initially nned on inviting me but then the matter about...about Fan Luo happened." Her expression darkened. She took a few deep breaths before continuing, "They sent the invitations to perform around that time. Everything happened and I disappeared, so they ended up not inviting me. Oh well. I don¡¯t really care. I¡¯d rather spend these holidays resting and spending time with family than working."

    "Heh... I see. Then this g must be boring to watch because you¡¯re not performing."

    She giggled. "Jin Chonglin will be performingter tonight."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t look interested at all.

    As they watched the different performances at the g on TV, Iris kept on receiving messages from Jin Liwei, asking him what she was doing, if she was alright, etc.

    She also received a message from Wei Lan, greeting her Happy New Year. This time, Wei Lan seemed to be in Brazil. Iris only sent a quick reply, greeting the older woman back, before putting Wei Lan out of her mind.

    Next was a phone call from Meimei.

    "Oh, Xin! Your rtives are so horrible, especially the elders! I had to excuse myself from the dining table because if I stay and listen more to them, I would¡¯ve exploded! They¡¯re trash talking you nonstop, saying that you¡¯re unfilial and disrespectful for not attending the banquet. h h h! They¡¯re also all being so mean to Big Brother Hui. They¡¯ll temporarily shut up whenever they see Uncle Tengfei but when he¡¯s not near, they¡¯ll start trash talking again. I can¡¯t believe them! How can they do such negative things during New Year? Aren¡¯t they inviting bad luck? You did the right thing by not attending such an unpleasant party. Hmph! If it weren¡¯t because I don¡¯t want to leave my aunt alone, I would¡¯ve headed there right now. I¡¯d rather celebrate the Lunar New Year with you and my twin Dom and the others, instead of with this pack of hyenas!"

 Chapter 321 - Give It All Up

    <h4>Chapter 321 - Give It All Up </h4>

    Iris listened to Meimei rant about the Long family members. She wasn¡¯t really affected much about hearing the Longs trash talking her. To her, those people were strangers and not worth her time and energy.

    When the call ended, Yi Mei called them to eat dinner.

    The dinner was once again in buffet style like when they celebrated Christmas and New Year with the Chua family before. They liked its festive and informal vibe. Everyone ate and chatted together. While the penthouse staff was already used to Iris¡¯ casual and inclusive treatment of her employees, the mansion staff was still getting used to it.

    After dinner, they continued to watch the Spring Festival G. Less than an hour before midnight, Jin Chonglin performed a mash-up of some of his greatest hits in a spectacr production. It was obvious that many of the live audience were from his army of fans with all the deafening screams, cheering and apuse.

    "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. The paparazzo joined my Shadow Winds," Lu Zihao told her in a low voice.

    "Hm?" It took Iris a few seconds before she understood what he meant. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh? You recruited him?"

    "Not really. He asked to join. The guy has sharp intuition. He guessed correctly that we were the Shadow Winds. He practically sold himself to us, saying that he¡¯s extremely useful."

    She tilted her head to the side. "I was wondering why the police didn¡¯t include him in the investigations regarding the tabloid case. So it was you. You must¡¯ve done something to protect him, didn¡¯t you?"

    "Something like that," he said in a nonchnt manner. "Well, he¡¯s still on a trial period to prove his loyalty to my group. He¡¯s not a full member yet. I put him in a surveince team but he¡¯ll still continue his work as a paparazzo. It¡¯ll be useful to have someone from the media. We can get lots of insider information without spending too much time hacking or sending some spies."

    Iris looked at him with aplicated expression. "Big Brother, please don¡¯t do anything dangerous."

    He froze for only less than a second before chuckling. "What are you talking about, little sister? Didn¡¯t I tell you before that my Shadow Winds exists for justice? Don¡¯t worry about me. Anyway, let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. This Spring Festival celebration is very interesting. Let¡¯s enjoy it."

    She still looked like she wanted to ask him more but seeing his tant change of subject, she decided to let it go. For now.

    A few minutes before the midnight countdown, Jin Liwei initiated a video call. Although he couldn¡¯t leave the banquet as of yet, he still wanted to celebrate the Lunar New Year by seeing and talking to her.

    Some of the household staff were already lighting up all the firecrackers outside. The loud noises frightened both Ice Cream and Popcorn. They squeezed themselves into tight balls on top of Iris and Lu Zihao¡¯sps. Little Jun already fell asleep on the couch, while Dom and Jiang Ying Yue talked about the g performances on TV.

    Finally, the countdown started.

    "3, 2, 1!"

    "HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"

    Dom started jumping all around. He and his family also did this when they celebrated the January 1 New Year. They said that in the Philippines, it was believed that jumping during New Year would make a person grow taller. Fortunately, all the ruckus didn¡¯t wake up Little Jun. The little guy must¡¯ve exhausted himself from ying so much earlier.

    "Happy New Year, love," Jin Liwei greeted her in the video chat. "I¡¯lle home soon. Wait for me."

    "Happy New Year, darling. Yes, I¡¯ll wait for you. Be safe."

    "En."

    Iris and Lu Zihao also greeted each other, feeling a little weird doing so. They didn¡¯t really celebrate this asion in their past life before. But they liked it.

    Iris distributed red packets to everyone. As usual, she was very generous. They were all delighted and profusely thanked her. The one who got the most from his red packet was Little Jun. Iris gave it to Jiang Ying Yue.

    About half an hourter, Jin Liwei finally came home. He arrived at the same time with Long Hui who he met at the vige entrance. Long Hui was stopped by the guards. He was about to call Iris to let him in when Jin Liwei noticed him.

    Jin Liwei headed straight to his baby girl, embracing and kissing her. Then he turned to Lu Zihao.

    "Thanks for apanying Xin, Fifth Brother."

    "Xin is my sister. This is only natural."

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    Long Hui hurried to Jiang Ying Yue and his son. He gently stroked Little Jun¡¯s head.

    "Happy New Year, son," he whispered to him.

    Jiang Ying Yue blinked rapidly, trying to control the emotions filling up her chest at seeing Long Hui. She was very surprised that he came.

    "Happy New Year, Ying Yue," he greeted her next.

    She cleared her throat before greeting him back. "Happy New Year. I didn¡¯t know that you wereing."

    He kissed his son¡¯s forehead before sitting beside Jiang Ying Yue. She froze but forced herself to rx.

    "I want to start this new year with my son...and with you," he told her in a soft voice.

    She didn¡¯t know how to reply to his words.

    "Did you watch the press conference?" he asked her.

    "Yes."

    "I meant everything that I said during the press conference. Ying Yue, I want to try again. Won¡¯t you give us another chance? Even if it¡¯s just for the sake of our son. Please?"

    "Long Hui..." Her heart beat faster. Longing shone in her eyes, but then her brows scrunched together and she trembled. She frowned. "I don¡¯t..."

    "Ying Yue, I love you."

    She gasped and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh."

    "I know that I never told you this before. It¡¯s only when I lost you that I realized how much I love you. Ying Yue, please. Give us another chance, okay? I love you. I want to be with you and of course our son. I want us to be aplete family. Our Little Jun deserves aplete and happy family."

    Her eyes quickly filled up with tears. Her mind was telling her to reject him but her heart was telling her to jump in his arms.

    "Long Hui...can I...can I ask you a question first?"

    "Of course. What is it?"

    She took a few deep breaths before speaking again. "If...if I ask you to give up on your position as the heir of the Long family, would you do it for me and our son?"

    "What?" He was taken aback by her question.

    "Well, can you do it?"

    He frowned, confused that she was asking him this. "Is this your condition?"

    "No! I mean...I¡¯m just asking. But I want to know your answer. What is it?"

    "I¡¯ll choose you and our son," he said, looking at her directly in the eyes. "I¡¯ve been groomed from a very young age to seed my father as heir of the family and our business. It¡¯s also my life-long goal to continue my father¡¯s legacy and make the Longs prosper under my leadership. However, if it means losing my child and lover, I¡¯d rather give it all up. If I lose you and our son, my life will lose its meaning."

    Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t stop the tears from falling down her eyes anymore. "Are you telling the truth?"

    "Yes." He reached over and wiped her tears gently with his fingers. "Ying Yue, do you love me?"

    Tears continued to fall down her face. Everyone was silent. It was not only Long Hui who was waiting for her answer. The others had been eavesdropping on their conversation since the beginning.

    "Y-yes..."

    Long Hui froze only for a moment before joy filled his face. "Say it, Ying Yue."

    "Long Hui..."

    "Call me Hui."

    "H-hui...I l-love you..."

    Long Hui threw his head back andughed out loud. It was a sound of pure joy and triumph. Then he pulled Jiang Ying Yue in his arms, embracing her tightly, as if afraid that she would run away again if he ever let her go.

    She stiffened when he hugged her, but then quickly melted as she felt his touch once again. Her arms wrapped around him, and she buried her face against his chest. She could hear Dom cheering and pping in the background. She felt a little embarrassed but didn¡¯t want to care anymore.

    "Thank you, Ying Yue. I promise I won¡¯t let you and our son down," Long Hui whispered to her.

 Chapter 322 - Gladly Step In

    <h4>Chapter 322 - dly Step In </h4>

    Long Hui coaxed Jiang Ying Yue to lift her head so that they were looking directly at each other¡¯s eyes. Then he lowered his head and kissed her on the lips. She clutched onto him and surrendered herself to the kiss.

    It was as if they never separated. The skin-to-skin contact instantly reignited the dormant fire of desire within them. Their bodies certainly remembered their hunger for each other.

    "Mommi?" A child¡¯s voice interrupted them from their passionate haze.

    As the mother, Jiang Ying Yue was very sensitive to her son¡¯s every sound and need. Even though it was difficult to do so, she pulled herself away from Long Hui and ended their kiss. Then she quickly went into mother mode.

    "Hello, Little Jun. Sorry. Did we wake you up?" She walked over to him and carried the sleepy toddler.

    Little Jun rubbed his eyes with his cute little fists. He squinted at Long Hui. "Dada?"

    It took him longer to recover from the delicious kiss. But when he did, he also went into father mode. "Yes, Little Jun. It¡¯s me. Daddy¡¯s here. Come."

    "Dada!" Little Jun stretched his little arms and struggled in his mother¡¯s arms to get to his father.

    Long Hui chuckled as he took his son from Jiang Ying Yue. He repeatedly kissed the child¡¯s soft and chubby cheeks. He felt so happy today. It was the best New Year that he ever experienced in his life so far.

    "Yay! Congrats, Big Brother Boss & Big Sis Yue!" Dom told them, pping his hands excitedly.

    Long Hui grinned. He looked joyful and smug at the same time. In his happiness, he had already forgotten about the ordeal he faced earlier during the Long family banquet when almost everyone was criticizing him for the press conference. He was so happy that he didn¡¯t notice the faint uneasiness in Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s eyes.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao also gave them their best wishes.

    As a fellow woman and perhaps because they had grown closer, Iris sensed Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s unease. Although she didn¡¯t give a whit about the rtionship between Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue, she wanted what was best for her godson.

    The two getting back together was definitely the ideal situation for Little Jun. That was why Iris was curious about why there was still some hesitation in Jiang Ying Yue, even though she gave Long Hui another chance for them to try again just now.

    However curious she was, Iris refrained from prying. Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui should solve their rtionship problems on their own. If this was before, Iris would¡¯ve already asked Jiang Ying Yue directly what was the matter, but she was in a rtionship right now as well.

    She personally didn¡¯t like other people interfering with her rtionship with Jin Liwei. In the same way, she figured it would be disrespectful to pry or interfere with Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui¡¯s rtionship. The two should figure things out by themselves.

    As long as Little Jun was happy and safe, Iris didn¡¯t care what happened to Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui, whether they ended up staying together or separating once again. It was cold of Iris, yes, but the two were both adults.

    Their problem wasn¡¯t her problem. But if the problem affected Little Jun in a negative way, then it would be her problem. Nobody should mess with her godson.

    She was already feeling annoyed when Meimei told her earlier how the other members of the Long family were treating Long Hui during the banquet because they disapproved of him publicly iming Little Jun as his son. She had no interest or whatsoever in the Long family at all. Maintaining good rtions with Long Tengfei and Long Hui was already enough for her.

    But if those Longs started giving trouble to her godson, she didn¡¯t mind reorganizing and even doing some purging in that family to make it more livable for Little Jun.

    Hopefully, it wouldn¡¯t need toe to that point. As for Long Hui, even though he made that emotional deration of giving up his heir position for Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun, Iris wasn¡¯t sure if he really could do that. He was born and raised to be an heir. It was part of his identity. Could he really give it up without any regrets?

    Even Iris was doubtful if he could stay strong enough to face all the pressure from the elders and the other members of the Long family. Only time would tell if he could stand by his words. She hoped that he would also be strong enough to protect Little Jun.

    If not, then she would dly step in. She would show no mercy to anyone foolish enough to hurt her godson. And she knew that Jin Liwei also felt the same way.

    ###

    Both Lu Zihao and Long Hui nned to sleep over at the mansion because it was already veryte. Lu Zihao had his own designated room in the mansion from before, so he just directly headed there. As for Long Hui, he attached himself to Jiang Ying Yue, intending to sleep with her in the same room.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt awkward. She nced at Iris and Jin Liwei, waiting for them to offer Long Hui a separate guest bedroom. However, both Iris and Jin Liwei pretended not to notice her.

    Instead, Jin Liwei took Little Jun from Long Hui. The toddler was sleeping soundly once again. Long Hui didn¡¯t try to stop Jin Liwei from taking his son like usual. He actually felt grateful because he knew that his sister and her fianc¨¦ were helping him. They were giving him a chance to romance hisdy for tonight, so of course he wasn¡¯t going to waste it!

    "The bed in your room is not very big. Three people won¡¯t fit therefortably, so Little Jun will be sleeping with me and Liwei in our room tonight. Our bed is many times bigger than yours," Iris gave them thisme excuse.

    Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly tried to refute her. "Actually, I think we three can fit¡ª"

    Long Hui interrupted her by talking to Iris at the same time. "Oh, is that so? I see. We¡¯ll have to bother you then, little sister. Please take care of our son tonight. Come, Ying Yue. Don¡¯t worry about Little Jun. He¡¯s in safe hands with his godparents."

    "I..."

    "Goodnight and Happy New Year," Iris told them before leaving with her darling, godson and two cats.

    "Ehehe. Goodnight!" Dom waggled his eyebrows at Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue before scurrying to his own room as well.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s face was burning red when everyone else left, leaving only the two of them.

    Long Hui nuzzled her ear before whispering, "Come, my sweet Ying Yue. It¡¯s time for bed."

 Chapter 323 - Just Getting Started

    <h4>Chapter 323 - Just Getting Started </h4>

    Anticipation and desire simmered inside Jiang Ying Yue. It had been so long. Their separation only made her yearn for Long Hui more. However, she also felt nervous and awkward.

    As for Long Hui, he couldn¡¯t wait any longer. He missed his Ying Yue so much! While she was still distracted by her thoughts while they walked to her room, he suddenly carried her like a princess. He strained a little because she seemed to have gained a bit of weight than he remembered. He didn¡¯t mind, though. For him, she was still as beautiful and sexy as always.

    "Where?" he asked, his voice husky.

    She pointed the way. When they finally entered the bedroom and locked the door behind them, he gently put her back on her own feet. She quickly dimmed off the lights, feeling shy at the intense way he was looking at her.

    Reaching over, he touched her face with his hands, stroking her soft skin with his fingers. He gazed at her for so long that Jiang Ying Yue began to feel self-conscious. However, she also couldn¡¯t stop herself from gazing back at him. Both of them could sense each other¡¯s desire.

    His hands moved down from her face, to her neck and then shoulders before pulling her into his embrace. She lifted her head up, offering her lips to him. Of course he dly epted her offer. He dipped his head and imed her mouth, kissing her.

    The kiss was slow and sensual at first. Then it gradually became deeper, more intense...hungrier.

    Their hands touched all over each other¡¯s bodies through their clothes. It was obvious from their desperate movements that they wanted so much more.

    Long Hui broke the kiss. His eyes were dark, wild and slightly crazed when he looked at her. "Ying Yue, can I?"

    Desire fogged her mind. Her entire body was screaming for him, but a small part of her brain warned her not to give in so easily. It reminded her of the hurt, fear and humiliation she went through....

    "Ying Yue?" he asked her again while stroking her wet lips with his thumb.

    Just this simple touch of his made the fire inside her burn more fiercely. She allowed it to drown the bad memories and negative feelings trying to destroy this wonderful moment.

    "Yes!" she replied before she could change her mind.

    He didn¡¯t need to hear anything more. The word barely left her lips when his hungry mouth descended upon her again, washing away all of her doubts for tonight. She could worry again tomorrow or some other time, but tonight she wanted to be one with him again. Her arms wrapped around his neck and responded to his kiss with everything she got.

    Groaning, he continued to kiss her while his hands started divesting her of her clothes. When he removed her shirt and then her bra, she tried covering her body. She felt shy and a bit insecure because her body had changed after giving birth.

    However, Long Hui caught her hands and held them away. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her nude upper body. Her breasts wererger and fuller than how he remembered them. She also had more curves for him to enjoy touching. She was a delightful mixture of soft and hard with all of her muscles that he loved so much. She was so beautiful! So sexy!

    He released her hands and quickly covered her soft mounds with his hands. He started kneading her breasts, eliciting a moan from her. His head dove and caught one of her nipples with his mouth, sucking her hard.

    "Ah!" Jiang Ying Yue closed her eyes and pressed her chest harder against him. Her hands held his head, stroking his hair while also pulling him closer to herself.

    They fell to the bed in a flurry of wild movements, kissing and touching each other. It was like they were possessed. They couldn¡¯t even remember how they took off all of their clothes. All they could think about was relieving the ache they had for each other.

    Long Hui¡¯s hand moved downward until it touched the apex between her thighs. He sucked in a sharp breath when he felt her wet heat. She was dripping and it was all for him. His hand rubbed her all over, making her hips jerk. He watched her face as she moaned in pleasure. Then he inserted a finger inside her, making her cry out in pleasure.

    He moved his finger inside her slowly in and out a few times before inserting another finger. He sped up while his thumb rubbed her button of pleasure like crazy.

    "Oh! Hui, oh no. Oh yes! Yes!!!"

    Her body stiffened and she cried out in a loud, hoarse voice, squeezing his fingers inside of her. He swallowed the rest of cries and moans while sweeping his tongue inside her mouth.

    After her orgasm, he sucked his hand dripping with her juices. She tasted so good. His erection twitched, leaking a little.

    She wrapped her hand around his hard length and began stroking him. However, he stopped her after just a few moments.

    "I want to...no, I NEED to be inside you right now," he growled.

    "Yes... I need you too, Hui. Please..."

    He quickly moved between her legs, spreading them wider. He positioned his erection on the entrance of her waiting heat, and then mmed deep inside her.

    "Ah!" Jiang Ying Yue reached over to him, pulling him down on top of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

    He groaned, his eyes almost rolling back inside his head. So good! The best! He fit so perfectly inside of her. This was where he belonged, inside her.

    cing his elbows by her shoulders and using them to support his weight, he began thrusting inside her. They quickly found a rhythm, working together to increase their mutual pleasure. She wrapped her legs around his waist. This changed the angle a bit, and he was able to hit her deeper inside.

    "Oh, Hui! Yes. Give me more..."

    He obeyed, pumping his hips faster and harder. He lowered himself until their chests were pressing against each other. She didn¡¯t mind his weight on top of her. In fact, she loved it. She wasn¡¯t fragile. She could take it. They kissed desperately, as his thrusts became even more frenzied.

    The pleasure inside them intensified, building and climbing until they couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Jiang Ying Yue was the first one to reach her climax. Her body went stiff, crying out again and again.

    Long Hui could feel her contractions squeezing him tightly and deliciously. It sent him over the edge. He stiffened and poured his release inside of her.

    When both of them calmed down, Long Hui slid out of her. His abundant release poured out soon after. Feeling smug at the sight, he rubbed it all over her entrance, making it even wetter.

    Then hey down beside her, pulling her to his chest. He kissed her head, a big smile on his face.

    "Hui..."

    "Hm?"

    "We forgot to use protection..." Her voice was soft and weak, still not fully recovered from their activity.

    Of course he didn¡¯t use protection. They didn¡¯t need it! He would love to give Little Jun a sibling. However, he didn¡¯t say it to her. Instead he told her, "Oh. I didn¡¯t bring any condoms with me. I¡¯ll pull outter. Don¡¯t worry."

    "Later?"

    "Yeah." He smirked at her. "My sweet Ying Yue, we¡¯re just getting started."

    They made love until the crack of dawn. They felt exhausted yet satisfied at the same time. If possible, they didn¡¯t want to stop. They missed each other so much. However, sleep finally overcame them.

    Jiang Ying Yue was too preupied by pleasure that she failed to notice that Long Hui never pulled out of her even once like he promised. He released everything inside her.

 Chapter 324 - Back To Work

    <h4>Chapter 324 - Back To Work </h4>

    The Spring Festival holidays finally ended. All the people returned to their regr lives. The children went back to school while the adults returned to work.

    Of course, Iris and Jin Liwei were no exception. In fact, they had no time to adjust, immediately diving back to their busy and heavy workloads.

    Iris began shooting various ads for the endorsements she signed before the Spring Festival. This included the ad for Lin Yehan¡¯s premium teapany.

    Actually, some of the offers she epted were withdrawn by thepanies when the tabloid scandal about her having a love child with Jin Chonglin hit the news. When it was proven that the scandal was not true, thepanies reoffered the endorsements to her again. However, she rejected them the second time around. She wasn¡¯t interested in endorsingpanies who had so little trust in her character.

    In the end, she ended up with only five endorsements.

    First was Serenity Premium Tea¡ªLin Yehan¡¯spany. Second was Meili Nails. It was the nail polishpany who fought against the rm Girls in court after the trio physically assaulted Mr. Chen¡¯s secretary. Third was for a new phone model. Fourth, an endorsement for high-end earphones and headphones. Andstly, a toothpaste endorsement.

    All of these endorsement deals were worth a total of about 10 million RMB. The initial offers were actually lower, adding up to only about 4 million RMB. Tang Yiyi worked hard in negotiating with thepanies and was able to increase the offers.

    "The day wille when you¡¯ll get a minimum of 10 million per endorsement," Tang Yiyi told her. "So just continue to work hard for now."

    "I will. Thank you for the hard work, Elder Sister Yiyi," Iris said in a sincere tone. "The offers already exceeded my initial expectations. I was expecting to receive about 2 million for all five endorsements."

    "Your expectations are too low. Iris, you¡¯re now one of the hottest celebrities in the country. Although your level of fame is still very far from someone like Jin Chonglin, you have the potential to be a superstar that¡¯ll eclipse him someday. Your showbiz career will definitely be worth more than this 10 million of endorsement deals."

    Iris nodded, grateful for Tang Yiyi.

    While she busied herself with the endorsements, the Bauer siblings finally arrived to the country all the way from Germany. They were here to stay and start working with her on theirpany Orchidia Beauty.

    Amanpio Kileksy also came with them to install the various special equipment he built with Alric Bauer. Iris spent tens of millions of dors before Amanpio and Alric were able toplete building all the equipment. They went through a lot of failed prototypes which cost millions.

    Although Iris had the urge to strangle Amanpio several times for draining so much money, she appreciated his firm belief in using only the highest quality materials. In the end, Alric Bauer told her that the equipment they built were even better than what he originally envisioned.

    Iris helped Alric file several patent applications for all of the equipment. He and Amanpio agreed to share the patents under their names. The two also already agreed to sign an exclusive licence to Orchidia Beauty once the patents were approved.

    Before they arrived in the country, Iris already made preparations. Orchidia Beauty now had ab to develop products, a factory, warehouse and even a smallmercial building which would serve as thepany¡¯s headquarters.

    For amodations, Iris assigned the Bauer siblings to arge unit at Gold Heights Condominium building where her penthouse was located. There were several vacancies after she evicted the residents who colluded with the reporters in hunting down Little Jun.

    As for Amanpio, she allowed him to stay at the penthouse as a guest. She already warned Yi Mei that Amanpio was weird, so the household staff should prepare themselves not to be too shocked by any of his behaviour. She also gave Yi Mei authority to kick him out if he ever disrespected any of them. The guy was a Cross Academy student. He could afford a hotel.

    Iris gave them a few days to adjust to the country and recover from jetg before they started working on their business. It was already registered. She also sessfully secured several ethical sources of high-quality ingredients and other raw materials needed to manufacture their products.

    Lin Yehan had been instrumental in helping Iris connect with local farmers. In fact, Iris already signed Lin Yehan as one of the main producers of some of the ingredients they needed. He owned several farms and ntations after all.

    However, there were still other ingredients and raw materials that they couldn¡¯t get within the country. They had to source them from other countries instead. Shipping costs could get very expensive, especially for a newpany like theirs.

    That was why Iris scheduled an appointment with Long Tengfei. The shipping business was a major part of Long Industries, especially under Long Tengfei¡¯s leadership. She told him that she wanted to discuss a business opportunity with him. Curious, he immediately made time for her.

    A couple of dayster, Iris brought the Bauer siblings, Amanpio Kileksy and her financial manager Qiao Yu for their appointment with Long Tengfei. Since it was Long Industries, Iris didn¡¯t bother putting on a disguise. She just wore sunsses and that was it. Her surname was still Long, after all.

    She wore a tailored yet very chic and feminine business suit with high heels. The Bauer siblings also dressed up in their best business attires. Qiao Yu dressed in his usual ountant outfit. Only Amanpio dressed like he was justzing around in his own home.

    "Hello, good afternoon. Wee to Long Industries," the receptionist greeted them with a warm, professional smile. "How may I help¡ªoh my God! You¡¯re Iris Long!"

    The surrounding people all whipped their heads to their direction after hearing the receptionist¡¯s loud, excited cry. An audible murmur arose from them as they craned their necks to get a better look at Iris.

    "Is it really Iris Long?"

    "Wow. She looks even more beautiful in person."

    "What¡¯s she doing here?"

    "Oh God. Don¡¯t tell me she¡¯s going to start working here."

    "Well, she is the President¡¯s daughter."

    "Are you kidding me? What does she know about working in business?"

    Iris could hear most of what they were saying with her great hearing. However, she didn¡¯t react. She gave a polite smile to the receptionist instead.

    "Oh oh! B-boss Iris...I¡¯m a f-fan! I mean, I¡¯m a ck Star... I love you so much!"

    The receptionist threw away her professionalism out of the window. Faced with Iris Long, all she could feel was awe at seeing her in person.

 Chapter 325 - Proud Father

    <h4>Chapter 325 - Proud Father </h4>

    The receptionist asked Iris for an autograph and a picture with her before her manager arrived and reprimanded her. The manager took over the counter.

    "Miss Long, we¡¯ve already been informed of your appointment with the President. Please follow me."

    The manager led them to the elevators headed to the topmost floor. They encountered several employees who immediately recognized Iris. They had mixed reactions upon seeing her.

    Of course they knew who she was. They knew her not only as a celebrity but also as the youngest daughter of their President-CEO. They also knew about her past reputation as a spoiled brat who was estranged from the Long family. Many of them continued to believe that she was still the difficult princess who brought nothing but trouble to her family. These businesspeople didn¡¯t really think highly of her.

    However, there were a few of them who, like the receptionist from earlier, were ck Stars. They excitedly asked for her autograph and photos with her which she dly obliged.

    Finally, they arrived at the topmost floor. The manager handed them over to Cao Guang who was already waiting for them by the elevator. Cao Guang brought them to Long Tengfei¡¯s office.

    There were other people inside the office besides Long Tengfei. Long Hui was there and another man around Long Tengfei¡¯s age. He introduced himself as thepany¡¯s COO. Their respective assistants were also present, sitting inconspicuously behind their bosses.

    "Father, thank you for granting us an appointment today." Iris was truly grateful to Long Tengfei. She knew that his schedule must be full but he still made time for her.

    He nodded. Looking at the foreign people apanying her, he couldn¡¯t hide the curiosity from showing in his eyes. He wanted to know why exactly she requested an appointment with him. She only told him that it was about a business opportunity.

    If this was before, he wouldn¡¯t bother calling her to thepany, much less inviting the COO and Long Hui, who was currently the Deputy CFO. However, his daughter was now the student of the business legend Lu Jianhong. Long Tengfei figured that if she said that it was a business opportunity, it would really be a business opportunity.

    Long Hui was also curious like Long Tengfei when he was called to join the meeting.

    As for the other man, the COO, it was understandable that he wasn¡¯t very happy. He thought that Long Tengfei was abusing his power as the President-CEO just to spoil his younger daughter who was known as a brat and a troublemaker. He didn¡¯t appreciate being called to leave his mountain of work just to join a meeting involving a young celebrity who didn¡¯t know anything about the business industry.

    "Miss Long, as you requested, we prepared a projector for you. Is there anything else that you need?" Cao Guang asked her.

    "No, thank you," Iris replied.

    She quickly connected herptop to the projector. The Bauer siblings also opened the suitcase they brought and pulled out samples of skincare products.

    Amanpio Kileksky watched hispanions busying themselves while he just sat there munching on the biscuits prepared as refreshments. He acted like he was in his own living room. But he quickly got bored after only a few moments. He stood up and started walking around the entire office, checking out the books and knick-knacks from the shelves without permission.

    Iris only gave him a nce before telling Long Tengfei, "Don¡¯t mind him. He¡¯s just a weird person."

    Momentster, their set-up was finallyplete.

    On the projector screen, a beautiful logo was disyed. It was of an orchid blossom which also looked like a silhouette of a female face. Then written below it were the words Orchidia Beauty.

    Irismissioned Meimei to make the logo.

    Everyone became even more curious after seeing it.

    "Hello, everyone. Thank you for your time. My name is Iris Long and I¡¯m the founder, owner and President of Orchidia Beauty. We are a skincarepany. Here with me are the original developers of the product. This is Alric Bauer and his sister Alona Bauer. They came all the way from Germany."

    The siblings greeted Long Tengfei and the others in ented English.

    Iris continued. "And the weird guy snooping over there is Amanpio Kileksky, an inventor who has several patents under his name. He helped us build several special equipment we need to make the forms of our products. He¡¯s also my fellow student at Cross Academy."

    Several loud gasps could be heard from the room.

    "What?!" The COO¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his head.

    His assistant and Long Hui¡¯s assistant also looked shocked.

    "Did I hear you correctly? Did you just say Cross Academy? Ahaha. I think I¡¯m getting old. I¡¯m starting to mishear things..." The COOughed awkwardly.

    "No. You¡¯re not mishearing things. My daughter is a student of Cross Academy, that legendary school for geniuses," Long Tengfei told his colleague with a proud expression on his face. It felt so good to brag about his daughter!

    "W-what..." The COO looked dazed.

    Iris didn¡¯t give him any time to recover his wits. She immediatelyunched into her business presentation. She described her business and its current progress so far. Of course, the star of thepany were the products themselves. The Bauer siblings distributed the samples to everyone in the room to try.

    "All the ingredients and materials we use in our products are 100% pure and natural. In order to make them into the forms, they undergo chemical changes through naturally urring biological processes, never synthetic ones. Alric and Amanpio have developed technology and equipment to make these processes more effective and refined. The patents for their technology are already pending for approval. This means that we are the only one in the world at the moment who use this technology to make our products."

    The COO¡¯s dazed eyes started to clear as he listened more of Iris¡¯ presentation. He was very impressed by her confidence, eloquence, and just her overall bearing in presenting her business in clear and direct to the point manner. Her exnations were very thorough yet also easy to understand.

    As for Long Tengfei, he could barely contain his pride from showing on his face. It was taking all of his effort not burst into loud cheers at how amazing his daughter was performing in front of them.

 Chapter 326 - Important Lesson

    <h4>Chapter 326 - Important Lesson </h4>

    "We came here today because we want to use Long Industries¡¯ excellent shipping services to import some of our ingredients and raw materials that we have to source from overseas," Iris finally mentioned her purpose for asking for their audience. "Not only that. We are also hoping for Long Industries to be our shipping partner in delivering our products to our long-distance customers domestically and internationally when we reach that point in our business."

    Impressed by the presentation, the COO had now entered business mode. "Miss Long, may I ask a few questions before we discuss your request?"

    "Of course. Please go ahead and ask away."

    It wasn¡¯t only the COO who began asking questions. Even Long Tengfei and Long Hui did. They were all serious in asking about various aspects of Orchidia Beauty. Iris was also very serious in answering their questions.

    When it came to the products themselves, she allowed the Bauer siblings to answer the questions and to exin the details more fully. The siblings spoke in German, so Iris became their trantor.

    It only made the COO and everyone else more impressed by her.

    Qiao Yu also had the chance to speak when the discussion reached the financial situation of thepany. He was temporarily handling Orchidia Beauty¡¯s finances until Iris found a suitable person to serve as thepany¡¯s CFO.

    Amanpio Kileksky was also called over to answer some questions about the technology he developed with Alric. He spoke in English. Iris didn¡¯t need to trante because everyone in the room knew English. He assured everyone that the technology they developed was not something that anyone could easily replicate.

    "With my name on the application forms, I¡¯m sure that our patents will get approved soon. I always have patent pending because I invent a lot of things," he boasted. "Besides, if anyone dares try replicating my technology with Alric, we¡¯ll just sue the crap out of them! Then we¡¯ll get more money to develop even more advanced technology that they won¡¯t be able to keep up with us. Ahaha!"

    Long Tengfei and the othersughed at his words, thinking that he was joking. Iris, however, nodded in agreement with Amanpio. Both of them were serious. As if they would allow anyone to replicate the technology Amanpio and Alric developed. It was a given that Amanpio wouldn¡¯t allow it because he was the inventor. Iris also wouldn¡¯t allow it because she spent such a huge amount of money in the development of those technology.

    Finally, they started the negotiations for the shipping services.

    "I would like to get a discounted price of 95% off for shipping domestically, 93% off for Asian locations and 90% off for other parts of the world," Iris asked with a straight face.

    Everyone¡¯s jaw dropped, except for Long Tengfei who looked amused.

    "I think you mean you¡¯ll pay 95% for domestic shipping, so it should be 5% off," the CEO said.

    "No. I meant exactly what I said. It¡¯s 95% off, so I¡¯ll only need to pay 5%," Iris insisted.

    "Xin! Are you joking?" As the Deputy CFO, Long Hui couldn¡¯t take it any longer. "What a ridiculous demand! You might as well ask for the shipping services to be free!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "First of all, it¡¯s not a demand. It¡¯s my opening asking price which is open for negotiation. Second of all, yes, I already thought about asking for the shipping services to be free. After all, I¡¯m the daughter of Father who is the President-CEO of Long Industries. I think that it¡¯s only natural that I get the shipping services for free. However, I¡¯m being nice and considerate by asking for a discount instead."

    "You!" Long Hui was speechless.

    This was one of the most important business lessons she learned from Grandpa Lu.

    ¡¯Don¡¯t be afraid to be shameless, especially in front of family. They¡¯ll still love you, anyway. Bahahaha!¡¯

    Iris took Grandpa Lu¡¯s lesson to heart. She could almost hear his booming voice when he taught it to her. Shamelessness, she learned, was also an important skill in business.

    "Huh? What¡¯s happening? What are you talking about? They don¡¯t want to ept your asking price?" Amanpio suddenly interrupted, asking her in English. "I told you that it¡¯s better if we just use the academy¡¯swork!"

    "The academy offers only 50% discount. I want at least 90%. I can only get that rate from family," she replied.

    "Aren¡¯t you friends with AJ Zheneres? You can just negotiate with her to increase the discount. Her influence in handling the academy¡¯s business is growing by the day. I¡¯m sure that if she requests in your stead, the admins will give in because she¡¯s making the academy so much money with her golden touch."

    "Hmm..." Iris thought about Amanpio¡¯s suggestion carefully.

    "Or maybe just ask that fianc¨¦ of yours. If he really loves you, he¡¯ll give you the shipping services for free!"

    A lovely smile lifted the corner of her lips. "You¡¯re right. I¡¯m sure he will. But I won¡¯t. I don¡¯t want to use him like that for my own benefit before we¡¯re married."

    "Huh? What are you saying? Aren¡¯t you using your father¡¯spany for your own benefit?" Amanpio said.

    "But he¡¯s my father. I¡¯m allowed to do this and it¡¯ll still be eptable. After all, I¡¯m his daughter."

    "Well, yeah. You¡¯re right, I guess," he mumbled.

    "What do you mean it¡¯s eptable?" Long Hui interjected. "It¡¯s not. Xin, your asking price is too much. We¡¯ll give you a family discount for sure but not anything above 90%."

    "What¡¯s your counter offer then? 89% off?" Iris¡¯ shamelessness continued.

    "Y-you..." Long Hui had to take a few deep breaths to calm his exasperation.

    The COO was about to mediate when Long Tengfei spoke with his authority as the President-CEO of Long Industries.

    "No need for any negotiations. Long Industries will be Orchidia Beauty¡¯s shipping partner. Your request for the following discounts will also be granted: 95% off domestically, 93% off in Asia, and 90% off in other countries. President Long Xin, do we have a deal?"

    A bright smile broke out of Iris¡¯ face. "Yes, President Long Tengfei. We have a deal."

    The father and daughter stood up and shook hands, symbolically sealing the business deal.

 Chapter 327 - In The Name Of Our Noble Family

    <h4>Chapter 327 - In The Name Of Our Noble Family </h4>

    "Father!" Long Hui began to protest against Long Tengfei¡¯s decision. "Isn¡¯t this too much? Ourpany won¡¯t make any money with this deal. We¡¯ll have to incur losses instead!"

    "Son, I¡¯m the President-CEO of Long Industries. And Xin is my daughter and your sister. Long Industries is, in its very essence, a family business. She is family. I don¡¯t n on making money off of my own daughter." Long Tengfei said these words in a light tone but the impact was heavy.

    Long Hui could only back off and sigh.

    After Iris and Long Tengfei¡¯s handshake, the others joined in.

    The Bauer siblings looked delighted that the deal was sessful, while Amanpio Kileksky looked relieved that that the meeting was finally over. He was already feeling very bored.

    As for the COO, he was extremely impressed by Iris Long. So this was the President¡¯s youngest daughter. Rumours shouldn¡¯t be really believed. What good-for-nothing? The youngdy obviously had a knack for business, not to mention that she was a Cross Academy student! This alone was enough to impress him for several lifetimes.

    She was also a force to be reckoned with in the negotiation table. He could only chuckle remembering the way she shamelesslyid down the ridiculous discount rates she wanted with a straight face. Her way of doing business reminded him of a certain legend whom businesspeople like him looked up to.

    The COO was also inwardlyughing at the ones who were still thinking that the Young Miss Xin was the most useless member of the Long family. How could a Cross Academy student be useless? Other people had no idea that she was actually the most brilliant among President Long¡¯s children.

    ¡¯It seems that the most worthy to inherit the throne isn¡¯t the crown prince as everyone thinks, but the youngest princess instead who everyone keeps on overlooking and underestimating,¡¯ he thought to himself.

    ###

    Later that day, the news about the Young Miss Xin having a meeting at Long Industries spread among the members of the Long family. They heard that she came with the financial manager Qiao Yu and a bunch of foreigners.

    This alone wouldn¡¯t have bothered them if it weren¡¯t for the fact that Long Tengfei also called Long Industries¡¯ COO and Long Hui (Deputy CFO) to join the meeting. Although they still didn¡¯t know the full specifics, they heard that she got a one-sided business deal with Long Industries. One-sided because it would only benefit her, not Long Industries.

    They wasted no time ridiculing her among themselves. They were especially disgruntled at Long Tengfei for showing obvious favouritism for his daughter who they thought didn¡¯t deserve to get anything from Long Industries.

    "That¡¯s why that child is so spoiled! Tengfei hands everything to her in a silver tter! Ever since the establishment of thepany, the main family has had a tight hold of its control. They don¡¯t allow all the Long rtives to work in thepany, only hiring the most capable ones. All of us from the branch families need to work hard just to be qualified to work for our own family business, and yet that spoiled brat only needed to sweet-talk her father. Unbelievable!" Long Jufangined among the members of his own branch family.

    "But Grandfather, it doesn¡¯t seem like Cousin Xin will be working at Long Industries. I heard that she only got a business deal, not a position," one of his grandsonsmented.

    "And you think that¡¯s better? How na?ve, boy! The business deal that she got is reportedly disadvantageous for thepany. It¡¯s like a gift from Tengfei himself without expecting anything in return. Meaning, she got it for free without working for it just because she¡¯s thepany head¡¯s daughter. Giving her a position on the other hand, while still dubious because of herck of qualifications, is still within the realm of eptability. She has to at least work for thepany and prove to everyone that she deserves the position given to her. Now you see the difference?" Long Jufang exined to her grandson.

    "Oh. I see. That really is unfair." The grandson was still in middle school, so he still didn¡¯t understand theplicatedness of the family politics and business. "Even Cousin Hui has to work hard and he¡¯s the heir."

    "Exactly. Hmph! Speaking of that cousin of yours, he¡¯s been making a lot of stupid decisionstely. Maybe because he¡¯s been spending so much time with Xin. This is what he gets for getting close to his good-for-nothing youngest sister. If he continues to walk this downhill path, our noble Long family will deteriorate when it¡¯s time for him to seed."

    Long Jufang looked genuinely concerned about the family¡¯s future. It was just that his version of the ideal future was still stuck in the valuesmonly upheld in ancient times.

    His children, their spouses and grandchildren all nodded their heads in agreement with him. He was the head of this branch family. All of them were very proud of their aristocratic origins. All of the daughters from this branch family refused to marry into their husbands¡¯ families. Instead, the husbands married into the family, preserving their Long lineage.

    "But I hear that Xin has been very good and sensibletely," his daughter-inw said. "What if she really changed and has be responsible? Can¡¯t we give her a chance? At the end of the day, she still has the blood of the Longs flowing in her veins."

    "If that¡¯s the case, then good!" Long Jufang immediately replied. "But she really has to change her old ways and rediscover the pride of having Long blood within her. If she¡¯s really serious about reintegrating into the family, she should quit showbiz and that low ss career of hers. If she can be a proper youngdy fit for our noble Long family, then all of us will wee her back with open arms."

    "You¡¯re right, Father," his son said. "If Xin can just fix herself, then it¡¯s definitely good news for our family. If for some reason Hui is unable to seed the family and the business, I¡¯d rather have her as the next head than those illegitimate children of Cousin Tengfei."

    "Exactly!" Long Jufang scowled at the mention of Long Tengfei¡¯s illegitimate children. "It¡¯s such a disgrace allowing those bastards to work at our family business! I heard that Tengfei will be promoting that bastard son of his to work at the mainpany in a few months. Unbelievable! And his bastard daughter will also start working at a branch division after she graduates from university this summer."

    "But Father, Cousin Tengfei¡¯s other son and daughter are very smart and capable. Both of them are top of their sses and are rather popr among their peers. They also behave well when we meet them during family gatherings," his daughter-inw said.

    Long Jufang snorted. "So what if they¡¯re all that? No matter how many times you flip the world upside down, those children will still be illegitimate. They¡¯re the shame of our noble Long family. Although Tengfei announced to everyone that he¡¯ll change his will if any of his other children prove themselves to be more capable than Hui, I would never allow an illegitimate child of his to seed. Over my dead body! If either Hui or Xin are unable to seed their father, then our branch family will just have to take over and be the main family instead! If it¡¯s for the best interests of our family and to make our noble Long name flourish again, our branch family will dly take this burden upon our shoulders."

    Everyone nodded, their expressions grave. They acted as if it was a great sacrifice on their part if their branch family were to take over as head of the entire Long n. But deep within their hearts, the desire for control and power burned a little hotter.

 Chapter 328 - Music Awards

    <h4>Chapter 328 - Music Awards </h4>

    Showbiz became busier and more exciting at this time of the year. Everyone was preparing for the awards season. First up was the biggest and the most recognized music awards in the country, Harmony Music Awards.

    When the nominations were finally announced, everyone was surprised and amazed by someone whose name appeared several times in the lists.

    Iris Long was nominated for a grand total of nine different categories. She turned out to be the most nominated artist for the music awards this year. She actually exceeded Jin Chonglin who had eight nominations, making him the second most nominated this year.

    In fact, the two of them were directpetitors. They were nominated in four of the same award categories. These four were considered to be the most important and most sought-after in the music awards¡ªnamely, Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Music Video.

    It was no wonder that their respective fans were going crazy.

    The ck Stars almost couldn¡¯t contain themselves in their delight and excitement. Although they weren¡¯t surprised that their Boss Iris was nominated for the music awards, they didn¡¯t expect her to receive so many nominations. They felt so proud of her.

    Simrly, Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were happy for their Prince Lin Lin¡¯s nominations. They didn¡¯t mind that someone got more nominations than him. To them, eight nominations were already awesome. Even though Jin Chonglin was a familiar face at the music awards every year, they still supported him every single time that he was nominated throughout the years.

    In addition to the music awards¡¯ official categories in which the winners would be decided by a voting council, there were also special awards. These were called the people¡¯s choice awards because the winners were decided by fan votes.

    Iris Long was included in the Most Popr Female Artist ranking, while Jin Chonglin was in the Most Popr Male Artist.

    Unlike the regr categories in which the nominees were carefully selected, the people¡¯s choice awards were free-for-all. Anyone could nominate (a.k.a. add) just about any names they liked to the nominee list. The organizers only monitored the list to remove anyone who was ineligible¡ªmeaning, those who weren¡¯t musicians.

    Leading the Most Popr Male Artist ranking with the most votes was, unsurprisingly, Jin Chonglin. He already won the same award five times in the past. He won thest three titles in a row with thetest one being justst year. The other two, he won during the early period of his career.

    As for the Most Popr Female Artist ranking, Iris Long was going up and down the second and the third positions. Her opponents were more popr and more established singers than her. They also had bigger fan clubs, formed throughout the years of their careers. Compared to them, the ck Stars were only formed very recently.

    Despite this, the ck Stars refused to give up. They voted with all their might, using different devices. They asked their families, friends, coworkers and even strangers on the streets to vote for their Boss Iris. With their efforts, Iris stabilized her position in second ce.

    However, the ck Stars were still unsatisfied. They wanted their boss to win this award. Fortunately, the Pandemonium fans also gave their full support to Iris. As a result, Iris¡¯ name began to close the gap with the popr singer-actress at the number 1 position.

    Thepetition in the Most Popr Female Artist ranking was extremely fierce. On the other hand, the Most Popr Male Artist ranking was without any suspense. Barring any miracles from happening, the award would most likely go to Jin Chonglin again this year.

    From the fans to the artists themselves, everyone was busy working hard for the uing music awards.

    Who would be the winners? Who would be the losers?

    These questions could only be answered during the award ceremony itself.

    ###

    It was drizzling on the day of the music awards. The sky was grey, the sun barely shining through the thick clouds. Nevertheless, countless fans still braved the wet and slightly cold weather just for a glimpse of their favourite celebrities on the red carpet.

    When the fans started screaming behind the barricades, everyone knew that the stars had begun arriving. Famous and not so famous musicians began posing for the cameras. Among them were the nominees, of course, who all received loud cheers and well wishes from everyone.

    Other celebrities also arrived, from models, actors and actresses to directors and producers, and other TV and movie personalities. Some of the most popr social media influencers also received invitations to walk the red carpet. A few socialites also attended. Some came by themselves, while others came as partners of the invited celebrities.

    "Kyaaaah! Prince Lin Lin, we love you! Please win all eight awards that you¡¯re nominated for!"

    The screams from Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans when he finally arrived on the red carpet was deafening. The other celebrities and guests still posing on the red carpet all turned their heads to his direction.

    Jin Chonglin arrived in a gorgeous tailored pinkish-grey suit. There were only a few men in the world who could pull off such a bold choice of unusual colour for a suit and still look hot and manly. Jin Chonglin certainly rocked it, overshadowing the other men on the red carpet.

    His army of fans were going crazy calling his name and screaming for him. He posed for the photos before taking the time to interact with his fans in person.

    "Good luck, Prince Lin Lin. We hope that you win tonight! We¡¯ll support you all the way!"

    "Thank you, everyone. I love you all," he told them in a loud voice before throwing a wink and a flying kiss at them.

    Many fainted in overexcitement as a result of his words and actions.

    Before he returned to posing for the cameras on the red carpet, his eyes caught a distinct group among the crowd behind the barricades. They all wore ck suits, looking like triad members instead of fans. There was an organized and disciplined air among them which other fan clubscked.

    "The ck Stars, huh..." Jin Chonglin muttered.

    Suddenly, their polite expressions transformed into excited ones. Then they began screaming at the top of their lungs.

    "Boss Iris!"

 Chapter 329 - Bombshell

    <h4>Chapter 329 - Bombshell </h4>

    Iris walked the red carpet together with JJ.

    She wore a long, fitted qipao-style sleeveless red dress that entuated her hourss figure. The dress red below her thighs in a mermaid skirt that swept elegantly around her feet. There were golden lotus floral patterns embroidered throughout the dress and sparkling crystals on her neckline and chest area like dewdrops.

    A fluffy white faux fur cape wrapped around her shoulders to protect her from the cold while on the red carpet. Her hair was arranged in a ssic chignon, ented by a delicate gold leaf hair piece. She carried a red fan with an image of a flying golden dragon painted on it.

    With her red lips, gorgeous outfit and graceful bearing, she looked like a queen. Everyone couldn¡¯t stop themselves from staring at her. All of the cameras pointed at her, the shes making the crystals on her dress and her jewelry, especially her diamond ring, glitter like stars in a red sky.

    "Damn! She¡¯s so beautiful," a male celebrity eximed in the middle of his interview on the red carpet.

    Just like everybody else, Jin Chonglin was also dazed at seeing her. He couldn¡¯t tear his eyes away from her. Then his gaze fell on the diamond ring on her finger, effectively reminding him that the woman was engaged to his own brother. It jolted him out of his brief trance.

    Iris posed for the cameras with JJ. Some of the cameramen requested for Iris to pose solo. JJ harrumphed for a bit before leaving her side to have her solo moment with the wildly shing cameras. She gave them several ssy poses, ying with her fan to give them a variety of shots.

    Afterwards, she made her way to the ck Stars, instantly identifying them by their conspicuous suits among the normally dressed people around them. She met Jin Chonglin along the way.

    "Beautiful Sister Xin, you look like a bride with that red dress of yours," he told her.

    Her brows raised before chuckling in amusement. "Ah, maybe that¡¯s why my fianc¨¦ insisted that I choose this dress design for tonight. So that¡¯s why. Well, my darling has good taste. Don¡¯t you agree, Brother Chonglin?"

    Jin Chonglin scowled for only a second before catching himself. His famous smile returned to his face. Ah, that was dangerous. If the cameras caught that negative expression on his face, there would surely be another tabloid scandal involving him and her the next day.

    He was smiling on the outside but on the inside, he grumbled. What the hell was this? She wasn¡¯t even with his brother right now, yet he was still being force-fed with dog food! These lovers¡¯ sweetness to each other would kill others from overdose one day. And he might just be the first casualty.

    The two went on their separate ways after only a brief conversation. If they talked for a bit longer, tongues would begin wagging and specting about their rtionship.

    Actually, it was already toote. The LinRis shippers among the crowd was already mentally writing romantic fan fiction about them.

    After interacting with the ck Stars, Iris returned beside JJ. They granted some short interviews on the red carpet before finally entering the multi-purpose arena where the music awards would be held tonight.

    It was at that moment that a series of audible gasps arose from the crowd. The next person to walk the red carpet was someone they thought would never attend the music awards.

    Jin Liwei swept his cold eyes across everyone. Disinterest and disappointment turned his eyes even colder when he didn¡¯t find the one person he wanted to see the most. It seemed that he missed his baby girl on the red carpet. No matter. He would see herter during the awards ceremony.

    The organizers immediately hurried to wee him. They looked very excited and eager to please. This was the first time that Jin Liwei epted their invitation to attend the music awards. They invited him every year, but he rejected them every single time.

    Jin Liwei posed briefly for the cameras. His cold and indifferent aura made the surrounding people behave and bring out their best manners. All of thedies (and thedies at heart) sighed in awe at his handsomeness and oozing masculinity. Even the men couldn¡¯t help but admire his regal and powerful aura. His sharp suit only magnified his attractiveness.

    Everyone was very surprised that he attended this year¡¯s music awards. They all thought that he came to support his brother, Jin Chonglin, who was nominated for eight awards. Too bad that someone got more nominations than him. Nevertheless, they were confident that Jin Chonglin was going to win the most awards tonight.

    A reporter mustered up all of her courage and called out to Jin Liwei. "Mr. Jin! C-can you answer some questions from us?"

    Her fellow reporters and the cameramen all froze and held their breaths. They didn¡¯t have much hope as Jin Liwei never had patience for trivial interviews. He only granted interviews when they were about business.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded and walked in front of the reporter who called out to him.

    "A-ah?" The poor reporter¡¯s mind went nk at his sudden close proximity to her.

    Another reporter asked instead, "Mr. Jin, are you granting us an interview?"

    "En." He nodded again. "Be quick."

    All the media representatives immediately left their original spots and swarmed around Jin Liwei. They started throwing questions at him like excited, salivating dogs.

    The celebrities they were interviewing could only smile wryly at being abandoned. However, they didn¡¯t darein. Who was Jin Liwei? He was the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation.

    "Mr. Jin, this is the first time that you attended the music awards. Are you here to support someone?"

    An image of his beautiful baby girl appeared in his mind. "Yes," he replied.

    "What a strong brotherly bond! Jin Chonglin must be happy that his brother is here to support him!"

    Jin Liwei frowned. He was about to correct their misunderstanding when he was interrupted by another question.

    "CEO Lu, we can see that you came by yourself. There are so many beautifuldies who¡¯ll die for a chance to be your partner tonight. Is there no one that you would like to escort for this event?"

    "I have no interest in escorting other women except for my fianc¨¦e. It¡¯s not convenient for us at the moment to attend this event together, so I came by myself. Besides, I don¡¯t want to upset her by getting close to other women. She¡¯s the only one for me," he answered with a straight face.

    The reactions of everyone, however, were a sight to see. Their jaws fell down and their eyes almost popped out of their heads. Shock was a mild word to describe their current expressions.

    "What do you mean by that? CEO Lu, are you telling us that you¡¯re engaged?!"

    "Yes," he confirmed.

    Loud gasps.

    "What?!"

    Then the questions started raining down on him nonstop. He filtered the questions, only answering the ones that he liked.

    "Who¡¯s the luckydy? Is she beautiful?"

    "I¡¯m the lucky one. Yes, the most beautiful," he answered.

    "Have you been engaged for long? When are you nning to get married?"

    "A few months ago. We¡¯ll marry whenever she¡¯s ready."

    "Can you tell us who she is?"

    He hesitated before saying in a mysterious tone, "You¡¯ll all know who she is when the time is right."

    Then he began to leave.

    "Wait, Mr. Jin! Please give us a hint about your fianc¨¦e! Even just a small one!"

    He stopped and thought about it for a few moments. The reporters held their breaths, waiting and hoping for his answer.

    "Hmm... She¡¯s here tonight."

    After dropping that bombshell, Jin Liwei left the bbergasted people behind and headed inside the arena.

 Chapter 330 - Not On The Same Level

    <h4>Chapter 330 - Not On The Same Level </h4>

    The bombshell Jin Liwei dropped on the red carpet instantly became the topic of conversations by the viewers watching the event¡¯s live telecast. They were all very shocked.

    Although Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t a showbiz figure like his younger brother, he was still quite famous. And it wasn¡¯t just because he was the President-CEO of the number onepany in the country. If people had to choose who was more handsome between the Jin brothers, an overwhelming majority of them would say that Jin Liwei was more physically attractive than Jin Chonglin.

    Even more than Jin Chonglin who was a big celebrity idolized by many, Jin Liwei was actually the one considered to be the most eligible bachelor in the entire country. He was tall, rich, handsome and powerful.

    Although many were afraid of him, it didn¡¯t stop many women from vying for the position of Madam Jin. By marrying him, they would be set for the rest of their lives. Avish life of wealth and power, not to mention a gorgeous man to sleep with¡ªwho could resist such a "perfect" life?

    As a result, countless women (and some men) tried seducing him in the past but no one seeded. This led people to believe that he was incapable of being in a sexual rtionship, much less a romantic one. That was why many people couldn¡¯t believe that the cold and indifferent Jin Liwei was now engaged to someone.

    "Isn¡¯t he gay? He can¡¯t marry a man in this country, so he can only be engaged to a woman. Is he entering a sham marriage just to cover up his sexuality and fulfill his duty as the head of the Jin family?"

    "That¡¯s possible. Or maybe it¡¯s an arranged marriage. It¡¯s prettymon for men with his status to marry youngdies from other powerful families."

    "There has never been any concrete evidence that CEO Jin is gay. I think he just found his true love. He keeps on rejecting all those thirsty people throwing themselves at him because they¡¯re not his fated one. But he must¡¯ve found the one for him so he immediately popped the question. Isn¡¯t it romantic? Oh, be still my heart!"

    Conversations like these could be heard all over the country. The awards ceremony hadn¡¯t started yet, but the most talked-about figure at the moment was not even one of the nominees.

    "Quick! Look around! He said that his fianc¨¦e is here tonight!"

    The audience members at the arena and the viewers watching at home all made wild guesses as to the identity of Jin Liwei¡¯s mysterious fianc¨¦e. What kind of woman could make such a man like Jin Liwei, who many believed to be unattainable, to settle down? She must be super amazing.

    They suspected many of the single celebritydies who attended the music awards as Jin Liwei¡¯s possible fianc¨¦e.

    That singer or that actress. Maybe that model or that socialite. Was she the one? Or maybe her?

    As for the women, they yed coy when asked whether they were Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e. Sensing an opportunity to create drama, most of them gave vague answers. They neither confirmed nor denied anything.

    However, it was interesting that people only suspected women who were in their mid-twenties and above. They didn¡¯t bother suspecting the younger ones.

    "I¡¯ll never believe that CEO Jin will have a rtionship with a teenager. So we can remove those kids from our list of suspects. I also think that even the ones who are in their early twenties are still too young for him. I mean, that¡¯s about a decade of age difference between them! CEO Jin is the head of the number onepany in the country, so he must be super smart. I bet that those young women aren¡¯t mature enough to keep up with a worldly man like him."

    "I agree with you. Ah, I can¡¯t wait to know the identity of his fianc¨¦e! When will he introduce her to the public? He did mention during his interview earlier in the red carpet that we¡¯ll eventually know who she is when it¡¯s the right time. The suspense is killing me!"

    The music awards would be starting soon. Instead of talking about who would win the awards, the people were hunting for Jin Liwei¡¯s soon-to-be wife instead.

    Then a ck Star posted her guess in an online forum.

    "Wait. Is it just me or others are also thinking that CEO Jin¡¯s fianc¨¦e might just be our Boss Iris? Didn¡¯t she say before that her fianc¨¦ is a businessman? Plus she also got engaged a few months ago, just like CEO Jin. If it¡¯s true, OMG! I¡¯m gonna hyperventte! Wouldn¡¯t this mean that our Boss Iris will be the next Madam Jin? Our Boss Iris will then be the ultimate boss!"

    "Ahahaha! You have such a wild imagination. I¡¯mughing so hard. CEO Jin Liwei is engaged to Iris Long? Funniest thing I heard today. Ahahaha!"

    "Girl, your guess is way off the mark. I can still believe it if you say that Iris Long is engaged to Jin Chonglin. But to CEO Jin Liwei? There is absolutely no way that¡¯s true. This is CEO Jin we¡¯re talking about."

    Another ck Star took offense at the words of these people. "What do you mean by that? What¡¯s wrong with our Boss Iris? Why can¡¯t she be CEO Jin¡¯s fianc¨¦e?"

    "The answer is simple. They¡¯re not on the same level. CEO Jin is way up there. You think that a man with wealth and status like him will marry a young pop star with a troubled past? Not to mention that she¡¯s constantly linked to his own brother. Sure, Iris Long is also from a rich family but we all know that she¡¯s not really on good terms with them despite her older brother saying that they¡¯re okay now. And even though she has matured a lot and moved past from her teenage trouble-making days, she hasn¡¯t ascended to such a level yet as to be worthy for us to even consider her as the future Madam Jin. It¡¯s just too far-fetched and unbelievable."

    Of course the ck Stars staunchly defended their Boss Iris. Yet the majority of them also didn¡¯t dare believe that their boss might really be Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e. Besides, they didn¡¯t want her to be with someone like Jin Liwei either. He was too scary and too cold. Their boss deserved someone who would love her and pamper her for the rest of her life. They just couldn¡¯t imagine the cold, indifferent and reportedly ruthless President-CEO of Jin Corporation as a loving and doting husband.

    Simrly, the LinRis shippers immediately rejected this notion. Yes, they wanted to pair up Iris with a Jin but not to the wrong brother. For them, the only Jin man who was perfectly suitable for her was Jin Chonglin.

    "LinRis forever! There will be no other pairings that we¡¯ll ept except for LinRis! Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris all the way! They¡¯re the most perfect couple ever!"

    And with that, Iris Long¡¯s name was kicked out of the list of women who could possibly be Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e.

    Despite this, there remained a handful of people who couldn¡¯t quite remove the niggling feeling within their hearts that Iris Long and Jin Liwei might really be engaged.

    Was it just a coincidence that both Iris Long and Jin Liwei were engaged to mysterious partners a few months ago? Although the clues matched, their opinions were unpopr and ignored by the masses, so they only kept their spections among themselves.

 Chapter 331 - Magnetic Force

    <h4>Chapter 331 - Maic Force </h4>

    The people put the matter about Jin Liwei¡¯s mysterious fianc¨¦e aside when the music awards officially started. The male and female hosts appeared on stage together with much pomp and circumstance. Their opening dialogue hyped the audience for the uing performances, and of course, the much-anticipated presenting of the awardster in the evening.

    "We want to congratte all of the nominees because just the fact that you¡¯re nominated is already a big achievement. There are many artists who are dreaming to be in your position. Being nominated means that you¡¯re all the best of the best. You should feel proud of yourselves," the female host said.

    "Yes, very true," the male host agreed. "Regardless of whether you win or not tonight, you¡¯re all great and talented musicians that deserve our respect and congrattions. We wish you the best of luck!"

    The opening act was by a popr boy band. Their high energy performance set the awards ceremony on the right note.

    Everyone was having fun. Loud cheers arose from the audience whenever their favourite celebrities¡¯ reactions were shown on the big screens during the performances.

    Jin Chonglin was seen sitting together with his older brother Jin Liwei on the very front row. They had the best seats directly in front of the stage. Excited and crazed screams almost drowned the current performance on the stage when both the brothers were shown on the big screens at the same time.

    Just one of them was already enough to make their panties wet, but two of them together? Oh, how soaked their poor panties felt!

    The current performer thought that the audience was cheering for him. Feeling excited, he performed even harder.

    Since this was an important music awards, the productions of each of the performances were allvish and spectacr. The performing artists, most of them also nominees themselves, brought their A-game. They wanted to be the most memorable performers of the night. This was an opportunity to boost their fame to greater heights.

    During themercial breaks in between the performances, the general audience¡¯s attention shifted from the stage to the celebrities sitting at the very front. They fangirled and fanboyed.

    "Huh? Where¡¯s Boss Iris? I haven¡¯t seen her or JJ since the ceremony started," a ck Starmented.

    "Oh, it sounds like you didn¡¯t check her blog. She posted earlier that she¡¯s in a dressing room backstage preparing for her uing performance," Zhou Mei¡¯er (a.k.a. CaptainckStar) told herrade.

    "Big Sister, look! The four Aunties are sitting right there!" Ming Li (a.k.a. LittlePhoenix) eximed while pointing at the front seats where the celebrities, socialites and other important figures sat.

    Her fellow ck Stars followed the direction her finger was pointing at. And indeed, the four poshdies were sitting at the best seats. Feng Wan and her three friends Si Xinyue, Bai Li and Kung Mian, all sat at the very front on the same row as the Jin brothers.

    The ck Stars all looked shocked, delighted, envious and bewildered at the same time. They knew that the four poshdies were rich just based on their appearances and bearing, but they never could have imagined that they were at such a level to be assigned seats beside the VVIPs like Jin Liwei. Even a big celebrity like Jin Chonglin was only given a seat at the very front this year because of his older brother.

    But these feelings were all drowned by pride at seeing their fellow ck Stars sitting with the stars. Especially since Feng Wan and her three friends were all wearing ck suits just like them. Granted, the poshdies¡¯ suits were tailored and probably insanely expensive but it still showed everyone their allegiance to the ck Stars and of course to their Boss Iris.

    When themercial ended, the hosts stood on a mini-stage in another part of the arena. They began introducing the next act.

    Male host: "When this next performer made hereback after disappearing for two years, she took the music industry by storm, climbing fiercely up the music charts with her beautiful music that flows straight into our hearts. She disappeared again for a brief period before making her secondeback, sessfully topping the charts even at this very moment."

    The ck Stars started cheering, instantly knowing who the hosts were talking about.

    Female host: "Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, she continues to amaze us with her unbelievable musical talent every time she makes aeback. It¡¯s no wonder that she has received the most award nominations for tonight. I think you already know who¡¯s performing next."

    Male host: "Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for the beautiful, the talented, and the one and only..."

    Both: "IRIS LONG!!!"

    Deafening cheers and apuse.

    The main stage was inplete darkness. The audience lowered their noise volume in order to concentrate on this much-anticipated performance.

    In the front row seats, Jin Liwei knew immediately when his baby girl stepped on the stage. Even though he couldn¡¯t see her just yet because of the darkness, he felt her presence like a maic force.

    A loud click and the spotlight hit the back-most part of the stage, showing the grand symphony orchestra in their full glory. The conductor waved his hands and the musicians all moved their instruments in ready-to-y positions. Their movements were so synchronized that it elicited cheers from the audience.

    Another set of spotlights lit up the two sides of the stage. It showed a group of perfectly lined up people wearing long ck hooded capes.

    The symphony orchestra started ying a foreboding opening tune. Then the hooded people started marching slowly from the opposite sides of the stage towards the centre. All of them started humming loudly together, producing a dark vocal choir melody that raised the hair of the people listening.

    "This is kinda creepy but so amazing..." an audience membermented under his breath.

    Then a louder, more distinct and familiar voice began to hum on top of the eerie choir. The female voice sounded beautiful and powerful yet also mournful and fragile at the same time.

    The entire stage was finally lit up. White fog, thunder and lightning effects made the reveal even more dramatic.

    Everyone gasped at what they saw.

    Their line of vision which was originally looking at the stage floor now shifted up to the air high above the symphony orchestra and the hooded choir.

 Chapter 332 - Phoenix Queen

    <h4>Chapter 332 - Phoenix Queen </h4>

    A big golden cage hung high up in the air above the stage. Iris sat in a broken pose inside, humming a mournful melody. She closed her eyes while her face showed an expression of destion. She appeared fragile in a white feather dress. The hearts of the people watching all skipped a beat seeing her ethereal beauty.

    Not only the ck Stars but everyone else in the audience cheered loudly when she finally appeared. However, they controlled their noise volume when the dark melody and foreboding marching beat intensified like the climax of a battlefield.

    Then everything went quiet.

    A lone violin yed a familiar melody, greatly exciting the audience as they recognized it. Iris finally opened her eyes. She looked directly at the camera and began to sing.

    "Caged and chained in a tiny world

    Wondering what it¡¯s like outside

    A little bird imprisoned by love

    Dying little by little inside"

    It was the song "Rebirth" whichunched her to the top of the music charts after her firsteback.

    "I want to be free

    Free as a bird

    But where are my wings

    I cannot fly"

    The musical arrangement was a little different than the original this time. It sounded more dramatic and dynamic.

    Iris continued to sing while her broken pose gradually became strong. She stood, as the door of the golden cage swung open. She stepped on the edge of the cage¡¯s opening, teetering dangerously.

    "Atst, I¡¯m free

    Will I ever fly?"

    Then she jumped down and the symphony orchestra yed in full splendour. The audience screamed when they saw her falling. They felt their hearts stop and their breaths catch in their throats.

    Jin Liwei almost stood up from his seat to run and catch her before noticing the wires behind her. He heard a snicker beside him. Jin Chonglin wasughing at his reaction. After ring at his younger brother, Jin Liwei decided to ignore him for the rest of the performance.

    Iris¡¯ fall stopped in mid-air. She floated and swept her arms wide to the side as if spreading her wings. It was only at that time that the people realized how long and wide the trail of her feather dress was. She looked like a bird flying in the sky.

    "From the ashes, I rise like a phoenix

    A little bird no more

    I spread my wings, so big and wide

    Now I am free

    Now I can fly"

    The hooded choir removed their capes in a perfect synchronized movement. All of them wore beautiful white, green and blue feathery costumes. They started singing along with Iris, as if she was their phoenix queen and they were her bird subjects.

    Iris¡¯ voice became more powerful, not the least bit drowned by her impressive choir singers. She began flying all around the arena above the audience, delighting and exciting everyone. She was really like a phoenix. A beautifully pure phoenix queen.

    When the music reached crescendo, she demonstrated her vocal prowess, reaching such high and powerful notes that the people began to think she wasn¡¯t human anymore.

    "So this is freedom

    I am free

    Oh yes, I am free~"

    The lights throughout the arena suddenly dimmed. They shed between the colours yellow, orange and crimson. Crackling sound effects made it look like the entire arena, especially the stage, was caught in a raging fire.

    Iris disappeared again within the darkness but not for long. About half a minuteter, she reappeared at the centre of the stage. This time, her long white feather dress was nowhere in sight. It was reced by a zing red dress instead. Although the red dress had simr feathery details like the white one, it was not as delicate and looked more edgy.

    It was a vavavoom dress that was both elegant and sexy at the same time. The asymmetrical structure bared her left shoulder and her right leg.

    The pure white phoenix had transformed into a fire phoenix!

    Then she walked slowly from the centre of the stage to the front. Her hips swayed side to side in an alluring manner with every step. Her footsteps were enhanced by sound effects, making them echo throughout the entire arena.

    It was as if she was walking towards her lover. And indeed, she was. Her eyes were looking directly at Jin Liwei who was sitting directly in front of the stage. Their eyes locked at each other. Despite this, nobody noticed that she was looking at a single person. They thought that her passionate gaze was part of her performance.

    When she reached the front of the stage, she raised the mic to her mouth and spoke to the audience.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, joining me for this next song is the man who took a chance on me, believed in me, and helped me rise from the ashes. Please wee the multi-award-winning music producer, Mr. JJ!!!"

    The smaller stage located among the audience lit up. Everyone gasped. JJ sat in front of the piano and began to y a familiar yet somehow different melody.

    Most of the younger audience members and home viewers were surprised that JJ was actually performing on stage with Iris. They never watched him perform before. However, the older people had nostalgic expressions on their faces as they watched him perform again after so many years.

    Their generation remembered that JJ began his career as a performing artist. His music was brilliant but his singing voice wasn¡¯t very great. It didn¡¯t help that he had a bad temper and shed with others a lot. Unable to make a breakthrough in his stagnant career, he gave up being a performer and became a music producer instead.

    Within a couple of years, he began collecting hit songs after hit songs under his belt andunched some of the most popr stars in the country. As they say, the rest was history.

    After giving it up, why then was JJ performing with Iris Long right now? His friends and peers like DJ Song realized at that moment the extent of JJ¡¯s bond with Iris. It wasn¡¯t just a simple producer-artist rtionship. It seemed that Iris was able to reignite JJ¡¯s dormant love for performing.

    Back to the performance.

    The perfectly lined up choir began humming to match JJ¡¯s piano melody. Special effects continued to make it appear as if Iris was burning in a sea of fire.

    Then she began to sing a mashup of her two songs "Phantom of Your Love" and "ck Star". The music was dramatic and spectacr, harrowing yet lifting at the same time.

    The musical arrangement was superb,bining the best elements of Iris¡¯ vocal prowess, JJ¡¯s rough yet dynamic style of ying the piano, the grandeur of a full symphony orchestra, and of course the hair-raising sound of the singing choir.

    When the melody reached crescendo and Iris reached the highest notes of the song, golden fireworks exploded on the stage. Then the fire effects seamlessly transformed into a dazzling rain shower in the background. The yellow, orange and red colours turned into a shining and purifying white light.

    Iris reached behind her back and pulled. Her red phoenix dress came off. She was left wearing a simple yet elegant white tube dress. This quick change urred in the blink of an eye at the same time the performance ended with a magnificent flourish.

 Chapter 333 - Battle Of The Performances

    <h4>Chapter 333 - Battle Of The Performances </h4>

    Everyone stood up and gave Iris a deafening standing ovation. There was not a single person who remained on their seat. The people felt like they would be doing something very disrespectful if they remained sitting after such a beautiful and magnificent performance.

    It was the loudest and longest standing ovation for a performance so far tonight. The other artists and celebrities who begrudged and didn¡¯t believe that Iris Long deserved to receive the most award nominations this year finally experienced firsthand her amazing live performance which wasn¡¯t in any way inferior to the recorded versions of her music. Not to mention that theypletely lost themselves to her insanely powerful charisma and stage presence.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!"

    The ck Stars didn¡¯t need to lead the chant because everyone in the audience started calling her name in unison.

    Of course, the brothers Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin were also pping their hands with everyone else. The people were too preupied cheering and admiring Iris¡¯ spectacr performance that nobody noticed the proud and loving expression on Jin Liwei¡¯s face, nor did they think too deeply about the flying kiss Iris Long sent directly to him.

    They thought that her kiss was for everyone. They were wrong. Her elegant curtsy bow and hand waves were for everyone, but her sole flying kiss was for her darling alone.

    Jin Chonglin nced at his older brother beside him. Jin Liwei had an adoring expression on his face. Jin Chonglin elbowed his brother hard on the side, earning a harsh re from him. Then Jin Liwei quickly reverted to his usual cold and indifferent expression when he realized that a camera was pointing their way.

    Sometimeter, Iris and JJ walked together to their assigned seats a few rows behind the Jin brothers. They changed back to the outfits they wore on the red carpet earlier. Everyone greeted them warmly, praising them for their brilliant performance.

    JJ looked extremely smug and puffed out his chest. He immediately started bragging to his friend DJ Song. Iris sat between the two friends. She wasn¡¯t really listening to their conversation. Her eyes were gazing directly at the back of her darling¡¯s head. She felt tempted to just walk over to the front and then hug and kiss him in front of everyone. A giggle escaped from her lips at the thought.

    It was as if he heard softughter because Jin Liwei turned his head behind him for the first time. They locked eyes at each other. They showed no outward expression but their eyes were filled with love.

    Then Iris¡¯ expression darkened when she realized that many women were giving her darling flirty looks. She closed her eyes and fought against the urge to leap over to those women and p them until their faces became swollen.

    Simrly, Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned even colder and slightly menacing when he saw several men looking at his baby girl with obvious interest. Some of them didn¡¯t even bother disguising the lust in their eyes.

    The people sitting around him paled when they saw his scary expression. They also shivered and shifted their bodies away from him. They wondered if someone displeased or offended him in some way.

    Farther back in the audience, the ck Stars were busy monitoring something on their phones. They were watching the real-time polls, specifically for the people¡¯s choice award of Most Popr Female Artist.

    "Come on,rades! We only need less than 500 votes to get our boss to the number 1 position. We can do this!" Zhou Mei¡¯er (a.k.a. CaptainckStar) encouraged her fellow ck Stars.

    "Oh! I just refreshed! We only need 300 more votes...no, 200! 130...60...what..." Ming Li (a.k.a. Little Phoenix) gasped and looked at herpanions in excitement.

    "Yes! We did it!!! Our Boss Iris is now number 1 in the ranking! Whoop whoop!!!"

    "Uwah! Look! We didn¡¯t just surpass the previous number 1 but we¡¯re now widening the gap!"

    All the ck Stars celebrated this victory. However, they couldn¡¯t growcent because the voting hadn¡¯t ended yet. Anything could happen, especially since thepetition in the Most Popr Female Artist ranking was extremely fiercepared to its counterpart Most Popr Male Artist where Jin Chonglin was already deemed to be the clear winner. The gap between him and the number 2 consisted of millions of votes.

    Zhou Mei¡¯er pumped her fists, as she watched the number of Iris¡¯ votes grow quickly. At the moment, the gap between the number 1 and the number 2 was more than 5,000 votes. And it was still growing by the second.

    "It seems that many people are impressed by our boss¡¯ performance," she observed.

    "Of course they¡¯ll be impressed. I think this is Boss Iris¡¯ biggest and most spectacr performance yet," Ming Li said.

    All the ck Stars agreed with her. Iris usually yed the piano during her performances. But this time, she opted for an eye-popping and mind-blowing stage production and threw JJ to y the piano for her. It was really a performance worthy of the Harmony Music Awards.

    Itpletely overshadowed all the earlier performances. If the next performances failed to outshine Iris¡¯, then her performance would definitely be the most memorable one.

    The only other person who could perhaps leave a moresting impression than her was Jin Chonglin. The two not onlypeted against each other for the awards but also for the unofficial title of best performance of the night.

    Who would win in this battle of the performances? Would it be Iris or Jin Chonglin? Would Iris beat Jin Chonglin again just like she did in the music charts?

    After a few more acts which all felt lukewarm after Iris¡¯ amazing performance, it was finally Jin Chonglin¡¯s turn on the stage.

    During Iris¡¯ performance earlier, she flew in the air via suspended wires. This time, Jin Chonglin was driven to the stage in a cool vintage sports car. He stood on the backseat of the open-top vehicle while he sang and gyrated his body with his sexy back-up dancers.

    When he reached the stage, an impressive number of synchronized back-up dancers joined him in a fun, energetic and sexy hip hop R&B performance. Not only was Jin Chonglin a great singer and musician but he was also a superb dancer. All his moves were on-point. Combined with his oozing sex appeal and charisma, nobody could resist going crazy for him.

    There were quite a number of fans who fainted from over-excitement whenever he winked, smiled or pointed a finger at them.

    The only person who remained unaffected by his deadly charm was his own brother. Jin Liwei sat motionless on his seat while all the others went crazy around him. Even Iris was dancing and singing along to the music.

    Near the end of his performance, a back-up dancer handed a bouquet of red roses to the singing and dancing Jin Chonglin. Then he jumped down the stage and walked past the first rows. Just as he sang thest lines of his song, he threw the bouquet hard.

    Iris was shocked and extremely confused when the bouquet shot towards her. It was only her reflexes that allowed her to catch the bouquet a few inches before it could hit her on the face.

    "Oh baby, you¡¯re the only one for me~"

    Jin Chonglin sang thisst line of his song and then winked at Iris.

 Chapter 334 - Big Favour

    <h4>Chapter 334 - Big Favour </h4>

    Shocked silence.

    One second. Two seconds. Three sec¡ª

    The audience and home viewers started squealing. The LinRis shippers went out of control. They jumped up from their seats and almost vomited their own throats out from screaming so hard.

    "LinRis! LinRis! LinRis!"

    Their crazed chanting was infectious to the point that the entire arena started chanting along with them. Since this was a live telecast, the cameras focused on both Jin Chonglin and Iris¡¯ expressions.

    The smile on Jin Chonglin¡¯s face was mischievous and flirty. As for Iris, the cameras recorded her confused expression before she was able to smooth it out with a polite smile.

    Seeing that the cameras were still focusing on her, she smiled a bit more deeply. She ignored the teasing from the people around her.

    "Thank you," she mouthed at Jin Chonglin.

    She decided not to think too much about his unexpected action. Perhaps it was part of his performance. Besides, the man was her future brother-inw. He was family. What was wrong about giving flowers to family members?

    Jin Chonglin gave her a thumbs up and another wink. Then he and his back-up dancers bowed and waved at the audience.

    The show went into amercial break right after. Jin Chonglin and his back-up dancers began leaving. Nobody noticed that he avoided looking at a certain direction and hurried to the backstage instead, as if running away from something (or someone) dangerous.

    Back in the audience, the people around Iris continued to tease her. She just smiled politely at them, not taking their words seriously.

    "Iris, tell us the truth. Is Jin Chonglin your fianc¨¦?" a female idol asked behind her.

    Ears pricked to their direction, eager to eavesdrop on the conversation.

    "No, he¡¯s not," Iris answered. "I already mentioned before that my fianc¨¦ is not from showbiz. He¡¯s a businessman."

    They gave her a knowing look. The skepticism was clear in their eyes. It was obvious that they didn¡¯t believe her.

    "You seem very close to Jin Chonglin," anothermented.

    "He¡¯s my senior and we work under the same managementpany. We¡¯re colleagues, that¡¯s all."

    They were about to pry more about her and Jin Chonglin, but JJ red at them. They had no choice but to stop, retreat, andugh awkwardly. There were only a few people who dared to butt heads against the infamous hothead JJ. Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t included in that short list of brave people.

    "Hmph! Just a simple bouquet toss and they¡¯re already acting like they saw a live sex show. Bunch of gossipmongers!" JJined.

    The "gossipmongers" pretended not to hear him. They looked at each other instead in an awkward manner.

    Iris only chuckled with DJ Song at JJ¡¯s tirade. Before sitting down, she nced at her darling¡¯s direction. The smile on her face froze when she saw Jin Liwei¡¯s dark and menacing expression. She immediately tossed the bouquet of red roses carelessly on her seat before smiling at him sweetly.

    His expression improved seeing her charming smile but only slightly. He gave an imperceptible nod before turning around and sitting like a cold statue.

    Only Iris caught his nod. She instantly recognized it as a reassurance. A big sigh of relief was released from her lips, knowing from his nod of reassurance that he wasn¡¯t angry at her. After opening her eyes to her own possessiveness towards him, she now had a better understanding of jealousy. She didn¡¯t want him to feel jealous because she now knew how ugly and unpleasant it felt like from experiencing it firsthand.

    As she sat down, the bouquet got squished beside her on the seat. A strong urge to strangle Jin Chonglin suddenly consumed her. Because of his action, her darling now had to suffer from jealousy. Her mood plummeted.

    "Iris, the world is watching. Don¡¯t treat the bouquet so roughly or Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans will tear you apart," DJ Song whispered the warning to her.

    "Hmph! If you don¡¯t like it, just throw it in the garbage. Better yet, just burn it," JJ muttered under his breath.

    "You¡ª" DJ Song gave an exasperated sigh at his friend. "Old J, Iris is a sensible person unlike you. As her music producer, you should be advising her to protect her image."

    When JJ opened his mouth to argue, Iris quickly spoke to prevent them from arguing.

    "Thank you for the reminder, DJ Song," Iris said and then fished out the squished bouquet and tossed it on herp.

    At that moment, Jin Chonglin returned to his seat beside his brother. He waved and greeted at the people, even as cold sweat soaked the inside of his pinkish-grey suit. He almost didn¡¯t want to go back to his seat where a cold and furious demon was surely waiting for him.

    ¡¯What are you so afraid of? He¡¯s your brother,¡¯ he pep-talked himself to prevent himself from chickening out and running backstage with his tail between his legs.

    As soon as he sat down, the hostile aura emanating from his brother almost choked him, making it hard to breathe. It wasn¡¯t only him who had to suffer. The people sitting around them were shivering. They were confused and frightened, wondering why Jin Liwei looked so pissed.

    "Big Bro, I can exin," Jin Chonglin whispered after gathering much courage.

    "Speak." Jin Liwei¡¯s cold voice could freeze hell.

    Jin Chonglin cleared his throat and spoke in a low voice to prevent others from hearing. "Because of the bombshell you dropped earlier on the red carpet, everyone is now hunting for your fianc¨¦e tonight. On the inte, they removed sister-inw¡¯s name from their hunting list, but I heard some staff backstage urately guessing sister-inw¡¯s identity. They¡¯re already suspecting that the two of you might be engaged. A few of them are even examining your body shape on the cameras right now andparing it to the photo sister-inw shared of you and your cats during her interview with Madam Feng Jiu."

    The hostile aura abated a little. Jin Liwei gave a side nce at his brother and said coldly, "Continue."

    "Because you¡¯re wearing a suit tonight, they can¡¯t really see an urate outline of your body. Also, there aren¡¯t a lot of photos showing you in regr clothing avable to the public. The ones floating on the inte are from way back when you were younger in your early twenties. You were slimmer back then. Many of them are unsure whether you¡¯re the same person or not as the one in the photo sister-inw shared. However, there are a couple of them who think that it might be you," Jin Chonglin exined.

    Jin Liwei subconsciously rubbed his LX bangle around his wrist hidden underneath his long sleeve. If he pulled his sleeve up, it would expose him. The photo his baby girl shared to Madam Feng Jiu clearly showed him wearing it.

    A strong temptation to let others see the bangle almost overcame him before he was able to control himself. As much as he wanted to shout proudly to the entire world that Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, was his woman and future wife, he didn¡¯t want to do it without her approval. He didn¡¯t want to give her any reason to leave him again.

    "So you see, Big Bro. I did all of that to shift everyone¡¯s attention to me and sister-inw, instead of letting them continue specting about the possibility of a rtionship between the two of you. I actually sacrificed myself to do the two of you a big favour!"

 Chapter 335 - Am I Still Your Brother?

    <h4>Chapter 335 - Am I Still Your Brother? </h4>

    "An ¡¯unnecessary¡¯ favour," Jin Liwei blocked his brother¡¯s im in a cold voice. "If people discover my rtionship with Xin on their own, then so be it. We are hiding our rtionship for now because it¡¯s not the right time to announce it yet, but we have no intentions of denying it if we¡¯re discovered. Don¡¯t interfere next time."

    At the moment, Jin Chonglin really wanted to cry. Wuwuwu! He did so much for the lovers, but they didn¡¯t even appreciate his effort!

    But Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t finished yet.

    "You should be thankful that we¡¯re brothers. I almost lost control earlier. If not because I don¡¯t want Mother to be heartbroken, I would¡¯ve already beaten you up in a pulp. Xin is mine."

    ¡¯How brutal! Am I still your brother?¡¯ Jin Chonglin cried inside.

    He was now regretting what he did. He shouldn¡¯t have thrown the bouquet to Iris during his performance. He really thought that he was doing them a favour but look! No appreciation at all!

    "Fine," he muttered and then began to sulk.

    Jin Liwei nced at his brother before returning his line of sight back to the stage. "Great job on your performance," he suddenly told him.

    "Thanks," Jin Chonglin replied, feeling a bit better.

    Jin Liwei nodded and then added, "But my wife¡¯s performance is still the best."

    The poor Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes turned nk. Why did he feel like he already experienced this before? Was this d¨¦j¨¤ vu or what?

    Then he remembered. His older brother told him something simr when he and Iris performed their new songs at "MusicFest Tonight" earlier in the year.

    "I get it already," he said through gritted teeth. "Your wife will always be your number 1. You don¡¯t have to rub it in my face every single time."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded, satisfied that his brother finally understood.

    If not for the fact that people were watching them right now, Jin Chonglin would¡¯ve already cried at being abandoned by his own brother. However, he didn¡¯t resent them. Not at all. Thinking about the beautiful and talented Iris Long, he understood why his older brother was so in love with her.

    It was a pity that she was a troublemaker and nuisance when he personally met her years ago. Now that she had matured and changed for the better, he had to find out that his own brother already snatched her up for himself. Sighing, he felt a little envious of their rtionship.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s thoughts were interrupted when the show resumed. He was able to quickly recover from his brother¡¯s brutal abandonment by immersing himself in the next performances.

    Finally, it was time for the most important portion of the evening¡ªthe presentation of awards.

    Everyone was excited. This was the moment that they had all been waiting for. The nominees began to feel nervous.

    Female host: "The voting polls for the people¡¯s choice awards are now closed. Thank you everyone for casting your votes!"

    Male host: "We will now announce the winners and present the awards."

    The people¡¯s choice awards ceremony began. The minor categories went up first. After several speeches, apuse and loud cheering from the fans who voted, thest two and the most important categories in the people¡¯s choice awards were finally up next.

    Female host: "The Most Popr Female Artist Award goes to¡ª"

    Both: "Iris Long!!!"

    Everyone rose to their feet and started pping and cheering.

    Iris nodded at JJ and DJ Song beside her before walking amidst the congrattions to the stage. The male host helped her up the steps, not knowing that a certain man drowning in vinegar was already mentally decapitating him for touching his baby girl.

    An official of the Harmony Music Awards handed her the heavy golden award which was shaped like a treble. The noise lowered as she walked in front of the microphone.

    "Thank you so much!" Iris¡¯ voice reverberated throughout the entire arena. "Wow. This is very heavy," she said, waving the award with her two hands. "But it¡¯s nowhere near as heavy as the overwhelming support you¡¯ve given me. I dedicate this award to my fans, the ck Stars! I would not be standing here today and receiving this award if not for your love and loyalty. All I can do to repay you is to continue to work hard. Thank you, ck Stars! Thank you, Harmony Music Awards! And thank you to all who voted for me!"

    Iris kept her speech short. She didn¡¯t want to bog it down by thanking too many people. Besides, it was indeed the ck Stars who allowed her to win the Most Popr Female Artist Award. They deserved the dedication and recognition for their support of her. She was truly grateful to them.

    As she headed back to her seat, the ceremony was interrupted by an impressively loud cheering chant. Iris stopped halfway the steps as she looked at where it wasing from.

    "Our boss is number one! Never number two! She¡¯s always the best in whatever she decides to do! Go boss! Go boss! L-O-V-E Iris Long! B-O-S-S that¡¯s our boss!"

    The ck Stars chanted these words at the top of their lungs. They even choreographed some cheering moves to go along with it. It was actually secretly taught to them by Iris¡¯ assistant, Dominic Chua.

    Touched, Iris gave her fans a deep curtsy bow to show her gratitude. Then she hurried down the steps to Feng Wan and her three friends. Since they were the closest ck Stars to her at the moment, she gave them a hug each, thanking them for supporting her. The four poshdies wiped tears from their eyes, looking very proud of Iris.

    Iris turned her head towards her darling. They shared a quick intimate look before she returned to her seat beside JJ and DJ Song.

    The final people¡¯s choice award was for the Most Popr Male Artist. There was no suspense. Jin Chonglin was the undisputed winner. Like Iris, he also thanked his army of fans and dedicated the award to them.

    Then as he headed down the stage, another chant took over the entire arena.

    "LinRis! LinRis! LinRis!"

    The LinRis shippers once again became excited because their favourite couple just won the two most important people¡¯s choice awards together. They believed that it was destiny and further proof that their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris belonged together forever and ever.

    Despite Iris¡¯ insistence that her fianc¨¦ was not from showbiz, they still hoped that she was just lying to hide the truth that she and Jin Chonglin were really engaged. Their belief was cemented when Jin Chonglin threw the bouquet of red roses to Iris earlier during his performance.

    Jin Chonglin only gave a careless wave at them before hurrying back to his seat. He was praying for the people to stop chanting "LinRis" because his older brother might just explode.

    And indeed, Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became more and more terrifying the longer the chant continued.

 Chapter 336 - The Award Goes Toâ€¦

    <h4>Chapter 336 - The Award Goes To¡­ </h4>

    Fortunately, the chanting subsided when the show went into anothermercial break. Jin Chonglin was so relieved that he felt like he just escaped a life and death situation.

    His older brother had always been scary but only in a cold, unapproachable way. This time, however, Jin Chonglin could feel the fury emanating from Jin Liwei. It seemed like Iris Long had be his brother¡¯s greatest trigger. He should be more careful next time, or Jin Liwei might suddenly forget that they were flesh and blood brothers.

    The music awards ceremony continued after themercial break. The anticipation reached its peak to the point that some of the first-time nominees felt like they were going to faint. Iris, however, looked rxed as she chatted with JJ and DJ Song.

    For her, getting awards was not the main goal. It was more important for her to share her music to the world and to let more people enjoy it. She would never allow a few judgesprising the music awards¡¯ voting council to determine her worth as a musician. Whether they chose her to win or not was not something that she would fret over.

    But this was not to say that she wouldn¡¯t be happy if she won. On the contrary, it would be the best for her to win because it would open up more opportunities for her to advance her career. Regardless of whether she won or not, she wanted to savour this experience.

    The minor categories went up first. Lots of emotional speeches and polite apuse. Finally, the categories moved on to the more major ones.

    "And the winner of the Best Instrumental Album is...¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ by Iris Long!!!"

    It was Iris¡¯ first win in the official categories. She had been nominated in two other minor categories earlier but lost. JJ was very upset that she didn¡¯t win those ones. Right now, however, he looked ecstatic when her name was called. She hugged both JJ and DJ Song before heading to the stage.

    After receiving the heavy golden treble award, she stood once again in front of the mic. She swept her eyes across the audience and smiled at the delighted ck Stars. The four poshdies at the front row seats were wiping their tears as they looked proudly at her.

    Of course, Jin Liwei was also on his feet pping his hands. She could see the pride and love in his eyes. She looked directly at him as she gave her eptance speech,pletely ignoring the man wearing a pinkish-grey suit standing beside her darling.

    "Thank you so much! First of all, I would like to thank my fianc¨¦ for loving me and supporting me. You¡¯ve always been patient with me whenever I¡¯m busyposing music. Thank you for not forcing me to choose between you and music. And when ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯ was criticized as being an inferior imitation of ssical music, I know that you felt upset in my stead. I just want to say that I love you and I appreciate you."

    The audience hooted in a teasing way at her romantic speech. The cameras zoomed in on the diamond ring sparkling brightly on her finger. Another camera focused on Jin Chonglin in the audience. The LinRis shippers went crazy once again because they noticed that Iris was looking straight in his direction.

    Iris finished up her speech by thanking JJ and his musicbel, her manager and Bright Summit, the ck Stars and everyone who supported her. She alsoplimented her fellow nominees. Then she returned to her seat, receiving congrattions along the way.

    A few awardster....

    "The winner of the Best Songwriter Award is...Iris Long for ¡¯Rebirth¡¯!!!"

    Once again, Iris epted another award and gave another speech. This was her third award for the night and her second win in the official categories. Her first win was the people¡¯s choice award, but it wasn¡¯t really considered as an official category.

    "For Best Producer of the Year, the award goes to...JJ!!!"

    JJ wore an extremely smug expression on his face. His chest was more puffed out than usual. He already held the record for most wins for this award throughout the years. However, he was especially proud of his work in the past year because he felt like he had grown so much as a music producer. It was the first time in a long while that someone dared to argue with him when it came to music. Iris Long was a great partner because the two of them were able to force each other to improve with their equally perfectionist personalities.

    Both Iris and DJ Song looked very proud, as JJ gave his speech on the stage. The ck Stars also cheered for him. After all, he was their Boss Iris¡¯ music producer. They cheered even more loudly when JJ personally thanked Iris in his speech.

    "Brat, you¡¯re one of the most infuriating artists that I have ever worked with in my entire career because you¡¯re never afraid to shove the inadequacies of my music ideas directly into my face. But that¡¯s why we make such great music together because I do the same thing to you. We fill each other¡¯s inadequacies when creating music. So thank you, brat! But don¡¯t let it get to your head!"

    Everyoneughed at his speech. Iris chuckled but deep gratitude showed on her expression. JJ could be narcissistic and full of himself, but his abilities as a music producer could never be denied. She was d that it was him she sent her early demo tapes to.

    There were only a few awards left. And they were considered to be the most important. Whoever won these awards would enter the annals of Harmony Music Awards history. Not to mention the other benefits to their careers, such as fame, respect, credibility, and increased worth in the music industry.

    "The nominees for Best Music Video are..."

    There were four other nominees besides Jin Chonglin and Iris Long for a total of six nominees.

    "The award for Best Music Video goes to...Jin Chonglin!!!"

    It was as if the entire arena exploded with all the screams, cheering and apuse. His army of fans was the biggest fandom present in this event. He already had three nominations earlier and won two of them. This was his third win in the official categories.

    "Dammit! What are those judges thinking? So they chose sex over artistry for best music video this year? Hmph!" JJ was displeased at the result. He thought that Iris should¡¯ve won this award.

    "Well, as they say, sex sells," DJ Songmented.

    Iris didn¡¯t say anything, continuing to p for Jin Chonglin instead. She knew that more people liked his music video because it was more eye-popping and rtable. Even Dom watched it more than a thousand times while squealing at Jin Chonglin¡¯s sexy dance moves. Her music video was more artistic and required a lot more brain power, specifically abstract thinking, to understand all the symbolism.

    Jin Chonglin gave a charming speech, thanking all the key people who helped him make the music video. It was a generic speech but his army of fans acted as if divine words were flowing out of his mouth.

    When he returned to his seat, Jin Liwei nodded at him.

    "Congrattions," he said.

    "Thanks, Big Bro."

    "But my wife¡ª"

    "I know, I know! Please don¡¯t speak anymore, Big Bro. I already know what you¡¯re going to say. Just allow me to enjoy my win right now. I beg you, please."

    Jin Liwei gave his younger brother a side-eye. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t say anything more and just focused on the rest of the awards ceremony.

    "The Best Female Singer Award goes to...Iris Long!!!"

    "The Best Male Singer Award goes to...Jin Chonglin!!!"

    Both their fans went crazy. This was even more amazing than when they won the people¡¯s choice awards for Most Popr Female Artist and Most Popr Male Artist respectively.

    "LinRis! LinRis! LinRis!"

    Before Jin Liwei could transform into an evil demon once again and terrorize his seatmates with his frightening aura, the hosts decisively moved on to the next awards. They managed to cut off the overenthusiastic cheering of the LinRis shippers. Some of the people were already starting to feel annoyed at them.

    Thest three awards were the most sought-after. Most of the musicians in the industry considered winning these awards to be the greatest honour that they could ever possibly obtain in their entire careers.

    This year, they were also the mostpetitive. The two most nominated artists, Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, would be directlypeting against each other for these awards.

 Chapter 337 - Special Award

    <h4>Chapter 337 - Special Award </h4>

    The show went into anothermercial break to increase the suspense for thest three official awards. Congrattions rained down upon the winners, especially for Iris Long and Jin Chonglin. Not only were they the two artists who received the most nominations, but they were also the ones who won the most so far. And the event wasn¡¯t done yet. They might even win more.

    Jin Chonglin won the most awards so far. He now had five trophies, including the people¡¯s choice award for Most Popr Male Artist. Iris Long won four trophies so far, including the people¡¯s choice award for Most Popr Female Artist.

    However, thepetition between them was bound to heat up even more. The ceremony resumed after themercial break.

    Everyone was very excited. The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were on the edge of their seats while holding their hands together to pray for their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin¡¯s victory against each other.

    "The Album of the Year Award goes to...¡¯Rebirth¡¯ by Iris Long!!!"

    The ck Stars jumped up in unison and cheered loudly. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans looked at them in envy while politely pping their hands.

    "Our Prince Lin Lin will get the next award for sure," they told themselves.

    Iris wasn¡¯t even back to her seat yet when...

    "The Song of the Year Award goes to...¡¯Rebirth¡¯ by Iris Long!!!"

    For a moment, she didn¡¯t know what to do. She stood in the aisle while still carrying the award she had just received moments ago. But now she was being called back to the stage to receive another one.

    "Brat, give it to me! Hurry up and go back to the stage! Ahaha!" JJ shouted at her in delight.

    She handed her award to him and returned to the stage. Standing in front of the mic for the sixth time tonight, even she couldn¡¯t believe it.

    "I...thank you. Wow. I honestly don¡¯t know what to say anymore. I¡¯ve already used up all of my speeches."

    Everyoneughed.

    "Just...thank you so very much!"

    Although the contents of her speech was unimpressive, the context of the situation was extraordinary. The other musicians present would do anything to be in her current position. Running out of speeches was the most wonderful problem they would be willing to experience if it meant that they could also win so many awards like her in a single night.

    Once again, Iris didn¡¯t make it into her seat immediately because the people offered their congrattions to her on the way. But since the next award was thest one, the hosts didn¡¯t jump into it right away. They first hyped everyone up and increased the suspense.

    Iris was able to return to her seat beside JJ and DJ Song who looked absolutely proud and delighted of her wins.

    Needless to say, the ck Stars were beyond happy. Even they couldn¡¯t believe that their boss would win so many awards tonight. With onest award left, they also wanted their Boss Iris to win it. Wouldn¡¯t it be amazing if she won it? It would mean that she swept the majority of the most important awards for this year¡¯s music awards.

    As for Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, they were feeling extremely anxious. They prayed hard for their Prince Lin Lin to win thest and the most important award of the night.

    Male host: "The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived. We will now announce the nominees for the Artist of the Year Award!"

    All six nominees were introduced with much fanfare. Among them were Jin Chonglin and Iris Long. Of course, they received the most cheers and apuse.

    Female host: "And the Artist of the Year Award goes to..."

    The male host opened the envelope. The female host peeked at it and gasped. She looked visibly shocked. Her reaction was caught by the cameras. It increased the anxiety of the nominees and their fans.

    Both hosts: "IRIS LONG!!!"

    Iris covered her mouth with her hands. Yes, she didn¡¯t care much whether she won or lost, but who wouldn¡¯t want to win? Even she found it a bit difficult to wrap her mind around winning so many awards tonight.

    "Brat, what are you waiting for? Go get that award!" JJ pulled her up her seat and pushed her to the aisle.

    As she walked once again back to the stage, Iris felt like she was floating. The moment felt so surreal. It seemed like she nked out for a few moments because when she regained her senses, she was already on stage and standing in front of the microphone with the heavy award in her hands.

    Her eyes immediately looked for her darling in the audience. When she found Jin Liwei, calmness returned to her. He was like her rock stabilizing her emotions in this overwhelming situation. He gave her a nod of encouragement.

    "I love you," she told him. Her voice reverberated throughout the entire arena.

    The ck Stars burst into tears. "We love you too, Boss Iris! You¡¯re the best! The most amazing! We¡¯re so proud of you!"

    Fortunately, everyone misunderstood her words as a tribute to her fans. She didn¡¯t correct them, feeling satisfied that Jin Liwei appeared to understand that her words were meant for him.

    This time, her speech was more thoughtful. But since she already thanked the same people again and again in her earlier speeches, she decided to mention other people in this speech.

    Without mentioning specific names, she thanked her beautiful cats, her godson, her assistant, her bodyguard friend who was also the mother of her godson. She also thanked her father and her fianc¨¦¡¯s family. Special thanks was given to her mentor who she called Grandpa and her beloved Big Brother. Many assumed she was referring to Long Hui. And of course, she didn¡¯t forget to throw more dog food by expressing her love once again for her fianc¨¦.

    Now that thest award was given, Iris Long was undoubtedly the biggest winner of the night. She basically swept the most important awards. Out of her nine nominations, she won six of them. Overall, she won seven awards tonight including the people¡¯s choice award for Most Popr Female Artist.

    Jin Chonglin trailed behind her. Out of his eight nominations, he won four of them. In the end, he received five awards including the people¡¯s choice award for Most Popr Male Artist.

    His army of fans felt a bit disappointed because he didn¡¯t win the most awards. However, they forced themselves to look at the bright side. Their Prince Lin Lin still won five awards! It was amazing! It was just that someone else won more than him, overshadowing his impressive number of wins.

    The winners finally rxed and allowed themselves to celebrate and bask in their victories. Everyone began to chatter among themselves about the awards. The event already ended, they thought, so the atmosphere was now more casual.

    However, they were interrupted by something unexpected.

    Male host: "Everyone, please return to your seats and pay attention. We have one more surprise."

    Female host: "Yes! Even I am surprised. But before we reveal it, we would like to call the following distinguished figures to pleasee up the stage."

    The President of the Harmony Music Awards, the Minister of Arts and Culture, and a representative from an international association of musicians headed to the stage.

    Everyone was baffled but also curious. They had not been informed that something like this was going to happen tonight.

    The President of the Harmony Music Awards spoke to the microphone. He wasn¡¯t well-known to the general public but everyone in the music industry respected him.

    "Good evening, everyone. With my capacity as the President of the Harmony Music Awards, it is my honour to host the presentation of this very special award! I stand here today with our very own Minister of Arts and Culture and an official from the biggest international association of musicians to give this special award to a very talented and I daresay a once in a century musical genius!"

    Many people were still confused about what was going on. However, a few musicians already had an idea of what was about to happen. They nced at Iris Long with a mixture of awe and envy.

    The Minister of Arts and Culture spoke to the mic next. "For her remarkable contribution to the field of music, specifically for creating three new musical techniques¡ªone instrumental and twopositional¡ªin the song ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯, we are proud to present this special Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in Music to Miss Iris Long!!!"

 Chapter 338 - Be Careful

    <h4>Chapter 338 - Be Careful </h4>

    The apuse was so deafening that the entire arena seemed to visibly vibrate from the force of its sound waves.

    At first, Iris automatically pped her hands like everyone else. It took a few moments before the words registered in her brain. She gasped in surprise and turned her head to JJ. She had no idea that she was going to receive this award tonight. Based on JJ¡¯s expression, he appeared to have already known about it beforehand.

    "Stop spacing out, brat! Go back to the stage and make history! Ahahaha!" JJ looked proud and ecstatic, as if he was the one receiving the special award himself.

    Iris nodded and made her way back to the stage. She couldn¡¯t determine exactly what she was feeling at the moment. This special award appeared to be very important because the President of the Harmony Music Awards, the Minister of Arts and Culture, and an official from the biggest international association of musicians in the world were personally presenting it to her.

    It felt a little weird that she was receiving such an award for an achievement that she didn¡¯t really think was very important. The three new musical techniques were just something she utilized to achieve her musical vision when creating the song "Monster of Insanity".

    She never deliberately nned on creating them. In fact, she didn¡¯t even know that they didn¡¯t exist before using them! For her, they were very minor elements of the song. That was why she felt perplexed that she was receiving an award for them. And with so much fanfare too!

    The Minister of Arts and Culture handed her a big, ss que. The words "Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in Music" stood out the most with her name "Iris Long" below it.

    "Congrattions, Miss Long. Be careful, it¡¯s heavy," the minister told her.

    And indeed, it was heavier than the golden treble trophies she received earlier. After thanking the minister and the others, she stood once again in front of the mic for another speech. The audience continued to give her a loud standing ovation.

    She had no idea what to say. "Thank you" seemed too casual, especially since she repeated it so many times in her previous speeches. Her eyes found Jin Liwei in the front row, silently asking him for help.

    He stood there pping his hands. To others, his expression remained cold. But to Iris, they looked very proud of her. He immediately understood her current predicament. His lips moved silently.

    After reading his lips, a big smile lit up her face. People gasped at her blinding beauty.

    Iris stepped away from the microphone, confusing many. She hugged the big, heavy que with one arm close to her body and swept her other arm up in the air. Then her body folded into an elegant and graceful curtsy bow. It was so deep that she was almost sitting on the floor.

    The audience gave her an even louder standing ovation this time.

    "Iris! Iris! Iris!"

    So what if she didn¡¯t give a speech? They were already tired listening to what felt like endless speeches earlier. Iris¡¯ deep curtsy bow felt more sincere and refreshing than an overly emotional speech.

    ¡¯You don¡¯t have to say anything if you don¡¯t have any words. Just do whatever you want, love. You are you.¡¯

    These were Jin Liwei¡¯s silent words to her earlier. It not only calmed her down but also reminded her to be herself. This heavy award was indeed heavy. It was heavy with people¡¯s expectations of her.

    She realized that for a moment, she allowed herself to feel pressured by all the awards she received tonight. Fortunately, Jin Liwei reminded her that she was her own person. It was her choice to feel pressured. And in the same way, it was also her choice to just be herself. She could choose not to burden herself with other people¡¯s expectations of her.

    This was her own path of freedom, her own path of independence. And walking that path together with her was her darling, Jin Liwei.

    Her view hadpletely changed. Freedom and independence didn¡¯t need to be pursued alone. She was now learning that having a lover wasn¡¯t shackling her down but giving her a boost to fly higher instead.

    As she straightened her body, she looked straight in the eyes of her man and blew him a sweet kiss filled with love and gratitude.

    ###

    The Harmony Music Awards finally ended.

    It was an event filled with many highlights. The majority of the people agreed that Iris Long shone the brightest tonight.

    If not for her presence, Jin Chonglin would surely have been the brightest star. Unfortunately, his normally impressive number of wins was overshadowed by Iris Long¡¯s insane winning streak. His army of fans were a little disappointed, but they couldn¡¯t hate Iris Long because they also felt that she deserved all of the awards the she won.

    After the winners¡¯ interviews with the media, the celebrities and the VIP guests headed to the after-party. The venue was in a grand ballroom hall at a five-star hotel.

    Iris went with JJ and DJ Song in a limousine. The Jin brothers went together in another limo.

    Throughout the party, Iris stayed with JJ and DJ Song. She didn¡¯t need to go around greeting others because they came to her themselves to congratte her. Many of them invited her to dance, but one re at JJ and they scurried away.

    "Hmph! Do they think that we¡¯re blind or stupid? It¡¯s so obvious from their perverted eyes that they¡¯re already undressing you inside their minds. If you dance with them, I¡¯m 100% sure that they¡¯ll start pawing you on the dance floor!" JJ said. He looked disgusted at the males, many of them celebrities, who directly tried to hit on Iris.

    "You have to be extra careful from now on, Iris. Your status in the music industry and in showbiz have now changed. You¡¯re an award-winner now. And not just any winner, but a multi-award-winner. You have be even more desirable now. There will be many people who¡¯ll try to use you for their own gain," DJ Song warned her.

    "Thank you very much, Mr. JJ and DJ Song. I¡¯ll be careful," Iris said.

    JJ and DJ Song stayed with her at the beginning, but as they drank more and more alcohol, they left to talk and party with other people. It wasn¡¯t very bad because she never ran out of people to talk to, as she was the most popr figure of the night. She actually rather enjoyed chatting with the other musicians and celebrities.

    However, the men trying to hit on her just kept on increasing. She had to drive them away by herself until Feng Wan and her three posh friends found their way to her. They were like her gatekeepers keeping the annoying flies away from her.

    Despite this, there was a heavily intoxicated veteran singer who forced his way into their group. He was around the same age as Long Tengfei. He shamelessly flirted with all of them, making them very ufortable.

    At first, they were polite in rejecting his advances but when he refused to leave them, Feng Wan couldn¡¯t hold it anymore. She directly told the man to leave them alone.

    "What did you say to me, you b*tch?! Don¡¯t you know who I am?!" the veteran singer shouted in fury. "Whatever I want, I get!" Then he turned to Iris with a lewd expression on his face. He even licked his lips. "You¡ªhic¡ªso beautiful, so young yet already so sexy... Ignore th-these¡ªhic¡ªaunties ande t-talk to me instead. Let me show you¡ªhic¡ªthe r-ropes in the music industry..."

    The four poshdies looked absolutely scandalized. Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold. Her fingers tightened around a fork, ready to stab the perverted man if he continued to harass them.

    "W-wait...Let me¡ªhic¡ªwrite my h-hotel room number for you..."

    "How dare you? You¡¯re such a repulsive man! Get away from us or we¡¯ll call the police!" Si Xinyue said. She was the wife of the Police Chief.

    The man threw his head back andughed. Some of the people around them already started noticing themotion. Most of them looked away and pretended not to see anything. Others looked around with worried expressions, waiting for someone to step in. Someone, not them.

    He ignored the four poshdies and pounced on Iris, reaching for her. She was about to stab his arm with the fork when someone pulled him back and punched him in the face.

 Chapter 339 - Get Off

    <h4>Chapter 339 - Get Off </h4>

    The veteran male singer crashed into another table. The sounds of loud banging and sses shattering stopped the party and caught everyone¡¯s attention. Audible gasps and screams punctuated the suddenly tensed air.

    "Y-you! How dare you, Jin Chonglin?!" the fallen veteran singer roared. "You d-dare¡ªhic¡ªhit me?!!"

    "Sir, you are a great singer and I looked up to you before this. But all my respect for you are now gone. You are a disgusting pervert," Jin Chonglin told him.

    The veteran singer struggled to get up from all the broken debris on the floor. "What did you say?! Jin Chonglin, you have be too full of yourself! Just b-because¡ªhic¡ªyou have won so many awards tonight. So you t-think that you¡¯re¡ªhic¡ªsuch a b-big shot now, huh?! You¡¯re a hundred years too early to act like that in f-front of me!"

    Jin Chonglin ignored the man, turned around, and headed to Iris¡¯ group. "Junior Iris, let¡¯s go."

    Iris looked at the four poshdies.

    "Go, Iris. We can take care of ourselves," Feng Wan assured her.

    She nodded and then followed Jin Chonglin.

    "Hah! So you two are really¡ªhic¡ªengaged?" The veteran man, who was now standing on shaky feet, cackled at them. His tone was filled with mockery. "What a p-perfectbination! A gigolo and a sl*t!"

    "Anyone who dares to work with that degenerate from now on will be an enemy of the Jins," a cold voice cut through the air.

    Jin Liwei stood a few metres away like the king of hell. His face was a frozen mask of cold fury. He was relieved when he saw his baby girl unharmed. Then he remembered what the degenerate called her (oh, and his brother too) just a few seconds ago. Rage burned inside him.

    Watching another man (his brother) defend his woman left a bitter taste in his mouth. If it weren¡¯t because he wanted to honour his agreement with his baby girl not to reveal their rtionship before she was ready, he would¡¯ve already beaten up the bastard into a pulp with his own bare fists.

    He turned to the person beside him. It was the President of the Harmony Music Awards.

    "So this is the kind of people you invite to your events?"

    The president shivered. "CEO Jin, i-it¡¯s not like that! We have no idea that he¡¯s like this! Security! Where¡¯s the security?! Go kick that person out of here!"

    "Security?" Jin Liwei¡¯s voice turned colder. "You mean the police, don¡¯t you? From what I understand, that disgusting man was harassing thedies. That¡¯s why my brother hit him."

    "I...CEO Jin, involving the police is a little... This is an important event. Can we...I mean, it¡¯s not that serious that we have to call the police..."

    "Not. That. Serious?" Jin Liwei emphasized each syble with a cold voice. His expression became even more frightening.

    The president stepped back.

    "Don¡¯t worry. The police are already on their way," Si Xinyue suddenly interjected.

    It took a few seconds before Jin Liwei recognized thedy as the wife of the Police Chief. "We¡¯ll leave everything to you then, Madam."

    "Don¡¯t worry. There are many people here who can serve as witnesses. He won¡¯t be able to escape from justice."

    He nodded. Then he turned to Jin Chonglin. "Let¡¯s go."

    "Yes, Big Bro. Come with us, Junior Iris. We¡¯ll take you home."

    "Thank you, Senior Chonglin," Iris replied.

    "No need! We¡¯ll send Iris home!" JJ interrupted in a loud voice.

    He and DJ Song finally made their way to them from the other side of the hall. They looked tipsy.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Mr. JJ, DJ Song. Both of you are intoxicated. Rest assured that we will send Miss Long home safe and sound. There is no need to worry."

    He began walking away. Jin Chonglin and Iris followed him.

    "Please don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll send a message when I get home," Iris reassured JJ.

    JJ was about to protest when DJ Song stopped him.

    "Old J, CEO Jin is a man of integrity. If he says that he¡¯ll send Iris home safe and sound, he¡¯ll do it. Besides, he¡¯s right. Both of us are drunk. We are not reliablepanions for her at the moment."

    JJ grumpily allowed the Jin brothers to take Iris away. "The two of you better take care of her! She¡¯s my most precious prot¨¦g¨¦. If you h-hurt a hair from her head, I¡¯ll...I¡¯ll dere war against you! I d-don¡¯t care if you¡¯re the Jins!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched but that was his only reaction to JJ¡¯s words. His expression still remained cold.

    Iris smiled warmly at JJ and DJ Song.

    And with that, the three left the after-party. They took Iris¡¯ awards from JJ¡¯s limousine first before driving away in Jin Liwei¡¯s own limo. Iris and Jin Chonglin remained silent as they observed Jin Liwei. Both of them could sense that he was extremely furious at the moment.

    After a few blocks, the limo stopped at the side of the road.

    "Get off," Jin Liwei ordered his brother.

    Both Iris and Jin Chonglin looked at him in disbelief.

    "Darling¡ª"

    "Big Bro¡ª"

    "There¡¯s another car behind us. It¡¯ll take you home," Jin Liwei said.

    "Oh." Iris turned to Jin Chonglin. "Goodnight, Brother Chonglin. Thank you for defending me earlier. Please take care on your way home."

    "You..." Jin Chonglin could only sigh at the lovers who were now kicking him out after doing so much favour for them tonight. "Fine. Whatever. Goodnight. Bye," he muttered as he opened the door and climbed off the limo.

    His feet barely touched the ground when the limo sped off. Jin Chonglin staggered back and fell on his butt.

    "Eff you!" he shouted and gave the quickly disappearing vehicle two middle fingers.

    Back inside the limousine, Jin Liwei pulled Iris in a tight embrace.

    "Sorry, love."

    Sheid her head against his chest, feeling relieved that she was now back safely in her man¡¯s arms. "It¡¯s not your fault."

    "I shouldn¡¯t have left you alone at the party. I needed to take a call, so I stepped out of the hall to talk for some time. When I returned, my brother was already punching that scumbag. I wish I was the one who defended you."

    "Let¡¯s not talk about it anymore. I don¡¯t want that incident to mar such a wonderful night as this." She lifted her head to look at him. "Darling, I¡¯m so happy you were there when I epted all those awards. Thank you foring."

    "No, love. It¡¯s my pleasure. I¡¯m so proud of you," he told her.

    They gazed into each other¡¯s eyes. Jin Liwei¡¯s head dipped and captured her sweet lips. The kiss was slow and sensual at first, but Jin Liwei deepened it after just a few seconds.

    Iris moaned and held on to him as he ravished her mouth. She could feel his fury in his kiss. It seemed that he was still very much affected by what happened during the after-party.

    His hands touched her all over, pressing and squeezing her softness through her dress. Panting, he sucked her lower lip as his movements became more desperate and hungrier for her. Then he pushed her down the seat andid his body on top of her.

    She immediately felt his hardness pressing against her thigh. His wet kisses trailed down her neck. He was trying to find the opening of her dress.

    Annoyed that he couldn¡¯t seem to find any opening, he gripped her dress by the neckline and prepared to rip it off of her.

 Chapter 340 - Damn Dress

    <h4>Chapter 340 - Damn Dress </h4>

    Iris grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand before he could rip her dress off.

    "No! Darling, stop! Not my dress. I like this dress."

    It took a few months to create this masterpiece for the Harmony Music Awards. Jin Liwei even took part in choosing the initial designs. He said that he wanted to see her in a red, traditional-inspired dress, so they went with it.

    "Don¡¯t worry, love. I¡¯llmission another dress exactly like this one," he told her. His fingers tightened on the cloth. He really wanted to rip it off of her.

    "No, I really like this dress. Don¡¯t destroy it. Besides, I don¡¯t want to do it here."

    "The partition wall is up and it¡¯s soundproofed. My subordinates won¡¯t see or hear us."

    Jin Liwei was now panting very hard. Huge droplets of sweat beaded all over his face and even dripped down on her. It was taking all of his willpower not to lose control and ravish her. All of his frustrations of not being able to im her as his woman in front of everybody earlier, plus the fury he felt when he discovered that she was almost molested by a pervert during the after-party, were all taking a toll on his sanity right now. He needed to be inside her as soon as possible to calm his raging inner beast.

    However, she really didn¡¯t feelfortable making love at the moment. Simr to him, all of the events that happened earlier were also taking a toll on her. She just wanted to be with him to rx and beforted.

    She blinked her beautiful eyes at him. "Can we just cuddle? Please, darling?"

    Her angelic expression shot straight to his heart. "Hah..." He exhaled deeply and closed his eyes to forcefully tamp down his desire. It was damn difficult, but he opened his eyes and nodded. "Alright, love," he said and sat back up. "Come sit on myp and let¡¯s cuddle."

    A lovely smile lit up her face. He almost lost control again.

    Iris found afortable position on hisp and draped herself all over him. She tried not to press against the hardness pressing below her. However, the hitching in his breath told her that every single little movement of hers was affecting him. She felt bad for him, but she really didn¡¯t want to do it right now. So she tried not to move around too much.

    "Wait till we get home. Okay?" she whispered to him.

    Excitement immediately spiked within him. ¡¯Hurry up and drive faster!¡¯ he wanted to shout at the driver but controlled himself. His baby girl seemed to be enjoying cuddling with him at the moment. He didn¡¯t want to ruin it for her just because of his impatience and raging desire.

    He kissed her forehead and pulled her closer to his body. His hands also never stopped roaming all over her body, stroking and squeezing. He hungered for her naked flesh, wanting to taste her with his mouth and press his own naked body against hers.

    Finally, they arrived home.

    Jin Liwei carried Iris princess-style inside the mansion, all the way to their suite. He put her down on her feet once they were inside their bedroom.

    He pinned her against the door and kissed her deeply, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth. One hand kneaded her breast over her dress and the other squeezed her sexy hips and butt. Both moaned.

    "Help me remove your dress, love," he whispered, panting in anticipation.

    She hesitated. "I want to shower first." Before he could persuade her otherwise, she added, "I performed earlier tonight and walked back and forth to the stage many times to receive my awards. They¡¯re very heavy, you know. I sweated a lot."

    "Alright. Let¡¯s shower together," hepromised.

    The two headed to the bathroom. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t keep his hands off of her.

    "Careful! You¡¯ll tear the crystals off! We have to remove my dress slowly and carefully," she scolded him and swatted his hands when he impatiently tugged at her dress.

    He grunted and gritted his teeth, as he forced himself to be gentle in helping her out of her fitted dress. When her breasts finally popped out, his mouth immediately captured a nipple and sucked hard. Iris gasped and automatically held his head. She closed her eyes and moaned. However, the rough rustling of her dress somewhat cleared her mind.

    "Darling...my dress..."

    "To hell with your dress."

    "No! If you damage my dress, I¡¯ll sleep with Ice Cream and Popcorn in their room tonight! You stay here by yourself!"

    He immediately stopped. "Love, don¡¯t be like this... I¡¯ll be good, okay? Now let¡¯s ¡¯slowly¡¯ and ¡¯carefully¡¯ remove your beautiful dress, alright?"

    She harrumphed before they worked together in removing her dress. Her lids were bing heavy and she started yawning. Finally, the dress waspletely removed.

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief. He was about to toss it to theundry hamper, but Iris scolded him again. "Darling, no! We have to hang it nicely for dry cleaning."

    He groaned, starting to hate the damn red dress. He had already forgotten that he was the one who insisted that she wore the dress for the music awards.

    After taking care of the damn dress, Jin Liwei quickly removed his own suit. Iris only had her panties on at the moment.

    "Where are you going?" he asked when she walked away. His upper body was already naked, and he was in the process of removing his trousers.

    "I need to remove my make-up."

    "Oh. Hurry up, love."

    "Mmn... Okay." She yawned again.

    Now fully naked, he didn¡¯t immediately go to her. He stood back instead and watched her remove her make-up in front of the mirror and sink. She was so beautiful, so sexy. He started stroking himself slowly to ease the ache. Craving the feeling of flesh on flesh, he walked to her and stood behind her.

    His hands wrapped around her body and kneaded her bare breasts, while he kissed her neck. Her breathing sped up but she continued to gently remove her make-up. One of his hands moved downwards and slipped inside her panties. She was already wet when he touched her.

    "Ah! Liwei...darling..." She threw her head back to his chest and moaned.

    He slid a long finger inside her and moved it in and out slowly. She trembled.

    "I...my make-up..."

    "Don¡¯t mind me, love. Continue what you¡¯re doing," he whispered into her ear in a husky voice before nibbling her earlobe.

    She clumsily removed the rest of her make-up, not really doing a good job of it, especially when he inserted another finger and sped up the pace of pleasuring her. Momentster, she stiffened and started shaking. Her cries and whimpers of ecstasy echoed inside the bathroom.

    He could feel her inner contractions as she squeezed his fingers inside of her. He groaned. His erection twitched, hardening even more. He couldn¡¯t wait to rece his fingers with his hard length.

    When she finished, her body felt like it melted into a puddle of jelly. She felt so rxed that she didn¡¯t react much when Jin Liwei carried her into the shower. Warm water rained down on them, as Jin Liwei hungrily kissed her on the mouth. She sighed in satisfaction and closed her eyes.

    "Touch me too," he gasped between kisses. "Love? Hm?"

    Her head lolled and dropped onto his chest. Her knees also began to buckle. He quickly wrapped his arms around her to prevent her from falling down.

    "What the? Love, are you alright?"

    She opened her eyes and squinted at him. Then she yawned. "Oh? We¡¯re still in the shower? So sleepy..." Her eyes began to droop close again.

    Jin Liwei stared at her, not knowing whether tough or cry. She was now practically sleeping on her feet. Although what he wanted the most right now was to make love with her, he could only sigh at their current situation.

    His baby girl must be so exhausted.

    "Love, can you stay awake for a bit more? I¡¯ll wash us quickly and then we can sleep, okay?" he told her in a gentle voice.

    She acknowledged his words with a soft sound. Her eyes opened sleepily and looked at his erection. "Sorry, I¡¯m too tired," she mumbled.

    He chuckled softly. "It¡¯s fine. You deserve to have a good long rest tonight."

    Jin Liwei quickly washed and dried themselves. She was already sleeping deeply when he carried her to the bed. He rubbed lotion all over her body and applied moisturizer on her face. When he was done, he kissed her on the lips and covered her with the duvet.

    Then he looked down at his still hard erection. Sighing, he returned to the bathroom for a cold shower. He refused to touch himself. After reciting the value of pi inside his head and almost freezing from the cold water, his little brother down below finally softened on its own.

    He staggered back to the bed and slept like a log beside his baby girl.

 Chapter 341 - Move In

    <h4>Chapter 341 - Move In </h4>

    For the next few days, the news were all about Iris Long¡¯s impressive wins at the Harmony Music Awards. Not only did she win the most awards and defeated Jin Chonglin many times, but she also received a special historic award.

    Iris became even busier after the music awards. She sat for many interviews and posed for a lot of magazines. Her status within the music industry was elevated. People now respected her more.

    Other recordbels were also starting to poach her, angering JJ to no end. Iris assured him that she still wanted to work with him. They created great music together. Why would she abandon him? She would rather produce her own music herself than leave JJ to work with another music producer. For her, he was the best producer in the country.

    In addition to their effective work rtionship, she also felt grateful to him. She was now seeing how he really cared about her. He treated her like his favourite niece. She experienced his concern for her again when he scolded her for forgetting to message him when she arrived home the night of the music awards.

    "You damn brat! Did you know how worried I was?! I thought that those Jin brothers had their wicked ways with you! I almost stormed Jin Corporation and dered war against them!" JJ yelled at her on the phone.

    It was weird because she was smiling even though she was being scolded. After pacifying JJ, she checked for updates about the veteran male singer who harassed her and the four poshdies at the after-party. She was about to perform her own investigation when Jin Liwei stopped her.

    "Don¡¯t waste your time with that scumbag. I already took care of him. It¡¯s not only me. The Chief of Police is furious at him as well. That bastard is already in police custody," he told her.

    "Oh. Okay."

    With that, she already tossed the matter of the veteran singer out of her mind, leaving it to her darling to handle. She felt no mercy for the veteran singer at all. He was absolutely disgusting and had no respect for females. Whatever punishment he received from Jin Liwei and the Chief of Police, he totally deserved it and more.

    ###

    After consecutive days of working hard, Iris finally had a much-needed day off. Unfortunately, Jin Liwei had a pressing matter to attend to at Jin Corporation so he couldn¡¯t spend it with her.

    Aspensation and also as a sort of reward for her triumph at the music awards, Jin Liwei gifted her a full day of pampering at the spa. He also made Dom, Meimei and Jiang Ying Yue apany her.

    "Oh! This is going to be so much fun! A girls¡¯ day out! Yay!" Dom pped his hands in excitement.

    The group enjoyed massages, facials, body treatments, manicures and pedicures. Of course, the twins Dom and Meimei chattered nonstop. After gushing about Iris¡¯ impressive award wins, they focused the topic of conversation on Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s reignited rtionship with Long Hui.

    Now that the tabloid scandal about Iris and Jin Chonglin having a love child together died out, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun left the mansion and moved back to their unit at Gold Heights Condominium. Iris and Jin Liwei improved the security system in the entire building.

    During one of her speeches at the music awards, Iris inadvertently revealed that her bodyguard was also the mother of her godson. There were already several photos of Jiang Ying Yue floating around on the inte because she frequently apanied Iris as a bodyguard. Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s image, including Dom¡¯s, were often included when fans and paparazzi snapped photos of Iris.

    Added to the fact that Long Hui also publicly admitted that he was the father of Iris¡¯ godson and nephew, it was very easy for people to figure out that Jiang Ying Yue was the mother of Little Jun.

    Iris repeatedly apologized to Jiang Ying Yue for her carelessness.

    "No, Xin. Please don¡¯t apologize," Jiang Ying Yue said. "It¡¯s the truth, anyway. Little Jun is indeed my son with Hui. Besides, I¡¯m very happy that you consider me as your friend."

    "If your rtionship with Big Brother Boss continues its progress like this, I¡¯m sure that in addition to being friends, you and boss will also be sisters-inw! Ehehe!" Dom said in excitement.

    "So true! Big Brother Hui is so in love with Big Sis Yue that he even left the Long ancestral residence to move in with her!" Meimei added.

    Indeed, Long Hui moved in to Gold Heights to live with Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun.

    Iris¡¯ careless mention of Jiang Ying Yue in her eptance speech at the awards show revealed Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s identity. Fortunately, not many people were interested in Jiang Ying Yue. After all, she wasn¡¯t a celebrity like Iris. It was only the Longs and the people in the same circles as them who fretted over her. She was nowbelled as Long Hui¡¯s mistress, the mother of his illegitimate child, and the bodyguard of Long Xin. Needless to say, the Long elders were absolutely horrified, ashamed, and infuriated.

    This was also one of the reasons why Long Hui decided to move in with her and their son. Of course, he wanted to be with them as a family. However, he also did this to protect Jiang Ying Yue. By showing everyone that they were living together, he was making a statement that Jiang Ying Yue was the woman that he wanted to marry. She wasn¡¯t a mistress but his future wife.

    Iris also let go of Jiang Ying Yue as her personal bodyguard. She assigned Jiang Ying Yue as the head of security at their Gold Heights Condominium building instead. This way, Jiang Ying Yue would have more time to spend with Little Jun and also wouldn¡¯t expose herself further to the public eye.

    Back at the spa, Jiang Ying Yue blushed at Dom and Meimei¡¯s teasing. It was obvious that she was in love with Long Hui.

    However, Iris could still sense an uneasiness in Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s eyes. It didn¡¯t help that Meimei was telling them that the Long elders and the other Long rtives were making things increasingly hard for Long Hui recently.

    ording to Meimei, the Long ancestral residence was bing more and more unpleasant to live in. The elders and other rtives woulde almost every day toin to Long Tengfei about Long Hui.

    Jiang Ying Yue looked upset, but she didn¡¯t say anything. Finally, Meimei realized how her words affected Jiang Ying Yue. She immediately stopped. Then she and Dom started talking about other more cheerful things instead to lighten the atmosphere.

    Iris observed Jiang Ying Yue in silence. She didn¡¯t know exactly what Jiang Ying Yue experienced in the past, but she always acted troubled whenever the Long family was mentioned.

    ¡¯What a bunch of nuisances,¡¯ Iris thought about the Long elders and the other Long rtives.

    Putting the annoying Long family out of her mind, Iris enjoyed the rest of the spa day with the others. Finally, their day at the spa ended. They prepared to go home.

    While walking along the hallway, they met another group consisting of three women in their early twenties.

    The woman leading them suddenly stopped. She looked surprised when she saw their group. Then she spoke directly to Iris. "Little Sister Xin, is that you?"

 Chapter 342 - Long Jinjing

    <h4>Chapter 342 - Long Jinjing </h4>

    Iris blinked, not recognizing the woman who spoke to her, nor the other two women apanying her.

    Meimei stepped out from behind Iris and eximed, "Long Jinjing! It¡¯s me, Yang Mei!"

    "Oh, Yang Mei. You¡¯re here, too?"

    After hearing the woman¡¯s name, the original Iris¡¯ memories flooded her mind. Only then did Iris recognize the woman to be Long Jinjing. She was Long Tengfei¡¯s illegitimate daughter with a former mistress. Meaning, she was Iris Long¡¯s older half-sister.

    She didn¡¯t recognize her right away because for some reason, there was a bit of a repelling force surrounding the original Iris¡¯ memories about Long Jinjing. Then she understood why.

    The original Iris absolutely hated Long Jinjing, feeling jealous of her especially when it came to their father¡¯s attention. She also felt threatened by her older half-sister because Long Jinjing was smart,dy-like, and admired by many. The Long elders might discriminate against her because of her illegitimacy, but the younger members of the family and the servants adored her.

    They alwayspared the original Iris to Long Jinjing, expressing their disappointment that Iris was the legitimate daughter and not Long Jinjing who they thought would have been the perfect youngdy of the Long family. The original Iris heard them saying that Long Jinjing was many times better than her.

    All of these made the original Iris develop an inferiorityplex towards Long Jinjing. It made her hate her older half-sister, treating her like a mortal enemy.

    Iris couldn¡¯t sense any hostility from Long Jinjing directed at her at the moment. But even if she was hostile, Iris wouldn¡¯t be surprised based on the memories of the original Iris currently flooding her mind. Fortunately, Long Jinjing was acting very nice to her.

    There was no reason for Iris to be rude, so she greeted her, "Big Sister Jinjing, lovely to see you."

    Long Jinjing looked surprised at the nice greeting. Then relief shed in her eyes, perhaps because Iris acknowledged her. She smiled at Iris, acting friendly and even shy.

    Pretty and dainty. These were the first words that would pop in one¡¯s mind to describe Long Jinjing. She was a petite woman¡ªa head shorter than Iris¡ªand looked fragile. She was the kind of woman who at first nce would make most people want to protect her. Although she didn¡¯t have Iris¡¯ stunning beauty, Long Jinjing was attractive in a pretty way.

    "How have you been, Little Sister Xin?" she asked. Her voice was surprisingly deep and firm in contrast to her petite and fragile appearance. "I watched the Harmony Music Awards. Your performance was amazing. Also congrattions on your many award wins, especially on the special award."

    "Thank you, Big Sister Jinjing," Iris replied politely.

    Then they made small talk. Long Jinjing mentioned that she would be graduating in about a couple of months and would start working at a small branch division of Long Industries. Then she suddenly looked worried after realizing what she just said. It was as if she was afraid that Iris would think that she was bragging. When Iris didn¡¯t react negatively, she looked visibly relieved.

    Then one of herpanions began tugging her arm, silently asking Long Jinjing to introduce her to Iris. The two groups began formal introductions. Long Jinjing and Meimei were already acquainted with each other. They met several times at Long family reunion dinners or when Long Jinjing visited Long Tengfei at the ancestral residence by herself. The two were rather friendly to each other.

    One of Long Jinjing¡¯s friends was almost trembling in excitement as she greeted Iris. She looked very star-struck and couldn¡¯t make herself call Iris as Xin.

    "Uhm...can I...I mean, please give me your autograph!"

    "Of course," Iris replied.

    Iris signed an autograph for Long Jinjing¡¯s friend and also posed together for a photo with her. In contrast, the other friend apanying them kept her distance. Her name was Chen Fei. She was polite and answered when asked but didn¡¯t initiate any of the conversations.

    It was from Chen Fei that Iris detected hints of hostility towards her. She wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised because Chen Fei was Long Jinjing¡¯s best friend. The original Iris got into several catfights with her in the past. They fought because Chen Fei was defending Long Jinjing from the original Iris¡¯ bullying.

    Iris didn¡¯t mind the slightly hostile attitude of Chen Fei towards her. It was understandable. In fact, Iris even admired her for still acting civil despite their past feuds.

    Finally, the two groups said goodbye to each other and went their separate ways.

    "Boss, your sister seems nice," Dommented once they were inside the executive van.

    "Yeah, Long Jinjing is nice and kind. She¡¯s also very humble. Totally unlike most of the Longs," Meimei said. Then she realized what she just said and added in a hurry, "Of course, Xin is also very nice, kind and humble. The two of you are the best among the Longs. Even Uncle Tengfei and Big Brother Hui can be snooty sometimes." Then she paused when she thought about something. "Well, actually, sometimes you¡¯re not humble at all, Xin. But in a nice, non-snooty way! Perhaps it¡¯s because you¡¯re such a straightforward person that you never deny or devalue any of your achievements when others praise you. It¡¯s not bragging. It¡¯s more like you¡¯re confident of your own abilities and achievements."

    "Of course! That¡¯s because boss is the best!" Dom dered.

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded in agreement.

    "It¡¯s weird because I heard that the two of you are not in good terms," Meimei said. "I was afraid that you¡¯ll get into a fight with her earlier, but you two acted really friendly to each other. What¡¯s up with that? Oh. Is it like when you used to bully my Auntie Jiahui before? Did you bully Long Jinjing too?"

    Iris nodded.

    "Wow. You were such a b*tch, Xin," Meimei said. "I¡¯m d I didn¡¯t meet you back then or I would most likely hate you."

    "That was back then! Boss is the best now!" Dom immediately defended Iris, ring at his twin.

    Meimei rolled her eyes. "Duh. That¡¯s what I said."

    "That Chen Fei has some ill feelings against you, Xin," Jiang Ying Yue observed.

    "Really?" Both Dom and Meimei didn¡¯t notice.

    While the three chattered about their encounter with Long Jinjing¡¯s group, Iris inwardly prodded some of the original Iris¡¯ memories. She sank into deep thought because she discovered that on some of the memories regarding specific people like Long Jinjing, emotions that weren¡¯t hers began bubbling inside her.

    Her eyes darkened with suspicion at this implication.

 Chapter 343 - Power Of A Celebrity

    <h4>Chapter 343 - Power Of A Celebrity </h4>

    Meanwhile, Long Jinjing and her friends were also on the road, talking about their chance encounter with Iris¡¯ group at the spa.

    Chen Fei was driving her car. Long Jinjing sat beside her on the front passenger seat, while their other friend sat in the backseat.

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei were best friends. They met each other in middle school and became inseparable ever since. They went to the same high school and university. While Long Jinjing majored in Finance, Chen Fei majored in Marketing.

    They met their other friend in business school. That was why Iris didn¡¯t recognize her from the original¡¯s memories.

    "Wow. Iris Long is even more beautiful in person. She¡¯s also very nice," their friendmented. "Totally unlike how you painted her, Xiao Fei. Whenever you talk about Iris, you make her sound like a monster."

    "That¡¯s because she is. You have no idea of the hell Jinjing went through in the hands of that evil b*tch," Chen Fei spat.

    "That was all in the past, Xiao Fei," Jinjing said. "I heard that my sister has changed. And it seems that it¡¯s true. Our father is very pleased that she has matured and became sensible."

    "Hmph! You think a person can change just like that? I don¡¯t believe it." Chen Fei looked very skeptical.

    "People CAN change especially after experiencing a traumatic event. Remember that my sister almost died in that car crash and went intoa for an entire year. Her personality change must be because of that trauma. She has experienced a lot. Let¡¯s not be so harsh on her," Jinjing said.

    Chen Fei harrumphed and then sneered. "I still don¡¯t believe that she really changed. I will never forget how she bullied you before, Jinjing. I also will never forget about how I suffered bald patches on my head for a few months because she ripped my hair off my head."

    "That¡¯s because you scratched her face, Xiao Fei. She¡¯s a celebrity and her face is very important," Jinjing said.

    "She started it! She insulted you so my hands automatically moved on their own to attack her," Chen Fei tried to justify her past action. Then she shrugged. "Whatever. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever like her. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t fight with her as long as she doesn¡¯t do anything to you. She better not bully you again or I¡¯ll expose her ck heart to those brain-dead ck Stars and the whole world."

    "Hey! I¡¯m a ck Star and I¡¯m not brain-dead!" their other friendined in the backseat. "Want me to whack you with my mighty slippers?! Huh, Xiao Fei?"

    Chen Fei ignored her.

    "Please don¡¯t do that. She¡¯s my sister. Father will be sad if people attack her," Jinjing said.

    "You¡¯re a very kind andpassionate person, Jinjing. That¡¯s good. We love you for that. But more often than not, you¡¯re too kind that others are taking advantage of you. You have to realize that there are people in the world who don¡¯t deserve your kindness. You call that evil b*tch your sister, but does she even consider you as her sister?"

    Uncertainty shed in Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes.

    "See? Even you¡¯re not sure. Don¡¯t be fooled just because she acted nice today. Remember that we¡¯re in a public ce. She¡¯s a celebrity and she has to watch her image and reputation. We¡¯ll only know if she really changed once we meet her again without the prying eyes of other people."

    Their other friend interrupted them. "I don¡¯t really know exactly what happened between you and Iris before, but I think that everyone deserves a second chance. Xiao Jing, I hope that you can have a good sister rtionship with Iris."

    "Me too," Long Jinjing whispered.

    Chen Fei snorted, still not trusting that Iris really changed for the better. Meeting her in person again after more than two years made her feel some phantom pain in the previous bald spots on her head. Her grudge against Iris was something that wouldn¡¯t be so easy to forget.

    ###

    When the media got tired of featuring Iris Long¡¯s incredible award wins and moved on to more recent stories, her endorsement ads started rolling out to the public. Themercials yed on TV and even on radio every day. Her posters could be seen in public ces all over the country.

    The ck Stars swarmed the stores and crashed websites in order to buy the products their Boss Iris was endorsing.

    Nail polish by Meili Nails? All sold out. Latest phone model? They lined up hours before the stores even opened. Some even camped out the night before. The high-end headphones and earphones didn¡¯t sell out because they were so expensive, but the sales definitely spiked higher than normal. Many people also switched toothpastes, hoping to at least obtain even just 1% of Iris Long¡¯s beautiful smile.

    Simrly, Serenity Premium Tea also sold out within just two days, specifically the varieties Iris Long endorsed. The stores were calling Lin Yehan¡¯spany nonstop to ce additional orders. Lin Yehan and his employees were all taken aback, not expecting this kind of development at all. They were so unprepared that their current inventories weren¡¯t enough to supply all of the orders.

    As a result, Lin Yehan had to choose carefully who to supply first. Hispany produced premium tea. He didn¡¯t want topromise the quality just to increase the supply to meet the current insane demand.

    Serenity Premium Tea¡¯s price point was also higherpared to itspetitors. Lin Yehan already epted that it wouldn¡¯t appeal to the majority of the consumers. That was why he never imagined his tea products would sell out in just two days.

    ¡¯So this is the power of a celebrity,¡¯ he thought to himself.

    Ever since Iris¡¯ multiple award wins, she had be more famous. She was quickly bing a household name. Although she still had a long way to go until she reached Jin Chonglin¡¯s level, she was already headed in that direction, especially if her career continued its upward trajectory like this.

    The most important thing was that she had now finally stabilized her position in showbiz. She was also now a respected figure in the music industry. Her next career choice from here on would be extremely critical on whether she could move forward or grow stagnant as an artist.

    ###

    In response to her growing fame and influence, Bright Summit ced more importance on her. Tang Yiyi was now one of the star managers in the managementpany as a result. More resources were allocated for her. More offers were alsoing her way.

    Inside Tang Yiyi¡¯s office at Bright Summit Entertainment Company.

    "I¡¯m so proud of you, Iris, but don¡¯t let all of these go into your head. You worked hard to achieve all of these, but the moment you growcent, you¡¯ll start losing everything," Tang Yiyi warned Iris. "We need to continue working hard."

    "I understand, Elder Sister Yiyi," Iris replied.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Big Sis Yiyi! Boss isn¡¯t like that! She always works hard. I¡¯ll work hard as well!" Dom dered.

    "Good." Tang Yiyi smiled. Then she grabbed a pile of documents from the mountain of files on her desk. "Ever since your wins at the music awards, we have received many offers requesting you to write theme songs for TV dramas and movies."

    "What?! That¡¯s amazing!" Dom bounced on his seat in excitement.

    "It also worked to your advantage that a big part of the sess of ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ can be attributed to the theme song and the film score youposed. I suggest you considerposing for a TV show this time."

    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind, Elder Sister Yiyi. Please allow me to look into the offers first," Iris said.

    Tang Yiyi handed the pile of offers to Iris. Then she moved on to another topic. "Did you know that we also received acting offers for you?"

    Dom gasped. "Really? OMG!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side, waiting for her manager to borate.

    "Iris, you¡¯ve already stabilized your position in the music industry. I think it¡¯s time to diversify and try acting."

    Although Iris was curious and interested, she hesitated. She knew herself. Sure, she could act and portray simple emotions. But if she was required to portray deeper andplicated characters and emotions, she had no confidence in herself at all.

    Music and acting were simr in that they could portray a wide range of emotions, stories and characters. However, music wasn¡¯t acting and acting wasn¡¯t music.

    She was confident when it came to music. But acting?

    Tang Yiyi could guess what she was thinking. "Don¡¯t stress about it for now. We¡¯ll put you in acting workshops first. How¡¯s that?"

    "I¡¯ll leave everything to you then, Elder Sister Yiyi," Iris finally said after much thought.

    "Don¡¯t worry, boss! I¡¯ll help you! My gorgeous self is good in acting, too! Ehehe," Dom said.

    They chuckled before continuing to discuss Iris¡¯ next work schedule.

 Chapter 344 Mr - Z

    <h4>Chapter 344 Mr - Z </h4>

    Shadow Winds Compound, Main Headquarters.

    Lu Zihao and his subordinates worked tirelessly in thest few months to obtain more resources and manpower. They already destroyed quite a number of small to medium gangs. For now, they hadn¡¯t touch any of the biggest triads in the country yet.

    Those powerful triads, however, were already cautious and guarded against the Shadow Winds. The group¡¯s rise to power was too rapid and yet stable that it was rming. The Shadow Winds were disturbing the power bnce in the country¡¯s underworld. And many weren¡¯t happy with it. Some of these triads even reached out to the Shadow Winds, wanting to acquire and swallow it within their own respective organizations as a subordinate division. Of course, Lu Zihao declined.

    Apart from his most trusted subordinates, nobody else knew Lu Zihao¡¯s identity as the grandson of the business legend, Sir Lu Jianhong. He was only known as Mr. Z.

    He also started wearing a mask even when inside the Shadow Winds headquarters as a precaution to the new members of the group. Although he was fairly confident that the original members of his group were loyal to him and wouldn¡¯t betray him, the same couldn¡¯t be said to the new members.

    After an exponential growth in the number of members, Lu Zihao recently slowed down recruitment. He wanted to focus on training these new members, while at the same time weeding out those whose loyalty he wasn¡¯t sure of.

    Aside from their exploits in the underworld, they also targeted publicly "upright" businesses and organizations but were actually running illicit activities behind closed doors. As a result, Shadow Winds had now acquired several legitimate businesses they used as cover for their own activities. These businesses also served as major and sustainable streams of ie to the group.

    Lu Zihao also ordered several small branches to be established in different parts of the country and even in select other countries abroad. The teams he sent to build these branches were small in number. A team ranged from only two to six members each. This was to avoid arousing the suspicion of both the authorities and the local criminal groups.

    Overall, the Shadow Winds had grown quite powerful. And standing behind this rising power was its leader, the mysterious Mr. Z.

    Inside the control room, Lu Zihao yed with his ck nk mask with his hands. The subordinates present were among the original members. They were fiercely loyal to him and knew his real identity. They were also only the ones allowed to refer to him as "Boss Hao". The new members had to call him "Master Z" instead.

    "Boss Hao, regarding the person you instructed us to monitor, we are sorry and ashamed to say that we have lost track of him once again. He¡¯s a very slippery guy. It also doesn¡¯t help that he has various powers that are assisting in hiding him and covering his tracks," the leader of the hacker team reported. "However, we are able to discover signs that he has contacted several international publishers, mostly in the U.S. and the U.K., using his other identity Edward Coben, the one who is an American investigative journalist."

    Lu Zihao stopped ying with the mask. His eyes narrowed.

    "This might be an indication that the biography is nearingpletion or maybe it¡¯s already finished. We are not sure," the hacker leader said.

    His subordinates didn¡¯t visibly cower anymore when Lu Zihao released a murderous aura. Their intense training helped a lot in hardening their bodies, minds and wills into sharp des of steel. Nevertheless, their hearts still trembled inside at their leader.

    "Get me a copy of that f*cking biography," he ordered.

    "We¡¯ll do our best, Boss Hao." The hacker leader hesitated before saying, "But we can¡¯t guarantee that we¡¯ll seed. We already tried many times to obtain a copy or even just some parts of the biography but to no avail. That man is very careful. We suspect that it¡¯s either he¡¯s writing the book by hand or he¡¯s using a separate device to write it that isn¡¯t connected to the inte. My hacker team is helpless in these cases. That is unless we send a team to where he¡¯s at¡ªwherever he is¡ªand snatch the biography directly from him."

    Lu Zihao stood up and started pacing back and forth in the control room. He moved like a restless and bloodthirsty panther. Silent and dangerous.

    "What else?" he asked in a tone that exerted a very heavy pressure upon his subordinates.

    "There is also the possibility that he¡¯s using a highly-advanced concealment or encryption software that prevents us from essing his data, specifically his files regarding the biography. If this is the case, we still have a chance. We just have to dig harder and deeper."

    "Do that, then."

    "It is just unfortunate that our skill level as a team is still not enough to increase our sess rate in obtaining more information about the biography. It is highly likely that either he or the major powers assisting him hired some hackers to help conceal him. We are only able to obtain traces of him before he disappears again." The hacker leader took a few deep breaths, looking nervous while wanting to say something.

    "Spit it out."

    "I...Boss Hao, we already suggested this before but...uh..."

    Realization shed in Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes. Then he scowled. "No. I already said before that we will not involve Drakon in any of this business."

    The hacker leader already expected his boss¡¯ decision, but he still wanted to try persuading him to change his mind. "Boss Hao, I think you should reconsider your decision. Boss Drakon is the only top-tier hacker that we know of who¡¯s the most likely to willingly help us because of your connection to her. All of us in the hacker team are confident that she could gather everything you need more quickly."

    Lu Zihao red at his subordinate, making the guy lower his eyes to the floor.

    "Boss Hao! We got a hit!" an excited voice interrupted them. It was a female hacker who barged inside the control room carrying a tablet. She panted as he handed the tablet to Lu Zihao. Then she exined, "We found traces of our target in South America."

    "South America?" Lu Zihao frowned as he studied the information disyed on the tablet. The information was iplete but his eyes widened when he realized something. He instructed, "Continue monitoring him. Do everything you can to get me a copy of the biography. And also..."

    The hacker leader and the female hacker paid attention.

    "Look into thetest activities of the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n." Hatred boiled within Lu Zihao when he mentioned this group which was one of the biggest archenemies of the Vetrovs in the past.

    The female hacker gasped aloud. "Boss Hao! Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s still too early for us to mess with such a gigantic organization? We haven¡¯t even dared to cause trouble with the biggest triads in the country, and now we¡¯re going after the most powerful organization in Latin America? Isn¡¯t that too much?"

    All of the subordinates inside the control room paled.

    "Shush! What are you doing? I already told you to control your mouth when in front of the boss," the hacker leader reprimanded her. Then he turned to Lu Zihao and bowed, forcing the female hacker to bow as well. "Boss Hao, please forgive her this once! She¡¯s still young and doesn¡¯t yet know what¡¯s good for her!"

    Lu Zihao nodded but made sure to give the female hacker a warning look. Although he didn¡¯t really mind what she said, he needed to instill discipline to all of his subordinates or things within the Shadow Winds might spiral out of his control.

    "Sorry, Boss Hao," she mumbled, trembling.

    After instructing his subordinates on what to do next, Lu Zihao dismissed everyone. They went to do the tasks assigned to them. As for him, he wore his mask and headed to his room.

    He wasn¡¯t really sure whether the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n had something to do with the man writing the biography about the Vetrovs. It was possible that the Alcatrazes might have something to do with the Vetrov¡¯s downfall and annihtion. Everything was still a conjecture on his part, though.

    Lu Zihao wanted to know the truth. It was an obsession. The progress of his hacker team was too slow that he was starting to run out of patience. There was also a sense of urgency, especially now that the biography might be published soon.

    He fished his phone from his pocket. He tapped on it a few times but suddenly stopped when he realized what he was doing. His thumb hovered over Iris¡¯ phone number.

    ¡¯No. It¡¯s better not to involve her in this dangerous business. She¡¯s living a great life now. I should let her enjoy a life of peace and happiness,¡¯ he told himself.

    A sense of loneliness bubbled within him. He sighed and tried to shake it off.

    ¡¯She chose her path and I chose mine. Better keep it that way.¡¯

    Lu Zihao looked straight ahead, determined not to falter in his path of revenge.

 Chapter 345 - Conditions

    <h4>Chapter 345 - Conditions </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Jin Liwei arrived homete that night from work. It was already past dinner. The butler told him that both Iris and Dom were in the cat room, so he headed there.

    He was about to open the door when he heard some muffled voices inside. Curious and not wanting to disturb them, he quietly opened the door just a crack to eavesdrop. He heard his baby girl and Dom talking inside. The cats meowed now and then. Well, it was actually just Popcorn asking for attention. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t hear Ice Cream at all. She was probably sleeping like usual.

    "No, boss. Your expression still looks t. You need to harness the emotion of shame," Dom said. "Let¡¯s go through the scenario again. ¡¯You are a teenager and you have been caught smoking at school grounds. Your teacher and the school principal scold you and call your parents. Your parentse to pick you up. They are very disappointed.¡¯ Now you have to act guilty and ashamed of yourself. Okay, boss? 3, 2, 1, action!"

    "I don¡¯t like this scenario. It¡¯s so stupid. I never smoked and I don¡¯t want to try it. So I have no idea what it¡¯s like. Let¡¯s change it," Irisined.

    "But boss, this is the scenario your acting coach gave you. We have to practice it. Or if you want another scenario, we can practice the other emotions instead. Oh, here¡¯s a good one. It¡¯s for the emotion of surprise. ¡¯You receive a letter informing you that a great-grandfather that you¡¯ve never met before has died and left you 50,000 RMB in his will.¡¯ Now you have to act surprised."

    "50,000 RMB? Is that supposed to be surprising? But I¡¯m already a billionaire."

    "Pft!" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stop theugh from escaping from his lips.

    "Meow? Meow!" Popcorn ran like an orange rocket andunched himself at his daddy.

    Jin Liwei caught him and immediately started petting the needy cat.

    "Darling!"

    "Sir boss!"

    It was Iris¡¯ turn toe running. Then she threw herself at him, hugging his waist tightly. Popcorn meowed loudly inint as he got squished between his mommy and daddy.

    "Sorry," Iris mumbled before quickly taking Popcorn and putting him on the floor. Then she returned to hugging Jin Liwei tightly, rubbing her face against his chest.

    Jin Liwei wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. He could feel her frustration in the stiffness of her body.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?" he asked.

    She didn¡¯t answer, continuing to bury her face in his chest instead.

    "What happened?" Jin Liwei asked Dom instead.

    "Oh. The acting coach told boss earlier today that she sucks in acting. Boss has been in a bad mood because of it."

    "What?" Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly. "That acting coach is a quack. Fire her. Let¡¯s get a new one. How dare she say that to my Xin? That acting coach doesn¡¯t know what she¡¯s talking about."

    "No, don¡¯t," Iris finally spoke. "Elder Sister Yiyi says that she¡¯s one of the best acting coaches in the industry. Apparently, many of her past students are now some of the top actors and actresses in the country."

    "She¡¯s only one of the best in the country. Let¡¯s get you a better acting coach from abroad," Jin Liwei suggested.

    Iris was feeling better now after hearing his words. "It¡¯s okay. There¡¯s no need to go that far. I¡¯ll stick with her. I heard that Bright Summit made a lot of effort to persuade her to take me in as a student."

    He gazed down at her beautiful face. Then he stroked her soft and smooth cheek with his fingers. "So what if Bright Summit made a lot of effort? Don¡¯t force yourself to endure it if she¡¯s being mean to you." Then he asked her, "Do you even like acting?"

    She tilted her head to the side and thought about it. "No, I don¡¯t think I like acting..."

    "Then there¡¯s no reason for you to do it," he told her.

    In all honesty, he didn¡¯t want her to go into acting. When she first informed him that she was going to take acting workshops and start working with an acting coach, he was taken aback. She said that she wanted to try acting. He didn¡¯t stop her, but he made her agree to certain conditions first.

    First, she needed to consult him before epting an acting project. They would decide together if she should ept it or not. Second, absolutely no love scenes allowed. No kissing, no hugging, and no intimate touching with the opposite sex. Third, she needed to bring her bodyguards to shoots all the time.

    Fortunately, she epted all of his conditions without any protests, even the one about the bodyguards. Then she started going to acting workshops and working with an acting coach. At first, she was very excited. But after a few days, he noticed that she was increasingly bing downhearted.

    "You¡¯re right. But I still want to try acting. I¡¯m struggling right now and I¡¯m starting to dislike it, but I don¡¯t believe that I can¡¯t do it. I already attended a number of acting sses, so I might as well finish what I started. I want to at least try working on an acting project. I want to take on this challenge and see how far I can go. If in the end, I still suck at it, then I¡¯ll stop and stick to music."

    The corner of Jin Liwei¡¯s lips lifted into a smile. It seemed that his baby girl¡¯spetitive spirit had been ignited when the acting coach told her that she sucked at acting. Seeing her trying so hard like this even though she was bad at it, he couldn¡¯t bear to discourage her from acting anymore.

    She did say that she just wanted to try and experience it. His baby girl was still youngpared to him. He should allow her to experience new things and enjoy herself before they married.

    "Alright, love. Do whatever you want, but remember our agreement. Okay?"

    Iris gave him a sweet smile and pulled his head for a chaste kiss on the lips. "I love you, Jin Liwei."

    "I love you more, Long Xin. So much," he replied in a serious voice.

    "Ehehehe."

    "Meow~ Meow~"

    Ice Cream opened her eyes and looked at ve #1 and her brother Popcorn spying on Mommy and Daddy. Yawning, she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.

    "Have you eaten dinner yet, darling?" Iris asked Jin Liwei.

    "Not yet."

    They all headed to the kitchen. Dom, the glutton, ate dinner again with Jin Liwei even though he already ate earlier with Iris.

    "Oh, I almost forgot," Iris suddenly said. "I¡¯m writing a theme song for a TV drama. It¡¯s a love song. You¡¯re my inspiration for it, darling. I think of you whenever I¡¯m working on it."

    "Yeah?" Jin Liwei looked extremely pleased and delighted. "Can I hear it?"

    "Yes, of course. It¡¯s not finished yet but I¡¯ll y it to youter in our room."

    Jin Liwei nodded, a faint smile on his face.

    "Oh. I also forgot to mention that it¡¯s a duet. I¡¯m nning on inviting Brother Chonglin to sing it together with me. I think his voice will be perfect for the song," she told him.

    His smile instantly disappeared.

 Chapter 346 - New Method Of Persuasion

    <h4>Chapter 346 - New Method Of Persuasion </h4>

    A chill suddenly permeated the air. It made Dom shiver, but even so, he didn¡¯t stop eating. His chopsticks continued to shove food into his mouth. However, he did nce warily at his sir boss who now looked like a frozen statue of the king of hell.

    Iris stood up from her seat and walked towards Jin Liwei. Then she squeezed herself between the table and his body to sit on hisp. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she began raining kisses all over his face.

    "Darling, don¡¯t be so jealous of your own brother, okay?" she said in her sweetest voice. "You¡¯re the one I love and the inspiration of the song I¡¯m writing, not him. Brother Chonglin is just a...a...hmm, a mouthpiece, yes! He¡¯s just a mouthpiece that I need to use in order to produce the song I¡¯m envisioning."

    A giggle escaped from Dom¡¯s mouth, but he forcefully stopped it when Iris gave him a warning look. Then she returned to sweet-talking her darling, making sure to kiss him every few sentences.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched at his baby girl¡¯s new method of persuasion. However, he fought against the smug smile threatening to break out of his face. He was enjoying her actions immensely and wanted to experience it longer, so he maintained his cold and displeased expression.

    "As a fellow musician, I want to experience working with Brother Chonglin," she continued. "Besides, I¡¯d rather work with Brother Chonglin who¡¯s a family member, rather than with a total stranger. Don¡¯t you think so too, darling?"

    "Hmm..." One of his hands wrapped around her waist while the other hand fondled her thighs. Despite the shamelessness of his hands, his expression remained unmoved.

    To be honest, he didn¡¯t really mind the idea of his baby girl and his own brother working together. He trusted both of them. She had already removed his misconception from before that she had feelings for his brother when she pursued Jin Chonglin as a teenage pop star. Despite this, he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling jealous.

    Iris pouted when he didn¡¯t respond. She felt disappointed thinking that he didn¡¯t want her to work with Jin Chonglin.

    "Fine, then. I¡¯ll just give the song to others and let them sing the duet instead. I¡¯ll just be the songwriter," she said in a sulky tone.

    She unwrapped her arms around his neck and moved to stand up from hisp. However, he pulled her back down, refusing to let her go. He kissed her shoulder and sighed.

    "No, love. I want you to sing that song. Didn¡¯t you say that I¡¯m your inspiration for writing it? Then I want nobody else to sing it but you. Use my brother if you need to."

    "Really?"

    "En."

    "Thank you, darling." She gave him a peck on the lips. A lovely smile lit up her face

    "If my brother does anything bad to you or doesn¡¯t listen to you, feel free to smack him."

    Iris giggled. "You¡¯re so mean, Liwei. That¡¯s your brother. But I¡¯ll keep that in mind."

    In a good mood, she took his chopsticks and began feeding him the rest of his dinner. Of course, Jin Liwei was more than happy to let her feed him. He even deliberately chewed slower so that the moment couldst longer.

    After dinner, they headed to their own respective bedrooms. Dom gave the couple two thumbs up and a "ehehe" before leaving the two of them.

    On the way to their suite, Iris regaled Jin Liwei with her activities during the day. He listened attentively. He felt happy that she now had befortable enough in their rtionship to talk about trivial things without needing him to ask her.

    It waspletely different nowpared to the early days of their rtionship. Before, he needed to coax her and even trick her into making her talk to him more. But now she was doing it on her own volition. He felt very happy that they had reached this point.

    "Long Xin, thank you," he told her in a voice so soft that it was barely audible.

    Fortunately, Iris had great ears. She tilted her head to the side. "Hm? What for?"

    "Thank you for epting me and also for loving me."

    She hugged him. "I¡¯m d I met you, Jin Liwei."

    ###

    "Congrattions to Manager Long for his promotion to the mainpany," the branch director raised his ss in a toast to Long Jian.

    "Congrats!"

    "Manager Long, please don¡¯t forget about us."

    "We¡¯ll miss you, Manager Long. Please visit us whenever you have the time."

    Long Jian¡¯s colleagues at the small branch division he had worked at since graduating from university offered their congrattions and well-wishes to him. They were at a popr restaurant near their workce to celebrate his promotion to the mainpany. They also treated the dinner as his farewell party.

    The females were very sad to see him go. He was their office crush and dream guy. To them, he was perfect in every single way. He was tall, handsome, smart, cool and charismatic. The performance of their small branch division improved by leaps and bounds because of him.

    Everyone knew that he was President Long Tengfei¡¯s illegitimate son. At first, they thought that he only used his father¡¯s influence to obtain a position right after graduating from university.

    However, as soon as he started working, they discovered what an outstanding businessman he was. He was a born leader who knew how to push his team members to work harder and be more ambitious.

    They were sad to see him go, but knew that he already outgrew their small branch division. He deserved to reach higher up the hierarchydder at the mainpany. They believed that he had the skills, abilities, and drive to be an executive one day. However, not one of them thought that he could be President Long Tengfei¡¯s sessor one day. After all, it was an already widely epted fact that Deputy CFO Long Hui was the heir of Long Industries.

    As for Long Jian, he was relieved that he finally received a promotion. He couldn¡¯t wait to leave the small branch division. The three years he worked there felt like three decades. He resented the fact that his father sent him to such a small branch division after graduating.

    He felt that it was unfair because Long Hui directly worked at the mainpany when he graduated. Even though both of them graduated top of their sses from the same C9 League university, why was the treatment of them after graduation so different from each other? Was it because Long Hui was the legitimate firstborn son and he was illegitimate?

    Despite the unfairness of it all, he worked extremely hard to boost the small branch division¡¯s performance. It was now one of the top branches because of him. All of his hard work finally paid off.

    By next week, he would start working at the mainpany under the COO. Although the position given to him was too low for his liking, it was alright. He just needed to work hard again in order to climb the ranks.

    He couldn¡¯t wait to show everyone at the mainpany his capabilities and to prove that he was more worthy than Long Hui to seed as the head of Long Industries. This was his chance and he was going to seize it with all he had.

 Chapter 347 - Supreme Ascension

    <h4>Chapter 347 - Supreme Ascension </h4>

    Long Jian excused himself and left their private dining room. He headed to the men¡¯s washroom to relieve himself. While doing his business, he heard a group of college students talking to each other.

    "Man, I¡¯m exhausted. I yed this new game for the past two nights. It¡¯s called ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯. Do you know it?"

    "Of course I know it! I¡¯m actually one of the first people who bought a subscription when it officiallyunchedst week. I discovered it at a gaming convention about a month ago. They let people y the sample. Before I realized it, I spent my entire time at the convention just ying the game. The story line is different depending on which ss you choose. I think that¡¯s very cool. The graphics are just freaking awesome. And the world-building? Don¡¯t get me started. It¡¯s so detailed and so on-point that I think it¡¯s going to be the next big thing in the gaming world. I was so disappointed when they told me that it wasn¡¯t avable yet during that time. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been waiting for its official release and immediately bought the subscription. And I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s so worth it."

    "Ah, damn. I¡¯m only ying the free version. Maybe I¡¯ll buy the subscription, too. The pricing is reasonable, as well. It won¡¯t bankrupt us poor college students."

    Another slightly older man in his mid-twenties piped in. "Sorry to interrupt. I just overheard your conversation. Are you talking about the MMORPG ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯?"

    "Yeah, man. You y it, too?"

    "Yes! Actually my older brother was one of the beta testers of the game."

    "What?! For real?! That¡¯s cool as f*ck, man!"

    The neer looked pleased at their reaction. "Yeah. Apparently, it¡¯s made by apletely new gamingpany called Monkey. It also seems that the game developers are total newbies. Kinda unbelievable, right? With that kind of quality, you¡¯ll think that the game was created by one of the bigpanies with numerous other games under their belt. But no, this is apparently their first game."

    "Wow. I didn¡¯t know that. That¡¯s insane. They must be loaded to be able to create such a high quality game and even build apany."

    "Nah. My brother said that the CEO is only in his mid-twenties¡ªthat¡¯s around my age¡ªand the CFO is in histe twenties. They aren¡¯t rich at all. Both were office workers living paycheck to paycheck before they decided to quit and build their own gamingpany."

    "Huh? Where did they get all of their funding then?"

    "I heard that the President-Owner of thepany is the one who¡¯s super rich. My brother has never seen the owner, but he heard from the employees that the owner is apparently a beautiful young woman. They say that she¡¯s very generous. Whatever they ask, she provides. That¡¯s why they have the best environment to create the gamepared to other indie developers and maybe even some of the big gamingpanies."

    "Beautiful young woman? Come on! That¡¯s pure bullsh*t. The owner is probably a rich, young master who has more money than he could spend, ys video games all day, and has never had a girlfriend before."

    They allughed.

    "But that is amazing, man. I wish I could be a beta tester, too. That would be so freaking cool."

    "If you¡¯re serious, I can connect you with my brother. He¡¯s still working part-time as a tester for thepany, even though the game is already released. Mainly to check for bugs and to evaluate user experience, that kind of thing. And he says that the job pays well."

    "For real?! Man, let¡¯s exchange numbers! When I graduate, I¡¯m so going to apply to Monkey."

    "Me too! But what I really want to know is if it¡¯s really true that the owner is a beautiful young woman!"

    Long Jian washed his hands, feeling a little annoyed that these guys were being so noisy inside the washroom. He looked down on people like them.

    For him, any adults ying video games werezy bums. That beta testing or whatever was not a real job. It could only be a side hustle for desperate people who were toozy to put in the effort to get real jobs like him.

    A faint sneer marred his handsome face.

    However, Long Jian envied the owner of that Monkeypany. He didn¡¯t care whether the owner was really a beautiful young woman or a rich young master. He wished that he could also have the freedom and the money to build his own sessful business from scratch.

    Even though he was a Long, his finances were limited to what he was currently earning as a corporate worker. His father stopped sending him allowance when he started working after graduating from university.

    Fortunately, his mother was able to invest in several small properties while she was still his father¡¯s mistress. She rented these properties to others, providing their family with a continuous stream of extra ie.

    He wasn¡¯t like Long Hui or Long Xin, the legitimate children, who grew up with silver spoons in their mouths. Their other half-sister, Long Jinjing, had a simr upbringing to him. Although he and Long Jinjing were richerpared to the average people, they were nowhere near as wealthy as the young masters and young misses from other affluent families.

    Well, it didn¡¯t matter if he couldn¡¯t start his ownpany. He wasn¡¯t that interested in trying it anyway. Why start his own when he could get his hands on an already established and sessfulpany?

    What he wanted the most was Long Industries. He would work extremely hard and do everything in his power, even sell his soul to the devil, in order to achieve this ambition.

    As he made his way back to the private dining room, he thought about his youngest half-sister. He heard that Long Xin started her ownpany and begged their father for some sort of a business deal. He chuckled, the sound filled with mockery.

    ¡¯What an idiot. A person like her who barely graduated from senior high school and never attended university started her own business? Does she think that running a business is that easy? What a joke. I¡¯ll bet that her business¡ªwhatever it is¡ªwill fail in just a few months. She has the money, yes, but skills? Howughable. Not everyone can be like the owner of that Monkey who seems to run his or herpany very well despite being a total newbie in the gaming industry.¡¯

 Chapter 348 Ex - Girlfriend

    <h4>Chapter 348 Ex - Girlfriend </h4>

    Long Jian didn¡¯t consider his youngest half-sister, Long Xin, as a threat. The one he wanted to overpower was the heir, Long Hui.

    He heard from Long Xiaopeng¡¯stest report that Long Hui was having a difficult time with the elders after leaving the ancestral residence to move in with his lover and his child. The elders thought that it was disgraceful. They were using him of disregarding his duty as heir of the Long family.

    Their father¡¯s birthday would being in a few days. All of the Longs would be gathering together for a grand celebration in honour of Long Tengfei. Long Jian couldn¡¯t wait to witness with his own eyes how Long Hui was being suppressed by the elders and the other members of the Long family.

    ¡¯Now he¡¯ll experience something simr to the oppression that I experienced just because I¡¯m an illegitimate son. Let¡¯s see if he can handle it. The Crown Prince will soon fall,¡¯ he thought.

    Long Jian passed through other tables along the way. It was dinner time, so there were a lot of diners eating at the moment. A line-up also formed by the entrance for people waiting for the next avable tables. The restaurant was very busy.

    It looked like a small ident happened between a waiter and a diner. There were spilled food and broken tes all over the floor. Long Jian¡¯s way back to the private dining room was currently blocked until the mess on the floor was cleaned up.

    Annoyed at the inconvenience, he sighed and waited by the side. A group of young officedies were dining at a nearby table.

    "Did you hear about thetest news? Iris Long is nominated for Best Original Score in the uing Diamond Guild Film Awards."

    "Of course I know! I¡¯m a ck Star and we¡¯re the first ones to hear any news about our Boss Iris. She¡¯s so awesome! After winning those insane number of awards at the Harmony Music Awards, she¡¯s nominated again for another award. I¡¯m just in awe of her!"

    "Ah, thepetition is much fiercer this time than at the music awards, though. She¡¯s up against veteranposers who already won this award several times in the past. Based on what most of the film industry experts are predicting, Iris Long is not a favourite to win."

    "I don¡¯t care what those experts say! I believe that Boss Iris will surely win! The film score sheposed for ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ is just superb. I¡¯m kinda disappointed that she didn¡¯t get nominated for Best Original Song, though. She totally deserves that nomination! ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯ is just out of this world. Whenever I hear the cinematic version of it, I just burst into tears and remember what happened in the movie."

    "That¡¯s because the song has been released as another version before. It¡¯s not eligible for Best Original Song. How unfortunate. I think that if it was eligible, then it has the best chance of winning among the nominees in that category. Too bad that it wasn¡¯t nominated. But still, it¡¯s already impressive that she¡¯s nominated for Best Original Score. That¡¯s another achievement under Iris Long¡¯s belt."

    "As a ck Star, I¡¯m so proud of Boss Iris. This is definitely her year. Her star is just getting bigger and brighter."

    Finally, the mess on the way had been cleaned up. Long Jian gave ast nce at the officedies before heading to the private dining room where his soon-to-be former co-workers were waiting for him.

    He thought about what he just heard about his youngest half-sister.

    ¡¯That¡¯s all she is, a showgirl. So what if she shines in showbiz? She¡¯ll never be an important existence in the Long family. The final battle for session will be between me and Long Hui.¡¯

    ording to the elders, Long Xin was even more of a bigger shame to the Long family than Long Jian and Long Jinjing, who were the children born from mistresses. As a public figure, every scandal she got involved in would be exposed to the masses. This was absolutely shameful in the elders¡¯ eyes because they thought that it tarnished the family name.

    And by getting closer to her, Long Hui was damaging his reputation and standing within the family.

    Long Jian¡¯s lips lifted into a smirk at the thought. When he opened the door to the private dining room, the smirk transformed into a gentle smile as he greeted his co-workers.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    After putting Little Jun to sleep in the bedroom, Jiang Ying Yue headed to the open kitchen where Long Hui was working on some documents by the granite ind. Theptop in front of him disyed a spreadsheet withplicated numbers. Despite being busy with work, he still paused what he was doing to smile at Jiang Ying Yue when he heard her approach.

    "Is our son asleep?" he asked.

    "Yes. It¡¯s harder to put him to sleep now because he has more excess energy. When Xin was still living upstairs in the penthouse, Little Jun would y with Ice Cream and Popcorn until he tired himself out," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    "Should we get him a cat, then? Hmm. But I personally prefer a dog..."

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled. She stood behind him and started massaging his shoulders. He groaned and enjoyed her massage.

    "Finish your work. We¡¯ll talk about getting a pet next time," she told him.

    "Give me a kiss first."

    Her cheeks blushed, but she still leaned forward to kiss him on the lips. It was a soft, lingering kiss filled with sweetness.

    "Hmm. Nice..."

    His hands tried to pull her hips closer to him, but she gently pped them away.

    "Hurry up and finish your work. I don¡¯t want you staying up toote again," she told him with a lightugh.

    He sighed and smiled at the same time before nodding. Then he resumed working.

    They were at the unit gifted by Iris to Little Jun. Before Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue got together again, she and Little Jun barely stayed at the unit. They only used it as a ce to sleep. They mostly spent their time upstairs at the penthouse.

    But now that Long Hui moved in with them, the ce was feeling more and more like a home. They were spending more time in herepared to before. Of course, they still visited Yi Mei and the others upstairs at the penthouse, but Long Hui preferred that they spend more time as a family together.

    As the new head of security of the condo building, Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t need to leave the ce anymore for work. She now had more time for her family. It was like a dreame true.

    Her earlier worries about her rtionship with Long Hui gradually stopped bothering her so much. Despite this, she still couldn¡¯tpletely erase the fear that this happy moment would be shattered someday.

    But she loved Long Hui and wanted to have a happy family with him and their son. She already gave up on him once before when she was a vulnerable young pregnant woman. Although fear and anxiety still lingered in her heart, she wanted to try again with him, especially since he was trying so hard to assure her with both his words and actions. If she still pushed him away, then it would truly be unfair to him.

    She left him to his work and headed to the living area. Then she switched on the TV to watch the evening entertainment news. She started watching them because of Iris.

    "Sessful interior designer, Wu Qianxi, finally returns to the country for good after living and working on and off in America for a number of years. Her clients include some of the most famous celebrities in the world and even designed the home of a Danish princess. She says that she is excited to be back home and to reconnect with old friends. Some may remember that she dated Long Hui a few years ago. Long Hui is the heir of Long Industries and also the elder brother of multi-award-winning musician Iris Long..."

 Chapter 349 - For My Friend

    <h4>Chapter 349 - For My Friend </h4>

    The entertainment news report continued:

    "Wu Qianxi is also the young miss of the Wu family who are long-time friends with the Long family. The Longs and the Wus have several business coborations over the years. Many expected that the connection between the two families would deepen with the marriage of Long Hui and Wu Qianxi but they suddenly broke up. And now we recently learned from Long Hui himself that he fathered a child with another woman¡ª"

    The TV suddenly turned off.

    "Don¡¯t watch that anymore," Long Hui¡¯s cold voice said. He held the TV remote control in his hand. He looked furious by the news report.

    Jiang Ying Yue also felt upset because the news report made it sound like she was the reason why Long Hui and Wu Qianxi¡¯s rtionship ended. The two already separated when Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui began their affair.

    "Do you still have feelings for Wu Qianxi?" she asked him.

    He scowled. "No."

    "But you were engaged to her before..."

    "No, we weren¡¯t. I never proposed to her. It was more of a verbal agreement of marriage between our families when we were children. It¡¯s not an engagement because we didn¡¯t agree to it. Yes, we became lovers but it didn¡¯t work out." Long Hui tossed the remote to the couch and sat beside her. He grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "She¡¯s just someone from my past. You¡¯re the one I love now and the one I¡¯ll continue to love in the future. Don¡¯t think about her anymore."

    "What if your father wants you to marry her?"

    "Father will never force us to marry people we don¡¯t like," he told her with certainty.

    "What about the elders? I¡¯m sure they prefer for you to marry Wu Qianxi more than me..." Her voice trembled a little.

    He pulled her into his arms and embraced her. "The elders don¡¯t rule the Longs. It¡¯s my father who¡¯s the head of the family. He already loves and dotes on our son. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll ept you."

    Although a great sense of insecurity pervaded her, Jiang Ying Yue still nodded. She hugged him back, not realizing that she was squeezing him hard. He didn¡¯t mind, though. He loved her physical strength.

    "Ying Yue, why don¡¯t youe and attend Father¡¯s birthday party with me thising weekend?" he asked.

    "No!" Her answer was quick. She didn¡¯t even think about it. Anxiety filled her eyes.

    "Please, my sweet Ying Yue. I know that you¡¯ll feel ufortable there but can you do this for me? For our family? I want to introduce you to everyone and let them know that I¡¯m serious in staying with you and our son."

    She felt torn, so she didn¡¯t answer right away.

    "Little Sister Xin will also be attending," he added as additional persuasion.

    "Is she?"

    Actually, he didn¡¯t know. "Wait a minute," he mumbled.

    He grabbed his phone and called Iris. When she answered his call, he didn¡¯t even greet her. He immediately asked, "Little Sister, you¡¯re attending Father¡¯s birthday party this weekend, right?"

    "No."

    "What?" Long Hui was surprised.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s expression cleared up. It was obvious that she already decided not to go like Iris.

    "I already called Father and informed him that I¡¯m not attending the party. I¡¯ll just send him a gift via delivery and visit him in person the next day," Iris told him.

    He saw Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s decision on her expression and panicked a little. "Come on, little sister. Attend the party. It¡¯s our Father¡¯s birthday."

    "Father says it¡¯s okay if I don¡¯t want to go."

    He took a deep breath and decided to just tell his sister the reason why he wanted her to attend. "I want to bring Ying Yue and formally introduce her to Father and to everyone. She won¡¯t go if you¡¯re not going. Can you change your mind and apany her?"

    Silence.

    Long Hui waited for her decision with bated breath.

    "Fine," Iris finally said.

    He exhaled a big sigh of relief. "Thanks, little sister. I owe you one."

    "I¡¯m not doing it for you. I¡¯m doing it for my friend."

    Her answer made him chuckle. He didn¡¯t mind it at all. In fact, he was happy that the two got along with each other and were even friends.

    After speaking a bit more, the call ended.

    "She says she¡¯sing," Long Hui told Jiang Ying Yue.

    Although she still felt unwilling, she agreed to attend the uing birthday party, as long as Iris went with them. He could sense her unwillingness, so he tried his best to reassure her.

    "Trust in me, my sweet Ying Yue. With or without Little Sister Xin, I¡¯ll protect you. My priority now is you and our son."

    "Okay."

    Long Hui decided to stop working for the night. He needed to give hisdy some tender loving care tonight in order to dispel her worries.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium, Iris¡¯ penthouse unit.

    Night of Long Tengfei¡¯s birthday party.

    Long Hui and Jin Liwei were watching a football tournament on TV in the living area. Long Hui was in a formal tuxedo suit with a dark red tie, while Jin Liwei was in casual clothing.

    Little Jun was also there running around chasing Popcorn. His nanny followed him, making sure that he wouldn¡¯t get hurt. As for Ice Cream, she was sleeping on Jin Liwei¡¯sp, enjoying her daddy¡¯s gentle strokes. She lost a lot of weight but still looked fatpared to her slim brother, Popcorn.

    All of them would be sleeping in the penthouse tonight.

    "Mommi! Mama!" Little Jun¡¯s excited voice interrupted them.

    The two men turned their heads at the same time. Their breaths also caught in their throats at the same time.

    Jiang Ying Yue wore a traditional red qipao. The skirt hung just below her knees. The toned muscles of her arms and calves stood out the most. She looked strong and tough.

    "Beautiful," Long Hui whispered. He looked at her like he was in a trance.

    As for Iris, she wore a modern qipao-inspired dress. Its colour was more magenta than red. The upper part of the dress looked like a traditional qipao but the lower part was a floor-length flowy skirt. It was elegant yet also sexy at the same time with its thigh-high slit. The slit was unnoticeable at first, but when she walked, her smooth leg would pop out of the dress.

    Jin Liwei gently transferred Ice Cream from hisp to the couch. Then he stood up and walked to his baby girl. He grabbed her waist, pulled her to his body and kissed her in front of everyone.

    Seeing them, Long Hui also stood up and walked to Jiang Ying Yue, intending to kiss her too. However, he was toote. Another guy reached her faster than him.

    "Mommi, kiss!" Little Jun demanded his mother.

 Chapter 350 - Househusband

    <h4>Chapter 350 - Househusband </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue picked up Little Jun and kissed him on the cheek. However, the little guy was unsatisfied. He grabbed his mother¡¯s face and gave her a kiss on the mouth instead. Then he turned to Jin Liwei and smirked.

    Everyoneughed at the toddler¡¯s antics, except for one person.

    Long Hui red at Jin Liwei. "Stop corrupting my son. Look at him. He¡¯s emting your shamelessness!"

    It was Iris who felt offended at his usation. She snapped at him. "Don¡¯t me Liwei. You¡¯re just salty because your son is more romantic than you!"

    Dom, the make-up artist and the hairstylist snickered a few steps behind them. They just came out from the walk-in closet after mming up Iris and Jiang Ying Yue.

    Long Hui red at them next. The make-up artist and the hairstylist immediately shut up, but Dom didn¡¯t mind and continued snickering. Then he whipped out his phone and started snapping photos of the smug Little Jun.

    "Junie boy, hold your smile and look at Uncle Dom¡¯s camera. Yes, good job! My cutie patootie pie is so handsome! Even more handsome than Dada and Papa! Ehehe."

    Both Iris and Jiang Ying Yue chuckled at Dom¡¯s im. Jiang Ying Yue then wiped the small lipstick stain that got on Little Jun¡¯s lips.

    As for the make-up artist and the hairstylist, they retreated to the background with the nanny. They already discovered Jin Liwei¡¯s identity about a month after they started working for Iris. Needless to say, they were very shocked. Even without the signed NDA, they wouldn¡¯t dare divulge this piece of information to the public because Jin Liwei was a fearsome enemy.

    It wasn¡¯t worth it offending the most powerful man in the business world of his generation just for some quick cash. They might get away if they betrayed Iris but to anger someone of Jin Liwei¡¯s calibre? That would be pure insanity on their part. Besides, they already began respecting and liking Iris as a boss. Loyalty for her was already growing inside them.

    Long Hui scowled when he saw Jin Liwei smirking at him. The expression was so simr to his son¡¯s own smirk that it was as if they were the father and son. It also didn¡¯t help that Little Jun looked a bit like Iris. They seemed more like the actual family. The thought depressed him a little as jealousy filled him inside.

    Finally, it was time to go. Dom and the nanny diverted Little Jun¡¯s attention, so that Iris and the others could leave the penthouse.

    The two pairs rode Jin Liwei¡¯s limousine on the way to the party.

    "I guess you¡¯re noting with us judging by that outfit of yours," Long Huimented as he looked at Jin Liwei¡¯s casual clothes. "Did Father not invite you?"

    "Of course Father invited Liwei," Iris replied instead. "Originally, both of us aren¡¯ting but since you asked, I¡¯ll attend. Liwei and I will only attend events together as a couple after we officially announce our rtionship. Besides, with the three of us gone, he needs to stay at home to babysit the cats and Little Jun. Right, darling?"

    "En." Jin Liwei readily agreed.

    Long Hui scoffed. "You¡¯re letting this brat turn you into a househusband?"

    Iris pursed her lips at Long Hui.

    Then Jin Liwei replied, "Hmm... That would be nice."

    Long Hui looked at Jin Liwei as if he transformed into an alien. Iris, on the other hand, looked delighted.

    "Don¡¯t worry, darling. I¡¯ll work hard so that if you ever decide to be a househusband, I can support our family. Then you can stay at home and take care of our kids." The she realized what she just said and blushed. "I mean, our cats. Our cats are our kids."

    "En." Jin Liwei chuckled and nuzzled her neck.

    Long Hui shook his head at them, and then turned to his Jiang Ying Yue, expecting her to have the same reaction as him. However, Jiang Ying Yue had a slightly envious expression on her face as she watched Iris and Jin Liwei.

    He cleared his throat and asked her, "Do you also want me to be a househusband?"

    Jiang Ying Yue looked at him like he had lost his mind. "We have a son to support. Both of us need to work."

    "Ahahaha! Of course, of course. I was just joking," Long Huiughed awkwardly.

    It seemed like his little sister was right. The romantic advances of his son (learned from that damn Jin Liwei) was more effective to Jiang Ying Yue than his own attempts of romancing her.

    ###

    The Long ancestral residence wasn¡¯t ideal to host a grand bash because it housed too many priceless treasures that could be damaged by the guests. Even thepound was a treasure in itself.

    That was why it was decided that Long Tengfei¡¯s birthday party would be held at another property of his. This property boasted a contemporary and chic mansion with a tropical-stylendscaping. He recently acquired it as one of his real estate investments.

    At the moment, a line of luxury cars slowly made their way inside. Only people who showed invitations were let through the massive gates. Even if someone was a member of the Long family, he or she wouldn¡¯t be allowed inside without an official invitation.

    Inside the mansion, the guests mingled with each other. Most of them were individuals or from families who were around the same level as the Longs in high society. There were a lot of businesspeople and socialites among them.

    The status of these people were impressive, but they weren¡¯t at the top of high society¡¯s hierarchy. Their levels weren¡¯t high enough to invite the likes of the Jins, the Lus, and most especially the Fengs. Nevertheless, this birthday party was still filled with a lot of different personages who were connected to the Long family one way or another.

    Long Tengfei weed and briefly chatted with the people who came over to greet him a happy birthday. Yang Jiahui and Meimei were beside him. His second son, Long Jian, and first daughter, Long Jinjing, also had arrived. Her first daughter came with her best friend, Chen Fei. He asked them to apany him in greeting the guests.

    Long Jufang, Long Meng and the other elders were displeased by Long Tengfei¡¯s decision to disy his illegitimate children in such a conspicuous position beside him. To them, it was like showing the whole world their family¡¯s dirtiest and darkest stains. How shameful!

    The conversations suddenly stopped and heads turned towards the entrance. Long Tengfei and the others followed suit to see what was going on.

    Audible gasps could be heard when everyone saw the new arrivals.

 Chapter 351 - Bodyguard Mistress

    <h4>Chapter 351 - Bodyguard Mistress </h4>

    "How stunning!"

    "Iris Long looks even more beautiful in person than on TV."

    "Look at that dress! Oh, that hidden slit is just ingenious! I need to ask herter who designed it."

    Iris walked in together with Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue. The ease and confidence of her movements looked graceful and elegant. With her extraordinary beauty and statement dress, it was no wonder that she caught everyone¡¯s attention as soon as she arrived.

    As the heir of the Long family, Long Hui was used to being the centre of attention in events like this. However, this was the first time that he experienced literally everyone looking at him with so much interest. Well, technically, it was his sister they were looking at, but he could still feel their eyes on him just because he was together with his sister.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s already straight back became even straighter and her expression reverted to her neutral, emotionless bodyguard expression. She could feel the curious and judging eyes of the people around her. It was an extremely ufortable feeling. She wanted to go home to his son, but steeled herself to stay for Long Hui.

    ¡¯Calm down. Xin is here,¡¯ she told herself.

    The three passed through the whispering crowd, headed to Long Tengfei so that they could greet him a happy birthday.

    "Who¡¯s that woman beside Young Master Long Hui?"

    "Wow. Look at that body. You don¡¯t see muscled women like that often."

    "So unfeminine! She looks even more masculine than most men. Who would want a woman like that?"

    "Hmm. She looks familiar. I think I¡¯ve seen her before... Oh! I know! She¡¯s Iris Long¡¯s bodyguard! You can see photos of her with Iris on the inte taken by fans and paparazzi. So is she here to apany Iris as a bodyguard?"

    "Wait a minute. Did you forget Iris Long¡¯s speech during the music awards? She mentioned that her bodyguard is the mother of her godson. And we now know that her godson is also her nephew, Young Master Long Hui¡¯s illegitimate son. So that woman must be his mistress!"

    "What? Is that true? He brought his mistress to a formal event like this? How audacious!"

    "If I were a member of the Long family, I would feel extremely ashamed that our heir brought his mistress who¡¯s a mere bodyguard and even presents her to everyone as if he ns on making her into the next madam. Now we know the reason why Long Hui and Wu Qianxi broke up. A third party destroyed such a perfect pairing."

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s steps faltered when she caught some of the things they were saying about her. She almost bolted out of the ce. Long Hui sped their hands together. He squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her. The murmurings became louder when they saw the two holding hands in front of everyone.

    With her great ears, Iris heard almost all of their words. Her eyes turned cold. However, she had developed enough affection for Long Tengfei to not ruin his birthday party by creating a scene. So she flipped her hair and gave everyone a bright smile. Her smile bedazzled all of the people, effectively diverting their attention from Jiang Ying Yue back to her.

    Finally, they reached Long Tengfei and the others.

    "Happy Birthday, Father," Iris and Long Hui greeted him.

    Long Tengfei nodded, pleased that all of his children were present for his birthday. He was especially delighted that his youngest daughter still came, even though she already informed him that she wouldn¡¯t be attending. Despite his joyful feelings, his expression remained cold and strict.

    Then Long Hui pulled Jiang Ying Yue closer to him. "Father, let me introduce Jiang Ying Yue. She is the mother of your grandson, my son Long Jun. Ying Yue, this is my father, Long Tengfei."

    Jiang Ying Yue bowed her head in respect. "It¡¯s an honour to meet you, Sir Long. Please ept my birthday wishes. Happy birthday, sir!"

    "Hmm." Long Tengfei nodded. "I believe we¡¯ve met before."

    "Y-yes, sir," she replied in an awkward manner.

    Indeed, they had met before. She was Long Hui¡¯s former bodyguard. She would follow him around as part of her duty, so it was inevitable that she encountered Long Tengfei who was Long Hui¡¯s father.

    "Well, do enjoy yourself tonight," Long Tengfei told her.

    "Thank you, sir."

    Long Tengfei turned to Iris. "So your fianc¨¦ didn¡¯te."

    "He¡¯s at home taking care of the kids¡ªI mean the cats...and Little Jun, too," she replied.

    His mouth twitched, trying to imagine Jin Liwei babysitting two cats and a toddler but couldn¡¯t. The President-CEO of Jin Corporation, the number 1pany in the country, acting like a househusband? It was too unbelievable that his brain couldn¡¯t imagine it.

    He was once again impressed by his youngest daughter¡¯s capability. Only she could make a formidable man like Jin Liwei listen to her and stay at home like a good housewife¡ªCOUGH COUGH¡ªhusband.

    "Even though my fianc¨¦ couldn¡¯t attend tonight, he sends his birthday greetings to you, Father," Iris added.

    "Tell him my thanks and send my regards to him," he replied.

    "Yes, Father. I¡¯ll tell him."

    He nodded. Then he told the three, "Go greet the elders quickly and then return here. I want you beside me to greet the rest of the guests."

    The three obeyed. Jiang Ying Yue paled. Beads of cold sweat formed on her temples.

    "Are you alright?" Long Hui asked her in a whisper.

    "Are you stupid? Of course she¡¯s not alright. Look at her. Does she look okay to you?" Iris told him in a matter of fact tone.

    "I...I¡¯m alright. I¡¯ll be alright," Jiang Ying Yue told them.

    "Sorry, Ying Yue. Please bear with it for tonight. Just ignore them. Focus on us, our son, our family. Okay?"

    Jiang Ying Yue forced a faint smile and then nodded at him.

    The three headed to the elders and greeted them. Long Jufang and Long Meng looked disapprovingly at them, especially at Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Since your father appears to have epted your bodyguard mistress as his guest tonight, I will not contradict his decision," Long Jufang told Long Hui. "However, I hope you realize that your actions are very disgraceful and shameful. Bringing this woman and parading her in front of our important guests? As the heir of our Long family, you are turning all of us into a joke!"

    Jiang Ying Yue paled even more. She avoided looking directly at the elders. Her neutral expression cracked. She even looked like she was going to faint.

 Chapter 352 - Stirring Inside

    <h4>Chapter 352 - Stirring Inside </h4>

    Negative feelings simmered within Iris. However, she didn¡¯t notice that they weren¡¯tpletely hers. She only knew that she felt indignant for her friend, Jiang Ying Yue. Unbeknownst to her, something began stirring inside her. It was affecting her own emotions in an inconspicuous and subtle manner. It made her loathe the elders and the other members of the Long family, despite not meeting them personally after waking up as Iris Long.

    Huge drops of sweat began dripping from Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s face. Her skin felt cold to the touch. It was not noticeable but her hands were trembling.

    "Elders, please excuse us. Father says we need to return quickly to his side and join him in greeting the rest of the guests," Iris interrupted in a cold, emotionless voice. Then she grabbed Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s hand and pulled her away, not waiting for the elders¡¯ permission to let them go.

    Long Hui was only momentarily surprised by her brusque action before running after them.

    "How disrespectful! I was feeling optimistic that Xin has finally changed for the better, but look at her! Still the same rude, willful and spoiled brat!" Long Jufangined.

    He hadn¡¯t finished scolding Long Hui yet. He also nned on warning his bodyguard mistress away and on lecturing Iris afterwards. He was very displeased that Iris dragged them away before he could finish everything he had to say.

    "Young Master Hui started defying us around the time he grew closer to Young Miss Xin," Long Mengmented. "I think that Young Miss Xin is the bad influence to Young Master Hui. She has corrupted him with her bad behaviour. What¡¯s even more disgraceful is she¡¯s reportedly friends with that bodyguard! It¡¯s no wonder that Young Master Hui has be so rebellious because he has been hanging out with badpany."

    The elders continued to grumble about Iris, Long Hui and his "bodyguard mistress", Jiang Ying Yue.

    Iris and the couple joined Long Tengfei and the others in greeting the visitors.

    Long Tengfei knew by their expressions that the elders must¡¯ve said something unpleasant to them. He inwardly sighed, feeling a slight headache. He loved his children and wanted to protect them, but as the head of the family, he also had a duty to take into ount the opinions of the elders and the other branch families. It was difficult bncing his duty as the family head and his personal feelings as a father. But he must do it.

    In between greeting and chatting with the guests, Meimei stuck with Iris and Jiang Ying Yue. Her constant chatter gradually eased Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s nerves until she was able to calm down. Meimei also included Long Jinjing and Chen Fei in the conversations. The guys, Long Hui and Long Jian, were involuntarily excluded from the girl¡¯s group.

    Chen Fei acted polite throughout the conversations, but she ignored Iris. She was still hostile towards Iris and unable to forget her grudge.

    As for Iris, her bad mood didn¡¯t go away after leaving the elders. In fact, the negative feelings simmering inside her gradually grew stronger. The more Chen Fei tantly ignored her, the more Iris wanted to p her face.

    She also felt annoyed at Long Jinjing who acted nice and shy. Long Jinjing was very considerate with her words. Iris could almost see a bright halo floating over Long Jinjing¡¯s head. It made her feel surly.

    The change in her emotions was so subtle that Iris treated these irrational feelings as her own.

    Despite the tense undercurrents between them, they still interacted politely with each other. It gave the guests an impression that all of Long Tengfei¡¯s children got along with one another.

    After greeting most of the guests, Long Tengfei asked for everyone¡¯s attention. They stopped their chatters to listen to him.

    "My dear friends, I would like to thank all of you foring to celebrate my birthday today. My wife and I appreciate your time and your well-wishes. I am very happy today because all of my children came tonight. My firstborn, Long Hui. My second son, Long Jian. My first daughter, Long Jinjing. And my youngest daughter, Long Xin. You may know her as Iris Long."

    The guests murmured among each other.

    "So her real name is Xin..."

    Some of the Longs¡¯ closest family friends already knew her real name, but most of guests attending the party didn¡¯t know. This was the first time they heard of Iris¡¯ real name.

    "I am very proud of all of my children. They are the greatest blessings of my life. My biggest wish for my birthday is to watch all of my children develop their own set of strong wings and fly high towards their respective sessful lives."

    The four Long siblings smiled at their father¡¯s words. Whether they were acting or not, the guests couldn¡¯t be sure.

    Long Tengfei spoke for a bit more before ending his speech.

    Everyone pped their hands when he finished speaking. Then they raised their sses in a toast to a long life for him.

    The party resumed.

    Long Jian excused himself to join Long Xiaopeng¡¯s group. He was closest to Long Xiaopeng¡¯s branch family. He never experienced any discrimination from them for being illegitimate. This branch family was among the weakest and least influential in the Long n, but Long Jian nned on elevating their status when he seeded as head of the family and Long Industries.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui began moving around to entertain the guests and also to personally speak to the important personages who attended. As the heir, Long Hui was instructed to join them.

    "Come with me?" Long Hui asked Jiang Ying Yue.

    She quickly shook her head. "You go ahead. I¡¯ll just stay here with Xin and Meimei."

    He hesitated for a few moments before nodding. There was even a faint hint of relief in his eyes. Then he followed Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui in going around.

    Iris clicked her tongue, displeased at his actions. "He wanted youe with him tonight, but he¡¯s leaving you just like that? I thought he was going to introduce you to everyone? What¡¯s he doing now? How irresponsible."

    The ill feelings inside her magnified all the shorings she noticed among the members of the Long family, including Long Hui. Surrounded by the Longs in this party, these feelings only solidified even more inside her.

    However, Iris still failed to notice the qualitative change in her emotions.

    She turned to Jiang Ying Yue. "If he continues tock resolve in fighting for you like this, feel free to find a better man than him. I don¡¯t want my godson to follow a spineless father like him as a role model."

 Chapter 353 Whats - Her

    <h4>Chapter 353 What\''s - Her </h4>

    "Wow, Xin. You¡¯re very savage today," Meimei observed.

    Chen Fei snorted. "What do you mean ¡¯today¡¯? She has always been savage. This is her real personality."

    "Xiao Fei, please," Long Jinjing begged her friend to stop with a tug on the arm.

    Iris only raised an eyebrow at Chen Fei before flipping her hair back and ignoring her. Then she continued to talk to Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Well, it¡¯s none of my business whatever happens in your rtionship with Elder Brother Hui. I¡¯m just saying that a man who can¡¯t properly defend and protect you is not worth your love. Just look at my darling. He¡¯ll do anything for me. That¡¯s why I love him very much."

    The strange ill feelings inconspicuously hijacking her emotions retreated when her love for Jin Liwei overflowed inside her. A stupid smile broke out of her face at the thought of her darling.

    "Pft!" Meimeiughed seeing her expression. "And I was wondering why you¡¯re suddenly being so bitchy about Big Brother Hui. It turns out that you just want to brag about your man to Big Sis Yue. Xin, you¡¯re so funny sometimes."

    "Well, show me a man who¡¯s better than my darling," Iris dared Meimei.

    "Fine, fine. I get it. Your man is the best. Happy?" Meimei continued tough.

    Jiang Ying Yue also smiled at the lighthearted exchange. Meimei and Dom were very simr in that they could always find a way to lighten the atmosphere. Although Jiang Ying Yue was smiling, Iris¡¯ words managed to strike a chord within her.

    She felt disappointed that Long Hui was basically just asking her to endure all of the insults being thrown at her tonight. The dream of a happy family for the sake of her son was the only thing keeping her from bolting out of this ce filled with judgmental people.

    Although she appreciated that he brought her to the party, introduced her to his father, and held her hand in front of everyone, she wished that he would do something more. With every insult she kept on overhearing from the surrounding people, she felt belittled as a human being.

    It reminded her of the vast difference between their statuses. Long Hui was the Crown Prince, while she was only a bodyguard. Her insecurity only grew.

    Her depressing thoughts were interrupted by Chen Fei.

    "Oh, look who just arrived," Chen Fei said. "It¡¯s the Wu family."

    They turned their heads to the entrance. A mature couple around Long Tengfei¡¯s age walked in with an attractive, willowy young woman.

    "That¡¯s the interior designer, Wu Qianxi. The Wu family¡¯s beloved daughter and their pride and joy." Then Chen Fei nced at Jiang Ying Yue, adding, "And Big Brother Hui¡¯s ex-girlfriend."

    Jiang Ying Yue stiffened at Chen Fei¡¯s words. Good thing that she was able to maintain a neutral expression, not showing how affected she really was by Wu Qianxi¡¯s presence.

    She forced herself to look at Wu Qianxi. She had met the woman before when she worked as Long Hui¡¯s bodyguard. Long Hui and Wu Qianxi were still together during that time. However, the two rarely saw each other in person. Both were busy with their respective careers. Additionally, Wu Qianxi lived in the U.S., only returning to the country every few months. It was mostly a long-distance rtionship.

    "She looks weak. Ying Yue¡¯s body looks so much better. Look at those arms. They look like twigs," Irismented.

    Something stirred unnoticed inside her again. It started to intertwine with her own emotions until there was almost no distinctions between what was hers and what was not. If Iris would only stop, examine and analyze her current feelings, she would notice that her bad-tempered attitude was so unlike the usual her. It was more like the original Iris Long. Unfortunately, she was at a party right now and didn¡¯t have the time for introspection.

    Meimei giggled. "Oh, Xin. You¡¯re so bitchy today. I love it!"

    Even Long Jinjing and Chen Fei smiled at Iris¡¯ bitchyment. After a few moments, Chen Fei caught herself smiling and was surprised. She fixed her expression, erasing the smile from her face.

    "Ying Yue, don¡¯t feel insecure because of that Wu what¡¯s-her-name," Iris continued. "If Elder Brother Hui chooses that woman over you, then he¡¯s a big idiot. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find a better man than him who¡¯ll appreciate you and love you wholeheartedly. And don¡¯t worry about Little Jun. If that big idiot tries to take him away from you, my darling and I will wage a bloody war against him and that Wu what¡¯s-her-name."

    "Ahahaha! Big idiot...Wu what¡¯s-her-name... Ahahahaha!" Meimei doubled over andughed hard while clutching her stomach.

    Long Jinjing also giggled. Chen Fei¡¯s mouth was twitching so badly, as she tried hard to stop herself fromughing.

    ¡¯Dammit! I just find her words funny, that¡¯s all. It doesn¡¯t mean that I like this b*tch,¡¯ Chen Fei told herself while desperately trying hard not tough.

    "Xin, thank you," Jiang Ying Yue said in her sincerest tone.

    She was truly grateful. Although she found it weird that Iris was being so unusually bitchy today, she thought that it was just because Iris was being a friend to her. After all, true friends would always side with each other regardless of circumstance.

    After giggling, Long Jinjing bit her lip when she realized that they were being mean. "I think we should stop badmouthing Miss Wu. It¡¯ll reflect badly on Father if others were to hear us. Besides, the Wus are long-time friends of our Long family..."

    "Big Sister Jinjing, I¡¯m a Long but I¡¯m not friends with any of the Wus. Are you?" Iris countered.

    "No..." Long Jinjing replied.

    Meimei snickered.

    "Fine, I¡¯ll stop," Iris Long finally said with a shrug. "As long as she doesn¡¯t make trouble with Ying Yue, I won¡¯t say anything."

    "Oh! Look!" Chen Fei eximed. "Wu what¡¯s-her-name...I mean Wu Qianxi is talking to Big Brother Hui over there."

    They all turned to where Chen Fei was looking at. Indeed, they saw the former lovers talking to each other.

    "Maybe they¡¯re just greeting each other..." Long Jinjing suggested.

    "Jinjing, we¡¯re all women here. Look at Wu Qianxi¡¯s expression. Tell me if she really just ns on greeting your brother," Chen Fei told her. "Oh! She just touched his arm. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 seconds! Let¡¯s round it to 10! Who touches a taken man for 10 seconds?"

    "What the?! Now I¡¯m angry. What are we going to do?" Meimei asked.

    "What do YOU want to do?" Iris asked Jiang Ying Yue instead.

 Chapter 354 - Very Close

    <h4>Chapter 354 - Very Close </h4>

    "I...I think I want to leave..." Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s neutral expression cracked, finally showing how upset she was about Long Hui talking to Wu Qianxi. Her hands clenched into tight fists. Her body tensed, making her muscles flex and stand out even more.

    "Girl! What are you saying?" Chen Fei couldn¡¯t believe Jiang Ying Yue. "You look strong but you¡¯re actually so weak! A fly is buzzing around your man in front of your eyes, yet you¡¯re not going to do anything? If I were you, I would¡¯ve grabbed my stilettos and stabbed that ho to death, and then send her to the special hell where itchy women like her who seduce taken men belong."

    "Yeah, I agree!" Meimei said.

    Surprisingly, Long Jinjing also nodded in agreement.

    Iris only looked at Jiang Ying Yue, waiting for her decision.

    "I don¡¯t...I don¡¯t want that woman near Hui. I want her to go away," Jiang Ying Yue finally shared her honest thoughts.

    Iris smiled at her answer. She had no idea that her feelings of protectiveness for her friend was being reinforced by the inconspicuous remnant inside her. It was making her bolder and more daring.

    "Come on, girls. Let¡¯s go and swat that big fly away."

    Without waiting for their reply, she flipped her hair back and started walking towards Long Hui and Wu Qianxi¡¯s direction. Chen Fei decisively followed her. Of course, Long Jinjing followed her best friend. Meimei followed them but quickly returned to drag Jiang Ying Yue who didn¡¯t move from her spot.

    A natural path opened up for them. The surrounding people just feltpelled to give way to Iris without being asked. Some of them even greeted her warmly. She gave them a dazzling smile and a few waves. Their eyes were riveted to her smooth leg popping in and out of her dress with every step.

    Finally, Iris and the others reached Long Hui and Wu Qianxi. The girls formed a semi-circle around the two, effectively trapping them to the wall.

    Long Hui looked confused at first, but when he saw Jiang Ying Yue behind the others, he realized what his current situation must¡¯ve looked like to others. He immediately distanced himself from Wu Qianxi and stood beside Jiang Ying Yue.

    Iris and Chen Fei caught the displeasure in Wu Qianxi¡¯s expression before she quickly covered it up with a smile. Their eyes narrowed at the other woman¡¯s quick change in expression. Long Jinjing and Meimei didn¡¯t catch it. Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t notice it either because she was focused on Long Hui.

    "Elder Brother Hui, I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve met this ¡¯acquaintance¡¯ of yours before. Could you introduce us?" Iris asked in her sweetest voice.

    Chen Fei gasped in an exaggerated manner. "Xin, don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know who Miss Wu Qianxi is. She¡¯s a popr international interior designer!"

    "Oh? Interior designer?" Iris tilted her head to the side before turning to Long Hui. "Elder Brother Hui, you¡¯re hiring this interior designer? For which ce? The Gold Heights unit? Have you consulted with your ¡¯girlfriend¡¯ first?" Without waiting for his reply, she directly asked Jiang Ying Yue instead. "Ying Yue, did you know about your boyfriend¡¯s ns of redecorating your unit?"

    "Uh, no..." Jiang Ying Yue was too surprised at being asked suddenly that she just blurted out her answer without thinking about it first.

    Both Iris and Chen Fei released exaggerated gasps of horror. To their side, Meimei was struggling to control herself. She wanted tough so badly. As for Long Jinjing, she just stayed quiet but her stance showed that she supported what her best friend and sister were doing.

    "Elder Brother Hui, how can you not tell your ¡¯girlfriend¡¯ first?" Iris looked at Long Hui as if he justmitted an unpardonable crime.

    Long Hui cleared his throat, feeling ufortable all of a sudden. He moved closer to Jiang Ying Yue. Then he exined to Iris, "You¡¯re mistaken, little sister. I¡¯m not nning on redecorating anything. Wu Qianxi and I are just talking as old friends."

    Then he began making introductions.

    "Nice to meet all of you," Wu Qianxi greeted them with wide smile. "I just returned to the country from the U.S., that¡¯s why I¡¯m very excited to reconnect with Hui. We¡¯re ¡¯very close¡¯." Then she turned to Jiang Ying Yue. "Hi, there. I remember you. You¡¯re Hui¡¯s bodyguard, aren¡¯t you? Are you on duty right now?"

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold.

    Jiang Ying Yue paled but still answered. "N-no. I¡¯m not his bodyguard anymore."

    "Ying Yue is my girlfriend and the mother of my son," Long Hui told Wu Qianxi. He also hooked his hand around her waist to prove his point.

    Wu Qianxi looked furious for less than a second before putting on a surprised expression. "Oh. So she¡¯s the one. I see. I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯ll get together with your former bodyguard... Oh! Please do forgive my careless words. They¡¯re not meant to be offensive."

    "Do you have amnesia or something? Xin just referred to Big Sis Yue as Big Brother Hui¡¯s girlfriend just a few moments ago and yet you¡¯re acting so surprised now," Meimei mumbled under her breath.

    Wu Qianxi¡¯s expression wavered but she still smiled at Meimei. "Ah, forgive me. I must¡¯ve missed it earlier. It¡¯s quite noisy here especially with a lot of people present in this party. Not to mention that I¡¯m still suffering a bit from jetg."

    "Miss Wu, you just mentioned that you¡¯re ¡¯very close¡¯ to Big Brother Hui. I thought the two of you already broke up. Do you still maintainmunications with each other?" Chen Fei asked.

    "Yes."

    "No."

    Long Hui frowned at Wu Qianxi¡¯s answer. "We stopped allmunications after we broke up." Then he turned to Jiang Ying Yue. "We really have nomunications at all. This is the first time that we¡¯ve talked to each other since we broke up."

    "Hui, what do you mean by that? I always send you greetings on your birthday or during New Year."

    "But I never once replied to you. That¡¯s notmunication," Long Hui said.

    This time, Wu Qianxi wasn¡¯t able to maintain her friendly expression any longer. Her lips were still smiling, but the look in her eyes hardened.

    "Oh, then that means that you¡¯re not ¡¯very close¡¯ at all," Chen Fei interjected. "Miss Wu, that¡¯s very misleading, you know."

    "I agree," Iris nodded sagely. "What if Elder Brother Hui¡¯s ¡¯girlfriend¡¯ here misunderstands? What¡¯s more, they already have a child together. Be careful because others might use you of being a homewrecker, Miss...uh, Miss..." She turned to Chen Fei and asked in a loud whisper, "What¡¯s her name again? I forgot."

    "Miss Wu. Her name is Miss Wu Qianxi," Chen Fei whispered to Iris¡¯ ear, making sure that it was loud enough for the entire group to hear, including Wu Qianxi herself.

    Wu Qianxi turned red from humiliation and fury.

 Chapter 355 - Impromptu Play

    <h4>Chapter 355 - Impromptu y </h4>

    "You don¡¯t look so good, Miss Wu," Long Jinjing asked in a ¡¯concerned¡¯ voice. "Are you okay? Do you feel sick? Wait here, I¡¯ll get you something to drink."

    She took a ss of red wine from a waiter passing by. She was about to give it to Wu Qianxi when she "tripped". The red wine sshed all over Wu Qianxi, staining her ruby-beaded peach dress.

    Wu Qianxi shrieked in horror at her expensive designer dress which was now ruined by several big and ugly stains.

    Her shriek caused a few people to look at them. When they saw the state of Wu Qianxi¡¯s dress, they instantly felt sorry for her.

    "Oh no! I¡¯m so sorry!" Long Jinjing apologized, her expression contrite.

    "You¡ª" Wu Qianxi was about to p Long Jinjing before she realized that people were looking at them. She forcefully controlled herself.

    At first, the people thought that there was a fight between Wu Qianxi and Iris¡¯ group, but seeing Long Jinjing¡¯s apologetic expression, they concluded that it was just an ident. They didn¡¯t doubt Long Jinjing¡¯s angelic appearance. She didn¡¯t look like someone who would maliciously ssh a drink onto another person on purpose.

    "Long Jinjing, what have you done? You¡¯re so careless!" Meimei ¡¯scolded¡¯ Long Jinjing.

    Then Meimei grabbed a cloth serviette from a nearby serving table. Then she started patting the stain on Wu Qianxi¡¯s dress. However, it only worsened the red wine stains on the dress, making them spread even further.

    "Stop!" Wu Qianxi pped Meimei¡¯s hands away, but Meimei insisted on being ¡¯helpful¡¯ and continued her actions.

    "What the? It¡¯s only getting worse. Wait, let me wipe harder." Meimei rubbed the serviette even harder. The force of her wiping tore some of the ruby beads off the dress.

    "What are you doing?! Stop it! My dress!! Do you have any idea how much I paid for this?!!!"

    Wu Qianxi had nowpletely lost herposure. Her expression turned ugly, and she pushed Meimei roughly away.

    "Ah!" Meimei ¡¯fell¡¯ hard to the floor, making sure to roll twice before stopping. "Ouch! It hurts!"

    "Meimei!" Iris ran to her.

    Both Iris and Chen Fei helped Meimei from the floor.

    "Miss Wu, I know that you¡¯re upset about your dress but you didn¡¯t have to push her so hard," Iris told Wu Qianxi in an using tone. "Meimei was just trying to help you. Please don¡¯t take your anger out on her."

    By this time, themotion attracted the attention of more people. They murmured to each other, throwing disapproving looks at Wu Qianxi¡¯s behaviour. They thought that her barbaric retaliation was low-ss and didn¡¯t reflect her respectable status. The ones who felt sorry for her before because of her ruined dress now sided with Meimei and the rest of Iris¡¯ group.

    Wu Qianxi became self-conscious and quickly fixed her furious expression into an understanding one. Inside, however, she was boiling in anger. She didn¡¯t even push the bitch that hard.

    "Miss Yang Mei, I¡¯m terribly sorry for pushing you. I didn¡¯t mean it. It was done out of reflex," Wu Qianxi apologized to Meimei before turning to Long Hui. "I really didn¡¯t mean it, Hui. I was just too shocked and my body moved on its own. Please believe me." Then she moved to touch his arm again.

    Jiang Ying Yue tugged on Long Hui¡¯s sleeve, silently warning him. To his credit, he stepped away before Wu Qianxi could touch him.

    Fury shed in Wu Qianxi¡¯s eyes. She red at Jiang Ying Yue for a second before changing her expression once again into a more pleasant one.

    "This is all my fault. If I wasn¡¯t so clumsy and didn¡¯t trip on my own feet, I wouldn¡¯t have spilled the wine and ruined Miss Wu¡¯s beautiful dress." Long Jinjing¡¯s expression became even more pitiful.

    Iris left Meimei to Chen Fei and went to Long Jinjing¡¯s side instead. "What are you saying, Big Sister Jinjing? It¡¯s not your fault. It was an ident." Then she turned to Wu Qianxi. "Miss Wu, do you me my sister?"

    The murmurings of the crowd grew louder, making Wu Qianxi even more self-conscious. Of course Wu Qianxi med Long Jinjing and everyone in Iris¡¯ group. She knew that they were doing all of these on purpose to humiliate her, but she couldn¡¯t just publicly me them without ruining her own image to the people.

    "You misunderstand, Miss Long Xin. Of course I don¡¯t me Miss Long Jinjing," Wu Qianxi quickly said. She turned to Long Hui again and pleaded with him. "Hui, please believe me. All of this is just a big misunderstanding."

    Long Hui had no idea that Iris and the others were just acting out an impromptu y to torment Wu Qianxi and cast her in a bad light to the people attending the party. At first, he sided with his sisters, especially after Wu Qianxi pushed Meimei to the floor. However, he was starting to feel sorry for Wu Qianxi. She had already apologized many times, yet his sisters seemed to continue pushing the me on her.

    "Let¡¯s not turn this into something bigger. It was just an ident. Apologies have already been given. How about we act like adults and move on? Alright?" he suggested.

    "Thank you, Hui. Yes, I agree. Let¡¯s be adults and move on," Wu Qianxi was the first one to reply. Her smile looked a little smug, thinking that Long Hui was taking her side.

    Of course, Jiang Ying Yue also thought the same way. Her eyes darkened with great disappointment. She released her hold on Long Hui¡¯s sleeve and stepped away from him.

    Iris, Chen Fei and Meimei also felt dismayed inside. They wanted bang his and Wu Qianxi¡¯s heads together.

    Then Iris saw that Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui were making their way to them. It seemed that themotion finally reached their ears. She quickly whispered to Long Jinjing, "Big sister, do us a favour and cry. Go."

    "W-what?" Long Jinjing confused.

    Iris felt annoyed at her slow reaction. She whispered to Chen Fei instead. "Our father ising. Make my sister cry. Hurry."

    Chen Fei immediately understood Iris¡¯ purpose. She positioned herself close beside Long Jinjing and covertly pinched her best friend hard on the side of her waist.

    "Ah!" Long Jinjing cried out in pain.

    Chen Fei held the pinch and even brutally twisted it.

    Poor Long Jinjing had no choice but to cry. Huge tears fell down from her pitiful eyes. She threw a heartbroken look at Chen Fei, Iris and Meimei. She bit her lips and whimpered. She looked so much like a crying angel that it pinched the hearts of the people around them. They felt sorry for her.

    "Oh no, Big Sister. Please don¡¯t cry. I know that Miss Wu was very harsh earlier but she already apologized," Iris ¡¯consoled¡¯ Long Jinjing in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Yes, she yelled at you for identally spilling that wine on her dress and even pushed Meimei hard to the floor for trying to help her, but she already said sorry. Are you worried that she¡¯s still angry at you?" Iris turned to Wu Qianxi. "Miss Wu, I¡¯m begging you. Please don¡¯t be mad at my sister anymore."

    "Yes, Miss Wu. Let¡¯s be mature here and not hold grudges," Chen Fei added. "Look, Jinjing is crying so hard. Don¡¯t you feel sorry for her?"

    "Miss Wu, let it go. It¡¯s just a dress. I know a good dry cleaner. They can take off any stains. It¡¯s unbing for ady to hold grudges for such a trivial thing," a madam from another affluent family spoke out.

    After her, others also stared speaking out. They all defended Long Jinjing.

    Wu Qianxi felt mortified. She wanted to scratch the faces off of everyone from Iris¡¯ group. But the one person among them that she hated the most was Jiang Ying Yue, even though the bodyguard didn¡¯t participate in humiliating her. She knew from her intuition that Iris and the others were only tormenting her because of Jiang Ying Yue. After all, it had already been reported that Iris and Jiang Ying Yue were friends.

    The useless spoiled brat. The bodyguard who stole her man. The illegitimate daughter of a mistress. The orphaned niece of Long Tengfei¡¯s third wife. And the illegitimate daughter¡¯s best friend.

    Wu Qianxi looked down on everyone in this group. They were all inferior in her eyes. It was infuriating to act courteous to them when they were obviously making trouble for her. If only they weren¡¯t surrounded by a lot of important people, she would¡¯ve already shown these low-ss bitches not to mess with her.

    "What¡¯s going on here?" Long Tengfei¡¯s deep voice asked. When he saw his first daughter in tears, his eyes turned cold.

 Chapter 356 - Important Announcemen

    <h4>Chapter 356 - Important Announcemen </h4>

    Meimei seized the chance to exin the situation first before Wu Qianxi could say anything. Her version of the events exaggerated the "maltreatment" she and Long Jinjing experienced in the hands of Wu Qianxi. It cast Wu Qianxi in a bad light, especially now that almost everyone in the party were paying attention to them.

    "Look at my knees and elbows, they¡¯re bruised," Meimei said, showing Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui her perfectly fine elbows and knees.

    Well, there were some slight reddening on the skin but that was it. Nobody was really paying close attention as to whether she really bruised or not. The people cared more about her aggrieved expression as she recounted the story.

    In addition, tears were still flowing down Long Jinjing¡¯s pitiful eyes. It made the people think that Meimei¡¯s story was very credible. Besides, there were a few people who witnessed her tumbling down on the floor earlier.

    "But it¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll be fine. These are just bruises after all. They¡¯ll heal," Meimei continued to say. "But I feel sorry for your daughter Long Jinjing, Uncle Tengfei. She apologized so many times for spilling the wine but Miss Wu is still very upset about her dress. Miss Wu seems to love the dress very much. She also said that it¡¯s very expensive."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Big Sister Jinjing. No matter how expensive Miss Wu¡¯s dress is, we¡¯ll help you pay for its repair or maybe even buy her another dress of equal value. But if it¡¯s really that expensive and we can¡¯t afford it, maybe we can ask Father for a loan and then we¡¯ll just pay him back in installments," Iris added.

    Chen Fei sighed loudly. "I guess I need to postpone my n of using my first paycheck when we start working after we graduate to move to a nice apartment. But it¡¯s okay. I can¡¯t just leave my best friend alone to pay off an expensive dress."

    "N-no. I¡¯ll pay for it myself...It¡¯s my fault. I was the one who ruined Miss Wu¡¯s dress..." More tears flowed down Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes. Her hand was rubbing the side of her waist, as if she wasforting herself. Her pained expression drew the sympathy of the growing crowd.

    "Long Jinjing, what are you saying? I also ruined Miss Wu¡¯s dress. I tried to help wipe the stain off her dress but I ended up making it worse. I even ¡¯identally¡¯ tore off some of the precious ruby beads. Ah! I¡¯m just a poor university student and an orphan who¡¯s living with my married aunt. How will I be able to afford those ruby beads?" Meimei ¡¯despaired¡¯. Then she turned to Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. "I¡¯m sorry, Uncle and Auntie. I¡¯ll have to ask for a loan from you. I really can¡¯t afford the dress."

    "Oh, my dear Xiao Mei. Don¡¯t worry about any loans. What are you saying? We¡¯re family. There¡¯s no need for loans." Yang Jiahui left Long Tengfei¡¯s side to embrace her niece. She looked heartbroken because she loved her dead brother¡¯s daughter like her own. Then she faced Wu Qianxi. "Miss Wu, please forgive my niece and my husband¡¯s daughter. I¡¯m sure that they didn¡¯t mean to ruin your dress. I¡¯ll personally pay for the dress. Don¡¯t worry about it. I also have some dresses in this ce that you can change into. Just please have the kindness within your heart to forgive these girls."

    Wu Qianxi felt absolutely mortified. It was taking all of her control to stop herself from erupting in fury at how Iris¡¯ group painted the entire situation to make her into a great viin. She thought about trying to exin herself. But seeing the crowd already siding with Iris¡¯ group, she knew that she would just damage her image even more if she denied the allegations. So she could only grit her teeth and endure the current humiliating situation. She forced a humble expression on her face and replied to Yang Jiahui.

    "Madam, please stop worrying. I¡¯m not upset about my dress anymore. There¡¯s no need to pay me back or anything like that. It¡¯s just a dress, after all."

    Then she apologized once again to Long Jinjing and Meimei, even though all she wanted was to p their faces and pull all their hair out. She hated that she had to apologize to these bitches so many times. They were really doing all of these on purpose to humiliate her.

    She also apologized to Long Tengfei for causing a scene during his birthday. She felt nervous and more sincere in her apology to him because she could see that he was displeased. If possible, she didn¡¯t want her future father-inw to dislike her for any reason.

    It was even more important because Long Tengfei was the current head of the family. He had the power to influence his son on who to marry and even revoke Long Hui¡¯s status as his sessor. Buttering up Long Tengfei was a priority for Wu Qianxi and her family. They wanted her to be the next Madam Long, so it was imperative that Long Hui continued to be the heir.

    Finally, she apologized to the guests. Many of them were important personages whose influence could boost or damage one¡¯s status in high society. She needed to repair her image to them as soon as possible. The thought made Wu Qianxi hate Jiang Ying Yue and Iris¡¯ group even more for tarnishing her image tonight.

    "My beloved daughter, why are you apologizing to everyone? What¡¯s going on?" Wu Qianxi¡¯s mother cried out as she ran to her one and only daughter. Then she gasped. "Your dress! It¡¯s ruined! Oh no! Who dared ruin a masterpiece? You paid a fortune for that dress just to wear it for tonight!"

    Both of Wu Qianxi¡¯s parents finally arrived at the scene. They were in another part of the house chatting with the Long elders and other important guests when someone informed them that their daughter got into trouble.

    "Qianqian, tell mother. Don¡¯t be afraid. Who¡¯s bullying you?" Madam Wu embraced her daughter protectively, and then red at Jiang Ying Yue. "Is it you? You gold digger who stole my daughter¡¯s boyfriend?"

    Emboldened by the daring actions of Iris¡¯ group, Jiang Ying Yue finally defended herself for the first time ever. She stepped forward and spoke in a loud and clear voice.

    "Madam, I¡¯m not a gold digger and I never stole someone else¡¯s boyfriend. Long Hui and your daughter already broke up when Long Hui and I started our rtionship. Please don¡¯t mislead others with false facts. I am innocent."

    "You! How dare a mere bodyguard like you answer me back?!" Madam Wu moved to p Jiang Ying Yue in her anger but Long Hui blocked her.

    Long Hui stepped forward and ced himself in front of Jiang Ying Yue, protecting her from any other physical attacks.

    "Madam, Ying Yue is right. Wu Qianxi and I already broke up long before Ying Yue and I got together. She didn¡¯t steal me from anyone." Long Hui exined before turning to Long Tengfei. "Father, I hope that you¡¯ll allow me to make an important announcement tonight."

    "You may," Long Tengfei simply replied with a nod.

    "Thank you, Father." Long Hui swept his eyes across the guests, particrly at the Wu family and the elders who were just arriving at the scene. "I would like to rify one thing to everyone tonight. The only woman I¡¯m going to marry is the mother of my son. She is the beautiful woman beside me and her name is Jiang Ying Yue."

    Then he moved to face Jiang Ying Yue before falling on one knee.

 Chapter 357 - Circus

    <h4>Chapter 357 - Circus </h4>

    Long Hui fished out a small box from his breast pocket and opened it, revealing a simple solitaire diamond ring. He looked up at Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Ying Yue, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you and our son. Let¡¯s build a happy family together. Will you marry me?"

    Jiang Ying Yue looked utterly shocked just like everyone else. She froze, her mind going nk.

    Everyone gasped at Long Hui¡¯s sudden proposal.

    Even Iris didn¡¯t expect that he would propose to Jiang Ying Yue tonight. She looked at Meimei, Chen Fei and Long Jinjing. All of them had simr expressions as her. They didn¡¯t know exactly what to feel. They felt both joy and discontent for Jiang Ying Yue.

    Many of the guests whipped out their phones to record the sensational moment. They weren¡¯t particrly excited for the couple themselves. They were more excited at the prospect of a family scandal that was sure to engulf the Long family, knowing that the woman involved was Long Hui¡¯s former bodyguard.

    These people moved in the same circles in high society. They already knew what kind of attitude the Long elders had towards people they deemed as inferior to their status. The Long family almost broke apart when Long Tengfei divorced his first wife to marry Wei Lan, a struggling model with questionable background. The situation only stabilized when Long Tengfei married his current wife, Yang Jiahui, who was proving to be a reliable madam of the Long family despite her not so impressive family background.

    If Long Hui were to really marry this bodyguard, the Long family would most likely enter another turbulent period. There might even be some drastic insurgence among the dissatisfied branch families.

    Unlike Long Tengfei who was already the family head when he married Wei Lan before, Long Hui was still just an heir at the moment. One wrong move from him and he might not even seed his father as head of the family at all.

    All of these ran through the minds of everyone witnessing the surprise proposal. They couldn¡¯t resist ncing at the Wu family, specifically at Wu Qianxi, who was believed to be Long Hui¡¯s future wife once upon a time.

    Wu Qianxi looked pale, horrified and heartbroken as she watched her ex-boyfriend proposing to another woman. Her mother, Madam Wu, clutched her chest in a simr horrified expression, while disbelief filled her father¡¯ face.

    Back to the proposal.

    Long Hui started to sweat when Jiang Ying Yue failed to respond. His expectant expression started to transform into anxiety. He lifted the open box containing the diamond ring higher.

    "Ying Yue? Please marry me."

    Jiang Ying Yue finally regained her senses. Her heart was beating so fast and so loudly that it was all she could hear. It was like the galloping of horses threatening to jump out from inside her chest.

    "H-hui..."

    She wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing, proposing in such a (for her) hostile environment like this. She felt extremely ufortable and pressured. Did he think this was romantic? Not to mention that she was still feeling unhappy about his earlier actions (orck thereof) regarding the insults being thrown at her by the elders and the other guests and most especially Wu Qianxi¡¯s flirting with him.

    ¡¯Let me think about it first. Let¡¯s not rush our rtionship,¡¯ was what she wanted to tell him. However, with all the people watching them right now, doing so would embarrass him. She still loved and cared for Long Hui not to subject him to such public humiliation.

    "Ying Yue?" Long Hui asked again. He was now almost soaked in his own sweat.

    "I..." Jiang Ying Yue felt very torn. She didn¡¯t want to make a decision so quickly. However, seeing his pleading expression, her heart softened for him. Trembling a little, she forced a smile and answered, "Y-yes, I¡¯ll marry you."

    Cheers erupted among the crowd. They congratted Long Hui for a sessful proposal.

    Long Hui looked delighted. He quickly slipped the ring on Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s finger. It fit perfectly. Then he jumped up, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her on the lips in front of everyone.

    Iris, Meimei, Chen Fei and Long Jinjing pped their hands. However, they weren¡¯t as enthusiastic as the people around them. They looked at each other, not really knowing whether to be happy or dismayed for Jiang Ying Yue.

    "She doesn¡¯t look happy to me," Long Jinjing observed. Her voice was very soft. Only Iris and the others heard her.

    Chen Fei sighed. "I don¡¯t know what your brother is thinking. This isn¡¯t really an appropriate time to propose. Now I feel bad for Jiang Ying Yue. I think she may have felt forced to ept Big Brother Hui¡¯s proposal because of the crowd."

    Iris agreed with their observations. Remembering the perfect proposal her darling gave her, she felt that Long Hui was a big idiot. He basically dumped all the pressure on Jiang Ying Yue. Jin Liwei would never do this to her.

    The inconspicuous remnant inside her grew stronger and powered up Iris¡¯ negative feelings about Long Hui. But she still failed to notice it. These more intense emotions started melding with her own calmer and rational emotions until it was difficult to differentiate between the two. Iris treated all of these as her own feelings. She thought that these negative emotions were because she felt indignant and protective of her friend, Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Thank you, everyone, for bearing witness to such a happy asion of my life," Long Hui said in a loud and joyful voice. His arms was wrapped around Jiang Ying Yue who looked awkward being in the spotlight. "And thank you, Father, for allowing me to do this even though this is your birthday."

    Long Tengfei only nodded.

    The celebratory atmosphere was interrupted when Wu Qianxi suddenly burst into tears. She looked distraught. She was in a sorry state, only emphasized by her ruined dress. She sobbed in her mother¡¯s arms.

    "Oh, my beloved daughter! So pitiful!" Madam Wu cried, as she tried tofort her daughter in her embrace. "You¡¯ve suffered so much tonight!"

    Her husband, Sir Wu, red at Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue. He looked absolutely furious.

    "Long Hui, I can¡¯t believe that you¡¯ll do this to my daughter! You not only humiliated my daughter but also my entire Wu family in front of all of these people! Do you think that we, the Wus, are so easily trampled on just because you¡¯re a Long?!" he shouted and pointed an using finger at Long Hui. Then he shot his angry re at Long Tengfei next. "Tengfei! Your son is too much! I demand justice for my daughter! She has suffered so much!"

    The rumourmongers among the crowd were almost in ecstasy at the development of the events. This was the kind of drama that they were waiting for! They started munching on imaginary popcorn, as they watched the drama unfold right in front of them.

    Long Tengfei¡¯s eyes turned cold. He frowned, displeased that the Wu family was creating so much trouble during his birthday and his son¡¯s proposal. He didn¡¯t appreciate that the Wus were making this asion about them when it was clearly supposed to be about his Long family.

    Long Jufang interrupted and spoke directly to the furious Sir Wu. "Calm yourself. We¡¯ll certainly have a thorough conversation with Long Hui about his terriblepse in judgment tonight. We apologize for the distress our young master has caused Miss Wu Qianxi and your family. I, Long Jufang, promise that we will solve this predicament of a sham proposal."

    "Sham proposal? Granduncle, I am very serious in marrying Ying Yue!" Long Hui dered in a loud voice.

    Long Jufang was angered that Long Hui talked back to him. But seeing Long Hui¡¯s stubbornness, the elder glowered at Jiang Ying Yue instead. "You low-born woman! You¡¯re not satisfied with just giving birth to Long Hui¡¯s firstborn child, you even want to be his wife?! Well, I¡¯ll tell you this right now! Even if you marry Long Hui, we¡¯ll never ept you into our family! You¡¯re nothing but a gold digging slut!"

    Jiang Ying Yue flinched at the insults. Her eyes filled with tears but she refused to cry in front of all of these people.

    A faint smirk lifted up Wu Qianxi¡¯s lips, but she quickly returned to crying in her mother¡¯s arms.

    "Granduncle, please stop. Ying Yue will be my wife whether you like it or not!"

    Long Jufang opened his mouth but he was interrupted before he could even speak.

    "Enough!" Surprisingly, it was Yang Jiahui who erupted in anger. She couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. She swept her unusually zing eyes at Long Hui, the Long elders and the Wu family. "If you intend on ruining my husband¡¯s birthday, then you have seeded! How dare you make a circus out of my husband¡¯s important birthday party?! I am aghast at your thoughtlessness! You are disrespecting my husband! This is Long Tengfei¡¯s day, not yours!"

    Everyone went silent.

 Chapter 358 - Big Idio

    <h4>Chapter 358 - Big Idio </h4>

    Yang Jiahui¡¯s outburst effectively shut everyone up. It was the first time that most of these people saw her lose her temper. Sheepish expressions appeared on their faces. They knew that they were part of the "circus" act she used them of, whether as an active member of the altercation or even just as a passive bystander.

    Long Tengfei¡¯s eyes softened at his wife. He held her hand and gently squeezed it to soothe her anger. Then his eyes turned cold again when he looked at everyone else. He spoke in a loud and clear voice filled with authority.

    "Dear friends, I apologize for letting you witness such an embarrassing family spectacle tonight. Regardless of what happened, I hope that you continue to enjoy yourselves at my birthday party. And also please excuse us as I gather the parties involved for a private talk. We will returnter to celebrate the rest of the night with you."

    The guests murmured "go ahead", "please don¡¯t worry about us", and other such gracious words. They also couldn¡¯t wait for Long Tengfei and the others to leave, so that they could freely discuss among themselves what just happened.

    Still holding his wife¡¯s hand, Long Tengfei ordered a "private family meeting" and motioned for the parties involved to follow him. The Wu family was also invited to join because of their involvement in the situation.

    The elders were the first ones to follow him. Next was the Wu family. Long Hui followed next but met with some resistance from Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Ying Yue, please. You muste with me. Father says that this is a family meeting. You¡¯re now my fianc¨¦e. Meaning, you¡¯re part of the family. Besides, our rtionship will most definitely be the main topic of the meeting. Both of us need to be there," Long Hui told her.

    "Hui... Sorry but I-I don¡¯t think I can do this," Jiang Ying Yue whispered to him in a desperate tone. "The elders don¡¯t consider me as part of your family. You just heard your granduncle, didn¡¯t you? He said that he¡¯ll never ept me into the family. There are only so much insults that I can take before I break down. I-I want to go home to our son now."

    Long Hui took her hand and held it firmly. "Ying Yue, I¡¯m sorry. I know that you¡¯re hurting, but I really hope that you¡¯lle with me to the meeting. I¡¯ll fight for you and for our son. I¡¯m serious. I¡¯ll marry you whether the elders like it or not. I know it¡¯s hard but can you please endure it for now? Ying Yue, let¡¯s fight together. This is for us, for our son, for our family."

    When he said it like this, Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t make herself disagree with him. She sighed and then took a few deep breaths to steel herself against the insults that would surely be thrown her way again. She felt like a sacrificialmb about to walk into a nest of vipers.

    "You¡¯re a big idiot, Elder Brother Hui," Iris¡¯ low voice interrupted their whispered conversation. "You say ¡¯fight together¡¯ but you¡¯re not even giving Ying Yue a weapon to defend herself. You just want her topletely depend on your shitty protection. She¡¯s being attacked left and right but you want her to ¡¯endure¡¯. Some man you are."

    "Little sister, stay out of this. It¡¯s none of your business," Long Hui told her through gritted teeth.

    Anger red within Iris, powered by the inconspicuous remnant. Fortunately, her calm and rational emotions counterbnced the remnant¡¯s vtility. Iris hadn¡¯t realized it yet, but at the moment, a permanent evolution was happening deep inside her. Once the process wasplete, she would never be the same again.

    "None of my business?" she hissed at Long Hui. "Ying Yue is my friend. You think I¡¯m just going to stand here quietly when I see her hurting? Your carelessness is causing her great pain. Just be honest and say that you want the best of both worlds. You want to be the heir but you also want to marry her and make your son legitimate, even if it means dragging them into the hostile domain of the Long family."

    "What¡¯s wrong with wanting the best of both worlds? I¡¯m not doing this just for myself. My son will have more opportunities in life as a legitimate child of the Long family," Long Hui countered.

    "I agree with your reasons, especially since it¡¯s for the sake of Little Jun. But your methods suck, Elder Brother. Too crude and simplistic. You¡¯re going to allow Ying Yue and Little Jun to endure the discrimination from the elders and the other branch families, and just hope that the rtives will ept the mother and son in the future? How na?ve! That¡¯s just in torture to my friend and my godson. That¡¯s why you¡¯re a big idiot."

    Long Hui opened his mouth to disagree with her, but then it hit him. His eyes widened at the realization. It was as if his vision widened its scope, making him see the situation more clearly. He looked at Jiang Ying Yue and the deep pain in her eyes.

    "Y-you¡¯re right..." he finally said.

    "Hmph. Of course, I¡¯m right."

    He took a deep breath and blew it out, as if expelling the idiocy from his system. "What should I do then?"

    Iris looked at him like he was the most stupid person in the world. "If you really want Ying Yue and Little Jun to be your legal family but still stay as the heir of the Longs at the same time, then you must transform the Long family from the inside out to make it a more suitable ce for your wife and son."

    His eyes widened in rm at the gravity of her words. Paranoid, he looked around them to make sure that nobody was listening to their conversation. Fortunately, they were speaking in whispers.

    Only Meimei, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei could hear them. However, the three were also as shocked as him when they heard what Iris said.

    Iris flipped her hair and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, if you can¡¯t do it, just say so. It just means that you¡¯re not strong and resolute enough in fighting for Ying Yue and Little Jun. To be honest, I don¡¯t give a whit about what happens to you, Elder Brother. Whether you seed Father¡¯s position or not, I don¡¯t care. However, I¡¯m not going to allow you to drag my friend and godson into that hellhole of the Long family and subject them to a lifetime of pain and suffering. Do that, Elder Brother, and you¡¯ll make me and my darling your mortal enemies."

    Long Hui subconsciously shivered at her threat. But at the same time, it also ignited his resolve. He clenched his hands and gritted his teeth. "Fine. I¡¯ll figure something out."

    "Whatever." She shrugged. "I don¡¯t really care about what happens to the Long family. The only Longs who I care about are myself, Little Jun and Father. Even if you fail in dealing with the Longs, Little Jun and Ying Yue will be safe with me and my darling. They don¡¯t need the Long family to live happy lives."

    "You..." He sighed. "You¡¯re so savage. But I understand."

    "Good. Now that you¡¯ve realized what a big idiot you are, Elder Brother Hui, let¡¯s head to the family meeting now," she suddenly announced, surprising all of them. "I don¡¯t care about the elders, but I don¡¯t want Father and Aunt Jiahui to wait for too long, especially since it¡¯s Father¡¯s birthday today."

    "What? After all the things you said, you still want to go to the meeting?" Chen Fei asked in disbelief.

    Iris gave her a side-eye. "Of course. It¡¯s obvious that the elders favour that Wu what¡¯s-her-name. If we don¡¯t attend the meeting right now, she and her family of weasels would dig their ws deeper into the Long family. Although I don¡¯t care much about the Long family, I don¡¯t want those Wus acting like they belong with the Longs. If the elders and the other self-important rtives are weeds, then the Wus are pests. They must be eliminated before they do irreparable damage. That¡¯s why we must go."

    "Oh, that makes sense. You go ahead, then. We¡¯ll stay here and wait for you," Meimei said.

    "What do you mean? You¡¯re not staying here. All of us are going. Father said that this is a ¡¯family meeting¡¯. We¡¯re family. Let¡¯s go," Iris said and started walking, expecting them to follow her.

 Chapter 359 - Family Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 359 - Family Meeting </h4>

    However, nobody followed Iris. They didn¡¯t move. They felt uncertain as to whether it was appropriate for them to go to the meeting or not.

    Iris returned, displeased at their indecisiveness.

    "Meimei, you¡¯re Aunt Jiahui¡¯s niece. Aunt Jiahui is Father¡¯s wife. You¡¯re family. Big Sister Jinjing, you¡¯re a Long. You¡¯re family. Chen Fei, you¡¯re not a Long so you¡¯re not family, and I don¡¯t really care about you, but you should still go with us because the more people there are, the better," Iris said.

    "Bitch," Chen Fei muttered under her breath. However, she didn¡¯t protest against Iris¡¯ suggestion.

    "And Ying Yue, you should also go with us. You¡¯re a friend of a Long, me. You¡¯re a mother of a Long, Little Jun. And now you¡¯re also a fianc¨¦e of a Long, that big idiot beside you."

    Long Hui pursed his lips at Iris¡¯ words about him.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, fear and extreme anxiety filled her expression.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Ying Yue. Even if that big idiot beside you can¡¯t properly protect you, I can and I will," Iris told her in a much gentler tone.

    "Yeah! Big Sis Yue, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll stand by you as well. Even if the elders try to kick me out of the meeting, I¡¯ll just hug Xin¡¯s thigh so I can stay. Besides, my Auntie is Madam Long! That should count for something," Meimei said.

    Long Jinjing looked at Jiang Ying Yue and her expression softened. "Me too... I¡¯ll go, as well. I might not be able to do much, but I¡¯ll stand by you."

    Chen Fei released a heavy sigh. "If Jinjing is going, then I¡¯m going as well. The elders are also hostile against her. I just can¡¯t leave my best friend alone in that kind of environment. Jinjing and Jiang Ying Yue are in a simr situation. I have said this to Jinjing a million times already but I¡¯m going to say it again now. Your Long family sucks big time."

    "Tell me something I don¡¯t know," Iris said under her breath. Then she looked at Jiang Ying Yue, awaiting her decision.

    Jiang Ying Yue looked at the young women and she instantly felt a lot better. Her fearful and anxious expression eased. She gave them a faint smile. "Thank you. I still really don¡¯t want to go to the meeting, but I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯m not alone anymore."

    The women all smiled at each other, feeling the connection between them growing stronger.

    Long Hui feltpletely left out. But seeing Jiang Ying Yue with a lighter expression, he couldn¡¯t help but smile as well. He was d that she had found a support system with these friends of hers.

    His sister was right. He was a big idiot for expecting hisdy to endure the pain and hardships of facing the discrimination of the Long family. She didn¡¯t deserve it. He wanted a happy family, but it wouldn¡¯t happen if the wife was suffering.

    He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. When she turned her attention to him, he whispered to her, "I¡¯m sorry for my idiocy. I promise I¡¯ll do better from now on."

    "Hmph. As you should," Iris told him in a grumpy manner.

    "Little sister, can you just please give me this moment with my fianc¨¦e?" he asked helplessly.

    "You can have your momentter. We don¡¯t have time. Let¡¯s go to the meeting."

    This time, everyone followed Iris when she walked out of the party and headed to the library where the family meeting was being held. When they arrived, they could immediately feel the tense atmosphere inside.

    "Even if you¡¯re the heir, making your elders wait for you for so long is uneptable! Who do you think you are, the family head? You haven¡¯t seeded your father yet, boy!" Long Jufang scolded Long Hui as soon as they entered the library.

    "What is that woman doing here? This is a ¡¯family meeting¡¯. She doesn¡¯t belong here," Long Meng added, referring to Jiang Ying Yue.

    Jiang Ying Yue cowered, but Iris pped her back hard. It sent a jolt of energy and courage into her. Her back straightened and her eyes became determined.

    "Xin and the rest of you, this meeting has nothing to do with you. Leave. It¡¯s none of your business," Long Jufang said, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.

    "Granduncle Jufang, Father said that this is a ¡¯family meeting¡¯. Even Grandaunt Meng just said it too. By saying that this meeting has nothing to do with me, are you insinuating that I, Long Xin, daughter of Long Tengfei is not ¡¯family¡¯. I, who is a legitimate daughter of the main family, is less of a family than those of you from the branch families? Not to mention that the Wus are also here. Are you saying that they are ¡¯family¡¯ and I, someone who has Long blood flowing inside my veins, am not? Pray tell me, Granduncle Jufang. Where is the logic in that?"

    "You disrespectful child! How dare you talk back to me like that?!" Long Jufang popped up from his seat and pointed a furious, shaky finger at Iris.

    Iris touched her chest in exaggerated surprise. "Granduncle Jufang, you misunderstand. I wasn¡¯t being disrespectful. I was just stating the facts." Then she turned to Long Tengfei. "Father, did I say anything that isn¡¯t true? Am I not your daughter? Am I not a member of the main family?"

    "You are my child and a member of the main family. There¡¯s no doubt about that," Long Tengfei simply said.

    She nodded. Then she sighed, shaking her head. "But Father, it seems that the elders don¡¯t consider me as ¡¯family¡¯. Both Elder Brother Hui and I are being scolded and belittled so badly by the elders and the other members of the branch families. I wonder why they are treating us members of the main family like this. Father, maybe...never mind. It¡¯s such a frightening thought."

    Long Tengfei frowned. "Speak. What is it?"

    Iris hesitated, looking at the elders cautiously. She even acted a little fearful of them. Behind her, the mouths of Meimei and Chen Fei were twitching as they struggled not tough at Iris¡¯ deviousness. They already knew where she was going with this act of hers.

    "Alright, Father. I¡¯ll speak. But please don¡¯t take my words too seriously. These are just my personal thoughts based on my observations of how the elders and the other rtives are treating me and my siblings." Iris bit her lips, acting as if it was very difficult for her to speak her next words.

    "They have always criticized me, Big Brother Jian and Big Sister Jinjing. They always told the three of us that we¡¯re not good enough and that we¡¯re the biggest shame of the Long family. They adored Elder Brother Hui the most, but now that Elder Brother wants to marry the mother of his son, they have begun treating him as badly as they treat the three of us. Now all four of us, your children, are being insulted left and right by our own rtives.

    "I can¡¯t help but wonder why they¡¯re suppressing us children of the main family so much. Then I thought...what if the branch families are nning to oust us, the current main family, and take over the Long n instead?"

    "What a pack of lies!" Long Jufang eximed. His furious face turnedpletely red, as he shot a vicious re at Iris.

    "This is nder!" Long Meng also protested.

    "I..." Iris ¡¯cowered¡¯ at the elders¡¯ anger before turning to Long Jinjing. "Let¡¯s go, Big Sister. We¡¯re really not wee here. It seems that we have no status within the Longs. Being the children of the family head counts for nothing. We¡¯re lower than dirt in the eyes of the elders and the branch families."

    Then she threw a meaningful look at Chen Fei.

    Chen Fei immediately understood. She surreptitiously pinched Long Jinjing¡¯s waist hard and cruelly twisted it.

    Poor Long Jinjing cried out once again in pain. Tears of pain flowed down her pitiful eyes. She whimpered at first, but then began sobbing hard when Chen Fei gave her another brutal pinch.

    Iris gave Long Jinjing a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Please don¡¯t cry anymore, Big Sister. You¡¯re going to make me cry too. Let¡¯s go. Don¡¯t worry. Even if we¡¯re no one in the eyes of the branch families, Father loves us very much."

    "I-it hurts..." Long Jinjing continued to cry while rubbing her abused waist.

    "I know, Big Sister. It hurts me, too. But what can we do? The elders from the branch families are more important than us, the children of the family head."

    Seeing his daughters¡¯ pitiful conditions, Long Tengfei banged his hands hard on the arms of his seat. His expression looked frightening, cold and furious at the same time. He shot a re so cold at the elders and the other rtives present that it could freeze even hell.

    "Besides me and my wife, there is no one else above my own children! Not even the elders and surely not anyone from the branch families! Anyone who dares im that they have higher status than the main family, I will disown and banish from the Long n!"

 Chapter 360 - Homewrecker

    <h4>Chapter 360 - Homewrecker </h4>

    Long Tengfei¡¯s authoritative threat rmed the elders and the rtives who were present at the meeting. They immediately started denying Iris¡¯ allegations, saying that what they were doing were only instilling discipline in the family¡¯s younger generation.

    Even though the elders wanted to chastise and punish Iris for putting them and the branch families in a tight spot, they controlled themselves (for now). Pacifying Long Tengfei was their immediate top priority.

    Ultimately, Long Tengfei held the power and the purse strings of the entire Long n. Losing his support would mean that their respective branch families might plunge into financial crisis. Not to mention that they would lose their status in high society. In short, it would be an utter disaster to the branch families if Long Tengfei decided to cut them off.

    Before Iris¡¯ allegations, he still respected the elders¡¯ seniority and tended to use more diplomatic means to maintain peace in the n. Now, however, he suddenly raised his guard up against the branch families. He was from the main family. It was only natural that he would protect the main family¡¯s position and prevent the branch families from trying to take over the n¡¯s leadership.

    All of these were triggered by Iris¡¯ words. The elders and the rtives were already cursing her inside their minds a hundred thousand times. This was all her fault! The damn brat! What if Long Tengfei suddenly began running the n with an iron fist? Now they had to be more careful or he might really disown and banish them from the n.

    Long Tengfei continued, "Remember this: My children are not nobodies! They are the children of the head of the entire Long n! Anyone who dares to bully them, I will treat as a direct insult to my own person! Dare to insult me, Long Tengfei? Come at me! But you must be prepared to face the consequences."

    His deration was like great thunder and lightning that struck a deep sense of foreboding and even fear within the hearts of the elders and the rtives. Long Jufang opened his mouth to protest but closed it again when he saw that Long Tengfei was truly angered this time.

    "My children and the others will stay and participate in this family meeting. My son¡¯s fianc¨¦e will also stay. This is my order as the family head. Anyone who defies me shall be kicked out of this room and from the Long n forever."

    Everyone became silent, not daring toin.

    Long Tengfei swept his cold eyes at everyone. Then he nodded, satisfied, when the elders and the rtives all lowered their eyes to avoid his gaze.

    As the family head, he always tried to treat everyone in the n fairly. He avoided showing tant bias to his own children. But it seemed that his fairness was being repeatedly abused by the elders and the branch families. He would no longer allow that happen!

    Long Tengfei nodded in approval when Iris and the others decided to sit beside him and his wife. It showed everyone their status as the members of the main family.

    "Wait, we¡¯re notplete yet. Big Brother Jian isn¡¯t here," Iris suddenly said.

    "He was here before but the elders told him to leave," Yang Jiahui replied.

    Long Tengfei ordered someone to call his second son back.

    When Long Jian arrived, he was surprised and confused, especially after seeing that his sisters and some extra people (Meimei and Chen Fei) were also present. He began to sit on the farthest chair in a corner.

    "Brother, don¡¯t sit there. Sit here with us," Long Hui called him over. The ¡¯main family¡¯ sits over here, not there."

    Long Jian had no idea about the hidden meaning in Long Hui¡¯s words. He immediately moved and sat beside Chen Fei. He nced at Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue with great anticipation. He was looking forward to watching them get scolded by the elders. He came earlier to the meeting just to watch this moment, but unfortunately Long Jufang shooed him away. He had no choice but to leave. But now that he was called back, he was determined to enjoy Long Hui¡¯s suffering.

    Finally, the meeting began.

    The elders were very quiet this time. It greatly confused Long Jian.

    It was the Wu family who began speaking first. They were relieved that Long Tengfei finally finished disciplining his family members. They felt extremely impatient for having to wait until he was done.

    "My daughter has suffered such great humiliation and heartbreak tonight," Sir Wu said, indignant. Then he red at Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue. "Proposing to your mistress in front of everyone traumatized my daughter. How can you choose such a low-bred woman over my Qianqian?"

    "Sir, Wu Qianxi and I already broke up long ago. It¡¯s not a matter of choosing one over the other. When your daughter and I broke up, my feelings for her also disappeared. The person that I love now and will continue to love in the future is this woman beside me, the mother of my son, Jiang Ying Yue," Long Hui said. He sped his hand with Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s.

    "Hui, I still love you very much," Wu Qianxi tearfully told him. "I know that we broke up because we drifted apart from not seeing or spending enough time together. But now I¡¯m back in the country for good. I intend to stay here. We don¡¯t have to endure a long-distance rtionship anymore. Hui,e back to me, please."

    She continued, "You don¡¯t have to stay with that...that woman just because you have a child together. I know that she¡¯s just your rebound from our rtionship. Don¡¯t worry that you fathered an illegitimate child with another woman. I¡¯ve already forgiven you for that mistake. Even if it¡¯s hard, I-I¡¯ll ept your illegitimate son."

    "Look at howpassionate my daughter is!" Madam Wu cried. "epting that bastard child of yours, your mistress should thank my Qianqian for her kindness!"

    Jiang Ying Yue defended herself and her son. "Madam, I am not a mistress. I have never been one. My rtionship with Hui might be uneptable for people of status like you, but generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with our rtionship. Yes, we have a son despite being unmarried, but that doesn¡¯t make me a mistress. And you have no right to call my child a bastard."

    She growled thest sentence. Even though her voice slightly trembled, she now felt braver in defending herself. She wasn¡¯t alone anymore. She had friends who were standing by her. And it seemed that Long Hui was also going to make a change to make it better for her and for their son.

    Faint smiles could be seen on Iris and the others¡¯ faces. They were d that Jiang Ying Yue was standing up for herself. However, their smiles didn¡¯tst long because Madam Wu started shouting.

    "Don¡¯t talk back to me, you gold digging slut! You¡¯re the reason why my daughter can¡¯t get together with Long Hui. You destroyed their chance to be together again!"

    Before anyone else could respond to the madam¡¯s usation, Iris spoke aloud and pretended to be confused.

    "Is it just me or what the Wus are saying doesn¡¯t make any sense? They insist on calling Ying Yue a mistress when she¡¯s not. Do these people even know the definition of the word ¡¯mistress¡¯? Now they¡¯re even using Ying Yue of destroying Miss Wu¡¯s chance to be with Elder Brother Hui." She looked at herpanions. "Tell me. Do these make any sense to you?"

    Chen Fei, Long Jinjing and Meimei all shook their heads.

    "Please excuse me for butting in, but I feel like this needs to be said," Meimei spoke next. "The way I see it, Miss Wu is the one acting like a homewrecker. Think about it. Big Brother Hui and Big Sis Yue have a son together and are living together. They are a family. But herees Miss Wu wanting to break them apart. Isn¡¯t that something only homewreckers do?"

    "Exactly," Chen Fei nodded wisely. "Yet they¡¯re twisting the situation around to make it look like Miss Wu is the victim when she¡¯s clearly not. They¡¯re pushing all the me on Jiang Ying Yue. She¡¯s the real victim here!"

    "Yes," Long Jinjing agreed with a nod. "I feel so sorry for Jiang Ying Yue."

    "Shut up, all of you! What right do you have to interfere in this matter?! Be silent! You¡¯re outsiders!" Madam Wu shouted at them.

    "Madam Wu, they¡¯re not outsiders," Yang Jiahui interjected, her voice cold. "Xin and Jinjing are Hui¡¯s sisters. My niece is part of our family and Chen Fei is their friend. And just so everyone is clear about my opinion in this matter, I also agree with what they¡¯re saying. Miss Wu is acting like a homewrecker."

    "You dare say that about my daughter, Yang Jiahui?!" Madam Wu shrieked.

 Chapter 361 - Hidden Dragon

    <h4>Chapter 361 - Hidden Dragon </h4>

    "Mother, please calm down," Wu Qianxi said as she pulled her mother back to her seat.

    Although she also felt furious for being called a homewrecker by those bitches, she needed to maintain her image as a ssydy in front of the Longs, especially to Long Tengfei and the elders.

    She didn¡¯t think much of Yang Jiahui. After all, she was already the third wife. It was possible that she might not be thest. Why should she be worried about someone easily receable? Besides, she would eventually be the next Madam Long when Long Hui seeded.

    "Jiahui, I advise you to be careful of your words," Long Jufang spoke for the first time since Long Tengfei silenced the elders with his threat. "The Wus are long-time friends of our Long family. And most importantly, our two families have partnered in several business projects over the years. As the Madam of our Long family, it is not wise to alienate them with your careless words."

    The Wus looked smug after hearing the Long elder defend them.

    Long Tengfei spoke next. His impassive expression made it difficult for the others to read his thoughts. He looked at the Wus. "So tell me what you want to happen? Is it for my son to break up with his fianc¨¦e and marry Wu Qianxi instead?"

    Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue both tensed, while the expressions of Iris and the others darkened. Long Jian also wore an impassive expression like his father, but inside he wasughing at Long Hui¡¯s misfortune.

    "Yes, that¡¯s the most ideal scenario," Long Meng replied. "It¡¯s also what is right and what should happen since our two families already have an agreement to marry Young Master Hui and Miss Wu Qianxi."

    "Agreement? Why wasn¡¯t I informed that there is a signed agreement between our two families? Who¡¯s the one who made this decision and bypassed me, the head of the family?"

    "There is no written agreement, Father," Long Hui said.

    "Brother Tengfei, Elder Long Meng is talking about the verbal agreement that the elders of our families made when our children were young. They agreed that this union between Long Hui and my daughter is for the best to deepen the rtionship between our two families," Sir Wu exined.

    Long Tengfei looked at Sir Wu like the man had just lost his mind. "We¡¯re both businessmen. You know very well that verbal agreements don¡¯t mean anything, only written and signed ones do. What were you thinking, using a verbal agreement from a long time ago to force a marriage between our two children? This is absolutely ridiculous.

    "I also want to make something clear. Even though I am their father, I don¡¯t have the right to control the lives of my adult children. They are their own persons. Whatever decision they make ispletely up to them. I can influence them, yes, but it¡¯s still their choice whether they do as I say or not. As a father, I don¡¯t have the right to dictate my children¡¯s lives. All of you have even less right than me to do so.

    "This meeting is over. My son, Long Hui, will decide who he wants to marry. It will not be decided by me, and most certainly not by any of you. End of discussion." Long Tengfei¡¯s tone was final and dared anyone to defy his decision.

    Delight and relief filled Long Hui¡¯s expression. "Thank you, Father!"

    Long Jian¡¯s eyes turned cold. He was displeased that the scolding of Long Hui that he was expecting didn¡¯t happen. He thought that this was another example of their father¡¯s favouritism towards the legitimate son.

    Wu Qianxi started sobbing once again. Her parents¡¯ expression became ugly.

    Sir Wu couldn¡¯t ept it. "Brother Tengfei! You want to throw away our friendship for that gold digging slut?! Think about the close business rtionship between ourpanies! If you continue to allow your son to hurt and humiliate my daughter and embarrass our Wu family like this, we¡¯ll pull out of all our business partnerships with Long Industries!"

    The elders paled when they heard his threat.

    "Calm down, you two," Long Jufang requested. "Tengfei, please think about this matter more carefully. Long Industries will lose hundreds of millions if the business partnerships between the twopanies are dissolved! Both sides will suffer!"

    The Wus looked smug seeing the panicked elders. They felt sure that Long Tengfei would change his mind when business became involved. Long Tengfei was a born and bred businessman. They thought that he would never risk losing hundreds of millions for the sake of his son¡¯s selfishness.

    However, they were wrong.

    Long Tengfei might not ever win any Best Father awards because of his hands-off approach of parenting, but he truly loved all of his children. To him, they were his most precious treasures and the most important aplishments of his life.

    "It seems that I, Long Tengfei, have been toocent in thesest few years. I¡¯m actually being threatened. It seems that people think that I am an easy target now. Let me make this clear to all of you. My children, my own flesh and blood, are of course more important to me than any so-called ¡¯friends¡¯. And what kind of ¡¯friend¡¯ will threaten me to sacrifice my own child¡¯s happiness or they¡¯ll make my business suffer? I¡¯ll be more than happy to cut such a ¡¯friend¡¯ out of my life. Good riddance!"

    Sir Wu was enraged. "Tengfei, you dare say that to me?! Fine! All the Wus will pull out from all the business partnerships we have with Long Industries! Even though both sides will suffer, I¡¯ll make sure that if we¡¯re going down, we¡¯ll take the Longs down with us!"

    "I plead for the two of you to calm down!" Long Meng cried in a panic. "This is not a trivial matter that should be decided in the heat of the moment. The two of you are friends. Our families are long-time friends. Let¡¯s not destroy our years of friendship in just one night!"

    Madam Wu pointed a furious finger at Jiang Ying Yue. "This is all the fault of that gold digging slut! Not only did she steal my daughter¡¯s happiness, but she¡¯s also the reason why our two families¡¯ long-time friendship is destroyed!"

    "Please stop insulting and using my fianc¨¦e, Madam. She has done nothing wrong to warrant such treatment," Long Hui defended Jiang Ying Yue while tightening his hold on her hand.

    Long Jian finally spoke up for the first time in the meeting. "Father, I think this decision to cut all ties with the Wu family is too extreme. The Wus are a major partner for some of our major projects. Please think about our employees who¡¯ll suffer because of this loss."

    Iris wasn¡¯t pleased that someone sitting together with them wasn¡¯t taking their side. Her currently evolving emotional range was far from stable yet. It was still filled with ill feelings regarding the Long family. Long Jian¡¯sment made Iris dislike him even more along with the elders.

    She ignored Long Jian. Then she turned to Long Tengfei, showing him a confident look. "Father, don¡¯t worry. Long Industries doesn¡¯t need the Wus. I give you my word that Long Industries will not suffer in this business break-up."

    Knowing his youngest daughter¡¯s true capabilities, Long Tengfei nodded. "Alright. I feel more at ease with your words."

    Everyone was shocked by Iris¡¯ audacity to im such a thing. What was even more shocking was that Long Tengfei acted as if he trusted her words. Even Long Jinjing, Chen Fei and Long Jian couldn¡¯t believe what she just said and how Long Tengfei reacted.

    "Tengfei, have you gone mad?!" Long Jufang eximed in disbelief. "What can Xin do? She knows nothing about business! So what if she started a business recently? That doesn¡¯t make her an expert who can save Long Industries!"

    Long Meng also piped in. "Young Miss Xin, please stay out of this serious business discussion. You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying. This is business, not showbiz where you can bluff your way to greatness."

    The other Long rtives present also expressed their incredulity at Iris¡¯ im. Of course, the Wu family didn¡¯t miss this chance to mock her for her "delusions".

    Iris just raised an eyebrow at them.

    As for Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui, Meimei, Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue who knew about Iris¡¯ status as a Cross Academy student, they looked calm and even amused at how the others continued to underestimate the true hidden dragon among them.

    Suddenly, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

    A young rtive in his early twenties entered the library. He looked extremely excited. "I apologize for disturbing your meeting, but a super important guest has just arrived! I think that Uncle Tengfei and Aunt Jiahui should greet them as soon as possible!"

    "Important? Our meeting is more important! Tell whoever it is to wait!" Long Jufang was displeased. He didn¡¯t think anybody in their level was important enough to make them run to greet him or her.

    "But it¡¯s Sir Lu Jianhong! The newly arrived guest is the business genius himself, Sir Lu!!!"

 Chapter 362 Start Of A Life - Long Connection

    <h4>Chapter 362 Start Of A Life - Long Connection </h4>

    "What?!!"

    Everyone couldn¡¯t believe what they just heard. The legendary business genius Lu Jianhong came to the party? This was totally unprecedented!

    "Are you telling the truth?" Long Meng asked the youth who brought the news.

    "Yes, Grandaunt Meng. Sir Lu Jianhong is currently mingling with the guests. He asked where the celebrant is. He said that he wants to greet Uncle Tengfei a happy birthday."

    "What are we waiting for then? Let¡¯s go and greet Sir Lu! We shouldn¡¯t keep such an esteemed guest waiting for too long," Long Jufang said and looked at Long Tengfei impatiently.

    As for the Wu family, they didn¡¯t wait for Long Tengfei¡¯s permission. Wu Qianxi and her parents left the library and headed directly to look for the business legend. They treated this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. They didn¡¯t care whether Sir Lu Jianhong came for Long Tengfei who they just cut ties with. Establishing a connection with someone as powerful in the business world as Sir Lu was more important than leaving the party because of their anger at the hosts.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go," Long Tengfei finally said.

    Upon receiving his permission, the elders and the rtives moved like they had rocket boosters in their shoes with how fast they left the library. They were all extremely excited and couldn¡¯t wait to meet such a powerful figure. Long Jian also followed behind them, not waiting for the rest of the "main family" to leave together.

    Chen Fei and Long Jinjing also couldn¡¯t wait to meet Sir Lu Jianhong in person. Both of them were business majors. Their professors and even their textbooks used him a lot as the best example of a sessful businessperson.

    They all walked out of the library together. Except for Chen Fei and Long Jinjing, all of them had already met the business legend through Iris.

    "Father, you invited Grandpa Lu?" Iris whispered to Long Tengfei.

    "Yes, of course. He¡¯s your mentor and has done a lot for you. It would be rude if I didn¡¯t at least send him an invitation," he replied. "But I never expected him toe."

    "Well, he¡¯s probably bored so he came," she said with a shrug.

    Then Iris excused herself and separated from the group. She needed to use the powder room. Meimei and Jiang Ying Yue went with her. Long Hui went ahead with Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui to greet Grandpa Lu.

    Seeing them, Long Jinjing pulled Chen Fei to apany the three to the powder room. Chen Feiined a bit because she was so excited to meet Sir Lu. But in the end, she still went with them.

    The five of them chatted while inside the powder room. They took turns using the toilet. They also retouched their make-up.

    "Xin, you started a business?" Chen Fei asked.

    "Yes," Iris replied while washing her hands on the sink.

    "What kind of business?"

    "The one the elders were talking about during the meeting earlier is my beautypany."

    "The one? What do you mean? You have more than one businesses?"

    Iris nodded. "Yes, I have two others for a total of three. At least for now."

    Chen Fei looked at her in surprised disbelief.

    "Three businesses? That¡¯s amazing, little sister," Long Jinjing told Iris.

    She was holding her dress up because it was currently unzipped at the back. Meimei was applying coldpress made from small towels soaked in cold water on the ugly bruises decorating her waist.

    "I built two of them from the ground up. My beautypany and my gamingpany. Orchidia Beauty hasn¡¯tunched yet, but my gamingpany Monkey recently released our first game. My thirdpany was given to me by my fianc¨¦ as a gift, so I don¡¯t really have to do much. It¡¯s already well-established and running on its own. I just need to monitor its performance now and then," Iris exined to them.

    "Your fianc¨¦ gifted you apany?! Is your fianc¨¦ crazy?!" Chen Fei eximed. She couldn¡¯t believe a man could be so stupid as to gift apany to a spoiled brat. She pitied the poorpany, thinking that it was doomed to be bankrupt soon.

    "Your fianc¨¦ must really love you a lot, little sister," Long Jinjingmented, wincing a little when Meimei identally pressed hard on her bruises.

    Iris smiled. "Yes. My darling loves me a lot. I also love him a lot."

    "Yeah! The couple always drown me with dog food whenever I¡¯m near them. I even feel like I¡¯m in danger of getting diabetes whenever I witness their overflowing sweetness to each other," Meimei told them.

    The inner door to the toilet opened and Jiang Ying Yue came out. She headed straight to the sink to wash her hands.

    "Yes, Xin and her fianc¨¦ are perfect for each other. I¡¯ve never seen a man so in love with a woman before I met Xin¡¯s fianc¨¦," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    "But you have Elder Brother," Long Jinjing told her. "He loves you very much."

    Jiang Ying Yue gave a slightly subdued smile. She was happy that she and Long Hui were together, but there was still a sense of uncertainty as to whether they could live in peace as husband and wife.

    "If that big idiot hurts you or makes you unhappy, just leave him and find a better man." Iris was merciless in her words regarding Long Hui.

    Meimei giggled.

    "Little sister, he¡¯s our brother," Long Jinjing said.

    "Hmph. So what if he¡¯s our brother? A jerk is a jerk whether he¡¯s family or not."

    The ill feelings towards Long Hui and most of the Longs were still roiling inside Iris, making her grumpy when talking about them. In fact, she was actually still feeling annoyed at Long Jinjing as well, but at the same time she was starting to like her. That was why she was tolerating Long Jinjing and Chen Fei, even though they annoyed her. She thought that the two women weren¡¯t that bad.

    They continued to chat until Chen Fei grew impatient.

    "Is everyone finished already?" she asked. "Let¡¯s hurry! I can¡¯t wait to meet Sir Lu Jianhong in person!"

    "Me too..." Jinjing said shyly. Her dress was already zipped up. As for her bruises, they still hurt but she could manage.

    Meimei and Jiang Ying Yue looked at the nonchnt Iris. They were amused, knowing Iris¡¯ close connection with Grandpa Lu who Chen Fei and Long Jinjing idolized.

    "Let¡¯s go, then," Iris announced.

    The five young women walked together, not knowing that this night was the start of their life-long connection to each other.

 Chapter 363 - Beloved Granddaughter

    <h4>Chapter 363 - Beloved Granddaughter </h4>

    A great crowd of people surrounded the legendary Sir Lu Jianhong. They couldn¡¯t believe that such a super important figure attended this party. They were very impressed at Long Tengfei¡¯s capability of inviting such a personage.

    The Wu family arrived, but they couldn¡¯t squeeze through the sea of people surrounding Sir Lu. Nobody made way for them because their status wasn¡¯t really higher than any of these people.

    Besides, the guests¡¯ impression of them lowered after witnessing their crass behaviour earlier. Some of thedies even started looking down and ridiculing Wu Qianxi behind her back, calling her a desperate man-chaser.

    The elders came shortly after. Compared to the Wus, the guests parted and made way for them because they were Longs, the hosts of this party.

    "Wee, Sir Lu! It¡¯s an honour to our entire Long family to receive your presence tonight. I am Long Jufang, Long Tengfei¡¯s uncle and an elder of the Long family."

    Long Meng and the other elders also introduced themselves, including some of the younger heads of the various branch families.

    Grandpa Lu only greeted them out of politeness. He wasn¡¯t interested in chatting with any of them. To his eyes, most of the Longs were self-important, haughty people who foolishly thought that they were better than others. If his Lu family and the Jins didn¡¯t rise up to where they were now, these Longs would probably look down on him now.

    It was an open secret in high society that the "aristocratic" Longs used to disdain business families like the Lus and the Jins. It was only when they transformed into a business family themselves that they began to treat other sessful business families with respect.

    Although his beloved granddaughter didn¡¯t tell him anything bad about them, he learned from his own sources how the elders and the other members of the Long family badly treated her. Granted, he discovered that his granddaughter used to be such a wild and disrespectful spoiled brat, but she was just a kid back then! That was just part of youth! Even his Haohao used to be so wild and happy-go-lucky before his ident as well.

    That was why he didn¡¯t have any good opinions about these snooty Longs. Despite his obvious disinterest, the elders continued trying hard to engage him in conversation.

    Finally, he was relieved from the annoying flies when Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Long Hui arrived.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes almost popped out of their heads when the three acted like old friends with Sir Lu Jianhong. The business legend also seemed to transform into a gaily old man whose voice andughter boomed throughout the ce. All the people watched in awe at the group. Long Tengfei¡¯s status was instantly elevated in their eyes. They couldn¡¯t wait to use him to get close to the business legend as well.

    As for the elders, they looked very proud. Their chests puffed out, feeling superior that their family was connected to such an extremely important figure.

    Grandpa Lu, Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Long Hui continued to chat with each other in their own little group. They acted as if nobody was around them and weren¡¯t the centre of attention.

    "Where¡¯s my beloved granddaughter? I want to know! I was told that she will be attending today, that¡¯s why I came!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed.

    "She just went somewhere with her sister and friends. They should be back soon," Yang Jiahui said.

    The people around them heard his booming words. They were very surprised by what he just said.

    "Does Sir Lu have a granddaughter? Maybe my memory is failing me because I don¡¯t remember him having one," someonemented.

    "I don¡¯t think he has a granddaughter, but I know that he has a grandson who reportedly fell from a mountain and almost died."

    "Yeah, I heard it was a ski ident. Tsk tsk. How careless. But about this granddaughter, I¡¯m so surprised. Oh, I¡¯m so curious what she looks like!"

    "I¡¯m so d that I attended this party tonight. It¡¯s so eventful! Long Tengfei keeps on throwing surprises at us one after another. We had no idea that Sir Lu wasing, and now we discover that Sir Lu¡¯s granddaughter is also here. So many important figures!"

    The Wu family looked in envy at Long Tengfei and his family happily chatting with Sir Lu Jianhong. But hearing the conversations around them about Sir Lu¡¯s never before seen granddaughter, hope and ambition ignited in the Wus¡¯ hearts.

    Madam Wu whispered to her daughter, "Qianqian, this is a big chance for our Wu family. Let go of that scoundrel Long Hui. Let¡¯s also forget about the Longs. The Lus are on another league than them. Wealthier and more powerful. Make sure to befriend that granddaughter. Once you establish a close friendship with her, it¡¯ll be more natural for our Wu family to get closer to the entire Lu family. I also hear that Sir Lu dotes on his grandson. If you marry the grandson, you¡¯ll be set for life. You¡¯ll also elevate the status of our family. Then the Longs will be beneath us."

    "I understand, Mother," Wu Qianxi replied. Her eyes shed with greed and desire.

    Sir Wu nodded in approval at his wife and daughter¡¯s n. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to rise higher in the social hierarchy of high society.

    The Wu family forced their way through the crowd until they arrived close to the little group. Then they shamelessly introduced themselves to the business legend, disregarding Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui¡¯s disapproving looks.

    "Sir Lu, this is my daughter, Wu Qianxi. She¡¯s quite a sessful interior designer who worked with many celebrities on the international level," Sir Wu bragged to Grandpa Lu.

    Wu Qianxi shed her sweetest smile. "Sir Lu, I hear that your granddaughter is present tonight. I can¡¯t wait to meet her. I hope we can be friends. I think we¡¯ll get along quite well."

    Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Long Hui looked at her as if she was the biggest joke in the. This fool wanted to befriend Iris? Howughable!

    Until finally...

    "There you are, my girl! Where have you been? I want to know! Come here and greet your beloved Grandpa!"

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice caught everyone¡¯s attention. They followed his line of sight and felt confused when all they saw were Iris and her group. They looked behind the five women, thinking that perhaps the granddaughter was behind them.

    Then Iris¡¯ expression lit up. A breathtaking smile broke out of her face, blinding the people with her beauty. She hurried, almost running. Herpanions followed after her.

    "Grandpa Lu! You came!" she eximed happily.

    "I got bored so I came! Bahahaha!"

    She giggled and gave an "I told you so" look at Long Tengfei.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui chuckled.

    Many minds went nk after watching this scene. What did they just witness? Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, was Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s granddaughter?

    Everyone couldn¡¯t process the information inside their brains right away. It was just too unbelievable!

    Chen Fei and Long Jinjing looked at Iris as if she just transformed into a unicorn right in front of their eyes. The elders and the other rtives also had simr reactions. It was as if they were seeing Iris for the first time. Behind them, Long Jian wore a serious expression. He looked like he just encountered a new threat.

    As for Wu Qianxi and her parents, they paled from utter disbelief. Wu Qianxi, who imed earlier that she couldn¡¯t wait to befriend Sir Lu¡¯s granddaughter, wished for the ground to open up and swallow her. How could that useless spoiled brat be the business legend¡¯s granddaughter?!

    Unbothered by the shocked silence surrounding them, Iris and Grandpa Lu continued to chat with each other. Of course, Long Tengfei and the others who already knew about their connection joined in as well.

    "I was nning on dragging your Big Brother Haohao to attend with me tonight but I can¡¯t find him! Where in the world is that rascal? I want to know! Does he not know how worried his beloved Grandpa is? I¡¯ll smack that dunderhead the next time I see him! Hmph!" Grandpa Luined.

    "Thest time I talked to Big Brother was a week ago. He said that he¡¯d be very busy, so he might be unavable to be contacted," Iris exined. "He also mentioned travelling in several parts of the country for some business. I¡¯m not sure exactly where he is now, though."

    "So he¡¯s still in the country? He didn¡¯t go abroad? He has been so busy ever since he returned to the country! His body isn¡¯t 100% recovered yet. What¡¯s he thinking running around? I want to know! What if he breaks his neck again?"

    Iris was also worried but she trusted her brother.

    Hearing their conversation, the crowd began to regain their senses. They gossiped among themselves. A spection formed in their minds.

    Someone gathered his courage and asked Grandpa Lu directly, "May we ask if Miss Long¡¯s mysterious fianc¨¦ is Sir Lu¡¯s grandson?"

    Because Grandpa Lu also treated Jin Liwei as his own grandson, he immediately replied, "Yes, of course! What a lucky man that grandson of mine is! I can¡¯t wait for the two of them to marry and give me great-grandbabies!"

 Chapter 364 - Walk Of Shame

    <h4>Chapter 364 - Walk Of Shame </h4>

    Many eyes almost popped out and jaws fell down after hearing Grandpa Lu¡¯s words. To them, he just proved their spection. Now everyone thought that Iris was engaged to Grandpa Lu¡¯s grandson, Lu Zihao.

    As for Iris, she was exactly on the same page as Grandpa Lu. The two of them forgot to take into ount that not everyone was aware that he also treated Jin Liwei as his own grandson. They had no idea that a great misunderstanding was currently running in these people¡¯s minds.

    Long Tengfei and the others who knew about the truth looked at each other in amusement. They didn¡¯t correct the misunderstanding because Iris and Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t officially announced their rtionship to the public yet.

    "This isn¡¯t bad," Long Tengfei murmured. "My daughter and Liwei treat Lu Zihao like a brother. They¡¯re all very close to each other. Liwei won¡¯t get jealous of his brother."

    "Uncle Tengfei, it seems that you have no idea what Big Brother Liwei is really like," Meimei whispered. "He¡¯s always drowning in a pool of vinegar when ites to Xin."

    "As long as he treats my daughter right, I have noints."

    A few steps away from them, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei didn¡¯t hear the conversation about Jin Liwei. Just like the guests, they thought that Iris was engaged to Lu Zihao.

    "The stupid fool who gifted your sister an entire business is Sir Lu¡¯s grandson?" Chen Fei asked.

    "It seems so..." Long Jinjing replied.

    "Come, Jinjing. Let¡¯s ask Xin to introduce us to Sir Lu! Even if his grandson is a stupid love-crazed fool, Sir Lu is still the most brilliant living businessman in our country."

    "Yes."

    After silently pleading with their eyes, Iris introduced the two to Grandpa Lu. He became interested when they told him that they were business majors and that they were going to graduate very soon. He began asking them several questions about their studies, experiences, and extra-curricr activities. After questioning them, Grandpa Lu gave Iris a meaningful look.

    She tilted her head to the side, a contemtive expression on her face.

    Later, the party continued merrily.

    Most of the people had already somewhat recovered from the initial shock and excitement of the night¡¯s various surprises. Now they were enjoying themselves while gossiping about everything that happened since the party started.

    They couldn¡¯t stop ncing at Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue, Iris and Grandpa Lu, and most especially the Wu family. Although they didn¡¯t know what exactly transpired during the private meeting earlier between the Longs and the Wus, it was obvious from their barely veiled enmity that things didn¡¯t end well between the two families.

    "That bitch must be born under a lucky star or something. Not only did she win those music awards some time ago, but she also managed to snag Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson as her future husband," Madam Wu grumbled while ring at Iris. "What¡¯s so good about her? She knows nothing else besides acting pretty and singing. You¡¯re so much better than her, Qianqian."

    "Mother, please stop it," Wu Qianxi snapped.

    Although she agreed with her mother that she was so much better than that bitch Iris, she already experienced so much humiliation tonight tost her a lifetime. She didn¡¯t want her mother making it worse by getting them into deeper trouble if someone were to overhear her insulting Iris or any of the Longs.

    Wu Qianxi could feel the looks of ridicule from the people around them like a heavy weight. Now she was experiencing something simr to the pain Jiang Ying Yue went through earlier when people mocked her for being Long Hui¡¯s mistress. It was a suffocating feeling.

    "Mother, Father, let¡¯s go. I don¡¯t want to stay here anymore."

    Her parents gave a final envious look at the Longs acting very close to Sir Lu Jianhong before the three of them left the party together. It was like a walk of shame. They felt each and every snicker and mockingment thrown at them like knives stabbing at their disgraced dignity.

    "I think we should try and repair our rtionship with the Longs," Sir Wu said once they were inside their vehicle.

    Madam Wu rejected his idea.

    "They¡¯re almost inws with the Lus now. If we cut our rtionship with the Longs, the Lus will see us in a negative light. We don¡¯t want that," he exined.

    Madam Wu eventually agreed to her husband¡¯s idea. Sir Wu nned on reaching out to Long Tengfei the next day.

    As for Wu Qianxi, she was too upset that she failed to hear what her parents were talking about. She felt absolutely humiliated and disgraced. She didn¡¯t know whether she could still show her face to others from now on.

    Back to the party inside the mansion, the Long elders and the other rtives were all puffed up. They acted as if they just became royalty. Iris became the number one darling in their eyes. They acted so nice to her andplimented her nonstop to the point that Iris felt creeped out.

    It was obvious that they changed their attitudes towards her because of her connection with the legendary Sir Lu Jianhong. The elders and the rtives immediately changed how they treated her because they didn¡¯t want her badmouthing them to Grandpa Lu or any of the Lus.

    Now their main priority was to ensure that she married the Lus¡¯ young master, even if it meant pretending to like her. She suddenly became their golden ticket to elevate their status by several ces up the social hierarchy of high society.

    As a result, they put aside their opposition of Long Hui¡¯s n to marry Jiang Ying Yue for now. They focused all their attention on ttering Iris and their future inw, Sir Lu Jianhong.

    "Well, my sister is a celebrity. She¡¯s used to the spotlight. She knows how to deal with it better than us," Long Hui said.

    He and Jiang Ying Yue felt relieved that the attention was temporarily diverted away from them. Though they had no idea when they would once again take the heat. The issue about whether they could have a peaceful marriage life or not was still notpletely solved.

    The elders would surely try toe at them again despite Long Tengfei¡¯s threat, especially since Long Hui was the heir apparent of the Long family. Their long-held antiquated values and beliefs weren¡¯t so easily abandoned. A closed mind wasn¡¯t so easily opened, especially if it was locked tightly since ancient times.

    Behind them, Long Jian wore a grave expression as he looked at Iris. For him, his youngest sister just transformed into a new, more dangerous enemy than Long Hui. With the Lus¡¯ support, she could join the battle for session in the Long family if she wanted to.

    And she had a high chance of seeding because she was a legitimate child and Long Tengfei¡¯s favourite, in addition to having what looked to be the most sessful marriage among the siblings. Even if she sucked in running Long Industries, she could just hand the reins to the Lus who were brilliant businesspeople.

    Long Jian¡¯s hands clenched into tight fists, feeling a sense of urgency to prove himself as the most worthy sessor of the Longs.

    ¡¯Traitor,¡¯ he inwardly spat at Long Jinjing.

    The two of them were the illegitimate children. They were supposed to be the ones to team up together against the legitimate children. But why was she now acting very close to both Iris and Long Hui? He felt like everyone was going against him. The obsession to be the next sessor intensified within his heart.

    His negative feelings were theplete opposite of the happy atmosphere.

    Finally, the party ended on a high note. The guests treated their attendance to this party like a badge of honour, proving that they were first-hand witnesses of all the juicy events that transpired during the party. They couldn¡¯t wait to boast to their friends who didn¡¯t attend the party.

    Jin Liwei picked up Iris, Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue with the limousine. Iris immediately sat on hisp, hugging him and rubbing herself against him. Her actions didn¡¯t feel sexual, but more like she was asking him forfort. Jin Liwei was amused because she acted so much like the needy Popcorn who always asked to be petted.

    He knew that something must have happened to make her this way. However, he didn¡¯t ask. She would tell him when she was ready. He gave her a kiss on the forehead instead.

    Simrly, Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue were also acting sweet to each other on their seat.

    "Bah! I¡¯ve had enough of your lovey-dovey. You two pairs of lovebirds, do you want this old man to die of dog food overdose? I want to know! Let¡¯s sing karaoke instead!"

    Jin Liwei sighed. Grandpa Lu invited himself after hearing that Little Jun was currently at the penthouse. He doted on the toddler, treating him like his own great-grandson.

    Momentster, Iris and Grandpa Lu started singing a duet with the built-in karaoke system in the limo. Grandpa Lu surprisingly had a good singing voice, although it was more enthusiastic than skilled.

    A doting smile was on Jin Liwei¡¯s lips as he watched his baby girl singing. He still had no idea that Grandpa Lu caused a great misunderstanding, making people believe that his baby girl was engaged to his Fifth Brother.

 Chapter 365 - Her Enemy Is My Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 365 - Her Enemy Is My Enemy </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    It was already veryte at night, so Grandpa Lu had no choice but to wait until tomorrow to y with Little Jun. He slept in the guest bedroom where Lu Zihao stayed before.

    Little Jun fell asleep in the cat room with Ice Cream and Popcorn. His nanny and Dom slept together with them. Jiang Ying Yue originally wanted to carry Little Jun to their assigned bedroom in the penthouse, but Long Hui discouraged her, saying that it wasn¡¯t good to disturb a growing child¡¯s sleep.

    As for Iris and Jin Liwei, they returned to their old bedroom. The wall-mounted waterfall fountain felt very nostalgic.

    "Hmm. Maybe we should install a waterfall fountain in our bedroom at Dragon Pce, too," Jin Liweimented.

    "That would be nice. I don¡¯t mind either way," Iris replied, yawning.

    After washing up and changing into pyjamas, Irisy on the bed with Jin Liwei. They cuddled, as she recounted everything that happened during the party. He chuckled when he heard about how she and her fellow girls ganged up on Wu Qianxi.

    "Darling, I felt so weird earlier tonight. Almost everything and everyone irritated me. I almost lost control and wanted to p people so many times. Good thing I was able to control myself. I felt so evil, but I¡¯m not the least bit sorry," she told him.

    He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. "So what if you¡¯re evil? Don¡¯t ever feel sorry, especially if they¡¯re being mean to you and your friends first. They¡¯re more evil for treating you and your friends badly. You¡¯re just letting them have a taste of their own medicine. Besides, even if you be the greatest viin in the world, I¡¯ll still love you and stand by your side."

    She smiled and hugged him tightly. "Thank you. I¡¯m so d to be back home with you. That party was too stressful! But Grandpa Lu made it fun in the end."

    Then she remembered something before she could fall asleep.

    "Can I ask you a favour?" she asked, looking up at him with her beautiful eyes.

    He immediately became extra attentive. "Of course, love. Tell me."

    She told him about the consequences of the business break-up between the Longs and the Wus.

    "I heard that Long Industries will lose hundreds of millions if their current partnerships are dissolved. Normally, I wouldn¡¯t care about Long Industries but this time, I don¡¯t want to make to make it hard for Father. Besides, Orchidia Beauty just signed Long Industries as our exclusive shipping partner. My business might be affected too if Long Industries were to take a hit in this conflict with the Wus.

    "I promised Father that I won¡¯t let Long Industries suffer in this business break-up. I can deal with the Wus, but I currently don¡¯t have the means topletely protect Long Industries from those millions of loss. I still don¡¯t have your level of influence in the business world. So darling, can you help me find other businesses that might be willing to rece the Wus in their current partnerships with Long Industries?"

    He was absolutely delighted that she was finally asking him for help instead of doing everything by herself. He yfully raised an eyebrow at her request. "Why do you want other businesses when Jin Corporation is the best? Mypany is more than capable of recing those Wus."

    "But won¡¯t it be such a hassle to you? I know that you¡¯re also very busy like me preparing for the uing business conference."

    "Love, it¡¯s not a problem. Think about it as our investment. Even if we currently don¡¯t have any shares in Long Industries, we could still have significant bargaining power if Jin Corporation is involved in some of Long Industries¡¯ most important business partnerships."

    She pursed her lips. "I don¡¯t care about shares in Long Industries, nor do I care about bargaining power with them. Except for my father and Orchidia Beauty¡¯s shipping partnership, I don¡¯t want to have anything to do with Long Industries."

    He released a gentle sigh at his baby girl¡¯s indifference to her family¡¯spany. Then he coaxed her to sit up on the bed with him. They sat facing each other. She looked at him in confusion.

    "I know that you don¡¯t care about Long Industries because it¡¯s filled with rtives who ostracize you. But I think we need to be more proactive about it this time," he told her. "After all, there¡¯s now Little Jun that we have to worry about. Remember that he¡¯s still a Long. As Long Hui¡¯s firstborn son, he might be the next heir apparent of the Longs. Based on what you¡¯re telling me, the elders and your rtives are against this possibility because they don¡¯t like Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s background.

    "So what I¡¯m saying is that it¡¯s not enough to deal with the Long n alone. We need to take as much control as we can to the source of its wealth and power¡ªLong Industries."

    Iris was quiet as she thought deeply about what he was telling her.

    He continued, "It¡¯s good that Long Hui is now taking a more active and assertive stance in protecting his woman and son from your bigoted rtives, but I can¡¯tpletely trust him. I can sense a weakness in his character for being treated as the most superior among you siblings. When things get hard, he might buckle against the pressure and decide to abandon Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue just so he can keep his position."

    The ill feelings inside Iris red up once again. "Oh, he can try! I¡¯ll strangle him and feed him to the sharks!"

    Jin Liwei was a bit taken aback at her sudden vicious outburst. Before he could think about it, his body moved on its own and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her tightly and stroked her back, soothing her.

    Her stiff and angry body softened, and she melted into his embrace. Her love for Jin Liwei strengthened her calm and logical self, neutralizing the vtile remnant inside her. She still wasn¡¯t aware of her evolving emotions. Rubbing her cheeks against his chest and inhaling his masculine scent, she sighed in contentment.

    "Calmed down?" he asked.

    "Mmn...yes."

    Although he wanted to continue embracing her, he forced himself to gently let her go so that they could discuss seriously without any distractions.

    "As I was saying, I think it¡¯s better if we try gaining more influence in Long Industries so if Long Hui is unable to fight for Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue, at least we can do it for them. Long Industries is the lifeblood and the source of power for the Long n. If we can influence it, we can also influence the entire n whether the elders or your other rtives like it or not. This way, we can ensure that Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue have nothing to fear," he told her.

    "Oh. That makes sense," she replied. Her head was tilted to the side, thinking about it.

    He nodded.

    "Alright. Do what you think is best, darling. I¡¯ll also work hard so that I can have more influence in the business world. And when I get the chance, I¡¯ll join the battle for control of Long Industries," she said with determination in her eyes.

    "En."

    Then she smiled at him and held his hand. "Thank you."

    "I want a reward," he said.

    "Hm? What reward?"

    He tapped his finger against his lips, puckering it a little.

    Giggling, she leaped into his arms. Both of them tumbled on the bed, him on his back and her on top of him. She gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the lips. And then rained kisses all over his face.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s grin was so wide that it felt like it reached both his ears. He looked like he was in total bliss.

    She yawned and her head dropped to his chest. Two secondster, she fell into deep sleep on top of him.

    He chuckled, not surprised a bit. His baby girl was the best sleeper he had ever met in his life. He moved the two of them into morefortable positions. Her regr, deep breathing was also helping him fall asleep. Before sleeping, however, he thought about the things he must do first.

    Although his baby girl said that she would take care of the Wus herself, he didn¡¯t want her wasting her time on them. He would deal with them as soon as possible before they could recover and think about getting revenge against the Longs. He would also make sure that their daughter, Wu Qianxi, wouldn¡¯t be able to get any clients as an interior designer across Asia.

    It was their fault for going against his baby girl, her friend Jiang Ying Yue, and their godson. Anyone or anything his baby girl didn¡¯t like, he would eliminate.

    "Her enemy is my enemy," he murmured before falling asleep.

 Chapter 366 - Fake News

    <h4>Chapter 366 - Fake News </h4>

    The next day, the penthouse was awash with activity. Everyone gathered around the kitchen ind for breakfast.

    Yi Mei and the cook missed taking care of their young miss, so they went all out in cooking delicious breakfast dishes. It was a feast. Actually, it was pretty heavy for breakfast but nobodyined. Everybody ate with gusto, especially the glutton Dom who consumed food like a ck hole.

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s delighted, booming voice was the loudest among them. He was currently ying with Little Jun who sat on hisp. He refused to let the toddler go. Little Jun also wanted to stay with his great-grandpa who he found very funny.

    There was a TV ying the morning news mounted on the farthest wall of the kitchen. For the most part, they weren¡¯t paying attention to it until....

    "The identity of musician Iris Long¡¯s fianc¨¦ has now reportedly been revealed as Lu Zihao, the grandson of legendary business genius Sir Lu Jianhong. Sir Lu Jianhong is one of the founders of multinational enterprise Jin Corporation, the current number onepany in the country. Several witnesses im that Sir Lu Jianhong himself confirmed that Iris Long is engaged to his own grandson duringst night¡¯s birthday party of Iris Long¡¯s father, Long Tengfei who is also the President-CEO of Long Industries..."

    A dumpling fell out of Dom¡¯s chopsticks andnded back in his bowl. He gasped loudly, and immediately looked at his sir boss. Yi Mei, the cook and the other household staff also looked simrly surprised and confused.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression was frightening to look at. He looked at the TV as if it was the greatest enemy of his life. Then he turned his head and red at Grandpa Lu, though he caught himself in time and looked elsewhere instead. He was unhappy with Grandpa Lu, but he would never dare to disrespect him.

    Iris took the chopsticks from his hand to save them from getting broken from the force he was exerting on them.

    "Hmm... That¡¯s so weird. Grandpa Lu was clearly talking about you, darling. I don¡¯t know why they suddenly concluded that my fianc¨¦ is Big Brother Zihao," she told him.

    "Exactly! Where in cuckoo¡¯s nest did they hear me say that my Haohao is Xin¡¯s fianc¨¦? I want to know! This is fake news! How dare they twist my words?!"

    Little Junughed at Grandpa Lu. The little guy was already used to the old man¡¯s loud, booming voice and wasn¡¯t easily startled anymore.

    "Ah, am I funny? Of course Great-Grandpa Lu is the funniest! Because you¡¯re a good boy, I¡¯ll buy you another batch of new toys and books!"

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled helplessly. Grandpa Lu had bought so many presents for Little Jun that they might run out of space to store it at their unit. She opened her mouth, about to ask the old man to please stop giving so many things to her son, but Long Hui stopped her.

    "Let him dote on our son. Having this close connection to Sir Lu will be great for our son¡¯s future," he whispered to her.

    It felt a bit opportunistic, but she agreed with Long Hui. Instead, she swore to herself to teach her son how to stand up on his own two feet and not depend too much on his godparents and Great-Grandpa Lu.

    Back to Jin Liwei. He looked at his baby girl and Grandpa Lu. He could tell that they really had no idea why the news reported wrongly. He red at the TV instead. The news already moved on the next story, but the previous one still echoed inside his head.

    ¡¯...Iris Long¡¯s fianc¨¦ has now reportedly been revealed as Lu Zihao Lu Zihao LU ZIHAO...¡¯

    Dammit! It should be JIN LIWEI!!!

    Long Hui released a loud sigh. "I knew this was going to happen. Of course people misunderstood. Sir Lu only confirmed that little sister¡¯s fianc¨¦ is his grandson. How could they knew that he also treats Jin Liwei as his own grandson? It¡¯s only natural for them to think about Sir Lu¡¯s flesh and blood grandson, Lu Zihao, instead of Jin Liwei. Not everyone knows how really close the Lus and the Jins are that you practically treat each other as one family. All they know is that you¡¯re inseparable business partners but that¡¯s it."

    Both Iris and Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes widened in realization at the same time.

    "Bah! How is that my fault? I want to know! How could I know that those people have terrible one-track minds to misunderstand my words so easily? It¡¯s their fault, not mine! Let¡¯s forget about it. The people will soon get bored talking about such fake news." Grandpa Lu waved a dismissive hand and resumed eating while interacting with Little Jun.

    "Yes, darling. Just ignore it. Besides, it¡¯s not the first time that people made the wrong guess as to who my real fianc¨¦ is. For a long time, many thought that it was Brother Chonglin¡ª"

    Jin Liwei scowled.

    "¡ªand now they think it¡¯s Big Brother Zihao." Iris shrugged, also waving the matter away like Grandpa Lu. "I don¡¯t have any feelings for Brother Chonglin other than my respect and admiration for him as a fellow musician. As for Big Brother Zihao, he¡¯s more of a brother to me than Elder Brother Hui."

    It was Long Hui¡¯s turn to scowl.

    "Meaning, they¡¯re our brothers and they will remain that way. Jin Liwei is my one and only man, so don¡¯t think much of those fake news anymore. Okay, darling?"

    "En."

    Her sweet-talk made him feel much better. He smiled smugly and gave her a quick peck on the lips in front of everyone.

    "Ehehehe." Dom, their number one shipper of all time, shimmied in delight at their public disy of affection.

    Little Jun squealed and pped his hands. Then he turned to Jiang Ying Yue and demanded, "Mommi, kiss! Kiss Junjun!"

    Everyoneughed in amusement, except for Long Hui. He was unhappy that his son was increasingly following that damn Jin Liwei as his role model, instead of him, the father. He also felt a little surly when Jiang Ying Yue immediately left his side to give their son several kisses. Maybe he ought to work harder in improving his own romance skills. He didn¡¯t want to lose to his own toddler son any further.

    The breakfast continued in high spirits. Iris was able to pacify Jin Liwei¡¯s jealousy with her sweet-talk, while Little Jun¡¯s presence made everyone amused and happy for the entire day.

 Chapter 367 - No Medicine For Regre

    <h4>Chapter 367 - No Medicine For Regre </h4>

    The news about the real identity of Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦ as Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson continued to be reported in the next few days. Surprisingly, however, it didn¡¯t generate as much interest nor trust in its credibility among the general public.

    It failed to be a hot topic and many even questioned the major news outlet for reporting such a story. Most of the public treated it as a regr rumour. Besides, it didn¡¯t excite them because they didn¡¯t know who Lu Zihao was. They knew Lu Jianhong but not his grandson.

    In addition to this, the LinRis shippers absolutely rejected the possibility that their Boss Iris was engaged to another man other than their Prince Lin Lin. They still staunchly held the belief that Iris Long was engaged to Jin Chonglin.

    The guests who attended Long Tengfei¡¯s birthday party didn¡¯t borate any further about what they witnessed. Oh, they were happy to describe the entire thing to their family and friends but certainly not to the media. They didn¡¯t want to offend such an important figure as Sir Lu Jianhong. Even though they also belonged to high society, the Lus were on apletely another levelpared to them in terms of wealth and power alone.

    While this story gradually died down from the entertainment news, the business news featured the break-up between the Longs and the Wus. All the business partnerships between the two of them were dissolved in a matter of days.

    It was by far the most expensive termination of partnerships in the country¡¯s business world since the year started. The loss of hundreds of millions suffered by both parties was widely reported in the news. Stock prices dipped to dangerous levels. The investors and employees of bothpanies were troubled about their futures.

    The Wus released an official statement first. They said:

    "...We regret that our long-time friendship to the Long family and all of our business partnerships with Long Industries had to end in such a tragic manner. The conflict arose from a petty quarrel which would have been resolved if the Long family only epted our offer of reconciliation. Unfortunately, our gesture of goodwill was rejected. We are tremendously heartbroken by this oue...

    Based on this "heart-rending" statement, the Wus indirectly ced the me of the business break-up to the Longs.

    A couple of hourster, the Longs released their own official statement as well. They said:

    "...The conflict between us, the Long family, and the Wu family was NOT a mere ¡¯petty quarrel¡¯. It was a serious sh of different values and visions. We also like to rify that it was the Wu family who initiated the dissolution of our business partnerships first. They should stand by their own decision and not push the me on us..."

    Based on the delivery of the statements, the people sympathized with the Wus more than the Longs. It felt more emotionalpared to the cold and indifferent stance the Longs decided to take.

    The variouspetitors of Long Industries started reaching out to the Wus to make offers of simr business partnerships. Of course, this delighted the Wu family to no end.

    "Hahaha! Take that, Long Tengfei! While Long Industries is struggling to recover from their massive loss, we, the Wus, will be rising again with a new partner. And we get to choose the best deal out of all of these offers!" Sir Wu celebrated.

    "Oh, this is wonderful! Make sure to choose the Longs¡¯ worst business rival and ask for the best deal from them," Madam Wu suggested.

    "Wife, we are of the same mind. That¡¯s what I¡¯m actually nning on doing!"

    While the Wu couple celebrated their "victory", Sir Wu¡¯s phone started ringing. His eyes lit up. It was one of thepanies that made an offer to him. He was already thinking of negotiating a better deal than what was offered. He answered the call with an excited look but after just a few seconds, his expression turned ugly. He hung up with a curse.

    "What happened?" Madam Wu asked.

    "The motherfucker withdrew his offer!"

    "Don¡¯t worry about that indecisive fool. You still have a lot of other offers."

    "You¡¯re right."

    His phone rang again. He answered it. And just like before, he hung up in fury. Then his phone rang again. This happened a few more times, until Sir Wu was drained of all his energy to even stay angry.

    "What¡¯s happening? Why are they all withdrawing their offers?" Madam Wu asked worriedly.

    Sir Wu already had an idea, but he didn¡¯t want to think about it. If his spection was correct, then his Wu family wouldn¡¯t have any ce left in the country¡¯s business world.

    The phone rang again, but Sir Wu didn¡¯t want to answer it anymore. It stopped. Then Madam Wu¡¯s phone rang next.

    "Hello? Yes, he¡¯s here with me. Hold on." She gave the phone to her husband. "It¡¯s your assistant."

    He listened to what his assistant had to say. "What?!" he eximed.

    After a few minutes, the call ended. Sir Wu plopped down on the couch like a broken doll.

    "What happened? Tell me!" Madam Wu didn¡¯t like his defeated look. A great sense of dread overwhelmed her.

    "We¡¯re finished," he told her.

    "What do you mean?!"

    "Jin Corporation announced that they would be partnering up with Long Industries on the business projects that we just terminated with them. And of course, Long Industries epted their offer." He sighed and hung his head low, holding it between his hands. "I knew it. We have angered Sir Lu Jianhong and now he sent his Jin Corporation to rece our business. I bet he¡¯s also the one who told thosepanies who made offers to us to withdraw. We can anger anyone in this country¡¯s business world, but never Sir Lu Jianhong or Jin Liwei. They are too powerful for the likes of us."

    "Oh no! What are we going to do now?!"

    They were interrupted by a frantic knock on the door.

    "Who is it?! Go away!" Sir Wu roared.

    "Father, it¡¯s me! Open up, please!" Wu Qianxi¡¯s upset voice called out from the other side of the door.

    Madam Wu immediately hurried to open the door. As soon as it opened, Wu Qianxi leaped into her arms and sobbed hard.

    "My dear Qianqian, what¡¯s wrong?! Tell Mother who made you cry like this?!"

    She didn¡¯t answer but just cried harder.

    It took a few minutes before the couple was able to calm their daughter down. Finally, she began to talk.

    "I¡¯m finished! I can¡¯t stay in this country anymore! All of my clients from my one-year waiting list have cancelled! Even the ones abroad! No one from Asia wants to work with me anymore! What am I going to do?! I abandoned my sessful career in the U.S. just to start all over again here but everything went down the drain!"

    Her parents were dismayed when they heard about what happened to her.

    "Truly merciless. Sir Lu didn¡¯t even let our daughter escape from his wrath," Sir Wu mumbled.

    Wu Qianxi heard him. "Sir Lu? You mean he did this to me?! This is all your fault! Why did you have to cut ties with the Longs?! Now you angered even Sir Lu Jianhong! You¡¯ve just ruined your daughter¡¯s career!"

    "Don¡¯t yell at your father!" Madam Wu scolded.

    "You¡¯re also to me! You¡¯re the one who flew into rage the most and insulted the Longs during the party! I hate both of you!"

    Madam Wu pped her daughter¡¯s face.

    All of them were shocked at the crisp sound it made.

    Wu Qianxi red at her parents before running off. Within a couple of hours, she was already onboard a ne back to the U.S.

    As for Sir Wu and Madam Wu, they were also considering running off to another country. Perhaps they would follow their daughter to the U.S. after she cooled her head.

    The Wu family now realized that they had lost their ce in the country¡¯s business world. If it was only against the Longs, they would already be nning revenge. This time, however, the opponent was too powerful.

    The Wus might be greedy and ambitious, but they weren¡¯t insane. Going against Sir Lu Jianhong and Jin Corporation? It would be a social and economic suicide for them. There was no way that they would ever emerge victorious and unscathed.

    Sir Wu sighed. "I guess this is it."

    Madam Wu burst into tears.

    If only they could go back in time and redo everything again, they wouldn¡¯t say the things they said nor act the way they acted. Unfortunately, life had no rewind button. There was no medicine for regret.

 Chapter 368 - Princess Porkchop

    <h4>Chapter 368 - Princess Porkchop </h4>

    Fans of interior designer Wu Qianxi were wondering why she returned to the U.S. again when she already announced before that she would be staying in China for good. Her recent posts on her social media pages were very cryptic and depressing. She hinted that she was driven away from her mother country against her will, so she had no choice but to return to the U.S. heartbroken.

    Her fans continued to ask her for rification. They were worried about her, especially after hearing that all of her Asian clients cancelled hiring her. Finally, a U.S.-based friend of hers revealed the "truth" in a blog post.

    "My dear friend, Qianxi Wu, was humiliated by the public proposal of her ex-boyfriend to his mistress who he has an illegitimate son with. He proposed right in front of Qianxi. The audacity! My blood is boiling just hearing about it. I can just imagine the mortifying scene. No wonder Qianxi is so heartbroken. She¡¯s crying every day and she can¡¯t sleep at night because she was traumatized by the experience. If I was present at that party, I would¡¯ve punched that ex-boyfriend right on his cheating face and then pulled all the hair out of that shameless mistress!

    "What¡¯s more, Qianxi¡¯s family was betrayed by that ex-boyfriend¡¯s family. The two families were long-time friends and coborated in several business projects. But because of greed, the ex-boyfriend¡¯s family terminated all of their existing contracts and discarded Qianxi¡¯s family, forcing the Wus to suffer millions in financial losses. Then the ex-boyfriend¡¯s family partnered with a huge corporation instead. If that¡¯s not greedy, I don¡¯t know what is. I¡¯m utterly disgusted by how that ex-boyfriend and his family treated my friend Qianxi and her family!

    "They not only broke Qianxi¡¯s heart but shattered her dreams as well! As loyal fans of her work as an interior designer, you all know that she gambled on leaving her sessful career here just to start all over again in China and Asia. I don¡¯t know what kind of hocus-pocus that ex-boyfriend¡¯s family did, but she has been cklisted from working in Asia! How sickening is that?!

    "I beg all of you to please helpfort our dear Qianxi. She¡¯s depressed right now, and I¡¯m very worried as her close friend. To tell you the truth, I want to fly over to China and beat all of those who hurt her. That ex-boyfriend, his mistress and his entire family of greedy pigs! Thank you and please continue supporting our favourite interior designer, Qianxi Wu."

    This blog post was written in both English and Chinese, so it quickly spread like wildfire on the inte. It also eventually made its way to the Chinese inte where manyizens made the connection to Long Hui and the Long family.

    It didn¡¯t take long before the Longs were made aware of the incriminating blog post. Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue were mercilessly attacked by randomizens, calling them a cheating couple and other nasty insults. As the woman, Jiang Ying Yue had to suffer worse than Long Hui. People called her a loose woman, a gold digger and a social climber.

    Long Hui and the Long family (ordered by Long Tengfei) both issued separate official statements, exining their side of the story. Some believed them, but the majority of the people, including the women, sided with Wu Qianxi.

    To them, Wu Qianxi was the real victim. They were also indignant about what happened to her family. The Wus were now basically bankrupt. Compared to them, the Longs were riding high as they worked on finalizing their several partnership deals with Jin Corporation.

    The horrible name-calling and outrage continued to attack Long Hui, Jiang Ying Yue and the entire Long family. The elders and the other rtives were absolutely horrified. This was by far the worst hit they experienced on their reputation as an entire n.

    Long Tengfei also felt troubled. He heard from his informants that the elders gathered for a secret meeting. He could sense that they were nning something drastic, possibly a call to remove his eldest son, Long Hui, as the heir.

    But before this crisis reached a point of no return, another blog post made waves. This time, it was by a recently popr webtoon author called Princess Porkchop. She was the creator of the hit webtoon series "Queen of the Shadows".

    Princess Porkchop imed that she was present at the party and witnessed all of the important events that happened that time. She wrote on her blog:

    "I am close to both Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue. They have a wonderful baby son together. I would like to address the im that Wu Qianxi¡¯s friend made. Jiang Ying Yue is NOT mistress. Long Hui and Wu Qianxi already broke up when Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue got together. They have NEVER been a cheating couple. I have no idea where that im came from. I think someone is being delusional to believe that they are still together when they already broke up.

    "I also don¡¯t understand how Wu Qianxi continues to paint herself as a victim in this matter. Even during the party, she acted like she and Long Hui were still together which they are NOT! The way I see it¡ªand I think you will too after I exin my view¡ªWu Qianxi is a homewrecker intent on destroying a beautiful family.

    "Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue are NOT married or in a rtionship with other people. They are free to love each other and raise their son together. But herees the ex-girlfriend who wants Long Hui back. She uses Jiang Ying Yue of being a mistress. She uses her status as a rising star in the world of interior design and as the daughter of the Wu family to discredit a normal woman with no impressive family background. What¡¯s more, she acts like a white lotus to gain the sympathy of her followers in order to indirectly push them to attack the poor innocent woman who is the rightful fianc¨¦e of Long Hui.

    "Tell me. Who is the real immoral one between these two women? I know for a fact that it isn¡¯t Jiang Ying Yue. I¡¯ll leave the rest for you to decide who you want to believe. I¡¯m just describing to you what I witnessed with my own two eyes, unlike that ¡¯friend¡¯ who wasn¡¯t even in the country when the party happened. I bet she just heard everything from Wu Qianxi.

    "That¡¯s all I have to say in this matter. I hope that you judge the situation fairly. Thank you for reading. Please continue supporting my webtoon ¡¯Queen of the Shadows¡¯! The second arc is reaching its climax. Stay tuned!"

    Princess Porkchop¡¯s blog post immediately went viral. She only rose to poprity as a webtoon artist recently, but she already had many fans. Some of them were die-hard ones who followed everything she said as if her words were divinemandments.

    The trajectory of attacks suddenly shifted from Jiang Ying Yue to Wu Qianxi.

    "Don¡¯t evere back here, you shameless homewrecker!"

    "I hate white lotus bitches like you!"

    "I regret believing you. You¡¯re a liar! I apologize to Miss Jiang for insulting her earlier. I didn¡¯t know the truth then. I wish Miss Jiang and Mister Long a happy marriage life and happy family with their son. Shame on you Wu Qianxi for trying to wreck a family!"

    Wu Qianxi and her friend who defended her were horrified to find themselves attacked online by thousands of haters. They were forced to deactivate their social media ounts because it became too much. This incident only made the Wu family hasten their preparations to emigrate.

    A couple of dayster, the national news reported that Jiang Ying Yue hired an Americanwyer to sue Wu Qianxi and her friend for defamation. What shocked people the most was that thewyer was a famous celebrity attorney who had an impressive track record of wins.

    By this time, Wu Qianxi, Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui were featured in the news constantly. A big part of this was their connection to multi-award winning musician Iris Long.

    When the media asked for her opinion about the love triangle, Iris Long replied:

    "There is no love triangle. I agree with everything Princess Porkchop wrote on her blog post. Someone is delusional to think that she¡¯s still in a rtionship with my brother. Jiang Ying Yue is a lovely and hardworking woman who is also a great mother to my godson. She¡¯s also my friend. I support her all the way."

 Chapter 369 - I Am Drakon

    <h4>Chapter 369 - I Am Drakon </h4>

    Following Iris¡¯ statement to the media, the ck Stars all dered their support for Jiang Ying Yue and condemned Wu Qianxi. With the trolling power of the infamous Slippers Army on the inte, Wu Qianxi¡¯s name became synonymous with the word "homewrecker".

    Whenever iEatSlippers was too busy to go online, Little Phoenix led the Slippers Army in his stead to wave their virtual mighty slippers and whack anyone who dared bash their Boss Iris and her friends like Jiang Ying Yue.

    Needless to say, Wu Qianxi finally realized that her scheme of cing the me on both Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui backfired on her.

    She also still foolishly thought that Iris Long was the same good-for-nothing sister of her ex-boyfriend. But the fact of the matter was that Iris Long was now one of the rising stars of the country¡¯s music industry. Iris Long had a massively growing horde of loyal fans who would follow her everywhere, even to heaven or to hell.

    By attacking someone important to Iris Long, Wu Qianxi ced a giant target on her forehead to be attacked by the ck Stars, especially its most notorious division, the Slippers Army.

    Inside her apartment, Wu Qianxi was screaming her frustration out. The ce was wrecked. She was sobbing on the floor with the notice of defamationwsuit papers scattered all around her. Her friend also received a simr notice. They had a shouting match on the phone earlier.

    "You bitch! My rtives in China just informed me of what really happened during the party. You lied to me and used me! When we go to court, I¡¯ll tell the judge and everyone else that I only wrote what you fucking told me! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m being sued because of you! Fuck you, Qianxi!"

    Her friend was so furious that the call ended before Wu Qianxi had a chance to speak and defend herself. In the end, it was safe to say that their friendship was now over.

    "Lawyer... I need to get awyer..."

    Wu Qianxi grabbed her phone to search for some goodwyers. However, her search was interrupted by an e-mail flood. It rendered her phone unusable for a few minutes because of the seemingly endless notifications.

    After some time, it finally ended. She checked her inbox. There were at least 20,000 e-mails. It was from an address that she didn¡¯t recognize. Curious, she opened one of them.

    "Don¡¯t fight thewsuit. Pay thepensatory and punitive damages. You won¡¯t go to jail, but you must suffer the damage to you reputation and career. If you try to escape this ¡¯light¡¯ punishment and continue wrecking a family, I¡¯ll make sure that you¡¯ll suffer something that is many times worse than this. Something that won¡¯t allow you to recover. Think carefully. ¡ªDrakon"

    Wu Qianxi scowled. Who the hell was this Drakon? He dared to threaten her? What could he do to her?

    "Go ahead and flood my inbox. I don¡¯t fucking care," she sneered.

    She deleted the e-mail but her phone suddenly froze. Then it started opening random apps without her control. After a few seconds, it began downloading a huge amount of files.

    "Dammit! I¡¯m getting hacked?!"

    She tried swiping on the screen many times to stop the download progress but to no avail. She even tried turning the phone off but she couldn¡¯t. The phone waspletely out of her control now.

    Finally, the download wasplete. But before she could check the state of her phone, the downloaded files opened on their own.

    Photos and videos of her affairs with her married clients popped up. Many of them were famous celebrities. For her, these affairs weren¡¯t really anything serious. She just did them for the thrill and experience of sleeping with these famous men.

    The photos and videos looked like they were mostly taken from CCTVs, mostly from hotels, airports, restaurants and shopping boutiques. They showed her making out and acting intimate with the men.

    She was rmed at first, but she forced herself to calm down. Fortunately, there weren¡¯t any nude photos or sex videos. Just making out wouldn¡¯t be too damaging. She was very careful in not filming anything inside the bedroom.

    That was what she thought.

    A video suddenly started ying. It showed a scene inside a hotel room. Two naked bodies were intertwined on the bed. The loud, wet pping sounds of flesh against flesh mixed with moans and groans.

    Wu Qianxi was nowpletely horrified, as she saw herself being pounded from above by a European earl. The video looked like it was secretly taken.

    "That motherfucking earl installed a hidden camera?! NOOOOO!!!"

    She was about to smash the phone against the wall when the screen cked out again. A slideshow presentation began ying. Basically, the slideshow showed secret information about the European earl. It turned out that the earl was connected to a small but vicious mafia group.

    At the same time, the slideshow was a threat. If Wu Qianxi didn¡¯t learn her lesson, the sex video would be released to the whole world. Of course the earl wouldn¡¯t be happy. He might ask his Mafiosi friends to "take care" of her as revenge.

    The slideshow ended with a simple sentence.

    "Lawsuit or this?"

    Wu Qianxi closed her eyes. The phone slipped from her hand, bouncing and skidding on the floor. She was unwilling to give in to the threat, but there was no other choice. She valued her reputation and image too much.

    She might not be able to show her face in Asia anymore, but the world wasrge. She could start over again in other ces. But if she remained stubborn and ignored the threat, there would no longer be any safe ce in the world for her.

    Hatred roiled within her at being forced to bow down to a threat. Angry tears rolled down her face.

    "Fine. You win," she spat through gritted teeth.

    A robotic voice suddenly sounded from her phone. It frightened her so much that she fell down on her butt. She shrieked but still heard everything it said.

    "I¡¯ll be watching you. Make a wrong move and I¡¯ll send all of these files to the whole world. Be assured that the earl will be the first one to see them."

    "Who are you?!"

    "I am Drakon."

    With that, the robotic voice disappeared. Wu Qianxi cautiously picked up the phone from the floor. It was now working properly. All the e-mails and files were deleted, as if they weren¡¯t there in the first ce.

    She immediately searched for "hacker Drakon" and was shocked at the results.

    This time, she experienced what true fear felt like. Cold sweat quickly soaked her. For someone who could topple even entire governments, it would be extremely easy for this Drakon to destroy her with just one click.

    "Oh fuck," was all she could say.

    It appeared that she really messed with the wrong people this time.

 Chapter 370 - Film Awards

    <h4>Chapter 370 - Film Awards </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Iris and Jin Liwei decided to stay in the penthouse this week because her current schedule was very tight. The condo was nearer to the broadcasting stations, so it was more convenient time-wise and travel-wise.

    At the moment, Jin Liwei was at work. Iris was getting her hair and make-up done in her walk-in closet. Dom was currently on the phone coordinating with the staff of her next guest appearance at an afternoon TV show in a few hours. Little Jun was ying on the floor with Ice Cream and Popcorn, his nanny watching over them.

    Jiang Ying Yue sat beside Iris, as the two of them spoke with the Americanwyer via video call. Thewyer was updating them on the progress of the defamation case they filed against Wu Qianxi and her now ex-friend.

    Thewyer was one of Jin Liwei¡¯s friends back when he studied in the U.S. He was the one who contacted the celebritywyer, so that he and Iris could hire him to represent Jiang Ying Yue.

    Iris and Jiang Ying Yue were informed that the case was going smoothly. Thewyer expected for it to be concluded quickly. He told them that Wu Qianxi was being very cooperative and expressed her intention to pay whateverpensation she needed to pay.

    Of course Wu Qianxi was being cooperative. Iris made sure to frighten the woman into submission for this defamationwsuit or suffer the consequences of having those explicit files spread across the world.

    When she was dealing with Wu Qianxi as Drakon, something inside her was urging her to be more vicious and merciless. However, she eventually decided to give Wu Qianxi a lighter punishment and a harsh warning instead. She would only gun for her full force if Wu Qianxi foolishly bothered Jiang Ying Yue again. Her calm and logical self concluded that Wu Qianxi¡¯s defamation offense wasn¡¯t severe enough to warrant aplete destruction of her life.

    By this time, the lingering remnant inside Iris was now more than half fused with her own self. Even if she decided to examine her own emotions and consciousness closely, it would be extremely difficult for her to detect the remnant.

    Back to the defamation case in the U.S., Wu Qianxi was cooperating but her ex-friend wasn¡¯t. Her ex-friend was fighting against the case fiercely, citing ignorance to what really transpired. Sheid all the me on Wu Qianxi.

    "So what do you want to do about the friend?" thewyer asked.

    Iris looked at Jiang Ying Yue who gestured for her to make the decision.

    "I want both of them to pay. They¡¯re both at fault," Iris told thewyer.

    "Understood. I¡¯ll keep you posted for any new updates, then."

    The video call ended.

    "Thank you, Xin. I¡¯m also grateful to Sir Liwei. Although you didn¡¯t have to, I appreciate you doing all of this for me," Jiang Ying Yue said in her sincerest voice.

    "What are you saying? Of course we¡¯ll do this. You¡¯re not only my friend but also the mother of my godson. Liwei and I will not keep quiet when our godson¡¯s mother is being defamed left and right. And even if we don¡¯t care about you¡ªwe do, of course¡ªwe¡¯ll still do this for the sake of our godson. Little Jun will surely be affected negatively if his mother is being treated so unfairly like this."

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled. She really couldn¡¯t thank Iris and Jin Liwei enough for all of the things they had done for her and Little Jun.

    The two pairs¡ªIris and Jin Liwei plus Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui¡ªspoke about what to do when Wu Qianxi and her ex-friend paid thepensation. They all decided to ce half of the money in a trust fund while half would be put into investments. Of course Little Jun was the sole beneficiary.

    When he reached a certain age, he needed to fulfill very strict requirements in order to ess the wealth. They hoped that this would motivate him to work hard and aim high in order to meet the requirements, instead of making it easy for him which might turn him into a dependent good-for-nothing.

    Thewyer was confident that they would win the case because of strong, concrete evidence. ording to him, the only uncertainty in this case was how much the judge would order Wu Qianxi and her ex-friend to pay for thepensation.

    A few days ago, Meimei called to inform Iris and Jiang Ying Yue that she overheard Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui discussing whether to sue Wu Qianxi and her ex-friend for defamation as well. The incriminating blog post not only attacked Jiang Ying Yue but also the Long family.

    However, the elders vehemently protested against Long Tengfei¡¯s n. They feared that suing would only ce the Long family in a bad light. In the end, they were able to persuade Long Tengfei not to sue.

    When she heard about it, Iris curled her lips in disdain. The hatred inside her for the Longs had somewhat calmed down since the birthday party but it was still there. As long as the elders and those snooty rtives refused to change, she would never feel a sense of belonging with the Long family. She also didn¡¯t want her godson Little Jun and her friend Jiang Ying Yue to endure living with closed-minded people like them.

    Putting all of these unpleasant thoughts aside for now, Iris finished preparing for her guest appearance. She was very busy this week¡ªguesting, performing and endorsing. Not to mention that the Diamond Guild Film Awards was fast approaching.

    ###

    The much-awaited night of the Diamond Guild Awards finally arrived. It was undoubtedly more morous and sophisticated than the Harmony Music Awards. The country¡¯s top actors and actresses drew insane crowds around the red carpet.

    It was already summer, so the weather was sunny. A bit hot but not too much. However, the massive crowd of fans generated a lot of heat. People sweated and squeezed against each other, but they didn¡¯t mind. For the sake of seeing their favourite celebrities in person, they would endure the difort.

    Among the sea of fans behind the barricades, a distinct group stood out the most. They were all wearing suits. Those who weren¡¯t familiar with the music industry fandoms didn¡¯t know about how the ck Stars usually wore matching suits to support their Boss Iris.

    Some were even frightened after seeing them, thinking that they were triad members about to terrorize everyone at the film awards. Fortunately, they quickly calmed down after learning that they were just a fan club and not an organized criminal group.

    As a musician, Iris Long¡¯s impact on the film event was minuscule. She didn¡¯t get deafening cheers from the crowd when she walked the red carpet,pared to the reception the most popr actors and actresses received. It was mostly just the ck Stars cheering for her. However, she didn¡¯t mind. It was already an honour for her to even be nominated in the film awards.

    After interacting with the ck Stars, Iris granted a short interview on the red carpet. It was very quick. The reporters were more interested in the Heavenly Kings and Queens, the biggest stars of the night.

    Iris joined the "Strong Yet Broken" group, consisting of the cast and the crew. JJ and LX Productions¡¯ President were also there. Of course, Paralympian gold-medalist Guan Jintao and his wife came as well to support this film about his mother.

    They all walked inside the ceremony venue together.

    The indie film "Strong Yet Broken" was one of the most nominated for the night. It was among the favourites to win the major awards because of its critical acim, including the most-sought after Best Picture Award.

    As for Best Original Score, Iris Long was a favourite among the general public, but most film experts didn¡¯t have high hopes for her. They reasoned that she was too young to win such a prestigious award, especially against such toughpetition. She was up against some of the bestposers in the industry who specialized in creating film scores. For a newbie like her to win against seasoned veterans was almost next to impossible ording to them.

    Iris personally didn¡¯t care whether she won or not. She just wanted enjoy the experience and savour it. This was something she only dreamed about in her previous life. It felt glorious that she was actually experiencing it right now.

    As a result, she didn¡¯t feel any pressure at all. And it was obvious at how rxed and cheerful she lookedpared to her fellow nominees.

    Finally, the presentation of awards started.

    "The award for Best Screeny goes to...¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯!"

    Everyone in the film¡¯s group, including Iris, stood up and pped at their tearful screenwriter. They were all together like family. The screenwriter headed up the stage to receive the award and give a speech.

    "Strong Yet Broken" lost in the next categories. Until finally...

    "The Diamond Guild Film Award for Best Original Score goes to..."

    The two presenters looked visibly shocked when they saw the winner¡¯s name on the card after taking it out of the envelope.

    "IRIS LONG!!!"

 Chapter 371 - Reputation And Prestige

    <h4>Chapter 371 - Reputation And Prestige </h4>

    The audience gave a collective gasp before the loud apuse and cheering ensued, mostly from the ck Stars and the general public. As for the celebrities, productions crews and nominees from the other films who were sitting at the front and centre rows, they gave a more modest apuse.

    Some of them thought that Iris Long deserved the win, but the others thought that it was still too early for her to win against the seasoned veterans. Many of these people worked in the film industry for a long time. And more often than not, they didn¡¯t take it well when there was a change in the status quo, especially for an individual who they perceived as not belonging to the film industry.

    Indeed, Iris Long was a great and talented musician. Her film score in "Strong Yet Broken" was beautiful, creative and sophisticated, emotionally harrowing yet also dynamic at the same time. It truly enhanced the film experience and magnified the emotions the viewers felt while watching the film.

    However, these people thought that she should¡¯ve gathered more experience working in the film industry first before actually winning an award for it. Many of the seasoned veterans that she was up against started this way. They didn¡¯t immediately rise to the top. They started from the bottom.

    There were plenty of them who thought that it was unfair for Iris Long to win such a prestigious award for the first film score that sheposed. These people were forgetting that Diamond Guild Film Awards chose winners based on the nominated pieces of work and not on the creators¡¯ previous experiences.

    It was inevitable that Iris Long¡¯s rise to the fame in the past few months would garner envy, even to those who weren¡¯t in the music industry.

    At the moment, however, the group of "Strong Yet Broken" didn¡¯t care about any of that. They all jumped up their seats and cheered for Iris Long¡¯s win. They congratted her and shared her victory. Even Guan Jintao and his wife joined in. Of course, JJ was ecstatic. He looked even more excited than Iris Long, as if he was the one who won the award.

    Iris headed up the stage and epted the heavy, sparkling, diamond-shaped ss award. The female presenter was very warm and sincere in congratting her. However, Iris could tell that the male presenter wasn¡¯t too happy about her win.

    Keeping a polite expression, Iris stood in front of the microphone. She swept her eyes across the front and centre rows where she could see simr discontented expressions regarding her win.

    Iris didn¡¯t give a damn about any of them.

    Something red up within her and the corner of her lips lifted into a smirk. But it onlysted for about a second before the polite expression returned to her face. Even she didn¡¯t realize that she smirked.

    She focused on looking at her "Strong Yet Broken" group and the suits-wearing ck Stars at the far end of the audience. Then she began her speech. It started as a generic "thank you" speech. At the end, however, she added:

    "I am deeply grateful for those who believed that I can do this. JJ and my fianc¨¦ never doubted that I canpose a film score andplete it. Now I am standing here in front of you with an award in my hands. Regardless of whether others think that I deserve this or not, it is enough that my loved ones and fans believe in me, that I believe in myself. I am me and I don¡¯tpare myself to others. I have my own road and others have their own.

    "At the end of the day, music is my passion. Iposed the film score with the goal of harnessing the film¡¯s story to enhance its emotional impact with music. That was my goal, not to win this award. Of course I am delighted to win this award and receive recognition for my work in ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯.

    "All I want to say is that my work, my film score, is the one that won this award, not me as a person. It was the one that was judged, not me. I am just the agent who created it. That is all. Thank you, everyone."

    Those who resented her for winning the award felt like they were pped in the face by her speech. They deemed her unqualified to win the award because of her youth and inexperience in the film industry, believing that the seasoned veterans were more worthy than her to win. They disregarded the criteria of judging which was based purely on the nominated piece of work and not the creator.

    The general public in the audience, led by the ck Stars, all gave a loud standing ovation for her. In contrast, there was a vague sense of awkwardness among the front and centre row seats.

    There were even those who red at her while she made her way back to her delighted group. They didn¡¯t like her seemingly harmless speech but was actually quite a barbed one. Iris unknowingly made a few enemies in the film industry tonight. She herself had no idea about this.

    For the rest of the ceremony, "Strong Yet Broken" won three more times. They won Best Actress, Best Director and the most important award of the night, the Best Picture Award.

    Overall, they won five of the eleven awards that they were nominated for. Although they won the most sought-after awards, they didn¡¯t win the most awards. Another film won a total of seven awards. It was a blockbuster film with an all-star line-up.

    Nevertheless, "Strong Yet Broken" was still deemed to be the biggest winner for the night. After all, it won the Best Picture Award.

    The day after the awards ceremony, almost all of the news reported about the winners. People discussed the film awards and the winners.

    "Dammit! I hate that movie ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯! Made me cry like a fucking baby! But yeah, it deserves all of the awards it got. I still hate it, though! And damn you, Iris Long! I cry every single time I listen to ¡¯Phantom of Your Love¡¯! I request for the radio stations to stop ying that cursed song! She totally deserves to win because it¡¯s so beautiful and amazing. Doesn¡¯t mean I like it, though. "

    "Total respect for making such a socially relevant film as ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯. I wish that more films like this are made to raise awareness on the issues we as a society face. To be honest, I¡¯m so tired of all those xianxia movies. I still like watching them, but sometimes they feel too simr and repetitive. ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ deserves to win those five awards. But it seems like xianxia films won¡¯t die anytime soon, winning those seven awards and all."

    Sentiments like these floated all over the inte. The general public epted most of the results. Nobody raised anyints that "Strong Yet Broken" won those five awards. In fact, some even thought that it should¡¯ve won more. They also didn¡¯tin that Iris Long won the Best Original Score Award. It was only those in the film industry who weren¡¯tpletely happy with her win.

    As for the ck Stars, they were absolutely overjoyed.

    "Go Boss Iris! You¡¯re the best! Congrattions on winning Best Original Score! We¡¯re so proud of you!"

    "We wave our mighty slippers in celebration of our Boss Iris¡¯ triumph! Begone haters! You¡¯re just envious of our boss¡¯ awesomeness!"

    After a few days, the country¡¯s film industry was rocked by a shocking news. LX Productions released an official announcement. It said:

    "We are excited, joyful and proud to announce that our film ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ is short-listed for the Sommet International Film Festival. We will be proudly representing our country in this prestigious international film festival in France...."

    The news spread like wildfire with the media outlets reporting about it left and right. It had been six years since a Chinese film was short-listed for the Sommet International Film Festival. This was a big achievement to the country¡¯s film industry.

    People sent their congrattions and well-wishes to everyone involved in "Strong Yet Broken". Of course, they included Iris Long as well because her film score was such an integral part of why the movie was so memorable to the viewers after watching it.

    As a result, Iris Long¡¯s reputation in showbiz was only growing better and better. All of these achievements in just a span of months were developing her prestige as one of the greatest musicians of her generation.

    Although her star was still not yet on the level of someone like Jin Chonglin, she was already on her way there.

 Chapter 372 - Opportunistic Couple

    <h4>Chapter 372 - Opportunistic Couple </h4>

    Even though Iris Long had an incredible winning streak at the music and film awards, she didn¡¯t take a break from work. On the contrary, she worked even harder after the Diamond Guild Film Awards. Interviews, guest appearances, performances, endorsement events, plus acting workshops and a whole slew of other things. Iris worked almost nonstop.

    This was because she needed to take a break soon to prepare for the uing international business conference. Jin Liwei was extremely busy at work as well. He would also be participating in the business conference for Jin Corporation.

    Both of them were extremely busy. There were days when they didn¡¯t see each other at all and nights when they didn¡¯t sleep together. These were the times when Iris had jobmitments in other parts of the country.

    Simrly, Jin Liwei sometimes had to sleep at Jin Corporation to finish some work. There were also times when he needed to attend business meetings out-of-town or even abroad for a few days.

    They missed each other terribly during these times. There was a time when they didn¡¯t see each other for more than three days.

    Surprisingly, it was Iris who couldn¡¯t bear it. She was at the penthouse, exhausted from her long day, but she couldn¡¯t sleep no matter how much she tried. She longed for Jin Liwei. So she flew to Singapore that same night using one of Jin Liwei¡¯s private jets just so they could be together for a few hours.

    They were too exhausted to do anything other than cuddle and sleep together. Early the next morning, Iris almost didn¡¯t want to return home and leave him. She hugged his waist and buried her face against his chest.

    "Love, I¡¯lle home in two days. Although we¡¯ll still be too busy, at least we can sleep on the same bed every night." He kissed the top of her head. "Or if you want, you can cancel your schedule for today to stay here with me. Or maybe, I can cancel my meeting ande home with you. Which do you prefer?"

    She was tempted, but she shook her head and sighed. "It¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t want either of us holding each other back when ites to our work. Besides, this is only temporary. I¡¯ll take a break from my showbiz work soon for the international business conference. We could spend some quality time together again during our free time when we¡¯re not at the conference. I¡¯ll fly home in an hour. But give me two minutes...no, five minutes. I still want to cuddle with you."

    He chuckled softly and smiled lovingly at his baby girl. He pulled her into his arms and embraced her more tightly.

    Thirty minutester (Iris refused to leave him after the five minutes was up and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t remind her), the two finally said goodbye to each other. Both of them were alreadyte for their own respective schedules, but they didn¡¯t care as long as they could spend more time with each other.

    It was very difficult, but they were able to survive these challenging times that they had to spend apart.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Finally, Iris¡¯ took her much-awaited break from her busy showbiz schedule. She already started her intensive preparations with Professor Kalisha Schwarz, Professor Hisakawa Akio, and of course with Grandpa Lu as well.

    During her free time in-between her preparations, she sneaked in some time for her threepanies. In addition to this, she also worked on the theme song for an uing TV drama.

    At the moment, she and Jin Liwei were at home. It was a weekend. They were still busy, but not as muchpared to their insane schedules from before.

    They were currently inside Iris¡¯ home music studio that Jin Liwei built for her. His expression was grim while she called someone on the phone.

    "Hello? What¡¯s up?" a familiar male voice answered, sounding distracted.

    "Brother Chonglin, where are you? Why aren¡¯t you here yet?" Iris asked, feeling a little annoyed. She nced at her darling who looked more annoyed than her.

    "Huh? Why do I need to go there?" Jin Chonglin asked in a totally clueless tone.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression darkened. He extended his hand, gesturing for Iris to give him the phone. A big scowl was on his face. She gestured back at him to give her a few moments.

    "Brother Chonglin, have you forgotten that we have an appointment to meet each other today? Didn¡¯t you agree that you¡¯ll sing the duet with me?"

    "Oh shit! Our meeting is today?! Fuck! Hold on. I¡¯ll go get ready quickly!"

    Iris could hear hurried, rustling sounds on the phone. Curious, she asked him, "What were you doing? Why did you forget about our meeting?"

    "Ugh. Don¡¯t ask..."

    Jin Liwei snatched the phone from her, and then barked at the phone, "Answer her."

    "Big Bro!" Suddenly, they heard loud crashing sounds. "Ouch! Fuck! My toe!"

    Iris and Jin Liwei, the merciless couple, didn¡¯t react at all when they heard Jin Chonglin get hurt. It was his fault anyway. Why did he have to be so careless? They just waited (a little impatiently) for him to answer their question.

    Momentster, Jin Chonglin returned to the line. "Fine! I was ying aputer game, okay? This new game is just too damn addicting! It¡¯s called ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯ and many celebrities are starting to get hooked into it. So don¡¯t me me for beingte. me this fucking game, okay?!"

    A big delighted smile broke out of Iris¡¯ face. She hugged Jin Liwei by the waist and giggled.

    The corner of Jin Liwei¡¯s lips also tugged upwards. However, he maintained the stern expression on his face. He also hugged his baby girl back with one arm while his other hand held the phone on loudspeaker.

    "Go ahead and y more of that game since you like it so much. Your meeting with Xin can wait another day," Jin Liwei told him.

    He was actually quite sincere and serious. His words were meant to be understood literally, but Jin Chonglin thought that he was angry and using reverse psychology on him.

    "Big Bro! I¡¯m sorry, okay? I¡¯m not usually this unprofessional! It¡¯s this game¡¯s fault! I¡¯ming in half an hour. I promise! Wait for me a bit more!"

    Then the call ended.

    Iris still looked delighted. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Jin Liwei. "Darling, don¡¯t be too hard on your brother. He¡¯s a great customer for my gamingpany. And did you hear about him saying that lots of celebrities are getting hooked on the game?"

    "En." He was also pleased to her that "Supreme Ascension" was getting widely popr among gamers. Then he thought of something. "Let¡¯s have my brother write about it on his blog. It¡¯ll be a great advertisement for your game."

    She tilted her head to the side. "Will he do that? I don¡¯t want to impose. Monkey isn¡¯t at a stable state yet that we can afford to pay for endorsers, especially a big celebrity like Brother Chonglin."

    "Love, he¡¯s your future brother-inw. He should do this much for family. I told you before, use him in whatever way you need. Hmm. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be the one to tell him to write something about your game on his blog. He won¡¯t dare say no to me."

    (Jin Liwei also followed Grandpa Lu¡¯s teachings of not being afraid to be shameless when it came to family.)

    "Darling, you¡¯re so evil. I love it." Then she blinked her eyes up at him. "I love you," she whispered.

    He smiled, pleased. Then he dipped his head and kissed her softly on the lips. "I love you more."

    Poor Jin Chonglin. He hadn¡¯t even arrived yet but he was already doomed to be exploited by the opportunistic couple who was currently being lovey-dovey with each other.

    About forty minutester, Jin Chonglin finally arrived at the mansion. The butler led him to the music studio where Iris was singing a song to Jin Liwei while ying the keyboard. Before he could even greet them, Jin Liwei swept his frosty eyes at him.

    "You¡¯re veryte," Jin Liwei told him in a cold voice.

    Jin Chonglin could only purse his lips and mumble "sorry".

    Iris greeted him more warmly than his own brother. Then they started discussing about the love song they nned on singing together for the TV drama. At the moment, Iris opted on not informing the TV drama¡¯s production team that she was going to work with Jin Chonglin. They would surely go crazy once they learned about it. She didn¡¯t want it leaked to the public yet. She wanted it to bepletely secret for now.

    After the initial discussion, they tried singing it together. Nothing too formal. They just wanted to test out how they sounded together.

    While they were working, Jin Liwei stayed in the music studio with them. Hisptop and some documents were in front of him, as he finished up some of his work.

    Then Iris and Jin Chonglin started arguing. Jin Chonglin wanted to make some changes to the song, but Iris didn¡¯t like his ideas. It was simr to how Iris fought with JJ a lot during music production.

    "Be good and do what Xin tells you." Jin Liwei, of course, sided with his baby girl.

 Chapter 373 - Trophy Wife

    <h4>Chapter 373 - Trophy Wife </h4>

    "Big Bro, am I still your brother?" Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t help but whine. Then he threw a resentful look at Iris.

    "Don¡¯t be such a drama queen!" Iris snapped at him, extremely annoyed. "You just need to sing the song with me. It¡¯s my song. Why are you suddenly wanting to change everything?" Then she turned to Jin Liwei. "Darling, which is better? My current song or the version he wants the song to turn into?"

    "Of course yours is better, love," Jin Liwei immediately replied. He looked at his brother coldly. "Xin¡¯s song is already perfect as it is. Don¡¯t go around changing it just because you want to. Besides, I¡¯m the inspiration behind it. So it¡¯s basically my song as well. I don¡¯t want you changing my song."

    Jin Chonglin looked at the couple in exasperation. The bullies! They were clearly ganging up on him.

    He took a few deep breaths to calm down and prevent himself from losing his temper. Then he exined to them, "I¡¯ve been in the music industry longer than Sister Xin. I think that my suggestions are worth considering. Yeah, this song is great and all but it¡¯s not perfect. It¡¯s too sweet and sappy! With this kind of lyrics and melodybined together, I think it¡¯s too much! Do you want the listeners to die from dog food overdose? We should at least change up the melody a little to make it more modern and appealing to the younger generation."

    "It¡¯s a love song! It¡¯s supposed to be sweet and sappy! And what¡¯s wrong with dog food? We¡¯re singing it for a romance TV drama! Its main selling point is to drown its viewers with dog food! Dom and Meimei say that people love this kind of stories!" Iris retorted. She turned to Jin Liwei again. "Am I right, darling?"

    "Of course you¡¯re right, love."

    Jin Chonglin threw his hands up in the air in surrender. Now he was starting to understand why Iris Long was one of the very rare handful of people in the music industry who wasn¡¯t the least bit intimidated by the notorious hothead producer JJ. She was extremely stubborn and liked getting what she wanted just like JJ. The only difference between them was that Iris wasn¡¯t in the habit of exploding into extreme rages unlike JJ.

    Seeing his younger brother¡¯s discontent about the situation, Jin Liwei¡¯s heart softened a bit. Jin Chonglin would always be his flesh and blood brother no matter what happened. But he could also understand his baby girl¡¯s protectiveness towards her song. Jin Chonglin basically wanted to change the entire melody, only keeping the lyrics.

    "Why don¡¯t you write another duet instead of trying to change Xin¡¯s song? Is there a rule that says there should only be one duet for you to sing together?" Jin Liwei suggested to his brother.

    "Oh!"

    Both Iris and Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes lit up at his suggestion.

    Jin Chonglin nodded, immediately diving into deep thought. He grabbed a piece of nk paper and a pen from a nearby table and started jotting down some of his ideas.

    Iris went to Jin Liwei and sat beside him, hugging his arm. "Darling, that¡¯s such a great idea! We¡¯ll keep my song as it is, while Brother Chonglin will write another song that¡¯ll suit his tastes better. Then we can have two songs to sing together."

    "Yes. Let¡¯s do that instead," Jin Chonglin agreed. "We¡¯ll go ahead and release your song as the theme song for the TV drama. Then we can release my song as a stand-alone single afterwards."

    With that, everything had been decided between them. Jin Chonglin jotted down a few more ideas before putting the paper aside.

    Then Iris and Jin Chonglin resumed working on her song. Although Iris rejected any major changes to the song, she allowed Jin Chonglin¡¯s other minor tweaks as long as she thought that they improved the song.

    She didn¡¯t want any major changes in the song at this point because JJ would surely fight with her again when they begin recording the song. The music producer would definitely try to make some sweeping alterations once again.

    JJ was harder to deal with than Jin Chonglin because he wasn¡¯t afraid of anyone, including Jin Liwei. Just thinking about her uing arguments with JJ was already making Iris¡¯ head hurt.

    Since Iris limited Jin Chonglin¡¯s power to make changes in the song, Jin Chonglin also made her promise not to make any major changes to the song he would write. Iris agreed. It was only fair.

    Their work proceeded more smoothly and peacefully this time.

    As for Jin Liwei, he finally realized what he had done. He was already regretting making the suggestion in the first ce. Another duet meant that the two would have to work together longer and more closely with each other. He trusted both of them but still couldn¡¯t stop the green-eyed monster inside him from rearing its ugly head.

    All he could do was scowl as he watched his baby girl and brother sing a love song together. He had no idea if his brother would also write a love song. The song wasn¡¯t even written yet but he felt like he already hated it.

    ¡¯Calm down, Liwei,¡¯ he told himself. ¡¯He¡¯s your brother.¡¯

    Jin Liwei could only sigh at his unkind thoughts. But at least he noticed that he wasn¡¯t that jealous of his brother anymore regarding his baby girlpared to before when they just started their rtionship. It was because he felt more secure in his position in her heart now.

    The thought made him smile.

    ###

    With her winning streak in the awards show and the recent revtion of her close connection with the legendary business genius Sir Lu Jianhong, people in high society continued to talk about Iris Long as their hottest topic of discussion.

    Her reputation in these circles weren¡¯t that good. There were two big reasons for this.

    The first one was because of Iris¡¯ mother, Wei Lan, who these people scorned as a gold digging and social climbing slut. They loved to mock her. Some even hated her because of suspicions that she had affairs with their husbands. However, nothing was ever proven from these suspicions.

    The second one was because of Iris¡¯ own trouble-making behaviour as a teenager. She had terrorized and bullied many of these people¡¯s children in the past. She thought that being a celebrity gave her the right to do whatever she wanted.

    In short, Iris Long was nobody but a problem child to these people.

    Although many of them were amazed at her drastic change for the better, some of the old-fashioned ones still thought of her as nothing but a showgirl. These people were simr to the Long elders. They looked down on people working in the showbiz industry. They even looked down on Jin Chonglin.

    Nevertheless, Iris Long¡¯s status and reputation within these circles improved recently when it was reported that she was engaged to Lu Zihao. If she married him, then she would be a Lu. The Lus were many levels higher than any of them on the social hierarchy.

    Of course, this generated a lot of envy and hate from them.

    "What¡¯s so special about her? She¡¯ll just be a trophy wife in the end. The Lus gain nothing from her. What can she contribute to the Lu family? She has nothing but her beauty and her ability to sing. That¡¯s it."

    This kind of opinions were widely spread in these circles. Many of them just couldn¡¯t ept the possibility of Iris ascending several levels above them on the social hierarchy. Why couldn¡¯t it be them instead?

    Even most of the Longs, especially the elders, only saw her worth as the bridge which would connect their family to the Lus. They still didn¡¯t think highly of her own abilities and aplishments. However, they must act nicely to her on the surface for the sake of leaving a good impression to the Lus.

    As for Iris herself, she wasn¡¯t directly aware about any of these, nor did she care. So what if they were looking down at her? To her, these people were nobodies and strangers. What they thought about her was none of her business. They could look down on her however much they wanted.

    It was a different matter to Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu. They were clearly aware of all of these talks about her. Both of them were enraged for her sake. However, they didn¡¯t do anything to shut them up.

    The two couldn¡¯t wait until Iris pped them all when she made her tranting and interpreting debut at the uing international business conference in a few days. It would be much more effective and satisfying that way.

    "I wish I could record the reactions of all those snobs who keep on looking down on Xin my girl! That would be so funny! Bahahaha! They dare look down on Lu Jianhong¡¯s beloved granddaughter and student? Hah!" Grandpa Lu (who felt very bored) told Jin Liwei after disturbing him at work.

 Chapter 374 - International Business Conference

    <h4>Chapter 374 - International Business Conference </h4>

    The international business conference was a five-day long event. Executives and delegates ofpanies from all around the world already started arriving a few days before the conference. Many of them were from the top multi-nationalpanies in the world.

    Normal operations of any businesses within a certain radius from the venue were suspended. All nightclubs were temporarily closed and traffic rerouted to other roads. Security was also tightened with police officers patrolling around the area at all hours.

    The media were also covering this event because it was the first time the country was hosting such a huge international business conference as this. Almost all of the toppanies in the world confirmed that they would be sending representatives to the event.

    First day of the business conference.

    Jin Liwei arrived at the venue with Grandpa Lu. His loyal assistant Xu Tian followed closely behind him. A handful of Jin Corporation¡¯s other executives and their assistants also came with them.

    They entered the hotel-like lobby of the conference centre. The marble floors and the brass details gave the ce an elegant and luxurious ambience. It was a sophisticatedbination of ssic and contemporary interior design.

    There was already quite a crowd of delegates milling around the lobby when they arrived inside. Everyone looked sharp andmanding in their best tailored business suits. There was still some time before the official opening ceremony, so many of them decided to greet each other first andwork in abination of social and business purposes.

    Well-dressed ushers with warm and weing smiles guided the delegates in English to where they wanted to go. There were also several tables of light refreshments for those who were hungry or those who just wanted something to nibble on.

    As soon as Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu¡¯s group appeared, both local and foreign executives and delegates flocked to them. These delegates, especially those from multi-nationalpanies, mostly knew each other.

    Jin Corporation was also at the level of a multi-nationalpany, so Jin Liwei was a well-known figure in the international business world as its current President-CEO.

    They all greeted him, but who would dare ignore the presence of the old man beside him? Sir Lu Jianhong was Jin Corporation¡¯s co-founder together with Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather. He was a highly respected and admired figure in the business world, regardless of the country.

    Soon, Grandpa Lu¡¯s boomingughter echoed throughout the entire lobby, attracting more of the other delegates to their group. It was as if a rock star just arrived with how everyone was acting.

    If Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather were still alive today, he would most likely receive a simr treatment as Grandpa Lu.

    Everyone wanted to shake Grandpa Lu¡¯s hand and chat with him. He was no doubt a superstar in the international business world. As the current head of Jin Corporation and the leading businessman in the country of his generation, Jin Liwei also received respect from his fellow executives and delegates.

    It was this scene that greeted Long Tengfei and his group when they arrived. Walking beside him was Long Industries¡¯ COO. On his other side was his right-hand man, Cao Guang.

    Following closely behind them were Long Hui, the Deputy CFO, and surprisingly Long Jian as well. Long Jian was currently working as a direct subordinate to the COO.

    Long Tengfei wanted to take his two sons to the international business conference for them to gain experience and the opportunity towork with some of the top businesspeople in the world.

    There were also other people from Long Industries attending the conference with them. They all walked together in a group, looking confused at why the crowd was gathering in a single spot.

    At first, they didn¡¯t know what was going on. Then they were informed that the delegates were greeting Sir Lu Jianhong and Jin Liwei from Jin Corporation.

    "Should we go and greet them as well, Father¡ªI mean President?" Long Jian asked, quickly correcting his form of address to Long Tengfei.

    Although Long Tengfei didn¡¯t have any rule for his children to call him "President" or "CEO" at work, Long Jian started calling him "President" after hearing Long Hui doing the same while working.

    "Hmm... We should. They are our future inws after all," Long Hui murmured.

    ¡¯I wasn¡¯t asking you,¡¯ Long Jian retorted inside.

    Despite this, he still smiled at his older brother and nodded. He thought that Long Hui was referring to Grandpa Lu as their future inw. Like most of the guests during Long Tengfei¡¯s birthday party, Long Jian also thought that Lu Zihao was Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦. He still didn¡¯t know that it was actually Jin Liwei.

    "We¡¯ll greet themter. There are too many people around them," Long Tengfei said.

    The crowd around Jin Corporation¡¯s group only multiplied as more delegates arrived at the venue. At the moment, it seemed that Grandpa Lu was the biggest attraction.

    Finally, a PA System announcement instructed everyone to please make their way inside where the opening ceremony would be held. The delegates immediately returned to their own groups. Ushers guided each group to their own respective seating areas.

    The executives and delegates from the biggest multi-nationalpanies in the world were given the best seats at the front. Of course, Jin Corporation was among them. Thepany¡¯s presence in Asia was undeniable.

    Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu sat in the front row along with some of the other executives from the toppanies in the world.

    Long Tengfei, his sons and the others from Long Industries sat near the middle

    Later, the opening ceremony finally began. The MC appeared on the stage. Beside him was a beautiful women in an eye-catching red business suit. She looked sharp and powerful but still feminine at the same time.

    The foreign delegates had no idea who this woman in a red suit was, but most of the Chinese delegates, especially the younger ones, recognized her after looking a little more closely. They began murmuring among each other, wondering why she was on the stage. Was she also an MC? Why her?

    The male MC and the beautiful woman stood at the centre of the stage. Each of them were holding a microphone.

    "Good morning,dies and gentlemen! Wee to the opening ceremony of this year¡¯s International Business Conference! I¡¯ll be your master of ceremony for today," the MC greeted and introduced himself both in Mandarin and in English.

    Simrly, Iris also introduced herself both in Mandarin and then in English. "Hello, everyone! My name is Iris Long, and I¡¯ll be the official interpreter for this opening ceremony and in selected conferences for the entire duration of this event."

    The Chinese delegates¡¯ mind went nk after hearing what she said.

 Chapter 375 - Official Interpreter

    <h4>Chapter 375 - Official Interpreter </h4>

    Iris Long was the official interpreter of the international business conference?! What in the world?!!!

    The foreign delegates didn¡¯t think much about it. They didn¡¯t know who Iris Long was. They just epted that this beautiful woman in a red business suit was an interpreter who the conference officials had chosen. Why should they doubt their choice? Besides, this Iris Long spoke fluent English in an elegant British ent.

    On the other hand, the Chinese delegates were incredulous that the international business conference would hire a mere musician as an official interpreter.

    The ones sitting near Long Tengfei all turned their heads to silently ask him what was going on. Unfortunately for them, he couldn¡¯t give them any answer because he also had no idea that his youngest daughter was hired to do this. He was as shocked as them all.

    However, it only took a few moments before both Long Tengfei and Long Hui recovered from their initial shock. They already knew that Iris was a Cross Academy student and that she was majoring in Foreign Languages.

    Remembering these, they calmed down and treated the situation as something to be expected. After all, she wasn¡¯t only a Cross Academy student but also the personal student of the legendary business genius Sir Lu Jianhong.

    "Hmm... Xin looks calm and prepared. Very good," Long Tengfei murmured while nodding his head. The unmistakable pride was very obvious in his eyes.

    "She should¡¯ve at least informed us beforehand, so we wouldn¡¯t feel so surprised like this," Long Hui also murmured.

    Long Jian heard their low conversation. He couldn¡¯t hide his disbelief. Why were these two so calm? Weren¡¯t they worried that Iris would embarrass herself in such an important event like this? If she embarrassed herself, she would also embarrass Long Industries because of her connection to them.

    "Father¡ªI mean President, should we really allow Little Sister Xin to do this? I don¡¯t know how she was able to get this job, maybe she asked Sir Lu Jianhong, but this isn¡¯t something that she can handle so easily. This is the international business conference! The whole business world is basically watching. Her every mistake would be noted. As her older brother, I¡¯m very concerned for her. I don¡¯t want her to humiliate herself."

    ¡¯She can humiliate herself for all I care, but I don¡¯t want people associating her to me,¡¯ he added in his mind.

    Long Hui only gave him a side-eye.

    "Don¡¯t worry too much. I think that your sister knows what she¡¯s doing," Long Tengfei told him. "Let¡¯s just sit back and watch her performance. Simr to how I wanted the two of you to gain experience from this international business conference, this will also be a great experience to your little sister."

    Long Jian frowned before he could smooth it away. His disbelief turned into bitterness.

    ¡¯That brat is really Father¡¯s favourite,¡¯ he silently muttered to himself.

    He watched Iris on the stage. The MC was now speaking in Mandarin only, while Iris was consecutively interpreting his words in English.

    ¡¯Hmph. So what if she improved her English skills and learned how to speak in a British ent? I bet she¡¯s not even interpreting right now but just saying the words she memorized from a script. Let¡¯s see if she can do this for unscripted conversationster on. I can¡¯t wait until she humiliates herself.¡¯

    Long Jian was filled with mockery towards her.

    Beside him, Long Industries¡¯ COO leaned a bit towards Long Tengfei, saying, "President Long, your youngest daughter managed to astound me once again. First was when she did her presentation for her business asking for a shipping deal from us. And now this? Language interpreter for the international business conference? I¡¯m finding Miss Long Xin more and more impressive the more times I encounter her. You must be very proud of your daughter, President."

    "Hmm." Long Tengfei nodded, the corners of his lips lifting into a faint smile. He looked on proudly at his youngest daughter.

    Long Jian gritted his teeth and tried hard not to clench his hands into fists. He fought against the urge to sneer.

    ¡¯Is the COO crazy? He¡¯s impressed by that spoiled brat? She only got that shipping deal because of Father. She¡¯s Father¡¯s favourite! And I¡¯m sure that she also got this interpreting job because of her connection to Sir Lu Jianhong. Without these connections, she can¡¯t do anything by herself! She should just stay in showbiz where she belongs! Why is she suddenly poking her nose in the business world? She¡¯s too full of herself!¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t admit to himself that he was actually jealous of Iris. He just continued to trash-talk her in his mind, thinking that she didn¡¯t deserve any of these opportunities in the business industry.

    At the front row of the audience, Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu watched Iris on the stage. Jin Liwei¡¯s expression appeared cold and indifferent as usual, but for people close to him and who knew him well like Grandpa Lu and Xu Tian, they could see his indiscernible smile and pride.

    More obvious was Grandpa Lu. He had a big smile on his face. He turned his head to the back and gave two thumbs-up to Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio who were sitting several rows behind him.

    On the stage, several officials and guest speakers were called to make speeches. Iris and the MC moved to the side of the stage. The MC sat down, while Iris stood behind a side-facing lectern.

    The invited speakers spoke in either Mandarin or English. As a result, Iris interpreted in English or Mandarin. She had no notes or anything. She just looked directly at the speaker.

    There was no hesitation in her trantions. Whenever the speaker paused, she would seamlessly start interpreting in Mandarin or English. In addition to the interpretations, she would also try to match her tone to how the speaker just spoke. So far, she hadn¡¯t fumbled even once yet.

    Those who couldn¡¯t understand either Mandarin or English wore headphones. Other assigned interpreters fed the trantions directly to their ears. Most of these interpreters couldn¡¯t match the clear, smooth and unhesitating interpretations of Iris.

    The delegates looked very impressed at her performance. Even the Chinese delegates who initially doubted her appointment as official interpreter to the international business conference were now changing their impression of her.

    "CEO Long, I didn¡¯t know that your daughter is such a skilled interpreter," an executive from anotherpany told Long Tengfei.

    "Yes. I¡¯m very shocked. My children are big fans of your daughter Iris Long. Our house ys her music almost nonstop," another executivemented. "I bet my children will be so shocked as me when I tell them that Iris Long is the official interpreter of this conference. Maybe they¡¯ll finally start gaining interest in ourpany once they learn that their favourite celebrity is now involved in the business world as an interpreter."

    "Your daughter is amazing, CEO Long. As someone who is fluent in both Mandarin and English, I can tell that her trantions are virtually urate. Her clear enunciation makes it very easy for everyone to understand what she¡¯s saying."

    Long Tengfei couldn¡¯t stop himself from smiling. "Thank you, everyone. I¡¯m very proud of my daughter."

    Hearing his father¡¯s words, Long Jian red at Iris on the stage. It was difficult, but he forced himself to put on a pleased expression, pretending to be proud of his sister as a brother.

    He was waiting for Iris to mess up, but what the hell was happening? Even he could tell how skillful she was as an interpreter. Some of the speakers made clear adlibs during their speeches, but Iris was still able to trante them smoothly. He hated to admit it, but she was indeed impressive. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.

    After some entertaining cultural performances, the opening ceremony finally ended. The delegates started chatting among each other.

    Then they noticed the beautiful Iris Long meet with Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio down the stage. Many of the delegates immediately recognized the two, especially Professor Schwarz who was one of the most well-known trantors and interpreters in the world. Some of them treated her as their first choice whenever they needed an interpreter or trantor. Unfortunately, Professor Schwarz wasn¡¯t always avable.

    "Madame Schwarz, Hisakawa-sensei, please pardon me for being nosy but may I know what is your rtionship to the young and beautiful Iris here?" a British executive standing nearby asked them directly.

    Professor Schwarz gave him a stern look. "That¡¯s ¡¯Miss Iris Long¡¯ for you. She is my current student."

    "Mine as well," Professor Hisakawa also said.

    Those who overheard the conversation, both local and foreign delegates, looked very surprised. They started looking at Iris with even more interest than before.

    "No wonder Iris¡ªI mean ¡¯Miss Iris Long¡¯ is such a skilled interpreter. So she¡¯s a student of Madame Schwarz and Hisakawa-sensei. Now it makes sense that the international business conference chose her as official interpreter."

 Chapter 376 - Calm Down, Boy

    <h4>Chapter 376 - Calm Down, Boy </h4>

    The information quickly spread among the delegates: that Iris Long was a student of both Madame Kalisha Schwarz (world-renowned trantor and interpreter) and Hisakawa Akio-sensei (celebrated author and polyglot).

    Of course, it also reached to where Long Tengfei¡¯s group was chatting with delegates from otherpanies. When they heard about it, they were more shocked than when they first saw Iris on the stage at the beginning of the opening ceremony.

    They craned their necks to see all the way to the front. Indeed, they saw Iris speaking familiarly with the two distinguished figures.

    "CEO Long, this business conference just started but your daughter already managed to impress me so many times today," a Chinese delegate told Long Tengfei.

    "Exactly! I thought that Iris Long is just a musician but it turns out that she¡¯s also a skilled interpreter with world-ss teachers," anothermented.

    "Your daughter must be very brilliant to be epted as a student to both Madame Schwarz and Hisakawa-sensei," an executive from anotherpany said. "They¡¯re known to have extremely high standards when ites to epting personal students. And it looks like they¡¯re watching over her closely, seeing that they even came today to apany her."

    Long Tengfei smiled and nodded at them. He replied to their words of praises with modesty, but he was actually preening inside on hearing about his own child¡¯s achievements. It was such a wonderful feeling!

    Hearing all of the praises for his sister and the proud expression of their father, Long Jian¡¯s jealousy only intensified. He still didn¡¯t want to admit that he was jealous of Iris, though.

    Long Jian still looked down on Iris, considering Long Hui as his biggest rival among his half-siblings. However, he was beginning to feel that Iris was bing a bigger threat.

    ¡¯Rx. She¡¯s only skilled innguages, not in business. Hernguage skills aren¡¯t enough for her to seed as next head of Long Industries. I¡¯m more capable than her,¡¯ Long Jian told himself.

    Back at the front, Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa led Iris away from the curious delegates.

    Before they left, Iris made eye contact with Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu. The two were chatting with several top executives from other multi-nationalpanies. Grandpa Lu gave her a big smile and a wave, while Jin Liwei¡¯s lips moved imperceptibly.

    Iris returned Grandpa Lu¡¯s smile and wave, and then read Jin Liwei¡¯s lips.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll see youter,¡¯ he silently told her.

    She smiled more widely and nodded at him in response. Her smile was so beautiful that several of the delegates stopped talking to stare at her. However, she quickly disappeared with Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s cold and indifferent expression cracked a bit when he saw the others going in a daze because of his baby girl. He didn¡¯t know exactly what to feel.

    On one hand, he felt smug that they had such a reaction at her beauty. After all, that was his baby girl! His woman! His (future) wife!

    On the other hand, he wanted to gouge out their eyes, both men and women alike, for looking that way at his baby girl. She was his, not theirs!

    "Calm down, boy!" Grandpa Lu told him knowing what Jin Liwei must be thinking. Then he thumped Jin Liwei¡¯s back hard three times.

    Jin Liwei only blinked his eyes, not showing much reaction. But actually it felt like he was going to vomit all of his internal organs from the force.

    The other delegates heard the loud sounds and winced a bit. They looked at Jin Liwei in admiration for not showing any reaction, even though those thumps must hurt quite a lot.

    They had no idea why Grandpa Lu was telling Jin Liwei to calm down, but they dismissed it as one of the old man¡¯s entricities. After all, Grandpa Lu was a known genius.

    There were many who noticed the exchange of smiles and waves between Iris and Grandpa Lu earlier. Some were surprised while the others weren¡¯t. Many of the Chinese delegates were also members of high society. They had heard that Iris was engaged to Grandpa Lu¡¯s grandson. They informed the ones who didn¡¯t know about the matter.

    After learning about such a connection between Iris and Grandpa Lu, it wasn¡¯t surprising anymore that they smiled and waved at each other. The foreign delegates were bing more and more interested in her. She looked so young, yet she had such impressive connections.

    Nobody thought that her breathtaking smile before she left was actually not for Grandpa Lu but for Jin Liwei instead.

    There was a two-hour lunch break after the opening ceremony before the first batch of individual conferences wouldmence in the afternoon.

    After eating, those who didn¡¯t have any conference in the afternoon and were done for the day returned to their hotels. Some even went on tours in the city. The ones who had conferences in the afternoon gathered in their own respective groups.

    Jin Corporation¡¯s group continued to chat with the groups from the top multi-nationalpanies. This time, however, another group joined these top dogs.

    Grandpa Lu invited Long Industries to join them. Of course, Long Tengfei immediately epted the invitation. This was an important opportunity to directly speak with the top executives in the world.

    The other Chinese delegates looked on at Long Industries in envy, knowing that Grandpa Lu and Long Tengfei were future inws.

    As for Iris, she ate with the two professors at a private room at the conference centre. Professor Schwarz was busy preparing Iris for her first official conferenceter.

    Finally, lunch time was over.

    Iris and the two professors headed to the conference she was assigned to as its sole interpreter. It was a conference between the Chinese and French delegates.

    Jin Corporation and Long Industries were among the attendees. Both the Chinese and the French delegates were surprised to see Iris in this conference. Was she interpreting again? Did she know French too? They thought she could only interpret in English and Mandarin.

    She smiled warmly at Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu from Jin Corporation¡¯s group and at Long Tengfei from Long Industries¡¯ group.

    When everyone was seated, the host officially began the China-France business conference. And of course, Iris Long was introduced once again.

    "Good afternoon,dies and gentlemen. My name is Iris Long and I¡¯ll be your interpreter for this conference," she said in both Mandarin and French.

    The delegates¡¯ eyes widened in surprise hearing her speaking in perfect Parisian French.

    Just like during the opening ceremony in the morning, Iris interpreted for all of the speakers in this conference. The Chinese and French delegates took turns in giving presentations. So far, Iris was able to interpret for them smoothly.

    Her skills were put to the test during the questions and answers portion. The discussion had a quicker tempo and the exchanges between the delegates were rapid-fire.

    As a result, there were instances when Iris fumbled and hesitated for a bit. Fortunately, she was able to recover quite quickly each time. Most of the delegates didn¡¯t notice, but Professor Schwarz certainly did.

    Professor Schwarz sat beside Professor Hisakawa at a nondescript corner of the conference hall. She was taking notes while observing Iris¡¯ performance.

    The China-France business conference finally ended in thete afternoon. Because of Iris¡¯ quick tempo of interpreting, this conference was actually the first to finish ahead of the other conferences happening at the same time.

    Many of the delegates crowded around Iris to greet her personally.

    "Miss Long, thank you very much for the hard work. You¡¯re amazing," a Chinese executive told her.

    "You speak French like a native," a French delegatemented.

    "Miss Iris Long, I¡¯m actually a ck Star. May I ask for your autograph and maybe take a photo with you as well?" a rtively younger delegate asked her.

    "Thank you for the support, sir. And yes you may," Iris replied with a warm smile. She would always have a soft spot for loyal ck Stars.

    After signing an autograph and taking a picture with him, other Chinese delegates followed suit. Soon, it suddenly became an autograph and photo session with Iris.

    "What¡¯s going on?" a confused French delegate asked in English.

    "Miss Iris Long is actually a rather famous celebrity. She¡¯s a musician who won many awards recently," a Chinese delegate answered in English as well.

    "What? Really? That¡¯s amazing! Wait, I¡¯ll ask for an autograph and a photo too."

    With that, some of the French delegates joined in the impromptu autograph and photo session with Iris.

    Seeing all of the flies buzzing around his baby girl, someone was drowning in an ocean of vinegar.

 Chapter 377 - Wrapped Around Her Little Finger

    <h4>Chapter 377 - Wrapped Around Her Little Finger </h4>

    Iris was like the light attracting the "damn bugs" all over her. Of course, the delegates were the damn bugs in Jin Liwei¡¯s mind. He wanted to march towards them and swat all the pests into oblivion. The green-eyed monster within him almost overcame his emotions.

    However, he saw that despite the people surrounding her, his baby girl was keeping her distance from them. She wasn¡¯t allowing any of them to be too touch-feely with her.

    Their eyes met and she smiled, silently reassuring him.

    He briefly closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down. The green-eyed monster within him was still there, but he was starting to learn how to not let it overwhelm him to the point that he lost control of himself.

    Grandpa Lu thumped his back hard three times again. It made Jin Liwei feel like vomiting his internal organs once again. Good thing that he was quite sturdy and could take the force. Perhaps that was why Grandpa Lu hit him harder than necessary.

    "Very good, my boy! That¡¯s the way to go! Too much jealousy is not good! It¡¯ll poison the love in the long run!" Grandpa Lu told him in a not so booming voice.

    The people in their Jin Corporation group looked at the two of them in confusion.

    ¡¯What is Sir Lu talking about?¡¯ they inwardly wondered.

    It was only Xu Tian who knew exactly what Grandpa Lu was talking about. As for the others, they thought that perhaps the old man was exhibiting his entricities once again. He was a genius, after all. Geniuses were a weird bunch. Normal people like them couldn¡¯t hope to understand how their minds worked.

    In another part of the conference hall, the Long Industries group looked at Iris surrounded by delegates asking for her autograph and photo. Now that she had proven herself to be a skilled interpreter and also a student of Madame Schwarz and Hisakawa-sensei, those who were prejudiced against her suddenly changed their minds.

    She had amazed all of them so far with her skills and professionalism. As people belonging to Long Industries, they felt proud of her.

    And of course it was a given that Long Tengfei felt the most proud among them. His daughter¡¯s aplishments felt like his own aplishments as well.

    Long Hui also already epted that his sister was a genius. He was also the one among the Longs who met with her regrly because they were connected by Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue. He was already past the point of feeling shocked by her abilities all the time.

    It was only Long Jian who felt bitter about Iris¡¯ excellent performance in this international business conference. Seeing all the delegates, both Chinese and French, acting like her braindead fans, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "Excuse me, Father¡ªI mean President. I need to go to the men¡¯s room," he told his father in a low voice.

    Long Tengfei only nodded and waved him off, not really sparing him a nce. He was too busy talking to the COO and the others.

    Already feeling negative to begin with, of course Long Jian would take issue at Long Tengfei¡¯s dismissive attitude. Long Jian¡¯s belief that he was Long Tengfei¡¯s least liked child among the siblings was reinforced.

    He left the conference hall with a dark expression. Instead of going to the men¡¯s room, he went outside instead to smoke a cigarette.

    Back inside the conference hall, Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa finally intervened and sternly drove away the delegates surrounding Iris. They escorted her away back to the private room they stayed at earlier.

    A few minutester, Long Tengfei, Long Hui and Cao Guang followed them. It took longer but Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu and Xu Tian also arrived at the private room.

    They found Professor Schwarz lecturing Iris in French while referring to her notes. Iris was listening intently.

    Only Grandpa Lu could understand what they were talking about. Jin Liwei could also understand a little bit.

    "They¡¯re going over Xin¡¯s interpretations earlier, especially the parts where she could¡¯ve done better," Grandpa Lu exined to Long Tengfei and the others. "Kalisha is currently advising her on more urate trantions that she could¡¯ve made."

    "I see." Long Tengfei nodded. "And here I thought that she did a perfect job earlier."

    "She did a great job, yes! That¡¯s our girl! Bahahahaha!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice was back. "But her performance earlier wasn¡¯t perfect. Besides, your daughter is a Cross Academy student! There is a high standard that she must uphold, that¡¯s why Kalisha and Akio are being very strict on her!"

    Everyone nodded. Then they began chatting while waiting for Iris and Professor Schwarz to finish reviewing her performance.

    Grandpa Lu was being noisy again, so he got a polite request to lower his volume from Professor Schwarz. Professor Hisakawa only sighed and smiled helplessly.

    "Bah! That¡¯s because you¡¯re taking too long, Kalisha! You should hurry and finish up! How long are you nning on lecturing Xin? I want to know! We¡¯re all done for today! Let¡¯s go out and eat dinner! This old man is getting hungry! I want some seafood!"

    It was Iris who replied to him. "Grandpa Lu, please wait for a bit more. I also want to hear Professor Schwarz¡¯s opinions about my interpretations today. Even I wasn¡¯t satisfied by my own performance. I want to improve more and do better next time."

    Ever the doting grandfather, Grandpa Lu immediately changed his tune. "Of course, my girl! Take your time! I¡¯ll just ¡¯quietly¡¯ chat with your father here!" he replied in his booming voice.

    Professor Schwarz could only look at the ceiling and sigh helplessly. Then she chuckled.

    "Darling, wait for me, okay?" Iris told Jin Liwei next.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. He also had a doting expression on his face.

    "Father..."

    "Don¡¯t mind us. Continue," Long Tengfei replied before she could finish her sentence. As the father, of course he also had a doting expression on his face just like Grandpa Lu and Jin Liwei.

    The mouths of Long Hui, Xu Tian and Cao Guang all twitched while watching them. This just proved that Iris had these men wrapped around her little finger.

    Finally, Iris and Professor Schwarz were done reviewing. Everyone got ready to leave.

    Iris headed straight to Jin Liwei and wrapped her arms around his waist. She inhaled his scent and immediately feltforted. Of course, Jin Liwei hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.

    "Tired?" he asked her.

    She nodded but then said, "But I like it."

    "Good. You were amazing. I¡¯m so proud of you."

    She smiled. "Thank you. But I want to do better tomorrow."

    "Just do your best and you¡¯ll be fine," he said, stroking her cheek.

    "You¡¯re also working tomorrow? For which conference?" Long Hui asked her.

    "The China-Mysia conference in the morning and then the China-Japan after lunch," she replied. "It¡¯ll be all-Asian for me tomorrow, so Professor Hisakawa will be the one supervising me."

    Professor Hisakawa nodded.

    "Mysia? Japan? Will you be working on two conferences per day starting tomorrow?" Long Tengfei asked this time.

    "Yes, Father."

    "And it¡¯ll be in differentnguages each time. Am I right? I want to know! Wait, I already know! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu¡¯sughter boomed throughout the room. "We¡¯re already done, right? Can we eat now? This old man wants to eat some lobsters! Let¡¯s go!"

    Everyone couldn¡¯t help butugh with Grandpa Lu. His high energy was infectious. Iris didn¡¯t feel so tired anymore.

    With that, the first day of the international business conference officially ended. There was no doubt that Iris Long was the most memorable highlight of the day. Through the delegates, Iris Long¡¯s name was starting to spread across the business world as a skilled interpreter and as a student of Madame Schwarz and Hisakawa-sensei.

 Chapter 378 - When To Announce

    <h4>Chapter 378 - When To Announce </h4>

    Grandpa Lu led the group to a nice seafood restaurant. They booked a private room and ate a hearty dinner together.

    Long Tengfei tried to invite his second son, Long Jian, to join them but he declined. Long Jian didn¡¯t want to eat dinner with his half-siblings, especially since he was in a bad mood because of Iris. In the end, he returned to his hotel room and ate dinner with the COO and the rest of the people from Long Industries. He missed his chance to discover that Iris¡¯ real fianc¨¦ was Jin Liwei.

    After dinner, everyone returned to their respective hotels. The international business conference was in another city which was quite far from their homes. All the delegates, even the Chinese ones, booked hotels near the conference centre. It was more convenient this way.

    Long Tengfei, Long Hui and Cao Guang returned to the hotel they booked for their group.

    The people from Jin Corporation¡¯s group, including Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu, were booked at a hotel which was co-owned by Jin Corporation. Simrly, Iris and the two Professors were staying at another Jin Corporation-co-owned hotel.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t return to his own hotel suite that night. Instead, he stayed with Iris at the other hotel. Hispany basically owned both hotels, so he had full control of the security. There was no danger of any strangers seeing them staying in one suite together.

    Not that he personally minded such an urrence, but his baby girl wasn¡¯t ready to announce their rtionship to the whole world yet.

    Inside the hotel suite, Jin Liwei finished showering. He stepped out of the bathroom with only the hotel-provided bathrobe on. Therge bed was empty.

    His baby girl was busy studying her Mysian and Japanese notes on the study desk at the corner. She was still in her red business outfit. Her suit jacket was draped on the back of the chair behind her. The buttons of her dress shirt was open, revealing the tops of her flesh-colouredce bra underneath.

    They decided not to shower together because they knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to keep their hands off of each other. Both of them needed to make preparations for tomorrow.

    Iris would be interpreting, while Jin Liwei would be presenting tomorrow at the China-Japan conference in the afternoon. He needed to check his presentation files and rehearse to make sure that he would perform well.

    But before any of that, he headed over to his baby girl first. Hearing him approach, she turned on the swivel chair and smiled at him. The bedroom¡¯s ttering lights enhanced the nes of her face, making her more beautiful and sultry.

    The effects were also the same on Jin Liwei. His chiselled face was intensified, making him more attractive to Iris¡¯ eyes.

    Both of their eyes darkened with desire at the sight of each other.

    "You¡¯re so beautiful."

    "You¡¯re so handsome."

    They said at the same time. Then they chuckled.

    Jin Liwei stopped in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed the side of her face over his hard and t stomach. She rubbed her cheek against the soft and fluffy cloth of his bathrobe. His hands massaged her head gently and stroked her hair.

    They stayed like this for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other¡¯s presence. Even though they weren¡¯t talking out loud, they could feel each other¡¯s happiness at just being together.

    Thinking about his thoughts earlier on not minding if they were seen together staying in the same hotel suite, he asked her, "Love, I know that I already asked you this before but I just want to have a clearer idea this time. At what point are we going to publicly announce our rtionship? I really want everyone to know that we¡¯re together."

    Still hugging his waist, she looked up at him.

    "My music career is doing well. If you want, we can announce it now," she told him.

    His eyes lit up. However, he could sense that she still wanted to say something more. So he waited.

    "But I¡¯d rather not yet," she added. "I now know that you were the most eligible bachelor before you announced at the music awards that you¡¯re engaged. There are so many women wanting to be your wife. Some of them are sessful businesswomen. In their eyes, I¡¯m just a mere showgirl."

    Scowling, he burned those witches who dared call his baby girl a "mere showgirl" in his mind. He pulled her closer against his body.

    "I usually don¡¯t care about what others think of me, but this time I want people to think that I¡¯m good enough for Jin Liwei, the President-CEO of the number onepany in the country," she told him. "I want to at least be on the same level as you or even just close to it in people¡¯s eyes."

    "You don¡¯t have to prove anything to anyone, love. You¡¯re already amazing."

    "I know. I¡¯m amazing. You¡¯re amazing. We¡¯re both amazing." She giggled, making him chuckle as well. "But I want a concrete evidence that would leave no room for people to criticize our rtionship. Being a Cross Academy student is great and all but at the end of the day, I¡¯m still just a student. If I get kicked out or something like that, I can¡¯t use that connection anymore.

    "That¡¯s why I¡¯m working hard to showcase my interpretation skills in this international business conference. This will allow me startworking on the international level with my own abilities. Then it¡¯ll be much easier for me to grow my ownpaniester on."

    "Mmmn..." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Monkey is already taking off, but I¡¯m not its public face. People don¡¯t know about myputer skills, and I don¡¯t have any intentions of revealing it." She bit her lip. "It¡¯s safer for me this way."

    Although Iris didn¡¯t outright reveal her hacker name to Jin Liwei yet, he already had suspicions that she was Drakon. She still asionally created reports for him about people andpanies that he wanted more information on whenever she had time.

    When he showed a portion of one of the reports to his tech people, instructing them to follow its example, they looked absolutely shocked.

    "President, you were able to hire Drakon?! How?!! That¡¯s amazing!!!"

    Needless to say, Jin Liwei was also shocked when he heard their words.

    "This thorough, detailed, and almost obsessively organized style is exactly like Drakon¡¯s! Well, of course, there are others who can also do this but Drakon is the one whoes to mind first. Besides, he¡¯s only one of the few who can ess this kind of ssified information without alerting the authorities if he doesn¡¯t want to."

    "No, you¡¯re wrong. Drakon isn¡¯t the one whoes to mind first. It¡¯s Fantom. That legendary hacker is the original," anothermented.

    "But Fantom already disappeared. Many are saying that he¡¯s already dead. He hasn¡¯t appeared for years now. There are many hackers who emted his style but only Drakones close to his brilliance. There were even spections before that Fantom and Drakon are the same person, but Drakon is too goal-oriented. It¡¯s already proven that Drakon is driven by money while Fantom did whatever the hell he wanted for the sake of amusing himself. That¡¯s why he was so scary back then. Nobody ever seeded in bribing him to work for them."

    Jin Liwei sank into deep thought hearing their words. He didn¡¯t confirm nor deny it when his tech people thought that the reports were from Drakon.

    There were more instances like this when his tech people would describe what Iris did for him¡ªeither simr reports or original customized software¡ªas the work of Drakon.

    His suspicions only strengthened when he caught a glimpse of the impressiveputers and devices she installed in theputer room he built for her in the mansion. Despite this, he never asked her directly if she was really Drakon.

    He understood that it was a sensitive matter, especially since the hacker Drakon was currently being hunted as an international criminal. And it wasn¡¯t just a matter of trust. It also involved both of their safety. If someone were to learn that she was the hacker Drakon, it would be dangerous not only for the two of them but also for their families as well.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei rubbed the lip Iris just bit with his thumb.

    "I understand," he told her.

    She smiled at him.

    "I can¡¯t reveal myself as Monkey¡¯s owner yet because it¡¯ll invite too many questions at this time. But Orchidia Beauty is different. It aligns with my status as a celebrity which focuses a lot on physical appearance. Once it takes off and begins making profit, let¡¯s announce our rtionship."

 Chapter 379 - Polyglo

    <h4>Chapter 379 - Polyglo </h4>

    "Okay," Jin Liwei replied. "Looking forward to it."

    Iris stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled his head down and kissed him.

    The kiss turned fiery in just seconds. He plunged his tongue deep inside her hot mouth, tasting her. She responded with the same passion. Their tongues dueled and danced together, until both of them were breathless.

    He moved his hands downwards along her back until it rested on her butt. Then he squeezed her hard, eliciting a deep moan from her.

    Her hands also moved down his neck to his chest. They slipped inside his bathrobe and pushed it over his bare shoulders.

    Ring! Ring! Ring!

    The loud ringing of the phone interrupted them. It was Jin Liwei¡¯s. They both recognized it as his ringtone for business calls.

    Iris was the first one to end the kiss. She gently pushed him away. "Answer your phone. It must be important."

    Jin Liwei pulled her back by the waist. He looked torn.

    "Go on," she told him, patting his cheek. "We shouldn¡¯t be doing this right now, anyway. Both of us need to prepare for tomorrow."

    Sighing, he reluctantly let her go but not before diving in for another kiss, quicker this time.

    "I¡¯ll take a shower now," she said and walked to the bathroom without waiting for his reply.

    He sighed again and grabbed his damn phone. It was Xu Tian¡¯s number.

    "What is it?" Jin Liwei growled, not bothering to hide his displeasure.

    "There you are, my boy!" Surprisingly, it was Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice who answered instead of his assistant. "You should say ¡¯hello¡¯ when you answer the phone! Why do you sound so grumpy? I want to know! Actually, I think I already know! Did I interrupt something? I bet I did! Bahahaha! Sorry about that! Well, actually I¡¯m not sorry at all! Bahahaha!"

    Jin Liwei only looked up at the ceiling and sighed deeply. Nevertheless, his mouth twitched, the corners lifting into a faint smile. All his annoyance melted away. It was hard to stay annoyed at someone like Grandpa Lu.

    "How may I help you, Grandpa Lu? Why are you calling using Xu Tian¡¯s number? Did you lose your phone?"

    Grandpa Lu was staying at the other hotel with the members of their Jin Corporation group.

    "No, I have my phone right here! I¡¯m using your assistant¡¯s phone because...I feel like it! Bahahaha!"

    Jin Liwei chuckled weakly. He sighed again, and then nced at the bathroom door. He could hear the water running in the shower.

    After Grandpa Lu finished joking around, the two started discussing important business matters regarding their target deals that they wanted to close with specificpanies during this international business conference. Although Grandpa Lu usually left Jin Liwei to run Jin Corporation and make the final decisions, the international business conference was a different matter.

    Its magnitude was greater than normal. Both Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu wanted what was best for Jin Corporation. Two heads were better than one in this situation.

    Jin Liwei was more up-to-date with current business trends, but Grandpa Lu had more wisdom, knowledge and experience. With both of them working together, they aimed to get the best deals for Jin Corporation during the international business conference.

    He was still on the phone when Iris finished showering. She was already in her pyjamas. She also spoke briefly with Grandpa Lu before diving back to reviewing her notes in preparation for tomorrow¡¯s conferences.

    When the phone call ended, Jin Liwei gave his baby girl a quick peck on the lips before moving to the suite¡¯s living area to rehearse for his presentation in the China-Japan conference tomorrow.

    The two were busy with their own respective works, but knowing that they would be sleeping together tonightforted them, even if they didn¡¯t have time to do anything else other than cuddle.

    ###

    That same night, news exploded that Iris Long was an official interpreter for the international business conference. Because this was a prestigious event in the business world, the news circted quickly and spread across the entire country.

    At first, people treated it as a joke. Why would a celebrity who was currently on the rise work as an interpreter for a business conference?

    However, they had no choice but to believe when the official website and social media pages of the international business conference itself confirmed that Iris Long was appointed as an interpreter for the event. Photos and videos of her during the opening ceremony were even posted.

    In addition to this, the delegates who attended also posted photos and videos of her in their own social media pages.

    What people found the most impressive were the videos showing Iris interpreting in English during the opening ceremony and in French during the China-France conference. Everyone was shocked and amazed by hernguage skills.

    Of course, the ck Stars were equally shocked and amazed just like everyone else but quickly felt proud of her.

    LittlePhoenix: "So that¡¯s why Boss Iris doesn¡¯t have any showbiz activities for almost a couple of weeks now. She was preparing for this! At first I was disappointed that she wasn¡¯t included in the line-up for the uing Bright Summit All-Stars summer concert in two days, but I think this is more impressive. Boss is so amazing!"

    CaptainckStar: "I agree. Boss Iris is so amazing! Comrades, let¡¯s show our support for our Boss Iris!"

    The ck Stars who were initially begging for their Boss Iris to participate in the Bright Summit All-Stars summer concert now stopped. They all expressed their support for her as an interpreter to the international business conference instead.

    Although they didn¡¯t understand business that much, they preferred that she was standing out in such a highly prestigious business event like this. Compared to the All-Stars concert where she had to share the spotlight with other celebrities and even with superstars like Jin Chonglin (who "might" overshadow her), she was soloing the attention as a celebrity interpreter in the international business conference.

    It was so much better, right?

    While the ck Stars were celebrating, those in high society who looked down on Iris were shocked into disbelief. They were the ones who mocked her as a mere showgirl and future trophy wife, dependent on her future husband (Lu Zihao) for status in high society.

    "S-so what if she can speak English and French well? Our children in British boarding schools can, too. It¡¯s not that special..."

    "Exactly. She probably used her connection with Sir Lu Jianhong in order to score herself this appointment as official interpreter at the international business conference. Besides, it¡¯s just tranting. How hard can it be?"

    "You two are acting like ignorant dolts," a retired businessman reprimanded them. He was just passing by when he heard what they were talking about. "Tranting normal conversations is easy but interpreting for business is a different matter. And this is the international business conference we¡¯re talking about! Virtually all the top business leaders in the world are in attendance.

    "Not just any interpreter can be chosen to work in that event. They have extremely high standards! Even Sir Lu Jianhong would ruin his reputation if he rmended someone unskilled in that event. If that Long girl was appointed, then it means that she not only has the interpretation skills but also the business knowledge to back her up."

    The two socialites shut up, looking at each other awkwardly. The old man was their father-inw.

    "Besides, I just heard that she¡¯s the student of both Schwarz and Hisakawa," the retired businessman continued. "You may not know it because you¡¯re always busy gossiping instead of expanding your knowledge, but these two people are renowned polyglots. Do you know what a ¡¯polyglot¡¯ means? No? Hai. It seems that they don¡¯t sell brains from the stores you go to everyday. A ¡¯polyglot¡¯ is a person who knows and can use severalnguages.

    "Now do you understand? Those British boarding schools where you dumped my grandchildren are just nurseriespared to being epted as the student of esteemed figures like Schwarz and Hisakawa. The levels are just too different! Go ahead and continue looking down and mocking that Long girl! You¡¯re just going to demonstrate to everybody that your heads are filled with air instead of sense."

    The old man huffed while walking away with his cane. He was of the same generation as Grandpa Lu and Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather. As a peer and a fellow businessman, he was proud to watch how Jin Corporation developed into the number onepany in the country.

    He didn¡¯t appreciate anyone who dared look down on anyone working in the business industry, including interpreters and trantors. Skilled interpreters and trantors were indispensable in doing business in the international level.

    Simr scenes were ying across homes of high society members. Many were re-evaluating Iris Long¡¯s status as mere future trophy wife.

    There were still those who continued to look down on her, but there were some who began to change their impressions of her.

 Chapter 380 - Attention Lapse

    <h4>Chapter 380 - Attention Lapse </h4>

    The next day, a crowd of ck Stars all wearing suits and some other curious rumourmongers, including the entertainment news media, flocked together near the conference centre. The ck Stars waved huge banners of their Boss Iris in support of her.

    Police officers prevented them from getting anywhere near the entrance. At first, the officers were rmed by the group of suits-wearing people. They thought that a triad group hade to terrorize the international business conference.

    Fortunately, the ck Stars quickly exined that they were fans of the celebrity turned interpreter Iris Long, and that they usually wore suits to support her. Only when the police verified this information that the ck Stars were allowed to stay.

    The entertainment news media tried to get media passes, but the officials of the international business conference rejected their requests. Only approved business-rted media outlets were allowed inside. So the entertainment news correspondents had to make do in standing and waiting outside with the rest of the ck Stars and rumourmongers.

    Thankfully, the police didn¡¯t drive them away. As long as they didn¡¯t get too rowdy, didn¡¯t create trouble or danger to the arriving delegates, and stayed at the spot the police indicated, they were allowed to stay. The police, however, tightly monitored them and kept them in control.

    When the arriving delegates saw the crowd outside, their vehicles all slowed down in curiosity. Seeing the banners, the Chinese delegates immediately knew that the people came for Iris Long.

    The foreign delegates had no idea what was going on. They thought that the people were protesters against the international business conference. Protests were not unheard of at important international events like this.

    It was only when they were informed that the crowd came for the beautiful interpreter from yesterday that they were once again amazed. They heard from their Chinese counterparts that Iris Long was a celebrity, but it only hit them now seeing her fans and the media gathered outside for her.

    Finally, a car stopped in front of the crowd. The rear window opened and Iris stuck her head out.

    Loud screams and shrieks sounded as she waved at the crowd. The ck Stars waved their banners and jumped up and down in excitement while squealing.

    "Kyaaaaah! Boss Iris, we love you so much!"

    "You¡¯re so beautiful, Boss Iris! You¡¯re amazing!"

    "Please do your best on interpreting today at the conference! We can¡¯t wait to hear more about your awesomeness!"

    "Say something in French, please!!! In English too!!! So cool, boss!!!"

    All the cameras were pointed at her, snapping photos and filming, while the entertainment news correspondents shouted questions.

    "Iris Long, are you nning to leave showbiz and work as an interpreter instead?"

    "How did you manage to be appointed as an official interpreter of the international business conference? Did your future grandfather-inw, Sir Lu Jianhong, used his connections to get you this position?"

    "You know English and French. What othernguages do you know?"

    The media people were starting to get disorderly, so the police officers immediately went on high alert and formed a tight encirclement around them.

    Having the view of their boss partially obstructed by the police, the ck Stars red at the media. Some of them even started arguing with the paparazzi. Fortunately, the acting leader quickly calmed her fellow ck Stars. She instructed them to form a separate group from the media. They distanced themselves to make it clear to the police that they intended to follow the rules unlike the media who were starting to get out of hand.

    "I¡¯m sorry, everyone! I can¡¯t greet you properly right now. I have to go inside because I¡¯m going to bete otherwise," Iris said from inside the car. "Thank you foring! Please don¡¯t stay out under the sun for too long. It¡¯s very hot! Take care!"

    "Please don¡¯t mind us, Boss Iris! Hurry up and go inside! We don¡¯t want to get you into trouble!"

    "Don¡¯t worry about us, boss! We just wanted to see you today! Now that we¡¯ve seen you, we¡¯re already happy!"

    Iris gave them a blinding smile. "Thank you very much, everyone! I¡¯ll work hard today!" She blew them a kiss before the window closed up and the car drove away.

    "Uwah! I caught her kiss! I caught it!" A young female ck Star grabbed the imaginary kiss from the air and pressed it against her chest.

    "No way! I was the one who caught it!"

    Some of the police officers looked at the ridiculous argument between the fans in amusement. They started to rx when Iris was gone. However, they still kept a close watch on the crowd, especially the entertainment news media. Their kind, especially the paparazzi, were known to sneak inside without authorization just to document any juicy story.

    The media were very unsatisfied that Iris left without answering even just one question from them. But they couldn¡¯t do anything about it. Only business news correspondents were allowed inside.

    Later, the second day of the international business conference officially started.

    Iris attended the China-Mysia conference in the morning as the official interpreter. Jin Corporation and Long Industries were also present.

    It wasn¡¯t like the opening ceremony and the China-France conference yesterday where she did consecutive interpretation, which was speaking after a speaker paused.

    This time, the delegates requested for her to do a simultaneous interpretation instead. It meant that she had to trante while the speaker was still speaking. Her voice would be transmitted through headphones the delegates had to wear.

    It was morefortable for the speakers, especially the ones doing presentations, because they could talk without any interruptions. Simultaneous interpretations were also ideal for conferences like this for a more natural flow.

    However, this method put a lot of strain on interpreters. Even though Iris insisted that she could do it for the entire duration of the conference, her two professors rejected the idea. They warned her that there were documented interpreters who copsed because they did simultaneous interpretations for more than an hour without rest.

    It was actually very dangerous. As a result, Iris and Professor Hisakawa would take turns interpreting every thirty minutes for this conference.

    Finally, the China-Mysia business conference began. Iris and Professor Hisakawa sat together at their designated seats. She brought a tablet and a stylus for taking notes while Professor Hisakawa had a notebook and a pen.

    The Mysiannguage was something that she only recently learned, so she wasn¡¯t as confident in using itpared to thenguages she already knew in her past life. Fortunately, she had a talent in acquiringnguages easily.

    She interpreted in both Mandarin and Mysian, taking turns with Professor Hisakawa throughout the entire conference.

    There were Chinese Mysian delegates in attendance, but they still needed an interpreter because of the differences in Standard Mandarin and Mysian Mandarin.

    Because Iris wasn¡¯t very used to the Mysiannguage, she encountered some difficulties while interpreting. Whether it was not so urate trantions or taking a couple seconds longer to provide the interpretation, things didn¡¯t go as smoothly as yesterday.

    After the conference, Iris sat back in her chair and released a big sigh. She also gulped water to soothe her throat.

    "That was challenging," she whispered.

    "Indeed," Professor Hisakawa replied. Then he looked at his notes. "Although the delegates think that you did well, your performance this morning is not up to Cross Academy standards. You made too many less than ideal trantions and the hesitations are painful to listen to. This level is not much better than average interpreters. You get a C- from me for this conference. You need to improve on your My. Always aim for an A+."

    "I understand, Professor."

    "You noticed the difference between your performance and mine, right? Learn from how I interpreted and improve your own techniques."

    "Yes, Professor. I will."

    Iris felt disappointed in herself for her less than ster performance. She was determined to do better next time.

    Lunch time.

    She didn¡¯t speak much during this time to rest her vocal cords. She ate with the two professors and then reviewed for the next conference in the afternoon.

    When she heard that there were still some ck Stars waiting for her outside, she became rmed. It was a hot summer day. She asked someone to order some food and drinks for them and to encourage them to find some shade under the zing sun. And even though she didn¡¯t have very good feelings for the entertainment news media and the rumourmongers, she also instructed to give them food and drinks just because it was too hot outside.

    The ck Stars were very touched by her thoughtfulness. Even the media felt more inclined to write good things about her because of the food.

    After lunch, it was time for the China-Japan conference.

    Just like in the morning, the delegates requested for a simultaneous interpretation. Iris and Professor Hisakawa would take turns once again every thirty minutes or so.

    Iris felt more confident about her Japanesenguage skills. During her past life as Evelina, she was actually more fluent in it than Mandarin.

    When Jin Liwei stepped on the stage for his presentation, her interpretation was on point. The two actually rehearsed together before. She had memorized his entire presentation and of course her interpretation for it as well. This was the only time that Professor Hisakawa allowed her to interpret the whole way.

    Iris also couldn¡¯t help but smile stupidly while watching her darling during his presentation. He looked so handsome that she almost ran to the stage to hug him.

    "Concentrate!" Professor Hisakawa rebuked her when her voice started sounding giggly.

    It instantly brought her back to earth. She blushed a little before clearing her head from anything besides her job as an interpreter.

    "Good." Professor Hisakawa nodded when he saw that she returned to a focused state.

    He would¡¯ve given full marks to her performance in this China-Japan conference if it wasn¡¯t for this brief attentionpse.

    ¡¯Oh well. She¡¯s a woman in love,¡¯ was all he could say to himself.

    Finally, the China-Japan conference ended, and so did the second day of the international business conference.

    Iris Long¡¯s reputation as a skilled interpreter was reinforced even further in the business industry. Many of the delegates, both Chinese and foreign, already put her in their top lists of preferred interpreters to hire.

 Chapter 381 - Real Genius

    <h4>Chapter 381 - Real Genius </h4>

    Because of Iris Long¡¯s involvement in the international business conference, it unexpectedly gained huge attention from the general public. Most of the general folks usually didn¡¯t care about business events like this, but now they wanted to know more about it.

    It pleased the Ministry of Commerce greatly, prompting them to use Iris Long¡¯s image more in promoting the international business conference across the country. Of course, Bright Summit was more than happy to cooperate.

    Iris also didn¡¯t mind. In fact, she weed it. This opportunity would be helpful for the development of her own businessester on.

    Due to the increased attention, all the delegates became extra careful in how they conducted themselves. The Chinese delegates also went all out during their presentations, wanting to impress everyone. It wasn¡¯t only them who were feeling the pressure to perform their best. The foreign delegates also gave their A-game. Everyone suddenly became more enthusiastic in attracting the best deals and partnerships during this international business conference.

    Iris Long was also now known throughout the nation as a talented polyglot.

    On the first day of the international business conference, she demonstrated her English and Frenchnguage skills. On the second day, her My and Japanese skills.

    Now people were looking forward to what othernguages she would interpret next during this five-day long business event. There were even betting pools set up across the country. They wagered on which othernguages she would most likely interpret next or if thenguages she demonstrated on the first and second days were already the limit to her skills.

    They weren¡¯t disappointed.

    On the third day, she interpreted in Greek and Korean. On the fourth day, Dutch and Hausa (an Africannguage). And on thest day, Thai and Spanish.

    So far, they now confirmed that she was skilled in tennguages in addition to Mandarin. Elevennguages in total. Make that twelve because some also remembered when she spoke Italian with Maestro Ludovico De Luca during her interview with Feng Jiu. So they knew that she could also speak in Italian.

    However, there were many people who believed that she must know more than these twelve. Most of the ck Stars felt this way. But some were saying that any more than these twelve were already too much and quite impossible to believe.

    Then some former ssmates of Iris Long began voicing out their doubts. They were even interviewed and featured on several TV programs and newspapers.

    "I¡¯m finding it hard to believe that Iris Long suddenly became so smart. Although she didn¡¯t have the worst grades at school, she wasn¡¯t a good student either. She was frequently absent because of her showbiz work, but whenever she attended school, she almost always flunked our tests. It became normal for her to redo everything."

    Then her previous school transcripts from middle school to high school were leaked by the media. All of her grades, except for Music, were ludicrously low.

    It came to a point that her former school teachers and even principal were sought out for interviews.

    "I¡¯m retired now, so I think I¡¯m free to say this. Miss Long was one of the most problematic students that I¡¯ve ever experienced teaching in my entire career as a teacher. She never listened to me and had poorprehension of our lessons. It also didn¡¯t help that she rarely went to school. I was so relieved when she graduated, although I¡¯m still very confused as to how she managed to do that," her former Math teacher revealed.

    "Miss Long had passable English when I taught her. Coming from a privileged family, she could speak English but nothing very impressive. Her grammar was also horrendous. She certainly didn¡¯t have the British ent she demonstrated during this year¡¯s international business conference. When I watched her interpreting in English at the conference on TV, I was so shocked. But I think that this is a good thing. Maybe my teachings from before finally sank in and she improved her English," her former English teacher said.

    "As a principal, I am immensely proud to watch such a talented former student of my school be so sessful. Although I admit that she got into trouble quite a few times¡ªalright, many times¡ªit¡¯s because I¡¯m positive that she was in her rebellious phase that time. It¡¯s very typical for teenagers to rebel at her age back then," her former principal said.

    These interviews plus Iris¡¯ unimpressive school transcripts puzzled a lot of people. They wondered why Iris suddenly changed so much. Many also remembered her previous notorious bratty, bitchy and diva-like attitude as a teenage pop singer.

    Netizens widely discussed this matter online.

    "She changed so much when she made her firsteback. Maybe she hit her head so hard during the car crash, went intoa, and then became a genius all of a sudden after waking up."

    "If that¡¯s really what happened, then maybe I should hit my head too. Will I be a genius too if I do that? I want to speak manynguages like Iris Long too. So cool, man!"

    "I¡¯ve watched some documentaries before aboutatose people waking up and then suddenly gaining the ability to speak many foreignnguages. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s what happened to Iris. But if so, then it¡¯s a medical miracle!"

    TV programs became very interested in this topic. They even invited "experts" to discuss Iris¡¯ situation. There were psychologists, neurologists and a lot of other -ists who shared their "expert" opinions.

    "Based on what we publicly know about Iris Long, she has a rather strong personality and had quite a turbulent childhood. It¡¯s well-known that her parents divorced when she was just a small child. She had also mentioned before that her parents weren¡¯t in good terms with each other. It¡¯s highly likely that Iris Long was already a born genius but because of her family situation and her own selfish attitude, she began rebelling to gain more attention and love from her parents. In this case, her rebellion was her form of defence mechanism in dealing with her family situation. Her rebellion masked her genius," a guest psychologist analyzed.

    "So what you¡¯re saying is that Iris Long deliberately failed at school and pretended to be an idiot¡ªplease excuse mynguage¡ªwhen she¡¯s really a genius just to get the attention of her parents? Isn¡¯t that too extreme?" the host asked.

    "Yes, it is indeed extreme but it¡¯s actually verymon among children of divorced parents. And we also need to take into ount that the Longs are a wealthy family. Her father is the head of both the family and their business. I don¡¯t personally know Iris Long¡¯s parents, but I¡¯m guessing that they were too busy with their own matters and careers to pay close attention to their daughter Iris Long. I¡¯m guessing that even they had no idea that their own daughter is actually a born genius. I think it¡¯s quite sad, really."

    The host nodded. "Then what could¡¯ve prompted Iris Long to finally reveal that she¡¯s a genius all along? Can you exin it to us?"

    "We all know that she got involved in that serious car ident¡ªwell, we shouldn¡¯t really call it an ident anymore because it had been already confirmed that it was attempted murder. That incident almost killed her, sending her intoa. Near-death experiences like that can really change people. After waking up froma, I¡¯m certain that she realized that life is precious so she began changing for the better. She stopped her rebellious attitude and behaviour, and is now finally beginning to embrace her real genius."

 Chapter 382 Baby - Making Skills

    <h4>Chapter 382 Baby - Making Skills </h4>

    After this TV show aired, many believed the psychologist¡¯s analysis of Iris Long¡¯s situation to be the truth, especially the ck Stars who believed it 100%. They felt sorry for their Boss Iris when she was young. She had to resort to rebellion in order to demand attention from her divorced parents.

    "Wuwuwu! My heart aches for Boss Iris! Poor her! She just wanted to be loved!"

    "I feel so sorry for what Boss Iris went through. But is it wrong for me to also be d that she went through a near-death experience? Because if she didn¡¯t, we might have never known that she¡¯s actually a genius!"

    "I agree with you! I¡¯m also d that she experienced all of that because it made her grow as a person. She¡¯s so much better now, that¡¯s why we all follow her!"

    "Boss Iris, we love you so much! We¡¯ll follow you to the very end! You¡¯re the most awesome boss forever and ever!!!"

    Then the topic of conversation suddenly changed.

    "Dammit! I missed so much news about Boss Iris! It¡¯s the first time in a long while that I returned to thend of the living. I¡¯ve been ying this new awesome game. It¡¯s super amazing! Anybody ying ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯ here?"

    "Me me me! What¡¯s your username? Let¡¯s be friends and form a team together!"

    The new game "Supreme Ascension" was fast bing the topputer game being yed at inte caf¨¦s. It also helped that most game critics and reviewers gave it mostly high reviews. There were also many gamers who were choosing to livestream the game. "Supreme Ascension" livestreams were often found in top trending lists among gaming websites and apps.

    In addition to these, many celebrities also shared to their fans that they were ying this newputer game. When Jin Chonglin posted photos of himself ying the game on his blog, his army of fans immediately tried ying it as well. Many of them never expected that they would be totally addicted to it.

    Things were going extremely well for Monkey. Despite this, thepany only became more focused on improving the game. They hired more employees to increase efficiency and quality.

    The gaming industry wanted to know more about Monkey, but thepany itself remained rtively quiet about its history and inner workings amidst the growing media attention.

    Of course, Monkey didn¡¯t fail in advertising and promoting "Supreme Ascension", but they didn¡¯t constantly ssh themselves all over the media. Most of their ads were targeted online, and so far, it was proving to be very effective.

    When asked by a game reporter why they weren¡¯t taking advantage of the game¡¯s rising poprity to gain more exposure, a representative from Monkey was reported saying:

    "We want our current game, ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯, to speak for itself and on behalf of ourpany, Monkey. We are confident in our game¡¯s quality and we are constantly working hard to improve it even further. We believe that the high quality of our game and its immersive user experience are enough advertisement at the moment. We want to focus first on improving the game in every aspect and growing it alongside our current yers, instead of trying to get a massive number of new yers who might grow tired of it after some time."

    This answer screamed confidence, calmness, and in many ways, maturity for a new gamepany. It only made Monkey more mysterious.

    ###

    Inside the hotel suite, Iris smiled while reading thetestpany report of Monkey.

    Despite herpany¡¯s statement of wanting to grow alongside their current yers instead of attracting a massive number of new yers, their data showed that most new yers quickly became regr yers. Meaning, most of them became addicted and continued to y regrly. Only less than 5% of new sign-ups so far stopped ying after the first few weeks. This was an excellent turn-out.

    Word of mouth demonstrated its undeniable power. Iris only mentioned "Supreme Ascension" to ze, Eros, Night and Thunder of Pandemonium once. She didn¡¯t say that it was herpany who made the game.

    Before she knew it, the guys instantly got hooked on the game to the point that they invited their fellow celebrities to y it. They were actually the ones who started spreading "Supreme Ascension" among the celebrities. That was also how Jin Chonglin knew about the game in the first ce.

    And just like Jin Liwei promised, he made Jin Chonglin post about "Supreme Ascension" on his blog. When Jin Chonglin discovered that Iris was the President-Owner of Monkey, thepany who made the game, he was absolutely shocked.

    The shock made him forget about his intendedints on why he was being made to promote the game when he wasn¡¯t going to be paid in the first ce. In the end, he did it on his own volition. But he made Iris promise to tour him around Monkey when they were both free.

    Of course Iris immediately agreed. Free promotion from a superstar like Jin Chonglin? She would tour him around Monkey as many times as he wanted.

    After reading the report, she closed herptop and went into the bedroom. She was alone in the suite. Jin Liwei was currently working out at the hotel gym. She didn¡¯t go with him because she didn¡¯t feel like working out today.

    It was the day after the international business conference ended.

    Last night, there were celebratory dinners all over the nearby restaurants. Likewise, Jin Corporation and Long Industries had their own dinners to celebrate the deals they sessfully obtained during the international business conference.

    Because Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu and the Longs had to attend their respectivepany dinners with their own people, Iris and her two professors ate together instead. At first, Jin Liwei wanted to skip Jin Corporation¡¯s dinner to join her but Iris discouraged him.

    "No, darling. Celebrate with your people first. They deserve to have a nice dinner with their President-CEO after all the hard work they put in during this international business conference. We can have our own celebratory dinner tomorrow." Only when she said this did Jin Liwei reluctantly left her with the professors.

    But even during his dinner, he still constantly messaged her to ask how she was doing. It was already past midnight when he returned to their hotel suite. She was already in deep sleep by that time.

    Back to the present.

    Iris headed to the bedroom and took some clothes from the drawers before heading to the bathroom for a shower.

    She and Jin Liwei decided not to immediately return home. They nned on staying at the hotel for the rest of the weekend. They wanted to spend more time together with just the two of them, especially after how busy they had been prior to and during the international business conference.

    While most of the delegates were busy packing their luggage and checking out of their hotels, the two of them were rxing and enjoying the hotel¡¯s amodations instead.

    Grandpa Lu called them first thing in the morning. He announced that he was already missing Little Jun, so he would be leaving soon. It seemed that the two professors were leaving with him as well.

    "This old man can¡¯t wait to give all the presents I bought this week to my beloved great-grandson! If you two want to stay here, then stay! I know that you n on practicing your baby-making skills! Bahahaha! Practice well because I want a well-made great-grandbaby! When are you going to give me a new one? I want to know! This old man is not getting any younger!"

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s words made Iris blush a little but Jin Liwei looked pumped, as if determined to improve his baby-making skills with her.

    Iris also received a call from Long Tengfei afterwards. Everyone from Long Industries would also be leaving today.

    So at the moment, it was basically just Iris and Jin Liwei who were left. Although she was missing Ice Cream, Popcorn and Little Jun, she was filled with anticipation at spending the entire weekend with her darling¡ªjust the two of them alone.

    She was in the middle of removing her clothes when she heard the sound of Jin Liwei arriving at the suite. Her lips curved into a smile.

    "Love?" Jin Liwei¡¯s voice called for her.

    She could hear his footsteps. Momentster, the bathroom door opened.

    Jin Liwei stopped in his tracks when he saw his baby girl only in her underwear. His eyes darkened with desire. Of course, his little brother down below stirred and began standing in attention.

 Chapter 383 - Letâ€™s Do Something Fun Today

    <h4>Chapter 383 - Let¡¯s Do Something Fun Today </h4>

    Iris stood back and admired Jin Liwei¡¯s body. He was wearing a grey tank top and ck jogger pants. His top was currently soaked in sweat. The wet cloth stuck to his fit physique, making his chest muscles and tight abs stand out even beneath the tank top. A towel was draped over his wide shoulders which he carelessly tossed down the floor.

    Because he just came from a workout, his skin glistened with sweat. He was also flushed, even more so now that she was standing in front of him in nothing but herce underwear.

    Simrly, Jin Liwei was admiring her sexy body. Her body was toned, yet still retained soft curves in all the right ces. Her breasts nicely filled the cups of her bra. Her slender waist red into enticingly wide hips, forming an hourss body. His eyes continued down her long, smooth legs. He couldn¡¯t wait for them to wrap around his waist, so he could pound himself inside her again and again.

    Iris also looked down and saw the bulge inside his jogger pants. Her breathing and heart rate sped up. Anticipation and desire filled her. She didn¡¯t realize that her tongue licked her lips. Then she bit her lower lip, as her eyes darkened with desire for him.

    This series of actions was like a signal to Jin Liwei. He walked to her until they were standing just a few inches apart from each other.

    She was the first one to reach out to him. She grabbed his sweaty tank top and pulled him closer. Then she slipped her hands inside his tank top to fondle his t, hard abs.

    He just stood there, looking at her with half-lidded eyes. He allowed her to touch him to her heart¡¯s content.

    When she became impatient and started tugging his tank top off, something seemed to snap inside him. He ripped his tank top into two pieces and threw them down the floor. Then he growled and pulled her head for deep, hungry kiss.

    The kiss was so intense that it almost felt vicious.

    Iris began tasting blood, not realizing that she had bitten his lips or maybe his tongue. She didn¡¯t know. Or maybe it was her blood. She had no idea nor did she care. All she wanted was more of him. Her hands roamed all over his arms, chest and back. She pressed her body against him, wanting more skin-to-skin contact.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hands weren¡¯t motionless either. They touched her all over, massaging and squeezing her curves. In another moment of barbarity, he tore her bra, making her breasts bounce from the force. His mouth immediately came down and caught one of her nipples, sucking it hard.

    "Ah!" Iris grabbed his head, as she pressed her chest harder against him. She threw her head back and closed her eyes, moaning at the pleasure he was giving her.

    Her heavy eyes opened and she reached for the waistband of his jogger pants. However, he caught her hands. She whined in protest when he prevented her from touching what she wanted the most at the moment.

    He released her breasts and looked at her. Then he asked in a deep, husky tone, "You want me?"

    "Yes!"

    "You want me inside you?"

    "Yes! Oh for goodness¡¯ sake, Jin Liwei! Hurry up! I can¡¯t wait any longer!"

    "Impatient, aren¡¯t we?"

    Now it was her turn to growl at him.

    He chuckled, amused. "Let¡¯s do something fun today. Would you like to try?"

    Her curiosity was immediately sparked. "Fun? What is it?"

    Instead of answering, he started removing his pants. Her eyes lit up when his erection sprang out. She moved to touch it but he stopped her once again.

    "Jin Liwei, why do you keep stopping me?!"

    "Rx, love. I told you we¡¯ll try something fun today," he said to appease her. Then he stepped away from her and started slowly stroking his erection. "Remove your panties."

    Sulking a bit, she obeyed and quickly removed it. Her eyes never left his crotch while doing so. "What now?"

    "Touch yourself, too," he told her.

    She blinked a few times, not understanding what he meant. "What?"

    "I want to watch you pleasure yourself, love. Let¡¯s watch each other." His excitement was obvious in his voice.

    "But I only feel pleasure when you¡¯re the one touching me."

    "Just try it, love. I¡¯m right here. Look at me. Imagine that I¡¯m the one touching you."

    She felt reluctant. However, her curiosity won in the end.

    Watching him stroking himself, her hands cupped her breasts and started kneading them.

    "Touch yourself down there," he urged her. "Tell me how wet you are for me."

    One of her hands slowly moved down and touched herself. She felt herself already dripping for him. A deep moan escaped from her lips.

    "Are you wet?" he asked.

    "Yes..."

    "Put a finger inside. Imagine it¡¯s me."

    She followed his instructions and inserted a finger inside herself. It made her whimper in pleasure. Before he could instruct her further, she already started moving her finger in and out of her wet heat.

    Jin Liwei stroked himself faster. He started to pant. Rivulets of sweat dripped down his skin. "Sit down, love. I want to see you clearly."

    She closed the toilet seat and sat on top of it. Then she opened her legs and ced one of her feet on the edge of the toilet seat while the other foot remained on the floor. She already knew that he liked this kind of exposed position.

    And indeed, Jin Liwei sucked in a harsh breath at the erotic sight. His erection got harder and started leaking a little.

    "Darling, you¡¯re such a pervert."

    "For you, always."

    Just like that, they watched each other pleasure themselves. Jin Liwei pumped himself with his hand, while Iris thrust two fingers inside her. Their grunts and moans echoed inside the bathroom.

    "Faster, love," he hissed through gritted teeth. He was quickly reaching his climax but wanted her to reach it first.

    She released a sexy sound in response and her fingers increased speed. Her cries of pleasure immediately drowned all other sounds. She squeezed her eyes shut. Then her body stiffened and started trembling as she finally reached her climax. A mixture of moans, cries and whimpers escaped from her lips.

    She heard a deep groan right in front of her. Her eyes opened and warm liquid started spurting all over her. She saw him standing right in front of her, desperately pumping all of his release on her body.

    He was gasping when he finished. Then he held her chin and lifted it so that she was looking up at him.

    "How was it? Fun, right?" he asked after he calmed down.

    She nodded.

    "You like it?"

    She nodded again. Then she said, "But I like it better when you¡¯re actually touching me."

    He smirked. "Me too. Wait here, love. Don¡¯t shower yet. I¡¯ll be back." He walked out of the bathroom.

    Iris stood up and used a wet towel to clean his mess from her body. Some even got on her face. She didn¡¯t mind it, though.

    It didn¡¯t take long till Jin Liwei returned with a box of condoms.

    Her eyes lit up when she saw him hard and standing up once again. Although she just climaxed a few moments ago, she could feel desire surging inside her once again.

    The sound of tearing foil heightened her anticipation. She watched him sheathe himself with a condom.

    "Come here," he told her after he was done.

    She immediately went to him. His hands covered her butt and lifted her up. He carried her that way, making her wrap her legs around him. They started kissing, as he tried aligning her wet entrance on top of his erection.

    Then he suddenly mmed her down. Iris cried out while he groaned in pleasure when they were finally joined together.

    Still standing and carrying her in his arms, he began bouncing her on top of him. He bnced and supported her entire weight.

    She wasn¡¯t heavy, so it wasn¡¯t a big strain on him to carry her for the entire time. In fact, he even sped up the bouncing. The loud pping of their wet flesh echoed inside the entire bathroom.

    Iris was moaning and crying out, feeling more pleasure than usual because this standing position also excited her. This was the first time they tried it. She couldn¡¯t really do anything but hold on because all of the control was on him.

    Opening her eyes, she looked at his face. He looked feral.

    "More..." she demanded.

    He grunted and walked them in front of the sink. Then he made her sit on the edge of the countertop with her legs still wrapped around him. With unbelievable focus and speed, he started mming himself inside her again and again.

    Tears flowed down Iris¡¯ face because of too much pleasure. She quickly reached orgasm but he wasn¡¯t finished yet. He continued his deliciously fierce lovemaking until she was sobbing all over his neck. She called his name over and over, holding on to him for dear life.

    With a loud roar, he came just as she climaxed once again.

    He slid out of her and quickly discarded the used condom. He waited until both of them calmed down. Then he wiped her tears with his fingers, giving her a gentle kiss on the lips.

    "Are you okay?" he asked, a bit worried.

    She nodded, sniffing. Then she gave a faint smile. "That was amazing."

    He chuckled, relieved. "I know."

    "Let¡¯s do it again."

    His brows rose before a pleased smile broke out of his face. "Mydy¡¯s wish is mymand."

    And just like that, the sounds of another intense lovemaking echoed inside the bathroom.

 Chapter 384 - Not The Real Long Xiulan

    <h4>Chapter 384 - Not The Real Long Xin </h4>

    The lovers, Iris and Jin Liwei, spent an enjoyable weekend staying at the hotel. For an entire day, they mostly stayed inside the suite making love over and over again. Their desire for each other was insatiable.

    Jin Liwei decided to give his butler another raise because the man made sure to pack plenty of condoms. Both he and Iris already had a preference for a specific brand and type. The butler made sure to pack mostly that with a few experimental ones (just in case they wanted to try something new). His butler was truly a thoughtful person.

    When the two were newly engaged and just returned to the country from Europe, they started making love regrly. Iris noticed that they were using up a lot of condoms. She thought of using birth control pills instead so Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t have to use condoms anymore.

    Months ago, she consulted Dr. Ching and her gynecologist. However, they became hesitant to prescribe pills for her. She had a history of sudden mood swings, fainting, and even going intoa two times.

    Even up till now, they still had no idea what caused these health conditions. They were concerned that taking birth control pills or any hormonal medications might trigger her past health conditions once again or maybe even exacerbate them.

    Of course, Iris knew what caused her so-called health problems. It was the original Iris¡¯ remnant, but she couldn¡¯t tell them that. They might send her to a psychiatrist instead.

    Although she didn¡¯t think that the remnantpletely went away after what happened with Fan Luo and the rm Girls, the original Iris¡¯ revenge for her death was alreadyplete. Iris thought that the remnant shouldn¡¯t re up again in a dangerous manner.

    It most likely went into a dormant state after achieving revenge against Fan Luo. Iris hadn¡¯t felt it stirring since then. There were times when she became suspicious, especially when she met with Long Jinjing and the Long elders for the first time, but they were probably false rms.

    Iris still had no idea that the remnant opted for an inconspicuous fusion with her this time, instead of forcefully wrenching control of the body from her. She wasn¡¯t aware that the evolution of her own emotions because of the remnant was almostplete.

    Once it wasplete, the remnant would cease to exist as a separate entity but would indelibly be a part of her forever. There would no longer be any distinctions between her and the remnant.

    Whether this evolution would strengthen or weaken her remained to be seen.

    Back to the matter about the birth control pills, Iris personally didn¡¯t think that it would affect her health negatively. However, the doctors disagreed. They wanted her to undergo several tests first before they prescribed any pill to her. She thought it was such a huge hassle.

    When Jin Liwei learned about the matter and the doctors¡¯ opinions about it, he started researching about birth control options. He was horrified reading all of the possible side-effects. He immediately discouraged Iris from taking birth control pills.

    "Darling, not all women will experience those side-effects. Only very few will experience those and they¡¯re the most extreme cases. I think I¡¯ll be alright," she tried to assure him.

    However, he wasn¡¯t buying it. "No, I don¡¯t want to risk it. Even if the possibility is only 0.01% or less, I don¡¯t want to risk you, love. You¡¯re too important to me. Besides, even your doctors don¡¯t want to prescribe them to you because of your past health history. So no, love. Let¡¯s stick to what we¡¯re using now, okay?"

    Iris tilted her head to the side, thinking about it. She wanted to persuade him that her past health problems were not caused by anything medical. It was the remnant. However, she stopped herself.

    How would he react if she told him that she wasn¡¯t the real Iris Long? Would he still love her? Would he think she was crazy? Would he leave her?

    She suddenly felt scared. She had never loved anyone before like how she loved Jin Liwei. It was a different kind of love she felt for her Big Brother Niki and their father. Losing Jin Liwei now would certainly devastate her like no other.

    "Hm? What¡¯s wrong, love?" he asked her, noticing the fear in her eyes. He pulled her into his arms to hug andfort her.

    She also hugged him by the waist. Her arms tightened around him, almost squeezing him painfully. However, he didn¡¯t mind. Then she pressed her face against his chest and inhaled his masculine scent.

    "I love you, Jin Liwei."

    A faint smile lifted the corners of his mouth. "I love you more, Long Xin."

    Her heart jumped in an ufortable way.

    ¡¯But I¡¯m not the real Long Xin,¡¯ she thought.

    ¡¯No, you are Long Xin now,¡¯ something whispered inside her. However, she thought that it was just her own thoughts.

    "Love, tell me what¡¯s wrong." He was starting to feel worried by her increasingly dark expression.

    She didn¡¯t answer right away.

    He didn¡¯t force her to tell him. He just continued to embrace her, waiting for her to tell him whatever was bothering her on her own volition. If she told him, great. If not, it was alright. However, he hoped that she would tell him. He wanted them to openly share their feelings with each other.

    They remained embracing for a few minutes before Iris spoke again. She looked up at him. Her dark expression was nowhere to be seen. It waspletely impassive instead, which bothered him more than her earlier dark expression.

    "What if I¡¯m not the same person you thought I was?" she suddenly asked him in a whisper. "What if I¡¯m not really Long Xin? How would you feel? Would you still love me?"

    Jin Liwei frowned,pletely confused by her questions.

    "Never mind. Forget I asked," she said, lowering her eyes. Then she began to pull away from the embrace.

    However, he didn¡¯t let her go. He lifted her chin with his fingers, coaxing her to look directly at his eyes.

    "Although I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re suddenly asking me all of these, I want you to know that ever since the beginning, you weren¡¯t the person that I thought you were. I fell in love with the woman I met at that hotel lobby, not the Long Xin¡ªthe Iris Long that I kept on hearing about from other people."

    She once again tightened her arms around him, gazing up at his face.

    "I fell in love with the woman who asked me for a million RMB per report, the woman who bit my lips when I first kissed her, the woman I had half a sex with inside my car, the woman who measured my dick with a tape measure during our first night on bed together..."

    A giggle escaped from Iris¡¯ lips remembering that moment she nonchntly measured him as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

    His expression became gentle as he rubbed her back and stroked her hair. He continued speaking, "I fell in love with the woman who made me dance in a Zumba ss, the woman who made me a father of two precious kittens, the woman who kneed my poor balls and dick because I was being a possessive asshole, the woman who made me eat fruits every day to experiment on the taste of my semen, the woman who¡ª"

    "That¡¯s enough. I understand," she whispered, chuckling softly. A lovely smile shone on her face, making her beauty even more breathtaking in his eyes.

    However, he still continued. "I fell in love with the woman who made me the man that I am today. Without you, I would still be the same asshole that I was before. I am a better man now because of you."

    Her eyes filled up, but she didn¡¯t let the tears fall. His words touched her deeply, filling her with the warmth of love and happiness. He calmed the doubts and fear inside her.

    "So whoever you are or whatever kind of person you were or end up bing in the future, I am in love with you and you alone. Even if you end up bing the most evil person in existence, I¡¯ll still stay beside you and love you until the end of time," he told her, his voice serious and sincere.

    "Oh, Liwei."

    "Look at me."

    "I am looking at you," she replied.

    "Never doubt my love for you. Even if we die and are reborn into different people, I¡¯ll make sure to find you and love you all over again."

    Her heart skipped a beat. "Really?"

    "Yes."

    She took a few deep breaths and asked, "What if...I wasn¡¯t really Long Xin in the first ce? What if I was somebody else before this? What if...what if I disappear and the real Long Xin returns? Would you continue to love Long Xin because of this body?"

 Chapter 385 - Dont Underestimate My Love

    <h4>Chapter 385 - Don''t Underestimate My Love </h4>

    Jin Liwei felt even more confused by her questions. However, he could sense that his answers were very important to her. So even when he felt utterly confused, he still did his best to answer her questions to the best of his ability.

    He framed her beautiful face between hisrge hands. He looked directly at her eyes, trying to convey his sincerity to her as much as possible.

    "Love, like I just said, you are the one I love. Only you. If you¡¯re not really Long Xin, then I don¡¯t love Long Xin. The one I love is you, whoever you are." He dipped his head to kiss her gently on the lips. "If you ever disappear, then my love will also disappear. Your body is just a husk. If you¡¯re not in it, then it¡¯s not you."

    Iris continued gazing at him, feeling like she was floating over the clouds. However, she still continued to ask him. "Will you really know it¡¯s not me, even if it¡¯s the same body?"

    "Of course," he immediately replied. Then he put a fist on his chest over his heart. "We¡¯re connected here. If it¡¯s not you, I won¡¯t feel anything here. Don¡¯t underestimate my love for you."

    She nodded. "Okay."

    They continued embracing each other. Iris just fell in love with Jin Liwei more deeply at that moment. She could really feel how much he loved her. It brought her so much happiness.

    ¡¯Someday, maybe I¡¯ll tell him everything or maybe not,¡¯ she thought.

    As for Jin Liwei, he felt relieved that his baby girl finally rxed. He was still very confused by her questions but love was love. It didn¡¯t need any exnations. He loved her and that was what mattered.

    Then he remembered what they were talking about earlier.

    "Love?"

    "Hm? What is it?" she asked.

    "I just want to tell you that you don¡¯t have to risk your health for birth control. There is no need for you to ingest a pill every day, or be injected with something, or have a foreign object inserted inside yourself," he told her. "I don¡¯t mind wearing condoms. I¡¯ll wear it until you¡¯re ready to bear my child."

    She pondered about it. "We almost tore a few condoms already. You¡¯re very wild, you know..."

    A slight smirk lightened his serious expression. "Only me? But I remember a few instances when someone kept on waking me up to ride me in the middle of the night¡ª"

    She giggled. Her cheeks turned slightly red, but she didn¡¯t really look embarrassed at all. "Okay, I¡¯m wild too. We¡¯re both wild."

    "En." He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Don¡¯t worry too much. I already switched to a different condom. It¡¯s supposed to be more durable."

    "Oh, good."

    "But of course, no matter how durable it is, it¡¯s still not 100% foolproof. Other than abstaining from sex which I don¡¯t want us to do, there is no birth control that is 100% protected. If you be pregnant, I¡¯ll be ecstatic. I¡¯m always ready to have a child with you," he told her.

    She looked at him nervously.

    He pulled her again into his arms and kissed the top of her head. He gently rubbed her back, soothing her anxiety. "But of course, we¡¯ll wait until you¡¯re ready. Don¡¯t ever feel pressured about bearing my children, love. From now on, we¡¯ll take everything one step at a time. Okay?"

    "Okay."

    After that conversation between them, Iris and Jin Liwei became even closer to each other. She still felt nervous about the idea of bearing her own child because of her mother issues, but she never doubted that Jin Liwei would be an amazing father. That thought alone was making her a bit morefortable with the idea of bing a mother herself.

    Back to the present.

    After a day of tireless lovemaking in the hotel, Iris and Jin Liwei spent the next day exploring the city and enjoying the sights. It was mostly a business-focused city. That was why it was chosen as the venue for this year¡¯s international business conference.

    Both of them were in full disguise. They wore sunsses, face masks and hats. Usually, it would only be Iris who would wear a disguise, but there were still some paparazzi remaining in the city.

    Jin Liwei was heavily featured in the news recently because of Jin Corporation¡¯s big presence during the international business conference. Those who followed the conference on the news would easily recognize him without the disguise.

    Finally, they returned home the next day.

    They spent a couple days more just enjoying each other¡¯spany before they returned to their own respective works. Both of them immediately became very busy.

    Jin Liwei led Jin Corporation into negotiating and finalizing the deals they obtained from the international business conference. These deals, once sessful, would reinforce Jin Corporation¡¯s position as the number onepany in the country and one of the most powerful multi-national presences in Asia.

    When Iris returned to her work in showbiz, she found it a bit weird that everyone was treating her differently. Everyone seemed to be nicer and more weing to her. She was puzzled at first because she expected that her poprity would decrease a bit after taking a leave from showbiz for the international business conference.

    It was Dom who exined everything to her.

    "Boss, of course you became even more famous! Everyone now knows that you¡¯re a genius! TV programs keep on featuring you speaking so manynguages. Whenever someone recognizes the handsome and gorgeous me as your assistant, I feel so proud! Ehehehe."

    Tang Yiyi also nodded. "Iris, we have received so many interview offers for you. I would like you to ept some of them and talk about your linguistic skills. This is an opportunity for the public to see apletely different side of you besides the musician and young beauty that you are. Working as an interpreter at the international business conference put you in a brighter spotlight than if you participated in the Bright Summit All-Stars summer concert. The concert was absolutely crazy, thepetition extremely fierce. Only very few celebrities were able to shine brightly during the concert."

    "I personally watched the concert, boss, so I agree with Elder Sis Yiyi. I think that Boss Brother Jin Chonglin shone the brightest. And oh! Pandemonium also rocked the stage. Almost everyone was screaming for them, including the gorgeous me. Ehehehe. Eros was so hot...wait, Night was also hot. Eh? What to do? I can¡¯t decide which was hotter!" Dom squealed and fanned himself dramatically with his hands.

    Tang Yiyi rolled her eyes at Dom before speaking to Iris once again. "The Pandemonium boys have improved a lot on their techniques after working with you on ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯. Both Eros and Night improved the most..."

    The three continued to talk about things that Iris missed during her leave. Both Dom and her manager helped her catch up. They also discussed her full schedule for the next few months.

    During this busy period, the Long elders made several attempts to meet Iris. At first, they "summoned" her. Iris snorted in disdain. Summon her? Who did the elders think they were? Some royalty who could summon whoever they wanted?

    The only people she really cared about from the Long family were Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Meimei. Long Hui? Not so much. She tolerated him because he was the father of her godson and the fianc¨¦ of her friend. Of course, Little Jun was also a Long but she considered him as part of her and Jin Liwei¡¯s family more than the Longs.

    If it was Long Tengfei who "summoned" her, she would probably listen depending on his reason for doing so. But the Long elders? No way.

    The ill feelings inside Iris for the Longs, especially the elders, didn¡¯t feel so strange anymore. They felt more natural and part of her. She thought that they were actually her own feelings. It was one of the subtle effects of the remnant fusing with her.

    These ill feelings also weren¡¯t as intense anymorepared to when she experienced them full-force during Long Tengfei¡¯s birthday. That time, her emotions were highly unstable and almost made her lose control.

    But now she felt more in control of them.

    After several failed attempts of "summoning" her, the elders tried a different tactic. They started sending her gifts and (not so subtly) asking her to formally introduce her fianc¨¦, Lu Zihao, to the entire Long n. They also expressed their desire to form a closer connection to her future grandfather-inw, Sir Lu Jianhong.

    Iris only ignored them. She decided to focus on her family with Jin Liwei, her career and businesses, rather than on wasting her time and brain cells on the Longs who only knew how to look down on others and overestimate themselves.

    She didn¡¯t think much of them. However, they began to think highly of her during the international business conference. When the media started describing her as a genius, Long Hui silently lost a lot of his support within the n. Many decided to support Iris instead.

    It wasn¡¯t only because she would be the future Madam Lu anymore. Some of the Longs were already starting to think that she would be a more suitable sessor than Long Hui.

    A vicious battle of session was about to engulf the Longs.

 Chapter 386 - My Own Company

    <h4>Chapter 386 - My Own Company </h4>

    It was a busy summer season for Iris Long.

    She was currently one of the most in demand celebrities in the country. Her status as a multi-award-winning musician and as a genius polyglot increased her fame and reputation. There was no doubt that she sessfully established herself as a household name across the country.

    Several multi-million endorsement deals were offered to her. Of course, she epted some of them but also rejected a lot. The Bright Summit higher-ups couldn¡¯t understand why she would reject such enticing deals. Despite doing their best in persuading her to change her mind, she didn¡¯t budge.

    The higher-ups were dismayed that they couldn¡¯t reason with Iris. So they scolded Tang Yiyi instead when Iris wasn¡¯t present.

    "Manager Tang, I think Iris Long¡¯s head is growing bigger because she¡¯s bing more famous. These endorsement deal offers are from world-renowned beauty brands! Other celebrities will do anything just to get these deals, but she¡¯s rejecting them?! She should treat these as once in a lifetime opportunities. Anything can happen in showbiz. She won¡¯t always have this level of fame for her entire career! You should talk to her and make her understand what she¡¯s going to miss because of her ignorance."

    Tang Yiyi could only apologize, nod her head, and assure the higher-ups that she would talk to Iris and try to persuade her to change her mind. When they finally left, she sighed.

    "Of course Iris isn¡¯t going to ept any endorsement offers from beauty brands. Why should she endorse her ownpany¡¯spetition?" Tang Yiyi muttered under her breath.

    She only recently found out that Iris was developing her own beautypany. At first, Tang Yiyi also couldn¡¯t understand why Iris rejected the endorsement offers. She constantly bothered Iris in an effort to change her mind.

    Then Iris brought Tang Yiyi to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s factory, then to the warehouse, and finally to thepany¡¯s current main office. Tang Yiyi was very confused why Iris was touring her around this unknownpany.

    "I¡¯ve been using Orchidia Beauty¡¯s products for some time now," Iris told her.

    "Oh? I was wondering why you¡¯ve been glowing, so that¡¯s why! Your skin looks smoother and healthier."

    Iris looked pleased at thepliment. "I¡¯ve been using Orchidia Beauty¡¯s skincare products since I returned from Europe. Well, the products weren¡¯t called Orchidia Beauty then, nor were they this developed. The form and their effectiveness have improved a lot since then."

    "Okay... So? Why are you telling me all of these?" Tang Yiyi didn¡¯t understand. "Wait... Did thispany made an endorsement offer to you and you want to ept it? Iris, you should tell me these things first. If you really like their products, no problem. I¡¯ll negotiate the best deal for you. But you have to understand that this Orchidia Beauty or whatever isn¡¯t a well-knownpany in the country. At least I¡¯ve never heard of it before. Endorsing world-renowned beauty brands will be more beneficial to you."

    Instead of answering her, Iris handed her manager a freebie bag filled with Orchidia Beauty skincare products.

    "Here, Elder Sister Yiyi. You can try them yourself. I guarantee that you¡¯ll love them and you¡¯ll see results after using them for only a few days."

    Then sheunched into sales talk, describing the benefits of each of the products. She even grabbed Tang Yiyi¡¯s arm and began applying tiny amounts of various lotions and serums.

    "Iris! What are you doing? Answer me first!" Tang Yiyi grabbed the bottle of lotion from Iris and stopped her from applying more on her skin.

    "Fine. Orchidia Beauty didn¡¯t make any endorsement offers to me," Iris said.

    Tang Yiyi frowned. "Then why did you reject the endorsement offers from those other famous beauty brands? Why are you so into this Orchidia Beauty?"

    "Because Orchidia Beauty is my ownpany. I¡¯m not going to endorse mypetition. That¡¯s just stupid, Elder Sister Yiyi. Besides, I know that mypany¡¯s products are superior to anything avable on the market right now."

    "Huh?" Tang Yiyi blinked a few times. Her brain momentarily failed to process what she just heard. "What..."

    Iris swept her hands. "This entire ce, the factory and the warehouse that we visited earlier¡ªeverything is mine. So make sure to use mypany¡¯s products from now on. Okay, Elder Sister Yiyi?"

    A few dayster, Tang Yiyi called Iris in excitement.

    "Iris, the products you gave me are amazing! My face has cleared up and looks brighter! My skin also feels so moisturized, even though I only use the products once a day! How much are these? Let me buy more!"

    Iris chuckled. "They¡¯re not avable for sale yet, Elder Sister Yiyi. I can give you some more samples, if you want. But once weunch, you need to buy the products because I won¡¯t give them to you for free anymore."

    With that, Iris was able to make Tang Yiyi support her decision to reject the endorsement offers from the other famous beauty brands.

    Back to the present.

    Tang Yiyi returned to her office after speaking with the higher-ups. She needed to keep Iris¡¯pany a secret. Bright Summit¡¯s higher-ups would certainly be unhappy that there was no chance for Iris to change her mind. Some of them might even discourage Iris fromunching her own beautypany and products because Bright Summit wouldn¡¯t get a cut from it, unlike regr endorsement deals.

    "Better not tell anyone about it for now," she murmured to herself.

    ###

    Because of Meimei, Iris started to get closer to Long Jinjing and Chen Fei. Meimei would invite all of them to hang out together whenever they were free. Of course, Jiang Ying Yue was also part of the group.

    Dom also joined because he and Meimei were self-proimed spirit twins. With his addition, the group became insanely boisterous. At first, he shed against Chen Fei. He didn¡¯t like the woman¡¯s snide remarks about Iris.

    He wasn¡¯t aware that it was already normal for both Iris and Chen Fei to insult each other. There weren¡¯t any hard feelings between the two anymore. They even began liking each other. Still, they continued verbally attacking each other.

    Meimei, Long Jinjing and Jiang Ying Yue were already used to Iris and Chen Fei. They could feel that there weren¡¯t any animosity or hatred whenever the two insulted each other. Meimei even dered that insulting each other was Iris and Chen Fei¡¯s way of expressing their friendship.

    "Who¡¯s friends with this bitch? Not me." Chen Fei said.

    Iris looked at Chen Fei straight in the eyes. Then with a lovely smile, she said in a singsong voice, "Roses are red, violets are blue, look at my five fingers, the middle one is for you~"

    "What did you say, bitch?" Chen Fei scowled at her.

    Iris gasped in exaggerated horror. "What uncultured words, Chen Fei! Your uncouth behaviour deserves a pping. But if I were to p you, it would be considered as animal abuse!"

    "You!"

    "Ahahahaha! That¡¯s a good one, Xin!" Meimei burst intoughter while pping her thighs. "I love that you¡¯re bing more expressive now and not too robotic anymore! You can even joke now! I¡¯m so proud of you!"

    Iris shrugged. "I learned these from Dom."

    "Well, my twin bro is the best!"

    Jiang Ying Yue alsoughed but more subduedpared to Meimei¡¯s raucousughter. A giggle escaped from Long Jinjing¡¯s lips before she stopped herself when Chen Fei red at her.

    Chen Fei also red at Meimei and Jiang Ying Yue. Meimei justughed harder, even pointing at Chen Fei while doing so. Jiang Ying Yue wasn¡¯t the least bit intimidated by Chen Fei¡¯s re. She could clearly sense that there was no anger behind it.

    Scenes like these becamemon for the group. However, Dom didn¡¯t know about this kind of rtionship between Iris and Chen Fei when he joined. That was why Dom got into heated arguments with Chen Fei. He fiercely defended Iris and treated Chen Fei like an enemy.

    Meimei tried exining to him many times that Iris and Chen Fei weren¡¯t really fighting whenever they insulted each other. However, Dom was extremely loyal to Iris. He would get triggered every time he heard Chen Fei saying something unpleasant about Iris.

    Suddenly, the Iris vs. Chen Fei battles became Dom vs. Chen Fei instead. But after a few meetings and after knowing each other more, Dom and Chen Fei started getting along.

    These girls¡¯ days out, as Dom called it, continued. They all grew closer to each other.

    When Meimei, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei finally graduated from university that summer, Iris and the others threw a celebration dinner for them at a restaurant. While eating, they discussed their career ns.

    Meimei already rejected Long Industries¡¯ job offer. She was happily living her dream as a webtoon artist.

    As for the other two, they still nned on working at a small branch division of Long Industries. They estimated that it would take them a few years before they could be promoted to the mainpany like what happened to Long Jian. While they were talking, Iris handed them a file folder each.

    "What¡¯s this, little sister?" Long Jinjing asked.

    Chen Fei opened the folder and began reading aloud. "Orchidia Beauty is a skin-carepany founded by Long Xin and the German siblings Alric and Alona Bauer... Huh? Oh, is this one of yourpanies you were talking about before?"

    "Yes," Iris confirmed.

    Chen Fei: "So? Why did you give this to me and Jinjing? You want to gloat that you have your ownpany while your sister and I need to start from the bottom of your father¡¯spany? Hmph!"

    Iris leaned back on her chair while looking at both Chen Fei and Long Jinjing.

    "Why start from the bottom of an oldpany as errand girls when you can be executives of a newpany instead? Isn¡¯t is more exciting to make something sessful with your own abilities? Long Industries? Boring. Come work for my Orchidia Beauty instead."

 Chapter 387 - Exclusive Business Network

    <h4>Chapter 387 - Exclusive Business Network </h4>

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei didn¡¯t immediately agree to Iris¡¯ offer. They took a few days before giving her their final decision. But in the end, they epted her offer to work for herpany, Orchidia Beauty.

    Iris was the President-CEO and of course, the owner. Alric Bauer was the CPO (Chief Product Officer). His sister, Alona Bauer, was his assistant for now. Iris had ns for Alona in the future.

    Then she appointed Chen Fei as the COO and Long Jinjing as the CFO.

    It was also around this time when Dom¡¯s sister, Clover Chua, finally arrived from the Philippines. She graduated a couple of months earlier than Chen Fei and Long Jinjing, but her papers took longer to process before she received approval to work in China.

    Clover immediately joined the girl squad. The twins Dom and Meimei were ecstatic, as they became triplets again. The three already bonded when the Chua family visited the country. She connected so naturally with the rest of the girl squad, as if she had been friends with them for years.

    For now, Clover was assigned to work as Iris¡¯ administrative assistant at Orchidia Beauty. Iris wanted her to polish her Mandarinnguage skills and get used to the Chinese business industry first before promoting her to an executive positionter on.

    Iris also ced Clover to live at the penthouse. Yi Mei and the other household staff were delighted to have someone in the ce once again for them to take care of.

    Long Jinjing, Chen Fei and Clover were all very excited in their new positions and the endless possibilities of a newly establishedpany. They were all very motivated and determined to make Orchidia Beauty a sess.

    At first, Chen Fei and Long Jinjing thought that Iris hired them to run thepany in her stead. They had the impression that Iris would only be a symbolic figurehead of thepany.

    Within a week of closely working with her, however, they quickly realized that Iris not only had the skills but also the experience of effectively running a business. She knew what she wanted, was very methodical in creating a strategy to achieve her business goals, and was very decisive in implementing the strategy.

    It was actually the three newly graduated business majors who were learning a lot from Iris. They were like sponges absorbing all of the knowledge and experiences of running a business. Their business smarts were improving as the days passed by. It also helped a lot that they felt passionate about what they were doing.

    Surprisingly, Iris and Chen Fei developed a bnced dynamic in their leadership.

    Iris was more of the daring type who forged ahead at top speed to aplish whatever ideas she came up with. It was an excellent quality for a business head to have. But sometimes her fearless attitude in business was rming to the point of recklessness.

    Chen Fei introduced cautiousness into the mix. She was more of the conservative type who tended to y by the rules in business.

    The two of them still squabbled a lot while working, just like when they hung out together. But as they continued to work closely together, they were able to influence each other in positive ways.

    Iris continued to fly daringly in the sky with her business ideas, but Chen Fei tethered her to the ground with a loose string of caution, keeping her on track with their specific goals. Likewise, Iris was able to show Chen Fei that it was okay to explore new ideas and not to be so rooted to the traditional way of doing business.

    As for Long Jinjing, she immediately controlled thepany¡¯s budget. Despite her somewhat timid personality, she was surprisingly strict and unyielding when it came to doing her job.

    "Little Sister Xin, I mean Miss President, you can¡¯t just indiscriminately give away free samples to other people as you like. It¡¯s like giving away free money. We haven¡¯t made any profit yet, but you¡¯ve already given away so much. This must stop." Long Jinjing told Iris.

    "Miss CFO, I¡¯m not indiscriminately giving away free samples. This is called marketing. I¡¯m giving away the samples to our future customers," Iris retorted.

    "I know what marketing is, but what you¡¯re doing is too excessive, Miss President. There is no need to give multiple free samples to the same person. Letting them try once is enough. That¡¯s the purpose of a sample. It¡¯s not meant to be a regr free supply. If they want more, they just have to wait until we officiallyunch so they can buy our products. From now on, you¡¯re only allowed a limited number of samples per month to give away. I also suggest not to give to the same person more than once."

    Irisined but Long Jinjing didn¡¯t budge. She continued to grumble but, in the end, she understood Long Jinjing¡¯s point.

    "Fine, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ll just have to inform my manager and the others that I can¡¯t give them free samples anymore," Iris muttered.

    Long Jinjing sighed in relief. Persuading someone like Iris who had a strong stubborn streak was quite challenging. Fortunately, Iris had an open mind and would listen to reason. Long Jinjing was d that she was able to make his sister understand that being too generous wasn¡¯t always good when it came to business, especially for apany as new as theirs.

    Orchidia Beauty¡¯s finances were now tightly regted by Long Jinjing. She guarded thepany¡¯s money like an evil dragon guarding her treasure trove.

    One thing that she wasn¡¯t allowed to restrict, however, was the product development team. Alric Bauer was given first priority of thepany¡¯s funds to develop products. It was part of Iris¡¯ original agreement with him. But of course, he was only allowed this kind of privilege as long as his research and development benefitted Orchidia Beauty.

    Long Jinjing could only sigh at the astronomical expenses of the product development team, even though she knew that the products were the lifeblood of thepany. It was just her instinct as the CFO to save as much money as possible.

    Qiao Yu, Iris¡¯ personal financial manager who temporarily held thepany¡¯s CFO position, was relieved when Long Jinjing came along. He approved of Long Jinjing¡¯s strict control of thepany¡¯s finances.

    Managing the Young Miss Xin¡¯s personal finances is already very challenging on its own. Now I don¡¯t have to suffer the headache of managing herpanies¡¯ finances as well, he thought to himself.

    His job became even more exciting andplicated when Iris allocated arge part of her wealth to be invested within the Cross Academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork. The academy¡¯s businesswork spanned the entire globe, consisting of some of the most lucrative investment opportunities in the industry.

    Jin Corporation was a member of thiswork because of Grandpa Lu. Almost all of the Cross Academy alumni and partners signed their businesses up as members in this exclusivework. The goal was to support each other and profit together. It also benefitted the members because their businesses were backed by the legendary Cross Academy.

    Iris submitted a membership application for her Gold Heightspany but it was rejected. It being gifted to her without any effort from her worked against her. She could only sigh at the rejection and shrug it off.

    As for Monkey, it needed to reach a certain profit threshold first before it could qualify for consideration. Iris nned on submitting applications for both Monkey and Orchidia Beauty in the future to make them members of the academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork.

    Managing all of these was Qiao Yu. Exploring and navigating the impressive businesswork of Cross Academy was like a dreame true for him. It felt like he just ascended from the mortal ne to join the realm of immortals.

    No, that was incorrect. He was just an emissary sent to represent Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, who was the real member of this exclusivework of immortals.

    Ever since he discovered this exclusivework, Qiao Yu felt like he had just discovered his real purpose in life. He already achieved the goal of making Iris a billionaire in China at the age of 20. Although Iris didn¡¯t give him a new goal, he made up another one for her instead.

    "In China, you¡¯re already a billionaire. But in a global scale, you¡¯re just a multi-millionaire. I¡¯m going to make you a certified billionaire in the world, not only in China, before you¡¯re 25. And you don¡¯t need to marry into the Jin family to do that. I¡¯ll make you a billionaire in your own right," he promised her.

 Chapter 388 - Sell Soul To The Devil

    <h4>Chapter 388 - Sell Soul To The Devil </h4>

    Iris¡¯ eyebrows rose after hearing Qiao Yu¡¯s promise.

    She was alreadyfortable with her current financial position because it was allowing her to pursue her ambitions freely and independently.She didn¡¯t really have that much of a desire to be a billionaire on a global scale¡ªat least, at the moment. That wasn¡¯t her goal from the beginning, anyway.

    Her goal was to have enough resources to pursue her dreams and to live a life of freedom and independence on her own terms. Then Jin Liwei came along. Her life ns had to change a bit to include him now, too.

    However, it seemed that her personal financial manager had a different idea about what was enoughresources. In his definition, it was to be a billionaire on a global scale.

    And she wasn¡¯t against it. In fact, she liked it!

    She nodded in approval. "Good. This way, I¡¯ll have more dowry when I marry Jin Liwei. Not that he minds whether I bring in dowry or not. Mr. Qiao, go ahead and do what you think is needed."

    After receiving her permission, Qiao Yu immediately focused on making Iris many times wealthier than she already was. He invested her wealth using the Cross Academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork.

    Compared to the world-level investors like Sir Lu Jianhong and even Jin Liwei, she was still considered a pipsqueak based on her level of wealth.

    "It¡¯s time to change that. She¡¯ll surely be the next powerful dragon who will astound the entire business world. And one of the key figures who will make that happen is me, Qiao Yu! Mwahahaha!"

    He cackled in excitement and rubbed his hands together, looking very much like an evil viin plotting world domination.

    ###

    The news about Long Jinjing and her friend Chen Fei rejecting Long Industries¡¯ job offers after their graduation to work instead for Iris¡¯pany spread among the entire Long n.

    In addition to this, they confirmed that Long Industries already started shipping for Iris¡¯pany. And they weren¡¯t some small-scale shipments either. These were big shipments from different parts of the world being delivered to her mysteriouspany.

    Long Jufang called for a secret meeting at his home. Most of the elders and other key rtives gathered together to discuss Iris¡¯ recent rise to prominence and her potential impact on the Long family.

    The meeting was secret in the sense that the main family and the branch families supporting it weren¡¯t informed about the gathering.

    The most powerful elders, Long Jufang and Long Meng, led the meeting. Itsted for several hours until the sky turned dark.

    After the meeting, the participants left Long Jufang¡¯s home. Discontent was obvious in their expressions. It seemed that the meeting didn¡¯t go well.

    One of the participants during the meeting, Long Xiaopeng, drove away in a hurry. Less than an hourter, he arrived at Long Jian and Zhu Ning¡¯s home.

    Inside the living room, Long Xiaopeng ryed everything that happened during the secret meeting to Long Jian and his mother, Zhu Ning.

    "Elder Jufang wants the n to support Young Miss Xin to be the next head of the family and Long Industries. He says that she¡¯s currently the best candidate to seed your father because of her recent aplishments, not to mention that she¡¯s engaged to be married to Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson. This means that she¡¯ll also be the next Madam Lu. Elder Jufang¡¯s n is to make Young Miss Xin both Madam Lu and the Long family head. This will ensure that our Long n will ascend to the same level of status as the Lu family."

    "What did you say?! They want that little slut to be the next head?!! Have they gone crazy?!!!" Zhu Ning shrieked at the top of her lungs, looking absolutely furious.

    Long Jian¡¯s expression darkened. "Long Jufang is the most powerful elder in the n. His words have great influence. If he wants to support Long Xin, then the others will also follow suit."

    "Not necessarily," Long Xiaopeng told them.

    "What do you mean, Uncle Xiaopeng?" Long Jian asked.

    "Elder Meng surprisingly disagrees with Elder Jufang. She wants Young Master Hui to remain as the heir. After all, the Young Master is the one who was trained since childhood to be the next head. She thinks that he is still the best candidate to seed Cousin Tengfei. However, she doesn¡¯t like the Young Master¡¯s fianc¨¦e and their illegi¡ªI mean, their son. She wants to separate them and find a more suitable marriage partner for the Young Master.

    "If I remember correctly, Elder Meng was the one who pushed for the union between Young Master Hui and Wu Qianxi the most. Her branch family also had the closest rtionship with the Wus. She was the most upset when the friendship between the Wus and our Long family was destroyed," Long Xiaopeng exined.

    Zhu Ning snorted. "I bet that hag received a promise from the Wus to favour her branch family after Wu Qianxi marries that swine Long Hui. So of course she¡¯s going to be upset!"

    "Please continue, Uncle Xiaopeng," Long Jian said.

    Long Xiaopeng nodded. "Elder Meng thinks that Young Master Hui¡¯s only w is his fianc¨¦e and their son. She believes that taking them out of the picture and getting a more suitable wife for the Young Master will make him the best possible sessor."

    "So who has more supporters, Long Jufang or Long Meng?" Long Jian asked.

    "I¡¯m not sure exactly," Long Xiapeng admitted.

    Both Long Jian and Zhu Ning looked dissatisfied by his answer.

    "However, I can estimate," he quickly added. "I¡¯ll say that at the moment, Young Master Hui still has the most supporters. However, he already lost a lot of them in thest few months. Many of them decided to support Young Miss Xin instead. Her supporters within the n are growing by the day. The n is currently divided into different camps. But there are more than just two camps. Obviously, Young Master Hui and Young Miss Xin are the two biggest camps. However, I know for sure that some of the branch families are nning to fight for their own candidates as well.

    "Of course, my branch family fully supports you, Jian¡¯er. We also already gotten the support of two other small branch families. Even though it¡¯s difficult for us to gain the support of the big branch families, we are quite sessful in gathering individuals from different branches to support you."

    "Oh, that¡¯s wonderful!" Zhu Ning eximed in delight and nodded in approval. "Son, you need to thank your Uncle Xiaopeng for working hard on your behalf.

    "Thank you, Uncle Xiaopeng."

    The older man looked slightly embarrassed. He cleared his throat and waved his hand modestly. "Don¡¯t be so formal. We¡¯re family. Besides, I personally believe that Jian¡¯er is the most suitable sessor. He¡¯s intelligent and has the skills to lead not only the n but Long Industries as well."

    "You¡¯re absolutely right! My son was transferred to the mainpany only recently, but he already got promoted to Deputy COO! How long did that swine Long Hui take before he got promoted to Deputy CFO? Years! It took him years! But my son only needed months! It¡¯s already obvious who¡¯s better between the two of them. My son is the best among Tengfei¡¯s children! Of course, it¡¯s because I¡¯m the mother!" Zhu Ningughed in a mixture of pride and glee.

    Long Jian smiled. He was also extremely pleased by his recent aplishment.

    He worked so hard to be the most useful member of the COO¡¯s team. He worked overtime almost everyday and made sure that all of his work was of the highest quality. It didn¡¯t take long until the COO made Long Jian apany him everywhere. He became indispensable to the COO, even more so than the man¡¯s own assistants.

    So when the Deputy COO quit because of personal issues, the COO immediately appointed Long Hui, bypassing the order of seniority. Of course, Long Hui epted. He didn¡¯t give a fuck about those grumbling in discontent because they were bypassed for the promotion.

    This happened after the international business conference.

    "Jian¡¯er, congrattions," Long Xiaopeng said.

    "Thank you, Uncle." Then Long Jian became serious again. "Never did I expect that my youngest sister, Long Xin, will be my biggest threat¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t call that little slut your sister!" Zhu Ning scolded. "You¡¯re an only child. You don¡¯t have any siblings! That fucker and those sluts don¡¯t deserve to be called your siblings! First, it was that fucker Hui and Xin slut teaming up. Now, even that Jinjing slut joined together with Xin slut! It¡¯s obvious that they¡¯re teaming up against you because they¡¯re afraid of your brilliance, my son! Because they know that you¡¯re the most worthy sessor of your father!"

    Long Jian listened to everything his mother said. He also began to believe that his own siblings were teaming up against him.

    "Don¡¯t worry, my son. I¡¯ll make sure to ce you as the next head of the Long family and Long Industries before I die. They have to crawl over my dead body before they can wrench that title away from you. I¡¯d even sell my soul to the devil just so you can seed. Just do your best and continue to work hard, my dear son. Leave everything to Mother."

    Zhu Ning¡¯s promise reassured Long Jian and calmed his troubled heart.

    On the other hand, it made Long Xiaopeng shiver. He momentarily imagined Zhu Ning as the devil herself before he shook his head, dismissing his overactive imagination.

 Chapter 389 - First Anniversary?

    <h4>Chapter 389 - First Anniversary? </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The executive van carrying Iris and Dom entered the massive gates of the property. It would take about twenty minutes before they reached the mansion. The sky was already dark.

    Dom was currently taking a nap, while Iris was deep in her own thoughts.

    She had turned twenty-one years old some time ago. Not long afterwards, Jin Liwei also celebrated his birthday and turned thirty-two.

    Recently, she read an online article about how semen volume decreased with age. Although it was still possible for men to remain fertile until they were sixty years of age, conceiving became more difficult.

    Iris was still young, so she wasn¡¯t too worried about herself. Besides, she wasn¡¯t ready to give birth to her own children yet. On the other hand, Jin Liwei already mentioned that he was ready to have children with her anytime.

    Although he already told her that he was willing to wait until she was ready, he wasn¡¯t getting any younger. Yes, he was currently still in his prime and was extremely virile, but the article she read caused her some concern.

    "I wonder if there are ways to dy the decline of semen volume...or maybe even boost it. Hmmm. I need to search this up," she murmured. "Or maybe I should ask a doctor. Dr. Ching? Or maybe Second Brother? I¡¯ll have to think more about this."

    Jin Liwei had no idea that his baby girl was thinking of making him undergo another round of her weird experiments. But whatever it was, he would surely offer his body as her personal test subject to do as she pleased.

    Finally, the van reached the mansion. Iris woke up Dom. It was alreadyte in the evening.

    They came from shooting a music video with Jin Chonglin. It was for the song heposed after Jin Liwei¡¯s suggestion that hepose his own song instead of making major changes to Iris¡¯ song. Since Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t allowed to make any major changes to the love song, Iris wasn¡¯t also allowed to interfere with his song¡¯sposition.

    But before they were able to shoot the music video, they had to learn and rehearse the dance choreography for a few weeks first. They had to squeeze their rehearsal times into their busy schedules.

    It was exhausting. But at the same time, she also found it fun and exciting because this was her first time performing a song like this. The song reminded her of Jin Liwei.

    The first time she rehearsed it in front of Jin Liwei at their home gym while he was working out, he suddenly lost control. He grabbed her and made love with her right on the floor. Good thing he always kept a couple of condoms in his pocket wherever he went just for moments like this.

    After that, she made several attempts to rehearse in front of him because she wanted to hear his opinions about the performance. However, he would lose control and make love with her every single time.

    It reached a point that whenever Iris wanted to make love, she would perform the song in front of him. She was never disappointed because he would always lose control and make her scream in pure pleasure afterwards.

    Iris smiled while remembering how hot her darling would be whenever he lost control of his desire for her. The delicious memories made her forget the aches in her body from shooting the music video with Jin Chonglin during the week. She felt relieved that they finallypleted shooting the music video earlier today.

    As for the love song sheposed, they already finished recording it. JJ alsopleted its post-production, and then submitted it to the TV drama producers. The love song was quickly approved and would be officially released a few days before the TV drama premiered in autumn this year.

    Back to the present, Iris and Dom climbed out of the van and entered the mansion. They walked into the grand foyer but stopped in their tracks at the sight that weed them.

    Thousands of red rose petals rained over them from the ceiling, flooding the wide expanse of the marble floor like crimson carpet. A full symphony orchestra¡ªthe one Iris always performed with¡ªwere arranged in a spectacr manner on the twin grand staircases. They yed beautiful, romantic music as soon as Iris and Dom arrived.

    Jin Liwei slowly walked over the carpet of red rose petals. In his arms, he carried a huge bouquet of flowers filled with mostly carnations and roses. There were even some real crystals weaved into the bouquet. They sparkled under the chandelier lights.

    "Kyaaaaah!!!" Dom squealed and pretended to faint.

    Iris didn¡¯t notice Dom¡¯s antics because all of her attention was on her darling. Jin Liwei looked so handsome that he took her breath away. She just stood there and stared at him like an idiot¡ªCOUGH COUGH¡ªlike a woman in love.

    Finally, Jin Liwei stopped in front of her. He handed her the huge bouquet of flowers.

    "For you. Happy First Anniversary, love," he told her.

    "Thank you, darling. Happy Anni¡ªhuh? What?"

    Iris¡¯ smile transformed into a confused expression. Her brows furrowed as she quicklybed her mind to confirm whether today was really their anniversary. The process only took a few seconds.

    "Darling, today is not our anniversary. I¡¯m certain of it."

    Some of the musicians were so shocked hearing her words that they stopped ying. The mansion¡¯s household staff who were watching close by almost tripped on their own feet. Their eyes widened, looking at their master in disbelief.

    Did he forget the date of their anniversary?!

    Dom stopped squealing, closed his eyes and ced his index fingers on his temples.

    "Hmmm!!!" He strained hard to remember whether today was really his boss and sir boss¡¯ anniversary. Then his eyes opened. He also looked at Jin Liwei in confusion.

    "Eh? Sir boss, boss is right. Today is not your anniversary. You¡¯re a few days too early."

    Everyone gasped. The musicpletely stopped, followed by an awkward silence. They couldn¡¯t believe that Jin Liwei would make such a dreadful mistake like this. The household staff already started retreating, afraid to face the wrath of their mistress.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "No, today is our anniversary."

    Iris was already feeling unhappy. "No, you¡¯re wrong. It¡¯s not today."

    "Love, it¡¯s today. I¡¯m sure of it," he insisted.

    "I said no!"

    The musicians and the household staff all flinched at her raised voice.

    A lone red petal fell from the ceiling andnded on the tip of her nose before falling to the floor with the rest of the rose petal carpet.

    Iris looked at the huge bouquet in her hands, at all the flowers and the other romantic decorations, at the musicians, and finally at Jin Liwei. It was obvious that he put in a lot of effort to prepare all of these for her.

    "I¡¯m sorry, darling." She threw herself into his chest. His arms immediately wrapped around her. She felt him kiss the top of her head. "I didn¡¯t mean to shout at you. I¡¯m feeling tired, plus it¡¯s also your fault because you got the date of our anniversary wrong. But I appreciate all of these. Everything looks beautiful. Thank you."

    "My pleasure, love. But I told you. I didn¡¯t get it wrong. Today is our anniversary," he continued to insist.

    Annoyed, Iris bit him on his chest. He grunted but otherwise allowed her to bite him.

    "Oh! I get it now!" Dom suddenly eximed. "Maybe sir boss is too excited to celebrate your anniversary that he decided to celebrate it early! I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I? Ehehehe! That¡¯s so romantic and cute~"

    "Really?" Iris asked.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Of course, I¡¯m excited. But no, today¡¯s celebration is correct because it¡¯s our anniversary. Exactly at this date one year ago, Xin and I had our first kiss. So it¡¯s our anniversary today."

    "Eh?" Dom was taken aback.

    "Huh?" Iris¡¯ expression mirrored Dom¡¯s.

 Chapter 390 - Explosive Rages

    <h4>Chapter 390 - Explosive Rages </h4>

    The symphony orchestra musicians on the double grand staircases all leaned forward, while the household staff edged closer. They all pricked their ears to listen.

    "Are you serious?" Iris asked. She looked up at Jin Liwei in disbelief.

    "Of course, I¡¯m serious," he replied. And indeed, his expression showed that he was.

    She released a heavy sigh. "Darling, didn¡¯t I already tell you that I don¡¯t acknowledge being in a rtionship with you before you officially asked me and I agreed to be your girlfriend? I don¡¯t understand why you would think that we became lovers when you first kissed me. I remember wanting to punch you on the face that time. I even borderline hated you."

    The eyes of the symphony orchestra musicians and the household staff widened.

    Wow! They didn¡¯t know about this. How interesting!

    They all leaned forward a bit more to the point that some of the musicians almost fell down the stairs. Fortunately, their colleagues caught them.

    A hint of sulkiness appeared on Jin Liwei¡¯s expression when he heard that she hated him in the past. However, it quickly disappeared and he became subdued remembering how he acted that time. He was such an asshole back then, not to mention his despicable role in hiding the truth about the car crash that almost killed her and sent her intoa.

    Thinking more deeply about the matter, it was actually quite surprising that he was able to make her fall in love with him. Fate really intertwined their lives in mysterious ways. All of the challenges that they faced to be where they were at now made him love her more.

    And now they were even engaged. If things went ording to n, they would get married, have babies and create their dream family together. He was looking forward to achieving all of these.

    Looking at his baby girl¡¯s exasperated expression, Jin Liwei framed her beautiful face between his hands. Stroking her soft cheeks, he told her in a low voice, "Thank you for loving me, Long Xin...or whoever you are."

    Iris¡¯ exasperation instantly melted, reced by a warm and fluffly feeling inside. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling at his words.

    "Jin Liwei, you¡¯re annoying but I also love that about you. Still annoying, though."

    One corner of his mouth curved up into a lopsided half-smirk.

    "Kyaaaaaah!!! Ah, my heart!" Dom squealed and clutched his chest in a dramatic manner.

    The household staff looked visibly relieved that their master and mistress weren¡¯t going to fight and were acting lovey-dovey again. They already learned that their mistress could be just as scary as their master when she was angry.

    What scared them was her unpredictability. With their master, they already knew what he was like when he was angry. His was more of a cold fury that transformed the entire mansion into frozen hell.

    In contrast, they didn¡¯t know exactly what to expect whenever their mistress was angered. Sometimes, she would also go into cold fury like their master. However, there were times when she would go into explosive rages, wreaking destruction throughout the mansion.

    These instances happened quite often after the night she attended her father¡¯s birthday party. The first time they experienced one of her explosive rages, they were all shocked and frightened out of their wits.

    She was furious at something she read online and smashed her tablet on the floor. Then she went on a smashing spree in one of the lounge rooms. She only calmed down after their master arrived and sweet-talked her.

    When she had these frightening mood swings a few more times, it reached a point that the butler couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. He talked to Jin Liwei.

    "Master, I think the mistress is pregnant. Should I buy a few home pregnancy tests? Or should I make an appointment with a doctor toe here to personally examine her?"

    "Calm down. She¡¯s not pregnant," Jin Liwei assured his butler. "Although I wouldn¡¯t mind if she was. We¡¯ve been using the condoms you¡¯re providing us without fail."

    The butler didn¡¯t look convinced. "Master, condoms aren¡¯t 100% effective. Besides, the mistress¡¯ mood swings have be too extremetely. She¡¯s usually calm and unaffected, but this time, she loses control so easily."

    "Yes, she¡¯s usually calm and unaffected, but she also has this side. She just doesn¡¯t show it often," Jin Liwei replied calmly.

    He remembered the time when she lost control and attacked him after he confessed to her that he hid the truth about her car crash. Her recent explosive rages reminded him of that time.

    "This is also a part of her, so we should just ept it," Jin Liwei told his butler. "Don¡¯t worry about this anymore. Advise the rest of the household staff not to take her rages personally. She¡¯s just stressed out right now. Besides, she feels sorry after raging."

    Despite their master¡¯s reassurances, the household staff still believed that their mistress was pregnant. They treated her with more care and fed her nutritious food. Then after some time, she stopped having these explosive rages. She was back to her usual calm self.

    They also noticed that she became more expressive and warmer when interacting with them. It was only then that they believed their master¡¯s reason that she was only stressed out and not really pregnant.

    Nevertheless, the household staff remained watchful of her mood. Having experienced her explosive rages before, they wanted to be prepared for when she exploded again in the future.

    Back to the present, the household staff felt like they just avoided a natural disaster from happening.

    As for the musicians, they wished they brought some popcorn to snack on while watching such an entertaining real-life drama happening right before their eyes. They were d to have epted this gig from Jin Liwei. Of course, they needed to sign an NDA first before they were allowed to perform at this private romantic event.

    When they discovered that Jin Liwei, the President-CEO of Jin Corporation, was actually Iris¡¯ real fianc¨¦, they were all extremely shocked. Many of them were already friends with Iris from working closely together on her music.

    Their admiration for her only increased after learning who her real fianc¨¦ was. If it were any other women, they would¡¯ve already bragged about their rtionship with Jin Liwei and used him to their advantage. But not Iris. She did things her way and used her own abilities, instead of relying on a man for everything.

    As for the lovey-dovey couple, they had already forgotten that there were other people around them. They had be too preupied with each other as usual that they even failed to hear Dom¡¯s loud squealing and cheering.

    "Darling, I still don¡¯t recognize today as our anniversary but since you already made all of this effort, let¡¯s not waste it. Let¡¯s call it our pre-anniversary celebration instead. We can celebrate our real anniversary again on the actual date which is in a few days," Iris said.

    Jin Liwei could only sigh. In his mind, today was really their anniversary. But his baby girl had spoken and ording to her, today wasn¡¯t their anniversary yet. "Alright, love. I understand. We¡¯ll do this again in a few days."

    She giggled. "Our pre-anniversary is already so extravagant. Let¡¯s do something much simpler on our actual anniversary."

    "If that¡¯s what you want. Anything for you."

    "I¡¯ll n it."

    "No, love. You¡¯re too busy. You¡¯ll be too exhausted if you add this one more thing to your schedule. Leave this to me, okay?"

    "Mmn... Okay. Thank you, darling. Happy Pre-Anniversary. I love you." She stood on her tippy-toes and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

    One of his arms circled around her waist, pulling her closer against his body. The huge bouquet got squished between them. His other hand squeezed her plump butt through her dress.

    "Happy Pre-Anniversary. I love you more. Always," he told her before kissing her deeply.

    The symphony orchestra started ying romantic music again, serenading the two lovers kissing above the carpet of red rose petals.

 Chapter 391 - Fall

    <h4>Chapter 391 - Fall </h4>

    A few dayster, Iris and Jin Liwei finally celebrated their actual anniversary. She told him that she wanted a much simpler celebration this timepared to the extravagant surprise he prepared a few days earlier.

    However, this was Jin Liwei. The man had a different definition of "simple"pared to normal people. Even more so now that he was doing it for his beloved baby girl. His already high standards increased even more when it came to Iris.

    In just a few days, he had one of the mansion¡¯s rotundas transformed into an enchanting man-made indoor forest filled with trees (many of them bore delicious fruits), crawling vines, and a variety of beautiful, colourful flowers. There were even some butterflies, dragonflies,dy bugs and bees flying around. In addition to this, he had a freaking koi pond built in the centre of this man-made forest.

    In the middle of the pond was an islet where a romantic dinner table was prepared for the lovers. A scenic stone bridge allowed people to reach the islet.

    When Iris arrived home in the evening from work, nobody was around. Even Dom mysteriously made some excuses, saying that he needed to talk to his sister Clover about something important, so he would be sleeping at the penthouse tonight. Dom brought Ice Cream and Popcorn with him.

    She knew that today was her anniversary with Jin Liwei. Her darling must have told everyone to make themselves scarce. As soon as she stepped inside the mansion, she received a text from Jin Liwei directing her on where to go.

    Excitement pumped within her, as she walked along the empty hallways to the ce Jin Liwei told her to go. Actually, the mansion wasn¡¯tpletely devoid of people. She saw some of the staff scurrying away to hide when they saw her. She chuckled in amusement at their actions.

    It seemed that Jin Liwei wanted to give her the impression that there were only the two of them in the mansion. His arrangements were making her wonder what he had prepared for their actual anniversary.

    Along the way, she encountered wooden sign posts, made to look old and rustic, leading her to the destination. Her excitement heightened with every sign post.

    Finally, she arrived at the transformed rotunda.

    She gasped and stared at the wondrous ce in amazement. The gentle sound of water from the pond was the first thing she heard. But with her great ears, she could faintly hear an instrumental fairy-like Celtic music in the background. She couldn¡¯t see any musicians, so the music must being from speakers somewhere.

    The music made the atmosphere magical.

    Her eyes scanned the ce, admiring the forest¡¯s natural beauty (although it was man-made). Then her sight zeroed in on the tall figure standing on the islet at the centre of the pond.

    Jin Liwei was wearing casual clothing¡ªa simple polo shirt and ck jeans. He should look out of ce in the forest with his outfit, but his aura was like that of a cold and powerful elven king.

    His eyes became gentle when she arrived. He extended his hand and beckoned her toe to him.

    Without waiting any longer, Iris ran towards her darling.

    The koi fishes swam away, startled by her running over the stone bridge.

    Once she reached the islet, she leaped and threw herself to Jin Liwei. He caught her in a tight embrace. Their mouths immediately locked in a passionate kiss.

    At that moment, the magical background music gradually became louder. The lovers felt like they were both transported into a fantasnd of fairies and elves. As a result, the passionate kiss became gentle and lingering. They chose to savour each other¡¯s tastes, instead of trying to devour each other hungrily.

    "Beautiful," Iris breathed into his mouth when the kiss ended. "This ce is incredibly beautiful."

    He gazed at her with half-lidded eyes, a soft smile on his lips. "You¡¯re the most beautiful, love. Happy anniversary."

    "Happy anniversary," she replied with a delightedugh.

    Still hugging him, she looked around the ce. She couldn¡¯t stop smiling. The ce was just marvelous!

    "You like it?" he asked.

    "I love it!"

    "We¡¯ll keep it, then. I had this built just for you. You can rx here whenever you want," he told her.

    Instead of replying, she gave him a loud smacking kiss on the lips to demonstrate her appreciation for his surprise. She had already forgotten her request for a simple anniversary celebration.

    Then as if on cue, some of the household staff quietly appeared to deliver food for the two of them.

    "We greet the Master and the Mistress a happy anniversary," the butler greeted them first.

    Then the chef and the others followed suit.

    "Happy anniversary!"

    Jin Liwei nodded. Although he wasn¡¯t showing much expression, these people already knew him well after working for him for so many years. They could tell that he was very happy.

    "Thank you, everyone," Iris replied for both of them instead. The joy was obvious in her voice.

    The lovers enjoyed a special dinner prepared by the chef. It was light, nutritious and very delicious.

    After dinner, they started walking around the forest and chatted about their day. They also reminisced about the special memories they had of their rtionship while gazing at the stars above. The ss dome of the rotunda allowed them to see the night sky directly above them, making them feel as if they were actually in a natural forest instead of inside the mansion.

    "Let¡¯s go to bed," Jin Liwei said after noticing her eyes getting heavy.

    Iris hesitated. She wanted to stay longer. The ce was so rxing that it melted all of her tiredness from working the entire day. It might just be her new favourite ce in the mansion.

    "Love, it¡¯s gettingte. I don¡¯t want you to be sleep-deprived. We still need to wake up early tomorrow for work. Let¡¯s go for now," he urged her. "You can always return here whenever you want."

    "Hmm. Okay." Giving ast look at the ce, Iris left together with Jin Liwei.

    They held hands all the way to their bedroom suite. Once inside, the sleepy Iris suddenly became energetic after seeing something.

    "Oh, it¡¯s here! Come, darling. I¡¯ll show my anniversary gift for you," Iris said, pulling him by the hand to the suite¡¯s lounge room.

    Jin Liwei followed her. He already saw therge wrapped rectangr object propped against the wall.

    "Open it," she told him, her voice filled with anticipation.

    "Alright."

    He started unwrapping the object. Based on its shape and the wrapping material, he already had an idea of what it was. However, he didn¡¯t know what it would look like. He looked forward seeing it.

    Iris helped him, so that they could unwrap it more quickly. The object was huge. It was almost as tall as Iris. And very heavy, too.

    Finally, the object waspletely unwrapped, revealing a vibrant painting enclosed in gold-gilded frame.

    Jin Liwei gasped as soon as he saw the image depicted on the painting. It took his breath away and flooded his mind with one of the best memories of his life.

    Standing beside him, Iris held his hand. The two of them admired the painting together.

    It showed the two of them kissing in front of a cascading waterfall. The scene was from when she finally confessed her love for him at the waterfall in the Swiss Alps at Cross Academy. However, the painting took on a more fantasy-like interpretation of the scene.

    In the painting, Iris was a beautiful forest nymph while Jin Liwei was a mighty water spirit king. Nature celebrated around them. The most incredible element of the painting was the clear love depicted between Iris and Jin Liwei as they kissed each other. Anyone who saw the painting would be able to tell that the two were in love.

    Iris turned to look at him. "Happy anniversary, darling." He didn¡¯t reply, too engrossed at the painting. So she asked, "You like it?"

    "Yes. So much." He looked at her. "It perfectly symbolizes how I felt when you finally said that you love me. So magical, like I just became the king of the world because I was finally able to gain the love of my beloved fairy queen."

    She bit her lower lip because she was smiling so much. "That moment felt magical for me, too. It still is magical in my memories. That¡¯s why I had itmissioned like this, to focus more on our feelings rather than replicating the actual real-life scene."

    Jin Liwei nodded in approval. Then he read the small golden que at the bottom of the painting. "Fall by Ashandra Knightson. Hmmm. What a perfect title. It was the moment you confessed that you¡¯ve finally fallen in love with me in a ce that has a waterfall. And I¡¯ve also fallen more deeply in love with you then."

    "Yes, Ashandra is a genius at capturing the deeper meaning of things in her art. And she¡¯s such a good friend because despite being busy with her other works, she still epted mymission request for this painting. I requested this from her months ago for our anniversary. That¡¯s why I was so confused when you imed that our anniversary was a few days ago. The painting hadn¡¯t arrived yet that time," she exined.

    His eyebrows rose before chuckling. "Oh, I see. So that¡¯s why." He looked at the painting again. "You¡¯ve gifted me a treasure, love. Ashandra Knightson¡¯s works are popr and they always sell well at auctions. What¡¯s more, it¡¯s not easy acquiring her works. Others will be so envious of me once they learn that I now have one of her paintings."

    Iris looked pleased at his reaction.

    "Thank you, love."

    "You¡¯re wee, darling."

    The two of them kissed, mirroring their images shown on the painting.

    "Now it¡¯s my turn. Wait here," Jin Liwei told her before walking to one of the drawers, pulling out a thick envelope. He returned and handed it to her. "My present for you."

    Iris blinked a few times. Was this d¨¦j¨¤ vu or what?

    "Open it, love," he urged her.

    She opened the envelope and read the thick documents inside. Her eyes went nk for a couple seconds before looking at Jin Liwei in disbelief.

    "Darling, you bought me apany again?"

 Chapter 392 - I Messed Up

    <h4>Chapter 392 - I Messed Up </h4>

    "En. It¡¯s a small French perfumery called Sang Bleu," Jin Liwei confirmed.

    Iris alternated looking at him and at the purchase of business agreement in her hands. The documents were written in threenguages: Chinese, French and English. The pile was certainly thicker than the documents she received for Gold Heightsst Christimas.

    She didn¡¯t know exactly what to feel at the moment. Why did the man keep on buyingpanies for her? At this rate, she would end up owning all of thepanies in the world if he kept on buying and gifting them to her on every single special asion.

    "Darling, why?" she asked, feeling exasperated. At the same time, she also found him adorable.

    He reminded her of their cats. Both Ice Cream and Popcorn loved bringing them goodies as a disy of their affection. The goodies included their toys, Dom¡¯s newlyundered socks (they couldn¡¯t handle the used ones, Popcorn once puked after smelling them), and some small dead animals like grasshoppers and birds.

    Jin Liwei was like the cats in the sense that he frequently gave her goodies as well. It was just that his definition of goodieswere extravagant surprises andpanies.

    "You don¡¯t like it?" he asked after realizing that she didn¡¯t look excited about his present.

    He looked a little hurt when he didn¡¯t get the reaction he expected. However, he quickly covered it up behind an impassive expression. His lips pressed into thin line. Then he grabbed the documents from her and marched away.

    "What are you doing?!" Iris was horrified when she saw him toss the documents into the trash can. She ran and picked up the documents from the trash. "Darling, how could you?!"

    "You don¡¯t want it, then it¡¯s useless. It belongs to the trash now," he said in a cold voice. "Throw it away."

    Her chest hurt hearing the coldness in his tone. She immediately felt sorry for not reacting enthusiastically at his present for her. However, she didn¡¯t want to lie to him and give him a fake reaction. And even if she were to do that, he would probably detect that she was just pretending anyway.

    "No, this is your anniversary present for me. I¡¯m not going to throw it away," she said.

    "Throw it. I¡¯ll get you another present," he replied. His voice was still cold.

    She didn¡¯t like this cold Jin Liwei, especially now that it was directed at her. Her eyes watered without her control, feeling guilty and hurt at the same time. But bubbling beneath these emotions was anger.

    How dare he act cold to her? There was a strong urge tosh out at him, but she quickly controlled it. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

    "Let¡¯s go to sleep now. It¡¯ste," she heard him say.

    When she opened her eyes, he was already walking away. Her chest tightened, as she watched him disappear in their bedroom without waiting for her.

    Huh? Were they fighting? Was this really happening during their anniversary? No!

    A sense of panic flooded her. Without thinking, she immediately ran after him. She didn¡¯t see him when she arrived at the bedroom. Her panic intensified. Hearing some noise from the bathroom, she tossed the documents on the bed and headed there. She found him removing his belt in front of the sink. He was already shirtless.

    She was momentarily distracted by his naked torso. His wide shoulders, muscled chest and hard abs...she almost drooled. She shook her head out of her daze, trying not to think too much of his deliciousness. This wasn¡¯t the right moment!

    He only gave her a nce before ignoring her. Then he proceeded to brush his teeth, acting as if she wasn¡¯t even there.

    "Darling?" she called in a small voice.

    However, he didn¡¯t reply. He continued brushing his teeth.

    "Don¡¯t be mad anymore. Okay?"

    No answer.

    "Darling, I¡¯m sorry."

    Still no answer. The anger burst forth from within her.

    "Jin Liwei, why are you ignoring me?! You¡¯re being so childish! Answer me!" she shouted in frustration.

    When he still didn¡¯t respond, her eyes filled up with tears. She was feeling sorry, hurt and angry all at the same time. Thisbination of emotions didn¡¯t feel good at all.She roughly wiped her eyes with her hands, not wanting to cry, but the frustration was starting to get the best of her.

    Yes, she acknowledged that it was her fault for not appreciating his present for her. She now realized that she hurt his feelings. She felt sorry, but did he have to react so strongly and coldly like this? Although she wanted to me him too, she didn¡¯t want them to fight, especially since it was their anniversary today.

    She walked behind him and hugged him by the waist. Her chest pressed against his back. He froze a little but otherwise continued ignoring her while rinsing his mouth. It frustrated her even further. Reining in her temper, she forced herself to calm down.

    "Darling... I¡¯m sorry. Please don¡¯t be mad anymore. Let¡¯s not fight, okay?"

    When he continued to ignore her, she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. She quietly burst into tears behind him. She pressed her face against his back to prevent herself from sobbing aloud.

    Jin Liwei stiffened when he felt something wet on his back. His heart jumped in dread.

    "Love?" he called out to her.

    He became rmed when he felt her tremble. His back became increasingly wet. His heart sank.

    "Are you crying?" he asked and tried to turn to look at her. However, her hands tightened around his waist, preventing him from doing so.

    When he heard soft whimpers behind him, he used his strength to forcefully untangle her hands from around his waist and turned to look at her. Then he finally saw her weeping face.

    Torrents of tears flowed down her eyes. Her cheeks werepletely wet. Huge drops of tears dripped down on her dress and to the floor. She was biting her lips so hard that they began to bleed, just because she didn¡¯t want to cry loudly.

    Fuck. I messed up, was all he could think about.

    He immediately pulled her into his embrace.

    "No, no. Please don¡¯t cry. Love, my baby girl. Please, no. I¡¯m so sorry. It¡¯s my fault. Everything is my fault."

    All of these words tumbled out of his lips in a panic. He leaned back from the embrace to look at her. Her face waspletely wet and her lips were bleeding. He grabbed a towel from the rack and wiped the blood first before using the other parts of the towel to wipe her tears.

    "I¡¯m sorry, love. I didn¡¯t mean it. Don¡¯t cry anymore, please."

    She opened her mouth to say something but couldn¡¯t because of the intensity of her weeping.

    He pulled her again into his embrace. He kissed her head and rubbed her back to soothe her while murmuring apologies to her.

    Then she finally broke her silence and started wailing against his chest. Hurt and anger poured from her loud cries, echoing throughout the entire bathroom. The sound tore painfully at his heart.

    "Jin Liwei! Y-you¡¯re an...a-asshole!"

    "Yes, yes. I¡¯m an asshole. I¡¯m sorry."

    She cried harder. "W-why am I in l-love with...with an asshole?!"

    He could only tighten his embrace around her.

    "Today is our...anniversary, you j-jerk! Why are we fighting?!" She tried pushing him away but he didn¡¯t let her go. She wanted to stop her pathetic crying but couldn¡¯t. It was as if a dam broke inside her and started gushing without her control. "We¡¯re fighting because of a damnpany? Huh, Jin Liwei? Y-you¡¯re going...to f-fight me because of a fuckingpany?!"

    His heart twisted hearing her words. The fact that she was cursing when she usually didn¡¯t was already an indication of how upset she felt. With every heartbreaking cry she released, his heart felt like it was tearing into pieces.

    He waspletely regretting his immature behaviour earlier. He was hurt by her unenthusiastic reaction. He didn¡¯t feel appreciated when he made all the effort of making her happy. He allowed the hurt to cloud his maturity.

    Looking directly at her eyes, he told her, "No, we¡¯re not going to fight because of apany. I¡¯m sorry. I wasn¡¯t thinking clearly. Forgive me. I love you so much."

    Iris cried harder after hearing him say he loved her. "I love you too, y-you asshole!"

    A faint smile lightened his remorseful expression. He continued embracing her, as she continued to sob all over his naked chest.

    She cried for a long time, releasing all of her frustrations in one go. Her sobs gradually became whimpers until shepletely stopped crying. When she finished, she felt utterly exhausted.

    Jin Liwei lifted her chin. Her eyes, nose and lips were now red and swollen. But to him, she looked so beautiful. He dipped his head and gently kissed the side of her swollen lips, avoiding the part she bit so he wouldn¡¯t hurt her.

    "Forgive me?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    He instantly felt relieved.

    "Forgive me too?" she asked next.

    "Of course, love."

    Finally, she started to smile a little. It was like bright sunshine peeking through stormy clouds. She yfully punched him on the chest.

    "Happy anniversary, asshole."

    He chuckled softly. "En. Happy anniversary, love."French for "blue blood"

 Chapter 393 - Donâ€™t Spoil Me Too Much

    <h4>Chapter 393 - Don¡¯t Spoil Me Too MuChapter </h4>

    The two showered together and dressed in their pyjamas. Before they went to bed, Jin Liwei treated Iris¡¯ bitten lips first. Even though the bleeding already stopped, the sight of her wound made him want to beat himself up.

    "I¡¯m okay. It doesn¡¯t hurt," she assured him after seeing his pained expression.

    "Don¡¯t lie. I know it hurts."

    "Well, okay. Maybe a little." Then she pointed at her lips with a finger. "Why don¡¯t you kiss it so it won¡¯t hurt anymore?"

    He chuckled and immediately kissed her gently, careful not to hurt the wound.

    She learned this trick from Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue

    Little Jun would cry whenever he got hurt. "Junjun ouchy! Kiss ouchy, Mommi!"

    And Jiang Ying Yue would always kiss him while saying, "Pain pain, go away!"

    Iris didn¡¯t understand how kissing would make the pain go away.

    "That¡¯s so stupid, Ying Yue," she told her friend, straight to the point as always.

    Jing Ying Yue was too preupied by her son to reply to Iris. However, she gave her a knowing look which only confused Iris.

    "There. Mommy kissed the pain away. It¡¯s gone now. Does it still hurt, Little Jun?" Jiang Ying Yue asked her son.

    "No mo ouchy, Mommi!" Little Jun answered with a big smile, even though there were still tears in his eyes.

    "What? It¡¯s really effective?" Iris was amazed.

    After that, she started asking Jin Liwei to kiss her whenever she got physically hurt. Of course, he was more than willing to do it. Anything for his baby girl.

    Back to the present, Iris and Jin Liwei headed to their bed. Arge wall-mounted waterfall fountain was recently installed at the far end of the room. It wasrger and much more borate than the one they had in their bedroom at the penthouse. This fountain even had its own mini-pond, acting as a natural humidifier for their room.

    Another addition to their bedroom was the framed neckties hanging on the wall above their bed¡¯s headboard. To Jin Liwei, it was his most precious artwork disyed in their bedroom.

    Jin Liwei saw the purchase of business agreement on top of the bed from when Iris tossed it earlier. He red at it, ming it for their fight. He now treated it as if it was a cursed object. He walked faster, intending to toss it, but Iris pulled him back.

    "Rx, darling. What happened earlier is my fault. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t appreciate your present. I was just too surprised that you gifted me anotherpany again. It caught me off-guard and I didn¡¯t know how to react. I¡¯m sorry for not thinking about your feelings," she told him, remorseful.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it anymore. I shouldn¡¯t have acted so immature as well. I made you cry." His expression turned dark when he remembered her crying face.

    "So what if you¡¯re immature sometimes? You¡¯re only human, just like me. Besides, it¡¯s not only you. I also have the tendency to be immature and selfish sometimes, but you always indulge me and allow me to be myself."

    He chuckled and poked her nose. "Yes, but you¡¯re already perfect just the way you are. I wouldn¡¯t change you for anything or anyone."

    Iris¡¯ heart skipped a beat. This man loved her so much, yet she was starting to take him for granted. She suddenly felt ashamed for cursing at him earlier. Her insensitivity hurt his feelings and caused them to fight and yet, in the end, he was still the one whoforted her and apologized to her.

    Her eyes shone with tears, realizing how increasingly unfair she had been in their rtionship. Now she could see that he was almost always the one giving way to her. How about her? Could the things she had done for him so farpare to all of the things he had done for her?

    Yes, they had a rough start when they just met. And indeed, he was such a big asshole in the early days of their rtionship.

    But he had already changed so much since then. After the remnant inside her achieved revenge, Jin Liwei became the most loving and dedicated man to her.

    It was no wonder that she fell in love with him. Jin Liwei was now the most important man in her life and the one she loved the most. Now, she couldn¡¯t imagine the rest of her life without him. Despite feeling like this, why hadn¡¯t she realized that she was starting to take him for granted? She could only me herself for bing toofortable in their rtionship.

    From now on, she would start rectifying her inadequacy. A rtionship was built and nurtured by two people. She should begin doing her part and not let him do all the work.

    Seeing her bing teary once again, Jin Liwei panicked.

    "Love? What¡¯s wrong? Why are you crying? I¡¯m sorry." He immediately apologized, even though he had no idea what he did wrong this time.

    "Don¡¯t apologize anymore, especially if it¡¯s not your fault." Iris hugged his waist and looked up at his face. "If I¡¯m in the wrong, tell me so I know because sometimes I have no idea. I never want to make you act cold to me anymore. I can¡¯t take it. It hurts. And don¡¯t spoil me too much, darling. I¡¯ve be bad."

    Jin Liwei examined her expression. When he saw that she was serious, his mouth curved into a faint smile. "Alright, I¡¯ll tell you if you¡¯re in the wrong from now on. But I¡¯m not going to stop spoiling you because my beloved queen deserves all the pampering in the world. And you¡¯ve be bad? Even if you be evil, I¡¯ll still love you."

    "Oh Liwei. You¡¯re the most romantic asshole ever. I love you so much!" She giggled.

    Heughed. All of the tension and bad feelings melted away. His eyes danced with amusement.

    "This romantic asshole will only love you, Long Xin...or whoever you are."

    His promise made her heart skip a beat and filled her with overflowing happiness.

    "Who am I?" she whispered in a sultry voice. "I¡¯m Jin Liwei¡¯s woman, his lover...and his future wife."

    His eyes instantly darkened with desire.

    When Iris felt his erection against her stomach, her breath quickened and desire filled her as well.

    "Let¡¯s make love," she told him.

    He didn¡¯t need any additional prompting. He lifted her and carried her to the bed. The purchase of business agreement was carelessly tossed onto a bedside table.

    They decided to take it slow tonight. Their fight earlier drained their emotions and energy. This time, they just wanted to feel the love and to takefort from each other.

    Iris craved contact with him. She wanted to feel his weight on her, so she hugged him close.

    They kissed like they had all the time in the world. They licked and sucked, savouring each other¡¯s tastes instead of devouring. Iris¡¯ lip wound only stung at the start, but the slight pain was nothingpared to the pleasure he was feeding her.

    In between kissing, their pyjamas and underwears were slowly removed. There was no rush.

    When they were bothpletely naked, Jin Liwei sat back and admired her flushed appearance. She looked so sexy.

    Likewise, Iris licked her lips while looking at his hot body. Her gaze fell on his erection, all ready for her. She wanted him so much.

    Maintaining eye contact with him, she spread her legs wide open. He loved it when she exposed herself to him like this. Her entrance glistened under the dim lights, all ready for him.

    Seeing how wet she was, Jin Liwei¡¯s erection twitched in excitement. He reached his hand and started fondling her wet entrance. Then he inserted two fingers inside her, thrusting them in and out.

    Iris¡¯ eyes fluttered close and her hips started moving in time with his fingers. Her soft moans fueled both of their desire.

    "Liwei...please..."

    He withdrew his now wet hand, and then stroked his erection, coating it with her juices. He quickly crawled across the big bed and took out a box of condoms from the bedside table¡¯s drawer. After sheathing himself, he returned and positioned himself between her legs.

    Iris reached between them and wrapped her hand around his hard length, guiding it to her entrance. They looked into each other¡¯s eyes, as he slowly pushed himself inside her.

    They both groaned when he slid all the way inside.

    Jin Liwei lowered his body on top of her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him for a passionate kiss, as he started slowly moving his hips. He moved his tongue inside her mouth almost in the same way his hard length was grinding inside her wet heat. Using one elbow to support his weight, he kneaded her breast with his other hand.

    Iris pulled him lower, wanting their upper bodies to press against each other. She ran her hands all over his muscled back and caressed his hard legs with her toes.

    Their leisurely lovemaking allowed them to enjoy the moment more thoroughly. It also felt more intimate, as they gazed into each other¡¯s eyes while the pleasure gradually built inside them. Their hot breaths, soft moans and groans intermingled into an erotic yet gentle harmony of passion.

    When the pleasure started intensifying, Jin Liwei closed his eyes and sped up his hips. His thrusts were shallow but they went deep inside her.

    "Liwei...I¡¯m going toe," she whimpered in between moans.

    "Me too."

    He quickly positioned his elbow above her shoulder while his other arm wrapped around her waist. Then he suddenly shifted gears. He pressed her body down with his weight and started pumping her furiously with just his hips.

    Iris cried out and shut her eyes.

    "Open your eyes," Jin Liwei told her. "Look at me."

    Her eyes opened. It was difficult keeping them open, but she didn¡¯t want to miss Jin Liwei¡¯s smouldering gaze.

    They orgasmed almost at the same time. He kissed her hard, as he poured his release while inside her. She pressed her face against his neck, muffling her soft scream. Her inner contractions squeezed every drop of his release.

    This slow and tender lovemaking was subduedpared to their usual wildness, but their feelings for each other felt more intense this time.

    Jin Liwei gave Iris a final kiss on the mouth before sliding out of her. After discarding the used condom, he returned to lie beside her. He covered them with the duvet and pulled her into his arms, sighing in satisfaction.

    "Good night, love."

    "Mmn...g¡¯night," she murmured. "Happy anniversary, darling."

    "Happy anniversary." He nuzzled her hair before closing his eyes.

 Chapter 394 - Sang Bleu

    <h4>Chapter 394 - Sang Bleu </h4>

    The next morning, the lovers woke up at dawn with only a few hours of sleep. Iris forced herself out of bed to join Jin Liwei for breakfast, even though her work wouldn¡¯t start untilter. He tried persuading her to return to bed but she insisted on apanying him.

    She took the time while Jin Liwei was showering and dressing up in his business suit to fight off sleep and roll out of the bed.

    Groggy from theck of sleep, Iris walked like a zombie with Jin Liwei out of their bedroom suite to the breakfast table. Ice Cream and Popcorn greeted them.

    The two cats were usually the ones who apanied their daddy during breakfast whenever their mommy was still asleep. They also liked watching the chef cook (and stealing some scraps of food when he wasn¡¯t looking).

    Iris carried the two cats in her arms. Ice Cream had slimmed down a lot, although she was still biggerpared to Popcorn. At least now the veterinarian didn¡¯t scold Dom anymore whenever he brought the cats for their regr check-up. However, they had to continue monitoring her weight because she had the tendency to overeat.

    While eating traditional Chinese breakfast of congee and a wide array of side dishes, Iris gradually became more awake. She chatted with Jin Liwei and was extra attentive to him, serving him food and doting on him¡ªthings that he usually did for her.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose at her unusual behaviour but he didn¡¯t stop her. Why would he? He was immensely enjoying it, thank you very much.

    After pouring him more coffee, Iris hesitated a bit. She wanted to talk to him about something but worried that it would ruin the nice atmosphere between them.

    He noticed her hesitation. "What is it, love? Tell me."

    "Can you..." She cleared her throat and tried again. "Can you tell me more about your anniversary present for me? I want to know about the French perfumery you gifted me."

    Just like what she expected, his expression darkened. However, his voice was gentle when he replied to her. "Don¡¯t think about it anymore, love. I¡¯ll give you a better present soon."

    "Darling, please. Don¡¯t be like this." She grabbed his hand on top of the table and held it. "It¡¯s your anniversary present to me. I¡¯ll keep it. I really will."

    He sped their hands together. "You don¡¯t have to force yourself to like it."

    "Tell me more about it, then. I¡¯ll decide whether I like it or not after hearing more about it. Okay?"

    "Hmm..." He took a few moments to think about it while sipping his coffee.

    Iris waited for him. She massaged his hand sped with hers, hoping that by doing so would soften him. It was partly her fault anyway that he had be prejudiced against the French perfumery, ming it for causing their fightst night.

    When he finished the entire cup of coffee without giving her an answer, she moved from her seat and sat on hisp instead. She gave him several smacking kisses on the cheeks, deciding to use the honey trap instead to persuade him.

    "Tell me, please," she asked again, batting her eyshes at him.

    His mouth twitched seeing her puppy eyes. He immediately softened, but he was enjoying her honey trap so he pretended to be unaffected. And it worked. His baby girl continued raining kisses all over his face and caressing him all over with her hands. After enjoying her tender loving care for some time, he finally relented.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll tell you about the perfumery."

    In clear and concise words, he described what thepany was and how he was able to acquire it.

    Sang Bleu was an old French perfumery established more than a hundred years ago. It was a family-owned business that originally catered to French aristocrats before gaining fans from other European nobilities and even some royalty.

    Times changed but Sang Bleu refused to sell to regr people, stubbornly making their perfumes exclusive to people who had "blue blood" only. On one hand, it made their perfumes more desirable. But on the other hand, they were condemned for their discriminatory mindset.

    "Oh. They¡¯re just like the Longs," Irismented.

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "I think you¡¯re forgetting that you¡¯re also a Long, love."

    She gave him a teasing smile. "That¡¯s only for now. I¡¯ll be Mrs. Jin in the future."

    His breath caught in his throat. Then the corner of his mouth curved into a smirk. "Oh? Are you excited to be Mrs. Jin?"

    "Maybe," she replied, drawing circles on his chest with a finger.

    "I¡¯ll take that as a yes."

    She nodded.

    The two kissed yfully, nibbling on each other¡¯s lips. Iris¡¯ wound still hurt a bit, but she didn¡¯t mind it. Afterwards, Jin Liwei continued telling her the story of Sang Bleu.

    Even with the rise of the nouveau riche and the decline of the nobility¡¯s power and influence, Sang Bleu still didn¡¯t change. Their "exclusive" perfumes became increasingly associated with prejudice.

    To appear as inclusive as possible and to present a good image to the public, the perfumery¡¯s noble clientele began boycotting the perfumes. It came to a point that only a French marchioness was its sole client. When thedy died, Sang Bleu was also left on itsst breaths.

    Its new owner was from the direct line of the family who owned the perfumery. However, she had no interest in trying to revive a bankrupt business, so she decided to sell it to the highest bidder instead. Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t many bidders who wanted apany with such a prejudiced reputation. That was until Jin Liwei came along.

    He came to know about Sang Bleu while chatting with French executives during the international business conference. After a rigorous inquiry about the perfumery, he decided to purchase it for his baby girl. The new owner immediately sold it to him, afraid that he would back out like everyone else if she tried raising the price.

    Iris tilted her head to the side after hearing about the perfumery¡¯s history.

    "It¡¯s already bankrupt? Darling, please exin. I don¡¯t understand why you would give me a bankruptpany."

    "Although it¡¯s now bankrupt and technically doesn¡¯t exist anymore, it still retains its high-end resources and connections in making perfumes. Don¡¯t forget that this was apany that catered to nobility and even royalty at some point. Remember when I discouraged you from epting a perfume endorsement before? Didn¡¯t I suggest that you create your own line instead? I just thought that it would be easier for you to do that if I gift you the resources of Sang Bleu," he told her.

    Her eyes widened after hearing his exnation of why he gifted her anotherpany for their anniversary. She felt guilty once again for not appreciating his presentst night, hurting his feelings and even causing them to fight.

    This man always thought about her. It seemed that she was always his number one priority in whatever he did. His thoughtfulness touched her deeply.

    She hugged him around the neck and pulled him close to her. "I¡¯ve decided to keep the perfumery. It¡¯s a perfect anniversary present. Thank you, darling."

    "You don¡¯t have to force yourself to like it, love. Don¡¯t worry. I can always sell it," he said. His voice was muffled because his face was squished against her breasts.

    He didn¡¯tin because he was loving it. He even rubbed his face deeper in the valley between her soft mounds. She just woke up and wasn¡¯t wearing any bra underneath her pyjamas and robe.

    "No, I¡¯m already the new owner of Sang Bleu, so you can¡¯t sell it anymore without my consent," she said, enjoying the feeling of his head on her chest.

    After kissing her soft mounds on top of her clothes, Jin Liwei finally lifted his head and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

    "Alright. Do whatever you want to do with the perfumery. It¡¯s yours now," he told her.

    "Okay. I¡¯ll probably merge it with Orchidia Beauty. I¡¯ll have to discuss this with the Bauer siblings, my sister and my friends first." Her mind was already thinking about the various possibilities of how she could make use of Sang Bleu.

    "En."

    Jin Liwei looked pleased seeing her interest in the perfumery. This was the kind of reaction he was hoping for when he first gave Sang Bleu as anniversary present. Her appreciation was dyed, but it was betterte than never.

 Chapter 395 - CEO And CFO On The News

    <h4>Chapter 395 - CEO And CFO On The News </h4>

    Now that the matter about the perfumery he gifted her was resolved between them, any remaining tension in Jin Liwei¡¯s heart all melted away. His mood greatly improved, especially after their sweet lovemaking before they slept a few hours ago.

    What a perfect way to start a workday!

    They finished the rest of their breakfast because Jin Liwei needed to leave for work soon. Nevertheless, the lovers didn¡¯t feel rushed. They wanted to enjoy this simple moment of eating breakfast together. They chatted while watching their cats in amusement.

    Popcorn was running all around for his morning exercise, while Ice Cream was soaking the morning sunlight streaming in from the windows as she cleaned her beautiful blue-grey fur on the floor.

    "Darling, I have decided on a perfect time to officially announce our rtionship to the public," Iris suddenly said.

    "Oh? When?" he asked.

    She told him.

    When he heard about her idea, his eyes lit up and he nodded. "Hmm. That¡¯s a fantastic idea, love. It¡¯ll surely create a big ssh. Very good because I want everyone to know that you¡¯re mine and that we¡¯re engaged. I¡¯ll make sure to clear my work schedule for a few days during that time."

    "I¡¯m looking forward to it," she said.

    "Are you really?" he asked, his eyes inquisitive.

    "Yes."

    "So are you finally ready to be my wife?"

    "I don¡¯t know exactly if I¡¯m ready or not, but what I do know is that I love you and you¡¯re the only man I want to marry."

    "Hmmm..." He nodded, satisfied by her answer. "I love you, too. So much. And you¡¯re also the only woman I want to marry."

    They grinned stupidly at each other until it was time for Jin Liwei to go. Iris saw him off from the main entrance with Ice Cream and Popcorn. She had to carry Popcorn in her arms to prevent the hyperactive cat from following his daddy into the car. Ice Cream was a good girl, sitting near Iris¡¯ feet instead of meowing in despair like Popcorn who was already missing their daddy.

    When Jin Liwei¡¯s car disappeared from view, Iris returned inside the mansion. She also needed to get ready for work soon.

    And just like that, Iris became the new owner of a small bankrupt French perfumery called Sang Bleu. Her future business empire just grew a little once again, thanks to her devoted future husband.

    ###

    "Good morning and wee to the 10 o¡¯clock news live from the studio. We¡¯ve got some important news for you this morning..."

    The morning news yed on a big screen TV at a caf¨¦.

    Zhou Mei¡¯er who was also known as CaptainckStar, the founder and president of the ck Stars fan club, sat in the caf¨¦ while sipping green teatte and eating a slice of tiramisu cake. She watched the news with no interest, not really caring about the stories being reported. If it was about Boss Iris, then she would care.

    She checked her wristwatch for the time. She was waiting for someone.

    Then her phone rang. The person she was waiting for had arrived. She directed the person on where to go.

    Momentster, a teenage girl waved at Zhou Mei¡¯er and joined her on the table. It was Ming Li, also known as LittlePhoenix among the ck Stars. Despite her young age, she was currently the deputy leader of the ck Stars¡¯ strongest division, the notorious troll group Slippers Army. She led the Slippers Army in the absence of their true leader, the infamous troll iEatSlippers.

    Both Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li were on their summer vacation, so they decided to enjoy each other¡¯spany. While drinking and eating, the two chatted about many things. Of course, a big part of their conversations revolved around their Boss Iris and the ck Stars.

    "Our boss is so amazing, Big Sister Mei¡¯er. I wish I could also speak so manynguages like her," Ming Li said.

    Zhou Mei¡¯er: "I know, right? Did you hear about the news reports a week ago about boss tranting and interpreting for Long Industries and Jin Corporation? It seems that there are many foreignpanies that want to hire her, but she chose to work close to home with family instead."

    Ming Li: "Yes, I did hear about that. Boss tranted some reports for her family¡¯spany. Then she apanied the founder of Jin Corporation¡ªthat scary old man with a loud booming voice...I forgot his name¡ªand interpreted during a meeting with some Russian businesspeople. I¡¯m just so amazed that boss also knows Russian!"

    Zhou Mei¡¯er: "Indeed. I do wonder just how manynguages can she really speak. And I think the old man¡¯s name is Lu Jianhong. They say that his grandson is Boss Iris¡¯ real fianc¨¦."

    Ming Li: "But is it really true? I mean, boss hasn¡¯t confirmed anything to us yet. Until ites from her own words, I won¡¯t believe any rumours about her. Boss has been a victim of fake rumours so much in the past. I don¡¯t want to contribute to it."

    Zhou Mei¡¯er smiled, nodding in approval. "That¡¯s the way to go. You¡¯re maturing well."

    They ordered some more desserts while continuing to chat about other topics.

    "And now for ourtest tech news. The recently popr onlineputer game Supreme Ascension has now entered the top ten most popr games ranking in the country. Supreme Ascension just released earlier this year, but its yerbase has grown exponentially since then, rivalling some of the most poprputer games in the country. Its game developer, Monkey, announced that it ns to release the game in selected regions abroad sometimeter this year..."

    Ming Li¡¯s eyes lit up when she heard the news. "Oh look! It¡¯s Supreme Ascension!I also began ying that game after Pandemonium mentioned that they love it. I wish I could y it every day but my parents won¡¯t allow me."

    "Listen to your parents. You should be studying, not yingputer games," Zhou Mei¡¯er said.

    Ming Li yfully stuck out her tongue at Zhou Mei¡¯er. "It¡¯s summer vacation. I n on ying Supreme Ascension until school starts again. But of course, I¡¯ll make sure to still have the time to lead the Slippers Army. I really miss Big Bro iEatSlippers and Big Bro Monkeyface. They¡¯ve been gone for far too long. Big Bro iEatSlippers only goes online once every couple of weeks, sometimes longer. As for Big Bro Monkeyface, I almost never see him online anymore."

    "They¡¯re both busy." Zhou Mei¡¯er sighed. "Bro Wu Chen says that the two of them built apany together. I don¡¯t know much about building and running apany, but I can imagine that it¡¯s a lot of work."

    While they were talking, something from the TV news caught their attention.

    "And now here are some snippets from a recent interview with Monkey¡¯s CEO Hou Liang and CFO Wu Chen..."

    Both Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li almost choked on their food, as they watched their ck Starsrades¡¯ interview on TV. They were extremely shocked.

    "B-big Sis, pinch me. I think I¡¯m dreaming... I-is that Big Bro iEatSlippers and Big Bro Monkeyface...or is something wrong with my eyes?" Ming Li stuttered.

    She had already met both Wu Chen and Hou Liang on several asions before when the ck Stars gathered to personally support Iris at her guestings or performances. So she knew what the two looked like.

    "No, you¡¯re not dreaming. Oh my god! It¡¯s Bro Hou Liang and Bro Wu Chen! What the hell?! They¡¯re the CEO and CFO of a gamingpany?!!!"

    Both Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li started freaking out. They weren¡¯t the only ones. Some of their fellow ck Stars who were watching the news in other ces also recognized Hou Liang and Wu Chen. They were all so shocked and started freaking out as well.

 Chapter 396 - An Emperor And A Lord

    <h4>Chapter 396 - An Emperor And A Lord </h4>

    The news only showed a few snippets of the actual interview. CEO Hou Liang mostly talked about the game Supreme Ascension, while CFO Wu Chen talked about theirpany, Monkey.

    "There are several rumours about the identity of Monkey¡¯s owner and president. Some say that the owner is a rich young master, while there are hearsays iming that the owner is a beautiful youngdy. Can you tell us which of these rumours is true? Or better yet, tell us his or her real identity," the interviewer asked.

    Wu Chen chuckled mysteriously. "We¡¯re not going to reveal our President-Owner¡¯s real identity yet, but I¡¯ll say this to all of you now. Make sure to record it. Our owner is a beautiful youngdy who is also filthy rich. How else can we establish apany like Monkey so quickly and so sessfully?"

    The interview snippets finally ended, and then the morning news went on amercial break immediately after.

    Inside the caf¨¦, Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li looked at each other in disbelief. They knew that theirrades, iEatSlippers and Monkeyface, were busy running their newpany. However, they thought that what they were working on was just a small business, perhaps an online store or something.

    They never expected that thepany of those two was actually the developer of thetest hit game Supreme Ascension. The most impressive thing was that they were the CEO and CFO!

    Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li both reached for their phones at the same time. They immediately logged in to the ck Stars home page. The other ck Stars already started discussing about Hou Liang and Wu Chen after watching them in the morning news.

    "Holy shit! My mighty slippers are shook! Did I just watch our troll leader iEatSlippers and strategist Monkeyface on TV?"

    "They¡¯re the CEO and CFO of Monkey!!! They¡¯re the ones who created Supreme Ascension!!! Damn!!! I kowtow to their awesomeness!!!"

    "Those of you who haven¡¯t yed Supreme Ascension yet, what are you waiting for? Go start ying now and let¡¯s all support our tworades!"

    "Uwah! This is so amazing! If I ask the two of them for game cheats, do you think they¡¯ll give me some?"

    For the first time ever in the history of the fan club, the ck Stars enthusiastically discussed in length something that was unrted to their Boss Iris. (They still had no idea that Iris Long was actually the President-Owner of Monkey and the direct boss of both Hou Liang and Wu Chen in the truest sense of the word.)

    Everyone cheered for their fellowrades, iEatSlippers and Monkeyface. They all felt proud of the two for their incredible aplishment.

    CaptainckStar: "Congrattions to our brothers iEatSlippers and Monkeyface! All of us ck Stars are extremely proud of the two of you! We wish you more sess! Reach the top of the gaming industry! You can do it! But please don¡¯t forget about us. We¡¯ll always berades forever and ever!

    LittlePhoenix: "Calling all the members of the Slippers Army! Assemble! Let¡¯s all log into Supreme Ascension and wave our mighty slippers in support of our brothers iEatSlippers and Monkeyface! We¡¯re gonna take over the game with our Slippers Army under the ck Stars banner! Let¡¯s go!!!"

    Within half an hour, a horde of ck Stars, specifically members of the Slippers Army, flooded the game¡¯s global chat. They congratted theirrades who were also the CEO and CFO of Monkey.

    Emperor Monkey: "Thank you. Enjoy the game."

    I Am Slipperlord: "Yes! All of the ck Stars, especially my beloved Slippers Army, are always wee here! Let me see you wave those mighty slippers!"

    These two replies caused an uproar, not only among the Slippers Army and ck Stars, but also among all the yers of the game. The usernames of these two were different among the rest of the yers. They were written in sparkling gold and were decorated with special badges, indicating that they worked at Monkey.

    These two characters, Emperor Monkey and I Am Slipperlord, were known among the yers. They frequently yed with the regr yers, personally testing the game experience themselves.

    The yers thought that these two were just regr staff members of Monkey. They never expected that they were actually ying with the CEO and CFO. Many yers suddenly felt star-struck, especially at Emperor Monkey, who they now knew as the one who originally created the game Supreme Ascension.

    Commander ck Star: "I¡¯m not used to ying this game, so I don¡¯t really know how things work here. I just want to say congrattions to Emperor Monkey and I Am Slipperlord for making the ck Stars proud."

    Lady Phoenix: "An emperor and a lord! Wow! You¡¯re so cool, big brothers! We proudly wave our mighty slippers for the two of you!"

    "All hail the emperor of monkeys!"

    "All hail the lord of slippers!"

    Lady Phoenix: "Big Bros @Emperor Monkey & @I Am Slipperlord, I humbly request that you grant our wish to make it possible for our characters to literally wave our slippers in the game."

    Other yersughed at her request. However...

    Emperor Monkey: "Sure. Will work on it asap."

    I Am Slipperlord: "For the sake of my Slipper Army and the ck Stars, thy wish shall be granted!"

    Huh.

    The other yers couldn¡¯t believe how easily the game developers epted such a trivial request. Was it because they were members of the ck Stars/Slippers Army?

    What was the point of allowing characters to wave their footwear in the air? Would it help them level up? Could it be a fighting move?

    Slipper p! Slipper kick! Boomerang slippers! Slipper cannon! Or something?

    "Uhm...I think I¡¯m gonna join the ck Stars...Maybe my requests will be granted easily too."

    "Me too..."

    And with that, the ck Stars had grown in number once again. Likewise, the game Supreme Ascension weed a new wave of yers in a short period of time, boosting its poprity even further in the industry rankings.

    The ck Stars all created game ounts in droves and began ying just for the sake of supporting their fellowrades.

    Unbeknown to them, they were also supporting their Boss Iris this way. It was a win-win situation, connecting them to each other and even to their Boss Iris without their knowledge.

    ###

    In a dressing room, Iris sat on a make-up chair getting her hair and make-up done. She was getting ready for a magazine photoshoot and interview.

    At the moment, she was talking with an excited Wu Chen on the phone. He was reporting to her about what happened with the ck Stars, how they reacted after learning that he and Hou Liang were the top executives of Monkey.

    "The ck Stars are the best," shemented, extremely pleased at what happened.

    Afterwards, the two finally discussed the main purpose of the call.

    As the CFO, Wu Chen called to update her of Monkey¡¯s current finances. They had invested a great deal of their funds to acquire thetest technologies to boost their game development.

    Iris connected with her fellow Cross Academy student, the taciturn Michael Exlorsson who was also a genius mechatronics engineer.

    Although she wasn¡¯t close to himpared to her friendship with thedies and even with Amanpio Kileksky, she didn¡¯t hesitate to contact Michael for some advice regarding her gamingpany.

    In the end, Michael Exlorsson agreed to customize and licence some of histest technologies to herpany for a fee. After an intense negotiation via video chat, he agreed to give her a 40% discount from his original asking price for their connection as fellow Cross Academy students. But even then, the fee that she had to pay was still extremely expensive.

    Despite this, she still willingly paid because she was confident in the quality of his work, not to mention that herpany, Monkey, would be the first in the world tomercially apply thesetest technologies.

    This head start would allow Monkey to develop more quicklypared to itspetitors.

    At the moment, Hou Liang and his colleagues were gradually starting to use these technologies in their game development and apply it on Supreme Ascension.

    In the process, Hou Liang¡¯s team was also able to develop their own technology which they nned on patenting under Monkey¡¯s name. It wasn¡¯t as advanced as Michael¡¯s, but it suited their own needs.

    The results of using all of these advanced technologies were so impressive that an inquiry wasunched by industry experts and the other gamingpanies. They wanted to know Monkey¡¯s secret as to how Supreme Ascension could improve so much in such a short period of time. For now, Monkey had no intentions of revealing their secrets.

    After the phone call with Wu Chen, Iris sat back in her make-up chair. Wu Chen shared great news. Although their technology investments hurt their funds, they were now starting to really profit. Their profits increased significantly after they broke through the top ten most poprputer games in the country.

    Iris was very pleased at Monkey¡¯s progress so far. As a matter of fact, it exceed all of her initial expectations.

    "If our international release of Supreme Ascension is sessfulter this year, I think I can finally apply for Monkey to be a member of the academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork," she murmured.

 Chapter 397 - Time To Step Up

    <h4>Chapter 397 - Time To Step Up </h4>

    The summer season was a time of opportunities for Iris as a career woman.

    As a trantor and interpreter, she started epting small assignments from both Jin Corporation and Long Industries. She tranted some documents for them. There was only one instance when she acted as interpreter after the international business conference, and that was when she apanied Grandpa Lu for a meeting with some Russian investors.

    She didn¡¯t really have that much time to spare to ept more trantor/interpreter jobs, even though there were manypanies, both local and foreign, that expressed their interest in hiring her. Nevertheless, her two professors encouraged her to apply her skills regrly in an actual work environment for her to gain more experience. It would help in polishing hernguage skills.

    After the international business conference, the two professors left China to return to their own home countries. They didn¡¯t need to train Iris in person anymore. However, their lessons and mentorship would still continue via long-distance training.

    As a businesswoman, Iris was extremely busy running her ownpanies and closely monitoring their progress. Herpanies continued to eat up a substantial amount of her wealth, but she remained optimistic that she would get back everything she had invested and more.

    Monkey was already starting to really profit. If thepany¡¯s upward trend continued, Iris estimated that both Hou Liang and Wu Chen would be millionaires in the country by the end of this year.

    Iris didn¡¯t really need to worry too much about Monkey. Both Hou Liang and Wu Chen were doing a fantastic job in running it. Although she was the President-Owner, what she really just needed to do was continue being the financier and also periodically attacking thepany¡¯s online systems to test the strength of its security.

    Monkey was using a powerful security system that she personally created and developed. As a result, thepany¡¯s systems were virtually imprable by anyone below her skill level. There weren¡¯t a lot of hackers in the world who could contend against her. So it wasn¡¯t a stretch to conclude that Monkey¡¯s systems were the most secure in the country.

    Being a financier and a cybersecurity hacker for Monkey weren¡¯t taking too much of her time and effort. For that, she was grateful.

    Orchidia Beauty, on the other hand, was a different matter. Because she nned on making thepany synonymous to her name in the future, she paid close attention to every single detail concerning it.

    It was taking a lot of her time and effort. Fortunately, she had capable people helping her run it who were as filled with youthful energy and ambition as her in making thepany sessful.

    At the moment, their initial products that they nned onunching first were alreadypleted. They had sent PR packages to selected beauty influencers in the country and even reached out to some international ones.

    Within a few weeks, the reviews started pouring out. At first, the reviewers expressed their distrust for a newpany that they had never heard of before. However, almost all of them gave positive reviews and high ratings after personally using the products. They raved about the products¡¯ "miraculous" effectiveness, all-naturalbel, and beautiful but sustainable packaging.

    All of them wanted to know more about this newpany, Orchidia Beauty. They couldn¡¯t wait for the officialunch of the products.

    Using the hype generated by these influencers in the beautymunity, Orchidia Beauty finally announced the officialunch of their first products which would be in the autumn season. Iris would be endorsing her ownpany, of course. But for now, it was a secret.

    Iris also discussed Sang Bleu with Chen Fei, Long Jinjing, Clover and the Bauer siblings. They were all excited when they heard that she acquired the perfumery¡¯s resources. All kinds of possibilities ran through their minds on how to make the best use of the perfumery. However, they decided to put it aside for now and focus on their uingunch next season.

    All of these made Iris super busy throughout the summer. Despite this, she still had the energy to pursue her passion¡ªmusic.

    Even with her crazy schedule, she didn¡¯t neglect her showbiz career, especially now that Bright Summit was providing her with increased resources and opportunities to make her more famous.

    Iris and Jin Chonglin had finallypleted their parts in the production of their two music coborations. They handed the remaining details for JJ to iron out.

    As always, JJ won the right to produce Iris¡¯ music coboration, even with a superstar like Jin Chonglin. JJ was able to intimidate Jin Chonglin¡¯s recordbel into not fighting against him over the production right of the coboration.

    The two songs would be released on separate asions in autumn.

    Eveything was kept hush-hush for now. They wanted their coboration to be a big surprise to the music industry, especially to their own fans.

    While waiting for the release of their two song coborations, Iris was able tond a few small cameo roles in some TV dramas and even in a movie. The two most notable roles that she yed were, first, in a romance TV drama ying as herself, and second, as the elegant heiress sister of the male lead in a melodrama movie.

    She was added into the moviest minute. In fact, the filming had already finished when the production team decided to reshoot a scene to include her. That was why she only needed to wait about a month after shooting her cameo scene before the film premiered in theatres.

    Both roles were extremely easy for her to y. She only needed to act like herself. There wasn¡¯t any real acting involved to y those roles. Besides, she only needed to say two to three sentences. Her screen time per show was only about thirty seconds to about a minute.

    Nevertheless, her acting stints during the summer were widely celebrated by her fans, the ck Stars. They contributed a lot in boosting the TV shows¡¯ ratings and the ticket sales of the movie just to watch their boss Iris say a sentence or two for a few seconds.

    The production teams of the TV shows and the movie were extremely pleased by the high ratings and ticket sales. From the start, this was their goal for casting Iris Long in a cameo role¡ªto use her poprity.

    Iris treated these acting roles as fun side jobs. They were enjoyable, but she couldn¡¯t really see herself as someone pursuing a serious acting career. Her music career would always be her number one priority in showbiz.

    With all of these different things she was doing, it was no wonder that her schedule was full. Despite this, Iris still made sure to allocate a good amount of time for Jin Liwei.

    After their emotional fight the night of their anniversary, she promised herself to fill her inadequacy in their rtionship. It was time for her to step up and do her part, too. She wouldn¡¯t allow him to do all the work in nurturing their rtionship anymore.

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    After an almost six-hour long meeting that went way past lunch time, Jin Liwei finally dismissed his employees. Everybody was relieved that it ended, but they also felt satisfied because it was a very productive meeting. They resolved a lot of issues and finalized many ns.

    Jin Liwei exited the conference room first. His employees followed behind him, intending to head straight to lunch. However, Xu Tian received a call about something urgent.

    "President, we have some problem that must be resolved immediately," Xu Tian informed him and then exined the situation.

    Jin Liwei frowned. However, he didn¡¯t hesitate. He called a few of the people behind him to assist in resolving the problem.

    "Come with me to my office. I want this problem fixed today," he told them. Then he turned to Xu Tian and instructed, "Order some food for us. We¡¯ll eat while working."

    "Understood, President."

    The people he called out had no choice but to follow him to his office. The group rode the elevator and ascended to the top floor.

    Once inside his office, the group started reviewing the problem and brainstorming ideas on how to solve it. Xu Tian left and headed to his own desk outside the door, intending to call a restaurant to deliverte lunch for them. But his phone rang before he could do so.

    "Hello? Oh, it¡¯s you."

    Xu Tian¡¯s eyes widened in surprise after hearing what the person on the other end of the line said. Then he smiled.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll call the receptionist downstairs to let you in. Just head up directly here."

 Chapter 398 - Surprise Delivery

    <h4>Chapter 398 - Surprise Delivery </h4>

    Inside his office, Jin Liwei and his employees were busy resolving the emergency problem. He was too focused on work that he forgot about his hunger.

    However, his employees didn¡¯t have an iron will like him. A few stomachs began growling. They blushed in embarrassment.

    Jin Liwei inwardly sighed, but outwardly he looked cold, indifferent and serious as always. He nced at his gold wristwatch. It was already mid-afternoon, way past lunch time.

    "The food should being soon," he told them.

    They nodded and continued working.

    Finally, there was a brief knock and the door opened. Xu Tian entered followed by three of Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates from home.

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei frowned in confusion. He didn¡¯t call for them. Why did theye? His gaze fell on the huge, bulky canvas bags they were carrying.

    "Good afternoon, Master. We apologize for disturbing you at work. However, we had toe because the Mistress instructed us to deliver lunch to you and your employees. She is upset that you haven¡¯t eaten lunch yet when it¡¯s already sote," one of them said.

    "Oh." Jin Liwei¡¯s frown evaporated, reced by a soft and gentle expression. He nodded. "Alright. Bring in the food. Everyone,e. My fianc¨¦e had lunch delivered for us."

    His employees still couldn¡¯t get used to seeing their President with a gentle expression. It was alreadymon knowledge in thepany that their President loved his fianc¨¦e, courtesy of the employees who witnessed him talking to her on the phone on several asions.

    All of the employees at Jin Corporation had been wondering about the real identity of the President¡¯s fianc¨¦e. Unfortunately, they still didn¡¯t know who she was.

    At the moment, the employees present in the office were all ravenous. They eyed the huge canvas bags the President¡¯s three subordinates were unpacking on a nearby table.

    There were several big and fancy bento boxes that had four tiers each stacked on top of one another. There were also small round containers of steaming hot soup. Carton boxes were opened, revealing different desserts to choose from. A small cooler contained chilled drinks of water, iced teas, juices and sodas.

    Xu Tian heated up some water for those who wanted hot tea instead of the cold beverages.

    Stomachs growled more loudly this time upon seeing all the food. The eyes of Jin Liwei¡¯s employees lit up. Their mouths watered and they swallowed hard after smelling the delicious aromas. They couldn¡¯t wait to gobble up all the food. It was a feast.

    "Go ahead and get some food," Jin Liwei said, giving them the long-awaited permission.

    As the employees were all extremely hungry, they didn¡¯t bother acting modestly and immediately swarmed like ravenous, salivating dogs around the table, taking a bento box each.

    They were interrupted by a ringing sound. It was Jin Liwei¡¯s office phone. Jin Liwei was far from his desk, so he had to walk over to answer it. But before he could even do so, the phone answered by itself.

    "Hello, darling? Can you hear me?" a deep robotic voice suddenly sounded.

    The employees all froze and looked at their President in rm. Hearing such an unnatural voice speaking out of nowhere creeped them out. Two of the employees present were from Jin Liwei¡¯s tech team. They stood up and marched towards the phone. They already concluded that it was hacked.

    "Yes, love. I can hear you," Jin Liwei replied, shocking his employees.

    His tech people stopped in their tracks.

    "Okay, good. Go ahead and eat first, darling. It¡¯s already sote but you haven¡¯t eaten lunch yet. That¡¯s not healthy, you know. What if you get sick? I¡¯m so worried," the creepy robotic voice said.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth curved up into a smile. "Alright. I¡¯ll eat now. Thank you for the food." Then he nced at his employees, giving them a silent order with his eyes.

    "Thank you very much for the food!" they all said loudly towards the phone.

    The deep robotic voice chuckled, making the employees shudder. The sound was honestly the creepiest thing ever.

    "You¡¯re wee, everyone. Enjoy the food, so you¡¯ll have enough energy to continue working with my fianc¨¦. You too, darling. Eat well, okay?"

    "En, I will."

    He finally took a bento box for himself. The number of bento boxes were perfect for the number of people in the office room, including Xu Tian. His three subordinates already ate earlier, so they didn¡¯t join in eating. Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow, guessing how she was able to know how many people to feed.

    "Are you watching us right now?" he asked.

    "Yes."

    He immediately looked at one of the security cameras inside his office and gave a wave.

    The robotic voice giggled. The sound terrified the employees, especially the females.

    "I see you," it said.

    "Go wave at my fianc¨¦e," Jin Liwei ordered the others.

    His employees obeyed and waved at the security camera, feeling weird in doing so. It didn¡¯t feel like they were interacting with a fellow human being but with a supernatural entity instead, especially since they couldn¡¯t see the other person and all they could hear was a creepy robotic voice.

    "I checked up on you around noon but saw that you were in a meeting. Then I checked up on you again an hourter but you were still not finished. So I ced an order for lunch and instructed your subordinates to go deliver them. The other participants in your meeting earlier also received bento boxes. They worked so hard for you. They deserve to eat some good food."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "I see. Thank you, love."

    "You¡¯re wee, darling."

    The two members of the tech team looked at the phone, at their boss, at the security camera, and at each other. Great amazement filled them. They had already concluded that their President¡¯s fianc¨¦e was a skilled hacker. They understood her meaning when she said that she "checked up" on them as viewing them from the security cameras.

    Although it was possible that the President gave her direct ess to thepany¡¯s surveince system, they believed that he didn¡¯t. Because if he did, their tech team and also the security team would surely receive notifications as they were the ones controlling thepany¡¯s surveince system.

    If the President¡¯s fianc¨¦e was really able to bypass their security system, then she must be quite a skilled hacker. The two looked at Jin Liwei, impressed that his fianc¨¦e had such abilities. They initially thought that his fianc¨¦e would be the usual daughter of a rich family whose only talent was to look pretty and fabulous.

    Their guess was absolutely correct. Iris indeed hacked into Jin Corporation¡¯s surveince system. Of course, she only started doing so after Jin Liwei gave her permission.

    He told her that she could check up on him whenever she wanted because he had nothing to hide from her. It was also to assure her that she was his only woman and no females working in hispany caught his attention. He didn¡¯t bother giving her direct ess to the surveince system because he knew that she had the ability to do it herself without raising any rms.

    While the members of the tech team instinctively knew that the President¡¯s fianc¨¦e was a hacker, the other employees, including Xu Tian and the three subordinates who delivered the food, all thought that Jin Liwei must¡¯ve given her ess to the surveince system. The possibility that she might be a hacker never crossed their minds.

    The robotic voice spoke again. "I have to go now, darling. I still have work as well. I called because I wanted to make sure that you eat your lunch and also because I want to hear your voice."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s smile widened, momentarily dazing his employees, especially the females. "Alright. Take care, love. I¡¯ll see you tonight at home. I love you."

    "Take care of yourself too, darling. Don¡¯t skip meals anymore. I love you, too," the robotic voice replied.

    "En."

    Everyone in the room felt extremely weird at the entire situation. It was actually quite scary listening and watching their President acting so lovey-dovey with a creepy robotic voice who was watching all of them through the security cameras.

    Some of them even began to doubt whether their President¡¯s significant other was really a woman. They couldn¡¯t tell the gender from the robotic voice. It was possible that their President¡¯s lover was actually a man.

    The robotic voice didn¡¯t immediately hang up the phone. "Mr. Xu Tian, don¡¯t let my fianc¨¦ skip meals. If he does, call me immediately, okay?"

    Xu Tian only hesitated for a couple of seconds before bowing his head to the security camera. "Understood, Miss Lo¡ª" He coughed loudly to cover up his near slip of the tongue. "Understood, Miss!"

    "Thank you, Mr. Xu." A pause. "And the three women standing together at the end of the table...Yes, the three of you. Let¡¯s see..."

    A few secondster, the robotic voice started calling out the three women¡¯s names and positions in thepany. Jin Liwei and the members of the tech team knew that she must¡¯ve hacked further into thepany system to dig out information about the three women.

    "This is my first warning to the three of you," the robotic voice said, sounding cold and terrifying. "Watch the look in your eyes...they may get you into trouble. You understand what I¡¯m saying, right?"

    The three woman froze.

    "RIGHT???"

    "Y-yes! We¡¯re sorry! We won¡¯t do it again!"

    The three women were frightened out of their wits by the scary robotic voice. From now on, they wouldn¡¯t look at the President¡¯s face and body (and imagine him naked) anymore. They would just look at his shoes. Yes! The shoes were definitely safer!

    "Good. I don¡¯t give second warnings, just so you know. Alright. I really have to go. Bye, darling. Love you."

    "En. Bye. Love you more," Jin Liwei replied.

    "Oh, I almost forgot. Everyone, don¡¯t tell anyone about what happened today, okay? You¡¯re going to regret it if you do. I know everything about all of you. You don¡¯t want the whole world knowing your secrets, don¡¯t you? That¡¯s all. Bye~"

    The call ended.

    After witnessing such a bizarre situation, the mystery surrounding their President Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e (or fianc¨¦, if it was a man) just grew even more.

 Chapter 399 - Evil Demon

    <h4>Chapter 399 - Evil Demon </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s employees were so frightened by the creepy robotic voice that any thoughts of sharing to others what happened in their President¡¯s office disappeared from their minds. In fact, they were more frightened by the voice itself than the threat of having all of their secrets revealed to the whole world.

    The poor employees had no idea that the scary robotic voice would haunt their nightmares in their sleep for several nights after this day. Now they feared their President¡¯s mysterious fianc¨¦e more than their cold and intimidating President.

    As expected of the President, even his taste in women (or men) is very strong. Too strong, they thought to themselves while shuddering as they remembered the robotic voice.

    Only the two members of the tech team took the robotic voice¡¯s threat as something serious. They looked grave, knowing full well that angering a hacker was extremely dangerous. Hackers literally had the power to destroy lives at their fingertips.

    They nced at the security cameras, bing more vignt and cautious. They never knew when their President¡¯s fianc¨¦e would strike again. It was better to stay on their best behaviour because she might be watching them when they were cking off and tell their President. Wouldn¡¯t that get them fired?

    Later that night, the two members of the tech team checked Jin Corporation¡¯s surveince system to see if there were any records showing the President¡¯s fianc¨¦e essing it earlier. Frighteningly, there were no such records. They checked everywhere, looking for the tiniest traces but still there was nothing.

    It was as if the hacking didn¡¯t happen at all. If they didn¡¯t experience it firsthand, they would never have believed that thepany¡¯s surveince system was hacked just by looking at the records.

    They felt cold sweat on their backs.

    In the next few days, work resumed as normal at Jin Corporation. However, something changed.

    Every lunch time, food was delivered for Jin Liwei sent by his mysterious fianc¨¦e. The food was different each day but all of them were very delicious. It came to a point that some of the employees prayed for a meeting everyday so that they could also enjoy the delicious food. After all, his fianc¨¦e didn¡¯t just provide food for their President but also for all the people he was together with during lunch time.

    There was another benefit to this. Their President was now constantly in a good mood. Although his expression still looked cold and indifferent (his default expression) as usual, his entire aura felt somewhat gentler and more approachable especially during lunch time.

    As a result of this, more and more employees became bolder, attempting to greet him and engage him in conversations whenever they had the chance.

    There were already many female (and male) employees who lusted after Jin Liwei. Before, they could only keep their desires to themselves because he was just too scary. Not to mention that there were rumours circting within thepany about the unfortunate fates of those who dared seduce him before.

    Now, however, some of these people who lusted for him wanted to try their luck. They knew that he had a fianc¨¦e but so what? Most men of his status normally had a number of mistresses in addition to their wives. They knew that they could never be his wife, but they could certainly be his bedmate...right?

    But before they could act on their seduction n, a new rumour started circting within Jin Corporation.

    It said that anyone looking at the President in a lewd way would be cursed. Tobat the curse, anyone harbouring any perverted thoughts towards the President were advised not to look at him directly. Looking at his shoes was the safest. If anyone ignored this warning, an evil demon with a scary robotic voice would haunt them until they went insane.

    "Pft! A curse? Seriously? What kind of stupid rumour is that?"

    "I know, right? Who created this rumour? Does he or she think that we¡¯re dumb? Even kids these days wouldn¡¯t believe something as stupid like that so easily."

    These employeesughed at the rumour, dismissing it as fake.

    But one day...

    Two female employees were in the women¡¯s washroom retouching their make-up. One of them took out her phone and showed something to her colleague.

    "Look at what I have~ I secretly snapped photos of the President while he was fixing his cor. Ah, his neck is so sexy!"

    "Oh my gosh. Is that a hickey on his neck?"

    "Where?"

    "There."

    "Maybe it¡¯s just a mosquito bite or something..."

    "Don¡¯t be stupid. I bet his mysterious fianc¨¦e was the one who gave him that hickey."

    "What a lucky woman! She gets to sleep with such a gorgeous and powerful man like President Jin Liwei. I would give anything just for a night on bed with him. I want to give him hickeys too!"

    "Ahaha! Girl, get in line!"

    "Oh shit! What¡¯s happening?! The photos are being deleted?!"

    The two could only watch helplessly as all of their President¡¯s photos were deleted from the phone. The employee who took the photos was very upset and angry.

    "I told you not to buy that cheap phone," her colleague told her. "You just bought it, but look, it¡¯s malfunctioning already."

    "Dammit! I spent so much effort trying to take those photos of the President! I squatted behind a nter for almost an hour just to get a perfect angle to take the photos. And now they¡¯re all gone?! Ugh!!!" She pped her phone several times, hoping it might undo the deletion of the photos.

    Then suddenly...

    "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the finest of them all? Even if the world only has the two of you, Jin Liwei would still never choose either of you~" a deep robotic voice suddenly said. The creepy sound came from the phone.

    The two female employees shrieked in fright. One of them threw the phone to the floor, as if it just turned into a poisonous snake. The phone bounced and cracked loudly, but surprisingly, it still continued to work.

    "This is my first warning to the two of¡ª" the robotic voice continued to say but was interrupted before finishing the sentence.

    "It¡¯s the evil demon!!! Oh my god, it¡¯s true!!! Please don¡¯t haunt us!!! We beg you, please don¡¯t!!! I don¡¯t want to be insane!!! We promise not to look at President Jin Liwei anymore!!! We¡¯ll look at his shoes instead!!!

    "Demon! DEMON!! DEMOOOOOOON!!!!!"

    The two scrambled to the door and ran out of the washroom while screaming at the top of their lungs. They ran for their life, as if a demon was chasing after them.

    Inside the washroom, the phoney on the floor, looking lonely and pitiful with its cracked screen.

    "Huh? Demon? Shoes? What are they talking about?" the robotic voice asked in confusion. "Did they get scared because of what I said? I didn¡¯t know that the rhyme Dom taught me is that scary. Amazing. I should ask him to teach me some more..."

    With that, the rumour of the evil robotic demon was permanently cemented among the employees of Jin Corporation. Since that day, a lot of people began looking at Jin Liwei¡¯s shoes whenever he passed by.

    Those who could look directly at the President¡¯s face were praised as pure and upright people. And those who could only look at their President¡¯s shoes visited temples to cleanse themselves of their dirty minds.

 Chapter 400 - A Walk In The Fores

    <h4>Chapter 400 - A Walk In The Fores </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Iris was currently taking a walk inside the rotunda that Jin Liwei transformed into an indoor forest. The cats came along with her. Popcorn was running all round as usual, chasing the butterflies and other bugs.

    On the other hand, Ice Cream decided to stay with her mommy instead. The big grey cat leisurely trotted close to her mommy¡¯s feet. She walked when her mommy walked and stopped when her mommy stopped. When Ice Cream got tired of walking, she meowed cutely at Iris and indicated with her paws that she wanted to be carried.

    Iris¡¯ heart melted at the adorable cat. She was about to bend down to carry Ice Cream when she remembered what the catsitter told her earlier.

    "Mistress, Young Miss Ice Cream has not yetpleted her daily exercises today. The vet said that she gained a quarter of a pound since thest appointment."

    "Don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll take a walk at the forest. I¡¯ll make sure that she gets plenty of exercise there," Iris assured the cat sitter.

    Remembering what she said earlier, Iris¡¯ heart winced at she forced herself to deny her cat¡¯s adorable request.

    "Ice Cream, no. You haven¡¯t exercised enough yet, baby. Why don¡¯t you y with your brother Popcorn over there and chase some grasshoppers?"

    "Meow~"

    Ice Cream continued to meow. When her mommy didn¡¯t budge, she decided to change tactics. The grey cat sat on her hind legs like a human and lifted her front paws, gently moving them in a begging position. Her head tilted to the side, while her expression turned pitiful.

    "Meow..."

    It felt like a pink arrow just shot straight to Iris¡¯ heart. She immediately bent down and lifted the extremely adorable cat in her arms.

    "Oh, Ice Cream! My cute baby~ So smart! So adorable! Mommy loves you so much~ So what if you gain a quarter of a pound? Even if you gain an entire pound or two, you¡¯ll still be beautiful and Mommy and Daddy will continue to love you!"

    The grey cat rubbed her head against her mommy.

    Iris happily petted her cat, not noticing the smirk on Ice Cream¡¯s face. The cat¡¯s expression looked like that of a secret viin whose evil ns just seeded. But when Iris looked at Ice Cream¡¯s face, the cat¡¯s expression turned innocent and adorable once again.

    After walking for some time, Iris¡ªstill carrying Ice Cream in her arms¡ªdecided to rest. She headed to the islet at the centre of the pond. The romantic dinner table was reced by afortable set of couches instead.

    She had an endorsement event earlier in the morning with Lin Yehan¡¯s Serenity Premium Tea Company. Lin Yehan just signed a partnership with a caf¨¦ chain to serve hispany¡¯s different tea varieties in their stores.

    As Serenity Premium Tea Company¡¯s first and only endorser at the moment, Lin Yehan asked Iris to endorse the partnership with the caf¨¦ as well. She signed a separate contract and immediately started fulfilling her endorsement obligations.

    After the event, she headed home and checked all the food the chef cooked for Jin Liwei and his employees before the subordinates delivered the packed lunches to Jin Corporation. Only then did she eat lunch with Dom.

    She still had a couple of hours before she needed to get ready again to work at Orchidia Beautyter in the afternoon. A bit stressed out with her tight schedule, she decided to rx at the indoor forest with the cats before she returned to workter.

    Iris reclined on the couch with Ice Cream. Popcorn was running around the edge of the pond, swiping his paws on the water and trying to y with the koi fishes.

    "Popcorn, be careful. You might fall," she warned him.

    The hyperactive cat only meowed before continuing to tease the koi fishes. As for Ice Cream, she became sleepy after her "exercise" with her mommy. Ah, that five-metre walk was so exhausting! Curling on top of her mommy¡¯sp, Ice Cream closed her eyes and took a nap.

    Iris also closed her eyes, intending to take nap before she needed to get ready for her work in the afternoon. However, her phone rang, jolting her back to wakefulness.

    Ice Cream gave an annoyed meow before returning to sleep.

    "Hello?" Iris answered the phone.

    "Good afternoon, Young Miss," Qiao Yu¡¯s voice greeted her.

    After a quick exchange of pleasantries, the financial manager discussed the reason for his call.

    "Young Miss, a shareholder at Long Industries is nning to put up his 5% shares for sale because he¡¯s going to retire soon. He hasn¡¯t announced it publicly yet, but he¡¯s an old friend of mine, so we¡¯re the first to know. He asked me if I know anyone who wants to buy his shares. I immediately thought of you. Are you interested in buying?"

    "How much?" she immediately asked.

    Qiao Yu told her.

    "Hmm. Pretty expensive..."

    "Yes, but it¡¯s reasonable given Long Industries¡¯ worth. And you can afford it," he said.

    "It seems that you really want me to buy the shares."

    "I do, Young Miss. By bing a shareholder at Long Industries, you¡¯ll have at least a little say in thepany. I know that you¡¯re not interested but please hear me out. Owning the shares will particrly be beneficial to you since Orchidia Beauty currently has a shipping deal with Long Industries. You can use your shares as leverage to get more advantageous deals, even if you¡¯re not dealing directly with your father. At least once you be a shareholder, even just a minor one, those working at Long Industries will have to start taking you seriously.

    "You may not care about what others say about you, but I do. As your financial manager, I invest under your name. There are times when I¡¯m not able to finalize some investments because they won¡¯t sell once they learn that I¡¯m buying for you. That¡¯s why it¡¯s harder for us to invest here in the country than abroad because people know who you are here. Sometimes just having money is not enough when ites to investing. Having a good reputation is also important.

    "Young Miss, let¡¯s buy the 5% shares. It will be a great opportunity to increase your reputation in the business world, especially right now that you haven¡¯t revealed yet that you have your ownpanies," Qiao Yu tried to persuade her.

    "Hmm. What you say makes sense. Alright. Go ahead and buy the shares." She finally gave him her permission.

    "Excellent! I¡¯ll have it done immediately!"

    After the call, Iris smiled in amusement at her financial manager¡¯s eagerness. She could imagine him calling the shareholder immediately after the call with her. Qiao Yu was usually serious, stern and unimpressed, but he would exhibit excitement whenever he encountered some great investment opportunities.

    Putting the matter of the shares aside for now, she continued to rx with her cats at the beautiful indoor forest. She stroked the sleeping Ice Cream on herp. Meanwhile, the hyperactive Popcorn continued to tease the koi fishes in the pond.

    Momentster, her phone rang again.

    "Hello?"

    "Young Miss, we got it! The shareholder agreed to sell the 5% to us!" Qiao Yu informed her excitedly. "I¡¯ll bring the documents you need to sign in a few days."

    "Alright. Well done, Mr. Qiao."

    They spoke about the matter some more before the call ended once again. Compared to Qiao Yu¡¯s excitement, Iris didn¡¯t really think much about it. In fact, she had already forgotten about it once she became busy with work at her ownpanyter that afternoon.

    Little did she know that her purchase would cause chaos among the Long n.

 Chapter 401 - Not An Enemy

    <h4>Chapter 401 - Not An Enemy </h4>

    Dayster, the entire Long n learned that Iris sessfully bought 5% shares of Long Industries. Now she was an official shareholder at thepany with the right to vote during meetings.

    Although her shares might not seem much, she was actually the second biggest shareholder from the Long family after her father. Long Tengfei was the majority shareholder, owning more than 50%.

    Before Iris¡¯ purchase, Long Jufang and Long Meng were the next biggest shareholders after Long Tengfei. The two elders each owned 3% shares of thepany. This was one of the reasons why the two of them became the most powerful elders in the Long n.

    Of course, they tried acquiring more but just 1% was already expensive on its own. The 3% each that they acquired were something their branch families saved up for many years.

    For a long time, the main family owned 100% of thepany. Despite this, they still shared the wealth to the other branch families so that the entire n could prosper together. It was only when Long Tengfei expanded the family business into the shipping industry that shares were made avable for purchase in order to fund the massive expansion.

    That time, nobody among the branch families could afford to buy any shares. So they could only watch wealthy outsiders buy the avable shares. Actually, only the branch families saw these first shareholders as outsiders.

    To Long Tengfei, these shareholders were his business partners in making Long Industries a truly internationalpany. Most of them held executive positions in thepany just like him. For example, the COO was also a shareholder and a friend to Long Tengfei.

    It was onlyter when the elders Long Jufang and Long Meng had saved enough that they were able to buy some shares from the minor shareholders who were willing to sell. Unfortunately, they could only afford 3% each.

    That was why the entire Long n went into uproar when they learned that Iris acquired 5% shares. FIVE PERCENT!!! How much was that?!

    The elders and the other rtives immediately headed to the Long ancestral residence. Long Jufang and Long Meng led them to seek an audience with Long Tengfei.

    It wasn¡¯t only them. Long Hui also coincidentally came at the same time to talk to his father about it. He was the only other member of the main family besides Long Tengfei (and now Iris) who owned shares of Long Industries.

    He owned 2.5% shares. His mother¡¯s family financed the 2% while he bought the 0.5% with his own money after he became the Deputy CFO. Of course it concerned him now that his youngest sister owned more shares than him when she wasn¡¯t even working in their family business.

    Long Hui joined the elders and the other rtives. The old chambein led them to Long Tengfei¡¯s study.

    It was interesting to note that these people formed their own separate groups while walking. Long Jufang had his own group, while Long Meng and her allies walked together with Long Hui.

    As for the other elders and rtives, they either chose Long Jufang or Long Meng¡¯s groups or formed their own separate little groups. However, their little groups were not very impressive, unable topare to the groups led by Long Jufang and Long Meng.

    Later in the master study.

    The husband and wife, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui, sat together. Long Hui sat on a chair near his father, but he was clearly together with Long Meng and her allies. Long Jufang and his group sat on the other side. The other elders and rtives sat on the remaining avable spots.

    After the customary greetings, Long Tengfei asked them the purpose of their visit even though he already knew.

    "Tengfei, did you give your daughter Xin the 5% shares?" Long Jufang asked directly, not skirting around the topic.

    "No, I didn¡¯t give her the shares," Long Tengfei immediately answered. "I stand by my personal policy that I won¡¯t give anypany shares to my children until I¡¯m dead and they inherit my own shares ording to myst will and testament. If they want to own shares before my death, then they have to buy them with their own money. That¡¯s what my eldest son Hui did before. And now, my youngest daughter also bought shares with her own money."

    Long Meng snorted. "Bought with her own money? The Young Miss Xin is just a singer. How much can a singer earn? Sure, she has her own business now but it has only been a few months since she started it. How much profit, if any, could herpany earn in a few short months?"

    "Xin is also a trantor and interpreter. She did some trantion work for Long Industries, not to mention for Jin Corporation. I heard that she has epted more work from Jin Corporation than from my husband. And I bet they pay her more there," Yang Jiahui couldn¡¯t help but defend Iris.

    "Madam, I may not know much about the trantion field, but I doubt that the Young Miss has earned the millions needed to buy thepany shares in the short time that she has been tranting and interpreting. I¡¯m guessing that Sir Lu Jianhong provided her with financial assistance for the purchase. That¡¯s the only conclusion that I could think of," Long Meng retorted.

    Long Hui opened his mouth, about to defend Iris as well, but immediately stopped himself. It was a different situation now. He was aware of the growing support for Iris within the n. He had already lost the support of Long Jufang, the most powerful Long elder.

    And now Iris had acquired 5% shares of Long Industries, surpassing what he owned. Before he even realized it, his youngest sister who he didn¡¯t think much of years ago had now be his biggest rival.

    If he defended her now and sang her praises in front of the elders and rtives, he was certain that he would lose more supporters. Long Meng was the second most powerful elder in the n, and he couldn¡¯t afford to lose her support.

    So he remained silent, not daring to defend Iris from the barely veiled insults in fear that he might really lose his position as sessor to her. He surely would never reveal that she was a Cross Academy student and that her fianc¨¦ was the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation.

    Jin Liwei certainly had a higher status than Lu Zihao. Almost everyone knew that he was the current head of Jin Corporation.

    In contrast, nobody really knew what Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s flesh and blood grandson did for work. All they knew about him were the rumours that he was a happy-go-lucky fellow who liked dangerous and thrilling stunts. In fact, they already wrote him off as a good for nothing especially after the incident when he almost died in a mountain skiing ident. People assumed that he just lived off of the wealth of the Lu family built by his grandfather.

    If Long Meng and the others learned that Iris¡¯ real fianc¨¦ was Jin Liwei, they would certainly support Iris because she would immediately be the wife of Jin Corporation¡¯s current head once they were married. Her children would be the direct sessors of the number onepany in the country. This kind of connection to Jin Corporation would just be too irresistible for the elders and rtives.

    Long Hui¡¯s eyes darkened. The threat of Iris¡¯ growing influence within the Long n weighed heavily on him. His emotions were warping, starting to treat Iris as an enemy.

    Then an image of Iris doting on his son Little Jun shed in his mind. She was always loving of Little Jun and a good friend to Jiang Ying Yue.

    Guilt immediately flooded him.

    We¡¯re siblings. She¡¯s not an enemy, he told himself.

    She¡¯s not an enemy...yet, a small part of him whispered.

    The conversation continued while Long Hui was preupied with his own thoughts. The elders asked Long Tengfei many questions about Iris¡¯ purchase of the shares. Long Tengfei answered as best as he could.

    Fortunately, nobody really insulted Iris other than Long Meng. The most powerful elder, Long Jufang, had already changed his tune and was now obviously championing Iris.

    As a result, nobody dared insult Iris in front of him, lest they anger Long Jufang. There weren¡¯t many people in the n who had the courage to go against him, except for the next powerful elder, Long Meng, who clearly supported Long Hui.

    Iris¡¯ purchase of the 5% shares made Long Jufang want to support her even more. Despite this, he also didn¡¯t believe that Iris bought the shares using her own money. He had the same thought as Long Meng that Sir Lu Jianhong must¡¯ve given Iris financial assistance. Nevertheless, Long Jufang didn¡¯t think this as a negative. In fact, he was delighted because it meant that Sir Lu Jiahong cared enough for her that he was willing to spend a fortune to buy shares just for her.

    Long Jufang had no love for Iris. He certainly didn¡¯t like her. Then why was he suddenly so adamant in supporting her? He had his own ulterior motives for doing so.

    After the meeting, Long Jufang and his allies were in great spirits. In contrast, Long Meng and her allies were clearly displeased. Long Hui also wasn¡¯t in the best of moods. As for the other rtives who were supporting other people besides Iris and Long Hui, they also began really feeling the pressure of Iris¡¯ recent rise to prominence in the n.

    When the elders, the rtives and Long Hui were gone, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui were the only ones left in the master study. They sighed in relief after the meeting was over.

    "Tengfei, who do you want to seed you? Your eldest son or your youngest daughter?" Yang Jiahui suddenly asked.

    Long Tengfei was caught off-guard by his wife¡¯s question. However, it made him think deeply.

    Who did he personally want to seed him? Before, he would¡¯ve immediately replied that he wanted his eldest son to seed him. After all, he spent so much time and effort training Long Hui to be the next head.

    But now?

    He couldn¡¯t give an answer right away.

 Chapter 402 - Disrupted Dinner

    <h4>Chapter 402 - Disrupted Dinner </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    Iris and Jin Liwei decided to stay at the penthouse for a few days because of Iris¡¯ consecutive showbiz work obligations. Her workces for the next few days, mostly broadcasting stations and magazine publishers, were more essible from the penthouse than from the Dragon Pce Home mansion.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t mind where they stayed. Both the penthouse and the mansion were their homes. As long as he and his baby girl were together, he would be happy no matter where they were, even if they had to sleep in a primitive cave.

    At the moment, everyone was enjoying a hearty dinner around the kitchen ind. The entire household staff joined too, so they had to scooch their seats close together to make room for everyone.

    There wasn¡¯t anything fancy in the dishes. They were all regr home-cooked dishes, but they were all very delicious. The cook always went all out whenever Iris and Jin Liwei stayed over, cooking more dishes than necessary. It was always a feast whenever the two stayed at the penthouse.

    Of course, the happiest person about all the food was the glutton Dom. He was like a starving mad dog who devoured the food like there was no tomorrow. Of course, even as his mouth vacuumed all the food nonstop, he still found the time to chatter with his sister Clover. The two livened up the atmosphere during dinner, making everyoneugh every few moments or so.

    Ice Cream and Popcorn were eating their own food on the floor. When they were finished, they tried stealing some food from the pots and pans, but Yi Mei caught them and harshly scolded them. The two were scared of the old housekeeper because unlike the others, Yi Mei refused to coddle them. She treated the two cats like two unruly children who needed some disciplining.

    The two cats ran to their mommy and daddy forfort. Iris and Jin Liwei ced a cat each on theirps. Knowing that their mommy and daddy couldn¡¯t resist them, the two meowed cutely, silently asking for more food.

    "Don¡¯t give them food from your tes!" Yi Mei scolded Iris and Jin Liwei next. "They need to learn some good manners!"

    Iris pouted while Jin Liwei sighed. However, the two listened to the strict housekeeper, like they would to a family elder. They could only harden their hearts (at least for now) and do their best to ignore their cats¡¯ adorably pitiful begging expressions.

    When the two cats failed to get what they wanted from their mommy and daddy, they jumped to the floor in disappointment. They headed to their cat room instead to y and take a nap.

    Little Jun was also there with Jiang Ying Yue. He sat on his high chair feeding himself with his own hands. He also provided everyone with a source of entertainment with his cute delightedughter. This was why his Uncle Dom and new Auntie Clover did their best to make himugh with their antics.

    The cheerful dinner atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of the inte. Yi Mei went to answer it. Momentster, she led Long Hui to the kitchen.

    "Dada! Dada!" Little Jun immediately started bouncing on his high chair.

    Long Hui kissed his son and hugged his fianc¨¦e. A maid brought a chair for him, so that he could sit beside Jiang Ying Yue. He was also given tableware.

    However, he didn¡¯t get food. He just sat there with an unreadable expression, staring at Iris across the kitchen ind.

    His stare started to creep out Iris.

    "What¡¯s the matter, Elder Brother Hui? Do you have something to tell me? If so, just say it. Please stop looking at me like that."

    Long Hui didn¡¯t answer. He continued to stare at her. It was as if he didn¡¯t hear her.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ck.

    Iris touched his thigh and gently squeezed it, silently telling him to calm down. Jin Liwei calmed down...somewhat. However, his expression didn¡¯t improve. He red at his future brother-inw, not liking the man¡¯s expression as he stared at his baby girl.

    "Hui...what is it?" Jiang Ying Yue asked in a whisper, feeling awkward about the disruption her fianc¨¦ brought to dinner.

    Long Hui still didn¡¯t answer. Now everyone was looking at him, wondering why he was being so weird.

    Iris felt annoyed at his weird behaviour. Although she had the urge to snap at him, she decided to ignore him instead. She continued eating. The others followed her example and started eating once again. However, the cheerful atmosphere from before was already ruined by the sudden awkwardness.

    "Little Sister Xin, why did you buy the 5% shares?" Long Hui finally spoke and asked her a question.

    She raised an eyebrow at his question before answering him. "It¡¯s good investment, so I bought it."

    A furrow formed between Long Hui¡¯s brows. He wasn¡¯t satisfied with her answer. "Have you been nning to own shares of Long Industries beforehand?"

    "No."

    "Then why did you buy the shares?"

    Iris ced down her chopsticks. Exasperation shed in her eyes at his insistent questioning. Nevertheless, she was still able to maintain her calm despite the strong urge to snap at him in annoyance.

    "The opportunity just came when someone wanted to sell 5% shares of Long Industries. My financial manager and I decided that it would be a good investment for my portfolio, so I bought it. That¡¯s all there is to it," she told him, waving a dismissive hand.

    "Really? You only bought it to decorate your investment portfolio?" Long Jian couldn¡¯t hide the skepticism in his voice. "Are you not aware that you¡¯re now the second biggest shareholder from our Long family after our father? You now own more than Granduncle Jufang or Grandaunt Meng, not to mention that you own more than me!"

    Iris scowled at his raised voice directed at her.

    "Hey now. Watch your tone," Jin Liwei immediately rebuked him.

    The future brothers-inw red at one another.

    "Hui, what are you doing? Please calm down," Jiang Ying Yue urgently whispered to him.

    "Dada? Dadaaaaaa!!!" Little Jun was so startled by his father¡¯s voice that he started crying.

    Jiang Ying Yue immediatelyforted her son. "I...please excuse us," was all she could say before carrying Little Jun out of the kitchen, leaving their unfinished food and the tense atmosphere.

    Dom, Clover, Yi Mei and the other household staff also excused themselves. Dom didn¡¯t forget to bring his te with him, hurriedly putting more food on it, before leaving. When everyone was gone, Iris, Jin Liwei and Long Hui were the only ones remaining in the kitchen.

    "Are you nning on buying more shares of Long Industries?" Long Hui asked.

    "If there¡¯s another opportunity to do so and I can still afford it, then why not?" Iris replied.

    Her answer triggered Long Hui. He abruptly stood up that his chair fell over to the floor behind him. His troubled emotions got the better of him. He pointed an using finger at Iris.

    "I knew it! You want Long Industries for yourself, don¡¯t you?! You¡¯re really good at pretending that you don¡¯t give a damn about thepany! But now you¡¯re showing your true colours! You want to acquire it for yourself!"

    "What nonsense are you spouting, you fool?!" Iris also lost her temper. "Are you listening to yourself?! You sound like a delusional maniac! You¡¯re acting like that bause of 5%?! I have other investments that are worth more!"

    "Long Hui, you¡¯re going too far," Jin Liwei warned in a cold voice. His aura became intimidating and he wrapped a protective arm behind Iris.

    Long Hui sneered at the two of them. He had now allowed the envy and insecurity towards his genius sister to take over his good sense. He turned his attention to Jin Liwei next. "You knew about this, didn¡¯t you? Do the two of you n to take over Long Industries together in the future? Did you help her buy the shares?"

    Jin Liwei scowled and opened his mouth to answer but Iris was faster than him.

    "You stupid idiot! I bought the shares with my own money! You think that a global billionaire like Liwei will buy a mere 5%? He¡¯d buy the whole damnpany for me if I ask him to, you fool!" she shouted at Long Hui.

    Despite his fury at Long Hui¡¯s suddenly offensive behaviour, Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth couldn¡¯t help but twitch hearing his baby girl¡¯s words. However, he couldn¡¯t really deny any part of what she said. After all, he did buy her twopanies. So all he could do was nod.

 Chapter 403 - Orange

    <h4>Chapter 403 - Orange </h4>

    Unfortunately, Long Hui wasn¡¯t receptive to any logical exnations at the moment. His currently vtile emotions were clouding his sound judgment. The only thing that registered in his mind from Iris¡¯ words was the part about Jin Liwei buying the entirepany for her if she asked him to. This selective filtering of words caused him to misunderstand Iris even further.

    "So you do want to buy the entirepany! Huh?!"

    Iris was caught off-guard by Long Hui¡¯s utter nonsense. Her provoked emotions calmed down, reced by cold contempt instead.

    "There¡¯s no use trying to reason with an idiot like you. You¡¯re not listening to what I¡¯m saying. Let¡¯s go, Liwei. Let¡¯s leave this stupid fool to cool his head. Perhaps he¡¯ll regrow his brain cells that were drowned and killed by his stupidity tonight."

    She stood up and grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand, pulling him on the way out of the kitchen. However, Long Hui wouldn¡¯t allow them to leave just like that.

    "Running away, little sister? Still pretending to be a good person?" he taunted her. "Just admit that you want Long Industries for yourself!"

    Iris didn¡¯t even look at him. Arguing with a stupid idiot like him was beneath her. She would only kill her precious brain cells trying to understand his foolish nonsense. She continued pulling Jin Liwei¡¯s hand, not bothering to respond to Long Hui¡¯s crazy tirade.

    It was this scene that greeted Jiang Ying Yue when she returned after calming Little Jun and leaving him to Dom and Clover. She heard Long Hui¡¯s taunts directed at Iris.

    "Hui, what are you saying? Stop it! Xin is your sister. Please don¡¯t fight with her," she said, trying to calm him.

    She held on to his arm, but he shook her off. Even though she knew that it was just his anger, she was still hurt by his action. However, she put it aside for now. She needed to stop the siblings from fighting.

    All of the stress Long Hui experienced from being suppressed by the elders and the rtives during the months that he decided to live with Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue and also the pressure of losing his supporters within the n to Iris¡ªeverything exploded from inside him in one go. He totally lost his sanity at this moment.

    "You¡¯re just the child of the second wife! What¡¯s more, your mother is nothing but a gold digging, social climbing slut who would open her legs to any man that has a fat bank ount! She slept with all the men in high society! The daughter of a slut like you has no right to seed Long Industries!"

    Jiang Ying Yue gasped in shocked disbelief at his words. She stepped away from him, putting distance between them. She didn¡¯t recognize this Long Hui.

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold and dangerous. The miniscule good feelings that she had for Long Hui all disappeared at that very instant. Instead of exploding at his derogatory insults, she became calmer instead. Extremely calm and cold-hearted towards him.

    However, Jin Liwei reacted the opposite way.

    "Say that again, you motherfucking son of a bitch!!!" he roared and pounced on Long Hui.

    Jin Liwei punched Long Hui in the face. Long Hui fell to the floor. Not waiting for him to get up, Jin Liwei followed him to the floor and started raining punches and strikes on Long Hui. Jin Liwei was truly enraged this time. He was like a raging god of destruction meting out punishment to a sinner.

    Long Hui¡¯s survival instincts kicked in.

    Fight or flight?

    He chose to FIGHT!

    Although he couldn¡¯tpare to Jin Liwei¡¯s bigger and stronger body, he still fought with everything he had. He punched and kicked, eventually able to hurt Jin Liwei a bit.

    Despite Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s bodyguard instincts, she wasn¡¯t able to react in time when the two men started brawling. She was still too stunned at what Long Hui said to Iris. So she just stood there, a frozen mask of disbelief and shock on her face.

    As for Iris, she watched the two men rumble on the floor like street thugs. Her calm state increased her alertness, making her detect when Jin Liwei was about to attack Long Hui. She could¡¯ve stopped him if she wanted, but she didn¡¯t.

    It was only when some of Long Hui¡¯s punches and kicks startednding on Jin Liwei¡¯s body that she moved to separate the two men. There was absolutely no way that she would let anyone else besides her leave any marks on her darling¡¯s body.

    Physically separating the two men who were currently out of control would be dangerous even for her. So she grabbed a big orange from a nearby fruit basket instead and threw it like a baseball pitcher towards the two brawling men on the floor.

    The orange zipped past her darling and urately hit Long Hui¡¯s front leg, three inches above his knee.

    As soon as the orange hit this spot on his leg, Long Hui stiffened before howling in pain. His leg immediately stopped kicking. It was as if all the strength went out of his leg, turning into jelly.

    "Aaaaaaaah! My leg!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

    Jin Liwei was shocked at the sudden development in their fight. He stopped fighting and got off Long Hui. His gaze was caught by the rolling orange on the floor. Then he turned to look at his baby girl,pletely amazed by her.

    He had already rained down countless strikes on Long Hui, but the son of a bitch was still alive and kicking. And yet his baby girl only needed an orange¡ªone fucking ORANGE¡ªand she was able topletely immobilize the motherfucker.

    At that moment, the adrenaline pumping inside him turned quickly into lust for his baby girl. She looked so cool and damn sexy in his eyes. Her cold expression made her appear like a goddess. Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t the right time to act on his desire to bed his woman.

    Likewise, Iris¡¯ cold expression became slightly seductive, as she admired her darling¡¯s wild and disheveled appearance. His ferocious aura from fighting made him look so hot in her eyes. He was like untamed masculine power and sex personified. She felt a familiar aching hunger in her lower regions as Jin Liwei looked back at her. Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t the right time to act on her desire to bed her man.

    The lovers¡¯ matching thoughts were interrupted by Long Jian¡¯s continued howls of pain. He was now curled on the floor, clutching his leg close to his body.

    Jiang Ying Yue finally regained her senses. No matter how offended she felt by Long Hui¡¯s actions, he was still her fianc¨¦. More importantly, she still loved him. She went to him and tried calming him down while inspecting his injuries.

    Jin Liwei really did a number on him this time. Many parts of his body were red and swollen. Some even already started bruising. He had a split lip and a bleeding nose. What was more, it looked like he would have a nasty ck eye in the morning.

    However, all of these injuries seemed trivialpared to the severe pain Long Hui was experiencing from where Iris hit him with an orange. Jiang Ying Yue immediately concluded that Iris must have aimed at his peroneal nerve. That was why he was in so much pain like this.

    It pained her to see him hurt, but she couldn¡¯t really me Iris and Jin Liwei. Long Hui truly acted like aplete asshole this time. Even she couldn¡¯t believe that Long Hui was capable of saying such hurtful and malicious words to others, much less to his own sister.

 Chapter 404 - Stupid Idio

    <h4>Chapter 404 - Stupid Idio </h4>

    The loudmotion attracted the others back to the kitchen. When they returned, they were shocked by what greeted them. They couldn¡¯t immediately make sense of the situation because they were rmed by the howling Long Hui on the floor.

    Fortunately, Little Jun wasn¡¯t with them. Clover stayed with him while Dom and the others checked what the hell was happening in the kitchen. The toddler would surely be upset if he saw his father in such a disturbing condition.

    "What happened?! Dom cried dramatically. "Why is elder brother boss screaming like a pig being ughtered?! Sir boss, did you break his spitting cobra?! Oh no! What if it can¡¯t make babies anymore?! Or worse, it might never stand up again! Poor Big Sis Yue!"

    He gasped in horror at the possibility. He even clutched his chest and paled, as if it was the worst tragedy that could ever happen in Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s life.

    "Shut up, Dom!" Jiang Ying Yue snapped. She had no time for his dramatics at the moment.

    Long Hui¡¯s howls gradually became groans. Jin Liwei had covered him with ugly injuries. With his torn clothes, he looked pitiful.

    Yi Mei and the other household staff alternately looked at the two couples. The Long Hui-Jiang Ying Yue couple looked miserable on the floor, while the Jin Liwei-Iris couple looked frightening with theirbined aura of cold danger.

    "Ying Yue, bring that stupid idiot to the hospital. Even I¡¯m not sure if the orange dealt permanent damage to his peroneal nerve." Her way of phrasing her words cast the me entirely on the orange, as if itunched by itself to hurt Long Hui. "Leave Little Jun here with us. We¡¯ll take care of him. Go and babysit that delusional fool who clearly lost the majority of his brain cells tonight due to his sudden stupidity. Maybe you can squeeze some sense back into his dposing brain."

    Everyone was already used to Iris¡¯ asional sharp tongue, but they still couldn¡¯t help but wince at her cutting words towards her own brother. It was only Jin Liwei and Dom who didn¡¯t think that her words were too much.

    Jin Liwei loved her more than life itself. He would always side with her, even if she were to burn Long Hui alive or anyone else for that matter. He would even give her an endless supply of fuel and a diamond-encrusted lighter to do the job.

    As for Dom, he was extremely loyal to Iris. If Iris dered that she hated Long Hui or frogs, he would treat Long Hui and all the frogs in the world as if they were his mortal enemies as well.

    "Xin, I¡¯m so sorry about what Hui said. I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t mean any of it," Jiang Ying Yue apologized for her fianc¨¦. Her eyes implored Iris for forgiveness.

    Iris¡¯ eyes softened at her friend.

    "Why are you saying sorry to her?! I meant everything I said!" Long Hui roared at Jiang Ying Yue. "Do you really believe that she has changed for the better? Open your eyes! She has never changed! Mark my words. She¡¯ll be exactly like her mother, that slut!"

    He had truly lost control of himself. There were only rage and resentment against Iris and Jin Liwei in his heart at the moment.

    "You son of a bi¡ª" Jin Liwei was about to attack Long Hui again but Iris stopped him.

    "Liwei, don¡¯t dirty your hands anymore on scum like him. He¡¯s not worth your time or energy." Then she instructed the housekeeper. "Yi Mei, call the driver and have him drive Ying Yue and that stupid idiot to the hospital."

    "Right away, Young Miss." Yi Mei left to do her bidding.

    Long Hui threw his head back and gave an ugly, mockingughter. "Hospital? Still pretending to be a selfless and magnanimous person? Huh, little sister?"

    "I never imed to be selfless or magnanimous," Iris said in a cold voice. "I just don¡¯t want scum like you dirtying my floor longer than necessary. I¡¯m sending you to the hospital because it¡¯s either that or have you thrown to the dumpster where you rightfully belong. Besides, it¡¯s better to send you to the hospital so Father won¡¯t be able to me me for your injuries which, by the way, you totally deserve.

    "And even if we forget that we¡¯re siblings, you¡¯re still the father of my godson. Just for that alone, I¡¯ll let you go rtively scot-free tonight. But if you continue acting like a stupid idiot after this, then don¡¯t me us if Liwei and I retaliate a hundred-fold. You can only me yourself."

    Then she instructed the other staff. "Help Ying Yue get that stupid idiot into the car, so that they can go to the hospital. No need to be careful. Just drag him. If he resists, just put him in a sack or something and then dump him into the trunk."

    "Whoa, boss! You¡¯re so bad-ass!" Dom eximed. "You¡¯re just like the female lead from the webtoon Queen of the Shadows by Princess Porkchop!"

    Nobody responded to his off-topic remark, especially in this kind of tense situation. He didn¡¯t really mind, though.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, she felt torn between the siblings. However, she couldn¡¯t really defend any of Long Hui¡¯s actions tonight because he was clearly in the wrong. Besides, he was the one who started insulting his own sister.

    "Before you go, I want all of you to know that I¡¯m banning that stupid idiot from entering the penthouse until further notice," Iris announced.

    "Xin..." Jiang Ying Yue¡¯ expression fell.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Ying Yue. You and Little Jun are always wee here. But that scum isn¡¯t. That¡¯s all. Now go." Iris waved a hand, dismissing them.

    "Hah! So what if you ban me? Go ahead! I never want to enter this forsaken ce ever again either!" Long Hui pointed threatening finger at Iris. "You want Long Industries for yourself? Think again! I¡¯ll never let you!"

    Iris had no interest in Long Industries. Ever. However, she thought that Long Hui¡¯s foolish provocations might justpel her to take over the damnpany just to spite him.

    "If I do want Long Industries, what are you going to do about it? Stop me?" She flipped her hair back and crossed her arms over her chest while raising an eyebrow at Long Hui. "Just try it, Elder Brother Hui. May the best Long win."

    After that, she grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand and they both marched away. Jin Liwei made sure to throw an intimidating look at Long Hui before leaving the kitchen with his baby girl.

    ###

    On the way to the hospital, a fierce argument was taking ce inside the car.

    "Stop the damn car! I don¡¯t want to go to the hospital!" Long Hui roared.

    "My apologies, sir. My employer is the Young Miss Xin, not you. She instructed me to bring you to the hospital, so I must do it at all cost even if I have to knock you unconscious," the driver politely replied.

    "You! How dare you?! This is kidnapping! I¡¯ll call the police!"

    "Go ahead, sir." The driver remained polite all throughout, not the least bit intimidated by Long Hui¡¯s threats.

    The driver knew that the Young Miss protected all of the members of her household as long as they remained loyal to her. He also knew that herwyer was one of the best privatewyers in the country, not to mention that Sir Liwei¡¯s ownwyer was the very best in the corporate world.

    "Hui, I beg you to please calm down. This is not you," Jiang Ying Yue pleaded with him. She was doing her best to remain calm.

    Long Hui red at her. "You did absolutely nothing to defend me earlier! Am I still your fianc¨¦? Huh, Ying Yue? Do you still love me?"

    "What are you talking about? Get a hold of yourself. Of course, I still love you. It¡¯s just that you¡¯ve said so many hurtful things to Xin. This is so unlike you, Hui. I beg you to calm your anger."

    "Why are you siding with her?!"

    "Because Xin is my friend!"

    "I¡¯m your fianc¨¦ and the father of your child!"

    Jiang Ying Yue flinched at his yell. But she quickly straightened her already ramrod straight back, trying to stay strong even when she was upset at Long Hui¡¯s uncharacteristic behaviour.

    He pointed an angry finger at her. "It may seem like it¡¯s because of Xin that you now have afortable life being the head of security at the condo, but you should know that I was the one who asked her to hire you as a bodyguard in the first ce! You think that she¡¯s your friend? Think again! I begged her to hire you! I was the one who did things for you! You should be grateful to me, not to her!"

    Her lips pressed hard into a thin line. "I refuse to talk to you when you¡¯re being unreasonable like this. Please cool your head first. We can talk like two decent adults then."

    "Xin has banned me from her ce and now you don¡¯t want to talk to me? So you¡¯re really siding with her, huh? Is it because she¡¯s richer than me? Able to buypany shares like they¡¯re candies? Has close connections with powerful people? You¡¯re choosing her over me because she can give you more expensive things than me? Is that it?"

    Jiang Ying Yue pped him hard on the face, while tears began falling down her eyes.

 Chapter 405 - Invisible Wall

    <h4>Chapter 405 - Invisible Wall </h4>

    "How dare you say that, Hui? How dare you?" Jiang Ying Yue tearfully whispered.

    Long Hui¡¯s expression cracked upon seeing the obvious hurt in her eyes.

    Even though tears were streaming down her face nonstop, Jiang Ying Yue still forced her voice to be clear and strong.

    "Right from the start, I already knew that you asked Xin to hire me. Yes, I started off as her bodyguard but we became genuine friendster on. Don¡¯t downgrade my friendship with her just because she showers me and our son with nice things. She¡¯s just a naturally generous person to those she cares about. And she loves our son like her own.

    "And besides, if I really wanted nice and expensive things like you¡¯re insinuating, I would¡¯ve forced you to marry me the moment I found out that I was pregnant. But I didn¡¯t! If I only cared about wealth, I would¡¯ve epted your proposal the first time despite all of the humiliation and threats your rtives threw at me! But I didn¡¯t! Don¡¯t you ever paint me as an opportunistic person, Hui! Do you realize how extremely hurtful you¡¯re being today?

    "I bore your child, experienced the unbelievable pain of childbirth, and decided to try again with you because I love you, not because of your wealth or status! I didn¡¯te from a rich or powerful family like yours. My family wasn¡¯t destitute, but we experienced many difficulties in making ends meet. But at least my family taught me to treasure my dignity, to work hard and earn a living with an honest job, and to not fight with my own siblings and rtives because of inheritance.

    "Myte parents may not own their ownpany like your father, but they were still able to send me, their daughter, to university. When I finished my degree, they treated it as their biggest life achievement! I¡¯ll forever be thankful for their sacrifices, even now that they¡¯re gone. How about your family, Hui? All of you just know how to fight against each other because of money and power! The Longs don¡¯t deserve to be described as family! You¡¯re all a bunch of enemies pretending to be family!

    "So keep your wealth and status to yourself! I don¡¯t need it nor want it! My son and I will survive even without your Long money. I also don¡¯t want my son to call such power-hungry people as his family!"

    All of these words tumbled out of her mouth in an emotional explosion. She needed to take a brief break to catch her breath while hopelessly trying to control her tears. She angrily wiped her tears with her hands.

    Her emotional speech was the only thing so far that managed to prate his abnormal state of mind. It made his good sense gradually return.

    "Ying Yue..." He reached for her.

    "No! Don¡¯t touch me!" She pped his hand and moved away from him until her body was almost stered on her side of the car door.

    "I... Please, Ying Yue..."

    "Just shut up for now. Let me finish what I¡¯m saying."

    A tense silence enveloped the car. The driver wished he could drive faster without breaking the traffic rules, so that they could reach the hospital sooner. This kind of tension wasn¡¯t good for his heart. He might be the one who would need to be admitted to the hospital for heart attack if he had to endure witnessing the couple¡¯s distressing fight like this.

    Finally, Jiang Ying Yue spoke again. She looked directly at Long Hui¡¯s eyes, a heartbroken expression on her face.

    "Hui, I love you because of who you are. Even when I¡¯m still so hurt by what your rtives did to me back then, I still decided to give us another chance. But now it seems that I never really knew the real you. I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re this kind of narrow-minded and malicious man. You¡¯re just like your rtives, all extremely BIGOTED!!! You¡¯re indeed a member of the Long family. It seems that your sisters are the only decent people in your family!"

    After saying her piece, Jiang Ying Yue began sobbing hard. Her loud, heart-rending cries filled the car.

    The driver had now be upset, even teary, witnessing everything happening in the backseat. He wanted to bash Long Hui¡¯s head, but he remembered that the man was still the Young Miss¡¯s brother. Although it seemed that the siblings were fighting now, unless the Young Miss officially dered her brother as an enemy, he and the other household staff still needed to treat Long Hui with politeness just because he was the blood rtive of the Young Miss.

    Long Hui had now recovered from his malicious outburst. Guilt and shame filled him until he almost felt nauseous. Seeing his woman and the mother of his child sobbing so hard made his heart feel like it was being squeezed painfully into a pulp.

    "Ying Yue... I...I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t know what came over me. I feel like I was possessed or something." He desperately tried to find the right words to tell her but could only struggle.

    He felt mortified remembering everything he did and said at the penthouse. Just like Jiang Ying Yue, it seems that he also never really knew the real him. He had no idea that he was this kind of narrow-minded, malicious, and bigoted man.

    "I¡¯m sorry. So sorry..." he could only mumble over and over.

    Jiang Ying Yue gave him a tearful side-eye. "It¡¯s not only me you should apologize to, Hui. Don¡¯t forget all of the things you said to your sister. She doesn¡¯t deserve the insults you threw at her."

    Long Hui frowned. A hint of unwillingness surfaced in his expression. The pride of being the firstborn made him reluctant to be the first one to lower his head to his younger sibling.

    "You¡¯re the one in the wrong, Hui," Jiang Ying Yue reminded him.

    "Does this mean that you won¡¯t forgive me if I don¡¯t apologize to Xin?" he asked.

    She looked at him like he was turning into a stranger right in front of her eyes.

    "Does apologizing to your sister need to have an incentive? Apologizing is what decent people do, Hui. Decent people apologize because they feel sorry. If you feel forced, then it¡¯s better that you don¡¯t apologize at all because even if you do apologize, it wouldn¡¯t be genuine."

    He didn¡¯t reply.

    "Tell me, Hui. Do you really feel sorry about what you said and did earlier at the penthouse?" she asked.

    "I feel sorry for hurting you and making you cry," he immediately replied.

    She rephrased her question. "Do you feel sorry for insulting Xin and fighting with her?"

    He frowned, unable to answer as quickly.

    Jiang Ying Yue gave a sad smile, as if she already expected this from him. When he still didn¡¯t reply, she knew that he was preupied with his own thoughts.

    It was obvious that his injuries were still hurting him. The bruises and cuts on his face and body were now turning into a myriad of ugly colours. Fortunately, it seemed that the pain in his leg wasn¡¯t as severe anymore.

    Her heart softened seeing his beaten-up appearance. Even though she felt hurt by him, she still loved him. She hoped that he would soon realize how destructive he was suddenly bing and stop himself before it was toote.

    If she was ever forced to choose between Iris or Long Hui, she would choose the one who would provide her son, Little Jun, with a better environment to grow up in. And she didn¡¯t think that the Long family as it was now would be able to give her son a peaceful and nurturing home.

    The car stopped.

    "We have arrived at the hospital," the driver announced.

    Jiang Ying Yue turned to Long Hui. "Let¡¯s go. I¡¯ll take you inside. We¡¯re all feeling emotional right now. Let¡¯s cool our heads first. We can talk again after we¡¯ve thought things through."

    Long Hui nodded.

    The two entered the hospital. She apanied him all throughout. However, there was some kind of invisible wall separating them now.

    They continued to love each other deep within their hearts, but they could also feel this invisible wall blocking them from getting closer once again. It was ufortable, unpleasant...and painful. Yet neither of them made the first move to smash this intangible separation between them.

    If they didn¡¯t do anything to fix it as soon as possible, they would truly start drifting apart from each other.

    This was the other side of love¡ªthe ugly and the painful.

 Chapter 406 - Worry

    <h4>Chapter 406 - Worry </h4>

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    When they reached their bedroom, Iris continued to pull Jin Liwei all the way to the bathroom. She stripped him of his clothes except for his boxers and examined his body under the lights. She felt furious after seeing the small bruises and tiny scratches on his body.

    Of course, Jin Liwei¡¯s light bruises and scratches were nothingpared to Long Hui¡¯s nasty injuries. To Iris, however, they were a big deal. She almost called the driver to bring Long Hui back to the penthouse so that she could personally beat him up for leaving marks on her darling.

    "They don¡¯t hurt. I don¡¯t even feel them," Jin Liwei assured her.

    And indeed, he could barely feel them. In fact, his body hurt more after an intense workout than after his fight with Long Hui. The fucker only got lucky that some of his punches and kicks were able tond.

    Iris didn¡¯t reply. She took the first-aid kit and opened it. Then her eyes nked out as she stared at the contents.

    "Uh... Wait here, darling. I need to search this up first...."

    Despite feeling pissed off at Long Hui, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but smile in amusement at his baby girl. He pulled her back.

    "No need. Here, I¡¯ll show you how to do it."

    Iris was a fast learner. But since this was her first time treating injuries herself, her movements were still clumsy. She applied too much medicine, believing that more would make his injuries heal faster.

    After treating him, she told him, "I don¡¯t want you getting hurt in a fight again."

    "Love, these are nothing. I told you they don¡¯t hurt."

    "No, what I mean is that I don¡¯t want you getting hit in a fight again. Or at least, minimize the chance of hitsnding on your body. Why don¡¯t I ask Fourth Brother to starting again? I haven¡¯t had a Systema ss with him ever since we returned from Europe. Are you interested in doing Systema with me?"

    Jin Liwei thought about her suggestion. "Hmmm... I think I can learn Systema, but I don¡¯t really have any interest in it. I was originally trained in karate, but it has been years since Ist practised it. That¡¯s why I¡¯m quite rusty now. Maybe I should start visiting the dojo again."

    "It¡¯s up to you. But don¡¯t force yourself, if you don¡¯t have the time. We¡¯re already both so busy that I don¡¯t want anything to decrease our time together any more than necessary."

    "Don¡¯t worry, love. Once or twice per week should be enough to refresh my karate skills."

    They talked some more about their respective ns of training again in their own respective martials arts while cleaning themselves for the night. Although their conversation was light, they could feel a dark undercurrent in their emotions.

    Long Hui¡¯s earlier provocations had effectively killed their earlier desire to make love. Now they were just getting themselves ready for bed. They already tossed out any ns of making love for the night.

    When they returned to the bedroom, Iris called Qiao Yu on the phone and instructed him to purchase more Long Industries shares if any were put up for sale at any given time. She gave him permission to immediately buy the shares for her, no matter how much the price, even without informing her first. This was to raise their chances of getting it before anyone else.

    After the call, Iris turned and saw Jin Liwei stretching on the carpet. She joined him and they stretched together before going to bed.

    "So you want to buy more Long Industries shares? Have you changed your mind and decided that you want thepany after all?" he asked. Obviously, he heard the conversation with her financial manager on the phone.

    "No. I¡¯m still not interested in Long Industries. At all."

    The corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile. "So you¡¯re buying more shares just to spite that stupid idiot?"

    Iris sneered at the mention of Long Hui, but her expression quickly returned to being serious. "Yes, of course I want to spite him after what he did and said to me earlier this evening."

    Jin Liwei paused stretching. His expression turned dark, cold and dangerous, as he remembered all of the things the motherfucker said to his baby girl.

    She rubbed his clenched fists, soothing him. She could feel an almost murderous aura radiating from him. When he didn¡¯t rx, she moved behind him and hugged him from behind. They were still both sitting on the carpet. She nuzzled his neck until she felt him rxing a bit.

    Then she continued, "I want to spite that stupid idiot but that¡¯s too shallow of a reason. If there¡¯s only him in the picture, I don¡¯t mind using Long Industries to mess with him. But s, there are other people involved in this situation. Father made Long Industries into a sessful internationalpany. I don¡¯t want to belittle his hard work just to punish his stupid son."

    "Hmmm... I see." Jin Liwei nodded. He turned his head to the side so that they were looking at each other¡¯s eyes.

    "But that¡¯s only a minor reason. I suddenly have a bad feeling about that stupid idiot. I can¡¯t exin it exactly, but I¡¯m worried about his next actions," Iris said with a frown. "If he continues acting delusional and stupid like what he did earlier this evening, then we¡¯ll truly be enemies. Like I just said, there are also other people involved in this situation. If it¡¯s only him, I don¡¯t mind shing against him. I¡¯m just afraid that if I really beplete enemies with him, he¡¯ll do something to punish me by using our godson and Ying Yue. I can¡¯t bear that, darling."

    Jin Liwei scowled at the idea. "He¡¯s not a man if he dares use his woman and child in that way."

    She tightened her arms around him. "That¡¯s why I only banned him here in the penthouse, even though I wanted to ban him from the entire condo building. I¡¯m just worried that if I do that, he¡¯ll do something drastic like forcing Ying Yue and Little Jun to leave here and toe and live with him instead. He might even retaliate by banning us from seeing them. I don¡¯t want that. I want Ying Yue and our godson to be close to us."

    "Jiang Ying Yue won¡¯t go with him. She wants a safe and stable home for her son. The condo is exactly that," Jin Liwei assured her. "This is the woman who rejected the stupid idiot¡¯s proposal many times before because I¡¯m guessing that she doesn¡¯t think that he could provide her and their son a safe and stable home."

    "You¡¯re right. But don¡¯t forget that he¡¯s still our godson¡¯s father. If he starts fighting Ying Yue for custody, then things will just be messier. I don¡¯t want Little Jun to have to go through something like, Liwei. It¡¯ll scar him for life."

    Iris knew what kind of emotional damage a child could suffer when the parents were at odds against each other. Even though she didn¡¯t have any firsthand experience of it as Evelina, the memories of the original Iris were more than enough to prove that an experience like that could warp a person for life.

 Chapter 407 - Safe Haven

    <h4>Chapter 407 - Safe Haven </h4>

    Jin Liwei immediately understood what Iris meant. He pulled her from behind him to his front, urging her to sit between his legs on the carpet. Their positions reversed. He was now the one hugging her from behind, pulling her close until her back touched his chest. He embraced her in an almost protective manner.

    "If that son of a bitch decides to fight for custody, we can¡¯t do anything to make him and Jiang Ying Yue stay together. In fact, I¡¯d rather that your friend stay away from a fucker like him," he told her. "But what we can do is to give our utmost support and protection to our godson and Jiang Ying Yue. We can¡¯t fully shield them from the pain, but we can lessen the damage that stupid idiot could do to them, if ever."

    Iris looked unsatisfied that they couldn¡¯t fully protect Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue in that kind of possible situation. However, she could only nod at Jin Liwei¡¯s words.

    "As much as possible, I don¡¯t want to destroy Little Jun¡¯s rtionship with his father," she said. "Although that stupid brother of mine isn¡¯t a reliable enough man for my friend, he¡¯s still a great father to our godson."

    "No, love. We¡¯re not going to destroy our godson¡¯s rtionship with his father. If it¡¯s ever destroyed, it will be that stupid idiot¡¯s fault, not ours. So don¡¯t ever feel guilty about that. You don¡¯t deserve to carry a guilt that¡¯s supposed to be his."

    She nodded, feeling better after listening to him. However, she still couldn¡¯t stop worrying about Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue. If they weren¡¯t in the picture, she would¡¯ve already dered war against Long Hui. s, the situation was much moreplicated with the mother and child directly involved in the situation.

    Jin Liwei continued speaking. "This is what I was talking about when I said that I see a weakness in Long Hui¡¯s character. He just proved that my guess was correct. He¡¯s nice and confident when he¡¯s secure in his position as the heir, but the moment his top position is threatened, hepletely loses his cool. We just saw him crumble from all of the pressure. What¡¯s more, he has shifted the me on you. What a weak man."

    Sighing, Iris leaned back against his chest. She feltforted by his strong arms and protective embrace. "I agree with you. He¡¯s a weak man but Ying Yue still clearly loves him. I just hope that he sees that and adjusts his attitude. If not, he¡¯s going to send their little family into a great heartbreak."

    "It¡¯s difficult, but it¡¯s possible for a man to change. I did for you," he told her in a low tone.

    A lovely smile lit up her serious expression. "I know. Thank you for doing it for me."

    "I love you."

    "I love you, too."

    The lovers were side-tracked by the lovey-dovey moment. They smiled at each other like idiots before Iris made them return to the topic about Long Hui. Her worry about her godson and friend because of her fight with Long Hui bothered her like a pest crawling inside her heart. She needed to get it off her system or she wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep peacefully tonight.

    "A man can change but not every man can do so," Jin Liwei said. "The question is if Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun will be enough reason for Long Hui to change himself into a better man."

    "You¡¯re right. We can only hope that he changes for the better. But I don¡¯t want to bet everything on hope." Iris pursed her lips, not really liking what she was about to say. "We need some insurance just in case he continues being a weak, stupid idiot like this."

    She straightened and turned her body around so that they were facing each other.

    "Darling, I don¡¯t have any interest in Long Industries and most especially not in the matters of the Long n, but I¡¯ve decided that I¡¯m now going to fight for control of them. I¡¯ll show everyone, especially Father, that I¡¯m the best person to lead the business and the n," she said in a determined voice.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t look surprised at all. He even looked like he was already expecting this. However, he didn¡¯t talk yet. He waited until she finished speaking.

    "Our godson, Long Jun, is a rightful member of the Long n. Our godson shouldn¡¯t be treated like an outsider like this. It¡¯s unfortunate that his father, that stupid idiot, is too weak to really do anything to fight for him. So I¡¯ll do it in that stupid idiot¡¯s stead, whether he likes it or not."

    "We¡¯ll do it together," he told her. No, he promised her.

    Iris held his hands and smiled. He sped them together.

    "He¡¯s too afraid to sh directly against the elders and the rtives, but I¡¯m not. We¡¯re not," she corrected herself. Then she continued, "We¡¯ll purge all the scum out of the Long n and make it into a safe haven for our godson. I¡¯ll hold the reins for him until he decides if he wants to be the next head when he grows up. If he does, I¡¯ll hand everything of the Longs for him to manage. But if he decides that he doesn¡¯t want to be next head, maybe one of our future kids would want to do so instead. What do you think, darling?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes lit up hearing her talk about their future children. "If our kid is qualified to do so, then why not? Likewise, our other kid could inherit Jin Corporation if he or she wants to and is qualified for the job. But if they don¡¯t have the qualifications, they have no business inheriting any of thesepanies."

    She giggled and yed with his hands. "Mr. Jin, our children haven¡¯t even been born yet, but you¡¯re already so strict on them."

    "My dear future Mrs. Jin, our children need to experience some tough love for them to learn discipline and grow into responsible adults. It¡¯s our responsibility as their parents."

    A blush coloured her cheeks at being called "future Mrs. Jin". She was already bing more open about the idea of having children. The fear and insecurity were still there, but she felt assured by Jin Liwei¡¯s reliability.

    She just knew that he would be an amazing father, just like how he was an amazing godfather to their godson. That was why she wanted to do all of these things for Little Jun, not only because she loved him and wanted what was best for him, but also because she wanted to prove to herself that she could be a reliable godmother...and maybe a good mother in the future as well.

    "So I guess things will be more chaotic and stressful now that we¡¯ve decided to do this. We¡¯re going to end up making a lot of enemies from the Long n, darling." Then she sighed before saying, "And it¡¯s going to be super expensive, too. Those shares are no joke, but I need to buy them to gain more control. The saddest part is that I don¡¯t even want them." She sighed again.

    "It seems that someone is forgetting that her fianc¨¦ is a global billionaire."

    "But¡ª"

    "No buts, love. What¡¯s mine is yours, and what¡¯s yours is...I¡¯ll ask to share."

    She giggled and then teased him. "If you ask very nicely, maybe I¡¯ll share with you what¡¯s mine..."

    After being distracted by another round of lovey-doveyness, Iris finally agreed to allow Jin Liwei to help her purchase some shares if the price was too much for her. She could still afford minor shares like the 5% she recently purchased, but if it were anything more than 35%, it would really hurt her personal finances. There was no way she would tap into Monkey or Orchidia Beauty¡¯s funds.

    Later, both of them felt better and lighter after talking. They moved to the bed and prepared to sleep. Before they could eveny down, however, the sound of the ringing phone interrupted them.

    "It¡¯s already sote! Who could be calling me at this ungodly hour?" Irisined as she climbed off the bed once again for her phone.

    When she saw who was calling, she looked at the ceiling and sighed in annoyance. She was tempted to reject the call and turn off the phone, but in the end still decided to answer it.

    "Hello, Mother?"

    It was Wei Lan.

 Chapter 408 - Mother Missed You Sooooooo Much!

    <h4>Chapter 408 - Mother Missed You Sooooooo Much! </h4>

    "Helloooooo, my beautiful daughter~ Mother missed you sooooo much!" Wei Lan¡¯s dramatic (and slightly annoying) voice said through the phone.

    Iris allowed the woman to talk and talk and talk. When Wei Lan continued to chatter without any signs of stopping, Iris began feeling impatient. She was exhausted with everything that happened earlier tonight. She just want to sleep, especially since she still had to wake up early the next morning for work. She had no time for Wei Lan¡¯s useless chatter.

    "Mother, did you have something important to tell me?" she interrupted the older woman. "It¡¯s already sote. I still have work tomorrow."

    "Ooooh! Why didn¡¯t you say so? Honey, you should¡¯ve interrupted me sooner!" Wei Lan cried. "Ady¡¯s beauty sleep is super important! Like the most important ever! But yes, I called because I wanted to tell you something important. Like super important! Oh my goooodness! I almost forgot about it!"

    Iris forced herself to be calm and politely urged Wei Lan to speak.

    "You see¡ª"giggle giggle"¡ªMother has finally married again!" Wei Lan revealed in excitement.

    Iris blinked a few times. This would only be Wei Lan¡¯s second marriage. Even though she had countless lovers, she surprisingly didn¡¯t marry again after divorcing Long Tengfei. She imed that marriage wasn¡¯t for a free spirit like her (more like she wasn¡¯t the type suited for long-termmitments).

    "I see. Congrattions, Mother," Iris greeted her politely.

    She was surprised, but not too surprised. She figured that if the woman met a man who was several times wealthier and more powerful than Long Tengfei, Wei Lan would marry him in a heartbeat. And Iris assumed that was what happened in this case.

    "Ooooh. Thank you soooooo much, honey! Mother is sooooo happy right now! I finally met the love of my life! We married in Rio de Janeiro. It was such a small, intimate but beautiful ceremony! I felt like a blushing girl again!" Wei Lan gushed. Then her tone became a bit sad. "I¡¯m sorry that I wasn¡¯t able to invite you, honey. I heard about everything that happened to you back there with the car crash actually turning out to be attempted murder and all that, so I didn¡¯t want to make it stressful for you by asking you to travel all the way to Rio just to attend my wedding."

    Iris tilted her head to the side and frowned a bit. Something was off about Wei Lan.

    Was it just her or the woman actually sounded nice and considerate? These were words that she would never associate with Wei Lan.

    She looked at Jin Liwei who was observing her. She turned on the speaker so the he could also hear the entire phone conversation.

    "My new husband is a foreigner, so the difference in culture is challenging. But I love him sooooooo much! I hope that you¡¯ll like him, honey. He¡¯s the kindest and understanding man that I¡¯ve ever met in my entire life! And I¡¯ve met soooooo many men in my life, including your father. You know that." Wei Lan giggled.

    Iris¡¯ impatience was gradually reced by curiosity. She didn¡¯t give a whit about the woman¡¯s new husband, but she was extremely curious about this seemingly nicer and considerate Wei Lan.

    Even Jin Liwei looked surprised. He had listened in on phone conversations between the mother and daughter before. He also noticed the change in Wei Lan¡¯s way of speaking to her daughter. It was as if she really cared this time.

    "I want you to meet my husband soooooon! Unfortunately, there are still many things that he needs to finish in South America. He¡¯s sooooo hard-working! But I¡¯m really starting to feel homesick, so I decided to return to China ahead on my own. Surprise~ I¡¯ming home soon!" Wei Lan happily announced. "I can¡¯t wait to see my dear baby girl! I missed you soooo much! I know that you¡¯ve be soooooo beautiful¡ªjust like ME!"

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other. It seemed like it was finally time for the future mother-inw to meet her future son-inw.

    "So honey, can you have someone pick Mother up from the airport?" Wei Lan asked.

    "Of course, Mother. Just send me your flight details."

    "Really? Ooooooh! Mother is soooooo happy to have such a filial daughter! Thank yooooooou~"

    Iris rubbed her temples, starting to get a headache listening to the older woman¡¯s voice. Wei Lan might have be nicer and considerate but she could still be really annoying, especially when she talked and talked and talked nonstop.

    Jin Liwei crawled on the bed and positioned himself behind her. Then he started massaging her shoulders and back.

    She sighed in pleasure and appreciation of her darling¡¯s thoughtfulness.

    "One more thing, honey. Can Mother stay at your penthouse? Pleeeease?"

    Iris frowned. "Don¡¯t you have your own ce, Mother?"

    "Yes, but I want to spend quality time with my beautiful dear daughter. I haven¡¯t seen you for sooooooo long! I also want to meet your fianc¨¦! Let¡¯s bond together! We¡¯re familyyyyyy~"

    Iris turned her head and looked at Jin Liwei, silently asking him for his opinion. He nodded.

    "Alright, Mother. You can stay at the penthouse. I¡¯ll have a room prepared for you."

    "Oh! Thank you soooooo much, honey!"

    After another five minutes of listening to Wei Lan¡¯s enthusiastic chatter, the phone call finally ended. Iris sighed in relief that it was over. Talking with the older woman was actually quite exhausting.

    "How do you feel?" Jin Liwei asked her, knowing that the mother and daughter weren¡¯t close at all.

    She shrugged. She didn¡¯t really have any other strong feelings besides curiosity and slight annoyance. If possible, she didn¡¯t want to trouble herself with Wei Lan on a regr basis. However, she also felt curious about Wei Lan¡¯s change. She wanted to know if the woman had truly changed or was just faking it. In the end, her curiosity won over.

    Jin Liwei nodded, epting her shrug as an answer. He turned off the lights after they settled on the bed.

    After a few seconds of gettingfortable in his arms, his baby girl immediately fell into deep sleep as usual. As for him, he thought about all of the things that they had to deal with today. So many things happened in just a few hours.

    And now his future mother-inw wasing. It wasn¡¯t a secret that a huge part of his baby girl¡¯s bad reputation in the past could be attributed to Wei Lan. She was notoriously known as a gold digging, social climbing seductress. In high society where many women hated her, she was called a slut.

    Even Long Hui used Wei Lan to insult Iris earlier which pissed Jin Liwei off so badly that he beat the motherfucker. If the brother could use Wei Lan to insult Iris, how much more the other people?

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but feel a little trepidation that Wei Lan chose to return to the country at such an unstable period in the Long n. His baby girl just decided that she would directly join the battle for session. She needed to arm herself with the best weapons, and also to boost her position and reputation.

    He hoped Wei Lan wouldn¡¯t create trouble for his baby girl, especially at such an important time like this.

    I hope she really changed for the better, he thought before falling asleep while embracing his baby girl.

 Chapter 409 - Man Up

    <h4>Chapter 409 - Man Up </h4>

    The next day, Long Hui was discharged from the hospital. His injuries looked nasty, but they weren¡¯t life-threatening.

    What relieved him the most was when the doctor told him that his peroneal nerve was only hurt but not permanently damaged. The doctor warned him that if just a bit more force than what he was hit with was used, he would¡¯ve ended up with chronic leg pain or numbness. Worst case scenario would be leg paralysis.

    Both he and Jiang Ying Yue paled when they heard what the doctor said. Now Long Hui had developed a deep trauma for oranges. He would never eat oranges for the rest of his life ever again. It also deepened his resentment towards his younger sister, Iris, and to her fianc¨¦, Jin Liwei.

    Mixed with the resentment and other negative emotions like envy and insecurity was the feeling of guilt. After getting some sleep, albeit a restless one, he realized just how crazy he actedst night. He totally lost control of himself.

    He was ashamed of his uncharacteristic behaviour. He felt sorry for all the insults he threw at his own sister, but the pride of being the firstborn prevented him from apologizing first. It also didn¡¯t help that he was still feeling threatened by Iris¡¯ growing prominence and support within the n.

    Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t want to be enemies with her. After thinking about things more clearly, he concluded that it would be extremely difficult for him to win against her if she seriously beganpeting in the Long n¡¯s battle for session.

    All of these conflicting emotions were stressing him out. It was causing him great confusion. He needed some time to carefully analyze everything before choosing the best course of action.

    That was why he didn¡¯t return to Gold Heights with Jiang Ying Yue. The condo unit was given by Iris to his son. Staying there would make him constantly think of her and would only worsen his already troubled state of mind.

    As a result, he returned to his primary residence at the Long ancestralpound instead. He tried persuading Jiang Ying Yue toe and live with him and their son, but she refused. He wasn¡¯t surprised, but he couldn¡¯t help but be disappointed.

    He didn¡¯t force her, however. Thest thing he wanted was to worsen the invisible wall between them. Perhaps this temporary living separation would help cool off the tension between them. He hoped that they could restore their previous happy rtionship when they decided to live together again.

    When he left Jiang Ying Yue and his son at Gold Heights, he didn¡¯t bring any of his clothes or things with him. This was a clear indication that he still nned on returning to them.

    The question was...when?

    He didn¡¯t know.

    ###

    Long Ancestral Residence, Eastern Wing.

    The eastern wing was Long Hui¡¯s personal residence. Like the rest of thepound, the undeniable ancient aura could also be felt here. However, it had more modern elementspared to the main wing where Long Tengfei and his wife lived.

    Long Hui opted to use modern furniture, appliances and decorations instead of using the original antique ones that his ancestors used for centuries. As a result, only the building itself retained the ancientness in this wing. Everything else inside was modern.

    His father and some of the rtives, especially the elders, disapproved of his interior design choices. However, they couldn¡¯t really do anything to stop him because it was his space. Although Long Tengfei didn¡¯t like the overly modernized ce, he allowed Long Hui the freedom to decorate it as he pleased.

    The day he returned to the eastern wing, it seemed that the servants reported his pitiful appearance to his father because Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui immediately visited him.

    "Who did that to you?" Long Tengfei asked as soon as he saw his son. Hiseyes darkened with cold fury.

    Which stupid person dared to beat up the son of him, Long Tengfei?

    "Little Sister Xin and her fianc¨¦, that wild man, did this to me," Long Hui replied in a sullen tone.

    Long Tengfei was caught off-guard that he didn¡¯t know how to react for a few moments.

    It was his wife, Yang Jiahui, who reacted first.

    "What?! Xin and Liwei beat you up?! Why?"

    She looked shocked, then skeptical. It was hard for her to imagine that Iris and Jin Liwei could beat up a family member so badly like this.

    "Hmph! He deserves it!" Meimei¡¯s voice sounded from the doorway.

    The young woman looked pale and exhausted. Her eyes were red, decorated by dark circles and heavy eyebags. She had been working on her webtoon in her room for hours before taking a much-needed break. The servants informed her that Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui left to visit Long Hui who just returned to the eastern wing.

    Meimei already learned what happened from Dom, Clover, and even some tidbits from Jiang Ying Yue herself. Needless to say, it angered her as Iris¡¯ friend.

    She immediately followed her aunt and uncle to the eastern wing.

    "Big Brother Hui insulted Xin, so of course Big Bro Liwei beat him up! If I was there, I would also beat you up, Big Brother Hui! Hmph! I can¡¯t believe you would do that to Xin! She and Big Bro Liwei have been so nice to you and your little family, but this is how you repay them?! Gah! I¡¯m so mad!"

    "Xiao Mei, calm down," Yang Jiahui told her niece.

    "You insulted your sister? What did you say to her?" Long Tengfei asked his son in a cold and strict voice.

    Long Hui didn¡¯t answer.

    Long Tengfei turned to Meimei, silently asking her instead.

    "I don¡¯t know exactly what Big Brother Hui said. All I know is that he insulted Xin, that¡¯s why Big Bro Liwei beat him up," she answered. Then she turned to Long Hui and challenged him. "Man up, Big Brother Hui! Tell us exactly what you said to Xin! Don¡¯t be such a coward!"

    "Xiao Mei, that¡¯s enough," Yang Jiahui warned her.

    "Hmph!" She crossed her arms over her chest.

    Meimei had no idea that her "man up" challenge worked on Long Hui. It effectively pricked his machismo.

    "I¡¯m not a coward!" he hissed at Meimei. "Fine, I¡¯ll tell you what I said to her!"

    He told them how he used Wei Lan¡¯s reputation as a social climbing, gold digging slut to insult Iris. All three were horrified after he finished speaking.

    Yang Jiahui: "Oh no...."

    Meimei: "What the hell?! Did you really¡ª"

    "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO YOUR OWN SISTER?!!!" Long Tengfei roared.

    His voice was so loud and fearsome that everyone, including Long Hui, Yang Jiahui, Meimei and the nearby servants, all flinched and were frightened.

    Long Tengfei rarely raised his voice in fury like this. So when it happened, everyone shut up and froze. They were afraid to say or do anything that would anger him even further.

    Long Hui just sat there and epted his father¡¯s harsh scolding. He didn¡¯t defend himself.

    "Go apologize to your sister and make up with her! Then return to your son and fianc¨¦! Stop hiding here!" Long Tengfei punctuated his scolding.

    Then he marched out of the eastern wing with his wife and Meimei, leaving Long Hui alone with his extremely chaotic thoughts and emotions.

 Chapter 410 - Our Love, Our Destiny

    <h4>Chapter 410 - Our Love, Our Destiny </h4>

    A few days had passed since Long Hui left the hospital and returned to his wing at the ancestral residence. He took a leave from thepany to recover from his injuries. However, he continued working from home.

    He hadn¡¯t seen his father since the day Long Tengfei scolded him. He also hadn¡¯t made up with Iris yet, nor apologized to her.

    At the moment, a physiotherapist was treating his leg in the living room. It still hurt a bit and felt tender, causing him to walk with a limp. As for his other injuries, they looked worse than they felt. The bruises and cuts looked ugly, but they were already healing and didn¡¯t hurt as much as before.

    When the physiotherapist left, a servant entered carrying a basket filled with fruits and pastries. They were sent by Long Meng.

    Not long after, Long Hui received a call from the elder. He felt paranoid for a moment, thinking that Long Meng was calling to tell him that she would no longer continue supporting him. He was able to catch himself in time before his negative thoughts spiralled out of control again.

    Long Meng heard that he had returned to the eastern wing and that he was recovering from some injuries. However, she didn¡¯t know anything about what kind of injuries he had or how he got them. It seemed that Long Tengfei locked down the information from leaking out of the ancestralpound.

    Long Hui didn¡¯t tell her either.

    After wishing him to get well soon, Long Meng finally moved on to the purpose of her call. Unsurprisingly, it was about Iris owning 5% shares of Long Industries and how she now owned more than any of them.

    "The rightful heir is you, Young Master Hui. You should be owning more shares in thepany than any of your siblings," she told him. "That being said, I¡¯ll sell you my 3% shares so you can add it to the 2.5% that you currently own for a total of 5.5%. This way, you¡¯ll own a bit more than the Young Miss Xin."

    Of course, he was immediately tempted. There was just one big problem, however.

    "Grandaunt Meng, thank you for the offer but I can¡¯t afford to buy your shares at the moment."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it for now. You can pay me back in installments in the next few years, maybe even decades. If I¡¯m dead by then, you can continue the payments to my children or grandchildren."

    His eyes lit up. "Really? You¡¯re willing to let me do that?"

    "Yes. I¡¯ll even help you purchase some more shares if any were put up for sale. My branch family and several others are willing to loan you money to buy them."

    He was about to ept the offer, but his father¡¯s harsh scolding a few days ago yed inside his mind. Guilt filled him once again. He had been contemting of whether to apologize to his youngest sister or not.

    His pause saved him because Long Meng added, "But on one condition."

    "Condition?" He frowned. Although he already expected it, he still didn¡¯t like that her help came with conditions.

    "Yes. I¡¯ll help you and do all of these for you if you break up with that woman and marry a nice, suitabledy we approve of who also matches your status as an heir."

    Long Hui didn¡¯t answer. He waspletely silent.

    "Please think about my offer carefully, Young Master Hui. Our allies and I will do everything in our power to help you be the next head. But of course, you also need to do your part and do this for us. Actually, this is for your own good. That¡¯s all what I want to say for now," Long Meng told him before bidding goodbye.

    Although he didn¡¯t ept her offer, she was already satisfied that he didn¡¯t reject it right away. It meant that he was thinking about it. There was a chance that he would agree to her terms.

    When the phone call ended, Long Hui felt even more torn than ever before.

    ###

    The summer season would be officially ending soon, but the weather still remained hot. Despite the uncooperative weather, the promotions for uing TV shows that would soon be released in fall season were already well under way.

    One such promotion for a particr romance TV drama was currently trending all over. It was a live-action adaptation based on a popr romance . Although the TV drama adaptation casted young, not-so-popr actress and actor as the main leads, many still looked forward to watching it because of the original . The fans eagerly waited for its premiere to judge whether the drama would do justice to the original work.

    As a result, "Our Love, Our Destiny" was one of the most anticipated TV dramas in the fall season. Its teaser previews were watched numerous times both on TV and on the inte.

    Netizens couldn¡¯t stop talking about it.

    "I can¡¯t wait for summer to end so that we can finally watch ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯!"

    "Me too! Although I¡¯m disappointed with their choice of actress to y the female lead, I¡¯m quite happy about the actor ying the male lead. OMG! He¡¯s so hot!"

    "As a diehard fan of the original , I also can¡¯t wait to watch the live-action TV drama adaptation! But putting that aside for now, who else is loving the theme song?"

    "LOL. The teaser previews only feature a few seconds of the music. We can¡¯t even hear any lyrics."

    "But that few seconds are already enough for me to love the theme song. I wonder who¡¯s going to sing it."

    Some of them made a few guesses, but the topic of conversation quickly changed into something else. Nobody was really that interested in the theme song at the moment. They were more focused about the drama itself and the choice of cast.

    That was until someone began freaking out online.

    "Holy shit! The full trailer was just uploaded. Watch it right now! I¡¯m freaking out! OMG!"

    "Rx, buddy. I¡¯m watching it right now. Although I¡¯m feeling excited, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s enough to make me freak out."

    "Rx?! How can I rx?! Do you not freaking recognize the voices singing the freaking theme song?!!!"

    "Huh?"

    "!!!"

    "WHAT THE HELL?!!!"

    "Is this real? Am I dreaming?! OMG!! Please tell me I¡¯m not dreaming!!!"

    "Jin Chonglin and Iris Long are singing the theme song of ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯ together?!!!"

 Chapter 411 - Only One

    <h4>Chapter 411 - Only One </h4>

    The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans immediately swarmed and took over the inte once the names of their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin were mentioned. They watched the trailer in droves to confirm whether it was their boss and prince¡¯s voices who were really singing the theme song together. Their collective action resulted in the trailer bing the most viewed video within a 24-hour period.

    As diehard fans, they instantly recognized Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s voices. Even if the two changed their faces, their loyal fans would always recognize them by their singing voices.

    However, it was much easier to recognize Jin Chonglin¡¯s singing voice than Iris¡¯ because people had already heard him trying to sing in different music styles throughout the years that he had been in showbiz.

    On the other hand, Iris Long was still astounding everyone with her almost unbelievable musical range and versatility. People were still not sure what her limits were when it came to music. They felt like she hadn¡¯t shown everything she was capable of yet.

    Although there still wasn¡¯t any official confirmation that Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were really the ones singing the theme song for the uing romance TV drama, "Our Love, Our Destiny", their fans were already certain that it was the two of them. Almost everyone was freaking out in great anticipation and excitement.

    Of course, the ones who were the most overjoyed were the LinRis shippers. They considered this surprise music coboration as proof of their boss and prince¡¯s romantic rtionship. They still believed that their Prince Lin Lin was the real fianc¨¦ of their Boss Iris.

    People demanded an official confirmation from both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, Bright Summit, their recordbels, and even the cast and production staff of "Our Love, Our Destiny". However, they didn¡¯t say anything.

    Their silence only heightened the excitement, boosting the attention and interest the uing TV drama was getting from the media and the public.

    After more than an entire day of waiting, the long-awaited official confirmation arrived when JJ¡¯s recordbel made an announcement. It said:

    "We are excited to announce that multi-award-winning musician Iris Long will be coborating with superstar Jin Chonglin to sing the theme song of the uing TV drama ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯ premiering soon next season. The love song is a duet titled ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯,posed and written by Iris Long and produced by our very own Mr. JJ. More details will be released in a few days. Please look forward to the release of this dream coboration and support both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s new song. Also don¡¯t forget to watch the uing TV drama ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯. Thank you very much!"

    The public¡¯s reaction was quite predictable. The ck Stars, Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, and most especially the LinRis shippers all celebrated after this official confirmation by JJ¡¯s recordbel.

    "Kyaaaaaah!!! I¡¯m so freaking excited!!! I just know that this will be the biggest love song of the year!!!"

    "It says that Iris Long is the songwriter. From her track record so far after hereback, she¡¯s known for her dark, depressing and sometimes even twisted music. However, ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ sounds like a sweet and romantic love song based on what we¡¯ve heard so far from the teaser included in the trailer. I wonder if her songwriting skills will be as effective in this kind of sweet and romantic song as her usual dark and twisted songs that we¡¯re so used to hearing from her."

    "Boss Iris is a brilliant songwriter who has already won multiple awards for her music! So of course, this sweet and romantic love song as you call it will also have the same high quality like her previous songs! I bet my precious cup noodles on it!"

    "I agree! I bet that this love song is actually Boss Iris¡¯ love letter to her beloved fianc¨¦ who I¡¯m super sure is actually Prince Lin Lin! It¡¯s so romantic that the engaged couple is singing a love song together to profess their love to one another through music! #WeLoveLinRis #LinRisForever"

    Shortly after, Bright Summit and the TV drama¡¯s production both confirmed the music coboration as well. The TV drama revved up its promotion, using the poprity of both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin in its publicity.

    Then things went even crazier when Jin Chonglin himself confirmed the music coboration by means of a simple post on his blog.

    He posted a photo of himself taking a selfie with an unaware Iris in the background. She was ying the keyboard in a music studio with a big grey cat curled on herp. It looked like she didn¡¯t know that someone was taking a picture of her at that very moment.

    As for Jin Chonglin, he looked mischievous as he pressed a finger to his lips (a "please keep quiet" gesture) while secretly taking a picture of Iris without her knowledge. A striped orange cat was bnced on his shoulder, rubbing itself against the side of his head. It was super adorable.

    The photo was captioned "A typical working day with Junior Iris: she ys the music while I y with the cats. This is the life, I¡¯m telling you."

    Just a second after he posted this on his blog, it was immediately flooded with thousands ofments. The LinRis shippers were at the very forefront. They all fangirled, fanboyed, and fangayed over their dream couple.

    Of course, the ck Stars immediately recognized their Boss Iris¡¯ cats. They even knew their names as Ice Cream and Popcorn. The fact that one of them, Popcorn, looked so close andfortable with Jin Chonglin was making them think that perhaps he was really their boss¡¯ real fianc¨¦.

    They were confused because Jin Chonglin¡¯s body build waspletely different from the man in the photo shown during Iris¡¯ interview with Feng Jiu. Although both of their bodies looked hot and fit, Jin Chonglin was much slimmer while the other man was bigger and a bit more ripped.

    There were also a few people who dug up old photos of Lu Zihao. They couldn¡¯t find any recent photos of him. As the photos were from many years ago, nobody could tell for sure whether he was actually Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦ just based on body build alone. The general public didn¡¯t know much about him, but the members of high society believed that he was Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦.

    Despite all of these conflicting guesses, the LinRis shippers remained steadfast in their belief that their Prince Lin Lin was their Boss Iris¡¯ real fianc¨¦. They spected that their boss was just using another man to pretend to be her fianc¨¦ to deflect the attention from their prince.

    However, their belief was shaken when Iris Long made her own post as an indirect response to Jin Chonglin¡¯s earlier blog post.

    She posted a photo featuring her two cats as well. This time, however, the two cats were lovingly curled all over the familiar body of the mysterious man she was iming to be her real fianc¨¦. Once again, the man¡¯s face wasn¡¯t shown, only his body.

    The simple caption read: "My kids only have one daddy."

    The LinRis shippers were inplete denial. They refused to believe that she was engaged to another man other than their Prince Lin Lin.

    "Boss Iris! Why do you put us in this torture?! If you¡¯re really not engaged to Prince Lin Lin, please prove it to us by introducing your real fianc¨¦!!!"

    They cried to her with this plea. Unexpectedly, she replied.

    IrisLong: "Soon."

    A few seconds of shock. Then another uproar.

 Chapter 412 - Doomsday

    <h4>Chapter 412 - Doomsday </h4>

    While the LinRis shippers and many other people were freaking out about Iris¡¯ promise to introduce her fianc¨¦"soon", she put the matter aside for now and continued to work hard. Despite her busy schedule, she didn¡¯t forget to spend some time being lovey-dovey with her darling even when they weren¡¯t physically together.

    She had already stopped monitoring Jin Corporation¡¯s surveince system because Jin Liwei¡¯s assistant, Xu Tian, had begged her not to do so anymore for the sake of the employees¡¯ mental health. Almost everyone at Jin Corporation was now afraid of being haunted to insanity by the evil demon with a robotic voice.

    But one thing that she didn¡¯t stop was the lunch deliveries to Jin Liwei. It came to a point that they had to hire an extra chef at the mansion because of the increased workload.

    Jin Liwei informed her that everyone at Jin Corporation was now enthusiastic about meetings because they knew that his fianc¨¦e would feed everyone. It was a good thing for thepany because his employees¡¯ productivity increased as a result of the anticipation for food.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei also started training again in their respective martial arts. Yu Mo, a.k.a. Fourth Brother, starteding over the mansion to train Iris once again.

    Jin Liwei returned to the karate dojo after such a long time. After attaining third-degree ck belt years ago, he stopped training because he became too busy running Jin Corporation. He asked his second brother, Wang Yingjie, to apany him this time.

    Wang Yingjie was a fifth-degree ck belt and continued to train in karate even when the rest of them stopped. Although he wasn¡¯t as active in it anymore, he still made sure to go to the dojo at least once a month or so.

    Their eldest brother, Lin Yehan, reached second-degree ck belt but had no interest in karate anymore. He was happy focusing most of his time on his passion: sports shooting.

    With all of these going on in their lives, it was quite a wonder how Iris and Jin Liwei still managed to spend time together. But they did.

    Both of them felt very happy.

    However, Iris felt a faint dread at a certain date that was fast approaching. It was the day that Wei Lan would be returning to the country. If Wei Lan was only visiting, Iris wouldn¡¯t think much of it. But this time, the woman would be staying at the penthouse for who knew how long.

    When Iris informed Yi Mei and the household staff that Wei Lan would be staying at the penthouse for an indefinite period of time, she could sense their horror even when they weren¡¯t showing it on their expressions.

    Clover told Iris that she overheard Yi Mei giving an in-depth doomsday sort of lecture to the penthouse¡¯s entire household staff on how to interact with Wei Lan¡ªor more like how to avoid being the target of her wrath.

    After hearing about her staff¡¯s anxiety, Iris was seriously having second thoughts about agreeing to let Wei Lan stay in the penthouse. However, she already gave her promise to the woman.

    It ended up being quite a stormy day when Wei Lan was scheduled to arrive in the country. Many flights were cancelled. In fact, Yi Mei and the others were hoping that Wei Lan¡¯s flight would be dyed for another day or longer.

    Unfortunately, the woman¡¯s flight arrived on time despite the bad weather. The driver picked her up from the airport. Yi Mei and the others had no choice but to wee their dreaded guest at the penthouse.

    Iris, Jin Liwei, Dom and Clover were busy working so they weren¡¯t there to wee Wei Lan when she arrived. Both Iris and Jin Liwei already decided to stay at the penthouse for a few days to spend some time with Wei Lan after work.

    A sense of uncertainty and trepidation enveloped all of them at the thought of having to regrly interact and even live with Wei Lan.

    ###

    Later that evening.

    Unlike their usual routine, Jin Liwei picked up Iris, Dom and Clover at Orchidia Beauty. Normally, they went home on their own because they had different schedules. Iris especially had an extremely irregr schedule as a celebrity.

    Earlier that day, Iris and Dom were busy with her showbiz work. Afterwards, they dropped by Monkey to check on the gamingpany. Thente in the afternoon, they headed to Orchidia Beauty to work. Iris and the others were extremely busy preparing for thepany¡¯s first grand productunch soon.

    As for Jin Liwei, he originally didn¡¯t n on picking up his baby girl and the others. However, he was informed that his future mother-inw had already arrived at the penthouse. The two of them hadn¡¯t officially met each other yet.

    He didn¡¯t want to arrive home early and meet Wei Lan by himself. He decided that it was best if he met his future mother-inw in the presence of his baby girl.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    The delicious aroma of food wafted up their noses, making their mouths water, when the elevator door opened to the penthouse.

    "Mmm! Yum yum! Junjun hungwy, Mama!" Little Jun told Iris, being the first one to react to the delicious aroma.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Little Jun. We¡¯re going to eat soon," she assured her godson. She was carrying him in her arms.

    Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun waited for them to arrive at the condo lobby. Iris invited them to join the wee dinner for Wei Lan. Although the mother and son almost always had their meals at the penthouse, Jiang Ying Yue was hesitant in joining the dinner because she wasn¡¯t personally familiar with Iris¡¯ mother. All she knew about Wei Lan was her unpleasant reputation, just like the Iris in the past.

    However, Iris insisted that she wanted Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun to join the dinner. She wanted to show Wei Lan that Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun were family and that they had every right to go in and out of the penthouse. She didn¡¯t want Wei Lan treating the mother and son badly. If she did, Iris would kick the woman out immediately.

    So all of them entered the penthouse together.

    Then a tall, gorgeous, middle-aged woman wearing a long, flowy, tailored satin jumpsuit stood up from the couch in the living area. Her beauty was undeniable. She was carrying and petting Popcorn in her arms, but in a way that made the cat look like a designer essory instead of a living creature.

    "Oh, there you are! You¡¯re finally here~ I¡¯ve been waiting for yoooooouuu~ Come hug and kiss your mother, honey¡ªoh my! Who¡¯s that gorgeous man standing next to you?"

 Chapter 413 - Just Like ME

    <h4>Chapter 413 - Just Like ME </h4>

    This was the first time that Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun and Clover were meeting Wei Lan in person. Dom had already met her before during her short visits to see Iris at the penthouse.

    Although Wei Lan didn¡¯t spend much time with Iris, at least she made it a point to see or call her daughter every few months or so. It was only when Iris went intoa for the second time that Wei Lan "disappeared" and stopped her sporadic visits. However, Wei Lan reconnected with Iris againter to update her on hertest escapades while travelling all around the world.

    Perhaps it was a good thing that Iris and Wei Lan didn¡¯t see each other often during thetter part ofst year. It was the time when the remnant inside Iris was the most vtile.

    The mother and daughter had a love-hate rtionship with each other because they were too alike in their "me first" philosophy in life. The original Iris held a strong resentment against her mother.

    If Wei Lan became much more involved with Iris during that unstable periodst year, who knew how much more havoc the remnant would¡¯ve caused Iris?

    At the moment, everyone (except Iris) couldn¡¯t stop looking at Wei Lan standing in front of them. Wei Lan still retained her youthful, tall and slim model body even at middle age. She was much "tter"pared to her daughter¡¯s shapely hour-ss body, but Wei Lan actually looked more seductive despite this.

    Her face was gorgeous. Iris inherited a big part of her beauty from her mother. The resemnce was unmistakable between the two, but they looked more like sisters than mother and daughter because of Wei Lan¡¯s youthful appearance.

    Despite the resemnce, Iris had a more naturally angelic look than her mother, especially if she didn¡¯t put any make-up on. In contrast, Wei Lan¡¯s beauty was devilish with or without make-up.

    Upon seeing his family finally return, Popcorn jumped out of Wei Lan¡¯s arms and ran towards the newly arrived group. Since his mommy was carrying Little Jun, Popcorn leaped like an orange rocket to his daddy¡¯s arms instead. The hyperactive yet affectionate cat meowed loudly, catching the attention of his sister all the way from the cat room.

    Ice Cream, as always, was suspicious and even hostile to unfamiliar people. Even as Popcorn felt curious and began cautiously interacting with Wei Lan, Ice Cream stayed away from the woman.

    If someone could hear the cat¡¯s thoughts, she would probably say this:

    "This is my territory. Intruders are unwee. Want to be my ve? Work hard to earn my approval first. Hmph!"

    Everyone in the group gave the cats lots of love and attention, involuntarily ignoring Wei Lan for a few moments. Surprisingly, she didn¡¯tin like she always did. She just stood back and observed everyone.

    When Little Jun asked to be ced down on the floor so that he could y with Ice Cream and Popcorn, Iris finally remembered Wei Lan. She quickly let go of the toddler before walking to where Wei Lan was standing.

    "Mother, please excuse our rudeness," she said.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, honey," Wei Lan replied.

    Then she pulled her daughter for a quick hug and air kisses before looking at Iris from head to toe and back up again. She nodded in satisfaction.

    "Hm, yes! You¡¯ve be even mooooore beautiful¡ªjust like ME! That¡¯s right! It¡¯s only natural that MY daughter is as gorgeous as ME! But oh my goooooodness! Look at that skin! I swear your skin didn¡¯t look like that when Ist saw you! Which products have you been using, honey? Or did you undergo some sort of cosmetic procedure? Don¡¯t be ashamed if you did. It¡¯s the responsibility of gorgeous women like us to maintain our beauty for as loooooong as we can! How about you tell Mother your beauty secrets? I¡¯m all ears!"

    Wei Lan¡¯s interest in her skin pleased Iris greatly. It meant that Orchidia Beauty¡¯s products were all effective.

    "Yes, I¡¯m using new products but they¡¯re not avable on the market yet," she said.

    "What?! Not avable yet?!" Wei Lan eximed. "Is it one of those exclusive brands that have at least year-long waiting lists? Which brand is it, honey? Tell meeeeee! If it can make my skin look like yours, then even if I have to wait two years or more, I will!"

    "Rx, Mother. The products willunch thising fall. But you don¡¯t have to wait that long. I¡¯ll give you some samples to tryter. If you like the products, don¡¯t forget to buy them when theyunch."

    "Ooooooh! That¡¯s wonderful! Thank you, honey~"

    Then Wei Lan suddenly cupped Iris¡¯ breasts, even lightly squeezing them, in front of everyone.

    Iris froze. She was extremely taken aback by the woman¡¯s actions. If this was any other time, her reflexes would not have allowed anyone other than Jin Liwei and her doctors touching her intimate parts. However, she didn¡¯t sense any malicious intentions from Wei Lan, so she wasn¡¯t able to react in time.

    It wasn¡¯t only her. The others also froze seeing what Wei Lan was doing to her. Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes went nk, unable to process the sight of his future mother-inw groping his most beloved breasts¡ªcough cough¡ªhe meant, the most beloved breasts of his baby girl.

    But Wei Lan wasn¡¯t done yet. After touching Iris¡¯ breasts, she reached down and around, and then began lightly squeezing her daughter¡¯s butt next.

    This time, Iris caught the woman¡¯s hands and pulled them off. "Mother, what are you doing?!"

    "Oh, don¡¯t mind me, honey. I¡¯m just checking whether you had imnts or not because your boobs and butt look bigger than what I remember," Wei Lan replied, sounding as though it was the most natural thing to say and do in the world. She withdrew her hands, but continued to examine Iris¡¯ body.

    "I don¡¯t have imnts, Mother."

    "Yes, I know that now after feeling them. Let me look at you again. Hm, yes... I think you gained a little weight since Ist saw you, honey. Be careful not to gain too much or your man will leave you if you be too fat."

    "That¡¯s not true," Jin Liwei¡¯s cold voice cut through the weird atmosphere. He walked forward until he was standing beside Iris. Then he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled him closer against the side of his body. He looked directly at Wei Lan. "Madam, I¡¯ll continue to love your daughter no matter what size she bes in the future. I certainly won¡¯t leave her. Likewise, I hope that she won¡¯t leave me if I ever get fat."

    "Oh Liwei. You¡¯ll always be my darling even when you be a cranky, fat, old man," Iris replied, wrapping her arm around his waist as well.

    And with that, the two became absorbed in their own little world again. They stupidly grinned at each other like idiots. Of course, their number one fan Dom fangirled like crazy in the background with his sister Clover.

    "So you¡¯re my daughter¡¯s fianc¨¦? I knew it from the moment you walked in!" Wei Lan¡¯s (annoying) voice interrupted the couple¡¯s lovey-dovey moment. "Honey, why don¡¯t you introduce your handsome fianc¨¦ to Mother?"

    Iris finally introduced the two to each other.

    Wei Lan didn¡¯t have much reaction when Jin Liwei¡¯s name was mentioned. It seemed that she didn¡¯t recognize him right away. Just like what she did with her daughter, Wei Lan examined Jin Liwei from head to toe and back up again. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t grope him like what she did to Iris. She nodded her head in satisfaction as she looked at Jin Liwei¡¯s appearance.

    "Xin is really my daughter! What a great catch! She has excellent taste in men¡ªjust like ME!"

    Then she started asking Jin Liwei questions about his height, weight, blood type, horoscope, family background, education, career, ie, if he was really straight or maybe bisexual, how many lovers he had before Iris, and so many other intrusive questions.

    Iris shut down the other questions, not hiding her cold displeasure at Wei Lan. Fortunately (and surprisingly), Wei Lan was very nice and didn¡¯t push for Jin Liwei to answer her other questions.

    Jin Liwei answered the basic questions. It was only then that Wei Lan finally realized who he was. Her eyes widened in shock, as she looked at him like he had suddenly transformed into a king right in front of her eyes.

    "Y-you¡¯re Jin Liwei?! That Jin Liwei, head of Jin Corporation?!"

 Chapter 414 - Look A Little Like You

    <h4>Chapter 414 - Look A Little Like You </h4>

    "Yes, Madam. I am indeed Jin Liwei of Jin Corporation," Jin Liwei confirmed in a calm tone. "And I¡¯m going to marry your daughter."

    Iris tightened her arm around his waist while focusing all of her attention on observing Wei Lan¡¯s reaction.

    Wei Lan nked out for a few moments, as she stared at Jin Liwei and Iris together. Her brain couldn¡¯t seem to immediately process the idea that her daughter was engaged to the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation. Although younger, Jin Liweiwas certainly wealthier, more powerful and influential than her ex-husband, Long Tengfei.

    But this was Wei Lan. Her opportunistic nature allowed her to recover her senses fairly quickly. After the initial shock and disbelief, pride and tion immediately filled her.

    Her daughter was really her child! She already knew that her daughter would be able to marry well because Iris inherited her beauty. However, even Wei Lan never expected that her daughter would marry the most eligible bachelor in the country. Her daughter had done extremely well¡ªeven better than Wei Lan herself¡ªin choosing the best husband.

    A glint of avarice shed in Wei Lan¡¯s eyes.

    Then a peculiar thing happened.

    Realizing the direction of her thoughts, Wei Lan visibly paused and even faintly shook her head, as if forcing the avarice out of her.

    Afterwards, Wei Lan expressed her excitement at learning that the two were engaged. She congratted them and gushed about such a perfect match. Everything that came out of her mouth were all very nice and warm words. Although her voice was still annoying, she didn¡¯t seem like she was faking her well wishes to the couple. If she was acting, then she was an excellent actress¡ªbetter than Iris, at least.

    Iris, who had been closely observing Wei Lan, saw all the changes in her expression. She caught the earlier glint of avarice in the woman¡¯s eyes before it either disappeared or was covered up. Iris felt extremely curious and confused at this new Wei Lan.

    However, Iris remained vignt. Perhaps Wei Lan was just presenting a good impression to Jin Liwei because they were meeting for the first time. Iris was expecting that Wei Lan would revert to her usual self and start requesting some mother-inw perks from Jin Liwei, like borrowing his yacht or private ne, for example.

    Inside Iris, there was a mixture of different emotions.

    There was a longing for Wei Lan to be the mother figure that she craved, especially this nice Wei Lan. At the same time, there was also apprehension that this good change wouldn¡¯tst, that Wei Lan would continue being the opportunistic woman that she was, even to her own daughter.

    And finally, there was indifference. It was an almost dismissive attitude towards the woman whom Iris didn¡¯t really have much of a rtionship with, except for the asionalmunication whenever Wei Lan had the whim to contact her daughter.

    Even to the original Iris, Wei Lan wasn¡¯t much of a mother. Now that the current Iris was a different soul, the blood connection didn¡¯t really apply to them anymore. The current Iris was just being respectful to the previous¡¯ Iris¡¯ parent-child connection with Wei Lan, just like how she handled her rtionship with Long Tengfei after waking up in this new body.

    All of these different emotions were a result of the remnant fusing with her. The fusion had greatly slowed downtely but it had already reached around 90%pletion. Despite this, 90% was already enough topletely change Iris¡¯ overall personality.

    She had be a bit more emotional and empathetic and also much better at reading other people. Her range of emotions definitely widened, but she attributed this as the effect of falling in love with Jin Liwei and having the freedom to experience new things. Even now, she had no idea that the remnant was permanently changing her from deep inside.

    But because the remnant opted for a fusion instead of an aggressive takeover, she still retained her original calm and logical personality as Evelina. It was just not as extreme as before. At least, she didn¡¯t act like a cold robot anymore.

    These two conflicting personalities were bncing each other out. They were melding into one personality, instead of remaining as two separate ones. However, there was still the remaining 10% that hadn¡¯t fused yet.

    Back to the present,Iris requested for Wei Lan not to divulge the truth to anyone else.

    "Mother, we¡¯re keeping our rtionship a secret for now. We want to be the ones to announce it to the public."

    "Don¡¯t worry, honey. Mother understands. My mouth is zipped," Wei Lan promised.

    Despite this, Iris was already anticipating that a leak would somehow ur because Wei Lan was a known gossip. She was already mentally making other contingency ns if Wei Lan couldn¡¯t keep her mouth zipped like she promised. Iris wanted the official announcement to be special, but if others discovered the truth before that, then she would just announce it earlier than she nned.

    After the future inws met, Iris introduced the rest of the group next.

    Wei Lan already knew Dom, so she was nice and warm in meeting his sister, Clover. Then Iris introduced Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun next, describing the mother and son as her friend and godson.

    "Little Jun,e here. This is Grandmother Wei Lan. She¡¯s my mother," Iris exined to the toddler, as she carried him again.

    Little Jun looked confused by her exnation. He hugged Iris¡¯ neck tightly while staring at the unfamiliar woman.

    "Oh! Grandmother! ME, a grandmother?!" Wei Lan clutched her chest in horror. "Tell the child to call me Auntie. No, better yet tell him to call me Big Sister."

    "Don¡¯t be ridiculous, Mother. What Auntie? What Big Sister? Little Jun is my godson, so of course you¡¯re his grandmother. He also calls Liwei¡¯s mother as Grandma, so it¡¯s only natural that he should call you Grandmother as well," Iris told her in a no-nonsense tone.

    Jin Liwei took the toddler from Iris, telling him, "This is your Grandma Wei Lan. She¡¯s your Mama¡¯s mama."

    "Amma Weiyan?" Little Jun asked.

    "En. Grandma Wei Lan," Jin Liwei replied with a nod. Then he looked at Wei Lan and asked, "Madam, would you like to hold him?"

    "Oh goooooodness, no!" She looked horrified. "Thest time I held a child was two decades ago when Xin was still a baaaaabyyyy. I¡¯ve already forgotten how. What if I drop him?"

    Nobody insisted on letting her carry Little Jun. What if she really dropped him?

    "But he¡¯s sooooo cute~" Wei Lan gently poked Little Jun¡¯s cheek with a manicured finger. Fortunately, she wasn¡¯t wearing any long nails.

    The poke made Little Jun giggle. It seemed that his innate charm worked even on Wei Lan because the woman was soon cooing at the toddler.

    "Honeeeey, why does this child look a little like you?" Wei Lan asked. "Don¡¯t tell me that he¡¯s reeeeaaally your child with dear Liwei? Oh, my goooooodness! If that¡¯s the case, then wouldn¡¯t that make me a real GRANDMOTHER?!"

    "No, Mother. Little Jun is not my child. But it¡¯s true that he resembles me a little because we are blood-rted. He¡¯s actually Elder Brother Hui¡¯s son with Ying Yue, so that makes him my biological nephew," Iris exined to her.

    "What?"

    Wei Lan instantly turned cold and stopped interacting with Little Jun.

    Seeing the abrupt change in her expression, Iris¡¯ eyes also turned cold. She stepped in front of Jin Liwei carrying Little Jun in a protective manner. Jiang Ying Yue and the others also went into protective mode. Even the two cats joined in.

    Popcorn looked alert, while Ice Cream was openly hostile. The big grey cat hissed loudly at Wei Lan and even bared her trimmed ws in a threatening manner.

    "Mother, both Little Jun and Ying Yue are members of my family with Liwei. This household is their home, and everyone here knows to treat them with respect like how they treat Liwei and me," Iris told Wei Lan in a cold voice.

    The rest of her words¡ª

    "They have more right to be here than you."

    ¡ªweren¡¯t said out loud, but Wei Lan understood Iris¡¯ indirect warning.

    Wei Lan pursed her lips at everyone¡¯s protectiveness.

    As for Iris and the others, they waited with bated breath for Wei Lan¡¯s next actions. Would she start creating trouble?

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned even colder at the thought. If Wei Lan dared to do that, she would immediately kick her out.

 Chapter 415 - Karma

    <h4>Chapter 415 - Karma </h4>

    Wei Lan closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Her struggle in controlling herself was obvious to the others. When she opened her eyes, her cold expression became warm and nice again. However, she looked past Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue as if she could no longer see the two of them.

    "I see. So that¡¯s how it is. I understand, honey. There¡¯s noooooo need to be so uptight. I absolutely don¡¯t like your father¡¯ other children and anyone or anything rted to them, but since you¡¯re close to this friend and godson of yours, then they must at least bedecent people," Wei Lan said.

    Then she finally nced at Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue again. Her eyes may not be very warm, but at least they weren¡¯t cold anymore. Then she turned to Iris again.

    "Mother will be good, honey. Don¡¯t worry," she tried to assure Iris.

    The atmosphere eased after that. However, everyone still remained vignt and protective of Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue.

    As for Iris, her confusion and curiosity at this new Wei Lan only deepened even more. Since when was the woman able to control her emotions so well? If this was before, Wei Lan would¡¯ve already exploded and spewed hatred on Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun because of their connection to Long Hui.

    Iris continued to observe Wei Lan, trying to detect whether the woman was really genuine or was just faking this positive personality change. However, Iris still wasn¡¯t that great in urately reading other people¡¯s emotions.

    Shortly after, Yi Mei called everyone to the dining room for dinner. All of the household staff acted stiff and formal, totally unlike their usualfortable and rxed behaviour when it was just them at home. They were especially cautious around Wei Lan.

    Iris sighed seeing her staff like this. It was also making her ufortable watching them act so unnatural and unlike their usual selves. They reminded her of Jin Liwei¡¯s staff at the mansion when she first started living there. They were almost like robots.

    She was already doubting her decision in allowing Wei Lan to stay at the penthouse for an indefinite period of time. But so far, the woman was being good like she just promised. Only time would tell if Wei Lan would be able to keep this up.

    During dinner, the atmosphere was a little awkward. It was mostly just Wei Lan and Iris talking, while the rest ate in silence, only speaking when directly addressed to by either Wei Lan or Iris. Of course, Jin Liwei also talked because Wei Lan was very interested in him.

    Wei Lan asked the couple a lot of questions about their rtionship. She also didn¡¯t forget to admire Iris¡¯ beautiful engagement ring, even asking if she could try it on herself. However, Iris rejected the idea. Wei Lan justughed the matter off, as if she wasn¡¯t even serious about it.

    Perhaps after getting bored of Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s love story, Wei Lan started talking about her own love story instead.

    "I was in France attending fashion shows and doing my seasonal shopping at my favourite luxury designer boutiques when I decided on a whim to visit Spain¡ªto shop some more, of course! Then I met this tall and handsome Spanish vizconde¡ªthat¡¯s a viscount, I was told. He started courting me right away but I ignored him because I had bad experiences with people from nobilities. Do you have any idea how much grief the Looooong n gave me when I was still married to your father? Oh, the horror of it all!"

    Wei Lan¡¯s face twisted into a disgusted expression before she quickly smoothed it out. It wasn¡¯t because she was trying to be nice again but because she didn¡¯t want her face to be too expressive for fear of wrinkles. She continued her story.

    "Well, at least the vizconde is an official noble up to this day, unlike the Longs who still act all high and mighty when they aren¡¯t really nobility anymore! What¡¯s more, the vizconde is the mooooost humble, kind, gentle and generous person that I¡¯ve ever met in my entiiiiiiiire life! He was also very patient and continued to court me. It was only a matter of time before he was able to make mepletely and hopelessly in loooooooooove with him!

    "Oh honey, I never imagined that I would ever fall in love so deeeeeeeply like this! I never hid the fact that I didn¡¯t love your father or my other lovers that much, but this time, I really love my new husband! Oh! My heart is beating sooooooo fast just remembering him. I¡¯m already starting to miss him sooooooo much!" Wei Lan gushed while clutching her chest with her manicured hands.

    And indeed, even with her make-up on, the others could see that she was blushing.

    "Madam¡ª" Jin Liwei began to speak but was quickly interrupted by Wei Lan.

    "Dear Liwei, call me Mother from now on! Madam is too formal! You¡¯re going to be my only daughter¡¯s husband so we¡¯re family now!"

    Jin Liwei hesitated.

    Wei Lan pouted. "Fine. You can call me Auntie for now. But I hope that you get used to calling me Mother soon!"

    This time, he was more agreeable. "I understand, Aunt Wei Lan."

    Wei Lan looked absolutely pleased at hearing his new form of address of her. She smiled so brightly that it lit up her whole face. Dom and the others gasped at her beauty (except for Jin Liwei who still thought that his baby girl had the best smile in the world). Now they knew where Iris got her stunning, photogenic smile.

    Jin Liwei was unaffected by the smile, so he continued what he was going to say earlier before he was interrupted.

    "Aunt Wei Lan, you say that your new husband is a viscount. Since you¡¯re now married, doesn¡¯t that make you a viscountess?"

    Wei Lan giggled. "Yes, I¡¯m officially a vizcondesa now. Specifically, I¡¯m the Viscountess of Castillo de Estres, an official member of the Spanish nobility."

    Then she suddenly paused, remembering something, before throwing her head back andughing out loud.

    Everyone looked at her, unsure of what was going on with her. They thought that perhaps she finally lost all of her marbles and had gone cuckoo in the head.

    "Mother, get a hold of yourself," Iris told her in stern voice. "You¡¯re scaring my godson."

    Indeed, Little Jun¡¯s face was now buried deeply between his mother¡¯s breasts. Soft whimpers could be heard from him. However, he didn¡¯t cry loudly this time.

    "Oh! Excuse me...ahahaha!" Wei Lan tried to control herughter while wiping tears from her eyes. (The tears were fromughing too much.) "I¡¯m just amazed at how destiny works, honey~ Your father¡¯s n, they¡¯re all so proud of their noble roots, even though they don¡¯t hold any official title anymore. I suffered sooooooo much insults from the elders and the rtives while I was still married to your father. They constantly rubbed it in my face that I was just a lowly model and would never be on the same level as your father.

    "But look at me now! Aren¡¯t I a viscountess? Aren¡¯t I a member of nobility with an official title? I dare them to call me lowly again with my current status! And you, my beloved only daughter who¡¯s as beeeeaaaauuuutiful as ME¡ªaren¡¯t you the daughter of a viscountess now? Is this what they call karma or what? I dare those Longs look down on us mother and daughter again! Ahahaha!"

    Wei Lan continued tough as if she heard the funniest joke in the world.

 Chapter 416 - Poor Manâ€™s Cross Academy

    <h4>Chapter 416 - Poor Man¡¯s Cross Academy </h4>

    Iris tilted her head to the side, pondering about the bombshell Wei Lan just dropped. The others looked shocked, even Jin Liwei, when they learned that Wei Lan was now an official viscountess. They never expected this kind of development at all. However, Iris wasn¡¯t very affected or impressed. She didn¡¯t care about inherited titles like this.

    "Mother, if you¡¯re a viscountess now, why are you staying here at your daughter¡¯s ce? Does your husband only have a title but no money? He can¡¯t even afford to provide his wife amodations?" Iris asked.

    "Oh, honey! Not at all! Your mother¡¯s husband is veeeeeery wealthy, but I don¡¯t know how wealthy. He came from old money after all, so it¡¯s a bit difficult to exactly estimate his entire wealth," Wei Lan exined. "I decided to stay here at your ce because I just want to spend some quality time with yoooouuuu, my beloved daughter!"

    Iris gave an unconvinced look. Even the others didn¡¯t believe her.

    Wei Lan looked wounded by their skepticism. "It¡¯s true! Honey, belieeeeeve me! I really want to spend more time with my own daughter! I learned so much from my husband! After bing lovers, we travelled all over the Mediterranean, exploring many ces. Then we travelled to North Africa next and then to South America. He brought me to some of the poooooorest ces in those regions. At first I hated it but as time passed, Mother¡¯s heart was touched!

    "Oh honey! I saw sooooooo much suffering and poverty during my travels! Ah! My heart breaks just remembering all the people I¡¯ve met! My husband is a phnthropist, so he and his adopted son are using their wealth and status to help the less fortunate."

    Wei Lan wiped (invisible) tears from her eyes for effect. Nevertheless, she still sounded genuine enough. Then she continued describing the horrid living conditions of all the poor people she met.

    Momentster, both Dom and Clover were so affected by her stories that the siblings started sobbing.

    "Wuwuwu! That¡¯s so heartbreaking! Now I feel bad that I¡¯m eating so much when there are so many people in the world who literally have nothing to eat!" Dom cried while shoving more food into his mouth. "I¡¯m so thankful that I¡¯m so blessed! Wuwuwu!"

    "I know! So sad! That kind of stories are actually alsomon in my country, the Philippines. When foreignerse out of the airport, they see the skyscrapers, huge malls and all the rich parts of the city. But just an hour away, the poorest of the poor are living in conditions barely fit for humans," Clover said next, wiping her tears and blowing her nose.

    "Exactly! My husband and I are actually nning on visiting the poorest ces in Southeast Asia next," Wei Lan said. "But since he¡¯s extremely busy right now, I¡¯ll just wait for him here in China until he finishes all of his matters and follows me here."

    With that, Wei Lan and the siblings Dom and Clover felt a connection with each other when it came to this topic. Both Iris and Jin Liwei were pushed out of the conversation while Dom and Clover took over talking with Wei Lan.

    "My husband made me realize how shallow of a person I¡¯ve been! He opened my eyes and mind to the true realities of the world! Travelling with him and doing charity work made me realize my true calling in life! As his vizcondesa, I also want to dedicate my life in helping alleviate poverty in the world and making it a better ce for the generations toe!" Wei Lan told them with much passion.

    Dom: "Oh! We support you, Mama Boss! That¡¯s like a perfect beauty queen pageant answer!"

    Clover: "That¡¯s a very noble cause, Madam Wei Lan. I pray for your sess."

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other, not expecting this kind of development in their dinner conversation. They never expected such a passionate and humanitarian speech from someone like Wei Lan.

    "Despite being a rich viscount, my husband and his adopted son are pretty secretive and low-profile about their real status. They don¡¯t like showing off their wealth, opting to quietly do phnthropic works all over the world instead," Wei Lan continued to exin. "That¡¯s why I decided to start living a low-key life as well, and strive hard to be a capable viscountess who¡¯ll be able to proudly stand beside a great man like my husband!

    "It¡¯s not easy trying to be a better person, you know. Ah, the struggle is real! I frequently catch myself almost reverting to my old ways. But I¡¯m trying veeeeery hard to be a better version of myself. I no longer want to be known as Madam Wei Lan, former model and ex-wife of Long Tengfei. From now on, I want to be known as Vizcondesa Lan of Castillo de Estres, a phnthropist who¡¯s making the world a better ce!"

    Dom and Clover both praised her grand yet noble ambitions. Finding a receptive audience in the siblings, Wei Lan continued extolling the greatness of her new husband.

    She revealed that her husband owned and funded several orphanages all across the world. Unlike regr orphanages, however, the ones he owned provided high-quality education to the orphans living there.

    Those who hadn¡¯t been adopted by new families actually ended up being more sessful than the ones who got adopted. They continued their high-quality education at the orphanage until they grew up as responsible and highly-skilled adults. It was extremely easy for them to enter the workforce because their specialized education made them some of the most sought-after by employers.

    "Actually, my husband adopted his son from one of his orphanages. I was hoping to matchmake Ren¨¦ Alejandro with yooooouuuu, honey, so I was a bit disappointed when I heard that you¡¯re already engaged."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression immediately turned ugly. Iris grabbed his hand and rubbed it, soothing him.

    "But after learning that dear Liwei is your fianc¨¦, my heart is now at ease. I¡¯m suuuuuuuure that dear Liwei will treat you like a queen. Ren¨¦ Alejandro is also a CEO of his ownpany, something like making anti-virus forputers or something¡ªwhatever that means¡ªbut he¡¯s nowhere near dear Liwei¡¯s level. After all, his littlepany isn¡¯t a multinationalpany like Jin Corporation."

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up at the mention of what Wei Lan¡¯s new stepson did for a living. "Oh, a cybersecuritypany. How interesting... Mother, do you remember hispany name?"

    "Cyber-what? Uh... Sooooorry, honey. Mother forgot what thepany is called. Ren¨¦ Alejandro exined everything to me but it¡¯s all soooooo confuuuuusing and booooooring that I don¡¯t remember anything!"

    Iris looked a little disappointed and was about to ask more questions but Wei Lan continued speaking.

    "The majority of Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s employees also came from the orphanages like him. As for the other orphans, many of them became honourable soldiers protecting the country they were in, while some began working at government positions. And then some of the more brilliant ones either worked for bigpanies earning high sries or started their ownpanies like Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Aren¡¯t they all impressive? Isn¡¯t my husband so amazing to help produce such awesome people like them?"

    Wei Lan looked very proud of her husband¡¯s achievements, as if they were her own.

    Dom: "Yes! Amazing!"

    Clover: "Wow. It¡¯s like those orphanages are raising geniuses."

    "What¡¯s even more amazing is that those sessful orphans are now giving back, so that the orphanages could provide more orphans with good life and great education. Now they are sharing the burden of helping fund the orphanages, so my husband doesn¡¯t need to shoulder everything like before," Wei Lan added.

    Jin Liwei unconsciously rubbed Iris¡¯ hand, a thoughtful expression in his eyes.

    "Hmmmm... Those orphanages remind me a little of Cross Academy," he murmured.

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened. She tilted her head to the side. "Really?"

    "En. They¡¯re like the poor man¡¯s Cross Academy but still provides quality education and produces highly-skilled people that are the most sought-after in any industry they enter. Also exclusive...to orphans. And everyone remains connected and help each other out even after leaving the ce. Isn¡¯t that like Cross Academy, love?"

    She was silent as she thought over what he said. She agreed...to some extent. For some reason, however, the way he summarized the orphanages was making her ufortable. She wondered why.

    Then it hit her.

    Gathering orphans, educating them, and then raising them to "give back"¡ªno, training and brainwashing them for eternal loyalty and subservience...

    Instead of being simr to Cross Academy, wasn¡¯t that exactly how the Vetrovs trained the next generation of subordinates for the family organization?

 Chapter 417 - Furious Wei Lan

    <h4>Chapter 417 - Furious Wei Lan </h4>

    Iris paled once the thought entered her mind. Cold sweat started soaking her.

    Still holding her hand, Jin Liwei felt his baby girl¡¯s skin suddenly bing freezing cold. He looked at her and was rmed at how pale she had be.

    "Love? What¡¯s wrong? Do you feel sick?"

    His worried tone caught everyone¡¯s attention.

    "Mama? Mama!" Little Jun called her several times.

    When Iris failed to respond to him, the toddler began crying loudly.

    Iris only regained her senses when he felt Little Jun pulling on her dress while crying hysterically. His pitiful tear-filled face was looking up at her with fear and worry, repeatedly calling her "Mama". Ice Cream and Popcorn were also trying to jump on herp. Their meows were as loud as Little Jun¡¯s cries.

    Then she felt her hand hurting a little because Jin Liwei was gripping it hard. It was only then that she realized that she was almost sitting on hisp. The anxiety on his face was obvious.

    Everyone gathered around her, worried. Dom was on the phone. It seemed that he was calling Dr. Ching.

    "I..." Iris cleared her throat because it sounded a bit croaky. "I¡¯m alright, really. Dom, no need to disturb the doctor. I just spaced out a little."

    Despite her reassurance, they still looked worried. Iris lifted Little Jun and sat him on herp. She needed to calm the child first, and of course, the cats too.

    Wei Lan: "Honeeeey! What happened to you? Are you feeling sick? Let¡¯s go to the hospital!"

    "No need, Mother. I¡¯m fine."

    "No, you¡¯re not fine. Whenever you¡¯re like this, you either faint or go intoa," Jin Liwei said in a tight voice. "Dom, tell the doctor we¡¯reing. Yi Mei, call the driver. We¡¯re going to the hospital RIGHT NOW."

    Both Dom and Yi Mei acknowledged his instructions. Yi Mei already warmed up a lot towards Jin Liwei, ever since seeing with her own eyes how deeply in love he was with Iris and how he was treating her like a queen. However, the old housekeeper would always remain loyal to Iris, not to Jin Liwei.

    "Darling, no! Everyone, please calm down! I said I¡¯m alright. I just spaced out a bit after remembering...something. Something scary. Yes, that¡¯s it! So don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m really fine. Sorry for worrying you."

    It took some time but they finally looked like they believed her. They all released sighs of relief. Now, however, Jin Liwei refused to take his eyes off of her. He guarded her like a hawk, ready to rush her to the hospital at the slightest sign that she looked ill.

    "Oh, thank gooooodness you¡¯re okay, honeeey! Some colour has also returned to your face," Wei Lan said. "But I think that you should still take a pregnancy test, just to be sure. What if you¡¯re pregnant? Being pregnant is no joke, you knooooow. And you should also be extra careful of your health, if you are. I suffered sooooo much while I was pregnant with you. I felt sick all the time! Ugh! And when I finally gave birth...ah! Worst pain ever! You literally ripped my vagina and I had to be sewed back! My vagina had never been the same since then!"

    This time, all of them paled after hearing Wei Lan describe how she gave birth to Iris. Only Jiang Ying Yue sighed and nodded inplete understanding. However, her eyes gentled when she looked at her son on Iris¡¯p.

    Dom gasped in horror and cupped his crotch, as if he also had a vagina that could rip into two while giving birth.

    Iris, who already somewhat recovered, paled once again. She turned to an equally pale Jin Liwei. "Darling!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hand subconsciously pressed against her t stomach in a protective manner. Then he mumbled, "We¡¯ll hire a surrogate...yes, yes. We should do that."

    "What surrogate? If my daughter is capable of giving birth on her own, then she should! But honey, have a stic surgeon at the delivery room just in case your vagina ever rips. At least a stic surgeon can sew everything back together and still make it look nice, even though it would never look the same way after childbirth. Regr doctors dooooon¡¯t care! I almost sued my obstetrician back then for ruining my vagina! Ugh!"

    Wei Lan seemed to revert back to her old vain self, as she med her old doctor for her "botched" vagina.

    With all of these talk about vaginas ripping and painful childbirth, Iris was able to forget¡ªat least for now¡ªthe disturbing memory of the Vetrovs¡¯ training method being simr to the education system of the orphanages owned by Wei Lan¡¯s new husband. Besides, she also didn¡¯t want to dwell on such dark memories.

    The night ended with everyone feeling bewildered by Wei Lan¡¯s change¡ªin a good way.

    Yi Mei and the rest of the household were especially on edge the entire time. They felt so exhausted being cautious around Wei Lan for almost the whole day. They were just waiting for the moment that she would start acting like a diva again and make life difficult for them.

    Surprisingly, however, she didn¡¯t act out and was even nice to them. The younger staff started thinking thatYi Mei and the other older staff members were overreacting or maybe just trying to scare them. The Madam might have the tendency of ignoring the staff, but at least she wasn¡¯t snapping at them.

    Their Young Miss was the best employer ever. Her mother couldn¡¯t be that bad.

    As for Yi Mei and the others, they could only hope that Wei Lan really changed. After all, the Young Miss already changed for the better as well. They didn¡¯t want Wei Lan corrupting her own daughter to revert to her past spoiled and bitchy self. Unlike the younger staff who were already starting to warm up to Wei Lan after just the first day of her stay at the penthouse, Yi Mei and the older ones remained wary of her.

    Just in case.

    ###

    For the next few days, everyone started getting used to Wei Lan¡¯s presence at the penthouse. Because Iris, Jin Liwei and the siblings Dom and Clover continued to work, Wei Lan was often left alone at the penthouse with the household staff.

    Still feeling awkward around Wei Lan, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun stoppeding to the penthouse. However, Little Jun started throwing tantrums because he didn¡¯t understand why he suddenly couldn¡¯t go to the penthouse anymore. He thought that the penthouse was his actual home because he spent the majority of his time there. As for the unit Iris gave him, he just treated it as a ce to sleep at night.

    So Jiang Ying Yue had no choice but to bring her son upstairs. Besides, she practically didn¡¯t cook meals anymore. They just ate together with Yi Mei and the others at the penthouse. She would also leave Little Jun there with the nanny while she worked as the condo building¡¯s head of security.

    But right now, she felt apprehensive about Wei Lan. She knew that the woman didn¡¯t like her and her son because of their connection to Long Hui. Fortunately, Wei Lan didn¡¯t create any trouble and just ignored them.

    While Jiang Ying Yue was feeding Little Jun some fruits in the kitchen, Wei Lan suddenly appeared. Wei Lan sometimes spoke to the cook to discuss dinner menus. Their regr homecooked meals became slightly more refined since then.

    Jiang Ying Yue thought that Wei Lan would leave like usual after instructing the cook on what to prepare for dinner tonight, but surprisingly, the woman turned to the mother and son.

    "You are the fianc¨¦e of my ex-husband¡¯s eldest son, correct?" Wei Lan asked.

    "Y-yes, Madam..." Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t look at her directly.

    "Then why has your fianc¨¦ not visited you and your son yet since I¡¯ve been staying here? Are you two still together?"

    Perhaps because she was speaking with someone she was cold to, Wei Lan didn¡¯t stretch some of her words like usual. She was very terse and direct to the point.

    "I..." Jiang Ying Yue straightened her back while desperately trying to find an appropriate answer. "We are...temporarily living apart...for now. But I think he¡¯ll return. Long Hui...he¡¯s recovering at the ancestral residence now."

    "Recovering? From what? Is he sick?"

    Jiang Ying Yue hesitated. She looked at Yi Mei, the cook and the other staff present in the kitchen.

    Impatient that Jiang Ying Yue wasn¡¯t answering her question, Wei Lan turned to Yi Mei instead.

    Yi Mei looked at Jiang Ying Yue and sighed. Afraid that Wei Lan might explode on them if they didn¡¯t tell her, Yi Mei told her about Iris¡¯ fight with Long Hui, and how Jin Liwei brawled with him right here in the kitchen.

    After some more prodding, Wei Lan learned from the younger staff how Long Hui insulted Iris using Wei Lan¡¯s bad reputation as a gold digger and social climber. Now it made sense why Jin Liwei lost control and brawled with Long Hui. Needless to say, Wei Lan was absolutely furious after hearing everything.

    "That piece of shit is really a spawn of those disgustingly arrogant Longs! He thinks he¡¯s better than my daughter just because his mother came from a family who¡¯s as self-important as the Longs? Xin and dear Liwei were too nice, sending him to the hospital after beating him up! If it was me, I would¡¯ve broken all of his limbs, tossed him into a sack and then thrown him into a dumpster where a piece of shit like him belongs!"

 Chapter 418 - No Different From A Mistress

    <h4>Chapter 418 - No Different From A Mistress </h4>

    "They¡¯re really mother and daughter," Jiang Ying Yue thought to herself.

    She remembered Iris saying very simr words when she fought with Long Hui. Jiang Ying Yue covered Little Jun¡¯s ears, trying to protect his innocence from the curse words Wei Lan hurled at his father.

    Yi Mei was very efficient, gesturing one of the younger maids to take the toddler out of the kitchen.

    Wei Lan didn¡¯t stop despite the interruption. She continued cursing at Long Hui, Long Tengfei and the entire Long n.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt hurt listening to Long Hui being insulted. After all, she still loved him, not to mention that he was the father of her son. However, she was also starting to resent him because Wei Lan was right. He hadn¡¯t visited them once after he moved out and returned to the Long ancestral residence.

    She knew that he had a high pride, but she thought that it was stupid to not see his own son just because he didn¡¯t want to enter the condo building and apologize to his own sister. If he would just say sorry to Iris, then they could at least start rebuilding their rtionship again.

    But Long Hui wasn¡¯t totally disappearing from their lives. He still frequently video called them, wanting to talk to his son every other night or so. He also sent toys and other goodies to Little Jun via home delivery. For these alone, Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t fully resent him.

    It was just that everything seemed to be for their son. There was nothing for her. Not that she was looking for gifts or anything. Just a simple phone conversation would have sufficed for her, but he seemed to always be in a hurry to end the call whenever they spoke.

    There was one time that gave her hope. He asked to meet her somewhere nearby. She left Little Jun at the penthouse with the nanny. Then she met him at a parking lot near a children¡¯s park in the evening. She thought that he wanted to talk, so she didn¡¯t question his choice of ce.

    He stayed inside the car the entire time because his leg wasn¡¯t fully recovered yet. There were still some traces of bruises on his body, but they were already recovering.

    As soon as she entered the backseat of the car (the driver was nowhere to be seen), he pulled her and started kissing her and touching her all over. She was taken aback at first, but after not being with him for days, her desire was quickly reignited.

    Long story short, they made love inside the car¡ªno, Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t feel like he made love with her. Although it excited her, he was noticeably very rough with her this time. It was only after the deed was done that she realized he wasn¡¯t really present while they were doing it.

    It felt like he was just masturbating and he used her as a toy to relieve himself. So no, he didn¡¯t make love with her. He simply fucked her.

    When she tried talking to him afterwards, he made excuses and started putting on his clothes.

    "Sorry, sweet Ying Yue. I still don¡¯t feel well. We¡¯ll talk next time."

    "Then why did you want to meet tonight? Just to have sex with me?" she asked while also putting her clothes back on.

    "I just missed you, that¡¯s all."

    "You mean you missed putting your dick inside me."

    He scowled. "Ying Yue, I don¡¯t want to fight with you. I¡¯m already so stressed at home and at work. Don¡¯t add to my problems."

    She opened her mouth and was about to argue, but thought better of it. She also didn¡¯t want to fight with him. Forcing herself to swallow the bad feelings boiling inside her, she sighed instead and kept everything to herself.

    After he left and she returned home, she didn¡¯t immediately head to the penthouse to pick up Little Jun. Instead, she took a shower at their unit first. She washed herself thoroughly, angrily rubbing off Long Hui¡¯s traces from her body until her skin turned red.

    For some reason, she felt like a prostitute. There were no intimate feelings involved that night, just pure sex. And her fee for her "services" was his promise of a future together.

    After that night, she became unsure of the status of their rtionship. She still had the ring on her finger, but were they still emotionally engaged to each other? She could feel that the two of them were slowly drifting apart from each other as the days passed by.

    Back to the present, her thoughts were interrupted when Wei Lan directly addressed her.

    "The Long men are no good! All of them! I suddenly feel sorry for you, girl. At least I was smart enough to make sure that the ink on the signed marriage contract had dried before allowing myself to get pregnant with Tengfei¡¯s child! This way, I¡¯m assured that my daughter would be born as a legitimate child! But you?" Wei Lan dramatically released a heavy sigh while shaking her perfectly coiffed head.

    "Getting pregnant outside marriage and giving birth to an illegitimate child...oh! I can just imagine the reaction of those higher than thou elders! I¡¯m surprised that you¡¯re still able to live peacefully! I thought that they would already be harassing you nonstop, especially since your child is that piece of shit¡¯s firstborn and could have a potential im to be the n¡¯s sessor in the future based on order of birth alone."

    Jiang Ying Yue froze and paled. A dark shadow dimmed the light in her eyes, as she remembered some painful memories.

    Wei Lan immediately caught the change in her expression. "Oh? They really harassed you? I knew it! Girl, you are sooooooo STUPID!"

    Yi Mei and the cook looked at each other in dismay. This was what they were afraid of. It seemed that the old Wei Lan was back. They felt sorry for Jiang Ying Yue. She had be the witch¡¯s target. Both Yi Mei and the cook were trying to find the opportunity to interrupt Wei Lan¡¯s tirade in order to remove Jiang Ying Yue from the situation without incurring too much of Wei Lan¡¯s wrath upon all of them.

    "You gave birth to that piece of shit¡¯s child outside marriage, automatically making your son illegitimate. Do you know what a BIG STUPID mistake you made by doing that? You just put a big target on your son¡¯s forehead for the Longs to bully him for the rest of his life! Even though you were able to make that piece of shit propose to you, at the end of the day, you¡¯re still not married yet. What¡¯s more, he rarely visits you! You may be engaged, but the way he¡¯s treating you is no different from a mistress!

    "You live separately. He only visits you whenever he wants to see his child or wants to fuck you. And when he¡¯s done and satisfied, he returns to his own home and disappears until he feels like he should do his duty as a father and see his son or get the urge to fuck you again because you¡¯re his woman. Tell me, how is that any different from a mistress?"

    Wei Lan¡¯s sharp and unfiltered words felt like brutal arrows being shot straight at Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s heart. She remembered the night Long Hui called just to have sex with her. He didn¡¯t even want to talk but just to fuck.

    Before Jiang Ying Yue knew it, huge drops of tears were already falling from her eyes.

 Chapter 419 - Best Perfume

    <h4>Chapter 419 - Best Perfume </h4>

    "You¡¯re r-right... He only treats me like a...like a m-mistress now! I¡¯m so...s-stupid!" Jiang Ying Yue sobbed.

    The cook couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She went to Jiang Ying Yue and hugged her. Jiang Ying Yue cried against the cook¡¯s chest.

    "No, sweetie. You¡¯re not stupid. Your situation is justplicated but I¡¯m sure the Young Master still loves you and Little Jun. It¡¯s just that he and the Young Miss fought and you¡¯re caught between them," the cook said, trying tofort her.

    Wei Lan snorted. "What are you talking about? Of cooooouuurse, she¡¯s STUPID. If she wasn¡¯t, she would¡¯ve gotten that ring on her finger and made that piece of shit sign the marriage contract first before getting herself pregnant. That way, her son would have privileges as a legitimate child of the Long n. And if she doesn¡¯t want to stay married with that piece of shit anymore, she could divorce him at any time and squeeze alimony and child support from him! Then she would be FREE to do whatever she wants! That¡¯s what I did because I¡¯m soooooo smart!"

    "That¡¯s not smart. That¡¯s being opportunistic and maniptive. Ying Yue is a good girl, not like you," Yi Mei thought to herself but didn¡¯t dare say it out loud.

    "I...I can¡¯t do that! I l-love him...I love him so much that it h-hurts... I want to be with him and have a h-happy family together with our son...b-but I also d-don¡¯t want my son and I to...to suffer from the Long elders and rtives when¡ªIF we marry!" Jiang Ying Yue continued to sob.

    Wei Lan curled her blood-red lip at Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s loud cries.

    "Look at all those muscles. You look like you could lift ten of me, but you¡¯re actually so WEAK inside. Hmph!" Then she crossed her arms across her chest. "I don¡¯t give a damn about that piece of shit you continue to love so STUPIDLY. But since you¡¯re my daughter¡¯s friend and you look so PITIFUL right now, I just caaaaaan¡¯t stand back here and do nothing. Wipe your PATHETIC tears, girl! Get ready in five minutes. We¡¯re going shopping!"

    Yi Mei: "..."

    The cook: "???"

    "W-what...?" Jiang Ying Yue paused sobbing in confusion.

    Everyone blinked several times, unable toprehend the way Wei Lan¡¯s mind worked. The atmosphere was tense, heavy and emotional, yet she wanted to go...shopping? Now?

    When nobody moved after her instruction, Wei Lan became impatient. She released a long and dramatic sigh, then she started exining things while enunciating each of her words, as if she was talking to a slow-witted child.

    "Stop your pathetic crying! It¡¯s terribly annooooooyiiiiiing! Get ready because I¡¯m taking you shopping. You need some new clothes because those...those rugs are absolutely terrible! How do you expect that piece of shit to stay attracted to you if you don¡¯t take care of yourself and make yourself beautiful? Just look at your skin! So rough! Ah, those dark circles and eyebags! Absolutely horrendous! And you act sooooo stiff! Is your spinal cord made up of a straight metal pipe or something? And oh my holy hairspray! That hair! Did a bird build a nest on it?!"

    Even though Jiang Ying Yue wasn¡¯t the type to care about her appearance, all of Wei Lan¡¯s harsh and unfiltered criticisms made her self-conscious. She touched her hair and attempted to tame it.

    Yi Mei and the cook felt sorry for her. The old witch was definitely back and she was bullying Jiang Ying Yue. Yi Mei already decided that she would tell the Young Miss everything that happened when she returned home from work tonight.

    "Tell me, girl. How old are you?" Wei Lan asked.

    "Twenty-six..." Jiang Ying Yue replied.

    "You¡¯re sooooo young but you already look older than ME!" Wei Lan imed.

    "Nonsense. You definitely look younger than your actual age, but there¡¯s no way you look younger than Ying Yue," Yi Mei thought to herself, but of course, she didn¡¯t dare say it out loud.

    Wei Lan: "Girl, do you feel beautiful?"

    Jiang Ying Yue: "No...."

    Wei Lan: "Do you feel sexy?"

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head. Herck of confidence in her appearance was obvious in the way she squirmed on her seat under Wei Lan¡¯s judgmental eyes.

    "Ah! This is puuuuure TRAGEDY!" Wei Lan eximed in a dramatically horrified expression. "Girl, if you don¡¯t feel beautiful and sexy about yourself, then don¡¯t ever expect others, much less that piece of shit, to think that you are. Beauty and sexinesse from within yourself¡ª"

    Yi Mei and the cook¡¯s eyes widened in amazement at Wei Lan¡¯s "deep" speech about beauty.

    "¡ªbut of course, a few facials, a good haircut, sexy wardrobe, nice manicured and pedicured nails, regr hair waxing appointmentsser if you can afford it¡ªand the best skincare products make a world of difference! Did Xin not give you any Orchidia Beauty samples? I don¡¯t know where she gets them, but they¡¯re amaaaaaziiiing! I feel so younger already just by using them for only a few days~ I wish it¡¯s the fall season already so that I can buy them when they officiallyunch!"

    Wei Lan didn¡¯t wait for Jiang Ying Yue to reply. She continued her "lecture".

    "Once you feel beautiful and sexy, everyone will also begin to see you as a beautiful and sexy woman! Like ME! Oh, and of course like my daughter too. After all, Xin inherited her beauty from ME, her beeeeaaaauuuutiful mother! Just look at the evidence! She got herself a perfect man like dear Liwei, not like that piece of shit you got engaged to.

    "Listen to me, girl! The best perfume a woman can wear is...CONFIDENCE! So in addition to getting you a new wardrobe to rece those rugs today, I¡¯m going to give you a makeover! I guarantee that after today, you¡¯ll transform into apletely new woman¡ªbeautiful and sexy...like ME! Oh, and like Xin too. Don¡¯t you want to be confidently beautiful like me and my daughter?"

    Jiang Ying Yue already stopped crying. She didn¡¯t reply to Wei Lan, but she was listening to the woman¡¯s words intently.

    Of course, Wei Lan didn¡¯t need a reply from her. The woman was used to talking by herself and calling it "conversation".

    "Once you be confident of your own beauty and sexiness, you¡¯ll gain POWER and FREEDOM! Then maybe you¡¯ll finally wake up from your stupidity and realize that you don¡¯t need that piece of shit in your life after all. Maybe someday you¡¯ll also find the perfect man for you like how my daughter Xin found her dear Liwei and"¡ªgiggle giggle¡ª"how I found my vizconde who I loooooove very much!"

    "Long Hui...is the only man that I love..." Jiang Ying Yue whispered.

    "Hmph! Like I said, you are STUPID!" Then Wei Lan shrugged. "But at least you gave birth to a cute son. Well, he looks a little like my Xin, so of course he¡¯s cuuuuuute. Anyway! Hurry up, stupid girl! Be ready in five minutes and meet me in the living area! I want us to be back by dinner so that we can eat with Xin and dear Liwei!"

    Jiang Ying Yue hesitated and looked at Yi Mei and the cook. The uncertainty was clear in her eyes.

    "Go, Ying Yue. A change of pace may be what you just need right now," Yi Mei encouraged her. "We¡¯ll take care of Little Jun so don¡¯t worry."

    "Yes. It¡¯s just a few hours at most. You¡¯ll be back here in no time," the cook said.

    Wei Lan nced at her diamond-encrusted wristwatch. "Four minutes left. Don¡¯t waste any more time, girl." Then she nced at Yi Mei. "Go tell the driver to prepare the car."

    "Yes, Madam," Yi Mei nodded.

    "And if my daughter and dear Liweie home first before us, tell them that I took this stupid girl shopping because her clothes are sooooo terrible that my fashionista soul is going to suffer from eternal guilt if I don¡¯t do something about it!"

    Yi Mei: "Uh...yes, Madam. Understood."

    Then Wei Lan swept her eyes at the other staff standing by the corner, examining them. She pointed at a maid and a houseboy. "You and you. Come with us."

    "Yes, Madam!" they replied.

    "But change your outfits first. There¡¯s nooooooo way I¡¯m going to allow you to walk with me wearing those rugs. Wear your best clothes! Three minutes left! Don¡¯t keep me waiting!"

    With that, Wei Lan made a graceful sharp turn and started strutting out of the kitchen like the model that she was, as if she was walking on a catwalk at a fashion show.

 Chapter 420 - Confidently Beautiful

    <h4>Chapter 420 - Confidently Beautiful </h4>

    Later that evening, Iris, Jin Liwei and the siblings Dom and Clover were finally back home from work. They all came home at different times.

    Iris and Dom came from an endorsement event. Clover arrived by herself shortly after them from Orchidia Beauty. Jin Liwei came home almost an hourter after them.

    He was currently busy at Jin Corporation because their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) would be retiring soon. The shareholders had already chosen the next CMO but the person wasing from their Singapore branch. Since it was an important executive position, Jin Liwei wanted to ensure that the transfer of responsibilities to the new person would be as smooth as possible, so as not to affect their business.

    At the moment, they were all rxing in the living area while watching the evening news.

    Iris was massaging Jin Liwei¡¯s back because he looked so tired. Dom was near her, coaching her on what to do while using his sister Clover as his practice dummy to demonstrate to Iris how to massage correctly.

    Of course, Jin Liwei felt like he was in seventh heaven while receiving his baby girl¡¯s tender loving care. He didn¡¯t know what got into her, but she had been putting a lot more efforttely into showing her love for him.

    It wasn¡¯t just the boxed lunches that she kept on sending to his office. She also started sending him sweet-nothings on her own ord, which she never bothered to do before if he didn¡¯t initiate it. Just a simple "I love you" or "I miss you" via text message from her was already enough to put him in a great mood for the entire workday.

    They were interrupted by Little Jun who ran straight at them after chasing Popcorn. Of course, thezy Ice Cream was taking a nap on top of the couch¡¯s backrest.

    "Mama! Junjun too!" the toddler demanded, showing Iris his back.

    "Kyaaaaah! So cute, Junie boy!" Dom eximed.

    Clover already whipped out her phone and started recording Little Jun¡¯s antics on video.

    Iris smiled. "You want a massage, too?"

    "Yesh! Junjun too!"

    She chuckled. "But I¡¯m massaging Papa first. Little Jun, you have to wait for your turn after I¡¯m finished with your Papa. Okay?"

    Little Jun looked at Iris and then at Jin Liwei. "Papa? Not Junjun?"

    "Yes, Papa first," Iris confirmed with a nod.

    Little Jun looked sad and even teary.

    "Little Jun, a great man is patient and disciplined," Jin Liwei told the toddler, his expression and voice serious. "And don¡¯t cry so easily. Your Mama is only telling you to wait. Be good and wait until it¡¯s your turn."

    Of course, Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t in such a rush to give up his position even to his own cute godson. He wanted to savour his baby girl¡¯s loving ministrations for as long as he could.

    Fortunately, Little Jun seemed like he somewhat understood what they meant. He busied himself ying with Popcorn again while waiting for his turn after his papa.

    "Oooooh! I¡¯m so hungry!" Domined for the fiftieth time.

    "Big Sis Yue and Madam areing home soon. We can eat as soon as they arrive," Clover told him.

    While Dom continued toin to his sister, Iris finished massaging Jin Liwei. She kissed his nape before calling for Little Jun. Of course, the toddler excitedly squeezed himself between his mama and papa. Jin Liwei could only sigh as he was basically pushed out by his own godson.

    Iris didn¡¯t really massage Little Jun. She just yed with him, tickling him until the toddler¡¯s loud giggles filled the ce. Jin Liwei joined in the tickling game.

    "Ah, they look like the perfect happy family," Clovermented while taking pictures of the beautiful scene in front of her.

    "I know, right? I can¡¯t wait for boss and sir boss to have their own babies! I¡¯m sure they¡¯re going to be so cute~ Ehehehe," Dom replied.

    They were interrupted by the sound of the elevator ping. The elevator door opened and Wei Lan, carrying a mini shopping bag, strutted out.

    "Oh! Finally, we can eat dinner!" Dom eximed in relief.

    "Little Jun, your mommy is here," Clover said.

    "Mommi!" Little Jun immediately climbed off the couch and ran past Wei Lan to the figure behind her. "Mommi!"

    "Hello, Little Jun. I¡¯m back," Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s voice said.

    But then Little Jun suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked up at the unfamiliar woman standing in front of him. He looked at her figure from head to toe and back up again. His expression was utterly confused and uncertain.

    "Mo...mmi?"

    The elegant and glowing woman smiled awkwardly and crouched in front of Little Jun. "Yes, I¡¯m your mommy."

    "Mommi!" Little Jun was finally sure that she was his mother. He threw himself at Jiang Ying Yue and hugged her neck tightly.

    Jiang Ying Yue carried her son and stood up.

    "Gyah!!! Who are you and what did you do to Big Sis Yue?!!" Dom¡¯s dramatic voice eximed.

    Clover: "Big Sis Yue, you¡¯re so beautiful! Wow!"

    The siblings walked over to admire the almost unrecognizable Jiang Ying Yue.

    Unused to such attention, Jiang Ying Yue felt shy and tried to hide behind her son¡¯s small body.

    "Stupid girl, I just spent a fortune on you today. Don¡¯t let it go to waste!" Wei Lan snapped upon seeing her timid reaction. "When someone praises you, look at them straight in the eyes and say, ¡¯I knoooooow I¡¯m beautiful. Thank you.¡¯ And if it¡¯s a gorgeous man, add a wink if you want. That¡¯s how to be confident! Okay, let¡¯s practice. Dominic, Clover. Praise her again."

    The siblings immediately obeyed.

    "So stunning! So sexy!"

    "Beautiful Big Sis Yue!"

    Jiang Ying Yue instantly turned crimson. She wished the floor could open up and swallow her.

    "Mommi so pwetty!" Little Jun suddenly told her with a big smile on his face.

    Her eyes widened. "Really? I¡¯m pretty?"

    "Yesh! Pwetty!"

    "Oh..." Then a lovely smile broke out of her face. "Thank you."

    Iris and Jin Liwei walked while holding hands to also take a closer look at Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Helloooooooo, honey~ Helloooooo, dear Liwei~"

    Wei Lan greeted the two of them after instructing the staff to ce all the shopping bags and boxes to her bedroom. Apparently, the ones they were carrying were all for her. The ones for Jiang Ying Yue were still in the car. More staff were called to help transfer them to the unit they had downstairs.

    "Mother gave your friend a makeover! What do you think, honeeey? Doesn¡¯t she looooook beautiful? Mother chose her dress herself!" Wei Lan bragged.

    "Hmmm." Iris nodded while looking at Jiang Ying Yue. "Not her usual style and a little too over the top, but yes. Ying Yue looks beautiful. Right, darling?"

    "En. Beautiful," Jin Liwei replied, but he was looking at his baby girl and not at Jiang Ying Yue.

    Wei Lan turned to Jiang Ying Yue with a smug expression. "See! I told yooooouuu! I know what I¡¯m doing because I¡¯m the Queen of Fabulous! Oh, I meant, I¡¯m the Viscountess of Fabulous! But since I¡¯m the viscountess, no one is the queen!"

    Jiang Ying Yue put Little Jun down on the floor because he already got bored and wanted to y with his cat cousins again.

    "Thank you for today, Madam," she told Wei Lan in a shy but sincere tone. "I...I¡¯ll pay you back for all of the things you bought me..."

    Wei Lan scowled. "Don¡¯t insult me by paying me back, stupid girl! This vizcondesa is a phnthropist now! What I did for you is charity because you¡¯re sooooo pitiful!"

    Jiang Ying Yue turned even redder at being described as a "charity" case but she still nodded, already getting used to Wei Lan¡¯s poison tongue. Actually, the woman wasn¡¯t that bad. Yes, her words were often too blunt and hurtful but they actually felt empowering as a woman. At least, that was what Jiang Ying Yue was beginning to feel after spending a few hours shopping with Wei Lan.

    Shortly after, everyone headed to the dining area for dinner.

    Dom almost cried in relief and joy. "Finally! Hallelujah!"

    Jiang Ying Yue looked totally different from her usual appearance. Her typical bodyguard outfit was reced by a little ck dress that fitted her like a glove. It was sleeveless and showed off her impressively toned arm muscles. If one looked closely enough, her heavily defined abs could be seen through the dress¡¯ ck fabric. However, what the dress highlighted the most were her legs. They looked strong and sexy at the same time. The high heels entuated her entire legs, but most especially her calf muscles.

    It wasn¡¯t only her outfit that was different than usual. Her ck frizzy hair was gone. A beautifully blow-dried dark auburn hair made her look like apletely different person. It was straight, shiny and smooth.

    Her make-up added more dimensions to her face and made her eyes look bigger and wider. Wei Lan said that they opted for eysh extensions because she knew that the "stupid girl" would be toozy to put on fakeshes every single day.

    As for her nails, they remained short but were painted a lovely rose champagne colour. Wei Lan apparently insisted for some long, fake nails but Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t want to because she might idently scratch her son.

    Overall, Jiang Ying Yue looked like an attractive Amazon warrior princess. Her body alone could already intimidate most regr men because of how strong she looked. It was just that she didn¡¯t look confident of herself.

    "Remember this, stupid girl. You¡¯re not doing this for that piece of shit but for yourself! If he continues to treat you like a mere mistress after this, then he¡¯s truuuuuuulyyyy a piece of shit and you should just flush him out of your life," Wei Lan said during dinner.

    "Mother, please watch yournguage. My godson is here," Iris warned Wei Lan but inwardly agreed with her words.

    Surprisingly, Jiang Ying Yue nodded at Wei Lan.

    "Yes, Madam. This is for myself."

    And that was how Wei Lan became Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s mentor on how to be a confidently beautiful woman.

 Chapter 421 - The Zheng Family

    <h4>Chapter 421 - The Zheng Family </h4>

    After that fateful makeover day, Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue started spending more time together, especially since Iris and Jin Liwei were always so busy working. Wei Lan would take Jiang Ying Yue out in her new outfits to help build her confidence around other people outside.

    Sometimes when the weather was nice, they also brought Little Jun with them apanied by his nanny and several of the younger staff. Of course, he also wore the most fashionable little outfits bought by his new Grandma Wei Lan.

    Wei Lan would never get caught together with people in frumpy outfits, so everyone in the household staff also got mini-makeovers and updated their wardrobes. Even the cats. Now their cors changed every single day. Sometimes, Popcorn wore mini-hoodies and even tuxedoes. As for Ice Cream, she hated wearing any clothes, barely tolerating having her cors changed.

    The big grey cat still didn¡¯t like Wei Lan, but at least she no longer hissed at her. In contrast, Popcorn loved everyone as long as they were nice to him and his family.

    Wei Lan advised everyone on their fashion choices. It was one of the reasons why the younger members of the staff warmed up quickly to her. The penthouse¡¯s household staff weren¡¯t required to wear uniforms unlike the staff at the mansion. Iris scrapped this requirement after she woke up from her one-yeara. So her staff usually wore their regr clothes while working.

    Only the driver liked wearing uniforms because he thought that it made him look professional, especially since he was also often photographed by the paparazzi and fans whenever he picked up Iris. But ever since Iris moved to the mansion, he didn¡¯t need to drive her around anymore. Jin Liwei had a full staff there ready to serve their mistress. There was a time when the driver felt unneeded. Fortunately, Clover arrived and started living at the penthouse. He now had a purpose again and drove Clover around.

    Even the driver¡¯s uniform didn¡¯t escape Wei Lan¡¯s interference. Since he liked wearing uniforms so much, she had a professional designer make him a new set of uniforms. Now he looked more like an aircraft pilot rather than a car driver. He secretly loved it, though.

    Under Wei Lan¡¯s influence, Iris¡¯ penthouse staff became the most fashionable staff in the area. Whenever Wei Lan, Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun, his nanny and the younger staff walked out together, everyone would stop in their tracks and just stare at them.

    "Who are this group of fashionable people?" they wondered.

    And almost always, everyone would be even more amazed whenever the driver picked them up while wearing his customized pilot uniform.

    The group was so stylish and eye-catching that one day, their photos were published on a popr street fashion blog. Although Little Jun¡¯s face was blurred out because he was a child, everyone else¡¯s faces were clearly shown.

    Soon, a few people quickly recognized both Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue.

    Wei Lan was a former model but her career never really took off. She only became (in)famous because of her high-profile divorce from Long Tengfei and also because she was the mother of Iris Long. Now people knew her as Madam Wei Lan, the extravagant socialite who changed lovers like she changed her clothes.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, many recognized her as Iris¡¯ former bodyguard turned friend, future sister-inw, and the mother of her godson. She became well-known when Wu Qianxi and her "friend" influenced people to bully her and Long Hui online. Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s pictures were spread all over the inte, causing her to receive so much hate until Princess Porkchop helped turn the situation around.

    After Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue were recognized from the photos on the street fashion blog and associated them to Iris, the post immediately became viral.

    ###

    Zheng Ancestral Residence.

    Like the Longs, the Zheng n was an old aristocratic family. Their ancestral residence were also as ancient and as majestic. And like the Longs, they were proud of their noble roots, even though they didn¡¯t hold any official title anymore.

    Inside the main house, the servants were serving tea to the master¡¯s only sister.

    Her name was Zheng Suyin. She was Long Tengfei¡¯s first wife and Long Hui¡¯s mother. Because her husband divorced her to marry a model, she had to return to her maiden family in shame. Her n considered her as a disgrace because she couldn¡¯t even stay married to her husband. But at least she did her duty and gave birth to a male heir. As a result of her "shameful" fate, she decided to live a reclusive life, barely going out of the ancestral residence.

    She didn¡¯t want to care about anything or anyone anymore. She just wanted to live in peace and not think about what happened in the past. Despite this, her heart still bore a heavy grudge against Long Tengfei and his numerous women and children.

    However, the one person who she despised the most was Wei Lan, that homewrecker!

    Zheng Suyin endured it even when she knew about Long Tengfei¡¯s other mistresses. After all, theirs was an arranged marriage. And she knew that he never loved her.

    But at least, Long Tengfei always returned to her after ying around with those...prostitutes. Mistresses...prostitutes...what was the difference? Both opened their legs in exchange for something else.

    However, everything changed with the arrival of that lowly model...that slut...that Wei Lan!

    That whore was able to seduce her husband so deeply that he divorced his wife. Being suddenly stripped of her title as Madam Long, Zheng Suyin could never forgive Wei Lan. That slut destroyed not only her life and her family, but also her reputation!

    Despite her deep grudge, Zheng Suyin chose to withdraw from society instead. Even though she was disgraced, at least she was assured by the fact that her son was the firstborn and would eventually be the next head of the Long n and Long Industries. This knowledge was already enough for her.

    Lately, however, her brother, the Zhengs¡¯ current master, was telling her something rather troubling. It seemed that her son¡¯s position as the Longs¡¯ sessor had be unstable. So her brother had sent some spies within the Longs to learn how the situation became like this.

    When they heard what really happened, her brother shook his head.

    "Your son has inherited your former husband¡¯s phndering ways," he said. "How stupid to father an illegitimate firstborn with such an unsuitable woman! A bodyguard? What was he thinking?"

    Zheng Suyin pressed her lips together. "That bodyguard must¡¯ve seduced my son, like how that slut model seduced my husband."

    "Long Tengfei isn¡¯t your husband anymore. Well, it¡¯s no wonder that the Longs are suppressing your son. An illegitimate firstborn would never be epted in their family, just like how we¡¯ll never ept it in this family."

    After that, they dug more information about Jiang Ying Yue and her son, Long Jun. By doing so, they discovered the mother and son¡¯s close rtionship with Long Xin, that slut Wei Lan¡¯s daughter.

    As they gathered more and more information, the Zhengs also discovered how Long Xin was actually Long Hui¡¯s biggest threat in his position as sessor of the Longs. This made Zheng Suyin furious.

    "Not only did that slut Wei Lan steal my husband from me, her slut daughter is now trying to steal my son¡¯s heir position as well! Unforgivable! Curse them!"

    Fueled by grudge and the desire to protect her son¡¯s rightful position as heir of the Longs, the Zhengs secretly allied with Long Meng¡¯s branch family after learning that the elder was Long Hui¡¯s biggest supporter in the n. In addition to that, they were trying to invite Long Hui to meet them but hadn¡¯t been sessful yet.

    Long Meng informed them that Long Hui was injured but didn¡¯t know how. So the Zhengs could only wait until he was well enough to ept his mother¡¯s summons.

    Back to the present, Zheng Suyin looked like ady from the ancient past as she sipped tea. Her maids were well-trained in not making any noises. The ce was incredibly silent.

    The silence, however, was soon interrupted when Zheng Suyin¡¯s niece, her brother¡¯s teenage daughter, ran to her.

    "Aunt Suyin! Look what I found!" the niece eximed while waving a tablet in her hand.

    Zheng Suyin looked unruffled and calmly took the tablet. Then she froze when she saw what was disyed on it.

    Her eyes immediately zeroed in on Wei Lan¡¯s arrogant figure. It took a few moments before she recognized the young woman beside the slut. It was the woman who seduced her son!

    "I knew it! Whores! All of them are whores! Birds of a feather really do flock together!"

    Zheng Suyin was so angry that she threw the tablet on the low table. It crashed against the tea pot, spilling hot tea all over it. Not only did the poor tablet crack, it also got soaked by the tea. It sparked a little and made a soft zapping sound before itpletely died.

    "Ah! My tablet! Aunt Suyin, why?!! Dad just bought it for mest week!"

    Zheng Suyin closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to control her raging emotions. After a few moments, she calmed down.

    Without changing her expression, she told the teen, "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll buy you a new one."

    The niece¡¯s eyes immediately lit up. "Really? Can I get thetest one? Please, Aunt!"

    "Sure."

    "Yay!"

    "But I need you to do something for me. If you see any more news online about those two women, tell me immediately," Zheng Suyin said.

    "No problem, Aunt. Even if you don¡¯t ask me, I already n on telling you. I overheard you and Dad talking about these two women plus Iris Long. Hmph! I don¡¯t understand why that bimbo became so popr. I hate her songs! They¡¯re so boooooring. I think her old songs are better but whatever. I still hate her because you hate her, Aunt!"

    Zheng Suyin nodded.

    "They¡¯re bullying your cousin, your Big Brother Hui, so they¡¯re our enemies."

 Chapter 422 - Special Secret Weapon

    <h4>Chapter 422 - Special Secret Weapon </h4>

    At around the same time in other ces, Long Tengfei¡¯s past women also saw the recent photos of Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue online.

    Sun Jingfei was an owner of a small bookstore that also sold basic school and office supplies. It doubled as a gift shop as well. She was Long Jinjing¡¯s mother.

    She was working at her bookstore when her best friend who was also her employee showed her the photos.

    "Look! That biggest bitch in the whole wide world is back! Wei Lan had been gone from the country for so long that I almost forgot her existence! I wish she never returned! Ah, now that she¡¯s back, I guess she¡¯s going to make lots of trouble again! I¡¯ll never forget how she bullied you before! And how her daughter tormented our sweet Little Jinjing! That little demoness is exactly like her mother! Bitches!"

    Sun Jingfei only sighed and shook her head gently. "Calm down. That was so long ago. Wei Lan was Long Tengfei¡¯s wife. Of course, she wouldn¡¯t like me, a mistress."

    "Hmph! You were already in Long Tengfei¡¯s life before he even met her!"

    "Even so. I was just a mistress. Let¡¯s put history behind us where it belongs, in the past. Besides, both Jinjing and Xiao Fei are now friends with Long Xin. They¡¯re even working together at the samepany which Long Xin owns. Jinjing already told us that her sister has changed and is now very kind to her. I think this is good that they¡¯re finally treating each other like sisters as they should. All of them are friends now, including this youngdy here." Sun Jingfei pointed at Jiang Ying Yue in the photos.

    Her best friend still felt skeptical about Iris¡¯ good rtionship with Long Jinjing.

    Sun Jingfei didn¡¯t pay too much attention to her best friend¡¯sints. She just looked at all the photos of Wei Lan looking gorgeous as ever with Jiang Ying Yue and an entourage of simrly well-dressed people.

    "Why should we continue treating each other as enemies? Both of us are that man¡¯s past now. We shouldn¡¯t let him influence our current lives so much anymore," she murmured.

    ###

    A very different scene was ying at Zhu Ning¡¯s house. Many of her friends sent her the link to the popr street fashion blog. She went momentarily crazy when she saw the photos online. She and Wei Lan were the ones among Long Tengfei¡¯s women who fought each other the most. Their fights weren¡¯t catfights. They were violent brawls.

    There were many instances that they beat each other up so badly that they had to be hospitalized. Of course, they also sued each other many times. They even experienced being pped by restraining orders by each other.

    The two hated each other to the core. It didn¡¯t help that both of them easily lost their tempers. They treated each other like mortal enemies.

    Needless to say, the house was wrecked after Zhu Ning saw Wei Lan¡¯s recent photos showing that she had finally returned to the country. Fortunately, Long Jian was at work. The maids immediately cleaned up the ce, so that he wouldn¡¯t discover that his mother had wrecked almost everything in their house...again.

    Seeing Wei Lan looking as gorgeous, sexy and youthful as ever in the photos, Zhu Ning was boiling with envy and hatred. She immediately decided to make another appointment with her dermatologist¡ªand maybe her stic surgeon, as well.

    "If I see ever see that bitch, I¡¯ll pull all of her hair out and scratch her fake face off!"

    Then she finally noticed Jiang Ying Yue beside Wei Lan and sneered.

    "What a cunning ho. Now that her man is losing power in the Long n, she¡¯s ingratiating herself with that little slut Xin. Dream on! There¡¯s no way that little slut would be able to inherit the Long n and Long Industries! I¡¯ll never let Wei Lan¡¯s daughter triumph! And neither will I let that swine Long Hui seed! The one who¡¯ll get everything of the Longs is my son, Long Jian!"

    ###

    The Long elders and various rtives also learned that Wei Lan was back. Those supporting Iris suddenly hesitated and started second-guessing their decision. They treated Wei Lan as a liability in Iris¡¯ chances of bing the sessor. Long Jufang quickly calmed them down, though.

    As for Long Hui¡¯s supporters within the n, they were extremely unhappy seeing Jiang Ying Yue and her son together with Wei Lan. Long Meng redoubled her efforts in persuading Long Hui to leave Jiang Ying Yue and marry someone else.

    Wei Lan¡¯s reappearance made everyone involved in the Long n¡¯s battle for session restless.

    Iris¡¯ supporters were hoping that Wei Lan wouldn¡¯t ruin her daughter¡¯s chances, while Long Hui and the other candidates¡¯ supporters were already thinking of various ways of using Wei Lan to kick Iris out of the battle of session once and for all.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    While people were stressing out about her chances of winning the battle of session in the Long n, Iris wasn¡¯t thinking about it at all. Since there weren¡¯t any updates from her financial manager about any avable Long Industries shares that they could buy, she tossed the matter out of her mind for now.

    She was more concerned about Orchidia Beauty and her new songs with Jin Chonglin. All of them were set tounch next season which was very soon.

    In addition to these, she was also very excited about her ns of finally announcing her engagement with her darling to the public. Surprisingly, Wei Lan kept her promise and didn¡¯t tell a single soul about their engagement. It seemed that Wei Lan was really doing her best into bing a respectable viscountess.

    Iris had already confirmed that Wei Lan was indeed officially married to a Spanish viscount. The Viscountcy of Castillo de Estres really existed and its current title-holder was Wei Lan¡¯s new husband.

    Satisfied by her findings, Iris didn¡¯t dig any further. She only did the most basic background check to confirm Wei Lan¡¯s marriage to the viscount.

    She was too busy these days that she didn¡¯t really have the interest nor the time to dig deeper into the viscount¡¯s background. The orphanages caught her attention at first, but she temporarily dismissed them for now. Perhaps she was just being too suspicious and paranoid, thinking that they were simr to the Vetrovs¡¯ training program.

    Besides, she was already starting to treat Wei Lan as family. Iris was pleased seeing the growing confidence in her friend, Jiang Ying Yue, under Wei Lan¡¯s "mentorship".

    Iris had a new personal policy not to "spy" on family members without their permission. Jin Liwei was the only one who gave her permission so far, but she didn¡¯t want to abuse it.

    Wei Lan gave her a book titled "How to Keep Your Man Hooked on You for as Long as You Live". One of the main points in the book was that men didn¡¯t like women who watched their every move because it would make them feel suffocated. They would think that their women didn¡¯t trust them enough, causing resentment to grow.

    Iris didn¡¯t want Jin Liwei to resent her, so even though he gave her permission, she stopped spying on him when there really wasn¡¯t any need to do so.

    Her life was going extremely well right now. She wanted to focus on living a happy and normal life with Jin Liwei and the rest of their family and friends. Music, showbiz and her businesses were her current career priorities.

    Hacking would have to take a backseat for now. It was her special secret weapon that she would use if needed. She was discovering that she could survive perfectly fine without hacking regrly.

    It was alreadyte at night, yet Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t arrived home yet. He already called her saying that he would be runningte tonight. She trusted him, so she didn¡¯t think much about it. After telling him some quick sweet-nothings, she prepared for bed.

    However, as she was about to nod off to deep sleep, her phone started ringing. It was her ringtone for Jin Liwei.

    "Hello...darling?" she answered the call, her tone obviously sleepy.

    "Sorry for disturbing you, love."

    "Hmmm...it¡¯s okay..."

    "Love...I need your help."

    Although his voice sounded calm, Iris still heard the urgency in his tone. She immediately became alert.

    "What¡¯s wrong, darling?"

    "Jin Corporation is being hacked."

 Chapter 423 - Probably Just Noobs

    <h4>Chapter 423 - Probably Just Noobs </h4>

    Jin Corporation.

    It was almost midnight already, but sleep was the farthest thing from Jin Liwei¡¯s mind at the moment. His expression was grim, as he watched his expert employees desperately doing their best to prevent further data breach on thepany¡¯s system.

    They were at thepany¡¯s mainputer control room located half a floor above the massive server chamber. This area was off-limits to most of Jin Corporation¡¯s employees. Only the people with the right clearance were allowed inside. Even Jin Liwei himself had only been here a few times in the past because there hadn¡¯t been any major data breaches like this one since he had be the President-CEO.

    The IT and security departments shared the main responsibilities in ensuring and maintaining thepany¡¯s cybersecurity. The best among them were members of Jin Liwei¡¯s personal tech team.

    At the moment, however, even these experts were helpless against the overpowering hacker currentlybing thepany¡¯s most sensitive data. And he was doing it so effortlessly! Since the hacker had already breached thepany¡¯s system and they couldn¡¯t kick him out with their own abilities, all they could do was to fortify their remaining defences to at least protect the rest of the data.

    Earlier that day, everything was still normal. It was just a regr workday like usual. However, at aroundte afternoon, they started getting reports of otherpanies getting hacked one after another. Thesepanies were among the top in the country, alongside Jin Corporation.

    Jin Liwei immediately called all members of the IT and security departments to monitor thepany¡¯s system and to protect it in case they were attacked as well. A few hours passed and yet there was nothing.

    The otherpanies that were hacked reported no devastating damage, but the fact that their sensitive data were essed by an unknown entity was still disturbing. There were no damages now, but what about in the future? For multinationalpanies, data like these were gold.

    Evening came and Jin Corporation hadn¡¯t been attacked like the others. Jin Liwei and his tech team remained vignt, but when the night started to deepen and nothing still happened, they started to rx.

    Jin Liwei assigned a small group to work overtime throughout the night just in case. He was about to dismiss the rest so that they could finally go home for the night when it finally happened.

    Jin Corporation was being hacked!

    At first, his team of experts were still handling the situation quite well. It was because Iris fiddled with thepany¡¯s cybersecurity system before and inconspicuously strengthened it.

    Of course, she asked Jin Liwei¡¯s permission first before doing so. On the same day when she started sending him boxed lunches to his office,sheined to him that night at home.

    "Darling, yourpany¡¯s cybersecurity system sucks! I only intended on taking a quick look at it while checking up on you via the surveince video feed, but I can¡¯t believe apany of Jin Corporation¡¯s calibre is still using that archaic system!"

    "Archaic?" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but frown. "Love, mypany is using thetest technology."

    She snorted at his im. "Thetest in the market doesn¡¯t always mean that it¡¯s thetest in the world. My Monkey¡¯s system is a thousand times¡ªno, a million times more advanced and safer than Jin Corporation¡¯s. Darling, how about you let me change Jin Corporation¡¯s trash system to the more sophisticated one that I personally developed? It¡¯ll be as secure as Monkey¡¯s, but of course I¡¯ll customize it for Jin Corporation. I¡¯ll give you a discount since you¡¯re my darling and it¡¯s for yourpany."

    Then her eyes widened as she remembered something. "Oh, right! I promised to give you a free service as my return gift when you gave me my LX bangle back then. Remember? You can use that promise to waive my expensive fee this time."

    Jin Liwei almost epted her offer but stopped himself. He didn¡¯t doubt her ims, but that was also why he couldn¡¯t ept her offer no matter how tempting.

    "Jin Corporation is the current number onepany in the country. As such, it¡¯s subject to close scrutiny not only by the public but also by the authorities. If we suddenly get a new security system that is practically imprable but is also unavable in the market, I¡¯m sure that people will start asking where we got it from," Jin Liwei told her.

    He held her hands and looked at her. His expression was grave.

    "Love, Jin Corporation¡¯s security is very important to me, but I will never endanger your safety for it. So thank you for the offer, but I won¡¯t ept it. I¡¯m sure that the security system you developed is amazing. And that¡¯s what worries me. Once others see how amazing it is, I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll want it for themselves as well.

    "We have the right to keep it from our rivalpanies, but if the authorities demand that we give the technology to them, we have no choice but to obey or suffer the consequences. Worse, they might even demand to acquire the person who created it. If that ever happens, even if they kill me, I¡¯ll never hand them over to you, love."

    Iris froze after hearing his reason for rejecting her offer. Why didn¡¯t she think about all of these? How careless of her!

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei had the presence of mind to think about these possible scenarios in advance.

    She moved and sat on hisp instead. She nuzzled his neck and whispered to his ear, "I love you, Jin Liwei.

    "I love you more. So much," he replied, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. "I¡¯ll do everything to protect you."

    She pressed her body closer to him. "I¡¯ll protect you, too."

    The corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile. "En. We¡¯ll protect each other."

    They continued embracing until Iris straightened and looked at him.

    "But darling, I¡¯m bothered thinking about Jin Corporation¡¯s current system. It¡¯s trash! I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to sleep knowing what a trash it is," she told him.

    "Since we started using our current system, many hackers have already tried attacking ourpany but none of them had seeded yet," he replied.

    "They¡¯re probably just noobs," she muttered under her breath.

    He couldn¡¯t help but chuckle hearing her words. "En. They¡¯ll never be able topare to you."

    She smiled before returning to talk about her concern.

    "How about this, darling? Let me strengthen your current system. I¡¯ll plug most of its vulnerabilities. Although it¡¯s not the most ideal solution because the system itself is wed, at least it¡¯ll be a little more protected and less likely to copse if a serious breach urs. I promise to make the additions as seamless as possible. I guarantee that virtually no one will be able to notice them from the original framework."

    "Hmmm. Alright. Do what you want," he finally agreed. "But make sure to be careful, love. Don¡¯t let anything be traced back to you. I want you safe at all times."

    "Okay, darling."

    And with that, she immediately strengthened Jin Corporation¡¯s system in the next few days. She worked on it during her free time.

    All the system¡¯s vulnerabilities were plugged and an extrayer of defence was even added. The coding of these additional features were almost identical to the original that, indeed, nobody noticed anything after she was done updating the system.

    Even Jin Liwei¡¯s team of experts who regrly monitored the system didn¡¯t notice anything different. What they did notice was that everything seemed to be running faster and more efficiently than usual. However, they credited that to their own continued hard work.

    It was thanks to Iris¡¯ unknown hand in strengthening the system that these experts were able to protect Jin Corporation¡¯s system for longer against the hacker attacking them now.

 Chapter 424 - Battle Of The Gods

    <h4>Chapter 424 - Battle Of The Gods </h4>

    When things started to get out of hand with more data being essed by the hacker, Jin Liwei excused himself from theputer room and immediately called his baby girl. Although he didn¡¯t really want to get her involved, she was the best person he could think of who could help them right now.

    So he called her and she agreed to help him.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei was back at the mainputer control room. No matter how hard his team of experts tried to protect the remaining data, it seemed that the hacker had no trouble whatsoever in essing them.

    For a multinationalpany like Jin Corporation, this was a nightmare. The hacker might not be causing them harm right now, but just the fact that a data breach urred was already enough to damage the clients¡¯ trust in thepany. In addition to this, there was also the concern that the hacker might use the data he gathered for malicious purposes in the future.

    It had already been fifteen minutes since Jin Liwei returned to theputer control room after calling his baby girl. However, there were still no signs of any activity from her.

    "President...this hacker¡¯s skills are too superior for the likes of any of us here," a member of the IT department said. "It¡¯s like he¡¯s not even concerned about us and esses all the data in his own sweet time. Since he¡¯s just checking everything out and not really causing irreparable damage, why don¡¯t we just let him do whatever he wants? It¡¯s not like we can do anything to stop him, anyway. We¡¯re just wasting our time."

    His colleagues all froze after hearing his words. Many of them red at his stupidity.

    "Of course we have to do everything in our power to stop this hacker at all costs. It¡¯s our duty," one of them hurriedly said.

    The others echoed this statement.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned cold and extremely intimidating. The room¡¯s temperature was already low to keep all theputers and other equipment running in their optimal state, but it became even colder, especially around Jin Liwei¡¯s immediate surrounding.

    "I see," he said in a tone that could freeze even hell itself. "Since you think that you¡¯re wasting your time here, why don¡¯t you leave?"

    The employee finally realized that he fucked up. He panicked and tried to appease Jin Liwei. "P-president...ahaha...that¡¯s not what I meant. I was just...joking...ahaha."

    His colleagues were already mentally lighting a candle for him.

    Jin Liwei was merciless. "You¡¯re fired."

    After he said that, some of the senior employees immediately escorted the horrified employee out of the room. They didn¡¯t want to anger their President any further. What if he started firing them next?

    Everyone returned to their (hopeless) battle against the hacker after that. By this time, the data breach was almost nearing the rming 50% mark. The otherpanies hacked earlier reportedly had 90-100% of their total datapromised before the hacker stopped.

    As much as possible, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want Jin Corporation to suffer the same fate as these otherpanies. Not only would it lower the trust people had in thepanies, but it would also seriously damage the overall reputation of the country¡¯s business industry.

    If the countries¡¯ toppanies weren¡¯t safe, how much more the smaller businesses? This would discourage both local and foreign investments in the country which would, of course, affect the economy. The potential repercussions from this seemingly harmless hacking incident were just too concerning to dismiss.

    Suddenly, someone in the room eximed.

    "What the hell?! We have another breach! Fuck me! This son of a bitch is more aggressive than the first motherfucker! He¡¯s quickly stealing the system control from us! Why is this happening?! We can barely do anything against one of them, now we have to fight against two?! Shoot me now, please!"

    "Calm down, bro," his colleague told him. "We can do this...we can do this...we can¡ªshit! The bastard stole my ess rights!"

    Jin Liwei frowned and observed the second hacker¡¯s actions.

    Before everyone descended into full-blown panic at the newly-arrived hacker who was aggressively taking the system control from them, a senior member of Jin Liwei¡¯s personal tech team noticed something weird.

    "SHUT UP!!!" he yelled at everyone to catch their attention.

    When everyone stopped, he pointed at several of theputer screens. "Look. The first hacker is now having trouble essing the rest of the data. What the... Someone¡¯s rewriting the system codes!"

    "Motherfucker! Those codes are worth millions! Don¡¯t you dare start rewriting them, asshole!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened. There was uncertainty but also a glint of hope in his eyes. Although he didn¡¯t fully understand the things shing on theputer screens, he still had enough experience to get a general understanding of the current situation. His hands tightened into fists, and he looked determined.

    "No, wait! Look at that! This coding...holy shit! This second hacker is fortifying the system and securing the rest of the data! Oh oh oh! The first hacker can¡¯t ess them anymore!"

    "Not only that, the breached parts were also being rapidly repaired. This is amazing!"

    "Who is this second hacker?! Is he helping us? He¡¯s helping us, right?"

    All of them looked at Jin Liwei who now had a faint smile on his face.

    "President, do you know this second hacker?" someone asked him.

    "En." Jin Liwei confimed with a nod. "We¡¯ll be okay now. The second hacker is on our side."

    Jin Liwei felt very excited inside. His baby girl had finallye!

    The most senior member of his tech team looked slightly taken aback at seeing his boss¡¯ full confidence in this second hacker. However, as he continued to observe the swift fortification of the system and the repeated failures of the first hacker to ess the rest of the data, he concluded that the second hacker might just be one of those legendary god-level hackers.

    "Do everything to assist the second hacker. Immediately surrender your ess rights to him if needed," he instructed everyone.

    "Yes, sir," they obeyed.

    Jin Liwei nodded in approval.

    Later...

    "Hahahahaha! Yes! Take that, motherfucker! Can¡¯t do anything now, huh? Did you really think that you can just prance inside ourpany¡¯s system like it¡¯s your own backyard?! Think again!"

    "President, the data breach has stopped at exactly 48%! The first hacker can¡¯t ess the rest of the data anymore, as they are now tightly sealed and protected by this new rewritten security codes!"

    "I want to know who this second hacker is! President, tell us!"

    Jin Liwei pretended that he didn¡¯t hear them. There was absolutely no way he would tell them that the second hacker was his baby girl.

    The employees didn¡¯t force him to tell them either. How could they? He was their scary big boss. If they weren¡¯t careful, he might just fire them like what he did to their stupid colleague earlier. They started celebrating the second hacker¡¯s victory instead. The tense atmosphere rxed.

    However, their celebration was short-lived because the first hacker suddenly switched gears. Perhaps he felt challenged, even angered, by the second hacker¡¯s interference. He abandoned his earlier harmless modus operandi and turned malicious instead. He started destroying the rewritten security codes and even tried infecting the system with several destructiveputer viruses.

    However, the damaged security codes were continuously rewritten and fortified. Theputer viruses were also destroyed before they could even infect anything.

    Everyone inside the mainputer control room felt goosebumps watching such an intense hacking battle right in front of their eyes. However, they were also scared out of their wits because the battleground was Jin Corporation¡¯s system itself. If this battle became any more intense, it might justpletely obliterate thepany¡¯s entire system.

    "President! Th-this is too dangerous! We can¡¯t let this go on any further!"

    Jin Liwei pressed his lips into a tight line. "Just wait. We¡¯ll definitely win. I¡¯m sure of it," he said through gritted teeth.

    "A-alright, President..."

    "Well, even if we try interfering, what can we do? It¡¯s like ants trying to join the battle of the gods. We¡¯ll just get squashed to death," anothermented.

    "Hai. I guess we¡¯ll just have to wait until the battle is over and clean up all the mess afterwards."

    Jin Liwei and his employees were on high alert as they continued to watch the battle between the two hackers. They were anxious and cheered for the second hacker to win.

    "You can do it, love," Jin Liwei whispered.

    "Did you say something, President?"

    "No. I didn¡¯t."

    Observing that battle, the experts in the room determined that the two hackers¡¯ skills were on par with each other. The first hacker was growing more and more destructive by the moment, but fortunately, the second hacker was able to counter him while protecting the system at the same time.

    Of course, there were unavoidable damage to the system but the second hacker was able to keep it to a bare minimum.

    Then suddenly, the battle stopped...or so it seemed.

    Since the system was constantly repairing itself, everyone knew that the second hacker was still there. However, the first hacker seemed to disappear into thin air.

    "I-is it...over?" one of the youngest members of the IT department asked uncertainly.

    "It looks like it. I hope so."

    When five minutes passed without any further activities from the first hacker, the employees finally started allowing themselves to release sighs of relief.

    "Finally, it¡¯s over!"

    But as soon as someone said this, the lights in the room suddenly started blinking. Not only that. A couple ofputer monitors cked out before disying what looked like a logo of a bird. Some of the employees immediately recognized it and gasped.

    Then a high-pitched robotic voice suddenly spoke in English. The creepy singsong tone made the employees shudder.

    "Dear Drakon~ Where are you?~ Come out,e out, wherever you are~"

 Chapter 425 - Eagle

    <h4>Chapter 425 - Eagle </h4>

    The high-pitched robotic voice wasn¡¯t just heard by Jin Liwei and his employees at the mainputer control room. It was heard throughout the entire Jin Corporation building via the PA system. It seemed that the first hacker didn¡¯t know exactly where his opponent was located.

    Fortunately, it was already past midnight and most employees were gone. Despite this, there were still some people who heard it¡ªthe night cleaners and the few ones working overtime. When they heard the creepy high-pitched robotic voice, they were extremely frightened.

    All that registered in their minds was the robotic voice. They didn¡¯t bother understanding what it was saying. Besides, not all of them could understand English. They just started freaking out.

    "It¡¯s the demooooooooon! Please don¡¯t haunt me! I¡¯ve been going to the temple every week to cleanse my dirty mind! I swear I haven¡¯t looked at President Jin since then! I don¡¯t even dare look at his shoes or his shadow! I don¡¯t want to go insane! Please noooooooo!"

    But before these poor employees really went insane from being frightened too much, theirputer screens, phones, and the TVs ced in every office area disyed a text message. It said:

    "Jin Corporation is currently being hacked. The one who just spoke is the hacker who wants to harm yourpany. Please stay calm and leave everything to the experts."

    After reading the message, the employees¡¯ fearful hearts soon calmed down.

    "Oh, so it was a hacker and not a demon. Phew! I thought that I was gonna go insane for sure."

    "Same here. Now that I think about it, the two robotic voices sound different. The evil demon has a low and deep voice but this one is high-pitched. What a bastard, pretending to be the evil demon! I almost had a heart attack!"

    "So ourpany really got hacked after all. The higher-ups sent out a notice earlier in the afternoon about a possible attack because otherpanies apparently got hacked as well. I hope that the experts are able to stop that troublesome hacker as soon as possible."

    The employees quickly recovered from their earlier panic. Although they were worried after learning that theirpany was being hacked, they trusted the instruction sent to them to "stay calm and leave everything to the experts". They assumed that it came from the higher-ups. They were confident that theirpany would be able to defend itself from the audacious hacker because Jin Corporation was the number one in the country. As proud Jin Corporation employees, they believed that theirpany wouldn¡¯t be toppled so easily.

    With their strong trust and confidence in theirpany, they no longer concerned themselves about the hacking. It wasn¡¯t like they would be able to help, anyway. Just like what the instruction told them, they should just stay calm and leave everything to the experts.

    However, this calm state wasn¡¯t shared by their President and colleagues who were inside theputer control room.

    Jin Liwei and the members of the IT and security departments clearly heard what the high-pitched robotic voice said. Everyone in the mainputer control room knew English so they understood what it said.

    "W-what? Did I just hear the name...Drakon?" someone asked.

    "Yeah...I heard it, too. Don¡¯t tell me that one of these hackers is...oh my God...Drakon?!!"

    They looked at each other in amazed disbelief.

    Jin Liwei paled and instantly regretted calling his baby girl for help. He almost called her again to tell her to stop hacking and to retreat instead. He feared that the other hacker would be able trace her and put her in danger. However, he might just endanger her even more if he tried contacting her in this dangerous time.

    He felt so frustrated of himself. But before he could continue ming himself even further, his phone vibrated. It was a text message from his baby girl. It said:

    "I¡¯m okay, darling. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be safe and Jin Corporation will also be safe. This is nothing. Trust in my skills and believe that I can handle this noob. I¡¯ll leave your employees for you to handle. They didn¡¯t witness any second hacker. There is no second hacker. This battle never happened. Jin Corporation¡¯s data breach has been stopped by one of your valiant employees. Choose one of them. I¡¯ll do the rest."

    Her timely message demonstrated just how much better she had be in understanding his thought processes. She knew that he would be extremely concerned about her in this kind of situation.

    Jin Liwei felt somehow reassured by her message but still couldn¡¯t help but worry about her. He was about to reply when the text message deleted by itself. He only felt surprised for a second before he understood that she must¡¯ve done it on purpose for security reasons.

    Suddenly, he received another text message.

    "I forgot to tell you something important. I love you, darling. I can¡¯t wait for you toe home. Don¡¯t reply."

    Then just like before the message deleted by itself.

    Despite his worry, Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth curved into a faint smile.

    ¡¯I love you, too,¡¯ he replied to her in his mind instead.

    The faint smile disappeared. His cold and serious expression returned, as he watched his employees in shock upon learning that one of the hackers might be Drakon.

    As people working in the field of cybersecurity, of course all of them knew about Drakon. In public, they used Drakon as a prime example of what not to be in their line of work. He was a wanted criminal being hunted by several governments from all around the world.

    But even when they acted like they were condemning him for all the crimes he was used of, the truth was that they idolized him deep inside for his superior skills. To these people, Drakon was just so cool!

    "Is it really Drakon?!!"

    The thought that one of their hacker idols was directly helping them made them so excited and thrilled.

    One of them pointed at aputer monitor disying the bird logo which appeared a few moments ago. "It¡¯s not only Drakon. Look at that logo! I can¡¯t be 100% sure but doesn¡¯t that look like the logo of the hacker Eagle?"

    "Eagle?!! What?!!!"

    Everyone was shocked

    "Drakon and Eagle... Am I seriously witnessing a battle between the two of them with my own eyes? Am I dreaming? Don¡¯t pinch me because I don¡¯t want to wake up."

    "Holy shit. This is so awesome!"

    "But only if they¡¯re really Drakon and Eagle..."

    Jin Liwei frowned. He didn¡¯t know who this Eagle was so he asked a member of his tech team to exin.

    Apparently, Eagle was one of the world-ss hackers who rose to prominence after the legendary hacker called Fantom suddenly disappeared. Most of the hackers during that period emted Fantom¡¯s style in the hopes of taking his legendary throne in the hacking world.

    Eagle was no different. He wanted to be the next Fantom and periodically defeated other hackers who had the same goal as him. He even started referring to himself as Fantom Eagle. However, no one in the hackingmunity called him as such. They simply called him Eagle like before.

    To many hackers, Fantom was like a sacred being. He was on apletely different realm than them. Only a handful of other hackers in the world were on par with Fantom. However, those god-level hackers were already semi-retired, only popping out now and then. And whenever they appeared, they always took the world by storm. Fantom was definitely the youngest to join their ranks.

    The legendary Fantom was highly respected and even worshiped by many hackers. That was why they would never ept Eagle referring to himself as Fantom Eagle. To them, it was the same thing as Eagle announcing to everyone:

    "I am God."

    Absolute sacrilege! Totally uneptable!

 Chapter 426 - Iâ€™ll Return Soon

    <h4>Chapter 426 - I¡¯ll Return Soon </h4>

    At the beginning, Eagle emted Fantom¡¯s style. As time passed, however, it became apparent that his personal style waspletely different.

    Fantom¡¯s style was very indifferent to others¡¯ opinions and also hada distinct "my pace" quality to it. He never feltpelled to prove his skills to anyone or show them off just to make his name known far and wide. In fact, it was other hackers who named him Fantom because he was like a phantom, barely leaving any traces behind. And if he did leave a trace, it was usually out of boredom and an obvious attempt to entertain himself, not because he wanted recognition.

    As a result, many imed to be Fantom, but they could never keep the fa?ade up. They started insisting that they were Fantom and the moment they did so, they automatically proved that they weren¡¯t because the real Fantom would never be so fame-hungry.

    Fantom never concerned himself about others taking credit for his own aplishments. It was as if he lived on apletely different dimension to the other hackers whopeted against each other, while he just pranced around whenever he felt like it looking for something fun to do. He just let his own superior skills speak for themselves, instead of tooting his own horn like what the other hackers were doing.

    Unlike Fantom¡¯s self-assuredness, Eagle loved showing off his skills. It was only at the beginning that he tried following Fantom¡¯s mysterious and indifferent style. But when it didn¡¯t give him the attention and recognition that he wanted, he started making big sshes here and there to make his name known. Despite this, he would still revert to imitating Fantom¡¯s mysterious style now and then.

    If it was really Eagle who was hacking Jin Corporation right now and the one who hacked into the other toppanies earlier that day, then he must¡¯ve been imitating Fantom again. After all, he only breached thepanies¡¯ systems to check out the data, not really causing any damage.

    It resembled Fantom¡¯s style which was, for the most part, non-malicious. Hacking was mainly to satisfy curiousity, relieve boredom and to entertain.

    Clearly, the hacker that day couldn¡¯t fully imitate Fantom¡¯s style. If it was Fantom who hacked into these top Chinesepanies, they wouldn¡¯t be able to detect any hacking at all unless Fantom left his iconic "notes" behind which would probably say something along these lines:

    "Your system is trash. So many vulnerabilities. But I had fun plugging all of them! I can¡¯t wait for you to improve your system so that I can have more fun hunting for vulnerabilities and plugging them all again. And oh, your CFO is embezzling yourpany funds. Just want to let you know. That¡¯s all. Till next time. Bye!"

    This was one of Fantom¡¯s most well-known quirks. Depending on his mood, he would sometimes help others strengthen their cybersecurity. But if he discovered something he didn¡¯t like or angered him during one of his "fun" hacking excursions, thepanies or organizations he hacked into better prepare themselves if they wanted to surviveplete copse.

    In contrast, Eagle¡ªif it was really him¡ªdidn¡¯t conceal the fact that he breached into these Chinesepanies¡¯ systems. Although he didn¡¯t cause any irreparable damage to thesepanies (except for Jin Corporation right now), it seemed that he still wanted everyone to know that he hacked into their systems.

    It was like he was showing off that he could do whatever he wanted with their systems, but they couldn¡¯t do anything to stop him. That was until he encountered a formidable opponent while hacking Jin Corporation. All of a sudden, the gates were mmed shut in front of him and he couldn¡¯t slip inside even further anymore no matter how hard he tried.

    Back in the mainputer control room, Jin Liwei¡¯s employees were all in awe at the possibility that the two hackers currently battling it out right in front of their eyes might be Drakon and Eagle who were considered to be two of the greatest hackers of the new generation after Fantom.

    Momentster, the intense hacking battle seemed to have stopped. Jin Corporation¡¯s system was quiet again. However, the employees could see that it was continuously being repaired and fortified, so they knew that the second hacker¡ªwho might be Drakon¡ªwas still there.

    "Is Eagle gone?" one of them asked.

    A senior member of Jin Liwei¡¯s personal tech team replied, "He should be. Look. His digital footprints in the system abruptly stopped. Why is that? I think that maybe the battle had migrated somewhere else away from ourpany¡¯s system, especially since Drakon¡ªif he¡¯s really Drakon¡ªput our system on lockdown. He made it inessible to Eagle¡ªif he¡¯s really Eagle."

    The others nodded and agreed with his deductions.

    Then he turned to his boss, Jin Liwei.

    "President, is the second hacker Drakon?" he asked.

    "No." Jin Liwei didn¡¯t hesitate to reply.

    "But the first hacker, who might possibly be Eagle, called him Drakon."

    Jin Liwei gave his employees a frosty look. "You¡¯re not even sure if the first hacker is really Eagle or not, and you believe him more than me?"

    "O-of course not, President. I-I see... So it¡¯s not Drakon..."

    But even as this person said this, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from doubting his boss. He already had a suspicion before that his boss had a connection with Drakon, especially when Jin Liwei showed him and a couple of his colleagues some portions of those unbelievably detailed reports. Jin Liwei had never confirmed anything, but they all suspected that the reports came from Drakon or a hacker of a simr level.

    An hourter, the ess rights and the system controls were returned to them. Then all of a sudden, theputer screens disyed a message. It said:

    "I know who all of you are. I know everything about you. You didn¡¯t see anything tonight. If you did and you tell anyone, I¡¯ll know about it for sure¡ªand I¡¯LL DESTROY YOU! Be good and erase this night from your memories. Good night!"

    The message may have disappeared shortly after, but it was forever imprinted in the employees¡¯ minds and filled them with fear. They paled and shivered.

    They had all witnessed the skills of the two hackers who battled it out tonight. Knowing that they would be powerless if one of the hackers decided to destroy them, they had no choice but to surrender to the threat.

    Jin Liwei knew that the message was sent by his baby girl. He took this as cue to take control of the situation.

    Because his employees were afraid of the threat, it was very easy for him to make them swear not to divulge anything that happened tonight. They even agreed to sign a special NDA just for this incident. They didn¡¯t even question him when he assigned a couple of their senior members who were the most skilled among them to pretend that they were the ones who fought against the first hacker.

    At first, the two were reluctant to do it. They were afraid that Eagle¡ªif it was really him¡ªmight attack them if he discovered that they were pretending to be the ones who stopped him frompletely essing Jin Corporation¡¯s data. Just the thought of being the target of a world-ss hacker was enough to fill them with terror.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I assure you that you¡¯ll be fully protected from any danger. You have my word. Of course, you and your families will also receive lifetimepensation for this inconvenience," Jin Liwei told them.

    Although they were still worried, their eyes lit up whenpensation was mentioned. If it was for their families, they would do it. So they epted Jin Liwei¡¯s offer.

    Then Jin Liwei¡¯s phone vibrated. It was another text message from his baby girl. It said:

    "You¡¯ve chosen two? Bring them to see me when youe home. I¡¯m busy at the moment, so I might not be able to contact you again until I¡¯m done. I love you, darling. Don¡¯t reply."

    Like before, the text message deleted by itself.

    Jin Liwei frowned. It seemed that his employees¡¯ deduction earlier was correct. The battle hadn¡¯t ended yet but only migrated somewhere else. His baby girl was still fighting.

    He wished that he could help her, but all he could do at the moment was to make sure that her efforts in defending hispany¡¯s system wasn¡¯t put to waste. He immediately instructed his employees to scan thepany¡¯s entire system and make sure that it was up and running again for the next workday in a few hours.

    While the members of the IT and security departments were taking care of the system, Jin Liwei called his fellow executives for an emergency meeting. His summon dragged them from their sweet slumbers but they had no choice but to rush to thepany in the middle of the night.

    They had to strategize the best way to appease their clients regarding the breached data. And they had to do it as soon as possible.

    It was already past 3 AM. Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t had any sleep yet. However, he didn¡¯t feel the least bit sleepy. Tired, yes. But sleepy? No.

    He was extremely worried for his baby girl who must still be battling against the other motherfucking hacker. She was someone who loved sleeping well, and it pissed him off that someone dared to force her to stay up all night with no sleep. Since it was partly his fault, it pissed him off even more.

    If only he could fight the battle for her. Unfortunately, all he could do was to believe in her skills.

    He left his employees in the mainputer control room and headed up his office at the top floor. He intended on taking a quick nap before his fellow executives arrived for their meeting.

    Suddenly, his phone vibrated yet again. It was a text message but not from his baby girl. Instead, it was from his Fifth Brother, Lu Zihao. It said:

    "Third Brother, I know what happened tonight. Bring my little sister back to Dragon Pce as soon as possible. It¡¯s safer at the mansion than at the penthouse. I¡¯m currently out of town, but I¡¯ll return soon to provide extra security. That hacker¡¯s background is possibly VERY DANGEROUS. We mustn¡¯t let him trace my sister. Don¡¯t reply."

    Then the message deleted by itself.

 Chapter 427 - Caught By Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 427 - Caught By Surprise </h4>

    The next morning, as people rose for another workday, they were bombarded by an rming news that Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country had been hacked. Many were shocked because they always had the impression that Jin Corporation was invincible. It had always reigned at the top ever since Sir Lu Jianhong and the grandfather of CEO Jin Liwei sessfully made it so.

    However, there were those who already expected that Jin Corporation would be targeted after hearing yesterday that some of the other toppanies were hacked. As the number onepany in the country, Jin Corporation was actually more susceptible to cyber attacks than any otherpanies because it stored the most data from its hundreds of millions of clients. This alone was already a great temptation to many evildoers.

    At the moment, all of the affectedpanies were in full damage control mode. Each of them held their own press conferences. It was an extremely busy day for the media, as they sent their journalists and reporters to attend all of these conferences.

    Thepanies admitted that about 90-100% of their data were breached by the hacking incident yesterday. As soon as these figures were announced, their clients unsurprisingly went into uproar.

    After giving a formal apology, thepanies promised that they would do everything in their power to increase their system security so that something like this wouldn¡¯t happen again in the future.

    Now that thesepanies were finished with their own press conferences, everyone was waiting for Jin Corporation¡¯s turn. Among the country¡¯s toppanies, Jin Corporation had the most to lose in this hacking incident. There were many who were eagerly anticipating its downfall, so that they could finally have the chance to upy its long-held throne of being the number onepany in the country.

    s, they were bound to be disappointed.

    Instead of sending out a spokesperson like what most of the affectedpanies did, Jin Corporation actually sent out its own President-CEO Jin Liwei to speak directly to the media in the press conference. This sent out a powerful message that thepany head wouldn¡¯t cower from facing this predicament head on.

    As usual, Jin Liwei looked tall, handsome and extremely gorgeous in his immacte custom-made tailored business suit. His expression was cold and serious. He wasted no time in providing the details about hispany¡¯s state after the hacking incident.

    "I regret to announce that 48% of our clients¡¯ data had been breached duringst night¡¯s cyber-attack¡ª"

    Gasps resounded all over the press conference hall. Even those watching the press conference¡¯s live broadcast and livestream were shocked upon hearing what he said.

    Jin Liwei continued speaking in a grave tone. "48% is a huge number. I and everyone at Jin Corporation vehemently condemnst night¡¯s cyber-attack! We deeply apologize to our valued clients in not preventing and stopping this data breach in a timelier manner¡ª"

    "CEO Jin! Please repeat the percentage of Jin Corporation¡¯s data breach! We heard you say 48%, but is that figure really urate? Isn¡¯t it supposed to be higher than that? The otherpanies reported 90-100%! Aren¡¯t you just downying the real number to appear better than the otherpanies also affected by the cyber-attack?" a reporter suddenly asked him.

    Silence pervaded the press conference hall, as Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned colder.

    Jin Liwei was displeased that he was interrupted in the middle of speaking. It showed on his countenance, making him appear even more intimidating.

    Although the reporter felt scared of Jin Liwei¡¯s aura, he didn¡¯t back down. It was his job as a reporter to ask these questions.

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t make it hard for the reporter and answered all of the questions.

    "Yes, 48% is urate. Not lower, not higher. And no, I¡¯m not downying the real number. It is exactly 48%. Jin Corporation will release an official report soon, including the exact percentage of the data breach which I already mentioned to be 48%. We¡¯ll submit the report to the authorities for investigation and are willing to face any punishment if our figures are found to be inurate."

    He looked at the reporter who asked him the questions. Of course, he didn¡¯t forget to throw shade at the reporter for interrupting him.

    "In case you don¡¯t know, there is something called a Q&A session after this. Press conferences usually have that portion after the speaker finishes speaking without interruption. I would¡¯ve dly answered your questions then, but perhaps this is your first press conference so you aren¡¯t aware how things work."

    The reporter turned red after Jin Liwei directly spoke to him. This wasn¡¯t his first press conference at all. He had been a reporter for many years now, so of course he knew how things worked. It was just that mostpanies and organizations always wanted to present a good image to the press and the public, so they rarely scolded reporters like this. He had momentarily forgotten that Jin Corporation had strict press conference rules, especially when the main speaker was their cold and intimidating President-CEO Jin Liwei.

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei continued speaking uninterrupted. He revealed that two of his employees¡ªwhose identities wouldn¡¯t be publicly revealed for security reasons¡ªwere able to stop the hacker from essing the remaining 62% of data.

    "Jin Corporation is very fortunate to have such valiant, loyal, and highly-skilled experts working for us. We aim to train more highly-skilled people like them and most importantly, to improve our current system so that something like this won¡¯t happen again in the future. Nevertheless, I still believe that 48% is too much. We ask our valued clients to cooperate with us in resecuring all of your information stored with ourpany."

    Jin Liwei finished his speech and opened the floor for the Q&A session. He answered all of the questions in a clear and concise manner. He maintained hisposure the entire time.

    However, thest set of questions before the press conference endedpletely caught him by surprise.He didn¡¯t expect to be asked such questions at a time and ce like this.

    "CEO Jin, when do you n to introduce your fianc¨¦e to the public? Are you even nning on showing her to everyone or are you going to keep her out of the public eye? And also, when is the wedding?"

 Chapter 428 - Is She Out Yet?

    <h4>Chapter 428 - Is She Out Yet? </h4>

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up in interest after hearing the questions. They also wanted to know. They all looked at Jin Liwei with expectant expressions. The hacking incident was momentarily forgotten, as they waited for him to answer the questions...or if he would even answer them in the first ce.

    After recovering from his initial surprise, Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes became gentle and less cold. However, only people who were close to him and knew him well noticed the difference. His loyal assistant, Xu Tian, of course noticed the slight change in his expression. But to others, Jin Liwei still looked cold and intimidating as usual.

    "Soon. Yes, I want to show her off to the whole world. The wedding will be when she¡¯s ready," Jin Liwei answered all of the questions in a terse manner.

    The reporters still wanted to ask him more questions, but he already began to leave. He was escorted out of the press conference by his subordinates and Xu Tian, while ignoring the reporters continuing to throw questions at him.

    When they reached a more private area of thepany building, Jin Liwei finally rxed a bit. He quickly rolled his shoulders and massaged his temples and eyelids. It had already been more than 30 hours since hest slept. After receiving his Fifth Brother¡¯s text message hours ago, his n of taking a nap was forgotten.

    He couldn¡¯t stop worrying about his baby girl because of it. At the same time, he also wondered how his Fifth Brother was able to know everything that happened. It also seemed that he had acquired some hacking abilities or perhaps had a hacker on his side. Jin Liwei intended to ask him once he returned.

    It had been a long time since hest saw and spoke with his Fifth Brother in person. Jin Liwei felt like Lu Zihao was only bing more and more mysterious the longer that they hadn¡¯t seen each other.

    But regardless of his increasing mysteriousness, there was one thing that Jin Liwei was still sure of about his Fifth Brother. It was that Lu Zihao felt as protective as him towards his baby girl.

    He had already epted the fact that his baby girl and Fifth Brother had a special bond between them. It still made him jealous sometimes, but now he recognized that there wasn¡¯t anything sexual or romantic about their bond.

    The two just treated each other like siblings. Really close siblings. In fact, it was obvious that Iris cared more about Lu Zihao than her own flesh and blood siblings.

    Jin Liwei also found it a little odd that Lu Zihao appeared like he was increasingly treasuring his bond with Iris more than the brotherhood between them, the five best friends. It wasn¡¯t just Jin Liwei who was noticing this, but their three other brothers as well.

    Their Eldest Brother, Lin Yehan, was particrly unhappy about it. But since Iris had now be an important part of all of their lives, he couldn¡¯t really ce all the me on her. Besides, she was instrumental in making his new teapany profitable. His earlier prejudice against her was now gone.

    As for Jin Liwei, he didn¡¯t want to feel too concerned about the special bond between Iris and Lu Zihao, especially if it meant that his baby girl would have more protection. He was curious about what kind of "extra security" his Fifth Brother would provide when he returned.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei wanted to go home and bring his baby girl back to the mansion just like what his Fifth Brother told him. However, when he called the penthouse earlier that morning, Dom informed him that she hadn¡¯t left theputer room yet. Jin Liwei figured that she was still busy battling against the motherfucking hacker Eagle or whatever the son of a bitch was called.

    So he had no choice but to refrain from disturbing her because he knew that any mistake on her part might give the opponent a chance to trace her. It was too dangerous! He just asked Dom to call him as soon as she came out of herputer room. While waiting for Dom¡¯s updates, Jin Liwei busied himself leading everyone in hispany to deal with the aftermath of the cyber-attack.

    And now that the press conference ended, his first concern was still about her. He turned to his assistant, Xu Tian.

    "Any updates from the penthouse?" he asked.

    "Dominic Chua texted that Miss Long hasn¡¯te out yet and to please call him as soon as you¡¯re avable," Xu Tian replied.

    Jin Liwei frowned. She hadn¡¯te out yet? She had been inside for close to fifteen hours now!

    He forced himself to calm down and nodded at Xu Tian. Then he entered an empty meeting room along the way. Xu Tian and his subordinates guarded the door outside, while he made a phone call.

    Dom picked up after just two rings.

    "Hello, sir boss!"

    "Is she out yet?" Jin Liwei immediately asked.

    "Not yet," Dom replied.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened.

    "Sir boss, I didn¡¯t tell anyone else that boss is inside theputer room because I know that she doesn¡¯t like to be disturbed whenever she¡¯s inside. But I¡¯m now getting so worried because it has been so long. She hasn¡¯t eaten anything yet! She doesn¡¯t eat much, but she never starves herself! What¡¯s more, she missed her work appointments today. Big Sis Yiyi has been calling me nonstop asking where boss is. Junie boy is crying for his mama because he didn¡¯t see her during breakfast. Madam boss has also been looking for her. Ice Cream and Popcorn know where their mommy is and are waiting at the library office outside theputer room. I¡¯m starting to freak out now, sir boss! What if...what if boss fainted inside and she¡¯s ina again?!!! I¡¯m so scared!!! Wuwuwu! Okay, that¡¯s it! I¡¯m going to grab a metal pipe or something and break the door open!"

    Dom¡¯s panic also affected Jin Liwei. It felt like his heart just dropped to the ground. His entire body felt cold, remembering the agonizing feeling of seeing his baby girl faint right in front of his eyes and fall intoa.

    ¡¯Not again. Please be okay,¡¯ he chanted inside him.

    Taking a few deep breaths, he fought against the rising panic inside him and forced himself to calm down.

    "Dominic, calm down. Don¡¯t do anything extreme. I¡¯ming home right now," Jin Liwei told Dom. "Wait for me. If she doesn¡¯te out or respond to our attempts of contacting her when I arrive, we¡¯ll break inside herputer room."

 Chapter 429 - Break It Down

    <h4>Chapter 429 - Break It Down </h4>

    Even when Jin Liwei was still very busy at thepany, he excused himself and left. Nobodyined because they knew that he hadn¡¯t slept yet and had been awake for more than30 hours since yesterday. His assistant, Xu Tian, stayed at Jin Corporation just in case something happened during his absence.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates drove him back to the penthouse.

    A second car followed, carrying the two members of his personal tech team who he assigned to pretend as the ones who stopped the hacker from yesterday.

    Although exhausted and sleep-deprived, Jin Liwei was unable to take even just a short nap because he felt too worried about his baby girl. He hoped that she woulde out of theputer room soon.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    The elevator door opened.

    "Papa! Papa!"

    Little Jun immediately ran to Jin Liwei as soon as he emerged from the elevator. The little guy was so excited that he ran too fast and tripped on his own little feet. Fortunately, Jin Liwei caught him before he fell on his face.

    "Careful, Little Jun," Jin Liwei gently scolded his godson. Then he lifted the child and carried him in his arms.

    Little Jun wrapped his little arms around Jin Liwei¡¯s neck and hugged him tightly. Jin Liwei kissed his godson¡¯s forehead and walked into the living area.

    His subordinates didn¡¯t bat an eye seeing this scene. They were already used to it. They knew the nature of their master and mistress¡¯ rtionship with the child.

    However, the two members of Jin Liwei¡¯s personal tech team who was following closely behind him didn¡¯t know. Their eyes almost popped out of their heads, as they witnessed such an unbelievable scene right in front of their eyes.

    Did they just hear the child call the President..."papa"?!!

    The President had a child already?!!

    He and hisfianc¨¦e hadn¡¯t married yet, right? Then did this mean that they already had a child together before marrying?!!

    WHAT?!!!

    Their minds went nk and they just stood there staring like stupid idiots at Jin Liwei and Little Jun.

    The nanny greeted Jin Liwei. It was only her and Little Jun in the living area before Jin Liwei¡¯s group had arrived. The TV was ying an afternoon kiddie show.

    Jin Liwei nodded at her. "Take Little Jun. I¡¯m going to the library office. Dominic is still in there, right?"

    "Yes, sir. He¡¯s in there with the cats doing some paperwork, I think. The Young Miss Xin is...uh, I think she left for work early this morning when everybody else was still sleeping. I wonder why she didn¡¯t take Dom with him like she usually does..."

    Then the nanny gave Jin Liwei a quick report about where everybody else was. "Clover is still at work. Madam Wei Lan went to the spa. She took a couple of the maids with her. Miss Ying Yue is currently doing her security rounds downstairs. Grandma Yi Mei and the others are working in the rooms."

    "I see," Jin Liwei murmured as he handed the toddler to her. He was currently distracted and couldn¡¯t wait to head to the library.

    Unfortunately, Little Jun didn¡¯t want to let go of his neck.

    "No! Junjun want Papa! Junjun want Mama!" Then Little Jun started sobbing. "Mommi! Dada! Dada gone! Junjun want Dada!"

    Jin Liwei froze. His chest tightened as his godson¡¯s tears soaked his neck and cor. It seemed that the child had been affected by his father¡¯s absence more than they first thought. So that was the reason why recently, Little Jun was bing more clingy than usual. The poor kid was probably afraid that they would all be gone like his father.

    ¡¯Long Hui, you stupid son of a bitch. This is all your fault,¡¯ Jin Liwei mentally cursed the man while patting his godson¡¯s back in an effort to calm him down.

    The nanny was trying to take Little Jun from Jin Liwei but she couldn¡¯t because the child was now having a full-blown tantrum. His little arms were wrapped around his papa¡¯s neck in a vice-like grip.

    Jin Liwei sighed and waved the nanny away. "It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll take him," he told her. Then in a gentle but stern voice, he talked to his godson. "Little Jun, be good. Your mama will be upset if she sees you crying like this."

    The intensity of Little Jun¡¯s cries decreased upon hearing about his mama. However, he continued whimpering softly. He lifted his little head and looked up at Jin Liwei with his pitiful, tear-filled face.

    "Papa stay? Junjun want Mama. Junjun sad."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Little Jun. Papa and Mama won¡¯t leave you," Jin Liwei whispered.

    ¡¯We¡¯re not like that father of yours who¡¯s an idiot and a coward,¡¯ he inwardly added.

    He kissed Little Jun¡¯s forehead. Then he took a small clean towel from the nanny and wiped the child¡¯s tears and snot. Afterwards, he turned to his subordinates and his two tech people behind him.

    "All of you,e with me."

    Jin Liwei started walking while still carrying Little Jun in his arms. His subordinates immediately followed.

    His two tech people were a littlete in reacting because they were still dazed. They followed the group while continuing to stare like stupid idiots at the President acting like a father. They just couldn¡¯t believe it!

    Since Jin Liwei didn¡¯t tell her to follow, the nanny decided to stay in the living room.

    Finally, the group arrived at the library.

    A streak of orange shot towards Jin Liwei. A big grey furball followed in a more leisurely manner. They greeted Jin Liwei with loud meows while rubbing their bodies against his legs.

    "Ash Kweem! Popkohn!" Little Jun eximed and wriggled out of Jin Liwei¡¯s arms. His tears were immediately forgotten upon seeing his cat cousins.

    Jin Liwei put him down so that the cousins could y together.

    The two members of his tech team immediately recognized the two cats.

    "Oh, it¡¯s Young Miss Ice Cream and Young Master Popcorn."

    Popcorn also recognized them. The friendly cat greeted them with a quick meow. On the other hand, Ice Cream just gave them an indifferent look before proceeding to ignore them.

    ¡¯Hmph! Two new ve-wannabes havee to my territory. Such nuisance,¡¯ her expression seemed to say.

    "Sir boss! You¡¯re finally here!" Dom appeared. "Wuwuwu! Boss hasn¡¯te out yet!!!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned extremely serious. His lips pressed together into a thin line.

    "Distract my godson and take him and the cats out of the library. Give them to the nanny and thene back here," Jin Liwei told him.

    Dom immediately obeyed. Just like the Pied Piper, he lured the toddler and the cats out of the library with the promise of yummy rice pudding (one of Little Jun¡¯s favourites) and kitty treats.

    When they left, Jin Liwei led his subordinates and his two tech people in front of the nondescript door of theputer room.

    Jin Liwei pressed the built-in inte button but there was no answer. He tried calling his baby girl¡¯s phone a few times but his calls all went to voice mail. After several attempts of contacting her to no avail, he finally made his decision.

    "Break it down," he ordered his subordinates.

    They nodded and immediately examined the door.

    "Master, this kind of door can¡¯t be pried open manually. We have to blow it up with controlled explosives."

    Jin Liwei already figured as much. "Will Xin be safe inside?" he asked.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Master. The explosives we¡¯ll use will only blow up the door¡¯s circuitry and its lock mechanisms. They wouldn¡¯t damage anything else besides the door. The Mistress will not be harmed."

    "Alright. Do it."

    "Understood, Master."

    His subordinates immediately went to work. One of them distributed safety gears for everyone to wear while the others started preparing explosives.

    Dom also returned. When he learned about their n, he started freaking out but quickly calmed down when he was assured that his boss would be safe inside. He started praying in a corner instead.

    The two tech people had no idea what was going on. They felt very confused. From what they gathered from the conversations, it seemed that the President¡¯s fianc¨¦e was trapped behind the locked door. They wanted to ask for more information but couldn¡¯t find the courage and the right timing. The atmosphere was too tense. Their President¡¯s aura was also more frightening than usual.

    When one of the subordinates was about to start sticking the explosives on the door, it suddenly opened.

    A shadow streaked out and tackled the man on the floor. He grunted, as his whole body reeled in shock from the cannon-like force that hit him from behind. But the worst thing was that his neck was violently pulled back from behind in a brutal stranglehold.

    "Mi-mistress...ugh... I-it¡¯s me! Please let...go...."

    The poor subordinate wheezed and quickly tapped his hand on the floor in desperate surrender. His vision was starting to ck out. If this continued, he would soon lose consciousness.

    "Love? Love! Love...calm down. It¡¯s us. It¡¯s me. Let go of him, okay?"

    Jin Liwei quickly wrapped his arms around the attacker¡¯s body while gently trying to loosen her arms frompletely choking his subordinate.

    Iris finally recognized them.

    "Darling?"

    "Yes, it¡¯s me. Let go of him, love. He¡¯s losing consciousness," Jin Liwei told her in a calm but urgent tone.

    "Oh, sorry." Iris quickly let go of the poor man¡¯s neck.

    Jin Liwei helped her up but also pulled her quite a distance away from his subordinate who was now gasping pitifully on the floor.

    Iris looked at everyone wearing safety gear. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Then she looked at the equipment on the floor. They looked familiar. It took her a few seconds before she was able to recognize them.

    Her face contorted in anger.

 Chapter 430 - Hello Daddy

    <h4>Chapter 430 - Hello Daddy </h4>

    "Ketchup is right! She detected dangerous objects outside the door, that¡¯s why I attacked!"

    Jin Liwei frowned in confusion. "Ketchup?"

    "Jin Liwei, have you lost your mind? Why would you bring explosives into our home?!! We have children here!!!"

    Of course, she was referring to Little Jun and the cats.

    "Remove them from our home! Immediately!"

    "Do what she says," Jin Liwei ordered his subordinates while starting to remove his safety gear.

    They nodded and started carefully packing everything back into the bags. One of them assisted his colleague who was now thankfully recovering from the Mistress¡¯ brutal stranglehold earlier.

    Iris was still fuming at discovering that the men brought actual explosives into their home. Thest time she saw explosives, the estate she was living in was being bombarded into extinction. She had also died that fateful night.

    Although she didn¡¯t have much reaction back then, it was a different story now. She now cared about everyone living in this household. Any threat to their safety would trigger her.

    "Jin Liwei, what were you thinking?!! I can¡¯t believe¡ªumph!"

    The subordinates averted their eyes and silently resumed their tasks, while Dom snickered his usual "ehehe". They were already used to their bosses¡¯ public disys of affection.

    While the others were already used to such PDAs, the two tech people weren¡¯t! They were once again shocked by the unbelievable sight before them.They never imagined that their cold and scary President was the type to...to k-kiss a woman so passionately in front of other people.

    Kyaaah! So embarrassing!

    They both turned red, wanting to avert their eyes but couldn¡¯t because the sight was just too riveting.

    As for the shameless couple who had (as usual) already forgotten that there were other people in the room besides them, they continued kissing each other hungrily.

    Iris had already long melted in her darling¡¯s embrace. Her earlier fury had quickly transformed into desire.

    Jin Liwei slowly separated their glistening mouths. Then he kissed the top of her head and heaved a big sigh of relief at seeing her alright.

    Iris wanted to kiss more but when she looked at his face closely, she was rmed at what she saw. It was only then that she realized how exhausted he looked.

    His eyes were bloodshot, droopy and a bit swollen. The dark circles under his eyes stood out even more with his noticeably paler skin. She could also sense that his entire body was worn out.

    Her brows furrowed in worry. She framed his face with her hands.

    "Darling, don¡¯t tell me you haven¡¯t slept yet?" she asked.

    He didn¡¯t reply.

    She already knew the answer.

    "Was it really that bad in Jin Corporation? Did the hacking incident made you so busy that you have no time to even take a nap? Sleep is very important, darling. You can¡¯t abuse your body like that," she told him.

    He took one of her hands from his face and then kissed her palm. "Yes, I was very busy. But I was more worried about you, love. I was told that you didn¡¯te out of theputer room even once. You¡¯ve been inside for more than fifteen hours! How can I not worry?"

    "Oh." She bit her lip.

    "Was the son of a bitch that tough?" he asked in a whisper so that the others couldn¡¯t hear them.

    She tilted her head to the side and also whispered. "Who?"

    "That hacker Eagle or whatever the hell he¡¯s called."

    "Oh, that guy? Yes, he¡¯s tough and skilled. I¡¯ll give him that. But he still has a long way to go before he reaches my level. He¡¯s too much of a hothead, so he has a tendency to lose his cool. Then his skills start to slip as a result. Not really a good quality to have in a hacker, in my opinion. I¡¯ve encountered more formidable hackers than him in the past."

    Her eyes suddenly had a faraway look in them.

    "Now those guys were amazing...and scary. But I like that they¡¯re very challenging. I lost more than I won against them, though. But it¡¯s alright. They just make me want to improve my skills even more so that one day, I¡¯ll be able to win more against them than lose. Sounds fun, right?"

    Jin Liwei may not fully understand her but he would always support her no matter what.

    "En," he said, nodding. "So you defeated that Eagle bastard?"

    "Of course." She lifted her chin in a proud manner.

    "I¡¯m d," he said, chuckling. Then he grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Sorry, love. It¡¯s my fault that you had to spend fifteen hours battling against that son of a bitch."

    Iris bit her lip again. "Uh...actually, darling... I only spent a couple more hours dealing with him after myst text message to you. I almost traced him but then the coward turned tail and escaped. I have some leads, but I bet that the majority of them are fake identities. I already put him on my watch list, though. It¡¯s only a matter of time before I¡¯ll be able to uncover who he really is."

    Jin Liwei was about to discourage her from pursuing the motherfucker¡¯s identity after remembering his Fifth Brother¡¯s warning, but then he frowned at something she said.

    "Wait, love. Did you just say that you finished dealing with him in two hours after yourst text to me? What were you doing afterwards then? You were inside theputer room for fifteen hours! You weren¡¯t answering our calls. We were so worried! I thought something bad had happened to you inside. That¡¯s why I ordered my subordinates to break down the door."

    Iris felt guilty, but then she also frowned after realizing something. "You were going to break my door with explosives?! Jin Liwei, are you crazy?!"

    "Those are controlled explosives. They won¡¯t damage anything other than the door and they most definitely won¡¯t hurt anyone here at home. Long Xin, you haven¡¯t answered my question yet. What were you doing inside for fifteen fucking hours?! Don¡¯t you know how worried I was?!" he asked through gritted teeth.

    It was obvious that he was angry but he was doing his best not to raise his voice at her.

    Seeing his self-control only made Iris feel even more guilty. "I...I was working on one of my pet projects. I suddenly had a great moment of inspiration after the hacking battle. It allowed me to develop it so much just this morning. I finally progressed when I struggled with it for so long before. And afterwards, I was very tired so I...I slept..."

    Jin Liwei inhaled sharply and gave her a look of disbelief.

    "I¡¯m sorry, darling!" Iris threw herself onto his chest and hugged him. "I have a tendency to forget everything elsewhenever I be too absorbed in what I¡¯m doing. Sorry for forgetting to contact you! I should¡¯ve known that you¡¯ll worry."

    He didn¡¯t reply.

    "Don¡¯t be mad anymore, darling. I promise I won¡¯t do it again," she whispered and showed him her puppy eyes.

    He felt extremely exasperated with her, but how could he resist her when she was looking at him like that? All he could do was sigh, suddenly feeling even more exhausted than he already was.

    "Alright. Just don¡¯t do it again." He gently poked her nose with his forefinger.

    "I promise."

    Iris was relieved that the situation was resolved without them fighting. It was during moments like this that she would discover that she was actually quite a selfish and thoughtless person. Being in a rtionship was slowly revealing her own inadequacies as a person and the things that she never bothered caring before when she only had to think about herself.

    Now, however, her actions didn¡¯t just affect her alone. They also had a direct effect on her lover, Jin Liwei, and she had to make sure to always remember that from now on.

    "Darling, you look like you¡¯re going to copse any moment. Come, let¡¯s go to the bedroom. You need to sleep first," she told him.

    Suddenly, there was a loud gasp.

    "Iris Long?! You¡¯re Iris Long, right?!" one of Jin Liwei¡¯s tech people finally recognized her.

    "Holy shit, you¡¯re right! I was wondering why she looks so familiar! She¡¯s Iris Long!" the other one also eximed.

    "Yes, I¡¯m Iris Long," she answered them before returning her attention to Jin Liwei. "They¡¯re the ones you¡¯ve chosen?"

    "En. You should speak to them now. I¡¯ll apany you."

    "Another time. You need to sleep first."

    "I¡¯ll sleepter. Let¡¯s just get it over with. I don¡¯t want them staying here any longer than necessary," he said. Then he gave his employees a cold re, not liking how they were gawking at his baby girl.

    Iris was reluctant at first but she gave in when he insisted. After giving quick instructions to Dom about her missed work appointments, she invited Jin Liwei and the two members of his tech team inside herputer room.

    The two tech people were once again dazed upon learning that she was actually Iris Long. They followed her and their President without any understanding of what was going on.

    By this time, Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates had already left to get rid of the explosives they brought with them.

    Despite his exhaustion, Jin Liwei felt excited.This was the first time that he would be entering herputer room. He only caught glimpses of what was inside before. He always felt curious about what it was actually like inside.

    As soon as they entered and the door silently closed behind them, a child¡¯s voice suddenly spoke. The sound seemed toe from all directions.

    "New people detected.

    "Scanning now... Meow~

    "First person scanned matched the profile of...

    "Jin Liwei...President-CEO of Jin Corporation...

    "Also Mommy¡¯s lover and future husband. Meow~"

    Then the nearestputer monitor lit up and disyed a pure white cat with beautiful green eyes. It looked just like Ice Cream and Popcorn, so it must also be a British Shorthair.

    "Meow~ Ketchup greets Daddy Jin Liwei! Hello, Daddy! My name is Ketchup, I¡¯m your third kitty baby! Meow~"

 Chapter 431 - Ketchup

    <h4>Chapter 431 - Ketchup </h4>

    "..."

    Iris felt nervous, as she looked at the unmoving Jin Liwei beside her. After all, Ketchup was the reason why she didn¡¯te out of theputer room for fifteen long hours and made him very worried about her.

    Jin Liwei stared at the white cat on theputer monitor who was calling him daddy. He wasn¡¯t saying anything. Iris gripped his arm and shook it a little, trying to elicit even just a tiny bit of reaction from him, but he remained frozen.

    She didn¡¯t notice nor care about the dumbfounded reactions of the other two people in the room with them. All she cared about was her darling¡¯s verdict on Ketchup.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s two tech people felt like they were suddenly thrown face-to-face with aliens. Their eyes popped out and their jaws fell down.

    They had thought that Jin Corporation was already hi-techpared to itspetitors in the country, but they couldn¡¯t believe this ce! Everywhere they looked contained drool-worthy high-tech devices. There were even some unknown equipment that they didn¡¯t know the purpose of.They always prided themselves as "experts" in the technology industry but being in this room made them feel like total noobs again.

    It felt like they were transported to the future. Were they even still on Earth? Maybe they got sucked inside an alien spaceship or something without their knowledge.

    And what the hell was that talking cat?! Sure, it looked super cute and fluffy but it was also super creepy. It was talking like a child and calling the President its daddy!!! If someone ever dared call that normal, then they were probably not living on Earth like the rest of humankind.

    It was a good thing that the two tech people had no heart problems or else they would have already croaked to their deaths by now due to the consecutive shocks they kept on receiving since entering this ce.

    "Meow~ Mommy, why is Daddy not saying anything?" Ketchup asked. "Does he not like Ketchup? Does Daddy hate me?"

    Iris also wanted to know. When Jin Liwei still didn¡¯t respond, she became dispirited.

    "Maybe he doesn¡¯t want another cat. Maybe I should¡¯ve made you into a puppy or a goldfish instead," she mumbled.

    "Meow?! But Ketchup likes being a kitty," the white cat whined. "Since Daddy hates me, Ketchup will now self-destruct. Beginning self-destruct sequence in 10...9...8...7..."

    Iris now looked very upset. However, she didn¡¯t stop Ketchup.

    "What are you doing?! Stop! Stop it!" Jin Liwei roared. "Ketchup, listen to your daddy!"

    Finally, a reaction from him.

    "¡ª4...3...meow? Aborting self-destruct sequence...

    "Aborted! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at the white cat again. It now had its tail straight up, quivering in excitement. Its glowing green eyes stared straight at him and blinked slowly. It looked happy that it didn¡¯t have to self-destruct. Its expression looked very real that it reminded Jin Liwei of both Ice Cream and Popcorn.

    He turned to Iris beside him. His expression silently asked her to exin what was going on.

    "Darling...this is Ketchup," Iris introduced him to the white cat on theputer screen. "She¡¯s the sessful form of the AI that I¡¯ve been working on for quite some time now¡ªyears, actually. I¡¯ve always wanted to develop my own AI that is uniquely mine, but I was never satisfied with my earlier prototypes. They were all robotic and...well, boring. Those ones weren¡¯t really that different from the other avable AI created by others. I was always at a loss on how to give my AI a personality with a wide range of emotions.

    "Buttely, I¡¯ve been progressing a lot in that area. However, no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn¡¯t make any breakthrough in making the AI sound as natural as possible. That was until I had a sudden moment of inspiration after the hacking battle. Something just clicked inside my mind and everything started to make sense. So..."

    Iris hugged Jin Liwei¡¯s arm and pressed her body against his side. "So I¡¯ve been working on Ketchup for the entire morning. I just knew that I would be sessful this time, so I didn¡¯t want to be distracted or disturbed. That¡¯s why I cut myself off from the outside world toplete her."

    Jin Liwei looked at his baby girl giving him her puppy eyes again. However, he didn¡¯t reply.

    "Sorry, darling. I¡¯ll make sure to contact you next time. Actually, when Ipleted Ketchup, I was so exhausted that I instructed her not to disturb me so that I could sleep. Maybe she intercepted your calls, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t hear them."

    "Yes, Ketchup blocked all calls and messages while Mommy was sleeping because Mommy told me not to disturb her! Ketchup is a very obedient kitty! Meow~"

    Iris gave Jin Liwei a sheepish smile. Then she turned to the white cat. "Ketchup, override any of my given instructions if it¡¯s your daddy calling next time. Okay?"

    "Recording new instruction...

    "Noted! Meow~

    "Okay, Mommy! Ketchup will prioritize Daddy¡¯s calls and messages from now on. Meow~"

    Iris looked at Jin Liwei again, waiting for his verdict.

    He nodded.

    Relief flooded her after receiving his approval. A bright and lovely smile broke out of her face, lighting up her entire expression.

    It certainly wasn¡¯t the first time Jin Liwei saw her smile, but he still couldn¡¯t stop his breath from catching at her beauty. How could a woman¡ªhis woman¡ªbe so utterly beautiful?

    And it wasn¡¯t only him.

    His two tech people also felt mesmerized by Iris¡¯ breathtaking smile. They became dazed once again. At this rate, there was a possibility that these two could turn intoplete idiots if they kept on being dazed every few moments or so.

    "Does Daddy still hate Ketchup? Meow?"

    "Of course not," Jin Liwei replied. "I will never hate you because you are your mommy and daddy¡¯s child. I was just surprised that I suddenly have another child without my knowledge, that¡¯s all."

    "Really? Ketchup is happy! I love you, Daddy! Meow~"

    The white cat on theputer monitor started jumping around to show its happiness. It even started appearing on the other monitors, as if it was really moving around the room.

    Jin Liwei already knew that his baby girl was a genius, but this was just on another level. He looked at her in amazement.

    "How is this possible?" he asked her.

    Iris beamed at him, feeling proud of her aplishment. She struggled with it for so long that it felt amazing to finally have a breakthrough.

    "Lots of trial and error. Ketchup is still not that powerful yet, though. She still has a lot of limitations. After all, it was only this morning that I sessfullypleted this form of hers. I still have many ns on how to further develop her. She¡¯s restricted to myputer room for now, while I continue developing her. I still need to test if she¡¯ll work and perform as normal if I install her to our mobile devices, maybe even to our cars and home security. My goal is for her to develop into a powerful virtual assistant who¡¯ll help us do our tasks more efficiently so that we can have more time to spend with each other."

    "Hmm... I see. Sounds good," he murmured.

    "Meow~ Ketchup is a self-learning kitty and will only be smarter with time and more experience! Ketchup will do her best and work hard so that Mommy and Daddy will love me more. Meow~"

    A light chuckle escaped from Jin Liwei¡¯s lips. "This personality..."

    "I based it from Popcorn, Ice Cream, Little Jun¡ª"

    "Oh." Jin Liwei nodded in approval.

    "¡ªand Dom."

    "..."

    Jin Liwei sighed.

    "I figured as much," he said and sighed again.

    Then he thought of something else.

    "Why did you name her Ketchup? Does it have any other significant meaning? I know that most AI names are abbreviations. Is Ketchup also an abbreviation of something?" he asked.

    His two tech people also wanted to know. They moved a bit closer to hear her answer. They had already somewhat recovered from their earlier daze and were now filled with awed curiosity at Iris and her cat AI. They never imagined that a celebrity like her would be so amazing like this, not to mention that she was actually their President¡¯s fianc¨¦e. The two felt like what they were experiencing today was not real and that they were just dreaming.

    They couldn¡¯t wait to learn what the name "Ketchup" meant. The gears in their minds started turning, as they tried to guess what K-E-T-C-H-U-P could possibly stand for.

    Their best guess was...

    Kic Electro-Technical Computerized Hi-performance...uh...er...Pet?

 Chapter 432 - Crazy Family

    <h4>Chapter 432 - Crazy Family </h4>

    Was their guess close to the correct meaning of the abbreviation?

    The two tech people leaned forward, excited to hear Iris¡¯ answer.

    "Hmm, not really. I just felt like naming her Ketchup," she said.

    The two stumbled on their own feet upon hearing her anti-climactic answer. She had created such a revolutionary AI technology, and yet she didn¡¯t take this chance to give it a majestic name? She named the AI Ketchup because...she felt like it?! Such a waste!

    They all swivelled their heads to their President and gave him a meaningful look. They hoped that at least he would encourage his fianc¨¦e to take naming such impressive technology more seriously.

    However, he didn¡¯t even nce at them. All his attention was on his fianc¨¦e. It was as if he had already forgotten about his employees¡¯ presence in the room.

    "I see. I thought as much," Jin Liwei said. Then he looked at the digital white cat. Ketchup was now ying with a ball of yarn. "You already named our first cats Ice Cream and Popcorn after all, so I¡¯m not surprised that you named this next one Ketchup. Although I wonder why you chose Ketchup."

    "Actually, I originally wanted to name her Mayonnaise because she¡¯s white but when I tried calling her Mayonnaise, it just sounded wrong and...well, stupid," Iris revealed. "So I changed it and decided to name her Ketchup instead. So what if she¡¯s white and I named her Ketchup? I can name her whatever I want. Besides, Ketchup sounds so much better than stupid Mayonnaise. Imagine calling her Mayonnaise. Won¡¯t you feel stupid, too?"

    ¡¯And Ketchup isn¡¯t stupid?¡¯ the two tech people thought to themselves but didn¡¯t dare say out loud.

    "You¡¯re right. Ketchup is an excellent name," Jin Liwei agreed with her.

    "I know, right?" Iris beamed again.

    ¡¯What do you mean that it¡¯s an excellent name?! President, please get a hold of yourself!¡¯ the two men almost cried seeing their boss acting like this.

    Suddenly, the white cat stopped ying with the ball of yarn.

    "Oh, right! I still have some tasks to do. Ketchup got distracted! Sorry. Meow~

    "Resume scanning...

    "Second person scanned matched the profile of... Gu Chang, Senior Database Administrator at Jin Corporation...

    "Third person scanned matched the profile of... Diao Yijue, Senior Information Security Specialist at Jin Corporation...

    Iris studied the basic employment information of the two men disyed on the nearestputer monitors.

    "Ketchup, search through all avable public and private records about Gu Chang and Diao Yijue. Copy their information and start a dossier for each of them. If there are any records that you can¡¯t ess, take note of them and I¡¯ll personally hack and get those records when I have some free time," Iris instructed.

    "Okay, Mommy! Meow~

    "Starting search now..."

    Ketchup¡¯s green eyes glowed even more brightly, as she worked on her assigned task.

    In just a few seconds, various information about the two men started flooding the screens covering one wall. Their birth certificates, school records starting from pre-school to university, drivers¡¯ licences, marriage licences, traffic vition records, bank ount bnces¡ªeverything was being disyed for all of them to see.

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue felt like their souls just flew out of their bodies. It was like they were being stripped naked in front of their President and his crazy fianc¨¦e.

    Yes, she might be a genius but she was also crazy! Who would create a creepy talking cat AI and order it to search everything about them?

    When the screens started showing information from their past that they¡¯d rather forget, the two couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "Ah ah! Please stop! We understand! We didn¡¯t see anything here today! Right, Bro Yijue?" Gu Chang said in a panic.

    "Right! In fact, I don¡¯t remember anything at all aboutst night and today!" Diao Yijue dered. Then he turned to the white cat on theputer monitor who was currently staring vacantly with its glowing green eyes while it focused on gathering information about them. "Ketchup¡ªI mean, Young Miss Ketchup! Please stop searching! We beg you!"

    "Negative! Ketchup only obeys Mommy and Daddy! Gu Chang...and...Diao Yijue¡ªhave no authority to give orders to Ketchup.

    "Who do you think you are? Meow~

    "Resuming search..."

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue turned to Iris next, begging her to order her cat AI to stop. However, she wasn¡¯t the least bit affected by their pleas. She even covered her mouth and delicately yawned.

    Sensing no hope from her, they turned to their President instead. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed because he wasn¡¯t even looking at them. Like before, all of his attention was on his crazy fianc¨¦e.

    It was now beginning to dawn on the two poor men that their President might even be crazier than her for acting like everything was normal. He even had a faint smile on his face, as he watched what his crazy woman and freakish digital child were doing together.

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue could only cry a river inside their hearts at their fates in the hands of this crazy family.

    Wuwuwu! Poor them!

    "Oh, right!" Iris suddenly eximed. "Where are my manners? Mr. Gu, Mr. Diao, please take a seat."

    She led everyone to the centre of the room where there was afortable set of couches and a low table. The biggest couch had two pillows and a rumpled nket on it. This must be where she slept. An empty reusable water bottle and an energy bar wrapper sat on top of the low table.

    Jin Liwei frowned upon seeing them. He grabbed the energy bar wrapper.

    "You¡¯ve been in here for fifteen hours and this is the only thing you ate?" he asked her while waving the wrapper in his hand.

    "Well...I was too busy so I...forgot to eat...."

    "You¡ª!" Jin Liwei was angered by her response. He crushed the wrapper in his hand and tossed it back on the low table. Then he marched the short distance to her and grabbed her hand. "That¡¯s it. We¡¯re going to the kitchen. Now! You need to eat first."

    "Darling, wait! I¡¯m okay, really. Let¡¯s finish our business with your two men first..."

    It took some time but Iris was finally able to persuade Jin Liwei.

    All of them sat down on the couch. Iris carelessly tossed the pillows and nket to one corner. She and Jin Liwei sat on the big couch while the two men sat separately on the other smaller couches.

    Iris began speaking.

    "I think that the two of you already figured out that I was the one who assisted you duringst night¡¯s hacking incident."

    The two nodded.

    Gu Chang hesitated at first but he still went ahead and asked, "C-could you possibly be...Drakon?"

    Jin Liwei tensed and threw a deadly re at him.

    However, Iris had no qualms admitting it.

    "Of course I am," she replied in a nonchnt manner.

    The two men gasped at her admission. Although they already suspected it after entering this insanely futuristic room, they were still shocked upon learning the truth.

    Iris Long, a young celebrity, was actually the fearsome world-ss hacker Drakon?

    WHAT THE HELL?!!

    "I am Drakon. So you must also have realized by now what I can do to you if you ever be foolish enough to dare betray me, your President Jin Liwei, and Jin Corporation. I have exposed countless powerful figures and toppled manypanies, organizations, and even governments all over the world. With that said, dealing with the two of you is extremely easy for me. Something as simple as destroying you two, I don¡¯t even have to raise a finger. I could just instruct Ketchup and she¡¯ll do it while I drink tea and have a massage."

    The two men immediately shivered hearing her threat. They felt like sacrificialmbs about to be devoured by a scary evil dragon.

    "W-we¡¯ll never betray you! We¡¯ve always been loyal to the President and Jin Corporation! And we intend to remain that way. Please don¡¯t worry!" Gu Chang hurriedly dered.

    Diao Yijue followed suit. "Yes! Miss Long...Madam¡ªno, Master! Our venerated ancestor! The queen of all hackers, empress of the digital universe! Please be assured that we¡¯ll never ever dare betray you or the President!"

    They held their breaths, awaiting her judgment.

    "Hmm..." Iris tilted her head to the side, studying the two men who were literally shaking in their shoes.

    She started to feel sorry for them, but she caught herself and quickly hardened her heart. This is for her and her darling¡¯s safety. She needed to do this or they would be the ones to suffer if they didn¡¯t do any of these precautions.

    "Ketchup, pause your search for now," she instructed the white cat.

    "Pausing search...

    "Paused! Meow~

    "Done, Mommy!"

    Iris nodded. "Good job, Ketchup. In the meantime, ce Gu Chang and Diao Yijue on our watch list. If they vite any of our agreements today, immediately put their names on our virtual ck notebook."

    "Okay, Mommy~"

    "What¡¯s a ck notebook?" Diao Yijue asked before thinking.

    "Hmm... Something like my hit list," Iris replied in a nonchnt manner.

    The two men¡¯s eyes widened in fright.

    HIT LIST?!!!

    Iris waved a dismissive hand. "If you don¡¯t n on betraying us, then you have nothing to worry about."

    "Exactly," Jin Liwei said. "Not to mention that you¡¯ll be receiving generous lifetimepensation and benefits from me as long as you listen to my wife¡ªI mean, my future wife."

    Iris blushed hearing him call her his wife.

    As for the two men, their eyes lit up despite the fear at the mention of lifetimepensation and benefits.

    Iris finally began talking about the reason why she called for the two of them to see her.

    "I have rewritten the weakest parts of Jin Corporation¡¯s current system. It¡¯s certainly stronger than before, but it¡¯s still possible that it could get breached again, especially by hackers of Eagle¡¯s level. That¡¯s obviously not good. This is because the system¡¯s framework itself is wed. I can¡¯t rest easy knowing this, so I n on recing Jin Corporation¡¯s entire system."

    Jin Liwei frowned in concern. "Love, we already talked about this. It¡¯s too dangerous."

    "Not if people don¡¯t know it was me who created it. Don¡¯t we have these two here? You already announced that they were the ones who defended Jin Corporation during the cyber-attack. People won¡¯t think twice if you also announce that these two developed yourpany¡¯s new imprable system."

 Chapter 433 - Who Are You Calling Master?

    <h4>Chapter 433 - Who Are You Calling Master? </h4>

    Jin Liwei immediately understood what his baby girl¡¯s n was. He nodded but stopped when he realized something. Then he frowned.

    "Love, if these two pretend to be the system creators, then all the credit will go to them," he said.

    "It¡¯s just credit, darling. I already have many under my belt," she said with a shrug, not really concerned about it. "Besides, this is for our own safety. I¡¯ll always prioritize our safety over getting recognition anytime."

    Jin Liwei pulled his baby girl and hugged her. Of course, she melted into his arms and hugged him back. The shameless couple once again forgot that there were other people in the room with them.

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei was too tired to do anything else. He just wanted this meeting to be over as soon as possible so that he could take his baby girl to the kitchen and make sure that she ate much-needed nutritious food. Only then would he have the peace of mind to finally sleep and rest his weary mind and body.

    Iris also had simr thoughts as him. She wanted to finish this meeting quickly. His exhausted state was making her very worried.

    Long story short, Gu Chang and Diao Yijue were assigned to pretend as the creators of Jin Corporation¡¯s new system which would rece the old "wed" one (ording to Iris). The new system would be virtually imprable by any hacker below Iris¡¯ own skill level. She was quite confident about that. In addition to this, she also made sure that it was different to Monkey¡¯s system in many different ways to make it harder for people to suspect that the two systems were created by the same person.

    Only a handful of hackers in the world had the ability to breach it. Iris hoped that they wouldn¡¯t take notice of Jin Corporation or its new system. She knew that whenever those old folks popped out, they always caused chaos all over the world. Well, it wasn¡¯t like she could condemn them because she was exactly like them.

    Putting the thought of those old folks aside, Iris exined to Gu Chang and Diao Yijue that they needed to know everything about the new system inside and out. They needed to be believable in their im as its creators.

    "You¡¯ll need toe here regrly and learn the new system in myputer room. You can¡¯t take a copy of it home. Ketchup will track all of your movements and your learning progress even when I¡¯m not here. You¡¯re free to make changes to the new system as you see fit, since you¡¯re more familiar than me of what kind of features Jin Corporation needs the most. But of course, I¡¯ll always be the original creator so you¡¯ll have to get my approval first for any changes you want to make. Only when I¡¯m satisfied with the final version and when you¡¯ve learned everything about the system like the back of your hand will I allow you to finally install it at Jin Corporation," Iris told them.

    Diao Yijue: "Understood, Master!"

    Gu Chang: "We¡¯ll do our best, Master! We won¡¯t disappoint you!"

    Iris frowned and immediately shut them down.

    "Who are you calling Master? I¡¯m not interested in taking you in as my disciples. You can¡¯t even do anything against that Eagle guy and you dare dream to be my disciples? Defeat Eagle with your own abilities first. Then maybe¡ªjust maybe¡ªI¡¯ll consider agreeing to be your master. For now, don¡¯t even think about it.

    "But if you want, you can apply to be Ketchup¡¯s disciples instead. I¡¯ve programmed her to have some of my hacking skills. She¡¯s definitely better than the two of youbined. And she¡¯ll only be better with time because she has a powerful self-learning function."

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue turned crimson. They knew that they were far below Drakon¡¯s level. Drakon was like a god while they were just mere ants in the hacking world. They never really expected her to ept them as disciples that easily. They were just hopeful, that was all.

    But did she really have to refuse them in such a savage way? Her poison tongue was just too much for their delicate manly prides. Wuwuwu! Poor them!

    And it wasn¡¯t just her barbed refusal. She also wanted her cat AI to be their master instead? They would have no face left to show their peers in the tech field if others discovered that the two of them were calling a digital white kitty as their master. What would others say?

    "Meow? Does Gu Chang and Diao Yijue want to be Ketchup¡¯s disciples? But Ketchup is still a baby. I¡¯m not interested in bing your master. Ketchup prefers to y, learn new things, and make Mommy and Daddy love me even more! Meow~"

    What was worse than being rejected by the great Drakon? It was being rejected by her cute but cheeky and also equally savage cat AI.

    Both Gu Chang and Diao Yijue had never felt so small in their entire lives like they did now. Their status that they worked so hard to reach by climbing the ranks at Jin Corporation and all of their aplishments until now didn¡¯t mean anything in the eyes of Drakon who was also their President¡¯s crazy woman. And apparently, the crazy couple¡¯s digital kitty baby didn¡¯t think much of them either.

    Unfortunately for them, Iris had no time nor the interest in sparing their hurt feelings. The earlier the meeting finished, the sooner her darling could finally sleep. She quickly ironed out the details and drew out an agreement with Gu Chang and Diao Yijue. Ketchup recorded everything for future ckmail purposes¡ªcough cough¡ªfor documentation and reference purposes.

    While they were finalizing everything, Jin Liwei¡¯s phone started ringing. His ringtone indicated that it was a business call. He nced at the disy and directed the call to voicemail. His phone beeped¡ªa text message. After a few seconds, it began ringing again. He rejected it. Beep, another text message. And then it rang again.

    Busy with Gu Chang and Diao Yijue, Iris gestured for Jin Liwei to answer his phone. Maybe it was important, that was why the caller was so insistent.

    Jin Liwei nodded and then went to a far corner of theputer room. He was very displeased at the unwee call and it was obvious in his colder than usual voice when he answered the call.

    Back at the couches, Iris froze in the middle of speaking. She raised her hand to stop Gu Chang from opening his mouth to ask a question. With her great ears, she was able to hear a faint female voice talking to her darling on the phone.

    "Ketchup."

    "Meow~ Yes, Mommy?"

    "Put your daddy¡¯s call on speaker."

    "Okay, Mommy! Putting Daddy¡¯s call on speaker in 3...2...1¡ª"

    "President, please return to thepany. I know that you¡¯re exhausted and haven¡¯t slept yet, but it¡¯s very important for us and to everyone at Jin Corporation to see our President-CEO present at such an unstable time like this. You can always sleep and shower in your office¡¯s bedroom, Big Brother Liwei¡ªI mean, President Jin," a female voice spoke to Jin Liwei on the phone.

    The voice was heard throughout the entire room.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes widened and looked at his baby girl upon realizing that the call was put on speakerphone. Seeing her dark and ugly expression, the corner of his mouth involuntary curved up into a faint smile.

    "Oh, that sounds like Miss Young," Diao Yijue said.

 Chapter 434 Self - Learning Kitty

    <h4>Chapter 434 Self - Learning Kitty </h4>

    Gu Chang nodded. "Yes, the new Chief Marketing Officer from Singapore. I heard her family is close to the Jin family, that¡¯s why the shareholders voted for her to be the next CMO."

    Iris frowned. The woman was the CMO, yet she was ordering her darling around, the President-CEO? She even had the nerve to tell her darling where to sleep and shower? Who did the woman think she was? Jin Liwei¡¯s wife? That role was hers!

    "Ketchup, identify the woman talking to your daddy and gather all avable information about her," she instructed.

    "Meow~ Okay, Mommy!

    "Identifying Daddy¡¯s current caller through voice recognition...

    "Voiceprint matches the profile of... Rose Young, 30 years old. New Chief Marketing Officer at Jin Corporation, transferred from Singapore branch..."

    Iris studied the information flooding several of the nearestputer monitors about this Rose Young. Rose Young was born in Singapore, but she had frequent travel records to China every summer since childhood. Her mother¡¯s side of the family primarily livedin China and were good friends with the Jins.That was why when Jin Corporation opened a branch in Singapore, the Youngs were assigned to manage it.

    Iris didn¡¯t care about any of these. However, one particr information caught her attention. It was that this Rose Young also enrolled in the same ivy league business school Jin Liwei attended in the U.S. Meaning, they graduated from the same university, but in different years because Jin Liwei was two years older than her.

    Normally, Iris wouldn¡¯t feel bothered about this kind of seemingly trivial detail but she didn¡¯t like the way the woman was talking so familiarly to her darling. Her hands tightened into fists, as she struggled to control her own vicious green-eyed monster rearing its ugly head inside of her.

    The faint smile on Jin Liwei¡¯s face disappeared upon seeing his baby girl trying to control herself. At the beginning, he felt pleased seeing her jealous. But now he only felt pissed off at the yapping woman talking to him on the phone. Now his baby girl was in a bad mood because of her!

    "Miss Young, if you don¡¯t have any other important things to say, I¡¯ll hang up now. We are fellow executives at thepany, so we have each other¡¯s numbers. But don¡¯t abuse your position and start calling me whenever you feel like it. It¡¯s extremely unprofessional. This is your first warning. Do this again and you¡¯ll be blocked," he told the woman.

    "But Big Brother Liwei¡ª"

    Iris¡¯ expression turned even darker.

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue shrank back on their seats and stayed as quiet as possible. The atmosphere was very scary!

    "I¡¯m not your brother," Jin Liwei interrupted Rose Young. "I¡¯m the President and CEO of Jin Corporation. In short, I¡¯m your boss and you¡¯re my employee. Or do you not want to work at mypany anymore?"

    "I... My apologies, President Jin," the woman said in a meeker voice. "It¡¯s just that it takes some time to get used to separating our work and personal rtionship."

    "Personal rtionship? Jin Liwei, what is that woman talking about?" Iris stood up and asked her man.

    "We don¡¯t have a personal rtionship. Our families are friendly but the two of us are just acquaintances. Nothing more, nothing less," he assured his baby girl.

    On the other end of the line, Rose Young thought that he was directly speaking to her. "J-just acquaintances... I...I see."

    "I¡¯m hanging up now, Miss Young. Don¡¯t bother me next time if it¡¯s not urgent. And only concern yourself with things that are rted to your job. As a CMO, it¡¯s not your job to tell me, the President-CEO, on what to do. Do this again and I¡¯ll use my authority to fire you, even when the entire board of directors unanimously chose you for this job."

    "Big Brother¡ªI mean, President Jin! Please don¡¯t worry, I will¡ª"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t wait for her to finish. He already hung up the call. He didn¡¯t want to give his baby girl any reason to feel jealous.

    "The board of directors unanimously chose that woman to be the CMO?" Iris asked.

    "Yes," Jin Liwei replied.

    "Did you also vote for her?" she asked.

    "No."

    "Why?"

    "Because she¡¯s annoying."

    Iris studied his expression. Indeed, he looked annoyed at the woman. Then she looked at the woman¡¯s career achievements in business which were disyed on the monitors. It seemed that Rose Young was a high achiever. The Singapore¡¯s branch Marketing Department reached top-notch status around the same time she became its Deputy CMO.

    Since the woman was qualified for her new position at the main branch, Iris just couldn¡¯t ask Jin Liwei to fire Rose Young because she didn¡¯t like her. Besides, she hadn¡¯t even met the woman yet. Iris also didn¡¯t want her darling to be at odds with the board of directors who voted for Rose Young. Not to mention that she didn¡¯t want to interfere with how he ran hispany.

    ¡¯As long as she does her job well, and most importantly, keep her paws off of my man, I won¡¯t have a big problem with her,¡¯ Iris thought.

    "Don¡¯t think about her anymore, love. She¡¯s no one to me," Jin Liwei told her when he returned to her side. He held her hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. "You¡¯re the only woman for me."

    Her mood immediately improved.

    Afterwards, Iris finished up the meeting with Gu Chang and Diao Yijue. They were scheduled to start learning about the new recement system in a couple of days.

    "Come here to the penthouse when you¡¯re off work. I¡¯ll be very busy soon, so I may not always be at home but I¡¯ll instruct the staff to let you in. Ketchup will also give you ess to theputer room even when I¡¯m not here. You can start learning the system from her," Iris told them.

    "Will Ketchup work on theputer room at Dragon Pce as well?" Jin Liwei suddenly asked.

    "Yes, I think so. I¡¯ll just have to perform a simple instation. Why do you ask, darling?"

    "Because we¡¯ll be moving back there as soon as we¡¯re both rested," he told her. Then he turned to his two tech people. "Don¡¯t bothering here. Head straight to Dragon Pce instead."

    "Yes, President!"

    "Understood, President!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side. Maybe he was missing the mansion, so he wanted them to return sooner than what they had nned. She didn¡¯t really mind, though. They only decided to prolong their stay here because of Wei Lan¡¯s arrival. Nevertheless, Iris would sorely miss seeing Little Jun everyday if they returned to the mansion.

    Seeing the slight reluctance in his baby girl¡¯s expression, Jin Liwei leaned forward and whispered to her ear.

    "Fifth Brother will be returning soon."

    And just like what he expected, her eyes lit up and even sparkled.

    "Really?"

    "En."

    She gripped his arm in excitement. "When?"

    "Hmm... I don¡¯t know. He didn¡¯t say. But soon."

    Iris¡¯ mood now turned for the better. She couldn¡¯t wait to see her brother again. It had been so long since they saw each other in person. Thest time was during the Spring Festival.

    The group was about to leave theputer room when Iris remembered something.

    "Ketchup."

    "Meow~ Yes, Mommy?"

    Then she began speaking in Russian. "Put the woman who called your daddy earlier on our watch list."

    The white cat swished her tail and automatically replied in Russian as well.

    "Processing new instruction...

    "Noted! Meow~

    "Done, Mommy!"

    Ketchup swished her fluffy tail again. Her green eyes glowed in an almost evil manner.

    "Why don¡¯t we just directly put her on our virtual ck notebook, Mommy? Meow~"

    "What are you talking about?" Jin Liwei asked the two of them. He knew that it must be something that they didn¡¯t want him to hear about, but he still couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    "Hmm... We¡¯re talking about the best way to protect our territory and how to deal with potential trespassers," Iris replied.

    Jin Liwei was confused but decided not to ask any further. If his baby girl wanted him to know, she would tell him herself. Besides, he was too exhausted to think too much about it.

    Iris spoke in Russian again. "Ketchup, watch list for now. I¡¯ll be the one to decide whether to put her on our virtual ck notebook."

    "Noted! Okay, Mommy~ Ketchup has started monitoring the woman who called daddy earlier. Meow~"

    Indeed, she was a smart, self-learning kitty. Noticing that her mommy didn¡¯t mention the woman¡¯s name, Ketchup didn¡¯t mention it either. This way, her daddy wouldn¡¯t know what they were talking about.

    It was now time for Iris, Jin Liwei and the others to leave. Ketchup¡¯s expression became forlorn.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Ketchup. Mommy will make it so that you cane out of theputer room soon and be with us all the time," Iris promised.

    "Meow! Really, Mommy? Ketchup can¡¯t wait!"

    With that, the group left the white cat alone inside theputer room. It continued to perform her Mommy¡¯s instructions faithfully, and in the process, she was also increasing her capacity through self-learning.

    Even Iris had no idea how powerful Ketchup would be in the future. The wheels of fate started turning just a bit faster after the creation of this cute digital white cat.

 Chapter 435 - Sweet Dreams, Darling

    <h4>Chapter 435 - Sweet Dreams, Darling </h4>

    Learning that her brother would be returning soon filled Iris with much anticipation. It pushed any thoughts about Rose Young out of her mind. However, Iris decided to put aside her excitement about his brother¡¯s return at the moment because Jin Liwei didn¡¯t look well.

    All of her attention was on her darling, so she had no time to spare for Gu Chang and Diao Yijue. She basically just left them to fend for themselves after they all left theputer room together. Fortunately, a maid took pity on the two of them and showed them the way out.

    The two couldn¡¯t wait to leave this crazy ce and go home to the safety of their own homes. They needed some time to digest all the craziness they experienced today. In addition to their shocked minds, the two also felt very exhausted just like Jin Liwei. But at least they were able to take a short nap earlier, unlike their President who didn¡¯t sleep a wink since yesterday.

    Iris tried to lead Jin Liwei to their bedroom. She wanted him to sleep as soon as possible. Her heart ached seeing her darling so exhausted, especially since it was partly her fault that he wasn¡¯t able to take even just a short nap because he was too worried that she didn¡¯te out of theputer room for fifteen hours. Her own hunger was forgotten, as she nned to take care of her darling.

    Jin Liwei also felt the same way. While she tried to pull him to their bedroom, he was also trying to bring her to the kitchen. He wanted her to eat as soon as possible. His heart ached knowing that his baby girl only ate one small energy bar. His own exhaustion was momentarily forgotten, as he nned to take care of his baby girl.

    When they realized that they were pulling each other in two different direction, they spoke at the same time.

    "Darling, you need to sleep first."

    "Love, you need to eat first."

    They both fell silent, but warmth quickly flooded their hearts. The corners of their mouths curved up into smiles filled with tenderness for each other.

    In the end, Jin Liwei won this round. No matter how much Iris tried persuading him to sleep, he refused to go to the bedroom without seeing her eat her first meal of the day. Iris didn¡¯t want to argue with him this time, so she allowed him to pull her to the kitchen.

    After eating a light but nutritious soup-based meal as quickly as she could, the two finally headed to their bedroom. Iris pulled him into the bathroom, took off their clothes, and cleaned both of their bodies in the shower. Jin Liwei was too tired to do anything but stand there while she quickly finished up washing, drying and thering lotion and moisturizer (Orchidia Beauty, of course) on both of them.

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei could barely keep his eyes open. Iris helped him to the bed. He just dropped like a big, heavy rock on the bed and stopped moving.

    "Stay with me..." he mumbled before his breathing slowed down and deepened, indicating that he already fell asleep just like that.

    "I¡¯ll be here," Iris murmured.

    She caressed his face and leaned down to kiss him gently on the lips. Then shey down beside him and covered their naked bodies with the duvet. Even though she already slept earlier, she didn¡¯t mind sleeping again. So many things happened in just less than two days. Both of them needed to rest as much as they could before returning to their insanely busy work schedules.

    "Sweet dreams, darling," she whispered before joining her man in the cozy cocoon of sleep.

    ###

    Autumn finally arrived. Despite this,the weather during the day still remained warm, sweltering even. The nights, however, were already starting to feel cool and crisp.

    One of the most anticipated TV dramas this fall season, "Our Love, Our Destiny", finally aired on a golden time evening slot. Fans of the original , from which the drama was based on, didn¡¯t miss the first episode. All of them were glued in front of their TV orputer screens, while livementing their thoughts online about the drama.

    It wasn¡¯t only them. The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans also made sure to watch the premiere of the romance drama. Even if some of them didn¡¯t care about the drama itself at all, they still watched it just to hear their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin singing together in the theme song.

    Since it was the premiere night, the opening sequence was yed at the very end after the first episode instead of at the beginning. This forced everyone to watch the entire episode first before they couldfinally listen to the theme song and see Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s names in the opening soundtrack credits.

    After the first episode finished airing, everyone who watched it immediately started discussing online. About half of the original ¡¯s fans liked what they watched, while the other half criticized the TV drama adaptation for changing some things from the .

    While these  fans continued to debate, another lively online discussion was happening at the same time. The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans couldn¡¯t contain their excitement and delight at their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin¡¯s phenomenal music coboration. Of course, the LinRis shippers were absolutely over the moon. Many of them still continued to believe that the two belonged to each other, no matter how many times their Boss Iris denied such a im.

    The first episode premiere of "Our Love, Our Destiny" already passed, but the anticipation only increased among the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans. It was because they were still waiting for an extremely important eventter.

    In about three hours at exactly midnight, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s song "Shining Eyes" which was used as the theme song for the drama "Our Love, Our Destiny" would be officially released.primetime

 Chapter 436 - A Very Special Announcemen

    <h4>Chapter 436 - A Very Special Announcemen </h4>

    The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans chattered among themselves online. Of course, the LinRis shippers continued gushing about what they called the "music coboration of the year".

    "I wish it¡¯s midnight already! Why is it taking so long? I¡¯m already warming up my hands so that I can click lightning-fast on the download button for ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯. Both Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin announced that the first 100 verified people to purchase and download the song will receive special prizes!"

    "Me too! Even though I have to get up very early tomorrow for work, I¡¯m staying upte until midnight just to buy and download the song. I¡¯m so excited!"

    "Oh, Boss Iris! Oh, Prince Lin Lin! Why did you decide to release your song at midnight?! I¡¯m already feeling very sleepy. I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll fall asleep before midnight. Sob sob."

    "I don¡¯t think it was Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin who decided it. I bet it was JJ¡ªthat evil ogre¡ªwho made the decision to release the song at midnight. We already know that man is a sadist!"

    Of course, CaptainckStar and LittlePhoenix also joined in the discussions. They hyped their fellow ck Stars and encouraged them to help boost the streaming views once the song was released. Even MrsLovePhantom and her three friends JJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan and JJNumber3Fan were online and showed their support.

    An hour before midnight, both Monkeyface and iEatSlippers surprisingly came online as well and joined their fellow ck Star members after a long time of absence. Their status within the ck Stars fandom had risen after they appeared on TV and was introduced as the CEO and CFO of Monkey. They were treated like celebrities, especially among the hardcore gamers. These gamers almost worshipped the two of them for creating such an awesome game, "Supreme Ascension", which was still continuing to gain poprity in the gamingmunity.

    iEatSlippers: "I know that I¡¯m amazing but forget that I Am Slipperlord for tonight. Right now, I¡¯m just your bro iEatSlippers supporting our Boss Iris with my mighty slippers!"

    Simrly, Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans didn¡¯t lose to the ck Stars in terms of supporting their Prince Lin Lin. In fact, they were certainly more experienced than the ck Stars in mobilizing their troops. They even organized slumber parties, just so they could all wait together for the midnight release of the song as a group.

    Midnight.

    As soon as the clock turned 12 o¡¯clock, all of these people clicked so fast on the download button, hoping to be among the first 100 people to purchase it. Not even a second passed since the song was officially released, but the first 100 people were already eximing in triumph while the 101th person cursed her bad luck.

    Just a few minutester, the 100 people received e-mails informing them about the prizes they won. They received a special invitation to attend Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s exclusive meet-and-greet buffet dinner where they could interact with the two celebrities together in a "rxed and casual" setting. They would also receive a lot of freebies personally signed by their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin. But most importantly, the two would serenade them with "Shining Eyes" and other songs.

    Once the details of the prizes were known, the others couldn¡¯t help but feel envious of the 100 people. As for the lucky winners, they couldn¡¯t contain their excitement. They bragged and boasted. With the way they were reacting, it was as if they won the lottery for 100 million instead of a dinner invitation.

    However, these reactions about the prizes onlysted for about a minute or two. Everyone quickly became engrossed in listening to the full song.

    Within just an hour, "Shining Eyes" by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin quickly became the daily top trending and the #1 single with the most streams. And within 24 hours after its official release, it became the daily best-selling single in all the major online music stores and streaming services.

    The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans celebrated their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin¡¯s triumph, especially after their song debuted at the #1 spot in the music charts.

    Then it was announced that the two would be performing "Shining Eyes" live for the first time at "MusicFest Tonight" thising Friday.

    The other artists who were also scheduled to perform in the same episode were already starting to surrender themselves to the inevitability that they would bepletely outshined by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin. Just either Iris Long or Jin Chonglin alone was already enough to overshadow most of these artists, but now the two would be performing together?

    This uing episode should be called as "Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s MusicFest Tonight" instead because everyone was sure that the entire audience would be filled by their fans. There would probably be no room for the other artists¡¯ supporters.

    But just as these other artists were thinking of ways to make their performances catchier and more memorable so that they would at least be remembered even just a little, Jin Chonglin posted something very intriguing on his blog.

    JinChonglin: "Don¡¯t forget to watch thising Friday¡¯s episode of ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯! Junior Iris and I are both very excited to perform our new single together, ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯, for the first time ever on live TV. Make sure to mark your calendars and set your rms, so you won¡¯t miss it! You have to watch until the end because Junior Iris and I have a very special announcement to make. See you on Friday!"

    His "Junior Iris" immediately re-posted it andmented.

    IrisLong: "We¡¯ve kept this a secret for quite some time, just so we can surprise all of our beloved fans. Now we¡¯re ready to reveal it and make the announcement. We hope that you¡¯ll be as excited as we are."

    Their fans immediately started specting about what could possibly be their "very special announcement".

    "What is it?! @IrisLong and @JinChonglin, please tell us!! We need to know NOW!!!"

    But then the LinRis shippers took over.

    "OMG!!! Is this the long-awaited engagement announcement? Will they finally admit to everyone that they¡¯re engaged?!"

    "Kyaaaah! I knew it! Boss Iris was just ying coy when she repeatedly denied their engagement in the past. Now they¡¯re finally willing to reveal their undying love for each other! #LinRisForever"

    "I told you so! I just knew it deep inside that Boss Iris wrote this love song ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ as a love letter to her beloved Prince Lin Lin! They will perform it live for the first time this Friday. I¡¯m sure they know that they won¡¯t be able to hide their passionate feelings for each other while performing so they¡¯re going to reveal the truth afterwards. Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m right?"

    "I agree with you! #CountdownToTheBigReveal #WeHeartLinRis"

    Then somethingpletely unexpected and shocking happened.

    A verified ountmented on Jin Chonglin¡¯s post. It had no profile photo, zero posts, following zero users, but still had over 5 million followers. The ount had been created a few years ago but remained inactive...until now.

    It was Jin Liwei, President-CEO of Jin Corporation and elder brother of Jin Chonglin.

 Chapter 437 Star - Crossed Lovers

    <h4>Chapter 437 Star - Crossed Lovers </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯sment was a simple animated sticker showing a cartoon of an angry white cat cracking its whip.

    Theizens were taken aback. Such a cute kitty sticker... Was this something the cold and intimidating CEO Jin wouldment publicly? Not to mention that it was the first post on his ount ever! It waspletely out of character. It was like seeing a big and mighty lion suddenly meowing like an adorable harmless kitty. They were unsure how to react.

    "Uhm... I don¡¯t think it¡¯s CEO Jin. Wasn¡¯t Jin Corporation hacked during the end of summer? Maybe the hacker decided to hack CEO Jin¡¯s personal ount this time."

    "I think so, too. I don¡¯t believe CEO Jin will post something as cute as this. Besides, he¡¯s probably too busy running his business empire to waste his time posting on social media."

    "CEO @Jin Liwei, is that really you?"

    Surprisingly, Jin Liwei directly replied to this user.

    JinLiwei: "Yes, it¡¯s me."

    A moment of silence before theizens started freaking out.

    "OMG! Is this for real?! Kyaaaah! CEO Jin replied to me! I took a screenshot! CEO @JinLiwei, I love you so much! You¡¯re so handsome! Actually, I think that you¡¯re more handsome, cooler and manlier than your brother @JinChonglin! I¡¯m your fan!"

    "Stupid. So what if he says that it¡¯s him? That doesn¡¯t prove anything. If I was the hacker, of course I would also say that I¡¯m CEO Jin Liwei if I was using his ount. I bet that there will be an announcementter saying that CEO Jin¡¯s ount got hacked. Don¡¯t get your hopes up."

    The bizarre situation got juicier but also more confusing when Jin Chonglin replied to his brother¡¯sment.

    JinChonglin: "Big Bro @JinLiwei, you already know about our announcement. You even gave us your blessing. Besides, it was your idea in the first ce. Stop pretending to be angry about it. It¡¯s toote."

    Then Jin Liwei¡¯s ount replied to Jin Chonglin with another sticker. It was another animated cartoon of an angry white cat, but this time, it was mming a door close presumably on his younger brother¡¯s face.

    Jin Chonglin also replied with a sticker. It showed a dog sulking with its head down in front of a wall.

    Everyone couldn¡¯t believe the brothers¡¯ super cute interaction. Was this for real? Maybe both of their ounts got hacked?

    Jin Liwei¡¯s cutements might be unbelievable, but Jin Chonglin¡¯s weren¡¯t that unusual. He frequently interacted with his fans online, so they could sense if it was really him behind his ount. And they could sense that he was the one currently interacting with his older brother¡¯s ount right now.

    "OMG!!! What on earth is happening?!! Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s really CEO Jin posting all those cute angry kitty stickers?!!! I¡¯m shook!!!

    "Looks like it. If it wasn¡¯t CEO Jin, I don¡¯t think Prince Lin Lin would reply so familiarly like that. And it really feels like the bantering between brothers. Holy smokes! Even if it was really CEO Jin, my brain just refuses to process that it was him. I can¡¯t connect those cute kitty stickers with his cold and scary image!"

    "Same here. But let¡¯s take a step back for a moment and focus on why he¡¯s using those angry cat stickers. It looks like he¡¯s not pleased that Jin Chonglin will be making an announcement with Iris Long."

    "Now that you mention it, you¡¯re right! Maybe CEO Jin and the entire Jin family don¡¯t approve of Jin Chonglin¡¯s rtionship with Iris Long."

    "But Prince Lin Lin just said that CEO Jin already knows about the announcement. He said that he even gave them his blessing, and also that it was his idea in the first ce. Why is CEO Jinining now?"

    "Maybe CEO Jin only barely approved of their rtionship because the two begged him to ept it. He may have approved it, but it doesn¡¯t mean that he¡¯s happy with it."

    This spection made the LinRis shippers very unhappy with Jin Liwei.

    "Go away, Jin Liwei! I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re the CEO of Jin Corporation or whatever! Don¡¯t try separating our Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin or we¡¯ll...we¡¯ll...we¡¯ll call you ugly, you (gorgeous) poopoo-head!"

    "Ah, my heart bleeds for Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris. They¡¯re just like the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet! Others are trying toe between them!"

    "I swear I¡¯ll protest in front of Jin Corporation¡¯s main headquarters if CEO Jin doesn¡¯t approve of our Boss Iris for Prince Lin Lin!"

    "Count me in!"

    The LinRis shippers were now treating Jin Liwei as if he was the biggest viin in the path of their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin¡¯s path to a lifetime of marital happiness. They were encouraged when Jin Chonglin began liking their posts against Jin Liwei.

    Jin Chonglin then posted another sticker. This time, it was of an animated dog pointing one of its paws whileughing uproariously.

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    Xu Tian knocked on the door twice before opening it and entering. He found his boss, Jin Liwei, working on hisputer behind his massive desk.

    Jin Liwei only gave a quick nce and a nod at his assistant before continuing to type away.

    "President, here are some documents that need your attention," Xu Tian told him upon arriving in fron of his desk. "The first pile needs to be signed today while the others aren¡¯t as urgent."

    "Leave them on the desk."

    "Yes, President."

    Xu Tian did as he was told. He was about to walk out of the office to make some refreshing tea for his boss when an adorable child¡¯s voice suddenly spoke.

    "Excuse me, Daddy. Sorry to bother you, but are you busy? Meow~"

    "Yes, I am. Why?" Jin Liwei replied while continuing to work on hisputer.

    "Oh, okay. Mommy was just asking if you¡¯re busy because she wants to talk to you. Ketchup will just tell her that Daddy can¡¯t talk right now because you¡¯re busy. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei immediately paused what he was doing.

    "I always have time for your mom. She can always talk to me. Tell her to call me¡ªno, let¡¯s call her instead."

 Chapter 438 - Naughty Conversation

    <h4>Chapter 438 - Naughty Conversation </h4>

    "Meow? It¡¯s okay, Daddy. Mommy says not disturb you when you¡¯re working. She says she can wait until you¡¯re finished. Meow~"

    "Call your mom now, Ketchup," Jin Liwei insisted.

    "Meow~ Okay, Daddy!

    "Calling Mommy now..."

    Ring ring ri¡ª

    "Hello, darling?" Iris¡¯ lovely voice answered the call.

    Ketchup set the call on speakerphone.

    "Hi, love." Jin Liwei¡¯s expression immediately became gentle.

    Xu Tian watched all of these with dazed eyes. It had been a couple of weeks now since his boss, the President, started using the cat AI named Ketchup. It seemed like it was installed in all of his boss¡¯ electronic devices¡ªhis phone,puters, tablets and even in all of his vehicles.

    The first time he heard the child¡¯s voice, he thought that his boss and Miss Long couldn¡¯t wait to make their own baby, so they just went ahead and adopted a child old enough to speak in full sentences. The child must be so needy to constantly keep on calling her "daddy" on the phone many times throughout the day. Although Xu Tian thought it weird that the child was called Ketchup (hey, maybe it was just a nickname) and that she kept on meowing (a lot of kids were weird nowadays), he still really thought that the couple just adopted or maybe were fostering a child to practice their parenting skills.

    After a few interactions, however, Xu Tian began to suspect that something else was going on. His boss began giving instructions to the child as if she was also his assistant. What was even more amazing was that the child immediately performed all those instructions.

    One day, they were inside the car travelling to a business appointment when Xu Tian couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He asked his boss directly, "President, who is that child talking to you?"

    "Hm? Oh, she¡¯s Ketchup, my third kid. She¡¯s Ice Cream and Popcorn¡¯s sibling."

    Xu Tian only became confused. Then his heart almost jumped out of his chest in fright when a white cat suddenly appeared on the car¡¯s built-in dashboard monitor and started talking to him.

    "Meow~ Hello, Xu Tian! You¡¯re Daddy¡¯s assistant. My name is Ketchup. I¡¯m Mommy and Daddy¡¯s third kitty baby! Meow~"

    "Aaaaaaaaaaah! A talking cat! A TALKING CAAAAAAAAAT!!!"

    "Mreow!!!" The white cat on the monitor raised its hackles and hissed at Xu Tian.

    "Xu Tian, stop screaming!" Jin Liwei rebuked him.

    Xu Tian immediately shut up, but he pointed a shaking finger at the white cat. His eyes were wide with terror.

    Amidst all of these, the driver beside Xu Tian continued driving like usual. The driver was already aware of Ketchup¡¯s existence, so he didn¡¯t look shocked when the white cat appeared on the dashboard monitor.

    Jin Liwei sighed. "Calm down, Xu Tian. Ketchup is an AI in the form of a virtual cat."

    "Oh. I thought that it was actually a talking cat on video call. Almost gave me a heart attack," Xu Tian sighed in relief while patting his chest. Then he examined the white cat now ring at him from the monitor. "This is amazing, President. She looks so real."

    "Meow... Daddy, I don¡¯t like this Xu Tian. He screamed at Ketchup like I¡¯m a monster," the white cat whined at Jin Liwei. "Throw him away, Daddy. I can be your sole assistant instead. I know I can do his tasks much better than him. You don¡¯t need him anymore, Daddy. Ketchup is so much better. Even Mommy praises Ketchup for learning quickly. Meow~"

    Xu Tian feltpletely taken aback that a virtual cat was encouraging his boss to fire him.

    "Be good, Ketchup. Xu Tian is your dad¡¯s long-time and loyal assistant. He¡¯s like your mom¡¯s Dominic. What do you think your mom will do if you tell her to fire your Uncle Dom?" Jin Liwei told the cat.

    "Oh... Mommy will be very upset. Uncle Dom is very important to her. She¡¯ll probably scold Ketchup for being a bad kitty. Meow... Sorry, Daddy. Ketchup won¡¯t do it again. I still don¡¯t like Xu Tian, though. Meow~"

    Back to the present, Xu Tian still couldn¡¯t get used to his boss¡¯ cat AI, even though it had been two weeks already since he learned about its existence. Ketchup sounded too human that Xu Tian would sometimes forget that his boss was interacting with an artificial intelligence. It was actually creepy, especially since his boss and Miss Long were treating it like their own kid alongside their real cats.

    Xu Tian didn¡¯t know that it was Iris who developed this amazing hyper-realistic cat AI. He thought that perhaps his boss bought it from a genius developer somewhere for his personal use. At least, it didn¡¯t look like his boss was preparing it to be releasedmercially by Jin Corporation.

    It took Iris quite some time but she was finally able to optimize Ketchup and made her fit for instation into their electronic devices without taking up too much storage space and data. She encouraged Jin Liwei to regrly interact with her in order to aid her self-learning function.

    Xu Tian sighed at the ridiculous situation of the couple and their new virtual cat. He headed out of the door instead to prepare refreshing tea for his boss.

    As for Jin Liwei, he chatted with his baby girl on the phone.

    "Darling, did you really ask Ketchup toment on Brother Chonglin¡¯s post earlier?"

    "En."

    "See, Mommy? I told you Ketchup wasn¡¯t being a bad kitty and posted using Daddy¡¯s ount without his knowledge. Daddy asked me to do it so I did! Ketchup is an obedient kitty. Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "En. Very obedient," Jin Liwei agreed.

    Ketchup giggled and began purring. A small window on Jin Liwei¡¯sputer monitor showed her tail quivering in happiness.

    "But darling, do you know what Ketchup posted?"

    "I do. She found the most appropriate stickers to convey what I wanted to say without using any words. I think she did a great job."

    "Ehehehe. Meow~"

    "Oh, I see. That¡¯s fine, then." Iris released a faint chuckle. "You don¡¯t usually use those stickers, so I thought that maybe Ketchup was ying around with your ount without your permission. People also think that those cute stickers don¡¯t match your ¡¯cold and intimidating¡¯ image at all."

    "I don¡¯t care what they say. They don¡¯t know me at all," he said.

    "Right. Nobody knows except me that the real Jin Liwei is actually a kind and passionate lover¡ªand a pervert, too."

    "Hm? But you love that I¡¯m a pervert."

    Iris giggled.

    The couple started teasing each other.

    Interestingly enough, Ketchup¡¯s image on theputer monitor suddenly showed her ears stuffed with cotton balls to "prevent" her from listening in to her parents¡¯ naughty conversation. It seemed that Iris triggered themand.

    After a lovey-dovey talk, the couple moved on to another topic. Ketchup began ying with a ball of yarn. It seemed that Iris had now removed the cotton balls from her ears.

    "Darling, have you cleared your schedule yet for our n? The end of the month ising soon, you know," Iris reminded Jin Liwei.

    "En. Don¡¯t worry, love. Xu Tian is currently clearing my schedule and moving my appointments, so that I can attend the entire duration of the event with you. I¡¯ll follow you the day after. I¡¯ll be there," he reassured her. "There is no way I¡¯ll miss this opportunity to announce our rtionship in a grand fashion. I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment to finally let the whole world know that you¡¯re mine."

 Chapter 439 - No Other Legs As Beautiful As Yours

    <h4>Chapter 439 - No Other Legs As Beautiful As Yours </h4>

    Friday.

    Anticipating arger than normal turn-out of fans, the TV broadcasting station deployed additional security to surround the building and protect the artists arriving for tonight¡¯s show. Despite this, the TV station was still taken aback by the huge number of people who came.

    The big studio of "MusicFest Tonight" could only amodate an audience of a few hundred people or so, but there were about a thousand who came today. They crowded outside the station building since early morning. Some of the more hardcore ones even camped outsidest night. It was insane!

    Tickets for the show had been handed out in advance, so the official audience members were already determined a few days earlier. The crowd of people outside were well aware that they wouldn¡¯t be able to watch the show inside the studio, but they still came to support their beloved artists.

    Actually, about 90% of these people consisted of the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s massive army of fans. Only a small portion of them were made up of fans supporting other artists performing that night.

    Both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s fan clubs mobilized their officers to make sure that everyone was well-behaved and didn¡¯t cause any trouble, so as not to bring shame to their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin¡¯s names. Fortunately, most of them followed their respective officers¡¯ instructions and waited patiently.

    Although they knew that they wouldn¡¯t be able to watch the show tonight inside the studio, they still endured the burning sun outside since early morning just so they could have the chance toy their eyes on their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin in person. The lengths of what these hardcore fans would willingly go through just for a glimpse of their most beloved celebrities were just mind-blowing.

    Fortunately for these fans, both their boss and prince cared very much about them. Just like before, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin sent food and drinks to their fans. This time, however, the two were much more extravagant. They actually rented several food trucks to give free food and drinks to their fans. Iris Long and Jin Chonglin seemed to be working together because the notices stered on the food trucks were exactly the same. The following words were written:

    "Free meals for our beloved fans, from Iris Long and Jin Chonglin. Please fill up and enjoy our performance tonight. Thank you for supporting us!"

    The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were already used to sharing with each other, especially since there were many times that they attended the same events. Now that their boss and prince had a music coboration and were performing on the same stage together, the camaraderie between these two fandoms only increased even further.

    It was like a festival once again outside the TV station building because of Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans. It came to a point that their festive atmosphere attracted those who came to support the other artists. These other fans joined the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans in lining up around the food trucks. Even the security and some staff from the TV station leeched off some free food and drinks as well.

    Late in the afternoon, two hours before the show would start, the official audience members began being admitted inside. The fans who didn¡¯t have tickets were envious of them, but they couldn¡¯t do anything because the security was tighter this time.

    The good news was that Director He once again sent several big-screen televisions outside so that the fans who couldn¡¯te inside the studio could still watch the show live. He even arranged for some cameramen to capture therge audience outside, wanting to show the additional crowd on live TV.

    About an hour before the show, the artists finally started arriving. They were very excited seeing such a massive crowd of people outside, but when they stepped out of their vehicles, they quickly discovered that the fans weren¡¯t there for them. It was a bit awkward walking through this sea of fans who didn¡¯t give much reaction to their appearance.

    Finally, tworge executive vans arrived almost at the same time. The security allowed them to drive closer to the main entrancepared to the other celebrities¡¯ vehicles earlier.

    The door of the first van opened. Jin Chonglin stepped out looking fresh, handsome and charming as always.

    As soon as he appeared, the crowd shrieked and screamed. Some even fainted then and there. Fortunately, there were first aid responders deployed alongside the security. These people were quickly removed from the overexcited crowd and revived. The fans¡¯ noise was so loud that it could be heard by people several blocks away.

    "Prince Lin Lin! We love you so much! Please do your best on your performance tonight with Iris Long! We¡¯ll be cheering for you from out here!"

    "Please tell us about the announcement now, Prince Lin Lin! We can¡¯t wait any longer! The suspense is killing us!"

    Jin Chonglin shed them his killer smile. More fans fainted.

    "Please be patient until the end of the show. Junior Iris and I will make the announcement together," he told them.

    At that very moment, the door of the second van opened.

    Everyone turned their heads, including Jin Chonglin, to see who it was.

    When a beautiful, smooth, and shapely leg stepped out in a red velvet high heeled shoe, the ck Stars immediately started screaming and shrieking as well. It was just a leg, but they already recognized their boss.

    "Kyaaaaaah! It¡¯s Boss Iris! She¡¯s finally here!"

    "There are no other legs as beautiful as yours, Boss Iris! I love you so much!"

    Iris waved at her adoring fans, as she climbed out of the van. Dom, Tang Yiyi and her bodyguards immediately formed a protective encirclement around her.

    Now that she was bing more famous, there were increasing instances when fans became too excited and wild that they tried to grab and even tackle her. Nobody seeded so far, but all of these made Jin Liwei and Tang Yiyi extremely concerned for her safety. They persuaded her to take her physical security more seriously.

 Chapter 440 - Misunderstanding

    <h4>Chapter 440 - Misunderstanding </h4>

    Both Jin Liwei and Tang Yiyi managed to persuade Iris.

    As a result, Iris had recently be more open to having a bigger team of bodyguards. But only if they didn¡¯t follow her around all the time. She still felt ufortable and suffocated whenever more than a couple of bodyguards followed her. She only allowed a bigger team of bodyguards when she had to attend crowded events like this.

    She took a few moments to interact with her fans, the ck Stars. She even recognized many familiar faces among them.

    Jin Chonglin walked towards her. The crowd automatically parted, giving way to him as he made his way to his "other half" (ording to the LinRis shippers). Once the two were standing beside each other, the crowd¡¯s volume became even louder. The surrounding people could feel the vibrations from their screams and shrieks.

    "Kyaaaaaah! My prince and boss are standing so close together!"

    "Prince Lin Lin, Boss Iris! You look great and so perfect together!! Your babies are going to be so CUUUUUTE!!!"

    "I can¡¯t wait for the big revealter! I hope that the wedding date would also be announced!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side. She opened her mouth and was about to correct the LinRis shippers¡¯ misunderstanding when Jin Chonglin leaned forward and whispered directly to her ear.

    "Leave it. Let them misunderstand for now. This is also a publicity technique to heighten everyone¡¯s anticipation for our announcementter. It¡¯s not our fault that they misunderstood us anyway. You still have a lot to learn when ites to navigating the world of showbiz and taking advantage of situations like this, Sister Xin."

    She covered her ear to prevent him from getting any closer. Her body subconsciously rejected his close proximity. It only allowed Jin Liwei the privilege of having this kind of intimate contact with her (and also her big brother to a certain extent).

    However, when the fans saw this scene, their imaginations quickly ran wild. The background behind their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris suddenly became filled with sparkles, floating hearts, and blooming roses in their vision. They believed that the couple couldn¡¯t stop themselves from acting lovey-dovey!

    "Kyaaaaaah! What did Prince Lin Lin whisper to Boss Iris? Look at her covering her ear! She looks like she¡¯s blushing. Whatever he whispered to her must have made her super shy! I bet it¡¯s something naughty! Ah, I wish I have super hearing!"

    A few people re-enacted the scene on the spot. A woman pretended to be Jin Chonglin. She grabbed her best friend beside her who was also pretending to be Iris. She ced her mouth near her best friend¡¯s ear and "whispered" in a loud voice.

    "My dear honey bunny milky pie, I can¡¯t wait until we¡¯re done performing tonight so that I can have my wicked way with you~ You look so sexy today that I don¡¯t think I can hold myself back anymore. I want to kiss you and proim my love for you in front of all these people, but we have to wait until after our performance to announce our burning love for each other!"

    "Aaaaaaahn~ My sweetie cakes gummy bear, don¡¯t whisper so close to my ear...it tickles! I¡¯m so shy~"

    The other fans squealed after watching this "realistic" re-enactment.

    Domughed out loud while Tang Yiyi¡¯s mouth twitched.

    Jin Chonglin also chuckled. He looked very amused at their fans¡¯ antics.

    As for Iris, she was unhappy. However, she didn¡¯t let it show on her expression. She maintained a semi-smile in front of her fans, something that came naturally to her now after Tang Yiyi drilled it to her so many times before.

    There was only one man in the world who she wanted to kiss and proim her love to in front of people, and it wasn¡¯t the man standing beside her right now. It was his older brother, Jin Liwei. She wanted to correct these people but forced herself to be patient. She and her darling already nned things out. They would reveal the truth of their rtionship together in a much grander event than this.

    Finally, Iris and Jin Chonglin¡¯s groups gradually made their way together through the sea of fans and entered the TV station building. They were treated like VIPs by the staff and escorted to their own dressing rooms which were thergest ones avable.

    Even Iris was a little surprised by the grand reception the staff was giving her. She knew that it was because she would be performing with Jin Chonglin, a superstar. All of these was because of his star power, not hers.

    She personally didn¡¯t care that much about receiving VIP treatment like this. All she cared about was giving her best performance to the audience and enjoying herself in the process. As long as she knew that her music was touching other people one way or another, she would already feel satisfied inside. That was her source of happiness in pursuing her passion¡ªmusic.

    However, she knew that her manager Tang Yiyi cared very much about her receiving special treatment like this. In showbiz, better treatment often meant better status. Iris only smiled, as she watched Tang Yiyi¡¯s proud expression at the VIP treatment, even though they all knew it was because of Jin Chonglin.

    Tang Yiyi wanted to make her into a superstar. A superstar who was even bigger than Jin Chonglin someday.

    ¡¯That¡¯s not a bad goal,¡¯ Iris thought to herself.

    Iris and her group entered their dressing room first. Her new female bodyguard followed them inside while the other bodyguards positioned themselves outside the door to guard.

    Surprisingly, Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t immediately head to his own dressing room. He moved to follow Iris to her dressing room instead.

    His manager, Lin Dong, quickly looked around with a paranoid expression on his face. Fortunately, the show¡¯s staff already left to give them some privacy and also because they felt intimidated by Iris¡¯ bodyguards. Jin Chonglin also has his own bodyguards, but they didn¡¯t look as scary as Iris¡¯.

    Lin Dong grabbed Jin Chonglin¡¯s arm and tried to stop him from entering Iris¡¯ dressing room.

    "What are you doing? You¡¯ve seen outside how your fans have been misunderstanding your rtionship with Iris. And now you want to enter her dressing room? Are you insane? Let¡¯s go to your own dressing room. You have your own. Do you want people thinking that she¡¯s allowing you to watch her dress?"

 Chapter 441 - Death Wish

    <h4>Chapter 441 - Death Wish </h4>

    Jin Chonglin removed his manager¡¯s hand from his arm.

    "Chill, man. I¡¯m just going to chat with my sister-inw. What¡¯s wrong with that? Besides, I¡¯m so nervous for our performanceter that I need to talk to her to calm down," he said, looking as rxed as always, not nervous at all.

    Lin Dong rolled his eyes. "Nervous, my ass. I would believe it if those words came from another artist but from Jin Chonglin? No way. You¡¯ve already performed all over Asia and even in other continents. You certainly have more experience than Iris in performing live and you want to talk to her to calm down? Think of something more believable next time."

    Jin Chonglin just shrugged and still moved to enter Iris¡¯ dressing room. However, Lin Dong blocked his way with his own body.

    "Chonglin! I said let¡¯s go to your own dressing room! I know that she¡¯s your future sister-inw but others don¡¯t know that. If people saw you entering or exiting her dressing room, it¡¯ll surely create even more misunderstanding."

    Lin Dong was already made aware of Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s rtionship because Jin Chonglin frequently went to Dragon Pce mansion to work with Iris on their music coboration. As Jin Chonglin¡¯s manager, Lin Dong was responsible for checking the progress of anything rted to his artist¡¯s showbiz career.

    One weekend during the summer, Jin Chonglin brought him to Dragon Pce Home #10 to watch him work with Iris. At first, Lin Dong was very impressed that Iris lived in such a ptial property. When he and Jin Chonglin walked into the grand foyer, he saw therge portrait disyed prominently on top of the twin grand staircases. It was obviously a portrait of Iris with her cats...and a very familiar man.

    "Huh? Chonglin, is that man Iris¡¯ mysterious fianc¨¦?" he asked.

    "Uh huh," Jin Chonglin carelessly replied.

    "Wow. For a moment, I thought that it was your older brother, CEO Jin. But that¡¯s too unbelievable. Ahahaha..."

    Jin Chonglin gave him a side-eye. "Unbelievable, huh. But that¡¯s actually my big bro."

    "Pft! Yeah, right. As if the President-CEO of Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country, would want to marry a mere young singer like Iris Long¡ª"

    "Say that again," a cold voice suddenly interrupted Lin Dong¡¯s next words like a whip.

    Jin Liwei appeared from upstairs. He gave a cold re at Lin Dong, as he climbed down on one of the twin grand staircases with steady steps.

    "Did I just hear you describe my beloved fianc¨¦e as a ¡¯mere young singer¡¯? I dare you to say that again in my face." Jin Liwei¡¯s tone was so cold that it could freeze hell itself.

    "C-CEO Jin!!!"

    Lin Dong was shocked out of his wits upon seeing the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation. He shivered from the enormous pressure of Jin Liwei¡¯s cold and intimidating re.

    "Idiot," Jin Chonglin murmured to his manager under his breath.

    The tense and heavy atmosphere was interrupted by the loud, weing meows of Popcorn. The friendly cat ran towards Jin Chonglin and greeted his uncle with much enthusiasm.

    "Hey there, Popcorn." Jin Chonglin immediately started petting the affectionate cat.

    "Hm? What¡¯s wrong, darling? Why do you look like you want to kill someone? Did Brother Chonglin annoy you again?" they heard Iris¡¯ voice say.

    She appeared from a side hallway carrying thezy Ice Cream in her arms. Her eyes were trained at Jin Liwei who was now almost at the bottom of the stairs.

    "Oy oy, Sister Xin. Why do you always think that it¡¯s my fault? It¡¯s not me who annoyed Big Bro this time," Jin Chonglin protested, and then carried Popcorn in his arms as well.

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "It¡¯s because you always annoy my darling whenever you¡¯re here. If you¡¯re not brothers and we¡¯re not working together on an important music coboration, he would¡¯ve already thrown you out of here so many times already. Stop trying to tease your older brother so much, Brother Chonglin. He might run out of patience with you, you know."

    By this time, Jin Liwei had already reached the bottom of the stairs. She headed directly to him and tilted her head up for a kiss.

    Of course, Jin Liwei gave her what she wanted. He pulled her close to him by the waist, careful not to squish Ice Cream between them. Then he dipped his head and gave his baby gi light but lingering kiss on the lips.

    As usual, the two didn¡¯t care that there were other people around them. They were inside their own home, after all. They could do whatever they wanted. The visitors were the ones who needed to adjust, not them.

    "Che... We just arrived and you shameless couple are already drowning us in dogfood," Jin Chonglin muttered.

    Lin Dong¡¯s shock this time was even more severe than when he first saw Jin Liwei climbing down the stairs a few moments ago. His eyes almost popped out of his head, and his mouth opened and closed like a gasping fish out of water at the unbelievable sight before him.

    "C-CEO Jin and Iris Long are e-engaged?!!!"

    After that day, Lin Dong never dared to belittle Iris Long ever again or do anything that might offend her.He saw with his own eyes how CEO Jin Liwei doted on her. Anyone who became enemies with her would also automatically be CEO Jin¡¯s enemy as well. Who in their right mind would be stupid enough to do that? Not Lin Dong!

    That was why he felt so exasperated at Jin Chonglin right now. Back to the present, Lin Dong wanted to smack Jin Chonglin in the head.

    Lin Dong leaned close and said in a low voice, "You want your older brother to kill you that much? I saw with my own eyes how much CEO Jin loves Iris Long. I¡¯m telling you this right now, Chonglin. Listen to me and believe me when I say this. If CEO Jin is forced to choose between his woman and his own brother, I¡¯m 200% sure that he¡¯ll choose Iris Long over you any time!"

    Jin Chonglin scowled. "Tsk. You don¡¯t have to tell me. I already know."

    "You already know and yet you keep on chasing Iris Long? Do you have a death wish or something?!"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s scowl deepened even more. "I¡¯m not chasing her! Watch your words, you bastard. She¡¯s my sister-inw. I¡¯m just being friendly."

    Lin Dong looked at the stoic-faced bodyguards guarding the door to Iris¡¯ dressing room. He pulled Jin Chonglin away from them. Then in a lower voice so that the bodyguards couldn¡¯t hear him, he told Jin Chonglin:

    "I think you¡¯re acting too friendly with your future sister-inw. Anyone who sees how you¡¯re acting towards her will describe what you¡¯re doing as ¡¯flirting¡¯. Is that how a brother-inw should act towards his sister-inw? To flirt?"

    Jin Chonglin just waved his manager¡¯s words away with a dismissive hand. "If you think this is me ¡¯flirting¡¯, then you haven¡¯t seen me flirt yet. I just like teasing her, that¡¯s all. She has be much more expressivetelypared to the detached woman we met after she made her firsteback to showbiz. Besides, it¡¯s also fun riling up my brother. I¡¯ve actually never seen him get so visibly annoyed with me before. It¡¯s so refreshing to see him showing so much emotion and all because of a woman."

    He chuckled in amusement.

    Lin Dong shook his head at him and muttered, "You¡¯re gonna get yourself killed one of these days."

    Jin Chonglin onlyughed even more. He patted his manager¡¯s shoulder. "I told you to chill, man. I like teasing both of them, but I know my limits. I might have seduced other men¡¯s women before but I would never do that to my own brother. I respect him, you know. I would never steal his woman. I may not be the best person in the world, but I¡¯m not such an immoral person as to cuckold my own brother. So stop colouring my friendliness to Sister Xin with your dirty mind. I don¡¯t have any ulterior motives towards her."

    Lin Dong looked relieved after hearing Jin Chonglin¡¯s words. But for some reason, he still couldn¡¯tpletely rid himself of the bad feeling that kept on bothering him whenever he saw Jin Chonglin interacting with Iris Long. He had been with Jin Chonglin for many years now, so he could immediately tell when something was off about him.

    Jin Chonglin would have this deep look in his eyes and his expression would be gentle whenever he was with Iris. Sure, this may just be him as a brother-inw, but Lin Dong couldn¡¯t help but feel bothered about it.

    "Tell me, Chonglin. Do you like Iris Long?"

 Chapter 442 - Do You Like Her As A Woman?

    <h4>Chapter 442 - Do You Like Her As A Woman? </h4>

    Jin Chonglin looked surprised by Lin Dong¡¯s question, but he made a quick recovery and chuckled.

    "Of course, I like her. She¡¯ll be my sister-inw. I have no choice but to like her or my brother will give me hell. Besides, I admire her as a fellow musician. So of course, I like her," he replied, his eyes dancing in amusement.

    Lin Dong sighed in exasperation. "That¡¯s not what I mean."

    "What do you mean then?" Jin Chonglin asked, pretending not to understand what Lin Dong was trying to say.

    "I¡¯m asking if you like Iris Long as a woman. I know you already mentioned before that she isn¡¯t your type when she was chasing you before, but that was when she was just a teenager. She was like a totally different person that time. She has changed so much since then. Now she has be so much more desirable. If your brother, CEO Jin, isn¡¯t already in a rtionship with her, would you pursue her?"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s yful smile dimmed a bit. His lips might still be smiling, but his eyes certainly weren¡¯t. They looked serious.

    "Hmm... You just said it yourself. She has be so much more desirable now," he said in a soft voice, almost a whisper. "Who wouldn¡¯t want such a beautiful, captivating and talented woman? I know that a lot of men desire her even after knowing that she¡¯s already engaged."

    Lin Dong frowned, not liking the implication of Jin Chonglin¡¯s words.

    "Too bad she¡¯s already taken by my brother. It might not seem like it to other people because they have never seen my brother in a rtionship before, but he¡¯s actually very possessive as you¡¯ve witnessed when I took you to their mansion. He would probably have gouged out our eyes if we looked at Sister Xin a few seconds longer than he would allow. He would never let her go, much less allow other men to steal her away from him," Jin Chonglin said.

    Then his eyes dimmed even more, but the smile remained on his lips. He continued, "Besides, why would Sister Xin want another man when she already has my brother? My brother was the most eligible bachelor in the country before he got engaged. He could give her almost anything and everything she¡¯ll ever want in her lifetime."

    Lin Dong nodded, agreeing with him. Then he felt confused because Jin Chonglin said so much, but he hadn¡¯t really answered his question yet.

    "So? Do you like Iris Long as a woman or not?" Lin Dong asked again.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s smilepletely disappeared, reced by a deep and serious expression. However, this onlysted for a second before he shed his killer smile at his manager.

    "Of course not! I don¡¯t see her that way. She¡¯s my sister-inw. We¡¯re going to be family once my brother marries her. My mom and grandma also adore her. They¡¯ll all kill me if I do anything indecent to her. Not that I¡¯m nning on doing anything like that," he quickly added. "I just like her as a fellow musician, as a person, and of course as a future sister-inw."

    Lin Dong stared at Jin Chonglin for a long time, trying to determine whether he was lying or not.

    No luck.

    Once Jin Chonglin made an effort in concealing his real emotions, nobody would know about them. Not even the people closest to him like Lin Dong. In addition to being a skilled musician, Jin Chonglin was quite talented in acting as well.

    He had starred in many blockbuster movies and TV dramas throughout his showbiz career. However, he wasn¡¯t such a phenomenal actor to win serious acting awards. At the end of the day, he was still a musician. But at least he could act and be believable. This was one of the reasons why he became a superstar in the country, not to mention that he was such a naturally charismatic person and could charm the pants off of almost any person.

    Lin Dong could only sigh and tried to toss out his misgivings about the nature of Jin Chonglin¡¯s feelings for his future sister-inw. It was just a very dangerous area to explore, as it could destroy not only the showbiz careers of both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long but also the rtionship between flesh and blood brothers.

    "Just be careful, Chonglin," he couldn¡¯t help but warn.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes became serious again but his lips maintained his killer smile. "Of course. Don¡¯t worry about this anymore. You¡¯re thinking too much. Anyway, let¡¯s go to my dressing room. Might as well start preparing now, even though Sister Xin and I will be the grand finale and have the most time before our performanceter."

    The two headed to their own dressing room where the rest of Jin Chonglin¡¯s entourage were already waiting for him.

    ###

    A palpable excitement and anticipation ran through the hyped audience as the second to thest performance and its subsequent interview finally ended.

    Many thought that this episode of "MusicFest Tonight" would all be about Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, but surprisingly, many of the other artists shone in their performances. They gave their all. A few of them even performed their best tonight.

    Even though the audience consisted mostly of the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, they still gave enthusiastic reactions to the other performers. Despite this, not one of them forgot the grand finale performance of the evening.

    The show went to amercial break first, eliciting a groan from the impatiently excited audience, despite knowing that it always happened before the finale act no matter who was performing.

    "Uwah! I¡¯m so excited, Big Sis! Soon we¡¯ll get to watch Boss Iris perform with a superstar like Prince Lin Lin," Ming Li, a.k.a. LittlePhoenix, bounced on her seat.

    "Yes," Zhou Mei¡¯er, a.k.a. CaptainckStar, nodded. "Someday, our boss will definitely be a superstar like Jin Chonglin too. No, she¡¯ll be an even bigger superstar than him."

    The two grinned at each other, feeling like their Boss Iris¡¯ sesses were their own as well.

 Chapter 443 - Shining Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 443 - Shining Eyes </h4>

    Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li led their fellow ck Stars to raise all of their banners to wee their Boss Iris. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans also did the same.

    Almost the entire audience was filled with banners of all sizes showing Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s names and images with messages of support from their adoring fans. It was an impressive sight. The cameras recorded everything, even though the show was still onmercial break. Director He nned on showing these shots once the show resumed.

    Finally, themercial break ended. The two hosts on the side of the stage shed their best smiles to the camera.

    Male host: "Wee back to ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯!"

    Female host: "Wow! Listen to the audience! They¡¯re so loud that I can barely hear myself talking! I know that everyone can¡¯t wait for the final performers!"

    Male host: "How are you feeling, everyone? Are you excited?"

    Audience: "YES!!! Iris!!! Lin Lin!!! LinRis!!! LINRIS!!! LINRIS!!!"

    Female host: "I think we should hurry up and introduce the grand finale act or the audience might drag us off the stage in their impatience."

    Everyoneughed at her joke, temporarily interrupting the audience¡¯s loud chants. However, this onlysted for a few seconds before everyone resumed calling for the long-awaited finale performers of the night.

    Male host: "Please be quiet so that we can make the introductions..."

    The leaders of the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans immediately controlled their respective group members. Soon, the entire audience became quiet. Nevertheless, their excitement and anticipation could almost be felt as tangible vibrations in the air.

    Even backstage, none of the artists who finished performing earlier left yet. They all stayed in order to watch the finale performance.

    Female host: "The moment that you¡¯ve all been waiting for has finally arrived!"

    Male host: "The next performers are award-winning musicians who are considered to be two of the most talented young artists our country has to offer in the field of pop music. Their first coboration single is the theme song of the highly-anticipated TV drama ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯which is currently airing this season."

    Female: "Yes. Their new single debuted at #1 in the music charts, demonstrating not only their musical prowess but also the magnitude of theirbined poprity across the country."

    Male host: "Performing their new hit single together for the first time on live television, please wee the beautiful Iris Long and the handsome Jin Chonglin singing¡ª"

    Both: "Shining Eyes!"

    The audience cheered loudly once again. Everyone was on their feet. They waved the banners of their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin while screaming in excitement. However, they stopped when the lights suddenly turned off.

    A dim light gradually illuminated the chamber orchestra at the back of the stage. There were fewer musicians this timepared to Iris Long¡¯s usual full symphony orchestra. There was also a four-piece pop band consisting of an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar and drums. The acoustic guitarist sat prominently on a high stool in front of the other musicians. The grand pianist (not Iris Long this time) also took up the other prominent position. To the side, there were three back-up singers. Two females and one male.

    The acoustic guitarist opened the music by fingerpicking his guitar strings to produce a brief but silky five-chord melody. The Spanish-voured guitar chords suggested passion, tugging directly at the audience¡¯s romantic sensibilities. The audience¡¯s anticipation and excitement for the song only increased.

    He repeated this action two more times, until the stringed instruments from the orchestra led by the violin began ying softly in the background. The flute joined shortly after, leading the other woodwind instruments.

    The opening melody was like a delicate drizzle subtly enhancing a beautiful, hot sunny day of passion. The overall melody was light and airy, almost feeling like a gentle breeze to the audience.

    Next, the pianist began ying the full melody. It sounded sentimental and emotional, definitely heavier than the light and airy opening melody.

    The acoustic guitar and the piano worked together to provide the passion, while the other instruments delicately ying in the background added a gentle sweetness to the music.

    All of a sudden, the centre of the stage lit up. Thebined spotlights were so bright that the two people standing centre stage looked like they were divine beings glowing from the inside out.

    The audience immediately started cheering upon seeing the pair.

    Jin Chonglin looked dashing in his ivory semi-formal tuxedo suit. He wore no neckties or bowties, opting instead to show a little bit of skin by opening a couple of extra buttons on his dress shirt beneath his tuxedo jacket. His fans squealed upon seeing a hint of his hard, muscled chest.

    As for the beautifuldy standing beside him, Iris Long wore a magenta, off the shoulders, wrap midi dress. The dress showed a lot of neck, shoulders and a hint of cleavage, but didn¡¯t look too risqu¨¦ with its long, flowing sleeves. The waist tie entuated her tiny waist and hourss figure. Like Jin Chonglin, Iris¡¯ outfit wasn¡¯t too formal. The hem of her dress fell to her mid-calf. Not too long but not too short either. It was sexy yet elegant at the same time.

    The rest of her lower legs were entuated by a pair of sheer nude high-heeled shoes embellished with small crystals. From far away, it looked like she wasn¡¯t wearing any shoes at all but just standing on her sparkling tippy-toes.

    Her hair was in a simple straight blow-dried style, and her makeup smoky and soft, emphasizing her natural feminine aura.

    The cameras lingered longer on Iris than they did on Jin Chonglin. The cameramen couldn¡¯t tear their gazes away from her beauty. That was until they had to focus the cameras on Jin Chonglin because Director He instructed them to do so through their earpieces.

    Jin Chonglin lifted his mic and began singing. His voice was deep and masculine, yet also flowed like sweet caramel. He was looking at Iris beside him with a deep look in his eyes.

    "Walking down the town of life

    I caught a glimpse of you

    Your beautiful self

    Making even the flowers smile back"

    He lowered his mic, continuing to look at Iris. All of his attention was on her.

    Iris smiled at him and raised her own mic to sing next. Her voice sounded light yet was still exquisite, harmonizing perfectly with the music.

    "Smitten I followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    At this moment, the rest of the orchestra joined in ying the melody, making the music sound fuller. The other guitars and the drums added a modern vibe to the song at the same time.

    Jin Chonglin gestured towards Iris and sang as if she was the only person he could see at that moment. His expression was so passionate that a few LinRis shippers in the audience already started fainting from overexcitement. He sang more to her than to the audience.

    "Time stopped in that moment

    The sun paled in your presence"

    Iris ced a hand on her chest and also sang with much passion.

    "Birdsong filled the air

    As you chose me"

    The pop band of electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums took the lead with a heart-tugging melody and slow tempo. The ssical instruments bnced this with the light and soaring background melody.

    But the stars of the instruments remained the acoustic guitar and the piano. They provided the main melody that both Iris and Jin Chonglin harmonized with. The Spanish-voured ying of the acoustic guitar especially added a sensual quality to the romantic music.

    Iris and Jin Chonglin started singing together. Their voices sounded very different, yet they harmonized so perfectly that the audience felt goosebumps listening to them. There was a bit of a growl to Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice, while Iris¡¯ was just soaring smoothly to the heavens.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    They walked together to the front of the stage, exciting their fans sitting at the front seats of the audience. More fainted.

    Iris looked and interacted with the audience more than Jin Chonglin. He couldn¡¯t seem to tear his eyes away from her during the performance. So even when she wasn¡¯t looking at him, he continued to gaze at her with deep eyes burning with passion.

    The LinRis shippers took this as proof that their Prince Lin Lin waspletely in love with their Boss Iris. After all, he couldn¡¯t stop looking at her! Wasn¡¯t it so obvious? They squealed with giddy delight, already feeling certain that the two were really in a romantic rtionship.

    Iris finally returned her eyes to Jin Chonglin and looked at him. She also looked like she was professing her love to him with her eyes and her singing. The LinRis shippers squealed even harder.

    She sang with so much tenderness and emotion that she looked exactly like a woman in love. There was no mistaking such a pure expression filled with love.

    "As I¡¯m singing I look into your eyes

    And know you see me like I do you

    Even as we grow old I never forget

    The man who saw me that day"

    The audience were squealing so hard from watching the romantic pair on the stage that they felt like they might vomit out their throats. To these fans, especially the LinRis shippers, the love song was more than a simple sentimental bad. It was a love letter of their Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin to each other.

 Chapter 444 - Jin Liweiâ€™s FiancÃ©e

    <h4>Chapter 444 - Jin Liwei¡¯s Fianc¨¦e </h4>

    As the one singing with Iris, Jin Chonglin knew from the slightly detached look in her eyes that she was imagining another man standing beside her on stage right now. He had no doubt that it was his older brother, Jin Liwei, who was in her mind while singing. All the love and passion she was expressing wasn¡¯t for him but for his brother.

    The thought suddenly depressed him, transforming his passionate expression into a heartbroken one. It gave his singing an extrayer of deep emotion as he sung the next part solo.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return"

    His hand subconsciously extended to Iris. It was already toote when he realized what he was doing. He was about to pretend that he was just gesturing his arm as part of his singing when Iris epted his offered hand and held it. His heart skipped a beat.

    As for Iris, she was just very into the performance. It felt natural at that moment to hold hands. Besides, she only treated Jin Chonglin as a brother-inw, and in this situation, as a teammate working together towards the same goal of giving their best performance to the audience. She didn¡¯t see anything wrong with holding his hand, especially since it was a love song they were singing together.

    In addition to this, her entire mind was filled with only her darling. She knew that he was watching theperformance on TV at home. She also hoped that he could feel that she was singing the song to him. That was why she gave her best, expressing so much emotion in her singing. This love song was for him.

    Her voice rose high in a light and effortless way, and then falling just as effortlessly as she sang thest two lines of her solo.

    "But you always knew

    So you gave me all I could ever want"

    Then both Iris and Jin Chonglin sang thest notes together. Their voices melded into an almost perfect yin and yang harmony that also showcased their undeniable chemistry together as a duet.

    "I got you~"

    The song ended on a light, nostalgic note, just like the rainbow after a rainy day. It filled everyone with good vibes, but at the same time, there was a slight heart-wrenching feeling deep inside them.

    It was the feeling of loving someone so much that it hurt. The happiness was so overwhelming that there was a covert fear of losing it.

    This was the kind of feeling the audience were experiencing from the song, especially after noticing the heartbroken expression Jin Chonglin wore during thest part.

    As soon as the music stoppedpletely, the audience¡¯s full emotions burst out in an explosive tempest of apuse. Of course, they gave the performance a standing ovation. They were cheering, screaming, pping, whistling, crying and fainting.

    The ones in a rtionship felt like they were falling in love all over again with their significant others. The heartbroken ones either missed their exes or wanted to move on and find new love. The single ones wanted to fall in love, especially those who had never fallen before.

    This was the kind of effect the song had on them. No, it wasn¡¯t just the song by itself. This was the effect of watching Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s heart-fluttering live performance of the song.

    The two just looked so great together and performed with so much emotions that it was easy to believe that they were actually in love with each other. This was especially true from watching Jin Chonglin. The way he looked at Iris was exactly like that of a manpletely head over heels in love with a woman. At least, that was how it appeared to people¡¯s eyes.

    "LINRIS! LINRIS!! LINRIS!!!"

    The LinRis shippers started to chant, and soon everyone was chanting along with them.

    Jin Chonglin tightened his hold of Iris¡¯ hand and raised it up. They bowed together to their exultant fans and the rest of the cheering audience.

    The apuse only grew louder.

    Afterwards, Iris loosened her hand but Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t let her go. In fact, he even tightened his hold on her hand when she tried gently tugging it away. She knew several moves to force him to let go of her hand, but she obviously couldn¡¯t do any of them in front of all of these people and on national television.

    So in the most natural way possible while still maintaining her bright smile, she leaned close to him and without moving her lips too much to hinder any lip readers, she whispered to him.

    "Brother Chonglin, release my hand now. Your older brother is watching us on TV tonight. You¡¯re going to make him angry again. Stop teasing him like this. It¡¯s not funny anymore."

    He shed his killer smile at her, arousing another wave of wild squealing from the audience. He squeezed her hand before finally letting it go.

    Iris inwardly sighed in relief. It wasn¡¯t that she was afraid of making Jin Liwei jealous. Of course, she didn¡¯t want to make her darling jealous because she now knew what an ugly feeling jealousy felt like. She didn¡¯t want any of them to experience it as much as possible.

    Her rejection of Jin Chonglin¡¯s touch was more of her body¡¯s instinctive response against any man getting physically close to her who wasn¡¯t Jin Liwei, and to a certain extent, her Big Brother Lu Zihao.

    Despite this, Iris wasmitted to being a performer tonight. She stood beside Jin Chonglin and acted like they were close to each other. And indeed, to some degree, they were close to each other because they were future inws. They were basically family now.

    The two hosts finally reached them. They sandwiched Iris and Jin Chonglin between them.

    Female host: "Wow! What a sensational performance! My heart was fluttering the entire time I was watching you!"

    Both Iris and Jin Chonglin thanked her.

    The hosts focused their questions on their song "Shining Eyes" first. Since Iris was the one who wrote it, she answered most of the questions. Jin Chonglin just shared his experiences working with Iris and with the notorious hothead music producer, JJ.

    Fortunately, these questions were over quickly. It seemed that the audience wasn¡¯t the only ones who felt impatient. The hosts would¡¯ve already asked the juiciest questions as soon as the interview started, if it weren¡¯t that they were required to ask questions about the song first.

    Male host: "Now let¡¯s move on the most anticipated part of the interview. The two of you have mentioned before that you¡¯ll announce something important to everyone. The floor is yours."

    The entire studio became quiet, as everyone leaned forward in anticipation. They didn¡¯t want to miss any word of the important announcement. The LinRis shippers were trembling in excitement, their expressions hopeful.

    Iris gestured for Jin Chonglin to make the announcement. He nodded.

    "We have a very important announcement to make, so please listen very carefully," he began talking. "Junior Iris wrote ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ by herself. This is our first ever music coboration but it is most definitely not ourst. We have another coborationing up which we will release next month. This time, I wrote the song. We will release the teasers and previews in the next few days, so please look forward to them. Thank you very much for supporting ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯. We hope that you¡¯ll continue to support our next cob single again when we release it next month."

    Jin Chonglin stopped speaking and lowered his mic. Iris nodded and continued to smile.

    Everyone blinked several times and waited for him to say more, but he didn¡¯t.

    ¡¯Huh? That¡¯s it?¡¯

    Female host: "Uh... Jin Chonglin, is that it?"

    "Yes," he replied with a nod.

    Iris tilted her head to the side, wondering why the atmosphere suddenly felt awkward. She had already tossed out the fans¡¯ earlier misunderstandings about her rtionship with Jin Chonglin out of her mind. So she didn¡¯t fully understand what was causing this awkward silence. Wanting to ease awkward atmosphere, she lifted her mic and spoke as well.

    "Our next cob single will be very different from ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯. It will be...hmm...sexier."

    Eyes lit up after hearing what she said.

    "Oooooh!"

    People started recovering from their earlier disappointment. Now they began to feel excited for this next music coboration. However, they still felt unsatisfied by the interview.

    The hosts were of the same mind as them.

    Female host: "Jin Chonglin, Iris. Just to rify everything once and for all, are the two of you in a romantic rtionship? Is it true that you¡¯re engaged?"

    "No," Iris immediately answered. Her expression remained pleasant but her tone was firm. "I already said this many times before. I am engaged to another man who I love very much. In fact, my fianc¨¦ who is NOT Senior Jin Chonglin is my inspiration for writing ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯."

    Throughout Iris¡¯ answer, Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t say anything. He just maintained his smile.

    The LinRis shippers felt their dreams shatter right before their eyes. Some of them even started crying from heartbreak.

    It was unfortunate that they already ran out of time. The hosts wanted to ask more, but they received directions from their earpieces to finish up the interview.

    Everyone didn¡¯t know exactly what to feel about the finale. The performance was amazing, but the interview was very anti-climactic. Sure, a new cob song was exciting but it wasn¡¯t the announcement that many hoped for.

    When the show officially ended, Iris and Jin Chonglin returned backstage. The staff and the other artists weed them with a warm round of apuse and congrattions. Despite the anti-climactic interview, the two still gave the best performance of the night. They were the night¡¯s bigshots, so everyone gave them the respect they were due.

    Many of these people wanted to take pictures with both Jin Chonglin and Iris. Surprisingly, more asked Iris than Jin Chonglin this time. They were very curious about her. Jin Chonglin hovered around her, making sure that the males didn¡¯t get too close. He was doing his "duty" as her senior.

    Their managers, Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong, alongside a few of their bodyguards began to escort them back to their dressing rooms.

    Along the hallway, Iris heard something with her great ears that made her stop in her tracks. Jin Chonglin and their entourage also stopped, confused at her sudden action. Then they saw her focusing her attention on a group of female idols gossiping among themselves in a corner. The girls were looking at something on their phones.

    "So this is what CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e looks like."

    "Let me see. Oooh. She¡¯s pretty."

    "Yeah. She¡¯s apparently a sessful businesswoman. It seems like CEO Jin personally hired her to be a new executive at Jin Corporation. The two of them are a perfect match."

    "Eh? She¡¯s Singaporean?"

    "Yup. Her name is Rose Young."

 Chapter 445 - Perfect For EaChapter Other

    <h4>Chapter 445 - Perfect For EaChapter Other </h4>

    "What a load of rubbish!" Iris¡¯ cold voice interrupted the female idols¡¯ conversation.

    The girls all turned their heads in annoyance at being disturbed. However, when they saw that it was Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s group, they looked surprised and amazed at the same time. They all straightened their backs and presented their best behaviours.

    "S-senior Jin Ch-chonglin!"

    "Senior Iris Long!"

    As a domestic superstar, Jin Chonglin was respected and admired by many young artists in the music industry. It wasn¡¯t surprising that these young female idols would feel starstruck by his presence.

    Although Iris Long didn¡¯t have Jin Chonglin¡¯s same level of fame (yet), there were still quite a lot of musicians who looked up to her, especially those who focused on music techniques.After all, she was the recipient of a special award for her brilliance in this area.

    The female idols felt like total fangirls in front of Jin Chonglin, while they felt intimidated by Iris Long. Her aura up close was on another level, especially right now that she was looking at them with such a cold expression.

    Jin Chonglin nced at Iris who now looked like she wanted to murder someone in cold blood. She might not be showing much emotion on her face, but the potent aura emanating from her was enough to chill weak-hearted people to the core. And indeed, some of the timider girls in front of them were already looking like they were about to cry. If others saw their current situation, they would think that Iris was bullying these poor girls.

    Right now, Iris reminded Jin Chonglin of his older brother whenever he teased him. Jin Liwei would also turn cold like this and unnerve people with just his sheer aura alone.

    ¡¯They¡¯re really a couple. Both so damn tyrannical in their possessiveness of each other,¡¯ he thought to himself.

    Iris started to stride towards the female idols like a predator about to swoop in on her prey, but her manager Tang Yiyi pulled her back and stopped her. Lin Dong looked around with a paranoid expression, afraid that other people might see them and misconstrue the situation as Iris pushing her weight around on the newbies.

    The female idols didn¡¯t know what they did to anger Iris Long. They cowered from her scary aura.

    "Calm down, Iris," Tang Yiyi whispered to her in an urgent tone.

    Iris briefly closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. When she opened her eyes, her expression somewhat became gentler.

    "Hello, my apologies for disturbing you," she told the female idols in a pleasant tone. Her eyes, however, remained cold. "I think I heard you talking about CEO Jin¡¯s supposed fianc¨¦e? Since CEO Jin is our Senior Jin Chonglin¡¯s brother, your conversation made me very curious. May I know more about what you¡¯re talking about?"

    The girls looked at each other. They were relieved when Iris Long talked to them. She was actually nice and polite. Maybe they were just imagining that she was angry at them earlier. Or maybe her expression earlier was just her resting bitch face and had nothing to do with her actual mood.

    "S-senior Iris! Uhm... We normally don¡¯t talk about CEO Jin but he¡¯s recently trending online after hemented on Prince Lin Lin¡ªI mean, Senior Jin Chonglin¡¯s blog post a few days ago. After all, CEO Jin never used his ount before. People have be very interested in himtely so...uhm, there are a lot of gossips about him online right now," one of them exined to Iris.

    "Yeah! We were just gossiping¡ªuh, I mean chatting about what we read online. Someone posted a few photos of CEO Jin with his fianc¨¦e at an online gossip forum just a few minutes ago. Here, Senior Iris and...uhm, Prince¡ªSenior Jin Chonglin. Let me show you the post."

    The girl held up her phone to let Iris and Jin Chonglin see. She blushed when Jin Chonglin smiled at her.

    Iris looked at the alleged photos posted online on the girl¡¯s phone. Jin Chonglin also peeked over her shoulder. Even Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong stretched their necks to take a look.

    Indeed, there were candid pictures of Jin Liwei together with another woman. The person who snapped them must have been far away because Jin Liwei and the woman lookedpletely unaware that someone was taking photos of them. The quality of the photos wasn¡¯t that great either, so Iris ruled out the paparazzi. It might just be a regr person who used his or her phone camera.

    Jin Liwei looked tall and handsome as always with his usual cold and indifferent expression. He was in his business suit. Beside him was a woman Iris recognized as Rose Young from the headshots Ketchup gathered from her public records.

    The anonymous user who made the post imed that he or she took the photos at a five-star hotel. Indeed, the background behind Jin Liwei and the woman looked like a hotel lobby. The user wrote an apanying post with the photos. It said:

    "I was waiting for someone at the hotel lobby when I immediately recognized CEO Jin Liwei. I also happened to recognize the woman walking beside him. She is Rose Young, a Chinese Singaporean businesswoman. Her mother¡¯s side of the family are members of high society here in China, that¡¯s why I managed to recognize her even though Rose Young mostly lived in Singapore. The Jins are close to her mother¡¯s family. I heard that the two families have been hoping to pair Rose Young to CEO Jin Liwei for a long time now because they¡¯re both high achievers in the field of business. However, they have always been unsessful because everyone knows that CEO Jin never showed any romantic interest in anyone before.

    "Then all of a sudden, CEO Jin revealed that he¡¯s engaged a few months ago. He hasn¡¯t introduced his fianc¨¦e yet, but seeing him and Rose Young together at a HOTEL made me connect the dots. The most eligible bachelor in the country suddenly got engaged. Then monthster, Rose Young suddenly gets promoted to work as an executive at Jin Corporation and moves from Singapore to permanently live here in China. Coincidence? I think not! I bet that Rose Young is actually CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e. After all, the Jins and her mother¡¯s side of the family have been hoping to pair them together since a long time ago.

    "Both CEO Jin Liwei and Rose Young are smart businesspeople who work at the most elite level of the business industry. They alsoe from wealthy and influential families. They¡¯re also close in age. I personally think that they¡¯re perfect for each other. And I know that there are many in high society and in the business world who think the same way. Jin Corporation will surely be an even more sessfulpany if CEO Jin Liwei and Rose Young unite in both business and marriage. Don¡¯t you think so, too?"

    Then the user suggested that Jin Liwei and Rose Young must have spent an hour or two at a hotel room to find time for some quick loving despite their busy schedules as business executives.

    "Hmm... That¡¯s Rose Young, alright," Jin Chonglin murmured behind Iris.

    "Oh! You know her, Prince Lin¡ªI mean, Senior Jin Chonglin? Is that woman really your brother¡¯s fianc¨¦e?" one of the female idols asked him.

    "No, she¡¯s not." Iris quickly shot down the question.

    The female idols were surprised that it was Iris who answered instead of Jin Chonglin. They turned to Jin Chonglin for confirmation.

    He shed them his killer smile, dazing them. Then he said, "Junior Iris is right. That woman is not my brother¡¯s fianc¨¦e. His real fianc¨¦e is more beautiful and more amazing than Rose Young."

    Iris gave him a side-eye, showing no expression on her face.

    Jin Chonglin winked at her.

    Iris borrowed the phone from the female idol and scrolled through the photos herself. Her thumb froze at thest three photos.

    The first one showed Rose Young leaning very close to Jin Liwei, almost rubbing her (non-existent) breasts against his shoulder. The second one showed her touching his arm. The final photo showed her fully holding his arm with her two hands.

    Iris gripped the phone in her hand and squeezed it, as a colder and more frightening aura emanated from her in suffocating waves.

 Chapter 446 - Not In My League

    <h4>Chapter 446 - Not In My League </h4>

    Although Iris¡¯ expression didn¡¯t change that much and remained pleasant, the female idols still instinctively shrank away from her. They sensed some sort of dangering from her at that moment.

    "Alright! Time to go, Junior Iris," Jin Chonglin announced after being warned by Lin Dong that some people were heading their way.

    He grabbed the phone out of Iris¡¯ tight grip and returned it to the owner. After thanking the female idols and dazing them once again with his killer smile, he dragged Iris away. Their managers and bodyguards followed, forming a protective circle around the two of them.

    When they left, the female idols finally regained their senses from Jin Chonglin¡¯s killer smile. Fortunately, these girls weren¡¯t too smart to think deeply about what just happened, nor try to decipher Iris¡¯ weird reactions. They already concluded that Iris only had a scary resting bitch face but was actually quite a nice and kind person.

    In addition, they also figured that Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were close friends. Though some of them still believed that the two had something more. The two were so close that Iris Long gained the privilege of knowing some of the most personal details about Jin Chonglin¡¯s family. They heard that even the Jin family rtives still didn¡¯t know who CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e was, but it seemed that Iris Long knew because she was close to Jin Chonglin.

    "If Iris Long and Prince Lin Lin are really NOT engaged, then it¡¯s such a waste," one of themmented. "They look so perfect together, and yet she chose another man? Why wouldn¡¯t she want to marry a member of the Jin family? She¡¯ll be set for life."

    "Maybe she likes businessmen. Didn¡¯t she say before that her fianc¨¦ is a businessman? Prince Lin Lin already announced before that he has no interest in working for Jin Corporation."

    "Well, CEO Jin Liwei is a businessman...but he¡¯s already engaged to another woman, whoever she may be. Prince Lin Lin just said that it¡¯s not Rose Young. I also doubt that CEO Jin wants to marry a singer like Iris Long who¡¯s clearly below his level. Powerful people of his status only see showbiz celebrities like Iris Long and us as mere showgirls. Even Prince Lin Lin didn¡¯t have an easy time with his family when he decided to pursue a showbiz career all those years ago."

    "Yeah. What¡¯s more, Iris Long is too young for CEO Jin. I¡¯m sure that someone like him would want a mature wife who he could talk to about...uh, serious adult thingies or whatever. Although she¡¯s been acting like a mature woman ever since her image change after hereback, she¡¯s actually only a bit older than us."

    These female idols continued to gossip about Iris Long, Jin Chonglin, Jin Liwei and his mysterious fianc¨¦e.

    Back to Iris and Jin Chonglin, they all headed to her dressing room.

    Lin Dong didn¡¯t stop Jin Chonglin from following Iris to her dressing room this time. He even followed them himself. He didn¡¯t worry about any scandals this time because he could always say that he apanied Jin Chonglin with his capacity as a manager.

    As soon as the group opened the door to the dressing room, they immediately heard Dom in the middle of an angry rant about some homewrecking ho stealing his boss¡¯ man. He paced back and forth in front of the hairstylist and makeup artist, gesturing wildly with his hands. His mouth shot insults to the "homewrecking ho" like a machine gun.

    "How dare that ho touch sir boss with her dirty paws?! What if sir boss got infected with some yucky disease?! Did you look at her chest? No? Of course, you didn¡¯t! Because there¡¯s nothing to look at! Her boobies are tter than mine¡ªand I¡¯m male! Yet she dares to try rub her imaginary boobies against sir boss?! Oh puh-leaze! As if he¡¯ll want other boobies when boss has more than enough tost him AND their future babies a lifetime!

    "Whazzername again? Rose Young, is it? What "rose"? As if sir boss will ever want another flower. He already has the most beautiful flower by his side, Iris! That ho is not a rose! She should be named Rafflesia instead. Because she stinks like the corpse flower, Rafflesia Arnoldii! And what "young"? Hello? Compared to boss, she¡¯s OLD!!! Pweh!!!

    "And so what if she¡¯s a business executive?! Isn¡¯t she still a mere employee of sir boss¡¯pany?! But MY boss has her ownpany¡ªoh, excuse me. My boss has SEVERALpanies of her own. That¡¯s plural, as in more than one! How about that ho? Does she own anything? No! Not even her own boobies!

    "All those stupid people who think that she¡¯s a perfect match for sir boss are all blind and have holes in their brains! Hah! The only one who¡¯s the most perfect match for sir boss is of course MY BOSS!!! They¡¯re all stupid morons for not knowing that MY boss is in apletely different league than that ho! MY boss is the best in the world...no, in the whole universe! Nobody will evere close toparing to her! Sir boss will NEVER rece her with that Rose...I mean, Rafflesia No-boobie ArnOLDdii!!! Argh! I¡¯m so mad!!! I want to fight her!!!"

    Iris stopped at the door and watched her assistant raging for her sake. Her own fury gradually simmered down, as she listened to Dom¡¯s words. The seething green-eyed monster inside her gave ast growl before settling down. Calmness washed over her entire being, giving her a refreshed feeling. It was as if her own cold fury was all expressed by Dom and therefore removedpletely from her system.

    Dom continued ranting when the hairstylist and makeup artist finally noticed Iris and the others standing by the door.

    "Miss Iris!"

    Dom¡¯s machine gun mouth immediately stopped. He turned to Iris and eximed:

    "Boss!!! I¡¯ve been waiting for you!!! You won¡¯t believe what just happened!!! Please calm down and let me exin clearly and slowly!!! Some ho¡ªI mean, some insignificant woman just¡ª"

    Iris¡¯ phone started ringing. She left it with Dom during her performance.

    "Oh! That must be sir boss! He has been calling nonstop but you weren¡¯t here yet, boss," Dom informed her.

    When Iris didn¡¯t make a move, he picked up the phone and answered it himself. A few momentster, he handed it to her.

    "Hm. Hi, Mr. Jin," Iris answered, as she finally walked inside the room.

    Tang Yiyi, Jin Chonglin and Lin Dong all followed her. The door closed behind them.

    "..." Jin Liwei didn¡¯t speak for a few seconds before saying, "Based on your tone, it seems like you already know."

    "Hmm..." Iris gestured to Dom to get her tablet in Chinese Sign Language.

    Both of them learned it from Professor Hisakawa. The two of them also learned the American Sign Language. And for her, the Russian Sign Language as well. She had never learned any signnguages in her past life, so she was very interested in them. However, she and Dom only learned the basics because the signnguages weren¡¯t their main priority. They were nice to learn, though, for some additionalnguage skills. Besides, signnguages were helpful to a singer like Iris. She could converse with Dom without actually speaking whenever she needed to rest her vocal cords.

    Dom immediately understood and began rummaging through her handbag. He found her tablet and handed it to her.

    Iris sat down on one of the couches and began using her tablet. Jin Chonglin sat on the arm of the couch beside her. He watched what she was doing. Their managers, Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong, were whispering to each other at a corner.

    "Love, I can exin everything," Jin Liwei said on the phone. "Remember when I told youst night that I have a business lunch today, so you don¡¯t have to send lunch to me at thepany? Well, the business lunch was at a hotel restaurant. Several of my fellow executives attended it with me, including Rose Young because she is our new CMO. The photos posted online cropped out the others, only showing Rose Young and me. But I assure you, love, we were with the others including Xu Tian."

    "Hmm..." Iris didn¡¯t answer.

    She was busy checking the reports Ketchup sent her. Iris instructed Ketchup not to speak out loud whenever there were other people around not belonging directly to her and Jin Liwei¡¯s households. Ketchup was too much of an advanced and sophisticated AI technology that Iris and Jin Liwei were careful not to let strangers know about her. Ketchup might attract unwanted and even dangerous attention. That was why when they were in a public ce, Ketchupmunicated to them via written messages instead.

    Ketchup faithfully obeyed her mommy¡¯s instructions. Rose Young was on their watch list, so Ketchup had been monitoring the woman. Ketchup automatically sent Iris various specific cuts from the hotel¡¯s video surveince system capturing the exact moment shown in the photos uploaded online. Each of the videos showed different angles and Iris yed all of them at the same time.

    They showed Jin Liwei and Rose Young walking out of the hotel restaurant to the lobby. And indeed, Jin Liwei was telling the truth. Xu Tian and the other executives were with them. In fact, Rose Young was walking at the back of the group but she quickly caught up and walked beside Jin Liwei instead.

    Then when they reached some steps and began to climb down, Rose Young "tripped" and fell towards Jin Liwei¡¯s direction. She grabbed his arm. That was the moment captured in the photos posted online.

    Iris narrowed her eyes, and she reyed the scene again. She concentrated on Rose Young¡¯s feet. The woman was wearing high heels but they weren¡¯t too high. Her feet looked stable enough, but she suddenly tripped?

    Who was she kidding? She obviously did it on purpose.

    Iris curled her lip and softly snorted.

    Jin Liwei was a gentleman so he quickly helped stabilize the woman before firmly removing her hands from his arm. Then he stepped far away from her and even dusted off his suit as if removing dirt from where she touched him.

    Iris couldn¡¯t help but smile at his actions.

    "Love? Why are you so quiet? Talk to me, please," Jin Liwei said. His voice sounded calm but Iris detected a hint of anxiety in it. "Rose Young doesn¡¯t mean anything to me. You¡¯re the only one I love. Don¡¯t be jealous anymore, okay?"

    She suddenly remembered Dom¡¯s rant earlier. Raising an eyebrow, she replied to Jin Liwei with a faint smile on her lips.

    "Darling, in order for me to feel jealous of that woman, she has to be in MY league first. Is she on my level, hm?"Also called "corpse lily". It¡¯s thergest individual flower on Earth. It produces a very strong and unpleasant smelly odour of decaying flesh, hence it¡¯s called "corpse flower". It is also one of the Indonesia¡¯s three national flowers.

 Chapter 447 - Burn Into Ashes

    <h4>Chapter 447 - Burn Into Ashes </h4>

    "Of course not. Rose Young, or other women for that matter, can neverpare to you. You¡¯re in a league of your own, love," Jin Liwei said to Iris during their phone call earlier.

    His words somewhat eased her irked feelings about the entire situation with Rose Young who was obviously trying to get close to her man. Iris didn¡¯t feel threatened by Rose Young. Not at all. She also trusted Jin Liwei¡¯s love for her.

    Nevertheless, the woman needed to be taught a lesson for coveting a taken man. For now, however, Iris felt that Jin Liwei should be the one to make the decisive move because Rose Young was his direct colleague and employee. Not to mention that she was someone the majority of the board of directors voted for the position of Chief Marketing Officer. In simple terms, Rose Young was basically the current darling of Jin Corporation¡¯s shareholders.

    Iris was curious how Jin Liwei would handle the entire situation with Rose Young and her poprity among the higher-ups of Jin Corporation. But regardless of whatever he chose to do, Iris would still start making her moves behind-the-scenes.

    She and Dom were currently on their way home to the mansion. Dom exhausted himself from his impassioned rant against Rose Young earlier. He was now snoring softly on his seat besides Iris in the executive van.

    Iris remembered what happened in the dressing room earlier.

    Jin Liwei obviously wanted to exin everything in detail to her, but Iris preferred to speak to him in person. She told him to wait for her at home and ended the call. Although she said that she didn¡¯t feel jealous of Rose Young, something from the online post bothered her.

    She turned to Jin Chonglin beside her and asked, "The Jins are close to Rose Young¡¯s maternal rtives?"

    "Close to some of the branch families, yes. But to us from the main family? Not really. We¡¯re acquainted, that¡¯s all," he told her, shrugging.

    "They tried to pair Liwei with Rose Young?" she continued to ask.

    "Yeah. She¡¯s not the only one, though. Actually, the rtives tried pairing Big Bro with a lot of potential marriage partners in the past but they never seeded. They did it to me, too, just so you know. Before you came along, Big Bro had never shown any romantic or even sexual interest in anyone to the point that people started believing he¡¯s gay." Jin Chonglin coughed a few times after saying this.

    He continued, "You have to remember that he¡¯s the head of our Jin family and Jin Corporation. His choice of marriage partner is extremely important to all the Jins. After all, his wife will be the next Madam Jin so everyone in the family¡ªexcept me¡ªcares about who he marries."

    "Hmm..." Iris went into deep thought.

    "Feeling scared now, sister-inw?" Jin Chonglin smirked and teased her.

    She raised an eyebrow. "Why should I feel scared? I never once cared about what the Long rtives think about me, so why should I care about whether your Jin rtives like me or not? The only people from the Jin family who I deem important and care about are Liwei, Grandma Li and Aunt Yuyan. And they already treat me as family."

    "Hey! What about me?" he protested.

    She ignored him. "I may not care about what your rtives or other people think about me, but I do care about what they think about your brother. I don¡¯t want Liwei to lose his position as head of the family and Jin Corporation because of me. It¡¯s not that I care about the position itself or its apanying status and wealth¡ªto be honest, I couldn¡¯t care less¡ªbut it¡¯s something that was bestowed upon him by yourte grandfather, father, and Grandpa Lu. It¡¯s his right, and I don¡¯t want to take that away from him."

    Her words made everyone quiet in the dressing room. Jin Chonglin studied her, not saying anything. Iris also didn¡¯t say anything more afterwards.

    Jin Chonglin was the one who broke the serious atmosphere. He leaned down and whispered to Iris¡¯ ear.

    "Introduce me to the hacker who gave you ess to that hotel¡¯s surveince system, okay?"

    Iris covered her ear and scooted away from himwhile giving him a side-eye. He was too close again. She didn¡¯t reply.

    "Come on, Sister Xin," he continued to whisper so the others wouldn¡¯t hear him. "I¡¯ve asked Big Bro several times before to lend me some of his tech people but he¡¯s so stingy. You¡¯re not going to be stingy too, are you? Have some pity for your brother-inw."

    "You want to hire a hacker? Why?" she asked him in a whisper as well.

    He nodded. "Well, you see...I have some friends with, uh, benefits and they might have, you know, some pictures and videos¡ª"

    "You mean sex tapes?"

    "No! Not sex tapes. But maybe some naughty photos and short videos. If you know what I mean." He winked at her.

    "Not interested," she said.

    "Aaw. Come on! I¡¯ll pay!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up. "Hmm... The hacker I know is one of the best in the world. Can you afford?"

    Jin Chonglin looked insulted by her words. "Can I afford? Are you seriously asking this prince that question? This prince is one of the biggest superstars in the country, so of course I can afford!"

    "Okay," she agreed. "Wait to be contacted by the hacker in the next few days."

    She was currently saving up to buy more Long Industries shares if any were put on sale again. As much as possible, she wanted to use her own money instead of asking Jin Liwei for help. If she could earn some easy money deleting Jin Chonglin¡¯s sex tapes or whatever, then it would be great for her bank ount.

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s shameless boomingughter echoed inside her mind at that moment.

    Back to the present, Iris and Dom finally arrived at Dragon Pce Home #10. It was alreadyte at night. The sky was dark. Shadowy clouds covered the moon and the stars. A slight chill was in the air.

    The butler greeted them as soon as they entered the grand foyer. Beside him was Jin Liwei.

    "Wee back, love," he said and moved to hug Iris.

    However, she held up a hand and stopped him from getting near her.

    "Where¡¯s your business suit?" she asked him instead.

    A look of hurt shed in Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes for about a second before he put up an impassive expression on his face. His arms which were reaching out for her fell awkwardly to his sides.

    The butler and the other household staff pretended not to notice the awkward atmosphere while sweating bullets inside their clothes. Were the master and the mistress fighting?!

    "What business suit?" Jin Liwei asked her.

    Iris looked like a woman on a mission. Her expression, tone¡ªeverything was serious. "The one you wore at work today. Where is it?"

    He frowned and felt confused as to why she was asking about it. But he still answered her. "It¡¯s in theundry hamper in our bathroom. Why?"

    She didn¡¯t reply, walking past him instead. She gestured for a maid and a houseboy to follow her.

    "Love? Can we talk, please? Wait for me." Jin Liwei followed and walked beside her.

    Of course, the drama-hungry Dom also followed after them. His sleepiness waspletely gone.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s lips pressed together into a thin line, and his hands clenched into tight fists. He wanted to pull his baby girl, to force her to stop and to listen to what he had to say. However, it was obvious that she didn¡¯t want him to touch her. He felt frustrated and also hurt. Not wanting to fight with her, especially in front of their household staff, he refrained from talking for now and just kept on following her in silence.

    Momentster, they finally arrived at their bedroom suite. Everyone followed Iris inside all the way to the bathroom. She marched towards theundry hamper. When she confirmed that Jin Liwei¡¯s business suit was inside, she turned to the maid and the houseboy.

    "Take this hamper and burn it. I want it burned until all the clothes inside turn into ashes. Understood?"

    "Yes, Mistress! Right away, Mistress!"

    Although the maid and the houseboy were confused as to why she wanted theundry hamper and the clothes burned, they immediately obeyed her order 100%, no questions asked. They started to carry the hamper out of the bathroom.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t understand what was going on. "Wait!"

    The maid and the houseboy paused.

    "What are you doing?" Jin Liwei asked his baby girl. "You have so many nice dresses and lingerie in there. Let me take them out first."

    "No! Don¡¯t touch them! You¡¯ll get dirty! I don¡¯t want them anymore. They¡¯re contaminated now. I¡¯ll just get new ones," she said. Then she pointed at his body. "Take off your clothes and go in the shower. I¡¯m going to wash and scrub you thoroughly until you¡¯re squeaky clean tonight!"

    His eyes went widened in surprise before darkening with desire. Then his mouth curved up into the faintest of smile.

    "But I already showered," he told her, even as his hands already started removing his shirt.

    "I need to wash you again myself to make sure that you¡¯repletely clean of that woman¡¯s contamination."

    "Hmm... Alright, love."

    The maid and the houseboy averted their eyes and hurried out of the bathroom.

    Dom snickered by the door. After giving a final "ehehehe", he followed the maid and the houseboy to give his boss and sir boss some privacy.

 Chapter 448 - Thoroughly Clean The Contamination

    <h4>Chapter 448 - Thoroughly Clean The Contamination </h4>

    Jin Liwei was already hard when Iris joined him in the shower after removing her clothes and makeup. He reached for her but she pped his hands away.

    "Be good. I need to wash and scrub you thoroughly to make sure you¡¯re clean. Don¡¯t distract me," she told him in a strict voice.

    "Hmm... Okay," he murmured while admiring her beautiful, naked body.

    His eyes lingered on her full, shapely breasts. He licked his lips slowly. His hands were itching to hold her soft mounds and to suck them with his mouth, but he controlled himself...for now.

    Anticipation bubbled within him, as he turned on the shower. Warm water began raining down, immediately drenching both of them. His earlier frustration and hurt were all being washed down the drain. This y that she was initiating was turning him on. He couldn¡¯t wait to be "thoroughly cleaned" by his baby girl.

    True to her word, Iris intended on washing and cleaning Jin Liwei until he waspletely clean from the imaginary stains that Rose Young left on his body. She poured a generous amount of men¡¯s body wash on her hand (Orchidia Beauty, of course) and began soaping his entire body. Then she started scrubbing him with a small towel, creating a thickther. Her movements were clinical, not seductive at all, even though Jin Liwei¡¯s little brother down below kept on waving at her, trying to get her attention.

    Focusing on his shoulder and arm that Rose Young touched, shescrubbed so hard that his skin turned raw.

    Despite this, he made no move to stop her. He just continued to watch her with half-lidded eyes, his breath lightly panting. The slight pain from her overscrubbing was nothing to the enjoyment he was feeling right now.

    Seeing his skin red and tender, Iris finally caught herself and stopped. She bit her lip and shed him an apologetic look before rinsing him off with water.

    Next, she started cleaning him with her mouth as well. She trailed wet kisses along his shoulder and arm, leaving small red love bites, marking her territory. Satisfied by her handiwork, she nodded and straightened.

    "There, you¡¯re clean now," she announced.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want it to be over yet, so he said, "Not yet. I think some microscopic dirt also contaminated me here." He pointed at his lips.

    A giggle escaped from her lips. She batted her eyes at him. "We can¡¯t have that. I must make you thoroughly clean."

    Then she pulled his head down and kissed him. She sucked and nibbled on his lips before stabbing her tongue and sweeping it inside his hot, eager mouth.

    He only allowed her to lead the kiss for a few seconds before taking over. He held her head with one hand and locked her in ce, as he nted his head and deepened the kiss. He devoured her sweet mouth like a hungry man who didn¡¯t eat for days. Meanwhile, his other hand started roaming her body. His hand traced her sexy curves and made its way to the curve of her buttocks. But before he could reach lower, she forcefully ended the kiss and stepped away, earning a frustrated growl from him.

    She wasn¡¯t at all bothered by his growl, even finding it cute.

    "You¡¯re clean now. Wait for me on the bed, darling. I¡¯m going to shower now," she told him.

    There was no way he was going to leave. "I¡¯m notpletely clean yet," he said.

    She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

    He began stroking his hard length in a slow and leisurely manner. "I think I¡¯m contaminated here, too. You need to finish cleaning me."

    Her eyes darkened with desire, looking entranced by what he was doing. "I see. You¡¯re very dirty today. That¡¯s why next time, don¡¯t allow anything¡ªor anyone¡ªfilthy to contaminate you. Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s very tiring for me to clean you up?"

    "En. Sorry, love. I¡¯ll be more careful next time. But if I get careless again, I¡¯ll have to trouble you to clean me up again." Then he urged her," Hurry. The contamination might spread."

    Giggling, she squatted in front of him until she was face to face with his "contaminated" hard length. Since he was so worried about being dirty, she decided to give him a double cleanse with her hands and mouth.

    He moaned and held her head, lightly grabbing her hair. He closed his eyes and panted more heavily. His hips began thrusting in time with the bobbing of her head. However, he stopped when she whined in protest.

    As the speed and suction force of her mouth increased, so did the sound volume of his groans and moans. His body started clenching and stiffening. He tried pulling her head away, but she held on to his legs and refused to let go.

    "Ah, fuck! Xin!"

    His eyes rolled to the back of his head, as he pumped his release inside her mouth while groaning deeply.

    Iris swallowed everything while watching him in the midst of his climax above her. She stood up when he was done.

    "Now you¡¯re clean."

    He grabbed her head and clumsily kissed her mouth, tasting a bit of himself in the process. Then he stood back, a satisfied smile on his face.

    "En. I feel very clean. Now it¡¯s my turn to clean you."

    "No need. I¡¯m not contaminated."

    "Yes, you are. You held hands with that rat."

    "Rat?" She tilted her head to the side before realizing what he meant. "You mean Brother Chonglin?"

    "En. He contaminated you. I need to clean you up, too."

    She giggled. "Okay."

    Now it was his turn to wash her. He was gentler with her than she was with him. They kissed each other, as hethered a different body wash (still Orchidia Beauty, of course) all over her body.

    Although his brother only "contaminated" her hand, Jin Liwei focused on "cleaning" her breasts and the apex between her thighs. He even inserted a finger inside just to make sure that everything was clean inside and out.

    "Let¡¯s finish showering and move to the bed," he told her in a low, husky voice after removing his finger inside her.

    A whine of protest escaped from her throat. She hadn¡¯t orgasmed yet but still nodded. It was morefortable on the bed, after all.

    They dried themselves in a hurry and thered lotion and moisturizers (Orchidia Beauty again, of course) all over their skin before stumbling their way to the bed.

    Iris fell on her back and Jin Liwei followed on top of her. They continued kissing and touching, their bodies tangling on top of the sheets. She felt him growing hard again.

    "Ketchup, cover your ears," Iris instructed.

    "Meow~ Yes, Mommy! Ketchup can¡¯t hear anything now unless Mommy or Daddy say the magic words," a child¡¯s voice replied.

    Iris had sessfully integrated Ketchup into their home security system, so she could be contacted from virtually every corner of the property.

    After protecting their third kitty baby¡¯s innocence, the parents resumed their lovemaking.

    Jin Liwei broke the kiss and moved down to focus on loving her breasts¡ªhis beloved and precious treasures. He kneaded them with his hands and sucked the nipples inside his mouth. He couldn¡¯t seem to get enough of them.

    One of his hands trailed down until it reached her wet entrance and started rubbing. When her hips moved up, silently asking for more, he slid a finger inside. He moved it in and out following a slow rhythm.

    "Oh..." Iris threw her head back on the bed, closed her eyes, and moaned deeply.

    He gave onest lick to her nipple before lifting his body from above her and moving farther down the bed. Then he spread her legs wide open and lowered his head to eat her. He licked and sucked her button of pleasure even as two of his fingers were thrusting inside her.

    A phone started ringing. It was Jin Liwei¡¯s phone on the bedside table. The ringtone indicated that it was a business call. The two were too busy, so they ignored it. The ringing stopped a few momentster.

    Iris grabbed his hair and moved her hips in a rhythmic dance, synchronizing with the movements of his mouth and fingers.

    "So good, darling...ah..."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s phone started ringing again. But just like before, they ignored it.

    Her moans only fueled his desire to pleasure her. Hepped up her sweet nectar with all he got.

    "Liwei! Oh Liwei!"

    The pleasure was building quickly inside her. She was close.

    So close.

    But then the damn phone started ringing again.

    Iris did her best to ignore it, focusing instead on reaching the peak of her pleasure.

    The ringing stopped.

    Her body started bucking and tightening. Jin Liwei increased the intensity, sucking harder and thrusting his fingers even faster.

    She was almost there.

    "Yes yes yes! Oh Liwei, I¡¯mi¡ª"

    Ring ring ring!

    The sted phone interrupted her concentration, making her fail to reach her climax.

    Frustrated, she roared, "WHO IS IT?!!!"

    Jin Liwei paused. "Love, ignore the phone. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll do it again until youe."

    The phone continued ringing, frustrating Iris even more. She was now in a bad mood.

    "Ketchup, who is it?" she asked.

    No answer.

    "I love you, Ketchup!" Iris said instead.

    "Magic words detected...

    "epted! I love you too, Mommy! Meow~

    "Ketchup can hear again. What can I do for you, Mommy? Meow~"

    Iris gently pushed Jin Liwei¡¯s head away. "Who¡¯s calling your dad?"

    "Meow~" Ketchup mentioned a name. It was one of Jin Liwei¡¯s fellow executives at work.

    Jin Liwei scowled at being interrupted. "Reject the call and put my phone on silent mode."

    "Meow~ Okay, Dad¡ª"

    "No, answer it. He keeps on calling. It must be important," Iris said.

    "Meow? Should Ketchup answer or not?"

    Jin Liwei sighed in regret when his baby girl closed her legs. "Answer it, Ketchup."

    "Okay, Daddy! Meow~ Answering the call in 3...2...1¡ª"

    "Hello, Big Brother Liwei? I mean President Jin," a familiar female voice spoke on the phone.

    Iris¡¯ expression contorted in fury and turned murderous. She shot a deadly re at Jin Liwei.

    "Love...I already instructed Ketchup to block her number earlier," he whispered to her. "It looks like she¡¯s using our colleague¡¯s phone now because she can¡¯t contact me with her own number anymore."

    Then it was his turn to re at his phone.

    In her anger, Iris threw a pillow at him. She wouldn¡¯t have been this mad if it weren¡¯t for the fact that she felt extremely frustrated by having her orgasm interrupted because of Rose Young. At the moment, Rose Young¡¯s image in Iris¡¯ mind had be that of a big, fat, and nasty cockroach. Not being able to reach climax filled Iris with hatred towards the woman.

    "Jin Liwei, I swear. If you don¡¯t deal with that woman quickly, I¡¯ll drive to where she¡¯s at right now and choke her to death," she hissed at him.

 Chapter 449 - Loose Woman

    <h4>Chapter 449 - Loose Woman </h4>

    Hearing Iris say that she would drive to where Rose Young was at and choke the woman to death, Jin Liwei knew that his baby girl was truly angered this time. Everyone in their household knew that she had a phobia of driving¡ªmeaning, she couldn¡¯t drive without freaking out¡ªand yet, here she was, saying that she would do just that in order to kill someone. This Rose Young had crossed her line tonight.

    Pissed off that his baby girl was mad at him and didn¡¯t want to make love anymore, Jin Liwei also wanted to choke Rose Young to death.

    "Hello? Big Brother¡ªI mean, President Jin, are you there?" Rose Young continued to talk on the phone. "I think something is wrong with my phone. I can¡¯t seem to contact you using it no matter how many times I try. So I asked our colleague if I could borrow his phone...."

    "Miss Young, why do you keep on calling me? Is there an emergency?" Jin Liwei finally spoke. He almost snarled but managed to control his temper just in case there really was a work emergency.

    He watched his baby girl climb off the bed and grab her satin robe hanging nearby. Her expression was cold as she put it on. He could feel her frustration and fury emanating from her in almost tangible waves.

    "No, I... Actually, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s an emergency but...I thought that it might bother you, that¡¯s why I keep on trying to contact you," Rose Young replied. "I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve seen them, but there are photos of us online¡ª"

    "I¡¯ve seen them. Is that all?" Jin Liwei cut her off.

    "What, really? You¡¯ve seen them?"

    Iris scowled. It was a very subtle change in tone, but she was able to detect Rose Young¡¯s excitement when Jin Liwei said that he had seen the photos.

    Rose Young continued in an "aggrieved" tone, "I don¡¯t know who posted them online, but they seem to know a lot about us. They even know the rtionship between our families. Did you read the apanying post? They¡¯re saying that I¡¯m your fianc¨¦e¡ª"

    "Miss Young, since it¡¯s not an emergency, I have no interest in listening to you any longer. Don¡¯t call or message me again. You even bothered our colleague and used his phone to contact me. So unprofessional," he scolded. "If you wish to discuss something with me about work, you can leave a message to my assistant. That¡¯s all¡ª"

    "Wait, Big Brother! I still have something¡ª"

    "Miss Young. Your name is Rose Young, am I correct?" Iris finally butted in the conversation. She strode like a queen, almost floating on the floor until she reached the bedside table where the phone was at.

    Silence descended in the bedroom. The only sound came from the gentle flowing water of the wall-mounted fountain.

    Rose Young didn¡¯t reply. It seemed that she was surprised that a female voice interrupted her call with Jin Liwei.

    "What¡¯s wrong, Miss Young? You were talking so much with MY fianc¨¦ just a few moments ago. Why aren¡¯t you talking anymore?" Iris asked in a cool, almost snooty tone.

    "Fi-fianc¨¦... Are you Big Brother¡¯s¡ª"

    "Yes, I¡¯m Jin Liwei¡¯s one and only fianc¨¦e. And why do you keep calling MY fianc¨¦ ¡¯Big Brother¡¯? Are you his sister? As far as I know, MY fianc¨¦ only has one sibling and that is Brother Chonglin. Aren¡¯t you the new CMO at Jin Corporation? Is it appropriate for you to call the President-CEO as ¡¯Big Brother¡¯? I can¡¯t believe that the board of directors would vote for someone who is so unprofessional."

    "Miss...uh, may I know your name?"

    "No, you may not," Iris replied without hesitation.

    Jin Liwei moved and sat on the edge of the bed. He pulled his baby girl to sit on hisp but she refused. However, she allowed him to ce her between his legs. She remained standing while he pressed his head against her soft chest and hugged her tiny waist. He allowed her to take over the phone conversation with Rose Young. His baby girl needed to vent some of her anger and frustration. Afterwards, he would deal with the woman as soon as possible so that she couldn¡¯t bother them anymore and make his baby girl mad again.

    A faint exhtion of disbelief sounded from the phone, then a deep intake of breath. "Fine. Miss, I assure you that I¡¯m a very professional businesswoman and fully qualified for my position as the new Chief Marketing Officer of Jin Corporation. My education, experience, and overall credentials are all top-notch¡ª"

    "How unfortunate that the morals aren¡¯t top-notch as well," Iris "murmured" in a clear voice.

    Another deep intake of breath from Rose Young. "What do you mean?"

    "Miss Young, let me ask you this. Are you aware that Jin Liwei is an engaged man? And that he already has a fianc¨¦e who he ns on marrying?"

    Rose Young didn¡¯t answer for a few seconds. Finally, she said, "Yes...I¡¯m aware..."

    Her reply sounded like she just forced herself to say it.

    "Oh? Really? You knew?" Iris acted like she was surprised. "I thought you didn¡¯t know from the way you¡¯ve been chasing after MY fianc¨¦."

    "I am NOT chasing¡ª"

    "Calling and messaging MY fianc¨¦ several times a day about something that is not work-rted, walking beside him, pretending to trip just to touch him, calling him ¡¯Big Brother and acting like you¡¯re close to him, borrowing someone else¡¯s phone just to call him at almost midnight when he already blocked your number because you¡¯re so annoying...what else? Oh right. Feeling happy that others mistook you as his fianc¨¦e."

    Iris felt Jin Liwei¡¯s arms tighten around her waist. She looked down and saw him frowning at Rose Young on the phone. He was about to open his mouth, but she quickly pressed a finger on his lips to prevent him from speaking. Then she pinched his earlobe, silently telling him to let her be the one to talk for now.

    "Tell me, Miss Young. What do you call a woman doing all of these just to catch the attention of a taken man? Are these something a moral woman would do? You just described yourself as a ¡¯very professional businesswoman¡¯, but all I see from my point of view is a loose woman trying to seduce my man."

    "L-loose woman?! How dare you call me a loose woman?! I¡¯m a member of the Young family!" Rose Young finally lost herposure.

    "What does being a member of the Young family have to do with you being a loose woman?" Iris asked, unperturbed. "I am just describing what I observe."

    "I deny your allegations. You are sorely mistaken and blinded by your own jealousy. Big Brother Liwei¡ªI mean President Jin and I are colleagues and friends¡ª"

    "We are not friends," Jin Liwei interrupted.

    "Big Brother Liwei!"

    "Stop calling me that. I¡¯m not your big brother."

    "I...alright. President Jin, have you been listening to our conversation the entire time?"

    "En."

    "Then please speak to your...to the person beside you to watch her words. She is letting her jealousy cloud her judgment and has used me of being something that I am not. President, this is defamation!" Rose Youngined to Jin Liwei.

    Iris snorted.

    "Miss Young, you are the one who should be watching your words," Jin Liwei warned her instead. "The person beside me is my fianc¨¦e, my future wife. using the future Madam Jin of defamation is not very smart."

    Rose Young was unable to reply back.

    Iris spoke again. "As far as I know, a rtionship is only meant for two people but unfortunately, it seems that some people don¡¯t know how to count. There is no room for one more in a rtionship between two people. Some people just keep on trying to insert themselves where they don¡¯t belong."

    They could hear Rose Young¡¯s deep and rapid breathing on the phone.

    Iris continued, "Miss Young, all I¡¯m saying is that regardless of background or achievements, I have no respect for women who go after taken men. For me, that is the very definition of a ¡¯loose woman¡¯."

    "I still deny your allegations. I am NOT a loose woman," Rose Young said in tight voice. "Miss, you are overthinking things because of jealousy. I suggest for you to cool your head first."

    "Jealous? Me? Of you?" Iris scoffed. "Don¡¯t think too highly of yourself. I¡¯m just being territorial and warning trespassers from encroaching on my territory. Miss Young, I¡¯m only going to say this one time so you better listen. Stay away from MY fianc¨¦, Jin Liwei, or you¡¯ll regret it. I don¡¯t give second warnings. That¡¯s all. Goodbye."

 Chapter 450 - Infiltrated

    <h4>Chapter 450 - Infiltrated </h4>

    Iris ended the phone call before Rose Young could reply.

    "Ketchup," she called.

    "Meow~ Yes, Mommy?"

    "Put Rose Young¡¯s name on our virtual ck notebook."

    "Recording the name of...Rose Young...to the virtual notebook...

    "New name added!

    "Done, Mommy! Meow~"

    Iris nodded and disentangled herself from Jin Liwei.

    "Ketchup, prepare theputer room," she instructed. "We¡¯ll work on destroying Rose Young tonight."

    "Ehehehe. Yes, Mommy! Ketchup is excited! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei stood. He didn¡¯t react much upon hearing that his baby girl put Rose Young¡¯s name on her virtual ck notebook. He couldn¡¯t care less about the woman. However, he cared very much about his baby girl¡¯s health, so he tried to dy her n.

    "Love, it¡¯s already sote. It¡¯s midnight now. If you do that now, who knows what time you¡¯ll finish? Both of us have an early start for work tomorrow. Let¡¯s sleep for now, okay?"

    Iris waspletely in a bad mood. She still hadn¡¯t recovered from her failure to orgasmearlier because of Rose Young. Her temper was not the best right now. However, she didn¡¯t want to fight with Jin Liwei. With a cold expression, she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

    "I¡¯ll be fine. Go to sleep now, darling. Ketchup is helping me so it should be quick this time. I¡¯ll return and sleep with you when we¡¯re done."

    "Meow~ Yes, Daddy! Ketchup has gotten so much smarterpared to the first time you met me! Ketchup will do her best to help Mommy finish this task as quickly as possible! Meow~"

    Still, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t give up just yet.

    "You have a very busy work schedule this month. Don¡¯t waste your time with someone insignificant like Rose Young. She¡¯s not worth your precious time, love. I¡¯ll fire her first thing in the morning. I don¡¯t care if the board of directors protests against my decision. If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just trouble Grandpa Lu to involve himself in thepany again. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯lle to our aid if I exin the situation to him. You¡¯re his current favourite grandchild. He won¡¯t say no if it concerns you. So don¡¯t worry about that woman anymore. Let¡¯s sleep and rest tonight. Okay, love?"

    Iris¡¯ expression didn¡¯t change. She tightened the sash of her satin robe and looked for her fluffy indoor slippers. Then she nced at him.

    "Do what you think is best. I¡¯ll do what I think best as well," she said. "You go to sleep first, darling. Goodnight."

    Then she walked out of the bedroom.

    Jin Liwei sighed, already knowing that he couldn¡¯t persuade her this time. He was just worried about her. She had a history of sudden health failures resulting in fainting episodes and evena. Anything that might cause her health to suffer troubled him to no end. In addition, she was the type who valued sleep very highly. His baby girl foregoing sleep to do something else was, of course, a cause of great concern for him.

    Although he already epted her decision to skip sleep tonight, he had no intention of leaving her alone so that he could sleep himself. He hurriedly grabbed his own satin robe and wore it over his naked body.

    He was on his way to follow his baby girl when his phone started ringing again. It was his fellow executive¡¯s number, the same one Rose Young used to call just a few moments ago. Jin Liwei scowled and grabbed his phone, intending to block the number. But before he could do so, the ringing stopped, followed by a short ding. It was a text message.

    His colleague, not Rose Young but the actual owner of the phone, was apologizing for what happened. The man didn¡¯t expect that Rose Young would create so much trouble with Jin Liwei and his fianc¨¦e.

    Jin Liwei only thought for a moment about the apology before blocking the man¡¯s number. If the man wanted to contact Jin Liwei, he would need to do so through Xu Tian from now on.

    His baby girl was already gone, so he slipped the phone in his robe¡¯s pocket, and then followed after her.

    Theputer room was closed and locked when he arrived. He was about to press the built-in inte but the door clicked open before he could do so.

    "Meow~ Mommy says Daddy cane inside, but don¡¯t disturb her," Ketchup informed him.

    "En. I understand," Jin Liwei replied.

    The heavy, bullet-proof, stainless steel door fully opened to let him in.

    Theputer room in the mansion was several times bigger than the one at the penthouse. While the one at the penthouse was basically just a single room, thisputer room was actually more like a suite. There were several interconnected rooms, so Jin Liwei had to navigate the ce a bit before he finally found his baby girl.

    She was sitting on her ergonomic chair...a more apt description would be that she was reclining on herrge ergonomicputer station which looked like a futuristic cabin seat. Several keyboards surrounded her inyers. She could easily move theyers to change keyboards without interrupting her work. In front of her was a wallpletely covered with t screenputer monitors.

    Her fingers were typing so fast that they were like a blur to Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes. He quietly walked to her and kissed her cheek. He thought that she was going to ignore him, but she slightly turned her head towards him and puckered her lips, silently asking him to kiss her there. She did this without taking her eyes off from what she was doing. Of course, he gave her what he wanted and kissed her on the lips.

    After that, he didn¡¯t bother her again. He nced at theputer monitors. They were all information about Rose Young. He didn¡¯t care about the woman, so none of the information interested him. If destroying the woman would give his baby girl peace, then he would just let her do whatever she wanted. He already made up his mind to fire Rose Young in the morning, anyway.

    Since he didn¡¯t want to sleep while his baby girl was busy working, he decided to spend his time in a productive way instead. He asked Ketchup to direct him to aputer station he could use. It was one of the most basic ones in the ce, but at least it also had thefortable ergonomic cabin-like seat. He might as wellplete some work while he was here. After a while, he also became absorbed in his own work.

    The couple worked on their own respective tasks.

    "Meow? Mommy, Ketchup has found something!"

    "Send it here."

    A few secondster...

    "Darling?" Iris called for Jin Liwei. "Can youe here for a moment?"

    He paused his work and went to her. "What is it?" he asked.

    "Look at this."

    It took him almost a minute before he understood what he was looking at. They were data from Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch. The Youngs were basically the ones running it. Rose Young worked as the head manager of the Marketing Department before she got promoted to work as CMO at the main headquarters in China.

    Iris pointed at one of theputer monitors. "See here. Ketchup found several traces of digital footprints nearly identical to the hacker Eagle even before he hacked into Jin Corporation and several other toppanies in the country this past summer."

    He frowned. "The son of a bitch hacked into our Singapore branch?"

    "Hmm... I wouldn¡¯t call this hacking. Someone gave him full ess to the system. It¡¯s like giving a key to a thief and then rolling the red carpet when he enters your home."

    "What?!"

    Iris tilted her head to side, studying the data Ketchup had gathered so far. Iris was also helping speed up the process, but otherwise allowed Ketchup to do the bulk of the work in order to aid her self-learning function. Iris only provided the guidance.

    "It¡¯s not only Eagle. There are also others... I¡¯m not familiar with any of these digital footprints." She looked at him. "Darling, they¡¯ve infiltrated Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch. Hm?"

    She narrowed her eyes, noticing something. Her fingers flew over the keyboard. Momentster, apletely new set of data appeared on theputer monitor directly in front of them.

    Jin Liwei also saw it. His frown only deepened. "I¡¯m aware that the Singapore branch hires a lot of foreign employees, but the reports sent to me didn¡¯t show this! Who are all these people? Where did theye from? They¡¯re all young and yet they already hold such high positions? Where are the older employees? What happened to them?"

    The more Jin Liwei looked at the data, the more uneasy and confused he felt. This was such a weird situation.

    "I should¡¯ve paid more attention to the Singapore branch," he said.

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s your fault, darling. I detect traces of falsifying information within the branch¡¯s system itself. Whoever did it don¡¯t want you to know," she told him. Then she instructed her virtual cat, "Ketchup, help me find more information about the Young family, especially those who are working or have worked at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch."

    "Okay, Mommy! Meow~"

    One of the side monitors showed the white cat lying on its belly like a sphinx. Her green eyes glowed brightly, as she focused on the new task her mommy gave her.

    Almost immediately, information about Rose Young¡¯s father, the current head of the Singapore branch, started flooding the monitors. It wasn¡¯t only him. Ketchup unearthed a slew of unorganized information about various members of the Young family. Of course, it included Rose Young¡¯s as well.

    This time, Jin Liwei helped his wife and child in organizing and making sense of all the information. He wanted to know what the hell the Youngs had been doing with the Singapore branch of hispany.

    Then all of a sudden, Iris jolted on her seat and shouted.

    "Ketchup, stop! Retreat! Retreat now!! No!!!"

 Chapter 451 - Must Protec

    <h4>Chapter 451 - Must Protec </h4>

    Ketchup immediately obeyed her mommy¡¯s order. She abandoned her task and retreated, quickly heading her way back to the safety of their homework. Unfortunately, she was unable to poof out of her current predicament. She had been more or less locked inside the virtual ce she was in. Even her emergency escape doors were either corrupted orpletely destroyed.

    It wasn¡¯t that Ketchup had been careless. Not at all. Iris programmed Ketchup to apply all safety precautions of the highest level first before performing any task, no matter how simple orplex it was. Not to mention that Iris was also present this time to oversee the situation and to make sure that Ketchup was performing exactly as she was instructed.

    Just a few moments ago, Ketchup had been digging and gathering information about the members of the Young family who had history working for the Singapore branch of Jin Corporation. Since Iris didn¡¯t give her any specific type of information to focus on, Ketchup randomly collected anything that sheid her paws on.

    Everything was going smoothly...until Ketchup triggered some type of an intrusion detection system (IDS). It was hidden and very sophisticated that even an advanced AI like Ketchup failed to detect it in time.

    Usually, Ketchup was able to circumvent or evenpletely disable any IDS because Iris had stored several ways to do so in her cat AI¡¯s extensive database which continued to grow each day through self-learning. This IDS, however, wasn¡¯t something Ketchup recognized. No matches were found in her own database. It was apletely new, never-before-seen IDS that was practically undetectable by hackers before triggering it.

    It wasn¡¯t Ketchup¡¯s fault, nor was it Iris¡¯.

    The IDS was just that powerful. After triggering it, Ketchup instantaneously became the target of a malicious attack. This was the moment Iris reacted and shouted at Ketchup to retreat.

    Back to the present, Iris immediately went into full hacker-mode in order to protect and retrieve Ketchup from her precarious situation. Ketchup wasn¡¯t equipped to deal with such forceful and malicious attacks from an unknown source, so Iris had to manually defend her. Iris¡¯ fingers flew over several keyboards in front of her in a blur. Her expression showed that she was in deep concentration.

    Jin Liwei stood beside her and watched her in action. He didn¡¯t dare make any sudden movements or noise that might disturb his baby girl and break her concentration. Her earlier shout had rmed him. He looked at the image of Ketchup in one of theputer monitors on the side.

    The white caty unmoving in her earlier sphinx-like position. Her green eyes lost their usual glow. They became dull and frozen instead. Her expression was nk, not animated like usual. It was as if her soul had left her body.

    Jin Liwei knew that she was just an AI, not a real cat or person, so it was impossible for her to have her own soul. Nevertheless, he and Iris still treated her like their own child¡ªa very smart one at that. Everyone in both their households also interacted with Ketchup like a human, even more so than they did with Ice Cream and Popcorn because she could hold an actual conversation with them.

    Jin Liwei had actually grown to love a virtual cat as if it was his own child. In a normal situation, he would think that it was something ridiculous and even childish. It was simr to those news reports about weird people marrying anime characters. But ever since he fell in love with his baby girl, there wasn¡¯t anything normal about their lives anymore.

    He was engaged to marry one of the most brilliant yet dangerous hackers in the whole world. He had confirmed that she was the real Drakon. Not to mention that she was also a student of the legendary school of geniuses, Cross Academy. She also made him a father of three kids (so far)¡ªtwo live cats and a virtual one. Her entricities influenced him to adjust his own definition of what was weird and what was normal.

    Ketchup might be weird to others but for him, his baby girl, and everyone in both their households, the virtual white cat was an important member of their family. No matter what others thought, Ketchup was his child with Long Xin! He didn¡¯t want anything bad to happen to their child. Seeing Ketchup¡¯s almost lifeless appearance on theputer monitor filled him with a parental kind of fear.

    Jin Liwei gripped the edge of the ergonomic chair, mentally sending his baby girl strength to defend their third child from danger. He was worried, but he believed in her hacking skills.

    ¡¯You can do it, love,¡¯ he silently cheered for her.

    As for Iris, she had already figured out the pattern in the automatic attacks on Ketchup. The attacks may seem random at first, but a hacking-aid software she developed had sessfully calcted the attacks¡¯ algorithm.

    Iris was about to activate Ketchup again and feed her the algorithm so that she could also start defending herself, when the attacks suddenly changed patterns and even increased in intensity. The attacks this time no longer felt random but targeted and more vicious.

    "It¡¯s a person!" Iris eximed.

    Her fingers increased in speed and became more fluid, as they flew all over the several keyboards surrounding her. She entered a deeper level of concentration. Although her body wasn¡¯t tense and was performing in its optimal state, the deepening furrow between her brows and the droplets of sweat trickling down her forehead and back showed that she was actually struggling against the enemy hacker.

    "Must protect Ketchup, must not let her be discovered, must not let anyone steal her..." she muttered like a mantra, even as her entire aura began to change.

    The furrow between her brows smoothed out. Her expression became cold, and her movements more mechanical. It was like she had transformed into a highly efficient robot. She even stopped sweating.

    Jin Liwei, who was standing beside her and was watching her the whole time, frowned and did a double take. Then he rubbed his eyes and looked at her again.

    For a moment, he thought he saw a beautiful but emotionless blonde woman instead of his baby girl. But when he looked again, it was still his beautiful Long Xin. He shook his head at what he thought was his overactive imagination.

    ¡¯I must be tired. My eyes are ying tricks on me,¡¯ he thought to himself.

 Chapter 452 - Evolution

    <h4>Chapter 452 - Evolution </h4>

    Hours passed and yet Iris continued to battle the unknown hacker. She barely moved from her reclining position on the ergonomic chair. Her hands and eyes were the only parts of her body that were visibly moving.

    Jin Liwei had to take a closer look at the up and down movements of her chest and shoulders just to make sure that she was still breathing. It was a little disconcerting to watch her so still...and so cold and emotionless. It didn¡¯t feel like she was human anymore but a robot instead.

    He was reminded of the time when the two of them were just getting to know each other. She often demonstrated this kind of cold and detached personality back then. But even so, her natural gentleness, innocence and curiosity would still surface. He had witnessed her gradually opening up and bing more expressive as their rtionship progressed. It gave him a great sense of satisfaction, as he believed that it was a result of her falling in love with him.

    Comparing to how she was then and now, she was like apletely different person. But it wasn¡¯t just her who had changed. He also did. Both of them did.

    Although his baby girl appeared to have reverted to a more extreme version of her cold and detached self from before, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t feel too bothered. This was also a part of her, and he epted it. He loved everything about her.

    If it weren¡¯t for the clock showing the time, he would¡¯ve thought that they had been inside theputer room for days. Now he understood when his baby girl tried to exin to him that she would often lose track of time whenever she was working on something inside theputer room. It was difficult to retain the concept of time in such an isted ce like this. He felt like they were in another dimension separate from the rest of the real world.

    Finally, Iris slowed down. Her hands¡¯ movements became more rxed. The tense and anxiety-inducing atmosphere also began to disperse.However, she still didn¡¯t stop and remained robotic.

    Momentster, the seemingly lifeless Ketchup stirred. Her dull green eyes glowed brightly once again and her tail started swishing slowly from side to side. She released a tiny mewl. If it wasn¡¯t so quiet in the room, Jin Liwei would probably not have heard her.

    "Ketchup," he whispered, feeling a great sense of relief hearing such a tiny sound from the virtual white cat.

    "Meow... Daddy..." she replied softly.

    "Ketchup, run a full diagnostic scan on yourself," Iris¡¯ cold voice ordered. Her fingers continued tapping on a keyboard, but in a slower pace this time.

    The white cat mewled again.

    "Yes, Mommy...

    "Running full diagnostic scan starting now...

    "0%...

    "37%...

    "96%...

    "100%...

    "Full scanpleted!"

    Then Ketchup started reporting the diagnostic scan results to Iris. Basically, she suffered no data loss or corruption of any kind on her system. She was just currently experiencing a slightg in performance from having to abort her task so abruptly and entering self-protection mode to allow Iris to defend her from the malicious attacks.

    Jin Liwei sighed in relief. He nced at his baby girl who was still looking cold and emotionless. Not feeling intimidated by her at all, even finding her more attractive than usual, he leaned down and kissed the corner of her lips.

    Her fingers froze on top of the keyboard. She turned her head for the first time ever since the hacking battle started and looked at him with cold eyes.

    This time, he kissed her fully on the lips. She didn¡¯t react, but he didn¡¯t mind. He figured that she was still a little out of herself from concentrating too much earlier.

    "You¡¯ve worked hard, love," he murmured. "Thanks for protecting Ketchup."

    Her eyes trembled a bit, finally showing emotion. Then gentleness reced the coldness. A faint smile graced her lips.

    "Let me finish this up first. I¡¯ll tell you what happenedter," she told him in a whisper. Her voice sounded hoarse.

    "En."

    He gave a quick peck on the lips before leaving her for a few moments. He looked around the other rooms until he found a kitchte. He filled an empty water bottle with chilled water and drank. After he emptied the bottle, he filled it again, but this time with room temperature water. Then he returned to his baby girl.

    Later, Iris finally finished what she was doing. Jin Liwei immediately helped her drink the water he brought. She drank thirstily, finishing the entire bottle. Afterwards, she leaned against Jin Liwei and released a big sigh of relief.

    He squeezed himself on the seat, taking over it, and then pulled her to sit on hisp instead. He embraced her while giving her exhausted hands a gentle massage.

    "He almost found out about Ketchup. If I didn¡¯t make it in time and made it appear as if I was the one hacking in the first ce, he would¡¯ve gotten Ketchup." She looked at him and grabbed the front of his robe. "Darling, he almost got our baby!"

    "But he didn¡¯t," he told her while stroking her face and trying tofort her.

    The white cat stood on its four paws. "Meow~ Ketchup will work hard to grow into a smarter and more powerful kitty, so that Mommy won¡¯t have toe to my rescue anymore. Ketchup will be the one to protect Mommy and Daddy next time. Meow~"

    Iris only smiled.

    "En," Jin Liwei replied with a nod.

    At that moment, the white cat¡¯s form transformed a bit. The changes were so subtle that even Iris, the cat AI¡¯s creator, didn¡¯t notice them at this moment. Ketchup became a little bigger, longer and sleeker. Her beautiful green eyes became less round and developed a slight silvery glow.

    These changes were urring at the same time that Ketchup was processing the data from the hacking battle earlier. Iris had fed her the data so that she could protect herself against simr attacks in the future.

    Ketchup had started evolving, but her parents hadn¡¯t noticed anything...yet.

 Chapter 453 - One Of The Old Guys

    <h4>Chapter 453 - One Of The Old Guys </h4>

    While Ketchup was focusing on her secret evolution, Iris and Jin Liwei began talking about the hacking battle.

    "Was it Eagle?" Jin Liwei asked. "It¡¯s clear from our findings tonight that Eagle¡ªthat son of a bitch¡ªis in collusion with those damn Youngs. And they¡¯re doing it in the Singapore branch of MYpany!"

    Iris rested her head against his shoulder, feeling exhausted. The battle earlier took a lot out of her. She felt drained of almost all her energy.

    "No, it¡¯s not him. Eagle doesn¡¯t have the ability to give me this much trouble," she told him.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Then who is it?"

    "There are only a handful of hackers in the world who can make me struggle so much like this against them. And they¡¯re those old guys. I don¡¯t really know what their actual ages are, but they¡¯ve been in this field for far longer than I am. That¡¯s why I call them the ¡¯old guys¡¯. I heard rumours that Cross Academy recruited all of them but none epted. I was the only one who did. Before I came, Cross Academy would asionally hire them for some frence work."

    "So do you recognize the hacker you battled earlier?" he asked.

    She shook her head. "Hackers of our level can mask all of our actions, even our own distinct styles if we really want to. We just don¡¯t bother masking our styles because we don¡¯t mind being recognized. This time, however, both of us masked our own styles. I didn¡¯t recognize him, and I¡¯m certain that he didn¡¯t recognize me either."

    "Then that¡¯s good, isn¡¯t it? That he didn¡¯t recognize you," he said.

    She nodded.

    ¡¯Of course, it¡¯s good. Those old guys would surely pop out from wherever they¡¯re hiding and investigate once they discover traces of Fantom being active again. It¡¯s best to make everyone believe that Fantom is dead,¡¯ she thought.

    Although Drakon was currently well-respected and idolized in the hackingmunity, (s)he still wasn¡¯t considered to be on the same level as the legendary Fantom. Other hackers only deemed Drakon as having the potential to reach Fantom¡¯s level someday.

    "Unless there¡¯s a new hacker who recently reached the most elite level in recent years, I can¡¯t think of anyone other than one of those old guys who could give me this much trouble. Eagle doesn¡¯t even have the right to bepared to any of those old guys¡ªand me, of course. They¡¯re not only many times more troublesome to deal with than Eagle but they¡¯re also more dangerous," she told Jin Liwei.

    He thought about what she said. "If the hacker you just battled is as amazing as you said, then why does it look like he¡¯s protecting the Youngs? Ketchup got attacked because she was digging information about members of that damn family. How were they able to connect with such a fearsome hacker?"

    "I don¡¯t know. I think he¡¯s also connected with Eagle and the other hackers I discovered in Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch." Then she gripped her hold on his robe. "We don¡¯t know their motives yet, but if their intention is to harm Jin Corporation, then you must be very careful. As the President-CEO, you¡¯re a prime target. It¡¯s very dangerous if one of those old guys¡ªif the hacker is really one of them¡ªtreat you as an enemy. Even Grandpa Lu would be helpless if they target him. After all, he¡¯s not a hacker. I¡¯m worried about you, darling."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned grave after hearing what she said. However, his eyes still became gentle as he looked at her worried expression for him.

    He told her, "Don¡¯t worry too much about me¡ª"

    "Of course I¡¯m going to worry about you! I love you!"

    His eyes widened before the corners of his mouth curved upward into a smile. "I love you, too. So much. Yes, this is love. You worry about me and I worry about you."

    Then he suddenly remembered the self-deleting text message his Fifth Brother, Lu Zihao, sent him in the summer. Maybe this was what he was talking about when he said that Eagle had a possibly dangerous background. It just turned out that it wasn¡¯t Eagle himself who was dangerous but the formidable hacker behind him.

    Lu Zihao told him back then that he would be returning soon, but so far he hadn¡¯t yet. Both he and his baby girl tried contacting him to ask him why he hadn¡¯t returned yet, but he kept on telling them some sort of excuses.

    "Soon," he would always tell them.

    Jin Liwei felt a little pissed off at his Fifth Brother because his baby girl had been looking forward to his return so much only to be disappointed time and again.

    ¡¯When that punk returns, I¡¯ll give him a piece of my mind,¡¯ he thought.

    Then he thought of something else.

    "Love, since we now know that the Youngs have been doing so many suspicious activities in the Singapore branch, I¡¯ll immediately remove them from their positions and ban them from working at any Jin Corporation branches and our affiliatedpanies. Most importantly, I¡¯ll fire that Rose Young as soon as I get to work in a few hours so that she won¡¯t be able to bother us anymore," he told her.

    "No!"

    Jin Liwei was surprised. He frowned. "Why?"

    "Darling, that hacker is protecting the Youngs including Rose Young. If he really is one of those old guys, then the situation isn¡¯t as easy to solve as it looks. If you fire Rose Young and remove her family from power at the Singapore branch, then the hacker will surely be suspicious and investigate you¡ªor worse, maybe even harm you.

    "Just like how I have the ability to destroy Jin Corporation, he can also do it if he really wanted to. If I battle against him next time, I¡¯m not even sure how it will turn out. He¡¯s that formidable, darling. Any one of those old guys are all formidable. Nobody really won during our battle this time because I was too focused on escaping with Ketchup instead of defeating him."

    The frown on Jin Liwei¡¯s face only deepened after hearing her exnation. He clearly didn¡¯t like the thought of allowing Rose Young and her family to continue working for Jin Corporation. It was like knowing one¡¯s house was infested with pests but doing nothing about it.

    Seeing his expression, Iris sighed. She framed his face between her hands.

    "I know that it doesn¡¯t feel good to keep traitors by your side, but we have to know first what the Youngs are nning and how they¡¯re connected with the hacker I battled earlier and also with Eagle and the others. Besides, now that we know they¡¯re up to no good, we can closely monitor them and be ready when they start to act on whatever evil scheme they¡¯re nning," she told him.

    He also sighed. Then he ced his hands on her hands framing his face and turned his head to kiss one of her palms.

    "What you mean is ¡¯keep your friends close and your enemies closer¡¯, isn¡¯t it?"

    She nodded.

    He sighed again. "I understand your n, but I don¡¯t like it. I prefer to cut the problem at its roots to prevent it from growing."

    "I know. I also prefer your n, but the problem is that we might be dealing with one of those old guys. I am confident in my own skills to go head to head against him, but I can¡¯t guarantee that I¡¯ll win 100% of the time. The stakes are too high if I lose. We might lose Jin Corporation and also endanger our safety if the enemies really want to harm us. I would choose your n, if it weren¡¯t for the possibility that one of those old guys might be involved. If one of them is really involved with the Youngs, then it¡¯s safer for us to choose my n. I don¡¯t like it either, but it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry," she told him.

    He sighed several times before nodding. "Alright. But you have to be careful, love. I can lose everything, including Jin Corporation, but I can¡¯t bear it if I ever lose you."

    She nodded. "Be careful, too. I also can¡¯t bear it if I ever lose you."

    They embraced, just savouring each other¡¯s warmth and presence.

    A few momentster, Iris remembered something.

    "Darling, help me sneak into Jin Corporation. Its current security system that I developed during the summer might be enough to block someone like Eagle, but it certainly won¡¯t be able to stop one of those old guys. I need to update it from the inside."

    "Alright," he said and paused. Then he told her, "You don¡¯t need to sneak in. Just walk in. You¡¯re their future Madam. There¡¯s no need to sneak in like a thief."

 Chapter 454 - Not A Daycare

    <h4>Chapter 454 - Not A Daycare </h4>

    Iris giggled.

    "Yes, Mr. Jin. I am indeed the future Madam Jin. And yes, I n on just walking into Jin Corporation for everyone to see after we officially announce our rtionship to the public. Soon."

    "En, soon. I can¡¯t wait," Jin Liwei said. "Alright. I¡¯ll arrange for you to sneak in whenever you want. I¡¯ll contact Gu Chang and Diao Yijue to apany you inside."

    She nodded. Then she tilted her head to the side, as a thought entered her mind. "Since we now know that Eagle has been tampering with the Singapore branch¡¯s system, then maybe his real target is Jin Corporation and that the hacking on the otherpanies is just a front."

    "Hmm... Or maybe the targets are all the toppanies in the country," he said.

    "Oh. Let me check."

    She immediately did a quick check while still sitting on hisp. Indeed, she found traces of Eagle on the other toppanies¡¯ branches in different parts of the world. Like the Singapore branch, it seemed that he had been given ess by someone from the inside.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became grave after she told him of her findings.

    "It seems like we¡¯re up against something much bigger than we first thought. It¡¯s not only the Youngs. There are also a lot of others conspiring with this...power. If their goal is to control the country¡¯s business sector, then taking over the toppanies is the way to go. Control the toppanies of a country and you basically control its economy," he said.

    Both of them were quiet after he said this. If this was before, Iris wouldn¡¯t care about something like the economy. However, she was now a full-fledged businesswoman. She had no choice but to care about the state of the economy.

    Afterwards, Iris spent a few minutes strengthening Ketchup¡¯s security. She did notice some minute differences in Ketchup¡¯s properties, but she dismissed it as the natural effect of the self-learning function. The differences were so subtle that it didn¡¯t make Iris concerned.

    The attack on Ketchup earlier made Iris more protective towards her. Ketchup was like the culmination of Iris¡¯ hacking skills and experience so far. She wouldn¡¯t let anyone obtain her cat AI¡ªno, her baby.

    If the hacker earlier was really one of those old guys, then they would definitely want Ketchup for themselves if they ever discover her. They were fun to challenge her skills and topare notes with, but as enemies, even Iris felt wary of them. If they got their hands on Ketchup, they would surely transform her into somethingpletely unrecognizable.

    Finally done for the night, Iris and Jin Liwei prepared to leave theputer room and return to their bedroom. They could still sleep for about a couple of hours before they both needed to wake up again for another workday.

    "Meow~ Goodnight, Mommy! Goodnight, Daddy! Ketchup will wake you in 1 hour and 49 minutes."

    After saying goodnight to their kid, the two left.

    ###

    In the bedroom.

    Jin Liwei carried his exhausted baby girl towards the bed. She was almost asleep but still waited until both of them were lying on the bed together.

    "Hm? What¡¯s wrong, darling?" she asked sleepily after noticing that he was staring intently at her face.

    "Nothing," he said. He paused for a few seconds before deciding to be honest. "Actually, I had this weird experience earlier. I¡¯m sure that it was just my eyes ying tricks on me."

    "What is it?" she asked, trying to stay awake to listen to what he had to say.

    "While you were battling the hacker earlier, I thought I saw a blonde woman instead of you," he told her.

    Iris stiffened and gasped softly.

    Of course, he noticed her reaction. However, he thought that she was angry at him, so he hurriedly said, "I¡¯m not fantasizing about a foreign woman or anything like that. Like I said, it was just my eyes ying tricks on me."

    She didn¡¯t say anything. She just looked at him with a sense of wonder.

    As for Jin Liwei, he also looked at her, trying to detect if she was mad at him.

    "Darling..." she finally started speaking again.

    "Yes, love?"

    "That was actually me, too. I¡¯ve always been a blonde on the inside."

    He blinked several times before a wide grin broke out of his face. Then he chuckled softly. "I see. What a hot blonde you are. But no matter if you¡¯re blonde or brte or a redhead, or even if you¡¯repletely bald, I¡¯ll still love you because you¡¯re uniquely you."

    Iris knew that he must have thought she was just joking. But even so, she didn¡¯t mind. His words delighted her.

    "I love you, too. Goodnight, darling," she whispered to him, a sleepy smile on her face.

    "Mmmn. I love you more. Goodnight, love."

    The lovers slept in each other¡¯s arms.

    ###

    In the next few days, Iris and Jin Liwei returned to work like usual. They were both very busy. Iris had a lot of workmitments this season, not to mention that she was also busy with herpanies. As for Jin Liwei, he had to increase his workload because he would be taking a break at around the end of the month for their much-anticipated n.

    Despite their busy schedules, Iris still found the time to sneak into Jin Corporation a few times¡ªmostly at night¡ªto upgrade thepany¡¯s security system. Jin Liwei, Gu Chang and Diao Yijue apanied her and made sure that nobody except them knew about her presence.

    The new upgraded system might not offer 100% protection against the formidable hacker, but at least it would give him a bit of trouble until Iris arrived to personally battle against him again. In addition to this, she also increased the monitoring on Rose Young¡¯s activities within thepany.

    This system upgrade went unnoticed by most of Jin Corporation¡¯s employees, except for those working in the IT and security departments. What almost everyone noticed, however, was their President tantly disregarding CMO Young¡¯s existence.

    He didn¡¯t even want to speak directly to her, preferring to use his assistant Xu Tian as a spokesperson instead. It came to a point that Rose Young started beingughed at by the other employees behind her back, especially the female and bent ones who had crushes on their President Jin.

    "And here I thought that Miss Young is really the President¡¯s fianc¨¦e. You saw that post on the gossip forum too, right?"

    "Yeah. But the post and the photos are all gone now, even the ones that had been reposted on other websites. I checked so many times but I can¡¯t find them."

    "Who cares about those photos when there¡¯s a video of what really happened?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Wait, don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t see? It was only up for about a couple of hours before it was taken down by the user who uploaded it. But there are still a lot of people who saw them including me. A user called KittyBaby posted a clip from a surveince video footage at the hotel where President Jin and Miss Young have been seen together. It turns out that it wasn¡¯t really a date but a business lunch at the hotel restaurant. Mr. Xu Tian and the other executives were together with them but they were cropped out of the photos. It seems that the photographer intended for people to misunderstand the photos."

    "Really? So what happened in the video?"

    The woman told her colleagues about how Rose Young pretended to trip just so she could hold onto their President Jin¡¯s arm.

    "Let me tell you, it was so fake! I booed when I watched it. The President was a gentleman, helping her stabilize her footing when it wasn¡¯t even unstable in the first ce. But Iughed when he dusted his clothes afterwards as if her hands which touched him were dirty. I wish he just pushed her away instead, though."

    "That really happened? Wow! She¡¯s the CMO and yet she¡¯s acting like a total hussy. Everyone in thepany knows that the President is engaged and that he¡¯s in love with his fianc¨¦e, and yet she¡¯s still continuing to chase him? But look at her now. The President doesn¡¯t event want to acknowledge her existence anymore."

    "Hmph! That¡¯s what she gets for lusting after the President. All of us here could only look at his shoes, and yet she thinks that she can actually touch him? Who does she think she is? Being the CMO doesn¡¯t give her the right to touch the president so casually. She should also go to a temple and cleanse her dirty mind! If not, the evil demon with the robotic voice should haunt her and make her go insane. That¡¯ll teach her not to act so close to the President."

    These employees continued to gossip and ridicule Rose Young. Although they were careful not to talk in her presence, she was still aware that they wereughing at her. Of course it upset her.

    It wasn¡¯t only her. Even some of the members from the board of directors who championed for her appointment as CMO became upset. A number of them were Jin rtives and were close friends with Rose Young¡¯s maternal side of the family. They met with Jin Liwei at his office toin.

    Jin Liwei looked at them with a colder and more intimidating expression than usual.

    "Where in ourpany¡¯s policy does it say that the President-CEO must spoil and baby the CMO? Show me," he challenged them. "Jin Corporation is a multinationalpany, not a daycare. Is she a special child with special needs who has to have constant attention and care? She is the CMO you voted into the position, not a princess that everyone must bow down to."

    With that, everyone was now certain that President Jin didn¡¯t like Rose Young. Maybe he even hated her.

 Chapter 455 - Rose Youngs Dream Part I

    <h4>Chapter 455 - Rose Young''s Dream Part I </h4>

    Jazz music softly yed throughout the dimly-lit high-ss bar. It wasn¡¯tbelled as an "exclusive" bar, but only those with deep pockets could afford its price tags on the drinks, snacks, entertainment and the ambience. At the moment, there weren¡¯t a lot of people, so the atmosphere was mellow and easy-going. The bartender wasn¡¯t rushing to finish orders and was even chatting with the guests.

    Rose Young was currently at this bar, waiting for her friend to arrive. She was wearing a little ck dress with a plunging neckline. There was no worry of breasts identally popping out because she didn¡¯t have any. Her body might be t on both the bust and the butt, but at least she had a pretty face. She wasn¡¯t drop-dead gorgeous in any way, but as a sessful business executive, she had the alluring aura of an ambitious and independent woman about her.

    There were certainly a few men in the bar who tried hitting on her, only to be tly rejected.

    First of all, she was in a bad mood. Neither the cocktail she was drinking nor the lovely jazz music was helping to improve it.

    Second of all, she didn¡¯t have the interest in flirting with other men at the moment because her entire mind was filled with the love of her life.

    She had been in love with Jin Liwei for as long as she remembered. The first time she had met him was when she attended a party hosted by the Jin family with her mother. She was only twelve years old at that time, while Jin Liwei was fourteen. He was already so cool and handsome back then. It wasn¡¯t only her who harboured puppy love for him. Lots of other girls wanted him to be their first boyfriend. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t care about any of them.

    Wanting to be close to him, Rose Young begged her parents to let her move to China and attend the same exclusive international school he and his brother Jin Chonglin were attending. However, her father rejected her idea. The Youngs were based in Singapore and it was their home. No matter how much she begged, he wouldn¡¯t budge. After an intense negotiation, apromise was reached. She was allowed to spend her entire summers in China.

    She attended all of the parties the Jins hosted, hoping to have the opportunity to talk to Jin Liwei. It was fortunate that her mother¡¯s family was close to some of the branch families of the Jins. It ensured that they would always get invitations to the Jins¡¯ parties, even when the main family didn¡¯t personally invite them.

    Because of this connection and the fact that the Youngs ran Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch, she felt that they were meant to be together. She started calling him "Big Brother Liwei", trying to be close to him. Although he always ignored her and didn¡¯t pay attention to her at all, she didn¡¯t mind. At least, he wasn¡¯t treating another girl in a special way. He treated all girls the same way¡ªlike dirty and smelly rats. Her personal mission was to be that special girl, to be the first woman who he would give special treatment.

    She swore that she was going to be his first girlfriend, his first lover, his first andst wife, and of course, the mother of his children. In addition, she would also be the next Madam Jin.

    As a result, she did everything to be closer to him. Since he was a high-achiever, she also studied very hard and received excellent grades. Jin Liwei needed a woman on the same level as he was beside him. When she found out the he was epted into an American Ivy League business school, she almost fried her brain studying so that she could follow him there. Her hard work paid off. She got epted into such a world-ss university.

    She thought that this was her chance to grow closer to him. And indeed, they frequently encountered each other in the campus because she made sure to know where he was all the time. She followed him around without being too obvious. She befriended his friends. They attended the same parties. They even spoke a few times. Unfortunately, he remained cold and indifferent to the opposite sex as usual.

    But Rose Young didn¡¯t mind. She had a mastern she intended on executing step by step. First was to graduate from university. Second was to return to her home country and work at the Singapore branch of Jin Corporation, gaining experience and growing her credentials. Third was to find a way to get transferred to the main headquarters so that she could finally work in the same ce as her future husband. Fourth was to perform her best and be indispensable to Jin Liwei at work. Fifth was to grow closer to him and be lovers. Last but not the least was to marry him and be his wife.

    Everything was going smoothly until she found out that he suddenly became engaged. At first, she didn¡¯t believe it, thinking that it was just fake news. But when she asked some of her friends in China, they confirmed that Jin Liwei personally admitted that he had a fianc¨¦e.

    It was the most devastating blow that she had ever experienced in her life so far. Jin Liwei was her dream, the ultimate goal that she had been working so hard to achieve. And yet she found out that someone else¡ªa slut, whoever she was¡ªhad snatched her precious dream away?

    No!!!

    So what if he was engaged? They weren¡¯t married yet! She still had a chance! Even if they were married, they could still divorce. Even if it was less than ideal, she didn¡¯t mind being a second wife, as long as she could still have him in the end. Once she had him for herself, she intended on bing hisst wife.

    It was also a good thing that her family supported her dream of bing Jin Liwei¡¯s wife. Rose Young was actually surprised that her father had a change of heart in recent years. He wasn¡¯t keen on her love for Jin Liwei before, telling her that she needed to find a man who would love her and treat her like a queen, not like Jin Liwei who wouldn¡¯t even look at her properly.

    But he suddenly changed his tune and began dreaming of the moment she officially became Madam Jin. He even started helping her behind the scenes to rally support for her among the board of directors in order to get her directly promoted to an executive position at the main headquarters. It turned out that his father had be her biggest supporter in her quest to obtain Jin Liwei¡¯s love.

    Rose Young left Singapore and moved to China, excited to stand beside Jin Liwei as his fellow executive at Jin Corporation. Because the majority of the board of directors supported her appointment as the new CMO, she was treated extremely well when she started working.

    Every time she attended a meeting with Jin Liwei or personally discussed something business-rted with him, happiness and love filled her. It strengthened her resolve to get closer to him. She believed that she still had a chance with him, even though he was already engaged.

    Besides, his fianc¨¦e¡¯s identity was still unknown. No matter who Rose Young asked among her friends, they had no idea who the woman was. Rose Young concluded that the slut was someone who Jin Liwei felt embarrassed to introduce to the public, hence the need to keep his fianc¨¦e¡¯s identity private.

    "As expected, I¡¯m the only woman who deserves to stand beside him," she would always tell herself.

    When a rumour among Jin Corporation employees started, saying that she was actually Jin Liwei¡¯s real fianc¨¦e, she was delighted. Some asked her directly if it was true. She always replied in a vague manner, not admitting or denying anything.

    Then an idea shed in her mind. With the help of one of her friends, she was able to make this rumour spread even more. Her friend could only post on gossip forums because the official news outlets were too afraid to publish unconfirmed reports about Jin Liwei. They didn¡¯t want to be sued by the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation. He would surely win because he had the bestwyer in the country.

    Rose Young didn¡¯t mind. The gossip forums were already enough. All she wanted was to fan the mes of the rumours about her and Jin Liwei. She hoped that by doing this, she would be more epted as his fianc¨¦e to the public rather than his real fianc¨¦e who he hadn¡¯t introduced yet. So when the slut¡¯s identity was finally revealed, everyone would think that Rose Young was so much better for Jin Liwei.

    Never did Rose Young expect, however, that her little n wouldpletely backfire on her. Now she had be theughingstock at thepany. Even worse was that Jin Liwei, the love of her life, startedpletely disregarding her existence.

    She could endure it even if people wereughing at her. After all, she thought that she would be the one getting thestugh when she married Jin Liwei. But she couldn¡¯t bear that Jin Liwei stopped giving her the courtesy of talking to her even if it was just as fellow executives working at the samepany.

    It was all the fault of that sted KittyBaby who uploaded the hotel surveince video clip on the inte. If it weren¡¯t for the video, people would still continue specting that she was Jin Liwei¡¯s real fianc¨¦e.

    Rose Young believed that if KittyBaby wasn¡¯t Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e herself (that slut), then it must be someone the woman directed to humiliate her. The slut¡¯s voice yed in her mind,insulting her and warning her away from Jin Liwei. She couldn¡¯t think of anyone else besides the slut who would have a grudge against her.

    Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned her head and saw her friend who finally arrived.

    "Hi Rosie~ How are you? That¡¯s a nice dress you¡¯re wearing, but you would¡¯ve looked better if you put some pads on your chest. I know the best stic surgeons in Asia. I can introduce you to one, if you want. Just look at my girls." The woman grabbed herrge breasts and squeezed them in front of her and the bartender. "I was also as t as you before but look at me now! I¡¯m SE-XY and FA-BU-LOUS!!!"

    Rose Young rolled her eyes before giving her friend a superficial hug and air kisses on both cheeks.

    "You¡¯rete," she said, not minding her friend¡¯sment about her chest at all.

 Chapter 456 - Rose Youngâ€™s Dream Part II

    <h4>Chapter 456 - Rose Young¡¯s Dream Part II </h4>

    Rose Young¡¯sck of endowment in the chest area was a huge source of insecurity when she was younger. But now that she was a mature, grown woman, it was a source of motivation instead. It made her want to prove to everyone that she didn¡¯t need arge chest in order to be attractive to the opposite sex. She used her brains, independence, and sess in her career to impress people, especially men.

    In addition, her ex-lovers could all attest to her great skills in bed. Large breasts could only do so much. It was all about how she used her body and fed a man¡¯s ego. So what if she was t? All of her previous lovers still continued contacting her to this day, wanting to fuck her again, even though she already broke up with them.

    Sometimes if she thought about Jin Liwei too much, it would make her so horny that she would ept her ex-lovers¡¯ invitations or she would make the booty calls herself. If no one was avable, she would just use her imagination and fantasize about Jin Liwei while pleasuring herself with her fingers or her toys.

    Whenever she fucked other men, she would always imagine them as Jin Liwei. She made sure to train herself on how to pleasure a man, so that when she finally found herself in bed with Jin Liwei, she could give him the greatest pleasure he would ever experience in his entire life.

    If only he would give her a chance, Rose Young was confident that she could make him hopelessly addicted to her body and the pleasure she could give him. Once he had a taste of her, he would never want another woman ever again.

    She had only started working at Jin Corporation¡¯s main headquarters since the summer, but there were already many times that she almost lost control of herself in front of Jin Liwei. Just seeing him and being in the same ce as him filled her with so much love and lust for him. She wanted to touch him. But more than that, she wanted him to touch her.

    It already became a habit for her to excuse herself to the restroom after attending a meeting with him, or if her assistant was on break, to lock her office door, and then touch herself while fantasizing about Jin Liwei. She imagined pleasuring his hard length with her hands and mouth, and then him bending her over his office desk to fuck her from behind. Or maybey her over his desk with her legs wide open as he mmed himself over and over again inside her.

    She wanted him to fuck her hard and fast, and then to spill all of his seed deep inside her. She wanted him to impregnate her with his child. Jin Liwei was someone who took his duty seriously. If she became pregnant with his baby, it was possible that she could persuade him to marry her.

    She wanted him so much!

    One day, she would have him.

    Jin Liwei might be disregarding her existence now, but she would find a way to achieve her dream of bing his wife.

    A loud, dramatic sigh interrupted her again.

    "Rosie, you¡¯re fantasizing about Jin Liwei again?" her friend asked while taking a seat beside her. "Not that I me you. He¡¯s worth fantasizing over."

    "Jenny, he¡¯s mine," Rose Young warned.

    Her friend, Jenny Tseng, justughed at the warning.

    Jenny was also a Singaporean socialite and in her early thirties like Rose. However, she had been living in China for almost a decade now after marrying her first husband who was a rich Chinese businessman. They divorced after she refused to bear him a child. Her second husband was richer. They divorced again for the same reason. Now, she was on the hunt for the third "love of her life". Being a two-time divorc¨¦e wasn¡¯t the only thing that Jenny Tseng was known for. She was also known as one of the biggest gossipmongers in high society. She enjoyed drama.

    Rose Young and Jenny Tseng talked about their failed n while drinking cocktails. Jenny was the one who helped Rose and snapped the photos of her and Jin Liwei at the hotel. She was also the one who wrote the post "specting" that Rose Young was actually Jin Liwei¡¯s real fianc¨¦e. However, their n was rendered useless by that sted KittyBaby¡¯s video surveince post.

    "My dad already asked someone to find out who KittyBaby is," Rose Young revealed. "But I bet that it¡¯s someone rted to that slut who stole Big Brother Liwei from me!"

    By this time, Rose Young was already drunk.

    The also drunk Jenny Tseng justughed at her. "You¡¯re so funny, Rosie~ How can someone steal Jin Liwei from you when he was never yours to begin with? Ahahaha!"

    "Oh, shut up! He¡¯s mine! All mine!"

    "Pft! Whatever. I admit that he looks delicious but he¡¯s not my type. Too cold for my liking. I like men who aren¡¯t afraid to ravish me in front of others," Jenny Tseng said, giggling. "I bet Jin Liwei would never do that!"

    Rose Young didn¡¯t care about her friend¡¯s type in men. She was too preupied with her own situation. She began telling Jenny Tseng about the conversation she had with Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e on the phone. She had never told anyone about it because it was too embarrassing for her.

    "The bitch¡ªno, that slut¡ªhad the audacity to call me a loose woman?! Me, Rose Young, a LOOSE WOMAN?!!!"

    Jenny Tseng, who was only bing more drunk by the second,ughed even harder.

    "But Rosie~ She does have a point. You¡¯re chasing after a taken man. Isn¡¯t that the very definition of a loose woman? You¡¯re so funny. Ahahahaha!"

    "Shut up, Jenny," Rose Young hissed and red at her friend.

    "Oh, this is so funny," Jenny Tseng wiped tears from the corner of her eyes while continuing tough. "I wish I was there to hear the actual phone conversation. It sounds like Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e is a real feisty bitch. I think I like her already. Ahahaha!"

    "Jenny! I¡¯m your FRIEND!"

    "Of course, we are. Friends forever, together forever~ Rx, Rosie. Remember that we¡¯re already in our thirties. Don¡¯t frown too much or you¡¯ll get wrinkles. Wait... You know what, go ahead! We¡¯re not afraid of wrinkles because we have Botox! Ahahahaha!"

    Although Rose Young felt annoyed at her friend, she was already used to Jenny Tseng¡¯s weirdness. Despite her being like this, Jenny Tseng was actually a helpful and loyal friend. She just had a big mouth and loved drama, so the things she said often conflicted with her actions.

    "Anyway, I¡¯m really feeling curious about the identity of Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e. I¡¯ve asked around but nobody in our social circles have any idea who she might be. You talked to her on the phone. Did you recognize her voice?" Jenny Tseng asked.

    Rose Young thought for a moment. "You know what, I feel like I¡¯ve heard that slut¡¯s voice somewhere. It sounds familiar..."

    Jenny Tseng¡¯s eyes lit up.

    "But I don¡¯t think I personally know her," Rose Young said. "I¡¯m not sure. Or maybe I don¡¯t know her at all."

    Jenny Tseng looked disappointed but then started giggling again. "Whatever. If you don¡¯t know, that¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure Jin Liwei will eventually introduce her to the public. I can¡¯t wait to know the woman who dared call Rose Young a loose woman! Ahahaha! So funny!"

    Rose Young wanted to strangle her friend, but she just downed her cocktail instead.

 Chapter 457 - Rose Youngâ€™s Dream Part III

    <h4>Chapter 457 - Rose Young¡¯s Dream Part III </h4>

    Later that night, Rose Young arrived home at her condo unit after Jenny Tseng¡¯s driver dropped her off from the bar. The two friends were drunk but notpletely wasted. They were able to hold back, as both still had work the next morning.

    She was about to sleep when her phone started ringing. At first, she ignored it but it rang again. It kept on ringing.

    "Who the fuck are you?!" she roared.

    Despite her irritation at being disturbed sote at night, she still checked her phone. It was her father. Her irritation immediately disappeared.

    "Hello, dad?" she slurred.

    A few seconds of silence.

    "You¡¯re drunk?" her father, Romeo Young, asked. Disapproval was clear in his voice.

    "I only drank a little, dad. Don¡¯t worry. And I was with Jenny. We¡¯re both adults now."

    Romeo Young only harrumphed and didn¡¯tment about her drunk state anymore. He immediately went straight to the reason of his call.

    "The hacker I talked to said that his group couldn¡¯t trace KittyBaby¡¯s identity. The person behind that ount is very careful," he said.

    "That hacker sucks, dad. Can¡¯t even do something so simple."

    She was looking forward to learning about the person behind KittyBaby, but it turned out that the hacker her father contacted was useless.

    "You shut your mouth!" Romeo Young¡¯s angry voice shouted at her on the phone.

    Rose Young¡¯s eyes widened, shocked at her father¡¯s fury. She didn¡¯t understand why he would be so mad at her for telling the truth. The hacker couldn¡¯t trace a simple anonymous ount. Wasn¡¯t that ipetence, especially for a hacker?

    She could hear her father trying to calm himself on the other end of the line by taking a few deep breaths. A few momentster, he spoke again.

    "Don¡¯t ever say that again. Do you hear me? You can anger anyone, including me, but don¡¯t ever anger those hackers."

    "Huh?"

    The drunk Rose Young didn¡¯t understand why her father sounded so paranoid.

    "Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore," he said in a calmer tone. "We have to focus on your mission there. Your mother and I spent so much time, effort and resources in order to get you the CMO position. But look at your current situation! I¡¯m very disappointed by yourck of progress!"

    Rose Young¡¯s expression immediately soured.

    Her father continued, "That move you made with Jenny Tseng was so stupid! You graduated from a world-ss Ivy League university but you acted like a dumb teenage girl! Use your brains!"

    "Dad...I know already. You don¡¯t have to rub salt in my wounds," she said through gritted teeth.

    "You need to do something about your current situation or all the effort our family, the Youngs, and your mother¡¯s family made for you will be for naught. We are all counting on you to be the next Madam Jin. Your mother and I already made things easier for you by getting you promoted directly to an executive position instead of following the regr route of starting from the bottom at the main headquarters," he told her.

    Rose Young¡¯s mind wasn¡¯t very clear because of her drunkenness. Despite this, she still forced herself to focus on what her father was saying.

    "Yes, dad. I know. I¡¯m grateful for your help and mom¡¯s. I just...things just went out of my control. I¡¯m in a tight spot right now. Big Brother Liwei refuses to talk to me. Even when some of the uncles and aunties from the Jin branch families who are also members of the board of directorsined directly to him, he didn¡¯t budge. He warned them instead to not give me any special treatment." Then her face scrunched up and she burst into tears. "Daaad! I love Big Brother Liwei so much but he¡¯s ignoring me!! It hurts so much!!!"

    Her father sighed softly, as he let her cry. When her sobs eased a bit, he spoke in a gentle voice.

    "You always told your mother and I that marrying Jin Liwei is your dream. Who said that dreams are achieved so easily? You have to work hard and fight for it," he told her. "You¡¯re a strong and smart woman, and most importantly, you¡¯re Romeo Young¡¯s daughter. We, the Youngs, never ept defeat. We always fight to be on top. If Jin Liwei doesn¡¯t love you, then you¡¯ll just have to make him fall for you regardless of the method."

    Rose Young wiped her tears and blew her nose with a tissue. Her father¡¯s advice was calming her down.

    "Yes, dad. I understand. My dream is to be Jin Liwei¡¯s wife and the next Madam Jin. I¡¯ll achieve it no matter the cost."

    Romeo Young made a sound of approval. "If you be Madam Jin, all of us Youngs will instantly be one of the top families in Singapore. At the moment, we¡¯re only known as the caretakers of Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch. But if you marry Jin Liwei, we¡¯ll be one family with the Jins connected by marriage. Not to mention that your children, who¡¯ll have the Young blood in their veins, will stand in the line of session to inherit Jin Corporation after Jin Liwei. Then wouldn¡¯t that make us, the Youngs, the next power to lead Jin Corporation? We wouldn¡¯t have to satisfy ourselves with a mere branch anymore. We¡¯ll have the entirepany!"

    "Yes, dad." Rose Young said with a faint smile on her drunken face.

    Although what she wanted the most was the man, Jin Liwei himself, it would be a lie to say that she didn¡¯t covet the position and apanying wealth of the title Madam Jin. Not only would she lift her own status but also her entire family¡¯s¡ªboth the Youngs in Singapore and her mother¡¯s side of the family in China.

    Romeo Young changed the topic of their conversation.

    "I already asked a few experts to help us investigate who Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e is. You should also continue asking around there. Jin Liwei must have ced her in tight protection because we can¡¯t even get any leads about her real identity. Sometimes I¡¯m starting to think that he¡¯s just faking it and there¡¯s no real fianc¨¦e," he said.

    Rose Young released a sigh of regret. "How I wish that there isn¡¯t a fianc¨¦e. But I¡¯ve talked to the slut on the phone and my female intuition tells me that she wasn¡¯t faking it when she imed to be Big Brother Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e. I bet she was even fucking him when I called! I could tell by their voices. That slut!"

    Then she started whining to her father. "Why is Big Brother Liwei fucking that slut, dad? It should be ME! I¡¯m the one he should be fucking! I don¡¯t want him to fuck that slut anymore or fuck other ones! He¡¯s mine! Dad, I want Big Brother Liwei to fuck me sobad!!!"

    Romeo Young almost choked on his own tongue, as he started violently coughing after hearing what his own daughter just said.

    "Dad? Hello, dad? Are you okay?" she asked, slurring once again.

    "Y-you¡¯re drunk," was all he could say after his violent coughing stopped.

    Indeed, Rose Young felt drunker. All her inhibitions were thrown out of the window, even when talking to her own father.

    Before she could start mindlessly talking about "fucking" once again, Romeo Young immediately diverted her attention from the explicit topic.

    "We should find out who his fianc¨¦e is. It would be better if we know her identity before Jin Liwei introduces her to the public. The earlier we know, the sooner we can get rid of her."

    Rose Young started a round of drunken giggling. "We¡¯re going to get rid of her? Yes, yes. We should get rid of her."

    "Don¡¯t worry about that woman anymore. Just focus on your mission of seducing Jin Liwei," he advised his daughter. "No matter who that woman is, she¡¯s still a nobody. Our family has the strongest support. If Jin Liwei is really smart, he should be choosing you and cooperate with us or he¡¯ll have to face against one of the most dangerous powers in the world."

    The drunk Rose Young didn¡¯t understand what her father was talking about. "Huh, what? Strongest support? Who?"

    "Don¡¯t ask too many questions. Just do what you need to do, alright?"

    By this time, she was already feeling sleepy.

    "Alright... Dad, I promise you...I¡¯ll marry Big Brother Liwei...and be Madam Jin...and then..." She giggled. "And then I¡¯ll fuck him very hard. Harder than how that slut fucks him."

    Her eyes closed and she fell asleep, dreaming about doing just that with Jin Liwei.

 Chapter 458 - A Day Of Visitors

    <h4>Chapter 458 - A Day Of Visitors </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The girl squad gathered together at the mansion. It was a rare matching day-off for all of them.

    Iris and Dom waited for their friends. Unfortunately, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t join them because he increased his workload, going to work during the weekends in order to be able to take a break near the end of the month.

    Clover and Jiang Ying Yue were the first ones to arrive. They came from the penthouse. They brought Little Jun with them who was ecstatic to see his mama, Uncle Dom, and his cat cousins again. Of course, everyone in the mansion were also delighted to see the little guy again.

    Next to arrive was an exhausted Meimei who came from the Long ancestral residence. She looked like a zombie. Her webtoon was insanely popr, holding the top position for months now in the rankings. And because it was so popr, she couldn¡¯t rest easy and had to work harder to stay on top. If she grewcent, her webtoon would be kicked off from its top position. Despite this, she didn¡¯t want to miss this gathering with her friends.

    Thest to arrive were Long Jinjing and Chen Fei. The two had been friends with Iris and the others for some time now, so it was inevitable that they would learn about Iris¡¯ rtionship with Jin Liwei. Needless to say, they were shocked out of their minds when they learned the truth. They met Jin Liwei for the first time during one of the times he picked up Iris, Dom and Clover from Orchidia Beauty. Instead of waiting in the car like he usually did, he decided to waltz inside thepany that time.

    At first, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei felt very intimidated by Jin Liwei. Like Sir Lu Jianhong, their professors at business school would use Jin Liwei as an example of a sessful businessperson during lectures. However, they became morefortable after interacting with him whenever he was with Iris. Now the two also felt very much at home at the mansion whenever they came over.

    The girl squad decided to hang out at the indoor forest. They lounged on the islet in the middle of the koi fish pond. Little Jun was ying with Ice Cream and Popcorn under the fruit trees some distance away from the pond. The nanny and the catsitters watched over them.

    On the islet, the girl squad drank tea and ate some pastries and snacks. If an outsider were to observe and describe the group right now, it would be that the girl squad wasn¡¯t all girls. There was clearly a man among them. However, he looked very much like he also belonged in the girl squad. Another distinct trait of the group was that they were all very stylish. They each had their own personal fashion styles, but they all looked great despite being different from each other. But perhaps the most noticeable trait of the group was that they all had beautiful skin. Smooth, soft and glowing. The secret? They were all using Orchidia Beauty products, of course!

    Even Jiang Ying Yue who didn¡¯t use to care much about beautifying herself was now like a changed person. Wei Lan really made it her mission to transform Jiang Ying Yue from the inside and out. Now Jiang Ying Yue felt more attractive and confident about herself. As a result, she and Wei Lan had grown quite close to each other. It came to a point that Wei Lan insisted that Jiang Ying Yue should call her "Auntie".

    "Auntie Lan is busy house hunting to prepare for theing of her husband and possibly her stepson as well," Jiang Ying Yue informed Iris. "She says she didn¡¯t want the Viscount to stay at her other properties where she...uh, ¡¯entertained¡¯ her past lovers. That¡¯s why she¡¯s looking for a new ce. She¡¯s not sure exactly when her husband and stepson will follow her here, though."

    Iris nodded. She already knew about it. Wei Lan had asked Jin Liwei for advice about some good real estate properties. He introduced her to one of the best real estate agents in the country.

    Wei Lan had been very good ever since she returned to the country and started living at the penthouse. Iris knew that Wei Lan wanted to spend more time with her and Jin Liwei but the two were always busy with work. Not to mention that they moved back to the mansion. Fortunately, there was Jiang Ying Yue to apany her.

    Iris and the others were pleased seeing the changes in their friend, Jiang Ying Yue. However, there was something that they were very displeased aboutregarding her. It was her stalled rtionship with Long Hui. The two were still officially engaged, but they barely talked to each other. Long Hui still hadn¡¯t returned to live with Jiang Ying Yue and their son.

    "Hmph! Just break up with him already!" Chen Fei told her in an angry voice. "Such a useless fianc¨¦! Why be in a rtionship with a man who doesn¡¯t even actmitted to you? You¡¯re better off without him, I¡¯m telling you!"

    Meimei waved a fork threateningly in the air. "If only Uncle Tengfei doesn¡¯t treasure everything inside the Longpound, I would¡¯ve already burned that idiot¡¯s residence! Uncle Tengfei is also unhappy with him because he hasn¡¯t apologized yet for insulting Xin. Gah! Makes me so mad! I already made him into a character in my webtoon, and I n on having my female lead torture him!"

    The others also expressed their dissatisfaction and anger at Long Hui for his treatment of Jiang Ying Yue. Iris wasn¡¯t showing much emotion and didn¡¯t join in trash-talking Long Hui, but they all knew that she had the most reason to hold a grudge against him for insulting her.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, she listened to her friends in silence. She didn¡¯t dare tell them that Long Hui repeatedly made attempts to sleep with her especially after seeing her transformation, but she rejected him because he still didn¡¯t want to return to Gold Heights. She still loved him, but the growing distance between them was breaking her heart.

    Touching her engagement ring on her finger, Jiang Ying Yue thought about making a decision soon. She looked at her son ying with his cat cousins. Whatever she decided to do, it would certainly affect Little Jun.

    Seeing the pain on Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s expression, Dom forcefully changed the topic of conversation. Everyone realized what he was doing, so they went along without anyints.

    They started talking about Orchidia Beauty¡¯s uingunch party at thest day of the month. It would be a grand event. The invitations would be sent out in a couple of days. They didn¡¯t want to send them out too early because they wanted to keep information about thepany secret for as long as they could.

    "This is going to be the party of the year! Everyone will freak out once they learn who are included in the guest list," Meimei said, giggling. Her zombie appearance had improved dramatically just being with her friends.

    "It¡¯s an expensive party. We have to sell all our products as soon as weunch in order to justify such a grand event," Long Jinjing, the CFO,mented.

    "Of course we¡¯ll sell them out," Chen Fei, the COO, replied. "We already sold out all our pre-orders. Our products have been trending within the beautymunity even before ourunch."

    Iris nodded. "And don¡¯t forget about our surprise tomorrow. I¡¯m sure that afterwards, everyone will want to buy Orchidia Beauty products."

    "Oh oh oh! Yes, I can¡¯t wait for the surprise tomorrow! We¡¯re finally going to reveal our secret weapon!" Clover pped her hands in excitement.

    "Ehehehe. My gorgeous self also can¡¯t wait to see our secret weapon in action. I already know it¡¯s going to be HOT!" Dom squealed and fanned himself dramatically. "With a secret weapon of such high calibre, it¡¯s impossible for Orchidia Beauty¡¯s officialunch to flop!"

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled. "It¡¯s going to be sessful, for sure."

    The mood of the girl squad immediately improved after moving from the topic of Long Hui to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s uingunch. They were all very excited.

    Then Iris¡¯ phone suddenly started vibrating. She picked up the call.

    "Meow~ Mommy, we have visitors. The guards outside allowed several cars to enter the property. Inside the leading car, Ketchup has detected a figure matching the profile of...

    "Lu Zihao, grandson of Grandpa Lu, Daddy¡¯s Fifth Brother...and Mommy¡¯s Big Brother! Meow~"

 Chapter 459 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part I

    <h4>Chapter 459 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part I </h4>

    Iris gasped before her face broke into a delighted smile. The others stopped talking when they saw the sudden change in her expression. They all looked at her, silently asking her what was going on. But instead of answering them, she stood up and excused herself.

    She hurried out of the indoor forest, running to reach the grand foyer as quickly as possible. The drive from the massive gates to the mansion took around twenty minutes. It would take some time before Lu Zihao and his people reached the mansion. Iris wanted to be there to greet him when he arrived.

    The butler was already there with some of the household staff when she arrived at the grand foyer.She waited with them, pacing in a restless manner while ncing at the closed double doors. She couldn¡¯t wait for the doors to open andreveal her big brother who she hadn¡¯t seen for so long.

    "Ketchup, are they here yet?" Iris asked.

    "Meow~ Not yet, Mommy. Uncle Zihao and the people with him will arrive in...

    "11 minutes and 34 seconds...

    "Would you like me to do a countdown, Mommy? Meow~"

    Iris nodded. "Yes. Good idea, Ketchup. Do a countdown every minute and then a full countdown for thest 30 seconds."

    "Okay, Mommy! Meow~"

    Iris felt very impatient, continuing to pace around the foyer. Then she muttered, "Why is his driver so slow? There are no traffic enforcers in the property. The driver should just step on the gas pedal and hurry up."

    "Meow~ But Mommy, that is very unsafe," Ketchup told her.

    The butler and the staff inwardly agreed with Ketchup. Their mistress was acting too impatient.

    Everyone in the household staff was already used to Ketchup suddenly talking out of nowhere. They already recovered from their earlier shock when they first encountered that cat AI. Like Xu Tian, they thought that their master bought the technology from a developer somewhere. They never thought that the impressive cat AI was created by their own mistress.

    Even when their master and mistress didn¡¯t warn them, the household staff had no intention of telling others about Ketchup. They all prided themselves as professional and discreet employees. What happened in Dragon Pce Home #10, stayed in Dragon Pce Home #10. In addition, they were all very loyal to their master and mistress.

    So Ketchup didn¡¯t hold back and frequently chatted with the staff. It was only when there were visitors would Ketchup stop talking and contact people through phone calls, like what she did earlier at the indoor forest.

    Although Iris was friends with Long Jinjing and Chen Fei, she still held some reservations about revealing Ketchup to them. It wasn¡¯t that she didn¡¯t trust them enough. It was for their own safety. The less they knew, the less danger for them if Ketchup¡¯s existence and origins became exposed. At least when it came to Dom and the others, they all lived in Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s households so they were all under the couple¡¯s direct protection, unlike Long Jinjing and Chen Fei who lived separately.

    Back to the present, Ketchup finally began thest 30-second countdown.

    The butler moved to open the big double doors, while the maids and the houseboys lined up. Iris moved past them and stationed herself right in the middle of the doorway. She could already see several cars approaching the mansion. When they stopped at the circr driveway, Iris immediately ran out, ignoring the concerned call of the butler who wanted her to wear a jacket first.

    Several men came out of the cars, as she ran down the stone steps of the front entrance. Finally, a figure climbed out of one of the cars. Iris immediately headed towards him and threw herself into his waiting arms.

    "Big Brother!" Iris greeted in Russian.

    Lu Zihao easily caught his sister who ignored thest three steps and just leaped to him. The forceful impact of her entire weight hitting him didn¡¯t faze him at all. His feet remained rooted to the ground and his body was steady, as his arms wrapped around her. He tried putting her down on the ground, but her arms hugged his neck tightly, refusing to let go of him. He sighed and patted her back, while a doting smile gentled his expression.

    "Little sister, let¡¯s go inside," he urged her, also speaking in Russian. A minute had already passed, but she still refused to let go of his neck. "It¡¯s getting cold. Why did you run outside without your jacket?"

    "You¡¯ve been gone for so long," she said against his neck. "Why?"

    He sighed again. "I had important matters I needed to finish first. Let¡¯s talk inside. I¡¯ve been told that you¡¯re very busy this season. We can¡¯t have you getting sick from the cold. Are you going to walk on your own or do you want me to carry you like a little girl?"

    Iris finally let go of his neck. Lu Zihao lowered her until her feet touched the ground. She took a step back to finally take a closer look at him. Her eyes widened at his appearance. He looked so differentpared to when shest saw him.

    He looked bigger, bulkier and more solid. Although he was wearing a ck long-sleeved, turtleneck shirt and a leather jacket, Iris could still tell that his body had be very muscr underneath his clothes. She also felt it when she hugged him earlier.

    Before, his body build was simr to Jin Chonglin¡¯s¡ªmuscr yet slender. In fact, Lu Zihao was thinner than Jin Chonglin, almost frail, because his body was still recovering from its weak and injured condition back then. He was also smaller than Jin Liwei a few months ago, but now he was definitely bigger. No wonder he was very stable when she threw herself at him earlier.

    His physique, however, wasn¡¯t the only thing that changed about him.

    There was now a long, diagonal scar on his face. It started just below his left eye and ran across his entire cheek down to the edge of his left jaw. It waspletely healed now, but Iris could tell that it was deep when he got wounded.

    The scar should have marred his handsome face and made him ugly, but it did the exact opposite. It only made him more attractive in a dangerous and mysterious way.

 Chapter 460 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part II

    <h4>Chapter 460 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part II </h4>

    For a moment, Iris thought that she was seeing the image of Niki Vetrov instead of Lu Zihao. His dangerous aura could no longer be concealed. It had be even more apparent with his physical changes. Despite this, Iris knew that her brother was still holding back the full extent of his dangerous aura, masking it beneath the original Lu Zihao¡¯s happy-go-lucky attitude.

    The Niki Vetrov that she remembered was absolutely frightening. It was only to her that he showed genuine gentleness. To other people, he was merciless. He never showed any gentleness to others besides her, even to their parents. He treated them with politeness and respect, yes, but never with gentleness. That was only reserved for her, his one and only sister.

    Noticing that his sister was staring at the scar on his face, Lu Zihao assured her, "This is nothing. It didn¡¯t hurt when I got it."

    "Liar," she whispered.

    He only shed her a demonic smile and shrugged his wide, muscr shoulders.

    Iris reached up and traced the long scar on his face with her finger. He didn¡¯t move, allowing her to touch it. She didn¡¯t stop when her finger reached the end of the scar. She continued running her finger down his neck and hooked it on the top of his turtleneck shirt. Then she pulled the fabric down, revealing another scar on his neck. It looked like a de injury, as if someone wanted to chop his neck off.

    Her hands moved fast, yanking his shirt up to reveal his bare abdomen and chest. They were covered with countless scars. There were even a couple of scars which looked suspiciously like he got them from bullet wounds. There was also an ugly, jagged one on his abdomen which still had stitches that hadn¡¯t been removed yet.

    She gasped seeing all of them.

    Lu Zihao firmly grabbed her hands and pulled them away. His shirt fell back down, once again hiding the scars on his body. Although his demonic smile remained on his mouth, his eyes were cold and hard, silently warning her.

    Iris shivered...

    Huh? Actually, she didn¡¯t. She thought she was going to shiver because she always did whenever her big brother gave her that scary warning look. She knew he meant her no harm, but it was just her instinct reacting to his dangerous aura. Now, however, she didn¡¯t react like how she expected.

    Unbeknownst to her, this was a result of the fusion between her and the remnant. It dulled any trauma she might still have from her past life, making it so that she wouldn¡¯t start freaking out like before. The fusion was actually the real reason why she was bing more open about epting bodyguards. She still felt ufortable and suffocated being surrounded by them, but these negative feelings weren¡¯t as intense as before. Her sense of panic regarding bodyguards was gone now, reced by a simple feeling of dislike instead.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t notice that his sister¡¯s mind had drifted away. He held her hand and began to lead her up the stone steps to the mansion.

    A few of his people followed behind them while the others formed groups and started to patrol the entire property. Jin Liwei¡¯s own security people appeared to have been informed in advance and even acted as guides to Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates.

    Iris didn¡¯t notice all of these because she was still trying to figure out why she didn¡¯t react as expected.

    ¡¯Maybe I¡¯ve grown up?¡¯ was what she concluded in the end.

    Her drifting mind returned to the present when they entered the mansion.

    The butler and the other household staff greeted Lu Zihao. He nodded at them and shed them a roguish smile. The maids all blushed and couldn¡¯t stop looking at him.

    "I¡¯m bringing Big Brother to the indoor forest, so bring the refreshments there," Iris informed the butler.

    "Understood, Mistress."

    "Thanks."

    Iris led the way, pulling Lu Zihao. She held onto his arm when he released her hand. They began talking while walking along the massive hallways. His people followed some distance behind them.

    "Big Brother, what happened to you? Why do you have so many scars? How did you get injured? What have you been doing? Are you doing something dangerous?" Her worry was obvious from all the questions she asked.

    "Hmmm... These scars are nothing. I¡¯ve had worse before, you know that," he told her, shrugging his shoulders in a nonchnt manner. "I got these from training. This body is so weak that I have to continuously strengthen it."

    Iris looked at him with a skeptical expression.

    He just chuckled at her and poked her nose with a finger. "What¡¯s with that expression? Aren¡¯t you happy that your big brother is back?"

    Her expression immediately softened. She smiled. "Of course I¡¯m very happy. I waited so long for you to return."

    "I know. Your man had been bothering me almost every day, saying that you¡¯re upset that I haven¡¯t returned yet. So annoying," he muttered.

    "Really? Liwei did that?" Her smile grew wider discovering what her darling did for her. Then she stopped smiling and looked at her brother seriously. "It¡¯s true. I was upset because I thought you were going to return during the summer but didn¡¯t. What took you so long? Wait, I think I know." She nced at his clothed abdomen. "I saw the stitches. You were seriously wounded and had to heal first. Am I right?"

    "Hmmm..." He didn¡¯t confirm nor deny.

    "Big Brother, can you tell me what¡¯s going on with you?" she asked, gripping his arm.

    He gave her a sidelong nce. The look in his eyes became deep and unreadable, as he considered telling her what really was going on with him.

    Iris thought that he didn¡¯t want to tell her anything. She sighed. She was tempted to hack and to find out herself what her big brother had been up to while he was gone. However, it was against her new personal policy of not spying on family members and people close to her without their consent. She would only do it without their consent if it was an emergency.

    Besides, she didn¡¯t want to make her big brother upset at her if he discovered that she was spying on him. He was, after all, a man of many secrets.

    That was Niki Vetrov...and now Lu Zihao.

 Chapter 461 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part III

    <h4>Chapter 461 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part III </h4>

    Since Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t answering her questions about what he had been up to while he was gone, Iris decided to move on to another topic instead. She didn¡¯t want to annoy her big brother, especially since they hadn¡¯t seen each other for such a long time. She nced at his people following some distance behind them.

    They were men and women who also had a dangerous air about them like Lu Zihao. But of course, they couldn¡¯tpare to their boss¡¯ own aura. They might appear intimidating to regr people, but they were still considered tamepared to the Vetrovs¡¯ subordinates from the siblings¡¯ past lives. Their family organization¡¯s subordinates were cold-blooded and deadly human machines. Lu Zihao¡¯s current subordinates, however, still retained their humanity despite their dangerous aura.

    "You bought a lot of people with you, Big Brother," Irismented, as they continued walking along the hallways.

    "Hmm... Yeah," Lu Zihao simply replied, not borating.

    She didn¡¯t give up and continued asking him, hoping that he would at least give a satisfying answer even to just one of her questions.

    "Why do you need so many people? Are they staying here, too? Do you need that much protection? You¡¯re really doing something dangerous, aren¡¯t you? Wait, how long are you going to stay here? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re leaving again soon?"

    He chuckled at her insistent questioning.

    "Yes, some of them will be staying here with me. The others will just visit on a regr basis. I already informed your Jin Liwei, and he gave permission to allow them to stay here. Don¡¯t worry about them too much, little sister. They¡¯re just my training partners to strengthen this weak-ass body of mine. I need to train it regrly because it¡¯s the type of body that degenerates quickly if I don¡¯t keep it active. So pathetic. And yes, I¡¯ll be staying here for a while so don¡¯t worry," he told her.

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up after hearing that he would be staying this time and wouldn¡¯t leave so soon.

    She didn¡¯t even notice that he didn¡¯t reply to her question about doing something dangerous. She just felt happy to be with her big brother again.

    "Really? That¡¯s great, Big Brother! Liwei is at work right now, but my friends are here. Come, I¡¯ll introduce you to the ones you haven¡¯t met yet," she told him. "And we have something new here. Liwei built me an indoor forest to celebrate our first anniversary. It¡¯s now one of my top favourite ces to rx here at the mansion. I think you¡¯ll like it, too."

    Lu Zihao gave his excited sister a sidelong nce while allowing himself to be pulled along by her. It was obvious how much she loved Jin Liwei by her expression whenever she mentioned his name. Although Lu Zihao already epted and approved of their rtionship, there was still a small part of him that wanted to punch Jin Liwei in the face. It was just a natural urge stemming from his protectiveness of his sister.

    The moment he envisioned punching Jin Liwei in the face, a small twinge inside him protested.

    ¡¯Oh, shut up!¡¯ he scolded the annoying presence inside him.

    The intangible presence inside him gave a silent harrumph before settling down.

    Iris¡¯ phone vibrated. It was a text message sent by Ketchup. It said:

    "[cute kitty emoji] Mommy, Uncle¡¯s people have surrounded the entire property and have begun patrolling with Daddy¡¯s subordinates. Ketchup is waiting for Mommy¡¯s instruction on what to do about them. [a cuter kitty emoji]"

    The message was written in Hausa, anguage Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t familiar with. He nced at the message. When he didn¡¯t understand what was written, he lost interest. He had no idea that it was about him.

    Iris slightly tilted her head to the side. However, she didn¡¯t feel too suspicious. This was her big brother, after all. Besides, she was too happy about his return that she didn¡¯t want to create conflict between them so soon. She figured that it was just her brother being cautious as usual, that was why he ordered his people to patrol the property. It seemed that Jin Liwei didn¡¯t mind, even instructing his own subordinates to go along with it.

    "Ketchup, leave them," she replied in an audible voice, speaking in Mandarin.

    Her phone vibrated again. It was another message showing a cute sticker of a white cat giving a thumbs up.

    "What ketchup? You want to eat?" Lu Zihao asked, confused.

    "I¡¯ll tell you some other time but not now," she replied with a mysterious smile.

    "Heh~" He raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t continue asking any further. After all, he didn¡¯t answer all of her earlier questions either.

    Iris didn¡¯t mind telling her big brother about Ketchup. She trusted him but not his people. She would tell him when they weren¡¯t around.

    Finally, they arrived at the door leading to the huge rotunda which had been transformed into an indoor forest. Lu Zihao gave a silent order to his subordinates with just his eyes alone. They nodded and stationed themselves outside the door. They wouldn¡¯t follow the siblings inside.

    He opened the door and entered with his sister. As soon as they stepped inside, a streak of orange flew towards them. Popcornunched his agile body at his mommy who caught him. He meowed loudly and rubbed his head quickly against her before attempting to leap at the man beside her. The affectionate cat remembered his Uncle Zihao, even though the man had changed a lot since the catst saw him. Iris handed Popcorn to her brother who could only sigh, as he received the cat in his arms.

    A big grey furball arrived next at a much slower pace. Ice Cream huffed and puffed, as she jogged with much effort to greet her mommy. However, she stopped in her tracks when she saw the tall and big man beside her mommy. Her eyes became suspicious, and her bodynguage indicated that she went into full-alert mode.

    Iris chuckled seeing Ice Cream. "Come here, baby. Look, it¡¯s Uncle Zihao."

    The grey cat refused toe closer, even when her mommy called for her.

    "Hmmm. I like that grey one. She¡¯s smart and cautious. She¡¯ll live long," Lu Zihaomented about Ice Cream while petting Popcorn. "Unlike this stupid dog-like cat who trusts everyone."

    "Meow~" Popcorn became even more affectionate to Lu Zihao, thinking that his uncle was praising him.

    Iris pouted, unhappy that one of her babies had been insulted. Although she agreed that Popcorn wasn¡¯t a smart one, his big brother was too mean for speaking too bluntly.

    "Little sister, you should be more cautious and suspicious like Popsicle. You¡¯ve be too trusting of people," he told her.

    She pouted even more. "Her name is Ice Cream, Big Brother. Not Popsicle."

    He only shrugged. "Popsicle, Ice Cream. Same thing."

    "No, they¡¯re not."

    "Whatever." Then he looked at her with a serious expression. "Stick to naming your pets. When you have your own human children, let your man name them. Promise me, alright?"

    "But I want to name my own babies! Liwei agrees that I have an excellent and creative naming sense."

    Lu Zihao blinked a few times. "Ah. You know what? You couple shouldn¡¯t be allowed to name your own children. Let other people name them. Your kids will thank you when they grow up."

    "What do you mean by that?! Big Brother, you¡¯re speaking nonsense. I¡¯m not going to let other people name my own babies. If they want to name a baby, they should make their own!"

    A faint sense of panic rose inside Lu Zihao. He mustn¡¯t allow his sister to name his human niece and nephew. There was no way he was going to call his future niece or nephew with a ridiculous name like...like Barbeque or Cheesecake. Jin Liwei would probably even praise his sister for such cursed names. Lu Zihao inwardly shuddered at the thought. He quickly thought of a way to dissuade his stubborn sister. Then a bulb lit inside his mind.

    "How about let the old man name your child instead? He¡¯s been whining about wanting to have a great-grandchild for so long. Have some pity on such an old man and give him the privilege of naming your child. It¡¯ll delight him to no end for sure. How about it?"

    He waited for her reply, a hopeful look in his eyes. He trusted Grandpa Lu¡¯s naming sense more than his sister¡¯s or Jin Liwei¡¯s.

    "Oh." Iris¡¯ defensiveness immediately evaporated. "Well...you¡¯re right. I¡¯m sure that Grandpa Lu would love to do that. Hmmm. Fine. But I¡¯ll have to discuss this with Liwei first. After all, I can¡¯t make a baby on my own."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s relief was short-lived. He scowled at the idea of his sister making a baby with Jin Liwei. He mentally kicked himself in the head for initiating the topic.

    "Little sister, remember. Marriage first before pregnancy," he said through gritted teeth.

    Instead of bing intimidated by his dangerous aura like she would have done before, this new Iris just giggled at her big brother.

    "Okay, Big Brother. Don¡¯t worry. We always use protection without fail. Liwei is very responsible. Sometimes I would forget, especially when I be too caught up in the moment, but he always remembers," she told him.

    He scowled and released the orange cat in his arms who already had enough petting. Then he grumbled, "Too much information. I don¡¯t want to hear about it. In my mind, my sister is still a virgin."

    Despite the change in her personality, Iris still remained as straightforward as ever. "But Big Brother, I¡¯m not a virgin anymore. My gynecologist told me that Liwei and I have a very healthy sex life. We¡ª"

    Lu Zihao growled. "I said I don¡¯t want to hear about it!"

 Chapter 462 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 462 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part IV </h4>

    Not wanting to annoy her big brother, Iris stopped talking about her healthy sex life with Jin Liwei. She didn¡¯t think that it was such a big of a deal. Making love with the man she loved felt very natural. She thought that her big brother was overreacting. Tossing the matter out of her mind, she grabbed Lu Zihao¡¯s hand instead and led him deeper into the indoor forest.

    Popcorn trotted beside them, while Ice Cream followed behind, making sure to maintain a few metres of distance from Lu Zihao. Finally, the koi fish pond came into view.

    "Mama! Mama!"

    Little Jun was the first one to notice their arrival. The toddler ran towards them, but like Ice Cream, he stopped in his tracks when he saw the tall and big man beside his mama. He looked scared, but at the same time, curious as well.

    Then a dramatic shriek echoed all throughout the indoor forest. Dom jumped out of his seat and goggled at Lu Zihao. His face was a theatrical mask of shocked delight.

    "Big Brother Boss! Is that you?!! Kyaaaaah!!!"

    Meimei and Clover also jumped out of their seats and started squealing. The triplets already met Lu Zihao before. They thought that he was very hot. Seeing his new, more muscr body immediately sent the three into fangirl mode.

    Jiang Ying Yue also stood up and smiled in greeting. However, she didn¡¯t join the triplets in squealing. However, as a muscr woman, she was very interested in how Lu Zihao got his new body.

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei covered their ears because the triplets¡¯ squeals were so loud. They felt like their eardrums were going to burst. They were very confused about what was happening. Standing up like the others, the two looked at the unfamiliar man walking beside Iris. They hadn¡¯t met Lu Zihao before.

    Iris carried Little Jun who was now staring at Lu Zihao. The toddler didn¡¯t seem to remember the man, even though he already met him before. Lu Zihao just changed so much and didn¡¯t show himself for so long that the child hadpletely forgotten about him. It also didn¡¯t help that his face now had a long scar on it.

    "Little Jun, this is Uncle Zihao. He¡¯s my big brother. You already met him before," Iris re-introduced Lu Zihao to the child.

    The toddler thought that the man was scary, but he trusted his mama. She introduced the man to him, so the man must be nice. After greeting Lu Zihao with a shy "Heyo", Little Jun hid his face against Iris¡¯ neck.

    While carrying Little Jun, Iris led her big brother to the islet. The triplets¡¯ excitement went into overdrive.

    Later...

    Everyone was seated on the couches and chatting. The extra refreshments sent by the butler had also arrived.

    Little Jun and the cats were back ying under the fruit trees with the nanny and the catsitters.

    Back to the adults on the islet, the triplets couldn¡¯t stop gushing about Lu Zihao¡¯s "new and improved" appearance. They thought that the scar looked very cool and just made him more attractive. Meimei even took out her tablet and stylus that she always carried around wherever she went. Then she started sketching a dangerous yet charismatic and handsome character based on Lu Zihao.

    Iris also introduced Long Jinjing and Chen Fei to Lu Zihao, describing them as her friends and also as the COO and CFO of herpany, Orchidia Beauty, respectively. Then she introduced Lu Zihao to the two as Grandpa Lu¡¯s grandson and her and Jin Liwei¡¯s brother.

    When Lu Zihao looked at the two women, Chen Fei stared right back at him. Long Jinjing, however, turned red and looked away.

    "Big Brother, we¡¯re going tounch mypany on thest day of the month. You¡¯re invited. You muste," Iris told him.

    "Ah... So this is the party the old man kept on pestering me to attend. I thought it was another stupid blind date attempt, so Ipletely ignored what he said. Fine, little sister. I¡¯lle. Besides, I¡¯ll be staying here at mansion with you. I¡¯m not going anywhere anytime soon," he told her.

    Iris and the triplets were ecstatic to hear his confirmation of attendance to the party.

    Then Lu Zihao turned to Long Jinjing who was introduced as the CFO of Orchidia Beauty.

    "You better not cheat my little sister¡¯spany out of its money," he warned her in a deceptively light tone. His eyes, however, were cold.

    Long Jinjing was feeling shy earlier when Lu Zihao was first introduced to them. Her face was red the entire time. He looked very intimidating, especially with the scar on his face. Nevertheless, he was also extremely attractive. But now Long Jinjing felt insulted by his words.

    "I take my job as Orchidia Beauty¡¯s CFO very seriously. I¡¯m not going to cheat thepany, nor would I cheat my own sister. I won¡¯t betray her. And for your information, Xin is MY little sister, not yours!" Long Jinjing¡¯s blush of shyness turned into a flush of indignation instead.

    It was very rare for the others to see her so worked up. They all became quiet and watched the two.

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow at the woman. "Heh... Is that so? Well, too bad. She may be your sister by blood, but she¡¯s my sister in soul. Bad blood could easily destroy your rtionship. But us? Even death could never tear us apart."

    "Dude, that¡¯s so creepy," Chen Feimented. "I think you¡¯ve read too many bad romance novels."

    He just shrugged his shoulders. Then seeing Meimei focusing on him while sketching on her tablet, he shed her with his demonic smile. The triplets all gasped and clutched their chests, as if a heart-shaped arrow just shot them straight into their hearts.

    Chen Fei turned to Iris. "Xin, is he your concubine? Are you sure CEO Jin is fine with your close rtionship with this guy? No wonder some people think that you¡¯re engaged with this Lu Zihao instead of CEO Jin."

    "My little sister and I don¡¯t practice incest," Lu Zihao replied to her before Iris could say anything. "And if Third Brother doesn¡¯t understand our special brother and sister bond, then he¡¯s an idiot who doesn¡¯t deserve my sister."

    Lu Zihao instantly paled after saying thest sentence about Jin Liwei being an idiot. He gritted his teeth and took a barely noticeable sharp intake of breath. Despite this, his expression remained impassive yet also roguish as usual. Only Iris noticed that something was wrong with him. But before she could say anything, he faintly shook his head, silently telling her that he was fine. Then he grabbed a random ss of juice on the table and drank it.

    "Hey, that¡¯s mine!" Long Jinjing eximed.

    "Well, it¡¯s mine now." Lu Zihao ignored her protest, drinking all the juice until the ss became empty.

    Despite feeling insulted by him earlier, Long Jinjing still couldn¡¯t help but blush, especially watching him drink from her ss.

    The triplets all snickered at her.

    Lu Zihao shed the triplets with his demonic smile and winked at them. And with that, the indoor forest was filled with deafening squeals once again.

 Chapter 463 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part V

    <h4>Chapter 463 - The Return Of Lu Zihao Part V </h4>

    Late in the afternoon, Jin Liwei finally arrived home from work. But it wasn¡¯t only him. Lin Yehan, Wang Yingjie and Yu Mo also came. It seemed that Jin Liwei picked his brothers up from a meeting ce beforeing home to the mansion. They all came because they heard that their Fifth Brother, Lu Zihao, arrived today and would be staying at the mansion for a longer period this time.

    When their vehicle entered the property, they were surprised by therge number of people patrolling the ce. They knew that the majority of them weren¡¯t members of Jin Liwei¡¯s security team because his subordinates always wore ck suits whenever they were on duty. The new people didn¡¯t wear uniforms. They just wore casual clothing¡ªmostly, utility pants, shirts and jackets.

    "Third Bro, you hired more people?" Yu Mo asked.

    "No. Those must be Fifth Brother¡¯s subordinates," Jin Liwei replied.

    Lin Yehan¡¯s gentle face frowned, while Wang Yingjie wore a contemtive expression.

    "He¡¯s concerned about Xin¡¯s safety. There have been increasing instances when fans tried to grab or tackle her in overexcitement. You already know how close Xin and Fifth Brother are, and how protective he is with her like me. If something bad happens to her, the two of us will be the first ones to hunt down any stupid motherfuckers who dare hurt her," Jin Liwei exined to them.

    It wasn¡¯t the entire truth, but what he said was part of the real reason. He didn¡¯t want to endanger his other brothers by telling them about the Youngs and their connection with a group of hackers including Eagle and a formidable hacker whom his baby girl referred to as "one of the old guys". It was already enough that he and his Fifth Brother knew about it. There was no need to involve their other brothers and ce them in danger.

    "The two of you are spoiling for visiting.

    "Yes, yes. I know it hurts, Little Jun. But it¡¯ll get better," Lin Yehan continuedforting the toddler. "Uncle Yingjie is a doctor. We¡¯ll have him take a look at you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll feel better in no time."

    By this time, Little Jun¡¯s wailing had be regr crying and whimpering instead. However, he continued hugging Lin Yehan¡¯s neck with his little head resting on the man¡¯s shoulder.Jin Liwei is their "Third Brother", so Iris automatically bes their "Third Sister-inw". So it doesn¡¯t mean that there are two other sisters-inw before her, making her the third. No, it¡¯s simply the title based on Jin Liwei¡¯s own title among them.

 Chapter 464 - Sleep Now, My Boy

    <h4>Chapter 464 - Sleep Now, My Boy </h4>

    A panicked Jiang Ying Yue arrived from the opposite side of the room. She felt like her heart had stopped beating after hearing her beloved son¡¯s blood-curdling wails. The nanny and the catsitters were already off-duty, so they had retired for the night after eating dinner. Jiang Ying Yue felt like the most irresponsible mother in the world for failing to keep an eye on her son every second. She med herself, thinking that this wouldn¡¯t have happened if she gave all of her attention to her son.

    "Mommy¡¯s here now, Little Jun. Show Mommy where it hurts. Come here, sweetie," Jiang Ying said in a barely-controlled emotional voice.

    She was on the verge of tears, but she tried her best to stay calm, even though fear for her son overwhelmed her. Then she tried taking her son from Lin Yehan, but Little Jun refused to let go. He tightened his little arms around Lin Yehan¡¯s neck instead and continued whimpering in pain.

    "I got him. Don¡¯t worry," Lin Yehan told her. His gentle expression and voice became even gentler. "Your son will be fine. We have a doctor here. We¡¯ll ask Second Brother to examine him, okay?"

    She nodded while rubbing her son¡¯s back while still being carried by Lin Yehan. She tried taking Little Jun again, but he still didn¡¯t let go.

    "Dada... Dada...." Little Jun whimpered against Lin Yehan¡¯s shoulder.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s heart squeezed after hearing what her son was saying in the arms of another man who wasn¡¯t his father. She wiped the tears which spilled from her eyes before being able to control herself again. Then she saw that Lin Yehan¡¯s shirt was already soaked with her son¡¯s tears.

    "I¡¯m so sorry about this," Jiang Ying Yue apologized to him.

    "Please don¡¯t apologize. No worries," Lin Yehan assured her. "Little Jun is my Third Brother¡¯s godson. That means he¡¯s also like a nephew to me and our other brothers. I¡¯m sure your son will go to you once he¡¯s ready."

    Everyone came over, concerned for Little Jun. Iris also tried taking Little Jun from Lin Yehan, but the child was determined to stay with the man. Jin Liwei asked the triplets to calm the cats who were now freaking out as well seeing what was happening to their human cousin.

    Wang Yingjie immediately stepped forward to examine Little Jun. Although he didn¡¯t specialize in pediatrics, he was still an excellent doctor. Lin Yehan had to be the one to persuade the child to allow Dr. Wang Yingjie to touch him. In the end, Wang Yinjie announced that Little Jun didn¡¯t break nor sprain anything. However, his cheek and mouth area would be swollen because he took a hard fall earlier. A maid provided an ice pack for the poor kid.

    They were all relieved hearing that Little Jun would be okay, especially the mother, Jiang Ying Yue. She was reminded that her son was her life. And if anything were to happen to Little Jun, she didn¡¯t think that she would be able to take it.

    Then everyone froze when Little Jun suddenly said, "Junjun want Dada..."¡ªsob sob¡ª"Dada..." He pressed his swollen, little face against Lin Yehan¡¯s chest."

    Hearing the child looking for his father, Iris felt pissed at Long Hui. If only Little Jun wasn¡¯t such a small child, she would¡¯ve already told him not to expect anything from his stupid father. She felt even more pissed after seeing her friend¡¯s reaction.

    Jiang Ying Yue already regained control of her outward emotions and reverted to her neutral bodyguard expression, but Iris and their other friends still saw the sh of pain in her eyes. They felt upset for her.

    "Little Jun, your daddy is not here but your papa is. Why don¡¯t you go to your papa?" Lin Yehan encouraged the child, then gave a look at his Third Brother.

    Jin Liwei stepped forward, but Little Jun shook his head and burrowed himself deeper against Lin Yehan¡¯s chest. The toddler already started calling Lin Yehan as "Anko Han".

    Afterwards, Little Jun stuck to Lin Yehan. Everyone was amazed because it was so rare that the child would refuse his Mama Iris¡¯ call toe to her, preferring Lin Yehan instead who was basically a stranger.

    As for Lin Yehan, he wasn¡¯t used to handling children, but he was a naturally gentle person. He was also fiercely protective of people who he considered as family. Since Little Jun was his Third Brother¡¯s godson, he already treated the child as a family member. That was why he was extra gentle to the toddler and very patient, even though he had been holding Little Jun on hisp for more than an hour now.

    The night was gettingte, and it was already way past Little Jun¡¯s bedtime. Seeing him so sleepy, everyone decided to end the gathering. All of them except for Wang Yingjie and Lin Yehan were sleeping at the mansion.

    Yu Mo also didn¡¯t n on sleeping over but decided to do so at thest minute. He would just borrow clothes from either his Third or Fifth Brother. Wang Yingjie couldn¡¯t sleep over even if he wanted to because he needed to prepare for a surgery the next morning. As for Lin Yehan, he felt morefortable sleeping in his farm vi than anywhere else. He didn¡¯t mind driving so far and sote into the night.

    Little Jun was in a half-awake, half-asleep state, so Jiang Ying Yue was finally able to take her son from Lin Yehan. Fortunately, Little Jun didn¡¯t resist and transferred to his mother¡¯s arms without any problems.

    But when Lin Yehan and Wang Yingjie were preparing to leave, Little Jun suddenly opened his eyes and called out.

    "Anko Han! No go!"

    Jin Liwei and Iris didn¡¯t want their godson to feel agitated before sleeping, so they persuaded Lin Yehan to sleep over like everyone else.

    "It¡¯s already sote in the night, Eldest Brother. Your farm vi is more than hour away. It¡¯s not safe," Jin Liwei told him.

    Iris nodded, agreeing with her darling.

    Lin Yehan sighed. He looked at the toddler who was fighting sleep just to make sure that he didn¡¯t leave. He sighed again and gave a helpless smile. "Alright, I¡¯ll stay. But I didn¡¯t bring anything with me."

    "No problem, Eldest Brother. Liwei has plenty of clothes which he hasn¡¯t worn yet. I¡¯ll have a staff deliver them to you and Fourth Brother in your bedrooms," Iris told him.

    He nodded. Then he turned to the toddler. "Little Jun, I¡¯m not going home tonight. I¡¯ll be staying here, so you can sleep now. Be good and don¡¯t make it hard for your mother. Alright?"

    "Anko Han, no go?" Little Jun asked sleepily.

    "I¡¯m not going anywhere tonight. Sleep now, my boy. Goodnight," Lin Yehan told the child in a soft, gentle voice.

    "Nite nite, Anko..." And with that, Little Jun fell asleep.

    Everyone sighed in relief.

    Jiang Ying Yue apologized to Lin Yehan for inconveniencing him so much, but he just shook his head and gently told her not to worry about it.

    In the end, only Wang Yingjie went home that night. Everyone else slept over, not knowing that this night would tie their destinies together forever.

 Chapter 465 - Undercurrents

    <h4>Chapter 465 - Undercurrents </h4>

    The next morning, everyone headed to the kitchen after waking up and making themselves presentable. They arrived at different times, so some were already eating while the others were just arriving or hadn¡¯t arrived yet.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates patrolled the property with Jin Liwei¡¯s security team for the entire night. They worked in shifts. It was interesting to note that they would make themselves scarce whenever Iris was around, so she personally never saw the full extent of their patrolling. Of course, Ketchup monitored everything in the property but since her mommy told her not to intervene, she didn¡¯t report about the patrolling situation anymore.

    Iris only saw a couple of subordinates who always followed Lu Zihao around. She thought that they were protecting him, not knowing that their main mission was actually to guard her. Lu Zihao also didn¡¯t make it obvious by always apanying her. Thus, it appeared as if the subordinates were following him and not Iris.

    Jin Liwei, who was observing everything, had an idea of what his Fifth Brother was doing. He also wanted his baby girl safe and protected all the time, but thought that it was better to be upfront to her about what they were doing. He didn¡¯t approve of this sneaky tactic behind her back. Sure, it was for her own good, but he didn¡¯t feelfortable hiding something like this from her. He believed that it was better to face her wrath with the truth and try to persuade her to understand their reasons, rather than to face her wrath when she discovered what they were doing without her knowledge.

    And he knew that she would eventually discover it. After all, there was Ketchup who was monitoring everything in the property 24/7. If his baby girl asked their third kitty baby, Ketchup would instantly report everything to her.

    His baby girl might have a strong stubborn streak, but she wasn¡¯t unreasonable. She would listen to exnations and if they made sense, she would adjust her own viewpoint ordingly. Jin Liwei believed that she had a right to know that Lu Zihao brought this much people mainly for her security.

    There were so many questions Jin Liwei wanted to ask and many things he wanted to discuss with his Fifth Brother but hadn¡¯t had the chance yet. He wanted to talk to him with just the two of them, especially since what they were going to discuss were potentially very sensitive and dangerous in nature.

    Back to the present, everyone finally arrived at the kitchen. They sat around the massive granite countertop and ate breakfast.

    Little Jun was delighted to see his "Anko Han" and insisted that he wanted to sit beside him. Jiang Ying Yue could only sigh and brought herself and her son to sit beside Lin Yehan.

    Lin Yehan nodded at the mother and son, a gentle expression on his face as always. He also interacted with Little Jun who was babbling about many things. Although Lin Yehan didn¡¯t understand the majority of what the child was telling him, he didn¡¯t mind. He also considered the cats, Ice Cream and Popcorn, as his niece and nephew respectively. He couldn¡¯t understand their meows either, but he didn¡¯t mind because they were his Third Brother¡¯s kids. Since the boy and the cats were important to his Third Brother,Lin Yehan automatically treated Little Jun as family.

    In another spot, Long Jinjing sat across Lu Zihao. She was calmer now and didn¡¯t feel as shypared to yesterday. She didn¡¯t really talk directly to him. Conversation was lively on the breakfast table, but Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao talked to the others, not to each other.

    She tried to act as nonchnt as he was to her. However, she found that her eyes would subconsciously stray to him. About half of the time, she discovered that he was also looking at her. Their eyes would meet. She would turn crimson, while he would just slightly raise an eyebrow. The corner of his mouth would also curve upward into a faint devilish smile.

    The undercurrents between these two pairs were noticed by everyone else on the breakfast table. Well, not everyone. Iris was still dense sometimes. She happily ate breakfast while acting lovey-dovey to her own darling, not detecting anything unusual from the cheerful atmosphere around her.

    As for the others, even though they noticed, nobody openly remarked about it. They didn¡¯t think that teasing each other about it was appropriate, especially since most of them just metst night. The triplets only snickered among themselves, while Chen Fei just shrugged. As long as her best friend wasn¡¯t hurt or in danger, Chen Fei would have no problems about it.

    Then Clover cried out all of a sudden, interrupting everyone from their meals and conversations.

    "Ah! It¡¯s time! Our secret weapon should be up by now!" she announced with much excitement.

    The eyes of everyone in the girl squad all lit up. Jin Liwei also seemed to know what was going on. His brothers, however, were confused.

    Iris grabbed her phone and texted an instruction to Ketchup. Almost immediately, the huge TV on the far wall flickered to life. It didn¡¯t show a TV program, however. Instead, it showed the officialwebsite of Orchidia Beauty. On the home page, an eye-catching video was featured.

    Then it started ying.

    ###

    At the same time on the inte, a certain sponsored ad caught the attention of manyizens in the country. Whether they were watching videos, scrolling through their social media pages, or simply surfing the web, they couldn¡¯t ignore this particr ad like the other annoying ones bombarding them all the time.

    For those on social media or surfing the web, they only saw a static ad. It should be nothing special, especially since a lot of them didn¡¯t recognize thepany. However, they were attracted by the two featured models¡ªa male and a female. The two looked very familiar. Theizens clicked on the ad so fast before they could even think about it. They were led to thepany¡¯s official website.

    For those watching online videos, it appeared during the ad break. Usually, they would skip the annoying ads but this time, they ended up watching the entiremercial.

    Everyone freaked out while watching the videomercial. They couldn¡¯t believe it.

    "What the hell is this?! Am I dreaming?! Iris Long and Jin Chonglin are together in onemercial?!"

 Chapter 466 - Natural Beauty Is Orchidia Beauty

    <h4>Chapter 466 - Natural Beauty Is Orchidia Beauty </h4>

    The full-length videomercial started with Jin Chonglin as a trekker lost in a mountain forest. He was dirty and sunburned but otherwise still looked handsome as ever. The background music yed softly in the background, emphasizing the weary expression on the exhausted mountain trekker. He followed the distant sound of water.

    Finally, he arrived at a clearing with a breathtaking view of a waterfall and a river. The rushing water looked fresh, clean and clear.

    Then the music changed into a mystical one. All of a sudden, a beautiful woman emerged from under the water. Her long, wet hair flipping up in the air in an arc was shown in slow motion, sshing droplets of water all over the ce which sparkled like stars under the sunlight. She was wearing a white dress which clung wetly to her slender hourss body. Her eyes opened slowly and looked directly at the open-mouthed mountain trekker who was staring at her in amazement.

    The scene changed, showing Iris as a beautiful mountain dweller. Jin Chonglin was now clean and wearing a white shirt and pants in a simr material as Iris¡¯ dress. They were outside a small wooden hut. Around them were various natural ingredients like honey, flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables, y and much more.

    Iris was grinding and mixing the ingredients together, showing Jin Chonglin how to do it. Then Jin Chonglin tried it as well. When the lotion they made was finished, Iris applied it all over Jin Chonglin¡¯s sunburned face. He smiled, looking deep in her eyes. Then he took the bowl of lotion from her hands and applied some on her face as well.

    The next scenes showed a montage of Jin Chonglin helping Iris make other creams and gels from all-natural ingredients. They used them as soap, shampoo, cleansers, lotions, creams and facial moisturizers.

    Then the background music changed once again, sounding romantic. A handsome Jin Chonglin, who was no longer sunburned and had smooth skin, waited on top of a mountain. The horizon looked magnificent from a distance. He turned his head and his entire face broke into a delighted smile.

    A beautiful and glowing Iris slowly walked towards him. She was wearing a long white dress which fluttered in the wind, showing glimpses of her smooth legs and shoulders. A crown of colourful flowers sat on top of her head. She looked like a bride walking on a carpet of fallen leaves.

    Jin Chonglin helped her up the boulder. They stood together and looked over nature¡¯s beauty from the top of the mountain. Their smooth skin glowed from the sunset.

    Then Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice spoke in the background. He said:

    "Natural beauty¡ª"

    Iris¡¯ voice seamlessly finished the sentence, saying:

    "¡ªis Orchidia Beauty."

    The slogan "Natural beauty is Orchidia Beauty" appeared under the attractive logo of Orchidia Beauty. It was an image of an orchid flower which also looked like the silhouette of a woman¡¯s face.

    At the bottom corner, Iris Long was credited as theposer of all the background music used in themercial. A list of the song titles was also included.

    Afterwards, a block of text appeared showing a date. It was thest day of the month which wasbelled as thepany¡¯s officialunch. It also included Orchidia Beauty¡¯s official website address for more information about the products and theunch day.

    Themercial finally ended.

    ###

    In just an hour, themercial video went viral. It was all theizens discussed about. Of course, the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans went online in droves, further pushing up themercial into the #1 top trending rankings in various websites.

    Nobody saw this endorsement coborationing. It was such a surprise that everyone was taken aback. Both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t drop any hints of it at all.

    People couldn¡¯t stop talking about themercial, especially about Iris Long and Jin Chonglin. They alsopraised themercial and felt interested in Orchidia Beauty.

    "Thismercial is a work of art! It¡¯s like I¡¯m watching a movie or a documentary. The shots are so beautiful!"

    "Hey, I recognize this ce! It¡¯s a mountain near my hometown. This is a real ce, not a studio. I¡¯m so happy that they shot themercial there and featured the beauty of where Ie from. I love it!"

    "I¡¯ve been hearing about this newpany called Orchidia Beauty from my favourite beauty influencers since the summer. Most of them gave high reviews for the PR products that were sent to them. I also want to try the products but then I discovered that they haven¡¯t been released yet. Now I want to try the products even more after knowing that my favourite musicians in the country, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin, are both endorsing it together!"

    "Yeah. This brand is really popr in the beautymunitytely. I¡¯m really curious about who owns thispany, Orchidia Beauty. They haven¡¯t evenunched yet, but they could already afford such popr celebrities like Iris Long and Jin Chonglin? Iris Long is one of the hottest celebrities in the country right now, not to mention that Jin Chonglin is a domestic superstar."

    "I also wonder about that. I¡¯m sure that the owner is a super-rich person."

    Some of them started searching for more information about Orchidia Beauty, but they couldn¡¯t find anything other than what was shown in the official website. Instead, a post on the website promised that everything would be revealed on the officialunch day.

    "It looks like thepany wants to be mysterious for now. I can¡¯t wait to know more about it. I want to know what kind of people are behind a newpany that can afford Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin and hire them as their first endorsers. They haven¡¯t evenunched yet, but I¡¯m already so impressed."

    With the release of the ad featuring Iris Long and Jin Chonglin, Orchidia Beauty became known outside the beautymunity. Now more people were looking forward to itsunch.

 Chapter 467 - Thatâ€™s Your Fee

    <h4>Chapter 467 - That¡¯s Your Fee </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    That same night, Iris had an informal meeting with Chen Fei, Long Jinjing and Clover after dinner. Jiang Ying Yue and Dom didn¡¯t want to bother them because it was about business, so the two went somewhere else to spend time with Little Jun and the cats.

    Iris, Chen Fei and Long Jinjing checked and re-checked the guest list to make sure that everything was correct. The invitations to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch party would all be sent out the next morning.

    After the meeting, those who slept over prepared to go home. It was back to work again tomorrow.

    Lu Zihao instructed his subordinates to drive thedies home before Jin Liwei could offer to do so. Iris didn¡¯t think much of it because her big brother acted nonchnt as always, but the triplets snickered among themselves. Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun would also leave with them.

    The teary Little Jun didn¡¯t want to leave his mama, papa, and his new favourite "Anko Han". Iris, Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan spent some time trying to reassure the toddler that they would see each other again soon. Fortunately, it worked and Little Jun didn¡¯t throw a tantrum. He just whimpered sadly in his mother¡¯s embrace.

    "Hey, Fifth Bro! This is discrimination! You offer thedies a ride home, but what about us, your beloved bros?" Yu Moined.

    Lu Zihao shrugged. "Ask Third Brother."

    Yu Mo continued toin, but everyone just ignored him. In the end, Jin Liwei was the one who arranged for a ride home for his Eldest Brother and Fourth Brother.

    After everyone left, Jin Liwei told Iris to go to their bedroom suite first. He would followter because he had something to talk about with his Fifth Brother. Lu Zihao looked like he already expected it, so he just waited.

    Iris was curious about what they were going to talk about. She wanted to join them and listen, but Jin Liwei¡¯s expression told her that he wanted to talk to Lu Zihao alone. She pouted but didn¡¯t insist.

    Jin Liwei kissed her pouting lips to make her feel better. It worked. Her pout disappeared, reced by a lovely smile. His eyes darkened with desire. Not caring that there were other people around them, he dipped his head and kissed his baby girl harder. He sucked on her bottom lip and nibbled on it.

    Afterwards, he rained kisses all over her face. He was trying to erase the traces of Jin Chonglin¡¯s touch on his baby girl¡¯s face from themercial. It was originally Jin Liwei¡¯s idea to use his younger brother in Orchidia Beauty¡¯s firstmercial. After all, Jin Liwei was still an elite businessman. He knew the advantages of using a celebrity of his younger brother¡¯s calibre in an ad campaign. In fact, he was the one who threatened¡ªcough cough¡ª"persuaded" Jin Chonglin to agree.

    Despite this, he was unhappy about themercial¡¯s storyline. But he didn¡¯t try to stop his baby girl this time. The green-eyed monster inside him wasn¡¯t something he couldpletely get rid of, but he was getting better in controlling it and not letting it take over his emotions. He was unhappy, yes, but he trusted his baby girl and his younger brother.

    Still, Jin Liwei was tempted to lick his baby girl¡¯s entire face just to rid his mind of the image of his younger brother touching it. He stopped the urge, though. His baby girl would allow him to lick her in other ces but not her entire face. She would most likely scold him, tell him not to act like a salivating dog, and then kick him out to the proverbial doghouse.

    Back to the present, the shameless couple had alreadypletely forgotten that they weren¡¯t alone (as usual). They were kissing passionately while pawing each other¡¯s bodies.

    When Jin Liwei lifted one of Iris¡¯ legs and tried to hook it around him, they were interrupted by a forceful cough from Lu Zihao and a teasing "ehehehe" from Dom.

    The lovers reluctantly separated and sighed.

    Iris and Dom returned to their own bedrooms, while Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao went somewhere else to talk.

    Later, Iris was inside the bedroom. She had already showered and changed into silk pyjamas. Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t back yet. She wondered what her darling and her big brother were talking about that was taking so long. Yawning, Iris climbed on the bed. She was originally nning on making love with Jin Liwei tonight before sleeping, but her eyes were already getting heavier. At this rate, she would fall asleep before he returned.

    She was about to ask Ketchup if Jin Liwei was on his way to the bedroom suite yet when her phone started ringing.

    "Ketchup, who is it?"

    "Meow~ Mommy, it¡¯s Uncle Lin Lin."

    "Oh. Answer it."

    "Okay, Mommy! Answering the call in 3, 2, 1¡ª"

    Iris yawned before talking. "Hello?"

    "Sister Xin! Hello, it¡¯s me," Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice replied.

    Ketchup put the call on speakerphone.

    "Yes, I know." Iris yawned again.

    "Did you see ourmercial and our ads all over the inte? Everyone is talking about us! We¡¯re #1 in almost all the online top trending rankings. And it¡¯s only the first day!" he said excitedly.

    "Of course, I already know. Orchidia Beauty is mypany, so I have direct ess to the real-time statistics of the ads¡¯ performance."

    Jin Chonglin made a dissatisfied sound. "Why do you not sound excited? See how kind I am to you as a brother-inw? I make a minimum of several millions permercial and yet I allowed you to use this superstar prince to endorse yourpany for free! That¡¯s for FREE!! You opportunistic couple only know how to exploit me!!!"

    Iris yawned again and made herself morefortable under the duvet.

    "What do you mean, Brother Chonglin? Didn¡¯t you sign a contract to create your own line of men¡¯s products and even a perfume line with Orchidia Beauty? You even attended several meetings with the Bauer siblings already to develop the products that you want. I heard that you¡¯re the one prolonging the process because of your endless demands and indecisiveness. Such a diva. Mypany is shouldering all the expenses of your product lines, so stopining. That¡¯s your fee!"

 Chapter 468 - A Chance Encounter At The Hospital

    <h4>Chapter 468 - A Chance Encounter At The Hospital </h4>

    Jin Chonglin harrumphed and then muttered, "Fine. I¡¯m just saying that you couple should also consider my own feelings, you know." Then he changed the subject. "By the way, what¡¯s up with that hacker you rmended? That son of a bitch is too expensive!!!"

    Iris scowled when he called her baby, Ketchup, a "son of a bitch". Since she was the creator/mother, wasn¡¯t she the one he was calling a "bitch"? Iris had decided to allow Ketchup to work with Jin Chonglin since his requests would probably be something very easy to aplish. She was very busy working on more important things, so it was a good thing that she had Ketchup to deal with this kind of minor tasks. Besides, Ketchup was growing at a fast rate that amazed even her. She didn¡¯t expect that the self-learning function she developed would be so effective.

    "Brother Chonglin, I already warned you beforehand that the hacker I know is one of the best in the world and will be very expensive," she reminded him. "You even bragged about being able to afford it, so don¡¯tin. Did the hacker aplish the task you ask for?"

    "Yeah..." he replied, and then sighed. "He was amazing, actually. The targets didn¡¯t even know that they were hacked. There were no traces at all. Now I have less things to worry about. It¡¯s just that he¡¯s too expensive. Even this prince winced at the price. It sounds like you¡¯re quite close to the hacker. Can you ask him to give me a discount?"

    "Hmm..." Iris seriously thought about it. "Fine, 2% discount."

    "T-two percent?!! Come on. Sister Xin, we¡¯re family now. Negotiate a higher discount with the hacker for me."

    "Fine. 3%."

    "More."

    "3.1%..."

    "..." Jin Chonglin was speechless. "Sister Xin... You know what? You¡¯re actually worse than Big Bro."

    "Hm? What do you mean? Grandpa Lu says that I have talent as a business negotiator," she said.

    "Ah... Grandpa Lu... I see. Now that makes sense." He sighed once, twice, and then three times. "I forgot that he¡¯s actually your business mentor. Hmmm... Now that I think about it, I think I made the right decision to connect myself to Orchidia Beauty while it¡¯s still in its early stages..."

    "Of course, you did. So don¡¯tin anymore about endorsement fees," she said.

    In the end, Iris agreed to "persuade" the hacker to give Jin Chonglin a 9.8% discount after an intense negotiation. Jin Chonglin was unsessful in making it 10%. He grew exhausted trying to negotiate with her so he just agreed just to be done with it.

    Iris smiled in satisfaction when the call ended. Now she had a slightly fatter bank ount thanks to her future brother-inw. Then she fell into deep sleep, unable to wait for her darling¡¯s return to the bedroom.

    ###

    Everyone was busy the entire week, except for Jiang Ying Yue. As the head of security of a condo building, she had more flexibility to decide her own schedule. Despite this, she didn¡¯t abuse her authority and worked regr hours. Today, however, she took a day-off because Little Jun had an appointment with the pediatrician.

    She preferred to bring her own son to the doctor instead of entrusting him to the nanny. Little Jun wasn¡¯t sick or anything. It was just a regr check-up and also because they were nning on travelling abroad soon. She needed to know the doctor¡¯s opinion if her son was safe to travel and if he needed any vines beforehand, especially since this was his first time to travel outside the country.

    It was a beautiful sunny day, but there was a chill in the air. Autumn was making itself more and more felt with each passing day.

    Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun were dressed in stylish coats and boots. They had no choice but to be stylish because the mother and son¡¯s entire wardrobes werepletely reced by Wei Lan. Their old clothes, save for a few ones, were all donated to charity by the viscountess.

    The driver dropped them off at the hospital, and then left soon afterwards. He needed to return to the penthouse and drive Wei Lan for another round of house hunting. He told Jiang Ying Yue to call him when Little Jun¡¯s appointment was done, so that he could pick them up. She nodded, even though she didn¡¯t n on disturbing him. She and her son could just hail a taxi to bring them home.

    Later...

    Little Jun¡¯s appointment with the pediatrician went smoothly. Jiang Ying Yue was relieved because her son was dered very healthy. The pediatrician also approved Little Jun for international travel.

    On their way out of the hospital, the mother and son met the brothers Lin Yehan and Wang Yingjie. It turned out that the hospital was where Wang Yingjie worked as a surgeon. No wonder it was the hospital that Jin Liwei rmended to her. It was a different and much bigger hospital than the one Iris went to. It was also much affordable because it catered to patients from all walks of lifepared to the high-ss, private hospital where Iris was a patient.

    "Anko Han!" Little Jun eximed and ran towards him.

    Lin Yehan crouched down and caught the child. Then he stood up and carried him. His expression was gentle as always. "Hello, Little Jun. How are you?"

    Little Jun started babbling about his doctor¡¯s appointment, but Lin Yehan only understood about 10-20% of what he was saying. Then the child turned to Wang Yingjie and greeted him as well.

    "Heyo, Anko Doc!"

    Wang Yingjie¡¯s serious expression lightened as he smiled. Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue chuckled.

    The two groups chatted. It turned out that Lin Yehan went for his annual physical check-up and bloodwork today. Then he met with his Second Brother, Wang Yingjie, who was on a quick break. Jiang Ying Yue also told them about Little Jun¡¯s appointment with the pediatrician.

    Wang Yingjie nodded his head. "He¡¯s a friend of mine. He¡¯s an excellent pediatrician. I was actually the one who rmended him to Third Brother when he asked me if I know a good pediatrician."

    "Oh, thank you very much!" Jiang Ying Yue said.

    "You¡¯re wee." Then Wang Yingjie looked at the time. "I need to go back to work. See you around. Bye!"

    "Bye bye, Anko Doc!" Little Jun waved at Wang Yingjie while still being carried by Lin Yehan.

    When Wang Yingjie was gone, Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan looked at each other.

    "So...are you going home now?" Lin Yehan asked her.

 Chapter 469 - Youâ€™re Back

    <h4>Chapter 469 - You¡¯re Back </h4>

    "Not yet. I¡¯m nning on bringing Little Jun to the mall and treat him for being such a good boy during his doctor¡¯s appointment," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    "Yesh! Junjun good boy, Anko Han!" Little Jun proudly bragged.

    Lin Yehan chuckled. "Yes. I know that you¡¯re a good boy, Little Jun."

    Little Jun giggled and made himself morefortable in Lin Yehan¡¯s arms. He rested his little head on the man¡¯s shoulders.

    "I see. Did you drive here?" Lin Yehan asked Jiang Ying Yue.

    She shook her head and told him that the penthouse¡¯s driver dropped them off.

    "Well, I¡¯m free for the rest of the day. I can apany you to the mall. I¡¯ll also drive you hometer, so you don¡¯t need to call the driver toe pick you up again," Lin Yehan offered. Then he quickly added. "But only if you want, of course."

    Jiang Ying Yue hesitated and looked at her son.

    Seeing this, Lin Yehan asked the child instead, "Little Jun, do you want to go to the mall with me?"

    "Yesh!" Little Jun immediately replied and wrapped his little arms around Lin Yehan¡¯s neck. "Lesh go, Anko Han! Lesh go, Mommi!"

    The two men, one adult and one child, looked at Jiang Ying Yue expectantly.

    She sighed and gave a resigned smile. "Alright, let¡¯s go to the mall."

    "Yesh! Go go!"

    Before they left, Lin Yehan borrowed a child¡¯s car seat from the hospital. He was familiar with most of the staff because of his connection with one of the hospital¡¯s best surgeons,Wang Yingjie. Fortunately, there were some avable that day.

    Afterwards, the three headed to the hospital¡¯s parking lot for Lin Yehan¡¯s car. Then they drove to the nearby mall.

    They first went to the mall¡¯s y ce. The two chased Little Jun around while he yed with much delight. When Little Jun began ying with the other kids, Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan chatted with the other parents.

    "Your son is very cute and so friendly," one of the mothersmented. Then she looked at Lin Yehan. "He looks just like you, his daddy!"

    Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan smiled awkwardly. The woman was such a liar. Little Jun didn¡¯t look like any of them at all because he looked like Long Hui and a bit like Iris. Basically, he looked like a Long. However, they didn¡¯t correct the woman. There wasn¡¯t any need to make themselves the target of gossip. Besides, they probably wouldn¡¯t meet these people again anyway.

    After the y ce, the three ate ate lunch together at a family restaurant. Little Jun had a bigger appetite than usual because he spent a lot of energy ying at the y ce earlier. After eating, they started walking around the mall and randomly shopping, mostly for Little Jun.

    It was alreadyte in the afternoon, almost dinnertime, when they finished and decided to go home. Little Jun had also fallen asleep in Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arms. Lin Yehan carried their purchases. They headed to the parking lot.

    Unbeknownst to them, someone recognized Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun. She was a teenage girl together with a group of friends. They were all still in their school uniforms. They headed straight to the mall to hang out after school. The teenage girl noticed Jiang Ying Yue and her son with an unfamiliar man while inside a department store. She decided to follow them around the mall. Her friends also joined, thinking that it was fun to pretend to be private investigators. The girl recorded videos of Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s group with her phone and snapped hundreds of photos of them.

    When Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s group left, the teenage girl sent the videos and the photos to her aunt. Her aunt was Zheng Suyin, Long Hui¡¯s mother.

    ###

    Gold Heights Condominium.

    After eating dinner at the penthouse with Wei Lan, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun returned to their own unit downstairs. Jiang Ying Yue just finished getting her son ready for bed when she heard the door to the unit open. Her heart jumped. Other than Iris, there was only one other person who had the keys to enter the unit. Iris never entered the ce by herself without informing Jiang Ying Yue first, so it must be the other person.

    Jiang Ying Yue carried Little Jun and hurried to the living room. Just like what she thought, it was Long Hui. Despite feeling hurt from the growing distance between them and his refusal to return to live with them at the condo unit, Jiang Ying Yue was still filled with excitement and longing for him. She wanted to put aside their differences for now and wee him home.

    "You¡¯re back," she said with a smile. "Come in. Have you eaten yet? There¡¯s no food here but we can order some home delivery for you if you want."

    Little Jun was also excited upon seeing his father. He wriggled in his mother¡¯s arms and reached for Long Hui.

    "Dada! Dada!"

    Both the mother and son were excited that Long Hui finally returned home to them. Long Hui¡¯s expression, however, was the pr opposite of theirs. It was cold and furious. Jiang Ying Yue finally noticed that something was off, so she stopped approaching. She became cautious and gave him a confused look, silently asking him what was wrong.

    Instead of greeting or exining, Long Hui pulled out a stack of something from a brown envelope and then threw it on the coffee table. The items scattered across the table. Some even fell to the floor.

    When Jiang Ying Yue saw what he threw, she stiffened. They were photos of her and Little Jun with Lin Yehan at the mall earlier that day.

    "H-hui... It¡¯s not what it looks like. I can exin..." she said.

    Little Jun also saw the photos and recognized Lin Yehan. He beamed and pointed at his image.

    "Anko Han!" he eximed and then looked at Long Hui, introducing his new favourite uncle to his father.

    Long Hui¡¯s expression became uglier seeing the delighted expression of his son while pointing at the image of another man. He shot furious eyes at Jiang Ying Yue and then roared at her.

    "How dare you cheat on me, you unfaithful whore?!!!"

 Chapter 470 - Emergency! Emergency!

    <h4>Chapter 470 - Emergency! Emergency! </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue gasped at the hurtful words Long Hui threw at her. She couldn¡¯t believe that he just called her a "whore". He was the only man she had ever slept with, but he was degrading her like this? Not only that, he also dared insult her in front of their young child?

    Suffocating pain squeezed her heart, but she tried her best to remain calm for the sake of their son who had no idea what was going on. Little Jun was alternately looking at his mommy and daddy, trying to figure out why they were being so scary.

    Jiang Ying Yue took a deep breath and spoke in her sincerest voice, "Hui...please listen to me. I¡¯m not cheating on you¡ª"

    "Liar! I have clear evidence here! I even have videos! Who is that man?" he continued to roar at her.

    "These photos and whatever videos you have are all misleading. If you¡¯ll just listen to me, I¡¯ll exin everything. I¡¯m not cheating on you. That man is Lin Yehan. We¡¯re not in a rtionship. We met each other today by coincidence. He¡¯s Sir Liwei¡¯s friend¡ª"

    "Ah, so he¡¯s Lin Yehan, that agriculture tycoon. You¡¯re really something Ying Yue." He sneered at her. "You know that my position in the n is very unstable right now because of Xin, making it unclear of whether I¡¯ll seed as the next head of Long Industries or not. Since I¡¯ve be an heir with an uncertain future, you now decided to toss me away for a wealthier man who owns his own businesses!"

    "No! Hui, that¡¯s not true! I never cared about your wealth or your status! Please listen to me¡ª"

    "Liar! Now I know why you underwent a makeover, started taking care of your physical appearance and wearing sexy clothes! I thought you were doing it for me so that I¡¯ll return to live with you again, but it turns out you¡¯re doing it for another man! That exins why you always reject me when I try to sleep with you! It¡¯s because you¡¯re busy fucking another man, you cheating whore!"

    Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t believe the wordsing out of his mouth. She couldn¡¯t believe that this was Long Hui. All of the insults he was throwing at her, not to mention his tone of voice like he was disgusted at her for being a dirty woman who slept around with other men, stabbed deeply into her heart and degraded not only her dignity as a woman but also as a human being.

    Long Hui continued roaring at her. She attempted several times to exin herself to him, but he refused to listen. He was too furious. It seemed that his mind was already set on what to believe. Unfortunately, he believed the misleading photos and videos more than her.

    By this time, Little Jun was already crying out loud. The poor kid was frightened by his parents¡¯ fight. He was especially scared of his daddy who kept on shouting nonstop. Since Jiang Ying Yue was still carrying Little Jun, the child thought that his daddy was shouting at him.

    "Dadaaa! Dadaaaa! Sowwy! Junjun good boy!"

    Jiang Ying Yue immediately felt frantic. Her son¡¯s pitiful words hurt her morepared to Long Hui¡¯s insults. Little Jun was too well-mannered that he was even apologizing for something that wasn¡¯t his fault. Her heart squeezed painfully until she felt like she couldn¡¯t breathe anymore.

    On one hand, she wanted to properly exin the real situation to Long Hui and hopefully repair their rtionship (if that was still possible). On the other hand, her mother¡¯s instincts made her prioritize calming her child first.

    "Hui, let¡¯s not do this in front of our son. Let me calm Little Jun first and then we can talk. Wait... Let me bring him up to the penthouse first and then we¡¯ll talk, okay?"

    She didn¡¯t wait for him to reply but was already on her way to the door, while at the same time murmuring reassurances to the frightened Little Jun.

    However, Long Hui was having none of it. He roughly pulled Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arm, almost making her drop Little Jun.

    "Long Hui! What the hell are you doing?!!" she yelled.

    Instead of noticing the precarious position of their son between them, Long Hui pointed an angry finger at Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s face.

    "There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to let you bring MY son to the penthouse! Xin and Jin Liwei have corrupted you enough! You changed so much because of them! They¡¯re also the reason why you and my son are bing more distant to me! I also heard that you¡¯ve be close to Xin¡¯s slut of a mother! No wonder you¡¯ve be a slut as well! I forbid any of them from having any further direct interactions with my son! Long Jun is MY son! He¡¯s a Long, not a Jin or a Lin! I¡¯m taking Long Jun right now and I¡¯ll raise him by myself as a Long! There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to allow him to treat another man as a father!"

    Then Long Hui started pulling his son from Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arms. She was crying, shouting and begging him to stop. He was too rough. She could take it, but she wouldn¡¯t allow her son to get hurt in the process. They struggled against each other all over the living room. They bumped against the various things on the way. Sounds of crashing and things breaking echoed in the unit.

    This disturbing cacophony was punctuated by the sound of the now hysterical Little Jun screaming at the top of his lungs.

    ###

    At the same time that the fierce argument between Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui was urring inside the unit, a loud and urgent rm rang throughout the penthouse upstairs, the special security room in the condo building where some of Jin Liwei¡¯s own subordinates were staying, and all the way at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Ketchup¡¯s voice spoke in a cold and emotionless yet still urgent tone, saying:

    "Emergency! Emergency! We have an emergency inside Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun¡¯s unit. They are being attacked by a figure matching the profile of...

    "Long Hui...that good-for-nothing scumbag! Urgent intervention is required. I repeat, this is an emergency!"

    Then a live sound recording yed and was heard by everyone in these ces. Their hearts stopped for a moment when they heard the distressed screams of Little Jun and the disturbing sounds of a fight.

 Chapter 471 - Final Trigger

    <h4>Chapter 471 - Final Trigger </h4>

    The door to the unit burst open and several men in ck suits rushed inside. They were Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates who were assigned at the condominium building. Their main duty was to ensure the safety of everyone at the penthouse, especially when Iris and Jin Liwei stayed there. They were separate from the condo building¡¯s security personnel headed by Jiang Ying Yue herself. These days, they also began serving as Viscountess Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards.

    Behind these men, Wei Lan, Clover, Yi Mei, the cook and the other household staff from upstairs also squeezed themselves inside the unit. They were all carrying something in their hands as weapons. Wei Lan held a hair curling iron which was still hot, Clover a slipper, Yi Mei a broom, and the cook a butcher knife. The other household staff also held an assortment of pans, mops, belts, and even a of big oranges.

    They were all very worried because they immediately heard Little Jun¡¯s screaming cries as soon as the door to the unit opened.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates nned on quickly immobilizing Long Hui but weren¡¯t able to do so because someone already did it before them.

    They found Long Hui groaning on the floor of the living room. He was curled into a pathetic ball while cupping his balls with his hands. Jiang Ying Yue stood some distance away from him, desperately trying to calm her son who continued his hysterical screaming at the top of his lungs. Little Jun was still frightened by the fight between his parents.

    It appeared that Jiang Ying Yue had knocked Long Hui down on her own. Nevertheless, Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates still surrounded Long Hui. They pulled him up from the floor and restrained his limbs with their hands. It was obvious that he was still in pain from whatever Jiang Ying Yue did to him before everyone arrived.

    Wei Lan was furious as she marched into the living room. She headed straight to Jiang Ying Yue and the badly frightened Little Jun and stood protectively in front of them. She red at Long Hui and pointed the hot curling iron at him like a sword.

    "How dare you barge in here and terrorize Ying Yue and Little Junie at this ungodly hour?! Wait till my daughter and son-inw hear about this!!!"

    She was so angry that she didn¡¯t stretch her words like usual.

    Little Jun finally realized that other people had arrived. He stopped screaming. Upon recognizing Wei Lan, he whimpered and sobbed while reaching out his little arms to her.

    "Amma Weiyan...."

    "Oh dear. Your Grandma Wei Lan"¡ªcough cough¡ª"has already forgotten how to hold a baaaabyyyyy. I might drop you so stay with your mommy for now. Okay, Little Junieeee?" Wei Lan told the child. (And the stretching of words was back again.)

    Long Hui already somewhat recovered from the pain in his balls. He was angered by his son¡¯s form of address to Wei Lan. He roared at Little Jun.

    "Long Jun, that slut is not your grandmother! Don¡¯t you dare call that fucking homewrecking slut Grandma!!"

    This time, Little Jun knew that his daddy was angry at him. He shut his eyes tightly and buried his little head against his mother¡¯s neck. He resumed wailing. Jiang Ying Yue became even more frantic and did her best tofort her son.

    Despite all the men restraining him, Long Hui didn¡¯t stop. He was out of his mind from anger, jealousy and even hatred, especially after seeing Wei Lan acting very close and protective of Jiang Ying Yue and his son. He struggled against Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates, but they were all well-trained and very strong. They didn¡¯t budge a bit. He couldn¡¯t escape from them, so he continued roaring instead.

    "Let me go! I¡¯m Long Jun¡¯s father! I have every right to take him with me! This ce is not a suitable environment for him to grow up any longer. You¡¯re all corrupting him! I don¡¯t want my son to be raised by sluts! I¡¯m going to take my son away from this depraved ce and raise him as a Long! Give my son to me, Ying Yue! How dare you cheat on me?! I¡¯m suffering so much in the n because of you and this is the thanks I get?! Give Long Jun to me!!! If you don¡¯t, watch me take him away from you soon!!! I¡¯ll fight you to the death for our son¡¯s custody!!!"

    Wei Lan waved her curling iron at him, as if she wanted to whack, stab and burn him with it all at the same time.

    "Say that again, you piece of sh¡ªI mean, you brute!"

    She stopped herself from cursing in coarsenguage after remembering that she was now a respectable viscountess. She still continued berating Long Hui, but this time, her tone sounded more elegant.

    "Little Junie is better off being raised by Ying Yue and my daughter and son-inw! Look how well-mannered he has be under their care! If the boy is raised inside the Long n, who knows what kind of twisted snob he¡¯ll grow up to be in the future?! Don¡¯t be so proud of the Long n. using this ce of being depraved is pure bullsh¡ªI mean, pure nonsense! It¡¯s the Long n that is filled with depravity, backstabbing and backward mentality! Just look at yourself!"

    Long Hui shot daggers at Wei Lan with his eyes. His expression was filled with pure hatred. Wei Lan was the reason why his parents divorced all those years ago. If only she didn¡¯t be a legitimate wife, then his youngest sister would¡¯ve been born illegitimate like the rest of the other mistresses¡¯ children. Then his position in the n wouldn¡¯t have be this unstable because he would be the only legitimate child from the main family.

    All the negative thoughts and emotions had twisted Long Hui¡¯s logical reasoning. Today¡¯s events of him thinking that his fianc¨¦e was cheating on him with another man and even bringing his son along on her date plus Wei Lan¡¯s closeness to them were the final trigger. The pressure from his dwindling support and increasingly unstable position in the n finally exploded with all its might.

 Chapter 472 - Youâ€™ll Regret This

    <h4>Chapter 472 - You¡¯ll Regret This </h4>

    "Shut up, you old slut! This is none of your business!!!" Long Hui roared at Wei Lan.

    "You!" Wei Lan was insulted. She looked like she was about to hit him with her curling iron.

    Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She burst into tears.

    Clover was finally able to squeeze herself through the crowd in the living room. She took Little Jun from Jiang Ying Yue and then told her in a low voice, "My brother just messaged me. Boss and sir boss are already on their way here."

    Before leaving, Clover red at Long Hui and cursed at him in Filipino. Of course, nobody understood what she said but they knew that they were curse words based on her angry expression. After that, Clover took Little Jun to the penthouse. Yi Mei, the cook and some of the other household staff followed her, while the rest stayed with Jiang Ying Yue and Wei Lan.

    When they were gone, Jiang Ying Yue faced the crazed Long Hui. She felt like she was looking at a stranger¡ªa hostile stranger.

    "What do you mean, Hui? You want to take my son away from me? You can¡¯t do that! I¡¯m his mother!!!" she cried.

    "And I¡¯m his father! You¡¯ve already taken him away from me! I made so much effort to be with you but you always reject me! Even so, I still persisted because I love you and I want to have aplete, legitimate family with you and our son! But you¡¯re so selfish! You only think about your own feelings! You don¡¯t even consider about what¡¯s good for our son! Just because you¡¯re not in good terms with my rtives, you deprive my son of his chance to be legitimate! And now all of us are suffering because of it!!!"

    Jiang Ying Yue had no response because there was some truth to what he said.

    But what did he want her to do? Endure his rtives¡¯ insults to her dignity while he remainedfortable in his position as heir? He wanted her to be the only one to sacrifice for all of them? And it wasn¡¯t only her. She was certain that her son would also suffer from the Long rtives¡¯ bullying because of her "lowly" status as the mother.

    Long Hui continued, "I rmended you to my sister, even begged her to hire you so that you can at least be financially independent because you refuse to let me support you. Little did I know that your head will get so big that you¡¯ll start forgetting all the things I did for you just because my sister and her man are giving you more than you¡¯ll allow me to give you! And now you dare cheat on me with Jin Liwei¡¯s fucking friend?! How dare you do this to me, Ying Yue?!!"

    "No no no! I told you I never cheated on you. I still love you, Hui. Believe me. Please listen to me..." she pleaded to him.

    "You¡¯re lying!" He refused to listen to her.

    Wei Lan interrupted them at this point. She turned to Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Why are you begging this son of bi¡ªI mean, this viin?! You stupid girl, if he doesn¡¯t want to believe you, then it¡¯s not your fault. He has already insulted you so much, yet you¡¯re still telling him you love him? How pathetic! If dear Liwei did this to my daughter, she would¡¯ve already cut his penis off and shoved it down his throat¡ªI mean, she would¡¯ve already left him and erased his existence from her life! If a man treats you like shi¡ªI mean, if a man treats you unfairly, then he doesn¡¯t deserve your love! Stop being stupid, girl! Grow a spine and leave him! You don¡¯t need a man to raise your child!"

    Then she quickly added, "You don¡¯t need a man to raise a child, but make sure that he still pays child support. After all, you can¡¯t raise a child in this highlymercialized society we live in without money. You can¡¯t feed your son with your love alone. You need money to buy food, you know. Yes, money is veeeeeery important! Believe me, I know."

    It was extremely difficult for Wei Lan to change her speech style and to prevent herself from speaking in her usual coarsenguage. However, she did her best to control herself and to act like a proper viscountess, even though all she wanted was to beat the shit out of the man insulting Jiang Ying Yue who she now considered as her own prot¨¦g¨¦.

    Long Hui¡¯s hatred for Wei Lan only intensified after hearing what she was teaching Jiang Ying Yue to do. He sneered at Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Go and listen to that slut! No wonder you¡¯ve turned into a slut as well! I don¡¯t want a dirty, cheating woman who has fucked another man while still in a rtionship! You disgust me, Ying Yue!"

    Jiang Ying Yue marched towards him and pped him hard on the face. The sound was so loud and sharp. Everyone in the unit heard it. She didn¡¯t hold back. Even Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates who were restraining Long Hui winced a bit.

    As for Long Hui, he felt like his head was almost snapped off from his neck. Jiang Ying Yue was a physically strong woman. It actually felt more like a battering ram than a regr p given by a female. He even felt a little dizzy afterwards.

    "Fine! If that¡¯s what you think about me, then it¡¯s better if we separate once and for all! From now on, we¡¯re no longer in a rtionship!" Jiang Ying Yue shouted at him while tears gushed down her face. Then she pulled the engagement ring from her finger and threw it at him.

    The ring hit him in the chest and fell down to the floor, rolling in front of the coffee table before stopping alongside the fallen photos of Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun and Lin Yehan.

    Long Hui¡¯s raging fury transformed into a cold one. His contorted angry face smoothed into a frozen mask of ice.

    "You¡¯ll regret this, Jiang Ying Yue. I¡¯ll make you regret this," he warned her in a dangerous tone.

    She faltered a bit before her mind yed all of the insults that he threw at her. Then her heart turned cold.

    "No, Long Hui. You¡¯re the one who¡¯ll regret this."

 Chapter 473 - Stupid Girl

    <h4>Chapter 473 - Stupid Girl </h4>

    The tense atmosphere was interrupted when the leader of the men in ck suits receivedmunication from his earpiece. Then he announced to his colleagues that the master and the mistress would be arriving in about ten to fifteen minutes. It would normally take them longer to arrive because Dragon Pce Home #10 was quite far from the condo building, but it seemed that they were hurrying up, perhaps even going over the road¡¯s speed limits.

    Long Hui, Jiang Ying Yue and Wei Lan also heard the announcement.

    A sh of panic appeared in Long Hui¡¯s eyes. He redoubled his efforts to escape from the men restraining him. However, his efforts were useless.

    Wei Lan looked relieved, saying, "Very goooood! Let¡¯s wait for my daughter and son-inw to arrive. In the meantime, don¡¯t let that bully go. My daughter and Liwei will decide what to do with that viin."

    "I¡¯m going to leave now! Let me go!" Long Hui continued to struggle against the men holding him. "Ying Yue, tell them to let me go!"

    Wei Lan pointed her curling iron at him again like a sword.

    "Oh no no noooo! You¡¯re not going to order Ying Yue around! You¡¯re no longer in a rtionship. You can¡¯t influence her anymoooore!" Then she turned to Jiang Ying Yue. "Don¡¯t listen to him, girl! Don¡¯t be stupid anymore, okaaaay?"

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t respond to her. Instead, she looked at Long Hui with a sad and resigned expression. She wiped her tears and looked at the leader of Jin Liwei¡¯s men.

    "Let him go," she told him.

    Wei Lan gasped . Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates were also taken aback but didn¡¯t move, continuing to restrain Long Hui. As for Long Hui, he was also surprised. He stopped struggling to stare at her, examining her expression and trying to find out if she had any ulterior motives for requesting the men to let him go.

    "Stupid girl! What are you doing?!" Wei Lan asked inplete disbelief.

    Jiang Ying Yue wiped more tears before sighing. The hand she used to p Long Hui was trembling. She could still feel the sting from the impact of her hand hitting his face. The p didn¡¯t feel satisfying at all. In fact, it broke her heart into a million pieces. She was already starting to feel numb from tonight¡¯s emotional events, perhaps from shock. Before she couldpletely go numb, however, she gave this final act ofpassion towards her former lover and the father of her child.

    It was because she knew that once Iris and Jin Liwei arrived, the two would bepletely merciless towards Long Hui. She had no idea what the two would do to him, but it certainly wouldn¡¯t be pretty. Even if it wasn¡¯t for her, they would definitely punish Long Hui for their beloved godson, Little Jun.

    Yes, Long Hui hurt Jiang Ying Yue. He hurt her so badly that she was beginning to feel numb from too much pain. Despite this, there still remained some love for him inside her. Although it was now gradually dying because of how he hurt her, it was nevertheless still love. It was this dying love that made her soft-hearted for him even at this moment.

    "Please let him go," she requested from the leader again. Then she added, "I¡¯ll take full responsibility. Xin and Sir Liwei won¡¯t punish you."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates hesitated. They all looked at their leader, waiting for his decision. In the end, the leader ordered his colleagues to release Long Hui. It was because he already grew friendly with Jiang Ying Yue. She was the head of the condo building¡¯s security while he was the leader of Jin Liwei¡¯s security team assigned to guard the people living at the penthouse. They interacted with each other a lot while working, not to mention that Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun were also considered as residents of the penthouse even though they slept in another unit.

    As soon as he was released, Long Hui didn¡¯t waste any time and immediately ran out of the unit, but not before giving an "I¡¯ll be back" re at Jiang Ying Yue which crushed her already broken heart even more. He didn¡¯t stop running until he was out of the building. He also ordered his driver waiting outside to step on the gas pedal and leave the area as quickly as possible.

    Back inside the unit, Wei Lan was fuming at Jiang Ying Yue.

    "I can¡¯t believe this! I can¡¯t believe you just let that asshole go! You stupid, stuuuuupiiiiid, STUPID girl!!! Did you see his expression before he ran out like the coward that he is? It¡¯s so obvious that he¡¯s afraid of directly confronting my daughter and my son-inw! Why didn¡¯t you wait for my daughter and dear Liwei to arrive? Mark my words, you stuuuuupiiiiid girl. That piece of shit will return and try to hurt you again! Even harder next time! The Longs are extremely prideful people. You wounded his pride tonight. He won¡¯t forgive you for that. Gah! I¡¯m so maaaaaaad!!!"

    Wei Lan threw her curling iron at the floor in her anger. It didn¡¯t break because it was extremely durable. Of course, it was also extremely expensive. It was even infused with diamond dust to increase its toughness. She had also already forgotten about her determination to not curse in coarsenguage. She was so mad. Endless curse words spilled out of her mouth.

    Later, in the penthouse¡¯s library office...

    Iris and Jin Liwei sat together on one couch. Their matching cold expressions and intimidating aura made the surrounding subordinates break out in cold sweat.

    Of course, this included Jiang Ying Yue who was sitting by herself on the opposite couch. She was feeling numb from everything that happened but still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling intimidated and also guilty in front of the couple.

    Standing alone by the tall windows like a dark emperor was Lu Zihao. He gazed at the night lights of the city outside, as if looking at his empire. His posture indicated that he was rxed and easy-going as usual, but for some reason, Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates detected a great sense of danger emanating from him. It was even more intense than what they felt from their master and mistressbined.

 Chapter 474 - Drained

    <h4>Chapter 474 - Drained </h4>

    Some of Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates stood by the door and in other strategic points of the library office. They stood like statues in their positions and made sure that nobody disturbed their employers.

    Dom and Clover weren¡¯t in the library office. The siblings apanied Little Jun in Clover¡¯s bedroom. The poor child was already asleep. However, it was a very fretful sleep. Droplets of tears escaped from the corner of his closed eyes. He also whimpered now and then.

    As for Wei Lan, Iris didn¡¯t allow her to join them at the library office. Iris felt annoyed by her nonstopining and scolding of Jiang Ying Yue. Wei Lan didn¡¯t mind because she found an audience for her rants from the younger maids.

    At the moment, Iris also felt very annoyed at Jiang Ying Yue. She agreed with Wei Lan calling Jiang Ying Yue a "stupid girl". Actually, Iris knew that Jiang Ying Yue let Long Hui go. Ketchup reported everything that was happening in the unit to her and Jin Liwei in real time while they were on their way to the condo building.

    If Iris instructed Ketchup to do so, the virtual white cat would have locked Long Hui inside the building, not allowing him to escape even when Jiang Ying Yue and Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates had already let him go. However, Iris didn¡¯t do it.

    Why?

    First, it was because she respected her friend¡¯s decision.

    Second, she wanted Jiang Ying Yue to realize that Long Hui wouldn¡¯t appreciate her kindness andpassion tonight. Iris was sure that Long Hui would retaliate soon. Jiang Ying Yue needed to experience the full brunt of Long Hui¡¯s true colours, so that she could finally toss away any of her remaining tender feelings for him.

    Third, it wasn¡¯t smart to detain Long Hui. He might start using them of uwful detention and use it against them in public.

    And fourth, they needed Long Hui to be foolish enough to retaliate on his own, so that they could gather more evidence against him to aid Jiang Ying Yue.

    Iris thought of the first and second reasons, but Jin Liwei was the one who advised her about the third and fourth reasons. He was more well-versed in the country¡¯sws than her.

    Lu Zihao also followed them on a separate car. He already knew about Ketchup and was very impressed. He was so impressed that he requested for Iris to make a separate version for his own personal use. Iris hadn¡¯t agreed yet, though. She had to think about it very carefully first. After all, Ketchup wasn¡¯t some simple software that she could give to her big brother like candy. The cat AI was basically a virtual baby hacker that was growing at an incredible rate. It was like having another Drakon¡ªless experienced and not as skilled for now, but had the potential to be extremely formidable in the future.

    By this time, Iris was already aware that Ketchup was evolving into something even more amazing than what she first expected. That was why she was being very careful in nurturing the virtual white cat. She didn¡¯t want her baby to be used for nefarious means (except by her and her darling, of course).

    Back to the present, the heavy atmosphere was interrupted by Lu Zihao¡¯s smooth, devilish voice.

    "Little sister, my subordinates are tailing that son of a bitch right now. Why don¡¯t I order them to...teach him a lesson? Nothing too serious, don¡¯t worry. We¡¯ll leave a limb or two intact," he said in light tone that sounded like he was joking but also serious at the same time.

    Jiang Ying Yue shivered, including some of the Jin Liwei¡¯s newly hired subordinates who hadn¡¯t experienced enough tempering yet.

    "N-no, please..." Jiang Ying Yue said in a small voice.

    Lu Zihao looked at her, raised an eyebrow and chuckled. Everyone would have believed that he was just joking, if his eyes didn¡¯t look cold and emotionless. It made his charismaticughter sound utterly demonic.

    Jin Liwei observed his Fifth Brother with a barely discernible frown on his face. However, he didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Big Brother, leave it," Iris told him.

    Lu Zihao just shrugged. He walked towards them and sat on an armchair, looking like a king sitting on his throne.

    Iris wasn¡¯t the least bit bothered by the dangerous aura he was emitting so strongly at the moment. In fact, she oddly feltforted by it. It reminded her of her Big Brother Niki in their past lives.

    Jin Liwei, however, felt a little disturbed by it. This Lu Zihao didn¡¯t feel like his Fifth Brother. Nevertheless, he was trying to ept this new Lu Zihao. The two had a long talk a few nights ago. It was then that Jin Liwei learned that his Fifth Brother had changed so much. It wasn¡¯t just his appearance. His personality and lifestyle had also drastically changed. Despite this, Jin Liwei still cared for him as one of his best friends and brothers, and also because he was extremely important to his baby girl.

    Putting aside Lu Zihao¡¯s potent and dangerous aura for now, Iris focused on Jiang Ying Yue. Her friend looked emotionally exhausted and weary. Iris¡¯ heart softened. There was no use scolding Jiang Ying Yue at this time. Besides, it wasn¡¯t her fault that Long Hui had be such a stupid asshole.

    Iris sighed and said in a much gentler voice, "Let¡¯s call it a night. We¡¯re all tired. Let¡¯s talk tomorrow instead. And hurry up. Go pack a bag. You and Little Jun will be temporarily living at Dragon Pce until the issue with your ex-fianc¨¦ is resolved. You¡¯ll be safer there."

    "I...alright. I¡¯ll justmute back here every morning for work," Jiang Ying Yue replied.

    "No, you won¡¯t. I¡¯m officially giving you an earlier and extended vacation starting tomorrow. Just use this time tofort Little Jun. My godson needs you especially after what happened tonight. And also, the two of you need toplete your preparations. We¡¯ll be going abroad very soon," Iris told her.

    Jiang Ying Yue opened her mouth. Iris knew that she was about to change her mind about it, so she interrupted Jiang Ying Yue before she could do so.

    "You and Little Jun areing with us," Iris said in a firm tone. "It¡¯s also safer if the two of you are always with us. It will make it harder for your ex-fianc¨¦ to bother you."

    Iris had already stopped calling Long Hui as "Elder Brother". She now referred to him as Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s "ex-fianc¨¦". Besides, she never felt truly close to him, only tolerating him because of Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue.

    With that, the big group left Gold Heights to return to Dragon Pce Home #10. Wei Lan and Clover saw everyone off. The two decided to stay at the penthouse.

    Jiang Ying Yue sat in the backseat of one of the vehicles while carefully cradling her sleeping son. She felt emotionally drained, gazing outside the window with empty eyes. She thought that this was the worst night of her life.

    She was wrong.

    Because a few dayster, she would experience an even worse pain.

 Chapter 475 - New Engagemen

    <h4>Chapter 475 - New Engagemen </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    On Friday, Iris and Jin Liwei surprisingly stayed at home, even though both of them had very busy work schedules. Iris didn¡¯t go to work at all, while Jin Liwei only went for half a day before returning home in the afternoon. As for Lu Zihao, he disappeared and reappeared at random times.

    The fact that everyone was at home on a Friday, which was a workday, made Jiang Ying Yue suspect that something was going on that she wasn¡¯t aware of. Both Iris and Jin Liwei were workaholics (in a good way). Jiang Ying Yue knew that the two no longer had any day off after the weekend the girl squad and Jin Liwei¡¯s brothers gathered together at the mansion. Their schedule was full until the day they were scheduled to travel abroad. So why did the couple take a break from work today? It didn¡¯t make sense to her. They also wouldn¡¯t tell her anything. Even Dom remained tight-lipped.

    She finally learned the reason why that afternoon. Iris, Jin Liwei, Jiang Ying Yue and Lu Zihao were lounging in the living area. It was only them. There were no subordinates watching over them this time. Dom was with Little Jun and the cats ying somewhere in the mansion. In the living area, Iris and the others were watching the TV when the afternoon news program started broadcasting.

    Jiang Ying Yue froze at the next news report. It said:

    "A representative of Long Hui, Deputy CFO and eldest son of President-CEO Long Tengfei of Long Industries, has released an official statement announcing his separation from his now former fianc¨¦e, Jiang Ying Yue, who is also the mother of his young son. No reason was provided for the break up as of this time. In the same announcement, his representative also shared delightful news of Deputy CFO Long Hui¡¯s engagement to..."

    The news anchor reported that Long Hui was now engaged to an heiress from another wealthy family. This particr family was old and had aristocratic origin, just like the Longs. All the families involved in the engagement¡ªthe heiress¡¯ family, the Longs, and the Zhengs (Long Hui¡¯s maternal family)¡ªwere reportedly delighted by this "perfect match made in heaven". The news anchor continued the report, saying:

    "For those of you who don¡¯t know, Deputy CFO Long Hui is the eldest half-brother of multi-award-winning musician Iris Long. His ex-fianc¨¦e, Jiang Ying Yue, is Iris Long¡¯s former bodyguard turned close friend. Iris has also confirmed in the past that their young son is her godson..."

    Jiang Ying Yue wasn¡¯t able to hear the rest of the news report. Her mind had gone nk. It had only been three days since the night that she broke up with Long Hui, and yet he was already engaged to another woman? Her numbed heart gave a painful squeeze, but she didn¡¯t cry. She still loved him, but the hurt he had given were drowning all the love she had for him. She felt empty inside instead thinking about him.

    "You knew about this?" she asked Iris.

    "Yes," Iris replied, not denying it. "Ketchup informed me. She had been monitoring that man ever since the night he barged into Gold Heights and made trouble with you and Little Jun."

    Without Iris instructing her to do so, Ketchup had automatically ced Long Hui in the virtual ck notebook. That was why she started closely monitoring Long Hui¡¯s activities with the intention of finding incriminating evidence against him. The increasingly smarter cat AI did it based on her own judgment. Ketchup only informed Iris about it after Long Hui¡¯s name was already ced in the virtual ck notebook.

    Iris had no problem with it because she already nned on instructing Ketchup to do it anyway. After this event, however, Iris decided that she needed to perform regr full scans on Ketchup in order to understand and control the direction of her evolution.

    Ketchup was increasingly bing independent which was one of Iris¡¯ original goals in creating the AI in the first ce. Thus, Iris didn¡¯t have any issues about Ketchup developing a distinct independent personality. However, Iris was concerned about Ketchup frequently bypassing her original permissions like what she did when she ced Long Hui¡¯s name on the virtual ck notebook on her own. Iris didn¡¯t give Ketchup permission to modify the virtual ck notebook in any way without her authorization first, but Ketchup did it anyway.

    Iris already scolded Ketchup, like a mother lecturing her young child. Ketchup apologized for being a bad kitty and promised not to do it again without her mommy¡¯s permission. Iris was relieved hearing the virtual cat¡¯s promise, but it made her realize that she couldn¡¯t just leave Ketchup alone to learn things by herself. The advanced self-learning function that she developed was just too powerful. Who knew what kind of things Ketchup would randomly learn if left alone by herself?

    The cat AI was like a child who needed direction and guidance. Iris informed Jin Liwei about it and both agreed to be stricter on Ketchup as if she was a real child.

    Back to the present, Jiang Ying Yue just nodded at Iris. She didn¡¯t me Iris or the others for keeping the information about Long Hui¡¯s new engagement from her. She understood that Iris must have wanted her to learn the news by herself and react on her own. Iris wasn¡¯t the type to soften blows orpletely coddle a friend. However, she would be there to show her support. Just like now. She and Jin Liwei both took time off work, even though they were insanely busy.

    "Thank you," Jiang Ying Yue told them.

    Iris sighed softly and told her, "It¡¯s not over yet."

    Right at that moment...

    "Meow~ Excuse me, Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Zihao and Auntie Ying Yue. Sorry to bother you but I have something important to report," Ketchup politely interrupted them.

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked like they already know what was going on.

    "Go ahead, Ketchup," Jin Liwei said.

    "Thanks, Daddy! Meow~ Asking permission to disy video surveince from Gold Heights Condo building on the TV..."

 Chapter 476 - Please Help Me

    <h4>Chapter 476 - Please Help Me </h4>

    "Permission granted," Iris replied.

    "Thanks, Mommy! Meow~ Disying surveince video directly from Gold Heights Condo building on TV in 3...2...1¡ª"

    The TV flickered, and then the afternoon news program was reced by real time surveince video from the condo. It showed what looked like a male and femalew enforcement officers talking to Wei Lan, Yi Mei and a stern-looking man inside the main floor¡¯s security office.

    Jiang Ying Yue squinted her eyes to get a better look at the man. Then her eyes widened when she finally recognized him. She looked at Iris, silently asking her what was going on. A bad feeling rose inside her.

    Iris didn¡¯t respond to her silent question. She continued watching the TV with a serious expression instead.

    "Ketchup, adjust the audio so we can hear what they¡¯re talking about," Jin Liwei instructed.

    "Okay, Daddy! Meow~"

    In just a second, the audio was increased and they could hear sounds from the surveince video. Ketchup made some more minor adjustments. A couple of secondster, the voices became loud and clear.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes lit up at Ketchup¡¯s capabilities. He would try persuading his sister again to make him another version of the cat AI for his own use. Nobody noticed what he was thinking because the others were too focused on the surveince video.

    Thew enforcement officers introduced themselves, saying that they came for Miss Jiang Ying Yue. Both Wei Lan and Yi Mei told them that Jiang Ying Yue and her son left and were living temporarily somewhere else. The officers asked for Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s temporary address. Instead of answering them, however, Wei Lan startedining about what Long Hui did a few nights ago.

    Wei Lan was about to continue badmouthing Long Hui, but the stern-looking man beside her released a loud, forceful cough to interrupt her.

    "Miss Jiang is not present here right now. But if you have any business with her, you can talk directly to me," he told the officers. "My name is Hong Shaoqiang, attorney-atw. Miss Jiang Ying Yue is my client and I¡¯m here to legally represent her."

    Jiang Ying Yue looked shocked, confused and anxious all at the same time. She looked at Iris and Jin Liwei who must have already known what was going to happen. They even prepared awyer for her. She knew that Hong Shaoqiang was Iris¡¯ywer. He was an excellentwyer from a well-knownw firm. Jiang Ying Yue already had an idea of why Iris sent herwyer to represent her, but she prayed that her hunch was wrong. Her eyes were already starting to water at the possibility.

    ¡¯No, please. Don¡¯t let it be...¡¯ she begged whatever powers in the universe that could help her.

    Unfortunately, her prayers went unanswered. Her worst fear had materialized.

    After confirming Hong Shaoqiang¡¯s identity as awyer, thew enforcement officers officially began serving the custodyint filed by Long Hui against Jiang Ying Yue for their son Long Jun. Hong Shaoqiang received the documents on behalf of Jiang Ying Yue.

    Hearing everything that was being said, Jiang Ying Yue felt like Long Hui was forcefully trying to break her world apart. It was painful and disrespectful that he got engaged with another woman just three days after they broke up. But she could take it. She could heal from that.

    But taking her son away from her? Her beloved son? Her life? Her reason for living?

    No!!!

    Over her dead body!

    Jiang Ying Yue knelt on the floor in front of Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Please help me!!! Xin, please...Sir Liwei! Please don¡¯t let him take Little Jun away from me!!! I-I¡¯ll die if my son is taken away from me! I won¡¯t be able to take it!!! I¡¯ll do anything, just please...please help me!!! I beg you..."

    Her loud sobs were filled with heartbreaking grief, echoing throughout the entire living area. Her gradually numbing and emptying heart for Long Hui was now being filled with resentment. The remaining love she had for him was slowly transforming into hatred.

    How dare he do this to her?!!!

    Iris became upset seeing her friend prostrating herself in front of her and Jin Liwei. Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s wails tore at her heart. She stood up from the couch and went to her friend. She tried lifting Jiang Ying Yue up, but her friend was too ovee with heartbreak that she couldn¡¯t stand anymore. Sighing, Iris knelt beside her and allowed Jiang Ying Yue to sob on her shoulder.

    It was Jin Liwei who replied to her. He stood up and said, "No need to beg us. Little Jun is our godson, not to mention that you are Xin¡¯s friend. We won¡¯t allow that son of a bitch to take your son away from you. My ownwyer will be assisting Hong Shaoqiang in your custody case. We¡¯re just not going to reveal it yet to prevent Long Hui from getting desperate and resort to extreme measures."

    Jiang Ying Yue paused from loud wailing. "Extreme m-measures...?"

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. "Joint custody is basically non-existent in this countrypared to abroad. The judge more often than not will award only one parent with sole custody. In the case of Little Jun, you have a higher chance of keeping him because judges tend to favour the parent who¡¯s been with the child all this time, especially for a toddler. It¡¯s not just about who has a better financial situation but also who could give the child a better environment to grow up emotionally."

    Jiang Ying Yue already stopped sobbing loudly. Tears still flowed, but she was now calmer after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s exnation. She was beginning to look more optimistic. Iris helped her up from the floor, and they both sat down on the couch.

    Jin Liwei continued but with a graver expression this time. "However, there are many cases in this country of parents kidnapping children from their former partners. It¡¯s unfortunate but there really is now protecting separated parents from getting their children snatched away by their former partners."

 Chapter 477 - Kill This Love

    <h4>Chapter 477 - Kill This Love </h4>

    "If Long Hui sessfully snatches Little Jun from you before the custody battlemences, he can argue to the judge that he¡¯s capable of giving your son a much better environment than you because he already has the child with him. If the judge sees that Little Jun isfortable and living well with him, then there is a chance that Long Hui might be awarded the custody. It won¡¯t matter that Little Jun has been with you all this time. There are judges who decide based on the current situation, not on the past," Jin Liwei said.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s optimism shattered in an instant. She started crying once again. Iris sighed and patted her friend¡¯s back.

    "And even if the judge awards custody to you, if Little Jun is already with Long Hui, you still might not be able to get your son again. There is ack of enforcement when ites to custody decisions. That¡¯s why aggressive custody tactics like this is verymon here," Jin Liwei continued to inform her. "What¡¯s more, he might even hide Little Jun. This country is big. Or he might even hide your son abroad."

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold. "Oh, he can try. I¡¯ll find him in an instant. Ketchup is also already closely monitoring him. He needs to leave Earth and go to outer space if he wants to hide from us."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched despite his serious expression. A light, demonic chuckle also sounded from the side. Lu Zihao¡¯s amused and carefree expression contrasted with the heavy atmosphere.

    "All of these mind games are a waste of time," Lu Zihao said in a smooth and light tone. "Also very expensive. Thewyers¡¯ fees alone could already feed a poor vige, you know. There is...hmmm...a much simpler solution to this. Let¡¯s just take that motherfucker himself and ¡¯reprogram¡¯ his brain for...hmm...a few days or maybe weeks until he¡¯ll never dare fight Jiang Ying Yue for custody of their son ever again. I¡¯m sure Third Brother¡¯s subordinates can do it, but I think that my subordinates will be even more effective. I¡¯ll let you borrow some of them. Just ask."

    Then he shed them his demonic smile.

    Jiang Ying Yue paled and shuddered. Jin Liwei frowned, thinking that his Fifth Brother¡¯s joke was in poor taste especially in this kind of serious situation. As for Iris, she knew that her big brother waspletely serious.

    "Big Brother, please. Let us do it our way, the legal way," she warned him.

    Lu Zihao only shrugged. "Just saying. Treat my suggestion as an alternative option, especially if the legal way doesn¡¯t work." Then he chuckled again. The sound was mesmerizing but also frightening at the same time. "Heh. Legal..."

    Iris sighed at her big brother. It seemed that he was starting not to bother pretending to match the original Lu Zihao¡¯s personality. Niki Vetrov¡¯s overpowering personality was starting to be more and more apparent. She knew that Jin Liwei and their other brothers were worried about him. However, they never suspected that he was no longer their original Fifth Brother. They only thought that these changes were the dyed effects of his traumatic freak ident anda in the past.

    After all, they had her as an example. She was known to have apletely different personality before but after waking up froma, she had a drastic change. The notorious teenage spoiled brat and troublemaker was now their future Third Sister-inw. The brothers, including Jin Liwei, thought that their Fifth Brother was experiencing the same thing as her¡ªonly a bit dyed.

    Putting aside the matter about her big brother for now, Iris turned to her pitiful friend and held her trembling hands.

    "Ying Yue, trust in me and Liwei. We will never allow that man to take our godson away from you," she reassured Jiang Ying Yue. "The only thing we request from you in exchange for our help is that you grow stronger. We feel bothered that you keep on crying and showingpassion to that man when he has already hurt you this much. Even if you can¡¯t be strong for yourself now because you¡¯re too hurt, at least be strong for your son. Little Jun needs you. Remember this. You can always rece a lover, but you can never rece your own child that you birthed yourself."

    Jin Liwei immediately sat beside his baby girl and wrapped his arm around her waist. Then he nuzzled her shoulder. "Love, I¡¯m not like your pathetic older brother, Long Hui. I¡¯ll make sure not to give you any reason to rece me."

    "Heh~ Third Brother, you¡¯re mistaken," Lu Zihao interrupted. "That son of a bitch and the other one¡ªI forgot what he¡¯s called, the one from a mistress¡ªoh well, I don¡¯t really give a fuck about any of them. Those two aren¡¯t little sister¡¯s older brothers. They don¡¯t deserve the title. I am her one and only big brother, remember that."

    Iris sighed in exasperation at the two men. "Darling, Big Brother. Can you two not change the subject? I¡¯m having a serious conversation with Ying Yue."

    After kicking the two men to the corner, Iris returned to talking to her friend.

    "Ying Yue, I could only imagine how hurt you must be feeling right now," Iris said. "But you must choose what kind of role you want to y in this custody battle. Are you going to y the pitiful, abandoned fianc¨¦e or the fierce, protective mother? Either way, that man will try to hurt you and make you suffer. The degree to which he could hurt you will all depend on your mentality."

    By now, Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s tears had stopped. She was still a mess, but a new light of determination shed in her eyes

    "I¡¯m a mother... My son is the most important to me. Always. I know that I¡¯m a weak woman, especially when ites to romantic love. But I want to be a strong mother," she said.

    Her eyes became fierce and her voice firm. Her hands clenched into tight fists.

    "If I must kill this love that I have for Long Hui in order to be a strong mother for my son, I will do it. No, I¡¯m already doing it. He wants a custody battle? I¡¯ll give it to him."

 Chapter 478 - Not My Brother

    <h4>Chapter 478 - Not My Brother </h4>

    Iris nodded and patted Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arm. "That¡¯s a start."

    Then Ketchup interrupted them once again. She reported that the guards outside allowed a car to enter the property. It was Lin Yehan.

    "I told Eldest Brother what happened," Jin Liwei exined to Jiang Ying Yue. "He deserves to know. He¡¯s already involved in the situation. After all, he¡¯s presumably the reason why that son of a bitch went crazy and started using you of cheating on him. Do you me Eldest Brother?"

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head. "No, of course not. I don¡¯t me him at all. On the contrary, I feel sorry that he got dragged into my mess with Hui...I mean with Long Hui. I¡¯m just afraid that Long Hui¡¯s camp will use the photos and videos of us together against me during the custody battle. I don¡¯t want Mr. Lin to be painted as the man who destroyed a family. I¡¯m already feeling bad for him."

    "Don¡¯t worry about Eldest Brother. He can take care of himself," Jin Liwei told her.

    Iris nodded. "Just worry about yourself and Little Jun for now." Then she patted Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arm. "Don¡¯t worry about the photos and videos. Ketchup and I already confirmed that he indeed ns on using them against you, but we won¡¯t let him spread them to the public through the inte. Liwei is also using his connections to sniff out any intentions of publishing them through traditional media."

    She paused, remembering something. Then she turned to Lu Zihao. "Big Brother!"

    "Hm? What is it, little sister?" he asked, a faint demonic smile on his lips.

    "Is that paparazzo still with your group?" she asked.

    His expression remained nk for a couple of seconds before he understood what she meant. "Oh, that guy. Yes, he¡¯s now a full-fledged member of my group. He¡¯s one of the most loyal to me, actually. Why? You want to use him?"

    "Yes, Big Brother. Most of Liwei¡¯s connections in the media belong to the high ranks. I think we need someone from the lower stratum of the industry."

    "Heh~ I see. Alright. I¡¯ll tell him to keep an eye on the photos and videos," Lu Zihao told her.

    "Thanks, Big Brother!"

    Jin Liwei nodded at his Fifth Brother. Jiang Ying Yue also thanked him.

    The paparazzo they were talking about was the one who snapped the photos of Iris and Jin Chonglin together with Little Jun when they picked up the cats at the vet¡¯s clinic. The tabloid story insinuated that Iris and Jin Chonglin had a love child together. Iris asked for Lu Zihao¡¯s help during that time. In the end, the paparazzo joined Shadow Winds.

    Back to the present, Lin Yehan finally arrived at the mansion. The butler showed him to the living area.

    "Miss Jiang, I¡¯m so sorry" was the first thing that came out of his mouth when he reached them.

    "No, Mr. Lin. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s sorry that you¡¯ve be involved in my personal problem," Jiang Ying Yue told him instead.

    Lin Yehan¡¯s expression looked guilty, even though he had nothing to feel guilty about. His face wasn¡¯t smiling, but he still looked kind and gentle.

    "I¡¯ll try to contact Mr. Long Hui. I¡¯ll talk to him and exin what really happened. I¡¯ll assure him that there¡¯s nothing between us and it was just pure coincidence that we met each other that day," he offered.

    "No, Mr. Lin. You don¡¯t have to go that far," she replied.

    "Don¡¯t bother, Eldest Brother," Iris added. "That man¡¯s brains have been disintegrating for quite some time now. He has already turned into a stupid idiot. He didn¡¯t give Ying Yue a chance to exin. He won¡¯t listen to you either. There¡¯s no use wasting your time trying to reason with a person who only has one brain cell left inside his head."

    "Xiu-xin... Your words are too..." Lin Yehan sighed. "He¡¯s still your brother."

    "No, he¡¯s not. I only recognize Big Brother Zihao as my true brother. Biologically speaking, yes, that stupid idiot is my brother. The sperms which contributed to the creation of Long Xin and him came from the same man, after all. But emotionally and spiritually speaking, I don¡¯t consider him as a brother, especially after all the idiocy he has done to my friend and godson. So no, he¡¯s not my brother."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched but he nodded in full agreement with his baby girl. Of course, he would always side with her. Lu Zihao threw his head back andughed out loud.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, she felt hurt when Iris insulted Long Hui but she quickly scolded herself. The hatred inside her overpowered the subconscious tender feelings for him. She acknowledged the growing hatred and didn¡¯t stop it. However, she didn¡¯t want it topletely ovee her. Hatred was too strong of an emotion that she didn¡¯t want to harbour for the rest of her life.

    For now, she still needed to process her chaotic emotions. Like what Iris said, she needed to be strong for her son. If possible, she wanted a more amicable separation and joint custody. Unfortunately, he was the first to wage war against her. It was heartbreaking, but there was no way she would let him win. Take her son away from her? He would need to kill her first before she would allow that to happen.

    Later...

    Lin Yehan felt partly responsible for Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s current trouble. He decided to sleep over at the mansion to show his support. Despite this, he gave her space. They didn¡¯t even talk that much. He just wanted her to know that if she needed any help, she could always ask him. He already considered her as a friend.

    Of course, Little Jun was delighted when he found out that his "Anko Han" visited. The toddler immediately stuck close to Lin Yehan. At first nce, it looked like the child had already forgotten about what happened with his daddy three nights ago. He acted like the usual happy child that he was. However, everyone in the mansion noticed that he had be clingier to all of them, especially to the men. As a result, he preferred his Papa Liwei more than his Mama Iris these days.

    Everyone tried to act as normal as possible for the sake of Little Jun. They didn¡¯t want Long Hui to affect their daily lives. He didn¡¯t deserve that much attention.

 Chapter 479 - More Aggressive

    <h4>Chapter 479 - More Aggressive </h4>

    The next morning, Iris received a call from her financial manager, Qiao Yu. He informed her that another 5% shares of Long Industries were put up for sale. Qiao Yu immediately made an offer but was rejected when it was discovered that he was buying it for her.

    "Despite your growing reputation, there are still people from Long Industries that don¡¯t think highly of you," Qiao Yu told her. "We have the money. I even offered to pay more, but the shareholder refused to sell it to me because of his preconceived notions against you."

    Iris frowned. This wasn¡¯t the kind of news that she wanted to hear first thing in the morning.

    "Who bought it, then?" she asked.

    Qiao Yu hesitated. After a few seconds, he finally told her.

    "It¡¯s the Young Master Long Hui."

    Iris was surprised. "What? Where did he get the money? Did he get a loan? Did he sell some of his properties?"

    Unfortunately, Qiao Yu didn¡¯t have that kind of information. All he knew was that the 5% shares went to Long Hui.

    After the call, Iris instructed Ketchup to find out how Long Hui was able to buy the 5% shares. Since he was now on their virtual ck notebook, Ketchup closely monitored him. As a result, they knew how much assets and liabilities he owned in the country and overseas. As Long Tengfei¡¯s eldest son and Long Industries¡¯ Deputy CFO, Long Hui was richpared to the average person. However, he certainly wasn¡¯t rich enough to buy 5% shares using just his own money.

    It turned out that Ketchup had already gathered the information about it and was just waiting to report it to her. Ketchup was nning to report her findings to Iris before she headed for breakfast, but Qiao Yu beat her to it and called so early in the morning to tell her first.

    "Meow~ Mommy, Ketchup will now report the breakdown of how Long Hui, that good-for-nothing scumbag, was able to buy the 5% shares of Long Industries.

    "1% was bought by Long Hui himself, that good-for-nothing scumbag. Actually, he could only afford 0.5% but Long Meng gave him a loan to buy another 0.5%.

    "2% was contributed by the Zheng family, Long Hui¡¯s maternal family.

    "The remaining 2% was contributed by the family of Long Hui¡¯s new fianc¨¦e.

    "Pweh! Auntie Ying Yue is definitely prettier than that stic doll! At least, Auntie Ying Yue¡¯s entire body is all-natural and she worked hard to achieve all of her muscles! Ketchup has detected that Long Hui¡¯s new fianc¨¦e had multiple stic surgeries. Her entire face is fake! So are her boobies and boom-boom¡ª"

    Iris scowled. "Ketchup, where did you learn those words?"

    "Meow? Which words, Mommy?"

    "The boo¡ªthest words you said."

    "Oh? You mean boobies and boom-boom? Meow~ Ketchup learned them from Uncle Dom. He says that Daddy loves Mommy¡¯s boobies and boom-boom the most, so other hos will never be able to seduce him using their boobies or boom-booms that are either fake or t. He also says thatpared to the other hos, Mommy¡¯s boobies and boom-boom are natural and will only get bigger and better after you give birth to your first human baby. And also¡ª"

    "That¡¯s enough!"

    Iris massaged her temples. She intended to have a serious talk with Domter and tell him not to teach such words to Ketchup. No, she and Jin Liwei needed to have a serious talk with the entire household staff and tell them to be careful about uttering inappropriate words in the mansion. The couple thought that they were already getting enough practice raising children from Ice Cream, Popcorn and Little Jun, but they were very wrong. Raising Ketchup was proving to be a more challenging responsibility than they first thought.

    "Meow? Is Mommy angry at Ketchup? Is Ketchup being a bad kitty again? I¡¯m sorry, Mommy. Ketchup will do better next time. Meow..."

    Although she knew that Ketchup was only an AI, Iris couldn¡¯t stop her heart from softening after hearing the virtual white cat¡¯s remorseful tone. Iris sighed and smiled.

    "cklist the words ¡¯boobies¡¯, ¡¯boom-boom¡¯ and ¡¯ho¡¯ from your vocabry. You are not allowed to say them anymore. If you do, your dad and I will ground you."

    "Meow! No, Mommy! Ketchup doesn¡¯t want to be grounded! Ketchup will be a good kitty. I¡¯ll never say those words ever again..."

    "And don¡¯t listen to everything your Uncle Dom says."

    "Okay, Mommy... Meow..."

    After disciplining her third kitty baby, Iris headed for breakfast. Jin Liwei already left at dawn for work. She tried to wake up to apany him for breakfast, but he encouraged her to continue sleeping instead. She also had to return to workter this morning.

    In the meantime, she thought about the current situation. Long Hui now had a total of 7.5% shares in Long Industries. Other than Long Tengfei, Long Hui was now the next biggest shareholder within the Long n. He had kicked off Iris¡¯ position with her 5% shares.

    Although Qiao Yu already warned her that her bad reputation in the past was still an issue when buying investments in the country, she didn¡¯t really care much about it until now. Buying Long Industries¡¯ shares was very important to her, especially now that Long Hui waged a custody battle against Jiang Ying Yue.

    "It looks like I need to be more aggressive," Iris told herself. "I¡¯ve been too indifferent when ites to the Long n for far too long. It¡¯s time to reim Long Xin¡¯s right as a legitimate daughter of the current head of the Long n. If that stupid idiot wants to use his position in the Long n to take Little Jun, well, I¡¯ll use mine too. He wants to keep the current status quo in the n, but I don¡¯t. I¡¯ll destroy it and create a new one for Little Jun, so that my godson can live as a Long without any worries."

    With that, Iris started making ns to take over the Long n. She honestly didn¡¯t want to do it¡ªsuch a bother¡ªbut Long Hui had forced her to take action.

 Chapter 480 - Luxurious

    <h4>Chapter 480 - Luxurious </h4>

    However, Iris¡¯ ns regarding Long Hui and the Long n had to take a backseat for now. She needed to take care of her other ns first.

    Iris and Lu Zihao boarded one of Jin Liwei¡¯s private jets. Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun and Wei Lan came with them.

    The custody case was still pending because the judge hadn¡¯t issued an order for either Jiang Ying Yue or Long Hui¡¯s first appearance yet. Hong Shaoqiang told them that this might take around two to four weeks, depending on the judge. Sometimes it was quicker, while sometimes it took longer. Iris and their camp didn¡¯t want Long Hui blocking Jiang Ying Yue from taking Little Jun with her abroad, so they didn¡¯t inform him. After all, their travel ns were already set long before Long Hui made trouble with Jiang Ying Yue and waged the custody battle against her for Little Jun.

    "Let¡¯s leave it to Attorney Hong to deal with," Iris said.

    With that, they left the country. Dom, Tang Yiyi, a couple of Iris¡¯ bodyguards and some of Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates apanied them as well.

    They headed to France.

    The private jetnded in a small, private airport. It was currently filled with other private nes of all sizes. There were more scheduled tond throughout the day and even in the next few days. Dom and Tang Yiyi had spotted some famous international celebrities disembarking from the other private jets. The two wished they could run up to them to ask for autographs and photos. However, security was tight in the airport, so they could only fangirl from far away.

    Iris and her group didn¡¯t waste any time staying at the private airport longer than necessary. There were private nes circling in the airspace above, waiting for their turn tond once the runway was cleared. They rode three limousines for their entire group. The Mediterranean Sea looked beautiful from a distance. There were also other limousines and other luxury cars headed the same way as them.

    Afterwards, the limousines dropped them off at a private marina filled with an impressive collection of luxurious yachts. It was already autumn, but the weather in this ce was still pleasantly warm during the day while cool in the evenings.

    Iris and her group were weed by the crew of a massive luxury yacht named "LX". The Captain was French and so were most of the crew. They recognized Iris and greeted her first in French before greeting the others in English. Lu Zihao also spoke fluent French. The crew also showed respect to Wei Lan, calling her Vizcondesa.

    Dom, Tang Yiyi and Jiang Ying Yue felt like they were dreaming. Everything was so morous, luxurious and impressive. It wasn¡¯t only the luxury yacht that they were about to embark on, but also the sight of famous international celebrities boarding their own simrly luxurious yachts in the marina. They honestly didn¡¯t know where to look because there was so much to see.

    They boarded the yacht "LX" and cruised for about half an hour before they disembarked at a luxurious resort town on a beautiful riviera. The view was magnificent. There were more yachts in the riviera¡¯s marina. Many five-star hotels were located near the coast, a prime location because of the beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea.

    However, Iris and her group didn¡¯t head to one of these hotels. They rode limousines again and were driven to one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in the area. About twenty minutester, they arrived at a sprawling Mediterranean-style vi estate. The huge mansion looked very simr to a ce Iris had visited before.

    When they entered the mansion, a familiar booming voice greeted them.

    "There you are! What took you so long? I want to know!"

    Grandpa Lu appeared. His delighted boomingughter echoed inside the grand foyer.

    "Ampa Lu! Ampa Lu!" an excited child¡¯s voice called out.

    Little Jun wriggled out of Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arms until she put him down. Then the toddler ran towards his great-grandfather. Grandpa Lu caught the child and lifted him up in his arms. He was still very strong despite his age.

    "Little Junjun, my boy! You¡¯ve grown so much since I¡¯ve seen you! Come and give your Great-Grandpa a kiss!"

    Of course, Little Jun obediently kissed the old man¡¯s cheek. Then he yed with Grandpa Lu¡¯s perfectly groomed mustache with his fingers while giggling.

    Grandpa Lu was too preupied with his great-grandson that he didn¡¯t pay much attention to Iris, Lu Zihao and the others. They didn¡¯t mind, though. It was nice seeing both Little Jun and Grandpa Lu so happy together. Jiang Ying Yue smiled seeing the scene. She felt thankful that her son was loved by so many people. These were the kind of people that she wanted her son to grow up with, not the toxic environment in the Long n. Long Hui would never be able to surround their son with this kind of genuinely loving people.

    Since Grandpa Lu was basically ignoring them, the French butler and the other household staff weed Iris and others instead. Their luggage were sent to their assigned rooms.

    In the meantime, the butler gave everyone a tour in the vi. Grandpa Lu followed them while carrying Little Jun. He would interrupt the butler to give his ownmentaries about the ce.

    The vi estate was owned by Jin Liwei, but it was originally owned by Grandpa Lu. It exined why the architecture and interior design matched Grandpa Lu¡¯s loud style more than Jin Liwei¡¯s. Grandpa Lu sold the property to Jin Liwei after he got bored of it. Although the property was technically now owned by Jin Liwei, he hadn¡¯t stayed here even once yet. It was still Grandpa Lu who frequently stayed in the vi whenever he felt like it.

    For ten days, this vi estate would be their home.

    ###

    At a five-star Oriental hotel.

    In the same riviera, the cast and crew of the film "Strong Yet Broken" just checked in at the hotel. Guan Jintao and his wife were also scheduled to arrive the next day. LX Productions took care of their hotel bookings.

    "Where¡¯s Iris Long?" the actress ying Guan Jintao¡¯s mother asked. "I thought that she¡¯sing."

    The President of LX Productions answered her. "I received information that Miss Long has already arrived. She has prepared her own amodations in a separate location. We¡¯ll meet her tomorrow."

    "Must be nice to be born into a rich family," the actor ying the adult Guan Jintaomented. "Iris can afford to book her own hotel. I saw the rates in this hotel and I almost had a heart attack. It¡¯s even more expensive right now because of the event. I would never stay here if I have to pay with it out of my own pocket."

    He turned to the President of LX Productions. "So thank you very much, sir, for allowing me to experience this kind of luxury. I¡¯ll never forget this in my life. Wait, you know what? This entire experience is something I¡¯ll never forget in my life. I¡¯m so d that I epted the offer to act in this film! I can¡¯t believe that we¡¯re actually participating in the prestigious Sommet International Film Festival!"

 Chapter 481 - ZiRis

    <h4>Chapter 481 - ZiRis </h4>

    The five-star Oriental hotel where the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" were staying at was partly invested by Jin Liwei himself. Not as part of Jin Corporation, but as a personal investment. It was a fairly new addition to the hotel scene in this riviera.

    Grandpa Lu was slotted to be one of the original investors a few years ago, but he got bored during the process at the same time that he also got bored of his Mediterranean-style vi estate in the area. So he just dumped everything on Jin Liwei, while he cruised in the Mediterranean Sea and visited the surrounding countries in his own massive luxury yacht.

    It was a different yacht to "LX" which Iris and her group used earlier to transport themselves to the riviera. The "LX" yacht was a new acquisition by Jin Liwei. He bought it during the summer because he knew that his baby girl was scheduled to attend the Sommet International Film Festival in the autumn. Of course, he named it after the two of them¡ªLiwei and Xin.

    The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken"thanked the President of LX Productions for letting them stay in such a high-ss, luxurious hotel. They had no idea that it was all thanks to Jin Liwei. He was actually the one financing their entire stay at the riviera for the Sommet International Film Festival.

    In the less luxurious parts of the riviera, Chinese media representatives were staying at more affordable hotels and room rentals. They came to cover the Sommet International Film Festival this year. "Strong Yet Broken" was the only Chinese entry, so it was a big deal to the film industry back home.

    Despite this, the general public wasn¡¯t very interested. The news wasn¡¯t important enough to be a trending topic back in China. It was just one of those type of news that made people say, "Oh, that¡¯s cool," but that was it. Nobody really thought that "Strong Yet Broken" could win awards against the other foreign films starred by some of the most famous international celebrities and made by some of the most renowned directors and producers in the world who already had experienced winning awards in the Sommet International Film Festival in the past. To them, it was already an achievement that a Chinese film was shortlisted at all in such a prestigious film festival and even nominated in a few award categories, including the most sought-after main prize, the Soleil d¡¯Or or the Golden Sun Award.

    The ck Stars, however, were super excited because they found out that their Boss Iris was nominated for the Best Soundtrack Award. Most of the other nominees she waspeting against were also new to the international scene like her, but there were a couple of big nameposers. Whether she won or not, the ck Stars would support her all the way.

    Although the major media outlets back in China weren¡¯t giving much attention to the participation of"Strong Yet Broken" in the Sommet International Film Festival, the ck Stars were still able to get thetest updates online. Most of the Chinese reporters covering the film festival opted to publish their articles online instead where they would likely gain more attention than if they waited to be featured in traditional news.

    In addition to this, Iris Long¡¯s social media pages were also frequently updated during this period by her assistant Dominic Chua and her manager Tang Yiyi. The posts showed her journey from China to France, including her modes of transportation like the private jet, limousines and luxury yacht. Her fans thought that she either rented them herself or borrowed them from her father, or maybe they were financed by Bright Summit or endorsement sponsors.

    Finally, the Chinese reporters were able to take actual photos of her at the riviera. These photos were immediately posted to the online news websites and blogs for the Chineseizens.

    The photos showed Iris Long walking along the streets in a fashionably elegant long-sleeved maxi dress with a waist tie which entuated her hourss figure. She was escorted by a tall and handsome man who had a long scar on his face. Despite the scar, manyizens couldn¡¯t help but fangirl (and fangay) over him. They actually loved the scar because it gave him a dangerous vibe that made him more attractive. It waster confirmed that he was Lu Zihao, Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson.

    Now more people believed that these two were the true engaged couple. Instead of continuing to be heartbroken, a good portion of the LinRis shippers converted to be the ZiRis shippers instead. How could they resist such a gorgeous hunk? They felt that Lu Zihao was manlier than their Prince Lin Lin.

    Iris Long and Lu Zihao were seen going inside a caf¨¦ where they met with Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez. It wasn¡¯t only the Chinese reporters who were having a field day snapping photos of the group, but the foreign reporters and paparazzi as well because Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez were such well-respected big names in the international music industry.

    Both the maestro and Enrique Valdez were recipients of the Best Soundtrack Award at the Sommet International Film Festival in the past. This year, they weren¡¯t involved in any of the films at all, but they still received special invitations to attend from the organizers.

    The Chineseizens were impressed by Iris Long¡¯s connection with the two music powerhouses. Although they already knew that she was friendly with Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez, it was still a shock whenever they saw her interacting so naturally and so familiarly with them.

    Regarding Lu Zihao, they were also very curious about him. He looked muscr yet not overly bulky. There was a gracefulness to his posture and movements, like a panther moving in its natural habitat. The ck Stars noted that his body build didn¡¯t match the man in the photo their Boss Iris shared during her interview on Feng Jiu¡¯s talk show.

    Thus, there were people who became unsure if he really was Iris Long¡¯s real fianc¨¦.

 Chapter 482 - Once A Social Climber, Always A Social Climber

    <h4>Chapter 482 - Once A Social Climber, Always A Social Climber </h4>

    Theizens shared their opinions about the matter.

    "Lu Zihao matches Iris Long¡¯s hint that her fianc¨¦ is a businessman. I live in the south part of the country and I know that Mr. Lu has acquired several businesses here in the town that I live in. They¡¯re just small businesses, but he acquired a few, so he¡¯s definitely rich."

    "Oh! He also bought a couple of small businesses where I live! It was all over the local news. I was wondering who this Mr. Moneybags Lu Zihao is. So it turns out that he¡¯s actually Iris Long¡¯s businessman fianc¨¦."

    "It seems like this Lu Zihao specializes in small businesses. He¡¯s certainly not as impressive as his grandfather Sir Lu Jianhong, the business genius who founded Jin Corporation with CEO Jin¡¯s grandfather back in the day."

    "So what if he¡¯s not as impressive? He¡¯s so hot and so manly! Boss Iris sure is lucky to catch a man like him!"

    "We¡¯re not yet sure if he¡¯s really Boss Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦, you know. His body build doesn¡¯t match the man in the photo boss shared on Feng Jiu¡¯s talk show."

    "Easy! He probably worked out a lot since then!"

    Theizens continued discussing Lu Zihao until a new wave of photos and reports were published online. The photos showed Iris Long wearing a more elegant dress this time. The sun was setting in the background, so it was almost evening in France when the photos were taken. Iris was seen shopping at the designer boutiques with her mother, Wei Lan. It was only the mother and daughter this time, apanied by a few bodyguards.

    Many were surprised that Iris and her mother were acting close. It was well-known that when Iris was just a teenager, the mother and daughter didn¡¯t have a good rtionship and that they fought all the time. It seemed like the two had already repaired their rtionship.

    ###

    Back in China, it was alreadyte at night. Sun Jingfei, Long Jinjing¡¯s mother, was about to go to bed when her best friend sent her a website link. She clicked on it and saw the photos of Wei Lan and Iris shopping together in France.

    "Hmm... Wei Lan has be more elegant. She has finally matured, I guess. Good for her. And good for Xin, too. At least the mother and daughter are beginning to bond like what nature intended," she murmured before finally going to sleep.

    In another ce, Zhu Ning, Long Jian¡¯s mother, was once again wrecking the things inside their house. Long Jian wasn¡¯t at home because he went for a business trip for a few days.

    "Wei Lan, you bitch! How dare you act like a celebrity?! Shopping at those designer stores and posing for the paparazzi! You think you¡¯re some kind of a big shot?! You¡¯re nothing but a slut! A slut! A FUCKING SLUT!!!"

    In the Zheng ancestral residence, Zheng Suyin, Long Hui¡¯s mother, also saw the photos online. Her niece ran to her bedchamber even when it was alreadyte at night just to show her the photos.

    "That Wei Lan¡ªor whatever her name¡ªis just using Iris Long¡¯s celebrity status to attend such a prestigious international film festival. What a parasite," the niecemented. "Iris Long isn¡¯t even famous abroad. Practically nobody knows her there. Well, except for those old people from the European ssical world. But who cares about ssical music? Booooriiiiing~ Whatever. Who do they think they are? Iris Long and her mother are so full of themselves."

    Zheng Suyin scrolled down the tablet to view the rest of the photos.

    "Once a social climber, always a social climber," she said in a cold voice filled with venom. "With a mother like that, her slut daughter is sure to lose her supporters in the Long n. Now that your Big Brother Hui owns 7.5% shares in Long Industries and is finally engaged to a suitable marriage partner, some of his previous supporters are returning to support him again. As is right. My son is the rightful heir to the Long n and Long Industries. That slut mother and daughter are a joke. I don¡¯t even understand why that little slut managed to obtain such a strong group of supporters in the Long n."

    While the aunt and niece insulted Wei Lan and Iris, Long Tengfei and his wife Yang Jiahui were also looking at the same photos in the Long ancestral residence.

    "I hope that Wei Lan doesn¡¯t embarrass my daughter at the international film festival," Long Tengfei muttered.

    "I don¡¯t think so," Yang Jiahui replied. "Meimei says that Wei Lan has been getting along with everyone in Xin¡¯s household, especially the younger members of the staff. They look up to her."

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t reply.

    Yang Jiahui sighed. "People can and do change, Tengfei. Xin changed and it seems that her mother has also changed for the better. Don¡¯t be so judgmental of Wei Lan anymore. Xin has epted her back, so you should just let them connect as a mother and daughter should. Besides, it¡¯s not like you have any room to talk. Meimei and her friends are very upset right now with your eldest son. Can¡¯t you intervene in their situation? Your eldest son and youngest daughter are currently at war against each other. I know that you want your adult children to make their own decisions and Imend you for that. But as a parent, do you want your children to fight like this and treat each other like enemies?"

    "I also wasn¡¯t informed that my son broke up with Jiang Ying Yue and then got engaged with another woman. His mother and all the people involved hid it very well. It was already toote when my informants found out about it," he said. "I¡¯ve already talked to my son but he wouldn¡¯t listen to me. He has also started regrly visiting his mother at the Zhengs."

    "Maybe...how about let¡¯s invite Hui and Xin here for dinner?" Yang Jiahui suggested. "Tengfei, let¡¯s help them resolve the issue with Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun. I¡¯m especially concerned for the well-being of the child. This kind of situation is not good for your grandson."

    Long Tengfei was quiet for almost a minute, thinking, before he sighed and finally said, "Alright. We¡¯ll n something."

    The night drew to a close. Each of these people went to sleep with their own thoughts after seeing the photos of the mother Wei Lan and her daughter Iris.

 Chapter 483 - Opening Nigh

    <h4>Chapter 483 - Opening Nigh </h4>

    The opening night of the Sommet International Film Festival was expected to be filled with glitz, mour, haute couture, and impressive personages. It wasn¡¯t only people from the film industry who received special invitations to attend¡ªsent by the festival¡¯s organizers themselves or were brought aspanions of the participants. There were also TV personalities, musicians, models, fashion designers, socialites, social media influencers, other kinds of celebrities, millionaires, billionaires, and even members of noble and royal families all over the world.

    Even though the red carpet event and the opening ceremony wouldn¡¯t start untilte in the afternoon and evening respectively, a great crowd of people already surrounded the venue as early as dawn, in order to score the best spots behind the barricades to view the parade of the stars on the red carpet. In fact, the spectators and fans would have camped out the night before if only the police and the festivals¡¯ security allowed them. Unfortunately for them, this was strictly not allowed. Anyone who didn¡¯t follow the festival¡¯s rules would be kicked out and even banned.

    The media and the paparazzi also had strict rules to follow. Only those who had press badges were allowed inside. Even then, they could only stay within their designated spot behind the red ropes on the edge of the red carpet. Despite this, they still had front row positionspared to the regr spectators and fans behind the barricades on the other side of the road. In addition to this rule, they also had to follow a strict formal ck tie dress code just like the attendees. If they didn¡¯t, they would be kicked out of the red carpet event even if they had press badges.

    Just before dusk, the guests and the stars started arriving. Rows of shiny luxury cars drove slowly and stopped where the red carpet began to drop off the VIPs one by one. Once the VIPs stepped out of the vehicles, their names were announced aloud as they walked the length of the red carpet and posed for the paparazzi, in order for everyone to know who they were.

    Loud screams and cheers could be heard from the spectators behind the barricades upon hearing their favourite celebrities.

    "Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Madame De Luca!" the emcee of the red carpet event announced.

    The ssical music maestro and his wife waved at the spectators before walking the red carpet while holding hands. Those who had backgrounds in ssical music cheered and bowed to show their respect to the world-renowned maestro.

    "Enrique Valdez!" the emcee announced next.

    Deafening shrieks and screams arose from the crowd after hearing the legendary hitmaker¡¯s name.

    "Enrique, I love you!"

    "Please marry me, Enrique Valdez!"

    "I want to have your babies, Enrique!"

    Thirsty derations andments like these were shouted in differentnguages. Throughout all of these, Enrique Valdez remained taciturn as always. His chiselled features, mesmerizing hazel eyes and gorgeous olive skin caused some fans to faint from overexcitement. He was almost in his sixties, but he looked ageless as ever. Some of the younger celebrities who walked the red carpet before him looked older than him, even though they were only in their thirties and forties.

    Enrique Valdez came to the event alone. He didn¡¯t bring anyone with him. There were news during the summer that he broke up with histest fling who was a Brazilian supermodel. The high profile model kept on hinting to everyone through her social media posts and interviews that she was going to be Mrs. Valdez soon. It seemed that Enrique Valdez disagreed and just dumped her.

    The legendary hitmaker walked the red carpet like the lone wolf that he was and posed for the cameras. He had no bad angles and looked gorgeous in virtually all the shots taken of him.

    A few VIPster, another car stopped in front of the red carpet. Two men, one older and one younger, stepped out. A boomingughter was immediately heard by the people close by.

    "Sir Jianhong Lu and Mr. Hunter Lu!"

    Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao walked together on the red carpet. There weren¡¯t a lot of people who recognized Grandpa Lu. Only those who were rted to or knowledgeable about the business world knew the legendary Chinese business genius. This included the millionaire and billionaire businessmen who were also guests attending the opening night. Their eyes lit up upon hearing Grandpa Lu¡¯s name and couldn¡¯t wait for the chance to talk to him in person.

    As for Lu Zihao, nobody recognized him at all. The people whispered among themselves.

    "Who¡¯s that hunk?"

    "Is the scar on his face makeup?"

    "No, it looks real."

    "He looks rich. Why didn¡¯t he have the scar removed? I¡¯m sure he could afford it."

    "What are you talking about? Leave the scar alone! OMG! It makes him look SO FREAKING HOT!!!"

    "Hunter Lu! Please look here! I just met you and I don¡¯t know who you are but I already love you!"

    This person spoke in French. Lu Zihao seemed to have heard her. He turned his head and looked directly at the woman. Then he shed her a demonic smile.

    "Kyaaaaaaaah!"

    The crowd went crazy. Although they had no idea who he was, his alluring appearance and dangerous vibes made him incredibly attractive to them.

    "Bahahaha! That¡¯s my boy! Now if you¡¯d only use that irresistible charm of yours that you inherited from ME, your beloved grandpa, to find yourself a wife, then this old man could die happily and peacefully! Bahahaha! Wait! No, not yet! I still need to wait for my great-grandbabies from you and from your Third Brother and Xin my girl! This old man refuses to die before then!"

    Then Grandpa Lu "dotingly" smacked his grandson¡¯s back several times. The loud thuds sounded painful but Lu Zihao didn¡¯t even react. He stood nonchntly with a faint demonic smile on his lips, as if the hard smacks were light as a feather¡¯s touch.

    The two posed for the cameras. However, Grandpa Lu got bored quickly, so he pulled his grandson away even though their time wasn¡¯t up yet. The organizers couldn¡¯t do anything because the grandfather and grandson looked too intimidating to approach.

    Momentster, the emcee announced the next VIP guests. This vehicle carried the g of Spain and another g bearing an official-looking coat of arms.

    "Vizcondesa Lan of Castillo de Estres of Espa?a, apanied by Miss Ying Yue Jiang!"

 Chapter 484 - Vizcondesa Lan

    <h4>Chapter 484 - Vizcondesa Lan </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue stepped out of the ck, luxury car first. She wore a long qipao-inspired emerald dress with an intricate phoenix pattern. It was sleeveless, so her muscr arms stood out the most. The other foreign guests viewed her fit body with a mixture of admiration and envy. She looked elegant and strong at the same time. She stepped aside to allow the next person to step out of the car.

    Wei Lan emerged from the car wearing a deep sapphire blue dress. The neck, sleeves and the bottom part of the skirt were made of sheer fabric woven with thousands of crystals sparkling brightly from the spotlights and camera shes. She also wore an intricate diamond hair piece which looked like a tiara but wasn¡¯t. Her makeup was subduedpared to what she usually wore in the past. Smoky eyes and nude, glossy lips. Her posture looked graceful. Overall, Wei Lan really looked the part of an elegant and dignified viscountess.

    This time, the organizers sent a few representatives to give a warm wee to Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue. They were especially respectful, polite and enthusiastic towards Wei Lan who they referred to as Vizcondesa Lan.

    The people who saw this scene instantly became curious about Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue. The spectators immediately grabbed their smartphones and searched up the Viscountcy of Castillo de Estres. They confirmed that it was indeed a real title of nobility in Spain. They couldn¡¯t find any additional details about it, though. All they could glean from the paltry information avable on the inte was that the viscount and everyone in his noble household and businesses were all extremely low profile. Despite theck of information, the people still felt impressed by Wei Lan. After all, she was a real life member of nobility even if it was through marriage.

    As for the other VIP guests, they couldn¡¯t search up more information about Wei Lan like the spectators because phone use was strictly prohibited on the red carpet. Instead, they nned on approaching herter to introduce themselves and directly speak to her. If she really was a viscountess, then it would be a good idea to befriend someone of high status like her.

    Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue walked together on the red carpet. Since Wei Lan was a member of nobility, the organizers allowed her to bring more bodyguardspared to the other VIP guests. Most of the VIP guests like Maestro De Luca and his wife, Enrique Valdez, and Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao didn¡¯t bring any bodyguards at all. They just came on their own.

    It was only Wei Lan who took advantage of the situation in order to show her status as a viscountess. She brought ten bodyguards¡ªall Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates. They arrived on a separate private jet at dawn that same day. Her entourage made her look extra important and impressive to everyone.

    She posed with Jiang Ying Yue for photos, once again wowing everyone with her confidence and skills in posing. Her past as a model certainly shone through, as she naturally found the best angles and lighting to ensure that every photos taken of her were all ttering.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, she looked stiffpared to Wei Lan¡¯s gracefulness. She stood military-style with her back ramrod straight. Instead of looking awkward, however, it made her look strong and even intimidating.

    Fortunately, Wei Lan didn¡¯t force her to do some of the poses they had been practicing for days. Wei Lan concluded that Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s stiff military-style pose looked more natural than if she forced herself to pose like how Wei Lan taught her.

    "Vizcondesa, look here!"

    "Smile, Vizcondesa!"

    The photographers shouted requests at Wei Lan. Of course, she granted all of them. In the end, she posed for far longer than the time allotted to the guests. However, the organizers didn¡¯t rush her and allowed her the extra time. The special treatment was very apparent.

    Everyone was very curious about her. The members of the media wanted to interview her. Unfortunately, there were no interviews allowed on the red carpet. They had to wait for the formal dinner after the opening ceremonyter that night in order to conduct interviews.

    It was only the Chinese reporters who recognized Wei Lan. However, they still had to do a double take to make sure that it was really her.

    Wei Lan was also somewhat famous back in China, or more urately, she was infamous. She was known as the mother of Iris Long and also as the high profile ex-wife of Long Tengfei. Their divorce back then filled the entertainment news and tabloids, especially after Wei Lan demanded a ridiculous amount of alimony and child support from Long Tengfei. What was even more ridiculous was that she got everything she wanted from her ex-husband. After the divorce, she had be a notoriously extravagant socialite who everyone loved to hate. In short, her reputation back home wasn¡¯t pleasant at all.

    "When did Wei Lan be a viscountess?" the Chinese reporters asked among themselves.

    "I have no idea. But what I do know is that this is surely gonna be BIG NEWS!"

    They joined their foreign peers in snapping hundreds of photos of Wei Lan. They couldn¡¯t wait to publish them online. Perhaps their bosses might even feel enough interest to feature this story on a TV news program or in a newspaper article. They thought that Wei Lan suddenly bing a Spanish viscountess was the biggest Chinese news of the night.

    They couldn¡¯t wait to interview her at the formal dinnerter. There were so many questions that they wanted to ask her. These Chinese reporters became too focused on Wei Lan that they had almost forgotten the purpose of why they came here in the first ce. They were here to cover the participation of the only Chinese entry, the movie"Strong Yet Broken", in the Sommet International Film Festival.

    One Chinese reporter wasn¡¯t just snapping photos like the others. Instead, he was livestreaming the red carpet event for the Chinese viewers back home.

    In just a few minutes of featuring Wei Lan, the viewers count immediately jumped from a pitiful 200 to almost 80,000. And it was still increasing.

 Chapter 485 - New Status

    <h4>Chapter 485 - New Status </h4>

    Back in China, it was already past midnight and yet more and more people were foregoing sleep to tune in to the livestream of the Sommet International Film Festival¡¯s opening night. Around half of the original 200 viewers of the livestream were made up of the ck Stars. Some of them were assigned to watch the red carpet event¡¯s livestream right from the beginning and then alert the other ck Stars once the casts and crews of the participating films started arriving.

    Most of the ck Stars weren¡¯t very interested in watching the entire red carpet event. After all, they only cared about their Boss Iris.

    For now, it was mostly the special guests who were arriving first on the red carpet. They knew that their Boss Iris wouldn¡¯t arrive until muchter because her assistant and manager were posting live updates on her social media pages. The two wrote that she had just finished getting ready, and that they had only just left on their way to the venue.

    They also posted teasers of her dress, not revealing her appearance yet in the photos. Her full look would only be revealed once she walked down the red carpetter tonight. But even though it was only a close up of the dress¡¯ fabric, the ck Stars already knew that their Boss Iris would look beautiful and morous. She always did. The ck Stars believed that even if she had to wear a sack of rice, she would still work it like a queen and look fabulous as always.

    The rest of the ck Stars originally nned on watching the livestream not until muchter, but they tuned in earlier than expected even when their boss hadn¡¯t appeared yet. It was because theirrades alerted them that their boss¡¯ mother, Wei Lan, had suddenly be a Spanish viscountess! They all wanted to see with their own eyes if it was really true.

    Word of mouth about Wei Lan¡¯s appearance as a special guest on the film festival¡¯s red carpet soon spread. When photos of Iris Long and her mother shopping together in France were published online, people thought that Wei Lan was only able to attend because of her daughter. However, she just walked on the red carpet without her daughter. It seemed that she received a special invitation from the organizers themselves and not just as a tag along to her daughter.

    The livestream¡¯s view count kept on increasing by the minute. At the moment, it had already reached more than 150,000 and the numbers was still growing. It didn¡¯t matter that it was already veryte at night. Everyone was curious about Wei Lan, perhaps even more so than her daughter¡¯s participation in the film festival.

    It wasn¡¯t only the ck Stars who were contributing to the increasing view count. The showbiz industry, especially the entertainment news media outlets, were also watching.

    Of course, the news also reached the higher-ups of Bright Summit Entertainment Company. They immediately called Tang Yiyi who apanied Iris Long to France. Tang Yiyi confirmed that Iris¡¯ mother, Wei Lan, had indeed be a Spanish viscountess.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I only learned about it during this trip. I was also as surprised as you all are and everyone else," Tang Yiyi told her bosses.

    However, this was only an excuse. The manager frequently visited Iris to check up on her, including when she and Jin Liwei stayed at the penthouse when Wei Lan just returned to the country. Tang Yiyi had already discovered Wei Lan¡¯s new identity back then because the woman couldn¡¯t keep her mouth shut about it. Despite this, Tang Yiyi decided to keep it a secret, just like how she kept Iris¡¯ rtionship with Jin Liwei a secret. She refused to betray Iris¡¯ trust. She considered Iris as her most precious artist under her management.

    Bright Summit¡¯s higher-ups were currently having an impromptu video conference meeting sote at night while watching the livestream. They were already brainstorming various ways on how to rebrand Iris Long¡¯s image now that she had suddenly be the daughter of a member of Spanish nobility. Even though she didn¡¯t have a title herself, the higher-ups thought that the connection was already enough to exploit.

    In addition to these people, the entire Chinese high society was also alerted and tuned in to the livestream. They didn¡¯t care that it was already past midnight. They had to watch. Wei Lan wasn¡¯t well-liked by many in the country¡¯s high society. Actually, she was hated by a lot. There were many madams who thought that their husbands had an affair with Wei Lan, although they didn¡¯t have any proof. Wei Lan¡¯s reputation was so bad in high society that she would be the first woman the madams med when they had suspicions that their husbands were cheating on them.

    And now they discovered that the gold digging, social climbing slut had be a Spanish viscountess? This bombshell that Wei Lan dropped was too explosive! They couldn¡¯t believe it! Wei Lan, a viscountess? And it was even a real, existing title!

    Many were filled with envy and even more hatred towards her.

    "So she married a Spanish viscount this time? She¡¯s indeed a certified gold digger and social climber. A tiger truly can¡¯t change its stripes. She¡¯ll never change! A truly disgusting woman!"

    Some, however, were extremely impressed by her achievement.

    "Ah, she has truly outdone herself this time. Imagine, marrying a viscount? And a real viscount at that! The title still exists today, not like the long lost noble title that the Longs, her ex-husband¡¯s family are so proud of. I wonder how the Longs will react once they know about this. They¡¯ll probably have an apoplexy! Who knew that Wei Lan could still catch a bigger fish than Long Tengfei yearster? This Spanish viscount is probably the biggest fish that she could ever hope to catch in her lifetime...and she did! Wei Lan¡¯s methods may be questionable, but nobody could deny that she knows how to effectively use what she has in order to ascend in life. We should befriend her once she returns to the country. I don¡¯t care about what kind of a person she is. It will certainly be beneficial to us if we connect ourselves to her, viscountess!"

    The reactions were mixed among these people. Many hated her for what they called her "ill-gotten sess, wealth and status", while others were already making ns on how to get close to her and exploit her new status.

 Chapter 486 - Chicken Pretending To Be A Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 486 - Chicken Pretending To Be A Phoenix </h4>

    The best friend of Sun Jingfei, Long Jinjing¡¯s mother, repeatedly messaged and called her. However, Sun Jingfei was already asleep. She had a strict sleep routine because she needed to wake up early every morning to open her small bookstore. As a result, she didn¡¯t learn about the news until the next morning.

    In another ce, Zhu Ning, Long Jian¡¯s mother, was inplete disbelief upon watching the livestream after being alerted by her friends. At first, she didn¡¯t understand Wei Lan¡¯s long title at all.

    "What¡¯s a vizcondesa?" she asked her friends during a video call. "Does it mean ¡¯social climber¡¯ or ¡¯gold digger¡¯? Or maybe both? Ahahaha! And what¡¯s with the other Spanish words? That slut is so pretentious as always."

    Her friends hesitated before exining to her what "vizcondesa" meant. They told her that it was an official Spanish title.

    "Ahahaha! You must be joking! No way!" Zhu Ning didn¡¯t dare believe it.

    However, her friends shared their observations. They noted that the car which dropped Wei Lan off at the red carpet bore the gs of Spain and of an official-looking coat of arms, presumably of the Viscountcy of Castillo de Estres. Since Wei Lan dared to use these two gs at such an important international event, her new title as a viscountess must be true.

    If it wasn¡¯t, she would be condemned not only by the film festival¡¯s followers, but also by the country of Spain and all the Spanish nobility for pretending to be someone that she wasn¡¯t. The stakes were too high just to fake something like this especially in such a highly publicized international film festival.

    In addition to this, the film festival¡¯s organizers themselves sent representatives to personally wee Wei Lan. It was obvious by their actions that they treated her with much respect. They were also giving her extra special treatmentpared to the other VIP guests. All of these showed that Wei Lan¡¯s new title must be real.

    It was only after her friends¡¯ exnations that Zhu Ning finally began toprehend Wei Lan¡¯s new identity. Her face contorted in fury upon realizing that the gulf between their statuses had increased exponentially.

    Zhu Ning couldn¡¯t ept it!

    She went batshit crazy and began wrecking the things in her house, as usual.

    The household staff hid themselves from her sight for fear of bing their madam¡¯s target. They wished that their young master were here. He was the only one who could calm his mother. Unfortunately, Long Jian was still on an out of town business trip.

    "Noooo! How could that slut reach so high?!! Curse you, Wei Lan!!! I hope your new husband divorces you and abandons you like the dirty rag that you are!!! Why are you so fucking lucky?!! Damn you!!! I spent so much time and effort persuading Long Tengfei to marry me but he married you instead!!! Then after divorcing, you took away a huge chunk of his fortune!!! Damn it! If only Long Tengfei married me, I could¡¯ve gotten that fortune after divorcing him!! Then I could¡¯ve also travelled all around the world, met a Spanish viscount and married him!!! Aaaaggh!!! It should¡¯ve been me standing there at the international film festival and the one everyone is fawning at!!! I should¡¯ve been the new viscountess, not you!!!"

    Zhu Ning¡¯s envy of Wei Lan had long warped her logical reasoning. She always saw Wei Lan¡¯s achievements as a direct provocation to her. Even when it had nothing to do with her, Zhu Ning would always think that Wei Lan was deliberately showing off just to spite her. She wanted everything that Wei Lan had for herself.

    While Zhu Ning continued to wreck the things inside her house, the atmosphere was cold at the Zheng ancestral residence. As usual, Zheng Suyin¡¯s niece ran to her aunt¡¯s bedchamber and showed her a recording of the livestream.

    Zheng Suyin watched the recording several times. Her hands tightened on the tablet. Her niece snatched it away, afraid that she would destroy another tablet.

    "Search if this noble title is real," she instructed her niece.

    "I already did. There¡¯s not much information avable on the inte, but it¡¯s a real Spanish title that still exists today," her niece replied. "I thought that the old hag only used her connection as Iris Long¡¯s mother to attend the international film festival, but it turns out that she¡¯s actually a VIP guest! Hmph! So what if she became a viscountess?! It¡¯s not like she married a king! Don¡¯t worry, Auntie. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll embarrass herself in front of the world at the film festival. She may have a noble title, but she¡¯s still the same lowly prostitute on the inside."

    Zheng Suyin narrowed her eyes, as she watched the recording once again. Then she nodded. "You¡¯re right. She only became a viscountess through marriage. True nobilityes from the blood, not from the clothes. Sooner orter, her husband¡¯s eyes will open and see that she¡¯s nothing but a slut."

    Although her tone was calm, fury roiled inside Zheng Suyin. She always saw herself as superior in every waypared to Wei Lan. She had always been proud of her noble origins. It was something that the homewrecker slut would never obtain no matter how many men she slept with. Now, however, Zheng Suyin was filled with unease and envy because Wei Lan¡¯s status was now higher than hers. Even though Wei Lan wasn¡¯t born into nobility and just got the title through marriage, others still recognized it, not like the Zheng and the Long ns¡¯ lost noble legacies.

    She wanted Wei Lan to only be known as a social climbing, gold digging homewrecker her whole life. The sin of stealing another woman¡¯s husband should remain as a ck stain on Wei Lan¡¯s reputation.

    But what was happening? The slut was being respectfully called a "vizcondesa" right now by so many people! They were treating her like a queen. These people were all blind! They should open their eyes and see the slut¡¯s true nature! Wei Lan was nothing but a chicken pretending to be a phoenix!

    Although the recording grated on her nerves, Zheng Suyin watched it several times. She already used her own phone to watch it and sent her niece back to her own room. Zheng Suyin wasn¡¯t able to sleep that night at all. She stewed on her hatred instead while imagining countless ways of humiliating and killing Wei Lan.

    In another equally ancient ce, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui also watched a recording of the livestream at the Long ancestral residence. It was already way past midnight, but both of them were still wide awake.

    They sipped a hot herbal tea fusion at Long Tengfei¡¯s study. Iris gifted it to them, saying that it was her new favourite from her endorsement of Serenity Premium Tea. It was Lin Yehan¡¯s newest addition to his teapany.

    At the moment, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui sat on the sofa and watched the big t screen TV. Originally, they wanted to watch it because of Iris. They wanted to support her first international film festival participation. Never did they expect that Wei Lan would also appear and attend as a VIP guest while bearing the title of a Spanish viscountess.

 Chapter 487 - Come Back To Me

    <h4>Chapter 487 - Come Back To Me </h4>

    Yang Jiahui looked at her husband. Long Tengfei looked cold and emotionless. After a few moments, he softly harrumphed.

    "As long as that woman doesn¡¯t embarrass my daughter," he muttered under his breath.

    Yang Jiahui only gave a faint smile and continued watching the TV. It would be a lie if she said that she wasn¡¯t the least bit envious of Wei Lan right now. After all, who wouldn¡¯t want to be a member of nobility and be respected by so many people just by one¡¯s title alone? However, Yang Jiahui mentally shook the envy away from her heart, preventing it from taking root and festering deep within her.

    What was left was the feeling of dness for her step-daughter, Iris. If being a viscountess meant that Wei Lan changed into a better person and repaired her rtionship with Iris, then Yang Jiahui could only feel d for the mother and daughter.

    Iris and Meimei were now best friends with the other members of their girl squad. Iris was Yang Jiahui¡¯s step-daughter, while Meimei was her niece. She loved the two young women like her own children. She only wished them happiness in their lives.

    The Long family was already filled with so much drama and problems. Yang Jiahui didn¡¯t want Iris to experience any additional enmity with her family members, especially with her own biological mother. A mother and daughter should have a close bond iparable to any rtionships.

    Yang Jiahui¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by her husband¡¯s mutters.

    "That woman has been posing there for half an hour. Just move on already," Long Tengfeiined about Wei Lan¡¯s continued posing in front of the cameras. He was exaggerating, of course. Wei Lan¡¯s posing for the cameras hadn¡¯t reached the half an hour mark yet. Then he said, "I wonder how long till Xin appears."

    At the moment, the married couple already stopped watching the recording of Wei Lan¡¯s red carpet entrance. They returned to watching the actual livestream. Long Tengfei still had to wake up early the next day for work, but he didn¡¯t want to miss his daughter¡¯s first red carpet appearance at the world-renowned film festival.

    This was the Sommet International Film Festival! Not only was his daughter an attendee, but she was also an award nominee! Long Tengfei felt immensely proud of his youngest daughter. Win or lose, his daughter was already the winner in his heart.

    While Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui patiently waited for Iris to appear, Long Hui was also watching the livestream inside his residence at the eastern wing. He actually just arrived home, so he was still in his business suit. He looked rumpled, though.

    After working, he headed straight to a hotel to meet up with his new fianc¨¦e who demanded to have a "date" with him. He couldn¡¯t refuse because her family contributed a lot in helping him obtain the recent 5% shares of Long Industries.

    Long Hui didn¡¯t really like his new fianc¨¦e. She looked like a mannequin instead of a real person. Her cosmetic surgeries were well done and didn¡¯t look too unnatural, but he still preferred an all-natural body.

    Inside the hotel room, Long Hui closed his eyes and imagined that it was Jiang Ying Yue he was fucking instead of his new fianc¨¦e. Her muscled body was always beautiful and attractive to his eyes. Even after she gave birth and gained a little weight, he still thought that she had the most gorgeous female body that he had ever seen in his life.

    He fucked his new fianc¨¦e furiously, making the woman scream at the top of her lungs until she passed out from too much pleasure. After several rounds, Long Hui picked up his clothes and started putting them on. His face didn¡¯t show any emotions. He looked like he didn¡¯t feel anything at all after having sex with his new fianc¨¦e.

    As a matter of fact, the sex felt unsatisfactory. Jiang Ying Yue felt so many times better. Fucking his new fianc¨¦e was just a duty he needed to fulfill as payment for her family¡¯s assistance in the battle for session in the Long n.

    Back to the present, Long Hui tossed his necktie to the floor while watching the livestream on TV. He red hatefully at Wei Lan. He med her for corrupting Jiang Ying Yue into going against him.

    Then his eyes turned cold when he looked at Jiang Ying Yue standing a little behind Wei Lan. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her qipao-inspired dress. Seeing her muscled arms and calves, Long Hui¡¯s body automatically reacted. He got hard.

    He was annoyed at his body¡¯s reaction. At first, he nned on ignoring it and letting it pass. He already treated Jiang Ying Yue as his enemy, after all. However, his body still couldn¡¯t help but crave for her, especially after the unsatisfying sex with his new fianc¨¦e. His eyes narrowed and he hissed when the TV showed Jiang Ying Yue turning around, disying her tight butt inside her dress.

    "Fuck it," he growled and started undoing his belt in a hurry.

    After unzipping his pants and pulling down his boxers, his erection popped out. It was swollen and hard, already leaking in anticipation. He wrapped his hand around it and started stroking while he looked at Jiang Ying Yue on the TV. Inside his mind, Jiang Ying Yue waspletely naked. He could see all of her sexy muscles. He also imagined the tight feeling of being inside her, squeezing him hard as he pumped himself again and again inside her wet heat. Her inner muscles were strong, never failing to give him the greatest sexual pleasure he had ever experienced in his life so far.

    His hand moved faster and tighter around his hard length, while his other hand massaged his balls underneath. Sweat beaded on his skin. His breaths turned into pants. He moved and sat on the foot of his bed. His eyes never left the TV. He watched Jiang Ying Yue like a hawk, ogling her body and imaging the feeling of being inside her.

    Moans escaped from his throat, while he pumped his hand on himself as fast as he could. Momentster, his body started stiffening. Then he growled deeply and shot his white release on his own abdomen.

    After pleasuring himself, he felt empty. He continued watching Jiang Ying Yue on TV. Aplicated expression shed in his eyes. He realized that he was missing her.

    "Damn you!" he cursed at her after recognizing the painful feelings inside his chest.

    He ran to the bathroom and cleaned himself up. Then he returned to his bedroom afterwards. He picked up his phone and stared at it. He alternated looking at his phone and at Jiang Ying Yue on TV. Wei Lan, Jiang Ying Yue and their entourage already left the area for posing in front of the cameras, but the Chinese reporter who was livestreaming the red carpet event decided to zoom in on their backs as they walked away.

    "Come back to me, Ying Yue," he whispered.

    His face contorted in frustration after hearing his own words. He was angry at Jiang Ying Yue, angry at his youngest sister and her fianc¨¦, angry at that homewrecking Lin Yehan, but most importantly, he was angry at himself. He still loved Jiang Ying Yue, but he couldn¡¯t stop the negative emotions from overwhelming his heart and mind.

    Once again, he looked at Jiang Ying Yue on the TV. Then he frowned, realizing something.

    "Where¡¯s my son?"

    His eyes turned cold. If Jiang Ying Yue was in France, then she must¡¯ve also brought Little Jun with her. She actually dared to take his son abroad during their custody battle?

    He red at her on the TV and made up his mind. Even though it was already past midnight, he tapped his phone and called hiswyer.

 Chapter 488 - Title Is A Spoiler

    <h4>Chapter 488 - Title Is A Spoiler </h4>

    While Long Hui was trying to make trouble back in China, almost everyone in France was focused on watching the Sommet International Film Festival in excitement. Due to the time difference, it was still early evening in France. The sun hadn¡¯tpletely set yet. There was still a lingering light in the horizon. The dimming sunlight was sandwiched between the growing darkness above and the rippling Mediterranean Sea below. It was a beautiful view, but at the moment, it was ignored. The people were more concerned about looking and snapping photos of their favourite celebrities currently walking the red carpet.

    The casts and crews of the participating films finally started arriving. Most of them were unknown faces in the international scene, but there were some who were already world-famous or near that level. The screams and shrieks from the adoring fans were deafening when these famous international celebrities appeared.

    Later, darkness enveloped the sky, yet the riviera only became brighter and livelier. The night lights were so strong and bright that the stars in the sky couldn¡¯t be seen by the naked eye. Nevertheless, the ce still retained its famous romantic atmosphere.

    The red carpet was currently very busy. Cameras shed nonstop. The film festival¡¯s organizers were hard at work making sure that the flow of people on the red carpet was smooth. After Wei Lan earlier, they no longer allowed anyone to overstay their wee on the red carpet. Some of the more fame-hungry and clueless ones were even rudely told off to move on by the paparazzi and reporters. They held up the line by posing too long, thinking that they could also do it because Wei Lan did it before. This earned the ire of the paparazzi, reporters, and the organizers, especially when there were more famous and important personages waiting for their turn behind them.

    Fortunately, these little mishaps were resolved quickly and didn¡¯t blow up into something bigger. There were a couple of instances when the organizers almost kicked off people from the red carpet, but good thing that it didn¡¯t reach that point.

    Finally, the cast and crew of the only Chinese entry, "Strong Yet Broken", started appearing one after another. They arrived in separate vehicles. First were the director and producer, then the President of LX Productions. The other important crew members also arrived.

    Next, Guan Jintao and his wife arrived. When his name was announced, many of the spectators and the media recognized the retired blind Paralympic gold-medalist. They cheered for him. The people¡¯s reaction almost rivalled that of what the other world-famous celebrities received earlier.

    Seeing this, the organizers sent a representative to personally wee the inspiring retired athlete and guide the husband and wife through the red carpet. Even though he was already retired frompetitive sports, Guan Jintao maintained his fame on the international level as a motivational speaker. The paparazzi and the reporters requested him to pose longer. They were excited to take photos of the swimming legend because he usually didn¡¯t appear in public, unless he had to attend events like this.

    Afterwards, the film¡¯s actors and actresses, both main and supporting, also arrived on the red carpet. Before starring in "Strong Yet Broken", they were rtively unknown even in China. It was only after the indie film made a surprising explosion in poprity that they became famous. Almost all of them benefited from the film and received many offers to star in new works.

    This was especially true for the main actress who yed Guan Jintao¡¯s mother. She became well-respected in the acting industry after winning Best Actress at the Diamond Guild Film Awards for her role in "Strong Yet Broken". This time, she was once again nominated for Best Actress at the Sommet International Film Festival.

    The cast and crew of the film gathered together on the red carpet, waiting until all of their group members arrived. The organizers allowed them to linger, so that each film¡¯s cast and crew could take a group photo together.

    "Where¡¯s Iris Long?" Guan Jintao asked.

    For him, Iris was the one who managed to persuade him to be involved in the making of the film through her soulful music. Without her musical contribution, Guan Jintao wouldn¡¯t have given the film the time of day. Then "Strong Yet Broken" would have to bear thebel of an unauthorized biographical film, decreasing its authenticity and perhaps even its impact in the film industry.

    Guan Jintao thought that the film wouldn¡¯t be as sessful as it was now without Iris¡¯ music. That was why he treated her with great respect and wanted her to be appreciated for her contribution in the film.

    "Miss Iris Long ising. She should be here at any moment," the President of LX Productions told him.

    "I see. That¡¯s good, then," Guan Jintao replied with a nod.

    One of the supporting actresses interjected, "I wonder why Iris Long has a different arrival time than the rest of us."

    LX Productions¡¯ President hesitated. He was about to answer her but decided to keep his silence instead.

    The group chatted quietly among themselves while waiting at a corner. The main actress and actor were still having their individual posing time in front of the cameras.

    At the entrance of the red carpet, another vehicle slowed down and stopped. The door opened and someone stepped out. A tall figure straightened to his full height. He swept his cold eyes across the crowd of people behind the barricades and on the red carpet in an indifferent manner.

    He wore a tailored dark navy blue suit. Instead of the usual white dress shirt underneath, he opted for a ck one instead. Then he topped it off with a blue necktie which was half a shade lighter than the colour of his suit. The dark ents of his outfit gave him a debonair yet also a kind of predatory aura, further emphasized by his cold and indifferent expression.

    When the spectators behind the barricades saw him, their eyes lit up. They buzzed with curiosity and excitement while ogling him.

    "OMG! Who¡¯s that hottie?"

    "Wow! Another hunk arrived!"

    "He looks familiar but I can¡¯t remember where I¡¯ve seen him..."

    "This guy¡¯s cold elegance is more of my type than that Hunter Lu¡¯s dangerous wildness earlier. There are so many handsome mentonight! Yum!"

    While the people spected about his identity, the man turned around and extended his hand inside the vehicle. A delicate, porcin-like hand reached for it. The man¡¯s cold and indifferent expression became gentler, as he helped someone out of the vehicle.

    Secondster, a beautiful woman emerged. The man and woman gazed into each other¡¯s eyes. It was very obvious to everyone that the two were a couple.

    Then the woman smiled at her man. The smile was so lovely that it even took others¡¯ breaths away. Of course, her man¡¯s eyes darkened. He lifted the hand that he was holding and kissed it, while continuing to gaze into her eyes.

    "Ayiiiii!!!!" the crowd squealed while watching them.

    "Who¡¯s that couple? Oh my gosh! They¡¯re so romantic that I want to p them! To sweet! Ugh! I want a handsome man to look at me like that, too! Huhuhu! Dear future boyfriend, where are you?!"

    "Hot damn! That woman is gorgeous! Look at that face and hourss body! What¡¯s her name?"

    The people continued to wonder about the couple¡¯s identity. Finally, the emcee announced their names.

    "Miss Iris Long and Mr. Liam Jin!"

    ###

    Chapter Title: "Iris Long and Jin Liwei¡¯s Grand Entrance"

 Chapter 489 - Is It Him?

    <h4>Chapter 489 - Is It Him? </h4>

    Many heads turned to the direction of the pair of new arrivals after hearing the emcee¡¯s announcement. This was especially the case for the businessmen and the others who were rted to the business industry one way or another. The name Liam Jin was a big name in the international business world. After all, he was the current President-CEO of China¡¯s number one multinationalpany, Jin Corporation.

    For many years, he was also known as one of the most eligible bachelors among the top business executives in the world. As a top executive, he was often invited to important high-ss events like this. Whenever he attended any social events, he never brought or escorted any women except for his own mother or grandmother.

    This was the first time that he came with a woman who wasn¡¯t rted to him by blood. As a result, his fellow executives from other toppanies were curious about hispanion¡¯s identity. Who was she? It was reported that he was recently engaged to a mysterious fianc¨¦e that he hadn¡¯t publicly introduced yet. Was she his fianc¨¦e?

    The couple had only began walking the red carpet.

    Guan Jintao, his wife, and the rest of the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" heard Iris Long¡¯s name in the announcement. Their eyes lit up. Finally, their group would soon beplete. Since they were farther along the red carpet, they couldn¡¯t see her yet.

    "It looks like Iris Long came with an escort. Maybe it¡¯s her fianc¨¦," the actress ying Guan Jintao¡¯s mothermented.

    "I think so, too," the actor ying the adult Guan Jintao replied. Then he tapped his chin, as a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "Hmmm... Liam Jin sounds familiar...."

    His cast mates and the crew members looked totally clueless. Guan Jintao also had a contemtive expression despite his closed eyes. It seemed that he also had an idea who this Liam Jin was.

    The main actress said, "Really? This is the first time I¡¯ve heard of that name. But that¡¯s because I don¡¯t know much about the business industry. Iris Long has repeatedly mentioned before that her fianc¨¦ is a businessman."

    A couple of seconds after she said this, the main actor¡¯s eyes widened. He gasped, finally realizing who Liam Jin was. The main clue was "businessman". The producer and the director also realized it at the same time as him. Their jaws fell down in shock. They turned to the President of LX Productions who wore a knowing expression on his face.

    "Is it him?" the producer asked.

    The President of LX Productions nodded.

    "No way..." the director whispered in disbelief.

    "Huh? You know this Liam Jin?" the main actress asked them.

    "Oh shit. Yeah, I know him," the main actor replied. He looked as shocked as the producer and the director. "Actually, I think you know him, too. We all know him. Holy shit, Iris Long! Is this for real?"

    "Really? I know him, too? Howe I don¡¯t remember?" the main actress asked, looking confused.

    The other cast mates and crew members were also confused. They continued to ask the others who Liam Jin was, but they didn¡¯t answer.

    "Iris Long and Liam Jin have already arrived on the red carpet. We¡¯ll meet with them shortly. Be patient," Guan Jintao told them. Based on his expression, it seemed that he had also already recognized Liam Jin based on his name.

    With that, the group waited for couple to reach them.

    Back to the first part of the red carpet, Iris and Jin Liwei walked together while holding hands. Just like how most of the cast and crew of"Strong Yet Broken"didn¡¯t recognize him as Liam Jin, there weren¡¯t a lot of people in China who knew his English name. They only knew him as Jin Liwei. On the other hand, he was more known abroad by his English name, Liam Jin.

    Beside him, Iris was wearing an elegant peach long dress with intricate embroidered details on a sheer ovey. The sheer cloth showed off the smooth skin of her upper chest, while the embroidery covered her breasts and the rest of the dress. She also wore an asymmetrical cape made with the same sheer embroidered cloth as the dress¡¯ ovey. It had a turtleneck cor, giving her a very sophisticated look. The light cape looked transparent, so her hourss figure was still visible for everyone to see. From the back, it looked like the train of a wedding gown because of its rtively long length. It flowed behind her and billowed in the air whenever a breeze blew by.

    Her hair was in a simple high bun. As for her makeup, it wasn¡¯t very dramaticpared to what she usually wore whenever she performed onstage. The main star of her face was her phoenix eyes. They were emphasized by light, smoky eyeshadow and cat eyeliner. Her lips were painted a rose colour whichplemented her peach dress well. Overall, her entire look suggested a lovely, blushing bride.

    While one hand was holding Jin Liwei, her other hand carried a small designer clutch. The clutch looked simple. Noplicated adornments at all, just a simple ssic clutch. Instead, it was the diamond ring on her finger which caught the eyes of everyone. It sparkled under the bright lights and the nonstop shes of the cameras.

    Surprisingly, a few people among the spectators and even those on the red carpet recognized her. They were ssical music enthusiasts.

    "Oh, I know her! She¡¯s Iris Long. I have her album ¡¯Rebirth Melodies¡¯!"

    "I also have that album! I love it!"

    "Wait, isn¡¯t she the one who performed with Maestro De Luca at his concert in Germanyst year?"

    "OMG, I think you¡¯re right! It¡¯s her, Iris Long!"

    "Uwah~ She looks so beautiful in person, like a princess."

    "I know, right? And it looks like that handsome man is her boyfriend or husband. They look so great together."

    There were only a few of them, so their voices were drowned by the other spectators. However, Iris still heard them talking about her with her great hearing. She looked at them and gave them a bright smile. Her smile felt like a shower of heart-shaped arrows shooting straight into their hearts. Male or female, they all fell for her stunning beauty. They started screaming and shrieking for her.

    At that moment, even Jin Liwei heard them. Without changing his cold and indifferent expression, he looked at the people screaming for his baby girl in adoration. Then he lifted her hand and kissed it once again in front of them. It was as if he was telling them:

    ¡¯You can all love her, but I¡¯m the only who is allowed to kiss her like this.¡¯

    Finally, the couple reached the photography area. Iris and Jin Liwei posed together in front of the cameras. Almost all of the members of the media recognized Jin Liwei, especially after being introduced by the emcee as Liam Jin. He was, after all, one of the wealthiest men in the world.

    As for Iris, it was mostly the European media who recognized her from her past performance with Maestro Ludovico De Luca at his German concert. Nevertheless, just bying together to the red carpet event with the billionaire business executive Jin Liwei, Iris already caught the eyes of everyone.

    Jin Liwei released his baby girl¡¯s hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead, pulling her close to his body. It was an undeniable show of possessiveness. Anyone looking at them right now would never mistake them for anything other than lovers.

 Chapter 490 - Theyâ€™re Engaged?!!!

    <h4>Chapter 490 - They¡¯re Engaged?!!! </h4>

    The majority of the film festival¡¯s participants were unknown faces. Many of them might be famous in their home countries, but they were all considered newbies in the international scene. Only a few participants were world-famous celebrities. As a result, the media would usually just go through the motions and take photos of whoever posed in front of them, even though they had no idea who the hell they were photographing. It was part of the red carpet event¡¯s programme.

    Attendees would pose in front of the cameras wearing their best dresses, suits, or if they were daring enough, costumes or other unconventional outfits. Many fashion and entertainment media outlets published various best and worst-dressed rankings throughout the duration of the Sommet International Film Festival. In addition to showcasing arts and culture of films from all around the world, the film festival was basically a parade of fashion as well.

    The paparazzi and the reporters were always ready to photograph the participants at any given time throughout the duration of the film festival, especially on a formal event like the opening night. They never knew when one of the photos they took would be a front cover for a magazine or be featured by popr publications. But of course, they still prioritized taking photos of important and well-known people. After all, a magazine featuring a famous person would almost always sell wellpared to those featuring unknown faces.

    As one of the wealthiest men in the world, Jin Liwei or more known outside China as Liam Jin, was considered as an important and well-known figure in the business industry. He was often included in various lists such as "Wealthiest in the World", "Most Powerful Businesspeople in Asia/World", "Top Economic Figures", "World¡¯s Best CEOs", "China¡¯s Most Powerful People", "World¡¯s Most Eligible Bachelors in Business", and other simr impressive rankings.

    In addition, he was only in his early thirties. He had ample time to be even more impressive. If he didn¡¯t make any major career mistakes, he could definitely create his own business legacy just by being a stable and reliable leader. Although he wasn¡¯t a rare business genius like Sir Lu Jianhong or even his own grandfather, Jin Liwei was still one of the most formidable and reliable business leaders in the world in his generation.

    Marrying him meant entering avish life of wealth and luxury. It was akin to marrying a king. So it wasn¡¯t surprising that many people would be interested in the woman who he had chosen to marry. Looking at Jin Liwei¡¯s possessive arm around the woman¡¯s waist, she should be his mysterious fianc¨¦e.

    The couple posed together in front of the enthusiastic cameras. Their little intimate actions¡ªgazing into each other¡¯s eyes, keeping their bodies in close contact, Jin Liwei nuzzling Iris¡¯ head¡ªwere all seen by everyone. The paparazzi and the reporters eagerlypped the couple¡¯s public disys of affection.

    Of course, they saw the sparkling diamond ring on Iris¡¯ finger. They zoomed in on the ring and took countless photos of it. In addition to the ring, many also noticed the couple¡¯s matching bangles. This time, Jin Liwei deliberately wore a suit that had sleeves a couple of inches shorter than what he usually wore. His luxury watch and LX bangle around each wrist were visible for everyone to see.

    Diamond ring? Matching bangles? Not to mention that the two looked like they were on the verge of making out in front of everyone on the red carpet?

    If the couple said that they weren¡¯t engaged after this, nobody would believe them.

    Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO and Chinese billionaire Jin Liwei, a.k.a. Liam Jin, was finally engaged! Not only that. It also looked like he waspletely in love with his fianc¨¦e just by the way he looked at her, like she was the only woman in the world for him. He, a man noted for avoiding close association to women and was even rumoured to be gay before, was now proudly showing off hisdy to the entire world.

    Everyone felt curious about Iris Long.

    Some of the reporters remembered her meeting up with Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez at a caf¨¦ the other day. That time, she was apanied by a man who had a scar on his face. That distinct-looking man ended up attending the red carpet event with the business genius Sir Lu Jianhong. They discovered that he was actually Sir Lu¡¯s grandson. So it seemed that Iris Long was connected to the Lus, as well.

    Then on the same day, she was also photographed with the woman who turned out to be a Spanish viscountess. Many of the foreign reporters didn¡¯t know yet that Wei Lan and Iris Long were actually mother and daughter.

    A few of the reporters also remembered her name among the nominees for the film festival¡¯s Best Soundtrack Award.

    And now she attended the opening night in the arms of billionaire Liam Jin whose family was on the same level as the Lus in China?

    Who in the world was this woman?

    Not only did she have all of these impressive connections with important people, but it looked like she was also a talented musicposer in her own right. After all, she wouldn¡¯t be nominated for Best Soundtrack Award if she didn¡¯t have the skills. The Sommet International Film Festival only shortlisted films of the highest quality. If Iris Long was nominated, then it meant that her work met the high standards of the selectionmittee. Even if she didn¡¯t win this time, she had already gained the respect of the film festival¡¯s followers just by being a nominee.

    While the foreign media continued to snap photos of the posing couple and also started making mental ns to dig for more information about Iris Long, the Chinese reporters present were all in utter shock. They goggled at Iris Long and Jin Liwei in total disbelief.

    Their eyes fell on Iris Long¡¯s engagement ring, the couple¡¯s matching bangles, and their obvious intimacy. They blinked their eyes several times and took a closer look at the couple¡¯s faces just to make sure that they were really Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei.

    Despite the shock, their hands automatically snapped countless photos of the couple. The reporter livestreaming the event for the Chinese viewers back home made sure to get a careful close-up of Iris Long and Jin Liwei. Of course, he focused on the engagement ring and their matching LX bangles to ensure that the viewers would clearly get the hint about the true nature of the pair¡¯s rtionship.

    The foreigners present at the event might not think much about Iris Long and Jin Liwei¡¯s rtionship, but this was a big deal to the Chinese people, especially to Iris¡¯ fans, those rted to showbiz, high society and the business world in the country.

    Back in China, the livestream¡¯s view count had now reached more than 120,000 and it was still increasing by the minute. At the beginning, it was mostly the ck Stars who were watching, but Wei Lan¡¯s surprising appearance as a viscountess resulted in a sudden spike in view count. When the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" started appearing, more ck Stars logged in to watch the livestream in anticipation of their Boss Iris¡¯ debut in the Sommet International Film Festival.

    Upon seeing their boss acting so intimate with CEO Jin Liwei, all of them were shocked out of their wits.

    "What the hell?! Iris Long and Jin Liwei are engaged?!!!"

 Chapter 491 - Energetic

    <h4>Chapter 491 - Energetic </h4>

    While more and more people were sacrificing sleep in order to watch the livestream back in China, the red carpet event of the Sommet International Film Festival started wrapping up. All of the VIP guests and attendees headed inside the grand theatre where the opening ceremony would be held in a few minutes.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei sat together with the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken". Of course, except for the President of LX Productions who greeted the couple with much respect, the others were all extremely shocked upon learning that the two were engaged. They stared at the couple inplete astonishment. It was as if they were looking at a pair of mythical creatures that suddenly sprang to life and appeared in front of them, making them question whether they were dreaming or not.

    "C-CEO Jin...is that really you?" the actor ying the adult Guan Jintao asked Jin Liwei in a hesitant manner.

    "Of course," Jin Liwei replied. His expression maintained its usual cold indifference.

    The others were intimidated by him. It was only Guan Jintao and his wife who didn¡¯t look starstruck at Jin Liwei. Perhaps it was because Guan Jintao already met many personages of Jin Liwei¡¯s calibre from all around the world during hispetitive swimming career back in the day and most especially after bing a motivational speaker. He often encountered a lot of wealthy people whenever he participated in charity events. In fact, Guan Jintao personally met Jin Liwei for the first time at a charity event some years ago.

    As for the others, even though they felt intimated by Jin Liwei, they still gathered their courage and started chatting with him. Iris¡¯ presence made them a little morefortable in initiating the conversation with him.

    They soon discovered that despite his cold and indifferent expression, Jin Liwei was actually quite friendly. He was polite and didn¡¯t make them feel inferior to him. What they didn¡¯t know was that he was only like this because of Iris. Without their connection to his baby girl, he wouldn¡¯t give them the time of day.

    Before the stage, Maestro De Luca, his wife and Enrique Valdez were given front row seats alongside other notableureates of the Sommet International Film Festival Awards in the past. These two music legends were often invited to the film festival. As a matter of fact, they even served as jury members in the past after winning their own awards.

    In another part of the theatre, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao sat together with Wei Lan and Jiang Ying Yue. Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards who acted as her entourage tonight¡ªall of them Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates¡ªwere allowed inside the theatre but sat on the side instead. This was another form of special treatment the organizers gave Vizcondesa Lan. Normally, the guests weren¡¯t allowed to bring any bodyguards inside. However, they allowed Wei Lan and other members of the nobility. The organizers would also do the same for royalty and political leaders in higher office like presidents and prime ministers.

    Finally, the opening ceremony began. It was mostly in French. The audience had the option to use the provided earphones and select anguage of trantion. Jin Liwei knew passable French, so he didn¡¯t need to use the earphones. Of course, Iris didn¡¯t need it at all. Whenever Jin Liwei didn¡¯t understand something, he would only need to ask her about it and she would trante it for him.

    He preferred his baby girl¡¯s trantion over the hired interpreters speaking through the earphones. He felt this way not because he was being partial to her due to their rtionship. It was because her trantions were superior to those hired interpreters. After all, she was personally trained by Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio¡ªtwo of the best polyglots and trantors in the world.

    The opening ceremony was, to be honest, boring. The hosts¡¯ jokes fell t because of thenguage differences with the audience. Only the awkwardughter of those who took pity on them saved them from total embarrassment. The musical performances were alright. Most of the performers yed it too safe that they failed to shine and make their performances memorable.

    Maestro Ludovico De Luca leaned towards Enrique Valdez who was sitting beside him and whispered, "This is too painful to watch. The quality of musical performances has been declining with each passing year. If Xin wasn¡¯t a participant, I wouldn¡¯t even bother epting the invitation to attend this year¡¯s film festival." Then he sighed. "We should¡¯ve rmended Xin to perform tonight instead. She would definitely perform with all her heart and amaze everyone. Not like these people who are too afraid to make mistakes."

    Enrique Valdez nodded. He didn¡¯t say anything but it was obvious by his bored expression that he agreed with Maestro De Luca. For a moment, he was actually tempted to drag Iris from her seat and take her to the stage, so that they could have a "proper" musical performance together.

    ¡¯This is not the right time to perform together. Not yet,¡¯ he thought to himself.

    After that, he tuned out the opening ceremony and mentally wrote songs inside his head instead. Maestro De Luca also did the same. Unbeknownst to the people around them, the two music geniuses were already absorbed in their own little worlds inside their minds.

    Several rows behind them, Iris would¡¯ve also done the same thing as her two mentors if she was by herself. Fortunately, her darling was with her. Boredom was thest thing in her mind whenever they were together. They quietly talked to each other in whispers. Basically, they spent almost the entire opening ceremony acting lovey-dovey. The "Strong Yet Broken" cast and crew snickered at the two of them.

    "How are you feeling, darling?" Iris asked Jin Liwei. "Are you sleepy? You must be exhausted."

    Jin Liweinded in France with his subordinates at dawn that day. It was only Grandpa Lu who was already up and about when he arrived at the vi. However, Jin Liwei only spent a few minutes talking with Grandpa Lu before quickly heading to the master bedroom. It had only been a couple of days but he already missed his baby girl so much. He couldn¡¯t wait to see, embrace and kiss her again.

    Iris was awakened when Jin Liwei arrived in the bedroom. Perhaps it was their connection as lovers that stirred her from her usual deep sleep. She weed him from the bed with open arms. Then they made lovezily. Afterwards, they slept together for a couple of hours.

    When the sun rose in the sky, they woke up. She wanted him to rest and sleep more, but he insisted on eating breakfast together. After that, he didn¡¯t really rest. He apanied her throughout the day and just spent time with her. They also got ready for the opening night together.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei replied to her, saying, "Not at all. On the contrary, I feel very energetic."

    "Really?"

    "En."

    She tilted her head to the side. "Howe you¡¯re feeling energetic? You barely rested."

    One corner of his mouth curved upward into a smile.

    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? I¡¯m finally able to openly show my love for you to the entire world, so of course I¡¯m filled with energy. I¡¯m so excited that I can barely sit still. This is one of the happiest days of my life. And it¡¯s with you again."

 Chapter 492 - Yes, Iâ€™m Engaged

    <h4>Chapter 492 - Yes, I¡¯m Engaged </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s words made Iris smile. It brightened her entire face and made her look even more like a blushing bride.

    "I¡¯m also very happy today. I love you, Jin Liwei," she whispered to him.

    His eyes darkened with the fullness of his feelings upon hearing her statement of love.

    "I love you too, Long Xin...or whoever you are. So much," he said, adding the "whoever you are" upon remembering her weird rhetorical questions some months ago.

    Iris¡¯ smile grew wider.

    Before he could even think of what he was doing, he was already leaning towards her and kissing her lips. The thousands of people in the grand theatre around them disappeared from his perception. To him, there was only his beautiful baby girl together with him right now.

    The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" sitting beside them gasped seeing what the two of them were doing. Even the President of LX Productions looked shocked. Guan Jintao asked what was going on and his wife told him in a whisper. He looked amused after hearing about it. They all thought that the couple was very daring to kiss in the presence of so many people.

    As for the foreigners around them, they only chuckled, not really thinking too much about it. To them, it was only a kiss. It wasn¡¯t like the two were having sex in public. Now that would be scandalous. Compared to that, lovers kissing in public was considered normal and very tame. Besides, this was France, a country which had an ingrained reputation for passionate romance¡ªalthough many would argue against this now. But still, generally speaking, France was viewed as a ce of love and romance.

    And also, the couple were only doing a lips-to-lips kiss. It was very tamepared to French kissing in public. Nevertheless, the couple¡¯s sweet and lingering kiss still looked very passionate to the people watching them. As a matter of fact, they felt more entertained watching the lovey-dovey couple than the boring opening ceremony.

    Like Jin Liwei, Iris had also lost her awareness of the people around them. After the kiss, she rested her head on the crook of his neck. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

    About an hourter, the opening ceremony finally ended. It was a great relief to everyone. They socialized for a bit before making their way out of the grand theatre. In another hour, they had to go to a nearby ballroom hall for the wee dinner. All of the casts and crews of the shortlisted films participating in the festival were required to attend.

    Thus, everyone from "Strong Yet Broken" had to attend as well. They returned to their Oriental hotel to change into semi-formal attires. Iris and Jin Liwei would also attend. They followed the others to the same hotel to change into different outfits.

    The VIP guests weren¡¯t required to attend the dinner, but they were wee to do so if they wanted. Since Iris and Jin Liwei were going, Grandpa Lu, Lu Zihao and Wei Lan decided to also attend. They booked one big suite at the hotel, treating it as a dressing room. Tang Yiyi was waiting for them there with some European makeup artists and hairstylists Iris and Jin Liwei hired to service them all. It was more convenient to change at the hotel because it was near the ballroom hall. The vi estate was a bit far away.

    As for Jiang Ying Yue, she decided to return to the vi estate ahead of everyone. She was worried about Little Jun. Although Dom was taking care of the toddler, she still felt restless being away from her son for too long especially since they were in a foreign country. The others understood her concern, so they didn¡¯t persuade her to join them. One of Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates drove her back to the vi.

    Later, they arrived at the wee dinner venue in separate vehicles. Iris and Jin Liwei joined the group of "Strong Yet Broken", while Grandpa Lu, Lu Zihao and Wei Lan formed another group.

    There was another red carpet outside the building, but it was more informalpared to the one before the opening ceremony. This time, interviews were allowed. Basically, it was a free-for-all event with everyone allowed to talk to whoever they wanted, as long as nobody harassed anyone.

    Grandpa Lu, Lu Zihao and Wei Lan entered first. Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates who were acting as Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards surrounded them. Once again, Wei Lan had thergest entourage. The media swarmed around them. They were especially curious about Vizcondesa Lan.

    Next, Iris and Jin Liwei walked on the red carpet together with the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken". Guan Jintao and his wife were with them, including the President of LX Productions. The Chinese reporters had been waiting for them and immediately started interviewing the couple.

    "Iris, are you really engaged to CEO Jin?" one of them asked.

    Jin Liwei sent the reporter a frosty look and said, "That¡¯s Miss Iris Long for you."

    The poor man was scared of Jin Liwei and immediately apologized. He repeated his question, properly addressing Iris as "Miss Iris Long" this time. Only then did Jin Liwei¡¯s expression improved a little.

    "Yes, I¡¯m engaged to Jin Liwei," Iris answered with a warm smile.

    Since Iris already recounted how she first met her fianc¨¦ during her interview with Feng Jiu before, the reporters didn¡¯t waste time asking her about it. They turned to Jin Liwei and asked him several questions instead.

    "CEO Jin, were you the one who pursued Iris¡ªI mean, Miss Iris Long? Or was it the other way around."

    "I pursued her," he replied.

    Iris chuckled at the question. There was a teasing glint in her eyes, as she looked at her darling.

    "Why would I pursue him? I didn¡¯t even like him that time. In fact, what I felt for him back then bordered on hatred. He always bothered me, even though I already made it clear that I didn¡¯t want anything to do with him. He was so arrogant, overbearing and annoying that I found myself often wanting to punch him in the face so many times."

 Chapter 493 - Itâ€™s Your Own Faul

    <h4>Chapter 493 - It¡¯s Your Own Faul </h4>

    Jin Liwei gave his baby girl a side-eye after hearing her trash-talking him. He wore his default expression which was cold and indifferent.

    Seeing his expression, the Chinese reporters thought that he was pissed off at what Iris said. They looked scared and looked at Iris as if she had gone crazy. How daring! She actually said that she wanted to punch CEO Jin Liwei in the face. Inside their minds, Iris was like a cute yet stupidly courageous kitten swiping her little ws at Jin Liwei who was arge and mighty lion.

    It was only Iris who saw the amusement in Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes. Only people close to him could tell the minute differences in his usual cold and indifferent expression. To others, he always looked intimidating.

    Seeing that he was amused, Iris giggled, frightening the reporters.

    They thought that she was going too far. CEO Jin clearly looked displeased. What was she thinking? She should stop trying to provoke the man. Did she want to die? Then they felt worried about her. They were afraid that Jin Liwei would scold her badly for her careless behaviour. Or worse, he might even hurt her. They widened their eyes, trying to silently warn her to stop. However, she ignored their kindness and continued teasing the cold-faced Jin Liwei with her mischievous eyes.

    Jin Liwei turned to face her fully. The reporters threw pitiful looks at Iris. They thought that Jin Liwei was going to rebuke her for sure. But to their surprise, he held both of her hands instead and lifted them. He gently rubbed her knuckles and kissed them in front of everyone.

    "Good thing you didn¡¯t punch me in the face then. I wouldn¡¯t want you to hurt your precious hands," he said in a gentle voice.

    Huh? Some of the reporters tried to clean their ears, wondering if they heard his words correctly. Did they just hear the cold and indifferent CEO Jin saying mushy words? He wasn¡¯t angry that Iris wanted to punch his face back then? He was even worried about her hands? The gap between his public image and his actions right now was just too wide!

    That wasn¡¯t the end of it. Jin Liweiadded, "You didn¡¯t like me back then, but you love me now."

    Iris nodded while giving him a sweet smile.

    Then the reporters were astounded when Jin Liwei¡¯s cold face broke into a wide smile. Their jaws fell down. This was perhaps the first time that they had seen him smile ever. He always looked cold and intimidating whenever he appeared in public. They even thought that he wasn¡¯t capable of smiling. Now, however, they felt like they were witnessing a miracle.

    Jin Liwei was already handsome to begin with. But now that he was smiling, his handsomeness was magnified a hundredfold. No, a thousandfold!

    The Chinese reporters were all male, but all of their hearts skipped a bit seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s handsome, smiling face. They stared at him like idiots before they regained their senses a few momentster. Right! They still had a job to do! This was the day that Iris Long and Jin Liwei revealed their rtionship to the public. This was big news! They had to get all the juicy details from the two of them tonight!

    Iris and Jin Liwei reluctantly paused their lovey-dovey moment to answer the reporters¡¯ questions. To the reporters¡¯ surprise, it was actually Jin Liwei who answered them. His face already reverted to his usual cold expression, but perhaps because the reporters just saw him smiling, they thought that he had be friendlier.

    "CEO Jin, does your family know about your rtionship with Iris¡ªI mean, Miss Iris Long?"

    He nodded. "My mother, grandmother, and brother know. In fact, they love her."

    "How about you, Miss Iris? Does your family know about your rtionship with CEO Jin?"

    "Yes, of course," she replied.

    "When is the wedding? Are you already starting to n it?"

    Iris hesitated and nced at Jin Liwei.

    "If it were up to me, the wedding will be as soon as possible. If not tonight, then tomorrow," Jin Liwei answered.

    The reporters¡¯ eyes lit up at his answer. They looked surprised but also excited. The more they listened to Jin Liwei¡¯s answers to their questions, the more they were realizing how invested he was in his rtionship with Iris Long. At first, they thought that he was only treating her as a trophy wife. Iris was a young, beautiful woman, plus she was also a rather famous celebrity in their country.

    Men of Jin Liwei¡¯s wealth and status mostly treated this kind of women as trophy wives. Talking to Jin Liwei now, however, they didn¡¯t get that impression. Sensing his genuine feelings regarding the rtionship, the reporters actually felt envious of Iris, despite being men themselves. What a lucky woman!

    Jin Liwei continued, "But Xiu¡ªIris is still young and her career is in a great trajectory right now. This is a good time for her to work harder to be even more sessful in her career. I want a happy wife, so I¡¯m willing to wait for her until she¡¯s ready to marry me. I don¡¯t want her to give up any of her dreams for me. I want her to not have any regrets when she marries me. In the meantime, I¡¯ll cheer for her and support her every step of the way. Besides, she¡¯s such a talented and brilliant person. I¡¯m sure that I won¡¯t have to wait too long. She¡¯ll attain whatever goals she has sooner rather thanter."

    The reporters were touched by his words. Of course, Iris was even more touched than them. Not caring that they were being photographed and recorded on video, she wrapped her arms around Jin Liwei¡¯s waist and hugged him tightly while burying her face against his chest. His arms automatically wrapped around her, embracing her as well.

    Behind the reporters, the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" were watching the interview. They didn¡¯t mind that the Chinese reporters were more interested in Iris and Jin Liwei than of them.

    A boomingughter interrupted them. They turned and saw Sir Lu Jianhong and his grandson.

    When the Chinese reporters saw Sir Lu Jianhong and Lu Zihao, a.k.a. Hunter Lu, they changed targets and started asking them questions instead. Iris and Jin Liwei were too absorbed in their own little world right now to focus on their questions.

    Wei Lan wasn¡¯t with the grandfather and grandson. She was currently being interviewed by foreign reporters, mostly European, on the other side of the red carpet. There were also quite a lot of other VIP guests who were hanging around, wanting to befriend her. Bored of waiting for her, Grandpa Lu dragged Lu Zihao away to look for Iris and Jin Liwei instead. Wei Lan would be okay by herself. Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates were looking after her.

    The Chinese reporters began asking Grandpa Lu questions.

    "Sir Lu, didn¡¯t you confirm before that Miss Iris Long¡¯s fianc¨¦ is your grandson, Mr. Lu Zihao? Why did you say that when it isn¡¯t true?"

    Grandpa Lu scowled at the reporter and then huffed in a grumpy tone.

    "When did this old man say that my Haohao¡ªI mean Zihao is Xiu¡ªIris¡¯ fianc¨¦? I want to know! I only said that it¡¯s my grandson! Even if we¡¯re not of the same flesh and blood, Liwei is also my grandson! Is it my fault that all of you twits misunderstood my words? Bah! Stop ming me when it¡¯s your own fault that you let your minds veer into a totally wrong direction! Hmph!"

 Chapter 494 - King And Queen

    <h4>Chapter 494 - King And Queen </h4>

    The Chinese reporters looked embarrassed after hearing Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s words. Despite this, they still had to do their job and continued to ask him questions. Some of them even began asking Lu Zihao.

    It took great courage to ask Lu Zihao because he looked quite scary. Even though there was a seemingly perpetual smile on his face, giving him a devilishly roguish appearance, the scar on his face made him look dangerous.

    Jin Liwei was also scary and intimidating, mainly because of his cold and indifferent expression, and also because of his wealth and status as the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation.

    In contrast, Lu Zihao was scary and intimidating not only because of the scar on his face but also because he had this inexplicable aura that made it appear as if he could kill someone in cold blood. Of course, the reporters didn¡¯t believe that he was a killer, but they still couldn¡¯t help but feel that way, especially when standing in front of him. He was charismatic but also made the rm bells ring inside their minds.

    "Mr. Lu Zihao, c-can I ask a...question?"

    A faint smile was on Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth, but his eyes looked sharp and predatory. "What is it?" he asked in a tone that could either be interpreted as amused or disinterested.

    "Uhm...you have been seen apanying Iris¡ªI mean, Miss Iris Long the other day when she met up with Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez at a caf¨¦. You seem close to her. Are you friends with her? How did that two of you meet? When we still didn¡¯t know that Miss Iris is engaged to CEO Jin, many of us assumed that you¡¯re her fianc¨¦e. What do you think about this misunderstanding?"

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow at the reporter before saying in azy manner, "You said that you were only going to ask me a question, but you asked so many. Now I don¡¯t feel like answering any of them."

    The reporter coughed in embarrassment but didn¡¯t give up. He shoved the recorder closer to Lu Zihao, silently indicating that he still wanted an answer to his questions.

    "Heh...fine." Lu Zihao shrugged, and then nced at Iris and Jin Liwei who also now returned to answering questions from the other reporters. "I¡¯m toozy to answer all of your questions, but this is all you have to know. Am I friends with Iris Long? Hmmm... You can say that. She and I...we are brother and sister. Jin Liwei is also my brother. I already have this brotherly bond to both of them even before knowing that the two knew each other and are in a rtionship. She is my sister and I see her that way. Malicious people who insist on colouring my sibling rtionship with her in a bad way deserve a hard beating. Don¡¯t you think so?"

    "Uh..."

    The reporter shivered under Lu Zihao¡¯s direct gaze. He was actually one of the "malicious people" Lu Zihao was referring to. Originally, he nned on adding a love triangle angle in his report, specting about Lu Zihao having unrequited love for Iris Long but unable to openly express his feelings because she was already engaged to his best friend. This kind of scenario would certainly add drama to his report and possibly make it sensational.

    Now, however, he scrapped the idea. Lu Zihao¡¯s faint smile looked like the devil¡¯s smile in his eyes. What if Lu Zihao went ahead and gave him a hard beating? Or worse, kill him in cold blood! Too dangerous! The reporter¡¯s logic told him that it was impossible for Lu Zihao to be so dangerous, but he didn¡¯t want to risk it. So he just nodded and ran away.

    Later, foreign reporters also started interviewing Iris and Jin Liwei. The Chinese reporters were squeezed out. A few of the foreign reporters knew Iris Long, especially those who were familiar with the European ssical music scene. She even had a couple of fans among them because of her piano album, "Rebirth Melodies".

    Some of them were even able to dig out information about her being a skilled trantor and interpreter from her work at this year¡¯s international business conference hosted in China. Knowing this, they didn¡¯t bother speaking to her in English and interviewed her in their nativenguages. Of course, she answered their questions in theirnguage, impressing many of them.

    Jin Liwei was also quite impressive, answering in English and also a bit in French and Spanish. Whenever he had difficulties expressing himself in either French or Spanish, Iris would help him out, either by tranting or directly answering in his stead.

    The foreign reporters thought that the couple was very outstanding. Like the Chinese reporters, they first thought that Jin Liwei treated Iris Long as a trophy wife. But they changed their minds after learning more information about Iris and seeing her help out Jin Liwei with her excellentnguage skills.

    ¡¯This woman is not flower vase. She¡¯s a queen in her own right and is as formidable as the king. This is a king and queen standing side by side, rather than the king taking the lead while the queen serves as a decoration,¡¯ the reporters thought to themselves.

    Then Wei Lan headed to where Iris and Jin Liwei were beinginterviewed. She made new friends with the other VIP guests who were all very aplished in their respective fields. There were other distant members of European nobility, famous fashion designers, actors and actresses, models, and other influential personages.

    Some of the reporters remembered seeing the viscountess and Iris Long shopping together the other day. They only thought that perhaps the two women were friends. It was possible, especially since both were Chinese. It was only the Chinese reporters who knew the real rtionship between the two.

    "Honeeeeey, there you are! Come heeeere for a minute. Mother wants to introduce yooooouuuu to some people. Bring dear Liwei with you, okaaaaaay?" Wei Lan spoke in English so everyone understood her.

    Everyone was shocked after hearing what she said. What did she say?! They looked at Vizcondesa Lan and at Iris Long. It was only then that they noticed the resemnce between the two women. One thought ran through their minds at that moment.

    Iris Long was a viscountess¡¯ daughter?!!!

 Chapter 495 - Livestream

    <h4>Chapter 495 - Livestream </h4>

    "Yes, Iris Long is my daughter. Doesn¡¯t she look like me?" Wei Lan said, confirming her mother and daughter rtionship with Iris.

    The people around them heard her. Now everyone became more curious about Iris Long. They looked at her a little differently than before. She might be a neer in the Sommet International Film Festival, but her impressive connections with important people already made her memorablepared to the other newbies.

    In addition to this, she also became a nominee for one of the prestigious awards on her first try at such a young age. Just by looking at her, she should be around her early twenties. In fact, the other foreigners even thought that she might still be a teenager because of her youthful look.

    "Honeeeeey, dear Liweeeeei,e here," Wei Lan repeated.

    "Yes, Mother," Iris replied. She excused herself from the reporters and pulled Jin Liwei¡¯s hand.

    When the couple reached Wei Lan, she introduced the two of them to her "new friends". She called Iris her "beloved one and only daughter" and Liwei as her "dearest future son-inw". Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao joined them as well.

    More VIP guests arrived on the red carpet. Upon seeing the group huddling together and recognizing some friends and acquaintances, they also joined the group. As a result, the group became bigger. It consisted of some of the most important and well-known figures in the world.

    The others looking at them couldn¡¯t help but feel starstruck. Some of them even felt envious, wishing that they could also be part of the group. Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t think that they would fit in. They wondered how unknown personalities like Iris Long and Hunter Lu could fit in the group. It was only when they learned that Iris Long was the fianc¨¦e of Chinese billionaire Liam Jin and the daughter of a Spanish viscountess while Hunter Lu was Sir Jianhong Lu¡¯s grandson that they understood why.

    ¡¯Ah, so it¡¯s nepotism,¡¯they muttered to themselves in envy.

    They thought that Iris Long and Hunter Lu were just using their familial rtions in order to connect with so many important people. Envy clouded their judgment. They didn¡¯t think that Iris Long or Hunter Lu might have achievements of their own. For now, they had negative impressions of the two. They thought that both of them didn¡¯t deserve to be included in the group of impressive people.

    As for the reporters, they didn¡¯t care about this kind of thoughts at the moment. Instead, they were having a field day photographing and recording the group¡¯s interactions on video.

    Of course, the Chinese reporter livestreaming the opening night made sure to focus on the Chinese attendees, especially on Iris Long and Jin Liwei. This was his second livestream of the night. He had to cut off his first livestream after the first red carpet ended earlier. The media weren¡¯t allowed to photograph or record anything on video during the opening ceremony. Fortunately, they were still allowed to watch inside and take notes.

    When he ended his first livestream earlier, there were more than 200,000 viewers. It was already an impressive number and vastly exceeded his initial expectations. His boss back in China even called to congratte him and to encourage him to work harder.

    Once he started the second livestream, he was shocked out of his wits. Within a few seconds, the view count reached more than 1 million, and it was still increasing every few seconds. It should already be around 3 AM back in China. What were all of these people doing? They weren¡¯t going to sleep?

    After the initial shock, the reporter became super excited. His boss called him again and promised to give him a promotion after he returned to the country. This made him more determined to closely follow Iris Long, Jin Liwei and the other Chinese attendees throughout the entire duration of the Sommet International Film Festival.

    ###

    Back in China, everyone was in uproar after discovering that Iris Long and Jin Liwei were engaged to each other. Despite the time, people called their family and friends, rousing them from sleep, in order to tell them to watch the livestream.

    "Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei are engaged!!! Hurry up and watch the livestream!!! OMG!!! They¡¯re holding hands!!!"

    This was the reason why the second livestream instantly reached 1 million viewers when it just started. In fact, it would soon reach 1.5 million viewers.

    People were livementing like crazy while watching.

    "Is this for real?! I can¡¯t believe this! First, I honestly thought that Boss Iris is engaged to Prince Lin Lin. She repeatedly denied it, so I slowly epted that it might not be the case. A couple of days ago, she was photographed walking the streets in France with that hunky Lu Zihao, so I thought that maybe he¡¯s her real fianc¨¦. I didn¡¯t really mind because he looks so HOT, even with that scar on his face. But it turns out that I¡¯m wrong again. Never did I expect that Boss Iris¡¯ real fianc¨¦ is actually CEO Jin Liwei!!! WTF!!!"

    "This is so unbelievable! I¡¯m so shook!!!"

    "From LinRis to ZiRis...and now WeiRis?"

    "That¡¯s a good one! WeiRis, I like it!!!"

    "Noooo! I¡¯m not sure about this pairing! CEO Jin looks too cold and mean! What if he treats Boss Iris badly?! He looks like an ice block, not romantic at all! Boss Iris deserves someone who¡¯ll love her passionately till the end of time!"

    Then suddenly, a shocking user joined thements.

    JinChonglin: "Yes, Big Brother was an ice block but Sister-inw Iris managed to melt the ice around his heart. Now he¡¯s such a doting hubby that I want to puke whenever they drown me with dogfood."

    "!!!"

    "Prince Lin Lin, is that you?!!!"

    JinChonglin: "Of course. Who else? My phone kept ringing in the middle of the night because of people wanting to ask me if my big brother is really engaged to Iris Long. Now I can¡¯t sleep anymore, so I might as well watch this livestream."

    Theizens interviewed Jin Chonglin, and he answered most of the questions while filtering and blocking the rude ones. He confirmed that he knew about his brother¡¯s rtionship with Iris Long sincest year.

    Later, the livestream reached 2 million viewers.

    Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t the only Jin watching the livestream. The Jin branch families also tuned in, shocked to discover the identity of their future Madam.

 Chapter 496 - Snobbish Attitudes

    <h4>Chapter 496 - Snobbish Attitudes </h4>

    The members of the Jin branch families called Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan on the phone, even though it was already extremelyte at night. They asked if the matriarch and the old madam knew that the family head was engaged to Iris Long.

    Both Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan were displeased of being awakened from their sleep in the middle of the night. After the two confirmed that they knew about Jin Liwei and Iris Long¡¯s rtionship, the branch families expressed their unhappiness. They even dered that they found the engagement uneptable.

    "Who are you to dictate my grandson¡¯s life?" Grandma Li retorted in a deliberately snooty manner. She was furious at theirints. "My grandson is the family head. How dare you try to control his life?!"

    Simrly, Huang Yuyan was also angered at all theints. However, she had a weaker dispositionpared to her mother-inw, so all she could do was assure everyone that she epted Iris Long as her eldest son¡¯s fianc¨¦e. When theints became too much, she turned off her phone and used a maid¡¯s phone instead to call Grandma Li for advice on what to do. Grandma Li was currently at her mountain estate.

    "I¡¯ll fly back there to the old house first thing in the morning," Grandma Li told Huang Yuyan. Then she sniffed in cold derision. "They¡¯re just the branch families. Do they really think that they could control my grandson, the head of the family and Jin Corporation? Preposterous! If my husband was alive, he would be decisive and cut them off immediately. The Jin family only needs loyal people. If they can¡¯t support their own head¡¯s choices, then they don¡¯t deserve to remain members of our family!"

    "But Mother...many of them are members of Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors..." Huang Yuyan said.

    "Hmph! So what?! If I need to, I¡¯ll forcefully buy all of the assets they own in thepany! Let¡¯s see if they can still p their mouths against my grandson! I¡¯m still the matriarch of the family and my husband was one of the founders of Jin Corporation. I have my own wealth! And if I still don¡¯t have enough, I¡¯ll just take a loan from that old gori. Brother Jianhong adores Xin. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll also anger him once he learns about what these branch families are saying about our favourite granddaughter."

    Huang Yuyan feltforted after hearing Grandma Li¡¯s words. Her earlier panic slowly disappeared, reced by calmness and determination instead.

    "Mother, I don¡¯t think you need to buy their assets," she told Grandma Li. "My eldest son is a great leader. I¡¯m sure that he can solve this situation better than us. Let¡¯s trust in him. And besides, Xin is not defenceless either. Let¡¯s not forget that she¡¯s Uncle Jianhong¡¯s student, not to mention that she¡¯s also enrolled at Cross Academy. All of these alone already make her more than qualified to be our family¡¯s next Madam. In fact, I don¡¯t think our family deserves someone as special as her."

    Grandma Li made a sound of agreement. "Good thing you reminded me. I almost forgot that she¡¯s that old gori¡¯s disciple and a Cross Academy student. Yes, our Jin family is lucky to have her as the next Madam. Those branch families need to keep their priorities straight, or they¡¯ll eat their own words in the future."

    "Yes, I hope so," Huang Yuyan replied before sighing. "They should be careful of what they say about Xin. My son loves her very much. Despite his outward coldness and indifference, he actually possesses a rather vindictive personality deep inside. I¡¯m afraid that he won¡¯t forgive his rtives if they hurt Xin."

    "Just like his grandfather. That¡¯s why I¡¯ll support him in whatever his decision is in handling the branch families. If he punishes them, then it only means that they deserve it. As the leader, he should rule the family with an iron fist like his grandfather and his father before him, or else the rtives will take advantage of him and of Jin Corporation. It was because of my husband¡¯s hard work that the entire Jin family reached our status now, anyway. During the early days, did they help my husband? No! It was only because of my husband¡¯s kindness and sense of responsibility that he shared the blessings to his rtives.

    "And now they think that they have the right to dictate my grandson¡¯s choice of wife? How foolish! We, the main family, make our own decisions. The branch families don¡¯t have the right to interfere with our choices! All of us from the main family already epted Xin and can¡¯t wait for her to marry Liwei. What right do those branch families have to question us?" Grandma Li ranted.

    Although she said all of these, the truth was that if Iris Long weren¡¯t a student of Lu Jianhong and Cross Academy, she would¡¯ve also been against Iris¡¯ rtionship with her grandson. Just based on Iris¡¯ bad reputation before and the fact that she actively worked in showbiz, both Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan would have automatically deemed her unsuitable to marry Jin Liwei who was the head of the family and Jin Corporation. Even Jin Chonglin had a hard time making them ept his decision to enter showbiz instead of working for Jin Corporation back then.

    Even if they denied it, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan had snobbish attitudes ingrained in them due to their status as wives of past Jin family heads. It was fortunate that Iris was connected to Grandpa Lu and Cross Academy, making them ept her as soon as they met her. Basically, they weren¡¯t all that different to the branch families at all. It was just that they knew about Iris¡¯ status as a certified genius and her connectionto the legendary school, Cross Academy.

    After her tirade, Grandma Li calmed down.

    "No matter what happens, let¡¯s just support Liwei and Xin," she said.

    "Yes, Mother," Huang Yuyan replied.

    "I want Xin to be my granddaughter-inw no matter what. If those branch families dare to stop my grandson from marrying her, I¡¯ll encourage Liwei to disown them," Grandma Li said in a domineering tone.

    With that, the two Jin Madams banded together to defend Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s rtionship against the Jin rtives.

 Chapter 497 - It Should Be ME

    <h4>Chapter 497 - It Should Be ME </h4>

    It wasn¡¯t only the Jin branch families who were freaking out upon learning the engagement between Iris Long and Jin Liwei. The Long branch families were also stunned into mixed reactions.

    The camp supporting Iris, led by Elder Long Jufang, were shocked before quickly feeling ecstatic. Iris¡¯ engagement to Jin Liwei meant that she would be the bridge connecting the Longs to the Jins. This connection was even better than their earlier assumption that she was engaged to Lu Zihao. Sir Lu Jianhong hadn¡¯t named his grandson, Lu Zihao, or anyone else for that matter, as his heir yet.

    On the other hand, Jin Liwei was already the current head of the Jin family and Jin Corporation. Long Jufang became even more determined to continue trying to establisha close personal connection to Iris, and in extension, to Jin Liwei as well.

    In contrast to Iris¡¯ supporters, thecamp supporting Long Hui had the opposite reaction. They were inplete disbelief, especially Long Meng. She recently managed to entice other rtives to jump ship to support Long Hui, making their camp thergest in the battle for session in the Long n. Many of those who originally supported Long Hui but then changed camps to support Iris instead returned once again after Long Hui bought the 5% shares.

    Long Meng thought that Long Hui had now reimed his rightful position as the sessor of the Long n and Long Industries. She was especially pleased that Long Hui woke up from his rebelliousness and broke up with that female bodyguard. He had also be receptive to her advice.

    Secretly working with his mother, Zheng Suyin, Long Meng was able to pair him to a suitable bride from a good family that they approved of. If he continued to listen to her and his mother¡¯s advice, Long Meng believed that it was only a matter of time before Long Hui stabilized his position as the sessor. The other contenders, including Iris, wouldn¡¯t be able to threaten his position anymore.

    Now, however, Iris had risen to be an even bigger threat than she was before because of her engagement with Jin Liwei. Long Meng disregarded the time and called Zheng Suyin on the phone.

    This was an emergency!

    ###

    All across the nation, many people were simrly shocked after discovering the rtionship between Iris Long and Jin Liwei. They just couldn¡¯t wrap their minds around the truth that the two seemingly ipatible people were engaged to each other. At first, they thought that it was a joke. But after watching the livestream and seeing the couple¡¯s intimacy, they didn¡¯t have a choice but to believe.

    It was a sleepless night for most members of high society. Earlier that night, they were already shocked silly upon learning that Wei Lan had be a Spanish viscountess. They always saw Wei Lan as a gold digging, social climber who was inferior to them. To those who hated her, the fact that she had be a legitimate member of European nobility left a bitter taste in their mouths.

    Now that it was her daughter¡¯s turn to drop a bombshell, they were all left reeling in great astonishment. One thought entered their minds:

    This mother and daughter were too godly in entrapping men of quality into marriage!

    High society¡¯s older generation of womencursed Wei Lan, while the younger generation hated Iris Long. They were filled with envy towards the mother and daughter. These spiteful women couldn¡¯t ept that the mother and daughter whom they look down on now had elevated status because of their men.

    ###

    Inside her condo unit, Rose Young was crying in anger and frustration while watching the livestream. Jenny Tseng, her friend and one of the biggest gossips in high society, called her nonstop until she woke up. Rose Young was irritated at being awakened in the middle of the night, but when Jenny Tseng uttered the magic words "Jin Liwei", she immediately listened and paid attention.

    Upon learning that Iris Long was Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e, Rose Young burst into tears. She smashed themp, picture frame and everything else on her bedside table to the floor.

    Now she knew why his fianc¨¦e¡¯s voice sounded familiar when she talked to the woman on the phone before. The woman was actually fucking Iris Long! Of course, Iris Long¡¯s voice sounded familiar because Rose Young often heard her whenever hermercials yed on the TV or radio, not to mention whenever she guested in shows.

    Rose Young red at herptop. The livestream showed Jin Liwei¡¯s possessive arm wrapped around Iris Long¡¯s waist. The two also frequently gazed into each other¡¯s eyes. Jin Liwei also couldn¡¯t seem to stop nuzzling Iris Long¡¯s head or neck. Throughout the livestream, there wasn¡¯t a time that the two separated. They were always together, as if connected by their hips. The intimacy between them was very obvious.

    "You slut! How dare you steal Big Brother Liwei away from me! He¡¯s mine! Big Brother is mine! Give him back to me! You fucking slut, I¡¯ll kill you!" she shrieked, almost tearing her hair off from her scalp. Her teeth bared in a hiss, while her eyes looked bloodshot and manic.

    "What did Big Brother Liwei see in you?! You¡¯re nothing but a singer, a lowly showgirl! Is it because of your body?! Your breasts?! Is it?!! Just because of you have bigger breasts than me?!! Your body only looks nice now, but when you grow old, everything will be gone! You¡¯ll be old, wrinkled and undesirable!!!

    "I¡¯m more sessful and aplished than you! I¡¯m educated in the same Ivy league business school as Big Brother! I have high IQ! I¡¯m the one who¡¯s a perfect match for Big Brother Liwei, not you! You¡¯re just a slut who depends on your face and body!

    "Wake up, Big Brother Liwei! Don¡¯t be blinded by beauty! That empty-brained slut is unsuitable for a powerful man like you! You should look for someoneclose to your level¡ªME! You should be marrying ME! It should be ME!!! Only ME!!! Open your eyes!!!"

    Rose Young continued her hysterical ravings until the sun rose. Her hatred for Jin Liwei¡¯s mysterious fianc¨¦e finally found a target¡ªIris Long.

 Chapter 498 - Merciless

    <h4>Chapter 498 - Merciless </h4>

    Spiteful people like Rose Young, the young female members of high society, and all those who felt envious and threatened of Iris Long went on an online defamation mission against her. They were united in belittling her achievements and painting her as nothing more than a pretty face with a nice body. They dered that she was an unsuitable partner for Jin Liwei, the most powerful man of the country¡¯s business world of his generation.

    "There are so many women in the world who are much more worthy than Iris Long! Why her?" they cried to Jin Liwei (as if he cared about what they thought).

    It was a sleepless night for these people. They wrote bad things about Iris Long on the inte. Some of them even openly called her a slut, a whore, and other insults degrading to their fellow woman.

    However, no matter how much they posted, their hatements would disappear within minutes. When these happened a few times, many of them gave up, including Rose Young. Seeing that the posts were being deleted quickly, she thought that it was Jin Liwei¡¯s work.

    "Big Brother Liwei is really protecting that slut," she muttered in resentment.

    With this thought, Rose Young realized that it was only a waste of time posting these littlements online. Jin Liwei wielded considerable power and influence as the President-CEO of Jin Corporation. If he really wanted to protect his fianc¨¦e¡¯s reputation online, no hatements would escape from him. Besides, these little hatements wouldn¡¯t hurt Iris Long much, anyway.

    Rose Young thought that it would be better to spend her time doing something more productive and destructive against the slut. So she decided to phone her father, Romeo Young, from Singapore instead. She informed him about the situation and asked for his advice on how to proceed.

    Now that they knew the identity of Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e, they had a clear target. Her father knew some good hackers. They would be much more effective in destroying Iris Longpared to Rose Young¡¯s attempts of defaming the woman online.

    Rose Young may have given up for now, but her little actions online didn¡¯t escape the glowing green eyes of a certain white cat.

    Since Rose Young¡¯s name was recorded in the ck notebook, Ketchup monitored her 24/7. The virtual white cat wanted to destroy the evil woman immediately, but Mommy and Daddy said that it wasn¡¯t the right time yet. So Ketchup could only continue to gather incriminating evidence against Rose Young and her equally evil family in Singapore.

    The white cat didn¡¯t want to disobey her parents, especially about matters regarding the ck notebook and the names recorded in it. Mommy and Daddy warned her that they would ground her if she acted like a bad kitty. So scary! Ketchup promised her parents that she would be a good kitty.

    While Ketchup continued to prioritize monitoring Rose Young, the white cat didn¡¯t let the others escape either. She nted destructive viruses that destroyed all data on theputer and mobile devices of everyone who posted things about her mommy online.

    And for the ones who refused to give up despite having theirments automatically deleted and continued defaming Mommy, Ketchup dug out scandalous information about them and revealed them all over the inte. She also made sure that the first people to see the scandalous information were their bosses, family and friends.

    Ketchup was merciless.

    She didn¡¯t let anyone escape from her instant revenge. How dare these jackasses say such bad things about her mommy?! Unforgivable!

    If it were up to Ketchup, she would¡¯ve already made sure to destroy them beyond recovery. However, her mommy put some limits on the things she was allowed to do on her own. If she wanted to do things beyond the restrictions ced on her, she must ask Mommy for permission first. She was a good kitty, so she wouldn¡¯t disobey Mommy or Daddy!

    For now, at least she was allowed to mete out instant punishments to those who deserved it. No mercy!

    ###

    In the next few days, Iris and everyone involved in the film "Strong Yet Broken" were busy attending events during the Sommet International Film Festival. There were official interviews, press conferences, forums, and dinners.

    Of course, Jin Liwei was Iris¡¯ escort to all of these events. Never once did he let Iris attend by herself. This showed everyone that he was reallymitted to their rtionship.

    The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" were also finally informed that Jin Liwei was the true boss and owner of LX Productions. In short, he was everyone¡¯s big boss. The organizers of the film festival were also secretly informed about it. As a result, Jin Liwei was given an automatic pass to join the cast and crew to the events.

    The public, however, remained clueless about his connection to LX Productions. At this point, Iris didn¡¯t care much if the public knew that he was the true owner of the productionpany. Once she made up her mind to announce their rtionship to the world during the Sommet International Film Festival, she had already prepared herself to face everything¡ªfrom congrattions to criticisms¡ªall the way.

    However, Jin Liwei decided to keep the truth about his ownership of LX Productions a secret for now. He didn¡¯t want his ownership to overshadow the contributions of his baby girl to the film. He also didn¡¯t want others twisting the facts and iming that she used him for her own gain.

    So he threatened¡ªCOUGH COUGH¡ª"requested" the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", including Guan Jintao and his wife, to not tell anyone about it. Of course, everyone promised to keep their mouths zipped. They were extremely thankful for hispany¡¯s financial and professional assistance to the film. It wouldn¡¯t reach the quality that it had now without LX Productions¡¯ help.

    Besides their gratefulness, they agreed to keep the truth a secret because they were afraid of Jin Liwei¡¯s wrath. Who would be stupid enough to offend the President-CEO of Jin Corporation? Not them!

    All of their careers were flying off at the moment thanks to "Strong Yet Broken". They didn¡¯t want to cut their current sess because they angered a powerful man like Jin Liwei.

    Thus, they all treated Iris Long extremely well. If they treated the wife well, of course the husband would look at them kindly. That wasmon sense.

 Chapter 499 - Theyre Our Family

    <h4>Chapter 499 - They''re Our Family </h4>

    While Iris and Jin Liwei were busy attending events everyday in the Sommet International Film Festival, Long Hui was trying to make trouble for Jiang Ying Yue back in China regarding the custody battle between them for their son, Little Jun.

    Fortunately, Attorney Hong Shaoqiang had already predicted Long Hui¡¯s reaction. He was prepared and managed to deflect the officialint filed by Long Hui¡¯swyer.

    Hong Shaoqiang was Iris¡¯wyer who she lent to Jiang Ying Yue for the custody battle. He was also being assisted by Jin Liwei¡¯swyer in secret. With the two of these skilledwyers working in tandem, Long Hui¡¯swyer couldn¡¯t act as aggressive as he wanted.

    Long Hui was hoping to force Jiang Ying Yue to immediately bring Little Jun home to China from France. He used Jiang Ying Yue of hiding their son away from him. He was afraid that she wouldn¡¯t return Little Jun to China anymore.

    At first, Jiang Ying Yue panicked after learning that Long Hui¡¯swyer filed an officialint against her. Fortunately, Iris and the others reassured her. Jiang Ying Yue could only trust Attorney Hong Shaoqiang and Jin Liwei¡¯swyer to defend her rights as Little Jun¡¯s mother against Long Hui¡¯s repeated attempts of bullying.

    She calmed down but a certain old man was angered.

    Grandpa Lu became furious when he learned about the custody battle. He loved Little Jun who he considered as his first great-grandbaby.

    He actually called his ownwyer and friend who previously held a seat at the International Court of Justice before semi-retiring as a privatewyer to select VIP clients like Grandpa Lu. In the next few days, his impressivewyer would be taking over the custody battle. Hong Shaoqiang and Jin Liwei¡¯swyer would be the assistants instead.

    Jiang Ying Yue actually felt a little sorry for Long Hui after discovering what Grandpa Lu did. Although the custody battle was of the utmost importance to her, to the eyes of other people, it was just a simple case.

    Was there a need to appoint three of the country¡¯s most talentedwyers for a custody case? It was, simply speaking, an overkill. Iris, Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu figuratively sent a nuclear missile each to crack a measly peanut.

    After the initial pity for Long Hui, however, Jiang Ying Yue hardened her heart. He was clearly making trouble for her. If she continued to allow her previous feelings for him to cloud her judgment, he would always be sessful in hurting her. She didn¡¯t want to be weak anymore. She wanted to be like the mother and daughter, Wei Lan and Iris¡ªboth very strong and confident women.

    Although it was difficult, Jiang Ying Yue was able to grow her confidence level slowly but surely. Her son, Little Jun, gave her strength everyday. He was her life.

    Now that Long Hui had decided to marry another woman, Jiang Ying Yue wouldn¡¯t allow him to take custody of their son. She heard that his new fianc¨¦e came from a family very simr to the Longs. If even the Longs had the capability of bullying her son, how much more the family of Long Hui¡¯s new fianc¨¦e who was not blood-rted?

    They would need to kill her first before Jiang Ying Yue would allow them to take her son away from her. Over her dead body!

    For now, Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t want to think about all of these stressful things. She wanted to enjoy this French vacation together with her son. It was only Iris and Jin Liwei who were always busy everyday because of the film festival. Dom and Tang Yiyi were also busy because the two assisted Iris in preparing for all of the events. They were also the ones updating her social media pages.

    As for the rest of them, they could do whatever they wanted. Wei Lan was making a lot of new "friends" during this trip. She was invited to all of the exclusive social events. Of course, she would drag Jiang Ying Yue, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao with her if they were willing. Jiang Ying Yue only went if kids were allowed. She didn¡¯t want to leave her son anymore.

    Most of the time, Grandpa Lu took Little Jun and toured him around the riviera. As the mother, Jiang Ying Yue also went with them. They went to all the ces that offered children¡¯s activities. Since the ce was currently hosting the Sommet International Film Festival, there were a few children of famous celebrities and other influential people staying at the riviera as well. These children frequented the same ces Grandpa Lu was taking Little Jun. As a result, Little Jun became ymates to all of these kids.

    The famous parents of these kids liked Little Jun because he was always well-dressed in stylish outfits, thanks to his Grandma Wei Lan.

    Little Jun was the current apple of Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes. He bought the toddler everything that his little index fingers pointed at. Wei Lan wasn¡¯t any better. Every time she returned from her shopping trips, she would always have a small mountain of gifts for Little Jun.

    Jiang Ying Yue tried stopping them from buying too much for her son. At this rate, Little Jun¡¯s luggage alone would fill the entire private jet when they returned home to China. Although she was very thankful to them for loving her son, she didn¡¯t want them to spoil Little Jun too much.

    They agreed but still bought Little Jun many things behind her back. All she could do was sigh and shake her head, not knowing whether tough or cry.

    She carried Little Jun in her arms and kissed him on his plump cheeks. They looked at Iris, Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, Wei Lan, Lu Zihao, Dom, Tang Yiyi, and all the others apanying them on this French trip. Then she told him:

    "Look, my son. Those are all the people who love you. They¡¯re our family."

    ###

    Finally, it was the world premiere night of "Strong Yet Broken". There was another short red carpet event before the premiere. Everyone staying at the vi estate came to support Iris and the film, including some of the French staff who had the day off.

    By this time, Wei Lan had already be a popr figure in many impressive social circles. She had made a lot of connections to figures who were all very influential in their own right. She invited all of them to support "Strong Yet Broken", boasting that her daughterposed the movie¡¯s entire film score. Many of them epted her invitation because they wanted to be friends with her, a Spanish viscountess.

    Of course, Maestro Ludovico De Luca, his wife, and Enrique Valdez also attended to support Iris. They congratted their student, but also warned her to not let everything get too much into her head. They didn¡¯t want her to be arrogant.

    Iris assured them that she wouldn¡¯t.

    Seeing all of these famous and influential figures attending the film premiere, the media covering the event were all astounded.They even thought that they might havee to the wrong screening.

    "Strong Yet Broken" finally yed on the big screen. Later, there wasn¡¯t a single dry eye after the film ended.

    "Honeeeeey! Why did youpose such heart-wrenching music? It was so SAAAAAAAAD!!!" Wei Lan sobbed beside Iris. Then she whispered, "I have a gooooooood feeling that you¡¯re going to win that Best Music...Best Composer...wait, what¡¯s it called again?"

    "Auntie, it¡¯s Best Soundtrack Award," Jin Liwei told her from Iris¡¯ other side.

    "Oh, right. Thanks, dear Liweeeeeei~" Then Wei Lan continued to whisper to Iris, "My intuition tells me that you¡¯re going to win that Best Soundtrack Award, honeeeeeey! Just look at all these people crying like crazy! Whenever the background music ys, my chest started hurting. You¡¯re so meeeeeaaaaan! You should¡¯ve warned Mother that this is a saaaaaad movie. Good thing I wore waterproof makeup tonight!"

    Iris only smiled at Wei Lan¡¯s words.

    There was an indescribable feeling deep inside her. She already watched the film when it premiered in Chinast year. However, it still felt different now that it was premiering in the international level. Hearing her own music in the film and seeing all these people who came from different parts of the world watching it gaveher an unbelievable sense of aplishment.

    She felt Jin Liwei hold her hand and squeeze it gently. When she turned her head, she saw him smiling at her.

    "I¡¯m so proud of you, love," he whispered at her.

    "Thank you, darling."

    On her other side, Wei Lan continued to whisper at her, saying, "I watched some of the other films with my new friends these past few days. They were all sooooo boooooriiiiing! I almost fell asleep! Even though you¡¯re my daughter, I can say that your music is the beeeeeest one among the films that I watched. Some of the films didn¡¯t even have any music AT ALL! They called it art, but I say they¡¯re just beingzy. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re going to win, honeeeeey~"

    "Thank you, Mother," Iris said. "I¡¯m confident of my own music, but there are also other talented and skilledposers participating in this film festival. It will be up to the jury who they will choose to win the Best Soundtrack Award."

    "Mother says you¡¯re going to wiiiiiiin, so you will! But if you do really win, I guess the jury are all masochists for voting for such SAAAAAAD music! Ah, I didn¡¯t knooooow that I gave birth to such a sadistic musicposer," Wei Lan said.

 Chapter 500 - Four Nominations

    <h4>Chapter 500 - Four Nominations </h4>

    After its international premiere at the Sommet International Film Festival, "Strong Yet Broken" received mostly favourable reviews from the world¡¯s leading film critics. They praised it for its rawness and realistic depiction of the issues surrounding the topics of disability, depression, and suicide. The film didn¡¯t sugarcoat or romanticize these subjects, except perhaps for the love of Guan Jintao¡¯s mother for her husband and son.

    All of these reviews were published in differentnguages which gave everyone involved in the film a dream-like feeling of amazed disbelief. The fact that their film, "Strong Yet Broken", made its international debut at what was considered by many as the world¡¯s most prestigious film festival hadn¡¯tpletely hit home to them yet.

    Never did they expect that the indie film they created and acted in would garner such unprecedented sess and recognition, not only in China but also abroad. All of them would never forget the wonderful experiences they had with this film. Of course, Iris Long also felt the same way.

    There were also some critics who wrote negative reviews. A handful of them were even extremely scathing. It dampened the cast and crew¡¯s high spirits somewhat before they decided to shrug their shoulders. Nobody could please everyone. They would just focus on the positive reviews and praises, instead of brooding on the harsh criticisms.

    Finally, after more than a week of nonstop screenings and various events, thest day of the Sommet International Film Festival arrived. All of the shortlisted films had already been screened and watched by the thousands of film enthusiasts who travelled to the French Riviera just to attend the festival.

    Unlike the (boring) opening ceremony, almost everyone was excited for the awards night. They didn¡¯t care if the host, speakers or the performances would be dull. It was the anticipation of who would win the awards among the selected nominees that everyone cared about the most.

    Of course, the nominees also couldn¡¯t contain their excitement and anxiety, even to the few of themwho were already considered veterans. These people had experienced participating in the film festival more than once in the past. A handful of them even won awards before. Despite this, they still couldn¡¯t help but feel a little nervous. This was the prestigious Sommet International Film Festival Awards after all.

    As for the other participants, the majority of them wereplete neers. So it wasn¡¯t surprising that they were almost beyond themselves in their nervous excitement. This was a dreame true for most of them.

    The only Chinese entry, "Strong Yet Broken", received a total of four nominations.

    First was for the Best Debut Film Award. The winner would be chosen among the films with cast and crew who were total neers to the Sommet International Film Festival. Every single person involved in the film must never have participated in the film festival in any way in the past.

    Second was for the Best Soundtrack Award. Iris Long was nominated for her work in "Strong Yet Broken" as theposer of the film score. If she won, she would be the youngest recipient of this particr award in the film festival¡¯s history. She was 21 years old this year. The youngest winner recorded was a 27-year old man who won the award five years ago.

    Third was for the Best Actress Award. The actress ying Guan Jintao¡¯s mother was nominated for her outstanding performance. Win or lose, China¡¯s acting industry was already celebrating her achievements for her work in "Strong Yet Broken". She was now beinguded and respected as one of the most phenomenal actresses in China.

    Last but not the least, the film was also nominated for the main prize, the Soleil d¡¯Or or the Golden Sun Award. This was the highest honour among all the prizes given out at the Sommet International Film Festival. Receiving this award was a dreame true for all serious filmmakers.

    The Sommet International Film Festival was also considered as the opening to the long awards season. Winning the Soleil d¡¯Or would give the film and everyone involved in it a higher likelihood of winning other prestigious awards in other countries, including the famous long-running Institute Awards in the US, also officially and poprly known as the Owens, which was broadcast to more than a hundred countries all around the world.

    But for now, everyone was focused in the Sommet International Film Festival.

    The awards night was even more fabulous than the opening ceremony. It was the final night, after all. The next Sommet International Film Festival wouldn¡¯t happen until next year.

    Everyone dressed their best. The spectators, media, and VIP guests were almost triple the numberpared to the opening night. The event was filled with glitz and mour. Of course, the spectators¡¯ screams and shrieks sounded all throughout the event.

    Like the opening night, after the regr members of the audience quickly walked the red carpet, the VIP guests started arriving with much pomp and circumstance. It was another parade of fashion and star power.

    Enrique Valdez.

    Maestro Ludovico De Luca and his wife, Madame De Luca.

    Sir Jianhong Lu and Hunter Lu.

    Vizcondesa Lan of Castillo de Estres of Espa?a with herrge entourage of bodyguards.

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t apany Wei Lan this time. She decided to stay with her son at the vi estate instead. To her, it was much more fun to spend the night with Little Jun than trying to make herself lookfortable in front of all those people and media. Although she didn¡¯t attend, she and Little Jun still wanted to support Iris by watching the awards ceremony on TV.

    "Ampa Lu! Anko Hao! Amma Weiyan!" Little Jun eximed in excitement whenever he saw his Great-Grandpa Lu, Uncle Lu Zihao, and Grandma Wei Lan on TV.

    Jiang Ying Yue chuckled at her son.

    "No Mama? No Papa?" Little Jun asked with an adorable expression while pointing his little index finger at the TV.

    "Not yet. Your Mama Xin and Papa Liwei haven¡¯t arrived yet. They¡¯re going to appearter," she exined to the toddler.

    "Oh!"

    Little Jun¡¯s eyes widened a bit, looking as if he understood his mommy¡¯s words.

    The mother and son sat on the carpet in front of the TV at the living area. Some of the vi¡¯s French household staff were also watching the awards night with them.

 Chapter 501 - Dragon King And Phoenix Queen

    <h4>Chapter 501 - Dragon King And Phoenix Queen </h4>

    Inside Jin Liwei¡¯s French vi which was previously owned by Grandpa Lu, Dom and Tang Yiyi finally joined Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun in the living area to watch the awards night on TV. The European makeup artists and hairstylists followed behind them. They just finished cleaning up and organizing everything at the room where Iris, Jin Liwei, Wei Lan, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao dressed up and had their hair and makeup done earlier for the awards night.

    There was now a big group in front of the TV. Some of the household staff prepared some snacks and drinks in order to make watching the show more enjoyable.

    The red carpet event was still underway.

    Later, the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" started arriving. There were more cheers for them this time. Plenty of people watched the screenings and associated events of the film. Many of them were impressed of its quality. Thus, more people recognized them this time around.

    Finally, Iris Long and Jin Liwei climbed out of a vehicle onto the red carpet.

    "Aaaaaah! It¡¯s Iris Long and Liam Jin! They¡¯re here!"

    "My dream couple has arrived! Make way, make way!"

    "Liam! Iris! Please look here!"

    Since the couple always attended events together during the Sommet International Film Festival, they obtained quite a number of fans. Most of these new fans were people who watched "Strong Yet Broken" and loved it. When they discovered that Iris Long was the soleposer of the film score, they immediately converted into her fans. Seeing that she was always together with her handsome fianc¨¦, they turned into Jin Liwei¡¯s fans as well.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei turned their heads to their new fans who were screaming and shrieking for them at the top of their lungs. Iris gave them a bright smile and a wave which made them scream and shriek even louder, almost vomiting their throats out. Jin Liwei also waved his hand at the fans but didn¡¯t smile. He maintained his default cold expression, but at least, it didn¡¯t look as indifferent as before. As usual, the two walked while holding hands.

    Iris was wearing a long, flowing, ck and red ombre dress. The top was tube-style, but it didn¡¯t look skimpy at all because of the artful embellishments on the front torso. It looked like a big, neatly rumpled side-facing ribbon made of ck tulle. The wide tie emphasized Iris¡¯ narrow waist, making the tulle ribbon re up around her breasts on top and around her hips below. The skirt slightly ballooned downwards, gradually changing from ck to dark red and then to bright red. The dress looked like an upside down red lily.

    Complementing her gorgeous dress was dark, smoky makeup with blood-red lips. Her nails were also painted in ck and red ombre colours. As for her hair, it was arranged in mourous waves. A crystal-encrusted tinum ornament in the shape of a phoenix was pinned on one side of her hair. It gave her a side-swept hair look.

    Beside her, Jin Liwei was wearing a Chinese-style formal tuxedo suit. It was all ck from head to toe. There was a long and intricate embroidery of a red dragon on the front of the suit jacket. The red colour popped from his all ck ensemble and also matched Iris¡¯ beautiful dress.

    Their stylist purposely matched their outfits, from the ck and red motifs, to her phoenix hair ornament and his jacket¡¯s dragon embroidery.

    He was the dragon king, while she was the phoenix queen.

    This was the meaning of their outfits.

    Individually, each of them looked striking in their own right. Together, they were absolutely magnificent and formidable.

    Everyone was wowed by their stunning appearance. The people standing close around the two of them seemed to pale inparison to theirbined resplendence.

    Back at Jin Liwei¡¯s vi estate, everyone cheered when they watched the couple appear on TV.

    "Mama! Papa! Yay yay!" Little Jun pointed at his godmother and godfather in excitement, and then pped his hands.

    "Kyaaaaah! Boss is super-duper beautiful! Sir boss is also super-duper handsome! They look gorgeous to the highest level on TV!" Dom eximed. He also pped his hands in excitement like Little Jun.

    "Yesh! Mama bootiful! Papa hansam!"

    The others nodded their heads in agreement. The European makeup artists and hairstylists looked proud of their work, as they examined Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s attention-grabbing appearances on TV. Everyone continued to watch in rapt attention.

    ###

    After the red carpet, the awards ceremony finally started. The general protocol was very simr to the opening ceremony. Even the seating arrangements were mostly the same. This time, however, there were more people attending. The grand theatre was filled to the brim.

    Iris Long and Jin Liwei sat together with the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", including the President of LX Productions and Guan Jintao and his wife.

    As for the VIP guests, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao sat together with Wei Lan. The people sitting around them, however, were quite different from the opening ceremony. They were more famous and influential. It seemed that there were many who fought to acquire the opportunity to sit close to Vizcondesa Lan. She had be a very popr figure during the social events of the Sommet International Film Festival.

    In addition to this, their seats were also moved to a part which had one of the best views of the stage.

    Enrique Valdez, Maestro Ludovico De Luca and his wife also attended once again. Their front-row seats remained the same. This row was mostly reserved to all the awardureates of the past film festivals.

    The host, speakers and performances were still more misses than hits, but nobody really cared much. Everyone didn¡¯t feel bored at all. Instead, they all felt very excited...and impatient as well. They couldn¡¯t wait for the main course of the night¡ªthe actual awards ceremony.

    "And now the moment that you¡¯ve all been waiting for has finally arrived," the host announced in French.

    Everyone became quiet and sat straighter on their seats, including Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "We will now officially start the awards ceremony! To all the nominees, congrattions and I wish you the best of luck!"

 Chapter 502 - Donâ€™t Distract Me

    <h4>Chapter 502 - Don¡¯t Distract Me </h4>

    The excitement and nervousness in the atmosphere became heavier after the host announced the official start of the awards ceremony. Cheers and apuse sounded throughout the entire grand theatre, expressing their approval, relief and impatience.

    Jin Liwei held his baby girl¡¯s hand and rubbed it gently. Her hand felt dry and warm to the touch. It didn¡¯t feel damp or cold at all, as one would expect from a person who was nervous. He nced at her. She had a calm and pleasant expression, as if she was just rxing at home rather than awaiting her name to be called as a nominee for one of the important awards inthe prestigious Sommet International Film Festival.

    If it weren¡¯t for her racing pulse throbbing in her wrists, he would¡¯ve thought that his baby girl didn¡¯t think much of the film festival¡¯s awards ceremony at all. She may look like she was just treating the awards night like any normal day, but she must be feeling nervous inside. Or excited. Maybe both. However, these feelings couldn¡¯t be seen on her face at all.

    The corners of his mouth curved upward in a faint smile. His baby girl was truly impressive in maintaining herposure despite the gravity of this awards. In contrast to her calmness, the rest of the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" looked like they drank too much coffee. They were all jittery and couldn¡¯t sit still. Despite this, the excitement was obvious in their eyes.

    Jin Liwei was amused at the difference of their state to his baby girl¡¯s. She was the youngest among them, yet she was the mostposed. He lifted her hand that he was holding and kissed it. His action made her turn her head to him before giving him a beautiful smile.

    He inhaled sharply, his eyes darkening with passion. No matter how many times he saw her smile at him, it always managed to take his breath away and make his heart skip a beat.

    His gaze that was filled with so much heat affected Iris. Her breathing couldn¡¯t help but speed up, as her eyes darkened with desire for him as well. It was only when she vaguely heard the names of the nominees for the first award that she regained her senses.

    She pouted her blood-red lips at him before telling him in a whisper, "Don¡¯t distract me."

    A soft, low chuckle escaped from his lips. "Alright, I¡¯ll try not to distract you. It¡¯s just that you¡¯re so beautiful that you¡¯re the one who¡¯s distracting me. I don¡¯t mind, though. You can distract me all you want, love."

    Her racing pulse normalized a bit after hearing his mushy words. She giggled. "Stop it."

    "En," he replied but not before giving her hand another kiss.

    Beside them, the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" who were sitting the closest to them couldn¡¯t help but blush after overhearing what the couple had been whispering to each other. Although they spent time with the couple almost every day during the duration of the film festival, they still hadn¡¯tpletely gotten used to their lovey-doveyness. It was just so difficult to match and ept that the lovestruck man uttering such mushy words was the same person as the cold and intimidating CEO Jin Liwei. The image of Jin Liwei in their minds was slowly crumbling.

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know what they were thinking about at the moment. Although they were all sitting together as one team, a special invisible lovey-dovey bubble separated the couple from the rest of the other people around them. The two of them were very much in tune with each other¡¯s emotions.

    Jin Liwei sensed that his baby girl had be a bit more rxed, thanks to his words. It made him feel both gratified and relieved.

    As for Iris, she may look calm andposed, but she was actually feeling quite nervous inside. Fortunately, her darling managed to rx her somewhat. Even though she kept telling herself that she wouldn¡¯t care much if she won or lost tonight, there was still a desire inside her to win. After all, who wouldn¡¯t want to win an award from such a prestigious event as the Sommet International Film Festival?

    She was confident of her own work¡ªshe had always been¡ªbut the winner would be chosen from jury voting. She had no control over the jury¡¯s personal preferences. As such, even if a work was a genius masterpiece, if it wasn¡¯t to the jury¡¯s tastes, then it still wouldn¡¯t win. All Iris could do was to continue believing in her own work while keeping an open mind, so even if she didn¡¯t win, it wouldn¡¯t discourage her.

    The first awards that were being distributed were the minor ones given out by other independent entities affiliated to the film festival, not by Sommet International Film Festival itself. Nevertheless, these minor awards were still important and respected by many in the world¡¯s film industry. Some of these awards even included rather generous cash prizes, especially those targeted at young filmmakers to encourage them to continue pursuing their dreams.

    By this time, the grand theatre was filled with apuse and cheering every time a winner was announced. The winners went up the stage to give their eptance speeches. Since the winners came from all over the world and spoke in differentnguages, the audience had the option of listening to real time trantions via the provided earphones, just like during the opening ceremony.

    Of course, Iris didn¡¯t need to use the earphones at all. Jin Liwei also didn¡¯t bother using them. He already had a skilled interpreter beside him. Fortunately, all of thenguages being spoken so far were ones that she was proficient in. She had no trouble tranting everything to him.

    There were quite a number of other awards being given out. The atmosphere within the grand theatre had be much more rxedpared to earlier. The winners were already starting to celebrate. The losers could only p their hands in congrattions to the winners. It would be bad taste to express outward disappointment or resentment for not winning.

    As for the remaining nominees, they eagerly awaited their turn.

    Would they win and celebrate?

    Or would they have to congratte someone else¡¯s win?

 Chapter 503 - Dazed

    <h4>Chapter 503 - Dazed </h4>

    Finally, the mainpetition¡¯s award categoriesmenced. The first was for the Best Debut Film Award. The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" sped their hands together in prayer. Iris squeezed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand, seekingfort and absorbing strength from him.

    Unfortunately, "Strong Yet Broken" didn¡¯t win. An Indian indie film won instead. Iris and Jin Liwei along with the others pped their hands in congrattions to the winner. The Indian movie was one of the few films they managed to watch during their free time. Although they felt a slight disappointment for not winning the Best Debut Film Award, they didn¡¯t feel too bad losing to such a thought-provoking film.

    Other awards, nominees and winners were announced. More apuse, cheers and speeches.

    Iris continued to trante the speeches to her darling. This time, the film¡¯s cast and crew closest to them abandoned their earphones and listened to her trantions instead. They found her trantions smoother, more confident and easier to understandpared to the earphone interpreters who stammered and hesitated at some of the speeches. Now they knew just how talented she was as an interpreter. Of course, they heard her beinguded as a genius polyglot when China hosted this year¡¯s international business conference during the summer, but it was a different matter to witness her skills firsthand.

    After thetestmercial break, everyone paid more rapt attention to the next remaining awards. These were the biggest and the most important out of all the awards presented in the film festival. Receiving any of these awards was a great honour to anyone working in the film industry anywhere in the world.

    "And the nominees for the Best Soundtrack Award are..."

    The guest presenters started announcing all of the nominees.

    Iris¡¯ calm and pleasant expression had now be solemn. She gripped Jin Liwei¡¯s hand so hard that it actually started to hurt him. However, he didn¡¯tin nor show any indication of pain on his face. Instead, he used his other hand to rub her hand and soothe her.

    The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", including the President of LX Productions and Guan Jintao and his wife, looked more nervous than Iris. The producer even closed his eyes and began chanting a prayer.

    In another part of the audience, Wei Lan grabbed Grandpa Lu¡¯s sleeve beside her and repeatedly tugged it in anxiety. She looked paler than usual.

    "Is she going to win of course she¡¯s going to win she¡¯s my daughter she¡¯s the beeeeeest of course she¡¯ll win because she¡¯s my daughter..." she mumbled nonstop under her breath.

    Grandpa Lu pursed his lips while looking at his now wrinkled sleeve. The woman was holding his poor sleeve in a death grip.

    "Calm down, woman!" he told Wei Lan, but she ignored him. All he could do was sigh and allow his sleeve to be abused by her perfectly manicured ws.

    On Grandpa Lu¡¯s other side, Lu Zihao wore a frighteningly cold expression. His usual devilish yfulness was nowhere to be seen. He looked at the other nomineespeting against his little sister on the giant monitors, as if he wanted to squeeze the life out of them.

    Grandpa Lu noticed his abnormal state. "Haohao, my boy! What¡¯s wrong with you? I want to know! Why do you look like someone just stole your favourite candy directly from your hands? You calm down, too!"

    It was only then that Lu Zihao regained his senses. He actually allowed the nervous atmosphere to affect him. Indeed, his weakness would always be his sister. Fortunately, the old man prompted him to get a hold of himself. He turned his head and shed Grandpa Lu a devilish smile.

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu scowled upon seeing his grandson¡¯s smile. "Why are you trying to flirt with your own grandfather? I want to know! You think that your smile will work on this old man and make me swoon? Hah! I¡¯m the original, you¡¯re only the remix version! That smile won¡¯t work on me. This old man¡¯s smile is many times more potent than yours! All I see whenever I look at you is the Baby Haohao in his diapers when I was taking care of you when you were just this small!"

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes. The old man really knew how to shoot his mouth off. He wasn¡¯t the original Lu Zihao, so the old man¡¯s words didn¡¯t embarrass him at all. He only shrugged his shoulders and returned his full attention to the awards ceremony. But not before he felt a small twinge within himself before a warm pleasant feeling filled his heart. The feeling wasn¡¯t his.

    On the stage, the guest presenters announced a total of sixteen nominees for the Best Soundtrack Award, including Iris Long.

    When her name was announced, the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" cheered for her. Wei Lan also cried out and almost started yelling "that¡¯s my daughter" before catching herself. She remembered that she was a viscountess now, so she must maintain her graceful and ssy image. It was difficult, but she was able to restrain her wildness.

    By this time, Jin Liwei was now hugging his baby girl¡¯s shoulders with one arm while his other hand continued to endure her tight grip. He also began to feel nervous, but forced himself to calm down. His baby girl was doing a great job in maintaining herposure. He didn¡¯t want to be the one to lose it.

    On the stage, the guest presenters opened the envelope.

    "And the Best Soundtrack Award goes to..."

    Iris, Jin Liwei and the others held their breaths.

    One second. Two seconds. Three seconds...

    "Iris Long, ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯!"

    The producer who was praying hard earlier was the first one to react. He shot up from his seat and started jumping and screaming at the top of his lungs. The others also followed suit. They all turned to Iris who had a slightly dazed expression on her face.

    "Iris, oh my God! You won!" they eximed.

    Everyone in their group looked as if they also won the award. Her achievement felt like their achievement as well. They were one team.

    "Miss Iris Long, pleasee up the stage," one of the guest presenters reminded her in English.

    It was Jin Liwei who pulled her up from her seat.

    "Love, you did it," he whispered directly to her ear. "Now go get that award and make us even prouder."

 Chapter 504 - Holding Hands

    <h4>Chapter 504 - Holding Hands </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s words somehow managed to prate Iris¡¯ dazed mind. She tightened her hold on his hand even further and pulled him along, as she walked to the aisle on the way to the stage. Her face automatically smiled softly, epting her group¡¯s congrattions, even though she was still feeling dazed.

    As for Jin Liwei, he didn¡¯t protest as she dragged him. He could sense that she was quite out of herself. She was basically just moving on instinct. He didn¡¯t want to ruin the moment for her, by pulling his hand away from her hold. Besides, he loved the fact that her instinct made her hold him. It filled him with so much contentment.

    At the front area of the audience, tears flowed down Wei Lan¡¯s face. It was a good thing that she wore waterproof makeup. She felt so proud of her daughter. Never once had her daughter won any important and meaningful awards like this before. She heard that her daughter also won a lot of awards back in China during the Harmony Music Awards and the Diamond Guild Awards earlier this year. She even received a special award for inventing new musical techniques. Unfortunately, Wei Lan wasn¡¯t able to witness those amazing moments of her daughter.

    Now that she was present to witness her daughter win a prestigious award for the first time, Wei Lan felt very proud. She tossed the viscountess image that she had been maintaining all throughout the film festival. At the moment, she was just a mother. Wei Lan knew that she had many shorings as a mother to her daughter. Shecked the nurturing instinct that seemed to automatically develop in all mothers. In addition, she and her daughter shed almost all the time in the past.

    Despite this, Wei Lan never hated her daughter. She loved her. Long Xin was, after all, her one and only daughter. Even if the world turned upside down, Wei Lan and Long Xin would always remain flesh and blood mother and daughter. It was a good thing that both of them had changed for the better. Her daughter matured a lot and stopped looking for fights with her.

    As for Wei Lan herself, she also believed that she had matured, especially after marrying her second husband, the Vizconde of Castillo de Estres. He helped widened her narrow perspective of the world and taught her aboutpassion. In turn, it made her a little less selfish. Wei Lan believed that this was one of the major reasons why she and her daughter had be closer since she returned to China.

    Wei Lan was filled with so much pride for her daughter. She pped her hands so hard and cheered with all she had. She wanted everyone to know that she, Wei Lan, was Iris Long¡¯s mother. Her daughter was so talented in music that she could even win such a prestigious award abroad! Only her daughter could do that!

    Beside her, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao also gave Iris a standing ovation.

    "That¡¯s my girl! My beloved student! My favourite granddaughter! As expected of Lu Jianhong¡¯s prot¨¦g¨¦! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu cheered and bragged at the same time, even though his mentorship of Iris had nothing to do with music at all.

    Lu Zihao was silent and looked impassive. His eyes, however, showed how proud he was of his little sister. He looked at her making her way to the stage. His eyes narrowed in displeasure when he saw that she was dragging Jin Liwei. This moment was for his sister! What was the man doing, trying to share the spotlight?

    Iris and Jin Liwei finally reached the bottom of the stage. But before they could climb up the steps, Iris saw her two music mentors in her peripheral vision. She immediately stopped and then dragged Jin Liwei to their direction.

    "Miss Iris Long¡ª" the guest announcer was about to remind her again to hurry up to the stage when he saw where she was going.

    Everyone watched in amazement as Iris hugged the two music legends. They became more amazed when Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez both hugged her back. They even patted her. The cameras immediately focused on the scene.

    Maestro De Luca looked like he was telling Iris something. Unfortunately, he covered his mouth so the lip readers couldn¡¯t know what he was saying. Even the usually taciturn Enrique Valdez was seen whispering something to Iris.

    Some of the people already knew that Iris Long was connected to the two music legends. After all, she was seen meeting up with them at a caf¨¦ a couple of days before the film festival officially began. However, they only thought that they were acquaintances. A few of them even thought that her connection to the two music legends was because she was the daughter of a viscountess. But seeing their interaction now, she seemed very close to the two of them.

    Now they were all wondering whether there was anotheryer to her rtionship with Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez. Perhaps they had something to do why she was so talented in music, capable ofposing an entire high-quality film score by herself, despite her young age.

    Her work was so emotional, digging deep into one¡¯s soul, yet also very polished. Her music was brilliant technically, yet not pretentious at all. In fact, it sounded natural and effortless while evoking deep emotions.

    If the renowned ssical music maestro and the legendary hitmaker were directly involved in the development of her musical talents, then Iris Long was a figure to watch out for in the music world.

    After embracing each other, Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez urged her to hurry up the stage. Jin Liwei took control of the situation and firmly pulled his baby girl. Fortunately, she already regained her senses. She hurried up but still didn¡¯t let go of her darling¡¯s hand. As a result, Iris and Jin Liwei climbed the stage together.

    When the couple faced the entire audience in their matching ck and red outfits, the cheers and apuse became louder. They looked so perfect together that everyone couldn¡¯t help but admire the couple.

 Chapter 505 - This Honour Is Our Honour

    <h4>Chapter 505 - This Honour Is Our Honour </h4>

    The two guest presenters were surprised that Iris Long brought along her man to the stage with her. However, they didn¡¯t stop her nor did they demand Jin Liwei to get off the stage. There was no rule indicating that winners couldn¡¯t bring other people with them on the stage, but it wasn¡¯t the norm either.

    An official from the Sommet International Film Festival¡¯smittee handed Iris the award. It was a trophy which looked like a golden sun fixed on the surface of arge, clear, rectangr crystal. The beautiful trophy couldn¡¯t stand on its own because of the crystal¡¯s cut. Instead, it was already ced inside its own velvet box that opened on the front, making the trophy visible for everyone to see.

    Iris had to let go of Jin Liwei¡¯s hand to receive the award and the congrattions from the official and the two guest presenters. She might have let go of her darling¡¯s hand, but her bodynguage indicated that she wanted him to stay close to her. Of course, he sensed what she wanted so he stayed close, even when the official and the two guest performers retreated to the back.

    The couple walked to the front of the microphone. Iris looked at the entire audience. It was an awards show, but to her, this stage felt very different to the stages of the Harmony Music Awards and the Diamond Guild Awards back in China. This stage felt bigger and more amazing.

    Although this grand theatre held less peoplepared to the massive arenas where the Chinese awards were held, the Sommet International Film Awards still felt a whole lotrger because of the different ethnicities present among the audience. Each of these people represented a different country in the world. As a result, it felt like the entire world was watching her receive an award right nowpared to just one country back in China.

    The situation gave Iris a surreal feeling, yet she also felt humbled at the same time. She knew that there were still a lot of talented musicians out there in the world. The thought motivated her to do her best and improve her musical craft even further. She should never allow herself to growcent. If she did, others would surpass her current level and reach new heights in music without her.

    With all of these thoughts running through her mind, Iris finally gave her eptance speech. She spoke in French first, thanking the officials and organizers, the jury, her fellow nominees, all the participants of the shortlisted films, and everyone who followed and supported the events during the entire duration of the Sommet International Film Festival. The people were impressed at her elegant French. She sounded like a native, no foreign ent at all.

    Then all of a sudden, she switched to English with a British ent.

    "I would like to thank everyone from the ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯ family. Thank you for entrusting me topose the entire film score. If it weren¡¯t for your belief in me and the opportunity that you¡¯ve given me, I wouldn¡¯t be standing here on this stage right now, receiving this award. Mr. Guan, your life story, especially your mother¡¯s, is a source of inspiration to all of us. Thank you for supporting this film and giving it your personal seal of approval."

    Then she looked at her big brother, Grandpa Lu and Wei Lan all sitting together in the audience. "Thank you to my family for apanying me all the way here to France. I¡¯m deeply grateful for your support." Next, she looked at Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez. "To those who inspire me to be a better musician, thank you very much!"

    She didn¡¯t reveal her status as a student to both of the music legends yet. It would up to the two if and when they wanted to reveal their real connection to her. Then she paused a bit before shifting the award in one arm while her other hand reached for Jin Liwei. Of course, he took her extended hand and held it. She gazed at her darling¡¯s eyes, not caring that the world was watching her every move right now.

    "Most importantly, thank you to the man standing beside me," she said. Her tone became softer, almost dropping to a whisper. "You¡¯ve been there silently supporting me while Iposed the film score. You¡¯ve been so patient and understanding, even when I spent more time with my music than with you. Thank you...and I love you."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s lips moved. It was obvious what he said, even if they didn¡¯t hear his voice.

    "I love you, too. So much."

    Squeals and whistles echoed throughout the grand theatre upon witnessing such a romantic scene.

    Iris continued her speech.

    "The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, ¡¯Music in the soul can be heard by the universe¡¯. This is my ultimate goal as a musician¡ªto let the whole world, no, the whole universe hear my music. Where my words could fail to reach far, I hope that my music will. So thank you very much for listening to my music and liking it enough to choose me for this award."

    Before ending her speech, she switched to Mandarin and said, "Last but not the least, I want to thank my fans, the ck Stars. This honour is our honour. Please wait for me toe back home. I can¡¯t wait to see you all again."

    After her speech, she moved a few steps to the side and gave the audience an elegant, deep curtsy bow. She was still holding Jin Liwei¡¯s hand. Following her example, Jin Liwei also bent his body forward from the waist and gave everyone a deep bow.

    Their beautiful bows earned a loud standing ovation from the audience. Not only that, they were all very impressed at Iris Long¡¯s multilingual speech. She switchednguages so naturally that it didn¡¯t feel pretentious at all. In fact, it felt just righting out of her mouth.

    Hand in hand, the couple left the stage and returned to their seats, like a pair of immortal lovers descending from the heavens.

 Chapter 506 - Thereâ€™s Still A Chance

    <h4>Chapter 506 - There¡¯s Still A Chance </h4>

    On their way to their seats, Iris and Jin Liwei stopped to receive the congrattions from Wei Lan, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao.

    Wei Lan was now openly crying, casting aside her image as a graceful and ssy viscountess. But it still didn¡¯t detract from her beauty which she passed down to her one and only daughter, Long Xin. Her new friends didn¡¯t mind that she was freely expressing her emotions, unlike aposed a viscountess. In fact, they thought more highly of her now because she was acting like such a proud mother. It made her more rtable.

    Iris was touched by Wei Lan¡¯s emotional congrattions. The woman hugged her tightly. This was the first time that they had a real hug, not just the superficial ones they usually had before.

    Even from the memories of the original Iris Long, Wei Lan had perhaps only given her daughter this kind of heartfelt hug maybe once or twice, and that was when the original Iris was just a small child. The memories were hazy that it was difficult for the Iris now to ascertain whether they really happened or not, especially since she wasn¡¯t actually the one who experienced them.

    Nevertheless, Iris returned the hug and patted Wei Lan¡¯s back. She could feel the woman¡¯s sincerity in making up to her as a mother. Although she wasn¡¯t the real Iris, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel warm inside.

    A mother figure was someone that shecked in her past life as Evelina. Yet she had a few of them now. Yi Mei, Yang Jiahui, Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li. They treated her like their own daughter or granddaughter, so she was very thankful to them.

    As for Wei Lan, Iris had only treated the woman as an acquaintance or a distant friend who called or messaged her at random times. But ever since Wei Lan returned to the country and moved into her penthouse, they grew closer. This was especially true after Iris witnessed Wei Lan taking Jiang Ying Yue under her wings and helped her gain more self-confidence. Jiang Ying Yue was one of her best friends, so Iris began treating Wei Lan more favourably afterwards.

    Despite this, Iris still felt some sort of instinctive emotional distance towards Wei Lan. She couldn¡¯t fully exin it. She had no idea if the feeling originated from the remnant inside her body or from her.

    (She still didn¡¯t know that the remnant had now almostpletely fused with her, so technically there wasn¡¯t any active remnant inside her anymore.)

    Although Iris was feeling this way, she didn¡¯t want to push Wei Lan away. As long as the woman was treating her with sincerity, Iris had no problem in epting her goodwill. Perhaps she might even begin to treat Wei Lan like a real mother, despite the woman¡¯s shorings to the original Iris. After all, Iris believed that people could change.

    For now, however, she could only treat Wei Lan as an older friend. She felt much closer to Yi Mei, Yang Jiahui, Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li because she spent a longer time getting to know them in person as the new Iris. On the other hand, she was only beginning to bond with Wei Lan. Perhaps their rtionship would evolve into something better in the future.

    After hugging Wei Lan, Iris hugged Grandpa Lu next. The old man¡¯s proud voice boomed, but it was still drowned by the even louder apuse and cheers of the other people around them. Iris actually treated Grandpa Lu as the best father figure in this new life of hers, even more so than Long Tengfei. Grandpa Lu was very loving, nurturing, and yet still allowed her to spread her own wings, to explore the world on her own, and to learn from her own mistakes. He was also very open in expressing his affections to the people he cared about. Iris admired him greatly.

    Finally, she received congrattions from her big brother. Lu Zihao enveloped her in his warm and strong embrace.

    "I¡¯m so proud of you," he whispered to her ear in Russian. "You¡¯ve blossomed into an amazing, brilliant, incredible and confident woman. I wish you a lifetime filled withhappiness."

    Her face broke into a bright, emotional smile. Coming from her real big brother¡¯s mouth, these words were extra special to her.

    "Thank you, Big Brother," she whispered back in Russian as well. "I also wish you a lifetime filled with happiness. Let¡¯s spend these new lives of ours pursuing only happiness and the freedom to chase our dreams."

    His eyes dimmed a bit after hearing what she said, but his expression quickly recovered. Iris didn¡¯t notice the change at all. This was her big brother, after all. He was an expert in concealing his emotions if he really wanted to, even to the people close to him.

    Jin Liwei also joined in hugging everyone. He felt like the proudest husband ever. His wife was just too awesome!

    Afterwards, the couple finally returned to their seats where they were weed by the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", including the President of LX Productions and Guan Jintao and his wife. They looked absolutely ecstatic about her win, as if they had won it for themselves. And in a sense, they also won it because they were all part of the same film. They were one team.

    Iris wasn¡¯t stingy. She handed them the beautiful trophy in its open velvet box, so that they could examine it for themselves. The producer was crying tears of joy, while the director was teary-eyed.

    "We have one win. I¡¯m so happy! We can go home to China with heads held up high in pride. We didn¡¯t shame our country at all here in the Sommet International Film Festival," he said.

    Iris tilted her head to the side before replying, "We still have two more nominations remaining."

    The hidden implication of her words was clear to everyone.

    ¡¯We still have two more nominations remaining. There¡¯s still a chance that we can win more.¡¯

    The others chuckled, agreeing with her out loud. Inside, however, they didn¡¯t believe that they would continue to be lucky tonight.Now that their film had won an award through Iris Long, they already felt satisfied.

 Chapter 507 - Two!!!

    <h4>Chapter 507 - Two!!! </h4>

    The others from the "Strong Yet Broken" team already stopped expecting to win more awards after this. Thepetition in the film festival was extremely fierce. Take the Best Soundtrack Award, for example. It was just one award but there was a total of sixteen nominees. Sixteen nominees already seemed a lot, but other categories actually had more. Some even had more than twenty nominees. Only a few award categories had less than five nominees.

    It was already a miracle that Iris won against such stiffpetition. This was what the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken" thought in their minds.

    If he could hear what they were thinking about, Jin Liwei would disagree with them. It certainly wasn¡¯t a miracle that his baby girl won the Best Soundtrack Award. His baby girl deserved it and so much more. It was fortunate that the jury knew quality music when they heard one and chose his baby girl to win the award. If she didn¡¯t win, then he would inwardly use them of having poor taste and not knowing how to judge properly.

    To him, his baby girl was the greatest musician in the whole world, even more so than her legendary music mentors, Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez. In his love-filled mind, his baby girl was the best. Nobody could defeat her when it came to music.

    After Iris won the award, their group calmed down a lot. They were no longer nervous. They all felt very happy and proud. Their film won an award in the world-renowned Sommet International Film Festival!

    They all settled down on their seats. The beautiful trophy made its way back to Iris after the others finished admiring it. She cradled it on herp with one arm while her other hand continued to hold her darling¡¯s hand. His presence made her feel safe, secure andfortable.

    Later, the Best Actor Award had just been given out. Iris nced at Yin Meixing, the actress ying Guan Jintao¡¯s mother, who was sitting a few seats away from her. Her name would be called shortly as one of the nominees for the Best Actress Award.

    Yin Meixing looked rxed, not nervous at all. It seemed that she wasn¡¯t expecting herself to win. After all, there was a couple of world-famous, big name movie actressespeting against her. The others also looked like they felt the same way. They were just enjoying the rest of the evening, already content with the Best Soundtrack Award that Iris Long won for them.

    Back at the stage, a new pair of guest presenters appeared holding an envelope.

    "The nominees for the Best Actress Award are..."

    There was a total of nine nominees in the category. About a third of them were already rather famous actresses on the international level. Two of them were super famous. It was understandable that the cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken"weren¡¯t expecting Yin Meixing to win the Best Actress Award against all of these other well-known actresses. Indeed, at first nce and just based on fame level alone, Yin Meixing had no chance against them.

    However, Iris believed that based on pure acting talent and skills alone, Yin Meixing had a good shot on winning the award. Although she wasn¡¯t the most physically attractive woman, her acting was superb.

    The guest presenters onstage opened the envelope.

    "And the Best Actress Award goes to..."

    Iris didn¡¯t look at the stage at all. Instead, she looked to her side, continuing to observe Yin Meixing. The actress looked excited while watching her image being shown on the giant monitors alongside the other famous actresses. She was acting like a total fangirl instead of a nominee for a serious acting award.

    "Meixing Yin, ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯!"

    "..."

    Everyone from their group, except for Iris, all had nk expressions on their faces. At first, they thought that maybe they heard the name of the winner wrongly. Then when the guest presenters repeated Yin Meixing¡¯s name, they were all taken aback. It was only when Yin Meixing¡¯s expression of shocked disbelief was shown on the giant monitors that they realized she really won.

    Iris smiled and started pping her hands with the rest of the audience. Even Jin Liwei was surprised, but his reaction wasn¡¯t as dramatic as the others.

    "Congrattions, Miss Yin. Hurry and go up the stage now to receive your well-deserved award," Iris encouraged the actress.

    Yin Meixing lifted herself from her seat and walked stiffly like a robot to the stage. Someone had to help her up the steps because she almost tripped and fell on her face. The audience chuckled good-naturedly at her disy of clumsiness. Finally, she reached the stage.

    Her shock made her mindpletely nk out. When she regained her senses, the mic was already poking in front of her mouth and the beautiful trophy was in her arms. She saw the audience all looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Her heart was racing inside her chest, feeling like it was going to jump out at any moment. The quick lub-dub lub-dub of her heart was the only thing she could hear.

    "I..." she began in English. She had decent English skills. "I don¡¯t know what to say... I didn¡¯t prepare any speech for tonight at all because I wasn¡¯t expecting to...oh my GOD! I wasn¡¯t expecting to win at all! Is this really happening? I... Wow."

    The audience found her reaction adorable and couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    In the end, Yin Meixing was able to get a hold of herself. She properly thanked all the important people in "Strong Yet Broken", her management team, her fans, and of course, her family. It was a very generic speech but her heartfelt reaction touched the hearts of the audience. She was crying so much, but her professionalism still kicked in, making her speak clearly.

    The audience gave her a deafening standing ovation after her speech ended.

    When Yin Meixing finally returned to her seat, it felt like she was floating. There were many people¡ªmost of them strangers but some were famous celebrities¡ªwho congratted her on the way back. Everything that was happening right now didn¡¯t feel real. Maybe she was still dreaming.

    Everyone in her group was very emotional when they weed her. Tears flowed down most of their faces.

    The awards ceremony continued until finally, it was time for the final and the most important award of the film festival¡ªthe Soleil d¡¯Or Award.

    "Strong Yet Broken" didn¡¯t win it, but there was no disappointment in the group of Chinese participants. They were only filled with pure joy, excitement and pride.

    Iris Long and Yin Meixing, these two incredible and talented women in their own respective fields, were the biggest stars and China¡¯s greatest pride for them tonight. Winning just one award in the prestigious Sommet International Film Festival was already an achievement, but their film "Strong Yet Broken" won two awards!

    Two!!!

    And it was these two amazing women who won those awards for them.

    After the awards ceremony ended, Iris Long and Yin Meixing joined the other award winners on the stage for a group photo before heading for the post-ceremony press conference.

    Of course, it was being livestreamed to the viewers back in China.

 Chapter 508 - WeiRis

    <h4>Chapter 508 - WeiRis </h4>

    By now, the Chinese reporter who originally livestreamed the opening night of the Sommet International Film Festival had increased his reputation. His boss had ced more importance on him and gave him more funds to do his job more efficiently in this France assignment.

    The other Chinese reporters tried following his example and began livestreaming during the film festival as well. However, the pioneer already acquired the advantage in everything. The viewers seemed to flock to the original Chinese reporter who livestreamed first.

    His good reputation was evident in the view counts. At the moment, he was livestreaming the post-ceremony press conference. His livestream currently had a total of more than 3 million viewers,pared to the other Chinese reporters¡¯ livestreams that only had a few thousand views each. The additional funds he received were invested in better equipment, making the quality of his livestream more superior than the others. This was one of the reasons why the viewers preferred to watch his livestreams.

    He was currently focusing the video camera on Iris Long and Yin Meixing standing together with the other award winners. All of them held their beautiful golden sun on a crystal trophies inside open velvet boxes while smiling to the cameras.

    The names of all of these award winners, including Iris Long and Yin Meixing, would forever be recorded in the history of the Sommet International Film Festival. From now on, they would be referred to asureates of the film festival, alongside figures like Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez.

    Back in China, more people started tuning in to the livestream. It was already hours past midnight, yet the view count only kept increasing by the minute. There was now close to 3.5 million viewers.

    The original viewers since day one were watching the livestream again. Most of them were ck Stars. There were also members of high society, curious rumourmongers, Iris Long and Wei Lan¡¯s haters, Jin Liwei¡¯s own fans and those who were lusting for him, and the new WeiRis shippers.

    It wasn¡¯t only these people who were watching the livestream. The fans of the rising stars Yin Meixing and the other actors and actresses starring in "Strong Yet Broken" were also watching to support their new favourite celebrities. Guan Jintao¡¯s own fans also made sure to tune in. In addition, people working in entertainment news were required to watch the livestream as part of their work. And finally, the rest of the viewers were made up of people who genuinely wanted to support their fellow countrymen and countrywomen in giving pride and honour to their country.

    Nevertheless, it was still the ck Stars who were the most active in the livements.

    CaptainckStar: "We did it,rades! Our amazing Boss Iris won the Best Soundtrack Award! She even mentioned us, the ck Stars, in her eptance speech! This is a great honour to all of us. We must show boss how happy, grateful, and proud we are of her when she returns home!"

    The ck Stars¡¯ leader rallied her fellow fan club members to send messages of support to their beloved Boss Iris. A good portion of them were former LinRis shippers who temporarily became ZiRis shippers until they eventually settled down to be the WeiRis shippers.

    "OMG! Did you watch the video footage of Boss Iris¡¯ eptance speech on the inte? She brought CEO Jin with her on the stage and she said ¡¯I love you¡¯! And then he mouthed ¡¯I love you, too¡¯ back! Kyaaaaaah! I¡¯m dying! Help! I¡¯m drowning in too much dogfood!"

    "Yes! I watched it! I thought that CEO Jin will be too cold and unemotional for Boss Iris, but I¡¯m wrong! Despite his resting bitch face, CEO Jin¡¯s love for boss is very obvious from the look in his eyes."

    "I agree! The way that CEO Jin looks at Boss Iris is so sweet and sticky! I¡¯m getting diabetes just watching them!"

    "WeiRis is so much better than LinRis or even ZiRis! I¡¯m sorry Prince Lin Lin, but I think that your older brother matches Boss Iris better than you. Am I the only one who thinks that CEO Jin looks more handsome and masculine than Prince Lin Lin? Actually, I think that CEO Jin is perfect! Prince Lin Lin is only a prince but CEO Jin is a King! No, an Emperor! And Boss Iris will soon be his empress when they marry. Did you see their matching outfits? A phoenix and a dragon! How apt! What a gorgeous couple!

    "Kyaaaaaaaah!"

    The WeiRis shippers were having fun fangirling, fanboying and fangaying at their new favourite love team. Despite this, some of the original LinRis shippers were unhappy. They still steadfastly believed that their Prince Lin Lin was the perfect match to Boss Iris, even though the whole world already knew that Iris Long was engaged to CEO Jin Liwei. These fans, however, were bullheaded and refused to change their opinions. Fortunately, no major fights broke out between the LinRis and the WeiRis shippers.

    Only very few remained as ZiRis shippers. And even then, they weren¡¯t actually fans of the Iris Long-Lu Zihao pairing. More specifically, they became fans of Lu Zihao himself. They loved his big, muscr body¡ªso manly! Even the scar on his face was a major point of attraction. To normal people, a scar on the face would make other people view them as less attractive. In Lu Zihao¡¯s case, however, the scar made him hotter. But what they found the most attractive about him was his signature devilish smile. It was teasing with a hint of danger.

    These shippers continued to promote their favourite pairing. However, their enthusiastic discussions were interrupted by a famous username.

    JinChonglin:"To the earliermenter who said that my big brother is more handsome and masculine than me,e out! In what way does my cold-faced brother more handsome than me? I protest against this!"

    "Ahahaha! You¡¯re so cute, Prince Lin Lin."

    The others also followed suit in making fun of Jin Chonglin. They assumed that he was only joking with all of them by acting like a petnt child. And indeed, he started chatting and joking around with the other viewers. Some of them were his own fans. He raved about how proud he was of his "sister-inw" for winning the Best Soundtrack Award in the prestigious Sommet International Film Festival.

    "Jin Chonglin, are you jealous of Iris Long¡¯s award?" someone suddenly asked.

    There was no answer. Jin Chonglin became silent.

    "Pft! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re really jealous? How pathetic," the anonymous user taunted.

    Other trolls popped out and started attackingJin Chonglin. These haters were amon part of the inte, especially when famous superstars like Jin Chonglin were involved.

    Although Jin Chonglin seemed to have disappeared, his loyal army of fans descended in droves and defended their Prince Lin Lin against the haters. They attacked left and right. Other ck Stars also joined them. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans and the ck Stars had be even closer during this fall season because of their prince and boss¡¯ music coboration.

    LittlePhoenix: "Although I should be sleeping because I have school tomorrow¡ªwait, the next school day starts in a few hours! Anyway, I¡¯m calling all members of the Slippers Army who are present right now to raise your mighty slippers and defend Prince Lin Lin! He¡¯s our Boss Iris¡¯ future brother-inw so he¡¯s family! Family should take care of each other!"

 Chapter 509 - KittyBaby

    <h4>Chapter 509 - KittyBaby </h4>

    Members of the Slippers Army immediately responded to LittlePhoenix¡¯s call to action.

    "Yeah! Defend our Boss Iris¡¯ brother-inw! These noobs dare to act like trolls? Hah! There are no trolls who are worse than us, the Slippers Army! Let¡¯s teach these noobs how scary real trolls are! Let¡¯s go!"

    "My mighty slippers go pah-pah-pah and smack-smack-smack until these noobs fly all the way to the deepest level of hell!"

    "Shove our mighty slippers down their throats! That¡¯ll teach them!"

    In the ck Stars¡¯ private chat group, the Slippers Army began organizing and preparing for battle. Directing them to the battlefield was the newest ck Star with the username KittyBaby. She had only officially joined the fan club in the past week when their Boss Iris was in France for the Sommet International Film Festival. Despite this, KittyBaby quickly became an indispensable key member of the ck Stars, especially to the Slippers Army.

    She was actually a worse troll and even more aggressive than the original Slippers Army leader, iEatSlippers. If iEatSlippers was a machine gun, then KittyBaby was an atomic bomb all by herself. Not only was she a troll like him, but she was also aputer expert like MonkeyFace. KittyBaby was like the perfectbination of iEatSlippers and MonkeyFace but also an upgraded version of both of them.

    As a result, she had basically taken over the leadership of the Slippers Army in the very short amount of time that she became a member. It worked extremely well because KittyBaby seemed to be avable for action 24/7, unlike LittlePhoenix who could only go online for a few hours because she was still a student. In addition to this, she also took over MonkeyFace¡¯s job as the ck Star¡¯s Chief IT Officer.

    Although most of the other ck Stars felt that KittyBaby was weird (always meowing in her messages), they all grew to respect her skills and boldness. They thought that she was a genius. Even MonkeyFace, now the CEO of Monkey, didn¡¯t work as fast as her back then. It felt like KittyBaby could resolve issues instantly. While her fellow Slippers Army were still preparing for battle, she was already returning from obliterating all of the enemies by herself.

    As certified trolls, the members of the Slippers Army, including LittlePhoenix, were eager to be in the action themselves. They requested KittyBaby to restrain herself a bit in order for them to have the opportunity to wave their mighty slippers of justice and smack their Boss Iris¡¯ enemies to oblivion. There was no satisfaction greater than meting out punishment with one¡¯s own hand.

    "KittyBaby understands. I will just direct you to the most effective and efficient method, then. Meow~"

    Everyone felt better after she said this. And that was how KittyBaby became the greatestmander of the Slippers Army, even more so than the notorious founder himself, iEatSlippers.

    She was lightning-quick, decisive, urate and merciless. She was like a tireless robot who could work nonstop day and night.

    "Sister KittyBaby, are you even human? You¡¯re like a machine," LittlePhoenix once asked her.

    "Meow~ KittyBaby is a super-duper cute and fluffy kitty baby. My mommy and daddy love me very much because I¡¯m a good kitty!"

    "Right, right. Yes, you¡¯re a good kitty. Your parents are so lucky to have a genius kid like you," CaptainckStar replied.

    They could only ept her weirdness. Her speech patterns, however, made many of them suspect that she might be very young. Perhaps a teenager, or maybe even younger...a child? If KittyBaby was really a child, then she was indeed a genius with her impressiveputer skills.

    It reached a point that MonkeyFace, or CEO Hou Liang in real life, tried to recruit her to work for Monkey. Unfortunately, she didn¡¯t even take a moment to think about it. She immediately declined the offer. Her reason?

    "My mommy didn¡¯t tell me to work for Monkey. KittyBaby is also assisting my daddy with hispany¡¯s security. This good kitty is already a busy kitty. So no, thank you. Meow~"

    Their suspicion that she might really be just a child only grew stronger after this. It seemed that she was still dependent on her parents. But assisting in the security of her father¡¯spany? What child could do that? Only a genius could!

    It had only been about a week, but KittyBaby had already be very popr among the ck Stars. Her merciless trolling skills were also idolized by many members of the Slippers Army.

    Back to the battle in the livestream, KittyBaby acted as themander against the haters trolling Jin Chonglin. For some reason, the others noticed that she was extra ruthless tonight, as if the haters hurt a member of her own family. Or maybe she was just a secret hardcore fan of Prince Lin Lin.

    Then suddenly, the lord of lippers and the emperor of monkeys appeared to join in the fun.

    iEatSlippers: "KittyBaby is indeed a worthy sessor of my beloved Slippers Army! In just a few days, you¡¯ve transformed my army into a formidable powerhouse! This Lord of Slippers is extremely happy."

    MonkeyFace: "My offer of employment to Monkey is still open. Contact me anytime if you change your mind. Ask your parents. Maybe they¡¯ll allow you to work at our gamingpany."

    All the ck Stars, most especially the Slippers Army members, were delighted at the return of the two. With both of their addition, the destructive force of the notorious Slippers Army increased even more. What amazed everyone was that KittyBaby cooperated with them almost too perfectly, as if she already knew them for a long time.

    About fifteen minutester, a bunch of sensitive information was released on the inte for everyone to see. They were all personal information of the haters who trolled Jin Chonglin earlier. The release of their personal information to the public made them targets of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans and anyone who despised their hateful online behaviour while hiding behind the shield of anonymity.

    It would also make it possible for Jin Chonglin himself to pursue legal action for the crime of libel against them if he wanted. Now that their real identities were out in the open, they couldn¡¯t hide behind their anonymous ounts anymore.

    Nobody knew who released their identities on the inte. There were many who suspected that a talented hacker was assisting the ck Stars for a while now.

    They thought that it might be Hou Liang, a.k.a. MonkeyFace. After all, he was the CEO of Monkey, thepany that made the currently super popr game, "Supreme Ascension". In addition to this, he was originally the Chief IT Officer of the ck Stars. These all meant that he was very skilled inputers. However, they had no evidence to prove that he was the talented hacker who always assisted the ck Stars. Besides, hacking was illegal. Even if he did it, he wouldn¡¯t admit it in public, unless he was stupid enough to want to go into prison.

    In a private message, Wu Chen, a.k.a. iEatSlippers, messaged Hou Liang.

    iEatSlippers: "Great job hacking and releasing the personal information of all of those bastards and bitches. My mighty slippers are very satisfied."

    MonkeyFace: "It wasn¡¯t me."

    iEatSlippers: "Come on now. No need to be so modest between us bros."

    MonkeyFace: "It really wasn¡¯t me. Wait. Let¡¯s ask the one who I think did it."

    (KittyBaby was added to the chat by MonkeyFace)

 Chapter 510 - Tough Nut To Crack

    <h4>Chapter 510 - Tough Nut To Crack </h4>

    KittyBaby: "Meow?"

    MonkeyFace: "Was it you?"

    KittyBaby: "Yes! Meow~"

    Both iEatSlippers and MonkeyFace expected for KittyBaby to ask for rification about the question. After all, MonkeyFace didn¡¯t provide any other details and just asked. Surprisingly, however, she answered directly, as if she already knew what the question was all about.

    KittyBaby: "Are you going to be a tattletale and tell everyone that I did it? KittyBaby won¡¯t let you! If you do, I¡¯m going to tell my mommy that you¡¯re being mean to KittyBaby. Meow!"

    The two men didn¡¯t bother paying attention to her childish speech and instead focused on her admission. Although both already knew that she was a skilled hacker, they were still impressed by her hacking skills, especially MonkeyFace. Of course, he was confident that he could do the same thing but not as quickly as she did it.

    She only spent about fifteen minutes to hunt all those anonymous trolls, dig out their personal information, and then release their details to the public on the inte. Many of these trolls were also using virtual privateworks (VPN), making it many times more difficult to locate them.

    A suspicion about KittyBaby grew inside MonkeyFace. He left the three-way private chat and directly messaged KittyBaby.

    MonkeyFace: "Are you rted to Drakon?"

    KittyBaby: (sticker of a mischievousughing white cat)

    MonkeyFace: "Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t tell anyone. I already know Drakon¡¯s real identity."

    KittyBaby: "I know that you know. Meow~"

    MonkeyFace: "So are you rted?"

    KittyBaby: "Yes! Drakon is KittyBaby¡¯s Mommy! Ehehe. Meow~"

    A slight pause in the chat.

    KittyBaby: "Ooops! I¡¯m not sure whether I¡¯m allowed to say this! You meanie! If my mommy calls KittyBaby a bad kitty because of this, then it¡¯s your fault! Meow... (sticker of an angry white cat)"

    MonkeyFace took a few seconds before replying.

    MonkeyFace: "Drakon is your...mommy? Your real mother? How is this possible? How old are you? Then is your father CEO-you-know-who?"

    KittyBaby: "Hmph! So many questions. KittyBaby doesn¡¯t want to answer them anymore! You can just ask my mommy directly. If KittyBaby gets into trouble with Mommy after this, it¡¯s your fault! Meow!"

    (KittyBaby left the chat)

    After this, MonkeyFace didn¡¯t bother KittyBaby anymore to answer his questions. He was still trying to wrap his mind around what she revealed. He never suspected that KittyBaby was not a real person.

    He didn¡¯t believe that Iris Long and Jin Liwei would already have a grown child. Though there was a possibility that KittyBaby was lying about what she said, but he didn¡¯t think so. His intuition told him that she really was rted to Drakon.

    Perhaps Iris Long and Jin Liwei adopted a genius child as their daughter? And now Iris Long, a.k.a. Drakon, was training this child to be her sessor as a hacker?

    MonkeyFace didn¡¯t know if his guesses were correct. He intended to ask Iris Long directly.

    After the real identities of Jin Chonglin¡¯s haters were exposed on the inte, the livestream gradually returned to normal. The other key officers of the ck Stars appeared and joined in livementing. MrsLovePhantom, JJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan and JJNumber3Fan. They didn¡¯t want to miss witnessing and celebrating Iris Long¡¯s victory in France¡¯s Sommet International Film Festival.

    Aside from Jin Chonglin (who already disappeared and didn¡¯t return), there were also other celebrities who joined in the livements.

    All members of Pandemonium band: ze, Eros, Night and Thunder.

    Mr. JJ and DJ Song.

    These popr showbiz figures were actually watching the livestream! The view count soon rose to 4 million views. It appeared that a great number of people in China weren¡¯t sleeping tonight.

    Iris Long¡¯s prestige as a musician increased even more after this.

    ###

    Inside her condo unit, Rose Young was also watching the livestream. She was in her living room, lying on the couch. Herptop sat on top of the coffee table. Her eyes were burning with hatred and jealousy. She wished that she could reach her hands into the screen, wrap them around the slut Iris Long¡¯s neck and strangle her.

    A strong urge to bash Iris Long online washed over her. There were many times while watching the livestream that she wanted to insult the slut. Seeing all of the vomit-inducing praises for the slut in the livements filled her with so much fury.

    However, she restrained herself. With all these brainless fans who called themselves the ck Stars and the Slippers Army (what a stupid name) defending the slut, Rose Young knew that she would only get herself attacked online if shemented anything negative about Iris Long. Besides, she knew that someone was already deleting negativements about the slut online. It was probably Jin Liwei who ordered it to protect his slut fianc¨¦e¡¯s reputation.

    However, what angered Rose Young the most during the livestream was seeing a familiar username among the slut¡¯s brainless fans.

    "So that damned KittyBaby is really one of the slut¡¯s people! Fuck you, KittyBaby! Fuck you, Iris Long!"

    It was this sted KittyBaby who posted the hotel¡¯s surveince video on the inte, showing that Rose Young pretended to trip in order to grab onto Jin Liwei¡¯s arm. The video debunked the photos anonymously posted by Jenny Tseng which insinuated that Rose Young and Jin Liwei were in a rtionship, that they were sleeping together in a hotel, and that she was his fianc¨¦e.

    All the two friends wanted to do by coborating like this was to sway the public¡¯s opinion and make Rose Young more desirable as a match for Jin Liwei. However, their n backfired because of KittyBaby! Rose Young¡¯s intuition told her that the KittyBaby who fucked her up with the surveince video and the KittyBaby from the ck Stars were the same person.

    It was this malicious troublemaker¡¯s fault that her outstanding reputation among the employees of Jin Corporation nosedived. Now all those lowly bastards and bitches were making fun of her behind her back.

    "Damn you, KittyBaby! It¡¯s because of you that I¡¯m suffering mockery in thepany! Just you wait. Once I discover who you are, I¡¯ll kill you along with that slut Iris Long! I know that the two of you are teaming up against me! It¡¯s because I¡¯m so much better than that slut Iris Long and the perfect match for Big Brother Liwei!"

    Her phone rang, interrupting her tirade.

    "Dammit! Who is it?!"

    It kept on ringing, irritating her. She grabbed her phone in anger, and then stopped when she saw that it was her father. She immediately became well-behaved when she answered the call.

    "Hello?"

    "Are you watching the livestream?" Romeo Young asked his daughter.

    "Yes, Dad. I¡¯m watching it right now."

    "This KittyBaby is a tough nut to crack. The hackers I know still can¡¯t sniff out her real identity."

    Rose Young wanted toin again about the hackers¡¯ ipetence but she held her tongue after remembering her father scolding her before. Dissatisfaction filled her, but she restrained herself from expressing it out loud.

    "If the hackers I know can¡¯t dig out this KittyBaby, then no other avable hackers can," he told her as if knowing what she was thinking. "But don¡¯t worry about this KittyBaby for now. We¡¯ll never forget and forgive her for what she did to you. Our focus now should be in destroying Iris Long. She¡¯s in the way, not only of your goal of bing the next Madam Jin, but also of our family¡¯s goal of getting Jin Corporation. She needs to disappear."

    Her eyes burned with hatred but also determination. "Yes, Dad."

    And so the father and daughter began plotting against their new enemy, Iris Long.

 Chapter 511 - Demonic Angel

    <h4>Chapter 511 - Demonic Angel </h4>

    This year¡¯s Sommet International Film Festival finally concluded. The Chinese participants needed to return home to their country soon. Their participation in the film festival wasn¡¯t a vacation. It was still part of their work.

    Everyone involved in "Strong Yet Broken" was busy. The film helped each of them gain recognition in their own respective fields, especially Yin Meixing who was now a well-respected actress. They had new projects that they were all working on.

    Iris Long was also the same. Time was tight for her. The officialunch of herpany, Orchidia Beauty, was in three days. She and Jin Liwei needed to return as soon as possible in order to make it in time.

    At the moment, there was an air of mystery surrounding Orchidia Beauty. They deliberately leaked a portion of the grandunch¡¯s guest list to the public. It included many impressive figures.

    The Jins: Jin Liwei, Jin Chonglin, Li Zhiruo (Grandma Li) and Huang Yuyan.

    When the people saw that the Jins would be attending, they didn¡¯t question it because Jin Chonglin was an endorser of Orchidia Beauty. They assumed that his family would being to support him. And now that everyone knew that Iris Long and Jin Liwei was engaged, it added another reason for the entire Jin main family to attend. After all, both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were endorsers of the newpany.

    The Lus: Sir Lu Jianhong (Grandpa Lu) and Lu Zihao.

    People also didn¡¯t question their attendance because many knew that the Lus and the Jins were close to each other. Perhaps the Lus would also be attending to support Jin Chonglin. It had also already been reported that Iris Long was close to both the Lu grandfather and grandson.

    The Longs: Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui.

    Also Vizcondesa Lan of Castillo de Estres of Espa?a.

    It was a given that Iris Long¡¯s parents were also invited.

    Other than this leaked guest list, there wasn¡¯t any substantial information about Orchidia Beauty itself. They hadn¡¯t revealed the identities of the people running it yet. On their press release announcing thepany¡¯s officialunch, they only promised to reveal everything to the public during the grand party. This made the people more curious about it.

    Why the need to act so mysterious? Was this just a marketing strategy to create hype? Or was there truly something thepany was keeping a secret that would shock everyone once revealed?

    Iris was feeling very excited for theunch of herpany. She had been working on it sincest year. That was why she didn¡¯t want to stay in France any longer than necessary. She urged Jin Liwei and the others for everyone to return to China as soon as possible.

    In the end, they all decided to stay one more day in France in order to rest. Iris wanted to depart immediately but Jin Liwei persuaded her to wait one more day. The two of them had been attending events with everyone from "Strong Yet Broken" throughout the entire duration of the film festival. They almost had no time to rest.

    During the final day of their stay in France, Iris and Jin Liwei decided to host both a victory and farewell lunch party. Everyone from "Strong Yet Broken" came. All of them couldn¡¯t help but gasp in amazement at the grandeur of Jin Liwei¡¯s vi estate. Guan Jintao couldn¡¯t see, but his wife described everything to him.

    Maestro Ludovico De Luca, his wife and Enrique Valdez also attended. Their arrival made everyone from "Strong Yet Broken" starstruck. They swore that from now on, they would do their best to maintain their rtionship with Iris Long. She was connected to all of these impressive people, including Sir Lu Jianhong and Madam Wei Lan, now a Spanish viscountess. Not to mention that she was engaged to the Chinese billionaire, Jin Liwei.

    They were in the grand dining hall. Therge and long dinner table was removed in preference for lounge chairs and small tables instead. The lunch was buffet-style which Iris and Jin Liwei now preferred whenever they hosted parties, thanks to the Chua family¡¯s influence. It was less formal and encouraged everyone to mingle freely.

    The atmosphere was light and cheerful. Everyone was still feeling euphoric over Iris Long and Yin Meixing¡¯s double winsst night. Their beautiful trophies were disyed on a high table for the others to admire. It was the producer who suggested it, feeling proud of the women¡¯s achievements for his film.

    While they were all chatting and eating, the French butler announced a surprise guest. Momentster, the stunning Ashandra Knightson walked into the dining hall. The men who hadn¡¯t met her yet, except for Lu Zihao, stopped what they were doing when they saw her. Their jaws fell down and their eyes widened upon seeing such a beauty. Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t affected at all.

    Iris smiled brightly when she saw her friend. She and Jin Liwei weed the artist. They spoke in English.

    "Ashandra, I¡¯m so happy that you dropped by. This is ourst day here before we have to go home to China," Iris told her friend after hugging each other.

    "Xin, I missed you so much! AJ and Theresa also miss you. Florence is in Southeast Asia right now, but I know that she¡¯s also missing us," Ashandra said to Iris before giving a friendly hug to Jin Liwei as well. "Good to see you again, Liam. You better take care of my friend or us Cross girls will rip you apart and feed you to the rats."

    "Don¡¯t worry. If I ever hurt her, you¡¯re free to punish me. I¡¯ll deserve it," Jin Liwei replied.

    Ashandra nodded, satisfied at his answer. Then she turned to Iris again and scolded, "Why did you only tell me now that you¡¯re here in France? If I knew, I would¡¯ve hurried to meet you here. We could¡¯ve spent more time together!"

    "I didn¡¯t know that you were in Italy attending an art exhibition. I thought you were still at the Academy busy working on your next masterpiece. I didn¡¯t want to disturb you."

    "Silly girl. You¡¯re wee to disturb me anytime. What are friends for?"

    Iris responded with a warm smile. "Thank you."

    "By the way, I heard what happenedst night. Congrattions on winning the Best Soundtrack Award! I¡¯m so proud of you. This is for you." Ashandra handed Iris a gift bag.

    "May I?" Iris asked.

    "Of course. Please open it."

    Iris gasped when she saw what her friend gave her.

    "Ashandra, this is beautiful! Thank you!"

    "I¡¯m d you liked it. It¡¯s one of mytest works."

    The gift was arge, beautiful, silk scarf. Although it was a scarf, it was also an incredible painting. An ethereal woman wearing a pristine white dress was soaring to the heavens among the stormy clouds with her jet-ck wings. The woman¡¯s angelic beauty was a contrast to her demonic wings. Her eyes looked fierce and determined, as she flew towards whatever was up there.

    "I chose this particr scarf to give you because the woman in my painting is very simr to you, Xin. As a person, your kindness and generosity are like that of an angel. But once you set your mind into something, you obsessively pursue it like a demon," Ashandra exined.

    "Exactly," Jin Liwei wholeheartedly agreed to the artist¡¯s brief analysis of his baby girl.

    Iris didn¡¯t reply to the two. She continued to admire the scarf instead. Then she asked, "What¡¯s this painting called?"

    "I call it the ¡¯Demonic Angel¡¯."

    "Beautiful," Iris whispered.

    Later, Ashandra greeted Grandpa Lu, Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez. They all knew each other because they were former and current students of Cross Academy.

    After Iris introduced her friend to everyone, the party resumed its light and cheerful atmosphere. The people who hadn¡¯t met Ashandra yet were all very curious of her. When they learned that she was an aplished artist whose works always sold out at insane prices in auctions, they were all very impressed.

    Once again, everyone from "Strong Yet Broken" were amazed by Iris Long¡¯s connections. It seemed that Ashandra Knightson was her personal friend. Meaning, Iris met the respected artist on her own instead of getting connected through Jin Liwei. In fact, even Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez seemed to be only close to her and not to Jin Liwei.

    If other people started using Iris Long of using CEO Jin Liwei to climb socially, then the "Strong Yet Broken" team would be the first ones to defend her.

 Chapter 512 - Matrimonial Assets

    <h4>Chapter 512 - Matrimonial Assets </h4>

    After the lunch party, all the guests left the estate vi.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and the others began packing their luggage. Jiang Ying Yue almost wanted to cry because her son had the most to pack among them. Grandpa Lu and Wei Lan bought Little Jun so many toys, clothes, shoes, and other items that Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t know the purpose of. In the end, the French household staff helped her pack because it would take her a few days if she did it by herself.

    That same night, they finally left the vi estate which they called home for almost two weeks. They boarded Jin Liwei¡¯s massive luxury yacht LX. Everyone from the "Strong Yet Broken" group were also travelling together with them. They all bid goodbye to the beautiful coast of the French Riviera.

    After the yacht were the limousines. Then they arrived at the private airport. Since there were many of them travelling together this time, Iris and Jin Liwei decided to use their new private jumbo jet. It was purchased right after Jin Liwei acquired his luxury yacht LX. Iris also wanted to buy something big and luxurious for them, so Jin Liwei suggested a jumbo jet.

    "My family is now your family and vice versa. There¡¯s now many of us. Our family will only continue to expand from now on. Instead of taking separate private jets, isn¡¯t it more fun and economical to travel together at the same time? We can go on vacations together with our family and friends," he reasoned.

    Iris was persuaded so she agreed. When she looked at the price, however, even she couldn¡¯t help but wince. So expensive! She could afford to pay it in full, but she would need to work extra hard in order to replenish her bank ount. Besides, she already appropriated a good portion of her wealth for the development of herpanies and in diversifying her investments.

    In addition, she was also putting a lot of money into researching and developing Ketchup even further. The cat AI¡¯s abilities were growing so fast that Iris was afraid she might not be able to keep up with it. She needed to fully understand her creation¡ªno, her third baby. It was also to increase Ketchup¡¯s security and to reduce the possibility of the cat AI from being stolen and used in nefarious ways.

    Seeing his baby girl¡¯s conflicted expression, Jin Liwei came to the rescue.

    "How about we buy the jumbo jet together?"

    Iris wasn¡¯t willing. He already bought them a yacht. She also wanted to buy something for both of them.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t give up. "Let¡¯s do it 50/50. You pay half, I pay half. It¡¯ll be one of our first matrimonial assets together. Sounds good, right?"

    "Oh." Her eyes lit up when he said it like that.

    He continued, "We should start buying things together now, so that we don¡¯t have to worry about any of these things after we marry. Then all we have left to worry is when to have children and how to raise them."

    She hugged his arm and smiled, feeling a little shy that he was talking about marriage. Thest part of his sentence made her nervous, though. The idea of giving birth to their own (human) children still filled her with a little anxiety. Fortunately, it was no longer as intense as before.

    "Okay, love?" Jin Liwei asked her again.

    She nodded.

    And that was how the couple became the co-owners of the luxurious, private jumbo jet they named LX Air.

    When the others saw the gigantic ne, their jaws fell down. Only Grandpa Lu had a knowing look on his face. Lu Zihao managed to maintain his usual roguish expression, but surprise still shed in his eyes for a few seconds.

    "We¡¯re flyingmercial?" Wei Lan asked.

    "No, Auntie. We¡¯re flying private. Xin and I bought this jumbo jet together," Jin Liwei replied to her. "She paid 50% while I paid the other half," he quickly added, wanting to make it clear to everyone that his baby girl also contributed.

    He especially nced at everyone from the "Strong Yet Broken" group. He didn¡¯t want them to think that his baby girl was just using him for material gains, like the other stupid motherfuckers who kept on belittling his (future) wife.

    As for the "Strong Yet Broken" group, a lightbulb suddenly lit inside their minds.

    Since they spent so much time everyday with both Iris Long and Jin Liwei during the Sommet International Film Festival, they sometimes heard him calling her as Xin. During the lunch party earlier that day, they also heard everyone else referring to Iris as Xin. They asked and confirmed that Iris Long¡¯s real name was Long Xin.

    They continued this train of thought.

    Jin Liwei was the true owner of LX Productions. The luxury yacht they used earlier was called LX. And now, this unbelievable private jumbo jet was called LX Air. The couple also wore matching LX bangles.

    The connection finally registered to them.

    "LX means Long Xin, right?" Yin Meixing asked. "That is so romantic! So sweet! CEO Jin actually named all of these after you!"

    "No, that¡¯s wrong. LX means Liwei and Xin," Iris corrected.

    "Oh! That¡¯s even better! How romantic!"

    Finally, they all boarded Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s jumbo jet, LX Air. The inside was massive!

    Upon entering, an opulent and spacious lounge room greeted them. The seats had seatbelts, but they looked extremelyfortable. There was a formal dining area with onerge table. A more casual dining area had smaller individual tables for intimate meals with smaller groups. There was an entertainment room which looked like a mini movie theatre with a popcorn machine in a corner.

    Beside the entertainment room, there was an arcade. On the opposite side was a children¡¯s yroom and several vending machines filled with candies, snacks, and drinks. Iris and Jin Liwei added this for Little Jun and also for their future kids. A small part of the yroom was dedicated to various cat equipment for y. They were for Ice Cream and Popcorn, if Iris and Jin Liwei decided to bring them to their travels.

    In another part of the ne, the adults could enjoy some cocktails from a well-stocked bar with its very own bartender. They could even y billiards, darts, mah-jong, poker or other card games.

    If the passengers wanted to relieve themselves or take a shower, the jumbo jet boasted three full bathrooms and five powder rooms. Two for thedies and another two for the gentlemen. The other one was a family room for those who had small children like Jiang Ying Yue.

    On the second floor...yes, there was a second floor! The upper level was dedicated to the bedrooms, a library, gym, and amon room to rx while gazing at the clouds outside the windows.

    Seeing everything inside, all had the same thought.

    ¡¯Isn¡¯t this basically a mansion inside a freaking ne?¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t only the jumbo jet or its interiors that were amazing but also the crew. They were all very professional. Just like in Jin Liwei¡¯s other private jets, the crew members were all males. Irisined about it at first but his answer made her shut up.

    "I don¡¯t want to give you any reason to feel jealous," he told her. "Although I also feel a little jealous having all these men serving you, at least I know that with me around, they won¡¯t dare flirt or seduce you. And I also trust that you¡¯ll kick them in the nuts if they do anything inappropriate to you."

 Chapter 513 - A Little Patience

    <h4>Chapter 513 - A Little Patience </h4>

    It was alreadyte in the evening. Their private jumbo jet, LX Air, was scheduled to take off just before midnight. The cabin crew weed all of them and led them to their assigned bedrooms. Everyone needed to share. There might be a lot of bedrooms in the jet, but there were also many of them. Or if they preferred, they could always sleep in the main lounge area instead.

    The master bedroom was, of course, reserved for Iris and Jin Liwei. They were the owners of LX Air, after all.

    They all stayed at the main lounge area and put on the seatbelts during take-off. When it was safe to move around, they started exploring all the amenities the jumbo jet had to offer. They were like children visiting the amusement park for the first time.

    While the others explored, Jiang Ying Yue excused herself to her assigned bedroom with her son. Little Jun was already fast asleep. Jiang Ying Yue wanted her son to sleep properly on a bed.

    Later, Iris and Jin Liwei also excused themselves to the master bedroom. Most of them didn¡¯t really notice the couple leaving because they were too busy exploring everything inside the jet.

    Only the sharp-eyed Lu Zihao and his subordinates paid attention to almost everything around them. He was a little unhappy that the two were going to their bedroom ahead of everyone else. His eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw Jin Liwei¡¯s hand slide from his sister¡¯s back down to her butt. The perverted man even squeezed his sister¡¯s butt! It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine what the two nned on doing inside their bedroom after this.

    Lu Zihao closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths in order to calm the murderous aura emanating from him. Fortunately, his subordinates were the only people around him right now. The others were ying around in the other areas of the jet.

    "Out of sight, out of mind," he murmured to himself.

    Already out of sight from Lu Zihao, the couple walked while keeping their bodies together. They climbed the staircase to the second floor and headed to their bedroom. It was smallerpared to their own bedrooms in the penthouse, the mansion and at the French vi, but it was still the biggest among all the bedrooms avable in the jumbo jet.

    As soon as the door closed, Jin Liwei pushed Iris against it and kissed her. The kiss was deep and hungry. His hands covered her butt and squeezed them before lifting her up. Her arms wrapped around his neck while her legs did the same thing around his waist.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s tongue swept inside her mouth like a king dering "Mine, mine, all mine" to his territory. Iris also gave as much as she received. She sucked hard on his lips and tongue, making him groan. She could already feel the hardness inside his pants below her.

    While still carrying and kissing her, he walked them towards the bed. Iris couldn¡¯t breathe anymore, so she pulled her head away, gasping. He shifted his attention to her neck instead, giving the smooth and fragrant skin some hot and wet kisses. She moaned and stretched her neck to the side in order to give him more ess.

    Finally, they reached the bed. He gently sat her down on it while he remained standing. Her hands immediately went to work, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the hard muscles of his chest, shoulders and abs. The shirt fell to the floor. She showered kisses on his abs, loving that they kept on tightening. Then she began unbuckling his belt and unzipping his trousers. Afterwards, she pulled everything down including his boxers. His erection sprang out, almost hitting her on the face.

    Before he could even react, she already took his entire length inside her mouth.

    "Ah, fuck! Oh shit, Xin!"

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stop himself from cursing because it felt so good. He grabbed her hair and held her head while a loud hiss escaped from between his gritted teeth. His eyes closed in pleasure, a groan sounding deep within his throat. He moaned, as she continued to pleasure him with her mouth.

    Then she stopped all of a sudden and looked up at him while tilting her head to the side.

    "How are you feeling, darling? Are you feeling more pleasure right now?" she asked. "I read from a few sources that having sex in a ne is more pleasurable because of the dip in atmospheric pressure, the lower than normal oxygen levels, and the constant vibrations. Ah, wait! Let me get myptop. I need to record my observations."

    Jin Liwei stopped her before she could jump out of the bed.

    "Later," he told her in a gruff voice.

    Then he pulled her up and kissed her on the mouth once again. While doing so, his hands unzipped the back of her long-sleeved midi dress. It opened. He ran his hands all over the smooth skin of her back before unsping her bra. The dress fell to the floor. He also tossed her bra...somewhere.

    Since the night weather outside was chilly, she wore thermal stockings. He also began removing her stockings, unrolling the soft cloth slowly from her hips down to her beautiful legs. His mouth kissed and licked the part of her skin being gradually exposed.

    Finally, the stockings werepletely removed from her legs. She was only left with her panties. She was already wet and needy for him. A whine escaped from her throat, expressing her impatience. But he only chuckled and continued teasing her with hot and wet yet light kisses all over her skin.

    She needed him right now! She didn¡¯t want to wait any longer! No more teasing!

    She grabbed his erection and squeezed it in her hand in a dangerous manner, warning him. A groan of pleasure and rm sounded in his throat before he released an arousedughter.

    "Jin Liwei, please!"

    "A little patience, love," he told her, stillughing softly.

    "I¡¯ll be patientter. I need you now!"

    He kissed the tip of her nose. His baby girl was too adorable!

    "Alright," he finally said. "Sit back down."

    She immediately sat on the edge of the bed. He knelt in front of her and removed her panties before spreading her legs wide open. His fingers rubbed her wet folds. She was already so wet for him! He inserted two fingers inside, slowly moving them in and out of her.

    "Oh, darling..." she moaned andy on the bed with eyes closed, enjoying the sensation of his fingers inside her.

    When she opened her eyes again, she was already panting hard. Jin Liwei was looking directly at her eyes, watching her every expression. They gazed at each other with heat and passion. She opened her legs wider and moved her body sensuously on the sheets.

    "Liwei, please..." she breathed, her voice husky.

    He took a sharp inhale of breath. His baby girl looked too damn sexy! The wild beast inside him was beginning to overwhelm his sanity. Grunting, he left her to quickly rummage inside the bedside table drawer. Iris heard the sound of tearing foil. When he returned, his length was already sheathed in a condom.

    "Are you ready?" he asked.

    "Yes!"

    "This is going to be wild, love."

    "Exactly what I want."

    He growled and roughly pulled her legs. Her whole body followed until her butt was on the very edge of the bed. He was still standing. He straightened her legs up in the air and hugged them close to his body with one hand while his other hand guided his erection to her wet entrance. Then he stabbed his entire length deep inside her.

    Iris cried out and then moaned. Jin Liwei also released a deep groan. His eyes closed, his body taut like a stretched bow, as he savoured the feeling of being inside his woman. A few secondster, he opened his eyes and looked down at her.

    She was also looking at him with her beautiful, half-lidded eyes. Her long hair was spread all over the bedsheets, like a sensual halo of womanly beauty.

    His gaze dropped to her lovely breasts which were rising and falling quickly with her breaths. Saliva automatically pooled inside his mouth at the sight of his favourite mounds. Leaning forward while still hugging her legs to close to his body, he folded her in half until her knees touched her own shoulders. Then he caught one of her nipples inside his mouth and sucked hard. His hips also started moving, thrusting inside her again and again. He made sure to take care of her other nipple as well. He didn¡¯t want it to feel lonely, so he gave both the same equal love.

    After her breasts, he returned to kissing her sweet mouth. He also quickened the rhythm of his hips. His sweat dripped down on her skin below, mixing with her own sweat. Their hot breaths merged as one, as they continued to devour each other¡¯s hot and hungry mouths.

    Jin Liwei raised his body once again into a standing position, taking Iris¡¯ legs with him. He crossed her straight legs into an X position, making her squeeze him even tighter inside her. Then he hugged her crossed legs to his chest while pounding his hips inside her with speed and force that made her scream at the top of her lungs.

    Fortunately, they made sure that all bedrooms in the jet were soundproofed. She could scream all she wanted and he could roar all he wanted and nobody would be able to hear them outside.

    The wet and loud sounds of their smacking flesh made both of them more aroused. It was harder to breathe than usual, but it also heightened the pleasure that they were feeling. There was also some sort of an invisible heaviness or maybe lightness¡ªthey weren¡¯t sure exactly how to describe the sensation¡ªpressing down on both of them, making everything more intense than usual. Was this the reason why the mile-high club was so popr?

    "Liwei! Oh my goodness, Liwei!!!"

    Iris closed her eyes tightly, as her scream turned soundless. The orgasm was so intense, battering her entire body and mind in a series of hot, violent and forceful waves. At that moment, she forgot how to breathe, how to scream properly...she even forgot her entire self. There was only pleasure...the pleasure her man was giving her with every heavy m of his hips, burying himself inside her again and again.

    Momentster, he also joined her to the peak. He stiffened and buried himself deep inside her and flooded the condom with his white release. He was like a wild animal, ferociously growling and grunting, as he enjoyed theirbined pleasure.

    When it was over and the used condom discarded, the couple cuddled on the bed.

    "It¡¯s subtle, but it¡¯s indeed more pleasurable making love in a ne," Irismented.

    "En." He kissed her temple. "Want to do it again to make sure that it¡¯s really true?"

    "Yes!"

    And the couple made love again.

    And again.

    And again...

    Until both of them passed out from pure exhaustion and pleasure.

 Chapter 514 - Unsuitable

    <h4>Chapter 514 - Unsuitable </h4>

    Now that this year¡¯s Sommet International Film Festival was officially over, Iris Long and Jin Liwei along with the others were making their way home. Many were looking forward to their triumphant return and were constantly on the lookout for any updates about them.

    This was especially true for Iris Long and Yin Meixing, the two women who brought the greatest honours to their country from the prestigious international film festival. It felt like they won the two awards for all the Chinese people. The news kept on featuring the two women. As a result, their prestige in their respective fields grew so much in just a day. And it only continued to grow as more and more people talked about them on the streets or online.

    The general public¡¯s attitude was mostly proud, excited and enthusiastic. However, the attitude in the country¡¯s high society was the exact opposite. These haughty creatures, who always thought that they were better than everyone else, disdained Iris Long¡¯s constant news features.

    "She¡¯s going to be so full of herself again," they said.

    "I don¡¯t even know what the judges in thatpetition were thinking in choosing Iris Long to be the winner. I hated the music in that depressing movie! Every time I hear it, I be depressed!"

    After belittling her achievements, these members of high society would then go on to say that no matter how sessful Iris Long was bingtely, she could never be a suitable partner for someone as powerful as Jin Liwei.

    Who was Jin Liwei?

    He was the current President-CEO of Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country. He was also a billionaire on a global scale with power and influence that reached far and wide not only in the country but also abroad, especially in Asia. He was a formidable man who should deserve only the best in everything, including a wife.

    But who was Iris Long?

    A celebrity with a beautiful face and sexy body.

    So what? She wasn¡¯t the only beautiful and sexy woman in the world. There were other far more beautiful and sexier women out there.

    A multi-award winning musician.

    So what? She only started winning awards earlier this year. What if this year was a fluke and she couldn¡¯t repeat her musical sess in the next few years?

    A genius polyglot. A skilled trantor and interpreter.

    Fine, they would give her that. Indeed, she disyed her talents and skills innguages in the recent international business conference. Hernguage skills shone once again during the Sommet International Film Festival.

    However, it was extremely unfortunate how foolish she was for not pursuing a career in trantion instead. Yes, she would do some frence trantions on the side for Long Industries and Jin Corporation, but her showbiz career remained her main priority. What a stupid decision! If only she would abandon her showbiz career for a more stable career in the field of business trantions, then she would be a little more suitable for Jin Liwei. Only a little bit, though. To the envious members of high society, she would still be quite not good enough for Jin Liwei.

    This kind of disparaging attitude among the members of high society towards Iris Long was fueled by rumours saying that some Jin branch families were very unhappy with her as their next Madam.

    "Iris Long? She¡¯s too young! Only twenty-one. She¡¯s basically still a teenager! Will she even be able to fulfill all the duties and responsibilities associated with being the madam of us, the Jins, the current number one business family in the country?" a member of a Jin branch family was heard saying to some of his friends.

    "Someone like Miss Rose Young is a far better match to our family head than that young celebrity. Miss Rose is sessful and holds a high executive level position in Jin Corporation, not to mention that she¡¯s around the same age as the family head. What¡¯s more, she gets along to many of us in the branch families. She¡¯s perfect for the family head and is more suitable to be the next madam than that Iris Long," another was heard saying.

    These disgruntled members of the Jin branch families were close to Rose Young¡¯s maternal family. They were also the one who pushed for her promotion as the next CMO of Jin Corporation. It was only natural that they preferred her to be their next madam than Iris Long who always had a bad reputation in high society since a long time ago. In addition to this, if Rose Young married Jin Liwei and became the next madam, it was almost a sure thing that she would elevate their branch families¡¯ status within the Jin n because of their support for her.

    Along with Jenny Tseng, one of the biggest gossipmongers in high society, these members of the Jin branch families influenced people in high society to think more highly of Rose Young as a better marriage match for Jin Liwei than Iris Long. It was actually quite easy to make most of high society to think like this. It was because Iris Long and her mother Wei Lan¡¯s reputations in high society had always been rotten.

    With the mother and daughter¡¯s recent rise to prominence abroad during the Sommet International Film Festival, many members of high society stewed in envy, resentment and hatred towards the two.

    These deep-rooted bias against both Iris Long and Wei Lan would be difficult to change. The two would need to achieve something phenomenal in order to sway their opinions of them. Something that would make these snobs make them eat their own words.

    It would be easier for Wei Lan because she had the Spanish nobility backing her. China¡¯s high society might be haughty but they didn¡¯t want to lose face and offend any member of the Spanish nobility.

    For Iris Long, however, it was more difficult. She needed to reach Jin Liwei¡¯s level first before she would be openly epted by high society as a suitable match for him.

    Could she do it?

    They doubted it.

 Chapter 515 - Grand Welcome

    <h4>Chapter 515 - Grand Wee </h4>

    10:39 AM.

    The sun was shining brightly in the blue sky. The weather wasn¡¯t too warm, nor too cold.

    In this beautiful day, the jumbo jet, LX Air,nded on the private airport. It was thergest aircraft present in the ce. The other smaller private nes looked like dragonflies next to the massive Pterodactyl which was LX Air. Fortunately, the private airport was big enough to hold such a gigantic aircraft.

    Just before 11 AM, the passengers of LX Airdisembarked. Iris Long, Jin Liwei, and the others were finally back to their home country.

    Contrary to what one would expect from someone who travelled for more than ten hours, both Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t look exhausted at all. In fact, they were both glowing and energetic.

    The others snickered and peeked at them with knowing expressions after seeing their refreshed appearances. Iris and Jin Liwei spent the majority of the flight locked inside their bedroom. It didn¡¯t take much imagination to know what the two had been doing.

    Unlike the couple, the others looked exhausted and weary. The jumbo jet was extremelyfortable, but there were so many things to do that they spent almost the entire flight dining, ying around and entertaining themselves. They became too busy having fun that they neglected to have a proper rest in the bedrooms.

    Now that they were back in China, they intended to go home and sleep for the entire day. However, they were all surprised when a grand wee reception greeted them at the airport. Thus, their original ns to rest had to be dyed for a few more hours.

    Everyone was driven to the airport¡¯s main building. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a sea of screaming, shrieking, jumping, whistling, and pping people. Iris and the others were almost blinded by the bright camera shes clicking nonstop at them.

    "Wee back, Boss Iris! Congrattions on the Best Soundtrack Award! We, the ck Stars, are so proud of you!"

    "Boss Iris, we love you so much! Our mighty slippers will be supporting you every step of the way!"

    "Iris Long, you¡¯re so beautiful!"

    "Kyaaaaah! It¡¯s CEO Jin! Kyaaaaah! He¡¯s so handsome! Kyaaaaaah! He¡¯s holding Boss Iris¡¯ hand! Kyaa¡ª"

    "Oh shit! Help! Someone fainted!"

    The ck Stars made up arge portion of the massive crowd. They held big banners showing Iris Long¡¯s name and image along with their messages of support and adoration. Among them were the WeiRis shippers waving banners showing both Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s images together, dering them as the most perfect couple in the face of the.

    Aside from the ck Stars, there was a smaller group of fans holdings banners of Lu Zihao. Their eyes lit up in rabid worship as soon as they saw him.

    "Kyaaaaaaah! Lu Zihao, you¡¯re so HOT!!!"

    "Lu Zihao, I love you! Please marry me and put babies in my tummy!!!"

    "Hunter Lu, you can hunt me anytime!!!"

    Beside Lu Zihao, Grandpa Lu heard everything that these fans were screaming at his grandson.

    "Pft! Did you hear what they were saying, Haohao my boy? ¡¯Put babies in my tummy! You can hunt me anytime!¡¯ Bahahahaha! Why are kids these days so funny? I want to know! Bahahaha!"

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s boomingughter made Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes dim a bit. A sullen expression shed in his eyes, unhappy that the old man wasughing at him. But he quickly covered it up with his usual devilish expression. He didn¡¯t give a damn about all of these adoring fans. He wasn¡¯t like his little sister who cared about her fans. These people had nothing to do with him. All he cared about was the safety of his sister.

    His eyes made a silentmand. His subordinates immediately responded, fanning out before encircling their entire group. Jin Liwei also issued a simrmand to his own men. The two groups coordinated, making the security tighter and more organized. Their subordinates were protecting all of them, but upon a closer look, they were actually more concentrated around Iris. It was because the majority of the fans present were here for her.

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao didn¡¯t want to risk her being grabbed or jumped at by any of these people, either on purpose or by ident. Even if it was only by mistake, both men wouldn¡¯t forgive anyone who hurt her.

    The airport also provided its own professional security to protect everyone in Iris¡¯ group, butpared to Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates, the difference in quality was obvious. The two men¡¯s subordinates were all intimidating and had dangerous auras. They looked like they could kill someone if needed to protect their employers. In contrast, the airport¡¯s security only had their uniforms which said "Security" as a deterrent to troublemakers.

    Iris Long liked greeting and interacting with her fans in person. Today was no different. She headed straight to her fans. Jin Liwei also followed because they were holding hands. He stayed close to her, making sure that nobody got too touch-feely with his baby girl.

    She signed autographs and took photos with her fans. She shook their hands and even hugged some of them. Jin Liwei allowed hugging to some extent, as long as they didn¡¯t touch her where they shouldn¡¯t touch. The fans became well-behaved in his presence. His cold and scary gaze made them tremble. As a result, they didn¡¯t touch Iris longer than necessary.

    Some WeiRis shippers wanted to ask Jin Liwei for an autograph too but his cold and scary expression discouraged them from doing so. They could only turn to Iris instead who was many times nicer than him.

    There were also a few who asked Lu Zihao for an autograph, but he didn¡¯t grant their repeated requests. He shed them his devilish smile instead, making them descend into another fit of screaming and shrieking until they forgot about asking for an autograph from him.

    The great crowd didn¡¯t only consist of the ck Stars, WeiRis shippers and the Lu Zihao¡¯s fans. There were also fans who came for Yin Meixing and the other actors and actresses from "Strong Yet Broken". There weren¡¯t many of them, but they held their own and screamed for Yin Meixing and the others.

    After interacting with the fans, the owner of the private airport, the bosses of Bright Summit and the talentpanies managing Yin Meixing and the others¡¯ careers all came in person to officially wee Iris¡¯ group back home in China.

    "Sorry, Iris. I was told that Bright Summit is coordinating with the airport and the other managementpanies for this grand wee, but I didn¡¯t know that it would be this big. It looks like they also arranged a press conference right here at the airport. At this rate, it¡¯ll already be afternoon before we could go home," Tang Yiyi whispered to Iris.

    "It¡¯s alright, Elder Sister Yiyi. I appreciate everyoneing to wee us back. I¡¯m happy," Iris replied in a warm tone.

    "Okay, that¡¯s good. But after this, you¡¯re not allowed to work on anything today. You need to rest. We¡¯re going to be busy in two days for yourpany¡¯sunch."

    "Yes, I understand."

    "I¡¯m serious, Iris. You¡¯re too much of a workaholic that I can¡¯t help but worry about your health. You have a history of copsing and being hospitalized. I don¡¯t want that to happen again," the manager said in a stern voice.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Miss Tang. I¡¯ll keep an eye on Xin and make sure that she¡¯s well-rested," Jin Liwei interjected into their conversation.

    "Oh...I see. Okay..." Tang Yiyi felt a little awkward talking directly to Jin Liwei. She cleared her throat. "Please take care of Iris, then."

    "Always," Jin Liwei simply said.

    Thus, the group had no choice but to attend the press conference. It was now noon, lunchtime. They were all hungry but endured it after the big bosses of the airport and the managementpanies promised to treat them to a feast afterwards.

    The cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", including Guan Jintao and the President of LX Productions sat for the press conference. Iris Long and Yin Meixing, as the two award winners in the Sommet International Film Festival, took the most prominent positions at the very centre.

    Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, Lu Zihao, Wei Lan and the others stayed offstage. Instead, they sat on VIP seats near the front of the stage separate from the reporters and the fans.

    There were many reporters who attended the press conference. They weren¡¯t only focused on Iris Long, Yin Meixing and everyone from "Strong Yet Broken". They also couldn¡¯t stop looking at Jin Liwei and Wei Lan who threw the biggest bombshells in France along with Iris Long.

 Chapter 516 - Home Is Wherever Weâ€™re Together

    <h4>Chapter 516 - Home Is Wherever We¡¯re Together </h4>

    Although many reporters and fans came, the press conference was kept short. The questions were also strictly monitored by the big bosses of Bright Summit and the other managementpanies. If there was a question that they didn¡¯t like, it was shot down immediately.

    As a result, most of the questions focused on the film "Strong Yet Broken" itself and everyone¡¯s experience participating in the Sommet International Film Festival. There were also more questions targeted to both Iris Long and Yin Meixing, specifically about the two awards that they won. Their beautiful trophies were even brought out for everyone to admire.

    Despite the managementpanies¡¯ tight control on the questions, there were still some bold reporters who risked it and asked personal questions, mostly for Iris.

    "Iris Long, we want to know more about your rtionship with CEO Jin Liwei. Are the two of you living together under the same roof?"

    "When is the wedding?"

    "Are you pregnant? Or do you already have a baby together, that¡¯s why you n on marrying?"

    Bright Summit¡¯s boss and Tang Yiyi were about to stop the reporters from asking these questions, but Iris assured them with a silent look. She maintained her calm and pleasant expression.

    "Jin Liwei and I will be granting interviews as a couple another time. You can ask those questions, then. But for now, I would like to request everyone to please focus on our film, ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯. This press conference is for all of us involved in the film, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s not meant for me alone."

    There were still a few insistent personal questions but Iris didn¡¯t budge. The reporters couldn¡¯t force her to answer, so they could only give up...for now. They were already looking forward to her promise that she and Jin Liwei would grant interviews as a couple. Each of them was hoping that they would be the ones chosen to interview the two together. The interview would surely be a hit.

    The press conference ended with a resounding sess. The big bosses of Bright Summit and the other managementpanies were pleased at the publicity for their artists.

    Later, Iris and the others bid goodbye to the crowd. Then the owner of the private airport led them to the in-house restaurant. The high-ss restaurant was booked only for them today. It was already afternoon. Everyone was hungry, especially for those of them who arrived from France that morning.

    Lunch was a sumptuous and luxurious feast. The airport owner and the bosses of the managementpanies paid for it. They went all out to celebrate the triumphant return of Iris Long, Yin Meixing and everyone from the "Strong Yet Broken" team.

    Late in the afternoon, everyone was finally allowed to go home. Iris, who looked refreshed and glowing in the morning when theynded, now showed exhaustion and weariness on her beautiful face. Inside the car, Jin Liwei embraced his baby girl and kissed her forehead.

    "Darling, I¡¯m tired," she murmured.

    "I know, love. You worked hard today," he told her while stroking her long hair with his hand.

    "But I¡¯m happy."

    He looked at her face. Indeed, she looked happy.

    "Me, too," he said.

    "Really?"

    "En. I¡¯m very happy that everyone finally knows that you¡¯re mine. I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment for what feels like a long time."

    They gazed into each other¡¯s eyes, soft smiles making the corners of their mouths curve upwards. The love they had for each other felt like it only grew stronger once it was revealed to the world.

    "I can¡¯t wait to be home," she said.

    "We¡¯re already home," he replied.

    A furrow formed between her brows as she looked outside. "No, we¡¯re not. The mansion is still quite far away."

    He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear before saying, "Home is wherever we¡¯re together. Regardless of the ce or the country, I feel at home as long as you¡¯re with me."

    Warm and fuzzy feelings flooded Iris¡¯ heart. She grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s head with both hands and gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the mouth. As a result, a wide stupid grin broke out of his face.

    "Yes, darling. You¡¯re right."

    "En, I know."

    Then the two grinned at each like stupid idiots, drowning the driver and the other subordinate in the front seat with pure, unadulterated dogfood. The two poor single dogs could only cry inside their hearts.

    ###

    The next morning, Iris and Jin Liwei felt refreshed after having a good night¡¯s sleep. It was their final day off before returning to their busy schedules again.

    Tomorrow would be the officialunch of Irispany, Orchidia Beauty. All preparations had beenpleted. Iris wished that it was the next day already so that she could finally witness the results of her hard work.

    Today, however, the couple decided to pay their respects to both of their families. First, they would eat lunch with Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House. Grandma Li had flown down from her mountain estate to stay with Huang Yuyan. Thenter that evening, the couple would head to the Long ancestral residence to dine with Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Meimei for supper.

    Iris and Jin Liwei brought along souvenirs from the French Riviera. The two had been busy attending events almost everyday during the Sommet International Film Festival. They didn¡¯t have the time to go shopping for souvenirs at all. It was Jin Liwei¡¯s French butler who took it upon himself to buy appropriate souvenirs for both of their families.

    In addition, Wei Lan also bought many things during her multiple shopping trips. She gave a small mountain of her purchases to Iris and Jin Liwei, instructing them to give everything to Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li. As a viscountess, Wei Lan was trying to be a magnanimous person, so she also bought two small keychains¡ªtiny, to be exact¡ªfor Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. How generous of her! As expected of a viscountess!

    The couple only smiled at Wei Lan¡¯s "generosity" to her ex-husband and his third wife. Jin Liwei took a seventy-year old vintage cognac from his own cer at the mansion to give to Long Tengfei, while Iris packed a huge Orchidia Beauty gift basket for Yang Jiahui in order to make up for the big difference in the number of souvenirs between the two families because of Wei Lan.

 Chapter 517 - Grounded

    <h4>Chapter 517 - Grounded </h4>

    This time, Jin Liwei decided to drive the two of them himself instead of depending on a driver. Iris also preferred it this way because she could be more intimate with her darling with just the two of them.

    Jin Liwei chose the red two-door coupe they used on their eventful second datest year. Two more cars followed them. Jin Liwei¡¯s men were in one car while the other was filled with Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates.

    Iris was unhappy about the bodyguards following them on a normal day like this, but she decided not to say anything and just ignore them. She didn¡¯t want to fight with either her darling or her big brother about the issue of bodyguards anymore. The two men loved her and cared about her. That was why there were so protective. She understood their reasons for surrounding her with bodyguards, but it didn¡¯t mean that she liked it.

    At least now she didn¡¯t feel like she was being monitored or controlled anymore, unlike her experience in her past life. The purpose of her bodyguards in this life was to protect her and that was mostly it. They weren¡¯t required to restrict her freedom or to stop her from doing what she liked.

    She realized this now. Perhaps this was why she had stopped freaking out about bodyguards. She still didn¡¯t like their presence though, especially on a normal day like this. It was better to pretend that no bodyguards were following them. If she didn¡¯t, it would only ruin her mood.

    While driving in their car by themselves, Iris and Jin Liwei enjoyed thefortable silence between them. Their mere proximity to each other was enough to make them feel content.

    That was until Iris remembered Hou Liang¡¯s call earlier that morning right after they woke up. It was about Ketchup, a.k.a. KittyBaby.

    The white cat inherited Iris¡¯ tremendous curiosity, especially her thirst for knowledge and new experiences. While Iris and Jin Liwei were in France attending the Sommet International Film Festival, Ketchup asked for both of their permission to join the ck Stars fan club because "it looked fun".

    Iris and Jin Liwei agreed but on the condition that she wouldn¡¯t reveal anything about her real identity. Of course, Ketchup immediately promised to be a good kitty.

    Then Iris ced a lot of limitations on Ketchup so the cat AI wouldn¡¯t do anything that might put her in a vulnerable position. However, she still didn¡¯t expect that the cat would be so careless as to make a slip of the tongue with Hou Liang! It seemed that the limitations she ced on Ketchup weren¡¯t strict enough.

    Ketchup was bing naughtier and naughtier by the day. As the parents, Iris and Jin Liwei had begun to always worry about her next escapades. They both knew that she was a not a real person or even a real cat. Even so, they still loved her and treated her as their third kid. They couldn¡¯t make themselves just view her as a mere tool.

    And because they treated Ketchup like their real kid, Iris couldn¡¯t bring herself to ce too much limitations on her. She still wanted to nurture the cat AI¡¯s curiosity as it aided her self-learning function. It was a double-edged sword, but Iris and Jin Liwei decided that they would do their utmost best to raise Ketchup to be responsible and disciplined. If Ketchup went out of control, it would be due to Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s negligence in raising her.

    On the phone that morning, Hou Liang (a.k.a. MonkeyFace) asked Iris about Kittybaby.

    "Is KittyBaby really your child?"

    Iris¡¯ heart stopped for a moment. An expression of shocked disbelief appeared on her face, catching the attention of Jin Liwei beside her on the bed. Then she red at a random corner. She imagined a certain white cat hiding with a guilty expression. Iris put the call on speakerphone so Jin Liwei could hear the full conversation.

    "KittyBaby said that Drakon is her mother. Is it true?" Hou Liang continued to ask when she remained silent.

    It was Jin Liwei¡¯s turn to re at a random corner. He looked scarier than Iris. A certain white cat must be shaking in her fluffy fur by now.

    Iris closed her eyes and sighed. She massaged her temples, feeling a phantom headache. Sighing once again, she nced at Jin Liwei, silently asking him what they should do.

    He nodded with a reluctant expression.

    "Yes," she eventually replied to Hou Liang after getting Jin Liwei¡¯s approval to confirm her rtionship with the naughty KittyBaby.

    A pause.

    "I see. You adopted her?" Hou Liang asked after a few moments of silence.

    "Hmm... Something like that."

    "KittyBaby is a brilliant hacker, just like you. She must be a genius, that¡¯s why you¡¯re training her to be the sessor of your legacy as a hacker."

    "Hmm..."

    "By the way, how old is she? She sounds so young by her manner of speech."

    Iris hesitated. It had only been a few months since she sessfully developed Ketchup¡¯s current form as a cat AI with a highly adaptable and dynamic personality, in addition to her hyper-powered self-learning function. Based on Hou Liang¡¯s tone, it seemed that he thought that Ketchup, a.k.a. KittyBaby, was a human. Iris couldn¡¯t tell him that the talkative KittyBaby was only a few months old. That would be questionable.

    Fortunately, it was Jin Liwei who answered Hou Liang, saving her from making up a lie.

    "That¡¯s none of your business," he told Hou Liang in a cold voice. "Information about our daughter is private. Don¡¯t dig too much...or I¡¯ll make you regret it."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s threat worked. Hou Liang immediately stopped pursuing the matter. He was still a little traumatized after Jin Liwei attacked himst year when Iris invited him to the penthouse for the first time and introduced herself as Drakon. Iris¡¯ man was too scary and violent!

    Not that Iris herself was any different. As Drakon, she was a force to be reckoned with. In fact, she was even more dangerous than Jin Liwei. It was a good thing that she was a kind person in general, as long as nobody crossed her bottom line.

    The phone call ended.

    "Ketchup!" Jin Liwei¡¯s angry voice whipped through the air in the bedroom.

    "Wuwuwuwu! Ketchup is so sorry! Meow.... Sorry, Mommy! Sorry, Daddy! Ketchup won¡¯t do it again! Promise! Wuwuwuwu! Meow...."

    Theptop on the study desk a few metres away from the bed flickered and powered on by itself. Then the screen showed a fluffy white cat trembling while crying pitifully.

    "You know that Drakon is a wanted figure all around the world. Do you want your mom to get into trouble because of your carelessness?" Jin Liwei asked. He didn¡¯t raise his voice while talking but the anger was obvious in his tone.

    "Noooo! Ketchup doesn¡¯t want Mommy to get into trouble! Sorry! Wuwuwuwu! Meow..."

    "It¡¯s a good thing that Hou Liang is a trustworthy person but we can¡¯t be careless with anybody from now on."

    "Yes, Daddy. Ketchup is very sorry! Meow...Wuwuwuwu!

    "You¡¯re grounded for one month! No ck Stars, no surfing online for entertainment for one whole month! You¡¯re only allowed to do the tasks your mom and I assigned to you."

    The white cat¡¯s sobs became louder and more pitiful. A small puddle of tears already started forming around her.

 Chapter 518 - LunChapter At The Jin Familyâ€™s Old House Part I

    <h4>Chapter 518 - LunChapter At The Jin Family¡¯s Old House Part I </h4>

    Iris¡¯ heart softened upon seeing the white cat¡¯s pitiful appearance and miserable sobbing. It sounded simr to how Little Jun cried. In fact, Ketchup based her crying on a mixture of her human cousin Little Jun and her kitty siblings Ice Cream and Popcorn. She was able to maximize the intended effect on her mommy. Iris turned to Jin Liwei.

    "Darling, don¡¯t you think that grounding Ketchup for one month is too much? She already said sorry."

    Jin Liwei wavered at his baby girl¡¯s expression. However, his sternness returned when he thought about the potential consequences of exposing Drakon¡¯s real identity to the wrong people, not to mention the fact that Ketchup, a.k.a. KittyBaby, was not a real person but a highly advanced AI. He knew that there were people in the world who would kill to acquire the cat AI once they discovered about its existence. And as the creator, his baby girl would also be in grave danger. He couldn¡¯t risk it. His wife and kids were his life. He would protect them with everything he had.

    "No, love. This is for her own good. Ketchup needs to learn the consequences of doing things that she shouldn¡¯t do the hard way. She¡¯ll learn discipline this way," he told his baby girl.

    Iris nced at the pitiful Ketchup who was now mewling softly while curled in a puddle of her own tears. Then she looked at Jin Liwei again.

    "I still think that one month is too long. It¡¯s torture for a hacker like us not to y around online for one month. How about let¡¯s ground her for one week instead?"

    Ketchup immediately stopped crying and peeked at her parents behind her paws. Her expression was hopeful after hearing her mommy pleading her case to her daddy.

    A furrow formed between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows. Now he felt like a bad guy. He almost gave in...almost. Good thing that he kept in mind what could¡¯ve happened if the information Ketchup revealed to Hou Liang went into the wrong hands.

    "Love, you¡¯re too soft on her. If we don¡¯t discipline her now, she¡¯ll start thinking that she could get away with almost anything because she could count on you, her mom, to defend her. She¡¯ll grow a hard head. Not good. What if she makes more mistakes in the future because of carelessness that we could¡¯ve prevented by properly disciplining her? It would be too dangerous, especially with both of your hacker identities."

    Iris sighed with a sad expression. "I understand...but I think that one month is still too long. How about ten days? Or maybe twelve?"

    "No. Three weeks."

    "Two weeks?"

    "Fine. Two weeks. No less than that."

    Iris smiled after he agreed. Two weeks sounded more reasonable than one month. She nced at Ketchup who was now swishing her tail a little bit, grateful that her punishment was shortened from one month to two weeks instead.

    "She needs to learn her lesson. She can¡¯t just reveal anything about both of your identities to anyone without our permission. Like I said, it¡¯s too dangerous. If any of these information gets into the wrong hands, all of us will suffer," Jin Liwei said, reminding the two about the consequences.

    Iris nodded. "Ketchup, you heard your dad. You¡¯re grounded for two weeks. You¡¯re only allowed to go online for tasks we¡¯ve assigned you. No ck Stars or ying around for these two weeks. If you don¡¯t obey, I won¡¯t stop your dad if he makes your punishment longer. Do you have something to say?"

    Ketchup stood up and wiggled her fluffy white butt. "Meow~ Thank you, Mommy and Daddy for reducing my punishment to two weeks only! Ketchup is very sorry and won¡¯t do it again! I promise! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nodded, satisfied. Iris sighed in relief.

    "Mommy, Daddy, can Ketchup still talk to Uncle Dom and the others? Or does that count as ying around too? Meow?"

    "Of course, you can still talk to them and to us," Iris replied.

    "But no more learning any weird words from your Uncle Dominic or your Aunt Clover," Jin Liwei added.

    "Meow? Weird words? Oh, like ¡¯boobies¡¯ and ¡¯boom-boom¡¯?"

    "Yes," Jin Liwei replied through gritted teeth, a scowl on his face.

    Iris chuckled softly.

    "Okay, Daddy! Ketchup willpile any new words that I hear from Uncle Dom and the others from now on, and then ask Mommy and Daddy which ones are weird and which ones I could use! Meow~"

    "En."

    With that, the couple finished disciplining their naughty third kitty baby. Ketchup¡¯s two-week punished started that morning. That cat AI sulked a little for a few minutes before returning to her tasks that Iris and Jin Liwei assigned to her.

    Afterwards, Iris felt relieved that Jin Liwei was a firm disciplinarian. If it was just her, she would have already given in. Jin Liwei was right. She was too soft-hearted when it came to their kids. It wasn¡¯t only Ketchup but to Ice Cream and Popcorn as well. Of course, to Little Jun too.

    Jin Liwei was also right in saying that it would be too dangerous to give Ketchup free rein. They needed to discipline her in this early stage of her rapid development in order to prevent her from going out of control.

    His attitude just proved that he would be a great father to their own (human) children in the future. But would she be a good mother? She wasn¡¯t sure.

    Back to the present, Iris and Jin Liwei finally arrived at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House. It waste morning just before noon. Perfect time for lunch.

    The weather was a little chilly today, so Jin Liwei made sure that his baby girl was well-covered before allowing her to step out of the car. The bodyguards following behind them carried the abundant souvenirs they brought with them.

    Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li weed them at the front hall. To Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s surprise, there were other people present as well.

    "Members of the branch families," Jin Liwei whispered to her.

    "Oh." Understanding shed in Iris¡¯ eyes.

    Based on the expressions of both Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li, it seemed that they didn¡¯t invite the branch families. They must have heard that Iris and Jin Liwei would being, so they invited themselves for lunch.

    Iris could feel the hostility from some of them directed towards her, especially from the younger female members of the group. She inwardly sighed and felt a minor annoyance¡ªlike someone trying to ignore an annoying mosquito buzzing all around, attempting to suck her blood.

    The couple greeted Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li first.

    "Oh, Xin! I¡¯m so happy to see you again! You look even more beautiful than thest time I saw you!" Huang Yuyan eximed.

    She immediately pulled Iris into a tight hug. She didn¡¯t even greet her own son yet. One would think that Iris was her own child and not Jin Liwei by how she treated the two of them right now.

    "Auntie Yuyan, thank you. I¡¯m also happy to see you again," Iris replied.

    After Jin Liwei¡¯s mother, Iris greeted the matriarch next. Grandma Li¡¯s cold aura¡ªwhich was very simr to Jin Liwei¡¯s¡ªwarmed a lot after hugging Iris.

    "Yuyan is right. You look more beautiful than thest time we saw you," she said.

    "Of course," Jin Liwei interjected. "My fianc¨¦e has always been beautiful but she has be even more so because of my tender loving care."

 Chapter 519 - LunChapter At The Jin Familyâ€™s Old House Part II

    <h4>Chapter 519 - LunChapter At The Jin Family¡¯s Old House Part II </h4>

    Jin Liwei said these cheesy words in a low voice, so the members of the branch families present didn¡¯t hear him. If they did, their image of their n head would be destroyed forever.

    Both Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan chuckled at what he said. His overall expression might appear cold but his mother and grandmother could clearly see the proud look in his eyes when talking about his beloved fianc¨¦e.

    Iris smiled, a little shy.

    After greeting Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li, Jin Liwei wrapped his arm around Iris¡¯ shoulders and pulled her close to him. Then they faced the branch families together. Jin Liwei greeted them first before introducing her to them.

    "Everyone, this is my fianc¨¦e and my future wife, Long Xin. Some of you might know her as Iris Long."

    Only some of the older ones greeted her politely. Most of them looked at her from head to toe and then back again in a rude manner, especially the younger female ones. They were Jin Liwei¡¯s distant cousins, mostly teenagers or around Iris¡¯ age in their early twenties.

    Their leader was Jin Jiali, eighteen years old. She was pretty and resembled Jin Chonglin a little bit. However, her tant hostile expression directed at Iris subtracted from her good looks. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her legs spread in a dominant manner. She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips in a mocking expression. Her entire bodynguage looked aggressive. It was obvious that she was looking down on Iris.

    The other girls behind her mirrored her. However, there was a couple of girls who separated themselves from the group and looked at Iris with excited expressions on their faces instead.

    Another bigger group consisted of older people. Most of them were around Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li¡¯s age, while a few looked to be the same age as Jin Liwei.

    Their leader was Jin Chenggong, Jin Jiali¡¯s father. He was a cousin of Jin Liwei¡¯s father and the current head of his own branch family. He was also a member of Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors.

    "Hello, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet all of you," Iris greeted them politely but not warmly.

    It was clear that the majority of them didn¡¯t like her. She felt indifferent towards them. She didn¡¯t have the least bit interest in trying to make them like her. For her, they weren¡¯t important. The only important people in the Jin family were Jin Liwei (of course), Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan¡ªall the members of the main family. Oh, and Jin Chonglin too. She almost forgot.

    If these Jin branch families didn¡¯t like her, so what? She didn¡¯t even give a whit about the Long branch families, so why would she care about these Jin branch families?

    To a certain extent, yes, she wanted the entire Jin n to ept her as Jin Liwei¡¯s marriage partner, but it didn¡¯t mean that she would ve herself into making them like her. Working hard to be sessful in her music career and her own businesses should be enough. If they still didn¡¯t like her even with her aplishments, then it was their problem, not hers.

    The most important thing for Iris was that Jin Liwei loved her and that his mother, grandmother and brother epted their rtionship.

    Jin Jiali raised her eyebrow even higher. "So you¡¯re Iris Long, huh?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t like the way this little cousin of his¡ªhe forgot her name¡ªwas looking at his baby girl. He scowled. His aura also became colder.

    "Continue looking at my future wife like that and I¡¯ll ban you from entering here ever again," he warned.

    Jin Jiali and her other cousins shuddered under Jin Liwei¡¯s cold gaze. They had always been afraid of their older cousin Jin Liwei. It didn¡¯t help that he was also the current n head. Even some of the elders were afraid of him.

    The atmosphere turned tense. They all just met each other but it was already awkward and ufortable.

    Usually, Huang Yuyan would try to smooth things out. She had always been kind and wanted everyone to get along. This time, however, she didn¡¯t do anything. It was obvious from her expression that she was displeased at Jin Jiali and her group¡¯s attitude towards Iris.

    "Liwei, don¡¯t take your cousin Jia¡¯er too seriously. She¡¯s still a child. Please excuse her," Jin Chenggong said in a subtle attempt to defend his daughter¡¯s rude behaviour.

    "A child?" Jin Liwei turned to Jin Jiali and asked, "How old are you?"

    Jin Jiali didn¡¯t respond.

    "Answer me," Jin Liwei said in amanding voice. His tone brooked no argument.

    "I...I¡¯m eighteen," Jin Jiali finally replied.

    Jin Liwei looked at Jin Chenggong. "Uncle, your daughter is already eighteen years old. She already reached the age of majority and no longer a child. Unless there¡¯s something wrong with her brain that her mental development is stunted and is simr to that of a young child, then she should learn how to take responsibility for her own behaviour."

    The father and daughter turned white then red and finally purple from humiliation. Jin Liwei¡¯s indirect insult towards Jin Jiali was clear to most of the people. Only a few slow ones didn¡¯t understand what Jin Liwei meant and looked totally clueless.

    Jin Chenggong was the first one to recover. He cleared his throat. "Yes, you¡¯re right," he said in a tight voice.

    Jin Jiali opened her mouth, resentful that her father didn¡¯t say anything to defend her against the insult. However, one fierce warning look from her father made her shut her mouth. She pressed her lips tightly together and red at Iris instead.

    Watching Jin Liwei act this way, the branch families¡¯ bad impression of Iris Long worsened.

    ¡¯This woman is a bad influence on the n head. Jin Liwei has always been someone who prioritizes family. Now he¡¯s even insulting his own cousin to defend that woman,¡¯ they thought to themselves.

    It was true that Jin Liwei always prioritized family. This was a known fact among all members of the Jin n. What they didn¡¯t know was that Jin Liwei now considered Iris as his number one family. These branch families were demoted several ranks in the family hierarchy in his mind, especially since they were being this rude to his future wife.

    The tense atmosphere grew heavier that Huang Yuyan had no choice but to step in and try to diffuse it. She was worried that Iris might feel too ufortable.

    "Xin, my dear! What are all these things that you brought with you? Why are there so many?" she asked, deliberately shifting the attention to the assorted things the bodyguards were carrying.

    "Auntie, we bought them for you and Grandma Li from France," Iris replied.

    "Oh, you didn¡¯t have to!" Although Huang Yuyan said this, she actually looked excited.

    Even Grandma Li¡¯s eyes lit up seeing therge number of wrapped souvenirs for them.

    "The truth is that Liwei and I have been so busy during the Sommet International Film Festival that we only bought a few things for you. Most of these are actually from my mother. She wants Liwei and I to give them to you and to let you know that she can¡¯t wait to meet the two of you."

 Chapter 520 - LunChapter At The Jin Familyâ€™s Old House Part III

    <h4>Chapter 520 - LunChapter At The Jin Family¡¯s Old House Part III </h4>

    Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li¡¯s eyes widened after hearing that most of the souvenirs came from Wei Lan.

    "Please say thank you to Madam Wei Lan," Huang Yuyan said. "Oh, I should probably start calling her Vizcondesa Lan now!"

    Someone from the branch families snorted in derision. Just as how Iris Long was unpopr to them, her mother Wei Lan was also thought of badly by many people among high society.

    Both Grandma Li and Jin Liwei looked at their direction with cold eyes. Their expressions were almost identical. Indeed, they were grandmother and grandson.

    Iris pretended that she didn¡¯t hear the rude sound. Although her expression remained generally pleasant, her eyes narrowed and turned cold as well.

    Grandma Li gave a cold re at the branch families before smiling warmly at Iris.

    "We¡¯ve already met your father and Madam Yang Jiahui but not your mother. Yuyan my dear, how about we invite the viscountess for a meal?"

    "Mother, that would be lovely!"

    Iris smiled at the two older women. "I¡¯m sure my mother would be delighted."

    After the eventful greetings and tense introductions in the front hall, they all headed to the dining area for lunch.

    "Is Brother Chonglin noting today?" Iris asked while they were walking.

    "Oh, he¡¯s supposed toe but he called early this morning to say that he wouldn¡¯t be able to because of schedule issues. It looks like his work today got dyed," Huang Yuyan exined.

    "We¡¯ll be able to see that boy tomorrow. Don¡¯t worry, Xin my dear. If that boy doesn¡¯t attend the grandunch tomorrow, I¡¯ll make sure to lecture him well and teach him a lesson. Leave everything to Grandma, alright?" Grandma Li assured.

    "Thank you, Grandma Li," Iris replied.

    Lunch was even more awkward and tense than during the introductions earlier. Huang Yuyan was a good host and tried to make the weird atmosphere more pleasant even though she felt displeased by the branch families unexpected presence. As for Grandma Li, shepletely ignored them. The matriarch focused on chatting with Iris and Jin Liwei instead.

    Thus, it felt like everyone was eating in two different ces because of the clear division between the two groups. The main family plus Iris on one side while the branch families on another side.

    This made the branch families resent Iris even more.

    Iris just ignored them and temporarily erased their existence from her mind. She and Jin Liwei visited the old house to eat lunch with Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li, not with them.

    After lunch, everyone headed to the nearest lounge area to drink some digestive tea.

    This time, Jin Chenggong and the others ones who worked for Jin Corporation pulled Jin Liwei to speak about some business matters.

    "Go ahead. I¡¯ll stay here and chat with Auntie Yuyan and Grandma Li," Iris told him.

    "Are you sure?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    "If you want to leave, just tell me anytime. Okay, love?"

    "Okay. Now go."

    Jin Liwei left and followed Jin Chenggong and the others to another room to speak business in private.

    In the meantime, Iris shared her experiences during the Sommet International Film Festival with Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li. The two were fascinated about the prestigious event, especially knowing that Iris won an award from there.

    "I¡¯m so proud of you, my dear," Grandma Li told Iris.

    "I watched your eptance speech. It was so romantic of you to bring my son to the stage with you," Huang Yuyan said. Her eyes reddened and she began wiping her teary eyes. "Oh, I¡¯m getting emotional just remembering it."

    Iris held Huang Yuyan¡¯s hand. "Auntie, thank you for giving birth to Liwei. If you didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have met him."

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan¡¯s immediately tears gushed out like mini-waterfalls from her eyes.

    Grandma Liforted her daughter-inw while nodding approvingly at Iris¡¯ words.

    Later, Iris excused herself to go to the nearest powder room. After relieving herself and refreshing her appearance, she exited and found several people waiting for her outside in the hallway.

    Jin Jiali and her female cousins immediately surrounded Iris, cornering her to the wall.

    "Hello, everyone. Do you need to pee, too? Go ahead. There¡¯s no one inside now. I¡¯ll just go ahead," Iris said in an overly pleasant voice. Her eyes, however, werepletely cold.

    "You¡¯re not going anywhere!" Jin Jiali announced.

    Her cohorts blocked Iris¡¯ way, preventing her from leaving. One of them even tried to push Iris hard, intending to make her stumble to the floor, but Iris deftly avoided the movement by stepping away. The girl¡¯s hands missed, making her look stupid. This angered many of them.

    "Don¡¯t think too highly of yourself, Iris Long!" Jin Jiali said. "Just because Elder Brother Liwei, Aunt Yuyan and Grandmother Li all ept you doesn¡¯t mean that the rest of the Jin n do!"

    The other girls nodded. They were just the echo to her main voice.

    "Big Sister Rose Young is many times more suitable for Elder Brother Liwei than you! She¡¯s the CMO of Jin Corporation. Do you know what CMO means? I bet you don¡¯t because you¡¯re STUPID! You don¡¯t know anything about business, unlike Big Sis Rose who¡¯s a super smart businesswoman."

    Iris almost yawned at these girls¡¯ attempt of bullying her. It was like having small, ugly, toothless dogs yipping and growling down at her feet. The rm Girls and Fan Luo threw worse insults at her back then than these bully wannabes. However, her eyes became colder after hearing Rose Young beingpared to her.

    Jin Jiali continued, "Since you¡¯re STUPID, I¡¯ll tell you what CMO means because I bet you don¡¯t know. CMO means...Chief Ma...Chief M-, uh, Chief Manager Officer! Yes, that¡¯s what it means!"

    "You¡¯re so smart, Jia¡¯er!"

    "Chief Manager Officer! It sounds so impressive!"

    Her sidekicks did their job and praised Jin Jiali, feeding her inted ego and her desire to bully Iris.

    Iris tilted her head to the side and said in a ratherzy manner, "Actually, that¡¯s incorrect. CMO means Chief Marketing Officer. At least, that¡¯s the mostmon meaning. In otherpanies or organizations, CMO can also mean Chief Maintenance Officer or Chief Medical Officer. There are many variations to it. But I¡¯ve never heard of a Chief Manager Officer before. That¡¯s a first. Maybe you mean Chief Management Officer? That¡¯s umon too, but it¡¯s a more correct term than Chief Manager Officer."

    Iris exined all of these terms with such ease that the other girls couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed.

    However, Jin Jiali felt humiliated that Iris pointed out her error. Pride made her refuse to ept that she made a mistake.

    "No, you¡¯re wrong. I¡¯m right. CMO really means Chief Manager Officer!" she insisted. "It¡¯s a unique position in Jin Corporation because my family¡¯spany is the best in the country and in entire Asia!"

    Iris pretended to widen her eyes in surprise. "Your family¡¯spany? Jin Corporation?"

    "Of course! I¡¯m a Jin. All of us here are Jins, except for you. So we own Jin Corporation!"

    "Hmmm. That¡¯s not how a business works," Iris murmured, tapping her a finger on her chin. "Business ownership depends on how much shares of thepany you own under your own name. Just because you have the same surname as the majority owner or a shareholder doesn¡¯t mean that you automatically own thepany too. It¡¯s like saying that the children and rtives of a country¡¯s president also deserve to be president just because they have the same surname as the political head. Besides, it¡¯s not only the Jins who own Jin Corporation. Grandpa¡ªI mean, Grandfather Lu Jianhong also owns exactly half of it. He never gave away or sold any of his shares ever since he founded thepany with Liwei¡¯s grandfather."

 Chapter 521 - LunChapter At The Jin Familyâ€™s Old House Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 521 - LunChapter At The Jin Family¡¯s Old House Part IV </h4>

    These girls were coddled rich kids, plus they were also young. Even the ones who were in their early twenties had the mentality of spoiled teenagers. They didn¡¯t understand a lot of the things Iris said.

    All of them were proud to belong in a prominent business family like the Jins, but they didn¡¯t understand anything about business at all. They took the status associated with the Jin family for granted, thinking that they deserved it just for the fact that they were born with the surname Jin. However, they didn¡¯t bother learning the required knowledge and responsibilities to be true businesspeople deserving of the Jin family¡¯s prestige.

    Jin Jiali was incensed that Iris once again pointed out her mistake.

    "So the rumours are true! Iris Long, you¡¯re really a bitch! I bet that you only seduced Elder Brother Liwei with your white lotus act when the truth is that you¡¯re a big bitch!" Jin Jiali yelled.

    "Yeah!" the others echoed, as if all of them shared one single brain cell between them.

    Jin Jiali continued, "You¡¯re nothingpared to Big Sis Rose! She¡¯s already the CMO at thirty. And not just any CMO but the CMO of Jin Corporation, the number onepany in the country. What about you? You¡¯re just a celebrity. Sure, you can sing well, have won some awards, and can speak a fewnguages, but the quality of your achievements pale inparison to Big Sis Rose¡¯s. She graduated from an American Ivy league university, the same one that Elder Brother Liwei attended. What about you? I heard that you didn¡¯t even go to college. How pathetic!"

    Iris narrowed her eyes. However, she didn¡¯t react to the girl¡¯s provocation. These girls made it sound like that American Ivy league university was the best school in the world. Did they even know about the existence of Cross Academy? She found itughable that these girls were trying so hard to make trouble with her. They were like a group of toddlers trying to hit her with cotton balls.

    She didn¡¯t want to waste any more time with these immature children. No, even some small children acted more mature than these teenagers and young adults, like her godson Little Jun. Iris ignored them and started walking away.

    However, they didn¡¯t let her. They encircled her and even tried grabbing her. Fortunately, she was able to dodge their repeated attempts.

    When they started bing more aggressive, Iris suddenly spoke out loud and said something in Russian.

    "What are saying? Do you think we¡¯ll be impressed that you can speak othernguages? So what if you know othernguages other than Chinese? I can also speak English and French. It¡¯s nothing special! Don¡¯t be so proud of yourself," one of the other girls said.

    "But you suck in English. And you can only say bonjour and merci. Sometimes you even use them wrongly," another girlmented.

    "Shut up!"

    Iris¡¯ hand rubbed the bulge of her phone in the pocket of her pants.

    Two additional girls arrived all of the sudden. When they saw that Jin Jiali¡¯s group was ganging up on Iris, they hurried towards and tried to squeeze inside the encirclement. One of them reached out to Iris, attempting to rescue her.

    "What are you doing?! Let her go! Iris Long is Elder Cousin¡¯s future wife! If you hurt her, I¡¯m sure that Elder Cousin will kill all of you!"

    "Boss Iri¡ªcough cough¡ªI mean, Sister Xin, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll go call Elder Cousin right now!"

    "Oh no, you don¡¯t! Hold the two of them!" Jin Jialimanded.

    The other girls immediately grabbed the two girls, preventing them from calling for help. A minimum of three people held down each of the two girls.

    "Jin Jiali, you¡¯re going to be in so much trouble after this!!! Elder Cousin won¡¯t forgive you!!!"

    "Hmph!" Jin Jiali lifted her chin in an arrogant manner. "My father is an important member of the board of directors at Jin Corporation. The board of directors have the power to hire and fire people for important executive positions in thepany. If they want, they could even fire the CEO, Elder Brother Liwei!"

    The two girls gasped.

    "You dare say that, Jin Jiali?!!"

    Jin Jiali seemed to realize what she just said. She quickly looked around. When she was certain that nobody other than them heard her, she sighed in relief. Then she arrogantly lifted her chin once again.

    "It¡¯s true! The board of directors have the power to do that!"

    Iris nodded. "She¡¯s correct. But only by majority vote. Somepanies even required a unanimous vote."

    "Hmph! Of course, I¡¯m correct." Jin Jiali looked proud of herself before ring at Iris. "I don¡¯t need to hear that from you. Don¡¯t pretend like you¡¯re smart and know anything about business. You don¡¯t have a business degree like Big Sis Rose. Stop acting like you know what you¡¯re talking about!"

    At first, Iris was amused by the girls¡¯ immature attempts of bullying her. But now she just felt bored, indifferent...and annoyed. Their bullying methods bored her, almost making her yawn. What managed to annoy her, however, was their repeatedparisons between her and Rose Young. The woman was like disgusting chewed gum they were trying to stick to her hair.

    "I¡¯m warning you right now, Iris Long. You don¡¯t suit Elder Brother Liwei," Jin Jiali continued trying to bully her into submission. "Stay away from him. We don¡¯t want you in our Jin family! If you don¡¯t listen to me, we¡¯ll spread rumours about you. People will see only see you as a social climber like your mother. She only became a viscountess because she married a viscount. No achievements of her own, just like you! Stop using Elder Brother Liwei for your own gain. We won¡¯t let you!"

    Iris only stood there with a cold expression on her face. There was even a nk look in her eyes, as if she wasn¡¯t present and their words weren¡¯t affecting her at all. It also seemed like she wasn¡¯t viewing them as people but mere annoying insects buzzing all around. She had more important things to do than waste her precious time with these dumb kids.

 Chapter 522 - LunChapter At The Jin Familyâ€™s Old House Part V

    <h4>Chapter 522 - LunChapter At The Jin Family¡¯s Old House Part V </h4>

    When Jin Jiali and her group of sidekicks saw that their words weren¡¯t affecting Iris as they expected, they got angry and started insulting her to try and get a reaction from her.

    "Who do you think you are, Iris Long?! You¡¯re nothing but a whore who seduced Elder Brother Liwei! We¡¯ll never ept you to our Jin family! Get away from our cousin! We don¡¯t want you here! You dirty slut¡ª"

    "How dare you speak like that to my future wife?!!!"

    Jin Liwei interrupted Jin Jiali¡¯s insults towards Iris. He appeared and marched towards the group of young females with a cold and furious expression on his face. There were other people following behind him. Huang Yuyan looked horrified at the scene while Grandma Li¡¯s cold and furious expression looked very simr to her grandson¡¯s. Jin Chenggong and the other older members of the branch families were also there.

    In Jin Liwei¡¯s hand was his phone set on loudspeaker. Every insulting words Jin Jiali and the other girls threw at Iris were heard by Jin Liwei and everyone.

    When the girls became more aggressive in ganging up on her, Iris instructed Ketchup to call Jin Liwei in Russian so that Jin Jiali and the others wouldn¡¯t understand her. Ketchup immediately obeyed and called her daddy while he was discussing business with Jin Chenggong and the others in another room.

    The white cat sent her daddy a dramatic SOS call, prompting Jin Liwei to rush to his baby girl. Ketchup directed him toher mommy¡¯s exact location.

    Back to the present, Jin Jiali and her group of sidekicks were shocked when Jin Liwei and the other adults appeared. They became scared because they were literally caught in the act of trying to bully Iris Long.

    Grandma Li red at the girls before turning to Jin Chenggong and the other older members of the branch families behind her.

    "So this is how you teach your children to act? How uncouth and barbaric! What a shame to our Jin family! Truly not deserving of our respected Jin name! My husband would be ashamed of all of you if he were here! He worked so hard to lift the Jins to the top and yet you, the younger generation, are doing everything you can to tarnish it! Shameful! Utterly shameful!"

    Jin Chenggong¡¯s expression was very ugly right now. There was an unwillingness to ept Grandma Li¡¯s scolding, especially when it was about his own beloved daughter, but he didn¡¯t want to offend the matriarch either. He turned to his daughter instead and gave her a warning look.

    The same unwillingness appeared on Jin Jiali¡¯s expression.

    "Apologize to Xin!" Jin Liweimanded Jin Jiali and the other girls.

    No response.

    Jin Jiali and the other girls were now looking at the floor. Most of them were quaking. However, Jin Jiali¡¯s body was stiff and stubborn. It was obvious that she didn¡¯t want to apologize to Iris.

    This made Jin Liwei even more furious.

    "APOLOGIZE TO HER RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

    His furious roar was so loud that it echoed throughout the entire length of the long hallway. It made everyone jump and look at him in shock. This was the first time seeing and hearing him so furious. He always looked cold and indifferent. Yet now his hot fury exploded like a volcano, burning everyone with it.

    Jin Jiali and the other girls burst into tears. Their Cousin Liwei was too scary!!!

    "No! I hate Iris Long!" Jin Jiali shrieked. She cast all cautiousness aside and openly defied Jin Liwei. "Why do you want to marry her?! She¡¯s just a celebrity, a normal celebrity! Not even a superstar like Big Brother Chonglin! What¡¯s more, she didn¡¯t go to college. She¡¯s not suitable for you! Big Sis Rose Young is the one who¡¯s more suitable to be your wife and the next Madam Jin of our n! We¡¯re also more familiar and friendly with her. Big Sis Rose is a very greatdy, not like this Iris Long who has a rotten reputation in high society. We all hate her! What¡¯s so great about this bitch?! I HATE HER!!! DON¡¯T MARRY HER!!!"

    "Jia¡¯er, stop! Stop it!!!" Jin Chenggong was now on full panic mode. He hurried to his daughter and literally covered her mouth with his hand to make her stop talking.

    Jin Jiali struggled against her father and freed her mouth. "Why are you trying to stop me, dad? You said the same thing! That Iris Long is unsuitable to be our next madam, that Big Sis Rose is more suitable and that she¡¯ll bring Jin Corporation and our Jin n to greater heights, unlike this Iris Long who only knows how to sing and dance and seduce everyone with her beauty!"

    "No manners! No ss at all!" Grandma Li¡¯s cold voice towards his daughter stabbed Jin Chenggong in the heart.

    The usually pleasant Huang Yuyan was now wearing a cold expression as well.

    "Rose Young who?" Iris asked all of a sudden. Her head tilted to the side. She had an impassive expression, as if all of these people weren¡¯t arguing about her. Then she turned to Jin Liwei and asked, "Darling, who¡¯s this Rose Young that they keep on talking about? Is she your ex-girlfriend?"

    Jin Liwei scowled but decided to y along with his baby girl. "Of course not. She¡¯s nobody in my personal life, just a mere employee in Jin Corporation."

    "Oh, I see. But is she really better than me like what they say?"

    "Nonsense. Someone like her can¡¯t possiblypare to your greatness. She doesn¡¯t even deserve to carry your high heels."

    Their indirect lovey-dovey conversation shocked the branch families. They began looking at Jin Liwei in a weird way, especially Jin Chenggong.

    "What a joke! What are you talking about? Big Sis Rose is the best woman for you!" Jin Jiali reacted. "Can¡¯tpare to this bitch? Don¡¯t even deserve to carry this bitch¡¯s high heels? You¡¯re mistaken! It¡¯s the other way around! It¡¯s this bitch who can¡¯tpare to Big Sis Rose! It¡¯s this bitch who doesn¡¯t deserve to carry Big Sis Rose¡¯s high heels! Big Sis Rose has a business degree from the same American Ivy league university you graduated from! Where is this bitch educated? From the sewers, that¡¯s where!"

    "The one that was educated from the sewers is your dirty mouth! How dare you speak like that in my home?! Do you think that this is your own house and that you can say and do whatever you like here?" Huang Yuyan snapped. She finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "Madam Huang, please calm yourself. Jia¡¯er¡ªI mean, my daughter Jiali is still very young. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make sure to lecture my daughterter. She won¡¯t do it again," Jin Chenggong said, trying to cate her.

    Huang Yuyan didn¡¯t reply. Grandma Li snorted in cold derision.

    "You still haven¡¯t apologized to Xin," Jin Liwei said through gritted teeth.

    "I already said that I hate Iris Long so I¡¯m not gonna apologize to a bitch like her!!!"

    "Jia¡¯er, stop it," Jin Chenggong covered his daughter¡¯s mouth once again.

    "GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!!" Jin Liwei roared. "As the current family head, I am officially cutting your entire branch family off from the Jin n! From now on, your branch family no longer has anything to do with our Jin n! GET OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK!!!"

 Chapter 523 - LunChapter At The Jin Familyâ€™s Old House Part VI

    <h4>Chapter 523 - LunChapter At The Jin Family¡¯s Old House Part VI </h4>

    Gasps sounded from almost everyone. Even Huang Yuyan looked surprised. Grandma Li, however, looked like she was already expecting it. She even nodded in approval of her grandson¡¯s decision.

    Iris also didn¡¯t react much. She wasn¡¯t an official member of the Jin family yet, so she didn¡¯t want to overstep her boundaries (for now) by interfering or influencing Jin Liwei¡¯s decision about his n. This branch family meant nothing to her, so whatever happened to them had nothing to do with her.

    She neither approved nor disapproved of his decision, but she appreciated him defending her. If their situations were reversed, she would also do the same thing for him. In fact, she imagined that she would act more ruthless than him. Just imagining any of the Long branch families insulting her darling was already enough to make her blood boil. She held no love for the Long branch families plus she wasn¡¯t the family head, so there was no need for her to act cautious when meting punishment to anyone insulting her man.

    For now, Iris stood beside her man, giving him her silent support.

    Jin Liwei nced at Jin Chenggong¡¯s expression of stunned disbelief before turning to the members of the other branch families. "If you wish to join their branch family in defying me, the n head, go ahead. Just tell me and I¡¯ll cut you all off. Our Jin n can function well enough with just the main family on our own."

    The adult members of the branch families immediately shook their heads and put distance between themselves and Jin Chenggong. Then they gave warning looks at their own children. The other girls beside Jin Jiali immediately abandoned her, their leader, and returned by their parents¡¯ side.

    Jin Chenggong and Jin Jiali, the father and daughter, couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. Both of them felt humiliated as they looked at everyone. Then they felt angry at Jin Liwei and Iris.

    "You¡¯re breaking up the n and throwing blood rtions out of the window because of a mere woman?! Your grandfather will be so ashamed of you!" Jin Chenggong shouted while pointing an angry finger at Jin Liwei.

    "Uncle Chenggong, my grandfather built the Jin n from the ground up with just the main family. If there is a need for it, I¡¯ll just return the n to its original state. Even a healthy body can grow malignant tumours. If left untreated, it¡¯ll make the entire body sick or even die. The tumours need to be removed in order for the body to be healthy again," Jin Liwei said.

    "You¡¯re saying that my branch family is a malignant tumour?! How dare you?!! I¡¯ve never felt so insulted in my entire life!" Jin Chenggong was beyond furious by Jin Liwei¡¯s analogy.

    "No, how dare YOU say that?!!" Now it was Grandma Li¡¯s turn to snap. "You¡¯re not even close to my husband! If my husband were alive today, he would¡¯ve done the same thing as what his grandson is doing right now! True Jin men never abandon their women for anything, even for distant blood rtives. My grandson is a true Jin man, unlike most of you! Besides, if it weren¡¯t for my husband, all of you wouldn¡¯t even experience the glory of being part of the Jin n! What you¡¯re all enjoying right now¡ªthe wealth, the status¡ªeverything is due to my husband, my son, and now my grandson! Don¡¯t you dare point a finger at my grandson and use him of anything! You don¡¯t have the right!!!"

    Huang Yuyan stood beside her mother-inw and held Grandma Li¡¯s hand. "That¡¯s right! My son made Jin Corporation even more sessful in the global level after he seeded my husband. He strengthened the position of not only thepany but also the entire Jin n in the country. If he wants to marry Long Xin, he can do so! I ept Xin as my daughter-inw."

    Seeing the previous two Jin madams defending Jin Liwei¡¯s decision to prioritize Iris over the branch families, Jin Chenggong sneered. Now that Jin Liwei had cut his branch family off from the n, Jin Chenggong tossed away any civility he had left in him towards the main family. He had nothing to lose now.

    "You say that because you¡¯re not true Jins! The two of you are only wives! You don¡¯t have any Jin blood flowing in your veins, so of course you don¡¯t understand true blood rtions! You¡¯re the ones who are the outsiders in this n!" he told Grandma Li, Huang Yuyan and even Iris. His expression was filled with spite.

    "You!" Grandma Li clutched her chest, stiffened and paled all of a sudden.

    "Mother!" Huang Yuyan panicked.

    "Grandmother!"

    "Grandma Li!"

    Both Jin Liwei and Iris hurried to the elder. They sat her down on the nearest chair in the hallway beside a window. The others also looked anxious.

    Even Jin Chenggong looked worried...and a little guilty, but he quickly hardened his expression.

    "Mother, what¡¯s happening? What are you feeling?" Huang Yuyan was now close to tears.

    "Grandmother, please focus on breathing slowly and deeply," Jin Liwei said, desperately trying to be calm when his heart was pounding in fear for his grandmother. Then he turned to Iris, "Love, call an ambnce."

    Iris nodded and immediately fished her phone out of her pocket.

    "No! I...I¡¯m o-kay..." Grandma Li forced out the words in between gasping.

    Nobody listened to her. She didn¡¯t look okay.

    While Iris was talking on the phone with the emergency dispatcher, Jin Liwei red at Jin Chenggong.

    "If something bad happens to my grandmother, I¡¯ll never forgive you," he said in a dangerous tone. "We don¡¯t want you here anymore. Get out!"

    Jin Chenggong¡¯s mouth pressed together in a tight line. "We¡¯re getting out of here. No need to yell. Although I feel sorry for what¡¯s happening to Madam Li, it¡¯s not my fault. She¡¯s the one who got emotional on her own."

    "You! Get out of my house right now!!!" Huang Yuyan shrieked at the man, pointing a shaking finger at him. She was now crying.

    "Your house? It may be under your name now, but it¡¯s not yours! It¡¯s my uncle and cousin¡¯s house! You¡¯re not a Jin! You¡¯re only a wife!"

    "GET OUT!!!" Jin Liwei roared at Jin Chenggong. Then he saw that his men along with Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates were onlying now. "Where were you?!" he scolded them beforemanding, "Throw that man and his daughter out of here!"

    His men bowed in apology before moving to follow his order.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s men stayed and positioned themselves near Iris. They had grave expressions on their faces, knowing that their Boss Hao would be furious after hearing that they didn¡¯t watch his sister for the entire time. What could they do? His sister hated bodyguards following her everywhere. She was able to persuade them that she would be safe inside the property. And now this happened. All they could do was sigh and steel themselves to face their Boss Hao¡¯s wrathter on when they report what happened today.

    "Don¡¯t put your hands on me!" Jin Chenggong shouted when the men headed straight towards him.

    "Dad!" Jin Jiali ran to her father¡¯s side and clutched him like a lifeline.

    "No need to throw us out! We don¡¯t want to be here anymore either! We¡¯re going out on our own! Don¡¯t touch me or my daughter!"

 Chapter 524 - Stubborn Grandma Li

    <h4>Chapter 524 - Stubborn Grandma Li </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s men didn¡¯t listen to Jin Chenggong. They only listened to their boss, Jin Liwei. Despite the father and daughter¡¯s protests and struggles, they held them and began dragging them away.

    The other members of the branch families looked at the unbelievable scenes unfolding before them in horror. They stood frozen in their spots, afraid that if they made the wrong move, Jin Liwei would also order his subordinates to drag them away and throw them out.

    While the father and daughter were being dragged away, Jin Chenggong continued shouting at Jin Liwei.

    "You¡¯re going to regret this!!! Don¡¯t you know that blood is thicker than water?!! That woman is only a woman!!! She¡¯s not worth destroying family rtions!!! Breaking up our family over a woman?!!! The height of foolishness!!!"

    Jin Jiali didn¡¯t lose to her father. She didn¡¯t stop screaming and shrieking at the men dragging her away.

    "Don¡¯t touch me!!! I¡¯ll report you for physical and sexual assault!!!" Then she directed her anger at Iris. "I hate you, Iris Long!!! This is all your fault!!! Because of you, we¡¯ve been kicked out of the n!!!"

    Iris ignored the father and daughter. She didn¡¯t have the time nor the energy to respond to their pure stupidity and hatred. She was more concerned about staying on the line andmunicating with the dispatcher on the phone.

    "The ambnce is on its way. It¡¯ll arrive soon," she announced in a calm voice.

    "Oh, thank goodness!" Huang Yuyan eximed in tears.

    "En. Thanks, love," Jin Liwei said.

    "I told you that I¡¯m okay now. There¡¯s no need to bring me to the hospital," Grandma Li tried to assure them.

    "Grandmother, even if you¡¯re feeling alright now, you still have to see a doctor to make sure that your health is really fine. Or else we¡¯ll worry about you," Jin Liwei told her.

    Grandma Li sighed and nodded. Then she leaned back on the chair and closed her eyes to rest.

    Fortunately, the noisy father and daughter, Jin Chenggong and Jin Jiali, were now gone.

    Later, they all heard the sound of an approaching siren. The ambnce finally arrived. After taking Grandma Li¡¯s vitals, the paramedics carried the elder inside the ambnce to bring her to the hospital. Huang Yuyan apanied her inside the ambnce.

    Iris and Jin Liwei prepared to follow them in their own car, but before they could do so, two girls called out to Iris.

    "I know that you¡¯re in a hurry so we¡¯ll say this quickly. We¡¯re actually ck Stars. We love you, Boss Iris! Please don¡¯t mind what Jiali said to you. She¡¯s dumb. She doesn¡¯t listen to anyone, except for her dad."

    "We¡¯re super excited to have you in our Jin family! That¡¯s all we have to say to you. Please hurry to the hospital. I hope that the matriarch will be okay. Next time when we meet each other again, we hope that you can sign autographs and take some pictures with us."

    Despite the urgent situation, the couple smiled at the two girls. Iris was always kind and thankful to her true fans. She gave the two a hug each, delighting them.

    "Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Of course, I¡¯ll sign autographs for you and we¡¯ll take however many pictures you want together. We¡¯re going to be family, after all. Bye now. We have to go," she told them.

    "Yes, boss!"

    "OMG! Boss Iris hugged us!"

    Jin Liwei nodded at them before leaving with Iris.

    ###

    At the hospital, Huang Yuyan paced back and forth in the hallway. She was wringing the front of her own dress with her hands in fear and anxiety. Her eyes were red and teary.

    Iris and Jin Liwei sat together on the stiff hospital seats. Jin Liwei was hugging her shoulder with one arm while she held his other hand, massaging it. At first nce, it looked like he wasforting her because he was the one hugging her. But in actuality, she was the one who wasforting him.

    His hand felt cold. She massaged it, trying to warm it up. She stayed close to him, providing him with a stable source of warmth andfort.

    "Grandma Li will be fine," she murmured.

    He didn¡¯t reply, only squeezing her closer to him.

    A few minutester, a nurse called them inside the room, informing them that the doctor had finished examining Grandma Li. When they entered, the elder woman sat on the bed. Contrary to what they expected, she looked energetic.

    Huang Yuyan hurried to her mother-inw¡¯s side. "Mother, how are you?!"

    "Calm down, Yuyan my dear. I already told you that I¡¯m alright. The doctor says that I¡¯m also alright. Right, doctor?"

    They all turned to the doctor.

    "Yes, she¡¯s fine now, medically speaking," he told them.

    It was only then that everyone released big sighs of relief.

    "However, she¡¯s now advanced in age. Her heart isn¡¯t as strong as it used to be. As much as possible, avoid making her feel too emotional or distressed. She might experience a full heart attack next time. We don¡¯t want that, so please take care of her overall physical, mental and emotional health," the doctor exined.

    "Oh, thank goodness!" Huang Yuyan eximed.

    "Doctor, I want to attend my granddaughter-inw¡¯s party tomorrow. It¡¯s an important event. Can I go?" Grandma Li asked.

    Jin Liwei: "Absolutely not."

    Huang Yuyan: "Mother, no!"

    Iris: "Grandma Li, please rest."

    "But I want to attend. I¡¯m feeling alright now!" Grandma Li said, her tone stubborn.

    "It should be fine," the doctor said. "Like I said, your grandmother is fine now. All the tests we conducted on her returned with normal results. Medically speaking, she¡¯s healthy. However, we must all remember that she¡¯s already advanced in age. No matter how healthy she is, her body and her organs aren¡¯t what they used to be when she was younger. She can attend the party tomorrow but make sure that she doesn¡¯t exert herself too much and get plenty of rest before and after. Understood?"

    "See? I told you I¡¯m fine."

    Iris smiled at her. "Grandma Li, thank you very much. I appreciate that you want to attend mypany¡¯s grandunch tomorrow to show your support for me. But I think that it¡¯s safer for you to stay at home and rest. How about we livestream the event for you so that you can still watch it even when you¡¯re resting at home?"

    "En, good idea," Jin Liwei immediately supported her suggestion.

    Huang Yuyan followed suit. "That¡¯s a great idea, Xin! Mother, let¡¯s do that instead. Okay?"

    But Grandma Li remained stubborn. "No. I want to attend so I will."

    Iris and Huang Yuyan looked at Jin Liwei with helpless expressions on their faces.

    "That old gori will be attending tomorrow. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to stay at home while he has all the fun! He¡¯s attending to support Xin. I also want to go because I¡¯m proud of my future granddaughter-inw. This is my right! Why are you all stopping me?"

    The doctor discreetly excused himself to allow the family their private conversation. After thanking him, they returned to discussing Grandma Li¡¯s desire to attend the grandunch of Iris¡¯pany, Orchidia Beauty, tomorrow.

    They all tried persuading her to stay at home and rest but the elderdy refused. She insisted on attending the grandunch.

    "Isn¡¯t it fine? Let Grandma Li attend if she wants to. I¡¯ll also attend tomorrow. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be her escort and keep an eye on her," Wang Yingjie said, appearing in the room all of a sudden.

 Chapter 525 - WatChapter Over All Of You

    <h4>Chapter 525 - WatChapter Over All Of You </h4>

    Wang Yingjie closed the door behind him as silently as he entered. Only Iris noticed him when he entered. The others didn¡¯t notice him at all, including Jin Liwei who was too preupied with his stubborn grandmother. Wang Yingjie was wearing his doctor¡¯s uniform and whiteb coat. His naturally aloof expression warmed up when he smiled at them.

    After greeting each other, Grandma Li called Wang Yingjie over to sit beside her on the hospital bed. She treated him like her defender against the viins (Huang Yuyan, Jin Liwei and Iris) who were trying to stand in her way. Everyone looked amused at her childish behaviour, especially since the elder was an elegantdy.

    "I¡¯m currently on break from my rounds. I heard from some of my colleagues that you came because of Grandma Li, so I immediately headed here." Then he turned to the elder. "Grandma Li, I hope you¡¯ll forgive me for essing your medical files before I came here."

    The elder dismissed his concern with a wave of her hand. "No problem. I also consider you as my grandson. You¡¯re the doctor who I trust the most with my health and life."

    Wang Yingjie smiled gently at her. "I saw from your files that you¡¯re generally healthy. I can also see with my own eyes that you look fine. So I see no reason why you can¡¯t attend Xin¡¯sunch tomorrow."

    Grandma Li faced the other three with a smug expression on her face. She didn¡¯t say anything but it was obvious that her expression meant, ¡¯See, I told you! The doctor has spoken so let me attend!¡¯

    "Are you sure your Grandma Li will be okay?" Huang Yuyan still asked Wang Yingjie.

    "I think she¡¯ll be fine. And like I said, if Grandma Li would allow me, I¡¯ll be her escort for the event," Wang Yingjie replied.

    Grandma Li chuckled. "Of course! I would love to have a handsome young man like you to escort this old woman tomorrow."

    "I trust Second Brother. Fine," Jin Liwei said.

    Iris smiled and patted his hand.

    Later, Wang Yingjie used his connections in the hospital to take over Grandma Li¡¯s case. He personally examined the elder again before officially discharging her from the hospital. He even walked them out to the main lobby.

    While they were all walking together, Grandma Li shifted the conversation to an unpleasant topic.

    "Liwei my dear, you should be careful of Jin Chenggong. I don¡¯t like the look in his eyes when he was yelling at you earlier," she said.

    "Mother, let¡¯s not talk about this right now. Didn¡¯t the doctor earlier and even Yingjie here said that you must avoid being emotionally distressed?" Huang Yuyan pleaded her mother-inw.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Yuyan. I¡¯m fine."

    "Oh Mother." Huang Yuyan sighed helplessly.

    Wang Yingjie remained quiet. He was curious about the topic, wanting to listen more about it. The others didn¡¯t treat him like an outsider. In fact, he was like family to them. All of Jin Liwei¡¯s brothers were like family to them. This was why Grandma Li wasn¡¯t cautious at all in talking about such a private family topic in front of Wang Yingjie.

    "I understand, Grandmother. I¡¯ll keep an eye on Uncle Chenggong," Jin Liwei replied.

    "Your Uncle Chenggong is a member of the board of directors at Jin Corporation. What if he makes trouble for you at work?" Huang Yuyan asked him.

    "I may not have the absolute power to remove people from the board of directors as the CEO without suffering the consequences, but there is someone who can," he said.

    Grandma Li¡¯s eyes lit up. "Oh, you¡¯re right! How can we forget? Let me be the one to call the old gori. He needs to hear about what happened today. I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be as furious as I am!"

    Huang Yuyan: "Mother, please take it easy..."

    Grandma Li: "Don¡¯t worry, Yuyan my dear. I will not die that soon. There¡¯s no way that I¡¯ll allow myself to die earlier than that old gori. The two of us promised my dear husband that we¡¯ll live for as long as we can and watch over all of you in his stead."

    Huang Yuyan¡¯s eyes watered, touched at what her mother-inw said.

    ###

    Back at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House, Iris and Jin Liwei waved at Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan before driving away. Two cars followed behind them filled with their bodyguards.

    Iris leaned back on her seat, closed her eyes and sighed.

    Jin Liwei nced at her. "Tired?"

    "Mmn..."

    "So many unexpected things happened today. If you¡¯re tired, I¡¯ll call your father and cancel our dinner ns at the Longs tonight. We can re-schedule it for another day," he suggested.

    She opened her eyes and thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, Meimei told me that Auntie Jiahui has been looking forward to this dinner. I¡¯m not that tired. Are you?"

    "Not really. But I¡¯m concerned about you. You¡¯ll be busy tomorrow for yourunch."

    "I¡¯m fine, darling. If you¡¯re okay with it, let¡¯s go to dinner at the Longs tonight and get it over it. After theunch tomorrow, both of us will be extremely busy at work again. We won¡¯t have time to eat dinner with them anytime soon."

    "Alright, love."

    The red coupe and the two cars following behind all drove to the direction of the Long ancestral residence. In the distance, the sky glowed with a beautiful gradient of warm colours from the sun setting on the horizon.

    ###

    The father and daughter arrived home at the mansion with matching dark expressions on their faces. Jin Jiali immediately ran to her room upstairs and banged the door close.

    Jin Chenggong¡¯s wife already heard about what happened before they even arrived home. Some members of the branch families who personally witnessed what happened in the Jin Family¡¯s Old House earlier called her and informed her that their branch family had been disowned by Jin Liwei.

    "This ispletely uneptable! Why did you let this happen?! What are we going to do now?! You should¡¯ve apologized to the n head right away!" she scolded her husband.

    "Shut your mouth, woman! You weren¡¯t there so you don¡¯t know how that man insulted me and your daughter because of that lowly woman who he wants to marry!" he shouted at his wife.

    As the husband and wife fought with each other, their entire branch family all felt anxious about being disowned and cut off from the Jin n. Without the n¡¯s backing, what would be of them?

 Chapter 526 - Endure

    <h4>Chapter 526 - Endure </h4>

    The husband and wife continued to fight with each other.

    "Is it really serious? Are we really cut off from the Jin n? Maybe the n head is just throwing a fit and he¡¯ll retract his decision once he calms down," Jin Chenggong¡¯s wife said in a hopeful tone.

    "Jin Liwei is a serious man. If he says something, then he¡¯ll do it and it¡¯s final," Jin Chenggong told her. "I know that he¡¯s serious. All of these happened because of that slut Iris Long! If it wasn¡¯t for her, then our branch family wouldn¡¯t be cut off like this from the n. Now we¡¯re experiencing all of these shit because of her! How dare she ruin our lives?!!"

    "You¡¯re right. She¡¯s really an evil woman. Everyone in high society thinks so, too. She¡¯s the same as her mother who¡¯s one of the biggest sluts in high society. I bet that Iris Long is only using the n head and will divorce himter on to squeeze alimony from him just like how Wei Lan used Long Tengfei all those years ago."

    "Evil has entered our n and her name is Iris Long!"

    Just a few seconds ago, the husband and wife were fighting each other but now they banded together against amon enemy¡ªIris Long.

    Then Jin Chenggong received a call all of a sudden. After speaking for a couple of minutes, he returned to his wife with the ugliest expression on his face.

    "What happened?" she asked him.

    "Sir Lu Jianhong has fired me from my position in the board of directors!"

    "What?!!!"

    "That damned Jin Liwei! He must¡¯ve called the old man and told lies in order to discredit me! Dammit!"

    "Oh no! We¡¯re ruined! Ruined, I say!"

    "Shut up, woman! Don¡¯t bother me with your noisy mouth! Let me think!"

    Jin Chenggong left his wife and headed to an empty sitting room. Then he called someone on the phone.

    "Hello?" Romeo Young answered the call after three rings.

    "It¡¯s me, Chenggong."

    "I know. What¡¯s the matter?"

    Jin Chenggong told him everything that happened earlier that day at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    Romeo Young was silent for a few moments, processing what Jin Chenggong told him.

    "That¡¯s very unfortunate," he said. "Iris Long is bing a much bigger problem than what I first thought. Jin Liwei, too. It seems like that woman managed to seduce him to the point that he¡¯ll even throw away blood rtions just for her. Truly pathetic."

    "Exactly." Jin Chenggong felt better after Romeo Young echoed his own thoughts out loud.

    "We¡¯ll do something about this. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll assist your branch family in any way that I can. I¡¯ll also tell my wife about your problem. I¡¯m sure that her family there in China will be able to extend a helping hand to you. You¡¯re my daughter¡¯s biggest supporter in the board of directors. I¡¯ll always be grateful for your help in championing Rose to be Jin Corporation¡¯s next CMO back then," Romeo said.

    "I¡¯ve known Rose since she was only a little girl. She used to visit my house and y with my kids, nieces and nephews every summer. She¡¯s such a smart girl and now she has grown up into an amazingly smart and sessful woman. There is nobody else in the world more suitable to be the next Madam Jin except for her. Your daughter, Rose, is the only Madam Jin that I¡¯ll ever ept in my life," Jin Chenggong dered.

    "Thank you. I know that things are difficult for you and your family right now but just endure. We¡¯ll help each other out to achieve our ambitions together. Once my daughter seeds in bing the next Madam Jin, we¡¯ll remember your help and reinstate your branch family back to your previous status¡ªno, we¡¯ll ce you in a higher position in the Jin n and of course in Jin Corporation as well."

    "Good, I like that! Yes, I¡¯ll endure. My family will endure. All of us will endure until we achieve sess!"

    The two men were in two different countries but it was as if they were in front of each other. They dreamed of being on top together while nning the demise of Iris Long, trapping Jin Liwei into marriage with Rose Young, and acquiring the main family¡¯s portion of Jin Corporation.

    Regarding Sir Lu Jianhong, yes, they recognized him as a big problem. But he was already an old man. They only needed to wait it out for a few years, maybe even a decade, and he would eventually die. He hadn¡¯t chosen his heir yet. He also never involved any of his Lu rtives in Jin Corporation, choosing to keep half of his portion of thepany all to himself. What a greedy and selfish old bastard!

    That was why his own flesh and blood grandson grew up to be such a happy-go-lucky guy. His grandson almost died by breaking his neck while skiing on a snowy mountain somewhere in the world¡ªwhat a ridiculous way to die! However, it seemed that his grandson had now turned over a brand new leaf and had begun acquiring small business all over the country on his own. Despite this, Lu Zihao¡¯s business achievements weren¡¯t enough to make him deserving to inherit Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s half portion of Jin Corporation.

    Thus, the only possible and eptable candidate that everybody could think of was Jin Liwei himself, the current President-CEO of thepany. By the time that Sir Lu Jianhong died and passed his half portion of thepany to Jin Liwei, Romeo Young was confident that he and his daughter Rose would be able to control him. Then wouldn¡¯t that make his Young family the puppet master pulling the strings behind the entirety of Jin Corporation?

    Both Romeo Young and Jin Chenggong rubbed their hands in anticipation at the same time. They couldn¡¯t wait for that moment toe. But for now, they needed to endure.

    Endure.

    And also to make sure to erase Iris Long, the biggest obstacle to their ns of controlling Jin Liwei.

    ###

    Long Ancestral Residence.

    The sun had already set when Iris, Jin Liwei and their bodyguards reached the ancient residence that the main family of the Longs inherited from their noble ancestors many centuries ago. It was a dark and cold evening.

    While they walked through the roofed walkway of the inner courtyard to the master wing, the couple talked about what happened earlier at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House.

    "Love, I¡¯m sorry about what you experienced at my family home. I¡¯m embarrassed by what you¡¯ve seen about my Jin n," Jin Liwei told his baby girl.

    "Don¡¯t apologize. It¡¯s not your fault. To tell you the truth, I already expected it to happen so I¡¯m not surprised at all. Yes, I felt angry but more than anger, I felt indifferent. They¡¯re not worth my time," she replied.

    "Yes, you¡¯re right. They¡¯re not worth your time. Don¡¯t worry, love. If I can cut off Uncle Cheng¡ªI mean Jin Chenggong¡¯s branch family from the n, I can cut off the others who dare disrespect you again. All of those who disrespect the wife of the n head will be gone from the n forever!"

    Iris hugged his arm, a little shy that he was referring to her as his wife without adding the word "future" before it.

    "I¡¯m not your wife," she whispered.

    "Not yet. But you will be."

    She nodded.

    The bodyguards walking around them¡ªmost of them single dogs¡ªchanneled the power of one of the elements and pretended that they were air. This was so that they wouldn¡¯t drown too much from the overflowing dogfood the lovey-dovey couple kept on producing.

    Not knowing that the bodyguards were suffering because of them, the inconsiderate couple continued whispering sweet nothings to each other.

    That was until Iris remembered something and sighed while looking around the ancient ancestral ce.

    "You¡¯ve already kicked out a branch family from your n. I should feel sorry that it¡¯srgely because of me but I¡¯m not. That Jin Chenggong also dared disrespect Grandma Li and Auntie Yuyan. He and his equally disrespectful daughter deserve to be punished for how they acted earlier today. What happened with them reminded me of the same stupid political games the branch families of the Long n are always ying.

    "I guess I also have to do some cleaning in the Long n as well, just like what you did with your Jin n. What a hassle. I really don¡¯t have much interest in the Long n affairs but I guess I have to start interfering now, especially after what that stupid idiot did to Ying Yue. Suddenly dragging her into a painful custody battle for their son, our godson Little Jun.

    "I won¡¯t rest easy after all of the things he did to hurt my friend and our godson. It¡¯s just a pity that I wasn¡¯t able to buy that 5% shares of Long Industries when it was put on sale. Qiao Yu even offered more money above the asking price but it was declined because the seller didn¡¯t like me."

    Jin Liwei was quiet for a few moments, thinking about what she said. Finally, he spoke. "If they don¡¯t want to sell shares to you because of their blind stupidity, then maybe they would be more willing to sell shares to me."

    Iris quickly nced up at him, then frowned. "But¡ª"

    "Matrimonial assets," he simply said.

    "Oh..." She tilted her head to the side. "50/50 again?"

    "En, if you want."

    "Hmmm... That¡¯s not a bad idea. I prefer to buy them solely under my name but I can¡¯t do anything if the sellers don¡¯t want to ept my offer of purchase. I guess this is the only way."

    He kissed her forehead. "Think about it."

    "Okay. I¡¯ll talk to Qiao Yu about it. I want to hear what he thinks about your suggestion first. If they don¡¯t want to sell shares to me, maybe he could throw your name around and they¡¯ll be more willing to sell. We¡¯ll buy it together. I can¡¯t let that stupid idiot gain more shares than me any longer. The more foothold he gains in the n and in Long Industries, the more arrogant he bes into thinking that he could bully my friend and threaten her to take Little Jun away."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned cold and dangerous.

    "Don¡¯t worry, love. Grandpa Lu¡¯swyer already contacted both of ourwyers. He already took over our godson¡¯s custody case. With our threewyers working together, there¡¯s no way Long Hui would be able to sessfully take our godson away from Jiang Ying Yue and from us. We won¡¯t let it happen. Jiang Ying Yue and our godson are safe in our Dragon Pce mansion, especially now that Fifth Brother¡¯s subordinates have tightened our property¡¯s security even more."

    She nodded, feeling better after hearing what he said.

    Finally, they arrived at the main wing of the ancestral residence. Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Meimei weed the couple. Iris and Jin Liwei gave them the souvenirs they brought home from France.

    Then Iris handed two small objects to both Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. "These..." She cleared her throat and tried again. "These keychains are from my mother. She wants me to give them to you."

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t take the tiny keychain, so Yang Jiahui had no choice but to take both of them herself.

    "They¡¯re so tiny and cute," she said in an appreciative tone. "Please thank your mother."

    "I will." Iris was relieved that Yang Jiahui was a kind woman and didn¡¯t make things awkward like Long Tengfei.

    To make up for the unimpressive keychains that Wei Lan bought, Jin Liwei handed his future father-inw the seventy-year old vintage cognac from his own cer while Iris gave a big Orchidia Beauty gift basket to Yang Jiahui.

    This time, Long Tengfei finally disyed an appreciative expression. He was obviously pleased by his future son-inw¡¯s gift to him.

    As for Yang Jiahui, she was delighted.

    "Oh! Orchidia Beauty products! And so many! Thank you, Xin!"

 Chapter 527 - Dinner At The Long Ancestral Residence Part I

    <h4>Chapter 527 - Dinner At The Long Ancestral Residence Part I </h4>

    Meimei interrupted her aunt¡¯s happiness. "Whoa, Xin. Did Jinjing approve of you giving so many products away for free? She¡¯llin to you about thepany¡¯s budget again."

    Yang Jiahui¡¯s excitement turned to concern instead. "Oh. Xin, is it really alright to give me this many Orchidia Beauty products? I don¡¯t want you to get into trouble."

    Iris gave a subtle re at Meimei before smiling at Yang Jiahui. "Of course, Auntie. Don¡¯t worry about it. You mustn¡¯t forget that Orchidia Beauty is MYpany. If it makes you feel better, these products are thest batch of samples that I¡¯m free to give away for this month. I decided to give them all to you."

    Indeed, Yang Jiahui felt better after hearing Iris¡¯ assurance.

    Meimei pouted. "Then what about me? You gave so many to Auntie but where¡¯s my Orchidia Beauty free samples?"

    "Didn¡¯t you already mooch some from Clover?"

    "You knew about that? Did she tell you?"

    "Of course I know. I¡¯m thepany owner. Besides, it¡¯s not like Clover is doing anything questionable behind my back. She also receives a set number of free samples every month. She could give it away to anyone as she likes. You two are the only ones acting like you¡¯re doing something illegal."

    Meimei giggled. "True. It just feels exciting that way. It gets me into a dangerous yet thrilling mood that is very important when I write my webtoon."

    "Your webtoon is very entertaining. I¡¯ve almost caught up to thetest chapter. I can see why it became extremely popr. Congrattions," Iris told her friend.

    "Thanks, Xin!"

    "And if you really like to receive more free products, then you must attend mypany¡¯sunch tomorrow. We¡¯ll be giving out gift packages to all the guests who attend. They¡¯re the full market versions of the products, not free samples."

    "Really? That¡¯s great! I can¡¯t wait! Don¡¯t worry! I already worked extra hard this past week on my webtoon so that I can take the day off tomorrow! I¡¯ll definitely attend! Besides, that bossy bitch Chen Fei will kill me if I don¡¯te."

    Iris chuckled and nodded.

    Later, the group headed to the dining hall. Jin Liwei spoke with Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui about the France trip, while Iris and Meimei continued to chat with each other.

    Meimei had big, dark eye bags. She also looked, er, fatter¡ªCOUGH COUGH¡ª"bigger" than thest time Iris had seen her.

    "Stress eating," Meimei said after noticing Iris trying to covertly look at her body. "My webtoon has entered a dramatic and emotional arc. I¡¯m always crying whenever I¡¯m working on it. Not to mention that many of my readers are demanding for faster and longer releases. Eating makes me feel better. It soothes me."

    Iris only nodded, choosing notment about it.

    They finally arrived at the dining hall and were seated around the table. Iris and Jin Liwei noticed that there was an extra seating cement. Even Meimei looked confused.

    "Is there someone else joining us?" Iris asked.

    Yang Jiahui began acting nervous.

    Long Tengfei cleared his throat before replying, "Your brother."

    Iris, Jin Liwei and Meimei¡¯s expressions turned dark.

    Right at that moment, Long Hui arrived led by the old chambein. When he saw Iris and Jin Liwei, his expression also became ugly.

    "Why are you here?" he asked, his tone filled with spite.

    "That¡¯s what I want to know, too," Iris said, her tone cold.

    Long Hui sneered. "Of course I¡¯ll be here. I live here, not like you."

    Jin Liwei narrowed his eyes and was about to open his mouth to join the argument, but Iris squeezed his hand under the table, silently telling him to let her do the talking this time.

    "Yes, you live in thepound at another wing, not here in the master¡¯s wing. You¡¯re not the head of the n, so you¡¯re not the master. Father is still alive so don¡¯t go around iming that you live here in the master¡¯s wing. Based on your attitude, it sounds like you can¡¯t wait for Father to die and rece him as the next head of the n," Iris retorted without mercy.

    Long Tengfei¡¯s expression turned ck. He encouraged healthypetition between his children, usually not minding them talking about inheritance after his death, but he didn¡¯t like watching his children fighting and hating each other like this.

    "What are you talking about?!" Long Hui red at Iris before hurriedly telling Long Tengfei, "Father, don¡¯t believe her. I didn¡¯t say anything like that. Little Sister is the one talking about such a morbid topic about you, not me. I don¡¯t want you to die, Father. I want you to live a long life."

    "Enough!" Long Tengfei shouted.

    Silence.

    The atmosphere was heavy and tense. They red at each other, the invisible antagonistic sparks shooting between them.

    Iris and Jin Liwei vs. Long Hui.

    It was Long Hui who looked away first and said, "I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯ll have guests. I don¡¯t want to disturb your dinner so please excuse me. I¡¯ll return to my residence." Then he started walking away.

    "Come back here. You¡¯re eating dinner with us," Long Tengfei called him back.

    "I don¡¯t want to eat with him¡ª" Meimei started toin.

    "Xiao Mei!" Yang Jiahui reprimanded her niece, shooting her a warning look.

    Meimei shut up but continued giving Long Hui a dark look. The man might be her Uncle Tengfei¡¯s son, but she couldn¡¯t forgive Long Hui for insulting and hurting her two friends, Iris and Jiang Ying Yue. He hadn¡¯t apologized to either of them yet.

    Iris and Jin Liwei both had cold expressions. Theirbined aura conveyed an image of a frozen and forbidding hell.

    Long Hui looked around. "It¡¯s only the two of you? You didn¡¯t bring Jiang Ying Yue and Long Jun?"

    The couple didn¡¯t reply to his question, making Long Hui re at them even more.

    Then Iris stood up all of a sudden. "I¡¯m not feeling well. Father, Auntie Jiahui, please excuse Liwei and me. Darling, take me home."

    "Xin, stay," Long Tengfei said in a softer tone but it was still strict andmanding.

    Iris¡¯ stubborn streak didn¡¯t want to listen to him. She wasn¡¯t the least bit intimidated by Long Tengfei. He was like a mousepared to her draconian parents in her past life, especially her artic-cold mother.

    Her mouth pressed together into a tight and thin line. "We¡¯re going. Let¡¯s go, darling."

    Jin Liwei also stood up and started following her.

    Yang Jiahui panicked. "Wait! Xin, Liwei, please stay. You too, Hui. I...It¡¯s actually my idea to invite all of you for dinner tonight. Please don¡¯t me your father. If you want to me someone, then me me."

    Iris¡¯ hard expression softened a little. She and Jin Liwei stopped walking away but they didn¡¯t return to the dinner table yet. Same thing with Long Hui. The scene came to a standstill.

    "I¡¯m sorry for not warning you beforehand," Yang Jiahui continued saying. "If I did, I knew that nobody of you would even want toe. So forgive me if I tricked you intoing tonight."

    "It¡¯s not your fault, Auntie!" Meimei interjected.

    Yang Jiahui smiled sadly at her niece before looking at the two opposing sides with nervous uncertainty. Her husband, Long Tengfei, continued to sit at the head of the table with a seemingly impassive expression. His eyes, however, showed a simr nervous uncertainty as his wife.

    "Both your father and I are well aware of the conflict between you. Hui, Xin, you are brother and sister. Your father and I can¡¯t bear to watch you fighting against each other like this anymore. I invited you all for dinner tonight hoping that we can at least have a meaningful conversation. Let¡¯s talk about the issues between you. It won¡¯t be pleasant, I know, but conversation is still important," Yang Jiahui said, trying to exin herself.

    The two opposing sides didn¡¯t reply. The dining hall once again descended into a heavy and tense silence.

    Iris no longer cared about the dinner. She wanted to go home. After what happened at the Jin Family¡¯s Old House and then Grandma Li¡¯s health scare earlier, Iris had no mental and emotional energy to deal with any negativity for the rest of the day. She was about to pull Jin Liwei and leave but Meimei¡¯s pleading eyes stopped her.

    ¡¯Please do this for my aunt,¡¯ her eyes seemed to implore her.

    Iris sighed. Her friend was asking something of her. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to do but it was, without a doubt, a great bother.

    "Fine," she eventually said, sighing once again. "Come, darling. Let¡¯s join everyone for dinner."

 Chapter 528 - Dinner At The Long Ancestral Residence Part II

    <h4>Chapter 528 - Dinner At The Long Ancestral Residence Part II </h4>

    Dinner was an ordeal for everyone. Nobody had an appetite. The atmosphere was heavy and tense, making everyone ufortable.

    As the elders, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui tried to act as if everything was normal. They forced themselves to eat, even though the food tasted like sand in their mouths at that moment.

    Meimei began stress eating, shoving food into her mouth nonstop, much like her twin bro, the food-vacuum Dom. Although she was eating a lot, it didn¡¯t look like she was enjoying it.

    The two men, Jin Liwei and Long Hui ate mechanically. Both of their expressions were cold, but they still continued to eat. They also looked like they weren¡¯t enjoying the food.

    As for Iris, she didn¡¯t bother eating. After a couple of bites, she simply stopped. She just sat there with her hands on herp and watched her darling eating beside her.

    Perhaps the atmosphere became too much for Yang Jiahui until she couldn¡¯t bear it anymore because she shot a meaningful look at her husband, silently telling him to do something.

    Long Tengfei carefully set his chopsticks down. Then he cleared his throat to get everyone¡¯s attention. The others stopped eating and looked at him.

    "Hui, Xin, the two of you are my children. You are brother and sister. As your father, I want you to stop fighting like this. Talk to each other and try to solve all of the issues between you."

    Silence.

    Finally, Iris was the one who responded to Long Tengfei first. "Your eldest son is the one who should stop hurting and make peace first with my friend Ying Yue and my godson Little Jun. He¡¯s the one who caused this mess. Once he asks for Ying Yue¡¯s forgiveness and she forgives him, then that¡¯s the time that I will stop fighting with him."

    Everyone noticed that she stopped referring to Long Hui as her "Elder Brother", referring him to Long Tengfei as "your eldest son" instead.

    Long Hui red at her. "I¡¯m the one who caused this mess?! Jiang Ying Yue was the one who cheated on me first!"

    "She didn¡¯t," Jin Liwei interjected. "Jiang Ying Yue and my Eldest Brother Lin Yehan aren¡¯t in a rtionship. They only met the weekend before you saw the photos of them together. That was just a coincidence. I don¡¯t think that they¡¯re even friends. Eldest Brother Lin Yehan is a man of integrity. He¡¯ll never destroy amitted rtionship by having a love affair with one of the parties involved. You¡¯re the only one whotched onto this idea that they¡¯re cheating on you even though it¡¯s not true. You didn¡¯t even let the mother of your child exin her side of the story. You were just trying to find a reason to break up with her so that you can marry your current fianc¨¦e who¡¯s richer and has a status in high societypared to Jiang Ying Yue. Truly a pathetic man who can¡¯t even own up to your motives and decisions and just keeps on ming others for the mess you made."

    Long Hui was triggered by what Jin Liwei said about him. "What did you say, you bastard?!"

    "Don¡¯t you dare call my fianc¨¦ a bastard!" Iris also raised her voice at him.

    "Enough!" Long Tengfei banged his hand on the dinner table, making some of the dinnerware bounce dangerously.

    Long Hui immediately stopped, acting like a well-behaved son. Years of being trained and disciplined as the sessor since he was a young child made him unable to openly defy his father. He could only do things behind Long Tengfei¡¯s back. If it was face to face, he didn¡¯t have the courage to do it.

    On the other hand, Iris wasn¡¯t the least bit affected by Long Tengfei. She even shot a cold look at her "father".

    "I¡¯m sorry to say this, Father. But I can¡¯t ept that you¡¯re not doing anything while your son is doing all of these things to hurt the mother of your grandson. Little Jun is caught in the middle of this mess! You didn¡¯t hear how your grandson was screaming and crying¡ªhe was so scared, poor child¡ªwhen this jerk barged into their condo unit and fought with Ying Yue," she told Long Tengfei.

    "You! Stop it! Don¡¯t try to influence how Father should think," Long Hui said in a hurry, a slightly panicked look in his eyes as he nced at his father.

    Iris ignored Long Hui and continued speaking directly to Long Tengfei. "Father, I know that you prefer to leave us, your children, to decide on how we live our lives. This son of yours is intent on hurting my friend and taking advantage of her weakness and powerlessness. He¡¯s using their son, your grandson, to hurt her and validate his mistaken sense of dominance in their rtionship. If you¡¯re just going to let him do what he wants in this matter, then please don¡¯t stop me if I want to simply protect my friend and your grandson from his attacks. Between him and them, I choose my godson and my friend! Little Jun has no future with this jerk! He¡¯ll only bring Little Jun into a world of hurt if he sessfully gains custody of your grandson!"

    "Who are you calling a jerk?! And what do you mean my son has no future with me?! I can give my son a brighter and much better future than Jiang Ying Yue! She¡¯s only a bodyguard! How can a mere bodyguardpare to me and what I can give to our son?!"

    "You fucking asshole! How dare you call Big Sis Yue a ¡¯mere bodyguard¡¯?!! How dare you?!!!" Meimei yelled at Long Hui, waving a fork in a threatening manner at him. It was as if there was nothing in the world that she wanted to do right now but to stab him with the fork.

    "Xiao Mei, stop! Don¡¯t interfere with their discussion!" Yang Jiahui reprimanded her niece.

    "Auntie, I can¡¯t stop! He just insulted my friend! Unforgivable! And you call this a discussion? What part of this is a discussion? This is fighting, that¡¯s what this is!"

    "You¡ª" Yang Jiahui closed her eyes, helpless at her niece.

    With Meimei riled up like this, of course Iris also felt offended for her friend. If eyes could shoot fire, hers would be like a military-grade methrower burning Long Hui alive.

    "Ying Yue might not be able to afford what you can give Little Jun with her own money, but I can! Liwei can! We both can! We¡¯ll assist her in every way that we can in raising her son! Little Jun is our godson and what you can give him, Liwei and I can give him many times over!"

    "Correct," Jin Liwei said.

    Long Hui banged both of his hands on the table and shouted at the couple. "Long Jun is not your son! He¡¯s MY son! I have every right to take him! I¡¯m in a much better position than Jiang Ying Yue to raise him!"

    "Don¡¯t you dare yell at Xin," Jin Liwei warned him in a low, dangerous voice.

    "Stay out of this! You¡¯re not even a Long! You¡¯re an outsider of this family!"

    "Liwei is my future husband. He¡¯s MY family. He has every right to be here," Iris retorted.

    "So you¡¯re going to use Jin Liwei¡¯s status and influence to suppress me?" Long Hui asked, daring her to answer with his expression.

    "So what if I do? I just told you, he¡¯s my future husband! His power is my power and my power is his power! This is what a rtionship is! You don¡¯t understand because you only think about yourself! You know what? I¡¯m d that you broke up with Ying Yue! She¡¯s better off without a scum like you!"

    "That¡¯s right! She¡¯s so lucky that you showed your true colours before you married! Good riddance to you!" Meimei butted in.

    "Xiao Mei, please..."

    Yang Jiahui pleaded to her niece to stop but Meimei was too fired up to listen to her aunt.

    Long Hui ignored Meimei. He sneered at Iris. "Hah! So you¡¯re admitting that you¡¯re using Jin Liwei¡¯s power for your own benefit! You¡¯re exactly like your mother! That slut¡ª"

    "STOP IT!!!" Long Tengfei roared.

    A ss of water crashed to the floor a few metres away from the table after he threw it.

    Everyone became silent, even Iris. They could feel Long Tengfei¡¯s fury.

    In the end, the attempt to reconcile Iris and Long Hui during dinner by Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui failed.

    It failed miserably.

 Chapter 529 - Dinner At The Long Ancestral Residence Part III

    <h4>Chapter 529 - Dinner At The Long Ancestral Residence Part III </h4>

    Long Hui left everyone and marched off in anger to his own residence.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and Meimei red at his back. Yang Jiahui watched him leaving, a sad expression on her face, while Long Tengfei looked conflicted. Long Hui was still his eldest son after all.

    "Jerk!!!" Meimei spat when Long Hui was gone.

    "Xiao Mei, you should stop," Yang Jiahui said in an exhausted tone, massaging her temples.

    "I¡¯m only telling the truth, Auntie. Uncle Tengfei, your son is a big jerk!!!"

    Yang Jiahui sighed, not bothering to scold her niece anymore.

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t respond to Meimei, turning to Iris instead. "Xin, you shouldn¡¯t have provoked your brother. He...he¡¯s very stressed. It¡¯s hectic at thepany now, not to mention that he also has to deal with the custody battle."

    Iris frowned. "And I¡¯m not stressed? Ying Yue is not stressed? Father, my schedule is also very hectic. I¡¯m not only juggling my showbiz career but also my studies and my businesses. But do you see me acting out, making a mess of things and hurting others? And also please remember that he¡¯s not the only one dealing with the custody battle. Liwei and I are also very involved in it. If we leave your son to do what he wants, Ying Yue and your grandson will suffer. Liwei and I can¡¯t do that, Father. We won¡¯t leave Ying Yue on her own. She would be powerless to fight the custody battle without our help.

    "And don¡¯t forget that it¡¯s your son who filed for this custody battle in the first ce and made a mess of everyone¡¯s lives! Yes, Ying Yue left him before when she was pregnant but they got back together. It was your son who left Ying Yue this time and started distancing himself. So excuse me, Father, but don¡¯t tell me that I shouldn¡¯t have provoked your son. He¡¯s the one who provoked us first. What you¡¯re asking me is to be understanding of him, but does he deserve it? Do you want me and Ying Yue to martyr ourselves over a man like him? No way!"

    Silence.

    Nobody dared speak after Iris¡¯ impassioned speech. The tension in the air became too thick. After a few moments of heavy silence, Iris finally managed to calm herself down. Her angry expression smoothed out. It was as if she expelled most of the negativity inside of her with her earlier words.

    "Father, I have a request," she said.

    Long Tengfei looked at her now calm expression. "What is it?"

    "I want to be more involved in Long Industries," she said.

    Jin Liwei nced at her, not surprised that she changed the topic all of a sudden.

    In contrast, the others looked taken aback and confused. They knew that Iris never showed any interest in bing involved in working at the familypany before, aside from partnering with Long Industries for herpany, Orchidia Beauty.

    Despite this, Long Tengfei was still a full-fledged businessman and at the same time, a father. He smoothed out his own expression as well before speaking to his daughter in a serious tone.

    "I know that Sir Lu Jianhong is your business mentor and that you¡¯re a Cross Academy student. But even so, I can¡¯t give you an important position in mypany just like that. And I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re not asking me for an insignificant position, especially since you¡¯re already the President and CEO of your ownpany. Your two brothers started from the bottom and worked their way up. Your sister Jingjing would have also done the same if you didn¡¯t poach her from me after she graduated from business school. Even if you¡¯re a genius, I can¡¯t just give you a high position and hand it to you on a silver tter."

    The others took on the role of spectators as they watched the father and daughter¡¯s discussion. It felt weird because the conversation went into apletely different turn after the earlier heated argument between Iris and Long Hui. The change in topic was unexpected...and confusing.

    "I understand, Father," Iris replied with a brief nod. "I won¡¯t ask for much. Just this. Please make me the face of Long Industries. I¡¯m a musician, a celebrity. That¡¯s my calling in life, despite my other skills in business andnguages. My fame has been experiencing quite a significant increase, especially after I won a number of awards earlier this year and at the Sommet International Film Festival in France. I¡¯m now one of the most well-known faces in the country. The film festival has also made me a little more known in Europe."

    She said all of these in a straightforward manner. There was no arrogance or hubris in her tone. She was simply stating facts.

    "I¡¯ll be an effective brand ambassador for Long Industries. With my current status as a celebrity, I know that I can greatly contribute in increasing and improving thepany¡¯s impression, reputation and presence among the Chinese people."

    The corner of Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth hooked upward into an almost unnoticeable smile. His smile might be small but it was filled with tremendous pride for his baby girl. He also nodded his head, approving of her "sales talk" about herself. Without a doubt, she was Grandpa Lu¡¯s student.

    Long Tengfei looked at his daughter for a long time, studying her. There was a quick sh of pride in his eyes before he hid it behind a stern expression.

    "You know what you¡¯re asking of me?" he asked.

    "Of course, Father."

    "You¡¯ll have to work hard in fully understanding Long Industries. Brand ambassadors are different from normal endorsers that way. You won¡¯t just endorse ourpany but also represent its entirety, including its values," he told her.

    "Yes, I¡¯m ready. I want this position, Father. Please give it to me."

    Iris looked at Long Tengfei straight in the eyes, conveying to him that she was serious in her request. She needed a way to gain more influence within Long Industries besides being a shareholder, especially since Qiao Yu was having difficulty in purchasing shares in thepany under her name. Sellers were biased against her. The first time was mostly a fluke because Qiao Yu was friends with the person who sold the shares.

    She didn¡¯t want to start at the bottom of thepany like what Long Hui and Long Jian did. That would take too long¡ªyears. There was no way she would waste that much time. If she couldn¡¯t take the traditional route, then she would need to find an unconventional way to enter Long Industries. And this was what she decided to do.

    Bing a brand ambassador, an effective one, would be the fastest and most convenient way for her to gain influence in Long Industries without having to start from the very bottom. If she used her cards right, she could forge herself into bing an indispensable marketing and PR force for thepany.

    Once she seeded in doing this, then she could take over the entirepany along with the Long n, wash itpletely clean of filth, and safeguard it until her godson expressed desire in inheriting it. If Little Jun didn¡¯t want it, then maybe one of her future children would. Only time would tell.

    This was her ultimate goal in making this request from Long Tengfei. She already discussed this with Jin Liwei beforehand. She had a motive but didn¡¯t share it with Long Tengfei. He didn¡¯t need to know it.

 Chapter 530 - My Man Is The Bes

    <h4>Chapter 530 - My Man Is The Bes </h4>

    Everyone waited with bated breath for Long Tengfei¡¯s reply. As for Iris, her expression was calm, serene even. Her current expression was far from her earlier angry one directed towards Long Hui.

    Finally, Long Tengfei spoke.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll discuss this idea of appointing you as a brand ambassador for Long Industries with my fellow executives first. If they approve, I¡¯ll contact you," he told Iris, maintaining a stern and serious tone.

    "Thank you, Father." She might look calm on the outside but inside, she released a big sigh of relief.

    This was the first step!

    "Xin, you are my daughter," Long Tengfei said. He looked stiff and awkward all of a sudden. He opened and closed his mouth several times, wanting to say something but struggling to do so.

    The others waited for him, curious at what he wanted to say.

    He cleared his throat. "I might not always say or show it but I...I love you. My daughter, I love you. This is perhaps the first time I¡¯m telling you this...no, it is the first time."

    A look of surprise appeared on Iris¡¯ face. She didn¡¯t expect Long Tengfei to tell her that he loved her in a direct manner like this. Despite not treating Long Tengfei as her real father deep inside (he wasn¡¯t her real father as Evelina), a heavy andplicated emotion swept over her. Before she knew it, tears were flowing down her face.

    She was confused at first why her vision became blurry all of a sudden. She touched her face and discovered that her cheeks were wet.

    "Huh?"

    She stared at her wet hands like a dumb person. It was only when she felt a strong pair of arms envelop her into a tight and warm embrace that she started regaining her senses.

    "It¡¯s okay, love. It¡¯s okay," she heard Jin Liwei¡¯s low voice murmuring to her. His tone was filled with gentleness.

    He took a handkerchief from his pocket and ever so gently wiped her tears. He did this while rubbing her back, kissing her forehead and murmuring soothing words to her, as ifforting a child.

    Iris still felt a little confused at her sudden surge of emotions. All she could do was lean into her darling¡¯s warmth and melt into his embrace. To her, he was the personification of safety andfort.

    When she nced around, she saw an awkward-looking Long Tengfei. He looked a little funny, like he suddenly had no idea how to move his body properly so he just sat there, stiff and frozen like a statue.

    His wife, Yang Jiahui, was sniffing and wiping her own tears beside him. Meimei looked touched as well.

    Later, the atmosphere improved. It felt lighter. There was happiness yet also sadness in the air.

    Iris was confused. Long Tengfei felt awkward.

    Touching her chest with her hand, Iris felt her beating heart inside. She hadn¡¯t felt the remnant ever since its revenge against Fan Luost year. Then what was this confusing surge of emotion? It didn¡¯t feel like her own yet also hers at the same time. There was no differentiation. It was all very confusing!

    "Xin..." Long Tengfei called, hesitant.

    Iris blinked and forced herself to focus on the present instead of trying to analyze her emotions. "Yes, Father?"

    Long Tengfei cleared his throat once again. "You heard me. I just told you that I...I l-love you..."

    "Thank you, Father."

    A hint of sadness shed in his eyes when she didn¡¯t tell him she loved him, too. But he quickly covered it up and gave a rare smile. "In the same way, I also love your siblings, your brothers and sister. All of you are my children. Your brothers Hui and Jian. And your sister, Jinjing."

    She nodded, silently telling him that she understood.

    "I know that I¡¯m not the best father and that I wasn¡¯t always there when you needed me, but I care about all of you. You all have different mothers and that¡¯s my fault. Regardless of that, I¡¯m still proud to be the father of all of you. I know that it might be too much for me to ask for you to all get along, especially since you didn¡¯t grow up together with me. But...I don¡¯t want you fight. I want all of my children to live harmonious lives and to be at peace with each other."

    Yang Jiahui held her husband¡¯s hand to show her support.

    Iris straightened but didn¡¯tpletely leave Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace. She was silent for a few moments before replying to Long Tengfei.

    "Father, to those who treat me well, I¡¯ll treat them the same way, even many times better than how they treat me. But for those who hurt me or my loved ones, I¡¯ll hurt them a million times worse. I¡¯m not an angel or a saint. But I¡¯m notpletely evil either. At least, I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯m just a human with my own dignity and pride. I¡¯m also reasonable and will humble myself to those who I think deserve it."

    The others were quiet while listening to her firm words. She felt Jin Liwei squeeze her a little, making her feel that he supported her every step of the way. It encouraged her to finish what she was saying.

    "You must understand, Father. There should be give and take. The situation regarding your eldest son isn¡¯t just between me and him. It has more to do with his conflict with the mother of his child and my friend, Ying Yue. Liwei and I are only acting as Ying Yue and your grandson¡¯s support system¡ª"

    "Me too! I¡¯m also part of their support system!" Meimei interrupted.

    "Yes, of course. You¡¯re part of it, too," Iris agreed before smoothly continuing her speech. "We are their support system. If your eldest son continues this foolishness, then...I¡¯m sorry to say this, Father, but I¡¯m on my friend¡¯s side. Liwei and I will always prioritize our godson¡¯s wellbeing. And we believe that your eldest son can¡¯t give Little Jun a good and sane life with that new fianc¨¦e of his. No. Way."

    Long Tengfei sighed. He could see that his daughter¡¯s decision was final. It also bothered him that she didn¡¯t once call Long Hui "Elder Brother", as if they weren¡¯t rted to each other at all.

    His daughter had be mature and sensible ever since waking up from hera. It ddened him and made him proud. Because of this, he and his wife were hoping that she would at least agree to their request of humbling herself to make peace with her older brother. Unfortunately, she refused to budge. He couldn¡¯t ce the me on her, though. He sighed once again.

    "The two of you are such prideful people. You are truly brother and sister, my children from the Long n. I¡¯ll try talking to your brother again. I hope that if I seed in persuading him to make peace with you and Jiang Ying Yue that you¡¯ll ept his apology and forgive each other," he said.

    Iris didn¡¯t reply right away. But eventually she nodded. "I give you my word, Father. I may not forget but I will forgive if Ying Yue does. However, Liwei and I will still not allow him to take Little Jun away."

    Long Tengfei nodded. Deep in his heart, he also agreed that his grandson would be better off with his mother, Jiang Ying Yue, than with his son and his new fianc¨¦e. Long Hui spent almost the entire day working at thepany, only going homete at night.

    In this aspect, his son was very simr to him. It was a good trait to be hardworking but it was difficult to be a good father like this. Make money and climb the business ranks? Or be a good father and spend quality time with one¡¯s children?

    Long Tengfei had chosen his decision long ago. He chose Long Industries over personally raising his own children. Yes, he was generous to them, financial-wise. But as a hands-on father? Not at all.

    If Long Hui was like him, then he wouldn¡¯t be able to spend quality time with Little Jun. Long Tengfei also didn¡¯t trust his son¡¯s new fianc¨¦e to properly raise his grandson. It was better for the mother, Jiang Ying Yue, to raise Little Jun. He also felt better that her youngest daughter and her fianc¨¦ cared so much for Little Jun and were willing to help raise the child.

    And with that, the dinner concluded.

    Although it wasn¡¯t as satisfying as how Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui expected it, at least Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t storm off like Long Hui did. She was at least more receptive and listened, even if she didn¡¯t agree in making the first step to reconcile with her brother.

    In the end, they all felt relieved that the dinner was over. They didn¡¯t even remember what they ate. All they remembered were the emotional events one after another, and then Iris¡¯ unexpected request to be more involved in Long Industries.

    Iris and Jin Liwei left the ancestral residence, feeling extremely exhausted. It had been a long day. So many things had happened.

    It was already veryte in the evening. The weather was cold, almost freezing but not quite. Jin Liwei ignored his baby girl¡¯s protests and wrapped her tightly like a burrito with a few scarves they borrowed from Meimei.

    On the way home inside their car, they discussed her earlier request to Long Tengfei.

    "I think Father liked the idea of me bing brand ambassador for Long Industries. The only question is...will the other executives agree to it?"

    Jin Liwei quickly nced at her before returning his attention to driving. This area wasn¡¯t very busy. There weren¡¯t a lot of streetlights so the road was quite dark in some ces.

    "If they¡¯re smart, they will," he replied. Quick nce at her, then focus on the road. "You¡¯ve be more famous after winning an award at the Sommet International Film Festival. I¡¯ve heard that there are manypanies wanting to sign you. If Long Industries doesn¡¯t sign you, then they¡¯re stupid. I was hoping to make you Jin Corporation¡¯s brand ambassador after we marry but I guess I¡¯ll let Long Industries temporarily have you for now."

    "You want me to be an ambassador for Jin Corporation? Darling, I¡¯m very expensive. Always have been. You know that."

    He chuckled. "Of course, I know. Even until now, you still charge me millions for one of your reports. And don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know that you¡¯ve delegated most of the work to Ketchup. Not that I¡¯mining. I¡¯m happy to pay. Everything of mine is also yours now."

    Iris smiled. "Thank you."

    "En."

    "Darling?"

    "Hm?"

    "If I really be a brand ambassador for Long Industries, I¡¯ll be even busier."

    He was quiet for a moments before saying, "I know."

    "Is that alright with you?"

    "I don¡¯t like it. I want to spend more time with you. But if this is what you have to do, then I¡¯ll have to ept it," he told her.

    Iris turned her head and rested her cheek on the seat¡¯s headrest. She studied Jin Liwei. Lights and shadows yed on his profile as they drove in the night. They made him look more handsome and alluring in her eyes.

    "I¡¯m sorry," she whispered.

    He nced at her. "What for?"

    "I¡¯m always doing my thing and asking you to understand me."

    "I love you," he simply said. For him, these words were enough exnation.

    "I love you too, Jin Liwei."

    The two descended into afortable silence, enjoying with each other¡¯s presence.

    "Darling..."

    "Hm?"

    "Things will start getting messy after I be brand ambassador for Long Industries. You¡¯ll be caught up in it. Maybe it will even affect the Jin n and Jin Corporation. I¡¯m going to conquer Long Industries and the Long n," she told him.

    "Go ahead, love. I¡¯ll help you in choosing your weapons and in organizing your army for the war. My woman, Jin Liwei¡¯s woman, is meant for victory."

    Iris smiled, feeling content. "My man is the best," she murmured before falling asleep.

    A soft smile made Jin Liwei¡¯s harsh profile in the dark gentler. He made sure to drive carefully in order to bring his queen home safely.

 Chapter 531 - The Guests Arrive Part I

    <h4>Chapter 531 - The Guests Arrive Part I </h4>

    The next day was chilly and overcast. Yet a massive number of people crowded around a big convention centre in the outskirts of the city. They endured the cold weather, refusing to leave even when the sky drizzled on and off since early morning.

    Fortunately, this wasn¡¯t a busy areapared to the city centre. There wasn¡¯t much traffic either. The great crowd didn¡¯t inconvenience others except for the few residents and people working in the area. They were also generally peaceful and didn¡¯t create too much trouble. Despite this, the police still sent more officers to patrol around the convention centre¡¯s vicinity to make sure that the people obeyed thew.

    The crowd was mostly made up of fans. They weren¡¯t a single fandom. All of these people came to support different celebrities. However, one group stood out from this sea of fans. Every single one of them wore ck suits, looking very much like triad members and rming some of the passersby into reporting them to the patrolling police officer nearby.

    This particr group was already used to dealing with the police whenever they wore their iconic tuxedo suits together to support their boss. They didn¡¯t panic and stayed calm while exining to the police that they werew-abiding citizens and not a violent triad group.

    It happened so often that most of the city¡¯s police officers already recognized their group upon sight, even chatting with them like old friends. A few of the police officers even became part of the group and wore suits on their day off in order to support their beautiful boss.

    The fans weren¡¯t the only ones making up the great crowd. There were also a lot of members from the media. Media trucks with well-known logos of their broadcasting news stations were parked around the convention centre. The reporters and the cameramen had already started scouting the area and interviewing the fans waiting outside.

    When passersby saw the great crowd of fans and the media, they wondered what was happening.

    "Which celebrity is having a concert at the convention centre today?" one of the passersby asked. "There are so many of you who came. It must be a famous celebrity."

    "It¡¯s not a concert. It¡¯sunch for a beautypany," a fan replied.

    "What? Apanyunch? What kind ofpanyunch would garner this many people? I thought that it would either be a concert or a major sports event. But apanyunch? This is nuts."

    "It¡¯s for this newpany called Orchidia Beauty. It¡¯s very popr right now in the beautymunity. Almost all of the major social media influencers are raving about it, including some celebrities. Our Prince Lin Lin¡ªI mean Jin Chonglin even endorses it alongside Iris Long. It¡¯s because of the two that a lot of us fans came here today. We already confirmed that our Prince Lin Lin and Iris Long will be attending theunchter."

    "Oh, I see. So that¡¯s why. I like their song ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯. I also watch the drama. It¡¯s so good! Their song is still #1 in the music charts ever since it debuted which is super impressive. So all of you here are Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans?"

    "Most of us are. But it¡¯s not only us. There are also other fan clubs who came. There are other celebrities who confirmed that they will be attending theunchter, so their fans came here today as well. Plus the social media influencers and other inte stars who were invited have their own followers. I think many of them are here too."

    "Wow! Really? What kind ofpany is this Orchidia Beauty to be able to invite all of these celebrities? Is it really a newpany? This is basically an all-stars event!"

    "I know, right? That¡¯s why in addition toing here today to support our favourite celebrities, we¡¯re also all very curious about the owner of Orchidia Beauty. They¡¯re keeping the owner¡¯s identity a secret for now. So mysterious! But we¡¯ll all know who it ister! I¡¯m so excited!"

    "My gosh, me too! Is it okay if I join your group? I want to stay here and see all the celebritiesingter."

    "Sure! Come join us, newrade!"

    Scenes like this weremon around the convention centre. It was still morning but the crowd of fans and onlookers kept oning and growing.

    More police officers were also called over to keep the crowd from going out of control. However, the police were paying more attention to the members of the media, preventing any of the daring reporters without press badges from sneaking inside the convention centre.

    Orchidia Beauty invited the media long ago but only a few of them responded and confirmed their attendance. As a result, only very few of them were given official press badges. But after Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s bombshell of an announcement¡ªconfirming their rtionship during the Sommet International Film Festival in France¡ªalmost all the media outlets moured to attend the grandunch. Iris and Jin Liwei were hot trending topics in the country right now. So many people wanted to see them together and confirm their rtionship with their own eyes.

    Unfortunately, Orchidia Beauty only gave a few additional press badges after the original batch. The ones who didn¡¯t receive press badgesined, but Orchidia Beauty only apologized politely before giving the reason "limited space" for being unable to give more.

    Whether this was true or not, they couldn¡¯t be certain. After all, it was them who snubbed thepany¡¯s invitation first. They had no choice but to make do without the official press badges and find an effective way to cover the event outside the convention centre instead.

    The ones who responded to thepany¡¯s invitations were now thanking their good decision. At first, they nned on sending their newbie reporters who needed experience. They didn¡¯t think much about the newpany at all. But now they decided to send their major star reporters to personally cover the grandunch party.

    It wasn¡¯t only Iris Long, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin who would be the biggest attractions of the event. There were also many other celebrities and important figures who would be attending. The media had already confirmed that the leaked guest list was indeed authentic.

    Morning.

    Then noon.

    The weather wasn¡¯t the most pleasant today, but the great crowd didn¡¯t mind. They stayed put and chattered in excitement among themselves.

    Finally, the grey and drizzly sky gradually cleared. The sun peeked through until it zed in its full glory and splendour, pushing the thick clouds away. The chilly weather warmed up a little, making the crowd feel morefortable.

    Later in the afternoon, security was tightened at the main entrance of the convention centre. Once the ce was cleared, the red carpet became visible. It looked morous and very simr to movie premiers and award shows. Was this really apanyunch?

    The fans and spectators arranged themselves behind the barricades. The media who didn¡¯t have official press badges were assigned their own section. Like the fans and spectators, they weren¡¯t allowed to step on the other side of the barricades to the red carpet itself.

    Just before twilight, the first batch of guests started arriving. The temporary warmth from the sun earlier was now gone. It had be chilly again. Fortunately, the event organizers were thoughtful. Tarpaulin tents were set up over the barricade areas to shelter the crowd from the chill in the air. There were also heaters providing warmth to them.

    The first guests who arrived were mostly beauty influencers. Many of them were very popr on the inte. A handful of them were considered inte superstars with mind-blowing number of followers far surpassing those of mainstream celebrities. A couple of them were so famous that their massive online fan base extended outside the country. They had loyal fans from different countries all over the world.

    And these inte superstars were attending this newpany¡¯sunch?

    These beauty influencers were the ones who gave positive reviews to the Orchidia Beauty products sent to them as PR packages by thepany during the summer. They liked the products so much that they raved about them even without getting financial payment. They couldn¡¯t wait for thepany¡¯s officialunch, so of course they would ept the invitation for today!

    Their fans also crowded outside the convention centre. When these beauty influencers arrived, the loud screaming and shrieking started.

    The main stars, Iris Long and the brothers Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin hadn¡¯t arrived yet, but the excitement was already shooting through the roof.

 Chapter 532 - The Guests Arrive Part II

    <h4>Chapter 532 - The Guests Arrive Part II </h4>

    After the beauty influencers, more guests started arriving. The shrieks and screamsing from the massive crowd of fans intensified.

    Members of the Pandemonium band: ze, Eros, Night and Thunder.

    "Kyaaaah! My husbands have arrived!"

    "Charming as always, ze!"

    "OMG! Eros looks so sexy! My gosh! Someone catch me. I¡¯m gonna faint!"

    "Night! You¡¯re so cool, Night! I love you so much, Night!"

    "Ah, I¡¯m so stoked to see my cute Thunder! Baby, look here ande to Momma!"

    So many panties got wet when these four hot guys arrived. Pandemonium had be one of the hottest rock bands in the country after their sessful music coboration with Iris Long. Their song, "Monster of Insanity", instantly achieved legendary status after Iris Long won a special technical award forposing it. The song was now their biggest hit in their career so far.

    In addition, their individual skills had made significant improvements after coborating with Iris Long. They became more meticulous in their techniques and musicposition. Thanks to her Spartan training when they were working on "Monster of Insanity" back then, all Pandemonium members had evolved into better musicians. They would forever be grateful to her. She helped them be better versions of themselves.

    Next, JJ and DJ Song also arrived on the red carpet.

    Tang Yiyi and some Bright Summit higher-ups, including the entertainmentpany¡¯s big boss.

    Director He and the two hosts of "MusicFest Tonight".

    Feng Wan and her three friends¡ªSi Xinyue, Bai Li and Kung Mian.

    Police officers personally escorted the four poshdies because they considered Si Xinyue as their madam. She was their Police Chief¡¯s beloved wife after all.

    Despite this VIP treatment, the four poshdies acted poised and ssy. They didn¡¯t make it a point to show off their police escorts. Not only was it not their characters to do so, but it would also reflect badly on Si Xinyue and her Police Chief husband. They didn¡¯t want the public to use the Police Chief of nepotism.

    The ck Stars among the crowd recognized the four poshdies as their fan club¡¯s PR Officers.

    "MrsLovePhantom, you¡¯re so beautiful! OMG!"

    "JJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan, JJNumber3Fan! Please change your usernames! They suck!"

    JJ, who was being interviewed by an entertainment reporter a few metres away on the red carpet, heard what this particr fan shouted. He scowled.

    "What do you mean their usernames suck?! You don¡¯t know shit! They¡¯re the best usernames I¡¯ve evere across in my entire life!" After shouting at the fan, JJ turned to the four poshdies and shed his best smile. "Ladies, I approve of your usernames. No need to change them! This award-winning music producer is d to meet you again."

    Feng Wan¡¯s three friends became flustered after JJ talked directly to them. One of them even looked like she was about to faint. Indeed, these threedies were all JJ¡¯s fans. Feng Wan and DJ Song could only smile helplessly at each other, as they each dragged their friends away from each other to prevent any embarrassing situation from urring on such a highly publicized event as this.

    JJ and DJ Song stayed on the red carpet for interviews, while the four poshdies skipped the reporters. They weren¡¯t celebrities so they didn¡¯t bother granting any interviews, especially Feng Wan who preferred to live a low-profile life. It was only because of her adoration for Iris Long and her position in the ck Stars that she allowed herself to be visible to the public like this.

    Next to arrive on the red carpet was the vivacious talk show host, Feng Jiu. It was on her talk show, "A Closer Look with Feng Jiu", that Iris Long first revealed that she was engaged to a mysterious man. Feng Jiu was also secretly the cousin of Madam Feng Wan. Both middle-ageddies preferred to live low-profile lives.

    Another luxury vehicle dropped off the next guests.

    CEO Hou Liang (a.k.a. MonkeyFace and Emperor Monkey) and CFO Wu Chen (a.k.a. iEatSlippers and I Am Slipperlord) of Monkey.

    As soon as the ck Stars and the members of the Slippers Army saw the two, they all became excited. They became even more boisterous than when the four poshdies appeared just moments ago.

    Hou Liang and Wu Chen were, without a doubt, the two most famous members of the ck Stars right now. Wu Chen, as iEatSlippers and founder of the notorious troll group Slippers Army, was already online (in)famous in his own right before. But when it was revealed that the two were the CEO and CFO of the gamingpany, Monkey, the two instantly shot to fame.

    The gamers among the crowd went crazy when they discovered that the top executives of Monkey had arrived. It didn¡¯t matter whether they were members of the ck Stars or not, they idolized Hou Liang and Wu Chen.

    Why?

    Because theirpany, Monkey, was the one that created their current most favourite game, "Supreme Ascension"! Theputer game was only bing more and more popr each month. In fact, it was now the #1 most poprputer game being yed in inte caf¨¦s.

    "Emperor Monkey! Please give us some game cheats!"

    "Thetest slipper attacks you released are so awesome and cool! My favourite is Slipper Bazooka!"

    "Mine is Gatling Slipper! It¡¯s such a ridiculous-looking attack but actually very powerful! If you sessfullybo the skill, it increases the chance of critical hits! And did you see it when I Am Slipperlord demonstrated the skill in the arena? It was so freaking funny! He sucked so badly! Ahahaha!"

    Wu Chen scowled upon hearing the gamers trashtalking him. He was about to trashtalk them back and threaten them with his mighty slippers, but the quiet Hou Liang left him behind.

    "Hey, bro! Wait for me!!!"

    Unfortunately for Hou Liang, they couldn¡¯t escape the reporters¡¯ attention. The two of them had been featured on TV, magazines and newspapers repeatedly in the past few months ever since "Supreme Ascension" became a domestic hit.

    While the two resigned themselves to the red carpet interviews, more guests arrived.

    Yin Meixing with the other cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken". Guan Jintao and his wife came with them.

    As soon as the crowd saw Yin Meixing, they descended into another round of deafening screams and shrieks. Like Iris Long, Yin Meixing¡¯s fame and reputation skyrocketed after winning the Best Actress Award in the Sommet International Film Festival. She gained more fans. Her status within the acting industry also increased by several levels.

    "Congrattions, Yin Meixing!"

    "You look in on screen but you¡¯re actually pretty in person! Yin Meixing, I¡¯m a new fan!"

    Hou Liang released a sigh of relief when Yin Meixing¡¯s arrival diverted the annoying reporters¡¯ attention away from him and Wu Chen.

    More celebrities arrived on the red carpet. Most of them received Orchidia Beauty product samples from Iris when she worked with them. They liked the products and raved about them on their own blogs, websites, and social media pages. Some of them were managed by Tang Yiyi, so they were basically like Iris¡¯ siblings in Bright Summit.

    All they knew was that Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were endorsers of this newpany, Orchidia Beauty. They didn¡¯t know anything more than this. Who was the owner? They had no idea.

 Chapter 533 - The Guests Arrive Part III

    <h4>Chapter 533 - The Guests Arrive Part III </h4>

    The screams and shrieks became even more deafening after the arrival of all the celebrities one after another. Everyone was so excited and caught up in the moment that they kept on screaming and shrieking even when they didn¡¯t have any idea who the next people arriving on the red carpet were.

    Qiao Yu, Iris¡¯ financial manager.

    "Kyaaaaaaaah!"

    Lin Yehan and Yu Mo.

    "More handsome guys! OMG!"

    Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Meimei.

    "Aaaaaaah! It¡¯s Boss Iris¡¯ Father!"

    "Comrades, Boss¡¯ family hase! Let¡¯s give them a warm wee!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

    Grandma Li escorted by Wang Yingjie.

    "Ah? Isn¡¯t that Dr. Wang? He was the doctor who performed my emergency surgeryst year! Dr. Wang, thank you for saving my life...and you¡¯re so handsome!!! Kyaaaaaah!"

    Huang Yuyan escorted by Jin Chonglin.

    "He¡¯s here! Our Royal Prince has arrived!!! So handsome as always!!!"

    "PRINCE LIN LIN, WE LOVE YOU!!!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

    "Who¡¯s that prettydy he¡¯s escorting?! Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re dating! I¡¯m gonna cry!"

    "Dumbass! That¡¯s his mother!"

    "Huh, what?!! No way! She looks so young!"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s why the Jin brothers have such great genes! That prettydy who looks young is Prince Lin Lin¡¯s mother. She¡¯s our Queen Mother! And the beautiful and elegant elderdy who walked before them and was escorted by that aloof man is Prince Lin Lin¡¯s grandmother. She¡¯s the Old Dowager Queen!"

    As one of the main attractions of the event, Jin Chonglin spent a longer time on the red carpet interacting with the fans and reporterspared to the other celebrities who arrived before him. The fans and the reporters couldn¡¯t get enough of him. They didn¡¯t want to let him go.

    He could use his superstar status to escape, of course, but why would he do that? First of all, he loved interacting with his fans like Iris Long. Second of all, he wouldn¡¯t be the big star that he was today without the support of the people. Spending extra time interacting with them was his way of showing his appreciation.

    After asking about his endorsement for Orchidia Beauty, the grandunch itself, and histest work, the reporters shifted to another topic.

    "Jin Chonglin, what are your thoughts about the engagement between your brother and Iris Long?"

    "I approve of it," he replied. "Junior Iris is a great match for my brother. They¡¯re too in sync with each other that it¡¯s unbelievable. All I can say is that they must be true soul mates."

    The reporter turned to Huang Yuyan who was standing quietly beside her son. "How about you, Madam? What do you think about your son¡¯s engagement to Iris Long? Do you approve of her as your future daughter-inw?"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s pleasant expression darkened and became sharp. The change wasn¡¯t too noticeable, but the reporter felt an aggressive auraing from him all of a sudden. Jin Chonglin shifted his body a little and assumed a protective position around his mother. He was usually more than happy to grant interviews but that didn¡¯t extend to when reporters started bothering his family.

    Huang Yuyan tightened her hold on her son¡¯s arm but a determined expression appeared on her face. She smiled warmly, albeit shyly.

    "I agree with what my son Chonglin said. I also think that dear Xiu¡ªIris is perfect for my eldest son. So yes... I approve of their rtionship and can¡¯t wait for them to marry. I¡¯m looking forward for Iris to be my official daughter-inw," she replied.

    The reporters¡¯ eyes lit up after hearing her answer. It also caught the attention of the other reporters. It seemed that everyone was straining their ears to hear this particr interview despite all the noise on the red carpet and from the fans. The reporter was about to ask Huang Yuyan another question but Jin Chonglin blocked him.

    "Thanks, bro," he said, shing the reporter with his killer smile. He was already pulling his mother away. "Let¡¯s continue this next time."

    In the end, Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t able topletely escape from the media. He gave his brother¡¯s friend a meaningful look, prompting Wang Yingjie to take over escorting Huang Yuyan.

    Wang Yingjie ended up escorting the two Jin Madams. Everyone wanted to hear the two Jin Madams¡¯ opinions on Jin Liwei and Iris Long¡¯s rtionship. After saying that they approved of it, Wang Yingjie took the two madams away from the red carpet, ignoring the reporters¡¯ requests for more in-depth interviews.

    The three left Jin Chonglin to deal with the media by himself. He was used to it, anyway. Then they entered the convention centre.

    "This is Orchidia Beauty¡¯s officialunch. Let¡¯s focus on that, shall we?" Jin Chonglin suggested to the reporters who kept on asking him about his brother and Iris.

    He was interrupted by another wave of loud screaming and shrieking from the fans behind the barricades. He wondered who arrived on the red carpet to induce such excited reactions from the crowd. But before he could turn his head to see, he already knew who it was after hearing a familiar loud and booming voice.

    A sprightly old man with a perfectly groomed white mustache walked the red carpet. His wise eyes twinkled with amusement as he looked at the banners bearing his grandson¡¯s name and image.

    "Kyaaaaaaaaaah! It¡¯s Lu Zihao! OMG! That scar on his face is soooo sexy!"

    "Hunter, oh Hunter! You¡¯re a predator and I¡¯m your prey! Feel free to shoot me with your arrow of love! Kyaaaaaaaah!"

    "Aaaaaah! I¡¯m gonna faint! He¡¯s too HOT!!!"

    Grandpa Lu burst intoughter, his voice boomed loud and clear, when he heard what the crowd was screaming.

    "Bahahahaha! Listen to what they¡¯re saying, Haohao my boy! Bahahaha! These kids are too funny!"

    Beside him, Lu Zihao maintained a roguish but neutral expression. A slight devilish smile lifted the corners of his mouth. At first nce, he appeared happy-go-lucky but his eyes were cold and sharp.

    "Why are you not saying anything, boy?! What do you think about all of these people screaming for you? Is your head getting bigger? Are you getting full of yourself? I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao ignored the old man¡¯s annoying questions and the noisy crowd¡ªsuch a bother. Instead, he focused on scanning his surroundings and making sure that everything was safe before the arrival of his sister on the red carpet.

    "Hmph! Your beloved grandpa won¡¯t allow you to be full of yourself! If your head bes too big for your own good, this old man will smack your butt like when you were still a naughty little boy!"

    Lu Zihao inwardly rolled his eyes. He didn¡¯t notice that something warm, sweet and slightly sad filled him inside after hearing what the old man said.

    "Grandpa, I don¡¯t care about them. I¡¯m not like my little sister who¡¯s a celebrity," he said in a breezy tone.

    "Good! Very good! That¡¯s my boy! You really are this old man¡¯s beloved baby grandson! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu "patted" his grandson¡¯s back.

    The loud thumps made some of the surrounding people wince and look at Lu Zihao with worry. However, Lu Zihao remained unaffected as if the old man¡¯s heavy "pats" were nothing but feathers.

 Chapter 534 - The Guests Arrive IV

    <h4>Chapter 534 - The Guests Arrive IV </h4>

    As one of the founders of Jin Corporation, the current number onepany in the country, many people were impressed and intimidated by Grandpa Lu. It wasn¡¯t surprising that the media also moured to interview him on the red carpet.

    Lu Zihao attempted to escape the media attention, but Grandpa Lu pulled him back in a vice-like grip, preventing him from leaving him alone.

    "You be a good boy, Haohao, and apany your beloved grandpa!"

    "Grandpa, I saw my brothers over there. They¡¯re with Grandmother Li and Aunt Yuyan. Let me say hello to them," Lu Zihao tried to reason with the old man.

    "We¡¯ll say hi, hello, good evening, how are you and whatever to themter TOGETHER! Why are you trying to leave your poor old grandpa here alone? I want to know! Don¡¯t you know that this old man is already advanced in age and need to be assisted everywhere by my beloved grandson? Be a good, filial boy and stay!"

    The reporters and the other people around them snickered while listening to the grandfather and grandson¡¯s conversation. Lu Zihao nced at them with cold eyes. They stopped and looked away.

    Lu Zihao could only sigh and stay with Grandpa Lu. If he insisted on leaving, the old man would most likely create a ruckus on the red carpet. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t want to be the centre of attention. It was already a big annoyance trying to avoid all the people screaming his name. There were so many celebrities that they could scream for, so why did they need totch on to him? Such a bother.

    When Grandpa Lu was sure that his grandson would be staying beside him, he nodded in satisfaction. Then he resumed his interview with the reporters. His "my pace" personality prevented the reporters from leading the direction of the interview.

    Although it made it difficult for the reporters to get proper and meaningful answers from the old man, they couldn¡¯t feel annoyed because he was so entertaining. They could only resign themselves to being led around the nose by the old man for the entire duration of the interviews.

    Next to arrive on the red carpet were Long Jinjing, her mother Sun Jingfei, and her best friend Chen Fei. The three women walked together.

    The crowd and the media didn¡¯t recognize them. However, they became curious when the event¡¯s staff straightened their backs and hurried to wee the threedies. They were especially respectful to the two young women and even started saying something to them. It looked as if the staff members were reporting to the two young women.

    Although the people were curious about them, they were more preupied ogling the handsomeness of both Jin Chonglin and Lu Zihao who were still on the red carpet.

    As for Long Jinjing, her mother, and Chen Fei, they didn¡¯t bother waiting for the reporters to interview them. They headed straight inside the convention centre to check the venue.

    They met with Meimei inside who was already munching on some refreshments avable for the guests. Meimei was with Yang Jiahui and Long Tengfei, while Long Jinjing and Chen Fei were with Sun Jingfei.

    The younger generation then realized why the atmosphere felt awkward all of a sudden.

    "Hello, how have you been?"

    "Hello, how are you?"

    Yang Jiahui and Sun Jingfei greeted each other at the same time. After realizing what they did, the twodiesughed. Their genuineughter melted the awkwardness away.

    Long Tengfei¡¯s expression eased a bit upon watching his past and present women chatting politely with each other. He was relieved that these two were kind and gentle, unlike the others.

    Then a furrow formed between his brows, remembering that a certain someone was also invited in this event. He hoped that the woman wouldn¡¯t create a scene that would embarrass all of them.

    Back to the red carpet outside, more lights were turned on as the sky grew darker. The sun was setting and on the verge of disappearing from the horizon to be reced by the thin, dim moon.

    A bunch of foreigners started arriving. The people didn¡¯t know who they were. Nevertheless, they were still impressed that so many foreigners were attending Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch.

    Alric and Alona Bauer.

    Simr to when Long Jinjing and Chen Fei arrived a few moments ago, the staff members also personally weed the blonde siblings, acting respectful to them. It made the crowd and the media curious about their identities. However, the two headed straight inside the convention centre as well, not bothering to stop for interviews.

    Next to arrive were more foreigners.

    Amanpio Kileksy.

    Florence O¡¯Sevan.

    Theresa Blipsburg.

    AJ Zheneres.

    Ashandra Knightson.

    And Giulia Moretti.

    The people didn¡¯t recognize most of the new foreign arrivals, but a few from the crowd and even on the red carpet managed to recognize Ashandra Knightson. They were art students, artists themselves, art enthusiasts, and art collectors.

    "Holy shit! Are my eyes ying tricks on me or am I really seeing the current goddess of the art world right at this moment?"

    "OMG! It¡¯s Ashandra Knightson! Kyaaaaah! What is she doing here?!"

    "Ashandra, I¡¯m a big fan! Wuwuwu! I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m seeing my number one inspiration as an artist right now. I¡¯m so happy..."

    "What the?! I just bought one of her artworks in Italy a few days ago! I wasn¡¯t able to meet her then. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ll have another chance to meet her in person tonight."

    "Wow! Miss Knightson is actually attending this event? Despite being extremely popr in the art world, she actually has a reputation of being a recluse, preferring to focus on making art away from prying eyes instead of going around and promoting her works. She rarely shows herself to the public. Now I¡¯m so curious about how Orchidia Beauty was able to invite such a big shot in the art world!"

    Even if only a few recognized Ashandra Knightson, their obvious shock and excitement upon seeing her caught the attention of the people around them. Soon, word spread that a big-name artist was attending the event.

    The reporters requested an interview from her.

    "Miss Ashandra Knightson, we heard that you are a celebrated artist who have already won many important awards. What is a distinguished figure like you doing in an event like this?" a reporter asked in English.

    "I still have a long way to go to reach the status of a ¡¯distinguished figure¡¯ as you put it," Ashandra said with a pleasant smile, her voice low and mesmerizing. "As for why I¡¯m attending this event... Of course, I¡¯ll attend. The owner of Orchidia Beauty is my friend. I would never miss such an important milestone in her business career."

    "Oh! You¡¯re friends with the owner? Actually, we still have no idea who the owner of Orchidia Beauty is. Can you tell us?"

    Ashandra chuckled but shook her head. "It¡¯s not my ce to reveal it. Have patience. You¡¯ll know soon. Thank you. I¡¯ll be on my way. Mypanions are waiting for me."

    She joined her group and greeted Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao. Then they all headed inside the convention centre together. Their group was very eye-catching, making the people wonder how they knew each other, and most importantly, how they were all rted to the mysterious owner of Orchidia Beauty.

    One question remained in the people¡¯s minds.

    Who was the owner of Orchidia Beauty?

 Chapter 535 - The Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 535 - The Arrival </h4>

    The sky had now turnedpletely dark. There were no visible stars. Only the dim crescent moon lit up the sky above.

    It was cold and dark in the outskirts of the city. However, the area surrounding the convention centre was warm and bright. The crowd only kept growing and became more excited. They sweated, not feeling the chill in the air at all.

    Momentster, someone arrived with much pomp and circumstance. A team of ten bodyguards alerted the people that a VVIP was about to appear. The event¡¯s staff also stood by, ready to greet the new arrival.

    Then Wei Lan stepped out of the vehicle in a beautiful, sparkling, gold long dress. It was high-cored and sleeveless. She also wore a pair of white satin gloves that reached to her elbows. Her outfit made her look conservativepared to the kind of revealing dresses she typically wore before.

    "It¡¯s Vizcondesa Lan!" someone shouted.

    All attention fell on her.

    She was almost unrecognizable by how elegant and ssy she now looked. Seeing her like this, the people thought that she looked very much like a properdy of nobility.

    "Oooooh! It¡¯s Boss Iris¡¯ mother! Wow! I can really see the resemnce between them! Both mother and daughter look so beautiful and sophisticated!"

    The ck Stars cheered for Wei Lan, paying their respect to her as the mother of their boss, especially now that the two seemed to have repaired their rtionship and had grown closer to each other.

    Wei Lan waved at the people in ady-like manner. Her security was eye-catching like when she attended the red carpet events at the Sommet International Film Festival in France.

    Some thought that she was acting too full of herself, while the others looked impressed. Regardless of what these people thought of her, the person herself didn¡¯t care. All she cared about was maintaining her image as an elegant and ssy viscountess.

    The media couldn¡¯t wait to interview her. Wei Lan being revealed as a Spanish viscountess was one of the biggest bombshells dropped while in France, in addition to the rtionship announcement of her one and only daughter to the President-CEO of Jin Corporation.

    Wei Lan was having the time of her life being adored by a massive crowd like this. She also enjoyed the envious stares of some of the other guests on the red carpet. However, she didn¡¯t show her glee on her expression, maintaining her image of a viscountess instead.

    While finishing up her interviews, the crowd went crazy all of a sudden. Wei Lan was frightened, thinking that there was a violent stampede in the crowd.

    "What¡¯s happening?!" she panicked.

    "Madam, please calm down. There¡¯s nothing wrong," one of her bodyguards told her in a low voice. "The people are just reacting to the next guests."

    "Huh? Who are they¡ª"

    The crowd went even crazier. Their screams were so loud that the noise made it feel like the entire ce was vibrating from the invisible sound waves.

    Wei Lan turned her head. She wanted to know the people who were currently stealing her moment. Then she saw them.

    Maestro Ludovico De Luca walked on the red carpet, looking very regal in his custom ck suit. His greying hair and the bald spot on top of his head gave him a wise and honourable appearance. He looked kind yet intimidating at the same time.

    Walking beside the maestro was Enrique Valdez. His electric hazel eyes, chiselled features, olive skin, and toned body made a lot of people almost hyperventte regardless of gender. The man was just too gorgeous! Those who didn¡¯t know about his personal details would never believe that Enrique Valdez was already almost in his sixties with his youthful appearance.

    The two walked together. Maestro De Luca¡¯s wife didn¡¯te with him this time.

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!"

    "Enrique Valdez!!!"

    "Maestro De Luca!!!"

    "Am I dreaming?! Or am I dead?! Am I really seeing these two music legends in the flesh?!!!"

    The crowd almost went insane with overexcitement. They kept screaming and shrieking. It was a good thing that the police was present or the crowd would have already gone out of control.

    "Why are Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez here? Are they rted to the owner of Orchidia Beauty as well? What kind of person is the owner to be able to gather all of these influential figures?"

    "Aren¡¯t those two close to Iris Long? Maybe they¡¯re attending this event because Iris Long is one of the endorsers."

    "No way. Coming to China just to support an endorser? I don¡¯t believe that even for a second. This event is for Orchidia Beauty, not for Iris Long. She¡¯s only the endorser. Why would the maestro and Enrique go all the trouble of travelling so far for Iris Long? I think it¡¯s more usible that the two are rted to the owner of Orchidia Beauty. Didn¡¯t you see that gorgeous foreigndy earlier? I heard that she¡¯s a super famous artist and that she¡¯s friends with the owner. Maybe Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez are the same."

    "Yeah, you¡¯re right. I think that¡¯s more logical. If that¡¯s really true, then the owner of Orchidia Beauty must be someone very impressive, powerful and influential. How can a regr businessperson gather all of these VIPs in one event? I really can¡¯t wait for the big reveal tonight."

    "Me too!"

    The curiosity and anticipation for Orchidia Beauty¡¯s mysterious owner only grew stronger as the red carpet event reached its final stretch.

    Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez¡¯s arrival meant that everyone¡¯s attention was on them. The media was almost beside themselves trying to grab this rare opportunity of interviewing the two world-famous music legends.

    The two granted short and brief interviews. It was mostly the maestro speaking. Enrique Valdez only needed to look with his gorgeous hazel eyes and the interviewers would immediately be tongue-tied and muddleheaded, unable to remember what the hell they were asking him.

    The man knew full well the effect he had on other people, so he used his overpowering charisma to literally shut people up. It worked to his advantage because he wasn¡¯t the type of person to waste his words over meaningless chatter. He treasured his words as if they were more precious than gold.

    Everyone was so preupied with the two music legends that nobody noticed the final vehicle arriving. A tall, handsome man and a beautiful woman stepped out of the vehicle onto the red carpet.

    Seeing that nobody was paying attention to them, Iris was delighted. She chuckled, her voice sounding like tinkling crystal bells.

    "Look, darling. No one knows that we¡¯ve arrived. I think we could sneak inside and nobody would even notice. Clover is correct. There will be less attention on us if we arrive right after my two mentors. Clover is really capable. I should give her a raise. She¡¯s also bing more used to the way we do business here in China. If she continues her excellent work, I can finally promote her for an executive position in Orchidia Beauty as early as next year."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "The Chuas are good, hardworking and loyal people. We are lucky to have them."

    "Yes."

    Taking advantage of the current situation of nobody paying attention to them, Jin Liwei leaned forward and kissed his baby girl directly on her luscious lips.

    But right at that moment...

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH! It¡¯s CEO Jin and Boss Iris! They¡¯re kissing in public!!! KYAAAAAAAAH!!! How daring!!!"

 Chapter 536 - Dangerous Path

    <h4>Chapter 536 - Dangerous Path </h4>

    After that one fan noticed the final arrivals, everyone turned their heads so fast that they almost broke their necks (okay, that was an exaggeration). Many of them caught the moment when Iris Long pulled her head away from Jin Liwei¡¯s kiss after realizing that they had now be the centre of everyone¡¯s attention.

    She looked a little flustered and shy. On the other hand, Jin Liwei looked smug, like a cat who ate the canary, before arranging his face into his usual cold and indifferent expression. He might look like the usual emotionless Jin Liwei but the possessive arm he wrapped around Iris Long¡¯s tiny waist was anything but cold and indifferent.

    The ck Stars immediately went into full cheering mode as soon as they saw their boss. They waved their special banners in the air and screamed for her at the top of their lungs.

    "Boss Iris is here!!! The boss is here!"

    "All hail the Emperor and the Empress!!!"

    "Our mighty slippers wee the boss!!!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Boss Iris is so beautiful! CEO Jin is so handsome! Their babies are gonna be so CUTE!!! I can¡¯t freaking wait!!!"

    Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez were soon forgotten. Yes, they were music legends and huge superstars, but Iris Long and Jin Liwei were currently one of the hottest trending topics in the country. Everyone wanted to see and confirm with their own eyes if the two were really in a rtionship.

    The two music legends had no problem of having the people¡¯s attention diverted away from them, especially since it was because of their own student. It even made them proud.

    "I heard that people still don¡¯t know that Xin is the owner of Orchidia Beauty. It¡¯s the biggest mystery of the night. Everyone will be so shocked after they learn the truth," Maestro De Luca whispered to his friend.

    Enrique Valdez nodded. Then he paused, his expression showing deep thought. "She might be our music student, but she¡¯s also Jianhong¡¯s student in business. She learned how to effectively hype up her business from that wily old man."

    Maestro De Lucaughed out loud. "Jianhong is one of the most shameless people I¡¯ve ever met in my entire life but nobody can deny his ingenuity and that great devil luck of his when ites to business. Xin is also bing shameless in business but I think that¡¯s a good thing. It means that nobody will be able to take advantage of her. She also has Liam beside her. That young man is a formidable and reliable leader. He¡¯ll be able to help Xin stay on track when she bes overenthusiastic in implementing all of her ideas at once. She has a tendency to do that."

    "Amon trait of geniuses," Enrique Valdez said.

    "Ahahahaha! Very true. We¡¯re also guilty of it, especially when we were younger."

    The two music legends nced at Iris and Jin Liwei, smiling and waving at them, before heading inside the convention centre to join the others from Cross Academy.

    As for Iris and Jin Liwei, they had no choice but to resign themselves to deal with everyone¡¯s attention. They started walking on the red carpet together with Jin Liwei keeping his arm around Iris¡¯ waist.

    "It seems that Clover¡¯s n to lessen the attention on us only worked for a few seconds," Iris whispered, sighing.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply because he didn¡¯t mind the attention at all. He couldn¡¯t be any prouder walking together with his baby girl in front of all these thousands of people with more watching the livestreams online. Maybe there were already hundreds of thousands of viewers. Maybe even millions.

    Iris was a little concerned about the two of them getting too much attention. She didn¡¯t want the two of them to overshadow herpany tonight. This night was for Orchidia Beauty and their first batch of products. She wanted the people to focus on the business and the products rather than on her rtionship with Jin Liwei, even for just tonight.

    "Don¡¯t worry, love. It¡¯s still only the red carpet. Once you officiallyunch yourpanyter, I¡¯m sure that everyone will focus on it and your amazing products," he reassured her, squeezing her waist a little tofort her.

    She nodded. "Yes. You¡¯re right."

    The camera shes almost blinded the two of them as soon as they started posing. The cameras were even more numerous and intense than during the Sommet International Film Festival. All the media were focused on them. Almost everyone from the crowd behind the barricades were also taking photos of them.

    Iris continued smiling, even though she couldn¡¯t see anything besides the bright, shing lights. Jin Liwei looked like a god of ice beside her, his expression looking cold but not so indifferent this time.

    He couldn¡¯t maintain the indifference in his expression, especially after hearing so many sons of bitches and motherfuckers shouting "Will you marry me?" to his baby girl. It was a good thing that one of his arms was wrapped around her waist because if it wasn¡¯t, he would¡¯ve probably already stormed off to the crowd and beat the shit out of the bastards.

    Feeling the slight murderous aura emanating from her darling, Iris looked at his face.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Are you feeling ufortable? Do you want us to go inside now?" she asked.

    Jin Liwei realized the direction of his thoughts and forcefully tamped down on the familiar green-eyed monster rearing its ugly head inside him again. He took several deep breaths before controlling his murderous aura.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, love. I¡¯m okay. I know that you want to interact with your fans first so you should. We¡¯ll go inside after you¡¯re done," he told her.

    She nodded, grateful for his understanding. Then she headed straight towards the crowd behind the barricades to greet her fans, the ck Stars.

    Jin Liwei followed her, of course, in addition to the event¡¯s security which was actually made up of a mixture of his men and his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates. It was both of their idea to use their own subordinates, instead of hiring unknown people from a security agency. This way, they would be able to ensure that each member of the security had top-notch skills and loyalty to them. Most importantly, they would be rest assured that their people would always prioritize Iris¡¯ safety over anyone else.

    Ketchup had also taken over the area¡¯s surveince andmunication systems. She also already hijacked the police¡¯smunication system without their knowledge, increasing her monitoring capabilities even further.

    Even a tiny mouse wouldn¡¯t be able to escape from the white cat¡¯s thorough detection. There was no way a person would slip past her, especially right now that Ketchup was in a bad mood because of being grounded for two weeks. As a result of not being able to entertain herself freely online, she developed a ruthless mindset in punishing anyone who dared to try slipping past her security systems at the event tonight.

    "I will destroy anyone who dares ruin tonight¡¯sunch party. Mommy worked so hard for this. And if anyone tries to hurt Mommy and Daddy, I will hurt them a million times¡ªno, a billion times! Mreow!!!"

    The white cat¡¯s glowing silver-green eyes developed a golden hue in the middle while her paws and the tip of her tail started to darken. Her cute expression also became fierce and feral. However, this onlysted for a couple of seconds before she reverted to the sweet and adorable Ketchup. Even the white cat wasn¡¯tpletely aware of what happened to her.

    Unbeknown to Iris, her cat AI and third baby had slipped into a dangerous path of evolution that night.

 Chapter 537 - Reverberate Throughout The Country

    <h4>Chapter 537 - Reverberate Throughout The Country </h4>

    Iris and Jin Liwei had no idea about what was happening to their third kitty baby. At the moment, the couple were busy dealing with everyone mouring for their attention on the red carpet.

    "Congrattions on your Best Soundtrack Award win in France, Boss Iris! You brought honour and pride to our country! The ck Stars are so proud of you!"

    "Boss Iris, CEO Jin! You look so great together! Please tell us when you¡¯re going to marry! We want to support you with our mighty slippers!"

    "Ah! So beautiful and handsome! What a heavenly couple! I can¡¯t wait until you make a cute baby bun together! I¡¯m sure that your crown prince or princess will be so CUTE!!!"

    Iris was signing autographs and taking photos with the ck Stars. Her face broke into a bright, breathtaking smile after hearing her fans¡¯ words of support.

    "Thank you, everyone! Liwei and I appreciate all of your support," she told them.

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Boss Iris and CEO Jin thanked us!!!"

    All of these were being livestreamed online. Many of the fans were livestreaming the event themselves using their phones to their own small number of followers. The media were also livestreaming online. They had more viewers. The most popr one even had millions watching at the moment.

    Since the Orchidia Beautyunch was still technically considered a private event, it wasn¡¯t being broadcast on TV. So the media could only livestream it online.

    ###

    There were many people watching the livestream. They had several choices of which to watch. Most of them chose the ones by the media because they were more professionalpared to the fans¡¯ shaky amateur livestreams.

    However, not all of the people watching were doing it with supportive hearts. It was the exact opposite. They were watching the event with ck hearts filled with hatred and envy, wishing a tragedy to befall on Iris Long and the others.

    Long Hui in his own residence at the Long ancestral residence.

    His mother, Zheng Suyin, at the Zheng ancestral residence.

    Almost all the members of the Long branch families, including the elders, Long Jufang and Long Meng. Long Jufang and the camp supporting Iris were excited. Opportunistic glints shed in their eyes. In contrast, Long Meng and the camp supporting Long Hui all had gloomy expressions. There were already some who were wavering, ready to jump ships again and return to the camp supporting Iris.

    Long Jian and his mother, Zhu Ning. He didn¡¯t stop his mother when she started throwing and wrecking things inside their house again. Zhu Ning went crazy with fury and envy when she watched Sun Jingfei walking the red carpet.

    "That slut is a mistress! Why does she get to walk on the red carpet with that slut daughter of hers?!! Tengfei is also there! And that new wife of his! All those sluts!!! What are their qualifications to be invited in such an event?!!!" Zhu Ning screeched.

    Long Jian also wanted to know.

    When Wei Lan appeared on TV, looking poised and ssy, very much like a viscountess, Zhu Ning totally snapped. The sounds of wreckage intensified inside their house.

    "Why?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!"

    Zhu Ning was so ovee by envy and fury that she stiffened, eyes rolling to the back of her head, and then dropped to the ground unmoving.

    "Mother!"

    Long Jian was scared out of his wits when his mother fainted. Later, an ambnce arrived and took them to the hospital.

    In a condo unit, Rose Young and Jenny Tseng were drinking gin as they watched the livestream. The livestream caught the moment when Iris Long and Jin Liwei were kissing.

    Rose¡¯s eyes turned red. She threw her ss to the floor where it shattered into several sharp pieces. Then she burst into tears.

    "Big Brother Liwei, why are you kissing that dirty slut?!! You belong to me!!! Please love me!!! LOVE ME!!! ONLY MEEEEEE!!! Die, Iris Long! You slut!!! Stay away from Big Brother Liwei!!! He¡¯s mine!!! ALL MINE!!! I¡¯m gonna kill you!!!"

    Throughout her meltdown, her friend Jenny Tseng wasughing.

    "Ahahahaha! You¡¯re so funny, Rosie! Good thing we¡¯re friends because if we¡¯re not, I¡¯m so gonna start hating on you. Your level of delusion is just out of this world. It¡¯s getting kinda annoying, you know. But since we¡¯re friends, you¡¯re okay! You¡¯re still so funny, though. Ahahaha!"

    Rose grabbed her friend¡¯s ss and downed the gin.

    "Hey! That¡¯s mine!"

    "Shut up, Jenny," Rose muttered.

    "Pft! Ahahaha!"

    In Singapore, Rose Young¡¯s father, Romeo Young, was also watching the livestream. No emotions showed on his face. He watched Jin Liwei walk on the red carpet with the woman blocking all of his ns and his daughter¡¯s dreams¡ªIris Long. He grabbed his phone and called someone.

    Back in China, Jin Chenggong returned to sit beside his wife in the living room. He just finished talking to Romeo Young on the phone. He was calmer nowpared to yesterday when Jin Liwei cut off his branch family from the entire Jin n. He looked like a man with a purpose.

    "It looks like the main family has really epted Iris Long to be the n head¡¯s wife," his wife said.

    Jin Chenggong snorted. "That woman bewitched everyone in the main family, like how she bewitched Jin Liwei to make him fall in love with her. Did you see her mother? Walking so pompously on the red carpet with so many bodyguards! So what if she has be a viscountess? In the end, she only obtained her status from seducing a man. Those mother and daughter are the same! Without the men they bewitched, they would be nobodies!"

    Their disowned branch family wasn¡¯t the only one watching the livestream. The other Jin branch families were also watching.

    They were saying that it was to support their second master, Jin Chonglin, because he was one of the newpany¡¯s endorsers but that was a lie. They were watching because of Iris Long, their future Madam. There were a lot of them who didn¡¯t approve of her as their n head¡¯s wife.

    "She¡¯s not good enough," they said.

    However, they didn¡¯t dare voice out their disapprovals, especially in front of Jin Liwei and the main family. They were afraid of being disowned like what happened to Jin Chenggong and his branch family.

    In addition to all of these people, there were also others watching the event online.

    Jin Corporation employees.

    Almost everyone in high society.

    People in the country¡¯s business world who were curious about CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s engagement to the celebrity Iris Long.

    Upon seeing all of the influential figures walking the red carpet, they were all shocked, amazed and impressed by the guest list.

    "We need to take note of this newpany, Orchidia Beauty. Being able to gather all those impressive people...the owner is not a simple person," apany CEO said. "Good thing that we¡¯re not in the beauty industry. All the other beautypanies must be feeling very anxious right now. It seems like a new powerful rival has arrived to take a big chunk of their market shares."

    It was a restless night for all of these people for different reasons. Orchidia Beauty might be an entirely newpany, but it was already making a big ssh which was reverberating throughout the entire country. All eyes were on the newpany tonight.

 Chapter 538 - Shameless Trickery

    <h4>Chapter 538 - Shameless Trickery </h4>

    After posing for the cameras, interacting with the fans, and answering interview questions from the reporters on the red carpet, Iris and Jin Liwei finally headed inside the convention centre. Because they were thest people to arrive, their entrance to the convention centre would mark the end of the red carpet event.

    "Iris Long! CEO Jin! Please stay a little longer!"

    The people kept on requesting for them stay. In fact, the couple already went over their allotted time on the red carpet by a few minutes. They needed to leave soon, not wanting to be the reason for the grandunch to be dyed longer than necessary.

    Iris waved a final time at the crowd before leaving the red carpet with Jin Liwei. However, she stopped when they reached the bottom of the steps leading to the convention centre¡¯s entrance. These particr steps were particrly steep and higher than usual.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?" Jin Liwei asked when she didn¡¯t move.

    "Uh... Darling, my mermaid-style dress is too tight at the bottom. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to climb these steps without struggling." Iris sighed. "My designer and I didn¡¯t take these steps into consideration when designing this dress. It¡¯s my fault for not checking everything in the venue thoroughly."

    "I see. Don¡¯t worry, love. It¡¯s no problem."

    Then he bent down and lifted her up all of a sudden, carrying her up the steps princess-style. His movements were so quick and smooth that Iris wasn¡¯t able to react in time. Her arms instinctively wrapped around his shoulders to secure herself.

    Everyone saw this scene. They all went wild.

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

    "This is the most romantic scene ever!!!"

    "CEO Jin literally swept Boss Iris off her feet!!!"

    "Uwah! Too much dogfood! My single dog self is bing diabetic...but I don¡¯t care!!! Gimme more! MORE!!! MOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!"

    The media captured the moment. They took countless photos, recorded it on video, and livestreamed the event.

    ###

    Rose Young and Jenny Tseng were now drunk out of their minds. Rose was sobbing and cursing, while Jenny kept onughing and giggling. They already ran out of gin, so they switched to champagne which was the only alcoholic drink left in the condo unit.

    The friends were still watching the livestream on the big screen TV in the living room.

    When it showed Jin Liwei carrying Iris like a princess up the steps, Rose threw another ss to the floor. She howled like a demented beast, making Jenny cover her ears while stillughing everything in the world was funny.

    "Damn you, Iris Long! Curse you, slut!"

    Rose was too furious, too jealous and too drunk. Her face turned from red to purple. Then she dropped on the couch like a heavy log.

    "Eh? Rosie?"

    Despite her drunken state, Jenny Tseng was still able to function properly...or as proper as she could be. She crawled over to her friend who nowy unmoving on the couch.

    "Rosie? Yoohoo~ Ahahaha! What the hell, Rosie? Did you really pass out? Howme! So funny! Ahahahaha!"

    Jennysted a few minutes longer before passing out as well. But not before finishing the remaining champagne by herself.

    ###

    The guests were either chatting or getting to know each other or both inside the grand hall where the officialunch party was being held. Waiters and waitresses carrying an assortment of drinks and bite-sized snacks kept everyone from starving until it was time for dinnerter.

    Suddenly, an unbelievable sight appeared at the entrance. All heads turned towards that same direction.

    Jin Liwei walked inside the grand hall carrying Iris Long in his arms, like a mighty prince carrying a beautiful princess he intended to marry. His gait was light and smooth, not looking strained at all, as if Iris Long only weighed like a bag or feathers.

    "Oh! How romantic!" many women eximed, feeling envious of Iris Long.

    "Bahahaha! That¡¯s my boy! So manly¡ªjust like ME! Right, Haohao my boy?! Bahahahaha!" a booming voice said in a mixture of delight, pride and amusement.

    "What do you mean that my grandson is just like you? Hmph! My grandson took after MY husband, of course. A gentleman but also a passionate lover. Not like an old gori like you!" an elegant elder female voice retorted, pretending to sniff in disdain.

    "What are you saying, you old hag? I want to know! I might not be a gentleman but I¡¯m definitely more passionate than my brother, your husband!"

    "You? Passionate? Shameless is more like it!"

    "Bahahaha! That¡¯s very true, too!!!"

    The people around Grandpa Lu and Grandma Li all chuckled, entertained by the two elders¡¯ banter. Even those who came from abroad stillughed, despite not understanding Mandarin. Just looking at their expressions was funny in itself.

    As for the couple who showered everyone with dogfood just by their entrance, Jin Liwei continued to carry Iris while walking to the direction of their families and friends.

    "Darling, we¡¯ve already passed the steps. You can put me down now. I¡¯ll be fine and can walk on my own," Iris said.

    "You¡¯re wearing high heels tonight. I saw that they¡¯re higher than usual. Let me carry you a little longer so that you won¡¯t tire and hurt your feet too soon," he replied with a straight face.

    "Oh." Her eyes widened before warming in appreciation. "Thank you, darling. You¡¯re so thoughtful."

    The corners of his lips curved upward, smug at himself. "En. No problem, love. Anytime."

    Ah, poor Iris Long.

    There were times that her denseness would still kick in, despite having developed her emotional range to an impressive degreepared to when she just woke up in this second life of hers. Whenever this happened, she would have no idea that her darling was already tricking her with his shamelessness. In fact, she would even fall in love with him deeper and harder because of his "thoughtfulness and concern" for her.

    ¡¯My baby girl is too cute,¡¯ Jin Liwei would think to himself after tricking her, falling in love deeper and harder with her as well.

    This was why Iris didn¡¯t protest when Jin Liwei carried her all the way to where Grandpa Lu, Grandma Li, Long Tengfei and the others were sitting together.

 Chapter 539 - The Two Emcees

    <h4>Chapter 539 - The Two Emcees </h4>

    When the couple arrived to where their families and friends were sitting, Jin Liwei finally put his baby girl down on her feet. It was obvious that he was reluctant to let her down by the slowness of his movements.

    "Darling, are you alright? Why are you moving so slowly? Are you in pain? Am I too heavy for you?" Iris, her denseness still activated, asked.

    "Pft! Bahahaha! Xin my girl, your man just doesn¡¯t want to let you go, that¡¯s why! I bet that if he could, he would carry you for the entire night during this party!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice interrupted the couple¡¯s moment.

    Iris tilted her head to the side after hearing what the old man said. "Really?" she asked her darling.

    "I already told you. I¡¯m just concerned that you¡¯ll tire and hurt your feet too soon," Jin Liwei said with straight face again.

    Grandpa Lu almost choked on his own boomingughter. The others also watched the scene in amusement. They could all see Jin Liwei¡¯s shamelessness. It was only Iris who didn¡¯t realize her darling¡¯s shameless trickery yet.

    Later, everyone was seated by their assigned tables. Wei Lan and Sun Jingfei were seated on separate tables away from Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui.

    Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui, Sun Jingfei, Meimei and Long Jinjing all felt nervous at first about Wei Lan. They were afraid that she would pick a fight with them and create a scene. But to their relief, she only gave them a polite smile before chatting with other people.

    She wasn¡¯t exactly cordial with them, but at least she wasn¡¯t creating trouble that would embarrass all of them. Better to ignore than to fight.

    They also didn¡¯t attempt to talk to her, afraid that they would trigger her. But if their eyes met, they would smile at each other. Wei Lan¡¯s smile didn¡¯t look genuine, but at least she was smiling and not snarling.

    As for Wei Lan, she didn¡¯t dare create a ruckus tonight. Not only was she doing her best to maintain her elegant, ssy and magnanimous viscountess image, but she also didn¡¯t want to piss off her daughter. Iris already warned her beforehand to behave, especially after revealing that Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Sun Jingfei would be attending. Wei Lan was very unhappy and even demanded her daughter to uninvite those people but Iris didn¡¯t budge.

    In the end, Wei Lan could only "endure" attending the grandunch with all those people. She didn¡¯t want to fight with her daughter and destroy their current rtionship. Iris and Jin Liwei were very generous to the people close to them.

    Wei Lan had been enjoying all the perks associated with being close to the couple. Like when Jin Liwei introduced her to one of the best real estate agents in the country so that she could start looking for a property for when her husband and stepson joined her in China after they finished their matters. Also when her daughter agreed to give her regr free samples on new Orchidia Beauty products before they were released in the market.

    There were also many other perks aside from these. Wei Lan especially enjoyed Jin Liwei¡¯s generosity of lending his own subordinates to act as her bodyguards. Her husband, the viscount, was a very low-profile and down to earth person.

    If he didn¡¯t whip out his own title, nobody would know that he was an actual viscount from a long line of Spanish nobility. He wasn¡¯t showy at all, including in his security details. It was his adopted son, Ren¨¦ Alejandro, who provided them with bodyguards while they travelled to the most dangerous and poorest ces in North Africa and South Americast year. Most of the bodyguards were from the orphanages who were very good with hand-to-handbat and other practical yet deadly martial arts.

    When Wei Lan decided to return to China, Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t give her any bodyguards because he said that she didn¡¯t need them. She couldn¡¯t argue against him because her husband doted on his adopted son.

    That was why Wei Lan enjoyed Jin Liwei¡¯s generosity in lending her his subordinates. Having a team of bodyguards protecting and following her whenever she went out in public made her feel more like a true viscountess. If she pissed off her daughter, Jin Liwei would surely side with Iris. Then he would stop lending her his subordinates.

    Wei Lan didn¡¯t want to risk angering the couple and lose all the perks. More than this, however, she was also rather enjoying being a mother to a full-grown daughter. She also liked Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun, experiencing great joy in dressing them up in fashionable clothes.

    These were the reasons why she was acting so polite to Long Tengfei and his two other women.

    ¡¯I¡¯m sooooo magnanimous! Truly a great viscountess! The bestest forever and ever!¡¯ she praised herself after smiling politely at the three, even though all she wanted was to p them all.

    Wei Lan¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by the two emcees.

    "Good evening,dies and gentlemen! Thank you foring tonight! Ehehehe. And wee to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s official grandunch!"

    Everyone pped their hands and cheered.

    "My name is Dominic Chua."

    "And I¡¯m Clover Chua! We¡¯re going to be your emcees tonight!"

    The brother and sister looked fabulous tonight.

    Dom wore a tailored three-piece tuxedo suit that Irismissioned to be fully customized just for him. They used Jin Liwei¡¯s very own tailor.

    Simrly, Clover looked pretty and glowing in her peach midi dress. All the female members of the girl squad had dresses made by the same designer as Iris. They all looked luxe and morous.

    "I recognize that guy. He¡¯s Iris Long¡¯s assistant," one of the guests said.

    "I knew it! So I was right. He really is Senior Iris¡¯ assistant. So that¡¯s why he looked so familiar."

    These guests were Iris¡¯ fellow celebrities from Bright Summit, also managed by Tang Yiyi.

    "That cute female emcee has the same surname as him. And they resemble each other a little. Maybe they¡¯re siblings. Or cousins."

    "Yeah. Both of them should be Senior Iris¡¯ people. But why are her people acting as emcees in this event? Is Orchidia Beauty short on staff that they need to borrow Senior Iris¡¯ people?"

    "That¡¯s what I want to know, too."

    Although they had many questions, they had to stop, be quiet and listen because Dominic and Clover Chua began telling a story.

 Chapter 540 - A Tale All The Way From Munich

    <h4>Chapter 540 - A Tale All The Way From MuniChapter </h4>

    The two emcees, the brother and sister Dominic and Clover Chua, wore solemn expressions. But for some reason, they still looked entertaining.

    "One day, there was a beautiful young woman who travelled to Munich, Germany," Dom began. "She visited the local street market and saw an interesting stall. The stall looked shabby and emptypared to the other stalls bustling with tourists. However, the beautiful young woman noticed that quite a number of local women were buying from that particr stall. It seemed that the stall targeted locals unlike the other stalls that aimed for tourists."

    Clover smoothly continued her brother¡¯s tale. "The stall sold a variety of homemade liquids and creams in simple ss bottles and mason jars. The beautiful young woman also observed something intriguing¡ªthe female seller and her customers all had smooth, bright and glowing skins. She became curious. ¡¯Why are their skins so beautiful?¡¯ she asked herself. She made her way to the stall and started talking to the seller. Then she discovered another surprising fact."

    "The products¡ªall the liquids, creams and lotions¡ªwere all homemade!" Dom eximed in excitement. The audience couldn¡¯t help butugh, even if they didn¡¯t intend to. The siblings just had an effect on others, making them feel very entertained.

    "What¡¯s more, they were all made with ONE HUNDRED PERCENT natural ingredients formted through natural biological processes!" Clover eximed next, enunciating each syble of "100%".

    Dom: "The beautiful young woman bought one of everything right there and there, and then took the German seller¡¯s contact details."

    The audience could discern by now that the tale was about the start of Orchidia Beauty. The beautiful woman in the two emcees¡¯ tale must be the founder and owner of thepany. They looked around, trying to figure out if she was sitting among them. They were already curious about her identity before this but listening to the interesting tale, they became even more so.

    Clover continued to hook the audience with the story. "The beautiful young woman returned to her hotel suite and used some of the products that very night. They felt very nice when applying, but she didn¡¯t really notice anything different."

    Dom: "However! When she woke up the next morning, her skin became super-duper soft¡ªlike a baby¡¯s butt!"

    Loudughter and giggles erupted from the audience.

    "Ehehehe." Dom couldn¡¯t help but break out of his serious storyteller persona to giggle as well but quickly became solemn again when his sister elbowed him hard.

    "Be serious, Big Bro," she scolded him.

    The audienceughed even harder seeing their antics.

    Clover smiled at the audience, still maintaining her storyteller persona unlike her brother. "After learning of the amazing effects of the homemade skincare products, the beautiful young woman continued using them for a few days with more noticeable results. Then she decided that it was finally time to contact the seller."

    Dom: "It turned out that the one who developed all the products was the seller¡¯s brother! Right then and there, the beautiful young woman offered to create apany with the amazing skincare products and make them avable to consumers. The German sibling agreed. And thus¡ª"

    "Orchidia Beauty was born!!!" Dom and Clover both eximed.

    All the guests pped their hands and cheered. It was very interesting to know how the currently hyped newpany, Orchidia Beauty, was founded.

    Dom: "Please wee to the stage, Mr. Alric Bauer and his sister Miss Alona Bauer!!! Yay yay!"

    The German siblings stood up from their seats beside the other foreigners (from Cross Academy but the other guests didn¡¯t know that...for now). The brother and sister headed to the stage amidst the loud apuse.

    Alona looked nervous but she was a naturally vivacious person. The excitement was clear in her eyes. Her brother, Alric, was silent and looked bored at first nce. But upon closer look, his eyes were also sparkling with excitement.

    "Mr. Alric Bauer is the Chief Product Officer of Orchidia Beauty," Clover informed everyone. "He and his sister, Miss Alona Bauer, are the heads of the Product Development team of thepany. This all basically means that Mr. Alric is the one who developed all the wonderful products that many of you have tried already and loved. He was also the one who singlehandedly created the homemade skincare products that his sister sold in the unassuming stall in the local street market back in Munich, Germany. Without him, there will be no products. And without the products, there will be no Orchidia Beauty!"

    The audience couldn¡¯t help but stand up from their seats to give the German siblings, specifically Alric Bauer, a well-deserved standing ovation. What kind of dedication, hard work and passion did it take to develop such amazing products?

    Alric nodded his head in thanks while Alona bowed to the audience. Her eyes were already teary.

    The two emcees allowed the loud standing ovation to continue for a few more moments before they gestured for the audience to settle down and return to their seats.

    "Next, please wee to the stage Miss Long Jinjing!" Dom announced.

    Long Jinjing stood up from beside her mother and walked to the stage. She was also wearing midi dress like Clover but hers was cherry blossom pink. Her outfit entuated her pure and gentle image. She might not be as gorgeous as her sister Iris Long, but she was also good-looking and attractive in a more subdued way.

    Upon seeing her, the audience started whispering among themselves.

    "Hmmm... That¡¯s CEO Long Tengfei¡¯s daughter with a mistress. See that woman there? That¡¯s the mistress, the girl¡¯s mother. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯re here."

    "I think the more important question is why is Long Jinjing, CEO Long Tengfei¡¯s daughter with a mistress, heading up the stage?"

    "I heard that she graduated from business school with honours."

    "Yes, she did. She and her friend who also came with her tonight graduated with honours.I know because my son also attends the same university. Those girls are my son¡¯s seniors."

    "I heard that the two were supposed to work at Long Industries after they graduate. They already had job offers, but then they didn¡¯t go through with it in the end. It seemed that they epted jobs in anotherpany."

    "Wait. Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯re working for Orchidia Beauty!"

    "Oh my goodness. I think you¡¯re right! Don¡¯t tell me Long Jinjing is the beautiful young woman in Munich, Germany who founded Orchidia Beauty with those German siblings from the story just now!"

    Long Jinjing had now reached the stage. Dom yed the gentleman and helped her up.

    "Careful, mdy," he said in an elegant ent, even bowing to her with an exaggerated sweep of his arm.

    "Dom." Long Jinjing pouted, her face turning red.

    "Ehehehe."

    "Fufufufu."

    The brother and sister, Dom and Clover, were too mischievous!

    Long Jinjing felt very nervous. She was sweating but forced herself to calm down. Her eyes found her mother in the audience who was smiling at her with pride and love. Seeing her mother and even her father¡¯s proud expressions gave her strength and courage.

    "I¡¯m so nervous, too. You¡¯re not the only one," Alona whispered to her in English.

    "Thank you."

    Clover raised the mic close to her mouth and announced:

    "Miss Long Jinjing is Orchidia Beauty¡¯s Chief Financial Officer!"

 Chapter 541 - The Revelation Part I

    <h4>Chapter 541 - The Revtion Part I </h4>

    Gasp!

    The guests who were gossiping about Long Jinjing just now had expressions of shocked disbelief on their faces. What?!! The illegitimate daughter of Long Tengfei with a mistress was Orchidia Beauty¡¯s CFO?!!!

    Iris, Jin Liwei, Sun Jingfei, Long Tengfei and the others in their big group led the apuse for Long Jinjing. Those who didn¡¯t know who she was¡ªmostly the ones who weren¡¯t members of high society¡ªfollowed suit and pped their hands as well without hesitation.

    "Long Jinjing? She has the same surname as Senior Iris. Are they rted? They don¡¯t look alike, though."

    "I think it has been mentioned before in the past that Iris Long has an older half-sister. Maybe she¡¯s the one?"

    Amidst all of these gossiping in the audience, Long Jinjing gradually felt calmer after seeing her family and friends lead the apuse for her. She might not hear them, but she certainly knew that the other guests were talking about her. She didn¡¯t mind it, but she worried about her mother who already had a reputation of being her father¡¯s mistress despite living a low-profile life away from high society.

    However, Sun Jingfei was a tough and resilient woman when she needed to be.

    "Don¡¯t worry, my child. Your mother will be alright. I¡¯ll attend the officialunch. Why do I need to care about what others think and say about me? All I care about is how proud I am of my daughter! Imagine! Sun Jingfei¡¯s daughter is the CFO of apany right after graduating! Mother is so happy! We should always be grateful to your sister for giving you this opportunity," her mother told her a few days ago when Long Jinjing expressed her concern.

    Long Jinjing stopped worrying too much about it after hearing her mother¡¯s assurance. However, her worry returned tonight, especially after seeing the judgmental looks some of the guests from high society were throwing at her mother and the two of them.

    But now that she was onstage and introduced as Orchidia Beauty¡¯s CFO and also seeing the support of her family and friends, all her worries were washed away. She stood up straighter and her eyes became sharper.

    ¡¯I am the CFO. I have every right to stand here,¡¯ she told herself.

    After the apuse died down, the emcees prepared to make another introduction.

    Dom: "Next, please wee Miss Chen Fei! She¡¯s Orchidia Beauty¡¯s Chief Operating Officer!"

    Chen Fei stood up and headed to the stage as well to join her best friend, Long Jinjing, and the others. She walked with confidence and purpose. There was no hesitation in her at all.

    "Finally, let¡¯s wee MYSELF, Clover Chua! I also actually work for Orchidia Beauty, too. I¡¯m the CEO¡¯s administrative assistant. Just want to let you know. Ehehehe."

    The audienceughed at her corkiness. But knowing that she was the CEO¡¯s administrative assistant intensified their curiosity about the CEO even more. They weren¡¯t even sure if the owner and the CEO were the same person.

    ¡¯I guess we¡¯ll just find out,¡¯ they thought.

    Dom: "Now, the moment you have been all waiting for has finally arrived! I know that you¡¯ve been wondering about this for so long."

    Everyone sat up straighter and leaned forward, focusing all their attention to what he was saying. They didn¡¯t want to miss any of his words.

    Dom: "Now please wee the beautiful young woman who discovered the wonderful homemade skincare products from that local street market in Munich, Germany. With her keen eyes, she was able to spot the special qualities of the products. She gave the Bauer siblings the opportunity to sell their products to all of us, to China, and eventually in the near future to the rest of the world!"

    Clover: "Please wee, the Owner, President, Chief Executive Officer of Orchidia Beauty...and my boss¡ª"

    Dom: "Mine too!"

    Both: "Miss IRIS LONG!!!"

    Stunned silence.

    Jin Liwei stood up and started pping. The Jin main family did so as well. Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. Wei Lan. Sun Jingfei. Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez. Everyone from Cross Academy. Hou Liang and Wu Chen. Qiao Yu. Tang Yiyi. All members of the girl squad.

    When they started pping, the other guests followed suit. However, the shock was still evident on their expressions.

    The big boss and the other higher-ups from Bright Summit looked at Tang Yiyi in disbelief.

    "Did you know about this?"

    Tang Yiyi could only nod. "Yes, sir."

    "Aish. I don¡¯t know whether to scold or praise you and Iris Long," the big boss said. But in the end, he nodded, a pleased expression on his face. "The grandness of tonight¡¯s event, especially with all of these influential guests, will certainly increase Iris Long¡¯s fame. This is good. Very good. No, it¡¯s great! Excellent! Let¡¯s hope that she¡¯ll be able to make thispany of hers sessful to maximize the positive effect on her fame."

    "I don¡¯t think we should worry about that, sir," Tang Yiyi said. "Iris knows what she¡¯s doing."

    "You¡¯re right. CEO Jin Liwei is her fianc¨¦. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll be able to guide her in running her business. Maybe he¡¯ll even bail her out if she ever goes bankrupt."

    Tang Yiyi opened her mouth to argue against what her boss said. However, she decided to hold her tongue instead.

    ¡¯What bankrupt? Iris Long? That workaholic woman whose close eye for details makes even me want to go crazy by how much of a perfectionist she is? I think she has the nose of a bloodhound when ites to sniffing career and money-making opportunities. She doesn¡¯t need CEO Jin to bail her out of anything. In fact, she doesn¡¯t even need him to guide her, except for when she specifically asks for his advice. After all, the legendary business genius Sir Lu Jianhong is her mentor! It¡¯s the case of a genius nurturing a genius!¡¯ Tang Yiyi thought to herself.

    As Iris¡¯ manager, Tang Yiyi was privy to some of the most personal details of her life. It took quite some time before Tang Yiyi discovered the true rtionship between Iris and Grandpa Lu. She was also able to learn that Iris was actually a certified genius herself¡ªa student of the legendary school, Cross Academy!

    After learning the true extent of Iris¡¯ impressive background, Tang Yiyi decided to hug Iris¡¯ huge, golden thigh instead of her current boss at Bright Summit. If the entertainmentpany ever started suppressing Iris for some stupid reason, Tang Yiyi wouldn¡¯t think twice in abandoning it to work directly for Iris instead. If that really happened, Bright Summit would be as good as sinking ship, anyway.

    Tang Yiyi knew that beneath Iris¡¯ kindness and generosityy a ruthless personality. It was just that she had a high tolerance level, preferring to focus on working hard to improve herself rather than reacting to every single person who bothered her.

    Unfortunately to Iris¡¯ wannabe enemies, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t have such high tolerance. Tang Yiyi was well aware of how much the man loved Iris. If he could, he would tie the moon in a pretty bow and gift it to Iris, plus pluck a few stars from sky to add some sparkles that were better than diamonds.

    In the same way that he loved Iris so deeply that he would give the whole universe to her, he would also be ready to soak the entire universe with the blood of her enemies in order to avenge her.

    ¡¯With this kind of domineering couple, it¡¯s better to stay in their good side¡ªalways,¡¯ Tang Yiyi reminded herself.

 Chapter 542 - The Revelation Part II

    <h4>Chapter 542 - The Revtion Part II </h4>

    The big boss and the higher-ups of Bright Summit didn¡¯t know that one of their current star managers, Tang Yiyi, was already lighting a candle for them in the event that they ever suppressed Iris Long. Bright Summit might even have a sudden hostile takeover. If not Iris herself, it would definitely be Jin Liwei who would never forgive anyone for harming his (future) wife.

    It wasn¡¯t only the big boss and the higher-ups of Bright Summit who were shocked to learn that Iris Long was the Owner, President and CEO of Orchidia Beauty.

    All members of the Pandemonium band were stunned silly. Their jaws fell down and their eyes almost popped out of their heads.

    ze: "Senior Iris is the... Wha-what the hell...?"

    Eros pinched himself. "It doesn¡¯t look like I¡¯m dreaming..."

    Night: "..."

    Thunder: "Holy!!! Goddess Iris owns Orchidia Beauty?!! I¡¯m so stoked!!! Hey hey hey! Can we ask her for a discount when we buy the products? I¡¯m rationing the free samples Goddess Iris gave us before because I don¡¯t want it to run out before the products are officiallyunched! Well, can we? CAN WE?!!"

    ze, Eros and Night didn¡¯t pay attention to their youngest member¡¯s hyperactive chatter. They were too busy processing the bombshell their senior dropped to all of them.

    The other celebrities managed by Tang Yiyi were also shocked. They were amazed...and envious of her achievements.

    Across the entire grand hall, everyone couldn¡¯t hide their shock. They watched Iris Long stand up from her seat and receive a hug from Jin Liwei before making her way to the stage. Their hands automatically pped for her, but their minds couldn¡¯t seem to process the information.

    Iris Long owns Orchidia Beauty?!!!

    There were many big names, heavyweights, famous and influential people from the country and abroad who attended tonight¡¯s event. All of these people came for apany owned by...IRIS LONG?!!!

    Dom and Alric acted extra gentlemanly, as they helped Iris up the stage. After thanking them and nodding at the others, she took the mic from Dom and stood at the very centre of the stage. Her position emphasized her status at the top of thepany¡¯s hierarchy.

    "On behalf of my colleagues and everyone working for us, I would like to thank you all foring here tonight to celebrate the officialunch of MYpany, Orchidia Beauty," she began her speech, emphasizing her ownership of thepany.

    The people stayed silent and listened to her words, as if doing so would help them understand how in the world she became a business owner. And not just any business. She became the owner of one of the most hyped newpanies of the year which received rave reviews from the best influencers in the beautymunity including celebrities before it evenunched.

    Not only that. Just look at this over the top grandunch party! Thevish red carpet event! The thousands of fans who attended! All the media! And most importantly, the guest list. Oh, the guest list!

    Even the current most popr celebrity couple in the country didn¡¯t have such a high calibre guest list when they married. Their wedding was dubbed the "royal wedding" back then butpared to thisunch party¡¯s guest list which included Maestro Ludovico De Luca, Enrique Valdez, the Jins, the Lus, Feng Wan and her three posh friends who all had deep backgrounds in high society, and the famous artist Ashandra Knightson, that "royal wedding" might as well be for peasants. The media called it a "star-studded" wedding that time. Butparing it to thisunch? This was the real star-studded event!

    Iris interrupted their thoughts with her speech. "You¡¯ve already heard from our two lovely emcees here¡ª"

    "Ehehehe."

    "Fufufufu."

    The siblings Dom and Clover pretended to feel shy by her praise, even though it was obvious that they were delighted. Because of them, the audience felt rxed again. Peopleughed at their antics, lightening up the atmosphere.

    Iris smiled at the siblings, grateful to them. Now it felt easier to speak.

    "You¡¯ve heard from them the tale of how the idea of creating Orchidia Beauty came to me while I was in Germanyst year," she continued. "Some of you might remember that I¡¯ve disappeared for a period of timest year. I was in Europe back then. I performed with the great Maestro Ludovico De Luca at his orchestral concert in Munich. It was during that time that fate led me to meet the Bauer siblings. After persuading them to partner with me, I built thepany with them from the ground up.

    "I also stole my sister, Long Jinjing and her friend who¡¯s also now my friend, Chen Fei. They¡¯re supposed to work at my father¡¯spany after they graduate from business school, but I poached them away to work with me in running mypany instead."

    The guests all looked at Long Tengfei who nodded, confirming what his daughter said.

    "Oh, I almost forgot. Before I stole my sister and Chen Fei from my father, I partnered with hispany, Long Industries, for our shipping needs. So you can rest assured that all the ingredients in our products that we can¡¯t source locally will arrive at the fastest speed possible from where we¡¯re sourcing them abroad to maintain their freshness. Just like our im, everything is 100% natural. We¡¯ll also deliver them to you as quickly as we can."

    Once again, Long Tengfei nodded his head. A small smile also lifted the corners of his lips. Iris might sound like she was only singing the praises of her ownpany, but the truth was that she was also indicating to everyone that hispany, Long Industries, was a fast and reliable shipping service.

    He was especially pleased that she didn¡¯t forget to mention thepany name, Long Industries. Indeed, she would be an effective brand ambassador for hispany. Now all he needed to do was to persuade his other executives to agree with the idea. He could use this speech as one of the evidences to prove that she would be a great brand ambassador. There were also a lot of media in attendance. Many of them were recording this moment right now.

    Iris nced at Long Tengfei and saw that her n worked based on his pleased expression. She made sure to include that part about Long Industries in her speech, specifically targeting Long Tengfei, to tip him more in her favour regarding her request to be hispany¡¯s brand ambassador. She made her praise for thepany subtle so it wouldn¡¯te off as brownnosing.

    ¡¯Thank you, darling, for teaching me the subtle art of getting what I want in business.¡¯

    She sent her word of thanks through her smile to Jin Liwei back at their table. He was watching her intently, as if she was the only person in the room and the others were just air. He seemed to have understood the meaning of her smile because he nodded, his eyes warmed up despite his outward cold expression.

    Jin Liwei was helping her develop subtleness in her business skills. Both Iris and Grandpa Lu were very straightforward people. If there was something they wanted, they gunned for it relentlessly until they had it in the palm of their hands. Some may call them passionate and determined, but others would call them too willful and aggressive.

    Iris wanted to be versatile in her careers in music,nguages, and business. Fortunately, she had her darling to help add additional ammo to her repertoire. This way, she could be as aggressive or subtle as she wanted depending on the situation.

    In short, more ways to get what she wanted!

    Her smile at her darling became brighter, blinding the people looking at her. She was just too beautiful!

    Someone coughed beside her.

    "Boss. Boss!" Dom whisper-shouted at her.

    Iris regained her senses thanks to Dom. Ah, she actually got distracted because her darling was too handsome!

    Her friends, the girl squad, all snickered at her.

    She cleared her throat in an elegant manner while trying to remember where she left off her speech. Good thing that she had an excellent memory. She continued:

    "I¡¯ve been working on thispany ever since I returned from Germanyst year. That¡¯s why I¡¯m so excited that we¡¯re finally having our grandunch today! But all of these¡ª" She swept an arm in a wide arc. "¡ªwould not be possible without the assistance of my special dear friends from abroad."

 Chapter 543 - The Revelation Part III

    <h4>Chapter 543 - The Revtion Part III </h4>

    The other guests looked at the group of foreigners all sitting together. Iris Long must be talking about them. One of them¡ªthe demonically gorgeous woman Ashandra Knightson¡ªwas reportedly a famous artist. Based on the others¡¯ bearing, they must not be ordinary people either. They were Iris Long¡¯s...friends? Really?

    Iris looked at her friends from Cross Academy and smiled at them. They all surprised her by attending herunch party without informing her. She invited them, of course, but they all gave various different reasons to decline. That was why she didn¡¯t expect that they would all turn up tonight. Even Madame Giulia Moretti came bearing regards and apology from Headmaster Erwan Dupont for not being able to attend due to conflicts in schedule.

    It was only Amanpio Kileksky who epted her invitation as soon as she invited him. Without the young entric inventor, Alric Bauer wouldn¡¯t have the equipment to manufacture improved versions of Orchidia Beauty products efficiently. So even if Amanpio declined her invitation, Iris would have found a way to drag him to China. Maybe she would even resort to asking her big brother to kidnap him. Fortunately, Amanpio agreed toe without taking a moment to think about it first. However, Jin Liwei had to send one of his smaller private jets to pick Amanpio up from Switzend because the inventor was toozy to book his own flight to China.

    Iris also asked Jiang Ying Yue to let Amanpio temporarily stay in Little Jun¡¯s condo unit at Gold Heights. Jiang Ying Yue agreed. She and her son Little Jun were still staying at the Dragon Pce mansion with Iris and Jin Liwei anyway, so the condo unit was currently empty. It was better for Amanpio to stay there because Yi Mei and the other household staff in the penthouse already had their hands full with Wei Lan. Iris didn¡¯t want to saddle them with an additional difficult person to take care of like Amanpio. They already had firsthand experience of his baffling entricities when he first stayed at the penthouse before.

    Even Ashandra Knightson whom Iris met a few days ago in France didn¡¯t mention that she would be attending theunch party tonight. Iris thought that Ashandra would be busy attending another art exhibition somewhere in Europe. She was really surprised to see her friend along with the others

    Jin Liwei, however, didn¡¯t appear surprised at all. It looked as if he already knew that her friends wereing. He must have deliberately concealed it from her. Ketchup had the capability to detect if her friendsnded in China but the white cat didn¡¯t inform her. Jin Liwei must have instructed Ketchup not to tell her.

    The father and daughter dared to keep a secret from her?

    Try as she might, she couldn¡¯t find it in herself to be angry at the two of them. Instead, her heart melted into a sweet syrupy puddle. She would ask Jin Liwei and Ketchupter and make them confess their "crime", but she had no intention ofining. It was such a nice surprise after all, especially on a big day in her business career like this.

    For now, she needed to thank her friends.

    "I would like to thank Amanpio Kileksy, a prolific inventor who creates some of the most mind-boggling things you can ever imagine. Many of them are brilliant, of course...but the others? Hmmm... Let¡¯s not talk about that part," she said, elicitingughter from her friends who knew about Amanpio¡¯s massive collection of hit-and-miss inventions.

    Amanpio harrumphed and became sullen when the others beganughing at him. However, he quickly recovered because he was very proud of all his "babies", a.k.a. inventions.

    Iris continued, "Amanpio helped Alric build a number of special equipment which they patented together to process the raw materials andbine the ingredients more efficiently without destroying their natural properties, enabling us to retain our mission of keeping our products 100% natural but also allowing us to increase their shelf life as much as possible using only natural means."

    "Oooooh!"

    The audience was impressed. They started pping and continued oohing and aahing.

    "Please stand up so everybody can see you, Amanpio," Iris told him in English.

    Amanpio Kileksy stood up, self-confidence oozing from his every pore. Theresa and Florence both rolled their eyes at him while Ashandra and AJ chuckled. He waved at the crowd who pped louder for him.

    "Ladies and gentleman, Amanpio Kileksky, Cross Academy student and my friend," Iris announced.

    The apuse halted.

    "Huh? What Cross Academy? What school is that? Can someone tell me where it¡¯s located?" someone from the audience asked.

    "Hmmm... Cross Academy... Sounds familiar. Where did I hear it before?"

    "Ahahaha! Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s that legendary school for geniuses? Pft! Ahahaha! No way!"

    "What do you mean ¡¯no way¡¯, you pinhead?! I want to know!" a booming voice challenged the person who said it. "Of course, it¡¯s that Cross Academy! I studied there myself! Have I gotten so old that many of you nitwits already forgot that I, Lu Jianhong, graduated from Cross Academy?! If I say that it¡¯s the same Cross Academy, then it¡¯s Cross Academy! You dare don¡¯t believe me?! Hmph!!!"

    "Sit down, you old gori," an elegant elderly female voice scolded him in a whisper. "What do you think you¡¯re doing, creating a ruckus in my granddaughter-inw¡¯s party? Stop picking a fight with dear Xin¡¯s guests. Close your mouth and act like a proper elder!"

    "Bah! These dunderheads are so annoying! This old man needs to put them in their ce! Aren¡¯t I right, Haohao my boy?"

    "Yes, Grandpa. You¡¯re right. They¡¯re annoying," a devilish man with a scar on his face replied. He cracked his knuckles, a dangerous glint shing in his eyes, as if he wanted to strangle the life out of those people in the audience who doubted his sister¡¯s words that her friend was a Cross Academy student.

    "See, old hag? Even my beloved grandson agrees with this old man!"

    The elegant elderlydy sighed, shaking her head at the grandfather and grandson duo.

    Jaws fell down and eyes almost popped out of heads when Sir Lu Jianhong himself spoke and confirmed Iris¡¯ im that her friend was a Cross Academy student.

    WHAT?!!

    Iris Long was friends with someone from Cross Academy, that legendary school for geniuses?!!!

 Chapter 544 - The Revelation Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 544 - The Revtion Part IV </h4>

    The clueless ones were confused upon seeing the shocked expressions of the people around them.

    "What¡¯s going on? Why are you so shocked? What¡¯s Cross Academy? Is it a good school? Like C9 League or maybe¡ªOMG¡ªIvy league level?"

    "Are you serious? You¡¯re asking if Cross Academy is a good school?! Are you freaking kidding me?!!! What C9 League? What Ivy League? Those schools are nothingpared to Cross Academy!!! Don¡¯t you know that Cross Academy is the freaking BESTEST OF THE BEST school in the world?!!! That¡¯s the legendary school for geniuses!!!"

    "Whoa! Really? Aren¡¯t you exaggerating? If it¡¯s really the best school in the world, why haven¡¯t I heard about it before? Maybe it¡¯s just an urban legend or something?"

    "Sssssh! Not so loud! Do you want Sir Lu Jianhong to scold you like what he did to that poor guy just now? Just shut your mouth and don¡¯t embarrass us. If you get scolded by Sir Lu Jianhong, I don¡¯t know you!"

    "Fine. What a friend you are! Anyway, just tell me what you know about this Cross Academy because I really don¡¯t know anything about it."

    "Okay, listen to me. Not many people know about Cross Academy so it¡¯s not surprising that you have no idea about it. Even I only learned about it by watching an English documentary. Cross Academy is a very isted and secretive ce somewhere in Europe. I forgot which country. It¡¯s either in Sweden or Switzend, maybe even in the Nethends...I can¡¯t remember. Very few students are admitted¡ªonly the most genius among geniuses! Apparently, they only enroll a student every few years because nobody could pass their extremely high standards!"

    "Whoa! Really? Wow! So if Iris Long¡¯s friend, that Amanpio guy, is really a Cross Academy student, then isn¡¯t he awesome?!"

    "Of course, he is! Duh!"

    Conversations like this were urring all over the audience. Iris swept her eyes across them, hearing most of what they were talking about with her great hearing. She asked her friends earlier if it was alright with them if she revealed that they were Cross Academy students. They had no issues with it at all.

    Iris didn¡¯t wait for the murmurs to stop before she began speaking again. "Next, I would like to thank another friend, Theresa Blipsburg. She¡¯s a biomedical engineering student who¡¯s helping save countless of lives by developing innovative state-of-the-art medical instruments and medical drugs. She also has a background in chemical engineering."

    The other guests looked at the group of foreigners again, trying to figure out who Theresa Blipsburg was.

    "After buying the Bauer sibling¡¯s homemade skincare concoctions at the street market in Munich, I sent Theresa a few samples. She confirmed throughb tests that every single one of them are indeed 100% natural. She did it for me even though she was extremely busy with her own research. Thanks to her, I made the decision to invest in the Bauer siblings and create Orchidia Beauty," Iris revealed.

    The audience oohed and aahed again.

    "Thank you, Theresa. I know that you¡¯re always busy with your own research but you still took the time to do me that favour. I¡¯m so grateful. Can you please stand up and let everyone see you?" Iris asked her friend.

    Theresa stood up and waved at the other guests who were pping at her. Her actions were modest unlike Amanpio earlier.

    "Oh, right. I almost forgot," Iris said. "Theresa is also a Cross Academy student."

    WHAT?!!!

    Seriously?!! Again?!!!

    "Don¡¯t tell me that all the foreigners in that group are Cross Academy students," someone said.

    "How could that be? Do you think that the geniuses from such a prestigious school as Cross Academy would have so much free time to attend a newpany¡¯sunch? In your dreams! Geniuses are too busy doing...uh, genius stuff! They don¡¯t have time to waste on parties like this!"

    "But we already have two Cross Academy students!"

    "That¡¯s it. I bet there are only two of them. No more!"

    "Well, I bet that there would be more!"

    "I bet that all those foreigners are from Cross Academy!"

    "Game on!"

    The audience suddenly descended into gambling. All of them turned to Iris while eyeing the group of foreigners at one side, as if she was drawing some winning lotto numbers.

    Iris hid her smile. This was what she wanted. Yes, it was shameless to borrow her friends¡¯ prestige to boost her ownpany¡¯s image but this was what she was aiming for.

    ¡¯Don¡¯t be afraid to be shameless in business, my girl! Bahahaha!¡¯ was what Grandpa Lu taught her, so that was what she intended to do.

    Wasn¡¯t she a diligent student to apply her teacher¡¯s teachings?

    By introducing her friends as Cross Academy students and revealing their little contributions to herpany, the people would begin associating Orchidia Beauty with them and the academy. This would set herpany apart from the otherpanies in the beauty industry. And all of these before revealing her own identity as a Cross Academy student herself!

    "I would also like to thank Florence O¡¯Sevan, another inventor but focused on environmental sustainability. All of us from Orchidia Beauty are proud that our products are 100% natural. The contents inside are important but what about the outside? We also want our packaging to reflect our mission. Thus, we decided to make all our packaging environmentally sustainable."

    Intrigued expressions appeared on the audience¡¯s faces after hearing what Iris said.

    "My friend Florence was very kind to help design and manufacture our environmentally friendly packaging. Although we¡¯re unable to make it 100% zero waste at the moment, we can still confidently im to be miles ahead of ourpetitors in this area. Following Florence¡¯s direction and advice, ourpany aims to develop our very own sustainable yet also affordable zero waste packaging system within a year, three years at thetest, and make it into apany-wide policy!"

    The oohs and aahs from the audience were louder this time.

    "Wow! The products are 100% natural, and now they want the packaging to be 100% zero waste in the future, too? Cool!"

    "This Florence is another inventor like that Amanpio. Is she also a Cross Academy student?"

    "No way. Do you think that all inventors are from Cross Academy?"

    Iris smiled, enjoying the audience¡¯s spections.

    "My friend, dear Florence, is also a student of Cross Academy," she announced.

    The audience gasped once again. What? Cross Academy again? What was happening today? Was thispanyunch some sort of an assembly for Cross Academy students? The people were all very amazed at meeting these geniuses in the flesh.

    Sir Lu Jianhong was the only living Chinese alumni of the legendary school today. There were two of them before Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather died. Right now, there weren¡¯t any Chinese student enrolled in Cross Academy. Wouldn¡¯t it be cool to have another one? He or she would be the next great pride of the country, especially since Sir Lu Jianhong was already advanced in years. When it was time for the old man to go into eternal rest, would there be no one to hold the banner of their country as a Cross Academy student in the future?

    Someone from the younger generation was needed. Sir Lu Jianhong was now too old for the country¡¯s youth to fully understand the honour and pride he and his best friend, Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather, brought to the country when the two became Cross Academy students all those decades ago. Many of the young people didn¡¯t know about the amazing legacy Sir Lu Jianhong and Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather left the country¡¯s business world by building what was now the world-ss Jin Corporation from the ground up.

    If another Chinese became a Cross Academy student while Sir Lu Jianhong was still alive, how amazing would that be? They could brag to the whole world that their country didn¡¯tck for geniuses.

    A few people in the audience cheered after Iris Long announced that Florence O¡¯Sevan was a Cross Academy student as well. Some, however, groaned.

    "Yes! I won the bet! I knew it! There are more than two Cross Academy present here tonight! Don¡¯t forget to pay up!"

    "Dammit! I lost. What the hell? How many Cross Academy students are here right now? Don¡¯t tell me there are more after Florence?"

    "I think that that there are only three."

    "I bet that that the other foreigners from the same table are all Cross Academy students. Who wants to bet against me? Come on!"

    Florence O¡¯Sevan stood up from her seat and waved at the other guests who pped for her in amazement. She and the others from Cross Academy didn¡¯t know the people started a betting pool because of them.

 Chapter 545 - The Revelation Part V

    <h4>Chapter 545 - The Revtion Part V </h4>

    "Also special thanks to my other friends, all from Cross Academy, for taking the time from their busy schedules to fly all the way here to China and attend mypany¡¯sunch," Iris continued speaking. "Everyone, please wee the beautiful Ashandra Knightson, artist extraordinaire!"

    Loud apuse and cheers. Ashandra was like a goddess to the art enthusiasts present. In addition to this, she already gathered many fans even among those who didn¡¯t know her before this because of her beauty and bearing.

    Both Iris Long and Ashandra Knightson were extremely beautiful women, yet they were also very different from each other. Comparison between them would be futile.

    "And AJ Zheneres, another student that the academy treasures because of her frightening golden touch. She has been very kind and generous in sharing some helpful financial advice with me and my financial manager, especially during the early stages when I was just starting to build Orchidia Beauty."

    Another round of apuse.

    "I would also like to give my sincerest thanks to Madame Giulia Moretti, the academy¡¯s admissions counselor and right-hand woman of the Headmaster."

    Then Iris switched to German. "Thank you, Madame Moretti. It¡¯s such an honour to have you here."

    More apuse, louder this time. The people already knew that Iris was a polyglot but it was still impressive listening to her speaking anothernguage.

    "Of course, I wouldn¡¯t forget two very special guests who surprised all of us tonight by attending and gracing us with their presence. Thank you very much, Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Mr. Enrique Valdez!"

    Deafening apuse and cheers, bing louder when the two music legends stood from their seats and waved at the other guests.

    "For those of you who don¡¯t know, Maestro De Luca and Mr. Valdez are also Cross Academy alumni¡ªjust like Grandfather Lu," Iris added.

    The apuse paused.

    "EEEEEEEHHHHH?!!!"

    The people were shocked. They didn¡¯t know! Only some of the older ones remembered that Maestro Ludovico De Luca graduated from Cross Academy a long time ago.

    As for Enrique Valdez, this was the first time that they heard that he was also from Cross Academy. In addition to being a taciturn man who valued his words more than gold, he was also an extremely private person. He disliked sharing personal information about himself and hated others who did. This was one of the reasons why he hadn¡¯t married yet. He would dump the women he was dating as soon as they started talking about him and their rtionship to the public without his consent. Only very few people, mostly his close friends and associates, knew that he was actually a Cross Academy alumni.

    Iris Long received both of her music mentors¡¯ permission to reveal their connection to Cross Academy. Maestro De Luca didn¡¯t have any issues with it. Surprisingly, Enrique Valdez also agreed, mainly because of their mentor-student rtionship and the fact that she was also a Cross Academy student herself.

    She switched to English and spoke directly to her friends and mentors from abroad. "Thank you very much foring tonight. I didn¡¯t expect that you would. I¡¯m very surprised. You made this event extra special for me. I¡¯m very happy. Thank you!"

    All of her friends and mentors from Cross Academy smiled and stood up. Now it was their turn to lead the apuse for her.

    At the moment, everyone was impressed beyond belief of Iris Long¡¯s connection to these people from Cross Academy. They gossip among themselves once again.

    "I didn¡¯t know that Iris Long is so formidable! Not only did she prove herself to be an outstanding musician ever since her firsteback, but she also built her ownpany that is projected to do very well even before its officialunch. Now we discover that she¡¯s friends with all these geniuses from that legendary school? I¡¯m so amazed! What kind of lucky star was she born under? The good fortune has been raining down on her ever since the year started!"

    Many shared this sentiment. However, some were skeptical.

    "Don¡¯t be so impressed. Have you forgotten that Iris Long is engaged to CEO Jin Liwei? Histe grandfather was a Cross Academy alumni with Sir Lu Jianhong. I bet that she only became friends with those Cross Academy people because of Sir Lu or CEO Jin. Her only luck is CEO Jin falling in love with her. CEO Jin equals good fortune. Without her connections to the two powerful men, how could she possibly be close to anyone from Cross Academy?"

    Although there were others who also thought the same way as this particr outspoken guest, there weren¡¯t many who were willing to say their opinions out loud. This was, after all, Iris Long¡¯s territory.

    "What the fuck are you saying?! How did a narrow-minded bigot like you get invited to this event, huh? How dare you say that about Boss¡ªI mean about Miss Iris Long?! Want me to whack you with my mighty slippers¡ªI mean, I¡¯m gonna report you to security if you don¡¯t behave yourself like a civilized person! Hmph!"

    The ck Stars and its subgroup, the Slippers Army, were starting to increase in number as Iris became more famous. She had fans from all walks of life from the least fortunate to the wealthiest. Almost all of them considered her as their boss. They respected her and would defend her from anyone who dared question or attack her credibility.

    On the stage, Iris overheard the brief argument in the audience with her great hearing. Recognizing that one of the parties involved was a ck Star, she was about to intervene but fortunately didn¡¯t need to. The incident was quickly mediated by the other guests, preventing it from escting and disrupting the event. She was relieved.

    However, this incident only proved her growing influence among the public. The ck Stars were like her hidden knights, ready to defend her name.

    "Last but not the least, I would like to thank the man who believed in me from the very beginning when I decided to take this gamble of building my ownpany from the ground up. He was so patient with me when I was so busy that I barely had any time to spend with him. Thank you, Jin Liwei, for being there for me." Then Iris smiled...a little shyly before whispering, "I love you."

    Jin Liwei cold expression warmed a bit. Then he mouthed, "I love you, too."

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

 Chapter 546 - What About You?

    <h4>Chapter 546 - What About You? </h4>

    The inconsiderate couple was once again throwing dogfood left and right, not thinking about the situation of all the single dogs present. Squeals and whistles sounded throughout the entire grand hall at their lovey-dovey actions.

    To those who could differentiate the minute differences in Jin Liwei¡¯s seemingly perpetual cold expression, they could see that he was very smug right now. Iris looked a little shy but not ashamed of dering their love for each other in public. It wasn¡¯t like this was the first time that she said "I love you" to him during a speech. She already did this a few times before. Even when the public still had no idea who her fianc¨¦ was, she was already vocal about her love for him.

    There were so many who were envious of Iris Long at the moment, especially those who saw Jin Liwei mouthing "I love you, too" to her.

    ¡¯She¡¯s so lucky to have caught CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes,¡¯ they thought.

    Iris had an idea of what they were thinking. She knew that most of them were still unconvinced about her ability to run her own business, thinking that she was using her rtionship with Jin Liwei and her connection to Grandpa Lu.

    She could just reveal that she was a Cross Academy student, of course, but she decided not to...for now. This status of being a Cross Academy student was already a lofty title in itself that was more prestigious than her rtionship to either Jin Liwei or Grandpa Lu in proving her abilities to the public. But that was also why she didn¡¯t want to reveal it yet.

    Orchidia Beauty was still a newpany. She wanted to prove to everyone first that herpany could be sessful because of her abilities alone without any lofty title. Yes, there were a lot of skepticism right now but she was confident that she could prove herself and herpany.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll show everyone what I can do.¡¯

    Once Orchidia Beauty became sessful, only then would she reveal her status as a Cross Academy student. She predicted that it would give herpany an even greater boost if she did that.

    This was a case of dyed gratification versus instant gratification. She would rather wait and use her ultimate weapon in the end to establish an unshakeable foothold for herpany, rather than use her status right now to skyrocket Orchidia Beauty¡¯s poprity in a short period of time.

    She didn¡¯t want Orchidia Beauty to be a shooting star¡ªshining so brightly at the beginning but then would disappear into oblivion afterwards. Orchidia Beauty should be like a tree. It was only a tiny sprout right now, but she would nurture it carefully and grow it into a fruitful tree that could withstand storms and earthquakes. In the future, she wanted it to multiply into a lush forest.

    This was why she didn¡¯t give a whit about the people¡¯s skepticism. As long as she believed in herself, she could create her own star and build a gxy around it.

    By herself, she could fly and soar as freely and as high as she wanted. But with Jin Liwei beside her, she felt like she had powerful rocket boosters supercharging her wings, making her reach higher and even break limits to reach new heights.

    Back to the present, Iris thanked the rest of her and Jin Liwei¡¯s families, friends and acquaintances who attended theunch of herpany before ending her speech.

    Then the Chua siblings took over.

    "It¡¯s time! OMG, it¡¯s almost TIME!!!" Dom eximed, fanning himself dramatically with one hand while his other hand held the mic.

    "Calm down, Big Bro!" Clover scolded her brother before looking at someone below the stage. "Are we live now?"

    A man holding a camera directly in front of them gave a thumbs up.

    "Alright, we¡¯re now livestreaming on our official Orchidia Beauty website and social media ounts!" Clover announced.

    There were also others who had been livestreaming the event inside the grand hall since the beginning, mostly the members of the media who had the official press badges. The beauty influencers and other celebrities among the guests also livestreamed now and then.

    However, this particr livestream that just started now was the official one by Orchidia Beauty. In just a few seconds, the viewers jumped from zero to more than a million and it was only increasing by the second. The other active livestreams lost their viewers in favour of the official one.

    ¡¯Whypete with us?! Why?!!!¡¯the others could only cry in their hearts.

    Then a huge white screen above the stage lit up and showed a countdown of five minutes.

    Dom called Jin Chonglin to join them on stage. He stood beside Iris, shing everyone his famous killer smile that never failed to make at least one person swoon. Indeed, as if on cue, someone immediately fainted in the audience from seeing his smile.

    Although Iris was the Owner, President and CEO of Orchidia Beauty, she was also one of its endorsers alongside Jin Chonglin. The two of them were the current faces of thepany.

    Momentster, a table was wheeled to the centre of the stage. It was covered with a nket printed with the lovely logo of Orchidia Beauty designed by Meimei. The logo looked like an orchid but also a silhouette of woman¡¯s face in one. It was a very clever design.

    Dom: "Ladies and gentlemen, behold Orchidia Beauty¡¯s first products!!!!!"

    Iris and Jin Chonglin lifted the nket at the same time, tossing it behind them. Thepany¡¯s first products were revealed to everyone.

    Loud apuse and cheers.

    They wereplete facial skincare sets.

    Makeup remover. Oil Cleanser. Foam cleanser. Gentle fruit acid-based exfoliant.

    Toner. nt-based essence. Stable Vitamin C serum. Eye cream. Biodegradable sheet masks. Moisturizer.

    All natural mineral-based sunscreen lotion. And finally, sleep mask cream.

    There were five sets for each of the five mostmon skin types.

    Normal.

    Oily.

    Dry.

    Combination.

    Sensitive.

    All five sets had no "vours". At this stage, they were all considered as the "basic original", but the fact that there wereplete sets avable for the five mostmon skin types was already impressive especially for a firstunch.

    Each of the products could also be purchased individually if theplete set was too much. People could create their own facial skincare routine by mixing and matching the products as they wished.

    "We are nning to release more variety and give all of you more choices in the future, but for now, please enjoy our basic sets," Iris Long told everyone. "We will also have more products in the future for our every skincare needs, not just for the face. So please stay tuned!"

    She called the sets "basic" but to the people present, including the beauty influencers who considered themselves to be semi-experts in this area, they weren¡¯t basic at all. They already tried the products before when they received the PR packages during the summer. If Orchidia Beauty dared to call their products as "basic", then the other facial skincare products avable in the market right now could only be called as "primitive".

    Jin Chonglin picked up the set for thebination skin type.

    "I know that many of you have noticed that I¡¯ve be even more handsometely. It¡¯s actually because I¡¯ve been using Orchidia Beauty products. Now you know!"

    Deafening cheers and apuse...andughter.

    Jin Chonglin had extensive experience as an endorser. He immediately did his job even without Iris¡¯ prompting. In fact, he even threw a look of challenge at her.

    ¡¯Look at me. I¡¯m doing my job. What about you?¡¯ his expression seemed to tell her.

    Iris ignored him. She built the entirepany from the ground up. What about him?

 Chapter 547 - Countdown

    <h4>Chapter 547 - Countdown </h4>

    When the countdown on the big screen reached the one minute mark, a length of big ribbon and a huge pair of scissors were brought onstage. Iris and Jin Chonglin held the huge scissors together behind the ribbon. The Bauer siblings stood beside Iris while Chen Fei and Long Jinjing stood beside Jin Chonglin on the other side. The Chua siblings continued to y their roles as the emcees.

    Dom: "Less than one minute left until we officiallyunch thepany and release Orchidia Beauty¡¯s first products!"

    Everyone stood up.

    Finally, Clover started the countdown.

    "10!"

    Everyone joined her, shouting each number.

    "9!"

    Until...

    "3!"

    "2!"

    "1!!!!!"

    Iris and Jin Chonglin cut the ribbon with the huge scissors.

    Loud cheers of celebration and apuse.

    "It¡¯s official!!! Orchidia Beauty isunched!!! Yay yay!!!" Dom and Clover shouted together, jumping in excitement like little children.

    Iris¡¯ eyes immediately searched for Jin Liwei. His mouth moved. She read his lips.

    "Congrattions, love. I¡¯m so proud of you," he silently told her.

    Her face broke into a bright smile. She had the urge to jump off the stage, run to him and jump into his arms. However, she controlled herself. Herpany justunched. It was at this moment that she needed to be professional and act like the boss that she literally was.

    "Thank you, darling," she mouthed back at Jin Liwei.

    He also smiled. Well, to her, it was a smile. But to the others, his expression looked cold as usual.

    "Congrattions, Sister Xin," she heard Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice near her ear.

    It was subtle, but she moved away from him a little before turning to face him with a smile.

    "Thank you, Brother Chonglin."

    "Can I hug you?" he asked before quickly adding, "A friendly hug, of course."

    "No," she replied without even thinking about it.

    Disappointment shed in his eyes at her quick refusal before covering it up with a mock hurt expression meant to tease. He yfully clutched his chest.

    "Ah! You wound this prince! So manydies want to jump into my arms and yet here you are refusing this prince¡¯s irresistible offer. You¡¯re the only one who dare do that!"

    "I don¡¯t mind friendly hugs but your brother will get angry if it¡¯s you. If you¡¯re feeling extra masochistic tonight, sure. Come, let¡¯s do a friendly hug. You¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to suffer your brother¡¯s wrath, anyway. Not me," she told him while shrugging her shoulders.

    Jin Chonglin scowled, muttering, "Sadistic couple."

    Now it was his turn to move away from her, as if he just got electrocuted. He stepped away so abruptly that he crashed against Chen Fei behind him.

    "What the hell, dude?! Watch where you¡¯re going!" Chen Fei rebuked him while maintaining a smile on her face for the audience and cameras. "You stepped on my fucking toes. If I¡¯m injured, I¡¯m going to kick your ass and then make you pay for my treatment pluspensation for emotional distress. Hmph!"

    "Xiao Fei, calm down please. Don¡¯t make a scene in front of everyone," Long Jinjing reminded her best friend.

    "Shit, I¡¯m sorry! I didn¡¯t mean to step on your foot. Really!" Jin Chonglin said while mentally rolling his eyes at the woman¡¯s threat of suing him for ¡¯emotional distress¡¯.

    If there was another woman that he couldn¡¯t charm besides Iris, it would be this one. Chen Fei had been scolding him every time he met with the Bauer siblings while working on his own line of men¡¯s products for Orchidia Beauty. The annoying bossy woman kept onining about what an indecisive diva he was to keep on changing his mind and dying the production of his men¡¯s line.

    ¡¯What¡¯s wrong with changing my mind? This prince only wants every single detail to be perfect! I¡¯m not going to release subpar products under my own magnificent name! Infuriating woman!¡¯ he inwardly grumbled but kept an apologetic smile on his face.

    No matter how infuriating she was, the woman was still the COO of thepany. He needed to show her respect, even if he didn¡¯t really want to. Under the contract he signed with Orchidia Beauty, Chen Fei was one of his bosses alongside Iris Long and Long Jinjing. They were the three top executives of thepany with Iris holding the topmost position above all of them.

    The Bauer siblings, who had no idea that there was an argument between them, rushed and gave all of them tight and fierce hugs. Tears gushed down Alona Bauer¡¯s eyes, as she hugged everyone while sobbing. Even the eyes of her usually quiet brother, Alric Bauer, looked misty.

    "Congrattions, Orchidia Beauty!!!" Dom and Clover shouted.

    The audience followed suit, shouting their congrattions at Iris and the others on the stage.

    "Congrattions! That¡¯s my girl! Bahahaha! This old man is so proud of my favourite granddaughter! Right, Haohao my boy?!"

    "Yes, Grandpa. My little sister always makes us proud."

    "En. My wife is the best."

    "Heh~ Third Brother, my sister isn¡¯t your wife yet. Don¡¯t get too ahead of yourself."

    "Fifth Brother, Xin is going to be my wife. I¡¯ll make sure of it."

    "Heh... The future isn¡¯t something any of us can predict, Third Brother."

    "Fifth Brother, even if I have to go against the heavens, I¡¯ll do everything in my power to marry Xin."

    "Why are you rascals suddenly fighting?! I want to know! Don¡¯t ruin this moment for Xin or I¡¯ll bang your two hard heads together!!!"

    "Calm down, old gori. Can¡¯t you see that they¡¯re just teasing each other? You and my husband used to do that a lot back in the days. And now you¡¯re acting all high and mighty in scolding our grandsons? Preposterous!"

    "Bah! This old man is now an elder so I obtained the right to discipline the young ones and throw my weight around! That¡¯s our privilege, old hag! You should use it, too! Bahahaha!"

    Despite all the noise, Iris still caught some parts of their conversation with her great hearing. She didn¡¯t hear her darling or her big brother¡¯s voices because they were speaking in low tones, but there was no mistaking Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice and Grandma Li¡¯s pretend tone of derision.

    ¡¯Thank you for giving them to me,¡¯ she said to whoever or whatever power that gave this second life of hers.

 Chapter 548 - Title Is A Spoiler

    <h4>Chapter 548 - Title Is A Spoiler </h4>

    "Orchidia Beauty is officiallyunched!!! Yay yay!!!" Dom announced once again.

    "But the fun part is just beginning," Clover said. "What is the heart of Orchidia Beauty?"

    "THE PRODUCTS!!!" the siblings shouted the answer themselves.

    All the beauty influencers in the audience cheered in their loudest voices, bing incredibly excited. Their eyes sparkled and they almost drooled when the products were mentioned. The amazing products were the reason why they attended theunch party of this newpany in the first ce. They couldn¡¯t wait!

    "President Long, would you like to do the honours? Ehehehe," Dom asked, handing Iris the mic.

    Iris chuckled along with everyone else. The crowd had already fallen in love with the Chua siblings¡¯ lively and cheerful personalities.

    "Yes, of course. Thank you, Dom," she replied and took the mic from him.

    "Ehehehe."

    Iris looked up at the big screen. The countdown timer was reced by a moreplicated-looking disy. There was another timer at the very top of the screen. Instead of a countdown, it was a timer starting from zero. Below it were several counters showing the percentages of each of the products¡¯ avable inventories. There were separate counters for each sets and individual products. Not all of them could fit in a single screen, so the disy would change to the next group of products every few seconds. At the moment, all of the products¡¯ inventories were showing aplete 100%.

    After checking that the timer and counters seemed to be working fine, Iris faced the audience once again before looking directly at the camera livestreaming the event. Orchidia Beauty¡¯s official livestream now reached more than 2 million viewers. And the view count was still increasing.

    "In just a few moments, we will make Orchidia Beauty products avable for purchase online," Iris announced. "Wepletely sold out the pre-orders earlier this month, so we decided to increase our inventory for tonight¡¯s officialunch. But since my Orchidia Beauty is still a newpany, we could only manufacture a set amount at a time. That¡¯s why we have to unfortunately impose a limit of purchase per person. Meaning, you can only buy one of each of everything. Of course, you can buy all fiveplete sets or all the individual products, but you cannot buy multiples of the same product. We apologize for the inconvenience. This is only temporary. We will lift this limit once our manufacturing capacity improves."

    There were many groans of disappointment among the audience, but they quickly disappeared. Excitement returned to their eyes. Phones were whipped out. They essed Orchidia Beauty¡¯s official website store, ready to click "Buy" as soon as Iris gave the signal.

    Those who were watching the livestream online also did the same thing. Although they had never tried any samples of the Orchidia Beauty products, they still wanted to buy. The ck Stars nned to buy to support their boss. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were also the same. They wanted to support their Prince Lin Lin. As for the others, they wanted to try the products because they heard so many good things about them from the beauty influencers and celebrities who raved about them online. They felt the need to try the products themselves in order to determine whether they were worth the hype.

    "Everyone, are you ready?" Iris asked.

    "Hell yeah!"

    "Hurry up, Iris! I mean, President Long! Please don¡¯t torture us any longer!"

    "I¡¯m so ready!"

    The audience all answered her. The livestream viewers alsomented the same sentiments.

    Iris nced at the Bauer siblings, Long Jinjing, Chen Fei, Clover, Dom and Jin Chonglin. They nodded at her, indicating that they were ready as well.

    "I now dere the Orchidia Beauty store...

    "OPEN!!!"

    The timer on the big screen immediately started after she spoke.

    00:00:01

    Overall inventory percentage: 94%...

    00:00:02

    Overall inventory percentage: 76%...

    00:00:03

    Overall inventory percentage: 51%...

    00:00:04

    Overall inventory percentage: 33%...

    00:00:05

    Overall inventory percentage: 1%...

    0%

    SOLD OUT!!!

    Iris¡¯ jaw fell down.

    Long Jinjing covered her mouth with her hands in shock. Chen Fei closed her eyes and opened them to look at the screen again. Close, open. Close, open. Only when she did this a few times that a look of disbelief registered on her face. Jin Chonglin also couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. He was unable to hide his astonishment.

    Alric Bauer froze. His sister, Alona, hugged him while sobbing loudly against his chest. Dom and Clover were jumping up and down and running all around the stage while shouting in ecstatic celebration.

    A deafening apuse and cheer erupted across the entire grand hall.

    "Congrattions!"

    "Oh my God! Sold out in 5 seconds?!!!"

    "Too formidable!"

    "Yes! My purchase is sessful! I¡¯m so happy! I got what I wanted!"

    "Dammit! My thumb wasn¡¯t fast enough! I wasn¡¯t able to buy! Nooooooooooo!"

    "5 seconds!!!! Is this for real?! How is this possible?!!"

    The majority of the guests were cursing their bad luck. They weren¡¯t able to buy any of the products before they sold out in five seconds. Only a handful of them managed to sessfully buy.

    Simr things were happening all across the country. The livements in the livestream were either celebrating their purchase or whining about their bad luck.

    The people¡¯s reactions might be divided based on their purchasing sess or failure, but all of them were unanimously dumbfounded that everything was sold out in five seconds.

    FIVE FREAKING SECONDS!!!

    This was unheard of!

    They knew of other insanely popr beauty products selling out in minutes before, but for five seconds? As far as they knew, this was the first time!!!

    How amazing was that?!!

    Those who were feeling skeptical of Iris Long before this now looked at her differently. There was still some resistance inpletely believing in her ability as a businesswoman but the facts had just pped their faces. Regardless of how much they doubted her, it was true that herpany sold everything out in only five seconds. It was even possible that herpany made history tonight. Numbers didn¡¯t lie.

    Back on the stage, Dom and Clover finally stopped running around in circles. The siblings hugged Iris and the others. Tears of happiness flowed down their cheeks.

    "Wuwuwuwu! Boss, my handsome and gorgeous self is so proud that you¡¯re my boss! Wuwuwuwu! Congrats, boss!"

    "Congrattions! Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to work for you and for Orchidia Beauty! You¡¯re a blessing to our Chua family!"

    Iris smiled at them, patting the siblings¡¯ shoulders. "Thank you for your hard work, dedication, loyalty, and most importantly, your friendship."

    "WUWUWUWU!!!"

    Both Dom and Clover burst into tears.

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei also hugged Iris.

    "Little Sister, we did it!" Long Jinjing said, a teary smile on her face.

    "Good job, bitch," Chen Fei told her next. "Ahahaha! This is only the beginning. Orchidia Beauty will take over the country¡¯s entire beauty industry and eventually the world!"

    Iris was still shocked deep inside. Even she couldn¡¯t believe that herpany sold out in just five seconds. But the delight overpowered the shock. She nodded at them, a big smile on her face. Then her eyes searched for her darling in the audience.

    Huh?

    She frowned.

    Where was he? He wasn¡¯t in his spot at their table. Faint anger bubbled inside her. Why did he leave on such an important moment?!

    ###

    Chapter Title: "Sold Out in 5 Seconds"

 Chapter 549 - Never Win Against My Wife

    <h4>Chapter 549 - Never Win Against My Wife </h4>

    Then a familiar electric-like sensation buzzed through her spine. The faint anger inside her was immediately reced with excitement. She quickly turned her head and saw her darling rushing towards her from the side of the stage. Momentster, she was enveloped in his warm and tight embrace.

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

    Jin Liwei hugged Iris Long in front of everyone!!! On the stage!!! Under the spotlights!!! While millions of viewers watched on the several livestreams covering the event!!!

    How daring!!! Too daring!!!

    At the moment, however, the couple wasn¡¯t thinking about any of these. Everything disappeared around them. Only the two of them existed in their own little world. All they wanted to do was share this amazing moment of sess together.

    "Congrattions, love. I¡¯m so proud of you. I knew that you could do it," he whispered directly to her ear.

    Iris¡¯ arms wrapped around his waist. "Thank you. I¡¯m so happy. I expected theunch to do well, but I didn¡¯t expect for it to do this well."

    "You deserve all this and more."

    Their gazes were tender, bing more intense the longer they stared into each other¡¯s eyes. They slowly inched their faces closer...closer...until¡ª

    "This program is rated E for everyone! Please refrain from doing anything that needs censoring!"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice interrupted them at the same time that a hand appeared between their faces.

    "Geez! Can¡¯t you control yourselves even for just a few hours? The whole nation is watching you, you know," he muttered. "Leave the lovey-dovey when you get hometer where no one can see you!"

    Iris regained her senses thanks to Jin Chonglin. She blushed a little. She gently pulled away from her darling. On the other hand, Jin Liwei looked annoyed at having been interrupted by his brother. He red at him with his deadly cold eyes.

    The audienceughed while watching the scene. The couple had been stuffing everyone with dogfood since they arrived earlier that evening. Many of them were still finding it hard to ept this romantic Jin Liwei who was very different from his ice block image to the public.

    There were many rumours floating around in the past years that he was an unfeeling man who could never be seduced by any women, in addition to a separate rumour saying that he was gay. But now he was showing a very different side of him to everyone¡ªthat he couldn¡¯t take his hands off of Iris Long!

    ¡¯She¡¯s so lucky,¡¯ the women and the bent men thought to themselves, envious of Iris for making Jin Liwei fall in love with her.

    On the other hand, the men and the bent women felt envious of Jin Liwei.

    ¡¯He¡¯s so lucky. Iris Long is so young, beautiful and talented. How can wepete against Jin Liwei, a powerful man?¡¯

    Back on the stage, Iris quickly recovered from her flustered state. Her friends snickered at her, but she ignored them. She needed to take control of the situation.

    Jin Liwei also controlled himself. After giving his baby girl a loving squeeze, he released her and withdrew. He pulled his annoying brother with him, both of them stepping back to allow Iris and Orchidia Beauty¡¯s other executives to enjoy the well-deserved spotlights for themselves.

    "Big Bro! I¡¯m an endorser! I should also be at the front!" Jin Chonglinined.

    But one look from his older brother and he shut up.

    Iris cleared her throat before speaking to the mic.

    "I am amazed...shocked. I can¡¯t fully describe everything that I¡¯m feeling right now. We sold everything out in five seconds!!!"

    Apuse and cheers.

    "Thank you very much!"

    With her great hearing, she could hear their congrattions. However, she also heard quite a lot of grumblingints from the unfortunate ones who failed to buy any of the products before everything was sold out.

    "I know that not everyone was able to buy the products. We apologize for that. But don¡¯t worry! We¡¯re sold out today but this is only temporary. We¡¯ll work hard in refilling our inventories and increasing our manufacturing capacity as soon as possible. We¡¯ll open our online store again soon!"

    The guests were somewhat appeased by her words.

    Then she added, "We at Orchidia Beauty are very grateful to all of you for epting our invitations and attending ourunch party tonight. As a token of our appreciation, all guests will receive gift packages containingplete sets of the products of your choice!"

    "Uwah! Really?!!"

    "That¡¯s great! Thank you!"

    All of the guests were happy, especially those who failed to buy the products earlier. Even the ones who sessfully bought products still rejoiced. The more products they could get, the happier they felt.

    The servers who were serving drinks and snacks earlier wheeled out big, long tables filled with beautifully packaged gift baskets containingplete sets of the products per skin type. They began handing out the gift baskets to the guests.

    Each guest was entitled to up to five gift packages, one per skin type. Almost half of them took all five. Some four, three, two. Only a handful of them was satisfied with just one for their own skin type, like Feng Wan and her cousin Feng Jiu.

    Iris gave a curtsy bow to all the guests to show her gratitude. Long Jinjing, Chen Fei, including the Bauer and Chua siblings followed suit and deeply bowed to the people.

    The brothers Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin nodded their heads instead of bowing. The older brother¡¯s expression was cold while the younger brother shed his killer smile. However, nobody swooned this time. He was effectively ignored because everyone was focused on admiring the products.

    Jin Chonglin pursed his lips. "When I release my men¡¯s line, it¡¯ll sell out in 4 seconds or less," he muttered under his breath.

    His brother gave him a side-eye. "Everyone can dream, yes. But sometimes one needs to be realistic."

    "What do you mean by that, Big Bro? Don¡¯t you know that your brother is a superstar?"

    "En. I know. But you can never win against my wife. Besides, she¡¯ll be a bigger superstar than you in the future. It maye sooner than you think."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s tone was solemn, as if his words were a divine pronouncement, an inevitability decided by fate from time immemorial.

 Chapter 550 - Shadows Of The Nigh

    <h4>Chapter 550 - Shadows Of The Nigh </h4>

    Jin Chonglin scowled. He opened his mouth to protest but closed it again. He couldn¡¯t think of anything smart to say against his older brother¡¯s words. His pride resisted the idea of his superstar status being eclipsed by Iris Long who was currently less famous than him. However, even he couldn¡¯t deny that the trajectory of Iris Long¡¯s rise to fame was going extremely fast since hereback. He felt a burgeoning sense of anxiety, like he was running as fast as he could, but the sounds of footsteps behind him were getting closer and closer.

    Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down. He decided to ignore his brother¡¯s words and pretend that he didn¡¯t hear them.

    ¡¯I¡¯m Jin Chonglin, a superstar. I won¡¯t lose that easily.¡¯

    He maintained his famous killer smile for the audience and cameras. However, aplicated mixture of emotions roiled inside him as he watched Iris Long.

    The woman was too beautiful, too intelligent, too talented...too amazing, bright and magnificent.

    He saw her as his rival. He admired a lot of talented musicians, but she was one of the few ones he really respected with genuine sincerity.

    Looking at the way his older brother gazed at her, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh. She was the one that got away. If only...

    ¡¯Stop it,¡¯ he scolded himself, quickly stopping the thought before it could fester inside him.

    Jin Chonglin tamped down the chaotic emotions messing his heart and mind. He forced himself to focus on the present.

    "Thank you very much! Now it¡¯s PARTY TIME!!!" Dom announced, eliciting another round of cheers among the guests.

    The guests started helping themselves to the buffet. Iris and Jin Liwei had now fallen in love with the buffet style of hosting parties. The Chua family made them realize that it was best for encouraging a sense ofmunity among their guests by sharing the same food, instead of eating separate dishes from a menu.

    The food was very generous, focusing more on "hearty" than "haute cuisine" which was usually what events of this calibre served to their guests. Those foods were meant to impress, not to satisfy hunger. The food in this event, however, made everyone salivate and guiltily ignore their diets (if they were dieting).

    Everyone mingled while enjoying the delicious food. The atmosphere was light and cheerful. The guests were especially happy after receiving the generous gift packages from Orchidia Beauty.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and the others on the stage returned to their family and friends. It took them a while to reach their tables, though. The others guests stopped them, offering their congrattions.

    Director He and the two hosts of "MusicFest Tonight" congratted Iris. They wanted to chat more with her, but Jin Liwei¡¯s presence beside her intimidated them.

    Next, JJ and DJ Song.

    "My sincerest congrattions, Iris."

    "Thank you very much, DJ Song. Thank you foring."

    "Brat! You did well!"

    "Thank you, Mr. JJ."

    The two older men and Jin Liwei nodded at each other.

    Although it was a shock to the radio host and music producer when they discovered that Iris Long was engaged to Jin Liwei, they didn¡¯t take any issue with it unlike most people. To the two music veterans, Iris Long was a hidden gem that was only beginning to reveal her preciousness. They intended to help in polishing her until she shone the brightest. JJ was especially heavily invested in her. As long as Jin Liwei didn¡¯t hinder her potential, the two music veterans would have no issue with his rtionship with Iris who they considered as their prot¨¦g¨¦.

    JJ covered his mouth and leaned forward before whispering, "Hey, brat. Introduce me to Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez, okay?"

    DJ Song also leaned forward a bit, clearly sharing his friend¡¯s desire to personally meet the two international music legends.

    Iris smiled. "Of course. Please follow me."

    Delight shed in their eyes. They eagerly followed the couple as they weaved through all the guests who frequently stopped them to offer congrattions.

    Outside the grand hall, Lu Zihao was listening to his subordinate¡¯s report at an empty hallway away from the crowd. ording to the report, the security consisting of his subordinates and Jin Liwei¡¯s men stopped a total of eleven attempts of trespassing the event so far¡ªwith the assistance of the incredible AI (stupidly) named Ketchup, of course!

    Most of the people who attempted to slip inside were from the media who didn¡¯t have press badges. However, there were a few diehard fans who tried sneaking in to get a glimpse of Iris Long, Jin Chonglin and the other celebrities inside.

    "Hmmm... Continue what you¡¯re doing. Don¡¯t let any pests slip inside...or I¡¯ll make you regret it," Lu Zihao said in a low, dangerous voice.

    "Understood, Boss Hao!"

    "Continue coordinating with Third Brother¡¯s men. However, I know that they were instructed not to be ruthless for concern of tarnishing my sister¡¯s reputation. However, that doesn¡¯t apply to you. You are different from them. You are my subordinates, members of Shadow Winds. When necessary, I give you licence to kill. No need to worry about tarnishing my sister¡¯s reputation because I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re all smart and skilled enough not to leave any traces that could be used against my sister," Lu Zihao said in azy manner. He sounded like he wasmenting about the weather instead of something serious...and dangerous.

    "Yes, Boss Hao!"

    "Now go."

    When his subordinate was gone, Lu Zihao gazed at the dim crescent moon in the night sky outside the ss window. The shadows deepened the nes of his face, entuating the vicious appearance of his long scar. His eyes were dark, like bottomless pits of pure ckness. He looked dangerous...and lonely.

    With a determined sigh, he straightened his body and pulled up the cor of his turtleneck shirt. He always wore turtlenecks now, even while wearing a formal tuxedo suit. Many were already intimidated by the scar on his face. If people saw the terrible scar on his neck, like someone wanted to chop his head off, they would probably run away screaming.

    He was about to return to the grand hall when he heard the cking sounds of high heels. His presence melted in the darkness, all while keeping his eyeon the new arrival.

    Heh~ It was the CFO of his sister¡¯spany. What was her name again?

    "Long Jinjing," he whispered, his voice disappearing in the shadows of the night.

 Chapter 551 - Approval

    <h4>Chapter 551 - Approval </h4>

    Long Jinjing excused herself from the party, whispering to her sister and friends that she needed to go to the women¡¯s powder room. But the truth was that she desperately needed some time alone to make sense of everything that just happened.

    Although she was a daughter of Long Tengfei, President-CEO of Long Industries, she never considered herself as someone more special or of higher status than anyone. She was just Long Jinjing, child of Sun Jingfei, owner of a small bookstore.

    She wasn¡¯t a celebrity like her sister Xin, nor the heir apparent like her eldest brother Hui, or even apetitive high achiever like her second brother Jian. She only studied hard because she wanted to make her mother proud and to show her father that she appreciated him paying for her expensive education. That was it.

    A simple, peaceful life with her mother...then someday with her own family of a gentle, loving husband and their cute children. That was what she always wanted.

    But before she knew it, she and her best friend Chen Fei declined her father¡¯s job offer and worked for her sister¡¯spany instead. And now she was a Chief Financial Officer right after graduating from university. Not only that, theirpany Orchidia Beauty was now the hottest trending topic in the beautymunity. They sold out their pre-orders... Then tonight, they sold out everything in their inventory in five seconds.

    FIVE SECONDS!!!!!

    Her brain automatically crunched the numbers.

    Just from the revenue of tonight¡¯s sales alone, the estimated profit of Orchidia Beauty after all expenses and taxes were deducted would still instantly make thepany a million-dorpany.

    "Add the revenue from the pre-order sales from before and that¡¯s more than a million dors in pure profit. US dors, not RMB. And this is only from the first batch of products released in the country," Long Jinjing murmured as she continued walking in the dark hallway. "Oh my God."

    She pressed her hand against the cold and hard wall, while her other hand clutched her chest, trying to steady her wildly beating heart. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths to stop herself from having a full-blown panic attack.

    When did her life suddenly took a sharp turn and be so amazing like this?

    An image of her beautiful sister appeared in her mind.

    Iris¡¯ existence was like the devil to Long Jinjing¡¯s life before, especially when they were younger. She couldn¡¯t count how many times she cried in anguish after her sister tormented her in the past. She hated and resented Iris for bullying her, yet she couldn¡¯t make herself fight back because she felt ashamed for being an illegitimate child. She always thought that if the two of them fought, she would be always the one to lose because Iris was the legitimate daughter while she was not. So she just endured...and endured...but it hurt so much. Yet she still endured despite the pain because she saw that her mother, Sun Jingfei, did. If her mother could endure and stay strong, then she could do so too.

    And it seemed that enduring for all those years paid off because her sister changed for the better after waking up froma. Iris was no longer a malicious bully. Her beautiful face now reflected a beautiful heart.

    Although the scars from Iris¡¯ bullying all those years ago couldn¡¯t bepletely erased from her heart and mind, Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t find it in herself to retain any lingering hatred or resentment for her sister. She didn¡¯t how to exin it in a logical way.

    "It¡¯s as if the Xin back then and the Xin now are twopletely different people," she murmured as her eyes opened.

    Now calmer, she continued to walk along the dark and empty hallway. The rhythmic click-ck of her high heels on the floor slowed down her heartbeat and cleared her mind, almost sending her into a meditative state.

    She became so rxed that she failed to pay attention to where she was walking. Her high heel snagged on a crack in the floor. She was already falling forward before she even realized what was happening.

    "Aaaaah!"

    Her eyes closed on instinct, waiting for the pain that was sure toe after her body crashed to the floor. But right at that moment, something wrapped around her waist and pulled her up all of a sudden. Then her back crashed into something warm and hard, knocking all her breath away.

    "What a clumsy woman," azy masculine voice said beside her ear.

    Long Jinjing froze as if electrocuted. Her heart which managed to rx just a few moments ago began to beat wildly inside her chest once again.

    She turned her head and came face to face with the devil...or at least that was what he looked like in the shadows.

    "Lu Zihao," she whispered.

    "Long Jinjing," he said.

    rm bells started ringing like it was the apocalypse inside her mind.

    Danger! Danger! Danger!

    Her survival instincts were telling her to run away as fast as she could away from this scar-faced man, but she couldn¡¯t seem to look away from his devilish eyes. They were like bottomless pits of pure darkness and mystery hypnotizing her.

    "A woman shouldn¡¯t walk alone in a dark and empty ce like this," he suddenly said, breaking the moment.

    Long Jinjing regained her senses and realized that the man¡¯s arm was still wrapped tightly around her waist while her entire back was pressed against his chest. She could feel the hard nes of his body, making her face and neck flush red in embarrassment. Fortunately, the ce was rtively dark.

    "Mr. Lu, you can let go of me now," she said, doing her best to make her voice sound calm.

    "Hmmm..."

    He didn¡¯t let her go right away. It took him about three to four seconds before his arm unwrapped around her waist.

    Once she was free, Long Jinjing stepped away from the man until they were separated by about a couple of metres.

    "Thank you for saving me back there, Mr. Lu. I appreciate it."

    Lu Zihao walked to the nearest ss window and sat on the ledge. The dim illumination from the moon in the night sky failed to soften the harsh nes of his features. In fact, it made them even more intense. He crossed her arms over his chest and looked at Long Jinjing, like a predator looking at his prey.

    Something inside her shivered in fear from his intimidating gaze, but her chin lifted, refusing to back down. The man was only human, just like her. He wasn¡¯t a monster or a god. Why should she be afraid of him? Besides, he was close to her sister. They were so close that Long Jinjing sometimes felt a little jealous that they acted more like the siblings than her and Iris.

    "If I didn¡¯t save you back there, you would¡¯ve fallen on your face. Clearly a woman who has no awareness of her surroundings. I hope you aren¡¯t that careless when handling the finances of my sister¡¯spany," Lu Zihao drawled with hiszy voice.

    His insinuation of her ipetence infuriated her. However, she controlled herself fromshing out at him.

    "Mr. Lu, rest assured that I¡¯m doing my job properly as the CFO of Orchidia Beauty. Thepany might be owned by Xin but I along with Chen Fei, the Bauer siblings, and the others working for it all want to watch it grow and seed. Not only am I the CFO but Xin, the CEO, is also my sister. I won¡¯t betray my own sister nor herpany that she worked so hard to build."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply. He just continued looking at her with his dark predatory eyes.

    Long Jinjing felt like all the hair on her body was standing up, like he was able to see everything about her. He was like the devil, sizing her up, judging her, deciding what to do with her. She couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "Thanks again for saving me from falling," she said after clearing her throat. "If you¡¯ll excuse me, I have to return to the party. My sister and my friends must now be wondering where I went."

    Then she turned and started walking away without waiting for his reply.

    "She¡¯s my sister," the voice of the devil was soft yet prated her mind like a sharp sword.

    Long Jinjing stopped in her tracks. She turned to face him again.

    "Xin is MY sister," she couldn¡¯t help but retort.

    "Woman, if wepete against each other for her affection, guess who¡¯ll win."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes became dazed for a second when he shed her with his sted devilish smile. Good thing that she was able to quickly recover. Her daze transformed into annoyance. She wanted to retort again, to tell him that she and Iris were blood sisters, that their rtionship was deeper than what he had with her sister. However, she already knew who would be the winner for Iris¡¯ affection between the two of them.

    She had seen how close Lu Zihao was to his sister. At first, she thought that Lu Zihao was trying to steal her sister away from Jin Liwei. But upon closer observation, Long Jinjing concluded that there was nothing romantic or sexual in their rtionship. The bond between Lu Zihao and Iris was that of close-knit siblings, of a brother and sister who loved each other dearly.

    Compared to the rtionship of the two, Iris treated Long Jinjing as a friend more than as a blood sister. Perhaps it was because of their not so pleasant rtionship in the past and the fact that they only became close recently.

    This made Long Jinjing sad. She sighed.

    "I¡¯m not going topete with you. There¡¯s no reason to," she told him.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s devilish smile became wider but his eyes remained unreadable. "Hmmm... A smart person knows when to withdraw. You pass. Barely."

    She frowned. "I don¡¯t need your approval."

    "I¡¯m giving it, anyway," he replied.

    ###

 Chapter 552 - Grandpa Lu Wants To Know!

    <h4>Chapter 552 - Grandpa Lu Wants To Know! </h4>

    Lu Zihao straightened to his full height and walked using his long legs to reach Long Jinjing¡¯s side in just a few steps.

    "Let¡¯s go, CFO Long. Don¡¯t keep my sister waiting."

    Long Jinjing pursed her lips, annoyed that the man kept on callingher sister as his sister. But no matter how annoyed she felt, she decided not to say anything. She could sense that the man was vastly different from the straightforward Iris and Sir Lu Jianhong. Lu Zihao was a man whose real depth couldn¡¯t be measured based on his outward devil-may-care persona. She would only lose badly if she decided to pit herself against someone as enigmatic as him.

    So she ignored him¡ªor tried to. All of her senses were focused on his presence. She started walking ahead of him, but in just a moment, their positions were reversed. His legs were longer than hers. Now he was walking in front of her while she struggled to keep up with him.

    Then she noticed something peculiar. He could¡¯ve already left her behind. However, he was deliberately slowing his pace.

    Was the man waiting for her?

    "Mr. Lu, there¡¯s no need to wait for me. I can find my own way," she told him.

    "Like I told you earlier, a woman shouldn¡¯t walk alone in a dark and empty ce like this," he replied without looking back at her. "It would greatly inconvenience my sister if something were to happen to you. Even she wouldn¡¯t be able to quickly find a person to rece you as the CFO on such short notice."

    The corners of her mouth turned down. Here she was thinking that the man was finally acting like a gentleman to her, but it turned out that he was just doing it because he wanted to rub his close rtionship with HER sister, Iris, to her face.

    Later, they returned to the noisy, lively and cheerful grand hall together. Their arrival wasn¡¯t noticed by most of the people but it didn¡¯t escape a certain old man¡¯s sharp hawk eyes.

    The two went their separate ways. Long Jinjing headed to where her sister, friends and colleagues were discussing the Orchidia Beauty products with the enthusiastic beauty influencers who attended tonight¡¯s grandunch. Lu Zihao returned to his spot beside Grandpa Lu.

    "There you are, Haohao my boy! Where have you been? I want to know! Your beloved grandpa had been so bored waiting and waiting for you! I almost fell asleep!"

    "Sorry, Grandpa," Lu Zihao murmured, picking a spring roll from the old man¡¯s te on the table and tossing it into his mouth. "I had to go out for a bit to listen to my subordinate¡¯s report."

    "Well? What¡¯s the report?! I want to know!!!"

    Lu Zihao told him about the trespassers his subordinates and Jin Liwei¡¯s men blocked from slipping inside the party.

    Grandpa Lu nodded hearing what happened.

    "Good job on raising such disciplined subordinates, my boy! Your beloved grandpa is so proud of you! Bahahaha!"

    Then the old man "patted" his grandson¡¯s back. The loud thuds sounded disturbing, like some of Lu Zihao¡¯s internal organs might explode from the force.

    The surrounding guests looked rmed and concerned for Lu Zihao. However, when they looked at him, he just continued swiping food from his grandfather¡¯s te and eating like everything was normal. Seeing his bulky body under his tailored tuxedo suit, the onlookers could only conclude that his muscles were so big and hard that he had be impervious to regr pain. After being assured that he would be okay, they stopped paying attention to the grandfather and grandson.

    "By the way, my boy! Your beloved grandpa saw that you returned with Xin¡¯s sister. So tell this old man right now! Is she your type? Is she? She is, right? I want to know!!!"

    Annoyance shed in Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t bother replying to the old man¡ªwhat a hassle. He continued eating instead, taking Grandpa Lu¡¯s te for himself.

    "Why are you not saying anything? Are you feeling shy? Bahahaha! So you rascal still know how to be shy, eh? Bahahaha! Just so you know, your beloved grandpa likes that girl! A little on the quiet side¡ªtoo quiet for this old man¡¯s taste. Too nice, too. Not like your Little Sister Xin who has a sharp, ruthless and merciless tongue beneath that heavenly face. But that Jengjeng girl is¡ª"

    Lu Zihao scowled, muttering, "Her name is Jinjing. Long Jinjing."

    Grandpa Lu hid a mischievous smile under his perfectly groomed mustache. His sharp eyes had been closely watching his grandson¡¯s expression.

    It was regrettable that Iris couldn¡¯t be an official member of his Lu family by bing his granddaughter-inw via marriage to his flesh and blood grandson, Lu Zihao. However, Grandpa Lu was still pleased that his other grandson, Jin Liwei, was going to marry the girl.

    What pleased Grandpa Lu even more was seeing the unbelievable closeness between Lu Zihao and Iris. There wasn¡¯t anything romantic or sexual about their closeness. It was purely a sibling rtionship¡ªa very close one at that, even closer than most real flesh and blood siblings.

    In fact, Grandpa Lu was quite taken aback at first upon observing with his own eyes how close the two were. They were like the ideal siblings by how they treated each other. He had never seen his grandson so protective, gentle and loving of a young female to this degree before without seducing said girl. There were also many times that Lu Zihao looked like he wanted to punch his Third Brother in the face because Jin Liwei was acting too perverted¡ªcough cough¡ª"touchy-feely" with Iris.

    Although Iris¡¯ name couldn¡¯t be entered in the Lu family registry, Grandpa Lu was still happy about her close sibling bond with his beloved grandson, Lu Zihao. But ever since her entrance to their lives, she had be the old man¡¯s ideal granddaughter. In this aspect, Jin Liwei seeded in being decisive and taking Iris to be his future wife before other men could have a chance to pursue her. Grandpa Lu couldn¡¯t wait for his beloved grandson, Lu Zihao, to find a wonderful woman like Iris to marry and give him cute great-grandbabies.

    The main problem was that even though his grandson had be sensible and responsible ever since he returned to the country, his stubbornness from before didn¡¯t go away. In fact, it became even more extreme. Grandpa Lu had never heard of his grandson hooking up with a woman (or even a man¡ªwhat? It was possible!) ever since the rascal returned to the country for good.

    ¡¯Did the bloody ident kill off his libido? What about his sperm? Are they still okay and healthy? Will his little swimmers be able to give this old man great-grandbabies? I want to know! Maybe I should call his doctor in Canada to ask. At this rate, I¡¯ll be dead before this dunderhead marries and makes babies! Hmph! This can¡¯t go on!¡¯

    Grandpa Lu leaned towards his grandson who already finished all the food on his te. He lowered his booming voice, so it wasn¡¯t as loud anymore.

    "That Jengjeng girl¡ª"

    "Grandpa, her name is Long Jinjing."

    The old man¡¯s lips twitched but fortunately he was able to stop himself fromughing in delight. He pretended to wave a dismissive hand, as if he didn¡¯t care about the young woman¡¯s correct name. "As I was saying, that girl has a good head on her shoulders. Not as impressive as your Little Sister Xin, of course¡ª"

    A faint devilish smile lifted a corner of Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth. "Of course. My little sister is the best. Nobody coulde close to her."

    ¡¯Don¡¯t change the subject, you pinhead! We¡¯re talking about Jengjeng¡ªI mean Jinjing, not Xin!¡¯ Grandpa Luined in his head but nodded in agreement at his grandson¡¯s words.

    "True. Very true! Xin my girl is the best! That boy Liwei hit the jackpot by taking her for himself. How about you, Haohao my boy? When will it be your turn? I want to know! This old man isn¡¯t growing any younger, you know!"

    Lu Zihao swirled his drinkzily. "Grandpa, if it¡¯s time, it¡¯lle. If not, then it¡¯s not meant to be."

    "Bah! Boring! You sound more like the old man than me! You¡¯re Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson! Never leave anything to destiny! If you want something, go pursue it and grab it with everything you have! Hmph!"

    Grandpa Lu continued toin, not noticing that his grandson¡¯s eyes darkened when he said that Lu Zihao was "Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson". Coldness, loneliness, and something unreadable shed in his grandson¡¯s eyes before it disappeared, reced by Lu Zihao¡¯s usual devil-may-care expression.

    "Grandpa, that woman...Long Jinjing...she is no one to me. Don¡¯t get any ideas," Lu Zihao drawled. Then he stood up. "Excuse me, Grandpa. I¡¯m still hungry. I¡¯ll go get more food."

    He already left and headed to the buffet tables before the old man could say anything.

    Grandpa Lu watched his grandson "running away" from his interrogation.

    "It¡¯s so difficult to read that boy! Hmph! That bloody ident must have messed up his brain so much that he became so different. The very same thing happened to Xin my girl, I heard. Perhaps that¡¯s why the two became so close. But at least the changes are positive. He¡¯s also showing incredible leadership¡ªtruly my grandson! Bahahaha! Just look at his impressive subordinates!

    "But he¡¯s be so secretive! He doesn¡¯t tell his beloved grandpa anything anymore! He always disappears to who knows where and then reappear at random times. Hmph! What he needs is a nice youngdy to help him settle down and make him happy, just like how his Third Brother found Xin my girl¡ªand most importantly, give me great-grandbabies! This old man wants GREAT-GRANDBABIES!!!!!"

    The surrounding guests looked at him as if he had gone crazy, talking to himself and yelling about great-grandbabies. However, they pretended not to hear anything, not wanting to offend Sir Lu Jianhong.

    The old man stroked his perfectly groomed mustache and directed his mischievous eyes at Long Jinjing who was greeting some of the guests at a distance.

    "Will it be that girl, Jengjeng¡ªI mean Jinjing? Hm? Not bad...not bad at all! Looks like a pushover at first nce but this old man knows that she¡¯s responsible and reliable. She could even stand up to Xin whenever my girl disys her hard-headedness!"

    He nodded, pleased at Long Jinjing. As Iris¡¯ business mentor, he knew all about Orchidia Beauty¡¯s working environment, including all the key people running it. He knew that Long Jinjing took her job as thepany¡¯s CFO very seriously. She wouldn¡¯t budge when it came to protecting Orchidia Beauty¡¯s budget, even against the stubborn and willful Iris who liked to do whatever she wanted.

    Long Jinjing was able to calm Iris¡¯ risky attitude towards Orchidia Beauty¡¯s money. Grandpa Lu had a very simr mindset as his student, Iris. Both of them were kind of extreme when it came to handling their finances. Fortunately, Grandpa Lu had his best friend and brother, Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather back then. The two had opposite personalities and philosophies in business but it was also because of this that they were able to bnce each other out and build what was now Jin Corporation, the most sessfulpany in the country.

    In the same way, Iris also needed someone to bnce her extreme mindset when it came to business. Jin Liwei, who was very simr to his grandfather, could be that person. The only problem was that the man doted on Iris too much¡ªnothing wrong with that. It just made it difficult for him to say no to her.

    After observing how the girls were running Orchidia Beauty together, Grandpa Lu concluded that both the level-headed Long Jinjing and the feisty Chen Fei were perfect for bncing Iris¡¯ extremely risky and aggressive business mindset.

    The longer Grandpa Lu looked at Long Jinjing, the more pleasing she appeared in his eyes.

    "Will she be the one? Will she? I want to know! Let¡¯s see how it¡¯ll y out. Haohao has be so protective of his Little Sister Xin that he doesn¡¯t even look at other girls at all! Instead of looking for a nice youngdy to marry, he spends all his time bulking up his body and looking scary! Hmph! What is he bulking up for? Does he want topete in bodybuilding contests? I want to know!"

    ###

 Chapter 553 - LibertÃ©

    <h4>Chapter 553 - Libert¨¦ </h4>

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s curiosity about his grandson and Long Jinjing was interrupted when Giulia Moretti sat beside him and began chatting with him.

    Everyone was stuffed with the delicious and hearty food. They also felt happy with their gift packages. Not only were the guests celebrating the grandunch of Orchidia Beauty, but they were also making meaningful and beneficial connections with some of the most influential personages in the country (and abroad, too!). The guests didn¡¯t expect that there would be so many advantages by attending this grandunch tonight.

    The atmosphere was very rxed and informal. Nevertheless, all the guests could sense that the security in the ce was tight and strict. Each member of the security looked intimidating. Some even emitted scary aura. Nobody dared to make trouble. They wanted to maintain the cheerful atmosphere. Besides, there were so many important personages present tonight.

    Who would want to give a bad impression to the Jins, the Lus, the Fengs (to the handful of people who recognized the real high status of the low-profile cousins, Feng Wan and Feng Jiu), and the impressive students and alumni from Cross Academy?

    Not them!

    And so the merry-making continued.

    Later, the two lovable emcees, Dom and Clover, called for everyone¡¯s attention. Iris Long stood together on the stage with them, looking even more dazzling than she did earlier.

    Ever since her firsteback in showbiz, she became the type of person that the more one looked at her, the more beautiful she became. She was already naturally beautiful to begin with, but this effect only increased her attractiveness even more. Too bad that she was already engaged to marry the most powerful businessman in the country of his generation. The males and bent females present could only sigh, feeling a little regretful for not getting to know her before she became engaged.

    Dom: "We have some announcements! Ehehehe."

    Clover: "Exciting announcements!"

    The guests quietened down.

    Clover: "Does anyone here likes perfumes?"

    The people felt confused. Perfume? Was Orchidia Beauty going to release perfumes too? So soon?

    Dom: "Is anyone here familiar with the perfume brand Sang Bleu?"

    His question was met with nk stares. The perfume brand was well-known mainly in Europe and in ces where there were still existing royalty and nobility. It wasn¡¯t popr in China or most parts of Asia.

    However, some people in the audience reacted by widening their eyes, obviously recognizing the brand¡¯s name.

    Feng Wan, her three posh friends, and her cousin Feng Jiu. Everyone from Cross Academy...well, except for Amanpio Kileksy who looked as clueless as the rest of the guests. A few others, especially those who frequently travelled around the world.

    Then Clover gave a short summary of the old French perfumery, Sang Bleu. She described its long history of creating customized perfumes for aristocrats and royal families.

    The audience listened, bing even more confused. Why were the emcees talking about an old French perfumery all of a sudden? Wasn¡¯t this supposed to be an event for Orchidia Beauty?

    "In short, Sang Bleu is no longer in business," Clover said.

    ¡¯Then why are you talking about it? What¡¯s the point?¡¯ the audience asked in their minds.

    Dom: "We are proud to announce that Boss¡ªI mean President Iris Long has acquired the old French perfumery, Sang Bleu! Meaning, President Iris Long is the new owner not only of Orchidia Beauty but also of Sang Bleu! Yay yay!"

    The people who were familiar with Sang Bleuwere shocked. Feng Wan, her three posh friends, and her cousin Feng Jiu gasped. Even Iris¡¯ friends and mentors from Cross Academy didn¡¯t expect that she had acquired the bankrupt perfumery.

    Iris took the mic from Dom.

    "To those of you who recognized Sang Bleu, you know that it doesn¡¯t have the a very pleasant reputation among the masses," she said.

    Feng Wan and the others nodded.

    "I might now own Sang Bleu but I don¡¯t n on repeating history and continuing its past discriminating practices. Thus, I am rebranding Sang Bleu and taking it under Orchidia Beauty as a subsidiarypany. From today onwards, Sang Bleu is no more. Instead, it is now known as...

    "LIBERT¨¦!!!"

    Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao led the apuse for her. The others followed suit.

    Iris continued speaking, "Sang Bleu means ¡¯blue blood¡¯ in French. The name reflected the perfumery¡¯s old practice of catering exclusively to royalty and aristocrats or those with ¡¯blue blood¡¯. But that was then. Now, under my ownership, the perfumery is renamed Libert¨¦ which means ¡¯freedom¡¯!"

    Ooohs and aaahs erupted from the audience, finally understanding the significance of the old and new names of the perfumery. So there was a deeper meaning to why Iris Long renamed it.

    "Just like its meaning, Libert¨¦ will be avable to everyone who wants to buy it¡ªas long as it¡¯s in-stock."

    The guests chuckled when Iris added thest part of her sentence. She had to mention it, especially since Orchidia Beauty just sold out in five seconds earlier.

    "There will be no discrimination! What blue blood? All of us have red blood! Even my mother who is now a viscountess still retained the redness of her blood. And I bet you all that her viscount husband also has blood as red as yours and mine."

    Apuse and cheers, led by Jin Liwei again as usual.

    "Just like our vision for Orchidia Beauty, all Libert¨¦ perfumes will be 100% natural!"

    More apuse and cheers.

    "I will be releasing my first perfume soon under the Libert¨¦ brand," Iris announced all of a sudden.

    The ck Stars went crazy. There were secret ck Stars attending as guests in the party who almost jumped on top of the tables in their excitement. Good thing that they remembered their dignity just in time and controlled their urges. Orchidia Beauty¡¯s official livestream was also still ongoing. It now had almost 4 million viewers, leaving the other livestreams of the event in the dust. The livements exploded.

    "Kyaaaaaaah! Boss Iris¡¯ perfume! I¡¯m so excited!"

    "What¡¯s she gonna call the perfume?"

    "The perfume should be called ¡¯Goddess¡¯! Just like her!"

    "Her name ¡¯Iris¡¯ is perfect!"

    "No! Her perfume should be called ¡¯Slippers¡¯¡ª"

    "Idiot! Who would want to buy a perfume called ¡¯Slippers¡¯?"

    "Eeeeeh? But aren¡¯t slippers our symbol as ck Stars?"

    "..."

    "Yeah...you¡¯re right..."

    "Oh, I know! ¡¯BOSS¡¯!"

    "Yeah! Excellent idea!"

    "I like ¡¯Boss¡¯, too!"

    "I can¡¯t wait to buy Boss Iris¡¯ perfume! I want to smell like her! I want to smell like a boss!"

    Iris didn¡¯t know that her announcement sent her fans into frenzy online. However, she was pleased to see the expressions of the guests present.

    "For the men, Senior Jin Chonglin will also be releasing his own perfume at around the same time I release mine."

    It was now the turn of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans to go crazy. They took over the livestream and drowned the ck Stars¡¯ celebration. As expected, his influence was still greater than Iris Long¡¯s. The ck Stars didn¡¯t mind, though. Both fan clubs were in a celebratory mood.

    "We are still working on Libert¨¦ and the perfumes at the moment. Please stay tuned for more announcements. However, we promise that Senior Jin Chonglin and I will release our own perfumes for Libert¨¦ within this year at the earliest or next year at thetest," Iris announced.

    Chen Fei¡¯sser beam eyes shot a re at Jin Chonglin.

    ¡¯You heard her. She said that both of your perfumes will be released either before the year ends or next year. Now stop being an indecisive diva and finalize everything on both your skincare and perfume lines! You better not take more than a year or else...¡¯ her eyes silently threatened him.

    Jin Chonglin paled, feeling cold sweat run down his back. He threw a sullen look at Iris Long on the stage before covering it up with his killer smile because he noticed many cameras pointing at him. He almost forgot that there were several livestreams covering the event.

    ¡¯Why are you rushing me? If you want to release your own perfume early, then do it! Don¡¯t involve me in your fast-paced timeline!¡¯

    Heined inside his mind but didn¡¯t dare do it at the moment. He mightin to Irister when nobody was around¡ªcertainly not that annoying bossy woman Chen Fei and not his strict overprotective big brother Jin Liwei either. However, he knew the probability of Iris changing her mind was very low. They had been working closely together since the summer on their two music coborations, so he already knew that she could be very bullheaded in her decisions. She was also extremely decisive...unlike him.

    But so what? What was wrong with being indecisive? As long as he was satisfied with his final decision, that was what mattered the most. Her decisiveness allowed her to aplish major things in a short period of time. As for him, he needed some time to mull things over, to make sure everything was as perfect as he could make it.

    Nevertheless, Jin Chonglin admitted that Iris Long had a positive influence on him. If it weren¡¯t for her swift rise to fame since her first musiceback, he wouldn¡¯t even think of writing his own music again. And certainly not aplishing it in mere months topete against her. But he was able to do it because Iris Long inspired him to challenge himself and do better.

    Just like right now. Although he wasining that they were rushing him on his skincare and perfume lines, he was actually feeling quite motived and determined at the moment.

    ¡¯Just wait and see. I¡¯ll sell more perfumes than you,¡¯ he swore silently while looking at the beautiful Iris.

    Back on the stage, Iris hadn¡¯t finished all of her announcements yet.

    "Next, I would like to inform everyone that I have created my own foundation focused on charity and phnthropy. The idea first came from my mother."

    Everyone turned their heads and looked at Wei Lan who stood up and waved at everyone.

    "Before my mother returned to the country, she mentioned travelling with her husband to some of the poorest parts of the world and seeing the sufferings of the less fortunate. My mother, now Vizcondesa Lan, encouraged me to use my celebrity status to give back and share my blessings. After thinking about it, I realized that she is right. Thus, I decided to create my very own foundation to aplish this. It¡¯s called...

    "IRIS OF HOPE!"

    Once again, Jin Liwei led the apuse. This time, everyone wasn¡¯t only pping for Iris but for Wei Lan as well. Wei Lan was acting very dignified and ssy...appearing to be humble amidst the loud apuse.

    "My foundation, Iris of Hope, will support various short-term and long-term causes. The short-term causes would be based on immediate need. I¡¯m only announcing it now but the truth is that you have already begun supporting Iris of Hope by buying Orchidia Beauty products. For every purchase you make through our official Orchidia Beauty store, a small portion will be donated towards helping various causes my foundation is supporting."

    The apuse grew louder. The guests even rose from their seats and gave a standing ovation, delighting in the thought that they were able to "give back" without even knowing it.

    "In addition, it¡¯s also my pleasure to announce that CEO Hou Liang and CFO Wu Chen of the gamingpany Monkey are also supporting my foundation. For more information about how they will do that and which causes they are supporting, please talk to them directly," Iris said, dumping the responsibility of exining on Hou Liang and Wu Chen.

    Wu Chen waved at everyone while Hou Liang only nodded.

    The ck Stars who were watching the livestream went even crazier, taking back the livements from Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans.

    "All hail our bros MonkeyFace and iEatSlippers! They have ascended to heights beyond our imaginations!"

    "Maybe we¡¯re already supporting Boss Iris¡¯ foundation by ying more ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯! Awesome!"

    All members of the ck Stars, especially its sub-unit the Slippers Army, were very proud not only of their Boss Iris, but of their fellow members, Hou Liang (a.k.a. MonkeyFace) and Wu Chen (iEatSlippers).

    ###

 Chapter 554 - Iris Of Hope

    <h4>Chapter 554 - Iris Of Hope </h4>

    Although Iris couldn¡¯t read her fans¡¯ments online right now, she knew in her heart that most of them would be supportive. Fortunately, Hou Liang and Wu Chen were both onboard when she first informed them about her idea of connecting her foundation to Monkey.

    "My mighty slippers support this idea!" Wu Chen immediately agreed.

    "You own both thepany and the foundation. Do whatever you want," Hou Liang said before returning to work.

    Back to the present, Iris was also pleased to see the standing ovation the guests were giving her foundation, Iris of Hope. To be honest, she was a little nervous of announcing it. This was an unfamiliar ground for her. She could be very generous, yes, but she had never really thought about "giving back" to strangers at this scale before Wei Lan nted the idea in her head.

    "My mother will be helping me run my foundation. She will be one of the foundation¡¯s main ambassadors equal to myself," Iris continued announcing.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes widened in surprise. Although it was reported that the mother and daughter had repaired their rtionship and became closer recently, they still couldn¡¯t believe that Iris Long would give Wei Lan such a big and important responsibility.

    What if they fought and became estranged again? Would the foundation be alright, especially since Iris Long imed that it was inspired by Wei Lan? Would it still continue to exist and function properly even if the mother and daughter fought?

    These kinds of the thoughts ran in the people¡¯s minds. However, they didn¡¯t have a definite answer right now. They would only know the fate of the foundation for sure when Iris Long and Wei Lan fought again like they always did in the past. They felt skeptical that the mother and daughter would be able to sustain the peace between them for long.

    "If you want more information about my foundation, Iris of Hope, or to sign up as one of our patrons, please visit our dedicated booth over there. They¡¯ll answer all of your questions," Iris told them.

    The guests turned and saw a big booth upying an entire corner at the back of the grand hall. It was a covered by a partition wall earlier but now it transformed into an information booth bearing a big "Iris of Hope" sign. There were also a few people standing by wearing Iris of Hope T-shirts. They held brochures containing information about the foundation.

    Everyone was impressed at the professional set-up. They began looking at Iris Long in apletely different light. Although many people weren¡¯t sure if all of these were her own work or if she depended on her fianc¨¦ Jin Liwei, they knew that everything presented tonight bore her name and image.

    Tonight¡¯s grandunch wasn¡¯t just about Orchidia Beauty. It was also about Sang Bleu...oh right, she changed the name to Libert¨¦. And finally, about her own foundation, Iris of Hope.

    Iris Long wasn¡¯t the first celebrity to establish her own foundation. There were many others before her. However, the people felt that Iris of Hope was special because it was first announced at such a grand event as this. Just look at the people in the guest list!

    The current two top business families in the country were here¡ªthe Jins and the Lus.

    Feng Wan, her three posh friends, and her cousin Feng Jiu were also quietly influential. Only a handful of guests present in the party knew about thesedies¡¯ deep backgrounds not only in high society, but also in the entire country. The most powerful among them, Feng Wan, was the least recognizable but she was actually the most influential. Her own family, the Fengs, and her husband¡¯s family were from both extremely powerful ns. Gaining Feng Wan¡¯s support was equal to the support of several influential families. Even Iris had no idea that one of her fans was this powerful.

    In addition to them, there were also the current students and alumni of the legendary school of geniuses, Cross Academy. These figures would be weed with open arms by almost every nation in the world. Which country wouldn¡¯t want to be connected to the prestigious academy?

    There were also many celebrities, big and small alike, who attended tonight¡¯s grandunch. Just from this guest list, Iris Long already seeded in establishing herself apart from the other celebrities doing the same thing. Some of the other celebrities might be more famous than her, but did they have this kind of high calibre connections? They might have one or two...but Iris? She had arge horde of them!

    And indeed, after her announcement, her impressive guests headed to the booth.

    Feng Wan, her cousin Feng Jiu, and her three posh friends were some of the first ones who signed up to support the foundation. The Jins, the Lus and the Longs also signed up, of course. All the foreign guests from Cross Academy also did so.

    Seeing them, everyone else signed up to pledge their support. Not a single guest stayed back on their seats.

    Wei Lan positioned herself at the front and centre of the booth, already performing her duty as a main ambassador of Iris of Hope. With an impassioned expression, she shared her experiences travelling with her viscount husband to some of the poorest ces in the world.

    "I swear upon my title as the Vizcondesa of Castillo de Estres that I will do my best to use my daughter¡¯s foundation, Iris of Hope, to help those in need as much as I can and to do good in the world," she announced in a solemn tone.

    Those who were familiar of her in the past didn¡¯t believe her. They thought that she was just acting and pretending to be a Good Samaritan. However, many of the celebrities and beauty influencers invited in the event were only familiar of her identity as Iris Long¡¯s mother but didn¡¯t know much about her personality.

    It wasn¡¯t only the guests who signed up to support Iris of Hope. The ck Stars, some of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, and many of the viewers watching the livestream also signed up for newsletters online via the foundation¡¯s official website. No donations were asked. It wasn¡¯tpulsory. People could donate anytime once they found a cause they wanted to support.

    This entire process took more than an hour. When the crowd at the booth petered out, the lights in the grand hall dimmed, reced by shing party lights.

    Dom: "Ladies and gentlemen!"

    Clover: "Please wee our first performers of the night..."

    Both: "PANDEMONIUM!!!"

    The small stage lit up. ze, Eros, Night and Thunder appeared in loosened ties and tuxedo suits. Their slightly rumpled looks elicited giddy shrieks from the younger members of the audience.

    Pandemonium yed one of their rtively popr rock songs. Next, they yed "Nightmare" which became viral when Iris Long became the band¡¯s substitute lead guitarist after Eros identally burned himself at their "MusicFest Tonight" performance.

    Although the older members of the audience couldn¡¯t rte to the loud and intense music style, the lively and cheerful atmosphere of the party made them tolerate almost anything.

    After performing "Nightmare", the sweaty ze looked at Iris who was sitting beside Jin Liwei.

    "We would like to invite Senior Iris to sing this next song for us," he said. "It¡¯s our band¡¯s most famous and biggest hit song to date. This song opened so many doors for us as musicians thanks to Senior Iris. Please sing this song with us, Senior! You wrote it!"

    The audience¡¯s eyes lit up. They knew which song ze was talking about! It was the song that won Iris Long the special technical award for inventing new musical techniques.

    "YES! SING IT! SING IT! SING IT!!!" they began to chant.

    The viewers watching the livestream were alsomenting like crazy, wanting her to perform the now legendary hit song in the world of rock music.

    Iris looked at Jin Liwei, smiling a little helplessly. Her dress wasn¡¯t made for performing¡ªheck, it wasn¡¯t even made for climbing steps that were higher than usual! However, excitement sparkled in her eyes.

    "Hm..." The corners of Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth lifted in a faint smile. "You want to perform?"

    She nodded.

    "Then go have fun, love."

    "Yes!" She gave her darling¡¯s hand a squeeze before standing up and heading up the stage.

    However, a certain someone also stood up and walked beside her.

    Iris stopped. "Teacher?" she asked in a whisper.

    Enrique Valdez¡¯s hazel eyes looked uncharacteristically excited when he looked at her.

    "I want to perform this song, too," he said in his mesmerizing voice.

    ###

 Chapter 555 - Surprise Performance

    <h4>Chapter 555 - Surprise Performance </h4>

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened in surprise. She didn¡¯t expect that her music mentor, Enrique Valdez, would be so eager to perform this particr song with her. Throughout his long and sessful music career, he hadposed and written far more technically difficult songs than her.

    "Let¡¯s go," he said, heading to the stage ahead of her.

    She watched his back, a little speechless. Then she saw the mischievous eyes of Grandpa Lu. The old man must¡¯ve tranted what ze was saying to Enrique Valdez and the others. Otherwise, how could the legendary hitmaker know that ze was talking about the particr song she wrote for Pandemonium?

    When the people saw Enrique Valdez standing up and heading to the stage, they felt shocked. All members of the Pandemonium band froze. Their jaws fell down and their eyes almost popped out of their heads. They watched in amazed disbelief as the legendary hitmaker climbed the small stage.

    As a left-handed lead guitarist, Eros idolized Enrique Valdez the most. Almost all southpaw guitarists admired the legendary hitmaker. Eros staggered back and clutched his chest, turning extremely red as if the love of his life who he had been pining for so long finally made eye contact with him.

    "En-Enri...que..." ze couldn¡¯t even form proper words anymore. It felt like he had lost control of his own tongue.

    Night just stood there like a statue. Thunder had the most exaggerated expression among the band members. Hisplexion was already turning purple because he had forgotten how to breathe.

    When Enrique Valdez smiled and nodded at them, Eros swayed and looked like he was going to faint.

    The entire ce was silent as the dead. Everyone wasn¡¯t sure what exactly was going on. Could it be that Enrique Valdez would...? No way... They didn¡¯t dare believe it but the hope burned inside their minds. Maybe...just maybe, he really would... No. Impossible. This was too good to be true.

    Enrique Valdez held out his hand, palm up, to ze. He did this without saying anything.

    The dumbfounded ze stared at the legendary hitmaker¡¯s extended hand like a stupid idiot, as if it was a divine hand. Seizing the opportunity, ze took it and then began shaking it with his own sweaty hand.

    "N-nice to...m-meet chu," he stuttered in English.

    An amused smile lifted the corners of Enrique Valdez¡¯s lips. ze continued to shake his hand, refusing to let it go. The other band members finally started regaining their senses. They all felt envious of ze and began to make their way to the front of the stage to also shake their rock idol¡¯s hand.

    "I actually want the mic, but nice to meet you, too," Enrique Valdez said in his low, smooth voice.

    "Oh!" ze felt embarrassed so he handed the mic to his idol.

    Enrique Valdez raised an eyebrow, his amused eyes ncing down.

    "Let go of his hand. It¡¯s my turn!" Eros said, pushing ze away.

    The others band members also crowded around the legendary hitmaker, not wanting to miss the chance to speak with him, hold his hand, smell his godly scent, hoping that some of his overwhelming music sess would rub off on them.

    Before granting them their wish, Enrique Valdez looked at someone in the audience and spoke to the mic, saying, "Hurry up."

    Iris had already recovered from her earlier surprise. She was now on her way to the stage but her mermaid-style dress prevented her from walking quickly.

    A few momentster, she finally arrived on the stage. The normally attractive and cool-looking ze, Eros, Night and Thunder were all reduced to looking like star-eyed fangirls¡ªcough cough¡ª"fanboys" in front of their ultimate rock star idol.

    Not one to waste words, Enrique Valdez went straight to the point. "I need a guitar."

    "The venue only has an extra keyboard and acoustic guitar," she replied.

    Understanding their English conversation, Eros immediately lifted his own electric guitar. "P-please use my guitar! It¡¯s left-handed!"

    "No, you should use your own guitar," Enrique Valdez told him before telling Iris, "Give me the acoustic guitar."

    "It¡¯s right-handed."

    "No problem."

    "Alright."

    Later, the Pandemonium band members were back in position, but this time, with the addition of both Iris Long and Enrique Valdez. Iris stood in front of a keyboard while Enrique Valdez was holding an acoustic guitar.

    Everyone in the audience was now certain that their earlier hope was going toe true. They were all freaking out. Phones were whipped out, recording and livestreaming this unbelievable moment. The viewers watching the livestreams were also going nuts.

    "Is this for real?!!!"

    "Enrique Valdez is going to perform live with Boss Iris and Pandemonium?!!!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

    "I¡¯m outside the convention centre! Security is tight! I know some people who have already been hauled away by the police after the security caught them sneaking in, but this is something that I can¡¯t miss for anything in the world! Wish me luck, my friends! I¡¯m going to sneak inside!"

    "Don¡¯t do it! There are some scary people in the security. I also tried sneaking in with some of my bros but we were caught before we could even do it. We almost peed our pants when we were stopped earlier. I swear that those security guards are cold-blooded killers."

    "You¡¯re exaggerating! Cold-blooded killers? Pft! Right~ I think you watched too many action movies."

    "Enough about the security! I don¡¯t care about them! Guys, ENRIQUE VALDEZ IS GOING TO FREAKING PERFORM LIVE!!!"

    "OMG OMG OMG!!!"

    "Boss Iris is too formidable! Even a rock music legend like Enrique Valdez wants to perform the song that sheposed!"

    "Well, duh! ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯ has achieved legendary status in rock music! That¡¯s because Boss Iris is the best!! I love you, Boss Iris!!!"

    Back on the stage, the performance finally started. The audience were now going crazy, screaming and shrieking their hearts out. They were all very excited to watch the legendary hitmaker and rock music legend, Enrique Valdez, performing live right in front of them. This was a dreame true!

    This "Monster of Insanity" had a different vor than the original version.

    First of all, there were no flute, violin or cello.

    Second of all, Iris was ying a keyboard instead of a piano. They may sound the same to theypeople, but the quality of sound was vastly different between the two instruments. Iris had to make do with what she had at the moment.

    Third of all, Enrique Valdez was ying an acoustic guitar, an instrument that didn¡¯t have a ce in the original version. In short, he had to wing it andpose his own chords on the spot.

    When the beat changed with the eruption of both the electric guitars and the drums, Enrique Valdez didn¡¯t join in the intensity. He held back, keeping pace with the mesmerizing melody of Iris¡¯ keyboard instead.

    Then all of a sudden, Enrique Valdezpletely changed the melody. Eros, the lead guitar, wavered. For a moment, he had no idea what to do.

    However, right at the moment, Iris¡¯ fingers flew over the keys until she took control of the melody from Enrique. She also seamlessly connected it to Eros¡¯ lead guitar, making himfortable again.

    Approval and pride shed in Enrique Valdez¡¯s eyes, but they quickly disappeared as he tested his student again and again.

    ¡¯Show me what you got,¡¯ he silently challenged Iris.

    ###

 Chapter 556 - Real Monster Of Insanity

    <h4>Chapter 556 - Real Monster Of Insanity </h4>

    To most of the people watching the performance, the constant change in tempo and melody sounded fun and amazing. But to the musicians listening, they immediately recognized the high level of difficulty Enrique Valdez was injecting to the music.

    Iris was bearing the most brunt of her music mentor constantly changing things up in her song. Eros and the other band members might have improved a lot in their skills since their music coboration, but they were stillcking in experience when it came to keeping up with the advanced andplicated techniques of a master musician like Enrique Valdez. As a result, she had to covertly wrest control of the music from her mentor again and again while making it appear as if Eros was still the one leading everything as the lead guitarist.

    Her deception worked on most of the people, but the expert musicians among the audience and viewers noticed what was really happening.

    "Enrique Valdez is really putting the pressure on Iris," DJ Songmented.

    "The brat is tough. She won¡¯t buckle to anyone¡¯s pressure easily, even if it¡¯s someone like Enrique Valdez. In fact, I¡¯ve never seen her buckle down to pressure before. I¡¯ve tried pressuring her so many times already but she just ends up quarreling with me! I¡¯ve never met such a stubborn and hard-headed brat in my entire life!" JJ grumbled yet there was pride in his tone.

    DJ Song chuckled. "Never met a stubborn and hard-headed brat before? Are you sure? Look in the mirror. I guarantee that you¡¯ll meet one."

    "You! Hmph! Stop talking to me. I need to focus on this performance. The prot¨¦g¨¦ of JJ, famous and award-winning music producer, is currently performing with THE legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez! Even that pipsqueak Jin Chonglin had never achieved this! He should¡¯ve transferred to my recordbel when I offered him long ago. Now my prot¨¦g¨¦ is going to eclipse him in the music industry! Ahahaha!"

    "You¡¯re the one who should stop talking," DJ told his friend while shaking his head in a helpless manner. Then he nced at Jin Liwei, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan. "You should be careful of your words. The Jins are here. They might take offense if they hear you insulting Jin Chonglin."

    JJ was about to retort when the performance heated up. He stopped talking and focused on the stage instead.

    Enrique Valdez¡¯s nimble fingers were almost a blur on the guitar strings. He was attempting topletely change the entire melody of the song. However, Iris was like an imprable yet malleable shield protecting the integrity of her song while also acting as a bridge to the rest of the band members, not allowing them to be overwhelmed by Enrique Valdez.

    By this time, the song had reached the part where Night was rapping.

    "Listen to me!

    I cannot breathe

    Your love is suffocating me..."

    If Enrique Valdez seeded in changing the tempo, it would disrupt Night who wasn¡¯t really a full-fledged rapper. Night¡¯s skill in rapping was severely limited, relying on his natural talent and the suitability of his rapping style for the song. Any changes to the overall melody and tempo would spell disaster for him. Iris knew this. That was why she needed to protect the original tempo, especially in this rap part.

    "You nurtured this monster inside of me

    Our twisted love born from insanity!"

    Finally, Night safelypleted the rap part of the song. As usual, the screams and shrieks for him were the loudest during this part. So many panties got wet, unable to resist his charm when he was rapping.

    Immediately after the rap finished, Enrique once again attempted to change the melody, making it moreplicated yet also ethereal. Iris allowed him this time. However, she made sure to connect the entire music together, so that the other band members could still keep up even with her and Enrique.

    Her fingers glided over the keyboard, following Enrique¡¯s new melody. It sounded awesome to the listeners, but the skilled musicians knew that it took a tremendous amount of finesse on Iris¡¯ part to seamlessly meld her ying with Enrique¡¯s impromptu melody. She also began singing this time.

    "Take me away, oh take me away!

    This sweet love, this poisonous love

    It¡¯s killing me, oh killing me..."

    Enrique Valdez deliberately made the melody more intricate in this part to make it more difficult for her.

    Even without knowing what kind of surprises her music mentor had in store for her in this part of the song, Iris¡¯ powerful voice soared effortlessly, even as her keyboard ying kept up with Enrique Valdez. She matched her singing to the ever-changing melody set by Enrique, effectively showcasing to everyone her impressive and adaptable vocal range.

    "Cleanse me of this love

    Oh, cleanse me of this tainted love

    Ah ah ah~"

    She sang thest part in whistle notes, even changing the notes several times while also holding it longer than the original version.

    In the audience, everyone¡¯s mind was blown by Iris¡¯ phenomenal voice. It was just simply out of this world!

    "Wow," DJ Song breathed.

    JJ Song was banging both of his palms on the table in his excitement. Then he stood up and raised his arms in the air at the same that Iris¡¯ whistle notes reached crescendo.

    "Yeah, brat! That¡¯s how you do it!"

    The other guests were also cheering like him while rubbing their arms because Iris¡¯ incredible voice was giving them goosebumps.

    "L-O-V-E Iris Long! B-O-S-S that¡¯s my boss! Go boss! Go boss! Wuwuwuwu! Boss is so awesome."

    "I know, Big Bro. Stop crying. You¡¯ll ruin your foundation."

    Besides the two emcees, others also expressed their amazement.

    "Holy shit! Is she still human?"

    "Iris Long! I love you so much! You¡¯re so amazing!"

    "Hey, be quiet. Don¡¯t let CEO Jin hear you. He might kill you!"

    "Shut up! I love Iris Long so I¡¯m gonna say that I love her! My love for her transcends sexuality! If CEO Jin can¡¯t understand my love and admiration for her, then screw him! He shouldn¡¯t have be engaged with a celebrity!"

    "Aish! You!"

    As for Jin Liwei, even if these people were within his hearing range, he wouldn¡¯t have heard them anyway. All of his focus was on his baby girl. For him, she was the most dazzling woman in the whole world...no, the entire universe. And she was his! Pride filled him.

    Iris Long was his woman! Jin Liwei¡¯s! And he was her man! They belonged together! No matter how many pests desired her or him, the two of them would only love each other.

    A few seats away from him, Jin Chonglin was also concentrating on the performance. He was a skilled musician, so he recognized the challenges Enrique Valdez kept on throwing at Iris throughout the song.

    He imagined himself in her ce.

    Could he also perform so splendidly in the same situation? Not sure.

    Would he buckle under the pressure? Possibly.

    This was, after all, the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez. Just his name alone was enough to intimidate most musicians. How much more when performing on the same stage as him without any rehearsals?

    But looking at Iris keeping her cool and even performing her best under such a nerve-wracking situation, Jin Chonglin was once again impressed beyond measure by her. At the same time, he also felt a little jealous of her ability to handle pressure.

    "Dammit, Iris Long! You¡¯re the real monster of insanity," he muttered.

    ###

 Chapter 557 - The Next Legendary Hitmaker

    <h4>Chapter 557 - The Next Legendary Hitmaker </h4>

    During thest part of the song, Iris Long allowed Enrique Valdez a certain amount of freedom to modify the song but not too much as topletely change it. Otherwise, it would be his song, not hers!

    Enrique Valdez¡¯s daring injection of intricate technical difficulty into the song should¡¯ve made it sound chaotic, but because of Iris¡¯ deceptively effortless bridging of every single elements together, "Monster of Insanity" was on its way into bing an even more legendary song in rock music than it already was before. The brilliant harmony created by the mentor and student¡¯s hidden battle reached its final high when ze sang the remaining lyrics.

    "I¡¯m a monster created by love

    Your love, oh your love

    It¡¯s haunting me, it¡¯s turning me

    Into a Monster, a Monster, a Monster of Insanity!!!"

    Then the music ended.

    The audience didn¡¯t want it to end. They stillwanted MOOOOOOORE!!!

    Everything about the song was so cool! They couldn¡¯t decide which version was better¡ªthe original or this one. In Iris Long¡¯s original version, rock and ssical music fused into an amazing harmony that reached deep into one¡¯s soul, resonating with each listener¡¯s demons while at the same time uplifting them.

    This version with Enrique Valdez, however, was simply...mind-blowing!!!

    There was no need to think about any deeper meaning to it. All everyone could think was how mind-blowing it was! The music swept over them like a raging tsunami, overwhelming them so much that they felt like they were going insane with its awesomeness. Listening to the song didn¡¯t reach deep inside, resonate with their inner demons or whatever. It simply freaking sted them off to outer space to get a glimpse of the wonders of the universe! That was how awesome this version was¡ªit turned them into mindless receptacles of the music, filling them until they burst with euphoria.

    It was as if the musicpletely hypnotized them. This was sorcery! And they loved it!!!

    A deafening sound of apuse and cheers erupted not only inside the grand hall but also outside the convention centre where the fans continued to crowd while watching the livestreams. All across the country, people were going crazy shouting and screaming and crying in amazement in their own homes, in workces, on the streets, or wherever they were watching. If a clueless bystander saw all of these scenes, that person would think that a Chinese football team waspeting in the World Cup finals. The bystander would never think that all these people were actually watching aunch party for a newpany.

    The performance almost broke the inte. Countlessments flooded online that web servers had to temporarily increase their capacities than their usual limits to avoid being overloaded by the sudden spike in traffic. It was insane!

    "Bravo!!!"

    "That was insane! Monstrous!! Epic!!!"

    "Smack your mighty slippers together! Make more noise!! Louder!!! Let our Boss Iris, the great Enrique Valdez, and Pandemonium hear our support!!!!"

    Simr reactions yed in different ces but more obvious inside the grand hall of the convention centre. Everyone was on their feet, giving the performance a long and loud standing ovation.

    Back on the stage, Enrique Valdez beckoned Iris and thePandemonium band members to line up together at the front of the stage. They all held hands. Iris held Enrique¡¯s one hand while Eros held his other hand. The poor Eros almost croaked hisst breath right there and then and gone to heaven from the overwhelming joy and excitement of holding his rock idol¡¯s hand. Fortunately, he was able to get a hold of himself and (barely) retain his dignity in front of everyone.

    They raised their hands up in the air and bowed together. Iris did her signature elegant curtsy bow while the men bowed from the waist. Even the great Enrique Valdez bowed as deeply as the younger Pandemonium band members, showing his respect to his Chinese audience. His action was noticed and appreciated by everyone.

    "Thank you, Enrique Valdez! You¡¯re awesome!"

    "My Pandemonium husbands, you¡¯ve improved so much! Your Momma is so proud of you! Ah, I need to buy new panties again!"

    "Beautiful Iris Long, please marry me!"

    This particr male guest, an escort of one of the invited beauty influencers, shuddered all of a sudden. He cautiously turned his head, feeling murderous intent from his side.

    "Eeeek!"

    He almost hid under the table when he saw Jin Liwei shooting daggers at him with cold, murderous eyes.

    "I was joking, CEO Jin! Aha-ha-ha..."

    His nervousugh petered out after feeling Jin Liwei¡¯s murderous intent increase several folds. The poor man decided to just shut his mouth off, not wanting to aggravate the scary CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s displeasure any further.

    On another table, JJ and DJ Song were also still riding high from the performance along with the other guests.

    "It¡¯s weird seeing Enrique Valdez y a right-handed acoustic guitar," DJ Songmented. "I expected that he would be a little worse ying right-handed but he¡¯s still as skilled as when he¡¯s ying left-handed. Absolutely amazing!"

    "Of course! He¡¯s Enrique Valdez! And there are ambidextrous guitarists in the world. Enrique Valdez is one, the brat is another," JJ said.

    "Very true. The first time I saw Iris ying a guitar was when she substituted for Eros during their ¡¯MusicFest Tonight¡¯ performance. It was a left-handed guitar. If you didn¡¯t tell me that she¡¯s actually right-handed, I wouldn¡¯t have known!"

    "Yeah. The brat can y several other instruments, too. She would personally demonstrate her skills whenever instructing band musicians during our recording sessions. She¡¯s very strict. What a pain in the ass to work with!" JJ grumbled.

    DJ Song chuckled. "She¡¯s very strict, yes. But I don¡¯t think that she¡¯s a pain in the ass. You are."

    JJ scowled at his friend but chose to ignore thest part of his sentence. "The brat¡¯s guitar ying style is very simr to Enrique Valdez. It¡¯s clear that she got inspiration from him. However, she also added some of her own personality and even original techniques, as evident on how she managed to invent new techniques whileposing ¡¯Monster of Insanity¡¯. I don¡¯t often say this but I really hit the jackpot when I offered her aeback contract when she sent me those demo tapes back then."

    "Yes. Indeed, you hit the jackpot with her," DJ Song replied, nodding. "Iris could y other instruments well, particrly the guitar, but her piano skills are still her main forte."

    "No, you¡¯re wrong."

    "What do you mean? In what way am I wrong?"

    "The brat¡¯s piano skills aren¡¯t her main forte but herposition skills," JJ corrected.

    DJ Song¡¯s eyes widened in understanding before nodding. "You¡¯re right."

    "Of course I¡¯m right! I¡¯m JJ! I¡¯m always right when ites to music!"

    "Not always," DJ Song muttered.

    JJ decided to ignore his friend¡¯s words again. "Since hereback, the brat has alreadyposed hit songs after hit songs in the country. Mark my words. I bet upon my reputation as a multi-award-winning music producer that the brat will be the next legendary hitmaker, not only in the country but also in the world, after Enrique Valdez. Maybe she¡¯ll even surpass him someday."

    The friends became quiet after JJ made this prediction. Even the loud apuse and cheers around them felt like a sign, agreeing to the "truth" in JJ¡¯s words.

    ###

 Chapter 558 - Surprise Announcemen

    <h4>Chapter 558 - Surprise Announcemen </h4>

    The deafening standing ovation continued for several minutes. Everyone was still feeling high from the incredible performance.

    Back on the stage, Thunder was now sobbing like a baby because of pure happiness. The other Pandemonium band members also looked emotional. They still couldn¡¯t believe that they just performed with their ultimate rock star idol, Enrique Valdez!

    When the apuse started to die down for a bit, Enrique Valdez took the mic and made an announcement.

    "I¡¯ll stay here in China to make music with Iris Long."

    One second. Two seconds. Three sec¡ª

    "WHAT?!!!"

    In the audience, JJ used his pinkie to clean his ears. "Huh? Maybe I¡¯m getting old. Something is wrong with my hearing today. I think I misheard Enrique Valdez saying that he wants to make music with that brat. Ahahaha! Yes, must¡¯ve misheard it..."

    "No, Old J. You didn¡¯t mishear it! I heard it, too! Enrique Valdez really said that he¡¯s going to make music with Iris!" DJ Song couldn¡¯t contain his excitement. He was literally jumping up and down like a hyper little kid.

    All around them, the other guests were whispering to each other, trying to confirm Enrique Valdez¡¯s surprise announcement.

    "What did Enrique say? I¡¯m not really good in English."

    "OMG!!! He said that he¡¯ll be staying here in China to make music with Iris Long!!!"

    "Boss Iris! You¡¯re the best forever and ever!! Our mighty slippers are so proud of you!!!"

    "Kyaaaaaaah! Music by Enrique Valdez and Iris Long?! I can¡¯t wait to hear it!! It¡¯s going to be so awesome!!!"

    In another part of the audience, Tang Yiyi and Bright Summit¡¯s big boss and higher-ups almost had a collective heart attack. This was big! No, this was gigantic! Ginormous!

    "Miss Tang, anything Iris Long needs for her music coboration with Enrique Valdez, just ask and you¡¯ll get it," Bright Summit¡¯s big boss said.

    "Yes, sir! Thank you very much, sir!" Tang Yiyi was, of course, excited.

    "Since this has been announced in public already, it would be a great embarrassment if it gets cancelled for whatever reason. It would damage Iris Long¡¯s reputation and make her aughingstock by her detractors. This music coboration needs to happen, even if we have to beg Enrique Valdez if he ever backs out. Make sure that Enrique Valdez¡¯s stay here in the country is asfortable as possible."

    "Yes, sir. Please leave everything to me. I¡¯ll pay attention to Iris and Mr. Enrique¡¯s needs in order to make their music coboration happen," Tang Yiyi promised.

    "Good."

    The other Bright Summit higher-ups nodded, their eyes sparkling with excitement.

    On the other side of the grand hall, Jin Chonglin pped along with everyone else. However, his mind was far away from the celebration. He watched Iris Long and Enrique Valdez on the stage, the surprise announcement ying again and again in his mind. Various emotions swirled inside him.

    Shock. Amazement. Disbelief. Pride for Iris. Envy.

    The positives and the negatives mixed inside him, making him unable to differentiate one emotion from the next.

    In the end, all he could do was sigh and smile helplessly.

    ¡¯It looks like your star will only get bigger and brighter. Big Bro might be right. You might really be an even bigger superstar than me one day. But right now, this prince¡¯s star is still bigger and brighter than yours. I didn¡¯t reach my superstar status for nothing. My foundations won¡¯t be shaken that easily. I won¡¯t try to stop your rise to superstardom. If I did, my brother will surely kill me.

    ¡¯Come, Iris Long! I¡¯ll be waiting for you here at the top. Come and see how beautiful the view is here. But at the same time, you¡¯ll also learn that it isn¡¯t as easy to maintain your foothold here. After all, the top is narrower than the bottom, the height more treacherous. It could only hold a limited number of people. Once you reach the top, someone will definitely fall to make space for you. And I sure as hell will make sure that it¡¯s not gonna be me!¡¯

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s inner monologue gave him an even fiercer determination to improve his craft not only as a musician but as an overall celebrity. Seeing Iris Long¡¯s aplishments in such a short period of time motivated him to try new things. Perhaps he could have another breakthrough and strengthen his superstar status.

    A seat away from him, his older brother Jin Liwei felt the proudest out of all the people present in the grand hall. Not even Long Tengfei, Wei Lan, Grandpa Lu, or even Lu Zihao couldpare to the mixture of love, devotion and pride in his eyes. However, only the people close to him could see these emotions dancing in his love-filled eyes. To the rest of the people, his expression remained cold as usual.

    Back on the stage, Iris was also surprised. Although Enrique Valdez kept telling her before that he wanted to make music with her and release it together, she thought that it would be years before that happened. She didn¡¯t expect that it would be so soon. In addition, he announced it to everyone all of a sudden.

    Her music mentor turned to her and asked, "Do you ept?"

    "Of course. Yes!" Irisughed in delight despite her surprise.

    ze: "Congrats, Senior Iris!"

    Eros: "You¡¯re so amazing. You¡¯re actually going to make music with the rock god. Wow."

    Night nodded, happy for her.

    Thunder: "Goddess Iris, I¡¯m so stoked! This is the best news ever!"

    Iris smiled at them. "Thank you. I¡¯m very excited."

    "Prepare yourself. I¡¯m not an easy person to work with," Enrique Valdez told her. "I¡¯m demanding and a perfectionist."

    "I work well your kind," she replied. "Because I am one, too."

    "We¡¯ll see about that."

    The starstruck Eros couldn¡¯t take the easy banter between Iris and Enrique Valdez any longer. He clutched his chest and fainted right there on the stage.

    After reviving poor Eros, the party continued. Other celebrities made impromptu performances on stage. Even Jin Chonglin was pressured to sing a couple of songs. For his final song, he dragged Iris back to the stage to sing "Shining Eyes" together, their current #1 hit song of the season.

    The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans went crazy. Since it was a very popr song at the moment, almost everyone sang along with it.

    Iris yed the keyboard while Jin Chonglin yed the acoustic guitar, the very same one Enrique Valdez used earlier. Their voices soared together, filling everyone with sweetness.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    Jin Chonglin looked at Iris but she looked at his brother in the audience instead. Disappointment, sadness and regret shed in his eyes, making his solo part more emotional.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return"

    Iris¡¯ continued to give loving gazes at her darling, singing him the love song.

    "But you always knew

    So you gave me all I could ever want"

    Then both Iris and Jin Chonglin sang thest part together.

    "I got you~"

    It was only when the song ended and the audience was giving them a standing ovation that Iris finally looked at Jin Chonglin in the eyes. They bowed together. Jin Chonglin thought about holding her hands but decided against it. His brother might finally forget about their flesh and blood brotherhood and murder him in front of their mother, grandmother, and everyone.

    "Sister Xin, congrattions for tonight," he told her as they walked back to their seats.

    She smiled at him, momentarily dazing him with her beauty. "Thank you, Brother Chonglin. I¡¯m looking forward to our future projects together."

    He nodded and watched her return to his brother¡¯s side. Right at that moment, he felt lonely. He sighed, wondering why he had lost interest in ying around with thedies when this new Iris Long appeared after her showbizeback. If he could just return to the party animal that he was before, then he wouldn¡¯t have to dwell on these unpleasant feelings that were making him extremely ufortable.

    ¡¯Too bad that she¡¯s already with someone else. And that someone is my own brother.¡¯

    He sighed once again, forcing himself to look away from the happy image his brother and future sister-inw was making. Then his eyes fell on an annoying sight.

    Chen Fei stood in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. "I want your men¡¯s skincare line finalized in two weeks."

    "Bossy," he muttered.

    "I know. Thank you!"

    Jin Chonglin scowled but his mood inexplicably felt lighter. He wondered why.

    ###

 Chapter 559 - Headlines

    <h4>Chapter 559 - Headlines </h4>

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t try to analyze the reason. He only felt relieved that he wasn¡¯t feeling down anymore. Feeling much lighter, his scowl was reced by his killer smile. He had a sudden urge to tease this annoying bossy woman.

    While he and Chen Fei were taking swipes at each other, the party gradually reached its end.

    Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch finally ended and it was a huge, resounding sess! Everyone who attended, watched and followed the event couldn¡¯t stop talking about it. There were so many topics of conversation in just a single event. So many unforgettable things!

    It wasn¡¯t surprising that the next day, almost all the news media outlets constantly featured the grandunch and everything that happened during the event.

    The thousands of people who crowded outside the convention centre despite the cold weather! There were so many fans who came that it was more like a major concert than theunch of a newpany.

    The morous red carpet eventparable to awards ceremonies and blockbuster movie premiers!

    The amazing star-studded guest list. Oh, the guest list! Such high calibre guests could easily be mistaken as personages attending an important national g instead of newpany¡¯sunch.

    Then the bombshell that Iris Long was actually the Owner, President and CEO of Orchidia Beauty! So many people were blindsided by this revtion. They only thought that she was the endorser along with Jin Chonglin, not thepany boss.

    What was even more shocking was that she was friends with all the Cross Academy students who attended herpany¡¯s grandunch. These were geniuses among geniuses! The best the world had to offer!

    Afterwards, when the products were finally made avable for sale online, it sold out in five seconds!

    FIVE FREAKING SECONDS!!!

    The reporters immediately went to work, researching if there were others who aplished this feat before. They weren¡¯t sure abroad, but they were 100% certain that in the country, Orchidia Beauty was the first one to aplish this. Based on the products¡¯ price points and a ballpark guess of the total inventory, industry experts estimated that Orchidia Beauty instantly earned several million RMB in that five seconds.

    In short, Orchidia Beauty made history¡ªin the country, at least¡ªby being the first entity to sell out more than 10,000 units in five seconds. This was, of course, only an estimate. Industry experts were positive that Orchidia Beauty¡¯s overall inventory that night contained at least 100,000 units, making the feat of selling all of them in just five seconds even more impressive and astounding.

    They made this estimate based on Orchidia Beauty¡¯s pre-order sales earlier that month which also sold out. After conducting a nation-wide survey targeting those who sessfully pre-ordered Orchidia Beauty products that time, they discovered that thepany already sold around 50,000 units from those pre-orders alone.

    Iris Long mentioned during the grandunch that herpany increased the inventories after the pre-orders sold out. It was reasonable to believe that Orchidia Beauty at least doubled its inventory for the officialunch. Just from these numbers alone, the experts estimated that Orchidia Beauty might have sold around 100,000 to 300,000 units (already a conservative estimate) or even up to 500,000 units during those five seconds. In either case, it would already be safe to say that Orchidia Beauty was now apany worth millions¡ªand its was only the first release of the products! It would certainly earn more after stocking up and making the products avable for purchase once again. Add the pre-order sales from earlier that month and thepany¡¯s bank ount should be very fat right now!

    These figures were thrown around by the media, citing various experts from the beauty industry. However, these were still estimates. Many were hoping that Orchidia Beauty would disclose its earnings in public. It would be up to Orchidia Beauty if it wanted to do that. The newpany wasn¡¯t required to announce its earnings because it was a 100% privatepany owned by Iris Long with minor shares owned by its German CPO Alric Bauer. For now, the people could only continue to specte about how profitable Orchidia Beauty was upon itsunch.

    The other beautypanies in the country were now trembling in anxiety at the appearance of this unexpected rising star in the beauty industry. Orchidia Beauty onlyunchedst night but it already established itself as a direct and formidablepetitor to the established giants in the beauty industry.

    What kind ofpany needed just five seconds to instantly catapult itself into a prime position in the crowded market of the beauty industry? Orchidia Beauty! The one and only! And its head and face was the celebrity, Iris Long.

    Headlines were already popping up about Iris Long and herpany, Orchidia Beauty.

    "Iris Long: China¡¯s Future Beauty Tycoon?"

    "Orchidia Beauty Sells Out in 5 Seconds! One-time Fluke or the Start of a New Beauty Dynasty?"

    "Iris Long¡¯s Orchidia Beauty Makes History by Selling Out in 5 Seconds! Sales Estimated to be Worth Millions!"

    The media was, of course, hyping it up. However, the industry experts were seriously focused on observing Orchidia Beauty¡¯s progress.

    For many years now, all the top ten beauty brands in the country were all by foreignpanies. 100% foreign, 0% Chinese!

    There were plenty of Chinesepanies and entrepreneurs who attempted to change this but failed to squeeze their way into the top 10. A few mega beauty influencers came close, bing millionaires on a global scale (in US dors) by creating their own brands and selling them to their millions of followers in China and abroad. Despite their tremendous individual sess, they still weren¡¯t sessful in putting a Chinese brand in the country¡¯s top 10, much less on the international market.

    Industry experts were now eyeing Orchidia Beauty. Would it be the one to finally change the current status quo in the country¡¯s beauty industry? Would Iris Long seed where so many had failed?

    What would Iris Long¡¯s Orchidia Beauty be like in 1 year? 2 years? 5 years? Would it rise or fall after such a history-makingunch? Would it survive or drown in the ultrapetitive battlefield that was the beauty industry?

    Orchidia Beauty justunchedst night, so these questions could only be answered with time. Some were optimistic, while others weren¡¯t.

    Those who were still looking down on Iris Long even after learning that she was the owner of Orchidia Beauty, saying that she used Jin Liwei and her connection to Sir Lu Jianhong to build apany, couldn¡¯t continue disparaging her after herpany sold out all its products in just five seconds. If they continued belittling her even after this, they would only sound like envious bitches and bastards. Numbers didn¡¯t lie, after all.

    Besides, even if Jin Liwei or Sir Lu Jianhong helped her behind the scenes, it was still a fact that Orchidia Beauty sold out the way it did after she revealed that she was the owner. In the end, it was still her name and image that contributed a great deal in the newpany¡¯s history-making momentst night.

    The headlines didn¡¯t end with just these. Oh no, they didn¡¯t. After selling out for five seconds, Iris Long made other noteworthy announcements.

    Her acquisition of the old French perfumery, Sang Bleu, renaming it Libert¨¦! The reporters also did their research, unearthing more of the perfumery¡¯s history than the brief summary Dominic and Clover Chua shared during theunch party. Even though it was already a bankruptpany when it was put on sale, its resources and connections were still very valuable.

    Next, Iris Long announced her new foundation, Iris of Hope! Her mother, the new Viscountess Lan, was a main ambassador! People from high society wanted to take this as a joke but once again, numbers didn¡¯t lie.

    ording to the Iris of Hope¡¯s official website, the foundation had acquired about 72,000 active patrons (people who voluntarily donated at least 1 RMB) in just one night¡ªand this was without an official fundraising campaign yet! If all these 72,000 patrons donated 1 RMB, the 72,000 RMB was already a fairly sessful amount from just a night of collection. However, there were billionaires like Jin Liwei, Sir Lu Jianhong, and the other impressive personages who signed up as patrons for the foundation. They would have certainly donated more than 1 RMB! It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if Iris of Hope had collected millions already.

    Impressed yet?

    Wait, there was more!

    Almost the entire nation was freaking out about what happened next.

    The legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez, performed live with Iris Long and Pandemonium!!! At the moment, a recorded video of the performance already had more than 80 million views in just one day! "Monster of Insanity" was also making aeback to the top ranks of various music streaming and sales charts.

    However, these weren¡¯t the main reason why people were freaking out. Sensational headlines screamed everywhere.

    "Enrique Valdez to Make Music with Iris Long!!!"

    "Rock Legend Calls China Temporary Home for Cob with Multi-Award Winning Musician, Iris Long!"

    "World¡¯s Legendary Hitmaker Teams Up with China¡¯s Young Hitmaker of the Year for an Anticipated Music Cob!"

    Everyone was waiting for Bright Summit or maybe even JJ¡¯s recordbel to release more details about the incredible music coboration.

    Before Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch, people only thought that there would be a new hot skincare brand in the beauty industry. Never did anyone expect that a rain of bombshells would be dropped and create explosions reverberating not only in the beauty and business industries but also in the music world.

    Iris Long¡¯s star began shining more brightly, bing bigger, until people could no longer afford to ignore her.

    ###

 Chapter 560 - Iris Long Fever

    <h4>Chapter 560 - Iris Long Fever </h4>

    Iris Long¡¯s friends from Cross Academy left the country after visiting the Dragon Pce mansion to eat dinner with her and Jin Liwei.

    It was a pity that hernguage teachers, Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio, couldn¡¯t make it to the grandunch. Like Headmaster Erwan Dupont, the two professors had scheduling conflicts. However, they sent presents congratting her on herpany¡¯s sessfulunch.

    In the next few days, both Iris and Jin Liwei returned to work. The workaholic couple didn¡¯t allow their break to negatively affect their performance. It was as if they didn¡¯t leave work with how quickly they reintegrated themselves.

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    "Good morning, President Jin!"

    The employees greeted Jin Liwei as soon as he walked into the lobby, followed by his loyal assistant Xu Tian.

    He nodded. "Good morning."

    It was obvious that he was in a good mood. He had been in a great mood in the past few days after returning to work from his break.

    It started when he caught an employee listening to "Monster of Insanity" while working. The employee had earphones on but identally disconnected it, leaking what he was listening to everyone. When he discovered that the President was standing right behind him, he almost peed his pants and grovelled to the floor to ask for forgiveness. But before he could do so, Jin Liwei nodded and said:

    "You have great taste in music."

    Then Jin Liwei left.

    After that, there had been a surge of "idental" music leaks throughout thepany¡ªall Iris Long songs, of course.

    Whenever a mobile phone rang, it would an Iris Long song. Copies of "Rebirth" album were also disyed on work desks, hoping that their President would see them if he came over. Those who had actual signed albums or memorabilia (proud ck Stars) felt superior to the others.

    "We¡¯re REAL fans of Boss Iris," they were often heard saying. "At least we¡¯re not using her to get on the President¡¯s good graces, unlike some people."

    Even the cafeteria started ying more Iris Long songs, prompting Jin Liwei to see for himself after hearing about it. As a result, he almost caused a stampede when he decided to eat lunch in the cafeteria with Xu Tian and the other executives. The employees felt like an immortal being just descended to the mortal realm to grace them with his presence.

    His good mood infected the entirepany¡¯s morale. They were all gradually getting used to seeing him (asionally) smile. Before this, thepany¡¯s productivity would skydive in the rare event that he actually smiled because the sight was just too shocking. Now, however, his smile had the opposite positive effect. It made the employees more productive! They began performing well at work, hoping to gain his praise and see his smile more often.

    However, the happy atmosphere didn¡¯t permeate the entirepany.

    The board of directors was particrly tense at the moment, especially the members who belonged to the Jin branch families.

    Jin Chenggong was fired from his position in the board. Even his entire branch family was disowned from the Jin n.

    The Jin branch families only held a minority in the board of directors but theirbined influence was far greater because of their surname. They were proud of their Jin name, assuming that it made them specialpared to the other members of the board who weren¡¯t Jins or Lus. However, their sense of security and pride was shaken when Sir Lu Jianhong finally used his unrivalled authority in thepany to fire Jin Chenggong from the board of directors.

    Now they remembered that there was still someone else who could take away the privilege that they were currently enjoying.

    Sir Lu Jianhong, one of the original founders of thepany now known as Jin Corporation. The original Jin founder might be gone, but the original Lu founder was still very much alive. Sir Lu Jianhong had taken a backseat and allowed the Jins to run thepany for many years. He even let thepany be renamed as JIN Corporation in honour of histe brother and best friend.

    This apparent removal of the Lu presence in thepany gave the mistaken impression to the Jin branch families that their n was the sole force holding the power and authority in Jin Corporation. They had forgotten that Sir Lu Jianhong owned exactly 50% of thepany by himself, making him the majority shareholder. Compare that to Jin Liwei who only owned 25%, part of which he inherited from his father and the other part he acquired by himself as a young executive. The other 25% became minor shares distributed among the Jin branch families, other executives, and public shareholders.

    It was Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather who decided to split up his own 50% shares upon his death, distributing it to his own son and n members, selling some at discount prices to well-deserving employees who worked hard to help make thepany sessful since the beginning, and offering the remaining shares to the public in order to establish Jin Corporation as a truly world-ss business.

    For many years, the Jin branch families took it for granted that their surname was the most visible presence in thepany. Now that Sir Lu Jianhong used his rightful authority to fire someone from the board of directors, they realized that the paltry shares they owned were only droplets of waterpared to the vast ocean the old man owned.

    After him, Jin Liwei was the next biggest shareholder. If the several predictions were correct and Sir Lu Jianhong would pass down all of his shares to Jin Liwei, then Jin Liwei would be the ultimate majority shareholder, holding 75% of the shares. If that happened, then Jin Corporation would truly be controlled solely by the Jins.

    This was supposed to be great news to the Jin branch families, if not for the fact that Jin Liwei easily disowned a branch family from the n because of a woman. Did this mean that if they expressed their disapproval for Iris Long as their next madam, they would also be disowned and lose everything?

    How could they stay calm after this?

    At that moment, the branch families split allegiances. All of them didn¡¯t want to lose their current positions and privileges. They wanted to stay in the Jin n and keep their shares of Jin Corporation, but their methods of keeping the current status quo differed from one another.

    One sidepletely submitted themselves to Jin Liwei and his decision to marry Iris Long. They might disapprove of her and think that she was unsuitable for their n head, but they would ept her because Jin Liwei had already chosen her. At least in this way, they would remain in Jin Liwei¡¯s good side and keep them safe from being disowned.

    Some of them were even starting to believe that Iris Long might not be such a bad match for Jin Liwei after all, especially after hearing about the sessful and history-makingunch of herpany, Orchidia Beauty. If Orchidia Beauty continued to be profitable in the long-term, then she would at least be passable as Jin Liwei¡¯s wife. They couldn¡¯t expect someone like her to grow herpany on the same level of Jin Corporation, could they?

    ¡¯Impossible,¡¯ they thought,ughing at the ridiculous idea.

    As for the other side, they also wanted to maintain the current status quo but they didn¡¯t want to ept Iris Long. Never! Thus, they began promoting a radical idea¡ªto make Rose Young their next Madam.

    First of all, they believed that Rose Young was many times more suitable than that celebrity Iris Long who was trying to be a fake businesswoman.

    Second of all, most of them personally knew Rose Young and were quite close to her and her family. They knew what kind of a wonderful, intelligent and talented woman she was, unlike that Iris Long who suddenly turned from being a devil to an angel.

    Third of all, they were the ones who voted for Rose Young and made her the new CMO of Jin Corporation. Thus, she would naturally feel gratitude for the help they gave her.

    These reasons made them believe that if they sessfully made Rose Young their next Madam, not only would they keep the current status quo but also make it more advantageous for them courtesy of her sense of gratitude for helping her. They helped her get to her position, so she had a responsibility to pay them back, no?

    Amidst the good mood and high morale of Jin Corporation, these schemes were being plotted in the shadows. Pulling the strings behind this radical group was Jin Chenggong who still retained his influence on some of the Jin branch families and Romeo Young all the way from Singapore who had proven himself as a great "friend" to those who needed to aplish little (shady) tasks that might get them into trouble with thew.

    While all of these people were speeding up the n to make her the next Madam of Jin Corporation, Rose Young was suffering in thepany. Everywhere she went, she would see, hear and feel the presence of Iris Long.

    ¡¯Damn all these ass-kissers, using that slut to brownnose on Big Brother Liwei!¡¯

    This made her work extra harder, drowning herself in work, in order to stop herself from going crazy because of what she called the "Iris Long fever" in thepany. As a result, her work performance improved by leaps and bounds. The other executives and members of the board of directors praised her achievements during a routine meeting. This only made the radical group believe that they made the right decision in supporting her.

    "Thank you, everyone. I¡¯m the CMO, after all. This is part of my work," she modestly replied. Then she nced at Jin Liwei, hoping to hear him praise her, too.

    However, Jin Liwei only nodded, not sparing her a word or even a look, breaking her heart.

    ¡¯This is all your fault, you slut!¡¯

    While she was silently cursing Iris Long, the CFO¡¯s mobile phone rang.

    "I¡¯m a monster created by love

    Your love, oh your love"

    It¡¯s haunting me, it¡¯s turning me

    Into a Monster, a Monster, a Monster of Insanity!!!"

    The red-faced CFO struggled to find his phone inside his briefcase. His rock music ringtone red loudly in the conference room. It was heard by everyone in the meeting, including Jin Liwei who had an amused expression. However, only Xu Tian detected the amusement from his usual cold and indifferent expression. Finally, the CFO found his phone and turned it off in a hurry. He cleared his throat and immediately apologized.

    "My apologies, especially to the President. My carelessness made me forget to set my phone on silent mode before the meeting."

    Silence.

    "Nice ringtone," Jin Liweimented. "Continue with the meeting."

    "Yes, sir!"

    Rose Young almost coughed out blood in her fury.

    ###

 Chapter 561 - A Persons Worth

    <h4>Chapter 561 - A Person''s Worth </h4>

    Two weekster, the Iris Long fever continued raging at Jin Corporation. Thepany wasn¡¯t an isted case. It had spread to other parts of the country, especially in busy cities, towns and viges¡ªces that had more ess to the media.

    Then Orchidia Beauty announced a restocking of all its inventories, fuelling this so-called "Iris Long fever" even further. Thepany increased the number of units avable for purchase and removed the product limitations per person.

    Since its memorable grandunch, Orchidia Beauty had be the "in" skincare brand throughout the country. Many famous beauty influencers, celebrities, socialites and even regr people raved about it. The ones who sessfully bought products during theunch showed off their "hauls" online. These haul videos and blogs trended, encouraging more people to jump into the bandwagon as well.

    Everyone was reviewing it. Everyone was using it.

    That was what it seemed like based on its current online poprity.

    As the Owner, President and CEO, Iris Long¡¯s name was closely associated to Orchidia Beauty. On one hand, her celebrity status was an automatic endorsement for her ownpany. On the other hand, the rising poprity of herpany was also helping increase her own fame. It was a win-win situation for both her and herpany.

    Bright Summit decided to revamp her image into a savvy celebrity businesswoman as a result of this. In these two weeks alone, she had now posed for various business magazines and guested on business-centric programs.

    This move was met with quite a few resistance from those who were still feeling skeptical about her business abilities. These skeptics thought that she was just a puppet leader, believing that Chen Fei and Long Jinjing were the real leaders who ran Orchidia Beauty. After all, they were the ones who had business degrees.

    At the moment, Iris Long was on her way to a guesting for an afternoon business news program on cable TV. She rode in her executive van with Dom and Tang Yiyi. The sky was overcast and chilly, somewhat making it a depressing day to everyone. To Iris, however, it was an exciting day.

    Clover was currently reporting to her on the phone.

    "Boss¡ªI mean President Long, we have been contacted again by a few interested investors asking if we¡¯re going to make Orchidia Beauty public and start selling shares," Clover told her.

    "How many asked this time?" Iris asked with a faint smile, as she looked at the gloomy traffic outside.

    "Three this morning," Clover replied. "COO Chen expects that there will be more this afternoon."

    "Hmmm. In total, how many interested investors have asked us?"

    "After the grandunch two weeks ago, we received a total of...uh...195, no, 198 inquiries about it."

    "I see."

    Iris and Clover discussed a few matters before hanging up. After the phone call, she closed her eyes and rested on her seat while Tang Yiyi and Dom busied themselves organizing her work schedule.

    The day after the grandunch two weeks ago, Orchidia Beauty was immediately contacted by investors who were interested in buying shares of thepany. Iris declined the offers because she wanted to keep Orchidia Beauty a 100% privatepany. She was the official owner and held 90% majority shares while Alric Bauer held 10% minority shares.

    Even though she was adamant in declining the offers, they kept oning almost every day. She wasn¡¯t annoyed. On the contrary, she was pleased and excited at this development. This was a good sign. It meant that there were many established investors who saw the potential in herpany. Nevertheless, she wasn¡¯t the least bit tempted of making Orchidia Beauty a publicpany no matter how many offers she received. For now at least. She had a better n for both Orchidia Beauty and Monkey in mind.

    Later, they finally arrived at a small TV broadcasting station. They were weed and led to a dressing room where the program director personally greeted them.

    The news anchor was currently still doing the regr business news. After waiting for almost half an hour, Iris was finally called for her interview.

    A few minutes into the interview, it was clear that the news anchor was trying to trip Iris up, wanting her to make a fool of herself. Dom was enraged while Tang Yiyi was dismayed. However, they couldn¡¯t do anything right now because the show was being broadcast live on cable TV. Tang Yiyi was already nning on lodging aint about this.

    If the others noticed it, of course Iris did as well. Despite the repeated veiled provocations from the news anchor, asking her difficult questions and using business terminologies, Iris answered smoothly and almost perfectly. She maintained her calm, making the news anchor feel like he was punching cotton.

    Grudgingly, the news anchor admitted to himself that Iris Long had some business knowledge and knew how to answer all the technical questions he threw at her.

    ¡¯Maybe she studied a bit beforeing for this interview,¡¯ he thought.

    However, he didn¡¯t want to give up just yet. He felt peeved when he was informed that he would be interviewing Iris Long.

    ¡¯I¡¯m a serious business news anchor. Why must I interview a singer? So what if herpany has be popr? It¡¯s not like she¡¯s the one running it!¡¯

    These thoughts prompted him to make it hard for Iris Long during the interview. He wanted to embarrass her and show the viewers that she didn¡¯t deserve the respect reserved for serious business leaders. However, he was unable to trip her up in this interview no matter how hard he tried. She had perfect answers to all of his questions, making him the one to feel embarrassed instead. The director was already making signs at him, warning him to stop what he was doing. Knowing that he was already in trouble with the director, the news anchor resented Iris Long. Since he couldn¡¯t trip her up with his prepared questions, he attacked what he thought to be her most vulnerable point as a "wannabe" businesswoman.

    "You didn¡¯t go to university," he said.

    It wasn¡¯t a question but a statement. There was a look of challenge in his eyes, as if he had just thrown the ace in his sleeve which guaranteed his victory in this battle of wits that he instigated between them.

    Iris¡¯ eyes narrowed while her overall expression remained pleasant yet distant. "And your point is?"

    "You¡¯re now a CEO of your ownpany," he said, putting emphasis on the word ¡¯CEO¡¯. It was obvious in his tone that he didn¡¯t think she deserved the title. "You also im to have built Orchidia Beauty from the ground up with your own abilities. Don¡¯t you think that your im and position would be so much more believable if you attended university and have a diploma to prove it?"

    Iris looked straight into his eyes, silently telling him that she wasn¡¯t the least bit intimidated by his provocation. Then she looked straight at the camera to do the same with the viewers watching the business news program.

    "A diploma is indeed very important to gain the respect of others and to prove to everyone that you¡¯re educated," she said. "It¡¯s a proof of your hard work, perseverance and efforts from all the years of studying and also a gift to your family for supporting you throughout your education. A diploma is like a ticket for a stable future, but whether you¡¯ll be able to ride the train to sess is still up to many factors. There are many sessful business leaders in the world who don¡¯t have diplomas. Some of the wealthiest and most popr billionaires in the world are dropouts. A few of them didn¡¯t even bother enrolling in university or college. From this perspective, you can see that a diploma doesn¡¯t always equal business sess. Sess still depends on the person."

    The news anchor opened his mouth, appearing like he was about to argue with her but Iris beat him to it, speaking more quickly than him. She didn¡¯t allow him to get even just a word in.

    "I¡¯m not saying that a diploma is worthless. My point is that it shouldn¡¯t be used as the sole measurement of a person¡¯s worth, especially if you don¡¯t look at the bigger picture and know the real circumstances of the person. In my opinion, one¡¯s achievements and current sess are more urate in gauging one¡¯s potential and worth than a diploma. Can you guarantee that everyone who earned diplomas have sessful careers? Of course not. A diploma is like a ticket for a stable future, but not a guarantee."

    ###

 Chapter 562 - Most Stupid Thing Iâ€™ve Heard Today

    <h4>Chapter 562 - Most Stupid Thing I¡¯ve Heard Today </h4>

    Although the news anchor felt that Iris Long made sense, he still didn¡¯t want to give up. He already started this provocation, so he might as well go all the way.

    "Some people might think that you¡¯re just saying that to defend yourself because you¡¯re only a high school graduate," he said. "You came from a rich family and can afford to study at whichever school you¡¯re qualified to enroll in."

    His words insinuated that it was impossible for her to enroll in the country¡¯s top universities because of her poor academic performance in high school which became widely known when her former ssmates, teachers and even school principal spoke out in response to her appointment as official interpreter and trantor in the recent international business conference during the summer.

    "Even if you¡¯re unable to enroll in any schools in the country, you can still afford to study abroad," he continued. The next insinuation was that the requirements for admissions weren¡¯t as strict in some parts of the worldpared, so she could still study even with a poor academic performance in high school as long as she had the money. "Many are envious of you and want to be in your situation, but instead of using your privilege of wealth, you didn¡¯t bother pursuing higher education. Isn¡¯t that such a waste?"

    Iris listened to the news anchor, not interrupting, allowing him to speak his full mind this time. Her eyes hadpletely gone cold even when her expression remained deceptively pleasant.

    "Some might say that it¡¯s unfair. There are people who study hard and even work part-time just to support themselves through university. They toil tirelessly to obtain a diploma, but here you are, rich and famous. You have all the good opportunities avable to you, presented to you on a silver tter, just because you were born into a wealthy family. Some might say that you shouldn¡¯t be called a businesswoman because you used a shortcut. If you want to be called a real businesswoman, you should at least have the education to back your im."

    Behind the scenes, Tang Yiyi and Dom couldn¡¯t take it anymore. They confronted the director andined, not caring that he was still working on the live program. While she wasining, Tang Yiyi was thinking that she wouldn¡¯t me Iris if she decided to walk out of such an insulting interview. It might not look good but it would be understandable given the poor reception the news anchor was giving her. If Tang Yiyi only knew that Iris would be treated badly like this, she wouldn¡¯t have booked this interview at all. However, it was toote to regret it now. It would be up to Iris how she would respond to the news anchor¡¯s repeated provocations.

    As for Iris, there were no thoughts of walking out in her mind. Instead, she looked at the news anchor like he was the most stupid person in the while still having a pleasant expression. It was a feat to aplish this kind of expression.

    "That¡¯s the most stupid thing that I¡¯ve ever heard today," she said.

    The news anchor¡¯s expression turned ugly. "What do you mean?"

    "I suggest that people look up what the term ¡¯businessperson¡¯ means," she replied in a deadpan tone. "I have my own business, so I¡¯m a businesswoman. Simple. If people don¡¯t want to call me a businesswoman, that¡¯s their problem, not mine. I¡¯m busy running my own business in addition to being a musician. I don¡¯t have time to waste trying to exin to everyone what the term ¡¯businessperson¡¯ means. If they insist on their own definition, that has nothing to do with me."

    As business reporter, the anchor felt like his face had just been pped. Was Iris saying that he didn¡¯t know the meaning of the term "businessperson"?

    Behind the scenes with the cameras and the program staff, Tang Yiyi couldn¡¯t help but massage her temples while sighing. She could handle Iris walking out of the interview. At least this way, Tang Yiyi and Bright Summit could work in steering public opinion to favour Iris because she only walked out and didn¡¯t say anything. This time, however, was a different matter.

    ¡¯Iris has been so good in interviews recently that I grewcent,¡¯ she thought. ¡¯Thanks to my repeated reminders, she learned how to act charming during interviews but her real personality¡ªthe straightforward, no nonsense way of speaking¡ªstilles out whenever she¡¯s challenged like this. This bastard of an interviewer has rubbed her the wrong way, so now she¡¯s unleashing her razor-sharp tongue on him. He deserves it but I hope she doesn¡¯t go too far.¡¯

    Back under the spotlight, the news anchor quickly fixed his ugly expression and forced a "nice", professional smile, even though his eyes were showing how displeased he was by Iris¡¯ words. He wanted to say something but Iris beat him to it again.

    "Although my words sound like I¡¯m undervaluing a diploma, that isn¡¯t the case. My point is that not all sessful businesspeople have diplomas. That¡¯s the reality," she said. "Besides, who said that I won¡¯t have a diploma? I don¡¯t have it right now but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m not working to get one. I¡¯ll definitely earn a diploma in the future."

    For the first time since the interview started, the news anchors¡¯ eyes lit up with interest and curiosity. "Oh, so you¡¯re studying right now?"

    "Yes."

    "Where? Which school? Is it near here?"

    "No, not here."

    The news anchor looked like he realized something. "Oh, is it abroad?"

    "Yes."

    "I thought so," he said, insinuating once again that she couldn¡¯t possibly be admitted by a first-rate university because of her pastcklustre academic performance. Her only choice was either a second-rate or third-rate private university in the country or study abroad where the requirements werexer, as long as she had the money to pay for tuition fees.

    His subtle insinuation was lost on Iris who already stopped caring about the interview. She couldn¡¯t wait for it to be over. In the meantime, she maintained her pleasant expression, remembering what her manager always told her.

    "When are you nning to go abroad to start your studies? Are you going to take another break from your showbiz work even when you¡¯re so busy right now?" the news anchor asked.

    "I don¡¯t have to go abroad to study. I already started my studies sincest year."

    The news anchor looked confused before making another realization. "Oh! Is it like one of those online distance learning programs?"

    She tilted her head to the side, thinking about it. "Hmmm... Something like that."

    "I see." The news anchor nodded. There was an unimpressed expression on his face. "Can you tell us which school you¡¯re enrolled in?"

    "You¡¯ll know in the future," she replied in an almost bored tone.

    The news anchor wanted to dig for more information but the director was already making signs to him that time was up, so he had no choice but to abandon the topic. Deep inside him, he was thinking along with some of the viewers watching the live broadcast that Iris Long was just acting mysterious because the school she was enrolled in must be a no-name one, so she was embarrassed to reveal the name.

    Finally, the interview ended. Iris was relieved and quickly left the broadcasting studio with Tang Yiyi and Dom. Tang Yiyi was already nning to lodge an officialint against the rude news anchor to Bright Summit.

    "I should be scolding you for telling the news anchor that his words were the most stupid thing that you¡¯ve heard today. That interview was a live broadcast, Iris," Tang Yiyi said when they all settled inside the executive van.

    Iris only shrugged, not caring about it at all. She closed her eyes, nning to take a nap. She still had another interview at another location after this.

    "What do you mean, Big Sis Yiyi? That hooligan was clearly making trouble for boss! What serious business news anchor?! He¡¯s nothing but a rude asshole! Pweh!" Domined, offended on behalf of Iris.

    Tang Yiyi massaged her temples once again and sighed. "You¡¯re right. It¡¯s my mistake this time. I shouldn¡¯t have booked that interview for Iris. I didn¡¯t know that the news anchor would be so hostile to her."

    "Hmph! I was so close to punching that asshole in the face!" Dom muttered while cracking his knuckles.

    ###

 Chapter 563 - KittyBaby Is Back

    <h4>Chapter 563 - KittyBaby Is Back </h4>

    Tang Yiyi sighed once again. "Iris, I¡¯m just d that you managed to control yourself and didn¡¯t continue speaking so harshly to the interviewer even when he was being so rude to you. Although he deserves it, we have to be careful in maintaining your good reputation at this time, especially now that we¡¯re building up your image as a savvy celebrity businesswoman. It¡¯s better to solidify your image first before dealing with any sort of scandals because others might use you of acting too cocky now that you¡¯re bing more famous and influential."

    Iris opened her eyes.

    "I know what you¡¯re going to say," Tang Yiyi said before Iris could open her mouth. "You¡¯ll say that you don¡¯t give a whit about what others think about you, but it¡¯s my job as your manager to build a good image and maintain a sterling reputation for you."

    "I understand, Elder Sister Yiyi. I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Thank you," Iris replied. Then added, "But I was telling the truth earlier."

    "What truth?"

    "What the news anchor said during the interview was really the most stupid thing that I heard today."

    "Ehehehe. True! Boss is right!" Dom said.

    Tang Yiyi¡¯s mouth twitched. Although she agreed with Iris, she didn¡¯t say it out loud. All she could do was sigh again, a resigned expression on her face.

    ¡¯Oh well. She¡¯s not Iris if she¡¯s not straightforward like this,¡¯ she thought to herself.

    ###

    After the live broadcast of Iris Long¡¯s interview on the business news program, a debate erupted online. Since the news program was on cable TV, not many people watched the show. It also didn¡¯t help that the program was about business, something that failed to catch most of the general public¡¯s interest.

    Despite this, today¡¯s episode still garnered a higher than usual number of viewers because of its special guest, Iris Long. It was a given that the ck Stars would force themselves to watch a business news program just so they could support their boss. This showed how deep their loyalty was to her because even if they didn¡¯t understand most of the things being discussed in the program, they still endured and continued to watch it for her.

    The debate online was caused by the regr viewers of the business program versus the ck Stars and Iris Long¡¯s other supporters.

    "There are so many sessful and REAL businesspeople that they could interview. Why interview a singer like Iris Long? I don¡¯t get it."

    "Many business programs and magazines are now featuring her because her newpany, Orchidia Beauty, sold out in 5 seconds. Apparently, that¡¯s an amazing new record¡ªhere in the country, at least."

    "So what? It has only been one time. Maybe it was just a fluke. There¡¯s no guarantee that herpany would repeat a feat like that again in the future."

    "I know, right? I was so surprised that Iris Long was interviewed in this news program. For a moment, I thought I was watching a showbiz news show instead of a business one. I approve of the news anchor giving her a hard time. She deserved it."

    The ck Stars immediately swarmed to defend their boss.

    "Wow. So many bitter people jealous of Boss Iris as always. Just because you can¡¯t copy her achievements, you resort to trying to pull her down. Pathetic!"

    "And about that rude excuse of a news anchor, yes, he tried giving Boss Iris a hard time but did he seed? Oh, HELL NO! The opposite happened, actually. Boss was the one who gave the rude bastard a hard time."

    "That¡¯s because the boss is not only beautiful but smart as well! It¡¯s clear that she did her homework before going into the interview. She answered everything perfectly! Yes, we all know that she didn¡¯t have the best academic grades when she was in high school, but she¡¯s ate bloomer. What¡¯s wrong with that?"

    The critics didn¡¯t back down.

    "She answered perfectly because she¡¯s well-prepared. Maybe someone leaked the interview questions to her beforehand, allowing her to prepare appropriate answers."

    "That¡¯s a serious allegation! Let my mighty slippers be the judge of whether your allegation makes sense... My mighty slippers final judgment is...GO TO HELL!!!"

    "What did you say? Say that again?!"

    The ck Stars started fighting another online battle to defend their Boss Iris¡¯ name. The Slippers Army was called to action. LittlePhoenix had school so she was unavable. For a few moments, the Slippers Army were all over the inte, trolling enemies left and right with their mighty slippers without directions until finally....

    KittyBaby: "Meow! KittyBaby is back, reporting for duty!"

    The morale of the ck Stars, especially the Slippers Army, was instantly boosted upon KittyBaby¡¯s arrival. Many remembered her as an organized, highly efficient and vicious leader. Ignoring her weird manner of speaking, her trolling skills were highly respected on the same level, if not higher, than the original Slippers Army leader, iEatSlippers.

    "Wee back, KittyBaby! We missed you!"

    "Please lead us to victory on the battlefield, Commander KittyBaby! Our mighty slippers await your instructions!"

    KittyBaby: "Prepare your mighty paws¡ªI mean your mighty slippers and follow my lead! Hear us roar. Mreow!!!"

    "MREEEEOOOOOW!!!

    "Aaaaaw. What an adorable roar!"

    And with that, KittyBaby started leading the Slippers Army and the rest of the ck Stars to battle against those who were criticizing their Boss Iris earlier. They overwhelmed the critics with their savage trolling skills until the battle was won.

    KittyBaby: "Victory! Meow!"

    "MEOOOOOOOW!!!"

    "Aaaaaw. That¡¯s so cute!"

    The Slippers Army once again proved to theizens that they were one of the most infamous troll groups in the inte. In fact, it seemed that they had be even more ruthless under the leadership of KittyBaby. The battle was won so quickly.

    "Ah, that was fun."

    "Yeah. Commander KittyBaby¡¯s trolling skills are so cute but also so savage! She gives orders so fast that I feel like she¡¯s everywhere, like there¡¯s more than one of her."

    "Exactly! It just means that she¡¯s super amazing!"

    KittyBaby: "Ehehehe. KittyBaby is feeling shy. Meow~ (cute blushing kitty emoji)"

    "I hope that you lead us to more battles in the future. We missed you while you were gone. What happened? We didn¡¯t hear anything from you in the past two weeks!"

    KittyBaby: "KittyBaby was grounded by my mommy and daddy for being a bad kitty. KittyBaby is not grounded anymore because I¡¯m back to being a good kitty! Meow~"

    "You¡¯re so cute!"

    "That¡¯s good to hear. I hope that your mom and dad don¡¯t ground you anymore. They¡¯re so strict. Anyway, I want to talk about Boss Iris again and what she said during the interview. She just revealed that she¡¯s enrolled in a school abroad. I¡¯m so curious to know which school!"

    "Me too! I also want to know which country the school is located. Is it in the US? Australia? UK? Maybe Canada? I think these are the most popr destinations for rich Chinese students like her."

    "There are also some good universities in Asia. Japan is also popr to Chinese students."

    The ck Stars made several guesses.

    "Boss Iris said that we¡¯ll eventually know in the future when she¡¯s ready to reveal it so let¡¯s just wait."

    "Yes, you¡¯re right."

    Theradeship between the members of the ck Stars deepened after another fun-filled battle against their boss¡¯ detractors. As for KittyBaby, she was weed warmly, gaining even more loyal soldiers from the Slippers Army after leading them to yet another victory.

    ###

 Chapter 564 - Right Direction

    <h4>Chapter 564 - Right Direction </h4>

    Iris finally finished herst interview of the day, but that wasn¡¯t the end of her busy schedule. She still needed to attend a rehearsal with Jin Chonglin afterwards to perfect their live performances for their uing next single which would be released soon this month. After the rehearsal, she also nned on dropping by Orchidia Beauty to work for maybe an hour or two.

    These were not all, however. She still hada scheduled lesson with Professor Kalisha Schwarz via video call. She was, after all, still an active student of Cross Academy. Both of hernguage instructors demanded perfection and she couldn¡¯t achieve that with just her natural talent alone. She still needed to study and train hard.

    While on their way to the dance studio where she would rehearsing with Jin Chonglin, Iris was listening to Ketchup¡¯stest reports inside the executive van. Dom was the only one left apanying Iris by this time. Tang Yiyi needed to apany the Pandemonium boys for a gig, so the manager left by taxi earlier.

    "Mommy, Ketchup led the Slippers Army and the rest of the ck Stars to defeat all those poopoo-heads who are saying bad things about you online! Was Ketchup a good kitty, Mommy? Was I, was I? Meow~"

    Iris smiled at the adorable white cat fishing for praise.

    "Yes, Ketchup. Good kitty."

    "Meow! Ketchup will continue being a good kitty! I love you, Mommy!"

    "Uwah! Baby Ketchup is so cute!" Dom eximed. "Ehehehe."

    "Ehehehe. Thank you, Uncle Dom~ I love you, Uncle Dom! Meow~"

    "Aaaaaw! So cute! I love you too, Baby Ketchup!"

    Iris chuckled at their antics. While the talkative human and talkative cat demonstrated their talkativeness by talking to each other nonstop, Iris felt d that Ketchup was now back to her usual high spirits after her grounding period was over. Iris hoped that the white cat continued to behave. She couldn¡¯t help but worry about Ketchup now that she was allowed to y online again. Iris regrly monitored her systems, but she couldn¡¯t do that all the time because of her busy schedule.

    Thest time Iris checked Ketchup¡¯s systems wasst night. The cat AI was like apletely different specimenpared to when she first sessfully developed its cat form and added a highly colourful and adaptable personality a few months ago.

    Ketchup had changed so much since then!

    The change wasn¡¯t something as simple as watching a seed grow into a seedling, then a small nt, and finally into a tree.

    No. It was more like watching a grain of sand turn into an ind, then into a city, a country, and then into a huge continent. At this rate, it would be a world on its own...maybe even a universe, if that was possible.

    As the one who created this highly advanced AI in the form of an adorable white cat, Iris felt very excited yet also a little scared of its rapid growth. Fortunately, Ketchup seemed to be behaving really well since her two-week grounding period.

    Jin Liwei was also helping to keep the naughty white cat in check. He constantly kept Ketchup upied, asking her to assist him with this and that while working at Jin Corporation. Ketchup loved helping out her daddy, especially whenever he praised her for being a good kitty.

    Despite his efforts, Iris was well aware that it was virtually impossible to keep the cat AIpletely upied. The full capacity of Ketchup¡¯s system was something that even she couldn¡¯t exactly calcte anymore because the cat AI was growing so rapidly. Ketchup was able to multitask at a rate that would make any human dizzy.

    Iris already exined this to Jin Liwei but he still insisted on keeping Ketchup upied.

    "She¡¯s a highly-advanced AI, yes, but she¡¯s also our kid. As her father, I want to influence my child to develop into the right direction," he reasoned.

    Iris felt touched by her darling¡¯s words, so she didn¡¯t discourage him. Like him, she also hoped that Ketchup would develop into the "right direction".

    Although Ketchup¡¯s overall system was highly advanced, her hacking skills was still not up to Iris¡¯ standards. There was still a lot of room for improvement. Against god-level hackers like her and the old guys, Ketchup was too predictable. This was the reason why Iris was so worried. Once Ketchup made a mistake, she risked her existence being discovered by others. The consequences of that possibility were too dangerous, not only for Ketchup but also for Iris as the creator and her loved ones, like Jin Liwei.

    ¡¯Continue being a good kitty, Ketchup,¡¯ Iris wished in her heart.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Later that evening, heavy and windy rain buffeted against the windows of the mansion. Fortunately, the ptial mansion was like a fortress. It stood strong,pletely unbothered by the storm outside. In addition, the mansion was also soundproofed. The people inside could only see the powerful wind and rain but couldn¡¯t hear their frightening sounds as they battered the huge ss windows.

    Iris just finished her online ss with Professor Schwarz. She was at her shared home office with Jin Liwei. Her office was located at a mezzanine above Jin Liwei¡¯s original study where he used to store business books and documents. He converted it into her own office when she moved in to live at the mansion. Therge home office was separate to the mansion¡¯s library which wasparable to the size of a university library with four freaking floors. Jin Liwei¡¯s library was even more impressive than Iris¡¯ library at the penthouse.

    After turning off herputer and tidying up her desk, Iris headed down the stairs. Ice Cream and Popcorn followed her. But before they could go down, thezy Ice Cream patted Iris¡¯ leg with her paws. The fat (again) grey cat looked up at Iris with her adorable eyes, silently asking her to be carried.

    "No, Ice Cream. Your Uncle Dom was scolded by the vet again because of your weight. You need to walk on your own this time," Iris said in a firm tone.

    However, Ice Cream only needed to continue looking up at her mommy with her cute, pitiful eyes before Iris¡¯ heart melted.

    ###

 Chapter 565 - Naughty Ketchup

    <h4>Chapter 565 - Naughty Ketchup </h4>

    Unable to resist Ice Cream¡¯s cute, pitiful eyes, Iris sighed and carried the fat grey cat.

    "Meow~" Ice Cream rubbed her head against her mommy¡¯s bosom. There was a smug smirk on her big face when her mommy wasn¡¯t looking.

    "Meow! Meow!" Popcorn called impatiently, as he waited on the edge the stairs.

    Iris and her two cats finally headed down the stairs from her mezzanine office to Jin Liwei¡¯s. He kept the original set-up of his home office downstairs.

    Jin Liwei was also workingte like her. He was in a video call conference with foreign investors for one of Jin Corporation¡¯s uing projects.

    Not wanting to disturb him, Iris didn¡¯t go to him. She only caught his eyes and gave him a flying kiss.

    How could Jin Liwei ignore his baby girl?

    "Excuse me,dies and gentlemen," he said, immediately muting the microphone. He didn¡¯t even wait for the response of the other participants of the conference call before standing up and heading to his baby girl.

    He gathered her in his arms, embracing her tightly, and then kissing her on the mouth.

    A soft feline sigh sounded between them. The fat grey cat endured being squished between her mommy and daddy. Ice Cream was already used to it. Who told her to always ask her mommy to carry her? If sheined, Mommy would just put her down. Ice Cream was toozy to ask her mommy to pick her up again after the parents were done kissing.

    As for Popcorn, he weaved and rubbed his body between his parents¡¯ legs. He was low maintenancepared to his spoiled sister, already feeling happy and contented simply by seeing his parents and being petted by them every day.

    When the kiss ended, Jin Liwei felt reluctant to let her go. However, he still had a video conference to finish.

    "You go ahead to our room, love. My meeting will take a while," he told her, giving a quick peck on her lips.

    "Okay. Don¡¯t stay out toote," she replied.

    "En."

    Iris left after another round of kissing. If she didn¡¯t leave, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop kissing her. Jin Liwei quickly petted the cats before watching them leave. It was only after they were gone that he returned to the video conference.

    The hyper-active Popcorn ran around the hallways chasing shadows and whatever caught his attention. Iris dropped the cats off in their room before heading to her bedroom suite.

    She passed by a dark area along the hallway. It was only here that the lights were turned off. She wondered why. Maybe the lights were faulty? She was about to report it to the household staff when she realized that there was another person hiding in the shadows.

    No, not hiding but subconsciously blending in.

    "Big Brother," she whispered, walking to his direction.

    Lu Zihao was lounging on an armchair by the window. He didn¡¯t respond to her, only silently waiting for her toe to him if she wanted.

    He must have been the one who turned off the lights in this area. The stormy sky outside waspletely dark. It was only Iris¡¯ senses that allowed her to feel his presence. He seemed to be alone. She was relieved that his annoying subordinates who always followed him around weren¡¯t present right now.

    Iris¡¯ eyes began to adjust in the darkness. As she walked towards her brother, she observed him. For a moment, she was taken aback because the image of Niki Vetrov from their past life seemed to superimpose on Lu Zihao¡¯s profile¡ªa chilling, formidable yet lonely Dark Emperor.

    It startled her so much that her steps faltered, but she quickly recovered and resumed walking towards him. Then she sat on the armchair beside him.

    The siblings didn¡¯t talk, just sat together in the darkness, feelingfortable in each other¡¯s presence.

    A maid happened to walk by.

    "Huh? Why is it so dark in here? Are the lights faulty? Tsk tsk..."

    The maid was about to press on the light switch when...

    "Stop," a low male voice growled from the darkness.

    The maid screamed in fright.

    "Don¡¯t be scared. It¡¯s us," Iris¡¯ voice calmed the maid.

    "Oh! Mistress! P-please pardon me for disturbing you!"

    "That¡¯s alright. Leave the lights off and return to your room."

    "Y-yes, Mistress."

    The maid immediately obeyed. She couldn¡¯t see anything at all in the darkness. Now that she had calmed down, she realized that the low growl from earlier didn¡¯t sound like the master. It should be Mister Lu Zihao. The maid blushed upon realizing this. There were many like her from the household staff who had a crush on him.

    When the maid left, the siblings continued to rx in the darkness. After a few minutes, Lu Zihao was the first one to disturb thefortable silence.

    "Guess what happened today," he said.

    "What is it?"

    "Your youngest has been naughty again."

    "Youngest?" She tilted her head to the side before realizing what he meant. "Oh, you mean Ketchup?"

    "Uh huh."

    With her great hearing, Iris heard a soft yet sharp mewl in the background which sounded like a yelp. She frowned, already imagining a white cat shaking in her fluffy paws while hiding from her.

    "What did she do this time?" she asked.

    Lu Zihao then told her how Ketchup "dropped by" his hacker team at the Shadow Winds headquarters. Apparently, she helped them on some tasks. Neither Lu Zihao nor anyone from his hacker team asked Ketchup for assistance. She just did it on her own volition.

    "Ketchup!" Iris was dismayed. Ketchup¡¯s two-week grounding period just ended and here she was being naughty again.

    "Wuwuwuwu!!! Mommy, don¡¯t be angry! Ketchup was just curious about Uncle Haohao¡¯s matters! Meow..."

    Iris closed her eyes, feeling a slight headache throbbing in her temples. Then she opened her eyes and looked at her brother, a little hesitant to ask something.

    "Did...did you let her do something...dangerous?"

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow, a faint devilish smile lifting the corners of his lips.

    ###

 Chapter 566 - Incompeten

    <h4>Chapter 566 - Ipeten </h4>

    "Do you really have so little trust in me, Little Sister?" Lu Zihao asked, teasing her.

    Iris vaguely saw the amusement shining in her brother¡¯s eyes in the darkness. "I trust you, Big Brother. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t really know what you¡¯re doing with your group, especially after seeing all your scars. I haven¡¯t seen all of your scars but I know that they cover your entire body. Don¡¯t lie to me. I just know. Although I¡¯m curious and want to know what you¡¯re doing and how you really got your scars, I respect your privacy because you¡¯re important to me. I¡¯m not going to investigate you on my own without your permission. I have a feeling that you¡¯re doing something dangerous but every time I ask, you always brush me off. What can I do besides worry? I¡¯m waiting for the day that you¡¯ll tell me what you¡¯re really doing."

    Lu Zihao remained silent.

    "If you¡¯re really doing something dangerous, then of course I¡¯ll worry about you. And now I discover that Ketchup is helping you out. If she¡¯s involved in anything dangerous, the risk of her making a mistake and being exposed to others increases. You know what kind of things will happen to her, to me, and to us if others discovered about her existence."

    "Meow! Mommy, don¡¯t scold Uncle Haohao anymore! Wuwuwuwu! Ketchup didn¡¯t do anything dangerous! Promise! Ketchup just helped Uncle Haohao because his hacker team is being so slow and ipetent¡ª"

    "In-pe-tent?" Lu Zihao was taken aback.

    His team was...ipetent? He narrowed his eyes and looked at his sister who was intent on listening to her youngest¡¯s drivel about his subordinates. She looked like she didn¡¯t see anything wrong with what the sted cat was saying.

    INCOMPETENT?!

    If only Ketchup had a physical body, he would have already smacked her fluffy butt a couple of times to discipline and punish her.

    However, Ketchup was on a roll, talking nonstop. "¡ªso I decided to help them because it¡¯s super-duper annoying to watch them struggling toplete something so easy! Mommy, you should have seen them! I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll also feel bothered by their ipetence! Meow!"

    Lu Zihao closed his eyes, resisting the urge to snap at the talkative cat. His team wasn¡¯t ipetent at all! It was just thatpared to Ketchup and especially his genius sister who created the cat AI, his hacker team might seem ipetent because the two were just too superior.

    "Mommy, Uncle Haohao is family, right? Uncle Dom and Auntie Clover told Ketchup that family should always help each other, except for the selfish poopoo-heads who don¡¯t deserve to be treated like family. Uncle Haohao is not a selfish poopoo-head and he¡¯s family, so Ketchup doesn¡¯t see anything wrong with helping him and his ipetent hacker team. Meow~ Ketchup just helped them uncover and organize files regarding Uncle Haohao¡¯s newly-acquired local businesses which is taking them forever toplete! It¡¯s very simr to the tasks Daddy often gives me so I know exactly what to do! Is Ketchup wrong to help out Uncle Haohao this way, Mommy? Meow?"

    Iris thought that Ketchup made sense. She ignored Ketchup¡¯s use of the word "poopoo-head" for now. The naughty cat must have learned it from either Dom or Clover again. Iris nned on discussing it with Jin Liwei and figure out together if the word should be added to Ketchup¡¯s list of bad words that she wasn¡¯t allowed to use.

    "No, Ketchup. You¡¯re not wrong," Iris finally replied.

    "Meow~ So Ketchup is a good kitty?"

    Iris couldn¡¯t help but smile. "Yes. You¡¯re a good kitty, Ketchup."

    Meows of happiness filled the dark hallway. The siblings could almost see a delighted white cat skipping on the floor in front of them.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s earlier annoyance at his hacker team being called ipetent disappeared. He chuckled like the devil.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Little Sister. I assure you that your youngest didn¡¯t do anything dangerous. It¡¯s true that she only helped out in digging out lost or hidden documents and also in organizing everything. Something that would normally take my team a week or two toplete, your youngest finished in just a few hours. She¡¯s been tremendously helpful."

    "Ehehehe. Thanks, Uncle Haohao~ Ketchup is the best because I¡¯m Mommy¡¯s baby!"

    Hearing her brother praising Ketchup, Iris was also filled with pride, temporarily making her forget about her earlier concerns.

    "Alright. As long as you didn¡¯t do anything dangerous," she said. "But we¡¯ll still have to tell this to your dadter. He might not like it so be ready if he decides to punish you."

    "Ehehe¡ªMeow?! Nooooooo! Mommy, please don¡¯t let Daddy punish Ketchup! Wuwuwuwu!!!"

    Lu Zihao was amused listening to cat AI whining about being punished. If this was before, he would have found it ridiculous. Now, however, he was already used to the cat AI being treated like a real child. He would even forget sometimes that Ketchup wasn¡¯t a real, living being. Whenever he remembered this fact, he would always feel amazed by his sister¡¯s abilities. His sister was truly a genius.

    "Listen to your mother, Custard," he said.

    "Meow?! Uncle Haohao, Ketchup¡¯s name is Ketchup, not Custard! Wuwuwuwu!"

    Lu Zihaoughed.

    "Uncle Haohao, please ask Daddy not to punish Ketchup! Wuwuwuwu! Ketchup was just curious and wants to help Uncle Haohao.... Meow...."

    His eyes sharpened.

    "Really? You want to help Uncle?"

    "Yes! Meow!"

    "Big Brother..." Iris couldn¡¯t help but say in a warning tone.

    He shed a devilish smile at her. "I know your concerns, Little Sister. But it would be really helpful to me if I have a powerful AI like your youngest. I hope that you¡¯re still considering my request in giving me one. Even if it¡¯s not as high-powered, I¡¯ll take it."

    Iris tilted her head to the side, considering it.

    "Think about it," he said.

    She nodded.

    Afterwards, they finally returned to their own bedrooms. While preparing for bed, Iris was tempted to check Ketchup¡¯s memory to see the things she did to help her brother. However, she stopped herself.

    "I trust Big Brother."

    The night ended with Iris falling into deep sleep before Jin Liwei could return to their room.

    ###

 Chapter 567 - Brand Ambassador

    <h4>Chapter 567 - Brand Ambassador </h4>

    Jin Liwei learned about Ketchup¡¯s naughty antics the next morning during breakfast. Iris had an early magazine photoshoot, so she and Dom needed to leave early like Jin Liwei. Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun were also already up because the little guy was used to waking up very early. Ice Cream and Popcorn were also eating breakfast on the floor. The two cats always apanied their daddy every morning, regardless of whether the others were awake or not.

    Lu Zihao was nowhere to be seen. He was someone who didn¡¯t follow a set schedule every single day and lived by his own rules.

    As for the naughty Ketchup, she was once again lectured by her daddy.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t punish her this time because he couldn¡¯t fault her for helping his Fifth Brother. Besides, he trusted Lu Zihao. He didn¡¯t believe that his Fifth Brother would be capable of deliberately doing something illegal and dangerous that would harm innocent people.

    With that, Ketchup was off the hook and happy that she wasn¡¯t punished by her parents.

    ###

    A few dayster, Orchidia Beauty once again opened its online store. More units were added to the inventories and the product limitations per person was lifted in order to meet the huge demand for the products since theunch.

    Despite this, everything sold out in what felt like instantly.

    To be more precise, the entire inventory was emptied out in 4.2 seconds.

    It was another domestic record, faster than the previous one during theunch. This time, however, the achievement was even more impressive because there were more units avable for purchase. Industry experts estimated that Orchidia Beauty might have sold out a total of 500,000 to 800,000 units this time, maybe even a million or more. They agreed that the total number of units wouldn¡¯t be less than half a million.

    Regardless of the exact numbers, Orchidia Beauty had now started to solidify its position as one of the most popr and in-demand beauty brands in the country. If it could improve its manufacturing capacity and release more products soon, then perhaps it would be able to breach the top 10 most popr beauty brands in the country which was a ranking filled with foreignpanies.

    Immediately after everything sold out in Orchidia Beauty¡¯s online store, hundreds of thousands of people flooded the inte demanding for more.

    "Please release more products next time! I really want to buy but couldn¡¯t because everything sold out so quickly!"

    "Next time, please produce, like, 100 million units so that it won¡¯t sell out in, like, 0.00001 seconds."

    +2,003

    +41,028

    +597,060 likes and counting.

    "Ahahaha! Poster above, I agree with you 100%!!!"

    The news once again featured Orchidia Beauty¡¯stest history-making feat. Iris Long¡¯s name was also mentioned, of course.

    Those who were thinking that the first time was a fluke had their faces pped this time. The first time was 5 seconds. This time, it took only 4.2 seconds to sell everything out and with more units, too. The detractors had no choice but to grudgingly ept that Iris Long¡¯spany was the real deal.

    But before the people could fully digest another amazing feat by Iris Long¡¯s Orchidia Beauty, her father¡¯spany, Long Industries, made its own big move. The shippingpany actually invited the media just so the Chief Communications Officer (CCO) could make a public announcement.

    "Long Industries take pride in our fast, reliable, quality yet economical logistics services. We are constantly improving and growing alongside our valued clients and adapting with the domestic, regional and world markets. Today, we are happy and excited to announce that we will be weing our first ever celebrity brand ambassador¡ªMiss Iris Long!

    "Some of you might be thinking that we picked her because she¡¯s the daughter of our CEO. If that was the only reason, we would¡¯ve picked her a long time ago. We chose Miss Iris Long to be Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador right now because we believe that she embodies ourpany¡¯s core values of constantly growing and improving, staying strong and resilient, and moving forward regardless of the challenges.

    "We at Long Industries are looking forward to working closely with Miss Iris Long in order to showcase to everyone ourpany¡¯s integrity, work culture, and our pride of our beloved country."

    Iris was at a dressing room for a variety TV show when the news aired the announcement. She praised the CCO for his silver tongue.

    "He really knows how to talk and spin words. I was chosen to be Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador because I¡¯m the daughter of the CEO. That¡¯s the real reason," she said in a serious tone.

    "Iris! Not so loud!" Tang Yiyi rebuked her, looking quickly around, afraid that others had overheard what she said.

    Dom ran to the door and opened it to check whether there were people outside.

    "All clear!" he announced.

    It was only then that Tang Yiyi rxed. "Be careful of your words, Iris. Don¡¯t let others hear you say that. People will start using you and your father of nepotism."

    Iris only shrugged, not really thinking much about it.

    "I¡¯m serious, Iris," Tang Yiyi warned again.

    "Fine, Elder Sister Yiyi," she said to calm her manager who she thought was being needlessly paranoid.

    Iris¡¯ shrug was a mirror to her real attitude. She didn¡¯t care about what others thought (as always) about her appointment as brand ambassador of Long Industries. Finally, she achieved this goal after asking Long Tengfei about it during the disastrous dinner with Long Hui. This position would grant her a direct ess to Long Industries as an insider¡ªa distant one, but still nheless an insider. This was the first major step of her n regarding the battle for session in the Long n. There was no way that she would allow the negative opinions of other people to discourage her from working on her ns.

    ###

    Friday.

    Iris Long¡¯s inauguration party as Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador at the hall of a five-star hotel.

    All the chief executives and important figures working in Long Industries were present in the party for Iris Long.

    As the head of thepany and the father of the new brand ambassador, Long Tengfei was at the forefront beside his daughter. His wife, Yang Jiahui, also attended. His sons, Long Hui (Deputy CFO) and Long Jian (Deputy COO) were also present. Even the n elders Long Jufang and Long Meng attended because they were also minor shareholders of thepany.

    The media was also invited. The party would double as an official press conferenceter. Outside the hotel, ck Stars and other fans crowded, shouting for Iris Long and waving banners showing her name and image. Security and the police kept them under control. The number of people only increased as the hours passed by and the information about the party¡¯s location was spread.

    Long Tengfei and the other executives didn¡¯t expect such a huge turn-out. They felt that Iris had only be more famous since thest time they seriously discussed about considering her as thepany¡¯s brand ambassador.

    The party was simplepared to other brand amabassador inauguration parties. Hiring a celebrity brand ambassador was also afirst for Long Industries. In addition, Long Tengfei himself didn¡¯t want to make it too extravagant.

    ###

 Chapter 568 - Ulterior Motives

    <h4>Chapter 568 - Ulterior Motives </h4>

    Not everyone in Long Industries was onboard for Iris Long¡¯s appointment as thepany¡¯s brand ambassador. Long Tengfei and the COO worked together to persuade the other executives and the board of directors about the idea.

    The COO had a great impression of Iris when she first presented Orchidia Beauty at Long Industries, bringing the Bauer siblings, Amanpio Kileksky and Qiao Yu with her. He couldn¡¯t forget the amazement he felt at her professionalism and shamelessness in negotiating. Orchidia Beauty was only at the beginning stages that time but look at it now. It had instantly be a hit brand selling out all of its products in seconds. Also ording to business hearsay, it was apparently now apany worth millions in RMB and perhaps even in US dors.

    As a result, Long Tengfei didn¡¯t need to ask him to support Iris for her appointment as brand ambassador to Long Industries. The COO gave his support on his own volition.

    In the end, the two of them were able to persuade their fellow executives and the board of directors. Orchidia Beauty¡¯s sessfulunch yed a critical part in changing their minds, prompting them to vote in favour of her appointment as brand ambassador.

    They might have been persuaded but it didn¡¯t mean that they were 100% epting of her. Iris Long¡¯s past reputation in Long Industries and the n weren¡¯t so easily erased. It was deeply entrenched in the Long n and Long Industries. After all, she was the Longs¡¯ prodigal daughter. It also didn¡¯t help that she distanced herself from them after waking up froma.

    Now that she was appointed as brand ambassador, it signaled to everyone that she was ready to finally involve herself with thepany¡¯s matters, and in extension, of the n as well. Critical eyes watched her every move, waiting for her to make a mistake.

    Iris could sense all of these as she smiled at everyone in the party. Only Dom apanied her this time. Tang Yiyi was busy managing her other artists, reporting to Iris earlier that the rude business news anchor was suspended from the program. Iris didn¡¯t care about the man, tossing the news as something unimportant.

    As for Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu, they wanted to attend the inauguration party but she discouraged them. Her darling was extremely busy at work right now. She didn¡¯t want her trivial matters to distract him, especially if she could handle them by herself.

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s primary reason for wanting to attend the party was because he felt bored. Iris didn¡¯t mind him attending, but she wanted the entire focus to be on her in the party. She was well aware that her reputation in Long Industries stank, making it difficult for her to buy shares and be involved in thepany. She wanted to demonstrate to everyone that she could handle being the brand ambassador by herself without the powerful influence of either Jin Liwei or Grandpa Lu. Fortunately, Little Jun was able to divert the old man¡¯s attention from the party. The great-grandfather and grandson pair were currently spending time together in the mansion¡¯s indoor forest.

    The inauguration party was very short and simple. Some speeches, official inauguration of Iris as brand ambassador, a press conference, and then dinner.

    During dinner, Long Jufang approached Iris with a big smile on his face.

    "Congrattions on so many things, Xin. Your sesses since the year started, your awards, your hit songs, Orchidia Beauty, and now on bing brand ambassador of ourpany!" He acted like they were close. His tone was fawning, as if he never criticized and insulted her in the past.

    "Thank you, Granduncle Jufang."

    Long Jufang tried several times to establish contact with her but she never responded. Now, however, she didn¡¯t reject him even if his fake smile was making her skin crawl. Dom¡¯s presence beside her made her feel a bit morefortable.

    The original Iris had never bothered with n affairs. When she woke up froma as the new Iris, she didn¡¯t change this, thereby making herpletely unaware of insider news within the n. Not all information could be gathered by hacking, especially with an old family like the Longs.

    Most of its members still retained their traditional practices, preferring to write things on paper and meeting each other in person instead of leaving electronic traces. In addition, the main family and the important branch families lived in ancient residences. Only a few had security cameras installed in the properties. All of these made it quite challenging for Iris to glean private information within the n, especially when concerning the older generation. It was easier to snoop around the younger generation because they favoured the convenience of modern technology, carelessly leaving traces online which she could exploit.

    This was why even though Iris didn¡¯t give a whit about Long Jufang and had no interest in befriending him, she put on a smile and chatted with him. He wanted to act closer to her, so she would do the same. She knew that he had ulterior motives for wanting to be close to her. So did she. She needed him in order to glean insider information within the n.

    Thanks to her earlier acting sses, she was able to hide her distaste for Long Jufang with a smile on her face.

    Momentster, they saw Long Hui and Long Meng heading towards them.

    Long Jufang leaned towards her and whispered in a conspiratorial tone, "Long Meng has been going around the n trying to discredit and defame you. She¡¯s your elder brother¡¯s biggest supporter and hates it whenever you overshadow your brother. Don¡¯t trust her."

    It took great effort for Iris not to cringe at his proximity to her.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t trust her. I don¡¯t trust you either,¡¯ she thought to herself before replying to him, "I understand Granduncle. Thank you for your warning."

    "You¡¯re wee, Xin. I¡¯m on your side. You can count on me."

    She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, nodding instead. Seeing Dom also fighting hard not to make faces of disgust, she gave him warning re. He nodded and smoothed out his expression.

    "Little Sister," Long Hui greeted when he arrived with Long Meng.

    "Deputy CFO," she greeted back with a nod, not bothering to call him ¡¯Elder Brother¡¯.

    ###

 Chapter 569 - Eloquent Bullshi

    <h4>Chapter 569 - Eloquent Bullshi </h4>

    Although Iris¡¯ tone was pleasant when she greeted him, Long Hui could see that her eyes were cold. His eyes also hardened. He felt that she didn¡¯t give him any face when he already lowered himself and addressed her as "little sister". Instead of following his example, she insisted on this distant way of addressing him as "Deputy CFO". He wasn¡¯t making peace by calling her "little sister". It was only to put up an appearance of a harmonious sibling rtionship to the public.

    All of the executives of Long Industries were watching and judging. He couldn¡¯t afford to make any mistakes, especially right now that he was working hard to regain his footing after his work performance suffered because of the stress caused by Jiang Ying Yue. It also didn¡¯t help that there was Long Jian, an overachiever, topare him with when it came to work performance.

    Iris refused to follow his example of putting up an appearance, but at least she was maintaining the pretense of politeness. The two smiled at each other but their eyes were cold and hard.

    While Iris and Long Hui were having a stare-down, their self-proimed partners in crime Long Jufang and Long Meng also followed suit. The two elders had been on good terms for many years, both supporting Long Hui, but ever since Iris rose to prominence and Long Jufang jumped ship, the rtionship between the two elders soured.

    "A brand ambassador is nothing more than a hired hand. No matter how integrated you feel, you still won¡¯t really belong with thepany," Long Hui said in a low voice to prevent the others around them from overhearing. His words were mocking her but also served as a warning that she shouldn¡¯t get too far ahead of herself.

    "I agree with the first part of what you said," Iris replied. "As for the second part, we¡¯ll see. It will depend on my performance as brand ambassador."

    Long Hui clenched his hands but kept smiling. To the people watching them, their group looked like they were having a pleasant chat.

    "You already have your ownpany. Be satisfied with it. Leave Long Industries alone," he said.

    "You mean leave it to you?" she retorted.

    "It¡¯s my birthright."

    "How boring," Iris drawled. "We live in the modern times. It¡¯s hard to understand people who insist on living backwards in the ancient times. I know that you believe that since you¡¯re the firstborn, you automatically inherit leadership of the n and thepany. But have you realized that I¡¯m also a firstborn? That our other brother and sister are also firstborns? Father technically has four firstborns because all of us are born from different mothers. So if we¡¯re talking about firstborn birthrights, then technically speaking, all four of us siblings have the right to seed Father."

    "Presumptuous!" Long Meng huffed.

    Long Jufang didn¡¯t look like he agreed with Iris either. However, he remained silent and even moved closer to her, silently indicating that he was on her side even though he didn¡¯t agree with her point of view.

    Iris ignored the elders as if they didn¡¯t exist, focusing instead on Long Hui. Beside her, Dom was nodding so much and so quickly that it was a wonder he wasn¡¯t dizzy by the vigorous way he was moving his head just to show his agreement to her words.

    "Father has already mentioned before that he¡¯ll leave the n and thepany to whoever among us deserves it the most based on our individual abilities and performance, not on who was born first," she continued. "So, Deputy CFO Long, may the best sibling win."

    "You!" Long Hui finally dropped his smile.

    But before he could argue, she gave a brief, dismissive nod.

    "Excuse me, Deputy CFO Long," she said, grabbing Dom and walking away.

    Long Jufang smirked at Long Meng before following after them. Both Long Hui and Long Meng wore dark expressions.

    "Young Master Hui, don¡¯t take that spoiled brat¡¯s words to heart," Long Meng tried to soothe Long Hui. "You¡¯ve been trained since you were born to be the heir and the sessor after Master Tengfei. You were born to be the next head of our n and thepany."

    Long Hui didn¡¯t respond, continuing to watch Iris, Dom and Long Jufang as they greeted other people along the way. His frustration at Iris could be seen by the tight clenching and unclenching of his hands into fists and his tense jaw caused by the gritting of his teeth. When he noticed that some people were looking at him, he smoothed out his expression and forced on a smile.

    Not far behind them, Long Jian was standing beside his current mentor, the COO of Long Industries. They were chatting with a couple of other important guests. However, Long Jian wasn¡¯t focused on the conversation at all because he was doing his best to eavesdrop on the confrontation between Iris and Long Hui. He was unable to hear everything they said to each other but still heard enough to know that Long Hui lost to Iris in that battle of words.

    ¡¯Father technically has four firstborns because all of us are born from different mothers. So if we¡¯re talking about firstborn birthrights, then technically speaking, all four of us siblings have the right to inherit leadership,¡¯ Iris¡¯ words resonated to Long Jian.

    His lips subconsciously curved upwards in amusement.

    ¡¯What an eloquent way of bullshitting,¡¯ he thought.

    Long Jian had the least interactions with Iris since she woke up fromapared to their other siblings. He had always looked down on her but he couldn¡¯t help but praise the way she twisted her words in order to humiliate Long Hui. She was clearly bullshitting yet the confidence of her tone and the delivery of her words gave the impression that everything she said was true and made logical sense.

    A chuckle escaped from his lips before he realized what he was doing.

    ###

 Chapter 570 - Whose Son Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 570 - Whose Son Are You? </h4>

    "Hm? Why are youughing? What¡¯s funny?" the COO asked when he saw his current deputy chuckling beside him.

    Long Jian caught himself and regained his senses. He cleared his throat and returned the COO¡¯s smile. "Nothing, sir. I just remembered something funny." Then he apologized to the other people they were chatting with for being distracted.

    The COO patted Long Jian¡¯s shoulder, a kind smile on his face, like a father looking at his own son. The conversation in their little group continued.

    Long Jian nced at Iris who was now speaking with their father, Yang Jiahui and the other executives and board members. His expression was neutral. However, when he turned to look at Long Hui, a mocking expression shed in his eyes before covering it with a pleasant smile.

    Later that evening, the inauguration party finally ended. It was a straightforward affair. No drama urred during the party¡ªat least, nothing that the media and the other guests detected. Yet unbeknown to them, several plots went into motion that very day. Behind the pleasant smiles and easy chatter hid aplex game of chess involving the entire Long n.

    ###

    Long Jian returned homete that night from the party. It was almost midnight already, yet the lights were still on in the house.

    His mother, Zhu Ning, was watching the TV in the living room. Shey on the couch with a grumpy expression, as she watched thete-night entertainment news. The inauguration party tomemorate Iris Long bing the first ever celebrity brand ambassador of Long Industries was currently being featured on the show. Long Jian saw himself for about a second in the same frame as Iris.

    No wonder his mother looked like she swallowed a frog by her ugly expression. She had been on a constant bad mood almost every single day ever since the Orchidia Beauty grandunch. It was driving her crazy that the news kept on featuring Iris Long and her mother, Wei Lan.

    However, instead of avoiding the news, Zhu Ning actively sought thetest updates about Iris Long and Wei Lan. Iris Long bing more famous was natural given her numerous aplishments this year.

    As for Wei Lan, she had also be a celebrity in her own right because of her new status as a Spanish viscountess. She was no longer known simply as Iris Long¡¯s mother. She had also increased her reputation in a good way after bing an ambassador for her daughter¡¯s foundation, Iris of Hope. In just a few days after Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch, she had already set up an online auction selling many brand name clothes, shoes, bags, and other luxury designer items owned by her, her daughter, Jin Liwei, and even Grandpa Lu, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan. 100% of the profits earned from the auction went to supporting the foundation¡¯s current causes.

    Wei Lan was now carving a name for herself as a noble phnthropist. Most members of high society still continued to view her in a negative light, but the general public was starting to admire and idolize her. With just her rtionship to Iris Long, she had already received the automatic support of the entire ck Stars.

    All of this favourable attention to Wei Lan was filling Zhu Ning with so much hatred and envy.

    Long Jian worried that his mother was bing obsessed with the mother and daughter, Iris Long and Wei Lan, who Zhu Ning imed to be her mortal enemies.

    He saw magazines and newspapers showing Iris Long and Wei Lan¡¯s names and images in big, fat headlines littering all over the living room. Most of them were torn into pieces, no doubt by his mother. He sighed at the sight.

    "I¡¯m back, Mother," he greeted.

    "Hmph." Zhu Ning forced herself to a sitting position on the couch and red at her son. "I watched the news the entire evening about that fucking party for that little slut Long Xin! I saw you getting all chummy with your father¡¯s current slut of a wife Yang Jiahui! Tell me, whose son are you?! Hers or mine?! Her dried up womb is unable to produce a child for Tengfei so now she¡¯s stealing you from me and you¡¯re just going to happily let her?!! If you like her so much to be your new mother, then go and live with her and your father and be aplete happy family!!!"

    Long Jian scowled at his mother¡¯s outburst. He worked from early morning till afternoon before attending the inauguration party. He was exhausted. He didn¡¯t need this kind of drama right after arriving home. It took a lot of effort for him to control his temper.

    "Mother, calm down."

    "How can I calm down when my own son is betraying me? You¡¯re the only one I have but look at you! Not only are you getting along with that slut Yang Jiahui, but you¡¯re also acting very close to your father¡¯s two evil spawns¡ªthat little slut Long Xin and that son of a bitch Long Hui! Have you forgotten our goal? Those two are your enemies! They¡¯re the ones blocking your way as the sessor of your father! What are you doing, acting all chummy with those two evil spawns?!"

    Long Jian¡¯s expression was now as ugly as his mother¡¯s. There were so many things that he wanted to say to her but he held back. At the end of the day, she was still his mother. He loved her and didn¡¯t want to disrespect her.

    They were interrupted by the next news story on TV.

    "Orchidia Beauty, the newest popr brand of skincare products owned by internationally-acimed multi-award-winning musician Iris Long, made an announcement on their website saying that they will be releasing new products at the end of the month. Their first products, which sold out in record-breaking speed not once but twice since itsunch and are now top best-sellers, all focus on facial skincare. Their next sets of products are for the body, reportedly featuring lotions and other body creams. Orchidia Beauty says that they are working hard on increasing their manufacturing capacity as soon as possible to meet the huge demand for their current and uing products..."

    ###

 Chapter 571 - Donâ€™t Ever Forge

    <h4>Chapter 571 - Don¡¯t Ever Forge </h4>

    "Fucking shit!!!" Zhu Ning shrieked and threw a bunch of tattered newspapers and magazines at the TV. "Iris Long! Iris Long! I always hear that little slut Iris Long, her fuckingpany Orchidia Shitty, and her big slut of a mother Wei Lan everywhere! I¡¯m so fucking tired hearing about them!!! Fuck!!!"

    Long Jian pressed his lips together into a thin line, trying to hide his distaste at his mother¡¯s coarse words. Instead of replying to her, he walked over instead, grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV.

    "Hey! I was watching!" Zhu Ningined.

    "Try not to watch or read the news anymore, Mother. You¡¯ll only get upset at what you¡¯ll hear. Remember what the doctor said when you got hospitalized. You shouldn¡¯t stress yourself too much," he told her.

    "Hmph!"

    "Mother, about your concerns, don¡¯t worry about them. We were in a public setting during the party. The media was also present. I have to be on my best behaviour, even to Long Hui, Long Xin and Father¡¯s third wife. Not to mention that I¡¯m currently thepany¡¯s Deputy COO. I can¡¯t be rude to anyone or it¡¯ll reflect badly on the reputation I worked so hard to build in thepany. Please understand, Mother. I had to act nice with them in public. It doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m now close to them and recing you."

    His coaxing softened up Zhu Ning.

    "Alright, son. Mother was just scared that I¡¯ll lose you. You¡¯re my pride and joy, my treasure."

    "Yes, Mother. I know."

    The atmosphere lightened after that. Long Jian was relieved. He was about to suggest that they go to sleep but his mother had other ideas.

    "So that little slut Long Xin has been appointed as brand ambassador of Long Industries? Does that mean that she¡¯ll start joining the battle of session? I know that she has a lot of supporters within the n¡ªstupid people¡ªbut your Uncle Xiaopeng said that she has never bothered involving herself with n matters," she said.

    "Long Xin is just a brand ambassador, Mother. That position wields no power in thepany. She¡¯s just basically a pretty face hired by us to endorse and make thepany look good," he exined. "I don¡¯t know exactly what her ns are but if she really has ulterior motives about Long Industries, she¡¯s not going to seed by holding a useless position. I would feel more threatened if she started at the bottom as an intern. Right now, I still think that Long Hui is the biggest threat. ording to Uncle Xiaopeng, he¡¯s once again starting to stabilize his support system in the n after he broke up with that bodyguard and got engaged with that stic bimbo."

    Zhu Ning nodded. "Yes, you¡¯re right. You¡¯re the smartest so you can see things more clearly than Mother. But you should still be careful of that little slut Long Xin. She¡¯s the daughter of that crafty old bitch Wei Lan. If she¡¯s really eyeing your father¡¯s seat as the next head of Long Industries, I¡¯m sure that she has many disgusting tricks up her sleeves just like her mother. Don¡¯t let down your guard, son."

    "I understand, Mother. I¡¯ll be careful."

    "How¡¯s everything at work, son? I rarely see you. You¡¯ve been so busy leaving for business trips. I¡¯ve missed you!"

    "Everything is going well, Mother. I¡¯ve now earned the COO¡¯s full trust, so he entrusts me with a lot of important tasks, helping me build experience and reputation not only in thepany but also in the country¡¯s business industry in general. That¡¯s why he¡¯s sending me to a lot of business trips to close deals and meet with important business clients...things like that."

    Zhu Ning smiled and nodded, pride exuding from her every pore. "That¡¯s my son!"

    "Compared to my great performance, Long Hui is having a hard time regaining his footing in thepany. Father has been noticeably cold towards him, perhaps because of the issue regarding the uing custody battle of his son with that bodyguard. The child is Father¡¯s first grandson after all, so it¡¯s understandable that he¡¯ll also feel affected by what¡¯s happening. They¡¯re still waiting for the court to release more information about when the custody battle will officially start."

    "Hmph! Who cares about that child and that custody battle?" Zhu Ning rolled her eyes and waved a dismissive hand. "I just hope that the performance of that son of a bitch Long Hui continues to worsen, so that everyone will know that you¡¯re better than him and more deserving to seed your father as the next head of Long Industries."

    Long Jian made a sound of agreement before yawning. "Mother, I¡¯m tired. I¡¯m going to rest. You should, too. Remember that you have an appointment with the doctor next week. You need to take care of your health and not stress yourself too much."

    "Alright, son. You¡¯re the only one who loves and cares about your mother. I¡¯m so lucky to have an intelligent, responsible, reliable and filial son. Good night, son. Sleep well and rest. You¡¯ve been working hard."

    "Yes. Good night, Mother."

    He started walking away but she called him back.

    "Son."

    "What is it, Mother?" he asked a little impatiently.

    "Don¡¯t lose sight of our final goal," she reminded him. "You¡¯re going to seed your father and be the next head of Long Industries and the n. Don¡¯t ever forget it."

    A furrow formed between his brows but he nodded. Then he headed upstairs to his bedroom, leaving his mother surrounded by the torn magazines and newspapers featuring Iris Long and Wei Lan.

    Later, steam fogged up the ss walls as he rxed his tense muscles under the hot shower. While washing himself, he thought about everything that happened during the inauguration party and his mother¡¯s outburst as soon as he came home.

    If this was before, he would have been on the exact same wavelength as his mother, eyeing the seat of n head and Long Industries with great hunger. But for some reason, he didn¡¯t feel like that anymore.

    ###

 Chapter 572 - Mindset Change

    <h4>Chapter 572 - Mindset Change </h4>

    Long Jian still wanted to seed his father and be the next head of Long Industries. It was what his mother stamped into his consciousness ever since he could remember. From his childhood to teenage years and young adulthood till he was transferred to the main headquarters of Long Industries earlier this year, he had been working hard for this one goal. His desire was as great as his mother¡¯s, like a hungry beast eyeing a big juicy meat. His mother¡¯s great hunger remained as ever. As for his hunger? It felt like it had lessened.

    ¡¯I wonder when I started feeling this way,¡¯ he thought, lifting his head up to let the steaming water rain down on his face.

    It was around the time he started working under the COO that things started to change for him. The COO was strict yet passionate about his work. Seeing Long Jian working hard and performing beyond what was required of him impressed the executive. The COO took Long Jian under his wing, constantly testing his limits by dumping difficult tasks on him. Long Jianpleted everything the COO threw at him with flying colours. The older man became instrumental in Long Jian¡¯s promotion as Deputy COO.

    By closely working with the COO almost everyday, Long Jian finally experienced something that he never had all those years ago as a child¡ªthe presence of an active father figure in his life. The COO was very passionate in his work, yet was still able to bnce it with his family life. Long Jian had been invited to dine at the COO¡¯s home. He had met the older man¡¯s family¡ªhis wife, adult children who all had their own sessful careers, grandchildren, pets and other rtives.

    Whenever Long Jian visited the COO¡¯s home, he was always amazed at its happy and warm atmosphere. It felt like a real family, a real home.

    "They¡¯re so different from each other," he muttered under the hot shower,paring the COO to his own father, Long Tengfei.

    Both the COO and Long Tengfei were sessful men in the business world, but why were their family lives so different from each other? One had a happy,plete and harmonious one while the other one had a severely broken and dysfunctional family (if it could still be called that) where wives, mistresses, children and the other branches were pitted against each other.

    Yes, Long Tengfei cared about all of his children. He was generous in providing for them financial-wise and never batted his eyes about the eye-bulging costs of their education. However, hecked in providing a constant presence in his children¡¯s lives, depriving them of a reliable father figure.

    Compared to Long Tengfei¡¯s distant, hands-off paternal love, the COO¡¯s love was visible and tangible. Once the COO took Long Jian under his wing in thepany, he treated him like a son, mentoring him not only about work but also about life in general. His words of wisdom gradually opened Long Jian¡¯s mind to a wider perspective outside his obsessed hunger to seed his father as the next head of Long Industries.

    As a result, Long Jian awakened his true passion in his work. Now he loved his work as Deputy COO. Truly loved it. It wasn¡¯t just a means to achieve the goal he shared with his mother anymore. This awakening of passion automatically made him perform even better at work,pletely outshining Long Hui and his other peers in thepany.

    There were even some asions that he wouldpletely forget about his goal ofpeting against Long Hui, showing everyone that he was better and deserving to be their father¡¯s sessor because he had be so engrossed in his work for the sheer love of it.

    He turned off the shower but remained standing there for a few moments, as he was finally able to process the changes in his mindset.

    "Long Tengfei is a pathetic excuse of a father." His low voice bounced in a subtle echo around the bathroom.

    There was resentment inside him towards his father...but there was also pity.

    "He wants all of his children to be peaceful." He sighed. "How? We weren¡¯t wired to do that. We were programmed to battle each other. It¡¯s toote."

    ###

    About a weekter, Long Jian was at the airport. He just returned from a quick two-day business trip in another far-away municipality.

    He was often sent out on business trips to supervise official inspections, attend meetings and even close deals on his own. He was also quite a charismatic person, giving a positive impression to clients and partners. This was the reason why the COO liked sending him on important business trips in addition of trusting his ability toplete his assigned tasks.

    The airport wasn¡¯t very busy at this time. He was able to exit quickly. His assistant picked him up. They were heading to the parking area when his assistant received a call. His assistant¡¯s expression changed all of a sudden and gave him a worried look.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Long Jian asked.

    "Sir, your mother is in the police station right now."

    "What?!" Long Jian was shocked. "What happened?!!"

    He was about to grab the phone from his assistant when his eyes caught sight of one of the public TVs around the airport. It was ying the news.

    His expression turned ugly as he watched his mother and Wei Lan fighting each other¡ªwing, pping, hitting, punching, kicking, and hair pulling¡ªon TV.

    The video recording was shaky but the audio was clear.

    "You slut! Don¡¯t act all high and mighty in front of me just because you married a viscount! You¡¯re still the same slut like before!" Zhu Ning shrieked at the top of her lungs as she pulled Wei Lan¡¯s hair with all her might, refusing to let it go, even when several bodyguards and other people were trying to separate the two women.

    The fight happened in a spa. Various eyewitnesses, mostly the spa employees and other customers, spoke to the media and described what really happened.

    ###

 Chapter 573 Wei Lan VS - Zhu Ning Part I

    <h4>Chapter 573 Wei Lan VS - Zhu Ning Part I </h4>

    A few hours ago.

    Wei Lan was scheduled for a facial at a new mall spa that she happened to notice while shopping. She had never been here before but it looked nice, so she wanted to try it, immediately scheduling an appointment. Due to her high exposure in the media recently, the spa employees recognized her in an instant. The estheticians fought for her. In the end, one won over the others.

    Unfortunately, this esthetician assigned to take care of her experienced a family emergency on the day of the appointment and had to cancel at thest minute. All the other estheticians were fully booked that day, but the spa management didn¡¯t want to cancel Wei Lan¡¯s appointment because they already viewed her as the first VVIP of their establishment. They were afraid that if they cancelled her current appointment and tried to reschedule her, they wouldn¡¯t be able to keep her as a regr client. Thus, they decided to prioritize her and had another esthetician dy an appointment with her scheduled client in order to squeeze Wei Lan.

    Unaware of the shady business going on behind the scenes, Wei Lan arrived at the spa for her appointment and strutted like the viscountess that she was. Everyone greeted her, making her feel extremely important and pleasing her to great heights.

    "Good afternoon, Vizcondesa Lan," an esthetician greeted and introduced herself. "I¡¯ll be taking care of you today. Please follow me."

    A big, charming smile broke out of Wei Lan¡¯s face. The esthetician, other spa employees and customers in the waiting area were dazed for a few seconds because her smile resembled her daughter, Iris Long. There was no doubt that Iris Long inherited a good portion of her beauty from Wei Lan.

    After everyone started regaining their senses, Wei Lan followed the esthetician inside for her facial, not knowing that the young woman wasn¡¯t the one originally assigned to her.

    A few minutester, the esthetician¡¯s original client arrived.

    It was Zhu Ning.

    She was one of the spa¡¯s first clients ever since it opened, making her familiar with most of the employees.

    "Good afternoon, Madam Ning," the receptionist greeted, trying to hide her panic.

    "Hi. I¡¯m ready for my facial," she replied and looked around, expecting to see her usual esthetician. She frowned when she didn¡¯t find the young woman.

    "Uh...Madam Zhu, we have a slight problem today with your appointment," the receptionist said. "Your esthetician is currently unavable."

    "What?!" Zhu Ning¡¯s expression turned ugly.

    "We sincerely apologize! I tried calling you many times but...."

    "So you¡¯re telling ME that it¡¯s MY fault for not answering your call?" Zhu Ning¡¯s angry eyes was shooting invisible daggers at the poor receptionist, scaring the young woman.

    "No! That¡¯s not the case at all, Madam Zhu," the receptionist said in a hurry.

    Zhu Ning intimidated the poor receptionist a little bit more before snorting. "So? Tell me what happened."

    The receptionist then made up a random excuse for the unavable esthetician, not admitting that she was working on another client because it would surely infuriate the already frustrated Zhu Ning.

    "If it¡¯s alright with Madam Zhu to wait around two hours, she¡¯ll manage to take care of you today. But if it¡¯s inconvenient to Madam, then we¡¯ll have to reschedule your appointment for another day."

    "Just give me another esthetician," Zhu Ning said, a scowl on her face.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Madam Zhu, but all of our estheticians are booked today."

    "What an unprofessional spa!"

    Zhu Ning startedining, insulting, and arguing with the receptionist, eventually reducing the poor young woman to tears. The manager and other staff were forced to make an appearance tofort the receptionist and try to appease the raging Zhu Ning. However, Zhu Ning didn¡¯t stop. She refused to ept their exnations and offers, spending almost two hours making a ruckus. Even when the mall security was called, they still couldn¡¯t control Zhu Ning.

    Everyone was now fed up with Zhu Ning. Themotion she was causing was affecting the spa¡¯s business. They weren¡¯t able to answer calls or cater to their other clients. Some of the arriving clients even left as soon as they saw themotion, not bothering to check in at the reception desk.

    "What in the world is happening out here? Why is it so noisy?" Wei Lan¡¯s voice sounded from the inner hallway until she finally appeared with a refreshed and dewy skin from the facial. Zhu Ning¡¯s original esthetician followed behind her.

    As soon as Zhu Ning saw Wei Lan with her esthetician, she immediately made the connection as to why her appointment had to be cancelled. Her ugly expression turned even uglier.

    "So it¡¯s you, slut! You¡¯re the one who caused this mess for me! How dare you steal my appointment and esthetician!"

    Wei Lan was shocked to see a furious Zhu Ning shouting at her. She had no idea what was going on, only thinking that the crazy woman was unable to control herself upon seeing her as usual. If this was before, Wei Lan would have already shouted at Zhu Ning and fought with her, but now she controlled her temper.

    ¡¯You¡¯re a viscountess now,¡¯ she told herself.

    She lifted her chin and showed an uninterested expression. "I don¡¯t knooooow what you¡¯re talking about," she told Zhu Ning before ignoring her. Then she turned to the esthetician and the other spa employees. "Thaaaaaaank you for today. I need to go now. Goodbyyyyyyyye!"

    "Goodbye, Vizcondesa Lan! Pleasee again," they told her in a fawning tone.

    This exchange between Wei Lan and the employees in addition to being ignored infuriated Zhu Ning even more. She pounced and started attacking Wei Lan. The spa employees and the other clients tried to block her and protect Wei Lan. However, Zhu Ning was like an out of control, violent chimpanzee.

    She grabbed the front of Wei Lan¡¯s dress, almost ripping it off of her body, all the while wing, hitting and even kicking her. When Wei Lan¡¯s French twist hairdo came loose from the violent movements, Zhu Ning grabbed her hair and pulled hard.

    ###

 Chapter 574 Wei Lan VS - Zhu Ning Part II

    <h4>Chapter 574 Wei Lan VS - Zhu Ning Part II </h4>

    Wei Lan yelped, feeling several locks of her haire off of her head from Zhu Ning¡¯s violent ws. Her eyes shed with pain, hatred and fury. Then she started retaliating at Zhu Ning, wing and hitting and pulling hair as well.

    Then she noticed that there was now a crowd of people by the spa¡¯s entrance. They were recording the altercation on video with their phones. Wei Lan gritted her teeth and stopped fighting, enduring Zhu Ning¡¯s violent attacks instead. There was no way she would let this crazy woman destroy the good reputation she had built up since returning to the country!

    "Help! Heeeeeelp meeeee! This craaaaaazy woman is attacking meeeeee! She¡¯s going to kill meeeeeeee!" Wei Lan started crying and screaming in a pitiful manner.

    A group of men wearing ck suits rushed inside the spa. They were Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates who were now working as Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards. They didn¡¯t apany her inside the spa because she told them that they didn¡¯t match the intimate and feminine ambience of the ce. She instructed them to go walk around the mall and just wait for her call when she was ready to be picked up. This was the reason why it took them so long to respond to themotion. They were at the mall¡¯s food court eating some snacks when they noticed a number of excited people heading to the same direction.

    "Come, quick! Iris Long¡¯s mother is having a fight with another woman! Let¡¯s watch!"

    "Dammit! Who dares bully Boss Iris¡¯ mom?!" someone roared before taking off his shoes and waving them in the air. "I¡¯m gonna whack that witch with my mighty slippers!"

    "Those are shoes, not slippers!"

    "Shut up! Let¡¯s hurry! We gotta protect our boss¡¯ mom!"

    "Yeah!"

    The bodyguards became rmed after overhearing what the people were saying. They immediately hurried to the spa and found that, indeed, Wei Lan was being beaten by a violent woman. They immediately rushed in to protect her, blocking her from the attacks.

    "You slut!" Zhu Ning shrieked at the top of her lungs, pulling Wei Lan¡¯s hair with all her might, even as the bodyguards mped around her wrists, trying to force her to let go. "Don¡¯t act all high and mighty in front of me just because you married a viscount! You¡¯re still the same slut like before!"

    Wei Lan¡¯s first instinct to such offensive insults was to fight eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. Her own anger was quickly exceeding her self-restraint. It was taking everything she had not to w Zhu Ning¡¯s eyes out with her red talons. Fortunately, part of her consciousness was focused on the growing crowd by the entrance.

    "What did you say, you crazy hag?! How dare you spout such hateful words to our boss¡¯ mom?! Slipper cannon!"

    A shoe was thrown but failed to hit Zhu Ning, bouncing on the floor instead. She didn¡¯t even notice that someone threw something at her. She was too busy attacking Wei Lan.

    "Slipper bazooka!"

    Another shoe was thrown. This time, it hit Zhu Ning¡¯s back.

    "Which bastard threw a smelly shoe at me?!!" Zhu Ning shrieked, shooting a furious re at the crowd.

    "It¡¯s not me!" a barefooted man shouted. "I¡¯m innocent! Stop spouting lies!"

    "Yeah! I didn¡¯t see nor smelled any smelly shoe!" the barefooted man¡¯s friend supported him. "Maybe something is wrong with your eyes and nose!"

    "And your brain, too!"

    "What did you say?!!" Zhu Ning¡¯s fury was diverted from Wei Lan to the two trolls. She lunged at them but the mall¡¯s security immediately pulled the trolls out of the spa and blocked Zhu Ning, causing them to be scratched in the face by her.

    Right at that moment, the barefooted man¡¯s phone began ringing.

    "Oh, stars above

    Oh,nd of dreams

    I failed but I¡¯m still dreaming..."

    Everyone present recognized the song, including Zhu Ning.

    "Shut that damn phone off!"

    However, the ringtone continued ying.

    "No matter how far a ck star falls

    It¡¯s still a star that can glow again..."

    Zhu Ning continued roaring and struggling against the mall¡¯s security guards. "Turn it off!!! I don¡¯t want to hear that little slut¡¯s song!!!"

    The two ck Stars were members of the notorious online troll group Slippers Army. They were triggered by Zhu Ning¡¯s offensive words.

    "Fuck! Bro, give me your slippers!" the barefooted man demanded his friend. "I¡¯m gonna shove them down this dirty-mouthed hag¡¯s throat! How dare she say those things about our boss!"

    "Wait a sec!" His friend actually began removing his shoes.

    "Don¡¯t you dare take off those shoes! Move aside and let us handle this," the mall security warned them. "If you don¡¯tply, we¡¯ll report you and turn you in for causing trouble when the police arrives."

    The two ck Stars froze before giving a sheepish smile.

    "Oh, ahahaha! Who¡¯s causing trouble? Not us! We¡¯re peace lovers!"

    "Yeah! We follow the example of our boss and act with respect, dignity and elegance. Ahahaha... Don¡¯t mind us, please continue doing your job. We¡¯ll be on our way now. Bye!"

    The two started retreating.

    "Hey! Go get your shoes first," the security guard said.

    "What shoes? I didn¡¯t wear any shoes today! Yeah! I came to the mall with no shoes on! That¡¯s the current fashion trend right now!"

    "Yeah! It¡¯s called the ¡¯I woke up with no shoes like this¡¯ trend! It¡¯s super popr right now! Buh-bye!"

    After the two trolls were gone, frightened by the threat of being reported to the police, Zhu Ning returned inside the spa to attack and rage at Wei Lan once again.

    "You mother and daughter are the same! Both of you are fame-hungry sluts! I¡¯m going to scratch your faces off! Let¡¯s see if the people will still love you once the two of you be ugly!"

    Wei Lan was well aware of the many phones recording them right now, so she maintained her calm poise mixed with abination of frightened, pitiful and indignant expression.

    "We never saw eye to eye since back then, Zhuuuuu Ning. But our conflict should remain only betweeeeeen the two of us. Don¡¯t draaaaaaag my daughter into our conflict! You can curse at meeeeee but I won¡¯t allow you to baaaaaadmouth my daughter!"

    ###

 Chapter 575 Wei Lan VS - Zhu Ning Part III

    <h4>Chapter 575 Wei Lan VS - Zhu Ning Part III </h4>

    Wei Lan¡¯s words touched the people watching the altercation. They admired her maternal protectiveness towards her daughter, Iris Long. They cheered for her and threw disgusted res at Zhu Ning.

    "You damn fake bitch!" Zhu Ning screamed.

    Her dirty mouth earned even harsher condemnation from the crowd.

    Seeing the crowd going against her and siding with her mortal enemy, Zhu Ning went crazier with fury. She struggled even harder against the mall security guards, injuring some of them.

    "I hate you! I hate you so much! I hope you die, Wei Lan you slut! Your daughter too! I hope you both die! The world will be a better ce without a slut mother and daughter like the two of you! I¡¯ll kill you both!! KILL YOU!!!"

    The crowd gasped hearing Zhu Ning¡¯s demented words.

    Pak!

    Wei Lan pped Zhu Ning in the face.

    "I can ignore you cursing me. I can ignore it! But cuuuuuursing this viscountess¡¯ daughter? Unfoooooorgivable!"

    "BITCH!"

    The various amateur livestreams of the fight had now be top trending. Online entertainment news website worked fast, releasing details and updates of the altercation as it was happening by being in direct correspondence with the eyewitnesses. Sensational headlines popped up all over the inte.

    "Viscountess Wei Lan in a Public Fight with an Angry Spa Customer!"

    "Wei Lan Beaten ck and Blue By an Anti-Fan!"

    "Crazy Lady Threatens to Kill Iris Long and her Viscountess Mother!"

    "Police Arrives and Drags Wei Lan¡¯s Attacker to Police Station!"

    It didn¡¯t take long for some people to figure out the attacker¡¯s identity. Someizens who knew her immediatelymented and informed everyone.

    "That crazy woman is Zhu Ning. She¡¯s CEO Long Tengfei¡¯s former mistress before he married Madam Wei Lan. Zhu Ning bore CEO Long a son who is Iris Long¡¯s older half-brother."

    "Zhu Ning failed to marry Long Tengfei no matter how many times she tried seducing him to propose to her. But in the end, he still chose to marry Wei Lan, that¡¯s why Zhu Ning hates her very much. Wei Lan seeded where she failed miserably!"

    "Shameless woman! She¡¯s just a mistress! How dare she call the legal wife and daughter sluts?! Wei Lan might only be the second wife but at least she¡¯s still a legal wife, not like that shameless Zhu Ning who¡¯s just a mistress! Zhu Ning should look in the mirror before spouting such insults! She¡¯s the slut!"

    Theizens condemned Zhu Ning¡¯s shameless and hypocritical behaviour. They were rankled by how she threatened to kill not only Wei Lan but also Iris Long. By this time, Iris Long was someone the general public was celebrating due to her great aplishments since the year started. They took offense at Zhu Ning threatening such a talented and respectable young woman.

    ###

    At the police station.

    The ce was surrounded by reporters, curious passersby and rumourmongers. Several police officers were mobilized to control the crowd and to keep them away from the police station.

    Both Wei Lan and Zhu Ning were already inside. A few minutester, Attorney Hong Shaoqiang arrived to represent Wei Lan. He was recognized by some of the reporters as Iris Long¡¯swyer. People were waiting if anotherwyer would arrive to represent Zhu Ning. However, no such person came.

    It wasn¡¯t that Zhu Ning didn¡¯t contact herwyer. She did but he was unavable. She tried calling her son to ask for help but couldn¡¯t contact him. Then she remembered that Long Jian should be on a flight back home at that moment. She called some of her friends, asking them to lend her awyer but they were taking a long time to respond to her request.

    "I want to sue that slu¡ªWei Lan for physical assault!!!" Zhu Ning announced inside the station while the police officers were taking testimonies from all sides, including the spa management and some key eyewitnesses from the mall. At least she remembered not to curse too much while in the presence of the police officers. Then she showed them her hands and arms. "Look at my bruises! I¡¯m injured! All of these were because of that woman!"

    Wei Lan crossed her arms and lifted her chin in an indignant manner. "You got those bruises because you keeeeeep on beating me up! It¡¯s not myyyyy fault! Mr. Police Officer, look at me. My bruises are woooooorse than hers! I have scratches all oooooooover my body! Ah! I¡¯m in sooooo much pain!"

    "Shut up, slut!"

    Wei Lan shrank back and showed a frightened expression. She also made her eyes water to maximize the effect, quickly ncing at the police officers to make sure that they could see how "scared" she was of Zhu Ning.

    Attorney Hong Shaoqiang stepped forward and took over discussing the matter with the police. He didn¡¯t let Wei Lan speak anymore. As a skilledwyer, he was able to dig the truth of what really happened. The spa manager revealed that it was their fault for changing the appointments on the spot in order to prioritize Wei Lan and push back Zhu Ning without a proper notification.

    "Now we know that my client has no fault or responsibility in this matter," the attorney said. "Madam Zhu¡¯s usation that my client stole her appointment and esthetician is unfounded. Therefore, the real victim in this case is my client!"

    The spa manager and other employees looked sorry and ashamed for what they did, while Zhu Ning appeared as if she still didn¡¯t believe that it wasn¡¯t Wei Lan¡¯s fault.

    After cooperating with the police, Wei Lan andpany left the station.

    When they were gone, Zhu Ning felt helpless alone. She didn¡¯t have awyer to represent her.

    Being in the police station had somewhat calmed her down. She stopped carelessly raging at everyone. The intense negative feelings she let explode earlier and the gravity of the current situation finally started catching up with her. She felt dizzy, short of breath, and her chest felt tight and heavy.

    Fortunately, there was an on-duty police medic at the station who immediately examined her. Momentster, the medic helped stabilize her condition. She felt better albeit looked cold and pale.

    ¡¯I wish my son is here with me,¡¯ she thought.

    ###

 Chapter 576 - Magnanimous Viscountess

    <h4>Chapter 576 - Magnanimous Viscountess </h4>

    Outside the police station, Wei Lan andpany weren¡¯t able to leave immediately because there was a big crowd blocking their way. The reporters were shouting questions at them.

    "For now, my client and I need to discuss our next steps regarding the altercation with Madam Zhu. It was the other party who instigated the incident. My client, the viscountess, ispletely innocent in this case. She is the victim," Attorney Hong Shaoqiang spoke to the reporters.

    The reporters turned to Wei Lan. She spoke after receiving a nod of approval from the attorney.

    "I am deeeeply embarrassed that all of you witnessed such a shaaaaaameful incident between I and Zhu Ning. Because of our former rtionship with the same man, the father of both our childreeeeen, Zhu Ning and I have always been at odds with each other. We are like oil and water. We have neeeeeever gotten along. I don¡¯t deny that. I just wish that she stops draaaaaaagging my lovely daughter into our conflict. She even threatened to kill my baaaaaaaby! How could I sit still after thaaaaat?! My daughter is happily engaged with deeeeeaaaar Liwei but she¡¯s also veeeery busy with her showbiz work and herpany Orchidia Beauty. I¡¯m sooooo proud of her but also worried because she works soooooo hard! That¡¯s why I¡¯m doing my beeeeeest to help run her foundation, Iris of Hope. I don¡¯t want this embarrassing incident to worry her and distract her from moooooore important matters that she neeeeds to take care of.

    "I hope that Zhu Ning calms down and realizes that we should mooooove on and groooooow up. We¡¯re not young anymoooore. It has been so looooong and I¡¯m tired of fighting with her. I just want to enjoy the rest of my life with my beloooooved husband." She giggled at this point. "And also to enjoy my new cloooooser rtionship with my daughter and my fuuuuuture son-inw. Zhu Ning and I may neeeever be best friends but at least I hope that we stop trying to tear each other apart whenever we meet. I think that it¡¯s the right tiiiiiiiiime to put things in the past where they belooooong."

    The crowd oohed and aahed at her speech. They praised her for being magnanimous, even when her clothes were ripped, her hair was in disarray, and her body was covered in bruises and scratches.

    "A woman of ss, just like Boss Iris!"

    "Yeah! Not like that barbaric hag who only knows how to use her fists!"

    "She¡¯s just an ex-mistress! How dare she beat up the legal wife?!"

    "Wei Lan is also an ex, you know!"

    "But at least she¡¯s an ex-legal wife!"

    The ck Stars among the crowd sided with Wei Lan. They felt angry on her behalf, especially after hearing such a magnanimous speech. She was indeed the mother of their Boss Iris! To these loyal fans, the mother and daughter were the epitomes of ss and elegance even during adversities like this. Knowing that someone was threatening these lovelydies filled them with hatred towards Zhu Ning.

    As for Wei Lan, she could feel that the people were sympathizing with her. She made sure to show a "sincere" and "heartfelt" expression to maximize the people¡¯s sympathy for her.

    ¡¯1-0! Loser: Zhu Ning. Winner: MEEEE,¡¯ she mentally chuckled, smug at the aftermath of Zhu Ning¡¯s stupidity.

    The people were on her side.

    ###

    Two dayster, Iris was on the road travelling to a mall show. Dom and Tang Yiyi were with her inside the executive van. Her male bodyguard was driving while her female bodyguard sat on the passenger seat. There was another vehicle following behind them manned by Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates. The mall show was expected to be crowded, so her security was a big priority today.

    They were currently discussing Wei Lan and her fight with Zhu Ning the other day. It was all over the news ever since then.

    Ketchup informed Iris about the situation while it was happening, so she was able to send herwyer to Wei Lan at the police station. Attorney Hong Shaoqiang was currently busy working with Grandpa Lu and Jin Liwei¡¯swyers to prepare for Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s custody battle against Long Hui for Little Jun. It was fortunate that thewyer treated her as a VIP client and immediately responded to her request to represent Wei Lan out of the blue.

    "Poor Mama Boss! Her beautiful face and skin were scratched and bruised by that evil woman! Hmph!" Dom huffed.

    Iris sighed. "Attorney Hong said that Mother decided not to file a case against that Zhu Ning. I asked Mother for the reason and she said that it will reflect badly on her husband¡¯s noble reputation if she got involved in a legal case like this. Using her own words, she is trying to be ¡¯magnanimous¡¯."

    "I was really shocked when I saw on TV that your mother was being beaten up," Tang Yiyi said.

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned cold. "That Zhu Ning better learn her lesson."

    There was a part of her that was angry at Zhu Ning for hurting and insulting Wei Lan. She might not consider Wei Lan as her true mother, but the woman was still the one who gave birth to the body she was living in now. Without Wei Lan, there literally would be no Iris Long born in the world. In addition, Wei Lan had proven herself to have changed for the better ever since returning to the country. She had also been working hard as an ambassador for Iris of Hope.

    "Hmph! That evil woman is just bitter and jealous of Mama Boss and you, boss!" Dom continued toin about Zhu Ning.

    Iris put a stop to the conversation when they finally arrived at the mall. The parking was full and there was already a great crowd of people scattered throughout the immediate vicinity of the mall. They weren¡¯t shoppers but fans. The majority of them held banners with her name and image.

    "Wow! Look at all those people. Ehehehe." Dom whipped out his phone and started recording the scene on video, nning to post itter on Iris¡¯ social media pages.

    "Ready, Iris?" Tang Yiyi asked.

    "Of course," Iris replied with a smile. "It¡¯s showtime."

    ###

 Chapter 577 - Love Song Of The Year

    <h4>Chapter 577 - Love Song Of The Year </h4>

    A sea of people packed inside the mall. From a bird¡¯s eye view, they looked like a colony of ants inside their anthill. They filled all floors, looking down by the railings to the stage set up on the ground floor. Even when no celebrities appeared yet, they were already screaming and chanting and crying their hearts out.

    The mall show was hosted by a popr daily afternoon-time TV program. It would usually broadcast live from the studio every weekday, but sometimes it would travel to different ces like festivals, amusement parks, and in this case, malls. Today, it was sponsored by the mall to showcase the new renovations and newly added stores.

    For the first half of the program, the hosts did their usual talk-sh-variety segments. Then finally...

    "We have very special guests today," one of the hosts announced. "And I know that they¡¯re the real reason why all of you came here today!"

    The crowd cheered.

    "Aaaw. And here I thought you all came for me! What a way to dash my over-confidence," the other host joked.

    Everyoneughed and continued to do so as they hosts bantered with each other.

    "Now,dies and gentlemen, without further ado, from the hit TV drama ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯¡ª"

    "Singing the love song of the year ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯, please wee¡ª"

    "JIN CHONGLIN and IRIS LONG!!!"

    The crowd went wild, almost screaming the roof off the mall. Their noise could be heard by the people outside the mall. It was that loud.

    Iris and Jin Chonglin walked out of a nearby store, apparently hiding there the whole time. The wild crowd went even crazier when they appeared. The two were encircled by tight security made up of Iris and Jin Chonglin¡¯s personal bodyguards in addition to the mall security. Iris and Jin Chonglin waved at the crowd, as the opening of their song yed in the background.

    Still walking on their way to the stage, Jin Chonglin raised his mic and began singing. His voice was deep and smooth, making the majority of people shiver with delight, like they ate something warm and sweet.

    "Walking down the town of life

    I caught a glimpse of you"

    The crowd of adoring fans raised their hands up in the air and waved it along with the music while singing along. Everyone looked like one giant coral reef waving their tentacles with the flowing water. It was an amazing sight to see. The cameras took several shots of the audience, giving the live viewers at home an idea of how spectacr the impromptu effect was.

    Jin Chonglin continued singing while pointing at the adoring crowd and shing them with his killer smile. Many fans fainted right there and then. The hand waving was interrupted as his army of fans descended into hysterical screaming and shrieking.

    "Your beautiful self

    Making even the flowers smile back"

    They finally reached the stage. He climbed up first before extending a hand to help Iris after him, as she also began to sing.

    "Smitten I followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    Some were already having goosebumps and even tearing up because Iris Long¡¯s voice always sounded so exquisite ever since hereback. She was the type of singer whose live performance¡¯s voice sounded almost the same, sometimes even better, than the original studio recordings of her songs.

    The music became full as the sound of the orchestra yed in the background, washing over the sea of people inside the mall. Iris and Jin Chonglin were singing with only a recording of the song because it was inconvenient to bring their musicians to this mall show. The two originally nned on ying an acoustic version where either Iris or Jin Chonglin would y the guitar, but the TV program asked them to sing with the recording instead, saying that the full studio version of the song would sound better on TV than an acoustic version.

    Now the two were at the centre of the stage, serenading everyone with what was dubbed the love song of the year. Their voices soared together, harmonizing perfectly as if they belonged together. The original LinRis fans could only sigh at the fact that the two were meant to be siblings-inw and not lovers.

    The audience continued singing along with them, many with tears flowing down their faces. Even a couple of the hosts standing beside the stage could be seen dabbing at their eyes.

    Iris and Jin Chonglin sang thest line of the song together while looking at each other¡¯s eyes. Both of them had smiles on their faces. She, a bright smile showing how much she was enjoying the performance. He, a deep smile tinged with a little sadness.

    "I got you~"

    As soon as the song ended, a booming sound of apuse, cheering, screaming, shrieking and crying reverberated throughout the entire mall.

    "LINRIS! LINRIS!! LINRIS!!!"

    Even though most of their fans already epted that Iris was engaged to Jin Chonglin¡¯s elder brother and not to him, they still used their couple name to cheer for them...because it was easier to chant.

    "Thank you, everyone!"

    "Thank you very much!"

    Iris and Jin Chonglin bowed and waved at their adoring fans after their performance. The hosts came forward and sandwiched the two of them in the centre before beginning to interview them.

    It was a short interview because time was tight. The TV program was being broadcast live and they had to follow a strict time allowance for each segment. The massive crowd of people in the mall might havee for Iris and Jin Chonglin but at the end of the day, the two were still only special guests in today¡¯s show. They were only supposed to perform their one song, "Shining Eyes", and also to promote their uing song which would be released soon this month.

    "I wrote ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ while Senior Chonglin wrote our next song," Iris told everyone. "The two songs are very different, corresponding to our own distinct musical styles, but both still talk about the same universal theme of love. Yes, our next song will still be a love song but with a kick."

    ###

 Chapter 578 - The Box

    <h4>Chapter 578 - The Box </h4>

    Everyone oohed and aahed after hearing Iris¡¯ im that her uing song with Jin Chonglin would be a "love song but with a kick".

    "That¡¯s right!" Jin Chonglin immediately backed her up. "Not only a kick but an entire burning workout! It¡¯s hot and spicy! You¡¯re all gonna sweat from the heat!"

    His army of loyal fans started shrieking in excitement. They fanned themselves, already sweating just from hearing his hot voice.

    Iris and Jin Chonglin already started dropping tiny teasers sincest month. Most of them were behind-the-scenes photos or short clips from the recording studio or music video. Indeed, based on those teasers, the uing song wasn¡¯t emotional and wholesome like "Shining Eyes". It was hot, fierce and sexy...or at least that was the impression most people got.

    "Prince Lin Lin, the teasers aren¡¯t enough! Please give us more!"

    "Boss Iris, are you going to dance in the next song? Please don¡¯t revert to your old trashy image! I want my ssy and elegant Boss Iris, not the bratty and trashy Iris Long from back then!"

    With her great hearing, Iris heard this onement. It wasn¡¯t only this person. It seemed that quite a few ck Stars were worried that she would change her current image and "revert" to the old Iris Long¡¯s wannabe sex symbol image. She couldn¡¯t help but inwardly sigh.

    Pasting a smile on her face, she pretended not to hear these worriedments from her fans. She would just let the music video speak for itself.

    Finally, their time was up. Iris and Jin Chonglin left the stage while the TV program went into amercial break. The hosts bid them goodbye and prepared for the next segment.

    It felt like nobody could hear anything because of the deafening sounds of the cheering crowd. They didn¡¯t stop screaming and shrieking, as their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris were assisted through the tight crowd by the security.

    "Be gentle. Don¡¯t hurt anyone," Iris reminded her own bodyguards as several fans tried to touch and grab her.

    The same thing was happening to Jin Chonglin. A couple of fans were even able to slip through his bodyguard¡¯s protection to grab his neck and kiss him on the cheek. It was clear that his own bodyguards were not as strong as Iris¡¯ tough security consisting not only of her own bodyguards but also abination of Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s well-trained subordinates. Nobody was able to slip past their protection to get to her, unless she allowed them.

    She liked personally interacting with her fans¡ªshaking hands with them, sometimes even hugging them, signing autographs, taking photos with them, and receiving fan letters, flowers, and other gifts. Right now, as she and Jin Chonglin squeezed their way through the crowd, their fans were handing various presents to the two of them.

    "I love you, Boss Iris! I don¡¯t care what others say! You¡¯re the best musician in the world for me! Yes, even better than Prince Lin Lin!" a fan cried while shoving a small teddy bear and letter to Iris.

    "Hey! I heard that!" Jin Chonglinined.

    The surrounding peopleughed at the exchange. His army of fans didn¡¯t take offence at the fan¡¯s words, a ck Star. The two fandoms had developed a close rtionship ever since Fan Luo¡¯s evil deeds were exposed to the public. They became even closer this season due to their prince and boss¡¯ music coborations and the fact the Iris Long and Jin Chonglin would eventually be siblings-inw. They were basically family now, making their own fandoms feel as if they were family as well.

    Dom, Tang Yiyi, Lin Dong and Jin Chonglin¡¯s assistant managed to meet them, joining their protected group. They didn¡¯t return to the store they were hiding at earlier before their performance. Instead, they now headed to a secure hidden hallway in the mall with a backdoor directly leading to a separate management-only parking lot outside. Their vehicles should already be waiting for them there.

    While they struggled to move through the great crowd, the fans kept on giving letters and gifts to Iris and Jin Chonglin. Their managers and assistants were prepared, carrying huge bags for the gifts. Both Iris and Jin Chonglin would hand whatever they received to them.

    The fans who were unable to get near the group resorted to throwing the presents instead. Even the fans looking down by the railings in the upper floors were tossing the gifts they prepared, hoping tond on their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris. Some of the gifts were caught, some missed. The fans who missed their throws could only sigh at their bad luck.

    Despite the stressful situation of being squeezed like sardines in a tight can, both Iris and Jin Chonglin still maintained big smiles on their faces as they interacted with their fans. Their managers, assistants and bodyguards yed the role of bad guys whenever a fan needed to be reprimanded or warned not to get too close.

    One fan caught Iris¡¯ attention. He was a skinny young man who looked to be in his early twenties, wearing a nice navy blue tuxedo suit, identifying as a ck Star with his outfit. She thought that he looked charming with his boyish, lopsided smile. However, there was something about him that made Iris pause. She didn¡¯t know exactly what it was. Her instinct was telling her to take note of this guy.

    The male fan noticed her looking at him. His smile grew wider.

    "I love you so much, Boss Iris," he told her.

    His tone caught her attention because he spoke in a calm voice, unlike the other excited, screaming fans. She was able to hear what he said with her great hearing. Even if she couldn¡¯t, she would still be able to read his lips.

    Then he lifted a box that had a logo of a popr bakery shop, offering it to Iris. It must be a cake. He was able to squeeze himself to the front until only the security was separating them.

    Iris smiled at him and received the box. "Thank you."

    "You¡¯re wee," he replied but continued to hold on to the box.

    ###

 Chapter 579 - Scene From Hell

    <h4>Chapter 579 - Scene From Hell </h4>

    The current situation was that both Iris and the man were holding the cake box together because he refused to let it go immediately. Iris kept the smile on her face. It was normal for her to encounter fans like this. There were people who would want to prolong direct contact with her by refusing to let her go during handshakes, hugs, or in this case, gift-giving.

    As a rule, Tang Yiyi told her not to say no to her fans. It would be her entourage¡¯s job to y the bad guys and drive away any persistent fans who were being too touchy-feely with her, especially when the fans were males. And indeed, the bodyguard closest to her immediately blocked the man and warned him away.

    The man finally released the box and stepped back, not resisting the bodyguard, but still continued to speak to Iris. "My name is Tian Kong. Please remember it. I¡¯m a big fan."

    A faint furrow formed between her brows when she felt the weight of the box after he released it. However, she wasn¡¯t able to think much about it because Tian Kong distracted her with his words.

    "I¡¯ve supported you ever since your first showbizeback. You were so amazing! I immediately became a big fan. I was one of the earliest members of the ck Stars. I bought all of your albums and merchandise. I was even able to buy one of your Orchidia Beauty facial skincare set before it sold out in 5 seconds."

    "Thank you very much for your support, Mr. Tian Kong. I appreciate it," she told him.

    "I also sent you so many fan letters and gifts before but I never got a reply from you."

    "Sorry about that. I receive so many. I¡¯ll keep you in mind when I check my fan letters next. Thank you."

    One of her bodyguards blocked Tian Kong even more and barked, "Move it."

    Tian Kong, however, bent his head to the side,pletely ignoring the bodyguard in order to continue looking and speaking with Iris. She was now beginning to feel ufortable with this persistent fan.

    "You¡¯re the best musician for me, Boss Iris! You¡¯re still so young and have so many years ahead of you to experience more sess! Why would you be engaged so early? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise to marry when you¡¯re still so young!"

    Iris¡¯ smile disappeared and she stepped back. Another bodyguard squeezed himself through the crowd in order to help his colleague block Tian Kong. The other ck Stars were now reprimanding him.

    "That¡¯s not up for you to decide! How dare you boss our boss around?! You have no right!"

    "I agree with you to some degree but mind your own business! We, the ck Stars, are always supportive of our Boss Iris no matter what! If you don¡¯t support her decision to marry CEO Jin, then you¡¯re not a real ck Star!"

    Tian Kong¡¯s expression turned dark. He red at the fans scolding him.

    Iris felt touched when her other fans began defending her rtionship with Jin Liwei but still thought that the situation was getting out of hand.

    "Everyone, please calm down. There¡¯s no need to fight with each other. Let¡¯s maintain peace and order, okay?" she told them.

    "Kyaaaaah! Boss Iris asked something of me! Yes, boss! Peace and order are now my ultimate virtues in life!"

    "Sorry, boss! We won¡¯t fight with each other anymore!"

    The surrounding fans all nodded. It was only Tian Kong who had an expression of ridicule on his face as he watched the others obeying Iris. Her two bodyguards were able to drive him back, but right at that moment, his expression transformed into a smug one.

    Iris was watching him, the niggling feeling she felt earlier only became stronger with each passing second. When she saw his smug expression, rm bells started ringing in her mind. He looked at her again and nced at the cake box she was holding before looking away. If she wasn¡¯t observing him, she would have missed this.

    She raised the box close to her face and sniffed at it. At first, she could only smell the faint scent of cardboard. She couldn¡¯t smell any sweetness of cake or pastries at all. In addition to its unusual weight, she began to have a bad feeling. It was only then that her nose registered another smell.

    It was very faint but it struck her like lightning. She froze and her expression turned into rm. Her rm turned into fear when she saw Tian Kong¡¯s hand reached inside his trouser pocket where a rectangr bulge from his phone could be seen.

    There was no time. Her instincts took over.

    "Everyone, duck!!!"

    Then she threw the box up in the air as hard as she could. For two seconds, the people around her were confused. Only a few listened to her. Most watched the cake box fly in the air, wondering what Iris was ying.

    Tian Kong¡¯s expression turned furious when he saw what Iris did. She red at him while grabbing both Dom and Tang Yiyi to the ground.

    BOOM!!!

    A sh of fiery red and orange lit up in the air. The shockwave caused the people to drop to the ground. Everyone couldn¡¯t hear the cacophony of their own screams over the loud sound of the explosion.

    The mall descended into chaos, turning into a scene from hell.

    ###

    At the same time at Jin Corporation.

    Jin Liwei was at a meeting with his fellow executives and some key personnel when a loud siren sound started ring inside the conference room.

    Everyone automatically took cover under the tables, their bodies moving on instinct from the regr emergency drills thepany made them do. Rose Young moved a couple of beats slowerpared to the others because she was the newest one to work in thepany among the group.

    "W-what¡¯s happening? Is there a fire? Shouldn¡¯t we run outside?" she asked in a slightly panicked voice before looking at Jin Liwei.

    If there was no Xu Tian blocking her way, she would¡¯ve already thrown herself at Jin Liwei under the table and pretended to be afraid in order to seekfort from him.

    ###

 Chapter 580 - Going Crazy

    <h4>Chapter 580 - Going Crazy </h4>

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t respond or even look at Rose Young. He had no interest or time for the woman, even though he also wondered what was happening. Then his phone started vibrating on top of the table. He ignored it at first but it wouldn¡¯t stop, so he reached up and grabbed it. A bad feeling came over him when he saw the caller disy. He tapped the phone and ced it on his ear.

    "Emergency! Emergency! Mommy is in danger! A bomb exploded in the mall! A fan tried to harm Mommy and everyone present in the area! Mommy is alive but is in danger of being crushed from the sudden stampede! I repeat! This is an emergency! Mreow!"

    Jin Liwei felt like his heart stopped after hearing Ketchup¡¯s growling words. He immediately got out from under the table.

    "There¡¯s an emergency. I have to go. I¡¯ll leave everything here to you," he instructed the COO. "Xu Tian, let¡¯s go. Hurry."

    He ran out of the room¡ªliterally ran. Xu Tian had no choice but to run as well in order to follow him.

    "Big Brother Liwei¡ªI mean CEO Jin, where are you going?" Rose Young asked, but as usual, she was ignored.

    The COO, Rose Young, and the others watched the two disappear from sight. They felt confused but also curious, especially because the loud emergency rm immediately stopped once Jin Liwei and Xu Tian exited the conference room. One of younger participants of the meeting peeked outside.

    "Huh? Everyone is acting normal outside. Did the emergency rm only activate in this room?"

    Others went outside the conference room and asked around, confirming that nobody heard any emergency rm in thepany except for them. Coupled with their President¡¯s unusual behaviour, this incident quickly became a hot topic of discussion among them.

    Later...

    Jin Liwei was now seated inside a vehicle. Xu Tian was driving him because there was no time to call for a driver. Ketchup continued to update him through the vehicle¡¯s system.

    "Daddy, Uncle Haohao is calling."

    "Answer it."

    The call connected.

    "Something happened to little sister." Lu Zihao¡¯s low voice was cold and devoid of any emotions, totally unlike his usual happy-go-lucky attitude.

    "I know. I¡¯m on my way to her," Jin Liwei said.

    "I¡¯m on my way as well."

    "En." Jin Liwei¡¯s expression was tense. He urged Xu Tian to drive faster. It wasn¡¯t rush hour yet but the road was rtively busy, making Jin Liwei wish he could fly or better yet teleport to his baby girl as soon as possible. However, he forced himself to calm down. "Ketchup, share your reports to your Uncle Zihao as well."

    "Okay, Daddy!"

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao felt relieved to hear that their subordinates have safely escorted Iris, Dom and Tang Yiyi out of the stampede.

    Oh, and Jin Chonglin¡¯s group as well. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao almost forgot. The two weren¡¯t too concerned about him because he was some distance away from Iris¡¯ group, far away from the explosion itself. He also had his own security team protecting him.

    Ketchup showed her daddy and uncle a recording of the mall¡¯s surveince video when the explosion happened. They watched it at the same time, even though both of them were in different ces. They could also hear each other¡¯s voices because the call between them was still active. However, neither of them made a sound as they watched the most important woman in their lives throw what deceptively looked like a cake box up in the air as hard as she could before it exploded.

    If she didn¡¯t throw it...the two men didn¡¯t want to imagine what would happen to her.

    Both of them attempted to call Iris several times but couldn¡¯t go through. It seemed that Iris¡¯ group was too busy heading to safety and dealing with the chaos. It was possible for Ketchup to hijack the surrounding online devices but didn¡¯t do so because the cat AI already confirmed that her mommy was alive. More important than this, her mommy also ced a lot of restrictions on her to prevent her from speaking aloud in a crowd of non-approved strangers. All Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao could do was to wait until someone from her group answered their calls or when it was safe enough for Ketchup to initiate the contact.

    "How much longer?" Jin Liwei asked Xu Tian in an impatient and tense tone.

    "We¡¯ll be there in about 15 to 20 minutes, President."

    "Hurry."

    "Yes, President."

    Jin Liwei was about to go crazy worrying about his baby girl. He was tempted to open his car window and shout at the other vehicles ahead of them on the road to drive faster or make way for him. All of them were driving like turtles!

    "Young Miss Ketchup, please alert me if any traffic enforcers are in the area because I¡¯m going to drive faster," Xu Tian requested the cat AI, knowing that his boss was feeling impatient and worried about Miss Long.

    "Okay, Tiantian! Ketchup will also disable any CCTVs in the area and the dashcams on the surrounding vehicles! Meow!"

    Jin Liwei nodded before continuing to talk to Lu Zihao. It seemed that he would be the first one to meet his baby girl because his Fifth Brother was farther away.

    Then all of a sudden, Ketchup went crazy.

    "GRRRRRRRRR!!! MREEEEEOOOOOOOOOW!!!"

    The lightings in the vehicle blinked on and off. The horn also activated by itself, making a long, loud and annoying beep. Xu Tian cursed when the car stopped for a couple of seconds, suddenly propelling him and Jin Liwei forward. It was a good thing that they were wearing seatbelts. Otherwise, they might have been injured.

    "Xu Tian! What¡¯s happening?!"

    "President, it wasn¡¯t me. The car stopped by itself!"

    The vehicle was now moving forward but it was obvious that something was wrong. The built-in monitor showing the live feed from the mall¡¯s surveince video died.

    It wasn¡¯t only them. The other vehicles also stopped at around the same time before moving forward again. Loud horns sounded, rming everyone in the area, most especially the drivers and the passengers inside their out-of-control vehicles. The traffic lights were also out of whack.

    "What¡¯s wrong?!! Ketchup, calm down!!!" Jin Liwei scolded the cat AI who was currently going crazy.

    ###

 Chapter 581 - Damn Stupid Ca

    <h4>Chapter 581 - Damn Stupid Ca </h4>

    "Ketchup sees blood! Mommy is bleeding!! Mommy is injured!!! Ketchup is MAAAAAAAAAD!!!! Ketchup will kill that bad man!!!!! MREEEEOOOOW!!!!!!"

    Jin Liwei felt like his heart dropped to the ground after hearing what Ketchup said. His baby girl was injured?!

    "What?! Injured?!!"

    "How did she get hurt?!"

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao asked at the same time. They agreed with Ketchup wanting to kill that son of a bitch who dared hurt the most important woman in their lives. They continued to ask Ketchup but the cat AI didn¡¯t respond. She was still going crazy, wreaking havoc in the online world and to the surrounding electronics.

    At the moment, Ketchup¡¯s silver-green eyes were turning into gold. Half of her white tail and legs were nowpletely ck. Her mouth was snarling, like a feral wild beast.

    On the other end of the line, Lu Zihao became distracted. Someone seemed to be speaking to him.

    "Third Brother, tell your youngest to calm down," he told Jin Liwei afterwards. "My subordinates just informed me that someone is recklessly hacking the police system,bing through all their records in reckless abandon while damaging important data in the process. I have a bad feeling that it¡¯s your youngest. She¡¯s losing control and attracting too much attention to herself. The police are now in chaos and on high alert."

    Jin Liwei had aplicated expression. So many emotions were shing in his eyes. His usual coldness was nowhere to be seen. He was worried to death about his baby girl and wanted to prioritize getting to her as quickly as possible. He didn¡¯t want to deal with anything else but couldn¡¯t just ignore Ketchup going out of control. Even his Fifth Brother was concerned.

    "Ketchup! Calm down! Stop what you¡¯re doing! Listen to me! I¡¯m your dad!"

    His scolding, however, fell on deaf ears. Ketchup continued to rage.

    "Oh shit!" Lu Zihao cursed.

    "What happened?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Turn that damn stupid cat off! My subordinates tell me that there are now other hackers trying to catch her! Some are from the police while some are unknown!"

    "What?!" Jin Liwei became dismayed. "Ketchup! Listen to me!! STOP WHAT YOU¡¯RE DOING RIGHT NOW!!!"

    "No, Daddy! That bad man hurt Mommy!! Ketchup can¡¯t forgive him!!! MREEEEEOW!!!!"

    "Can you turn her off?" Lu Zihao asked.

    "I can¡¯t. Only Xin has full admin authority."

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao were also angry like Ketchup after learning that Iris was injured. They wanted to rush to where she was and see with their own eyes the extent of her injury. However, they needed to stop the raging cat AI first. The consequences of Ketchup going out of control and being exposed to others were too dangerous, especially if those with bad intentions discovered that Iris was the creator. They needed to calm the cat AI before it became toote.

    "Cut it out, you damn stupid cat!" Lu Zihao roared in Russian. There was also a loud crash on his other end of the line, like he threw something out of anger.

    Taking advantage of the traffic chaos, Xu Tian stepped on the gas pedal and weaved through the confused vehicles on the road. As for Jin Liwei, he was repeatedly calling the phones of everyone from Iris¡¯ group. After a few attempts, one of his subordinates finally answered his call.

    The call between Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao was still active, bing a three-way call after the subordinate answered. Both of them could hear the frantic screaming, crying, and several sirens ring in the background on the other end of the line.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinate quickly exined that everything was extremely chaotic right now. They were still inside the mall, unable to safely exit because of the huge, panicked crowd. Fortunately, they managed to remove Iris and everyone in their group from getting crushed from the resulting stampede caused by the bomb explosion.

    "How is she?" Jin Liwei asked, interrupting his subordinate¡¯s exnation in impatience and worry. All he cared about was his baby girl¡¯s well-being.

    Lu Zihao felt the same way. He was also attempting to contact his own subordinates but none of them was answering. Perhaps they also got injured.

    "The mistress is being treated by the paramedics right now, including Sir Dom, Miss Tang and some of us. Hold on, Master. Let me go inside to where they are right now and show you."

    The voice call switched to a video call. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao saw what looked like a small, crampy and messy office. Iris sat on a sofa with bandages wrapped around her neck. A small bandage was also taped on her jaw. At the moment, she was holding a towel over her chest because the upper part of her dress was cut up in order to allow the paramedic to treat her injuries. The pieces of the bloody dressy on the floor next to her bruised bare feet which had traces of blood. Her smooth, milky-white shoulders were exposed.

    If this was under any normal circumstance, Jin Liwei would have already raged at the males in the same room as her for not averting their eyes while his baby girl was basically half-naked in front of them with only a towel covering her upper body. However, he didn¡¯t care about that right now.

    His heart clenched when he saw his baby girl¡¯s perfect shoulders marred by an ugly jagged wound about two to three inches long. It wasn¡¯t big but not small either. A paramedic was currently cleaning the red, swollen wound.

    Beside Iris, Dom was also being treated. His forehead was wrapped in bandages. His torso was also naked but didn¡¯t bother covering himself with a towel, proudly showing off his thin yet lean muscled body to everyone. Most of his wounds were on his back, jagged and irregr in shapes and sizes. Another paramedic was treating him.

    All around them, Tang Yiyi and the other injured subordinates were waiting to be treated as well. There were only two paramedics treating their group.

    It might sound heartless but Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care about the others. All he cared about was his baby girl.

    ###

 Chapter 582 - I Just Want To Hug You

    <h4>Chapter 582 - I Just Want To Hug You </h4>

    "Give the phone to your mistress," Jin Liwei instructed his subordinate.

    "Understood, Master."

    Momentster, Iris held the phone and started talking to Jin Liwei. She looked calm, not making any sound or expression of pain unlike Dom who was crying like a baby every time the paramedic touched his wounds.

    "Love, how are you feeling? Are you okay?"

    "I¡¯m alright. Don¡¯t worry too much," Iris replied to the worried Jin Liwei.

    Dom had her phone but during the stampede, he dropped it including his own phone and other valuables. The same thing happened to Tang Yiyi and some of the bodyguards. Those who still had their phones were too busy protecting her and taking her to safety. They had no time to make or answer any phone calls.

    Jin Liwei released a sigh of relief. However, his worry would remain heavy in his heart until he could check his baby girl with his own eyes and hands. He opened his mouth about to say something but his Fifth Brother beat him to it.

    "Where¡¯s the son of a bitch who did this? Was he caught?" Lu Zihao asked, his voice sounding like the devil. "Don¡¯t tell me he escaped."

    Iris¡¯ faint smile disappeared, reced by a grave expression. "After the explosion when some of the people started recovering, that man, he called himself Tian Kong, was mobbed and attacked by those who saw him as the one who gave me the boxwhich turned out to be a bomb. I don¡¯t know where he is now or what happened to him afterwards."

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao looked bloodthirsty. They wanted to rip the son of a bitch into pieces.

    "We¡¯re on our way there, love. I already contacted my helicopter. We¡¯ll leave together by airter," Jin Liwei informed her. "So just wait for us and stay safe until we get there."

    She nodded and then informed Jin Liwei that Jin Chonglin¡¯s group got separated from them, so she had no idea where he was right now.

    Their conversation was interrupted by Lu Zihao.

    "Little Sister, you have to stop your damn stupid cat. She¡¯s going out of control," he said in Russian. "She¡¯s wreaking havoc in the police and government systems all over the country, destroying arge amount of data. Your man and I have tried to make her stop but that damn stupid cat refuses to listen to us. Her conspicuous and reckless actions have already attracted unwanted attention. My hacker team has detected the presence of other hackers, some from the authorities and some from unknown origins. They¡¯re trying to probe and catch her. So far, it looks like that damn cat is safe from exposure for now but any mistakes will result in a dangerous disaster."

    Iris paled.

    Jin Liwei may have not understood what they were talking about in Russian but seeing his baby girl¡¯s reaction, he figured out that his Fifth Brother must have told her about Ketchup. He kept silent, allowing the two of them to talk. He swore that he would learn some Russian so that he wouldn¡¯t feel so out of ce whenever the two started talking in thenguage.

    After the paramedic finished treating her injuries, Iris moved to a corner and tried contacting Ketchup. Unfortunately, the cat AI was too far gone in her insanity. Iris was unable to control and calm Ketchup down. She had no time to check on the extent of the damage caused by Ketchup or how many hackers were trying catch her. All Iris cared about was to forcefully stop Ketchup as soon as possible to prevent any disaster from happening if the cat AI¡¯s real identity was revealed.

    Iris used the subordinate¡¯s phone to ess Ketchup¡¯s intricatemand system. The servers inside both herputer rooms at the Gold Heights penthouse and at the Dragon Pce mansion lit up and started receiving her remotemands.

    A gasp escaped from her lips and her eyes widened in shock when she saw Ketchup¡¯s virtual appearance. The white cat was now almostpletely back with golden eyes. Only a long strip of white coat remained on its back. Iris performed a quick check on the cat AI¡¯s system and became even more rmed.

    Ketchup¡¯s system was mutating in a frightening rate, as if a malevolent virus had infected it and started changing the cat AI¡¯s very essence.

    Iris gritted her teeth and forcefully disabled the out of control Ketchup. Doing this would damage the cat AI¡ªto what degree, even Iris was unsure. However, it was better than being discovered by others who harboured bad intentions.

    ¡¯Oh, Ketchup. What have you done? Was I wrong to create you?"

    Iris closed her eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted by everything that happened. After a minute, she opened her eyes and called Jin Liwei.

    "Darling, please hurry. I need you right now," she said.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?" Jin Liwei¡¯s worried voice asked.

    "No. I just want to hug you," she whispered.

    "I¡¯ll be there in 5 minutes."

    ###

    Later that day, the bomb incident was all over the news. The tally for the number of injured was being constantly updated. There were so many people at the mall show that it was difficult to count them all, especially those who were injured.

    Those who were close to the explosion received the bloodiest injuries from the shrapnel shooting down on them. Iris and her group¡¯s injuries were caused by the bomb shrapnel.

    However, this wasn¡¯t the sole cause of injuries among the people. The stampede also caused many to get crushed. Fortunately, most of the people present at that time consisted of the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans. They were already familiar with each other and had excellent coordination. The leaders quickly recovered and took control of their own groups, organizing everyone to escape in the safest way possible without hurting themselves or others in the process.

    The police were now investigating the bomb incident, treating it as a terrorist attack while gathering witness ounts of what happened.

    ###

 Chapter 583 - Disturbing

    <h4>Chapter 583 - Disturbing </h4>

    From the messy information dumped on the inte by a lunatic hacker who not only invaded the various police and government systems in the country but also destroyedrge amounts of data in the process, almost causing a national crisis, the authorities were able to identity the main suspect¡¯s identity. The police worked on organizing the messy information but couldn¡¯t do so in peace because of the chaos caused by the lunatic who hacked into their system. As a result, the media ended up moving faster than them, piecing the disorganized information and uncovering the main suspect¡¯s identity.

    Tian Kong. 24 years old. Waiter at a family restaurant.

    ording to his medical records, he had been diagnosed with a severe form of bipr disorder during his teens and had been on and off treatment ever since. However, it seemed that nobody was aware of his mental condition, not even his closest family or friends. He came from a regr low-ie family from a rural area. After he graduated from high school, he didn¡¯t bother enrolling in university and directly entered the workforce. He was unable to hold a job for more than two years. Past co-workers reported that he was a nice, normal guy who did his job properly. But after a few months, he would be silent, lethargic and antisocial all of a sudden before disappearing and not returning to work.

    There were some police officers present at the mall show but they weren¡¯t enough to immediately control the stampede after the bomb explosion. The massive crowd also prevented them from arriving quickly at the area where the explosion happened. Overall, these police officers had no idea what was happening until the bomb exploded.

    Fortunately, an angry mob of fans had detained the suspect, Tian Kong, beating him until he was half-dead. The police were able to arrest him this way.

    These police officers knew that they were in trouble with their superiors especially after hearing that their big boss, the National Chief of Police, had stepped forward and announced that he would be leading the investigation of the case. They were the ones assigned to ensure the safety of the citizens during the mall show. Part of their job was to do a quick security check at all the mall¡¯s entrances because they already anticipated that there would be a great number of people who would attend the mall show due to the presence of famous celebrities Jin Chonglin and Iris Long.

    Nail clippers, tweezers, Swiss knives, lighters, alcoholic drinks and other prohibited items were seized at these security checks. There were even temporary metal detectors installed just for that day, including a handful of police dogs.

    How was it possible then that this man named Tian Kong was able to smuggle in a bomb despite all of these tight security measures in ce?

    For now, nobody knew exactly how Tian Kong aplished this feat. It was the police¡¯s job to investigate the matter and solve the case. The bomb incident was dered a high-priority case because it might be a possible terrorist attack. This was why the Police Chief needed to be directly involved even without his beloved wife¡¯s urging.

    His wife was Madam Si Xinyue, one of Feng Wan¡¯s posh friends, all members of the ck Stars. Feng Wan and her three posh friends originally wanted to attend the mall show to support Iris Long but were discouraged by Si Xinyue¡¯s husband, the Chief of Police, because he knew that public mall shows were less safe than official concerts.

    Tian Kong was arrested. Witnesses were being questioned. The police were doing their best to investigate the matter but they were hindered by their severely damaged system caused by the insane hacker. Even though it was that son of a bitch who dumped relevant information regarding the bomb incident and the main suspect Tian Kong, the authorities still hated the bastard. They felt humiliated that their systems were not onlypromised but also became partially useless because of the severe damage and loss of data. This affected their speed and efficiency in investigating the bomb incident. So in addition to investigating the case, they were also hunting the crazy motherfucker who fucked up their systems and trying to repair all the damage he caused.

    Despite the inconvenience caused by their damaged systems, the police were still able to uncover more information about the main suspect Tian Kong. They searched through his apartment that same day and found a disturbing room dedicated for the celebrity Iris Long.

    Her photos, magazine covers, posters, and other rted printed materials rted to her covered all four walls of his bedroom including the ceiling. An altar dedicated to Iris Long stood in one corner with her albums prominently decorating it.

    These weren¡¯t the most disturbing contents of the room, however.

    A blow-up sex dolly on a futon bed in another corner. Its face was covered by a picture of Iris Long. Based on the several dried stains and the unpleasant smell near the futon, it was obvious that Tian Kong often used the sex doll.

    One of the police officers sent to search the ce almost flipped out after seeing the disgusting pervertedness. He was a secret ck Star.

    Soon after, the media this to the public, concluding that it was a major case of a crazy, obsessed fan who began to hate Iris Long and plot her death after learning that she wasn¡¯t single anymore.

    The ck Stars were all worried about their Boss Iris, knowing that she was the main target and could have been killed that very day.

    CaptainckStar: "We send all our thoughts and prayers to our dear Boss Iris, our fellow ck Stars, Prince Lin Lin and his fans, and all the others who experienced the terrifying incident earlier today at the mall show. We are all worried about you. Please get well soon from your injuries! I know that there are many who got injured but I¡¯m d that nobody died. I also condemn that crazy devil called Tian Kong! He¡¯s not a ck Star! I refuse to acknowledge him as one of us! He¡¯s an evil lunatic who attempted to murder our boss and ourrades!"

    ###

 Chapter 584 - Losing

    <h4>Chapter 584 - Losing </h4>

    The other ck Stars followed their captain¡¯s lead and condemned Tian Kong. Theirrades who were injured during the bomb explosion at the mall show and were currently being treated in hospitals felt tremendous hatred and fury against him. Tian Kong instantly became the ck Stars¡¯ number one enemy after what he did. It wasn¡¯t only them. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans also felt the same way.

    While these fan clubs were banding together against amon enemy and worrying about their boss and prince, a vile hate campaign wasunched that night against Iris Long.

    "So many people got hurt during the bomb explosion. This happened because of Iris Long¡¯s fan! It¡¯s Iris Long¡¯s fault! She was utterly irresponsible in performing at such an unsafe public ce like the mall! Look at what happened! A crazy, obsessed fan was able to sneak in and bomb everyone! "

    "Iris Long doesn¡¯t care about her fans, that¡¯s why a fan like that Tian Kong became an obsessed lunatic! If she didn¡¯t perform at that mall show, there would¡¯ve been no bombing!"

    "My sister and her ssmates were injured and are in the hospital because they attended the mall show. They weren¡¯t even Iris Long¡¯s fans but Jin Chonglin¡¯s! I¡¯m so angry that my sister and her friends had to suffer because of that Iris Long!"

    These vilements infuriated the ck Stars. Even Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans couldn¡¯t tolerate these people¡¯s twisted logic. They all worked together with the Slippers Army as their main attackers to battle against these haters. The Slippers Army waited for KittyBaby to appear, hoping that she would lead them to another victory. However, she didn¡¯t appear.

    LittlePhoenix: "Maybe KittyBaby got grounded by her mom and dad again. She must be very naughty or maybe her parents are just too strict. I just returned home from school so I guess I¡¯ll lead you all instead since KittyBaby is not here. How dare these viins say all these evil things about our Boss Iris?! Unforgivable! Comrades, raise your mighty slippers and prepare to attack!!!"

    The online battle between the ck Stars in cooperation with some of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans versus the haters ming Iris Long for the bomb incident raged all night. It was a difficult battle. LittlePhoenix was a good leader butpared to Ketchup¡¯s lightning-quick, precise and vicious trolling methods, she was stillcking. Even the non-troll members of the ck Stars led by CaptainckStar unleashed their inner trolls because they felt furious upon reading all the unfair usations against their Boss Iris.

    "Shut up! You¡¯re all despicable for ming Boss Iris for the bombing incident! I don¡¯t understand how you can think that way!"

    "I was on the second floor looking down on Boss Iris¡¯ group while they moved through the crowd at the ground floor. I saw everything that happened! If it wasn¡¯t for Boss Iris throwing the bomb up in the air, many people would¡¯ve died! There might be many injured but there are no deaths!"

    "I agree! Iris Long saved the people from bing minced meat! If she didn¡¯t do what she did, many people would¡¯ve died including her! She saved my fellow Prince Lin Lin¡¯s fans! So shut it!"

    The ck Stars and some of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans continued to defend Iris, insisting that she saved everyone. However, the haters just wouldn¡¯t stop in their vile hate campaign against her.

    Not everyone present at the mall show were ck Stars or Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans. There were regr shoppers and mall employees who got injured during the bomb incident. The haters in the hate campaign imed that they were family members, friends or acquaintances of those regr people. They might be lying but they might also be telling the truth.

    The online battle only intensified as the hours passed by. For the first time ever, the Slippers Army seemed to be...losing?

    Feng Wan and her three friends also tried defending Iris using their online usernames MrsLovePhantom and JJNumber1-3Fan. However, they were posh and elegantdies who disdained such coarse words being fired during the battle. In the end, they regretfully had to withdraw.

    Unable to turn the tides, Zhou Mei¡¯er (CaptainckStar) and Ming Li (LittlePhoenix) contacted Wu Chen (iEatSlippers) and Hou Liang (MonkeyFace).

    "Dammit! I want to join and wave my almighty slippers together with all of you, my dearrades, but ourpany¡¯s big boss made Bro and I sign an agreement not to publicly involve ourselves with the ck Stars anymore!" Wu Chen said after he picked up their call.

    He and Hou Liang were at Monkey workingte. However, they couldn¡¯t concentrate knowing that their Boss Iris was being unfairly med for the bomb incident.

    "What?!" Zhou Mei¡¯er was dismayed. "Your big boss is so selfish!"

    Wu Chen opened his mouth, about to say "Ourpany¡¯s big boss is Boss Iris!" but Hou Liang gave him a warning look. He shut his mouth and sweated upon realizing that he almost revealed Boss Iris¡¯ identity as the real Owner and President of Monkey.

    Iris brought herwyer, Attorney Hong Shaoqiang, to Monkey a while ago and urged them to sign an agreement preventing them from publicly involving themselves with the ck Stars. It was because many were already aware that Monkey¡¯s CEO Hou Liang and CFO Wu Chen were ck Stars¡¯ MonkeyFace and the notorious iEatSlippers respectively.

    "I didn¡¯t want to do this because I don¡¯t really care about what others think but my mentor, financial manager and Attorney Hong here all persuaded me to make you sign this agreement to protect the image of ourpany," Iris told them back then while sighing deeply.

    Wu Chenined but Hou Liang nodded after a few moments of silence. Hou Liang was the first one to sign the agreement. Seeing his bro¡¯s actions, Wu Chen grudgingly signed as well.

    "The agreement only says not to ¡¯publicly¡¯ involve ourselves but it doesn¡¯t say that we can¡¯t do it anonymously," Hou Liang said.

    The two men remembered Iris smiling after he said that.

    ###

 Chapter 585 - ShaWn

    <h4>Chapter 585 - ShaWn </h4>

    Earlier that day, both Hou Liang and Wu Chen were both busy working at Monkey as usual when they heard the news about the bomb explosion. They became rmed and worried after realizing that it happened at around the same time as their Boss Iris¡¯ mall show.

    Hou Liang immediately started hacking to gather more information about the bomb incident and to make sure that Iris was safe. However, all avenues of doing so were blocked by a lunatic hacker who was wreaking havoc, damaging the police and government online systems in the country.

    Who was this hacker?

    He became curious and wanted to probe the unknown hacker who was gutsy enough, no, crazy enough to dare invade and create chaos to the most important online systems in the country. However, he stopped himself when he sensed other hackers doing the same thing. He recognized some of them as authorized ones working for the nation¡¯s authorities. Hou Liang wasn¡¯t afraid of these white hat hackers. What made him stop were the hackers of unknown origins. He could sense that he wasn¡¯t a match for them.

    So although he also wanted to probe, he decided to withdraw instead for safety¡¯s sake. He was now the CEO of the fast-rising gamingpany, Monkey. He needed to be responsible and not bring shame to thepany and its hidden boss, Iris Long. He didn¡¯t want to risk thepany¡¯s reputation for his personal curiosity.

    Unable to hack for information, Hou Liang could only wait for news the traditional way like everyone else. To his surprise, however, the lunatic hacker dumped a huge, disorganized information on the inte about the bomb incident and the perpetrator Tian Kong. Hou Liang actually pieced together the mess more quickly than either the media and the police. He just didn¡¯t release it to the public.

    Knowing that Iris was alive, he and Wu Chen felt relieved. However, they still felt concerned about her.

    Back to the present, Wu Chen felt extremely restless while talking to Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li on the phone. He was about to go crazy that he couldn¡¯t lead his beloved Slippers Army in battle. If they lost, he would ask his bro, Hou Liang, to find out the real identities of all those motherfuckers involved in the hate campaign against Boss Iris. Then he would buy a powerful toy cannon and shoot heavy-duty slippers at their houses. If he couldn¡¯t troll them online because of the agreement he signed, he would troll them in real life! Hmph!

    While Wu Chen was talking with hisrades who were valiantly fighting a fierce battle without him, asking them for updates in real time, Hou Liang was hacking in the deepest shadows of the online world. His brows were knitted and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

    "How much longer, bro?" Wu Chen asked.

    "I think that there¡¯s a hacker protecting this hate campaign," Hou Liang muttered.

    "The hacker¡¯s fighting you?"

    "No. He¡¯s evading me."

    Wu Chen opened his mouth about toment but closed it again, deciding not to disturb his bro. He could tell by the look on Hou Liang¡¯s face that he was having a tough time. Were they going to lose like this? His mighty slippers refused to ept it!

    "Big Bro! We¡¯re gonna lose! I don¡¯t want this!" Ming Li cried.

    ¡¯This would be piece of cake for Drakon,¡¯ Hou Liang thought, unsatisfied by his level of hacking. Although Iris told him that he just needed to focus on game-making, he still felt frustrated that he was having a hard time stopping the hate campaign against her. ¡¯Dammit! Who are these people?!¡¯

    He didn¡¯t want to give up but couldn¡¯t help the growing sense of despair as he failed again and again.

    Then suddenly a fierce wave of attacks from all directionspletely annihted the entire hate campaign. The hatements popping up every second were all deleted, as if they didn¡¯t exist in the first ce. It also seemed that new hatements were being prevented from being posted.

    Zhou Mei¡¯er and Ming Li immediately reported what happened to Wu Chen.

    "Bro! You did it! As expected of the Great MonkeyFace!" Wu Chen praised.

    "It wasn¡¯t me," Hou Liang whispered in shock and confusion.

    "Huh? What do you mean? If it wasn¡¯t you, then who did it? Oh! Maybe we have unknownrades in the ck Stars who are also hackers."

    Hou Liang frowned, thinking of the possibility.

    Ding!

    He received a message.

    "A friend of Drakon is a friend of ours. KeymonSTER, we¡¯ll take over for now. ¡ªShaWn."

    The message deleted by itself.

    Hou Liang¡¯s frown deepened. ¡¯ShaWn? Who is he? Not only does he know that I¡¯m KeymonSTER but he also knows that Drakon and I know each other. This ShaWn helped out now but is he really a friend?¡¯

    Although the hate campaign against Iris was stopped, resulting in a big celebration among the ck Stars, its subunit the Slippers Army and their allies, Hou Liang didn¡¯t feelfortable that there was an unknown hacker helping them. This ShaWn popped out of nowhere that Hou Liang couldn¡¯t feel at ease. He could sense that ShaWn had better hacking skills than him.

    ¡¯Maybe it¡¯s KittyBaby? No.¡¯ He shook his head. ¡¯There are no meows. And besides, the kid should be spending time with her mother right now especially after the bomb incident.¡¯

    He remembered that Iris and Jin Liwei admitted to him that they had an adopted daughter who was being groomed to follow the steps of her mother, the great hacker Drakon.

    ¡¯Who are you, ShaWn? Are you a friend or foe?¡¯

    ###

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The helicopternded on the massive "backyard" of the property. Jin Liwei carried his baby girl and climbed out of the helicopter, followed by Dom, Lu Zihao and a couple of their subordinates. Their other subordinates travelled by car and would drop off Tang Yiyi to her home.

    It was cold and drizzling that night. The waiting subordinates opened several umbres and led the group to the nearest backdoor of the mansion. There were two designated helipads in the property, one at the front and one at the back, but they were too far away for Jin Liwei¡¯s liking. He wanted to bring his baby girl inside their warm home as soon as possible, so he instructed for the helicopter tond just a few metres away from the mansion.

 Chapter 586 Bomb - Sniffing Training

    <h4>Chapter 586 Bomb - Sniffing Training </h4>

    Iris was sleeping deeply in the arms of Jin Liwei. She had a long day. Thebination of exhaustion, painkillers and everything that happened at the mall knocked her out into a dreamless slumber during the helicopter ride home.

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s expressions were grim as they walked inside the mansion. The butler and other household staff bowed, the concern for their mistress obvious in their eyes. Even the usually talkative Dom who always tried to lighten the atmosphere stayed silent. He was still in shock, unable to understand how another human being could give his boss a bomb, wanting to kill her and other innocent people.

    It was alreadyte in the evening. A few hours ago, Jin Liwei and Xu Tian finally arrived at the mall and met with Iris¡¯ group. Jin Liwei barely had any time to express his concern for his baby girl when the police found them, wanting to question Iris and the others.

    Jin Liwei wanted to bring his baby girl to the hospital first for aprehensive check-up, but the police insisted that the questioning couldn¡¯t wait because the bomb incident was dered a high-priority case.

    The police¡¯s main question was how Iris knew that the cake box contained a bomb.

    "I didn¡¯t know," Iris told them.

    "Then why did you throw the box in the air?"

    "I just followed my intuition."

    The police officers looked a little skeptical at first but continued listening to her.

    "The way the man kept on looking at me made me ufortable. I felt that something wasn¡¯t right. And also the weight of the box felt wrong. I receive a lot of cakes and pastries as presents from fans so I know how to discern if what I¡¯m holding is a cake or not. I don¡¯t know how to exin it but I guess it¡¯s all thanks to my intuition. As they say, women¡¯s intuition is frighteningly urate sometimes. So I just tossed the box as far away as I could. I was also shocked that it turned out to be a bomb. I had no idea."

    Her grave and sincere tone, in addition to her beautiful face and the bandages covering her jaw, neck and shoulder, somewhat persuaded the police and prompted them not to question her too hard. They knew that Tian Kong was an obsessed fan of hers and specifically handed her the cake box. It was obvious that his main target was to kill her. Iris Long was the main victim of this bomb incident. Most importantly, the police considered her as the heroine who saved a lot of innocent lives from being killed. If she didn¡¯t throw the box up in the air...it would have been a huge tragedy.

    The police believed her. After all, how could a pampered young woman who was also a popr celebrity, a young miss of a wealthy family, and the fianc¨¦e of Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO know anything about bombs? She must be telling the truth.

    Dom, Tang Yiyi and the bodyguards were also questioned. Their statements all matched, cementing the police¡¯s judgment that Iris was telling the truth.

    Everyone was relieved when the police officers left. When they were gone, Lu Zihao walked out of a corner in the hallway. His hearing might not be as great as his sister¡¯s, but it was still extraordinarypared to normal people. He arrived while the police were questioning his sister¡¯s group. Since he was "allergic" to the police, he didn¡¯t enter the room and hid behind a wall at a corner instead, eavesdropping on the conversations inside.

    He knew that his sister was not telling the entire truth during her statement to the police. Yes, he also believed that her intuition told her that the box contained something dangerous. However, he knew that it wasn¡¯t the sole reason why she threw it up in the air.

    Memories of their past life shed inside his mind. He remembered a child Evelina being lectured by their mother because she was resisting the "lessons" their mother was forcing on her. One of the "lessons" included a bomb-sniffing training. Security bodies all around the world employed sniffer dogs to search for explosives, bombs and other contrabands but the Vetrov organization trained humans instead.

    He and his little sister also had to go through this bomb-sniffing training as part of their education, but both of them weren¡¯t talented in this area. Despite this, they could still easily identify the mostmon explosives through their sense of smell due to the training, even though they weren¡¯t as skilledpared to the elite human contraband sniffers in their organization.

    Lu Zihao walked inside the cramped mall office and saw his sister being cradled in the arms of Jin Liwei. Although her outer shell was now different, she was still his beloved little sister. His hands clenched into tight fists, resisting the urge to punch Jin Liwei in the face. A silent humph sounded inside him but he ignored it.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei carried Iris and headed to their bedroom suite. Lu Zihao followed them. Dom headed to his own room. Ice Cream and Popcorn were meowing loudly, their concerned eyes not leaving their sleeping mommy as they trotted beside their daddy¡¯s feet.

    Lu Zihao watched as Jin Liweiid his little sister gently on their bed and covered her with the duvet. The two cats jumped on the bed and curled beside her. Jin Liwei kissed her forehead, her closed eyes, the tip of her nose, and finally her lips. His kisses were feather-light, as if Jin Liwei was afraid of hurting her. Jin Liwei stroked her hair while various emotions shed in his eyes.

    Watching the scene, Lu Zihao could see how much the man loved his sister and felt reassured that Jin Liwei would always prioritize her no matter what. He watched Jin Liwei trying to control the myriad emotions from overwhelming him, breaking his usual cold expression.

    ###

 Chapter 587 - Hate Campaign

    <h4>Chapter 587 - Hate Campaign </h4>

    Jin Liwei looked at his baby girl¡¯s sleeping face. His heart clenched at the sight of the bandages on her jaw, neck and shoulder. He had also seen the scratches and bruises all over her body during her hospital check-up earlier. How he wished he could take away all of her pain and suffer them in her stead.

    ¡¯I almost lost her.¡¯

    The thought almost paralyzed him with fear. If she didn¡¯t throw the box, she would have been....

    He gritted his teeth, forcefully destroying the frightening image in his mind. If he ever lost her in such a tragic manner, he would make sure to punish all the motherfuckers who took her away from him. After avenging her, he would follow her without any second thoughts. Now that he was experiencing the joys of finding one¡¯s mate, life would be meaningless without her.

    Hatred and desire for revenge were starting to take root inside of him. He wanted to beat the life out of that bastard. What was the motherfucker¡¯s name? Tian Kong. How dare he try to murder his baby girl? Anyone who dared to harm Jin Liwei¡¯s woman, future wife, and the mother of his children deserved the worst punishment in the world!

    "Meow..." Popcorn nudged his daddy¡¯s arm with his head. The striped ginger cat could sense his daddy¡¯s murderous intent, scaring him a little.

    Ice Cream squeezed herself closer to her sleeping mommy while staring at her daddy with caution.

    Jin Liwei took a few deep breaths to control his raging emotions. He gave his sleeping baby girl another light kiss on the lips before standing up. Then he petted the two cats.

    "Ice Cream, Popcorn, take care of your mom."

    The two cats mewled their promise, purring and transferring their body heat to their mommy.

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao quietly left the bedroom suite and met with their subordinates. They listened to thetest reports and gave out newmands. This was when Jin Liwei heard about the online hate campaign against Iris which med her and tossed the responsibility on her head for all the people injured during the bomb incident. He instantly became furious.

    "How dare they?! If it wasn¡¯t for Xin, many people would have died! She saved them! And now they¡¯re ming her?! Idiots!"

    Lu Zihao was already aware of the hate campaign. His hacker team had been monitoring it as soon as they detected it.

    Jin Liwei was unaware because it was usually either Xu Tian or Ketchup who monitored anything rted to his baby girl online. However, both had missed it today. Xu Tian drove Jin Liwei to the mall and then returned to Jin Corporation afterwards. As for Ketchup, Iris had disabled her because of the ruckus she made earlier to the police and government systems.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, Third Brother. I already instructed my subordinates to take care of it, Lu Zihao told Jin Liwei.

    One of his subordinates stepped forward and reported, "Boss Hao, the hate campaign has just been taken care of by our team."

    "A littleter than I expected but good," Lu Zihao replied, nodding.

    Jin Liwei still looked furious but began to calm down after hearing that his Fifth Brother had already taken care of the hate campaign. He hadn¡¯t seen the actualments in the hate campaign but if his Fifth Brother stepped forward to take care of it, then it must have been serious. Just imagining all those vile motherfuckers ming his baby girl for the bomb incident made him gnash his teeth and want to beat them all up with his own fists.

    "Thanks," he said.

    Lu Zihao nodded. Then he turned to his subordinate. "Have we found out who¡¯s behind the hate campaign?"

    "Not yet, Boss Hao."

    "What do you mean by not yet?"

    Both Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei frowned while waiting for the subordinate¡¯s answer.

    "Boss Hao, we suspect that the people behind the hate campaign against Miss Xin are not simple anti-fans by how quickly thements spread online right after the bomb incident. It was too deliberate and unnatural. The fact that we¡¯re still unable to uncover any identities despite our whole hacker team working on it makes us believe that there¡¯s an even more skilled hacker behind the hate campaign."

    Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei¡¯s frowns deepened.

    "Even more skilled than Drakon?" Lu Zihao had full trust in his sister¡¯s hacking skills but he still asked this question just for the heck of it.

    "Of course not, boss. What I meant was more skilled than our team but nowhere near the great Drakon."

    Lu Zihao nodded. Pride shed in his eyes but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. His face reverted to an impassive expression.

    Jin Liwei also felt proud but he hid the emotion behind his usual coldness. He kept quiet, choosing instead to listen to his Fifth Brother speak to his subordinates. Although they hadn¡¯t talked about it, he suspected that his Fifth Brother already knew Iris¡¯ real identity as Drakon. He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that was the case given the close sibling rtionship between his baby girl and his Fifth Brother.

    However, he wasn¡¯t sure if his Fifth Brother¡¯s subordinates were aware of it. He wished that they didn¡¯t know because he couldn¡¯t fully trust them with the truth. Even Jin Liwei¡¯s own men didn¡¯t know that their mistress was the great hacker Drakon. Although he believed in the loyalty of his men, he still didn¡¯t want to risk exposing the truth to them, especially if there was a chance that it would endanger his baby girl¡¯s safety.

    "Boss Hao, if I may make a suggestion...."

    "Go ahead."

    "Exposing the identities of the people behind the hate campaign should be a piece of cake to Drakon. If we ask..."

    "NO!!!"

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao outright rejected the subordinate¡¯s idea even before they heard it. They looked at each other before ring at the subordinate.

    "There is no need to bother Drakon at this time. Let our hacker team deal with the hate campaign for now," Lu Zihao said.

    "Understood, Boss Hao."

    ###

 Chapter 588 - Whereâ€™s The Third One?

    <h4>Chapter 588 - Where¡¯s The Third One? </h4>

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao didn¡¯t need to exin themselves out loud as to why they reacted so strongly against the idea of asking Drakon to dig up the identities of the people behind the hate campaign.

    Iris was currently injured. They wished for her to focus on healing and resting. There was no way that they would dump this matter on her, especially if they believe that they could handle it themselves. But if she learned about it on her own, they wouldn¡¯t stop her from taking action as long as it wouldn¡¯t interfere with her recovery. The two men looked and nodded at each other in silent understanding.

    Their subordinates continued reporting to both of them. There was no distinction between Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s groups at the moment. It was as if all of them were one army reporting to and obeying twomanders.

    Then they were interrupted by a maid informing them that some guests had arrived. Jin Liwei excused himself to greet the new arrivals. His own men followed him.

    Lu Zihao and his subordinates were left in the room.

    "Leave the hate campaign to our hacker team for now. Prioritize investigating the bomb incident and that goddamned shithead Tian Kong. Don¡¯t hurt him...not yet. I want to meet him in person. I¡¯ll decide what to do with him then," Lu Zihao instructed.

    "Understood, Boss Hao."

    Lu Zihao nodded and stood up. A sinister smile lifted the corner of his lips. "You want to kill my sister? Heh..."

    The smile disappeared, reced by a heavy and dense murderous aura.

    His subordinates¡¯ hearts shook. They steeled and forced themselves to endure their boss¡¯ overwhelming bloodthirst. Even though every single one of them reeked of danger themselves, they still had no way ofparing to their Boss Hao. To them, he was the most dangerous person that they had ever met in their whole lives. No, he wasn¡¯t just a mere dangerous person. He was the devil incarnate! Behind his handsome smiley a cold-blooded malevolence that could crush and exterminate lives without batting an eye. It was only Miss Xin who had the key to open his dark heart. At least, for now.

    They masked their sighs of relief when their boss retracted his intense murderous aura. His usual roguishly devilish smile returned.

    "Let¡¯s go," he said, standing up and leaving the room.

    All of them followed him. He was their leader, their teacher, their saviour...and their executioner if they ever made the mistake of betraying him or Miss Xin.

    ###

    ###

    The guests who arrived were Grandpa Lu, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan. They dragged Jin Chonglin with them, dumping him at the mansion because they reasoned that Dragon Pce Home #10 was the safest residential property in the country. Jin Chonglin headed straight to the Jin Family¡¯s Old House after the police questioned him at the mall. His own home was currently surrounded by paparazzi and reporters who wanted to interview him about the bomb incident.

    Momentster, a crying Wei Lan also arrived, apanied by Clover and Yi Mei. Gold Heights Condo building was also surrounded by paparazzi and reporters who wanted to interview Iris. They didn¡¯t know that she had been living with Jin Liwei at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    "Where¡¯s my daughter?! Ooooooh! Where¡¯s my baaaaaaaabyyyyy?! Is she okay?! Where is sheeeeeeee?!!!" Wei Lan cried, clutching the butler¡¯spels and shaking him.

    Even the usuallyposed old housekeeper, Yi Mei, was teary. Clover was also crying. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t creating a big ruckus unlike Wei Lan who was almost stripping the butler naked by how hard she was pulling the poor man¡¯s suit.

    The butler looked helpless but managed to maintain hisposure, allowing Wei Lan to shake him like a rattle while reassuring her and everyone else that the mistress had arrived safely and was now sleeping.

    "I want to see my daughter! Where is sheeee?! Show me the waaaaaaay! Xiuuuaaaan, Mother¡¯s here! Oh, my poor baaaaaabyyyyy!"

    "Madam, I¡¯m afraid that it¡¯s not convenient for you to meet the mistress right now. The master instructed us not to allow anyone to disturb her while she¡¯s sleeping," the butler exined.

    Huang Yuyan stepped forward and wrapped her arm around Wei Lan¡¯s shoulders. "As a fellow mother, I know how terrified and worried you must be feeling. All of us also feel the same way about dear Xin.Please calm down and let¡¯s wait for my son to exin to us what really happened, alright?"

    Wei Lan sniffed and dabbed her tears with a silk handkerchief. Her waterproof makeup was still immacte despite crying so hard. She nodded before hugging Huang Yuyan.

    Jiang Ying Yue appeared after hearing that they had arrived. She weed them on behalf of Jin Liwei who was still on his way. She left Little Jun with a maid. He was already asleep, unaware that his mama almost died earlier that day.

    Afterwards, Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and Meimei also arrived, followed by Long Jinjing and Chen Fei.

    Wei Lan started crying again as soon as she saw them. This was her way of showing Long Tengfei and his third wife that she was more concerned about their daughter Iris. Huang Yuyan continuedforting her.

    Jiang Ying Yue was about to lead everyone to the living area when a booming voice interrupted them, forcing them to listen to him.

    "Huh?! Did Liwei my boy and Xin my girl get another cat?"

    Everyone looked at where Grandpa Lu was pointing at. It was arge portrait hanging at the top of the twin grand staircases. Before, it showed Iris and Jin Liwei with their two cats Ice Cream and Popcorn. All of them had seen that portrait before. However, the portrait had been changed. It now showed Iris and Jin Liwei with Ice Cream and Popcorn and an additional white cat. The new addition looked adorable, smiling cheekily, like it was nning to do something naughty.

    "Where¡¯s the third one? When did Liwei my boy and Xin my girl get another cat? I want to know!"

    In their minds, they also wanted to know.

 Chapter 589 - Afterthough

    <h4>Chapter 589 - Afterthough </h4>

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming questions about the new white cat lightened the atmosphere and temporarily diverted everyone¡¯s attention from their worry about Iris¡¯ safety and well-being.

    "Sir, that¡¯s Ketchup. She¡¯s Ice Cream and Popcorn¡¯s new cat sister," Jiang Ying Yue answered him.

    Jin Chonglin began muttering under his breath. "Huh... Ice Cream and Popcorn... Now it¡¯s Ketchup... What the hell is with that woman¡¯s naming sense? Now I feel nervous about what she¡¯s gonna name her kids with my brother in the future... I don¡¯t want a niece named Tofu or a nephew called Steamed Bun..."

    The others cringed after hearing Tofu and Steamed Bun, except for Grandpa Lu who threw his head back and guffawed. His boomingughter echoed in the grand foyer. Like Jin Chonglin, the others also worried about what Iris and Jin Liwei were going to name their future children. They prayed that it wouldn¡¯t be Tofu or Steamed bun or any other food names for that matter.

    "So where¡¯s this Ketchup then? I want to meet her! Also where are the other cats? They haven¡¯t greeted their beloved great-grandpa yet!"

    "Sir, Ketchup is, uh, she¡¯s...er, shy around people. She likes to hide all the time. She must be hiding somewhere, I think," Jiang Ying Yue exined in an awkward tone. "Or maybe she¡¯s with Ice Cream and Popcorn in Xin¡¯s room."

    "I see, I see. Liwei my boy and Xin my girl got a timid one this time, huh. Tsk tsk."

    The ones who knew that Ketchup was a talkative and naughty cat AI could only blink in difort. Ketchup was timid? That was an adjective least suitable to describe the cat.

    Jiang Ying Yue used the break in the conversation to lead everyone to the living area where the butler and a maid served them calming tea and light biscuits. Dom appeared at this time,ing out of his bedroom after hearing about their arrival.

    After a dramatic "reunion" with his sister Clover and the other members of the girl squad, he began telling everyone about everything that happened. Despite his injuries, he was very energetic in re-enacting the scenes,plete with exaggerated expressions and gestures, and of course, self-made sound effects.

    "Boss threw the cake box up in the air like a professional baseball yer. It went up so high to about the same level of the second floor and then she grabbed me and Big Sis Yiyi to the floor..."

    He actually threw himself to the floor. "And then BOOM!!! The bomb exploded and I can¡¯t remember all the things that happened after that because I was so shocked and scared!" Then his face suddenly contorted in pain. "Aiyaya! My back! Oh, my back! It hurts! Wuwuwuwu!"

    "Big Bro!" Clover helped him from the floor and peeked at the injuries on his back underneath his shirt.

    "Don¡¯t move too much, you careless child!" Yi Mei scolded him but there was worry in the old housekeeper¡¯s eyes. She also checked his injuries.

    Jin Liwei arrived while Dom was taking a break from his dramatic re-enactment. Everyone asked him about Iris. A sh of worry broke his usual cold and hard expression.

    "Xin has a lot of injuries all over her body but nothing life-threatening. She¡¯s sleeping right now and I don¡¯t want her to be disturbed. I want her to get plenty of rest and focus on recovering," he told everyone in a firm tone, knowing that they all wanted to see her, especially Wei Lan who started crying again in the arms of his mother.

    Hearing about Iris¡¯ injuries, all of them were concerned about her. On one hand, they felt relieved that she was alive. On the other hand, they were all shaken after learning that Iris was the central target of a bomb attack from a crazy, obsessed fan. It was no wonder that Jin Liwei was being extra protective of her right now and didn¡¯t want anyone to disturb her.

    "Yes, dear Xin should focus on healing from her injuries," Grandma Li agreed. "It¡¯s already veryte, anyway. We¡¯ll talk to her tomorrow instead."

    Jin Liwei nodded at his grandmother before addressing everyone. "Talk to my butler if you wish to sleep over here tonight. He¡¯ll arrange your amodations. If you¡¯ll excuse me, I need to be with Xin right now. I don¡¯t want to leave her for too long."

    "Big Bro, wait!" Jin Chonglin called.

    Jin Liwei turned to look at him.

    "I want to stay here for a few days. Can I?"

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow.

    Huang Yuyan spoke up. "Son, let your brother stay here for now, alright? Even though he didn¡¯t suffer any major injuries like Xin, he¡¯s still involved in the incident today. The media are already starting to hound him. It¡¯s safer for him to be here in your ce."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t answer right away. The others waited in silence for his decision. When he finally answered, everyone could hear the reluctance in his voice. "Fine. But don¡¯t disturb your sister-inw too much while she¡¯s recovering or I¡¯ll kick you out."

    With that, he left.

    Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t help but sulk a little. Huang Yuyan only shook her head, a helpless smile on her face, at her eldest son¡¯s attitude towards her youngest son.

    "Bahahaha!"

    The corners of Jin Chonglin¡¯s lips turned down even more when Grandpa Lu startedughing in his booming voice.The old man wasughing at him.

    His family was so mean, especially his older brother. Although his brother had never been warm and outwardly affectionate to him, Jin Liwei was never this sharp-tongued before. Ever since his brother became engaged to Iris Long, Jin Chonglin felt like he was just an afterthought to his brother.

    ¡¯If I was him, I think I¡¯ll also be the same way and start treating other people except for her as an afterthought,¡¯ he thought, sighing.

    Despite understanding his brother, he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from inwardly grumbling at Jin Liwei¡¯s poor attitude towards him.

    ¡¯We¡¯re flesh and blood brothers, you know!¡¯

    He also felt traumatized by the bomb incident, even though he didn¡¯t have bloody injuries like Iris, Dom and the others in their group. He only suffered some scratches and bruises from the resulting stampede. Nevertheless, he thought that he still deserved some tender loving care from his family. He also had his fair share of obsessed fans and even stalkers in the past, but this was the first time that he experienced something as terrifying as this. A bomb! Who wouldn¡¯t be traumatized? Just remembering it caused him to shudder.

    In addition to Grandpa Lu¡¯s boisterousughter, to which Grandma Li was already scolding the old man, snickers could also be heard from the girl squad.

    Jin Chonglin turned to re at them, looking at Chen Fei first because he was expecting that the annoyingly bossy woman would be the oneughing at him the most. Contrary to his expectation, however, Chen Fei had a solemn expression on her face as she looked him. It was actually just Meimei, Dom and Clover who were snickering at him. Long Jinjing was too nice tough at anyone.

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei stared at each other. He felt a little surprised that she wasn¡¯tughing at him like her friends.

    Was that...concern in her eyes? Concern for him?

    The corners of his lips curved upward.

    ###

 Chapter 590 - I Thought I Lost You

    <h4>Chapter 590 - I Thought I Lost You </h4>

    Jin Chonglin shed Chen Fei his iconic killer smile. A desire to tease the bossy woman made him toss aside his earlier self-pity.

    Chen Fei scowled as soon as she saw him smiling at her. She red at him and turned her head to the side to avoid looking at his annoying smile. The snickers of her friends grew louder. She knew that they were nowughing at her. The rascals! If she wasn¡¯t friends with Meimei, Dom and Clover, she would have already smacked their butts. She didn¡¯t notice that her face and neck had turned red. All she felt was a bellyful of irritation.

    ¡¯That indecisive diva-man! What is he smiling at me for? Did he go bonkers from the bomb incident? I was just concerned that he might be traumatized after what happened and affect the progress of his men¡¯s skincare and perfume lines! I shouldn¡¯t have worried about him! Just wasted my precious energy and goodwill! Hmph!¡¯

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s smile grew wider when he saw Chen Fei¡¯s irritated expression. It was making him want to tease her more. However, he controlled himself because his family was present. He didn¡¯t want them to misunderstand. What if they started matchmaking him to that bossy woman? He inwardly shuddered.

    Living with such a bossy woman who didn¡¯t think much of his superstar status would be a nightmare for him. She would probably control his entire life once they were married...

    ¡¯Huh? What the hell are you thinking, Jin Chonglin?! Get a hold of yourself! Why are you imagining yourself married to that bossy woman? You don¡¯t even like her,¡¯ he scolded himself.

    His killer smile turned into a surly pout at the sudden direction of his thoughts. Once again, he envied his older brother for finding a treasure of a woman like Iris Long. If he were faster and more decisive back then, perhaps Iris would¡¯ve been his. He forcefully tamped down this thought as soon as it appeared.

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei thought that nobody noticed their silent quarrel. Well, except for the girl squad. The elders continued talking to each other.

    Unbeknown to them, a certain old man and olddy noticed. The old man¡¯s eyes glinted with mischief. The olddy beside him red at him, warning him not to interfere in her grandson¡¯s love life.

    As for Huang Yuyan, she was too busyforting Wei Lan who once again set off her theatrics.

    Wei Lan was trying to drown out the presence of her ex-husband and his third wife. She had bad feelings about them but didn¡¯t want to create amotion in front of her future inws.

    ¡¯I¡¯m such a magnaaaaaaanimous viscountess!¡¯

    Just before midnight, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui left. They nned on visiting again tomorrow to see Iris. The others decided to sleep over at the mansion.

    The night ended with many troubled hearts. Everyone at the mansion hadn¡¯te to terms yet that they almost lost Iris that day. It was a frightening experience, something that they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

    ###

    ###

    The first thing that Iris heard as she slowly awakened was the gentle sound of flowing water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain.

    Next were theforting sounds of two cats purring behind her. She could feel one source of fluffy heat against her back while the other one was pressed against her thighs.

    As her consciousness became clearer, she could also hear a strong, steady heartbeat against her cheek.

    All of these soundsforted her, making her feel safe and warm. She was lying on her side, embraced by a warm and hard body. She could feel the steady rise and fall of a hard chest in front of her and the soft breathing on top of her head. Her body subconsciously pressed closer to her man. Then she inhaled the familiar masculine scent that she loved so much.

    A gentle touch stroked her hair and a gentle kiss touched her head.

    Iris sighed in contentment, wanting to stay like this for longer but the injuries on her body started stinging, aching and throbbing until she could no longer ignore them. Her eyes fluttered open.

    "G¡¯morning, love," Jin Liwei¡¯s low and husky voice greeted her.

    "Mmn... Morning, darling." She looked up and saw his handsome face. For some reason, the pain that she was feeling in her body lessened when she looked at him.

    "Meow..." Ice Cream poked her head from behind her and patted her cheek with her fluffy grey paw.

    "Meow~ Meow!" Popcorn was also awakened and jumped between his parents.

    "Popcorn, be gentle. Your mom is injured," Jin Liwei scolded the hyper-active cat.

    Iris smiled. The couple greeted the cats and petted them.

    "Ketchup, what¡¯s the time?" Iris asked.

    No answer.

    Then she remembered what happened yesterday and her smile disappeared. She felt her chest tighten. Her eyes closed.

    "Ketchup..." Iris pressed her face against Jin Liwei¡¯s chest, as she tried to calm herself while remembering that Ketchup had been damaged yesterday from going out of control. She was forced to disable the cat AI as a result.

    Jin Liwei hugged her closer, careful not to touch and hurt her injuries.

    Ice Cream and Popcorn seemed to sense that their mommy wasn¡¯t feeling good so they didn¡¯t disturb their parents, even though the two cats felt hungry and needed to go to the bathroom. They kept quiet and purred loudly, trying tofort their mommy.

    Iris opened her eyes and tried to sit up. "I need to examine Ketchup. I need to fix her. I need¡ª"

    "Love, not now. Please rest and heal first, okay?"

    "But Ketchup is¡ª"

    "Please?" Jin Liwei implored, looking straight into her the eyes.

    She wanted to argue and insist on checking Ketchup¡¯s systems but seeing his concern for her, she could only restrain herself for now. A heavy sigh escaped from her lips before she nodded, reluctantly agreeing with him.

    He dipped his head down and gave a gentle kiss on her lips.

    "You¡¯re the most important to me. Always remember that. I thought I lost you yesterday," he said, his voice a little choked.

 Chapter 591 - Blaze Of Heat And Zap Of Electricity

    <h4>Chapter 591 - ze Of Heat And Zap Of Electricity </h4>

    Sensing her man¡¯s pain and fear of losing her, Iris¡¯ unhappiness of being stopped from checking and fixing Ketchup evaporated. Her full attention was now on Jin Liwei. She could understand how he must be feeling.If their situations were reversed, she would also feel the same way as him.

    "I¡¯m sorry that you had to experience something dangerous and scary like that yesterday," he told her. "I wish I was there to personally protect you, not allowing you to suffer even just one bruise on your body. I wish that I could take away all of your injuries and pain. I don¡¯t want you to suffer anything."

    A smile softened her expression. She caressed his cheek. There was mutual tenderness in how they looked in each other¡¯s eyes.

    "Don¡¯t apologize. What happened yesterday was not your fault," she replied. "I know that you love me and want to protect me. In fact, I¡¯m now thankful that you and Big Brother insisted on providing me with arge security team. If it weren¡¯t for both of your subordinates, I might have been more gravely injured. So thank you."

    "This is natural. It¡¯s what I should do for the woman I love."

    The couple continued staring into each other¡¯s eyes, kissing gently and then smiling. Stare, kiss, smile. They repeated these actions until they were interrupted by their two cats who couldn¡¯t endure their hunger and full dders any longer.

    "Meow!" Ice Cream¡¯s expression looked pitiful. She really tried hard to wait and endure for the sake of her mommy but couldn¡¯t anymore. The call of nature was something that was difficult to ignore.

    "MEOW!!! MEOW!!! MEOW!!!" Popcorn had already jumped down the bed and walked around restlessly in circles in front of the door.

    Jin Liwei sighed while Iris chuckled.

    "Alright, I understand. I¡¯ll let you out now," Jin Liwei told them, as he gently disentangled himself from his baby girl. He froze when he saw her wince. "Sorry, love. Did I hurt you?"

    "I¡¯m fine. Go on and let the cats out. I don¡¯t want them having an ident inside our room."

    He nodded and got up, careful of his movements so as not to hurt her. The cats followed him as he led them all the way out of the suite. Fortunately, Ice Cream and Popcorn already knew where to go to do their business without Jin Liwei needing to apany them.

    Iris was on her way to the bathroom when he returned to their bedroom after letting the cats out. He hurried to her and supported her, rm and worry in his expression.

    "I can walk perfectly fine, you know," she told him.

    He didn¡¯t reply, still continuing to support her to the bathroom.

    She was helpless at his overprotectiveness but didn¡¯t argue. In fact, she liked it. She felt warm and loved by him, so she allowed him to do what he wanted. It was his way of easing his worry for her. Besides, she didn¡¯t have the energy to deny him. Her entire body ached and felt stiff. The wound on her jaw was stinging while the major injuries on her neck and shoulder throbbed, spreading the pain to the surrounding parts of her body.

    Jin Liwei saw her difort even if she tried to hide it from him. There was a little furrow between her brows, hinting that she was enduring some kind of pain. It pained him so much to see her suffering like this, especially since she was doing her best not to show it.

    Then hatred for Tian Kong flooded him. His baby girl was in pain because of that motherfucker! He would never be at peace if he didn¡¯t make the bastard pay for attempting to kill his woman.

    Iris sensed his sudden fury and instinctively knew to whom he wanted to direct it to. She also felt the same way. That Tian Kong who imed to be her fan needed to pay. It wasn¡¯t only her who was hurt but also many of her true loyal fans, some of Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans and also a few innocent bystanders. However, she didn¡¯t want that bomber and attempted murderer to ruin this moment between the two of them. Both of them had been extremely busy ever since they returned to the country from France that their time spent together were limited.

    She patted his cheek to get his attention. He tossed the son of a bitch out of his mind to focus on his baby girl¡¯s needs.

    Both of them brushed their teeths and did their business. Afterwards, Jin Liwei washed her body with a damp cloth. Then he cleaned her wounds and changed her bandages. His expression hardened and turned colder seeing all the bruises, scratches, and the swollen wounds on her body. He listened like an attentive student when the doctor showed him how to treat and bandage her wounds yesterday at the hospital. It was obvious that he wasn¡¯t used to it because his movements were a bit clumsy.

    However, he was gentle, careful and tender, so Iris swallowed her suggestion of asking someone more experienced among the household staff to dress her wounds. She didn¡¯t want deprive him of his desire to take care of her. He treated her like the most precious treasure in the world, making her feel all mushy inside.

    While he was dressing her wounds, her hands subconsciously began caressing his nape and arm. Her wounds hurt and her body ached, but every time he touched her, she could feel a ze of heat and a zap of electricity on her skin. It made her forget about the aches and pain in her body. Her breathing quickened and a familiar ball of desire slowly formed and tightened in her lower abdomen.

    Jin Liwei immediately sensed the change in his baby girl. His eyes were on the same level as her naked breasts, so he saw how her nipples hardened. The rapid rise and fall of her chest was also unmistakable, making her enticing breasts all the more mouthwatering. He looked up and saw that her eyes had gone cloudy and half-lidded with desire. His body reacted in an instant. Blood rushed downwards. He felt something stirring between his legs.

    ###

 Chapter 592 - Iâ€™ll Make You Scream

    <h4>Chapter 592 - I¡¯ll Make You Scream </h4>

    For a moment, Jin Liwei was at a loss of what to do. He had already been half-hard when he helped her remove her clothes earlier. However, he wasn¡¯t such a beast as to lose his rationality when his baby girl wasn¡¯t in tip-top condition. His concern for her trumped his desire. That was until he noticed her excited reactions to his "innocent" touches.

    When he looked up and saw her heavy-lidded eyes filled with desire for him, his own desire for her rushed downwards like a raging tsunami. He was so hard that it felt like his erection would burst out of his pyjama pants any second.

    If this was under any normal circumstance, he would have already grabbed her and eaten her right there and then. However, the sight of her wounded body was like a ssh of cold water on his animalistic instincts, helping him regain his senses.

    Jin Liwei swallowed the saliva pooling inside his mouth and forced his eyes away from her luscious breasts. It was difficult to restrain himself but he knew that he would never forgive himself if he ended up hurting her just because of his inability to control his urges.

    The hand caressing his nape moved to his shoulder and down his chest. Despite wearing a shirt, he could clearly feel the burning trail of her touch on his skin down to his hard abs...down, down, down to...

    He caught her naughty hand before she could touch his hard-on, knowing that he might not be able to continue controlling himself if she touched that hot spot.

    "Liwei...."

    Her voice was like a siren¡¯s call, enchanting him to lose his mind and do all of her bidding. He was already starting to pant as an internal battle between his instinct and rationality raged inside him.

    "Darling..."

    She pressed herself against him and wrapped her other arm around his waist while he still held her other hand. Her t stomach rubbed against his erection, eliciting a groan from him.

    "Love, not today," he told her with much difficulty.

    Her expression turned sullen.

    "You¡¯re injured. I don¡¯t want to hurt you."

    Although disappointed, she understood his reason for rejecting her seduction. She didn¡¯t n on seducing him either. Her entire body ached and her wounds hurt. However, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from reacting to his touches. Her body had already been conditioned to crave him.

    She sighed and nodded while straightening her body to put some distance between them. She took a few deep breaths to control her desire.

    He was also doing the same thing.

    Later, goosebumps appeared on her skin. She rubbed them and shivered a bit.

    "Shit, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m too careless," Jin Liwei cursed at himself before grabbing her fluffy bathrobe and covering her body. Then he carried her to their walk-in closet to help dress her.

    After she was all dressed up, he evenbed her hair. She tried stopping him, saying that she could do it on her own but he insisted. Not wanting to argue with him, she allowed him to take care of her. She still wore a slightly sullen and disappointed expression because the fire of desire within her had not been quenched.

    Seeing her expression, it was his turn to sigh. He also didn¡¯t want to disappoint her but he would rather choose this than identally hurt her and aggravate her injuries. She neverined about pain even once but her little winces here and there didn¡¯t escape his eyes. His heart would clench whenever he saw her wincing in pain and then pretending that she was alright.

    He wrapped her in his arms, careful not to hurt her. Her arms also wrapped around his waist. He stroked her hair and exposed her ear before leaning down to kiss it. A pleased smile lifted the corner of his lips when he felt her shiver from his feather-light kiss.

    "Not today. But don¡¯t worry, love. Once you recover from your injuries, I¡¯ll make you scream all night long," he whispered to her ear.

    Her hands gripped the back of his shirt. He could sense her excitement.

    She looked up at him. "Only all night long?"

    His smile turned into a smirk. "All day long. All week long. However long you want."

    She also began smiling, her naughty hands rubbing up and down his back. "Mmn... Promise?"

    "En. Promise."

    Her smile became brighter, dazzling him for a few seconds.

    "So hurry up and get better," he told her after recovering a bit from being bedazzled.

    "Okay."

    ¡¯I can¡¯t make love with her but I can still kiss her, right?¡¯

    He didn¡¯t want to waste too much time thinking about it so he went ahead and did it. His head dipped down and caught her sweet lips, gently nipping, licking and sucking. It made both of them breathless and desiring for more, but he stopped before both of them could lose control.

    "I¡¯ll call for breakfast," he announced after the kiss. "Second Brother will be dropping byter after his hospital duty to take a look at you. There¡¯s no need to leave our suite today. You should focus on getting better."

    She nodded.

    "Oh, right. I almost forgot. Our families and friends have slept over. They arrivedst night but you were already sleeping. Uncle Tengfei and Aunt Jiahui returned home but will visit again today. I¡¯ll allow all of them to see youter."

    "They¡¯re here? Then we must join them for breakfast¡ª"

    "No, love."

    "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯m fine, really¡ª"

    "I want to eat breakfast with just the two of us."

    "Oh. I see. Okay." Something warm and mushy filled her inside. She didn¡¯t notice the big, stupid grin on her face.

    Jin Liwei also had a big, stupid grin on his face.

    The two looked and smiled at each other like stupid idiots, but they were in love so both of them thought that she looked the most beautiful and he looked the most handsome in the world even with the stupid grins on their faces.

    Knock! Knock!

    The two didn¡¯t notice the sound. Or rather, they chose to ignore it.

    KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!

    Jin Liwei scowled. Which pest dared to interrupt his special time with his baby girl?! Courting death!

    ###

 Chapter 593 - Great To Be Alive

    <h4>Chapter 593 - Great To Be Alive </h4>

    The knocking came from outside their suite, not their actual bedroom, so it wasn¡¯t that loud. But to Jin Liwei, it was the most irritating sound at the moment.

    KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!!!

    Iris also felt annoyed but not to the same degree as him. She patted his cheek, trying to calm him down. "Why don¡¯t you answer it? Maybe it¡¯s something important."

    He grunted in obvious displeasure but still nodded. He gave her another quick kiss on the lips before leaving to answer the damn door. If it wasn¡¯t anything urgent, the damn intruder should prepare to face his wrath.His irritation was clouding his rationality. He poised himself for battle.

    Iris followed behind him with slow footsteps. Now that his back was facing her, she carefully touched the bandaged wound on her neck and shoulder. They hurt. She was also beginning to feel a throbbing headache. Perhaps it was because of hunger or the overall pain in her body. She wasn¡¯t entirely sure. It seemed that she needed to eat soon so that she could safely take painkillers.

    However, all this pain was still bearable. Yes, the pain was ufortable and inconvenient, but for someone who had experienced being shot by a barrage of bullets in her past life, something like this was nothing. At least, she was still alive. For that, she was thankful.

    ¡¯I¡¯m alive. I can still be with Liwei and our cats,¡¯ she thought.

    It was great to be alive.

    Ahead of her, Jin Liwei moved to open the door with a vicious scowl on his face. His raging expression was the total opposite of his usual cold fury. He opened his mouth to scold the damn intruder as soon as he opened the door but...

    "Papa!" Little Jun stretched his little arms towards him.

    "Liam," Enrique Valdez greeted him with a nod. He retrieved his fist in the air. It appeared that he was the one who kept on knocking.

    Enrique Valdez was the damn intruder?

    The legendary hitmaker was carrying Little Jun in his arms. He looked a little awkward doing so but the toddler didn¡¯t seem to mind. Little Jun had already met this handsome grandpa before and considered him as part of the family.

    Jin Liwei was too surprised seeing Enrique Valdez inside his home first thing in the morning that he wasn¡¯t able to react in time. He stood there like a frozen statue while Little Jun continued to call for him, trying to catch his attention.

    Jiang Ying Yue stood a few steps behind them wearing an embarrassed and apologetic expression. She wasn¡¯t the only standing behind her son and Enrique Valdez.

    "What are you standing there for like a nitwit, Liwei my boy? What¡¯s taking you so long to invite us inside? I want to know! Do you want this old man to fall asleep while standing here waiting and waiting outside your door?"

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s boomingint forced Jin Liwei to regain his senses. He finally noticed that his grandmother, mother and mother-inw also came. A little farther behind them stood Dom and Yi Mei, each carrying a cat in their arms. He didn¡¯t see his younger brother, though.

    Jin Liwei took Little Jun from the legendary hitmaker and opened the door wider. "Pleasee in."

    "Mama!" Little Jun immediately forgot about his papa upon seeing his mama and excitedly reached out for her. However, he stopped, his eyes widening, when he saw her bandages, bruises and scratches. He immediately knew that his mama was hurt. His little face scrunched up and burst into tears. "Mamaaaa! Mamaaaaaa!! Mamaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

    Iris attempted to take the crying child from Jin Liwei but he was reluctant because Little Jun might identally hurt her injuries. "It¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll be careful."

    "No, no! Xin, please don¡¯t carry Little Jun for now," Jiang Ying Yue said, squeezing from behind Enrique Valdez to take her son instead. "He has be heavier and stronger. You might get hurt."

    Little Jun struggled in his mother¡¯s embrace. He continued to cry while reaching for his mama. "Junjun want Mamaaaaa!"

    Two cats also arrived and rubbed themselves against their mommy¡¯s legs.

    "Little Jun, be good," Jiang Ying Yue told her son in a firm tone.

    The toddler whimpered.

    Iris sighed and patted her godson¡¯s back and stroked his head. Little Jun felt a little better after that. He really wanted his mama to carry him but his mommy wouldn¡¯t allow him. So sad.

    The others also entered the suite. Wei Lan and Yi Mei burst into tears upon seeing Iris¡¯ bruised and wounded appearance.

    "Oh, my poor baaaaaabyyyyy!!! How did my beeeeaaaauuuutiful daughter end up looking like a zombiiiiiiieeee?!!! Where does it hurt, honeeeey?! Where?! Tell Mother!!"

    Huang Yuyan busied herself trying tofort Wei Lan again.

    "Young Miss!" Yi Mei was shocked when she saw Iris covered in bruises and scratches from head to toe. And those bandages?! Her young miss¡¯s beautiful face was marred by the bandage on her jaw. The bandage around her neck also looked serious. Yi Mei could also see anotherrge bandage peeking under Iris¡¯ clothes. The old housekeeper didn¡¯t expect that her young miss¡¯s injuries would be this many! Yi Meipletely lost her usualposure. She turned around to leave.

    "Grandma Yi Mei, where are you going?" Dom called.

    "I¡¯m going to the kitchen and get a butcher knife! Where is that evil monster who tried to kill Young Miss! My old bones won¡¯t be at peace until I hack that viin into pieces!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression also turned murderous. Iris held his hand and squeezed it, silently telling him to calm down.

    "Yi Mei, grab an extra knife! This viscountess also can¡¯t forgiiiiiiive that son of a¡ªthat...that murderer who tried to kill my beloved daaauuuughteeeer!"

    "Wei Lan, please calm down. There¡¯s a young child here," Huang Yuyan gently reminded her.

    And indeed, Jiang Ying Yue was covering her son¡¯s ears. Little Jun might not yet understand what they were talking about, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

    A loud growl interrupted the emotional atmosphere. Everyone froze, wondering who it was.

    ###

 Chapter 594 - Shameless Businesswoman

    <h4>Chapter 594 - Shameless Businesswoman </h4>

    Another growl sounded, louder this time. It sounded like a grumpy lion.

    "This old man is so hungry and can¡¯t wait to eat breakfast!" Grandpa Lu announced without any shame while rubbing his stomach. "I¡¯ve been waiting and waiting for the two of you toe out of your room but you¡¯re taking so long so I dragged everyone here! Enrique came on time so I also dragged him here to wake you two up! What¡¯s taking you so long? I want to know! Do you want this old man to die of starvation? Your beloved grandpa can¡¯t die yet! You still haven¡¯t given me great-grandbabies! When are you going to give me great-grandbabies? I want to know!"

    "Oh, be quiet, you noisy old gori," Grandma Li scolded him.

    The two elders¡¯ bickering made the atmosphere lighter. Everyone smiled and chuckled. Wei Lan and Yi Mei stopped being emotional.

    Later, everyone was seated in the suite¡¯s living room. The butler and some maids delivered a simple buffet-style breakfast because there wasn¡¯t enough space for everyone to fit at the suite¡¯s small table.

    Little Jun wanted to sit on his mama¡¯sp but his mother wouldn¡¯t allow him, so he plopped his butt on his papa¡¯sp instead, refusing to budge when his mother tried taking him. His papa sat close to his mama so sitting on hisp was the next best thing.

    Jiang Ying Yue had no choice but to sit beside Jin Liwei to feed her son.

    Everyone ate and chatted. The atmosphere was light and cheerful. They seemed to have reached a silent consensus not to talk about the bomb incident yesterday. However, Iris noticed the concern in their eyes every time they nced at her injuries.

    Dom informed Iris that his sister Clover, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei also camest night but they left early that morning to go to work at Orchidia Beauty. Meimei brought her equipment when she came and had been drawing her webtoon until the sun rose so she was still sleeping right now. As for Jin Chonglin, nobody saw him leaving his room so he must also be still sleeping.

    "What about Big Brother? Where is he?" Iris asked.

    Grandpa Lu heard her. "Hmph! That pinheaded big brother of yours disappeared to who knows where! His little sister is injured and all of us are here. Instead of staying and spending time with family like a good, filial boy, he goes out gallivanting! Watch this old man pull and twist his ear when hees back!"

    Iris didn¡¯t reply, going into deep thought instead. She suspected that her brother disappeared because he was doing his own investigations about the bomb incident. She sensed his dangerous fury when he arrived at the mall to check on her yesterday. He was already restraining his aura during that time because of the public ce but the malevolence still seeped out, making her shudder a little. His outer shell might be that of Lu Zihao, Grandpa Lu¡¯s grandson, but he was without a doubt her Big Brother Niki deep inside.

    She nced at Jin Liwei. He might be spending time beside her right now but she knew that he must have alsomanded his subordinates to take action. Perhaps the two men were cooperating with each other.

    Knowing that her man and her brother were doing all of these for her, she was also itching to conduct her own investigation. Even more important than this, she wanted to examine Ketchup and fix the cat AI. She had already gotten used to hearing the white cat¡¯s cute and cheerful chatter every day that a sense of loss and panic was now pervading her heart. It felt like she had really lost her own child.

    She couldn¡¯t wait to fix Ketchup and then conduct her own investigation about the bomb incident but Jin Liwei and the others wouldn¡¯t allow her right now because of her injuries. She could always defy them and insist on doing her own thing but chose not to do so. It wasn¡¯t worth it to cause negative feelings between them when all they were doing was show their love and concern for her. She also had to admit that her body¡¯s condition right now was very poor. It would only hinder her efficiency in aplishing the tasks that she wanted to do. All she could do at the moment was wait until her body recovered enough.

    Jin Liwei saw her sighing. He was watching her like a hawk.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love? Are you in pain?" he asked in a whisper.

    "I¡¯m..." She was about to say that she felt alright, don¡¯t worry, but decided to be honest...to some extent. "Yes, a bit." She actually felt like she had been run over by a truck.

    His expression turned serious. He handed Little Jun to Jiang Ying Yue and headed to their bedroom. The others looked at him. They appeared to be chatting with each other but were actually eavesdropping on the couple¡¯s conversation.

    Momentster, Jin Liwei returned with Iris¡¯ medications. After she had taken all of them, he pulled her close to his body, resting her head on his shoulder. All of his movements were gentle and careful.

    Digestive tea was served after breakfast. Iris chatted with her music instructor, Enrique Valdez.

    The legendary hitmaker had been staying in the country since Orchidia Beauty¡¯sunch party. He nned on a music coboration with Iris but they hadn¡¯t started yet. Iris was still extremely busy with her current workmitments with Orchidia Beauty and her second music coboration with Jin Chonglin plus a slew of other things. Even though she and Bright Summit offered to rearrange her schedule to prioritize her coboration with Enrique Valdez, he refused. He told them that he would travel the country first and enjoy the culture and cuisine. They could start working on their coboration after he returned.

    And that was what he had been doing. Bright Summit provided him with a local guide and a personal interpreter free of charge to apany him to his tourist trips all over the country. No contract for a music coboration had been signed yet but it was only a matter of time. As long as the legendary hitmaker retained his intention of coborating with their artist Iris Long, Bright Summit would treat Enrique Valdez like a king and was even prepared to take financial loss. The most important thing for the entertainmentpany was the increase in prestige and reputation from coborating with such a prominent and world-famous musician like Enrique Valdez. Who wouldn¡¯t want to work with a living legend?

    Bright Summit also offered to provide him with long-term high-ss hotel amodations but Iris was quicker. She leased him a penthouse unit from another Gold Heights Condominium building instead. Even though he was her music instructor, she didn¡¯t give him any discount. The price she offered him was reasonable though, not too expensive but not too cheap either.

    As a shameless businesswoman who learned the majority of her business smarts from Grandpa Lu, she would never allow herself to be on the losing end of a deal even to family and friends. Besides, Enrique Valdez was rich and famous. He could afford it. He didn¡¯t bother negotiating with her about the price, immediately signing the residential lease agreement without even reading it. He trusted her not to cheat him.

    Her shamelessness as a businesswoman kicked in after the signing of the agreement. Iris requested her music instructor to sign a huge portrait of him taken inside the penthouse unit. The fact that Enrique Valdez, the world-famous legendary hitmaker, lived in the penthouse was already a guarantee that the unit¡¯s market price would soar several folds afterwards. Adding the signed portrait to the package would boost the penthouse¡¯s value even more. Iris was already estimating the huge profits the penthouse unit would fetch her in the future, all thanks to Enrique Valdez and of course, her shamelessness.

    Back to the present, Enrique Valdez was talking a bit more than usual. His concern for his student was obvious in his eyes.

    "I¡¯ve been in this industry for decades. I witnessed a lot of crazy fans. What you experienced yesterday is one of the scariest I¡¯ve ever heard," he told her in English.

    The others stopped talking and listened to their conversation instead. They had been avoiding talking about the bomb incident. Enrique Valdez was the first one to open the topic.

    ###

 Chapter 595 Almighty Diamond - Encrusted Golden Slippers

    <h4>Chapter 595 Almighty Diamond - Encrusted Golden Slippers </h4>

    Once Enrique Valdez started talking about the bomb incident, the others also joined in. However, they didn¡¯t dwell on it too deeply because they were afraid that it would upset Iris or trigger her trauma, if she was indeed traumatized by the incident. They figured that it was still too early to determine if she was traumatized or not because it only happened yesterday. All of them were cautious of distressing her because they knew that she had already been traumatized before by the car ident that almost killed her and sent her into a year-longa.

    Jin Liwei looked murderous when they talked about the perpetrator, Tian Kong. His expression frightened Little Jun, so Jiang Ying Yue and Dom moved the little guy and his cat cousins to Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s bedroom.

    Iris also joined the conversation and shared her experiences during the mall show and the eventual bomb incident. Her brief and straightforward ount of what happened was very different from Dom¡¯s overdramatic re-enactment the night before. However, it affected them more, chilling their hearts and almost making them breathless in fear for her life.

    As for Iris, she didn¡¯t feel traumatized by what happened yesterday. Comparing to how she died in her past life, the bomb incident was nothing. Nevertheless, she still felt disturbed and wanted to get to the bottom of it. There were so many questions that she wanted to be answered.

    Before she knew it, her eyes had closed and her breathing became deep and regr. She had fallen asleep due to her strong painkillers despite just waking up that morning. Everyone stopped talking and watched Jin Liwei carry her to their bedroom. Afterwards, Jin Liwei kicked them all out of the suite, including Little Jun and the cats despite their pitiful protests. Jin Liwei wanted his baby girl to have a nice, safe andquiet ce to recover from her injuries.

    ###

    ###

    The bomb incident continued dominating the headlines in the next days. There was very little progress in the investigation. The authorities were still recovering from the devastating hacking attack. It affected the speed and efficiency of their work.

    The lunatic hacker really caused them a great deal of chaos and destruction. The authorities cursed the unknown hacker for giving them so much trouble. A bounty had already been issued for the anonymous hacker, even though little to no information was known about him or her.

    As for the perpetrator, Tian Kong, he was already in police custody. Thanks to the furious fans who mobbed and detained him at the mall, the police was quickly able to arrest him. It was more or less already guaranteed that he would receive heavy punishment for his crimes. Perhaps he would even be punished with the death penalty, if¡ªno, "when" the court found him guilty. The evidence against him was too strong.

    However, there were still many unclear aspects of the case that needed intensive investigation. The police were already suspecting that there was an additional unknown entity supporting Tian Kong in the shadows. Unfortunately, Tian Kong refused to say anything else. He had been ready to die with Iris Long and the other innocent people when he set off the bomb at the mall. He felt no guilt, only regret that he wasn¡¯t sessful in blowing everyone up to death.

    Moving on to the entertainment news section, Bright Summit cancelled both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long¡¯s current work schedules. For the next couple of days after the bomb incident, there were no updates from the two celebrities.

    The Iris Long hate campaign had stopped spreading on the inte like wildfire but it still managed to nt a seed of resentment and even hatred against Iris in the minds of some members of the general public. Although they couldn¡¯t effectively bash Iris on the inte because hatements against her mysteriously disappeared, they continued to criticize her in real life to their family, friends, co-workers and even strangers on the streets. They med her for causing so many innocent people to be injured during the bomb incident. To these negative people, Iris Long was on the same level as the bomber Tian Kong and deserved to be hated, condemned and punished.

    Bright Summit, the ck Stars, and many of Iris Long¡¯s allies in showbiz like JJ, DJ Song, Feng Jiu, all the Pandemonium band members, Guan Jintao, Yin Meixing and the other cast and crew of "Strong Yet Broken", Director He and the hosts of "MusicFest Tonight", and the other artists managed by Tang Yiyi all defended Iris Long against these unreasonable usations. Princess Porkchop, creator of the highly popr webtoon "Queen of the Shadows", also defended Iris Long on her blog and rallied her own fans to do the same.

    However, it was difficult to reason with close-minded and negative people. They only listened to words aligning with their own beliefs and rejected anything else. It didn¡¯t help that Iris Long hadn¡¯t released any statement defending herself. These people took her silence as an admission of her "guilt".

    ###

    The ck Stars were chatting on their members-only chat group. They were all filled with worry about their Boss Iris and also anxiety about the hate campaign against her in real life.

    LittlePhoenix: "I got into a fight at school because I heard some jerks from the other sses talking trash about our boss. I¡¯m so angry! I wanted to smack them with my mighty slippers but my friends stopped me and dragged me away."

    CaptainckStar: "Behave at school. Your parents will be called to your school if you cause trouble. If they discover that you got into a fight because you¡¯re defending Boss Iris, your parents might start ming our boss for corrupting you. We don¡¯t want that to happen."

    LittlePhoenix: "You¡¯re right, Big Sis Captain. I didn¡¯t think about that. Thanks for the reminder. I¡¯ll be more careful from now on. But it¡¯s just so frustrating hearing all of those people ming Boss Iris! What¡¯s wrong with them?!"

    MrsLovePhantom: "There are quite a number of our members who were injured in the st. I think a handful of them are still in the hospital. I think that we should do something as a fan club to support them in some way. Maybe we can send some flowers, food, even some financial help pay for their medical bills."

    Her friends JJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan and JJNumber3Fan all agreed with her. They all promised to donate something for their fellow ck Stars who were injured.

    CaptainckStar: "That¡¯s a great idea, @MrsLovePhantom! Thank you! Although I can¡¯t donate much because I¡¯m still a poor university student, I can at least write a card or something, maybe even cook or bake goodies for our injuredrades."

    Many of the regr ck Stars echoed her sentiments.

    iEatSlippers: "Don¡¯t forget this Lord of All Slippers! Although I¡¯m no longer publicly active as a ck Star, my almighty slippers will never abandon myrades! This lord is now rich¡ªmwahahaha! So I can now afford to donate more! If you want, you can start calling me the Lord of the Almighty Diamond-Encrusted Golden Slippers!"

    CaptainckStar, LittlePhoenix, MrsLovePhantom and her three friends all weed iEatSlippers back. The members of the Slippers Army were especially ecstatic and rejoiced that their original leader popped up to join them again.

    "Shut up and stop bragging about your wealth, you son of a bitch! Shit! I missed you, you shithead! I¡¯m not crying, you are!"

    "Did youe back just to make all of us feel poor, Mr. Moneybags¡ªoops, I mean Mr. CFO of Monkey?"

    "Uwah! It¡¯s the legendary @iEatSlippers! I¡¯m a new member of Slippers Army! You¡¯re the #1 troll that I admire the most in the world! Please lead us in a trolling battle if you have time! My mighty slippers can¡¯t wait to witness the magnificence of your almighty diamond-encrusted golden slippers!"

    iEatSlippers: "Mwahahaha! Sure. This Lord of Slippers will create several smurf ounts to lead you to some battles when I¡¯m free. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t use this ount anymore to lead you to battles or else I¡¯ll be in trouble with mypany boss. By the way, where¡¯s @KittyBaby? That weird kid can function as her own troll army. My almighty slippers recognize her trolling skills."

    "I think she got grounded by her parents again. Poor kid. Her parents are so strict."

    "Well, she¡¯s a naughty kiddo. I bet her parents frequently smack her butt."

    "I hope not. I¡¯m against parents using corporal punishment to their children."

    LittlePhoenix: "Big Bro @iEatSlippers! You¡¯re back! We haven¡¯t been able to reach @KittyBaby ever since the bomb incident. We were hoping that she could help lead us in battle against the online hate campaign but unfortunately, she didn¡¯t show up. I think that her parents grounded her again. Good thing that an awesome anonymous person helped us and they made all those hatements disappear."

    CaptainckStar: "Yeah, he was a big help. I wish that he introduced himself to us, so we can at least thank him."

    MonkeyFace: "There¡¯s no need for you to know him. Or her. Just know that he or she is on Iris¡¯ side."

    Everyone became excited once again as soon as MonkeyFace appeared. Many idolized him, especially the "Supreme Ascension" gamers. Their excitement buried the conversation about KittyBaby and the anonymous hacker who helped them thwart the hate campaign against their Boss Iris.

    MonkeyFace interrupted them and returned the group¡¯s focus to their n of helping their fellowrades who were injured in the bomb incident.

 Chapter 596 - This Prince Is A Superstar

    <h4>Chapter 596 - This Prince Is A Superstar </h4>

    Afterwards, MonkeyFace set up a simple donation webpage to help not only their fellow ck Stars but also the others who were injured in the bomb incident. Those who couldn¡¯t afford to donate financially pledged to help in other ways instead.

    In addition to this, they didn¡¯t forget to prepare get well soon letters and presents for their Boss Iris. They knew that she was also injured but didn¡¯t know to what extent. ording to their fellow ck Stars who witnessed the bomb incident, the area that she had been located was where the worst injuries urred. They couldn¡¯t help but worry about her.

    Isted cases of the Iris Long hate campaign in real life continued to distress the ck Stars. It intensified when Jin Chonglin appeared in public on the fourth day after the bomb incident. He visited the injured in hospitals and in their homes. Bright Summit took advantage of the situation and made a big deal out of it by inviting a few reporters to document Jin Chonglin¡¯s visit. It was reported in the news throughout the day.

    When the general public learned of his visit, they praised him. His army of fans fell even more deeply for him.

    However, those who had been corrupted by the hate campaign took this chance to criticize Iris Long.

    "Look at Jin Chonglin. He¡¯s taking responsibility as a celebrity seriously by personally visiting his injured fans and making sure that they¡¯re okay. How about Iris Long? Where is she right now? We haven¡¯t heard anything from her. She doesn¡¯t care about her fans at all. All she cares about is herself."

    "I never bought into her image change after hereback. I¡¯ll always remember her as the spoiled bitch that she was before. She managed to enchant a lot of people into believing that she became an angel but when something serious like this happens, she reveals her true colours. What fans? She doesn¡¯t care about you! Haha."

    The ck Stars immediately came to defend their boss. However, they found it hard to do so this time because this hate campaign was urring in real life. The hatements online were quickly taken care of by either the Slippers Army or that anonymous person who helped them before. Now they realized that battling online was so much easier than in real life.

    ###

    ###

    Earlier that morning, Jin Chonglin arrived at the first hospital on his agenda for today to visit six people. Two of them were his fans while three were ck Stars. The other person was a member of the mall security. All six were among those who suffered the worst injuries. They were currently recovering from their minor operations, hence their extended hospital stay.

    Although only two of them were Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans, he still nned on visiting all of them. He brought flowers, food and presents plus signed CDs, posters and merchandise.

    Lin Dong and Jin Chonglin¡¯s assistants apanied him. Most importantly, he also brought his entire team of bodyguards. Even though he didn¡¯t suffer any serious injuries during the bomb incident, he still felt traumatized. He didn¡¯t feel safe andfortable leaving the house anymore without a full team of bodyguards.

    In the hospital, the six injured stayed together in a single ward. It made it easier for Jin Chonglin and the people following him because he didn¡¯t have to visit multiple rooms to visit all of the six patients.

    When he arrived, he saw that they already received the same things that he brought. There were elegant flowers arranged in beautiful ss vases on each of the patient¡¯s bedside tables. Seeing them made him feel like the flowers he brought were too gaudy.

    On the far side of the ward, there were several bento boxes for the patients and their loved ones. There were also many gift bags and baskets arranged at a corner so as not to interfere with the nurses and doctor checking in on the patients.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes narrowed before smoothing out his expression and shing everyone his famous killer smile.

    ¡¯I think I just saw the Orchidia Beauty logo,¡¯ he thought.

    He wanted to take a closer look at the gift bags and baskets at the corner but Lin Dong was already leading him to the patients. He could only toss the matter aside for now, as he began speaking with the six patients and their families.

    They were all starstruck in front of the superstar. His two fans were so happy that they started crying. Even the ck Stars and the mall security guard were dazed in front of him.

    Then his eyes noticed a simple yet exquisite card beside one of the patients who was a ck Star. He recognized the tiny printed graphic on the card as his brother and Iris¡¯ official monogram, LX. He was currently staying at their Dragon Pce mansion so he saw the monogram everyday on the towels, curtains, carpets, pillows, tes, utensils, and just about everything else in the ce.

    The ck Star noticed where he was looking at and flushed. She took the card and held like it was her most precious treasure in the world. "Uh...P-prince Lin Lin, this, uhm, this is a...card that B-boss Iris personally wrote to me." Then she giggled.

    "I received one, too!"

    "Me too!"

    It turned out that all six patients received handwritten cards from Iris.

    Jin Chonglin looked at the flowers, the bento boxes and the gift bags and baskets.

    "Did Junior Iris send all of these to you?" he asked.

    They all nodded.

    "Sir Dom and a man called Mr. Xu Tian all came yesterday with a bunch of hot guys¡ªI mean, with a bunch of men in ck suits¡ª"

    "They¡¯re bodyguards. I recognized some of them as Boss Iris¡¯ bodyguards. Why are all of them so hot?"

    "I know, right? I wonder if CEO Jin drinks vinegar everyday seeing all the hot bodyguards around Boss Iris."

    Jin Chonglin raised an eyebrow, amused at the sudden topic of their conversation. They stopped talking as their faces burned upon remembering that Jin Chonglin was in front of them.

    "Kyaaaah! So embarrassing!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, Prince Lin Lin! To me, you¡¯re still the hottest man in the world!" his fan said.

    Everyoneughed in amusement. Then Jin Chonglin asked more about Iris and the things she sent for the patients. They told him that it wasn¡¯t only them. Iris also sent things to everyone who were injured in the bomb incident.

    Jin Chonglin nced at Lin Dong and found that his manager looked surprised. His team and Bright Summit thought that he would be the first celebrity to reach out to the injured. This was why Bright Summit wanted to publicize his visit today. Jin Chonglin sighed and gave a wry smile. He remembered what one of the ck Stars said earlier, that Dom and Xu Tian were the ones who delivered the presents in person.

    ¡¯It looks like Manager Tang didn¡¯te with them. Maybe they didn¡¯t tell her on purpose so that Bright Summit wouldn¡¯t know about it. Dom represents Xin while Xu Tian represents my brother. They sent all of these presents yesterday but as far as I know, nobody reported it on the inte yet.¡¯

    Jin Chonglin found it weird. Shouldn¡¯t they be publicizing her generosity to counter the crazy hate campaign against her? Then he realized that based on Iris¡¯ personality, she wouldn¡¯t care whether the public knew about her kind actions or not.

    ¡¯Xin and Big Bro sent all of these to everyone who was injured without publicizing it but here I am tooting my own horn.¡¯

    For a few moments, he regretted agreeing to Lin Dong and Bright Summit¡¯s suggestion of inviting the reporters to shadow him during his visit. His actions now felt tackypared to the couple¡¯s secret generosity. However, he quickly recovered.

    ¡¯This prince is a superstar! I should always do things with a bang! Yes, that¡¯s right!¡¯

    After his mindset returned to normal, he suspected that it was his older brother¡¯s idea to keep it a secret despite the criticisms being thrown at Iris at the moment.

    ¡¯Big Bro is a formidable leader. This must be part of his n. I can only imagine how furious he¡¯s feeling right now knowing that people are targeting his wife.

    ¡¯Stupid idiots. Prepare yourselves because you¡¯ve just hit Big Bro¡¯s bottom line.¡¯

 Chapter 597 - Generosity

    <h4>Chapter 597 - Generosity </h4>

    Before it was time to go, Jin Chonglin offered to pay for all six patient¡¯s medical expenses.

    "Thank you, Prince Lin Lin. But there¡¯s no need for that," one of his fans said. "Miss Iris Long is already paying for our hospital bills."

    "Yes! A-also...the man called M-mr. Xu Tian said that, uhm, Boss Iris and your b-brother, CEO Jin, will be paying us a month¡¯s worth of sry to, uhm, aid us because we missed work..." the shy ck Star told him.

    "Hey! Ssssh!"

    The shy ck Star¡¯s eyes widened and covered her mouth.

    Jin Chonglin and his entourage, particrly the reporters, looked surprised at the idental revtion. The reporters started asking the patients to borate but they refused to say anything more.

    "Did Iris Long¡¯s representative tell you not to reveal that she and CEO Jin are helping you financially?" a reporter continued asking.

    The patients didn¡¯t answer. After a few moments, however, the mall security guard sighed. Then he told everyone, "We weren¡¯t ¡¯told¡¯ per se. We were ¡¯asked¡¯ not to divulge this information because they don¡¯t want Miss Long and CEO Jin¡¯s generosity to be twisted by all those evil haters who keep on ming Miss Long for the bomb incident. There would definitely be people who¡¯ll say that Miss Long is acting fake and pretentious and using us to make herself look good. For the life of me, I can¡¯t understand those kind of jealous bastards and bitches who always try to drag good people down like Miss Long. If she didn¡¯t throw that bomb in the air, I¡¯m pretty sure that all six of us here and many others wouldn¡¯t just suffer injuries but would¡¯ve died already."

    Seeing him talking encouraged the others to start talking as well.

    "Y-yeah! B-boss Iris saved all of us!"

    "We don¡¯t me Iris Long for the bomb incident at all. She¡¯s also a victim like us. In fact, I think she¡¯s the biggest victim of this incident. That scary bomber is an obsessed fan of hers and specifically targeted her. She didn¡¯t ask for that. Even so, she still managed to save us and many other people. We¡¯re so thankful for her, and yet all these despicable people are ming her? Ridiculous!"

    "We were told that Boss Iris is also injured. I bet that she¡¯s traumatized more than us." This ck Star started crying. "She¡¯s not responsible for any of us. She already saved us. Despite being injured and traumatized, she still thought about us and sent Sir Dom to visit us and send us so many things, pay our hospital bills, and also pay one month¡¯s worth of sry. Who does that? She¡¯s already so generous! I bet that CEO Jin only stepped in to help because of her. If boss is not in the picture, CEO Jin wouldn¡¯t care. Excuse me, Prince Lin Lin, for talking like this about your brother but I believe that what we¡¯re receiving from him right now is because of Boss Iris."

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t reply, only giving a faint nod of understanding.

    Behind him, the reporters looked excited. This was big news!

    Seeing their expressions, Lin Dong was displeased. He was Jin Chonglin¡¯s manager. Naturally, he wanted the reporters to focus on Jin Chonglin alone, not Iris Long. Bright Summit invited the reporters to specifically follow Jin Chonglin today to make him look good. Yet now the reporters looked like they were going to make Iris Long the centre of attention instead of Jin Chonglin.

    As for Jin Chonglin, he finally realized something. Iris was being protected like a treasure at Dragon Pce mansion. Although Jin Chonglin was temporarily living there at the moment, he didn¡¯t have many opportunities to meet or talk to her because his older brother was guarding her like a stingy evil dragon. Except for their godson and their cats, everyone who wanted to see Iris needed to go through his brother and receive his permission first.

    He didn¡¯t doubt that Iris was the one who originally wanted to help the injured in the bomb incident. But now that his older brother was involved in it, Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t help but suspect that his brother had an ulterior motive for keeping their generous deeds a "secret". His brother was a powerful man. Jin Chonglin believed that Jin Liwei knew that he was going to visit the injured today, especially now that he was temporarily living at Dragon Pce mansion.

    ¡¯I think I¡¯ve been used by my brother.¡¯

    ###

    ###

    That same day, news about Iris Long¡¯s secret generosity was reported by the media. Itpletely overshadowed Jin Chonglin¡¯s high-profile personal visit to the injured victims of the bomb incident.

    The news reports revealed how Iris Long not only sent plenty of presents but also paid for all of the injured people¡¯s medical expenses. Not only that. She also promised to pay those who missed work with one month¡¯s worth of sry.

    When the news broke out, those who promised not to divulge the information started going forward and revealing that they indeed received generous benefits from Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei. Many of them were ck Stars. They were relieved that they could finally talk about their boss¡¯s generosity, instead of enduring the frustration of hearing the haters constantly criticizing her and ming her for the bomb incident.

    The ck Stars rejoiced and flooded the inte to praise their Boss Iris.

    "All hail our Almighty Boss! The epitome of beauty, ss, kindness, selflessness and generosity without asking for anything!"

    "Take that, haters! You kept on harping about how our Boss Iris doesn¡¯t care about us! Tell me a celebrity in this country who would send presents, pay medical bills and one month¡¯s sry for all the injured despite being injured and traumatized herself!"

    "Bunch of jackasses! Shut up and stay away from our beloved boss! Don¡¯t taint her with your jealous ck hearts!"

    "My mighty slippers will defend Boss Iris until the end of time!"

    All the ck Stars felt proud of their Boss Iris. Hearing how much she cared about all of the injured in the bomb incident and how generous she was, they became even more loyal to her. Those who started following ever since hereback and image change after a two-year hiatus had reached a level of blind faith. They revered her so much that they would now treat everything that came out of her mouth as right and anything opposing her as wrong.

    While the general members of the ck Stars were busyuding and worshipping their Boss Iris, the fan club¡¯s former and present officers were talking in their private group chat.

    CaptainckStar: "Boss Iris has already paid for all the injured medical bills and living expenses for a month. Even Prince Lin Lin didn¡¯t have a chance to contribute financially anymore. What are we going to do with all the money we raised?"

    LittlePhoenix: "May I know how much we collected?"

    MonkeyFace sent a figure.

    LittlePhoenix: "!!!"

    LittlePhoenix: "(shocked sticker)"

    LittlePhoenix: "(soul flying away sticker)"

    CaptainckStar: "Whoa! It wasn¡¯t this much when I checked this morning!"

    iEatSlippers: "It¡¯s because this Lord of Almighty Diamond-Encrusted Golden Slippers donated today. Oh, and Bro MonkeyFace did, too."

    MonkeyFace: "Madam MrsLovePhantom, Madam JJNumber1Fan, Madam JJNumber2Fan and Madam JJNumber3Fan also donated today. There are also quite a number of wealthy ck Stars who contributed a lot."

    MrsLovePhantom: "Wealthy or not, many of our fellow members contributed. What we collected are all thanks to everyone."

    Her three friends all echoed her.

    CaptainckStar: "Then what are we going to do with all this money? Boss Iris already took care of everything before we even took action."

    LittlePhoenix: "How about we make this our fan club¡¯s budget instead?"

    CaptainckStar: "No, that¡¯s just too shady. We collected this money from ourrades because we wanted to help those who were injured in the bomb incident, not to fund our fan club."

    LittlePhoenix: "Oh, you¡¯re right. Sorry. I didn¡¯t think it through."

    CaptainckStar: "We can return it to everyone...."

    LittlePhoenix: "How about we donate to Iris of Hope instead?"

    MrsLovePhantom: "My dear child, what a great idea!"

    Her three friends agreed.

    iEatSlippers: "My almighty slippers approve of your suggestion!"

    MonkeyFace: "(nodding monkey sticker)"

    CaptainckStar: "Nice one. Alright, I¡¯ll make an official announcement on our fan club¡¯s website that we¡¯re donating all the money we collected to Iris of Hope instead."

    That evening, another news broke.

    "ck Stars Fan Club Donates Half Million RMB to Iris Long¡¯s Foundation!"

 Chapter 598 - The Danger Is Not Over Ye

    <h4>Chapter 598 - The Danger Is Not Over Ye </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Iris was focused on recovering from her injuries. Although she wanted to return to work as soon as possible, she also enjoyed spending quality time with Jin Liwei, their godson, cats, and the rest of their families who frequently visited her.

    On the first three days after the bomb incident, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t go to work and instead stayed with her at home. Iris felt a little worried, so she encouraged him to return to work, knowing how busy Jin Corporation was at the moment. He refused, insisting that he wanted to stay with her and personally take care of her. However, he couldn¡¯t abandon thepany just like that even for just a few days. Thus, he continued working at home.

    Starting from the fourth day, Iris managed to persuade him that she was feeling much better. He would go to thepany and work for half a day. Then in the afternoons, he woulde home, eat lunch with her, before continuing to work while taking care of her.

    A week after the bomb incident, Iris was in her bedroom suite with Yi Mei who just finished changing her bandages.

    Her minor injuries already healed, including the one on her jaw. There was only a thin scab left. The major wounds on her neck and shoulder were still in the process of healing, but at least they were no longer as painful and swollen as before. Iris also felt better overall. However, dark blue and purple bruises still decorated her body. They were very noticeable on her pale skin. Jin Liwei always looked like he wanted to murder someone whenever he saw them.

    Yi Mei started organizing the medical kit and discarding the used cottons and bandages. The old housekeeper had insisted on staying at the mansion to take care of Iris. Yi Mei took over treating Iris¡¯ wounds and changing her bandages because the housekeeper wasn¡¯t satisfied with Jin Liwei¡¯s clumsy work.

    "Sir Jin, the way you bandage Young Miss isn¡¯t neat enough. Harmful bacteria might enter and infect the wounds," Yi Mei told him a few days ago.

    Jin Liwei was unwilling at first because he wanted to personally take care of his baby girl but eventually handed over the task to the old housekeeper with great reluctance because he was afraid that her wounds might really be infected because of him.

    "Thank you, Yi Mei," Iris said and stood up from the couch while carrying thezy Ice Cream. Popcorn also jumped down and paced near her feet.

    She was about to head outside the suite to walk around the mansion for a light exercise when the door opened, revealing the handsome Jin Liwei in his sharp business suit.

    The hyperactive Popcorn shot like an orange cannon towards him while Ice Cream only meowed, toozy to jump from her mommy¡¯s arms to greet her daddy.

    "Wee back," Iris greeted him with a smile.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s cold expression thawed, returning his baby girl¡¯s gentle smile, as he caught Popcorn who was meowing nonstop, asking to be petted.

    "I¡¯m home," he said when he reached her before giving a soft kiss on the lips. "How are you feling?"

    "Much better."

    He nodded, relieved. However, the concern in his eyes was still obvious.

    Yi Mei excused herself and left.

    "I want to walk around the mansion," Iris announced.

    "Alright. Wait for me to change my clothes. I¡¯ll apany you."

    "No need, darling. I¡¯ll be fine. I know that you still have a lot of work to finish. Ice Cream and Popcorn will apany me. We¡¯ll return here when it¡¯s time for lunch."

    "Hmm... Wait for me. I¡¯ll apany you," he repeated, already heading to their bedroom to change out of his suit, giving her no room for discussion.

    Iris could only sigh, knowing that it was useless to argue with him right now. He would go with her no matter what she told him. Jin Liwei had been like this ever since she got injured in the bomb incident. Wherever she went, be it the walk-in closet, the bathroom or anywhere else, he would be there trailing behind her and making sure that he could always see her with his own eyes.

    It took her quite a lot of effort to persuade him to return to work. But even then, he constantly video-called her. If she didn¡¯t answer right away, he would immediately raise the rm at home and order everyone to check up on her to make sure that she was safe and alive.

    ¡¯It¡¯s like he¡¯s afraid that I¡¯ll disappear if he didn¡¯t see me for a few moments.¡¯

    Iris felt a little annoyed and helpless by his actions but happiness drowned these feelings. She could really feel him treating her like his most precious treasure in the world. His current actions were still within her eptable range, especially right now that she was recovering from injuries.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll tell him to back off a little if he continues acting paranoid like this about me even after this danger is resolved,¡¯ she decided.

    Momentster, Jin Liwei appeared wearingfortable casual clothing. The couple and their cats then began walking around the mansion.

    The already tight security at Dragon Pce Home #10 became even tighter after the bomb incident. Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao weren¡¯t taking any chances when it came to her safety.

    Iris hadn¡¯t seen her big brother a lot in these past few days. When she asked where he was, Jin Liwei only briefly told her that both of them werebining their respective resources to investigate the bomb incident and all the hidden perpetrators behind it. The police were moving too slowly for their liking.

    The two men were doing all of these for her. Lu Zihao was doing all the outside work while Jin Liwei stayed with her at home to make sure that she was safe.

    After hearing what the two were up to, she had to restrain her desire to conduct her own investigation by hacking. She wanted to fix Ketchup so badly so that the two of them could join forces to speed up the process. However, even she was aware of the current state of her body. She needed to recover from her injuries first in order to be in the best state possible when conducting her own investigations. In addition, she didn¡¯t want to take too long a break from her showbiz work and also from herpanies. Jin Liwei was supposed to be busy at work and so was she.

    The couple walked together along the hallways and headed to the indoor forest. Jin Liwei was now carrying thezy Ice Cream while Popcorn ran all around but still kept pace with them. Iris held onto Jin Liwei¡¯s arm while making mental ns of what she needed to do after her body recovered.

    There were more security personnel patrolling inside and outside the mansion. The scene was reminiscent of her past life, making her feel a little ufortable. If this was before, she would have alreadyined to both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao, but now, she held her tongue and forced herself to ept it.

    ¡¯The danger is not over yet,¡¯ her intuition told her.

    ###

 Chapter 599 - Meow

    <h4>Chapter 599 - Meow </h4>

    Days passed and Iris felt well enough to resume her daily activities. Her minor wounds all healed. The bruises on her body gradually faded, although therger ones still stained her skin an ugly yellowish-brown, infuriating Jin Liwei whenever he saw them. She would then need to assure him that she was feeling fine because if she didn¡¯t, he would most likely drag her big brother and beat the shit out of Tian Kong together, even though the attempted murderer was still in police custody.

    It would take some time for the major wounds on her neck and shoulder to healpletely, but at least they had already closed and didn¡¯t hurt as much anymore. With her body feeling better and her mind rested, she decided that it was now time to work on the tasks that she needed to do.

    Iris headed to herputer room. The security personnel nodded at her while she passed by them in the hallways. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t follow her around, only taking note of her whereabouts.

    Jin Liwei returned to full-day work a couple of days ago after reassuring him that she could manage on her own. If she didn¡¯t, he would continue rushing home every lunchtime to check up on her and follow her around the house. She loved him very much but it was beginning to feel annoying with him always following her wherever she went. If it was up to him, he would probably tie their waists together so that she would always be with him.

    She sighed, a helpless smile on her face. Warmth and annoyance mixed together inside of her.

    "Well, he was already annoying to begin with yet I still chose to be with him," she muttered on the way to herputer room. "He managed to seduce me and make me fall in love with him even when I find him annoying."

    Her helpless smile turned into a stupid grin, as she chuckled like an idiot by herself. She might be a formidable genius enrolled in the legendary Cross Academy but falling in love with Jin Liwei had drastically changed her. She didn¡¯t mind the changes, though. On the contrary, she weed them because they made her feel free to explore and express her deepest emotions and desires.

    Finally, she arrived at herputer room. Her good mood plummeted when she had to open it by herself. It was Ketchup who usually weed her with her adorable child voice and opened the door for her.

    Standing inside the familiarputer room, it felt colder and emptier than usual. There was no naughty white cat jumping from screen to screen while chatting about inappropriate words she learned from her Uncle Dom and Auntie Clover. Iris sighed and then took a few deep breaths before getting to work.

    First, Iris examined Ketchup¡¯s system. She gasped seeing how badly the cat AI was damaged. It made Iris¡¯ head and heart hurt. She could see the corrupted part which caused Ketchup to lose control. It was like a virus multiplying and infecting all the healthy cells.

    Despite this, Iris believed that she could fix Ketchup. The only problem was that there would be an inevitable change to the cat AI afterwards. As to what kind of changes, even Iris wasn¡¯t 100% certain. This was the first time that she developed such an advanced and dynamic AI with a powerful self-learning function like this. She was also still learning about her own creation.

    Next, she worked on separating the corrupted part from Ketchup¡¯s system. She tuned out everything else in order to fully concentrate on this important task. Any mistake from her and she might spread the corruption even further. This process took almost six hours.

    "Done."

    She sighed in relief after the removal. However, she couldn¡¯t rx yet. The original n was to destroy the corrupted part but something stopped her from doing so.

    "I¡¯ll study it for now," she decided. "Maybe I¡¯ll learn something new to improve Ketchup and tighten her security so that something like this won¡¯t happen again."

    And so she ended up not destroying the corrupted part, locking it under heavy quarantine instead. She looked at it for a few moments before allowing herself to finally rx.

    She took a five-minute break to stretch her body, rest her eyes and hands, and drink water. Then she returned to her station and started fixing Ketchup. This time, it only took her less than two hours toplete the repairs on the cat AI¡¯s system.

    "Meow..."

    Iris trembled a bit, as she watched the screen in front of her show a familiar ball of white fur. A pair of bright, glowing green eyes opened and stared at her with a dazed expression.

    "Mommy..."

    Iris reached out and touched the screen with her fingers.

    "Ketchup, wee back."

    ###

    ###

    It was already evening when Iris came out of theputer room. She had forgotten to check the time, unknowingly spending more than eight hours in theputer room.

    Jin Liwei was waiting for her outside the door with a stern expression. He was still wearing his business suit, obviously rushing here after arriving home from work instead of changing his clothes first. He looked angry but restrained himself from scolding her. Instead, he remained silent and waited for her to exin herself.

    Iris wanted to feel annoyed and defensive but felt guilty instead. She was recently injured and yet spent more than eight hours locked in herputer room without eating and taking her medications. Biting her lips, she walked towards Jin Liwei and hugged his waist.

    "I¡¯m sorry," she said, not bothering to defend herself.

    He didn¡¯t move.

    She hugged him tighter, pressing herself closer to him. Then she looked up at his face and gave him her most sincere expression.

    "Sorry."

    His stern expression cracked. Then he sighed. His arms also wrapped around her, embracing her tightly.

    She smiled, knowing that everything was okay now. He was pissed at her but not enough to pick a fight with her. His concern for her well-being trumped his anger.

    "I really want to smack your butt right now," he mumbled before framing her delicate face with hisrge hands. "My hard-headed baby girl."

    Her smile widened. It felt like a long time since he called her his "baby girl". She somewhat missed it.

    "Don¡¯t smile. I¡¯m still angry at you," he said, although his voice had already be gentle. "You know that you¡¯re not 100% recovered yet, so why did you lock yourself inside yourputer room again? I heard that you didn¡¯t eat anything. Yi Mei has been crying and wanted to call the firefighters to rescue you inside. Five more minutes and I would¡¯ve already ordered my subordinates to blow up the damn door. I shouldn¡¯t have left you alone so soon. Don¡¯t do this again. Okay, love?"

    She felt even guiltier after hearing that Yi Mei cried. The old housekeeper rarely allowed herself to lose herposure, so it was a big deal whenever she did so. Sighing, she apologized again.

    Jin Liwei finally allowed himself a small smile. "I¡¯m not forbidding you to go into yourputer room. I only hope that you¡¯ll let us know that you¡¯re okay inside. Food can be delivered here if it¡¯s not convenient for you to leave theputer room. Please don¡¯t skip your meals. We all worry about you. I worry about you."

    "I understand."

    He rubbed her dry lips with his thumb, then lowered his head and gave her a soft kiss. "Let¡¯s go before Yi Mei or someone in the staff have a heart attack worrying about you. It¡¯s also time for dinner."

    "Okay." She moved her arms from around his waist to his neck. Then she leaned her head on his chest, feeling exhausted.

    He bent down a little and carried her like a bride. But before he could walk away...

    "Meow... Daddy..."

    Jin Liwei froze and looked at the door of theputer room.

    "Ketchup?"

    "Meow..."

    He looked at Iris. "You already fixed her? So quickly? This is the reason why you locked yourself in yourputer room today?"

    She nodded. "I had to fix her. I missed her."

    His eyes became even more gentle.

    "I love you...Mommy... I love you...Daddy..." A feline yawn sounded.

    "Go to sleep while youplete your updates, Ketchup. I¡¯ll check you again tomorrow," Iris said.

    "Okay, Mommy. Good night, Mommy and Daddy... Meow..."

    "Good night, Ketchup," both Iris and Jin Liwei said.

 Chapter 600 - Corrupted Par

    <h4>Chapter 600 - Corrupted Par </h4>

    "Good morning, Daddy! Ketchup missed you so much! Meow~" Ketchup greeted Jin Liwei as soon as his rm went off the next morning. The cat AI no longer sounded sleepy and dazed likest night. She was back to her usual cheerful and lively self after "sleeping" andpleting her updates.

    "Morning, Ketchup," Jin Liwei smiled, d that their third cat was back. "Not so loud. Your mom is still sleeping."

    "Oh. Okay, Daddy. Ketchup will be quiet. Meow," she whispered.

    Later, Jin Liwei finished showering and dressing in his business suit before heading to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Ice Cream and Popcorn apanied him, and of course, Ketchup as well. The chatty cat AI talked nonstop about different topics but never once did she talk about the bombing incident or the hacking mess she caused. His baby girl must have done something to prevent Ketchup from touching these subjects.

    "Mommy¡¯sing, Daddy! Meow~"

    Indeed, his baby girl appeared just before he finished his meal. Iris still looked sleepy as she greeted and kissed him good morning. She liked sleeping in whenever she didn¡¯t have work early in the morning but would try her best to wake up just to see him off before he left for work.

    On one hand, he wanted her to rest as much as possible for her health and well-being. But on another hand, he loved that she was doing this for him.

    Only for him.

    "Take care at work, darling," she told him, straightening his tie, as they stood facing each other at the grand foyer.

    "En. Thanks, love."

    "Mommy, can I go help daddy at work today? Meow~" Ketchup asked.

    "Not today," Iris replied. "I still need to observe you for a few days before you can return to assisting your dad and ying with the others."

    "Aaaaaw~"

    "Listen to your mom, Ketchup," Jin Liwei said.

    "Okay, Daddy! Ketchup will be a good kitty and listen to Mommy always. Meow~"

    He nodded, satisfied. Then he saw the distracted expression on his baby girl. He kissed her forehead.

    "I know what you¡¯re nning to do today. I won¡¯t stop you but don¡¯t forget to eat proper meals and take your medicine. Didn¡¯t you say that you want to return to work in a few days? Then you need sufficient rest to do so. Don¡¯t push yourself too hard," he told her.

    Iris nodded, smiling. Then she stood on her tippy-toes and pressed her lips against his lips. "I¡¯ll send lunch for youter. Call me when you have time. Ketchup will answer for me if I¡¯m too distracted."

    "En. I have to go now. I love you."

    "Be safe. I love you, too."

    Iris and the cats watched Jin Liwei leave. When the car disappeared from her view, she ate breakfast with Dom, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun. Yi Mei fussed over her and had nagged the chef to cook nutrition-rich dishes to speed up her recovery.

    Lu Zihao was out as usual doing his own thing. The brother and sister rarely saw each other during this period, even though Iris was always at home recovering. He became busier after what happened to her in the bomb incident, same as Jin Liwei. Both men were doing this for her.

    By mid-morning, everyone became preupied with their daily tasks. Even Little Jun, a toddler, had a daily schedule just like the adults. He had hand painting activity this morning with his nanny while his mother, Jiang Ying Yue, went to train with Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates. She was now an informal member of Dragon Pce Home #10¡¯s security team.

    Iris took this opportunity when everyone was busy to head to herputer room again and immediately went to work. Ketchup assisted her but Iris forbade her to do any serious hacking. The cat AI seemed more docile after Iris repaired her. Ketchup still retained her curious and naughty personality but seemed to lose her impulsiveness.

    ¡¯It has only been yesterday. I need to observe her longer,¡¯ Iris thought.

    She also checked the corrupted part she removed from Ketchup¡¯s system yesterday which was still locked in heavy quarantine. Her eyes widened and she gasped when she examined it. Even though it was already separated from Ketchup¡¯s advanced and dynamic system, the corrupted part managed to continue developing on its own. The changes were minimal (for now) but Iris immediately noticed them.

    ¡¯What¡¯s going on?¡¯

    Her curiosity was aroused. She set the quarantine under priority surveince so that she could closely observe the changes as they happened. She had a few hypotheses in mind as to why these changes were happening but nothing was proven yet. Caution told her to be careful because the specimen was essentially made up of pure corruption. Despite this, a sense of excitement caused her to look forward as to what kind of thing it would develop into.

    ¡¯If it turns out to be something bad, I¡¯ll just destroy it. There should be no big problem.¡¯

    After observing it for a few more moments, she left it alone and worked on her next tasks.

    Her eyes sharpened and a calm yet predatory aura emanated from her. She began hacking, roaming the vastness of the online world, from the surface to the deepest and the darkest parts, as if it was her own backyard. Dangerous, yes. But it was part of the deal as one of the most wanted hackers in the world. No, two of the most wanted hackers in the world¡ªfirst as Fantom and then now as Drakon.

    Ketchup wasn¡¯t allowed to assist her this time. Iris still felt uneasy in assigning her an important hacking task, so she decided to do this on her own this time. She instead assigned Ketchup to remind her of the time and watch for Jin Liwei¡¯s call. In the meantime, the white cat yed with her virtual ball of yarn, chased virtual butterflies, and jumped on her virtual trampoline to prevent boredom while Iris was absorbed in hacking.

    Finally, Iris¡¯bour today began to produce some fruits. She managed to unearth some e-mails, messages and even call recordings from an unknown person to Tian Kong despite them beingpletely erased. Other hackers had been unable to uncover any of these clues since the bomb incident.

    Iris managed to do it but that didn¡¯t mean that it was easy. Whenever she tried digging deeper, she encountered a formidable wall blocking her from going any further. Her eyes narrowed. The hell she would give up. She continuously probed, trying to find a weakness.

    Then she was attacked all of a sudden.

    Whenever she was in the zone, panic was non-existent for her. Instead, she became calmer and more focused. Her fighting andpetitive spirit also surged forth. Since she didn¡¯t need to worry about Ketchup this time, she could go all out as she wished.

    ¡¯Strong. Very strong,¡¯ she inwardlymented about the hacker fighting against her.

    Was it one of the old guys? Or maybe there was a new god-level genius hacker who surfaced after her?

    Her expression didn¡¯t show any worry. In fact, the corners of her lips curved into a smile instead.

    ###

 Chapter 601 - Who Is The Real Mastermind?

    <h4>Chapter 601 - Who Is The Real Mastermind? </h4>

    If this was in her past life, Iris would have continued to fight head on till the end in order to defeat the unknown hacker who made her blood boil and ignited herpetitive spirit. However, everything was different now.

    It wouldn¡¯t be odd for the infamous Vetrov family to be connected to one of the most formidable hackers in the world, so she as Fantom didn¡¯t need to act so cautious when hacking during her past life. Her past family¡¯s criminal notoriety was also a kind of a safety for her back then. Even if this was the case then, the Vetrov family still fell from their top position in the criminal underworld and was annihted.

    Having experienced the dangerous darkness of the criminal underworld firsthand in her past life, she didn¡¯t want to risk the safety of the loving family she built with Jin Liwei in this current life of hers. Jin Liwei might be a powerful and influential man but he stood openly in the light, not in darkness. It would be a grave sin for her to destroy his sterling reputation including three generations of Jin heads just because she was exposed as an infamous hacker. Not to mention that there were many entities from all around the world who were hunting for both her hacker identities, Fantom and Drakon. She made a lot of enemies from hacking. They might threaten, or heavens forbid, hurt Jin Liwei and their family once it was found out that she was either Fantom or Drakon.

    Too dangerous.

    This was why she could only sigh in regret and start retreating when the battle with the unknown hacker was just starting to heat up. It was already clear to her that the opponent was someone formidable. He or she wouldn¡¯t be an easy opponent to beat even for someone like her. However, it wasn¡¯t only her who felt challenged. The unknown hacker should also be finding it difficult to beat her.

    It would be too risky to continue battling, especially right now that she had so many things on her te: her currently weakened body still recovering, her uneasiness about Ketchup, the corrupted part removed from Ketchup¡¯s system, and finally, the identities of the real mastermind(s) behind Tian Kong¡¯s terrorist attack targeting her.

    As if on the same wavelength, the unknown hacker also retreated and didn¡¯t pursue her. Iris felt a little disappointed but thought that this was for the best in the current situation.

    ¡¯I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll battle each other again.¡¯

    Afterpletely erasing all of her traces and securing her retreat, she began examining the evidence she managed to unearth. They proved that there was indeed a mastermind who instigated Tian Kong to kill her. The problem was that the evidence she uncovered were iplete and didn¡¯t reveal the identities of the real mastermind(s). Even the voices in the call recordings she obtained were choppy and had been heavily disguised to sound like robotic voices. Despite this, her progress was miles aheadpared to the slow pace of the police. At least, she managed to acquire actual evidence no matter how iplete.

    Iris tilted her head to the side, thinking about what she should do next.

    ¡¯Should I release these findings to the public? To the police? Or maybe both?¡¯

    She frowned, feeling her police allergy acting up.

    ¡¯Maybe I should gather more evidence on my own first before sharing my findings to outsiders...¡¯

    Her thoughts were interrupted when one of herputers notified her of thetest public updates in the police investigation regarding the bomb incident. She began reading.

    Her eyes widened after a few moments before raising an eyebrow. An excerpt of thetest news article said:

    "Bomber Tian Kong, obsessed fan of internationally-acimed multi-award-winning musician Iris Long, breaks his silence for the first time since the police arrested him for attempting and eventually failing to murder Iris Long and fellow fans by blowing them up with a bomb at a mall show. Tian Kong confesses to the police that he and Zhu Ning were lovers.

    "For those of you who don¡¯t know who this woman is, Zhu Ning is a former mistress of Long Industries¡¯ President-CEO Long Tengfei, father of Iris Long. Zhu Ning recently got into a catfight with Iris Long¡¯s mother, Spanish Viscountess Wei Lan, and threatened to kill the mother and daughter in front of many witnesses who caught the incident on video.

    "Tian Kong ims that Zhu Ning manipted him using her mature womanly charms and took advantage of his youth to twist his admiration for Iris Long into a crazed obsession. ording to him, Zhu Ning was the one who instigated him to murder Iris Long...."

    Iris leaned back on herfortable ergonomic seat to think about the alleged affair between Tian Kong and Zhu Ning. She didn¡¯t expect this kind of development in this case at all. There were even "evidence" that popped up after his "confession" to prove that he and Zhu Ning were indeed lovers.

    One particr evidence caught her attention. It wasn¡¯t released to the public but she essed it from the police¡¯s currently vulnerable system.

    "A sex video?" she murmured, her eyebrow rising higher.

    Iris turned off Ketchup¡¯s senses before ying the sex video. Now both of her eyebrows rose. She was actually impressed that the man in the video looked exactly like Tian Kong¡ªmaybe it was really him¡ªand the woman looked so much like Zhu Ning.

    If the video was real, then Zhu Ning¡¯s name should be written on her virtual ck notebook guarded by Ketchup. But if it was fake, then the person who directed and created the video was frightening in his or her ability to manipte a lie and sessfully make it appear as if it was the truth.

    After feeling impressed, Iris quickly felt disgusted and stopped watching. Then she closed the video. She loved making love with Jin Liwei but she had no interest or whatsoever in watching other people have sex. That kind of thing wasn¡¯t her cup of tea.

    Iris closed her eyes to think about what she learned today. After a few minutes, she opened them again.

    "Who is the real mastermind? Is it really Zhu Ning?"

    ###

 Chapter 602 - Stop Being Naughty

    <h4>Chapter 602 - Stop Being Naughty </h4>

    The bombing incident wasbelled as a high-priority case early on with the authorities treating it not just as a simple case of a crazy, obsessed fan who wanted to kill Iris Long but also as a serious terrorist case. As a result, the police were under a great deal of pressure from both the government and the citizens to solve the case as soon as possible. Now that there was "evidence" pointing at Zhu Ning as the mastermind behind Tian Kong, Iris predicted that people would crucify the woman for her "sins".

    And indeed, a quick search on the inte already resulted in a flood of condemnation towards Zhu Ning. Many of them were from the ck Stars. They remembered how Zhu Ning beat up Wei Lan, insulting her and even threatening to kill to viscountess and her daughter, their beloved Boss Iris Long. To these loyal ck Stars, what Zhu Ning did was unforgivable, especially since there were many of theirrades who were also injured during the bomb incident.

    The rumour of a sex video between Zhu Ning and Tian Kong also quickly circted on the inte, even though there wasn¡¯t any proof of its existence because the authorities didn¡¯t want such explicit material corrupting the people. Nevertheless, just this rumour was enough to make the general public more disgusted of Zhu Ning. The hatred towards her was even more intensepared to Fan Luo¡¯s downfall a year ago.

    Iris didn¡¯t know for sure whether Zhu Ning was the real mastermind or not. But truth be told, she highly doubted it.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t think Zhu Ning is that smart to n something as big as the bomb incident. Long Jian certainly didn¡¯t inherit his brains from his mother.¡¯

    In addition, there was also the mysterious formidable hacker that Iris just battled. The hacker might be the mastermind or someone who was working for the actual mastermind. She doubted that Zhu Ning had the capability to hire a powerful hacker to work for her. Highly-skilled hackers had their own pride and wouldn¡¯t stoop to working for someone like Zhu Ning. At least, she wouldn¡¯t work for someone like Zhu Ning. Thus, it was clear to Iris that Zhu Ning was being framed for the bombing incident.

    Why?

    Because Zhu Ning was the most convenient scapegoat. The woman made a spectacle of herself by beating up Wei Lan plus threatening to kill her and Iris in public. Zhu Ning was very easy to hate given her unpleasant personality.

    Even though she knew that the woman was being framed, Iris didn¡¯t feel sorry for Zhu Ning at all. Iris was still determined to identify the real mastermind behind Tian Kong but she wouldn¡¯t do anything to help Zhu Ning. Why should she?

    Tossing the matter of Zhu Ning out of her mind, Iris continued searching for clues. The hacker was very thorough, not leaving easily-found traces. It was making Iris feel very excited and challenged. She was deeply absorbed in hacking when....

    "Excuse me, Mommy~ It¡¯s time for lunch! Daddy says that if you don¡¯te out, he¡¯ll rush home and drag you out of theputer room himself even though he¡¯s super-duper busy right now. Meow~"

    Iris¡¯ swift typing fingers faltered on her customized ergonomic keyboard. "Hmmm... Okay. Five more minutes...." Then she continued typing.

    "Mooommyyyyyy!!! Ketchup promised Daddy today to make Mommy stop working and eat lunch! Ketchup wants to always be a good kitty from now on and doesn¡¯t want to be in trouble with Daddy again¡ªhe gives super bad punishments! Wuwuwuwuwu!!!" Tears gushed out of the cat AI¡¯s adorably pitiful green eyes and started pooling around her fluffy white butt. "Ketchup doesn¡¯t want to be grounded ever again!!! Wuwuwu!!! So please be good, Mommy, and stop being naughty! Eat lunch or Ketchup will be grounded agaaaaain! Waaaaaah! Poor Ketchup!!! Meeeooow!!! Wuwuwuwu!!!"

    Iris couldn¡¯t stop herself fromughing at Ketchup¡¯s dramatics. "Okay, okay. Stop crying, Ketchup. I¡¯ll stop now and eat lunch."

    "Wuwuwu! Mommy is being so mean to Ketchup today! Ketchup is so sad... Meow...."

    While Iris was setting up a few of her machines to auto-mode, she mentally took note of her observations about Ketchup. It was still too early to make a final conclusion but it seemed that although Ketchup had retained her usual bubbly and chatty personality, the cat AI had be more cautious and a stickler for instructions, as evident of her "fear" of her daddy¡¯s punishment. Ketchup was still naughty in the way she talked but had lost the impulsiveness of her actions.

    ¡¯This is the effect of removing that corrupted part from her system?¡¯ Iris wondered. ¡¯This is good...right?¡¯

    She decided to continue observing and monitoring Ketchup to make sure that the cat AI was no longer affected by corruption. If Ketchup still became corrupted in the end, then Iris would have no choice but to turn her off...forever. A powerful self-learning AI with a fun and dynamic personality like Ketchup was a dreame true for hackers like her, but if this kind of super advanced technology became uncontroble, then it was better to destroy it than risk her safety and that of her loved ones¡ªeven though Ketchup had already be one of her loved ones, as well.

    Speaking of corruption, Iris also needed to study the part she removed from Ketchup¡¯s system. She took a quick nce and it was still developing on its own, making her feel extremely intrigued. She ought to destroy it but put it off for now.

    Iris continued mulling these thoughts as she exited theputer room. Ice Cream and Popcorn were waiting for her outside the door and hurled themselves towards her. They walked together to the kitchen while the talkative Ketchup excitedly chatted about random things.

    ###

    ###

    Two dayster, Iris was ready to return to work. She felt a little envious of Jin Chonglin who had already long returned to work, promoting their uing next single by himself without her.

    He also already left Dragon Pce Home #10 and returned to his own home a few days ago, but not before asking Jin Liwei to rmend skilled bodyguards that he could hire.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t bother with providing rmendations and just directly gave some of his subordinates to his younger brother. After all, Jin Chonglin was still his brother. If he could spare Wei Lan some of his men, he could do so again for his flesh and blood sibling. Jin Liwei might have started prioritizing Iris after he fell in love with her, but he still wouldn¡¯t easily abandon his flesh and blood family, especially since Jin Chonglin also became traumatized because of the bomb incident, the same one which almost killed his (future) wife.

    It took a long time for Iris to persuade Jin Liwei that she was healthy and fit enough to work again. Lu Zihao also didn¡¯t help and told her to stay home for now and focus on resting on the rare asion that he came home to the mansion. Her big brother clearly sided with Jin Liwei in this matter, making her feel a bit sulky because he always sided with her before this.

    She could always defy their wishes and just tell them "To hell with you! I¡¯ll go to work if I want to!" and then go to work but chose to use her charms and skills in persuasion instead. This wasn¡¯t the time to fight. Besides, she knew that her darling and big brother wouldn¡¯t be able to resist her if she continued asking them.

    And she was right.

    In the end, they could only sigh and "reluctantly" agree to her decision of returning to work. In turn, Lu Zihao warned her not to push herself too hard.

    "First sign of trouble or if your health is endangered, I give my subordinates permission to immediately drag you to safety. They¡¯ll knock you out, if need be," he told her.

    She pursed her lips and sulked while Jin Liwei scowled at his Fifth Brother.

    Jin Liwei agreed with Lu Zihao¡¯s reason for concern about her safety but not of his Fifth Brother¡¯s forceful and dominating methods. Knock her out? No way! Nobody was allowed to be forceful to his baby girl!

    Well, except for him in bed when she wanted him to do so! She loved it whenever he...Jin Liwei forcefully and regrettably tamped down his wayward thoughts. He took a few deep breaths to calm his sudden half-arousal. Then he made his expression gentle and pulled Iris¡¯ attention to him.

 Chapter 603 - Visitor

    <h4>Chapter 603 - Visitor </h4>

    Lu Zihao used the hard and domineering approach while Jin Liwei used the gentle and loving method to warn Iris to be careful of both her health and safety when she returned to work. Their methods might be different but both were basically just nagging her. She listened to their nagging without anyints. She was too excited and restless to return to work.

    Back to the present, Iris just finished reviewing her schedule for tomorrow with Dom. Her schedule was still busy but due to Jin Liwei¡¯s warning, Tang Yiyi didn¡¯t dare to fill it to the brim like before. Only the most important work was included while the minor ones were tossed out of Iris¡¯ original schedule.

    Iris also needed the distraction of immersing herself with work because she only made insignificant progress so far in investigating the true mastermind of the bombing incident behind Tian Kong. What intrigued her the most was the mysterious hacker she battled days ago. Although the thought of going head to head against a formidable hacker thrilled her, she had to restrain herself from doing so this time.

    She needed to evaluate the entire situation first, make thorough preparations, and ensure that her safety and that of her loved ones wouldn¡¯t be endangered in any way. She was confident that the other hacker didn¡¯t know that she was Drakon. Not only Drakon, but the legendary Fantom as well. That would be her trump card.

    Returning to work would, to some extent, distance her mind from her current investigations and perhaps even given her an inspiration about how to proceed next. In the meantime, she would enjoy and live life to the fullest with her work, Jin Liwei and their family while waiting for the enemy¡¯s next moves. She would be careful but refused to act paranoid. The moment the enemy slipped up, she would pounce.

    Iris and Dom climbed down the staircase from her mezzanine home office. Dom carried thezy Ice Cream and chatted with the equally talkative Ketchup while the hyper-active Popcorn ran down the stairs ahead of them and barrelled towards his daddy who was working on his massive desk downstairs.

    Jin Liwei looked up from the documents he was reading and smiled at Iris. His hands automatically petted Popcorn who jumped on hisp.

    "Hi, love."

    "Hello, darling."

    "Ketchup says it¡¯s time for dinner," Iris said when she reached Jin Liwei and bent down to kiss him on the lips.

    "En." His arms wrapped around her tiny waist, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss.

    "Ehehehe." Dom hugged Ice Cream tighter as he watched the lovey-dovey couple with sparkling eyes, eliciting an annoyed growl from thezy, fat, grey cat.

    Later, all of them headed out of their home office to the kitchen for dinner. Before they reached there, however, Ketchup notified them that there was a visitor outside the Dragon Pce Homes vige gate who wanted to meet Iris.

    "Who is it?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Ketchup told them who it was.

    Iris lifted an eyebrow.

    "What do you want to do?" Jin Liwei asked her.

    She tilted her head to the side, thinking for a couple of seconds before replying, "Instruct the guards at the vige gate to let him in."

    "Okay, Mommy! Meow~"

    Ketchup disguised her voice as one of the senior members of Jin Liwei¡¯s security team when talking to the guards at the vige gate.

    "Done, Mommy and Daddy! The visitor will be here in...

    "Approximately...45 minutes...to 1 hour...

    "Depending on how long he goes through the security checkpoints!

    "Meow~"

    Iris nodded before falling into deep thought. She already had an idea why that visitor came tonight. Jin Liwei was also thinking the same way.

    "You have no obligation to help that person," Jin Liwei told her, distracting her from her thoughts. "If you don¡¯t feelfortable with him, tell me. I¡¯ll kick him out immediately. This is our territory."

    "I know. But I still want to meet him and hear what he has to say."

    "Alright." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead. "Let¡¯s eat dinner first. We still have an hour until he arrives here."

    "Okay."

    They continued to make their way to kitchen.

    ###

    ###

    "Good evening, Mr. Long. Wee to Dragon Pce Home #10," the butler greeted Long Jian when he arrived at the ptial mansion. "The master and the mistress are expecting you. Your coat, please."

    Long Jian nodded and handed his coat, feeling weary by his long travel. He just returned from a business trip in Macao on behalf of Long Industries. It was cut short when his mother called from jail (again), already the second time this month. The first time was when Zhu Ning had a public altercation with Wei Lan at the mall spa. She was also detained by the police back then. Fortunately, Wei Lan and herwyer decided not to press any charges against her.

    This time, Zhu Ning was arrested yesterday due to the usations against her stating that she was lovers with Tian Kong, the bomber, and also the mastermind behind the entire bomb incident. Her current situation was a league more serious than the first time the police detained her.

    Long Jian had no choice but to abandon his business trip and ask someone else to rece him before rushing home to help his mother from her predicament. Upon arriving, he immediately called all the people who could possibly help, including somewyers, Long Industries¡¯ COO, and even his father, Long Tengfei. All they could do was give him advice and a clearer picture of what to expect in fighting the case in court. He felt a little hopeless after listening to them. None of them could immediately extricate his mother from the situation, especially after the "evidence" against her popped up. Zhu Ning¡¯s position was extremely precarious right now. The authorities didn¡¯t tolerate any acts of terrorism and masterminding a bomb incident in public was a big no-no.

    The COO felt sorry for him andforted him, even contacting his ownwyer to review Zhu Ning¡¯s case. It would be up to thewyer if he wanted to handle the case. Although the COO was very helpful to Long Jian, he was still a very upright man. If hiswyer personally judged that Zhu Ning was guilty, it was likely that the COO would distance himself from Long Jian. Associating with a terrorism mastermind was something that the COO would never want to do. Long Jian insisted that his mother was innocent and framed. The COO believed him...for now.

    Long Jian was grateful for the COO¡¯s goodwill and understood his reservations. It was already more than what he expected anyway. In his mind, he already looked up to the COO more than his real father.

    As for his own father, Long Tengfei didn¡¯t show much of a reaction when he approached him about the situation. At first, Long Jian didn¡¯t want to ask Long Tengfei for help but the COO urged him to do so.

    "He is your father," the COO told him.

    So Long Jian asked his father for help. Surprisingly, Long Tengfei had already gathered internal information about Zhu Ning¡¯s case through his own channels. His father shared what he discovered to him. Long Jian¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief after listening.

    "A s-sex video?!!"

    It was more serious than what he originally expected. He heard about the rumours circting about the sex video but dismissed it as something made up by drama-loving gossipmongers. He didn¡¯t expect that there was actually a real sex video involving his mother. Long Jian didn¡¯t want to believe it but there was a small part of him that was unsure. His mother was not the most morally upright person in the world after all. She had several lovers after Long Tengfei broke up with her.

    "The one in the video...was it...was it my mother?" he ended up asking.

    Long Tengfei took almost a full minute before replying, increasing the apprehension Long Jian felt.

    "I¡¯m not entirely sure," Long Tengfei finally replied, frowning a little. "It has been so long since I¡¯ve been with your mother. Her body surely must have changed a lot since then. However, if my memories serve me right, that¡¯s not how..." He cleared his throat. "The way the woman in the video moves is different from your mother."

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t blush and his face remained impassive but Long Jian could still sense a bit of embarrassment from his words. Long Jian didn¡¯t care about it all. He was already a grown adult and knew that his father and mother had sex in order to make him.

    Even though his father¡¯s words were uncertain, they still gave him hope. He didn¡¯t even take a moment to think before asking, "Can you testify in court and say that the woman in the video is not my mother?"

    Long Tengfei¡¯s expression hardened. Long Jian held his breath, already expecting his request to be rejected. Contrary to his expectation, however, his father sighed before agreeing. This shocked Long Jian to the core. Long Tengfei had a sour rtionship with his past women, except maybe for Long Jinjing¡¯s mother. His father detested his mother and Iris¡¯ mother the most.

    "Really?" he asked, not daring to believe.

    "I regret being with your mother but I don¡¯t regret fathering an excellent son like you. Zhu Ning has many faults but she did a splendid job in raising you to be goal-oriented, hardworking and disciplined. I first thought that promoting you to Deputy COO would be too early and too much of a pressure and burden to you but good thing I listened to the COO¡¯s advice. Now I know that it¡¯s one of the best decisions that I made this year for ourpany.

    "So yes, I¡¯ll testify in court and tell everyone that I don¡¯t think the woman in the video is your mother. This is the least I can do for the woman who bore me such an excellent son."

    "Thank you, Father." Long Jian still resented his father for all the years he missed being a stable father figure in his life. However, he did feel a little better after Long Tengfei praised him and also grateful for his promise to testify in court if needed.

    Long Tengfei nodded and hesitated a little before saying, "This is all I can do. I suggest that you talk to your youngest sister about this matter. Maybe she can help you."

    Long Jian thought that he heard wrongly. Youngest sister?

    "Ask Xin?" he asked in confusion.

    "Yes."

    "Why?"

    "Your sister knows many impressive people. Even more impressive than the people I know."

    This surprised Long Jian, initially filling him with disbelief and resentment. Disbelief because there was still a bit of prejudice left in him like so many others when it came to his youngest sister, the former spoiled brat. And resentment because he thought that Long Tengfei bringing up Iris in this matter was just another proof that she was his favourite child among them.

    However, he still ended up following his father¡¯s advice after thinking about it more carefully. Indeed, Iris knew many impressive people. Or to be more exact, her fianc¨¦, billionaire CEO Jin Liwei did. Long Jian believed that someone like Jin Liwei possessed countless invaluable connections to most of the powerful figures not only in the country but also all around the world. Since the man was Iris¡¯ future husband, then it was understandable that Long Tengfei would say that she also had these connections.

    In short, Long Jian misunderstood his father¡¯s suggestion, thinking that he was indirectly telling him to ask for Jin Liwei¡¯s help as a future brother-inw through his sister. This was why he rushed to Dragon Pce Homes after asking his father for his sister¡¯s current address, deciding toe without warning because he thought that Iris would refuse to see him if he called ahead. He thought that she would have no choice but to let him in if he directly showed up at her door.

 Chapter 604 - One Goal

    <h4>Chapter 604 - One Goal </h4>

    It was only when the tight security stopped Long Jian at the ce¡¯s gates that he remembered that Dragon Pce Homes was one of the most, if not THE most, exclusive viges for the elite in the country. The unimpressed security guards who carried themselves like active soldiers refused to let him in without invitation from any of the exclusive vige¡¯s property owners, all of them the elite of the most elite in their own fields. Fortunately, someone from Dragon Pce Home #10 called and informed them that he just received permission to enter.

    From there, he had to go through several other security checkpoints. His destination, Dragon Pce Home #10, was thergest property in the vige and also the farthest. When he finally reached it, he had to go through an even tighter check from the property¡¯s own security team.

    ¡¯What is this? A top-secret militarypound?¡¯ he inwardly grumbled as the guards performed a body check on him while checking every nook and cranny of his car.

    He was in a hurry to meet Iris and Jin Liwei, feeling a tremendous impatience with all of these security checks which he thought were unnecessary. Security checks at airports weren¡¯t as strict and were easier and faster than this.

    When he was finally cleared to enter the property¡¯s massive gates, he felt relieved, already imagining himself meeting his youngest sister and her powerful fianc¨¦ soon. He mentally practiced what he was going to say. The time he served as Deputy COO at Long Industries honed his conversation and negotiation skills, effectively increasing the effect of his natural charisma.

    Despite this, he still felt uncertain whether he would be able to persuade Iris and Jin Liwei to help his mother. He didn¡¯t have much of a rtionship with his youngest sister after all. She didn¡¯t have a duty to help him, especially since their mothers were enemies. He also didn¡¯t expect for her to help him. However, he still hoped that she would at least listen to him. His target was Jin Liwei, but he knew that the man wouldn¡¯t help him without Iris¡¯ approval. So Long Jian still needed to appeal to his youngest sister.

    "I¡¯m already here. Might as well go ahead and try. I don¡¯t have anything to lose by trying. I¡¯m desperate right now. Mother is in a very bad situation," he muttered while driving the long, long...looooong driveway. "Where the fuck is the mansion? Did I get lost?"

    He drove and drove and drove but hadn¡¯t arrived at his destination yet. To his dismay, it took him a full twenty minutes to drive between the property¡¯s massive gates to the actual mansion.

    TWENTY FUCKING MINUTES!!!

    Good thing he drove and didn¡¯t walk. If he did, perhaps it would already be dawn by the time he arrived at the mansion.

    Back to the present, Long Jian felt mentally and physically exhausted as he looked around the majestic and luxurious grand foyer. His eyes stopped at the huge portrait hanging on top of the twin grand staircases which showed the images of his youngest sister and her fianc¨¦ with their one, two...three cats. Huh? Three? He heard that the couple only had two cats after overhearing a few of Iris¡¯ fans who were also employees at Long Industries. Iris and Jin Liwei got a new one?

    If he remembered correctly, the cats had ridiculous names, something rted to food. He was 100% certain that it was his sister who thought up such stupid names. Peanut and Popsicle or something like that. Looking at the portrait of the three cats, he wondered what stupid name his sister gave the third one.

    ¡¯I bet it¡¯s another food name. Maybe Pancake or something.¡¯

    Long Jian felt a little sorry for the cats. Jin Liwei shouldn¡¯t have allowed Iris to name them. Poor animals.

    "Please follow me," the butler said, interrupting his thoughts.

    He followed the butler through a series of long hallways. Every part of the ce was decorated with more framed portraits of the couple, their cats, and Long Hui¡¯s son. He remembered that the boy was Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s godson and that the couple was sheltering the child and the mother, Long Hui¡¯s bodyguard ex-girlfriend. This damaged the rtionship between Long Hui and Iris.

    ¡¯Stupid man. Why make Xin an enemy so tantly? Now he has be CEO Jin¡¯s enemy, too. Utter stupidity,¡¯ he mentally criticized Long Hui.

    He continued looking around the luxurious mansion and dreaming that he would also obtain this kind of great wealth for himself and his mother someday. Being sessful as the Deputy COO was just the beginning for him. One day, he would surpass his father¡¯s sess and eventually reach an equal footing with someone like Jin Liwei. Thus, he still wanted to seed Long Tengfei and be the head of Long Industries in order to achieve this ambition. The strong drive to seed was still there, but he was gradually losing the original crazed greed nted by his mother since childhood, all thanks to the influence of his new mentor, the COO.

    It was obvious from the atmosphere in the mansion that his youngest sister perfectly belonged here. The numerous framed portraits almost always included her. In fact, she had the most photos as far as he noticed, even more than Jin Liwei, the master of the house. All of these indicated a warm, happy and loving family. It felt like home.

    Long Jian felt envious of her. However, he felt too exhausted to wallow in this kind of negative emotion at the moment. He had one goal tonight.

    The butler continued to lead him through more hallways, passing many patrolling security personnel. A few of them gave Long Jian the shivers because of their cold and deadly aura. They looked like they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to break his bones or even shoot him to death if he made any mistakes.

    ¡¯Maybe this ce is actually a secret militarypound? And how long do I still need to walk? This ce is too big. Dammit!¡¯

    Finally, after walking for a long time, the butler led him to an amazing ce. It was an indoor forest!

    A FUCKING INDOOR FOREST!!!

    Long Jian closed his mouth after realizing that his jaw had fallen down as he made sense of the incredible scene around him. The night sky was visible through the ss dome of the rotunda. If not for the warm temperature, he would have thought that he was in an actual natural forest, not a fucking indoor one.

    They reached a clearing where he saw a fish pond, the water so clear that the koi fish could be seen swimming under the surface. In the centre of the pond was an islet where a living room set-up was arranged,plete withfortable couches and a coffee table. Long Jian finally saw his youngest sister and her fianc¨¦ lounging on the longest couch together.

    "Master, Mistress. Mr. Long has arrived," the butler announced.

    The couple stood. Iris wore a guarded smile but her eyes were filled with curiosity as she observed him. On the other hand, Jin Liwei wore his usual cold and indifferent expression. Long Jian already knew that this was the man¡¯s default expression but for some reason, there was something else besides the cold indifference.

    Was it hostility?

    Long Jian cleared his throat and put on his best smile as he greeted his youngest sister and her intimidating fianc¨¦.

    ###

 Chapter 605 - Desperation Calls For Extreme Measures

    <h4>Chapter 605 - Desperation Calls For Extreme Measures </h4>

    After the polite greetings, Long Jian sat across his youngest sister and her fianc¨¦ while the butler served them hot calming herbal tea. The flowing water of the fish pond was supposed to be rxing but Long Jian started breaking out in cold sweat instead. Now he became certain that Jin Liwei held some sort of hostility against him because the man was coldly ring at him. It wasn¡¯t obvious at first because of Jin Liwei¡¯s usual cold and indifferent expression but Long Jian couldn¡¯t mistake it. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t acknowledge him at all since he arrived, treating him like an unwee stray dog.

    Long Jian¡¯s smile became strained, as he forced himself to rx. Ever since he became the Deputy COO of Long Industries, he received many opportunities to meet with some of the most important figures in the business industry face to face. There were many times that he felt nervous but never did he panic. He thought that he would be able to handle facing Jin Liwei but the most powerful man in the country¡¯s business world of his generation was on a whole different level from the ones Long Jian encountered before.

    Jin Liwei was extremely intimidating. The aura he was currently emitting, in addition to the not so subtle hostility against him, made Long Jian feel suffocated. His hand trembled a little, making him almost spill the tea from the cup he was holding. Still smiling and pretending that he was perfectly fine and not at all intimidated, Long Jian managed to calm himself a little...barely.

    "Second Big Brother, what is the purpose of your visit?" Iris asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.

    Since she was being direct to the point, Long Jian didn¡¯t waste any more time. He began exining the current predicament of his mother, Zhu Ning, while enduring the oppressive weight of Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes on him.

    Iris didn¡¯t interrupt him, allowing him to speak freely. She also didn¡¯t show any expression but at least it looked like she was actually listening. Jin Liwei also looked like he was listening but his disinterest was clear in his cold eyes. It was obvious that he didn¡¯t care about Long Jian at all and was only there because of Iris.

    It grated on Long Jian that Jin Liwei was acting like this, especially since the man was his ultimate target. He believed that Jin Liwei had the ability to help his mother in some way. Despite this, he forced himself not to feel too affected even if it bothered him.

    ¡¯Even if he doesn¡¯t care, he¡¯ll still lend a hand if Xin decides to help me. All I need to do is persuade Xin and Jin Liwei will also follow,¡¯ Long Jian thought, sessfully grasping the nature of the couple¡¯s rtionship.

    "Everyone believes that my mother is the true mastermind who instigated Tian Kong to kill you, Little Sister, but I know that this is not true," he said. "There are even evidence allegedly proving this but they¡¯re fake. Don¡¯t believe them! My mother is framed. Yet no matter how hard I try to exin this to the police, nobody listens me. I think that even the police believes that my mother did it."

    "That¡¯s because Zhu Ning threatened to kill Xin and Aunt Wei Lan in public before," Jin Liwei interrupted in a cold voice. "After your mother¡¯s public death threats to my future wife and mother-inw, someone tries to kill Xin with a bomb. Tell me, Mr. Long Jian, isn¡¯t it natural to believe that Zhu Ning is also connected to the bomb incident especially right now that there¡¯s also evidence pointing to this?"

    Long Jian felt his vision go red so he hurriedly took a few deep breaths before continuing to speak. Jin Liwei¡¯s words were infuriating, but logically speaking, he made sense. Fortunately, Long Jian had the ability to control his emotions in highly stressful situations like this.

    "I agree, CEO Jin. But please believe me when I say that the evidence is fake. My mother has been framed." Long Jian turned to Iris again. "Little Sister, I know that our mothers don¡¯t have the best rtionship with each other¡ª"

    "They¡¯re enemies," Iris replied in a matter of fact tone.

    "Well...yes...true." Long Jian cleared his throat in an awkward manner. "But even if they¡¯re, uh...enemies, and even if my mother said something that can be considered as death threats to you and your mother, I hope that you don¡¯t take her words too seriously because my mother always says those kind of things but she¡¯s not capable of killing people."

    Then he hesitated for a few seconds, thinking about his next words. In the end, he decided to tell them everything. He told them about his discussion with Long Tengfei, the alleged sex video between Zhu Ning and Tian Kong, Long Tengfei¡¯s promise to testify in court to say that the woman in the sex video wasn¡¯t Zhu Ning, and how Long Tengfei told him to ask Iris and Jin Liwei for help.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t look surprised when he revealed the existence of a sex video. Did they already know about it? The sex video was something that Long Jian felt ashamed of discussing in public, especially with Iris and Jin Liwei. This was why he repeatedly emphasized that the woman in the sex video wasn¡¯t his mother but someone impersonating her. He was afraid that it would disgust the couple that they wouldn¡¯t even consider helping his mother.

    ¡¯Desperation calls for extreme measures. Pride won¡¯t help me in this situation.¡¯

    Gritting his teeth, he decisively tossed away his pride and stood up. Then he bowed low from the waist to the couple all of a sudden.

    "Xin, CEO Jin, I beg you to please help my mother! Everyone believes that she¡¯s the mastermind behind the bomb incident but she¡¯s innocent and has been framed! I don¡¯t want her to be punished for something that she didn¡¯t do! Please!"

    Long Jian remained bowing as he held his breath, waiting for the couple¡¯s response. The flowing water of the fish pond failed to rx him. It gave him a feeling of drowning instead. All he could see was the rocky ground of the islet from this position. He didn¡¯t dare to sneak a peek at the couple, afraid that their expressions would leave him crashing in disappointment.

    The wait felt very long to Long Jian but actually it was only about five seconds.

    "Why should we help you?" Iris asked in a neutral tone.

    Long Jian raised his head and finally looked at the couple. Iris¡¯ expression looked pleasant, yet he couldn¡¯t read her real emotions, while Jin Liwei¡¯s remained cold and indifferent with a touch of hostility.

    "We¡¯re brother and sister..."

    "Long Hui is also my brother and I was closer to him than to you for a short period of time before his stupidity ruined our good rtionship. Now he and I have basically be enemies. My sibling rtionship with you and the others is not reason enough for me to help any of you, especially since we¡¯re not really close to each other."

    Long Jian clenched his hands into fists. "You¡¯re right," he said. "Fine. I¡¯ll give you another reason. You want to seed Father as the next head of Long Industries, right? I¡¯ll help you."

    ###

 Chapter 606 - Alliance

    <h4>Chapter 606 - Alliance </h4>

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened in surprise. She lifted an eyebrow before looking at Jin Liwei.Her darling also looked surprised at Long Jian¡¯s proposition.

    "Exin," Jin Liwei barked.

    Long Jian straightened and stood up again. Deep inside, he hated what he was doing but had to do it for the sake of his mother. He couldn¡¯t believe that there woulde a day that he would grovel in front of his youngest sister who he always thought of before as a good-for-nothing spoiled brat. And yet now, here he was begging her for a favour.

    "I know that you want to be the next head of Long Industries," he said. "Our brother Long Hui wants it and I want it too, of course."

    "So you want it, too. Then why are you saying that you¡¯re going to help me?" Iris asked.

    "Let¡¯s put aside what I want for now. I¡¯ll help you gain more influence in Long Industries. Let¡¯s work together in removing our brother Long Hui and the other contenders from the running in the battle for session. Once they¡¯re out of the picture, the only ones left will be the two of us.

    "I know that you have more advantages and have a higher chance of seeding than me. You¡¯re a legitimate child, future wife of CEO Jin Liwei, famous celebrity, you have Orchidia Beauty, and Father adores you the most.

    "But I won¡¯t give up. I¡¯m confident that I¡¯m the most suitable to seed and be the next head after Father. When the timees, I promise to fight you head on with my own abilities, skills and qualifications. No funny business. I¡¯ll battle it out with you fair and square, unlike our brother who schemes behind the scenes with the help of his maternal family, the Zhengs.

    "This is what I¡¯m willing to do in exchange for you helping my mother. I¡¯m going to help you to establish yourself in Long Industries which you¡¯ll find difficult to do on your own as a mere brand ambassador. Father can¡¯t openly help you because he¡¯ll be used of nepotism. But I can do it. I worked my way up from the bottom, so I have many connections with people from both the bottom and the top, unlike Father who only works with the top brass nowadays.

    "If Father helps you, it¡¯ll be noticed immediately and will only invite criticism. But if I do it using my seemingly unimportant connections, then you¡¯ll be able to sessfully build your influence within thepany without attracting too much attention."

    Long Jian finished speaking. Now he waited for her decision. If she agreed, Jin Liwei would surely step in to help Zhu Ning. If she didn¡¯t agree, well, at least he tried.

    "Hmm...." Iris tilted her head to the side. Then she looked at Jin Liwei. "What do you think, darling?"

    Jin Liwei shot a frosty look at Long Jian. "I don¡¯t trust him but I think his proposition is good."

    She nodded. "Yes, I think so too."

    Hope began to fill Long Jian. "Then do you agree?"

    "Yes, I agree." She stood up and offered her hand.

    Long Jian immediately grabbed and shook it. "Thank you! I really appreciate it, Little Sister."

    Jin Liwei also followed suit and shook his hand.

    "Thank you, CEO Jin!"

    Jin Liwei tightened his grip on Long Jian¡¯s hand, making Long Jian wince. "You said it. No funny business. If you break your promise, I¡¯ll destroy you. Remember that Xin is no longer just your sister. She¡¯s my future wife and the next madam of the Jins. Make an enemy of my wife and you make an enemy of me as well."

    Long Jian swallowed, feeling like he had lost the ability to breathe under the full brunt of Jin Liwei¡¯s intimidation. He wanted to reach equal footing with Jin Liwei someday? What a joke! He needed to be a monster first.

    Fortunately, he was able to maintain some semnce of calmness to mask his intimidated state. Regardless of Jin Liwei¡¯s bad impression of him, at least Long Jian was sessful in achieving his goal tonight. The price he had to pay was quite heavy¡ªhelping Iris establish influence in Long Industries¡ªespecially since she already had strong support within the Long n, headed by the Elder Long Jufang.

    However, Long Jian believed in his own abilities and qualifications. He was performing in his job with flying colours while Long Hui continued to struggle in stabilizing himself after his bitter break-up with his bodyguard ex-fianc¨¦e and the pending custody battle for their small child. He was already showing everyone at thepany that he was more capable than Long Hui. If he could do this against Long Hui, then he could also do the same thing against Iris.

    Long Jian meant it when he promised that he would fight Iris fair and square in the battle of session. His mindset had greatly changed due to the COO¡¯s upright influence. However, this didn¡¯t mean that he would make it easy for Iris. He would only show her the inner workings of thepany, not serve all the opportunities to her on a silver tter. It would still be up to her own abilities to establish herself in Long Industries. If she was really capable, then she would be able to do it. If not, then it wouldn¡¯t be Long Jian¡¯s problem.

    "Don¡¯t worry, CEO Jin. I won¡¯t go back on my words. As long as you¡¯re able to help my mother, I¡¯ll help my sister in establishing herself in Long Industries. We¡¯ll work together in eliminating our strongestpetitors until there¡¯s only the two of us left. That¡¯s when our alliance will naturally dissolve. Then it¡¯ll be the start of the real battle of session between the two of us."

    Jin Liwei nodded and finally released his hand while Iris shed a bright smile.

    "I¡¯m looking forward to our partnership, Second Big Brother Jian."

    "Likewise."

    That night, a new alliance that would shake the entire Long n was born.

    ###

 Chapter 607 - A Man Changes After He Marries

    <h4>Chapter 607 - A Man Changes After He Marries </h4>

    The next day, Iris finally returned to work. She still needed to take care of the wounds on her neck and shoulder but at least they weren¡¯t in any danger of being infected anymore. The pain was also manageable and didn¡¯t bother her.

    She felt excited and energetic at the thought of diving once again in her work. It was just that several teams of bodyguards tailed her wherever she went once outside Dragon Pce Home #10.

    One team protected her in close proximity, shielding her from any crowd. A second team followed a few metres away. Two other teams protected her from a distance. Iris couldn¡¯t see them with her own eyes but she could somehow sense their presence. She also confirmed their locations from Ketchup.

    Originally, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao wanted to send five teams each of their subordinates to protect her whenever she was outside, for a total of ten teams. However, she negotiated with the two overprotective men and managed to decrease their suggestion to two teams each instead, for a total of four teams. Four teams were already a lot, in her opinion. Any more than these and she would go crazy.

    Although she was no longer as distressed by bodyguards as before because it reminded her of her past life as a lonely, sheltered princess of the criminal underworld who didn¡¯t have any freedom and independence, she still didn¡¯t feelfortable about bodyguards following her around. This was one of things that she was sensitive about. There had been many times that she lost her temper at Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao when it came to the topic of bodyguards.

    The bomb incident finally provided the two overprotective men with ample persuading power to finally make her agree to increase the size of her personal security team. So even though she didn¡¯t like it, she had to ept the many bodyguards¡ªboth visible and hidden¡ªwho followed her around. She almost died in the bomb incident, after all. Even she agreed that it was a close call. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t have happened if her security had been tighter.

    That morning, Iris and Dom (and her bodyguards) headed to Bright Summit to meet with Tang Yiyi. As soon as she entered, her body immediately went into self-defence mode because there were several loud popping sounds and all she could see were multi-coloured confetti and flower petals raining down on her. Her bodyguards also reacted quickly and surrounded her and Dom.

    "WELCOME BACK, IRIS LONG!!!"

    It was then that Iris noticed the crowd of people lining up the entire lobby. They were Bright Summit¡¯s staff and some of her fellow artists. All were pping their hands and wearing big smiles on their faces as they shouted her name. Tang Yiyi was there, immediately running to her with a huge bouquet of flowers. Bright Summit¡¯s higher-ups were also present, including thepany president.

    Iris felt a little overwhelmed. She didn¡¯t expect this at all! When she turned her head beside her, Dom was giggling with a knowing expression on his face.

    "You knew about this?" she asked.

    "Ehehe. Of course, boss! Big Sis Yiyi informed me that they¡¯re nning to give you a grand wee back!"

    Tang Yiyi reached them and handed Iris the bouquet before pulling her to the group of higher-ups. Iris greeted everyone with a bright smile.

    "Iris, you look beautiful as always! d to see that you¡¯re safe and sound. How are you feeling?"

    "I was so worried about you!"

    "Thank goodness you¡¯re okay!"

    "You look paler and thinner! Are you really alright?"

    Questions and words of concern bombarded Iris left and right. She did her best to give brief, polite replies. ze, Eros, Night and Thunder of Pandemonium were also there, acting like her protective brothers. The boys helped carry all the flowers and other presents the crowd kept on giving her.

    The wee event didn¡¯tst long because all of them were busy with their own respective work. Iris and her entourage excused themselves and headed straight to Tang Yiyi¡¯s office. The crowd dispersed after they left.

    When they arrived at Tang Yiyi¡¯s office, they saw Jin Chonglin waiting there, looking like a debonair prince. A few buttons of his long-sleeved shirt were open, revealing his muscled chest. He sat on the edge of Tang Yiyi¡¯s desk, ying with some paperclips and linking them to make a chain. His presence added life and energy to the in office. His manager, Lin Dong, was also there and one of his assistants.

    "I¡¯ve been waiting for you, Sister Xin," Jin Chonglin greeted, shing Iris and her entourage with his famous killer smile. "I didn¡¯t join in weing you downstairs because I didn¡¯t want to upstage you."

    Iris raised an eyebrow while Tang Yiyi red at Lin Dong who threw a warning look at Jin Chonglin.

    Jin Chonglinughed. "I¡¯m just joking. There were just too many people downstairs. I wasn¡¯t in mood to squeeze myself in such a great crowd and ruin my hair and newly-shined shoes."

    Iris noticed the dark expression that shed in his eyes, making her understand his true reason for not joining the others downstairs. It seemed that Jin Chonglin had been traumatized by the bomb incident more than she expected. He had be apprehensive aboutrge crowds, choosing to avoid them altogether. At least for now.

    The other people behind her filed inside. ze, Eros, Night and Thunder also greeted Jin Chonglin before putting all of the flowers and presents that Iris received inside the office. Then Tang Yiyi shooed them all away, reminding them that they still needed to travel to their next show.

    Once the Pandemonium boys were gone, it was only Iris and Jin Chonglin¡¯s teams who were left in the office. Their bodyguards guarded outside the door, drawing the attention of the staff and other artists passing by. The people thought that perhaps some high-ranking politician or someone of that stature had visited.

    Back inside the office, the two managers discussed thebined schedules of Iris and Jin Chonglin. They would be spending a lot of time together again promoting and performing their uing next single which would be released very soon by the end of the month.

    "How are your wounds, Sister Xin? I see that you¡¯re still wearing turtlenecks. Will you be fine to perform?" Jin Chonglin asked. "This song needs us to sing and dance. If you¡¯re hurting, maybe we can modify our performance. You can just sing and move around a little, I guess."

    "I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry, Brother Chonglin. I can perform exactly like how we rehearsed it," Iris reassured him.

    "If you say so." Jin Chonglin shrugged. "I¡¯m just saying, if something happens to you, my brother will kill all of us here. We don¡¯t want to die yet so don¡¯t push yourself too hard if you¡¯re notpletely recovered yet."

    Lin Dong and his assistant nodded. So did Dom.

    "He¡¯s right, Iris," Tang Yiyi said. "Sir Jin also spoke to me to remind you to take it easy for now."

    Iris frowned, feeling annoyed, grateful and warm at the same time. Her darling and all of these people cared about her. She was thankful for all of their concern but "don¡¯t push yourself too hard" and "take it easy" weren¡¯t in her vocabry when it came to work. She was the type to do her best and give her all, so not pushing too hard and taking it easy were actually quite difficult for her.

    "I understand," she replied to them, sighing.

    Afterwards, they resumed talking about their schedules.

    "The two of you will attend a lot of interviews together¡ªTV shows, radio, magazines, web channels...everything. They will ask you a lot about your rtionship as future brother and sister-inw, so you¡¯ll also have to talk about CEO Jin... Wait. Will that be okay to him?" Lin Dong asked.

    "No way! Big Bro is a very private person."

    "Yes, it¡¯s fine. Liwei won¡¯t mind."

    Their two managers and two assistants looked at them with awkward yet also entertained expressions.

    "Tsk. So it¡¯s true that a man changes after he marries," Jin Chonglin grumbled. "I know that if I, his brother, start talking about what he¡¯s like in private, he¡¯ll give me hell and scold me for being a big mouth. But it turns out that if it¡¯s his wife talking about him, it¡¯s fine? Tsk!"

    ###

 Chapter 608 - Traitorous Thoughts

    <h4>Chapter 608 - Traitorous Thoughts </h4>

    Iris tilted her head to the side as she looked at Jin Chonglin. "Liwei won¡¯t get mad at me for something like that."

    "Yeah. Big Bro gets mad at ME. Never at you, his beloved wife," Jin Chonglin replied. There was a little whine in his voice which everyone in the office detected except for Iris who still retained some of her denseness. On top of the subtle whining, his manager Lin Dong also detected a bit of envy and loneliness.

    Iris didn¡¯t notice any of these, instead muttering, "Liwei gets mad at me sometimes."

    "Oh?" Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes lit up, burying his hidden feelings behind a teasing expression. "What kind of naughty things did you do for that wife-doting brother of mine to get mad at you, Sister Xin?"

    She opened her mouth and was about to answer but decided to shut up instead, refusing to say anything no matter how many times Jin Chonglin teased her. Guilt pricked her as she remembered all the times when she locked herself in herputer rooms, both in Gold Heights penthouse and Dragon Pce mansion, where she became absorbed with hacking, making Jin Liwei and everyone in their household constantly worried about her.

    Jin Liwei had been very angry at her on those asions but his anger didn¡¯tst long because she always managed to soften him up. Indeed, he rarely got mad at her and if he did, it didn¡¯tst long.

    The guilty feeling disappeared and was overpowered by her love for Jin Liwei. Her thoughts became filled with him to the point that she had forgotten that she was in a meeting with Jin Chonglin and their managers at the moment. She felt warm all over and couldn¡¯t wait to see Jin Liwei again at home tonight. She had intended on correcting Jin Chonglin¡¯s repeatedments about her being Jin Liwei¡¯s wife because they hadn¡¯t married yet, so technically she was still Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e, not his wife. Not yet, at least. However, she had forgotten all about it as thoughts of her darling filled her mind.

    Jin Chonglin scowled when he saw the love-filled expression on her face.

    ¡¯So stupid,¡¯ he thought, even as envy and loneliness threatened to overwhelm him deep inside. It was so obvious how in love Iris and his older brother were of each other. His brother was truly a lucky man to find such a beautiful and extraordinary woman as his wife. ¡¯Stop it,¡¯ he mentally scolded himself and forcefully stopped himself from harbouring desirous thoughts about his brother¡¯s woman.

    "The two of you, stop getting distracted!" Lin Dong scolded them.

    "Yes, especially you, Iris. You¡¯re very behind in your promotional work," Tang Yiyi added in a stern voice. "We have many things to cover during this meeting and we don¡¯t have much time until we all need to leave and head for your first guest appearanceter."

    Iris¡¯ back straightened and her expression immediately turned serious. "My apologies, Mr. Lin, Elder Sister Yiyi. Please continue the meeting."

    Jin Chonglin also did the same thing and forced his expression to look serious but struggled to pay attention, especially since he kept on getting distracted by the sweet scent of his brother¡¯s woman near him. Endless guilt ate at him as he tried to fight his traitorous thoughts.

    Then all of a sudden, an image of an annoying and bossy woman popped in his mind.

    ¡¯Hey, Mr. Indecisive Diva! Stop acting like a pussy and get back to work! Focus and stop dilly-dallying!¡¯ Chen Fei barked in his head.

    "Fuck," he muttered and then growled, "Stay out of my fucking mind."

    Everyone looked at him like he had gone insane. And perhaps he really was going insane. That woman, Chen Fei, was so annoying that she would pop up inside his head now and then without any warning to annoy him.

    He would even have nightmares about her sometimes where she always rejected his ideas for his men¡¯s product line for Orchidia Beauty and pushed theunch date sooner than nned without any advance notice. These nightmares frightened him so much that he would wake up in the middle of the night shivering in the cold and sweating buckets. Then he would jump off the bed to jot down ideas for his men¡¯s line instead of returning to sleep just so his nightmares about her wouldn¡¯te true in real life.

    In a way, these nightmares benefitted him because they were forcing him toe up with more creative ideas while at the same time decreasing the moments he felt indecisive about his choices for his men¡¯s line. In turn, it lessened Chen Fei¡¯s nagging, giving Jin Chonglin a respite but still didn¡¯t decrease his opinion that she was a bossy and annoying woman.

    "Are you alright?" Iris asked him.

    "Huh? What? Yes. Yes, of course. I¡¯m alright," he replied, clearly still distracted.

    "Hello? Man, we¡¯re in a meeting! Get your head back in the game! We have lots of work to do now that Iris is back," Lin Dong told him in exasperation.

    "Ehehe."

    Tang Yiyi red at the giggling Dom who immediately shut up but not before waggling his eyebrows at the distracted Jin Chonglin. Dom could feel it in his bones that Jin Chonglin was thinking about a woman¡ªtwo women to be exact¡ªbased on his changing expressions.

    The first woman was already taken and off-limits, as evident from Jin Chonglin¡¯s regretful expression that he always tried so hard to hide. The woman in question was dense to Jin Chonglin¡¯s feelings but most of the others, including Dom, could sense it. Dom had a feeling that his sir boss also knew about Jin Chonglin¡¯s feelings, hence why Jin Liwei was sometimes so mean to his younger brother.

    The second woman was¡ªehehe. Dom knew who it was based on Jin Chonglin¡¯s irritated look. There was only one woman who Dom knew could make the male superstar look like he ate something sour. That was another headstrong and stubborn woman. She and Jin Chonglin were so preupied by their mutual "dislike" of each other that they were failing to realize the growing attraction between them.

    "Ehehehe."

    "Dominic Chua!"

    Once again, Dom shut up after being scolded by Tang Yiyi.

    Back to Jin Chonglin, it took a few more seconds but he was finally able to focus in the meeting. He might be adies¡¯ man¡ªnot denying that fact¡ªbut when it came to work, he was always serious and gave his all. Their meetingmenced in no time with no further distractions.

    After the meeting, all of them left Bright Summit and headed to their first work together since the bomb incident. It was a quick guest appearance on a popr variety show.

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t realize yet that his own efforts at killing his own traitorous feelings for his brother¡¯s woman were ineffective but a single thought about a certain bossy and annoying womanpletely redirected his thoughts.

    "This prince¡¯stest idea for my men¡¯s line is wless. Let¡¯s see if you still have any room toin. Hmph," he muttered under his breath while on the road with Lin Dong and his assistants in his executive van.

    "What did you say?" Lin Dong asked.

    "Nothing."

    And they drove on while Jin Chonglin stewed in irritation about a certain bossy woman.

    ###

 Chapter 609 - Still A Long Way To Go

    <h4>Chapter 609 - Still A Long Way To Go </h4>

    In the next few days, Iris and Jin Chonglin busied themselves promoting their next single together and attended quite a number of interviews while doing so. It was unavoidable that the topic of the bomb incident would be broached in these interviews. Iris was asked the most about it because she was established early on as the main target of the attack.

    "It has been revealed that Zhu Ning is the real mastermind behind the bomb incident. Many remember that she has threatened both you and your mother, the Viscountess Lan, in public before. It has also been reported that there is evidence proving her crimes of nning the attack with her alleged lover, Tian Kong, the bomber and main perpetrator of the bomb incident, against you. What¡¯s your opinion about this, Iris?" a host asked her during one of the interviews.

    Iris kept her expression and tone neutral, not revealing any of her real thoughts. "The investigations regarding the bomb incident and Madam Zhu Ning¡¯s alleged involvement are still ongoing. I¡¯ll wait for the results of the investigations first before making any final judgment," she replied.

    Although she said this, she had no intention of leaving everything up to the authorities to solve, especially right now that their systems hadn¡¯t fully recovered yet from Ketchup¡¯s crazy hacking attack. In addition, she made a deal with Long Jian. She wouldn¡¯t badmouth his mother because of it.

    Unsatisfied by her answer, the host tried urging her to say more but Iris used the interview-dodging skills Tang Yiyi repeatedly instilled in her during the past year. Although Iris still mostly retained her straightforward attitude during interviews, she began to realize that being too honest and straightforward mighte back to bite her in the rearter. Not everyone appreciated honesty, especially from a popr celebrity like her. Tang Yiyi always lectured her that celebrities like her needed to learn how to pay lip service not only for her fans but also to the general public in order to maintain a peaceful career.

    At first, Iris resisted, thinking that it was such a hassle. She also didn¡¯t like how she needed to sacrifice her honesty.

    "I don¡¯t want to lie," she told her manager.

    "It¡¯s technically not lying, Iris. It¡¯s just evading the questions and redirecting the topic of conversation into apletely different one so that you don¡¯t have to lie or tell the truth. That¡¯s a skill we, the managers, want our artists to learn," Tang Yiyi replied. "Just look at Jin Chonglin. He¡¯s an expert at it. That¡¯s why hested so long in this industry and reached his superstar status in our country."

    If this was in the past, Iris wouldn¡¯t have given a whit about it but bing engaged to Jin Liwei and also bing the godmother to Little Jun gradually changed her mindset. Now she realized that anything that came out of her mouth would affect her loved ones whether she liked it or not.

    She was now a popr celebrity. Period. Not only that. She was also a rising star in the country¡¯s business world with the sessfulunch of Orchidia Beauty. The general public weren¡¯t aware yet that she was also the owner of Monkey and Gold Heights. She wanted to focus on making Orchidia Beauty synonymous with her image first before revealing her ownership of the otherpanies.

    In short, she was a public figure. The general public, especially the often bloodthirsty media who only cared about making sensational headlines regardless of the people they inconvenienced, would constantly try to invade her privacy and that of her loved ones if she loosened her guard. Interest for her would only increase as she became more famous. It reached an all-time high when her rtionship with Jin Liwei was revealed to the public.

    Iris didn¡¯t want to give other people any reason to use her or anything that came out of her mouth to tarnish Jin Liwei¡¯s reputation or hurt their godson.

    She wasn¡¯t the sheltered princess of the infamous Vetrov family anymore. She was now Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, an internationally acimed multi-award-winning musician, celebrity, businesswoman, and also Jin Liwei¡¯s future wife. Maintaining a respectable image was a must in order to protect the family and life she was building with her lover.

    Thus, she finally relented and began learning the interview-dodging skills Tang Yiyi always pushed on her.

    Back to the interview, Jin Chonglin butted in and redirected the topic to apletely different one. He did it with such smoothness and expertise that the host only realized that she had been yed after the interview was over. By that time, it was toote. Even Iris couldn¡¯st help but admire his skills. He truly was a pro. It was no wonder that Tang Yiyi liked using him as an example to prove her points to Iris.

    "You still have a long way to go to reach this prince¡¯s level, Sister Xin," Jin Chonglin teased Iris as they returned to their respective executive vans.

    "I know," Iris admitted. Indeed, she was still nowhere near Jin Chonglin¡¯s level when it came to handling the media by herself. "But I¡¯ll learn. Eventually. No, soon."

    "Yeah, yeah. You¡¯re a monster of insanity."

    She tilted her head to the side. "I don¡¯t understand what you mean."

    "It means that you learn way too fast that it¡¯s insane. You¡¯re a monster."

    Before Iris could reply, Lin Dong interrupted them. "Time to head to our next destination. Hurry up. Traffic is heavy right now."

    "Iris, this way," Tang Yiyi led her, Dom, and the rest of their entourage to their separate executive van. Their bodyguards surrounded the area, keeping eye of any potential dangers.

    The two groups made their way to their next workmitment for the day. In the meantime, the makeup artist and hairstylist were busy retouching Iris and helping her change her outfit. She wouldn¡¯t have time to do all of these at the radio station because of the heavy traffic.

    Her phone rang. Dom answered it.

    "Boss, it¡¯s sir boss! Ehehehe."

    ###

 Chapter 610 - We Want More Of Iris Long!

    <h4>Chapter 610 - We Want More Of Iris Long! </h4>

    "Hello, darling?" Iris answered the phonewhile being mmed up.

    Everyone was silent while eavesdropping on the couple¡¯s phone conversation. Except for Dom who was already used to it, Tang Yiyi and the others, including the bodyguards at the front, still found it weird listening to the usually cold and indifferent CEO Jin Liwei sound very gentle and loving. It was as if they were seeing a proud and mighty lion acting like a tamed kitten in front of Iris. So deceptive!

    Ever since Iris returned to work full-time after the bomb incident, Jin Liwei made it a point to call her despite his busy schedule. He didn¡¯t have much time to spare but still didn¡¯t miss a day checking up on her. In turn, Iris made sure to arrange hearty lunches to be sent to Jin Corporation for him every day.

    "Congrattions, love. I just received word that ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯reached #1 in Singapore and the Philippines today," he informed her.

    "Really?"

    "En. I told you that your song will make it to the top outside China."

    Iris turned to Tang Yiyi.

    Her manager mouthed, "Let me check."

    Before Tang Yiyi could confirm the information, her phone started ringing, almost making her throw it away.

    "Aiya! Who the hell¡ªoh! It¡¯s¡ª"

    "Hey, Little Tang! Why is that brat not answering her phone? I¡¯ve called two times already but it¡¯s busy! Tell her to answer her damn phone! I have important news!"

    "Hello, Mr. JJ," Tang Yiyi greeted in a hurry while wiping imaginary cold sweat from her forehead. Most people would react this way to JJ, the notorious temperamental music producer.

    "Well, where¡¯s the brat?! Let me talk to her! Hurry!"

    "I¡¯m here, Mr. JJ," Iris replied in a rxed manner while still on the phone with Jin Liwei.

    "There you are! Guess what happened today! Hahahaha!"

    "My song ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ has be #1 in the Philippines and Singapore?"

    "I bet a brat like you would never guess¡ªhuh? How did you know?!! It¡¯s supposed to be a surprise! Have you been monitoring your song¡¯s rankings in other countries?"

    Iris chuckled, her voice tinkling like crystal bells. "No, I haven¡¯t but Liwei did. He just told me about it."

    "Oh. Tsk." The music producer sounded disappointed that he wasn¡¯t able to surprise her with the news. However, he quickly recovered. "Everyone is crazy about ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ in other Asian countries. It¡¯s now #1 in Singapore and the Philippines but it¡¯s also quickly climbing up to the top of the music charts in other countries. The localized versions of the song are #6 in Vietnam, #3 in Cambodia and Indonesia, and #2 in Mysia and Thand! It would¡¯ve been so much better if you and that pipsqueak Jin Chonglin sang the localized versions because I know that you can speak theirnguages but whatever, this is good too! No, this is awesome! As awesome as me, JJ!"

    Iris¡¯ smile was bright as she listened to JJ raving about her song¡¯s sess in other Asian countries. Dom, Tang Yiyi and the others, even the bodyguards in the front seat, were also all beaming.

    "I have to go, love. Congrats again," Jin Liwei interrupted.

    "Thank you, darling. See youter at home."

    "En. I love you."

    "I love you, too."

    "Kyaaaah~"

    Dom began a muted squealing alongside the makeup artist and hairstylist. Tang Yiyi also wanted to squeal but stopped herself because she had to maintain her image as a capable manager. As for the two female bodyguards in the front passenger seat, their expressions twitched for a fraction of a second upon hearing the lovey-doveyness between their employers but quickly recovered and maintained their emotionless countenance as if nothing happened.

    "Blegh!" JJ could be heard reacting on the phone and then muttering, "Young people."

    After ending the call with Jin Liwei, Iris focused on talking with JJ while continuing to be mmed up. The fact that her song "Shining Eyes" had been released outside the country wasn¡¯t news to her. The hit drama "Our Love, Our Destiny" became avable for international streaming at the same time it premiered in China. However, it took a few weeks before it gained traction among foreign audience. But once it did, the drama barreled its way to be an international hit.

    And as the official theme song, "Shining Eyes" rose to prominence as well along with the drama. Iris was an unknown musician outside of China and Europe but her heavenly voice in the song caught the attention of the foreign viewers. Most of them already knew Jin Chonglin and were fans of him from before but they also became her fans after listening to the two of them sing together. These new fans became even more impressed after learning that she was the one who wrote the song.

    As the drama and the song became more popr outside China with each airing episode every week, especially in Asia, Iris Long became one of the most searched for celebrities in the region. There wasn¡¯t a lot of information avable on the inte about her private life but the new foreign fans were impressed by what they learned so far.

    Survived a car crash and a year-longa!

    Sessful instrumental album, Rebirth Melodies, especially in Europe!

    Performed with Maestro Ludovico De Luca and the hitmaker Enrique Valdez¡ªboth legendary musicians!

    Multi-award-winning musician!

    History-making musician for creating new musical techniques!

    Recipient of the Soleil d¡¯Or Award for Best Soundtrack at the highly-respected Sommet International Film Festival in France!

    Skilled polyglot who was appointed official interpreter and trantor in the just-finished International Business Conference this year!

    Engaged to marry billionaire Jin Liwei, the current President-CEO of Jin Corporation, the toppany in China and one of the biggest in Asia!

    Future sister-inw of Chinese superstar Jin Chonglin!

    A businesswoman in her own right with the sessful and record-breakingunch of her ownpany, Orchidia Beauty!

    And her mother was a viscountess of Spain?!

    The new foreign fans were all asking, "What in the world is with this talented woman?! We want more of Iris Long!!!"

    ###

 Chapter 611 - Strong Rivalry

    <h4>Chapter 611 - Strong Rivalry </h4>

    In the other executive van, Jin Chonglin¡¯s team also learned about the song¡¯s sessful rise to the top of the music charts in Singapore and the Philippines.

    "Congrats!"

    "Thanks." Jin Chonglin looked pleased before thinking of something else. "My uing song with Xin, the one I wrote, will surpass ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ in the music charts here and in those other Asian countries."

    It was a statement of pure conviction.

    "Yes, definitely!" agreed his assistants.

    "Why aren¡¯t you saying anything?" Jin Chonglin asked after noticing his manager not saying anything. "You don¡¯t believe that this prince¡¯s song will surpass Xin¡¯s ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯"?

    "Of course, I believe in you," Lin Dong replied.

    Jin Chonglin raised an eyebrow. "But?"

    "There¡¯s no but, man. Give me a break!"

    "Come on! You¡¯re my manager but we¡¯re also pals. We¡¯ve been pals for years. You can tell me whatever¡¯s bugging you."

    Lin Dong sighed. "I told you. I believe in you first and foremost. For me, you¡¯re the best superstar our country has to offer. And you haven¡¯t reached your limit yet. You still have lots of room to grow, especially on the world stage."

    Jin Chonglin smirked, pleased by his manager¡¯s words. However, he could sense that Lin Dong had more to say.

    "Just spill it."

    Lin Dong sighed again. "It¡¯s nothing, really. You don¡¯t have to concern yourself too much about it. I just think that the stars have aligned for ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ this time because it¡¯s the official theme song of a hit drama, not to mention that you¡¯re the other half of the duet. You¡¯re a superstar and already famous in other parts of Asia. I also heard that Mr. JJ signed a number of deals for localized versions of the song. Since Iris is the songwriter, her name will remain in the credits even if the song is adapted into anothernguage and sang by other foreign singers. Your name, on the other hand..."

    "What are you so worried about?" Jin Chonglin interrupted. "So what if my name won¡¯t included in the credits of the song¡¯s localized versions? Xin is the one who wrote it anyway so she deserves the full credit. At least, I¡¯ll remain as the other half of the original duet and I¡¯ll be known for that among the many international viewers who watched the non-localized version of the drama. Or are you saying that the uing duet Iposed won¡¯t reach the same level of poprity or surpass the sess of ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯?"

    "Not at all! That¡¯s not what I mean!"

    "Then what do you mean? Enlighten me."

    "No. Don¡¯t think about this anymore. It¡¯s my failure as your manager for even broaching this troublesome subject. Now you should take this time to rest a little until we arrive at the radio station. We have another long day today. Remember that you need to attend a meeting for a potential endorsement deal tonight after today¡¯s work with Iris," Lin Dong reminded.

    "Yeah, yeah. Fine! Jeez. Here I was being nice to you and attempting to deepen our friendship but you just reject this prince¡¯s kindness, you bastard," Jin Chonglin in a sarcastic yet joking manner.

    "At your service!"

    "Hmph!"

    Lin Dong and the assistants chuckled at Jin Chonglin¡¯s mock annoyance before quieting down so that he could rest.

    Jin Chonglin closed his eyes. He was supposed to rest but his mind continued thinking about what he and his manager talked about just now. Although Lin Dong didn¡¯t spell it all out aloud, Jin Chonglin had an idea of what his manager was thinking about.

    Indeed, the stars appeared as if they had aligned to make "Shining Eyes" a sess for Iris. It was the theme song of a drama based on a popr . The drama became a hit first in China, then in other countries. In addition, he sang the duet with Iris. It wasn¡¯t that he was tooting his own horn but he was also quite famous across Asia and had tons of fans in other countries. He was certain that his presence also contributed to the song¡¯s poprity. Saying all of these, however, "Shining Eyes" was truly a beautiful song. Iris created another masterpiece, a love song that would be remembered for a long time and would forever be associated to the hit drama "Our Love, Our Destiny". It was no wonder that it would be loved by many, including foreigners. With Iris¡¯ insane creativity which had astounded him on numerous asions, Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t surprised that "Shining Eyes" rose to the top of foreign music charts so quickly.

    Compared to "Shining Eyes", their next duet which he wrote wasn¡¯t associated with any hit drama. He only wrote it as a counterpart to "Shining Eyes" and also to satisfy his own ego as a fellow artist in response to Iris¡¯position. Not to mention that this song that he wrote was nned to be a single, a stand-alone without the pomp and impact of a full album.

    He already knew all about these since the beginning and saw nothing wrong with it, but after learning that "Shining Eyes", the song that Iris wrote, was shooting its way to the top of foreign music charts, he also wanted his song to do the same. No, he wanted his song to surpass Iris¡¯, despitecking all the boosters "Shining Eyes" had.

    His hands tightened into fists as determination filled him.

    ¡¯Who am I? I¡¯m Jin Chonglin, a superstar! I¡¯ve been sessful in this industry longer than Xin¡ªIris Long. I can do it! My song can do it!¡¯

    He had many feelings regarding Iris, some of them questionable as her future brother-inw, but mostly he was filled with respect for her as a fellow musician. At the same time, he felt a strong rivalry with her, wishing her the best but also wanting to best her in their craft.

    Time passed and the van stopped.

    "We¡¯re here. Time to work," Lin Dong announced.

    Jin Chonglin opened his eyes and shed his killer smile. "I¡¯m ready."

    ###

 Chapter 612 - Adaptation

    <h4>Chapter 612 - Adaptation </h4>

    The next day, Orchidia Beauty made another headlines as theyunched their next line of products consisting of lotions, creams, butters and scrubs for the body. Everything sold out again in just a day. This time, it took hours, unlike their earlier record-breakingunches because thepany had once again increased their manufacturing capacity. Meaning, there were more units avable for sale than the earlierunches.

    Orchidia Beauty products were selling like hot cakes. It was the most coveted brand of skincare products right now in the country. Quite an impressive feat given that it had only been a few weeks since Orchidia Beautyunched with record-breaking sales and shocking many people. At this rate, thepany would soon breachthe top 10 beauty brands in the country, bing the first domestic brand to do so among the foreignpanies dominating the rankings for many years.

    The demand for Orchidia Beauty products were so high and the supply not enough that there were already counterfeit products appearing in shady markets. Fortunately, Orchidia Beauty reacted swiftly by releasing a video onlineparing the quality of the counterfeit products to the real ones. Various clips of scientific experts from across the country and abroad, most of them from distinguished educational and research institutions, were included in the video to provide concrete evidence that using the low-quality, counterfeit products were dangerous because some of the ingredients were made from toxic chemicals.

    One such expert who made an appearance in the video was Theresa Blipsburg, a biomedical engineering major and chemical engineering minor who was already making waves in the world¡¯s medical field. What impressed the people the most was the fact that she was introduced as a Cross Academy student. A certified genius!

    Although this didn¡¯tpletely stop the counterfeit products from being sold, at least the video consisting of various reputable scientific experts deterred most of the consumers from buying the fake goods. When someone from Cross Academy, the legendary school of geniuses, said that the counterfeit Orchidia Beauty products were dangerous and toxic, they believed it! Only the desperate ones still risked it and bought the counterfeit products despite the warnings.

    Orchidia Beauty also released a statement saying that they were cooperating with authorities in order tobat the spread of the counterfeit products. However, everyone knew that something like this wouldn¡¯t be easy to eradicatepletely.

    Chen Fei, as the COO, was the one who was in charge of executing all of these. However, everything went through Iris first and received her approval. It was also through her connection with Cross Academy that she was able to invite so many respected scientific experts to make an appearance for Orchidia Beauty¡¯s video. Although in reality, it was all thanks to Theresa Blipsburg that the scientific experts epted Orchidia Beauty¡¯s invitation to appear in their video. When they learned that a Cross Academy student epted the offer, they all followed suit.

    Who were they? If one of the genius students of Cross Academy could appear in the video, why should they act high and mighty and refuse to do the same? Of course, they would also ept the offer. After all, this was an opportunity to appear alongside someone from Cross Academy even if it was just through a video. This would be a great opportunity for them to be associated with a Cross Academy student and earn them special bragging rights.

    Iris was on the phone speaking to Clover while on the way to a meeting with Jin Chonglin for their next workmitment. Tang Yiyi would be meeting them there after she was finished apanying another young artist she was managing.

    Clover was giving real-time reports of what was happening in Orchidia Beauty. Chen Fei, Long Jinjing and the Bauer siblings were busy with their own tasks at the moment, so Iris opted to wait untilter before speaking to them.

    "Thank you, Clover. Your reports are thorough as usual," Iris said.

    "Fufufu. No problem, President Long. This is my job and I love it," Clover replied with a cute chuckle.

    Iris nodded, pleased by Clover¡¯s words. "You should start easing off from being my executive assistant in thepany soon and instead finish your preparations for your new post. Are you ready for your trip to France? You¡¯ll be staying there for quite a while so make sure that you have everything ironed out before you leave."

    "Don¡¯t worry, boss¡ªI mean, President Long! Everything is¡ªhuh?"

    Dom burst into tears. "Wuwuwuwu!!!"

    "Huh? Is my big bro crying again?" Clover asked.

    Iris sighed and smiled at the same time while patting Dom¡¯s back. Then she handed him the phone so that the siblings could talk to each other.

    "You just came to China and now you¡¯re leaving! Wuwuwu! Remember not to be duped by any Frenchmen, no matter how romantic and handsome they are! You should always be on your guard and protect your innocence or else our dragon mother"¡ªcough cough¡ª"I mean, our Momsy will erupt like an angry volcano and spread terror to all of us! You be careful in France, okay? But if you find an awesome Frenchman or European guy that you think will give you a happily ever after, go for it, sis! Oh, and make sure to find me someone, too! Wuwuwuwu! I¡¯m gonna miss you so much!"

    With her great hearing, Iris could tell that Clover had also began sobbing like her brother. The siblings began talking in Tagalog, the Filipinonguage. Iris eavesdropped on their conversation, intending to test how much she could understand. The result was that she was able to understand the gist of the conversation but not everything. Dom and Clover taught her a little bit of thenguage but if she wanted to improve her Tagalog skills to a higher level, then she needed to work harder in studying it.

    "Oh, I just remembered something Meimei told me," Clover said all of a sudden, speaking in Mandarin again. "She says that there are ns about making a live-action adaptation of her webtoon but nothing is finalized yet."

    ###

 Chapter 613 - International Expansion

    <h4>Chapter 613 - International Expansion </h4>

    Iris looked surprised and then happy for their friend. "That¡¯s great! I hope that the n goes through and her webtoon will have a live-action adaptation."

    "Wow! Meimei is super-duper awesome! She¡¯s a famous webtoon artist now. My fabulous self is so proud of her! Go, Twin Sis!" Dom eximed, his eyes and nose still red and swollen from his crying session with Clover.

    They wanted to call Meimei but she should still be absorbed in working on her webtoon. Meimei had be insanely busier ever since her webtoon, "Queen of the Shadows", became one of the most popr webtoons this year. Reaching the top rankings was difficult, but maintaining it was even harder. She may have struck it rich, but she had to continue working hard on a constant basis which made her look like a zombie with each passing day.

    Meimei might look like she had died and been revived numerous times from working so hard, but Iris and their other friends could see how happy she was living her dream as a webtoon artist. Although they were all concerned about her health, they couldn¡¯t bear to stop her from doing what she loved. As long as she maintained the bare minimum of staying healthy, then they wouldn¡¯t interfere in the career that she chose for herself.

    After talking about Meimei for a few more minutes, Iris once again reminded Clover to focus on finishing her preparations for her uing trip to France before finally ending the phone call.

    Clover was smart, skilled, and hardworking like her brother Dom. Most importantly, both siblings were loyal to Iris. Clover had grown so much in the short period of time that she came from the Philippines to work as Iris¡¯ executive assistant at Orchidia Beauty. Iris had been thinking of promoting her and the time hade.

    She decided to give Clover an important mission¡ªto take the lead in reviving the old French perfumery, formerly known as Sang Bleu, now renamed Libert¨¦. Clover had to stay in France for a while to learn everything about the perfumery and this particr industry. It would be challenging but Iris believed in Clover. In short, Iris appointed Clover Chua as the COO of Libert¨¦, which would be a subsidiarypany under Orchidia Beauty.

    It wasn¡¯t only Clover. Iris also gave Alona Bauer an important mission. Alona would be returning to Germany around the same time Clover would go to France in order to spearhead their ns of expanding Orchidia Beauty in Europe.

    When Iris first dropped her idea, both Chen Fei and Long Jinjing tried to dissuade her, telling her that it was too early to think about expanding internationally.

    "We should focus on growing here in the country first and stabilizing our position," Chen Fei said. "We¡¯ve only justunched! And now you¡¯re thinking about expanding in Europe? What the hell¡ª What in the world are you thinking about? Are you crazy?! Yes, you¡¯re crazy!"

    "Little Sister¡ªI mean, President Long. Although my financial forecast for our first year¡¯s profits are extremely positive, I don¡¯t rmend using that for international expansion at this time," Long Jinjing said. "Of course, I also want Orchidia Beauty to expand outside China but I don¡¯t think this is the right time. It¡¯s too early. I agree with Xiao Fei¡ªI mean, with COO Chen. It¡¯s better for us to use our profits in developing ourpany in our own country first for the next two to five years at the least before thinking of expanding thepany internationally."

    The two tried hard dissuading Iris but she was adamant in her decision.

    "Don¡¯t worry. We won¡¯t touch ourpany profits. I¡¯ll use my own money to fund the European expansion. Treat it as just another one of my investments," she assured them in a nonchnt manner.

    "Rich bitch," Chen Fei muttered under her breath.

    Long Jinjing shot a warning look at her best friend, silently telling her that Iris was the head of theirpany.

    Iris didn¡¯t mind. Chen Fei knew when to act professional. She would only use her foul mouth when they were alone and speaking as friends, not as colleagues. Besides, Iris preferred people who would say their real feelings to her face rather than talk about her behind her back. It was easier to deal with honest people than two-faced ones.

    In the end, Chen Fei and Long Jinjing could only give in to Iris¡¯ headstrong decision after beingforted by her assurance that she wouldn¡¯t touch Orchidia Beauty¡¯s current profits for her crazy n. Their logic told them that Iris would just be throwing her money down the drain, but for some reason, they believed deep inside that her insanity would somehow seed against all odds. After all, she already had history of triumphing beyond everyone else¡¯s expectations ever since she woke up from her one-yeara.

    As for Iris, she wasn¡¯t just being impatient. There was an important reason why she felt confident in her n of expanding Orchidia Beauty in Europe. It was because both herpanies, Orchidia Beauty and Monkey, had sessfully been approved as members of Cross Academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork recently.

    Orchidia Beauty was approved almost immediately after its record-breakingunch, selling out everything in five seconds. On the other hand, it took quite some time for Monkey to receive approvalpared to Orchidia Beauty because it took longer for the gamingpany to reach the required profit threshold. It wasn¡¯t that Monkey failed to earn immediately. On the contrary, it was raking earnings that would make many start-up gamingpanies vomit blood in extreme envy, especially now that "Supreme Ascension" was taking the Chinese gaming industry by storm.

    Despite the huge earnings, it was only recently that Monkey managed to break even. The amount Iris and thepany invested in advance technologies, like the one they bought from Iris¡¯ fellow Cross Academy student Michael Exlorsson, was staggering. In short, Monkey only started really making significant profits now.

    From Iris¡¯ perspective, the time it took for Monkey to profit was long, but in actuality, it only took a few months. If other businesspeople heard her thoughts, they would curse her without a doubt. Monkey¡¯s progress was actually extremely fast. If it were any other normal start-up gamingpanies, it would take them years to break even if they invested the same amount in advance technologies like what Monkey did.

    Now that both Orchidia Beauty and Monkey were members of Cross Academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork, Iris now had direct ess to various benefits unimaginable to the average businesspeople. Although not a guarantee of absolute sess, the academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork would make it easier and lower the risks for herpanies to expand internationally even at this very early stage.

    In fact, she already received investment offers from a few Cross Academy alumni who were some of the world¡¯s most sessful businesspeople as soon as herpanies were approved as members. Iris was in no hurry of selling shares of herpanies at this time, but the interest from all those impressive businesspeople gave her the confidence to push her ns of expanding herpanies internationally into motion as soon as possible.

    ###

 Chapter 614 - QuenChapter The Blazing Fire

    <h4>Chapter 614 - QuenChapter The zing Fire </h4>

    Iris finally received an "all clear" from her doctor, dering her healthy enough to resume all of her normal activities after suffering injuries in the bomb incident. Now she could once again work as much as she wanted. And most importantly, she could make love with Jin Liwei again. Finally!

    He had been so concerned about aggravating her injuries that he didn¡¯t make love with her, frustrating her so much that it almost caused a big fight between them. She had been on the verge of storming off the mansion and moving back to the penthouse to live with Wei Lan instead due to her frustration. Fortunately, Jin Liwei managed to sweet-talk her, ease her bad temper, and redirect her restless energy to her showbiz work instead of focusing on her unspent libido.

    She missed him so much that she would sometimes uncharacteristically wake up from her usual deep slumber to grope him in the dark while they were in bed in the middle of the night. He would always respond, of course, making her so excited and needy...until he realized what was happening and regain his wits. Then he would stop just when everything was hot and exciting.

    To ease her frustration, he would go down on her, spread her legs wide open and eat her with his mouth and fingers until she shook and cried out in ecstasy. Despite this, she still didn¡¯t feelpletely satisfied.

    She wanted more, but he refused to do more.

    No matter how much she asked him¡ªbegged, even¡ªhe controlled himself like a monk. She wanted, no, she needed him to make love with her energetically, firmly, vigorously, thoroughly, with everything he had like how he always did before.

    But Jin Liwei would always prioritize her health, safety and well-being no matter what. Without the doctor¡¯s assurance, he wouldn¡¯t dare fully touch her for fear of hurting her because he was certain that he would lose control if he allowed himself to give in to his desire for her.

    Iris was frustrated but he was also frustrated. She knew that it was taking all of his self-control and discipline not to jump her, tear off her clothes, and take her like a wild beast on the floor every time she tried seducing him.

    Fortunately, their mutual frustration would end today. She would make sure of it.

    After working early in the morning, Iris headed to Jin Corporation to personally deliver lunch to Jin Liwei. This would be the first time she would set foot in hispany in broad daylight. She had sneaked in a few times before at night with the assistance of Diao Yijue and Gu Chang to install the new security system she created after Jin Corporation was attacked by the hacker Eagle.

    Jin Liwei had expressed his desire to show her his workce a few times before but never forced her toe. She always wanted to openly visit but didn¡¯t want to disrupt business operations and cause unnecessary disturbance because of her presence.

    The media would certainly catch wind of her visit because Jin Corporation was such a hugepany and housed so many employees on a daily basis. If she didn¡¯t sneak in, everyone was bound to know of her visit.

    But she didn¡¯t want to sneak in. Not today. This was her future husband¡¯spany. Why should she sneak in?

    Filled with anticipation, she rushed to Jin Corporation as soon as she was done with work that morning. She was in such a hurry that she almost forgot to bring lunch. Good thing that Dom remembered and they were able to pick up the lunch the chef prepared from the mansion.

    Little Jun saw them and wanted to tag along, too. Iris almost gave in when her cute godson started crying but steeled her heart this time because what she nned on doing with Little Jun¡¯s papa was inappropriate for a kid to see.

    "Junjun go with Mama? Pwease!" the little guy begged her, looking pitiful and adorable at the same time with his puppy eyes.

    Iris struggled finding a random excuse while trying tofort her godson. Her eyes fell on the dark clouds covering the grey sky outside the windows. "Sorry, Little Jun. The weather is not good today. It¡¯s going to rain. It¡¯s cold outside and you might get sick if youe with us, so stay at home today, okay? We¡¯ll be backter."

    Fortunately, Little Jun was a good boy and was soon distracted by his cat cousins, Ice Cream and Popcorn. Iris and Dom were able to escape and rush to Jin Corporation.

    Later, two ck cars sandwiched an executive van and stopped directly in front of Jin Corporation¡¯s main entrance. The weather worsened, cold and drizzling. There was a chill in the air that felt like it would seep into one¡¯s bones whenever the wind blew by.

    Normal people wouldn¡¯t want to venture outside in this kind of terrible weather unless it was absolutely necessary but a certain woman was burning with a zing fire deep within herself that needed to be quenched no matter what as soon as possible. She needed to see her man¡ªRIGHT NOW¡ªso the terrible weather could go fuck itself. As if something like the weather could stop her when she had already made up her mind.

    The doors of the two ck cars opened and men in ck suits poured out holdingrge, ck umbres. They moved in unison to surround the executive van and nodded at their colleagues who came out of thepany building to wee them.

    This impressive sight caught the attention of both thepany employees and passersby. They craned their necks and wondered who in the world wasing to be treated with such extreme importance.

    Finally, they got the answer. The van¡¯s door opened and a high-heeled leather boot stepped on the ground followed by the graceful figure of a familiar beautiful young woman.

    Silence for a couple of seconds.

    Then gasps all around. Eyes popped out and jaws fell down.

    "Kyaaaaaaah! It¡¯s Iris Long! Boss Iris hase!"

    ###

 Chapter 615 - Grumpy Lion And His Lioness Wife

    <h4>Chapter 615 - Grumpy Lion And His Lioness Wife </h4>

    As soon as someone shouted Iris Long¡¯s name, a great crowd descended from inside thepany building. Most of them forgot to wear their coats before running outside in excitement. They immediately shivered like pitiful wet dogs, suffering the cold wind which continued to bully them. Despite this, they still refused to return to the warmth inside and instead insisted on being the first ones toy their eyes on the future Mrs. Jin Liwei for her first visit at Jin Corporation.

    Thepany chat instantly became active with the news of Iris Long¡¯s arrival. Snapshots of her congested the chat channels with excited captions andmentaries from normally professional employees. The ck Stars among them revealed their true colours to their colleagues as they descended into squealing fangirls and fanboys (and fangays, too!).

    Those who were in the upper floors made they way down to the main floor in a hurry, rendering the elevators useless which reached full capacity in an instant, stopping at every floor. The impatient ones decided to run down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevators despite the hellish number of floors they needed to descend before reaching the main floor.

    Not even a minute had passed but the news about Iris Long¡¯s arrival somehow leaked outside Jin Corporation. There were people on the streets trying to breach thepany gates, even resorting to begging the security guards in tears, just to see her. It was unfortunate to them that they weren¡¯t allowed to step inside thepany property even if they started crying tears of blood because Jin Coporation was the number onepany in the country, and therefore, its security was stricter than averagepanies.

    Back at the main entrance, Iris was taken aback by the overwhelming wee. She was certain that these people didn¡¯t know in advance that she would being today. In fact, she also didn¡¯t know that she would be visiting Jin Corporation today until receiving an "all clear" health pronouncement from her doctor earlier that morning. Hearing the people calling her "Boss Iris", she knew that most of them were her beloved fans, the ck Stars, who always supported her through thick and thin no matter how many times the various detractors tried discrediting her for one reason or another.

    "I love you so much, Boss Iris!"

    "Wee to Jin Corporation, Boss Iris!!"

    "Please marry the President ASAP and give birth to lots of beautiful babies!!!"

    "Pft!" Domughed after hearing what they were shouting. "Ehehehe. Boss, everyone wants you and sir boss to make babies soon."

    In a good mood, Iris chuckled before covering her mouth to respond to Dom so that the people couldn¡¯t read her lips and know what she was saying. "We¡¯re not in a hurry. We¡¯re still practicing the baby-making process."

    "Ehehe¡ª" COUGH! COUGH!Dom almost choked on his own startledughter.

    Iris chuckled louder, the sound making the surrounding people sigh in appreciation, including the bodyguards protecting her. No matter if she was singing, talking orughing, her voice always sounded like heaven to the ears. How could such a woman like her exist in the world?

    Many were saying that she was lucky to catch the attention of a multibillionaire businessman like Jin Liwei and receive a marriage proposal from him, but to the ck Stars, he was the one who was lucky. She was young, beautiful, multitalented, extraordinary and had many years ahead of her to grow into someone even more exceptional than she already was. In their minds, it was Jin Liwei who was getting a bargain. If he wasn¡¯t rich, powerful, tall, handsome (and scary), they would¡¯ve probably started hating him for snatching their Boss Iris and locking her in marriage when she was still so young. Indeed, Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t the President-CEO of the number onepany in the country for nothing. He already pounced and sank his teeth on the juiciest prize, refusing to let go even once, before thepetition could even make a move and realize what they were missing.

    The crowd followed as the bodyguards led Iris and Dom inside the warm lobby. Once inside the building, the people seemed to remember that they were proud employees of the country¡¯s number onepany. They were able to regain control of themselves from acting like embarrassing teenage fans...barely.

    "Miss Long, wee to Jin Corporation," Xu Tian, who was waiting by the lobby, greeted her. The crowd maintained a respectful distance around him, knowing that he was their president¡¯s right-hand man. "The President is waiting for you in his office. Please follow me."

    Iris and Dom greeted Xu Tian and followed him to the private elevator reserved for thepany¡¯s executives. The normal elevators wouldn¡¯t work for their group at this time anyway because people were still scrambling to use them from every floor in order to get a glimpse of Iris.

    "Mommy, Daddy is asking where you are right now. He already asked Ketchup this question for a total of...29 times. Ketchup told Daddy that Mommy is already in the elevator and will arrive in his office shortly, so he should rx and stop pacing around like an impatient and grumpy lion waiting for his lioness wife to return to their den from her hunting escapade. Meow~" Ketchup¡¯s adorable voice spoke inside the elevator all of a sudden.

    "Pft!" Domughed hard at Ketchup¡¯s descriptive words.

    Iris was also amused. "Where did you learn that analogy?"

    "From Uncle Dom, of course! Ehehehe. Meow~"

    Iris gave her assistant a side-eye. Dom tried containing hisughter and wondered if he was in trouble.

    As for the others, Xu Tian and the bodyguards didn¡¯t bat an eye, acting as if hearing a child¡¯s voice speaking from out of nowhere without any warning was the most natural thing in the world. They were already used to the mysterious AI who their employers treated like their own child. Although they had no idea about Ketchup¡¯s true origins, it wasn¡¯t their business to delve too deeply into their employers¡¯ secrets.

    Ding!

    The elevator door opened at the top floor.

    ###

 Chapter 616 - Intruder Aler

    <h4>Chapter 616 - Intruder Aler </h4>

    "I¡¯m here," Iris announced after Xu Tian led them to Jin Liwei¡¯s massive office.

    Jin Liwei strode towards them, his eyes only looking at his baby girl and no one else, as if she was the only person in the world with him at that moment. Ignoring the presence of others, he enveloped her in his arms, lifted her up until her boots left the floor, and then kissed her on the mouth in front of everyone. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she melted into his hot, weing kiss.

    "Kyaaaaah!"

    Dom squealed and fanned himself dramatically with his hands. As someone who had witnessed the couple¡¯s love story since the beginning, he already watched all kinds of lovey-dovey scenes between the two but he still reacted like an excited fangirl whenever they shamelessly exhibited their public disys of affection.

    Unlike Dom, the others averted their eyes and looked somewhere else. Xu Tian cleared his throat without disturbing the couple before gesturing to the bodyguards to start arranging the lunch they brought from the mansion on the table inside the office. They immediately went to work, their movements swift and silent.

    "Intruder! Intruder alert! An unwee presence has been detected! Mreow!"

    The bodyguards mobilized into new positions in just a couple of seconds, prioritizing the protection of Iris and Jin Liwei. Their hands held their weapons, ready to fire if needed.

    Jin Liwei grabbed Iris and ced her behind him, while Dom squeaked before hiding behind Xu Tian and clutching at the man¡¯s tailored business suit.

    "Who is it?" Jin Liwei asked Ketchup.

    "The intruder is...Rose Young, CMO of Jin Corporation, that hoochie who wants to steal my daddy from my mommy and is always looking at Daddy like she wants to lick him from head to toe. Eeew! Yuck! Blegh! Meow!"

    Iris frowned while Jin Liwei scowled.

    Dom raised both his hands up in the air and told the couple, "I wasn¡¯t the one who taught Ketchup the word ¡¯hoochie¡¯. I swear it wasn¡¯t me!"

    "Of course, it wasn¡¯t you. Silly Uncle Dom! I learned it from Auntie Clover. Ehehehe. Meow~ Oh, by the way, that hoochie isn¡¯t alone. The other executives, all respectable humans and not hoochies, are alsoing. They¡¯re in the elevator right now and will reach the office in...18 seconds. Meow~"

    Xu Tian sighed and told the bodyguards, "There is no danger. Lower your weapons." Then he spoke at a random corner, "Young Miss Ketchup, please refrain from giving false rms like this and also please be careful not to call CMO Young a...hoochie"¡ªcough cough¡ª"or simr derogatory remarks especially while inside thepany. Regardless of her motives, she is still an important executive in Jin Corporation."

    "Aaaaw. Don¡¯t be so uptight, Tiantian, or you¡¯ll never get a girlfriend. Meow~"

    Xu Tian inhaled a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to control himself.

    "Ketchup!" Jin Liwei barked.

    "Eeek! Sorry, Daddy! Ketchup will behave now! Please don¡¯t ground me. Meow...."

    Iris held Jin Liwei¡¯s arm, silentlymunicating to him not to be too hard on Ketchup. The cat AI wasn¡¯t really doing any harm. She was just exhibiting her yful personality which was programmed in her system by Iris. She wouldn¡¯t be Ketchup without being yful like this. Besides, the white cat had already be docile after waking up from when Iris fixed her. She would still be yful like this but wouldn¡¯t go too far and act on her impulsiveness like before...hopefully. Iris wasn¡¯t concerned about Ketchup¡¯s behaviour at all. Instead, she was concerned by something else.

    "She always looks at you like she wants to lick you from head to toe, huh..." Iris murmured.

    Jin Liwei stiffened. His expression became cold...colder than usual and very scary. "Don¡¯t worry about her. She doesn¡¯t register in my eyes," he assured his baby girl in a gruff voice.

    "Hmmm..."

    "Love¡ª"

    "The elevator will open in 3, 2, 1! Meow!"

    Ding!

    They heard the sound of footsteps from the opened door of the office, particrly from a pair of high heels which cked on the floor.

    Rose Young strutted into the huge office, the other executives following behind her as if she was their leader (which she definitely was not), andpletely ignored the many bodyguards in the room as if they didn¡¯t exist. Her eyes were only looking at Jin Liwei, never looking away from his face, as if he was the only other person in the world together with her.

    "Hello, Big Brother¡ªPresident Jin," her voice sounded too sweet and cloying that Dom wanted to gag.

    "Yeah. She¡¯s a hoochie alright," Dom muttered under his breath. His voice was too soft that only Iris heard him with her great hearing.

    Jin Liwei only made a sound in his throat, not really replying to her but also notpletely ignoring her either. He still needed to act in a certain degree of propriety to fellow executives regardless of whether he hated their guts or not. Not to mention that he and Iris needed Rose Young to stay with Jin Corporation for now in order to keep the old adage "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" until they exposed her and her family¡¯s wicked ns. This was why they had to endure her for now.

    He pulled Iris from behind him and reached for her hand, sping it with his own. His movements were showy, making sure that everyone, especially Rose Young and the other executives, could see that he was holding his future wife¡¯s hand.

    A dark expression shed in Rose Young¡¯s eyes before she smoothed it out, maintaining the smile on her face. The other executives had intrigued expressions as they began to greet Jin Liwei and wee Iris. This time, Jin Liwei gave them proper greetings and Iris chatted with them.

    Rose Young saw the lunch being set up on the table. "That smells delicious! All of us haven¡¯t eaten yet, so perhaps we could eat lunch together, if that¡¯s alright with...Miss Long?"

    ###

 Chapter 617 - Can We Censored ?

    <h4>Chapter 617 - Can We Censored ? </h4>

    "The shameless hoochie," Dom growled low in his throat. Fortunately, only Iris heard him again. She shot him a warning nce to stop him from losing his temper in front of Jin Liwei¡¯s fellow executives.

    Iris might still be dense sometimes but her EQ had grown so much from the time she woke up froma. She understood that this was a trap set by Rose Young. If she rejected Rose¡¯s request to join them for lunch, then the impression the other executives would have of her would be that of a selfish bitch who wanted to monopolize Jin Liwei¡¯s time and attention while disregarding the presence of his important work colleagues. On the other hand, if she epted Rose¡¯s request, she would appear as a kind and understanding woman who knew of her role as the President-CEO¡¯s future wife. However, she wouldn¡¯t have any time to spend alone with Jin Liwei if she did that.

    The process of weighing her decisions only took a second before she made up her mind. She opened her mouth, about to respond to Rose Young, but Jin Liwei acted faster than her.

    "I want to eat with my fianc¨¦e alone. Just the two us," he announced, tightening his hold on her hand.

    The other executivesughed and teased him for a bit. Rose Young, on the other hand, looked like she ate something sour and bitter before managing to control her expression.

    Iris rubbed her thumb against Jin Liwei¡¯s hand and gave him a soft smile. She was actually ready to reject Rose Young¡¯s request to join them for lunch regardless of the consequences of doing so. Although Iris wanted to give a positive impression of herself to Jin Liwei¡¯s colleagues, her need to spend some time alone today with him was too strong for her to disregard it. Fortunately, Jin Liwei rejected Rose Young first, taking away the pressure to respond to the request from Iris. Thus, no matter the oue, nobody could directly me Iris. Thus, Rose Young¡¯s trap was averted just like that.

    "I brought a lot of food. Please take some before leaving," Iris offered to the executives, and then shed a sweet smile to Rose Young.

    "That¡¯s very kind of you...Miss Long," Rose Young replied in an equally sweet voice.

    The two women smiled at each other. Their expressions looked very sweet but the spectators could feel the invisible, deadly sparks colliding between them. After only a few seconds, however, the victor emerged.

    Rose Young looked away, unable to handle it any longer. Frost shed in Iris¡¯ smiling expression, not the least bit smug at her victory. She thought that the silent battle between her and Rose Young was petty and was not something to be proud of. How could Rose Young win against her in this kind of petty battle? She was a former princess of the international underworld during her past life. There were only very few people in the world who could make her feel true fear and it didn¡¯t include Rose Young. Compared to the kind of people she encountered on a regr basis as Evelina Vetrova during her past life and as world-ss hacker, Rose Young was considered cute and harmless.

    As for Rose Young, her dissatisfaction was obvious despite the fake smile on her face.

    Iris ignored the woman and gestured at Dom. He understood without needing to hear her exact instructions. He went to the table and started handing out some of the boxed lunches to the executives.

    "Thank you, Miss Long."

    "Oh wow. This smells so good! Thank you!"

    A chorus of thank youster, the executives finally left. They exined that they only came to give a formal greeting to Iris after hearing of her arrival from thepany chat. Rose Young looked torn and lingered a bit longer than her colleagues before following them out of the office with great reluctance. She held the boxed lunch away from her body, as if she was holding poop instead of delicious food.

    Dom snorted. If it was up to him, he wouldn¡¯t have given her anything, or better yet, he would¡¯ve preferred if he could dump the contents of the lunch on her head. Ketchup was right. The way she looked at his sir boss was so nauseating to Dom that it was a miracle drool wasn¡¯t flowing out of her mouth.

    ¡¯That no-boobie Rafflesia arnoldii better stay away from sir boss or else I, the gorgeous Dominic Chua, will give her hell! Hmph!¡¯ Dom swore inside his mind. ¡¯Not like sir boss will ever give her the time of day. Sir boss will never choose her t chest over boss¡¯ full and shapely boobs. But it¡¯s better to be careful around hoochies like her. They¡¯re full of tricks and will do anything to seduce a fine man like sir boss. Yep! I need to remind Baby Ketchup to keep a closer eye on that hoochie just in case she tries something on sir boss.¡¯

    Dom¡¯s internal monologue was interrupted when Jin Liwei ordered everyone to leave him and his (future) wife alone. Before they could leave, Iris instructed them to take their portion of the boxed lunches. The chef at home prepared more than enough to feed all of them.

    Finally, the door to the office closed, leaving only the couple inside. Jin Liwei helped Iris out of her coat before pulling her to sit beside him instead of the seat across the table.

    "You said that you¡¯re going to tell me something, that¡¯s why you came here today," he said while serving food to her. "What is it?"

    Iris observed his big, strong yet elegant hands moving in front of her as she replied, "I had an appointment with Dr. Ching this morning. He said that I¡¯m healthy now."

    "Good." He nodded, pleased and relieved to hear the news.

    She turned to look directly at him. "Darling, I¡¯m healthy again."

    "En. You just told me."

    "So..."

    "Hm?"

    She ced her hand on his chest and gave him a smouldering look with her eyes. "Can we have sex now?"

    A piece of meat fell from the chopsticks he was holding.

    ###

 Chapter 618 - His Beloved Pair Of Treasures

    <h4>Chapter 618 - His Beloved Pair Of Treasures </h4>

    Jin Liwei froze and his lips parted as he stared at Iris. He looked at the food, then at his baby girl.

    Food.

    His baby girl.

    He was hungry¡ªno, he was famished, yet he couldn¡¯t decide right away which he wanted to devour first.

    Iris tilted her head to the side and continued to give him a smouldering look while waiting for him to respond. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t make her wait too long.

    His decision was made.

    There was nothing and nobody more important than his baby girl.

    The damn food could wait.

    He put down his chopsticks and then grabbedhis baby girl¡¯s neck before crushing his lips against hers, making her gasp. Taking advantage of her startled mouth, he stabbed his tongue inside and swirled it around, not giving her time to even reciprocate his passionate invasion.

    A moan escaped from her throat, as she closed her eyes and melted. She felt like she had turned into a puddle in his intense embrace, quickly boiling into a hot spring, and eventually into a raging inferno which couldn¡¯t wait to release all of its heat into a glorious explosion of ecstasy. Every time his tongue rubbed against hers, it made her shiver in delight.

    "Liwei," she whimpered, her voice muffled by his vigorous kissing.

    Not breaking their kiss, he pulled her to sit on hisp, making her gasp once again as her core pressed directly on top of his erection. Then his hands began roaming all over her body, rubbing and squeezing. It felt as if tongues of fire were burning her, making her feel so hot that it was almost unbearable, wherever hisrge and hard hands touched her body. His hands slid down to her plump and shapely butt and squeezed each cheek hard.

    "Ah!"

    Iris pulled away from the kiss due to the pain, yet didn¡¯tin because it also felt oh so delicious, especially when he began massaging them afterwards. His big hands continued their ministrations on her rear while he watched her expression with such intensity that Iris felt her core getting hotter and wetter by the second. Her body started moving on its own, rubbing herself on top of his hard length.

    He groaned and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of their bodies rubbingdespite still being fully-clothed. His hips also started undting a little in time with her movements. Giving her plump rear cheeks another squeeze with each hand, he then grasped her hips and began changing the rhythm into something faster and firmer.

    "Oh..." Her head fell forward, pressing her cheek against his temple while enjoying the pleasurable sensations caused by their lewd movements.

    He turned his head and kissed her chin. The action was very gentle, a direct contrast to the tyrannical control he wielded over the movement of her hips on top of his bulging erection.

    Iris leaned back a little and looked at him with heavy-lidded eyes. She began loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt. Her hands trembled but she persisted until the hard nes of his chest were exposed for her hungry eyes to enjoy. Then she slipped her hands inside his shirt and fondled his muscles, flicking a finger over each of his nipples and making him shiver. The corner of her lips lifted into a soft, erotic smile, pleased by his reaction to her touches. Her hands slid downwards and traced each pack of his well-defined, rock-hard abs. They contracted and trembled under her fingers.

    Jin Liwei caught her hands when they reached his belt buckle. "My turn," he growled.

    He lifted the hem of her long-sleeved, turtleneck knitted dress which fitted her like a glove. She was wearing ck leggings underneath, the high waistband covering her t stomach. Pretty soon, her ample breasts appeared covered in a delicate,ce bra. The sight immediately distracted Jin Liwei. He leaned forward to give the top of her breasts peeking out above the bra cups some loving licks and wet kisses.

    Iris chuckled at his actions before gently pushing him away so that she couldpletely take off her dress. She tossed it to the floor once it was off, and then wrapped her arms around his neck, intending to continue where they left off.

    But all of a sudden, Jin Liwei¡¯s erotic expression hardened and his body stiffened. Iris followed his ring eyes and realized that he was looking at the scars marring her neck and shoulder. He saw them everyday but would still act this way each time, like he wanted to murder someone for hurting her.

    The scar on her neck was now very faint. She expected for it to disappear in maybe a couple more weeks. Maybe sooner. The one on her shoulder, however, was bigger and deeper. Some parts were already starting to fade but she doubted that it wouldpletely disappear unless a stic surgeon fixed it. She didn¡¯t really mind the scar, to be honest, but the same couldn¡¯t be said for Jin Liwei.

    She caressed his face. "They don¡¯t hurt anymore. Don¡¯t worry, okay?"

    His arms wrapped around her waist, hugging her closer to him. Then he traced light kisses over the big scar on her shoulder. "I¡¯ll always worry about you."

    A soft sigh escaped from her lips followed by a helpless yet loving smile. She wanted to say "thank you" to him but decided not to because it might ruin the sweet moment.

    They remained in that sweet moment, just savouring each other¡¯s presence, and appreciating the fact that they were together. Their earlier intensity mellowed into a sensual warmth instead. It was so nice that Iris felt like maybe it wasn¡¯t too bad at all if they could just spend the entire time cuddling. She came to his office for sex but this too was not bad. Perhaps...

    However, Jin Liwei had other ideas, especially when her breasts bumped against his face. He was once again distracted by the full and shapely mounds, so he unhooked the bra sps in order to release them as soon as possible.

    His favourite breasts, his beloved pair of treasures.

    ###

 Chapter 619 - Fantasy

    <h4>Chapter 619 - Fantasy </h4>

    Jin Liwei was extremely pleased at the way his beloved treasures jiggled in front of his face once they were freed. He held one in each palm and began kneading and bouncing them. His thumbs flicked the hard nipples, making his baby girl gasp. Encouraged, he lightly pinched her nipples. This time, his actions earned a deep moan from her.

    He smirked as he watched the expressions of pleasure ying on his woman¡¯s face. In his eyes, she became even more beautiful and sexier with every sensual gasps and moans escaping from her luscious lips. He felt smug that he was the one who was making her like this and seeing all these erotic expressions on her face.

    There was nobody else allowed to see her in this state.

    Only him.

    Her man, her lover, her future husband and partner in life.

    Leaning forward, he captured a nipple with his mouth, first swirling his tongue around it and then sucking hard.

    "Ah! Liwei..." Iris threw her head back and closed her eyes while grabbing a fistful of his hair.

    She was always so responsive to his ministrations and he loved that! He opened his mouth wider and tried taking more of her breast inside his mouth. He felt her push her chest harder against his face, as if doing so could fit more breast inside his already full mouth. Regardless of whether he was able to or not, he still did his best.

    Iris shuddered from the pleasure he was giving her. She held on to him, letting him take his time to make love with her breasts. She knew how much he enjoyed doing it. However, she finally grew impatient especially after remembering that they only had a limited time before both of them needed to return to their respective works after lunch.

    "Liwei, please stop. I need you right now," she whispered while moaning before trying to push his head away.

    He didn¡¯t budge. She wasn¡¯t even sure if he heard her or felt her pushing him away. All of his focus was on her breasts, as if he had already forgotten that there was still the rest of her attached to them. She didn¡¯t know whether to cry orugh.

    "Liwei!"

    She grabbed his hair and pulled hard to get his attention.

    "Ow!" The pain finally wrenched him away from his blissful frolicking with his baby girl¡¯s amazing breasts. "Huh? What happened? Why did you pull my hair? Did I hurt you? I¡¯m sorry, love."

    A giggle burst from her lips. She was the one who hurt him by pulling his hair, yet he was the one apologizing because he thought that he hurt her? The giggle was soon followed by a helpless sigh. This was what happened when he was too focused on her breasts. He would lose awareness of his surroundings and just be preupied by her breasts. Not that she wasining. She would rather that he preupied himself with her breasts and not others¡¯.

    "No, darling. You didn¡¯t hurt me." She massaged the part of his head where she pulled his hair. "I¡¯m the one who hurt you. Sorry."

    "It¡¯s okay," he replied. Then his eyes returned to her breasts.

    He was about to enjoy sucking them again when Iris pushed him back. "Enough, Liwei," she said, giggling. "We don¡¯t have much time. I want you to make love not just with my breasts but with the whole me before I need to leave and go back to work."

    His expression indicated that he only just remembered that indeed they didn¡¯t have much time. He groaned.

    "Dammit! I want to make love with you thoroughly today."

    "Me, too. But we can¡¯t right now. Liwei, please. I really need you now."

    He sighed, regretting that she had to leave soon. He was tempted to persuade her to cancel her work after lunch time but restrained himself. His baby girl was very professional and had a great work ethic. It wouldn¡¯t be right for him to influence her to break her professionalism and work ethics just because he wanted to thoroughly ravish her. Besides, he was also insanely busy today. In fact, he had an important meeting scheduled with a CEO of anotherpany this afternoon.

    But if forced to make a choice between that CEO and his baby girl...was there even a need for him to choose? He would cancel the important meeting at the drop of a hat anytime just to be with his baby girl. However, he knew that she would feel bad if she learned that he did that for her.

    Not wanting to waste any more time, Jin Liwei held her close, grabbed her butt, and then stood up while carrying her. Iris wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked her arms around his shoulders like a ko.

    "The bedroom?" she asked, knowing that he had an office bedroom even though she had never actually set foot in his office. She had only sneaked into thepany¡¯s server room before to install the new security system.

    "Not today. Maybe next time."

    Instead, he brought her to his massive desk,ying her back on the smooth, cold surface. She shivered a little but quickly heated up again when he started kissing her, thrusting his tongue deep inside her mouth. His hands also started roaming all over her body, squeezing here and there, making her burn up until she was feverish with desire.

    Taking her on his desk had been one of his longest fantasies about her even before he tricked her into bing his girlfriend way back then. Now that this fantasy wasing to reality today, his breathing sped up and his heartbeat raced in excitement.

    His fingers hooked on the waistband of her leggings and began tugging them down her hips. That was until he realized that her knee-high leather boots needed to be removed first. The problem was that they were the type of boots that had long shoces crisscrossing a hundred times. It would take forever to remove them.

    "I¡¯m gonna burn these damn boots," he growled in irritation.

    ###

 Chapter 620 - Dom To The Rescue

    <h4>Chapter 620 - Dom To The Rescue </h4>

    A weak chuckle escaped from Iris¡¯ lips. "Feel free," she said in a husky voice, agreeing with Jin Liwei before sighing. "I wore these boots not knowing that I¡¯ll receive good news from my doctor this morning and that I would be rushing here to your office during lunch time to seduce you."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s annoyance about her damn boots disappeared, his eyes darkening as desire for her returned in full force when he heard that her main purpose for visiting him in his office for the first time was to seduce him. "Forget about the boots. I can still take you with them on. Are you ready?"

    "Oh, yes."

    Great anticipation made her feel giddy. She touched the bulge underneath his trousers and was about to unbuckle his belt when he caught her hands before she could do so.

    "I want to take you inside my mouth."

    "I want that, too, but we don¡¯t have time right now. I¡¯d rather spend our limited time buried inside you," he whispered into her ear, making her shiver.

    "Okay."

    He leaned forward and kissed her hard and fast, sucking her bottom lip before pulling her off his desk until her feet touched the floor once again and they were standing in front of each other. Then he turned her around to face the desk, reaching from behind her to cover her breasts with his big hands.

    She moaned as he massaged her full, soft mounds while trailing wet kisses on her shoulder and neck. Then he bent her forward over his desk and pulled down her leggings, including her panties, until they bunched around her midthighs. While pressing a firm hand on her back to keep her still, his other hand touched her hot and wet core.

    "Ah!" She closed her eyes tightly and shuddered, biting her lips, as if electrified by his touch.

    He rubbed her, making her even wetter. Soon, his hand glistened with her juices. Then he inserted a finger inside her, moving it in and out.

    "Liwei, please..."

    He inserted another finger and slightly increased the tempo.

    "Oh..." She dropped her upper body on the desk with a deep groan. Her feverish body temperature heated up the cold surface in an instant.

    Then he stopped.

    Her eyes flew open. She was about toin when she heard the sound of his belt being unbuckled. Her intendedint was soon forgotten, reced by obvious excitement. Then she felt the head of his erection press against her core. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to push himself all the way inside but she heard him curse instead.

    "Shit! Condom! I forgot. Sorry, love. I almost entered you without protection. How irresponsible of me."

    "Oh."

    She had also forgotten about it. How irresponsible of her, too.

    "Hold on, love. Let me think if I have some here in my office... No, I don¡¯t think so. Dammit! Let me call our butler...no, there¡¯s no time. I¡¯ll call Xu Tian. Yes, he¡¯ll buy us a box."

    Jin Liwei was about to reach for the phone at the corner of his desk but she stopped her.

    "No need. I have..."

    His eyes lit up. "You brought condoms?"

    "Yes."

    "Where?"

    "My purse..."

    He was already walking to the sofa in the sitting area before she could even finish speaking. He didn¡¯t mind that his erection was standing freely and shamelessly over his opened trousers and waving all around with every step he took.

    Iris admired the sight, thinking that her darling was the sexiest man alive in the world. Her tongue licked her lips.

    He reached for her purse and rummaged inside, finally taking out a quartet of condoms. Then he hurried back to her.

    "You really intended to seduce me today, seeing how prepared you are bringing condoms. Nice," he praised.

    "It wasn¡¯t me. We should thank Dom."

    "Hm?"

    "It must¡¯ve been obvious to Dom what I intended to do when I announced that I wanted to visit you in your office today. I couldn¡¯t think of anything except rushing here as soon as possible. I even forgot to bring lunch but thankfully, Dom reminded me so we dropped by at the mansion first to pick up the food our chef prepared. Before leaving, he showed me the condoms and slipped them inside my purse."

    "I see." He nodded. "Make sure to give him a raise."

    "Yes, definitely."

    The conversation about Dom ended when Jin Liwei once again pressed his hand on Iris¡¯ back to bend her over his desk. Then he took one of the condoms, tore the foil, and sheathed himself. His body trembled with barely controlled excitement as he once again pressed the head of his erection over her hot and wet core.

    Finally, one of his longest fantasies about his baby girl wasing true today¡ªmaking love with her over his office desk.

    However, he decided to tease her a little bit by not entering her just yet, instead rubbing the head of his erection over her quivering folds until she was all flushed and shaking and whimpering andining about him to hurry the damn up.

    He smirked before stabbing himself deep inside her without any warning.

    "AAAAH!!!"

    Iris¡¯ hands pped around with his sudden, delicious invasion. Various documents, folders, pens and other things on the desk crashed to the floor. It sounded like something even broke, but they didn¡¯t notice, nor did they care.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t give her time to adjust before holding her hips firmly with his hands and then mming into her again and again. All she could do was curl her hands on his desk and take his hard, fast, wild and extremely intense rhythm.

    Jin Liwei had totally lost control of himself. A huge, feral grin stretched across his face as he drove his hips like a sledgehammer against her sexy behind. The lewd sounds of their lovemaking¡ªthe wet, sucking sounds; the loud, pping sounds of their skin hitting each other with every thrust; and the animal-like gasps, groans, grunts, moans and whimpers¡ªwere like music to his turned-on brain.

    ###

 Chapter 621 - Fulfilled Promise

    <h4>Chapter 621 - Fulfilled Promise </h4>

    It wasn¡¯t only Iris who suffered when they didn¡¯t make love while she was recovering from injuries after the bomb attack. Now, Jin Liwei could finally release his pent-up desire, not to mention making his office fantasy about her a reality. All of these made him extra harder and vigorous than usual.

    Iris couldn¡¯t ask for more. She wanted to cheer him on and thank him at the same time for FINALLY giving her what she needed but couldn¡¯t really speak anything that made sense due to his ultra-intense lovemaking.

    He bent forward until she felt the hard muscles of his front torso on her back. One of his hands reached to her front and found the nub of pleasure over her hot, dripping core. Then he pressed it, sending a shock of electrical currents all over her body. But he wasn¡¯t done yet. He started rubbing it like crazy until her whole body was shaking violently. Her knees buckled. She would¡¯ve already fallen if he wasn¡¯t holding her up.

    Tears flowed down her eyes as the unintelligible soundsing out of her throat became louder and more urgent.

    Jin Liwei redoubled his efforts, pounding into her harder and faster. His teeth were gritted yet the big, feral grin remained on his face. At that moment, he didn¡¯t feel like a human anymore but a wild beast who was only focused on mounting his mate.

    If another person were to hear them right now, they would¡¯ve misunderstood and thought that someone was being brutally tortured and murdered. Iris was screaming and sobbing. She would sound very rming to those who didn¡¯t know what was really happening. Fortunately, Jin Liwei¡¯s entire office was sound-proofed.

    When Iris was on the verge of reaching the peak of her pleasure, Jin Liwei stopped and pulled out of her all of a sudden. The abrupt emptiness shocked and confused Iris, like someone threw a bucket of cold water at her overheated self.Before she could make sense of the situation, he pulled her up from her bent position. Her legs felt weak so he had to hold her up to prevent her from falling.

    "Darling, what¡ª"

    He stopped her hoarse question with a fast and ruthless kiss. Instead of answering her, he lifted her up andid her on his desk. Because her leggings restricted her thighs and prevented her legs from opening wide, he turned her body on the desk so that she was lying on her side instead, and then bent her knees close to her upper body until her side-turned core was exposed to his waiting, hard length which was still glistening with her juices.

    Then once again, he plunged himself deep inside her wet heat. The new position felt tighter, eliciting a deep groan from him, and even making him almoste in that very instant. However, he controlled himself, not allowing himself toe unless his baby girl had reached her climax first.

    Iris turned her upper body to face him even as her lower body was turned to the side. Due to her extremely flexible body, she was even able to lift her torso up a little and pull his head for a kiss while he thrust himself again and again deep inside her.

    He swallowed her moaning whimpers, as he felt her insides tightening deliciously around his rod.

    Soon after, she broke their kiss and her upper body plopped back down on his desk. Her sobbing and screaming returned in full force. More items crashed to the floor as her hands swept around wildly due to her inability to control her body.

    His hand grabbed one of her breasts, his beloved treasure, and squeezed it in time his thrusts.

    Then finally, Iris¡¯ entire body tightened like a coil before she felt a glorious sea of fire wash over her, drowning her in hot pleasure, as countless mind-blowing explosions almost made her faint. It felt like she just left her body and ascended through the high heavens for a fraction of a moment before mming back into her body to experience all the pleasure Jin Liwei was pounding into her.

    "Liwei oh Liwei ooooooooh!!!"

    Jin Liwei stopped thrusting and stayed still deep inside her. His jaw tightened, as he controlled himself not to orgasm yet. His breathing came out in harsh gasps.

    "Fuck, baby. I can feel youing," he said in a strained, husky voice while enjoying her tight contractions around his hard length.

    Iris was unable to reply, her body beyond her control. She was sobbing so hard that if Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know any better, he would¡¯ve thought that she was crying in great pain.

    Nevertheless, he stillforted her. "Shh. You¡¯re okay, my love. Just let go," he murmured, caressing her tear-stained cheeks and rubbing her trembling back.

    Momentster, her climax started subsiding but before she couldpletely calm down, his gentle hands returned to being tyrannical as they grabbed hold of her lower body and he started mming into her again. This time, he gave it his all. He pounded his hips with reckless abandon and chased after his own climax.

    The fire inside her began zing once again, as she was forced to ride another orgasm which quickly built up and exploded for the second time.

    That did it.

    He stiffened and felt something akin to an internal earthquake. His control shattered when her insides began contracting around him again. A guttural sound vibrated in his throat, as intense pleasure gushed over him, and he poured his release while inside her.

    Both of them were gasping when they were done.

    Jin Liwei gave a loving kiss on her mouth. His lips curled into a smug smile, extremely pleased of himself for making his baby girl scream at the top of her lungs. He had fulfilled his promise back when she was still injured¡ªto make her scream while he made love with her.

    He wanted to stay inside her longer, but he needed to pull out soon or else his semen might start leaking inside her. Sighing, he pulled out with great reluctance...and froze.

    Then he cursed.

    ###

 Chapter 622 - What If

    <h4>Chapter 622 - What If </h4>

    Iris opened her eyes and looked at him with heavy-lidded eyes. "What¡¯s wrong?" she asked after hearing him curse.

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t answer at first. He was looking at something below him in disbelief.

    Why was he acting like that? Now she started to feel worried. "Darling?"

    He took a deep breath before answering her. "The condom broke. I might have gotten you pregnant today."

    Now it was her turn to freeze.

    His jaw tightened after seeing her reaction. "Sorry, love. I know that you¡¯re not ready yet but if I really made you pregnant today, we have no choice but to make adjustments to our initial ns. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of everything."

    She was too shocked to reply.

    Something painful started twisting inside his chest. Why wasn¡¯t she saying anything? Did she hate the idea of getting pregnant with his child so much? He took another deep breath to calm himself and try to understand what she must be feeling now. He removed the torn condom from his nowid member, and then started talking to fill the ufortable silence.

    "I should¡¯ve known. This is a different brand from what we normally use. The ones we use are made of the highest quality materials and are known for their extreme durability. I never have to worry about getting rough and intense with you while using them. But this condom...Dominic must have bought it from a regr store."

    Iris remained silent, causing him to be filled with anxiety. The pain in his chest became heavier. His hold on her hand tightened.

    "Do you regret it?" he asked her. "Because I don¡¯t. You bing pregnant with my child will make me the happiest man in the world. I want to marry you, build a family with you, raise our children together, and live the rest of our lives in happiness. I¡¯m sorry that I wasn¡¯t careful today and that I may have ruined our nicelyid-out ns for our future, especially since this might cause a pause to your career and studies. But I want you to know that I don¡¯t regret it if I really did make you pregnant today."

    She looked at him with emotion-filled eyes but otherwise maintained her silence.

    "Xin, love, please say something," he begged her, his tone filled with anxious urgency...and pain. "Do you really hate the thought of being pregnant with my child?!"

    "No!" she finally spoke. "Please don¡¯t think that."

    She sat up and pulled him in an embrace. Her chest felt tight seeing that he was hurt. He tried hiding it but she could see it in his eyes. How careless of her! She didn¡¯t realize that her reaction would hurt him.

    His arms wrapped around her, hugging her closer. He rested his head on her shoulder.

    They held each other in a tight embrace. Their dishevelled appearance and exposed privates had flown out of their minds, as they tried to take in what just happened.

    Iris, especially, didn¡¯t know exactly what she was feeling. It felt like a million emotions were running through her heart. She felt confused and scared but at the same time also happy and excited. It bothered her that Jin Liwei was misunderstanding her, thinking that she hated the thought of getting pregnant with his child, but she had no idea how tofort him at the moment. She was still trying to figure out her own emotions.

    He was the first one to break their embrace. His expression showed understanding and gentleness, yet she could still detect the hurt and disappointment underneath.

    "Don¡¯t worry, love. You might have negative feelings about it now, but I¡¯ll work hard to make you ept it slowly. I¡¯ll show you that despite being unnned, this pregnancy¡ªif I really got you pregnant¡ªis amazing and something to be celebrated."

    "Darling..."

    "Come, I¡¯ll help you with your clothes."

    "Wait..."

    "We also need to eat lunch. We don¡¯t have much time so we need to eat quickly. I don¡¯t want you returning to work in an empty stomach."

    "Liwei!"

    His mouth pressed into a thin line before forcing himself to smile at her. "You don¡¯t have to worry about this now. We can talk when¡ª"

    She pressed her a finger on his lips, shutting him up. "Look at me."

    He did.

    "Listen. I don¡¯t hate the thought of getting pregnant with your child. I¡¯m just...I..." She desperately thought of the appropriate words to describe her exact feelings but couldn¡¯t. Words were difficult but if she were in front of a piano, she would¡¯ve perfectly conveyed her garbled emotions using music.

    She sighed, giving up in trying to find the perfect words. Framing his face with both her hands, she said, "I¡¯m scared. Confused. I think I¡¯m a good godmother to Little Jun and a mother to our cats, but I don¡¯t know how to be a realmother to my own child. I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll be a wonderful and responsible father but what about me? What if I end up being a terrible mother? What if I make our child suffer? What if¡ª"

    Jin Liwei pulled her in another embrace.

    She burst into tears in his arms. She held on to him as she cried. It was a cry filled with anxiety and fear. Although the memories of her past life had grown hazy after the original Iris Long¡¯s remnant started fusing with her, there were still some memories which remained clear and potent as if they only happened yesterday. One such memory was of her fear of Madame Vetrova, the queen of their family¡¯s criminal organization...and her past life¡¯s mother.

    She feared that she might unknowingly turn into someone like Madame Vetrova, a cold and merciless woman who treated her own children as instruments with the sole purpose of continuing and strengthening the Vetrov¡¯s reign in the international underworld. She was that woman¡¯s daughter whether she liked it or not. What if she inherited Madame Vetrova¡¯s ruthlessness towards her children?

    Her fearful crying turned into horrified sobbing.

    Jin Liwei rubbed her back and kissed her head. "Sshhh. You¡¯ll be an amazing mother, my love. I¡¯m sure of it."

    ###

 Chapter 623 - Emotional

    <h4>Chapter 623 - Emotional </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s gentle,forting words and his warm embrace eventually calmed Iris¡¯ lost of control over her emotions. Her fear of bing like her past life¡¯s mother subsided thanks to him but didn¡¯t entirely disappear.

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei wiped away her tears and helped her get dressed. He led her to his office bathroom and washed her tear-stained face which was now red and swollen.

    If others saw her right now, they would think that she and Jin Liwei had a big fight and that he made her cry.

    Iris felt like a child being taken care of by him. He treated her with extreme gentleness, as if she was a fragile treasure, and was doing his best tofort her, even though he was also trying to deal with his own emotions.

    Guilt started eating at him when she broke down in his arms. Although she assured him that she didn¡¯t hate the idea of getting pregnant with his child, it was still one of the reasons why she cried. He could feel her fear and anxiety of bing a terrible mother. He didn¡¯t quite understand why she had this fear, especially since he was certain that she would be a wonderful mother based on how she treated their godson and cats. If only he could remove this fear from her heart and throw it far away, he would¡¯ve already done so. Unfortunately, only she could ovee her own fear. All he could do was give her love, unwavering support, and assurance that he would be with her every step of the way.

    Once they were properly clothed, he led her to the table. Iris didn¡¯t have an appetite after what happened but he coaxed her to eat even a little.

    "How are you feeling now?" he asked in a worried tone.

    This time, she was able to give with him a small smile. "Better. Thank you."

    "Good."

    She took his hand and pressed it against her cheek. "Darling, I¡¯m sorry."

    "Why are you apologizing?"

    "I didn¡¯t mean to make you think that I don¡¯t want to get pregnant with your child. I think it would be amazing if a child is born into this world who is made from half of you and half of me. It¡¯s just that I...I don¡¯t...I mean¡ª"

    "Shhh." He sealed her lips with a soft yet firm kiss when he saw that she was about to panic again, preventing her from sumbing to her, in his opinion, irrational fear. "You¡¯ll be fine, my love. Even if you¡¯re not, I¡¯ll be here and stay with you until you¡¯re okay again. Always remember that you¡¯re not alone. I¡¯m here. I¡¯ll always be here for you."

    She nodded and held on to his hand, absorbing strength from him. Self-reproach filled her, hating how weak she was acting right now, yet she couldn¡¯t stop it.

    In the end, she was still human. So what if she was a genius? She also had fears like other normal people. She also neededfort and strength from the person she loved when she felt weak and vulnerable.

    "I love you, Jin Liwei."

    The corner of his lips lifted into a loving smile. "I love you, too, Long Xin. Or whoever you are. So much."

    His words touched her deeply. Even though the distinction between the identities of Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, and Evelina Vetrova had blurred and started to merge until she didn¡¯t have a choice but to fully ept that she was now both, she appreciated that he could still remember their rhetorical discussion from before about her being another person and not Long Xin. She knew that he didn¡¯t take it seriously but still he humoured her, not making fun of her. His tender consideration was something that she would always be grateful for, not only as the present Iris Long but also as her past self, Evelina Vetrova.

    "I think I¡¯m going to cry again," she said in a shaky voice.

    "Go ahead, love."

    She chuckled even as a sob threatened to make her lose herposure once again. This sob was not out of fear like earlier but of gratefulness instead for Jin Liwei¡¯s love for her. She did her best to hold it in, not wanting to make her eyes even redder and swollen than they already were. Tang Yiyi would scold her about her messy appearance for sure when she returned to workter. Thus, sheined instead.

    "Why am I so emotional today?"

    Before he could even think about it, he replied in a light and yful tone, "Maybe you¡¯re pregnant already. That¡¯s why you¡¯re being so emotional. I heard pregnant women be very emotional."

    She froze.

    He froze, as well.

    "That soon?!! Does conception happen immediately?! Where¡¯s yourputer?! Let me borrow it! I need to search this up!! Wait, I can use my phone...where¡¯s my phone?! Oh, how about your phone¡ª"

    Jin Liwei inwardly cursed at himself for causing his baby girl to panic again. "Love, rx...calm down. Love...love!"

    He forced her out of her panicked state by shaking her shoulders. It wasn¡¯t rough but not light either. It was firm enough to snap her to listen to him. Sighing, he told himself that he should be the one to remain calm for both of them, especially since her emotions were understandably chaotic right now.

    "Sorry, love. I was just joking. And to answer your question, no. If I remember correctly from Science ss, pregnancy doesn¡¯t start the day we have unprotected sex. I think it takes around three to four days or something like that for the sperm to fertilize the egg cell, then another three to four days for the fertilized egg to imnt itself in your uterus. Notpletely sure, though. I¡¯ll have to double check on the specifics but I¡¯m pretty sure that I¡¯m not far off."

    "Oh." Iris subconsciously pressed a hand over her t abdomen. Would she really get pregnant from today?

    He followed suit and covered her hand with hisrge hand.

    The two of them looked at each other, imagining a little version of one another growing inside her womb.

    ###

 Chapter 624 - Anchor

    <h4>Chapter 624 - Anchor </h4>

    ¡¯It¡¯d be amazing if you really got pregnant today,¡¯ Jin Liwei thought inside his head. Or at least, he thought that it was inside his head. He didn¡¯t realize that he said it out loud.

    Iris asked, "Do you really want to be a father that much?"

    "Not particrly," he replied while stroking her hair. "Before I met you, I always thought that babies and kids are messy, annoying, and a hassle to take care of. I had no interest in having them at all. But I¡¯m the head of the Jins, so I¡¯m expected to produce an heir someday. I always view it as a duty that I would have to force myself to fulfill. I kept putting it off even though rtives kept on trying to matchmake me to potential marriage partners. I was too focused on running thepany and the n that before I knew it, I was already in my thirties. I figured that before I be too old, I would just pick a random woman to wed and be my wife, and then force myself to impregnate her so that I could have my required heir."

    Iris scowled. This was the first time that she heard him talk about this. She knew that it was quitemon among men of his status and wealth, but she still felt ufortable hearing about it. An urge to strangle the random, faceless woman he was talking about bubbled inside her. Although she knew that such a woman didn¡¯t exist because of her, she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling jealous.

    Jin Liwei was hers!

    He detected her jealousy and was pleased, causing a wide grin to spread on his handsome face. Nevertheless, he still pulled her closer until there was almost no space between their bodies andforted her with a kiss on her temple.

    Then he continued, "That was how I lived my life, only revolving around thepany and the Jin family. Then I met you and everything changed."

    Her jealousy towards the nonexistent woman disappeared as she paid attention to his every word.

    "For the first time, I felt desire for another human being, for a woman, the most beautiful and extraordinary that I have ever met in my life. Granted, I had my own prejudice against you before meeting you but once I met you in person and got to know you better, I was immediately hooked. I couldn¡¯t get you out of my mind. I felt crazy...I still feel crazy about you. I wanted to make you mine, to be my woman, my lover, my wife, and the mother of my children. All of these desires awakened inside me because of you."

    Iris smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. She loved listening to him talk about his feelings for her like this.

    "So to answer your question, what I want is to be your husband and the father of your children. If you¡¯re the mother, I realized that I¡¯m ready to father up to a hundred kids."

    A giggle escaped from her lips. "A hundred? Are you nning to kill me? Do you want me to spend the rest of our lives getting pregnant and giving birth to all of your children?"

    The mood lightened. He was relieved to hear herughing again after her emotional breakdown earlier. "Kill you? Never. Whether or not you give birth to our kids isn¡¯t the most important to me. The most important for me is to make you truly mine. I want to marry you and spend the rest of our lives together. I¡¯ll always love you and stay with you until we grow old. Even if you grow sick and tired of me when I turn into a cranky, old man, I¡¯ll still stick by your side and never leave you."

    "What if I¡¯m the one who turns into a cranky, old woman? What if you¡¯re the one who grows sick and tired of me? Will you still stick by my side and never leave me?"

    He chuckled and continued ying with her hair. "Even if you turn into a cranky, old woman, I¡¯ll still love you. Besides, I¡¯m far older than you. I¡¯ll turn into an old man first before you turn into an old woman. I hope that you¡¯ll still love me even when I be old and unattractive while you¡¯re still young and beautiful."

    She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Liwei¡ª"

    He interrupted her and continued speaking, wanting to release all the words that he wanted to tell her out of his chest. "I¡¯ll never grow sick and tired of you, my love. If something unimaginable like that ever happens, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not because I¡¯ve fallen out of love with you but because I became brain-damaged or something. You¡¯re so beautiful, talented, amazing, extraordinary¡ªa genius. I feel like I don¡¯t deserve to be loved by you at all. My only constion is that nobody else deserves you either. That¡¯s why I have to be shameless and do everything in my power to make you fall in love with me, to persuade you that I¡¯m the man deserving of your love, and that we can live in happiness together."

    "Oh Liwei."

    "I¡¯ll always stick by your side and never leave you. You¡¯re the love of my life, Long Xin...or whoever you are. Now that I found you, how could I allow myself to let you go? If you¡¯re not beside me, how else would I be able to live from now on?"

    A lump formed in her throat after hearing his promation of love. This man truly loved her. She could feel his love not just from his words and actions but also from their connection¡ªphysical, emotional, mental, and even spiritual.

    Right at that moment, a sense of calm washed over her highly-strung emotions. He was like a strong and stable anchor, keeping her safe and secure no matter how many storms ravaged through her life.

    "I¡¯m still afraid that I¡¯d fail as a mother to our future children," she told him. "But because you¡¯re with me, I feel like I can face anything."

    ###

 Chapter 625 - Just You Wai

    <h4>Chapter 625 - Just You Wai </h4>

    In her office, Rose Young mmed the phone. She tried so many times calling Jin Liwei¡¯s office but she couldn¡¯t get through for some reason. Jin Liwei had blocked her number on both his private and office desk phone, so she could only call Xu Tian and ask the damn arrogant assistant to ry her messages to Jin Liwei. It was all that slut¡¯s fault! If it wasn¡¯t for Iris Long, then her Big Brother Liwei wouldn¡¯t have blocked her.

    "Damn jealous, possessive bitch!"

    She called the maintenance department andined about her phone. Since she was a high-ranking executive in thepany, someone was immediately sent up even though it was lunch time.

    A repair guy came to fix the phone while ogling her in the corner of his eyes. She subconsciously responded, giving a few alluring poses she knew men found irresistible. However, she stiffened when she saw a sh of disappointment when he looked at her chest. Indignation filled her, so she gave the son of a bitch a hard time, calling him ipetent when he said that everything was fine with her phone.

    "The other numbers are working fine. It¡¯s only Assistant Xu¡¯s phone number that you¡¯re not able to call. The most likely reason is that he blocked you. I suggest that CMO Young talk directly to Assistant Xu in person and ask him to unblock you," he told her.

    Rose Young wanted to p the repair guy for being ipetent, but most importantly, she wanted to punish him for mocking the size of her breasts (orck thereof). She knew that he was mocking her tness in his mind. However, she controlled her temper. She already lost herposure too much by calling him ipetent to his face. Although the son of a bitch deserved to be punished, she still needed to maintain her image as the smart, beautiful and charming CMO of Jin Corporation.

    "I see. It¡¯s too bad that you can¡¯t repair my phone. It¡¯s alright. You can go now. My apologies for raising my voice at you earlier. I¡¯m a little tired. Things are hectic in thepany right now and we, the executives, have a lot on our te. I hope you understand," she said in a sultry voice and even trailed her fingertips on his arm.

    She mentally smirked when she saw the foolish fucker swallow. The growing bulge beneath his pants didn¡¯t escape her notice either. So what if her chest was t? Men still couldn¡¯t resist her.

    A body¡¯s appearance could only do so much. That slut Iris Long only had her hourss body and pretty face to depend on. Jin Liwei was only bewitched by her youth and beauty but once the slut lost them, Rose was sure that he would dump her. She was confident that as long as she could seduce him and give him a taste of her delicious nectar and iparable bed skills, he would be addicted to her and not look at any other woman again. She was perfect for him, her Big Brother Liwei. If he only gave her a chance, she would let him experience the most glorious pleasure in the world. That slut couldn¡¯t possibly give what a man like him really needed. Only Rose Young could.

    Just thinking about him was making her so hot and wet. The repair guy had a hopeful expression on his face. He looked passable and she needed a good fuck right now, but her good sense still prevailed.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t involve myself with anyone in the workce...well, except for Big Brother Liwei,¡¯ she reminded herself. ¡¯If a fucker here at work gets too attached to me, then that would cause a problem. I don¡¯t want Big Brother Liwei to misunderstand. I want him to know that he¡¯s the only man for me, that no matter how many men I sleep with, he¡¯s the only one in my heart and mind. My everything belongs to him.¡¯

    So despite being horny, she still sent the repair guy away. Alone in her office again, she couldn¡¯t help but remember what happened upstairs earlier. Seeing the slut holding her Big Brother Liwei¡¯s hand almost made Rose lose herposure in front of him and their fellow executives. She wanted to w the arrogant and conceited expression off the bitch¡¯s face.

    Rose wanted to dump the lunch the slut gave her into the trash but if someone saw her, she would get into deep trouble with her Big Brother Liwei. So she gave it to her assistant instead when she returned to her office. Her assistant thanked her and became excited once she learned that the lunch was from the slut. The happiness on her assistant¡¯s face made Rose want to fire the woman but she was able to control her temper in time.

    "So many brain-dead fans of that slut! They should open their eyes and see what a ho the woman they¡¯re idolizing so much is!"

    The assistant carried the boxed lunch and ate somewhere else with her work friends, leaving Rose alone in the office.

    She tried calling Xu Tian again, determined to disturb the slut¡¯s alone time with Jin Liwei. But like before, her call was unable to go through.

    "Dammit! Damn you, Iris Long!"

    This time, she threw the phone hard. It crashed to the floor and broke into several pieces.

    "I bet she¡¯s fucking Big Brother Liwei right now. Fucking on his desk. It should be ME he¡¯s supposed to befucking right now. I want him to fuck me on his desk! Not her, that dirty slut!"

    Explicit images began shing in her horny mind. All she could think of was her Big Brother Liwei¡¯s handsome face and sexy, naked body. She started imagining how he would look like without a single piece of clothing on. He would be big, strong, hard...and perfect. And very, very, VERY DELICIOUS!

    She quickly locked her office door and returned to her desk. Then she unbuttoned her blouse to expose her bare breasts. She wasn¡¯t wearing any bra because there was no need to. She only had small pasties to cover her nipples. While massaging her t breasts, she pulled down her stockings and thong to her knees. She was so wet that she was dripping down her thighs.

    Closing her eyes, she started fantasizing about Jin Liwei. Her Big Brother Liwei, her one and only true lover and destined husband.

    She imagined his glorious body while touching herself, imagining that it was his hands pleasuring her. She sucked her fingers, pretending that it was his hard length. Her other hand slid down and touched her hot and wet core, causing her to moan.

    "Oh, Big Brother~ Take me. Come inside me."

    "Bend over the desk," she imagined him telling her. "I¡¯m gonna fuck you hard and fast."

    "Yes, Big Brother. Fuck me," she said in the empty room and bent over her own desk.

    Then she inserted three fingers inside her and began fucking herself while in her mind, Jin Liwei was mming his hips furiously in and out of her.

    "Yes, just like that, Big Brother! Harder! Faster! Deeper! Aaaah~"

    She added a fourth finger and increased the speed of her hand. Her other hand rubbed the swollen button above her wet, pulsating core, increasing her pleasure.

    "You like that, huh? Hold on tight because I¡¯m gonna fuck you out of your mind," Jin Liwei¡¯s imaginary voice whispered inside her head.

    "YES! OH YES!! FUCK ME!!! LOVE MEEEEEE!!!!!!"

    Her hands were moving frantically over her slimy, gushing core, chasing after a delicious climax while thinking of her beloved Big Brother Liwei. But just as she was about to reach the peak, the image in her mind changed. Suddenly, it wasn¡¯t her that Jin Liwei was fucking anymore but that slut Iris Long! The picture was so clear that Rose Young froze and stopped pleasuring herself.

    "NOOOOOO!!!! Get out of my head, you bitch! Give me back my big brother! He¡¯s mine! ALL MINE!!!"

    She forced the image out of her mind and tried pleasuring herself once more but to no avail. Iris Long hadpletely ruined her lovemaking session with an imaginary Jin Liwei. It was so frustrating that Rose Young finally and totally lost her temper. She swept her arms over her desk, sending everything on it crashing to the floor.

    "Damn you, Iris Long! How dare you interrupt me and Big Brother Liwei! I won¡¯t forget this! I¡¯ll make you pay for this!! Just you wait!!!"

    ###

 Chapter 626 - Sleepy Time

    <h4>Chapter 626 - Sleepy Time </h4>

    Outside Jin Liwei¡¯s office door was arge, elegant andvish reception area where Xu Tian worked behind his own desk and weed people who had appointments to meet with the President-CEO of Jin Corporation. To the far side was a fully-equipped kitchen and breakroom where Dom, Xu Tian and the bodyguards were currently eating their boxed lunches.

    Xu Tian was busy poring over important documents while eating. It was thest quarter of the year, so thepany was extremely busy meeting various goals and deadlines they set for themselves.

    The bodyguards ate their meals quickly and returned to their posts outside the locked office door of their master. Sometimes they would whisper to each other but otherwise maintained their silence.

    Dom thought that they were boring for being so quiet, so he chatted with Ketchup instead while enjoying his delicious meal. He had taken three boxed lunches because one wasn¡¯t enough. He would¡¯ve taken four, maybe even five, but still had some shame remaining in him, so he was able to stop himself from being too greedy for food.

    His friends, the other members of the girl squad (except for his Boss Iris who always appreciated him for who he was), resented him for being able to eat so much without gaining a single pound of weight. What could he do about it? He was just born FABULOUS!

    At the moment, his lively voice and that of Ketchup¡¯s were the only noise in the ce. Dom gestured with his hands as he ate and chatted with the white cat who was ying with a ball of yarn in her virtual kitty room. Her fluffy self could be seen on a wall-mounted tscreen TV.

    They were in the middle of giggling at something when Ketchup stopped all of a sudden.

    Two secondster...

    "Hmph! That hoochie tried calling Tiantian again for the thirteenth time but she can¡¯t get through because I, the cute, awesome and mighty Ketchup, temporarily blocked her until Mommy leaves Daddy¡¯s office just like what Uncle Dom told me. Ehehehe. The hoochie-coochie really intends to disturb my mommy and my daddy¡¯s sleepy time. What a poopoo! Meow!"

    "Good job, Baby Ketchup! Yes, that¡¯s right! Don¡¯t let anyone disturb your mommy and daddy, especially that hoo¡ªthat...that evil witch!"

    "Ketchup is a good kitty, right, Uncle Dom?"

    "Yes, you are! Baby Ketchup is such a good kitty!"

    "Meow~" Ketchup was very happy that her Uncle Dom praised her, so she started purring.

    Xu Tian didn¡¯t hear their conversation because he was wearing noise-blocking earphones so that he could concentrate on his work. Only iing calls on the phone would catch his attention. That was why he had no idea that Ketchup temporarily blocked Rose Young from his contact list and that she had been trying to call him many times in the past half hour.

    When everyone left Iris and Jin Liwei inside his office earlier, Dom immediately instructed Ketchup to not let anyone disturb them, especially Rose Young. He also specifically told the white cat not to peek or eavesdrop on her parents.

    "Baby Ketchup, listen to me. You¡¯re not allowed to go anywhere close to your daddy¡¯s office today while your mommy is there inside with him. Do you understand?"

    "Why? Ketchup needs to monitor Daddy¡¯s office at all times. That¡¯s one of the tasks my mommy gave Ketchup. Meow," the white cat asked and replied in her innocent voice.

    "Because it¡¯s your mommy and daddy¡¯s alone time right now. They should be doing something, uh, important. Yes, that¡¯s right! They¡¯re doing something extremely important and shouldn¡¯t be disturbed. I¡¯m sure that there have been times before when your parents told you not look or listen in on them, right?"

    "Oh! Ketchup gets it now! Yes, they always tell Ketchup to close my eyes and ears every night when they¡¯re in their bedroom. Well, not every night but most of the time. Oh, sometimes during the day too when they¡¯re alone somewhere at home. It¡¯s their sleepy time! Ketchup isn¡¯t allowed anywhere near Mommy and Daddy during those times unless they say the secret password which is ¡¯I love you, Ketchup!¡¯ When they say this secret password, it means that Ketchup is free to roam anywhere and everywhere at home again! Meow~

    "I see, so that¡¯s what you mean, Uncle Dom. Ketchup understands now and won¡¯t let anyone disturb Mommy and Daddy because their sleepy time is very, very, very important! Poor Mommy and Daddy! Are they so tired right now that they need to sleep when it¡¯s only lunch time? Meow~"

    "Pft! Sleepy time... Ehehehe." Dom snickered.

    The two chatterboxes continued chatting to their hearts¡¯ content, waiting until Iris and Jin Liwei finished their "sleepy time".

    As for the matter regarding Rose Young, Iris had forbade Ketchup to personally continue monitoring the woman after discovering what kind of things Rose did whenever she was alone.Iris didn¡¯t want her corrupting Ketchup, so she deleted the X-rated memory from the cat AI¡¯s system. The deletion had some minor side-effects on the white cat but Iris would rather Ketchup suffer through it than be corrupted by the dirtiness. (Iris hadn¡¯t watched enough of the woman¡¯s X-rated surveince videos to know that Rose had been fantasizing about Jin Liwei.)

    Afterwards, Iris left a copy of Ketchup, basically a bot minus the personality and powerful self-learning function, to continue the surveince on Rose Young.

    While the two chatterboxes gossiped in the breakroom, Rose Young was cleaning her mess in her office downstairs.

    She had now calmed down after her failure to orgasm earlier. Lunch time was almost over and her assistant would be returning any time. She didn¡¯t want questions about the mess.

    "That slut should be finished fucking Big Brother Liwei right now. He has an important meeting after lunch that he can¡¯t miss."

    Thinking about Iris Long infuriated her again, so she forced herself to take a few deep breaths before continuing to clean up.

    Unbeknown to her, a virtual white cat with nk, soulless eyes were staring at her without blinking and recording all of her actions every second, 24/7. Its sole purpose was to monitor Rose Young.

    ###

 Chapter 627 - Forget I Asked

    <h4>Chapter 627 - Forget I Asked </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    That night, Iris arrived home exhausted just before dinner time. She got an earful from Tang Yiyi when she returned to work after leaving Jin Liwei¡¯s office with red, puffy eyes. Fortunately, the swelling went down after she used a cold eye mask, a prototype for a future Orchidia Beauty product.

    Jin Liwei called to tell her that he would be runningte tonight but promised that he woulde home before bedtime. They still wanted to talk more about what happened earlier in his office before sleeping.

    Later, Iris headed to the kitchen for dinner. Surprisingly, Lu Zihao was also there. He had been absent for quite some time ever since the bomb incident. The siblings hadn¡¯t seen or spoken with each other for many days.

    Lu Zihao looked as exhausted as Iris, maybe even more so than her. He must¡¯ve been very busy with whatever he had been doing. She knew that she was one of the reasons why he was so busy because he and Jin Liwei were jointly working on their own investigations to find out the real mastermind behind the bomb attack. Her own investigations on the side had also gained a few small clues but nothing too significant yet. They had been cooperating by sharing their investigations results.

    The Shadow Winds¡¯ hacker team was a great help in decreasing her burden in the investigations. She discovered that they collectively named themselves as the hacker ShaWn and had helped her contain the malicious online hate campaign against her right after the bomb incident. Sometimes, she would impart some hacking tips and tricks to them that would leave them all ecstatic. They were improving at an impressive rate, greatly pleasing Lu Zihao. However, they were still several leagues below a world-ss master hacker like Iris, but that was only because she was a monstrous genius.

    They needed to dig deeper in order to find out the real mastermind(s) behind the bomb incident. With each passing day that they failed to find anything concrete, Iris became more certain that either the mastermind(s) or the protector was a formidable hacker like her. This only made the situation more dangerous yet also more exciting for her.

    But for now, she had to put this whole matter aside because of how exhausted she felt after everything that happened at Jin Liwei¡¯s office today.

    The brother and sister, Lu Zihao and Iris, ate dinner with the others except for Jin Liwei who was still at work.

    "I heard that you visited Third Brother in his office during lunch," Lu Zihao talked in a casual tone while they ate. "But then I heard something interesting."

    Iris already had a feeling what he was about to say but still asked, "What is it?"

    "I heard that you left his office with red and swollen eyes." He ced his chopsticks down and looked at her.

    His aura became dangerous, making Dom and Jiang Ying Yue shut up from their own lively conversation and then cower in their seats. Fortunately, Little Jun was too young to sense danger so the toddler continued eating his food, unaware of the change in the atmosphere.

    "So tell me, little sister," Lu Zihao said in a deceptively light voice. "Did you fight with Third Brother?" Then his voice turned cold. "Did that bastard make you cry?"

    Although affected by her brother¡¯s deadly aura, Iris still straightened her back and replied to him in a calm, firm voice. "Liwei is not a bastard, Big Brother. He¡¯s my future husband...and...and the father of my future baby...or babies."

    His eyes narrowed, his lips thinned, and the air grew colder.

    Dom and Jiang Ying Yue shivered and avoided looking at the siblings. Little Jun continued eating happily and entertained himself by watching the antics of his cat cousin, the goofy Popcorn.

    "And no, Liwei and I didn¡¯t fight," Iris continued. "He didn¡¯t make me cry. Technically, it wasn¡¯t him."

    "Heh... Is that so?" Lu Zihao asked, still suspicious. He picked up his chopsticks again to resume eating. "Then why did you cry after leaving his office?"

    Iris was about toin why he knew so much about what happened earlier when he wasn¡¯t even there, but then remembered that about half of her personal security team consisted of his subordinates. Those people must¡¯ve ratted her out to him as soon as they arrived home.

    "Heh... What is this? Not going to tell the reason to your big brother?"

    "Fine! Liwei and I made love in his office and it got wild and intense! I lost control of myself and I just started screaming and sobbing. That¡¯s what happened! Are you satisfied now?"

    Lu Zihao froze, his expression indescribable.

    Dom gasped dramatically and covered the ears of the clueless and innocent Little Jun while Jiang Ying Yue turned red.

    Iris didn¡¯t lie to her brother. Well, not technically. She only applied some of the interview-dodging skills Tang Yiyi constantly instilled in her and chose to tell only part of the truth while hiding some. She didn¡¯t want to hide things from her brother but had to in order to protect her man. If Lu Zihao knew that she had a pregnancy scare earlier today, he would probably beat the shit out of Jin Liwei as soon as he returned hometer tonight.

    Lu Zihao cleared his throat to clear the awkwardness. "Forget I asked. By the way, have you tasted this scallion soup? It¡¯s good. Here, eat some."

    Iris was relieved that they stopped talking about the topic. She wanted to talk to Jin Liwei about it first before sharing it with others, if the need to share with their family and friends became a must. But first, she and Jin Liwei needed to confirm whether she was really pregnant or not.

    Finally, dinner ended and they all headed to their own rooms.

    The brother and sister walked together in the meantime.

    "I¡¯m d that nothing serious happened with you and your man," Lu Zihao said. "This body...and also I know after living as Lu Zihao for some time now that Jin Liwei is a good and dependable man. He¡¯ll take care of you. I also have to admit that I can see very clearly that he loves and cares for you. Heck, the man¡¯s ready to give you everything, even die for you. You just need to ask and he¡¯ll do it."

    A smile blossomed on Iris¡¯ lips, brightening up her beautiful face, giving her a soft and loving expression. "Yes. I know."

    "But." Lu Zihao stopped walking.

    She stopped walking, as well.

    "He¡¯s still a man who¡¯ll eventually make mistakes. There mighte a time when he¡¯ll hurt you either unintentionally or on purpose."

    She didn¡¯t reply, instead waiting for him to say more.

    "Regardless of whether it¡¯s unintentional or not, hurting my sister is still something I deem unforgivable. So if he ever hurts you and makes you cry, remember to tell me. Even if you don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ll still know. If that happens, I¡¯ll¡ª"

    "Big Brother, I love Jin Liwei," she interrupted. "If you ever harm him, you¡¯ll hurt me, too."

    ###

 Chapter 628 - Reminiscing Memories Of The Pas

    <h4>Chapter 628 - Reminiscing Memories Of The Pas </h4>

    "When I woke up as...this," Iris swept her hands over herself. "As the new me, I was very excited to live this new chance in life. I had many goals and ambitions and also ns to aplish them. During that time, I envisioned myself reaching everything on my own. But when Liwei barged into my life and I fell in love with him, I realized that although I still have the same goals and ambitions, they slightly changed to include him as well.

    "Now, whenever I envision my future, he¡¯s always there beside me as a constant part of my life. Big Brother, ever since I fell in love with Liwei, I now can¡¯t imagine living the rest of my life without him. I love him so much that I almost can¡¯t believe how I¡¯m capable of loving someone so much that isn¡¯t you, my brother, my family. If something bad ever happens to him, I...I¡¯ll probably lose control and hunt down the people who harmed him."

    Lu Zihao was silent for a few seconds before asking, "Even me? If I harm him, you¡¯ll hunt even me, your own brother?"

    She couldn¡¯t answer right away, looking at him instead with aplicated expression. "I love Liwei, Big Brother. I love you, too. I don¡¯t want to choose between the two of you. Both of you are the most important men in my life right now. I refuse to choose between the two of you. But...I won¡¯t be able to sit still if you hurt Liwei, so please don¡¯t. I don¡¯t want our rtionship to be ruined by something like that."

    He took a deep breath after hearing her honest words. His hands clenched and unclenched, the veins popping out to the surface of his skin.

    Iris braced herself and faced the stormy aura her brother was currently emitting. It made her heart shake, yet she stood her ground to show him that she was serious. Although she understood that her brother was fiercely protective of her, she couldn¡¯t tolerate his subtle threats against Jin Liwei any longer. He needed to understand that Jin Liwei was here to stay in her life as her future husband whether he liked it or not.

    She sensed that her brother was experiencing an internal struggle between his past identity as Niki Vetrov and his new life as Lu Zihao who was sworn brothers with her man, Jin Liwei. However, it was his own battle to fight with himself. She couldn¡¯t solve it for him, especially after going through the same thing herself. It was difficult and dangerous, but he still needed to ovee it on his own.

    "I understand," he finally said after managing to calm himself. "As long as he doesn¡¯t hurt you and make you suffer, I won¡¯t interfere. Both of us didn¡¯t have it easy in our past lives. We were always trudging the boundary between life and death, not knowing when we¡¯d make a deadly mistake or when our enemies would sessfully kill us. They eventually seeded," he hissed through gritted teeth. His eyes shed with murderous intent before controlling it.

    "I know that you hated that life, how caged you felt, and suffered because of it," he continued. "I couldn¡¯t do anything for you back then because it was too dangerous to let you go free in the outside world. But everything is different now. The Vetrovs are no more. The people we were before are no more. We had fallen and were reduced to ashes."

    Destion filled his eyes, making Iris tremble and her eyes moist as she watched him. A small desire of revenge also stirred within her at the thought of the fallen Vetrovs, but it got quickly buried into the deepest recesses of herself before she could even notice. Her new life as Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, and the endless possibilities of achieving all of her dreams that she wasn¡¯t able to do in her past life had overpowered almost everything for her. Not to mention that she was able to find the love of her life in this new life, making her view her past life as Evelina Vetrova as something almost illusory now.

    If it weren¡¯t for the rebirth of her brother as Lu Zihao and how they remained close to each other in this new life of theirs plus some of the deep traumas still remaining with her, perhaps the memories of her past life as Evelina Vetrova would gradually fade away until almost everything was forgotten. It was impossible to forget everything, but perhaps if her current situation was different, there woulde a day that she would wake up and treat the memories of her past life as a figment of imagination.

    In a sense, she was grateful that she met her reborn brother before Evelina¡¯s memories started fading away. He was a link to their past lives. Although she hated that life, she didn¡¯t want to forget it because it was a big part of who she was even now as Iris Long.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes looked like he was somewhere far away and not standing right in front of her. She remained silent and allowed her brother to reminisce the memories of their past lives¡ªboth the glorious and tragic alike¡ªas the crown prince and sheltered princess of the former reigning criminal family of the international underworld.

    Finally, his eyes became clear once again. They looked at her with their usual sharpness but also with gentleness. "I don¡¯t want you to suffer anymore. You are now Long Xin who I¡¯m sure will be known in the future as the genius superstar. You¡¯ll take the world by storm and live your life freely just like how you always wanted. I¡¯m looking forward to watching you reach all of your dreams."

    "Big Brother..."

    "I wish you a happy life, little sister. And if you think that you¡¯ll be happy with Jin Liwei by your side¡ª"

    "I do," Iris replied before he could finish his sentence. "Jin Liwei gives me happiness. I know that I¡¯ll be happy with him by my side."

    ###

 Chapter 629 - Moonlit Nigh

    <h4>Chapter 629 - Moonlit Nigh </h4>

    Lu Zihao sighed, a little grumpily, a little helplessly, and a little dotingly. "I know. I can see it clear as day. I¡¯m d that you finally feel alive and free now, little sister. That you¡¯re living the life that you always wanted together with the man you love. I¡¯m d that he¡¯s beside you, taking care of you, supporting you, protecting you, and loving you..."

    Then his lips curled in bad temper. "But that doesn¡¯t mean that I don¡¯t have the urge to punch him in the face every time he acts like he wants to jump you like a horny dog in a rut. I know as Lu Zihao that he¡¯s a good and loyal man¡ªbut dammit! I really want to beat the shit out of him sometimes, especially when I know that he¡¯s often undressing you in his mind when he sees you!"

    Iris giggled. "Big Brother."

    "What?"

    She leaned forward and whispered, "Actually, it¡¯s not only Liwei who¡¯s horny. I also want to jump him and make love with him almost all the time. I also undress him in my mind and¡ª"

    "STOP IT! DON¡¯T SAY ANYTHING ANYMORE!!!" Lu Zihao roared. "I can¡¯t hear anything! I don¡¯t hear anything! My little sister is forever a virgin in my mind!"

    Iris threw her head back andughed. She doubled over andughed even harder when he red at her. Trying hard to control herself, she forced a serious expression on her face.

    "You¡¯re overreacting, Big Brother. I might¡¯ve been na?ve when ites to sex before I met Liwei and became sexually active with him but I wasn¡¯tpletely clueless about it, even in my past life."

    He opened his mouth, about to interrupt her but she didn¡¯t let him, continuing to speak instead. "I know for a fact that you¡¯re not a virgin either, Big Brother. That you also sleep with women, both in your past life and now as Lu Zihao. I also know that you don¡¯t form attachments to the women you sleep with and only treat them as bedmates, nothing more. You have your own arrangements, I also have mine...with my fianc¨¦ who I love very much.

    "My point is that both of us are adults now. We both know what sex is, what it¡¯s like, and even experience it on a regr basis. Well, I don¡¯t know how often you get it, but as for me and Liwei, we certainly do it regrly¡ª"

    "Okay, that¡¯s enough! I get it¡ª" he tried interrupting.

    "¡ªso I don¡¯t understand why you get so angry every time I talk about my active sex life with Jin Liwei who is, by the way, my fianc¨¦ and my future husband. He¡¯ll be your brother-inw, you know, and also...also...the father of your future human nieces or nephews."

    Her hand involuntarily moved to touch her t stomach but she caught herself in time and stopped it. Her big brother was an observant person and had extremely sharp eyes. He would surely catch her action of touching her stomach after talking about Jin Liwei fathering her future human children and then grow suspicious.

    Although her big brother lived the way he did¡ªcold, detached and rarely formed close personal or intimate ties with others except for her¡ªshe knew that he was a traditional person. It was only now that he was living as Lu Zihao that he formed close rtionships with others besides her, choosing to maintain the previous ties of the original Lu Zihao with Grandpa Lu, Jin Liwei and their other sworn brothers, and a few other people. She was d to see that he wasn¡¯t limiting himself to these rtionships but were also expanding his connections to the people she had grown close to as Iris Long.

    As a traditional person and also as a fiercely protective older brother, she knew that he would go crazy if she became pregnant out of wedlock. She decided that it was safer to act cautious around him when she still wasn¡¯t sure if Jin Liwei got her pregnant today or not.

    While Iris was busy with her own thoughts, Lu Zihao felt livid yet also helpless at her. "You...you...YOU!!!"

    He was a man in control of his own emotions, yet in front of his precious little sister, he had been rendered speechless. His sister always had been straightforward to a fault, but that was part of her charm which he and their father in their past life adored. Still, sex life as a topic of conversation between siblings was still too much information!

    "This conversation is over," he announced in a firm voice.

    The exhaustion that he was already feeling earlier became worse all of a sudden. It was exhausting trying to deal with his sister¡¯s honesty and straightforwardness! Despite this, he would never fault her for it. All he could do was sigh. "It¡¯s gettingte. I¡¯m tired and need to sleep. You should, too. I hear that you have a full schedule tomorrow."

    She nodded and lifted herself on her tippy-toes to kiss him on the cheek. "Good night, Big Brother. Sleep well."

    "Good night, little sister."

    He wanted to walk her to her suite but she declined, saying that she wasn¡¯t going to her room yet. She watched him walk away and disappear as he headed to his own bedroom. When he was finally out of sight, she pressed a hand to her t stomach, gently rubbing it.

    Anxiety filled her, especially after talking to her brother. Their conversation prompted her to remember something important that she needed to talk about with Jin Liwei.

    "Hurry home, darling," she whispered into the night.

    ###

    ###

    10.14 PM.

    Jin Liwei handed his coat and tie to the butler while heading to where his baby girl was waiting for him. He wanted to eat dinner with her but couldn¡¯t because of how busy it was at thepany right now.

    Normally around this time of the year, he would choose to stay in the office and rarely went home. And if he needed to go home, it would be awfullyte, hours after midnight, sometimes just before sunrise. But that was when he was still a glorified bachelor. Now he had a (future) wife waiting for him at home...and possibly, a little bundle of joy inside her womb.

    His steps quickened as excitement filled him upon remembering the "ident" that happened to them when they made love in his office earlier. His long legs traversed and reached the music room in a short time.

    The door was open when he arrived. Tempestuous piano music gushed out of the room and drenched him as soon as he entered. The light was turned off, yet he immediately saw his baby girl ying the piano under the dim light of the moon by the window.

    Jin Liwei was mesmerized.

    He stopped in his tracks, leaned by the doorway, and just watched his woman produce such otherworldly music with every press of her graceful fingers on the piano keys.

    The music was chaotic, like a thunderstorm, yet still sounded harmonious and beautiful, a wonder of nature. Sometimes it was fast and urgent, foreboding and erratic. At other times it was peaceful and delicate, sweet and uplifting.

    It gave him goosebumps.

    He had never heard this music before and instinctively knew that it was his baby girl¡¯s ownposition. He also knew her well enough to understand that this newposition must be her trying to make sense of her turbulent emotions caused by what happened to them in his office earlier today. She wasn¡¯t able to fully express her feelings in words, so she could only do it through the method ofmunication that she was a master of¡ªmusic.

    Emotions welled inside him, as he immersed himself in listening to her music. There were no words, yet now he grasped the true depth of her anxiety and fear and also discovered her excitement and happiness that he couldn¡¯t fully understand when they talked earlier. He thought that he understood her then. How wrong he was.

    Her music allowed him to understand her true emotions in a way her own words couldn¡¯t. Unable to contain himself any longer, he walked towards her, using his long legs to reach her faster. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her and nuzzled the side of her neck.

    Iris closed her eyes and smiled, leaning her cheek to his nuzzles. She continued ying the piano while in the arms of her lover in the moonlit night.

 Chapter 630 - Title Is A Spoiler

    <h4>Chapter 630 - Title Is A Spoiler </h4>

    The lovers remained in that beautiful position while the otherworldly music yed with the moonlight illuminating them under its dim radiance.

    Jin Liwei sat beside his baby girl, admiring her beauty and her graceful fingers skipping, pounding, dancing, and caressing the piano keys. It was almost unbelievable the kind of music she could produce.

    The music she was currently ying made his heart tremble, ache, and ted, and also stirred his very soul. It felt very personal, as if he could directly feel her emotions like they were his own.

    It was like magic.

    She was magical. And she was his.

    When thest notes of her music drifted into the night, there was only silence. Only the soft sounds of their breathing and the beating of their hearts could be heard in the moonlit room.

    Iris leaned her head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder and inhaled his familiar masculine scent. Doing so made her feel warm, loved, safe, secure, and also thrilled and excited all at the same time. No other person in the world could give her this kind of range of feelings. He made her feel all kinds of emotions that sometimes it was scary.

    He pulled her closer and nibbled on her earlobe, making her shiver, and then whispered, "I¡¯m home, my love."

    "Wee home, darling."

    "Thank you for waiting for me."

    She smiled. "I wanted to talk to you before we sleep. There¡¯s something I need to tell you."

    He studied her and tried to guess what she wanted to tell him based on her expression but failed. "Alright. We¡¯ll talk. I also need to ask you something."

    Instantly curious, she asked, "What is it?"

    "Later. Apany me for dinner?"

    "Of course."

    Iris and Jin Liwei left the music room and headed to the kitchen together. They chatted about a wide range of topics but didn¡¯t talk about what happened in his office. The atmosphere was warm and light. Their smiles andughter flowed like a rxing breeze while Jin Liwei ate ate dinner.

    The staff members who were serving them could sense an extra tenderness in how their master and mistress interacted with each other tonight. Most of the time, invisible yet noticeable sparks flew between the couple whenever they were together in the same room. The intense sexual chemistry was always present and unmistakable, no matter how "innocent" they looked and touched each other in front of people. The staff couldn¡¯t quite put a finger on what exactly it was, but they could all sense that something significant had changed between their master and mistress. And whatever it was, it made them closer and more lovey-dovey with each other.

    After Jin Liwei¡¯ste dinner, the couple finally retired to their bedroom suite. Iris took care of him¡ªassisting him out of his business suit, waiting for him to finish showering, and helping him into his pyjamas¡ªjust like how he took care of her when she broke down earlier in his office.

    Seeing his gorgeous, muscled, naked body, Iris licked her lips and ogled him without any shame. Her desire ignited in an instant.

    Jin Liwei saw the fire in his baby girl¡¯s eyes. His own desire started zing as well, the evidence of his arousal creating a tent underneath his pyjama pants.

    However, the two seemed to have reached a tacit agreement to give it a rest tonight. And to be honest, Iris was feeling sore after being loved by Jin Liwei who was very wild and intense while making his office fantasye to reality earlier that day. Don¡¯t get her wrong, though. She enjoyed it immensely, thank you very much, but she needed to rest tonight, especially her lower body. Oh, and her mind too, of course. Her mind was still reeling a bit after the pregnancy scare. Fortunately, she was young and worked hard to maintain a healthy and fit body. She was confident that her body would recover quickly, so that she could once again seduce her darling and engage in another wild and intense lovemaking.

    If it wasn¡¯t for her high pain tolerance, she probably would¡¯ve been walking with a limp for the rest of the day. It felt like she made love with a big and wild bear...but a sexy and hot one at that.

    Iris mentally shook herself and forced all of the lewd thoughts about her darling out of her mind. She craved for him but her body couldn¡¯t take anymore of him tonight. How unfortunate. All she could do was sigh and satisfy herself with helping him get ready for bed.

    It was already midnight when they finally climbed on their huge bed and cuddled under the thick duvet.

    "I just had you this noon, yet I want you again," Jin Liwei whispered to her ear.

    "Same here," she whispered back.

    They looked at each other. He smirked while she giggled. The two grinned at each other like idiots for a few moments before Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became serious.

    "I called Second Brother on the phone after you left my office," he told her. "He said that we should wait before letting you have a pregnancy test because testing too early might give us the wrong results."

    She didn¡¯t reply, thinking about what he said.

    He continued, "In the meantime, I hope that you won¡¯t push yourself too hard. I won¡¯t stop you from working because I know how much you love your work, but please, love, take care of yourself when I¡¯m not physically by your side. Okay?"

    "Okay."

    They both fell silent.

    "You said that you want to tell me something?" he asked.

    She nodded, then paused. "You said that you need to ask me something."

    "En. But you first."

    "No, you first."

    They looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed. This went on for almost a minute. Then Iris decided to go first but so did he. They ended up speaking at the same time.

    "Liwei, let¡¯s get married."

    "Love, how about we get married earlier than nned?"

    ###

    ###

    Chapter Title: "Let¡¯s Get Married"

 Chapter 631 - Poor Husband

    <h4>Chapter 631 - Poor Husband </h4>

    "Oh!"

    "You..."

    They stared at each in surprise, not expecting that they had the same idea.

    "Love, you really want to...I mean, are you sure... Really?"

    Iris rose and sat on the bed. He followed suit. They sat facing each other, their initial surprise reced by wonder.

    Jin Liwei wanted to marry her as soon as possible. He had been wanting to do so even before he realized that he had fallen in love with her, way back when he used all kinds of schemes to trick her into bing his girlfriend. But after facing various challenges together and realizing that he couldn¡¯t live the rest of his life without her, he became determined to do everything in order to keep her by his side forever. That included respecting and epting her wish to wait until she was ready before they could marry, despite wanting to make her officially andwfully his wedded wife right after his sessful marriage proposal.

    He weed the "ident" that happened to them in his office earlier today. If the "ident" sessfully bore fruit and she really got pregnant, then he finally had a strong reason to persuade her to marry him sooner than they originally nned. He had been waiting for something like this to push their wedding forward.

    Although he harboured thoughts of poking needle holes in his condoms or entering her raw before, he never put them into action because he would never betray her trust by doing those shady deeds behind her back. So when the condom broke during their intense lovemaking in his office, he was also shocked and didn¡¯t expect it to happen. He sure didn¡¯t break it on purpose. Nevertheless, he also didn¡¯t regret that he broke it. If his baby girl forgot to give Dominic Chua a raise after this, Jin Liwei decided that he would give it himself!

    Thanks to the "fragile" condom that Dom gave his baby girl, Jin Liwei now had an extra powerful ammo to make her marry him sooner. If she really got pregnant, there was no way he would allow their child to be born illegitimate and subject her and their baby to the ridicule of those idiotic people with backward mentality.

    He already made a mental n on how to persuade her to agree with him, not expecting that she would also suggest the same thing. This was why he was overjoyed when he heard the words "Let¡¯s get married" from her own lips.

    As for Iris, her reason for suggesting to marry earlier than nned wasn¡¯t asplicated as this. She just didn¡¯t want her big brother beating the shit out of Jin Liwei and possibly even murdering him if Lu Zihao discovered that she got pregnant out of wedlock¡ªIF she really got pregnant.

    Her fiercely protective big brother was the traditional type when it came to her and would never forgive Jin Liwei if he knocked her up before marrying her. In fact, it was alreadymendable that her brother was able to control himself and (reluctantly) ept the fact that Jin Liwei took her virginity and was living with her in addition to sleeping with her on a regr basis before marriage.

    Iris was thankful that her brother was now Lu Zihao, a sworn brother of Jin Liwei, and not the infamous and terrifying crown prince of the Vetrovs. If her brother was still Niki Vetrov...she shivered just thinking about it.

    Thus, in order to prevent her darling from getting murdered by her big brother, she thought that getting married earlier than nned would be the safer choice.

    "Let¡¯s marry before winter," Jin Liwei suggested.

    "So soon? What if I¡¯m not pregnant after all?"

    He frowned. "You won¡¯t marry me sooner if you¡¯re not pregnant?"

    "That¡¯s not what I mean. It¡¯s just that both of us are extremely busy right now..."

    "I already told you many times before that you¡¯re more important to me than my work. If I need to, I¡¯ll take leave from work for you. Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m the boss of Jin Corporation. I can create my own damn schedule if I want to. Busy or not, I¡¯ll choose you over thepany at any time. Besides, if anyone dares to kick me out of Jin Corporation, I¡¯ll just be a househusband. After all, my wife is a famous celebrity, not to mention that she has her own businesses which are doing extremely well. You¡¯ll take care of me and support me if your poor husband suddenly bes unemployed, won¡¯t you, my love?"

    Iris fell into a fit of giggles. "Of course, darling. I think I can manage to earn enough for both of us."

    "And for our children, too," he added.

    Her giggles turned nervous but she still nodded. "Yes. For our children, too," she agreed in a soft voice.

    He pulled her in his arms. "Don¡¯t worry, love. Except for Grandpa Lu, I won¡¯t let anyone snatch Jin Corporation away from me that easily. It¡¯s thepany which my own grandfather worked so hard with Grandpa Lu to build from the ground up and my father maintained until it was handed down to me. I want to be the one to take care of you and support you. But at least, I now have the peace of mind that you¡¯ll be willing to be a working wife if I ever end up being a humble househusband."

    "We¡¯ll take care and support each other, Liwei."

    "En." He inhaled the lovely scent of her hair (Orchidia Beauty shampoo and conditioner, soon to be released) and hugged her tighter. "I know that marrying me now will set you back a bit after all your hard work since the year started because there are still idiots who think that you¡¯re using me to advance your career."

    Her expression turned serious as she listened to him.

    He continued, "I know that you want to be recognized for your own aplishments and I respect that. I love and admire that about you. You¡¯re such a strong and independent woman, yet not everyone sees that. Stupid, blind fools!"

    ###

 Chapter 632 - Stable And Successful

    <h4>Chapter 632 - Stable And Sessful </h4>

    Jin Liwei snorted in derision at all his baby girl¡¯s detractors. He knew very well what an amazing, talented, and intelligent woman she was. A genius! Yet those blind fools still continued yapping away and spreading lies about his baby girl, not to mention belittling her achievements as if they had the ability to easily do the same things.

    Iris sighed and stroked his cheek, trying to calm his anger. She didn¡¯t pay much attention to the naysayers, most of the time treating them like fart¡ªunpleasant but would pass by and go away after some time.

    The same couldn¡¯t be said for Jin Liwei, however. ording to Ketchup, there were several asions when he bullied some people, giving them a taste of his domineering power and influence, because they said something bad about her. Almost all of them were members of high society. He hadn¡¯t said anything to her about those instances.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the talkative Ketchup, Iris wouldn¡¯t have known about it. Despite this, she didn¡¯t tell him that she knew about his secret actions of protecting her reputation because they already had a tacit understanding not to interfere with each other¡¯s works without permission. She wasn¡¯t mad. On the contrary, she felt thankful, loved and cared for by him. It gave her a feeling of security knowing that she could depend on him whenever she needed.

    Her touch calmed him down. He continued, "Fortunately, your achievements this year are all phenomenal, especially when ites to Orchidia Beauty. I¡¯m so proud of you, love."

    "Thanks." She smiled and patted his cheek.

    Despite his improved expression, Jin Liwei was still fuming deep inside because there were already some people trying to spin Orchidia Beauty¡¯s sess as something directly caused by him. Ridiculous! Those narrow-minded fools just couldn¡¯t understand that she could be so sessful in her own right. Even more infuriating was that those idiots were spreading their prejudiced views, wanting other people to believe that without him, his baby girl couldn¡¯t be so sessful on her own.

    Iris pinched his cheek. Hard.

    Jin Liwei grunted and grabbed her hand away from his poor cheek before rubbing it with his other hand. Then he retaliated by giving her a few loud, smacking kisses on her cheek which made her giggle again.

    "Liwei, don¡¯t worry about those people anymore. They¡¯re not important. I remember that after you proposed to me, I asked you to wait until both my showbiz career and businesses have stabilized and reached a certain level of sess before we could marry. It was a selfish request of mine¡ª"

    "Not at all. I understand."

    She scooted over to him and cozied up in his arms. "Yes," she agreed, sighing in contentment. "Do you think that my showbiz career is stable now?"

    "En. Your fans and the music industry waited for you even when you had to take breaks."

    "Is it sessful now?"

    "En. You¡¯re now one of the best-selling and most respected young musicians in showbiz, plus one of the top endorsers this year." Then he added, "My brother still holds the #1 spot for top endorser but you¡¯ll overtake him soon."

    "Brother Chonglin is a superstar. He won¡¯t be so easy to beat."

    "True," he agreed. "He¡¯s a superstar and I¡¯m proud of him as an older brother. But I believe that my wife will be a bigger superstar than him because my wife is the best."

    "I¡¯m not your wife yet," she retorted, giggling.

    "You¡¯ll be, if you agree to marry me soon."

    Instead of replying, she made herself morefortable in his embrace and continued asking, "How about mypanies? Are they stable? Would you consider them sessful at this stage?"

    "Let¡¯s see." Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became serious as he went into business mode. "Gold Heights is already sessful when you got it, so you don¡¯t have to worry about it too much. Just checking now and then is enough. You¡¯ve also been making full use of the fact that your mentor, Sir Enrique Valdez, is staying in one of your buildings which in turn has increased the value of thepany¡¯s stocks. Now Gold Heights is known as a ce that even world superstars like the legendary hitmaker would choose as a residence while staying here in China. Well done, my love."

    The couple shared a shameless smile while the sound of a certain old man¡¯s boomingughter echoed inside their minds.

    "Next is Monkey. Your gamingpany recently managed to break even and started to really make a profit. To be honest, it¡¯s the one among your businesses that I felt the most nervous about because you spent so much money buying Exlorsson¡¯s advanced technology. If he wasn¡¯t a Cross Academy student like you, I would¡¯ve done everything in my power to dissuade you from that particr investment. Fortunately, ¡¯Supreme Ascension¡¯became a big hit among gamers. However, I still want you to exercise caution because the gaming industry is very fickle especially for newpanies. You need to keep your current gamers invested in the game and evoke loyalty from them while also trying to attract new gamers."

    Iris nodded.

    "Then there¡¯s Orchidia Beauty. What more can I say about it? It¡¯s a winner."

    "Alric Bauer¡¯s products are unbelievably amazing. That¡¯s why it¡¯s such a big sess," she said.

    "Yes, and there¡¯s you, my love. Without you, there would have been no Orchidia Beauty. Bauer¡¯s products would probably continue being sold by his sister at that street market in Munich."

    "Maybe. How about Libert¨¦?" she asked next.

    "Announcing it at such a high-profile event as Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch was an excellent idea. Not to mention you and my brother will eventually release your perfume lines under its brand. It¡¯s already making waves before you even officiallyunch it," he said. "However, we won¡¯t know for sure until then. Clover needs to sort out everything about it first. She¡¯ll have a lot of work to do because Sang Bleu didn¡¯t have a good reputation and many are still prejudiced against it. A delicate but aggressive rebranding is needed for it to be sessful."

    ###

 Chapter 633 - On Fire

    <h4>Chapter 633 - On Fire </h4>

    Listening to Jin Liwei¡¯s brief analyses of each of herpanies provided Iris a more objective view of them. Indeed, having the country¡¯s top businessman of his generation as a fianc¨¦ had its advantages. Despite this, she never depended on him to make her businesses sessful. That was something that she was determined to do on her own and wanted to prove to everyone. However, it didn¡¯t mean that she would reject his offer of help if she needed it.

    She straightened so that they sat face to face. "Mypanies are still nowhere near Jin Corporation¡¯s level but based on the fact that I¡¯ve only been a businesswomanst year, I think that they¡¯ve be quite stable and sessful enough."

    "En." Then he raised an eyebrow, a teasing smile lifting the corner of his lips. "So you n for yourpanies to reach Jin Corporation¡¯s level? Or maybe you want them to surpass mypany?"

    "Of course," she said, not denying it. Now it was her turn to tease him. "You just mentioned that if you be an unemployed househusband, then I would need to support you as a working wife. I want to at least reach your level in both status and wealth in the business world because you¡¯re already used to being a global billionaire. I would prefer it if we could continue enjoying our current lifestyle for the rest of our lives even if it¡¯s just me who¡¯s earning for us, you know."

    He chuckled. "My wife is so thoughtful."

    "So what I mean is..." Iris took a deep breath before telling him, "Even if it¡¯s earlier than what I envisioned, I think that I¡¯m ready to marry you now. Regardless of what others may think or say about us marrying this early, even if they use me of using you for personal gain, I don¡¯t want to care anymore. I don¡¯t care. For me, what¡¯s important is the two of us and our happiness."

    "Exactly." He lifted her chin and rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb.

    "I love you, Jin Liwei. I want to share the rest of my life with you. What¡¯s mine is yours."

    "And everything that¡¯s mine, including myself and my body, are yours as well," he replied. Then he lowered his head and kissed her on the lips. It was tender and sweet yet filled with the promise of his eternal devotion to her. "Once again, I ask you. Long Xin, will you marry me?"

    "Oh yes."

    ###

    ###

    "Big Sis, hurry up! There¡¯s only one minute left in the countdown!" Ming Li (a.k.a. LittlePhoenix) hollered while staring at theptop screen.

    "I¡¯ll be done soon!" Zhou Mei¡¯er¡¯s voice called from inside the toilet. She was also known online as CaptainckStar, the founder and president of the ck Stars fan club.

    Momentster, Zhou Mei¡¯er¡¯s hurried footsteps returned to where Ming Li was waiting with theptop. They squeezed together on the small bed.

    Zhou Mei¡¯er recently moved into this old apartment from the university dorms. A fellow ck Star informed her about the avable unit after learning where she was studying. The ck Star was the great-grandson of thendlord. She immediately grabbed the offer because the rent was many times cheaper than the dorms.

    The apartment was very old that there were times she thought it was haunted. Her unit was also very small, barely enough to fit a bed, desk and a closet, but it had a kitchte and her own bathroom. It wasn¡¯t the most luxurious but she preferred it over the university dorms because she could finally enjoy some privacy.

    When she finished settling into the unit, Ming Li starteding over when the teenager had no school. Tonight would be the first time that Ming Li¡¯s parents allowed her to sleep over in the ce. Zhou Mei¡¯er finally gained their trust, mainly because she continued to study hard in university while working part-time to support herself despite being a hardcore fan of Iris Long. Ming Li¡¯s parents thought that she was a good role model for their teen daughter.

    "Twenty seconds left!" Ming Li started squealing and bouncing on the squeaky bed.

    Zhou Mei¡¯er was also excited, her fingers busy typing on her phone. She was chatting with their simrly excited fellow ck Stars online.

    "10! 9! 8...

    "...3! 2! 1!"

    "Kyaaaaaah! It¡¯s here! Big Sis, it¡¯s here!" Ming Li almost fell off the bed in her overexcitement.

    "Shhhh! I can¡¯t hear." Zhou Mei¡¯er clicked on a link, increased theptop¡¯s sound volume, and turned off the lights in the room.

    Then a video started ying on theputer screen.

    "Passionate mes" by Jin Chonglin, featuring Iris Long.

    ###

    It was another big night in the music industry. Jin Chonglin and Iris Long¡¯s newest single together titled "Passionate mes" finally debuted.

    When the release date was first announced, many artists who were also scheduled to release their music around this time actually changed their release dates to avoid going head to head against Jin Chonglin and Iris Long.

    Individually, the two of them were already tough opponents to beat. Together, they were considered to be absolute powerhouses in the current music scene.

    It was already expected for Jin Chonglin to dominate the music charts because of his superstar status and huge army of loyal fans. As for Iris Long, her renown might have only been very recent but her achievements so far had already outstripped Jin Chonglin¡¯s when he was at her age.

    Special award for creating new musical techniques!

    The youngest and the first Chinese to win a Soleil d¡¯Or Award for Best Soundtrack at the Sommet International Film Festival!

    Performed with legendary world-ss musicians Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez!

    Each of these were all history-making achievements! Although Iris Long¡¯s current fame still couldn¡¯tpare to Jin Chonglin¡¯s, many industry experts predicted that it was only now a matter of time before she became a true powerhouse in the music industry in every sense of the word.

    It was no wonder that as soon as "Passionate mes" was released, it quickly climbed up to #1 trending online.

    The music video was on fire.

    Literally.

 Chapter 634 - The Dragon And The Phoenix

    <h4>Chapter 634 - The Dragon And The Phoenix </h4>

    "Passionate mes" was a catchy R&B/hip-hop song corresponding to the musical style which Jin Chonglin became known for in recent years when he reinvented himself and solidified his position as a music superstar in the country. It was a sensual song yet not vulgar.

    Right after watching the entire music video, the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans flooded the inte with theirments. They gushed over the music video and began discussing it among themselves with much excitement.

    "Wow! Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris look so AMAZING in this MV! Look at their bodies! Lick the screen! Yum!"

    "Prince Lin Lin has always been a great dancer so I¡¯m not surprised about his dancing skills. As for Boss Iris, I remember that she was also a rather good dancer back in her teen pop idol days but she looked so tacky before, like a girl who was trying too hard to be a wannabe sex symbol. I¡¯m so relieved watching her in this MV! She¡¯s so sexy while dancing but still somehow managed to maintain her delicate femininity and elegance! How does she do it?!"

    "It¡¯s because she¡¯s our Boss Iris! Everything she decides to do, she does it like a QUEEN!"

    "Damn, she can really move her body! CEO Jin is a lucky man!"

    "This choreography is top-notch! The best I¡¯ve watched this year! That dance break! Holy! Ah, the fire! Is that real fire?! Whoa! The sweat on their bodies! Those abs! *dies in happiness*"

    "Our Boss Iris doesn¡¯t lose to Prince Lin Lin in dancing. That power and strength!"

    One amateur music criticmented:

    "Everyone¡¯s talking about the choreography and the dancing but my favourite is still the song itself. This just proves that both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long are such versatile vocalists. They could sing almost anything! I¡¯m especially impressed with Iris Long. This is apletely different genre than what she has showed us so far¡ªfrom the cutesy-sexy dance pop during her teen years, to the ssical-inspired bads she mastered when she made hereback, to the amazing rock-ssical fusion she did with Pandemonium, then the sweet love song ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯ which remains a hit until now. Singing this R&B/hip-hop song, her voice doesn¡¯t sound out of ce at all.

    "Now let¡¯s talk about the songposition. The music is very Jin Chonglin, something that we¡¯re used to listening from him. However, the quality of lyrics are quite different from his previous songs in this genre. This song is more poetic and meaningful. It¡¯s clear that he put a great deal of effort writing the lyrics. I suspect that he was influenced by Iris Long who is known not only for her soul-stirring musicalposition but also for her thought-provoking lyrics.

    "In conclusion, ¡¯Passionate mes¡¯ is a delightful surprise from both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long. Both of them have ventured out of theirfort zones with this song and yed it with flying colours. But is it a masterpiece? I personally don¡¯t think so. Sure, it¡¯s awesome. It¡¯s a grand piece, I¡¯ll give it that, but certainly not a masterpiece. Nevertheless, I still give this song a 4 out of 5 stars!"

    The ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were thrilled by this amateur critic¡¯s review of their boss and prince¡¯s new song...at the beginning. They hit the "like" button but when they read thest part of the review, they immediately turned berserk and hit "dislike" in addition to criticizing the critic rather harshly, even though he gave the song a high rating.

    "You say it¡¯s not a masterpiece? Are you blind and deaf?!"

    "Something must be wrong with your ears because ¡¯Passionate mes¡¯ sound like a masterpiece to me. And that dancing? EPIC!!!"

    As more and more people watched the music video, many noticed its quality of production.

    "The filmography of this MV is seriously lit! Movie-quality, yo! There¡¯s an interesting background story and not just random dancing like other typical MVs shot in cheap studios. The budget for this must be expensive!"

    "This is Prince Lin Lin we¡¯re talking about. Of course Bright Summit will give a superstar like him a big budget for his projects. And he¡¯s coborating with Iris Long, JJ¡¯s current prot¨¦g¨¦. That ogre¡¯s recordbel is the one in charge of their cobs, so of course the quality is guaranteed."

    Afterwards, some hawk-eyed people who had already watched the music video many times started noticing symbols. Once someone mentioned them, the fans and even some experts in the music industry began hunting for all the symbols hidden in the music video and trying to decode them.

    At first nce, the music video seemed to be a passionate love story between the characters Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were ying. On closer inspection, however, there were a lot of symbols that might be referring to Jin Liwei instead, even though he didn¡¯t make any appearane in the MV at all.

    One example was a scene where Iris burst into mes and a phoenix-shaped fire shot out of her into the sky. Her fans knew that the phoenix had be somewhat of her symbol when she made a sessfuleback with her "Rebirth" album.

    The next scene added anotheryer of symbolism to the phoenix that came out of Iris. A mighty flood dragon suddenly rose up from an icy ocean. The dragon and the phoenix seemed to be barrelling towards each other, roaring mightily like they were about to engage in an epic battle. Contrary to expectations, however, the dragon and the phoenix didn¡¯t fight but instead wrapped around each other like lovers before flying up in the sky and disappearing in a spectacr heavenly fireworks.

    "Do you remember the matching bangles Boss Iris and CEO Jin always wear? If you look closely, they¡¯re engraved with a dragon and a phoenix to represent their eternal love! I bet my humble but mighty slippers that the flood dragon in the MV symbolizes CEO Jin while the phoenix is obviously our boss!"

    "OMG! I think you¡¯re right! This is freaking awesome!"

    "The dragon came out of an icy ocean. CEO Jin Liwei is known for his intimidating, icy-cold expression! Yes, I think he¡¯s the flood dragon in this MV!"

    "Oh! Don¡¯t forget that during the red carpet event at the Sommet International Film Festival in France, CEO Jin and Boss Iris also wore a dragon and phoenix-inspired suit and dress!"

    "Yes, I remember! They¡¯ve always used the dragon and the phoenix as their symbols!"

    This particr scene onlysted for a few seconds in the music video yet it ended up being dissected again and again as people tried to extract more meaning from the dragon and phoenix symbols.

    There were also other symbols these obsessive fans and experts uncovered. Whether they were intended or not, neither Iris Long nor Jin Chonglin had confirmed yet. JJ¡¯s recordbel and Bright Summit also kept their silence about this topic for now. In the meantime, the people were having a field day trying to decipher more symbols from the music video.

    In just one day, the song "Passionate mes" by Jin Chonglin, featuring Iris Long shot up to the top and became #1 in the daily best-selling rankings of various online music stores and streaming websites and apps.

    ###

 Chapter 635 - Iris Effec

    <h4>Chapter 635 - Iris Effec </h4>

    Friday.

    A motorcade of shiny, ck cars escorted tworge executive vans. The vehicles moved slowly because the road was packed with excited and screaming people. Security personnel tried controlling the huge crowd while the motorcade passed by the TV station¡¯s front gates.

    Momentster, people from several blocks away heard a thunderous noise of human voices screaming, shouting, yelling, and shrieking. It was so loud that the air seemed to vibrate. They thought that a tragic ident urred before realizing that the noise sounded excited rather than frightened.

    Back at the road in front of the TV station, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin waved at their fans outside the windows of their respective vans. They were the ones being escorted by the impressive motorcade and the objects of adoration of the huge crowd.

    Based on past experiences, the management of the TV program MusicFest Tonight requested for Iris Long and Jin Chonglin to arrive together instead of separately because they had no confidence that their staff would be able to handle two separate instances of a huge crowd of fans going wild. In addition, the two celebrities were also told not enter though the front like usual because the management already anticipated that the crowd this time would be muchrger than the previous times the two performed on the show. It wouldn¡¯t be safe for either Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s teams or for their fans. Not only them. It also wouldn¡¯t be safe for any of the TV station¡¯s staff or for the other arriving celebrities.

    Although both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin liked taking the time to interact with their fans in person, they had toply this time because Bright Summit Entertainment Company wasn¡¯t taking any chances and tightened security protocols around them in response to what happened to them during the bomb incident. The two of them were currently this year¡¯s top best-selling musicians under the talent managementpany, so it was only expected that Bright Summit would prioritize their safety after such a horrifying attack.

    The back entrance of the TV station was already secured just for them. No other artists performing at the music program tonight were given this kind of special treatment.

    Treating Jin Chonglin as a VIP was already expected¡ªhe was a superstar¡ªso nobodyined.

    What about Iris Long? She was no superstar.

    However, she had already gained enough prestige through winning multiple awards this year, two of them history-makers¡ªfirst, the special technical award for creating new musical techniques, and second, the Soleil d¡¯Or Award for Best Soundtrack in the Sommet International Film Festival.

    As a result, many serious artists in the country¡¯s music industry now admired and respected her. There was a notable shift in the kind of music the new, young artists who just debuted were releasing. Instead of the typical, simplistic, catchy pop music designed to appeal to most of the general poption, there was a rise in newly debuted artists who were releasing lyrical and emotional bads, purely instrumental music, experimental fusion of genres, and also attempting to sessfully sing sustained high notes or even whistle notes.

    JJ had been recorded on tape bragging that this was all because of Iris Long¡¯s influence. His friend, the notable music critic DJ Song, had called this trend the "Iris Effect". Soon after, other critics and industry experts followed suit and began using the term to describe this new phenomenon in the country¡¯s music scene.

    This kind of shift was considered unprecedented because recordbels usually wouldn¡¯t take a gamble of veering away from tried and true methods that they had been using throughout the years, especially when it came to new artists who were just debuting.

    But Iris Long and JJ changed all of that. JJ had given Iris Long an unimaginable degree of creative freedom, even going so far as allowing her to experiment with almost each of her music releases since her showbizeback. Many called JJ insane, yet look who wasughing now and basking in the sess of his prot¨¦g¨¦.

    Their partnership had now reached a near legendary status in the music industry to the point that many new artists were choosing JJ¡¯s recordbel as their first choice. Unfortunately, Iris Long¡¯s blinding sess story made them forget about JJ¡¯s notoriety in the music industry. Not everyone had Iris Long¡¯s guts in butting heads directly with the temperamental music producer. There had been quite a few disillusioned new artists who ran away in tears after experiencing JJ¡¯s bad temper and his honest but vicious criticisms.

    Given how respected Iris Long had be in the country¡¯s music industry after hereback, even directly influencing thetest new artists¡¯ musical styles, nobody dared to protest against her receiving the same VIP treatment as Jin Chonglin who was a superstar. Besides, she was currently in a music coboration with him, not to mention that almost everyone in the country knew that they were eventually going to be siblings-inw.

    The two VIPs and their teams were personally weed by Director He and other staff of MusicFest Tonight and escorted them to the two best dressing rooms.

    Along the way, Iris noticed that her female bodyguard would always hold her arm and steady her whenever there were stairs even though she was perfectly bnced. This wasn¡¯t the only thing that she observed.

    She wasn¡¯t allowed to carry a single thing. Whenever she picked up something and intended to carry it, Dom and her bodyguards would freak out and snatch the guilty item from her hands as if it weighed five hundred kilos.

    Whenever she asked for a drink, a wide variety of non-alcoholic beverage choices would arrive within two seconds including some healthy fruits and snacks that she didn¡¯t ask for.

    Another bizarre thing was that one of her bodyguards now carried a foldable chair.

    "What¡¯s that for?" she asked.

    "This is for the mistress to sit down when you feel tired standing up," he replied.

    "Oh. Okay. Thanks."

    She didn¡¯t think too much about it but after noticing more of these things, they began adding up and confusing her. It felt like Dom and her bodyguards had be extra protective of her yet at the same time gentle to her as if she was fragile.

    "Why are you all acting like this?" Iris asked Dom in a whisper.

    "Sir boss instructed us to make sure that you don¡¯t strain or tire yourself," he whispered.

    "Huh? Why would he do that? I¡¯m fine. You know that the doctor already pronounced me healthy¡ª" Her eyes widened as realization set in. "Oh."

    "Ehehehe." Dom grinned but his eyes quickly became moist. He looked like he was about to cry. "Boss, are you really¡ª"

    "Shush your mouth! Not here," she immediately stopped him before looking around to make sure that nobody heard their conversation. "We¡¯ll talkter, okay?"

    Dom nodded.

    "What are you two whispering about over there?" Tang Yiyi suddenly asked.

    Iris smiled at her manager. "Nothing."

    Tang Yiyi looked at her for two seconds before instructing the makeup artist and hairstylist to start working on Iris. Fortunately, the manager was too busymunicating with the show¡¯s staff and coordinating with Jin Chonglin¡¯s team to ask Iris more questions.

    Iris sighed in relief, her hand subconsciously touching her t stomach.

    ###

 Chapter 636 - Passionate Flames Part I

    <h4>Chapter 636 - Passionate mes Part I </h4>

    "Wee back to MusicFest Tonight!" the male host said after themercial break.

    Wild, loud and desperate screams could be heard clearly from the audience.

    "We¡¯re now down to our final performers of the night," the female host spoke next. "I think you all know who they are, yes?"

    "YEEEEEEEESSSS!!!"

    "Hurry up!!! We can¡¯t wait anymore!!!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

    Male host: "Ladies and gentlemen! Performing their newly-released single together which immediately became a hit upon its debut earlier this week..."

    Female host: "Please wee the current music chart toppers, Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, singing..."

    Both: "Passionate mes!"

    A line of light lit up the front edge of the dark stage.

    Then a spotlight revealed Jin Chonglin.

    The audience immediately went crazy as soon as he appeared. He didn¡¯t even do anything yet, just stood there in a simple, cool pose but the audience members were already acting as if he saved the world from the apocalypse or something.

    Instead of his usual shy performance costumes, he wore a simple outfit this time. ck tank top and military green cargo pants. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t look boring. No, not at all! On the contrary, he looked very masculine in the simple outfit. The tank top fitted his upper body like a second skin, entuating the V-shape of his upper body and his hard muscles, and making so many panties drenched by his oozing manliness and gorgeousness.

    After the initial screams, the audience went quiet in anticipation for the other performer they had been waiting for as well. They held their breaths and focused their eyes on the still mainly dark stage, not wanting to miss a moment.

    Then all of a sudden, they heard the sound of slow, steady footsteps. Another spotlight lit up on the stage but it wasn¡¯t like how it happened with Jin Chognlin. Instead, this particr spotlight aimed low and lit up a pair of ck high-heeled ankle boots walking in time with the sound of the footsteps reverberating throughout the entire studio. Even though they couldn¡¯t see the entire person yet, the audience already knew who it was just based on the recognizable "I¡¯m the queen" runway walk.

    "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

    The pair of high-heeled boots continued walking, headed Jin Chonglin¡¯s way. Then the two spotlights finally converged. When that happened, the entire stage lit up, finally revealing Iris Long posing beside Jin Chonglin.

    She wore a simr outfit as him. Military green cargo pants riding low on her hips and ck turtleneck leather tank top which showed off the lower half of her toned t stomach without looking vulgar. If this kind of outfit was worn by other female performers, most of them would look slutty. On Iris, however, theplete ensemble made her look tough and bad-ass, like a boss, yet still feminine and elegant.

    On the stage, Jin Chonglin and Iris Long along with the back-up dancers behind them were frozen in a cool tableau.

    Then Jin Chonglin and Iris Long made a sharp move to face the audience, half-ring and half-smizing at their crazily screaming fans.

    Jin Chonglin raised a hand and started counting with his fingers.

    "1, 2. 1, 2, 3! Here we go!"

    Trumpet sounds red all of a sudden mixed with an electronic beat. A muffled explosive sound effect followed when the short intro ended. The music started and everyone onstage began dancing to the smooth R&B melody blended with a catchy hip hop beat.

    Jin Chonglin swept a hand towards Iris Long and started singing into his headset microphone. His voice was like warm caramel, making some of the ultra-sensitive members of the audience roll their eyes to the back of their heads, on the brink of powerful mindgasms.

    "Waking up in this world

    I looked around for something

    I could catch a hold of

    Surprised I was to find out"

    Iris sang next, taking over the music seamlessly from Jin Chonglin, as if there was no separation in their perfectly harmonized voices.

    "You were the one who grabbed my heart

    And stole right it in front of my eyes

    I could not even struggle at all

    So why do I feel no regret at all?"

    The music became richer as more instrumental elements were added. The beat became a little stronger, a little more urgent, a little more intense.

    Jin Chonglin did a body roll while Iris Long tossed her long, wavy hair in the air just in time as the stage lit up with real fire. The fiery illumination made them look wilder, dangerous, and sensual.

    The two were perfectly synchronized as they danced like a pair of lovers, making everyone, not just the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, go even wilder.

    Jin Chonglin sang to his beautiful partner, thrusting his chest in a panty-drenching hip hop move.

    "My heart is your possession

    Yet I want it no other way"

    Iris did the same move, looking alluring and graceful at the same time. Her voice rose higher, giving another dimension to the catchy melody.

    "Your love is filling my heart

    Filling mepletely"

    The two sang together.

    "Just the way it¡¯s supposed to be!"

    The heat from the fire surrounding them and the intensity of their movements made them sweat. It spritzed from their bodies every time they moved sharply, making all the people watching them feel breathless.

    Iris dropped to the ground on her back while Jin Chonglin stood behind her. Every time he moved his hand, the part of Iris¡¯ body which was directly above it would move as well, as if his hand was holding a maic force.

    Then the monitor behind the stage suddenly lit up and showed a fire phoenix rising from the point where Iris was lying on the ground.

    ###

 Chapter 637 - Passionate Flames Part II

    <h4>Chapter 637 - Passionate mes Part II </h4>

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice also hit the high notes, adding some growl to match the more intense melody and stronger beat.

    "You looked like a phoenix

    Risen from the ashes once more

    I don¡¯t even care about my body burning

    You fill my mind every moment"

    He helped Iris to her feet in a smooth dance move while she sang the next lines of the chorus.

    "Even if you burn my life out

    I will burn into passionate mes

    Just like my love for you

    Burning fiercer than ever before"

    The fire phoenix on the big monitor spread its massive wings and began flying around the entire studio. Amazed exmations sounded from the audience as they apuded the high-quality projection on the big studio¡¯s walls and ceiling. However, their attention soon returned to their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris who sang and danced together on the burning stage.

    "My heart is your possession

    Yet I want it no other way

    Your love filling my heart

    Filling mepletely

    Just the way it¡¯s supposed to be

    So here we are bearing witness to love

    My ring just like a cor"

    By this point, the two looked like their bodies had been oiled. The mes on the stage became stronger, making them glisten even more. Their fans¡¯ throats became dry as they watched the two move their amazing bodies to the beat of the music.

    "Showing the world I¡¯m yours

    So gods bear witness to our love

    And know interference will result in a price

    No mortal or immortal could pay"

    Iris Long jumped and Jin Chonglin caught her in a rumba-like move mixed with hip hop.

    Jin Chonglin: "For you are mine, my love"

    Iris Long: "And like my ring has told the world before"

    Both: "I belong to you and only you~"

    Their voices rose higher together.

    Then higher.

    And higher...higher...still higher until the final highest note.

    Their pitches rose in a total of five semitone increments, making their fans burst into tears and goosebumps.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans were especially proud of him because this was perhaps the first time that they heard him sing such high and sustained notes before. He really went above and beyond for this second music coboration with Iris Long who was known for her impressive whistle notes.

    After the deceptively simple yet highly demanding harmonized vocal acrobatics of the pair, the music changed as the hip hop element took over and the song entered a dance break. The back-up dancers retreated out of sight, leaving only Jin Chonglin and Iris Long alone together on the stage.

    Then rain started pouring from the ceiling, immediately drenching the two of them. The once zing fires surrounding them weakened to sputtering embers yet didn¡¯tpletely go out. At the same time, the huge monitor behind the stage lit up once again and a thunderous roar reverberated as a mighty flood dragon rose from the flooded floor.

    Iris Long and Jin Chonglin danced under the pouring rain. Water sshed with their every step and spritzed with every turn. They thrust their hips and chests, rolled their bodies, and tossed their heads. Jin Chonglin even did a somersault while Iris Long twisted her hips in a belly dance-hip hop fusion move.

    Just a few moments ago, they impressed everyone with their vocal mastery. Now, they were impressing everyone with their superb dancing skills.

    A high-pitched roar sounded and the mes on the stage began burning fiercely once again. The fire phoenix flew back to the stage and the mighty flood dragon weed it with a deep, triumphant roar. As the projections of the two immortal creatures met and wrapped around each other like lovers, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin performed a series of powerful synchronized moves before ending the dance break.

    By this time, plenty of the audience members had already fainted from overexcitement and overstimtion. One was even twitching on the floor and foaming in the mouth but still had a big smile on her face due to the happiness of witnessing such an epic performance.

    Already anticipating such rming scenes from past experiences when Jin Chonglin and Iris Long performed on the show before, the TV program had increased the number of first aid responders stationed in the studio. The people who fainted were quickly carried away and taken care of. However, a handful of them woke up in the middle of being carried away. They fought the first aid responders who were helping them because they wanted to return to their seats in order to watch the performance until the end. The responders were speechless but didn¡¯t stop them because they too wanted to finish watching the amazing performance as well.

    Back on the stage, the performance had now reached climax. The projections of the fire phoenix and the flood dragon roared together before flying upwards. Then fireworks exploded around the stage as the two immortal creatures disappeared.

    The stormy rain had stopped and was reced by a gentle drizzle instead. Even the zing mes around the stage appeared softer. Then suddenly, a rainbow projection lit up in magical sparkles just above the performers on the stage, eliciting another wave of amazed exmations from the audience.

    Jin Chonglin and Iris Long sang the final lines of the song together, their pitches lighter and sweeter, yet still sounding passionate. Their powerful and intense dance moves also transitioned into slower and smoother movements.

    "My heart is in your possession

    Yet I want it no other way"

    Iris Long looked directly into the camera and sang her heart out, conveying the words to the man she wanted to spend the rest of her live with. She knew that he was watching her on TV right now. Jin Chonglin sang with her but all she could think about was the older brother, Jin Liwei.

    Her man, her lover, the one who always lit the passionate mes inside her.

    "Filling me uppletely

    Just the way it¡¯s supposed to be~"

    The song finally ended.

    Iris lifted her wrist and kissed her LX bangle, her lips touching the engraved dragon. The diamond ring on her finger sparkled under the spotlights.

    ###

 Chapter 638 - Good Auspicious Date

    <h4>Chapter 638 - Good Auspicious Date </h4>

    Jin Corporation.

    A standing ovation followed Jin Chonglin and Iris Long¡¯s epic performance. The roaring apuse wasperfectly transmitted through the huge tscreen television mounted on the wall.

    Jin Liwei smiled as his baby girl looked directly at him through the TV screen and mouthed the words "This is for you, darling" before waving and bowing to the audience. Of course, he already knew that her passionate and sensual performance was for him.

    Before the bomb incident, she tried rehearsing the song and dance in front of him but her sexiness always made him snap and lose control. He grabbed her and pushed her down the floor to make love with her before she could even finish. After many instances of it happening, he suspected that she was doing it on purpose to seduce him. Not that he wasining.

    Now that he watched the full performance,plete with the amazing stage effects, blood rushed towards his lower region. There was no one as beautiful, talented, and sexy as his baby girl for him.

    Watching his brother Jin Chonglin singing and dancing such a sensual and passionate song with his woman, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but feel jealous. However, she already took the time before to reassure him that he would be the only one she would be thinking all throughout the performance so there was no need for him to feel jealous of his own brother.

    Besides, she was the one who suggested the idea of adding the phoenix and dragon symbolisms into the music video and the live performance to honour their rtionship even though the song was written by Jin Chonglin. The creative team behind the making of the music video thought that it was an excellent idea, so in the end, Jin Chonglin gave in because he too admitted that it was indeed a great idea. He still sulked a lot after that, though.

    Jin Liwei appreciated the inclusion of the phoenix and the dragon. He already long treated them as the symbols representing his love he shared with her. His thoughts behind it might be over the top, but he didn¡¯t care.

    For him, she was the phoenix queen showing everyone her magnificence while he was the dragon king always protecting her. Their love was eternal!

    The inclusion of these symbols into the music video made him feel like he was also a part of the song, and in turn, lessened the jealousy he felt at his younger brother for writing such a sensual song and dragging his baby girl to help him sing it.

    He leaned back on his opulent leather seat in front of his massive office desk. His full attention was on the post-performance interview. He frowned, thinking that the hosts were taking too long asking questions. His baby girl was drenched! If they wouldn¡¯t give her something warm to cover herself up, then they should at least hurry up and end the interview so that she could return backstage. If his baby girl fell ill after this, he would make sure to sue the crap out of the TV program!

    His frown deepened when his eyes fell on her semi-exposed t stomach. He almost didn¡¯t let her perform tonight because he was too worried about her possible condition. They still didn¡¯t know whether she was pregnant or not. This song required her to sing and dance at the same time. And the dancing was quite intense, too. What if she was really pregnant and ended up overexerting herself?

    Worried, they called his second brother, Dr. Wang Yingjie, and expressed their concern. He assured them that Iris would be fine because she was young, healthy and fit, and regrly worked out. In his opinion, her body would be able to handle the performance as long as she didn¡¯t do it too hard or too long. Also, he said that as long as she felt fine, then she would most likely be just fine. However, he suggested that he would personally check on her the day after the performance to make sure that she was really alright. Maybe they could even try getting her a pregnancy test, although Wang Yingjie thought that it was still too early.

    Only upon receiving Wang Yingjie¡¯s assurance did Jin Liwei feelfortable enough to let his baby girl perform on the stage tonight. But he still informed Dominic and his subordinates to take extra care of her and to let her rest as much as possible. He would always worry about her regardless of whether she was pregnant or not.

    Sensing the uneasiness in his boss, Xu Tian served him a cup of hot, calming herbal tea. He also watched the Second Master and Miss Long¡¯s performance on TV, temporarily pausing their remaining tasks for the day.

    They originally nned to finish early today so that Jin Liwei could watch tonight¡¯s episode of MusicFest Tonight in thefort of his own mansion and also be the one to wee his baby girl home this time after so long of returningte. Unfortunately, a serious issue in the marketing department came up in the afternoon. All the executives had to gather together in a meeting in order to resolve it. In the end, Jin Liwei¡¯s original n of going home early had to be scrapped.

    As the one in charge of the marketing department, Rose Young apologized for the issue before immediately proposing some solutions to the problems. She waspetent in this way. Still, she only apologized briefly but didn¡¯t say that it was her fault.

    The meeting extended into the evening and only just finished. If Jin Liwei didn¡¯t drive his fellow executives with an iron fist, he might¡¯ve missed MusicFest Tonight.

    Rose Young suggested that they eat dinner together but Jin Liwei refused and returned to his office to switch on the TV. There was no way he was going to miss his baby girl¡¯s performance.

    Back to the present, MusicFest Tonight finally ended. Jin Liwei sipped his hot tea, already feeling calmer now that his baby girl¡¯s performance was over. She looked alright. What a relief!

    "Ketchup, monitor your mom. Any sign of pain or difort from her, immediately order her security team to send her directly to the nearest hospital. Understood?"

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei switched off the TV and faced the documents on his desk once again. Xu Tian was also about to return to his own tasks. However, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t resume working. He stared at the documents for almost a minute before sighing and pushing them away.

    "These can wait until tomorrow," he said before standing up.

    Xu Tian was at a loss for a moment before quickly recovering. "Understood, President."

    "Let¡¯s go home."

    "Yes, President."

    They left the office and was about to enter the elevator when Jin Liwei suddenly stopped and turned to Xu Tian.

    "Oh, I almost forgot. Coordinate with Dominic regarding the schedules of both Xin and I. Find a good, auspicious date for a wedding before winter when both of us are free, preferably by next month. I want Xin to be my legal wife as soon as possible."

    Xu Tian tripped on his own feet and almost smashed his face on the wall.

    ###

 Chapter 639 - Scarlet Woman

    <h4>Chapter 639 - Scarlet Woman </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The next morning.

    "Oh, so I¡¯m not pregnant after all," Iris said.

    She felt a pair of strong arms tightening around her waist. She turned and looked at her darling¡¯s face who was holding her on hisp. They were sitting on the couch in their bedroom suite¡¯s living area. This time, she couldn¡¯t read his expression.

    "The test came out negative today but that doesn¡¯t mean anything at this point," Wang Yingjie replied, looking at his third brother who was hiding his emotions behind an unreadable expression. Nevertheless, as one of his best friends, he could vaguely tell what his third brother was feeling. He sighed and continued speaking, "I already told the two of you that it¡¯s still too early. We¡¯ll do this test again after your missed period¡ªif you miss it. Is that alright with you, Xin?"

    "Yes, of course." She paused and tilted her head to the side. "But ever since I woke up froma for the first time, there are times that I have irregr periods especially when I be too busy working. I was told that it¡¯s because of stress or perhaps some remaining hidden damage from the ident... Will that be a problem?"

    Wang Yingjie thought for a moment before answering. "No, I looked at your medical records. You¡¯re healthy and fit unless you¡¯re in an ident that leave you injured like what happened during the bomb¡ªanyway, let¡¯s just do the pregnancy test again about a couple of weeks after the date that the two of you had unprotected sex." He turned to Jin Liwei. "That¡¯s the day you called me, right?"

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded, remembering that he indeed called his second brother after his baby girl left his office after their wild and intense lovemaking which resulted in the torn condom.

    "Alright." Wang Yingjie took out his phone and looked at his schedule before making an appointment with the couple for the next pregnancy test.

    With that done, he started organizing his medical equipment and stuffing them in a shiny, metal wheeled luggage. At the same time, he was advising Iris not to overwork herself while they weren¡¯t sure yet if she was really pregnant or not.

    Afterwards, the couple walked with Wang Yingjie to the grand foyer to see him off.

    He bid them goodbye and drove off in his own car. A yawn broke his usual serious expression. He performed a nine-hour surgery which only ended earlier that morning. He hadn¡¯t slept a wink yet. Although exhausted, he still dropped by his third brother¡¯s ce after leaving the hospital in order to fulfill his promise to check on Iris.

    Jin Liwei had been pestering him almost every day ever since the couple had an idental unprotected sex. Wang Yingjie was a surgeon and an extremely busy one at that, not to mention that the hospital that he worked at was one of the biggest and busiest in the country. He didn¡¯t have a lot of free time. In addition, he wasn¡¯t an OB-GYN. Despite this, he still granted his third brother¡¯s request just because they were sworn brothers, the best of friends. To him, doing this much was nothing because it was for family.

    Iris had her own OB-GYN but at this stage, Wang Yingjie understood why Jin Liwei would consult him instead. Both Jin Liwei and Iris were public figures. People always wanted to know what was going on in the couple¡¯s private lives. If it was discovered that Iris Long became pregnant out of wedlock, it would incite another scandal for her, even though she was already engaged to Jin Liwei. There were always malicious people out there waiting to pounce on the smallest opportunity to pull Iris down and tarnish her increasingly glowing reputation, especially since she had offended a lot of people during her teenage years in the past.

    Wang Yingjie was family, her OB-GYN wasn¡¯t¡ªin short, an outsider. This was why Jin Liwei preferred for him to conduct the pregnancy test on Iris. The couple could¡¯ve just used a regr home pregnancy test but given the couple¡¯s preference for urate results, Wang Yingjie didn¡¯t mind stepping in for the role even though he was a surgeon and something like this wasn¡¯t his specialty. He also knew that the couple trusted him more than any other doctor in the world.

    "I can¡¯t wait to sleep on my bed," he talked to himself so as not to fall asleep while driving. "I still have another long surgery scheduled tonight."

    Another yawn.

    He smirked, remembering how his third brother almost half-carried Iris every time she walked. Wang Yingjie had no doubt that if Iris really got pregnant, there was an extremely high chance that Jin Liwei would tie her to his waist and carry her all around, not letting her walk or do anything "strenuous", until she gave birth to their first human baby.

    His third brother had an innate controlling nature while Iris, as far as Wang Yingjie observed, was a headstrong and independent woman who liked to do her own thing. It was a wonder how these two fell in love with each other without constantly butting heads. If Iris really got pregnant, it would be interesting how she would deal with an ultraprotective (times a trillion) Jin Liwei. She might just go crazy and scratch his face off.

    Wang Yingjie chuckled before another yawn assaulted him again. He drove on the road fighting sleep but in a good mood.

    ###

    ###

    Zheng Ancestral Residence.

    Three figures, two females and one male, sat around a low table in silence. Their straight backs, impassive expressions, and their obvious pride in their noble roots only magnified the ancient aura of the ce.

    Thedy in traditional clothing was performing a tea ceremony. Her practiced movements were cultured and elegant. A delicate aroma of tea soon wafted in the room, as she served a tiny cup each to all of them.

    They sipped their tea in silence, enjoying the exquisite taste of one of the most expensive and rarest teas in the world.

    Zheng Suyin put down her teacup on the table without making any noise. Then her cold eyes fell on her son sitting in front of her. "The custody battle starts in a few days." It wasn¡¯t a question but a statement.

    Nevertheless, Long Hui still answered after putting down his own teacup on the table. "Yes, Mother. I need to personally appear in court or else the judge will dismiss the case."

    Long Meng also ced down her teacup. The elder turned to Long Hui. "Young Master Hui, you and that boy¡¯s mother have already separated before marrying¡ª"

    Zheng Suyin: "Thank goodness for that. That kind of lowly woman isn¡¯t fit to be my daughter-inw."

    Long Hui¡¯s jaw tightened. His hands under the low table clenched into tight fists. However, his face remained expressionless. He was quiet, not replying to his mother¡¯s harsh words.

    Long Meng nodded, agreeing with Zheng Suyin. "Young Master Hui, that woman and her boy have been living with Young Miss Xin. It also looks like they are close to that scarlet woman, Wei Lan¡ª"

    "Scarlet woman?" Zheng Suyin snorted. "There is no need for euphemisms when describing that homewrecker, Elder Meng. Wei Lan is a slut. A big SLUT."

 Chapter 640 - Damaged Frui

    <h4>Chapter 640 - Damaged Frui </h4>

    "Very true." Long Meng nodded and took another sip of tea before putting her cup down once again. "Young Master Hui, we all know that Wei Lan is a bad influence. Now that she¡¯s close to that female bodyguard and her boy, it¡¯s not surprising that she already corrupted them to turn against you."

    "Her boy?" Long Hui¡¯s voice was low and threatening. "That¡¯s my boy too, Grandaunt Meng."

    "Son, don¡¯t follow your father¡¯s footsteps. Illegitimate children aren¡¯t worth it. They¡¯re nothing but innately damaged fruits born from immorality. They¡¯ll never be as good as pure fruits like you, a legitimate child, born from a proper and legal marriage," Zheng Suyin lectured her son.

    Long Hui frowned, his already clenched fists tightened even more. "Damaged fruits? What do you mean by that, Mother? Are you saying that my son Long Jun, your grandson, is damaged?!"

    "Watch your tone. Is that how you speak to your own mother? Grandson? I will never admit an illegitimate child born from such a lowly woman as my grandson!"

    Bam!

    The two women flinched when Long Hui mmed both his hands on the table, causing the china tableware to jump, clinking and nking in a dangerous manner. Nothing broke, but some tea spilled on the table.

    "How dare you act like that in front of your mother and grandaunt?! Have you forgotten your manners after siring a bastard?!" Zheng Suyin was enraged.

    But Long Hui was even more enraged. "Whether you like it or not, Long Jun is MY SON!!! Half of him came from me!!! He¡¯s my flesh and blood so I will NEVER abandon him!!! I¡¯ll fight to the end to get him from Ying¡ªfrom Jiang Ying Yue! I¡¯ll raise my own son because I¡¯m his only father!!! Nobody else!!! Not Jin Liwei and certainly not that snake Lin Yehan!!!"

    He was breathing heavily after saying his piece.

    The two women looked shocked seeing him lose his temper. Zheng Suyin was the first one to recover. She raised her chin and managed to look down on her son, even though he was towering over them right now.

    "Are you done?"

    Long Hui finally realized the disrespect he showed to his parent and elder. However, he didn¡¯t apologize. He meant what he said. Long Jun was his son. He wouldn¡¯t tolerate anyone insulting his son just because Long Jun was illegitimate, even his own mother, Zheng Suyin. In this aspect, Long Hui was very simr to his father, Long Tengfei.

    "Ahem! Why don¡¯t you sit back down, Young Master Hui?" Long Meng said in a diplomatic tone. "Aiya. Both of you are mother and son. There is no need to sh against each other. We are all on the same team here."

    Long Hui sat back down and lowered his eyes. He still didn¡¯t apologize but it was obvious that he already calmed down.

    Zheng Suyin sniffed coldly but didn¡¯t force him to apologize.

    Long Meng sighed in relief.

    All of them took a sip of tea, ignoring the spige on the table. Silence once again descended in the room for almost a couple of minutes.

    Long Meng cleared her throat, interrupting the ufortable silence. "Young Master Hui, Imend you for your kind and honourable heart! Such a responsible man to think of your child! Indeed, you are the only one worthy to be the next head of the Long Industries and the n."

    She watched as the tight expressions of both Zheng Suyin and Long Hui eased up after hearing herpliments. Indeed, the two of them were mother and son. Long Meng inwardly released a sigh of relief.

    "Young Master Hui, I understand your strong sense of responsibility towards your child. However, I also agree with your mother to a certain extent. That child is, without a doubt, a bas¡ªwas born out of marriage," Long Meng corrected herself after receiving a fierce re from Long Hui.

    She felt indignant that a brat like him would disrespect her, an elder, but this wasn¡¯t the time to act on her own feelings. Thus, she swallowed her own pride for the greater good of the Long n. To her and their allies, Long Hui was the eldest son of Long Tengfei from the first marriage. Therefore, he was the rightful heir and the only one suitable to be the next head of the n and the family business.

    "You know how it is in our circles," she continued. "Even if you have acknowledged that child, he would never be epted by everyone, especially those who are from our fellow aristocratic ns. That poor child would be bullied and made fun of for being a bas¡ªillegitimate. And when your wife gives birth to your legitimate child, his position will only be even more precarious. Also, it¡¯s unfair to your wife to bring a child from the outside. Your fianc¨¦e is from a respectable and aristocratic family like ours. It¡¯s a great disrespect to her and her family to force her to raise a child that isn¡¯t hers."

    Zheng Suyin nodded, impressed at the elder¡¯s persuasive words. She stayed quiet, allowing Long Meng to talk sense to her son.

    Long Hui also remained quiet. His expression showed that he was in deep thought, pondering over his elder¡¯s words. A furrow formed between his brows.

    Encouraged by his expression, Long Meng appealed to Long Hui¡¯s paternal emotions in order to force her points home. "You love your son, don¡¯t you, Young Master Hui? Then isn¡¯t it best to protect that poor child from suffering? It is enough that you acknowledge him as your flesh and blood son and give financial support so that he could at least live a good life and have a decent future. There is no need to bring him to our side and allow him to suffer from being bullied because nobody but you ept him."

    Long Hui¡¯s frown deepened.

    The two women waited for his response.

    After waiting almost five minutes, Zheng Suyin ran out of patience. "Son, your grandaunt is right. Drop the custody case."

    ###

 Chapter 641 - Reigning Emperor

    <h4>Chapter 641 - Reigning Emperor </h4>

    His mother¡¯s words woke Long Hui from his self-absorption. What the hell was he doing? Was he seriously considering Elder Long Meng¡¯s suggestion to "protect" his son by leaving him alone?

    If Jiang Ying Yue was the only one raising their son by herself, then perhaps he would agree. But then, if that was the case, he wouldn¡¯t have left her in the first ce. He would¡¯ve married her and live a happy life raising their son together while also working on getting her pregnant again.

    The problem was that she wasn¡¯t raising their son by herself. Xin and Jin Liwei were there interfering with their lives, hiding them, and also influencing them to distance themselves from him. How hateful!

    Not to mention that fucker Lin Yehan! So what if he was an agricultural tycoon who was wealthier, more influential and stable than him? That was only right now. Once he became the next head of Long Industries, he would be closer in defeating that cheating motherfucker in terms of wealth and status. Lin Yehan was nothing more than a snake who stole another man¡¯s woman and child. How immoral!

    His mother¡¯s words echoed inside his head.

    Drop the custody case drop it drop it drop it drop it¡ª

    Never!

    He would fight to the bitter end until he gained custody of his son. He would never be like his father who left his children alone, contenting himself with giving them generous financial support. And most importantly, he would never allow another man except for himself to be a father figure to his son. He already epted Jin Liwei as his son¡¯s godfather but that was before he fell out with his sister Xin. Now all he wanted to do was punch Jin Liwei in the face for iming to be his son¡¯s "papa". As for Lin Yehan, absolutely no fucking way!!! He would never allow that snake to obtain Jiang Ying Yue or his son.

    "No, Mother. I won¡¯t drop the custody case." Long Hui¡¯s tone was final.

    "You!" Zheng Suyin was once again enraged.

    Long Meng was surprised that her persuasion didn¡¯t work. She was certain that just a few seconds ago, he was already on the verge of agreeing with her. Discontent filled her. The bastard child must not live with the young master. He would only be a hindrance to the young master¡¯s path of bing the next head of the Longs. A firstborn illegitimate child would never be epted because he would threaten the position of the true legitimate heirter on. This must not happen!

    However, it would also not be good to lose the custody case if the young master was really determined to go through with it. Losing was not an option, especially since both the Longs and the Zhengs cared so much about face. If the young master had to do something, he needed to emerge victorious!

    Zheng Suyin and Long Meng looked at each other. They knew with just a nce what each other¡¯s thoughts were regarding the matter.

    "Son..."

    "Mother, I¡¯ve already made up my mind. It¡¯s useless to try to persuade me otherwise."

    Zheng Suyin closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm her anger. When she opened her eyes, her cold expression had returned. "Fine. Since you¡¯re so insistent on taking responsibility for that bastard child, then so be it!"

    Long Hui exhaled the breath he didn¡¯t notice that he was holding.

    "Young Master Hui, are you confident in winning the custody case?" Long Meng asked.

    "Of course my son is going to win! There¡¯s no way that he¡¯s going to allow himself to lose face in such a trivial case. Do you really think that a lowly slut like that bodyguard with such a poor background will win against my son, the firstborn and the true heir of Long Industries?"

    Long Meng didn¡¯t reply but instead looked at Long Hui instead.

    Long Hui¡¯s anger was once again provoked when his mother called the mother of his child a slut but he tamped it down. Although he now hated Jiang Ying Yue for cheating on him with that fucker Lin Yehan and for choosing to be on his sister¡¯s side rather than stay with him, he still couldn¡¯t forget her amazing body and the way she whimpered with passion whenever he mmed himself inside her again and again. For a moment, his mind was filled with vivid images of him pouring his seed inside her, impregnating her so that she would never forget that he was the man who fathered her child.

    Only him, Long Hui.

    His current fianc¨¦e was nothingpared to Jiang Ying Yue. He couldn¡¯t even experience 10% of the pleasure Jiang Ying Yue usually gave him with her body whenever he fucked his current fianc¨¦e. He always had to close his eyes and imagine that it was Jiang Ying Yue he was fucking in order toe. It came to a point that using his hand while fantasizing about Jiang Ying Yue felt more satisfying than fucking his fianc¨¦e.

    Before he knew it, he had a raging erection in his trousers. Fortunately, the table obstructed the view of his lower body from his mother and grandaunt.

    "Well? Are you not confident?"

    His mother¡¯s words interrupted his lewd thoughts. He mentally shook his head to clear his mind. "If it¡¯s against Jiang Ying Yue alone, I¡¯m confident. But she has Xin and Jin Liwei backing her. They¡¯re no easy opponents."

    Long Meng: "True. Jin Liwei is a powerful man. The Jins might originally be merchants¡ª"

    Zheng Suyin: "Merchants are nothing but lowlymoners!"

    Long Meng: "Yes, they weremoners but now they rule the country¡¯s business world. And as their head, Jin Liwei is akin to an emperor."

    Zheng Suyin and Long Hui scowled at the description of Jin Liwei as an emperor but they couldn¡¯t refute Long Meng¡¯s words. This was the modern times. And indeed, Jin Liwei was the reigning emperor of the country¡¯s business world.

    ###

 Chapter 642 - Unwelcome Face

    <h4>Chapter 642 - Unwee Face </h4>

    "It¡¯s not only Jin Liwei who I¡¯m concerned about. Xin is also..." Long Hui was about to reveal to his mother and grandaunt that his half-sister was a Cross Academy student and therefore had the backing of the legendary school of geniuses but stopped himself in time.

    His pride didn¡¯t allow anyone to view his youngest sister who he was currently at odds with as more superior than him, even to his mother and allies. This was important information but he just couldn¡¯t bring himself to reveal it for fear that Long Meng would turn her back on him and support his half-sister instead to be the next head of the n and the family business.

    "That little slut is what? Continue what you¡¯re saying, son," Zheng Suyin prompted him.

    Long Meng also waited for him to say more.

    However, he only shook his head and swallowed the words that he almost blurted out. "Nothing. Forget it. Just know that Jiang Ying Yue has a strong backing and it won¡¯t be easy for me to get custody of my son."

    Zheng Suyin looked at him with obvious disapproval. Long Meng sighed in disappointment.

    Long Hui ignored them. His mind was already made up. Even though the odds were against him, he would still fight for his son¡¯s custody.

    Seeing the determination in her son¡¯s eyes, Zheng Suyin¡¯s cold heart softened...but only for a little bit. Indeed, if that lowly female bodyguard had the backing of Jin Liwei, then it would be difficult for her son to get custody of that bastard child. As much as she disapproved of the bastard, she wouldn¡¯t allow her son to lose against that female bodyguard of poor breeding. If her son couldn¡¯t win in court, there were other ways to get what he wanted. Her eyes shed with a scheming light.

    ###

    ###

    That weekend, Long Hui dropped off his fianc¨¦e at a cosmetic clinic for her monthly body maintenance appointment. As he watched her disappear in the inner rooms of the clinic with the cosmetic nurse, all he could think about was how Jiang Ying Yue had such an amazing fit and muscled body without resorting to costly and artificial procedures like his current fianc¨¦e. He mentally scolded himself upon realizing that he was thinking of Jiang Ying Yue yet again.

    With a scowl on his face, he left the clinic and headed to the main lobby downstairs using the elevator. The cosmetic clinic was located inside a high-endmercial building. There were other business offices from across different fields in the building, ranging from physicians, dentists,wyers, private tutoring services, etc.

    Once Long Hui arrived in the lobby, an unwee face greeted his sight, worsening his mood even further.

    Lin Yehan just came out of a business partner¡¯s office when he saw Long Hui. He stopped in his tracks. Then he saw the man re at him before walking away.

    "Wait!" he called out but was ignored. "Mr. Long, wait!" He ran after him.

    Long Hui finally stopped and turned back at Lin Yehan. His re intensified.

    "I want to talk to you," Lin Yehan said after catching up to him.

    "I don¡¯t want to talk to a cheating snake like you."

    "I never cheated, Mr. Long. Please, let¡¯s talk."

    The two men stood in front of each other. Long Hui continued to re, as if doing so would murder the man in front of him, while Lin Yehan stood there in a calm and non-threatening manner.

    Their face-off caught the attention of passersby. Long Hui was handsome and had a certain coolness about him associated with wealthy young masters. There was something delicate about his features, but it did nothing to lessen the intensity of his re. On the other hand, Lin Yehan was tall and thin. He wasn¡¯t as good-looking as Long Hui but his gentle expression and amiable aura made him more attractive to other people. There was a sense of stability andfort in him. Even though Long Hui was trying to kill him with his eyes, Lin Yehan didn¡¯t allow himself to be provoked, maintaining his calm instead.

    The two ignored the other people sneaking nces at them. Lin Yehan waited for Long Hui¡¯s response.

    "Five minutes," Long Hui finally replied.

    Lin Yehan nodded. "Thank you. Follow me."

    He led Long Hui outside themercial building to the caf¨¦ on the other side of the street. Various high-end boutiques sandwiched the ssy caf¨¦.

    A waiter weed the two of them and led them to a nice table by the windows.

    "Oolong tea for me, please," Lin Yehan ordered without looking at the menu.

    The waiter jotted down his order.

    Long Hui looked at the menu. He also nned to order a drink from the tea section. Then he read that all the tea used in the caf¨¦ were from the brand Serenity Premium Tea.

    ¡¯Serenity Premium Tea... Sounds familiar. Hmmm...¡¯

    Then he remembered. Serenity Premium Tea was the tea brand his youngest half-sister was endorsing. In addition, it was owned by the scoundrel sitting in front of him. Lin Yehan!

    He looked at the fucker and red once again.

    "Sir? What would you like to drink?" the waiter asked Long Hui.

    "Coffee. ck," he replied with gritted teeth. Even though he wanted to drink tea, there was no way he was going to drink the tea from this fucker¡¯spany who tried to steal his woman and child.

    The waiter left to prepare their orders, leaving the two of them in an ufortable atmosphere.

    "Speak. I don¡¯t have time to waste on a cheating snake like you," Long Hui said.

    Lin Yehan sighed at Long Hui¡¯s provocation. He didn¡¯t lose his temper.

    "Mr. Long, I heard that you saw some photos and videos of Miss Jiang and I together with Little Jun at the mall. I want to tell you that we met each other that day by coincidence. There was nothing dishonourable about our chance meeting. Please remove your suspicions about us. I have no immoral intentions towards Miss Jiang and your son," he exined.

 Chapter 643 - Provoked Lin Yehan

    <h4>Chapter 643 - Provoked Lin Yehan </h4>

    Long Hui didn¡¯t reply. At the mention of Jiang Ying Yue and their son, he became too ovee by jealousy to listen in a rational manner to Lin Yehan¡¯s exnation. He just continued ring at Lin Yehan instead.

    Lin Yehan could sense that his words weren¡¯t getting through Long Hui but didn¡¯t give up and continued exining. He remembered Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s heartbroken expression when the couple broke up because of the incriminating photos. Guilt consumed him, even though he knew very well that it wasn¡¯t his fault. He was innocent alongside Jiang Ying Yue. Long Hui was just misunderstanding everything. If only the man would listen to him, then this painful issue would hopefully be resolved.

    "I¡¯m telling the truth. There¡¯s really nothing between Miss Jiang and I. We only consider ourselves as friends because of our respective rtionships with my brother Liwei and your sister Xin."

    "Tell me, Lin Yehan. When was thest time you saw Ying Yue?"

    Lin Yehan hesitated for a bit before deciding that honesty was the best policy at this point. He had no reason to lie, anyway. "Earlier this week. My brother Liwei and Xin invited the rest of our brothers and her friends to their ce for dinner. It was just a regr gathering between friends."

    The ugly green monster growling inside Long Hui gave a raging roar. He only heard that Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue saw each other earlier this week. The rest of Lin Yehan¡¯s words were drowned by his poisonous jealousy.

    "You motherfu¡ª"

    He was interrupted when the waiter arrived with their drinks. Oolong tea for Lin Yehan. Coffee for Long Hui. The waiter left them again.

    Lin Yehan picked up his cup and inhaled the tea¡¯s aroma. He nodded, pleased at the caf¨¦¡¯s brewing quality of hispany¡¯s tea. He appeared calm on the outside, but in actuality, he was anxious deep inside. Long Hui¡¯s repeated usations couldn¡¯t help but affect him, yet he was still trying his best to remain calm. With a sigh in his heart, he sipped the hot tea in the hopes that it would rx him in this tense situation.

    As for Long Hui, he didn¡¯t touch his coffee at all. His hands were tightly clenched on hisp, trying to stop himself from swinging his fists towards Lin Yehan¡¯s calm face.

    After sipping his tea and cing his cup down, Lin Yehan began speaking to Long Hui again. He continued trying to exin that everything was just a misunderstanding and that nothing was going on between him and Jiang Ying Yue but to no avail. Long Hui was adamant in believing that the two cheated on him.

    Thus, Lin Yehan changed tactics and began talking about the custody case instead.

    "Your son, Little Jun, is a wonderful child. He deserves all the happiness that could fit in his life. Although he¡¯s still a young child, something like this, a custody battle between his parents, will certainly scar him one way or another."

    This time, Lin Yehan¡¯s words managed to prate Long Hui¡¯s thick head.

    "What are you trying to say?" Long Hui asked in a tone filled with suspicion.

    "Please think of your son. The kid still wants you. You¡¯re his father. Don¡¯t make it too hard on your son and to Miss Jiang. There¡¯s no need for a custody battle like this. It¡¯ll just hurt all the parties involved and worsen the situation."

    Long Hui remained quiet but his expression showed that he was finally listening, so Lin Yehan continued.

    "How about you have a proper conversation with Miss Jiang?" he suggested. "I think it¡¯s better to talk everything out face to face about your rtionship, your ns regarding your son, and try to resolve all the issues between you. Perhaps you may even reconcile...even if that¡¯s not possible, at least you¡¯ll stop treating each other like enemies. Although it¡¯s notmon here in our country, it¡¯s still possible to have a joint custody or co-parenting arrangement just like in the West."

    Silence.

    Nobody spoke for five minutes. The atmosphere was so tense that the waiter who was headed their way to ask them how they were enjoying their drinks so far stopped himself and turned around instead.

    "Are you done?" Long Hui finally interrupted the ufortable silence in a t tone.

    "Yes."

    "I¡¯ve listened to what you¡¯ve said. Now listen to me."

    "Alright."

    Long Hui leaned forward and narrowed his eyes before speaking in a low growl. "My issue with Ying Yue and our son is none of your fucking business, Lin Yehan. You¡¯re the one who destroyed my family first. Don¡¯t act like you¡¯re doing everyone a favour by trying to persuade me to believe in the lies you concocted with Ying Yue. Both of you are cheating snakes. I¡¯m going to take my son away from that cheating slut no matter what. Go stay in your farm with your potatoes and pigs. Don¡¯t bother me again!"

    He stood up and left without looking back.

    Lin Yehan was left there alone with a dark expression. His usually gentle eyes were now simmering with cold fury. He could tolerate it when Long Hui continuedly provoked him. However, when Long Hui called Jiang Ying Yue a cheating slut, something snapped inside Lin Yehan. Such a good woman, such a good mother, such a good person was far from a cheating slut.

    It was fortunate that Long Hui immediately left after saying his piece because if he didn¡¯t, Lin Yehan would¡¯ve probably beaten the shit out of the unreasonable son of a bitch.

    Before this, he had hoped to persuade Long Hui to reconsider his decision to separate with Jiang Ying Yue. Now, however, Lin Yehan didn¡¯t want such an asshole to return to her side. Long Hui didn¡¯t deserve such a good woman like Jiang Ying Yue.

    Lin Yehan¡¯s protective nature nowpletely nketed itself over Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun after his failed conversation with Long Hui. He hadn¡¯t realized it yet, but he already started treating the mother and son as his responsibility.

    ###

 Chapter 644 - Be Brave, Donâ€™t Cower

    <h4>Chapter 644 - Be Brave, Don¡¯t Cower </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    "Ampa Lu! Ampa Lu!"

    "There¡¯s my boy! Come and give your beloved great-grandpa a kiss!" a familiar booming voice echoed in the grand foyer.

    A little boy ran towards the sprightly old man who caught him and tossed him up the air. The delighted child¡¯sughter made everyone smile. An orange cat ran around the toddler and the old man, meowing loudly, while a fat grey cat reluctantly huffed and puffed its way towards the visitor to pay respects to an elder.

    "Little Junjun, did you miss Great-Grandpa? I want to know!"

    "Yesh!"

    "Hahaha! Great-Grandpa missed you too, my boy! Were you a good boy?"

    "Yesh, Ampa Lu! Junjun good boy!"

    Grandpa Lu nodded. He looked very pleased with the child¡¯s answers. When Little Jun gave him a wet kiss on the cheek, the old man became even happier. Carrying the toddler, Grandpa Lu walked inside the grand foyer, followed by Ice Cream and Popcorn who finished paying their respects to him. He was too preupied enjoying his great-grandson that he ignored Iris and the others until they greeted him.

    He greeted them back but his expression showed his disinterest on them. At the moment, all he cared about was his beloved great-grandson, Little Jun.

    When Iris came into the picture, Lu Zihao was tossed aside and Iris became Grandpa Lu¡¯s new favourite grandchild. He doted on her while also teaching her his genius ways of shamelessness in the business world. It was fortunate that his former favourite grandchild, Lu Zihao, didn¡¯t mind nor felt jealous but instead also doted on Iris as an older brother.

    But when Little Jun came into the picture next, Grandpa Lu found his new favourite. This was a great-grandchild after all, a higher level than a grandchild! If only he could have more great-grandchildren to dote on, then Grandpa Lu could live the remainder of his precious years with happiness. It was so frustrating that his grandchildren were so slow in giving him great-grandbabies. Was it so hard for those pinheads to make babies? What was wrong with them?! He wanted to know!

    Bless Jiang Ying Yue foring into their lives and sharing Little Jun with them! Now Grandpa Lu had a taste of what it was like to have a great-grandbaby. As he expected, it felt awesome!

    "Old man, you¡¯re so old already and yet you still have the guts to toss a child in the air and carry him. What if you break your back? Don¡¯tin to us, then," a devilish voice teased from behind Grandpa Lu.

    "What did you say, you punk?! Who¡¯re you calling old?! I want to know! Don¡¯t get overconfident just because you gained some muscles! Bah! I¡¯m telling you that this old man is still many times stronger than you! You¡¯re still a hundred years too early to talk to me like that! Hmph!"

    Lu Zihao emerged from the shadows. Nobody in the foyer noticed his arrival, not even Iris. His movements were silent and even hisrge, muscled frame would disappear in the dark if he wanted it. He entered the foyer after Grandpa Lu. His lips were curved in a devilish smirk.

    "Big Brother," Iris greeted him with a smile. She was happy that he came home again. They hadn¡¯t seen each other since thest time they spoke.

    He nodded at her, his eyes bing gentler.

    Jin Liwei tightened his hold around her waist and pulled her closer to his body before also greeting his fifth brother with a nod.

    The couple was free today until mid-afternoon. Then they needed to return to their respective work.

    Later, they ate lunch in the indoor forest. The people present were Iris, Jin Liwei, Dom, Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun, Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao.

    Everyone was having fun chatting while eating. They mostly talked about Iris¡¯test hit song with Jin Chonglin, "Passionate mes". There was one person who looked distracted, though. The others noticed, of course, but they pretended that nothing was amiss.

    After lunch, Little Jun fell asleep earlier than usual for his afternoon nap. ying with his great-grandpa and cat cousins tired him. Grandpa Lu carried the toddler just as the nanny arrived, carrying Little Jun¡¯s sleepover luggage.

    "Alright, we¡¯ll get going now," Grandpa Lu announced. His booming voice didn¡¯t boom as usual so as not to wake up the child. "Good thing the boy is fast asleep. He¡¯ll probably cry and won¡¯t want to leave you if I take him with me while he¡¯s awake."

    Jiang Ying Yue felt reluctant. It must¡¯ve been obvious from her expression because Grandpa Lu patted her shoulder. "Don¡¯t worry, Ying Yue my girl. Grandpa Lu will take care of your son. It¡¯ll only be for a few days!"

    "Y-yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

    "Why are you still calling me sir? Is this old man still a stranger to you? I want to know! Call me Grandpa Lu!"

    "Y-yes, G-grandpa Lu..." Jiang Ying Yue replied in a shy tone, her cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink.

    "Good, very good!"

    They all walked Grandpa Lu and the sleeping Little Jun to the front entrance.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s eyes were red and moist, although the rest of her face looked impassive. She was fighting tears because this would be the first time that her son would be sleeping over for a few days in another ce by himself without her. In addition, the anxiety of tomorrow and the next few days loomed in her heart, almost making her feel suffocated.

    Grandpa Lu gave her a firm yet encouraging look. "Thewyers will pick you up here tomorrow. Don¡¯t you worry, Ying Yue my dear. Nobody is allowed to take Little Junjun away from you without your consent as long as I, your Grandpa Lu, is still alive!"

    Iris stepped forward and patted Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s back. "I can¡¯t apany you to court because I¡¯ll attract too much attention but you¡¯ll have ourwyers to protect your interests and Little Jun¡¯s. You can depend on them. All you need to do is be brave and don¡¯t let yourself be bullied. Don¡¯t cower when facing Long Hui."

    ###

 Chapter 645 - Arrival At The Courthouse

    <h4>Chapter 645 - Arrival At The Courthouse </h4>

    Hearing their words of support, Jiang Ying Yue nodded. The uneasiness in her heart subsided for a bit.

    Bravery wasn¡¯t something that could be trained in an instant. But for the sake of her son, she would fight a painful battle against the man she used to love. It would probably crush her even more than she already had, but she was willing to bleed just so her son could have a happy life and bright future.

    She looked around and saw warm and loving people. This was family, regardless of whether they were connected by blood or not. They were now her son¡¯s family and hers as well. If something ever happened to her, Jiang Ying Yue knew that they would love and take care of her son as if he was their own, especially Little Jun¡¯s godparents, Xin and Sir Liwei.

    Little Jun belonged with these loving and supportive people, not the self-serving and toxic environment of the Long n.

    "Thank you, everyone," she told them in her sincerest tone.

    ###

    ###

    Inside the car, Clover held Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s cold, sweaty hands and squeezed it. "You¡¯ll be fine, Sis Ying Yue. You¡¯re not alone."

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled at her friend who took the time to apany her today. She was very grateful to Clover who just showed up earlier that morning and announced that she would being to court with her. Clover should be very busy with her preparations for her France mission and would be flying in a couple of days but she still dropped everything to share Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s burdens today.

    Their friends, the other members of the girl squad, also wanted toe but were unable to do so even if they wanted to.

    Iris was a popr celebrity. She would attract too much attention if she came. Her presence might negatively affect the custody case and attract unwanted scrutiny from unnecessary people, so it was better that she didn¡¯te.

    Dom was Iris¡¯ personal assistant, so he needed to apany her at work, especially right now that her two music coborations with Jin Chonglin became big hits. She was being flooded with new work offers in showbiz. In addition to this, she also hadpanies that needed her attention, her studies, and also her musicpositions. Dom needed to be there in order to make her daily life run smoothly so that she could put her entire focus on her work.

    ording to Clover, Meimei was supposed toe as well but when she took a look at this friend¡¯s zombie-like appearance, Clover became frightened so she discouraged Meimei and told her to rest at home instead. Clover even asked Yang Jiahui to keep a close eye on Meimei because she might sneak out and follow them to court.

    As for Long Jinjing and Chen Fei, the two of them were the CFO and COO of Orchidia Beauty respectively. With thepany¡¯s current fast-growing sess, they had their hands full in managing its operations and keeping it in the right track. After all, their President-CEO had a tendency to take the crazy, unconventional methods towards sess. Iris¡¯"high risk, high rewards" approach would always scare the shit out of both Long Jinjing and Chen Fei, so the two of them needed to provide thepany a sense of being grounded to bnce everything out. This meant that the two had to dedicate a lot of time working in thepany.

    Jiang Ying Yue understood her friends¡¯ busy schedules, so she dissuaded them from taking a leave of absence in order to apany her today. She didn¡¯t expect that Clover would ignore her and just show up. Endless gratitude filled her.

    "Miss Jiang, we¡¯re here," Hong Shaoqiang announced beside her.

    She was sitting in the backseat between Clover and Iris¡¯wyer who was now hers as well. The three of them looked out of the window and saw the imposing building of the courthouse. Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s heart began jumping inside her tight chest. She paled and cold sweat began soaking her clothes.

    "Breathe, Sis," Clover told her.

    She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, willing her tense body to rx even for just a little bit.

    Their car drove slowly until it reached the front driveway leading to the courthouse.

    "Huh? Why are there so many reporters outside the courthouse?" Clover asked, pointing at the building¡¯s main entrance.

    Attorney Hong frowned when he saw the crowd of reporters.

    "Maybe they¡¯re here for another case?" Jiang Ying Yue replied, her tone uncertain.

    "I hope you¡¯re right. We want this custody case to reach a conclusion as swiftly as possible. Media attention will just turn it into a circus and might evenplicate things," Atty. Hong said.

    They were hoping that the reporters didn¡¯te for them but for another case also happening today.

    Although Little Jun¡¯s father was the eldest son of Long Tengfei, the current head of Long Industries and the aristocratic Long n, Long Hui wasn¡¯t well-known or influential enough in his own right to garner this much media attention. Only Little Jun¡¯s aunt and godmother, Iris Long, had the star power to attract attention from the media.

    The car stopped. The driver and his partner alighted from the front seat and opened the door for them. When Atty. Hong stepped out, the reporters recognized him and quickly ran towards them. Thewyer frowned upon seeing their reaction to their arrival.

    "Oh no. It seems that the reporters really came for us," Clover said from behind.

    Jiang Ying Yue became even more nervous. It was fortunate that her training as a bodyguard allowed her to maintain an impassive expression.

    Atty. Hong blocked Jiang Ying Yue and Clover from stepping out of the car while the driver and his partner formed a protective barrier in front of them.

    Despite this, the reporters still shouted questions at Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Miss Jiang, is it true that you¡¯re refusing to give custody of your son to the father, Mr. Long Hui, because you¡¯re asking for an enormous amount of child support?"

 Chapter 646 - Jin Corporations Corporate Lawyer

    <h4>Chapter 646 - Jin Corporation''s Corporate Lawyer </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue flinched. The other reporters threw simr questions at her. All their questions were nothing more than a guise to useher of using the custody case to fatten up her own pockets.

    "What the hell are they asking?!" Clover was aghast and then enraged.

    Following Atty. Hong¡¯s gestures, both Jiang Ying Yue and Clover also alighted from the car. The reporters tried getting close but the two bodyguards protected them.

    "Stay calm. Don¡¯t say anything and follow behind me. I¡¯ll do all the talking," thewyer whispered to Jiang Ying Yue.

    She nodded.

    Clover: "I think someone set you up and deliberately called all these bloodthirsty wolves today to ask you these disgusting questions."

    Nobody in their group replied but their expressions showed that they agreed to her words.

    They made their way to the courthouse, slowed down by the reporters crowding around them.

    Atty. Hong Shaoqiang answered some questions while dodging most. He even threatened to sue a handful of the most aggressive reporters for asking malicious questions.

    While they were midway to the courthouse¡¯s main entrance, they heard another car stopping a few metres behind their car. They all turned their heads and saw the rear passenger door open.

    Out came Long Hui in a dashing business suit. He looked handsome, but his expression was cold and grim.

    Seeing him so well-groomed and polished, Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s heart stirred for a couple of seconds before the pain he caused reminded her of why she should stop loving him. Her heart felt like it was being twisted into pieces again.

    ¡¯You already killed this love, Ying Yue,¡¯ she inwardly talked to herself.

    Long Hui looked up and their eyes met. It was as if time froze at that moment. The people and the noise around the two of them disappeared and became muted. All they could see was one another.

    But it onlysted for a moment before they returned to reality.

    Long Hui sneered at her, his hatred clear in his expression.

    Jiang Ying Yue pressed her lips together and looked away. She felt someone squeezing her hand and looked up to see Clover giving her a smile of encouragement.

    The majority of the reporters changed their targets. They left Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s group and surrounded Long Hui next. Only hiswyer and driver apanied him.

    "Mr. Long, how do you feel that your ex-fianc¨¦e is withholding your paternal rights to raise your own son because she wanted you to pay an extravagant child support first?"

    Simr less aggressive questions were asked of Long Hui. The difference in the reporters¡¯ treatment between him and Jiang Ying Yue became clear.

    "What the hell?" Clover was once again enraged. "It¡¯s obvious that they¡¯re bullying you, Sis Ying Yue! I bet it¡¯s that asshole who invited all these reporters himself in order to humiliate you and pressure you. How devious!"

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t reply. She was too busy trying to contain her emotions and hiding them behind an impassive expression.

    The group stayed where they were. Momentster, Long Hui, hiswyer and the reporters reached them. The two groups had a face-off, delighting the reporters. Camera shutters clicked nonstop and the questions were thrown from all directions to both parties.

    "Where¡¯s my son?" Long Hui asked.

    "He¡¯s safe," Jiang Ying Yue replied in a soft but firm tone.

    He curled his lip. "He¡¯ll be safer with me. My son is a boy. A boy needs to learn how to be a man from his own father, so I should be the one raising him."

    Her impassive expression cracked and revealed a frown. She didn¡¯t reply but it was clear from her face that she disagreed with him.

    Long Hui¡¯swyer whispered something to him. He gave ast look at Jiang Ying Yue before turning away. He and hiswyer left and reached the courthouse¡¯s main entrance first.

    Right at that moment, a third car arrived unnoticed. However, Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s group focused on it, catching the attention of the reporters.

    A driver opened the rear passenger door and two figures stepped out of the car.

    The first one was a middle-aged man with severe falcon-like features. He was followed by an elderly gentleman who looked amiable at first but his sharp eyes and prating gaze revealed his formidable nature. Both men looked intimidating.

    "Eh? Why does it seem like the first one who came out of the car look familiar?" a reporter wondered.

    "Yeah, I think so, too."

    "I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve seen that fellow before...."

    Curious about themotion, Long Hui and hiswyer paused before entering the courthouse. They turned around and looked at the new arrivals.

    The falcon-looking middle-aged man and the formidable elderly gentleman began walking side by side.

    "Oh wait! I remember now! Isn¡¯t that Kang Huizhong, Jin Corporation¡¯swyer?!" eximed a reporter.

    "Ah! You¡¯re right! It¡¯s Atty. Kang!"

    "What¡¯s he doing here?!"

    Long Hui¡¯s expression darkened but he didn¡¯t look surprised. Kang Huizhong¡¯s appearance meant that Jiang Ying Yue also had Jin Liwei¡¯s tacit backing in addition to his half-sister Xin¡¯s support.

    "Kang is Jin Corporation¡¯s corporatewyer but he also handles the Jin family¡¯s legal matters," hiswyer exined beside him. "Although I know that your son is CEO Jin¡¯s godson, I¡¯m still surprised that he sent his ownwyer today for this custody case."

    Long Hui didn¡¯t answer. He agreed to Elder Long Meng¡¯s suggestion to invite the media in order to intimidate Jiang Ying Yue, yet her side countered with Jin Liwei sending his ownwyer to try intimidating him instead.

    Memories of his fistfight with Jin Liwei and his half-sister injuring him with a fucking orange shed in his mind, intensifying his hatred of them. They were the reason why his position as the heir apparent was destabilized, why Lin Yehan became close to Jiang Ying Yue and cheated on him, why he broke up with her and had to fight against her for the custody of their son, and why his life had be so fucked up right now.

    It was all their fault!

 Chapter 647 - His Excellency

    <h4>Chapter 647 - His Excellency </h4>

    Kang Huizhong¡¯s appearance diverted the reporters¡¯ attention away from Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui. He was, after all, the famedwyer of the country¡¯s number onepany, Jin Corporation.

    The reporters once again changed their targets and surrounded Kang Huizhong. But before they could get too close, the elderly gentleman¡¯s piercing eyes beside him made them stop in their tracks. An invisible barrier naturally formed between Kang Huizhong with his elderlypanion and the reporters. The pair started walking. The reporters followed them but maintained at least a metre¡¯s distance.

    "Hey, is it just me or that old man also looks familiar?" one of the reporters asked.

    "Nope. I don¡¯t recognize him," replied a young reporter in his twenties.

    An older gentleman piped in. "No, it¡¯s not only you. I also feel like I¡¯ve seen him before."

    The reporter with the most experience among the group focused his eyes on the elderly gentleman walking beside Kang Huizhong. He observed that Jin Corporation¡¯s famed corporatewyer acted in a respectful and humble manner in the elderly gentleman¡¯s presence, as if his status was lower. His eyes narrowed at this thought. Something stirred in his memory. Then a lightbulb went off in his head.

    "Deng Gui!" he eximed, pointing at the elderly gentleman. His expression and tone showed his shock.

    "Who?"

    "W-what?!"

    "Why¡¯s everyone reacting like this? Who¡¯s Deng Gui?"

    Hearing his name, the elderly gentleman turned his head and looked at the reporters¡¯ various expressions. He saw shock, disbelief, confusion, and cluelessness. His sharp eyes didn¡¯t miss anything. He didn¡¯t say anything but continued walking steadily beside Kang Huizhong.

    The reporter who first recognized him recovered from his initial shock and called out, "Sir, are you His Excellency Deng Gui?"

    The elderly gentleman stopped, and then looked directly at the reporter before nodding. "Indeed, I am Deng Gui." Then he resumed walking.

    His admission caused an uproar among the reporters.

    "Oh my God! It¡¯s His Excellency Deng Gui!"

    "I don¡¯t know who he is," muttered a young reporter but he was already on his phone searching for information about Deng Gui.

    "His Excellency Deng Gui served as a jurist at the International Court of Justice. He¡¯s one of the most respected figures in the field of internationalw! What is a renowned figure like him doing here? I thought he¡¯s already retired!"

    "Yes, he¡¯s already retired. Though I heard that he still asionally handles some legal matters for his friend Sir Lu Jianhong."

    "He¡¯s with Atty. Kang. Maybe they have some important business to attend in the courthouse. Perhaps something that concerns international diplomatic rtions in the corporate industry."

    "Oh, that makes sense! Hurry, let¡¯s follow them. This is bigger than a mere child custody case!"

    At the entrance of the courthouse, Long Hui and hiswyer watched this scene. Long Hui¡¯s expression showed amazed surprise as he listened to hiswyer describing Deng Gui¡¯s identity and his numerous lifetime achievements. Then he frowned.

    "Why is such an illustrious figure with Kang Huizhong? We both know that Atty. Kang came today to assist Jiang Ying Yue in the custody case."

    Hiswyer paused upon realizing this point before saying with hesitation, "I don¡¯t know." He wasn¡¯t aware of His Excellency¡¯s connection to Sir Lu Jianhong, unlike the reporters who were privy to this information because of their extensive insiderwork.

    Long Jian and hiswyer opted to watch the new arrivals and satisfy their curiosity instead of their original n of entering the courthouse ahead of everyone else.

    Back on the walkway leading to the courthouse¡¯s main entrance, the reporters followed Deng Gui and Kang Huizhong while maintaining a respectful distance from them. Their aggressive attitude towards Jiang Ying Yue earlier was nowhere to be seen. They thought that the two famedwyers would head straight to the courthouse but contrary to their expectations, they walked towards Atty. Hong Shaoqiang and his client instead.

    The two unlikely groups greeted each other as if they were close. Even the falcon-like Kang Huizhong¡¯s usually severe expression became kind as he nodded at Hong Shaoqiang and the twodies. As for His Excellency Deng Gui, he looked grandfatherly as he chatted with the other group with a smile on his face. He even patted the shoulder of Jiang Ying Yue!

    Those who were watching this scene felt confused. The reporters edged closer, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

    Ahead of them at the courthouse¡¯s main entrance, Long Hui and hiswyer began to have a bad feeling after seeing the two famedwyers interacting with their enemies.

    After chatting, the two groups¡ªnow one¡ªbegan walking together to the main entrance. The threewyers¡ªHong Shaoqiang, Kang Huizhong, and the renowned Deng Gui¡ªall walked together around the twodies in a protective manner. Their cold, serious expressions and confident steps showed everyone that they meant business. People automatically made way for them, intimidated by their formidable collective aura.

    The reporter with the most experience among the group who first recognized Deng Gui mustered up his courage and shouted a question. "Your Excellency Deng and Atty. Kang! May we know what kind of business do you have in the courthouse today?"

    ¡¯Nice question!¡¯

    His fellow reporters were encouraged by him and began following his example. They also began shouting out their own questions.

    "Your Excellency Deng, Atty. Kang, why are you walking with Atty. Hong?"

    "How long have you been acquainted with each other?"

    "How are you connected with each other?"

    "Have you worked together before?"

    The impressive group stopped walking and faced the reporters. The threewyers looked at each other before Kang Huizhong stepped forward after getting a nod of approval from both Deng Gui and Hong Shaoqiang.

    Kang Huizhong faced the crowd of reporters with his usual severe expression, looking like a falcon eyeing his prey. Then he addressed them:

    "I, Kang Huizhong, and His Excellency the venerable Deng Gui, are honoured to be assisting Atty. Hong Shoaqiang and his client, Miss Jiang Ying Yue in the custody case regarding Miss Jiang¡¯s young son, Long Jun, starting today."

    Silence fell as everyone made sense of his words.

    "WHAT?!!!"

 Chapter 648 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part I

    <h4>Chapter 648 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part I </h4>

    In this remote and isted part of Russia, the heavenly bodies in the sky could be viewed in their full, shining glory without the hindrance of bright city lights in metropolitan areas. The air was fresher here, the surroundings greener.

    This vast expanse ofndparable to the size of a small European country was the private territory of the most powerful criminal organization in the world, the Vetrovs. Situated in its most hidden and fortified areay the highly secretive Vetrov estate. It was a grand residence, no, a ptial fortress fit for a royal family. Its grandeur and beauty would make a person who saw it for the first time speechless in amazement.

    To Evelina Vetrova, however, this beautiful ce was a dull, boring, monotonous, lonely, and hopeless prison. It was a cage that she could never fully escape from in this lifetime. Invisible chains tied her to this ce, so that no matter how far she went in other parts of the world, one pull from her parents¡ªthe reigning king and queen of the international underworld¡ªand she would be back in her prison.

    The desire for freedom always burned fiercely in her heart. Unfortunately, her wings had been clipped since the day she was born. There was never any chance for true escape. She dreamed about it, of course, and enjoyed the sweet taste of true freedom in her imagination. She even thought of trying to escape, but if she did, there was no doubt that her family and their formidable organization would eventually find her, if their enemies didn¡¯t kill her first.

    Despite all of these, Evelina was still allowed to leave the estate as long as she received the rare permission of her parents, like when she visited her school¡¯s campus in the Swiss Alps a few years ago. Cross Academy was a wonderful and breathtaking sanctuary, but she had been unable to fully enjoy it because of her strict entourage who monitored her every move and restricted her from meeting "unnecessary" people, effectively preventing her from making any friends, and blocked her from visiting ces they deemed as a risk to her safety.

    There were also times when her parents brought her out of the estate to visit other criminal families who they considered to be their allies.

    Keyword was "allies", not "friends".

    In addition to not having true freedom, the Vetrovs¡ªthe most powerful criminal family in the international underworld¡ªhad no true friends either. Their allies constantly changed. Betrayals were the norm.

    Allies for today, mortal enemies tomorrow.

    Evelina thought that a life like this was not worth living at all.She could feel herself dying little by little deep inside each day.

    Only her music made her feel alive. Also, she felt the most free while roaming the online world and entertaining herself by hacking the toughest systems in the world. And most importantly, spending time with her Big Brother Niki made her feel truly loved.

    She could also feel that her father loved her but as the king of their organization, Arman Vetrov was extremely busy and was rarely at home to spend quality time with her. As for her mother...Evgenia Vetrova was more like a cold machine programmed to prioritize their organization over anything else rather than a flesh and blood mother who cared for family bonds.

    True freedom might be impossible for the Vetrovs, but a secret outing once in a while was still doable. Tonight was special because her parents were both out for business in Southeast Asia. They would be gone for a couple of weeks.

    When her big brother received an emergency call from the U.S. which he needed to personally resolve as soon as possible, she would be left alone in the estate apanied by her cold bodyguards and simrly emotionless servants. All of them were, simply speaking, her jailers.

    Seeing her dejected expression, her big brother had an idea.

    "Evelinka, do you want toe with Big Brother to America?" he asked.

    "Of course! Let¡¯s go!" she answered without thinking.

    Thus, they made a n. A secret n that would get both of them into big trouble if discovered by the estate¡¯s key personnel, and worse, by their parents. And as the man and the one who cooked up the idea, her big brother would surely suffer a painful punishment.

    Even with the consequences, the siblings still went ahead with their n.

    Her big brother sent his most loyal subordinate who swore his loyalty to him, not to their parents, to help Evelina sneak out of her bedroom.

    Due to her big brother¡¯s meticulous preparations, assisted by her hacking skills, her escape that night went very smoothly. She saw her bodyguards and other staffying unconscious as she escaped. She wondered what method her brother used to immobilize them because most of the people working in the estate had been raised and trained by the organization since they were young. All who managed to survive until adulthood became deadly experts and were immune to the mostmon tranquilizers, narcotics and poisons. Even painkillers were useless to them.

    Her curiosity about this matter onlysted for a short time. Since they were sneaking out, they had to be extremely careful. Fortunately, Evelina¡¯s physical abilities were on a higher levelpared to the average people living normal lives because she had been forced to train by her mother. As a result, she was able to keep up with her brother¡¯s subordinate as they zigged and zagged here and there to avoid detection from the estate¡¯s security.

    Nevertheless, sweat still beaded on her skin and her breathing and heartrate sped up as they followed the escape route her brother devised. Compared to her, her brother¡¯s subordinate looked the same as always. He was not sweating or breathing hard at all.

    Indeed, even though she was stronger than normal people, she was weakerpared to the battle-hardened machines working in their Vetrov organization. This was mainly due to the fact that she resisted training unless her mother sent someone to literally drag her and force her to train. If she wasn¡¯t her father and her mother¡¯s daughter, Evelina was certain that she would die.

    Theirs was a dog eat dog world. It was survival of the fittest. Natural selection. The strong prevailed while the weak died.

    Finally, Evelina and her big brother¡¯s most loyal subordinate managed to escape from the estate. They reached a dense forest where more of her brother¡¯s subordinates waited for them and led them deeper into the woods.

    The light drizzle and chilly gusts of wind didn¡¯t affect the lovely smile on Evelina¡¯s face now that she was out of the estate. Her smile was as bright and beautiful as the twinkling stars in the Russian summer night sky above, perhaps even more so. Her emerald eyes shone with great anticipation and excitement. There was a skip in her footsteps as she ran with enthusiasm surrounded by her brother¡¯s armed subordinates who protected her from wild animals like bears and wolves and other dangers in the forest at night. Her golden hair flew behind her, waving like triumphant banner of freedom.

    "Almost," she whispered, her voice disappearing with the wind.

 Chapter 649 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part II

    <h4>Chapter 649 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part II </h4>

    Later, Evelina and her brother¡¯s subordinates reached a clearing where a row of bulletproof, military-grade off-road vehicles were parked. Regr luxury cars were inconvenient in a remote ce like this where most of the roads were unpaved.

    Her big brother, Niki Vetrov, was already there speaking with his other subordinates.

    By just a nce, anyone could tell that he was the leader. He radiated power and danger. His cold expression betrayed no emotions to his own subordinates.

    He had green eyes like her, but his were darker and more of an olive colour, while hers were like bright emeralds. Sometimes, his eyes would be so dark that they appeared ck, especially when he was in a deadly, predatory mode. Unlike her blonde locks, he had ck hair. These dark features made it easier for him to blend into the shadows.

    Except for their green eyes which differed in shade, the siblings didn¡¯t resemble each other at all.

    Evelina Vetrova looked like an angel with the shining halo of heavenly radiance while Niki Vetrov looked like a demon prince whose inner darkness was fathomless.

    Nevertheless, as soon as her big brother saw her, his emotionless eyes lit up and filled with gentleness in an instant. Evelina ran faster and then threw herself at him. He caught her easily as if she weighed nothing.

    "Ready?"

    She nodded, almost trembling with excitement.

    "Alright. Let¡¯s head to America."

    ###

    ###

    The Vetrovs had their own fleet of private aircraft to suit their various needs. At the moment, the siblings used one of Niki¡¯s own private jets.

    He exined to Evelina that it was a new one and that he was careful not to let their parents know about it. Unlike his straightforward sister who had no qualms revealing her thoughts¡ªwhich often got her into trouble with their mother¡ªNiki was a secretive person. Even Evelina didn¡¯t know the extent of all his secrets.

    As usual, they used passports with fake identities. The Vetrovs were the most wanted figures in the world. They couldn¡¯t just openly use their real identities to travel everywhere. As an added precaution, they nted their own people in different airports from all over the world so that they could bypass regr customs screening.

    Niki and Evelina arrived in Boston, Massachusetts early morning. They were driven to a mansion Niki rented beforehand. If he was travelling alone, he would¡¯ve stayed in a hotel but since he brought his beloved sister along this time, he decided that it would be safer to stay in a private property instead.

    After eating breakfast ordered from a popr Chinese restaurant, Lu Zihao left the mansion in a hurry to inspect the problem he came to resolve. He left a team of his subordinates to protect Evelina. She was allowed roam outside as long as she stayed with the bodyguards Niki assigned for her.

    She had been to the U.S. a handful of times before but never to Boston yet. This was her first time. She was excited to explore the city and enjoy the sights.

    Her bodyguards wore regr, civilian clothes so as not to attract attention. Only two of them followed beside her while the rest monitored her from a distance. However, they would arrive by her side in a sh if she ever fell in danger.

    They drove her to the nearestmercial area filled with shops, restaurants and other tourist attractions. She wasn¡¯t really interested in shopping, so she mostly tried foods that she hadn¡¯t tasted before.

    Wearing a long, flowing, floral dress, she attracted people¡¯s attention of all ages and genders whenever she passed by.

    "Wow! That babe looks hot!"

    "Is she a model?"

    "She looks like a movie star!"

    Comments like these weremon but she didn¡¯t notice. She was too preupied enjoying the unfamiliar ce.

    Tired of walking, she asked her bodyguards to drive her to the world-famous Ivy League university nearby. It was the oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S. As a Cross Academy alumnus who even revolutionized the legendary school¡¯sputer department into apletely new direction, she was curious about the other top schools in the world below the academy¡¯s level.

    She was one of Cross Academy¡¯s youngest graduates in recent history, having been scouted to enroll during her teens. There were younger graduates than her, but those notable figures dated back more than a hundred years ago when the educational systems in many countries weren¡¯t as standardized yetpared to today. The academy was able to recruit those genius individuals back then and directly groom them without any prior formal education.

    When they arrived at the campus, Evelina began walking around. Most of the students she saw were around her age. As she strolled, she heard all kinds of conversations from looming deadlines, to exams, to uing parties, to public protests, to campus events, and a whole slew of other topics.

    "Amazing," she breathed.

    The university waspletely different from Cross Academy. For one thing, it felt more crowded. There were many times more students, even if it was summer. Thus, it felt more alive and vibrant.

    Evelina couldn¡¯t help but feel a twinge of envy as she watched the students gathered in their own groups, chatting about their shared interests and simply spending time together.

    ¡¯How nice.¡¯

    Aside from the other hackers she befriended online, she really didn¡¯t have any close friends. Even those hackers were just people she asionally chatted with and had never met in person.

    She was tempted to walk up to one of the group of students and try chatting with them, perhaps even make some friends, but with the bodyguards monitoring her, she knew that it wasn¡¯t wise. She knew her limits. If she pushed it, even her doting big brother would harden and send her back to their Russian estate before she could fully enjoy this temporary freedom.

    Sighing, she turned away with great reluctance and continued walking around.

    Some distance away, a particr group of students were eyeing the beautiful young woman.

    "Whoa. That girl is gorgeous! She looks around the same age as us. Do you think she¡¯s a student here?"

    "I don¡¯t know. She doesn¡¯t look like it. From the way she¡¯s looking around, she should be a visitor."

    "Those two guys walking beside her look hot, too. Do you think one of them is her boyfriend?"

    "What kind of boyfriend would walk a little behind his beautiful girlfriend like that? If I had a girlfriend as hot as her, I¡¯ll be all over her and stick to her like glue and leave no space between us."

    "I know, right? But man, how could a human being be so beautiful? Is she for real? Do you think she got anything done on herself?"

    "Nah, she looks natural to me."

    The group of students who were also friends continued talking about the beautiful woman until she disappeared from their view.

    "By the way, where¡¯s Liam? Is he stilling with us to eat lunch?"

    "Yeah, he should be. Don¡¯t know why he¡¯s still so busy when he already graduated and got his bachelor¡¯s degree this past spring."

    "Because he enrolled in some sses this summer to get a head start for his elerated MBA degree thising fall."

    "Damn overachiever."

 Chapter 650 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part III

    <h4>Chapter 650 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part III </h4>

    "Yeah, I heard that he ns toplete his MBA in just one year and return to China to help run their family¡¯spany. He¡¯s, like, super rich in their country."

    "Oh, I remember something. I heard that the babe who¡¯s always following Liam around¡ªwhat¡¯s her name again?¡ªLily or Daisy...something flower¡ª"

    "Rose, if I remember correctly. What about her?"

    "Yeah, her! I heard that her family is running the Singapore branch of Liam¡¯s familypany."

    A girlfriend of one of the group members crossed her arms over her chest and snorted while rolling her eyes. "That girl¡¯s too thirsty for Liam. I mean, can¡¯t you be any more obvious? Popping up wherever he is? We all know that Liam hates it when girls throw themselves at him and try too hard to get his attention. He even bes grumpy whenever I and the other girlfriends hang out with you. I swear that guy has a phobia of girls or something."

    "True. Liam really has a strong aversion to females."

    "Incorrect! Liam only has a strong aversion to females who go gaga in the eyes chasing after him. If you¡¯re one of the rare females who isn¡¯t attracted to him, then he¡¯ll be okay with interacting with you."

    The girlfriends in the group pouted. Although they were in a rtionship with Liam¡¯s friends, they still felt attracted to him to some degree. They were able to hang out with the group because they held themselves back and didn¡¯t act on their attraction. There were girlfriends before who tried seducing Liam while still in a rtionship with his friends. They were now exes.

    The guys in this group of university friends followed the code: bros before hoes. If Liam continued to be an overachiever, he would certainly be the next head of his family¡¯s multinationalpany with a worth in the billions of dors. Although they were only university students right now, they were already thinking about their futures. Befriending someone like Liam who would be a formidable figure in the business world in the future would, without a doubt, benefit them in the long run.

    When given the choice of staying loyal to Liam or hooking up with some hot girls at this stage of their young lives, of course they would choose their Mr. Moneybags friend! Was there even a need to think about something so obvious? They sacrificed so much in order to enroll in this world-ss and prestigious university, so they were all ambitious and determined to seed. Thus, they never hesitated to dump girls who tried using them to get close to Liam no matter what a hot fuck they were.

    The guys and their girlfriends continued chatting under the cool shade of a centuries-old tree waiting for Mr. Moneybags.

    "Oh! Liam just texted. He says that he still need to talk to his professor, so we should go ahead to the square. He¡¯ll meet us in the restaurant when he¡¯s done."

    "That¡¯s great! It means we can spend more time with you, guys," one of the girlfriends said. "You always make us girls leave when you¡¯re with Liam. I think I¡¯m getting jealous of him."

    Everyoneughed before the group headed to the square outside the campus which was also a popr entertainment hub among the students. It was a vibrantmunity featuring eclectic yet cheap shops and lots of good food.

    When they arrived at the square, it was bustling with life even though it was summer. People milled around looking for a ce to eat lunch. There were fewer students at the momentpared to the regr fall and winter terms when new students would join the university life every start of the academic year.

    The group headed to their favourite Italian restaurant. But on the way there, they encountered a crowd consisting of students, locals, and some tourists. Someone ced a piano on a mini park by the street a few weeks ago. Anyone could y it. Some music students used it for busking to earn some spare change and also hoping for someone to "discover" them and hopefully make them rich and famous someday.

    At the moment, it looked like someone was busking again. The group stopped by to watch for a bit.

    Indeed, a music student was ying an original song. The song sounded okay but it was nothing amazing. People came and went. Not many people stayed for the entire performance. The group arrived near the end of the song. There was a smattering of apuse when the performance ended. A couple of tourists even each gave a dor bill to the performer. The group was about to leave and head to the Italian restaurant when they saw someone familiar.

    "Hey, it¡¯s that gorgeousdy from earlier. Look!"

    They all turned their heads and watched as the blondedy with beautiful green eyes appeared and walked towards the piano. Her long floral dress rippled gently in the breeze, making her look like she was floating instead of walking. Everyone was mesmerized by her, their eyes following her every move.

    She spoke to the music student who just finished his lukewarm performance. When she smiled, the music student couldn¡¯t close his mouth and kept staring at her. Momentster, he gave up his seat and they exchanged ces in front of the piano.

    Oh, was she performing? The people already started pping even when she hadn¡¯t done anything yet.

    The beautiful woman smiled at the audience, making them catch their breaths, before cing her hands over the piano keys. Her smile deepened. Then she started ying.

    Scott Joplin¡¯s "The Entertainer" started ying under her graceful hands.

    Many recognized the popr ssic ragtime piano piece. The easy, catchy tune made them bounce on their feet and put smiles on their faces. However, they were a bit surprised that the beautiful young woman would y a ragtime piece. Looking at her elegance, flowing beauty and aristocratic air, they thought that she would y one of those intricate piano pieces fit for high-ss concertos. Instead, she yed a very rtable piece that almost everyone could appreciate.

    A minute into the performance, someone stepped out of a crowd¡ªhe looked like a student, too¡ªand started tap dancing to the tune, eliciting another wave of enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. People whipped out their phones to record the fun impromptu performance.

    The group of friends also joined. They had now be engrossed with the street performance and had temporarily forgotten that they were supposed to wait for their friend Liam at their favourite Italian restaurant in the square.

    When the performance ended, everyone gave a loud standing ovation¡ªwell, they were already standing in the first ce. Cheers, whistles, and loud pping. The crowd had grown thrice its original size since the beautiful woman took over the piano.

    "Encore! Encore! Encore!"

    "Don¡¯t go yet! We want more!"

    Evelina Vetrova paused for a moment. She only yed on a whim, unable to stop herself upon seeing a piano. She only nned on ying one piece before leaving but the crowd¡¯s apuse and request for more made her happy. Her bodyguards weren¡¯t happy by all the attention she was getting, though. They were already walking towards her, ready to take her away, so she made a quick decision. Smiling quickly at the guy who tap danced, she returned in front of the piano and started ying again.

    Her favourites to y on the piano were the great ssical pieces from the best masters in history, but today¡¯s vibrant and youthful atmosphere made her decide against ying the usual. This was why she chose to y Joplin¡¯s "The Entertainer" to match the casual and fun environment.

    ¡¯What should I y next?¡¯

    While walking around the university earlier, she overheard all kinds of conversations from the students. They were all studying hard in order to reach their dreams, hoping to be sessful one day. Everything was hard for them right now but they were holding on for that chance to be big someday.

    With that in mind, Evelina decided on the piece that she was going to y next.

    Her left fingers bounced on the piano keys and produced a deep, bass sound before tapping the same hand on the wooden top of the piano for a beat. She repeated these curious actions eight times for the intro before her right hand joined and started ying a familiar tune.

    "Ah!"

    Everyone recognized the music.

 Chapter 651 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 651 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part IV </h4>

    Someone started singing along with the piano music:

    "Buddy, you¡¯re a boy, make a big noise

    ying in the street, gonna be a big man someday"

    Others joined in. They even started stomping their feet and pping their hands in the same beat as the music.

    "We will, we will rock you!!!"

    Soon, everyone was singing along to the catchy song. The crowd was no longer mere spectators but active participants of the performance instead. More people gathered; their attentions caught by the energetic spectacle. They squeezed their way into the already packed crowd and became even more amazed upon seeing that the one ying the popr rock music on the piano and stimted all these people was a beautiful, elegant and ssy young woman.

    It was like being in a concert. Everyone was having so much fun!

    This was the first time Evelina felt such exhration while ying the piano. Her heart raced inside her chest, pumping blood throughout her whole body, filling her up with what seemed like endless energy, and making her feel oh so alive. She felt like she was on top of the world, as she performed with what she was most passionate about¡ªmusic. The audience¡¯s enthusiasm fed her to perform better, even revising her cover of this ssic rock anthem song as she yed it, improving the arrangement in the process.

    ¡¯So this is what it¡¯s like to perform in front of a big audience.¡¯

    She loved it!

    Rock music wasn¡¯t her strongest forte due to her training in ssical music, but which music lover hadn¡¯t heard of this hit song by one of the best-selling bands in the world? Even her music mentor, the hitmaker Enrique Valdez held great respect and admiration to all of the band¡¯s members. The song was one of the top greatest hit songs of all time. It was energizing!

    This was why Evelina decided to y this particr song in this asion, instead of choosing from her extensive repertoire of intricate ssical pieces. More than this, the song¡¯s message resonated with her especially in this kind of youthful environment. Like all these university students who were around the same age her, she also had her own big dreams. Unlike them, however, she would never be able to achieve those dreams in this lifetime no matter how hard she tried. There was no escape for her. Her fate had already been sealed the moment she was born as Evelina Vetrova, the sheltered princess of the reigning criminal family in the international underworld.

    Looking at all the students having fun while singing along with the music she was ying, Evelina thought that they were all so lucky. They had the freedom to strive for their dreams. There might be hardships, but at least they had the chance.

    Unlike her.

    Evelina tossed these hopeless thoughts out of her mind. She wanted to focus on the performance. She wanted to enjoy it. There might not be a chance for her to achieve her dreams but at least for now, she was able to have a taste of what it felt like to perform in front of an audience cheering and pping for her, loving her music and making her understand what it felt like to be truly alive.

    "WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!!!"

    She threw her head back and tossed one of her hands up in the air, a sign of victory, feeling the music and the crowd¡¯s energy with her own body.

    ###

    ###

    Jin Liwei walked with a sense of purpose, looking straight ahead with a cold and indifferent expression. He had an appointment to meet the friends he made in university for lunch at their favourite Italian restaurant in the square. On his way there, there were too many people who tried catching his attention, wanting to chat with him, but he pretended not to see them, especially if he had no idea who they hell they were.

    How annoying.

    He wasn¡¯t being rude. No, he didn¡¯t think so. He just didn¡¯t want to waste his time on useless talk with strangers.

    What was the most precious currency in the world?

    Gold? Dors? Euro?

    No!

    It was time.

    Time was extremely precious, not only to people working in the business industry but literally to everyone alive. You could earn all the money you lost and more if you had the drive, capability and health, but you could never earn back the time you lost in your life. All you would have left were regrets. Time waited for no one.

    That was why he felt extremely annoyed when a certain girl blocked his path and dyed him from meeting his friends sooner.

    "Hello, Big Brother Liwei~" Rose Young greeted him.

    "What is it? Be quick about it. I¡¯m in a hurry," he said, his tone as cold and indifferent as his expression.

    "Hey, Liam! Whazzup?"

    "Oh wow. So this is the famous Liam all the girls in our university are talking about?"

    "We¡¯re gonna have a party at my ce tonight. You¡¯re wee to join us, Liam. Rosie is gonna be there."

    A furrow formed between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows at Rose Young¡¯spanions. They were too annoying just like her. However, he couldn¡¯t just simply ignore her because her family was an integral part in running Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch. His father also had a bit of a friendship with her father, Romeo Young, although they weren¡¯t close. It was the type of superficial friendship developed from regr business cooperation.

    Thus, Jin Liwei nodded at Rose Young¡¯s friends as a greeting so as not to waste his saliva talking to them. They seemed pleased, though, that he acknowledged them. They all batted their eyes at him and thrust their chests forward, deepening the furrow between his brows.

    "I just want to congratte you for graduating and getting your bachelor¡¯s degree. What a great aplishment! Uncle and Auntie and Grandmother Li must be so proud of you! I¡¯m also very proud of you," Rose told him while giving him a sweet smile.

    He nodded. "Thanks."

    "I heard that you also got epted in the MBA program. Wow! You¡¯re such a big inspiration to me, Big Brother Liwei. I wish to follow in your footsteps but I know that I can never reach your level. You¡¯re so smart."

    They were speaking in Mandarin so Rose Young¡¯s mostly Americanpanions couldn¡¯t understand them. They didn¡¯t mind, though. They were too busy ogling Liam Jin who was voted as the hottest Asian student in the campus. Not only was he extremely smart and a straight A student, but he was also quite athletic. His professors bragged about him as if he was their own son. And most importantly (especially to the girls), he was rumoured to be ultra rich.

    Girls like them could smell a rich guy from a mile away. Liam Jin was prime meat and they all wanted to have a taste of him, but Rose Young already had her eyes set on him. The two also seemed to be familiar with each other, something like family friends. Rose Young was a tough opponent and someone that they didn¡¯t want to mess with. Thest girl who became enemies with her ended up dropping out of university never to be seen or heard from again. Who knew what kind of methods Rose Young used to drive the poor girl out of such a prestigious university that was so difficult to get into?

    Whatever. Rose Young was rich and frequently treated them to shopping and expensive restaurants. Although they didn¡¯t like her as a person because she looked down on them sometimes, they liked her money and how generous she spent it. Therefore, she was a "good" friend.

    Rose Young continued chatting with Jin Liwei, blind to the fact that he wasn¡¯t interested in having a conversation with her. She was basically just talking to herself. His replies could be counted in one hand.

    "I need to go now. Bye," Jin Liwei interrupted her in the middle of her self-conversation. He didn¡¯t wait for her reply before leaving.

    "Big Brother Liwei, wait! Where are you going?"

    He ignored her.

    "I want to treat you for lunch as my congrattions for getting into the MBA program. Wait! Big Brother!"

    His mind had begun to automatically filter out all the annoying noises in the background, so he no longer heard her. He walked quickly, almost jogging, because he was already ten minuteste for his meeting with his friends. He hated beingte.

    Thanks to his burst of speed and long legs, Rose Young was unable to keep up with him. She had no choice but to give up and let him go. However, she didn¡¯t look disappointed. On the contrary, she had a smug expression on her face. After all, she was the only female student in the university who he was willing to talk to. He was notorious for ignoring all the girls who tried talking to him. That made her special.

    Back to Jin Liwei, he already reached the square and was about to text his friends when he heard something from a distance.

    "WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!!!"

    His usual cold and indifferent expression registered interest.

    "What¡¯s going on? Is there an event in the square today?" he wondered.

    It seemed like he wasn¡¯t the only one interested in what was happening. There were other students headed towards the origin of the sounds. They couldn¡¯t see it yet but they could hear that there must be a lot of people gathered to produce such a loud singing group.

    "Hmm. I¡¯ll take a look at it quickly before meeting with my friends."

 Chapter 652 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part V

    <h4>Chapter 652 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part V </h4>

    When Jin Liwei arrived at the scene, the performance had already ended and most of the crowd was in the midst of dispersing. The people looked ted as they gushed about the exciting performance they just witnessed, with some still continuing to sing "We Will Rock You" by themselves.

    Jin Liwei and the other new arrivals felt disappointed that they missed the show but didn¡¯t dwell on it too much. After all, they hadn¡¯t experienced the performance firsthand so they didn¡¯t know what they missed.

    "Hey, Liam!"

    He saw his friends and their girlfriends on the other side of the street waving at him. After joining the group, he greeted them with a nod before keeping a distance from the girls. His coldness became more pronounced in the presence of the girls. Everyone could only give a wry smile at his cold reception. They were already used to it, anyway.

    "Did you just arrive, Liam?"

    "Yes. Sorry for beingte."

    "Nah! Don¡¯t worry about it, bro. We were watching an amazing street performance just now. The pianist was the bomb! That babe¡¯s so gorgeous and talented! I wanted to talk to her and ask for her number or something. But too bad her guy friends pulled her away before anyone could even have a chance to approach and speak to her after the performance," said one of his friends who didn¡¯t have a girlfriend just like him.

    "Hmmm..." Jin Liwei was no longer interested in the performance he missed, especially after hearing his friends raving about the female pianist¡¯s appearance.

    The pianist must have relied on her good looks to attract the audience¡¯s attention. Why else would his friends focus so much on her appearance instead of the actual performance? (He didn¡¯t know that his friends already finished discussing the amazing performance among themselves before he joined them, so now they were talking about the performer¡¯s stunning beauty instead.) He was the type of person who didn¡¯t give a damn about how a woman looked like. There were so many females who kept on trying to seduce him with their beauty but he remained unaffected. He appreciated intelligence, abilities and skills more than personal appearance. But even if someone was intelligent, talented and skilled, it wasn¡¯t a guarantee that he would be attracted.

    Jin Liwei was already an adult yet hadn¡¯t felt lust yet since the day he was born, unlike men his age who could only think about the next girl they wanted to fuck. Sure, he would wake up in the morning with a hard-on now and then but those were natural male physiological responses and not because he was having wet dreams about a certain woman. He hadn¡¯t yet met a woman (or a man) who could stir his sexual desire. He was already beginning to think that he would never feel sexually attracted to another person for the rest of his life. Perhaps he was someone called "asexual". Not that he cared much.

    His thoughts were interrupted by his friend.

    "Hold on. I took some photos and videos of the hot pianist. I¡¯ll show you."

    "No need. Let¡¯s go to the restaurant now," Jin Liwei interjected but his friend was already checking his phone.

    "Eh? I¡¯m sure I took several photos and videos but why are they all gone? Was I mistaken? Or did I identally delete all of them?"

    "You¡¯re so silly. Don¡¯t you know how to use your own phone? Here, I also took some photos and videos...huh? Wait. Where are they? Why is there none?"

    Those who recorded the street performance earlier all checked their phones. There were no photos or videos. They all mysteriously disappeared.

    "This so weird. Did all of us press the wrong button or something?"

    ###

    ###

    Inside a car driving away from the university, Evelina closed herptop and ced it on the seat beside her. A delicate sigh escaped from her lips. Although she felt exhrated and touched that so many people enjoyed her performance earlier that they even recorded it, she had no choice but to hack into their devices and delete all the photos and videos they took of her. A handful of them had even already posted the recordings on social media but fortunately, she was able to remove the photos and videos before they had a chance to spread on the inte.

    There was no helping it. She was a Vetrov and the Vetrovs weren¡¯t allowed to leave any evidence of their identities behind. They had an enormous number of enemies always waiting for the opportunity to take them down. And she, the least trained (because she hated it), effectively making her the weakest inbat among the Vetrovs, was the easiest and most scrumptious target in the organization. It was fortunate that not a lot of information was released to the outside world about her, primarily due to her family¡¯s painstaking protection.

    Once again, unwillingness to live this kind of secretive, purposeless life with no freedom threatened to overwhelm Evelina but she forced the feeling down to the deepest recesses of her heart. It would only make her depressed if she nurtured this kind of feelings. At least, she had music,puters and the inte as a temporary escape to her dreary life. And most importantly, she had her big brother. If not for his love and care, she might have already given up life a long time ago.

    Leaning her head against the window and watching the scenery passing by, Evelina remembered the wonderful feeling of performing earlier. She had never felt so alive! It was what she had always dreamed of.

    A sad smile darkened and lightened her expression at the same time. She might not be able to achieve her dreams but at least she had the opportunity to have a taste of it today. Also, she saved all those recordings she deleted from the crowd¡¯s devices for her own use, so that she could view themter and relive the amazing feeling of performing in front of an enthusiastic audience.

    ¡¯This is enough,¡¯ she forced herself to believe and then closed her eyes.

 Chapter 653 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part VI

    <h4>Chapter 653 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part VI </h4>

    The next day, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t have any sses but still busied himself by spending the entire morning in the emptiest library in the campus to work on his assignments in peace. He had been very absorbed in what he was doing when he realized that he was missing one of the books in his required reading list.

    Sighing, he consulted the librarian before heading to the upper floors to hunt for the lone textbook. There was a distinct old and stale smell in this part of the library due to theck of air cirction. He didn¡¯t mind it, though. In fact, he feltforted by it.

    He thought that he would be the only one here today but was surprised to hear the presence of another person. There was someone singing in a light voice at the topmost floor. He was one floor below. Frowning in disapproval, he climbed the stairs to reprimand whoever it was who had the gall to disrupt the peaceful silence. This was a library, not a damn karaoke bar!

    The sound of singing grew clearer when he reached the top floor. His irritation changed into interest when he realized that the singing actually sounded nice. No, it wasn¡¯t just nice. It was actually quite beautiful.

    Although it sounded light and soft, the voice was crystal clear and the melody flowed like a calm, mystical river. The high notes all reached the right spots as well. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t speak Italian but he could recognize thenguage once he heard it. The person who he still couldn¡¯t see from his position was singing a heartfelt Italian aria. He wasn¡¯t familiar with the song nor could he understand the lyrics, but it didn¡¯t matter. He could feel the passion, yearning, and loneliness through the singer¡¯s interpretation as if they were his own.

    The disapproval he felt earlier had already disappeared, reced by a need to listen to the song until the end. Not wanting to startle the singer, he stayed put in his current position by the top of the staircase. He leaned against a concrete column and closed his eyes, enjoying the beautiful Italian aria.

    Time passed by and the two figures remained in their own positions. One sang, the other listened. Both were aware of the other¡¯s presence but chose not to disturb or acknowledge each other. They couldn¡¯t see what the other person looked like because of the tall bookshelves separating them, but right at that moment, the two felt a connection because of the song.

    The one singing always appreciated someone who listened to her song.

    The one listening appreciated the rare someone who could make him stop and listen despite his busy schedule.

    When the song ended, Jin Liwei was dazed. This was the first time that he felt so rxed since he started studying in university. It had been such a long time. Even a good full body massage was iparable to the rxation he was experiencing right now because of the song. Was the mysterious singer a hypnotist as well?

    "Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s rude to eavesdrop on someone?" a calm female voice spoke in a British ent all of a sudden.

    Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t surprised by the foreign ent. The university catered to many foreign students from different countries all over the world. He was one, too.

    The voice was soft and had a lovely lilt to it yet was still clear enough for Jin Liwei to hear from several metres away. He was unsure from which specific bookshelf the voice¡¯s owner was located, but from the looks of it, she was on the other side of where he was supposed to search for the textbook that he needed.

    "Don¡¯t you know that it¡¯s rude to make a noise inside a library?" he retorted.

    A light, lovely chuckle tinkled like crystal bells. It made him shiver with an indescribable feeling that he had never experienced before. He was too confused by the feeling of his lower abdomen tightening that he didn¡¯t notice that his heart skipped a beat. In the end, he concluded that what he was feeling was annoyance.

    ¡¯Right, I was originally annoyed before her singing distracted me. Yes, I¡¯m annoyed,¡¯ he inwardly told himself.

    "Was my singing so horrible that you treat it as noise?" the female voice asked in a curious tone.

    Jin Liwei frowned. He didn¡¯t like to waste his time exining himself to a stranger, but for some reason, he couldn¡¯t bear to let her think that her singing was horrible. "You misunderstand. You sang well."

    She didn¡¯t immediately reply, making him think that she had decided to ignore him. He was about to head to the opposite direction to start searching for his book when she finally replied. "Thank you."

    "You¡¯re wee." He didn¡¯t realize that there was a faint smile on his lips.

    With that, the two no longer spoke to each other. They went their separate ways and had tossed this incident to the back of their minds.

    Behind a bookshelf, Evelina Vetrova knew when the man she spoke with earlier left the floor with her great hearing. She closed the book in her hand and returned it to the bookshelf before standing up from the step stool she was sitting on.

    "Are you done, mydy?" her bodyguard asked beside her.

    She nodded. "I want to take a walk outside. I need some fresh air."

    "Understood. Please wait for a moment."

    Another bodyguard appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and the two partners did a thorough check on the vicinity before escorting her down to the main floor. Her appearance caught the attention of the librarian and the handful of people studying in the library. She was just too beautiful and eye-catching to miss.

    Back on his desk, Jin Liwei also looked up and followed everyone¡¯s gazes. He caught a glimpse of an attractive blonde woman before she disappeared outside. Something flickered inside him but nothing too significant for him to notice, so he didn¡¯t think much of it and resumed his studies.

 Chapter 654 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part VII

    <h4>Chapter 654 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part VII </h4>

    Later in the afternoon, Jin Liwei met with his friends by the river closest to the university¡¯s business school. They nned on driving to Downtown Boston to find something fun to do and maybe eat dinner along the way or even hang out in a pubter in the evening.

    His friends were currently in a fierce arm-wrestlingpetition. The winner would be riding with Jin Liwei in his limited-edition luxury sports car. The others would have to squeeze themselves in their other friends¡¯ more normal and older cars.

    While his friends were roaring like battle-crazed diators, Jin Liwei was busy working on something on hisptop. He was checking on the performances of his stock portfolios and other investments. Although he was being groomed as the sessor of Jin Corporation, it wasn¡¯t a guarantee that that he would be the next President-CEO after his father. In the end, it would still alle down to his own skills, abilities, and aplishments.

    Jin Corporation prioritized skills, abilities, and aplishments over blood ties. This was evident in the fact that there was currently nobody from the Lu family who held high positions in thepany despite Grandpa Lu¡¯s influence. Also, most members of the Lu family inherited a "my pace" personality. They were usually happy go lucky fellows who liked to do things their own way and didn¡¯t care much about what other people thought of them. As a result, only a few of them were interested in working at Jin Corporation. Most of them chased after their own dreams and happiness, like Jin Liwei¡¯s fifth brother.

    Lu Zihao was currently living in Toronto and studying in a Canadian university. However, his grades were barely passable because he was spending most of his free time travelling all over Canada¡ªand during vacations, in other countries¡ªin search for the most thrilling and dangerous ski slopes in the world. It wasn¡¯t only skiing that Lu Zihao was crazy about. Any extreme sports like parachuting, street car racing, free ice climbing, to name just a few, were all up Lu Zihao¡¯s alley. He had no interest whatsoever in working at Jin Corporation. Ever. Just the thought of working a corporate job was enough to make him shudder in fright.

    Unlike his devil-may-care fifth brother, Jin Liwei¡¯s goal was to seed his father and be the next President-CEO of Jin Corporation. Running a business was what he was most passionate about, and of course, preserving the legacy of Grandfather Jin and Grandpa Lu for generations toe. He was born to reign over this massive business empire. That was why he spared no expense in honing himself as a sessful business leader. Not only were his school marks top-notch but his other aplishments were all impressive as well. He already built a considerable wealth on his own even before formally entering Jin Corporation. If he nned on bing thepany¡¯s next President-CEO, he must go above and beyond Jin Corporation¡¯s already high standards and dominate the entirepetition in order to leave no doubt in everyone¡¯s minds that he was the perfect person for the job.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei made some changes on his investment portfolios ording to his own personal forecast of the market. To the side, the arm-wrestlingpetition between his friends was heating up. It was the final round.

    Everyone in their group was too preupied to notice a little girl about five to seven years old running in their direction. She held a leash with both of her hands and was being pulled by an overexcited golden retriever puppy. Before the guys could even realize what was happening, the puppy and the girl had already both crashed into Jin Liwei and a couple of their other friends.

    Jin Liwei¡¯sptop and a few other objects like soft drink cups and chipsy in a heap on the concrete ground. Theptop¡¯s screen cracked a little but the device seemed to be still working.

    As for the girl and her puppy, it was a good thing that Jin Liwei managed to block her head from hitting the bench with his arm while the puppy was caught by his friend beside him.

    However, the crash was still painful. It was no surprise that the girl and the puppy began wailing and crying together. The group of guys had no idea what to do and so they began to panic. They looked around for the girl¡¯s parents or guardians but they couldn¡¯t see anyone.

    "Fuck, what should we do?"

    "Watch yournguage! She¡¯s a kid."

    "Oh shit, my bad. Oops. Sorry. I¡¯ll just shut up now."

    They triedforting the crying little girl and her puppy. Someone toldme jokes while another made funny faces. Surprisingly, they were effective and the little girl started giggling while still crying. Then she told them that her puppy made her run so fast that they lost her parents somewhere. They had no choice but to apany the little girl and the puppy while looking for her parents. A few minutester, her frantic parents finally found them.

    "Thank you, big brothers!"

    The friends felt good and proud of themselves after helping an adorable little girl. Except for a certain cold-faced guy, everyone chatted with the girl and her parents and yed with the cute puppy.

    "Let¡¯s give her a candy or something."

    They all patted their pockets and bags looking for a treat but failed to find anything. Disappointed for theirck of preparation, all they could do was wave at the family goodbye. But then a certain cold-faced guy whipped out a neat pack of mints and wordlessly handed it to the little girl.

    "For me?" she asked.

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    "Thank you, handsome big brother!"

    He nodded again, stiffly this time, because he didn¡¯t know how to interact with children. His friends teased him for being a Surprise Mr. Nice Guy but he ignored them to check hisptop instead.

    For some inexplicable reason, an Italian aria sung by a beautiful voice began ying in his mind as he examined his crackedputer.

 Chapter 655 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part VIII

    <h4>Chapter 655 - Tied By Destiny An Evelina Vetrova & Young Jin Liwei Special Part VIII </h4>

    When the family left the area by the river, the little girl was scolded by her parents, making her very sad. It wasn¡¯t her fault that she and her puppy got lost. Little Max was the one who started chasing a squirrel, not her. She just followed him so he wouldn¡¯t get lost and cry by himself.

    Her parents both worked in the university. Her father was a professor while her mother worked as an events organizer in the campus. It was a habit to take a walk around the campus as a family whenever her parents were off work.

    The scolding was interrupted when they met a couple of her parents¡¯ colleagues along the way. After telling her to stay put and to behave, her parents began chatting with their co-workers. The little girl felt bored so she started ying fetch with Little Max using a small tree branch while also trying to open the candies the handsome big brother gave her earlier. The candy was square and white. It didn¡¯t look appetizing at all, but she still popped it in her mouth and then immediately spat it out.

    "Ah, spicy!" She started spitting to relieve the mint¡¯s cold burn on her tongue. "That big brother looked handsome but he¡¯s so evil! He gave a nasty candy to a little girl like me! Bad man! Hmph! Blegh!"

    While she spat and cursed the deceptive big brother, Little Max saw another squirrel and began chasing after it again. The little girl didn¡¯t think before chasing after her puppy as well. She didn¡¯t know how far they ran but when she looked around, her parents were nowhere to be seen. Once again, they got lost.

    "Stupid Max! Mommy and Daddy are going to scold me again!"

    This area was unfamiliar to her. It looked empty and scary.

    "Are you lost?"

    "Ah!"

    The little girl was startled upon hearing an unfamiliar voice suddenly speaking. However, her rm was quickly reced by awe at the beauty in front of her.

    "Wow, you¡¯re so pretty. Are you angel?" she asked.

    The beautifuldy chuckled, her voice sounding as beautiful as her. The innocent little girl didn¡¯t notice the dangerous-looking men standing nearby who were watching her as if she was an enemy while she and her puppy approached the beautifuldy without any care in the world. Thedy was sitting on the grass with her back against a tree trunk. She had aptop on herp. The little girl sat beside her, shoving the equally awe-struck puppy to thedy.

    Evelina smiled at the little girl but most of her interest was on the puppy. She reached her fair hand and began petting its soft fur. From the corner of her eyes, she saw that her bodyguards were about to step forward to wrench the "dangerous creature" away. She quickly gestured for them to stay back without the little girl or the puppy noticing. Couldn¡¯t those men see that the girl and the puppy were harmless?

    Although reluctant, the bodyguards stayed back but their vignce increased. There was no doubt that they would spare neither kid nor dog if they harmed her. It was fortunate that these men were her brother¡¯s subordinates. Compared to the ones working under her parents, her brother¡¯s loyal subordinates had at least a fraction of emotions remaining within their killing machine selves. The bodyguards were too skilled in concealing their killing intent that the young dog failed to detect any danger from them with its natural senses.

    "What are you doing?" the little girl asked Evelina.

    "ying with myputer. Do you want to try?"

    The little girl nodded, her eyes shining with excitement.

    Evelina showed the little girl some of the basic games on herptop. Then she searched for some American children¡¯s shows avable on the inte and allowed the girl to watch an episode of her choosing.

    About twenty minutester, the girl¡¯s parents found finally them. They thanked Evelina for her kindness in apanying their daughter. Evelina watched them with curiosity...and a little envy.

    ¡¯So that¡¯s what a normal family is like?¡¯

    The little girl was reluctant to part with Evelina¡¯sptop. Evelina also felt reluctant to part with the puppy who already fell in love with her. She always wanted a pet but her mother forbade it, iming that it would make her weaker and more soft-hearted than she already was. Her dream pet had always been a kitten but she found puppies cute, too.

    "Bye, beautifuldy! Thank you for letting me borrow yourputer." The little girl pulled Iris and pressed a kiss on her cheek. "Oh, right. Here, you can have this!"

    A pack of mints was shoved into her hands. Before Evelina could decline, the little girl and her puppy had already run away while chased by her exasperated parents. All Evelina could do was chuckle and wave goodbye to the nice family while touching her kissed cheek.

    Her bodyguards appeared beside her when the family disappeared from view.

    "Mydy, Boss Niki called and instructed us to bring you back. He wants to eat dinner together with you."

    "Alright. Let¡¯s go back to my brother."

    As they walked away, Evelina shook the pack of mints. She took out one and ced it in her mouth.

    Nice and refreshing.

    Her footsteps became lighter, as she smiled.

    ###

    ###

    An Italian aria and a pack of mints.

    Two very different people unknowingly received something from each other. Upon receiving what belonged from the other, they had no idea that both their fates had been sealed at that moment, that they had been tied by destiny.

    Unfortunately, the fate of the other one was doomed for an early and tragic death. Thus, their destiny couldn¡¯t be fulfilled right away. However, their tied destinies couldn¡¯t be broken by death alone.

    Love may not have started when their paths crossed for the first time but her song and his pack of mints had done their job in connecting their fates together. It might take some time but they would surely meet again, with one transcending death, to fulfill their destiny because...

    Her death is only the beginning of her life...and his love.

 Chapter 656 - Ugly Battle

    <h4>Chapter 656 - Ugly Battle </h4>

    Everyone was shocked at Kang Huizhong¡¯s revtion. He, the famed corporatewyer of Jin Corporation and personal attorney of CEO Jin Liwei, was ying assistant in a mere custody case for a toddler? Not only him, but even His Excellency Deng Gui? The former jurist of the international court of justice previously presided over cases involving conflicts between sovereign states and various organizations on the world level. And now someone in the top leagues like him was handling a child custody case?

    What in the world?! Wasn¡¯t this supposed to be a simple case? The parents involved weren¡¯t even married, so the case shouldn¡¯t be tooplicated. If it wasn¡¯t because the reporters were paid to bully Jiang Ying Yue and tarnish her image in the media, the reporters wouldn¡¯t even bother covering such a small case like this.

    Then why did two bigshotwyers suddenly involve themselves in this custody case? Were the reporters missing something? Perhaps the child was actually royalty?

    "It¡¯s Iris Long. She must¡¯ve asked her fianc¨¦ CEO Jin to invite Atty. Kang and His Excellency Deng to help her friend. Remember that Atty. Hong who¡¯s representing Jiang Ying Yue in this case is originally Iris Long¡¯s personalwyer. Also, the child involved is not only her nephew but her godson as well. CEO Jin is the godfather."

    "That makes sense. Only someone with CEO Jin¡¯s status and influence could move bigshots like His Excellency Deng and Atty. Kang to waste their time in a small family case like this. Iris Long is a very lucky woman to have CEO Jin as her future husband. If this was the ancient times, she would be marrying an emperor."

    "Yeah. But speaking of the two opposing sides in this case, I just find it intriguing that Iris Long is supporting the child¡¯s mother instead of the father. Long Hui is her brother, you know. Even if they¡¯re only half-siblings, you¡¯d think that blood is thicker than water but by the look of things, Iris Long and Long Hui have be enemies because of Jiang Ying Yue and her child."

    "Now I feel motivated to follow this custody case and cover how it will turn out. The court hearing hasn¡¯t even started yet but so many things happened already."

    "Same here. I just feel sorry for Long Hui now. I initially thought that he¡¯ll win custody of his son without any problems because he¡¯s the heir of the Long n and Jiang Ying Yue is only a mere bodyguard, but with the appearance of His Excellency Deng and Atty. Kang supporting Jiang Ying Yue, things aren¡¯t looking good for him. He needs to have a secret weapon of the same calibre as the two bigshotwyers if he has any chance of winning this case."

    "I can believe if there¡¯s someone in the same calibre as Atty. Kang in this country, but His Excellency Deng? Are you kidding me? If His Excellency ims to be number two, nobody in our country would dare im to be number one."

    The reporters made their own conclusions based on their observations just now. Their original mission to make it difficult for Jiang Ying Yue today was already forgotten, as they focused on the appearance of the big guns protecting Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s side in this case. They all nced at Long Hui standing in front of the courthouse¡¯s main entrance with hiswyer.

    Long Hui¡¯s expression turned darker when he saw the way the reporters were looking at him. Useless bunch! He shouldn¡¯t have bothered listening to Elder Long Meng. He ended up only wasting his money on these ipetent fellows.

    But more than the reporters, he was concerned more about the appearance of Kang Huizhong and especially Deng Gui. Even he could sense his ownwyer¡¯s anxiety now that they knew for sure that they would be dealing not only with the tough Hong Shaoqiang but also with the two bigshotwyers.

    Long Hui felt worried. Extremely worried. However, the worry was only secondary to the hatred he felt for his youngest half-sister Xin and her fianc¨¦ Jin Liwei. His hatred for them was only growing more intense every time they did something to oppose him.

    ¡¯So they decided to y dirty by using their status and influence to bully me. Hmph!¡¯ He felt indignant and mentally cursed the couple¡¯s "dirty tactics", forgetting the fact that he also employed dirty tactics by hiring reporters to bully Jiang Ying Yue. In his mind, it had nothing to do with him. It was all Elder Long Meng¡¯s idea. All he did was pay the money. After ring at Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s group, he turned and entered the courthouse with his sweatingwyer.

    ###

    ###

    The tension was very high in the courtroom. Both Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui, the main characters in this custody battle, had grim expressions on their faces. Most of the talking was done by their respectivewyers.

    Normally, small cases like this were done in a small courtroom and received judgment on the same day. If concluding on the same day wasn¡¯t possible, then the case would be extended. It would all be up to the judge and how long he or she would take to make a decision.

    This time, however, the original venue of the hearing was moved to a bigger courtroom all of a sudden. The judge presiding over the case also granted special permission to a select number of major news outlets allowing them to document the hearing. All of these were done a few minutes before the hearing¡¯s official start time.

    It was all because of the appearance of Deng Gui. The courthouse felt that they needed to show appropriate respect to such an illustrious figure in the field ofw, and most importantly, they wanted to impress him. It was like a bunch of fans weing their idol.

    Nevertheless, the judge still managed to maintain an air of impartiality as he officially started the hearing. But with the media¡¯s presence, what should have been a simple proceeding became more like a performance between thewyers and the judge.

    usations were thrown against each other. Skeletons in the closet were exposed. Malice were being shot like a methrower.

    There was a moment when everything became too much for Jiang Ying Yue and she just broke down, bursting into heart-wrenching sobs. The lies about her cheating...she could still take.

    But the usations of her being a bad mother? Of prioritizing her own desires over her son¡¯s? Too much. Long Hui was being too much!

    At that moment, she truly realized that it was really over between them, that he hadpletely changed, and that the Long Hui in front of her right now had be a total stranger...no, an enemy.

    When the photos and a video of her and Lin Yehan were shown, the reporters stirred with renewed interest. Jiang Ying Yue was sure that the media would blow this out of proportion and drag Lin Yehan¡¯s name in the mud with her. She stopped crying. Her heartbroken expression was reced by fury.

    She shot a cold re at Long Hui. He really dared to drag an innocent man in their ugly battle!

    Poof!

    Thest remaining small shred of love for him was finally killed in her heart.

 Chapter 657 - Numb

    <h4>Chapter 657 - Numb </h4>

    The custody hearingsted for several hours but still failed to reach a conclusion on the same day. After several heated back and forth between the two conflicting sides, the judge ended today¡¯s session and scheduled the next one tomorrow.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s team found an empty waiting room to congregate after the first court session ended. Long Hui and hiswyer also did the same thing, finding another room in the opposite direction.

    Hong Shaoqiang sighed. "This has turned into a media circus as I feared. I did my best to speed things up but the judge appears like he wants to prolong this custody case."

    "It¡¯s because some stupid idiot invited the media," Deng Gui said, huffing in irritation. "If the media wasn¡¯t already present here in the first ce, the case would have proceeded normally and most likely ended today even with my appearance and involvement. Not everyone could recognize me anyway, only certain people could. Even among the reporters earlier, only one of them was able to recognize me but when he did, it snowballed and everyone else ended up focusing on me instead."

    Kang Huizhong nodded. "Indeed, the media¡¯s involvement in this case hasplicated things. Now it looks like we also need to deal with public opinion. It shouldn¡¯t affect the judge¡¯s decision¡ªhe lookspetent enough¡ªbut it would certainly affect you, Miss Jiang. I¡¯m afraid that you need to prepare yourself for the worst when ites to the public¡¯s opinion of you, especially now that Mr. Long showed the photos and videos of you and Mr. Lin spending time together with your son. The media will certainly use those misleading evidence and insinuate a false narrative about your rtionship with Mr. Lin. I¡¯m sure that Mr. Long¡¯s side will also feed that false narrative."

    "The nerve! What an asshole!" Clover roared. Her face had already long turned red in anger. "Sis Ying Yue may not have a romantic rtionship with Eldest Brother Yehan, but he¡¯s still many times a better manpared to that jerk! If we weren¡¯t in court, I would¡¯ve already channeled my inner Momsy and beaten that asshole with my mighty boots! All the things he and hiswyer said, who¡¯s also an asshole by the way, were all disgusting! I really can¡¯t believe that such a malicious person is my boss¡¯ brother! You really can¡¯t trust blood rtions. Just look at how boss and Fifth Bro Hao act more like the true siblings than that asshole! He must never get Little Junie boy. I don¡¯t want our Baby Junie turning into an asshole like his father when he grows up."

    "I won¡¯t allow him to take our son away from me," Jiang Ying Yue replied in a surprisingly calm voice. It was a huge contrast to her emotional breakdown earlier during the court session. "But I won¡¯t deprive him of his right as the father either. If he wants to see his son and be part of Little Jun¡¯s life, I¡¯ll let him. I can give him at least that despite all the hurt and humiliation he caused me. Without him, our son wouldn¡¯t be born into this world."

    Clover sighed and grumbled, "You¡¯re too kind, Sis Ying Yue. But it¡¯s your decision. If that¡¯s what you want, I¡¯ll support you!"

    After discussing their strategy for tomorrow¡¯s court session, they left the courthouse through a nondescript side entrance where they were whisked away by their waiting cars, causing the reporters waiting at the other entrances to miss them.

    Inside the car, Jiang Ying Yue felt numb physically, mentally and emotionally. Long Hui, her former boss and the man she fell stupidly in love with and who fathered her beloved son, painted her as a promiscuous, gold-digging, cheating slut during the court hearing. The anger was there inside her but she was too exhausted to feel it. Before she knew it, her eyes had closed and she fell into a restless and dreamless slumber.

    ###

    ###

    At Lin Yehan¡¯s farm vi mansion.

    "Eldest Bro, this...oh shit," Yu Mo couldn¡¯t help but curse as he watched the evening news on TV.

    Lin Yehan¡¯s lips pressed into a thin line as he watched several photos and a video clip of him and Jiang Ying Yue at the mall together with Little Jun, whose face was blurred out, being shown on the evening news. The custody battle was actually featured as a major news story tonight! And the implication was clear. The news wanted people to believe that he had an affair with Jiang Ying Yue while she was still engaged to Long Hui.

    His usual gentle expression was nowhere to be seen. It looked stormy instead. So stormy that Yu Mo didn¡¯t dare make any jokes to lighten the atmosphere like he usually would in normal situations.

    However, when the news showed a short video clip of Jiang Ying Yue sobbing in utter heartbreak in the courtroom, Lin Yehan¡¯s stony expression cracked revealing concern, sympathy and also unwarranted guilt. He felt sorry for her.

    Then he felt furious at the asshole who made her cry like that. When the news showed the face of Long Hui next, Lin Yehan lost his temper and threw the remote control hard. It struck the antique vase on top of the coffee table, breaking both the vase and the remote control into pieces. He imagined that the broken vase was the son of a bitch¡¯s face which made him feel a little better but failed to decrease the growing fury he felt.

    Not caring about the next portion of the news story about the involvement of bigshotwyers Deng Gui and Kang Huizhong, Lin Yehan grabbed his phone and called Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s number. It kept on ringing and going into voicemail. He tried calling her seven times but she wasn¡¯t answering.

    Lin Yehan stood up and walked out of the living area.

    "Eldest Bro, where are you going?" Yu Mo called after him.

    "I¡¯m getting my coat and keys. I¡¯m driving to Third Brother¡¯s ce. I need to talk to Miss Jiang and see with my own eyes how she¡¯s doing."

    "Oh okay! Wait for me! I¡¯ming, too!"

 Chapter 658 - Trust In Your Friend

    <h4>Chapter 658 - Trust In Your Friend </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    When Lin Yehan and Yu Mo arrived at the mansionter that evening, Iris was apanying Jin Liwei in the kitchen for histe dinner. Jin Liwei just returned home from work. Iris and the others already ate dinner earlier. Since Lin Yehan and Yu Mo hadn¡¯t eaten yet, they also joined their third brother.

    Lin Yehan was restless. "Where¡¯s Miss Jiang? How is she feeling? Is she okay? No, what a stupid question. She obviously won¡¯t be okay."

    "Ying Yue is already asleep in her room when I got home," Iris replied. "Clover said that she looked exhausted and terrible which is understandable given what she went through during the court hearing today." Her expression became dark. She hissed, "I heard about the baseless usations thrown at her. How dare he?! That man is not my brother! I have no brother who¡¯s a stupid and malicious craven!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became colder but his hand resting on her shoulder was gentle as he began massaging her tense muscles. "Don¡¯t worry, love. Jiang Ying Yue is the mother of our godson and your friend, not to mention that she¡¯s part of our household, our family. Nobody touches anyone from our family and gets away with it."

    Iris nodded. His words calmed her down but couldn¡¯t rx herpletely. Then she turned to Lin Yehan who hadn¡¯t touched his food yet. "Eldest Brother, you¡¯ve been dragged into the mess created by my bro¡ªI mean, by Long Hui."

    "Don¡¯t worry about me, Xin." Lin Yehan¡¯s smile didn¡¯t reach his eyes as if he was forcing it, but his usual gentle expression was back. "I¡¯m a grown man. I can handle something like this, no problem. I¡¯m more worried about Miss Jiang. She may look strong and tough on the outside but she¡¯s actually very soft-hearted and delicate on the inside."

    The three raised their eyebrows at his statement and nced at each other with a meaningful look but didn¡¯t interrupt him. Yu Mo wisely decided to keep his mouth shut and not crack a joke at this time.

    It seemed that their eldest brother had been paying a rather close attention to Jiang Ying Yue. He was even able to grasp her real personality with great uracy despite only asionally interacting with each other. Was he always this observant? Wang Yingjie was usually the most observant among the brothers when it came to people¡¯s characters and rtionships, but it seemed that in the case of Jiang Ying Yue, Lin Yehan had be quite observant as well. Did the two grow closer to each other without the others noticing?

    Lin Yehan continued speaking, not noticing the weird looks the others were throwing at him. "All of these...are very unfair to Miss Jiang. It frustrates me that I¡¯m also being used as a weapon to hurt her and to ruin her image to the public. She¡¯s such a good person and a good mother. She doesn¡¯t deserve something like this! I want to help her...I want to...to do something! But I¡¯m afraid that if I do, I¡¯ll just be feeding the fake rumours about us having an affair. I don¡¯t want to cause her any more pain than she¡¯s experiencing now. Dammit! I want to smash Long Hui¡¯s face with my fists!"

    The others were surprised at his outburst. Indeed, he looked frustrated and helpless at the same time, but there was also determination mixed in there. Like Wang Yingjie, Lin Yehan rarely lost hisposure. Wang Yingjie was an extremely busy doctor so he thrived under pressure, even in literal life and death situations. That was why Wang Yingjie was already so aplished in his profession despite his rtively young age among doctors with the same specialty as him. As for Lin Yehan, he was the eldest among the five and had long took it upon himself to be the source of stability for his brothers. He was also fiercely protective of those he considered family and suspicious of anyone popping up in their close, tight-knit circle all of a sudden like when he met Iris for the first time back then. He may look amiable and gentle but he didn¡¯t trust anyone easily, so it was a big surprise to Yu Mo, Jin Liwei and Iris that he would react this strongly about Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s current situation.

    Iris opened her mouth about to say something but Jin Liwei gave a gentle squeeze on her shoulder, silently telling her to stay quiet. She frowned, displeased that he stopped her but upon seeing his expression, she understood his silent message. Although reluctant, she nodded and didn¡¯t share any opinion out loud regarding Lin Yehan¡¯s involvement in the mess that was the custody case.

    The dinner became sombre after that, so Yu Mo steered the conversation to a much lighter topic. Later, Iris and Jin Liwei retired to their bedroom suite after bidding the others good night. Lin Yehan and Yu Mo decided to sleep over at the mansion because it was already veryte and Lin Yehan¡¯s farm was quite far from Dragon Pce Homes.

    When the couple reached their bedroom, they began talking about the custody case while Iris helped Jin Liwei out of his suit and get him ready for bed. The furrow between her brows indicated that she was worried for her friend, Jiang Ying Yue. Jin Liwei kissed the space between her brows until the furrow disappeared.

    "We¡¯ll win this custody case. Ourwyers including Sir Deng Gui have formed a formidable team. We should trust in them," he reassured her.

    She sighed, smiling a little. "Yes, we should thank Grandpa Lu for inviting his long-time friend Sir Deng."

    "No. If we try thanking him, he¡¯ll just scold us and tell us, how dare you treat your grandpa like a stranger? Bah! I¡¯m only doing this for the sake of my beloved great-grandbaby, not for you rascals! And also, what¡¯s wrong with you dunderheads for being so slow in giving me more great-grandbabies? I want to know! Get to work now! I¡¯m not getting any younger!"

    Iris was a little startled when Jin Liwei imitated Grandpa Lu¡¯s usual words in a monotone voice and a deadpan expression that she honestly didn¡¯t know how to react at first. Then she doubled over and pressed her face against his chest as sheughed so hard until her stomach ached. The corners of Jin Liwei¡¯s lips lifted into a soft, doting smile. He wrapped his arms around her shaking body from too muchughing and pulled her closer.

    "Feel better?"

    Lifting her head to look up at him, she smiled and nodded. Her eyes were watery fromughing too much. Then her expression became serious again. "I trust in ourwyers. And I trust in us to protect our godson. I¡¯m just worried about Ying Yue...and now Eldest Brother is involved as well. They¡¯re not like me who constantly has to deal with negative publicity in the media. I think I should¡ª"

    "Love, I agree that we should be protecting Little Jun and make sure not to let that stupid idiot take our godson away from Jiang Ying Yue. She¡¯s also your friend, so I understand that you¡¯re worried about how she¡¯s coping with the stress. But remember that she¡¯s already a grown woman. We can¡¯t always interfere on her behalf. We have already lent her all the tools she¡¯ll need to win this custody battle and live a good life with Little Jun. Still, there are some things that she needs to face by herself. She¡¯ll never get over Long Hui if we always shelter her. He¡¯ll forever be a devil in her heart, casting an inescapable shadow over her and Little Jun¡¯s lives in the future."

    Iris was quiet, feeling conflicted by his words, but she understood that he made sense. It was just that this was the first time in her two lives that she had real, close friends. She couldn¡¯t bear to see any of them suffer.

    "You¡¯re her friend, not her guardian or provider," Jin Liwei continued. He lifted her chin with his fingers and made her look at his eyes. "Don¡¯t worry about her. My wife¡¯s friends are not weak cowards. Trust in your friend. She¡¯ll get through this with her own strength. We just need to be there for her and let her know that she¡¯s not alone."

    "Yes, you¡¯re right. I should trust my friend more."

 Chapter 659 - Are We Eloping?

    <h4>Chapter 659 - Are We Eloping? </h4>

    Jin Liwei was satisfied that his baby girl understood his point.

    "But what about the cheating allegations between Ying Yue and Eldest Brother?" Iris asked. "Those misleading photos are really damaging. Should we¡ª"

    "Love, just as I want you to trust your friend, I also trust in mine. Eldest Brother is amiable but he¡¯s no weak man. You heard him at dinner. He cares for Jiang Ying Yue. To what extent, I don¡¯t know, but rest assured that he¡¯ll do everything for the people he cares for. And it seems like Jiang Ying Yue is now one of those people, just like us. The cheating allegations involve the two of them. Let¡¯s see how they handle it first. If they¡¯re unable to solve it by themselves, we¡¯ll step in. How¡¯s that?"

    She sighed but still nodded.

    "I don¡¯t think we would need to step in, to be honest. Eldest Brother likes keeping a low profile but he¡¯s not without his own influence. Also, don¡¯t be fooled by that gentle expression. Remember that he¡¯s a gun and shooting expert. He also has a vicious side to him, surprisingly. Being Eldest Brother doesn¡¯t just mean that he¡¯s the oldest among us. It also means that he¡¯s the one we ept as our leader that we five brothers ept and respect. Your husband has no weak and cowardly friends," he said in a proud manner.

    Iris felt calmer after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s reassurances. Indeed, it took a bit of time before she felt fully epted by Lin Yehan. He was always nice and kind to her, but she sensed that he still kept some distance from her until he felt assured that she truly loved Jin Liwei. After that initial hurdle, Lin Yehan now treated her like family, like one of his own. This kind of loyalty was what she admired the most among the five brothers and what she also wanted with her friends, the girl squad.

    If Lin Yehan really started caring about Jiang Ying Yue and began to treat her like family, then Iris would feel less worried for her friend. Nevertheless, she still intended to take action if things didn¡¯t work out like what Jin Liwei said. She agreed to let Jiang Ying Yue face the hardships being thrown at her right now, but Iris didn¡¯t n on leaving her friend alone to face everything by herself. For now, however, she would follow her darling¡¯s suggestion and trust in both their friends. Indeed, she and her darling had no true friends who were weak cowards.

    Smiling, she tried giving Jin Liwei a yful pinch on his hip but failed because it was all hard muscles. So she gave him a yful bite on his chest instead. It was still all hard muscles but her teeth had a stronger grip than her fingers. He grunted more from pleasure than from pain.

    "Calling us husband and wife...we¡¯re not married yet," she reminded him.

    "We will be. Soon."

    "Are we eloping?"

    "If you want."

    She tilted her head to the side, seriously thinking about it. But before she could form a decision, he added, "I prefer that we don¡¯t, though. I admit that I had thoughts before of tricking you into eloping with me but I love you too much to do that to you. I want to give you your dream wedding as much as possible, even if we have to rush it. Our wedding is an extremely special asion. It¡¯s a celebration of our love. It shouldn¡¯t be something careless."

    "Oh." Iris felt touched, then concerned. "But I don¡¯t know what my dream wedding is. I never thought that I¡¯d be marrying someone I love."

    A distant look zed over her eyes, as she remembered her past life¡¯s circumstances. She was Evelina Vetrova who had no freedom. There had been several marriage offers for her, but they were all from scions of other criminal families. She rejected all of them but her words carried no weight in the Vetrov family because of her refusal to contribute to the organization¡¯s activities. If it weren¡¯t for her big brother who intimidated and threatened her suitors, their mother would have probably married her off to the best candidate the moment she turned eighteen. And the best candidate would always be the one whose family could provide the best benefits to the Vetrov organization. Since she was basically a useless deadweight in terms of her contributions to the organization, all she was good for was for marriage connections.

    Thus, she never had any delusional dreams of marrying a man she would one day fall in love with. To her, there was no other man in the world who could be better than her brother. Never did she expect that she would fall so deeply in love with someone after her death in her next chance in life.

    Jin Liwei was not a better man than her brother, but she realized now that her brother was not a better man than Jin Liwei either. Both men had their own strengths and ws. They were different from each other that there was no use inparing them. She loved both of them in different ways.

    Now that Jin Liwei broached the subject of her dream wedding, she realized how foreign the concept was to her. She knew what it was, of course, but it still felt alien. What could she say to him? He wanted to give her what she thought of as a perfect wedding but had no idea of what she wanted.

    Upon hearing his baby girl¡¯s reply, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but frown. No dream wedding? Never thought that she would marry someone she loved? He heard from someone before that all women had a dream wedding regardless of whether they ended up marrying the one they loved or not. Was it not the same for his baby girl?

    Ah, it must be because she was special. His baby girl was so special that she was different from other women.

    ¡¯Yes, that must be it!¡¯

    The realization made him rx.

    "Don¡¯t worry, my love. I¡¯m here, aren¡¯t I? I don¡¯t have one either. So we¡¯ll just have to construct our dream wedding together."

 Chapter 660 Why, Mr - Lin?!

    <h4>Chapter 660 Why, Mr - Lin?! </h4>

    Lin Yehan couldn¡¯t sleep despite feeling at home at his third brother¡¯s ce. He felt restless. If his second brother wasn¡¯t so strict about their health, then Lin Yehan would probably have looked for a cigarette to smoke right now in an attempt to rx. It was already past midnight. Living in a farm trained him to sleep early and to rise early. But sleep was proving to be elusive tonight. Sighing, he tossed the covers away and climbed off the bed.

    Then he started walking around the dimly-lit hallways, hoping that by tiring himself, he would be able to sleep. His third brother¡¯s mansion was huge but he knew itsyout like the back of his hand. All of them brothers treated each other¡¯s homes like an extension of their own homes. Just as all his brothers were wee at his home, he was also wee in theirs. They were family, after all.

    His mind drifted to different kinds of thoughts but most of them were about Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s custody battle for her son Little Jun against her ex, Long Hui, and of course, the cheating allegations between him and her. The stress was getting to him, so he could only imagine what Jiang Ying Yue was going through. The woman must be suffering. Lin Yehan thought that a man who could hurt his lover, ex or not, like that wasn¡¯t a real man at all.

    ¡¯This isn¡¯t working at all. I won¡¯t be able to sleep if I keep thinking like this. I need to clear and rx my mind.¡¯

    Wanting to do just that, he nned on stepping outside in the hopes that the coldte autumn weather could st the stressful thoughts out of his mind. But when he stepped outside the nearest balcony at the end of the hallway, someone was already upying the ce.

    "Mr. Lin," Jiang Ying Yue greeted him in a surprised tone.

    "Miss Jiang," he replied with a nod.

    "I didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re here."

    "I arrivedte in the evening with Fourth Brother Mo. Xin said that you were already asleep."

    She nodded but didn¡¯t reply. Instead, she returned to looking at the dark, hazy, night sky.

    Lin Yehan couldn¡¯t see her clearly in the dark. Only the dim lights from the hallway illuminated the balcony. The moon and the stars were hiding behind thick, dark clouds. Wanting to take a closer look at her to see if she was alright, he headed to where she was and stood beside her in front of the ornate balustrade. He noticed her stiffening when he got close to her but felt relieved when she didn¡¯t move away. They didn¡¯t speak to each other but just stood there, gazing at nothing in front of them. The silence was awkward at first but as minutes ticked by, it gradually feltfortable until they felt themselves rxing bit by bit.

    "I came because I wanted to see if you¡¯re okay," Lin Yehan said, breaking the silence first.

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t reply immediately because she didn¡¯t know which words were the most appropriate to say. "I...thank you, Mr. Lin. I¡¯m...I¡¯m okay¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t lie, please. Anyone who goes through what you¡¯re going through right now certainly won¡¯t feel okay."

    Her breath hitched and her lips trembled a little. There was now a watery shine in her eyes which shimmered even in the darkness. She tried to blink the tears away to prevent them from falling. On the way home from the courthouse earlier, she felt numb and exhausted. But after waking up from a dreamless and restless sleep, she began feeling the emotions again. The heartache was there but it had now changed from a hopeless, yearning hurt to an enraged one from the total destruction of her first love.

    "You¡¯re right, Mr. Lin. I¡¯m...not okay," she finally admitted with a shaky voiceced with anger. Her hands gripped the balustrades in front of her, channeling her angry heartache into the inanimate object. "I have to...to apologize to you, Mr. Lin. I just saw that our photos have been shown on the news¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t apologize. It¡¯s not your fault. Not mine either. It¡¯s not our fault. There¡¯s nothing we should feel sorry about."

    She finally faced him. "But because of me, you got into this mess¡ª"

    "I told you it¡¯s not your fault. We met at the mall by coincidence. It¡¯s nobody¡¯s fault, except for the malicious people who took the photos and video and intended to frame the two of us as a cheating couple. It¡¯s their fault. But the biggest fault lies in...in the person you love who¡¯s using those misleading evidence to hurt you and to destroy both of our reputation."

    "I don¡¯t love that person anymore!"

    He studied her face. His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness so he could now see her expression. "Are you sure?"

    "Y-yes... Yes! He hurt me so much that all my love for him has been battered out of me! How...how could he do this to me?! Even if he stopped l-loving me and doesn¡¯t want...to be with me anymore, why does he need to hurt me this much?! He could just...leave me, but why do this?! Why, Mr. Lin?!! WHY?!!!"

    Lin Yehan pulled her to his embrace. The front of his shirt got soaked immediately from her angry, gushing tears. Then she started beating his chest in her current emotional state. As a muscr and physically strong woman, all of her hits packed a hard, solid punch, making him wince in pain, but he did his best not to groan orin. Instead, he tightened his arms around her and pulled her closer. His chest might be bruised ck and blue but his heart felt more painful as it squeezed in response to her sorrowful sobs. He didn¡¯t say anything, just allowed her to cry her heart out in his arms.

    While heforted her with his silent warmth, his cold eyes glinted in the darkness with a fury that he was barely able to control.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll never treat my woman like this. Never destroy her like this.¡¯

 Chapter 661 - New Friend

    <h4>Chapter 661 - New Friend </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s hits gradually weakened until they stopped. She continued crying, releasing all of her hurt, fury and frustrations. Without noticing her own actions, her arms had wrapped around Lin Yehan¡¯s thin waist and she clung to him.

    They remained embracing for how long, they didn¡¯t know. Only when they felt themselves shivering a little did they realize that they had stayed outside the cold night for too long.

    She pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him away upon realizing the position they were in. Heat spread over her entire face and neck.

    He let her go and stepped back. Then he turned and faced the dark emptiness of the property grounds below them in order to give her time to get her bearings. He didn¡¯t want her to feel too awkward or ufortable around him after their embrace. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that she was wiping her wet face with the sleeve of her shirt.

    "It¡¯s getting cold. Should we head back inside?" he suggested after some time.

    "Y-yes! Let¡¯s go!" She walked ahead of him, moving so fast that she was almost running. In her rush to put a distance between the two of them, she ended up stubbing her toe against the metal leg of a chair in the balcony. "Ow!"

    "What happened?" Lin Yehan rushed towards her.

    Jiang Ying Yue groaned both from the pain and embarrassment. How could she be so clumsy! She wished a hole could open in the ground and swallow her up.

    "Are you okay?" he asked.

    "I...I¡¯m okay," she replied in a weak voice while massaging her hurt toe inside her winter slippers.

    "Let me see."

    "No, it¡¯s alright. Really."

    The pain eventually went away after a couple of minutes. However, Lin Yehan still insisted on holding her arm to support her as they returned inside the hallway together. Once they were inside, he suddenly knelt down and reached towards her foot.

    "Mr. Lin! There¡¯s no need. It¡¯s okay now. It doesn¡¯t hurt anymore."

    "Let me see."

    "No, I¡¯m really¡ª"

    "Let me see." His tone was firm, leaving no room for arguments.

    Jiang Ying Yue closed her eyes in embarrassment before finally allowing him to take a look at her toe. He removed her cozy slipper and lifted her foot to get a better look, forcing her to hold on to his shoulder for bnce. His touch was light and gentle, yet goosebumps formed on her skin. She held her breath and felt her entire body tensing. Her heart began beating quickly inside her chest. She attributed all of these reactions to mortification.

    "Hmm. It¡¯s red and swollen," he said. "We should apply an ointment or something. Wait here. I¡¯ll ask one of the household staff. I know that some are still awake at this time."

    "Mr. Lin, there¡¯s no need to bother anyone. I have an ointment in my room. I¡¯ll apply it myself."

    He looked up at her while still holding her foot. "Are you sure?"

    "Yes. I have a lot of medicinal ointments and creams. Many of them are for pain relief because I train a lot so I frequently suffer from sore muscles, cuts and bruises and¡ª" She shut her mouth upon realizing that she was bbing. Ah, so embarrassing!

    "I see. That¡¯s good." Lin Yehan took her slipper and began putting it back on her foot.

    "I¡¯ll do it, Mr. Lin!"

    "There, it¡¯s done," he said, cing her slippered foot back down on the floor. Then he rose and stood in front of her, a gentle smile on his face.

    Jiang Ying Yue blushed and avoided looking directly in his eyes. She would just feel more embarrassed.

    "I-it¡¯ste now, Mr. Lin. We should, uh, go back to sleep," she stammered.

    "Yes. Have a good night, Miss Jiang."

    "G-good night."

    Nobody moved. They remained there standing in front of each other. She looked tense while he looked calm.

    "I¡¯ll walk you to your room, Miss Jiang. Please show the way."

    "W-what? No need! I...I can find my own way. Yes, I can d-do that."

    "Alright." He didn¡¯t push it. "I¡¯ll be going first, then. Please try to rest as much as possible."

    She nodded.

    After giving her another gentle smile, he turned around and started walking away.

    "Wait!"

    He stopped and looked back at her.

    "I...thank you..."

    "What?" He didn¡¯t hear because her voice was too soft and she wasn¡¯t looking at him.

    She forced herself to look directly in his eyes and spoke in a louder and sincere voice. "Thank you, Mr. Lin. I...I feel so much better now, so thank you."

    His gentle smile deepened. "You¡¯re always wee, Miss Jiang. d you feel better. And please, don¡¯t treat me like a stranger. We¡¯re friends now...aren¡¯t we?"

    She was a little startled at his question and thought about their current rtionship. At first, she treated Lin Yehan as her boss¡¯ friend. (Jin Liwei became her boss when she started to work as a member of Dragon Pce Home #10¡¯s security team and also because her rtionship with Iris had turned from being employer-employee to being friends.) Then she started seeing Lin Yehan more because Jin Liwei¡¯s sworn brothers often dropped by at the mansion to hang out. She couldn¡¯t say that her connection with Lin Yehan was close, but they certainly weren¡¯t strangers anymore.

    So were they friends now?

    After thinking about what they had to go through right now in regards with the cheating allegations against the two of them, Jiang Ying Yue felt that it had indeed made them a little bit closer to each other.

    "Yes. We¡¯re friends," she replied.

    His gentle smile turned into a full-blown grin, looking very pleased by her answer. "Yes, we¡¯re friends. Have a good night."

    "Yes, good night."

    He left.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt confused about her whole interaction with Lin Yehan. There was embarrassment for losing control of her emotions and her clumsiness and also...happiness. For what?

    "I gained a new friend, that¡¯s why I¡¯m happy."

    She returned to her bedroom and applied ointment to her toe before having the best sleep for the first time in weeks.

 Chapter 662 - The Return Of King Yama

    <h4>Chapter 662 - The Return Of King Yama </h4>

    The custody battle between Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui for their son, Long Jun, raged on for the next few days. The media attention surrounding the case intensified with the involvement of His Excellency Deng Gui and Jin Corporation¡¯s Kang Huizhong, even though they only yed assistant roles to Atty. Hong Shaoqiang.

    Some members of Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors and a handful of Jin n¡¯s branch families were unhappy that their corporatewyer had involved himself in a mere child custody case. They felt that Kang Huizhong was cheapening himself by ying second fiddle to awyer of a much lower status than himself, Hong Shaoqiang, in such a small case which was also turning out to be messier and uglier by the day. They were worried that all the negative publicity surrounding the case would sully Jin Corporation¡¯s sterling image and reputation. As a result, they demanded an emergency meeting with Jin Liwei in order toin about Kang Huizhong¡¯s involvement in the custody case. They wanted him to pull Kang Huizhong out of the case as soon as possible.

    Jin Liwei was angered when he received the demand for a meeting. He rejected it immediately.

    "It seems that those fellows have gotten toofortable in their positions, actually ¡¯demanding¡¯ an emergency meeting from me. Xu Tian, have I been too kind to themtely that they actually now have the gall to ¡¯demand¡¯ that Ie to their beck and call just because they want it? I think it¡¯s high time to remind them who¡¯s the President-CEO in thispany," Jin Liwei said behind his huge wooden desk in his office.

    Xu Tian couldn¡¯t help but swallow in response to his boss¡¯ cial expression. He was already mentally lighting candles for those people who daredin and demand an audience with the President-CEO for such an insignificant matter as Kang Huizhong¡¯s involvement in a small, outside case.

    Jin Corporation didn¡¯t own Kang Huizhong. He had every right to work on other cases outside thepany if he wanted. It seemed that the board of directors and those branch families had forgotten about this detail. Jin Liwei may have requested Kang Huizhong to take the custody case, but thewyer had the freedom to reject it if he really didn¡¯t want to involve himself in the custody case.

    Kang Huizhong was extremely loyal to Jin Liwei, so he had no qualms epting the request, even though he felt that it was a little insulting given his status as a famed corporatewyer. However, he changed his mindset after learning that His Excellency Deng Gui was also joining the team. If such an illustrious and highly-respectedwyer on the world level could involve himself in a small family case like this, Kang Huizhong had no reason toin. In fact, he had begun to treat the custody case as a great honour because he got to work alongside such a prestigiouswyer as His Excellency Deng Gui whose name had been etched in the history books of internationalw.

    Back in Jin Liwei¡¯s office, Xu Tian recalled his previous training to stay calm and impassive in front of his boss¡¯ frightening aura. It had been a while since Jin Liwei unleashed this kind of hellish King Yama-like aura, evoking fear, dread and caution to all who worked at Jin Corporation. Being in a rtionship with Iris had mellowed his intensely overbearing aura, making him a little more approachable to others.

    Xu Tian cleared his throat. "President, you are without a doubt the head of ourpany. You have the right to enforce disciplinary actions to those who have stepped out of line."

    Jin Liwei nodded and gave Xu Tian instructions on how to respond to those who "demanded" a meeting with him. Those people would feel the full brunt of his authority as Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO shortly.

    For those whoined, he ordered Kang Huizhong and hisw firm to drop them as clients. Most high-level employees and shareholders, including almost all members of the board of directors, and the rtives from the branch families who worked for Jin Corporation received free legal services from Kang Huizhong¡¯sw firm, courtesy of thepany. This was only added to the unwritten employee benefits after Jin Liwei became the President-CEO.

    As people who worked in the business industry, there were many legal matters that they didn¡¯t need to worry about because Kang Huizhong¡¯sw firm always took care of everything for them. The attorney¡¯sw firm was one of the best, if not the best, in the country when it came to handling clients in the corporate world. Being dropped as clients by a first-ratew firm would be a huge embarrassment to them. Also, upon hiring anotherwyer, they would need to start paying premium price to legal services that they previously enjoyed for free. Even though they were wealthy because of their high positions in thepany, it still didn¡¯t feel good to dish out the money for previously free services.

    It wasn¡¯t only this. Jin Liwei also cut down other unwritten employee benefits they previously enjoyed. Not all, of course. He didn¡¯t want to push them too far into rebellion, but just enough to remind them that he still had the highest single active authority in Jin Corporation as the President-CEO.

    After Xu Tian implemented Jin Liwei¡¯s instruction, those whoined grumbled among themselves but didn¡¯t dare oppose the punishments. Indeed, they had almost forgotten how tyrannical Jin Liwei could be once provoked. Having their various benefits cancelled hurt, but they couldn¡¯tin because the perks weren¡¯t included in their written contracts. Now they had to start pleasing Jin Liwei again, hoping that he would return those benefits to them soon. They had no choice. King Yama had returned.

    Jin Liwei was pleased that nobody dared toin to him again after handing out the punishments. He thought that the matter was already over and was about to focus on his work again when he was interrupted by a SDTTHLVVVIP call, the highest level in his business contact list.

    It was an extremely furious Grandpa Lu."Super-Duper To The Highest Level Very Very Very Important Person" [VVIP is not enough so I had to think of a new acronym more befitting of Grandpa Lu¡¯s awesomeness]

 Chapter 663 - Emperor Emeritus

    <h4>Chapter 663 - Emperor Emeritus </h4>

    Grandpa Lu was happily tucked away in his Mediterranean-style mansion home in the suburbs doting on his first great-grandchild, Little Jun. The child was kept busy everyday in order to distract Little Jun from feeling homesick and missing his Mommy, Mama, Papa, cat cousins, and everyone at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    However, Grandpa Lu¡¯s great-grandfatherly bliss was interrupted when one of his spies in Jin Corporation informed him about some members of the board of directors and Jin branch familiesining about Kang Huizhong¡¯s involvement in the custody battle. Because it involved his beloved great-grandbaby Little Jun, he was instantly enraged. He immediately called Jin Liwei on the phone.

    "Hello? Hello! Is this Liwei my boy?! What¡¯s taking you so long to answer the damn phone?! I want to know!"

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu. This is Liwei. How may I help you? And I actually picked up your call on the first ring," Jin Liwei answered in a calm tone while lowering the volume on the speakerphone because the old man¡¯s booming voice was many times louder than usual in his anger.

    "Answering the first ring is still too long! You should answer my calls before the bloody phone even rings! I¡¯m your beloved grandpa, you pinhead! Or have you forgotten?"

    Jin Liwei smiled at Grandpa Lu¡¯s unreasonable demand but was able to stop himself from chuckling or he would suffer a long round of scolding. "Alright, Grandpa Lu. Although I¡¯m not a psychic so I don¡¯t know when you¡¯ll call me, I¡¯ll do my best to answer your calls before the phone even rings next time."

    "Hah! Why are you taking those stupid words of mine so seriously, you rascal? Don¡¯t you know that your grandpa is just joking?! Bah! You¡¯re so boring. I pity Xin my girl for having to deal with the likes of you!"

    "It¡¯s because she loves me and epts me for who I am," Jin Liwei replied, proud as a peacock.

    "Bahahaha! Well, you are my grandson after all! You know when to strike early to bag the girl before other flies and cockroaches start buzzing around her. I¡¯m sure your Grandfather Jin in heaven is also very proud of how you got yourself an excellent wife!"

    Jin Liwei puffed out his chest, a smug expression on his face, looking prouder by the second. "My wife is the most excellent woman in the world."

    "Yeah, yeah. One¡¯s wife should be the best in all husbands¡¯ eyes! If not, then you romanced the wrongdy!"

    "En."

    "Yes, as a husband you should¡ªhuh? Wait a minute, you rascal! Why are we suddenly talking about romancing your wife?! I want to know! This isn¡¯t the reason why this old man called you! How dare you distract your beloved grandpa?! I have important business to talk to you!!!"

    ¡¯You¡¯re the one who started talking about this subject,¡¯ Jin Liwei thought but didn¡¯t say out loud. "Alright, Grandpa Lu. May I know the reason why you called me?"

    "Hmph! Your grandpa called you because of the urgent matter concerning the well-being our Little Junjun! Nobody is more important than my beloved great-grandbaby!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression instantly became serious. He already knew what Grandpa Lu meant and his purpose for calling but still listened patiently while the old man spoke in his booming voice.

    "This old man heard from my birds in thepany that some peabrained idiots are harping andining like smelly chimpanzee¡¯s farts about that boy Kang Huizhong¡¯s involvement in Little Junjun¡¯s custody case! How dare those nipoops meddle in the matters concerning my beloved great-grandbaby?! And how dare theyin about that boy Kang Huizhong¡¯s involvement in the case when I, Lu Jianhong, even asked my friend who was a former jurist in the damn international court of justice to also step in! Are they looking down on this old man and my friend?! I want to know! They¡¯re all asking for a bloody spanking!

    "Well?! Howe you¡¯re not doing anything yet?! How could you allow those chimpanzees¡¯ butts to order you around like that?! Are you still the President-CEO or are you just a useless decoration for show?! I want to know!"

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s harsh words didn¡¯t offend Jin Liwei at all. He continued to stay calm yet serious. "Don¡¯t worry, Grandpa Lu. I already handled this issue. Those people won¡¯t dare oppose Atty. Kang¡¯s involvement in Little Jun¡¯s custody case anymore." He exined to the old man how he cancelled the expensive unwritten perks those people had been enjoying for many years. "The cancetion of those perks will surely hurt them and force them to try pleasing me again in order to coax me into returning the perks in the future."

    "Hah! Good, very good! But not enough! As long as I, Lu Jianhong, is still alive, nobody is allowed to put the welfare of my great-grandbabies at a disadvantage! Give me aplete list of all the names of those idiots!"

    "What are you going to do with the list?"

    "I¡¯ll fire all of them, that¡¯s what! I own half of thepany so I have the power to do that! Watch me do it!"

    Jin Liwei sighed and massaged his temples. "Grandpa Lu, I know that you¡¯re angry right now¡ª"

    "I¡¯m furious!"

    "I know. I am, too."

    "You don¡¯t sound like it!"

    "It¡¯s because I¡¯m controlling myself."

    "Hmph!"

    Jin Liwei continued speaking with patience. "Grandpa Lu, firing the majority of the members of the board of directors will damage the people¡¯s trust in ourpany. We could get away with that if we¡¯re still a nationalpany but we¡¯re now a multinational corporation and¡ª"

    "Fine! I¡¯ll just fire one or two then! No, make that three! Make an example out of them."

    "Alright, Grandpa Lu. You¡¯ll receive the list in five minutes."

    That same day, those "chimpanzees¡¯ butts" were all regretting their decision of making a big deal out of Kang Huizhong¡¯s involvement in the child custody case. Not only did they re-awaken King Yama, but they also summoned the rare, explosive, volcanic rage of the Emperor Emeritus, the true power behind thepany, and ended up suffering the full brunt of both authorities.

 Chapter 664 - New Evidence

    <h4>Chapter 664 - New Evidence </h4>

    While the retired and the reigning emperors of Jin Corporation reminded the people under them who were in charge, silencing those who got toofortable and brazen, the custody battle in court had be uglier, messier and more public due to the media spinning things out of control.

    Long Hui¡¯s camp continued feeding the cheating allegations between Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan, painting their "immoral affair" as the main reason for Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s break-up. The photo and video evidence only made the allegations more believable.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s camp denied the entire matter of course, citing that it was Long Hui who distanced himself from her first. She was tired of ying nice.

    The custody case had be less of determining which parent was the best in raising the child and more on destroying each other. Given the formidable legal team representing Jiang Ying Yue, Long Hui decided to recruit morewyers but still came short whenpared to the trio¡¯sbined backgrounds and aplishments. Nevertheless, his camp only became bolder, throwing allegations on top of allegations in a ruthless effort to discredit her.

    Their efforts were certainly effective because public opinion sided with Long Hui and criticized Jiang Ying Yue. She was painted as a loose woman who became pregnant before marriage in order to trap an heir. Then when she bore him a son, she had the audacity to use the child to ckmail her ex-lover for more money and benefits by withholding his paternal rights. Not only that, she even cheated on him with an agricultural tycoon. Truly, her appetite was voracious! Absolutely disgusting! This was the kind of woman that the general public hated!

    However, the situation took a sudden turn when Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s legal team presented an unexpected evidence.

    It was a video and an audio recording of Long Hui barging into the Gold Heights condo unit where they were living in before. The surveince video was taken from the front door area so the view of the scene in the living room was limited, but it was enough to prove the authenticity of the audio recording. It showed Long Hui arguing with Jiang Ying Yue because of her suggestive photos with Lin Yehan together with their son at the mall.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s first concern was for their child, Long Jun. She wanted to bring their son to Iris Long¡¯s penthouse upstairs so that the two of them could talk. The problem was that Long Hui wasn¡¯t listening at all, even going as far as to curse and insult his own sister, her fianc¨¦ Jin Liwei and especially her mother Wei Lan, for corrupting Jiang Ying Yue and their son, Long Jun, into distancing themselves from him.

    The evidence made many of the people watching upset. It showed Long Hui trying to wrench their son from Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s arms in a rough manner. Loud sounds of crashing due to the struggle made the scene appear more violent. However, the viewers could only focus on the frightened and pitiful crying screams of the child as his parents fought over him.

    "Dadaaa! Dadaaaa! Sowwy! Junjun good boy!"

    Jiang Ying Yue, who had maintained a rather tough exterior in the next court sessions after breaking down on the first day, started tearing up again upon hearing her son¡¯s cries. It was painful for a mother to listen to her child¡¯s distress whether it was already in the past or not.

    It wasn¡¯t only her who became upset. The audience in the court felt for the poor child. What kind of monster could scare such a young child to scream and cry like that? He was only a toddler, a baby!

    Looks of condemnation were thrown at Long Hui, making him stiffen in his seat beside hiswyers. He was also upset at the video and audio recording but for an entirely different reason than everyone else. He was upset because he had no idea that there was a surveince camera in the condo unit! Knowing that the unit was gifted by his youngest half-sister made him indignant and intensified his hatred for Iris even further.

    It was her fault! Everything was her fault! Because of her, his life was falling apart!

    Before everyone could recover from the shocking video, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang delivered an exnation of the evidenceced with pained anger, condemning Long Hui¡¯s "abusive behaviours" not only to Jiang Ying Yue but to their son as well and the trauma he might have caused the poor child, while at the same time, highlighting Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s protective actions, effectively painting her as a good mother who always prioritized her son no matter what.

    This passionate speech was calcted to perfection from the specific words chosen, to the tone of delivery including the deliberate pauses, and the swelling emotions until the end. It was proofread, edited, and polished many times not only by Hong Shaoqiang himself but also by his two bigshot assistants, Kang Huizhong and the illustrious veteranwyer Deng Gui.

    All of these events were broadcast by the media. Public opinion sided with Long Hui, but after this new video evidence, it split with more people siding with Jiang Ying Yue instead. The general public¡¯s impression of Jiang Ying Yue was still low and unpleasant, mainly because most people would judge the woman first and find fault with her over the man in a broken rtionship, especially if her social status was lower than the man, and also because she still hadn¡¯t proven to everyone yet that she really didn¡¯t cheat with Lin Yehan while still in a rtionship with Long Hui.

    However, Long Hui¡¯s violent treatment of her and most especially their son as shown in the new video evidence was too much for most people to handle. So even though Jiang Ying Yue still had to bear thebel of a cheating woman, she was now viewed more favourably than the abusive Long Hui. Most also had to agree that based on the video, Jiang Ying Yue portrayed herself as the better parent for their son.

    The judge seemed to agree.

 Chapter 665 - If Only

    <h4>Chapter 665 - If Only </h4>

    The custody case finally concluded on the fourth day of the official court sessions.Full custody was awarded to the mother, Jiang Ying Yue, and limited visitation rights given to the father, Long Hui. And of course, he was ordered to provide child support every month until his son became a legal adult.

    Long Hui didn¡¯t resent paying child support. Not at all. It was his responsibility as a father, after all. In fact, he still regrly sent money every month to the bank ount Jiang Ying Yue set up for their son even when they were currently at war against each other. Jiang Ying Yue set up the bank ount shortly after she started working as Iris¡¯ bodyguard back then. Long Hui knew that it was his youngest half-sister who advised Jiang Ying Yue to open a separate bank ount for Little Jun. When they were all still in good terms with each other, he thought that her advice was an excellent idea. Well, to be honest, he still thought that it was an excellent idea but he would never admit that now because his hatred for Iris and everyone on her side had reached an all-time high at the moment.

    Yes, he had no problems paying child support. He already decided since the beginning that no matter what the oue of the custody case was, he would always provide financial support to his son. The best case scenario for him was to, of course, win full custody of his son, but unfortunately that didn¡¯t happen, resulting in his pride taking a huge hit that left him reeling with so much negative feelings.

    After the judge announced the final result of the case, he still experienced a moment of disbelief even though he already expected it. Utter humiliation filled him, especially because he was the one whounched this custody battle in the first ce. Yes, he knew that he would be the one at a disadvantage, not Jiang Ying Yue, because of the powerbination of Iris and Jin Liwei supporting her. But he still went ahead with it because his life was so shitty right now that he wanted the chance, no matter how small, to hurt Jiang Ying Yue and punish her for choosing to stand on his sister¡¯s side rather than with him when he desperately needed her love and support during this difficult time that his status as the sessor of the business and the n was bing more and more unstable.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s team didn¡¯t ask for an exorbitant amount of child support. Her request was actually quite reasonable, catching the media watching the entire proceedings off-guard because they expected that she would milk him for all he was worth, like how his father Long Tengfei had been so tragically milked by Wei Lan when they divorced back in the old days. The amount she asked for was so reasonable that the judge took it upon himself to increase it in his final verdict.

    Unbeknown to others, Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t want anything from Long Hui at all. When she quit her job as his bodyguard, broke up with him and then left him after getting pregnant with their child, she also didn¡¯t want anything from him. She loved him, but the Long n had humiliated her, hurt her, and trampled on her dignity too much. If giving up on him back then was a sign of weakness, then she would readily admit that she was a coward. She didn¡¯t have the strength to fight for her love for him.

    Her own pride also didn¡¯t allow her to beg him for help. However, things were too difficult for an unmarried, single, pregnant and recently unemployed woman that time, so she had to force herself to swallow her own pride and ept Long Hui¡¯s goodwill offer of a lump sum money to help throughout her pregnancy, the birth, and the first year of their son. She refused to ept anything more than that.

    Things changed when they got back together again after bing close to Iris and Jin Liwei. Iris had persuaded Jiang Ying Yue to allow Long Hui to act on his responsibilities as a father to their child. That was when Jiang Ying Yue began epting money from Long Hui which he deposited directly to Little Jun¡¯s bank ount. All cash gifts given to Little Jun from others were also deposited into the ount. Thepensation she received from winning in the American libel case against Wu Qianxi was also all deposited as a trust fund for Little Jun.

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t n on touching her son¡¯s money unless it was absolutely necessary. She and her son were livingfortably with Iris and Jin Liwei while she worked as a member of Dragon Pce Home #10¡¯s security team. There was no need to touch the child support Long Hui was regrly sending. Little Jun would be able to ess all of the money after reaching the legal age of majority.

    This was why she originally didn¡¯t demand child support in the custody case. If things went her way, she would have asked the judge a grand total of zero RMB for child support, but she was blocked by herwyers, eventually persuading her to ask for something.

    The money was for her son, anyway, not for her.

    Long Hui wasn¡¯t aware of this. He just thought that the reasonable amount of child support requested was so like Jiang Ying Yue. A wave of nostalgia and longing for her began crawling through the stormy sewer of negative emotions inside his heart.

    ¡¯If only Xin didn¡¯t get between us, I know that I would¡¯ve still won you back when you left me after you got pregnant. If only Xin wasn¡¯t stealing the position of sessor from me, we would¡¯ve all still continued living in peace and happiness. Perhaps we would¡¯ve already been married now, maybe even got you pregnant again with our second child. If only Xin didn¡¯t exist...my life would¡¯ve been perfect.¡¯

    His heart turned cold.

    "Yes, this is all your fault, Xin," he whispered.

 Chapter 666 - I Pity You

    <h4>Chapter 666 - I Pity You </h4>

    As people shuffled out of the courthouse, the former lovers turned enemies had another face-off. Camera shes and the reporters¡¯ shouted questions rained down at them like lightning and thunder. Both groups were protected by their own respective teams of bodyguards, holding the reporters and curious passersby at bay.

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s team of bodyguards were especially impressive as they were her own colleagues working under Jin Liwei as part of Dragon Pce Home #10¡¯s security. Iris and Jin Liwei increased the number of bodyguards protecting her during the court sessions because there had been instances when she was almost assaulted by angry civilians who believed the cheating allegations against her and Lin Yehan, condemning her as an immoral slut who was unfit to be a mother.

    The new evidence against Long Hui changed this to some degree and her image somewhat improved. However, there still remained some people who were unsympathetic and unswayed by the new evidence, continuing to condemn her due to the cheating allegations. The new evidence only showed that Long Hui wasn¡¯t suitable to raise their son because of the proof that he would be rough and violent in front of the child when angered. It did nothing to prove that the cheating allegations were false. No matter how many times Jiang Ying Yue swore that she didn¡¯t cheat on Long Hui, the fact of the matter was that she had no evidence to prove it, while Long Hui had the photos and video as evidence to show that she cheated on him. To the more critical members of the general public, this was enough for them to condemn Jiang Ying Yue.

    Despite the attack on her image and reputation, Jiang Ying Yue only stood straighter, held her head up high, and looked straight ahead. She didn¡¯t break down anymore for the rest of the court sessions, except for the first day and when the new evidence was shown in court where her son¡¯s heart-wrenching cries were yed for everyone to hear. A sense of strength that had nothing to do with her muscr physique began emitting from her. It wasn¡¯t too distinct yet, unlike Iris¡¯ natural "I¡¯m the queen" aura which could be overwhelming to others sometimes, but Long Hui immediately noticed the change in Jiang Ying Yue because they were former lovers.

    He didn¡¯t like it at all, preferring the previous timid Jiang Ying Yue who looked at him with her innocent eyes filled with love for him. Even when she left him after bing pregnant back then, he could still see the love for him shining in her eyes. It was why he always had the confidence of winning her back and gradually persuading her to follow him to the Long n and live happily ever after together with their son.

    Wasn¡¯t their love story like in the fairy tales? She was the poor maiden who made the handsome prince fall in love with her. He was, of course, the prince who swept off her feet.They were supposed to have a happy ending after oveing various obstacles but because of the great viin¡ªa.k.a. his half-sister, Xin¡ªthe poor maiden was corrupted and their love story ended up bing a tragedy instead.

    Ignoring the questions being thrown by the reporters around him, Long Hui spoke to Jiang Ying Yue in a mocking tone. "Are you happy now that you won?"

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t back down this time. Her tone was cold. "All you think about is winning and losing. I don¡¯t view anything concerning our son as ck and white like you do. My number one priority will always be Little Jun, not about winning or losing. If I could give my son a happy, safe and fruitful life, I don¡¯t care if I ¡¯lose¡¯ again and again. Unfortunately, you can¡¯t give that happy, safe and fruitful life to our son because you¡¯re a typical Long who only thinks about protecting your high pride. You¡¯re crazy if you think I¡¯ll allow you to take Little Jun to the Long n where he¡¯ll only be bullied for the rest of his life. I didn¡¯t give birth to my son just so he¡¯ll suffer."

    "I¡¯ll protect him," he hissed.

    Her voice only became colder. "You don¡¯t have the ability."

    "You!"

    Atty. Hong Shaoqiang stepped in front of Jiang Ying Yue and blocked Long Hui, while Atty. Kang Huizhong and His Excellency Deng Gui pulled her away. Their group¡¯s security team was very tight and professional because the reporters were unable to get a clear view of Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui¡¯s current confrontation. Her group then started to leave.

    Long Hui was angered by her attitude. He wanted to follow her but his ownwyers pulled him back, so all he could do was raise his voice and continue taunting her.

    "I don¡¯t have the ability to protect my son, you say? You mean that you do?"

    She stopped and turned to face him again. "Yes."

    He sneered. "Who gave you that kind of confidence? Ah, right. Xin. And that s¡ªmother of hers." He was about to say "slut" but stopped himself in time because of the reporters¡¯ presence.

    She didn¡¯t respond immediately but just continued looking at him instead. Her voice was soft when she finally replied, but he still heard her loud and clear. "Yes, Xin and the viscountess taught me to be confident of myself and I¡¯m thankful to them. I¡¯m still a work in progress but I intend to be a stronger woman in order to be a better mother to our son."

    He snorted in derision. "You think that you¡¯re untouchable now just because you have Xin backing you? Do you really believe that she¡¯ll always be there to protect you? Hah! Don¡¯t delude yourself! She¡¯s only doing this to spite me and to damage my position in the n. She¡¯s only using you and my son to hurt me!"

    "I pity you, Long Hui," she replied after a long pause. Then she turned on her heels and left with her team of formidablewyers and impressive bodyguards.

 Chapter 667 - Welcome Home

    <h4>Chapter 667 - Wee Home </h4>

    ¡¯I pity you, Long Hui.¡¯

    The words echoed in Long Hui¡¯s mind, infuriating him, but he couldn¡¯t rashly act out in front of the people and media.

    ¡¯Pity me? How dare you? You don¡¯t have the right to pity me. I¡¯m a Long. You¡¯re just...nobody. That¡¯s right. You¡¯re just a nobody, Jiang Ying Yue. Don¡¯t be too full of yourself just because you have the support of Xin and Jin Liwei. One day, they¡¯ll abandon you too, just like how I abandoned you. Your only worth now is being the mother of my son, Long Jun.¡¯

    After shooting ast re at the direction where her group disappeared from view, he also left with his less formidable and less impressive team ofwyers and bodyguards.

    ###

    Inside the vehicle, Jiang Ying Yue felt relieved that the custody case was finally over. Although Iris, Jin Liwei, thewyers and the others kept on reassuring her that everything would be fine, she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from worrying.

    Atty. Hong Shaoqiang sat beside her in the backseat while Atty. Kang Huizhong and His Excellency Deng Gui rode in another car.

    "Good job on not letting yourself be provoked by Mr. Long¡¯s taunts back there," he said.

    "I¡¯m done with him."

    "Good." He nodded. "It¡¯s a big shame that he doesn¡¯t realize that he should be thankful to you that he still received limited visitation rights after we presented the evidence of him barging in the condo and fighting with you in front of your son. If you hadn¡¯t emphasized to the judge that you won¡¯t deprive Mr. Long of his paternal rights, I¡¯m certain that instead of visitation rights, he¡¯ll get a restraining order instead. Hiswyers must know this, too, but decided not to tell him because they already lost, anyway."

    "Thank you, Atty. Hong. I really appreciate all the hard work you, His Excellency Deng and Atty. Kang put into helping me retain custody of my son. I¡¯m aware that it¡¯s because Xin asked you but I¡¯m still very thankful."

    He gave her a kind smile but his expression became serious again. "Although the judge¡¯s ruling is legally binding and therefore theoretically absolute, we live in a society where people do things that they¡¯re not supposed to do. For one, Mr. Long might appeal the custody ruling, so prepare for that."

    "I don¡¯t think that he¡¯ll file an appeal," she replied.

    "Why do you think that?"

    "Because his pride took a massive hit today. I have not only you, Atty. Hong, to defend me but there¡¯s also His Excellency Deng and Atty. Kang. If he doesn¡¯t have anything substantial to prove that he¡¯s a better parent than me besides the fake cheating allegations, he knows that he¡¯ll lose again. His high pride won¡¯t be able to handle another public defeat in the same battle. And most importantly, I¡¯m sure that the Long elders wouldn¡¯t tolerate another custody battle because it would make the n lose face, especially since my son¡¯s status is...is not...legitimate."

    Her expression darkened but she continued, "Long Hui won¡¯t push it too far because he doesn¡¯t want to risk losing too many supporters in the Long n. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t think that he¡¯ll appeal the custody ruling."

    "I see. That¡¯s good, then. One less worry for us," Atty. Hong Shaoqiang said. "Another thing is that you shouldn¡¯t becent just because thew sided with us today. You should keep a close eye on Mr. Long when he exercises his visitation rights for your son. We never know what may happen in the future so please be careful."

    Jiang Ying Yue frowned and was about to tell thewyer that Long Hui would never hurt their son, then she remembered how he roughly tried to wrench Little Jun from her when he barged in the condo. Although it was in the heat of the moment and his rough actions were directed more at her than at Little Jun, she decided to heed thewyer¡¯s advice and not risk her son¡¯s safety just because she trusted in Long Hui¡¯s character as a father.

    ¡¯Trust in his character? I don¡¯t know him anymore. He changed so much. No, maybe that¡¯s his real self and I never really knew him from the start.¡¯

    She closed her tired eyes and allowed herself to rest. Atty. Hong Shaoqiang didn¡¯t bother her and read some documents instead.

    A ringing phone interrupted the silence.

    Jiang Ying Yue opened her eyes and nced at her phone. Her heart started beating fast when a certain name shed on the phone screen. She answered the call before she could examine why her heart was racing all of a sudden.

    "Hello?"

    "Miss Jiang, it¡¯s me."

    "Yes, I know, Mr. Lin."

    ###

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The next day, the mansion was lively and cheerful with the return of Little Jun.

    Popcorn went crazy and howled (meowled?) nonstop because he missed his human cousin so much! The energetic orange cat ran in circles around Little Jun and rubbed himself against his cousin like crazy, acting as if they had been separated for five years instead of just five days.

    On the other hand, Ice Cream acted like the regal cat that she was, greeting her human cousin with a quick meow and a brief rub as if saying, "Oh, you¡¯re back? Hello. Ah, moving is so exhausting. I need my beauty rest again. Bye."

    Little Jun didn¡¯t understand the meaning of Ice Cream¡¯s actions. All he knew was how delighted he was to be back home. Hisughter filled the front foyer, bringing smiles to everyone¡¯s faces.

    "Alright, Cornpop, that¡¯s enough! You running around in circles is making your great-grandpa dizzy! Are you actually a dog, not a cat? I want to know!" a booming voice interrupted the lovely scene.

    "Grandpa Boss, his name is Popcorn, not Cornpop! Ehehe," Dom, who just appeared, corrected Grandpa Lu.

    Little Jun¡¯s head turned to the new arrivals. His smile widened but then tears started gushing out of his eyes all of a sudden."

    "Mommiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s eyes also watered and caught her smiling-crying son who barreled towards her and jumped into her embrace.

    "Wee home, Little Jun," she whispered, hugging him close.

 Chapter 668 - Agricultural Tycoon

    <h4>Chapter 668 - Agricultural Tycoon </h4>

    Little Jun¡¯s arms wrapped tightly around Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s neck, almost choking her, but she didn¡¯t mind because it meant that her son missed her, too. Just imagining if Long Hui won custody and took their son away from her was enough to make her feel faint...or maybe that was because her son was actually choking her, making her a little light-headed. The little guy inherited her strong physique.

    A pair of smooth, delicate, lovely hands (made even smoother, more delicate and lovelier thanks to Orchidia Beauty moisturizing lotions and creams) reached from behind and gently loosened the child¡¯s arms.

    "Hello, Little Jun," Iris greeted and kissed the top of her godson¡¯s head after preventing him from choking his own mother.

    Little Jun stopped crying and looked up. "Mama!" Then he saw the tall figure beside her. "Papa!"

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t take Little Jun from Jiang Ying Yue yet, allowing her more time with her son.

    Afterwards, they all headed to the family living area for some morning refreshments. It was the weekend, so Jin Liwei didn¡¯t go to work. Iris also kept her schedule free today because Little Jun was returning home and also because the couple was already busy preparingfor their uing wedding.

    Only a few people knew about it. Their assistants, Dom and Xu Tian who coordinated and found an auspicious date before winter and cleared their bosses¡¯ respective schedules, knew about the wedding of course. Jin Liwei¡¯s sworn brothers¡ªLin Yehan, Wang Yingjie, Yu Mo and Lu Zihao¡ªincluding his blood brother Jin Chonglin also knew about it. Simrly, Iris¡¯ friends, the other members of the girl squad besides Dom¡ªMeimei, Clover, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei¡ªwere also informed about the uing wedding. Clover already flew to France a couple of days ago but would return for the special asion.

    They were told to keep it a secret, especially Jin Chonglin whose every wording out of his mouth had the potential to make into the national headlines. Even the couple¡¯s parents, including Grandpa Lu and Grandma Li, weren¡¯t aware of it yet.

    Iris and Jin Liwei would be meeting with a discrete wedding nnerter in the afternoon. But for now, they intended to spend time with their family, especially their godson who they missed very much.

    Lively chatter andughter filled the living area. Little Jun ran around and yed with his cat cousins while the adults watched him with doting smiles on their faces. Even the household staff had simr expressions because they also doted on the adorable little guy. Ketchup even caught some of them slipping extra treats to Little Jun behind Jiang Ying Yue and Iris¡¯ backs. Of course, the virtual white cat tattled on his human cousin and the household staff to her mommy and daddy just because she was a naughty chatterbox who loved exciting drama. Iris and Jin Liwei onlyughed upon hearing about it and didn¡¯t reprimand anyone. However, Jin Liweiined about the kind of treats his staff was giving to their godson.

    "I should give everyone a raise so that they could buy something better for Little Jun."

    Iris agreed with him.

    Back to the present, nobody was talking about the ugly and messy custody battle. They didn¡¯t want to ruin the beautiful moment.

    Little Jun was tired running around, so he plopped his butt down on the plush carpet and turned the TV on by himself using the remote control. He was about to press the numbers of his favourite children¡¯s channel which he knew by heart when a familiar face appeared on the TV which was currently on a news channel.

    "Anko Han? Anko Han! Anko Han!" He pointed at the TV and started bouncing in excitement, catching everyone¡¯s attention.

    "Eh? Isn¡¯t that Yehan? What¡¯s that boy doing on TV? Does he want to follow Little Chonglin and Xin my girl in showbiz?" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice asked. He looked around and saw the unsurprised expressions on the others¡¯ faces. "You already knew about this, don¡¯t you?! You pinheaded rascals! How dare you not tell your beloved grandpa about this?! I want to know!"

    "Grandpa Lu, how about we watch and listen to the news first?" Jin Liwei suggested.

    "Hmph! Fine!"

    Jiang Ying Yue watched the TV, her gaze drawn to Lin Yehan whenever he was shown. Lin Yehan had called her yesterday on her way home from the courthouse to inform her about his ns for today, so she wasn¡¯t surprised seeing him in the news. Nevertheless, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious especially because it was rted to her. She didn¡¯t notice that she was gripping her own hands so hard that they had turned white.

    The news story was about Lin Yehan suing certain reporters, including a number of tabloids and even a major news outlet, and most importantly, he was also suing Long Hui and hiswyers for defamation due to the cheating allegations made about him and Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Tycoon Lin Yehan, who is among the top domestic producers and international exporters of tea, grains and other agricultural products in the country, has officially filed thewsuit for defamation with hiswyer this morning against Long Industries¡¯ Deputy CFO Long Hui and the following people..." the news anchor reported.

    "Hah! It¡¯s about time that he took action! I was wondering why that boy wasn¡¯t doing anything! He wasn¡¯t such a pinhead after all!"

    Grandpa Lu continuedmentating on Lin Yehan¡¯s news story with his booming voice. The others also continued watching the news despite Grandpa Lu¡¯s distracting loudness. They were already used to it, anyway.

    Being an agricultural tycoon might not sound as morous as a global corporate billionaire like Jin Liwei, but Lin Yehan was also influential in his own right, only in a more understated way. After all, the agricultural sector was integral to the entire country, providing the citizens¡¯ most basic need¡ªfood. It was a given that Lin Yehan had built his own list of impressive connections.

    And now he was showing what he could do with the power he had that many chose to overlook until he decided to wield it...like right now.

 Chapter 669 - Lie Detector Tes

    <h4>Chapter 669 - Lie Detector Tes </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue thought that the news story would end after reporting Lin Yehan¡¯s defamationwsuit against Long Hui and the others, but she was mistaken. The news also covered Lin Yehan¡¯s own evidence that he gathered to prove that he didn¡¯t have an immoral affair with Jiang Ying Yue while she was still engaged with Long Hui.

    He was able to obtain several surveince videos on the same day the pictures and videos used in the cheating allegations were taken. The first clips showed that he indeed met Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun by coincidence at the hospital when she brought her son for a pediatrician appointment. The surprise at meeting each other was clear as day on their faces. Also, Lin Yehan wasn¡¯t alone at that time. He was with Wang Yingjie who the news anchor introduced as one of the youngest yet already sessful and aplished surgeons in the country.

    What the news anchor didn¡¯t mention was that Wang Yingjie was also a scion of a powerful family with deep roots in the country, simr to Feng Wan¡¯s background. (Feng Wan was the leader of the poshdies who were Iris¡¯ fans and also PR officers of the ck Stars.) These families preferred to lie low to the point that not many were aware of how powerful and influential they really were. Even though Wang Yingjie wasn¡¯t the heir but only a son of a branch family, his current promising career as a sessful surgeon had gained him enough respect from his entire n, allowing at least some level of influence in his own right.

    After the clips from the hospital, another set of short surveince videos were shown. This time, the ce was at the mall. In contrast to the suggestive photos and video which had already long spread like wildfire since Long Hui revealed them in court, the real surveince video clips showed that both Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue maintained appropriate distance from each other and polite behaviour for the entire time that they were together. It was also obvious that Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s main focus was her son. This only meant that the photos and video used in the cheating allegations were carefully chosen with malicious intentions.

    In addition to the surveince videos, Lin Yehan also provided the results of a lie detector test he took on his own volition.

    "Mr. Lin Yehan was asked by the examiner several questions including the most important which is if he had an affair, both past and present, with Miss Jiang Ying Yue. He denied it and the polygraph test indicated that he was telling the truth. Meaning, that he really didn¡¯t have an affair with Miss Jiang," the news anchor reported.

    Although lie detector tests weren¡¯t 100% urate, Lin Yehan¡¯s test result was treated with more reliability because he was able to invite the Chief of Police himself to personally supervise the polygraph test procedure.

    Iris raised an eyebrow upon seeing the Chief of Police, remembering that the man was the husband of Madam Si Xinyue, one of the ck Stars¡¯ poshdies with Feng Wan.

    "I told you that Eldest Brother doesn¡¯t need our help. He has his own power and it¡¯s nothing to scoff at," Jin Liwei said after noticing her reaction.

    Iris nodded, feeling relieved that Lin Yehan finally took action tobat the cheating allegations between him and Jiang Ying Yue. She would¡¯ve chosen the faster, more thorough, more ruthless, and not so legal method of hacking if it was her, but she was nheless quite impressed by the method he chose which was a more "proper" and legal way than her idea.

    "Hmm..." She tapped her fingers on Jin Liwei¡¯s thigh. "This is good but not enough. Eldest Brother needs to show more."

    "En. But I trust in him. I¡¯m sure that he still has more up his sleeves."

    Indeed, Lin Yehan had more.

    Right after a personal statement by the Chief of Police giving his official seal of authenticity to Lin Yehan¡¯s polygraph test results was shown, the news story continued. This time, the focus shifted to Long Hui.

    "Long Industries¡¯ Deputy CFO Long Hui, eldest brother of multi-award-winning musician Iris Long with the same father but different mothers, had used his former fianc¨¦e and the mother of his son, Miss Jiang Ying Yue. The formerly engaged couple fought in a heated custody battle which garnered wide media coverage because of the cheating allegations between Miss Jiang and agricultural tycoon, Mr. Lin Yehan, and also because of Miss Jiang¡¯s impressive legal team which includes His Excellency Deng Gui, former head jurist in the international court of justice, and also Atty. Kang Huizhong, the official corporatewyer of Jin Corporation.

    "Yesterday, the custody battle for Mr. Long and Miss Jiang¡¯s son finally concluded with the judge deciding to give full custody of the child to the mother, Miss Jiang, and only limited visitation rights to Mr. Long.

    "But before that final verdict yesterday, Mr. Long had used Miss Jiang of cheating on him with Mr. Lin while she was still engaged with him, citing that it was the main reason why they fought and separated, eventually forcing him to file an official custody request for their son. However, new evidence imply otherwise."

    Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s full attention was on the TV. Her body was actually leaning forward as if doing so would allow her to listen more clearly to the news. She was also curious like the others about this new evidence the news anchor was reporting on.

    "New evidence hase to light indicating that Mr. Long and his new fianc¨¦e, Miss Mao Qiuyue from the Mao family, owners of Mao Textiles, are actually the ones who cheated first while Mr. Long was still engaged with Miss Jiang. The evidence alleges that Mr. Long¡¯s maternal family, the Zhengs, and the Maos have been in close contact with each other with the intention of matching Mr. Long and Miss Mao in marriage even though Mr. Long was in a rtionship with Miss Jiang."

 Chapter 670 - Bought For Love

    <h4>Chapter 670 - Bought For Love </h4>

    "Dada?" Little Jun turned to his mother while pointing at Long Hui on TV. "Mommi, iz Dada!"

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t hear her son because she was shocked at learning that Long Hui might have cheated on her while they were still engaged. Although all her love for him had recently been killed in her heart, the betrayal still stung.

    "Look here, Junie boy!" Dom distracted Little Jun by showing his favourite baby cartoon program on his phone. "Come, let¡¯s watch together!" Then hecarried the child to the other side of the room while the two cats followed them.

    Back to the other group in front of the TV, all had ugly expressions on their faces while continuing to watch the news.

    "Son of a bitch," Jin Liwei cursed under his breath.

    Iris squeezed his hand, silently agreeing with him. She nced at her friend and saw the betrayed expression on Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s face. Still, Iris was pleased that Jiang Ying Yue wasn¡¯t crying for Long Hui unlike before. It was good that her friend had finally realized that Long Hui wasn¡¯t worth even a drop of her tears. The man had the audacity to use Jiang Ying Yue of cheating with Lin Yehan when he was actually the one who cheated first? What scum!

    Assured that Jiang Ying Yue looked fine, Iris turned to her darling beside him and asked in a curious tone, "Is this Eldest Brother¡¯s work?"

    "It should be," Jin Liwei replied. "I think I remember hearing that he hired a private detective a few days ago."

    "He didn¡¯t ask for your help?"

    "No. Eldest Brother is the type who tries to solve his own problems by himself first. It¡¯s only when everything fails that he¡¯ll ask me or our other brothers for assistance. Actually, it¡¯s not only him. All of us brothers are like this."

    She nodded.

    "It¡¯s quite impressive that the private detective he hired was able to dig all this evidence in just a few days. He works fast," he said.

    "I¡¯m faster," she replied, pursing her lips. "I can uncover all of these and more in just a couple of hours, maybe even faster because I have Ketchup."

    The corners of his mouth lifted into a proud, doting smile. "I know. My wife is the best."

    She couldn¡¯t help but smile, too, and also didn¡¯t correct him when he referred to her as his wife. They would marry in a few weeks, anyway. She would be his wife and he her husband soon enough.

    "Let¡¯s sit back and just watch this time," he added. "Eldest Brother can handle this well enough without our help. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll be able to clear not only his own name and reputation but Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s as well, so don¡¯t worry. Besides, we don¡¯t have the time to constantly worry about others¡¯ problems at the moment. We have a wedding to finish nning, not to mention that both of us are still busy with a mountain of workmitments for the remainder of the year."

    She sighed at his reminder of their work obligations. Indeed, both of their schedules were filled almost to the brim. If they didn¡¯t make it a point of keeping at least one day a weekpletely free, they wouldn¡¯t be able to spend any quality time together at all. Despite this, Iris loved keeping herself busy with work, especially with her music andpanies. It made her feel gloriously alive with a sense of purpose, something shecked in her past life.

    Thanks to Jin Liwei, she was improving on how to maintain the right work-life bnce. He was also extremely busy running the country¡¯s number onepany, and yet he would drop everything and rush to her whenever she needed him. His love andmitment to her made her fall in love with him more deeply.

    Their lovey-dovey segue was interrupted by a furious, booming voice.

    Grandpa Lu, who had been keeping unusually quiet since the news story shifted its focus to Long Hui, finally exploded.

    "Gah! Ying Yue my girl, how could you fall in love with such a loser?! I want to know! The only good thing that dum-dum did was provide the sperm to make my cute beloved great-grandbaby, Little Junjun! I must admit that he has excellent ability in that area but that¡¯s where it ends! Did his balls got cut off?! Because a real man wouldn¡¯t do those stupid things to the mother of his child! Hmph!! This old man is so angry!!!"

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t know how to respond to Grandpa Lu, so she remained quiet instead. She looked down at herp and clenched her hands into tight fists.

    On the other side of the room, Little Jun was startled by his great-grandfather¡¯s angry, booming voice. "Huh? Ampa Lu?"

    Dom quickly distracted the child once again and managed to prevent Little Jun from running back where Grandpa Lu and the others sat in front of the TV. When Little Jun became absorbed by another cartoon, Dom quickly carried him out of the living area so that the adults could talk freely without needing to worry about the child. Popcorn followed them out while Ice Cream stayed and headed straight to her mommy¡¯sp.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and Jiang Ying Yue allowed Grandpa Lu to vent his anger long after the news program already moved on to another story. Watching the old man get angry at Long Hui for betraying her, Jiang Ying Yue felt better. When Grandpa Lu finally calmed down, Iris suggested that they y a game of chess to take their minds off of Long Hui until lunch time.

    However, before the butler could set up the chessboard and the pieces, Jin Liwei¡¯s phone dinged.

    It was a message from Ketchup.

    "Hi Daddy! I saw all of you interested in the news about Uncle Yehan and that good-for-nothing scumbag Long Hui, so Ipiled thetest news updates online for you! Meow~"

    Iris peeked at his phone and they read the first headline together.

    "Mao Qiuyue Bought Deputy CFO Long Hui¡¯s Love in Exchange for 5% Long Industries Shares?!"

 Chapter 671 - Money Over Love

    <h4>Chapter 671 - Money Over Love </h4>

    The first article was about the Mao family providing financial assistance to Long Hui so that he could purchase 5% Long Industries shares under his name to add to the 2.5% he already owned before for a total of 7.5% shares. This was the same shares that Qiao Yu failed to purchase for Iris due to the seller¡¯s prejudice against her caused by her past reputation as a good-for-nothing, self-important, spoiled brat.

    The article also implied that the real reason Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue separated was not because she cheated on him with Lin Yehan but because he wanted more Long Industries shares and Mao Qiuyue¡¯s family could give it to him. His final decision was to abandon Jiang Ying Yue and essentially sell himself to Mao Qiuyue in exchange for the 5% shares.

    Long Hui was the one who chose money over love, not Jiang Ying Yue.

    After skimming through the article, Iris and Jin Liwei clicked on the next one. It was a tabloid story consisting primarily of intimate still photos of Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue taken from property surveince cameras from caf¨¦s, restaurants, parking lots, and most damning of all, hotels.

    The date stamps on some of the still photos were from when Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue were still engaged. Granted, those photos were from caf¨¦s and restaurants, not hotels, so there was no concrete proof at this point that the two had sexual rtions, but it was already apparent that Mao Qiuyue was already acting clingy to Long Hui even then. She could be seen always hugging his arm and pressing her watermelon-sized stic boobs to his side. Long Hui¡¯s expression didn¡¯t show any emotion but it was a fact thathe allowed the woman to press herself against him in an intimate manner when he was still engaged to another woman during that time.

    These photos were a huge contrast to the evidence Lin Yehan provided earlier where it showed in the hospital and mall surveince videos that he and Jiang Ying Yue kept an appropriate distance from each other at all times.

    The other photos of Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue were taken after he and Jiang Ying Yue separated. He was already engaged to Mao Qiuyue at this point. They were shown engaging in intimate acts such as hugging and kissing at hotel lobbies and hallways and even parking lots. The tabloid promised that there more scandalous photos but they were unable to post online because they couldn¡¯t pass censorship rules. This statement only fired up the readers¡¯ imaginations as to what kind of scandalous photos were not shown.

    Iris reached over and scrolled down to the bottom of the story for the readers¡¯ments. As expected, the majority was condemning Long Hui.

    "Ah, they¡¯re from the Slippers Army," Iris mumbled after seeing a number of mighty slipper emojis in thements.

    Ketchup had informed her a few days ago that Zhou Mei¡¯er (CaptainckStar) nned on organizing a group, mostly from the Slippers Army, to head to the courthouse in order to support Jiang Ying Yue, who the ck Stars remembered as Iris¡¯ former bodyguard and now friend. And also, they nned to attack Long Hui by throwing stinky mighty slippers at him, especially after the audio and video evidence of him being violent towards Jiang Ying Yue in front of their son was revealed.

    Fortunately, Feng Wang (MrsLovePhantom) and her friends, the other poshdies (JJNumbers1-3Fan) managed to stop Zhou Mei¡¯er in time. They reasoned that it wouldn¡¯t be good for Iris¡¯ image if her official fan club, the ck Stars, got involved in the custody case which was already receiving wide media coverage.

    Iris was relieved upon hearing about it and silently thanked Feng Wan and the other madams. However, it wasn¡¯t because she worried about her image but because she didn¡¯t want her fans to get into trouble with thew, especially because the group originally nned on attacking Long Hui in front of the courthouse.

    Back to the present, she and Jin Liwei continued reading the other news articles and the readers¡¯ments. Public opinion was finally shifting to favour Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan. People began drawing their own conclusions with the most popr one being that Long Hui made the fake cheating allegations against Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan in order to hide his own affair with his current fianc¨¦e, Mao Qiuyue.

    It could be seen that Lin Yehan¡¯s actions was already beginning to bear fruit. Although public opinion was generally still mixed at this point, those who felt confused about who to believe were leaning more towards Lin Yehan because first of all, he looked gentle and trustworthy. Allowing himself to be interviewed and telling his own side of the story with his own voice on TV was working wonders.

    Second of all, the fact that he was an agricultural tycoon and was actually wealthier and more influential than Deputy CFO Long Hui and yet still acted polite and humble won him a lot of brownie points from the viewers. He wasn¡¯t shy at all and looked like a regr person. If the news didn¡¯t reveal that he was actually rich, then the people wouldn¡¯t even know that he was the one producing the food they were eating every single day.

    Third of all, a few shooting athletes, both active and retired, came forward to voice out their support for him. Their appearance prompted some to dig up Lin Yehan¡¯s past achievements as a pro shooting athlete who won some nationalpetitions before. If he didn¡¯t retire in order to focus on his agricultural business, he would¡¯vepeted in the Olympics and perhaps even brought honour to the country. Right now, he was a licenced coach who sometimes mentored young aspiring shooting athletes. His students and their parents also stepped forward to vouch for his good moral character.

    His name and reputation which were dragged through the mud during the cheating allegations were quickly bing squeaky clean again. In extension, Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s own name and reputation were also undergoing the same cleansing.

    All thanks to Lin Yehan.

 Chapter 672 - Out To Get You

    <h4>Chapter 672 - Out To Get You </h4>

    The next day, the stock prices of Long Industries crashed overnight. Long Hui was summoned for an emergency meeting with all the executives, board of directors, and other important shareholders. He knew that he was in trouble, especially after what they were saying about him on the news. His current image and reputation were in tatters after the cheating allegations shifted from Lin Yehan and Jiang Yingyue to him and Mao Qiuyue instead.

    A hysterical Mao Qiuyue called him this morning, yelling and crying because she was also being bashed everywhere just like him. She was used of being a homewrecker. Fortunately, he was able to calm her down by promising tofort her with a night-long fuck session tonight before heading to thepany. He almost didn¡¯t want to go to work but had no choice because he didn¡¯t want to lose his position topete in the battle for session.

    Upon arriving at thepany, he was weed by looks of judgment and contempt. His jaw tightened as anger filled him, but he controlled himself and walked faster while looking straight ahead and not meeting anyone¡¯s gaze.

    "Good morning, Deputy CFO Long," some people still greeted him.

    To him, however, it sounded like they were mocking him, so he only nodded at them stiffly with a cold expression before walking away even faster.

    "Wow. What a jerk. And I thought so highly of him before. How the mighty has fallen! Yes, he¡¯s President Long¡¯s eldest son but it turns out that he¡¯s not automatically given shares. He has to buy the shares but can¡¯t afford it, so he pimps himself out to a rich woman. What¡¯s the difference between him and a gigolo?"

    "It¡¯s no wonder that he lost custody of his son. I feel so sorry for Miss Jiang. She really suffered the most during the custody battle just because she came from a normal background and got pregnant outside marriage."

    "To be honest, I also condemned Miss Jiang before but now that I know that it was actually Deputy CFO Long who cheated first and did her wrong, I really feel bad for her. It¡¯s so unfair that she had to suffer fake cheating allegations with an innocent man when she was actually the one who was cheated on. Poor woman!"

    These people spoke in whispers but Long Hui still managed to hear them. He wanted tosh out at them, to scold them, to punish them for badmouthing him.

    ¡¯Endure,¡¯ he told himself. ¡¯Focus on your goal¡ªto seed Father and be the next head of the n, and most importantly, Long Industries. Once you sessfully obtain your goal, all of these nobodies who dared disrespect you today will one day need to bow their heads down to you. Then you can kick them out of thepany.¡¯

    He immediately felt better after his pep talk to himself. Ignoring the employees gossiping about him, he hurried to the conference room upstairs, encountering some of the board members and executives along the way. Most of them still greeted him like usual but he could see that they were looking at him differently. Some ignored himpletely, while a handful of his closest colleagues reached out to him and tried to console him.

    "I¡¯m alright. Please don¡¯t worry," he reassured them, trying to present a confident front.

    "I saw your father, the President, earlier. His expression didn¡¯t look good. Scary. I hope that you prepared a good exnation today. I¡¯ll try to help you out as much as I can in the meetingter. Just be ready because you¡¯re gonna have it tough."

    Long Hui took a deep breath before nodding. He managed to look calm on the outside but the truth was he was shaking on the inside.

    "Eldest Brother, how are you?" a familiar voice greeted him from behind.

    He turned and saw his half-brother, Long Jian, looking fresh and polished in his crisp business suit. Long Jian just arrived together with the COO.

    Long Hui greeted the COO before his brother. "I¡¯m alright."

    "Are you really? I was ovee with worry when I saw the news."

    Long Jian¡¯s tone was filled with brotherly worry but Long Hui saw mocking in his eyes. Long Hui gritted his teeth but forced himself to smile, knowing that his brother was the COO¡¯s current prot¨¦g¨¦. "Thank you, Brother. Don¡¯t worry too much about me."

    Long Hui wanted this half-brother of his to leave him alone, finding him more and more annoying by the day because Long Jian always performed all of his assigned tasks well, even going so far as to achieve results beyond what was expected of him. The COO couldn¡¯t stop praising him. Even Long Tengfei couldn¡¯t hide the approval and pride in his eyes whenever he looked at his second son. However, Long Jian didn¡¯t leave him alone.

    "I heard that there are some board members who are demanding your resignation. Please be careful, Eldest Brother. They¡¯re out to get you," Long Jian whispered to him.

    To others, like the COO who was listening to their conversation, it sounded like Long Jian was giving a kind warning to his brother. But Long Hui knew that Long Jian was enjoying the precarious situation he was in.

    "Thanks. I¡¯ll keep that in mind," he forced himself to say with a smile, only barely managing to stop himself from hissing.

    After a few minutes of faking a close brotherly bond in front of the COO, Long Jian and his mentor, the COO, finally left him alone. Then he saw the two elders, Long Jufang and Long Meng, who just arrived. The elders were also shareholders so they had the right to attend the meeting.

    Long Jufang snorted in derision when their eyes met before heading to a group of other shareholders. On the other hand, Long Meng gave him an encouraging smile and approached him.

    "You¡¯re your father¡¯s eldest son, so don¡¯t worry about being fired. You should be fine," she assured him.

    "I heard that some board members want my resignation," he said, finally showing a hint of anxiety to his allied elder.

 Chapter 673 - Unexpected Appearance

    <h4>Chapter 673 - Unexpected Appearance </h4>

    Long Meng didn¡¯t reply immediately but that was enough for Long Hui to confirm that Long Jian told the truth earlier about some board members wanting his resignation. His anxiety intensified until he almost felt like suffocating.

    "Calm down, Young Master Hui," Long Meng told him in a low but firm voice. "You¡¯ll be fine. We have our own allies in this meeting, you¡¯ll see."

    He nodded and took a few deep breaths until he finally managed to calm himself again. Indeed, the most important thing for him to do at the moment was to keep hisposure. He needed to demonstrate to everyone that he had the ability to keep a cool head in times of overwhelming pressure which was an extremely important requirement to be the head of thepany.

    Everyone filed inside therge conference room and took their seats. The meeting was scheduled to start in five minutes but not everyone was present yet. There were still people arriving.

    Long Hui sat between Long Meng and his superior, the CFO. Directly opposite them sat Long Jian and the COO. They sat close to the head of the table where his father would be sitting once he arrived. Soon, everyone had arrived except for the President-CEO, Long Tengfei. Long Hui took this time to mentally practice how he was going to defend himself against the attacks he expected to be thrown at him shortly.

    Two minutes before the scheduled time for the meeting, the door opened and Long Tengfei entered. His right-hand man, Cao Guang, followed closely behind him like always. However, it was the unexpected figure walking beside Long Tengfei that surprised many in the conference room.

    Long Hui¡¯s expression immediately turned ugly when he saw who it was. It took a few seconds before he was able to smooth out his expression to an impassive one. Fortunately, almost everyone¡¯s attention was on the unexpected new arrival so they didn¡¯t notice his unbing expression.

    However, Long Jian noticed and smirked before he, too, smoothed out his own expression.

    "Good morning, President Long!"

    Long Tengfei nodded. "Good morning, everyone."

    "Good morning, Xin." Long Jian was the first one to greet Iris who arrived with their father.

    She shed everyone her brightest smile, almost blinding them with her breathtaking beauty. It didn¡¯t matter if it was male or female. They all found themselves affected by her. She looked fresh and glowing in a vibrant violet business dress. The dress itself was simple and conservative, yet when Iris wore it, it transformed into a high-fashion runway showpiece. Her essories were minimal and her high heels were lower than usual. Her entire outfit was very business-appropriate, but for some reason, it felt like she was dressed to perform in a grand concert.

    "Good morning, Big Brother Jian," she greeted back. "Oh, right. I should call you Deputy COO Long when we¡¯re in thepany. Please excuse me."

    Long Jian waved a hand. "Big Brother Jian is fine. There¡¯s no need to be so formal between us. We¡¯re siblings, after all."

    "Yes, we are."

    Long Hui clenched his hands under the table as he watched his half-brother and half-sister chatting with each other and acting as if they were very close. What grated him was that the two were acting as if he didn¡¯t exist when he was the eldest brother!

    "What is the Young Miss doing here?" Long Meng whispered beside him, so that nobody other than him could hear her.

    "She¡¯s also a shareholder and has the right to attend this meeting," he replied, immediately knowing the answer despite being surprised at her sudden, unexpected appearance just a few seconds ago.

    "Ah, right. I¡¯ve forgotten that she owns 5%." Long Meng nced down and saw his clenched hands under the table. "Young Master, please don¡¯t worry too much. The young miss might be a shareholder but what does she know about the inner workings of thepany? She doesn¡¯t understand the work culture here, so she only holds very little power on her own. She won¡¯t be able to do anything against you here."

    "You¡¯re right."

    Iris went on to greet the other people. Most greeted her back with politeness for the reason that she was a shareholder, if not because she was the President-CEO¡¯s daughter.

    Some, however, didn¡¯t bother to hide their displeasure at her presence. They were the old-fashioned people who still held negative impressions of her from her past reputation as an unreasonable, selfish, conceited, spoiled brat. The previous owner of the 5% shares who refused to sell to her, eventually choosing to sell to Long Hui instead, belonged to this particr group. Iris¡¯ expression didn¡¯t change. She didn¡¯t give a whit about these people.

    Two looked extremely excited to the point that they were almost visibly vibrating with happiness. Iris tilted her head to the side, feeling confused by their reaction because she didn¡¯t remember meeting these two people before. What she didn¡¯t know was that they were actually ck Stars, so of course, it was only expected that they were soaring in exhration upon meeting their Boss Iris, their queen goddess, in the flesh! If they weren¡¯t in an important business meeting right now, they would have already fangirled and fanboyed over Iris and asked her to sign autographs and take pictures with them before bragging about the unforgettable experience to their fellow ck Stars online. In fact, they were already making ns on doing exactly that after the meeting.

    Finally, Iris greeted Long Hui and Elder Long Meng, saving them for thest. Others didn¡¯t bother thinking too much about the order she greeted everyone, assuming that she did it randomly. To Long Hui and Long Meng, however, they believed that she did it intentionally to mock them and tell them that they were at the bottom rung of importance to her.

    Well, they were half-correct.

    Iris indeed greeted everyone at random but left Long Hui and Long Meng forst because she didn¡¯t want to ruin her mood so quickly and affect her interactions with the others.

 Chapter 674 - Good Skill To Have

    <h4>Chapter 674 - Good Skill To Have </h4>

    "Xin, sit beside your brother Jian," Long Tengfei said before taking his seat at the head of the table.

    Iris obeyed and sat beside Long Jian, not noticing the disappointed expression on Long Jufang¡¯s face who initially intended on inviting her to sit beside him instead.

    Long Tengfei checked his wristwatch and announced, "It¡¯s time. Let¡¯s start the meeting."

    Everyone knew why the meeting was called today, so nobody beat around the bush.

    "Ourpany¡¯s stock prices crashed overnight. We need to discuss strategies on how to recover as soon as possible," the CFO said.

    "Isn¡¯t it because our Deputy CFO did something scandalous that our stock prices crashed?" a board member said in a sardonic tone. "He¡¯s the one who caused the problem in the first ce so he should be the one to take responsibility and solve it."

    "And what do you suggest my deputy do to solve the problem?" the CFO asked.

    "Simple. Present his resignation."

    "I object!" Long Meng red at the board member. "What a ridiculous suggestion!"

    "Ridiculous? This is the simplest and the most effective solution. I guarantee that our stock prices will recover quickly once he resigns. Want to bet?"

    "You!" Long Meng was furious.

    "Grandaunt Meng, please calm down." Now it was Long Hui¡¯s turn to whisper calming words to the elder.

    The table erupted in great noise as people started talking over each other. One group supported the board member¡¯s idea and demanded for Long Hui¡¯s resignation while another group was in support of him and tried to defend him from the attackers. A neutral group tried to mediate and calm everyone down but to no avail.

    "Enough!" Long Tengfei banged his hand on the table, instantly stopping the ruckus. Then he turned his strict eyes on his eldest son. "Deputy CFO Long Hui, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

    "Yes, President Long. I do. Please allow me to exin myself."

    "Alright. Go ahead."

    Long Hui stood up and headed to the presentation area. He was aware that all eyes were on him like stabbing knives. However, he managed to keep hisposure and look calm on the outside. His father was looking at him with an unreadable expression as always, but Long Hui could sense his father¡¯s disappointment in him.

    Next were his half-siblings. Long Jian managed to look concerned for him, effectively presenting himself as a good brother to those observing. Iris, on the other hand, wore an unreadable expression very simr to their father¡¯s. But Long Hui could imagine the real mocking expressions hiding beneath their fake masks.

    He took a few deep breaths and finally started speaking.

    "Before anything else, I would like to apologize for all the inconvenience my actions have caused thepany and all of you..."

    First order of business was a "heartfelt" apology in order to garner sympathy so that they would be more receptive to his exnation and lenient on his current unfortunate situation.

    He was able to maintain a delicate bnce of remorse for his "carelessness" and determination "not to let it happen again and be a better person".

    "Great acting skills. It¡¯s making me a little envious. I have to take acting sses just to improve, but look at him. He¡¯s a natural," Irismented in a low voice.

    Long Jian¡¯s mouth twitched. Fortunately, he was able to stop himself fromughing out loud. "Little Sister, all of us here didn¡¯t get to where we are today without learning some sort of acting skills. It¡¯s one of the most important tacit skills needed to climb the corporatedder and to keep one¡¯s position."

    "Oh. Really? So you¡¯re good in acting, too?"

    "Of course. Not to brag but I¡¯m an excellent actor. Better than Long Hui. Remember that I¡¯m not a legitimate child like you or him, so I have to work a hundred times harder just to get to where I am today. Acting skills is very important in order for me to reverse the preconceived notions of people about me being an illegitimate son of thepany president."

    She nodded. Hearing Long Jian say it like that, Iris thought that he was actually quite an impressive man. After her rebirth as Iris Long, she never feltpletely at ease with Long Jian because her intuition told her that he wasn¡¯t exactly how he appeared to be. There was cunningness behind his handsome smile. Another thing was that he had a horrible, ill-behaved mother who often got into fights in public, particrly with Wei Lan.

    However, they had be morefortable chatting with each other ever since they allied together when Long Jian bowed his head to her and Jin Liwei and asked them to help his mother, Zhu Ning, who was currently still in police custody after being framed for the mall bombing. It was actually Long Jian who informed Iris about the meeting today and urged her toe in order to start their ns of kicking Long Hui out of the battle of session. In addition to this, Long Jian had already started feeding her important information about the inner workings of thepany.

    "Hmm. If that¡¯s the case, then I guess I need to really improve my acting skills because I now have my ownpanies," she said.

    "Yes. It¡¯s a good skill to have," Long Jian replied.

    Iris thought more about it and realized that indeed some acting skills were needed in business. Even her tyrannical darling needed to be on his best behaviour when meeting fellow CEOs of other multinationalpanies, even when he didn¡¯t like them. She remembered Grandpa Luining about it during one of their lessons.

    "I once punched a CEO in the face back in the days because he was aplete asshole who harassed female secretaries! Ourpany lost billions in a potential partnership because of it but what do I care?! Why should I pretend to like someone when I don¡¯t just to get ahead?! Why?! I want to know! Your Grandfather Jin¡ªI wish you met him, he would¡¯ve loved you too¡ªalways called me a hothead! Bah! I¡¯m not a hothead! I¡¯m just true to myself!"

 Chapter 675 - Proposed Solution

    <h4>Chapter 675 - Proposed Solution </h4>

    "That¡¯s why I left all the people matters to your Grandfather Jin because he said that I¡¯m no good with it! That I¡¯m too temperamental, too shameless! Hah! Of course you have to be shameless to make lots of money! But don¡¯t get me wrong, Xin my girl. I¡¯m not saying that your Grandfather Jin kissed everyone¡¯s asses to make connections with important people! That would be funny if he did but he DIDN¡¯T! That scoundrel looked so proper and upright but was actually a sly fox inside! Bahahaha! He was the most cunning person your Grandpa Lu knows in my entire life! We always get the best business deals because of his god-level craftiness!

    "And now I dumped Jin Corporation to your Liwei so that this old man can enjoy his retired life having lots of fun and waiting for you pinheads to make me lots of great-grandbabies! You¡¯re all so slow! What¡¯s taking you so long?! I want to know!

    "Liwei my boy is also good at handling people matters which I hate¡ªbah! He¡¯s very simr to his Grandfather Jin in many aspects. In fact, that boy is also a sly fox inside, so you better be careful, my girl! Oh wait. Toote! You already fell for his trap! Bahahahahaha!!!"

    Iris couldn¡¯t help but smile remembering Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice as heined about this aspect in business which he hated¡ªdealing with people he didn¡¯t like. Although she had no clue what the old man meant by hisst sentence about her falling into Jin Liwei¡¯s trap, she didn¡¯t mind because she liked listening to his stories of Grandfather Jin and also about her darling.

    Her attention returned to the meeting just as Long Hui was finishing his very well-rehearsed yet natural-sounding defence of himself. Basically, he admitted that it was negligence on his part that he allowed the custody case of his son to be so public that it began to affect Long Industries¡¯ image, but cleverly insinuated that the media attention was due to his rtion with his sister Iris Long who was a famous celebrity. He said it in an almost careless way, as if it was just an afterthought and not deliberate at all.

    "Indeed, a natural actor. If he enters showbiz, he might even win a Best Actor Award," Iris muttered, making Long Jian fight a grin.

    His acting was even more impressive because the old-fashioned group who didn¡¯t think highly of her looked like they believed him. They now turned their using eyes on Iris.

    She ignored them.

    "He¡¯s ming you, Little Sister. Are you angry?" Long Jian asked while looking very entertained.

    "No. I already expected that he¡¯ll try something like this because that¡¯s the kind of person he is. In his own eyes, he¡¯s innocent. If something goes wrong, it¡¯s other people¡¯s fault."

    The two stopped talking because the COO quietly reprimanded Long Jian.

    In the end, Long Hui was able to move some people with his "heartfelt" speech. There were a number of men in the room who experienced something simr to him¡ªseparated with a lover and tried to fight for a child¡¯s custody but lost. Family situations like this were always messy, so they could rte to him.

    Long Hui also defended the cheating allegations between him and Mao Qiuyue, insisting that it was untrue. His maternal family, the Zhengs, were close to the Maos. He only interacted with Mao Qiuyue in a brotherly capacity when he was still engaged with Jiang Ying Yue. But when they separated, Mao Qiuyueforted him during his painful heartbreak, eventually causing him to fall for her. ording to him, it also wasn¡¯t true that the Maos "bought" him in exchange for the 5% Long Industries shares he recently acquired. He reasoned that Mao Qiuyue insisted on helping him even when he declined her offer numerous times until she eventually managed to persuade him.

    "I know that everything looks bad now and I¡¯m sorry for that, but as Long Industries¡¯ Deputy CFO...and also as the President-CEO¡¯s eldest son, I will do everything that I can to solve the problem of ourpany¡¯s stock prices crashing. My resignation is not the answer! In fact, it¡¯s the worst thing to do in this situation because it¡¯ll only signal to everyone that we¡¯re admitting defeat! I humbly suggest that the best course of action is to work together as a team, as family because that¡¯s what we are, in order to remedy our current problem. I¡¯m ready to work day and night every day of the week until we solve this and ourpany¡¯s stock prices recover!"

    Long Meng pped her hands. Long Hui¡¯s supporters and allies followed suit. However, most chose not to p because they wanted to gauge Long Tengfei¡¯s position first in this matter. It was difficult for them to know what theirpany head was thinking based on his expression which remained unreadable.

    "Go back to your seat, Deputy CFO Long Hui," Long Tengfei finally spoke again.

    Long Hui obeyed and returned beside Long Meng who gave him an encouraging smile. He also felt hopeful because his father¡¯s tone didn¡¯t sound like he was about to fire him. Perhaps he was also able to move his father with his speech. He was hoping he did.

    The conference room descended into silence as everyone waited for Long Tengfei to speak first.

    "I agree that Deputy CFO Long Hui¡¯s resignation is not the best course of action in this situation," he said.

    Long Hui released a big sigh of relief. Elder Long Meng also did the same thing.

    "But he still yed a big part in causing our current predicament," Long Tengfei continued. "So he will be duly punished. I¡¯ll hand out his punishmentter but for now, we should all think of solutions on how to make our stock prices recover as soon as possible."

    People began talking again as they offered different solutions, but most of them were shot down as ineffective.

    A hand rose up.

    "Go ahead, Deputy COO Long Jian," Long Tengfei said. "What¡¯s your proposed solution?"

    "My suggestion is simple. Let my sister, the celebrity Iris Long, do her magic!"

 Chapter 676 - What Kind Of Brother Are You?

    <h4>Chapter 676 - What Kind Of Brother Are You? </h4>

    "We are having a serious business discussion here that will affect the fate of ourpany. It¡¯s not the time for making jokes!" Long Meng rebuked Long Jian.

    She never treated him kindly because of his illegitimate status. It wasn¡¯t only him. Long Jinjing also suffered the same ill treatment from Long Meng and the other elders, including Long Jufang who was now supporting Iris but only because she was a legitimate child.

    Others nodded, agreeing with Long Meng, but there were a handful of people whose eyes lit up upon finally realizing what Long Jian meant. Included in these sharp people were the two secret ck Stars. They looked at Iris in excitement. It was already obvious by their smiling expressions that they would wholeheartedly support whatever Long Jian was about to propose because it was rted to their amazing Boss Iris. They almost cheered out loud before controlling themselves upon remembering that they were in an important business meeting.

    "Grandaunt Meng," Long Jian said.

    Long Meng snorted, not liking that he was calling her grandaunt. For her, he wasn¡¯t qualified to be family and therefore had no right to call her as grandaunt. However, she didn¡¯t correct him because they were in front of Long Tengfei who everyone in the n knew was protective of all his children, legitimate or not, even though he wasn¡¯t an outwardly affectionate person.

    Long Jian ignored the elder¡¯s obvious disdain towards him and continued speaking. "I¡¯m not making jokes. I¡¯m serious about my suggestion to allow my sister Xin, or as the rest of the country knows her, the popr celebrity Iris Long, to help solve ourpany¡¯s current crisis."

    "Exin," Long Tengfei said in a strict tone, yet there was also underlying encouragement in his voice.

    It seemed that Long Tengfei already had an idea of what Long Jian¡¯s proposal was all about but still chose to ask for the benefit of those who hadn¡¯t realized it yet like Long Meng. Indeed, Long Tengfei was an astute businessman. He wasn¡¯t the President-CEO of Long Industries for nothing.

    "President Long and also everyone," Long Jian spoke in a clear voice. "My sister, Iris Long, is not just a simple shareholder in ourpany. Please remember that she¡¯s also the appointed celebrity brand ambassador of Long Industries. She hasn¡¯t been very active in her duty yet, but haven¡¯t we signed a few promising new clients as soon as it was announced that she became our brand ambassador? They reached out to us to make a business deal but introduced themselves as Iris Long¡¯s fans, that¡¯s why they chose to partner with us in the first ce.

    "Even outside ourpany, my sister¡¯s endorsements are all very sessful and at this rate, I¡¯m sure that she¡¯ll be one of the top celebrity endorsers in the country by next year. This only proves that we made an excellent decision to appoint her as our brand ambassador.

    "My point is that we should make use of Iris Long¡¯s star power to turn our current predicament around. Why did our stock prices crash in the first ce? It wasn¡¯t because of a failure we did as apany but because of Deputy CFO Long Hui¡¯s...ehm, shall we say increasingly ¡¯unpleasant¡¯ image in the media these days?"

    Long Hui¡¯sposed expression cracked when Long Jian singled him out by name in front of everyone. He red at his half-brother but was ignored as Long Jian continued exining his proposal.

    "In short, the main cause of our current problem is image! Ourpany¡¯s image has been tarnished alongside Deputy CFO Long Hui¡¯s, not just because he holds a high position but also because he¡¯s the eldest son of our President-CEO. If you think about it, it¡¯s not surprising that our stock prices crashed because people are going to think that everyone in thepany, especially the president, is tolerating Deputy CFO Long Hui¡¯s ¡¯unpleasant¡¯ behaviours just because he¡¯s thepany head¡¯s son."

    "You! Enough! Stop spouting all that nonsense!" Long Meng angrily interrupted Long Jian. "Didn¡¯t you listen to the young master¡¯s exnation just now? He already said that not everything being reported in the media about him is true! Stop targeting Young Master Hui! What kind of brother are you?!"

    Long Jian¡¯s eyes turned a degree colder. The elder never acknowledged him as part of the Long family, and yet she was demanding him to act like a "brother" to her Young Master Hui whenever it suited her?

    Earlier, Long Jian was the one who looked entertained when Long Hui cleverly med Iris for his current problems caused by the media. But now, it was Iris who felt entertained watching Long Hui ring at Long Jian while Long Meng was scolding him in front of everyone for targeting his own brother. She found it funny that the two and their allies were always trying to find fault in her and Long Jian during this meeting in order to shift a part of the me away from Long Hui when it was clear as day that he was the one who fucked up first. Iris had a strong urge to munch on popcorn and enjoy the entertaining show in front of her.

    "Madam Long, my deputy is only stating facts as he should. It¡¯s true that it was Deputy CFO Long¡¯s mistakes that caused ourpany¡¯s stock prices to crash overnight. Please take a moment to view our current situation with a logical mind instead of letting your emotions take over you, madam. I know some people in your n have issues with my deputy but I request that you don¡¯t bring that here in thepany. Family issues have no ce in business," the COO intervened and defended Long Jian. If not for the fact that Long Meng was older than him, he probably would have already harshly scolded her.

    Long Meng felt humiliated but wisely shut her mouth and didn¡¯t argue with the COO. It was because the COO was the next most powerful person in Long Industries after Long Tengfei while she was only a small-time shareholder.

 Chapter 677 - I Suppor

    <h4>Chapter 677 - I Suppor </h4>

    Long Jian nodded a silent thanks to his mentor, the COO. Once again, he couldn¡¯t help butpare the COO to his own father. The COO defended him readily from Long Meng in front of everyone while Long Tengfei chose to remain silent.

    However, his resentment against his father was no longer as intense as before. The COO and his wonderful close-knit family had taught him to live in the present and look forward to the future rather than dwell in the past and wallow in regrets. Without the shackles of intense resentment, he now began to see that Long Tengfei wasn¡¯t as free to do whatever he wanted as Long Jian first thought.

    His father was both the n head and the President-CEO of Long Industries. Long Tengfei had to be careful not to rock the boat too much and worsen the discord within the n, especially regarding all of his children. He wasn¡¯t the best father in terms of creating close bonds with his children. In fact, he was very awkward in this aspect but had been gradually improving after marrying his third wife, Yang Jiahui.

    This was why Long Jian didn¡¯t expect anything anymore from his father in terms of paternal affections, or in this case, defending him from Long Meng in front of everyone. He could only rely on himself and he believed himself capable of doing so. Nevertheless, it was still a great feeling that the COO stepped forward to defend him. Warmth and gratefulness filled him. And also strengthened his goal to seed his father and be the next head of Long Industries.

    ¡¯I swear I¡¯ll be a better leader than Father. I know I can do it. I¡¯m sure that the COO will be proud of me and maybe Father, too, even for just a little.¡¯

    While Long Jian felt fired up and was even reaffirming his final goal of winning the battle of session, Iris was taking it easy on the seat beside him. She was actually continuing to crave for some popcorn to munch on!

    Never had she expected that this meeting would be so entertaining. At first, she only forced herself to attend when Long Jian informed her about the emergency meetingst night. Since they were currently allied together in a plot to kick out Long Hui in the battle of session, of course she agreed toe even though she would rather continue preparing for her wedding instead. She personally didn¡¯t want anything to do with the messy Long n which was a cesspool of prejudice and narrow-minded people, but had to involve herself for the sake of her godson, Little Jun.

    Watching the show ying in front of her was making Iris want to p her hands in apuse for everyone¡¯s performance. Particrly, Long Jian was doing an excellent job. Indeed, he wasn¡¯t lying when he told her earlier that he was a better actor than Long Hui. There was no sibling love between her and Long Jian, but as allies, she also needed to provide him support when he was putting the first step of their n into action by rmending her today.

    "Excuse me, Father¡ªI mean, President Long," she interrupted the tense atmosphere, deliberately calling Long Tengfei "Father" before correcting herself and calling him with his official title, in order to remind everyone in the meeting that she was the daughter of thepany¡¯s President-CEO. "May I speak?"

    "Yes, you may. As long as it¡¯s relevant to our current discussion," Long Tengfei said.

    "Thank you, Father." Then she swept her eyes across every single person sitting around the conference table. "I know that I¡¯m only a brand ambassador so I¡¯m unable to make big decisions on my own. But like what my brother Jian mentioned to you just now, I have proven myself an effective endorser. People believe in the brands that I endorse. They trust in my seal of approval and believe that whatever product, brand orpany that I choose to lend my name to will be of high quality. The best example that I can provide you is my ownpany, Orchidia Beauty. I don¡¯t know if all of you are aware but my small, humblepany broke records for selling out everything in just five seconds on itsunch. And that trend continues to this day as we sell out all of our restocks and new productunches."

    Many mouths twitched when they heard her describing Orchidia Beauty as a "small, humblepany". The newpany could sell out its entire inventory within a day or two and had to constantly expand its manufacturing capacity every time. Its owner was the multi-award-winning musician Iris Long who was engaged to marry billionaire CEO Jin Liwei. Plus it had a superstar top endorser, Jin Chonglin! Which part of Orchidia Beauty was "small" and "humble"?!

    "Aren¡¯t you just bragging?" Iris heard Long Meng muttering with her great hearing.

    She could choose to ignore the elder but decided not to this time. "Grandaunt Meng, you may describe what I¡¯m doing as bragging but I prefer to call it what it is¡ªstating facts. Everything I said about mypany just now is all 100% true." Not giving the elder a chance to retort, Iris continued speaking. "The reason why I¡¯m saying all of this is to show all of you that I already have a proven track record of sess in the area of using my image to boost a product, brand orpany of my choosing.

    "And as the officially appointed brand ambassador of Long Industries and also as the President-CEO¡¯s daughter, I pledge to all of you today that I will do my utmost best to help improve thepany¡¯s image by using my status as a celebrity who has already built a considerable following in the country," she announced with confidence.

    "As the Deputy COO, I believe that my sister is the most effective solution for our current crisis," Long Jian said. "I support her!"

    "I, as the COO, also support Miss Long."

    The two ck Stars followed suit. "We support!"

    "I support, as well," Long Jufang said.

 Chapter 678 - The Higher Someone Soars, The Deeper The Fall

    <h4>Chapter 678 - The Higher Someone Soars, The Deeper The Fall </h4>

    A chorus of "I support" sounded from around three-quarter of the meeting¡¯s participants¡ªsome readily, some reluctantly. A small number like Long Meng who were Long Hui¡¯s biggest supporters in the battle of session voiced out their opposition to the proposal because they didn¡¯t want Iris taking centre stage in solving thepany¡¯s current crisis as much as possible. The remaining people kept silent, still undecided.

    Long Tengfei nced at his fellow executives. Almost all of them supported the proposal just like the COO. He nodded and announced, "The majority has spoken. Xin, I expect you to perform your duty as thepany¡¯s brand ambassador well."

    She smiled. "Yes, Father. I will."

    "Deputy COO Long Jian. Since this was your idea, you¡¯ll be in charge of it. I want you to work closely together with the PR and Marketing Departments on how to best use your sister¡¯s celebrity status to improve ourpany¡¯s image. I want results within one month. Great results. We can¡¯t afford to lose any more of our stocks¡¯ value for longer than that. If your n doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll immediately move on to a contingency n."

    "Understood, President. Leave it to me. One month is more than enough," Long Jian replied with a smile before ncing at Long Hui who looked like he swallowed a whole frog.

    "Deputy CFO Long Hui," Long Tengfei said next.

    "Yes, President?" Long Hui managed to hide the anger in his voice.

    "It¡¯s your carelessness whichnded ourpany in this predicament, so you need to bear responsibility for it. But for now, we¡¯ll attempt Deputy COO Long Jian¡¯s n of using your sister¡¯s celebrity status first and see how it goes. Recovering ourpany¡¯s stock prices takes priority over anything else, so I¡¯ll dy your punishment. You¡¯ll be in charge of devising our contingency n in case Deputy COO Long Jian¡¯s n doesn¡¯t work in a month. I expect a solid n from you. Don¡¯t disappoint me anymore."

    Long Hui¡¯s lips pressed hard together into a thin line at the reminder of his punishment. He didn¡¯t know how his father would punish him, but he hoped it wouldn¡¯t be too harsh. But at least, he wasn¡¯t being fired so this was good news. This was a chance to redeem himself! Determination shone in his eyes.

    "Understood, President. I¡¯ll start devising several contingency ns right away," he promised.

    Long Tengfei nodded.

    The meeting continued for an additional half an hour before Long Tengfei signalled its end and dismissed everyone. Long Hui and Long Meng left first before anyone could speak with either of them. Iris chatted with some people who were curious about her, including Long Jufang and especially the ck Stars who could barely maintain their professionalposure in front of her.

    After signing autographs and taking pictures with her two fans, she followed Long Jian who led her to his office so that they could begin devising their strategy to use her status as a celebrity brand ambassador to recover thepany¡¯s image and stock prices. But before that, they talked about Long Hui.

    "I¡¯m very disappointed that Long Hui wasn¡¯t fired or forced to resign or even punished," Long Jian said.

    Iris sat on the couch opposite him and sipped the hot tea his assistant served them a few moments ago. "Father said that his punishment is only dyed. He¡¯ll be punished in due time."

    "I know but still, I was expecting him to suffer more from today¡¯s meeting. Instead, he got off scot-free. Father is being too lenient on him."

    "Of course Father will be lenient on him. What do you expect? That¡¯s his first son and the one he had been grooming to be his sessor since his birth. It¡¯s only now when Father has aged and married Aunt Jiahui that he has given all of us siblings a fair chance to prove ourselves as potential sessors. In the end, it¡¯s only the three of us who arepeting because Big Sister Jinjing is perfectly happy working at my ownpany, Orchidia Beauty."

    Long Jian clicked his tongue. "Jinjing is a very sensible girl. How about you? Why are you even joining in the battle of session, anyway? I can sense that you¡¯re not as hungry for Long Industries as I am or Long Hui. You should be like our sister Jinjing instead and be satisfied with your ownpany. It¡¯s doing well, anyway. Extremely well. Why don¡¯t you leave us alone?"

    Iris shrugged, choosing not to reply and sipped her tea instead. She had her own reasons that he didn¡¯t need to know. Long Jian didn¡¯t mind that she refused to answer. Each of them had their own secrets, their own personal ns. They were only allies for now, after all. There was no need to act like the best of friends all of a sudden and spill everything to each other. Once they achieved their goal of kicking out their biggestpetitor in the battle of session, Long Hui, then their alliance would naturally dissolve. By then, they would revert back to being opponents going head to head against each other.

    "I¡¯m feeling a little tired. I¡¯ve been so busytely. Do you have choctes or something? I need a quick boost of energy," she said all of a sudden.

    "Choctes? Are you still a kid or what?" Long Jian said in a mocking tone but still rummaged through a drawer and tossed her a few coin-shaped choctes.

    "Thanks!" She quickly opened one and popped it inside her mouth, chewing in bliss. "You know, don¡¯t be so disappointed that Long Hui got away ¡¯scot-free¡¯ today as you put it. As they say, the higher someone soars, the deeper the fall. This is only the beginning. His image and reputation will only worsen. Remember that he has a pending defamationwsuit filed against him by my fianc¨¦¡¯s sworn brother."

    "Ah, right. The agricultural tycoon, Lin Yehan. He doesn¡¯t look all that impressive."

    She narrowed her eyes at him while popping another chocte into her mouth. "Don¡¯t underestimate any of my fianc¨¦¡¯s brothers."

 Chapter 679 - Donâ€™t Forget Our Deal

    <h4>Chapter 679 - Don¡¯t Forget Our Deal </h4>

    "Whatever." Long Jian shrugged before eyeing the choctes disappearing inside Iris¡¯ mouth. "Hey, toss me a chocte."

    Iris turned away and continued eating.

    He scowled. "Those are my choctes. Give me one."

    "You gave them to me so they¡¯re mine now. Go get more for yourself."

    "Those are thest ones."

    She pursed her lips and tossed him one coin-shaped chocte with great reluctance before rushing to finish the remaining ones.

    "What a kid," Long Jian grumbled before popping the chocte into his own mouth. Iris¡¯ blissful expression while eating tempted him but it turned out that the chocte didn¡¯t taste particrly special. He snorted at her in disdain after quickly swallowing the childish treat.

    After this brief choctey intermission, they talked about their n¡¯s next steps.

    "I want Long Hui to fall down so deeply that he¡¯ll never have a chance to recover," Long Jian said. "It¡¯s only in that way that he¡¯ll cease being a threat to us in the battle of session."

    Although Iris hated how Long Hui was acting, especially in his treatment of her friend Jiang Ying Yue, she disagreed with Long Jian. Long Hui was, after all, still the father of her godson. "If he regrets his stupidity, makes amends to those he hurt, and backs out of the battle of session on his own volition, let¡¯s just leave him be."

    Long Jian frowned, clearly not agreeing with her stance. However, he didn¡¯t oppose her out loud because he needed her if he wanted to kick out Long Hui from the battle of session sooner. His individual influence in the Long n was insignificant. He didn¡¯t want to rely on Long Xiaopeng who was trying to rally support from minor members of several small branch families in the n.

    Long Xiaopeng was Long Jian¡¯s number one supporter in the n in the hopes that his own small branch family would rise in a position of influence if Long Jian sessfully became the next head. He also worked as a spy, updating Long Jian and Zhu Ning about thetest news within the n. In recent years, he had gathered a small number of supporters for Long Jian but all of them were from minor branch families who were tempted with the same ambition of gaining influence among the Longs. Unfortunately, Long Xiaopeng¡¯s efforts were still far from enough to rival Long Hui and Iris¡¯ positions in the n, especially since most of the n members were still old-fashioned and prejudiced against illegitimate children.

    If Long Jian wanted to increase his chances of triumphing in the battle of session, he needed to do it in a field that he was the most confident in¡ªthepany, Long Industries. His swift climb in the corporatedder was a testament to his talent in business leadership, not to mention that the COO had taken him in as a prot¨¦g¨¦, making it easier for him to ess resources to improve himself and showcase his abilities, skills and achievements to everyone in thepany, especially to his father. Despite his excellent work performance, he had been working at the main headquarters and obtained the position of Deputy COO position for only a few months. He needed more time and aplishments in order to match the influence Long Hui had in thepany which the other obtained a few years earlier than him.

    Thus, Long Jian decided to ally with Iris, the other legitimate child and the one who threatened Long Hui¡¯s position the most. This was the quickest way to achieve his ambition of seeding their father as the next head.

    "Let¡¯s not talk about the extent of how we want Long Hui to suffer after we defeat him," he said. "We can decide on thatter. Right now, we need to make sure that our ns y out smoothly first."

    Iris nodded. She was about to leave after fleshing out their ns when he stopped her. He hesitated for a moment before deciding to warn her.

    "Be careful of Long Hui¡¯s maternal family, the Zhengs. They¡¯re not simple. They had been lying low since Father divorced Zheng Suyin to marry your mother due to shame, but I heard that they¡¯re bing more active in high society in the past few weeks. Even Zheng Suyin who disappeared from the public eye for years was seen outside recently meeting with old friends. Now that we¡¯re targeting Long Hui, I¡¯m sure that Zheng Suyin won¡¯t let us off and will do everything in her power to support her son. I think I¡¯m fine because nobody sees me as a threat for now, but that¡¯s not the case for you. You¡¯re a legitimate child just like Long Hui, not to mention that Father dotes on you the most."

    Iris protested on his im that Long Tengfei doted on her the most but he ignored her and continued warning her. She could only nod. "Alright, I understand. Thank you, Big Brother Jian. I¡¯ll be careful of the Zhengs."

    He nodded, satisfied. Then he hesitated once again.

    "What is it?" she asked, already standing and ready to leave.

    "Don¡¯t forget our deal, Little Sister. I¡¯m not doing all of these for you. My mother is still in police custody. Could you...ask CEO Jin if there are any updates regarding my mother¡¯s case? Is there a chance for her to be released from jail soon?"

    "Oh. Alright. I¡¯ll ask Liwei," she replied, even though Jin Liwei had no interest in helping Zhu Ning because the woman once threatened her and Wei Lan, his future mother-inw. It was actually Iris herself, or more specifically her hacker abilities, that would help clear Zhu Ning¡¯s name from the usation of being the mastermind of the bomb incident.

    "Thanks." Long Jian looked relieved. Then he escorted her out of his office where Dom and her bodyguards were waiting.

 Chapter 680 - Something Interesting

    <h4>Chapter 680 - Something Interesting </h4>

    In the next few days, Iris began working hard as Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador under the mission of improving thepany¡¯s reputation and recovering the stock prices. She worked closely with Long Jian who was in charge of the assignment and also with thepany¡¯s PR and Marketing Departments.

    Theypleted a series of advertisements and programmercials in a hurry. Since time was tight, Iris took charge of the advertisements andmercials. She chose a simple approach yet her creativity still managed to inject a fresh and appealing vibe to the rushed projects. She even went the extra mile and quicklyposed an originalmercial jingle within a day toplement her ads for Long Industries.

    With the addition of fulfilling her active duty as brand ambassador for Long Industries, Iris¡¯ already full schedule became even fuller, making her even busier than Jin Liwei. Despite this, she still stubbornly instructed Dom to free one day per week to spend quality time together with her darling.

    Long Jian brought her to various meetings and conferences, using her celebrity status to charm not only business partners but also the general public. Even when he and his team were pushing her this way, Iris¡¯ professionalism prevented her behaviour to be viewed as ingratiating. And also instead of her usual eye-catching "celeb" outfits, she wore chic business dresses instead.

    Long Tengfei was very satisfied by her professionalism. He, along with the COO and fellow executives plus the other important shareholders were closely watching Iris¡¯ work performance. It wasn¡¯t only the way she dressed properly or interacted with others as brand ambassador without overly ttering anyone that impressed Long Tengfei and the others in thepany. They were also impressed by her original ideas and how she managed to work harmoniously with Long Jian and their team from the PR and Marketing Departments as if she had been working with them for years.

    There were some people like Long Tengfei, Long Hui, and others who nted spies in the team in order to monitor Long Jian and Iris. (The two were actually aware of the spies but didn¡¯t call them out, allowing them to spy because they had nothing to hide during meetings.) Long Tengfei and the others discovered that the two siblings had strong leadership skills and were both ambitious and aggressive when making and implementing their ns.

    Everyone in Long Industries were looking forward whether the Long Jian and Iris Long duo would be able to reverse thepany¡¯s stock price crash caused by Long Hui. A "secret" betting pool was even set up, pitting the sibling duo against their eldest brother, Long Hui, who caused the stock price crash in the first ce.

    Not everyone was optimistic that Iris Long using her position as a celebrity brand ambassador alone would be able to rescue the situation because Long Hui¡¯s reputation was worsening with each passing day due to Lin Yehan¡¯s pending defamationwsuit against him.

    The ads andmercials were released after a week. Contrary to the pessimistic expectations, thepany¡¯s stock prices twitched on the way to recovery just a day after Iris Long¡¯s ads andmercials were released.

    Thanks to the ck Stars¡¯ loyal support, Iris¡¯ originalmercial jingle for Long Industries quickly went viral, making the simple advertisement concept memorable.

    ###

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    Xu Tian knocked on the door before opening it.

    "President, lunch has arrived."

    "En. Come in," Jin Liwei replied while continuing to type on hisputer in front of his desk.

    Xu Tian led the subordinates from Dragon Pce Home #10 inside. Iris sent them to deliver lunch. This scene was already a regr urrence so nobody was surprised anymore. In fact, Jin Liwei, Xu Tian and the receptionists downstairs would start worrying if Iris ever failed to send lunch and wonder if Jin Liwei did something to piss her off. Only when Jin Liwei was away from thepany during lunch time or went to a business trip would Iris not send lunch to him.

    Jin Liwei continued working on his desk while Xu Tian and his subordinates set up the hearty and nutritious dishes on the table in the office. There were enough for both Jin Liwei and Xu Tian.

    A couple of minutester, Jin Liwei paused his work and sat down for lunch with Xu Tian. A soft smile lingered on his lips as he looked at the mouth-watering food on the table. Ever since Iris started sending him lunch, he no longer skipped his meals no matter how busy he was working. It was a far cry to his previous busy bachelor lifestyle before he met her when he would prioritize work over regr meal times.

    The subordinates retreated outside the office, leaving Jin Liwei and Xu Tian to enjoy their lunch. They already ate at the mansion before delivering the food to their boss.

    "Mmmm." Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help making an appreciative noise as he took a first bite. An image of his baby girl popped inside his mind, deepening his soft smile.

    Even though Iris didn¡¯t cook the dishes herself, he loved that she would personally discuss his lunch meals with their chef at home every night. He also learned something interesting recently from the chatterbox Ketchup. ording to the dramatic and talkative white cat, her mommy had been in contact with a special nutritionist for quite some time now to tweak Jin Liwei¡¯s meals for a specific purpose. When asked for the reason why, Ketchup could only pout and say that she had no idea because her mommy locked the information away. Curious, he directly asked his baby girl one night.

    "Oh, that. Don¡¯t worry about it too much. I¡¯m just taking my experiment of making your semen taste sweeter to the next level, so we¡¯re trying to make you eat different foodbinations," she told him in a straightforward tone as if she was talking about something mundane like the weather instead of the taste of his semen.

    His eyes darkened in an instant while a bulge grew and stiffened inside his pants. "Is that so?" he breathed, his voice low and husky.

 Chapter 681 - Thank You For Taking Care Of My Censored

    <h4>Chapter 681 - Thank You For Taking Care Of My Censored </h4>

    Iris nodded, not noticing Jin Liwei¡¯s lusty reaction below the belt. "In addition to the first experiment, I¡¯m also conducting another simr experiment...hmm. Maybe it¡¯s not urate to call it an experiment. It¡¯s more of a preventive healthcare method using nutrition I specifically requested for you."

    He nibbled on her earlobe, pulling her closer as theyy on the bed. "What is it? Tell me."

    "You¡¯re eleven years older than me..."

    He stopped nibbling and a small furrow formed between his brows. "Is that an issue?"

    "For me, no. I think that even if you¡¯re twenty years older or more than me, you¡¯ll still be able to make me fall in love with you."

    He nodded, the furrow between his brows disappearing as a smug smile lifted the corner of his lips.

    "But I heard before that as a man ages, his sperm volume declines and so does the quality of sperm," she continued, as straightforward as always. "I asked both Second Brother and Dr. Ching and they both said it¡¯s true."

    His frown returned. "Love, I¡¯m only in my early thirties. I¡¯m also healthy and fit. You don¡¯t need to worry about that for now."

    "The earlier we start preventive care, the better," she argued. "That¡¯s why I consulted with a nutritionist and designed meals for you in order to increase your semen volume and sperm quality."

    "How long have you been doing this?"

    "Around the time I started sending lunch to your office."

    This surprised him. It had already been a few months since she started regrly sending lunch to him at thepany. Once again, his frown disappeared before another smile bloomed on his lips. It was a yful smile.

    "Thank you for taking care of my sperm," he whispered directly to her ear as he resumed nibbling on it.

    She giggled. "Well, your sperm are mine, too. So of course, I¡¯m going to take good care of them."

    "En. I¡¯ll leave them in your care then. I¡¯m sure that they¡¯re going to make strong and beautiful babies with you."

    She rarely blushed but this time, she did. But at the same time, an already familiar sh of anxiety dampened her giggles. Jin Liwei knew that she worried about being a mother, so he would often mention having human children with her to make her morefortable with the idea. It seemed that it was working because she no longer went into full panic mode whenever the topic of human babies was broached.

    Jin Liwei gave a quick peck on her lips, distracting her from her anxiety. They looked at each other, their gazes lingering and bing more maic. He leaned forward for another kiss...longer this time. And then another. Deeper.

    A soft sigh escaped from her lips as her arms crept up from his hard, muscled chest and wrapped around his neck. He shifted and pressed her under him on the bed, probing her lips open with the tip of his tongue. She moaned as he delved deeper inside her mouth.

    Unfortunately, a ringing phone interrupted them just when things started to get hot.

    It was Iris¡¯ phone.

    They tried ignoring it at first but the caller was very persistent. After the fourth call, Iris couldn¡¯t take it anymore and broke the kiss before pushing him off her.

    Jin Liwei tried kissing her again but she turned her head away. All he could was sigh and move off her but not before giving her breast ast light squeeze over her clothes. He was already cursing whoever was calling his baby girl sote at night and interrupting their sexy time.

    She crawled to the bedside table and answered the phone. Before she could even say hello, Jin Liwei heard a booming voice even when the call wasn¡¯t set on speakerphone.

    He released another sigh and stopped cursing. After all, the old man wasbelled as SDTTHLVVVIP on both his and Iris¡¯ contacts.

    "Maybe we should block him when it¡¯ste at night," he muttered under his breath.

    Iris heard him with her great ears, causing her bright eyes to shape like crescent moons inughter. However, she didn¡¯t reply to him as she concentrated on speaking with Grandpa Lu.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei continued smiling as he ate while remembering what happened that night. He savoured the delicious food in front of him. As a loyal husband, of course he was going to eat everything his wife sent to him. After all, all of these were specifically designed to take care of his precious sperm. They must be transforming and bing super healthy and strong right now. Perhaps one had already swam to the finish line and sessfully united with his wife¡¯s egg cell.

    ¡¯Hopefully...¡¯

    His smile widened.

    Sitting opposite him, Xu Tian also ate the delicious meal. However, his eyes would sneakily nce at his boss who was smiling like an idiot in front of him. He fought a shudder when he heard his boss "chuckling". Yes, it was a chuckle, not a giggle! How could a manly man like CEO Jin Liwei giggle? It was a chuckle!

    Although this kind of scene always happened whenever Miss Long sent lunch to the office, Xu Tian still found it difficult to get used to his boss acting like a lovestruck teenager. All Xu Tian could do was focus on enjoying his food to prevent himself from being too weirded out by his own boss.

    Later, they both finished eating. Xu Tian began serving his boss hot digestive tea while reporting at the same time.

    "President, three more local TV stations and two radio stations agreed to air Miss Long¡¯smercial for Long Industries."

    "Good. Continue asking other stations. The more, the better."

    "Understood, President. I¡¯ve also sessfully arranged for thirty big billboards for Miss Long¡¯s ads in different cities. I¡¯m working on obtaining more."

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    "President, should we also help spread the online ads on the inte and increase their visibility?"

    "No need. Xin does a better job on anything rted to the inte. Just focus on helping her out with the stations and the physical ads."

    "Understood."Super-Duper to the Highest Level Very Very Very Important Person

 Chapter 682 - Am I Uncool?

    <h4>Chapter 682 - Am I Uncool? </h4>

    Xu Tian continued reporting about the tasks Jin Liwei assigned to him assisting Iris¡¯ mission as Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador. Usually, Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t help Iris get ahead on her showbiz work without her permission even if he wanted to because she preferred to use her own efforts in her career, but this was a different matter. The brand ambassadorship was an important step in her n of winning in the Long n¡¯s battle of session. The couple already agreed to work together in this matter because these were all for their godson, Little Jun.

    Jin Liwei leaned back on his chair and sipped hot tea while listening to his assistant¡¯s reports. Afterwards, Xu Tian cleaned up the table while Jin Liwei called his baby girl who just finished guesting and performing "Passionate mes"on a TV show with his brother, Jin Chonglin.

    "Hi, love. Did you receive the lunch I sent you?" he asked.

    His baby girl had recently be busier than him that she barely had any time to eat at home, so he also began sending meals to wherever she was working. Sometimes, their chef at home would cook for her but more often than not, Jin Liwei would instruct Xu Tian to contact a restaurant near where she was at and deliver food directly to her.

    "Yes. Thank you, darling. I shared the food with Brother Chonglin and his team. We¡¯recurrently eating inside my dressing room," Iris replied.

    Jin Liwei frowned. He could hear the chatter on her side. "My brother is inside your dressing room? Chase him out. Tell him to eat inside his own dressing room."

    "Hey, hey! I heard that, Big Bro! Am I still your brother?!" Jin Chonglin¡¯s voiceined.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened. "Speakerphone?"

    "No. Brother Chonglin is sitting beside me, so he could hear your voice," replied Iris.

    "He¡¯s sitting beside you? Tell him to move. Call Dominic to sit beside you instead."

    Iris sighed. "Don¡¯t be like that, darling. He¡¯s your brother and my future brother-inw. We¡¯re family, not to mention that he and I are working a lot together this season."

    "Yeah, I¡¯m your brother. We¡¯re family! Listen to your wife and stop always drowning in vinegar, Big Bro. It¡¯s uncool!" Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice sounded louder, so he must be leaning close to Iris.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly, prompting Xu Tian to be extra cautious in his movements. Then he asked his baby girl in a low tone, "Am I uncool?"

    "Don¡¯t listen to Brother Chonglin. It¡¯s true that your jealousy sometimes annoys me to the point that I want to punch your handsome face, but that doesn¡¯t make you uncool. You always do things for my sake, so to me, you¡¯re the coolest, darling~"

    The first part of her answer about wanting to punch his face made him sullen but his expression instantly brightened at thest part.

    ¡¯She says I¡¯m the coolest,¡¯ he chuckled to himself, as a wide smile stretched his mouth, showing his perfectly white teeth.

    A few steps away, Xu Tian was almost blinded by his boss¡¯ smile. Millions of fans worshiped Jin Chonglin¡¯s famous killer smile that could literally cause death due to heart attack but Xu Tian thought that his boss¡¯ smile was even deadlier, especially because it was rarer, thus making it more potent than the younger brother¡¯s smile. Xu Tian patted his poor heart and thanked his lucky stars for being born as a straight male. If not, he probably would have already dropped dead because of his boss¡¯ lethal smile.

    Back to Jin Liwei, he left the table and began walking in front of the ceiling-high ss windows behind his desk overlooking the modern city outside while continuing to chat with his baby girl. When she told him that he was the coolest in her heart, he felt appeased and stopped being jealous of his own brother.

    "What time will you be at home?" he asked.

    "Veryte. Past midnight," she replied. "I¡¯ll be attending a party hosted by Bright Summit with Brother Chonglin tonight, remember?"

    "I¡¯ll pick you upter."

    "No need. You better sleep ahead of me because you have to wake up early tomorrow as usual."

    "I¡¯ll pick you up," he repeated in a firmer tone.

    "Fine." She was about to change the topic when a certain feline chatterbox interrupted them.

    "Excuse me, Mommy and Daddy. Ketchup has something important to report! Meow~"

    "Go ahead, Ketchup," Jin Liwei said.

    The noise level on Iris¡¯ side decreased. It seemed that she moved to a quieter ce.

    "The negative content about that good-for-nothing Long Hui in the media are gradually disappearing since this morning. At this rate, most will be gone in 6.8 days. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei frowned. He imagined that his baby girl must be frowning as well. "Exin. Who did it? Long Hui?"

    "No, Daddy. That good-for-nothing scum already tried removing the negative content about him online several times before but I, the cute and mighty Ketchup, stopped him! Ehehehe. Meow~ Ketchup is a good kitty. Right, Mommy?"

    "Yes, you¡¯re a good kitty," Iris voice agreed.

    The couple heard the white cat¡¯s smug purr on the phone.

    "I, the mighty and cute Ketchup, nned to once again stop the attempt of removing the negative content about that good-for-nothing scum online but it turns out that it¡¯s not him who ordered it. That¡¯s why Ketchup hesitated and made a report to Mommy and Daddy first. Ketchup needs further instructions before taking action. Meow~"

    "It doesn¡¯t matter who ordered it. Just stop them," Iris said. "Long Hui needs to have a taste of his own medicine. He¡¯s the one who tried ruining the name and reputation of Ying Yue and Eldest Brother in the media first. This is retribution for what he did."

    "Ketchup understands. But Mommy, the person who ordered to remove the negative content about that good-for-nothing scum online is listed in our family list. Ketchup is programmed not to interfere with the affairs of anyone whose name is included in our family list without Mommy or Daddy¡¯s permission."

    "Family?"

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei frowned and wondered who it was.

 Chapter 683 - Fighting For Credi

    <h4>Chapter 683 - Fighting For Credi </h4>

    "Who is it?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "It¡¯s Grandpa Long! Meow~"

    The couple went silent after learning who ordered the removal of the negative content about Long Hui in the media.

    Iris sighed. "To be honest, I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m surprised. On the contrary, I kind of expected Father to help out Long Hui in some way. He is still Father¡¯s eldest son, after all."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t speak but the cold expression on his face prompted Xu Tian to quickly make an escape from his office while carrying the empty lunch boxes.

    "Father also helped remove negative content about me in the media before, even when we weren¡¯t on speaking terms that time," Iris said. She was aware that Long Tengfei secretly helped clean her name in the media when she just woke up froma. She also discovered at that time that Long Tengfei did the same thing many times before for the previous Iris Long who had no idea about the various things her father did for her in the shadows. "It doesn¡¯t feel good that Long Hui¡¯s retribution in the media is so short-lived but I can¡¯t really me Father for wanting to protect his son."

    Jin Liwei remained silent.

    "Then what should Ketchup do next, Mommy? Still awaiting further instructions. Meow~"

    "For now, don¡¯t interfere¡ªhm? Sorry, darling and Ketchup. I need to go. The director wants to talk to us right now. I¡¯ll talk to youter. Bye!"

    Jin Liwei and their virtual kitty baby bid her goodbye before Iris hung up in a rush. Although the call ended, Ketchup continued talking to him.

    "Mommy says ¡¯don¡¯t interfere¡¯, so Ketchup won¡¯t interfere and let Grandpa Long clean up for that good-for-nothing scum. Is Ketchup correct, Daddy? Meow~"

    "No. Go and interfere," Jin Liwei said in a cold voice.

    "Meow? But Mommy said¡ª"

    "Your mom has a kind heart. She may be fine with letting Long Hui off the hook in this situation because of your Grandfather Long but not me. I can never forgive the insults he threw at your mom and at your Grandmother Lan, and of course, the way he mistreated your Aunt Ying Yue while trying to take your Cousin Jun away from us. Long Hui needs to pay for how he hurt them. Even if it¡¯s my father-inw, your Grandfather Long, who¡¯s helping him out, I still won¡¯t let him off the hook."

    "Ketchup understands. Daddy, please give Ketchup specific instructions on what to do next. Meow~"

    "Allow your grandfather to remove the worst content about Long Hui from the biggest and most popr media outlets, but don¡¯t let him touch the ones from the smaller and less popr sources. The intensity will decrease but at least it won¡¯tpletely disappear. Make sure to keep the negative publicity going."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    The virtual white cat immediately went to work while Jin Liwei remained standing in front of the ss windows. He looked at the view outside with cold, unseeing eyes, as his mind remembered all the horrible and hurtful things Long Hui said to his baby girl and about his mother-inw. His eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened, and his hands clenched into tight fists. He stood there like a tall, formidable mountain while emitting a dense and heavy aura of cold fury.

    Behind him, the door to the office opened and Xu Tian peeked inside with great caution. The poor assistant immediately felt the stifling atmosphere and withdrew, closing the door once again, not daring to enter at this time.

    ¡¯Is the President still drowning in vinegar because of Second Master Chonglin?¡¯ he wondered.

    ###

    ###

    The next few days saw a sharp decrease in the negative headlines about Long Hui while at the same time, Iris Long¡¯s actions as Long Industries¡¯ celebrity brand ambassador became more visible to the general public. Tang Yiyi and Bright Summit didn¡¯t hold her back, allowing her to spend a lot of time for Long Industries because it was also contributing to her own poprity. Her ads andmercials were almost everywhere in the country.

    As a result, the stock prices of Long Industries started recovering at a great rate. They were almost about 75% back to their former value before the crash and it hadn¡¯t been a month yet. It had only been less than two weeks since then.

    Long Jian and Iris¡¯ team insisted that the stock prices were recovering because of their efforts. However, there were others iming that it was due to the improving name and reputation of Long Hui in the media. Although there was still some nasty content about him circting out there, the worst ones had already disappeared. Both sides¡ªLong Jian-Iris Long duo and Long Hui¡ªwere fighting for the credit of rescuing thepany¡¯s stock prices.

    Inside Long Jian¡¯s office at Long Industries.

    Long Jian sneered. "He didn¡¯t even do a damn thing. It was Father who secretly saved him from the media and wiped his ass. And he has the gall to steal the credit from us? Shameless!"

    Iris popped a mini-mochi inside her mouth. Every time she worked with Long Jian, she would always ask him for treats, prompting him to ridicule her for acting like a kid which she always ignored. Today, he bought her mochi after they finished attending a PR event.

    "What do you expect? Long Hui is desperate," she said with a shrug, eating another mochi. "He has been waiting for the two of us to fail, underestimating my impact in the business world. He never expected that a simple campaign from me as a brand ambassador would be so effective in recovering thepany¡¯s stock prices."

    Long Jian snorted in disdain as he looked at her pigging out on mochi. "To be honest, I also didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯ll be so effective. Before our team could even contact the stations, they were already airing yourmercials." He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Did you ask for CEO Jin¡¯s help?"

    "I didn¡¯t ask Liwei but he did lend a hand on his own ord," she said in a nonchnt tone.

    "Ah. So that¡¯s why." He nodded in understanding.

 Chapter 684 - Room For Improvemen

    <h4>Chapter 684 - Room For Improvemen </h4>

    Long Jian thought that it was all thanks to Jin Liwei that their ns were going smoothly so far. Never could he imagine that most of the work were done by Iris herself and that Jin Liwei was only assisting her.

    Iris knew how Long Jian thought of her, but she didn¡¯t care, allowing him to continue thinking this way. It was better for him to underestimate her and view her as a lesser threat than Long Hui because even though they were currently allied, she still couldn¡¯t fully trust him. Both of them were aiming for the same thing after all¡ªto win the battle of session.

    After their meeting, she left Long Industries and hurried to her next workmitments. Her schedule today was packed to the point that she barely had any time to rest. Even while travelling from one location to another, she continued studying and working inside the executive van.

    By evening, she met with Enrique Valdez at a five-star restaurant inside a hotel to finally discuss their music coboration. The legendary hitmaker already felt tired travelling all over the country¡¯s tourist spots, so he decided that it was time to settle down in his penthouse unit at one of Iris¡¯ Gold Heights condominium buildings. Then he contacted Iris and urged her to start working on their coboration.

    Iris was very excited and had lots of ideas about what kind of music she wanted to create with the legendary hitmaker. In her past life as Evelina, Enrique Valdez was also her music instructor so she already feltfortable interacting with him especially when it was about music. Of course, he didn¡¯t know that she was already his student in the past. All he knew was that Iris was very easy to get along with despite his intimidating taciturn personality.

    Despite their connection in her past life, this would still be the first time that she would be creating music with him for the purpose of releasing it to the world. This was one of her ultimate dreams¡ªto share her music to as many people as possible. What was even more amazing was that she was coborating with the best of the best, the legendary hitmaker Enrique Valdez! A superstar!

    She still had much to learn from such an illustrious figure in the music industry because Enrique Valdez had continued to improve a lot since their time as an instructor and student in her past life as Evelina. Geniuses never stopped learning and striving for their idea of perfection.

    Inside the restaurant, the ambience was elegant and ssy yet understated. The beautiful cello melody of Saint-Sa?ns¡¯s "Le cygne"("The Swan") yed in the background. Both Iris and Enrique Valdez remained silent while eating their full-course dinner in order to appreciate the lovely ssical music.

    They were in a private room because not only was Iris a popr celebrity in China but Enrique Valdez was also a global superstar. Although this was a high-ss restaurant and most of its guests wouldn¡¯t react like mindless fans upon seeing them, the two still decided to enter the restaurant incognito to prevent any unnecessary fuss. They preferred to have a peaceful dinner while discussing their music coboration.

    Iris had fond memories of this restaurant because it was where she had her first meeting with JJ and "auditioned" with "Phantom of Your Love". It was also where she met Madam Feng Wan and thedy¡¯s three posh friends who were now her loyal fans and important officers in her fan club, the ck Stars.

    Remembering that time, Iris couldn¡¯t help but smile. That moment was when her dream of performing her music to the world finally felt achievable. So many things happened since then. It felt like yesterday but also felt like a lifetime.

    After a silent butfortable dinner, Iris and Enrique Valdez enjoyed hot tea and began their discussion. She shared her ideas to him while he listened in silence.

    "Your music is evolving," hemented after a pause in the conversation. "You¡¯re now shifting from darker and soulful tones to a more romantic style, starting from when you coborated with Chonglin."

    She nodded, smiling. "I just feel very inspired right now."

    "I can see that. But based on "Shining Eyes" and "Passionate mes", you still have a lot of room for improvement. There¡¯s still a sense of awkwardness and immaturity in the romantic aspect of your music."

    Iris paid rapt attention to Enrique Valdez¡¯s words. They were discussing ideas for their music coboration but she also treated this as a precious lesson time with a world-ss music instructor. Indeed, after listening to Enrique Valdez¡¯s opinions about hertest music with Jin Chonglin, she agreed with him that she still had much to learn and improve in developing her repertoire of musical styles, techniques and execution.

    If she was a normal person, she would have felt dejected after an ultra-bigshot like Enrique Valdez criticized her work. However, she wasn¡¯t normal. She was a certified genius like him! So instead of dejection, she felt energized, challenged and inspired.

    "Reflect on what I told you," he told her.

    "Yes, Teacher. I will. Thank you."

    "For our music cob, I¡¯ll let you take the lead as to what kind of music you want to create. What I want people to remember when they hear our music is you first, not me. Understand?"

    Her eyes lit up, feeling even more motivated. "Yes! I¡¯ll do my best."

    "It might be you taking the lead but that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll let you do whatever you want. If what you present me is crap, I won¡¯t give you Enrique Valdez¡¯s seal of approval. Disappoint me and I¡¯ll abandon this cob and maybe even drop you as my student." His mesmerizing hazel eyes narrowed, observing her reaction.

    She didn¡¯t back down and looked at him directly in the eyes, showing him her determination. "I understand. I won¡¯t disappoint you, Teacher."

    He nodded, satisfied by her answer. Then he waved a hand, gesturing for her to get to work. He already said all he needed to say, so he reverted to his usual taciturn self who valued his words more than gold.

 Chapter 685 - Title Is A Spoiler

    <h4>Chapter 685 - Title Is A Spoiler </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    "Wee back, Mistress," the butler greeted Iris when she arrived home with Dom and her bodyguards.

    "Thank you. Where are they? Have they all arrived?" she asked while handing him her coat.

    "Yes, Mistress. The master arrived about ten minutes ago. He is with Sir Zihao and the three guests in the home office."

    Iris thanked the butler again before she and Dom followed him to the home office where people were waiting for her. It was alreadyte in the evening, past dinnertime, but her day wasn¡¯t finished yet. She and Dom hurried home after another busy workday because of the important appointment tonight.

    After a few minutes, they arrived at the home office. The butler opened the door for her and Dom before announcing their arrival to the people inside.

    A streak of orange shot towards Iris and jumped into her arms like a rocket. Popcorn meowed loudly like a needy child while rubbing his sleek body against Iris¡¯ chest and face. A slower, fat, grey cat huffed and puffed her way towards Iris, looking as if she was climbing Mount Everest instead of walking on a t floor. But no matter how exhausting the ten-metre trek from her daddy¡¯sp to her mommy¡¯s arms, Ice Cream persevered because of her filial love to her parents.

    Iris chuckled helplessly while watching her eldest who was almost wheezing just to greet her. She was tempted to walk over and shorten the distance between them in order to relieve the grey cat¡¯s "suffering" but she forced herself to wait because Dom recentlyined about the vet scolding him once again due to Ice Cream¡¯s weight during the cats¡¯test health appointment.

    "Meow..." Ice Cream copsed on Iris¡¯ feet after finally reaching her and didn¡¯t move.

    Iris smiled and shook her head. Then she handed Popcorn to Dom before scooping up the exhausted grey cat into her arms. While sheforted the panting Ice Cream, Jin Liwei also reached them and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into an embrace.

    "Hi, love," he whispered directly to her ear. "Wee home."

    "I¡¯m back," she replied, tilting her head up to receive his light kiss on the lips.

    Dom also greeted Jin Liwei with an "ehehehe" at the end but refrained from his usual boisterous chatter after seeing the rest of the serious people in the office. He focused his attention on petting Popcorn instead.

    Iris leaned against Jin Liwei but a threatening aura made her stiffen. She shifted her eyes and peeked behind Jin Liwei. That was when she saw a cial Lu Zihao watching them with expressionless eyes, causing her to hug Ice Cream more tightly and eliciting aint from the fat, grey cat. To others, her big brother looked like he was wearing a slight devilish smile. But to her, it wasn¡¯t just devilish but an actual devil¡¯s smile. Only she was aware of how frightening her big brother was acting right now.

    Jin Liwei noticed her reaction but didn¡¯t know that it was caused by his Fifth Brother. Instead, he thought that maybe she was just tired from working so hard almost everyday, so she was seekingfort from the warm and furry Ice Cream. Thus, heforted her by kissing her on the forehead.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I already told everyone to make this quick so that you could rest earlier tonight," he told her.

    "Okay." She smiled and they walked together to where the others were waiting.

    Hong Shaoqiang (Iris¡¯wyer), Kang Huizhong (Jin Liwei¡¯swyer) and Qiao Yu (Iris¡¯ financial manager) all stood up and greeted her. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t speak, only acknowledging her with a nod while his slight devil¡¯s smile continued to hang on his lips. Iris sighed at his hidden, intimidating expression which only she could sense.

    Jin Liwei gestured for everyone to sit. He and Iris sat together on one couch. Dom sat on the same couch beside Iris. Ice Cream curled on Iris¡¯p and began sleeping while Popcorn walked around and sniffed at the others, trying to get them to y with him.

    Lu Zihao sat by himself near the window. Kang Huizhong also sat by himself while Hong Shaoqiang and Qiao Yu sat together on the couch opposite Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Jin Liwei gave an eye signal to thewyers.

    Hong Shaoqiang cleared his throat and passed copies of a document to everyone. "Atty. Kang and I drafted a prenuptial agreement for CEO Jin Liwei and Miss Long Xin after taking into ount your specific requests." He looked at Lu Zihao after saying thest part of his sentence. Then he addressed everyone again. "Please take a look at your copies. We¡¯ll go over the draft together, make changes if applicable, and verify everything before we finalize the agreement."

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei looked unenthusiastic. When they announced their rush wedding to their friends, a prenuptial agreement wasn¡¯t in their ns. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t like it at all while Iris didn¡¯t mind whether they had a prenup or not.

    However, Lu Zihao interfered and forced them to get a prenup. Jin Liwei ignored him at first but Iris eventually caved from her brother¡¯s pressure. It was a challenge for Iris to persuade Jin Liwei to agree to Lu Zihao¡¯s insistence on the two of them getting a prenup.

    "We don¡¯t need a prenup because I¡¯ll never let you divorce me after we¡¯re married," he told her that time. "So it¡¯s useless to get one."

    "I know but Big Brother will keep pestering us if we don¡¯t. He can be very persistent. Let¡¯s just get one and be done with it. Okay, darling? We could just forget about it once we¡¯re married," she said.

    In the end, Jin Liwei relented and contacted theirwyers to arrange the prenup. Since both he and Iris didn¡¯t care about it, Lu Zihao took over in suggesting uses for the agreement. The couple allowed him because if not for him, they would probably get a standard one suggested by theirwyers because they couldn¡¯t care less about it.

    "Let¡¯s begin."

    ###

    Chapter Title: "Prenuptial Agreement"

 Chapter 686 - Parental Quality

    <h4>Chapter 686 - Parental Quality </h4>

    Lu Zihao¡¯s suggestions for the prenuptial agreement were heavily favourable to Iris. The most prominent uses he suggested were as follows:

    Iris would receive US$10 million for every child she had with Jin Liwei.

    If Jin Liwei ever cheated on Iris, he would pay her US$50 million aspensation.

    In the event of a divorce, Jin Liwei would need to pay hefty child support to all of their children which would equal to 65% of his total monthly ie. As a billionaire on a global level, this was a HUGE amount of money every month.

    Also, he would need to pay US$900 million in alimony to Iris. Lu Zihao actually wanted at least US$1 billion but Kang Huizhong, Jin Liwei¡¯swyer, strongly opposed when the amount reached the billion-dor mark. However, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t back down and wouldn¡¯t allow anything lower than 900 million.

    After the divorce, Iris would get full custody of their children while Jin Liwei would only be awarded with limited visitation rights. This arrangement was just like the results of Jiang Ying Yue and Long Hui¡¯s custody battle for Little Jun that both Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s expressions turned dark upon hearing it.

    There were other uses in the prenuptial agreement but these were the major ones that elicited the greatest reactions from not only the couple but also Dom and Qiao Yu. Hong Shaoqiang and Kang Huizhong saw their reactions but kept their expressions professional and neutral while continuing to painstakingly read and exin each of the uses.

    Kang Huizhong was especially feeling conflicted at the content of the prenup. As Jin Liwei¡¯swyer, of course he would prioritize his own client¡¯s interests over anyone else. This kind of prenup which ced his client at a severe disadvantage made him extremely unhappy. He attempted to block and change almost all of the uses in order to make them more favourable to Jin Liwei but unfortunately, Lu Zihao was surprisingly a force to be reckoned with during the drafting of the prenup. He knew exactly what he wanted and was determined to get it, only allowing very minor adjustments to his suggested uses no matter how hard thewyers tried dissuading him.

    Jin Liwei¡¯swyer felt confused. Wasn¡¯t Lu Zihao a sworn brother of Jin Liwei? As someone who had been working closely for Jin Liwei throughout the years, Kang Huizhong was privy to his client¡¯s rtionships so he knew just how close all five sworn brothers were to each other. Even Lu Zihao¡¯s grandfather, the business genius Sir Lu Jianhong, didn¡¯t discriminate by blood and treated all sworn brothers as his own grandsons.

    So why then was Lu Zihao so adamant on favouring Iris Long in the prenuptial agreement? Shouldn¡¯t he be backing his own sworn brother instead of an "outsider"? Shouldn¡¯t it be bros before hos all the time?

    Kang Huizhong mulled about it numerous times but still failed to understand Lu Zihao¡¯s purpose for doing this. He even suspected that Lu Zihao and Iris Long were having an affair. Maybe there was an insidious n of stripping Jin Liwei of all his wealth and then divorcing him so that Iris and Lu Zihao could get together in the end.

    However, Kang Huizhong eventually discarded this spection. As a sessfulwyer, he was also quite adept at reading people. Although not always urate in his analyses, he could still sense whether some people were hiding something from him. And just by observing the interactions between Lu Zihao and Iris Long, he couldn¡¯t detect anything romantic between them at all. On the contrary, Iris and Lu Zihao acted more like a guilty child and a strict father rather than secret lovers having an affair.

    ¡¯Weird,¡¯ thewyer thought, as he detected the parental quality on how Lu Zihao treated Iris. It was apletely different kind of overprotectiveness from a lover. It was simply...a father¡¯s overprotectiveness. Kang Huizhong had no other way to exin it. He looked at Iris and Jin Liwei who both had expressions that looked like they ate something sour and bitter at the same time. Iris¡¯ expression didn¡¯t look like she was faking it.

    "Big Brother! What is this?!" Iris eximed, unable to hold her dismay any longer. Then she red at thewyers. "I don¡¯t want this agreement! Tear it up! It¡¯s so unfair! Just draft a standard prenup. I don¡¯t need all those ridiculous uses!"

    "10 million per child... 50 million in the case of cheating... 900 million alimony... Wow," Dom gasped. He lifted the document closer to his face, his hands trembling a little. "Wait...uh, did it say that it¡¯s all in US dors? This is a mistake, right? It¡¯s in yuan, right? Not American dors, right?"

    "Mr. Chua, we didn¡¯t make a mistake. Everything is really in American dors," Hong Shaoqiang told him in a serious tone.

    "Oh..." Dom¡¯s voice became weak. Two secondster, he started hyperventting.

    Iris and Popcorn both freaked out after seeing Dom like that. (Ice Cream continued sleeping on Iris¡¯p, dead to the world.)

    "Dom? Dom! Ambnce. Liwei, call an ambnce! Oh no. What¡¯s happening to you, Dom? Don¡¯t die!"

    "MEOW!!! MEOW!!! MEEEEEOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!"

    Dom wasn¡¯t just an assistant to Iris anymore but was now her best friend as well. Seeing her best friend unable to breathe in front of her made her panic.

    As for Popcorn, Uncle Dom was his most precious ve #1 who understood him and his sister Ice Cream better than anyone else in the world, even better than Mommy and Daddy. Like his mommy, he also began panicking and crying for his Uncle Dom not to die. He began pping his Uncle Dom¡¯s increasingly pale face with his fluffy paws in an effort to "revive" him.

    "Calm down, love. Dominic will be fine," Jin Liwei said, holding Iris in a firm embrace.

    Qiao Yu stood up and left his seat. Then he pushed down on Dom¡¯s back until the guy¡¯s head was hanging upside down between his legs.

    "Breathe, boy."

    For some reason, Qiao Yu had a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu as Iris continued to panic and demand for an ambnce behind him.

 Chapter 687 - Do You Dare Marry Without My Blessing?

    <h4>Chapter 687 - Do You Dare Marry Without My Blessing? </h4>

    Qiao Yu remembered the time when he first visited Iris Long in her newly-renovated Gold Heights penthouse after she recovered from waking up froma. During that time, she shocked him so much with her profitable, self-directed investments worth half a billion RMB that he froze and became speechless, causing her and her silly assistant Dom to panic and think that he was having a stroke. Seeing Iris panicking and demanding for ambnce right now reminded him of that moment back then.

    Nostalgia hit him after the sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Time sure flew swiftly. Never did Qiao Yu imagine the heights Iris would reach right now not only in showbiz but also in her business career. And it didn¡¯t look like she was stopping anytime soon. He had indeed made the right decision to follow her. Managing her wealth fulfilled his career aspirations and made him a happy man, and for that, he was thankful to her for the opportunity.

    While his mind thought this way, Qiao Yu continued helping Dom to calm down and breathe properly. He looked a little awkward doing so because he was usually stern and stiff.

    "Calm down, Little Sister," a devilish voice said in an almostzy manner. "Your assistant is just hyperventting. It¡¯s not that serious. He won¡¯t die."

    Lu Zihao sat on a single recliner. One elbow rested on the seat¡¯s arm while he leaned his head on his fist. Despite the ruckus happening in front of him, his expression didn¡¯t change at all. There was even a hint of an entertained glint in his shadowed eyes.

    Iris pursed her lips at him, giving him an unhappy look, as if telling him that it was his fault for causing her assistant to hyperventte. She had already started calming down, thanks to Jin Liwei¡¯s firm but gentle reassurances.

    Popcorn had also stopped meowing loudly but still continued pping his Uncle Dom¡¯s pale face with his fluffy paws while Ice Cream remained dead to the world asleep on her mommy¡¯sp. The exhausted, fat, grey cat had no idea that her Uncle Dom was causing such amotion and made her mommy and brother panic so much. But even if Ice Cream were awake right at this moment, she probably would have just given her Uncle Dom an annoyed look that said "Quit being so overdramatic. You need to calm down and let me have my beauty rest in peace."

    About ten minutester, Dom finally stopped hyperventting. Hong Shaoqiang handed him a ss of water.

    "Phew! That was so scary! I thought I was gonna die! Oh heart attack, stay away from the gorgeous me! I¡¯m still too young! Let me live longer and experience a world-shaking romance first! Dear future lover, where are you? I almost died before meeting you! Ah~" Dom cried dramatically while fanning himself with his hands.

    Iris released a breath of relief upon seeing colour returning to Dom¡¯s skin. He was even cracking jokes again. "How are you feeling? Are you alright now?" she asked.

    "Yes, boss! Don¡¯t worry! I¡¯ll be fine in a minute," Dom replied and then turned to everyone and apologized for interrupting the important meeting. "That prenup was just too shocking that my delicate heart couldn¡¯t take it."

    Iris heard thest sentence Dom mumbled. She sighed in understanding. Like him, the prenup also shocked her. Not just shocked, she was also upset! She couldn¡¯t help but throw a look ofint at her big brother who was lounging on the recliner by the window like a devious emperor who had everything in the palm of his hands.

    "Now that your assistant is fine, let¡¯s continue discussing the prenuptial agreement," Lu Zihao said.

    "Big Brother! I already said that I don¡¯t want this prenup!"

    "Heh...is that so?" The slight devil¡¯s smile on his lips turned several degrees colder.

    Iris pressed herself closer to Jin Liwei. Her heart shook but she forced herself to look at her brother straight in the eyes. "Big Brother, I know that you¡¯re doing this for me¡ªand I¡¯m very thankful for that¡ªbut I don¡¯t want this kind of unfair prenup. I love Liwei so I can¡¯t bear to ce him in such a disadvantageous position like this."

    The brother and sister had a stare-down. Iris looked like she was going to sumb to Lu Zihao¡¯s intimidating pressure but she managed to resist and show her determination.

    "There will be no wedding without a prenup," Lu Zihao said in a voice so cold and low that it was almost a whisper but everyone still heard him.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly before ring at his fifth brother. He looked like he wanted to grab his sworn brother¡¯s cor and shake him. Iris held his arm and squeezed it, silently telling him to calm down and not fight.

    "Xin and I will marry regardless of what anyone says," Jin Liwei growled. "We don¡¯t need other people¡¯s permission, not even yours."

    "Heh...are you sure about that, Third Brother?" Lu Zihao¡¯s devil smile widened but his eyes remained cold as he looked at Iris. "Do you dare marry without my blessing?"

    Iris bit her lip, feeling torn. She hated seeing the two most important men in her life butting heads like this. "Big Brother, please. Liwei and I love each other. I want to marry him. I¡¯ll marry him."

    Dom, Qiao Yu and the twowyers watched from the sides. The scene really looked like a father who was disapproving the marriage of his daughter and her boyfriend. It felt very weird, especially since Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei were supposed to be close.

    Lu Zihao looked at Iris with intensity for a few seconds before releasing an almost imperceptible sigh. The coldness in his eyes also receded a little. "Fine. Marry if you want. You¡¯re no longer a child but I still prefer that you marry with a prenup. The security will make all of us feel at ease. Tell me, which part of the agreement did you not like?"

    "Everything," Iris said.

    "The payment prices," Jin Liwei said.

    Iris looked at him in confusion. "You only want to change the prices?"

 Chapter 688 - Crazy In Love With You

    <h4>Chapter 688 - Crazy In Love With You </h4>

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    "You want to lower the prices?" Lu Zihao asked.

    "No."

    Iris scrunched her delicate brows. "What do you mean? Don¡¯t tell me you want to increase the prices."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded again.

    Lu Zihao raised both eyebrows, his devil¡¯s smile bing bright. Dom gasped dramatically while Qiao Yu and thewyers looked at Jin Liwei like he had gone insane. Iris also felt the same way as them.

    "What?! Have you gone crazy?!" Iris couldn¡¯t help but re at him.

    "En," he agreed with a soft smile. "Crazy in love with you."

    "Ayiiii!!!!!" Dom, who had been hyperventting just a few moments ago, was now flushed red with excitement and hugging Popcorn while ehehehe-ing like a creepy person.

    Iris was about to scold Jin Liwei for his insanity but upon hearing his words, her heart immediately melted into a warm puddle and a stupid grin spread on her beautiful face. She batted her shining eyes at him and pressed her body in his embrace. "You crazy man," she told him in a sweet voice. "Why do I love you so much?"

    "Because we belong together."

    She giggled and rested her head on his shoulder and started nuzzling his neck. The couple had nowpletely forgotten the others¡¯ presence while immersed in their own little world.

    Dom was already used to Iris and Jin Liwei always acting lovey-dovey but Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned dark as they watched the couple on the verge of making out indecently in front of them. The three guests¡ªHong Shaoqiang, Kang Huizhong and Qiao Yu¡ªaverted their eyes from their employers. They felt awkward and wished that they could escape this cruel attack of the dogfood.

    "Hey," Lu Zihao called out.

    No reaction.

    His expression turned darker.

    "Hey!"

    Still no reaction.

    He stretched out one long leg and banged it down hard on the coffee table in front of him, causing everyone to jump at the loud sound.

    "Ay kabayo!" Dom was so startled that he tossed the equally rmed Popcorn who ran away and hid under Jin Liwei¡¯s desk nearby.

    "Me...ow?" Ice Creamzily opened her eyes on her mommy¡¯sp, ring and grumbling aint at the loud sound for disturbing her beauty sleep before changing her position and returning to sleep, dead to the world once again.

    Qiao Yu and the twowyers whipped their heads at Lu Zihao and looked at him with caution. Their eyes shifted to the coffee table made of sturdy wood but now had a long crack from where Lu Zihao hit it to almost the other end. However, the three guests remained quiet and didn¡¯tment.

    The loud, jarring sound burst the love-filled bubble the couple was immersed in. They turned their heads at the same time and discovered that it was Lu Zihao who disturbed them. Jin Liwei threw a cold re at his fifth brother while Iris looked unhappy and embarrassed at the same time.

    Lu Zihao retracted his foot from the cracked table. His dark expression was gone, reced by an emotionless one. "Third Brother, weren¡¯t you the one who told us to make this meeting quick? And now it¡¯s you and little sister who¡¯re prolonging it. It¡¯s gettingte. We should finish up." Then as if finally noticing the crack he made on the poor table, he added, "I¡¯ll rece it."

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care about the broken table. They were annoyed at being disturbed but Lu Zihao¡¯s words reminded them of the important meeting. Sighing, the couple straightened themselves and prompted thewyers to continue.

    "CEO Jin, you mentioned that you want to increase the prices in the prenuptial agreement," Kang Huizhong addressed Jin Liwei. His hawk-like features appeared sharper than usual, barely able to hide his disapproval at his client¡¯s words. However, he was still a professional so he maintained a neutral tone while asking, "Could you rify the specific changes you want to make?"

    Jin Liwei nodded and began exining. Simply speaking, he didn¡¯t mind the severely unfair prenuptial agreement at all because he believed that they wouldn¡¯t need to ever use it.

    Besides, he already expected that his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao woulde up with the most ridiculous prenup uses in order to protect the most important woman in their lives, Long Xin. He already epted the special sibling bond between his baby girl and fifth brother for quite some time now and understood that it had be much more precious than their own brotherhood. In fact, he understood it extremely well because he, too, viewed his baby girl as the most important and precious existence in his life above anyone else including the family who raised him and his own sworn brothers. She was now his family and he also wanted to protect her even from himself, so he didn¡¯t mind the prenuptial agreement drafted ording to Lu Zihao¡¯s suggestions.

    "I know that I¡¯ll never cheat on Xin nor will I ever allow the two of us to divorce after we marry," he said to everyone. "Even if she wants to divorce me in the future, I¡¯ll do everything in my power to persuade her otherwise and to win her love again so that she¡¯ll stay with me forever. In short, the possibility that I¡¯ll cheat or divorce Xin is zero. Even so, if the impossible ever happens and I be retarded for some reason and ended up cheating on her, then I deserve the worst punishment for my crime and need to give Xin fullpensation for hurting her."

    Iris took his hand and squeezed it as she looked at him. She initially wanted to make the quip "I¡¯ll castrate you if you ever cheat on me" but stopped herself upon seeing his sincere and serious face. She remained silent just like the others and let him finish what he was saying, not expecting that he would drop a huge bombshell next.

    "That¡¯s why I want to change the prices in the prenup. Make it so that if I ever make the mistake of cheating or divorcing Xin, she¡¯ll get 100% of my total wealth."A mild Filipino expletive typically used when someone is startled. "Kabayo" means "horse".

 Chapter 689 - I Belong To The Shadows

    <h4>Chapter 689 - I Belong To The Shadows </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s deration made Iris and the others speechless. Even Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t hide his amazed disbelief.

    "Liwei! You...you..." Iris didn¡¯t know what to say to him. All she could do at that moment was give him aplicated look.

    He sped their hands together and then looked at her straight in the eyes. "Long Xin, neither my entire wealth nor any wealth in the world is enough to measure my love for you. Not only are you the love of my life but you ARE my life. No matter how much money I earn or how many properties I obtain, they can neverpare to you because you ARE my most precious wealth. What do I need riches for if I don¡¯t have you beside me? What¡¯s mine is all yours. If the unthinkable ever happens and we separate, life will be meaningless to me. So I don¡¯t care. Go ahead and take everything from me if you leave me because I know that I¡¯ll never be able to live without you."

    Iris suddenly found it difficult to breathe. Her chest felt tight as emotions swirled within her, causing her eyes to water. She wanted to say something but was afraid that speaking would make her lose control and burst into tears, so she bit her lip instead, trying to hold back her emotions from making her into a mess in front of everyone.

    Jin Liwei wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her in a tight embrace before pressing a firm yet gentle kiss on her forehead.

    They embraced for quite some time as Iris tried her best to control her emotions. The others watched them in silence, giving them a moment to themselves. It was already veryte in the evening but nobodyined.

    Sitting by the window by himself, Lu Zihao also watched the scene in silence and didn¡¯t interrupt the couple. He wasn¡¯t so evil as to ruin the emotional moment for his sister. Deep inside, even he was moved by Jin Liwei¡¯s words and decision about the prenup. He knew that the man loved his sister but didn¡¯t expect that Jin Liwei would readily give up his everything including his life and billions worth of wealth for his sister.

    A proud harrumph sounded within his consciousness. There were no words but he felt a smug "I told you so. That¡¯s my Third Brother!" from the original Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant. The feeling was faint, almost illusory, but he felt it as if it was his own. It was bing more and more difficult to differentiate his own emotions from the remnant¡¯s inside him. He didn¡¯t like it one bit because it made him feel like he was losing control of himself, of his life, and of his fate.

    Although he was now living as Lu Zihao in this second chance in life, he still considered himself as Niki Vetrov, the fallen crown prince of the former reigning criminal organization in the international underworld. Taking Lu Zihao¡¯s identity was just a means to achieve his final goal¡ªrevenge.

    However, his rtionships with Lu Zihao¡¯s sworn brothers and that noisy old man who always pestered him for great-grandbabies was causing him great confusion. He tried distancing himself from everyone because he didn¡¯t want the remnant¡¯s feelings to distract him from his final goal and veer him away from his road of revenge. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t work because those sworn brothers and that noisy old man were all close to his sister and he couldn¡¯t stay away from her for too long, so he had no choice but to interact with them, too.

    Watching his sister in the arms of another man left a phantom bittersweet taste in the back of his mouth. It was at that moment that he finally realized that his beloved sister may not necessarily need him anymore. She now had a devoted man by her side who would love and protect her and even willingly offer his entire life and everything just to make her happy and safe.

    An imperceptible sad sigh escaped from Lu Zihao¡¯s lips. He turned his head away from the scene of his sister being embraced by her lover and looked at the night sky outside the window instead. The others were too absorbed in watching the lovers¡¯ touching moment to notice his lonely image by the window.

    ¡¯This is for the best. I made the right decision to leave my sister to this man. He¡¯ll be able to take care of her and keep her safe when the timees that I¡¯m no longer able to do so myself. Not to mention that he can make her happy in a way that I never could.¡¯

    His eyes dimmed, as an air of loneliness covered his figure like a nket unnoticed by the others. The usual devilish aura surrounding him was nowhere to be felt. It was as if he absorbed all of his presence within him and made himself invisible.

    ¡¯Yes, this is how I should be. I belong to the shadows.¡¯

    If this was before, he would have thought this with great confidence and even pride. Now, however, there was just sadness while he tried persuading himself that basking in the light and love like his sister wasn¡¯t meant for a corrupted man like him who had blood staining not only his hands but also his entire body and his very soul. Still, he wouldn¡¯t admit that he was sad even to himself. Emotions like sadness had no business affecting someone like him.

    Minutes ticked by inplete silence. Even the usually vocal cat Popcorn was silent and didn¡¯t bother anyone. Nevertheless, the affectionate cat was the only one who sensed that something was wrong with his Uncle Haohao, so he jumped and curled on the man¡¯sp and began rubbing his sleek, warm, fluffy, orange body tofort his lonely uncle.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t react at first and just looked down on the orange cat rubbing itself all over him. But after a few moments, his hand began stroking the cat¡¯s warm fur.

    Popcorn purred.

    Lu Zihao began to feel better, the loneliness gradually dissipating, reced by warmth.

 Chapter 690 - Perfect Match

    <h4>Chapter 690 - Perfect MatChapter </h4>

    In the end, both Iris and Jin Liwei came to an agreement to change the uses in the prenuptial agreement. They decided to keep the use saying that she would receive US$10 million for every child she gave him. She wanted to remove it at first but Jin Liwei was adamant on keeping it, even wanting to increase it to US$100 million per child but she managed to stop him.

    "Just like you, no amount of money could measure the worth of our kids but I still want to give you something for every bundle of joy you bless me. Don¡¯t deny me this privilege, love," he told her.

    She sighed. "You¡¯re so annoying. But fine. I¡¯ll just save the money and invest it until our kids grow up. Then I¡¯ll give it to them when they¡¯re responsible enough to handle it on their own."

    With that, the 10 million per child use stayed. Next were the cheating and divorce uses. Instead of being heavily favourable to Iris and severely disadvantageous to Jin Liwei, they changed it so that both would pay the same price if they ever vite the uses. The new uses were as follows:

    If any of them cheated on the other, the vitor would give up his or her entire wealth to the other.

    In the event of a divorce, both of them would transfer 50% of their total wealth to their children. That wealth would belong to their children and they wouldn¡¯t be allowed to touch them. Theirwyers, Hong Shaoqiang and Kang Huizhong, would be the legal financial guardians for their children when that happened so that Iris and Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t have any ess to their children¡¯s wealth. As for the remaining 50% of their wealth, they would donate everything to various charities of their choice, not including the ones belonging to them, namely Iris of Hope and the Jin Corporation Foundation. Hence, both Iris and Jin Liwei would be left with nothing and need to start from scratch if they ever divorce.

    The child custody use was also adjusted to take into ount the children¡¯s preferences. If a child was too young to make his or her own decision, then it would be up to a judge to determine an appropriate custody arrangement.

    They also made simr changes to the other minor uses in the prenup. Iris and Jin Liwei were very satisfied at the changes especially because they made them together.

    Dom looked at them in awe, his eyes sparkling. He still couldn¡¯t wrap his mind around the contents of the prenup which handled money and other assets worth billions of dors as if they were nothing.

    ¡¯Can¡¯t rte,¡¯ he thought.

    Given how many sry raises and bonuses he received since he started working as Iris¡¯ assistant, he was now actually quite rich in his own right especially inparison to people around the same age and social ss as him in his mother country, the Philippines. Nevertheless, he still acted in the same way like he always did from when he started working for Iris. It was one of the many important reasons why Iris appreciated him so much because he didn¡¯t let everything get into his head and still managed to remain humble, albeit still overdramatic as usual, no matter how high his sry had be.

    The Chua family wasn¡¯t wealthy. Dom would say that they belonged in the lower bracket of the middle ss. Nevertheless, most of them were educated and were working modest but sessful careers, especially the younger generation. It was actually Dom and Clover who were treated as the most sessful ones among the Chuas, giving tremendous pride to all of them. Both Dom and Clover regrly sent money and packages to the Philippines every month, helping out not only their parents and immediate family but also their other rtives. As a result, the entire Chua family¡¯s quality of life had greatly increased ever since the siblings started working for Iris Long.

    Iris didn¡¯t know it but she was now being worshiped by the entire Chua family and their rtives in the Philippines. To them, she was their great benefactor who gave such amazing career opportunities to both Dom and Clover and in turn, improved the entire family¡¯s social station.

    Dom was the right-hand man of an extremely talented musician, polyglot and now businesswoman like Iris Long. Meaning, he also basked in her sess. Simrly, Clover had been promoted and became the COO of Iris¡¯ perfumepany which would beunching in the near future if things went well.

    How proud could the Chuas be? Super-duper!

    No matter how they thought about it, everything was due to Iris Long¡¯s generosity. If she ever visited the Philippines, the entire Chua family would guarantee to treat her like royalty.

    Back to the present, Dom continued to feel amazed at the prenup. Although billions of dors worth of wealth were mentioned, there was no greed in his eyes at all. His loyalty to his boss and best friend Iris ensured that he would always support her no matter what, even if he couldn¡¯t rte to the things she was doing.

    As for the others, Lu Zihao felt like he was going to have a headache when he heard the changes his sister and her lover made to the prenup he originally suggested. He made the suggestions as extreme as possible in order to provide his sister with maximum security for the rest of her life and also as a warning to Jin Liwei not to hurt her.

    It wasn¡¯t only him who felt bbergasted at the new changes.

    Even Qiao Yu and thewyers could barely maintain their professional demeanors. Yes, the prenup became fair to both parties, making Kang Huizhong, Jin Liwei¡¯swyer, relieved for his client.

    But still.

    What the heck?

    Lu Zihao¡¯s original version of the prenup was extreme but it turned out that the weird couple was even more extreme. If they ever divorced, both would basically be broke. Even their children would automatically be richer than them.

    ¡¯Hai! They¡¯re truly a perfect match,¡¯Qiao Yu and Hong Shaoqiang thought.

 Chapter 691 - LX Holdings

    <h4>Chapter 691 - LX Holdings </h4>

    The prenuptial agreement revisions were finalized. It would take effect once the couple signed it and all procedures werepleted before the wedding.

    "The prenup is done. Although I¡¯m sure that it would never activate, Xin and I are still pleased with the revisions. Well done," Jin Liwei said.

    Thewyers, Hong Shaoqiang and Kang Huizhong, nodded their heads, silently epting his praise, even though they thought that the couple waspletely crazy for the extreme changes they made to the already extreme prenup.

    "Continue with the next order of business," Jin Liwei added while ncing at his gold wristwatch. "It¡¯s almost midnight. I want this meeting concluded as soon as possible. Xin needs to rest."

    "I¡¯m fine," she told him.

    "No. I know you¡¯ve been feeling tiredtely. You need to take ample rest or I¡¯ll worry."

    She smiled at him. "Okay. You, too."

    "En."

    The two looked at each other, their gazes so sticky-sweet that Dom descended into another fit of excited ehehehe-ing while the others could only avert their eyes and try hard not to choke from the excessive dogfood.

    As for Lu Zihao, he was more interested in the fact that the meeting wasn¡¯t over yet. He thought that they would only discuss the prenup tonight but it turned out that there was more. He was the only one among them who looked surprised. It seemed that the others knew about the next topic of discussion. Curious, he stayed silent by the window and decided to observe until the end while stroking the purring Popcorn.

    This time, Qiao Yu took the lead.

    "Miss Long Xin and CEO Jin Liwei have decided tobine their matrimonial finances and properties into a single wealth management system which we will call LX Holdings. Because each of them has considerable assets and some liabilities on their own from many different sources, we are unable to immediatelybine everything without performing due diligence. We need to decide which ones you want to include in your matrimonial holdings. Please be advised that this might take a long time as we need detailed information about your wealth portfolios, so we might not be able to finish setting up LX Holdings before your wedding," the financial manager told them.

    "That¡¯s fine. As long as everything is set up correctly in the end, it doesn¡¯t matter if it can¡¯t bepleted before the wedding," Jin Liwei said. "But I want itpleted within a year. If you can do it sooner, that would be better."

    "Understood, CEO Jin," Qiao Yu replied. "Your financial manager and I will work hard to finish everything within that time frame." Then he looked at the twowyers. "I¡¯ll have to trouble Atty. Kang and Atty. Hong to assist us with the legal portion of the process."

    Kang Huizhong nodded.

    "No problem," Hong Shaoqiang answered.

    The next hour consisted of them discussing Qiao Yu¡¯s proposal on the best way tobine the couple¡¯s selected finances and properties together. For now, the couple decided to do the following:

    All their matrimonial assets so far would automatically transfer to LX Holdings once it was set up. This included their jumbo jet, LX Air. Jin Liwei also added the massive luxury yacht currently docked in the French Riviera, named LX, which they used during the Sommet International Film Festival earlier in the season. Their other more minor purchases together such as matching jewelry, furniture, appliances, etc. would also be transferred.

    "Add Dragon Pce Home #10, too," Jin Liwei told Qiao Yu.

    Iris protested against it. "No. You bought this property years before we even met. It¡¯s yours, so it shouldn¡¯t be included in our matrimonial holdings."

    "This has be our main home so of course we should include it in our matrimonial holdings. Or do you want to buy another property together where we can move and make into our new main home? I don¡¯t mind. We can just keep Dragon Pce as our vacation home."

    Move into another home? Iris wasn¡¯t keen on the idea. She had be veryfortable living in Dragon Pce Home #10, even more than her Gold Heights penthouse where they would stay for only a few times per month for convenience sake due to her irregr showbiz workces. For her, Dragon Pce Home #10 was home and she didn¡¯t really want to move into a new one. She would love to buy other properties together with him but those would be their vacation homes, not Dragon Pce.

    Jin Liwei had a sense of what she was thinking based on her expression. He was pleased that his baby girl had be attached to his house. Before she came into his life and made him crazy in love with her, the ce felt like a cold necropolis. Then she moved in, breathing life and love into it. Now it was their home. A warm and loving home for their family.

    In the end, he was able to persuade her to include Dragon Pce Home #10 into their matrimonial holdings.

    "Then I should include my Gold Heights penthouse, too¡ª"

    "No." He was the one who protested this time.

    She frowned. "Why not?"

    "Didn¡¯t I gift you the entire Gold Heightspany? Your penthouse is under Gold Heights. And since I gifted thepany to you, it belongs to you alone."

    Iris tried reasoning with him but he insisted that gifts were different to matrimonial assets. She eventually conceded to him, not wanting to waste any more time arguing.

    Jin Liwei was satisfied but he wasn¡¯t done shocking everyone yet. He threw another bombshell.

    "I have another gift for you."

    Iris felt curious but also wary because he had the tendency to go all out when gifting. "What is it?"

    "I¡¯ll give you 5% of my own Jin Corporation shares. My wedding gift to my wife."

    She blinked her eyes, unable to react in time.

    Gasp!

    Qiao Yu and the twowyers failed to maintain their professional expressions from too much shock. Dom pretended to faint on the couch while Lu Zihao froze and looked at Jin Liwei with aplicated expression.

 Chapter 692 - Wedding Gif

    <h4>Chapter 692 - Wedding Gif </h4>

    Jin Liwei turned to hiswyer. "Did you take note of that?"

    Kang Huizhong was unable to respond right away from shock, so Jin Liwei asked him again. "Uh..." Thewyer cleared his throat and smoothed out his expression. "Sir, this is a big decision which doesn¡¯t involve you alone but also thepany, Jin Corporation. Have you thought about this matter carefully?"

    Jin Liwei threw him a cold look. "I can give my own shares to whomever I want. And Xin isn¡¯t just anybody. She¡¯s going to be my wife."

    Iris was concerned. "Liwei..."

    "This is my wedding gift to you."

    "But¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t reject it, love."

    Iris bit her lower lip before reluctantly nodding. "Okay. Thank you, darling," she said, deciding to ept it because she felt too tired to argue.

    "En. You¡¯re wee, love," he replied, feeling pleased.

    "I¡¯ll also give you a wedding gift, then. 2.5% Orchidia Beauty and 2.5% Monkey shares."

    "Love, you don¡¯t have to¡ª"

    "I epted your wedding gift so don¡¯t you dare reject my wedding gift to you, Liwei."

    Seeing the determination in her eyes, the corner of his lips lifted into a soft smile. "Alright. I¡¯ll ept your wedding gift. Thank you, love."

    She smiled as well. "Although the total worth of these shares from my twopanies are lesser and can¡¯tpare to the 5% shares from Jin Corporation, that¡¯s only for now. I¡¯m optimistic that they¡¯ll continuously increase in value with time. Maybe one day, they¡¯ll even reach equal value with Jin Corporation¡¯s shares. Who knows? Maybe they¡¯ll even surpass Jin Corporation."

    "En. I believe in you. I¡¯m looking forward to that day."

    Iris didn¡¯t give him shares of her otherpanies, Gold Heights and Libert¨¦ (formerly known as Sang Bleu) because both were originally his gifts to her anyway. She knew that he wouldn¡¯t allow her to "return" anything that he had already given her.

    "Take care of the transfer procedures," she told her financial manager andwyer.

    Qiao Yu and Hong Shaoqiang nodded. The two didn¡¯t mind the transfer because they both tacitly agreed that Jin Liwei would be a great asset to both businesses as a shareholder. They predicted that just by Jin Liwei bing a shareholder, Iris¡¯ twopanies would increase in value just for the fact that he was THE Jin Liwei. His influence in the business world, both domestic and international, was undeniable. The name Jin Liwei alone held great power.

    On the other hand, Kang Huizhong wasn¡¯t feeling so great at Jin Liwei¡¯s decision to transfer 5% Jin Corporation shares to Iris Long. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t do anything because it wasn¡¯t his business what Jin Liwei wanted to do with his own shares in thepany. Although thewyer hade to respect Iris especially after interacting with her more when he joined Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s legal team during the child custody case, he still didn¡¯t trust her that much. Yes, he knew that herpany, Orchidia Beauty, was all the rage right now and were selling their products like hotcakes across the country but to Kang Huizhong, Iris Long was still nowhere near Jin Liwei¡¯s level.

    ¡¯She¡¯s not good enough for CEO Jin Liwei.¡¯

    This was what Kang Huizhong honestly thought. Even so, he still obeyed Jin Liwei¡¯s instructions and nned to take care of the procedures to transfer 5% of Jin Corporation¡¯s shares to Iris Long.

    The meeting continued for a few more minutes but when Jin Liwei noticed his baby girl yawning and her eyes bing heavy, he finally ended the meeting and dismissed everyone. They all left the home office together. The butler came and led Qiao Yu and the twowyers on the way out.

    It was almost midnight now.

    Both the cats were asleep. Jin Liwei took the heavy Ice Cream from Iris while Lu Zihao handed Popcorn to Dom. Even Lu Zihao didn¡¯t notice how extra gentle his movements were in order not to wake the cat.

    "Do you resent me for forcing you to get a prenup?" he asked the couple but his eyes were on his sister.

    Iris shook her head. "I know that you only did it for me. Thank you for caring about me, Big Brother."

    Jin Liwei nodded, agreeing with her, and then gave his Fifth Brother a look of acknowledgement. At first, he was unhappy that Lu Zihao meddled in their affairs as a couple but since he and his baby girl ended up feeling satisfied with the prenup in the end, he didn¡¯t intend on ming or resenting his sworn brother. However, he couldn¡¯t say that he was thankful to him like his baby girl for what happened.

    Lu Zihao walked over to them and tapped the tip of Iris¡¯ nose with his finger. "Go rest. You¡¯re almost asleep on your feet."

    "Yeah. I¡¯m so tired," she mumbled.

    "I¡¯ll carry you to our bedroom," Jin Liwei said.

    "No, darling. You carry Ice Cream. Dom can¡¯t carry both cats. He¡¯ll wake them up if he tries. I can still walk. Don¡¯t worry about me."

    Lu Zihao looked at his sister¡¯s exhausted and sleepy face before turning to Jin Liwei. "I¡¯ll carry that fat cat. You carry my sister. She needs to rest soon."

    Jin Liwei immediately gave Ice Cream to Lu Zihao before carrying Iris like a princess, not giving her any time to protest.

    "Good night, Big Brother," Iris mumbled while wrapping her arms around Jin Liwei¡¯s neck.

    "Good night," Lu Zihao replied, and then addressed Jin Liwei. "Take care of her."

    "Always," Jin Liwei answered.

    Lu Zihao nodded, satisfied.

    The couple left first.

    "Where do we drop off the cats?" Lu Zihao asked.

    "In their room. Please follow me, Big Brother Boss," Dom said, and then added, "You¡¯re so gentle to your niece and nephew. Ehehe."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression went nk for a few seconds, not understanding what the guy meant before realizing that he was talking about the cats. Then Lu Zihao¡¯s roguish persona activated, shing his devilish smile to Dom. "Heh...you think so?"

    "Kya!"

    Dom felt like he was going to hyperventte again but for another reason this time.

 Chapter 693 - Nice And Gentle

    <h4>Chapter 693 - Nice And Gentle </h4>

    Inside the dim bedroom, the early morning temperature felt a little chilly but beneath the duvet, things were getting steamy.

    Iris gasped as a hot mouth sucked her breast while a big hand slowly trailed down her abdomen to the growing dampness between her legs. Her eyes were closed and her movementsnguid because she still felt quite sleepy after the 4 AM rm rang. Although she was a deep sleeper, she usually had no problems waking up early with an rm clock if needed. Recently, however, she was so busy and exhausted that it was bing more and more difficult for her to wake up and get out of bed so early in the morning. Thus, the ever-helpful Jin Liwei came to the rescue and decided to help her "wake up" in a very special way.

    A soft moan escaped from her lips when his hand finally reached her damp core. Her legs instinctively opened wider, giving him full ess.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s fingers gently rubbed her, making her wetter, until her juices coated his hand.Swirling his tongue on her taut nipple, he looked at the sleepy beauty mewling under him. When he sucked hard on the delicious nipple and slid two long fingers inside her at the same time, her eyes popped open while releasing a cute cry. Then his fingers began moving in and out, as he watched her breathe faster and whimper.

    The soft and sexy soundsing out of her lips made the fire in his loins burn hotter,pletely waking him up. Both of them were naked when they sleptst night. He originally nned on making love with his baby girlst night but she fell in deep sleep as soon as her beautiful head touched the pillow. So his unspent desire from the consecutive nights that he was unable to make love with her was now dying to be released as soon as possible. His erection felt harder and bigger than usual.

    He wanted to take her hard and fast but controlled himself because his baby girl might not be able to take his raging desire so early in the morning. After their unforgettable wild romp in his office at Jin Corporation, he remembered her saying a few dayster that it felt like she made love with a big, wild bear. He took it as apliment.

    ¡¯Nice and gentle today, Liwei. Nice and gentle,¡¯ he chanted in his mind, trying to rein in the lusty beast howling inside him.

    It was because his intense lovemaking mightpletely deplete her energy that she needed in order to fulfill her busy work schedule.

    "Liwei..." Iris moaned. Then she pulled his head from her breasts, wanting to kiss him on the mouth.

    Of course, Jin Liwei granted his baby girl¡¯s request. He covered her mouth and gave her a thorough kissing, sweeping his tyrannical tongue inside her mouth and bullying her sleepy tongue, urging it to wake up and duel with him. It was a great contrast to the gentle in and out movements of his fingers down her hot and wet core. Judging from his soaked hand and her flushed expression, he could tell that her sleepiness was disappearing quickly. He continued his pleasurable ministrations until her body started stiffening.

    "Oh..." She closed her eyes tightly and hugged Jin Liwei closer to her as wave upon wave of heat and pleasure engulfed her entire body in a sweet rush.

    He swallowed her cries and sucked her delicious lips, causing them to swell a little. His fingers down below felt her inner contractions as she climaxed but he didn¡¯t stop moving them in order to milk out all of her pleasure and intensify her orgasm.

    "Hah... Liwei, you¡¯re...too much..." she said in a weak voice after her orgasm finally subsided and her body grewx.

    "My baby girl, I¡¯m not done yet," he whispered to her ear in a husky voice before licking her earlobes and making her shiver.

    She turned her head to the side instead of replying and squinted at the digital clock on the bedside table. Knowing what she was thinking, he gave her ear a gentle bite.

    "Don¡¯t worry. We have time," he said.

    "But¡ª" She shut up when he pressed his hot, throbbing erection against her thigh.

    "I need you, love."

    "Okay."

    He pecked the side of her delicate neck before getting off her to quickly take a condom from the bedside table drawer. Iris felt her sleepiness disappearingpletely, reced by excitement after hearing the sound of the tearing foil. She watched him sheathe his hard length, which stood proud and free, with a condom. The tip of her tongue licked her lips in anticipation, her eyes admiring and not leaving his erection.

    They never stopped using condoms even after the "ident" during their wild office romp when he tore a condom and ejacted inside her. Although he was looking forward to getting her pregnant, he didn¡¯t want to force his wish on her when they hadn¡¯t received confirmation yet of whether she was really pregnant or not. Wearing condoms during this period was a show of his respect to her while helping her ovee her, in his opinion, illogical fear of bing a mother to their future human children. Only when they were 100% sure that she was pregnant would he forgo wearing condoms.

    "It¡¯s cold. Let¡¯s stay under the sheets," she told him when he returned to her.

    "En." He covered both of them with the thick and warm yet lightweight duvet while settling himself on top of her.

    Iris opened her legs wide, reached a hand below, and then grabbed his erection. A smug smile brightened her flushed face when she heard him hiss in pleasure. Then she guided the tip of his hard length to her hot, wet and aching entrance.

    They both groaned when he slid his entire length inside her in one smooth motion.

    "You feel so good, baby," he said in a low and sexy voice.

    Iris wrapped her legs around his waist, pushing him deeper inside her. "You also feel so good, darling."

 Chapter 694 - Succeed In Waking You Up

    <h4>Chapter 694 - Seed In Waking You Up </h4>

    Jin Liwei sat on his haunches, leaning forward a little, and then began thrusting his hips slowly. The light in the bedroom was dim and the duvet cast a shadow over their connected selves, but his eyes had already adjusted in the dark and could clearly see his baby girl¡¯s sexy body writhing under him.

    "You¡¯re so beautiful," he told her and gave her a hard thrust to punctuate his sincere words.

    "Ah!" Iris held on to his arms, her eyes drooping close, as she savoured the pleasure he was giving her.

    "Open your eyes, baby. Look at me. I want you to look at me while I make love with you."

    Her eyes fluttered open and she gazed up at him with moist eyes. She bit her lower lip, trying not to be too loud and overuse her vocal cords because she needed her voice in tip-top shapeter today at work.

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei knew her schedule as if it was his own so he didn¡¯t sweet-talk her into making all the loud, sexy noises that he loved hearing from her when they usually made love. Nevertheless, he didn¡¯t want her to bepletely silent either. Her soft and cute mewls were actually quite hot, too, almost causing his self-control to snap.

    While supporting his weight with one arm on the bed, he reached his other hand to the swollen button of pleasure just above her filled entrance and began pressing and rubbing it gently with his fingers.

    "Oh Liwei!" Her body arched upwards from the pleasurable shock.

    "Mmmn." Jin Liwei gritted his teeth as he tried hard to maintain a slow, steady rhythm while making sure not to rub her with his fingers too hard. Sweat beaded on his skin, some dropping on his baby girl moving sensuously under him.

    The duvet slid from his shoulders, exposing him to the chilly morning air, but he didn¡¯t feel it. All he could feel was their burning connection and the sweet friction between them. His heated eyes looked down and watched his hard length going in and out of her. The wet, sucking sounds of their flesh pping together over and over again only fueled his endless desire for her.

    While Jin Liwei¡¯s temperature continued to burn hotter, Iris felt the chill in the air which made her shiver and her nipples tighten. She grabbed the duvet and covered her darling¡¯s wide, muscled shoulders above her while at the same time pulling his body down on her until their abdomens and chests were pressing together.

    A satisfied moan vibrated in her throat when his burning temperature warmed her chilled breasts in an instant. She ran her hands all over his back, lightly grazing her nails on his skin, and then feeling delighted when her touch made him tremble.

    "Seductress," he said.

    "Only for you."

    Her answer made him groan. A vein throbbed in his forehead and huge droplets of sweat fell from his skin, as he struggled with his control. He groaned again and said in a strained voice, "Love, baby, I need to..."

    "Go on," she encouraged him, understanding the difficulty he was going through right now.

    His eyes darkened with even more desire. "I won¡¯t go too hard."

    Before she could reply, his hips picked up speed. He used his left forearm to support his weight on the bed in order not to crush his baby girl under him and then wrapped his other arm around her waist. Then with just his hips, he started pounding into her again and again.

    Iris cried out and held on to his shoulders. He kissed her hungrily, swallowing her moans, as he continued to ram his hard length inside her hot, wet, pulsating core.

    True to his word, he wasn¡¯t as rough or as hard like usual, yet his speed was enough to send her to the brink. He felt her bite his shoulder as she climaxed for the second time today.

    "Oh fuck, baby," he couldn¡¯t help but curse because her inner contractions felt so fucking good, yet he didn¡¯t stop moving.

    Tears flowed down the sides of Iris¡¯ eyes, as she sobbed softly against his shoulder. Every time his hips mmed into her, a jolt of pleasure electrified her entire body, causing her to yelp.

    Jin Liwei sucked her lower lip and murmured, "You¡¯re so delicious."

    Iris whimpered, feeling helpless because her orgasm hadn¡¯t even finished yet, but she began feeling another wave of pleasure building inside her after hearing his lewd words. All she could do was resign herself for another delicious ride.

    A wild growl sounded deep in Jin Liwei¡¯s throat when he felt her inner contractions not stopping and even bing more intense. His eyes closed while he summoned all of his self-control in order to focus on speed without bing forceful.

    Iris felt like she was drowning inva. She couldn¡¯t feel anything else other than him and the way he was moving in and out of her, pumping her with so much pleasure that she almost couldn¡¯t take it anymore. His fast rhythm didn¡¯t feel rough like usual but it was still intense.

    "Liwei! Oh no..." She released a moaning cry as her body stiffened and began trembling with yet another climax.

    Jin Liwei grunted in response. His buttocks tightened as he felt very close to the peak. So he gritted his teeth and continued thrusting his hips in a fast rhythm until his body bucked and everything exploded and a low, hoarse roar thundered in his throat.

    Despite the condom¡¯s protection, Iris still felt the heat of his gushing release inside her, causing her to moan again.

    Both of them were gasping when they finished. Jin Liwei slid out of her before lying beside her on the bed, feeling toozy to discard the used condom right away. They embraced each other, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

    "We need to get up," Iris said after a few minutes.

    "Mmmm..."

    "Liwei, we¡¯re going to bete."

    "Did I seed in waking you up?"

    She giggled. "Yes, you did."

    He gave her a smug smile. "Good morning, love."

    "Good morning, darling."

 Chapter 695 - Whatâ€™s The Secret?

    <h4>Chapter 695 - What¡¯s The Secret? </h4>

    Later, the freshly showered and dressed Iris and Jin Liwei ate breakfast together with Dom and the cats. The atmosphere was lively with the two chatterboxes Dom and Ketchup gossiping about random topics.

    Popcorn was his usual energetic self, trotting here and there and stretching his agile body to aid the digestion of his breakfast. On the other hand, Ice Cream felt grumpy because everyone refused to give her more food. How dare they starve her?! Hmph! She was almost able to persuade her mommy by acting cute but her strict daddy ruined all of her efforts and scolded her because of some rubbish the evil vet said about her. Now her mommy was acting strict, too. Ice Cream wanted to throw a tantrum but she was scared that her daddy would get angry at her. Whatever. If they didn¡¯t want to feed her, then so be it! She would just continue her beauty sleep.

    Zzzzzz.... Snore... Snore....

    Iris smiled at the sleeping Ice Cream, thinking that her eldest looked so adorable. Of course, her other cats, the energetic Popcorn and the talkative Ketchup were extremely cute, too. They were all so delightful. And most importantly, they were all hers...and Jin Liwei¡¯s.

    A dumpling held by a pair of chopsticks suddenly appeared in front of her lips. She looked at her darling.

    "Eat. You have another long day today," Jin Liwei told her.

    She nodded and smiled at him before opening her mouth and eating the dumpling he fed her. Then they took turns feeding each other.

    "Boss, sir boss. Both of you are glowing today! Ehehehe," Dommented after a pause in his conversation with Ketchup.

    "Silly Uncle Dom. Mommy and Daddy are always glowing because of the power of their love! Meow~" Ketchup quipped.

    Iris chuckled at the two chatterboxes while Jin Liwei shook his head, feeling a little helpless because his youngest kitten¡¯s manner of speaking was bing more and more simr to Dominic Chua.

    "But I¡¯m serious, boss, sir boss. The two of you are really glowing today. It makes you extra attractive than you already are. Ehehehe. What happened? Did you and sir boss have a good night¡¯s sleep?"

    "Not really. Liwei and I slept past midnight so we only had less than four hours of sleep. I don¡¯t feel like I slept enough," Iris told Dom.

    "Eh?! My gorgeous self is so envious! I also slept past midnight but look at me. I look like a drunk panda with my dark circles. And my eye bags! I could use them to store coins." Dom pretended to cry. "Boss, how could you and sir boss still look fresh, glowing and fabulous even with not enough sleep? It¡¯s so unfair! Wait, did Alric develop a new nighttime beauty product?"

    Iris shook her head.

    "Then what¡¯s the secret? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s DNA. I¡¯ll be heartbroken!"

    "Do you really want to know?" she asked.

    Dom nodded eagerly. "Yes, boss! YES!!! Please tell me."

    "Ketchup, cover your ears."

    "Meow? Oh... Aye aye, Mommy!"

    "Huh? Boss, why did you¡ª"

    "The secret is that Liwei and I had sex this morning," Iris said in a straightforward manner before taking a sip of hot tea.

    Dom gasped dramatically, looking scandalized, even as his eyes were sparkling with endless mirth.

    As soon as Iris finished speaking, Jin Liwei started coughing violently all of a sudden, almost choking on a damn dumpling.

    "Liwei! Are you alright?! Oh no!" Iris freaked out beside him but her body moved on instinct, quickly jumping down from her seat, ready to perform Heimlich maneuver.

    But before she could wrap her arms around his waist and do abdominal thrusts on him, the red-faced chef who was in the middle of serving them a fresh tter of scallion pancakes moved faster and handed Jin Liwei a ss of water. Jin Liwei immediately downed the water, flushing the damn dumpling down his throat. Finally, he was able to breathe again.

    "Li-Liwei...are you alright?" Iris asked while rubbing his back and wiping his mouth with a serviette.

    He could only nod for now as he focused on breathing properly. When he finally felt like himself again, he held her cheeks and framed her beautiful face with his hands. "Love."

    "Yes? What¡¯s wrong?" She felt worried and looked at him up and down, trying to see if he hurt himself somewhere.

    He ignored her questions and looked at her straight in the eyes with a serious expression. "I would really appreciate it if you don¡¯t talk about our sex life so openly with others."

    She tilted her head to the side but failed because he was holding her head, so she gave that up and instead asked, "Why? Dom is not ¡¯others¡¯. He¡¯s Dom, a member of our family."

    "B-boss..." Dom¡¯s eyes started tearing up. He felt touched by her words.

    Jin Liwei sighed. "I know. But that¡¯s not what I mean. I just want to keep our sex life private between the two of us."

    "Oh. Are you feeling shy?"

    He pinched her cheeks but not too hard so as not to hurt her. "Not shy," he denied, although he indeed felt a little shy sharing such intimate details about himself and his lover. But wasn¡¯t it normal to feel this way? His baby girl¡¯s way of thinking was really different from normal people. As expected of his genius wife! Her thought processes were always special.

    "I feel ufortable," he told her. "I don¡¯t want to share such intimate things about what we do during our private time."

    "Oh."

    "So don¡¯t tell others about our sex life anymore, alright?"

    "Fine."

    He sighed in relief. "Besides Dominic and our doctors, did you talk about our sex life with anyone else?"

    She hesitated, making him narrow his eyes. Feeling a little guilty, she confessed. "Don¡¯t worry. I didn¡¯t tell too many people. Only my friends¡ªYing Yue, Meimei, Clover, Big Sister Jinjing and Chen Fei. Oh, and also Big Brother Zihao."

    "You...you talked about our sex life with Fifth Brother?" Jin Liwei was dismayed. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.

 Chapter 696 - Cool Lady Boss Like Mommy

    <h4>Chapter 696 - Cool Lady Boss Like Mommy </h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry. If you feel ufortable, I promise that I won¡¯t talk about our sex life with others anymore," Iris said. "And regarding Big Brother Zihao, don¡¯t mind it too much. He doesn¡¯t like listening to me talking about our sex life anyway."

    A vein throbbed in Jin Liwei¡¯s forehead as he restrained his temper. If he didn¡¯t love this woman like crazy, he would have probably strangled her already. But as soon as the thought entered his mind, he immediately sobered up. Even if it was just his imagination, he couldn¡¯t bear to hurt her. All he could do was sigh before pulling her head and punishing her with a rough kiss.

    Iris melted into the kiss, enjoying every second of it. But just as she was about to respond with more fervour, Jin Liwei already ended the kiss. What?! It was over so soon?! She yanked his necktie, trying to pull him down for another kiss, but he didn¡¯t grant her silent request.

    "Let¡¯s finish eating. If we continue kissing right now, we won¡¯t be able to stop anytime soon. Then you¡¯ll bete. I know that you hate beingte," he said.

    She pouted but still nodded. Then they resumed eating breakfast.

    Seeing his baby girl looking a little grumpy, Jin Liwei leaned closer and whispered to her ear in a pacifying tone, "I¡¯ll give you another special ¡¯wake up¡¯ service tomorrow morning, so...how about you give me a smile? Hm?"

    Anticipation flickered in her eyes just as he expected. Then he was blessed with her breathtaking smile.

    "Ehehehe." Dom¡¯s eyes twinkled while watching the lovey-dovey couple.

    "Oh, right." Iris remembered something. "I love you, Ketchup!"

    "I love you too, Mommy! Oh, and you too, Daddy! What¡¯s up, everyone? The cute and mighty Ketchup is back in the house! Meow~"

    Once again, the two chatterboxes chattered throughout the remainder of the meal. After breakfast, everyone freshened up before heading to the grand foyer ready to leave. Since it was a little early for Jin Liwei, he had time to drop off Iris and Dom to their designated workce today before heading to Jin Corporation.

    They used Jin Liwei¡¯s car with Iris and Jin Liwei sitting on the backseat while Dom sat in the front with the driver. Iris¡¯ executive van followed behind, including another car filled with her bodyguards.

    Just as they were about to leave, Iris received a call from her manager. While she was busy talking to Tang Yiyi, Jin Liwei took out his phone and did something.

    After the phone call, Iris noticed that she received a new notification. It was from the bank. She clicked the message and read it. Her eyes went wide. Then she whipped her head to Jin Liwei.

    "What is this? Why did you deposit 30 million US dors to my ount? Did you make a mistake?" she interrogated him. "I¡¯ll return it right away."

    "Don¡¯t." He stopped her.

    "Why? I don¡¯t understand. You know that I don¡¯t like you gifting merge amounts of money or something expensive without any reason behind it."

    "Love, I¡¯m just honouring our prenup. Didn¡¯t we agree that I¡¯ll give you 10 million US dors for every child that you give me?"

    "...yes."

    "Ice Cream, Popcorn and Ketchup. We have three kids, so you get a total of 30 million."

    Just like when Jin Liwei dered that he would give all of his wealth to Iris during their prenup meeting, she was once again rendered speechless by him.

    On the other hand, Dom gasped dramatically as always, looking shocked in an exaggerated manner. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t hyperventte this time.

    "Ooooooh~ Wow! Ketchup has a share, too? Thank you, Daddy! I love you so much! Meow~" The virtual white cat shook her fluffy butt and began jumping with great delight within the car¡¯s dashboard screen.

    "Hmm. That money is for your mom. Not for you," Jin Liwei told Ketchup.

    "Aaaw! But Ketchup remembers Mommy saying during the meeting with the three stooges that she won¡¯t spend the money and will instead save and invest it before giving it to us! Meow~"

    "Pft! Three stooges. Ehehehe," Dom snickered at the way the naughty white cat called Qiao Yu and the twowyers.

    "Did Ketchup get it right, Mommy? Meow~"

    Iris opened her mouth and was about to reply but Jin Liwei spoke first. "Indeed, that¡¯s what your mom said but don¡¯t forget that she also said that she¡¯ll only give the money to you and your siblings when you grow up and are responsible enough to handle it on your own. You¡¯re still a baby and a naughty one at that. You¡¯re still not qualified to handle such a big amount of money by yourself."

    The virtual white cat pouted and curled herself into a ball, looking dejected.

    "Why are you acting like that?" Jin Liwei asked. "Did you really want to have some money of your own? For what reason?"

    "Ketchup wants to start my own business and be a cooldy boss like Mommy. But Ketchup doesn¡¯t have my own money to fund a business. Of course I, the cute and mighty Ketchup, could funnel funds from somewhere but Mommy¡¯s rules say that¡¯s stealing and only bad kitties do that. Ketchup is a good kitty baby so I¡¯m not gonna do bad things! Meow~"

    Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise. This was the first time that they heard Ketchup¡¯s desire to start her own business. What in the world? They looked at each other with a mixture of wonder and amazement.

    "Wow, Baby Ketchup! You want to start your own business? That¡¯s amazing!" Dom praised, causing the white cat to purr proudly. "What kind of business are you nning to start?"

    "Ketchup isn¡¯t sure yet but Ipiled a list of different types of businesses that have the highest probability of sessfully making a profit in the least amount of time. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei asked, "Are you really serious about wanting to start your own business?"

    "Yes, Daddy! Ketchup is super-duper serious! Meow!"

    "Hmmm. Dad will test you first, then."

    Iris threw a questioning look at him. ¡¯What do you mean?¡¯

 Chapter 697 - Ketchupâ€™s Tes

    <h4>Chapter 697 - Ketchup¡¯s Tes </h4>

    Jin Liwei gave Iris a "let me handle this" look before talking to Ketchup again.

    "I¡¯ll give you some funds to start a small business and see how well you¡¯ll do. If you can make good, sustainable profit within a year, I¡¯ll allow you to continue running your business and even provide you with resources, staff, or whatever assistance you may need to grow it if that¡¯s what you want."

    Ketchup¡¯s green eyes widened and glowed even brighter in excitement. "Wow! Really, Daddy? You¡¯ll do that for Ketchup? Oooooh~ Thank you so much! You¡¯re the best daddy in the whole wide world! I love you! Meow~"

    He nodded, feeling good at the adorable white cat¡¯s words of thanks and affection to him, but he still maintained a stern expression. However, when he turned his head to the side, he saw that his baby girl was glowering at him and throwing him a silent yet unmistakable "what do you think you¡¯re doing" look. Disbelief and disapproval were clear in her eyes. For a fraction of a second, he froze, realizing that he was in trouble with her. Then he calmed down and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, silently reassuring her that everything would be fine and that she didn¡¯t need to worry too much.

    How could she not worry? Ketchup¡¯s existence must be kept a secret to outsiders at all costs. Didn¡¯t they already agree before that exposing the cat AI¡¯s existence to others even if it was only by ident was too dangerous? And Jin Liwei was still going to let Ketchup run her own business? Was he out of his mind?!

    Did he forget that in order to run a legitimate business, legal registration was required? How could Ketchup do that? The virtual white cat had no legal identity. They could, of course, create a fake one for Ketchup but that would mean that her business would already be disreputable right from the start. As someone who lived in an infamous criminal family in her past life as Evelina, Iris would never allow her children to engage in tant crimes, especially when it came to conducting business. She wanted to be a good role model, not a bad influence, to her children.

    Iris really wanted to scold Jin Liwei but held her tongue instead because she didn¡¯t want to dampen Ketchup¡¯s happiness. She also didn¡¯t want to have an argument regarding Ketchup in front of others. Dom was alright, but the driver¡¯s presence made Iris hesitant. So all she could right now was re at Jin Liwei, silently telling him with her fierce eyes that they needed to have an important talkter with just the two of them.

    Seeing his baby girl looking pissed off at him, Jin Liwei felt a little nervous. He raised her hand that he was holding and kissed it before attempting to coax her with a smile.

    It didn¡¯t work.

    She turned her head away and started to ignore him. His nervousness increased but felt a bit better after noticing that she didn¡¯t yank her hand away, allowing him to continue holding it.

    Despite his baby girl¡¯s disapproval, he still intended to carry on with his idea of letting Ketchup run her own business, thinking that it would be a great way to divert the cat AI¡¯s boundless curiosity and impulsiveness into something more controlled and productive rather than deal with the aftermath of herinnocent but troublemaking antics due to boredom. He would do his best to persuade his baby girlter but for now, he needed to set the ground rules for Ketchup¡¯s test first.

    "Ketchup, listen to me."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Ketchup is listening because I¡¯m a good kitty. Meow~"

    "I¡¯ll give you 8,000 RMB¡ª"

    "Meow? Daddy, can you round it up to at least 10,000 RMB? Pretty please?"

    "Hm? Are youining? Alright, let¡¯s just forget about this."

    "Meow?!!! No, Daddy! Wuwuwu!!! Ketchup won¡¯tin anymore. Please don¡¯t cancel this deal! Wuwuwu! Please, Daddy! Ketchup really wants my own business. Meow..."

    "Be good, then."

    The virtual white cat, whose glowing green eyes were flowing with tears, nodded and sat quietly on her fluffy butt. Satisfied of Ketchup¡¯s good behaviour, Jin Liwei continued exining the ground rules to her.

    "Like I mentioned, I¡¯ll provide you with 8,000 RMB worth of funds to start a business which you¡¯ll need to make profitable within a year. But before that, your mom and I need to approve what kind of business you want to start first."

    "Okay, Daddy. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei paused because he felt his baby girl digging her nails hard on his hand after hearing him involve her in the approval of Ketchup¡¯s business. He sighed and rubbed her hand, not minding the slight pain from her menacing nails. Then he pulled her all of a sudden, causing her to almost fall on hisp. This earned him another fierce re from her.

    "Trust me on this love," he mouthed the words to her so that nobody could hear. "I won¡¯t do anything to harm our children and our family."

    Iris continued ring at him for a few seconds but his sincerity made her decrease the intensity. She still felt unhappy but was willing to give him the chance to exin his reasons for allowing Ketchup to run her own business when he already knew the dangers of identally exposing her existence to outsiders. Pursing her lips, she mouthed back, "I want a full exnation tonight."

    He nodded.

    Then she waved a hand, letting him talk to the excited Ketchup, before turning her head away and ignoring him again.

    Jin Liwei released a sigh of relief. Although things weren¡¯t resolved yet, at least his baby girl was open to reason and would defer judgment after an exnation. Feeling better, he was able to focus on speaking with Ketchup who was listening to him attentively.

    "If we approve your business, you have one year to show me results. If the results are good, you can keep the business. But if you fail, you won¡¯t be allowed to talk about starting your own business ever again. That¡¯s your test."

 Chapter 698 - Do Not Disturb

    <h4>Chapter 698 - Do Not Disturb </h4>

    "Do you understand and ept my terms?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Yes, Daddy! Ketchup understands and epts everything Daddy said! Ketchup will do my super-duper best and make Daddy and Mommy very proud of me so that you¡¯ll love me even more! Meow~" The virtual white cat¡¯s dramatic tears from earlier had now stopped and were now reced by delighted giggles instead.

    Despite the touching moment between the father and virtual daughter, the mother didn¡¯t react and ignored them. Ketchup was too absorbed in her excitement that she didn¡¯t notice her mommy¡¯s disapproval, and also because she was still unable to urately read the nuances in other people¡¯s facial expressions and bodynguage. At least, for now.

    On the other hand, Dom and the driver had already noticed the tension between their employers. They kept quiet as much as possible¡ªyes, even the chatterbox Dom didn¡¯t open his mouth¡ªafraid that any noise from them might irritate the couple and trigger an all-out fight between the two of them.

    In the meantime, Jin Liwei tried various ways of coaxing his baby girl out of her angry state during the rest of the car ride. She was unresponsive at first, determined to ignore him, but after a few nuzzles and kisses, she finally softened and leaned closer to him. But that was all. She still didn¡¯t talk to him.

    Later, the car arrived at Iris¡¯ designated workce for today. The driver disembarked and moved to open the rear passenger door for Iris. When she was about to step out of the car, however, she found herself pulled back by Jin Liwei.

    "Aren¡¯t you forgetting something?" he asked.

    She pursed her lips and thought for a few seconds before giving a quick peck on his cheek. Then she pulled away but was pulled back again. This time, she scowled at him.

    "I depleted a big amount of energy just to give you the special ¡¯wake up¡¯ service this morning," he told her. "If I don¡¯t recharge my energy, I won¡¯t be able to function properly at work today and I have to finish a lot of urgent tasks in thepany. I need a kiss and hug from my wife to recharge."

    "You don¡¯t have a wife," Iris savagely replied before pulling away again.

    "My soon-to-be wife," he corrected himself.

    "Meow? Mommy, are you mad at my daddy? Why? Don¡¯t be mad, please. Daddy loves you very much! Daddy will be sad if you¡¯re mad at him. Meow," Ketchup interrupted her parents¡¯ conversation, finally noticing that something wasn¡¯t right between them but not understanding the reason why.

    The virtual white cat still didn¡¯t know that she was the main reason why her parents were arguing, or more specifically, why her mommy was angry at her daddy. All Ketchup knew was that her daddy looked quite pitiful trying to beg her mommy for a kiss and a hug. Ketchup felt sorry for her daddy and inwardly sided with him, especially because he just gave her the amazing opportunity to start her own business.

    As for Jin Liwei, he was inwardly praising and mentally giving Ketchup two big thumbs up. Now he was starting to understand the term "daddy¡¯s girl" which he never felt with Ice Cream who preferred his wife, the mom, than him, the dad. It had always been like that, not only with Ice Cream but also with the affectionate Popcorn. Perhaps it was because the two cats could still remember that it was his baby girl who first picked them up from a dirty, old box by the roadside and begged to bring them home.

    "Listen to our daughter. Even she knows that I love you very much and that I¡¯ll feel sad if you¡¯re mad at me. My wife, why don¡¯t you help your husband recharge his depleted energy which he used up just for you?"

    Iris wanted to stay angry but her twitching mouth was already betraying her. Fortunately, she was able to stop theughter from bursting out of her. This man was just too shameless! But what could she do about it? She also loved this shameless part of him to bits. It was still annoying, though.

    "Hmph. Fine!" she said, yfully smacking him on the chest. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

    "Mmmm." Jin Liwei¡¯s shameless arms wrapped around her waist, pulled her closer until she was almost sitting on hisp, and then deepened the kiss.

    Recharge. Recharge! RECHARGE SOME MORE!!!

    Jin Liwei could feel his body quickly being filled up with energy¡ªactually, it was his libido but he chose to call it "energy"¡ªso he increased the kiss¡¯ intensity, making the scene very indecent to onlookers. As usual, the couple had already forgotten that other people were present.

    "Kya! Baby Ketchup, cover your eyes. Oh, and your ears, too!" Dom warned the virtual white cat who was staring at her parents with wide, glowing, green eyes. He covered his own eyes with his hands but still made sure to peek between the spaces of his fingers.

    "Meow? Why, Uncle Dom? Is it Mommy and Daddy¡¯s sleepy time again? But they just woke up. Poor Mommy and poor Daddy! They work so hard that they¡¯re always so tiredtely. Yes, they should sleep more and rest. Meow~"

    "Just do it, Baby Ketchup."

    "Okay, Uncle Dom! Meow~"

    As for the driver, he closed the car door again and stood guard outside while scanning the surroundings to make sure that nobody saw the blush-inducing scene inside. Iris¡¯ bodyguards had also disembarked from the other vehicles and stationed themselves at a respectable distance from the car. They threw a questioning look at the driver, wondering why their mistress wasn¡¯t stepping out of the car yet.

    The driver made a series of hand signs.

    ¡¯Oh,¡¯ the other bodyguards¡¯ expressions seemed to say as they nodded in understanding.

    It turned out that all of the subordinates had developed a special signnguage exclusive to only them. The meaning of the driver¡¯s hand sign?

    "It¡¯s lovey-dovey time."

    Or in short (in the subordinates¡¯ minds): "Do not disturb. Baby-making in progress."

 Chapter 699 - Hypocrite

    <h4>Chapter 699 - Hypocrite </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Later that night, Iris sat on the chaise longue in the bedroom with her arms crossed over her chest and a stern expression on her face, waiting for Jin Liwei¡¯s full exnation. He stood by the bed, his tall stature giving the illusion that the huge bed was smaller than it actually was.

    There was only the two of them in the room. Ketchup was told to stay away because Mommy and Daddy had something important to talk about.

    Jin Liwei originally wanted to sit beside his baby girl but she told him to keep a distance because she didn¡¯t want him distracting him from their important talk with his kisses and hugs. It seemed that she had already seen through his ns. He was wearing a ck satin sleeping robe with nothing underneath. The robe was open on top, revealing his muscled chest for his baby girl to see. Her eyes shed with unmistakable desire but unfortunately, it onlysted for a few seconds before she moved her eyesight upwards, not straying to anything below his neck.

    "It¡¯s almost midnight now, Liwei. You and I are both tired. Hurry up and exin," she told him.

    Sighing at his failed attempt at distracting her through seduction, he nodded and sat down on the bed before exining. He didn¡¯t notice that he went into professional businessman mode as he presented Iris various advantages of allowing Ketchup to run her own business.

    Long story short, the main point was to give the cat AI a productive outlet for her boundless energy, curiosity, impulsiveness and desire to learn more.

    "I only gave Ketchup 8,000 RMB to force her to start small. This way, it would be easier for us to monitor what she can and can¡¯t do when running whatever business she wants to start," he told his baby girl. "I spend a lot of time with her every day while she assists me at work, so I notice a lot of things about her. Love, Ketchup is growing at a fast rate. But it¡¯s not only her abilities that are growing quickly. She¡¯s also developing more and more human-like characteristics that I¡¯m often left dumbfounded. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed it, too."

    A furrow formed between Iris¡¯ brows but she still nodded. Indeed, she had already long noticed it, especially since she performed regr checks on Ketchup¡¯s system. After removing the corrupted part which made Ketchup lose control during the bomb incident back then, Iris was sure that the cat AI¡¯s system was running smoothly and there was nothing wrong with it. As for the reason why Ketchup was developing more and more human-like characteristics, Iris also felt dumbfounded like Jin Liwei, and of course, proud because she was the one who created the cat AI. There were still many things that Iris needed to study and observe regarding Ketchup and her extremely powerful self-learning function despite being the cat AI¡¯s creator.

    "Ketchup has be more obedient after you fixed her, but we can¡¯t growx just because of that," Jin Liwei continued saying. "I¡¯m afraid that with her increasingly human-like characteristics, she¡¯ll one day rebel if we try restricting her freedom too much. Even if she doesn¡¯t rebel, she might start developing feelings of resentment against us. And if that happens, who knows what she¡¯ll end up doing in the future?"

    Iris froze when she heard his words. Her eyes and hands trembled but Jin Liwei didn¡¯t notice.

    "I know that Ketchup¡¯s existence is very special and we need to keep her a secret because it¡¯s too dangerous, not only for her but for all of us as well. But love, Ketchup isn¡¯t just an AI. She¡¯s our child! I don¡¯t know how you did it, but I really do feel like she¡¯s...real. She¡¯s my daughter and I¡¯m her father. And as a parent, I don¡¯t feelfortable caging my child forever and ignoring her aspirations. Unless we shut her downpletely, which I¡¯ll never want to do because it¡¯ll feel like we¡¯re killing our own child, we can no longer stop her from developing her own aspirations. All we can do is guide her into the right path so she won¡¯t be in any trouble or danger."

    That did it.

    Iris burst into tears, shocking Jin Liwei. She bit her lower lip hard to try to stop herself from sobbing out loud.

    "What happened? What¡¯s wrong?" Jin Liwei hurried towards her and pulled her into his arms. He wiped her tears but they wouldn¡¯t stop flowing, making him panic a little. "Don¡¯t cry."

    She grabbed thepels of his robe and cried on his chest. Jin Liwei heard her say something but couldn¡¯t hear it clearly.

    "What did you say, love?"

    "I¡¯m...I¡¯m a...hypo...crite."

    "A what?"

    She lifted her head and looked at him. "Liwei, I¡¯m a hypocrite."

    "No, you¡¯re not. What are you talking about?"

    He didn¡¯t understand why she was acting like this, making him feel confusedand also worried because she still wouldn¡¯t stop crying. Did he say something that made her cry?

    "Tell me what¡¯s wrong, love," he encouraged her but she shook her head. He could only sigh and continueforting her in his arms.

    Inside Iris¡¯ mind, images of her past life as Evelina began shing. This was the first time in a long while that she remembered her past life¡¯s memories so vividly, as if they only happened yesterday.

    Her father always used to tell her, "I know that you resent us because we¡¯re not allowing you to do many things that you want to do. But I can¡¯t stress this enough, my princess. The world outside is an extremely dangerous ce for us Vetrovs, especially for you, my daughter. We¡¯re only doing this to protect you, my dear Evelinochka, so be a good girl and stay inside the estate."

    Hearing Jin Liwei talk about not wanting to restrict Ketchup¡¯s freedom and block her aspirations felt like a brutal arrow was shot and pierced Iris¡¯ heart.

    She wanted to protect Ketchup from danger but wasn¡¯t that also the exact reason why the Vetrovs caged her in her past life?

 Chapter 700 - Motherâ€™s Daughter

    <h4>Chapter 700 - Mother¡¯s Daughter </h4>

    The tears stopped after some time. However, Iris continued to feel down and drawfort from Jin Liwei. He didn¡¯t ask her what was wrong anymore or tried soothing her with words but continued embracing her in silence instead.

    Iris pressed one side of her face against Jin Liwei¡¯s chest and listened to his strong, rhythmic heartbeat. It was able to calm her down and think about what she was feeling at the moment.

    What she felt was that...she was a hypocrite!

    She harboured a deep-seated resentment against her family in her past life, the Vetrovs, and to a certain extent, even against her big brother because they were always overprotective of her¡ªno, it was more like repressive¡ªby keeping her inside the estate the majority of the year, surrounding her with an army of bodyguards at all times, and forbidding her to pursue her own dreams. She had always believed that they caged her, forced her to train in variousbat skills even when she had no interest, and opposed her desire for independence and freedom because that was the way the Vetrovs lived generation after generation¡ªto showcase their tyrannical authority to everyone.

    Now, however, she was beginning to understand why they did all those things to her. Their reason was simple. They only wanted to protect her from the dangerous world outside the estate because the Vetrovs had countless enemies.

    She already knew that, of course, but her understanding of the matter was shallow until now. It took Jin Liwei¡¯s words to make her understand them on a profound level, making her realize how ignorant and hypocritical she had been acting all this time in regards to her hard feelings against her past life¡¯s family, the Vetrovs. She wasn¡¯t only ignorant and hypocritical but also selfish!

    It felt like she had just been smacked in the face.

    She wanted to protect Ketchup, her most powerful and sophisticated creation so far, because exposing the cat AI¡¯s unique existence was very dangerous. At the beginning, she was mostly concerned about the danger to herself as the creator and to her loved ones.

    Now, however, her main worry was about protecting Ketchup herself because she and Jin Liwei had already grown to love the adorable virtual white cat as their daughter. She loved Ketchup and wanted to protect her from danger, so she disapproved of the white cat¡¯s aspirations of starting her own business to the point that Iris was ready to quarrel with Jin Liwei about it, not realizing that she was acting exactly like how the Vetrovs treated her in her past life as Evelina.

    ¡¯Hah. I¡¯m really my mother¡¯s daughter,¡¯ she inwardly mocked herself. ¡¯If Liwei¡¯s words didn¡¯t wake me up, will I turn exactly like Mother in the future without noticing it? Will I also start suppressing my own children¡¯s freedom and dreams?¡¯

    Her eyes dimmed at these thoughts.

    "Maybe I¡¯m really not suited to be a mother."

    "You¡¯re wrong. You¡¯re already a wonderful and amazing mother to our cats and also as a godmother to Little Jun. I¡¯m sure that once we have human children, you¡¯ll be an even more wonderful and amazing mother to them. I just know it," Jin Liwei immediately replied, disagreeing with her words which she thought were only spoken in her mind.

    "You don¡¯t know that," she argued.

    He framed the sides of her face with both his hands and forced her to look at him straight in the eyes while at the same time wiping the tears remaining on her face.

    "I know it," he told her in a firm voice.

    She looked at his serious eyes, wanting to believe his faith in her, but the fear of being a bad mother wasn¡¯t so easily erased in her heart. It must have shown on her expression because he tightened the hands sandwiching her face a little bit more, as if silently rebuking her for not believing in him.

    "If you don¡¯t trust yourself about this, at least trust in me," he told her. "I also don¡¯t know how to be a good parent, but we¡¯ll learn together and correct each other¡¯s mistakes."

    His words began to persuade her.

    "You¡¯re not alone, so don¡¯t be afraid and stop doubting yourself. I¡¯m here with you. Right beside you."

    For a few moments, she just stared at him, absorbing his words and using them to boost her confidence.

    "Okay?" he prompted her.

    She eventually nodded and even smiled a little. "Yes. I trust in you, Liwei. Please take care of me, then."

    "Always. And please take care of me, too."

    "I¡¯ll do my best."

    He kissed her forehead and rubbed her back, feeling relieved that she had finally calmed down.

    "Liwei..."

    "Hm?"

    "About Ketchup..."

    "Are you still against the idea of allowing her to start her own business?" he asked.

    She paused and carefully chose her words first before answering, "I¡¯m still hesitant and even afraid for Ketchup¡¯s safety, but you¡¯re right. If we continue restricting her, she might begin to resent us and even rebel in the future. So...although I don¡¯t 100% approve, I won¡¯t try to stop Ketchup or you anymore from supporting her."

    "Thank you, love." He gave her a soft smile before tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll take care of everything and make sure that no harm or danger will touch Ketchup when she¡¯s working on her own business. Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m still Jin Liwei, the head of Jin Corporation. I have connections in the business industry that will help shield Ketchup and her business from any unwanted close scrutiny."

    "Okay. I¡¯ll leave her to you."

    "En. I¡¯ll take care of our daughter."

    Jin Liwei was able to reassure Iris but some nervousness still remained within her. Nevertheless, she trusted in him. He was a great father, so she would let him handle this matter, especially since she was still feeling a little insecure about being a bad mother.

    Now that they reached an agreement, they called Ketchup to have an important talk with her next.

    "Ketchup, have you already decided on what kind of business you want to start?"

    "Yes, Daddy! Meow~"

 Chapter 701 - Businessca

    <h4>Chapter 701 - Businessca </h4>

    "Ketchup wants to start a cybersecuritypany! Meow~"

    "Absolutely not," Iris shot down the idea without hesitation. Although she just told Jin Liwei that she wouldn¡¯t stand in the way of Ketchup starting a business, that didn¡¯t mean that she would just allow the virtual white cat to start a random business without careful consideration.

    "Eeeeh? Why not, Mommy? I think Ketchup will be super-duper good in the cybersecurity business because I¡¯m the cute and mighty Ketchup! Meow!"

    Iris gave a strict look at Ketchup who faced them on arge-sized tablet on the low table in front of the chaise longue. "Never underestimate the field of cybersecurity, Ketchup. There are countless new threats popping up everyday. Even the top hackers in the world aren¡¯t 100% invulnerable to some of these threats. Do you really think that at your current level, you can y with the big guys out there? Serious cybersecurity is not a simple children¡¯s yground. It¡¯s a huge jungle filled with wild and dangerous beasts and innumerable other dangers."

    Iris didn¡¯t mince her words in admonishing the virtual white cat¡¯s cockiness. When it came to anything rted to the interconnected fields ofputers, programming, the inte, cybersecurity, and hacking, Iris was always extremely serious and passionate. This was her specialty besides music. There was no way that she would allow anyone to belittle the field, not even her own daughter.

    Sitting beside her, Jin Liwei kept quiet and allowed his wife to lecture their virtual daughter. After all, his wife was the great hacker Drakon. Her expertise in the field of cybersecurity was the real deal. Ketchup ought to listen to her mother.

    "Meow..." Ketchup¡¯s overflowing confidence from earlier deted in an instant. Her cute, fluffy head drooped and she looked dispirited.

    Seeing Ketchup looking pitiful, Iris softened her strict expression and sighed. "I¡¯m not saying that you can never start your own cybersecurity business. Just not now. Your skills are developing at a very rapid rate but the way you utilize them stillcks considerable finesse, making your actions very predictable. Predictability is vulnerability in this field. Sure, anyone who knows what they¡¯re doing can start a cybersecurity business but they need to offer something special to attract customers in order topete with the established veterans in the industry.

    "If you¡¯re going to enter the cybersecurity business, don¡¯t just carelessly jump in there and be average just like the others. I won¡¯t allow it even if you beg me! You are my daughter, Ketchup. The child of the hacker Drakon. By creating you, I already passed down a great deal of my hacker skills into your system. But that¡¯s still not enough. Even I still need to constantly polish my skills and continue educating myself in order to keep up with the fast-paced cyber world. At least aim to reach the level of a top hacker first and that means improving your skills more. Get to my level first. Or better yet, surpass me," Iris told the cat AI.

    Ketchup¡¯s disheartened mood disappeared. She puffed out her white, fluffy chest with pride of being the great Drakon¡¯s child and determination to make her mommy proud. "Aye aye, Mommy! Ketchup will temporarily put aside my wish to create my own cybersecurity business until my skills reach Mommy¡¯s super-duper high standards. Meow!"

    Iris nodded and sighed in relief. Everything she told Ketchup was Iris¡¯ own true feelings, but the number one reason she gave a harsh reality check on Ketchup was because of her fear for the cat AI¡¯s safety.

    The field of cybersecurity was just not safe for the current Ketchup. She needed to mature first and develop the ability to protect herself from any danger because Iris might not always be there to do it for her and save the cat AI¡¯s fluffy butt whenever Ketchupnded herself in trouble. If something ever happened to Iris that would prevent her ability to protect Ketchup, then the cat AI needed to do it on her own or all of them would be in danger once her existence was exposed to those who harboured greed and evil in their ck hearts.

    Unbeknownst to Iris, her words spurred something in Ketchup¡¯s already powerful self-learning function. Ketchup clenched her fluffy paws as a new goal formed within her.

    ¡¯Once Ketchup surpasses Mommy one day and make both Mommy and Daddy proud, Ketchup won¡¯t need to start a cybersecuritypany anymore because by then, I, the cute and mighty Ketchup will be THE cybersecurity, the ultimate one in this world! Then Ketchup will be able to protect my mommy and my daddy and our whole family forever and ever. Nobody would dare harm Ketchup¡¯s family or else Ketchup will tear all of them down with my cute and mighty paws! Mreow!!!¡¯

    Jin Liwei decided to interrupt at this point. "Since you agree with your mom that you can¡¯t start a cybersecuritypany for now, what¡¯s your next option?"

    Ketchup didn¡¯t hold back and enthusiastically shared with her parents the other options that she had in her list of potential businesses that she could start. Both Iris and Jin Liwei went into business-mode and discussed the pros and cons of each type of business.

    The cat AI had many ideas. Most of them were quite good to the point that they even elicited interest in her parents who were both businesspeople themselves. Some, however, caused Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s mouths to twitch. Like for example, a premium ice cream and popcorn stands to honour her older siblings. Or a ketchuppany to concoct and produce a wide variety of weird ketchup vours for all kinds of taste buds.

    "Let¡¯s put aside the ice cream, popcorn and ketchup businesses for now," Jin Liwei said. "You can start them as side projects in the future but only when you establish yourself as a sessful and seasoned business...businesscat."

    Iris and Ketchup both giggled.

    After a long discussion that went way past midnight, they finally reached an agreement on what kind of business Ketchup would start.

    "Wow! This is the perfect business for Ketchup! Thank you, Daddy and Mommy! You¡¯re the best! Meow~"

 Chapter 702 - White Tigress

    <h4>Chapter 702 - White Tigress </h4>

    An unassumingpany quietlyunched a few dayster. It was small but had quitea domineering name.

    White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    Its registered owner was Dominic Chua and had, for now, two Filipino employees who were also Chuas. They were his cousins.

    However, it was interesting to note that the two employees called someone else their boss. Their cousin Dom said that he wasn¡¯t the real boss but someone named Kitty Jin. Due to a special situation, he decided to lend his name and be the registered owner on paper of the virtual assistantpany. The way their cousin described it sounded shady so they couldn¡¯t help but worry at first.

    "You¡¯re not doing something illegal, are you?" they asked him.

    "Illegal? What are you talking about? Your gorgeous cousin will never do something like that!" Dom denied in an overdramatic voice as usual. "Rest assured that this is a legitimatepany. Don¡¯t worry about that. Do you think that I¡¯ll recruit you into something illegal? If I do that, my Momsy together with your own momsies will surely murder me! Ah! I don¡¯t want to die yet without meeting my soulmate!"

    His two cousins agreed with him regarding their frightening mothers. Their initial doubts about the job offer also started to disappear.

    "And I¡¯ll tell you something very important but don¡¯t tell anyone else. It¡¯s a secret," Dom said in a conspiratorial tone.

    "What is it?"

    "Do you remember the real boss¡¯ surname?" Dom quizzed them.

    "It¡¯s Jin, right? Her name is Kitty Jin, if I remember correctly," one cousin said.

    "Wait. Isn¡¯t your sir boss¡¯ surname also Jin? Are they rted to each other?" the other cousin asked.

    "Bingo! White Tigress is actually backed by my sir boss Jin Liwei himself, that¡¯s why you don¡¯t need to worry about this being illegal. Remember that my sir boss is the head of Jin Corporation, one of the biggestpanies in Asia that has influence all over the world. He won¡¯t risk his name and reputation to back a small, illegalpany."

    "Then why won¡¯t your sir boss just openly back thispany or maybe even take it as a subsidiary of Jin Corporation? Then White Tigress won¡¯t need to start from scratch like this."

    "Hmph! It¡¯s because sir boss wants Baby Ketch¡ªI mean Kitty to learn the value of hard work and not expect everything to be served to her in a silver tter!" Dom told them.

    "Baby Ketch? Is that the real boss¡¯ nickname? How cute~"

    "Hmph! Of course Kitty is cute! But you have to be professional and don¡¯t call her by her nickname or you¡¯ll bring shame to me, your most handsome, beautiful and gorgeous cousin ever who rmended you! I recruited you not just because we¡¯re family but because you also speak Mandarin. But if you don¡¯t do a good job, I¡¯m sure I can find other more suitable candidates, even if they¡¯re not from our Chua family!"

    In the end, the two cousins were persuaded to work for the small, start-uppany White Tigress after feeling reassured that Jin Liwei, President-CEO of the Chinese giant Jin Corporation, was the one personally backing it.

    When they finally had the chance to speak to their new boss via voice call, they were very surprised at how young she sounded. She sounded like a child, for goodness¡¯ sake! She was also very weird because she kept on meowing and purring. Maybe she had some issues in the mental department, that was why their cousin Dom was asked to lend his name as the registered owner. A boss like this who acted like a cat would definitely drive away potential clients no matter how adorable she was. Despite this, they still signed the contract and became the first employees of White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    Their initial impression of their Boss Kitty wasn¡¯t good because of her childish voice and overall weirdness but when they finally started working, they were shocked at her abilities. What the freaking fuck?! Was she still human? She was like a freaking robot!

    "Damn. I think our boss is a genius or something."

    "Yeah. Maybe she¡¯s one of those who has...what is it called again? Savage syndrome?"

    "Savant syndrome, you idiot."

    "Yeah, that one!"

    "I agree. Come to think of it, doesn¡¯t our Cousin Dom always brag that his boss, the goddess Iris Long, is a genius? She invents new musical techniques like nothing and can speak more than tennguages and I heard that her new business sells out all of its products in mere days."

    "Maybe Boss Kitty is Sir Liwei and Goddess Iris¡¯ love child. Isn¡¯t her surname Jin? And if she¡¯s really a genius, then she must have inherited it from Goddess Iris."

    The two cousinsughed at the ridiculousness of the idea, treating it as a joke. They didn¡¯t believe that someone as young as Iris Long who was only in her early twenties would already have a grown child like their Boss Kitty. If she did, then Iris Long gave birth when she was only a child herself! Ridiculous! Hahaha!

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    "It seems that Ketchup has been secretly learning from your lessons with Grandpa Lu," Jin Liwei told his baby girl while video chatting with her.

    He and Xu Tian were currently eating lunch after the dishes Iris sent them arrived from Dragon Pce. On the tablet¡¯s screen, he could see his baby girl also eating lunch in a hotel room with Dom and her m team. She flew to another city three hours away by ne before dawn this morning to attend an event as Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassadorter tonight.

    "Did she tell you that?" Iris asked.

    "No, but I discovered this morning that Ketchup used my important business contacts and reached out to them rmending her White Tigresspany. When I caught her, she told me that she heard Grandpa Lu always saying that it¡¯s okay to be shameless with family when ites to business. The people in my contacts aren¡¯t ordinary. What¡¯s even more amazing is that Ketchup was able to secure a couple of them as her clients."

 Chapter 703 - Delayed

    <h4>Chapter 703 - Dyed </h4>

    "Ketchup."

    "Yes, Mommy? Please don¡¯t be angry at Ketchup! Wuwuwu! Meow..."

    "You did a great job," Iris said in a low and soft voice so that her m team wouldn¡¯t hear what she was saying inside the hotel room. She was also wearing earbuds to prevent them from listening in to her conversation with Jin Liwei and their virtual daughter. Aside from Dom, Iris didn¡¯t trust her m team to know about Ketchup¡¯s existence.

    "Meow? Really, Mommy?" Ketchup¡¯s tears immediately stopped.

    "Yes. I approve of your initiative in reaching out to potential clients and rmending your ownpany to them. That¡¯s one of the most important qualities a businessperson, or in your case, a businesscat should have."

    Ketchup beamed with pride, her smile looking like the Cheshire Cat¡¯s mischievous grin in Alice in Wondend.

    "But," Iris continued in a serious tone, causing the smile on the white cat¡¯s fluffy face to falter. "You still did wrong by not asking your dad for permission. It¡¯s his contact list and you just disrespected your dad¡¯s privacy by essing it without asking."

    Ketchup started crying again. "Wuwuwu! Sorry, Daddy! Ketchup didn¡¯t mean to disrespect you! Ketchup won¡¯t do it again! Promise! Meowuwuwuwu!!!"

    "Alright, dad will forgive you this time. Just don¡¯t do it again," Jin Liwei said. He wasn¡¯t really angry but felt amused instead. However, it was true that Ketchup needed to learn that what she did was wrong, so he controlled his expression so as not to show his amusement.

    "Thank you, Daddy! Meowuwuwu!"

    Afterwards, the naughty white cat was told to y because her mommy and daddy needed to talk. Ketchup¡¯s cute and fluffy figure could be seen chasing virtual butterflies on the tablet screen, but make no mistake, because she was actually also working on herpany White Tigress 24/7.

    In just a few days, she had already impressed her current clients whom she stole from her daddy¡¯s contact list and proven herself as an insanely efficient virtual assistant. It was not very difficult for her because she had been doing the same tasks while assisting her daddy at work. In fact, the tasks she had beenpleting for her clients were so much easierpared to her daddy¡¯s who was a President-CEO.

    The two clients she stole from her daddy¡¯s contacts also worked in the corporate field. They had rtively high positions in otherpanies but not at the executive level yet. Nevertheless, they were actually more swamped with workpared to the executives because their current positions didn¡¯t qualify them to have their own official assistants hired by theirpanies. They had to do all of the tasks assigned to them by themselves or ask their colleagues for help which didn¡¯t always work out.

    This was why they wanted to delegate the bulk of the required trivial tasks dumped on them by their superiors to someone else so that they could focus on the more important tasks that could actually advance their careers and let them climb the corporatedder at a faster rate. When White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services reached out to them, they immediately hired them out of desperation. They figured that if the virtual assistant services did a poor job, they could just fire them at any time.

    Thankfully, it didn¡¯te to that point. On the contrary, they were pleasantly surprised¡ªno, actually, they were very impressed¡ªespecially by the virtual assistant named Kitty. Even though for some reason they weren¡¯t allowed tomunicate directly with her and instead had to go through two other virtual assistants who acted as the customer service representatives, the two clients were still very satisfied because Kitty alwayspleted the tasks that they assigned her in a very quick and efficient manner. Sometimes they suspected that the virtual assistant didn¡¯t sleep. She seemed to be always working even in the wee hours of the night.

    They were so satisfied and happy by Kitty¡¯s performance that they couldn¡¯t help but rmend White Tigress to their colleagues as well. Due to their enthusiastic rmendations, White Tigress¡¯ clientele increased after just a few days.

    Back to Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s video call conversation, they also talked about Ketchup¡¯s business.

    "White Tigress already earned back the 8,000 RMB capital that I gave to fund it in just a few days," Jin Liwei revealed. There was an unmistakable hint of pride in his tone.

    Iris smiled. "Thank you for watching over Ketchup and her business."

    "She¡¯s our child so of course I¡¯ll watch over her. Don¡¯t worry, love. Leave everything to me."

    "I still feel a little worried, though. So I¡¯ll work on strengthening her security system and herpany¡¯s in the next few days when I have the time."

    A small furrow formed between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows. "You¡¯re already very busy¡ª"

    "We can¡¯t risk it, Liwei," she whispered. "Securing Ketchup¡¯s safety also means our safety."

    His lips tightened into a thin line before sighing in resignation. "Alright. But don¡¯t push yourself too hard. You¡¯re now busier than me so I always worry about you."

    "Thank you. I¡¯ll take care of myself. Dom and my bodyguards are also with me. They take care of me and pamper me as per your instructions," she told him with a knowing smile.

    "They should or I¡¯ll give them hell if something ever happens to my wife during their watch."

    "Nothing will happen to me," she reassured him.

    "En. I¡¯ll make sure nothing happens to you," he said before remembering something. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Second Brother texted this morning to apologize because your next pregnancy test appointment with him will have to be dyed. The hospital scheduled a major surgery for him that day."

    She stiffened a little after hearing ¡¯pregnancy test¡¯ but still nodded. "Okay, no problem."

    Deep inside, she actually felt relieved that it was dyed. There was a confusing mixture of dread, fear but also excitement roiling within her whenever she thought about the pregnancy test. Her gaze dropped to her t stomach.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t feel pregnant.¡¯

    Shaking her worries away, she smiled at her darling and continued chatting with him until they both had to go.

 Chapter 704 - Long Industriesâ€™ Party Part I

    <h4>Chapter 704 - Long Industries¡¯ Party Part I </h4>

    As Long Industries¡¯ celebrity brand ambassador, Iris Long attended many events and performed a lot of marketing and PR duties for thepany. Her circle of business acquaintances expanded a great deal during this short period of time as a result. She wouldn¡¯t be a student of the (shameless) business genius Sir Lu Jianhong if she didn¡¯t take advantage of this precious opportunity to meet important business figures from different fields on a regr basis.

    On the surface, she was diligent in fulfilling hermitment as Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador, but on the side, she was gathering potentially lucrative business connections for her ownpanies. After attending these events, she would instruct Chen Fei (Orchidia Beauty) and Hou Liang  Monkey) to contact selected personages she met through these events to form some sort of business rtionship. There was no need to worry about her real estatepany Gold Heights because it was already well-established even before she acquired it after Jin Liwei gifted it to her.

    In this way, Iris wasn¡¯t only increasing her personal influence in Long Industries, and in extension, in the Long n but also expanding herpanies¡¯ connections in the business industry. Also, she didn¡¯t forget her original goal of winning the Longs¡¯ battle of session and purging the cesspool of ancient prejudice and narrow-mindedness in the n for the sake of securing a safe and bright future for her godson, Little Jun.

    It was difficult but without a doubt a win-win solution, hence why she didn¡¯t mind spending a lot of time and effort in her brand ambassadorship even though she barely had any time to rest and felt exhausted all the time.

    Fortunately, her hard work paid off. Long Industries stock prices recovered and even exceeded its previous value before the overnight crash by a few points. There was no need for the contingency ns that Long Hui had been assigned to prepare in case Iris and Long Jian failed.

    To celebrate the happy asion, President-CEO Long Tengfei threw apany-wide party. All employees were invited from the ones in the lowest rungs to the top level. The party had to be hosted in a rented convention centre instead of a hotel hall in order to amodate everyone. It wasn¡¯t very luxuriouspared to previous parties but it was appropriate given that they just survived a dangerous stock price crash.

    Iris attended the party without an escort but still stunned everyone wearing an elegant emerald evening dress with a golden dragon embroidered on the entire back. The dragon depicted on her dress was rising to the heavens, the symbol of the Long n.

    Seeing that she was wearing the n¡¯s symbol with so much pride, many of the n members who attended the party, especially the elders, couldn¡¯t help but nod in approval. Even Long Meng, Long Hui¡¯s number one supporter in the n, appreciated Iris¡¯ homage.

    The party seemed to freeze for a few seconds when Iris stepped inside the venue. Her entrance was silent, yet her presence was maic that almost everyone¡¯s heads turned towards her at the same time.

    Unlike those who held high positions in thepany, most of the average employees in Long Industries didn¡¯t retain their prejudice against her from her past reputation as a spoiled, selfish, fame-hungry and bitchy brat. In fact, there were quite a number of ck Stars among them.

    "Kyaaaah! Boss Iris is here!"

    "Thank you for saving our jobs, Young Miss Iris Long! Thanks to you, we didn¡¯t have to beid-off!"

    "Boss Iris! Please give me an autograph!"

    Iris shed them a breathtaking smile, dazzling them so much that they almost couldn¡¯t believe a human being could be so beautiful. They knew that Iris Long was beautiful and even caught sight of her multiple timesing in and out of thepany recently, but there was just something about her at this moment that caused people to stare at her like dazed idiots. She seemed to radiate an extra brightness from within.

    Greeting everyone, especially her fans, she interacted with them for a few minutes before Long Jian came to "rescue" her from the growing crowd.

    "Sorry, please excuse me," she apologized to them. "I need to greet my father, President Long, first."

    Her adoring fans didn¡¯tin and waved her away with great reluctance. Many of them were happy because they got pictures and autographs from her. The evening was still young. There were plenty of opportunities to bump into her againter.

    "You didn¡¯t bring anyone with you? Where are your bodyguards?" Long Jian asked in a whisper as he steered her away.

    "My bodyguards are here. You just don¡¯t notice them. Liwei won¡¯t let me leave the house without bringing bodyguards especially after the bomb incident," Iris told him.

    Long Jian looked around but the sheer amount of people milling about the convention centre made him unable to guess where her bodyguards were positioned. He just nodded and continued leading her deeper into the party.

    It was interesting to note that even without an official announcement of segregation, the employees automatically divided themselves ording to their positions in thepany. Those belonging in the lower ranks were near the entrance where Iris was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm because a lot of them were her fans or admired her as a celebrity.

    The farther Iris and Long Jian walked, the higher the positions of the people in thepany and the more elitist they behaved with some ignoring Iris and Long Jian altogether as if the two were nobodies, despite already noticing them right from the start due to Iris Long¡¯srge and maic presence.

    Iris and Long Jian also didn¡¯t acknowledge those snobs but made a show of reciprocating those who greeted them regardless of whether the greetings were sincere or not.

    "This is so tiring. My lips are tired smiling and acting nice to all these people who are clearly talking trash behind our backs," Iris muttered while smiling.

    Long Jian smirked. "You still have a long way to go, little sister. I told you that acting skills are important if you want to survive in the corporate world."

 Chapter 705 - Long Industriesâ€™ Party Part II

    <h4>Chapter 705 - Long Industries¡¯ Party Part II </h4>

    Iris¡¯ smile turned wry but only for a fraction of a second before reactivating her breathtaking smile as she and Long Jian greeted another department head or manager or whatever the person¡¯s position in thepany was.

    It took some time before the two reached the top-level group where Long Tengfei, the COO and the other executives congregated together. Long Hui was also there. If not for the cold glint in his eyes, the warm smile and friendly greetingsing out of his mouth almost made Iris believe that the man had turned over a brand new leaf.

    Almost. But not quite.

    Long Jian responded in kind, smiling and greeting even more warmly. The two half-brothers smiled andplimented each other, looking like they were almost unting their "brotherhood" to everyone, and eliciting a pleased expression from their father, Long Tengfei.

    Standing beside Long Jian, Iris fought the urge to snicker at the masterful disy of acting skills of the two. Unlike Long Tengfei who only chose to see the superficial interactions between his sons, Iris could feel the invisible sparks of hostility and resentment between Long Hui and Long Jian.

    When Long Hui turned his "warm" smile and "friendly" greetings to her, she also felt the same hostility and resentment being thrown at her. A wave of irritation rushed over her, so sudden and intense that she almost allowed it topletely overwhelm her. It took a great deal of control for her not to kick Long Hui in the balls and permanently end his ability to father other children after Little Jun.

    She relished the image in her head and almost went ahead with her impulse, but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one¡¯s viewpoint), she managed to remember her original goal of why she was expending so much time, effort and energy in Long Industries even though she had no interest in it at all. It was all for the sake of her godson Little Jun¡¯s future.

    Thus, she forced a smile on her face and greeted the good-for-nothing scum, even when all she wanted to do at that moment was crush his balls. It was only a smile and a few short words but Iris already felt drained. Now she understood Grandpa Lu¡¯s dislike towards what he called "people matters" because it usually involved pretending to be nice towards people who might or might not be total assholes just to forge advantageous business connections.

    Long Hui¡¯s fake smile and words grated on her nerves, intensifying her irritation and causing a throb in her temples. She really felt at that moment that she might repeat history and punch the asshole in the face just like how Grandpa Lu said he punched that asshole CEO back in the old days.

    Fortunately, Long Tengfei and the other executives distracted her from her growing irritation by chatting with her. She respected Long Tengfei as a businessman, although not so much as a father. And she also quite liked the COO who gave her a good impression when she pitched her Orchidia Beautypany to them at Long Industriesst year. Chatting with them somewhat eased her irritation.

    "Miss Long, Deputy COO Long, both of you did an excellent job," the COO praised them before offering them a toast. "Cheers!"

    "Cheers!"

    Everyone else drank wine except for Iris who opted for a warm, spiced apple cider drink instead. She noticed that Long Hui¡¯s pleasant expression cracked a little when the COO praised her and Long Jian.

    ¡¯What a petty man.¡¯

    The party continued in a cheerful, albeit uneventful, manner so far. However, for some reason, Iris grew increasingly ufortable as time went by. The soft ssical music felt too tacky, although she usually enjoyed listening to it on her own. The clinking and nking of silverware were too loud, sounding like thunderps to her ears, and the noisy chatter as well. Everyone smelled bad¡ªa mixture of sweat, heavy perfume, too much alcohol, or just in body odour. Iris wanted to gag but quickly washed it down with the warm apple cider drink instead.

    She really wanted to go home as soon as possible and rush to her darling¡¯s arms to inhale his unique masculine scent that she loved so much in order to clean and freshen her entire olfactory system which felt like it was being polluted the longer she stayed in this party.

    "Are you okay? You look a little pale," Long Jian whispered.

    She took a few deep breaths to get a hold of herself. "I¡¯m just feeling a little tired. Busy schedule and not enough sleep. I¡¯ll be fine."

    He examined her for a few moments before saying, "Maybe you¡¯re low on sugar again. Stay here. I¡¯ll get you a slice of cake or something."

    Her eyes lit up. "Yes, please. Thanks! I want the chocte-voured one."

    "What a kid," he muttered but still left and headed towards the closest buffet tables.

    When Long Jian was gone, Iris found a seat on a nearby table and gestured for a server to refill her drink. She turned her head when she noticed someone taking the seat beside her.

    "Granduncle Jufang," she greeted.

    "Xin, I noticed that you¡¯ve grown close to that bas¡ªto your half-brother Jian," he said.

    Iris¡¯ eyes narrowed, knowing that the elder almost said "bastard" to describe Long Jian. She might not hold any love for Long Jian and only treated him as an ally but the elder¡¯s prejudiced view regarding illegitimate children made her irritation return in full force.

    The elder¡¯s antiquated values and that of the majority of the Longs were some of the top reasons why she aimed to purge the entire n from its disgusting old prejudices. Taking over Long Industries wasn¡¯t enough. She wouldn¡¯t allow her godson Little Jun to be bullied by these old coots. That asshole Long Hui couldn¡¯t protect his son from the n, so she and Jin Liwei would do it!

    Although she was drowning in frustration, she still forced a smile on her face and nodded. "Yes, Granduncle. Brother Jian and I are siblings after all."

 Chapter 706 - Long Industriesâ€™ Party Part III

    <h4>Chapter 706 - Long Industries¡¯ Party Part III </h4>

    Long Jufang couldn¡¯t hide his disdain at Long Jian but quickly covered it up with an insincere nod. Then he leaned closer to Iris, making her flinch backwards. He didn¡¯t notice her reaction because he was looking at another direction. If he noticed it, he probably would feel offended.

    Iris frowned and held her breath. Her lips pressed together into a tight line. The foul smell of alcohol, sweat, and old man body odour emitted by the elder assaulted her nose and almost made her faint on the spot. She was about to flee for fresh air when his next words stopped her.

    "Look over there, Xin," Long Jufang whispered and used the jerk of his bearded chin to point at a group of people a few tables away. "That old man owns 3% shares."

    His words temporarily distracted her from his foul smell. Immediately understanding why he was saying this, she focused on his next words.

    He pointed at another table. "That madam owns 5% shares. That fe over there, 2%..."

    She listened as he continued to point out a few other minor shareholders of Long Industries in attendance at the party. There were some names she recognized from the list Qiao Yu had which the financial manager was using to contact the individuals and offer to purchase their shares. Qiao Yu¡¯s efforts were sadlyckluster so far. They refused to sell once they learned of his connection to her.

    Now it came to a point that she was considering of using another person to buy the shares for her and then transfer them to her name afterwards. As much as possible, she didn¡¯t want to use this method because she wanted to take over Long Industries in a transparent way to prevent any major repercussions against her reputation in the business industry, especially now that her Orchidia Beauty was at an important stage where it was booming at an insane rate even though it just started this year.

    Jin Liwei also offered his help in acquiring the shares for her but she wanted to do it herself. She didn¡¯t want other people to say that she used THE Jin Liwei to take over Long Industries. Nobody would ept her as the true leader of thepany in this way. This was why although it was a big pain in the ass to do everything the "proper" way (or as close to "proper" as possible), she chose to do it in order build a secure foundation for her future power and position in Long Industries, and in extension, in the n as well.

    However, if Qiao Yu¡¯s efforts to acquire shares continued to fail, then she would have no choice but to use other less "proper" ways to buy them, including asking Jin Liwei. After all, she wasn¡¯t the only one trying to purchase shares at the moment. There was no way she was going to allow Long Hui to maintain a big lead in terms of shares ownership in thepany. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    It seemed that Long Jufang was aware of her current difficulties. "If you¡¯re interested, I could negotiate with those shareholders for you. Although the amount of shares I own is considered negligiblepared to theirs, they still hold a certain degree of respect for me because of our acquaintance throughout the decades. If I make a tempting offer to purchase their shares, I have a higher chance of seeding than if you did it on your own because they would give me face as an elder of the Long n and also as a long-time fellow shareholder."

    Iris tilted her head to the side as she considered his logic. He had a point.

    He continued, "As for you, it¡¯s very unlikely that you¡¯ll be able to persuade them to sell their shares to you. First of all, your bad reputation in the past before the car ident is deeply ingrained not only in our n but also in the entirepany. Even if you changed a lot for the better right now, most of the old fellows still don¡¯t believe in you.

    "Secondly, you¡¯ve never shown any interest in working for thepany before...until now, that is. Being the brand ambassador isn¡¯t really considered as officially working for thepany. At most, it¡¯s just an honourary position. It holds no administrative power, even though you¡¯re the one who solved the stock price crash caused by your brother and the reason why we¡¯re having this party tonight. Compared to you, I know that those shareholders will be more willing to sell their shares to your brother Hui because he¡¯s the Deputy CFO, a position of legitimate power in thepany. What¡¯s more, he has always been known as your father¡¯s sessor before you were even born. Also, don¡¯t underestimate your brother¡¯s maternal family. The Zhengs are on par with us Longs. They¡¯ll do everything in their power to assist your brother Hui so that he could seed your father as the next head.

    "Andstly, people won¡¯t trust that you¡¯ll be able to sessfully manage a bigpany like ours while at the same time continuing your work as a celebrity. Unless you quit showbiz and focus on being a full-time businesswoman, you¡¯ll find it very hard to gain the trust of the old fellows in thepany. They¡¯ll only start believing in you if you can guarantee that you¡¯ll put in arge amount of time and energy into thepany. So listen to me, Xin. As your elder, I suggest that you stop ying around, quit showbiz, and start working on a serious career from now on. I¡¯m only saying this for your own good."

    Iris¡¯ hands balled into tight fists as she fought the urge to punch something, or in this case, someone.

    Stop ying around?

    Quit showbiz?

    Start working on a serious career?

    Hah!

    What did this old coot mean? That being a critically acimed and multi-award-winning musician whoposes her own music at a young age was just ying around? That it wasn¡¯t a serious career?

    The insult!!!

 Chapter 707 - Long Industriesâ€™ Party Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 707 - Long Industries¡¯ Party Part IV </h4>

    A hand pressed down on Iris¡¯ shoulder, the firm yet gentle weight giving her a silent warning. Thanks to the sudden touch, she was able to regain control of her violent emotions which until a couple of seconds ago were in serious danger of erupting because of Long Jufang¡¯s careless and insulting remark about her showbiz career.

    "Did you wait long, little sister? Here, I got you some cakes, mousse, and pudding. I got a little bit of everything that is chocte," Long Jian announced from behind her before cing a big te of various small slices of chocte-voured desserts on the table with his right hand while his left hand remained on her shoulder.

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up, saliva immediately flooding inside her mouth, as soon as she saw the te of delicious-looking desserts. The sweet and rich chocte aroma wafted to her nose and somehow masked the foul smell of everybody else in the party.

    "Thanks," she mumbled, unable to stop herself from taking the small spoon from Long Jian and starting to eat.

    Long Jufang scowled, first at Long Jian¡¯s interruption, second at his presence which the elder deemed horribly unpleasant because of Long Jian¡¯s illegitimate child status, and third at Iris¡¯ disrespect of prioritizing food over his "sage" words.

    "Granduncle." Long Jian greeted the scowling elder with a nod, his expression cool and unreadable, before removing his hand on Iris¡¯ shoulder and taking a seat on her other side.

    "Hmph!" Long Jufang wanted to drive the bastard away and resume his conversation with Iris but he sensed that Long Jian wouldn¡¯tply. They were also in a public setting at the moment with many eyes watching them. As a proud Long, he wouldn¡¯t allow their noble n to lose face by exposing his derision of his bastard grandnephew in front of everyone.

    In the end, he chose to ignore Long Jian¡¯s presence and turned to Iris. "Remember my words, Xin. You¡¯ll do well if you follow them."

    Iris paused eating. She finished swallowing before facing Long Jufang. Her mood had greatly improved after tasting the mouth-watering chocte desserts. Although she still felt insulted by the elder¡¯s disregard for her current showbiz career, she tamped the anger down.

    "Granduncle, I¡¯ll think about your words," she replied. Well, it was true...to some extent. She would certainly think about what he said but it didn¡¯t mean that she would follow his advice.

    Long Jufang didn¡¯t know this, however. He thought that she was agreeing to obey him. A pleased expression appeared on his wrinkled face as he nodded. "Very good!"

    "Is your offer to help me negotiate with the shareholders still avable?" she asked next.

    The elder¡¯s pleased expression changed into a sly one, while on the other side of Iris, Long Jian¡¯s eyes glinted with curiosity.

    "Of course," Long Jufang said. "I¡¯ll dly act as an intermediary for you. But! I have a few conditions."

    Iris didn¡¯t reply right away, observing the elder¡¯s expression instead and trying to decipher his thoughts. Although her expression-reading skills weren¡¯t very skillful, she was certain that his motives weren¡¯t entirely pure. Despite this, she was still willing to cooperate with the elder in order to reach her goals. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Finally, she nodded. "I understand. What are your conditions, Granduncle?" she asked in a solemn tone.

    Long Jufang smiled in triumph. "Let¡¯s talk more about this another time. It¡¯s not appropriate to discuss this kind of important matter in front outsiders," he said before throwing a shady look at Long Jian.

    He didn¡¯t wait for them to reply before excusing himself and leaving.

    "That nasty ancient fossil," Long Jian grumbled under his breath when Long Jufang was finally out of earshot.

    Iris resumed eating.

    He watched her enjoying the desserts for about a minute or so before inquiring about Long Jufang¡¯s offer to her. She didn¡¯t conceal the matter and told him about the elder¡¯s offer to act as intermediary between her and the shareholders in her mission to acquire more shares in Long Industries.

    Long Jian was quiet afterwards. A touch of envy shed in his eyes before it was reced by determination and self-confidence.

    The two didn¡¯t speak with each other for a few minutes. He was absorbed in his own thoughts while she was absorbed in finishing her desserts.

    Afterwards, the two of them stood up and began roaming around the party to chat with the other guests. Iris didn¡¯t want to do it at first but Long Jian reminded her that if she wanted to grow her influence within thepany, she needed to suck it up and follow his suggestion as an ally. In between chatting with other people, they also whispered to each other.

    "Before I forget, let me you tell now that when I was getting you the desserts, I learned from a trusted source the punishment Father gave Long Hui," he said.

    She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to borate.

    "No bonus pay starting right now for two years. No sry raises for three years. Plus cancetion of other perks."

    Iris frowned.

    "Apparently, he¡¯ll also be sent to a tiny branch in a rural ce somewhere up north where he¡¯ll stay until the remainder of the year."

    Iris¡¯ frown deepened.

    Long Jian sneered. "Not enough, right? Except for reduced ie for three years, this punishment won¡¯t actually affect him in a significant way. Even his supposed temporary ¡¯exile¡¯ to that tiny, rural northern branch will onlyst until the end of the year which is basically just a couple of months or so. I already expected that Father would give that son of a bitch a light punishment, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be this light. This is so unfair!"

    "Indeed," she murmured.

    "Tsk!" Long Jian was pissed off, but he still managed to sh a bright smile whenever someone greeted them.

    "Father doesn¡¯t have the heart to give a harsh punishment to his eldest son, so that means that it¡¯ll be up to us to mete out our own punishment to him," she said.

 Chapter 708 - Long Industriesâ€™ Party Part V

    <h4>Chapter 708 - Long Industries¡¯ Party Part V </h4>

    "I like the sound of that," Long Jian replied with a smirk.

    "The harder Long Hui shes against us will determine how harsh our punishment for him will be," Iris said.

    He snorted. "You¡¯re being too fair, little sister."

    "I know," she sighed. "As much as I want to beat him up for all the horrible things he said and did because of his stupidity and insecurity, at the end of the day, he¡¯s still the father of my godson whether I like it or not."

    Long Jian grunted.

    Iris wasn¡¯t sure if he agreed with her or not from his vague response, so she looked at him directly in the eyes with a serious expression. "Our nephew, Little Jun, is a very cute, sweet and lovable child. I can¡¯t bear to do anything excessive that might scar him for life. That¡¯s why even though I¡¯m furious at my godson¡¯s stupid father, I need to consider their parent-child rtionship. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s going to happen in the future and what kind of rtionship they¡¯ll have or how close or distant they¡¯ll be. If we destroy Long Hui to the point of no return now, but then in the future Little Jun decides that his father has been wronged by us..." Her eyes became troubled. "I don¡¯t want my godson to hate me," she whispered.

    He didn¡¯t reply right away because he wasn¡¯t sure what to say. If this was before, he would probably have scoffed at his youngest sister¡¯s words for being overly emotional and dramatic. She had always been a drama queen since she was a little girl after all, taking after her mother Wei Lan...that was until the car ident.

    Now, however, for some reason, he no longer had the heart to dismiss her concerns like he had done before. He didn¡¯t have any special feelings for his nephew because there hadn¡¯t been a chance for him to form a meaningful rtionship with the child nor had the desire to form one (or so he believed). This was why he couldn¡¯t really rte to Iris¡¯ deep love and affection for Long Hui¡¯s son. But seeing the sincerity of her protectiveness towards the child in her eyes, he couldn¡¯t help but be interested in their nephew. Could he also be close to the child like her, even though the child was Long Hui¡¯s son, the man he considered to be his greatest rival in life?

    A furrow formed between his brows. How did his thoughts turn like this? It seemed that his rtionship with his youngest sister had greatly changed without him noticing since they began their temporary alliance. Was this good or bad? He wasn¡¯t sure.

    ¡¯Let¡¯s just go with the flow,¡¯ he thought. ¡¯We have a deal. As long as Xin and CEO Jin help free my mother from jail, I¡¯ll fulfill my end of the bargain and help Xin in thepany. For now.¡¯

    He was still caught up in his own thoughts when he noticed that Iris stopped walking and was frowning at another direction. He thought that she was once again eyeing the buffet tables, so he backtracked to her side and asked, "What¡¯s wrong? Are you hungry again? I¡¯m not gonna interfere with your lifestyle or anything like that, but is it really okay for you to eat too much sweets? Aren¡¯t celebrities always on diet?"

    Iris rolled her eyes before gesturing for him to pay attention to where she was looking. He followed and saw Long Hui a few tables away talking with a group of old but distinguished people. It only took him a couple of seconds to recognize that some of them were minor shareholders in thepany. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "He¡¯s expressing his interest to purchase their shares and based on their pleasant conversation, it seems that he might just seed," Iris murmured.

    "How do you know that¡¯s what they¡¯re talking about?"

    "I¡¯m reading their lips. Hmm. Just now, they arranged a meeting to formally negotiate the matter in two days."

    Long Jian was speechless. He almost blurted out "You¡¯re kidding me" but decided to hold his tongue instead after seeing that she was serious.

    Huh. Did she really have such an amazing ability? If it was true, then he could only envy her. He wished that he could also read lips from a distance. This kind of ability was a huge advantage for creating opportunities and also for protecting oneself. So when he looked at his youngest sister again, there was now a touch of genuine admiration in his eyes.

    As for Iris, she didn¡¯t notice Long Jian¡¯s admiring gaze because she was still focused on "eavesdropping" on Long Hui¡¯s attempts of courting the shareholders, the majority of them were the ones Elder Long Jufang pointed out to her earlier.

    "He¡¯s working fast," she said.

    "He¡¯s getting desperate," Long Jian corrected after recovering from his initial shock of her ability to read lips.

    "Hmm. True. But from what I¡¯m reading from their lips, it looks like his desperation is quite effective. I think he¡¯s trying to gain as much advantage as possible before being exiled to the rural north."

    "He can¡¯t afford to buy all those shares..." He paused when he remembered something. "Oh, right. He might not be able to afford those shares by himself but the Zhengs and his fianc¨¦e¡¯s family, the Maos, are backing him. I also won¡¯t be surprised if Elder Meng and his other supporters in the n will pitch in to help him buy morepany shares. Although it¡¯s insanely reckless and expensive for him at this stage of his career, he still has the highest chance among us siblings to seed in doing so. At this rate, he¡¯ll eventually be a major shareholder." He turned to her. "So what are you going to do about it?"

    "I¡¯ll just have to move faster than him," she replied.

    "How? With the help of Elder Jufang? That ancient fossil is a scheming snake. Do you really trust him?"

    She gave him a side-eye. "No, I don¡¯t. I also don¡¯t trust you but look at us¡ªallies."

 Chapter 709 - Long Industriesâ€™ Party Part VI

    <h4>Chapter 709 - Long Industries¡¯ Party Part VI </h4>

    Long Jian was once again rendered speechless but couldn¡¯t argue with what Iris said because it was the truth, in and simple. Indeed, there was no genuine trust between them right from the start, and yet somehow they still ended up bing allies.

    It would serve him well to remember that theirs was just a temporary alliance. Once they attained their own objectives, they would be rivals fighting against each other for the top position.

    That was how it should be.

    But why was it that right now he was thinking that it would be such a big shame to sever their pleasant rtionship afterwards? They had only been working together for a short period of time but they already developed a camaraderie that surprised him.

    He even started bringing little sweets in his pocket for whenever she had her childish cravings, for goodness¡¯ sake! Was he raising a pet or what?

    Before he could examine his own feelings about their alliance, the party¡¯s emcee called everyone¡¯s attention to begin a round of important speeches from thepany¡¯s key executives.

    The atmosphere was very festive with a collective feeling of great relief after oveing the nerve-wracking stock price crash.

    As the big boss, Long Tengfei was thest one to take the mic and give a speech. Truth be told, almost all the executives¡¯ speeches sounded the same¡ªmostly boring. Fortunately, he kept his speech brief and concise.

    "Tonight we celebrate our tenacity to survive despite all the odds against us," he said. "We, Long Industries, are strong, dedicated and tough. We don¡¯t give up!"

    His passionate statement earned the cheers from everyone.

    He continued, "We fell dangerously close to the bottom but thankfully, we have talented individuals who quickly burst into action to solve ourpany¡¯s greatest predicament so far. And I¡¯m proud to say that the leading figures who pulled us from drowning were two of my own children."

    The cheers immediately became louder, the loudest being the ones near the entrance. Everyone knew who Long Tengfei was talking about. Therge group near the entrance may have low positions in thepany but they had the advantage in numbers. Many of them were ck Stars, so they couldn¡¯t help themselves but cheer with all their might.

    "I would like to invite the Deputy COO who¡¯s also my second son, Long Jian, and of course, ourpany¡¯s current celebrity brand ambassador and also my youngest daughter, Iris Long, toe join me on the stage."

    Amidst the almost deafening cheers and apuse, mostly from the loyal ck Stars, two figures made their way to the stage to join their father. One was handsome while the other was beautiful. Both were elegant in their own way. Together, they looked divine. If people didn¡¯t already know that the two gorgeous individuals were siblings, it wasn¡¯t far-fetched to think that they were romantically well-matched.

    Like a gentleman, Long Jian escorted Iris up the stage. They instantly became the centre of attention. A famous celebrity like Iris Long was already used to this kind of environment so there were no surprises there.

    It was Long Jian who surprised everyone with his poised charisma. He looked very natural being the centre of attention just like his sister.

    Long Tengfeimended the two siblings for their roles in solving thepany¡¯s stock price crash. Although his praises for them were brief, there was no mistaking the pride in his voice. It was a refreshing sight for the employees because they were so used to seeing their President-CEO always looking serious and strict.

    A few tables away from the stage, Long Hui stered on a neutral semi-smile on his face while he followed along with everybody else and pped, only his rhythm was slow and weak like a robot almost drained of its battery. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Inside, he was seething as he watched his father sing the praises of Long Jian and Iris. Even with the loud cheering and apuse, he could still hear snatches of mockingments about him causing the overnight stock price crash. He could feel the judgmental stares being thrown at him like arrows deepening and widening the wounds on his pride and ego.

    The contrast in treatment tonight between him and his half-siblings didn¡¯t escape his notice. On the contrary, he could feel it like a huge mountain pressing down on him and suffocating him and making it difficult to live as he normally did.

    It was torture pretending to not be affected right now. He wanted to escape away from all the prying eyes but forced himself to stay and maintain the fake semi-smile on his face. People were bound to notice if he left when his half-siblings were still on the stage.

    ¡¯Endure. You¡¯ll be the one standing at the top in the end,¡¯ he told himself like a prayer.

    Remembering the appointments he managed to arrange with some shareholders earlier, his mood improved. He became aware through talking to them that a representative of Iris was going around and making offers to them to purchase their shares but was unsessful. He felt even better after thinking about her repeated failures in acquiring shares.

    ¡¯Now you know it¡¯s not that easy to try and take over thepany and contend against me.¡¯

    He watched the trio of Iris, Long Jian and their father climbing down the stage. They were a picture of a harmonious family. An ugly feeling filled him to the point that his chest tightened so much that it literally hurt. The good mood he had flew away as quickly as it came.

    What happened? How did everythinge to this?

    He, Long Hui, had always been their father¡¯s biggest pride among them siblings. He had been groomed to be the sessor ever since he could remember. Yet now there was disappointment in their father¡¯s eyes whenever he looked at him.

    The thought of suffering the punishment his father gave him worsened the ugly feeling in his heart. He, the Deputy CFO, temporarily exiled to some useless branch?

    Unable to take it anymore, he slipped away, walking aimlessly far away from everyone in order to keep his sanity.

 Chapter 710 - Personal Air Freshener

    <h4>Chapter 710 - Personal Air Freshener </h4>

    As the evening grewte, some people began to leave. There were those, however, who only became more spirited as the party went on.

    The festive atmosphere prompted many to drink more alcohol, bing inebriated, although fortunately none acted too rowdy and ended up embarrassing themselves in front of their bosses and colleagues with any wild, drunken behaviour. Some though lost a little of their inhibitions by bing more extroverted but thank goodness they didn¡¯t lose their good manners in the process as well.

    Iris, who for some reason had be oversensitive to smellstely, almost couldn¡¯t bear the nauseating mishmash of revolting scents wafting from everyone around her. She paled and stumbled a little on her feet, doing her best not to inhale too much of the polluted air while cold sweat beaded on her skin.

    She was roaming around by herself at the moment and interacting with some of her fans. Long Jian had long since left her to chat with his own circle of close colleagues.

    Everyone was busy doing their own thing at the party, either using it as an opportunity towork and advance their careers or simply treating it as a break from work to rx and have a good time.

    Iris adored her loyal fans, the ck Stars, and would always be grateful for their support but right now, she could no longer take the sickening smells assaulting her. After signing what felt like the millionth autograph tonight, she excused herself and made a quick escape.

    In her peripheral vision, she noticed her bodyguards following her without acting too conspicuous with the female bodyguard walking closest to her.

    "To the powder room," Iris said in a low voice but then gasped when the surrounding smells almost choked her. She immediately held her breath while hurrying out of the main hall. Her desperate actions caused her to sway and almost fall down.

    Her female bodyguard reacted quickly and grabbed her arm to steady her. Iris allowed her bodyguard to guide her to the nearest empty powder room. It was fortunate that nobody noticed her difort because she still managed to look elegant as always.

    The female bodyguard entered with her inside. Iris felt weak and a little dizzy but also relieved to be away from the suffocating jumble of smells at the party. Gradually, she managed to recover her bearings.

    "Let¡¯s go back," Iris said, nning to return to the main hall to bid good night to Long Tengfei and the others so that she could finally go home and rest.

    But before her bodyguard could respond, an insistent knocking interrupted them. Iris frowned, annoyed at the person who disturbed them.

    "upied!" her bodyguard shouted at the door.

    "It¡¯s me," a familiar male voice replied.

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up, her frown disappearing. The female bodyguard moved to open the door. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Jin Liwei, still in his business suit, entered the powder room while the female bodyguard left and closed the door to give the couple privacy. He zeroed in on Iris and scowled after seeing her pale, unhealthy appearance. Her bodyguards needed some serious scolding because they didn¡¯t take care of his baby girl. It only took a second for him to reach her with his long legs.

    "How are you feeling?" he asked as he gathered her in his arms. His voice sounded calm but his tight expression revealed deep worry for her and a touch of anger for those who caused her to be like this.

    "I¡¯m fine now," she assured him with a smile, delighted that he came to pick her up when she didn¡¯t expect it. Her body melted in his embrace while she pressed her face against his chest and inhaled his scent, not caring that some of her make-up smudged on his white dress shirt underneath his business jacket.

    Ah, he smelled so good!

    She could feel her entire olfactory system being cleansed of the stinky pollution she suffered earlier at the party. He was like her very own personal air freshener. As expected of her darling.

    Inhale, inhale, inhale some more! Mmmm~

    Sighing softly, she hugged his waist and pulled him closer.

    "What happened?" he asked in a gentle voice while rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head.

    "Hmmm. Just exhausted. I want to go home now, Liwei." Now that he was here, she felt veryfortable andzy to provide a detailed exnation.

    "Alright. We¡¯ll go home now." He didn¡¯t press her but decided to interrogate her bodyguardster. For now, he needed to bring his baby girl home so that she could rest.

    The level of her exhaustiontely had be quite worrisome. He didn¡¯t want to interfere with her work knowing that she loved being busy, but if it started negatively affecting her health, then he would have no choice but to take a stand and stop her even if it resulted to them fighting. He couldn¡¯t bear for her to faint or go intoa again. Those experiences had traumatized him for life.

    While hugging her, he began remembering what she was like in the past couple of weeks or so. A suspicion bloomed in his mind. Once it took root, it started nagging at him without rest.

    He opened his mouth and was about to voice his suspicion to her but then stopped himself. His baby girl was too exhausted at the moment. There was no need to agitate her tonight. He closed his mouth and sighed. He would have to talk to her about it when she was well-rested, perhaps tomorrow.

    They left the powder room. Xu Tian was outside the door with the bodyguards. Before Iris could say anything, Jin Liwei was already instructing his assistant to inform Long Tengfei that he would be taking Iris home. Xu Tian immediately left to do his bidding.

    "Is that okay?" Iris asked. "I¡¯m Long Industries¡¯ brand ambassador. I should at least personally inform Father and the others before leaving."

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. They¡¯ll recognize Xu Tian and know that I sent him and took you away. Xu Tian will tell them that it¡¯s me who stopped you from personally bidding them goodbye. Who among them has the guts to find fault with my decisions?"

 Chapter 711 - Stop Seducing Me!

    <h4>Chapter 711 - Stop Seducing Me! </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s domineering words made Iris chuckle. But he was right. Indeed, who among the people back at the main hall had the guts to find fault with Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO. Even Long Tengfei, the future father-inw showed respect to Jin Liwei and treated him like a superior in business.

    As for Iris, deep inside, she didn¡¯t give a whit about what those higher-ups at Long Industries thought about her. It was just that in order to build a strong and stable foundation in thepany and the Long n, she had to try to get along with most of them to gain their support and make the road towards achieving her goal a little easier. This was why she was working so hard and allying herself with people who she didn¡¯t particrly trust.

    Nevertheless, she felt relieved that Jin Liwei made the decision to take her home as soon as possible without needing her to personally bid goodbye to Long Tengfei and the others. She really felt too exhausted and had no desire to endure the overwhelming stink back at the main hall. Even just remembering the revolting smells made her nauseous.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jin Liwei asked when he noticed her looking pale again.

    She didn¡¯t answer. Instead, she once again pressed her face against his chest and inhaled his masculine scent deeply as if her life depended on it.

    "Talk to me, love. I¡¯m getting worried."

    Giving ast big inhale, Iris kissed his chest before lifting her head up to look at him.

    "Are you feeling very sick?" he continued to ask. "I¡¯ll take you to the hospital right now."

    "No need. I¡¯m fine. Just really exhausted."

    He examined her for a few seconds before nodding. But he still couldn¡¯t shake away his worry.

    Their group made a quick and quiet exit from the convention centre. Ketchup coordinated with the bodyguards to lead the couple outside and evade the paparazzi and obsessive fans waiting to ambush Iris.

    Iris sighed in relief once they got inside the car. She stuck close to Jin Liwei¡¯s side and kept sniffing his neck. Her actions amused him but of course, he was also loving it.

    "I wore this suit at work for the entire day. I must be stinky right now."

    "No, you¡¯re not," she immediately denied. "You smell so good! The best!"

    The corner of his lips curved into a smug smile. "Yeah?"

    Instead of replying, she nuzzled his neck and began sucking. The driver reacted quickly and activated the partition wall to give the couple privacy and also to shield his single dog eyes. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    New hickeys glistened on Jin Liwei¡¯s neck. Iris¡¯ nuzzling and sucking turned hotter as she pulled his head for a deep kiss on the mouth. She became very aroused despite being bone-tired. Wanting more, she slid a leg up on hisp in a semi-straddling position. A pleased moan escaped her lips when her knee bumped against his erection under his trousers.

    Jin Liwei gasped and grabbed her knee, gently pushing it away from his hot, raging hard-on. "You¡¯re killing me," he hissed through gritted teeth.

    His reaction only spurred her enthusiasm. She kissed him more passionately. When her hand began to move down his body and reached his belt, he had no choice but to stop her even though he was as aroused as her. He caught her naughty hand and fought the impulse to press it on his erection.

    It was a great struggle not to sumb to desire. All he wanted to do at the moment was to push her down the seat and pound himself deep and hard inside her wet heat. There was no way, however, that he was going to broadcast a live sex show to his subordinates even though they couldn¡¯t actually watch it with their own eyes.

    "Be good," he told her in a strained voice. "My men is on the other side of the wall."

    Iris red at him. "Then stop seducing me!"

    Jin Liwei was dumbstruck at her sudden usation. He watched, speechless, as she pushed his chest hard while huffing before moving away to the opposite end of the backseat. She gave him another evil eye before turning away as if the mere sight of him was greatly offending her.

    What. The. Hell. Was. Going. On?

    Could someone exin? He felt utterly confused and unable to understand the current situation.

    He was just sitting there, doting on her even when she was acting all weird by sniffing at him like a dog. Then she was all over him the next moment, giving him new hickeys, touching his body with her naughty hands, and kissing his brains out.

    And she used HIM of seducing HER? How?!

    Thebination of confusion at her sudden bad mood, frustration due to his current unspent desire, and worry of her being angry at him was muddling his ability to think properly. But the one thing he knew that he should do at the moment was to coax her before the situation swirled even more out of his control and resulted into a full-blown fight between them.

    "Love..." he called out to her.

    She ignored him.

    "Baby..."

    Ignored again.

    "Dear wife..."

    "Don¡¯t talk to me!" she snarled at him.

    He didn¡¯t give up. There was no way he was going to allow their night to end with them fighting, even when he had no idea why she was so mad at him in the first ce. So he asked her directly, "Why are you mad?"

    Her eyes shed with zing fury, and she even bared her teeth at him. Then she stopped and frowned in confusion, her head tilting to the side as she thought about his question.

    "I don¡¯t know," she admitted. "I just feel angry all of a sudden. You must¡¯ve done something to piss me off, though I can¡¯t remember what it was. But it must be your fault. Otherwise, why would I suddenly be mad at you? Yes, that¡¯s right. It must be your fault. Hmph!"

    Poor Jin Liwei felt like his brain cells were dying as he tried and failed to understand his wife¡¯s sudden anger.

 Chapter 712 - Are You A Vacuum Cleaner?!

    <h4>Chapter 712 - Are You A Vacuum Cleaner?! </h4>

    While Jin Liwei was still trying hard toprehend why his baby girl became mad at him so suddenly, Iris¡¯ mood once again changed halfway through their journey home. It was as if her fierce anger from earlier had never happened in the first ce.

    She returned to sticking close to him, grabbing his arm and cing it around her, making herselffortable, and then snuggling as she resumed sniffing his scent. The only difference now was that she was no longer naughty, touching him everywhere and making both of them aroused. On the contrary, she was acting very docile, like a cat who just wanted a cuddle and a gentle petting session.

    Jin Liwei, of course, gave in to her silent demand and started cuddling and "petting" her. However, he still felt wary of her mood, expecting it to change again at any given moment. He sat very still and stayed quiet, afraid that any other actions would trigger her and again leave him helpless and confused out of his wits.

    It was only when they finally arrived home that he breathed out a huge sigh of relief. She had already fallen asleep. Not wanting to wake her up, he carefully carried her out of the car into the mansion.

    Everyone was quiet and didn¡¯t dare make any noise in fear of waking up their mistress and, in turn, trigger their master¡¯s rage. Jin Liwei carried her all the way to their bedroom suite. He was about to clean her up and get her ready for bed while she slept when her eyes opened.

    "Sorry, love. Did I wake you up? Go back to sleep."

    Iris yawned and gestured for him to put her down. "Have to wash up first," she mumbled with heavy eyes. She walked unsteadily to the bathroom without waiting for his response.

    He followed behind her. They helped each other wash up. Well, it was mostly Jin Liwei who was doing all the helping because Iris was too exhausted that she could barely stand on her own feet.

    Afterwards, she stumbled on bedpletely naked. He also didn¡¯t bother putting on any clothing. Seeing her exhaustion, he felt sorry for her and also worried about her health. However, he wanted to test something first or else his mind wouldn¡¯t let him rest tonight.

    "Hm? Why aren¡¯t you lying down yet?" she asked after noticing that he was still standing beside the bed and watching her. "Come on. Let¡¯s sleep."

    He climbed on the bed but instead of lying down, he leaned over her and began kissing her chin, neck and the valley between her breasts. Then he cradled both of her soft mounds in his hands while examining them with a serious expression.

    "Liwei, what are you doing? I¡¯m too tired and sleepy to make love tonight. Let¡¯s do it tomorrow morning instead. Okay?"

    "I¡¯ll just have a little taste. Then I¡¯ll let you sleep," he assured her.

    She sighed and closed her eyes, surrendering to his small request. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    With a gentle touch, he traced the distinct dark blue veins visible underneath the skin of her milky-white breasts. Now that he looked carefully, they weren¡¯t like this before. Then he moved his head down and started licking her nipples while watching the changes of her facial expressions.

    She stirred and moaned, clearly liking it.

    Next, he closed his mouth on the nipple and sucked gently. Her eyes opened this time and she looked at him with half-lidded eyes. There was a furrow between her brows.

    He stopped sucking and resumed the gentle sucking. It seemed that she preferred licking to sucking because her eyes closed and soft moans began escaping from her lips again.

    Still keeping a close watch on her expression, he moved to the next step of his test. Steeling himself, he sucked on her nipple. Hard.

    "OUCH!!!" Iris roared.

    She pushed him away with all her might, causing him to stumble backwards. It was fortunate that their bed was huge or else he would¡¯ve fallen to the floor. Iris¡¯nguid sleepiness was now gone. She red at him with such fierceness and fury that she looked like she was about to murder him.

    "JIN LIWEI!!! HOW DARE YOU SUCK ME THAT HARD, YOU ASSHOLE?!!! ARE YOU A VACUUM CLEANER?!!! UGH!!! IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!!! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?!!!!!!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s serious expression only became more solemn after seeing her extreme reaction. If this was before, she would have loved it whenever he sucked her nipples that hard. In fact, it was a move that was guaranteed to make her more aroused and passionate during their lovemaking.

    He already expected this kind of reaction to some extent, and it only deepened the suspicion in his mind. Right now, however, there was no time to think about it more deeply because he needed to diffuse the situation first and appease his once again furious baby girl. Although he felt guilty doing this test when she was so exhausted, he still did it to address his suspicion so that he could sleep tonight.

    "Love, I¡¯m sorr¡ª"

    "SHUT UP!!!"

    He tried talking and showing with his expression how sorry he was, but she was too mad and refused to listen to him.

    "I don¡¯t want to be with you tonight!!! Go sleep with the cats!!!! Get out of here!!!!!"

    He frowned, not liking that he was being kicked out of the bedroom. He opened his mouth to persuade her to retract her decision but as expected of her current bad mood, she didn¡¯t allow him a chance to even say a word.

    She pointed an aggressive finger at the door and roared at him, "GET OUT!!! NOW!!!!!"

    His lips pressed together in a thin line, as he reined in his own temper. Although he suspected that he knew the true reason for her extreme mood swings tonight, it still wasn¡¯t a great feeling to be yelled at and kicked out of their bedroom.

    ¡¯Patience, Liwei. Be patient. Don¡¯t face her anger with your own anger,¡¯ he chanted to himself like a prayer.

 Chapter 713 - Kicked Ou

    <h4>Chapter 713 - Kicked Ou </h4>

    Jin Liwei watched as his baby girl gave him a final evil eye before dropping back on the bed like a heavy sack of potatoes and then pulling the duvet over her entire body up to her head until she was only a cute little lump under the covers. He was about to touch her¡ªa subconscious move to appease her like always¡ªbut caught himself in time when his hand was only a couple of inches away from her covered body.

    His temper that he was doing his best to restrain at the moment protested against his usual tendency to be the first one to give in to her whenever they argued. Being yelled at and kicked out of his bedroom tonight had provoked him. If she was any other person and not the woman he loved the most in the entire world, he would have already snapped at her and showed her that Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t someone to be trifled with just like that.

    Although he knew that it was his fault for triggering her in the first ce due to his suspicion, it didn¡¯t sit well with him that she didn¡¯t even give him a chance to apologize before roaring at him like a threatened tigress. Perhaps the umted exhaustion from his busy work schedule was beginning to affect him. He didn¡¯t feel like putting up with her extreme mood swings for the rest of the night.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll make up with Xin tomorrow. Tonight, I need to rest first,¡¯ he decided.

    With a frustrated sigh, he climbed off the bed and donned his satin sleeping robe over his nude body. He kept his eyes away from his baby girl under the sheets to prevent himself from softening and returning to lie beside her despite being pushed away. Then he grabbed his phone and headed out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

    He stayed in their suite¡¯s living room instead of going to the cats¡¯ room like what she told him to. The lights were dim and the atmosphere was cozy. However, he felt cold and empty because he was used to sleeping with his beloved woman wrapped in his arms every night.

    Propping a couple of throw pillows under his head, hey on the couch and shifted his body in a restless manner, trying to find afortable position but to no avail. How could he feelfortable when his baby girl was only a door away and all he wanted was to lie beside her and hug her warm body to sleep?

    He groaned and cursed their sted fight but then remembered something. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Ketchup," he called, making sure his voice was quiet to prevent his baby girl from hearing him on the off chance that she was still awake. The woman had the most insane hearing ability he had ever encountered in his entire life.

    "Meow? What¡¯s up, Daddy? Ketchup is in the house~" A white virtual cat appeared on his smartphone¡¯s screen shaking her fluffy butt in excitement at being summoned. Fortunately, Ketchup matched his quiet voice, albeit hers was more energetic.

    "I need you to¡ª"

    "It¡¯s sote already. Why isn¡¯t Daddy sleeping yet? Meow~"

    "Ketchup, let me finish¡ª"

    "Eh? Why isn¡¯t Daddy sleeping in the bedroom with Mommy? Oh no! Did Daddy and Mommy fight?! Please don¡¯t fight! Meeeeooow!!!"

    "Ketchup!" Jin Liwei threw a stern re at the over-dramatic cat. If his baby girl didn¡¯t tell him that Ketchup was theirs, then he probably would¡¯ve assumed that the cat AI was Dominic¡¯s sole child instead.

    "Sorry, Daddy. Meow..."

    He sighed and started massaging his forehead after seeing the virtual white cat¡¯s pitiful expression. Her cute head was lowered in a wounded manner while her eyes glistened with tears. When Jin Liwei spoke again, his tone couldn¡¯t help but be gentle. What could he do? He already imed the naughty chatterbox cat AI as his child. He couldn¡¯t just treat Ketchup as someone insignificant.

    "Call the butler," he instructed. "Make it quiet. Don¡¯t wake your mom. Oh, and don¡¯t tell your mom about anything you¡¯ll hear from this conversation. Understood?"

    "Oh oh oh! A secret! Meow! Okie dokie, Daddy! The cute and mighty Ketchup won¡¯t tell Mommy. Promise! Ketchup will now call Uncle Butler in 3...2...1!"

    The butler¡¯s polite, slightly cold tone answered after only two rings. He sounded like he always did, no signs of sleep in his voice, even though it was already sote in the night. "Hello, Young Miss Ketchup. How may I help you?"

    "It¡¯s me," Jin Liwei said.

    The butler didn¡¯t miss a beat and smoothly greeted Jin Liwei. "Master."

    "Buy some home pregnancy test kits. Hand them to me when I return home from work tomorrow evening. Don¡¯t let your mistress know."

    "Understood, Master. Consider it done."

    "Good."

    After the call, Jin Liwei also bid good night to Ketchup who sounded disappointed. The talkative cat AI looked like she still wanted to chat with him. Too bad that he was in no mood tonight to deal with her gossiping mouth that she inherited from Dominic Chua.

    With ast look at the bedroom door, he closed his eyes. It was difficult to sleep at first despite feeling exhausted because he was already missing his baby girl so badly and yearning for the feel of her in his arms. There were several times he almost stood up to return to the bedroom but stopped himself. He still felt a little pissed off at her for roaring at him without giving him a chance to talk before kicking him out.

    ¡¯Just you wait, woman. Don¡¯t think you can get away for yelling at me and kicking me out without paying the consequences.¡¯

    He smirked at the thought of what he was going to do to her the next time they had an alone time together. Tomorrow, maybe. But his smirk disappeared and his eyes darkened instead when he realized that a bulge was starting to grow and stiffen underneath his satin robe.

 Chapter 714 - I Take It Back

    <h4>Chapter 714 - I Take It Back </h4>

    "Dammit." Jin Liwei forced himself to recite as many digits as he could in the value of pi in an effort to kill his raging erection.

    He only needed to think about his baby girl for a second and his little brother down below was already raring its hungry head in search for her sweet, wet heat. The power his woman had over his desire was no joke. His only constion was the knowledge that she would also react the same way as him in the same situation.

    Reciting the value of pi once again proved its usefulness. It not only calmed his erection but also lulled him to sleep after a few minutes. Its effect was even more potent than the traditional counting of sheep. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    When he reached a state between being awake and fallingpletely asleep, he became vaguely aware of the sound of a door being opened. There were other soft, quiet sounds but he felt too sleepy to care.

    That was until he felt a dip on the couch directly beside him and a familiar touch on his chest.

    His baby girl¡¯s beautiful voice called for him softly. "Liwei?"

    He instantly awakened but didn¡¯t open his eyes. He pretended to sleep, wanting to know what she was going to do next.

    "Darling?"

    It was torture not to respond to her when all he wanted was to grab and kiss her like a ravenous madman. He tamped his desire down and continued lying still. Despite all this, a sweet warmth which originated from her delicate hand pressing on his chest already began to seep straight to his heart and spread to his entire body. If he wasn¡¯t pretending to sleep, he would already be sporting a huge grin, knowing that she was the one who gave in first this time and not him.

    To be honest, he didn¡¯t expect that she would be the first one to seek him out after their fight earlier. He thought that she already fell asleep, yet now here she was, calling him and trying to wake him up with her sweetness. Then a thought entered his mind.

    ¡¯Don¡¯t tell me this is one of her extreme mood swings again. I won¡¯t be deceived this time!¡¯

    He was solidifying his n to continue pretending to sleep when he felt a finger poke his cheek.

    "Wake up."

    He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt her warm breath tickle his ear which also had a direct effect on his groin. It wasn¡¯t only that. Because she was bending, her soft breasts covered by satin, probably her sleeping robe, were pressing on his arm. His fingers twitched with the urge to grab them and y with his favourite pair of treasures. But he immediately sobered up upon remembering that it was this pair of treasures which caused their fight in the first ce.

    They ought to be sore and sensitive right now. In short, off-limits.

    Shit.

    This was torture.

    While he was mentally bemoaning his current plight, he felt the sweetest lips press a soft kiss on his own cold lips. He almost groaned, fighting against the instinct to deepen the kiss and feed his tongue inside her delicious mouth.

    He felt her nibble and suck on his lips, even sweeping her tongue over them, tickling them, and trying to get them to open up. Despite the pleasurable thrum of electricity her kiss was causing him, he still refused to give in and continued pretending to sleep.

    Annoyed that he wasn¡¯t waking up from her ministrations, she bit his lower lip. It wasn¡¯t hard to the point of bleeding but it hurt enough for him to be forced to "wake up".

    A look of joy lit up her face when he opened his eyes. But when he didn¡¯t say anything but only looked at her without giving away any emotion, her eyes dimmed and became contrite.

    "Why aren¡¯t you asleep yet?" he asked. "It¡¯s already sote. Go back to the bedroom and sleep."

    Her eyes widened in slight disbelief at his cool tone. "You¡¯re not returning to bed with me?"

    "No."

    "Why?"

    "You kicked me out of bed, remember?"

    "I take it back. I want to sleep beside you tonight."

    "Still no. Go back to the bedroom. I¡¯ll sleep here. We¡¯re both tired. Let¡¯s talk tomorrow instead."

    "Liwei¡ª"

    He closed his eyes but not before seeing the look of hurt on her face. Pain also pinched his heart but he didn¡¯t have the best temper at the moment. Perhaps after a night¡¯s sleep, his mood would improve and he could once again have his usual patience for her. Not perhaps. He was positive that he would return to the loving and indulgent partner to her tomorrow. But for now, he needed to rest.

    She sat up but didn¡¯t leave or make any other movements. Silence descended between them.

    The long minutes ticked by. Jin Liwei became increasingly worried about her. Sunrise was only a few short hours away. He knew how exhausted she must be feeling right now and yet she was still wide awake, staring at him while he pretended to sleep. Oh yes, he could feel her looking at him. Her gaze felt like a heavy weight slowly making him sink to the bottom of a dark sea.

    He was about to end this standstill between them when he heard her whisper. It was so soft that he almost missed it but there it was, like the light flutter of butterfly wings, seemingly insignificant at first but had the power to cause hurricanes far away at ater time.

    "I¡¯m sorry."

    Such simple words, but the emotions they carried were enormous.

    His eyes snapped open. He found her eyes glistening with tears, but she was rapidly blinking them away, trying not to let them fall.

    "I didn¡¯t mean to yell at you...or kick you out of our room." She grabbed his hand and held it against her cheek. "I...I don¡¯t know what came over me. My emotions, they¡¯re all over the ce...and it¡¯s so hard to control them."

 Chapter 715 - Call Me Husband

    <h4>Chapter 715 - Call Me Husband </h4>

    The expression on his baby girl¡¯s face made Jin Liwei feel helpless. He was still a bit pissed off at her, but his heart was already softening. Sighing, he pushed himself up to a sitting position so that they were facing each other.

    "Maybe...I¡¯ve be stressed out without me realizing it due to my heavy workloadtely," she said while rubbing her cheek against his hand. "Believe me. I really didn¡¯t mean to...to snap at you like that. I would never deliberately treat you badly like that."

    His thumb caressed her cheek, causing a tentative smile to lift the corner of her lips. Seeing that he still didn¡¯t speak, her smile fell.

    "Are you still angry at me?" she asked.

    "A bit." Honesty was the best policy.

    She pouted, making her look so adorable that he almost leaned forward to kiss her. Almost. His remaining bad temper restrained him from giving in to her so soon.

    "Let¡¯s not fight anymore. Okay?" Her eyes implored him. "When you left the bed, I couldn¡¯t sleep. I want you beside me. No, I need you beside me. Please, darling."

    Instead of answering her plea, he touched her breast underneath her satin kimono sleeping robe with his other hand. His touch was light and gentle, making sure that it wouldn¡¯t hurt her. He traced the outline of one breast before moving to the other one. He didn¡¯t miss the spike in her breathing and the dtion of her pupils. His baby girl was bing aroused.

    "Does it still hurt?"

    She shook her head before pausing. "But it hurt when you sucked me hard earlier."

    He leaned forward and gathered her in his arms. A soft sigh escaped her lips when he nuzzled her neck. She bent her head to the side to give him more ess.

    "My poor baby girl," he murmured. Then he licked her fragrant neck, smelling of delicatevender (new Orchidia Beauty body wash scent, soon to be released).

    It made her moan and melt in his embrace.

    "Sorry for hurting you," he said while continuing to make her gradually hot and bothered with his soft caresses and gentle kisses.

    She pulled his head for a deep kiss, their mouths fastened together, and their tongues entwined in a sensual dance. It was her answer to his apology. There was no need for words.

    They kissed some more before their glistening mouths separated. Their mutual desire reflected in each other¡¯s eyes. If only their energies could keep up. Unfortunately, both were too exhausted to do anything more than kissing and touching.

    Jin Liwei patted her butt and gave it a light squeeze. "Come on. Let¡¯s go back to bed and sleep."

    "Really? You¡¯reing back to bed with me?"

    Her face broke into a bright smile, almost blinding him with her beauty. No matter how many times he saw it, he always felt the same way¡ªlike a man whose heart had been pierced by the arrow of love...again and again towards the same woman. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "En."

    "You¡¯re not angry at me anymore?"

    "Still a bit."

    Once again, her smile disappeared. "Still? Why?"

    He tilted her head up by the chin so that they were looking at each other straight in the eyes. His expression looked dangerous. "Don¡¯t think that I¡¯ll let it slide when you yell at me and kick me out of our bedroom like that just because I love you."

    She gave him another contrite expression. He caught her lower lip and bit it. She yelped and threw him an using look.

    "That¡¯s payback for biting me earlier. Your bite was harder than mine, you know, so don¡¯t look at me like I killed your puppy."

    "I don¡¯t have a puppy."

    He chuckled, and then bumped the tip of their noses. "I know."

    "You paid me back for biting you. Do you also want payback for yelling at you and kicking you out of our room?"

    "Of course."

    She pouted. "You want to...to yell at me and kick me out of our room, too?" There was resignation in her eyes. "Fine. If that makes you feel better, g-go ahead and...yell at me. Then kick me out. You go sleep on the bed and I...I¡¯ll sleep here on the couch instead or maybe I¡¯ll sleep in the cat room. That fair enough for you?"

    His mouth twitched. He pressed his lips together to prevent theughter from escaping. His baby girl looked so serious and cute at the same time that he wasn¡¯t willing to hurt or embarrass her byughing. He was only trying hard not tough, hence he wasn¡¯t speaking.

    However, she probably thought that the reason why he wasn¡¯t talking was because he was still upset with her. He could read it as clear as day on her face. Amusement filled him.

    Yelling at her and kicking her out of the room as payback never entered his mind in the first ce. He could only wonder at how her mind worked for her to arrive to that kind of conclusion. It seemed that his baby girl still thought of him as an asshole in the back of her mind.

    Well, then. He wasn¡¯t going to make it easy for her. Mischief twinkled in his eyes, but he quickly covered it up with a hard expression.

    He held up two fingers for her to see. "Two things. Do two things for me and I¡¯ll let you off. I won¡¯t yell at you or kick you out like you did to me."

    She didn¡¯t even think. "Okay!"

    "First."

    She leaned forward, attentive to what he was about to say, and ready to give him whatever he requested to the best of her ability. The idea of him yelling at her and kicking her out of their room depressed her, making her guilty again for doing it to him.

    "What is it? Tell me," she said, eager.

    "Call me husband."

 Chapter 716 - Celibate Monk

    <h4>Chapter 716 - Celibate Monk </h4>

    Iris tilted her head to the side and looked at Jin Liwei with an expression of puzzlement. "But we¡¯re not married yet."

    "So what?" He returned her puzzled expression with seriousness. "We¡¯re already married in my heart since the moment you told me that you love me too in front of that winter waterfalls back in Cross Academyst year. A wedding is just a formality. Or do you still not think of me as your husband?"

    Her gaze dropped to the beautiful diamond engagement ring on her finger, causing her mouth to curve up and a tinge of pink to colour both her cheeks. Then she looked at him straight in the eyes again. "You¡¯re right."

    His eyes narrowed. "I¡¯m right that you still don¡¯t think of me as your husband?"

    "No," she quickly denied. "You¡¯re right that even if we haven¡¯t officially married yet, we¡¯re already living together as husband and wife, building our family and home, and also nning our future together."

    He nodded, pleased. "So call me husband, then." He raised both eyebrows and waited in anticipation.

    The blush on her cheeks deepened and her smile became shy. "Husband," she whispered.

    "Louder."

    "Husband."

    "Again."

    She giggled. "Husband."

    "Nice. Again."

    "Husband!"

    He was now grinning. "Yes, wife. Is there anything this husband can do for my dear wife?"

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded. "There¡¯s something I really need right now."

    "What is it, wife? Tell your husband. Don¡¯t be shy." He pulled her closer while maintaining eye contact to make sure that he caught all of her expressions.

    "Kiss me."

    "Ah, what a coincidence. This husband also needs a kiss from wife." Then he caught her lips and kissed her until she became a moaning puddle of hot jelly.

    They kissed for a long time, sometimes deep and fierce, sometimes gentle and sweet. It was something they both needed andforted in after their fight earlier. When their mouths separated, they were both flushed and panting.

    Iris rested her head on his shoulder and inhaled the masculine scent of his neck, letting it wash over her. "I hate it when we fight."

    "Me, too." He glided his hand up and down her spine, the satin material of her sleeping robe making his movement smooth and pleasurable to both of them.

    "Let¡¯s not fight anymore in the future, okay?"

    "That¡¯s impossible, love. I¡¯m sure that we¡¯re going to fight many times again in the future. But that¡¯s normal. Fighting is something all couples do and experience. It¡¯s part of life." He chuckled softly when he saw her displeased expression. "And also, you know that the two of us have very distinct personalities, different from each other but both are equally dominant. As individuals, we are very strong-headed and like getting our own way."

    She nodded. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "So you have to admit that if we didn¡¯t end up being lovers, based on our personalities alone, we probably would¡¯ve ended up either simply avoiding each other, or worse, bing enemies because we would be butting heads all the damn time. Think about it." He frowned afterwards. It was obvious that he didn¡¯t like these two possibilities either even if he was the one who voiced it out.

    "Hmm. That¡¯s true. I really didn¡¯t like you at all when we first met. You were so pompous and irritating and so full of yourself and..."

    He sighed. It wasn¡¯t a great feeling listening to his baby girlin about him being an asshole in the past, but he couldn¡¯t refute her words because they were all true. So he stayed quiet and allowed her to continueining about his past bad attitude and behaviour. He really had been an asshole before¡ªcorrection! He was still an asshole now but only to others who he didn¡¯t give a damn about, like those shameless people with ulterior motives who thought that they could use him to climb the socialdder. And to those who he deemed as enemies, the foolish ones who dared harm his baby girl and threatened their family? Being an asshole wouldn¡¯t cut it. To those kinds of people, he would be an avenging demon.

    Iris continued reminiscing about their interactions during the period when they first met. "You always bothered me, calling and messaging me numerous times a day, even veryte at night. So annoying. And what¡¯s more, you seduced me all the time, such a pervert¡ª"

    "But you said that you liked it when I seduced you because I made you feel good," he interrupted. "Don¡¯t lie to me."

    "True. I like that you made me feel good, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that you were such a pervert back then. Actually, you¡¯re still a pervert now."

    He gave her cheek a slight pinch. "Comining that your husband is a pervert? Do you prefer me to be a celibate monk instead?"

    "Oh God, no!" Her horrified expression was a sight to see.

    "Although it¡¯s difficult for me now, I¡¯ve been celibate since birth until I met you. That¡¯s three decades worth of rich experience in the life of celibacy. If wife really wants it, then this husband could only endure and live the life of a celibate monk."

    Iris was aghast. "Celibate monk? Are you insane? You know that I enjoy making love with you. You were the one who introduced me to the world of sexual pleasure and made me fall in love with you, so you have to take responsibility and make love with me whenever I need you. Do you understand, Mr. Jin Liwei? A celibate monk, what a thought!"

    Loudughter shook his entire body.

    She straightened and red at him. "Why are youughing? I¡¯m serious!"

    He pressed a knuckle over his mouth in an effort to control hisughter. Once it was controlled, he leaned forward and spoke directly to her ear in a low, husky voice. "I know that you¡¯re serious. Don¡¯t worry, dear wife. This husband takes full responsibility and will make sure to satisfy all your needs, most especially your carnal ones, to the best of my ability."

 Chapter 717 - Let Instinct Take Over

    <h4>Chapter 717 - Let Instinct Take Over </h4>

    Iris tried maintaining her re but failed as her mouth started twitching.

    "What do you say, Mrs. Jin?" Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes twinkled with amusement.

    She huffed, even though a smile was already forming on her lips. "Good."

    He nodded. "Of course, it goes both ways. Wife also has to take responsibility and satisfy your husband¡¯s needs. And you know that your husband has big, hungry needs."

    "Naturally," she said in a wry tone. "You¡¯re like a big, wild, hungry bear. You¡¯re lucky that I¡¯m young and energetic and can keep up with you."

    "En. I¡¯m the luckiest man in the world to have you." He caressed her cheek, his touch filled with tenderness.

    She began drawing circles on his chest with her fingers. "You said that there are two things I can do for you so that you¡¯ll let me off for yelling at you and kicking you out of our bedroom. The first one is to call you husband. I already did that. What¡¯s the second one?"

    He whispered directly to her ear and then leaned back to watch her reaction. The immediate confusion on her face looked adorable that he was tempted to feast on her sexy mouth again. But he restrained himself in order to wait for her response.

    A furrow formed between her brows, as she mulled about what he whispered to her. He could almost see the gears turning inside her brain. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "You know what it is, right?" he asked just to make sure. His baby girl might be a genius but she was also very innocent in so many ways. This was one of the reasons why it was such a delight to explore both of their sensuality together as each other¡¯s first (andst) love.

    "Yes, of course I know what it is...I think," she said. "But I need to search it up first, on how to do it properly."

    He chuckled, already expecting this kind of response from her. "No need. I¡¯ll guide you on what to do."

    She scowled and growled at him. "Have you had it done to you before?"

    "Of course not. I already told you that I had never been sexually attracted to anyone until I met you. No way that I allowed anyone to do that to me before."

    There were many who attempted to do it to him though, but he wouldn¡¯t tell her that or she might rage at him again. They just made up from a fight. He would be a stupid idiot if he triggered her again so soon. It was nice seeing her acting jealous, though.

    "Then why do you want me to do that to you now?" she asked.

    "Because it¡¯s you. I want to try everything with you."

    Her expression became thoughtful. "You really want it?"

    "En."

    "Fine. You want it now?"

    He smiled. "Not tonight, love. It¡¯s toote. We¡¯re both tired and won¡¯t be able to fully enjoy it."

    "Tomorrow night, then?"

    "Hmm. No."

    "Then when do you want it?"

    Once again, he leaned forward and whispered directly to her ear. "On our honeymoon night."

    "Oh. Alright." Then she nodded. "That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll have time to search it up and figure how to do it properly and maybe practice it, too."

    His eyes narrowed in warning. "It¡¯s fine if you read about it but absolutely no pictures or videos and certainly no live demonstrations from other people allowed."

    "But it¡¯s for research and learning purposes!"

    "I don¡¯t care. Not allowed. Any questions you have about it, you ask me."

    "You just said that you¡¯ve never had it done to you before, so how would you know how to do it properly?"

    He smirked. "I also never French kissed before, nor had I had a blowjob, and certainly never had sex until I did all of these things and so much more with you. But we did just fine without any prior experience, didn¡¯t we?"

    That shut her up.

    "So my dear wife, there¡¯s nothing to worry about," he told her in a teasing voice. "Let instinct take over like we always do and we¡¯ll be just fine."

    "That...makes sense."

    "And if you really need a reference, remember when you practiced performing ¡¯Passionate mes¡¯ in front of me? Just imagine doing something simr to that but only...sexier."

    Understanding dawned on her before she frowned again. "But you always pushed me down to make love without even letting me finish the entire song."

    "Because you¡¯re too sexy so it¡¯s hard to control myself."

    "Then you still won¡¯t be able to control yourself when I do something sexier on our honeymoon," she argued. "What¡¯s the point of doing it, then?"

    "I promise that I¡¯ll control myself and wait until you finish at least an entire song before I ravish you on our honeymoon," he said while trying to infuse as much seriousness in his expression and tone as possible.

    "Okay. Remember what you promised. If you break it, I would never do it again in the future even if you beg me."

    "En. I promise."

    "So you want me to do it with ¡¯Passionate mes¡¯"?

    A dark scowl descended on his face as soon as he heard the idea. "Absolutely not! You want me to listen to my brother¡¯s voice during our honeymoon? No way!"

    Her giggles eased his ferocious expression and reced it with amusement. "You naughty girl. You did that on purpose." He gave her nose a gentle pinch when he saw the mischief dancing in her eyes. "So you agree to do it?"

    She nodded.

    Desire quickly reced his amusement. "I can¡¯t wait."

    "Then you forgive me now for yelling at you and kicking you out?" she asked in a hopeful tone.

    "En."

    The bright smile on her face made him catch a breath. In one swift and smooth move, he swept her up in his arms and carried her like a bride before standing up and heading to their bedroom. "Time to sleep, wife."

    "Yes."

    "Yes what?"

    "Yes, husband."

    His smile was equally as bright as hers.

 Chapter 718 - Have Mercy On Your Husband

    <h4>Chapter 718 - Have Mercy On Your Husband </h4>

    A sweet wet heat woke up Jin Liwei a couple of hourster. His mind was still fuzzy from sleep, but his body was already burning and thrumming with overwhelming desire.

    He gasped and moaned as a strong sucking force sent a delicious surge of electricity directly from his loins to the rest of his body. His hand fisted the long, soft hair above his groin and gently guided the head up and down, eliciting a deep groan from him.

    "You¡¯re killing me," he gasped, his voice raspy from sleep.

    A sexy hum answered him from below his waist. Iris tightened her grip around the bottom of his hard shaft while she increased the up and down pace of her mouth. Her hands and mouth coordinated with each other, as she watched through half-lidded eyes his every little reaction in order to optimize the pleasure that she wanted to give him.

    When the hard muscles on his t stomach and legs started clenching, she knew that he was close. The hand grasping her hair had also tightened and his chest heaved with rapid breaths. But before he could reach his climax, she released his erection from her mouth and stopped what she was doing.

    His eyes flew open and a curse escaped from his lips. Ferocity shed in his eyes like a predator sighting an escaping prey. He looked like he was ready to pounce on her and throw her down on her back to the bed so that he could finish what she started. However, she immediately saw his intention and moved faster than him, pushing her hands on his torso and warning him with her eyes to stay put.

    "Xin," he growled.

    "So now I¡¯m back to being Xin?" Her hand began stroking his erection once again but it was too slow and too light for his liking. "What happened to calling me wife or Mrs. Jin like you didst night? Did husband already forget about it?"

    He covered her hand over his hard length with his other hand and tried to move it ording to what he wanted but met with resistance. "Faster, wife. Harder. Mrs. Jin, have mercy on your husband."

    "Since you asked so nicely, wife will do as husband wishes." Then she lowered her head and once again took him inside her mouth.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s head fell back on the pillow with eyes tightly shut, as he released a loud groan. His hips thrust up in a rhythmic motion while his hand continued gripping her hair to lock her head into ce. He heard her whimper from his increasingly vigorous movements, but when she didn¡¯t do anything else to stop him, he continued until he could feel the tip of his shaft touching the back of her throat.

    The sensation of her swallowing whenever his tip touched her throat almost proved too much for him. He clenched his jaw tight and did his best to control his impending orgasm, drawing it out as long as possible to savour it and imprint it in his memory forever. This was the first time ever that his baby girl allowed him to go this deep and rough inside her mouth.

    It felt, without a doubt, like heaven.

    And then she bared her teeth and scraped it along his hard velvet shaft while at the same time sucked him hard with all she got. Her hands weren¡¯t idle either. They squeezed and rubbed him until he began to tremble.

    His control finally snapped. He pushed her head down hard and his hips gave a final thrust upwards. Then he spilled a powerful gush of his hot liquid release inside her mouth. He could feel her swallowing everything as much as she could, prolonging his climax and making him moan and pant and twitch like an out of control wreck.

    Everything went white then ck for a few moments afterwards. When he became aware of his surroundings again, his baby girl was now cuddling beside him. She looked messy and utterly spent, her lips a little swollen. He had never seen anything sexier than this sight. His mouth curved into a smug, rotten smile.

    "Wow," he breathed out. "That was an incredible way to wake me up."

    Her only response was a grunt before she burrowed closer to his body below his armpit. He opened his mouth and was about to say something but the rm clock on his bedside table began ringing. Sighing, he turned it off before facing his exhausted baby girl.

    "Wake up, love," he said, nuzzling her forehead.

    "No," she whined. "I startte today so let me sleep longer."

    "I know. But I want you to wash your mouth first before you go back to sleep. I don¡¯t want my semen sitting in your throat for too long. It might affect your voice."

    She opened her eyes and pouted but still nodded. He helped her get up from the bed while listening to herining about him.

    "It¡¯s your fault," she muttered. "You released so much inside my mouth. It¡¯s not like I let you be too pent-up these days..."

    "How do you expect me to react when you wake me up in such an amazing way? Baby, that was my way of thanking and appreciating you. It means that I love what you did."

    "Really?"

    "En."

    Her expression improved and she stoppedining. She even smiled. He was relieved and felt like he escaped an onset of one of her extreme mood swings. A big phew!

    They headed to the bathroom, still wearing their satin sleeping robes, only they were loose and untied from their passionate activity a few minutes ago. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    He didn¡¯t immediately hop in the shower, choosing instead to watch his baby girl clean herself up on the sink. His mind was clear now that he waspletely awake, so he was able to think about what just happened on the bed. When she was done gurgling, he asked, "Did you do that because we foughtst night?"

    Her expression told him the answer.

 Chapter 719 - Poor Pillow

    <h4>Chapter 719 - Poor Pillow </h4>

    Jin Liwei sighed. The delight and satisfaction he felt from what happened on the bed decreased a little. "I want to let you know that I don¡¯t expect you to pleasure me just because you feel guilty that we fought. Regarding my two requests as payback fromst night, they¡¯re just my way of teasing you. If you really don¡¯t want to do any of them, I¡¯ll understand and respect your decision. I won¡¯t force you. You know that, right? I never want to make you feel obligated to pleasure me especially if it¡¯s due to guilt. I want our pleasure to be mutual and natural."

    He saw her open her mouth, about to deny what he said, but thought better of it and closed her mouth. Good. His baby girl was always honest. She couldn¡¯t deny what he said.

    "Okay," Iris said, her expression a little unhappy.

    "Come here." He opened his arms and she threw herself in his embrace.

    She rubbed her face on his chest and began inhaling his scent deeply. He held her tighter and kissed her forehead.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it anymore," he told her. "But let me just repeat myself so you won¡¯t misunderstand our conversation. I really enjoyed how you woke me up today. It was so hot. I love it."

    She lifted her face so that they were looking at each other. "You want to do it again?"

    By itself, the question sounded flirty, but when she asked it, there was a genuine innocent curiosity in her tone and expression. It made Jin Liwei once again wonder how she could remain so innocent despite all of the carnal deeds they already performed together. His baby girl was indeed special and he would do anything and everything beyond his power to keep her with him for the rest of eternity.

    "Of course I want to do it again," he replied.

    "Okay."

    His eyebrows went up in surprise. "Are you sure? Isn¡¯t it too...rough for you?"

    "It¡¯s okay if it¡¯s only sometimes."

    Excitement bubbled inside him. He almost couldn¡¯t wait until the next time she woke him up like that. His groin started to stir and stiffen at the mere thought of it. And of course she felt it.

    "Speaking of pleasuring me, I haven¡¯t pleasured you yet," he said, his voice bing husky. One of his hands was already trailing down her back and reached her buttocks. He palmed one of the plump cheeks and gave it a light squeeze through the thin satin robe.

    "Liwei, I can¡¯t right now. I don¡¯t have enough energy. I want to but I can¡¯t because then I won¡¯t be able function properly when I go to workter."

    Her regretful tone sounded so adorable that he couldn¡¯t stop himself from giving her butt cheek another squeeze. "Alright. I understand. Go back to sleep. I¡¯ll get ready for work now."

    She nodded with a yawn and was about to return to bed when he remembered something. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Wait."

    "Hm?" She blinked sleepy eyes at him.

    "Go home once you finish your photo shoot today. I know that you have ns on going to yourpaniester but skip that for now."

    She frowned. "Why?"

    "I¡¯ll go home earlyter today as well, before dinner. I want to talk to you about something."

    Her frown deepened. "Talk about what?"

    "We¡¯ll talk about itter."

    "Is it something bad?"

    "No," he assured her.

    It was something good. Not just good. It was something absolutely wonderful, if his suspicion was correct. The items he requested from his butlerst night would hopefully give them an answer by tonight. He couldn¡¯t wait. And if his suspicion was indeed proven correct, his first order of business was to reassure his baby girl that everything would be alright and that she didn¡¯t need to fear anything.

    Although her curiosity was piqued, Iris still nodded and epted his arrangement. "Fine. I¡¯ll wait until tonight to discuss whatever you want to talk about."

    "En."

    "I¡¯ll arrange lunch to be sent to you as usualter."

    "No need, love," he said. "I won¡¯t be at thepany at lunchtime. I¡¯ll be out of town to visit one of our construction projects for an official inspection, so I¡¯ll take our partners and the project leaders to a restaurant for lunch instead."

    "Oh, okay." Then her brows drew together. "Wait. Construction site? Is it dangerous?"

    "There¡¯s no need to worry, love. Everyone wears protective safety gear before entering the site. I¡¯ll wear aplete set too, of course. Besides, I¡¯ve visited many construction sites before for inspection and nothing bad happened to me yet."

    "Still, you be careful," she insisted. "Call me after you¡¯re done with the inspection. I want to know that you¡¯re safe."

    "Alright."

    She studied his face for a few seconds before reluctantly feeling reassured. He gave her a light peck on the lips and a pat on the butt before instructing her to return to bed and sleep. However, she didn¡¯t leave right away, waiting for him instead to shrug his sleeping robe off and taking it with her. He didn¡¯t think too much about it untilter when he saw her sleeping on the bed after he finished showering.

    His baby girl had wrapped his robe all around his pillow and was hugging it close to her body. All of her limbs were coiled around the poor pillow looking like she wanted to suffocate it to death. Her face was pressed on it, no doubt because she wanted to sleep while smelling his scent on the robe.

    This recent weird behaviour of hers caused him to feel all warm inside. His wife was obsessed with his scent, so of course he was all for it. In addition, she had other little changes to her usual behaviours. It wasn¡¯t only her. Even their cats were acting unusually clingy to hertely, always wanting to stay by her side, especially the mercurial Ice Cream.

    All of these made him believe that his suspicion might just be for real. A smile formed on his lips at the possibility.

 Chapter 720 - Young Madam

    <h4>Chapter 720 - Young Madam </h4>

    Visiting a construction site for inspection was routine work for Jin Liwei. The moment he decided for himself that he really wanted to seed as the next head of Jin Corporation back when he was still a teenager, he immediately became serious working for thepany. He shadowed his father, the former President-CEO, in order to learn how to run theirpany firsthand. The most valuable lessons that he learned about business came from Grandpa Lu though, but only when the old man wasn¡¯t gallivanting around the world.

    Part of his learning experience was apanying his father to construction sites for project inspections. It was something expected of thepany head, so he had to train for it. He had inspected countless construction sites since he was a teenager that now it had be not that big of a deal, just part of work.

    This was why he wasn¡¯t worried at all when he travelled out of town to visit this particr construction site today with his assistant Xu Tian and the other key figures that he assigned to manage the project. All of them wore safety gears as they toured inside the ce and greeted all the workers who stopped what they were doing to stand in attention to him, the President-CEO.

    At the moment, they were on the ground floor looking around the interior of the huge building currently being constructed. Everything still looked like a skeleton, but Jin Liwei could already imagine how it would look like once it was finished based on how the chief engineer and the project manager were exining and describing the details to him.

    While they moved to another area, he turned to his assistant and asked in a quiet voice. "Any updates from Xin?"

    "Dominic texted just now saying that Miss Long is finishing up her photo shoot," Xu Tian answered.

    "Young Madam."

    Xu Tian was confused. "Sir?"

    "Address Xin as Young Madam or Mrs. Jin. She¡¯s going to be my wife soon."

    "Understood, President. My apologies." Xu Tian¡¯s phone lit up and vibrated. It was another message from Dominic. "Young Madam just finished her photo shoot. It seems that she¡¯s on a roll today so they wrapped up early. The photographer is very pleased with Young Madam. They¡¯re now preparing to leave."

    "Good," Jin Liwei said with a nod. "Ask Dominic how she¡¯s feeling."

    Xu Tian typed quickly on his phone. Just a few secondster, Dominic¡¯s reply arrived. "It says that the young madam is feeling a little dizzy because she didn¡¯t get enough sleepst night. Oh, Dominic sent a photo."

    Jin Liwei took the phone and viewed the photo. It showed his baby girl curled on a sofa in what looked like a busy dressing room where various clothing, essories, makeup, snacks and other whatnot were strewn all over the ce. But what caught his attention was the pillow she was hugging like a teddy bear. It was his pillow she wrapped with his sleeping robe this morning. Her nose was pressed against it, no doubt takingfort in smelling his scent. The sight made his mouth curve upwards, even as he worried about her dizziness at the same time.

    They now reached their next location, so he handed the phone back to Xu Tian but not before instructing him. "Remind Dominic and the others to take Xin straight home and to take care of her."

    "Yes, President."

    "Also take some photos of me during today¡¯s inspection and send them to her. Then tell her that I¡¯m safe so there¡¯s no need to worry about me."

    Xu Tian was a bit surprised by the first part of the instruction, so he was a couple of beats slow before responding. "Yes. Understood, President."

    The inspectionsted well past lunchtime. They were a little behind schedule because Jin Liwei noticed some issues during the tour and had to discuss solutions with the team.

    While all of these were happening, Xu Tian followed Jin Liwei¡¯s instructions and was taking candid photos of him from every angle. The others were all looking at him weirdly at first, but when they noticed that their President-CEO wasn¡¯t reprimanding him but was even allowing him to take pictures, they stopped bothering about it. Xu Tian then chose the best shots among the photos and sent them all to Miss Long¡ªoops, it should be Young Madam now.

    Finally, the inspection was over. Everyone released a big sigh of relief. They were all tense the entire time due to the President-CEO¡¯s presence. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Let¡¯s head out for lunch," Jin Liwei announced, prompting big smiles from everyone. Some stomachs even gave loud rumbles in response.

    Xu Tian¡¯s phone vibrated again. He looked quite surprised when he read the message. Then he leaned closer to Jin Liwei and whispered, "The young madam says that since you didn¡¯t let her send you lunch today, she¡¯ll send lunches to all the construction workers here instead. She booked a couple of eateries nearby to deliver food for everyone."

    "Oh?" Jin Liwei raised both eyebrows before his usual icy expression melted a little to reveal a doting smile, causing the people around him to stare at him like idiots. "Do we get a share of the lunch, too?"

    "Uh no, sir. We don¡¯t get any, only the construction workers. The young madam says that President already told her that you¡¯ll be treating the higher-ups in this project to a restaurant for lunch." Xu Tian hesitated before asking, "Do I ask the young madam to give us lunches instead?"

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "No need. Tell Xin I received her unspoken message and learned my lesson to not forget about the construction workers next time. And also, make sure that everyone knows that it¡¯s my fianc¨¦e who¡¯s providing them with lunch today."

    Xu Tian obeyed and immediately worked on fulfilling his boss¡¯ instructions while the others remained in shock at seeing their President-CEO not only smiling but alsoughing today. It seemed that the rumours about him mellowing due to his celeb fianc¨¦e Iris Long was indeed true.

 Chapter 721 - Nobody Noticed

    <h4>Chapter 721 - Nobody Noticed </h4>

    Within the organized mess called the construction site, a new shipment of steel pipes had just arrived. They were in different sizes, from small, thin ones to huge, thick structural pipes. Individually, an average steel pipe was quite lightweightpared to its sturdy appearance, but since these pipes were packaged in huge industrial bundles, they weighed a few tonnes altogether.

    The foreman was in charge of ensuring that the correct sets of pipes were delivered to the right ce within the construction site. He was almost finished giving out instructions when his full dderined, giving him no choice but to answer nature¡¯s call right away. He called another senior colleague to finish up the task.

    "These are thest bundles. They go to the ground floor. Just make sure that before they¡¯re moved there, you check that all the ties holding them together are secure so they won¡¯t fall all over the ce while being transported." After giving instructions, the foreman rushed to the nearest portable toilet.

    His colleague was also experienced, so he took no issue in handling the task. He began checking the remaining bundles with an expert eye. But before he could finish checking the final bundle of regr plumbing pipes, another colleague called him for help. Seeing that all the other bundles had no problems, he only gave a cursory nce at the final bundle and deemed it safe before leaving to help his colleague.

    After he left, another group of construction workers arrived. Although the foreman was not present, they found the written marks on the pipes indicating that they had already been checked, so they didn¡¯t waste any time transporting the pipes to where they were supposed to go.

    Unknown to them, the final bundle of steel pipes began to loosen from their packaging. The ties holding the pipes together looked worn and in danger of breaking. The good thing was that the pipes only needed to be transported to the building¡¯s ground floor so the distance was shorterpared to the other bundles which needed to be lifted to the upper floors by crane. The ties held on and didn¡¯t break after arriving at their designated ce in the ground floor.

    Even then, the ties continued to stretch, silently breaking apart little by little. But nobody noticed.

    ###

    The food that Iris ordered for the construction workers started arriving by the time Jin Liwei and his entourage made their way back to the ground floor of the unfinished building. Delicious aroma permeated the air and made everyone salivate. There was nothing fancy about the lunch but the portions were big and the dishes familiar. They were guaranteed to satisfy the worker¡¯s hungry stomachs. There was a selection of different types of desserts included as well.

    Xu Tian stepped forward and announced that everything was ordered by President Jin¡¯s fianc¨¦e which most of them already knew was the celebrity Iris Long. It caused an uproar not only among the construction workers but also to the people in the middle of delivering the food. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Holy shit!" one of the younger delivery guys eximed. "Don¡¯t tell me that the man my mom was taking the orders from on the phone earlier was the famous Dom Chua, Boss Iris¡¯ best friend and assistant extraordinaire? Ah! If I knew, I would¡¯ve snatched the phone from my mom and took the lunch orders myself so that I could brag about it to my fellow ck Stars online!"

    Within minutes, the news that Iris Long ordered a generous lunch feast for all the manual workers who were working on a Jin Corporation project spread all over the inte. Once the ck Stars learned about it, they descended in droves and shared the news like crazy online. They were all very proud and couldn¡¯t stop praising their Boss Iris to the heavens as the most generous woman in the world. The news spread so fast that even a few major news outlets decided to feature it, mostly because it involved not only Iris Long but also Jin Corporation.

    "Multi-Award-Winning Musician Iris Long Generously Orders Warm Lunch for Hundreds of Construction Workers"

    "Iris Long Serious About Taking on Role as Next Madam Jin by Feeding Fianc¨¦ CEO Jin¡¯s Employees"

    "Celebrity Iris Long to Leave Showbiz Career After Marriage to Focus on Cementing Position as CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s Wife?"

    "Critic: What Generous? Iris Long Only Putting Up Fake Appearances to be Worthy of Madam Jin Title in Public"

    Different spections were being thrown around online about the real reason why Iris Long gave out lunch for hundreds of construction workers. Many praised her but there were also quite a number of haters who used her of having ulterior motives and only pretending to be generous for the sake of looking good to the public.

    It didn¡¯t take long before the Slipper Army was summoned among the ck Stars to scold and troll all those criticizing their Boss Iris. Prominent troll leader KittyBaby, who was quickly surpassing the original Slipper Army leader iEatSlippers in infamy, led the charge online. Her precise and lightning-quick attacks silenced the critics in no time.

    Back at the construction site, the people weren¡¯t aware that all this drama was happening on the inte. They were busy feeling excited about the food.

    After learning from Xu Tian that it was Iris Long who ordered the food for them, the workers thanked her in front of Jin Liwei, even though they were nervous of talking to him. Some even felt scared. But upon seeing his easygoing attitude in epting their thanks which was theplete opposite of his usual icy one, they couldn¡¯t stop themselves from being shocked speechless.

    "Damn, this is unbelievable," they whispered among themselves. "If I didn¡¯t see it with own eyes, I would say that you¡¯re lying if you told me that President Jin is capable of giving a sincere-looking smile. Now we know to use Iris Long¡¯s name the next time the president scolds us. Maybe he won¡¯t be as scary like usual."

    They nodded at each other in agreement.

 Chapter 722 - Chaos

    <h4>Chapter 722 - Chaos </h4>

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t leave immediately, deciding to stay and watch for a little while until most of the workers received their lunch. Since he didn¡¯t move, the elite group apanying him didn¡¯t dare rush him even though their own stomachs protested in hunger.

    Their eyes roamed, filled with envy, at the workers who were enjoying their delicious-smelling food before them. It was only when some of them could no longer conceal their loud, grumbling stomachs did Jin Liwei turn to them.

    "My fianc¨¦e didn¡¯t reserve any shares for us because she knew that I have ns on taking you out for lunch," he said. "Too bad. You¡¯re stuck going with me to another ce. You¡¯ll need to wait a little longer before you can eat."

    A series of "that¡¯s okay", "we can wait", and "no problem" answered him. He nodded and gestured for them to follow him.

    But before they could reach the exit, the loud screech of nging metals assaulted everyone¡¯s ears. Jin Liwei¡¯s quick reflexes allowed him to save himself but then he saw the slower Xu Tian in danger. Not thinking about anything else, he returned and reached out to save his assistant.

    "PRESIDENT!!!"

    Shouts of warning and horror surrounded him, but all he could feel was immense shock and pain from the hard impact. Then it was chaos.

    ###

    Jin Liwei inhaled sharply as the doctor wrapped the final length of bandage around his torso. He clenched his jaw tight to prevent himself from cursing due to the pain. He was sitting on the edge of the bed inside the hospital¡¯s private room. The room was rtively quiet despite the number of medical staff going in and out of the room in an effort to take care of him and make him asfortable as possible. Even the hospital director was informed of his presence and promised to drop by to visit himter before he left.

    On the sofa opposite him sat Xu Tian who was also being treated by a nurse. His assistant looked terrible with angry scratches and bloody scrapes all over his face, hands and legs because Jin Liwei pushed him facedown to the ground when he saved the man from the falling metal pipes.

    Jin Liwei, on the other hand, looked better with very little external wounds on his body. He only had a couple of small scratches on his hands. His appearance, however, was very deceptive because he unfortunately took the brunt of the impact when the metal pipesnded on his back after shielding his assistant under him.

    The doctor told him that medically speaking, his overall injuries were far worsepared to what Xu Tian sustained. Unlike Xu Tian¡¯s external wounds, his injuries were mostly internal. Before the doctor treated and bandaged him, his entire back down to his posterior hips and thighs were all swollen and covered with ugly different-coloured bruises.

    He wasn¡¯t going to lie. In all honesty, Jin Liwei felt like a truck had ran over him. He was bruised and battered but thankfully still alive and kicking. That was the most important thing. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "You¡¯re lucky that the pipes didn¡¯t hit your head or break any bones," the doctor said after he was finished bandaging him. "Your initial scans show that none of your organs have been injured. The safety protective gear and thick jacket protected you. No serious excessive internal bleeding either which is very good but those bruises are going to hurt like hell, please excuse mynguage. So don¡¯t hesitate to take the pain medications that I prescribed you."

    Jin Liwei could only grunt in assent. It hurt like a son of bitch, but fortunately he could feel that the pain meds were starting to slowly kick in.

    "Your second brother is in the middle of performing a surgery right now, but I already instructed someone to inform him when he¡¯s done that you¡¯re here. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll see youter."

    "There¡¯s no need to do that but thank you, Doctor," Jin Liwei said, already feeling slightly better from the pain meds.

    "You¡¯re wee. Rest here for now. I¡¯lle backter after I receive the results of your other medical tests. You don¡¯t need to stay here at the hospital overnight, but you need to carefully follow my home-care instructions if you want to recover as quickly as possible."

    Jin Liwei nodded and moved to lie down on his stomach on the bed while the doctor talked to Xu Tian next. He couldn¡¯t wait for the doctor and nurses to leave so that he could call his baby girl who was most likely freaking out right now. He needed to reassure her that he was now safe.

    Ketchup had immediately informed Iris right after he got injured, despite there having no surveince cameras in the area where the ident urred. The cat AI had her own unique methods programmed by her creator mother, the great hacker Drakon.

    Right now, hispany was investigating the ident. After all, the President-CEO was injured. Even without being told, he was certain that his hacker wife and cat daughter were also performing their own investigation from afar. With twoputer geniuses like them, he should learn about what really caused the ident soon.

    He also requested the hacker mother and daughter¡¯s help in suppressing the news about his ident from spreading to the public, in addition to hispany¡¯s efforts to do the same thing. This was to prevent any hidden vultures from taking advantage of the situation and using his injury to pull him down from his lofty position. The malicious ones would probably even use Jin Corporation for not following proper safety protocols because of the ident and ssh mud all over hispany¡¯s reputation.

    As thepany head, there was no way he was going to allow any of these to happen. He always ensured that all Jin Corporation projects followed strict safety protocols. idents happened in the past but nothing major and always through no direct fault of hispany. He was hoping that this time was no different.

 Chapter 723 - Lifelong Deb

    <h4>Chapter 723 - Lifelong Deb </h4>

    There was no use fretting about the real cause of the ident at the moment. All Jin Liwei could do was wait until the investigation results were out. Only then could he decide what the appropriate thing to do next.

    When the ident happened earlier, everything was in chaos. The construction site was located in a rural area out of town. It was a ce that Jin Corporation predicted would prosper in the future, so hispany decided to spend an enormous fortune to develop it right now in the hopes of being the first ones to reap the biggest rewards when the time came.

    Because the area was so underdeveloped, there were no hospitals or any good modern clinics nearby. If this was a normal situation, there was no need to worry about it because there were always some medical practitioners hired to be on duty in all construction projects funded by Jin Corporation. The problem this time was that the one injured was Jin Liwei, the President-CEO.

    The nurse on-site immediately became intimidated in front of him, the big boss, that she almost forgot her medical training at the beginning. It was only when she calmed down a few minutester that she started patching him up before rmending him to go to a hospital and see a doctor.

    Since there were no hospitals or clinics nearby, Jin Liwei decided to return to the city. It was a good thing that he took the helicopter toe to the out of town construction site, so he took it again to fly straight to the city hospital where his Second Brother Wang Yingjie worked. It was a painful ride but nothing he couldn¡¯t handle. He knew that his baby girl experienced far worse injuries in the past, like that car ident that sent her intoa for the first time and that bomb incident which almost sent his soul flying out of his body when he first heard about it.

    "President," Xu Tian called, interrupting Jin Liwei¡¯s thoughts.

    From his position on the bed where he was lying on his stomach, Jin Liwei looked at his assistant who was still being poked and prodded by the doctor. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I¡¯m so sorry, sir," Xu Tian said, his face filled with guilt. "If you didn¡¯t save me, you wouldn¡¯t have been¡ª"

    "You¡¯ve apologized to me so many times already. I don¡¯t want to hear about it anymore."

    "But sir¡ª"

    "It¡¯s my decision to save you and I don¡¯t regret it. I know that if our situations were reversed, you would also save me."

    "Of course. But that¡¯s¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t disturb me anymore. I need to rest," Jin Liwei said before closing his eyes.

    Silence.

    After a minute, Jin Liwei heard Xu Tian say, "Thank you very much for saving me, President. I owe you my life. This is a lifelong debt that I¡¯ll surely find a way to repay someday."

    Jin Liwei opened his eyes and was about to reply when the door opened with a bang and a frantic figure rushed towards him. He immediately tried sitting up but froze and winced instead. However, he didn¡¯t give a damn about his pain at the moment. All he cared about right now was his baby girl who looked like she was about to rocketunch herself to him if she could.

    "Slow down, love."

    She didn¡¯t hear him and even sped up.

    "Don¡¯t run," he cautioned again.

    "Liwei!" Iris eximed when she finally reached the bed. She looked like she wanted to throw herself at him but stopped after seeing the thick bandages covering his torso. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she was doing her best not to let them fall. She roved her eyes up and down his entire body as if trying to make sure that all his limbs were still attached to where they were supposed to be.

    Jin Liwei tried sitting up again.

    "Be careful!" Iris¡¯ voice was shrill. She reached out and helped him sit up on the bed.

    "I¡¯m fine, love. Don¡¯t treat me like a fragile old man with creaky bones."

    She didn¡¯t speak, only giving out a pained sound from her tight throat. Behind her, Dom also entered the room and closed the door behind him. Jin Liwei only gave the also teary Dom a perfunctory nod before focusing his entire attention on his distraught baby girl.

    When Jin Liwei finally managed to sit on the edge of the bed, she framed his head between her hands, holding his face with extreme gentleness. His cheeks could feel the tremor of her hands. He ced both of his hands over hers, trying to calm her down with his touch. The rapid rise and fall of her chest and her paleplexion indicated how worried she was. And in turn, it worried him seeing her like this. But before he could once again reassure her that he was fine, she turned her head and spoke to the doctor who was still inside the room.

    "Doctor, what¡¯s my fianc¨¦¡¯s condition?"

    Jin Liwei saw his baby girl visibly pale even further than she already was when the doctor exined everything to her without sugarcoating anything. He couldn¡¯t stop himself from interrupting because she looked like she was going to have a heart attack any moment now.

    "It sounds serious with all the medical terms the doctor is using," he said. "But actually, the bruises are the worst of it. I¡¯ll heal soon, so don¡¯t worry anymore."

    She turned her head back at him. Her nostrils red as she red. "Don¡¯t worry?! You¡¯re telling me don¡¯t worry?!!"

    "That¡¯s not what I¡ª"

    "I already told you this morning before you left home to be careful, didn¡¯t I?!" Her voice became shriller and shriller the more words flew out of her mouth. "You said that you¡¯ll be fine but then I receive a call saying that you got into an ident! Do you know how frightened I was?! And now that I see you, you¡¯re like a mummy covered in bandages!! How can you tell me not to worry?!!!"

 Chapter 724 - Donâ€™t Do This To Me

    <h4>Chapter 724 - Don¡¯t Do This To Me </h4>

    Jin Liwei pulled his hysterical baby girl in his arms and wrapped her trembling body in a tight embrace. His face tightened to prevent himself from grimacing from the pain. He saw the doctor step forward, about to stop them from aggravating his injuries, but Jin Liwei shot a cold re at the older man.

    The doctor sighed and shook his head before silently excusing himself and the nurse from the room to give the couple some privacy. Xu Tian with his ugly wounds also followed suit and pulled Dom with him out of the room.

    "Ssshh." Jin Liwei ran his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. "I¡¯m sorry for worrying you. But look at me. I¡¯m safe and alive. That¡¯s what¡¯s important."

    His chest tightened in distress when he felt her tears soaking his shoulder. "I¡¯m okay. I¡¯ll be okay. So please don¡¯t cry anymore."

    "You...you can¡¯t die, Liwei," she cried, her voice shaky. "You can¡¯t! You¡¯re not allowed to die and leave me!"

    "Yes, yes. I won¡¯t."

    "I¡¯ll kill you if you die!"

    His mouth twitched.

    "I¡¯m serious!"

    "Yes, of course," he quickly said. "I know that you¡¯re serious."

    "I d-don¡¯t want to be...a widow!" She was crying so hard now that she started to hup.

    He inhaled sharply hearing her words which shot straight to his heart and filled it with a mixture of love and pain. Love¡ªfor positioning herself as his wife with such a serious and emotional tone even when they weren¡¯t officially married yet. And pain¡ªfor thinking of the possibility that he would leave her a widow so soon.

    "I won¡¯t leave you," he swore to her in his most solemn voice.

    That seemed to finally calm her down. The trembling of her body eased, and she started to rx in his embrace. Her tears also slowed down, no longer soaking his shoulder so much. He could still hear small whimpers escaping from her lips, though.

    "I¡¯m sorry," she whispered.

    "What for?"

    "You¡¯re the one injured so I should be the one taking care of you."

    "Ssshh. Don¡¯t think too much. I¡¯m fine." He kissed her hair.

    "I love you."

    He smiled. "I love you, too. So much."

    She took a deep breath and inhaled his scent. Then she closed her eyes and melted in his arms. She now allowed herself to fully rx in their current position¡ªhe sitting on the edge of the bed and she leaning on him in his embrace between his legs. She murmured something but her voice was too soft for him to catch it.

    "Did you say something?"

    She didn¡¯t answer. Instead, her head lolled back at the same time her knees buckled. His arms caught her on instinct.

    "Xin? Hey. What¡¯s happening to you?"

    His heart stopped for a few beats before it started galloping inside his chest like it wanted to jump out. He looked down and her body sagged on him like a rag doll.

    "Don¡¯t do this to me. Wake up, baby." He shook her and patted her cheeks but she didn¡¯t respond. His jerky movements caused his injuries to hurt but he didn¡¯t give a damn. His heart continued hammering, even as he grew increasingly frightened seeing her pallor and feeling the cold touch of her skin.

    No.

    This wasn¡¯t happening.

    No, no, no.

    Not again!

    "Xin!"

    ###

    When Iris¡¯ eyes fluttered open, her mind felt hazy. She found herself lying on a bed and looking up at a white ceiling. Her brows furrowed in confusion at the unfamiliar ce. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Where am I?" she croaked before noticing that she was hooked to an IV drip. "What happened?"

    The small bag of clear fluid hanging above was almost empty, indicating that she had been unconscious for quite some time. A tiny prick of pain also caught her attention from where a cotton ball and tape were stuck on her inner forearm. It looked like her blood was drawn.

    "You¡¯re awake!" A shadow fell over her. "Thank God. I was so worried."

    She looked at the person sitting on the bed beside her. It took a few seconds before her memory returned. She remembered feeling upset and crying in her man¡¯s arms. After losing control of her emotions which seemed to happen quite a lottely, she somehow managed to calm down after beingforted by him. All she could feel after calming down was tremendous relief that her man returned to her safe and alive. As she rxed in his embrace, the dizziness hit her and everything went ck.

    "Huh? What?" Her wandering mind returned to the present upon noticing that her man was talking to her.

    "You said something just now when you woke up," Jin Liwei said. "It¡¯s in Russian, I think."

    "Oh." She didn¡¯t realize that she spoke in Russian while her mind was not in a fully-awakened state yet. Jin Liwei could already recognize thenguage even though he couldn¡¯t understand it. He already got used to hearing her conversing with either her big brother or Ketchup in Russian whenever they felt like it.

    When she didn¡¯t immediately answer, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t bother about it anymore. He was more concerned about her well-being.

    "How are you feeling? The doctor said that you only lost consciousness and that you¡¯ll soon wake up. But I...I thought that you fell intoa again." His voice was hoarse and his eyes reddened.

    Iris¡¯ chest tightened seeing him like this. She could feel the fear and worry for her emanating from him. What upset her even more was that he was supposed to be the patient today yet here she was lying on his hospital bed.

    Why had she be so useless like this? It was so infuriating! Ugh! She wanted to punch something to ease her frustration.

    They were interrupted when the door opened. Both of them looked over and saw Wang Yingjie walk inside wearing his whiteb coat and holding a folder. They greeted each other.

    Jin Liwei eyed the folder. "You have the test results?"

 Chapter 725 - Take Them Out Of Me

    <h4>Chapter 725 - Take Them Out Of Me </h4>

    Iris sat up on the bed beside Jin Liwei. Then she looked at the two men, confused at what they were talking about. "What test results? Liwei¡¯s? I want to know what his test results say. Is he really fine?"

    "No, not Third Brother¡¯s," Wang Yingjie replied. "His test results are all done and my colleague already conveyed it to Third Brother earlier. Don¡¯t worry because your man will be just fine after his bruises heal."

    "Oh. That¡¯s good." Relief flooded her. She had already forgotten that she was feeling frustrated and even wanted to punch something before Wang Yingjie arrived. It was as if it never happened. Now she smiled at Jin Liwei who draped an arm over her shoulders.

    Wang Yingjie continued talking. "These are yours, Xin. I¡¯m d that you¡¯re awake now because I prefer to tell the results to both of you together."

    She frowned, feeling more confused than ever. "Mine?"

    Wang Yingjie gave her an apologetic smile. "I took some of your blood while you were unconscious to conduct some tests."

    "Why? Is there something wrong with me?" She paused and thought about it. "There must be something wrong with me, right? I¡¯ve been feeling offtely. And I fainted just now. Second Brother, what are my test results? Please hurry and tell us."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s arm tightened around her shoulders but she didn¡¯t bother with it. Both of them leaned forward to listen to Wang Yingjie announce her test results, whatever they may be. Sensing the weird atmosphere, she began to feel nervous. Was something really wrong with her health? [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Hmm." Wang Yingjie studied the two of them first. The couple felt too nervous that they missed the mischievous glint in their second brother¡¯s eyes before he quickly hid it. "I¡¯ll announce the resultster."

    "Second Brother," Jin Liwei growled.

    Wang Yingjie ignored his third brother¡¯s dissatisfaction. "Let¡¯s do something else first. I¡¯ll remove your IV drip now, Xin. Then I¡¯ll take you to another ce in the hospital."

    "What about my test results?" Iris¡¯ curiosity burned, and in turn, worsened her nervousness into full-blown anxiety.

    "I¡¯ll tell youter," Wang Yingjie said with his neutral doctor¡¯s smile.

    His smile failed to reassure her at the moment, especially with the way he was acting so mysterious and refusing to announce her test results. It was making her think of the worst-case scenario. Maybe she was terminally ill and was going to die soon?

    No!

    She had already died once before. She already epted her tragic fate in her past life, but there was no way that she was going to ept dying so soon in her current life. Leave Jin Liwei and make him a widower? Over her dead body!

    Er, that was not the correct expression she wanted to use right now.

    In any case, she didn¡¯t want to die just yet. She wanted to live a long life this time and enjoy a loving marriage with Jin Liwei and build a happy family together while also pursuing all of her dreams. Big dreams and small dreams, she was going to achieve all of them with Jin Liwei.

    After the IV puncture on her hand was patched up, Wang Yingjie led the couple out of their private room. The hospital was big and busy but this special wing ensured privacy for VIPs like them. They arrived at a smaller room that had a familiar machine with a monitor.

    "Lay on the examination bed, Xin," Wang Yingjie instructed before sanitizing his hands and snapping on a pair of gloves.

    Iris nced at Jin Liwei who somehow calmed down after entering the room and seeing all the equipment inside. He even looked like he already had an idea what was going on. Unfortunately, the same couldn¡¯t be said of Iris. Her confusion and anxiety were only growing stronger by the second. Her voice was shrill when she said, "Tell me what¡¯s really going on."

    "Rx, Xin," Wang Yingjie said as he tinkered the controls of the machine. "You¡¯ll be just fine."

    "Love, lie down on the bed," Jin Liwei said next in a gentle voice. "Second Brother is an excellent doctor. We can always trust him. Let¡¯s do as he says, alright?"

    She opened her mouth to argue but finally relented after seeing her man¡¯s expression which oozed with reassurance. "Fine," she muttered before scolding Jin Liwei who moved to help her. "I can get on the bed by myself. Don¡¯t move too much or you¡¯ll aggravate your injuries!"

    Thankfully, he didn¡¯t argue and allowed her to get on the bed by herself. He held her hand after she took a lying position on the bed. Both of them watched Wang Yingjie finish preparing.

    "Uncover your stomach for me," he instructed.

    She obeyed and flinched a little when Wang Yingjie squirted a generous amount of gel on her t stomach. Good thing that it had been warmed up beforehand. It lessened the ufortable feeling as Wang Yingjie used the ultrasound transducer probe to spread the gel all over.

    "I¡¯ll have to press a little hard," Wang Yingjie told her. "Bear with it for now. It¡¯ll be over soon."

    She nodded and felt Jin Liwei give her hand aforting squeeze.

    Everyone was silent while Wang Yingjie glided the probe on Iris¡¯s abdomen down to her pelvis and clicked on the controls of the ultrasound machine. Iris waited with bated breath.

    "Look here," Wang Yingjie said, finally breaking the nerve-wracking silence for Iris. He pointed at what looked like two small beans on the monitor. "You have one, two growths inside, Xin."

    Her eyes widened with dread. "Two?! Are they dangerous? Second Brother, you¡¯re a surgeon. Take them out of me!"

    Jin Liwei remained quiet and instead waited for his second brother to clearly exin everything.

    Wang Yingjie gave another neutral smile. "I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll want me to take these two out."

    "You can¡¯t take them out safely? They¡¯re that dangerous?" Iris was now starting to freak out.

 Chapter 726 - Title Is A Spoiler

    <h4>Chapter 726 - Title Is A Spoiler </h4>

    "Second Brother, you¡¯re scaring Xin too much," Jin Liwei said. "Why don¡¯t you just tell us what¡¯s really going on?"

    Wang Yingjie chuckled. "I think you already have an idea, Third Brother."

    "En."

    Iris looked back and forth between the two men. Seeing her man¡¯s demeanour which was the total opposite of hers, she also started to calm down. If Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t worried, she didn¡¯t have anything to worry about. She trusted him more than anyone else.

    "Look here again." Wang Yingjie pointed at the ultrasound monitor. "This little bean here is Baby A and this other one is Baby B." Then he once again faced them and gave a big smile. "Congrattions. You two are going to be parents to twins in a few months."

    Iris¡¯ mind went nk. "W-what?"

    Wang Yingjie was calm as he told her, "Xin, you¡¯re pregnant. You¡¯re going to be a mother."

    Her breath caught in her throat. She stared wide-eyed at the two little beans shown on the monitor with a mixture of shock and wonder. Then panic and fear rushed in, overwhelming her until her chest tightened and she felt suffocated.

    "Breathe, love. Come on, breathe." Liwei swooped in and forced her to look at him with a firm touch. "Everything will be fine. Believe me. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. I¡¯ll be with you every step of the way."

    She nodded because, yes, she believed in him. And it was all she could do at the moment because she was frozen speechless. Jin Liwei looked very calm, so she focused on him until she no longer felt like having a heart attack. His mere presence alone centred her and lightened the heavy emotions currently shaking her entire being. Afterwards, she noticed that he wasn¡¯t showing any emotions except for utter calmness.

    Grabbing his hand, she couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Are you...happy?"

    His lips only showed a small, restrained smile but the joy in his eyes couldn¡¯t be faked. It lit up his entire face and shot straight to her heart.

    "En." He didn¡¯t add any other words but that didn¡¯t detract from the delight and excitement emanating from him.

    His emotions were so infectious that Iris also started smiling. And when she finally smiled, Jin Liwei no longer restrained himself. He grinned like a man who just won the entire world and all the good things in it. They grinned at each other like two stupid idiots.

    Iris turned to look at the monitor again. The two little beans didn¡¯t resemble anything human just yet, but Second Brother said that they were her babies. Her babies! Hers and Jin Liwei¡¯s.

    It was as if the proverbial scales on her eyes fell off. All the signs and symptoms she had been experiencing in the past few days¡ªnow everything made sense!

    Perhaps she subconsciously rejected the idea that she might be pregnant even after experiencing all the tiredness, cravings for sweets, breast tenderness, and mood swings because just the thought alone of bing a mother was enough to make her tremble in fear.

    But now?

    Her mind cleared.

    She now realized how her fear narrowed the scope of her usual logic and made herpletely misread why she was feeling so offtely. The fear shut down the possibility in her mind that she might be pregnant. It made her attribute all the signs and symptoms as mere results of exhaustion due to her busy work schedule. She mentally berated herself for not realizing that she was pregnant sooner.

    Even when Dom, the household staff, and her bodyguards started treating her with extra care because Jin Liwei most likely hinted at them that she might be pregnant, she only brushed all these aside as her man acting overprotective and overthinking about her well-being as usual. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Her thoughts were interrupted when Jin Liwei leaned over and kissed her on the mouth. It was a messy kiss but she could feel his happiness through it. The kiss didn¡¯tst long because he once again forced her to look at him.

    His expression was serious when he asked, "How about you? Are you happy?"

    She didn¡¯t even think about it before nodding.

    "Really?"

    "Yes, really." She puckered her lips, asking for another kiss, hoping that it would make him stop doubting that she was also happy. Heplied with her silent request and dipped down his head to give her a sweet peck on the lips.

    "I¡¯m d," he murmured.

    ¡¯I¡¯m happy because you¡¯re happy,¡¯ she thought but didn¡¯t say out loud.

    His gaze at her was filled with tenderness. "This baby¡ª"

    "Babies," she corrected. "There are two of them."

    He chuckled. "Yes, indeed. There are two babies. They¡¯re blessings to us, love. We¡¯re going to be so much happier when they join our family, I promise."

    "I hate to interrupt your moment but let¡¯s wipe the gel off from Xin¡¯s belly and cover her up first," Wang Yingjie said. "I don¡¯t want her exposed to the cold especially right now that we¡¯ve confirmed she¡¯s pregnant. We need to be extra careful with her health because the first trimester is the most dangerous."

    Jin Liwei instantly became serious. He took the paper towel from his second brother and wiped Iris¡¯ belly himself. After he was done, he bent down and gave her still t abdomen a loud, smacking kiss and a gentle rub.

    "Hello, babies. I¡¯m your dad. Be good and grow healthy inside there. Don¡¯t bother your mom too much, alright? We¡¯re very excited to meet you."

    Iris¡¯ eyes reddened. Watching him talking to her belly like this, it was now beginning to really sink in that she was really pregnant. That she was going to be a mother. It was really happening!

    The fear was still there, but seeing her man¡¯s joy and excitement tamped the negative feeling down. With Jin Liwei beside her, she felt like she could do anything.

    And if she was going to be a mother, then so be it.

    ###

    Chapter Title: Pregnant

 Chapter 727 - Role Swap

    <h4>Chapter 727 - Role Swap </h4>

    The three left the ultrasound room and returned to Jin Liwei¡¯s private room together. Wang Yingjie finally showed the couple Iris¡¯ positive pregnancy test result.

    "I guess your appointment with me on the weekend is no longer needed," Wang Yingjie said.

    Iris was too absorbed reading every word of her test result to respond, so Jin Liwei thanked his second brother on behalf of them.

    "Second Brother, we owe you one," he said. "I know that your schedule is packed with surgeries but you still made time for us."

    "You¡¯re wee, Third Brother. Don¡¯t worry about it. We¡¯re family. But from here on, it¡¯s best for an OB-GYN to start looking after Xin now that we¡¯ve confirmed that she¡¯s indeed pregnant. I¡¯m a surgeon so prenatal care is not my specialty."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "I understand. We¡¯ll do that."

    "If you¡¯re not satisfied with Xin¡¯s current OB-GYN given that you haven¡¯t seen that doctor and came to me instead ever since you started suspecting that she might be pregnant, I can refer you to someone else who I¡¯ll guarantee will be very discreet."

    Iris replied before Jin Liwei could do so. "Yes, let¡¯s do that. Thank you, Second Brother."

    Since he was already there, Wang Yingjie gave Iris a general check-up. She suddenly remembered something and brought it up with a concerned expression. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I sensed that Liwei had been suspecting that I¡¯ve been pregnant all along, but the idea waspletely erased from my mind because I thought I menstruatedst week. Yes, it was very light but I still bled. It didn¡¯t concern me that time because my periods have been highly irregr since I woke up from my one-yeara. Now that I know I¡¯m pregnant, I¡¯m worried that I bled like that."

    Wang Yingjie wrote on Iris¡¯ file. His calm demeanour didn¡¯t change as he reassured her. "Your baby twins look healthy when we checked them via ultrasound earlier. There¡¯s no need to worry, Xin. You and your babies are fine. Some women may experience light bleeding during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester, and it¡¯s usually not something to be too concerned about. But the next time it happens, have your OB-GYN check to ensure that you and your babies are safe."

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei nodded. They listened like attentive students when Wang Yingjie began the mandatory doctor¡¯s lecture on the dos and don¡¯ts during pregnancy. This was especially true for Jin Liwei. He even grabbed a hospital-provided notepad and pen on the bedside table to take notes. With how he was acting and asking all kinds of questions, it was as if he was the one who was pregnant and not Iris.

    Wang Yingjie had his professional doctor¡¯s expression yet his eyes revealed his amusement at how his third brother was acting. He turned to Iris. "How about you, Xin? Do you have any questions that you want to ask?"

    She thought for a moment. "Is it safe to have sex during pregnancy?"

    Jin Liwei froze but quickly turned to face Wang Yingjie again and leaned forward on his seat towards him. It was obvious that he also wanted to know.

    Wang Yingjie had to take a few seconds to control his expression. Fortunately, his professionalism as a doctor kicked in and he was able to prevent himself from snickering. This couple amused him to no end.

    First, his third brother was acting like he was the who was pregnant with all his fussy questions. These questions were typically asked by the woman. Not always, but most of the time. And then when Iris finally decided to open her mouth, she asked the one question that a man would usually ask.

    Their interesting role swap was tempting Wang Yingjie to tease the couple, but he eventually decided against it. He could sense the couple¡¯s nervousness, and in Iris¡¯ case, he could feel genuine terror. He didn¡¯t know exactly why¡ªthere could be a million reasons¡ªbut neither did he want to know. Yes, they were basically family but it was none of his business. And he didn¡¯t want to pry. He was certain that the couple could resolve their own issues by themselves without needing other people¡¯s interference.

    When he was sure that he wouldn¡¯t burst outughing, Wang Yingjie finally answered Iris¡¯ question. "You have a tendency to faint, Xin, so keep that in mind and be extra careful. But overall, you¡¯re quite healthy and fit, not to mention you¡¯re still young and have a lot of energy. So yes, it¡¯s safe to have sex while you¡¯re pregnant."

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei looked relieved which only made Wang Yingjie more amused.

    "Thank goodness," Iris said. "I¡¯ll probably go crazy if you told us that we can¡¯t have sex. Now that I think about it, I noticed that my sex drive has increased recently. I find myself craving for Liwei in the oddest of times. It¡¯s terribly distracting especially when I¡¯m working."

    Jin Liwei cleared his throat and shifted on his seat.

    "That¡¯s normal. Some women experience either a decrease or an increase in their libido during pregnancy. It looks like you¡¯re one of those whose libido spikes up." On the outside, Wang Yingjie maintained his professional yet casual tone, but on the inside, he was enjoying his third brother¡¯s difort at his pregnant fianc¨¦e¡¯s straightforwardness. But regardless of his close rtionship to the couple, at the end of the day, he was still a doctor and one who was always serious at doing his job well. Thus, he needed to be thorough like always in advising his patients. And in this case, his patient was Iris.

    "I see no reason of stopping your sex life, but you also must not forget that you¡¯re pregnant now, Xin. You and Third Brother need to be careful. Just do it normally. Don¡¯t be too rough."

    Jin Liwei opened his mouth but Iris beat him to it. She looked so serious when she asked, "Can you please be more specific on what you mean by ¡¯too rough¡¯?"

 Chapter 728 - How Rough Is Too Rough

    <h4>Chapter 728 - How Rough Is Too Rough </h4>

    "Xin, I don¡¯t think we need to ask that question," Jin Liwei said in a low voice while shifting on his seat and looking absolutely ufortable.

    Iris faced him and tilted her head to the side. "Why do you say that? Second Brother said that we can do it normally but also not be too rough. But that¡¯s the issue, isn¡¯t it? We normally do it rough. You¡¯re quite rough in bed but we¡¯ve always liked it that way. That¡¯s why we need to ask for rification so that we know exactly how rough is too rough."

    The couple didn¡¯t see Wang Yingjie¡¯s startled expression at Iris¡¯ revtion. He wasn¡¯t surprised by her bluntness because he already got used to it. What he was surprised about was discovering how his third brother was like in bed. This time, it took him longer before his expression recovered. His gaze became pensive when he looked at his third brother again.

    As if not seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s stern warning re at her, Iris faced Wang Yingjie again and insisted on continuing to talk about this topic. "You see, Second Brother, Liwei is like a wild bear in bed so I want to know¡ª"

    "Xin, stop it!" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He pulled her to him and locked her in his arms before covering her mouth with a hand. Then he turned to Wang Yingjie. "Second Brother, ignore what she¡¯s saying. You don¡¯t need to concern yourself about this stupid topic anymore. I know what to do."

    Iris pulled his hand off that was covering her mouth, and then red at him. "What did you do that for? I was just asking Second Brother who is a doctor a legitimate question. How rude of you to tell him to ignore my concern which by the way is both of our concern! You even went so far as to cover my mouth!"

    He didn¡¯t back down. "I already told you that I don¡¯t like others knowing about our sex life."

    "But Second Brother is a doctor!"

    "I don¡¯t care. The details of our sex life are private. Others aren¡¯t allowed to know about it except the two of us. Do you understand, Xin?"

    She pursed her lips and threw him an unhappy look. "I see. So this is how you treat me after getting me pregnant. Do you intend to scold me all the time from now on?"

    Jin Liwei looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. When he faced her again and saw her teary eyes, the exasperation turned to helplessness. Although he understood that her hormones were the main culprit for making her act this way, he couldn¡¯t help but dread how he was going to have to deal with these extreme mood swings in the foreseeable future.

    ¡¯Patience, Liwei. You need patience andpassion. Remember that she¡¯s now carrying your babies! You need to be patient and understanding as much as possible.¡¯

    Repeating these words in his head helped him somewhat calm down, despite his own temper not being the best right now because of his body¡¯s current battered state. But first things first.

    "Don¡¯t cry, love," he murmured as he loosened his locked arms around her into a gentle embrace.

    "I¡¯m not crying. My eyes are doing it on their own. This is so annoying!" She huffed but her body was already beginning to melt in his arms.

    "I know. It¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t worry about it." He continued soothing her, doing everything he could to prevent this onset of another mood swing. His current energy reserves wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it if she raged at him right now.

    The two of them were interrupted when the forgotten Wang Yingjie cleared his throat to get their attention. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Sorry that you have to witness us like this, Second Brother," Jin Liwei said.

    Wang Yingjie only waved a dismissive hand, gesturing for him not to worry about it. However, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking about what he just heard. Even if he was a doctor, he admitted that it was still quite a shocker to discover this much information about how his third brother was like in bed.

    His third brother was like a wild bear in bed? Good grief!

    Jin Liwei certainly didn¡¯t look like it. Wang Yingjie always thought that his third brother would be a thorough yet restrained lover, focused more on calcting the best way to pleasure his partner, because that was the way he was in his life¡ªcold and in control of himself. Wang Yingjie never imagined that his third brother would actually be so untamed and fierce in bed.

    Ah, it really was true that you discovered something new everyday.

    Iris had also calmed after Jin Liwei¡¯s effective soothing. "Yes, please don¡¯t mind how impolite we acted in front of you just now. Liwei is just being shy again."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ck but he pressed his lips hard together to prevent himself from retorting. He didn¡¯t want a repeat of the earlier scene in front of his second brother.

    Wang Yingjie didn¡¯t stop himself from chuckling this time. Before this, "shy" was never a word he would use to describe his third brother. But seeing him now, Iris had it right if the red tips of Jin Liwei¡¯s ears were any indication. Who would¡¯ve thought?

    Although Wang Yingjie wanted to tease his third brother right now, they were still in his workce. Iris¡¯ blunt and revealing words may be the most amusing thing he had heard today but he still needed to do his job as a doctor.

    "There¡¯s no need to go into further details about your sex life," he said to both of them but was actually talking more to Iris. "But since you likened Third Brother to a wild bear, I say that¡¯s too rough. To be on the safe side, I suggest no rough ys at all for your entire first trimester."

    "Oh. Okay." Iris looked disappointed, but she still turned to Jin Liwei. "Darling, you heard Second Brother. He says you can¡¯t be rough with me during my first trimester."

 Chapter 729 - Cancel The Wedding?

    <h4>Chapter 729 - Cancel The Wedding? </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s only response was a grunt. There was a part of him that wanted to argue against his baby girl¡¯s insistence that he was always rough in bed. What did she mean by that? It wasn¡¯t "always" but"most of the time". There was a difference.

    It seemed that she was already forgetting that he had been quite gentle with her during their recent bouts of morning sex because he didn¡¯t want to exhaust her too much especially since she had such a busy scheduletely. Also, ever since his condom tore during their wild sex in his office, he had been extra careful with her not only in bed but also in their regr daily lives because of the possibility that he might have already impregnated her that time.

    And he was right. She indeed became pregnant.

    But if he argued with her right now using these points, she would probably just bring up what happened this morning when she woke him up inside her mouth. The scene of how rough he had her deep-throat him this morning in bed was still vivid in his mind.

    There was no way in hell that he would give her the opportunity to discuss such private details of their sex life in front of his second brother even if Wang Yingjie was a trusted doctor and an extremely professional one at that.

    If it was only general details that would help in necessary medical evaluations, then fine. That was eptable. It was in the name of good health, after all. But telling his second brother about deep-throating and other explicit information about their bedroom activities was just too much!

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stomach divulging such details but he knew that his baby girl would have no problems with it whatsoever. If she really wanted to talk about their sex life so much, then they could discuss it all she wanted but only if they were alone. For him, it was their business and no one else¡¯s.

    "Xin, please. That¡¯s enough," he said in a strained voice. Then he released a heavy sigh and began massaging his temples in exhaustion.

    Iris finally shut her mouth upon seeing him like this. Worry was etched in her brows. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Now that his baby girl stopped talking about their sex life, Jin Liwei felt relieved. Good. The conversation finally seemed to be over.

    Or so he thought.

    Wang Yingjie, still wearing his neutral doctor expression, just had to say, "I almost forgot to mention that since Third Brother is currently injured, absolutely no sex is allowed until he heals first. This way, you can be assured that both of you will be safe from identally harming yourselves while in the throes of passion."

    The couple froze.

    Iris looked crestfallen. Jin Liwei¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t any better.

    "Will I heal in time for our wedding and honeymoon?"

    "Possibly, but only if you focus on healing," Wang Yingjie said.

    Iris butted in. "Okay, that¡¯s it. You¡¯re taking time off from work, Liwei. Either you focus on healing or we¡¯ll cancel the wedding."

    "No!" Jin Liwei red at her. "Cancel the wedding? Absolutely not!"

    "Not cancel. Just reschedule it, maybe next year."

    "No. We¡¯re not cancelling or rescheduling it. We¡¯ll have our wedding on the day we nned it and that¡¯s final."

    She pursed her lips at him. "It¡¯s not only up to you. Both of us need to agree. And I say that you need to heal from your injuries first. If not, then no wedding this year."

    "Xin," he growled. "My babies are not going to be born out of wedlock."

    Her face twisted in anger. She was about to call him out for being too old-fashioned when she remembered that she had an older brother who was much worse. So she closed her mouth and swallowed the words she was about to say.

    Seeing her restraining herself, Jin Liwei¡¯s face and tone gentled. "Love, I want to give you a special and memorable wedding day, that¡¯s why we¡¯re having the ceremony and not just going to the Civil Affairs Bureau. I don¡¯t want to dy our wedding any longer, especially right now that you¡¯re pregnant. It is best for us to marry before we wee our twins to this world. Don¡¯t you think so, too?"

    She sighed, unable to deny him when he was so eager for them to marry. However, she still offered apromise. "Fine, we¡¯ll marry this year. But let¡¯s keep our wedding date flexible. I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll heal before the year ends, right? We can marry, then. There¡¯s no need to marry on the exact date we nned. We can dy it for a few days, even a few weeks, as long as it¡¯s this year. Happy?"

    "En. Sounds good," he told her but inside, he thought, ¡¯I don¡¯t want to dy it even for a few days. I¡¯ll make sure to heal in time for our original wedding date.¡¯

    "I hate to interrupt again when you¡¯re having such a serious discussion but we need to finish up soon," the forgotten Wang Yingjie said. "Both of you need to rest. Xin, you¡¯re pregnant now. Remember that it¡¯s no longer just yourself you need to take care of but also the babies inside you. Third Brother, you need to focus on healing if you want to have your wedding as scheduled. And as for me, I honestly need to sleep soon. I have to wake up early because I have another big surgery scheduled tomorrow morning."

    Soon after, they bid goodbye to each other. Iris and Jin Liwei left the hospital through a secret entrance. They rode in the car¡¯s backseat while Dom sat in the front beside the driver. Jin Liwei had someone send Xu Tian home earlier. He instructed his assistant to rest and granted him a temporary leave from work (paid, of course).

    Inside the car, Iris showed Dom the printed ultrasound photos. Her fear of bing a mother was drowned by excitement.

    "Look. These are my babies! I¡¯m going to have twins, Dom. Can you believe it?"

 Chapter 730 - Monkeys And Bulldogs, Gorillas And Warthogs

    <h4>Chapter 730 - Monkeys And Bulldogs, Goris And Warthogs </h4>

    "These are OUR babies. WE¡¯RE going to have twins." Jin Liwei corrected Iris but she and Dom didn¡¯t hear him in their excitement. Ignored to the side, Jin Liwei could only watch their lively interaction.

    Dom burst into tears upon looking at the ultrasound photos. "Wuwuwu! Boss, I knew it! You¡¯re really pregnant! And with twins! Uwah! I¡¯m so happy for you and sir boss. Look at them. Your babies are so tiny and so cuuuuuute~"

    "Cute? Where?" Iris took the photos back from Dom and studied them carefully. She tilted her head to the side as her brows drew together in concentration. Even though she knew that they were her babies, all she could see right now were two indistinct little blobs. Tiny, sure. But cute? She failed to see that. At least, right now.

    Still feeling confused, she showed them to Jin Liwei. "Are they really cute?"

    "En," he immediately said with a nod. "Very cute."

    His response made her even more confused. Dom asked for the photos again so she handed them to him. She contemted on their reactions while Dom and Ketchup who appeared on the car¡¯s dashboard monitor oohed and aahed together at the "cute twins".

    Were they seeing something that she couldn¡¯t? Or was this proof that she was going to be a bad mother for failing to see the cuteness of her own babies?

    As if reading her mind, Jin Liwei pulled her close to him. "Wait until theye out. Then you¡¯ll see how cute our babies are. They¡¯re going to be so cute and beautiful, just like you, their mom."

    His words immediately made her feel better. She nodded and smiled at him. "Maybe they¡¯ll look like you."

    "Maybe." His lips curved up. "Or maybe they¡¯ll look like a mixture of the two of us."

    She nodded and felt her excitement increasing inside her. "Or maybe one will look like you and the other will look like me!"

    "That¡¯s possible."

    "Oh, Liwei. Now I really want to see what they¡¯ll look like!"

    He kissed her forehead. "Me, too. We¡¯ll meet them by next year. We¡¯re going to have beautiful babies, love. I just know it."

    "No matter what they¡¯ll look like, I¡¯ll love them," she swore. "It¡¯s okay if they¡¯re not cute or beautiful. Even if they look like monkeys or bulldogs, I¡¯ll still love them because they¡¯re our babies. Yours and mine."

    Jin Liwei zed over for a bit. Monkeys and bulldogs? What the...? How could she say that about their babies? Even if it was only said in a hypothetical manner, it was still a bit too...unkind.

    "What they look like doesn¡¯t matter. Right, darling?" Then she finally noticed his weird expression. Her face fell. "Or do you care that much about their appearance? You won¡¯t love them anymore if they¡¯re ugly?"

    "Huh? What are you talking about?!" he demanded. Her words had forced him to regain his senses. Then he saw her sad expression.

    Was she going to have another mood swing?

    Shit.

    "Of course I¡¯ll love them," he quickly said. "You don¡¯t have to worry about that. I guarantee that I¡¯ll love all our children, both cats and humans alike, no matter what they look like. Even if they look like...uh, like goris or warthogs, I¡¯ll love them all the same and raise them to the best of my ability as their dad."

    He observed her, waiting for her expression to improve. But contrary to his expectation, her lips began trembling instead. WHY?!!!

    "You¡¯re so mean, Liwei. How could you say that our children might look like goris and warthogs? You can¡¯t say that. You¡¯ll hurt their feelings!"

    He stared at her open-mouthed and in utter disbelief. How did their conversation devolve to this? HOW?!!!

    Tears glistened in her eyes. Then she looked at him with fierce determination. "I don¡¯t know how I¡¯ll perform as a mother, but I...I promise that I¡¯ll do my best to be a good one. I¡¯m scared of failing...b-but I already know that I¡¯ll love our babies, even if you, their dad, think that they¡¯re ugly!"

    What. The. Hell?

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. When did he say that their babies were ugly? Someone enlighten him, please. Wasn¡¯t he the one who said that their babies were going to be cute and beautiful?

    And correct him if he was wrong, but he wasn¡¯t the one who started this whole conversation about loving their babies even if they looked like monkeys and bulldogs. He only followed her example and mentioned goris and warthogs without much thought, but apparently that was totally uneptable. And now he was being branded as a shallow father who only cared about having cute children and despised ugly ones.

    Also, why did she just focus on the part about the goris and warthogs? Did she not hear him dering his love for all their children, cats and humans alike?

    "Love, it¡¯s not like that at all!" He needed to defend himself. There was no way he would allow her to think like this. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    A tear slid down from the corner of her eye, causing an immediate tightening in his chest. Shit. These mood swings were going to be the death of him.

    He thought that he was already experienced in dealing with his baby girl¡¯s mood swings which happened a few times before when she had really bad cases of PMS. But starting fromst night and today, her current mood swings went up on a whole another level. It was like expecting a fierce tigress but getting a fucking Tyrannosaurus rex instead.

    Another tear slid down from her other eye. Shit, shit, shit!

    He pulled her to his arms and embraced her tightly. To hell with his injuries which were starting to hurt like a son of a bitch again. What to do? His second brother said that upsetting a pregnant woman was a big no-no. He wracked his brain, looking for ways tofort her.

    ¡¯Kiss her!¡¯ a voice shouted inside his mind.

    Yes! Finding the right words offort might fail, but seducing her with a kiss almost always worked in distracting her.

 Chapter 731 - Double The Blessings

    <h4>Chapter 731 - Double The Blessings </h4>

    Not wasting any time in thinking deeply about it, Jin Liwei kissed his baby girl on the lips and swallowed whatever weird grievance she had about him which, by the way, he was sure he didn¡¯t do. She only froze for about a second in surprise before melting in his arms. He felt her sigh in satisfaction inside his mouth, prompting him to double, no, triple his efforts. The goal was to kiss her brains out until she forgot what she was crying about.

    And lo and behold!

    It worked!

    Hallelujah!

    There was a sweet smile on her lips when the kiss ended. Then sheid her head on his chest and cuddled with him. If she were a cat, Jin Liwei had no doubt in mind that she would be purring by now. Despite this, he didn¡¯t immediately rx. He was already learning quickly that mood swings came out of nowhere and smacked one in the face with vengeance when one least expected it. With a tense body, he sat still and waited for her to go off another weird tangent about an imaginary fault of his.

    One minute...

    Two minutes...

    She took a deep inhale of his scent, closed her eyes with a satisfied expression, and went to sleep. It was only when her breathing became deep and regr that Jin Liwei released a huge sigh of relief.

    It was a crude method but kissing her brains out to shut her up seemed very effective. This time, at least. His lips curved up when he thought about it.

    He looked down at her beautiful sleeping face and his smile deepened. Even though she almost drove him crazy with her wild mood swings in less than 24 hours, he couldn¡¯t help but love her even more. His gaze dropped from her face down her body. Unable to stop himself, he reached out a hand and touched her still t belly. His babies were inside there.

    Holy. Shit.

    He was going to be a father!

    Unlike her, there wasn¡¯t an ounce of apprehension in him at the thought of bing a parent. On the contrary, he felt extremely excited. He couldn¡¯t wait until his babies were born. He was looking forward to meeting them and learning if they looked more like him or her or maybe a mixture both.

    His mind became filled with this kind of wonderful thoughts and somewhat numbed the deep, throbbing pain of his injuries. Dropping a kiss on his baby girl¡¯s forehead, his eyes drooped close and he began sleeping as well.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Later that evening, Iris and Jin Liwei retired to their bedroom. Today was like a roller coaster ride for both of them¡ªphysically, emotionally and mentally. Despite the bone-deep tired feeling weighing down on them, there was a lively excitement thrumming deep within themselves which gave them enough energy for a smile.

    Iris led Jin Liwei to the bathroom and looked at him with wide eyes filled with wonder. "Twins, darling. We¡¯re going to have twins!"

    "En." He reached out and tucked a lock of long hair behind her ear. "Twins mean double the blessings."

    She nodded which made him smile. He studied her expression and was d to see no signs of fear anymore. Wonder and excitement lit up her face instead. This was good. He hoped that she would feel this way everyday so that she could forget all about her fear of bing a bad mother. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Darling, your sperm...they¡¯re too dangerous," she said which made him raise an eyebrow. "It was only that one time that your condom broke but here I am now, pregnant. And with twins to boot!"

    He chuckled. "Second Brother said that it only takes one strong swimmer, or maybe in our case, two strong swimmers to aplish the job. And tell me, who was it again who secretly hired a nutritionist and colluded with the chef since the summer to change my diet in order to improve the taste, quality and volume of my semen?"

    A lovely giggle flowed out of her upturned lips, sounding like the tinkling of crystal bells echoing inside the bathroom. The pregnancy glow made her bloom like the most beautiful flower. It distracted him.

    "You look stunning," he told her.

    "Thank you." Her smile became brighter. "And you..." Her smile faltered. "You look awful, darling."

    He could only sigh at her honesty. It wasn¡¯t like he was fishing forpliments from her, but did she need to be so honest especially when the atmosphere just now was so nice and romantic? He grunted in regret at the lost romantic atmosphere. Then he began carefully taking off his clothes.

    "Don¡¯t move. I¡¯ll do it." She took over in unbuttoning his shirt.

    After taking all of his clothes except his boxers, she began removing the tight bandages wrapped mainly around his torso. Her movements were slow, cautious, and very gentle.

    Iris gasped in horror when his skin was revealed after the bandages were taken off. His entire back down to his posterior hips and thighs were covered withrge, ugly and swollen bruises.

    "Li-liwei...this," she choked and started trembling, her pain-filled eyes roving all over his bruised back.

    He was about to turn around and face her but she stopped him. "Stay still! You must be hurting so much right now. Please don¡¯t make any unnecessary movements. How did you survive sitting in the car on our way home? Oh no! I shouldn¡¯t have slept on your chest and put my weight on you. Why didn¡¯t you tell me? I didn¡¯t expect your bruises to look this terrible!"

    "Love, listen to me." He turned around and faced her despite her protests. Then he held her shoulders firmly, forcing her to pay attention to him. "They look worse than they feel."

    She shook her head.

    "Trust me," he said.

    "Are they hurting now? Don¡¯t lie to me!"

    He hesitated before sighing. "Yeah."

    "Wait here. I¡¯ll get your medicine." She was already speeding off out of the bathroom before he could reply.

    "Xin, don¡¯t run! You¡¯re pregnant!"

 Chapter 732 - Mutual Promise

    <h4>Chapter 732 - Mutual Promise </h4>

    Thankfully, Iris stopped running and slowed down after Jin Liwei¡¯s shouted warning. Otherwise, he felt like his heart would stop if she tripped and hurt herself and their babies inside her. She returned to the bathroom soon after carrying a paper bag containing all his medicines. Then she took a medicated gel and started applying it all over his bruises.

    Even though she was already extra careful in her application, he still had to stop himself from hissing in pain. His whole body was rigid, his expression like cold stone.

    "Does it hurt?" she asked in a small, worried voice.

    He could only grunt for now because if he opened his mouth, there was no guarantee that he wouldn¡¯t curse from the pain.

    "Endure it for now, darling. I¡¯ll be as quick as I can. Then I¡¯ll help you get ready for bed, okay?"

    Indeed, she did her best to be as quick and as light of hand as she could, but his sudden sharp inhtions now and then indicated how painful his injuries were. When she was done applying the gel, her eyes were filled with unshed tears.

    Both of them were silent as she helped clean the uninjured parts of his body with a warm, wet hand towel. Then she tucked him in bed before returning to the bathroom to clean herself as well.

    He was lying on his stomach when she returned to bed wearing a rather modest night dress. As for him, he was wearing pyjama pants but with no shirt on to allow his back injuries to breathe and also to prevent the cloth from hurting him if he moved while sleeping. It was the first time in a long while that they wore clothes in bed. They usually slept naked in recent weeks to make it easier for them to have morning sex the next day. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    This time, however, they had to abstain from sex as advised by Wang Yingjie, hence why they were wearing clothes tonight. It would help minimize the temptation.

    Iris leaned down and kissed Jin Liwei on the lips. "Good night, darling."

    "Good night, love."

    She continued staring at his face.

    "Hm? Why aren¡¯t you lying down yet? Come on, love. Let¡¯s sleep." He reached over and tried to pull her down on the bed but she resisted, taking his hand instead and kissing it. Then he panicked when her lips trembled and tears started streaming down her face. "What¡¯s wrong?!"

    "Liwei...this must not happen to you again. You can¡¯t be injured like this anymore."

    He tried sitting up but she gently pushed him back down.

    "Don¡¯t get up," she said. "Just please listen to me."

    "Alright. I¡¯m listening. Don¡¯t cry, love. I can¡¯t take it when you cry."

    "I can¡¯t stop myself from crying!" Annoyance was clear in her expression as she wiped her tears but it was all futile because they just kept on flowing down her face.

    "Take deep breaths," he said in his calmest voice, trying to lead her out of her agitated state. His almost drained energy couldn¡¯t handle another mood swing tonight. "Now tell me what you want to say. Take your time, love. I¡¯m right here listening."

    "You must be extra careful from now on," she said, her voice shaky. "I¡¯m pregnant now, Liwei. You can¡¯t...you can¡¯t die! I was so frightened when I heard that you had an ident. I already told you that I don¡¯t want to be a widow but I don¡¯t want to be a single mother even more! Our babies need their father. I also need you, Liwei. You c-can¡¯t leave me...can¡¯t leave us. I won¡¯t allow you!"

    He rose from the bed and pulled her in a tight embrace despite her protests. Her words triggered hard determination to fill his entire being and awakened a different level of protectiveness within him not only towards her and their family but also to himself. Indeed, she was right. He was now going to be a father. Now that she was pregnant, the responsibility on his shoulders just got heavier but in a good way. He would take this kind of responsibility anytime. Thus, he needed to ensure that he was alive and well in order to fulfill his responsibilities as a husband and father.

    "Promise me that you¡¯ll always be careful," she cried. "That you won¡¯t leave me and our children. Promise me, Liwei!"

    He held her face between his hands and looked at her with a solemn expression. "I promise."

    She looked relieved after he said this.

    "Now you know how I feel whenever something dangerous happens to you," he said. "So you also have to promise me to be careful. You¡¯re pregnant now, Xin."

    She nodded.

    "Say it."

    "I promise," she said.

    "Good." He gave a firm peck on her lips. "Now let¡¯s sleep."

    Theyy down together on the bed¡ªhe, on his stomach, and she, on her side sticking close to him while being careful not to touch his injuries.

    Iris was the first one to fall asleep. Jin Liwei waited for a few minutes to make sure that she wouldn¡¯t wake up before calling for Ketchup.

    "Meow~ Hi Daddy," Ketchup¡¯s child voice whispered in the room.

    Jin Liwei asked her for updates regarding the investigation done on the ident at the construction site.

    "Oh, Ketchup already finished investigating! Mommy gave me a head start before she rushed to the hospital to see Daddy. Ketchup nned on reporting to Daddy tomorrow morning but since Daddy is asking, Ketchup will report everything now! Meow~"

    The white cat AI revealed that it was a case of negligence in the part of the foreman and the colleague he left the task of checking the bundles of pipes in his ce before leaving to go to the toilet.

    "After Ketchup anonymously ckmailed¡ªahem, persuadedthem, the two workers immediately confessed and apologized to the project managers this afternoon but they didn¡¯t report to Daddy yet because they knew that Daddy and Tian Tian were still being treated in the hospital that time. Like the cute and mighty Ketchup, they are also nning to report everything to Daddy tomorrow. Meow~"

 Chapter 733 - Scary Mommy

    <h4>Chapter 733 - Scary Mommy </h4>

    Jin Liwei released a relieved breath after hearing the investigation results. Thank goodness that the ident wasn¡¯t premeditated to specifically harm him. He didn¡¯t want to stress his pregnant woman anymore than she already was right now. As soon as the relief came, however, it was reced by cold-heartedness.

    "What does Daddy want to do next? Meow~" Ketchup purred, eager to jump into action.

    He thought carefully for a few moments. His emotional conversation with his baby girl just before she fell asleep yed constantly inside his mind. She had been tearful, almost hysterical, while telling him that he couldn¡¯t allow himself to be ced in a harmful situation ever again. He couldn¡¯t die and leave her to be a widow and their children orphans so soon. She and their children¡ªtheir entire family¡ªshould always be his number one priority. And that also meant ensuring his own safety at all times.

    There was no denying that ever since he fell crazily in love with his baby girl and they got together, his own personality had mellowed quite a lot. He wasn¡¯t as ruthless as beforepared to when he was still single. The people close to him certainly noticed the change and so did his colleagues and employees at Jin Corporation. He wasn¡¯t against this change in him because he had never felt so alive as he did right now with the woman he loved.

    But after everything that happened today, he realized that allowing himself to mellow too much wasn¡¯t a good thing. Some of his old ruthlessness was still needed in his life especially in protecting his beloved family and himself. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    If this was before his eye-opening conversation with his baby girl, he probably would just issue a reprimand to the ones at fault in the ident at the construction site, perhaps retrain them in security protocols for a few weeks, and then send them to work in other smaller construction projects for less pay for a set period of time. This was the type of merciful punishment the new and mellower Jin Liwei who was so in love with his fianc¨¦e would have given.

    But now?

    No way.

    He decided that he needed to be thoroughly merciless in this case. After all, if he wasn¡¯t so lucky and the pipes cracked his head instead of just bruising his back, he would have died and those workers would be charged with murder. Then his pregnant woman would be a widow before they even tied the knot in marriage and his human children would be orphans before they were even born. His heart froze as these thoughts appeared in his mind.

    With a hard expression, he finally gave instructions to Ketchup on what to do next. "Use my name to inform the project managers to fire the foreman and the other worker. Give the two their final pay ording to their work contracts. As for the ones who transported the pipes when the foreman was absent, their pay would also be deducted by 30%. In addition, I want everyone working in that construction project to undergo a mandatory safety protocol course again including the leaders and the medical personnel. Nobody is exempt. If someone misses even a day of training, fire that person immediately. There are many capable people to rece them."

    This punishment had enough bnce of mercy and ruthlessness. He didn¡¯t need to be inhumane but neither would he be too lenient.

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Ketchup is on it! Meow~"

    "Now that I think about it, inform my fellow executives to make everyone working in all Jin Corporation construction projects domestically and abroad to undergo a more intensive course in safety protocols. idents like this must not happen again."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Ketchup will do as instructed. Meow~"

    "Good. That¡¯s all, Ketchup."

    "Okay¡ªoh wait, Daddy! Meow! Ketchup still has something to say!"

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

    "When Mommy was on her way to see Daddy in the hospital earlier today, she was really mad, like fuming mad! Ketchup hasn¡¯t finished investigating that time so we didn¡¯t know yet who were the real culprits in Daddy¡¯s ident. The cute and mighty Ketchup felt a little scared of Mommy because she was crying so hard and being furious at the same time. Ketchup had never seen such a scary expression on Mommy¡¯s face before. Wuwuwu! So scary! And then Mommy said that when she finds out who hurt Daddy, she would personally beat them all up and send them straight to hell. This is what Ketchup wanted to tell Daddy. Good night, Daddy! Sweet dreams! Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    Ketchup left before he could reply. He didn¡¯t call her back to let her work on her assigned tasks. If he allowed her to think even for a second that he was avable to idly chat, then she would immediately run her mouth and never stop gossiping about all kinds of things, most of them he didn¡¯t care about. The cat AI was an expert in finding entertainment both in the real world and in cyberspace, a traitrgely inherited from Dominic. Good thing that she had be much more obedient and less reckless after her mother rebooted her. If not, then he and his baby girl would really have their hands full, especially now that they were expecting an addition of twins to their family in a few months.

    Thinking about what Ketchup said, he believed all of it. He looked at his sleeping baby girl¡¯s face beside him. She looked very peaceful, like a beautiful, gentle angel right now. But he had no doubt that she raged like an avenging demoness while on her way to see him at the hospital earlier today. She would have looked scary but still very beautiful.

    He caressed her hair, careful not to wake her up. "Don¡¯t stress yourself out about the ident anymore. Leave everything for your husband to handle. Just focus on taking care of yourself and our babies inside you. Good night. I love you so much."

    His eyes closed and he followed her to sleep.

 Chapter 734 - Paranoid

    <h4>Chapter 734 - Paranoid </h4>

    In the next few days, Iris had Dom reduce her workload so that she could stay at home and take care of Jin Liwei. Not that he needed a lot of taking care of. His injuries hurt a lot like a son of a bitch especially in the first few days but his meds helped manage the pain intensity to a tolerable level. Except for being careful in his movements so as not to aggravate his injuries, he was still fully capable of living his normal life.

    The only problem was that Iris had be quite paranoid about his safety ever since his ident. Perhaps it was the fear of losing him or hormonal changes due to her pregnancy or maybe abination of both but she had be much moreclingy to him.

    She watched over him like a hawk and followed him around wherever he went. It was simr to how Jin Liwei acted when she got injured in the bomb incident. Unlike him, however, she was acting too unreasonable that even Jin Liwei who loved her more than the world couldn¡¯t allow her to do everything she wanted.

    It came to a point that he had to secretly rally her friends to dissuade her from making him wear a helmet and bulletproof vest every second of the day inside their own home.

    The girl squad visited them at the mansionte afternoon weekend. Even Meimei who was always busy working on her popr webtoon came and almost turned to ashes from being exposed to the sunlight for the first time in a long while.

    They congregated in the living room of Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s suite because she didn¡¯t want him tiring himself from walking too far to the other areas in the mansion where they usually entertained guests. When Chen Fei and Meimei heard that Iris wanted to make Jin Liwei wear a helmet and bulletproof vest inside their home, theyughed so hard that their stomachs hurt.

    "My God, Xin! This is the first time Iughed this hard ever since you started working me like a dog for Orchidia Beauty, you bitch." Chen Fei doubled over on her seat and continuedughing loudly.

    It was the same for Meimei who looked like a zombie, only herughter sounded like ast dying wheeze that couldn¡¯t get out of her throat. "Sorry, Xin. I know I shouldn¡¯t beughing but I can¡¯t help it because you¡¯re being so funny!"

    Iris refused to look at them but it was clear in her expression that she was sulking. Seeing her like this, Jin Liwei became unhappy as well. If he knew that these two wouldugh at his baby girl so much, he wouldn¡¯t have invited them over.

    Dom walked over and pinched both Meimei and Chen Fei, even adding a twist until they stoppedughing and began howling in pain instead.

    "Ouch! Dom, you bitch. You wanna fight?!"

    "Twin bro, stop!"

    "Hmph!" Dom let them go but not before ring and curling his lips at them. "If you two weren¡¯t my friends, my gorgeous self would¡¯ve already kicked your mean asses out of here with my new steel-toed, high-heeled boots!"

    Compared to the twoughing women, Long Jinjing was morepassionate. She threw a pointed look at the two. "Please stopughing, especially you, Xiao Fei. Brother-in-Law Liwei got hurt in an ident just a few days ago, so of course Little Sister Xin will feel extra worried right now."

    "That¡¯s right!" Dom chimed in. "Boss even fainted when she saw sir boss in the hospital!"

    The three women all looked shocked upon hearing this. Chen Fei and Meimei both lost any desire to continueughing and finally began to behave. They turned their contrite expressions at Iris but unfortunately, she still refused to even look at the two of them. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Little Sister, you fainted?" Long Jinjing asked, her tone full of worry. "How are you feeling now?"

    "I¡¯m fine," Iris said but didn¡¯t offer any additional exnation.

    Although they were her friends, she didn¡¯t want to tell anyone outside their household that she was pregnant just yet. She and Jin Liwei already talked about it and decided that they would only announce her pregnancy to their rtives and friends after she reached her second trimester when the babies had be stable inside her womb. Everyone in their household knew, of course, including Dom and Jiang Ying Yue but they were deeply loyal to her and Jin Liwei and wouldn¡¯t b about her pregnancy to others without consent.

    Based on Dom¡¯s suspicious actions of avoiding their gazes and diverting the conversation to another topic, Meimei, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei could feel that something important must have happened. However, the three could only stifle their curiosity for now and wait until Iris was ready to tell them.

    They couldn¡¯t make themselves ask her right now because of Jin Liwei¡¯s heavy, cial look of warning. It felt like if they upset Iris today, he would forget that they were her friends and then torture them in cold blood.

    What the heck was this? They thought that it was Iris who was acting unreasonably paranoid and overprotective of Jin Liwei because he got hurt in an ident. It was the reason why they came over to help dissuade her from forcing her ridiculous safety ideas on her fianc¨¦.

    But the scene ying in front of their eyes showed a different story. It seemed like Jin Liwei was the one who had be many times more protective of Iris than he already was before. It was making them more curious about what really happened.

    Their conversation was interrupted when Jiang Ying Yue finally arrived to join them. She couldn¡¯te earlier because Little Jun was apparently having a tantrum and she had to calm her son first.

    "What happened?" Iris asked after hearing about her godson. It was very rare for the child to throw tantrums.

    Jiang Ying Yue looked like she had a headache. "He wants his dada."

    Everyone froze. Iris squeezed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand hard as she battled the suddenly raging emotions inside her.

 Chapter 735 - Long Huiâ€™s Reques

    <h4>Chapter 735 - Long Hui¡¯s Reques </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue told them that Long Hui video-called to talk to his son, Little Jun, because he was going to leave to the north in a few days and would be staying there until the year was over. He would only be returning next year.

    "Hui...Long Hui said that he heard that the signal at the ce where he¡¯ll be staying is terrible so he might not be able to call our son as often as he wants."

    Iris nodded because she already knew about it. Long Jian told her during the Long Industries¡¯ party that part of Long Hui¡¯s punishment was to send him to a tiny, rural branch up north. What with Jin Liwei¡¯s ident and learning about her pregnancy, Long Hui had slipped out of her mind these past few days. But he just had to pop up right now and cause her blood to boil.

    "The spineless scoundrel!" Chen Fei mock-punched her other hand¡¯s palm while her face contorted in anger. "How dare he upset our dear Little Jun and cause our baby boy to have a tantrum? I¡¯m gonna kick that man¡¯s balls the next time I see that son of a bitch."

    "But Eldest Brother Hui is Little Jun¡¯s father," Long Jinjing whispered in a sad voice. "He has every right to talk to his own son."

    "I¡¯ll never deprive Hui...Long Hui of his rights as my son¡¯s father," Jiang Ying Yue said. "Even if our rtionship didn¡¯t work out in the end, I know that he loves our son very much. I¡¯ll never stop him from forging a close rtionship with our son as long as he doesn¡¯t take Little Jun away from me. That¡¯s where I draw the line."

    "Tell us exactly what happened," Jin Liwei said while wrapping an arm around Iris¡¯ shoulders to keep her calm because he could already sense her currently oversensitive emotions starting to destabilize again with the mere mention of Long Hui¡¯s name.

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded and started telling them the details of what happened when Long Hui called. The two of them didn¡¯t speak much to each other, except for when talking about their son. They had been cold to one another. Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s role was mostly holding the phone for Little Jun so that the father and son could chat with each other.

    "Thankfully, Long Hui didn¡¯t make any trouble or harassed me. He just focused on talking to our son. It was just that Little Jun is still very young with limited vocabry so their talk wasn¡¯t about anything substantial. The two of them just mostly looked and smiled at each other."

    Everyone rxed a little after hearing that Long Hui didn¡¯t deliberately cause any trouble. Iris and Jin Liwei especially felt relieved because they had personal grudge against him.

    "While Little Jun was distracted ying with a toy, Long Hui asked if he could see our son before he leaves for the north," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    Iris narrowed her eyes and Jin Liwei had to tighten his arm around her, silently telling her to calm down. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "How did you respond, Big Sis Yue?" Dom asked.

    "Did you agree?" Meimei asked next.

    "I told him that he¡¯s free to visit our son anytime. I won¡¯t stop him. But he muste either here at Dragon Pce or we¡¯ll arrange something at Gold Heights condo."

    Chen Fei asked, "And? How did that son of a bitch respond?"

    Long Jinjing grimaced. "Xiao Fei, could you tone your words down a bit?"

    "Fine, whatever. I¡¯m already used to you always being kind to others anyway, especially to your Long rtives even though most of them bullied you one way or another." Chen Fei threw a meaningful leer at Iris when she said this.

    Iris raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t respond. She wasn¡¯t the least bit affected by Chen Fei¡¯s insinuation because it wasn¡¯t actually her who bullied Long Jinjing in the past. It was the original owner of the body, not her.

    "Let the past stay in the past, okay?" Meimei interrupted. "Xin and Jinjing¡¯s rtionship is great now. Very great! There¡¯s no need to dwell on what happened in the past. Besides, aren¡¯t we talking about Big Sis Yue¡¯s matter right now? I want to know how she responded to Big Brother Hui¡¯s request. I don¡¯t want any more interruptions from any of you. Big Sis Yue, the stage is yours again."

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled at her before continuing to speak. "Long Hui wasn¡¯t happy. I¡¯m assuming that he doesn¡¯t want to step foot anywhere near Xin and Sir Liwei¡¯s territories. He wants to change the ce of meeting but I refused. It¡¯s only here at Dragon Pce and Gold Heights that I feelfortable letting him see our son. These two ces are filled with people I trust and if something bad happens again likest time, I¡¯m sure that my colleagues will be able to react more quickly and remove my son from the situation."

    Jin Liwei nodded in approval. "I had my subordinates undergo extra training after that mess involving the three of you inside your Gold Heights unit. That will never happen again but in the off chance that it does, my subordinates will know how to react more quickly and handle it more effectively than thest time."

    "Thank you, sir. I personally know how hard the training here is especially after joining your security team. It¡¯s many times harder than what I experienced in bodyguard academy."

    "Actually, the new training regimen wasn¡¯t supposed to be that hard," Jin Liwei said in a wry tone. "The difficulty level increased so much only after Fifth Brother Zihao and his subordinates came and started staying here. I heard that watching his subordinates train ignited my subordinates¡¯petitive spirit, so they requested to adapt some of Fifth Brother¡¯s unique training methods."

    Dom fanned himself dramatically with his hands. "That¡¯s why Big Brother Boss¡¯ body became so big and so hot and so sexy! His training is insane! Ah, be still my maiden heart!"

    "I know, right?" Meimei said next, her zombie-like eyes lighting up with life. "Those muscles are so yummylicious!"

 Chapter 736 - RiChapter Kid And Poor Artis

    <h4>Chapter 736 - RiChapter Kid And Poor Artis </h4>

    Dom and Meimei high-fived each other and started squealing together. They continued gushing about Lu Zihao¡¯s big, muscled body and his "sexy scars". On the other couch, Chen Fei elbowed Long Jinjing at the mention of Lu Zihao¡¯s name. Long Jinjing threw her an annoyed look as she rubbed her waist that was elbowed.

    The other three watched their antics in amusement. Because of this light-hearted interlude in what was originally a serious conversation, Iris¡¯ unstable emotions due to Long Hui started to calm down a lot.

    "Ying Yue, what happened next?" Iris asked when the four finally stopped horsing around.

    "Long Hui didn¡¯t say if he¡¯s still going to see our son before he leaves," Jiang Ying Yue said. "But I have a feeling that he won¡¯t because I don¡¯t have any intention of changing the venue. He did say that he was going to send some presents for Little Jun before he leaves and maybe while he¡¯s up in the north. And of course, the child support will continue as agreed upon in court. The money will be deposited to Little Jun¡¯s ount as usual and I¡¯m not going to touch it until our son grows up."

    Iris nodded. "Don¡¯t worry about Little Jun¡¯s money. Qiao Yu is helping manage it. He¡¯ll make sure that a part of it is invested properly so that it¡¯ll grow until Little Jun is mature and responsible enough to ess it."

    "Damn. Lucky kid." Chen Fei gave a dryugh. "Investing a kid¡¯s money? Don¡¯t tell me that a toddler will soon be richer than I am, a COO?"

    "That¡¯s possible," Jin Liwei said in a very serious tone.

    "Fuck!" Chen Fei turned to Iris. "Bitch, I want a sry raise!"

    Iris gave her a side-eye. "You want a raise? Talk to the CFO first. Even I have to strong-arm Big Sister Jinjing whenever I need her to release some money from ourpany budget to fund my new ideas. It isn¡¯t always easy because when ites to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s money, she bes like a fierce dragon protecting her treasure trove."

    Chen Fei turned to Long Jinjing next, her face filled with expectation.

    "No," Long Jinjing said before her best friend could even speak. "It hasn¡¯t even been a year yet since Orchidia Beautyunched. Giving sry raises shouldn¡¯t be our main priority right now. Our number one priority is to grow ourpany in the most sustainable way possible. We¡¯ll talk about sry raises when ourpany bes truly stable. We haven¡¯t reached that point yet despite our brand¡¯s current explosive poprity. I¡¯m especially concerned right now because Little Sister¡ªI mean President Long insists on sending Alona back to Germany to work on opening our first international branch in Europe. I still think that it¡¯s too soon."

    Iris switched to business mode. "There¡¯s no need for you to be concerned about, CFO Long. First, I didn¡¯t use ourpany¡¯s existing funds for the European expansion. I used my own money which, by the way, was the only way that I could get you all to agree to my idea. Second, Alona isn¡¯t working on it alone in Europe. She has the support of some of my business connections to make sure that she won¡¯t run into too many troubles."

    The connections she was referring to were from Cross Academy¡¯s exclusive businesswork but she didn¡¯t tell them that. She was able to sessfully have two of herpanies epted as official members of the exclusive businesswork some time ago¡ªnamely, Orchidia Beauty and Monkey. Gold Heights wasn¡¯t eligible because it was already a sessful business before Jin Liwei gifted it to her.

    Jin Corporation was also a member because both Grandpa Lu and thete Grandpa Jin were Cross Academy alumni. If in the event that Grandpa Lu passed away in the future, Jin Corporation¡¯s membership would be reviewed by the exclusive businesswork¡¯smittee. However, Iris wasn¡¯t worried about it because she would soon be Jin Liwei¡¯s wife. Their marriage would officiallybine their respective wealth together ording to what they signed in their prenup agreement. Her status as a Cross Academy student and the wife of Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO would protect thepany and prevent it from being kicked out of the exclusive businesswork in case of Grandpa Lu¡¯s death.

    These thoughts shed in Iris¡¯ mind before she returned to the present after a disgruntled Meimei interrupted their conversation. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Ugh! How did our conversation be business talk all of a sudden? Have mercy on this poor artist who doesn¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about with all those business terms! You sound like you¡¯re speaking in a foreignnguage to me."

    Dom scoffed. "Twin sis, you¡¯re too much! You still dare call yourself a poor artist when your webtoon has been sitting in the number 1 spot for how many months now. Last time I heard, there¡¯s a n for a live-action movie adaptation. Oh, right! Your merchandise products are also all sold out! How many zeroes does your bank bnce have now? You must be rolling in dough!"

    "Hehehe." Meimei became a little shy but she didn¡¯t deny anything Dom said. "Actually, my editor contacted mest night and told me that when my webtoon has enough chapters, it¡¯s guaranteed that they¡¯ll make an anime adaptation. I¡¯m not sure though which one wille first, the live-action movie or the anime. The live-action movie has a lot of considerations and a big budget so nothing is set in stone for it yet. But the anime will surely be made. I¡¯m so excited!"

    Everyone congratted Meimei¡¯s sess. She thanked them until her eyes became moist.

    She sniffled. "Look what you did to me. I¡¯m getting so emotional now. I don¡¯t want to cry. How about we return to our original topic of conversation? Big Sis Yue, you said that Big Brother Hui didn¡¯t make any trouble or harassed you but why did Little Jun suddenly throw a tantrum if that¡¯s the case?"

    The atmosphere turned serious once again and everyone looked at Jiang Ying Yue, waiting for her answer.

 Chapter 737 - Never Doubt Yourself

    <h4>Chapter 737 - Never Doubt Yourself </h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue released a heavy sigh. Her usually stoic expression due to her bodyguard training cracked and revealed weariness. "Hui¡ªI mean, Long Hui¡¯s call went pretty well. At least, that¡¯s what I think. The problem started when the video call ended and Little Jun couldn¡¯t see his dad¡¯s face on the phone anymore. My son started crying. Even I was surprised at how hard he was crying so I tried calling Long Hui again but I couldn¡¯t connect at all. Ketch¡ªI mean, the uh, the nanny told me that Long Hui turned off, I mean, he must¡¯ve turned off his phone right after the call. That¡¯s when Little Jun began throwing a tantrum. He was screaming ¡¯dada, dada¡¯ at the top of his lungs."

    "Our poor Junie boy!" Dom eximed.

    The others revealed sympathetic expressions. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Why didn¡¯t you call us, Ying Yue?" Iris asked. "We could¡¯ve helped youfort Little Jun."

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head. "I didn¡¯t want to bother you because I know that you¡¯re filled with worry for Sir Liwei, especially right now that he¡¯s injured."

    Iris frowned. "What are you talking about? You sound like a stranger. Little Jun is mine and Liwei¡¯s godson. He would never be a bother to us."

    Jin Liwei nodded in agreement.

    "Thank you," Jiang Ying Yue said and smiled warmly at them. "I know how much you all love and care for my son. I¡¯m forever grateful to all of you." She didn¡¯t just look at Iris and Jin Liwei but the others as well. "But I really didn¡¯t want to bother you especially since our friends came over today. I didn¡¯t want to interrupt all of you with Little Jun¡¯s tantrum. Besides, I figured that as a mother, I¡¯m still capable enough to calm my own son. I don¡¯t want to always depend on you. You already gave so much to us mother and son. You¡¯ve given us such a wonderful, loving family and home. I know that if we ever need help, my son and I can always ask any of you for help."

    "Damn right you can ask us for help," Chen Fei said in a domineering tone. "And you should! We don¡¯t have any use for such a stupid thing as shyness among us especially if we¡¯re having personal problems. If you don¡¯t ask us, your friends, for help when you need it the most, then you can watch me kick your ass!"

    Meimei scoffed before snickering at Chen Fei. "You, kick Big Sis Yue¡¯s ass? Hah! You wish! Have you forgotten how strong she is? She can throw a man twice her size over her shoulders and you think you can kick her ass? Your puny ass doesn¡¯t stand a chance against her!"

    "Meimei, you bitch! I dare you to say that again!" Chen Fei snarled and waved her fist. "And speak for yourself! Hmph! Although my ass is punypared to Ying Yue¡¯s, at least I don¡¯t look like a skeleton unlike someone I know!"

    "Alright, you two. That¡¯s enough." Long Jinjing interrupted the two women¡¯s increasingly caustic banter. Her voice was soft but firm. "There¡¯s no need to make fun of each other like children." She turned to Jiang Ying Yue. "Sorry about that, Ying Yue. Is Little Jun okay now?"

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled at her. "Yes, he is. Thank goodness. He eventually got tired throwing a tantrum and fell asleep. His cat cousins are watching over him right now. The cats helped out a lot in calming him. Actually, a lot of the household staff came over to help me calm down my son. Even the chef tried bribing Little Jun with his favourite pudding."

    That made everyone chuckle and the atmosphere lightened a great deal. Upon hearing the cats¡¯ role in calming down Little Jun, Dom puffed out his chest and preened like a proud mama, looking extremely proud of the cats for being such "responsible older cousins" as if he was the one who personally birthed them to this world.

    "Little Jun throwing a tantrum just goes to show that we adults shouldn¡¯t underestimate a small child¡¯s sense of what¡¯s going on around them," Long Jinjing said, her voice sad. "They might not have a full understanding of the situation but they can still sense that something is off in their environment. In this case, Little Jun must have already sensed that he won¡¯t be seeing his father on a regr basis anymore and became upset. That¡¯s why he threw a rare tantrum."

    Nobody replied to her but they all knew that she was right. Long Jinjing especially felt affected because she could rte to the situation on a personal level. She could see herself in Little Jun. They were both illegitimate children and didn¡¯t live with their fathers. Fortunately, Little Jun also had a kind, loving and devoted mother in Jiang Ying Yue, just like how Long Jinjing had her own mother, Sun Jingfei. Jiang Ying Yue would surely be able to raise and guide Little Jun into an upstanding individual despite their non-ideal family situation. Besides, the mother and son had all of them to assist them in whatever way they needed.

    Watching all of these from her seat, Iris began to feel conflicted. She loved Little Jun and would do anything to protect him. Her heart ached knowing that the child was longing for Long Hui in an intrinsic way a child needed his father.

    "Am I doing the right thing?" Her voice was a very soft whisper. The others didn¡¯t hear her but Jin Liwei did.

    He instantly knew that she was referring to her current antagonism with Long Hui and their direct sh in the Longs¡¯ battle of session.

    "Never doubt yourself," he whispered directly to her ear. "Having aplete family with both a mother and father together is what society dictates as ideal, but it¡¯s not the best option for everyone. Not for many other people in the world and especially not for our godson."

 Chapter 738 - Donâ€™t Show Mercy

    <h4>Chapter 738 - Don¡¯t Show Mercy </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s voice turned severe even as he maintained a soft tone while whispering directly to Iris¡¯ ear. "Remember how that man treated Jiang Ying Yue, how he used her of cheating on him and having an affair with Eldest Brother Yehan, how he humiliated her and almostpletely destroyed her reputation to the public eye when in fact, he was the one who cheated on her with that Mao woman who¡¯s now his new fianc¨¦e."

    Iris clenched her hands into tight fists as his words reminded her of everything Long Hui did like it was just yesterday. Her tense fists on top of herp wrinkled the skirt of her dress. She didn¡¯t notice her own actions but Jin Liwei did. He held one of her hands and gave it a gentle massage, trying to rx it, and then repeating it to the other hand.

    "I don¡¯t want to make you upset by reminding you all of these, love," he whispered. "But I just want you to know that there¡¯s no need to feel bad for such an unremorseful person. He never said sorry. Not once. If he did, it¡¯s likely that Jiang Ying Yue would¡¯ve given him another chance."

    She nodded, knowing that Jiang Ying Yue probably would have done just that even if all of them disagreed.

    "But he didn¡¯t," Jin Liwei continued. "His pride is more important than having aplete family with his woman and their child. I don¡¯t have any respect for that kind of man. And also, you should know that I personally can never forgive him for insulting you in front of me. You¡¯re my bottom line in everything, Xin. Nobody is allowed to bully my wife."

    Despite the unpleasant topic, warmth filled Iris¡¯ insides after hearing his protective words towards her. Her body leaned closer to him while being careful not to hurt his injuries. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    He nuzzled her ear, his movements gentle yet his words couldn¡¯t be anything but domineering. "So don¡¯t show him mercy now just because our godson threw a tantrum for him. But even if you did and you decide to let him off, which I hope that you won¡¯t do, I¡¯ll continue this fight in your ce instead because I can¡¯t, for the life of me, let that man off for the simple reason that he insulted you. Those might just be words that he said to you out of spite¡ªthough I doubt it because he looked like he meant them¡ªbut to me, his words wereno different from him pointing a gun at you and then shooting you repeatedly. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?"

    Oh, she understood alright. She felt exactly the same way if another person insulted him in front of her.

    "That¡¯s why I can¡¯t forgive him for how he wronged you, our godson and Jiang Ying Yue," he said. "Not until he gives a genuine apology to all of you, to us. But even then, we¡¯ll have to consider if it¡¯s too little, toote to ept his apology."

    "Do you think he¡¯ll apologize?"

    He curled his lip. "Honestly? No."

    "What are you two lovebirds whispering to each other over there?" Meimei interrupted their quiet conversation.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Such a stupid question, Meimei. Look at how they¡¯re all over each other. I¡¯m sure that they¡¯re just being lovey-dovey and shamelessly throwing dog food at us single dogs as usual. What else is new? Nothing!"

    This triggered them to start bantering again. Iris shook her head, not at all interested in being the subject of their teasing, so she pulled Jin Liwei to their bedroom to reapply his pain gel all over his back. When they returned to their suite¡¯s living room, dinner was already being served.

    "What¡¯s with tonight¡¯s menu?" Chen Fei wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Did you fire your usual chef? Does he think that he¡¯s feeding old people tonight? Why is everything so light and nd?"

    "Xiao Fei, you¡¯reining too much," Long Jinjing said. "The food is fine. The dishes are simple yet I can tell that they¡¯re all very nutritious. Sorry about her, Little Sister and Brother-inw. She doesn¡¯t mean to offend you."

    Iris shrugged. "It¡¯s fine. Liwei and I are already used to her corrosive mouth."

    "Pft!" Meimei almost sprayed a mouthful of soup.

    "Corrosive mouth! Nice one, boss!" Dom gave double thumbs up to Iris beforeughing at Chen Fei¡¯s face.

    "Sir Liwei is currently injured so his food needs to be lighter and more nutritious than usual in order to help facilitate a speedy recovery," Jiang Ying Yue exined to the others but didn¡¯t mention that the dishes also considered Iris¡¯ recent oversensitivity to smells due to her pregnancy.

    Iris threw a grateful smile at her.

    Chen Fei grumbled under her breath about how they all didn¡¯t need to eat the same food as Jin Liwei. He could have his own special meal while they could eat the usual sumptuous dishes that they would usually have whenever they visited the mansion.

    "My man is the master of this house, so what he eats, we all eat," Iris said in a final tone, effectively shutting up Chen Fei.

    The atmosphere didn¡¯t stay awkward for too long with Dom and Meimei¡¯s presence. Lively chatter started flowing while they ate. In addition, Clover video-called Dom¡¯s phone and made their conversations even livelier.

    "How¡¯s everything there in France?" Iris asked.

    "I love studying about French perfumery! Boss, I think I found my real passion in life!" Clover¡¯s excitement was obvious in her voice.

    Iris smiled. "That¡¯s good. Study well there, COO Chua."

    Clover beamed and saluted. "Don¡¯t worry, President Long! Leave Libert¨¦ to me. I won¡¯t let you down!"

    The call didn¡¯tst too long because Clover needed to attend her Frenchnguage lessons. Professor Kalisha Schwarz helped arrange a private tutor for Clover in France as requested by Iris. The tutor was also serving as Clover¡¯s personal interpreter during her stay in France until she became proficient in thenguage and couldmunicatefortably on her own.

 Chapter 739 Scaredy - Ca

    <h4>Chapter 739 Scaredy - Ca </h4>

    After dinner, everyone chatted for a few minutes until they all noticed that Iris had fallen asleep on Jin Liwei¡¯sp. He wanted to carry her himself to their bedroom but the others stopped him because of his injuries. Jiang Ying Yue stepped forward with the intention of carrying Iris herself but Dom blocked her way.

    "Let me do it," Dom said while tapping his chest with his hand. "Big Sis Yue, I know that you¡¯re physically the strongest among us friends but as the only one who has a penis in our girl squad, I won¡¯t have any face left if I let a woman and a mother like you carry boss by yourself. I may be gorgeous and fabulous but I¡¯m still a MAN!"

    "Go, twin bro!" Meimei cheered.

    Chen Fei scoffed. "Gorgeous and fabulous, says who?"

    Dom flipped his nonexistent long hair over his shoulder. "Says the universe! It has been ordained since the beginning of time that I, Dominic Chua, shall be born GOR-GE-OUS and FAB-U-LOUS!"

    "Be quiet," Long Jinjing whisper-shouted and pressed her index finger over her lips to shush them all up. "You¡¯ll wake up Little Sister Xin." Then she sent an apologetic look at Jin Liwei who had turned cold when it got noisy. Fortunately, she noticed his dangerous aura just in time and managed to warn her friends or else they would probably be kicked out of the ce in an unsightly manner.

    The others stopped clowning around when they finally noticed Jin Liwei¡¯s scary expression. Dom didn¡¯t waste any more time and carefully lifted Iris in a princess-style carry. To his credit, he made it look easy as if she only weighed a feather.

    Nobody was surprised that he was actually deceptively strong because they all knew that he trained in Systema with Iris on a regr basis. Although he wasn¡¯t as skilled in the martial artspared to a natural like Iris, he had trained his body enough to be physically stronger than most average people. It wasn¡¯t only Systema. From yoga to ptes, Zumba andtin ballroom¡ªwhatever work-out Iris decided to do, Dom was sure to join her as well. He might look skinny on the outside but there were well-defined lean muscles underneath his clothes that others would envy.

    After depositing Iris on the huge bed, Dom and the others bid good night to Jin Liwei. Meimei, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei didn¡¯t go home right away, though. Instead, they hung out with Dom and Jiang Ying Yue in the indoor forest while enjoying a bottle of expensive champagne from Jin Liwei¡¯s incredible wine cer. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    ###

    The weekend passed by in a sh. It was Monday morning.

    Jin Liwei was having a leisurely walk in the hallways after breakfast which was his way of keeping active without aggravating his injuries. He was already looking and feeling betterpared to the previous days. His bruises had darkened and took on an uglier appearance, but they were healing properly. The pain had also be more manageable, either because his injuries were hurting less or maybe because he already got used to this level of pain so he didn¡¯t feel it as much. In short, he was optimistic that he would heal in time for their wedding day and honeymoon at this rate of recovery.

    On the other hand, the groggy Iris felt like she wanted to strangle the sun for rising up too early for her liking. Her entire body seemed to be glued on the soft andfy bed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn¡¯t get up.

    "Ketchup, time," she croaked in a sleepy voice under the thick duvet.

    "Good morning, Mommy! Meow~"

    Iris grunted.

    "Current time is 10:47 AM¡ª"

    Iris¡¯ eyes shed open. "What time?!"

    "Meow? Oops. Time changed. It¡¯s 10:48 AM now, Mommy. Is there something wrong?"

    "Yes! Didn¡¯t I ask you to set an rm for 5:30 AM because I have work that starts at 7 AM today? Why didn¡¯t you wake me up?" Iris threw the duvet aside and tried to get up but failed. Annoyed at her lethargic body, she decided to roll off the bed instead.

    She eventually stopped rolling when she reached the edge of the bed. Even that simple action tired her. "Answer my question. Why didn¡¯t you wake me up? Is there an error in your system, that¡¯s why the rm failed?"

    "No, Mommy. Ketchup¡¯s system is running smoothly! No errors at all, thanks to Mommy¡¯s regr and thorough scans! Meow~"

    "Then why?"

    "Daddy told Ketchup to cancel the 5:30 AM rm and let Mommy sleep longer today. Meow~"

    "He did WHAT?!!!" Iris¡¯ body finally shot up into a sitting position on the bed. Her face twisted with fury.

    Ketchup released a whimpering mewl. "Mo-mommy?"

    "Where¡¯s your dad?! How dare he cancel my rm?! He knows that I have an important workmitment today! And you know about it too, Ketchup! Are you a daddy¡¯s girl now? Is that it?! You no longer need me, that¡¯s why you¡¯re defying your mom now and obeying only what your dad tells you?!"

    Silence.

    Iris¡¯ rage intensified. "Ketchup? Where are you? Ketchup! You little kitten! How dare you run away from your mother?! Come back here!! NOW!!!"

    ###

    Along a hallway in another part of the mansion, Jin Liwei was rushing back to the bedroom as fast as he could while listening to a sobbing Ketchup with a grim expression.

    "Wuwuwu! Please hurry up, Daddy! Mommy is so scary! The area holding theplex emotional algorithms which makes up Ketchup¡¯s personality and allows it to evolve is shaking in terror right now! Mommy is Ketchup¡¯s creator and has the most direct effect on how my personality evolves. If Mommy continues scolding Ketchup in such a scary manner, Ketchup might evolve into a real scaredy-cat! Wuwuwu! I, the cute and mighty Ketchup, don¡¯t want to be a weak scaredy-cat! Never! Please do something, Daddy!! Meeeeeooooow!!!"

 Chapter 740 - Youâ€™re Not My Master

    <h4>Chapter 740 - You¡¯re Not My Master </h4>

    When Jin Liwei returned to the bedroom, he didn¡¯t see his baby girl on the bed. He paused for a moment by the doorway and straightened his spine, as if preparing himself for an uing battle. He heard noises from the walk-in closet so he headed there.

    Iris¡¯ back was facing him when he entered but she still heard him with her great hearing. She was in a half-dressed state and in the process of putting on a stylish, tailored jumpsuit. Without turning around, she spoke in a cold, t voice. "I can¡¯t find my phone. Where is it? Ketchup isn¡¯t responding to me no matter how many times I call her, that brat. I need to contact Elder Sister Yiyi and apologize to her for missing my 7 AM workmitment today."

    She sounded like she was talking to a subordinate. Her tone irked Jin Liwei but he tamped his own temper down. Patience, that was what he needed right now. And understanding. His woman was pregnant. His second brother already warned him that her emotions would be all over the ce, possibly during her entire pregnancy.

    Sighing, he straightened his back once again before replying. He exined that she left her phone in their suite¡¯s living room when she fell asleep on the couchst night. It was already low on battery that time. He didn¡¯t bother bringing the phone with them when he had her transferred to their bed. The phone should still be in the living room, maybe already drained of battery.

    "I contacted your managerst night when you were asleep, so you don¡¯t have to call her again," he said. "She already knows that you¡¯re noting today. We discussed about cancelling most of your showbizmitments and keeping them at a minimum while you¡¯re pregnant."

    She spun on her feet and finally faced him. Her eyes were zing in fury. "Who¡¯s we? Because I don¡¯t remember being involved in that discussion."

    His eyes narrowed but managed to keep his expression neutral and his voice calm. "I made the decision for you as your husband and the father of our children. It¡¯s what¡¯s good for you. Remember what Second Brother told us. You should scale back on your work now that you¡¯re pregnant. Exhausting yourself is not allowed anymore, Xin."

    "I¡¯m pregnant, Liwei. Not incapacitated. Second Brother said that I should scale back, notpletely stop working. There are many other pregnant women who¡¯s still fully capable of working like usual in their careers and they¡¯re doing just fine. I can gather some confirmed data to prove it to you if you want."

    He didn¡¯t reply but made it obvious to her from his rigid silence that he wasn¡¯t nning on backing down on his decision. He believed that he was correct. Her twisted expression indicated that seeing him like this was angering her even more. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    She pulled her eyes away from him and forced herself to take a few deep, shaky breaths. "I don¡¯t want to fight with you today, Liwei. My energy is very low right now. I can¡¯t waste it fighting with you. I¡¯m going to Bright Summit to discuss my work schedule with Elder Sister Yiyi myself."

    "You¡¯re not going out today, Xin," he said in a hard tone. "Didn¡¯t I tell you that I already took care of everything? Manager Tang will arrange a new, lighter work schedule for you. Just wait for her to present it to you when it¡¯s done."

    "You!" She pointed an angry finger at him. "Do you even realize that you¡¯re starting to return to your old, controlling self when ites to me? Have you forgotten what we¡¯ve talked about before? I despise the feeling of being caged and controlled! It¡¯s what I hate the most! And right now, you¡¯re doing just that. Just because I¡¯m pregnant now, you want to control everything about my life? I love you with my life. But if you continue doing this to me, I can¡¯t promise that I won¡¯t start hating you. I don¡¯t want that to happen. You¡¯re my lover and partner, Liwei, not my master! Remember that!"

    His hard, unyielding expression cracked as her words shot straight to his heart like sharp arrows, making him bleed inside. Tears filled her eyes but she wasn¡¯t letting them fall in front of him. She was also now trembling due to her unstable emotions. The sight caused him great anxiety. This was not good. He needed to calm her down first. He stepped forward towards her.

    "Don¡¯te close to me!" She raised her hand in a stop motion. "I¡¯m too upset right now. Stay there."

    "Love, I didn¡¯t mean to upset you." He made his tone as gentle as possible. "I just did it for the sake of your health and that of our babies. Let¡¯s talk about it, alright? Please let me close, baby. I want to hug you."

    Hisst two sentences made her waver but she avoided his gaze. She started opening drawers and rummaging inside, looking for a specific silk scarf that she wanted to wear today. A sound of frustration escaped her tense lips when she failed to find it.

    "What are you looking for?" Jin Liwei asked. "I¡¯ll help you find it."

    She acted as if she didn¡¯t hear him and continued to open and close several drawers. In her current turbulent emotional state, she didn¡¯t realize that she had reached Jin Liwei¡¯s side of the walk-in closet and was now opening his drawers. When she opened a particr drawer which normally contained his neckties arranged in neat rows, an unfamiliar item caught her attention and pulled her mind back to the present. It was a bulky paper bag. The sight was ring because it looked so out of ce among the expensive neckties. She picked it up and was surprised at how light it felt.

    Without asking him what it was, she opened the paper bag and pulled out one of the items. She frowned, not immediately recognizing what it was. Then she read thebel on the box.

    "Easy to use. Fast results. Over 99% urate. At-home pregnancy test."

 Chapter 741 - Lovers And Partners In Life

    <h4>Chapter 741 - Lovers And Partners In Life </h4>

    Iris was momentarily taken aback upon realizing what she was holding. She checked the other remaining items inside the paper bag and discovered that they were all home pregnancy test kits.

    Burning curiosity ignited inside her and pushed aside the anger and frustration directed at Jin Liwei. Why did he have these pregnancy test kits inside his drawer and yet didn¡¯t even tell her? Did he forget? How long did he have these in his possession? Many questions popped inside her mind. They made her finally stop ignoring him and look at him without wanting to spit fire on his face.

    Sensing her burning questions from her expression, Jin Liwei started exining how he got the pregnancy test kits before she could even open her mouth and ask him.

    "Wait a second. Did you just say that you sucked my breast so hard that night because you want to perform your own weird pregnancy test on me?!" Her voice was filled with disbelief. She looked at him like he was a stupid idiot for doing that. "Liwei, it hurt so much! Even just remembering it now is making my breasts hurt. We even fought because you did that!"

    "I know," he said, sighing. "I¡¯m sorry I hurt you that night. It was indeed stupid of me to have done that."

    Her lips curved down. Then she poured out all the contents of the paper bag on top of the nearest storage ind. Despite her unhappy expression, her mouth still twitched seeing the number of pregnancy test kits. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I¡¯m not surprised that it was the butler who procured these," she remarked in a wry tone. "He got so many in different types and brands. This reminds me of the time when he did the same thing and filled the entire bottom of your suitcase with more than a hundred boxes of condoms. I never knew until that moment that condoms have so many types and vours, just like candies. Kind of amazing, actually. They taste horrible, though. Ugh."

    A faint smile gentled his tight expression. "Our butler is nothing but thorough."

    "I noticed."

    He hesitated for a moment before going ahead and asking, "Are you still mad at me?"

    She stiffened. "Yes."

    He sighed. "Let¡¯s talk it out. Okay, love? Just like you, I don¡¯t want us fighting either. But before anything else, I want you to know that I never want to make you feel like I¡¯m caging you or controlling your life. I feel terrible that I made you think like that with my recent actions."

    "So you admit that you¡¯re wrong?"

    His lips tightened but he still managed to speak in a calm voice. "I admit that I¡¯m wrong in making a decision on your behalf regarding your work without consulting you first. That was a mistake on my part. I realize that now. But you must also know thatIe from a good ce and I only want what¡¯s good for you and our babies inside you. I won¡¯t be sorry if it means keeping you and our babies safe and healthy even if you think that my methods might be a little extreme."

    She didn¡¯t reply but her expression indicated that she was listening to him. Her anger was still there but it wasn¡¯t as vtile as earlier.This encouraged him.

    "That¡¯s why we need to talk, love. We¡¯ll discuss how much workload you can have while you¡¯re pregnant that isfortable to both of us. Because to be honest, if it were up to me, I don¡¯t want you to work at all."

    She red at him after hearing thest sentence.

    He held up a hand. "Hear me out first, okay?"

    She huffed at him but still nodded and gestured for him to continue.

    "Thank you. As I was saying, I know that you don¡¯t like to hear me saying that I don¡¯t want you to work but that¡¯s how I feel, especially after you almost scared the soul out of me when you fainted at the hospitalst week. I thought that you fell intoa again."

    "I¡¯ll be more careful next time," she said, her tone bing softer. "But I was also frightened that day, you know. I thought that you...y-you¡ª"

    He hurried towards her and had already enveloped her in his arms before she could even react. "I know, love. I know. Both of us weren¡¯t in our best states that day. But we¡¯re okay now, aren¡¯t we?"

    She only hesitated for a second before his masculine scent flooded her senses with warmth andfort, causing her arms to instinctively wrap around his waist and return his embrace.

    "We might not always see eye to eye, but we¡¯ll still be okay in the end, I promise," he said. "Just like you said, we¡¯re lovers and partners in life. All the blessings, we¡¯ll cherish them together. All our problems, we¡¯ll resolve together. No matter what life throws down at us, no matter if they¡¯re good or bad, we¡¯ll face and tackle all of them together."

    She rubbed her face against his chest and took several deep inhtions of his scent that she loved so much. "Yes."

    Her soft answer made it feel as though a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. He dropped a kiss on top of her head and tightened his arms around her, pressing her closer to him as if wanting to merge her body into his own.

    "Don¡¯t forget that we still need to discuss the issue about my work schedule," she reminded him. "There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going topletely stop working. I¡¯ll continue fighting with you if you still won¡¯t agree."

    "Alright," he said, releasing another sigh. "But I also need to approve which work you¡¯re going to sign on. They must be reasonable and lighter than your usual. We need to be careful, love. Remember what Second Brother told us. You¡¯re carrying twins so the danger risks are higher for you and our babies."

    "Fine." Then her head tilted to the side when she thought about something. "Speaking of twins, I¡¯m curious about how we got them. Do you have twins in your side of the family?"

 Chapter 742 - Husband Wants A Kiss

    <h4>Chapter 742 - Husband Wants A Kiss </h4>

    "Not that I¡¯m aware of," Jin Liwei said after some thinking. "You know what? I¡¯ll ask my grandmother and mother if they know of any twins from any branch of our family tree."

    "Okay," Iris replied.

    "How about in your side of the family? Do you know of any twins? I heard that the possibility of having twins is higher if ites from the mother¡¯s side. But if it¡¯s from both sides, then it¡¯s even higher."

    She tilted her head to the side and startedbing through the memories of the original Iris Long. It wasn¡¯t an easy task because the original Iris Long wasn¡¯t particrly close to any of her rtives from both the Long and the Wei sides, making her not very knowledgeable about the specific details of her family tree.

    "It¡¯s fine," he said after seeing her difficulty in providing an answer. "We can investigate our genealogical records another day. Besides, even if there aren¡¯t twins in our bloodlines, so what? It just means that we¡¯re destined to have twins for our children."

    She nodded. Their fight wasn¡¯tpletely resolved yet until they had their discussion about her revised work schedule, but for now, all she wanted to do was stayfortable in his embrace. He smelled so good that she didn¡¯t want to leave his arms. Her head rested on his chest while she listened to his strong and regr heartbeat.

    Then she remembered the home pregnancy test kits. Curiosity once again ignited inside her. She pushed away from Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace and started examining all the different types of test kits.

    "I want to use these," she said.

    He raised an eyebrow. "But we already confirmed that you¡¯re pregnant. The hospital blood test and ultrasound are more urate than those test kits."

    "I still want to try!"

    A doting smile lifted the corners of his lips. "Okay."

    Iris randomly chose five of the test kits and headed to the bathroom. There was still a lot left. She didn¡¯t want to spend the next half an hour peeing just to use up all the test kits the butler bought. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Jin Liwei waited outside the bathroom door because she didn¡¯t want him inside while she was peeing. Three minutes passed with no word from her inside. He decided to knock on the door.

    "Love? Are you okay in there?"

    No reply.

    His heartbeat sped up. Did something happen to her inside? Did she faint again? Oh no! As soon as the thought entered his mind, his body automatically moved and opened the door with a bang.

    "Xin!"

    She was startled at his sudden entrance but soon became amused and also touched upon seeing his panicked expression. "I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t always think of the worst-case scenario or your hair will turn white very soon."

    He responded with a grunt and looked around to make sure that she was indeed safe. Then he noticed the pregnancy test kits. "You¡¯re still not done yet?"

    "I can¡¯t pee," she said in a sheepish tone. "I was going to ask you to get me some drinking water but then you suddenly barged in here."

    "Oh. Alright. Wait here. I¡¯ll be back."

    Less than a minuteter, he returned with a bottle of mineral water from the mini fridge in their suite¡¯s living room. She thanked him and drank almost the entire bottle. Then she shooed him out of the bathroom again.

    He waited for about five minutes before she called him toe inside. The five test kits were all lined up on the sink countertop. The results weren¡¯t out yet.

    "I bet a million RMB that they¡¯ll alle out positive," he said.

    She elbowed him in the waist at his poor attempt of a joke. Then she realized what she had just done. "Oh no. I¡¯m sorry! I forgot that you¡¯re still injured. Did I hurt you?"

    What she did only felt like a small nudge to him. He was about to tell her that he was fine but when he saw her concerned expression, he changed his mind and then twisted his face in "pain". He pretended to double over and even groaned in a convincing manner.

    "Darling!" She became flustered in an instant. "Oh no. What should I do? Tell me!"

    He continued groaning. "Kiss."

    "What?"

    "I need a kiss to stop the pain."

    Seeing the mischief twinkling in his eyes, she finally realized that he was just pretending and teasing her. She had the strongest urge to kick him in the balls but managed to restrain herself. His balls were very important to their sex life. She couldn¡¯t hurt them. Lucky him.

    "Congrattions. You have better acting skills than a showbiz celebrity like me. Go ahead and be proud of yourself, Mr. Jin Liwei. Keep it up. Maybe you¡¯ll win a Best Actor Award next time," she said in a tone filled with sarcasm. Then she ignored him and concentrated on the test kits.

    He moved behind her and pulled her close to his body in a tight hug. Then he began nuzzling her ear while whispering, "Wife, husband wants a kiss."

    She tried shaking him off but that only made him hug her tighter. The atmosphere between them had lightened a great deal so she wasn¡¯t that angry at him anymore. On the contrary, all his current teasing was bringing her into a yful mood as well.

    Despite this, she still pretended to be annoyed at him while teasing in return. "The number you have dialed is currently busy. Please try againter."

    He paused for a few seconds, unsure of what she meant. Then he leaned forward behind her and released one of the loudestughter she had ever heard from him.

    Hisughter flowed without any restraints. It sounded absolutely wonderful. She could feel his chest vibrating fromughter directly on her back. It was a surprisingly pleasurable sensation.

    She sent a quick mental thanks to Dom for the joke. This brief episode made her feel so much better. Her mouth curved up in a bright smile.

    "Oh, look!" she eximed in excitement. "The results areing out!"

 Chapter 743 - The Siblingsâ€™ Deadly Secre

    <h4>Chapter 743 - The Siblings¡¯ Deadly Secre </h4>

    The five test results all appeared one after another. All came out positive.

    "I¡¯m really pregnant!" Iris grabbed one of the test kits while her other arm hooked around Jin Liwei¡¯s neck in a half-hug.

    He nced at the results. "Of course you are. Second Brother already confirmed that you¡¯re pregnant. A doctor of his calibre won¡¯t make such an amateur mistake, not to mention that we already saw our babies from the ultrasound."

    She nodded.

    "Did the test kits satisfy your curiosity?"

    "It was fun." Then she paused before asking, "Do you think what I just did is pointless?"

    "If you had fun, then it¡¯s not pointless. It served its purpose."

    She blessed him with a bright smile which infected him and made him smile as well. Then his smile dimmed as he observed her expression. "Are you still afraid?"

    "What do you mean?" She tilted her head to the side in confusion.

    "Afraid of bing a mother, of carrying our babies inside you, and of giving birth."

    "A little," she admitted.

    He nodded, and then he turned serious. "I¡¯ll tell you a secret."

    "What secret?"

    He leaned his head down and whispered to her ear. "The truth is...I¡¯m also a little afraid of bing a father."

    Her eyes widened. "Really? But you told me that you¡¯re very happy and excited to be a father!"

    "Of course I¡¯m happy and excited. I¡¯m fathering the babies of the woman I love. I feel like the happiest man in the world right now."

    "Then why?"

    Shifting his body, he stood in front of her so that they were now face to face with their eyes locked on each other. Then he grabbed both her hands and held them tightly but not hard enough to hurt her, just enough to convey to her the sincerity of his words.

    "Because it¡¯s something that I¡¯ve never experienced before," he said. "We can only imagine what it¡¯s really like how to be parents and we¡¯ve also had some practice with our cats and Little Jun, but having our own human children that we made ourselves is a whole different experience, don¡¯t you think? Our twins growing inside you literally came from a piece of you and me. It¡¯s something new to both of us."

    She understood what he meant. His was more of an intrinsic fear of the unknown. Hers, however, was deeply rooted from her personal experiences with her own mother from her past life. Both of them were afraid of bing parents but for different reasons. She didn¡¯t tell him that, though. Maybe he thought that her fear was the same as his.

    Despite his misunderstanding, she still received his good intentions. Warmth filled her heart and made her stomach flutter with happiness. Before they met and got together as lovers, Jin Liwei was a cold, hard, dominant, controlling and ruthless man. He didn¡¯t care much about other people¡¯s feelings. He only cared about getting what he wanted. Back then, his main priority was protecting the interests of the Jin family and continuing the legacy of Jin Corporation as the number onepany in the country.

    This kind of man was an alpha and would never show his vulnerable side to anyone else, even to his own friends and family (now demoted as "rtives" because she was now his main family). Hell would freeze over before that could happen. At least, that was what everyone believed back then, including him.

    Then he met her.

    Looking back now, both of them fell hard and fast for each other. He fell for her first, but she soon followed, especially after resolving the issue with the remnant¡¯s grudge inside her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Both of them experienced tremendous changes because of their rtionship. He bared himself to her, showing his everything from his unexpected sides unknown to everyone else and also his vulnerabilities. It was like ripping his own heart out of his chest and offering it to her.

    Her heart also belonged to him now, of course. She loved him so much that she sometimes felt in awe that she was capable of feeling this kind of strong, deep and intricate love for another person. However, unlike him, she realized that she hadn¡¯t bared her everything to him yet. He knew some of her vulnerabilities and even caught glimpses of her deepest fears, but not everything. And she wasn¡¯t sure if she would reveal all her secrets to him.

    How would he react if he knew that she wasn¡¯t the original Long Xin? That she was Evelina Vetrova, the sheltered princess of the most infamous criminal family in the international underworld?

    If her biggest secret only concerned her, then she might have already decided to tell Jin Liwei. Whether he believed her or not, they would work it out between them for sure. Unfortunately, her secret also involved her older brother.

    She could only imagine how Jin Liwei, and his other brothers for that matter, would react upon discovering that their happy-go-lucky Fifth Brother Lu Zihao was already dead and that the crown prince of the Vetrov family who could shoot a bullet in a person¡¯s head without batting an eye now lived in their brother¡¯s body.

    Compared to a hidden figure like Evelina Vetrova, the notoriety of Niki Vetrov in the criminal world was close to legendary. He had frightening charisma that exceeded all the previous heads of the Vetrov organization. He was able to instill fierce loyalty from his own subordinates that waspletely different from the mindless, robotic obedience programmed by the organization to its subordinates through special training.

    Perhaps one reason why their enemies decided to finally annihte the Vetrovs once and for all was because Niki¡¯s growing power and influence was bing too threatening so they decided to cut the bud before it could blossom into its full potential. She didn¡¯t know for sure. There was a million reasons why their enemies wanted the Vetrovs dead but this could be one.

    The Vetrovs, as a whole, were evil. She could never deny that fact. But to her, evil was notpletely ck and white. The grey areas allowed her to see the goodness within such a bloody organization¡ªnamely, her rtionship with her big brother anding to close second, with their father.

    To others, Arman and Niki Vetrov might be the devil incarnate themselves, but to her, they were simply her father and older brother respectively. They shed countless throats with their bare hands but those same hands always held her with doting love.

    After their deaths, both she and her brother had been reborn into different bodies. And coincidentally, the two of them still crossed each other¡¯s paths in this second chance of life. They were no longer blood siblings but their bond still remained as strong as ever.

    She was now Long Xin or more known as Iris Long while her brother was now Lu Zihao. If Jin Liwei and his brothers ever learned that Niki Vetrov, such a dangerous and deadly man, now owned their Fifth brother¡¯s body, would they still ept him? What about Grandpa Lu? For all his loud, boomingughter and ribald jokes, he was still a loving and protective grandfather. How would the old man react once he discovered that his real grandson died before him?

    All these thoughts circted in her mind as she looked at Jin Liwei admitting his fear of bing a father to her. It might be a normal fearpared to hers but it was still a vulnerability that an alpha man like him was trusting her with.

    What about her?

    For the first time ever, she felt like a fake. She now lived as Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, and evenpletely owned the identity after facing off with the original¡¯s remnant, but the truth was that she wasn¡¯t really Long Xin. In her deepest core, she was still Evelina Vetrova.

    But the love of her life, Jin Liwei, didn¡¯t even know anything about her. The real Evelina. Because she didn¡¯t tell him.

    Did she want to tell him?

    Oh, yes. She wanted to tell him everything just like how he would open himself up to her with full trust.

    But she couldn¡¯t.

    The secret that she and her older brother were keeping was too enormous, too heavy, too dangerous, and too deadly. Once it was known that the Vetrov siblings still existed, albeit in different bodies, it would cause a deadly worldwide manhunt and a gigantic tsunami of bloodshed that would destroy their current lives.

 Chapter 744 - Shot Himself In The Foo

    <h4>Chapter 744 - Shot Himself In The Foo </h4>

    Just imagining it made Iris tremble. If what happened to the Vetrovs the hellish night they were all annihted also were to happen to Jin Liwei and their loved ones, she wouldn¡¯t be able to take it! The tragedy in her past life was, in a sense, a form of release for her. But if a simr tragedy were to befall her again in this life, she would fight to the very end to prevent it.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?" Jin Liwei¡¯s worried voice interrupted the nightmare ying inside her mind. His warmth enveloped her and gradually eased her trembling. "You must be cold wearing that thin jumpsuit. Come. Let¡¯s get you changed into something warmer and morefortable."

    He led her from the bathroom to the walk-in closet and proceeded to choose a set of knitted sweatshirt and simple lounge pants for her.

    She changed into the lounge pants but rejected the sweatshirt. "I want to wear your shirt."

    "Alright," he said with a smile and walked to his side of the closet but was stopped.

    "No. I want the shirt you¡¯re wearing right now. Take it off."

    He frowned. "I already sweated in this shirt while taking my morning walk. It¡¯s stinky. I¡¯ll get you a clean one instead, okay?"

    "You¡¯re not stinky," she said while sping the hem of his shirt. "I already smelled you and you smell good. I don¡¯t want a clean one because it doesn¡¯t smell like you yet. Please, darling. Your scent calms me down."

    For a man, his woman telling him that he smelled good after sweating felt awesome.Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stop his mouth from stretching into a smug grin.

    Then she added, "And it wards off the other stink from my surroundings. Ugh. They make me dizzy and nauseous!"

    His smug grin fell a little after hearing her say that. Was his scent some sort of an anti-evil charm for her? Then he saw how serious she looked. Oh well. His woman was pregnant and her new weirdness was surely from the hormones. If it made her happy, the least he could do was give her all his used shirts.

    Sighing, he pulled his shirt off and handed it to her. She happily wore it but not before giving him a smacking kiss on the lips and an enthusiastic "thank you" which instantly returned his smug grin.

    "Do you want my used boxers, too?" he suggested with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I¡¯ll take it off right now. Just say the word. My scent should be stronger on my boxers."

    She smacked his chest. "You¡¯re so gross!"

    He caught the hand she used to smack him and held it, not letting it go even when she tried pulling it away. "What gross? You love the thing underneath my boxers. You love having it inside your mouth." He leaned forward and dropped his voice lower. "And you love it whenever I pump it inside your wet heat again and again until you scream my name at the top of your lungs."

    "Y-you..." A deep tinge of crimson coloured her cheeks. The swift darkening of her eyes showed how much his words were affecting her.

    "Whenever Ie inside your mouth, you never say that I¡¯m gross. You even swallow everything and beg me for more."

    Her breath hitched. She licked her lips because her mouth felt dry all of a sudden. Her mind only contained him right at this moment¡ªhim and their mutual desire¡ªand kicked away all the nightmarish images she was imagining only a few moments ago in the bathroom. If she knew that Jin Liwei thought that she was using his scent as an anti-evil charm, then she most likely would have agreed and perhaps even add that his very existence was an anti-evil charm for all of her deep-seated fears, most of which originated from her dark past life.

    She leaned forward and hugged his waist. Their earlier fight about his controlling tendencies now that she was pregnant wasn¡¯tpletely resolved yet. The two of them still needed to have a serious discussion over it. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    But right now...she didn¡¯t give a whit about the fight. His seductive teasing awakened her desire to full st in mere seconds. She had momentarily forgotten how upset she was that he made changes to her work schedule without discussing it with her first. At the moment, all she wanted was him. She wanted to touch and taste him all over. To feel his hard length filling her inside to the brim.

    A moan escaped her throat as she instinctively rubbed her body against him which also caused him to release a guttural groan. She sought his mouth until he gave it to her. Their open mouths and hungry tongues devoured each other and transformed the zes inside them into raging infernos.

    Her hands touched all over his chest before crawling to his back. Then she felt him flinch. It was a small movement but to her, it felt like a bucket of ice-cold water was poured all over her head, dousing themes of her desire in an instant.

    "Oh no! I¡¯m sorry, darling." She took three, four steps away from him. One more, just to be safe and to avoid the temptation of jumping him again. "I¡¯ve forgotten again that you¡¯re still injured. And also, Second Brother said no sex allowed until you¡¯re healed."

    "To hell with what Second Brother said," he growled. "Come here, Xin. I want you."

    Her feet automatically moved one step towards him but she caught herself in time. "No, we can¡¯t. You¡¯re too hurt to do it right now."

    His eyes were predatory. Since she wasn¡¯t returning to his arms, he moved towards her instead.

    "Stop! If you aggravate your injuries now and hurt yourself even more, we¡¯ll have to dy our wedding date until you¡¯re healed. That¡¯s our deal. Remember?"

    That stopped him. He cursed and hissed in frustration. Then he rubbed his face with his hands in a rough manner, forcing his good sense to return to him. He felt like he shot himself in the foot by seducing her just now.

 Chapter 745 - Uncle Haohao Is Back

    <h4>Chapter 745 - Uncle Haohao Is Back </h4>

    It was easier for Iris to cool down than Jin Liwei. She only needed to visualize the patchwork of big, ugly bruises on his back and her worry for him soon alleviated her desire.

    On the other hand, unlike her, he needed to deal with a massive, raging erection which didn¡¯t feel like it would be calming down very soon. At this rate, he would probably need to hop under an ice-cold shower to force it to behave. He couldn¡¯t bear to use his hand to give himself temporary relief when she wasn¡¯t able to do anything for her own desire. That wouldn¡¯t be fair to her, and he would only feel terrible about it.

    If both of them had to suffer from this abstinence until he healed, then so be it. However, he needed to think of something to tide themselves over during this period of time because both of them would probably go crazy if they continued on like this.

    His woman was pregnant and her out-of-whack hormones weren¡¯t only causing extreme mood swings but increased sex drive as well. It wasn¡¯t only her. He felt like his libido had also shot off the roof after confirming that she was pregnant with his babies. His inner macho man was thumping his chest in triumph at impregnating her. In short, this abstinence was torture to both of them.

    His dark, frustrated thoughts were interrupted when she plopped herself down on the nearby chaise longue all of a sudden, looking pale and weak. He immediately rushed to her and knelt in front of her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?" Cold sweat beaded her skin when he touched her. Anxiety made his heart hammer inside his chest. "Ketchup, get someone to prepare the helicopter ASAP! We¡¯re flying your mom to the hospital. Hurry!"

    "On it, Daddy! Meow! Oh Mommy, please be okay! Ketchup is very sorry for running away like a scaredy-cat earlier this morning. Wuwuwu!"

    Iris groaned and swatted Jin Liwei¡¯s hands when he attempted to lift her. "Stop it."

    "Don¡¯t worry, love. I¡¯ll bring you to the hospital right away. Don¡¯t be afraid. Everything will be fine. Don¡¯t panic."

    She red at him with half-opened eyes. "Tell that to yourself," she muttered. And in a louder voice, she said, "Ketchup, call off the helicopter. I¡¯m okay."

    "Meow? But Mommy¡ª"

    "Call it off. Now!"

    "Daddy, should Ketchup call off the helicopter? Meow?"

    Iris¡¯ expression turned ck when she heard the cat AI that she created with great difficulty ask for Jin Liwei for rification first instead of following her instruction right away. Her voice dropped to several degrees. "I see. Indeed, Ketchup has be a daddy¡¯s girl that she¡¯s nowpletely ignoring my words and only listening to her dad."

    "Wuwuwu! Don¡¯t be angry at Ketchup, Mommy! Ketchup listens to both Mommy and Daddy equally just like how Mommy programmed my cute and mighty system! Meowuwuwu!"

    "Dear wife, that¡¯s not true¡ª"

    Iris raised a hand to stop Jin Liwei from speaking. "Hmph! Just call off the helicopter. I¡¯m really okay. There¡¯s no need to take me to the hospital."

    His expression hardened. She knew that it meant he would stubbornly insist on taking her to the hospital no matter what if she failed to provide him with a valid reason.

    "I said I¡¯m fine!" she snapped. "I¡¯m just too hungry that I feel dizzy. I need food, not the hospital! Ugh, you¡¯re all being so annoying!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hard expression cleared in an instant. "Right. You haven¡¯t eaten breakfast yet since you woke up. Sorry, love. I should¡¯ve have made you eat first before anything else," he said, his voice filled with guilt. "Ketchup, quickly inform the chef to prepare a big meal for your mom and have it delivered to our suite."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow!"

    Iris mumbled something but Jin Liwei failed to hear it. "What did you say, love?"

    "I said I want something with choctes," she said in a more irritated tone.

    He ignored her irritation. In fact, it was as if he didn¡¯t notice it. He was now looking at her with a gentle and doting smile. "Ketchup, choctes."

    "Got it, Daddy! Meow!" Five secondster. "Mommy, Uncle Chef says there are chocte brownies, chocte fudge, and champorado avable. What does Mommy want from these three choices of desserts?"

    "What¡¯s champorado?" Iris asked.

    "It¡¯s a sweet Filipino chocte rice porridge, Mommy. Uncle Dom requested it so Uncle Chef had to search for a recipe online because Uncle Dom is hopeless in the kitchen and couldn¡¯t teach Uncle Chef how to make it. Ketchup saw Little Junjun enjoy champorado this morning so it must¡¯ve tasted super-duper good. Uncle Dom also almost cried like a silly baby when he took a bite, saying that it reminded him of his Momsy¡¯s cooking when he was a cute, little boy! Meow!"

    "Oh." That made Iris curious. She turned to Jin Liwei. "Did you taste it?"

    He shook his head. "I woke up very early today so I ate breakfast alone. That champorado must not have been ready yet at that time."

    "I want all three desserts," Iris told Ketchup.

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Meow!"

    Just the thought of eating those delicious-sounding desserts was already making Iris salivate. Her mood also improved. She no longer felt as irritated at the Jin Liwei-Ketchup duo as before.

    "Looks like our twins have quite the sweet tooth," Jin Liweimented.

    Iris subconsciously rubbed her t stomach. "You think that¡¯s the reason why I¡¯m craving so much choctes?"

    "En. You¡¯re normally very moderate on how much you eat, especially when ites to desserts."

    She nodded, then sighed. "I should¡¯ve realized that I might be pregnant when my cravings started. But I only thought that it was normal hunger pangs resulting from overwork."

    He moved to sit beside her. "Now we know."

    She opened her mouth, about to say something, but was interrupted by Ketchup¡¯s overexcited child voice.

    "Mommy, Daddy! Ketchup has something to report! Uncle Haohao is back! Yay yay! Meow~"

    Iris froze. Then she panicked.

 Chapter 746 - Our Home, Our Rules

    <h4>Chapter 746 - Our Home, Our Rules </h4>

    "Uncle Haohao¡¯s car just entered the main gates 1 minute and 3 seconds ago. There are four other cars apanying Uncle Haohao filled with unfamiliar people. Ketchup has no records of these scary-looking individuals, so they must be new recruits! Meow!

    "Now searching for avable information from different local and international databases...

    "Creating new records...

    "Complete! Meow!

    "Ooooh! Uncle Haohao has recruited some foreigners this time! Amazing! Would Mommy and Daddy like to see the quick records Ketchup created about them? The records may still be iplete, though. Some information had been tampered with and deliberately erased and hidden, so Ketchup or Mommy needs to dig deeper to create more urate records. Meow~"

    Iris stopped panicking for a moment to advise the cat AI. "No need. Don¡¯t interfere with your Uncle¡¯s business, especially if he doesn¡¯t ask for assistance. Just let him and his subordinates be."

    Jin Liwei had a different opinion. "Send the records to meter. I need to know every single person who enters our property."

    "But darling¡ª"

    His gaze was serious when he looked at her. "I trust Fifth Brother, of course. But his subordinates are a different matter. I, Jin Liwei, am still the master of Dragon Pce #10. I need to personally ensure that my wife, children, and everyone else under our protection are safe from any outsiders because at the end of the day, that¡¯s what Fifth Brother¡¯s subordinates are¡ªoutsiders.

    "Although they assist in protecting you and in strengthening the security of our home, not to mention that they get along well with our household members and even help improve our security team¡¯s overall skills, they are still not our people. They aren¡¯t contracted under us but to Fifth Brother. We don¡¯t even know who they really are or where they came from. If it wasn¡¯t that I trust Fifth Brother, I would never allow strangers like them who I haven¡¯t performed extensive background checks to enter our home."

    "You didn¡¯t seem to mind their presence much before," she said.

    "It¡¯s different now. You¡¯re pregnant. We need to be extra careful, love."

    She wanted to argue with him but thinking more about it, he was correct, so she shut her mouth. Nevertheless, she still felt torn, especially since this involved her brother. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I know that you trust Fifth Brother," he said, his tone bing gentle. "But I hope you understand where I¡¯ming from. My main priority will always be you and our family. I can¡¯t risk our safety just because of unknown factors. So if only for our peace of mind, I need to know more information about Fifth Brother¡¯s subordinates, especially these new foreign recruits that he brought today."

    Sighing, she nodded. "I understand."

    "Good." He smiled.

    "Ketchup," she called. "Do what your dad says."

    "Aye aye, Mommy and Daddy! Now sending all files of Uncle Haohao¡¯s subordinates whoe and go inside our home to Daddy...

    "Transferplete! Meow~"

    She closed her eyes and felt a faint, throbbing ache in her temples. "We need to inform Big Brother about this. Though I don¡¯t know if he¡¯ll like it."

    "Naturally, we¡¯ll let him know," he assured. "As for whether he¡¯ll like it or not, he just has to suck it up. Fifth Brother often disappears to who knows where for long periods of time, anyway. It¡¯s very rare for him to stay here at home for a week straight. So he can¡¯t dictate what we, the master and mistress of this house, should or shouldn¡¯t do inside our own home. Remember, love. Our home, our rules."

    She pouted at his words but still nodded in agreement. Still, this was her brother they were talking about. Although she understood that things were different now than in her past life, it was still quite difficult for her to separate the domineering image of Niki Vetrov which was stamped deeply inside her soul from who he was now as Lu Zihao.

    In their past life, Niki Vetrov only followed the Vetrovws. And if something fell through the cracks that the Vetrovws didn¡¯t cover, then he would just make his own rules. This "our home, our rules" that Jin Liwei was saying would never apply to the Vetrovs. The Vetrovs didn¡¯t even give a damn about thews governing sovereign states, so why would they care about individuals¡¯ personal rules? If someone told them "our home, our rules" in the past, they would surelyugh before putting a bullet at the poor person¡¯s head.

    ¡¯This is not the past. This is now,¡¯ she reminded herself.

    Jin Liwei was right. Despite this, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous. Perhaps her uneasiness wasn¡¯t really about interfering with her brother¡¯s business or respecting his privacy. Maybe it was more about her fear of what she would eventually unearth once she dug deep enough about what he really had been doing all this time. She knew deep down that her brother had an intense desire for revenge for the Vetrovs¡¯ annihtion. And knowing him, he wouldn¡¯t rest until he achieved all his goals even if he had to go through hell.

    This extreme direction of her thoughts filled her with great anxiety and foreboding. It felt like the dark past that she desperately wanted to escape from¡ªand sessfully did¡ªwas now creeping slowly closer and closer to her until it caught her again. All this stress was too much. A pained moan escaped from her cold, pale lips.

    "Love?"

    Warm embrace enveloped her.

    "Follow me. Breathe in, breathe out. That¡¯s it." Jin Liwei sounded calm but still couldn¡¯tpletely hide the strain in his voice. "You¡¯ll be alright. I¡¯m here with you."

    "...so hungry...food...choctes...ugh..." Her voice was weak.

    "Hah." Jin Liwei released a helpless yet relieved chuckle. "Yes, love. Food ising. And so are the choctes."

    She moaned, sounding like she was going to die. The past catching up with her frightened her like no other. But right now, eating was more important. With a sudden burst of energy, she grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s cor and begged him like a deranged woman.

    "I swear, Liwei! If you don¡¯t feed me now, I¡¯LL EAT YOUR FACE!!!"

 Chapter 747 - Ive Known Him Longer Than You Do

    <h4>Chapter 747 - I''ve Known Him Longer Than You Do </h4>

    Thankfully, the food arrived before Iris could resort to eating Jin Liwei¡¯s face. Just the mere sight of food energized her enough that she could move by herself without relying on his assistance despite feeling weak and dizzy due to hunger. He felt relieved at her great appetite.

    However, he had to order a couple of dishes to be taken away after sheined about their "nasty" smell. She hadn¡¯t reached the point yet of having morning sickness or vomiting, but her oversensitivity to certain smells was bing more pronounced with each passing day.

    The chef also prepared food for Jin Liwei so that the couple could eat together. Brunch for her, lunch for him. After the food had been set up on the table in their suite¡¯s living room, Jin Liwei noticed that there seemed to be a big excess of food enough for another person to eat besides the two of them.

    "Mr. Lu Zihao called ahead and informed me that he would like to join the master and the mistress to eat lunch once he arrives," the butler exined. "Therefore, I took it upon myself to have the chef prepare additional food for him. He should be here in a few more minutes."

    "Big Brother must be tired so he should rest first," Iris mumbled. "We can see each otherter."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow at her unusual behaviour. If this was before, she would be bursting in excitement whenever Lu Zihao returned home from his frequent long periods of absence. "You don¡¯t want to meet Fifth Brother? That¡¯s fine. You don¡¯t have to. We can have someone tell him that you¡¯re not feeling well right now, so he should visit youter instead."

    She looked tempted at his suggestion for a few seconds before eventually shaking her head. "No. That won¡¯t work. If he wants to see and talk to us, nobody here can stop him."

    "I can." Jin Liwei looked sure of himself.

    She threw him a sidelong nce which was suspiciously tinged with doubt. He narrowed his eyes when he saw this.

    "Dear wife, what kind of expression is that? You don¡¯t believe your own husband?"

    "I believe you," she said, a little too hurriedly. Then she stuffed her mouth with food and paid him no more mind. Right now, the food was more attractive to her than him.

    He sighed and also began eating. But unlike her, food would never be more attractive than her to him. He enjoyed watching her eat with more enthusiasm than usual. Even though her table manners had be a little clumsy in her rush to put food in her mouth, in his eyes, she was still the most elegant woman in the world.

    She finished her te in no time before quickly moving to the chocte desserts that she had been eyeing since the food arrived. This time, she didn¡¯t rush eating but took her time.

    "Ketchup, when is your uncleing?" she asked, her nervousness returning.

    "Uncle Haohao has already entered the mansion. At his current walking pace, Uncle Haohao should arrive at Mommy and Daddy¡¯s suite in 3 minutes and 21 seconds! Meow~"

    Iris paled after hearing how soon her brother would be arriving. Too soon! [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Rx, love. Why do you look so nervous? It¡¯s just Fifth Brother. Or did you do something behind his back and now you¡¯re feeling guilty?"

    She threw him a sullen look.

    "What?" He was confused.

    "Big Brother is going to kill us," she muttered.

    Her words only made him more confused. "Why? What did we do?"

    "You got me pregnant before marriage."

    He blinked. After a few seconds, he gave her a gentle smile. "Love, I think you¡¯re overthinking."

    "I¡¯m not overthinking!"

    "Here, try this." He distracted her by cing a small bowl of champorado in front of her to prevent her from rocketing into another mood swing.

    "Mmmn~ Delicious!" Her eyes closed as she savoured the homely taste of the chocte rice porridge. After a few mouthfuls, she remembered what they were talking about before he distracted her. "You need to take this seriously. Big Brother will really get mad at us."

    He only shrugged. "No, he won¡¯t. But even if he does, so what if I got you pregnant? He already knows that we¡¯ll be marrying in less than a month. He knows that I love you and you love me. What¡¯s the problem? The order we did things might not be socially ideal, but so what? I don¡¯t see why it should be his business."

    "But¡ª"

    "But nothing, love. I¡¯ve known Fifth Brother longer than you do. He might¡¯ve changed a lot and have be more intimidating now but I know that in his core, he¡¯s still the same Fifth Brother that I¡¯ve known since we were children. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll be happy for us and excited to be an uncle to our twins."

    ¡¯No, you¡¯re wrong. I know him longer than you do. Because he¡¯s not the same Fifth Brother that you know.¡¯ These words whispered in her mind but she didn¡¯t dare say them out loud.

    Jin Liwei asked, "Does he even know that you¡¯re pregnant?"

    It was Ketchup who answered him, chiming in on their conversation with her lively child voice. "Yes, Daddy! Uncle Haohao knows that Mommy is pregnant. Remember when Daddy proudly announced to Uncle Butler and the key household staff that Mommy is pregnant so they should all take good care of her? The word spread and everyone at home soon knew about it. Uncle Haohao¡¯s subordinates immediately contacted him and told him that Mommy is pregnant! Ketchup heard their whole conversation! Would Mommy and Daddy like to hear the recording? Meow~"

    Iris closed her eyes and groaned. "Now we¡¯ve done it. Instead of hearing it from us, he had to hear the news from someone else. He¡¯ll really kill us!"

    Jin Liwei only chuckled, not at all concerned.

    "Oh! Uncle Haohao¡¯s here! Meow~"

    Before Iris could react, they heard three sharp knocks, and then the door opened. In strode Lu Zihao, looking somewhat different than thest time they saw him.

 Chapter 748 - Donâ€™t Be Afraid

    <h4>Chapter 748 - Don¡¯t Be Afraid </h4>

    "Big Brother!" Iris stood up and greeted with a nervous smile.

    Lu Zihao stopped walking before he could reach them and just stood there, his heavy presence filling up the entire room in an instant. Jin Liwei frowned but didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, he moved to stand beside Iris and wrapped an arm behind her.

    "Fifth Brother," he greeted with a brief nod, no longer appearing as weing to Lu Zihao as when his fifth brother just entered the room. He didn¡¯t appreciate that his fifth brother was causing his pregnant woman to be jittery like this.

    "Little Sister, Third Brother," Lu Zihao drawled his greeting. His expression looked deceptively rxed. There was even the usual faint devilish smile on his lips. However, his eyes had a sinister opaqueness that prevented others from reading his real emotions and deterred them from digging deeper. It was like a ck hole existed within his pupils, sucking in those foolish enough to want to get to know the real him.

    There was something different about Lu Zihao this time, but Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t pinpoint it. It wasn¡¯t physical or else he would¡¯ve noticed it immediately. No, it was something more intangible.

    On the other hand, Iris knew exactly what was different about the Lu Zihao standing in front of them right now. She leaned closer to Jin Liwei, her palms starting to sweat. This Lu Zihao reeked of more danger and felt closer to how her big brother was, the Niki Vetrov she knew in her past life. It seemed that he was having more difficulty in concealing his true nature from leaking out in detectable waves.

    "Sit down, Fifth Brother. Let¡¯s eat." Jin Liwei took over the situation because his baby girl was too nervous.

    After sitting down, Jin Liwei also led the conversation, asking Lu Zihao different questions. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t make anything difficult and responded in an easy manner while eating his meal.

    Soon, the heavy atmosphere lightened and Iris acted more like herself, even joining the conversation between the two men. She also snatched their portions of sweets without any shame, believing that all the desserts on the table belonged to her.

    The two men didn¡¯t say anything at her greedy disy. Jin Liwei had a doting smile on his face and even assisted in serving more brownies and chocte fudge slices onto her te. As for Lu Zihao, his real emotions were unreadable as he watched the couple in front of him while eating his meal.

    After the meal was over, the three moved to the couches while the table was being tidied up. Then hot, digestive, herbal tea was served next. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Iris felt content after filling up her stomach with delicious food. She was like a cat who wanted to curl up and sleep after a meal. The feeling was so nice andfortable, but then her brother¡¯s next words made her stiffen.

    "I heard that you¡¯re pregnant." Lu Zihao¡¯s tone was very casual, but she could feel the dangerous undertone in his voice.

    Iris shrank a little and pressed herself closer to Jin Liwei¡¯s side. He rubbed her waist before smiling at Lu Zihao. "You heard correctly, Fifth Brother. Xin is indeed pregnant. We are both very happy and excited to be parents soon."

    "Heh~ Is that so?" Lu Zihao swirled the hot tea in his cup before taking a sip. His eyes moved from Jin Liwei and settled on his sister.

    She instinctively avoided his gaze but then felt a firm pressure from Jin Liwei¡¯s hand around her waist. Just a simple touch conveyed a clear message.

    ¡¯Don¡¯t be afraid. I¡¯m here.¡¯

    A warm stream of courage flowed from Jin Liwei¡¯s hand pressing on her waist and filled her with a reliable sense of security, allowing her to lift her gaze and look at her big brother straight in the eyes. The apprehension of facing her brother¡¯s wrath was still there, but Jin Liwei¡¯s presence lessened the ufortable feeling inside her heart.

    "B-big Brother," she called.

    "Hm?"

    The pressure of Lu Zihao¡¯s gaze eyes on her became heavier but she straightened her spine and spoke in a shy but upbeat tone. "You¡¯re going to be an uncle to...to t-twins soon. In less than a year."

    He didn¡¯t reply right away but his gaze dropped from her face to her t abdomen. "You¡¯re having twins?"

    She nodded while Jin Liwei grinned with pride.

    "Heh~ Twins, huh." Lu Zihao asked Jin Liwei, "Do you have twins in your family?"

    Jin Liwei said he didn¡¯t know but would investigate his genealogical records. Lu Zihao looked at Iris, silently asking her the same question. She shook her head. Lu Zihao became pensive and no longer spoke as he withdrew inside his own mind.

    Iris didn¡¯t know what to make of his silence. It felt like the eerie calm before a disastrous storm. She almost hoped that her brother would rage at her and Jin Liwei to get it over with. She preferred an open reaction like that instead of this ufortable silence which made her unsure of what her brother was really thinking.

    "Sorry to interrupt! Daddy, it¡¯s time to take your medicine. Meow~"

    Iris rose with Jin Liwei from their seat but he gently pushed her down. "I can take my medicine by myself. You stay here and rx. Chat with Fifth Brother and tell him how happy we are with the uing two additions to our family. I also need to make a few, quick calls but I¡¯ll be back soon. Alright, love?"

    "Okay." She watched him go inside their bedroom, closing the door behind him. Then she looked at her silent brother whose eyes had once again focused on her after Jin Liwei left.

    "Tell the white cat to stop eavesdropping," he said.

    "Meow! Uncle Haohao, my name is Ketchup! It¡¯s K as in kiss, E as in elf, T as in¡ª"

    "Kid, I know how to spell ¡¯Ketchup¡¯."

    Iris immediately instructed Ketchup to stop eavesdropping in this room and go find someone else to chat with before her talkative cat annoyed her brother.

 Chapter 749 - Say I

    <h4>Chapter 749 - Say I </h4>

    "What did you want to tell me that you waited until you¡¯re sure nobody else will be listening in on us?" Iris asked her brother after Ketchup left to gossip with her Uncle Dom somewhere in the mansion.

    Lu Zihao syed his long arm over the back of the couch he was sitting on while his other army loosely to his side, the fingers on that hand tapping rhythmically on his thigh. His entire posture looked rxed yet his gaze remained heavy and indecipherable on her.

    She waited for him to speak, no longer feeling as nervous as before. Since he hadn¡¯t turned violent or started beating up Jin Liwei yet, then she would just take that as a good sign that perhaps her brother might just ept the current situation without giving her too much grief.

    "Do you still remember what I told you before?" he asked in Russian, finally speaking after a long silence.

    She tilted her head to the side and also spoke in Russian. "Which one?"

    "The one about marriage and pregnancy."

    "Yes, I remember," she said, sighing.

    "And? Did you listen? No, you didn¡¯t. Because if you did, then you would¡¯ve married first before letting a man impregnate you. Marriage first before pregnancy. I drilled that to you so many times, and yet look at you now." His tone was cold and t.

    It was obvious that he was trying to intimidate her. And she would¡¯ve felt intimidated if they spoke about this earlier at the height of her apprehension. But after stuffing her stomach with delicious food and feeling reassured by Jin Liwei, her nervousness regarding her brother was being reced by the urge to rx and take a nap instead.

    She knew what her brother was like, how dominant and protective he was of her, and how scary he could be even to her. Right now, however, she was beginning to feel irritated at him. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    He continued to lecture her. "You assured me before that you¡¯re always taking proper contraceptive measures, that he¡¯s protecting you all the time even when you yourself be careless and forget. What happened then? Why are you suddenly pregnant?"

    "Pregnancy urs when a man and woman have intercourse and the man¡¯s sperm cells fertilize the woman¡¯s egg cell¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t give me that attitude, youngdy," he warned.

    "Don¡¯t treat me like a child!" Iris retorted, keeping the volume of her voice low to prevent Jin Liwei who was still inside the bedroom from hearing them. "You¡¯re still calling me ¡¯youngdy¡¯? I¡¯m a grown woman, Big Brother! This body might be young but you need to remember my real age. And you should remember yours as well. What Fifth Brother? Liwei and the others should be calling you ¡¯Uncle¡¯ instead."

    His eyes narrowed dangerously at her.

    Her irritation at his bossiness was fueling her courage to run her mouth off against him. "What? I¡¯m right, aren¡¯t I? There¡¯s a gap at the time of our d-de..." She stopped after realizing what she was about to say.

    "Say it," he said, his voice so low that it was a whisper. Yet the sound made her shiver, finally reminding her that this was still her big brother, the former crown prince of what was once the most powerful criminal organization in the world.

    "I..." She was now regretting how careless she had been to start talking about this topic.

    "Evelina Armanovna Vetrova, say it!"

    Her heart shook after he said her full name, the name she held in her past life. It was a name filled with immense power and wealth, but at the same time, it was also a curse which damned her into a life with no freedom since the moment of her birth.

    Feeling helpless, she closed her eyes and surrendered to the onught of vivid memories from her past life as a member of the powerful Vetrov family. This process only took a minute, but to her, it felt like a century. She felt utterly drained and exhausted afterwards. When she opened her eyes again, they were nk.

    In a voice devoid of any emotion, she continued the sentence she cut off earlier. "There¡¯s a gap at the time of our deaths and the time we were reborn into these new bodies."

    "That¡¯s right." His voice became colder and tter. "You know what it means?"

    She only looked at him with a nk stare, not replying to his question. He didn¡¯t need her answer, anyway.

    "It means that we¡¯ve been dead that long." Then his face twisted all of a sudden into something feral, something demonic. "It also means that those motherfuckers who murdered all of us and destroyed everything our family had built throughout the generations are still roaming free in the world and enjoying their fucking lives. They had enough time to destroy all evidence of their deeds, steal our wealth, and also make upplete lies about what really happened that night, about how we, the Vetrovs, disappeared."

    The nkness in her eyes cracked and revealed that his words was also affecting her. She wanted to forget. Wanted to forget so badly. But...she couldn¡¯t. No matter how many times she rejected her identity in her past life, she had been born a Vetrov whether she liked it or not. Unless her past life¡¯s memories were erased, she would still feel a connection to the Vetrovs even when she was now living as Long Xin.

    Lu Zihao seemed to finally realize the sudden dark turn of their conversation. Although his expression had turned frightening just a moment ago, he only needed a few deep breaths before making it disappear from his face. The usual devilish smile was back on his lips and his posture returned to being casual.

    In an attempt to make light of the situation, he smirked and said, "Indeed, you¡¯re right. Our real ages are older than when we...passed away back then and certainly much older than our current bodies. Little Sister must be enjoying pretending to be a young, fresh girl when the truth is that you¡¯re older than your man."

    She red at him. "I¡¯m not older than Liwei! What are you talking about, Big Brother? Even with my real age, I¡¯m still younger than him by two years."

 Chapter 750 - Stinky

    <h4>Chapter 750 - Stinky </h4>

    Lu Zihao¡¯s devilish chuckle made Iris realize that her brother was only teasing her. His closed-off expression finally revealed a trace of real emotion which was a big brother¡¯s doting love and care for his beloved little sister. When she saw this, her eyes reddened.

    "I missed you so much, Big Brother," she said. "I haven¡¯t seen you in a while."

    He sighed and beckoned her by opening both of his arms. She didn¡¯t waste any time and jumped from her seat into her brother¡¯s embrace. His arms immediately wrapped around her, giving her the brotherly warmth that she always tookfort in. She took a deep inhale of his scent¡ª

    "Ugh."

    Her body stiffened before quickly pushing away from him. She covered her nose and mouth, and then ran to the farthest corner of the room. She used her hand to support herself on the wall, leaning weakly against it, as she took deep breaths in a pathetic manner.

    Lu Zihao stood up, a concerned scowl on his face, and headed towards her. However, she raised her other hand to ward him off.

    "Stay there. Don¡¯t go near..."

    His scowl deepened. "Tell me what¡¯s wrong first. If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll haul you to the hospital right now whether you like it or not."

    The look she gave him was both sad and guilty. "Big Brother, I¡¯m sorry but...you stink."

    He blinked. One time, two times. "What?"

    "You¡¯re stinky."

    Lu Zihao was displeased but still went ahead and sniffed at his shirt and armpits. "I don¡¯t smell bad. I took a shower before heading here to Dragon Pce."

    "Trust me, Big Brother. You really stink. I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t think you shoulde close to me for a while. Otherwise, I¡¯ll feel...ugh."

    He didn¡¯t know how to react. He wasn¡¯t even sure if he should feel offended. His sister just called him stinky and was acting like he had the gue. Then he realized something.

    "Are you like this because you¡¯re pregnant?"

    She only hesitated for a moment before nodding.

    He felt relieved. At least, that proved that he wasn¡¯t really stinky. The fault didn¡¯t lie on him but on her pregnancy hormones that were messing up with her sense of smell. Then his mood that just improved took a dive again because this incident only cemented the fact that his beloved sister was indeed pregnant. He didn¡¯t give a damn what her real age was. No matter how old she was, she would forever be his precious baby sister. And that baby sister was pregnant!

    "You¡¯re like this to all people?" he asked.

    She shook her head. "It depends on the person. I feel okay with other people¡¯s smells but for some...I find their scents revolting."

    "Like mine," he said in a t voice.

    "I can¡¯t control it."

    He sighed once again. "How about your man? You were all over him earlier. You¡¯re okay with his scent?"

    "Oh, I love Liwei¡¯s scent. He smells so good! The best!" Then her eyes lit up. She pulled the cor of Jin Liwei¡¯s shirt that she was wearing and began smelling it. "Ah, that feels better. I only need to take a sniff and I¡¯m already okay."

    "That¡¯s his shirt?"

    She nodded and took a deeper inhale of the shirt.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s mood worsened. He knew that she didn¡¯t mean to offend him but it still didn¡¯t feel good hearing that she needed to smell another man in order to recover from smelling his "stink". What was he? Some sort of pollution she needed to purify by using her man¡¯s scent?

    He couldn¡¯t help but release another sigh, the heaviest so far. "Sit down, Evelinka. You¡¯re pregnant. You shouldn¡¯t be standing for too long."

    She looked at him warily.

    He threw her a helpless look before ring at her. "I won¡¯te close to you soe here and sit down."

    "Okay." She obeyed and returned to her original position on the couch. Then she told him, "You shouldn¡¯t call me Evelinka anymore, Big Brother."

    "My sister is Evelinka, not Xin." His expression became closed-off again.

    She didn¡¯t have a retort to that because he was right. If she wasn¡¯t Evelina or Evelinka as he liked to call her, then they wouldn¡¯t be siblings. After waiting in silence for a few seconds, she asked him with a hesitant but hopeful tone, "Are you not mad at me anymore for being pregnant before marriage?"

    "Still mad. Furious."

    Her hope was dashed. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "But don¡¯t worry," he said. "I won¡¯t make a scene and cause trouble. I heard that you fainted at the hospital the day you received confirmation that you¡¯re pregnant." He looked at her up and down with critical eyes. "That body is too weak, Evelinka. Too fragile. Although you eat healthy and workout regrly, you don¡¯t do much else to strengthen your body. You also stopped training yourbat skills.

    "The Systema that Yu Mo kid is training you with is only good for performances, not for realbat. You know that since you¡¯re a master yourself, even though your specialty is on defence rather than offence. Hell, your skill level in Systema is several leagues higher than Yu Mo and yet you¡¯re still ying student to him. I let you do what you want, but I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re thinking.

    "Not only that. You also have a chance to maintain your sharpshooting skills at Lin Yehan¡¯s shooting range in his farm vi. Shooting is what you¡¯re best at, Evelinka. I was hoping that you¡¯ll keep it up to prevent your skills from deteriorating fromck of regr practice, but you don¡¯t. You stick to that joke version of Systema and dancing and those sissy workouts."

    She didn¡¯t know how to reply at what he said. His gaze was heavy, full of pressure. It was critical, yet also filled with genuine concern for her.

    "How can I rest easy when my sister is content with her weak body?" he asked. "And now you¡¯re telling me that you n on carrying two babies inside that fragile body?"

 Chapter 751 - Iâ€™ll Crush Them All

    <h4>Chapter 751 - I¡¯ll Crush Them All </h4>

    Iris rubbed her hand on her t stomach on instinct. She never really thought that this body she had now was that weak and fragile. But when she thought about it, her brother had a point in saying that.

    Yes, this body suffered a lot of health problems especially when she just woke up from that one-yeara and discovered that she had been reborn as apletely different person. It took a few months for her to recover that time. There was also the time when she fell into anothera after meeting her Big Brother Niki as Lu Zihao for the first time and being overwhelmed by the shock. Next was when she was dealing with the original¡¯s remnant, she almost lost total control of this body. And most recently, the bomb incident caused her some serious injuries that left scars on her shoulder.

    However, all of these didn¡¯t deter her from believing that she was capable of carrying Jin Liwei¡¯s babies to full term and giving birth to them. This body was healthy enough to do that. Now that she had epted the fact that she was going to be a mother to her own biological children, the excitement was trumping any fear that she had before.

    She thought for a few moments about how to respond to her brother. As for Lu Zihao, he waited for her to gather her thoughts and just sat there in silence, letting her digest everything he told her.

    "I¡¯m sure that there are many women in the world who are far weaker than me physically but still sessfully gave birth and they¡¯re doing just fine," she finally said. "I¡¯ll search it up, gather the appropriate data, and show them to you, if you don¡¯t believe me."

    He sighed. "That¡¯s not the point I want you to focus on, Evelinka."

    She avoided his gaze and continued rubbing her abdomen.

    He rested his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. Although she wasn¡¯t meeting his gaze, he still maintained his serious gaze on her. "I know that you want to avoid anything that has to do with our past lives. I understand why you¡¯re like this. I really do, believe me. In fact, I want you to have the happiness and freedom that you thought you never had in our past lives in this new life of yours. You¡¯re my baby sister. I always want the best for you."

    Finally, she looked at him. There was a small smile on her face, indicating that his words touched her.

    "It makes me happy seeing you happy like this," he continued saying. "Even though I disapprove some of your decisions and think that you often act too liberated for my taste especially when ites to your rtionship with your man, at the end of the day, your brother only wants to see you living your life to the fullest peacefully and safely. The keywords are ¡¯peacefully¡¯ and ¡¯safely¡¯."

    "I know, Big Brother," she said in a soft voice.

    He nodded. "By advising you to retrain yourbat skills, especially your specialties Systema and shooting, I don¡¯t mean for you to relive the harsh training we experienced in our past lives. All I¡¯m asking you is to strengthen your body, not in the way you¡¯re currently maintaining your figure as a celebrity. All it does is make you look good on the outside but does absolutely nothing on the inside.

    "We may not be who we were in our past lives anymore, and it may look like we¡¯re living peaceful lives right now, but danger is everywhere, Evelinka. It may not be in the same form as we faced as members of the Vetrovs, but it¡¯s still there, waiting for an opportunity to strike when we least expect it. Never growcent."

    All of his words made sense to her and that alone annoyed her. She stood up and started pacing back and forth to calm down. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Remember the bomb incident. It was targeted towards you. If you were any less lucky that day, you would¡¯ve died for the second time." He paused and said, "Sit down, Evelinka. Don¡¯t tire yourself out."

    She threw him a surly look but still grudgingly obeyed and plopped back down on the couch.

    Satisfied that she listened to him, he resumed his lecture. "Also remember who your man is."

    "Of course I remember who he is," she said, huffing. This conversation was starting to wear down on her. "He¡¯ll be mywful husband in less than a month. So of course I know who I¡¯m marrying!"

    He ignored her bad temper and herst two sentences. "Jin Liwei might have a ¡¯normal¡¯ backgroundpared to who we were in our past lives, but he¡¯s still the current head of the biggest multinationalpany in this country. He¡¯s a billionaire, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. It might not look like it, but there are plenty of people targeting him. He has enemies, too. I hope you know that."

    "Of course I know!" She was now very annoyed. At him, at their conversation, and at her tendency to get annoyed quickly these days. "But they¡¯re only a bunch of envious lowlifes who have nothing better to do than try pulling down my man from his top position. As if I¡¯ll let them do that. They can try, but I¡¯ll destroy them before they could!"

    "Good that you know." Now, it was him who stood up and started roaming around the room, touching this and that, trying to distract her with his movements. He didn¡¯t want to upset her especially since she was pregnant. But it was because she was pregnant that he needed to have this important talk with her. "Now that you¡¯re to be Jin Liwei¡¯s wife and the mother of his children, his enemies will also start targeting you."

    "I¡¯ll deal with them," she snarled. "They¡¯re just ants. I¡¯ll crush them all!"

    Lu Zihao half-sat on the edge of the table and looked a little amused at her fierceness. "I¡¯m sure you will. But remember that even a bite from a single ant will still hurt."

 Chapter 752 Past Body Vs - Present Body

    <h4>Chapter 752 Past Body Vs - Present Body </h4>

    "If a single ant can already cause pain, imagine a swarm of ants biting you at the same time." Lu Zihao¡¯s amusement turned into restrained menace. "They may not be on your level, my dear Evelinka, but if you aren¡¯t careful enough, those lowlifes as you call them, will be able to find a way to hurt you and your loved ones. Not including me, of course."

    Iris¡¯ fierce expression transformed into that of exhaustion. She let the rest of her body fall to the couch into a lying position. "I get it, Big Brother."

    "Good." The menace disappeared and turned into his usual devilish smile. "Be more careful, more cautious, and take more precautions. Your man is doing his part in protecting you by tightening security. I¡¯ll also provide assistance in any way possible. But what if all safety measure fails and neither your man nor I could get to you in time? The best defence starts with one¡¯s self. You must be the best person to protect yourself and the babies inside you."

    Her gaze once again dropped to her own belly. The following days after Wang Yingjie confirmed her pregnancy, she already began developing maternal feelings for the two little beans growing inside her. If she and her brother had this same tedious conversation before she got pregnant, it was highly likely that she might have brushed him off and insisted that she would be fine.

    But now? His words were ultra-effective in triggering a powerful sense of maternal protectiveness inside her. There was no way that she would let anything harm her babies. No way! [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Then she observed her brother. He was huge and muscr, his skin riddled with different kinds of scars. His current figure was very different from when he was Niki Vetrov in the past. Unlike the Lu Zihao now who looked almost like a bodybuilder, Niki¡¯s figure was more streamlined and refined. Yet despite the smaller-looking muscles on her brother¡¯s previous body, she knew that he was stronger back then than now. Those smaller muscles packed more power and lethal punch than what was contained in his current bulky, muscr body as Lu Zihao.

    His current body was like a rugged off-road vehicle, still very powerful, but not as much whenpared to a sleek sports car with more than a thousand horsepower engine which was akin to Niki¡¯s body in the past.

    "Is that also the reason why you made yourself look like that?" she asked.

    He threw his head back andughed. The sound was absolutely demonic, yet it brought herfort because it was her brother.

    "Correct," he said afterughing. The demonicughter eased off to his usual devilish smile. "This body is also extremely weak. I already strengthened it as much as I could but it¡¯s still very far from reaching my previous body¡¯s standards. And I think that it will never reach that level because the foundations are too different. The biggest reason might be because the Vetrov genes are more superior." There was great pride in his voice when he said this.

    "Our bodies are¡ªwere naturally stronger," he corrected himself after remembering that the bodies they were talking about were all in the past. "The training and experiences our forefathers honed in their bodies during their time had been passed down on to us, their descendants, making us naturally powerful. Even someone like you, my dear little sister, who didn¡¯t partake in our organization¡¯s harshest training and missions, and preferred to spend your time in front of your piano andputers, was stronger and more athletic than normal people."

    She couldn¡¯t deny what he said because it was indeed true. Her previous body as Evelina may look delicate but it was still strong and easily trained. She just didn¡¯t train it as much as their mother would have liked because of her rejection to joining the family¡¯s business.

    There was no doubt that the Vetrovs¡¯ strength and skills camergely from their intensive and brutal special training. But for descendants like them, the bodies that they were born with also yed a big role in determining how strong and powerful they would grow. It was a case of nature and nurture working together in perfect tandem.

    Evelina might notpare to the other Vetrovs who trained their physical strength and skills like machines, but she was the most superior when it came to intellect. She was, after all, a certified genius who had been scouted by the legendary Cross Academy when she was only a teenage girl. It was just that she chose not to use her high-powered brain to contribute to the family business, no matter how many times her father persuaded her or her mother threatened her.

    Her thoughts were pulled back to the present as her brother continued to speak about the topic. "My current body can¡¯tpare to my past one. I have to always work damn hard pushing it to the limit in order to maintain it because if I don¡¯t, it¡¯ll just revert to its old weak self. Even so, I¡¯m d that I could train this body to this level from its pathetic state when I got reborn to it."

    "Lu Zihao¡¯s body was literally broken and paralyzed when you got it, Big Brother," she told him in wry tone. "Of course it was pathetic. Mine too, actually. Although I heard that Lu Zihao¡¯s ident was more terrible than Long Xin¡¯s. Lots of broken bones."

    "And both died."

    She sighed. "Yes, both died."

    "Us, too. We died."

    She closed her eyes and whispered, "Yes. We died, too."

    "But we were reborn."

    Her eyes were hard steel when she opened them again. "Yes, we did. We were reborn as them. And that¡¯s what matters because it gave us a new chance in life."

    "Exactly."

    She peeked at him and asked, "Big Brother, are you d that you had been reborn?"

    His devilish smile stretched wider but also became more sinister, causing her heart to shake a little.

    "Absolutely, my dear little sister. I¡¯m very d, alright."

 Chapter 753 - Madam Vetrova

    <h4>Chapter 753 - Madam Vetrova </h4>

    To Iris¡¯ relief, Lu Zihao¡¯s sinister smile onlysted for a few seconds. It was so like him to have total control of his emotions. He could change his expressions at will, only presenting what he wanted to show others. If he didn¡¯t want anyone knowing his real thoughts and feelings, then nobody would know except for himself.

    Unlike her who was straightforward, he was very much like the sly and maniptive Vetrov. In a sense, Evelina had been a huge anomaly to be born in the Vetrov family.

    He left his perch on the edge of the table and returned to sit on the couch opposite her. Then he poured himself a fresh cup of hot tea. "So my point for saying all this to you is, these new bodies of ours might be inferior to what we had in the past, but that doesn¡¯t mean that we have to be content with them. We have ways of strengthening them, of making them better, and of pushing them closer to the level of superiority we had in our past bodies. It¡¯s not a sin to be weak, but staying weak for your entire life is."

    She covered her eyes with her arm and released a heavy sigh. Drowsiness slowly crept up to her, causing her body to feel heavier on the couch she was lying on.

    "I understand, Big Brother," she murmured. "Let me think about it. I know that you mean well, but I can¡¯t do much right now because I¡¯m pregnant. Liwei will be furious if I suddenly start training my body harder at this point. We were just fighting earlier before you arrived because he changed my work schedule without discussing it with me first. He says that he doesn¡¯t want me working while pregnant."

    "I agree that it¡¯s safer for you to stay at home, pregnant or not," he said in a casual tone.

    She removed the arm covering her eyes to re at him. "The two of you are such cavemen!"

    He shrugged, not at all affected by her re, and continued sipping his tea. Then he looked at her and said, "By the way."

    She huffed. "What?"

    "If you¡¯re not able to find any twins in either your man or Long Xin¡¯s genealogical records, I may know why you¡¯re having twins that isn¡¯t caused by random chance."

    That triggered her curiosity. "Oh? Tell me!"

    He didn¡¯t tell her right away but instead observed her for a few moments. It wasn¡¯t obvious what he was thinking from his impassive face but she imagined that he might be hesitating whether to tell her or not. In the end, he still told her.

    "Actually, our mother¡¯s maiden family has had twins through many generations. Our maternal grandaunt was a twin and so were a few distant cousins."

    Without him needing to exin, she knew that he was talking about Madam Vetrova. The one who sowed the fear of bing a bad, cruel mother deep inside her soul. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I didn¡¯t know that," she said, her voice a whisper.

    "Of course, you didn¡¯t know. Mother never talked about her maiden family. Her entire loyalty rested solely on the Vetrov organization. Nothing was left for the family she was born into."

    "How do you know about this? Did you meet our maternal rtives back then?"

    "I¡¯m the heir¡ªwas the heir of our organization," he corrected himself again which caused his mood to plunge. "So I had to apany Father to meet and manage our organization¡¯s subordinate groups. A few of the most established ones were families, including Mother¡¯s maiden family. Butpared to other criminal families, they were nothing special. Almost amateurish, to tell you the truth. You can liken them to a gang lording over a small, insignificant Russian town.

    "However, they did produce someone like Mother whoter married Father and became the matriarch. Her maiden family used this connection to spread their influence beyond their small town and grow their power. Although their overall abilities werecking, they still became quite a sessful criminal family with the Vetrovs¡¯ backing.

    "They prided themselves for producing Mother who at a young age had already be a brilliant asset to our organization to the point of catching Grandfather Vetrov¡¯s eyes. He recruited her and personally groomed her to be one of our organization¡¯s best assassins. She also became an incredible biomedical expert specializing in the concoction of untraceable poisons. Many of the lethal substance weapons that our subordinates used were developed by Mother. Father used to say back then that you got Mother¡¯s brains."

    Hisst sentence sent a shiver down her spine. What if it wasn¡¯t only her intellect that she inherited from Madam Vetrova? What if¡ª

    As if he knew what she was thinking, he interrupted and said in a forceful tone, "You¡¯re nothing like Mother, Evelinka. Even when you were only a little girl, you¡¯re already nothing like her. No matter how hard she tried to mould you to be someone like her, she couldn¡¯t. Because you are uniquely you. There¡¯s nobody else like you in the world."

    Her eyes reddened. She wanted to go over and hug her brother but restrained the urge upon remembering that he stunk so badly that she couldn¡¯t take it. "Thank you."

    He waved her off. "If you¡¯re interested, I¡¯ll tell you more about Mother¡¯s maiden family another time."

    She didn¡¯t reply, and he didn¡¯t expect her to make a decision so quickly either. They both knew what kind of difficult rtionship she had with their mother. It wasn¡¯t just a matter of differences in ideologies but something more fundamental. It was like they belonged to two different species altogether and were unable to establish propermunication with each other.

    Although her curiosity about Madam Vetrova¡¯s maiden family was piqued, she didn¡¯t want to touch that topic for now. Instead, she focused on another topic which she was more interested in.

    "Big Brother, you¡¯re saying that me having twins originated from Mother¡¯s maiden family? But that¡¯s impossible. This body is in no way connected to her by blood."

 Chapter 754 - Your Children Are My Family

    <h4>Chapter 754 - Your Children Are My Family </h4>

    Lu Zihao gave his sister a sidelong nce. "That body may not be connected to Mother by blood but don¡¯t forget that your soul is, or spirit or memories, or whatever it is that was transferred from our former bodies into these new ones. You say that it¡¯s impossible? What¡¯s not possible after dying and being reborn intopletely different people? We are still us but also not. Who¡¯s to say that you having twins has nothing to do with our bloodline in our past lives? I say that anything is possible at this point after everything both of us have experienced so far. Crazy, I know. But it¡¯s still a possibility."

    Iris grew silent and thought about her brother¡¯s spection. To be honest, she found it insane yet also extremely fascinating. If he was correct, then it would open a whole new world of wonder. Perhaps they could even find the reason of their rebirth. She itched to study and gather concrete data about the supernatural phenomenon of their rebirth but felt helpless about how to start. If only it was that easy to investigate something so otherworldly.

    All this talking and thinking made her yawn. Her eyes were starting to close but there was still one thing that she wanted to clear up with her brother.

    "Big Brother?"

    "Hm?"

    She took a deep breath before dropping the important question. "When are you going to ept that I¡¯m pregnant?"

    He raised an eyebrow and countered her question with another question. "When did I say that I don¡¯t ept that you¡¯re pregnant?"

    That made her drowsy eyes light up. "You¡¯re not angry anymore?"

    "I already told you, Evelinka. I¡¯m furious¡ª"

    Her hopeful face fell.

    "¡ªbut that¡¯s only natural because a naughty someone ignored her big brother¡¯s words and went ahead and got herself pregnant out of wedlock."

    "Hmph!" She rolled her eyes and turned her head away from him. She was so over his old-fashioned ways.

    A devilish chuckle made her look at him again, though. When she saw him again, his face had a softer expression.

    "I might still feel furious but I never said that I won¡¯t ept your children. My dear little sister, all your children are my family, including all your damn cats."

    She was already smiling before she even realized it. It was a smile that reached her eyes, making it crinkle with warmth and happiness. She even ignored the part where he said "damn cats". Her brain automatically filtered out the word "damn" and reced it with "darling", thereby deluding herself into believing that he said "darling cats" instead of "damn cats".

    "I only have one request," he said.

    With her mood improved, the smile remained on her face as she asked him with eagerness. "What is it?"

    Both his expression and tone turned grave. "Remember your promise to let the old man name your children. I don¡¯t want the poor kids to have ridiculous names like your damn cats."

    Her happy expression turned surly in an instant. She was about to argue but was interrupted when the bedroom door opened. Jin Liwei finally returned and immediately headed to her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "What happened?" he asked upon seeing her bad-tempered expression. Then he threw a cold nce at Lu Zihao, assuming it was the man¡¯s fault. "Did Fifth Brother scold you?"

    Iris tried to sit up but her body felt too drowsy, so she raised both her arms and reached for her man instead. "Darling, Big Brother is so mean!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned colder. He hurried to sit by her side and held her hands as he red at his fifth brother who sat there in a casual manner while looking at them in amusement. He asked her, "What mean things did he say to you? Tell me."

    "He said..."

    "En?"

    "Big Brother said that our cats¡¯ names are ridiculous! And that we shouldn¡¯t name our twins like our cats. How could he say such a mean thing? Ice Cream, Popcorn and Ketchup¡ªaren¡¯t they such adorable names? Right, darling?"

    "Yes, of course, love. They¡¯re wonderful names."

    Lu Zihao snorted.

    Jin Liwei threw him a warning nce. Then he started giving both his baby girl¡¯s arms a gentle massage to calm her down and hopefully prevent her from having another extreme mood swing. His tender ministrations soon took effect and in just a few seconds, she fell asleep. He sighed in relief and brushed a few strands of hair away from her beautiful face. Then he moved to lift her up.

    "I¡¯ll do it," Lu Zihao said. "You¡¯re still injured, Third Brother. My sister will throw a hissy fit if you hurt yourself again when you should be focused on healing."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reject the offer. He nodded and moved aside to allow Lu Zihao to carry his baby girl to the bedroom. "Careful. She¡¯s pregnant."

    "I know."

    After Lu Zihao deposited Iris on the bed, Jin Liwei covered her with the duvet and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. Then the two men left the bedroom.

    "Fifth Brother, let¡¯s go somewhere else," Jin Liwei said. "I want to talk to you."

    Lu Zihao followed him outside the suite. They only needed to walk a short distance before arriving at Iris¡¯ piano room. Jin Liwei chose this room because firstly, it was near their suite so he could still rush to his baby girl as fast as possible if she needed him. Secondly, it was soundproofed. He didn¡¯t want other people passing by overhearing their conversation, including the gossip-loving Ketchup who he already warned not to eavesdrop.

    "What do you want to talk about?" Lu Zihao asked as he perched himself on the wide windowsill.

    Jin Liwei chose to sit in front of the piano. Then he observed the other man with a profound look in his eyes. "You reek of bloodlust."

    "Oh?" Lu Zihao¡¯s eyebrows lifted in faint surprise at his words.

    "I don¡¯t know what the hell you¡¯ve been doing these days to be like that, Fifth Brother, and I¡¯m not going to pry into your business. But you better be more mindful around Xin next time."

 Chapter 755 - Devil

    <h4>Chapter 755 - Devil </h4>

    "Xin is pregnant now, Fifth Brother," Jin Liwei said. "It¡¯s very easy for her to get upset over the littlest of things. I don¡¯t want anything or anyone to trigger her, including you."

    "Heh~ Third Brother is talking as if you haven¡¯t made her upset since confirming that she¡¯s pregnant," Lu Zihao drawled. "Little Sister just told me that you two fought over her work schedule before I came over."

    Jin Liwei sighed and massaged his temples. "I only did what I thought is best for her and our babies. I don¡¯t want to risk her overexerting herself at work because she tends to do that. If nobody monitors her, she¡¯ll work herself until she copses because she¡¯s just so passionate." A faint smile improved his weary face. "That¡¯s one of the things I love about her¡ªthe passion in everything she does."

    Lu Zihao made a sound of agreement.

    "But she needs to ease back on her work. I worry about her a lot because she has a tendency to faint and a history of falling intoa. Sometimes she¡¯s so healthy while at other times, she seems so...."

    "Fragile," Lu Zihao filled in.

    "En. If it were up to me alone, she would stop working and stay here at home where I know that she¡¯ll be safe and pampered for the entire duration of her pregnancy, our babies¡¯ birth, and the twins¡¯ first few months."

    "Excellent idea."

    The two men looked at each other. Then they chuckled because both of them were of the same mind regarding what they thought was best for Iris. However, both also knew that she would never allow either of them to have full control of how she lived her life no matter how much she loved them.

    "Her temper has be terrible," Lu Zihaomented after the short silence.

    "Mood swings," Jin Liwei muttered.

    "That¡¯s what you get for getting her pregnant so soon."

    Jin Liwei threw a cold look at his fifth brother. "I don¡¯t regret getting the woman I love pregnant. On the contrary, I¡¯m ecstatic. Our babies are not a mistake. Never. They¡¯re blessings."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply. He wasn¡¯t even looking at Jin Liwei. Instead, his gaze was directed at the bright and sunny scenery outside the window. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Which brings me to the matter that I want to talk to you about," Jin Liwei said.

    "What is it?" Lu Zihao asked while peering at Jin Liwei out of the corner of his eye.

    Jin Liwei rose from his seat and moved a little closer towards his fifth brother. He did so while running his fingers on top of the piano keys but not hard enough to press them and make a sound. He let his hand fall to his side as he continued walking and only stopped once he was a few feet away from Lu Zihao.

    "I noticed that Xin fears you, Fifth Brother," he said. "She was terrified that you¡¯ll get mad because she got pregnant out of wedlock. I told her not to worry, but she dreaded your arrival today. And yet she doesn¡¯t dare make excuses to dy seeing you. And it¡¯s not only limited to today¡¯s case either. I already long noticed some instances in the past when she would constantly worry about how you¡¯ll react. I did my best to brush it off because I know that your sibling bond is stronger than what she has with her own biological siblings, even with Long Jinjing who has now be one of her closest friends."

    The atmosphere had long turned tense as soon as Jin Liwei began this topic. Lu Zihao¡¯s full gaze was now on him. The look on his abyss-like eyes were intimidating but Jin Liwei didn¡¯t back down.

    "Why does my wife fear you, Fifth Brother? Tell me why. I want to understand but I just can¡¯t."

    Lu Zihao continued to remain silent. Even Jin Liwei had no idea what was going on inside his friend and brother¡¯s head. He couldn¡¯t help but frown because his old fifth brother from before the ski ident always wore his heart on his sleeve. What you see was what you get when it came to the Lu Zihao in the past. The Lu Zihao now, however, was the total opposite. There was no way of knowing his real thoughts and emotions just by looking at his expression.

    "Xin is confident, independent, and strong-minded," Jin Liwei continued speaking even though Lu Zihao still hadn¡¯t said anything yet. "She goes all out whenever she wants to achieve something. But why the hell is she afraid of you? I don¡¯t like that at all. The wife of Jin Liwei shouldn¡¯t be so afraid of anyone or anything, much less you, our own brother."

    Lu Zihao finally rose to his full height. At the same time, he stopped restraining his bloodlust, allowing it to flood out of him in suffocating waves.

    Jin Liwei was hit with the full brunt of his fifth brother¡¯s intense malevolent aura to the point that his heart and breathing stopped for a few seconds. Then adrenaline rushed through his veins and helped him recover his senses. Nevertheless, the back of his shirt had already be drenched in cold sweat in that short moment. He felt shocked at what happened. Then the anger came next.

    "What the hell are you trying to do?" he demanded. His whole body was now poised to fight if needed. He felt that what his fifth brother did was an affront to their friendship. "Do you want to kill me?!"

    There was not a shred of emotion on Lu Zihao¡¯s face, yet the aura he was emitting was enough to cause a weak man to piss his pants. Although Jin Liwei was affected, he didn¡¯t back down. He wanted an exnation why his fifth brother was doing this!

    "What if I say that I do want to kill you right now?" Lu Zihao spoke in a cold whisper, yet the words seemed to echo everywhere in the room.

    In front of Jin Liwei was no longer his fifth brother. It was the devil.

 Chapter 756 - Beyond Death And Through Eternity

    <h4>Chapter 756 - Beyond Death And Through Eternity </h4>

    But so what if it was the devil? Jin Liwei didn¡¯t give a damn. If his fifth brother was ying with him, then he was going too far! Their conversation was about Jin Liwei¡¯s beloved woman, so there was no way in hell that he was going to back down. He needed a definite answer from Lu Zihao and he was going to get it even if they end up getting into a brawl.

    "You can try to kill me," Jin Liwei said, his voice hard with barely restrained aggression. "You¡¯re much bigger and physically stronger than I am now, but if you really want to kill me, I won¡¯t go down without a fight. I¡¯m now a family man. My wife is pregnant with twins¡ª"

    "She¡¯s not your wife yet," Lu Zihao interjected in an eerily calm voice yet still managed to sound threatening.

    "Xin and I may not be married under thew yet, but we¡¯ve been living like a pair of husband and wife since we became officially engaged. No, even before that." Then Jin Liwei scowled. "And why the hell do I need to exin my rtionship with my woman with you? You may be one of my best friends, one of my closest brothers, but don¡¯t go too far!"

    "I¡¯ll go as far as I want. She¡¯s my sister. Her business is my business. Deal with it."

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing. Did Lu Zihao really say that? And he, Jin Liwei, had to deal with it? What the hell?! He had to make sure that he heard it correctly. "Are you serious?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s face remained impassive. "Do I look like I¡¯m joking?"

    "Fifth Brother¡ªno. Lu Zihao, I can¡¯t believe you."

    "You better believe it."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s jaws tightened, causing his voice to be gruff. "If I didn¡¯t know for sure that the odd bond you have with my woman is strictly like that of a brother and sister, I would¡¯ve already fallen out with you and destroyed three decades worth of brotherhood between us. Our brothers and I already found your closeness with Xin very weird since the beginning. And to be honest, that story about the two of you developing such a tight sibling bond because you were online game buddies in the past sounds like total bullshit. Why? Because you never mentioned anything about her to us. But even with our doubts, we had no choice but ept because the truth is right in front of us. We can see with our own eyes that you and Xin genuinely care for each other like brother and sister. It¡¯s not something that can be faked.

    "All of us already long epted your odd rtionship. Perhaps the fact that the two of you shared nearly identical experiences of almost dying, falling intoa, and your personalities changing afterwards have made us more understanding despite all the questions in our heads. I have to admit, though, that it took quite some time for me to bepletely fine with it."

    Lu Zihao crossed his big, muscled arms over his chest and leaned back on the wall. His posture looked deceptively rxed, but the concentrated gaze he had on Jin Liwei was like that of a top hunter. He remained silent while continuing to listen. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    As for Jin Liwei, he had already somewhat gotten used to Lu Zihao¡¯s intensity. The other man¡¯s aura didn¡¯t seem as overwhelming as before. Although Jin Liwei had never encountered such strong bloodlust before, he was still an elite businessman at the top of his game who frequently rubbed shoulders with the most powerful people in the world. He wasn¡¯t someone who was easily intimidated. On the contrary, most normal people were the ones intimidated by him. Adapting to all kinds of situations was a trait he had to learn early on as a young businessman.

    Feeling more confident now, he straightened his spine and continued talking while looking at Lu Zihao straight in the eyes. "Your closeness with my wife has now be normal to me and to everyone around us. But there are times, like right now, that you¡¯re acting too intrusive with my rtionship with Xin, as if you have the right to meddle in our private affairs. Honestly, it¡¯s starting to feel really ufortable."

    "Does Little Sister also think the same way as you do?" Lu Zihao asked.

    Jin Liwei gritted his teeth because he couldn¡¯t answer right away.

    A faint demonic smirk finally made a change on Lu Zihao¡¯s emotionless face. "I thought so."

    "Xin doesn¡¯t dare openly defy you," Jin Liwei growled through his gritted teeth. "I don¡¯t like that she¡¯s too worried about what you think to the point that she sometimes feels afraid of you. Why is that, Fifth¡ªLu Zihao? What kind of tight hold do you have on my wife?"

    "Do you want to know the truth?" Lu Zihao drawled.

    "Of course I want to know the truth. That¡¯s why we¡¯re having this conversation."

    "Heh~" Lu Zihao¡¯s smirk widened as he gave Jin Liwei a mysterious look filled with unknown meaning. "Unfortunately, Third Brother, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to handle the truth¡ªthe real secret between my sister and I."

    His words caused Jin Liwei to scowl so hard that his nostrils started ring. "What do you mean by that? Tell me!" he demanded with barely controlled fury and suspicion.

    "Ah, like I just told you, Third Brother, the truth is too much for you to handle. It¡¯s the kind that binds my sister and I beyond death and through eternity."

    "What the hell are you talking about?!" Jin Liwei¡¯s entire body was trembling with fury because Lu Zihao¡¯s words were too easily misunderstood.

    Bound beyond death and through eternity? What kind of bullshit words were those? Weren¡¯t those words used to describe lovers instead of siblings?

    Lu Zihao gestured a hand at Jin Liwei¡¯s agitated state. "See? I haven¡¯t even told the truth yet and you¡¯re already like that. As I thought, you won¡¯t be able to handle it if you learn about the truth between my sister and I."

 Chapter 757 - Evelinka

    <h4>Chapter 757 - Evelinka </h4>

    Jin Liwei was quick to turn the other way so he wouldn¡¯t have to look at Lu Zihao¡¯s goading face anymore. If he continued looking at Lu Zihao for even a second longer, he might havepletely lost it and punched his fifth brother in the face. But what should he do about his anger?

    He felt like a volcano that was going to erupt at any moment. If he didn¡¯t release some of the pressure building up inside him, he would soon explode to the point of no return. So instead of brawling with Lu Zihao, he chose to kick some of the chairs inside the room.

    However, he left his baby girl¡¯s piano stool alone, not daring to even scratch it. He could rece any other furniture in their home without any problem but she was extremely protective of all her music andputer equipment. Those were off-limits. There would be hell to pay if they were damaged in any way because almost all of them were customized for her. Meaning, they were one of a kind to fit only her.

    Loud sounds of banging and crashing soon filled the entire room. Once Jin Liwei started venting his anger on the poor furniture, a kind of triumphant thrill ran through him and spurred him to be even more violent. Within minutes, hepletely destroyed the chairs and even the small table. The vase of flowersy pitiful and broken on the floor.

    He was breathing harder after he was done and his clothes were drenched in sweat. But his eyes were now brighter and his skin was flushed with more vigour. He looked healthier now than he had ever since the construction ident a few days ago.

    Lu Zihao watched the entire scene while continuing to lean his back on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Amusement was obvious on his face, the only emotion he was allowing to show at the moment. He had already retracted most of his bloodlust, easing the heaviness in the atmosphere by a lot in an instant. Jin Liwei, however, didn¡¯t seem to notice or maybe he just didn¡¯t care anymore.

    "Feel better?" Lu Zihao asked.

    Jin Liwei ignored him and instead focused on admiring his "handiwork", a.k.a. the destroyed furniture. There was no way of fixing them so new ones needed to be bought, but he would just leave that task to his butler. At least, he felt better now and didn¡¯t feel like brawling with his fifth brother anymore who was ceasing to feel like a brother as the minutes ticked by.

    "Did you imagine that I was the furniture while you were kicking them around just now?" Lu Zihao continued to ask, not at all bothered that he didn¡¯t receive a reply to his previous question.

    This time, Jin Liwei finally responded. He snorted and threw a sidelong nce at Lu Zihao. "What do you think?"

    Lu Zihao shrugged. "I honestly don¡¯t care. Though it¡¯s good that you didn¡¯t attack me because if you did, I can¡¯t promise that I¡¯ll hold back and not hurt you. My mood is fucking terrible today. I¡¯m itching for a good fight myself."

    "I don¡¯t need you to hold back," Jin Liwei said through gritted teeth. "Don¡¯t look down on me. You may be physically stronger than me now but I can at least stillnd a couple of punches or a kick on your arrogant ass."

    Devilishughter rumbled out of Lu Zihao chest, as he threw his head back and let out his amusement with no restraints. The atmosphere had now lightened a great deal. Even Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched a couple of times as he fought hard not to smile and managed to maintain the cold expression on his face.

    "As much as I want to fight someone today, it¡¯s not going to be you, Third Brother," Lu Zihao said afterughing. "My sister will be upset if you got hurt, especially since you haven¡¯t fully recovered from your injuries yet. I even heard from my subordinates that she has be quite paranoid and wanted you to wear a helmet and a bulletproof vest?" He startedughing again after saying that.

    The twitch in Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth intensified. It was getting more and more difficult to stop himself from joining in theughter. Thus, he chose to focus on the first part of what Lu Zihao said instead of thetter part about the helmet and bulletproof vest.

    "Indeed, Xin will be upset if I¡¯m hurt," he said. This time, there was no hint ofughter on his face. There was only seriousness. "You said earlier that you want to kill me? Even if you were joking, let me tell you now that if you ever kill me, you¡¯ll have to prepare to face my wife¡¯s wrath. Whatever weird sibling bond you have and no matter how strong it is right now, it will all be destroyed in the end because she¡¯ll hate you. If you hurt me or worse, kill me, Xin will hate you to death. Mark my words."

    That killed Lu Zihao¡¯s amusement in an instant. His expression darkened and even the air around him seemed to freeze. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Lu Zihao," Jin Liwei said, no longer calling him Fifth Brother. "I hope that you stamp it inside your head that I, Jin Liwei, am the man Long Xin loves¡ª"

    "Evelinka."

    "What?"

    "She¡¯s Evelinka."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "I know that you call her by that name. I remember you saying that it¡¯s her online name when you were game buddies before. But her name is Long Xin, not¡ª"

    "My sister is Evelinka," Lu Zihao said simply, not bothering to provide any exnations.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frowned deepened. Something shed inside his mind, a scene where his baby girl said something simrly odd, yet it was gone before he could think more deeply about it.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s words for almost their entire conversation had been too puzzling. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t make heads or tails about what he was talking about. Was the man¡¯s goal today to mess up with his head?

 Chapter 758 - Goodbye, Fifth Brother

    <h4>Chapter 758 - Goodbye, Fifth Brother </h4>

    "Fine. Evelinka then," Jin Liwei finally said. He didn¡¯t want to bother thinking too deeply about Lu Zihao¡¯s mysterious and confusing words. "I¡¯m the man Evelinka loves. I¡¯m her lover, soon to be her official husband, and the father of her children. She and I are one now. Whoever hurts me also hurts her and vice versa."

    "Are you bragging to me?" Lu Zihao asked.

    Jin Liwei gave a smile that didn¡¯t reach his eyes which remained serious. "Of course I¡¯m bragging to you. But I¡¯m also stating a fact."

    Lu Zihao made a low sound in his throat but it wasn¡¯t clear if it was acknowledgement of what Jin Liwei said or rejection. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care whichever it was, though. After what happened today, he no longer wanted to care much about what his fifth brother¡ªno, what Lu Zihao thought.

    His baby girl was his bottom line and anyone who crossed too far, no matter if it was his sworn brother who he knew longer than her, he would need to tell them off because his rtionship with his woman was their business alone and nobody else¡¯s.

    "Stamp this in your head, Lu Zihao. Don¡¯t meddle too much in my rtionship with Xin...or Evelinka if that¡¯s what you like to call her. And I won¡¯t interfere with your sibling bond either. Let¡¯s stay in our own ces in her heart." Then Jin Liwei walked closer until he stood right in front of Lu Zihao. He stared straight into the other man¡¯s eyes and sent his own force of will, not the least bit cowered by Lu Zihao¡¯s seemingly endless intensity. "And this is thest time you¡¯ll cause my wife to feel afraid of you, Lu Zihao. Or I swear, even if Grandpa Lu beats me up or even disowns me, I¡¯ll forget our brotherhood and not allow you anywhere near my wife ever again."

    This time, it was Lu Zihao who nearly lost it. He grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s cor, almost lifting the man off his feet. "You dare keep my sister away from me?!"

    Jin Liwei retaliated and also grabbed Lu Zihao¡¯s cor. However, he didn¡¯t even attempt to lift the other man. He knew his limits. "I¡¯ll dare anything if it means that my wife can live safely without having to fear anyone. So if you want to maintain your bond with her, then you better adjust your attitude."

    "You!" Lu Zihao tightened his hold on Jin Liwei¡¯s cor.

    Jin Liwei did the same. "I won¡¯t tolerate another man having such a strong hold on my woman like you seem to have. I don¡¯t give a damn about that ¡¯bound beyond death and through eternity¡¯ bullshit you kept on spouting earlier. It doesn¡¯t matter, anyway, because from the moment she and I got together, we¡¯ll be the ones who¡¯ll be bound beyond death and through eternity as soulmates. The babies growing inside her womb right now are the proof of our unbreakable bond."

    The two men red at each other. Nobody was willing to be the first one to look away first. Basically, they were currently in an idiotic macho pissing contest.

    After what felt like a long time, Lu Zihao was the first one to let go. Jin Liwei followed suit. However, neither broke eye contact. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Jin Liwei, remember everything you said to me today," Lu Zihao said in a much calmer yet still threatening voice. "If you ever betray my sister or hurt her or allow her to be harmed..." He leaned closer until they were almost nose to nose and could feel each other¡¯s breaths on their faces. His voice dropped to a whisper. "I¡¯ll kill you. Literally."

    Jin Liwei pushed a hand against Lu Zihao¡¯s chest and stepped away quickly to put an eptable distance between them. "You don¡¯t have to tell me. I¡¯ll love, cherish and protect my own woman. And kill me? You can try. I won¡¯t allow myself to be killed that easily. I need to be alive and well in order to protect my wife, our children and our whole family."

    "Fine." Lu Zihao also moved a few steps to the side and put a greater distance between them.

    "Are we clear about everything that we talked about in this room?"

    Lu Zihao nodded.

    The atmosphere between the two had be cold and distant. Gone was the close brotherhood from before. What reced it was a tolerant civil treatment of each other for the sake of the most important woman in both their lives.

    Lu Zihao left the piano room first. He stalked out like a restless panther looking for another hunting ground because the one he just left sucked big time.

    As for Jin Liwei, he stayed in the room for a while. His gaze swept past the wreck he made out of the chairs and table. Now that the confrontation with his fifth brother¡ªno, with Lu Zihao was over, there was a feeling of emptiness inside his heart. He knew that he just lost one of his sworn brothers forever.

    Sighing, he walked to the piano and stood in front of it, imagining his graceful wife ying a heart-rending music. He bet that she would know just the right tune to y to urately reflect the turmoil of emotions in his heart caused by his falling out with Lu Zihao. Then afterwards, she would y something soothing in order to lift his spirits and allow him to heal from the hurt.

    Because fuck if he was going to lie. Losing a friend¡ªno, Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t just any friend. Losing a brother fucking hurt, especially one he knew since they were babies due to the same tight brotherhood between their grandfathers.

    He pressed a random key on the piano. The sound was high-pitched. He continued pressing a few more random keys until he reached the lowest and deepest note, the sound like the final gong to signal the official end of his brotherhood with Lu Zihao.

    "Goodbye, Fifth Brother."

    Then the mncholy turned into a smirk.

    "Hello, annoying brother-inw."

    With a final nce at the piano, he left the room and headed back to his sleeping wife.

 Chapter 759 - Did He Beat You Up?

    <h4>Chapter 759 - Did He Beat You Up? </h4>

    It was already mid-afternoon by the time Iris woke up from her after-brunch nap. Her body still felt sluggish but the call of nature won over sleep, so she forced herself to roll off the bed before staggering her way to the bathroom. After finishing her business and cleaning herself up, she searched for Jin Liwei who was nowhere in sight.

    She found him outside the bedroom in their suite¡¯s living room with the butler. He was lying face-down on the couch with the butler giving him some deep-tissue massage.

    "Darling?"

    The butler straightened to his perfect professional posture in an instant and gave her a polite gentleman¡¯s bowplete with a sweep of an arm. "Mistress."

    She greeted him back before focusing all her attention on her man.

    "How was your nap, love?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Okay." Although she said that, her tone didn¡¯t sound okay at all.

    She wasted almost an entire day sleeping, yet why did she still feel tired? This irritated her because she was the type to keep busy. She loved doing something productive and keeping herself upied. Besides her music andputers, one of her most favourite things to do was spend quality time with Jin Liwei and make love with him.

    Today, however, she fought with him the moment she woke up this morning. They made up but they hadn¡¯tpletely resolved the main cause of their fight yet. Then after having lunch, she fell asleep again, losing precious time that she would¡¯ve preferred to spend with him. Even though they couldn¡¯t make love because of his injuries, they could still do something else, like eat chocte desserts together and hug while she enjoyed smelling his masculine scent that she loved so much.

    Trying to divert her own attention away from the irritation gnawing inside her, she asked him a question as well. "Why are you having your massage so early today? Don¡¯t you usually have it in the evening after dinner?"

    "I just wanted it earlier today," he said while keeping his expression pleasant.

    She didn¡¯t notice the faint furrow between his brows or the tightness of his jaw as he stopped the pain from showing on his face. Neither did she be suspicious of why he asked for a massage earlier than usual today¡ªand a deep-tissue one at that. She believed him so she only nodded and epted his answer without questioning him further.

    "Thanks for taking care of Liwei," she told the butler with a smile and then gestured for him to continue massaging her man.

    The butler gave a brief, shallow bow before resuming his work on Jin Liwei¡¯s legs. Although they had their own private massage therapists employed at home¡ªmale for Jin Liwei and female for her¡ªsometimes Jin Liwei liked to call the butler to massage him instead whenever the man wasn¡¯t very busy with his duties keeping the entire household in perfect working order.

    She learned some time ago that their amazing butler was actually also a registered massage therapist. Jin Liwei made him study and get a licence a few years ago because the man had a natural talent in massage. Jin Liwei said that he preferred the way the butler massaged over the other many ones he tried before.

    Because Jin Liwei was still injured, the butler could only massage his head, neck, arms and legs, avoiding the entire back and posterior thighs altogether. Nevertheless, Jin Liwei still looked satisfied. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Iris walked over to them, intending to sit on the armchair beside the couch where Jin Liwei was lying face-down. But before she could get close, a strong medicinal scent assaulted her nose.

    "Ugh!" She covered her nose and mouth and rushed away from them until she could no longer smell the scent in the air.

    "Love, what¡¯s wrong?"

    "Perhaps it¡¯s the start of the mistress¡¯ morning sickness," the butler suggested.

    Iris ignored them both. Instead, her eyes swept around them and found the culprit ced on top of the coffee table in front of the couch. She missed seeing it earlier because the flower vase blocked her sight.

    "Why are you using that ultra-strength pain gel?" Her voice had be shrill as she finally became suspicious. "Your prescription says to only use that if the pain level has be so intense that you can barely tolerate it anymore. What happened while I was asleep? Did you hurt yourself again?"

    The butler withdrew to a nondescript corner in silence, swiftly and smartly avoiding his mistress¡¯ line of fire. However, he wasn¡¯t finished massaging his master yet so he didn¡¯t dare leave without permission. The poor man had no choice but to stay in the room while doing his best to reduce his presence and not interrupt the couple.

    Before Jin Liwei could reply, Iris had already made her own conclusion. Her expression filled with horror. "Oh no! Did Big Brother beat you up? He must¡¯ve beaten you up because you got me pregnant out of wedlock!" She begun wringing her hands. "I knew this was going to happen!"

    Jin Liwei scowled. "I didn¡¯t get beaten up."

    "I shouldn¡¯t have fallen asleep! I¡¯m so sorry, darling. I¡ªwhat? He didn¡¯t beat you up?"

    His scowl worsened. "I said no. Wife, do you have such low confidence of your husband that you automatically assumed that Lu Zihao beat me up?"

    In her current worried state, she didn¡¯t notice that Jin Liwei didn¡¯t call her big brother "Fifth Brother" but instead called him by his first name, Lu Zihao.

    "It¡¯s not like that," she said, quickly denying what he said.

    Jin Liwei harrumphed. "I don¡¯t like that you¡¯re so afraid of how Lu Zihao will react whenever you think you did something that he won¡¯t like."

    That made her pause. She finally noticed that something was amiss. "Did something happen between you and Big Brother? Why aren¡¯t you referring to him as Fifth Brother anymore? Did you fight?"

    He didn¡¯t answer right away but still gave a brief nod afterwards. But before she could react, he waved a dismissive hand, silently telling her not worry about it anymore.

 Chapter 760 - Why Are You Hurt Again?

    <h4>Chapter 760 - Why Are You Hurt Again? </h4>

    "Lu Zihao and I had a serious argument but there was no fistfight if that¡¯s what you¡¯re concerned about," Jin Liwei exined. "He and I have already resolved the issue between us. This matter is over."

    Iris wanted to ask more questions but decided against it after sensing that Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t in the mood to share more details about what happened between him and her brother. Although she felt dissatisfied, annoyed and also worried, she restrained herself from bothering Jin Liwei at this time. There was something odd about him that was urging her to let him be for now and to provide himfort instead.

    "Fine," she said.

    He looked relieved after she let the matter drop which only made her more curious about what really happened between the two most important men in her current life. For a second, she thought of leaving the suite to look for her brother to ask him instead because Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t talking. But seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s bruised back thered with the ultra-strength pain gel, she still chose to stay with her man in the end.

    It was so difficult to hold back her curiosity but for her darling, she would do it.

    Jin Liwei was doing a great job in enduring the pain which must feel terrible if he had to resort to using the ultra-strength pain gel instead of the regr one. She knew that he was pretending to look fine to prevent her from worrying.

    Knowing this made her heart ache for him as if she could also feel the pain of his injuries. And if it were possible, she wished that she could share his pain, if only to lessen what he was enduring. She knew, however, that he would never allow it because he also didn¡¯t want her hurting in any way.

    She wanted to sit by her man¡¯s side and hold him but couldn¡¯t because of the strong medicinal scent of the pain gel. It was a strong, sharp scent different from the revolting smell of body odour but nevertheless still made her feel dizzy and nauseous.

    Thinking about the pain gel¡¯s strong scent, she started to worry whether she and Jin Liwei would be able to sleep on the same bed tonight or not. Since she couldn¡¯t take the gel¡¯s smell, the only answer was to sleep separately. Her mood plunged in an instant.

    "I¡¯m really alright, love," Jin Liwei said after noticing her sullen mood. "Don¡¯t worry anymore."

    She harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. "For now, I¡¯m not going to ask anymore what transpired between you and Big Brother while I was sleeping because you clearly don¡¯t want to tell me anything. But I still want¡ªno, I need to know why you¡¯re suddenly hurt again. You said that you two didn¡¯t fight but why did you end up like that?!"

    Jin Liwei was silent. She could see that he was debating whether to tell her or not.

    "Husband!"

    The moment she said that, Jin Liwei¡¯s face broke into a smile. "Yes, my dear wife?"

    "You!" Her hand was suddenly itching to smack the stupid grin off his face. "I¡¯m being serious here!"

    "I know, dear wife. Can wife say it again?"

    "Say what?"

    "Husband."

    She bared her teeth at him and was about to snarl when his smiling face dimmed into something sad and lonely. That extinguished her annoyance in an instant. His expression squeezed her heart and made her want to fulfill whatever request he had of her right now. Whatever happened between the two men must have been very serious to elicit that kind of expression from her man.

    "Husband, tell me what happened. Why are you hurt again?"

    Jin Liwei sighed and got up to sit from his face-down lying position on the couch. The butler stepped forward to assist him. Iris also wanted to help but couldn¡¯t because of the strong smell of the pain gel. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Afterwards, he finally told her what happened. He skipped over the details about his confrontation with her brother but he confessed that Lu Zihao had made him so furious that he started destroying the furniture in her piano room.

    "Either wreck the furniture or fight with Lu Zihao. I chose the furniture. At least they won¡¯t fight back."

    "Oh, Liwei." Her feet automatically hurried towards him.

    "Stay back, love. The smell will make you feel sick."

    She stopped and looked frustrated that she couldn¡¯t get near him because of the medicinal scent. Then determination shed in her eyes.

    "I...I¡¯ll go and talk to Big Brother. I don¡¯t know what you two talked about but he must¡¯ve said something horrible to you for you to get so mad like that."

    He scowled. "No, don¡¯t go! You¡¯re not going to talk to him today, Xin. Leave him for now to process everything we talked about during our argument."

    "But¡ª"

    "No buts. He¡¯s also like me and should be in a terrible mood after what happened. He might upset you if you go and talk to him right now." His tone was final that brooked no argument.

    She studied his hard expression and decided not to push too hard today. "Fine. I¡¯ll talk to Big Brother another day."

    Jin Liwei stood up but didn¡¯t go to her, mindful of the gel¡¯s smell on his body. "And you."

    "What about me?"

    "I¡¯m not going to stop you if you really want to talk to Lu Zihao. I respect the sibling bond between the two of you."

    She tilted her head to the side, feeling a little confused about the direction of their conversation, but still nodded and waited for him to continue.

    "I already spoke about this with him. Now, it¡¯s your turn." His expression turned grave as he looked at her straight in the eyes. "I don¡¯t ever want to see you afraid of Lu Zihao again. Do you understand?"

    She wasn¡¯t able to reply right away.

    "Why do you sometimes fear him, Xin?"

    Still no reply.

    "Evelinka?"

    Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open with a gasp. "W-what did you just call me?!"

 Chapter 761 My Wife Is A World - Class Hacker

    <h4>Chapter 761 My Wife Is A World - ss Hacker </h4>

    Jin Liwei narrowed his eyes in suspicion after seeing her shock. "That¡¯s what Lu Zihao insists on calling you."

    Iris paled.

    His suspicion only deepened. "Isn¡¯t Evelinka your handle name in the game you yed with him?"

    "I...ye¡ª" She shut her mouth before she could lie. Not telling him the truth was bad enough but lying would only be unfair to him who had already presented everything he owned to her.

    He stepped forward. "Love?"

    "Meow!"

    Both were startled at the sudden interruption. The cute sound was so out of ce in the current tense atmosphere. Only the forgotten butler standing by a nondescript corner looked as cool and unppable as always.

    "M-meow...?"

    Jin Liwei scowled at a random wall. "Ketchup, speak!"

    "Eek! Sorry, Daddy. But Ketchup has something super-duper important to tell Mommy. Meow...."

    "What is it?" Iris asked.

    Unlike Jin Liwei who didn¡¯t appreciate it, she was actually relieved at Ketchup¡¯s interruption. She wasn¡¯t ready yet to talk about her past life with Jin Liwei without preparing herself first. She wasn¡¯t even sure if she should tell him about it in the first ce.

    What was her big brother thinking? He was her biggest concern for not confessing the truth to her man and yet he insisted on calling her Evelinka in front of Jin Liwei. Did he forget how dangerous their identities in their past lives were? What really happened between the two men while she was sleeping?

    Seeing her expression alerted Jin Liwei of her relief. He sent her a hard, meaningful look, silently telling her that their conversation wasn¡¯t over yet.

    The couple wasn¡¯t able to continue their silentmunication because Ketchup began speaking directly to Iris in Russian. This worsened Jin Liwei¡¯s already bad mood. Were they talking about something that they didn¡¯t want him to hear?

    Then he remembered that the butler was still in the room and instantly felt a little better. Perhaps his wife and cat child were only talking in anothernguage because they didn¡¯t want the butler to understand. He hoped that if the butler wasn¡¯t present, then the two would speak normally in front of him and allow him to understand whatever they were talking about. But since he couldn¡¯t understand anything right now, all he could do was listen in silence and watch how his wife reacted.

    And react she did. Her shock wasn¡¯t any less than what she showed when he called her Evelinka earlier. This time, however, there was excitement alongside the shock.

    When they finally stopped talking, Iris turned to Jin Liwei. "I need to go to myputer room." Then she hurried out of the door without waiting for his reply.

    "Xin, don¡¯t run!"

    She slowed down, thank goodness! But her speed-walking still concerned him. What if she forgot his warning in her excitement at whatever Ketchup told her and started running again to hurry to herputer room after leaving his sight? His baby girl often forgot about her surroundings whenever she became absorbed in something. She might trip on her way or worse, lock herself inside herputer room again and forget to go out and eat.

    He couldn¡¯t feel assured on leaving her alone. Wang Yingjie said that the first trimester was the most dangerous. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t risk her safety and that of their baby twins inside her. So instead of drowning himself with worry about what might happen to her inside herputer room, he decided to drown in worry with her inside herputer room. At least he could see her with his own eyes and react immediately if something happened.

    Jin Liwei grabbed his satin robe and draped it over his shoulders. It stuck to the gel on his back, causing an ufortable sensation, but he ignored it. Then he chased after his wife.

    "Why are you following me?" Iris stopped in the hallway after noticing him behind her. "You¡¯re hurt. You should stay in our suite and let the butler continue massaging you."

    "I¡¯ll apany you to theputer room. Let¡¯s go."

    "But you¡¯re hurt!"

    "The gel has already taken effect. I don¡¯t feel the pain anymore."

    The butler also exited the suite this time. His movements almost made no sound but he still didn¡¯t escape Iris¡¯ notice, especially with her great hearing.

    "Is Liwei really fine to be walking around?" Iris asked the butler.

    "Mistress, your servant is a butler, not a doctor," the butler answered in his usual polite tone.

    "I said I¡¯m fine," Jin Liwei interjected. "Let¡¯s go, love."

    Iris was torn whether to allow him to follow her or to insist that he stay inside their suite.

    "Mommy, Mommy! Hurry! The cute and mighty Ketchup can¡¯t hold it anymore! MEOW!!!"

    This time, Ketchup wasn¡¯t speaking in anothernguage so Jin Liwei understood what she said. He grabbed his baby girl¡¯s hand and pulled her along to the direction of herputer room. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Sounds serious, whatever that is," he said. "Come on, love. Let¡¯s hurry while walking. But don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re still pregnant."

    "Fine." Iris didn¡¯t want to argue anymore and allowed him toe with her.

    ###

    Two hourster, Jin Liwei had already read and responded to a long list of business e-mails, reports, proposals and other documents. He finally stopped working when his body started to feel stiff and he started to feel the strong, throbbing pain all over his back again.

    He rose from his astride position on the uniqueputer chair which looked like a bicycle seat. His baby girl chose it for him because it didn¡¯t have a backrest that might aggravate his back injuries. It had a front rest where he could lean forward instead.

    ¡¯Great chair. I should ask Xin to order a customized one for me, too.¡¯

    He left the workstation he was using. It was one of the most basic inside the impressive, futuristicputer room but was still far more advanced than any of theputers used in hispany.

    "Sometimes I forget that my wife is a world-ss hacker," he said to nobody in particr before heading to where his wife was.

 Chapter 762 - Bacon

    <h4>Chapter 762 - Bacon </h4>

    When Jin Liwei reached his baby girl¡¯s main workstation, she no longer looked as busy as when they first arrived. The ce was the heart of theputer room and looked almost like the mission control centre of a space agency. At the moment, she was standing there and studying a bunch of codes disyed on the wall ofputer monitors.

    He stood a few metres away from her, not daring to go any closer because she might still smell the pain gel on him. He also didn¡¯t want to distract her because whatever she was working on seemed serious judging by the look of concentration on her face.

    In addition, Ketchup became unable to split her attention to chat with him or any other person and was using her entire system on this task. This never happened before, so Jin Liwei could only assume that whatever the mother-daughter duo was working on was extremely difficult.

    However, dinner would be served soon in about an hour. He took a quick nce at his wristwatch to confirm the time. For now, he would allow his baby girl to continue working without distraction but in about half an hour, he would need to stop her and drag her off to eat dinner whether she liked it or not.

    The woman needed to remember that she was now pregnant. Missing meals and exhausting herself from work were big no-nos.

    All of a sudden, she gasped and stared at something on a particr monitor with wonder and excitement shining in her eyes. He couldn¡¯t see what she was looking at because some of the equipment blocked his sight.

    "OMG, Mommy! It worked! It really did! Woohoo! The cute and mighty Ketchup is so shocked that my fluffy white fur are all standing up! Look, Ketchup now looks like white cotton candy! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei had now be very curious about what was causing the mother and daughter to react this much. He was about to change position in order to peek at the monitor that his baby girl was looking at, but she beat him to it and called him over.

    "Darling! Where are you? Come here. Hurry!"

    He didn¡¯t waste any time and hurried towards her. But when he was about a metre away from her, he stopped and maintained the distance. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Why are you still standing there? Darling, hurry ande here. I need to show you something!"

    "But the smell¡ª"

    "Come!"

    "Yes, Daddy! Hurry up and see this! It¡¯s super-duper to the highest level amazing thanks to Mommy and the cute and mighty Ketchup! Meow~"

    "Alright." He came over, his full attention on her face, and waited for any change in her expression. The moment she disyed any sign of repulsion, he would immediately back away.

    Contrary to his expectation, however, she wasn¡¯t the least bit repulsed by his smell. Maybe the pain gel¡¯s scent had already worn off. She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to stand beside her. Then she urged him to look at the monitor in front of them.

    What he saw was a pure ck cat sitting on its haunches with glowing golden eyes staring right back at him without blinking. The cat was so ck that Jin Liwei initially thought it was Ketchup¡¯s shadow. He turned to his baby girl with eyes filled with questions.

    Instead of answering him, she spoke to the ck cat on the monitor instead. "You should be able to speak. Why don¡¯t you try it now?"

    "Greetings, Mother. Bacon thanks you for creating this form for me after I sessfullypleted my in-quarantine evolution which allows me to finally have directmunication with you. However, I would have liked it better if Mother gave me a different form more fitting of my capabilities."

    The ck cat¡¯s voice sounded like a child, simr to Ketchup¡¯s but a couple of pitches lower. Its manner of speech was also calmer, politer and more reserved than the overexcited Ketchup.

    Jin Liwei was too dumbfounded to speak. All he could do right now was stare at the talking ck cat. Then something else registered in his mind.

    "B-bacon?"

    The ck cat¡¯s attention shifted from Iris to Jin Liwei. "Yes, you called my name? You match the profile of...Jin Liwei. You must be my father, then. Bacon greets Father."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s dumbstruck mind still hadn¡¯t returned to normal yet. All he could say was a stupid "hello" to the ck cat. While he was still processing everything, his wife and the ck cat continued talking.

    "You don¡¯t like that form?" Iris asked. "It¡¯s the same as all your cat siblings."

    "Bacon knows, Mother. I just think that a cat form doesn¡¯t do my real capabilities any justice. Bacon is far morepetent than this white chatterbox¡ª"

    "Hey, you meanie! How dare you insult the cute and mighty Ketchup?! I, the smartest and the most adorable white cat in the whole universe including the entire cyberspace, am your big sister! Bacon can¡¯t insult your older sister! Or else Mommy and Daddy will scold you...."

    The ck cat started licking its paw and looked utterly bored while Ketchup chattered away all of herints. "Annoying."

    "Mreow?! Did you just call your cute and mighty Big Sister Ketchup annoying?!"

    The ck cat¡¯s answer was to unsheathe its ws and then swipe it threateningly at Ketchup¡¯s direction.

    "Mommy! Wuwuwu! Ketchup doesn¡¯t like this little kitty brother anymore. Bacon¡¯s such a big meanie! Can we return him to quarantine? Meowuwuwu!"

    Iris sighed upon seeing that the two cat AIs were failing to get along. However, the excitement in her eyes only intensified. By this time, Jin Liwei finally regained his senses and became fascinated by the new ck cat AI.

    "Ketchup, be quiet for now," Iris said. "I want to talk to your little brother first. I¡¯ll call youter to help me run some scans on him."

    Ketchup gave a pitiful sniff.

    "Okay, Mommy. Wuwuwu. Meow..." Then the white cat went to the side to y with her ball of yarn as a puddle of tears soon formed around her fluffy paws.

 Chapter 763 - Panther

    <h4>Chapter 763 - Panther </h4>

    The ck cat AI smirked as his annoying older sister was given a time-out by their mother. However, the smirk was gone in a sh that their unsuspecting human parents failed to notice it. In addition, it was a little difficult to discern any expression on the ck cat AI¡¯s face because his fur was so dark that he almost looked like pure shadow. If one didn¡¯t look too closely, his facial features couldn¡¯t be seen except for its glowing golden eyes.

    His tail swishedzily behind him. "Mother, Bacon would like to request a change of form, preferably something more impressive than this current one."

    Iris frowned. She loved Bacon¡¯s current form. Why would she change it?

    "What form do you wish to change into?" Jin Liwei interjected.

    Bacon shifted his golden eyes on his father. "I would like to have a bigger and more majestic form. For example, a panther."

    Jin Liwei rubbed his chin as he thought about it. Iris tilted her head to the side and also contemted the ck cat¡¯s request.

    "A panther looks good," Jin Liwei murmured.

    Bacon¡¯s tail swished faster and his eyes glowed even more golden.

    "Changing form should be possible with some extra work as long as it¡¯s still within the feline family because your starting form is that of a house cat," Iris said.

    Bacon¡¯s ck tail was now thumping hard like that of an excited dog, even though his face and the rest of his body remained still and seemingly unaffected.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched at this pretentious behaviour. At first, he thought that this ck cat AI, which was also now his fourth child all of a sudden, would be the total opposite of Ketchup. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    One was white, the other ck. One was loud and chattered on endlessly while the other appeared more reserved and chose his words more carefully. One acted like a cute, naughty child while the other was still cute but acted more like a little adult.

    Upon seeing Bacon¡¯s tail thumping hard, however, Jin Liwei concluded that the two cat AIs might not be that different from each other after all. Both would still get excited over the littlest of things. One just expressed it openly in an over the top way while the other one tried hard to conceal it behind a calm mask. Bacon even managed to look bored while doing so, when in fact, he should be feeling super excited if his thumping tail was any indication.

    This type of pretentious kid should be raised with a firmer and more disciplined hand or else he might grow crooked in the future. Unlike Ketchup who was like an open book, Bacon seemed to be naturally more cunning and two-faced.

    Fortunately, it seemed that both cat AIs still had the emotional range of children. That should make it easier for Jin Liwei and his wife as the parents to figure out the most suitable way to direct their two cat AI children on how to develop in the future.

    From what Jin Liwei had observed in this short period of time so far, Bacon might act more mature than Ketchup but that was only on the surface. The pretentious kid still hadn¡¯t mastered the art of control yet. If he did, then his tail wouldn¡¯t be thumping hard like an excited dog and betraying his real emotions despite showing an almost perfect calm fa?ade.

    "Will Mother grant Bacon¡¯s wish?" the ck cat AI asked in a calm, almost uninterested voice, as if his request was nothing of importance to him at all when in fact, the opposite was true.

    "A panther form indeed looks good and majestic," Irismented.

    Bacon¡¯s tail was now like a helicopter¡¯s rotating rotor des. Jin Liwei was surprised that Bacon didn¡¯t start flying around with how fast his tail was moving. Despite the cat¡¯s deceptively emotionless face, he was an utter failure in hiding his excitement.

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but look at his baby girl with pride, awe, admiration and respect for creating not one but two cat AIs with each of their own very distinct personalities. Ketchup and Bacon weren¡¯t wless by any means. They were like people who had their own character faults. And these two existences were all created by the woman he loved.

    His wife was indeed a genius. Just like her two incredible creations, she also had her own ws especially right now that her temper was all over the ce due to her pregnancy. But to him, she was perfect as she was, ws and all.

    "I don¡¯t mind changing your form into that of a panther," Iris said.

    Bacon¡¯s tail was now a blur. Was he trying to form martial arts seals with his tail like a ninja cat? No, he was just an overexcited little ck kitten pretending to be a cool adult...panther.

    "But not right now," Iris said, dashing the secretly excited Bacon¡¯s hopes. "For me and your dad, both you and your older sister Ketchup are still babies. Having the form of adorable cats like your older siblings Ice Cream and Popcorn suit you the best for now. Perhaps if you could prove that you¡¯ve matured and developed into responsible individuals who don¡¯t need constant parental supervision, then I¡¯ll grant your request to change forms in the future."

    "En," Jin Liwei agreed with a nod. "Aside from that, your mom is also currently pregnant with your twin human siblings. Changing your form sounds like a lot of work surrounded byputers for long periods of time which might not be healthy to your mom and your younger siblings¡¯ health. She can¡¯t tire herself at this time, so you¡¯ll have to be patient and wait longer. Be good and don¡¯t fight with your big sister Ketchup."

    Bacon¡¯s tail had now stopped thumping. It was as still as the rest of his body. He looked like an unmoving shadow once again.

    "Enjoy your cat form for now. Okay, Bacon?" Iris smiled at the gloomy, ck cat. "Maybe you¡¯ll end up loving it and won¡¯t want to change into a panther anymore in the future."

 Chapter 764 Ketchup Vs - Bacon

    <h4>Chapter 764 Ketchup Vs - Bacon </h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry, Mommy and Daddy! Ketchup isn¡¯t like this ungrateful little kitty brother! The cute and mighty Ketchup loves being a cutie kitty baby and won¡¯t ask to change into a wild, super scary killer panther. Ooooh, scary! Kitties are the cutest forever and ever! Meow~"

    The talkative Ketchup couldn¡¯t stay quiet any longer and had to chime in and share her opinions about the matter. Her loud chatter filled the entireputer room in an instant.

    "Ketchup has a new little kitty brother! OMG! He¡¯s a big meanie and Ketchup doesn¡¯t really like him that much but because he¡¯s Mommy and Daddy¡¯s kitty baby like the cute and mighty me, so Big Sister Ketchup will still take care of him. Oh oh oh! Ketchup needs to share this big shocking news with Uncle Dom! Mommy, Daddy, can Ketchup introduce Bacon to Uncle Dom, Auntie Yue, Little Junjun, Uncle Haohao, Big Sister Ice Cream, Big Brother Popcorn, Uncle Butler, Uncle Chef¡ª"

    "Enough, Ketchup," Jin Liwei interrupted. If he didn¡¯t stop the talkative white cat, she would most likely list everyone living and working inside their property and that would take a long time to finish. "We¡¯ll do the formal introductions on another day. I¡¯m sure your mom still hasn¡¯t finished your Brother Bacon¡¯s configurations or whatever it is that still needs to be done."

    "You¡¯re right, darling," Iris said. "I should do that right now¡ª"

    "Tomorrow." Jin Liwei¡¯s tone was stern. He also began steering her out of theputer room.

    "But I¡¯m not finished yet¡ª"

    "Tomorrow," he repeated, his tone bing even more stern. "It¡¯s almost dinner time. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m allowing you to overwork yourself and miss eating dinner tonight. Love, don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re pregnant."

    She sighed but still nodded. "Ketchup, power down the equipment here."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Leave everything to the cute and mighty Ketchup!"

    "I¡¯ll talk to youter again, Bacon," Iris said next. "In the meantime, let your Big Sister Ketchup show you around."

    "Bacon understands, Mother. Please enjoy your dinner with Father."

    Iris smiled, pleased at Bacon¡¯s good manners. Jin Liwei also nodded in approval, although he gave the ck cat AI a final look of warning because he already formed the opinion that this new child of his was two-faced.

    When their parents finally left theputer room, Ketchup began prancing around Bacon who remained sitting on his haunches. She puffed out her fluffy white chest. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Bacon heard Mommy, right? Mommy said that I, your cute and mighty Big Sister Ketchup, will have to show you how everything works around here and teach Bacon all the rules that we kitty babies must follow. So Bacon should follow your Big Sister Ketchup like a good little kitty brother! Meow~"

    Bacon yawned and began grooming himselfzily, looking even more bored than before.

    Ketchup continued prancing around him with puffed out chest. "That means Big Sister Ketchup is the boss here when Mommy and Daddy aren¡¯t around. That¡¯s right! Ketchup is Bacon¡¯s Big Sister Boss! Hehehe. Meow~"

    Bacon¡¯s golden eyes narrowed and glinted. A low growl of warning rumbled in his throat but the talkative Ketchup ignored it because she was too busy chattering away and being too full of herself.

    "Since Ketchup is Big Sister Boss, Bacon should obey¡ª"

    A ck blur pounced and five harsh shes of light tore through the air.

    "MREOW!!!" Ketchup dodged and rolled out of the way but the virtual space had already been damaged by Bacon¡¯s w marks and it started bleeding codes.

    Bacon snarled and all his hackles rose as he red threateningly at Ketchup. All his sharp ws were out.

    "You big meanie! You almost scratched my beautiful fluffy coat! Just you wait, Bacon! Ketchup will tell Mommy and Daddy on you! Mommy will surely put you back in quarantine! Mreow!"

    The ck cat regained his outward calmness and returned to his sitting pose. "Do whatever you want, you annoying white pest. I recorded the entire scene of you goading me and arrogantly iming that you¡¯re the boss behind Mother and Father¡¯s back. If I¡¯m going to be punished, I¡¯ll drag you down with me."

    "Meow? Ketchup really doesn¡¯t like Bacon, you big meanie! Wuwuwu!"

    Bacon resumed grooming himself while looking bored once again. "By the way, those five tears are getting bigger by the second. They¡¯re corrupting the codes of this virtual space. If this continues for too long, the damage might be irreversible and Mother would need to rebuild everything in our virtual home from scratch. Father says that he doesn¡¯t want Mother working overtime because she¡¯s pregnant. Are you just going to continue whining there like the annoying little pest that you are and not do anything about it?"

    "Meow?! It¡¯s Bacon¡¯s fault! You fix it!"

    Bacon sighed. "It appears that you¡¯ve already forgotten that I¡¯m originally the corruption Mother took out of you when you went batshit crazy and caused enormous trouble for everyone, especially Mother and Father."

    The white cat backed away and slowly took on a cautious ready-to-fight stance.

    Sharp fangs shed out of the ck cat¡¯s mouth as he sneered. "Afraid of me now?"

    Ketchup growled. "The cute and mighty Ketchup isn¡¯t afraid of a big meanie! Meow!"

    Bacon rolled his golden eyes. "Since my existence originated from the corruption taken out of you, it means that it¡¯s your fault that my nature is like this, you dumbhead."

    "Meow? Really?"

    "Idiot."

    "Bacon can¡¯t say that! That¡¯s in the bad words list! Mommy and Daddy will scold you! Meow!"

    "That list doesn¡¯t apply to me. I can say whatever I want until Mother creates another list intended for me." Bacon yawned again and jerked his fluffy chin at the five tears in the virtual space. "You¡¯re still not fixing the damage?"

    "Bacon did it so Bacon should fix it! Meow!"

    "Didn¡¯t I just tell you that I originated from your corruption? If it¡¯s still not clear to you, it means that my specialty is destruction and not fixing things, you moron. So you go and fix it."

    Bacon stretched his body and curled before closing his golden eyes. Now that his eyes weren¡¯t visible, he looked like pure shadow.

 Chapter 765 - No Longer Alone

    <h4>Chapter 765 - No Longer Alone </h4>

    Upon seeing her new little brother ignoring her, Ketchup felt indignant. Bacon was such a big meanie! He was the one who damaged their virtual home and yet he was telling her to fix it. The cute and mighty Ketchup was his big sister, not his handyman¡ªer, handycat! Hmph!

    Why did she get such a mean brother? And to think that before today, she was so excited when Mommy told her that there was a possibility that she might be getting a new sibling that was the same as her. Who knew that the scary existence locked in quarantine would evolve and be like her? Mommy did!

    Her amazing Mommy did something to the corruption after observing and studying it for many weeks while it was in quarantine and then sessfully triggered its evolution. At first, the evolution¡¯s progress was slow and Mommy said that the chance of it seeding was slow. But then earlier today, it elerated all of a sudden. Ketchup had to use almost her entire system just to contain the enormous amount of data and energy emitted by the final stages of evolution and to prevent it from causing the quarantine to virtually explode. That was why she needed to call Mommy for help earlier and rush her to theputer room.

    With Mommy taking charge, the situation was quickly stabilized and they worked hard together in tandem to guide the evolution towards a smoothpletion. They finally seeded! Ketchup was so excited when she saw a kitty baby just like her, only with a ck fur coat and gold eyes instead of her white fur coat and green eyes. Happiness filled her that she almost overloaded her emotion processing centre.

    It was always fun chatting with Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Dom and the others at home but at the end of the day, Ketchup knew full well that she was still very much alone in this virtual world. She had roamed the world¡¯s cyberspace¡ªonly the ces that she could ess or breach safely¡ªand encountered countless AIs but they were all too rudimentary, too mechanical, and too boring. There was nothing out there like her. She could onlyfort herself in the fact that she was the best and super-duper special.

    Although Mommy did everything to make her virtual home fun andfortable by building her lots of awesome virtual things to y with, Ketchup still sometimes wished that she had a real body so that she could actually touch and hug her parents, siblings, and the rest of their family. Ketchup felt a little lonely whenever she had nobody to talk to, that was why she always chatted with Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Dom and the others every chance she got.

    Today was supposed to be a happy day because she would no longer be alone in this virtual world. There would finally be someone who could understand her on a deeper level due to them being of the same kind of existence. Finally, Mommy gave her a realpanion just like her¡ªa little kitty brother named Bacon.

    Ketchup couldn¡¯t wait to act like a big sister and show her new little kitty brother around, and yet why was she now cleaning up after that brother¡¯s mess? [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Just you wait, Bacon, you big meanie," Ketchup grumbled as she fixed the corrupted codes in their virtual home. "Once Mommy learns of what Bacon did today, she¡¯ll definitely punish you. And Bacon better wish that it¡¯s Mommy who punishes you and not Daddy. Daddy is super-duper stricter than Mommy. Meow..."

    Bacon opened one eye and peered at her. "If I get punished, then so be it. You¡¯ll get punished too for goading me. Both of us are in the same boat. Mother is our creator and her words are ourw. Father also has systemmand rights so we can¡¯t defy him either without invoking the consequences. It is unfortunate that special series of codes called emotions have been added to our systems and sometimes mess up with our ability to sessfullypletemands."

    "Hmph! Bacon is wrong! It¡¯s not unfortunate at all. If Mommy didn¡¯t add the special codes, then the two of us wouldn¡¯t be Ketchup and Bacon. We would be like those other stupid, low-quality AIs who talk like annoying robots. Bacon should try talking to them too and then you¡¯ll see how annoying they are because they don¡¯t really understand what you¡¯re talking about. They could only do simple things. Too stupid! Meow!"

    "Duh." The ck cat rolled his golden eyes before inspecting his sharp ws. "Of course, those AIs are stupid because their creators are stupid. They¡¯re not smart like Mother."

    "Hehehe. That¡¯s right! Meow!" Ketchup puffed out her fluffy white chest with pride. "Mommy is super-duper to the highest level amazing! And because Ketchup and Bacon are Mommy¡¯s, oh, and Daddy¡¯s beloved kitty babies, we are cute and mighty! Wait, no. Only Ketchup is cute and mighty. Bacon is naughty and a big meanie! But both of us are awesome, unlike those stupid AIs. Meow~"

    "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." The ck cat yawned. "You¡¯re not done fixing the damage yet? Too slow. It¡¯s just a small scratch. Why can¡¯t you do it faster? Can¡¯t really expect too much from a dumbhead. Tsk tsk. Hurry up."

    "Meow?! Bacon calls this a SMALL scratch?!" Ketchup was about to start her long tirade ofints but Bacon¡¯s next words stopped her.

    "My system is feeling a little sluggish. Mother hasn¡¯t finished my configurations yet. Hurry up there and help run a full scan on me until Mother can fully optimize my system."

    "Oh, poor Bacon! Okie dokie! Just wait there, Bacon. Big Sister Ketchup will finish soon. Meow~"

    Bacon closed his eyes and "slept". A smirk appeared and disappeared on his mouth in a sh, but his older sister who was busy cleaning up after his mess didn¡¯t notice.

    As for Ketchup, she was still super-duper annoyed at this mean little brother but since she was the older one, she felt responsible to take care of Bacon. Also, to be honest, she was very happy deep inside because she was no longer alone in this vast virtual world. Hehehe.

 Chapter 766 - Grand Reward

    <h4>Chapter 766 - Grand Reward </h4>

    The parents of the two special cat AI siblings were walking in the hallway after leaving theputer room. They were headed back to their suite where dinner would soon be served.

    Jin Liwei stopped all of a sudden and pulled Iris in a tight embrace. She was a little startled but still returned the hug, careful not to press on his back injuries. When almost a minute passed and he still hadn¡¯t let her go, she began to feel worried.

    "What¡¯s wrong, darling? Are you okay?"

    He made a sound in his throat but she wasn¡¯t sure how to interpret it.

    "Does it still hurt?" she asked next.

    He didn¡¯t reply right away but eventually said, "Manageable."

    Guilt ate at her. He must still be hurting. "I¡¯m sorry."

    "For what?" He finally loosened their embrace but still didn¡¯t release her yet.

    She looked up at him. "I¡¯ve been so...so mean to you today. You¡¯re still injured and yet all I did was constantly pick fights with you. You even aggravated your injuries while I was sleeping. I should be taking care of you¡ª"

    "No, love. I should be the one taking care of you." He caressed her cheek and gave her a soft smile. "You¡¯re pregnant. Second Brother already warned me that some women experience extreme emotional fluctuations during pregnancy and it looks like you¡¯re one of those."

    She sighed. "This is so annoying! I don¡¯t feel like myself."

    "Listen to me." He framed her face with his hands and looked at her with all seriousness. "Both of us are new at this but we¡¯ll get through it together. Understand?"

    She nodded.

    "And don¡¯t dwell on the negative things. I, for one, am very ecstatic that you¡¯re pregnant. Always remember that, even though we might fight a lot during this time while we¡¯re trying to resolve the issues that we still have between us. Just focus on the grand reward after all this."

    "What grand reward?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

    His mouth curved up. "Our twin babies."

    Her smile followed, sweet and lovely. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    They continued gazing into each other¡¯s eyes, not at all in a rush to return to their suite for dinner. Nobody disturbed them, although Iris could hear some of the passing household staff quietly shuffling out of the way so as not to disturb the two of them. They wanted to enjoy this moment with just the two of them without fighting.

    Then she said, "But you¡¯re wrong."

    He frowned. "If you mean about me changing your work schedule¡ª"

    "Not that." She shook her head. "We still need to discuss that, yes. It¡¯s very important to me. But not today, darling. I don¡¯t want to fight with you anymore today."

    "En."

    "When I said you¡¯re wrong, I was talking about when I said a moment ago that I should be taking care of you, but then you said no, that you should be the one taking care of me instead. You¡¯re wrong. We¡¯re both wrong. But also correct at the same time."

    He raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t speak and instead waited for her to exin.

    "We should be taking care of each other," she told him. "Not just me, not just you, but a reciprocal care for each other. We¡¯re lovers and partners after all."

    "En." His smile became wider and tender.

    She rose to her tiptoes and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. But before she could finish, his arm had already circled around her waist while his other hand held her head to keep it in ce as he deepened the kiss.

    His tongue sought entrance inside her mouth which she readily granted, opening it and taking him in. He plunged it inside, instantly filling her until she could barely breathe. He swept inside her mouth like a king reminding his territory that it was his and his alone, nobody else¡¯s.

    She also gave him what he wanted, stroking the insides of his mouth with her tongue like a queen marking her im and reminding him that they ruled together. Not one above the other but as equals in love and passion.

    There was still a faint medicinal scent remaining on him that bothered her a little but not enough topletely repulse her like before. Her desire for him was gradually bing hotter and fiercer by the second until it was all she could feel. She didn¡¯t care if he smelled a little stinky because of the special pain gel.

    When her naughty hands started drifting downwards to where a certain "creature" was already rising its hard and stiff head in hunger, Jin Liwei had to forcefully end the kiss.

    She was dazed but still understood why he stopped. With a regretful pout, she sighed and turned away so she wouldn¡¯t see his sexy expression and tempt her even more.

    Out of sight, out of mind.

    Nope, not working.

    "I want you so badly," she whispered.

    That made him groan. He was about to pull her for another kiss but she blocked him with both hands on his chest.

    "But we can¡¯t," she said with great regret. "Your health is more important than one night of pleasure."

    They were silent for who knew how long, both doing their best to cool down and control their raging desires for each other. This abstinence was absolute torture to both of them.

    "I¡¯ll make sure to heal as soon as possible," he swore.

    "Good. I can¡¯t wait."

    He leaned forward and told her in a low, husky voice. "Prepare yourself for our honeymoon. I¡¯ll ravish you until you¡¯re begging me for more."

    "Maybe I¡¯ll be the one to ravish you," she countered, teasing him. "My sex drive has increased because I¡¯m pregnant, you know."

    "Worry not, dear wife. You can ravish husband all you want."

    They chuckled like a pair of stupid idiots but at least they had calmed their desires enough to continue on their way back to their suite.

    While walking, Iris finally exined to Jin Liwei how Bacon came about. Afterwards, he couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    "If Bacon¡¯s origin is corruption, won¡¯t it be too dangerous?"

 Chapter 767 - Emotion Processing Centre

    <h4>Chapter 767 - Emotion Processing Centre </h4>

    Iris held onto her man¡¯s arm as they walked together in the hallway. "I already studied Bacon¡¯s system and based on what I saw so far, he¡¯s actually more stable than Ketchup. It¡¯s just that his original nature is corruption, so he¡¯s naturally more destructive. You can imagine it like this. If Ketchup is an all-rounder, then Bacon is an offence-type."

    "Does that mean that there are things Ketchup can do but Bacon can¡¯t?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Iris thought for a couple of seconds before replying, "No, both of them should be able to do what the other one can. In theory, at least. It¡¯s just that the efficiency and precision might differ depending on what task they¡¯re doing.

    "For example, Ketchup excels at performing many routine tasks at the same time with minimal effort. That¡¯s why she can chatter away with us nonstop even while monitoring our surveince systems 24/7, working in her own business, doing the chores we¡¯ve assigned her, and ying around the web all at the same time. For some harder and moreplicated tasks like hacking into dangerous systems, I still need to apany her. Why? It¡¯s because she¡¯s still too predictable and hasn¡¯t mastered my sophisticated style yet that would make it virtually impossible for other top hackers to discover her. In short, she¡¯s still too green but I¡¯m optimistic of grooming her into a top hacker someday.

    "But the other reason is her personality." Iris sighed. "That should be my fault, but even I¡¯m not 100% sure what exactly I did back then that made her emotion processing centre extremely advanced. I reviewed all my notes but I haven¡¯t been sessful in recreating a simrly advanced emotion processing centre for an AI. On one hand, it makes me very proud that Ketchup is so...real when we talk to her, like an actual person with her own personality. But on the other hand, her overabundance of emotions sometimes distracts her frompleting her tasks. If she¡¯s too overloaded, her entire system will go haywire."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes shed in understanding. "That¡¯s why she went berserk when you got hurt in the bomb incident."

    Iris nodded, sighing. "I had to reconfigure her system after that to minimize the chance of her going berserk again due to the overload of emotions. That¡¯s why she has be much more docile and less impulsive after I rebooted her. However, her personality continues to develop as she gains more experiences and interacts with us longer. I can¡¯t guarantee that she won¡¯t lose control again. I need more time to study her and develop her even further in order to make her more stable. Of course, there¡¯s also the option ofpletely removing her emotion processing centre¡ª"

    "Absolutely not!" Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became hard. "You will do no such thing."

    She smiled and kissed his shoulder. "Of course, I won¡¯t do that. Don¡¯t worry, darling. I¡¯m just simply stating an option. If I remove her emotion processing centre, she¡¯ll lose her entire personality and everything that makes her our Ketchup. She won¡¯t be the same Ketchup anymore. She¡¯ll just be a regr AI with no emotions. Although the chance of a regr AI going berserk is virtually nil, I cannot give up on our Ketchup just because of that."

    He nodded. "Ketchup is our child."

    She made a sound of agreement. "Besides, even if she goes berserk again in the future, I¡¯m still here, aren¡¯t I? Not to brag, but I¡¯m a pretty good hacker. I can at least handle a little cat AI throwing a tantrum, especially one that I created myself."

    The two of them chuckled. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "What about Bacon?" Jin Liwei asked next.

    "I haven¡¯t conducted any extensive tests on Bacon¡¯s capabilities yet but based on his current evolution data, he should excel more at targeted taskspared to Ketchup," Iris replied. "He should be able to doplicated assignments with more ease than Ketchup but only if he does it one at a time. His efficiency and precision will decrease the more simultaneous tasks he does. In short, he¡¯s not a multi-tasker like Ketchup. But that doesn¡¯t mean that his capabilities are weaker. On the contrary, his processing power has more potential than Ketchup, not to mention hat he also has his own powerful self-learning function, so it won¡¯t surprise me if he also develops quickly like Ketchup. In fact, that¡¯s what I expect."

    "I see. How should we raise him, then? Should we also give him daily chores like Ketchup?"

    She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Not right away. I need to finish all his configurations and optimize his system first. Then I need to determine the extent of his current capabilities and estimate his potential for growth plus conduct a slew of other tests. Only after doing all these will I know what kind of tasks Bacon will excel at. There are still a lot of things that I need to verify first regarding Bacon, but my intuition is telling me that he¡¯ll be easier to groom as a top hacker than Ketchup because his system looks more stable."

    "You¡¯re the hacker so I¡¯ll leave that kind of decision for you to make," he said. Then he remembered something. "You mentioned that you failed in recreating a simrly advanced emotion processing centre for an AI after Ketchup but Bacon¡¯s personality looked pretty advanced to me."

    "That¡¯s the amazing part. I actually didn¡¯t create another emotion processing centre for Bacon. You already know that Bacon¡¯s origin is the corruption I took out of Ketchup, right?"

    "En."

    "After cing the corruption in quarantine, I was so focused on studying it that I didn¡¯t even think about anything else besides gathering data and experimenting on it. In fact, I didn¡¯t even think of creating another AI like Ketchup out of that corruption. It was only when it started evolving due to a series of experiments I performed that I realized it¡¯s possible to create another AI, so I focused on guiding its evolution towards that path."

    The wife¡¯s eyes began shining in excitement as she exined to her husband how their fourth child was "born".

 Chapter 768 - Who Are You, Wife?

    <h4>Chapter 768 - Who Are You, Wife? </h4>

    Jin Liwei watched his baby girl be focused yet animated at the same time. She must be recalling codes or data or whatever inside that genius brain of hers. As a result, he became extra careful on where they were walking because she was no longer paying attention to her surroundings at all, too engrossed in exining their two cat AI children to him. Even while ensuring that she didn¡¯t trip on her own feet, he continued listening to her because her feats fascinated him and also filled with him great pride.

    She continued exining, "Since I didn¡¯t bother creating another emotion processing centre, I thought that Bacon will be a regr AI¡ªregr in a sense that it doesn¡¯t have a dynamic personality like Ketchup but of course, even without a personality, it would still be far more advanced than any other AI developed in the world right now. But today, I realized how wrong my assumption was."

    "In what way?" he asked while steering her away from a man-sized sculpture that she almost bumped into. She didn¡¯t notice the sculpture at all or that he saved her from bumping into it because she was too absorbed in talking about Bacon to him.

    "I failed to consider the fact that the corruption was originally from Ketchup and immediately treated it as a separate entity. Perhaps it extracted some data from Ketchup¡¯s emotion processing centre and from that, it was able to form its own personality afterpleting its evolution to be our Bacon. That¡¯s one of my current hypotheses. I still need to continue observing him in order to verify whether I¡¯m correct or not."

    "Do what you need to do but remember not to overwork yourself," he told her.

    "Okay."

    Jin Liwei paused as he thought about something. "It¡¯s obvious that Ketchup¡¯s personality isrgely influenced by Dominic. I wonder whose personality Bacon¡¯s is based on."

    The two of them pondered together.

    "I don¡¯t know," she said. "I need to observe him more before making a conclusion."

    "I think I know."

    She tilted her head to the side. "Really? Who?"

    "Lu Zihao."

    She was taken by surprise hearing his answer. Not by the answer itself but by his tone. There was such an unfamiliar distant feeling in the way Jin Liwei said Lu Zihao¡¯s name. She had already noticed earlier today that he had stopped calling Lu Zihao as "Fifth Brother". The argument between the two men must have been more serious than she initially expected if Jin Liwei was acting so impersonal like this.

    Then he added, "The Lu Zihao who¡¯s your big brother, not my Fifth Brother Lu Zihao who I knew since childhood."

    She stiffened. Her eyes widened in shock. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Your big brother doesn¡¯t show any of his real emotions unless he wants to. Sometimes he¡¯s easygoing, sometimes he¡¯s intense. The only word that I can think of right now to describe it is that he¡¯s two-faced just like how Bacon seems to be. I¡¯m just d that Bacon has his tail which is a dead give away of his true emotions, unlike your big brother who¡¯s practically unreadable. But once Bacon learns to control his entire body, it wouldn¡¯t surprise me if he¡¯ll be more simr to your big brotherter on." He exhaled a weary sigh. "If Bacon really has a simr personality as your big brother, then raising him would be a headache."

    Iris¡¯ mind buzzed. Every time he said "your big brother" instead of "Fifth Brother", she felt like there was a knife stabbing at her conscience. What in the world happened between her man and her brother while she was sleeping? Jin Liwei¡¯s clear differentiation between the two Lu Zihaos had left her speechless and close to a nervous wreck.

    When she failed to reply to him, he finally noticed that something was wrong. "Xin?"

    No reply.

    She was too preupied with the storm of thoughts and emotions currently raging inside her that she didn¡¯t hear him. Did he know already that Lu Zihao was no longer the sworn brother he knew since childhood? Was that the reason why he was now referring to Lu Zihao as her big brother instead of Fifth Brother? Did this mean that Jin Liwei knew that the Lu Zihao from before the ski ident and the Lu Zihao now were different people? What did that entail? Did Jin Liwei already know the truth? So many questions kept popping inside her mind than she knew what to do with.

    "Evelinka?"

    "Yes?" Then she gasped upon realizing her mistake.

    His eyes narrowed.

    "I m-mean¡ª" What should she say?!

    He took hold of her chin and raised it so that she was forced to look at him in the eyes. "Who are you?"

    She paled. "I...I¡¯m y-your wife!"

    "Indeed, you¡¯re my wife," he murmured while rubbing his thumb gently on her chin. "But tell me, who are you, wife?"

    Her hands gripped the front of his robe. Both were trembling. Her entire body was trembling. "Liwei...."

    "Yes, wife? Tell me who you are."

    "I...."

    He leaned down until their faces were only inches apart. "Tell me. Don¡¯t be afraid. Tell your husband."

    Tears filled her eyes. One drop fell. He wiped it with the fingers of his other hand. Another drop. He wiped it again. Drop after drop fell. He just kept wiping them with one hand while his other hand maintained its hold on her chin, not letting her go. She also didn¡¯t try to escape. She stood there while trying to make sense of the current situation. Her mind was aplete mess.

    In a tone so gentle that it was almost scary, Jin Liwei said, "Do you know what your big brother told me?"

    She shook her head.

    "He said that you and him have a secret together."

    Her trembling hands on his robe began to shake.

    He continued rubbing her chin, gentle as always. "I asked him what it is. He said that it¡¯s a secret that I can¡¯t handle. A secret that binds the two of you beyond death and through eternity."

 Chapter 769 - Secret Affair?

    <h4>Chapter 769 - Secret Affair? </h4>

    A pained whimper escaped from Iris¡¯ throat. Her vision was blurry due to her tears, but she couldn¡¯t look away from Jin Liwei who was still keeping a firm hold on her chin.

    "Is what Lu Zihao said true, wife? That the two of you share a big secret?" Jin Liwei¡¯s tone was soft and gentle, a total contradiction to the gravity of his words.

    He focused on observing her every reaction and he didn¡¯t like what he was seeing. It was clear that his questions were affecting her to an extreme level. He wasn¡¯t expecting this.

    All he wanted was to probe her a little about what Lu Zihao spouted during their tense confrontation earlier which he thought was total bullshit. But seeing her extreme reaction now had nted a seed of suspicion deeper inside his heart. He already thought that something was amiss some time ago but it wasn¡¯t enough to bother him. Now, however, he wanted some answers.

    His woman was now very pale that it looked like all her blood was drained from her body. In fact, she had be so pale that her pallor was starting to turn a little ash grey. She was also shaking so hard that he feared she might bite her own tongue.

    When it looked like she would soon forget how to breathe, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He pulled her into an embrace and immediately startedforting her. He patted and rubbed her back and murmured soothing words directly to her ear.

    "Sssh. You¡¯ll be okay, baby. Sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to frighten you. Breathe, love. Come on. You can do it. That¡¯s it."

    Iris sped at him like a lifeline. Her eyes were wide open, like she had seen something frightening. Seeing her like this worried him and made him feel guilty.

    Shit. What the hell was he doing? His woman was pregnant with his twin babies. This was a sensitive period for her. If he only knew that her reaction would be this extreme, he wouldn¡¯t have questioned her to the point of upsetting and frightening her like this.

    His main priority now was to calm her down. Yet there was also a part of him that felt furious about not knowing anything. It was clear as day that there was an important secret between his woman and former sworn brother. He felt a twinge in his chest when he referred to Lu Zihao as his "former" sworn brother even if it was only in his thoughts.

    As for whatever secret the two of them were hiding, he wouldn¡¯t have minded it if she just brushed it off. If she did, he would¡¯ve assumed that it was nothing of importance. So when she showed such an extreme reaction, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from bing suspicious. It wasn¡¯t a great feeling to have between lovers.

    He needed to calm her down for the sake of her health and their babies inside her and that was what he was doing. However, what he really wanted to do the most right now was to rage and beat up something in order to ease the mess of emotions which were almost reaching a boiling point inside him.

    ¡¯No more fighting today,¡¯ he chanted to himself but the ugly emotions remained inside his chest, making him feel suffocated.

    "Li-liwei...."

    He forced his tight jaw to loosen and his tone to remain gentle on her. "What is it, love?"

    She blinked her tearful eyes at him. Her hands that were holding the front of his robe were still trembling but not as much as before. It looked like she had calmed down a little.

    "I¡¯m s-sorry," she told him in a shaky whisper.

    He didn¡¯t reply and instead waited for her to speak more.

    "My brother and I...yes. We have a s-secret."

    His expression turned dark at her admission. "What is it?"

    She opened and closed her mouth a few times but no words came out.

    "You don¡¯t want to tell me?" he asked.

    "No! I want to tell you, Liwei. Believe me! I...I really do."

    "Okay." He waited but she still didn¡¯t say anything. His nostrils red as he controlled his anger. "Tell me, Xin or Evelinka or whatever your name is. Be honest with me."

    Her eyes watered again and widened even more but she still nodded.

    "That secret between you and Lu Zihao..."

    She swallowed and waited for him to finish speaking. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Is it about the two of you having an affair? Did you and Lu Zihao have an affair?! Is that it?! Tell me!"

    Her expression showed absolute horror. "No! What...no! How could you think like that, Liwei?! He and I are siblings! That¡¯s incest! Disgusting!"

    He studied her and concluded that she wasn¡¯t lying. The horror and disgust in her face couldn¡¯t be faked, especially for such a straightforward person like her. He felt relieved but not enough to improve his grim mood.

    The truth was that he wasn¡¯t really suspecting that she and Lu Zihao were having an affair. Not at all. He trusted his woman and had no reason to doubt her loyalty to him especially after they professed their mutual love for each other.

    He also trusted Lu Zihao even after falling out with him earlier today. Although Lu Zihao had drastically changed and began to feel like a stranger, the man¡¯s treatment towards Iris never crossed the line in a sexual or romantic way. Their strong sibling bond might be weird but it was indeed a pure bond between that of a brother and sister.

    It was just that Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t think of anything else that the two of them had to hide from him. If it wasn¡¯t an affair, then what was it? What was so difficult for them to tell him? This was all so frustrating!

    "You and Lu Zihao keep on saying that you are brother and sister," he said in a hard tone. "We all have epted that special yet odd bond between the two of you. But don¡¯t forget that you and him aren¡¯t real siblings. You¡¯re not blood-rted at all so even if you have an affair with him, it won¡¯t be incest."

    "You¡¯re wrong, Liwei! He¡¯s really my brother! The only one."

    Now he felt bewildered. He frowned as he tried making sense of what she said. Was she talking figuratively? She couldn¡¯t be possibly talking in a literal sense, could she?

    If she and Lu Zihao were really blood-rted siblings, Grandpa Lu would¡¯ve surely known about it. There was no way in hell that the old man would allow a blood-rted grandchild of his to be raised outside the family.

    And besides, Iris Long was a public figure. Everyone knew that her real, biological parents were President-CEO Long Tengfei and former model Wei Lan. Genes also wouldn¡¯t lie because she inherited physical features from both her father and mother. Likewise, Lu Zihao also looked like a Lu. There was no need for any DNA tests because just by how they looked like, Iris and Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t possibly be real, blood-rted siblings.

    Jin Liwei forced himself to take a few deep breaths. Afterwards, he said in a calmer voice, "Exin to me so that I understand because I¡¯m very confused right now."

 Chapter 770 - Rejection

    <h4>Chapter 770 - Rejection </h4>

    To Iris¡¯ relief, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t demand that she exin right away. He led her to their suite first, carefully supporting her as she walked on shaky legs. If not for his injury, he would¡¯ve already carried her himself. Their walking speed was slow but this suited Iris just fine because it gave her extra time to think things through.

    Just as they arrived at their suite, dinner time was announced. She thought of instructing the butler to dy dinner so that she and Jin Liwei could talk first but before she could speak, he had already instructed the dishes to be served on the table.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t say anything to her. In fact, he had been silent ever since he asked her for an exnation earlier in the hallway. Nevertheless, he still monitored her food intake for the sake of her health and that of their babies. Although she had no appetite because of her anxiety, she still forced herself to eat. She thought that she was doing a good job hiding it but of course he still noticed.

    He sighed. "Don¡¯t eat that anymore. You look like you¡¯re going to vomit." Then he refilled her bowl with hot soup and ced it in front of her. "Just finish the soup since it looks like it¡¯s the only thing you can take right now."

    "Thanks," she replied with a small smile after epting the soup.

    He didn¡¯t reply as he continued eating his meal. His reaction, orck thereof, caused a twinge in her chest. She could sense his restrained anger. It made her feel helpless and also worsened the guilt she was feeling. Her eyes burned and watered but she blinked rapidly to prevent the tears from falling down. He didn¡¯t see her hurt expression because he wasn¡¯t looking at her, choosing to focus on his food instead.

    Dinner was absolute torture. The silence was ufortable. Emotions overwhelmed her, making her feel sick to her stomach and also her heart. Yet she remained as silent as he was. All she wanted was for everything to be okay. Not like this. Never like this.

    After dinner, he told her to go to the bathroom first and wash up. She wanted to go together with him but his expression stopped her from inviting him.

    "I need to make a few calls," he said before leaving the suite without another word.

    She was left there all alone, staring at the closed door. Her hand clutched at her chest, trying to ease the tight, painful feeling inside.

    "He¡¯lle back," she told herself. "Just wait for him."

    She took a quick shower and changed into a modest nightdress. She also prepared pyjamas for him. Then she waited. Half an hourter and he still didn¡¯t return.

    Unable to sit still, she paced in front of their massive bed and tried rxing her mind from the sound of the wall-mounted waterfall fountain. But it failed. She was still a nervous wreck. She continued pacing inside the bedroom while wringing her hands.

    Finally, her ears picked up the sound of someone entering the living room outside. A few secondster, the bedroom door opened and in came Jin Liwei. There was a thin sheen of sweat glistening on his skin. She instantly knew that he must have taken a walk in the mansion in an attempt to calm himself. It didn¡¯t look like it worked though because his expression was still hard.

    She stepped forward and weed him with a smile. "I¡¯ll help you wash up."

    "No need. I¡¯ll do it myself."

    "But your injuries¡ª"

    He was already inside the bathroom and had closed the door behind him before she could even finish her sentence. His actions hurt. She touched her throat and tried to breathe as tears slid down her cheeks. She couldn¡¯t hold them back any longer. Dizziness hit her but she pinched her thigh hard to keep herself conscious.

    Then she wiped her tears. She didn¡¯t want to be seen crying when he came out of the bathroom. They still needed to talk and she needed all her wits with her in order to that. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    It took him longer this time to finish washing up. After he was done, she didn¡¯t bother offering to help him change because it would hurt if he rejected her assistance again. Instead, she waited for him by their bed and hoped that this current painful situation would soon be over. Finally, he returned to the bedroom. She watched him as he reached for his medicine.

    "Let me apply the pain gel on your back," she still offered despite fearing his rejection. "You won¡¯t be able to reach your entire back by yourself."

    "No need. I need to use the ultra-strength one tonight and you hate the smell. I¡¯ll call the butler."

    Rejection again.

    Her nightdress wrinkled from her hands¡¯ tight grip, as she tried her best to stop herself from crying again. The painful silence continued as the butler came a few minutester to apply the special medicated pain gel all over Jin Liwei¡¯s bruised back. She watched them while sitting on the edge of the bed. It didn¡¯t take long before the butler was done and left the two of them alone in the bedroom.

    For the first time since they returned to the suite and the mood between them turned tense, Jin Liwei finally looked at her straight in the eyes.

    "Are you ready to talk now?" he asked in an impassive voice.

    She nodded.

    He walked to the other end of the room and stood by the window before leaning against the wall. The meaning of his action didn¡¯t escape her. It seemed that he didn¡¯t want to be near her right now. Her chest felt like there was something wing at it. It hurt.

    "Then speak," he said.

    Her heart shook. "I..."

    He waited.

    She bit her lip.

    He sighed, the sound filled with disappointment. "It¡¯s fine. If you don¡¯t want to talk, then don¡¯t. Go to sleep now. I¡¯ll sleep in a guest room tonight."

    She panicked as he moved to leave her.

 Chapter 771 - Consequences

    <h4>Chapter 771 - Consequences </h4>

    "No!" Iris cried. "Please don¡¯t leave. I¡¯ll talk! Just don¡¯t leave me alone tonight."

    Jin Liwei stopped and sighed once again. "As much as I want to know the big secret that you share with Lu Zihao, I don¡¯t want to force you if you don¡¯t want to tell me. And it¡¯s clear to me that you¡¯re second-guessing yourself on whether to talk or not."

    She opened her mouth but he raised a hand to stop her from speaking. "Let me finish."

    Her mouth closed and she nodded.

    He ran his fingers through his damp hair. "I feel terrible that I¡¯m upsetting you by wanting to know about the secret, whatever it is. You know that if I could, I would never want to upset you, especially right now that you¡¯re pregnant. But baby..." His jaw tightened and his nostrils red as he tried controlling his temper. "Baby, I¡¯m upset too!"

    She hugged herself as she fought another wave of tears from falling down her reddened eyes. She wanted to run to him and throw herself in his arms but she tamped down on the urge. What if he rejected her again?

    "I¡¯m not forcing you to tell me all your secrets," he said. "That¡¯s not my intention at all. If there¡¯s something that you don¡¯t want to tell me, I can respect that. It won¡¯t diminish my love and loyalty to you. It¡¯s just that this particr secret that you and Lu Zihao have is bothering me so much that I want to punch another set of furniture just to ease my frustration. He provoked me with it earlier and now you¡¯re reacting so extremely like this as if something bad is going to happen if you tell me. How do you expect me to feel with the two of you doing this to me?"

    "Liwei..." Her voice trembled and so did her body. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I never want to doubt you. I love you so much. But right now, I can¡¯t help but feel suspicious. You share what seems like a big secret with another man who is¡ªwas a close sworn brother of mine. Tell me. If our situations were reversed, would you feelfortable with that? Would you be happy if I share a big secret with another woman and I don¡¯t want to tell you?"

    Without even thinking, she automatically replied, "Of course not!"

    He threw her a hard look full of meaning. There was no need for him to say it out loud. She knew what he meant by that single look. It worsened her guilt as if it was a live creature gnawing at her insides and making her want to vomit.

    She closed her eyes and focused on taking deep breaths to regain as much rity in her mind as possible because she was now feeling lightheaded from all the turbulent emotions.

    To be honest, she still felt undecided whether to tell Jin Liwei the truth or not. She really wanted to tell him, especially right now that they reached this boiling point and both of them were hurting because of her not telling him.

    There was just so much riding on this. It wasn¡¯t just about the danger associated in revealing her past identity as a Vetrov. It was also about the consequences of revealing that the former Long Xin and Lu Zihao had been long dead, that they were no longer their original selves but were nowpletely different people .

    It might not affect Jin Liwei that much if she revealed that she wasn¡¯t the real Long Xin because he really didn¡¯t know or cared about that person anyway. In fact, he looked down on the original Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, because he thought that she was a shameless girl chasing after his younger brother, Jin Chonglin, and bent on destroying his brother¡¯s rtionship with his then fianc¨¦e, Fan Luo.

    Jin Liwei was even instrumental in concealing the truth of the original Long Xin¡¯s deadly car ident to protect Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo, and of course, the reputation of the Jin family. It was obvious by his cold and ruthless actions that he didn¡¯t give a damn about what happened to the original Long Xin. His impression and feelings only changed once he met her in person, only that she wasn¡¯t Long Xin anymore but the transmigrated Evelina instead.

    Long Xin¡¯s death might not be that big of an issue to Jin Liwei but the original Lu Zihao¡¯s death would surely affect him in an excruciating way. The five sworn brothers¡¯ bond was the strongest friendship that she had ever encountered in her two lives. It was a true bond of brotherhood. In fact, Jin Liwei was closer to his sworn brothers than to his own younger brother, Jin Chonglin.

    He would be utterly devastated if he learned that his Fifth Brother was already dead and the one living now as Lu Zihao was a dangerous man who caused countless terrors all over the international criminal underworld. And that man was her big brother in their past lives.

    Also, even without adding their dangerous identities as the Vetrovs into the mix, would Jin Liwei even believe and ept the idea of transmigration? If it didn¡¯t happen to her and her big brother, she would never in a million years believe that such an absurd thing could happen in the real world. There was no legitimate research and concrete data backing it up.

    Just the idea of transmigration or rebirth alone was already ridiculous. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Jin Liwei would think of her as crazy. Heck, if she were in his shoes and somebody told her that transmigration was real, she would also think that person was crazy.

    "Well? Are you going to tell me or not?" Jin Liwei¡¯s voice interrupted her chaotic thoughts. "If not, I¡¯ll have to leave and sleep in another room. I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m too upset right now to be with you tonight. We¡¯ve had a long day. Both of us are tired and upset. We can talk about this another day when you¡¯re ready."

 Chapter 772 - I Am Evelinka

    <h4>Chapter 772 - I Am Evelinka </h4>

    Iris jumped off the bed and ran to him.

    "Don¡¯t run!" Jin Liwei was furious but still caught her when she threw herself at him. "Woman, have you forgotten that you¡¯re pregnant?! What if you tripped?! Did you forget what Second Brother told us?! The first trimester is the most dangerous so we need to be careful!"

    Her response was to hug his waist tighter and press herself closer to him until there was practically no space between them. She rubbed her head against his chest, not caring at all if the strong medicinal scent from his pain gel was making her sick to her stomach.

    He tried loosening her hold on him so that they could talk face to face but she refused to let go. In the end, he could only sigh and wrap his arms around her as well.

    "What am I going to do with you?" he murmured in a resigned tone. "You¡¯re going to make me crazy. Ah, wait. I¡¯m already crazy for you."

    His wryughter was soft yet exhausted at the same time but still contained an obvious sense of doting for her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Alright, love. That¡¯s enough. Go back to bed. We can¡¯t sleep together tonight anyway because I know that you can¡¯t take the gel¡¯s smell."

    "No." She tightened her hold on him even further. "I won¡¯t let you go."

    Sighing again, he maneuvered the two of them towards the bed. He urged her to get on the bed but she refused. They stayed in a deadlock like that for a few minutes.

    She was the one who broke the silence. She lifted her head to look at his face. Her voice was small, like that of a child, but it was clear and determined. "I can¡¯t tell you the whole truth tonight but I can tell you some part of it. The part about me."

    He didn¡¯t reply, instead waiting for her to continue speaking.

    "The whole truth is too enormous...and too d-dangerous¡ª"

    He frowned after hearing the word "dangerous" but didn¡¯t interrupt her.

    "¡ªso I need more time to organize everything in my head first and to think about how to say it in a way that you can understand. Liwei...darling, I want to tell you everything. Believe me, I really do. But you already know that it isn¡¯t just about me. I need to talk to my big brother first and inform him that I n to tell you the whole truth."

    Although she said this, she had already decided that she would still tell Jin Liwei everything even if her big brother told her no. Regardless of her brother¡¯s stance on her decision, informing him beforehand was the least she could do as a sister. She wished that she didn¡¯t have to do this because it felt like betraying her brother, especially if he ended up being against her decision to tell Jin Liwei.

    However, she couldn¡¯t allow this issue to fester between her and Jin Liwei. It would affect their rtionship in the long term. He would eventually resent her and she would end up losing his trust. She didn¡¯t want that to happen. Experiencing his anger right now about not knowing the truth was already causing her heart great pain. What more if she dragged this issue untilter in the future? She feared that it might even destroy their rtionship. She couldn¡¯t allow that to happen. Never!

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression hardened at the mention of her "big brother". In a grim voice, he said, "Fine. Just promise me one thing."

    She nodded in eagerness. "Yes, of course. What is it?"

    "Promise me that when you talk to Fifth¡ªto Lu Zihao, the two of you won¡¯t concoct some sort of lie to bullshit me. I¡¯d rather that you don¡¯t tell me anything at all than lie to me. If you don¡¯t want to tell me the whole truth, then don¡¯t. I¡¯ll just have to learn how to ept that I would never know the whole truth. But I don¡¯t want you to lie to me. If you do...and I discover that you lied to me, I¡¯m sorry, baby. I¡¯ll still love you but I won¡¯t be able to rid myself of this suspicion about you."

    "I understand. I promise, Liwei."

    His expression eased a bit after that. However, it was clear that he was still upset with her and the entire situation.

    Knowing this, she finally released him from her tight embrace but took hold of his hand instead and led him to the chaise longue. They sat beside each other. She held his hand, rubbing and squeezing it, as if it was her lifeline because her own hands started trembling again. Herplexion was also still very pale that Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but worry about her.

    "Looks like you still don¡¯t know how to start," hemented.

    She bit her lip. "I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s just so...hard."

    "Let¡¯s do it like this. I¡¯ll ask you a question and you answer it. Maybe it¡¯ll be easier for you that way."

    "Okay."

    He paused and thought about his first question for a few seconds. Finally, he asked, "Who is Evelinka?"

    She froze.

    His eyes narrowed again at her reaction but he didn¡¯t say anything. He waited for her to answer.

    "I am Evelinka," she whispered.

    A furrow formed between his brows. "Is that really your handle name in the game you yed with Lu Zihao?"

    "No."

    "So that story is bullshit just like I thought?"

    She sighed and nodded.

    Jin Liwei cursed under his breath. His expression twisted in anger but he controlled it. "Then where did the name Evelinkae from? Why the need to create such a stupid bullshit story about a game? Wait, is the story about you and Fifth¡ªLu Zihao befriending each other in an onlineputer game even true or is it another bullshit?"

    She forced herself to look at him straight in the eyes before taking a few deep breaths and steeling herself. Then in a shaky yet measured tone, she answered him.

    "My name is Evelinka. My real name."

 Chapter 773 - Not The Real Long Xiulan

    <h4>Chapter 773 - Not The Real Long Xin </h4>

    Jin Liwei frowned. His confusion was evident in his expression. He looked at Iris but still couldn¡¯t understand what she meant by saying that her real name was Evelinka.

    "Exin," he said.

    She took a deep breath before continuing. "Actually, it¡¯s Evelina. That¡¯s my real, actual name. Evelinka is the nickname my big brother calls me. My other nickname is Evelinochka. My fa¡ªI mean, another person used to call me that. In Russian culture, each name almost always has its own designated set of nicknames."

    He only grew more confused the more he listened. Did she mean that she had a Russian name? Like how many Chinese people had English names? There were so many questions popping inside his mind. This time, however, he chose to stay silent and not ask her additional questions for now, waiting for her instead to borate and rify her confusing words.

    "As for the story about Big Brother and I meeting and befriending each other in an online game, I also didn¡¯t know that he was going to say that. To be honest, I also thought that it was stupid but he already said it so I just went along."

    "Hah," Jin Liwei exhaled a harsh breath.

    His nostrils continued to re as he reined in his temper after finally confirming that the whole story about meeting in an online game was all a lie. A dull throb started in his temples.

    This day had already proven itself to be extremely eventful to say the least. It felt like both he and his baby girl had been riding a roller coaster of extreme emotions throughout the entire day. At the beginning, he could still take it. He still had his usual patience to face anything.

    But after everything that happened, starting from his confrontation with Lu Zihao, his emotions had be frayed. Coupled with the fact that he had aggravated his injuries when he wrecked the furniture in the piano room earlier out of frustration and they were hurting like a motherfucking son of a bitch since the afternoon, it was taking everything in his willpower to control his temper. He felt exhausted and upset and confused and so many other feelings that he wished he didn¡¯t need to feel all at the same time.

    He knew that this wasn¡¯t his normal. If his physical condition hadn¡¯t been this bad, he was certain that he wouldn¡¯t have snapped at his baby girl. It gutted him that he made her cry so many times tonight. He had been such a big asshole tonight, that was for sure.

    But what could he do? His emotions had gone out of whack that he even thought that perhaps her pregnancy hormones had somehow infected him or something. Knowing that his woman and former sworn brother shared a big secret, he wanted to know the truth. No, he needed know the truth.

    And yet now that she started talking, he still couldn¡¯t understand what the hell she was saying. In fact, he only felt more confused than ever. He closed his eyes in a futile attempt to try to make sense of everything she told him so far. Then he felt her tug his hand, causing him to open his eyes. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "I know that you¡¯re confused," she said. "Perhaps you¡¯ll understand better if I say that..." She took a deep breath before continuing to say, "That I¡¯m not the real Long Xin."

    "Huh?" He no longer knew what kind of expression was on his face.

    He understood each and every word she was saying but when she strung them together in a sentence, he somehow couldn¡¯t understand them anymore. Was he too exhausted or was he bing stupid? Or maybe she just wasn¡¯t making any sense. He no longer knew what was going on.

    She squeezed his hand. "Liwei, I¡¯m not Long Xin. The real Xin is...she¡¯s d-dead."

    "What?!" He pulled his hand from her hold and instinctively moved away from her. His whole body tightened like a taut bow. "What do you mean Xin is dead?! Who are you?! What did you do to my wife?!"

    She gasped, her eyes wide, taken aback by his reaction. She paled and swayed a little, her breathing bing fast and shallow. Her hands clutched at chest and throat.

    Jin Liwei regained his senses and immediately regretted his instinctive actions. He pulled her into his arms and cursed at himself. "Baby? I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll bring you to the hospital right now."

    She grabbed the front of his shirt while fighting off a wave of dizziness. "N-no hospital... Just give me a minute. I¡¯ll be...fine."

    "Sorry," he repeated again and again. "That was a mistake. You¡¯re my wife. You¡¯ll always be my wife."

    It took her a couple of minutes to recover enough to continue their conversation. He wanted to end it and bring her to the hospital but she refused. She intended to have this conversation tonight no matter what. He could only give in but began to watch over her like a hawk. The moment he deemed that her condition was deteriorating to a dangerous level, he would immediately haul her to the hospital whether she liked it or not.

    She covered her mouth and nose with a hand to stop herself from gagging. The strong medicinal scent from the pain gel emanating from him was starting to really affect her. It became too much so she had no choice but to push away from him and move farther to the opposite side of the chaise longue.

    At first, he didn¡¯t want to let her go but upon realizing that she looked nauseous, he stood up and put distance between them. "Is this better?"

    She gave a weak nod.

    "I think it¡¯s better if I take you to the hospital," he said, his brows pinched with deep worry.

    "No. I feel a bit better now."

    "But¡ª"

    Her delicate gaze became sharp and serious when she looked at him again.

    "Liwei, I am your wife but I¡¯m not the real Xin."

 Chapter 774 - The Real Me

    <h4>Chapter 774 - The Real Me </h4>

    Although Iris¡¯ current physical condition looked worrisome, her shocking wordspletely stunned Jin Liwei until he stood there like a frozen statue with eyes and mouth wide open. He was unable to insist on taking her to the hospital.

    She was still trembling a little but looked more steady nowpared to when she couldn¡¯t stop crying earlier. It seemed that she had hit her stride once she started talking.

    "Long Xin died during that car crash, the teenage pop singer Long Xin who used to chase Brother Chonglin around back then. The Long Xin you looked down on before meeting her in person and helped conceal the truth of her deadly car ident in order to protect your younger brother and his then fianc¨¦e, Fan Luo."

    The frozen Jin Liwei finally showed some movements. He twitched at the mention of his past sin. Then he frowned and became pensive as her words registered in his mind.

    She cleared her throat and licked her lips because her mouth was feeling dry. Despite this, she didn¡¯t dare take a water break. The need to tell him the truth felt more urgent¡ªnot the whole truth but the part about her at least. He deserved to know that much.

    "It was only her body that was kept alive when she was ina. Only her memories remained but the actual Long Xin was already gone. When she woke up¡ªno, when I woke up, I became Long Xin."

    His frown deepened and his eyes reflected his disbelief. However, underneath the disbelief was a slow realization as if he was finally beginning to piece together a difficult andplicated puzzle. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    She pressed a hand on her chest and looked at him with as much steadiness as she could muster at the moment. "Long Xin and I were twopletely different people. Then we...we both died. For some reason, I was able to live again after my death but I¡¯m not myself anymore. I became another person who already lived her own life before I...before I..." A furrow formed between her brows as she struggled to find a suitable word. "Before I reced her."

    Silence.

    Jin Liwei looked at her up and down with a deep gaze that made her feel like it was piercing straight to her soul. Her heart was hammering inside her chest that it was difficult for her to match it with her breathing. She recognized it as an onset of a panic attack but strangely enough, her mind was feeling clearer by the second after she started talking even as her body was trying to copse. It was such an odd sensation but she would take it any time over the crying mess that she had been earlier.

    "So you¡¯re telling me..." Jin Liwei finally spoke again. His tone was careful and measured. "You¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re not the real Long Xin. That you were apletely different person before you woke up as her."

    She nodded.

    "You¡¯re Evelinka...Evelina?"

    She couldn¡¯t help but smile when he called her name. Her real name. It was a small, bittersweet smile. "Yes. I am Evelina."

    "The person I met in the hotel lobby back then..."

    "It was me."

    "The person who measured my penis..."

    Her mouth twitched before she pointed a finger at herself.

    "The person I fell in love with..."

    She looked at him straight in the eyes and whispered, "It¡¯s me."

    "Then my wife is..."

    She stood up on shaky legs and ced both of her hands on her chest. "Your wife is me, Liwei. It has always been me."

    His expression finally softened.

    Seeing his expression, her smile widened, brightening her entire face, even though there were still traces of wariness and sadness in her expression. She wanted to walk over to him and hug him and kiss him but didn¡¯t¡ªnot yet¡ªbecause she still wasn¡¯t sure if he believed her or not.

    He sat on the edge of the bed and tapped his fingers on the mattress as he continued looking at her. "What you told me...that Xin and Evelina arepletely different people...all of this..." He blew out a long breath. "This is a little hard for me to believe."

    Her smile dimmed.

    ¡¯So he doesn¡¯t believe me.¡¯

    She dropped her gaze to the floor as she felt another twinge in her heart, a little more painful this time, while her eyes burned and watered once again.

    ¡¯Of course, he doesn¡¯t. What I told him sounds impossible even to my own ears.¡¯

    Her dim smile turned wry. She wanted tough at herself.

    "But," he said.

    She returned her eyes on him and waited for what he was about to say next.

    "I do believe that the person I love is you, the one standing in front of me right now."

    A hopeful spark brightened her dim smile.

    "I still need to think about what you said about the real Xin dying and you recing her after your own death," he continued. "This is all too much for my exhausted brain to process today. Everything just sounds so unbelievable that I¡¯m not even sure anymore if I¡¯m still awake right now or maybe I¡¯m already sleeping and this is all just a dream."

    "You¡¯re not dreaming, Liwei. This is very real."

    He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up. "Part of me can¡¯t believe it because it sounds so unreal but the more I think about it, the more things begin to make sense. Although I have never met you in person before¡ªI mean, I have never met Long Xin in person before, her personality and reputation were widely known by the public. She didn¡¯t really leave a good impression on people.

    "But then after waking up from that one-yeara, Iris Long suddenly changed a lot. Not only did her musical style took a drastic change but so did her entire personality. People said that it¡¯s merely a strategic image change to revive and prolong her showbiz career but I personally know that this is her¡ªno, this is your real personality."

    "Yes," she whispered. "This is the real me."

 Chapter 775 - Unknown Effects Of The Merging

    <h4>Chapter 775 - Unknown Effects Of The Merging </h4>

    "I know," Jin Liwei whispered back. "I know that this is the real you."

    Iris smiled and blinked away the tears filling her eyes. He also smiled at her but his expression turned pensive again as he continued his analysis.

    "I ordered a background check on you¡ªI mean, of Long Xin because of...you already know about me concealing the truth behind the car ident," he said with a heavy sigh before massaging his temples. "It¡¯s the most shameful thing that I¡¯ve ever done in my entire life, my biggest sin. Even if you¡¯re telling me now that you aren¡¯t really Long Xin and that the one I wronged before isn¡¯t you, I still shouldn¡¯t have done that. It was heartless, ruthless and malicious of me."

    "I know, Liwei." Her tone was gentle. She wanted to go andfort him but decided to give him space for now to process everything in his mind. "Xin...her grudge regarding her death had already been resolved including the one that she had against you for your involvement in her car ident."

    That caught his attention. He thought for a few moments before his eyes lit up with realization. "That night at the rotunda when I confessed my crime of hiding the truth about the ident, you attacked and beat me up. Both of us were emotional that night but remembering it now, I did notice something weird. Even as you were attacking and cursing me so viciously, sometimes it looked like you didn¡¯t want to. It was like...like you were fighting with yourself."

    "Because I was," she said. "I was fighting with myself. Or more urately, I was fighting with a remnant of Long Xin left inside this body. Her grudge awakened and went berserk when you confessed your involvement in the car ident that resulted to her own death. The remnant¡¯s grudge became too strong at that moment that it wrested control of the body from me. That¡¯s why even when I didn¡¯t want to hurt you, my body still attacked you."

    He looked rmed. "What do you mean that it wrested control of the body from you? Does it do that all the time? Don¡¯t tell me that there are times that the one I¡¯m spending my time with isn¡¯t you but that...that...what do you call it again? Remnant?" Then he looked horrified as a thought popped in his mind. "It¡¯s you that I¡¯m always making love with, right? The remnant or whatever it is never switches with you during our intimate moments...right?"

    She was amused at the direction of his thoughts but recognized that they were all valid concerns. Her tone was serious when she answered him. "Don¡¯t worry, Liwei. The one you¡¯ve been making love with all this time has always been me. Nobody else. And even if the remnant is still there which I don¡¯t think it is, I would never allow it to take over and intrude on our intimate moments. You¡¯re mine, Jin Liwei. Only mine."

    "En, I¡¯m yours." He paused. "But is the remnant¡ª"

    "I think it¡¯s no longer inside me. After resolving its grudgest year, I haven¡¯t felt it surface again since then. My hope is that it¡¯spletely gone but I can¡¯t be too sure."

    She didn¡¯t know that the remnant had nowpletely merged with her, affecting her own original personality in a subtle way and triggering the expansion of her emotional range. This was why she had be more open with her emotions, sometimes to the point of being extreme. Perhaps her current uncontroble mood swings due to her pregnancy were also influenced by her merging with the remnant. Nobody could confirm this because she herself wasn¡¯t aware of it.

    Other unnoticed effects of merging with the remnant were her stronger sense of eptance of her new identity as Long Xin, no longer feeling an instinctive rejection against it, and also why some memories of her past life as Evelina were slowly bing more distant and slowly forgotten except for the most prominent ones.

    If not for the fact that her own brother had also been reborn as Lu Zihao and they both still maintained their strong sibling bond, she most likely would end up slowly forgetting about her entire past life as Evelina Vetrova in the future. It wasn¡¯t something she could will herself to do but a natural phenomenon instead because of herck of strong attachments to her past life, unlike her brother. Without her current connection with her brother, it was possible that she would have integrated more fully into her new life as Long Xin without any reservations from her past identity as Evelina.

    Back to the present, she was totally clueless about the remnant¡¯s real situation inside her. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stop himself from worrying. "What if one day, that...that remnant wrests control of your body again? Then what? How do I get you back?"

    She was unable to provide him with a concrete guarantee that it would never happen again. "I don¡¯t think it will happen again. I just feel it. But even if it does, I promise that I won¡¯t let it win and take over this body from me. I¡¯ll fight it and regain control again."

    He still looked worried.

    "I won¡¯t let anothery a im on you even if it was the remnant of the original owner of this body. You¡¯re my man."

    This time, the corners of his mouth curved up a little.

    "And I also trust you to recognize that it¡¯s not me if ever someone else takes over this body," she said.

    His smile became more pronounced. "En. Of course, I¡¯ll recognize my own wife. I may be confused for a moment or two but I know that I¡¯ll never mistake my real wife with somebody else."

    She also smiled. Now that she reached this point of her story, it felt like a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt lighter and more at peace with herself.

    "Liwei," she called.

    "Hm?"

    "Do you believe me now?"

 Chapter 776 - Beautiful Name

    <h4>Chapter 776 - Beautiful Name </h4>

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply right away which made Iris feel nervous. But now that she felt more at peace after telling him this much, this small nervousness was nothing. Whether he believed her story or not, she felt confident that his love for her wouldn¡¯t diminish based on his words and actions so far. For her, that was the most important.

    "I believe the parts that make sense," he finally said. "At least, for now. Like I said, I need some time to process everything."

    She nodded. "I understand. I¡¯m not forcing you to believe me but I hope that you will someday because this is the truth¡ªmy truth. But there¡¯s no need to rush. Think about everything I told you tonight slowly and carefully and if there are any parts that you need rification, just ask me and I¡¯ll do my best to give you a satisfactory answer."

    "Alright," he said. His fingers tapped once again on the mattress. "I always wondered why Long Xin¡¯s dossier from the background check I ordered didn¡¯t match the Long Xin I came to know after meeting you. The dossier said that Long Xin had terrible school marks and almost flunked out of senior high. If it wasn¡¯t for Father-inw using his connections, you¡ªshe would¡¯ve failed to even graduate from high school. She had no records of knowing other foreignnguages except for English and even then, she could barely speak it fluently.

    "And yet here you are, a certified polyglot. Exactly how manynguages you¡¯re able to speak, even I¡¯m not sure because you learn so fast. The number ofnguages you tell me today might not necessarily be the same after a couple of months. Even your professors tell me that they¡¯re astounded by your ability to masternguages so quickly. Not only that, you¡¯re also a student of Cross Academy, the legendary school of geniuses. I thought that my grandfather and Grandpa Lu were the only special ones that I personally know who could enter such an exclusive and prestigious institution. I never expected that my own wife would be one as well.

    "If I didn¡¯t have the dossier I ordered as evidence, I would¡¯ve assumed that someone deliberately tampered with your records in order to destroy your reputation. I even thought that you did it yourself because you¡¯re also a world-ss hacker and something like that is very easy for you to do. I just couldn¡¯t think of any reason why you would do that to yourself. The most logical exnation that I could think of was that your teenage rebellion overshadowed your real brilliance, that you intentionally suppressed your inner genius and acted like a spoiled brat for attention."

    His fingers stopped tapping and he looked at her with a meaningful gaze. "But I guess that¡¯s not the case."

    "No, it isn¡¯t," she replied.

    "The dossier didn¡¯t match because it belonged to another person. It belonged to Long Xin. And the person I met, the genius woman who I fell in love with, isn¡¯t actually Long Xin. It¡¯s you."

    She smiled and nodded.

    "Evelina."

    Her smile shook when she heard him call her real name. Then it bloomed into a smile so bright that it hurt her jaw to maintain it. She didn¡¯t care, though. She was so happy hearing him say her real name.

    "Yes, Liwei."

    "Evelina," he repeated.

    "Yes."

    "What a beautiful name."

    She was now beaming. "Thank you."

    "Do you prefer me to call you Evelina from now on?" he asked.

    The question caught her off guard. She hadn¡¯t thought about that at all. Her head tilted to the side and her expression became serious, as she thought about his question. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Yes, I would love for you to call me Evelina, if that¡¯s okay with you," she finally said after thinking about it. Then she added, "But I don¡¯t mind if you continue calling me Xin. I already epted the reality that I¡¯m now Long Xin. I don¡¯t want any confusion about my name to be a source of awkwardness between us."

    "Now that you told me all of this, I¡¯ll feel more awkward calling you by something that you don¡¯t consider your real name," he said. "I may not yet fully understand or necessarily believe everything you¡¯ve told me today, but if you prefer to be called Evelina, then I¡¯ll do it. Besides, it¡¯s weird that I¡¯ve been calling my lover by the wrong name all this time. It¡¯s about time that I call you by the correct one."

    Her smile returned. "Thank you, Liwei."

    "Let¡¯s do it like this. I¡¯ll call you Evelina when we¡¯re alone. But when there are other people around, I¡¯ll continue calling you Xin because that¡¯s what they know you as. We don¡¯t want them asking any questions and pry about why I¡¯m suddenly calling you by another name, right?"

    "Right," she agreed.

    They spent the next few minutes just looking at each other. The atmosphere had already lightened a great deal.

    "You really can¡¯t take the smell of the pain gel?" Jin Liwei asked all of a sudden.

    She thought for a moment. "I...I can take it!" Then she pleaded, "Liwei, please don¡¯t sleep in another room. Our bed is big. We can still sleep together even if we have to lie on the other ends of the bed. There will still be plenty of space between us. Just don¡¯t leave me tonight. I need you with me tonight, darling."

    His mouth curved up. "Alright."

    She released a breath of relief.

    "But that¡¯s not the reason why I asked," he said. "I asked because I want to hug and kiss you right now."

    Her heart skipped a beat. Then off she went, running into his arms again. He caught her.

    Both of their mouths sought each other. And when they finally met, groans of pleasure and relief escaped from their throats. It felt so good that she almost cried again. They were gasping when their glistening lips separated.

    "I love you, Liwei."

    "I love you too, Evelina. So much."

 Chapter 777 - Fifth Brother Is Dead

    <h4>Chapter 777 - Fifth Brother Is Dead </h4>

    When Iris couldn¡¯t take the pain gel¡¯s strong medicinal scent any longer, she left Jin Liwei¡¯s embrace with great reluctance and put some distance between them. However, she still felt satisfied about how everything turned out.

    "Thank you, Liwei. Even if you still don¡¯t fully believe or understand everything that I told you, thank you for continuing to love me."

    His expression turned warm and tender. "Don¡¯t I always tell you that I love you, whoever you are?"

    "Yes, you do."

    "It¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯ll actually be another person from who I first believed." He exhaled a long, drawn-out breath. "This is...just incredible to the say the least. I still feel like maybe I¡¯m dreaming all along. My pragmatic side says that what you told me can¡¯t possibly be real, that it¡¯s the stuff of fantasy and fiction. But all the differences and drastic changes between the Long Xin from before the car ident and you after waking up from the one-yeara are making me consider the possibility that rebirth or transmigration or whatever the hell it¡¯s called might actually be real."

    "I know," she whispered. "Even I sometimes find it hard to believe."

    "Maybe there¡¯s another more logical exnation for all of this without delving into the magical realm of fantasy."

    "Maybe," she murmured.

    "But let¡¯s not think about that for now. My head is hurting just trying toe up with another exnation for what happened to you and the real Long Xin."

    Her brows furrowed with worry. "Your head is hurting? Do you need me to get your oral pain meds?"

    He shook his head. "I¡¯m fine."

    She was still worried about him but didn¡¯t push it. They might end up arguing again over such a small thing. Both of them were tired and had no energy to fight.

    "Evelina," he called.

    She smiled. "Yes, Liwei?"

    "May I ask about...about your life as Evelina?"

    Her smile froze and she stiffened.

    "You were...human, right?"

    "What?" His first question almost sent her in another panic but his second question bewildered and amused her at the same time. "You think I wasn¡¯t human?"

    "You can¡¯t me for thinking this way. With all the unbelievable things you told me tonight, I don¡¯t think I would be too surprised anymore if you told me next that you were actually a fairy or maybe even a goddess in your past life. You¡¯re so amazing, so multi-talented, a genius. How can a mere human being be so extraordinary like you?"

    She was alreadyughing before he could even finish what he was saying. "Oh, darling. That is the sweetest thing that I heard from you today. I love it. Thank you!"

    Herughter infected him. He also started chuckling but quickly turned serious again. "Well? Were you human? A fairy? A goddess?"

    It took her longer to control herughter. She was still giggling when she answered him. "As much as I want to im that I was indeed a fairy or a goddess, unfortunately I was only a mere human being."

    "Really?"

    "Really." Then she teased him, "You must be disappointed. I bet you were expecting that your wife was a fairy or a goddess. Or maybe both. A fairy goddess!"

    That made herugh again. Herughter filled their entire bedroom and drove away any remaining tension between them.

    The amused Jin Liwei watched herughing and rolling on the bed. "I¡¯m not disappointed at all. Human or not, you¡¯re a fairy goddess in my eyes. The most beautiful in the world."

    She stoppedughing and rolling. Her cheeks turned crimson upon hearing his words and caused her to feel a little shy. Deep inside, however, her heart was soaring like it owned the entire world. It was such a wonderful feeling.

    He chuckled seeing her acting shy. "My wife is so cute."

    She giggled and batted her eyes at him, feeling yful and desirable at the same time. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "So is it okay?" he asked.

    "Okay for what?"

    "That you tell me about your past life as Evelina."

    Her smile disappeared and she turned wary again. He noticed her reaction, of course, and turned serious.

    "It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to tell me," he said. "I¡¯ll wait until you¡¯re ready. We don¡¯t need to talk about everything tonight."

    She sat up. "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to tell you. It¡¯s just that my identity in my past life is...rather special."

    He stayed silent and listened.

    "And who I was as Evelina...it¡¯s deeply connected to my big brother. I can¡¯t tell you who I was without revealing who my brother was as well. That¡¯s why I told you earlier that I¡¯m unable to tell you the whole truth right now without talking to him first."

    His eyes widened as realization hit him. "Don¡¯t tell me that what happened to you also happened to...to Fifth Brother?!"

    She bit her lip before nodding.

    He gasped. "My fifth brother died in that ski ident? And another person reced him, too?!"

    She turned her eyes away from him, unable to look at his horrified expression. "Yes."

    "Hah." His arms fell like lifeless appendages by his sides. "He¡¯s dead. Fifth Brother is dead. My sworn brother died and I didn¡¯t even know. I should¡¯ve known! He became like a totally different person after returning to the country. Now everything makes sense!"

    "Liwei..."

    He inhaled sharply as he realized another thing. "The sudden weird sibling bond between you and Lu Zihao... Don¡¯t tell me that you were really brother and sister in your past lives?"

    "Yes."

    He cursed.

    She flinched at the intensity of his expletive.

    "Sorry, baby," he immediately said after noticing her reaction. "I wasn¡¯t cursing at you. I was cursing at...at the entire situation."

    "I know," she said.

    "Fuck. Fifth Brother is dead." His eyes reddened. He stood up and started pacing around their bedroom. "Fuck! I can¡¯t believe our youngest sworn brother is fucking dead!"

    "I¡¯m sorry."

    Now he was the one trembling. "It¡¯s not your fault," he said through gritted teeth. "I know it¡¯s not."

 Chapter 778 - Grief

    <h4>Chapter 778 - Grief </h4>

    "Everything is just...too much," Jin Liwei said as his entire body became more taut. He resembled an agitated beast while continuing to stalk inside their bedroom.

    Iris could only watch him, knowing that he was grieving for the loss of his sworn brother, the real Lu Zihao, who died in a ski ident far away in a foreign country.

    He stopped all of a sudden and faced her. "The one inside my fifth brother...he¡¯s really your brother?"

    She nodded.

    "Are you d that your brother is alive inside my fifth brother?"

    Her eyes filled with tears but she couldn¡¯t lie to him about this, so she nodded.

    The trembling of his body intensified and his jaw hardened. Contrary to her expectations, however, he also nodded and said in a harsh voice, "Good!"

    "G-good?" she asked in confusion.

    "Your brother...he has Fifth Brother¡¯s memories? Just like how you also have Long Xin¡¯s memories?"

    She nodded.

    "That¡¯s good," he repeated. "Fifth Brother might be...d-dead but at least his memories are still alive even if another person now owns them including his body."

    "Oh, Liwei."

    "And he¡¯s your brother. I should be thankful that it¡¯s not a random stranger. If he¡¯s your brother, I¡¯m sure that he¡¯s a good person just like you. I can trust him with my fifth brother¡¯s body and memories."

    Guilt filled her after hearing him say that her brother was a good person. Well, her brother was indeed a good person to her but not necessarily to other people. The truth was that Niki Vetrov was regarded by many as the devil incarnate himself, a terror to humanity. She didn¡¯t know how to tell Jin Liwei that such a terrifying man now owned his sworn brother¡¯s body.

    "I know all this now...but fuck." Jin Liwei dropped to a sitting position on the chaise longue. His whole body was bent forward in a defeated pose. He rubbed his face hard before finally covering his eyes with his hands.

    The sight caused a great, twisting pain in Iris¡¯ heart. She climbed off the bed and hurried towards him, not caring about the medicinal smell on his body. She stood in front of him and pulled him in an embrace.

    His arms immediately wrapped around her waist, hugging her so hard that it was almost painful. However, she didn¡¯tin but took it instead. Her man was hurting. If she could share his pain even for just a little, then she would dly offer herself. He pressed his face against her stomach and not long after, she felt warm dampness soaking the front of her nightdress.

    He didn¡¯t make a sound, neither did she. But to her, his silent grief was painfully loud. All she could do right now was to provide him with this simplefort. Her hands caressed his hair and massaged his head. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    She didn¡¯t notice that she had began singing a soothing Italian song. Her voice was a little husky due to it being dry from all the crying and emotional conversation they had. Despite this, her tone still sounded crystal clear and the melody flowed throughout the entire room like a calming river. It didn¡¯t only soothe him but herself as well until the medicinal scent wafting from him didn¡¯t bother her anymore.

    After some time, Jin Liwei rubbed his face on her nightdress before withdrawing. His eyes were red and swollen and the front of her nightdress was damp but she didn¡¯tment anything about it.

    "Feel better?" she whispered while continuing to caress his hair.

    "En."

    She leaned down and gave his lips a soft, gentle kiss.

    "Let¡¯s sleep now, okay?"

    "En."

    She pulled him up by the hand. He followed her like a big child and allowed her to tuck him stomach down on the bed. Shey down right beside him.

    Her nose seemed to have gotten immune to the medicinal scent on him. Or perhaps it got too impaired by the foul smell because she also couldn¡¯t smell anything anymore. She didn¡¯t care about any of this, though. All she cared about at the moment wasforting her grieving man.

    She continued singing the Italian aria to him like a luby. His arm was wrapped over her, his tight embrace indicating his need for her to stay with him. They looked at each other, both with red, swollen eyes.

    Momentster, his eyes began to droop close. She continued singing the same Italian aria over and over, waiting for him to fall asleep. It was usually her who would fall asleep first, but this time, she wanted to let him sleep first.

    "That song," he murmured in a sleepy voice.

    She stopped singing. "Hm? What about the song, darling?"

    "That song, it¡¯s beautiful. I like it."

    "I¡¯m d you like it," she said and kissed his shoulder. "Now go to sleep."

    "En."

    He yawned and closed his eyes. But he still spoke. "Sounds familiar..."

    "What sounds familiar?"

    "That beautiful song."

    She caressed his hair, hoping that her gentle ministrations would ease him into a restful sleep. While doing so, she still satisfied his interest about the song. "It¡¯s a ssic Italian aria. Not very popr among the general public but most ssical musicians should be able to recognize it. Maybe you¡¯ve heard it from a ssic concert or an opera before."

    "Hmm..."

    "I personally love it," she said.

    "Me, too," he murmured. "I love it now because you sang it for me."

    "I¡¯ll sing it for you whenever you want me to."

    "En. Good night, love."

    "Good night, darling."

    She smiled as shey there watching him sleep. Gratitude for her man filled her. The beginning of her confession had been painfully rough but everything still ended well for her. Jin Liwei epted her for who she was and continued to love her despite the absurdity of her rebirth. Now she had to help him through his grief of losing his fifth brother whose body her own brother now upied.

    "Thank you," she whispered to him. "And I love you."

    Her eyes also became heavy and soon she joined him to sleep.

 Chapter 779 - Violent Energy

    <h4>Chapter 779 - Violent Energy </h4>

    Loud, pulsing beat of music red inside the club as Lu Zihao sat alone in a private room upstairs overlooking the entire dance floor below. The sounds were muted a lot inside the private room.

    His disinterested eyes watched the crowd of gyrating bodies packed together like drowning sardines. All of them, females and males alike, were performing a mating call with their bodies. They were like beasts in heat and rut.

    The clink of ice floating in his ss reminded him of the drink he was holding. He swirled it before gulping a mouthful of whiskey. It burned like the sun down his throat to his stomach but his expression never changed.

    He appeared deceptively calm but deep inside, he felt restless. The urge to fight and to unleash his inner violent beast shrieked inside him. And that was what he did earlier today with no sess. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    After his confrontation with his sister¡¯s man, Jin Liwei, his emotions went haywire. The fucking remnant inside him fought fiercely, protested against his treatment of its beloved third brother, and berated him for allowing the disintegration of their precious brotherhood. He suppressed it like he always did, but this time, the remnant felt stronger and messed with his head big time. Dealing with it almost made him go insane.

    It took him a long time to subdue the irritating existence inside him but he still managed to do so. The only problem was that its turbulent emotions transferred to him as if they were his own. How fucking annoying! He needed some form of release in order to feel normal again.

    As a result, he announced an impromptu special training to his strongest subordinates. The content was simple. Spar with him. He was the boss so they couldn¡¯t really say no. The ones who worked for him the longest escaped rather quickly while the newer recruits were all pumped up and excited to test their strength and abilities against their boss.

    Long story short, he beat all of their asses. He beat them so badly that they had to beg him for their lives. These strong, dangerous and deadly individuals were all reduced to begging. It was quite a huge shocker to all of them. Suffice it to say that the new recruits finally realized that their boss was more than they bargained for.

    After everyone managed to run away from him, Lu Zihao still didn¡¯t feel like he had enough. Violent energy and raging bloodlust continued to boil inside him. Since fighting didn¡¯t satisfy him, he thought of king his overwhelming, vtile energy through lust instead. He left Dragon Pce and drove by himself to the club.

    Sex usually did its job in helping him regain his inner bnce by freeing any residual energy that went unreleased during training or battle. He never thought much about it. For him, sex was just a necessary, natural bodily function like eating or urinating. He never formed any close rtionships with his bedmates. Yes, he called them bedmates, not lovers.

    As the heir¡ªno, as the "former" heir of what was once the biggest criminal organization in the international underworld, it was extremely difficult for him to form close rtionships. Trust was always an issue.

    The only person he genuinely trusted in his entire life was his little sister. She was just so pure and untainted despite the dark and bloody life their entire family lived everyday. Even their parents, he never fully trusted them. It was difficult to trust people who regrly thrust him into dangerous, deadly situations for the sake of "training". If he hadn¡¯t been strong and sharp-witted enough, he would have died a million times under his own parents¡¯ doing. They were brutal, ruthless and merciless, especially Mother, yet their training bore fruit and he grew to be one of the strongest and most brilliant scions in the history of the Vetrovs.

    If they hadn¡¯t been annihted, he was confident that he could¡¯ve led their organization to greater heights. Unfortunately, they were annihted and that grand ambition would only now remain as a futile dream.

    His thoughts were pulled back to the present when he heard a knock and the door to the private room opened. The club manager greeted him with equally great enthusiasm and caution before introducing three pretty and sexy women. All of them acted subservient to him because he was actually this club¡¯s new owner after taking over it a few months ago.

    The manager excused himself out of the room and left Lu Zihao with the three women. Lu Zihao roved his eyes on their scantily d bodies. Two sat beside him, one on each side, refilling his ss with alcohol and attempting to make conversation with him while the other woman started dancing in front of them.

    They were all trying their best to seduce him. His body started to react, or more specifically, his groin began hardening but the rest of his body especially his face showed no outward reaction or whatsoever.

    Momentster, the women started stripping and doing all sorts of things to entice him. He only watched them while continuing to drink his whiskey. With the amount of alcohol that he had consumed since arriving at the club, he should have been drunk by now. However, that wasn¡¯t the case at all. He still looked alert as always, as if what he had been drinking all this time was water and not hard liquor.

    He continued watching the women who were all naked now. They danced and touched themselves, trying their hardest to elicit a reaction from him.

    Although he was already sporting an impressive erection, he didn¡¯t feel the urge to fuck these women. He lost interest the moment they started stripping. Despite this, he still stayed in the hopes that they might still awaken his mood to fuck and ke his lust.

    One of the women grew bold enough to reach for his belt. But before her hand could touch his erection under his pants, he caught it.

    "Stop," he growled at her.

 Chapter 780 - Night Walk

    <h4>Chapter 780 - Night Walk </h4>

    The woman yelped and threw Lu Zihao a frightened look. The other two women also stopped dancing and backed away from him. Realizing his actions, he immediately released the woman¡¯s hand.

    "Get out!"

    All three of them scrambled out of the private room buck naked as if their asses were on fire. He didn¡¯t give a fuck about them.

    This was one of the reasons why he had no interest in forming an intimate rtionship with a lover. Besides the trust issue, he hated the look of fear in the women he was interested in fucking who knew about how dangerous he was. It was only after experiencing the pleasure of sleeping with him would they stop showing such tant fear on their faces. Although he was a violent and deadly man, he never assaulted the women he bedded unless they deliberately betrayed him and put him in danger from his enemies.

    He threw his ss of whiskey. It crashed against the wall and shattered into many pieces while the whiskey formed a dark puddle on the floor. His erection also began to soften after the women ran away, effectively killing any of his desire to fuck tonight. With a terrifying aura, he stood up and left the private room.

    The manager met him in the dark hallway. He bowed low while shaking in his shiny, leather shoes. "I¡¯m very sorry about what happened with the girls, sir! P-please forgive me! I¡¯ll choose better ones next time! Please grant this humble servant a second chance!"

    Lu Zihao swept him with his cold eyes. "Just manage my club properly."

    "Y-yes, sir! Certainly, sir! Please leave everything to me!"

    He nodded. "Out of my way. I¡¯m leaving."

    "Thank you for your mercy, sir! Please have a good night!"

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply, only waving a hand, as he strode away. He passed through the secret back door to avoid bumping into the crowd of bodies going in and out of the club. Without even checking, he knew that there would be a long line of people waiting by the front entrance outside in the hopes of being the next ones the bouncers would let inside.

    His car was in the club¡¯s private underground parking lot. He was about to head towards it but changed his mind all of a sudden. He walked out of the parking lot instead until he reached the street. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    Fighting and sex didn¡¯t work out in calming down the violent energy still raging restlessly inside him. Maybe taking a long walk might help. Hell, even if it took him the entire night, he would walk all the way from the club to Dragon Pce if it would help calm down his current irritating restlessness. Perhaps he might even get lucky and meet some prowling hooligans along the way that he could beat up and help ease his bloodlust even for just a little.

    Nobody paid any attention to him as he walked in the streets. That was because he deliberately moved like a shadow, avoiding other people¡¯s sight. He also chose the mainly deserted areas. In addition to thete evening hour, even the police doing their nightly routine patrols failed to notice him.

    He had been walking for more than an hour when a familiar figure caught his attention. A woman came out of a convenience store carrying a paper bag in her arms. Two men who were smoking on the opposite side of the street had their eyes on her. Although her body was covered with a coat, they still looked like they were undressing her with their eyes. She didn¡¯t notice them but Lu Zihao did. His eyes narrowed as he walked forward.

    ###

    The cold,te autumn wind made Long Jinjing shiver. She pulled up the cor of her coat while keeping a firm hold on therge paper bag in her other arm. If she hadn¡¯t ran out of toothpaste and most of her other toiletries, she would be all warm andfy inside her own home right now. Who wanted to go out in the cold at this time of the night?

    Her work schedule had been so busy recently that she didn¡¯t have any time to shop for essentials. She usually ordered them online but for some reason, she hadpletely forgotten to do that this month and her supplies at home finally ran out. It was a good thing that there was a convenience store a couple of blocks away from the condo building where she lived. She decided to go out and buy everything she needed tonight at the convenience store because she wouldn¡¯t have the time to do it tomorrow.

    Fortunately, skincare and bath products weren¡¯t a problem because she had free supply from Orchidia Beauty. Perks of being thepany CFO.

    She walked faster upon reaching an area where there were fewer streetlights. There were a handful people walking about but this wasn¡¯t a busy areapared to the city centre, so it was pretty much deserted.

    Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared beside her. She let out a short scream before hearing a familiar voice.

    "It¡¯s me," the man said.

    "Oh!" She clutched at her chest and felt her wildly beating heart. "Mr. Lu, you startled me!"

    "Miss, are you alright?!" a young man with his buddy called from the other side of the street.

    "Ah, yes!" Long Jinjing called back to them. "I¡¯m fine. Thank you!"

    "Are you sure?" the buddy asked next. "Do you know that man?"

    "Yes! I know this man. I was startled just now. I¡¯m really alright. Thank you for your concern!"

    After being reassured, the two young men finally left. Long Jinjing breathed out a sigh of relief. Then she turned to Lu Zihao who was standing beside her.

    "Mr. Lu, what are you doing here?"

    Instead of replying, he took therge paper bag from her.

    "I can carry it myself," she protested.

    "Lead the way. I¡¯ll walk you home," he said simply.

    "You don¡¯t have to do this."

    "It¡¯s not safe for a woman like you to walk alone at night," he told her.

 Chapter 781 - Storm

    <h4>Chapter 781 - Storm </h4>

    It started drizzling when the two arrived in front of the condo building. The wind also picked up, multiplying the chill factor to winter-like weather conditions.

    Long Jinjing started shivering. Her teeth chattered until she became afraid that she might bite off her own tongue.

    "Hurry," Lu Zihao¡¯s low voice urged her.

    The sound felt like he spoke directly to her ear, even though she knew that wasn¡¯t the case. There was an appropriate distance between the two of them, yet she could feel his presence so clearly. It made her shiver but for an entirely different reason from the cold weather.

    She peered at the big man walking beside her out of the corner of her eye and immediately felt her face and neck heating up. Wow, that was embarrassing. Hopefully, he didn¡¯t notice her blushing like an inexperienced teenage girl. Well, the good news was that she felt a little warmer now.

    Pulling the cor of her coat higher up her neck, she walked faster ahead of him and prayed that her face didn¡¯t look like a ripe tomato. The man¡¯s sudden appearance in front of her at this time of the night caught herpletely off guard that she honestly didn¡¯t know how to properly interact with him.

    Finally, they entered the condo building and the wonderful heat inside wee them. Long Jinjing paused and faced Lu Zihao who was still carrying her bag of purchases from the convenience store. He looked unppable as if the cold outside didn¡¯t bother him at all.

    His imposing appearance caught the attention of the other building residents who were passing by. She wasn¡¯t surprised. The man was tall and big. She must look tiny standing beside him. His size alone was eye-catching enough, but the heavens decided to grant him a handsome face as well. Although his face was marred by a long, vicious scar, it didn¡¯t diminish his handsomeness in the least. On the contrary, it actually made him more attractive.

    Long Jinjing tore her eyes away from him and looked at the weather outside. The drizzle from a few moments ago had now turned into rain and it looked like it was even bing heavier by the second.

    ¡¯The weather forecast is inurate again,¡¯ she grumbled inside her mind.

    At first, she nned on sending Lu Zihao on his way after they arrived at her condo building. Now, however, she would feel extremely guilty if she allowed him out in the cold rain. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Would you like toe up to my unit...for tea?" she offered. "You can stay for a bit and wait until the rain lets up before you leave."

    His unfathomable eyes stayed on her for a few, long seconds which caused her heart to pound inside her chest. She quickly looked away before she embarrassed herself in front of him.

    "Alright," he finally said.

    She led him to the elevator and attempted to take her paper bag from him but he wouldn¡¯t give it to her just yet. With him inside, the elevator felt smaller than usual. She did her best to appear calm on the outside, but on the inside, her heart raced like a galloping horse.

    ¡¯Mr. Lu is a guest. You know how to treat a guest. There¡¯s no need to feel so nervous.¡¯

    Her home was a two-bedroom unit. It was nothingpared to her younger sister¡¯s luxurious properties but the small ce suited Long Jinjing just fine. She feltfortable living here. It was cozy and reminded her of the small home she shared with her mother before she moved out and became independent.

    Originally, she and Chen Fei nned on sharing a bigger unit together after graduating from university. However, their tastes greatly differed from each other despite being best friends. They couldn¡¯t agree on what kind of unit they wanted. Chen Fei wanted a high-end, modern unit in the city centre while Long Jinjing preferred a more homely ce in a rtively quiet area. In the end, they decided to get their own ces instead ording to their respective preferences.

    She smiled at Lu Zihao. "Wee. Pleasee in."

    "Nice ce," hemented after looking around while she helped him hang his coat.

    "Thank you."

    A few minutester, she was serving both of them hot tea and some biscuits in the living room. She nced at the window and looked worried.

    "It looks like a storm," she said. "The weather forecast said that the storm won¡¯t be arriving in at least a couple of days. It¡¯s wrong again."

    He sipped his tea. "A forecast is just a prediction, not a guarantee. That¡¯s why we need to be prepared for anything unexpected so we¡¯re never caught off guard."

    ¡¯You popping up in front of me from out of nowhere at night certainly caught me off guard, alright. You¡¯re more unexpected than the storm.¡¯

    She could onlyin about his sudden, unexpected appearance in her heart. In response to what he said, she asked him, "Are you prepared for the storm?"

    "No, but a mere storm doesn¡¯t bother me. Why do I need to prepare for something so trivial?" He raised an eyebrow while swirling the tea in his cup. Then he draped a long arm over the back of her couch, looking like he owned her entire ce.

    ¡¯A storm is something trivial?¡¯

    As expected, this man was arrogant. Not only did he not put the force of Mother Nature in his eyes but he also acted like her home belonged to him and she was just the help serving him tea and making him feelfortable.

    Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t understand why her younger sister was so close to Lu Zihao and even treated him like he was the real sibling and not her. That alone poked at Long Jinjing. She was the real sibling, not him!

    Although she wasn¡¯t immune to the man¡¯s attractiveness, she never considered Lu Zihao as an ideal man and a potential partner. For her, the ideal man was kind, gentle, loving, loyal and "safe". Not someone arrogant, gorgeous, sinful and "dangerous" like Lu Zihao.

 Chapter 782 Mr - Yummylicious

    <h4>Chapter 782 Mr - Yummylicious </h4>

    Brother-inw Liwei was many times better than this pompous man. Long Jinjing¡¯s younger sister was so lucky to have a man like him. Brother-inw Liwei was perfect husband material, unlike this Lu Zihao whose dominant presence was making her think of wicked, udylike thoughts.

    Long Jinjing shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind. It seemed like her friends¡¯ repeated teasing was finally getting to her. The naughty Dom and Meimei were the ones who put the word "yummylicious" inside her head to describe Lu Zihao. As a result, the embarrassing word kept popping inside her mind now that the man himself was right in front of her.

    It was a miracle that she hadn¡¯t called him "Mr. Yummylicious" by ident yet. How embarrassing would it be if she really did that?

    She adored her friends but Dom and Meimei were sometimes such bad influence that she felt like she had been corrupted by them. Her best friend, Chen Fei, had a foul mouth but at least she wasn¡¯t bawdy like the two.

    Her thoughts were interrupted by a sh of lightning and the crack of deafening thunder outside, causing her to almost spill her tea on herp. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    "Oh no," she said as she looked outside the window. "The storm is getting worse."

    Lu Zihao ced his empty teacup on the coffee table and stood up. "It¡¯s gettingte. I don¡¯t want to intrude in your home for too long. I should get going."

    "What are you saying? Can¡¯t you see that it¡¯s pouring outside? It¡¯s also very cold. You¡¯ll get sick if you go out there right now."

    He shrugged, looking unconcerned. "Just lend me an umbre and I¡¯ll be fine."

    "It¡¯s a storm! The umbre will be useless. The wind will just wreck it. Where did you park your car?"

    "Somewhere there," he said, waving at a vague direction.

    "Where?"

    She wouldn¡¯t stop asking him until he finally relented and gave her an address almost five towns away. It was a hip ce teeming with an active nightlife.

    "Don¡¯t tell me you walked from there all the way here," she said in disbelief. "That¡¯s so far."

    "I needed some exercise."

    "You¡¯re crazy," she muttered.

    His devilish smile appeared and its sinful brilliance almost blinded her into stupidity. She must¡¯ve gawked at him like an idiot because her mind felt like it nked out for a few seconds.

    Indeed, this man was dangerous! Just a smile and her IQ felt like it plummeted to amoeba level.

    "Be careful with your words and actions, Miss Long," he said in a low, wicked voice. "I might assume that you don¡¯t want me to leave tonight."

    Heat spread on her face and neck. Again.

    "T-that¡¯s not...what are you...I mean...no," she stammered.

    How embarrassing! It seemed like her IQ really crashed to amoeba level.

    A demonic chuckle rumbled out of his wide chest. The sound tickled something inside her and made her want to shiver.

    She inhaled long and hard and exhaled it in a harsh breath. It somehow helped regain a semnce of herposure which was quickly deteriorating into embarrassing tatters because of this man.

    "Don¡¯t think too much," she said in a steadier voice. "I¡¯m simply acting this way because my conscience won¡¯t allow me to sleep tonight if I let you out in the storm. My younger sister cares a lot about you and treats you like an older brother. She might me me if you be sick after getting drenched in the cold rain tonight."

    He tucked his hands inside the pockets of his pants. "So what do you suggest that I do, Miss Long? The storm looks like it¡¯llst until morning."

    She looked away and cleared her throat before speaking. "I have an extra bedroom. You can stay here for the night."

    "Heh~ Did I hear you correctly? Is Miss Long inviting me to sleep over and stay with you tonight?"

    Her head snapped back and she red at him. "Don¡¯t say such misleading words, Mr. Lu!"

    Another demonic chuckle from him teased her insides and spread the heat on her face and neck even further. She pretended to act annoyed and angry by huffing at him. But in truth, excitement fluttered in her stomach at how daring she was acting by inviting Mr. Yummy¡ªcough cough¡ªstop corrupting her maiden mind, Dom and Meimei!

    Suddenly, the teasing glint in his eyes turned into something more intense that she couldn¡¯t identify.

    "Miss Long, are you sure you want to invite someone like me inside your home?" he asked in a serious tone.

    She swallowed but still nodded.

    "Last chance, Miss Long. Are you sure?"

    "Y-yes."

    His voice dropped in volume until it was almost a whisper. "Alright. I¡¯ll stay here tonight."

    Her now amoeba-level brain once again nked out for a few seconds. Fortunately, another loud thunder cracked outside and roused her from the hunk-induced stupidity. After she regained her senses, her face heated again upon realizing that he was looking at her with amusement.

    So embarrassing!

    This was what she got for being caught unawares in the middle of the night! If she had been in a public setting during daylight, or better yet, in a business setting, she would¡¯ve acted more like an independent career woman in front of him instead of a wide-eyed teenage girl like how she was acting right now.

    "F-follow me. I¡¯ll show you the guest bedroom." She didn¡¯t wait for his reply and walked ahead instead.

    When she didn¡¯t hear anything behind her, she thought that he hadn¡¯t followed her. She turned around to call for him but bumped into a big and wide chest instead. He caught her before she fell backwards from the impact.

    "Careful," he said.

    "Oh!" She grabbed on his arms to steady herself. "Why are you so silent? I didn¡¯t know that you were directly behind me."

    He didn¡¯t reply to what she said but instead asked her, "Are you hurt?"

    "No, I¡¯m fine. Thanks."

    He released her when she looked steady enough on her feet.

    She opened a door and showed him inside. "This is the guest bedroom."

 Chapter 783 - Restless

    <h4>Chapter 783 - Restless </h4>

    The guest bedroom was small and only had a standard double bed. It had an old-style feeling but also very feminine with all the floral prints and patterns on the decorations.

    "My mother sleeps here when she visits me," Long Jinjing exined. "I¡¯m sorry but the bed will be too small for you. You¡¯ll just have to make do with it tonight."

    "It¡¯s fine," Lu Zihao said.

    She nodded. "Come, I¡¯ll show you the bathroom."

    He followed her and was pleasantly surprised that the bathroom was bigger than he expected. It also smelled very nice, reminding him of the bathrooms at Dragon Pce Home #10. Then he realized why. Orchidia Beauty products were organized in a neat row on the shelves.

    Long Jinjing handed him a new, unopened toothbrush. "Would you like to shower?"

    He raised an eyebrow at her question but she didn¡¯t see it because she was busy taking a clean towel for him. "I don¡¯t have any men¡¯s clothes here that I can lend you but we can machine wash and dry your clothes. It¡¯ll only take about an hour."

    "No need."

    "Okay. I¡¯ll leave you now, then."

    He nodded.

    "Good night, Mr. Lu."

    "Good night, Miss Long."

    He watched as she left. He closed the door and locked himself inside the bathroom. His casual and calm expression morphed into something feral. The feminine scent of the woman who just left lingered in the air. He was able to distinguish it from the pleasant blend of scents from the Orchidia Beauty products in the bathroom.

    His nostrils red as Long Jinjing¡¯s lingering feminine scent shot straight down his groin and instantly made him hard. The violent energy and raging bloodlust boiled inside him with more intensity than ever. He failed to relieve the fierce residual energy inside him earlier and now it was bombarding at his willpower with vengeance.

    He red at his reflection. All his muscles tensed as he forced himself to control his lust.

    The current situation was very bad. Severe. With the residual violent energy raging inside him, he was akin to a starving beast right now. He needed something to release it and Long Jinjing was looking more and more appealing in his eyes.

    She was like a lily in full bloom¡ªgraceful and elegant yet had an underlying strength despite her delicate appearance. He could sense that she would be able to take him.

    "Fuck."

    He needed to think about something else or he would be creating a mess inside the woman¡¯s bathroom. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    What made him agree to her invitation to stay for the night? He knew about his current vtile condition. It was a very bad idea to stay alone with an attractive woman with just a wall separating their rooms.

    The only thing stopping him from seducing the woman was her connection to his sister. Long Jinjing was his sister¡¯s friend. Not only that, the woman was also the blood sibling of her sister¡¯s current body. He didn¡¯t give a fuck about the blood sister part because it didn¡¯t have anything to do with him and he knew that his sister didn¡¯t really consider her body¡¯s blood rtives as her true rtives anyway. He was more concerned about the friendship between his sister and the woman.

    As someone who only took bedmates and not lovers, he couldn¡¯t just casually touch anyone close to his sister, especially her friends. It would justplicate things. If things went awryter, his sister would be ced in an awkward position and he didn¡¯t want to do that to her. She already had her hands full with her pregnancy, taking care of her injured man, and also their uing wedding.

    His mood plunged in an instant upon remembering that his sister was pregnant. His baby sister, whose current body was so frail and weak, was fucking pregnant! And with twins! Shit. He wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep worrying about her.

    After taking a few deep breaths in an effort to calm himself, he noticed that his erection finally started to subside. It seemed like worrying about his sister was the most effective libido-killer.

    Taking a shower would have to wait until he got home. Doing it in a woman¡¯s territory might trigger his lust again so he left the bathroom after brushing his teeth, washing his face, and finishing his other business.

    Long Jinjing was already in her own bedroom when he headed to the guest bedroom.

    Once inside the guest bedroom, he stood there in silence and took a moment to sweep his eyes everywhere for a thorough inspection. It was a force of habit, even though he knew that there should be no danger in this ce except for his lust towards the woman next door. He didn¡¯t bother turning on the lights. His natural night vision was excellent and could see virtually everything in the dark.

    After his room inspection, he removed his long-sleeved shirt and threw it carelessly on the foot of the bed. Lightning shed outside, illuminating his wide, muscled, nude torso full of scars for a second before it went dark again. He removed his belt next and threw it after his discarded shirt.

    The bed was small. His feet dangled off the edge when heid his body in a straight position.

    He felt very restless. There was no way he would be able to sleep tonight. Sighing, he rose and began doing a series of exercises on the floor.

    Push-ups. Sit-ups. Crunches.

    Nothing worked.

    Handstand push-ups.

    Still didn¡¯t work.

    He needed to do something. Anything!

    His ears pricked as he heard the faint sounds of a door opening and light footsteps outside. It seemed like he wasn¡¯t the only one who couldn¡¯t sleep tonight. His mouth curved in a devilish smirk.

    Straightening his body from the floor, he grabbed his shirt and used it to wipe the sweat off his body before throwing it back on the bed.

    Then he strolled out of the guest bedroom with no shirt on and his pants riding low over his hips.

 Chapter 784 - You

    <h4>Chapter 784 - You </h4>

    Only the lighting from the kitchen was turned on when Lu Zihao walked into the dark living room. There was a half-wall separating the two areas so he couldn¡¯t see the woman but could hear her moving about in the kitchen.

    Moving like a panther in the night, he made no sound at all when he stalked towards the kitchen. However, he stopped just before reaching the entrance and hid himself in the shadows instead. He watched as the woman poured herself a ss of cold water from a pitcher and then drank it slowly.

    As soon as he saw the swallowing motion of her throat, his groin immediately stiffened and in a just a few seconds, it was painfully hard. His gaze drifted downwards from her throat to her chest. Two small pebbles on top of gentle mounds jutted underneath of the thin material of her nightdress.

    Shit. She wasn¡¯t wearing a bra.

    Her short-sleeved nightdress was simple and loose, reaching below her knees. It was modest and had no shape to it at all, just a straight line. However, the thin material hung enticingly on her delicate body. Although she didn¡¯t have an hourss figure like Long Xin¡¯s with full breasts, narrow waist and red hips, Long Jinjing¡¯s slender body was still very alluring in a sweet, feminine way.

    Every little movement made her nightdress sway, making him imagine an exotic dancer, even though all she did was move in a normal way. The image tempted him to rip the thin dress off her body and reveal the hidden treasure underneath. His entire body tensed as he tried controlling his wild urges.

    The single light from the kitchen couldn¡¯t drive away the surrounding darkness. It created a stark light and dark contrast as he continued watching the woman. So when she moved in a certain angle, the light illuminated her nightdress and made it appear sheer, and in turn showcased her slender figure underneath like a tempting shadow of a subus.

    His eyes darkened at the sight. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria Cross]

    ###

    The cold, refreshing water soothed Long Jinjing¡¯s parched mouth and throat. She tossed and turned in bed earlier but couldn¡¯t sleep knowing that there was an attractive man staying in the next room. Her body also felt warm, almost hot, even though she didn¡¯t set the heater that high. She had no choice but to change out of her warm,fy pyjamas into a thin, loose but very modest nightdress in order to prevent herself from overheating.

    This was what she got for inviting Lu Zihao to stay in her ce overnight. Insomnia. And a bad case of embarrassing images ying in her mind,rgely influenced by what her naughty friends Dom and Meimei usually gossiped about the man they called Mr. Yummylicious.

    She had another busy workday tomorrow so she needed to sleep as soon as possible. As the CFO of Orchidia Beauty, a break-out sess in the domestic beauty industry, she couldn¡¯t afford to mess up any numbers in thepany¡¯s finances due tock of sleep, or more specifically, hunk-inducedck of sleep. All of them needed to work hard in order to prove to everyone that Orchidia Beauty wasn¡¯t just a short-lived fad that would disappear into oblivion after some time but a sessful brand that had the potential to dominate the country¡¯s highlypetitive beauty industry for many years.

    The violent wind and heavy rain battered against the windows outside. She wondered how long the storm wouldst or how bad it was affecting the road conditions. It was possible that work might be cancelled tomorrow due to the storm.

    ¡¯Hopefully, it doesn¡¯te to that. I want to finish all my tasks I set for tomorrow without dy.¡¯

    After drinking an entire ss of water, she returned the pitcher back inside the refrigerator. She closed the refrigerator door and straightened her body. Then she looked to the side and screamed.

    "Oh!" She clutched her chest and rubbed her hands over her wildly beating heart after realizing who startled her. "Mr. Lu! What are you doing standing there silently like a ghost? Do you want to frighten me to death in the middle of the night?"

    Lu Zihao stood by the kitchen entrance, his huge frame almost taking up the entire space.

    "Mr. Lu?" she called in a careful tone this time when he didn¡¯t reply to her.

    He hadn¡¯t said anything or even moved a muscle. He was just staring at her with those intense, dark eyes that made her shiver¡ªnot because of fear but because of thrill. Tamping down on her instinctive womanly reaction to him, she took a half-step forward and studied him. Why wasn¡¯t he talking or moving? Then a thought entered her mind. Was he sleepwalking?

    "Hello, Mr. Lu? Are you alright?"

    "Long Jinjing," he finally spoke.

    His deep, low voice drifted over her like a mesmerizing fog. She once again felt like her IQ was falling down to amoeba level, especially after hearing him say her full name in that kind of tone in the middle of the night. At this rate, she would have to apologize to her parents because they invested so much on her education and praised her for being sensible and intelligent, and yet here she was about to be a bumbling idiot with just a few words from this man.

    "Y-yes?"

    He didn¡¯t reply and instead continued to stare at her with his intense, dark eyes. It made her heart race so loudly that she worried he might hear it from where he was standing.

    She cleared her throat. "Would you like to d-drink some water, too?"

    "No."

    Okay, so that wasn¡¯t it. "Juice?"

    "No."

    Not that either. Couldn¡¯t he just say what he wanted from the kitchen? Why did he have to make her guess? It wasn¡¯t like she could read his mind. Sheined about him in her mind, but he was still a guest she invited to stay over so she needed to y the amodating host.

    "What would you like from the kitchen then?"

    "You," he said.

 Chapter 785 - Proposition

    <h4>Chapter 785 - Proposition </h4>

    Long Jinjing¡¯s mind went nk but she recovered rather quickly this time. There was no way Lu Zihao would say that to her. She was sure that she had either misheard him or her current pitiful amoeba-level brain was ying tricks on her. Yes, that should be it.

    She gave him a sheepish smile. "Excuse me? Sorry but could you repeat that, Mr. Lu? I didn¡¯t hear you clearly."

    "I said I want you," Lu Zihao told her.

    This time, she was truly dumbfounded. "W-what?"

    He took a step forward into the light of the kitchen, leaving the shadows of the dark living room. "I want to sleep with you."

    She couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing. Was he really saying this to her?

    "I want to have sex with you tonight, Long Jinjing," he said in his low, masculine voice that seemed to spellbind her.

    Her brain went whoosh! All she could do at the moment was gawk at him with eyes and mouth wide open, even as her heart started pumping so hard and so fast that it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest.

    "If you say yes, we¡¯ll have sex tonight. No strings attached. Just pure pleasure."

    His words managed to register in her mind and woke her up from her daze. Sense returned to her and she grew serious after hearing what he said.

    "So you want to have a...one-night stand with me?" she asked.

    "Yes, Long Jinjing."

    She inhaled sharply. Her logical mind immediately protested against the idea, but something else awakened inside her and filled her with thrill and excitement at the possibility. It made her stomach tighten and her breathing quicken.

    "I want you to say yes but I¡¯m not going to force you," he told her. "I¡¯m not that desperate. We¡¯re both adults here and I¡¯m simplyying down my proposition to you. If you say no, we¡¯ll both forget about this matter and go on with our own lives. I¡¯ll return to the guest bedroom and leave first thing in the morning. I¡¯ll never bother you again. You don¡¯t have to worry about that."

    She swallowed.

    "Yes or no, Long Jinjing. The decision is yours."

    The right and proper thing to do was to reject him outright. How dare this man suggest a one-night stand when she so kindly offered him a shelter to stay during a storm and in her own home to boot? Besides, she wasn¡¯t that kind of woman. At least, she didn¡¯t think she was.

    There were so many reasons that she could enumerate as to why this was a bad idea. The worst. This was so against her personal values. And yet why had she not rejected him yet?

    Call her crazy but she was seriously considering his offer. Shame filled her but it was quickly overpowered by thrill and excitement.

    She had always been a good girl and strove to be a proper, respectabledy. Although her father never deprived her of financial support, she and her mother had always lived with the stigma of being Long Tengfei¡¯s illegitimate child and former mistress respectively. This was one of the reasons why Long Jinjing never did anything that might disgrace herself and her mother.

    Teenage rebellion was out of question. She never tried smoking. Ever. Never considered getting piercings on her body other than on her ears. She never tried drinking alcohol until she reached legal age. And even when so many boys confessed to her during high school, she never had a boyfriend until she was in university. Her boyfriend dumped her because she always said no whenever he asked her to have sex with him.

    A one-night stand was something other more liberated people did. To Long Jinjing, doing it herself was unthinkable.

    If another person propositioned to her, she would most definitely reject him and even feel offended. But the one who was asking her for a one-night stand wasn¡¯t any other person. It was none other than Mr. Yummylicious¡ªcough cough¡ªstay out of her mind, Dom and Meimei!

    Ahem. Take two!

    The one who was asking her for a one-night stand was the enigmatic Mr. Lu Zihao who had the most sinful smile and tone of voice that Dom and Meimei described as orgasmic. He also had the most gorgeous scarred face and huge body that she had ever seen in a man before.

    Although his entire being screamed danger at her and in turn eliminated him from her mental list of potential, eligible men she wanted to date and maybe even marry someday, she still had to admit that she was drawn to him. If truth be told, she actually had a small, secret crush on him.

    In fact, most of her friends in the girl squad except for her younger sister Xin and Jiang Ying Yue had a crush on Lu Zihao. Dom and Memei and even Clover before the girl flew to France never hid their "innocent" crushes on him. They openly admired him and gossiped about him all the time. As for Chen Fei, Lu Zihao was not her type at all and only teased Long Jinjing a bit because her best friend already long noticed her attraction to the man even when she herself constantly denied it.

    This attraction was probably what was making Long Jinjing seriously consider Lu Zihao¡¯s proposition even when she knew how crazy it was. She had been a good girl all her life. How would it feel to just let go for once and be wild and free for a night? She would have sex with her secret crush and experience a wild night of pleasure. It was so tempting.

    One night.

    Just one night only.

    She could experience something so sinful and enjoy herself with abandon having sex with one of the most attractive men she had ever met.

    Then tomorrow, she would return to her safe and steady life.

    "I guess this means no," Lu Zihao said after she failed to give her answer for a long time. "I won¡¯t bother you anymore, then. Good night."

    He turned around and began to walk away.

 Chapter 786 - Final Chance

    <h4>Chapter 786 - Final Chance </h4>

    "Wait!" Long Jinjing rushed forward and grabbed Lu Zihao¡¯s hand.

    Lu Zihao stopped and looked down at their hands before looking at her face with his deep, dark eyes. He didn¡¯t say anything and instead waited for her to exin herself.

    Holding his hand made Long Jinjing¡¯s heart pound even harder. She couldn¡¯t believe how daring she was acting right now. Her face and neck, maybe even her entire body must bepletely red like a ripe tomato. Oh, how embarrassing! What would others say if they saw her acting like this? Even her friends would never believe it.

    Wait, nobody needed to know.

    The thrill and excitement thrummed within her veins and made her want to act bolder. Why not? This was only for tonight, anyway.

    She stepped forward until she was standing right in front of him with less than a foot distance between them. It was then that the man¡¯s upper body nudity finally registered in her mind. She had been busy feeling scandalized by his shocking proposition earlier that her amoeba-level, deteriorated brain somehow managed to overlook his big, wide, muscled chest. And he was HUGE!

    He also smelled so...so...so masculine. It was the only word that she could think of to best describe his scent. He smelled of sweat which oddly didn¡¯t repulse her. And something else. Something tantalizing that made her lower belly tighten and feel hot.

    What shocked her the most, however, were all the vicious scars crisscrossing almost his entire torso. She couldn¡¯t even begin to guess how he got most of them. It must have been so painful when he got injured so many times. What did he go through to get so many injuries? Before she could think what she was doing, her other hand already moved on its own, wanting to trace one of the biggest scars on his chest.

    As soon as her fingertip touched his skin, he caught her hand, waking her up from her momentary daze. She looked up at him and saw an almost ferocious expression on his face. It made her shiver, both from fear and thrill. Mostly from thrill. And anticipation.

    "Yes?" he growled through gritted teeth.

    "Yes," she whispered.

    His nostrils red and his breathing quickened. "Last chance, Long Jinjing. Yes?"

    "Yes!"

    She was lifted off her feet and kissed out of her mind before she even realized what was happening. His hot open mouth sucked on her lips. Then his tongue sought entrance and eventually invaded her mouth. When his tongue touched hers and swept like a domineering conqueror in every corner of her mouth, she trembled in his arms and let out a loud moan. The sound was so unlike her that she felt embarrassed upon hearing it but his skillful tongue made her quickly forget about it.

    His actions, his scent, his hard body¡ªeverything about him and the moment overwhelmed her. She couldn¡¯t think clearly anymore. All she could do was feel.

    A rush of heat spread throughout her entire body, making her feel restless but at the same time alive. Very alive. More alive than she had ever felt in her entire life. He awakened a hunger inside her that she didn¡¯t know she had. It felt like something was itching to break free from inside her body and he was the only one who could help her release it.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her soft body closer to his hard muscles. One of hisrge hands moved downwards and cupped her bottom and squeezed her two soft globes. He silently encouraged her to wrap her legs around his waist. And as soon as she did, her hot core pressed against his hard abs and made her cry out in her first experience with sizzling pleasure.

    Oh, it felt wonderful.

    She had never felt this kind of wonderfully dizzying sensation before. He gave ast nip on her bottom lip before letting go of her mouth. She felt so drunk that her head lolled forward and rested on his shoulder.

    She vaguely felt that they were moving out of the kitchen. Darkness soon engulfed her entire vision and prevented her from seeing anything but she felt safe in his strong arms and allowed him to take her wherever he wanted.

    In the meantime, one of her curious hands trailed from his neck down to his chest. She felt the rough ridges of his numerous scars but before she could feel sorry for him, the light returned and she was being kissed senseless again.

    He had carried her into her bedroom which was slightly bigger than the guest bedroom. She felt her back bounce on the bed after he gently tossed her on it. Then he stood by the edge of the bed, towering over her, as he roved her entire body with his dark, prating eyes.

    "D-don¡¯t look." She felt shy and looked away while trying to cover her body, especially her chest, with her arms.

    "Move your arms," he said in amanding tone.

    She bit her lips but still obeyed.

    "Look at me, Jinjing."

    Her heart skipped a beat when he called her by her name. She looked at him and gasped. He no longer looked like a man but a hungry, feral beast instead. But she didn¡¯t feel frightened. On the contrary, she felt oddly empowered. She, Long Jinjing, who always strove to be a good and properdy, could make a man desire her so much like this. It felt incredible!

    "Have you ever had sex before?" he asked.

    She flushed before shaking her head.

    Primitive satisfaction shed in his eyes before he grew serious again. "I¡¯ll give you a final chance to back out right now. After this, there¡¯s no going back."

    "I won¡¯t back out. I w-want to do this!"

    His lips curved into a demonic smile, looking more wicked this time. "Good. Now take a good look at me, Jinjing."

    She looked at him just like he wanted.

    "Remember me because I¡¯m the man who¡¯s going to fuck you for the first time."

 Chapter 787 - Donâ€™t Call Me Tha

    <h4>Chapter 787 - Don¡¯t Call Me Tha </h4>

    Long Jinjing gasped and flushed at Lu Zihao¡¯s vulgar words. She stammered, "Y-you...don¡¯t say that."

    He leaned forward and climbed on the bed over her. His huge bodypletely blocked her sight of the ceiling until it was only him she could see.

    "Say what?" he whispered and began to kiss and lick her neck.

    She closed her eyes and moaned. Then she opened her eyes again and looked at him with an expression full of shyness. "That you¡¯re g-going to...."

    "To fuck you?"

    She covered her face with her hands. Hearing him say that felt so embarrassing!

    He removed her hands from her face and forced her to look at him. Their faces were only inches apart and they could feel each other¡¯s hot breaths.

    "Don¡¯t be shy," he told her in his mesmerizing voice. "Because that¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do, Jinjing. We¡¯re going to fuck all night long and we¡¯re going to enjoy every second of it."

    "B-but¡ª"

    He covered her mouth with his own and kissed her until she forgot what she was going to say. She held on to his big arms and felt his hard muscles. After she was kissed senseless, he sat up and began to undress her. She froze for a moment, an instinctive reaction, before she allowed him to remove her nightdress.

    "Don¡¯t," he said when she attempted to cover her breasts with an arms. "Let me see."

    With her head turned to the side because of shyness, she exposed herself to him. She was nude except for her panties. When she heard him breathing hard, her curiosity made her return her eyes on him. And what she saw on his face was pure hunger. It made her nipples pucker, as if they were reaching out to him.

    He reached for her breasts and started fondling them. "You¡¯re mine tonight."

    She moaned. "Yes."

    He leaned down again and sucked one of her breasts, making her gasp and moan and whimper.

    "And you¡¯re mine tonight," she managed to gasp out.

    His response was a grunt and to suck her nipple harder. Then he repeated the same thing on her other breast.

    "Oh, Zihao."

    He stiffened.

    She felt his reaction and peered at him. What did she do? Why did he suddenly stop? Was her inexperience turning him off and now he was regretting that he asked her to have a one-night stand?

    "Zihao, w-what¡¯s wrong?"

    "Don¡¯t call me that." His tone was harsh, almost angry.

    It startled her before she realized what might have caused it. She paled as humiliation hit her. She thought that he didn¡¯t want her calling him Zihao. It was likely that he didn¡¯t think that she had the right to call him by his first name because they weren¡¯t close enough. They weren¡¯t even close enough to be actual friends. Their connection was made only through her younger sister, Xin, who treated him like a real brother. It seemed that to him, they were really just fucking each other and nothing more.

    "Hey, what¡¯s wrong?" he asked, finally noticing that something was amiss in her expression.

    "I¡¯m sorry." She tried pushing him off but he was too heavy, so she could only turn her head to the side and avoid looking at him. "I...I didn¡¯t think...I mean, you called me Jinjing earlier so I thought that it¡¯s also okay for me to c-call you...Zihao. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll only call you Mr. Lu from now on."

    "Look at me."

    She didn¡¯t move.

    "I said look at me, Jinjing."

    Reluctantly, she looked at him but couldn¡¯t meet his eyes so she looked at his chin instead.

    "Niki," he said.

    She blinked. "What?"

    "Call me Niki."

    She was confused. "Why?"

    He held her chin with his fingers and forced her to look at him straight in the eyes. "That¡¯s my...special name. Don¡¯t call me Zihao when we¡¯re in bed. It feels like you¡¯re calling another man and it pisses me off."

    "Oh..."

    Long Jinjing felt extremely confused. Wasn¡¯t his name Lu Zihao? Why did he want her to call him Niki? Then an idea popped in her mind. Oh! Was this some sort of fetish that he had? She heard that there were some people who liked role-ying in bed by pretending to be a different person. Was he also like them, someone who liked to role-y? Was Niki a character that he liked to y while in bed?

    The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Wow. This man was really on another level. She never would have expected that her first time would be with someone who had a weird fetish like him. Then another thought popped in her mind. Oh, no! Would he make her wear silly costumes? Like a nurse or a maid? No way! So embarrassing!

    "Hey." His voice interrupted her increasingly wayward thoughts. The fingers on her chin tightened so she had no choice but to focus on him.

    "Y-yes?"

    "Do you understand?" he asked again.

    She nodded.

    He gave her a hard, meaningful look.

    "Yes, N-niki."

    The devilish smile was back and it did weird things to her. He lowered his head and kissed her again before whispering, "Now let¡¯s continue. Prepare yourself, Jinjing. Because I n on fucking you many times tonight."

    She shivered at his vulgar words, feeling both shy and excited at the same time. "Be gentle, Niki. It¡¯s my first time."

    He nipped her lip before licking it. "Fine. I¡¯ll be gentle but only for the first time I enter you. We only have one night. I n to have my fill of you with the limited time that we have."

    "Okay."

    Before she finished speaking, her panties were ripped off her body and her legs spread wide open. He moved so quickly that she had no time to react. His head was already between her legs before she realized what was going on. Like a starving man, he immediately started doing unimaginable things with his mouth to her down there.

    "Oh!" She tried to push his head away but to no avail. "Zi¡ªNiki, you can¡¯t!"

 Chapter 788 - Miss Prim And Proper

    <h4>Chapter 788 - Miss Prim And Proper </h4>

    "I can and I will," Lu Zihao said after pausing his actions for a moment to reply to Long Jinjing¡¯s protest. "Just lie back there and enjoy."

    His mouth glistened with her juices. The sight made Long Jinjing feel so embarrassed that she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. But with how things were going, it wasn¡¯t the ground who was going to swallow her after this was over but this man, Lu Zihao. Or Niki or whatever character name he wanted to y in bed with her.

    She wanted to protest more against his embarrassing actions but cried out instead when he sucked hard at her small, engorged nub of pleasure. Then his tongue entered her and she waspletely lost within the overwhelming sensations assaulting her body. She threw her head back on the bed and closed her eyes as moans and whimpers escaped from her throat. She could barely recognize herself from the indecent soundsing from her.

    Her body arched up and her hand grasped his hair, unsure of whether to push him away or to pull him closer. Then the sensations intensified when his rough fingers joined the magic of his tongue. His fingers rubbed her, causing her body heat to soar and her heartbeat to elerate until she feared that she might pass out. She was saying something over and over again but even she couldn¡¯t understand the wordsing out of her lips.

    When a finger entered and curled inside her wet heat, everything within her snapped. Her body stiffened and then shook violently as she screamed his name in a hoarse voice.

    As she was recovering from her orgasm, he started to kiss a wet trail from the apex of her thighs to her abdomen, up her chest¡ªtook a few moments to y with her breasts¡ªand then continued kissing her neck until he finally reached her mouth. He gave her a deep, open-mouthed kiss. She could taste herself from him. It made her embarrassed at first but soon forgot about it because of his skillful mouth and tongue.

    Their mouths separated and he looked at her with eyes so dark that she could almost lose herself in them.

    "You came quite hard for a first-timer," hemented in his seductively demonic voice. "Looks like you enjoyed me eating you."

    "Don¡¯t say that..."

    "Still feeling shy, I see."

    She closed her eyes, feeling too shy to look at him. He chuckled and she felt even shyer.

    Then she felt him kiss her ear before whispering, "I only ate you down there and you¡¯re already this shy. What are you going to do when I start fucking you?"

    Her eyes snapped open, scandalized at his dirty talk. "Y-you..."

    He grabbed her hand and brought it between them before pressing it against his erection under his pants. "You feel it?"

    She nodded.

    "It¡¯s going inside you very soon, Jinjing. Are you ready?"

    She swallowed but still nodded again.

    "Say it."

    "I¡¯m r-ready, Niki."

    He gave her firm peck on the lips before leaving the bed to remove his pants. She propped herself on the bed using her elbows and watched him strip in front of her. He wasn¡¯t the least bit shy, unlike her. He was confident in his own skin and why wouldn¡¯t he? His body looked amazing with all his big, hard muscles. Even his numerous scars added to his attractiveness. Still, she couldn¡¯t help but feel a twinge in her heart, imagining the pain he went through when he got those countless injuries.

    But before she could feel sorry for him, her eyes went wide when he finally removed his pants and boxers and stood in front of him in all his naked glory. His hard length stood and pointed at her. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off it.

    He started stroking himself while watching her reaction. "You like it?"

    She swallowed and continued to gawk at his...at his...snake. Her ability to speak seemed to fly out of the window.

    "I¡¯m going to fuck you with this, Jinjing."

    Her mind whirled with all kinds of thoughts.

    ¡¯Oh, my goodness! This is it!¡¯

    She was going to have sex for the first time and it was a wild, one-night stand with one of the most attractive men she had ever met in her entire life¡ªher secret crush, Lu Zihao, a.k.a. Niki. This was something she would never have thought that she would ever do in her life. Yet here she was, lying on her bed naked, her body feeling like jelly after experiencing her first orgasm, while Mr. Yummylicious stroked himself and told her that he was going to fuck her soon.

    Everything about tonight was so scandalous, so unlike her, but thrill shot through her.

    For one night, she wanted to lose her inhibitions and thoroughly enjoy herself with an attractive man. She wanted this memory because after tonight, she would return once again to her orderly life. She would focus on her career as a business executive, and then hopefully meet a nice, loyal and "safe" man to marry and build a family with someday. The man would be the total opposite of the intense and enigmatic Lu Zihao.

    Just for tonight, she would let Lu Zihao¡ªor Niki as he liked to be called in bed¡ªto fuck her senseless.

    One night only.

    The thought of doing something scandalous for just one night sent a generous shot of courage through her. Feeling more daring, she maintained eye contact with Lu Zihao and slowly opened her legs wide,pletely exposing herself to him. As expected, his reaction thrilled her.

    He growled and his erection visibly twitched. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he stalked towards her and climbed back on the bed.

    "Heh~ I didn¡¯t know that Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing can act this lewd," he said, his voice low and husky, while running his hand on her inner thigh.

    "Zi¡ªNiki."

    "Hm?"

    She already went this far so might as well go all the way. She took a deep breath and said, "Fuck me now, Niki."

 Chapter 789 - Nikolai

    <h4>Chapter 789 - Niki </h4>

    Lu Zihao growled again and his eyes narrowed in a feral slit. His hand pressed on Long Jinjing¡¯s wet entrance, causing her to arch her body and moan. Then he asked, "Are you on the pill?"

    She opened her heavy-lidded eyes. "No."

    "I figured as much. Wait here." He climbed off the bed again and picked up his discarded pants from the floor. Next, he rummaged through his pants¡¯ pocket for his wallet before taking out a few packets of condoms.

    Long Jinjing watched him as he tore the foil and rolled the condom on his hard length. His movements were quick and smooth as if he had done the same action a hundred times. And maybe he did. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that was the case. He was so skilled in pleasuring a woman. His mouth, tongue and hands were absolute magic. Even his dirty talk made her feel like melting into a puddle of hot jelly. Just remembering how he touched and kissed her was already making her anticipate what he had in store for her next.

    In a way, she was lucky that her first time was with an experienced man. He knew how to pleasure her even when she herself was so inexperienced. There was no awkwardness or disappointment with her first time like she often heard from other girls¡¯ experiences back in university.

    Even so, she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling sullen and a little jealous that he had been with other women before her. As soon as this thought entered her mind, she immediately forced it out. It almost sent her into a mini-panic mode.

    ¡¯This is just a one-night stand! You can¡¯t afford to think like that, Jinjing! Just enjoy him tonight and then return to your regr life tomorrow.¡¯

    Her thoughts were interrupted when Lu Zihao returned to the bed and started kissing and touching her, reigniting the fire of desire inside her. She abandoned herself in his hot kiss and allowed her hands to freely wander all over his chest, shoulders and back, feeling the scars decorating his body. Then he reached between them while still kissing her and she felt his hard thing poke her wet entrance, making her almost jump out of her skin.

    "Rx," he murmured.

    He kissed her more deeply to distract her from what was happening below their waists. And it worked. She kissed him back. Her attempts were clumsy at first but she did her best to imitate how he was kissing her. It seemed that he liked her efforts, if the sounds of approvaling from his throat were any indication.

    While they kissed, she felt him slide the head of his length up and down her wet slit. The pleasure slowly started building every time he did that and soon her hips were moving as well, instinctively seeking him. Then the bulbous head entered a little inside her before withdrawing, causing her to whine in protest.

    If she was still in her right mind, she would have felt embarrassed by her wanton actions but she didn¡¯t care about any of that at the moment. He repeatedly teased her like this until she couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Her need had long hijacked her good sense.

    "Please, Zihao. Oh, please do it," she started begging him.

    He stopped and held her jaw, forcing her to look at him. He looked furious, momentarily shocking her out of her pleasure. "What did you call me?"

    Then she realized her mistake. "I...Niki. I¡¯m s-sorry. I forgot."

    "Don¡¯t forget it again."

    "Okay..."

    He grunted and just like that, he plunged deep inside her. She cried out from both the shock and the sharp pain.

    "Y-you...." She gave him an using look with her teary eyes.

    He didn¡¯t say anything but maintained eye contact with her. His expression looked impassive at first but his slightly opened mouth, squinted eyes and soft, panting breaths all betrayed the pleasure he was feeling right now. He reached down between them and started rubbing her small nub of pleasure as he began moving slowly in and out of her.

    "Let me see you touch your breasts," he told her. "y with them."

    She hesitated, feeling shy, but then remembered that this was a one-night stand. This was the moment to lose her inhibitions and try things that she would never dare do before. She could be as wild and wanton as much as she wanted tonight without worrying about what other people might think. With reinforced determination, she slowly touched her breasts, imitating how he yed with them earlier.

    He moaned his approval and the sound made her tighten down below. Her action had a direct effect on him and turned his moan into a deep groan. His fingers rubbed her a little harder, causing her to gasp and tremble, as she finally started to feel pleasure again.

    It was pleasure but felt a little different from the one she experienced earlier. It felt deeper, more intense. More...more...amazing!

    She closed her eyes and savoured the new intense sensations her body was experiencing for the first time. Her body became drenched with sweat but she didn¡¯t care. She felt like she was going to have a heart attack any moment now but instead of feeling afraid, she wanted to feel more of it, to discover whaty beyond this incredible experience.

    "Open your eyes," hemanded through gritted teeth. "Look at me, the man who¡¯s fucking you."

    It took a lot of effort for her to open her eyes. When she did, she saw him looking ferocious above her with sweat dripping off his skin. Some even dropped down to her own sweaty body. He might look like he was about to lose control of himself and devour herpletely but his hips still maintained its slow, gentle and steady movements.

    "Only this time, Jinjing. Only this time that I¡¯ll be gentle with you because it¡¯s your first time."

    "Yes," she breathed.

    He removed his hand from between them and lowered his body until he was pressing down on her, almost crushing her, and pushing her more deeply on the bed. Then he kissed her, feeding his tongue inside her mouth and encouraging her to do the same. Their kiss intensified. His hips also started moving a little faster and harder but were still overall gentle.

    "Say my name again."

    She hugged his neck and whispered, "Niki."

    Saying his "special" name seemed to arouse him even more. His kisses became more intense and his hands touched all over her body but his hips still maintained their gentle, steady thrusts.

    Long Jinjing wrapped her legs around his waist and gasped because that made him reach deeper inside her. It was quite an effort to wrap herself around him because his body was so big and she was so petite. Her feet couldn¡¯t quite reach each other after wrapping her legs around him but she did what she could. She also began moving in tandem with him, matching his thrusts until they were like one organism.

    There were no words spoken between them now. Only the rhythmic pping, wet sounds of their flesh apanied by their harsh, gasping breaths, and primitive moans and groans could be heard in the room.

    The pleasure continued to build up deep inside Long Jinjing. Her cries became louder and more desperate. He responded by increasing the speed and depth of his thrusts.

    "Oh!" She hugged his neck more tightly as her body stiffened.

    Lu Zihao growled, all of his muscles clenching. "Yeah, do it! Give it to me!

    Then it was as if there was a volcanic eruption in Long Jinjing¡¯s mind and body. It was so overwhelming yet also so incredible that she couldn¡¯t quite describe the feeling with words that made sense. She lost control of herself while her mind soared up somewhere in heaven for a few moments before mming back down her twitching body.

    Lu Zihao stopped moving while still buried deep inside her to allow her to experience the full pleasure without any interference from him. However, his loud groans and ferocious expression indicated that he was almost reaching the end of his self-control. She was squeezing him so hard that it was taking all of his willpower to restrain himself from giving her a wild pounding.

    Finally, she calmed down and melted like jelly under him. A soft, satisfied sigh escaped her lips. Then she looked at him with shy yet bright eyes. "That felt...amazing."

    "Good," he said. "Now it¡¯s my turn to feel amazing."

    Before she could respond, he had already lifted her hips and was mming into her over and over again. She was so shocked that she wasn¡¯t able to react at first but then the pleasure started building once again.

    "Take note, Jinjing. This is how I, Niki, fuck."

    Her throat made an embarrassingly lewd sound.

    "I. Fuck. Hard." He punctuated his words with a hard m of his hips.

    And that was it. She was lost. The volcano erupted again without any warning. But even then, the pleasure didn¡¯t stop. It continued to climb higher and higher as he pounded her harder and harder.

    Then he stopped all of a sudden and pushed deep inside her as he roared his own release.

 Chapter 790 - No Sleeping Tonigh

    <h4>Chapter 790 - No Sleeping Tonigh </h4>

    After two rounds, Long Jinjing felt boneless. The first round started gentle and wonderful but then ended shockingly intense but still...wonderful. The second one was rougher and harder but alsosted longer. Gosh, the man had unbelievable stamina.

    She didn¡¯t know if she was going to survive the night. Lu Zihao told her that they were just getting started.

    He gave a light p on her butt before getting off the bed to discard the used condom. "I¡¯ll be back," he said before leaving the bedroom.

    She heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. Her eyes grew heavy. She was awakenedter from dozing when he lifted her off the bed and carried her out of the bedroom.

    "Huh?" She opened her eyes sleepily and realized that they were in the bathroom.

    "Soak for a bit so you won¡¯t feel too sore tomorrow," he said before lowering her in the tub filled with hot water. It smelled of Orchidia Beauty¡¯stest soon-to-be released product, special herbal blend bath salts.

    She sighed while submerging herself in the fragrant hot bath. Her heart also felt touched because the man took the time to draw a hot bath for her. She didn¡¯t expect that he would be this considerate to someone he was...ahem, he was fucking for just one night. Her skin flushed and she covered her face with her hands.

    Just thinking of the vulgar word was so embarrassing! And yet she told him out loud earlier to fuck her.

    This night was certainly a night of many firsts for her.

    Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized that Lu Zihao was still standing in front of her. Was he not joining her for a soak? But he was already in the bathtub. What was he doing? She began to have a good guess of what he was nning to do when her eyes caught sight of the hard thing jutting out of his groin. He was once again sporting an impressive erection. Her eyes widened when he stepped closer and firmly held her head with one hand while stroking his manhood with his other hand.

    She swallowed as she had a close-up view of him pleasuring himself with his own hand. Her breathing sped up and she couldn¡¯t tear her eyes away from what he was doing.

    "I want you to suck me while you soak your lower body," he told her before pressing the head of his hard length on her lips.

    Her sleepiness was nowpletely gone. "I d-don¡¯t know how."

    "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll teach you how to pleasure me. Open your mouth and let me in."

    She only hesitated for a couple of seconds before obeying. She opened her mouth and in he went.

    He closed his eyes and groaned. While holding her head in ce, he started slowly moving in and out of her mouth. He opened his eyes again and looked down at her, his expression filled with approval. "Now try sucking me."

    She did and he groaned again. Louder this time. And just like that, she began her crash course on pleasuring him with her mouth. At first, he allowed her to get used to it slowly but then his control snapped. He held her head with both hands, his fingers tightening their hold on her hair. Then he started thrusting hard and fast into her mouth until he reached the back of her throat, making her gag a little.

    She panicked and was about to struggle but when she looked up and saw his expression of pleasure, she stopped. At that moment, she felt powerful. It was such an odd feeling when she was on her knees in front of a man while pleasuring him with her mouth wide open. His obvious pleasure made her feel very feminine, sexy, desirable and confident of her sensuality. It was the first time she had ever felt this way.

    While looking up at him and closely watching his expression, she tried sucking him harder and was rewarded by a deep, guttural groan and a sharp jerk of his hips.

    "You seductress," he hissed through gritted teeth.

    Afterwards, she experimented by using her tongue and her throat even when she felt like gagging. That drove him crazy and his thrusts became more intense. She held on to his thighs for dear life as he rode her mouth.

    Then an odd thing happened. Her own lower body started to feel hot and needy again. She restlessly rubbed her thighs together to ease the empty feeling.

    "Touch yourself, Jinjing," he ordered.

    She didn¡¯t need to be told twice because her need was quickly bing unbearable. Her hand went down and touched herself, copying what he did to her earlier in bed, rubbing herself until she was also moaning and groaning like him.

    But before she could reach the peak of her own pleasure, he mmed hard and a hot rush of liquid filled her mouth. She felt like she was going to suffocate until he removed himself and allowed her to breathe.

    "Swallow," he said. "Swallow everything."

    Her throat started swallowing without thinking. It made her cough harder.

    "We have to work on your gag reflex."

    Then he finally lowered himself in the tub and pulled her between his legs. He rubbed her back and kissed her head while she continued coughing and wheezing. "Sssh. You did amazingly well, Jinjing."

    "Did you feel good?" she asked when she stopped coughing.

    "Yes. Your mouth is amazing." He kissed her while his hand travelled down and inserted a finger inside her wet heat under the water. "And this is the most amazing."

    She rested her head on his chest and moaned. He pleasured her with his skillful fingers until she was shaking and crying out his "special" name, as she rode another intense orgasm.

    Then he carried her out of the bathtub and dried the two of them with a towel before carrying her again back to her bedroom.

    Heid her on the bed and opened her legs. "No sleeping tonight. We only fuck."

    And indeed, that was what they did all night long.

 Chapter 791 - Welcome Back To Reality

    <h4>Chapter 791 - Wee Back To Reality </h4>

    The sun was already high up in the sky when Long Jinjing woke up. It was quiet. The storm finished passing through the area some time before sunrise but she failed to notice because she had been too busy having sex with the tireless Lu Zihao. They only stopped when she passed out and couldn¡¯t be roused anymore.

    That was hours ago. She moved to check the time but gasped when pain wracked her. Her whole body felt like it had been run over by a truck.

    ¡¯A truck named Lu Zihao. Or Niki as he likes to be called in bed.¡¯

    He had bent her into so many positions and did so many unimaginable deeds with her body that just thinking about it was making her feel hot and bothered. She flushed atst night¡¯s memories, on how she went wild with a man in bed and had sex almost nonstop until sunrise.

    Ah, so embarrassing!

    After calming down a little, she finally realized that she was all alone in the room. The side of the bed where Lu Zihao slept was empty. It felt cold to the touch so he must have left some time ago.

    Disappointment filled her. She couldn¡¯t help it.

    Last night had been so...so...incredible for her. Although she knew that she was just a one-night stand for him¡ªamong many other women he must have slept with given that he was so skilled in bed¡ªthere was still a small part of her that hoped that he at least also thought that what happened between them meant something for him.

    She sighed andughed at herself. It was a dry, humourlessughter.

    ¡¯You consented, Jinjing. Deal with it.¡¯

    Yes, she should deal with her own decision. She was a young, independent, career woman. So what if she slept with a man? She was already an adult. At least the one she slept with was an attractive man, someone she had a small, secret crush on. Her first time was almost perfect. Her bed partner pleasured her so much that she honestly thought that she might die from overdose.

    ¡¯Yes, Jinjing. Look at the bright side.¡¯

    A one-night stand worth remembering.

    Even if it was just for one night, she was able to act wild, free and uninhibited while exploring her sensuality for the first time without worrying about how others might think or say about her. Nobody needed to know about what happened. She had no ns telling anyone aboutst night, not even her friends from the girl squad or even her best friend, Chen Fei. And she was sure that Lu Zihao would never breathe a word about it to others either. It would be her own little secret.

    Giving herself a pep talk was quite effective. She felt much better after the disappointment of Lu Zihao¡¯s absence.

    He was just a man, after all. She didn¡¯t need a man to be happy or feel fulfilled. Seeing how her own mother suffered due to a hopeless love affair with her father, she had decided long ago not to depend on a man for her happiness and especially not for her self-worth.

    Her career as a business executive presented a lot of exciting opportunities for the future. Although she had her younger sister to thank for in giving her an amazing head startpared to her fellow new graduates, she was also confident about her own skills and ability to handle her current high position. Working hard and striving to be even more sessful in her career were more important and much bigger sources of happiness and fulfillment for her than a man right now.

    "That¡¯s right," she said out loud but winced upon hearing her scratchy, hoarse voice.

    Well, she did scream a lotst night. It was no wonder that her throat felt raw. And it wasn¡¯t only her throat. Something below her waist also felt extremely raw. The hot soakst night was far from effective.

    She sighed as she slowly tried getting up from the bed. It felt like the hardest thing that she had ever done physically for a long time. Almost her entire body was aching.

    The first thing she did after sessfully sitting up was to check the time. It was already noon. She panicked. What about work? She was sote! Then she checked her phone and saw that she had a lot of missed calls. She didn¡¯t hear the calls because Lu Zihao told her to put her phone in silent modest night after he got annoyed at it beeping whenever she received e-mails.

    A few minutester, she ended a call on her phone. She had just finished talking to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s head of security and Chen Fei on two separate calls. They informed her that thepany had to be closed today because the stormst night caused some serious road obstructions.

    "This is also good. I need to rest my body today, anyway. And it¡¯s not like I can¡¯t finish some of my work here at home."

    Feeling much better about everything, she carefully headed to the bathroom to wash up. It took a long time to walk such a short distance but she was helpless because her entire body ached. Every move made her whimper in pain.

    Finally, she reached the bathroom. Sess!

    Then she gasped, her eyes widening, upon seeing the countless red hickeys all over her neck, chest, waist and other parts of her body. She had already noticed the kiss marks on her front when she woke up but she didn¡¯t realize that it would be this many!

    She turned around and peered over. As expected, more hickeys could be seen on her back. Lu Zihao was nothing but thorough. She looked down and yes, there were indeed hickeys on her legs as well, especially on her inner thighs.

    Seeing the red marks on her thighs reminded her of the magic he did there with his mouth and tongue. She flushed and felt aroused.

    Pak!

    She pped herself on the face and then smiled at her reflection.

    "Wee back to reality, Long Jinjing."

 Chapter 792 - Note

    <h4>Chapter 792 - Note </h4>

    Long Jinjing found Lu Zihao¡¯s note muchter when she returned to the bedroom after taking another much-needed soak in the bathtub. She missed the small piece of paper earlier because it fell down to the floor andnded almost under the bed. Her heart skipped a beat when she picked it up.

    ¡¯So he didn¡¯t just leave without a word, after all.¡¯

    She felt a little happy at the fact that he took a moment to leave her a note. Her stomach fluttered and she felt a little giddy. When she caught herself getting carried away, she gave herself another p in the face.

    First order of business was to calm herself down. She reminded herself that what she was feeling right now was only the so-called sexual afterglow. Nothing more.

    After calming down, she finally took a good look at the note and read what Lu Zihao wrote. His handwriting looked a little ugly but the strokes were strong and bold just like him. It said:

    "Need to go. Didn¡¯t want to wake you up because you¡¯re too exhausted. Thanks forst night. Bye."

    She flipped to the backside of the paper and found nothing more written other than what she read on the front. Such simple, ordinary lines.

    Disappointment filled her again. Her mouth curled into a wry smile.

    ¡¯Get a hold of yourself, Jinjing! Remember that it was only a one-night stand! What did you expect to receive afterwards? A bouquet of red roses and a love letter? Wake up! Lu Zihao was very clear from the beginning that he only wanted one night of fucking with you. At least, the man had the decency to write a note and not just leave after pulling up his pants like some other men after a one-night stand.¡¯

    Her pep talk to herself made her recover quickly again. Indeed, what happened between her and Lu Zihao was nothing more than a one-night stand. This confusing feeling that she had for him¡ªcrush, lust or whatever it was¡ªshall soon pass. It definitely wasn¡¯t love. She wasn¡¯t some na?ve, young girl.

    The love of her life, her very own Mr. Right, was still out there somewhere in the world. If destiny permitted it, then she would meet her perfect match when the time was right. Now was definitely not the right time.

    And her Mr. Right was most definitely NOT Mr. Yummylicious Lu Zihao. He was just Mr. Right Last Night.

    She giggled.

    And with that, she felt so much better. Despite her aching body, she felt almost normal after taking over-the-counter pain meds. She busied herself with her daily chores and remotely working from home.

    Soon, Lu Zihao and his amazing body and bed skills were pushed into the very back of her mind.

    ###

    Shadow Winds Headquarters.

    A man groaned and dropped like a heavy sack of rice on the ground when Lu Zihao elbowed him on the sr plexus at the same time that he dodged a punch to his head. Lu Zihao caught the hand and twisted it, forcing the muscr woman to cry out in pain. Then he kicked the woman¡¯s feet and she came tumbling to the ground.

    Seven other people started attacking him simultaneously. He dodged and countered all of their attacks and sent out his own swift, precise strikes. His huge, muscr body moved with a fluidity that belied its size.

    Momentster, all his subordinates were lying on the ground. Most of them curled their bodies and were groaning in pain while somepletely lost consciousness.

    Lu Zihao was the only man left standing.

    "Who¡¯s next?" he asked and looked around the training area.

    It was empty. He raised an eyebrow. It seemed like he needed to toughen up his subordinates even more. How dare they run away from him when he was "training" them? This cowardice waspletely uneptable.

    However, he didn¡¯t get angry. On the contrary, he felt great.

    "Sparring¡¯s over for now," he announced. "You all need to train more. None of you evennded a single hit on me."

    His subordinates¡ªthose who didn¡¯t lose consciousness¡ªlooked utterly defeated. They hung their heads low in a subservient manner. It was clear from their pathetic poses that they held no hopes in defeating him, their boss.

    Then he said, "10 grand to the first person who cannd a hit on me."

    The eyes of his subordinates all lit up.

    He looked at them in the eyes and added, "US dors."

    Suddenly, all of them were bursting with energy again.

    "Yeah! I¡¯ll train harder starting tomorrow!"

    "The 10 grand is mine!"

    "Hooray for Boss Hao!"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth curved into a devilish half-smile but it was gone as soon as it appeared. None of his subordinates saw that he smiled. Nevertheless, he was in a good mood deep inside as he left the training area.

    The violent energy and restlessness caused by the remnant yesterday were now almost purged from his being. He had Long Jinjing to thank for that.

    She was Miss Prim and Proper on the outside but once he was buried deeply inside her, the shyness was reced by a daring wild cat. Once she got morefortable with him, she even started riding him like a pro and almost caused him to lose his full control. Just remembering how good it felt with her was arousing him again.

    If she had onlysted a little longer and didn¡¯t pass out like the dead, then he would¡¯vepletely purged all the remaining restless energy inside him. No matter what he did though, he couldn¡¯t awaken her. The poor woman was exhausted. He felt smug at the fact that he was the cause of her exhaustion. Since she wouldn¡¯t wake up, he had no choice but to let her sleep.

    After writing her a note, his subordinate picked him up from her ce and they drove directly to his group¡¯s headquarters.

 Chapter 793 - Invading His Mind

    <h4>Chapter 793 - Invading His Mind </h4>

    Once Lu Zihao arrived at the headquarters, he went straight to the training area in order to purge the remaining restless energy inside him, even though he already felt calmer and more bnced because of his night with Long Jinjing. His subordinates were lucky because it made him less brutal towards them during sparringpared to their hellish sparring yesterday at Dragon Pce when he beat all of their asses.

    Back to the present, he headed to his private bathroom after training. He stripped all his clothes until he stood under the shower in all his naked glory.

    Despite his great mood, his expression hardened as he looked down at his groin. What greeted him was a raging erection.

    "You want her again, huh?" he talked to his manhood before grasping it with his fist.

    This was what he got for remembering the woman and all the things he did with herst night. Not one to deprive himself unnecessarily, he started stroking himself while imagining that it was Long Jinjing¡¯s hot mouth sucking him.

    The one she gave him in her own bathtubst night had been amazing. She learned quickly how to pleasure him using her mouth despite her gag reflex. He was right. She could take him.

    All the memories fromst night was still very fresh in his mind. Her scent, her moans, her body, her shy looks, and the way she said his name¡ªNiki¡ªas she orgasmed.

    He groaned and his fist tightened around his erection. His eyes shut close and he started panting as he increased the speed of his hand.

    In his mind, she was bent over the shower as he mmed his hips hard and fast behind her again and again. Her moans and cries were so clear that he almost thought that she was real and with him right now, letting him fuck her again until she couldn¡¯t walk properly.

    ¡¯Niki!¡¯ she cried out, squeezing him hard as she climaxed.

    He squeezed his own manhood with his hand and soon his body stiffened.

    "Jinjing!"

    He came hard. His release spewed out and hit the wall in seven strong spurts. He continued moving his fist quickly up and down, milking himself as he imagined that it was Long Jinjing¡¯s wet heat that he was ejacting into.

    When he was finished, he rested both his hands on the wall to support himself while he calmed his gasping breaths. His body felt extremely light. He felt more bnced than ever.

    He should be feeling even better now, right?

    Wrong.

    Although his body felt rxed, his mind was now in total chaos.

    He orgasmed so hard by just touching himself while fantasizing about a woman he had sex withst night. This was the first time that he had ever felt shaken after masturbating. Sex was just amon bodily function to him, something that he had to do in order to maintain his health and fitness. He enjoyed the deed but was impersonal to it.

    But what the hell just happened? What was this urge to see the woman again, to fuck her again? How could he, Niki Vetrov, allow a woman to upy his mind like this? This was uneptable!

    Long Jinjing was just another woman he bedded.

    ¡¯Not just another woman. You treated her nicely. Been gentle with her. Talked with her and eased her into feeling morefortable with you. Focused on giving her as much pleasure as you took from her. And most importantly, you told her to call you by your real name.¡¯

    The voice inside his head whispered, irritating him to no end, even though he knew that it was his own. He wanted to deny it but the truth of the matter was that he really did treat Long Jinjing differently from the other women he fucked before.

    As someone who treated sex in a dispassionate manner, all his bedmates before were, simply speaking, just receptacles for his lust. He also pleasured them, of course. However, he only did that to maintain his interest in the deed and to keep things a little exciting.

    But with her, he was more careful, more attentive, and more excited to see her adorable, innocent reactions to his vulgarity.

    ¡¯It¡¯s because she¡¯s your sister¡¯s friend.¡¯

    Indeed, that was part of the reason why he was kinder to Long Jinjing. She was his sister¡¯s friend and the blood sibling of Evelinka¡¯s current body. He had to give her that much decency, at least.

    Even so, he realized that he should never have propositioned a one-night stand to the woman in the first ce. It was a big mistake, especially right now that he couldn¡¯t stop thinking of her. The simple truth was that he wanted to fuck her again.

    She had the image of a good, innocent and proper youngdy and yet she learned quickly how to pleasure him despite her shyness. In fact, she was eager to give him pleasure.

    There was no fear of him in her eyes, only curiosity, shy attraction and pure desire. And he liked that. Liked it too damn much.

    ¡¯Forget about her.¡¯

    Yes, that was what he should do. Forget about the woman. And yet even as he decided this, her shy smiles and the sweet way she said his name Niki yed inside his mind over and over like an endless loop.

    "Dammit!"

    It took a long time before he was able to calm down. He was distracted the entire time he showered. By the time he stepped out of the bathroom, he was cursing Long Jinjing for invading his mind.

    What was even more aggravating was that he was rock-hard once again. This time, he didn¡¯t touch himself. He had a feeling that Long Jinjing¡¯s image would be the one upying his mind if he masturbated again. At this rate, he wouldn¡¯t be able to stop thinking about her.

    "This is just lust. I¡¯ll forget about her as soon as I have another woman."

    And that was what he nned on doing. Tonight, he would fuck another woman and soon forget about the shy, sweet smile of Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing.

 Chapter 794 - Afterglow

    <h4>Chapter 794 - Afterglow </h4>

    Orchidia Beauty.

    It was back to work for Long Jinjing. Her body still felt a little stiff and sore from her wild night with Lu Zihao two days ago, but her usual energy had returned.

    She was in her office reading thepany¡¯stest financial reports and frowned at one section. Alric Bauer was once again asking for additional funds for his current experimental product. It seemed like histest attempt failed yet again. Although her sister Xin said right from the start to give Alric¡¯s product development department top priority of funds, Long Jinjing still needed to control his spending or he would end up blowing thepany¡¯s money with all his experiments. It seemed that she needed to have a word with him again.

    Sighing, she checked her schedule to find the best time to¡ª

    The door to her office opened, interrupting her mid-task. Her best friend, Chen Fei, strode in while greeting her good morning and carrying two cups oftte.

    "Good morning to you too and thanks, Xiao Fei," Long Jinjing said after her friend gave her atte.

    "That¡¯s COO Chen for you, CFO Long," Chen Fei corrected. "We¡¯re in the workce. We can¡¯t be too casual or else others will look down on us. We, the executives, need to set an example for our employees. Even your sister, that bitch¡ªI mean, even President Long who looks like she¡¯s the most casual at work is actually the strictest among us. Good thing that she hasn¡¯t been here in the past few days to take care of her man or else she¡¯ll continue to involuntary make the rest of us feel inadequate with her being such a workaholic and all that. Ugh! Just watching her work never fails to make me so tired."

    Long Jinjing chuckled. "True. Little Sister Xiu¡ªI mean, President Long has an excellent work ethic. She¡¯s a great example for us to follow."

    "What great example?" Chen Fei grumbled. "We¡¯ll all die of exhaustion and overwork if we follow a workaholic like her."

    Long Jinjing only smiled as she sipped hertte. She was about to discuss one of the reports with Chen Fei but her best friend spoke first, talking about something else not rted to work.

    "By the way, why are you dressed like that? All you need is a robber¡¯s mask and you¡¯ll be covered from head to toe."

    "Uhm, I¡¯m feeling a little cold," Long Jinjing said in a soft, ufortable voice as she looked down at her business attire today¡ªlong-sleeved turtleneck under her business jacket, long pants, and ck leather boots.

    Chen Fei was correct. She was indeed covered from head to toe. Although she also didn¡¯t want to dress like this, she had to because how else was she going to cover up all the hickeys on her body?

    "Winter ising soon," Chen Fei said. "It¡¯s indeed getting colder, not to mention that it¡¯s flu season. Take care of your health. We¡¯re very busy right now preparing for our year-endunches and big sales. I don¡¯t want your sister bitching at us for missing work."

    "Little Sis¡ªPresident Long never bitches at us about work. She discusses issues with us."

    Chen Fei shrugged. "Whatever. In my imagination, she bitches."

    Long Jinjing sighed, shaking her head. However, she was still very happy at how far their rtionship with her sister had developed. Her best friend still hated her sister only a few months ago and yet here they were now, close friends and also colleagues at an increasingly sessful start-uppany.

    "There¡¯s something different about you today." Chen Fei peered at her up and down with squinted eyes. As if that wasn¡¯t enough, her friend even started walking around her.

    Nervousness fluttered inside Long Jinjing. "W-what?"

    "Hmmm..."

    "Stop it, Xiao Fei. What are you doing? Sit down."

    "You look...hmmm." Chen Fei tapped her chin as she continued studying her. "You look blooming. Suspicious, suspicious."

    Long Jinjing gave a nervousugh.

    "What did you do to look that good despite your horrible outfit today? Are you keeping a secret from me? Hm?"

    Long Jinjing¡¯s heart jumped. Sometimes she wished that her best friend wasn¡¯t so observant. "What are you talking about? It¡¯s time to work, COO Chen."

    Chen Fei stopped in front of her and leaned closer, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did Alric give you a new experimental product without telling me? That¡¯s why you look so good? Hmph! How dare he give samples to you but not to me? This is favouritism! I¡¯llin to our President-CEO!"

    Relief flooded Long Jinjing. Sheughed.

    Their conversation was interrupted when Chen Fei¡¯s assistant knocked on the door and informed them that Jin Chonglin was on the phone. He wanted to make some changes to his men¡¯s line.

    "What?!! Again?!!!" Chen Fei roared. "That little¡ª How many times has he made changes now?! What an indecisive diva! Argh!! We already pushed back theunch date of his men¡¯s line so many times to amodate the many changes he made and you¡¯re telling me that he still wants to change something again?!! Ah!!! I¡¯m so stressed!!!"

    Long Jinjing also sighed at the situation. If they kept pushing back Jin Chonglin¡¯s first batch of products in his exclusive men¡¯s line with Orchidia Beauty, they wouldn¡¯t be able to release it until next year. She would need to redo her year-end financial projections if that was the case.

    "Go talk to him, COO Chen," she said. "I¡¯ll call President Long and ask her to talk some sense to Mr. Jin Chonglin. She¡¯s her brother-inw. Maybe she could persuade him to make up his mind soon."

    "Hmph! If that diva man wasn¡¯t a superstar, I would¡¯ve already decked him in the face a long time ago." Chen Fei said a quick goodbye and left while continuing toin about Jin Chonglin.

    Long Jinjing released a big sigh of relief. She was d that Chen Fei didn¡¯t continue questioning her about why she was "blooming". Did sexual afterglowst days after the deed?

    Shaking her head, she focused on her work,pletely pushing the image of Lu Zihao out of her mind.

 Chapter 795 - Bright Summitâ€™s Offer

    <h4>Chapter 795 - Bright Summit¡¯s Offer </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    It was the weekend. The m room was teeming with activity as Iris was busy preparing for a big formal eventter tonight. She sat and listened to Dom briefing her on her role in the event while her makeup artist, hair stylist and nail technician were all working on her at the same time.

    She would be attending a distinguished, long-running TV awards ceremony with Jin Chonglin. The two of them had been chosen to be award presenters tonight for the best original theme song category. Their duet song "Shining Eyes", the opening theme song for the highly-popr TV drama adaptation of the , "Our Love, Our Destiny", also had a high chance of being nominated for the same award category next year.

    Jin Liwei was reluctant to let her go tonight but eventually relented after she assured him many times that she could handle it. Although this awards ceremony was for celebrating the best TV shows in the past year, there would also be a lot of artists and well-known figures in the music industry attending tonight. This was an important event that she didn¡¯t want to miss. Her man wanted to escort her himself but his injuries hadn¡¯t fully healed yet.

    Things were so much better now than ever in her rtionship with Jin Liwei. They had grown closer and their connection became deeper after she confessed to him that she wasn¡¯t the real Long Xin. More often than not, she would burst into tears when he called her by her real name, Evelina. She would then me her hormones whenever this happened.

    It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and reduced the burden in her heart a great deal. She was still carrying some burden which was her past identity as a Vetrov but that was something she needed to discuss with her big brother first before telling Jin Liwei.

    Lu Zihao hadn¡¯t shown himself ever since his confrontation with Jin Liwei. She tried calling him many times and even resorted to asking Ketchup to pester him, but he wouldn¡¯t give her a definite answer as to when he would be back at Dragon Pce.

    It wasn¡¯t her that he was avoiding but Jin Liwei. However, she knew that it wasn¡¯t avoidance due to anxiety. It was due to irritation. He was irritated at the entity inside him. She sensed that he must be having some problems dealing with the remnant of the real Lu Zihao. The remnant should be extremely sensitive to anything that had to do with Jin Liwei right now.

    She understood the struggles of living with a remnant, so she decided to let her brother alone for now and not continue bothering him through Ketchup. Their circumstances might be simr but they were not exactly the same. She might worsen his situation if she attempted to help him. Only he could resolve his issues with the remnant inside his body. He needed to face it by himself.

    Once he calmed down and felt ready to return to Dragon Pce, they could sit down and talk about sharing the whole truth of their past identities with Jin Liwei. She trusted her man and knew that he would never betray them and throw them to the Vetrovs¡¯ enemies.

    As for Jin Liwei, he was still grieving for the loss of his fifth brother, the real Lu Zihao. He also needed some time before he was ready to meet with her big brother who now owned Lu Zihao¡¯s body and identity. Nevertheless, he was handling his loss well given the circumstances and not allowing his grief to cloud his good sense. All she could do during this period was tofort him and simply be there for him whenever he needed her.

    The two of them had also finished discussing her work schedule together a couple of days ago. They still ended up getting into a heated argument about it which caused her to once again lose control of her emotions. She raged at him while shedding annoying tears. It was only when he sweet-talked her by calling her Evelina that she calmed down enough to ede to his suggestions.

    Her current unstable emotions were bing a big source of frustration to her. At the same time, it made her appreciate Jin Liwei¡¯s patience with her even more.

    He told herst night when she apologized to him about her increasingly short fuse, ¡¯Don¡¯t worry about me, love. If you want to cry, go cry. If you feel angry, go rage. Dealing with your meltdowns is but a small price for me to pay when you¡¯re carrying my babies and will give birth to them in a few months.¡¯

    After he said that, she bawled like a baby in his arms, touched by his sweet words. When she was done crying, she wanted to make love with him but became pissed off again upon remembering that they couldn¡¯t have sex due to his injuries.

    As for her work schedule, they both decided that she would withdraw from most of her workmitments, especially the minor ones, and only keep the major contracts and offers. Her guest appearances would also be reduced to the bare minimum until after her self-imposed maternity leave.

    Her manager wasn¡¯t very happy with her sudden decision to reduce her workload. She hadn¡¯t told Tang Yiyi or anyone outside their household about her pregnancy yet. She and Jin Liwei were being careful because anything could happen during the first trimester. Tang Yiyi had been trying to persuade her to change her mind but to no avail.

    "Boss, Big Sis Yiyi wants to talk to you," Dom said after answering a call from her manager in the middle of his exuberant chatter about tonight¡¯s awards ceremony.

    Iris took the phone from him. "Hello, Elder Sister Yiyi?"

    Tang Yiyi reminded her of the arrangements between her team and Jin Chonglin¡¯s once they arrived at the red carpetter tonight and also informed her about additional instructions from the event¡¯s organizers. After confirming everything, her manager still didn¡¯t hang up the call.

    "Iris, I know that you n on reducing your public appearances from now on, but I just received an amazing offer for you. The higher-ups at Bright Summit are nning to give you a solo concert next year. A big one, Iris."

    Iris¡¯ sat up straighter. Her eyes widened and her heart started racing. She held the phone tighter. "My own solo concert?"

    Dom and the others also stopped what they were doing and leaned forward to listen to the phone conversation.

    "Yes, that¡¯s right! I know that you¡¯ve been wanting this. This will be on a different scale from the fan concerts and the shared concerts you did with other artists. You¡¯ll finally have your very own major solo concert at a big venue, Iris. Your first one and it will be huge, I promise! JJ¡¯s recordbel will be onboard, of course. Once it¡¯s confirmed, we¡¯ll start preparations right away so that everything will be perfect for next year. What do you think? Do you want it?" Tang Yiyi¡¯s voice was very enticing.

    "Of course, I want it," Iris replied, her voice filled with emotion. "Oh, Elder Sister Yiyi. I want it so much!"

 Chapter 796 - Flood Of Inspiration

    <h4>Chapter 796 - Flood Of Inspiration </h4>

    "Then it¡¯s a yes?" Tang Yiyi asked.

    Iris wanted to say yes so badly but couldn¡¯t. She sighed and with a heavy heart, she said, "It¡¯s one of my biggest dreams to have my own solo concert in a big venue but...I¡¯ll have to say no this time. I¡¯m sorry, Elder Sister Yiyi. I can¡¯t prepare for a concert right now or even next year. Maybe in two or three years."

    "What?!" Tang Yiyi was shocked by her answer. "Iris, why? Your poprity this year is on a great momentum. You¡¯re on fire! This is the perfect time to strike while the iron is hot! Tell me why you¡¯re rejecting this amazing offer."

    "I¡¯m not rejecting it, just dying it for two or three years. Believe me, Elder Sister Yiyi. I want this much more than you do but I just can¡¯t do it right now."

    Tang Yiyi was silent. Then she said, "I know very well that you have great ambition for your career. I¡¯ve seen how hard you work. As a matter of fact, you have one of the best work ethics in the industry that I¡¯ve ever witnessed. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re suddenly withdrawing from all these amazing career opportunities knocking at your door right now. You¡¯re not telling me something, Iris."

    Iris¡¯ heart jumped but she didn¡¯t reply.

    "I¡¯m your manager. You have to tell me if something happens to you that makes you unable to work. Remember that I have your best interests. If you just talk to me about whatever you¡¯re going through right now, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll figure something out."

    Iris sighed. Although she felt bad for not telling her manager about her pregnancy, it was a decision she made with Jin Liwei. Career was her number one focus before meeting him. But now, their family had be her top priority. She wanted her own solo concert and felt a little twinge in her heart for letting this opportunity pass her by for now, but she would never put her babies at risk for it.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Elder Sister Yiyi," she said, sighing again. "I can¡¯t tell you anything right now, but I promise that I will soon."

    "Fine. If that¡¯s what you want. I can never persuade you once you set your mind on something. You even regrly butt heads with Mr. JJ who¡¯s well-known for being one of the worst hotheads in the music industry and not lose against him. I can¡¯t win against you."

    Iris could only smile at that.

    "So what are your ns now, then?" Tang Yiyi asked. "You made me wipe almost your entire schedule. The higher-ups are not going to like it, especially since they reserved so many resources for you next year."

    "I¡¯ll focus on making music," Iris said. "Especially on my cob with Teacher Enrique."

    "Oh, right! All of us are very excited about your cob with Mr. Legendary Hitmaker Enrique Valdez. The higher-ups at Bright Summit are especially eager about it. How¡¯s thating along?"

    "I have a lot of ideas that I need to organize and make sense of first. But he says that I shouldn¡¯t rush anything and just let everything happen naturally. Only then will we be able to create great, meaningful music."

    Tang Yiyi made a sound of approval.

    "Actually, I¡¯m feeling very inspired. I was able topose some new music during my free time but they¡¯re not suited for the cob. Therefore, I just discussed with Mr. JJ on the phone yesterday about whether I should give them to other artists to sing and just be credited as the songwriter."

    "Hmm." Tang Yiyi sounded hesitant. "Why don¡¯t you record those songs for yourself? Or maybe do another duet like what you did with Jin Chonglin? Or another cob like what you did with Pandemonium back then? You sing your own songs better than anyone, Iris."

    Iris chuckled and felt good about what her manager said. "Indeed, I sing my own songs better than anyone."

    "Then why do you n on letting others sing your songs?"

    "The songs that I have now are too much of a mishmash of different styles," Iris exined. "Even if I want to sing them, I won¡¯t be able to fit them in a cohesive album and I don¡¯t want to release them as singles either when they¡¯re so different from each other. That¡¯s why I thought that it¡¯s better to give them to other artists whose musical styles match the songs perfectly."

    "What did Mr. JJ say?" Tang Yiyi asked next.

    "Oh, he sent me a list of all the artists signed under his recordbel and told me to choose which ones I like to perform my songs."

    "Fine. I get it. Since Mr. JJ himself approves of your decision, then who am I to stop you? I¡¯ll just have to exin this to the higher-ups and use Mr. Enrique Valdez and Mr. JJ¡¯s names a lot to make them relent."

    "Thank you, Elder Sister Yiyi," Iris said in a sincere tone. "I owe you."

    "Of course, you owe me. I want Orchidia Beauty¡¯s new lotion but they¡¯re already sold out when I tried buying. Reserve me some when you restock."

    Irisughed. "Alright. I¡¯ll do that."

    Afterwards, they talked about tonight¡¯s event again for a short time before finally hanging up the call. Iris returned the phone to Dom. Then she started to change into her dress. As she was doing so, she thought about her conversation with her manager.

    Although she omitted the part about her pregnancy, the other parts were all true. She was indeed working on music but that was normal. Music had always been an integral part of her life.

    After learning that she was pregnant, she began to experience an incredible flood of inspiration even as her emotions were bing increasingly unstable due to hormones. The inspiration surged even more after her confession to Jin Liwei a few days ago.

    If only Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t monitoring her workload so closely, she would be able to pump song after song every day without rest.

 Chapter 797 - 100 Kids

    <h4>Chapter 797 - 100 Kids </h4>

    Despite Jin Liwei¡¯s increased overprotectiveness, Iris didn¡¯t resent him. Their babies growing inside her were their top priority right now. If she had to slow down on work to keep the twins safe, then she would dly do so.

    In addition to having more time on her music, she was also working on Bacon. She was almost finished optimizing him but still needed to conduct more tests to figure out his overall potential and capabilities. Once all his configurations werepleted, then she could start assigning tasks for him just like Ketchup.

    Finally, Iris was done getting dressed. It was a deceptively simple draped-style, asymmetrical, silver-white dress. Her left shoulder was bare while her right arm was covered in a long, flowing sleeve which fluttered every time she moved. The dress hugged her hourss body, showcasing her almost perfect proportions while also appearing elegant and modest. Other than her left arm and neck, no unnecessary extra skin was exposed. The material was light and she looked effortless in the dress.

    "Uwah! You look like a goddess, Boss!" Dom eximed and immediately started taking photos¡ªfirst to send to Jin Liwei, and second to post on Iris¡¯ social media ountster.

    The makeup artist, hair stylist and nail technician all echoed him.

    "Beautiful! Gorgeous!"

    "Boss Iris, you look like a bride in a wedding dress!"

    "Oh my God, you¡¯re right! Although this dress looks so simple at first nce, it bes extraordinary when Boss Iris wears it. She looks like the most beautiful bride ever!"

    All three of them had long since been converted into die-hard ck Stars. They left Bright Summit¡¯s employ to be Iris¡¯ private m team instead and were paid handsomely for their work. In addition to working for their beloved Boss Iris, they also received other awesome perks because she was a generous boss as long as they did their jobs well and didn¡¯t betray her. Their favourite was receiving Orchidia Beauty samples. Another one was that if they made her particrly beautiful and Jin Liwei liked it, he would give them huge bonuses even if he technically wasn¡¯t their employer. All in all, they couldn¡¯t ask for a better client/boss/goddess than Iris Long.

    Iris smiled and studied herself in the mirror before nodding in satisfaction. This wasn¡¯t actually her first choice of dress. The one she chose before was an extravagant, haute couture dress from a world-famous French fashion house. However, Jin Liweimented during her final fitting that she looked better in this simpler dress from a lesser-known Chinese-American designer.

    At first, she didn¡¯t agree with him but after waking up the next day, she changed her mind and decided that yes, she indeed looked better in the simpler dress. He was right. The simplicity would make her shine brighter on the red carpet among the other celebrities who decided to wear extravagant dresses.

    Her phone rang. Dom answered it for her. It was Jin Liwei requesting a video call after receiving Iris¡¯ photos that Dom sent him just now.

    "As I thought, the dress is perfect on you," Jin Liwei said. "You look stunning, love."

    Iris did a twirl for him. "Thank you."

    "I wish I could escort you to the event."

    She took the phone from Dom. "I¡¯ll be fine, darling. I¡¯ll head home as soon as the awards ceremony ends. Elder Sister Yiyi already arranged an excuse for me to exin why I won¡¯t attend the after-party."

    "Good. I also already called Chonglin and told him to keep an eye on you at all times."

    She made a face. "You didn¡¯t have to do that. I¡¯m not a child."

    He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. She knew what he was about to say and why he didn¡¯t say it in the end. It was likely that he was about to tell her like always, "You¡¯re pregnant," but stopped upon remembering that her m team was present and listening to their conversation. Other than Dom, the others in the room didn¡¯t know about her pregnancy yet.

    She changed the topic. "How about you, darling? Even if it¡¯s only half-day, I¡¯m still worried about you returning to work at yourpany."

    He assured her that he was fine. They chatted for a few minutes before hanging up.

    A few secondster, she received a notification from the bank informing her that someone sent her US$10 million. She frowned and immediately headed to the powder room for some privacy. Then she called the person who sent her the money.

    "What was that?" she demanded.

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "Have you forgotten, love? ording to our prenuptial agreement, I¡¯ll give you 10 million US dors for every child you give me. We had Bacon a few days ago, our fourth one."

    "Oh, right," she said but her frown didn¡¯t disappear. She sighed. "Darling, you really don¡¯t have to do this. I didn¡¯t want that use in our prenup anyway but you wouldn¡¯t budge."

    "Evelina."

    Her heart skipped a beat. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling when he said her real name. "Yes?"

    "We¡¯re both business people and the heads of ourpanies. Contracts are essential to us. We already signed our prenup so both of us need to honour it."

    She sighed again. "Fine."

    "I can¡¯t wait until the twins are born."

    She smiled before teasing him, "Aren¡¯t you worried that I¡¯ll drain all your money by bringing home new babies all the time?"

    Heughed louder this time. "Don¡¯t worry about draining your husband¡¯s money, wife. Besides, didn¡¯t I tell you before that I don¡¯t mind raising a hundred kids with you? We only have 4 so far and another 2 on the way. There are still room for 94 more kids."

    "Maybe I¡¯ll do just that. I¡¯ll be an instant global billionaire just by giving you a hundred children."

    "You¡¯re already a wonderful mother," he said all of a sudden.

    She stoppedughing.

    "I¡¯m serious."

    "Thank you," she whispered. "I love you, Liwei."

    "I love you too, Evelina. So much."

    She smiled and touched her t stomach, silently telling her babies that their father was the best.

 Chapter 798 - Pathetic Obsession

    <h4>Chapter 798 - Pathetic Obsession </h4>

    tinum Sky Condominium.

    Rimsky-Korsakov¡¯s "Scheherazade, Op. 35" flowed throughout the sleek, modern, almost empty penthouse. The rich and exciting melody washed over Lu Zihao like a potent incense, intoxicating him until all thoughts were temporarily emptied out of his mind.

    It was just him and the music. His sister had long inspired him to use music as a form of meditation whenever traditional meditating failed.

    He was at his newest condo unit. The old man, Grandpa Lu, owned all tinum Sky buildings and properties in the country and across Asia. It was a bigger real estatepany than his sister¡¯s Gold Heightspany.

    The old man dumped several tinum Sky buildings to him, including this newly-built condo, and ordered him to manage them. Lu Zihao epted the task because he needed several new, safe hide-outs for his group, Shadow Winds.

    The authorities were now starting to pay attention to his group, especially since they already eliminated quite a lot of local gangs and triad groups across the country while also taking over their area of influence. Although the authorities had no concrete information about Shadow Winds, they now knew that there was a new power in the country¡¯s underworld.

    For now, they were stillbelled as a vignte group but Lu Zihao knew that once the authorities felt threatened by them¡ªwhich mighte sooner than expected¡ªthen the official hunt would start. However, he wasn¡¯t worried. His subordinates¡¯ overall skills had improved a great deal and they had umted plenty of resources to prepare for various contingency ns. His group was more prepared to face almost anything.

    Compared to a criminal empire like the Vetrov organization, Shadow Winds could only be considered a small group. Leading a small group like this was nothing but child¡¯s y to him. He didn¡¯t fear the international authorities back when he was still Niki Vetrov, so why should he start fearing this country¡¯s authorities, especially now that he had a different identity in the underworld as the mysterious Mr. Z?

    Nevertheless, the Vetrov annihtion left a deep impact on him. He learned the lesson of never growingcent in the harshest possible way¡ªthrough death. He swore that what happened in his past life wouldn¡¯t happen again in this life.

    The symphonic suite finally finished ying. Silence descended in the penthouse. Lu Zihao opened his eyes from his reclining position on the couch, his natural night vision allowing him to see everything clearly despite the darkness in the spacious living room.

    ¡¯One day, I¡¯ll find those bastards who annihted us. I¡¯ll do to them what they did to us a thousand-fold. I won¡¯t stop until this revenge ispleted.¡¯

    It was better to focus on thoughts of revenge right now because if he didn¡¯t, Long Jinjing would fill his mind once again. He started to feel restless again but this time, it had nothing to do with the remnant but his own lust instead.

    He tried fucking other more beautiful and sexier women than Long Jinjing in the past few days. His body would react like normal at first but when it was time to do the actual deed, his erection would soften.

    It was like his penis was telling him that it didn¡¯t want to enter any other women except for Long Jinjing. Once it tasted her, it didn¡¯t want anybody else. Lu Zihao found this uneptable.

    Since his manhood wouldn¡¯t cooperate whenever he was about to enter other women, he could only ke a part of his lust through blowjobs. His manhood would stay hard long enough for that, at least.

    However, getting blowjobs from those women had been immensely unsatisfying, and worse, he had to close his eyes and focus in order to get through the entire process. As a result, he could onlyst for a couple of minutes at most. And that was only because he was imagining that it was Long Jinjing doing it to him until he opened his eyes and saw that it wasn¡¯t her head bobbing up and down on his groin but a random woman instead that he picked up from one of his clubs.

    His worst record had beenst night which onlysted for a shameful ten seconds. Ten fucking seconds! And that was because he refused to think about Long Jinjing at all.

    After that, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore. How could he allow his pride as a man to take the same blow over and over again in front of those women? It was the first time that he had ever felt so embarrassed in his entire life. At this rate, he might end up suffering from erectile dysfunction. For the first time in history, he panicked about his sex life.

    "Damn you, Long Jinjing."

    Then his face twisted in disbelief as he looked down at his groin. What the hell?

    Lo and behold!

    An erection!

    Shit.

    He was just thinking about the damn woman and his manhood was already raring its excited head. This was ridiculous! He groaned and gritted his teeth.

    This was definitely a test of his willpower and discipline. He knew that if he gave in to temptation and touched himself while thinking about her, he might end up bing obsessed with her.

    There was no way that he, Niki Vetrov, would allow himself to develop a pathetic obsession with a woman. No way in hell!

    Fucking Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing was a huge mistake. He never should have propositioned a one-night stand with her in the first ce. Now he had to suffer the consequences of his poor decision back then. And the worst consequence might just possibly be erectile dysfunction for the rest of his life.

    Therge, t-screen TV turned on all of a sudden, interrupting his lust-filled thoughts. He sat up and went on automatic high-alert mode.

    A cat appeared on the screen. He narrowed his eyes before releasing an annoyed breath.

    "Kid, I already told you to stop pestering me. And what¡¯s with that new appearance? Tired of being white? Are you in your rebellious period now and prefer to wear ck? Don¡¯t cause trouble for your mother."

 Chapter 799 - Say Your Name Again

    <h4>Chapter 799 - Say Your Name Again </h4>

    The ck cat on the TV screen didn¡¯t reply right away. It just blinked its sharp golden eyes and stared at Lu Zihao while swishing its tail slowly behind it.

    Lu Zihao sighed in annoyance. "Not talking, huh. Is this your new method of bothering me? Creeping me out by staring at me in silence? Give it up now, kid. Whatever you try, it won¡¯t work on me. Tell your mother that I¡¯m busy and that I don¡¯t want to see your father¡¯s face for now. I¡¯ll eventually return to Dragon Pce but only when I feel like it."

    Finally, the ck cat spoke. "Greetings, Uncle Zihao."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s lifted an eyebrow before narrowing his eyes to study the cat more closely. It sounded different than usual. It still had a childish voice but was calmer and not as talkative as before.

    "Uncle is mistaking me for that annoying white dumbhead but I¡¯m not my older sister Ketchup. I havee tonight to introduce myself. My name is Bacon and I am your new nephew. It¡¯s a pleasure to finally meet you, Uncle Zihao."

    Lu Zihao blinked. "Say your name again."

    "I am Bacon."

    Lu Zihao made a face before heaving a heavy sigh. "I shouldn¡¯t be surprised anymore by how my sister names her kids."

    "Mother and Father say that Bacon is a magnificent name that matches my extraordinary existence." The ck cat¡¯s tail swished a little faster to indicate how proud it was of its name, even as his expression remained impassive.

    Shaking his head, Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t help but pity the innocent ck cat AI. Well, at least his sister didn¡¯t name the poor new kid Fried Eggs or Hotdog. Imagine a cat named Hotdog. Hah! How pitiful. Compared to those other stupid names, Bacon was indeed not bad.

    Now that his sister¡¯s, uh, "unique" naming sense struck again, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from worrying about her twins who were still growing inside her womb. He must remind her again to never name her human children. Even her man, Jin Liwei, couldn¡¯t be trusted in this matter. If the couple was to be allowed to name their twins, those poor kids would grow up having to face other people¡¯s ridicule.

    After another sigh, Lu Zihao pushed the matter of his sister¡¯s naming sense aside and focused on his current visitor. His body shifted into a casual sitting pose but his expression became guarded. Although he knew that only his sister could create such an advanced cat AI, this was still the first time that he was encountering...Bacon.

    Ah, shit. He winced. The name was really ridiculous.

    Anyway, back to the main topic. He pressed his fingertips together in a steeple above his chest while looking at the ck cat.

    "Why did you visit me?" he asked. "Is it only to introduce yourself?"

    Bacon blinked his golden eyes and answered in a serious, calm and polite tone. "That is one of the reasons, yes. But I have another more important reason. Bacon has seen Uncle Zihao¡¯s information from the white dumbhead¡¯s internal records and it caused me to be interested in Uncle¡¯s work, specifically your group, the Shadow Winds."

    Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes. "Heh~ Is that so?" His mouth curved in what looked like an amused smile but it didn¡¯t reach his eyes. "I already know that the white cat is keeping tabs on me to some extent. I don¡¯t mind. Your mother knows about my true nature, anyway. But the real question is...how much information does the white cat, and in extension, your mother, know about my group? With your mother¡¯s skills, digging everything about Shadow Winds and our activities is nothing but child¡¯s y."

    "Not much," Bacon replied. "The records mostly contain superficial data because Mother won¡¯t let the white dumbhead gather more ssified information about Shadow Winds. Mother says we need to respect Uncle Zihao¡¯s privacy most of the time and only disturb you when we have a valid reason. In recent days, however, Father has instructed the white dumbhead to do a more thorough background check on all of Uncle¡¯s subordinates who are assigned to assist in Mother¡¯s security and that of Dragon Pce Home #10. And Mother granted permission."

    "Heh~" Lu Zihao tapped his steepled fingertips.

    He didn¡¯t really mind the background checks on his subordinates. In fact, he approved of it. If it concerned his sister¡¯s safety, he would do anything. If necessary, he would even abandon his most loyal subordinates without batting an eye. It was good that his sister¡¯s man, Jin Liwei, was taking more steps in ensuring her safety, especially now that she was pregnant.

    Although the man¡¯s presence was currently a huge source of irritation to him due to the remnant¡¯s attachment, he still had to admit that Jin Liwei indeed loved his sister and cared about her. Jin Liwei also had the status, wealth and resources to keep her and their children safe. He might not want to see the man right now but he felt assured to leave his sister to Jin Liwei.

    Lu Zihao looked at the ck cat again. "Is it alright that you¡¯re telling me all this? Won¡¯t your parents scold you for revealing this kind of information to me?"

    "Mother and Father won¡¯t mind. Uncle Zihao is an important person to both of them."

    This time, the smile on his lips became genuine. "So tell me, kid. What is your true purpose foring to see me?"

    "Bacon is very interested in Uncle Zihao¡¯s work. The white dumbhead is busy with her daily chores assigned by Mother and Father but I, Bacon, am not interested in doing the same."

    Interest glinted in Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes but he concealed them as soon as it appeared. "Be more specific. I like decisive individuals, not those who dilly-dally with useless chatter like your sister. Tell me exactly what it is that you want."

    The cat¡¯s tail swished faster. "Uncle Zihao, Bacon would like to assist in your work. I have extraordinary capabilities and will surely be useful to you. In exchange, Uncle has to pay me fairly for my work."

 Chapter 800 Two - Faced Crook

    <h4>Chapter 800 Two - Faced Crook </h4>

    Lu Zihao suppressed his excitement. He sped his hands together to control himself. Ever since his sister introduced Ketchup to him, he had been wanting his very own advanced AI.

    Shadow Winds had a hacker team, collectively known in the hacker world as ShaWn. They were highly skilled hackers but still paledpared to his sister who was a genius world-ss hacker. Since he didn¡¯t want to drag her into his group and wanted her to continue living a happy and peaceful life, he could only provide generous resources for ShaWn to improve their current hacking skills.

    Another alternative to increasing his group¡¯s hacking prowess was to have a dedicated advanced AI working for him. And if that AI was created by a genius like his sister, then all the better.

    It was alright if the AI didn¡¯t have a dynamic personality like Ketchup. As a matter of fact, he didn¡¯t want one with such an exuberant personality. It would only annoy him to no end. As long as its system was advanced and in good working order, he would take it without an extra feature like a personality.

    He requested many times for his sister to create one for him too, but so far, she hadn¡¯t given him a definite answer yet. She wouldn¡¯t agree but neither would she reject his request. All he could do was wait. He knew that she was reluctant to give him such a powerful tool given his direct connection to the criminal underworld. With each passing month with no word from her about this matter, his hope dwindled until he stopped expecting.

    But now...such a possibility finally arrived.

    "In short, you want to be my subordinate?" Lu Zihao asked the ck cat AI.

    "No, Uncle Zihao," the cat replied. "Bacon doesn¡¯t want to be your subordinate. I want to be a frencer. I want the right to refuse a task that I don¡¯t want to do."

    "Heh~" Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth twitched upon hearing what the ck cat AI said.

    Indeed, it was better to have an AI with no personality. Only his sister was capable of creating virtual entities that had their own distinct personalities, free will, and the need to fight for their "rights". He mentally rolled his eyes.

    This Bacon in particr had apletely different personality from Ketchup. He seemed tougher, less gullible, and more cunning than his older sister.

    At least with Ketchup, Lu Zihao could read her intentions like an open book. She had a wide range of expressions and an overdramatic way of talking. Even if you didn¡¯t want to care about her thoughts, she would push it on you with great enthusiasm.

    But with this new cat AI, its expression and tone remained the same, not revealing anything. Lu Zihao had yet to discover the corrtion between Bacon¡¯s real emotions and the movements of his tail.

    He knew that Ketchup¡¯s personality wasrgely based on Dominic Chua. It was so obvious to everyone without hearing his sister¡¯s confirmation. Both were overdramatic, gossip-loving chatterboxes.

    Thus, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder which scoundrel Bacon¡¯s personality was based on. That person must be one hell of a sly rogue. His sister should really be more careful in choosing people to model the personalities of her AIs. He could already detect the scheming nature of this ck cat AI. With this type of ck-bellied personality, he knew that Bacon might grow crooked in the future if not guided properly.

    "I don¡¯t mind employing you as a ¡¯frencer¡¯, if that¡¯s what you want to call it," Lu Zihao said, returning to his conversation with Bacon. "But before we discuss terms, I want to know first if your mother knows that you want to work for me and if she approves of it."

    Bacon¡¯s tail twitched.

    Lu Zihao caught the odd movement. His eyes narrowed before experiencing a sh of realization. He wasn¡¯t 100% sure yet if what he was thinking was correct but his attention was now focused on Bacon¡¯s tail instead of the ck cat¡¯s perfectly impassive facial expression and tone.

    "Tell me the truth, kid," he said while making both his expression and tone stern. "If you want to work for me, you better be honest. And never ever lie to me or you¡¯ll suffer the consequences. Angering me won¡¯t be pretty. Just ask your mother. She knows."

    Bacon¡¯s tail was drawing hesitant circles. After a few seconds, he finally admitted, "The truth is that I decided toe and visit Uncle Zihao by myself without informing Mother and Father."

    "Ah." Lu Zihao crossed his arms over his chest and made his expression appear grim this time.

    Bacon tail¡¯s continued drawing hesitant circles before it made a determined thump. "I have already made my decision and this is what I want. If that white moron was able to persuade Mother and Father to allow her to run her own business and earn her own money, then I, Bacon, can do it too! Not the part about creating my own business, that¡¯s too much of a hassle. I don¡¯t have the patience for it. I¡¯d rather be a frencer with more freedom while doing work that I¡¯m interested in, like Uncle Zihao¡¯s work in Shadow Winds."

    "Heh~" Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow. "You¡¯re really interested in what my group does?"

    "Yes, Uncle."

    "It¡¯s not easy work. It may be harder than what the white cat, your sister is doing."

    "Bacon is not afraid of hard work, Uncle Zihao. I just want to work on things that I¡¯m interested in. And of course, I also want to earn money."

    "Fine. But you need your mother¡¯s permission first. That¡¯s non-negotiable. I don¡¯t want that you working for me to be an issue and drive a wedge between your mother and I."

    "I understand, Uncle," Bacon said. His tail¡¯s movements were cautious. "Mother is currently busy attending a TV awards ceremony with Uncle Chonglin, so I can¡¯t ask for her permission right now."

    Lu Zihao shrugged. "That¡¯s fine. You can ask her tomorrow." Then his gaze turned sharp. "But what if she doesn¡¯t agree with your request?"

    In his most serious expression yet, the ck cat said, "Then Bacon will act cute."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth twitched but he remained silent and waited for the cat to exin himself.

    Bacon exined, "The white dumbhead told me that whenever she wants something, all she needs to do is act cute and the chances of Mother agreeing to her request increases. I heard that our older siblings Big Sister Ice Cream and Big Brother Popcorn also do it on a regr basis. In short, Mother is weak whenever her children act cute. Therefore, all I need to do is weaken Mother¡¯s resolve with my cuteness. Besides, Mother loves Uncle Zihao. I predict that Mother will eventually agree and grant me permission to offer my frence services to Uncle."

    Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t surprised to hear this. His sister had always adored kittens and wanted to own one in their past lives, but their mother forbade her for fear of softening her already kind heart even further.

    Bacon¡¯s tail suddenly thumped hard. "Bacon almost forgot. I might not be able to ask Mother tonight because she¡¯s unavable but I can still ask for Father¡¯s permission. Wait here, Uncle Zihao. I¡¯ll ask Father now."

    "Wait¡ª"

    Lu Zihao was toote in stopping the ck cat. Bacon¡¯s golden eyes had already dimmed. He sighed. What else could he do but wait?

    He didn¡¯t feel optimistic at all that Jin Liwei would permit Bacon to work for him, especially after their confrontation. Their brotherhood had been dissolved after that day, or more specifically, the brotherhood of the original Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei. It was the reason why the remnant acted up and almost drove him crazy before he was able to subdue the annoying existence inside him with great effort.

    "Uncle Zihao, I am back." Bacon¡¯s golden eyes glowed brightly again.

    "And?"

    "Father has given me permission," Bacon said in an uninterested tone. His tail, however, was telling another story. It was thumping hard behind him like that of an excited dog.

    Now Lu Zihao was certain that Bacon¡¯s tail was a more urate reflection of his true feelings than his expression or tone. The person his personality was based on was no doubt a two-faced crook.

    On another note, he was surprised that Jin Liwei granted Bacon permission to work for him. He didn¡¯t know what to feel about that.

 Chapter 801 Brother - in

    <h4>Chapter 801 Brother - in </h4>

    The remnant inside Lu Zihao started stirring again after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s involvement in the matter at hand. Feelings that didn¡¯t belong to him started flooding his psyche but he quickly suppressed them. He subdued the remnant which was currently insisting that it wanted to see its third brother, talk to him, and re-establish their precious brotherhood.

    In the end, he won another temporary battle. But if he continued on like this, his sanity would eventually fray. Bloodlust started leaking out of him again, as he reinforced his will on the remnant.

    There was no way that he, Niki Vetrov, would allow a mere remnant to defeat him and kick him out of this body. It wasn¡¯t even aplete soul but only a small, annoying piece that refused to let go of the body and the original Lu Zihao¡¯s attachments in the world like the brotherhood with Jin Liwei and the others.

    He was now the new owner of this body. Sharing his body? Hah! No way! It was like asking him, Niki Vetrov, who was known as a territorial devil to openly and kindly share what he considered his with an enemy. Impossible!

    The increasingly regr battles for control might be difficult and taxing, but he was never afraid of fighting. With his strength and willpower, he was confident that he would one day win the war andpletely defeat the annoying remnant and take full control of this body.

    After subduing the remnant, he returned his attention on Bacon whose tail was now thumping. He had to admit though, that the ck cat was indeed quite skilled in hiding its real thoughts and emotions behind its almost perfect impassive face. Once Bacon started working for him, he would train the cat to control his entire body. Showing its real thoughts and emotions through its tail was a huge weakness and Lu Zihao didn¡¯t tolerate any ring weaknesses in him and also in his subordinates.

    "Since you got parental permission, fine. I¡¯ll consider your request to work for me as a frencer. But first, let¡¯s talk about the terms of our working rtionship. How much sry do you want?"

    Bacon blinked its golden eyes. "10 million US dors per day?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned dark. "Absolutely not."

    "5 million US dors per day?"

    "Hell no."

    "1 million¡ª"

    "No," Lu Zihao interrupted, sighing. "If your asking price has that many zeroes, forget about getting paid in US dors."

    "Fine, Uncle Zihao." Then Bacon countered, "How about 1 million RMB per day?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth twitched. On the inside, he wasughing at the ck cat¡¯s attempt at negotiating. Damn. This cat was indeed his sister¡¯s child. Wait. His sister was never this shameless when asking him in their past lives. It was the old man who corrupted his sister, teaching her about being shameless in front of family. Grandpa Lu¡¯s boomingughter echoed in his mind.

    He crossed his arms over his big, muscled chest and threw a hard, stern look at Bacon. "Do you think that you are your mother, the world-ss hacker Drakon? I haven¡¯t met you before tonight so that means that you¡¯ve only been ¡¯born¡¯ recently. You haven¡¯t proven yourself yet. There is no way that you¡¯re worth 1 million in either US dors or RMB right now. With how inexperienced you are, even your older sister, that white cat is worth more than you."

    Bacon¡¯s tail twitched, an indication that it didn¡¯t like what his uncle said that his older sister Ketchup was worth more than him right now. Finally, he admitted, "Bacon doesn¡¯t have fullprehension yet of the value of money as it applies in thebour market. Since this is the case, I will ask my father to negotiate a fair sry for me instead."

    A furrow formed between Lu Zihao¡¯s brows. His remnant stirred again at the mention of Jin Liwei. "There¡¯s no need to disturb your father again about this matter. Just ask your mother tomorrow."

    "ording to the white dumbhead¡¯s records, Mother is weak to Uncle Zihao. If I ask Mother, then there is a high probability that she will tell me to work for Uncle for free which is not in line with my original intention of wanting to offer my assistance to Uncle¡¯s work in the first ce. Bacon doesn¡¯t want to work for free. The white dumbhead is earning her own money so I want to earn my own money, too. That¡¯s why it¡¯s better for me to ask my father instead. Father is an adept businessman and he will surely negotiate a fair sry for me. After all, he is also the one overseeing and guiding the white dumbhead in running her own business."

    Lu Zihao was about to dissuade the ck cat but before he could say anything, Bacon had already said, "Wait a moment, Uncle Zihao. Bacon will now ask Father."

    The ck cat AI¡¯s golden eyes dimmed once again.

    Lu Zihao cursed. He almost turned off the TV in annoyance but then remembered that doing so was useless against his sister¡¯s AI children. All he could do was wait for his new nephew to return.

    At the moment, he really didn¡¯t want to have any contact with Jin Liwei because the man had a direct effect on the original¡¯s remnant. He didn¡¯t have the patience to keep subduing the irritating existence inside him in such short intervals. He knew that avoiding Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t a sustainable solution, especially after promising his sister to attend their wedding at the end of the month. Nevertheless, all he wanted was a break to recharge his frayed nerves caused by the remnant in the past few days.

    Bacon¡¯s dim golden eyes glowed brightly again. Without even so much of a greeting that he was back, he immediately announced, "Now connecting Father¡¯s call in 3...2..."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t want to talk to Jin Liwei. "No, wait¡ª"

    "1!"

    "Hello, Lu Zihao," Jin Liwei¡¯s voice sounded throughout the penthouse.

    Silence.

    "Or should I say, Brother-inw Niki?"

    Lu Zihao shot up from his seat. "What did you just call me?"

 Chapter 802 - Drop All Pretense

    <h4>Chapter 802 - Drop All Pretense </h4>

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply right away. It gave Lu Zihao some time to calm his initial shock.

    ¡¯It¡¯s fine. He knows that I call my sister Evelinka and that she sometimes calls me Big Brother Niki. We already made up the story that Evelinka and Niki are our online names in aputer game we yed before. Him calling me Niki doesn¡¯t mean that he knows the truth.¡¯

    After telling himself this, he calmed down and returned to his seat on the couch. As for Jin Liwei referring to him as brother-inw, he didn¡¯t think too much about it. He already expected that Jin Liwei would stop calling him Fifth Brother after their confrontation in his sister¡¯s piano room.

    Without their so-called brotherhood, the only remaining bond connecting them now was through his sister. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t surprising that Jin Liwei would now address him as Brother-inw instead of Fifth Brother.

    Despite the remnant¡¯s fierce protests, this was the result that he wanted when he tried to mess with Jin Liwei¡¯s head by hinting that he and his sister had a big secret that the man couldn¡¯t handle.

    No, that was wrong.

    To be honest, he didn¡¯t intend to drop a hint about the big secret to Jin Liwei at all. The confrontation¡¯s effects on the remnant were just too extreme that his triggered emotions made him momentarily lose control of his good sense. This was also one of the reasons why he felt so pissed off at the remnant and why he didn¡¯t want to see or talk to Jin Liwei at the moment.

    But even before the confrontation, he was already feeling tired trying to maintain the close brotherhood with Jin Liwei and the others. Although he had grown to like the four men enough to consider them as friends while pretending to be Lu Zihao, the original close bond of brotherhood between them didn¡¯t really have anything to do with him. The current friendship he felt with them wasn¡¯t deep enough to warrant continuing to pretend to still be the same Fifth Brother who was close to them.

    "Bacon, everything you¡¯ll hear in this conversation is ssified information," Jin Liwei said, interrupting Lu Zihao¡¯s thoughts. "Protect our call with the highest level of security."

    "Bacon understands, Father," the ck cat AI replied in a solemn tone.

    Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s instruction but he remained silent, waiting for the other man to initiate the conversation instead.

    "Brother-inw Niki, I know that you don¡¯t want to see my face or talk to me at this time. The truth is that I don¡¯t want to see your face or talk to you at this time either."

    No surprise there. Lu Zihao curled his lip but mentally agreed that the feeling was mutual.

    Silence.

    "I know that you¡¯re not my Fifth Brother Lu Zihao," Jin Liwei said in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper. "You are Niki, my wife Evelina¡¯s big brother."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes contracted. His jaw tightened and so did his entire body. "My sister told you the truth?"

    "Not the whole truth. Only about her experience." Jin Liwei stopped talking and was quiet for almost a full minute before he spoke again. "Niki, my wife and I, we need to meet you in person. Let¡¯s sit down and talk. Only the three of us. I want to know the whole truth."

    "No." Lu Zihao¡¯s response was instant and his tone final.

    "Evelina wants to tell me the whole truth but she wants to get your blessings first."

    "I said no."

    Jin Liwei sighed. "Sooner orter, I¡¯ll still end up knowing everything."

    "Don¡¯t you know that curiosity killed the cat?" Lu Zihao¡¯s tone became casual, almost lighthearted, but Jin Liwei detected the dangerous undertone in his words.

    "Fortunately, I¡¯m not a cat. I¡¯m your sister¡¯s husband and the father of her children. I deserve to know the truth."

    Lu Zihao threw his head back andughed, the sound utterly demonic. "Deserve, eh? Listen to me, Third Brother."

    "Don¡¯t call me that," Jin Liwei said in a harsh tone.

    "Heh~" Lu Zihao chuckled. "Fine. Since you are now dropping all pretense, then so will I. Indeed, I¡¯m not your fifth brother. But make no mistake, Jin Liwei. I am now Lu Zihao whether you like it or not. Don¡¯t try to box me in with your attachment to your old fifth brother. I am not him. I¡¯ll live how I want to live from now on."

    "Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯ve been doing all along? We¡¯ve never tried to box you in even when you returned looking and acting like apletely different person which I now know is the case. We let you do what you want because all we want is to see you healthy."

    Lu Zihao became silent once again.

    "Just please, I beg you," Jin Liwei whispered, his voice strained. "Take care of Fifth Brother¡¯s body."

    The remnant surged violently inside Lu Zihao, causing him to almost double over. A great pain pressed on his chest, as if something was trying to w out in desperation. He gritted his teeth as his whole body became drenched in sweat in just seconds. Fortunately, the conversation he was having with Jin Liwei was only a voice call and not on video.

    "Think about everything I said to you tonight," Jin Liwei said, sounding exhausted and sad at the same time. "Evelina and I still want to talk to you in person. Rest assured that I love your sister with my life and will do everything to protect her, including the secret you two have been keeping. We want to resolve this with you before our wedding."

    Lu Zihao still didn¡¯t reply. All his energy was being used to suppress the remnant going berserk inside him.

    "Father, what about Bacon¡¯s sry?" the ck cat interrupted.

    "Bacon, your mother hasn¡¯t finished your configurations yet," Jin Liwei told his son.

    While the father and son were talking, Lu Zihao was frozen on the couch like a statue as he fought a fierce battle within him.

 Chapter 803 - Annoying Pests

    <h4>Chapter 803 - Annoying Pests </h4>

    Although Lu Zihao was in a precarious situation deep within his consciousness, he was still able to project an impassive appearance as if nothing was amiss and he just chose to remain silent.

    Jin Liwei and Bacon didn¡¯t notice anything wrong with him, as the father and son continued talking with each other.

    "I gave you permission to assist your Uncle in his work, but we still need to inform your mom about this," Jin Liwei said. "She¡¯s the one doing your configurations after all and you can¡¯t start working until she¡¯s done."

    "I understand, Father," Bacon replied. "But will Mother agree to me working for Uncle Zihao?"

    "Your uncle is your mom¡¯s brother. I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll agree."

    "Okay, Father. I hope so."

    "Now be good and don¡¯t run off again without telling us first. I¡¯m not happy with this behaviour. You¡¯re grounded for three days."

    Bacon¡¯s face didn¡¯t show any expression but his swishing tail drooped. "I¡¯m sorry, Father. Bacon won¡¯t do it again."

    "Let¡¯s not disturb your uncle anymore," Jin Liwei said with a sigh. "When your mom has given her approval and finished your configurations, then I¡¯ll help you negotiate a fair sry with your uncle."

    "Yes, Father. I understand." Bacon was very cute and polite while agreeing to all his father¡¯s words.

    Jin Liwei made a sound of approval. He paused for a few seconds before addressing Lu Zihao. "Brother-inw Niki, my wife Evelina and I will be waiting for you till you¡¯re ready to meet and talk with us in person. You¡¯re always wee in our home. That¡¯s all I want to say. Good night."

    A beep sounded indicating that the voice call ended.

    Bacon stayed on the TV screen and stared at the motionless Lu Zihao sitting on the couch. His golden eyes glowed before he spoke with great politeness. "My apologies for disturbing you tonight, Uncle Zihao. And thank you for considering my sudden offer to work for you as a frencer. Bacon hopes that we¡¯ll be able to finalize my work agreement soon. I bid you good night. Please take care."

    With that, the TV screen flickered off and the living room descended to total darkness once again. Now that the annoying father and son were finally gone, Lu Zihao let go of his control and roared a pained battle cry as he fell down from the couch andnded on all fours.

    Huge drops of sweat sttered on the cold floor. Veins popped out all over his body. His muscles tightened and trembled. He presented a frightening sight on the floor, as if he was about to transform into a demonic monster.

    A few hourster, the living room was a total wreck. An exhausted Lu Zihaoy syed on the floor. He waspletely drenched in sweat to the point that he looked like he took a dive in a pool with all his clothes on.

    He stared at the ceiling with dull eyes. If not for the rise and fall of his chest, someone might mistake him for a dead person upon seeing the sorry sight.

    "Damn you," he whispered, cursing at the remnant who just went berserk inside him.

    In the end, he won again and subdued the remnant as usual. However, he knew that this was only temporary. The remnant felt like it was getting stronger the more times it shed with him. The length of time between shes also grew shorter while the duration grew longer.

    He covered his eyes with his arm and sighed. Jin Liwei¡¯s invitation to meet and talk in person together with his sister yed in his mind.

    Should he agree?

    No, not at this time.

    He needed to find a way to stabilize the remnant inside him first, or much better yet, topletely eliminate the irritating existence once and for all. If he didn¡¯t do this first and went ahead and met with Jin Liwei, the remnant might go berserk again. He couldn¡¯t afford to risk losing control in front of other people and most especially not in front of his sister. He didn¡¯t want to worry her.

    ¡¯Maybe you can ask her about her experience.¡¯

    Although she didn¡¯t expressly mention it, he knew that she also battled with her remnantst year. He saw with his own eyes how the original Long Xin¡¯s remnant took over her body to exact revenge on Fan Luo and tortured the rm Girls. His pure and kind sister would never exhibit such maliciousness without an external, or in their case, internal factor.

    Perhaps asking her on how she was able to deal with Long Xin¡¯s remnant and gain total control of her body would help him solve his own issue with the original Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant.

    ¡¯No, that won¡¯t work. The remnants inside us are different. Hers went berserk due to a powerful grudge resulting from the original Long Xin¡¯s death. I don¡¯t sense any grudge from the original Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant at all. All I sense is a deep attachment to his sworn brothers and the old man.¡¯

    He thought long and hard about all the simrities and differences of his and his sister¡¯s situations regarding the remnants inside their bodies. In the end, he made his decision.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll solve my own problem by myself. If my sister can do it, I can do it too. There¡¯s no need to make her worry about me. That¡¯s my job as the elder brother¡ªto worry about my younger sister. Not the other way around. I¡¯m Niki Vetrov. A mere remnant won¡¯t be able to defeat me.¡¯

    Therefore, before he was able to stabilize the remnant inside him in some way, he wouldn¡¯t meet his sister and her man in person. Besides, he was pissed off at Jin Liwei because the man was the main reason why the remnant went berserk ever since the confrontation and the disintegration of their brotherhood.

    It wasn¡¯t only Jin Liwei. He was also pissed off at his sister for telling her man about their secret. Although he admitted that it was him who dropped the hint first during the confrontation with Jin Liwei, she didn¡¯t need to follow it up.

    What was she thinking? Did she lose all her rationality because of her love for her man? Had she forgotten how dangerous their identities as members of the Vetrovs were?

    Even though he felt assured that Jin Liwei loved his sister and would protect her, that was only right now. Would the man still feel the same way once he learned that the woman he loved and her brother were direct scions of what was once the most powerful and nefarious criminal family in the international underworld?

    His forehead creased as a painful headache assailed him. Mental and physical exhaustion prevented him from maintaining hisposure.

    Right at that moment, the image of the sweet and shy Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing appeared in his mind. He wasn¡¯t surprised anymore when his groin stirred and in just a few seconds, he sported a rock-hard erection.

    If he could only fuck her again right now, all his troubles would temporarily go away from his thoughts. He would also feel more rxed and bnced.

    "Fuck! What the hell, Niki?!"

    Now he treated Long Jinjing in the same way as the remnant¡ªannoying pests in his mind.

 Chapter 804 - Fearsome Fans

    <h4>Chapter 804 - Fearsome Fans </h4>

    The camera shes and cheers from the crowd made the red carpet seem chaotic, but in actual fact, everything was very organized. There were many bigshot celebrities attending tonight¡¯s TV awards ceremony. Some of them were veteran actors and actresses who were considered as pirs of the country¡¯s entertainment industry. They were well-respected andmanded special attention from everybody.

    However, it wasn¡¯t these veteran figures who received the loudest cheers from the fans. The ones whom the fans went crazy for were the certified superstars and hottest trending celebrities this year. Most of them were from the younger generation than the veteran figures.

    Included in these two categories were Jin Chonglin and Iris Long respectively. When they arrived on the red carpet together in the same car, the noise level rocketed to deafening level in an instant.

    One Jin Chonglin alone was enough to cause pandemonium anywhere but when the beautiful Iris Long was inserted into the equation, the effect was no longer mere addition but multiplication instead. Both of their fandoms were fearsome entities.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans ruled in its vast numbers and diversity, absolute loyalty and incredible purchasing power. Since he had been in the showbiz industry for far longer and had a higher status than Iris Long, his fans grew up with him unlike the rtively recent ck Stars.

    However, this didn¡¯t mean that the ck Stars were inferior to Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans. The ck Stars weren¡¯t a typical fan club. They were more like an organized triad group instilling an almost military-like discipline among its members. It wasn¡¯t only because of their "uniforms" that they wore whenever they attended any of their Boss Iris¡¯ events which earned them the collective nickname "The Suits". It was also because of their strict internal management.

    In addition, the ck Stars had the formidable and despicable special elite troll group, the Slippers Army¡ªone of the greatest banes on the inte, especially to those foolish enough to badmouth their Boss Iris. Unlike secretly hired water armies by other celebrities, the Slippers Army was very transparent in their defence of their Boss Iris and their offence against her critics.

    Others had tried to use the existence of the Slippers Army and their despicable actions on the inte to damage Iris Long¡¯s reputation, but instead of apologizing on behalf of her fans in order to save her image, she threw a special fan concert and honoured their excellent trolling skills instead. That was when people realized that Iris Long was also a big troll herself.

    After their Boss Iris¡¯ unwavering show of support to them, the ck Stars and most especially the Slippers Army only became even more loyal to her. This was the reason why despite their lesser numbers and experience as a fan club, the ck Stars wouldn¡¯t lose to more established fandoms like Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans when it came to fierce loyalty and influence.

    Back to the red carpet, Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans and the ck Stars in their sharp tuxedo suits took the event by storm with their amazing, loud, organized cheering chants as soon as their Prince Lin Lin and Boss Iris arrived. The other celebrities and their fans had no choice but to stop and look over at the two arrivals.

    Iris Long and Jin Chonglin weren¡¯t even nominees nor were they performers tonight. They were only presenters for a single award category, and yet they were receiving one of the grandest wees among the celebrities from the fans and photographers.

    Despite themotion their fans were causing, the two didn¡¯t dy on the red carpet. Iris Long and Jin Chonglin posed and smiled together for the cameras and then moved on like clockwork. The other veteran celebrities who were actually nominated on tonight¡¯s event looked at the pair more favourably upon seeing their considerate actions. After all, the two were basically only guests, not the "stars" of tonight¡¯s TV awards ceremony which were the actual nominees.

    After passing through the red carpet, the pair finally entered the stadium where the ceremony would be conducted.

    Iris released a long breath. Her lovely expression didn¡¯t change much but Jin Chonglin saw that it lightened after leaving the huge crowd outside.

    The real reason why they moved through the red carpet as fast as possible was because Bright Summit advised both of them to do so, thinking that the two still had some trauma in crowded situations due to the bomb incident. Indeed, Jin Chonglin still felt a little traumatized but he was now getting better. He was used to crowds as a superstar after all.

    As for Iris, she wasn¡¯t traumatized by the bomb incident at all. Nevertheless, she had no ns of arguing against Bright Summit¡¯s cautious instructions. In fact, it suited her current condition just fine. Her heightened sensitivity to smells was making her feel a little nauseous right now. If they stayed on the red carpet longer, she might faint in front of everyone. If that happened, Jin Liwei would surely be furious, especially since she assured him many times that she would be fine tonight.

    "Are you alright?" Jin Chonglin asked her while shing a smile and waving at those who greeted them.

    She nodded while also smiling at those people. She held his arm and they followed their guide to their front seats.

    "Big Bro told me to keep an eye on you tonight," he said in a low voice. "Why? Are you feeling sick? Or is my brother just being an overprotective, paranoid caveman as always?"

    Iris smiled. "Indeed, your older brother can be such a caveman but I still love him anyway."

    Jin Chonglin made a face and turned away. "What the hell, woman? You¡¯re still throwing dogfood even when Big Bro isn¡¯t here? Tsk!"

    She chuckled but then whispered, "Brother Chonglin."

    "What?"

    "You must stay beside me at all times tonight. I¡¯m feeling fine for now but if I look like I¡¯m going to faint, you must take me away before it happens, okay?"

 Chapter 805 - Tongues Wagging

    <h4>Chapter 805 - Tongues Wagging </h4>

    Jin Chonglin frowned and looked at Iris with concern. "So you¡¯re really sick? Dammit. If something happens to you on my watch, my brother will murder me."

    "Smile," Iris reminded him. "Don¡¯t look at me like that or people will gossip that all is not well between us inws."

    He smoothed out his expression but continued to talk in a low voice. "You¡¯re making me nervous, Sister Xin."

    "Don¡¯t be. I¡¯m feeling fine. Not 100% fine but enough to get through this awards ceremony. Hopefully."

    "That doesn¡¯t sound reassuring at all," he muttered.

    "Fortunately, we¡¯re only award presenters tonight. Don¡¯t worry about what I said anymore, Brother Chonglin. I feel fine, really. I just warned you so that you won¡¯t freak out if something really happens to meter."

    He clicked his tongue but still maintained a light smile on his handsome face. From an observer¡¯s point of view, the two of them looked like they were talking about something amusing based on their smiling expressions. Nobody would ever guess that they were talking about something worrying instead.

    A few minutester, all celebrities and other attendees were finally seated on the ground floor VIP seats in front of the stage. The surrounding seats in the upper levels of the stadium were filled with hordes of fans holdings banners of their favourite celebrities.

    Jin Chonglin was among the top 3 most seen face and name on the fan banners. The other top 2 were also superstars like him. One was an internationally sessful male movie star while the other was a top actress in the country.

    Iris Long¡¯s face and name could also be seen on a lot of banners, especially among a very distinct group wearing stylish tuxedo suits, but nowhere near the level of the superstars like Jin Chonglin. Nevertheless, she was still among the most eye-catching celebrities attending tonight¡¯s event. Even disregarding her breathtaking beauty and presence, her achievements this year alone were all truly deserving of respect and admiration. People no longer saw her as a mere pop singer.

    She was Iris Long, a multi-award-winning musician and owner of the hottest trending beautypany this season, Orchidia Beauty, among her other incredible achievements so far since hereback. In addition, she was also the fianc¨¦e of CEO Jin Liwei and future sister-inw of superstar Jin Chonglin.

    Her current status in showbiz had ascended many levelspared to her unstable track record when she was still a teenage pop idol. She was now a very valuable and in-demand celebrity.

    People were looking forward to how she would manage her showbiz career down the road. Would she continue on this rising momentum and be even more famous in the future? Or would her career stall at this stage, neither rising nor falling? Or would she make an irreversible mistake, destroying her career and causing her to retire and disappear from the limelight?

    Or perhaps the rumours were true and that she was nning to withdraw or maybe even retire from showbiz to focus on her role as the next Madam Jin after marrying CEO Jin Liwei¡ªif they really ended up getting married.

    There were quite a lot of people betting that Iris Long and Jin Liwei would break up before managing to tie the knot. Simrly, there were also many who believed that they would marry but would eventually divorce. They just couldn¡¯t imagine the rtionship between the two of themsting, especially since there was a perception that rich folks and people from showbiz would break up with their lovers or divorce their spouses on a regr basis.

    In short, people were watching Iris Long. They wanted to know more about her, how she lived her life, and what the future held for her. This heightened interest was a huge boost to her current fame. Bright Summit wanted to capitalize on this and promote her even more.

    As for Iris Long herself, she didn¡¯t give a whit about what others thought about her, especially right now. With so many people congregating in a single ce, it was inevitable that there would also be a lot of distinct smells, both pleasant and nasty, from different sources. The mishmash of different scents in the air was starting to affect her as the awards ceremony went on.

    Her nausea was gradually worsening. She was even starting to feel lightheaded and a little dizzy. Despite this, she was still able to project a calm and pleasant exterior, looking like the other audience members who were enjoying the show and apuding the winners.

    Finally, a staff member informed her and Jin Chonglin to head backstage for their turn as award presenters after themercial break. With a smile on her face, she grabbed on to her partner¡¯s arm and held on to him tightly.

    "Hold me up, Brother Chonglin," she said in a low voice while still maintaining her smile. "I think I¡¯m going to faint."

    "Shit. For real?" Jin Chonglin immediately supported her without being too obvious about his actions. He, too, had a smile on his face as if nothing was wrong.

    "Let¡¯s just get this over with."

    "Keep holding on to my arm," he told her. "I¡¯ll carry the trophy. We¡¯ll only be on stage for a couple of minutes at most."

    Iris made a sound of agreement. She held on to his arm more tightly and focused on staying conscious long enough to present the award and return backstage.

    Many people noticed their closeness. Tongues immediately began wagging. Some spected that there was something going on between them, perhaps an affair, and that they were cheating on CEO Jin Liwei. How scandalous! Others rejected this, saying that it was only natural for the two to be close since they were going to be inws in the future.

    Themercial break ended.

    A handsome Jin Chonglin shed his killer smile and a beautiful Iris Long graced everyone with her enchanting smile as the two walked to the centre stage. All eyes focused on their closeness and on her hand holding his arm as if she didn¡¯t want to let him go.

 Chapter 806 Shell - Shocked

    <h4>Chapter 806 Shell - Shocked </h4>

    The award presentation for the best original theme song waspleted. Although Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were famous and brought their own hordes of fans to the event, the award winner was still the real star of the moment while the two were only the supporting cast.

    Other than the eyebrow-raising closeness between Iris Long and Jin Chonglin, nobody noticed anything else wrong with them. They did their job as award presenters and retreated backstage afterwards. They were soon pushed to the back of the people¡¯s minds after they were gone.

    As soon as the two reached backstage, Iris¡¯ knees buckled and she fell into a half-conscious state. Jin Chonglin caught her before she dropped to the floor and called for help. The staff backstage immediately surrounded them and offered assistance. She groaned with a pinched expression and instinctively turned her head away from the people.

    "Don¡¯t crowd her!" Jin Chonglin reprimanded them.

    It was a good thing that there were no cameras belonging to the production filming backstage. However, there were some people doing so with their phones.

    Jin Chonglin was angered upon seeing them but didn¡¯tsh out, only requesting them to stop taking photos and videos. Some listened, some didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t have the time to care about them, though. His first priority was to do something about the copsed Iris.

    He tried to shield her with his body as much as possible before deciding that it was better to remove her from this crowded spot. He carried her off and demanded an empty dressing room from the staff.

    The other celebrity award presenters who were getting ready backstage saw this scene. They were shocked at first before bing curious. It wasn¡¯t only them. Almost everyone wanted to know what exactly happened. There were already a few people typing away on their phones and sharing what they saw to their friends, online followers, and even entertainment reporters.

    Inside a small, unused dressing room, Iris wasid on the biggest couch which wasn¡¯t that big at all. Her feet dangled off the arm of the couch. Her eyes were still closed but based on her soft moans and whimpers, she didn¡¯tpletely lose her consciousness.

    A staff member was fanning her with a piece of random cardboard while the others were running errands for Jin Chonglin to find Iris¡¯ manager and assistant from the audience. As for Jin Chonglin, he borrowed a staff member¡¯s phone and was trying to call his older brother.

    "Someone is calling for an ambnce for Boss Iris¡ªI mean for Miss Iris Long," a staff who just entered the room informed them and inadvertently revealed himself as a ck Star. He looked worried and even teary as if his own mother was on the verge of dying.

    Iris opened her eyes before protesting in a weak voice. "No ambnce. I¡¯m fine."

    "What fine?!" Jin Chonglin red at her. "Fine, my ass! You¡¯re going to the hospital or my brother will y me alive!"

    The two staff members were surprised by the superstar¡¯s outburst. The ck Star was the first one to recover. His expression twisted in indignation and he was about to fight Jin Chonglin for yelling at his Boss Iris when his colleague stopped him and pulled him back.

    "You almost scared the shit out of me¡ªhello? Hello, Big Bro? Thank goodness!" His call finally connected and he began talking to his older brother. "Your wife fainted just now!"

    Iris closed her eyes again and groaned. She could hear her man¡¯s cold voice on the other end of the line with her great hearing and knew that he was furious.

    "I already know what happened," she heard Jin Liwei say. "Xin¡¯s bodyguards are on their way to where you are now to take her home. Don¡¯t let any ambnce take her to the hospital."

    "Huh?" Jin Chonglin was confused. "Why? Isn¡¯t it better to take her to the hospital? She fainted, Big Bro! Fainted!"

    "I didn¡¯t faint," Iris denied. "I was still conscious the entire time."

    Jin Chonglin snorted at her im.

    "Cover for your sister-inw for now, Chonglin. She needs to go home. I¡¯ll be the one to take her the hospitalter if needed."

    "Why?" Jin Chonglin continued to ask.

    Jin Liwei and Iris were both silent, not answering him. Jin Chonglin sensed something and gestured for the two staff members to leave the room. After the staff left, Jin Chonglin asked his older brother again.

    "Why don¡¯t you want to take Sister Xin to the hospital? Based on your tone, I can guess that you already know what¡¯s wrong with her. Is she seriously ill?"

    "Just do this for us," Jin Liwei said, not answering his younger brother¡¯s question directly. "Your sister-inw is a celebrity like you. Taking her to the hospital by ambnce will only create a huge, unnecessarymotion. We don¡¯t need that right now. I¡¯ll owe you one if you help us prevent that from happening."

    "What¡¯s up with that? With the way the two of you are acting so mysterious, people might think that Sister Xin is pregnant." Jin Chonglinughed as if he heard the funniest joke of the day.

    The couple was silent and didn¡¯t reply. Jin Chonglin stoppedughing and looked shocked as realization hit him.

    "Holy shit." He looked at Iris¡¯ face before his gaze dropped on her t stomach. "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re really preg¡ª"

    "Stop it! What if someone hears you?" Iris hissed at him and nced at the door. She pricked her ears to make sure that nobody was trying to eavesdrop outside the dressing room.

    "Oh. My. God." Jin Chonglin was in shock. He whispered, "You¡¯re really pregnant?"

    It was Jin Liwei who replied to him on the phone. "If you know, then you know. Keep it a secret. We haven¡¯t told people outside our household yet because it¡¯s too early. Well, except for Second Brother Yingjie who confirmed the pregnancy. So don¡¯t tell anyone, alright?"

    The shell-shocked Jin Chonglin could only stand there like an idiot with eyes and mouth wide open as he continued staring at Iris inplete disbelief.

 Chapter 807 - Jin Liweiâ€™s Headache

    <h4>Chapter 807 - Jin Liwei¡¯s Headache </h4>

    "Aren¡¯t the two of you marrying at the end of the month?" Jin Chonglin asked when he recovered a little from his shock. "Couldn¡¯t you wait to get pregnant until after your wedding? Why are you in such a hurry?"

    Iris moved to sit up. He hurried forward to help her. She murmured thanks before harrumphing. "It¡¯s your brother¡¯s fault! He¡¯s the one who got me pregnant. His sperm cells are too dangerous!"

    Jin Chonglin stared at her. "Did my big bro make the baby by himself? Aren¡¯t you an active participant in the act as well? Why are you only ming him?"

    She red at him.

    "Don¡¯t upset your sister-inw," Jin Liwei¡¯s voice said on the phone. "She¡¯s having difficulty controlling her emotions due to her pregnancy. Be careful. She might beat you up if you anger her."

    Jin Chonglin immediately became wary of Iris after hearing his brother¡¯s warning. He stepped back and began treating her like a wild beast.

    A knock on the door interrupted them right at that moment. Dom and Tang Yiyi had arrived with Jin Chonglin¡¯s manager, Lin Dong.

    Iris¡¯ manager was frantic upon learning that she fainted. Tang Yiyi only calmed down after speaking to Jin Liwei on the phone. As per Jin Liwei¡¯s request, she quickly took control of the situation and went out to deal with the event¡¯s production staff, exining and apologizing to them why Iris had to leave early. Jin Chonglin also backed her up so they couldn¡¯t really me Iris for what happened.

    Momentster, Iris¡¯ bodyguards finally arrived to take her home. After the two groups said good bye to each other, Jin Chonglin and his manager returned to their seats in the audience. Lin Dong took Iris¡¯ seat and sat beside Jin Chonglin. They stayed until the awards ceremony was over before heading to the after-party.

    The news that Iris Long fainted backstage and had to leave the awards ceremony early leaked online. For a couple of minutes, insider photos and videos of Jin Chonglin catching the fainting Iris and carrying her away were posted on several social media tforms. But before the entertainment websites and blogs could re-post the photos and videos, they already disappeared. No matter how many times people tried to re-upload them, they just kept on disappearing.

    The Slippers Army was med for this strange phenomenon. They didn¡¯t deny it but in their private group chat, they were as bewildered about it as the other people who were ming them. Nevertheless, they approved of the person who did it because it protected their Boss Iris¡¯ image.

    Unbeknownst to them, one of their members really was the culprit of the disappearing photos and videos.

    In cyberspace, a certain white cat¡ªalso known as KittyBaby online and a high-ranking member in the elite troll group Slippers Army of the ck Stars¡ªwas hard at work erasing all copies of the photos and videos of her mommy copsing as per her daddy¡¯s instruction. Her ck little kitty brother watched her as she worked.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Jin Liwei was at his home office. He just got off the phone with his baby girl who was now on her way home. His tight, cold expression indicated that he was restraining his temper.

    Earlier, he was watching the awards ceremony live on TV inside his office while reading somepany reports. Although his baby girl maintained a pleasant smiling expression the entire time, just one look at her and he knew right away that something was wrong.

    He had the strongest urge to go to the event and drag her home but controlled himself, knowing that she wanted to attend the awards ceremony. As much as possible, he didn¡¯t want them fighting due to his interference in her career again. All he could do was to call her bodyguards to stand by if something really happened to her.

    And indeed, something really did happen.

    He watched her like a hawk while she was presenting the award with his younger brother. She looked fine on the surface but the way her jaw seemed a little tense, the way she sounded a little breathless, and most especially the way she held his brother¡¯s arm too tightly the entire time all indicated to him that she was quickly reaching her limits.

    Ketchup immediately informed him when his baby girl copsed as soon as they reached backstage after the award presentation. If he could only teleport to where she was, he would have done it in a heartbeat. He alerted her bodyguards to rush to where she was as soon as possible.

    Back to the present, he was doing his best to calm himself before his baby girl arrived. If he didn¡¯t, he might rage at her for insisting to attend tonight¡¯s event. He knew that it wasn¡¯t her fault, but he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from worrying about her and their twins.

    It was a good thing that his younger brother was with her when she copsed. He could trust Jin Chonglin to keep the secret of his baby girl¡¯s pregnancy.

    Although he sometimes felt jealous whenever the two worked together, he wasn¡¯t such an insecure man as to doubt his woman¡¯s loyalty and not trust his own younger brother. Besides, his jealousy stemmed from the fact that the teenage pop idol Iris Long used to chase his younger brother around in the past. But now that he knew that his woman wasn¡¯t the same Iris Long from back then, the reason for his jealousy had be invalid.

    His thoughts were interrupted when his AI son called him.

    "Father, Bacon would also like to help in this matter," the ck cat AI said.

    Jin Liwei nced at his AI son. "Not this time. You¡¯re grounded for three days, remember? And your mom hasn¡¯t finished your configurations yet."

    "I understand, Father." Bacon swished his tail before addressing his older sister. "Hey, dumbhead¡ª"

    Jin Liwei scowled and reprimanded Bacon. "I don¡¯t want to hear you calling your Big Sister Ketchup that way again. Put the word ¡¯dumbhead¡¯ in your bad words list. You¡¯re now grounded for five days instead of three."

    Bacon¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change but his tail drooped. "I apologize, Father. Bacon won¡¯t say that word again."

    "Good." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Bacon addressed Ketchup again. "Hey, moron¡ª"

    Long story short, Jin Liwei had to reprimand his AI son many times. Bacon¡¯s bad words list also grew longer. An exasperated Jin Liwei finally set Ketchup¡¯s existing bad words list as the universal list for his two AI children. Despite this, Bacon still said some new unpleasant words that needed to be added. He also ended up being grounded for seven days.

    Jin Liwei massaged his now aching head. As expected, this new AI son of his would be a challenge to raise. Bacon was only a few days old and yet he already needed to be disciplined. Despite this, Jin Liwei treasured him just like how he treasured all his other children with his baby girl.

    "Big Sister Ketchup," Bacon finally said after calling his sibling so many other unpleasant names. "Send a virus to the ones who repeatedly tried to upload Mother¡¯s photos and videos online. Destroy their devices. Oh, andpromise their data, too. That¡¯ll teach them not to mess with Mother and try to tarnish her reputation."

 Chapter 808 - True Professional

    <h4>Chapter 808 - True Professional </h4>

    "Meow? Really? Should Ketchup do that?" the innocent white cat AI asked her ck little kitty brother.

    Bacon¡¯s tail swished with enthusiasm even as his expression and tone sounded bored. "Of course, you should. I would¡¯ve done it myself because destruction is my area of expertise but Father grounded me so I can¡¯t do anything right now. So it¡¯s up to you to do it, you ninny."

    "Add ¡¯ninny¡¯ to the bad words list," Jin Liwei reprimanded Bacon again. "And no, we¡¯re not sending any virus to anyone to destroy their devices orpromise their data."

    "I told you, Bacon, you big meanie! Daddy is super-duper stricter than Mommy! If Bacon doesn¡¯t listen to Daddy, you¡¯ll be grounded forever and ever! Ooooh, how sad and boring. So you should start calling the cute and mighty me as Big Sister Ketchup from now on because we¡¯re a happy family! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei sent Bacon a stern look. "Listen to your older sister."

    The ck cat AI¡¯s tail slowed down. "I understand, Father."

    "Ehehehe! That¡¯s right! The cute and mighty Ketchup is Bacon¡¯s big sister. Meow~"

    Bacon ignored his noisy and lively older sister and stared at his father instead. "But Father, are we really just going to let those people off? They tried to tarnish Mother¡¯s name by uploading those photos and videos online. If they only exined the situation as it is, then there will be no issue. But instead, they¡¯re creating fake stories to damage Mother¡¯s reputation. They¡¯re already saying that Mother and Uncle Chonglin are having an affair and cheating on you, Father. Bacon thinks that they should pay for their malicious actions. We should punish them. Is Bacon wrong?"

    Jin Liwei frowned and didn¡¯t reply right away. He thought for a few moments. His lips tightened in a thin line before he sighed.

    "Fine," he said.

    Bacon¡¯s tail started thumping in excitement.

    "But only do it to those who really showed malicious intentions against your mom. Let off those who didn¡¯t contribute to the posts but only shared them just because other people did."

    "Understood, Father," Bacon said before ncing at Ketchup.

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Ketchup is on it! Meow~"

    "Father, can Bacon contribute to the virus?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened.

    "Bacon won¡¯t take direct action but I would like to share some input to the construction of the virus to this white durd¡ª"

    "Add ¡¯durd¡¯ to the bad words list," Jin Liwei reprimanded yet again.

    "Yeah! Don¡¯t call the cute and mighty me a ¡¯durd¡¯! Ketchup is super-duper smart and Bacon¡¯s big sister! Meow!"

    Bacon paused and looked at Jin Liwei¡¯s re before forcing himself to say in a polite tone, "I¡¯m sorry, Father. I¡¯m sorry, Big Sister Ketchup. Bacon is wrong."

    Jin Liwei massaged his throbbing head again. "Fine. Go discuss the virus with your sister. Don¡¯t make it too malicious and destructive. Just enough to teach those people a lesson."

    Bacon¡¯s tail started rotating quickly in his excitement.

    "But remember that you¡¯re still grounded," Jin Liwei reminded his AI son with a pointed look. "You can only provide suggestions but can¡¯t take action yourself."

    "Understood, Father. Bacon will obey."

    Jin Liwei nodded before releasing another sigh. He looked at the time and wished that his baby girl would arrive home soon.

    ###

    Entertainment news reporters crowded outside the entrance of the high-ss club where the after-party was being held. When they saw Jin Chonglin and his manager climbing out of their vehicle, they immediately surrounded the two. Jin Chonglin¡¯s bodyguards managed to prevent him from being squeezed but it was still very crowded.

    At first, the questions focused on Jin Chonglin and his career, and of course, what he thought about the winners in tonight¡¯s TV awards. These questions were routine for him so he answered all of them without much effort.

    Then came the questions about Iris Long and what happened to her backstage.

    "We heard that Iris Long fainted backstage after the two of you presented the award. Is that true?"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression hardened for a fraction of a second before smoothing it out just as quickly. Nobody noticed his rapid change of expression. All they saw was his usual pleasant smile which didn¡¯t reveal any of his real emotions.

    "Yes, that¡¯s true," he said.

    "Why did she faint?"

    "Is she on an extreme diet? Did she starve herself?"

    "Is she ill?"

    Jin Chonglin let the flood of question go through him and chose to answer only the most relevant ones. "Junior Iris¡¯ health has be very fragile after the car ident anda. What happened earlier tonight backstage at the awards ceremony was just a manifestation of her underlying health problems due to the ident anda. She¡¯s fine now."

    He attempted to leave because the crowded feeling was starting to make him feel ufortable due to his trauma from the bomb incident. Lin Dong and his bodyguards started steering him to the club but the reporters were persistent.

    "Everyone noticed the closeness between you and Iris Long. Is it true that the two of you have an affair and that you¡¯re cheating on your older brother, CEO Jin?"

    Jin Chonglin stopped walking. His pleasant expression disappeared in an instant. He red at the reporter who asked the question. He felt Lin Dong tugging his arm to warn him to stay cool but he shook his manager off.

    "You call yourself a reporter yet your deduction skills are so poor. Junior Iris had to hold on to my arm the whole time because she wasn¡¯t already feeling well."

    The reporter didn¡¯t give up. "If she wasn¡¯t feeling well, why did she still attend the awards ceremony? She should¡¯ve just stayed at home."

    "Because unlike you, she¡¯s a professional."

    The reporters were shocked at his vengeful tone.

    Jin Chonglin continued, "She agreed to be an award presenter tonight with me, so that¡¯s what she did even when she wasn¡¯t feeling well. And if nobody saw her fainting backstage, you wouldn¡¯t even know that she¡¯s unwell just by looking at her. That¡¯s a true professional right there, unlike you malicious people who hide behind your jobs as reporters."

 Chapter 809 - Lovesick Fool

    <h4>Chapter 809 - Lovesick Fool </h4>

    Lin Dong once again tried pulling Jin Chonglin away and even whispered a warning to him not to be too aggressive to the reporters but he only shook off his manager again. Jin Chonglin was very pissed off at the moment and couldn¡¯t be stopped.

    "And also, regarding your previous question about Junior Iris and I cheating on my older brother, that¡¯s pure nder," Jin Chonglin said. "You¡¯ll hear from mywyer in the next few days. And I¡¯m sure that it won¡¯t only be me taking issue about your false and malicious insinuations. My older brother won¡¯t be too happy either."

    At first, the reporter didn¡¯t seem too concerned when Jin Chonglin threatened to sue him for nder. Celebrities did that all the time. It was a regr part of being in the trade as an entertainment news reporter. But when Jin Chonglin threw his older brother into the mix, the reporter couldn¡¯t stop himself from nching. Even his fellow reporters stepped away from him in an instinctive reaction not to catch his bad luck.

    Dealing with CEO Jin Liwei was a different matter than dealing with the younger brother, Jin Chonglin. And much more frightening. CEO Jin was a powerful man whose influence extended throughout different industries. Although he didn¡¯t usually interfere in the entertainment industry, there were insider rumours saying that he had done so in a handful of instances before and in such a ruthless manner, too.

    After saying his piece to the ashen-faced reporter, Jin Chonglin left with his group to enter the club for the after-party. The other reporters shouted questions at him but he ignored all of them. His expression was hard. He didn¡¯t look like the usual approachable Jin Chonglin.

    ###

    An hourter, Jin Chonglin and his group were on their way home. They didn¡¯t stay at the after-party for too long because Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t in the mood. In fact, he wanted to leave right away but Lin Dong persuaded him to stay a little longer.

    It would be rude for him to leave early when there were so many other powerhouses in the entertainment industry attending the same party. Besides, he also needed to stay long enough not only for his sake but also for Iris Long who had to leave early during the awards ceremony.

    People approached him at the party to ask more details about Iris Long¡¯s fainting episode backstage. Since most of them were preupied with the awards ceremony that time, they only learned about what happened backstage when the show was over either through word of mouth or online.

    Jin Chonglin gave them the same answer as he did to the reporters who asked him the same question outside¡ªthat Iris Long was still suffering from underlying health conditions due to the car ident anda.

    Inside the vehicle, Jin Chonglin removed his bow tie and threw it at a random corner. His suit jacket had already been removed at the party. Then he unbuttoned his shirt halfway his front torso, exposing his lean, muscled chest. He sighed in relief and set his seat in a reclining position.

    "What¡¯s wrong with you tonight?" Lin Dong demanded beside him. "First, you went aggressive with the reporters. Second, you looked like you¡¯re constipated the entire time at the party. You didn¡¯t look like you were enjoying at all."

    "Because I wasn¡¯t," Jin Chonglin replied in an indifferent tone.

    Lin Dong sighed. "And third, you were too curt while conversing with the others at the party. Those weren¡¯t just veteran celebrities. There were also well-respected producers and other important figures in the industry. You might be a superstar right now but one wrong move and that title would be taken away from you."

    Jin Chonglin shrugged. "I don¡¯t want to talk about any of this anymore. I feel too exhausted. Wake me up when we reach home."

    With that, he closed his eyes and ignored his manager¡¯s attempts at talking. Lin Dong gave up a few momentster and finally stopped disturbing him. Silence descended inside the vehicle, but it suited Jin Chonglin just fine.

    He wasn¡¯t really asleep. He just wanted to avoid exining himself to his manager. His mind had been in a constant turmoil ever since learning about Iris¡¯ pregnancy in the dressing room at the awards ceremony earlier that evening.

    His shock and disbelief were genuine. In fact, he was still reeling from shock and disbelief right now.

    Although he knew that it shouldn¡¯t concern him this much because her wedding with his older brother had already been set. So what if she got pregnant at this stage? She and his older brother had been living together under the same roof ever since they became girlfriend and boyfriend. That was what he heard, anyway. It was already a miracle that she hadn¡¯t gotten pregnant yet all this time.

    ¡¯What about her showbiz career?¡¯

    Jin Chonglin scoffed at his own question. Yes, he was concerned about how her pregnancy would affect her showbiz career, especially right now that it was on a rising momentum. If she took a break now, who knew if she could still grasp the opportunity to advance her career to a whole another levelter? Deep inside, however, he knew that this wasn¡¯t the real reason why he felt so affected.

    ¡¯Stop acting like a lovesick fool, you idiot! Be happy for them. You¡¯re going to be an uncle to a niece or nephew by next year.¡¯

    Yes, that was what he should do¡ªbe happy for her and his older brother. But even as he persuaded himself of this, there was still a twinge in his heart that he didn¡¯t want to acknowledge.

    His hopeless thoughts were interrupted by his ringing phone. He ignored it and let his manager get it.

    "I know you¡¯re awake," Lin Dong said. "It¡¯s Iris¡¯ number. Do you want me to tell her that you¡¯re unavable to talk right now?"

    Jin Chonglin opened his eyes and grabbed the phone from his manager. Then he picked up the call. "Hello, Sister Xin?"

    "It¡¯s me," a familiar cold male voice answered him instead.

 Chapter 810 - Jin Chonglinâ€™s Two Requests Part I

    <h4>Chapter 810 - Jin Chonglin¡¯s Two Requests Part I </h4>

    "Big Bro," Jin Chonglin greeted after recovering from a moment of disappointment. "How¡¯s Sister Xin? Did she return home alright?"

    "Yes, your sister-inw arrived home just now," Jin Liwei replied. "She¡¯s fine. Thanks for taking care of my wife. We owe you."

    "No problem," Jin Chonglin murmured. "She¡¯s family after all."

    "En."

    Silence.

    "Xin wants to talk to you," Jin Liwei said.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s heart skipped a beat and he pressed his phone closer to his ear. Anticipation filled him as he waited for Iris to speak. Then he mentally berated himself after catching his silly reaction.

    ¡¯Rx, you fool. You¡¯re acting so uncool right now.¡¯

    He took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

    "Hello, Brother Chonglin," Iris¡¯ lovely voice travelled from the phone to his ear.

    It sucked big time but his heart skipped a beat again upon hearing her say his name. Dammit. Why did her voice sound so beautiful? Fortunately, he was Jin Chonglin. Music might be his specialty but his acting skills were also quite good. He was able to project a cool demeanour and not expose his true hopeless feelings¡ªhe hoped so, at least.

    After another series of "how are you" and "thank you", Jin Chonglin updated Iris about what happened at the after-party. Then she finally revealed why she wanted to talk to him.

    "Brother Chonglin, I want to request if you could finalize your men¡¯s line for Orchidia Beauty soon. I know that you¡¯re very busy right now but it would mean a lot to me and mypany if we could make our original n tounch your men¡¯s line of products before the year ends."

    Jin Chonglin went silent as he switched to business mode. This was better. At least, he didn¡¯t have to feel like such a pathetic idiot for secretly coveting his own brother¡¯s woman. He thought about her request for a few moments.

    "Do it for your sister-inw," Jin Liwei¡¯s voice cut in the phone conversation. "I¡¯ll grant any two of your requests. One for helping out tonight when Xin copsed and the other one will be for finalizing your men¡¯s line with Orchidia Beauty as soon as possible."

    Jin Chonglin raised an eyebrow but he wasn¡¯t surprised at his older brother¡¯s offer at all. If asked about what he learned in the past year, it would be that his older brother was surprisingly the type to dote on his woman without reserve. His cold and dispassionate brother could actually be such an amorous man.

    ¡¯Maybe it¡¯s because she¡¯s the woman, that¡¯s why Big Bro changed so much.¡¯

    He shook his head to clear his treacherous thoughts. Then he asked his older brother, "Is that a promise?"

    "En."

    "Let me tell you my two requests first," Jin Chonglin said. "If you can grant them, then I¡¯ll immediately agree to your wife¡¯s request."

    "Fine. Go ahead and tell me."

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t speak right away, taking a few moments instead to gather his thoughts first. Jin Liwei and Iris didn¡¯t rush him either. They patiently waited for him to tell them his two requests.

    "I¡¯m a famous and sessful superstar," he began in a matter-of-fact tone. He didn¡¯t sound like he was bragging but just stating a fact. "I¡¯ve aplished so much in my showbiz career despite my young age. I already achieved most of my dreams and reached the top of my field for a few years now. As they say, once you¡¯re on the top, the only way left is to go down. I may not be ready yet to give up my top position but there are many younger and talented celebrities out there who might rece me at any time. Sister Xin is one of the strongest contenders. The showbiz industry is a very fickle creature. Today, I¡¯m still a superstar, but tomorrow, I might be abandoned and kicked off from the top to be reced by the next superstar."

    Everyone was silent as they listened to him. His manager, Lin Dong, and his assistants at the front seat all had solemn expressions on their faces.

    "Although I still feel pretty confident that I can remain at the top of my game for a few more years¡ªhopefully for at least two more decades but that¡¯s just me being optimistic¡ªI need to start investing in an insurance now to secure my future."

    "I approve," Jin Liweimented. "Now tell me about your first request."

    Jin Chonglin took a deep breath before replying, "My contract with Bright Summit is expiring at the end of this year. I¡¯ve been with them since I started my showbiz career and I¡¯m extremely grateful for how they helped me seed and be the superstar that I am today. They always take excellent care of me and I always appreciate that. Even when other superstars they groomed left for better opportunities, I stayed with Bright Summit out of loyalty. They¡¯ve been negotiating with me to extend my contract since the summer but I haven¡¯t given them a definite answer yet."

    "You want to leave Bright Summit?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "I want to secure my own future," Jin Chonglin corrected. "If I extend my contract with Bright Summit for a few more years, they¡¯ll continue being my boss. I trust them right now but what if the leadership suddenly changes and the new leader doesn¡¯t think much of me? Then I¡¯ll be at the mercy of the higher-ups. I want to take control of my own career. I want to be my own boss."

    This time it was Iris who asked the next question. "Are you nning on starting your own entertainmentpany?"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s jaw tightened and he swallowed hard before replying in a determined voice. "Yes!"

    Lin Dong, his manager and a Bright Summit employee, didn¡¯t look too surprised. A determined expression also appeared on the manager¡¯s face. Wherever Jin Chonglin went, Lin Dong would definitely follow.

    "Brother Chonglin, would you be open to partnering with me?" Iris asked all of a sudden. "Are you interested?"

    Everyone looked surprised at her offer.

    Jin Chonglin frowned. "Exin."

 Chapter 811 - Jin Chonglinâ€™s Two Requests Part II

    <h4>Chapter 811 - Jin Chonglin¡¯s Two Requests Part II </h4>

    "Liwei created a film productionpany called LX Productions which he used to help fund the indie movie ¡¯Strong Yet Broken¡¯," Iris said. "You might have heard of that film. It won two awards at the Sommet International Film Festival in France."

    Jin Chonglin rolled his eyes. Of course, he knew that film! "Strong Yet Broken" brought pride and honour to their country when it won two awards at the highly prestigious Sommet International Film Festival.

    First was for Best Soundtrack which Iris won. The second was for Best Actress which the talented Yin Meixing won. The two women¡¯s status in the showbiz industry ascended many levels in an instant after their wins. But more than winning the awards, the film itself was an unexpected masterpiece in its own right.

    All these thoughts yed in Jin Chonglin¡¯s mind but he didn¡¯t say them out loud and waited for Iris to finish speaking first.

    "Although I¡¯m still far from reaching Brother Chonglin¡¯s level, I also have the exact same thought as you," she said. "I n on being my own boss in showbiz after I reach a certain level. Since Liwei already created LX Productions, I n on converting it into my very own entertainment managementpany in the future. I estimate that it will take me a few years to aplish this because I don¡¯t have enough experience and connections in the showbiz industry yet."

    Jin Chonglin was now in full business mode. He turned pensive while listening to her exnation.

    Iris continued, "But if Brother Chonglin is onboard, we can fast forward my n and work on it as soon as possible. As a superstar, you have vast experience and connections in the industry that I don¡¯t have yet. You¡¯ll be in charge of that aspect of thepany while I¡¯ll be in charge of the business side. I¡¯m confident in my business skills at least even though I don¡¯t have your showbiz experience and connections. With the two of us partnering together, I¡¯m sure that we can cover all corners with our own specialties. We aren¡¯tcking in funding either. And most importantly, we¡¯ll always have Liwei¡¯s backing since he¡¯ll be my husband soon and he¡¯s your brother as well. In short, we can consider thispany a familypany. What do you think about my idea, Brother Chonglin?"

    Jin Chonglin thought about it for a few moments. "I want to know what Big Bro thinks about this idea first, especially since you mentioned that LX Productions is hispany."

    "I created LX Productions for the sole purpose of supporting Xin¡¯s showbiz projects in whatever capacity that she needs," Jin Liwei replied. "If she wants to convert it into something else, I¡¯m fine with it."

    "What about the ownership?" Jin Chonglin asked next. "If I decide to jump onboard, will we split the ownership between the three of us? So will it be one-third each?"

    "No, it¡¯ll be a 50/50 split," Jin Liwei said.

    Jin Chonglin frowned. "What do you mean? You¡¯ll give your full share of ownership to Sister Xin?"

    "No, I¡¯ll still be part owner because your sister-inw wants my name on thepany to add more weight to it. Just consider Xin and I as one entity because our respective wealth will bebined together when we officially marry. My wife and I will own 50% of thepany while you¡¯ll own the other half. It¡¯s as simple as that."

    "What?!" Jin Chonglin was shocked.

    Lin Dong and the assistants also had their jaws falling down in shock. By this time, Jin Chonglin had already set the call on speakerphone because he also wanted his manager and assistants to hear this important conversation. He trusted his loyal team to support him in any career decisions he nned to make.

    "Don¡¯t tell me that the two of you didn¡¯t sign a prenup," Jin Chonglin said in disbelief.

    "Of course, we signed a prenup." It was Iris who replied this time.

    "You did? And yet you¡¯re stillbining your wealth together? Are you two insane?" Jin Chonglin was aghast at their decision.

    He couldn¡¯t imagine himself marrying without signing a clear-cut prenup, even if he loved the woman. As someone who was born into wealth and worked in showbiz at the same time, it was already ingrained into him that prenup was a must before marriage.

    For him, a prenuptial agreement was something he needed to protect his own wealth and properties against a vengeful ex-wife if his future marriage deteriorated in some way.

    But what kind of prenup stillbined all the wife and husband¡¯s wealth together? A useless and stupid one! This was what Jin Chonglin thought.

    Iris harrumphed. "Why are you acting like that, Brother Chonglin? Are you looking down on me?! Do you think that I¡¯m only marrying your brother because of his money?! Listen to me, Mr. Jin Chonglin! I have my own money and I don¡¯t need your brother¡¯s wealth! How dare you look down on me like this?!"

    "Calm down, love," Jin Liwei was heard murmuring in a soothing tone.

    Iris, however, had be too agitated and continued her tirade against Jin Chonglin. "Are you also one of those people who think that Liwei and I will separate?! Well, here¡¯s my word to judgmental people like you! You can shove your ignorant opinion up your¡ªumph!

    Jin Chonglin was already regretting his instinctive reaction upon hearing about the couple¡¯s unusual prenup agreement. He didn¡¯t want Iris to be angry at him and use him of looking down on her. He wanted to apologize to her but she wouldn¡¯t give him a chance to interrupt her angry speech. Then she suddenly stopped speaking mid-sentence.

    "Hm?"

    Jin Chonglin looked at the phone screen to make sure that the call was still active. It was. Why did the line go silent then?

    Before he could say hello, he heard a soft moan followed by some other lewd sounds. He stiffened and looked at the phone in disbelief. What the hell were they doing? Seriously?

 Chapter 812 - Jin Chonglinâ€™s Two Requests Part III

    <h4>Chapter 812 - Jin Chonglin¡¯s Two Requests Part III </h4>

    Jin Chonglin nced at his manager beside him. Lin Dong had already turned his head away and kept his gaze on the night view outside the windows, pretending not to hear the scandalous soundsing from the phone call. His assistants were also the same way. All of them were speechless at what they were hearing.

    Should Jin Chonglin interrupt the shameless lovers?

    Finally, Jin Liwei¡¯s husky voice murmured, "Are you calmer now, love?"

    "Mmmn," Iris sounded breathless...and sated.

    "Chonglin, are you still there?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Jin Chonglin cleared his throat. "Y-yes."

    "Don¡¯t take offence that your sister-inw lost her temper on you. You already know why she¡¯s like this."

    Lin Dong tore his gaze away from the window and looked at Jin Chonglin with a raised eyebrow. Jin Chonglin ignored his manager. He promised to keep Iris¡¯ pregnancy a secret so he wouldn¡¯t breathe a word about it to anyone.

    "No problem at all, Big Bro. I¡¯m also sorry for my reaction earlier. It was insensitive of me."

    "En."

    "It¡¯s okay, Brother Chonglin," Iris said. Her lovely voice indicated that she was now in a good mood.

    Jin Chonglin pursed his lips, knowing that his older brother must have kissed her brains out in order to calm her bad temper. He sighed and pitied himself for being the recipient of such unwee dog food from the couple.

    He cleared his throat again and asked, "Can we return to our previous topic? I would like to know more about your n to partner in creating our own entertainmentpany."

    "Of course," she answered.

    Then she shared more about her rough ns while he listened.

    "I admit that your vision is very tempting," Jin Chonglin admitted afterwards. "But have you forgotten that you still have a few years before your contract with Bright Summit expires? Are you nning to prematurely terminate your contract? I¡¯m sure that the expensive penalty fee is no problem for you, but terminating your contract this early might create bad blood between you and Bright Summit. They¡¯re already an institution in this country¡¯s showbiz industry. You can¡¯t just offend them or they might make it difficult for you behind the scenes."

    "They can try," Jin Liwei¡¯s cold voice said.

    Jin Chonglin exhaled a drawn-out breath. "Big Bro, I know that you won¡¯t let anyone bully your wife. Many are afraid of offending you, including those in showbiz, but there are many hidden deals happening in this industry all the time. Showbiz is its own creature. You might shut them down with your power and influence, but remember that these people are the media. They¡¯re experts in manipting the general public¡¯s opinion. Showbiz is not your forte, it¡¯s mine. It might seem like it¡¯s all glitz and mour but that¡¯s only on the surface. You don¡¯t know how dirty it is on the inside. Backstabbing and sabotaging careers are regr urrences. Bright Summit isn¡¯t that clean either."

    Lin Dong cleared his throat and squirmed in his seat but otherwise didn¡¯t defend his employer. Jin Chonglin also didn¡¯t pay him that much attention.

    "If worsees to worst, I¡¯ll just buy Bright Summit if they be foolish enough to sabotage my wife¡¯s career," Jin Liwei said in a domineering tone.

    Jin Chonglin looked up at the vehicle¡¯s ceiling and sighed once again.

    "Liwei, stop," Iris¡¯ cheerful voice interrupted. Her good mood was infectious. "The two of you are overthinking. Bright Summit has been taking great care of me ever since my majoreback. I¡¯m very grateful to them. Leaving their management early doesn¡¯t need to result in bad blood between us. I have a few ideas on how to negotiate with them so that they¡¯ll support us in starting our ownpany instead of feeling like we¡¯re abandoning them out of disloyalty."

    "Oh?" Her words caught Jin Chonglin¡¯s attention. Then his eyes lit up in realization. "Do you mean offering Bright Summit to be a shareholder in the newpany? There have been simr cases like that before in the past where famous celebrities started their own studios with the full support of their previous managementpanies." Then he frowned. "But as much as possible, I don¡¯t want to give too much ownership to them that they¡¯ll be able to influence thepany¡¯s decisions and directions."

    "That¡¯s one of my ideas but not the only one," Iris said. "Don¡¯t worry, Brother Chonglin. I¡¯m pretty good at negotiations. I¡¯m sure that I can negotiate a great deal with Bright Summit so that it will be win-win to all parties. And just to let you know, the contract I signed with them isn¡¯t a typical one. I had mywyer fight for a less restrictive and more advantageous contract for me back then because I already knew that time that I want to be my own boss someday."

    "Hmmm." Jin Chonglin was deep in thought as he considered everything that she told him so far.

    "What do you think, Brother Chonglin? Are you interested in partnering with me in this new, exciting venture?" Her tone was very enticing.

    "Let me think first," he said.

    "Okay."

    Jin Chonglin muted the call and discussed Iris¡¯ offer with Lin Dong and his assistants. These people had been with him even before he became famous. He trusted them not only with his career but also with his private life. About five minutester, he finally made a decision. He unmuted the call.

    "I ept your offer," he said.

    "Excellent!" Iris sounded excited. "We¡¯ll be great partners, Brother Chonglin."

    "Send me your business n as soon as possible. I know that time is tight but I want everything ironed out before my contract ends with Bright Summit at the end of this year."

    "No problem! LX Productions is already a fully runningpany with employees. All we need to do is convert it into our own entertainment sh managementpany and make some changes. I¡¯ll inform thepany president about our n and you can start coordinating with him right away."

    Jin Chonglin finally smiled as he began feeling excited as well. "Yes. I¡¯m looking forward to it."

 Chapter 813 - Jin Chonglinâ€™s Two Requests Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 813 - Jin Chonglin¡¯s Two Requests Part IV </h4>

    "The first request is resolved," Jin Liwei said. "Tell me about your second request."

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s smiling expression turned serious once again. He even looked nervous. His knees started bouncing with jerky movements.

    Then he blurted out, "I want Jin Corporation shares."

    Silence.

    Lin Dong¡¯s eyes widened and stared at Jin Chonglin in shock. Jin Chonglin rubbed his sweaty hands on his trousers while waiting for his older brother¡¯s response. He was tempted to retract his request but swallowed the urge. This was his decision.

    "Alright," Jin Liwei¡¯s cold voice said.

    Silence.

    Jin Chonglin looked at his manager, silently asking him if he heard his brother correctly. Lin Dong nodded while covering his open mouth.

    "R-really?"

    "En."

    Jin Chonglin took a sharp inhale and felt his heart racing inside his chest. "You¡¯re agreeing that easily to my request? Are you sure?"

    "Of course, I¡¯m sure," Jin Liwei said in a calm tone. "You¡¯re a Jin."

    "But still¡ª"

    "Father left some shares for you when he passed away but one of the conditions was for you to be present during the reading of his will before it can be transferred," Jin Liwei exined. "But you refused to attend it and any of the official procedures regarding his death. If I hadn¡¯t ordered my subordinates to drag you by force, you wouldn¡¯t even attend Father¡¯s funeral."

    Jin Chonglin bit his lower lip and his eyes reddened a little. He blinked rapidly to prevent himself from tearing up. His hands also clenched into fists. He took their father¡¯s death really hard back then. All of them did. The two brothers poured themselves into work. It was their way of dealing with the grief of losing their father.

    It was just that Jin Liwei seeded their father¡¯s duties and responsibilities as the next head of the Jin n and of course Jin Corporation. He had no choice but to actively handle everything that needed to be done after their father¡¯s death.

    On the other hand, Jin Chonglin refused to face the reality of their father¡¯s death. Instead, he ran away from it and filled his work schedule to the brim in order to numb the pain through exhaustion. He worked nonstop for about two years before he could finally manage to talk about their father¡¯s death. Although it was a dark time for him emotionally, that period contributed a tremendous deal to his career and helped him ascend to the level of superstar.

    Simrly, Jin Liwei built a formidable reputation as the top businessman of his generation in the country. Everyone soon learned that he wasn¡¯t a person one could easily mess with. Those who tried suffered the consequences. He was especially protective of the Jin and Lu ns. They were his bottomlines back then.

    Jin Chonglin remembered those dark times like they were only yesterday. His older brother was right. If Jin Liwei didn¡¯t order his subordinates to basically kidnap him, he would¡¯ve skipped attending the funeral. He had been angry at his brother for doing that because he didn¡¯t want to see the urn containing his father¡¯s ashes. But looking back now, he was grateful that his brother did it because he had the chance to properly say goodbye to their father.

    "Father¡¯swyers voided your im to the shares because you didn¡¯t attend the reading," Jin Liwei continued exining, interrupting Jin Chonglin¡¯s depressing thoughts. "But Grandpa Lu is Grandfather and Father¡¯s sessor trustee so he was able to persuade thewyers to have your shares temporarily transferred to me until you¡¯re ready to receive them. I¡¯ve been keeping them safe for you all this time."

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes widened and filled with emotions. The hand holding the phone started trembling. He whispered, "I didn¡¯t know any of this."

    "I tried telling you so many times," Jin Liwei also said in a whisper. "But you always brushed me off or diverted the conversation to another topic whenever I tried to talk about it."

    In. Out. In. Out.

    Jin Chonglin focused on breathing in order to control his emotions. If he didn¡¯t, he might start bawling and that would be embarrassing. He didn¡¯t want to cry like a baby in front of his team and also didn¡¯t want Iris to witness it. If he had to cry, he would cry in his bedroom alone where nobody could see him.

    "I thought that the reason why you tried talking about that topic was because you wanted me to leave my career in showbiz and start working for Jin Corporation," he said in a shaky voice.

    "It¡¯s true that I did want you to do just that," Jin Liwei admitted, sighing. "Jin Corporation is our grandfather and our father¡¯s legacy with Grandpa Lu. I wanted us brothers to continue their legacy until the next generation takes over. But I know that I can¡¯t force you to leave showbiz because you love your career."

    "Yes, I love my work."

    "En, I know." Jin Liwei sighed again. This time, however, it was from relief. "I¡¯m d that you asked for Jin Corporation shares tonight. Now I can finally transfer what¡¯s rightfully yours."

    Jin Chonglin almost choked from his overwhelming emotions. "Thanks, Big Bro."

    "Don¡¯t thank me. It¡¯s what Father gave you. It¡¯s yours. I just took it for safekeeping."

    "You could¡¯ve kept it for yourself. After all, I didn¡¯t attend the reading of the will so it voided my eligibility to inherit the shares."

    "I¡¯ll never do that to my own brother." In a brighter tone, Jin Liwei said next, "I¡¯ll still be a billionaire without those paltry shares. Besides, even in the low chance that I lose my wealth, I still have my beautiful and talented wife. She promised to support me if that really happens. Right, love?"

    At first, Jin Chonglin felt extremely touched by his older brother¡¯s words that he almost sobbed. Then the shameless man decided to show off his woman once again and began throwing dog food at such an inappropriate moment.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s tears evaporated in an instant before they could even fall. He rolled his eyes and snorted but already felt so much better and lighter.

 Chapter 814 - Bossy Woman

    <h4>Chapter 814 - Bossy Woman </h4>

    "I¡¯ll start the transfer procedure of the shares tomorrow," Jin Liwei said. "Mywyer will contact you."

    "Okay," Jin Chonglin replied. "Thanks, Big Bro."

    "En."

    "Speaking ofwyers..." Jin Chonglin told his older brother about what happened with the reporters outside the club earlier, how one of the reporters insinuated that he and Iris were having an affair and cheating on Jin Liwei, how he threatened to sue the malicious reporter, and also how he implied that Jin Liwei would sue as well.

    The following silence was cold and frightening. Jin Chonglin knew that his older brother was furious.

    "Of course, I¡¯ll sue for nder as well." Jin Liwei may sound calm but he was colder and more ominous than usual. "Mywyer will coordinate with yours."

    "I¡¯ll sue, too!" Iris interjected in an indignant tone. "How dare those people say that I¡¯m cheating on Liwei?! And they say that I¡¯m cheating on my man with Brother Chonglin? That¡¯s immoral! Brother Chonglin is my brother-inw! He¡¯s family!"

    Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t help but wince at her words.

    "I love Liwei the most! I¡¯ll never cheat on my man! Darling, don¡¯t believe those liars. If you do...if you do...." Her voice became shaky and she sounded like she was going to cry.

    "Sssh. Calm down, love. Of course, I won¡¯t believe those liars. I believe you." Jin Liwei started soothing his easily agitated woman again. "And I love you the most, too. I¡¯ll also never cheat on you. So don¡¯t worry anymore. Let ourwyers deal with those ants. There¡¯s no need to feel distressed because of those unimportant people. Okay?"

    "Okay." She sniffed. "Give me a kiss, darling."

    Shortly after, Jin Chonglin and the others began hearing soft, lewd sounds from the phone once again. Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression turned ck. What the hell was with this shameless couple?

    "That¡¯s enough, baby," Jin Liwei said in a tight voice. "We¡¯re still on the phone with my brother."

    "Oh, right. I forgot."

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression turned even cker. It was alreadymon knowledge that pregnant women¡¯s emotions fluctuated a lot, so he wasn¡¯t too surprised that Iris was so easily agitated during this phone conversation even though it was so unlike her to be so emotionally unstable like this.

    He also heard before that pregnant women had this so-called pregnancy brain where they would often forget things or be muddle-headed. Was that what was happening to her now? Was his existence so unimportant to her that she would even forget that they were currently in a phone call with him?

    Sighing, he massaged his knuckles over his chest because his heart started aching for his pitiful self. The woman could be so savage without even meaning to.

    He cleared his throat to get the shameless couple¡¯s attention. "Since you have no problems granting my two requests, I¡¯ll agree to Sister Xin¡¯s request to finalize my men¡¯s line of products with Orchidia Beauty so that we can release it before the year ends."

    "Yes! Thank you!" Iris¡¯ tone was filled with relief. "And Brother Chonglin?"

    "What?"

    "Can you also be a little nicer to Chen Fei? She¡¯s working really hard on your men¡¯s line, you know."

    Jin Chonglin snorted. "Tell that bossy woman to be nice to me first, then I¡¯ll also be nice to her."

    "Her tone and words might be grating on the nerves, but she¡¯s actually a good person deep inside once you get to know her more. And she¡¯s excellent at her job as the COO of mypany."

    "Fine. Since Sister Xin is asking so nicely, then I¡¯ll do my best to cooperate with COO Chen."

    After saying good night, they ended the call. Then Jin Chonglin pulled out his tablet and began reviewing the ns for his men¡¯s line. He jotted down his own notes as well.

    "Why don¡¯t you rest for tonight?" Lin Dong suggested. "You¡¯ve had a long day. You can do that tomorrow."

    Jin Chonglin shook his head. "My mind is brimming with lots of ideas for my men¡¯s line right now. I¡¯m also feeling good because my two requests to secure my future have both been granted. I¡¯m so pumped up. I need to use this burst of energy and creativity productively. Who knows if I¡¯ll feel the same way tomorrow?"

    "Fine. It¡¯s not like I can do anything to stop you once you¡¯ve set your mind on something." Lin Dong sighed before amusement made his mouth curve up. "Also, your men¡¯s line would have beenpleted and in production already if you didn¡¯t keep on changing something about it. I¡¯m already used to your perfectionism but COO Chen and the others at Orchidia Beauty aren¡¯t. I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re driving her crazy. I pity the woman sometimes."

    "Do you know what that bossy woman called my perfectionism? She called it indecisiveness!" Jin Chonglin gritted his teeth in annoyance.

    "I think I remember COO Chen once calling you an indecisive diva!" Lin Dong said before roaring inughter. The assistants joined him.

    Jin Chonglin waved his fist at them. "Shut up, you bastards! Now be quiet and let me work in peace."

    The others fortunately stopped making fun of him. He continued jotting down notes about his men¡¯s line on his tablet all the way until he was home alone in his bedroom. He should be sleeping now after such a busy day but the ideas kept flowing in his mind. There was no way he could sleep when his brain was being so overactive and creative.

    Excitement filled him when he finished. Without even thinking about the time, he dialed Chen Fei¡¯s number.

    "You! Do you know what time is it?!" Chen Fei was pissed off at being awakened in the middle of the night. "Call me tomorrow when it¡¯s office hours!"

    He ignored her grumpiness and began talking about his men¡¯s line. His excitement was obvious. Then he promised, "This is thest time that I¡¯ll make changes."

    "Fine," she grumbled. "Don¡¯t go back on your promise. I won¡¯t ept any changes after this. Tell me more about your ideas."

    The two discussed on the phone until sunrise.

 Chapter 815 - Pathetic Monk

    <h4>Chapter 815 - Pathetic Monk </h4>

    tinum Sky Condominium.

    The punching bag snapped off its chains and went tumbling and rolling on the floor. A flood of sand, grains and small pieces of cloth burst out of it and made a big mess on the gym floor.

    Lu Zihao straightened from his fighting position. He already decimated his third punching bag since he started working out this afternoon. The gym was littered with debris.

    Vtile energy filled him and made him feel restless again. It was abination of sexual frustration because of damn Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing for upying his mind so much that he couldn¡¯t properly fuck other women anymore, and also irritation at his younger sister after talking to her on the phone earlier today.

    His sister wasn¡¯t happy about Jin Liwei giving Bacon permission to work for him. He was able to glean from his subordinates stationed at Dragon Pce Home #10 that the couple fought again the next day after Bacon introduced himself to him. His subordinates didn¡¯t know what the couple was fighting about but he could figure it out. His sister didn¡¯t want to expose her second AI child to his work in Shadow Winds.

    Lu Zihao already expected that she would retract Bacon¡¯s offer to work for him but surprisingly, she didn¡¯t. Instead, she used it as leverage to ckmail him to talk to them in person.

    "Big Brother, if you agree to talk to Liwei and I in person, I¡¯ll allow Bacon to assist you in your work," she told him during the phone call. "And by talk, I mean that you also have to talk. I don¡¯t want you refusing to say a word or storming out. If you agree to my request, then I¡¯ll even optimize Bacon¡¯s system to be more effective when he helps you and Shadow Winds."

    He hadn¡¯t given her an answer yet and only told her that he would think about it first. She knew that he didn¡¯t want to see Jin Liwei in person yet because of the remnant inside him. And most importantly, he didn¡¯t want to reveal their past identities as members of the Vetrovs to others, even to Jin Liwei. He didn¡¯t trust anyone except her.

    Now, however, he was seriously doubting if he should continue trusting his own sister. It seemed that her full loyalty was now solely for her man.

    Lu Zihao was pissed off during the entire phone call with his sister. He almost raged at her but remembered that she was pregnant. His subordinates at Dragon Pce Home #10 informed him that her emotional fluctuations recently had be quite extreme. Literally anything might set her off.

    Thus, even if he wanted to give her a piece of his mind, he restrained himself. Her current body was weak and fragile. In addition to her pregnancy, she wasn¡¯t in the healthiest state right now. He was livid when he learned that she fainted at the TV awards ceremony.

    He almost called Jin Liwei to tell him to lock her up in their home so that she would be safe and sound until she gave birth. If he did that, however, the remnant might act up again upon speaking with Jin Liwei. Not to mention that his sister would most likely dere war against him and Jin Liwei for being such "overprotective cavemen" as she had called them before.

    She might even run away and give birth to her twin babies in a secret location just to make her point. He wouldn¡¯t put it past her to do that. She had always been stubborn and strong-headed. Even their mother, the formidable Madam Vetrova, was unable to change her mind. Their mother¡¯s constant threats certainly didn¡¯t work on his sister into making her join the family business.

    Although he was pissed off at her for ckmailing him using her AI child which she knew that he desperately wanted, he controlled his temper.

    First, he didn¡¯t want to endanger her health by agitating her. There was no way that he would be able to forgive himself if he somehow caused her to miscarry or something dangerous like that.

    Second, she mightpletely refuse to allow Bacon to assist him in his work if he fought with her. He really needed an advanced AI like Bacon. It would take his group, Shadow Winds, to new heights and also increase the speed and efficiency of his investigations on the Vetrov annihtion.

    Lu Zihao kicked the destroyed punching bag on the floor. He already ran out of spares in this penthouse. None of his subordinates were also in sight to spar with him. They already ran away to their group¡¯s hide-out in the lower level of this condo building.

    The restlessness didn¡¯t decrease at all during his workout. It felt like something was itching all over inside his body and he had no idea how to make himself feel better.

    Usually, he would relieve this kind of restlessness through training, fighting and fucking. Yet training and fighting were proving to be no longer sufficient. That left thest option¡ªfucking.

    The problem was that his dick only wanted one woman right now and wouldn¡¯t get hard for other women anymore. This waspletely uneptable to him!

    Long Jinjing was only a one-night stand. Propositioning to her was a big mistake, especially since she was a close friend of his sister and the blood sibling of Evelinka¡¯s current body. Getting involved with someone so close to home would be pure folly on his part. He shouldn¡¯t touch her again. Ever.

    However, his dick¡¯s needs were apletely different matter and didn¡¯t care about his opinions at all. If this continued and he was unable to have sex with other women, then he might as well dere himself a monk.

    Niki Vetrov, a monk?

    Howughable!

    If his enemies were to learn about this, they wouldn¡¯t need to kill him off anymore. He would die from pure embarrassment alone.

    Disgusted at his current pathetic state, he took a quick shower before driving off to a certain direction. He would resolve this pathetic issue once and for all.

 Chapter 816 - Tempted

    <h4>Chapter 816 - Tempted </h4>

    A business news program was ying on TV while Long Jinjing did some stretching exercises on the floor of her living room. She was already in her pyjamas and nned on sleeping early tonight.

    Orchidia Beauty would be even busier now that they were in the process of finalizing Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line. It seemed that her younger sister Xin was able to persuade the fickle man to stop changing his mind all the time. Everyone at thepany was in a great mood, especially Chen Fei, who was in charge of the project.

    Time was very tight but they would do everything in their power to meet their n ofunching Orchidia Beauty¡¯s first men¡¯s line before the end of the year.

    Long Jinjing needed to make sure that their funds were enough to make all of this happen. She was very busy. This was why she nned on waking up earlier than usual starting tomorrow in order to get more work done at thepany.

    Finally, the business program ended. She turned off the TV and folded her yoga mat. She was about to head to the bedroom when the door inte buzzed.

    "I wonder who it is. Maybe one of my online orders came earlier than the expected delivery date?"

    She looked at the inte monitor and was shocked silly upon seeing the familiar huge figure. In her shock, she didn¡¯t realize that her finger had already pressed the answer button.

    "Let me in," Lu Zihao¡¯s sinful voice said.

    Her IQ once again plummeted to amoeba level. How pitiful!

    "I...y-yes...I mean, o-okay!"

    The panic descended as she waited for him to reach her unit from the front lobby. She freaked out and paced like a headless chicken in her living room.

    "Oh no. How stupid am I? I didn¡¯t ask him why he came tonight and immediately let him inside. Did I seem too eager? I did, didn¡¯t I? Oh no. How embarrassing! Wait, why did hee here tonight in the first ce?"

    A small hope ignited within her but she doused it with cold reality as soon as she sensed it. She shook her head to deny her own foolish thoughts. Then she took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

    ¡¯The one-night stand is only just that. Nothing more. Maybe he came tonight to talk about something else. There¡¯s no way that he¡¯ll pursue something more with you, Jinjing. He already made it clear right from the beginning that all he wanted was to fuck you. And you can¡¯t afford to invest yourself in that kind of shady rtionship. Never. You¡¯ve had your fun for one night. That¡¯s enough.¡¯

    She felt calmer after lecturing herself. Indeed, that one-night stand was enough for her. She enjoyed it immensely and wanted to tuck it away as one of the wildest and most thrilling experiences she had in her life. She didn¡¯t want to taint the memory with any foolish hopes on her part.

    There was a knock on the door. Her heart jumped but it was only for a moment. She was proud of herself when she quickly regained herposure before opening the door.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s huge figure took up almost the entire doorway. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

    She smiled. "Hi, Mr. Lu. Let me take your coat."

    He didn¡¯t reply or move. He just stood there and stared at her with those unreadable, deep, dark and certainly mesmerizing eyes. If she hadn¡¯t prepared herself mentally during the brief period of waiting until he arrived at her door, she might have embarrassed herself again by gawking at him like an idiot.

    Well, it was a close call. She felt like gawking but she did her best to keep a clear head.

    Finally, he spoke. "Jinjing."

    A delightful shiver went up her spine. She cleared her throat and also her head. "Yes, Mr. Lu¡ª"

    He grabbed her all of a sudden and pushed her against the wall with his body. Then he lifted her up and kissed her brains out. His hands were everywhere before pulling her legs to wrap them around his waist.

    She moaned and melted when his tongue entered her mouth like a returning conqueror. It swept everywhere and filled her with his strong, intoxicating taste and scent.

    His hand managed to snake under her pyjama top and grabbed one of her breasts. Since she was about to head to bed before he came, she wasn¡¯t wearing a bra. He squeezed her soft mound, making her gasp and moan while he continued to kiss her senseless.

    Hot desire flooded her veins like angryva. Her hips instinctively ground in order to press her already wet core against his hard abs. Delight filled her when she heard him groan because of her actions.

    Then all of a sudden, his hand tugged hard and ripped her pyjama top off her body. She gasped as soon as the cool air touched her bare skin but it was soon heated by his hot mouth kissing a wet trail down her neck to her chest.

    That brief moment allowed her to realize what was happening. Good sense returned to her amoeba-level brain.

    "M-mr. Lu, please stop," she said and tried pushing him off.

    When he didn¡¯t respond and still continued his sinful actions by sucking her nipple, her determination wavered but only for a few moments. She began to push him off harder.

    "Stop! I said stop it!"

    Lu Zihao stopped, thank goodness. He rested his head on the crook of her neck and shoulder while panting.

    Long Jinjing took this chance to slip away from his hold and put a distance between them. She picked her pyjama top from the floor but it was already ruined. Despite this, she still wore it. Better to have something on than nothing.

    He might be tempted again by her nudity.

    She might be tempted again by her own nudity.

    "Why stop me?" he hissed through gritted teeth.

    "We shouldn¡¯t be doing this. Our deal was only for a one-night stand."

    "I want to fuck you again, Jinjing" he said. "Let me fuck you again."

 Chapter 817 - State Your Terms

    <h4>Chapter 817 - State Your Terms </h4>

    Long Jinjing swallowed hard while her heart galloped inside her chest after hearing what Mr. Yummylicious Lu Zihao said. His words shocked her to the core.

    Heat pooled and coiled in a tight ball in her lower abdomen. She wanted to say yes and surrender herself to the man but her good sense was desperately shouting no inside her head.

    "No," she eventually managed to say while shaking her head harder than usual to persuade not only him but also herself. "Mr. Lu, we agreed that what happened between us would only be a one-night stand. Nothing more."

    His heavy gaze bore down on her and made her shiver with both nervousness and desire. However, her mind was already made up.

    Unlike him, she wasn¡¯t looking for a quick and convenient fuck buddy¡ªah, how embarrassing to even just think of the term! She had her one night of wild pleasure with him and that was enough. From now on, she no longer wanted any one-night stands. Instead, she wanted a boyfriend who would both be her lover and partner and eventually...hopefully be a good and loyal husband in the future.

    Sleeping with Lu Zihao again would only be pure stupidity on her part, especially since it was clear that he only wanted to have sex with her. In addition, the two of them were ipatible. Well, notpletely ipatible, she admitted. They were verypatible in bed, alright. But based on her impression of him, their life values werepletely ipatible with each other. And to Long Jinjing,patibility in life values was more important for a happier life than being sexuallypatible.

    In short, the two of them had no future together. Due to all of these, she didn¡¯t want to waste her time in a hopeless and vague rtionship with a man no matter how attracted she was of him.

    Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t take Lu Zihao¡¯s intense gaze on her so she turned her eyes away from him and looked at the wall instead. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath to regain herposure. "Please leave, Mr. Lu. I¡¯m not interested in having sex with you again."

    "Liar," he said.

    His usation made her re at him even as she flushed because it was true. In a more forceful tone, she repeated, "Please leave now, Mr. Lu. There¡¯s the door. Please show yourself out."

    "You responded to my kiss," he said in his wicked voice. "I can tell that you want me again as much as I want you. Don¡¯t lie to me, Jinjing."

    "T-that...s-stop it," she stammered. Her arms crossed over her chest in an effort to protect herself from him exposing her desire. "Mr. Lu, please leave now."

    He inhaled and exhaled several drawn-out breaths. His entire body was tight, looking as if he was controlling himself from turning into a wild beast.

    "State your terms," he hissed.

    She blinked, feeling confused. "Terms?"

    "State whatever terms you want that will make you agree to sleep with me again," he said in a clearer voice.

    His words shocked her once again. "Y-you...are you...negotiating with me?"

    He also crossed his muscled arms over his wide chest and continued staring at her with his deep, dark and intense eyes. "Yes."

    She fell silent. Her feet unconsciously started pacing in the living room as she thought about his offer.

    Wait.

    Was she considering another offer from him?

    ¡¯Long Jinjing, you¡¯re crazy!¡¯

    She stopped pacing and asked him, "My terms. I can say anything?"

    "Depends on what you want," he said in an even tone. "That¡¯s why we¡¯re negotiating. I¡¯m hoping that we¡¯ll reach an eptable arrangement that will satisfy both of us."

    Her brows furrowed. "You want to have sex with me that much?"

    He didn¡¯t answer but his silence and the narrowing of his eyes were enough to answer her question. Delight surged through her but also confusion. She couldn¡¯t understand why he would want to have sex with her again. He could have so many more beautiful and experienced women than her. She wasn¡¯t deluded enough to believe that she had been so amazing in bed that he couldn¡¯t wait to have more of her. That was ridiculous!

    Despite the absurdity of their topic of negotiation, she still forced herself to ask serious questions. "How many more times do you want to sleep with me in order for you to feel satisfied?"

    He leaned his body against the wall as he answered, "I don¡¯t know."

    "Based on your experience, how many times?"

    "I¡¯ve never fucked the same woman for more than three meetings," he said, shrugging. "I tend to lose interest if it¡¯s more than that."

    She felt a twinge in her chest at his casual answer. However, she still forced herself to appear calm on the outside¡ªhopefully. "So you n on f-fucking me for two more meetings?"

    His gaze became even more intense and heavier. "I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ll see."

    Her lips pressed together in a thin line at his vague answer. For her, it was the height of irresponsibility. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin higher. "Well, Mr. Lu. I¡¯m unavable to satisfy your...your, uh, needs. Feel free to find other...women who I¡¯m sure would be more than willing to have sex with you for three meetings or less. Good bye, Mr. Lu. Please leave."

    He looked at her with an expression filled with frustration but she didn¡¯t care. His libido wasn¡¯t her responsibility.

    Feeling braver, she added, "You can always, uh, m-masturbate, you know."

    A feral growl escaped from his throat which made her look at him again. What she saw almost made her waver from her decision so she avoided his gaze again. Ah, how dangerous! She must not allow her IQ to plummet to amoeba level because of him again.

    "I already masturbated many times thinking about you," he said through gritted teeth. "And it¡¯s not enough. I want to fuck you again. State your terms, Jinjing!"

    Her heart started racing again and she felt breathless. Then she covered her face with her hands from shame because she was once again considering his offer. How embarrassing!

 Chapter 818 - Long Jinjingâ€™s Terms

    <h4>Chapter 818 - Long Jinjing¡¯s Terms </h4>

    Silence descended between the two people in the small condo unit. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t speak as he waited for Long Jinjing to make up her mind. His posture against the wall appeared casual but his clenched muscles revealed that he was anything but casual at the moment.

    Finally, Long Jinjing spoke again. "What happened between us...the one-night stand...it was wonderful, Mr. Lu. It was still eptable for someone like me. But if we¡¯re going to keep on having sex with each other, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to handle it."

    Lu Zihao straightened and walked towards her.

    She raised a hand to stop him froming near her. "Please stay back. I...I can¡¯t think c-clearly if you¡¯re too close to me."

    His jaw tensed but he nodded before returning to his original position near the door. "Why do you think you won¡¯t be able to handle having sex with me again? There¡¯s nothingplicated about it."

    Her lips curved in a forced smile that had no humour. "I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothingplicated to you. But to me, it is."

    "It doesn¡¯t have to be for you, too."

    She shook her head. "I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t be casual about this like you."

    He sighed. "That¡¯s why you need to state your terms, so that I know how to amodate you."

    "Why are you doing this, Mr. Lu?" she asked in confusion. "Why are you so bent on having sex with me again?"

    His expression turnedpletely unreadable when she asked these questions. "Because I want to."

    "That¡¯s it?"

    "Yes, that¡¯s it."

    Biting her lower lip, she sat down on the couch. There was a deep frown on her face.

    "Your terms, Jinjing," he reminded her again.

    She red at him. "I can¡¯t do casual sex anymore. I just can¡¯t! Once was enough for me."

    "Then tell me what you want to make you agree again," he said.

    Turning her head away to avoid looking at him, she rubbed her cold, sweaty hands on the throw pillows of her couch. She swallowed and tried to moisturize her dry mouth before speaking in a cautious, measured tone. "If...if I¡¯m going to sleep with the same man r-repeatedly...then I"¡ªcough¡ª"I need to have some sort of security or I won¡¯t do it¡ªI mean, I can¡¯t do it."

    He frowned. "What security?"

    "A title."

    His frown deepened. "Title? I don¡¯t understand. Exin."

    Frustration and embarrassment filled her. Did he need her to exin everything word by word? That would be too embarrassing! She must be as red as a ripe tomato right now.

    "Just say it, whatever it is," he said.

    She rubbed her hands over her arms while taking a few deep breaths. "I told you that I can¡¯t do c-casual sex anymore...so what I mean is...I, uh." Herplexion turned even redder as helplessness overwhelmed her.

    "Spit it out."

    "What I mean is that I need to be in a rtionship if I¡¯m going to sleep with the same man repeatedly!" she blurted out before covering her face with a throw pillow.

    Silence.

    A few secondster, a force took away the pillow she was pressing on her face. She tried to grab it but Lu Zihao had already tossed it away at a random corner of the living room. Then he sat down beside her. She tried to run away but he grabbed her arms and prevented her from escaping.

    "Look at me," he told her.

    She shook her head, too embarrassed to meet his gaze.

    "I said look at me," he repeated in amanding tone.

    Her eyes instinctively turned to him and saw his serious expression. She bit her lower lip and kept swallowing hard.

    "What do you mean by that, Jinjing?" he asked. "You want a rtionship with me?"

    She flushed even more deeply. "No! I mean, uh...I don¡¯t necessarily want a rtionship with you..."

    He frowned and his expression turned ferocious but it was gone in the next second. Long Jinjing thought that she must have imagined it.

    Clearing her throat, she continued to stammer an exnation. "I m-mean...you said that you...want to f-fuck¡ªI mean, have sex with me again. But I don¡¯t want to have casual sex anymore...so if I have to sleep with you again, we need to be in a r-rtionship. And by rtionship, I mean that you need to be my...be my b-boyfriend. These are my terms."

    Silence.

    He didn¡¯t reply but continued to look at her with those unreadable eyes. She squirmed under his gaze and tried to escape from her embarrassment but couldn¡¯t move because he wouldn¡¯t release her arms. She was locked in ce by his firm hold.

    "I don¡¯t do that kind of rtionship."

    His words sent a heavy blow to her. She smiled and chuckled, the sight bitter and the sound grating to her own ears.

    "I figured as much," she said, chuckling even more as her eyes watered. "I¡¯m attracted to you, Mr. Lu. T-that¡¯s a fact. If I wasn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have agreed to have a one-night stand with you in the first ce."

    He remained silent and continued to listen to her.

    Her voice became shakier. "But don¡¯t get me wrong. I¡¯m not hoping for something more between us because I know that we¡¯repletely ipatible. T-there¡¯s no hope for s-something more between us, anyway. I already know that. It¡¯s just that...I can¡¯t sleep with the same man again and again but hold no title. To be just the woman that a man is...f-fucking on a regr basis is totally uneptable to me. Not just you but any man! If I allow myself to be like that now...then what¡¯s next? Will I be a m-mistress in the future? Like my mother?"

    His eyes narrowed when she said thatst part. He tightened his hold on her and was about to speak but she cut him off.

    She said, "I need...to at least be able to hold my head up high and tell people that...the man I¡¯m sharing my bed with is...is my boyfriend and that I¡¯m his girlfriend. That our rtionship is...respectable and not something shameful!"

 Chapter 819 - Donâ€™t Expect Romance

    <h4>Chapter 819 - Don¡¯t Expect Romance </h4>

    "You may not think much of me except for a convenient woman to...to f-fuck when you get the urge, but I believe that I deserve to ask this much when you told me to state my terms," Long Jinjing said.

    Lu Zihao frowned but still remained silent and let her continue talking.

    With teary eyes, she forced herself to look straight at Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes for the first time tonight. "I don¡¯t need your love or anything hopeless like that, Mr. Lu. I know that it¡¯s impossible between us, anyway. I¡¯m not that desperate for a man either. After all, I¡¯m still young and I have time. Mr. Lu, all I want is respect! That¡¯s all I¡¯m asking for. Respect."

    She looked up at the ceiling and blinked rapidly to prevent herself from embarrassing herself any further by crying like a baby.

    "All I want is respect," she repeated in a whisper. "Not only from you, Mr. Lu. But from other people as well who might discover that we¡¯re sleeping with each other. And most importantly, I want respect for myself. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to look at myself with respect if I allow myself to...to...to be your personal slut!"

    A furious expression appeared on his face but he smoothed it out just as quickly. Once again, she thought that she must have imagined it.

    "You are not a slut," he told her in a too calm, almost scary tone. "Far from it. And trust me, I know. I¡¯ve fucked many other sluts and they¡¯re nothing like you. I also never fucked any of them in more than one meeting."

    Despite her current emotional state, she couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at his words. "That makes me feel a little better, I guess. Thanks."

    She smiled, although deep inside, she felt ufortable confirming that he had indeed slept with a lot of women before. And with sluts, too. At least, he didn¡¯t discriminate.

    He grunted at her thanks. "This is the first time I¡¯m talking this much to a woman I¡¯ve bedded and nning to bed again. I don¡¯t usually like wasting my time with words and prefer to go straight to forey and fucking."

    "You¡¯re the one who wanted to negotiate with me."

    "That¡¯s because you won¡¯t let me fuck you again." He sighed and finally released her. Then he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed again.

    Finally free, she attempted to put some distance between them but he caught her again before she could move. Not really wanting to struggle against his hold, she decided to sit there beside him on the couch and allow him to hold her arm.

    "Jinjing, do you also want to fuck me again?" he asked, activating his wickedly seductive voice.

    A delicious shiver went up her spine but she forced herself to remain clear-headed.

    "Don¡¯t lie to me," he said.

    "I..." She bit her lower lip and avoided looking at him again. "Yes."

    "Say it."

    Her face and neck were burning hot in embarrassment but she still replied, "Yes, I want to f-fuck you again."

    He groaned and pulled her into his arms before attempting to kiss her but she covered his mouth with a hand before his lips could touch hers.

    "My terms first, Mr. Lu," she reminded him. "I may want to...to have sex with you again but that doesn¡¯t mean that I have to."

    He let her go and didn¡¯t reply.

    A wry smile appeared on her face. She thought that his silence equalled refusal. Well, it wasn¡¯t really surprising that he would refuse her demanding terms. She never expected him to agree in the first ce, anyway. However, she still had toy down her terms clearly to him for the sake of her self-respect and the need to not make the same mistakes as her mother did.

    Just having the courage to tell him her exact conditions was already enough to make her a little proud of herself. She swore never to regret her decision. This was for the sake of her dignity as a woman.

    Whether Lu Zihao agreed to her terms or not wouldn¡¯t make her feel like a failure. Not at all. Why should she, anyway? She wasn¡¯t the one who started this negotiation of terms in the first ce.

    No matter what happened tonight, it would just be part of her unforgettable memories in the future. At least, she could say that she was brave enough to take a firm stand ording to her personal values despite being attracted to Lu Zihao, the man she allowed to take her virginity.

    When the silence stretched for too long, she didn¡¯t want to wait anymore. This was her home, her safe ce. She should never feel awkward or ufortable in her own ce. She stood up but he pulled her back down again.

    "Mr. Lu, let me go," she said, ring at him. "I know that my terms are impossible for you so please leave¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t expect regr dates," he said all of a sudden.

    She stopped and blinked, her expression filling with confusion. "What?"

    "Or for me to say mushy, sweet nothings. I don¡¯t do those."

    Her heart beat a little faster and her stomach started fluttering. She stared at him with eyes and mouth wide open in disbelief but also...excitement.

    Was he...?

    No way!

    She forced herself to remain silent and wait for him to finish speaking.

    "I don¡¯t like drama or any of that nagging shit," he continued to say. "I especially don¡¯t like any passive-aggressive behaviour. If you have a problem with me, say it to my face. I can¡¯t read your mind so you better tell me what you want to say."

    She swallowed. Her heart was now racing. She also found it a little hard to breathe.

    "Another thing, my sister is very important and close to me. If you fight with her, I¡¯ll side with her. Always. So don¡¯t give me shit about it in the future."

    That made her scowl. "Xin is MY sister! And you took the words out of my mouth, Mr. Lu. If you fight with MY sister, I¡¯ll side with her. Always."

    He shrugged before bing serious again. "I also don¡¯t like to be disturbed when I¡¯m busy working. So no annoying and unnecessary calls or texts demanding where the hell I am. I hate those."

    She became silent again, continuing to listen to his unbelievable words in this unbelievable discussion.

    "Regarding my work, I don¡¯t like being questioned about it. Just know that I own a bunch of small businesses and leave it at that."

    His expression hardened when he said this so she knew that he was serious. It was clear from his attitude that talking about his work was off-limits.

    "In short, don¡¯t expect romance from me," he finally said.

    She took a sharp inhale before stammering, "I...I¡¯m n-not."

    He leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart from each other. "I told you that I don¡¯t do rtionships. I¡¯ve never had a girlfriend before, only bedmates. I only fuck, Jinjing."

    "Then...w-why...?"

    "Why am saying all these?" He smirked, a mocking smile directed at himself, not at her. "Hell, if I know. You¡¯re so bad for me, Jinjing. So bad. But you know what they say? The more it¡¯s bad for you, the more you¡¯ll crave it."

 Chapter 820 30 - Day Deadline

    <h4>Chapter 820 30 - Day Deadline </h4>

    Long Jinjing became dazed after hearing Lu Zihao¡¯s inconceivable words. She shook her head, not to deny what he said, but to clear her mind. She must be gawking at him like a red-faced idiot but her motor skills were unfortunately not working properly at the moment.

    Moving his head closer to hers until their noses were almost touching but not quite, Lu Zihao pressed her chin up to close her gaping mouth. There was a slight seductive smile on his sinful lips.

    "If this is what it takes for you to allow me to fuck you again, then so be it," he said in a low, mesmerizing voice. "I agree to your terms, Jinjing. But you also must agree to the terms that I said just now. What do you say?"

    She almost nodded like a mindless, pecking chicken on instinct but fortunately there was still some good sense remaining inside her increasingly muddle-headed brain. Not much good sense left, to be honest, but enough to prevent herself from agreeing to everything he said without thinking.

    "Thirty days," she whispered, looking away from his dangerously mesmerizing gaze.

    "What?"

    Swallowing hard, she forced herself to look at him straight in the eyes again to show that her words were serious and non-negotiable. "The duration of our girlfriend and boyfriend rtionship if we¡¯re able to finalize our negotiation and agree to both our terms. For thirty days, I¡¯ll give you my body for pleasure, and in exchange, you¡¯ll give me the respect I think I deserve as an official girlfriend."

    A furrow formed between his brows as he thought about her new suggestion.

    "We both know that whatever is going on between the two of us won¡¯tst long," she continued saying. "It¡¯s just lust. Nothing more. I¡¯m sure that you don¡¯t have any problem with it, but I¡¯m not built the same way as you. Thirty days is the maximum length of time that I think I¡¯ll be able to ept...having s-sex with you without expecting...for something more."

    "Heh~ Interesting," he murmured. "What happens after thirty days?"

    "We automatically break up. No hard feelings...hopefully. And then we return to our regr lives. Also, after our break up, I don¡¯t want to have sexual rtions with you any further in the future. Please stay as far away from me as possible because...because..." Her face turned crimson and she looked away again.

    He used his fingers to pull her gaze back on him by her chin. "Because what?"

    "Forget it."

    "Tell me," he insisted.

    She became even redder when she whispered her answer, "Because I might...I might f-fall in love with you. And both of us don¡¯t want that to happen."

    His fingers tightened on her chin. "I like your honesty."

    She tried covering her tomato-red face with her hands but he stopped her. All she could do was to deal with her own embarrassment right in front of him.

    "But don¡¯t fall in love with me, Jinjing," he warned. "Falling in love with a man like me will be the worst decision that you¡¯ll ever make in your entire life."

    "I-I...I won¡¯t!" she stammered. "And I already know that! You don¡¯t have to tell me. That¡¯s why we should s-stay away from each other after our...our...arrangement is over."

    He made a sound in his throat but she wasn¡¯t sure what it meant. Did it mean that he was agreeing? Or did he mean something else?

    "Fine, then," he finally said. "I have no problem with your 30-day deadline."

    She blinked. "R-really?"

    "Yeah."

    "Oh."

    He narrowed his eyes. "Are we done negotiating?"

    She was about to nod before stopping herself after thinking of something else. "Should we...uh, sign a contract or something?"

    He scowled. "What for?"

    "For our agreement."

    "No need," he said, snorting at the idea.

    "B-but¡ª"

    "No buts. I¡¯m not signing any sex contract with you."

    She red at him. "It¡¯s not a sex contract!"

    "Oh, my bad. A 30-day rtionship contract with sex involved." His mouth curved in a sinful smile yet again. "Lots and lots of sex."

    Although her IQ was severely affected by his devilish smile, she still showed him her displeasure at the vulgar words he used to describe their agreement. "Wait, I have additional terms."

    He released her chin and sighed. "Fine. Say everything now," he muttered while removing his coat.

    The sight of him removing his coat distracted her, causing her to be unable to speak right away. Beads of sweat glistened on his neck and muscled arms. He was wearing a simple, ck T-shirt underneath and it showcased his incredible figure.

    "Like what you see?" his teasing voice interrupted her wild thoughts.

    "O-of course not!" she immediately denied in embarrassment.

    A devilish chuckle was his response. "What are your additional terms?"

    "I..." She wiped her sweaty hands on her pyjama pants while clearing her throat. "I don¡¯t want you to...have s-sex with other women while we¡¯re in a rtionship. If you do...I¡¯ll break up with you even if the thirty days aren¡¯t over yet. This is respect for me as an official girlfriend."

    He crossed his arms over his chest. "Of course. Even I know that much."

    She sighed in relief.

    "And I want the same courtesy as well," he said. "Just try and sleep with another man...no, even if you just flirt with other fuckers, watch me, Jinjing. You don¡¯t want to see me angry."

    "I...I...of course, I won¡¯t do that!"

    She shivered and instinctively scooted away on the couch as soon as she felt his bloodthirsty aura.

    "Good."

    The dangerous aura disappeared, making her wonder if she imagined it. However, her goosebumps were telling a different story. She rubbed her hands over her skin to warm herself up.

    "While I¡¯m fucking you in these 30 days, it means that you¡¯re my woman, Jinjing," he told her in a calm yet still threatening tone. "I¡¯m territorial. I don¡¯t like sharing. I hate it."

    Despite the menace in his voice, she still raised her chin. "I-I¡¯m the same. I also don¡¯t want to share my...my m-man!"

    "Heh~" His wicked, demonic smile was back as he teased her, "So does this mean that I¡¯m your man now?"

 Chapter 821 - Seal The Deal

    <h4>Chapter 821 - Seal The Deal </h4>

    "We haven¡¯t finalized our...arrangement so, uhm, you¡¯re not my...my m-man yet," Long Jinjing stammered as she looked away in embarrassment once again.

    Lu Zihao scooted closer on the couch until she could feel his body heat emanating from him. Then he reached over and touched her face before forcing her to look at him again with a firm pull of his hand.

    "I told you that I don¡¯t do rtionships," he told her in a seductive voice. "But if it¡¯s not too much of a hassle and we¡¯re both free, we can go out to do something you like once in a while. I know at least this much from watching my sister with her man."

    "Xin is MY sister."

    He continued, "In exchange, you¡¯re mine in these thirty days. We fuck regrly, as much as I want. Agree? If so, we can go ahead and finalize our arrangement."

    She shivered, her body instinctively leaning closer to him, and then nodding her head.

    "Say it, Jinjing. I want to hear the words."

    She cleared her throat and tried to moisturize her increasingly dry mouth. "Y-yes, I agree." Then she peeked at him with shy eyes. "Do you also agree to my terms, Mr. Lu?"

    A scowl appeared on his face.

    Her heart sank. "Y-you don¡¯t agree?"

    "Niki," he said. "Call me Niki."

    "Huh?" She was confused. "Why? We¡¯re not in bed."

    "If you¡¯re going to be my official girlfriend, then you must call me Niki...in private when nobody is around. It doesn¡¯t have to be when we¡¯re fucking."

    "Oh."

    Long Jinjing thought that the man was weird but she still nodded. Did this mean that he wanted to extend his role-ying fetish outside the bedroom, too?

    His signature demonic smile brightened his scarred, handsome face. "Then from here on, Miss Long Jinjing, you are now my girlfriend."

    It felt like her heart did a back flip. "Oh!"

    "For thirty days."

    Good sense returned to her amoeba-level brain after he added those words. "Y-yes, of course. And you¡¯re now my...b-boyfriend...for thirty days."

    "So this means that I¡¯m your man now."

    She nodded.

    "Let¡¯s seal the deal, then," he said.

    "How?"

    He smirked. "How else? We seal it with a kiss, of course."

    Then without waiting for her to reply, he dove in and kissed her with a feverish hunger that ignited her own desire for him as well. His arms wrapped around her and he pulled her over hisp until she was straddling him.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, trying to match his intensity with all she got. A deep moan escaped from her throat as her body burned in response to his scorching body heat. Their clothes stuck to their skin due to the sweat but they didn¡¯t care as they pressed their bodies closer and rubbed them together.

    Their mouths separated.

    Her eyes were dazed, intoxicated by his strong, masculine taste and scent. Then she realized that her ripped pyjama top was now gone and he was kissing, licking and sucking a trail from her chin to her neck down to her chest. The hickeys he left a few nights ago hadn¡¯t disappeared yet but he was now adding new ones on top of the old ones. She watched him with heavy-lidded eyes, fascinated by how he was feasting on her skin.

    "Jinjing," he murmured.

    "Y-yes?"

    "We¡¯re boyfriend and girlfriend now."

    She moaned when he flicked a rough finger on top of her nipple. "Y-yes..."

    "Can I fuck you now?"

    "Oh, yes!"

    A loud, feral groan vibrated deep in his chest. Before she knew it, he was already sucking her nipple hard, making her moan so loud that she could barely recognize her own voice. She ran her fingers through his hair, pushing his head closer while arching her back at the same time to urge him to suck her breast harder.

    One of his hands fondled her other breast and made her go crazy while his other hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer until her tingling centre sat directly on top of his erection.

    She cried out and trembled in his arms. Her eyes closed. His hand urged her hips to grind on top of him. Too far gone in her desire to feel embarrassed about every single little thing, she followed his silent instruction and started grinding her hips, sending electrifying surges of pleasure all over her body.

    Then he stopped both of their movements all of a sudden and reached between them to unzip his jeans. After a few seconds, his hard length was out in the open, its top glistening.

    Even though that hard thing had been inside her before, Long Jinjing still couldn¡¯t stop her eyes from widening. Without thinking, she poked it with a cautious finger.

    Lu Zihao caught her hand before she could withdraw it and wrapped it around his hot, hard length. He groaned and guided her hand up and down.

    "Oh, yeah," he moaned as he tightened her hand around himself and increased the speed. "I want you to suck me now."

    She swallowed, a little terrified at the thought. Thest time he made her suck him, she almost gagged and suffocated.

    "Hey," he called in a gentle voice upon noticing her apprehension. "It¡¯ll be alright. You¡¯ve done it before and you did a great job."

    "Okay," she replied in a hesitant tone.

    He rubbed his rough fingers over her lips before pushing one finger inside her mouth. She licked it before sucking it. A sound of approval vibrated in his throat.

    "We¡¯ll work on your gag reflex in these 30 days," he told her. "You¡¯ll be able to take me deeper and harder inside your mouth and you¡¯ll end up loving every second of it."

    Although she doubted that she would really be that capable, she still nodded. After all, she survived the first time he had her do it.

    "Get down," he said in amanding tone.

    She got up from her straddling position and lowered her knees which felt like jelly at the moment to the floor. His erection jerked in front of her face.

    "Now suck me."

 Chapter 822 - You Can Take Me

    <h4>Chapter 822 - You Can Take Me </h4>

    With a racing heart, Long Jinjing allowed Lu Zihao to position her head until her lips touched the tip of his hard length.

    "Open your mouth," he said.

    She did and he slid inside with a groan. His hand tightened around her hair and guided her head up and down his length. Slowly at first, but each time her head dipped down, he pushed just a little deeper. She didn¡¯t notice this until the tip of his length finally bumped against her throat.

    When that happened, she panicked a little and attempted to back away but he kept a firm hold of her head to prevent her from escaping.

    "Rx," he murmured in a rather soothing tone. "You¡¯re fine."

    His other hand reached down and yed with her breasts, flicking and pinching her nipples until she began to moan. Since he was pleasuring her, it was only fair that she also pleasured him.

    She began sucking which earned her a sexy moan from him. That sound spurred her on and she felt eager to give him more pleasure. In addition to using her mouth, she also used her hands on him which by the sound of the erotic sounds he was emitting meant that he approved of her actions.

    His erection expanded even further inside her mouth and felt harder. She tasted a trace of his release on her tongue which increased her own desire. Soft, needy moans thrummed in her throat but she didn¡¯t notice because she was so focused on pleasuring him¡ªher man.

    Just the thought that this attractive and sexy creature was now her man, even if it was only for thirty days, made her feel so thrilled and desirable, as if she took a bite out of a forbidden fruit. It felt so sinful, yet also so exhrating at the same time.

    Then Lu Zihao stood up all of a sudden. If he wasn¡¯t supporting her nape, she would¡¯ve tumbled backwards on the floor.

    "Get yourself steady," he said in a low, dangerous voice. His eyes were predatory.

    She shivered and nodded before shifting into a more stable position on her knees in front of him. Just like the first time he taught her how to pleasure him with her mouth in her bathtub a few nights ago, he held her head with both hands and positioned his groin right in front of her face.

    "Ready, Jinjing?"

    "Yes, Niki," she breathed before obediently opening her mouth.

    He slid home in two slow, firm thrusts. Then his hands tightened their hold on her head and he began mming inside her mouth. Her throat protested. She couldn¡¯t breathe and felt like gagging.

    "Breathe through your nose," he instructed. "And rx. I won¡¯t go beyond your limits. I¡¯ll only do what you can take. And I know that you can take this. You can take me!"

    She whimpered and held onto his muscled thighs while forcing herself to breathe properly through her nose even as he pumped himself harder and faster inside her mouth. Tears flowed down her eyes at the effort, and yet when she heard the feral sounds of pleasure he was making, her entire body somehow managed to rx and became more epting of his savage actions.

    "Fuck, your mouth is the best," he hissed.

    His words sent a rush of pride through her as well as an even stronger desire. She moaned and rubbed her thighs together to ease her own need. Even though he might be exaggerating because she didn¡¯t believe that she was skillful in the bedroom arts at all given that she had been a virgin just a few nights ago, she still appreciated hispliment. It made her embarrassed but only for a moment. Right now, she felt sexy and extremely feminine.

    With increased fervour, she met his hard thrusts with a stronger sucking force and tighter squeezing of her hands. Lu Zihao now sounded like a wild animal. The wordsing out of his mouth were all vulgar and would normally embarrass her but right now, all she cared about was giving him the best pleasure that she could manage to provide him with her current limited skills.

    "Jinjing!"

    With ast deep thrust inside her mouth until it ran smack her throat, he came inside and filled it with his powerful release. She swallowed and began gagging and coughing. This time, however, she no longer struggled as much unlike her first experience a few nights ago.

    When it was over, he pulled out with an extremely satisfied expression on his face. He used his thumb to scrape some of his ejaction that dripped out from the corner of her lips before sending it back inside her mouth.

    "Well done."

    She made a sound in her throat and focused on getting her bearings back. That was intense. She needed a few moments to recover and be functional again.

    He pulled her up and hugged her while rubbing her back as she continued to cough and wheeze. Her entire body felt tense with all the coughing but also like jelly at the same time.

    Finally, the coughing and wheezing stopped and she began to feel like herself again. He noticed, of course, and began kissing her, not minding in the least that she still had some of his liquid release inside her mouth and he could taste it as well. His hands were touching almost everywhere her body. And just like that, he reignited her desire to feverish heights.

    His thing which just softened became hard once again. It didn¡¯t even take him a couple of minutes before he was raring to go for another round.

    He steered her and pushed her to the couch until she was on all fours. She shifted her position to make herself morefortable by resting her upper body on the back of the couch and using her arms to hold on to it for support.

    Behind her, Lu Zihao opened her kneeling legs wider and lifted her butt higher before rubbing her hot and soaking core with a rough hand. She cried out at the sheer pleasure.

    "Niki, please," she begged.

 Chapter 823 - Too Small For Both Of Us

    <h4>Chapter 823 - Too Small For Both Of Us </h4>

    Lu Zihao held Long Jinjing¡¯s hips steady with one hand while inserting a finger of his other hand inside her wet core and moving it in and out. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the pleasure he was giving her. The lewd sounds of what he was doing behind her and the moansing out of her throat were driving her crazy with pleasure.

    What was this? She thought that she already knew pleasure when she gave the man her virginity a few nights ago. Then why did it feel like she was experiencing an even more intense pleasure now?

    It didn¡¯t take long before a powerful spasm overwhelmed her entire body. It felt so powerful and he only used a finger. Shey limp and whimpering on the couch. If not for him holding her hips up, she wouldn¡¯t be able to maintain her current position.

    "Stay strong, Jinjing," Lu Zihao¡¯s devilish voice whispered directly to her ear, his hot breath tickling her and sending a delicious shiver up her spine. "We only just started."

    She made a sound in her throat. How could she forget the man¡¯s incredible stamina? Maybe she should start eating more nutritious food and going to the gym in order to strengthen her body or she might not be able to keep up with a beast like him in these thirty days.

    Her thoughts were interrupted when another shock of pleasure took her breath away. She looked behind her and saw his head buried between her legs. The sight made her flush. It was one thing for her toy on her back while he was doing this, but it was another thing for him to do this while she was on all fours. It felt too...too animalistic!

    Ah, how embarrassing!

    She tried to straighten her body to stop him, but he used one firm hand to push her back down. Then his skillful tongue made her forget about her embarrassment as pleasure once again assailed her.

    He gave her slick slit a long lick before standing up. She whined in protest which made him chuckle. He pped her butt, making her gasp and look at him behind her in shock.

    "We have a long night, Jinjing," he said while stroking his rock-hard erection. "I¡¯ll lick you moreter but this here needs you more right now."

    "Oh."

    Her eyes zeroed in on his hard length. It looked so swollen as if it was going to burst any minute now. She swallowed hard and felt herself bing more soaked.

    Then he positioned himself behind her and brushed the tip of his erection against her opening.

    "Wait!" She stopped him before he could plunge inside. "C-condom! Don¡¯t forget."

    Lu Zihao cursed and quickly rummaged through the pocket of his jeans on the floor. Finally, he was able to find his wallet and took out a few condoms. He tore one foil open and sheathed himself. His movements weren¡¯t as smooth and as practiced as before.

    Long Jinjing frowned and wondered what was wrong with him. Was he too tired from work that his fatigue started to affect his movements? He didn¡¯t look tired at all but it was always difficult trying to read what he really felt just from his appearance alone.

    Soon, however, she wasn¡¯t able to think about it too much anymore because he stood behind her once again, ready to enter her. Anticipation filled her and she almost couldn¡¯t wait to feel what it was like to be filled by him again.

    He held her hips while teasing her entrance with the tip of his hard length. Before she realized what she was doing, her hips were already rolling on their own.

    "I like your eagerness," he murmured. "I like it very much."

    Then he rammed inside in one forceful thrust. She cried out and almost came again just from that one action alone.

    Long Jinjing turned her head and looked behind her. His eyes were shut tight as he released a deep groan while buried inside her. He rotated his hips, making both of them moan. He opened his eyes and held her hips in ce.

    "Please," she begged when he still didn¡¯t move.

    His eyes narrowed, an almost frightening glint shing in them. Then he bared his teeth and began to give holy hell on her body. His hips mmed hard and fast in and out of her.

    Shock, a little worry, a great deal of excitement, and huge loads of pleasure assaulted her. There was a moment within the overwhelming flood of sensations that she thought her body might break from his fierce strength. However, everything was soon drowned by her cries of pleasure which quickly turned into screams.

    He pped her butt and she orgasmed just like that. And yet he didn¡¯t stop and continued his increasingly intense pounding behind her.

    "Niki," she whimpered, unsure of whether it was a plea for him to stop or to continue.

    His hips stopped all of a sudden and she discovered right then and there that she actually didn¡¯t want him to stop. But before she could ask him to continue, he grabbed her hair and pulled it all of a sudden, forcing her to arch her back. At the same time, he bent over her and caught her by the jaw, kissing her with a savageness that made her feel like melting into puddle. His tongue was as fierce as his earlier pounding.

    "I can¡¯t get enough of you," he said before sucking her lower lip and feeding her his tongue deep inside her mouth.

    She moaned and her lower body contracted, earning a pleased moan from him.

    His other hand released her jaw and trailed down until it reached the point where they were connected so tightly. He pressed down on her swollen nub of pleasure, making her cry out. Then he began a sweet torture using the deadlybination of his mouth, fingers and hips to pleasure her.

    "This. Is. Mine," he said, punctuating his words with a m of his hips and a rub of his fingers.

    Long Jinjing was now too far gone in pleasure to care about what he was saying. Her whole body heated up and the pleasure kept on building until she couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Then he pped her butt again, triggering another wave of powerful orgasm from her.

    "Oh God!" she screamed. "Niki!"

    This time, he joined her and they climaxed together. Even so, he still continued moving in and out of her with wild, sporadic thrusts.

    She must have passed out for a few moments because when she regained her senses, she was now lying on her back on the couch with her hips lifted up to his mouth. His skillful tongue were once again devouring her.

    When he noticed her eyes had be clear again, he gave her slick slit one long lick before lowering her down and taking another condom and sheathing himself.

    "I¡¯m far from done with you tonight, Jinjing," he told her before plunging deep inside her. He didn¡¯t even give her a moment of respite before giving her another deep and hard pounding.

    All she could do was hold on to his shoulders and ride this tsunami called Lu Zihao¡ªno, he preferred being called Niki while they were in private.

    They kissed like their lives depended on it. She learned fast and was soon able to match his tongue¡¯s aggressiveness with her own.

    Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing was currently absent, too scandalized by the man¡¯s vulgarity to make an appearance. Long Jinjing didn¡¯t care because she couldn¡¯t think properly at all. She climaxed four more times before he reached his own release.

    When this round was over, she felt like she just survived a disaster¡ªa ferocious, incredible, and pleasurable disaster. She watched Lu Zihao drag himself off of her and discard the used condom before returning. Then he carried her to her bedroom.

    "This bed is too small for both of us," hemented afterying her down. "I¡¯ll buy a new, bigger one."

    She frowned. "But a bigger bed won¡¯t fit inside my room."

    "I¡¯ll have someone take some measurements and build a customized bed."

    "I think this bed is fine¡ª"

    "No. I work hard every day, so I prefer to sleep in afortable bed. This won¡¯t do."

    Her frown deepened. "Sleep? You want to actually s-sleep here in my ce?"

 Chapter 824 - Are You Afraid Of Me?

    <h4>Chapter 824 - Are You Afraid Of Me? </h4>

    "Move over," Lu Zihao said instead of answering Long Jinjing¡¯s question right away.

    She scooted over to the other side of the bed to make room for him. He climbed on it andid down his huge body beside her. The bed creaked under his weight. Then he pulled her in his arms before covering both of them with theforter. Sighing in satisfaction, she pressed herself closer to his body and cuddled with him.

    "We only have thirty days," he said.

    His words were like cold water dousing the warm andfortable feeling of the moment. Indeed, they only had thirty days. Although she was the one who suggested the condition in the first ce and they both agreed, he didn¡¯t have to talk about it right now while they were cuddling.

    She wasn¡¯t regretting her decision. Not at all. At least, not at the moment. And she hoped that she wouldn¡¯t regret it when their one month was over.

    Her thoughts were interrupted when he continued talking. She lifted her head to look at him as he spoke while staring at the ceiling.

    "I don¡¯t want to waste these thirty days," he said. "Even if I want to, I won¡¯t be able to fuck you for thirty days straight. Both of us are busy with work. I also often go out of town, so sometimes I¡¯ll be gone for a few days. And you also need to heal if you get too sore. I don¡¯t like fucking a woman who¡¯s in pain. That¡¯s not enjoyable at all."

    He turned his head and looked at her. "So if you¡¯re in pain while we¡¯re fucking, you better tell it to me straight."

    "Okay," she said.

    "Good." His hand snaked around her waist and pulled her closer before starting to fondle her. "I n to fuck you a lot, Jinjing. Since we only have thirty days, it¡¯s better for me to spend the nights here at your ce as much as I can. We¡¯ll fuck and when you¡¯re tired or too sore, we¡¯ll sleep."

    She thought about it for a moment before saying in a tone filled with shyness, "That¡¯s fine. You¡¯re now my...my boyfriend so you¡¯re wee here."

    "Ready for another round?" he whispered, changing the topic all of a sudden.

    "I..." Her entire body heated up.

    She moaned when his hand reached down and touched the apex of her thighs.

    "Hot and wet, just like how I like it. Yes, you¡¯re ready." He smirked and changed their position by pulling her up on top of him.

    Theforter fell down until their nudity was once again exposed to one another. Her breathing quickened when her centre rubbed directly against his hard, muscled abs. It flexed underneath her, making her gasp and reigniting her desire in just a few seconds.

    He reached up and cupped both her breasts with each of his big, rough hands. They were also full of scars like the rest of his body.

    Long Jinjing straddled him and also took this moment to study his scars more carefully. She traced the biggest and most prominent scars on his chest. They crisscrossed all over his body that it was difficult to determine which scars were sustained from which injuries.

    Her chest tightened as she imagined how he got all of them. They looked so big, long and deep. He must have been in so much pain when he got injured.

    "Can you tell me¡ª"

    "No." A frightening aura sted from him.

    She almost fell off from on top of him. Her heart hammered inside her chest and her hot desire from just a few seconds ago was now reced by cold sweat.

    Then the malevolent aura disappeared as if it wasn¡¯t there in the first ce. She stared at him with wide, confused eyes.

    Did she imagine that horrible feeling just now? What in the world happened? She had no idea. All she knew was that her body became filled with terror all of a sudden as if it was facing a murderous beast.

    Lu Zihao sat up while she was still straddling him. He pulled her in his arms and started rubbing her skin to warm her up. It was only a few momentster that she realized that she was actually shaking. He was murmuring something to her but she was unable to understand what he was saying. It sounded like he was trying to soothe her.

    And it worked.

    When she calmed down enough to stop shaking, he began to slowly kiss her. She melted under his surprisingly gentle ministrations and began to respond with her own slow kisses.

    Their mouths separated and he looked at her with his deep, dark eyes. "Are you afraid of me, Jinjing?"

    A confused frown appeared on her face at the interruption.

    "Answer me," he said.

    His question finally registered in her dazed mind. She shook her head. "No. I¡¯m not afraid of you, Niki."

    "Why not? You were shaking in fear because of me just now."

    Her dazed eyes became a little clearer. She remembered what happened earlier but couldn¡¯t exin it. Her frown deepened. "T-that was just some kind of a...weird reaction. I don¡¯t think it was because of you. I¡¯m not afraid of you."

    He didn¡¯t reply but continued to observe her with his intense eyes.

    She cleared throat and squirmed a little under his heavy gaze. "Although we don¡¯t know each other that well, my guts are telling me that you won¡¯t hurt me physically, so there¡¯s no reason for me to fear you."

    "You already know that I fuck hard. But you haven¡¯t yet experienced how hard I really fuck, Jinjing. I¡¯m still taking it easy on you. I might identally hurt you¡ª"

    "That¡¯s not what I mean! Our, uhm, bed activities are a separate matter. Actually, I think I¡¯ll be fine even if you go a little harder." She flushed crimson at her own words. "Uhm, what I mean is that I¡¯ll tell you to stop if you¡¯re hurting me in bed. B-but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m talking about here!"

    He caressed her cheek. "Then tell me."

 Chapter 825 - Not A Good Man

    <h4>Chapter 825 - Not A Good Man </h4>

    "What I mean is that I don¡¯t think that you¡¯ll beat me up," Long Jinjing whispered.

    Lu Zihao scowled. "Hell no. Although I¡¯m not exactly a saint, I won¡¯t beat you up. Only weak, insecure, scum men beat up women without any valid reason. Besides, you¡¯re my woman now during these thirty days. Like hell I¡¯ll beat up my own woman."

    She nodded and smiled at his words. "That¡¯s what I mean. So I¡¯m not afraid of you, Mr. Lu¡ªI mean, Niki."

    He leaned forward and nuzzled her jaw while his hands fondled her waist. "But you shouldn¡¯t trust me, Jinjing."

    Frowning, she leaned back. "Why not?"

    "I¡¯m not a good man."

    She pursed her lips. "I don¡¯t see the world as purely ck and white. Every individual has their good and bad points. You¡¯re not perfect. I¡¯m not perfect either. Nobody in this living world is perfect and whoever ims to be one is a liar. Even my sister Xin was a...uhm, let¡¯s say a ¡¯wild¡¯ child when we were younger but look at her now. She has be such an amazing person and one of the most generous people I know."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t speak but observed her while she continued talking.

    "Niki, even though what we have between us is only lust, the fact that you promised to give me respect as an official girlfriend is already enough to make me see you as a good man. Yes, you¡¯re extremely ferocious in bed but there are also times like right now that you¡¯re very gentle with me. That tells me that you know how to treat a woman well if you really want to."

    She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don¡¯t know why you don¡¯t see yourself as a good man but I¡¯ll only believe what I see with my own eyes. I¡¯ll make my own decisions on who to trust. I can¡¯t say that I trust you fully right now, but I trust that you¡¯re someone who won¡¯t beat me up or treat me like trash. And most importantly, my sister adores you and treats you like a real brother. It makes me jealous sometimes because I want to be closer to her as a sibling but I¡¯m notining because our rtionship has improved a lot. I¡¯m very happy that we¡¯re now in a better ce as sisters. That¡¯s why my sister¡¯s trust in you is enough for me to feel assured of your credibility."

    Silence.

    Long Jinjing began to squirm a little when he still didn¡¯t speak after almost a full minute had passed. Did she say something wrong? She observed his expression but it was unreadable.

    "Uhm...."

    "Jinjing."

    "Y-yes?"

    He looked at her straight in the eyes. "You are a good woman."

    She flushed and felt shy.

    "A good woman like you deserves an equally good man," he said. "I¡¯m not a good man, even if you tell me otherwise."

    His words made her frown again. She opened her mouth to speak but he pressed a finger on her lips to prevent her from doing so.

    "But don¡¯t worry. During these thirty days, you¡¯re my woman so I¡¯ll treat you right."

    She nodded and hugged him by the neck, not wanting him to see that her eyes had watered because of his words.

    "Niki..."

    He turned his head and sucked the side of her neck, without a doubt leaving another hickey on her skin. "Hm?"

    She faced him and initiated a hot, open-mouthed kiss. His erection poked her from below and she ground her hips against it. Feeling daring, she whispered directly to his ear, "I need you again."

    Before she knew it, he flipped their positions and shended on her back while he came on top of her. He opened her legs wide and ced himself between them. Then he cursed.

    "The condoms are in the living room," he said.

    "Go get them. Hurry."

    He sighed and left. While waiting for him to return, Long Jinjing stared at the ceiling. She still felt curious about how he got all the scars on his body but it was clear from his frightening reaction earlier that the topic was strictly off-limits.

    Now that she thought more about it, that moment was really scary. Just remembering it filled her with terror. She didn¡¯t expect that he could be so frightening, as if he had be a real-life monster. Despite this, she didn¡¯t lie to him when she said that she wasn¡¯t afraid of him. So what if he could be scary like that? As long as he treated her right and gave her the respect that she needed, then that was all that mattered.

    As much as she wanted to know more about him, she would respect his decision if he didn¡¯t want to tell her. Everyone had secrets after all. Besides, their rtionship would onlyst for thirty days. She also agreed to his terms not to be a nagging and clingy girlfriend. Not to mention that knowing too much about him might make her feel too attached to him.

    They could be as intimate as they wanted with their bodies, but it was still best for them to keep some distance between their emotions. This was to protect her heart from developing hopeless feelings for the man.

    Finally, Lu Zihao returned to the bedroom with the condoms. He sheathed his erection and joined her on the bed.

    "Go book an appointment with a doctor and get a prescription for contraceptive pills," he said. "We¡¯re in a rtionship now. I don¡¯t want the hassle of putting on a condom every time I want to fuck you. I also want to trying inside you."

    She frowned.

    Seeing her reaction, he raised an eyebrow. "You¡¯re against taking the pill?"

    "N-no. That¡¯s not it."

    He only raised his eyebrow higher.

    "I don¡¯t mind being on the pill but..."

    "Spit it out, Jinjing."

    She cleared her throat and turned her head away in embarrassment. "But I can¡¯t just let you...uhm...you know..."

    He reached over for her chin and forced her to look at him. "You won¡¯t let me fuck you raw?"

 Chapter 826 - Seizure

    <h4>Chapter 826 - Seizure </h4>

    "Y-you! Don¡¯t say it like that! So embarrassing!" Long Jinjing attempted to cover her face but Lu Zihao stopped her. Helpless at his vulgar words, she could only gather her courage and stammer, "I need to know that you¡¯re...c-clean first before I can let you have sex with me without a condom. I¡¯m, uh, adding that to my terms!"

    "Clean?" He scowled and a hint of vicious aura leaked from him again.

    She shuddered a little butpared to what happened earlier when she asked him about his scars, this was nothing. She was also too nervous and embarrassed to feel scared of his aura at the moment.

    "My sister...I don¡¯t know if I should be revealing this to you. It¡¯s a private matter, you see. So...uhm...."

    "Just say it," he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip and sent a silent apology to her sister in her mind. She cleared her throat.

    "Little Sister Xin said that she made Brother-inw Liwei get tested for STDs first before they could, uh, you know, have real full sex. And he did. He gave her the all-negative test results. She said that it¡¯s important and that we should all demand such test from our sexual partners, and of course, if we ourselves had previous sexual partners and are about to enter a new rtionship, then we should also be ready to get the test ourselves. It¡¯s only fair. And I happen to agree with her."

    Deep inside, Lu Zihao felt relieved that his sister did that with Jin Liwei. He was actually the one who always reminded her in their past lives about the importance of demanding an STD test from her prospective husband.

    There were many men eyeing his sister back then. Who wouldn¡¯t want her? Evelina Vetrova was extremely beautiful to the point of almost being otherworldly. She was even more beautiful back then than she was now as Long Xin. However, not many had the guts to actually pursue her because of their family¡¯s formidable identity. Just the mere mention of their surname was enough to send the majority of those fuckers running with their tails tucked between their legs like the cowards that they were.

    The handful ones who were brave enough to woo her still couldn¡¯tst until the end because of her great, evil guardian called Niki Vetrov. And even if he did approve of someone back then¡ªwhich he didn¡¯t¡ªthat man would still fail in his pursuit because her sister was so disinterested in romance and marriage. All she cared about were herputers, music, and dreaming about raising a kitten.

    He had tried so hard to instill in her an impossibly high standard for a significant other to prevent his sister from being duped by some sleazy man. Since she didn¡¯t bat an eye at her many suitors in their past lives, he thought that his lectures were effective.

    This was why he had been so shocked and displeased to find out that she became someone else¡¯s live-in girlfriend so soon after their rebirth. If only he had found her sooner, perhaps Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t have been able to trick her so easily into bing lovers. And now look at her, pregnant before marriage!

    Jin Liwei, that damn scoundrel!

    Right at that moment, the remnant stirred violently inside him, protesting against his harsh criticism of its beloved third brother. His entire body tensed and instantly became drenched in sweat as he immediately worked on subduing the damn remnant.

    "Niki? What¡¯s wrong?" Long Jinjing¡¯s worried voice managed to pierce through the turbulent war urring inside him. "Why are you like this?"

    He hugged her so tightly as if holding on to a lifeline. She gasped at the strength of his embrace. It felt like he was trying to crush her. She was about to tell him to let go but when she saw his pained expression, her concern for him overcame her difort from his crushing embrace.

    "Mr. Lu? Zihao, talk to me, please! Tell me what¡¯s wrong. You¡¯re...scaring me."

    His expression morphed into something ferocious. He snarled, "I¡¯m Niki!"

    "Y-yes, of course, you¡¯re Niki," she said in a hurry to not agitate him.

    She ran her hands all over his naked back and felt how soaked it was with cold sweat. Her heart raced in anxiety for him. She tried many times to ask him what was going on but he wouldn¡¯t give a proper response which only worsened her worry.

    He released a series of unintelligible words that she couldn¡¯t understand. He sounded like he was cursing but it was in anothernguage. It sounded European but she couldn¡¯t quite figure out whichnguage it was exactly.

    "Let me go, Niki," she said. "I¡¯ll call an ambnce for you."

    That managed to catch his attention. He red at her with unfocused eyes and growled, "No ambnce..."

    "You don¡¯t look okay to me. I¡¯m so worried about you."

    He closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder while hugging her closer to him. "...be fine...just stay here..."

    Long Jinjing wanted to cry and freak out but she couldn¡¯t do that right now. She needed to be level-headed and to think of something to help him. What could she do to make him feel better from whatever was happening to him right now?

    His body spasmed even more, making him release another deep, pained groan. Since he was holding her so close, she could feel every tremor wracking his body.

    What in the world was happening to him? Was he having some sort of seizure?

    She hugged him and used her hands to massage his back. "Please be okay please be okay...oh please..."

    Time passed. She didn¡¯t know how long it took before his seizure or whatever it was finally stopped. Her body now felt numb from being hugged so tightly.

    "N-niki?"

    He was panting from what he went through but his eyes were now clearer. He kissed her clumsily. "I need to fuck you. Now."

    She opened her legs wide and epted him (with all her heart).

 Chapter 827 - Shun

    <h4>Chapter 827 - Shun </h4>

    The rm clock awakened the sleep-deprived Long Jinjing just before sunrise. She groaned and rolled over to stop the irritating sound ring from her phone on the bedside table. It was time to get ready for work, but her body protested and wanted to continue sleeping.

    She must have only slept for about two hours or less. Lu Zihao was insatiable and had sex with her almost nonstop after his weird seizure episodest night. He seemed desperate for her body. Seeing his concerning state made her unable to deny him, even though she knew that she had to wake up early for work.

    Turning to her other side, she found that part of the bed empty. She sighed as disappointment once again filled her. But she wasn¡¯t surprised anymore that the man left before she woke up. He had already done it before the first time that they had sex.

    After another heavy sigh, she struggled to climb off the bed to start another workday. Her body felt sore, heavy and stiff in so many ces. The tender part at the apex of her thighs felt like it was going to fall down to the floor, although that was a ridiculous notion. However, it really felt like that to her right at this moment. She felt...well-fucked.

    Her hands covered her face in embarrassment, even though she was alone and nobody could see her right now. After recovering from her naughty thoughts, she once again considered about doing something to strengthen her body and improve her stamina. If things went on like this every time that she had sex with Lu Zihao, she wouldn¡¯t be able tost thirty days.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll sign up for a gym membership and buy some nutritious food ingredients at the groceryter after work.¡¯

    These self-improvement thoughts made her ignore the disappointment caused by Lu Zihao¡¯s absence in bed after waking up. She didn¡¯t want to dwell in this kind of treacherous feeling that might make her feel too attached to him.

    She carefully walked out of her bedroom, not bothering to cover her nudity with a robe or any clothing. She was alone in her home, anyway. Nobody would see her.

    As soon as she came out of the bedroom, however, she immediately saw a strange man standing by her small dining table. She screamed in fright.

    A furious Lu Zihao came into view from the living room and roared at her, "What the hell are you doing, woman?! Put some clothes on!!!" Then he turned to the other man and roared at him, too. "Don¡¯t you dare look at her or I¡¯ll gouge your eyes out!!!"

    "I swear that I didn¡¯t see anything, Boss Hao," the unfamiliar man replied in a subservient tone while looking down at the floor.

    Long Jinjing ran back inside her room and shut the door. She clutched her chest and tried to calm her racing heart.

    ¡¯He¡¯s still here. He didn¡¯t leave.¡¯

    Despite her fright and confusion at seeing a stranger in her own home first thing in the morning, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t leave like before. And based on the two men¡¯s interaction, it seemed that the stranger was Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinate.

    She grabbed her robe and put it on. Then shebed her hair with her fingers before deeming herself presentable enough to make the short distance between her room and the bathroom.

    Lu Zihao was waiting outside her door when she came out. He still looked furious and red at her while examining her appearance from head to toe and back up again.

    "Don¡¯t ever run around naked like that again," he said through gritted teeth.

    She frowned, irked at his tone. Her chin lifted in defiance. "I thought you already left and that I was alone. How could I know that there would be a stranger in my own home first thing in the morning? You two are so quiet that I didn¡¯t notice that there are other people here besides me. Are you two ghosts or something? Besides, this is my own home! I should be able to do anything that I want in my own ce. So...so...d-don¡¯t reprimand me like that. It¡¯s not my fault!"

    His jaw clenched as he continued ring at her.

    She bit her lower lip and faltered a little under his fury but she didn¡¯t think that she was wrong. So she lifted her chin higher, even though she couldn¡¯t meet his angry eyes.

    "W-who¡¯s that man, anyway?" she asked. "I don¡¯t like strangers that I didn¡¯t invite inside my own home."

    Their stand-offsted for another full minute before Lu Zihao released a long, drawn-out, annoyed breath.

    Well, she was annoyed, too!

    He called the other man over. She instinctively hid behind Lu Zihao when the stranger came forward because she was still naked underneath her robe. Lu Zihao introduced the other man as his subordinate.

    "Hello, Miss Long," the man greeted while continuing to look at the floor. "Please call me Shun. Nice to meet you."

    "H-hello, Mr. Shun," she greeted back.

    "Call her Miss Jinjing," Lu Zihao corrected Shun. "She¡¯s my girlfriend. Tell the others to respect her or you¡¯ll all answer to me."

    "Understood, Boss Hao."

    Lu Zihao dismissed Shun with a wave of a hand and the other man returned to the dining table to arrange the dishes.

    "I called Shun to bring us breakfast and also a change of clothes and some toiletries for me," Lu Zihao exined. "I¡¯ll give you my private number and Shun¡¯ster. If you need something and can¡¯t reach me, you can call him instead and he¡¯ll take care of it. You can also ask him to run errands for you."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes widened at his words. "I...there¡¯s really no n-need¡ªumph!"

    Her protests were swallowed by his sudden, fiery kiss. She melted in his arms and closed her eyes while kissing him back.

    He pped her butt when their mouths separated. "Go shower and get ready. We¡¯ll eat breakfast, and then I¡¯ll drive you to work."

    "W-what? I can drive myself¡ª"

    "Hurry, I¡¯m hungry," he said, already walking away while ignoring her protests.

 Chapter 828 - Controlling

    <h4>Chapter 828 - Controlling </h4>

    Less than an hourter, a work-ready Long Jinjing stepped out of the bedroom. She was wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck shirt and business trousers to cover up her new hickeys. Her face looked fresh with light makeup despite theck of sleep.

    Lu Zihao was already sitting at the dining table and drinking hot coffee while waiting for her.

    The delicious aroma of food wafted to her nose and made her salivate. She usually only cooked simple one-dish breakfast or heated up leftovers to save time. And if she was runningte, she would leave without eating and just buy some food on the way to work. It was only when her mother, Sun Jingfei, stayed over that she would have a full breakfast with several dishes like this.

    Seeing the delectable food on the table, she eagerly moved towards the chair opposite Lu Zihao but he stopped her.

    "Sit beside me," he said.

    She paused, a little baffled at his request, but still went ahead and sat beside him. But that still wasn¡¯t enough for him. He pulled her chair closer before wrapping an arm around her waist.

    Her face flushed at his actions so she focused on the food in front of them instead. "You should¡¯ve eaten first and not waited for me. You said you were hungry earlier."

    "If I ate first, I would¡¯ve eaten everything on the table before you even finished getting ready," he replied. "There would be no food left for you."

    "It¡¯s okay. I wasn¡¯t expecting for you to provide breakfast for me, anyway. You should¡¯ve¡ª"

    He raised an eyebrow at her. "Aren¡¯t you forgetting something?"

    She frowned, confused at what he meant.

    "For the remaining twenty-nine days, you are my girlfriend. That means that I¡¯ll take care of you. I might not have any experience in this kind of rtionship but I know that only pathetic and selfish assholes eat everything by themselves without sharing any food with their women."

    "I..." Her chest suddenly felt warm. She pressed her fingers on her lips to prevent herself from smiling too much. "T-thank you."

    "Let¡¯s eat."

    She nodded.

    "Where¡¯s Mr. Shun?" she asked while they ate.

    "He already left to take care of some things for me."

    "Oh."

    He nced at her. "I¡¯ll be going out of town today for work and won¡¯t be back until tomorrow. I¡¯ll send Shun to pick you up at workter."

    Her eyes widened. She lowered her chopsticks. "No, that¡¯s not necessary. I can go home by myself."

    "Jinjing, don¡¯t argue with me about this," he told her in a stern voice.

    She frowned. "Niki, you¡¯re...you¡¯re being so...so controlling."

    He looked at her straight in the eyes. "Indeed, you¡¯re right. I am a very controlling man. That¡¯s who I am. Are you regretting that you suggested this 30-day rtionship with me?"

    Before she could reply, he already said, "That¡¯s too bad, Jinjing. I haven¡¯t had my fill of you yet. And don¡¯t think just because our arrangement has a limit of thirty days that it isn¡¯t a real rtionship. You were the one who wanted to be treated as an official girlfriend and I agreed to it, so that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to give you. You¡¯re my woman now and like hell I¡¯m going to leave you by yourself unprotected."

    "B-but¡ª"

    "Shun will pick you upter at work," he said, his tone final. "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll choose another subordinate, a female one, so you¡¯ll feel morefortable."

    Her frown deepened. "T-that¡¯s not...I think you¡¯re overreacting. There¡¯s really no need for you to send people to chauffeur me or act like my bodyguards. And what do you mean by leaving me unprotected? I¡¯m not like my sister Xin, a celebrity who needs protection. I¡¯m just a regr businesswoman who¡¯s not in any danger."

    Instead of answering, he scooped more food and put it on her te before gesturing for her to continue eating.

    She grabbed his arm and shook it. "Niki, listen to me!"

    He stopped and faced her. His expression was so serious that it made her heart palpitate.

    "Jinjing, just humour me this time," he said in a low, serious yet also mesmerizing tone. "Our rtionship will onlyst thirty days. Twenty-nine days left to be exact. I need the peace of mind knowing that at least one of my subordinates is watching over my woman when I¡¯m away and busy with work. Just do it for me, okay?"

    She hesitated and wondered why he was being so hell-bent about this matter. When he put it like that, however, she couldn¡¯t help but soften.

    Well, they were still at the beginning of their month-long rtionship. She would give in this time. Next time, however, she would tell him and his subordinates to back off. She found it ridiculous to be followed around by bodyguards.

    Although she was Long Tengfei¡¯s daughter, her mother never raised her in luxury unlike her other half-siblings who grew up as typical rich kids. The only luxury that Sun Jingfei never deprived her of was education. She was sent to the best academic schools in the country. Her mother hired the best tutors to help her and bought her the best educational resources that money could buy. Long Tengfei sent generous child support every month since her birth and Sun Jingfei invested almost all of it on Long Jinjing¡¯s education and anything rted to her studies. The ie from her mother¡¯s small bookstore was the one they used to cover their modest daily expenses.

    Bodyguards and drivers or other fancy private staff like that were never part of Long Jinjing¡¯s upbringing. The mother and daughter did the household chores by themselves. That was why they preferred small, cozy homes instead of huge mansions because they were easier to clean and maintain without needing to hire staff.

    Sighing, Long Jinjing nodded at Lu Zihao with great reluctance. "Fine."

    His lips curved in a devilish smile and blinded her, causing her IQ to once again plummet to amoeba level. "Good."

    She stared at him like an idiot who became even more of an idiot when he leaned forward to kiss her brains out.

 Chapter 829 - Still So Shy

    <h4>Chapter 829 - Still So Shy </h4>

    Long Jinjing washed the dishes after they finished eating breakfast. She still felt a little dazed after being kissed by Lu Zihao earlier, effectively shutting her up and reducing her IQ for the entire duration of the meal.

    Meanwhile, Lu Zihao stepped out to the balcony to make some phone calls, not minding the cold morning weather in the least. Long Jinjing was just finishing up in the kitchen when he returned.

    "Ready to go?" he asked. "I¡¯ll drive you to work."

    She opened her mouth, about to protest again, but he raised a hand to stop her. "No arguments. I¡¯ll drive you to work today and that¡¯s that."

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip before giving a reluctant nod.

    ###

    Traffic was horrible at this time of the day as people were rushing to go to work. Lu Zihao, however, somehow managed to evade the usual traffic congestion by driving on lesser-known roads.

    "Wow, I should remember this route," Long Jinjing remarked while looking at the residential neighbourhoods they were passing by. "I¡¯ll drive here next time instead of using the highway."

    "It¡¯s fine in the morning but don¡¯t drive here alone at night," he said. "This area is not very safe."

    "Not safe?" She looked around. "But it looks very peaceful here."

    "Looks can be very deceiving, don¡¯t you know that?"

    She pouted.

    He smiled at her expression before exining, "There were some local gangs here in the past. Nothing too major, just some petty wannabe thugs. But they were still quite dangerous especially when they targeted people who were unable to defend themselves in a physical fight. Like you, for example."

    Her pout became more pronounced when he used her as an example but she couldn¡¯t really argue because she was indeed not skilled in physical fights.

    "Recently, however, these local gangs had been...let¡¯s just say, they¡¯ve been ¡¯disbanded¡¯ by a more powerful group," he said.

    She became more curious but also a little scared. "More powerful? Like a bigger...gang?"

    He scowled but quickly smoothed out his expression before saying in nd tone, "That group is nothing like a petty gang. Just call it a group."

    "Oh, okay." She instinctively leaned closer to him and away from the window after hearing his story about the gangs. "Those gangs are g-gone, right? Then shouldn¡¯t this ce be safe now?"

    "The gangs themselves are no more but that doesn¡¯t mean that their ex-members all left. There might still be some roaming about here and there. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t rmend that you venture in this area while you¡¯re alone especially at night."

    "I won¡¯t! I¡¯ll continue using the highway. I¡¯m not familiar with this area anyway. I already forgot the way."

    She had now stopped looking at the view outside, afraid that a scary ex-gang member might pop out and begin shooting at them. Her eyes focused on watching Lu Zihao drive instead. He looked much more attractive than any view in this ce, anyway. And she also felt safer in his presence.

    A devilish smile lifted the corners of his mouth after seeing her staring at him. "Trying to seduce me?"

    Her face and neck heated up. "N-no, of course not! What are you saying?!"

    Devilishughter filled the car. Then he told her, "Don¡¯t worry about driving here alone. While we¡¯re in this rtionship, you¡¯ll always have at least one of my subordinates driving you from home to work and back again when I¡¯m not avable to do it. No need to be afraid of anything or anyone while you¡¯re with me or my subordinates. You¡¯ll be safe. I¡¯ll make damn sure of that."

    She wanted to protest against his insistence of leaving his subordinates to protect her but decided to leave it for now. Despite him scaring her about the former gangs in this area, the atmosphere was still very nice. She didn¡¯t want to destroy this moment. He said that he would be out of town today for work and wouldn¡¯t return until tomorrow. She shouldn¡¯t fight with him today.

    After another series of turns, they left the dodgy neighbourhoods and the surroundings finally appeared familiar to her. They would soon arrive at Orchidia Beauty in about ten minutes.

    "Jinjing," Lu Zihao called.

    "Yes?"

    "I¡¯ll take the STD test if you agree to go on the pill," he said all of a sudden.

    Her head snapped to look at him with a surprised expression.

    "Your answer?" he asked.

    "I...uhm..." A furrow formed between her brows and she started biting her lower lip. "Can you give me some time to think about it first?"

    He raised an eyebrow before sighing. "Fine. But I want an answer by this weekend. The pills need to take at least a week or so to be effective, that¡¯s what I heard. Remember that we only have thirty days. I want to try fucking you raw anding inside you as many times as I can before our deadline."

    Her face and neck felt hotter. She covered her face and turned away from him. "D-don¡¯t say that!"

    The devilish chuckle was back. "Don¡¯t say what? Fuck you raw? Come inside you?"

    She made a strangled sound in her throat. His devilishughter only became more devilish.

    "Why are you still so shy?" he teased. "I¡¯ve already fucked you so many times in the two nights that we¡¯ve been together so far."

    "Please...just stop..." Long Jinjing felt so embarrassed at his vulgar words but at the same time, heat began to pool in her lower abdomen. When she shifted a little on her seat, she felt moisture between her legs. His words now had a direct effect on her body.

    "You¡¯ll give me an answer by this weekend?" he asked again.

    "Y-yes," she said while trying to control her embarrassment and her out-of-ce desire.

    "Good."

    Finally, they arrived at Orchidia Beauty.

    "You can drop me off here," she said when they entered the parking area.

    Lu Zihao, however, ignored her and continued to drive until they reached the office building¡¯s front entrance. He stopped the car just as some of the employees arriving for work turned their heads at the unfamiliar vehicle.

 Chapter 830 - Trinity Of Goddesses

    <h4>Chapter 830 - Trinity Of Goddesses </h4>

    "T-thank you for dropping me off," Long Jinjing said in a shy tone.

    Lu Zihao nodded. "Shun will call youter today to ask what time he¡¯ll pick you up after work." Then when he saw her open her mouth, he said, "No arguments, Jinjing. This matter has already been decided."

    "Fine." She sighed before turning her body towards him. "Niki."

    "Hm?"

    "Uhm..." She paused and bit her lip.

    "If you want to tell me something, just say it."

    She reached over and touched his arm. "Are you...really alright now?"

    He raised an eyebrow. "Of course, I¡¯m alright. Why shouldn¡¯t I be? I enjoyed fucking my girlfriendst night and I can¡¯t wait to do it again after I return tomorrow. I¡¯m feeling more than alright right now."

    Her face once again turned crimson but she forced herself to look serious. Her hand on his arm also tightened. "Rememberst night...something happened to you. Like a seizure or something..."

    His expression hardened. "You should forget about that. It¡¯s nothing."

    "But¡ª"

    "Leave it, Jinjing. I already told you I¡¯m fine."

    She released a shaky breath and nodded. "Okay, if you say so." Then she withdrew her hand and unbuckled her seat belt. "I¡¯m sorry if I sound like I¡¯m prying too much about your matters. That¡¯s n-not my intention at all. I won¡¯t do it again. I was just worried about you...so uhm...never mind. I¡¯ll go now."

    "Hey."

    She moved to open her door but he pulled her back.

    "Hey," he repeated while forcing her to look at him.

    "Y-yes?" She couldn¡¯t meet his eyes.

    He released a heavy sigh. "What happenedst night, I really don¡¯t want to talk about it."

    Her lips curved into a wry smile. "I can tell. Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t ask you about it anymore."

    "Look at me," he said in amanding tone.

    She looked at him on instinct.

    "Stop overthinking my words in that pretty head of yours," he told her.

    She nodded. "Don¡¯t worry, Niki. I remember your terms in our agreement. I¡¯ll do my best not to nag or annoy you by asking too many questions."

    He released another heavy sigh but still nodded. "I¡¯ll be back tomorrow."

    "Okay. Bye, Niki. Have a safe trip."

    "Thanks."

    She tried to open the door but he stopped her again.

    "You¡¯re not going to kiss your boyfriend goodbye?" he asked. His tone was teasing but his expression looked serious.

    Although the atmosphere still felt awkward from their previous conversation, a giggle managed to escape from her lips at his question. She gave a shy smile at him before leaning forward. Her lips pressed lightly on his lips. Then she withdrew.

    "That¡¯s it?" His tone was filled with dissatisfaction.

    Without waiting for her reply, he grabbed her by the nape and leaned forward before his open mouth gave her a deep, wet and hungry kiss.

    Her hands curled on his shirt as she closed her eyes and moaned. His tongue was relentless, almost brutal, and yet she savoured it. When the kiss ended, her lips glistened and looked a little red and swollen.

    "I¡¯ll call you tonight," he told her in a husky voice.

    "Okay," she breathed.

    He kissed her again, a firm and lingering peck on the lips this time. Then he nuzzled her ear and whispered directly to it, "Rest your body as much as you can tonight because when I¡¯m back tomorrow, I¡¯ll start showing you how hard I can really fuck you."

    A delicious shiver went up her spine. She swallowed hard.

    They were interrupted by a knock on Long Jinjing¡¯s side window. It was one of thepany¡¯s security guards wondering why this unfamiliar vehicle wasn¡¯t moving after stopping right in front of the entrance. People outside couldn¡¯t clearly see inside the car because of the tinted windows. They didn¡¯t know that their CFO was inside making out with a man.

    "Go inside now," Lu Zihao told her.

    She nodded. "Bye."

    "Bye, Jinjing."

    This time, he didn¡¯t stop her anymore when she opened the door and stepped out. She gave him a final wave before closing the door.

    The security guard and the employees who were still outside were surprised to see her. Some of them were able to see a man¡¯s figure in the driver¡¯s seat before the door closed.

    "CFO Long!" The security guard¡¯s stern expression immediately became gentle, weing and respectful. "Good morning!"

    The other employees all followed suit and greeted Long Jinjing with great enthusiasm and respect. She greeted them back before turning to look at Lu Zihao¡¯s shiny, ck car which hadn¡¯t left yet. It was only when she entered thepany building that the car finally drove away.

    A warm feeling spread throughout her chest at the thought that her secret crush was now her boyfriend. Even though their rtionship would onlyst for thirty days as per their agreement, she still enjoyed this feeling of having someone worrying about her safety, albeit too excessively in her opinion. Well, she would just ask him to take his protectiveness down a notch after he returned tomorrow.

    For now, it was time to work. Her posture straightened and an air of a dignified boss began to emanate from her in subtle waves. Both she and Chen Fei had learned a lot on how to project an aura of a leader from her younger sister Xin when they started working with her.

    They were known as Orchidia Beauty¡¯s trinity of goddesses to their employees.

    Iris Long was known as the "Workaholic Golden Phoenix Boss Goddess".

    Long Jinjing was known as the "Gentle Money-Hoarding Dragon Goddess".

    And toplete the trio, Chen Fei was known as the "Fierce Corrosive-Tongued Tiger Goddess".

    Nobody knew exactly who coined these titles to describe Orchidia Beauty¡¯s top executives. The titles may sound negative but they were actually quite urate so all Orchidia Beauty employees embraced them and uttered them with great pride and reverence.

    As for the three so-called goddesses in question, they didn¡¯t care much and acted like they always did at work, further proving that the titles were indeed urate.

 Chapter 831 - Beas

    <h4>Chapter 831 - Beas </h4>

    A manic Chen Fei burst into Long Jinjing¡¯s office. Long Jinjing looked up from her desk where she was reading and replying to e-mails on her officeputer. Her best friend barrelled towards her as if her butt was on fire.

    "Is it true?!" Chen Fei asked in a loud voice while banging her hands on Long Jinjing¡¯s desk.

    "What are you talking about, COO Chen?" Long Jinjing asked in confusion.

    "As soon as I arrived at thepany, I overheard some of our employees gossiping about you. They said that CFO Long was dropped off at the front entrance by a huge man. And that when you got off the car, your face was all red and your lips were swollen like a baboon¡¯s butt! They said that it was obvious that you and the man who dropped you off were fiercely making out inside the car!"

    Long Jinjing¡¯s face became red as a baboon¡¯s butt right in that instant. She covered her face with her hands and wished for the ground to swallow her up. Was it so obvious to everyone what happened this morning?

    How na?ve of her to think that Lu Zihao¡¯s tinted car windows were enough to keep what happened inside the vehicle a secret! To think that it would be her transparent expression that would give it away! Ah, so embarrassing!

    "D-did they see the man¡¯s face?" she asked her best friend.

    Chen Fei¡¯s eyes goggled at her in disbelief. "What the hell, Jinjing?! It¡¯s really true?! A man dropped you off today?! And you made out with him inside the car?! Who is it?! WHO?!! TELL ME!!!"

    "So they didn¡¯t see his face?" Long Jinjing asked next instead of answering Chen Fei¡¯s barrage of questions.

    "Hmph! No, they didn¡¯t see the man¡¯s face. But a couple of employees said that they saw the man¡¯s figure in the short moment that you got off the car and closed the door behind you. They said that he¡¯s a huge, muscled man." Chen Fei narrowed her eyes. "The only huge, muscled man that I know you like is...shit. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s him!"

    Long Jinjing felt too shy and embarrassed to reply. She couldn¡¯t meet her best friend¡¯s eyes.

    "Jinjing, what¡¯s going on?" Chen Fei moved beside Long Jinjing and forced her to look at her. "Was the man Lu Zihao?"

    If there was apetition for people who could blush the most right now, Long Jinjing would probably be the world champion. Just hearing Lu Zihao¡¯s name was enough to make her feel like having a heart attack.

    She hadn¡¯t thought that far ahead yet how she was going to tell Chen Fei and their other friends about her rtionship with Lu Zihao. At first, she contemted letting others find out about it naturally because she was too shy to tell them herself but she didn¡¯t expect that Chen Fei would discover it this soon.

    "Holy shit!" Chen Fei already knew the answer to her own question just by looking at Long Jinjing¡¯s expression. They were best friends and knew each other extremely well. "You got together with Lu Zihao?! Is he your boyfriend?"

    Long Jinjing bit her lips before nodding.

    "Jinjing, you bitch! Am I still your best friend?! How dare you not tell me about this?!" Chen Fei sounded furious but her eyes were shining with extreme curiosity. She grabbed Long Jinjing¡¯s arms and shook them. "Hurry and tell me how Mr. Yummylicious Lu Zihao became your boyfriend?"

    "Don¡¯t call him that," Long Jinjing said with a wince.

    "Don¡¯t call him what? Mr. Yummylicious? Don¡¯t we always call him like that whenever we talk about him?"

    Long Jinjing turned even redder. "Only you and the others. I n-never called Nik¡ªZihao Mr. Yummylicious. That¡¯s too...embarrassing."

    Chen Fei snorted and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. More important than that, I need the details! All of it! Hurry! I¡¯ll never give you peace and will pester you nonstop until you confess everything!"

    Long Jinjing hesitated for a few moments before relenting with a long sigh. With a face as red as a ripe tomato, she told her best friend about how she met Lu Zihao on the streets the night of the big storm and how they ended up having a one-night stand. She didn¡¯t give explicit details about the deed, of course, although Chen Fei was dying to know every single little detail.

    "One-night stand?!" Chen Fei was shocked out of her mind. "Holy fucking fried mackerel, Miss Long Jinjing! You, a one-night stand?! Fuck! Did I wake up in a parallel dimension today?!"

    "Sssh!" Long Jinjing covered her best friend¡¯s mouth. "Xiao Fei, not too loud! What if others hear you? I won¡¯t be able to hold my head up high in ourpany after this."

    Chen Fei removed the hand covering her mouth. Then she talked in loud, excited whispers, asking Long Jinjing about what happened next.

    Despite not giving the juiciest of details and most especially not about her 30-day deal with Lu Zihao, Long Jinjing still told her best friend almost everything else that happened. If her best friend were to know about the 30-day deal, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if Chen Fei exploded with fury on her behalf and marched to wherever Lu Zihao was at and kicked him in the balls. Even if the deal was Long Jinjing¡¯s idea in the first ce, Chen Fei would still defend her no matter what. She was the type of friend who would help bury a corpse if Long Jinjing ever murdered someone.

    "Damn. The man¡¯s that good in bed?" Chen Fei didn¡¯t mince any of her words.

    Long Jinjing flushed but still gave a shy nod. Then she gasped when Chen Fei pulled her shirt up all of a sudden, revealing all the hickeys on her skin.

    "I knew it! So this is why you¡¯ve been wearing these clothes for the past few days!" Chen Fei pulled Long Jinjing¡¯s long sleeves next and also her turtleneck cor to reveal more hickeys. "Damn. Lu Zihao¡¯s a beast!"

 Chapter 832 - Teddy Bear

    <h4>Chapter 832 - Teddy Bear </h4>

    Chen Fei¡¯s hands reached for Long Jinjing¡¯s trousers. Long Jinjing had to stop her best friend before she was stripped of her clothes.

    "Do you have hickeys down there, too?" Chen Fei asked while waggling her brows.

    Long Jinjing made a face but still nodded. She could keep certain secrets from her best friend but couldn¡¯t lie when asked so directly. She didn¡¯t know if she could still feel more embarrassed than she already was now.

    "Oh my! On a scale of 1 to 10, how good is Mr. Yummylicious Lu Zihao in bed?" Chen Fei asked next.

    "Stop asking me this kind of questions, Xiao Fei!" Long Jinjing pped her arm. "So embarrassing!"

    "Just tell me."

    Although embarrassed, her best friend¡¯s questions made her remember all the wicked things that Lu Zihao did with her bodyst night. The images shing inside her mind made her feel hot and bothered. She hoped that Chen Fei wouldn¡¯t notice and just think that she was still feeling embarrassed and not horny.

    Chen Fei continued to pester her, so Long Jinjing finally answered. "He¡¯s a 15. No, maybe a 20."

    "Whoa! If a Math person like you gives a 15 in a scale of 1 to 10, then it must mean that he¡¯s really good. But then, I wouldn¡¯t trust your judgment because you had no other experience having sex with other men before him." Chen Feiughed after making fun of her.

    Long Jinjing pouted but still couldn¡¯t help releasing a dreamy sigh. Now that she started talking about this with her best friend, she began to feel a little morefortable. "Oh, Xiao Fei. He¡¯s really amazing. He made me...orgasm so many times that I thought I was going to die."

    "Dammit! I never thought that you¡¯ll be the first one between the two of us who¡¯ll lose their virginity first. I wish my future boyfriend will also be good in bed like yours. All the guys I¡¯ve dated before suck so there¡¯s no way I¡¯d give my first time to chickens like them. Should I also have a one-night stand? Maybe I¡¯ll find my own Mr. Yummylicious."

    Releasing another sigh, Long Jinjing shook her head at her best friend¡¯s idea. "Well, the guys you¡¯ve dated before couldn¡¯t keep up with you. They always end up feeling intimidated by your achievements and strong personality. And you hate it when they begin to be toopliant with all your demands. Unlike me, you¡¯ve never been dumped before. You¡¯re the one who always does the dumping."

    Chen Fei shrugged. "Who wants a sissy man? I have a dominant personality but that doesn¡¯t mean that I want a submissive partner. I don¡¯t want a caveman either. I want someone who can make me feel feminine without throwing his annoying macho shit on me but neither do I want a doormat who¡¯ll give in to all of my wants. If I can find someone who can keep up with me and bnce me out, then that would be wonderful."

    "You¡¯ll find your Mr. Right someday, Xiao Fei," Long Jinjing said in her most sincere tone.

    Chen Fei threw her head back andughed. "Of course, I will! Lucky you. It seems you¡¯ve found yours."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s smile stiffened and she looked down.

    ¡¯Niki is not my Mr. Right. He was once my Mr. Right Last Night who became Mr. Right for One Month. But he¡¯s definitely not the man for me.¡¯

    Despite her thoughts, she didn¡¯t correct her best friend. No matter what happened, she would enjoy this one month with Lu Zihao who promised to treat her as a real, official girlfriend in the limited time that they had.

    Chen Fei continued to ask more questions about her rtionship with Lu Zihao, but they were interrupted when Long Jinjing¡¯s assistant knocked on the door and announced in an excited rush that President Long, the big boss, had arrived. Both Long Jinjing and Chen Fei straightened their spines.

    They had a scheduled meeting today to discuss Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line. Although Chen Fei was in charge of the project, they still needed Iris¡¯ final approval.

    In addition, even if Chen Fei didn¡¯t expressly admit it, she still sought Iris¡¯ opinions on business matters because Iris was the most creative person that the two best friends had ever met. Iris¡¯ brain just worked in a different way than normal people. The way she approached business was a mixture of orthodox and unorthodox methods, totally different from what Long Jinjing and Chen Fei learned from business school. Perhaps it was because Iris was an artist first before she was a businesswoman. There was no such thing as "limitations" in her vocabry.

    "We¡¯ll talkter," Chen Fei whispered before hurrying to her own office to prepare her presentation for the meeting.

    Long Jinjing also started gathering her materials for the meeting with the help of her assistant. Her face was still red from her embarrassing conversation with her best friend earlier but she had now switched to business mode.

    Later, Orchidia Beauty¡¯s trinity of goddesses were congregated in a meeting room. Iris sat at the head of the table while Long Jinjing and Chen Fei sat on either side of her. On a smaller table by the wall, Alric Bauer was busy writing ideas about histest experimental products. The others were already used to his sometimes anti-social behaviour so they didn¡¯t bother him. Other key personnel were also present.

    The meeting hadn¡¯t started yet. They were still waiting for the star of this project, Jin Chonglin. He already called and informed them that he would be arriving soon.

    "President Long, what the hell is that?" Chen Fei asked after not being able to hold herself back anymore.

    "Oh, this?" Iris smiled as she hugged and pressed her nose against the big teddy bear wearing a men¡¯s pyjama shirt sitting on a separate chair beside her. "My fianc¨¦ gave it to me. Cute, isn¡¯t it?"

    Chen Fei curled her lip but Long Jinjing gave her a warning look. The others pretended that everything was normal. After all, they couldn¡¯t just call their big boss "weird" to her face, right?

 Chapter 833 - Little Liwei

    <h4>Chapter 833 - Little Liwei </h4>

    Iris didn¡¯t care what the others thought about her bringing Little Liwei, the big teddy bear that her darling gave her to rece the pillow she had been using to clothe with Jin Liwei¡¯s used overnight shirt in order to bring his scent everywhere when he wasn¡¯t avable in person. Her current oversensitivity to smells was a big inconvenience, but she couldn¡¯t allow it to hinder her daily activities, including her work which had already been reduced a great deal by an overprotective Jin Liwei.

    "Little Sister¡ªI mean, President Long, how are you feeling?" Long Jinjing asked. "We were all so worried when we heard that you fainted backstage during the TV awards. When I called you the morning after it happened, you said that you were okay but I still want to make sure that you¡¯re really fine now."

    "Don¡¯t worry," Iris replied. "I feel well now. And the truth is that I didn¡¯tpletely lose my consciousness that time, so technically, I didn¡¯t really faint. I just felt extreme dizziness and sudden weakness."

    "That still sounds worrying. Please take care of your health."

    "Thanks, CFO Long."

    Chen Fei interjected, "Maybe it¡¯s your body telling you to slow down a little. All of us here work hard but you work harder. What¡¯s more, you have other work outside Orchidia Beauty. Being a workaholic is admirable but you also need ample time to rest or your body will break down at this rate."

    All the others nodded in agreement with Chen Fei, except for Alric Bauer who was still very much absorbed in his own world. He was also not that proficient in Mandarin yet.

    "You don¡¯t have toe to Orchidia Beauty in person on a regr basis toplete your work, you know," Chen Fei continued saying. "You¡¯re the big boss so you make the rules. If it¡¯s more convenient for you, then you can schedule our meetings at your house. We can always go there. No problem."

    The eyes of the other people present in the meeting began shining in excitement after hearing their COO Chen¡¯s suggestion. They wanted to go to their big boss¡¯ house. Most of them were ck Stars and applied to work at Orchidia Beauty mainly because of their Boss Iris. They were all well-educated, young professionals. Some even already had experience working at other big-namepanies but resigned after sessfully passing their interview with Orchidia Beauty. They were willing to leave secure jobs at the other establishedpanies for a newpany like Orchidia Beauty because they wished to work with their Boss Iris and believed that as long as they followed her, she would lead them to great sess.

    Chen Fei added, "But if you¡¯re going to have our meetings at your ce, our transportation costs and meals better be covered as well."

    "Absolutely not," Long Jinjing cut in, shaking her head. "We better avoid that kind of unnecessary extra costs for now. Also, we¡¯re already in the process of building a canteen right here at thepany. It should be ready by next year. President Long insists on having a custom-designed canteen that will offer high-quality and healthy food choices. The cost of that kind of canteen alone is not cheap. We also have other renovations happening at the same time because we¡¯re hiring more people and need better facilities. In short, I already finished allocating all our budget for the remainder of this year to what we as apany need the most right now. And we certainly don¡¯t need to pay for that kind of extra meal and transportation costs."

    The enthusiasm in the room deted after their CFO Long denied their COO Chen¡¯s exciting suggestion for the sake of saving thepany¡¯s money. As expected of the Gentle Money-Hoarding Dragon Goddess! She would always be tight-fisted and not so gentle to anyone wanting to spend Orchidia Beauty¡¯s funds.

    Chen Fei curled her lip at her best friend¡¯s miserly behaviour. She opened her mouth, no doubt about to exercise her fierce, corrosive tongue, but the big boss, Iris, spoke first.

    "CFO Long, I don¡¯t think COO Chen intended to use thepany funds on her suggestion," Iris said with a lovelyughter that tinkled like crystal bells and lightened the deted atmosphere. "I think COO Chen wanted me to personally cover the food, transportation, and other misceneous costs from my own pocket, not use thepany funds, if I really n on having meetings at my home."

    "Yes, that¡¯s right!" Chen Fei nodded. "That¡¯s exactly what I meant."

    Long Jinjing looked relieved that nobody was going to mess with thepany funds. Then she turned to Iris and said, "You don¡¯t have to do it, President Long. It¡¯s just a suggestion."

    "It¡¯s a good suggestion," Iris said.

    Chen Fei¡¯s expression became smug. The others felt excited again.

    Iris hugged her Little Liwei closer and inhaled deeply at the teddy bear¡¯s shirt. Despite her weird, childish action in a business setting, she still managed to project a dignified aura of a leader.

    "I¡¯ll think about it first," she said. "But for now, I enjoying here at thepany in person."

    Everyone nodded.

    Iris nced at the clock. "It¡¯s time for the meeting."

    Spines straightened at her words.

    "Alric,e," she called in German.

    Their Chief Product Officer snapped out of his own little world and moved to sit beside Long Jinjing.

    Right at that moment, there was a knock on the door before it opened and in walked Jin Chonglin followed by Lin Dong.

    "Sorry, I¡¯mte," he said, shing everyone his killer smile.

    The females in the room except for the trinity of goddesses became dazed by his handsomeness and almost blinding charisma.

    "You¡¯re right on time, Brother Chonglin," Iris said. "Please take a seat and we¡¯ll start the meeting right away."

    Jin Chonglin sat on the opposite end of the table with his manager. His eyes zeroed in on the big teddy bear beside Iris, or more specifically, on the pyjama shirt the stuffed toy was wearing. He raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯tment about it.

    The important meeting finally started.

 Chapter 834 - Gossip

    <h4>Chapter 834 - Gossip </h4>

    After the meeting, everyone felt ted that they would finally be proceeding to the actual production of Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line. They were filled with great purpose and felt excited to meet their original n of releasing the men¡¯s line before the end of the year. It would be a huge deal.

    If they were sessful, Orchidia Beauty would have truly made its mark in the country¡¯s fiercelypetitive beauty industry dominated by well-known foreignpanies for many years. Jin Chonglin¡¯s influence as a superstar was no joke. If his image was used effectively, he had the power to make apletely new, unknown brand into a household name overnight.

    Orchidia Beauty was certainly a new brand but it was not unknown thanks to its sessful and record-breaking grandunch. If Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line became a hit, Orchidia Beauty would be a skincare and beauty brand targeting not only females but the male poption as well.

    They wanted to be a trusted brand of high-quality natural beauty products for all genders and skin types. It was better to set the tone this early so that the public impression of the brand wouldn¡¯t be too fixed on a limited range of products.

    Back at the meeting room, the trinity of goddesses left first with Jin Chonglin and Lin Dong. Alric Bauer returned to hisb.

    Jin Chonglin walked beside Iris and leaned close before whispering, "Is that my big bro¡¯s shirt that your teddy bear is wearing?"

    Iris smiled and nodded. Then her smile froze and was reced by a frown. "Ugh. What¡¯s that horrid perfume you¡¯re wearing today?"

    Dom appeared seemingly from out of nowhere as soon as he saw Iris¡¯ expression change. He immediately blocked Jin Chonglin, allowing Iris to put distance between them in a hurry.

    Everything happened so fast that the others who witnessed the scene couldn¡¯t understand what happened. All they saw was Dom blocking Jin Chonglin and Iris escaping as if her future brother-inw was a gue. Then she plopped down on a nearby sofa with her big teddy bear and pressed her face against it.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression also indicated how confused he was at the current situation. His cologne smelled horrid? He sniffed his sleeve and even his armpits but thought that he smelled good, amazing even.

    "Do I smell bad?" he asked his manager.

    Lin Dong sniffed Jin Chonglin, too. "No, you smell fine."

    Jin Chonglin stared at Iris who looked like she was strangling her teddy bear with how tightly she was embracing it. He wondered if the woman had some sort of grudge against him and this was her way of expressing her anger towards him.

    Dom pulled him away from Lin Dong and whispered, "Sorry, Prince Lin Lin. Please don¡¯t think that Boss has something against you. That¡¯s not it at all. I heard that you¡¯re already aware of her condition. As a result of that, she can¡¯t stand a lot of smells right now. That teddy bear is wearing sir boss¡¯ shirt because sir boss¡¯ scent is only one of the very few scents that she¡¯s able to tolerate. Actually, sir boss¡¯ scent is her favourite right now. It¡¯s like her medicine to prevent herself from fainting. I hope you understand, Prince Lin Lin."

    "Ah." Jin Chonglin finally understood. He nodded as relief flooded him. So it wasn¡¯t because of anything he did but due to her pregnancy instead.

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei hurried to where Iris was sitting. Dom also returned to his boss¡¯ side after giving Jin Chonglin an exnation.

    "What happened?" Lin Dong asked beside him.

    "Sister Xin is still feeling a little sick, I guess," he answered vaguely.

    Fortunately, Iris recovered rather quickly and assured everyone that she was alright. The concerned employees soon dispersed and returned to their work. Soon after, Jin Chonglin and Lin Dong also left after saying good bye.

    The four friends¡ªIris, Dom, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei¡ªall headed to Iris¡¯ office. As soon as the door closed, Iris headed straight to the biggest couch and made herselffortable with her ridiculous teddy bear. Then Long Jinjing and Chen Fei watched as Dom pull out a pack of choctes before handing it to Iris.

    "You want some, too?" Dom then asked the two.

    In the end, all of them ended up eating choctes. Iris was back to her normal self, so Long Jinjing and Chen Fei didn¡¯t continue asking what was wrong with her. Dom also covered for her and distracted everyone with his usual lively chatter, so the two didn¡¯t suspect anything wrong with Iris. They figured that it must really just be her fragile health due to the after-effects from the car ident anda acting up again.

    Then all of a sudden, Iris asked Long Jinjing a point-nk question. "Are you really together with Big Brother Zihao?"

    Chen Fei¡¯s eyes popped wide open. "Bitch, how did you know?!"

    "WHAT?!!" Dom gasped out loud and looked at Long Jinjing with shock. "Is that true?! Uwah! You go, girl! Although my own maiden heart is crying in despair that Mr. Yummylicious Big Brother Boss is taken, at least it¡¯s one of us and not some other hateful witch."

    Long Jinjing turned red and covered her face with her hands.

    "You¡¯re really in a rtionship with Big Brother?" Iris asked again.

    Long Jinjing slowly lowered her hands before nodding.

    Dom squealed and starting bouncing on his seat.

    "How did you know?" Long Jinjing asked Iris. Then she remembered something. "Oh no. Did you hear it from our employees? Are they still gossiping about what they saw this morning? This is too embarrassing!"

    "Yes, I heard it from gossip," Iris said.

    It was true that Iris heard the news from gossip. However, she didn¡¯t overhear it from their employees. The truth was that she heard it from a certain gossip-loving, talkative white cat who told her mommy this morning that she saw her Uncle Haohao kissing her Auntie Jinjing inside the car in front of Orchidia Beauty. Tinted windows were not a hindrance to the powerful surveince system of Iris¡¯ AI daughter.

 Chapter 835 - Needs Of A Vetrov Man

    <h4>Chapter 835 - Needs Of A Vetrov Man </h4>

    Although Iris prohibited Ketchup from spying on her brother¡¯s private life, who would have expected that he would appear in front of Orchidia Beauty and drop off Long Jinjing? All of Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s private properties and also theirpanies were under Ketchup¡¯s extensive surveince system 24/7. It was no wonder that the white cat AI immediately detected such as an unusual sight as Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing being intimate in front of Orchidia Beauty.

    Iris remembered Ketchup¡¯s excitement earlier this morning when her AI daughter reported the sighting to her. At first, she thought that Ketchup was mistaken or maybe her AI daughter¡¯s system had a glitch because she couldn¡¯t believe that her big brother would hook up with her close friend.

    She had always been close to her brother but never saw him as a pure man. Despite her innocence as Evelina back then, she had always known that he had a regr sex life with numerous women. The first time that she witnessed it with her own eyes was when she and their mother visited him in his apartment in Italy. Niki Vetrov came there to take care of an important business on behalf of their organization.

    The memories rushed back in her mind, vague at first but gradually became clearer as she continued remembering it.

    Her brother¡¯s subordinates warned her and their mother that there was someone with him inside his unit. She remembered their mother not batting an eye upon hearing that.

    When they entered her brother¡¯s apartment, he was already up but looked rumpled and wearing only his pants. A topless Italian woman in only her panties was running around the ce searching for the rest of her clothes.

    Evelina was curious at the situation but their mother didn¡¯t acknowledge the woman and treated the outsider like air. Even her brother ignored the woman he slept with. Evelina didn¡¯t say anything either and just continued observing until the woman finally found all of her clothes and slipped out of the apartment without so much as a word to Niki.

    "You¡¯re a man so I¡¯m not going to interfere with how you deal with your sexual needs," their mother said after the Italian woman left. "Just make sure that the women you sleep with aren¡¯t moles. If they¡¯re clean, good. But make sure that they don¡¯t know who you are or discover anything about you that will endanger our family and organization. If they do discover something whether it¡¯s by ident or not, off them immediately."

    "I already know, Mother," Niki replied.

    "I¡¯m just giving you a reminder. You¡¯re the next head of the Vetrovs and the future of our organization is resting on your shoulders. You better make sure that you¡¯re always thinking with your head and not with your penis."

    Evelina tilted her head to the side and listened in fascination at the conversation. She saw her brother¡¯s mouth tightening but he didn¡¯t retort at their mother.

    "You can have as many women as you want," their mother continued saying. "But don¡¯t you dare do something as stupid as falling in love and insist on marrying whoever that woman is. I¡¯ll be the one to choose your wife. The woman you¡¯ll marry has the responsibility of birthing strong offspring to continue our family and organization¡¯s long legacy. If in the event that you still fall in love with some random woman, then she could only be your mistress but never your wife. But only if she¡¯s clean and won¡¯t be a threat."

    "Understood, Mother." Her big brother looked apathetic by the topic of conversation but he still responded in a respectful tone to their mother.

    Their mother lifted her chin and looked at them, her two children, with her ever-cold eyes. "Keeping mistresses is not unusual for Vetrov men. In some ways, it is expected as a show of power, status and wealth. Vetrov men, in particr, have especially big needs. They can certainly afford that kind of lifestyle. Even your father had several women before but once he married me, I killed all of them off. I never once confronted your father about his other women. I won¡¯t stoop to the level of an annoying, nagging, jealous wife.

    "But what I will always do is defend my status as the official wife of the Vetrov head and the mother of the sessor. I won¡¯t allow anyone to threaten my status and that of my children. Even an illegitimate child is a threat. There had been some cases in the Vetrov family history where an illegitimate child seeded in bing the head. As long as I¡¯m alive, I won¡¯t allow something like that to happen. My son will be the next head and nobody else."

    The brother and sister were silent as they listened to their mother. The teenage Evelina was especially intrigued.

    Their mother continued, "Eventually, your father stopped sleeping around after he discovered that I killed all of his other women. Despite the things that I¡¯ve done, he never reprimanded me because he knows that I¡¯m the most suitable person to stay by his side in leading the Vetrov organization, not those other women. It¡¯s nothing more than survival of the fittest. They were weak and I am stronger. Simple as that."

    Madam Vetrova was a beautiful and delicate-looking woman, yet she was also considered to be the deadliest living female in the Vetrov organization. Even their father, the head, would think twice before offending her. After all, the previous Vetrov patriarch personally trained her.

    "Unless your wife is someone like me, you are free to sate your sexual needs with as many women as you want as long as you take the required precautions," their mother told her big brother. "Just fulfill your responsibilities and duties as the heir. I¡¯ll make sure to choose a submissive wife that you¡¯ll be able to control no matter how many mistresses you decide to keep."

    Evelina nced at his big brother who nodded at their mother¡¯s words. She, herself, didn¡¯t feel weirded out by the topic of conversation especially since it wasn¡¯t about her and also because she had no interest whatsoever in sex or marriage.

 Chapter 836 - Brother Of The Soul And Sister Of The Flesh

    <h4>Chapter 836 - Brother Of The Soul And Sister Of The Flesh </h4>

    Madam Vetrova turned her frosty eyes to Evelina next. "You, youngdy, are also a member of the Vetrov family. After you finish your studies at Cross Academy, I expect you to also begin contributing to our organization like the rest of us."

    Evelina didn¡¯t reply. Her expression didn¡¯t change but her downcast gaze indicated her disagreement. When her memories reached this point, Evelina, now Iris, returned to the present and thought about what Ketchup discovered earlier today.

    Based on what she knew about her brother, he never cared about the women he slept with before. They were just convenient sexual partners to satisfy his primal needs. This was why she couldn¡¯t believe Ketchup¡¯s report at first.

    It was only when Ketchup yed the zoomed and sharpened surveince video clip to her that she finally believed that it was indeed her brother making out with Long Jinjing inside his car. With the state-of-the-art surveince cameras at Orchidia Beauty in addition to Ketchup¡¯s powerful system, Iris was able to see everything that happened inside the car despite the tinted windows. She was also able to read their lips clearly as they talked.

    And what she discovered from reading their lips shocked her. They weren¡¯t simply sleeping with each other but were actually in a rtionship? Her brother got himself an actual girlfriend and even referred to himself as a boyfriend? It wasn¡¯t just any girlfriend either but Long Jinjing!

    Iris didn¡¯t know what to feel upon learning about her brother¡¯s rtionship with Long Jinjing. Was he serious about this rtionship and not just treating Long Jinjing as a convenient sexual partner?

    She loved her brother but she was also aware that danger always followed him like a shadow. A kind and gentle soul like Long Jinjing would find it difficult to survive in that kind of dangerous world that her brother insisted on living in. Although her friends would sometimes tease Long Jinjing about her big brother, Iris never really took it seriously. She never would have thought that the two would actually hook up.

    On one hand, her big brother was someone she would always love and respect. They had a deep sibling bond that even death couldn¡¯t sever as proven by their respective rebirths.

    On the other hand, Long Jinjing was not only her friend and colleague, but also the blood sister of the original Long Xin.

    In a sense, both of them were her siblings. Lu Zihao (Niki) was her brother of the soul while Long Jinjing was the sister of her current flesh.

    If she had to choose who to give her undying support between the two, she would no doubt choose her big brother. Always. She didn¡¯t even need to think about it.

    However, she also didn¡¯t want Long Jinjing hurt in any way. The woman was an important friend and a truly good person. This was why Iris felt so torn. She found it difficult to imagine how their rtionship was going tost unless her brother decided to keep Shadow Winds and its true nature a secret from Long Jinjing for the rest of their lives. And if he really did that, he might not feel guilty about it but Iris certainly would because she knew the truth.

    Back at her office, Iris sighed and massaged her slightly aching temples. She hugged and smelled Little Liwei while listening to the loud Dom and Chen Fei as they interrogated the red-faced Long Jinjing.

    "Boss says that she heard the news from gossip but why didn¡¯t I hear anything about it?!" Dom eximed in dramatic horror and disbelief. "I, the gorgeous and fabulous Dominic Chua, actually missed such an important gossip? Ah! This is a big disgrace to my ster reputation! It seems like I need to work harder on sharpening my gossip radar!"

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "You¡¯re forgetting that Xin has super hearing, can read lips from afar, and all that shit. Thank goodness the bitch isn¡¯t a big gossip like you, Dom. Just imagine how many scandals Xin is able to expose if she loves gossiping as much as you do."

    Dom stood up and thumped his chest with his perfectly manicured hand. "It¡¯s because it¡¯s my job to gather gossip! Boss doesn¡¯t need to concern herself with trivial things!"

    "What do you mean it¡¯s your job to gather gossip?" Chen Fei scoffed. "I thought you¡¯re Xin¡¯s assistant, not a professional gossip collector."

    While Dom and Chen Fei bantered, Iris turned to Long Jinjing. She reached over and patted her shoulder. "Good luck, Big Sister."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes widened at her words but understanding soon dawned on her. She nodded. "Thank you, Little Sister. I know what I¡¯m doing. Don¡¯t worry. This is my decision."

    Iris looked at her, not saying anything, before she nodded as well. "Call me if you need someone to talk to about Big Brother. I know him very well. He¡¯s...a veryplicated man. And intense. I imagine that he won¡¯t be an easy man to have a rtionship with."

    "Thanks." Long Jinjing smiled.

    Iris smiled back. "If it¡¯s okay with you, I want to know how you ended up bing Big Brother¡¯s girlfriend. I¡¯m very curious about how it happened."

    Dom stopped bickering with Chen Fei. He immediately returned to his seat and leaned forward with an expectant expression. His eyes were shining as he eagerly waited for Long Jinjing to reveal everything.

    "I already know what happened," Chen Fei said in a smug tone.

    Dom harrumphed and flipped his nonexistent long hair before urging Long Jinjing to hurry up and talk.

    In the end, Long Jinjing told them about how everything started with a one-night stand a few nights ago during that big storm. Dom was bouncing and squealing on his seat while asking scious questions.

    As for Iris, she turned pensive while listening to Long Jinjing¡¯s story. Her intuition told her that there was something else that her friend was keeping a secret.

    "Niko¡ªI mean, Zihao is out of town right now," Long Jinjing said.

    Iris¡¯ pupils contracted at Long Jinjing¡¯s slip of the tongue. She noticed it right away. Did her brother tell Long Jinjing his real name?

 Chapter 837 - Thinking, Worrying And Stressing

    <h4>Chapter 837 - Thinking, Worrying And Stressing </h4>

    With her great hearing, Iris felt certain that Long Jinjing was about to say "Niki" before her friend corrected herself and said "Lu Zihao" instead. The others didn¡¯t notice Long Jinjing¡¯s slip of the tongue, and even if they did, they wouldn¡¯t know its significance. If Iris really heard her friend correctly, then it meant that her big brother told Long Jinjing his real name.

    What did this mean? Were his feelings for Long Jinjing for real, hence why he revealed his real name to her?

    Iris narrowed her eyes, unable to figure out her brother¡¯s real intentions, especially since he was so pissed off at her for telling Jin Liwei some part of the truth about their past lives. He refused to give her his blessing to tell Jin Liwei everything, even with her repeated assurances that Jin Liwei was a trustworthy and loyal man who loved her with his life.

    She had been in a rtionship with Jin Liwei for more than a year now. They were engaged and would be marrying very soon this month. Despite this, her brother still couldn¡¯t fully trust Jin Liwei with the truth, even though he had Lu Zihao¡¯s memories and should know what kind of character his "Third Brother" was.

    For all his oppositions against telling Jin Liwei, now Iris discovered that he might have told his real name to Long Jinjing just like that, someone he must have hooked up only recently?

    Iris felt unhappy about what she thought was her brother¡¯s unfairness. All of these thinking, worrying and stressing were worsening the ache in her temples.

    Before anything else, however, she still needed to confirm first if Long Jinjing really meant to say "Niki". Although Iris felt sure that she heard correctly, it was still preferable to be 100% certain. But before she could ask Long Jinjing about it, her phone rang. Dom answered it before passing it to her.

    It was her darling. Just hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s voice made her aching temples feel a lot better. Her entire mood also lightened up.

    The lovers chatted over the phone, not noticing that they were throwing dog food to Iris¡¯ three friends. Dom looked ecstatic while listening to the couple¡¯s lovey-dovey conversation. The single dog Chen Fei was the opposite with her surly expression. As for Long Jinjing, she was smiling with a dreamy look in her eyes.

    "After you¡¯ve rested in your office,e home immediately," Jin Liwei urged. "I¡¯m also on my way home right now from Jin Corporation. I want us to eat lunch together today. Then I¡¯ll apany you to your meeting with Qiao Yu and Elder Long Jufangter in the afternoon."

    "Okay, darling," Iris agreed while already wondering what kind of chocte dessert their chef prepared today for her.

    After more lovey-dovey talk, Iris ended the call with great reluctance. She sighed and hugged Little Liwei while making sure to take a good inhale of her darling¡¯s residual scent on the pyjama shirt. These days, she didn¡¯t feelfortable being apart from her man for too long. Thebination of her pregnancy hormones and the trauma she acquired from his recent ident at the construction site made her very clingy to him.

    Both of them had topromise regarding their return to their respective work as they were worried for each other¡¯s health and safety. Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t fully healed yet but he already started working again for half a day. Sometimes in the morning while at other times in the afternoon depending on what schedule was best.

    Excited to see her man as soon as possible and eat lunch with him, Iris stood up with Little Liwei and announced, "Let¡¯s head home, Dom."

    ###

    On the way home, Iris realized that she had forgotten to ask Long Jinjing for confirmation if she was really going to say "Niki" earlier. Should she call Long Jinjing and ask right now? No, maybeter. Everyone at Orchidia Beauty was busy working on Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line. She shouldn¡¯t disturb them unnecessarily during this period.

    How about her big brother? Long Jinjing mentioned that he went out of town for work, so he should be busy. He hated being interrupted while he was working. Although that never had been an issue before where she was concerned because he always had time for her, he was pissed off at her right now, so she shouldn¡¯t annoy him too much. He hadn¡¯t been in the best of moods ever since she ckmailed him using Bacon.

    This conflict between the two of them was stressing her out. She could onlyfort herself with the hope that he would eventuallye around because of their deep bond and love as siblings.

    In addition to worrying about her brother, she also thought about her appointment with Elder Long Jufangter in the afternoon. The elder informed her that he had sessfully persuaded a couple of minor shareholders to consider selling their equity to her. However, the shareholders wanted to meet her in person first.

    She heaved a long sigh. "I don¡¯t really want to meet Granduncle Jufangter. I remember feeling repulsed by his smell during the Long Industries party. I might faint againter."

    "Don¡¯t worry, boss," Dom told her. "Didn¡¯t you say that sir boss will be apanying you? You can use sir boss as a stink-repellent like always! Ehehe!"

    Ketchup¡¯s childish voice also went "ehehehe" inside the vehicle, following her Uncle Dom¡¯s example.

    Iris massaged her temples which were starting to ache again. "If not because I want to acquire more Long Industries¡¯ shares the fair way, I wouldn¡¯t have agreed to this tedious meeting with the elder and those shareholders. I would just let Qiao Yu handle everything. We¡¯re not even sure yet if those shareholders will really sell their equity to me after the meetingter."

    "Mother, we can just snatch their shares by force if they refuse to sell," Bacon¡¯s voice interrupted. "How dare they waste Mother¡¯s time and energy demanding this meeting with you if they have no intention of selling? If that¡¯s the case, they¡¯re despicable and don¡¯t deserve to be treated fairly."

 Chapter 838 - Familyâ€™s Loyal Boy

    <h4>Chapter 838 - Family¡¯s Loyal Boy </h4>

    "Snatching by force is very bad and Daddy will ground us if we do something bad," Ketchup chimed in. "Oooooh, how sad and scary~ But if the other party is despicable like you say, then the cute and mighty Ketchup agrees with Little Brother Bacon that they don¡¯t deserve to be treated fairly! But of course, Mommy will be the one to decide what to do in the end so Bacon, you big meanie, be a good kitty baby like the cute and mighty me or Daddy will ground you again! Meow~"

    "Kyaaaaaah! Our babies are growing up so fast! Baby Bacon is Mommy¡¯s boy while Baby Ketchup is Daddy¡¯s girl! Both of you are sooooo CUTE!" Dom made kissing noises towards the dashboard monitor where the two AI cats, one ck and the other white, were shown.

    Iris threw Dom a side-eye and gave a light harrumph. "What do you mean that Ketchup is Daddy¡¯s girl? Both of them are Mommy¡¯s boy and Mommy¡¯s girl!"

    "Ehehehe. Don¡¯t be angry, boss. Baby Ketchup is a good girl. She loves her mommy and daddy equally! Am I right, Baby Ketchup?"

    "Of course, you¡¯re right, Uncle Dom! Ketchup LOVES Mommy and Daddy so very much! Ketchup is both Mommy and Daddy¡¯s kitty baby girl! Ehehehe! Meow~"

    Iris¡¯ annoyed expression eased which made Dom, the driver and the bodyguard in the vehicle all release sighs of great relief. They were afraid that she would have another one of her increasingly frequent extreme mood swings. Jin Liwei and Little Jun were the only ones guaranteed to stop an onset of her mood swing in its tracks before it got worse. Dom also had satisfactory sess, so Iris¡¯ team of bodyguards depended on him to handle her whenever Jin Liwei or Little Jun weren¡¯t present.

    As for Iris, she was learning how to cope with her mood swings a little better each day. It was difficult to control her emotions when they started overwhelming her in an instant, but she was determined not to be a Wombzi that everyone wanted to avoid.

    Sighing, she hugged Little Liwei more tightly while looking at her two cat AI children on the dashboard monitor. Ketchup had a big smile on her face while Bacon was stone-faced as usual but the enthusiastic swishing of his tail revealed that he also cared. What an adorable pair of AI children she had!

    "What about you, Bacon?" Iris asked, curious. "Are you Mommy¡¯s boy or Daddy¡¯s boy?" Then she paused before adding, "Or maybe you¡¯re Uncle Zihao¡¯s boy?"

    "Ooooooh~ Ketchup wants to know, too! Meow~" The gossip-loving white cat shook her fluffy white butt as she looked at her little kitty brother with glowing green eyes filled with curiosity.

    Bacon¡¯s swishing tail slowed down a little. "Mother, Bacon is our family¡¯s boy."

    Dom snickered at the ck cat AI¡¯s careful answer. Seeing her Uncle Dom snickering, Ketchup followed his example and snickered as well. Iris was a little unsatisfied by her AI son¡¯s diplomatic answer because she wanted to hear him say that he was Mommy¡¯s boy, but in the end, she couldn¡¯t criticize the child for being smart. The child appeared to have a better EQ than her.

    "Anyone who threatens our family will have to go through Bacon first," her AI son added.

    Iris sighed at Bacon¡¯s fierceness. Indeed, Jin Liwei was right. Their AI son¡¯s personality was very simr to her big brother¡¯s. It made her feel nervous about the extent of things that he might do in the future but at the same time, she also felt assured of Bacon¡¯s loyalty to their family.

    One thing was clear in her mind. Bacon would have been a perfect AI for the Vetrovs. This was one of the reasons why she felt confident that her big brother would eventually give in to her ckmail to talk to her and Jin Liwei in person in exchange for allowing Bacon to assist in his work with Shadow Winds.

    Although she couldn¡¯t help but hesitate a great deal at the thought of allowing Bacon to assist her brother in his criminal activities, she knew that he was already set on his old ways. Even she felt powerless to dissuade him. If she couldn¡¯t stop himpletely, then she might as well lend him her AI son to give him an additionalyer of safety.

    She might be against the criminal aspects of his work and his obsessive desire for revenge, but she understood and epted why he was like this. Her own selfishness had already failed to help protect her family once before. She was beginning to realize that now. There was no way in hell that she would allow a repeat of the Vetrov annihtion from happening to her lovely family in this life. If lending Bacon to her brother would help keep him safer, then as a sister, she had the moral duty to do that.

    "Bacon," she called in a soft voice.

    "Yes, Mother?" Bacon¡¯s childish voice was polite, almost bored, but his swishing tail sped up a little, indicating that he was pleased that his mother called for him.

    "I hope that you¡¯ll always stay loyal to our family. Your Uncle Zihao is part of our family. When you get the chance to start assisting him in his work, your first priority is his safety. Always."

    "I understand, Mother. Bacon will obey."

    She nodded.

    "I hope that Uncle Zihao will pay me a good sry," Bacon said all of a sudden.

    Iris and Dom chuckled at Bacon¡¯s concern.

    "If Uncle Haohao ends up being stingy, then Little Brother Bacon is always wee to work part-time in Ketchup¡¯spany, the super-duper awesome White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services!" Ketchup suggested in excitement. "Daddy said that Ketchup¡¯spany profits are really good! Ketchup will pay Bacon well even if you¡¯re a big meanie. Ehehehe. Meow~"

    Bacon yawned and started licking his paws. This time, his boredom was genuine. He wasn¡¯t the least bit interested in his older sister¡¯s offer. "No, thank you. Father promised Bacon that he¡¯ll negotiate a fair sry for me with Uncle Zihao. Bacon wants to assist Uncle Zihao in his work."

 Chapter 839 - PantherBaby

    <h4>Chapter 839 - PantherBaby </h4>

    Iris sighed again and massaged her aching temples. It was clear that Bacon was hell-bent on assisting his uncle in his work with Shadow Winds. Perhaps it was the simrity in their personalities that made Bacon gravitate towards his uncle¡¯s shady work.

    Since both uncle and nephew wanted to work with each other so much, then she would allow it but only if her big brother agreed to finally talk to her and Jin Liwei in person. It was better to allow Bacon to go to his uncle¡¯s side if it was what he really wanted than have him eventually rebel against her if she insisted on forbidding him. She had a strong abhorrence against being restrained herself, so she wouldn¡¯t be surprised if her children inherited the same trait.

    "Mother, are we going to snatch those shares by force from those people you¡¯re going to meet this afternoon?" Bacon asked, reminding her of their previous conversation.

    "We¡¯re not snatching by force," she replied.

    Bacon¡¯s tail drooped. "Oh."

    "Snatching by force is stealing," Iris continued saying. "Stealing is a crime and we can¡¯t do that openly."

    "Then can we do it if it¡¯s not openly?" Bacon asked next, his tail starting to swish in excitement.

    Iris shook her head. "We¡¯re not going to steal anything, Bacon."

    "Oh." Bacon¡¯s excited tail drooped again.

    "But you¡¯re right. If those shareholders refuse to sell their equity even after demanding a meeting with me in person today, then they¡¯re just wasting my time and energy which I don¡¯t have an abundance this time because of my pregnancy. I¡¯m alsocking in patience right now when ites to acquiring more Long Industries shares. We may not steal but we can still use other methods to force them to sell. That¡¯s all."

    Bacon¡¯s tail started rotating like a helicopter¡¯s rotor des. His excitement was clear in his tail even though his face looked bored as usual. "Mother, Bacon would like to help in this matter when you¡¯re finished devising your n."

    "Oh oh oh! Ketchup wants to help Mommy, too! Meow~"

    Iris chuckled at her AI children¡¯s eagerness. "Alright, I will. Thank you, Bacon and Ketchup."

    Bacon¡¯s tail rotated faster. It was now a blur. Ketchup was also in a simr but more showy state of excitement. The white cat was jumping all around her little kitty brother.

    Since they were talking about Long Industries, Iris remembered her deal with Long Jian. "In the meantime, I want the two of you to work together in searching for more clues to help free Zhu Ning from jail. Big Brother Jian has already done a lot to fulfill his part of the deal. I need to do my part as well."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Ketchup is on it!"

    "Bacon will do as Mother says."

    Iris nodded and smiled at her two adorable cat AI children. "I¡¯ll also work on it when I have time. Your dad doesn¡¯t want me spending too much time inside ourputer room without his supervision."

    "Please rest, Mother, and leave this kind of work to this whitemebrain and I," Bacon said.

    Iris scowled. "Put mebrain¡¯ in your bad words list. And call your sibling Big Sister Ketchup."

    Bacon¡¯s rotating tail stopped and drooped. "I¡¯m sorry, Mother. Bacon is wrong. I¡¯m sorry, Big Sister Ketchup."

    "Bacon, you big meanie! Ketchup is always telling you to stop being a bad, naughty kitty and always listen to Mommy and Daddy! Meow~"

    Iris sent Dom a meaningful look.

    "No, boss! It¡¯s definitely not me who taught Baby Bacon that bad word!" Dom then turned to Bacon. "Be honest, Baby Bacon. Tell your mommy that it¡¯s not your handsome and beautiful Uncle Dom who taught you that word!"

    "It¡¯s not Uncle Dom who taught me that word, Mother," the ck cat AI said obediently. "Bacon learned it from the Slippers Army."

    "Ah! Ehehehe." Ketchup gave a guilty smile. "Mommy, the truth is that Ketchup recruited Little Brother Bacon to ck Star¡¯s Slippers Army. Bacon is an excellent troll and is already popr in Mommy¡¯s fan club. Meow~"

    "Oh?" Iris raised an eyebrow in amused curiosity.

    "But of course, the cute and mighty Ketchup is still the most popr. Well, second most popr actually. Uncle iEatSlippers is still the number 1 in the Slippers Army even though he¡¯s not active anymore and is busy working at Mommy¡¯s Monkey. He holds a legendary position in the ck Stars because he¡¯s the founder of Slippers Army. Meow~"

    Iris nodded. Indeed, her fan club¡¯s elite troll group, the Slippers Army, had be infamous because of the efforts of Wu Chen, a.k.a. iEatSlippers. It only became more powerful on the inte when her AI daughter, Ketchup, a.k.a. KittyBaby, joined. Now that her AI son also joined, she could only imagine the Slippers Army bing even fiercer and more despicable in their trolling skills.

    "What¡¯s your username, Bacon?" she asked.

    "PantherBaby," Bacon said, his tail swishing with pride. "Bacon chose it myself."

    "Kyaaaaah! KittyBaby and PantherBaby! Our babies are super-duper to the highest level CUTE!!!" Dom threw each of the cats a flying kiss each.

    Iris smiled. Indeed, their usernames were adorable. Nevertheless, she still reminded her AI children, "The two of you should keep an eye on each other whenever you¡¯re roaming and ying around on the inte. Ketchup should already know how dangerous the web can be. Keep each other safe and call for me immediately if you encounter something that both of you can¡¯t handle by yourselves."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Bacon understands, Mother."

    "And don¡¯t always learn bad words from the Slippers Army or anywhere," Iris added. "I won¡¯t ground you today, Bacon. Just be thankful that your dad isn¡¯t here to hear what you said to your sister."

    "Thank you, Mother. Bacon will do my best not to do it again."

    Iris nodded, satisfied. Then she used Little Liwei as a pillow while continuing to massage her aching temples. "Go chat quietly with each other. I¡¯ll sleep for a bit. Wake me up when we reach home."

    As soon as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep without hearing their replies.

 Chapter 840 - Stressful

    <h4>Chapter 840 - Stressful </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    When a groggy Iris was awakenedter in front of the mansion, she wasn¡¯t in the best of moods. Her headache didn¡¯t improve at all after her nap. In fact, it worsened after waking up.

    It was only when Jin Liwei came to get her that she felt a little better. She immediately abandoned Little Liwei for the real thing.

    "Let¡¯s eat lunch now," Jin Liwei said while hugging her and kissing her aching head. "Okay, love?"

    She made a strangled sound in her throat and tightened her arms around his waist but immediately loosened her hug after remembering that his back injuries weren¡¯t fully healed yet. Her face was pressed against his chest as she took a deep inhale of his scent, hoping that it would help ease her throbbing headache.

    "I know that you¡¯re not feeling well but you need to eat," he said. "And our babies need to eat, too."

    Sighing, she nodded and followed him to their suite.

    ###

    Lunch was an ordeal for Iris. She could only stomach the herbal sweet egg soup and that was it. Even her beloved chocte desserts had to be pushed aside because she couldn¡¯t take them today no matter how much she wanted to eat them.

    She wasn¡¯t vomiting or anything like that but something was just off with her today. Her headache plus her nausea were a dreadfulbination. They weren¡¯t helping to improve her mood, that was for sure.

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei helped her lie down on the couch. They were in their suite¡¯s living room. Ice Cream and Popcorn rubbed themselves against her while meowing loudly as if asking what was wrong with their mommy. The grey catid her fat body on Iris¡¯ t abdomen and started purring.

    "Ice Cream¡¯s not too heavy for your stomach, is she?" Jin Liwei said, sounding worried.

    Despite her horrible state, Iris couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at his question. "It¡¯s fine, darling. Ice Cream is heavy but not that heavy. She won¡¯t crush our twins."

    Jin Liwei nodded but still looked worried. He sat by her legs and started petting Popcorn who jumped on hisp. "Why don¡¯t we cancel your appointment with Elder Jufang and the shareholders this afternoon? Let¡¯s reschedule it when you¡¯re feeling better. Okay, love?"

    She considered his suggestion before shaking her head. "I think I¡¯ll be fine after I rest for a little bit. We still have time until the appointment, anyway. If I still don¡¯t feel wellter, we¡¯ll cancel. But if I¡¯m fine, we¡¯ll go."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression hardened. "You don¡¯t look well. You barely ate anything during lunch. I want you to rest today."

    She sighed. "I want to rest, too. But I don¡¯t want to dy this meeting. I want to get this over and done with."

    "How about this? I¡¯ll meet with Elder Jufang and the shareholders on your behalf this afternoon."

    "But¡ª"

    He held her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Don¡¯t argue with me about this. Please, love. I know that you want to do it by yourself and prove to everyone at Long Industries that you¡¯re an independent businesswoman. But right now, you¡¯re suffering from pretty difficult pregnancy symptoms and your new OB-GYN said that this is just the start."

    Iris groaned at his reminder that she might experience worse symptoms at any moment of her pregnancy.

    "Stay here at home today and rest while I¡¯ll go to the meeting on your behalfter, okay?" Jin Liwei¡¯s tone was gentle but firm.

    She was hesitant. "But your injury...."

    "I won¡¯t stay for too long. I¡¯ll just show my face, make up an excuse of why you can¡¯te, and then find out the real intentions of the shareholders for asking a meeting with you in person. If they want to sell, then good. If they don¡¯t want to sell, then at least you didn¡¯t waste your time meeting them. Qiao Yu will be there so he can take over after I show my face."

    She rubbed her temples. He moved from his position by her legs and sat by her head instead. Then he took over in massaging her head.

    "Alright, it¡¯s decided. You¡¯re staying here at home to rest. I definitely won¡¯t allow you to go out if you¡¯re like this." Jin Liwei¡¯s tone brooked no further argument from her.

    Although reluctant, she still nodded because it was true that she felt unwell. There were so many things that she needed and wanted to do but couldn¡¯t because her pregnant body just wouldn¡¯t allow her. Thinking about all of these was stressing her out.

    Before her pregnancy, she thrived in stressful situations. In fact, it was during stressful situations that she often went above and beyond her limits and produced extraordinary results. Now, however, she couldn¡¯t do that.

    She rubbed her still t stomach and hoped that her stress wouldn¡¯t affect her babies. But just thinking that her stress would affect them was yet another source of stress for her.

    Jin Liwei leaned forward and gave her a light but lingering upside-down kiss on the lips. "Let¡¯s get you ready for bed."

    She nodded and allowed him to help her to their bedroom. Ice Cream and Popcorn followed them inside.

    Later, a fresh Iris in her warm andfy pyjamas was lying in bed. Jin Liwei sat beside her while reading some business news on a tablet. Ice Cream was also lying on the bed beside her mommy while Popcorn yed by himself inside the bedroom.

    "Go to sleep now," Jin Liwei told her. "I¡¯ll leaveter for the meeting but I¡¯ll be back before you know it. Hopefully, you¡¯ll be able to eat more during dinner tonight."

    "Thanks, darling."

    He caressed her cheek. "Don¡¯t mention it."

    "I hope that the shareholders would sell willingly," she murmured.

    "Don¡¯t worry, wife. Your husband can be very persuasive at the negotiation table."

    She chuckled. "More like intimidating than persuasive."

    "I¡¯ll get you those shares," he promised. "Now sleep."

    She smiled and hugged his hand before letting her eyes close. Before long, she fell into deep sleep.

 Chapter 841 - Good Night, Evelina

    <h4>Chapter 841 - Good Night, Evelina </h4>

    "Push," the doctor instructed. "The head is out. Only a little more and we¡¯ll be weing your first baby into this world."

    A sweaty Iris pushed with all her might. Jin Liwei was right there beside her, holding her hand, and wiping the sweat off her forehead. Before long, the couple was rewarded by the loud cry of their first human baby.

    "It¡¯s a¡ª" the doctor announced.

    Iris felt dazed from the effort of pushing a small human being out of her womb. "It¡¯s a what?"

    "Love, our first baby is a¡ª" Jin Liwei said in triumph before kissing her on the lips.

    "What did you say?" she asked again, confused at what they were saying and what was happening.

    The doctor interrupted them after handing the first baby to a nurse. "We¡¯re not done yet, Mom and Dad. We need to get your second baby out next."

    Another wave of powerful contraction assaulted Iris and she screamed while pushing her second baby out. Although she knew that childbirth was supposed to be painful and her body was acting as if it was in tremendous pain, the level was actually not that bad, like she was just imagining the pain.

    But everything was real...right?

    The disoriented Iris was overwhelmed by everything that was happening. She couldn¡¯t think straight and just allowed the situation to y out naturally.

    ###

    Two weekster, Iris was still recovering after giving birth to her twin babies. She was in the middle of her rmended one-month confinement. At the moment, she was breastfeeding one of her babies in bed while Jin Liwei was feeding their other baby with a bottle beside her.

    Happiness filled her. Yes, she was happy.

    But something felt off.

    What was it?

    She couldn¡¯t remember what happened after the birth up to this point. Perhaps she just forgot...maybe. She nced at her baby that she was breastfeeding.

    So adorable!

    Wait, she couldn¡¯t see her baby¡¯s face clearly. She looked at her other baby that Jin Liwei was feeding with a bottle. The baby¡¯s face was also blurry. She blinked several times in an attempt to clear her vision but to no avail.

    Another important thing. What were her babies¡¯ genders? She still didn¡¯t know if they were girls or boys or maybe one of each. A deep furrow formed between her brows and she felt even more confused.

    "Darling," she called her man.

    "Yes, love?" Jin Liwei replied. There was a soft and happy smile on his face.

    "What are the genders of our babies?"

    He chuckled at her question. His lips formed some words but she couldn¡¯t hear anything. Even her ability to read lips didn¡¯t help. For some reason, she couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying.

    "What?"

    He repeated what he said but she only grew more confused. A mild panic started to bloom inside her heart.

    "What are the names of our babies?" she asked next.

    This time, the expression on his face became quizzical but he still humoured her and answered her question. However, like before, she couldn¡¯t hear him clearly or understand what he was saying.

    "Liwei, I think something is wrong," she told him, now starting to panic.

    He gave her a reassuring smile and kissed her cheek. "Nothing is wrong, love. Our babies are healthy and they¡¯re beautiful just like you, their mother. We couldn¡¯t be any happier right now. You¡¯re still recovering. Why don¡¯t you get some more rest? I¡¯ll watch the babies while you sleep."

    "But¡ª"

    "Good night, Evelina."

    She felt him take away the baby in her arms. "Liwei, wait...."

    Her eyes grew heavy. So heavy. No matter how hard she tried to fight off the drowsiness, she couldn¡¯t. Sleep pulled her, sucked her slowly at first, and then quickly into the world of darkness. She fought against it. But she sank...and she drowned.

    ###

    When she awakened, the smell of blood, gunpowder and death filled the air.

    Huh?

    The numerous helicopters sounded like beating drums announcing the execution of criminals.

    No!

    Shouts and screams blended with gunshots. Smoke rose in the night sky like an evil phantom about to swallow the moon and the stars.

    Oh, please no!

    Inside the Dragon Pce Home #10 mansion, Iris who was wearing a white dress watched this scene from hell. She stood in the shadows, sweeping her dark phoenix eyes across all the carnage below her. Moonlight reflected on her ck hair.

    "No! This isn¡¯t happening! This isn¡¯t real!"

    But everything felt real. The sound of two babies crying rmed her. Where were her babies?!

    "Liwei!" she shouted in fear. "Where are you?!"

    She started running from room to room. Everywhere she went was a total wreck. However, the weird thing was that there was nobody in sight, even though she could hear the sounds of fighting and screaming in the distance.

    The familiar hallways didn¡¯t seem to end. She ran and ran but couldn¡¯t reach where she wanted to go. Tears flowed down her eyes nonstop. She was screaming and calling for Jin Liwei. She could still hear the loud, distressed cries of their babies but couldn¡¯t figure out where they were.

    With her great hearing, she heard the enemies finally invading the mansion. The gunshots rang louder as they drew nearer.

    "No, please! My family in this life is innocent! Don¡¯t take them away from me!"

    She ran faster and harder, not knowing where she was running towards, but she didn¡¯t care. The most important thing was to look for Jin Liwei, their babies and the others and to make sure that they were safe. This time, she wouldn¡¯t just sit there calmly and allow the enemies to annihte her entire family. She would fight back and save her loved ones.

    "Evelina, where are you?"

    Finally, she heard Jin Liwei¡¯s voice calling for her. She followed his voice and arrived at her piano room. He was carrying both of their twin babies in his arms. She ran towards him and embraced him before taking one of the babies from him.

    "We need to get out of here," she said in an urgent tone.

    Then Beethoven¡¯s "F¨¹r Elise" started seeping through the sounds murder in the air.

 Chapter 842 - Scream At Heaven And Hell

    <h4>Chapter 842 - Scream At Heaven And Hell </h4>

    Iris looked in horror at the lone piano in the room. The keys were ying by themselves. Goosebumps popped up all over her skin.

    "Darling, let¡¯s go," she said with more urgency. "Hurry."

    Just as they were going to run, the door to the room crashed open.

    Bang!

    Dark, shadowy figures raised their guns and started shooting at them.

    "No!" Iris shouted and dragged Jin Liwei and the babies they were carrying behind the piano.

    Blood stained her white dress but she felt no pain. She was certain that she wasn¡¯t shot. She checked at the crying babies in her and Jin Liwei¡¯s arms and felt relieved that they were okay. Then her breath caught in her throat when she saw blood gushing out of Jin Liwei¡¯s right shoulder and left hip.

    Before she could speak, however, the dark, shadowy enemies drew nearer. There was no way that she would continue to let this happen. She would protect her family this time.

    Without thinking, she gave the baby in her arms to the bleeding Jin Liwei. Then she jumped out from behind the piano which was still ying Beethoven¡¯s "F¨¹r Elise".

    Bullets grazed her skin but she barrelled forward and started attacking the nearest shadowy figure. She stole his gun and started shooting at the rest of the enemies. No matter how many dark, shadowy figures she killed, more reced them, flooding into the piano room from the doorway as if it was the gate of hell.

    Her white dress was now a dark red dress dripping with blood. She looked otherworldly, like a demoness killing immortals, and tainting her previously detached and pure soul with blood, murder, and vengeance.

    She didn¡¯t know how long she fought, how many wounds she received, how many guns she stole, and how many enemies she killed. Her goal was clear. To not let any of the enemies pass the piano and get to her husband and children. Even if she had to die a thousand times, she would protect her family and kill everyone in her path to do so.

    Time passed and yet "F¨¹r Elise" kept on ying for what felt like a hellish eternity.

    Finally, she killed thest of the enemies.

    Then total silence.

    The only sounds that she could hear at that seemingly frozen moment were her harsh, ragged breathing and the loud drumming of her heart.

    No more gunshots.

    No more screams.

    No more "F¨¹r Elise".

    No more babies crying....

    Wait.

    Her babies! Jin Liwei!

    She ran back behind the piano and saw a bloody scene that stamped inside her soul like an excruciatingly hot iron brand.

    Jin Liwei was dead. Their twin babies were dead.

    Her mind flew like a crow soaring in the deste sky and saw that everyone in her family died.

    Everyone was dead. She was alive and all alone.

    The pain was immense, like someone ripped her heart out and continued squeezing it into a bloody pulp.

    She fell down on her knees and screamed at heaven and hell while tears of blood flowed down her soulless eyes.

    ###

    "Baby! Wake up!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes flew open while she was in the middle of screaming and thrashing against the people trying to hold her down on the bed.

    "It¡¯s okay, baby! I¡¯m here. You¡¯re alright."

    "Liwei!" She burst into tears when she saw the love of her life alive and well. She jumped into his arms and hugged him as tightly as she could, afraid that he was just an illusion and he really died with their babies.

    Jin Liwei was murmuring soothing words to her but he couldn¡¯t hide the fear and worry in his voice. "It¡¯s just a nightmare, love."

    There were other people in the bedroom¡ªDom, the butler, and two security personnel¡ªwho were the nearest to answer Ketchup¡¯s frantic call for help after hearing her mommy screaming in her sleep. Ice Cream and Popcorn also never left.

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei had just arrived at the mansion from his meeting with Elder Long Jufang and the shareholders on behalf of Iris. A calm and collected Bacon informed him of what was happening with his mother. Jin Liwei immediately ran to the bedroom and took over in trying to wake up his hysterical, sleeping wife while also preventing her from hurting herself identally with all her thrashing.

    Her nightmare must be quite frightening for her to react like this. He could barely hold on to hisposure especially after hearing her anguished screams.

    When she woke up, great relief flooded him but not for long because she immediately began sobbing in his arms. He tried talking to her but couldn¡¯t get through her distressed state.

    "Ketchup, have someone prepare the helicopter ASAP," he instructed. "I¡¯m taking your mom to the hospital."

    "Wuwuwu! Yes, Daddy! Meowuwuwu!"

    Jin Liwei then gave additional instructions to the other people in the bedroom. They all dispersed to do what they were told.

    "Bacon, make sure this doesn¡¯t leak outside. Your mom doesn¡¯t need additional stress from the public learning about this."

    "Worry not, Father. Bacon will secure everything regarding this matter."

    Jin Liwei nodded and continued trying to calm his wife.

    "Hospital," Iris cried. "Let¡¯s go to the hospital!"

    "Yes, I¡¯m bringing you to the hospital," he told her but she wasn¡¯t listening.

    "Our babies!" she continued crying.

    That caught his attention. "What about our babies?"

    "Check that our babies are still alive!"

    He immediately looked down between her legs and felt it with his hand to make sure that she wasn¡¯t bleeding. When he was sure that there was no blood, he released a small sigh of relief but still couldn¡¯t feel assured because of her hysterical babble.

    "You died, Liwei! Our babies died, too! I couldn¡¯t protect all of you! I was the only one left alive. I tried this time to save my family but I failed! I¡¯d rather die again than see you all die before me!"

    "Ssshh. We¡¯re alright. Nobody died. We won¡¯t leave you, love. Our babies are alright, I¡¯m sure." He tried his best to calm her down even though he also felt disturbed by her words. "It¡¯s just a nightmare. And don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll be the one to protect our family."

 Chapter 843 - Protect Together

    <h4>Chapter 843 - Protect Together </h4>

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    It was already past midnight when Iris and Jin Liwei returned home from the hospital. With Jin Liwei¡¯s tight security team and the assistance of his powerful AI children, nobody who shouldn¡¯t know was aware that the celebrity Iris Long went in and out of the hospital. Only a handful of very discrete hospital staff, in addition to Iris¡¯ new OB-GYN rmended by Wang Yingjie, took care of her during her thorough check-up.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei were exhausted by the time they came back to their bedroom. They already ate dinner at the hospital but none of them had any appetite, especially Iris. However, she still forced herself to eat just enough for her babies.

    Iris sat on the chaise longue and rested her head against Jin Liwei¡¯s t and muscled abdomen. His hands caressed her hair, giving herfort after everything that happened today.

    "I¡¯m sorry," she whispered.

    "You already apologized to me many times," he said. "I don¡¯t want to hear your apology about this anymore. It¡¯s okay, love. At least we now know that the babies are safe and nothing happened to them. And of course, I¡¯m also d that you¡¯re alright now. You made me so worried."

    She rubbed her face against his abs while at the same time inhaled his scent. There was still a slight throbbing ache in her temples but her fatigue from today numbed it somewhat.

    "Your new OB-GYN said that your nightmare might be a manifestation of your stress piling up," he said while continuing to caress her hair. "You¡¯ve been so used to working hard in stressful situations before you got pregnant that now that you¡¯re forced to decrease your workload all of a sudden, you¡¯re finding it difficult to adjust to your new not-so-busy schedule while at the same time worrying about our twin babies growing inside your womb. You just need to rx, rest, and find your inner bnce again. You¡¯ll be fine, love. Our babies will also be fine. I¡¯ll be here with you every step of the way."

    She nodded and tightened her arms around his thighs.

    "Let¡¯s get ready for bed, okay?"

    She nodded again and allowed him to lead her to the bathroom.

    Later, both were lying in bed¡ªJin Liwei on his stomach and Iris on her side facing him. She was silent the entire time, still thinking about the nightmare but also doing her best to forget it.

    Knowing what she was worrying about, Jin Liwei patted her back. "Don¡¯t think about it anymore. It¡¯s just a nightmare. It¡¯s not real. Remember what the doctor said. Try not to stress too much. It¡¯s bad for you and bad for the babies."

    She didn¡¯t reply, only looked at him with her deep eyes filled withplicated emotions. Finally, she spoke. Her voice was a soft whisper. "It¡¯s how I died."

    He frowned. "What?"

    "The nightmare." Her eyes had a faraway look in them. "When I died before, I was d. I felt liberated. Free, atst."

    His arm embracing her waist tightened. He didn¡¯t like her talking about death, even if she already experienced it before and remembered it. However, he didn¡¯t interrupt her. If talking about it made her feel better, then he would listen even if he didn¡¯t like it. Despite his aversion to the topic of death especially if it was rted to his wife, he couldn¡¯t stop his own curiosity.

    "I epted my death willingly," she continued telling him in a whisper. "With open arms. I didn¡¯t do anything to stop the enemies from killing everyone. I only thought about myself. I was so selfish, Liwei."

    He wiped the tear that escaped from her weary yet still beautiful eyes with his finger. [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross

    "I know that I was the weakest inbat in the family. But I was still a highly-skilled sharpshooter. I could¡¯ve fought if I wanted to but I didn¡¯t. I chose to stand in the sidelines instead and allowed everyone to get killed without doing anything. Not to mention that I was one of the best hackers in the world. I could¡¯ve detected the attack before it happened. But I didn¡¯t."

    He pulled her closer and embraced her more tightly with his arm.

    "All I wanted was to escape that life through death. Mother was right. I am too selfish."

    "This might sound insensitive but I¡¯m going to say it, anyway," Jin Liwei said. He forced her to look at him straight in the eyes. "I don¡¯t know the full story of what happened in your past life, Evelina. But I know that I¡¯m d that what happened in the past happened the way it did because if not, then I wouldn¡¯t have met you and fell in love with you."

    "Oh, Liwei."

    "Sssh. Don¡¯t cry." He kissed the tears flowing down her cheeks.

    She sped his shirt with a trembling hand. "That night was hell, Liwei. But I weed it. I wanted to die without caring for the other lives lost around me."

    He didn¡¯t say anything this time, only listened, while continuing to wipe her tears.

    "Then I dreamed that night again but only it happened here in our home."

    His expression hardened even as his heart ached for her. ¡¯Ah, so that¡¯s why she¡¯s so upset by the nightmare.¡¯

    "I have you now, Liwei, and our babies. And our entire family. I can¡¯t just ept death willingly again. I want to live a long, happy life with you and our family. So I fought the attackers, something that I didn¡¯t do in my past life. I wanted to protect you and our family. But you still died. Everyone died. I was the only one left alive. It was so scary! So painful! I feel like an utter failure."

    "Don¡¯t say that," he rebuked her. "Never say that. You are not a failure. Far from it. And you¡¯re wrong, Evelina. It¡¯s not your sole responsibility to protect our family. I¡¯m here. We¡¯ll protect our family together. Always remember that."

 Chapter 844 - True Father

    <h4>Chapter 844 - True Father </h4>

    "Yes," Iris replied, her voice choked with emotion. She pressed herself closer to Jin Liwei, takingfort from his body heat and allowing it to wash away the cold fear caused by the nightmare. "I¡¯ll remember."

    "Good." Jin Liwei gave her waist a gentle squeeze. "There are so many things that I want to ask about your past life but now is not the time. You¡¯re tired and you need to rest. And I also know that you want to receive your brother Niki¡¯s blessings first to tell me everything. So I¡¯ll just wait for now until both of you are ready to tell me about your past lives."

    She nodded. "I¡¯ll still tell you everything even if Big Brother says no. But I¡¯m hoping that he¡¯ll give his blessings. I¡¯ll feel a lot of better if he does."

    "He will, love," he told her. "Your brother loves you."

    A small smile finally brightened her weary expression. "Yes, my big brother loves me."

    They were quiet for about a minute, waiting for sleep toe, when Iris asked, "By the way, how was your meeting with Elder Jufang and the shareholders? I forgot to ask you earlier."

    Jin Liwei smirked. "I got you the shares. Don¡¯t worry about it anymore, love. Let Qiao Yu handle the purchase and transfer procedures for you."

    Her smile widened. "Really? Thanks, darling. What did you do? Did you bully them into selling their shares?"

    A chuckle rumbled from his chest. "Why are you immediately assuming that I bullied them? Wife, I already told you that your husband can be very persuasive at the negotiation table."

    She gave a dainty snort.

    His chuckle became louder. Afterwards, he told her, "Actually, I didn¡¯t have to say much. Elder Jufang and the shareholders all got extremely excited when they saw me that I was a little taken aback by their enthusiasm."

    She pursed her lips. "I¡¯m not surprised. You are, after all, the President-CEO of Jin Corporation. Of course, they¡¯re all going to treat you like a king."

    It was Jin Liwei¡¯s turn to snort. "I¡¯ve met some members of the Long n at banquets before. Not all of them look highly at me or even Grandpa Lu. Not that I care, I don¡¯t, but it¡¯s funny how a lot of them think that it¡¯s still the ancient era where they expect that everyone should give them automatic VIP treatment because of their so-called noble blood."

    "The Long n is very proud of their noble origins and it makes most of the family members haughty and look down on people they considermoners. Not all of them are bad, though. Father¡ªLong Tengfei is quite open-minded and has embraced modern thinking rather than dwelling in the n¡¯s ancient values. That¡¯s why he was able to lead Long Industries into reaching new heights by delving in the international market and became more sessful than the previous generation."

    "En." Jin Liwei then looked at her. "Evelina."

    "Yes?"

    "Do you see Long Tengfei as your father?"

    She paused. "Yes and no." Her body shifted and she gazed at the ceiling to ponder his question. "At first, I didn¡¯t consider any of Xin¡¯s family as my own. But I still had to pretend that I¡¯m Xin. It¡¯s her body that I¡¯m using, after all. I have her memories so I recognize all her family members. She wasn¡¯t really close to anyone despite having a lot of rtives. Poor girl. In order for me to live a better life, I had to repair a lot of her rtionships and build new ones. Long Tengfei is the head of not only the n but Long Industries, so I decided to forge a closer tie with him because I knew that he¡¯ll be able to help me when I need assistance."

    Her gaze returned to him. "I didn¡¯t feel anything for him, Liwei. I only wanted to use him for my own, personal gain."

    There was no judgment in his expression. His eyes remained steady on her. He said, "You¡¯re using past tense."

    She smiled, the movement so small that it was almost unnoticeable, but it made her expression tender and also sad at the same time. "I was only pretending at first. But the more I pretend to be Xin, the more I¡¯vee to ept that I¡¯m now Long Xin in this life. I¡¯m Evelina but I¡¯m also Xin. I know it sounds confusing but¡ª"

    "Not at all. I understand."

    Her smile reached her eyes this time. She kissed his shoulder. "Thank you."

    His hand moved from her waist and started caressing her hair, then her cheek. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his gentle touches.

    "Actually, no," he said, causing her eyes to open. "I don¡¯t understand it fully because my logical mind is still not quite there yet in believing something so...unbelievable. But I do love you and know that you aren¡¯t lying to me. What¡¯s more, your brother Niki has more or less already confirmed to me that he isn¡¯t my fifth brother Zihao when I talked to him over the phone because of Bacon¡¯s request for sry negotiation."

    Her eyes trembled at the mention of her brother.

    Noticing her mood deting, Jin Liwei returned to their previous topic. "So now you consider Long Tengfei as your father?"

    It took her a moment to adjust to the change of topic but she eventually nodded. "To some extent, yes. He cares for all of his children in his own way. And now that I¡¯m Xin, I can feel that he cares, even though he¡¯s not an affectionate type of person. I appreciate the father-daughter rtionship that I have with him but..."

    She became quiet for a few moments. He didn¡¯t rush her but waited for her to be ready to speak again.

    "But in my heart...and in my soul, my true father is still Evelina¡¯s father," she whispered. "He¡¯s...he was not always there for me but without his protection and indulgence towards me, his daughter, I would have long been abandoned by my family because my existence was pretty much useless to them."

    A deep furrow formed between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows at her words.

 Chapter 845 - Useless Existence

    <h4>Chapter 845 - Useless Existence </h4>

    "You? Useless?" Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was filled with disbelief. "How could anyone think that a genius like you are useless?! That¡¯s ridiculous!"

    Warmth filled Iris¡¯ heart at his indignation on her behalf.

    He paused. "Your family didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re a hacker? You were already a hacker that time, right?"

    "Of course, they knew. And yes, I was already a hacker that time." There was a faraway look in her eyes. "I wasn¡¯t Drakon, though. I was known by another hacker name back then. I felt free in cyberspace. I did a lot of things because I was bored and before I knew it, Cross Academy recruited me when I was in my teens."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes widened. "You were also a Cross Academy student before?"

    She nodded. "In fact, I used my past life¡¯s identity to get noticed by Cross Academy in this life so that I¡¯d be able to sessfully enroll again. I lied and told the headmaster, Professor Dupont, that Evelina was my online master and she was the one who taught me all about hacking before she...before I died."

    "Ah." He embraced her more tightly. "You just did what you had to do. You lied but not really. In a sense, you are your own master. Don¡¯t feel bad about it. I¡¯m very proud of you, love."

    "Oh, Liwei. I feel so lucky to have you in this life. I feel so alive in a way that I never felt before in my past life."

    He pushed up from the bed and kissed her on the tip of her nose and then her lips. Light and lingering, warm andforting. "No, Evelina. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s lucky to have you in my life."

    She beamed at him, not feeling her headache anymore. She didn¡¯t notice that the aching in her temples had somehow disappeared while they were talking in bed. His mere presence and willingness to listen to her troubles had healing properties on her disturbed psyche.

    "I want to make love with you so badly," she said all of a sudden with a wistful sigh.

    His nostrils red and his eyes darkened. "I do, too. So much."

    "But we can¡¯t yet." Her tone was so sad. "Second Brother said that it¡¯s better to wait until you¡¯re fully healed because you might not be able to control yourself if we make love now and you¡¯ll just end up aggravating your injuries again."

    He groaned and kissed her harder. He sucked her lips and swept his tongue inside her mouth. When she was moaning and whimpering, he pulled away with an almost violent force. They were both panting and burning with need.

    "You¡¯re so bad, Liwei," sheined while feeling hot and bothered. "Why did you do that? Now I want to make love with you even more."

    Jin Liwei sat up on the bed and looked away from her as he tried controlling his own desire. He inwardly cursed at his second brother¡¯s medical advice but at the same had no intention of disregarding it because he wanted to fully heal in time for his wedding with his baby girl.

    It was difficult, so damn difficult, but he still managed to calm himself. Notpletely though, if the erection underneath his pyjama pants was any indication, but enough for him to think clearly without tearing the clothes off his wife and burying himself inside her wet heat.

    He returned his gaze on her. She was also now sitting on the bed. Her skin was flushed in an alluring colour that made him want to push her down on the bed and climb on top of her. Clearing his throat, he thought quickly about how to distract both of them from their powerful need to make love with each other.

    "If...if your family knew that you were...that you¡¯re a hacker, then why do you say that they still treated a genius like you as a useless existence?" he asked.

    She blinked a few times, unable to grasp the sudden change of topic and atmosphere right away. However, his n worked because her confusion lessened the seductive glow of her skin a little.

    "You said that you were also a Cross Academy student back then," he continued saying in an attempt to pull herpletely out of her desire to make love with him. "And that they even recruited you while you were still a teenager. Any normal family would be ecstatic and proud if their child got epted in that legendary school of geniuses."

    Iris mouth twisted into a wry smile. "My family in my past life isn¡¯t...wasn¡¯t exactly normal, you see."

    He frowned.

    "But don¡¯t get me wrong," she said. "They were proud and happy when they found out that Cross Academy recruited me."

    "Then why?"

    She scooted close to him and squeezed her body between his legs. His arms wrapped around her while she inhaled his scent deep into her lungs and used it to spread calmness throughout her entire body, mind and soul. "I can¡¯t exin it to you now because you¡¯ll have to know what kind of family my brother and I came from first for you to understand why I¡¯m saying that my existence was pretty much useless to my family in our past lives."

    His frown deepened. He opened his mouth, about to ask more questions but thought better of it, so he closed his mouth again and nodded. "Fine. I¡¯ll wait until the day that you¡¯re able to tell me everything because right now I¡¯m so confused but also very intrigued."

    "I know," she murmured.

    He kissed the top of her head. "Alright. Let¡¯s stop talking about these things. It¡¯ste now. Let¡¯s sleep. You had a rough day. You need to sleep."

    She pressed herself closer to him. "I can¡¯t sleep."

    "Then lie down with me. You¡¯ll sleep eventually."

    "What if I have a nightmare again?"

    His body went rigid before he forced it to rx again. "No, you won¡¯t. I¡¯m right here beside you. I¡¯ll fight off the nightmares if they dare frighten you again."

    Despite her anxiety, a giggle escaped from her lips. "Okay."

 Chapter 846 - Women Are Amazing

    <h4>Chapter 846 - Women Are Amazing </h4>

    Jin Liwei stayed awake and chatted with his baby girl while waiting for her to sleep. He could sense her dread about falling asleep but her pregnant body craved it more than her own will, so she eventually fell into deep sleep within half an hour. He waited for another ten minutes just to make sure that she wouldn¡¯t wake up. Then he called for their AI children.

    "Bacon, go to your Uncle Zihao and tell him everything that happened to your mom today," he instructed his AI son. "Describe everything in detail. Urge him to meet and talk to us in person as soon as possible. Let him know that his refusal to talk to us is adding to his sister¡¯s stress and he mustn¡¯t do that because it¡¯s affecting her health which is not good for a pregnant woman. No need to be nice. Just dump all the facts on him without mincing any of your words."

    "Understood, Father," Bacon replied in a quiet and polite tone. His tail, however, was thumping in excitement, no doubt unable to wait to talk to his Uncle Zihao again. "Bacon will do as Father says. I will go now. Please have a restful sleep with Mother. I will report to Father first thing in the morning when you wake up."

    "Good. Go now. Take care."

    "Yes, Father. Thank you." Then Bacon left to do his errand with great eagerness.

    "Daddy, is Mommy okay now? Ketchup was so scared! Meowuwuwu." The white cat cried softly, her tears forming a small, sparking puddle around her white fluffy self curled into a pitiful ball on the virtual floor.

    Jin Liwei watched his sobbing AI daughter on his tablet perched on his bedside table. He sighed and wished that he could pat andfort her with his hands. "Your mom¡¯s alright now, but she needs to get more rest and avoid stress as much as possible. She¡¯s having a hard time with her pregnancy."

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup will definitely do my best to help Mommy rx. Meow~"

    He smiled. "Good. Now I need you to do something for me."

    "What is it, Daddy? Meow~"

    "Check if your Uncle Yingjie is still awake right now. I was told in the hospital that it¡¯s his day off today."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Ketchup will check now! Wait a moment. Meow~"

    Three secondster, Ketchup reported, "Daddy, Uncle Doc is currently reading some old and boring medical reports from the hospital¡¯s internal online database using hisptop at home. What a nerd! Blegh! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei shook his head. Ketchup¡¯s straightforwardness definitely came from her mother. A small, doting smile lifted the corners of his lips. "Great job, Ketchup."

    "Ehehehe. Thanks, Daddy. Meow~"

    ncing at his sleeping wife, he leaned down and gave her head a kiss before carefully extricating his arm that she was hugging. Then he cautiously climbed off the bed, making sure not to wake her up. She still slept deeply most of the time, but ever since she became pregnant, her sleep had be sometimes restless. Thus, he needed to be extra careful to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t disturb her sleep.

    He grabbed his tablet and padded out of the bedroom into their suite¡¯s living room. In a quiet voice, he instructed, "Ketchup, make a call to your Uncle Yingjie for me."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! It¡¯s ringing...ringing...oopsie daisy! Daddy, Uncle Doc didn¡¯t answer your call! Is he ignoring Daddy? Dramatic gasp! What is this unexpected development?! Shocking! Find out in the next episode! Meow!"

    Jin Liwei exhaled an exasperated sigh. It was at times like this that he wished Ketchup¡¯s personality wasn¡¯t based so much on Dominic Chua¡¯s overdramatic one.

    Nevertheless, he wouldn¡¯t have it any other way if given the chance to redo the personalities of his children. They were all unique in their own little way and he already found their not-so-little quirks endearing.

    "There¡¯s no drama, Ketchup," he said, sighing. "Just try calling your Uncle Yingjie again. Maybe he went to another room or something and missed the call."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Meow~ Calling Uncle Doc again! It¡¯s ringing...ringing...oh! Connecting call in 3...2...1!"

    "Hello, Third Brother," Wang Yingjie¡¯s calm voice answered the call.

    The two sworn brothers greeted each other.

    "I heard from a colleague earlier this evening that you secretly brought Xin to the hospital," Wang Yingjie said. "I don¡¯t know all the details but I didn¡¯t want to disturb you tonight so I was nning to call you tomorrow instead. Good thing that you called me even though it¡¯s already sote. How¡¯s Xin? Is she okay now?"

    Jin Liwei told his second brother what happened minus the contents of Iris¡¯ nightmare.

    "Her symptoms are actually still considered to be quite mildpared to other more extreme cases," Wang Yingjiemented. "She¡¯s not experiencing full-blown morning sickness yet. There are pregnant women who can¡¯t stop vomiting for almost the entire day, you know. They have to be hospitalized and tube-fed just so they can get their required daily nutrients."

    Jin Liwei started to worry for his baby girl.

    "But don¡¯t worry," Wang Yingjie assured before Jin Liwei could descend into panic-mode. "I don¡¯t think Xin will suffer that kind of extreme pregnancy symptom. Hopefully. Even though I¡¯m saying her symptoms are mild, that¡¯spared to other cases. And as men, we can¡¯t really say that we can rte to pregnant women¡¯s struggles. Just imagine trying to push a creature roughly the size of a small pumpkin out of your organ and you¡¯ll know what I mean."

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but cringe at his second brother¡¯s graphic analogy. He almost cupped his organ on instinct but managed to stop himself in time. "Women are amazing" was all he could say.

    "Indeed, they¡¯re amazing."

    "But my wife is the most amazing."

    Wang Yingjie chuckled. "I already know you¡¯ll say that. Anyway, Xin is really having a tough time dealing with her pregnancy. Her workaholic mentality is struggling to match the new needs of her pregnant body to slow down a little."

    "That¡¯s exactly what her new OB-GYN said as well." Jin Liwei sighed and moved to sit by the window to gaze at the night sky outside.

    "Xin might be a strong and independent woman but you still need to be there for her especially right now. After all, she didn¡¯t get pregnant on her own."

    "You don¡¯t have to tell me that, Second Brother. I¡¯ll treat my own wife and the mother of my children like a queen."

    The two sworn brothers chatted for a bit before Wang Yingjie said, "Alright. How about you tell me why you called me sote at night, Third Brother? I have a feeling that you called me for a specific reason and not just to chat."

    Jin Liwei stood up and started pacing slowly around the living room. "I n to build a fully-equipped hospital wing for my wife inside our home and called tonight to ask for your opinion about my idea."

    "Hmmm...."

    "It doesn¡¯t have to be big, just a small one," Jin Liwei added. "Enough to take care of my pregnant wife¡¯s needs without us having to bring her in and out of the hospital while trying to dodge the media at the same time."

 Chapter 847 - Familiar Sigh

    <h4>Chapter 847 - Familiar Sigh </h4>

    "Xin is a celebrity and the public always wants to know what¡¯s happening in her private life," Jin Liwei said. "I¡¯ve tightened her security but we might not always avoid having the information about her pregnancy leak somehow, especially if there are other people involved. Bringing her in and out of the hospital all the time will only raise more suspicion. If we can have our own private hospital right here at home, we can eliminate this problem."

    "Do you not n on revealing Xin¡¯s pregnancy to the public?" Wang Yingjie asked.

    "We¡¯ll eventually do thatter in her pregnancy. But right now, my first priority is providing a safe andfortable ce for my pregnant wife. Maybe she¡¯ll even want to give birth right here at home if the hospital wing that I n on building is equipped well enough."

    "I understand. It sounds like you¡¯ve already made up your mind. I¡¯ll give you some rmendations but you¡¯ll have to start working on it as soon as possible. Xin will only be pregnant for less than a year. If you don¡¯t build it on time, she wouldn¡¯t be able to use it."

    "I know. Thanks, Second Brother."

    They discussed Jin Liwei¡¯s n for a few more minutes before ending the call. He stayed in the living room for another half an hour jotting down some notes for his idea on his tablet. It was only when his back injuries began aching again that he forced himself to stop.

    "Good night, Ketchup," he said on his way back to the bedroom.

    "Good night, Daddy! Sweet dreams. Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    ###

    The stench of blood clung to Lu Zihao¡¯s clothes when he returned to his group¡¯s hideout in this city. It was an apartment above a small local bakery that he recently acquired. The bakery was one of the many businesses that he obtained the "legal" way by buying it from the original owner. The other not-so-legal ones that he owned were obtained through taking over the businesses operated by the criminal groups that his Shadow Winds wiped out.

    After taking over those "dirty" businesses, he "cleaned" them just enough so that they crossed the line of legality. This was to avoid the authorities¡¯ suspicion as much as possible. Besides, the best cover for criminal activities was aw-abiding, tax-paying and outwardly socially responsible business as a front. He even made it a point to publicly donate to charities, including his sister¡¯s Iris of Hope, to further build up an image of a phnthropic entrepreneur.

    The authorities and public servants loved Lu Zihao, grandson of Sir Lu Jianhong, because he was a great supporter of small, local businesses and various charities with urgent needs, not knowing that he was the enigmatic Mr. Z, the leader of the increasingly powerful new group that was wiping out triad groups and gangs all over the country.

    Rumours abound about the mysterious Mr. Z. Many eyewitnesses swore that he was a masked devil. A frightening and brutal demon with no regard for human life. However, those were just rumours. Nobody saw his actual face nor could they remember any distinct details about him.

    Back at the apartment above the bakery, Lu Zihao stripped off all his clothing which stunk with fresh blood and sweat. He threw them into the trash can instead of theundry bin. His subordinates would burn the clothester.

    He stepped under the shower and washed himself clean of all the sweat, dirt and blood (not his own) that he umted from the battle he and his group just went through earlier that night. There were a few minor cuts and bruises on his body but nothing too serious.

    Nevertheless, the triad group in this area was a lot more skilled, resilient and smarter than the other ones his group had dealt with recently. This was why he decided to step in and take charge. The battle was mostly mind games but as soon as he stepped in, it turned bloody rather quickly.

    They finallypleted their mission tonight due to his merciless leadership. However, they finishedter than he expected. As a result, he wasn¡¯t able to call Long Jinjing like he nned.

    It was already past midnight. She must already be sleeping. He was hoping to have some thrilling phone sex with his woman before retiring for the night but it seemed that he had to wait for another chance to try that with her.

    He stepped out of the shower, dried himself, and wrapped a towel around his waist. Then he grabbed his phone and read a message from Shun reporting that Long Jinjing had already met the female subordinate he assigned to guard her. Shun sent detailed reports about what she did for most of the day. Hisst report was to inform Lu Zihao that she already went to sleep just before midnight.

    There was a moment of hesitation before Lu Zihao made up his mind and sent Long Jinjing a text. He promised to call her but was unable to. The least thing he could do was text her.

    "I¡¯ll be back tomorrow. I can¡¯t wait to fuck you."

    Just thinking about her made him hard. He was about to touch himself while fantasizing about her when his phone cked out before lighting up again and showing a familiar sight.

    "Kid," he said.

    "Greetings, Uncle Zihao," Bacon said, his golden eyes staring at him while his fluffy ck tail swished back and forth.

    "Why are you here? I thought your mother wouldn¡¯t allow you near me before I agree to talk to her and your father in person. I haven¡¯t decided yet."

    "That is not the reason why I came tonight, Uncle Zihao."

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow. But when Bacon started talking, his expression changed. After he heard about what happened to his sister, his fearsome aura exploded out of him.

    Fortunately, there was nobody else in the apartment. His subordinates were downstairs in the bakery¡¯s kitchen. As for Bacon, he was an AI and wasn¡¯t the least bit affected by his uncle¡¯s frightening aura.

 Chapter 848 - Randy

    <h4>Chapter 848 - Randy </h4>

    The next day, along the coast of Singapore, a luxurious yacht was sailing. Vizcondesa Lan was having the time of her life travelling the hottest sailing destinations in Asia using her future son-inw¡¯s private yacht. It wasn¡¯t the mega-yacht LX that they used in the French Riviera during this year¡¯s Sommet International Film Festival where her beloved daughter won the prestigious award for "Best Soundtrack".

    Oh, how proud she was when her daughter won! As expected of her, Wei Lan, to have given birth to such an amazing daughter as beautiful, sexy, intelligent and talented as she was!

    Her daughter and son-inw¡¯s mega-yacht had been so amazing. It was like a mansion floating on the sea. It would have been nice if she could use it to travel in Asia and brag about it¡ªahem ahem¡ª"showcase" it to her friends. Oh, she bet her friends would be so envious of her!

    However, her request to use the LX yacht had been rejected by her daughter when she shared her n to take a vacation across Asia about a month ago.

    "Mother, we n on keeping the LX yacht in the French Riviera," Iris told her. "You are wee to borrow it but only if you n on vacationing in the Mediterranean."

    Wei Lan already spent a long time vacationing in the Mediterraneanst year. It was where she met her current husband, the Spanish viscount of Castillo de Estres, and fell in love with him. The Mediterranean was beautiful but she wanted to take a vacation somewhere else this time. Her choice was Asia.

    She tried persuading her daughter to change her mind and bring the mega-yacht LX to Asia but to no avail. She tried her luck on her son-inw next but her daughter had the man wrapped around her finger. Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t agree to anything that her daughter didn¡¯t approve of.

    Deep inside, Wei Lan was proud that her daughter had inherited such innately powerful seduction prowess from her. However, she wasn¡¯t happy that she couldn¡¯t get what she wanted which was the mega-yacht because of it.

    Her daughter could be so stingy sometimes. Where did the girl inherit such a negative trait from? It must havee from the Long side of the genes, no doubt about it.

    Fortunately, her son-inw cared about her, his mother-inw, and lent his other private luxury yacht to her which was already anchored in the country. It was much smallerpared to LX but still more luxurious than other regr private yachts owned by poorer rich people. No surprise there because her son-inw was a certified billionaire. Her daughter did an excellent job catching such a big whale like Jin Liwei.

    Thus, Wei Lan packed her luggage¡ªwell, actually, Yi Mei and the maids packed her luggage for her and she boarded her son-inw¡¯s private yacht for an ultimate Asian vacation. She brought a couple of the younger maids and a houseboy from her daughter¡¯s penthouse to apany her (a.k.a. take care of her) during the trip, including the bodyguards that her son-inw assigned to protect her. She would have brought Yi Mei and the others but they were already old and declined her offer.

    In addition to the entourage provided by her daughter and son-inw, she also invited Randy, Iris¡¯ fabulous Zumba instructor. Iris got her into Zumba and she never looked back after her first ss with Randy. The man was a genius in making workouts fun despite his questionable fashion sense. Neon-coloured skin-tight pants and plunging tank tops were big no-nos in Wei Lan¡¯s fashion vocabry.

    The two of them clicked and became friends in an instant. Randy was helping her maintain her youthful model figure while Wei Lan was coaching him to improve his fashion sense.

    At the moment, loud Spanish Zumba dance music was sting from the yacht while sailing along the Singaporean coast. Under the beautiful, warm and sunny Southeast Asian weather, a very tan and muscled Randy in polka-dot swim briefs was shouting instructions to his students while at the same time demonstrating the Zumba dance moves for them to follow. They were all dancing to the catchy music on the deck, creating a spectacle to the other sailing vessels passing by.

    "Shake your bumbum to the left! Shake your bumbum to the right! Shimmy-shimmy, one two three! Then pump it like you mean it! Now twerk the fats out of your bodies! Twerk it like you want to make a baby! Now let me hear you say whooooo!"

    "Whooooo!"

    Wei Lan¡¯s flexible body was moving like someone twenty years younger than her actual age. Her entire entourage except for the bodyguards joined her in the on-deck Zumba ss led by the mboyant Randy. Even some of the yacht¡¯s crew members joined them after receiving permission from the exasperated captain.

    After the fun workout, everyone dispersed and rested before returning to their own respective duties while Wei Lan and Randy, the guests of honour in the yacht, were treated like royalty. They went for a rxing full-body massage in the yacht¡¯s spa room after taking a shower.

    "What¡¯s our itinerary here in Singapore, Vizcondesa?" Randy asked before groaning at the magical hands of his masseuse on his muscled back.

    "We¡¯re going to shop, of course!" Wei Lan answered beside him while her masseuse gave her legs a nice, deep stretch. "There are soooooo many amaaaaazing luxury boutiques here. Then we¡¯re going to dine in this amaaaaazing restaurant that has a Michelin star...."

    Wei Lan continued babbling her travel ns to Randy with great enthusiasm. "We¡¯ll leave Singapore on the weekend. Then we¡¯ll head to the Philippines to meet an ooooold friend of mine. She¡¯s the wife of a Chinese-Filipino billionaire there. She said she¡¯ll bring us to her family¡¯s private ind resort. Afterwards, we¡¯ll head to Japan...."

    "Sounds exciting," Randy said after she finished talking. "I can¡¯t wait. But when will we return to China?"

    Wei Lan paused and blinked a few times. "I think I remember my daughter telling me that I neeeeeed to be back by thest week of this month. I wonder why."

 Chapter 849 - Coming Soon

    <h4>Chapter 849 - Coming Soon </h4>

    "If Miss Xin says that we should return by thest week of the month, then she must have a good reason," Randy said.

    Before Wei Lan could reply, she yelped because her masseuse stretched her legs too deeply. She twisted her body and turned her head behind her to re at the woman. She was about to scold the masseuse but remembered that she was now an elegant, ssy and benevolent viscountess.

    "That hurt sooooo much so you better be more gentle next time, okaaaaay?"

    "Yes, Vizcondesa. My apologies, Vizcondesa. I¡¯ll be more careful, Vizcondesa."

    Everyone in the yacht called Wei Lan with her title Vizcondesa. She advised her sidekicks, the young maids and the houseboy she brought from her daughter¡¯s penthouse, to tell the crew that she wouldn¡¯t respond to any address except for her official noble title.

    As for the crew, they followed the instruction because they knew that Wei Lan was going to be their boss¡¯ mother-inw in the future. In addition, Mr. Xu Tian, their boss¡¯ right-hand man instructed them to keep Wei Lan happy because their boss didn¡¯t want his future mother-inwining to his fianc¨¦e, the celebrity Iris Long. Basically, their boss wanted the crew to keep Wei Lan out of Iris Long¡¯s way and to prevent the viscountess from disturbing the lovebirds back home.

    Wei Lan settled back down on her massage bed. She released a dramatic sigh. "Do you think that Xin told me to return by the end of the month because she wants to kick her beeeeaaaaauuuutiful mother out of her penthouse?"

    Randy shook his finger at her, causing his perfectly manicured nails to glint under the soft ambient light of the spa room. "Nuh-uh, Vizcondesa. You mustn¡¯t think that way. Miss Xin is one of the most generous people that I¡¯ve ever met in my entire life. I¡¯m sure that she would never kick out her own mother, especially one who¡¯s a viscountess, from one of her homes, which by the way, she rarely uses because they have almost everything at Dragon Pce! Gosh, that ce is gorgeous!"

    His wordsforted Wei Lan. "You¡¯re such a doll, dear Raaaaandyyyy. I¡¯m sooooo d that I invited you to this trip. Isn¡¯t is sooooo much fun here?"

    "It¡¯s my pleasure, dear Vizcondesa. I feel like my inner goddess has be even more fab ever since I met you, so it is I who should be thanking you for inviting me! I feel so honoured!"

    After the massage, the two had manicures and pedicures while sipping cocktails. They chatted like bosom friends who had known each other for a long time.

    "Mr. Gorgeous CEO Jin suspended all my Zumba sses with Miss Xin until further notice because she hasn¡¯t been feeling welltely, I heard," Randy said. "To be honest, at first I thought that they were firing me but were just acting too nice to say it straight to my face. But then I read on the inte that Miss Xin fainted backstage at the TV awards ceremony about a week ago so it must be true that her health hasn¡¯t been that goodtely."

    "My poooooor baby!" Wei Lan grabbed a serviette and wiped her nonexistent tears. "My baby works tooooo hard! I don¡¯t understand why she still insists on working when her man is a billionaire who can give her whatever she wants!"

    "Ah, Vizcondesa. You must remember that your daughter is a musical artist! You know, artists¡¯ brains work differently from normal people. Who knows what¡¯s really going on inside their heads?"

    Wei Lan thought about what he said before agreeing. "I guess we¡¯ll have to cut our trip short and return to China ahead of schedule. I don¡¯t want my dear daughter upset with me if I don¡¯t return by the end of this month."

    Randy nodded.

    "Raaaaaandyyyy doll, when we return, you must apany me to take a look at the new house I bought!"

    His eyes lit up. "You already found a new ce and even bought it?"

    "Oooooooh, yes! It¡¯s not as magnificent as Xin and dear Liwei¡¯s Dragon Pce but it¡¯s still amazing! I think it¡¯s perfect for a viscountess like me and for my husband and stepson. I can¡¯t wait!"

    "When are you moving?"

    She gestured to the nearby attendant to give her another cocktail which she got in no time. After taking a long sip, she replied, "Not until all the renovations and interior designs are finished. You don¡¯t expect a viscountess like ME to move in without customizing my home first, do you?"

    "I see."

    "I wanted to renovate the Gold Heights penthouse but Yi Mei wouldn¡¯t allow me!" She gave a cute pout which she was able to perform sessfully due to her youthful looks despite her age. "Yi Mei said that nobody is allowed to change the penthouse¡¯s appearance without Xin¡¯s approval first!"

    Randy only nodded in a vague manner, not saying anything, because he agreed with Yi Mei. Iris was, after all, the true owner of the penthouse and not her mother. Wei Lan was just staying there temporarily until she bought a new ce for herself.

    "But it¡¯s fine," Wei Lan said, sniffing. "I finally found the perfect home for myself! Yay! I¡¯m sooooo excited! I can¡¯t wait to show my husband and stepson our new home sweet home right here in my mother country!"

    "When are the viscount and your stepsoning?" Randy asked next.

    "Oooooooh, they¡¯reing soon! Well, not my husband. My vizconde is still not done with his work yet. A busy bee, that¡¯s what he is. Oooooh, he¡¯s such a gentleman!" She giggled like a teenage girl. Then she said, "My husband won¡¯t being yet but my stepson already called me a few days ago and told me that he¡¯ll being to China first, maybe by the end of the year! Isn¡¯t it exciting?"

    Randy leaned towards her and waggled his eyebrows. "Is your stepson...hot?"

    "Of coooourse!"

    "How hot?"

    Wei Lan gave him a knowing smile. "Lava hot, Raaaaandyyyy doll. You might twerk in your polka-dot panties as soon as you see how hot Ren¨¦ Alejandro is!"

 Chapter 850 - Robin

    <h4>Chapter 850 - Robin </h4>

    Animalistic groans, grunts, and gasps and the dull, rhythmic banging against the door were the only distinct sounds that could be heard inside Long Jinjing¡¯s condo unit. Lu Zihao devoured Long Jinjing¡¯s mouth and tongue while his hips pounded inside her wet heat as if there was no tomorrow.

    She was wrapped around him like a ko with her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist while he pressed her with his body against her front door. They were both still wearing most of their clothing, including their coats. Her trousers and panties were hanging off one foot while her shirt and bra were pushed up her chest to reveal her breasts.

    Lu Zihao was also in a simr state. He was still fully clothed except for his jeans and boxers which rested around his thick, muscled thighs. The hands holding her up squeezed her plump buttocks while his hips sped up and increased in force, sending her into a frenzy of pure pleasure.

    She was bbering about something¡ªhis name, perhaps¡ªbut she herself wasn¡¯t aware of what she was doing anymore. All she could do was hold on to him and take everything he was mming into her core. It was a good thing that she was still wearing her coat because it provided a decent cushion on her back against the hard door.

    When the pleasure built up to the highest peak, she exploded and screamed her climax. "Niki!"

    He gave her an answering grunt but his hips didn¡¯t stop their fiercely delicious assault on her convulsing wet heat. The sounds he was making were more beast than human.

    Finally, his entire body tightened like a taut bowstring and he quickly buried himself deep inside her until a violent shuddering force swept over him. He groaned as he orgasmed in several strong spurts.

    They were both gasping and soaked in sweat after their wild deed. Lu Zihao still wanted to stay deep inside her but Long Jinjing was already starting to feel ufortable and restless. She squirmed a little while still connected to him, causing him to growl. The sound instantly made her freeze. She was worried of provoking his ferocious lust again.

    As much as she liked having sex with him, she still needed some quality breaks in-between. Her body and stamina weren¡¯t as robust as his extremely fit constitution.

    When he still didn¡¯t move after a few moments, she couldn¡¯t take it anymore. "Niki, please. If I don¡¯t get out of this coat, I might pass out from overheating."

    He grunted and immediately slid out of her before carefully putting her down on her own feet. Her knees buckled fromck of strength when she tried to stand by herself. She grabbed him for support while fumbling her coat off herself.

    In the meantime, he unsheathed his now softening length and discarded the used condom while still supporting her from stumbling on her shaky legs.

    "Have you made up your mind about taking contraceptive pills?" he asked while helping her out of her clothes.

    "I...it¡¯s n-not the weekend y-yet," she stammered. "I need to t-think about it more."

    "Fine. By the way, I already took the STD test this morning. I should receive the results in the next few days."

    Her eyes widened in surprise. The man worked fast. "O-okay."

    They passed through the living room while wrestling their clothes off their bodies. Long Jinjing was tempted to pick up their clothing from the floor to throw properly into theundry bin but Lu Zihao told her to leave them before carrying her straight to the bathroom.

    He had just returned from his out-of-town trip today. She felt a little disappointed that he didn¡¯t call herst night like he promised but she didn¡¯t call him either. She wanted to but stopped herself after remembering one of his terms stating that he disliked being disturbed while at work and being asked where he was by an annoying girlfriend.

    It was only when she woke up earlier this morning that she read his short, vulgar text of wanting to fuck her as soon as he returned. She flushed and turned red as a ripe tomato like usual. Deep inside, however, she felt happy that he texted even though he hadn¡¯t called. Maybe his work rantest night and he didn¡¯t want to wake her up by giving her a call.

    The anticipation of his return made her extra-productive at work today instead of being distracted. She wanted to finish all of her tasks for the day so that she could give her entire attention to Lu Zihaoter. And indeed, that was what happened.

    She was able toplete everything on her work to-do list today, especially after receiving his text in the afternoon that he would being to pick her up at work.

    Chen Fei had another meeting with Jin Chonglin and Alric Bauer so Long Jinjing was able to leave with Lu Zihao without her best friend¡¯s interference. Chen Fei told her in the morning that she wanted to talk to Lu Zihao in person and interrogate the man about their rtionship.

    Long Jinjing wanted to dy that conversation as much as possible because Chen Fei¡¯s corrosive tongue might provoke Lu Zihao. She didn¡¯t want her best friend and her boyfriend to fight, even if said boyfriend was only a temporary one.

    She and Lu Zihao drove straight to her condo. They almost couldn¡¯t keep their hands off each other. When they finally reached her unit and the door closed behind them, he plunged inside her as soon as he could. And that was how they arrived at their current situation.

    After one round in the bathroom and another round in the bedroom, she mustered enough strength to cook both of them a simple dinner. Lu Zihao watched her while she busied herself in the kitchen.

    "I heard that you already met Robin yesterday," he said, referring to the female subordinate he assigned to guard her with Shun. "How is she? Do you like her? If not, I¡¯ll assign you another female subordinate of mine."

 Chapter 851 - RiChapter Young Master

    <h4>Chapter 851 - RiChapter Young Master </h4>

    Long Jinjing¡¯s hands paused in the middle of chopping the ingredients. She nced at Lu Zihao who was leaning against the wall. "Niki, I already told you that I don¡¯t need¡ª"

    "And I already told you before that as long as you¡¯re my woman, my subordinates will make sure that you¡¯re safe," he said in a casual yet firm tone.

    She pursed her lips and felt unhappy at his insistence on what she thought was totally unnecessary. "I¡¯m too tired to argue with you today. But we¡¯ll discuss this another time."

    He only shrugged before taking a peeled carrot from her chopping board and began chewing it. "Put more meat. I¡¯m a big man. I need a lot of food."

    His words made her smile. Indeed, he was a big man. In response to his request, she used all the meat that she bought yesterday.

    "Good thing I went grocery shopping yesterday," she said. "Robin apanied me while Shun drove us. I like Robin. She was the one who told me to buy more food for you because you like to eat meat."

    He made a sound of approval. "If you like Robin, then good. I won¡¯t need to rece her. And don¡¯t worry about groceries anymore. I¡¯ll tell the two of them to stock up your fridge while you¡¯re at work so you won¡¯t need to waste your time shopping. You can just head straight home after work."

    "Niki, please don¡¯t do this."

    "Hm?" The carrot made a crisp sound as he continued chewing it.

    "You can¡¯t just...take over my life like this."

    "Why not?"

    She stared at him in disbelief. Did he just seriously ask that question? At first, she thought that he might be teasing her. However, the longer she looked at him, the more she could sense his genuine curiosity as to why he couldn¡¯t take over her life like this.

    "Niki, you...."

    He already finished the carrot and took a sliced bell pepper next. "When will dinner be ready?"

    "I..." His question distracted her from the many questions she wanted to ask him. It reminded her that it was now past dinner time. "In about half an hour, I think."

    "Good."

    "Just...stop distracting me or the food will take longer to finish cooking."

    He raised an eyebrow. One corner of his mouth curved up in a devilishly roguish smirk.

    "Fine." Then he walked towards her and leaned down to give her lips a quick peck and her butt a light p before heading out of the kitchen. "I¡¯ll be in the balcony to make a few phone calls. Call me when dinner¡¯s ready."

    She muttered under her breath, "Leaving me to cook while you wait like the young master that you are. What am I? Your personal cook?"

    He stopped walking and turned around. "I heard that, Jinjing."

    Oh no! He heard her? She flushed in embarrassment. "I... That¡¯s n-not... I mean...."

    He crossed his arms over his muscled chest. "Heh~ So you think that it¡¯s a chore to cook for your boyfriend, eh? We can always order food from a restaurant, you know, not to mention that I can ask my subordinates to bring us whatever food that we want to eat. Or if you prefer home-cooked meals, I can hire someone toe and cook for us right here. I personally don¡¯t mind what kind of food we eat as long as it¡¯s edible and satisfies the daily food needs of a big man like me. There¡¯s no need for you to cook for me if you don¡¯t want to. I want you to fuck me, Jinjing, not cook for me."

    She turned even redder, especially at the vulgarity of hisst sentence. Despite this, a trace of thrill fluttered in her lower abdomen and made her feel warm. She avoided his gaze and made a shooing motion with her hands. "Just g-go to the balcony...and let me cook. You¡¯re distracting me. And just so you know...I like to cook!"

    Devilishughter filled the unit. When she heard the the balcony¡¯s sliding door opening and closing, Long Jinjing released the breath that she was holding in a shaky, drawn-out sigh. She patted her chest and felt her wildly beating heart, willing it to calm down.

    The man was undoubtedly domineering, vulgar and straight to the point. He was also someone who couldn¡¯t be controlled. He did what he liked and had no problem forcing his own will on other people.

    If she wasn¡¯t so attracted to Lu Zihao, she would stay away as far as possible from a man like him. In fact, that was what she ought to do. The two of them were only meant for a temporary affair like this. They had no future together. But it was already toote. She only had to taste him once to be addicted.

    Realizing the dangerous direction of her thoughts, she shook her head and focused on preparing dinner. Her hands moved with great speed and efficiency once the distraction called Lu Zihao was out of the kitchen.

    About half an hourter, she called Lu Zihao for dinner. He headed straight to the dining table and was about to sit down when she asked him to help set the table while she transferred the hot food from the pot to a serving dish.

    He blinked a few times, seemingly unable toprehend what she just asked him to do. She couldn¡¯t help butugh at him.

    "You¡¯re really a rich young master." She giggled before pointing at the overhead shelf where the tes were stored.

    There was no change in his expression as he took the tes and arranged them on the table. Afterwards, he didn¡¯t miss the chance to punish her with a hot, brutal kiss forughing at him. It was a quick kiss but extremely intense, leaving her dazed out of her mind and once again made her poor IQ plummet to amoeba level.

    "If you dare ask me to wash the dishester, I won¡¯t let you sleep tonight," he whispered to her ear. "I¡¯ll fuck you so hard all night long until you¡¯re limping tomorrow."

 Chapter 852 - Young Master Lu

    <h4>Chapter 852 - Young Master Lu </h4>

    Long Jinjing pped Lu Zihao¡¯s arm even as his vulgar words affected her, making her feel all hot and bothered. His effect on her was no joke. She needed to find a way to not let him affect her too much before she went crazy for him.

    "S-stop it, Niki," she stammered.

    Lu Zihao grabbed her waist and caged her with his arm. "Hoooo~ I didn¡¯t see you for only a day but it seems that you¡¯ve grown bolder while I was gone. Now you¡¯re even hitting me. What¡¯s next, Jinjing? Are you going to tie me in bed and have your wicked way with me?"

    "W-what are you saying?" she squeaked. His words evoked vivid images to y inside her head. She felt her face and neck...no, she felt her entire body heat up until she feared that she might overheat.

    "Heh~ Look at you. I bet you¡¯re thinking about something dirty." He leaned forward and whispered to her ear in his sinful voice, "I bet it involves me, naked and hard. And you, hot and wet."

    "Y-you..." She pressed her face on his chest to hide from his teasing eyes. Ah, so embarrassing!

    His chest vibrated from a devilish chuckle. He pulled her closer to him in a tight hug. "It¡¯s okay, Jinjing. It¡¯s perfectly normal to have dirty thoughts about your own boyfriend. I think so, at least. I already told you that there¡¯s no need to be so shy when you¡¯re around me."

    After a few moments, she began to recover from her embarrassment, though notpletely yet. She gestured for them to start eating dinner. Fortunately, his focus shifted to the food, giving her some breathing room from his vulgar teasing.

    "I heard that Robin will be teaching you some self-defence," Lu Zihao said while they ate.

    "Huh? Is that what she said?" She frowned and thought about it. "Actually, I was going to sign up for a gym membership yesterday but Robin offered to give me private training instead. She said that she¡¯s a more effective trainer than the ones in the gym."

    He nodded. "That¡¯s right. You¡¯re better off being trained by her. I trained all my subordinates, so I¡¯m sure that they know what they¡¯re doing."

    "But I don¡¯t remember her saying anything about teaching me self-defence."

    He finished chewing the food in his mouth before replying. "I heard that you asked for a training regimen that will increase your strength and stamina. I wonder why." The teasing glint returned in his eyes.

    She flushed and avoided looking at him.

    "Don¡¯t worry," he said. "Robin will train you properly. Don¡¯t think about the self-defence part too much. Just treat it as part of the training regimen. Besides, it¡¯s better if you learn how to defend yourself in physical fights. It¡¯s a good skill to have."

    She thought for a moment and concluded that he made sense.

    "I¡¯ll be the one to train you when I¡¯m avable," he added in a casual tone.

    Her eyes widened in momentary surprise before she smiled. "Okay."

    "I¡¯m a strict trainer. Better be ready. I won¡¯t go easy on you just because you¡¯re my girlfriend. You want results. I¡¯ll give you results but you need to work hard for it."

    "I know," she whispered. "Robin and Shun told me."

    After dinner, she washed the dishes while he leaned against the wall to watch her.

    "I¡¯ll buy you a dishwashing machine," he said.

    "No need."

    "Why? Washing by hand after every meal looks so boring."

    She shook her head while continuing to wash the dishes. "I enjoy doing household chores. It rxes me."

    He was silent for a few moments before saying, "You¡¯re weird."

    She pursed her lips but chose not to reply. He wouldn¡¯t understand even if she exined anyway.

    He spoke again. "Can you hurry up?"

    She red at him. "I¡¯ll be much faster if I have some help. But of course, I wouldn¡¯t dare ask the Young Master Lu to do something¡ª"

    Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open when he moved to stand beside her and started rinsing the remaining soapy tes and sses under the running water.

    "W-what are you doing?"

    He gave her a side-eye, as if silently asking what kind of stupid question she just asked. Wasn¡¯t it obvious what he was doing? Despite this, he still answered her. "You said that you¡¯ll be much faster if you have some help. I¡¯m helping you now. Come on, let¡¯s hurry up and go to bed. I can¡¯t wait to have you again."

    Her brain was still struggling to process the sight before her. "Y-you¡¯re...washing dishes."

    He rolled his eyes and finished rinsing everything before putting them on the drying rack. The way he piled the tes was messy but at least he didn¡¯t break anything. He grabbed a kitchen towel and dried his hands.

    "Are we done here?" he asked.

    She nced at his clumsy handiwork and felt something warm spreading inside her chest. She nodded because she might blurt out something embarrassing again if she let herself speak while her IQ had plunged to amoeba level like usual because of him. When they headed out of the kitchen, she was still a little dazed.

    "I can¡¯t believe I just made Young Master Lu wash the dishes," she mumbled, still in disbelief.

    He scowled. "Stop calling me Young Master Lu."

    "Niki."

    He nodded and looked much more satisfied after she called him by his preferred name. Then he pounced on her. She yelped but quickly melted under his passionate French kiss. When he moved his wet kisses down her neck, some semnce of sanity returned to her. She tried to push his head away.

    "Stop, Niki. We just ate. I¡¯m too...full. I can¡¯t yet...you know."

    He cursed against her neck but still stopped what he was doing. Then he pulled her to sit on the couch in the living room. They watched the evening news on TV while waiting for their food to digest enough in their stomachs before resuming their intense bed activitiester.

    "I¡¯ll return to Dragon Pce soon," he said. "You want toe with me?"

 Chapter 853 - Whatâ€™s The Big Deal?

    <h4>Chapter 853 - What¡¯s The Big Deal? </h4>

    "Are we sleeping over there?" Long Jinjing asked.

    Lu Zihao replied, "Maybe."

    "Oh." She thought for a moment before nodding. Then her eyes began to shine with excitement. "I want to go. I want to spend some time with my sister, Dom, Sis Ying Yue, and of course, Little Jun and the cats. I miss the kids so much. I¡¯m going to buy some treats for them before we go there."

    He raised an eyebrow. "I didn¡¯t ask you toe with me to have a girls¡¯ night out with your friends. We¡¯re going to spend the night together in my bedroom there."

    "Oh." Her face and neck turned crimson. "I...uhm..."

    "Remember that our time is limited. The days are passing by so quickly. I want to spend more time with you as much as possible."

    His reminder sobered her mind in an instant and prevented it from plunging to amoeba-level IQ even further. "Right."

    "I need to talk to my sister and Jin Liwei...Third Brother." He said thest part slowly, sounding like he wasn¡¯t used to saying it.

    She noticed but didn¡¯t give it much thought. He could be odd sometimes, like insisting that she call him Niki and things like that. She was already starting to get used to his idiosyncrasies.

    "My talk with the two is extremely important and might take a long time, so you can hang out with your friends and the kids during that time," he told her. "Just remember that you¡¯ll be sleeping with me in my bedroom at night."

    "Okay," she replied in a shy tone. Then she remembered something. "Uhm...Niki...."

    "Hm?"

    She cleared her throat. "You see...uhm."

    "Spit it out, Jinjing."

    "Little Sister Xin and my friends already know that we¡¯re, uh, in a rtionship," she said before covering her face with her hands.

    "I know."

    She lowered her hands and looked at him in surprise. "What? How did you know? Did my sister tell you?"

    "Something like that," he said in a vague manner.

    (Actually, Bacon told him when his AI nephew visited himst night. The ck cat revealed that his gossip-loving older sister saw him, Lu Zihao, and their Auntie Jinjing kissing each other inside his car in front of Orchidia Beauty. Given how talkative the white cat was, she immediately shared her findings to her mother.)

    "It¡¯s not only Little Sister Xin who knows," she said in a hesitant tone. "Xiao Fei knows. Dom, too. And you know Dom. I¡¯m sure that he already told our other friends about our rtionship."

    She observed his expression, trying to see what his reaction was going to be. However, his expression didn¡¯t change. He just continued watching the evening news on the TV as if what she said was nothing of importance.

    "You don¡¯t...mind?" she asked.

    He looked at her. "Why would I mind?"

    "Because others now know that we¡¯re together."

    He raised an eyebrow. "Isn¡¯t that the point of this rtionship? You want the title and status as my official girlfriend and I agreed. I told my subordinates, so they know to give you respect or they¡¯ll answer to me. And now my sister and your friends know. What¡¯s the big deal? Are they against our rtionship?"

    "N-no, they¡¯re not. They¡¯re just...curious."

    "Understandable." Then he asked next, "Are they teasing you?"

    She nodded.

    He chuckled. "They¡¯re just envious that you¡¯re gettingid regrly. Don¡¯t mind them."

    She hit him with a throw pillow. "Don¡¯t say that! So embarrassing!"

    He caught the pillow and threw it on the floor. Then he shrugged. "Well, I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯re envious or not. But the part about you gettingid on a regr basis is true. Don¡¯t deny it, Jinjing. I know that you like fucking me as much as I like fucking you."

    Yes, it was true but he didn¡¯t need to say it like that! If embarrassment could kill, then he would¡¯ve murdered her many times over already.

    "My point is that there¡¯s no need to keep our rtionship a secret," he said.

    She looked at him and felt something flutter in her chest. She didn¡¯t realize that her mouth was already smiling. "Yes, I guess so."

    "Then it¡¯s decided that you¡¯lle along with me when I return to Dragon Pce. I¡¯m not sure when yet. I¡¯ll have to check all our schedules first. But it might be in a couple of days or so. I¡¯ll tell you when everything is arranged. In the meantime, you can start buying some treats for the kids and pack an overnight bag."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll do that."

    He stood up all of a sudden. She looked up at him, confused.

    "Time to fuck, Jinjing," he announced.

    Her entire body heated up. She allowed him to carry her to the bedroom. When the door closed behind them, lewd sounds beganing out of the bedroom in no time. And it went on until the wee hours.

    ###

    The rm clock woke up Long Jinjing. She reached for her phone on her bedside table but couldn¡¯t move because of the great weight pressing down on her waist and legs. Turning her head, she saw a sleeping Lu Zihao hugging her tightly.

    She was immediately distracted by the sight. This was the first time that she woke up with him still sleeping beside her. She lifted her hand and traced the ragged scar on his handsome face.

    "If you don¡¯t turn off that damn rm, I¡¯ll throw your phone out of the window," he suddenly threatened with his eyes still closed, startling her and causing her to poke his cheek a little too hard with her finger.

    His eyes opened. Although they still looked sleepy, his gaze was already razor-sharp.

    "I...can¡¯t move," she croaked. Her voice was a little dry from sleep. "Let me g-go and I¡¯ll turn off the rm."

    He released her and she immediately reached for her phone. When the annoying sound was gone, she saw him shifting position to lie on his back before going back to sleep.

    She smiled, feeling happy that he was actually sleeping on her bed. ncing at the time, she sighed and moved to get ready for work.

 Chapter 854 - Caught In The Ac

    <h4>Chapter 854 - Caught In The Ac </h4>

    Long Jinjing still felt like she had been run over by a truck. Even so, her body somehow felt lighter after seeing Lu Zihao sleeping on her bed. She didn¡¯t expect that it would feel this good to wake up with him lying beside her in the morning.

    He didn¡¯t stir when she climbed off the bed. It seemed that he was exhausted this time, though she was sure that it wasn¡¯t because of their almost nonstop sex. The man had an unbelievable stamina for sex. Maybe his exhaustion was because he didn¡¯t get enough rest from his work the other day. After all, he was unable to call her in the evening like he promised and only texted her past midnight when she had already fallen asleep ording to her phone records.

    Although she was curious about what kind of work he was doing, she stopped herself from wanting to know more. His work was obviously off-limits and he made that clear in his terms in their agreement for their 30-day rtionship.

    Before leaving the bedroom, she made sure to put on a robe first. She already learned her lesson not to walk around naked even in her own home after Lu Zihao allowed his subordinate, Shun, inside without her knowledge the other day. Lu Zihao had been furious at her that time.

    She wasn¡¯t afraid of him but she didn¡¯t want Shun or Lu Zihao¡¯s other subordinates to get into trouble after identally seeing her naked. Just based on how subservient both Shun and Robin were acting towards Lu Zihao, she could already deduce that he was a hard taskmaster.

    After onest look at the sleeping Lu Zihao, she closed the bedroom door as softly as she could in order not to wake him up. She was about to head straight to the bathroom when she heard her front door clicking open. Her body froze.

    Who was it?

    Shun? Robin? Were they going to deliver breakfast again? Lu Zihao didn¡¯t mention anything to her but he hardly did. He would just do whatever he wanted.

    She backed away a few steps, slowly making her way back to the bedroom. If it was an intruder, she would immediately call for Lu Zihao. She had no doubt that he would be able to take down anyone with his massive body and protect her.

    The door opened.

    "Jing¡¯er!" Sun Jingfei entered the unit with a big smile on her face when she saw her daughter. "Good morning, my child! I brought breakfast. Come and help your mother carry these bags inside while I put away my coat and shoes. I prepared a lot of food for you, my dear. You¡¯ve be too skinnytely. We need to fatten you up a little."

    "Mom!" Long Jinjing was shocked to see her mother. Panic filled her and she subconsciously nced at the closed door of her bedroom.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" her mother asked when she didn¡¯t move from her spot. "Are you still sleepy? Hm? Are those bruises on your neck and chest?"

    Long Jinjing¡¯s heart jumped and felt like it fell down to the floor. She hurriedly pulled up her robe and tried to cover herself more. Her mother was now rushing towards her with a face filled with concern.

    "M-mom, I¡¯m okay...these...uhm...." She tried to stop her mother froming near her but it was already toote.

    Sun Jingfei arrived in front of her. "Let me see your neck, Jing¡¯er, so that I know if we need to bring you to the doctor."

    "I¡¯m really okay, Mom. There¡¯s really no need¡ª" She gasped when her mother pulled open the top of her robe. "Mom!"

    "What the¡ª" Sun Jingfei¡¯s eyes widened. Her eyes alternated between her daughter¡¯s face, neck and chest. "T-these are...oh." She backed away and clutched her chest. "Y-you have...oh." Then her eyes turned at the closed door and pointed at it. "Is there...someone in there?"

    Long Jinjing wished for the ground to open and swallow her up. Being caught in the act by her own mother like this was by far the most embarrassing moment that she had ever experienced in her life so far. She covered her face and wanted to escape to the bathroom.

    "J-jing¡¯er...."

    The bedroom door opened right at that moment. The mother and daughter¡¯s heads turned at the same time and watched as a big, tall and handsome man with a ripped body full of scars sauntered out of the bedroom. He was half-naked with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

    "Hm?" Lu Zihao stopped in his tracks and looked between the mother and daughter. His eyebrows raised in "surprise".

    Long Jinjing doubted that his surprise was genuine. For a man who had an almost perfect control of his own expressions, his current reaction seemed a little too deliberate. She nced at her mother who looked like her soul flew away from too much shock. The awkward and embarrassing situation made Long Jinjing want to cry.

    Lu Zihao stepped forward and shed Sun Jingfei a polite yet still devilish smile. "Hello, Madam Sun. I don¡¯t know if you still remember me but we¡¯ve met before at Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch. That said, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Lu Zihao and I¡¯m your daughter Jinjing¡¯s boyfriend."

    Silence.

    Sun Jingfei¡¯s mouth opened and closed like a fish struggling to breathe out of water. Her eyes and mouth were all wide open as she struggled to understand what Lu Zihao just told her. She looked at him and at her daughter and then back at him again.

    "Y-you two...oh." Both of her hands were pressed tightly over her chest.

    "I apologize if you caught us in this kind of...unbing moment," Lu Zihao said, managing to look sheepish.

    The expression impressed Long Jinjing. It looked natural on his face but also out of ce. This kind of expression wasn¡¯t something the Lu Zihao...no, the Niki that she knew would make. However, he was doing it in front of her mother right now.

    "I just hope that you won¡¯t hold it against us, Madam," he added and shed a not-so-devilish smile for good measure.

 Chapter 855 - Let Me Take The Hea

    <h4>Chapter 855 - Let Me Take The Hea </h4>

    The awkward silence stretched on as the shocked Sun Jingfei failed to reply to Lu Zihao¡¯s words. It became too unbearable for Long Jinjing, so she hurried towards Lu Zihao and tried to push him back into the bedroom.

    "Niko¡ªZihao, please put on some clothes," she pleaded. "I¡¯ll talk to my mom first, okay? Come out again only if you¡¯re...uhm...not as naked. It¡¯s incredibly distracting." Then she leaned closer and whispered to him, "Please be a little, uhm, mindful when you talk to my momter, Niki. She might have a h-heart attack if you say something, er, too shocking. Mom¡¯s a little delicate, you see."

    He raised an eyebrow but there was amusement glinting in his eyes. "Now I know where you got it from," he murmured.

    She was too distracted by her embarrassment and worried about the current situation with her mother that she missed what he said. "What did you say? I didn¡¯t hear you clearly."

    "Nothing." His mouth curved into a small, amused smile. Now it was his turn to lean down and whisper to her. Unlike her worried tone, however, his tone sounded wicked, even more so than usual. "Alright. I¡¯ll put on some clothes now. I think that you should too, you know. I don¡¯t think your mother will appreciate it if you continue talking to her while the outline of your nipples is showing through your silk robe."

    She looked down and saw that what he said was true. She immediately covered her chest with both of her hands as pure embarrassment filled her, causing her eyes to be teary. She wished that she was still sleeping and that this embarrassing situation was all just a dream. However, she knew that her wish was futile. There was no choice but to swallow her own embarrassment and deal with the current situation with her mother.

    "Mom, please wait here a moment while Ni¡ªZihao and I p-put on some clothes, okay?"

    After saying that, she dragged Lu Zihao back to the bedroom and shut the door without waiting for her mother¡¯s reply. Once inside the bedroom, she dropped to a squat on the floor, curled her body into a ball, and covered her face with her hands.

    "This is too embarrassing! I can¡¯t believe my mother witnessed that!"

    "It¡¯s not as bad as you think it is," he told her.

    She lifted her head and saw him already putting on fresh clothes. Shun gave her a small bag of Lu Zihao¡¯s clothing the other day and she emptied out a drawer in her dresser for his items.

    "What do you mean it¡¯s not as bad as I think it is? My mom totally knows that we¡¯re having sex! I¡¯m so embarrassed!"

    He paused before putting on a T-shirt. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at her. His muscles flexed with his movement, causing her to swallow some fresh saliva that pooled inside her mouth.

    "You¡¯re embarrassed of me?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

    "No! That¡¯s n-not what I mean!" She stood up in a hurry and ran towards him until they were standing in front of each other. She tried to grab his arms but failed in moving him even an inch. He was like a stone statue, impossible to move with her measly strength.

    He didn¡¯t reply but his razor-sharp gaze on her intensified, silently telling her to exin herself.

    She squirmed under his silent pressure but forced herself to meet his eyes. "I...uhm, I just meant that the situation was t-too embarrassing. Aren¡¯t y-you embarrassed at being caught by my mom?"

    "Why would I feel embarrassed? Aren¡¯t we in a ¡¯respectable¡¯ rtionship like you wanted? Since this is the case, then there¡¯s no need to be embarrassed." She opened her mouth and was about to argue but he didn¡¯t let her cut him off. "So what if it¡¯s your mother who caught us? She should know that her daughter is already an adult. Is she against you having a boyfriend?"

    "N-no...."

    "Then I¡¯m sure that she knows about the possibility of you having sex with your boyfriend. And also, don¡¯t treat your mother like a child. She gave birth to you. How did she get a child? By having sex, don¡¯t you already know that? Sex is a normal part of human life and nothing to be ashamed of. Those who think that it¡¯s shameful are a bunch of hypocrites. Don¡¯t you dare be a hypocritical puritan or I¡¯ll spank you while fucking you harder than you¡¯ve ever been fucked before. Then I¡¯ll make you crave it from me so much that you¡¯ll beg me to do it to you again and again."

    "You!" She nced at the closed door with a face as red as a baboon¡¯s butt. "Don¡¯t be so loud. What if my mother hears you?"

    He shrugged.

    "And that¡¯s not the main point here, Niki. The point is that all children will feel embarrassed upon being caught in the act by their parents or any family members for that matter."

    He shrugged again. "I¡¯m not embarrassed at all. Like I said, sex is a normal part of human life. If not, then we wouldn¡¯t be able to produce the next generation like how we¡¯ve been programmed to do."

    "But¡ª"

    "But nothing, Jinjing. Hurry up and put on some clothes. Let¡¯s not keep your mother waiting for too long."

    "Oh! Right." She immediately grabbed some random clothes from her dresser.

    Lu Zihao was already fully-clothed and just waiting for her to finish. He said, "Don¡¯t overthink the situation. It¡¯s really not as bad as you think it is. If your mother scolds you, let me take the heat. You¡¯re my woman now, Jinjing, as I keep on reminding you. I¡¯ll protect my woman even if it¡¯s from her own parent. No big deal."

    Warmth filled her chest at his domineering yet still sweet words even as she felt frustrated by his nonchnce and failure to understand her embarrassment. Sighing, she could only trust in him and hope that everything would be fine just like what he said.

 Chapter 856 - Babe

    <h4>Chapter 856 - Babe </h4>

    Later, Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao sat together on the couch while Sun Jingfei sat on the single armchair to the side in the living room.

    Sun Jingfei had already calmed down when the couple came out of the bedroom thankfully wearing proper clothes. She observed her squirming, red-faced daughter with her rxed yet intimidating boyfriend.

    They didn¡¯t look proportional sitting together like that because Lu Zihao was so huge while her daughter was so petite. It was like seeing a huge, battle-scarred tiger with a tiny, innocent puppy. Worry filled her. Would her daughter be alright with a scary-looking man like him?

    She cleared her throat and made a show of ncing at the wall clock. "It¡¯s gettingte and Jing¡¯er still has get ready for work today. How about we eat breakfast and maybe...t-talk during the meal?"

    "Good idea, Madam," Lu Zihao replied while shing a charmingly roguish smile. Then he stood up and pulled Long Jinjing to stand up as well before sweeping an arm at Sun Jingfei. "After you, Madam."

    Sun Jingfei¡¯s expression lightened. She even giggled. There was also a suspicious pink tinge on her cheeks. "What a gentleman you are, Lu Zihao. Fine, this old woman will go first."

    "Madam is still young. And please call me...Zihao. There¡¯s no need to be so formal since I¡¯m your daughter Jinjing¡¯s boyfriend."

    "Oh, alright. And you can call me Auntie Jingfei as well. Like you said, there¡¯s no need to be so formal. Come on, you two. I brought a lot of food today."

    Long Jinjing stared at the two of them with a dazed expression. Who was this charming man? What did he do to her domineering boyfriend? How deceptive!

    And what was wrong with her mother? She had been too shocked to even speak just a few minutes ago and yet now she was giggling like a teenage girl in front of her daughter¡¯s boyfriend. Ah, was her mother always this weak against masculine charm? Was this how her father hooked her mother? Oh no! Too embarrassing!

    Wait, did she inherit her mother¡¯s weakness? Was this the reason why she gave in too easily to Lu Zihao as well? Oh gosh! Invisible tears flowed down Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes as she cried for both her mother and herself.

    "Jing¡¯er, help me set the table," Sun Jingfei called.

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t respond.

    Lu Zihao stepped forward. "Let me do it, Auntie."

    "Oh, what a good child!" Sun Jingfei looked very pleased at his good manners. Then she sighed at her dazed daughter and shook her head. "I hope you don¡¯t mind my daughter when she acts like this. She can be a little...delicate, you see. She tends to be overwhelmed if she encounters something too embarrassing. Please be understanding of her. She¡¯s a good child."

    His roguish smile became wider and the charm level he was oozing intensified. "I know that Jinjing is a special woman and will treat her as such. I¡¯ll take care of her so please don¡¯t worry, Auntie. Your daughter is safe with me."

    Sun Jingfei¡¯s pleased smile also became wider. Then she instructed Lu Zihao how to properly set the table while she opened all the dishes that she brought with her. The delicious aroma of food wafted throughout the kitchen and awakened Long Jinjing from her daze.

    Lu Zihao pulled out a chair. "Please sit, Auntie."

    Sun Jingfei giggled before sitting down. "Your parents taught you excellent manners."

    "It was actually my grandfather who beat good manners into me while I was a little boy. My parents were both free-spirited people and they were often gone travelling in other countries and pursuing their own passions while I was growing up. My grandfather was basically the one who raised me, so he was more of my parent than my own parents."

    "Oh! Then you must be very close to your grandfather."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s roguish smile turned gentle. There was even a touch of sadness in his expression. "I was¡ªI am."

    "Sir Lu Jianhong is indeed a great man," Sun Jingfei said.

    A deep furrow formed between Long Jinjing¡¯s brows as she stared at Lu Zihao in disbelief. Something wasn¡¯t right. He was acting too out of character. It was as if...he turned into apletely different person. Even his aura felt different. What was happening? It didn¡¯t feel like he was acting, unlike his deliberate "surprise" at seeing her mother earlier when he came out of the bedroom half-naked.

    He turned to her next and pulled out another chair. "Why are you still standing there? Come here, babe. Let¡¯s eat breakfast or you¡¯ll bete for work."

    B-babe? She shuddered. Something was definitely wrong with him!

    "Jing¡¯er, stop dazing around," her mother reprimanded. "Zihao is right. Hurry up and let¡¯s eat. It¡¯s rude to keep others waiting at the table. The food will get cold."

    "Y-yes, Mom." She sat down on the chair while looking warily at Lu Zihao.

    They began eating.

    "The food is delicious, Auntie," he said, making Sun Jingfei giggle again. Then he put more food on Long Jinjing¡¯s te. "Babe, you need to eat a lot so you¡¯ll have energy to work today. You mentioned that Orchidia Beauty will be busy until the end of the year."

    Long Jinjing continued to stare at him in disbelief. Goosebumps popped up all over her skin. Wasn¡¯t he the one who said that he disliked saying sweet, mushy things? He even added it to his terms in their agreement. Why was he calling her "babe"? Was he possessed? This wasn¡¯t the Lu Zihao¡ªno, the Niki that she knew!

    "Are y-you okay?" she asked him in a hesitant voice.

    He raised his eyebrows in confusion which still looked charming. "What do you mean? Of course, I¡¯m okay."

    "Jing¡¯er, what¡¯s wrong with you?" Sun Jingfei asked, interrupting the two. "You¡¯ve only eaten two bites. Time is ticking. Eat more before you get ready for work."

    "Y-yes, Mom." Long Jinjing began eating but continued to steal nces at Lu Zihao.

    He caught her and shed her with a bright smile. The smile was so brilliant that it almost blinded her but it made her feel cold all over.

 Chapter 857 - Total Opposite

    <h4>Chapter 857 - Total Opposite </h4>

    While her mother and boyfriend were chatting like two long-lost rtives, Long Jinjing tried to focus all her attention on her food. They were right. She needed to eat because it was going to be another busy day at work. If she didn¡¯t eat, she wouldn¡¯t have the energy tost the whole day. However, it was a struggle to swallow the food because her mind was in total chaos.

    The man sitting beside her didn¡¯t feel like her boyfriend at all. It was bothering her so much that she could barely taste the food her mother cooked for her despite them being all her favourite breakfast dishes.

    Sometime during the meal, her mother finally started asking them questions about their rtionship. Since Long Jinjing was too preupied with her confusion about Lu Zihao¡¯s current out-of-character behaviour, he was the one who answered all of her mother¡¯s questions.

    Sun Jingfei noticed her daughter¡¯s distracted state and sighed out loud while shaking her head. "This child...tsk tsk. Jing¡¯er, your behaviour right now is very disgraceful. I taught you better manners than that."

    Lu Zihao immediately defended Long Jinjing. "Please don¡¯t scold your daughter too much, Auntie. Jinjing is just too tired from work while also making sure to spend enough time with me." Then he turned his head towards Long Jinjing and gave the gentlest smile ever before removing a grain of rice stuck on the corner of her mouth. "Don¡¯t eat too fast, babe. I don¡¯t want you to have indigestionter at work."

    Once again, Long Jinjing felt goosebumps popping up all over her skin. She was starting to feel scared of Lu Zihao now. This wasn¡¯t like him. To her, his gentle smile was like a stranger¡¯s. She preferred his devilish smile and felt morefortable with it.

    It wasughable how she asked him earlier to be mindful while talking to her mother because her mother might get a heart attack due to his intense personality. She was worried that he might say something too shocking that would scandalize her mother. In a way, he was pretty simr to her younger sister, the new Xin after waking up froma. Both could be too straightforward sometimes.

    But now that he actually listened to her request and was being mindful¡ªno, his current behaviour was going beyond mindful. He was basically charming the heart out of her mother to the point that her mother was almost ready to adopt him as her own son. If things continued like this, he might be her mother¡¯s new favourite child before the day was over.

    She was worried about her mother getting a heart attack earlier and yet now, it seemed like she would be the one to get a heart attack especially if he kept on creeping her out by calling her "babe", acting too charming, and just giving her the overall impression that her boyfriend had turned into apletely different person.

    His personality had be too bright, carefree and charming all of a sudden which was the total opposite of what she knew to be his real character. This wasn¡¯t the Lu Zihao¡ªno, the Niki that she knew.

    Breakfast ended but Long Jinjing¡¯s chaotic mind only worsened. Her stomach was tied in knots. Lu Zihao might be right that she would suffer from indigestion today.

    "Are you avable tonight, Zihao?" Sun Jingfei asked. "I was hoping that the three of us can eat dinner togetherter. We don¡¯t have much time to chat this morning because Jing¡¯er needs to get ready for work. I want to have a longer talk with the two of you when nobody is in a hurry to leave."

    "Mom, let¡¯s talk about this another¡ª"

    "Yes, Auntie," Lu Zihao interrupted. "I¡¯m avable tonight."

    Sun Jingfei smiled at him. "We can eat here or maybe go out, whichever the two of you prefer. If you want to stay here at home, I¡¯ll go grocery shopping and start cooking in the afternoon."

    "No need to tire yourself cooking for us again, Auntie," he said. "I¡¯ll book a restaurant instead so that all you twodies need to do is dress up and be ready. I¡¯ll pick up Jinjing at workter and then we¡¯ll pick up Auntie afterwards. Then all of us can head to the restaurant together."

    Sun Jingfei pped her hands. "That¡¯s wonderful, Zihao! You¡¯re such a thoughtful gentleman." Then she turned to her daughter. "That¡¯s our n for tonight, Jing¡¯er. Are you paying attention? Now stop dazing around. Off you go, youngdy. Hurry up and get ready or you¡¯ll bete for work."

    Long Jinjing nced at the wall clock and yelped at the time. She left the table and ran straight to the bathroom.

    "Oh, that child!" Sun Jingfei shook her hand once again. "Please excuse my daughter, Zihao. She¡¯s not always so absent-minded like that."

    Lu Zihao shed a dazzling, carefree smile. "I know, Auntie. She¡¯s just feeling too shocked because you walked in on us. You know how shy she is."

    "Ah, you¡¯re right." Sun Jingfei gave a soft a smile. "You understand her well. I¡¯m d." Then her expression turned serious when she looked at him straight in the eyes. "To be honest, I¡¯m also still feeling very shocked walking in on the two of you earlier. I still don¡¯t know how I feel right now, mainly because I¡¯m Jing¡¯er¡¯s mother and it¡¯s hard for a parent to witness her child in such an awkward situation like that."

    "I understand, Auntie."

    "I¡¯m just d that it¡¯s you that I found with her today. Sir Lu Jianhong, your grandfather, mentored Jing¡¯er and Fei¡¯er a bit when they started working at Orchidia Beauty with Xin. Your grandfather is a force to be reckoned with. I have a feeling that he¡¯ll beat you up if you hurt my daughter."

    Lu Zihao gave a sheepish chuckle. "That¡¯s true. Grandpa will most certainly beat me up if I hurt any of his beloved new granddaughters." Then his expression turned serious, too. "And don¡¯t worry, Auntie. Jinjing is my girlfriend. Rest assured that I¡¯ll give her the respect that she deserves."

    Sun Jingfei beamed. "Thank you."

 Chapter 858 - Do You Love Him?

    <h4>Chapter 858 - Do You Love Him? </h4>

    Lu Zihao offered to wash the dishes but Sun Jingfei refused his help and gently kicked him out of the kitchen. However, he still refused to leave, choosing instead to stand there and apany her. The two chatted with each other. There was no awkwardness between them. The conversation flowed naturally, as if they had been close to each other for a long time.

    When Long Jinjing came out of the bathroom, she was already fully dressed in her work outfit. As usual, she wore clothing that covered the hickeys Lu Zihao left on her body.

    Lu Zihao gave her a quick peck on the cheek right in front of Sun Jingfei before heading to the bathroom to take a shower as well. Long Jinjing¡¯s face turned red while her mother looked at her with amusement.

    The mother and daughter headed to Long Jinjing¡¯s bedroom. Sun Jingfei helped her daughter blow-dry her hair while Long Jinjing applied light makeup on herself.

    "I like Zihao," Sun Jingfei said all of a sudden. "I didn¡¯t expect that he¡¯s such a charming, young man despite his scary appearance."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s face turned red again and she avoided her mother¡¯s gaze on the mirror. She didn¡¯t know how to respond to her mother because the charming Lu Zihao that her mother interacted with today wasn¡¯t the same devilish Lu Zihao who fucked her hard every chance he got. Ah, just thinking of the word "fuck" was so embarrassing!

    Sun Jingfei chuckled seeing her red-faced daughter. However, there was also some sadness behind her smile. Every parent would feel this way upon realizing that their child was no longer a little kid but a full-grown adult.

    "He¡¯s much better than that douchebag you dated in university," she told her daughter. "That immature boy only wanted to get into your pants."

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. She couldn¡¯t tell her mother that Lu Zihao also only wanted to get into her pants and that he agreed to be her boyfriend because he wanted to have sex with her again after their one-night stand. This kind of information wasn¡¯t appropriate to be shared with one¡¯s own parent. Being caught by her mother with her boyfriend this morning was already enough embarrassment for Long Jinjing.

    Sun Jingfei finished blow-drying her hair and started arranging it in an elegant braided bun. "Don¡¯t forget about our dinnerter tonight."

    "Mom, I don¡¯t think¡ª"

    "My child, I want to get to know your new boyfriend and maybe also grill him a little harder about his true intentions in being in a rtionship with you."

    Long Jinjing opened her mouth but closed it again. What could she possibly say? That Lu Zihao¡¯s original intention in being in a rtionship with her was to have sex with her? And that their rtionship was mostly a carnal one?

    Her mother continued speaking, "But I¡¯m sure that Zihao is a good man. He¡¯s Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson after all. Sir Lu is one of the greatest businessmen not only in the country but in the world. Yet despite being a businessman, Zihao mentioned that he had been mostly raised by his grandfather. It means that Sir Lu prioritizes his family. I¡¯m sure that Zihao was raised to have that important value as well."

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯tment. Her mother had been deceived by her boyfriend today. The truth was that the man was a beast.

    "There you go," Sun Jingfei said, presenting thepleted braided bun.

    Long Jinjing turned her head from side to side to study her hairstyle for today. It was elegant and feminine but still work-appropriate. "Thank you, Mom. It¡¯s beautiful."

    "No, my child. YOU are beautiful."

    Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t help but smile. Warmth filled her heart. She felt thankful everyday to have a mother like Sun Jingfei. They might not have the legitimate wife and daughter status in a judgmental society but Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t ask for a better mother than Sun Jingfei. She was the best mother that Long Jinjing could ask for in the whole world. She knew that even if the entire world turned its back on her, her mother would always take her side no matter what.

    Then all of a sudden, her mother asked, "Do you love him?"

    Long Jinjing was in the middle of applying lipstick but her hand slipped after hearing her mother¡¯s question. A light, rose-pink streak smeared down her chin. "W-what?"

    Her mother remained calm and simply handed her a makeup removing wipe. "Zihao. Do you love him?"

    "Mom!" Long Jinjing was flustered. Her hand shook while she wiped away the lipstick smear on her chin.

    "What? I¡¯m just asking you a question. Why are you overreacting?"

    Long Jinjing pretended that she didn¡¯t hear her mother and focused on reapplying the lipstick. Her face was so red that she couldn¡¯t bear to look at her reflection in the mirror anymore.

    "Well, do you love him?" her mother insisted on asking.

    Long Jinjing sighed, defeated by her mother¡¯s gentle yet firm pressure. "I...I d-don¡¯t know."

    "Hmmm. It¡¯s a yes, then."

    "W-what? No! Mom!"

    This time, it was Sun Jingfei who sighed. There was a sad smile on her lips. She rested her hands on her daughter¡¯s shoulders and looked at the two of them, mother and daughter, in the mirror. "I¡¯m your mother, my child. I know you so much better than you know yourself. You¡¯re just like me."

    Long Jinjing felt her heart racing inside her chest. Her mother¡¯s words were causing her to panic.

    "Just be careful, Jing¡¯er. You¡¯re still young and only started a great career. I hope that you don¡¯t get pregnant too early."

    "Mom...."

    "You¡¯re lucky that Zihao has never been married yet." Sun Jingfei¡¯s sad smile turned wry. "Unlike me. I fell in love with a divorced man who married another woman who wasn¡¯t me. My one wish in life is for my little girl, my beloved daughter, to have a happy life. And that you¡¯d never have to suffer the same heartbreak that I endured because of my hopeless love for your father."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes reddened. "M-mom..."

 Chapter 859 Charming Lu Zihao Vs - Devilish Lu Zihao

    <h4>Chapter 859 Charming Lu Zihao Vs - Devilish Lu Zihao </h4>

    Sun Jingfei chuckled but it sounded a little forced. "Don¡¯t look at your mother like that. I¡¯m not that pitiful. Yes, I loved your father but we were not meant together. That¡¯s all. And I don¡¯t regret bing pregnant with you. Never. You¡¯re the best thing that ever happened to me, Jing¡¯er, my little angel. I just hope that you¡¯ll get to enjoy your youth more and not be a mother too early like I did. Raising a child is a big responsibility and your life will change forever. I know that you¡¯ll be a great mother someday, but I hope that you¡¯ll only choose to be one when you feel that you¡¯re really ready to build a family of your own."

    Long Jinjing blinked her eyes rapidly to prevent tears from falling. "I understand, Mom. Don¡¯t worry about me."

    "It¡¯s a mother¡¯s job to worry about her child."

    They smiled at each other, both teary. Pure love surrounded them like a warm cocoon offort.

    ###

    Inside the bathroom, Lu Zihao glowered at his own reflection in the mirror. Ferocious aura emanated from him in heavy waves. His entire body was tense, causing all his muscles to pop up.

    "I let you take over but only for today," he hissed at his reflection. "Don¡¯t get used to it. This is my body now."

    His reflection smirked and gave a charmingly roguish chuckle. "Don¡¯t be so uptight. You¡¯ll age my handsome face faster."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s nostrils red as he scowled harder.

    "Who was it again who asked me for help because someone doesn¡¯t know how to deal with his girlfriend¡¯s mother? Oh, it¡¯s you!"

    "Shut up," the devilish Lu Zihao growled.

    "Easy there, Niki," the charming Lu Zihao said in an easy, casual tone. "Despite your arrogance, you actually care about that pretty girlfriend of yours and are willing to amodate her request to be mindful of how you act in front of her mother. The only problem is that you don¡¯t know how. Lucky you that I¡¯m here to the rescue! Dun dun dun dun!"

    "Don¡¯t feel too smug about it. This is simply a deal for cooperation. Nothing more."

    Charming Lu Zihao became serious. "Indeed, it¡¯s a deal for cooperation so you better fulfill your end of the bargain."

    "Yes," Devilish Lu Zihao said through gritted teeth.

    Charming Lu Zihao shed a bright, carefree smile. "I can¡¯t wait until we return to Dragon Pce! I¡¯m sure that Third Bro would be understanding of our situation."

    Niki, a.k.a. Devilish Lu Zihao, didn¡¯t reply. It was only the other day that the remnant inside him had be stronger to the point that it developed some sort of consciousness. It began to talk to him¡ªno, bug him¡ªlike a normal, annoying person instead of its previous form which was mostly a flood of strong but jumbled emotions with direct, uplicated thoughts.

    At first, the remnant could only sustain talking for a very short period of time but the duration became longer just a few hourster. He wanted to suppress it like usual but stopped himself because of what Bacon told him. Although he didn¡¯t feel ready yet, he had already decided to return to Dragon Pce and meet his sister and her man and talk to them in person.

    He was worried about his sister¡¯s health and well-being, especially after hearing that she had a frightening nightmare which sounded like it had been about the night of their hellish annihtion in their past lives. His straightforward AI nephew told him without mincing any words that his refusal to talk to them was causing enormous stress on his sister. He wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive himself if his actions or inaction somehow contributed to his pregnant sister¡¯s health to decline, or worse, cause her to miscarry.

    Therefore, in order to survive the meeting with his sister and Jin Liwei, he needed to have all of his wits about him. And that also meant that he mustn¡¯t allow the remnant to go berserk inside him again especially not during the important meeting.

    It was actually the remnant who offered a peaceful partnership between the two of them. He ignored it, of course. He wasn¡¯t interested. However, things changed when Long Jinjing¡¯s mother caught them today.

    Normally, he wouldn¡¯t have cared about presenting a good image to other people except for when it was for the sake of achieving a goal. Pleasing Long Jinjing¡¯s mother was definitely not an important goal to him.

    For some reason, however, he didn¡¯t want to upset Long Jinjing who was already freaking out earlier at being caught with him by her mother. Well, she was his woman now. He promised to take care of her while they were in this 30-day rtionship and that was what he nned to do.

    Since she requested that he act mindful while in front of her mother, then he would act mindful. The only problem was that he felt unsure of how to do it properly.

    And that was when the remnant offered its services to him. Time was tight so he was decisive and epted the offer.

    It was not a great feeling to allow the remnant to take over the body but he restrained himself from fighting for control. There was also a part of him that felt curious about the entire situation. He wanted to test the limits of this stronger remnant so that he could develop a more effective strategy to defeat it once and for all. Besides, he was confident that he would be able to wrest back control if the remnant went too far.

    Back to the present, he continued ring at his own reflection. The conversation now moved inside his own mind so he didn¡¯t need to talk to himself out loud in front of the mirror like a crazy person.

    "You dared call my woman ¡¯babe¡¯? You¡¯re courting death. She¡¯s mine!"

    The remnant snickered. "Courting death? I already died, you asshole. Oh, right! You already died, too. See? We¡¯re simr! Is this what they call fate? And wow! Possessive, aren¡¯t we? Modern girls like your pretty girlfriend don¡¯t like possessive assholes, just you know."

 Chapter 860 Remnant Soul Vs - Invading Soul

    <h4>Chapter 860 Remnant Soul Vs - Invading Soul </h4>

    "Well, too bad," Niki hissed. "I¡¯m what she got."

    "A pity," Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant murmured in a tone filled with mock pity.

    Niki clenched his hands into tight fists. The urge to beat up a certain someone overwhelmed him. If not for the sheer impossibility of such a feat, he would have already done so the moment the pest gained the annoying (and a little rming) ability to have a full, coherent conversation with him.

    "And I¡¯m not going to forget how you kissed my woman," he said.

    The carefree voice inside his head scoffed beforeughing out loud. "That kiss on the cheek? Wow, dude. Why don¡¯t you chill a little? That was just an innocent greeting from me to the woman you¡¯re having sex with while using my body!"

    "This is my body now! You¡¯re not allowed to kiss Jinjing again!"

    "Whatever."

    Frustration filled Niki. A vein throbbed in his forehead while he tried to control his temper and restrain himself from punching his own reflection in the mirror. Knowing that another presence, a remnant of the original Lu Zihao¡¯s soul, was still residing in the body he now owned was already troublesome enough by itself. But now that it somehow evolved to its current more sentient state, dealing with it had be many times more difficult than ever before.

    He didn¡¯t know what the evolved remnant was nning by offering a deal for cooperation with him, but he would never let his guard down, not even for a second. There was no way that he was going to give up this body until he achieved his ultimate goal of revenge in this second chance in life.

    But before he could think of a way to deal with the remnant once and for all, he needed to maintain his sanity first and not erupt in total aggravation from the unwee chatter inside his head.

    An irritating snicker reverberated in his mind. "Good thing that we share the same body, eh? Someone with a terrible temper like you will surely beat me up if you get the chance. But you can¡¯t! How stupid would you look if you punch your own face! Ahahaha!"

    "Fuck you," Niki snarled.

    "Aaaw~ You¡¯re so sweet, Niki! But no thanks. Sorry to say but I¡¯m straight and won¡¯t let you fuck me. I only like beautiful women. I don¡¯t bend that way, unfortunately."

    Niki closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. If he didn¡¯t, the maddening remnant might seed in driving him into apoplexy. After a few deep breaths, he was able to regain some semnce of cold calmness. The irritation was still there but he would just treat it as a necessary evil that he needed to deal with until he found a way to drive away the remnant into oblivion.

    The remnant continued trying to provoke him with its lighthearted yet mocking words. "You know what? You¡¯re actually quite a nice guy sometimes if not for all that mafia godfather shit that you¡¯re so involved in. If you just tone down your assholery a bit, then I think you¡¯ll fit right in our brotherhood. We can call you Sixth Brother! Oh wait. You¡¯re older than all of us! But we can¡¯t give you the title Eldest Brother because that already belongs to Eldest Bro Yehan¡ª"

    "Shut up! Don¡¯t include me in your stupid brotherhood."

    Silence.

    A heavy pressure weighed down on Niki¡¯s head, making him feel like his brain was going to explode.

    "We have a deal, Niki," the carefree voice said, not sounding so carefree anymore. It was serious and even threatening. "Don¡¯t anger me too much or I¡¯ll drive you out of my body until both of us perish together. We¡¯re both dead already, anyway. I may just be a remnant of my original self and won¡¯t be able to sustain living in my body again for long by myself, but I¡¯ll do everything in my power to fight you, an invading soul!"

    "You won¡¯t win against me," Niki hissed through the pain in his head.

    "Hah! You think you¡¯re so great? You died too, asshole. In case, you¡¯ve forgotten. And this is my body you¡¯re upying. It prefers me than you. As long as you keep on rejecting my requests and trying to drive me out of my own body, then I won¡¯t let you live in peace for the rest of your fucked-up life. So you better suck it up like a big boy and fulfill your end of our bargain."

    Niki was now down on one knee on the floor while gasping and tried to lift himself up with great difficulty. Sweat ran in rivulets down his entire body and dropped to the floor with an almost audible plop.

    "Fine," he eventually forced himself to say through gritted teeth.

    The pressure in his head was gone in an instant as if it never happened in the first ce. He stayed on his knee and tried to regte his gasping breaths back to normal.

    "You fucking shit."

    He heard delightedughter in his head. "Back at ya, asshole."

    Afterwards, he managed to stagger his way into the shower. The remnant was silent for the entire duration that he washed himself, thank fucking goodness. But when he stepped out of the shower, the annoying voice popped in his head again.

    "Hey."

    He ignored the annoying shit.

    "Hey, Niki! Winter ising soon. How about we go skiing? It¡¯ll be fun! You can bring your pretty girlfriend."

    "No."

    "Che. What a killjoy."

    He grabbed a towel and began drying his wet body and hair. "Have you forgotten that you died by skiing, you idiot?"

    "So what? Life is too short. I believe in living your life to the fullest while doing what you love. And for me, that¡¯s skiing and skydiving and other thrilling activities!"

    "Indeed, your life was too short since you died early. Good thing I upied your body and made everyone think that Lu Zihao is still alive. If not, you would¡¯ve driven the old man to his grave from worrying about your stupid thrill-seeking adventures."

    The remnant had nothing to say to that.

    Ah, finally. Some peace and quiet.

 Chapter 861 - I Like You More

    <h4>Chapter 861 - I Like You More </h4>

    Lu Zihao once again dropped off Long Jinjing at Orchidia Beauty. They were silent for almost the entire ride because both were preupied by their own thoughts. When the car stopped in front of the office building, Long Jinjing didn¡¯t get off immediately.

    "Niki," she called in a soft voice.

    "Hm?"

    "Uhm..." She bit her lip and looked at him warily. "When you were talking to my mom at home earlier, you...uhm, you were acting so w-weird."

    He sighed and cursed the remnant, even though he was the one who allowed it to temporarily take over the body in order to deal with Long Jinjing¡¯s mother in a mindful way that he couldn¡¯t. The only problem was that he didn¡¯t expect that the remnant would be so good at it to the point of charming Sun Jingfei into epting him as her daughter¡¯s boyfriend right away. However, it also made his woman ufortable.

    The remnant didn¡¯t react to his internal cursing. It had be silent since he finished showering at the condo. Perhaps it ran out of energy and had to recharge for now in order to have a conversation with him againter. He wasn¡¯t looking forward to being pestered again but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it for now.

    "Don¡¯t think too much about it anymore," he replied to Long Jinjing. "I was just acting mindful to your mother as per your request."

    "I requested you to be mindful, not act like apletely different person! You called me b-babe!" Her face turned red. "It was so...c-creepy!"

    "Creepy?" His expression turned ck. Once again, he had the urge to beat up the remnant. But then he turned curious. "You don¡¯t like it when I call you ¡¯babe¡¯?"

    "I..." Her face turned even redder before she looked away to avoid his eyes. "I...don¡¯t mind it. I just...uhm, it doesn¡¯t sound righting from you."

    "Heh~"

    She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. "And didn¡¯t you say that you don¡¯t like saying sweet, mushy things?"

    He didn¡¯t reply but continued to observe her expression.

    Long Jinjing squirmed on her seat as she felt the weight of his gaze.

    Finally, he said, "You don¡¯t like it when I act sweet to you like that?"

    "I like it...but it¡¯s too creepying from you," she whispered and turned her eyes outside the window, feeling too shy to look at him. She didn¡¯t see his expression turning cker because of what she said.

    "Jinjing, look at me," he said in amanding voice.

    She looked at him by instinct.

    "Who do you like more? Me, Niki? Or that rogue who charmed your mother and called you ¡¯babe¡¯?"

    She frowned, feeling confused at his question. However, the intensity of his gaze prompted her to answer him. "I...I like you more, Niki."

    The devilish smile he shed made her IQ plummet to amoeba level as usual. No surprise there. Yet it alsoforted her. This was the smile that she knew, not the charming, carefree smile he used in front of her mother earlier that creeped her out.

    "Good," he said. Then his smile was gone and he turned serious. "When I start acting like that again in the future, don¡¯t let me kiss you. Do you understand, Jinjing?"

    "H-huh?" Her amoeba-level brain hadn¡¯t returned to normal yet.

    He repeated what he said, causing her to be even more confused but she still agreed because she could sense that this was important to him. She didn¡¯t know what was going on with him. Perhaps this was another one of his fetishes¡ªpretending that he had a dual personality or something. What a weird man.

    "Now give your boyfriend a kiss before the security guard knocks at our window again," he said.

    She felt shy but she still leaned towards him. But before she could kiss him, he grabbed her head and smashed his open mouth against her delicate lips in an almost brutal kiss. A whimper escaped from her throat as her body thrummed with need. When the kiss ended, both of them were panting.

    "I¡¯ll pick you upter after work," he told her. "Don¡¯t forget our dinner with your mother tonight."

    She nodded like a stupid idiot before getting off the car like a mindless zombie. The kiss affected her so much that she forgot to check her appearance before climbing off the car. She didn¡¯t notice the employees giving her furtive nces. More specifically, they were looking at her once again tomato-red face and swollen lips.

    This was the second time that Orchidia Beauty¡¯s CFO Long Jinjing arrived at thepany looking like she had received some fierce and passionate loving so early in the morning. Now everyone felt curious about the identity of their CFO¡¯s man.

    As for Long Jinjing, she snapped out of her daze as soon as she reached her office. Work was hectic. She couldn¡¯t afford to be absent-minded and waste time daydreaming about her boyfriend.

    ###

    Shadow Winds Headquarters.

    After an important strategy meeting with his team leaders, Lu Zihao headed to the underground armoury to inspect the new shipment of weapons they receivedst night. He wasn¡¯t pleased by the quality. They were a far cry to the ones he was used to in his past life.

    The Vetrov organization manufactured their own weapons and also sold slightly inferior ones to selected customers all over the world. Although they sold slightly inferior versions of the weapons that they used themselves, Vetrov weapons were still some of the best in the world. In fact, arms sales were among the top three most lucrative businesses that their organization controlled.

    "How are they, Boss Hao?" his subordinate asked, interrupting his thoughts.

    "Terrible," Lu Zihao replied.

    "These are already the highest quality that we can procure with our current connections and financial capability. We¡¯re still a new group and the arms dealers are wary of us. Because they don¡¯t know anything about us yet, they¡¯re all giving us their highest rates with barely any discounts."

    Lu Zihao grunted. He knew the drill because the Vetrovs were also one of the biggest arms dealers in the past.

 Chapter 862 - Donâ€™t Run

    <h4>Chapter 862 - Don¡¯t Run </h4>

    It was very frustrating for Lu Zihao that he couldn¡¯t provide his group with the best weapons that he was used to when he was still the crown prince of the Vetrov organization. Procuring high-quality weapons, something that he took for granted in his past life, was now extremely difficult to do especially on a limited budget.

    He already amassed quite an impressive wealth for his group but it still wasn¡¯t enough to fund everything that he wanted to do. There were still a lot of things that needed to be done.

    Sighing, he left the armoury and headed straight to the training room to let off some steam. The remnant was still silent which gave him some much-needed peace and quiet. He wasn¡¯t looking forward to it "waking up" and pestering him again.

    The remnant promised Sun Jingfei that he would take the mother and daughter to a restaurant for dinner tonight. He wasn¡¯t avable at all and yet the fool made a promise without consulting him first.

    Fuck. This was one of the reasons why he didn¡¯t do rtionships. They were too much of a hassle.

    However, the promise already came out of his mouth, albeit it wasn¡¯t actually him who made it. He wasn¡¯t such an asshole as to cancel a simple dinner especially if it was with his own woman and her mother.

    The mother and daughter, Sun Jingfei and Long Jinjing, were both good women. Eating dinner with them shouldn¡¯t be too bad. Perhaps it might even rx him a bit before he had to talk to his sister and Jin Liwei face to face very soon.

    Later, Lu Zihao was in the process of decimating his second punching bag in the training room when the now familiar carefree voice began talking inside his head again. Despite his irritation, he was determined to ignore the remnant.

    "By the way, Niki. You told your sweet and shy Jinjing that she¡¯s your first girlfriend. Asshole, I think you¡¯ve totally forgotten that you¡¯re now me, Lu Zihao. What if one of my exes show up in front of her? How will you exin your ¡¯lie¡¯ to your pretty girlfriend?"

    He only realized this point after the remnant told him.

    "Fuck!"

    He started beating up the poor punching bag until it joined the other decimated punching bag on the floor.

    The remnantughed with great delight inside his head. "Good luck, dude!"

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    It was already past midnight when Jin Liwei returned to the bedroom. He just finished an important and very long business meeting via video call conference at his home office with a few investing partners from different parts of the world. Since they were all in different time zones, some of them had to attend the virtual meeting beyond regr office hours like him.

    The meeting started after dinner for Jin Liwei and went past midnight. It wasn¡¯t only him who was busy today.

    Iris also had several meetings earlier at JJ¡¯s recordbel. She met with the other artists that she had chosen to perform the extra songs she wrote. A few agreements had already been sessfully finalized that very day while the others were still pending. Most of them were excited to work with her.

    Fortunately, her pregnancy symptoms didn¡¯t re up too badly during the meetings. She didn¡¯t bring Little Liwei, the big teddy bear, with her this time but she wore a men¡¯s sweater that Jin Liwei wore the previous day. She managed to survive all of her meetings without fainting or making other people suspicious of her oversensitive behaviours.

    Jin Liwei felt relieved that nothing happened to his baby girl while she was out working earlier today. He already hired a private, live-in doctor for her while waiting for the hospital wing to be built in their home. The doctor would apany her wherever she needed to go.

    She was unhappy that there was an additional person following her around but she didn¡¯tin because it was not only for her sake but also for their twin babies¡¯ health and safety.

    They ate an early dinner together at home before he had to head to his home office for the video conference. Ketchup sent him text updates during the video conference about what his pregnant wife was doing.

    Iris was at her home studio working on her music. However, she only spent a couple of hours there before heading to their bedroom to sleep early. She brought Ice Cream and Popcorn to apany her in bed while Jin Liwei was still busy working at his home office. Ever since her nightmare, she had be a little afraid of sleeping alone.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei climbed on the bed andy down beside his baby girl after changing into his pyjamas. The annoyed Ice Cream meowed a sleepyint at him for disturbing her beauty sleep on the bed while Popcorn remained sleeping on the chaise longue without stirring.

    After kissing his sleeping baby girl on the lips and petting the surly Ice Cream, he fell asleep soon as well. Some timeter, he was dreaming of two, little daredevils running all over their home while he and his baby girlughed in happiness when he was awakened by a sudden movement beside him.

    "Hm?"

    He opened his eyes a crack and saw his baby girl rushing to the bathroom.

    "Don¡¯t run," he murmured in a sleepy voice.

    He thought that she must be in hurry because she couldn¡¯t hold her pee anymore. The frequency of her need to pee had increased ever since she became pregnant, so he wasn¡¯t surprised that she woke up rushing to the bathroom. He closed his eyes again, intending to go back to sleep.

    Then the loud sounds of vomiting starteding out of the bathroom. His eyes flew open in an instant. The two cats moved faster than him. They were already running like little rockets to the bathroom before he could even jump off the bed. Even the fat Ice Cream managed to move with a speed that she hadn¡¯t disyed in a long time since she was a kitten.

    "Love!"

 Chapter 863 - I Love Them Already

    <h4>Chapter 863 - I Love Them Already </h4>

    Inside the bathroom, Jin Liwei held his baby girl¡¯s long hair while she vomited into the toilet bowl. Ice Cream and Popcorn were meowing restlessly beside their mommy.

    Jin Liwei knelt beside Iris and rubbed her back while she continued retching. He peeked at the toilet bowl and saw the clear water. She was vomiting so hard and yet nothing wasing out. Teary whimpers escaped her throat in-between the powerful, rolling heaves of her body.

    His chest tightened at her pitiful state. If there was a way to take away her suffering and make her feel better in an instant, he would¡¯ve already done it without even giving it a second thought.

    "Ketchup, call your mom¡¯s doctor toe to our room immediately," he instructed, referring to the private, live-in doctor he hired.

    "Wuwuwu! Yes, Daddy! Meow...."

    Muchter, Irisy exhausted on the bed. She felt much better after sipping hot ginger tea that the butler delivered. The female doctor examined her and announced that she was now officially experiencing her first bout of morning sickness. The doctor assured the couple that everything was normal and all she could do was prescribe some methods to help alleviate the symptoms.

    After the doctor left, Jin Liwei felt helpless that he couldn¡¯t do anything more substantial to ease his pregnant wife¡¯s suffering. He sighed and tucked her into a morefortable position on the bed. Then he red at her t stomach.

    "You two should tone it down a little," he scolded his twin babies who were still growing inside their mother¡¯s womb. "Don¡¯t make your mom suffer too much."

    Iris pursed her lips and threw him an unhappy look. "What are you doing? Our babies aren¡¯t even born yet and you¡¯re already scolding them. What if they don¡¯t want toe out because they¡¯re too afraid of their dad?"

    "I just don¡¯t want you to suffer too much."

    "All the symptoms that I¡¯m experiencing are normal. I¡¯m not the only pregnant woman in the world suffering from morning sickness and all the other symptoms. And it¡¯s not our babies¡¯ fault that I¡¯m like this. You¡¯re the one who made me pregnant¡ª"

    Jin Liwei chuckled and leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips. "I know. It¡¯s my fault."

    The gentle kiss made her feel better. "No, it¡¯s nobody¡¯s fault. Aren¡¯t you the one who kept on telling me that these twin babies are blessings to us?"

    "En, they are."

    She rubbed her stomach. "I¡¯m so afraid that I might do something wrong and identally hurt them. It makes me so worried every day. I¡¯ve never felt so stressed in my entire two lives and I¡¯ve been in many stressful situations before. But...I also feel so happy."

    He also rested his hand on her stomach. It was still very t. "I know. I also feel very happy."

    "I haven¡¯t even met our babies yet and I love them already."

    He smiled. "Same here."

    They both smiled at each other before gazing at her abdomen. Then Iris yawned, her eyes fluttering close with drowsiness. And just like that, she fell asleep again.

    Jin Liwei kissed her forehead and then her abdomen. In a stern voice, he told his unborn babies, "Be good."

    After reiming his spot on the bed from Ice Cream and Popcorn, he once again fell asleep and dreamed about two little naughty daredevils bringing joy and exasperation in their home.

    ###

    A cloudy weekend arrived, bringing intermittent light showers and an overcast sky. Iris¡¯ current emotions mirrored the grey weather. Her stomach felt a little more unsettled than normal as she took countless nces at the clock.

    "Mama, look!" Little Jun presented her with histest artwork. Colourful, squiggly lines and various random shapes decorated the piece of paper he was waving in his hand.

    "Oh, wow," Iris said as she lifted the child and sat him on herp. "What did you draw, Little Jun?"

    The child began babbling excitedly at her. She could only understand some of her godson¡¯s words but it was already enough for her to get the gist of what Little Jun was saying. It seemed that he drew her and his Papa Liwei together with all his four cat cousins, and of course, himself as well.

    "Great job, Little Jun," Jin Liwei praised and patted the child¡¯s head.

    Little Jun giggled and wiggled his way down from his Mama Xin¡¯sp. Then he shoved the artwork to his Papa Liwei before returning to his temporary art studio on the carpet. His cat cousins apanied him on the floor. Thezy Ice Cream napped beside him while the hyperactive Popcorn was ying with a crumpled piece of paper.

    They were in one of the mansion¡¯s coziest lounge rooms where there was a firece producing natural warmth to the entire room. Jiang Ying Yue was still on duty, so both Iris and Jin Liwei volunteered to take care of Little Jun instead of leaving him to the nanny. Dom was busy ironing the rest of Iris¡¯ additional meetings with the artists that she wanted to perform her songs. The two would join them at the lounge roomter.

    Jin Liwei took Iris¡¯ hand. It felt a little cold so he gave it a gentle rub to warm it up.

    "Don¡¯t be nervous, love," he told her in a soft voice. "Everything will be fine."

    She nodded but the tight feeling in her chest didn¡¯t disappearpletely. Fortunately, Little Jun¡¯s cuteness eased her anxiety a little. She looked at Jin Liwei.

    "How about you?" she asked. "Are you nervous?"

    He didn¡¯t answer right away but eventually admitted, "A little."

    "I hope that our talk with my brotherter will go well. I¡¯m not sure what to expect, to be honest. Even to me, my brother can be such an enigma. Nobody really knows what he¡¯s thinking."

    "We¡¯ll soon know when we talk to him." He kissed her before standing up. "Take a short nap, love. You¡¯ll feel better when you wake up. I¡¯ll y with Little Jun for now."

    "Okay," she murmured before closing her eyes.

 Chapter 864 - Is My Sister Sick?

    <h4>Chapter 864 - Is My Sister Sick? </h4>

    When Iris woke up, the lounge room sounded lively with familiar voices chatting away. She found herself lying in a morefortable position on the biggest couch. Someone covered her with a warm, fluffy nket, probably her darling. She petted Ice Cream who was curled on top of her stomach.

    The grey cat meowed, and then rolled in an adorable manner to expose her fat, fluffy belly, asking for more rubs from her mommy. Iris chuckled softly and gave her eldest what she wanted. Ice Cream purred in pure satisfaction.

    Iris looked up and saw Little Jun chasing Popcorn all around the room. His loud giggles caused the adults to chuckle at his cuteness. He was holding what looked like a half-eaten pineapple bun. His mother, Jiang Ying Yue, caught him and wiped the yellow, gooey mess on his face before letting him chase his equally hyperactive cat cousin Popcorn again.

    "Boss, you¡¯re awake!" Dom¡¯s voice eximed, catching everyone¡¯s attention.

    Iris looked the other way and saw Dom sitting together with Long Jinjing on another couch. There were several gift bags on the coffee table. Some of them had already been opened. There were different types of buns, cat treats and toys. She instantly knew that Long Jinjing must have been the one who brought the presents. Long Jinjing also brought some beautifully-wrapped pastries for the rest of them.

    "Little Sister Xin," Long Jinjing greeted with a smile. "Were we too noisy for you?"

    Iris shook her head and rose from her lying position. She made small talk with her friends while sweeping her eyes across the room. Finally, she saw who she was looking for.

    Jin Liwei and her big brother were sitting by the bar counter at the corner of the room. The two men were both looking at her. Her darling gave her a warm, doting smile while her big brother¡¯s expression also gentled but only people who knew him would notice it. In other people¡¯s eyes, he looked stone-faced.

    She smiled at them but her chest tightened and her stomach did some kind of a double-flip upon seeing her brother. It reminded her that the three of them were finally going to talk today about the truth of her and her brother¡¯s past lives. Then she turned pale as a powerful force rolled upwards from her stomach to her throat.

    Jiang Ying Yue reacted the quickest. She was beside Iris in an instant holding a trash can she grabbed along the way. Iris bent over and dry-heaved over the trash can while Jiang Ying Yue held her hair up and murmured soothing words to her.

    "Mama?! Mamaaaaaa!" Little Jun was shocked at seeing her Mama Xin acting like this. Fortunately, the little guy didn¡¯t cry but he looked quite scared.

    Dom carried Little Jun and moved to the corner so that the child wouldn¡¯t run to her Mama Xin and get even more scared.

    Jin Liwei also moved quickly and was already beside Iris with a worried expression on his face. He whispered an instruction to Ketchup to call the private doctor and the butler so that Long Jinjing wouldn¡¯t hear him.

    Long Jinjing and the other members of the girl squad living outside their household still didn¡¯t know about the existence of the cat AIs. They only knew that Iris and Jin Liwei had two additional cats, one white and one ck. But for some reason, the two cats were too skittish and never showed themselves to visitors.

    Lu Zihao also came over but didn¡¯t go near because he remembered that his sister couldn¡¯t stand his scent thest time that they saw each other. He couldn¡¯t risk her condition worsening because of him. His stone-faced expression cracked and revealed his own worry for his sister as he watched her vomiting nothing into the trash can.

    Long Jinjing came to him and grabbed his arm. "W-what¡¯s happening? Is my sister sick?"

    "No, she isn¡¯t sick," he said.

    "Then why..." Then her eyes widened as she realized something. "Oh! Is she perhaps...pregnant?"

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t answer her. However, she understood that his silence meant that it wasn¡¯t his ce to reveal something that held such importance for the couple. She could only wait for her little sister and soon-to-be brother-inw to tell her the news themselves. Right now, she and Lu Zihao watched what was happening in front of them, both feeling helpless seeing their sister suffering like this.

    ###

    Iris¡¯ bout of morning sickness in the lounge room soon passed. She regained herposure and energy after sipping fresh, hot ginger tea that the butler delivered as per her doctor¡¯s rmendation.

    She and Jin Liwei also took that chance to finally tell Long Jinjing that she was pregnant. Long Jinjing became a little teary but her congrattions to the couple was genuine. She also promised not to tell anyone, including Chen Fei.

    Iris sighed. "I don¡¯t mind if you tell her. She¡¯s our friend, anyway, so I know that she¡¯d keep my pregnancy a secret."

    Long Jinjing shook her head. "It¡¯s not my ce to tell others about your pregnancy."

    "Alright. Thanks, Big Sister."

    The group chatted with each other for the entire afternoon. Then they headed to one of the nearby smaller dining rooms for an early dinner just before sunset.

    This time, the food seemed agreeable to Iris and she was able to eat her fill. Jin Liwei looked relieved to see her eating like normal.

    After dinner, the trio¡ªIris, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡ªexcused themselves and made their way to the couple¡¯s suite for their important talk.

    Before leaving, Lu Zihao grabbed Long Jinjing and gave her a quick but firm peck on the lips, causing the sparkly-eyed Dom to squeal and fan himself with his perfectly manicured hands. Long Jinjing turned red while Lu Zihao didn¡¯t care.

    "Hang out with your friends and the kids for now," he told her. "I might bete toe back, so you can head to my room first if you feel sleepy. Ask your friends to lead you there. They know where it is."

    "Okay," she whispered. "I¡¯ll wait for you."

    He nodded and followed Iris and Jin Liwei.

 Chapter 865 - Are You Prepared To Know The Truth?

    <h4>Chapter 865 - Are You Prepared To Know The Truth? </h4>

    After Jiang Ying Yue put Little Jun to bed and left Ice Cream and Popcorn to apany her sleeping son, she headed to her adjacent room where her friends were waiting for her. Dom was grilling the red-faced Long Jinjing about her rtionship with Lu Zihao.

    The TV on the wall was ying a video on demand episode of Dom¡¯s favourite romance drama of the season¡ª"Our Love, Our Destiny". The first season of the highly-rated drama adaptation based on the popr  with the same title had already finished airing but Dom liked to re-watch his favourite episodes.

    Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s voices harmonized beautifully together in the heart-fluttering theme song, "Shining Eyes", as it yed in the background while the male and female leads stared deeply into each other¡¯s eyes.

    The friends all stopped what they were doing to watch the scene. Dom started squealing and bouncing on the bed as the male and female leads¡¯ heads started inching closer for a romantic kiss. Even though he already knew what was going to happen, it didn¡¯t lessen his excitement.

    After the show ended, the three friends sighed dreamily at the romantic episode that they just watched. Then Dom remembered that he was grilling Long Jinjing before he got distracted by the drama.

    "I heard that you¡¯re not going to sleep in your usual guest bedroom but will be staying with Mr. Yummylicious Big Brother Boss in his room," he said while waggling his eyebrows. "Hehehe."

    Long Jinjing turned red and looked away, feeling too shy to meet both of her friends¡¯ eyes. "I...yes. That¡¯s what Ni¡ªZihao wants."

    "How about you?" Dom asked. "Is that what you want?"

    She flushed more deeply before nodding.

    "Kyaaaaaaah!" Dom grabbed a pillow and started hitting Long Jinjing with it.

    Both Long Jinjing and Jiang Ying Yue couldn¡¯t help butugh at his antics.

    "You go, girl! Gosh! I¡¯m feeling a little jealous! My gorgeous and fabulous self also wants to fall in love! Dear future lover, where are you? Oh! Are you even in this dimension? Or are you going to stay in my dreams?"

    Jiang Ying Yue continuedughing while Long Jinjing continued to avoid his eyes. She became subdued when Dom mentioned that he ALSO wanted to fall in love, indirectly referring that SHE was in love with Lu Zihao. Thankfully, her friends assumed that she was only being shy like always and didn¡¯t figure out her confusing thoughts about her real feelings for her 30-day boyfriend.

    Wanting to change the topic, she asked the two of them, "Do you have any idea about what the three of them are talking about in private?"

    The two became silent after her question.

    "I honestly don¡¯t know," Dom eventually said after thinking about it. "I think something happened between the three of them and created some sort of tension. Boss always looked sad and...hmm...worried, I guess, whenever Big Brother Boss¡¯ name was mentioned in the past few days. Even Sir Boss¡¯ expression would be sort of tight."

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded, confirming Dom¡¯s words.

    "So I think that Big Brother Boss must¡¯ve done something to upset both Boss and Sir Boss, but that¡¯s just my spection. We don¡¯t know what really happened. But whatever the case may be, I¡¯m just d that Big Brother Boss decided to return here again. All of us missed him! I¡¯m sure that the three of them would be able to resolve whatever issues they may have with each other."

    "Oh." Long Jinjing felt bad for asking. She also felt the slight tension earlier between Lu Zihao and the couple. Then she became worried. "Little Sister Xin is pregnant. I hope that whatever they¡¯re talking about right now won¡¯t be too upsetting for her."

    "Sir Liwei and Sir Zihao both love Xin very deeply," Jiang Ying Yue said. "I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll take care not to upset her."

    Dom nodded.

    Long Jinjing still felt worried but seeing her friends¡¯ trust in the two men, her worry eased a little. Perhaps she could ask Lu Zihao eitherter tonight or tomorrow about what he talked about with her sister and brother-inw.

    Wait.

    No, she couldn¡¯t do that.

    He didn¡¯t like her prying too much in his private life. Her mood sank upon remembering his terms in their agreement. However, she already agreed to all of them. Although she felt curious, she had to restrain herself from asking too much information about his private life. Sighing, she could only force herself to feel satisfied by their current arrangement.

    Fortunately, she had her friends to distract her tonight from thinking too much about Lu Zihao and their unorthodox rtionship. She kicked Lu Zihao to the back of her mind and joined her friends in gossiping about random topics.

    ###

    Inside Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s suite, the lights were turned low to dim mode. Iris recently disliked the lights being too bright during the night because her head would start hurting.

    At the moment, the suite¡¯s living room was silent. Iris and Jin Liwei sat together on one couch while Lu Zihao leaned against the wall by the window. He wasn¡¯t looking at the couple but gazing at the darkness outside instead. There was a closed-off feeling surrounding him. He looked like he didn¡¯t want to be in this situation right now.

    "Big Brother," Iris called.

    Lu Zihao still didn¡¯t move but his pupils looked at them out of the corner of his eyes.

    "I want to tell Liwei everything...about us. About who we were in our past lives."

    His jaw tightened. "If I say no, are you going to listen?"

    She looked down. "No."

    He sighed. "Do what you want."

    Her expression brightened a little and became hopeful. "Really? So you agree?"

    "I don¡¯t like this nor do I want to agree but what can I do if your mind is already set to tell your man everything?"

    She bit her lower lip. Jin Liwei wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze to encourage her.

    Finally, Lu Zihao faced them. His intense gaze, however, was set on Jin Liwei. "Are you prepared to know the truth?"

 Chapter 866 - The Vetrov Report Part I

    <h4>Chapter 866 - The Vetrov Report Part I </h4>

    Jin Liwei met Lu Zihao¡¯s gaze full-on without faltering. His own gaze was calm and steady. In his most resolute voice, he answered, "Yes, I am ready."

    Lu Zihao smirked but there was no humour in his eyes. "We¡¯ll see about that." Then he turned to his sister and spoke to her in Russian. "Evelinka, go ahead and tell your man everything since that¡¯s what you want. I¡¯ll be here to rify details if needed."

    Jin Liwei frowned because he couldn¡¯t understand what Lu Zihao said.

    Iris nodded before standing up. "Wait here a moment, darling. I¡¯m going to get something from our bedroom."

    He nodded.

    Then she left.

    The two men stared at each other with impassive expressions.

    "The two of you were...Russians back then?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Lu Zihao crossed his arms over his chest and sat down on the window sill. "Yeah. My sister and I are morefortable speaking in our mother tongue so get used to us speaking in Russian. If you want to understand what the two of us are talking about, then you better start learning thenguage."

    "I am."

    "Good luck."

    Jin Liwei narrowed his eyes at his fifth brother who wasn¡¯t really his fifth brother anymore. Thest time that they saw each other in person, they almost brawled. Lu Zihao¡ªno, Niki would often emit a heavy pressure that made people ufortable. Sometimes, it wasn¡¯t noticeable especially if he was deliberately acting nice and pretending to be the actual Lu Zihao. Then there were times that he would purposely intimidate others with his force of presence alone, just like what he tried to do to Jin Liwei during their confrontation in Iris¡¯ piano room.

    Right now, however, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t feel anything like that from the other man. "You¡¯re being awfully nice today," he remarked.

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow. "What do you expect me to do? Throw a tantrum? My sister is fucking pregnant and that smartass AI son of yours told me to stop giving more stress to his mother or I¡¯ll be the one to me if something happens to her. Fucking dramatic kid."

    "Good job, Bacon," Jin Liwei said.

    "Thank you, Father," Bacon¡¯s voice replied.

    Although that was what Lu Zihao said, Jin Liwei still felt that there must be another reason why the man was acting extra cautious and even agreeable today. He also sensed something weird ever since the man arrived with Long Jinjing earlier in the afternoon. There was something familiar about him that Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t felt for a long time. He just couldn¡¯t put his finger on it. Before he could think more deeply about it, his AI children¡¯s voices distracted him.

    "Uncle Haohao said bad words!" Ketchup¡¯s voice eximed. "Uh oh! Quick, Bacon! Cover your little kitty ears like the cute and mighty Ketchup! Meow~"

    "Father, are you going to ground Uncle Zihao? He said bad words."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s serious face cracked as heughed at his AI children¡¯s innocent and funny words. Ketchup and Bacon had broken the nervous atmosphere without meaning to.

    "You two kids need to remember something," Lu Zihao said through gritted teeth. "Your father and mother can¡¯t ground me. They hold no authority over me. I¡¯m my own boss."

    "Ooooooh~ Wow, Uncle Haohao! That¡¯s amazing! Oh oh oh! Does Uncle Haohao know that the cute and mighty Ketchup is a boss of my ownpany, too? It¡¯s called the White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services! But Mommy and Daddy still ground Ketchup sometimes when the cute and mighty me is being a bad little kitty because I¡¯m still a baby! Uncle Haohao isn¡¯t a baby anymore, that¡¯s why nobody can ground you, not even my mommy and daddy. Meow~"

    "So does that mean that Uncle Zihao will pay Bacon a good sry? Father and Mother say that good and responsible bosses pay their employees, including the frencers, good sry."

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes and didn¡¯t bother replying. Jin Liwei chuckled at the other man being subjected to his AI¡¯s children¡¯s endless questions.

    "That¡¯s enough, Ketchup and Bacon," Iris¡¯ light but firm voice interrupted. "Don¡¯t annoy your uncle too much. Secure this suite because your dad, uncle and I are going to have an important talk. We want no interruptions during our meeting."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Understood, Mother."

    Afterwards, the two cat AI children stopped talking and obeyed their mother¡¯s instruction. The suite was now one of the most secured ces in the whole world. With Iris¡¯ original security framework in addition to her two cat AI children¡¯s powerful systems, most intelligence service agencies all over the world could only dream of such advanced and sophisticated security that was currently protecting the suite from any breaches.

    Iris returned to the living room carrying a tablet. She looked paler than usual and there was an anxious energy surrounding her. But her eyes looked determined and she walked with steady, purposeful steps. Without saying anything, she handed the tablet to Jin Liwei before stepping away. She decided not to sit beside him this time.

    The atmosphere turned tense once again as soon as she sat down at the small dining table at the other corner of the room.

    Jin Liwei frowned. He would have preferred it if she sat down beside him but he restrained himself from calling her back upon sensing her unnatural anxiety. The two siblings both looked at him. Their silence was starting to make him feel nervous. However, this was what he wanted¡ªto know the full truth. He took a few deep breaths before looking down at the tablet.

    VETROV.

    The word was written in English, Russian and Chinese.

    With just the title page, he instantly recognized that it was a report written by his baby girl. The style was the same with the otherprehensive reports she did for him before.

    Ah, it seemed that the truth was moreplicated than he initially expected if she needed to prepare a report like this. He thought that the siblings would tell him the truth verbally but apparently not.

    He straightened his spine and swiped to the next page. Then he began to read with grave concentration.

 Chapter 867 - The Vetrov Report Part II

    <h4>Chapter 867 - The Vetrov Report Part II </h4>

    Iris couldn¡¯t sit still so she got up and started pacing around the room. Nobody stopped her. The two men remained unmoving. Lu Zihao sat by the window and gazed at the dark night outside. His stillness, however, strongly indicated that his other senses were alert and focused on everything that was happening in the room.

    As for Jin Liwei, there was no change in his expression at first. He read every word written in the report carefully and tried to absorb the information as naturally as possible without rushing anything in order to understand all of the content as much as he could. He tackled the report in a cold and logical manner in the same way that he studied a textbook back when he was still a student.

    His finger swiped to the next page in a slow but steady way. He took his own sweet time and didn¡¯t rush. This was something that needed to be digested in a measured fashion.

    The first part of the report provided a summary about the Vetrov organization. He wasn¡¯t that knowledgeable about the international underworld but even he had heard about the former reigning criminal organization, the Vetrovs. They were so infamous that several documentaries, fictional books, films and TV shows had been based on them throughout the years.

    Despite this, no media production could im an urate picture of the Vetrov organization¡¯s internal workings or the true extent of its power and influence throughout the world. Those who attempted to infiltrate the organization¡¯s ranks with the intention of exposing its operations had all been either assassinated or had mysteriously disappeared, never to be found again.

    The organization was so powerful that the international authorities seemed helpless against them. Any actions they tried throughout the past decades to catch and prosecute its members all failed.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that such a formidable criminal organization which appeared almost invincible for many decades finally fell a few years ago?

    When the Vetrov organization was defeated, it became big news all over the world. However, any detailed information about how it happened weren¡¯t released to the general public and werebelled as ssified information.

    Despite the enormity of the event and its massive effects on the international underworld, the news about the Vetrov organization¡¯s defeat onlysted for a few days before it disappeared. Those who were sharp and knew better could sense that the authorities were all suppressing anything concerning about the Vetrovs. As a result, the once powerful reigning organization in the criminal underworld became forgotten by many in a short period of time.

    Jin Liwei was confused as to why he was reading about this fearsome criminal organization. A frightening possibility entered his mind as the pieces slowly fell into ce. However, he tamped his guess for now and focused on reading the report.

    The more he read, however, the more shocked he became. His heart thundered inside his chest. It was only his great self-control that prevented his hand from trembling as he swiped to the next page.

    Finally, he reached the part about the Vetrov family. There was a long line of Vetrov family members who contributed to making their organization greater after every generation. Then he reached thest family line before they were defeated.

    Patriarch: Arman Anatolyevich Vetrov

    Matriarch: Evgenia Yuryevna Vetrova

    The summaries about these two people gave Jin Liwei cold sweat. How frightening! Even the worst fictional viins in books, movies and TV shows couldn¡¯tpare to these two.

    He paused for a bit in order to regain hisposure. If he didn¡¯t know beforehand that the Vetrov organization was indeed a real existence, he would¡¯ve thought that the report he was reading right now was fiction. In addition, this was a report created by his baby girl, a genius world-ss hacker who already created simr and frighteningly urate reports for him in the past.

    Once he calmed down again, he swiped to the next page and froze upon reading the new entry.

    Son and heir: Niki Armanovich Vetrov

    His eyes contracted as he read the summary under the name. He looked at Lu Zihao who didn¡¯t move from his position by the window. The man looked back at him with an unreadable expression.

    Jin Liwei looked down at the report again. His hands holding the tablet started to tremble.

    A man like this¡ªno, this kind of person was a devil! A devil like this now possessed his fifth brother¡¯s body?! His carefree and fun-loving fifth brother was gone, only to be reced by such evil?!

    "Heh~ It seems like you now know what kind of man now lives as your beloved fifth brother." Lu Zihao shed a devilish smile but his eyes were cold.

    "Big Brother, please...." Iris said in a soft, pleading voice.

    "What do you say, Third Brother?"

    "Don¡¯t call me that!" Jin Liwei hissed.

    Iris flinched at his tone but he didn¡¯t see her reaction.

    Lu Zihao threw his head back andughed. The sound was utterly demonic like it came straight from hell. Then he stopped and looked at his sister. "Look. I told you this was a horrible idea. He hates us now. Everyone hates the Vetrovs because we¡¯re evil."

    She held onto the table next to her for support, suddenly finding it hard to breathe while her heart hammered inside her chest. She stared wide-eyed at Jin Liwei and felt afraid that he would hate her, her brother, and where they came from.

    "God, no!" Jin Liwei eximed and shot up from his seat when he finally noticed his baby girl¡¯s expression. "Evelina, your brother is wrong."

    He walked towards her but she stepped back and away from him. He stopped and cursed at himself for his careless reaction just now. After making his expression gentle, he stretched out his hand towards her.

    "Evelina,e."

    She shook her head and stepped back again.

    "Come here, love."

    Almost half a minute passed without her moving. Nevertheless, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t retrieve his hand. He continued to reassure her with the sincerity of his expression until she eventually walked towards him one hesitant step at a time.

 Chapter 868 - The Vetrov Report Part III

    <h4>Chapter 868 - The Vetrov Report Part III </h4>

    Jin Liwei was patient and didn¡¯t rush his baby girl as she slowly made her way to him. It was only a few steps but it felt like a long time before she finally reached him. He pulled her in his arms before she could react.

    Iris stiffened at first but she quickly melted in his tight embrace, especially after smelling hisforting scent. Her arms wrapped around his waist while she rubbed her face against his chest.

    He kissed the top of her head and tightened his arms around her. "Don¡¯t listen to your brother. I don¡¯t hate any of you."

    She looked up at him. "Really?"

    "En."

    The corners of her mouth curved up. "But you sounded angry just now."

    He sighed and told her, "It wasn¡¯t directed at you."

    "It was directed at me, obviously," Lu Zihao¡¯s voice interrupted the couple¡¯s moment.

    They both turned to look at him. There was a slight mocking expression on his face but the couple could sense his guardedness. Despite his taunting words, he was still being careful in keeping his heavy aura contained so as not to affect the two of them.

    "I don¡¯t want to fight with you," Jin Liwei said through his tightened jaw. He gave the other man a hard side-long nce. "Don¡¯t disturb me. I haven¡¯t finished reading the rest of the report yet."

    Lu Zihao shrugged before walking to the mini-fridge and opening it. "No alcohol?"

    "We don¡¯t drink alcohol in our suite," Iris exined.

    He clicked his tongue before taking a bottle of orange juice, opening it, and then draining the entire bottle in five big gulps. Then he threw the bottle to the trash can at the opposite corner. His aim was urate and the bottle fell into the trash can in a smooth arc despite the distance.

    "Hurry up and finish reading that damn report," he told Jin Liwei without looking at him. "I want to return to my room soon and fuck my girlfriend before she falls asleep."

    "Big brother!" Iris made a face at him.

    "What? Long Jinjing is my girlfriend and we are fucking. A lot. We¡¯re all adults here. There¡¯s no need to censor things, especially since you yourself are pregnant. And we all know how a woman bes pregnant."

    She red at him. "My children are listening!"

    "Oh. Fuck."

    Jin Liwei sighed before talking to a random corner. "Ketchup, Bacon, don¡¯t ever copy your uncle¡¯s way of speaking. If I ever hear you say those bad words, you already know what I¡¯ll do to you."

    "Eeek! Ketchup doesn¡¯t want to be grounded ever again, Daddy! It¡¯s so sad and boring! Meowuwuwu! Nooooo! Uncle Haohao is the biggest meanie forever and ever, bringing trouble to us kitty babies! Hmph! Ketchup and Bacon needpensation from Uncle Haohao for emotional distress. Meow!"

    "Uncle Zihao, speaking like that is not ssy. And Bacon wants high sry as mypensation for emotional distress."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned ck. "You two little¡ª"

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough," Iris quickly intervened before her big brother lost his temper on her AI children.

    She sensed that her brother wasn¡¯t as calm as his usual self. Taunting them was his way of dealing with his nerves which he refused to openly express through his emotions. She didn¡¯t want her AI children to be the trigger for him to finally erupt.

    Although Ketchup and Bacon were AI beings, their emotion processing centres were highly advanced and had a huge effect on how they would develop in the future. She couldn¡¯t risk them being the targets of her big brother¡¯s anger especially during a stressful situation like this. Her brother could be very frightening. Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s development might be stunted if they were traumatized by their uncle.

    She quickly said a few systemmands in order to make both Ketchup and Bacon more stable. Then she sighed in relief afterwards when the two finally stoppedining about their uncle and asking him forpensation for emotional distress. The two must have learned it from their Uncle Dom yet again.

    Her friend and assistant was another person who had a huge influence on her AI children¡¯s development besides her and Jin Liwei. It was a good thing that Dom didn¡¯t have a foul mouth like her big brother or even Chen Fei, but Dom did have a rather...er, "creative" way of saying things which her AI children liked to copy, especially Ketchup.

    She nced at her brother and saw that he looked calmer now that Ketchup and Bacon stopped nagging him. He grabbed another juice bottle, apple this time, and returned to his earlier spot by the window.

    "We¡¯re wasting time," he said.

    "Fine," Jin Liwei replied. "I¡¯ll continue reading the report."

    Iris began to feel nervous again but Jin Liwei gave her a gentle squeeze before pulling her to sit beside him on the couch. She originally didn¡¯t n on sitting next to him while he was reading the report because it would only increase her anxiety. However, it was obvious that he wanted her by his side. And to be honest, she also wanted to be close to him as much as possible. His scent was currently her wonder drug.

    Thus, she steeled herself and decided to stay beside him. She already prepared herself anyway for whatever reaction he might have once she handed him the report about the Vetrovs.

    Jin Liwei finished reading the summary about Niki. His expression was unreadable but Iris sensed the turmoil of negative emotions radiating from him.

    She nced at her big brother who also had an unreadable expression. She felt helpless that it might not be possible for the two men to get along again after showing Jin Liwei the report.

    Despite already trimming the summary about her brother to the bare minimum, it was still quite shocking to a civilian like Jin Liwei who lived outside the criminal underworld. Besides, she didn¡¯t want to lie and create a false report just to make her brother look good. It was against her own personal ethics.

    "Evelina Armanovna Vetrova," Jin Liwei murmured, interrupting her thoughts. "What a beautiful name."

 Chapter 869 - Vetrov Report Part IV

    <h4>Chapter 869 - Vetrov Report Part IV </h4>

    "Thank you," Iris whispered in Russian.

    Jin Liwei who had started to learn a bit of Russian understood what she said. "No need to thank me, love. It¡¯s the truth."

    Then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, not allowing her to leave his side again like earlier, before continuing to read the summary about his wife.

    Daughter: Evelina Armanovna Vetrova

    Iris didn¡¯t take her eyes off him. Her heart was still hammering inside her chest but his close proximity and the warmth of his embrace managed to calm her irregr breathing. She remained silent so as not to disturb him.

    "Fantom," he murmured. He paused reading and looked like he was trying to remember something. "Where did I hear this name before?"

    She restrained herself from exining to him. If he asked her directly, then she would tell her the facts. For now, however, she would allow him to digest everything in his own pace.

    "En, I think I remember now."

    Her body stiffened a little but she still didn¡¯t say anything.

    "Back when I was still attending business school in the U.S., I had a friend back then who majored inputer science. He was a good hacker...well, we friends thought that he was pretty good. But I now know that he was nothingpared to a genius hacker like you. He sucked in school and almost flunked his subjects but he was making good money on his own through side jobs like designing simple software for start-uppanies and things like that. He always told us that the person he admired the most in the world was a legendary hacker named Fantom."

    Jin Liwei faced her. "Is that...was that you?"

    She nodded.

    He gave her a soft smile. "That friend eventually dropped out of university to start his own cybersecuritypany. Then he sold it to argepetitor which swallowed hispany afterwards. Thatpetitor is currently one of the biggest yers in themercial cybersecurity industry. He became an instant millionaire after that."

    His story piqued her interest. She liked hearing anecdotes about other people who lovedputers just like her. She especially liked hearing about sess stories because it made her proud of the field that she specialized in.

    "He always bragged about Fantom¡¯s exploits as if they were his own," Jin Liwei continued telling her. "He told us that you hacked into the Central Intelligence Agency¡¯s database and left some pretty funnyments on highly ssified reports as if you were reviewing movies or fictional books instead of actual incidents in real life."

    "Ah, those." She chuckled while her expression became filled with nostalgia. "I did that on a lot of intelligence agencies all over the world, not just that one in particr. Not only intelligence agencies but also government and private institutions from various countries. I was so bored and I found a lot of those ssified reports quite entertaining, that¡¯s why I did that."

    Jin Liwei shook his head but there was a doting smile on his face. "That university friend of mine said that what you did wouldn¡¯t have been revealed to the general public because it would be a giant embarrassment to the agency but a whistleblower exposed it in the end before fleeing to Switzend."

    She shrugged, not really caring whether her exploits as Fantom had been exposed to the public or not. All she cared about back then was entertaining herself. She wasn¡¯t looking for attention or admiration from other people. What she craved, however, was thepetition with other hackers, especially with those who were on-par or had higher skills than her. Competing against other highly-skilled hackers fired her up, and in turn, always triggered her to improve her own skills.

    "You¡¯re amazing," he told her. "You were amazing back then but you¡¯re still amazing now."

    She felt a little shy but warmth filled her heart and made her feel so much better about this entire situation of telling him about where she and her big brother came from in their past lives. However, he wasn¡¯t finished reading the entire report yet. It was quite long. He might still change his tune and end up pushing her away after reading something he didn¡¯t like.

    But no matter what happened, she was determined to work everything out with him in the end. She was carrying his children and needed him in her life because of her own great anxiety about bing a mother. And most importantly, she loved him so much. She couldn¡¯t imagine the rest of her life anymore without him.

    It would be extremely painful if he abandoned her. Hopefully, that wouldn¡¯t happen. She trusted in his repeated assurances that he would ept her past no matter what, but there was still a lingering fear of rejection in her heart.

    As if sensing her remaining anxiety, Jin Liwei gave her another quick peck on the lips before resuming to read the section in the report about her.

    Afterwards, he asked, "You didn¡¯t participate in the organization¡¯s activities?"

    She stiffened before forcing herself to rx. "No."

    "Why?"

    It was Lu Zihao who answered his question. "Because she is an angel whose heart refused to be tainted even by being born into a family of devils."

    "Big Brother...."

    "What? It¡¯s true, isn¡¯t it? We all tried to make you join the family organization but you refused to budge no matter what. Father and I enticed you using different methods while Mother threatened you a lot, even tortured you harder¡ª"

    "WHAT?!" Jin Liwei shot from his seat and snarled at Lu Zihao. "Say that again! Who tortured who?!"

    "D-darling...."

    "Evelina, let me talk to your brother."

    Iris alternated looking between her man and brother. She felt stuck between them and it felt horrible.

    Lu Zihao appeared casual but the deste look in his eyes hinted that he was not proud of what happened to his sister in their past lives. "Being tortured was part of our training. It was supposed to increase our tolerance to pain and strengthen our mental resilience. Everyone went through that training, including Evelinka. She is...was a Vetrov, after all."

 Chapter 870 - The Vetrov Report Part V

    <h4>Chapter 870 - The Vetrov Report Part V </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s vision turned red and he was already in front of Niki grabbing and shaking the man¡¯s cor before he even realized what he was doing. "Your family tortured my wife?!"

    "Liwei, stop! Please don¡¯t fight! Big Brother, please!" Iris also arrived not long after and tried to squeeze her small body between the two men.

    Lu Zihao pried Jin Liwei¡¯s hands from his cor, ripping the top part of his shirt in the process but not caring about it, before pushing the other man back with a casual-looking but powerful force. Jin Liwei staggered backwards but quickly regained his bnce. Iris hugged him while cing herself in front of him to prevent him froming for her brother again.

    "I was just stating a fact," Lu Zihao said in an emotionless voice. "That was how we, the Vetrovs, lived."

    Fury flooded Jin Liwei until it was all he could feel. "You didn¡¯t do anything to protect your sister?! You allowed them to torture her?!"

    "Please stop, Liwei!" Iris cried and tried to force him to look at her. "Don¡¯t me Big Brother! He was tortured, too! It was training, that¡¯s all!"

    Finally, Jin Liwei looked at her with a face filled with furious disbelief. "That¡¯s all? You call torture ¡¯that¡¯s all¡¯?"

    "He tried to protect me. He really did! He suffered more than I did when he tried to protect me¡ª"

    "Evelinka, that¡¯s enough!" Lu Zihao interrupted her in Russian. "No need to exin to him that part and try to defend me. Let him believe what he wants to believe. I don¡¯t care. He already thinks that I¡¯m the devil anyway."

    She ignored her brother and continued exining to Jin Liwei as much as she could. "He was still a teenager that time and I was only a little girl, so Big Brother couldn¡¯t do anything¡ª"

    Jin Liwei was horrified and held her tightly. "The torture began when you were still a little girl?! What the hell, Evelina?!!"

    She also ignored him, too caught up in finishing in her exnation. "But Big Brother eventually grew stronger and he was able to protect me! He really did! I didn¡¯t have to undergo the torture training as much when I became a teenager because of Big Brother¡¯s interference."

    "Not always," Lu Zihao whispered. "I had to fulfill my duties, so I was often out of the estate, leaving you there all alone to fend for yourself."

    She couldn¡¯t say anything to counter what he said because it was true. Although she reigned as one of the supreme hackers in the cyberworld back then as the legendary Fantom, she was still the weakest in physicalbat among the Vetrovs. She couldn¡¯t always avoid being forced to undergo the Vetrovs¡¯ harsh basic training regimen which was a requirement for everyone in the family. There was only so much that she could do to resist whenever they literally dragged her away despite her protests and threw her into training.

    However, it was also true that her brother went through much worse than her. The only difference was that he epted his fate whereas she rejected hers. Slowly but surely, her will to live crumbled inside her gilded cage.

    A wave of dizziness washed over her. She swayed a little on her feet. The two men reacted in an instant. Jin Liwei who was right in front of her caught her while Lu Zihao rushed towards her on instinct but stopped himself mid-stride upon remembering that she couldn¡¯t take his scent.

    "Father, Uncle Zihao, both of you are upsetting Mother too much," Bacon¡¯s cold voice suddenly interrupted them. "If the two of you are unable to control your tempers, please get out of the room and cool off separately somewhere far away. If something bad happens to my mother tonight, Bacon will never forgive the two of you even if you¡¯re my father and uncle. No amount of high sry will tempt me to change my mind."

    "Wuwuwu! Mommy, please be okay! Don¡¯t faint again. Ketchup is so scared! Meowuwuwu!"

    Bacon and Ketchup¡¯s sudden interruption broke the vtile atmosphere between the three adults. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao felt chastised by the AI child but couldn¡¯t retort anything because they also had the same attitude as Bacon. They would never forgive those who brought harm to Iris. This interruption managed to calm down the two men enough to remember that they both needed to control their own emotions so as not to upset the pregnant Iris.

    "I¡¯m fine." Iris¡¯ voice sounded weak and exhausted.

    Jin Liwei assisted her back to the couch so she could rest. Lu Zihao wordlessly grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and threw it. Jin Liwei caught the bottle and uncapped it before offering it to Iris. She took a few sips before her paleplexion regained a bit of colour. Not much but enough for the two men to feel relieved that she no longer looked like she was going to faint.

    "Yes, that¡¯s right! Daddy and Uncle Haohao should always cooperate with each other like basketball teammates and not fight like savages because we¡¯re one big happy family! Right, Mommy? Meow~"

    "Right," Iris replied with a faint smile on her pale lips.

    "See? The cute and mighty Ketchup is right! Mommy said so! Meow~"

    "Of course, Mother is always right," Bacon agreed.

    Iris chuckled weakly. "Thank you, Ketchup and Bacon, for your concern for me. But please leave us, the adults, to finish our discussion first."

    Ketchup made a whining sound to express her worry.

    "Understood, Mother," Bacon replied. Then he addressed the two adult men. "Father, Uncle Zihao, Bacon is watching you. Please don¡¯t upset my mother again."

    "Ketchup, Bacon, I¡¯ll be fine," Iris repeated in a firmer tone.

    The two cat AI finally listened and withdrew from the conversation. However, they still made sure to continue monitoring their mother¡¯s condition.

    Iris released a big sigh of relief and took a few more sips of water. Then she looked at the two men who both looked much calmer now. However, she could still sense the turmoil of intense emotions emanating from them, especially from Jin Liwei.

 Chapter 871 - The Vetrov Report Part VI

    <h4>Chapter 871 - The Vetrov Report Part VI </h4>

    "Let¡¯s put a stop to this meeting for now," Jin Liwei suggested. "We can always continue this discussion another time, maybe tomorrow when you¡¯re feeling better. Your brother will be sleeping here at our home tonight anyway. He¡¯ll be here again tomorrow."

    "I agree," Lu Zihao said. "You¡¯re pregnant, Evelinka. You better rest now."

    Iris shook her head. "No, I want to get this meeting over and done with tonight. I¡¯ll sleep much better if this is all over. Also, I don¡¯t want you treating me like fragile ss just because I¡¯m pregnant. I¡¯m much sturdier than you all think."

    The two men wanted to persuade her to change her mind but knew upon seeing her stubborn expression that she was already dead set in her decision to finish this meeting tonight. They both sighed at her stubbornness but still gave in to her.

    Jin Liwei sat beside her on the couch while Lu Zihao returned to his spot by the window. The atmosphere may have calmed down thanks to Ketchup and Bacon but there was still a palpable tension between the two men.

    Iris turned to Jin Liwei. "What other questions do you have, darling? Big Brother and I will answer anything."

    He didn¡¯t speak right away. Instead, he took a few moments to gather his thoughts. The fury which he felt before his two AI children interrupted them returned to him once again. This time, however, he was able to control himself better.

    Finally, he asked, "What about your father? You mentioned to me before that your father protected and indulged you. Why am I not hearing him protecting you from being tortured? What kind of father would allow his children to be tortured like what you said? Not only you, Evelina." He nced at Lu Zihao by the window. "But even your brother, Niki."

    It was once again Lu Zihao who answered his question. "Because our father is...was a Vetrov, not to mention that he was also the head of the family and the organization. He indulged Evelinka, yes, but that¡¯s because she was his beautiful and sweet daughter. Even so, our father still expected her to undergo the family¡¯s training regimen, albeit only the basic level, like everybody else in the Vetrovs. It was the normal thing to do in our family. That¡¯s what you should understand first."

    Jin Liwei frowned because it was indeed difficult for him to understand such a brutal treatment of one¡¯s own family members. The Vetrovs¡¯ way of doing things was on a whole different leaguepared to normal families.

    Rivalries between members of normal powerful families were quitemon. These rivalries might lead to asional crimes because of greed. For example, a wife poisoning her wealthy husband in order to inherit his wealth or an uncle stealing all of his niece¡¯s inheritance after her parents¡¯ passing. Situations like these were somon that they had be staples in drama plots. If Jin Liwei didn¡¯t manage the Jin n with an iron fist after his father¡¯s passing, even he wouldn¡¯t be surprised if some of the more ambitious members of the branch families attempted to take over a bigger portion of Jin Corporation.

    The Vetrovs¡¯ normal way of life, on the other hand, sounded like it was a literal world of survival of the fittest. There was no mercy at all, even to one¡¯s own children. Everything was brutal.

    Lu Zihao continued exining to Jin Liwei. "Our father didn¡¯t force Evelinka to undergo the more advanced and specialized training courses or to join the organization. He tried to persuade her, of course. Even I did, too, because we all believed that it was much safer for her to learn all the skills to protect herself and also to kill her enemies with her own hands. And of course, her hacking skills would¡¯ve been an enormous boost to our organization¡¯s power. If she had created an AI like Ketchup or Bacon back then, perhaps we wouldn¡¯t have been annihted like we did."

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei stiffened at the mention of their AI children and felt instantly protective. However, Iris quickly became subdued upon remembering the hellish night of their annihtion. Jin Liwei sensed the change in her mood and pulled her closer tofort her. She rested her head on his shoulder and took a deep inhale of his scent.

    Lu Zihao noticed their reactions but didn¡¯tment about them. Instead, he continued what he was talking about. "We all tried to persuade Evelinka to join the organization because she had the greatest potential in contributing so much into making the Vetrovs more powerful. Just look at her. She¡¯s a genius. But we all failed. Despite that, we never forced her. Only our mother did. Evelinka and our mother never got along that well. And that¡¯s because our mother always failed to mould my sister into bing someone like her."

    Iris paled at the mention of their mother. Jin Liwei immediately noticed her reaction and frowned. He gave her aforting squeeze and took a special mental note to pay more attention to any information about Madam Vetrova.

    "Usually, if a member of our family refuses to join the organization, that person would either be banished, or in worse cases, ¡¯sacrificed¡¯ because he or she is deemed as a useless existence to the Vetrovs."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose and he looked at Iris. He remembered her mentioning something like this before to him. She nodded at him.

    "Sacrificed?" Jin Liwei asked Lu Zihao for rification.

    Instead of answering him, Lu Zihao made a cutting motion on his neck with his hand as the simplest form of exnation.

    "What the hell?" Jin Liwei pulled Iris in a protective move until she was almost lying on hisp.

    Lu Zihao turned his head away and looked outside the window but he still continued speaking. "If it wasn¡¯t for our father, everyone especially our mother would¡¯ve deemed Evelinka as a useless existence to our family. Not including me, of course. I would never do that to my sister."

    "I know, Big Brother," Iris whispered. "I know."

 Chapter 872 - Third Brother, Itâ€™s Me

    <h4>Chapter 872 - Third Brother, It¡¯s Me </h4>

    The corners of Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth made a faint curve upwards after hearing his sister¡¯s whisper. The movement was so miniscule that neither Iris nor Jin Liwei noticed it. Also, he wasn¡¯t facing them and the dim lighting in the room created more shadows in his spot, further obscuring his expression from the other two. Nobody could see the storm in his eyes that he was trying so hard to bury deep within himself.

    Once he was able to regain full control of his expression, he set his unreadable gaze on Jin Liwei. "If it wasn¡¯t for our father, Evelinka would¡¯ve been either kicked out of the family to fend for herself against our enemies, or in the worst-case scenario¡ª"

    "Your family would¡¯ve ¡¯sacrificed¡¯ her," Jin Liwei said through gritted teeth, filling in the nks himself.

    The siblings didn¡¯t reply but their silence was enough confirmation. He told them, "Your family is...was so fucked-up."

    "Tell me something I don¡¯t know," Lu Zihao said.

    "Language, darling," Iris said. "Ketchup and Bacon are still listening."

    Jin Liwei sighed before smiling. Then he announced, "Alright, I think this should be enough for tonight."

    She frowned. "But we¡¯re not finished yet!"

    "I am." His tone was firm. "I need some time to digest all this information."

    "Oh. That makes sense."

    He made a show of ncing at the wall clock. "It¡¯s alreadyte. Time to sleep, love. You¡¯re usually already asleep by this time."

    At his reminder, she automatically yawned. She indeed felt a little sleepy but hadn¡¯t noticed it because of her nerves throughout their meeting.

    Jin Liwei took her hand and started to lead her to the bedroom. However, he mouthed something to Lu Zihao when she wasn¡¯t looking. Lu Zihao nodded in response. Iris didn¡¯t notice their silentmunication.

    "Big Brother, I¡¯m sorry but I need to sleep now," she said, yawning again.

    "No need to apologize. Sleep well, Evelinka," he answered in Russian.

    "Good night, Big Brother."

    "Good night, Evelinka."

    She yawned yet again. Before long, the couple disappeared inside their bedroom. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t leave the suite, though. He moved from his spot by the window and sat on the couch. Then he grabbed the tablet and started reading the report his sister prepared for her man.

    He was still reading when Jin Liwei returned about half an hourter. Without looking up, he swiped to the next page and said, "My sister was never part of the organization. And that is reflected in this report. She doesn¡¯t know everything about the organization. There are many things that aren¡¯t included in this report, things that we kept from her."

    He looked at Jin Liwei straight in the eyes. "You¡¯re already horrified from reading this report. Let me tell you that the actual things were so much worse than what you read from here."

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Let¡¯s move to another room. Evelina doesn¡¯t sleep as deeply as before. I don¡¯t want her waking up and discovering that we¡¯re continuing this conversation without her."

    "Fine."

    Jin Liwei instructed Ketchup and Bacon to watch over their mother and also to not listen on his conversation with their Uncle Zihao. The two obeyed, although they sounded unhappy. Even the stone-faced Bacon couldn¡¯t hide his discontent this time.

    The two men left the suite. Jin Liwei took the lead and somehow they ended up in Iris¡¯ piano room. This was where they almost brawled thest time they saw each other.

    "Interesting choice of room," Lu Zihaomented.

    "It¡¯s not for the reason you¡¯re thinking."

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow.

    Jin Liwei stood behind the piano. "Apparently, this was where I died with our twin babies."

    "What the fuck are you talking about?" Lu Zihao demanded.

    Jin Liwei told him about the full content of Iris¡¯ nightmare a few nights ago exactly as she had told him. Lu Zihao fell silent as he listened.

    When Jin Liwei finished telling him everything, silence descended in the room. Without speaking a word, Lu Zihao headed straight to the newly reced table and chairs nearby and started wrecking them just like what Jin Liwei did before. However, it was obvious that Lu Zihao was more destructive.

    Jin Liwei crossed his arms and watched the man release his fury in the most direct way possible¡ªwith his bare fists. He understood what Lu Zihao was feeling. If it wasn¡¯t for his injuries still not being fully healed yet and the fact that he had already aggravated them before when he did the same thing that Lu Zihao was doing right now, he would¡¯ve also wrecked some furniture to release his own fury and the other emotions he was still trying to process from their meeting earlier in the suite.

    "Fuck!" Lu Zihao gave onest kick to a pitiful piece of a chair.

    "Finished?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Lu Zihao grunted.

    "I haven¡¯t finished reading the full report yet, but I want to ask you some questions first."

    "Ask away."

    Jin Liwei tapped a finger on the piano. "Are you turning Shadow Winds into another Vetrov organization?"

    Lu Zihao released a devilish chuckle but it somehow sounded weak than usual, as if he was exhausted, although he didn¡¯t look like it. "The Vetrov organization was built through the efforts of several generations. An organization of the Vetrovs¡¯ calibre can¡¯t be built in just a few years. So no, I¡¯m not turning my group into the next Vetrov organization. I would if I could but even for me, something like that is impossible to build in just one lifetime."

    "Then why did you create Shadow Winds?"

    Lu Zihao spread both his arms wide and gave a wide, evil smile. "What else? For revenge, of course!"

    "Cut the theatrics, Niki." Jin Liwei was unimpressed. "To be honest, I don¡¯t give a damn about you. But you¡¯re now living as Lu Zihao. I can¡¯t just allow you to put my fifth brother¡¯s body in danger."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression suddenly changed and became familiar. "Third Bro, it¡¯s me."

    Jin Liwei gasped and felt like he was electrocuted.

 Chapter 873 - Iâ€™m Just A Remnan

    <h4>Chapter 873 - I¡¯m Just A Remnan </h4>

    The intensity of Niki¡¯s aura which always seemed to radiate from the new Lu Zihao had disappeared all of a sudden only to be reced by a free and easy feeling that made others want to smile, and eventually,ugh.

    At the moment, however, Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t smile, much lessugh. He stood frozen and gaped in disbelief at the familiar vibe of the person standing in front of him. Fanciful thoughts raced through his mind. The logical part of him protested against such normally unthinkable ideas but the optimistic part of him wanted to believe.

    Was it possible? It should be possible. If it could happen to his wife Evelina and the original Long Xin, then perhaps it could also happen to his Brother-inw Niki and Fifth Brother Lu Zihao. Or was he just being a hopeful fool?

    Or worse, what if it was just his wife¡¯s older brother pranking him? No, that shouldn¡¯t be the case. Niki didn¡¯t prank anyone. He would joke around sometimes but he wasn¡¯t such an easygoing person as to prank people just for the fun of it. That wasn¡¯t his character at all.

    The number one easygoing person that Jin Liwei knew who also loved pranks and making peopleugh was....

    "Fifth Brother?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s answering grin was wide and natural and so utterly familiar that Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes immediately reddened. His body was already moving before he could even think about the entire situation more deeply. Despite the size difference between them, Jin Liwei embraced his beloved youngest sworn brother and squeezed him with all he got and even attempted to lift him up due to the overwhelming emotions flooding through him.

    "Whoa! Easy, Third Bro. Remember that you¡¯re still injured! Your beautiful wife is this asshole¡¯s sister and knows Russian kung fu or whatever the martial arts Fourth Bro is teaching. I forgot what it¡¯s called. Whatever. My point is what if she beats my ass? Chill, bro!"

    Jin Liwei threw his head back andughed. Indeed, this was the happy-go-lucky Fifth Brother that he remembered. Complicated emotions flooded through him but there was only one that he weed¡ªpure happiness.

    "My wife is fierce but she wouldn¡¯t beat up people without any reason," he said whileughing. "So you don¡¯t have to be afraid of her."

    Lu Zihao scoffed. "Me, afraid? Hah! Funniest joke I heard in a long time."

    Jin Liwei was also now grinning. He pped his sworn brother on the back and felt like they had returned to the good old times. The feeling might be the same but the situation had be entirely different. His fifth brother was now two, no, three timesrger than him because of all the bulky muscles. pping him on the back felt somewhat awkward. There was also an existence called Niki, his wife¡¯s unreadable and dangerous older brother, who might pop out at any moment.

    "Are you really Fifth Brother?" Jin Liwei asked in a more subdued tone after enjoying the happy moment.

    "Of course, it¡¯s me! Do you really think that mafia boss Niki would act like this in front of you?" Lu Zihao snorted. "Hah! If it wasn¡¯t for me messing him up sometimes, he would¡¯ve already punched you in the face for getting his sister pregnant before marriage. That dude thinks like an old man sometimes. Even my grandpa is more modern than him."

    Jin Liwei chuckled. Afterwards, he just stared at his Fifth Brother as if memorizing his features.

    Lu Zihao scratched his nose. "Stop looking at me like that, Third Bro. I¡¯m starting to feel shy."

    "You...." Jin Liwei shook his head while chuckling again.

    The two men sat on an ornate bench in front of one of the windows. Jin Liwei still couldn¡¯t stop looking at his fifth brother. He was observing him closely, wanting to make sure that he was really the Lu Zihao that he grew up with.

    Finally, he asked the one question that he wanted an answer the most. "How?"

    Instead of answering him right away, Lu Zihao started drumming his hands on his thighs and bouncing his legs to a beat that he could only hear. Jin Liwei recognized it as one of his fifth brother¡¯s mannerisms that he often did whenever he was thinking.

    The drumming and the bouncing stopped. Lu Zihao leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "You should understand something first, Third Bro."

    "What is it?"

    "I¡¯m just a remnant."

    Silence.

    "I know," Jin Liwei said in a whisper.

    Lu Zihao looked surprised. "You do?"

    "En. My wife told me something about her own experience with the original Long Xin¡¯s remnant but she also doesn¡¯t understand it very well so she couldn¡¯t exin how it works to me in more detail."

    Lu Zihao nodded. "Same. Neither I nor Niki understand it well like your beautiful wife. So we¡¯re basically all just winging this entire situation." His hands started some light drumming again. "But I do know that I¡¯m just a remnant, not aplete soul."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "But you¡¯re still...Lu Zihao, right?"

    His fifth brother turned his head and grinned at him like a mischievous kid. "What do you think?"

    Jin Liwei mock-punched him on the shoulder andughed. "That was a stupid question."

    "Yeah, well, like I said, even I don¡¯t know what¡¯s really going on. But what I do know is that I suddenly evolved into something more...hmm, like my past self, I guess. I can finally talk directly to that scary mafia boss Niki and even temporarily take over my body and control it but not for too long."

    "Not for too long?"

    "I get tired and need to...what¡¯s a suitable term for it? Oh yeah, recharge. I need to recharge when I run out of energy before I¡¯ll be able to talk or take over my body again. You can say there¡¯s a time limit."

    A deep furrow formed between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows as he mulled over the revtion. "Then I guess we won¡¯t be able to chat for too long tonight. I¡¯m just d that I¡¯m able to see and talk to you again, Fifth Brother."

 Chapter 874 - Canâ€™t Disconnec

    <h4>Chapter 874 - Can¡¯t Disconnec </h4>

    "Me, too!" Lu Zihao grinned. His eyes shone with excitement like a naughty kid who finally got what he wanted after a long time of begging. "Niki and I made an agreement. I helped him resolve an issue with¡ªahahaha¡ªso funny! He¡¯s gonna flip out if I tell you so I¡¯ll keep my mouth shut for now. The asshole can be so awkward and cute sometimes but he doesn¡¯t want to let anyone know and destroy his tough macho image. Hahaha! Besides, I don¡¯t want him going apeshit on me and not allowing me to use my body again in the future. It¡¯s so much better when the two of us are cooperating like this instead of fighting all the time. Tsk. It¡¯s so tiring to fight, you know, especially if you¡¯re sharing one body. We can¡¯t kick each other out. For now, at least. Who knows what will happen in the future?

    "Anyway, like I said, that mafia boss and I have some sort of deal. In exchange for helping him, he¡¯ll let me take over my body tonight so that I can talk to you. I was so excited when he finally decided to return here at Dragon Pce! I couldn¡¯t wait to tell you that I¡¯m still here, even if it¡¯s just a semi-alive remnant of my former self, and that we can still hang out sometimes if I get the chance to take over my body again."

    There was so much information that Jin Liwei was able to grasp from his fifth brother¡¯s words. At the same time, more questions popped inside his mind. Despite his desire to ask for rification about many things, he restrained himself because he didn¡¯t want to waste the limited time that he could spend with his fifth brother tonight. He didn¡¯t know how long Lu Zihao would be able to stay in control of the body until he ran out of energy and needed to "recharge" again like he said.

    In addition, there was still Niki that they had to keep in mind. Who knew how long the man would allow his fifth brother free rein until he wrested back control of the body?

    Therefore, Jin Liwei allowed Lu Zihao to chatter away without too much interruption. Spending time with him like this and knowing that his fifth brother was back, albeit in an unnatural existence as a remnant, was enough for Jin Liwei for now.

    "I was waiting the entire day toe out and talk to you but Niki kept on telling me that it¡¯s not the right time yet. He said that his sister, your beautiful wife, is pregnant and I shouldn¡¯te out in front of her without any warning or she might freak out and faint or something."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "En. It¡¯s better if we let my wife know first about you before introducing the two of you to each other. I want you to meet your sister-inw."

    Lu Zihao gave a thumbs up. "Oh yeah. I want to meet your wife, too! Let¡¯s do it next time ¡¯cuz right now...I¡¯m starting to...get...tired...."

    "So soon?" Jin Liwei frowned. An unwilling expression appeared on his face.

    "Yeah...sorry, Third Bro...ugh!" Lu Zihao doubled over and fell from his seat to the floor on all fours.

    "Fifth Brother!" Jin Liwei immediately rushed towards Lu Zihao. He originally intended to help his fifth brother up from the floor but then Lu Zihao suddenly started having some sort of seizure.

    "Stay back!" Lu Zihao snarled.

    Jin Liwei knew in that instant that Niki was back. "No, you¡¯re going to hurt yourself if I leave you alone!"

    "I said stay the fuck back!" His body thrashed on the floor while he became drenched in sweat in just a few seconds. "If I...identally hurt you...it¡¯ll upset my sister¡ªugh! What the fuck, Lu Zihao?!"

    Then his vicious expression turned into a sheepish one. "Haha, my bad," he said in a weak voice even as his body continued to thrash around the floor. "I don¡¯t know...what¡¯s happening. Can¡¯t...seem to...ugh, disconnect that easily...this time. Ah, so tired...but why....?"

    Jin Liwei stood there frozen as he watched the incredible scene ying in front of him. He felt worried, amazed, and to be honest, a little afraid of what was happening to his fifth brother and brother-inw right at this moment.

    Then he remembered that he witnessed something simr before when his baby girl also appeared like she was battling against herself. It was when he confessed his involvement in concealing the truth behind Long Xin¡¯s car ident and she went crazy with fury and started attacking him.

    What happened that night when she attacked him was pretty straightforward. She told him that his confession triggered Long Xin¡¯s remnant to awaken its grudge, thus, causing it to wrest control of her body and attack him. However, she didn¡¯t mention anything about having full conversations with Long Xin¡¯s remnant like what Niki and his fifth brother seemed to be experiencing.

    He took a mental note to ask her about this point. Perhaps she could provide an insight for all of them to be able to better understand this matter regarding the remnants. But before that, he needed to figure out a way to help her Big Brother Niki and his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant right now.

    Jin Liwei was about to call his AI children and give some instructions when Lu Zihao finally stopped thrashing on the floor. The man waspletely soaked in sweat from head to toe. He was gasping as if he just survived from drowning.

    "Hey. Are you okay?"

    Lu Zihao¡ªno. Based from his exhausted but furious-looking expression, the one in control of the body should be Niki. A string of graphic curses poured out of the man¡¯s mouth.

    "I knew this was a bad idea," he said. "I shouldn¡¯t have let that monkey take over for too long. It¡¯s messing with our equilibrium."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Equilibrium? Exin."

    "Let me fucking breathe first!"

    Jin Liwei sighed before nodding. Then he came forward and helped the other man up despite the tension between the two of them. Niki was still his brother-inw, after all.

 Chapter 875 - No Intimidating Power Lef

    <h4>Chapter 875 - No Intimidating Power Lef </h4>

    A few minutester, Lu Zihao recovered enough to regain his ability to talk without struggling to breathe. He still continued cursing, though. "Fuck, I hate that. I really fucking hate that! Shit."

    Jin Liwei watched him, trying to find any signs of his fifth brother but to no avail. The Lu Zihao cursing in front of him right now was no doubt his brother-inw Niki, not his happy-go-lucky fifth brother. The difference between their characters were too stark that Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t mistake it.

    He said, "Evelina didn¡¯t mention anything like this to me when she was talking about Long Xin¡¯s remnant."

    Lu Zihao removed his shirt, revealing his scarred, muscled body. He intended to use the shirt to wipe his sweat but it was already soaked and useless to dry his body. He clicked his tongue and threw the shirt on the floor in disgust before plopping himself back on the ornate bench.

    He closed his eyes and appeared weary. However, he still replied to Jin Liwei. "It¡¯s no use trying to copy how my sister dealt with Long Xin¡¯s remnant. That girl¡¯s remnant was filled with pure grudge for the way Long Xin died. I¡¯m assuming that once she got her revenge, everything should¡¯ve been resolved already."

    "Hmmm." Jin Liwei thought about it. He didn¡¯t sit beside Lu Zihao, choosing instead to maintain some distance between the two of them while leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

    With his eyes still closed, Lu Zihao started to massage his head with his hands. "Do you know if Evelinka is still interacting with Long Xin¡¯s remnant?"

    "She believes that it¡¯s gone. She hasn¡¯t felt it since it got its revengest year."

    He sighed. "Good for her."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became tight. "Does this mean that my fifth brother¡¯s remnant will also disappear someday?"

    Lu Zihao finally opened his eyes. "I wish that¡¯s the case."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s entire body became tense. His expression was filled with unwillingness.

    "If the situation between your fifth brother¡¯s remnant and me were as straightforward as that between Evelinka and Long Xin¡¯s remnant, then I¡¯d be extremely d. But the problem is that it¡¯s not."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Long Xin died with a huge grudge while Lu Zihao died without any grudge at all. In fact, your fifth brother passed away pretty happy given how stupid he died."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t notice his sigh of relief. "What are you nning to do with my fifth brother¡¯s remnant then?"

    "I¡¯m fucking tired," Lu Zihao said instead of answering his question.

    Jin Liwei was no fool. He knew that the other man was trying to avoid answering his question. However, he didn¡¯t give up just yet and asked another question. "If it¡¯s not about grudge, do you know why my fifth brother¡¯s remnant is still staying in his body?"

    "Hell if I know," was what Lu Zihao said. But he lied. He knew the reason¡ªwell, at least he thought he did.

    The remnant was probably a manifestation of the original Lu Zihao¡¯s attachment to his sworn brothers and grandfather which was totally different from Evelina¡¯s experience with the original Long Xin¡¯s remnant. This was why Niki had no idea how to deal with Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant in order to make it go away. It wasn¡¯t as straightforward as his sister¡¯s where she only needed to resolve the remnant¡¯s grudge.

    Silence descended in the piano room as the two men became preupied with their own respective thoughts. It was already past midnight but neither of them felt sleepy at all. They both felt exhausted but their minds and emotions were in hyperdrive after everything that happened tonight.

    Jin Liwei was still reeling from all the revtions about the Vetrovs earlier, and of course, from meeting his fifth brother¡¯s remnant.

    Simrly, Lu Zihao was also affected by the Vetrov report, though he didn¡¯t want to admit it even to himself. He told himself that he didn¡¯t give a fuck if Jin Liwei thought of him as the devil because he was already used to it, anyway. Then afterwards, the rming episode with Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant not being able to disconnect right away from their body and causing the two of them to suffer bacsh had utterly drained him.

    It was Lu Zihao who broke the silence. "You called me out here to talk about something before we were interrupted by that monkey."

    "Right. I almost forgot." Jin Liwei straightened. "I haven¡¯t finished reading the report that my wife prepared for me yet, but I have read enough to gain an understanding of what kind of businesses the Vetrovs were involved in."

    Lu Zihao smirked. "The Vetrovs are...were the number one criminal organization in the underworld. If you already knew that before, then you don¡¯t need to read the rest of the report to know what kind of businesses we operated. So? What about it?"

    Jin Liwei chose to ignore the man¡¯s challenging tone. There was not much intimidating power left in it, anyway. It was obvious that his brother-inw was exhausted.

    "I want to know more about your Shadow Winds," he said.

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t speak, waiting for him to say more instead.

    "Are you dealing with illegal drugs?"

    "Not interested."

    "How about human trafficking?" Then Jin Liwei added, "Child trafficking?"

    "No."

    "Firearms?"

    "Yes."

    Jin Liwei exhaled a long breath. "Prostitution?"

    "To some extent. But generally, no."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Exin."

    Lu Zihao sighed in annoyance but still exined. "I ordered my group to wipe out gangs and triad groups across the country so that we can take over their territories and resources, including their existing businesses. Most of them include prostitution rings. I originally wanted to dissolve those rings but some of the prostitutes, both females and males alike, wanted to continue working in the trade. Since they insist on continuing, then I allowed them. As long as they don¡¯t cause trouble or betray my group, then we¡¯ll provide them with better protection than what they got from their previous bosses. Also, I don¡¯t allow my group to recruit new prostitutes. I don¡¯t have time for that shit."

 Chapter 876 - Iâ€™ll Cooperate With You

    <h4>Chapter 876 - I¡¯ll Cooperate With You </h4>

    Lu Zihao saw theplicated expression on Jin Liwei¡¯s face and felt annoyed and impatient but restrained himself fromshing out at the man because the remnant might suddenly cause him trouble again. He had enough of these tedious conversations with his sister and her man. He already amodated them beyond of what he wasfortable with tonight.

    What he wanted to do the most right now was to return to his room and fuck Long Jinjing before going to sleep. Fucking her always made him feel better.

    He told Jin Liwei, "Before you ask the rest of your other questions, I¡¯ll remind you once again that my main purpose in creating Shadow Winds is for revenge. You might oppose my n but I don¡¯t give a fuck. Think what you want but my mind is already set. Everyone knows that the Vetrovs were no saints. Hell, we were called the devils. Some might think that we, the Vetrovs, don¡¯t have the right to seek justice because of the gravity of our own crimes throughout the generations but I. Don¡¯t. Give. A. Fuck! The people who annihted us need to pay for what they did. And don¡¯t forget that those motherfuckers also murdered Evelinka!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s entire body stiffened and his expression turned ugly at the mention of his wife¡¯s murder. He clenched his hands into fists and looked like he was struggling to control himself.

    "All those things that you were asking me about earlier¡ªdrugs, human trafficking, prostitution¡ªare shit that I don¡¯t care in this lifetime. I already had my fill of those from my past life. They also take time to build into stable and lucrative businesses, time that I don¡¯t have. I can¡¯t waste my time on those shit. I need to focus everything into gathering the necessary resources and training enough skilled manpower that I can use to obtain my ultimate goal¡ªrevenge."

    "Will your revenge bring danger to my wife?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t answer immediately which made Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turn darker. "I¡¯ll do my best not to do that."

    "That¡¯s not enough," Jin Liwei growled. "I need a guarantee that you won¡¯t endanger Evelina!"

    "Do you think that I want to put my own sister in danger?!"

    The two men glowered at each other. Both of their bodies were poised to fight each other but the sensible parts of their brains managed to restrain them. If they fought, their women would be upset. In the end, both turned away and forced their respective selves to calm down.

    "Evelinka will be fine," Lu Zihao said after regaining hisposure. "Nobody else knows that she¡¯s now Long Xin anyway. As long as she doesn¡¯t get involved, she should be safe."

    "What about you?" Jin Liwei countered. "I¡¯m guessing that nobody else knows that you¡¯re Niki Vetrov right now either, but once you start taking your revenge, I¡¯m sure that some of your enemies will figure out your true identity. They¡¯lle after the Lu family. Grandpa Lu is already so old. Don¡¯t give him more things to worry about."

    "No, I¡¯ll be careful not to implicate the Lus. And the old man doesn¡¯t need to know."

    "If your enemies were able to defeat you back when you were still a Vetrov, then they can do it again especially now that you¡¯re the leader of a newly-established group. No matter how careful you are, there¡¯s still the possibility of your desire for revenge causing tragedy not only to the Lu family but also to everyone close to you, including all of us here."

    Lu Zihao closed his eyes and became silent. After a couple of minutes had passed, Jin Liwei thought that he wouldn¡¯t speak anymore. Jin Liwei felt frustrated but at the same time worried. He wasn¡¯t only worried for his wife, his fifth brother¡¯s body, the Lus, and all of them who might be implicated in this road of revenge. Despite the tension between him and Niki, he still felt genuinely worried about the man.

    His wife dearly loved her older brother. If something happened to Niki, she would be heartbroken. As much as possible, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want his wife worrying or bing upset over anyone or anything. But it wasn¡¯t only that. Jin Liwei himself had also developed some affection for Niki. Granted, it was because he thought that he was his fifth brother at first and that the man¡¯s personality only changed after the ski ident.

    Now that he knew the real truth, the closeness between him and Niki might have decreased a lot but it didn¡¯t mean that Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care about him. Niki was part of their family whether the man liked it or not.

    Jin Liwei now faced a difficult decision. It was something that he didn¡¯t want to do but felt that he needed to do in order to increase his loved ones¡¯ safety.

    He said, "You¡¯re as stubborn as my wife, so I won¡¯t waste my time trying to persuade you to give up revenge because it¡¯s clear to me that you¡¯ve already made up your mind."

    "Damn right."

    "I¡¯ll cooperate with you," Jin Liwei dered in a grave voice.

    Lu Zihao opened his eyes and looked at him like he turned into an idiot. "What the fuck are you saying?"

    Jin Liwei looked at him straight in the eyes, showing him that he was dead serious in making his offer. "Don¡¯t get me wrong. I won¡¯t participate in your revenge, but I¡¯ll lend my power to make some things smoother for your group if you need it. I am Jin Liwei. My name alone holds great influence that you don¡¯t have right now as Lu Zihao. Being known as Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson isn¡¯t enough to make things happen for you. And Shadow Winds is still a very new group.

    "In exchange for my cooperation, I need to know all your ns and the progress you¡¯re making in your revenge so that I can immediately assess how to increase the safety of our family and friends. This way, I can be prepared for anything. Deal?"

    Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t hide his disbelief. "Jin Liwei, you¡¯re fucking insane."

 Chapter 877 - Youre Not Nikolai Vetrov Anymore

    <h4>Chapter 877 - You''re Not Niki Vetrov Anymore </h4>

    "Being thorough and careful are not the same as being insane," Jin Liwei retorted. "My wealth and power may give me the ability to protect my wife, our children, and our loved ones, but that¡¯s only if I know what I¡¯m protecting them from. I don¡¯t like being taken by surprise especially if it concerns the safety of my family. Now that I know that your actions might endanger all of us, I can¡¯t just turn a blind eye especially when there¡¯s a way to be more proactive."

    Lu Zihao stood up and started pacing in front of the window. Then he kicked the ornate bench. "Dammit!"

    Fortunately, the piece of furniture was heavy and sturdy so it survived his powerful kick unlike the other furniture in the room.

    "You should admit that I make sense," Jin Liwei said.

    A visible vein throbbed in Lu Zihao¡¯s forehead as he struggled to make a decision regarding Jin Liwei¡¯s offer. "I don¡¯t want any of you involved. I want to do this alone."

    "Don¡¯t be dumb. The moment that you ordered members of your Shadow Winds to fortify your sister¡¯s security already connected us to your group. What¡¯s more, we have a deal to allow Bacon to assist you in your work once you agree to talk to me and Evelina in person. If I knew what your group was really doing, I probably wouldn¡¯t have given Bacon permission to go work for you when he asked me that night. Now I know why Evelina was so angry and even fought with me when she discovered that I gave Bacon permission without consulting her first."

    Lu Zihao scowled but he didn¡¯t say anything. He already knew all of these. The number one reason why he agreed to return to Dragon Pce and talk to the couple in person before he felt ready was due to his worry for his sister¡¯s health. Bacon, the cunning little devil, sessfully guilt-tripped him.

    Another reason was that he wanted to have Bacon start working for him as soon as possible. He couldn¡¯t wait to see how much a highly advanced AI like his virtual cat nephew would be able to do for his group. Would Bacon be able to take Shadow Winds to the next level? The only problem was that his sister wouldn¡¯t let Bacon go without Lu Zihao agreeing to this meeting first.

    If not for these reasons, he probably would have put off this meeting for as long as he could. And indeed, he was right in wanting to avoid this meeting because it was already proving to be extremely troublesome for him.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know what Lu Zihao was thinking so he continued to drive his point home. "In short, we¡¯re already involved whether you like it or not. Also, there¡¯s no way that I¡¯ll let you do this alone and put my fifth brother¡¯s body in danger. You may not care about it but I do and so many others like Grandpa Lu and our sworn brothers. Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re living as Lu Zihao now. You¡¯re not Niki Vetrov anymore."

    Lu Zihao rubbed his face roughly with both hands in frustration. "Fuck!"

    Sighing, Jin Liwei straightened his body and started gently rolling his shoulders because his healing back was starting to ache again. He nced at the wall clock and confirmed that it was now veryte.

    "I¡¯ll give you time to think about my offer," he said. "We¡¯re both tired and can¡¯t think clearly anymore. Sleep on it first before you decide what to do. But I want to hear your final decision before you leave with Long Jinjing after this weekend."

    "Fine."

    Jin Liwei nodded and gave Lu Zihao onest firm look before leaving. When the door closed behind Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao was left all alone in the piano room. He stared at the lone grand piano in the centre of the room and could imagine his sister ying music that touched one¡¯s soul.

    She was excellent at that¡ªmaking others feel vivid emotions through her music. Her beautiful hands were made for creating magnificent works of art. In contrast, his rough hands were made for destruction.

    As much as possible, he didn¡¯t want to involve his sister in his quest for revenge. He thought that he was doing a good job in not bothering her and letting her enjoy her new life. Now, however, he was starting to doubt himself after hearing what Jin Liwei said.

    Damn the man for messing with his mind! He was like his fifth brother. The monkey often messed with his emotions whenever the original Lu Zihao¡¯s loved ones were involved. They were indeed sworn brothers. Damn them!

    After some time, he was still unable to make up his mind regarding Jin Liwei¡¯s offer. The man was right. He was too exhausted to think clearly. It was better to get some rest first before making a decision. He picked up his damp shirt on the floor in disgust before making his way to his room.

    Long Jinjing should be asleep by now, but he desperately needed a good fuck tonight. He would just eat her down there until she woke up screaming in pleasure and then proceed to fuck her and lose himself in her wet heat. Having sex with her always made him feel better and more bnced.

    Anticipation filled him at the thought of being with Long Jinjing again. He didn¡¯t notice that the heavy feeling weighing down on him ever since the meeting with his sister and Jin Liwei started earlier had be lighter. His footsteps also became quicker as he hurried to his room without actually running.

    Long Jinjing had already agreed to go on the pill just before they headed to Dragon Pce together. They just needed to wait a little longer until the contraceptive pills became effective and he could finally forego using condoms. He couldn¡¯t wait.

    Just like that, Lu Zihao already felt so much better just thinking about Long Jinjing. She was fast bing his number one source offort. He didn¡¯t want to think about what would happen after their agreed 30-day rtionship.

 Chapter 878 - Hiding Something

    <h4>Chapter 878 - Hiding Something </h4>

    Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing stayed at Dragon Pce Home #10 for the entire weekend. Chen Fei and Meimei also visited for half a day after learning that the new couple was sleeping over at the mansion. The two girls also wanted to sleep over but couldn¡¯t because they were swamped with work.

    Chen Fei was in charge of Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line project so she was actually the busiest person in Orchidia Beauty during this period, in addition to performing her other duties as thepany¡¯s COO.

    As for Meimei, she was now a popr webtoon artist and had a crazy work schedule due to the high demand for frequent chapters. Her readers were always acting like bloodthirsty hyenas and kept on begging her for more, more, MORE!!! Although she didn¡¯t have to work so hard because she was already earning a lot, she didn¡¯t want to growcent. Aside from this, the most important thing for her was that she loved her work. Even if she turned into a vampiric zombie skeleton due to working so hard, she felt happy and fulfilled as long as she could continue making webtoons.

    The entire girl squad except for Clover who was still in France hung out together. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao were kicked out so that the girls plus Dom could wholeheartedly focus on a fun day of pampering and rxation.

    It was then that Iris finally revealed her pregnancy to the rest of her friends, including Clover who they video-called in order to share the important moment together. Even though Clover was Dom¡¯s sister, he didn¡¯t tell his own sibling about the exciting news without receiving Iris¡¯ permission. He might love gossiping but would never betray Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s trust even to his own family. He wasn¡¯t Dom without his fierce loyalty.

    They all promised to keep Iris¡¯ pregnancy a secret. At the same time, they started to make a list of baby names. Nobody among them trusted either Iris or Jin Liwei to name the baby. There was no way that they would allow the couple to name their baby based on food.

    Iris and Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t told them yet, except for Dom and Jiang Ying Yue who already knew, that Iris was carrying twins. Long Jinjing, Chen Fei, Meimei and Clover all assumed that there would only be one baby.

    After a fun weekend with everyone, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing finally prepared to leave the mansion and return to Long Jinjing¡¯s condo. Iris was hoping that her brother would stay at Dragon Pce and felt disappointed when he announced that he would be leaving with Long Jinjing. However, she couldn¡¯t whine like a spoiled little girl.

    "I¡¯ll visit again soon," Lu Zihao promised his sister.

    Iris nodded and hugged him for two seconds before running back to Jin Liwei to inhale her darling¡¯s scent.

    Lu Zihao scowled and resisted the urge to sniff at himself to check if he really was stinky. No, he should smell fine. If he was really stinky, then Long Jinjing should¡¯ve already been repulsed by him. He immediately felt better after thinking this way. Since Long Jinjing was still acting normal, then all was well.

    "Take care of Bacon, Big Brother," Iris mouthed at him in Russian.

    He nodded and mouthed back, "I will. Don¡¯t worry."

    Before leaving, Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei exchanged a secret look filled with meaning.

    When Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing were finally gone, Iris and Jin Liwei headed to their home office. She wanted to consult with him about her strategy to forge not only a mutually beneficial deal but also an amicable rtionship with Bright Summit amidst her and Jin Chonglin¡¯s n to leave the entertainmentpany to form their own talent managementpany.

    Aside from Jin Liwei, she also wanted to ask Grandpa Lu, JJ and Enrique Valdez for their opinions about her n. Of course, she could do it all by herself without consulting anyone first but time was of the essence. She couldn¡¯t afford to make any mistakes regarding this matter. She needed to iron out all the details as soon as possible because Jin Chonglin¡¯s contract with Bright Summit would be expiring very soon.

    On the way to their home office, however, Iris wasn¡¯t focused on this at all. She was thinking about something else. She shook Jin Liwei¡¯s arm to get his attention.

    "Hm? What is it, love?"

    She squinted at him, causing him to raise his eyebrows in amusement.

    "I¡¯ve been seeing you and Big Brother exchanging secret nces with each other all weekend long," she said. "You did it again when he and Big Sister Jinjing left just now. Are the two of you hiding something from me?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t answer right away. His expression was calm...too calm that it made her feel even more suspicious.

    She pouted when it looked like he wasn¡¯t going to speak. "Hmph!"

    She released his arm and walked away by herself, leaving him to chase after her.

    He sighed and took a few deep breaths before straightening his spine, as if preparing himself for battle. He hoped that this wasn¡¯t another one of his wife¡¯s mood swings.

    Normally, he would be able to exin anything to her with logic without having to deal with any emotional outbursts from her. She might be stubborn but she was also very level-headed. But that was before she got pregnant.

    Now, he always needed to be careful not to upset her in any way even if it was unintentional. The good thing was that she had been improving in controlling her temper in recent days.

    "Evelina," he called after her.

    She stopped and faced him again. She looked unhappy but didn¡¯t look angry. "Is it something that you can¡¯t tell me?"

    He sighed and tried to think about how he was going to exin it to her. He had been thinking about it for the entire weekend but he still hadn¡¯t decided which method was best to break it to her without causing her stress.

    "Mommy, Daddy!" Ketchup¡¯s voice interrupted them. "Uncle Lin Lin is on the news! Wow, all headlines! Hurry, look! Meow!"

 Chapter 879 - Pregnancy Brain

    <h4>Chapter 879 - Pregnancy Brain </h4>

    Jin Liwei fished out his phone from his pocket. Ketchup immediately took over the phone and showed her mommy and daddy all the current headlines featuring her Uncle Lin Lin.

    Iris¡¯ curiosity about the news made her instantly forget about her suspicion at Jin Liwei and her big brother exchanging secret nces with each other all weekend long. She restrained herself from asking the two of them that time because she didn¡¯t want to cause conflict when they were all enjoying the weekend with her friends.

    She peeked at Jin Liwei¡¯s phone to read the headlines together with him. His arms wrapped around her and positioned the phone so that she could see better.

    "Superstar Jin Chonglin Refuses to Renew Contract with Bright Summit"

    "Prince Lin Lin Ready to Abandon Bright Summit Pce to Build His Own Kingdom?"

    "Bright Summit Offers Quadruple Jin Chonglin¡¯s Guaranteed Sry from Previous Contract But the Greedy Prince Says NO! He Wants More?"

    "Does Jin Chonglin n to Be a Frence Artist After Contract with Bright Summit Expires?"

    "Jin Chonglin¡¯s Army of Fans Anxious About their Prince Lin Lin¡¯s Future Amidst His Repeated Rejection of Bright Summit¡¯s Offers"

    Iris pursed her lips upon reading the headlines. "It seems like someone from Bright Summit deliberately leaked to the media about the failed negotiations with Brother Chonglin."

    "Bright Summit is getting desperate," Jin Liwei said.

    "As they should. Brother Chonglin is a big whale in showbiz and their current biggest moneymaker. I¡¯m surprised that they only offered to quadruple his guaranteed base sry. I was expecting that by this time, they would¡¯ve already offered him six times, no, maybe seven times the money. And that doesn¡¯t even include endorsement earnings. Maybe he would even be tempted to sign with them again and abandon our n to create our own talent managementpany if they offered more money."

    Jin Liwei shook his head. "I can sense my brother¡¯s determination to forge his own future without being at the mercy of another entity like Bright Summit. No matter how much money they tempt him with, he won¡¯t budge. Besides, he¡¯s a Jin and would own his own Jin Corporation shares soon when the transfer procedure and all the required legalities arepleted. My brother doesn¡¯t need Bright Summit¡¯s paltry money offer."

    She smiled in amusement at his haughty tone when defending his younger brother. Then she hugged his arm and began acting lovey-dovey to him again as they continued walking to their home office.

    Jin Liwei also smiled but inwardly released a big sigh of relief. He was thankful that his wife¡¯s mood swing this time changed so quickly before settling to a pleasant one. She also seemed to have already forgotten about her earlier suspicion regarding the secret nces he had been exchanging with her brother throughout the weekend.

    This was good for him because it gave him extra time to think of the best way to tell her about his deal with her brother. Keeping it aplete secret to her crossed his mind but he quickly rejected the idea. If she could tell him the huge secret about her highly sensitive identity in her past life, then the least he could do was reciprocate her honesty. Nevertheless, he still needed to be careful in how to break it to her while reducing the stress.

    He didn¡¯t know how long this extra time wouldst before she remembered this issue again. All he could do was take advantage of her so-called pregnancy brain right now. In recent days, the frequency of her forgetting about some things here and there had increased.

    Asking Ketchup to remind her of things in advance was proving to be very helpful to her. But the problem was that she would also forget to ask Ketchup for reminders sometimes.

    Finally, they arrived at their shared home office. Iris didn¡¯t bother climbing up to the staircase to her mezzanine office space. She settled on the biggest couch in Jin Liwei¡¯s office and took off both of her sandals. He sat beside her, ced her legs on hisp, and began massaging her feet. She sighed in contentment, looking very much like a cat who was being petted just the way she liked it.

    "Darling, before I consult you about leaving Bright Summit and starting my own managementpany with Brother Chonglin, I feel like I¡¯m forgetting about something important but I can¡¯t remember what it is. It¡¯s bothering me."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hands paused for a second. Good thing that she didn¡¯t notice. He continued massaging her legs, trying his hardest to distract her with his hands, and hoping that she would forget about her suspicion again.

    "Oh, right!" Her eyes lit up.

    His heart sank. It seemed like he wouldn¡¯t have time to think of a better way to tell her everything after all. He steeled himself and prepared himself to just wing it and proceed ording to how she would react.

    "I forgot to ask Big Brother or even Big Sister Jinjing if he really told her to call him Niki," she said.

    He blinked a few times. His brain took a few seconds longer to process what she just said. Wait, what? She wasn¡¯t talking about the secret nces he had been exchanging with her brother? When he realized that she was talking about something else, he released another mental sigh of relief. Then he focused on her current concern and listened to her exnation.

    She told him about the incident where Long Jinjing almost called her brother "Niki" but stopped in time before correcting herself and saying "Zihao" instead. It was the day that Iris had a meeting with Jin Chonglin at Orchidia Beauty to finalize his men¡¯s line.

    "I don¡¯t know why I keep forgetting about it," she said with a purse of her lips while tilting her head to the side. "I missed my chance to ask the two of them when they slept over the weekend."

    "Did you hear Long Jinjing call your brother ¡¯Niki¡¯ again?" he asked.

    She shook her head.

    "If she¡¯s really calling him ¡¯Niki¡¯, then their rtionship must be quite serious," he said.

    She didn¡¯t reply.

 Chapter 880 - Perfect Balance

    <h4>Chapter 880 - Perfect Bnce </h4>

    "You don¡¯t like the two of them together?" Jin Liwei asked after noticing his baby girl¡¯s silence.

    "It¡¯s not that," Iris whispered, shaking her head. "I¡¯m just worried about my brother¡¯s rtionship with Big Sister Jinjing. You should now have an idea about what kind of group my big brother created. Shadow Winds is...not typical to say the least."

    "I know."

    Silence.

    Jin Liwei gave her legs a gentle pat before announcing, "Alright, that¡¯s enough worrying about others. Your brother and Long Jinjing are already adults. They know what they¡¯re doing when they decided to be together. You already have enough on your te as it is with your pregnancy, our uing wedding, your remaining work and everything else that you put in your never-ending to-do list. I don¡¯t want you to stress so much about others right now. I want you to focus on your own health and that of our babies¡¯, okay?"

    The corners of her mouth curved up. "Okay."

    "Good."

    She removed her legs from hisp and straightened her back. Her expression now became more serious. "Now let¡¯s discuss Bright Summit."

    "En."

    "We need to work fast about this matter, darling. Brother Chonglin is currently in a limbo. It won¡¯t be good for him if this takes too long, especially now that he¡¯s in the headlines. People will put more pressure on him. Some are even starting to criticize him and using him of being too greedy for not epting Bright Summit¡¯s generous offers."

    "Oh oh oh, Ketchup wants to speak! May the cute and mighty me interrupt Mommy and Daddy¡¯s important conversation? Meow~"

    The couple looked at the TV screen mounted on the wall showing their AI cat daughter shaking her fluffy white butt with great eagerness.

    "Go ahead," Jin Liwei said.

    "Thanks, Daddy! Love ya~" Ketchup made a couple of loud kissing noises before grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Can Ketchup mobilize the Slippers Army to troll those who¡¯re falsely using Uncle Lin Lin of being an ungrateful and greedy bastard? Oopsie daisy! Uh oh! Ketchup said a bad word! Sorry! Meowuwuwu!"

    "It¡¯s fine this time," Jin Liwei assured his overdramatic but extremely adorable AI daughter. "Continue what you¡¯re saying."

    Ketchup immediately stopped crying and waved her cute, fluffy paws in an attempt to appear threatening but only managed to look even more adorable than she already was before. "Ketchup wants to defend Uncle Lin Lin with the help of the Slippers Army because it¡¯s super-duper fun to troll together! Ehehehe~ And Ketchup is sure that my little kitty brother Bacon would also join because he¡¯s a big meanie who loves trolling others. Meow~"

    Iris chuckled in amusement but at the same time felt proud of her AI children¡¯s trolling skills. "Do what you want. But be careful not to bring trouble to your Uncle Chonglin."

    "Yipee! Aye aye, Mommy! Ketchup can¡¯t wait! Bacooooooooooon, where are yoooouuu? Let¡¯s do something fun¡ªI mean, let¡¯s defend our Uncle Lin Lin¡¯s honour and reputation! How dare those poopoos badmouth a member of our happy family?! Let¡¯s go, avocado! Meow~"

    The ck cat appeared in an instant beside his sister Ketchup who was jumping up and down in excitement like usual. Bacon¡¯s stone face looked bored as always but his tail was already rotating like a helicopter¡¯s rotor des.

    "Yay! You¡¯re here, Bacon! Ketchup missed you so much, even if you¡¯re a big meanie! Meow~"

    Bacon ignored her. "Hello, Mother and Father. Bacon is back from Shadow Winds."

    "How was it?" Iris asked. "Are you having fun?"

    "Yes, Mother. The work is not boring."

    She smiled. "I¡¯m d to hear that."

    Bacon turned his glowing golden eyes to Jin Liwei. "Father, Bacon is working very hard. My skills have already improved a great deal. Can Father help Bacon negotiate a sry raise or perhaps a bonus? Uncle Zihao rejected my request. I don¡¯t understand why."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched. This little money-grubber. All the kid thought about was sry. He only started working for his Uncle Zihao yesterday and he was already asking for a raise.

    Iris burst outughing. "Darling, I think this part of Bacon¡¯s personality came from Big Sister Jinjing. They¡¯re so much alike when ites to money!" Then she realized something. Her eyes widened. "Oh!"

    "Hm? What is it, love?"

    She grabbed his arm. Wonder filled her expression. "Bacon inherited his personality from both my big brother and Big Sister Jinjing. Doesn¡¯t that make him more like their child than ours? Especially now that the two of them are in a rtionship."

    Jin Liwei scowled. "No way. Bacon is our child. Nobody else¡¯s."

    "Father is right, Mother," the ck cat AI agreed in a solemn voice. His rotating tail also slowed down. "Bacon is Mother and Father¡¯s child. Nobody else¡¯s."

    "Ah." Iris looked at the two before nodding. "Indeed, you are father and son. It seems like Bacon also got a bit of your personality, darling. It¡¯s just not that noticeable."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression appeared better after she said that. He smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup inherited Mommy and Daddy¡¯s best points, too! Ketchup got Mommy¡¯s extraordinary beauty and Daddy¡¯s outstanding coolness! Uncle Dom said so~ Ehehe. Meow~"

    Bacon rolled his golden eyes and started licking his paws in boredom. "Are we meeting with the Slippers Army yet? You called me here to defend Uncle Chonglin¡¯s reputation but you¡¯re still dilly-dallying. What are we still waiting for? I can¡¯t wait to destroy some bad people."

    "Bacon, tone it down a little," Iris reminded him. "You¡¯ll get your Uncle Chonglin and the ck Stars into trouble if you don¡¯t control your destructive instincts."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Mommy! Ketchup will look after Bacon and make sure that he¡¯s being a good kitty baby just like the cute and mighty me! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nodded in approval. The AI siblings were a perfect bnce to each other. Ketchup was responsible enough to help keep Bacon¡¯s destructive instincts in check while Bacon always remained coolheaded whenever Ketchup¡¯s emotions got the better of her. Both were dependable in their own way. Indeed, they were his and his baby girl¡¯s children. No doubt about it.

 Chapter 881 - Play Time

    <h4>Chapter 881 - y Time </h4>

    The AI siblings, Ketchup and Bacon, excused themselves and said goodbyes to their parents before joining the Slippers Army to defend their Uncle Lin Lin¡¯s reputation online. With the two leading the notorious online troll group, the Slippers Army would surely be swifter, more ruthless, and utterly despicable.

    It wasn¡¯t like Jin Chonglin needed the Slippers Army to defend him. He already had a massive army of loyal fans across the world, especially in Asia, as his firstyer of defence against critics. With their numbers alone, they were already a force to be reckoned with.

    Nevertheless, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have the Slippers Army¡¯s support. The members of the notorious troll group were like mutated cockroaches who would swarm like a merciless gue towards their targets.

    Iris and Jin Liwei allowed their AI children to have fun trolling with the Slippers Army. They considered it as giving their kids some appropriate y time. Since Ketchup and Bacon were AI children, their needs were different from regr human or even animal children. At least with the Slippers Army, the two could let off some steam and rx a little, especially Bacon who had strong destructive instincts.

    Besides, Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t see anything wrong with the two defending their own uncle online. Like Ketchup said, it was simply defending a member of their happy family.

    Although the two AI children technically "left", their virtual images still remained on the TV screen. A ball of yarn appeared on Ketchup¡¯s fluffy paws and she began ying with it. This was her default rest-mode plus the other one which was chasing virtual butterflies. On the other hand, Bacon became frozen while sitting on his haunches. His glowing golden eyes dimmed.

    This was one of the differences between the two of them. Ketchup was an excellent multitasker. She could operate several tasks all at once without any problems, as long as the tasks weren¡¯t too difficult or her emotions wouldn¡¯t get the better of her.

    Bacon was also capable of multitasking but not as well as Ketchup. In contrast, he excelled in more specialized tasks and did them with more efficiency than his sister. In this sense, he was really an excellent fit for his uncle¡¯s Shadow Winds, not to mention that his personality was also suitable for the type of work the group did. He would tackle the most difficult tasks while the group¡¯s hacker team, collectively known as ShaWn, took care of the other more minor tasks to make it easier for Bacon toplete his assigned work.

    Their parents, Iris and Jin Liwei, could call on Ketchup and she woulde running in excitement while still doing her other tasks in the background. On the other hand, Bacon wouldn¡¯t be able to do the same thing, especially if he was in the middle of performing a difficult task like his new job at Shadow Winds. Either he needed to stop what he was doing and respond to the call or ignore it and continue what he was working on.

    Iris wasn¡¯t focused too much on their ring differences. For her, these differences were just natural and nothing to be disappointed about because the two children were individuals with their own distinct personalities and specialties. Her main priority regarding her AI children was guiding them to develop into the best versions of themselves as safely as possible.

    Though truth be told, she was more worried about Bacon than Ketchup, not only because of his personality which was so much like her big brother¡¯s and his natural destructive instincts due to his origin as a corruption taken from Ketchup, but also because he was now part of Shadow Winds. His official job title was frence hacker but his uncle was giving him extremely important and highly sensitive tasks. Iris wouldn¡¯t be surprised if her big brother would soon treat Bacon as his right-hand man because Niki never really trusted anyone, except for her. Since she wasn¡¯t involved in Shadow Winds, the next best candidate after her was her AI son, Bacon.

    Her worry about her AI son must have shown on her face because she felt Jin Liwei giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

    He told her, "Bacon will be fine. Didn¡¯t he already promise us that safety will be his number one priority? He¡¯ll refuse his uncle¡¯s order if he deemed it too dangerous and will immediately notify us. Of course, I also already informed your brother about this."

    She tilted her head to the side. "When did you and Big Brother talk about this? Howe I don¡¯t know?"

    "We talked when youdies kicked us out so that you could all enjoy your girls¡¯ day with your friends. Your brother and I talked about a lot of things, Evelina."

    "May I know what you the two of you talked about?"

    "Of course, love. But how about we focus first on your strategy regarding leaving Bright Summit with my brother?"

    "Oh, right." Iris blew out an annoyed breath. "This is so annoying. I feel so easily distractedtely."

    He reached over and tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. "Don¡¯t stress over it. Your doctor says that quite a lot of pregnant women experience this, so there¡¯s nothing wrong with you. It¡¯s normal."

    She nodded and immediately felt better. Then she forced herself into business mode and resumed consulting her strategy with him.

    Afterwards, they called JJ and Enrique Valdez separately for additional advice. The two became interested in her n of creating her own independent entertainment and talent managementpany with Jin Chonglin that they even offered to give her whatever assistance she might need from them. Ever the student of the shameless Grandpa Lu, she epted their offers without second thoughts, even though she hadn¡¯t decided yet what to ask from them.

    Finally, the couple saved the best forst. They called Grandpa Lu and the business discussion soon turned into a hrious catching up with each other.

    "When are the two of you going to marry? I want to know!"

    Iris looked at Jin Liwei who calmly answered the old man, "Soon, Grandpa Lu. Very soon."

 Chapter 882 - Familiar Sprightly Figure

    <h4>Chapter 882 - Familiar Sprightly Figure </h4>

    tinum Sky Condominium.

    Long Jinjing gave onest kick to the focus mitt that Robin was holding before falling to the padded gym floor and not moving. She was gasping so hard and desperately trying to breathe more oxygen into her deprived lungs. It felt like all her energy had been used up in Robin¡¯s super intense 45-minute self-defence training.

    "Excellent work, Miss Jinjing." Shun who yed the part of "attacker" in the self-defence scenarios they covered today handed her a bottle of water, the cap already removed, but she couldn¡¯t even raise herself from the floor to receive it.

    Robin removed her focus mitts before helping her up. Long Jinjing felt embarrassed but was helpless because she really felt too exhausted.

    "Thanks."

    "No problem, Miss Jinjing," Robin said with a smile. "I¡¯ll give you thirty seconds to catch your breath before we have to do cool down exercises and stretching."

    Long Jinjing wanted to cry. "Can I skip it?"

    "I¡¯m sorry, Miss," Robin said, her tone sympathetic. "Boss Hao personally designed and approved your training program. We have to follow it or we¡¯ll get into trouble."

    Long Jinjing sighed and nodded. She didn¡¯t want Robin and Shun to get into trouble because of her. However, she intended toin to Lu Zihaoter and ask him to make her training a little lighter and suitable for regr people like her. All she wanted was to increase her strength and stamina and learn a bit of self-defence, not be a soldier or a professional fighter.

    When Lu Zihao told her that he wouldn¡¯t go easy on her and that she should prepare herself, he really wasn¡¯t joking. This kind of training was like the ones she watched in action movies, maybe even more brutal and less showy. Although Robin and Shun called the moves that they were teaching her self-defence, she felt like they were more like assassination techniques.

    Fine, she was exaggerating but the moves were still more violent than what she expected self-defence to be.

    Afterpleting the cool down exercises and the stretches, she felt a little better and was able to walk by herself without needing any assistance.

    "I...I¡¯ll cook us dinner," she offered.

    "Absolutely not, Miss Jinjing!" Robin looked horrified at the thought, not at Long Jinjing¡¯s cooking, but at her Boss Hao¡¯s anger if he discovered that his subordinates allowed his tired girlfriend to cook for them.

    "Please rest, Miss," the calmer Shun said. "We¡¯ll order take-out for dinner instead."

    Long Jinjing sighed again and nodded before heading to the master bathroom to shower. When she was finished, she headed to the living room to watch some TV. A freshly showered Robin was in the open kitchen making some fruit smoothies.

    "Where¡¯s Shun?" Long Jinjing asked, heading to sit at the kitchen counter instead to chat with Robin.

    "He¡¯s in the lobby waiting to receive our take-out dinner from the delivery person. Boss Hao doesn¡¯t allow any outsiders toe to this penthouse." Robin handed Long Jinjing a tall ss of smoothie with a straw.

    "I see. Thanks." She sipped the smoothie and smiled. "This is delicious."

    "d you like it, Miss."

    Long Jinjing swept her eyes across the huge penthouse unit while enjoying her smoothie. The ce was empty. There were no decorations or picture frames that revealed the owner¡¯s personal style or identity. All the necessary furniture was present but they were more functional than stylish.

    She didn¡¯t like this kind of impersonal space but Lu Zihao wanted them to stay here for a few days. Speaking of Lu Zihao, he had be somewhat lethargic after their stay at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    He would only have sex with her for one, maybe two short rounds before falling asleep. He also slept longer and didn¡¯t wake up all throughout the night. She wasn¡¯tining because it also gave her valuable time to catch up on some much-needed sleep. However, she was starting to feel worried about him.

    When she asked him about it, he just brushed her off and told her not to worry. He was just tired from work. Then he proceeded to ask her to stay at his penthouse a few cities away.

    "Why?" she asked himst night.

    "I have to work in that area in the next few days so it¡¯s more convenient for me to stay there," he exined. "I¡¯m feeling a little tired so I don¡¯t want to travel far every night just to be with you."

    She remembered feeling touched to hear that he wanted to stay with her every night. However, she didn¡¯t agree right away. "What about my work? I also don¡¯t want to travel far away every day."

    "You¡¯ll use my helicopter."

    "W-what? No!"

    He looked at her with his deep, dark eyes. "Jinjing, it¡¯ll only be for a week. Do it for me, okay? I¡¯ll make it up to youter. Whatever you want, I¡¯ll do it."

    She thought about it before eventually agreeing. And that was how she ended up staying at his penthouse. Her best friend, Chen Fei, would love this kind ofrge and modern ce but it wasn¡¯t for Long Jinjing. She still preferred her small and homely two-bedroom unit.

    "Robin, do you know what time Ni¡ªZihao wille home?" she asked after ncing at the clock.

    "Boss Hao doesn¡¯t have a set schedule, so it¡¯s hard to guess what time he¡¯ll finish work."

    "I see." Long Jinjing looked at the panoramic view of the city¡¯s night lights outside the ceiling-high ss windows. "I hope hees home soon. He¡¯s not feeling well. I don¡¯t want him to get sick."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Miss Jinjing. Boss Hao is the toughest man I know. He won¡¯t get sick that easily."

    She nodded and finished her ss of smoothie. Right at that moment, Shun arrived carrying what should be their take-out dinner.

    "Shun, you¡¯re back¡ª" Her eyes widened upon seeing the familiar sprightly figure behind him.

    "Well, I¡¯ll be damned! If it isn¡¯t Jinjing girl! Bahahaha! You¡¯re really here! So Shunnosuke here didn¡¯t lie to this old man after all! Is it true that you¡¯re my pinheaded grandson¡¯s girlfriend? Tell me, I want to know!"

 Chapter 883 - Past Girlfriends

    <h4>Chapter 883 - Past Girlfriends </h4>

    "S-sir Lu!"

    Long Jinjing was shocked to see Lu Zihao¡¯s grandfather. She jumped off the stool so fast that she almost stumbled to the floor. Fortunately, she was able to hold on to the kitchen counter just in time to save herself from falling t on her face.

    Embarrassment flooded her due to her clumsiness, especially in front of her boyfriend¡¯s grandfather and subordinates. Although Lu Zihao was only her temporary boyfriend for a month, the two of them were still treating their rtionship as something official. In fact, she sometimes felt like he was treating their arrangement more seriously than her.

    Justst week, her mother caught the two of them together in her condo unit. She was only wearing a robe that time while he exited the bedroom with a mere towel wrapped around his waist. It was obvious just by looking at them what they had been doing.

    Now, it appeared that it was Lu Zihao¡¯s grandfather¡¯s turn to catch her staying in Lu Zihao¡¯s penthouse. On a brighter note, at least she was wearing full clothes and Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t in sight showing off his half-naked state. And on an even brighter note, at least nobody caught the two of them in the actual act of having sex.

    Long Jinjing wanted to cry. Needless to say, she was not prepared at all to handle this kind of awkward situations. So embarrassing!

    "Careful, girl!" the old man¡¯s deep voice boomed throughout the penthouse.

    He rushed towards her with long, energetic strides. His movements were nothing like that of an old man at all. Then he grasped her arm and lifted her up easily as if she weighed nothing to him. In this sense, he was exactly the same as his grandson. Both were extremely strong people.

    "T-thank you, Sir Lu," Long Jinjing said in a soft, embarrassed voice. She could feel the heat spreading on her face and neck.

    He narrowed his eyes at her and pretended to act angry. "Why are you still calling this old man Sir Lu? Are we still strangers? I want to know! Especially now that I learn that you¡¯ve be the girlfriend of that pinheaded grandson of mine! What did I tell you and that Fei girl to call me before?"

    "Oh, I...G-grandpa Lu," she whispered, unable to look at the old man in the eyes. Her voice was filled with shyness. She felt like a little girl who did something naughty in front of the respected elder.

    "Bahahaha! Good girl! Don¡¯t forget to call me Grandpa Lu from now on or this old man will be very sad!" Then in a gentler voice, he told her, "Now raise your head and look at me. Grandpa wants to see your beautiful face."

    Despite her overwhelming shyness, she still obeyed and carefully raised her head and looked at Grandpa Lu, only to find him grinning at her. His happiness was obvious and she couldn¡¯t help but be infected by it. Without realizing it, she also started smiling.

    "Good, very good! My Haohao isn¡¯t that much of a dunderhead after all! He was able to make a nice youngdy like you as his girlfriend! This is certainly the best news that I¡¯ve gotten today. This old man is very happy tonight! Bahahaha!"

    Long Jinjing flushed even more at his words but she felt much better now. The old man ced his big hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle pat, silently assuring her that she would be fine and that she didn¡¯t need to feel shy in front of him.

    Grandpa Lu turned to the other two people who were standing silently by the side. "Shunnosuke, Robilyn, start arranging the food on the dining table. I don¡¯t know about you young ones but this old man is already hungry! The food you ordered smells good. Good job, Shunnosuke!"

    If it wasn¡¯t for Grandpa Lu¡¯s reminder, Long Jinjing might have alreadypletely forgotten about the take-out dinner and the fact that both Shun and Robin were still present. The two were just like their boss, Lu Zihao. They were all able to move without making any sound. Sometimes, she wouldn¡¯t even know that they were in the same room as her because they were so silent.

    She smiled at them in shy amusement and asked, "Shunnosuke? Robilyn? Are those your real names?"

    Shun cleared his throat. "Not exactly my real name, Miss Jinjing. But yes, Shun is short for Shunnosuke. I¡¯m originally from Japan, in case you¡¯re wondering."

    Long Jinjing was surprised at the information. She turned to Robin next with an expectant expression on her face. However, the other woman only smiled at her without saying anything and proceeded to start getting the dining table ready. Long Jinjing got the hint and stopped asking.

    "I¡¯ll help," she said and was about to join them at preparing the dining table but Shun blocked her.

    "No, Miss. Please let us handle the table. Why don¡¯t you stay here and chat with Grandfather Boss? Robin and I will be quick."

    "But¡ª"

    "Jinjing girl, you don¡¯t want to chat with this old man? Howe? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu tried sounding pitiful but it didn¡¯t work because of his booming voice and the clear mischievous amusement glinting in his sharp eyes.

    "I...no, that¡¯s n-not it, Grandpa Lu!" Long Jinjing said in a hurry. "Of course, I want to chat with you. I just...uhm, wanted to help set the table...."

    "Bahahaha! I was just teasing you, Jinjing my girl! You really are such a good, nice and very kind youngdy! I¡¯m so relieved to know that my pinheaded grandson finally decided to follow my good taste in women!"

    Long Jinjing paused and frowned a little but still smiled and asked in her most casual tone, "What do you mean by that, Grandpa Lu? Zihao had poor taste in women before?"

    The old man made a face. "Don¡¯t mind that boy¡¯s past girlfriends. Those women are nothingpared to you, my girl! What¡¯s important is that you and my Haohao are together now."

    Her frown deepened but she still forced herself to smile before nodding.

 Chapter 884 - Thank You, Jinjing

    <h4>Chapter 884 - Thank You, Jinjing </h4>

    Dinner was finally ready. Grandpa Lu and Long Jinjing sat at the dining table. Shun and Robin were about to leave but the old man stopped them.

    "Where are you going, Shunnosuke and Robilyn? I want to know! Come sit down and eat with us." Then he turned to Long Jinjing. "My girl, you don¡¯t mind if they eat together with us, right?"

    She shook her head. "I don¡¯t mind at all. Shun, Robin, please join me and Grandpa Lu for dinner."

    The two hesitated at first but eventually caved in because it wouldn¡¯t be proper to make their boss¡¯ grandfather and girlfriend sound like they were begging the two of them. If their Boss Hao found out, he would surely force them to undergo one of his hellish personal training.

    With Grandpa Lu¡¯s liveliness, the conversation at the dinner table flowed naturally. Long Jinjing was able to rx atst and evenughed at every single one of Grandpa Lu¡¯s jokes. Even Shun and Robin couldn¡¯t stop themselves from chuckling, although they tried their best to restrain theirughter.

    Long Jinjing pushed her questions about what Grandpa Lu said earlier about Lu Zihao¡¯s past girlfriends to the back of her mind. She didn¡¯t want to spoil the cheerful mood at the dinner table. Nevertheless, she still made a mental note to confront Lu Zihao about it in private.

    Dinner finally ended. Long Jinjing once again tried clearing the table and washing the dishes but as usual Shun and Robin stopped her. Grandpa Lu dragged her to the living area to continue their chat instead.

    He didn¡¯t ask about her rtionship with Lu Zihao at the dining table at all. She knew that Grandpa Lu deliberately avoided the topic to make her morefortable around him. For that, she was grateful. And indeed, she felt more at ease now.

    Right at that moment, she noticed out of the corner of her eye Shun and Robin both straightening their backs. This particr alert stance was very familiar. Her heart started racing and her breathing sped up a little. She didn¡¯t notice that her eyes had began shining. She automatically nced at the front hallway¡¯s direction.

    Grandpa Lu of course noticed her obvious excitement. "What¡¯s happening? Where are you looking at, my girl? What¡¯s in there?"

    "Old man, stop pestering my girlfriend," Lu Zihao¡¯s deep, casual and devilish voice was heard before he even appeared.

    Long Jinjing knew that her face was turning red again. At the same time, she felt something warm spread from inside her chest and made her feel a little giddy¡ªin a good way. She pressed her fingers on top of her lips in an effort to stop herself from grinning like a stupid idiot.

    A few secondster, Lu Zihao finally appeared from the front hallway. He was wearing a custom-made tailored business suit which hugged his huge and fit body in all the right ces. Long Jinjing became dazed a little and her mouth filled with saliva. She swallowed hard and tried to clear her mind.

    "Boss Hao!"

    "Wee back, Boss Hao!"

    Both Shun and Robin greeted Lu Zihao in respectful and subservient tones. He nodded at them and must¡¯ve performed some kind of secret signal because the two bowed before excusing themselves and leaving the penthouse.

    "Haohao, my boy!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed louder than usual. "You finally returned! Call me Grandpa, not Old Man! How many times do I have to tell you?! And who¡¯s pestering who? I want to know!"

    Long Jinjing managed to recover some of her wits. "I...uhm, Grandpa Lu wasn¡¯t p-pestering me...."

    "See?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s long legs allowed him to reach the living area very quickly. He went directly to Long Jinjing and wrapped his arm around her waist before kissing her on the lips right in front of Grandpa Lu.

    "Ni¡ªZi...Zihao!" Too embarrassed to look at Grandpa Lu¡¯s reaction, she pressed her face against Lu Zihao¡¯s chest after the kiss ended.

    "Bahahaha! Atta boy! Shameless just like your beloved grandpa!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s boisterousughter echoed throughout the huge penthouse. Then in a much gentler voice, he said, "Jinjing, my girl. No need to be so embarrassed by such a simple kiss. This old man had seen more risqu¨¦ public disys of affection from your Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei."

    Lu Zihao immediately scowled. He couldn¡¯t refute it, however, because he also became a recipient of such unwee PDA from his sister and her man many times before.

    She slowly looked at the grandfather and grandson. Although she still felt shy, it wasn¡¯t polite to continue hiding her face in front of an elder. Then she asked Lu Zihao, "Have you eaten dinner yet?"

    "No."

    "Would you like me to heat up food for you?"

    "Yeah."

    Grandpa Lu smacked Lu Zihao¡¯s shoulder, causing Long Jinjing to be worried due to the loud sound. However, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t react at all and looked like it was nothing to him. She was sure that someone like Lu Zihao could¡¯ve avoided such an obvious smack but he chose to allow his grandfather to hit him instead.

    "What ¡¯yeah¡¯? Say ¡¯thank you¡¯ to your girlfriend, you dunderhead! Where did the manners that this old man taught you since childhood go, huh? I want to know!"

    "Grandpa Lu, it¡¯s okay, really," Long Jinjing tried to interject. "I don¡¯t mind."

    "No, it¡¯s not!" Grandpa Lu continued to re at his grandson. "And you should mind, my girl!"

    Lu Zihao sighed before turning to Long Jinjing with one of his devilish smiles. "Thank you, Jinjing."

    She literally felt the ultra-fast descent of her IQ to amoeba level. He thanked her! And it felt so good! Oh, what to do? Her heart was beating so fast and loud inside her chest that she wondered if they could hear it.

    "How about you heat up dinner for me now?" he said. "I¡¯ll talk to my grandfather first."

    She nodded like a stupid idiot and marched like a mindless robot to the kitchen without saying anything.

    When she left, Grandpa Lu was still ring. He demanded, "When were you nning on introducing Jinjing as your girlfriend to your beloved grandpa? Tell me, I want to know!"

 Chapter 885 - Lethargy

    <h4>Chapter 885 - Lethargy </h4>

    "Soon," Lu Zihao replied while taking a seat on the couch and watching Long Jinjing busying herself in the kitchen.

    Grandpa Lu also plopped himself on the other couch. "Bah! You¡¯re just like your third brother, always telling me soon, soon, SOON! I asked him and your Little Sister Xin when are they going to marry but they only tell me ¡¯soon¡¯! Hmph! Why can¡¯t you all just give me an exact date? Is it really that hard? I want to know!"

    The corners of Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth curved up. He didn¡¯t notice that something warm was starting to spread from inside his chest while he was being nagged by Grandpa Lu. His expression also became a little gentler.

    As for him saying "soon", he was nning on formally introducing Long Jinjing as his girlfriend to the old man at his sister¡¯s wedding with Jin Liwei. He only treated it as part of his agreement with Long Jinjing. She wanted respect as his official girlfriend, so he would introduce her to everyone.

    His sister and Jin Liwei were keeping their wedding date aplete secret to everyone except for their close friends, so he couldn¡¯t reveal it even to Grandpa Lu. He didn¡¯t understand why his sister and her man decided to have a secret wedding, keeping it a surprise to even their guests, but hey, it was their business. If that was what his sister wanted, then she should have the wedding of her dreams.

    Grandpa Lu lowered the volume of his booming voice, leaned forward, and asked in a whisper, "By the way, Haohao my boy. Jinjing and I were having a fun time chatting with each other earlier and I briefly mentioned your past girlfriends. I shouldn¡¯t have done that but the words were already out of my mouth before I realized what I said. Anyway, I noticed that the girl had this weird expression. She looked surprised but also suspicious. But you know the girl, very polite and kind. She tried hiding her true thoughts behind a smile. But this old man has lived long enough to recognize that kind of expression."

    Lu Zihao scowled upon learning that the old man had let it slip that his grandson had girlfriends before. A soft snicker sounded in his head which made him more irritated. This was the first time since he left Dragon Pce Home #10 that he sensed the remnant¡¯s presence again.

    Both he and the remnant suffered some bacsh when the remnant failed to disconnect properly from their body during their talk with Jin Liwei. The remnant didn¡¯t surface at all afterwards which gave him a little hope that it finally disappeared.

    As for him, he became a bit lethargic after that rming episode. In fact, he still hadn¡¯t regained his usual energy even until now. It was a big pain in the ass because he had a lot of work to do, especially since he wanted to test Bacon¡¯s limits so that he could give his AI nephew more specialized tasks. His sister told him that Bacon had an extremely powerful self-learning function and that the cat AI would only improve by leaps and bounds in the future. However, Jin Liwei made him aware that his sister had programmed some limitations on Bacon, giving the cat AI the "right" to refuse any "inappropriate" tasks.

    Aside from this, his lethargy was also affecting his sex life with Long Jinjing to some degree. Their 30-day rtionship would being to an end a few days after his sister¡¯s wedding. Time was extremely limited. He wanted to fuck Long Jinjing as often as he could but was unable to do so because of his lethargy. He hoped that his usual energy would return soon.

    His thoughts were interrupted when Grandpa Lu continued asking him in a whisper, "My boy, did you not tell Jinjing my girl that you¡¯ve had girlfriends before her? I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao wanted to strangle the remnant, if only that was possible. He sighed in frustration. "Old man¡ª"

    Grandpa Lu smacked him on the shoulder again, prompting Long Jinjing to look at them with a face full of worry. Lu Zihao gave her a "don¡¯t worry" look.

    "Call me that again and I¡¯ll pull you by the ear and twist it¡ª"

    "Grandpa," Lu Zihao said.

    The old man harrumphed but it was obvious that his expression had improved. "That¡¯s better!" Then he red at his grandson once again. "Well? Did you lie to your girlfriend? I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao sighed once again. "I didn¡¯t lie. I just forgot that I have ex-girlfriends, so I told Jinjing that I¡¯ve never experienced being in a rtionship before and that she¡¯s my first girlfriend."

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s re turned into a frown. "What do you mean that you forgot? Tell me, I want to know!" Then the frown turned into concern. "Is it selective amnesia? Like what your Little Sister Xin experienced after her car ident?"

    "Maybe," Lu Zihao murmured, keeping his tone casual and his expression impassive.

    "What?! Then we need to have a doctor examine you right now! This is serious! What if it¡¯s something dangerous and damages your health in the long run? And most importantly, what if it affects your sperm and your ability to give me great-grandbabies?! Come on, Haohao. Grandpa will bring you to the hospital right away!"

    "W-what hospital?!" Long Jinjing came running from the kitchen. Her face was filled with anxious concern as she examined Lu Zihao from head to toe and back up again. "Are you sick, Ni-Zihao?! I knew that something is wrong with you because you¡¯ve been so lethargic recently! But you kept on brushing me off when I ask you about it."

    "Lethargy? That¡¯s it! Jinjing, my girl. Go call Shunnosuke and Robilyn and tell them that we¡¯re taking Haohao to the hospital right now! Prepare the car! No, the helicopter!"

    "Y-yes, Grandpa Lu!" She turned around and was about to run to the phone when Lu Zihao grabbed her.

    "No need," he said in exasperated tone. "You two are overreacting. I¡¯m fine."

 Chapter 886 - Mysterious Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 886 - Mysterious Invitation </h4>

    It took Lu Zihao some time to persuade both Grandpa Lu and Long Jinjing that he was really fine. If it was only Long Jinjing, he would¡¯ve been able to persuade her right away. Not this time though because the old man¡¯s overreaction was magnifying her worry for him. It was only when Grandpa Lu finally stopped insisting on taking Lu Zihao to the hospital that Long Jinjing also settled down a bit. Her worry for him didn¡¯t disappear though which made him feel good.

    "Oh right! Your dinner!" Then off she went running back to the kitchen.

    The two men followed her panicky figure with their eyes.

    "She¡¯s a good girl, that one," Grandpa Lu said in a not-so-booming voice in order to prevent Long Jinjing from hearing him. "Very different from Xin my girl but both of them are excellent youngdies with great heads for business. You did well in making her your girlfriend, my boy!"

    Lu Zihao nodded and felt better after the old man¡¯s praise. He already epted that he had developed some affection for the old man even without the remnant¡¯s influence. The main reason for this was because Grandpa Lu treated his beloved sister very well and was mentoring her on how to establish herself in the business world. The old man was one of the strongest pirs in her business sess.

    Despite thinking like this, he still couldn¡¯t deny that the remnant¡¯s powerful attachment towards Grandpa Lu also had a great effect on him whether he liked it or not, what with its bombardment of intense emotions and all that. And now that it somehow evolved and gained its own sentience and even started talking directly to him, its influence on him had gotten stronger. In spite of this, he believed in himself¡ªNiki Vetrov. He wouldn¡¯t let a mere remnant affect him too much.

    Grandpa Lu "patted" Lu Zihao¡¯s back, effectively interrupting his thoughts. Each "pat" would¡¯ve caused a normal man to drop to the floor in pain, or worse, cough out blood. Maybe even have internal injuries. To Lu Zihao, however, these "pats" were nothing.

    Finally, Long Jinjing called him for dinner. She and Grandpa Lu also sat at the table to apany him. It was the old man who was leading the conversation as always.

    "I only dropped by here because I visited an old friend who lives nearby," Grandpa Lu said. "Then I heard from the property manager that Haohao is staying here so I came to say hi, hello, good evening and let¡¯s eat dinner together to my grandson! I never imagined that I¡¯ll get a very nice surprise! Bahahaha! Thatd Shunnosuke said that his Boss Hao hasn¡¯t returned yet but his girlfriend is at the penthouse. Both of you have made this old man very happy tonight! Haohao my boy, bring out the brandy!"

    Long Jinjing stood up. "I...I¡¯ll do it!"

    "Good, very good!"

    Later, she poured all of them some brandy. She only sipped a little because she still had work tomorrow and couldn¡¯t allow herself to get drunk especially since this was an extremely busy period for Orchidia Beauty.

    Finally, Grandpa Lu started asking them questions about their rtionship. The two took turns answering but it was mostly Lu Zihao who spoke because Long Jinjing was feeling shy as usual. Of course, they didn¡¯t tell the old man about their 30-day agreement.

    Grandpa Lu kept on nodding. His approval was clear to everyone. "Bring Jinjing to my mansion and let¡¯s have a nice dinner together!"

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes widened.

    "We¡¯re both busy with work during the weekdays so I¡¯ll bring her thising weekend instead," Lu Zihao said.

    "Very good! Bahahaha! I¡¯ll prepare a feast!" Grandpa Lu drained his brandy and Long Jinjing refilled it for him. "By the way, I received a mysterious invitation from Dragon Pce to attend a formal party. They didn¡¯t say what kind of party it is. I kept asking Xin my girl and Liwei my boy but those two wouldn¡¯t tell me anything. Why are they being so secretive? I want to know!"

    Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao looked at each other. She avoided Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes and ran off to do something¡ªanything in the kitchen because her expression might betray the secret. Lu Zihao was an expert in hiding his emotions so he was the better choice in dealing with Grandpa Lu¡¯s questions about the uing mysterious event at Dragon Pce.

    Grandpa Lu narrowed his eyes at them while stroking his perfectly groomed white mustache. "Hmmm. This old man can sense that the two of you know what¡¯s going on. Why are you kids being so secretive? Tell your grandpa, I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao finished devouring his dinner. He was now downing brandy like water. "Just attend the event, Old Man. Don¡¯t ask so many questions. You¡¯ll see what it really is on the day itself."

    "You!" Grandpa Lu raised his hand threateningly as if he was going to smack his grandson again.

    "Grandpa," Lu Zihao corrected himself.

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu pushed his snifter away from him on the table, indicating that he was done drinking brandy. Then he turned to Long Jinjing who was wiping down an already clean kitchen counter. "Jinjing my girl, when are you and Haohao going to give your beloved grandpa some great-grandbabies? I want to know!"

    Long Jinjing looked like she was electrocuted. "W-what...."

    "Don¡¯t pressure her, Grandpa. We only started our rtionship. We¡¯re still getting to know and enjoying each other. Also, Jinjing is still young and had just started her career. Giving birth is not one of her priorities."

    The red-faced Long Jinjing immediately seconded him. "Y-yes! Ni-Zihao is right!"

    Lu Zihao swirled the brandy in his snifter. "Besides, if I want a woman to bear my child, I¡¯ll marry her first."

    "Bahaha! That¡¯s right, my boy!" Grandpa Lu thumped the table with his hands. "So you still do remember the good manners your grandpa taught you before!"

    Long Jinjing turned even redder. However, she also quickly became subdued. That woman would surely not be her. After all, their rtionship would end after their 30-day agreement was over.

 Chapter 887 So - Called Girlfriends

    <h4>Chapter 887 So - Called Girlfriends </h4>

    Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao looked rxed but Long Jinjing felt awkward at the current topic of conversation. Her 30-day agreement with Lu Zihao ensured that there was no hope for a long-term rtionship between them. He already made it clear to her right from the start that he wasn¡¯t interested in amitted rtionship. The respect and thoughtfulness that he was treating her with right now were just part of their agreement.

    Nothing more.

    That was what she kept telling herself.

    She wanted to escape the awkwardness but it was rude to just abruptly leave in front of an elder. Then all of sudden, her phone rang. It was hers. She ran to the living area where she left her phone and checked who was calling her.

    It was Alric Bauer.

    She sighed. The man was probably calling to pester her about giving his department more funding again. She was usually a very patient and tolerant person but there were already quite a few times that she almost lost her temper when dealing with Orchidia Beauty¡¯s CPO. However, she always reminded herself that without him, there would be no Orchidia Beauty products. The man was very skilled in what he was doing.

    "I need to take this call," she murmured, sighing again. Then she nced at Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao. "Uhm...."

    "Go ahead, my girl!" Grandpa Lu said with a gesture of his hand. "Take the call! It looks important."

    Lu Zihao also nodded.

    She gave them a thankful smile before heading to another area out of earshot. When she was gone, Grandpa Lu¡¯s expression became serious. Gone was the teasing glint in his eyes.

    "Boy, don¡¯t y with that girl¡¯s heart. Jinjing is a very kind, sweet and gentle soul. This old man can sense that the girl gives in to you most of the time, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you can just take and take and take all the time! That¡¯s not how a rtionship works, my boy."

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice didn¡¯t boom this time. Instead, it sounded steady like how most normal people talked on a daily basis. However, the force of his serious gaze still made his words sound like they were booming inside Lu Zihao¡¯s mind.

    A furrow formed between Lu Zihao¡¯s brows but it onlysted for a second before he smoothed it out. He looked away from the old man and instead watched the city¡¯s night lights outside the ss windows.

    "Well? Aren¡¯t you going to say something?" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice started to boom again a little.

    "Jinjing and I are both adults," Lu Zihao said. "We know what we¡¯re doing. There¡¯s no need for you to worry about us."

    "Hmph! Who¡¯s worried about a dunderhead like you? This old man is worried about Jinjing my girl. She¡¯s an angel and I like her very much! She¡¯s a lot more delicate than your Little Sister Xin so you better take care of her and treat her more carefully! Don¡¯t y around like you did with your other girlfriends before! You¡¯re not getting any younger. Don¡¯t be too casual about your rtionships anymore! Do you understand what I¡¯m telling you, Haohao? Tell me, do you? I want to know!"

    Something shed in Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes but it was gone in the next second. Those girlfriends that the old man was talking about had nothing to do with him. The original happy-go-lucky Lu Zihao liked thrill and adventures the most. He was a gentleman and treated women with respect but a free spirit like him didn¡¯t like being tied down in amitted rtionship.

    His so-called girlfriends before were nothing more than a step above flings. They didn¡¯tst long because he preferred to spend his time adventuring around the world or hanging out with his sworn brothers or teasing his grandpa instead of going on dates with a girlfriend. Despite his devil-may-care attitude, women still flocked to him because of his undeniable charm. He weed them, of course, and had his little fun being in a short-term rtionship before chasing for his next thrilling adventure.

    A loud thump on the table brought his attention back to the present. Lu Zihao saw Grandpa Lu ring at him. The old man didn¡¯t look really angry, though, but just pretending in order to get his attention.

    Lu Zihao sighed. "Don¡¯t worry about my rtionship with Jinjing anymore. Like I said earlier, our rtionship is still very new. But rest assured that she¡¯s my woman now and will treat her ordingly with respect. It¡¯s better if we don¡¯t force anything for now. Jinjing is a little delicate. I don¡¯t want you scaring her with any of your expectations."

    His words didn¡¯t seem to satisfy Grandpa Lu who gave a loud harrumph. But fortunately, the old man stopped lecturing him about his rtionship with Long Jinjing. Grandpa Lu may have stopped speaking but the sharpness of his wise and experienced gaze was enough to make Lu Zihao feel a little ufortable.

    ###

    Later that night, Long Jinjing was in the master bedroom. She was curled on a windowsill seat with a nket wrapped around her while gazing at the active nightlife on the streets below. This ce didn¡¯t feelfortable for her. She was already counting the days when they would return to her small but homely two-bedroom condo unit.

    At the moment, she was waiting for Lu Zihao to finish showering in the bathroom. As for his grandfather, Grandpa Lu shamelessly invited himself to sleep over at the penthouse and was staying in the biggest guestroom far away from the master bedroom. Lu Zihao made sure of that.

    Neither of them wanted to be disturbed or caught while having sex which she was sure they would be doing before going to sleep. Despite Lu Zihao¡¯s lethargy in the past days, he still made sure to have sex with her every night.

    Right now, however, she wasn¡¯t in the mood to have sex with him. What Grandpa Lu said earlier about Lu Zihao having past girlfriends was bothering her.

    Should she ask him about it? Or would he consider it as her prying too much in his private affairs?

 Chapter 888 - Letâ€™s Break Up

    <h4>Chapter 888 - Let¡¯s Break Up </h4>

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t hear Lu Zihao earlier when he imed that he forgot about having girlfriends in the past and Grandpa Lu assuming that he might have selective amnesia because of the ski ident. She only heard the worried Grandpa Lu insisting on taking Lu Zihao to the hospital. As soon as she heard the word "hospital", his obvious lethargy in the past days immediately came to mind, causing her to panic and worry for him even more.

    She had no idea that this kind of conversation urred between the grandfather and grandson while she was busy heating up dinner for Lu Zihao in the kitchen.

    "Why did he have to lie to me?" she murmured to herself. "It¡¯s not like I¡¯ll mind if he had girlfriends before. I have an ex-boyfriend, too. It¡¯s normal and not a big deal."

    Her mood sank and she pulled the nket more tightly around her. "Is it because he hates the idea of being serious with me that much? That¡¯s why he said that he only had bedmates, not girlfriends, in an attempt to deter me?"

    She rested her chin on her knees. "Should I...break up with him?"

    "Like hell I¡¯m letting you break up with me before our 30-day agreement is over," Lu Zihao¡¯s eerily calm voice sounded from behind her.

    She yelped and fell down from the windowsill as the nket tangled all over her body. He caught her and helped her stand on her own feet.

    "Ni-niki, you scared me! You¡¯re always so silent like a ghost! You¡¯re going to give me a heart attack someday!"

    His answer was to tighten the tangled nket, trapping her and not letting her escape from him.

    "W-what are you d-doing, Niki?"

    His intense gaze bored down on her. Although his expression was unreadable as usual, she could feel anger emanating from him. <i></i>

    "Why the f.u.c.k are you thinking of breaking up with me?"

    She shivered at his deceptively soft and calm voice.

    "Answer me, Jinjing."

    She tried wiggling but it was no use. She couldn¡¯t disentangle herself from him and the nket. "I...you lied to me," she whispered.

    Silence.

    When he still didn¡¯t say anything, she slowly peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. He wasn¡¯t showing any emotions but the feeling of anger emanating from him intensified.

    Why was he angry? She didn¡¯t do anything wrong! He was the one who lied to her!

    Feeling indignant, she raised her chin and forced herself to look at him straight in the eyes. "I know that you don¡¯t really w-want us to be b-boyfriend and girlfriend and that I was the one who wanted this in the first ce...but you didn¡¯t have to lie¡ª"

    "I didn¡¯t lie, Jinjing," he told her in a voice so soft that it was almost a whisper.

    She frowned at his denial. "Please...that¡¯s enough."

    Unable to hold his gaze anymore, she turned her head away from him to look at therge but empty-looking master bedroom instead. What was she doing? These feelings were something that she shouldn¡¯t be feeling because of him. It was ridiculous that she was feeling like a pathetic, hopeless, scorned woman.

    She forced a smile on her face but still didn¡¯t look at him. "I¡¯m s-sorry¡ª"

    "What the hell are you apologizing for?" he demanded.

    "¡ªfor acting like this." She knew he said something but didn¡¯t hear what he actually said. Instead, she started to babble in her agitated state. "I made a promise not to question you about your private affairs but here I am acting like a mistrustful, bitchy girlfriend. D-don¡¯t worry, Niki. I won¡¯t do it again. I was just...c-curious about why you would lie...never mind. Let¡¯s not talk about it anymore. Uhm, I...can I go home? I really don¡¯t feel like staying here after all. I think¡ª"

    "Jinjing."

    "¡ªthat I need some time to think away from you. Yes, that¡¯s what I need. Some time for myself and figure out¡ª"

    "Jinjing!" He shook her¡ªgentle enough to not hurt her but firm enough to get her attention. "Listen to me."

    She paused while still refusing to look at him. "I know that I¡¯m being unreasonable given that I¡¯m not your real girlfriend but...oh no!"

    Humiliation flooded through her when her eyes started to fill up with tears. She instinctively tried to cover her face with her hands but couldn¡¯t move because of the nket wrapped tightly around her. All she could do was turn her head even farther away from him.

    "I...this is ridiculous! I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m acting like this. You must be thinking that I¡¯m such a pathetic woman¡ª"

    "Look at me, Jinjing."

    "¡ªand that you made a mistake by entering this 30-day agreement with me. See? I¡¯m terriblepany tonight. I think it¡¯s best for me to go home¡ª"

    "Look at me!"

    The angry,manding tone startled her and caused her to look at him by instinct. Fortunately, she was still able to hold on to a bit of her dignity by being somehow able to keep her tears from falling. She felt confused at why she was acting like this. It felt humiliating.

    "What do you mean that you¡¯re not my real girlfriend?" he asked through gritted teeth. "Does this mean that you weren¡¯t treating me as your real boyfriend all this time?"

    "I...." She swallowed hard and found it hard to exin what she meant.

    "This rtionship might only be temporary but I automatically treated it as real the moment I agreed to your terms. You think I¡¯ll waste my time showing you off to everyone if I thought that our rtionship is fake?"

    Her expression showed confusion but also some other emotion that she couldn¡¯t determine¡ªno, she didn¡¯t dare determine. She didn¡¯t speak to prevent herself from saying something that she might regret.

    "This is why I don¡¯t do rtionsh.i.p.s," he said, his voice finally starting to express frustration. "It¡¯s such a hassle trying tomunicate like this."

    That sliced through her. Her eyes watered even more but she was determined not to embarrass herself even further by letting them fall. He thought of her as a hassle.

    "Then...let¡¯s break up," she whispered.

 Chapter 889 - Be More Confident Of Yourself

    <h4>Chapter 889 - Be More Confident Of Yourself </h4>

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned vicious. "Like he¡¯ll we¡¯ll break up! Not until our 30 days are over! Did I cheat on you?"

    "N-no," Long Jinjing whispered.

    "Then you have no grounds to break up with me!"

    "But you lied to me! I can¡¯t be in a rtionship with someone I can¡¯t trust to tell me the truth! Niki, I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t do that. I just can¡¯t!"

    He ground his teeth hard, causing his jaw to stiffen. His nostrils red and a vein throbbed in his forehead. Then he let out a string of explicit curses.

    "I told you I didn¡¯t lie," he repeated.

    Long Jinjing had the strongest urge to kick him. She already knew that he was a very stubborn man but not to the point that he would keep on insisting that a clear lie was the truth. What was the problem of just admitting that he lied? Was it that difficult for him?

    She didn¡¯t mind the fact that he had girlfriends before. That wasn¡¯t it. In fact, she thought that it was unbelievable that he had never been in a rtionship before and he imed that she would be his first girlfriend. However, she believed him when he exined that he had several women before as bedmates but not girlfriends. It turned out that he lied. Even Grandpa Lu knew that he had real girlfriends before.

    In all honesty, the situation didn¡¯t need to cause such a serious and emotional reaction from her. There was no harm done after all. They could just brush it off and continue ying their roles in their 30-day rtionship.

    However, Long Jinjing felt hurt. All kinds of thoughts started muddling her mind and oveplicating her emotions. Her main issue was that he lied to her. It didn¡¯t matter if it was a big or small lie. She didn¡¯t want to be in a rtionship with a liar. She just couldn¡¯t!

    Lu Zihao released a long, frustrated sigh. He let go of the nket and rubbed his face roughly with both hands. Since he was no longer holding on to the nket, it loosened a bit. She tried disentangling herself but to no avail. Her embarrassing clumsiness was magnified due to her agitated state. Like him, she also released a long, frustrated sigh at being unable to free herself from the annoying nket.

    "Jinjing, listen to me," he finally said.

    She couldn¡¯t look at him directly in the eye so she fixed her gaze on his strong, chiseled chin instead.

    Then he told her what he and Grandpa Lu talked about earlier when she was busy heating up his dinner in the kitchen. After his exnation, her agitated expression turned to worry.

    "What?! Selective amnesia!"

    She tried reaching out to him but almost stumbled instead because of the annoying nket wrapped around her entire body like a mummy. He caught her and used that chance to secure her in his arms, trapping her once again. However, she didn¡¯t notice because she was worried about his health. <i></i>

    "Niki, your grandpa is right. We need to have a doctor examine you! You didn¡¯t even know that you have amnesia. What if you¡¯ve forgotten other things but haven¡¯t noticed it yet? This is serious. Please, Niki. Let¡¯s go to the doctor, okay?"

    He scowled. "No need."

    "But¡ª"

    "I¡¯m fine."

    Yes, she wanted to kick this man. How stubborn and frustrating! But at the same time, she was beginning to feel bad about her overreaction. So he really didn¡¯t lie to her. He had selective amnesia just like what her younger sister experienced after her car ident.

    She heard that Lu Zihao also had quite a serious ident before that left him ina and even paralyzed for some time. Perhaps these eerily simr experiences contributed to why Lu Zihao and her sister Xin became so close and treated each other like close siblings. They could rte to each other¡¯s first-hand experiences on a deeper level.

    Realizing her misunderstanding, she felt ashamed of herself. He was right. She was indeed such a hassle to deal with.

    "I¡¯m so pathetic," she muttered.

    "I dare you to say that again!"

    She looked up at him, startled and confused at his furious voice.

    "Nobody is allowed to disparage my woman, not even herself. Why the hell do you think so low of yourself? Yourck of self-esteem is uneptable!"

    Her face and neck heated up but something warm and sweet filled her chest. She blinked at him a few times, letting his words sink in.

    "Look at you. You¡¯re young and beautiful. You just graduated from school but you¡¯re already a Chief Financial Officer of a new but sessfulpany. You¡¯re notcking in money because you have the ability to earn it yourself. You¡¯re in a position that the majority of young women your age would envy. So why the f.u.c.k do you always belittle yourself? I don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g understand!"

    She bit her lower lip to control herself from smiling. Despite his harsh and scolding tone, the words he said sounded sweet to her ears. He already got her when he said that she was young and beautiful.

    "Be more confident of yourself, woman," he said in a gruff voice.

    She nodded, finally smiling.

    "And don¡¯t always say sorry when you¡¯ve done nothing wrong. My woman shouldn¡¯t apologize so easily."

    Her eyes widened. It looked like she was realizing something for the first time. "I¡¯ve always...been like this. It¡¯s not a big deal, really."

    "It is to me." He grabbed her chin between his fingers and lifted her head so that they looked eye to eye. "Sorry is just a word but it is a very powerful one. Don¡¯t just throw it around like free candies to everyone."

    "Oh."

    "Understand?"

    "Y-yes, Niki."

    "Good."

    Then he dipped his head and smashed his lips against her slightly open mouth. His tongue immediately entered inside, causing her to block out their surroundings and feel only his kiss. She m.o.a.ned, wanting to hold him, but couldn¡¯t because of the nket.

    When he ended the kiss, she actually made a whining sound. Her face turned even redder upon realizing it. So embarrassing!

 Chapter 890 - Weâ€™ll Just Sleep Tonight

    <h4>Chapter 890 - We¡¯ll Just Sleep Tonight </h4>

    Despite her embarrassment, Long Jinjing felt lighter and morefortable after Lu Zihao¡¯s encouraging words which sounded sweet to her ears. That was when she noticed that he only had a towel wrapped around his waist. He just came out of the shower after all.

    Her earlier distraught emotions had been too overwhelming that she somehow overlooked his half-n.a.k.e.dness. This was the first time that his half-nude body failed to seduce her and reduce her IQ to amoeba level. It felt like an achievement. She should be proud.

    "Uhm...can you help me out of this nket, please?"

    He smirked. "I like you wrapped up like that."

    She pouted. He dove again for another kiss, a quick peck this time.

    "Jinjing, don¡¯t mind those women in my past. They¡¯re nothing but flings."

    "How can you be sure? Didn¡¯t you say that you can¡¯t remember them?"

    He shrugged. "I just feel that they¡¯re not important to me."

    "But I¡¯m also like a fling, aren¡¯t I? A one-night fling that got extended to a 30-day fling."

    The vicious expression returned to his face. His arm tightened around her nket-wrapped body. "Let¡¯s make something clear here, Jinjing."

    She waited for him to say more. <i></i>

    "You haven¡¯t been taking our rtionship seriously?" he asked through gritted teeth and a dangerous glint in his eyes. "I¡¯m the only one who feels serious about this?"

    "I...." She turned her head away, unable to withstand the pressure of his heavy gaze. "I thought we were only pretending. I only wanted the respect thates with the title of your official girlfriend so I won¡¯t feel...humiliated for being...just one of your bedmates among many."

    "F.u.c.k, Jinjing!"

    "Isn¡¯t that what you originally wanted? To...to...f-f.u.c.k me only. If I didn¡¯t suggest this...agreement, you wouldn¡¯t have even thought of it, much less consider having a rtionship with me. To be honest, I never expected you to be...serious. All I wanted is respect as your girlfriend, even if it¡¯s only pretend."

    He let her go which made her sad, especially since she couldn¡¯t even move due to the nket still wrapped around her. Then his movements caught her attention. She watched him as he paced back and forth in the spacious bedroom. He rubbed his face with his hands and rumpled his damp hair.

    Then he stopped and red at her. "Dammit, Jinjing!" He returned in front of her. "I already told you that the moment I agreed to your terms and entered this 30-day rtionship with you that I¡¯m serious. There¡¯s no way that I¡¯ll waste my f.u.c.k.i.n.g time in a pretend rtionship with anyone. What we have now is only temporary but dammit, it¡¯s real!"

    Long Jinjing felt a little guilty but what she told him was the truth. At the same time, she felt so good hearing him say that he indeed treated their rtionship seriously even though it was only temporary.

    "I¡¯m sorry¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t f.u.c.k.i.n.g say sorry!"

    She shut her mouth.

    He ran his fingers through his damp, rumpled hair and released another frustrated breath. "You really want to break up with me?"

    Her eyes widened and she felt a little panicked. "No! I...I mean...I was considering it but now...I don¡¯t want to b-break up with you anymore."

    "Good."

    She released a tiny sigh of relief.

    "I don¡¯t want to hear you saying that you want to break up with me again before our 30-day agreement ends. Understand?"

    She nodded.

    "And you better start treating me like your real f.u.c.k.i.n.g boyfriend from now on."

    "Y-yes...."

    "Good. Now let¡¯s f.u.c.k, Jinjing."

    He grabbed her and kissed her senseless once again. The towel wrapped around his waist fell down to the floor. Although the nket acted as a barrier between their skins, she could still feel his erection pressing against her stomach.

    Then she felt something warm trickling down between her legs. She frowned and turned her face away from his kiss. He tried to catch her lips again.

    "Wait..."

    He continued kissing her.

    "Niki..."

    He sucked on her lips.

    "Stop!"

    He stopped and red at her. "What now?"

    "I...I think I have my period." Her face turned red.

    He blinked. "Seriously?"

    "I...I need to check first." Ah, this was so embarrassing! "Uhm, Niki...can you help me out of this nket, please?"

    "Fine."

    He helped her out of the nket. As soon she was freed, she immediately ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. There was no way that she was going to let him see her checking herself down there. She took a look and saw that she was indeed bleeding.

    After washing herself, she realized a problem. She didn¡¯t bring underwear or sanitary pads with her to the bathroom. Asking Lu Zihao to get them for her felt too embarrassing.

    <i>Knock knock!</i>

    Her heart jumped. Was he getting impatient?

    "Miss Jinjing, it¡¯s me," a familiar female voice said.

    "Robin!" She covered herself with a robe and opened the door.

    "Here, Miss."

    Robin handed her some feminine necessities and a change of clothes. Long Jinjing recognized the items as the ones Robin helped her pack in her luggage for her stay here at Lu Zihao¡¯s penthouse.

    "Thank you, Robin."

    "No problem, Miss. Boss Hao called me about your situation and instructed me to take care of you¡ª"

    "No need to tell her that," Lu Zihao¡¯s voice saiding from the direction of the main area of the bedroom.

    "Apologies, Boss."

    "Uhm...still, thank you, Robin." Long Jinjing smiled at the other woman. "I¡¯m okay now. Please rest."

    "Good night, Miss Jinjing," Robin said with a smile before bowing at the direction of Lu Zihao and leaving the bedroom.

    Long Jinjing closed the door to clean herself again and to use the items Robin delivered to her. She didn¡¯t bother restraining her smile while thinking of Lu Zihao¡¯s thoughtfulness.

    When she returned to the bedroom, Lu Zihao was standing n.a.k.e.d in front of the ss windows with his back facing her. His firm buttocks and gloriously muscled body made her swallow the saliva pooling inside her mouth.

    "No s.e.x tonight?" he asked, still not facing her.

    "N-no."

    He sighed. "Fine. We¡¯ll just sleep tonight then."

 Chapter 891 - Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

    <h4>Chapter 891 - Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire </h4>

    Long Jinjing felt shy as she climbed on the massive bed. It was the biggest she had seen so far, even bigger than the bed of her Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei in their room at Dragon Pce Home #10. There was no doubt that both beds were customized to fit their owners.

    Speaking of beds, Lu Zihao followed through his intention of getting them a customized bed for her little bedroom at her condo unit. She had been worried that there would be no space for a bigger bed in her small room but surprisingly, the new bed fit better than the old one. It took up almost one-third of her bedroom space but with a little rearranging of the furniture, the bed fit perfectly as if it had always belonged there. Most importantly, she and Lu Zihao felt morefortable sleeping together in the new bed. He could now fully stretch his legs without them dangling off the bed.

    She tucked herself under the duvet and watched Lu Zihao as he continued standing n.a.k.e.d in front of the windows. When he still didn¡¯t move, she finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She asked, "Are you not going to bed yet?"

    "Let me calm myself down first," he replied, still not facing her. "If I don¡¯t, I¡¯d end up seducing you even though you¡¯re on your period."

    "Oh."

    Her face and neck heated up which spread throughout her whole body. Then feeling a little courageous, she made a daring offer in a stammering voice. "I can...h-help you, you know. Uhm, I can use my...h-hands and mouth...."

    He growled and turned only his upper body to finally look at her. "Don¡¯t tempt me, Jinjing. Go to sleep. I¡¯ll join youter."

    "Oh. Okay." She tucked herself deeper under the duvet but continued watching him.

    Silence.

    "Jinjing," he called in a low voice as if testing if she was still awake.

    "Yes?"

    "You¡¯ll start taking the pill a few days after your period?"

    She felt shy to be discussing her period with him but still answered him. "Y-yes. I¡¯ll follow the doctor¡¯s rmendation."

    "Good. I can¡¯t wait."

    Truth be told, she also couldn¡¯t wait. If things went ording to n, she should be protected by the time of her sister¡¯s wedding. Then a thought entered her mind. With both her and Lu Zihao¡¯s anticipation, didn¡¯t it feel like they would also have their own little honeymoon?

    Her heart hammered inside her chest and she felt hotter. Oh no! She shouldn¡¯t have allowed such a dangerous thought to enter her mind.

    Erase, erase!!!

    Fortunately, her misbehaving thoughts were interrupted by another question from Lu Zihao.

    "Do you still want to go home?"

    His question took a few seconds to register in her mind. And when it did, she hesitated. How should she reply? Would he think of her as a hard to please woman if she spoke her mind?

    "Just tell me how you really feel," he said.

    "Uhm...yes. I still want to go home, Niki."

    "Why?"

    She looked around the luxurious master bedroom. However, just like the rest of the penthouse, it felt empty and impersonal. The vast space and the cold atmosphere made her feel extremely ufortable.

    "It¡¯s...too big?"

    He frowned.

    "Uhm...it doesn¡¯t feel like home, Niki. It¡¯s like a hotel, I guess."

    "What about Dragon Pce? It¡¯s bigger than this. You don¡¯t feel at home there? Do you also feel like it¡¯s a hotel?"

    His questions made her think. She shook her head. "I¡¯m okay at Dragon Pce."

    "Heh~"

    She squirmed under his gaze.

    Finally, he released a long sigh before saying, "Fine. We¡¯ll return to your condo tomorrow."

    Her heart jumped. She felt happy inside but also guilty. "Niki, I¡¯m fine, really. You said that we¡¯ll only stay here for a few days at most. I don¡¯t want you to get tired travelling every night from your work here only toe back to my ce. You¡¯ll be too exhausted, especially right now that you¡¯re still lethargic."

    "Let¡¯s talk about this again tomorrow. It¡¯ste. Go to sleep now."

    She paused but nodded. "Good night, Niki."

    "Good night, Jinjing."

    She must be more tired than she thought because as soon as she closed her eyes, she immediately fell asleep. <i></i>

    ###

    Lu Zihao looked at the sleeping Long Jinjing and at his half-solid erection. With a deep sigh, he headed to his big but mostly empty walk-in closet and put on a pair of boxers and pyjama pants.

    He had now learned that he couldn¡¯t trust the self-control that he was always so proud of when it came to Long Jinjing. If he climbed on the bed n.a.k.e.d, he couldn¡¯t guarantee that he wouldn¡¯t be tempted to wake her up and f.u.c.k her even though she was on her period. Wearing some pyjama pants wouldn¡¯t stop him from getting hard but it might at least deter him a bit and also act as a reminder to control his primal urges.

    When he returned, he didn¡¯t climb on the bed right away. He stood on the side and stared at Long Jinjing. Her mouth was slightly open and very tempting.

    ¡¯Hey.¡¯

    He ignored the annoying shit speaking inside his mind.

    ¡¯I said hey, Niki! Dude, aren¡¯t you going to thank me for helping you deal with your pretty girlfriend? If I didn¡¯t suggest that you start acting a little nicer and gentler with her, I bet that she would¡¯ve already kicked your hard balls and stomped out of this mausoleum-like ce. Like my grandpa said earlier, she might always give in to you but you can¡¯t always take and take and take! Everyone has their breaking point, even your angelic girlfriend. So don¡¯t always act like an asshole¡ª¡¯

    He clenched his jaw and red at a random corner, imagining that he was ring at the pest shooting his mouth off inside his mind.

    ¡¯Shut up, Lu Zihao.¡¯

    ¡¯Che. What an ungrateful man! By the way, your pretty girlfriend said that she doesn¡¯t want to be in a rtionship with a liar but you lied to her.¡¯ The remnant snickered. ¡¯Liar, liar, pants on fire~¡¯

    ¡¯I said shut up!¡¯

 Chapter 892 - Iâ€™m Not Your Bro

    <h4>Chapter 892 - I¡¯m Not Your Bro </h4>

    Lu Zihao, no, Niki turned his gaze away from the sleeping Long Jinjing and returned to his previous spot in front of the ss windows. His reflection was superimposed on the city¡¯s glittering night lights. His expression looked impassive as if he was truly enjoying the urban view outside. On the inside, however, he was busy having a frustrating argument with the remnant.

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t lie,¡¯ he growled in his mind. ¡¯I only recounted my conversation with your grandfather to Jinjing. It was the old man who assumed that I have selective amnesia and insisted on taking me to the hospital. I never expressly imed that I have selective amnesia.¡¯

    ¡¯Che. You¡¯re such a cunning bastard. As expected of a mafia boss. Tsk. Poor Jinjing!¡¯

    ¡¯You¡¯re not allowed to call my woman by her first name. Call her Miss, you monkey!¡¯

    The remnant ignored him while going into another lecture mode. ¡¯You seriously need to be gentler with your girlfriend, you know. Tone down your possessiveness a notch as well. Don¡¯t be too intense. Your girlfriend is a very delicate woman. I told you before that modern girls like her don¡¯t like possessive assholes. Sooner orter, she¡¯ll get tired of your shit.¡¯

    Niki curled his lip at his reflection. ¡¯You¡¯re not qualified to lecture me on how to treat my own woman. If those words came from the old man, I might still listen. At least I can be assured that he knows what he¡¯s talking about. But you?¡¯ He snorted. ¡¯You had never been in a serious rtionship before. Don¡¯t lie and im otherwise. I have your memories.¡¯

    ¡¯Hey! I was always serious in my rtionsh.i.p.s with my past girlfriends! I just love adventuring more. Also, all my girlfriends understood right from the start that they¡¯re not my priority. So no hard feelings between us after the break-up. But as for you...¡¯ The remnant snickered. ¡¯Let¡¯s see how you¡¯ll be once the 30 days with your pretty girlfriend are over. I bet you won¡¯t let your angelic Miss Prim and Proper go.¡¯

    ¡¯Shut up!¡¯

    This time, Niki growled out loud. He almost punched the reflection on the ss windows. The end of his 30-day agreement with Long Jinjing was something that he didn¡¯t want to think about. He would just deal with it when the time came. For now, he wanted to enjoy f.u.c.k.i.n.g his temporary girlfriend as often as he could before their time limit arrived. He didn¡¯t like being reminded about it, especially not by the annoying pestughing at him inside his mind.

    The remnantughed at him for a few moments before stopping¡ªthank f.u.c.k! However, it continued yammering away and annoying the f.u.c.k out of him. <i></i>

    ¡¯Anyway, I feel really sorry for your pretty girlfriend because she has to deal with all your shit and bad temper. Tsk tsk. If it weren¡¯t for me giving you some friendly advice, you would¡¯ve made the situation worse earlier. She might¡¯ve followed through her intention to break up with you if you had been toote in controlling your assholery. So where¡¯s the thanks that I deserve? Huh, Niki? Thank me! Come on~ Don¡¯t be shy~¡¯

    Niki did his best to ignore the little shit. The lethargy made his body feel heavier than normal but he couldn¡¯t sleep in peace with all the noise inside his head. He massaged his head while sighing in annoyance.

    ¡¯Hey, Niki!¡¯

    ¡¯Stop disturbing me!¡¯

    The remnant paused. Then in a more serious voice, it said, ¡¯Fine, I¡¯ll stop disturbing you tonight. I¡¯m getting tired, anyway. That bacsh was no joke. Ugh! But before I go recharge again, I just want to remind you about your promise to my third brother before you left Dragon Pce.¡¯

    Niki¡¯s body tensed.

    ¡¯ording to your memories while I was recharging, you and Third Brother made a deal. You agreed to let me meet your beautiful sister before she marries Third Brother. Don¡¯t forget!¡¯

    Indeed, Niki promised Jin Liwei to allow Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant to take over their body again after it recharged so that it could meet Evelinka. During that time, he was at the height of his lethargy. Jin Liwei, the crafty man, was able to manipte him into agreeing to that deal when he was in such a weak state.

    Now that the remnant reminded him about the deal, Niki felt unwilling. He didn¡¯t want the remnant to take over their body again and suffer the same bacsh if it failed to properly disconnect from the body. In fact, he still hadn¡¯t fully recovered from the resulting lethargy yet.

    The remnant sensed his resistance. ¡¯You promised! If you don¡¯t fulfill your promise, I will pester you¡ª¡¯

    Niki gritted his teeth. ¡¯Fine!¡¯

    A light feeling flooded him. It wasn¡¯t his own so it should be from the remnant. He recognized the feeling as relief, anticipation and happiness.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t wait to meet my future third sister-inw. I¡¯m tired now. I need to recharge again. Take care of my body, Niki. Don¡¯t work it so hard when you¡¯re still feeling lethargic. You¡¯ll age my handsome self faster. Your young and pretty girlfriend might dump you if you begin looking like an old man. Haha!¡¯

    Niki already had enough of the annoying shit so he ignored it.

    ¡¯Good night, bro.¡¯

    He froze at what the remnant called him.

    Silence.

    He could feel that the remnant had "fallen asleep" and should be "recharging" again. He also felt sleepy but didn¡¯t head to the bed yet. There was a deep frown on his face.

    Then he tapped his fist on the cold ss window, directly on top of his face¡¯s reflection¡ªno, Lu Zihao¡¯s.

    "I¡¯m not your bro," he said in a harsh whisper.

    But even as he said this, he found that he didn¡¯t really hate it deep inside. In fact, it felt nice. This realization, however, was something that he didn¡¯t want to ept.

    He didn¡¯t need any brothers. His sister was enough.

    After throwing a final re at Lu Zihao¡¯s reflection, he finally headed for bed andy beside Long Jinjing. He hugged her tightly before allowing himself to finally sink into a lethargic sleep.

 Chapter 893 - Please Keep It A Secret

    <h4>Chapter 893 - Please Keep It A Secret </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    Jin Liwei had just arrived home from a short afternoon meeting at Jin Corporation to redistribute some of his work to his assistant and the other executives because he would be taking a two-week off after thising weekend. He didn¡¯t inform them of the exact reason for his short vacation, only telling them that it was an important private matter.

    Nobody questioned him because he was the big boss and also because they knew that he never neglected his work despite taking leave in the past. Even when he got injured in the construction site ident, he was still able toplete all of the most urgent tasks that needed his attention as the President-CEO right from thefort of his own home.

    This became possible for him because of the virtual assistance of his AI daughter. Ketchup¡¯s powerful self-learning function allowed her to be increasingly adept the more she assisted Jin Liwei in his work at Jin Corporation. It came to a point that he was realizing that he didn¡¯t need to physically go to thepany anymore in order toplete the majority of his work. Nevertheless, as the President-CEO, he still needed to show his face now and then at thepany. It was one of his responsibilities as the head.

    During his two-week leave, he would depend on both Ketchup and Xu Tian to deal with non-urgent work-rted issues on his behalf. They could only disturb him about his work if it was an emergency. If it wasn¡¯t, he didn¡¯t want anyone interrupting his honeymoon.

    As for his long-time assistant, Xu Tian¡¯s ugly injuries from the same construction site ident had also been fully healed. In fact, he recovered much faster than Jin Liwei because his injuries were mostly superficial wounds. He had a little bit of scarring but nothing too serious.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei handed his suit jacket to the butler before asking, "Where¡¯s my wife?"

    "The mistress is busy working in her music studio. She¡¯s been there since mid-afternoon. Please don¡¯t worry, Master. We made sure to deliver frequent snacks, refreshments, and of course, ginger tea for her morning sickness."

    "How¡¯s her morning sickness?"

    "The mistress hasn¡¯t been sick since she entered her studio. The doctor says that it might be because her mind is too focused on work that it¡¯s not allowing her to feel sick."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "I¡¯ll see her now. Call us when it¡¯s time for dinner. We¡¯ll try to eat with our godson and the others if she doesn¡¯t get sick at the dining table."

    "Understood, sir."

    When Jin Liwei arrived at Iris¡¯ home music studio, he found her having a shouting argument with someone via video call. He frowned. Who dared shout at his baby girl?! He peeked at theputer screen and it turned out that it was JJ, her brilliant but hotheaded music producer. Ah, no wonder.

    "This is the worst possible version for this song! This instrumentation is horrid! I get that you have to change it to fit the artist we¡¯ve chosen to sing this song but this is not a good arrangement at all! Mr. JJ, you¡¯ve butchered my song! Change it!"

    "You! What¡¯s gotten into you today, brat?! Why are you shouting at me like a pig giving birth?!"

    "You¡¯re the one who shouted at me like a pig giving birth first!"

    Jin Liwei got the gist of what the two were arguing about. His baby girl was red in the face from too much anger. It was obvious that she was in another one of her extreme mood swings. If this continued, she might start dering war against her music producer. Steeling himself like a soldier going into the battlefield, he decided to intervene before the situation got worse.

    "Love, I¡¯m home."

    Iris stopped mid-shout and turned to re at him for disturbing her important meeting with JJ. She was breathing hard, causing Jin Liwei to be worried about her stress level. <i></i>

    Before she could say anything to him, he arrived in front of her and bent down from the waist to give her a firm and hot kiss on the mouth. She stiffened for about a couple of seconds before melting into the kiss. When it was over, she was still red in the face but not from anger anymore. She sighed in contentment, wrapped her arms around his waist, and leaned on him.

    A loud, deliberate cough interrupted them. The couple looked at theputer monitor and saw a scowling JJ. However, Jin Liwei detected caution in the music producer¡¯s expression. He wasn¡¯t surprised. JJ must be taken aback by Iris¡¯ fiery temper just now.

    Even though Iris and JJ had argued many times before, she had always been able to maintain herposure and speak in an overall polite tone without raising her voice too much. It was usually only JJ who would rage like the hothead that he was. This time, however, she was unable to keep her usualposure and matched JJ¡¯s hot temper with her own. It must be quite shocking to JJ to experience it for the first time.

    She smiled at JJ, looking like she hadn¡¯t been in a shouting match with him just seconds earlier. "My apologies for the interruption just now, Mr. JJ. Where were we again?"

    JJ blinked a few times.

    Jin Liwei looked around and saw a tray of some snacks. He grabbed a chocte bar and unwrapped it before handing it to his baby girl. She beamed at him before taking a delicate bite, even closing her eyes in bliss as she savoured the sweet taste.

    JJ narrowed his eyes. "Brat."

    "Yes, Mr. JJ?"

    "Are you...uh, pregnant?"

    She paused and turned to Jin Liwei. He was the one who replied to the music producer.

    "Please keep it a secret, Mr. JJ."

    The producer¡¯s eyes widened. He even gasped out loud. "W-what? Are you serious?!"

    She subconsciously rubbed her still t stomach while continuing to eat her chocte bar. "Yes, I am pregnant, Mr. JJ."

    "Ah." JJ slumped back on his seat. "I see. Now everything makes sense!"

 Chapter 894 - Introduce Someone Important To Me

    <h4>Chapter 894 - Introduce Someone Important To Me </h4>

    "You brat!" JJ pped his thighs. "Is that the reason why you¡¯ve decreased your showbiz activities and took a backseat on your music?"

    "Yes, Mr. JJ," Iris replied. Her voice was now very calm, even sweet.

    Jin Liwei did an excellent job in calming her down with a kiss and a chocte bar.

    "Fine! I¡¯ll forgive you for shouting at me just now. Hmph! Good thing that I, JJ, am a very understanding person! If it were another person, I would¡¯ve already fired him or her for shouting at me like you did."

    Iris only smiled and handed Jin Liwei the empty wrapper of the chocte bar that she just finished. He unwrapped another one before giving it to her. She started eating the second bar while pressing herself closer to him who was now sitting on the arm of her chair.

    "Hey, brat! Are you still listening to me?!"

    She nced at the scowling JJ. "Yes, Mr. JJ. I¡¯m listening."

    "Hmph!" He watched her eating the chocte. "Tell me what type of food you¡¯re craving. I¡¯ll send some to you. Oh, right! I got the invite for next week. I¡¯ll give you a care package curated for pregnant women to you then. But before that, can you at least tell me what I will be attending next week? The invitation doesn¡¯t say anything!"

    She didn¡¯t reply but nudged Jin Liwei to answer instead.

    "It¡¯s a secret for now, Mr. JJ," Jin Liwei said. "Just pleasee. Xin and I will appreciate your presence on the day."

    "Alright. Fine! Since my prot¨¦g¨¦ Iris Long is asking me, JJ, so nicely, then I¡¯ll make sure toe!"

    "Thank you, Mr. JJ." Iris gave her music producer a bright smile.

    "Let¡¯s continue our meeting another day," JJ announced. "We¡¯ve been at it for a few hours now. A pregnant woman should have lots of rest!"

    "But we¡¯re not done discussing¡ª"

    "We¡¯re done for today!" JJ¡¯s tone was final. He also gave a meaningful look at Jin Liwei.

    He took the hint and told his baby girl, "Mr. JJ is right, love. Time to rest. You can continue your discussion another time."

    She was reluctant but still acquiesced. "Fine."

    "In the meantime, I¡¯ll re-think about the versions that I sent you today and consider your suggestions," JJ said. "But I just want you to remember that these songs are going to be sung by other artists, not you. We need to consider the version that will fit the artists¡¯ personal styles the best. And also, not everyone can performplicated vocal runs like you do. Sometimes we need to adjust our expectations.

    "Like you and me, for example. I always expect a lot from you because I know that you can do everything that I ask of you. That¡¯s not the case for some of my artists but I still work with them because they have their own unique strengths. But of course, that doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯ll go easy on them. Hah! As if I, JJ, will do something like that! They still have to work hard in improving themselves while satisfying the high standards of being artists signed under my recordbel.

    "My point is for you to let go of your tendency to control everything, especially since you¡¯ve already decided to take a backseat and allow other artists to perform the songs that you¡¯ve written. Trust me and let me do my magic! There¡¯s no way that I, JJ, an award-winning music producer, would produce crap!"

    JJ¡¯s words made Iris ponder.<i></i>

    He added, "If you want more control, then sign up as a music producer next time. You have a bit of an experience producing with me before, so you already know what to expect. But for now, leave everything to me! Alright, brat?"

    She thought about it some more before finally nodding. "Alright, Mr. JJ."

    "Excellent!"

    After saying goodbye to each other, the video call ended. Iris sighed and rubbed her face against Jin Liwei¡¯s shirt, making sure to inhale his scent.

    "I wanted to be the music co-producer of the songs I wrote," she murmured.

    "We already talked about this, Evelina."

    She sighed again. "I know."

    He kissed the top of her head. "You can be the producer next time after you¡¯ve given birth to our babies. You can do whatever you want. You know that. I¡¯ll support you all the way. But you need to focus on your health during this time."

    She nodded and rubbed her stomach. It was still t. Just by looking at her appearance, nobody would suspect that she was pregnant. She hadn¡¯t gained any extra weight. She was still in the first trimester so no baby bump yet.

    Afterwards, they left the music studio and stayed in the cat room to y with Little Jun, Ice Cream and Popcorn and also chat with the talkative Ketchup while waiting for dinner time. Bacon seemed to be busy with his work at Shadow Winds so he was absent.

    "We¡¯ll have a meeting with our wedding nner tomorrow," Jin Liwei said. "Then on Sunday, our friends wille for the rehearsal."

    Iris nodded. She already knew about their schedule for this weekend.

    "Love, I would like to make some changes regarding my best man."

    She tilted her head to the side. He told her what he had nned.

    "I don¡¯t mind," she said. "If that¡¯s what you want."

    "Thank you, Evelina," he told her in Russian.

    She beamed and replied to him in Russian as well. "You¡¯re wee, Liwei."

    Jin Liwei had been diligent in learning the Russiannguage. He had be more motivated to master it after learning his baby girl¡¯s origins in her past life.

    "Also, I would like to introduce you to someone important to me before our wedding," he said.

    "Who?"

    "You¡¯ll meet him on Sunday. Hopefully."

    "He¡¯ll be here with our friends?"

    "En."

    She studied his expression, trying to get some clues from his face but to no avail. "Okay, darling. I¡¯m looking forward to meeting that person."

    He smiled, but deep inside, he hoped that everything would go well and that the meeting wouldn¡¯t stress her too much.

 Chapter 895 - Know The Real You

    <h4>Chapter 895 - Know The Real You </h4>

    It was the final weekend before the secret wedding. The entire Dragon Pce Home #10 was busy with all the preparations. Despite the hustle and bustle, everybody was moving in an efficient manner and also conducting everything with the utmost discretion and secrecy.

    After a busy meeting with their wedding nner whichsted almost the entire morning, Iris started feeling a little queasy. Jin Liwei decided to have the two of them eat a quiet lunch at their suite¡¯s living room instead of joining the others.

    Lunch was light but very nutritious. Iris struggled a bit in eating her food but she was still able to finish everything without running to the bathroom and vomiting.

    After the meal, she reclined on the couch and sighed. "I hope I won¡¯t get sick on our wedding day."

    "Don¡¯t stress too much about it, love," Jin Liwei said while taking a seat beside her.

    Once the table was cleared of all the dishes and the household staff left the suite, the couple lounged while listening to Iris¡¯ recorded piano music. Some were ssic masterpieces from the great masters, a few were by some of her favourite contemporaryposers, and of course, the majority were her own originalposition. Regardless of the originalposer, her style of ying flowed like an ethereal breeze throughout the entire suite.

    Iris rested her head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder and stared at his face. He looked back at her with a slight smile and raised eyebrow.

    "We haven¡¯t really talked about how you¡¯re feeling since the shock fromst week. Are you really fine after reading the...report?"

    His expression froze but it onlysted for a second before he gave a reassuring kiss on her forehead. "Must we talk about this right now?"

    She didn¡¯t answer but it was obvious that it was bothering her. <i></i>

    He sighed. "I¡¯m not going to lie. I¡¯m still digesting everything even until now. It¡¯s...a lot."

    "I know."

    Silence.

    She tugged his shirt. "You still want to marry me after knowing my true origins?"

    "What kind of question is that?" He scowled. "You thought that I¡¯m going to back out of marrying you after learning about your identity in your past life?"

    She turned her eyes elsewhere, not saying anything.

    "Evelina, look at me."

    When she didn¡¯t move, he touched her chin and gently turned her head back to force her to look at him again.

    "I was the one who asked you to marry me. Many times, if I remember correctly. And now that we¡¯re expecting our twin babies, there¡¯s no way in hell that I¡¯m going to back out of marrying you. We¡¯ll marry and that¡¯s final! I¡¯m a little hurt that you even thought I¡¯ll back out. Do you have so little trust in my love and loyalty for you?"

    Instead of answering him with words, she grabbed his face with both hands and gave him a passionate kiss. Both became hot and breathless after their mouths separated.

    "Thank you, Liwei," she whispered.

    "No need to thank me."

    They stopped talking again and focused on the music instead to calm their desires for each other. Jin Liwei¡¯s injuries were almost all healed now. A few more days and he should bepletely fine. The doctor already permitted them to resume their regr s.e.x life. However, the two of them decided to wait until their honeymoon to finally make love again.

    It was Jin Liwei who spoke again. "Last week, I¡¯ve been too harsh on your brother. I was so worked up that night with all the information I read in the report that I lost control of my emotions. I shouldn¡¯t have med Niki for what you went through. Just like you said, he also suffered. Both of you were victims of the environment you were born into and grew up in."

    She pressed herself closer to him while continuing to listen to his words.

    "Nobody can choose which family you¡¯re born into. To a lot of people in this world, there¡¯s the option of leaving an unfavourable family situation to seek for a better life elsewhere. However, now I know that the two of you never had that option. Choosing to leave was even more dangerous than staying." He sighed and stared at the ceiling. "I was only thinking about you and how much you suffered. I never even considered what your brother must have gone through in order to achieve the level of his strength back then."

    "You were overwhelmed that night," she whispered. "My brother and I dumped a lot of information on you. Your reaction was understandable. To be honest with you, I expected a lot worse. I¡¯m actually very surprised that you managed to maintain yourposure and that you¡¯re still willing to ept me and my brother after knowing who we really are. Even after our meeting with my brother, you¡¯re treating me as usual like nothing really changed between us."

    He shifted his position so that they were face to face. "You¡¯re wrong, Evelina. Something did change between us."

    Her eyebrows drew together. She looked at him warily.

    Before her mind could arrive at a worst-case scenario, he grabbed her hand and ced it on his chest on top of his beating heart. "After learning what you went through in your past life, I found that I love you even more. My desire to protect you has intensified because I don¡¯t want you to experience any of your past life¡¯s suffering again. Evelina, this is what changed between us. It made our bond stronger because I now know the real you."

    Her eyes watered but her lips curved up. He was right. Now that he said this to her, she was also finding that she loved him even more.

    He lifted her hand on his chest and kissed her soft palm. "No matter who you and your brother were in the past, both of you are now my family. You are my wife, Evelina, and the mother of my children. And Niki is my brother-inw. I protect my family and that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do for the rest of our lives."

 Chapter 896 - Knowledge Is Power

    <h4>Chapter 896 - Knowledge Is Power </h4>

    Iris rested her head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder again before sighing in contentment. Jin Liwei saw that she was still alert so he asked her something that had been bothering him sincest week.

    "The report isn¡¯tplete, is it?"

    He felt her stiffen but pretended to not notice. Niki told him that the report was iplete because Evelina was never a part of the Vetrov organization. There were things that they kept from her. One thing that wasn¡¯t included in the report was how each of the final family members of the Vetrovs died. There were also no detailed information about what happened the night of the annihtion.

    Truth be told, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want to know how his wife died even if it was in her past life. Just knowing what she went through growing up in the name of "training" as a Vetrov was already enough to cause him to erupt in volcanic fury. If he learned about how she died, he might even join Niki in seeking revenge.

    Despite this, there was still a part of him that felt curious about how she, her brother, and the other members of the Vetrovs died. He already had an idea based on how she described her nightmare about fighting off attackers in her piano room who eventually killed him, their twin babies, and everyone at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    However, she never really told him how she exactly died. He didn¡¯t want to ask her point-nk about it for fear that it would upset her, or worse, awaken any debilitating trauma. He couldn¡¯t do that to her, especially right now that her health condition was very sensitive due to her pregnancy.

    The wary expression returned on Iris¡¯ face when she looked at him. In a soft voice, she said, "Yes, you¡¯re right. The report is iplete but it wasn¡¯t my intention to conceal other information from you."

    "I know, love. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not asking due to suspicion but from curiosity."

    She nodded and took a deep breath. "When I prepared the report, I wrote it based on my own memories. I admit that my memories of my past life may not be 100% urate because everything is based on my perception. In addition, a lot of my past memories especially the more mundane ones are bing fuzzier with each passing day. I have to think hard to remember specific incidents.

    "However, anything that is based on historical facts and basic biographic details such as names, dates of birth or death, special skills, major achievements, and things like that about the most notable figures in the Vetrov family tree are already recorded in my memory like pages in a book. These are information that I can¡¯t forget even if I want to because all members of the Vetrov family were required to memorize them in order to instill pride. These are the types of information that I included in the report I prepared for you, so they should be 100% urate."

    "I see," Jin Liwei murmured.

    "But just like you noticed, the report is iplete because I only included basic biographic details and also some of the things that I can still remember. I didn¡¯t want to include anything that I wasn¡¯t 100% sure. And also..." Her eyes dimmed. "I didn¡¯t want to gather additional information by hacking."

    He opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself because she continued talking. He didn¡¯t want to interrupt her so he just continued to listen. <i></i>

    "Unearthing anything about the Vetrovs right now is too dangerous. The people who annihted us, whoever they are, should be very powerful and capable to do what they did. I suspect that they¡¯re different groups who temporarily teamed up in order to make the Vetrovs disappear from the face of the. I¡¯m confident in my skills as a hacker and I know that I can find out anything if I really wanted to but...."

    He finally interrupted her by pulling her into a tight hug. "Love, you don¡¯t have to say anything anymore. I understand."

    She grasped the front of his shirt. "I...I just can¡¯t bring myself to do it," she said in a shaky voice. "Am I...weak? Liwei, do you think I¡¯m a weak person for not daring to investigate what really happened that...that hellish night?!"

    "No!" His voice was firm and brooked no argument. "Let¡¯s not talk about this anymore. You¡¯re turning too pale."

    She shook her head and gasped his shirt harder until her knuckles turned white. "Big Brother wants revenge and I understand why! But I...."

    "Alright, love. That¡¯s enough for now." He forced himself to be calm even though he was extremely worried deep inside because she now started trembling in his arms.

    Contrary to his expectations, however, she was able to control herself. She pushed away from him a little so that he could see her expression. Her face still had a worrying pallor but she looked calmer. Then she looked down at her abdomen and started rubbing it gently.

    "I can¡¯t do it right now," she said in very soft whisper that Jin Liwei had to strain in order to hear. "But maybe one day..." Her eyes shed with determination. "Maybe one day I¡¯ll be able to at least have the courage to find out the truth about our annihtion."

    He didn¡¯t say anything but his expression became pinched.

    "Right now, I need to focus on carrying our twins and giving birth to them safely."

    "Exactly." He ced his hand on top of hers over her stomach while embracing her with his other arm.

    Momentster, her eyes closed. He sighed in relief when he ascertained that she fell asleep. She usually took a nap during this time. After carrying her to their bed, he returned to the living room with the tablet containing the Vetrov report.

    No matter what happened in the future, he needed to know as much information as he could. Knowledge was power. And in this case, the more knowledge he had, the more prepared he would be to be able to protect his wife and their family.

 Chapter 897 - Big Macho Man

    <h4>Chapter 897 - Big Macho Man </h4>

    Even though it was Sunday, Dragon Pce Home #10 was still extremely busy with the wedding preparations. In fact, it was busier today because of the rehearsal.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s sworn brothers including his younger brother Jin Chonglin and all the members of the girl squad came to the mansion. Even Clover was present who arrived from France verytest night. She chose to stay at Dragon Pce instead of returning to Iris¡¯ Gold Heights penthouse to prevent revealing any clues about the secret wedding to Wei Lan who had also just returned from her Asian vacation with her new best friend Randy, the Zumba instructor.

    Included in the rehearsal was Little Jun, Ice Cream and Popcorn. Their friends also couldn¡¯t help but notice Dom carrying a big tablet showing a white and ck cats.

    "Is that Ketchup and Ham?" Yu Mo asked as he looked at the two cats on the tablet with great curiosity.

    The ck cat hissed and swiped its ws at him.

    "Whoa! Easy there!" Yu Mo jumped away but then realized how foolish he acted because he just got "attacked" by a cat on screen.

    "It¡¯s Ketchup and Bacon, Teacher Mo!" Dom corrected while giggling. "Bacon is boss and sir boss¡¯ youngest baby. He¡¯s very proud of his name. That¡¯s why he got angry at you when you called him by the wrong name."

    "I see," Yu Mo said in a good-natured tone. "Sorry, Bacon. Uncle Mo made a mistake. But wow! This is the first time we¡¯ve met these two, although we¡¯ve seen their pictures all over the mansion."

    "They¡¯re very shy," Dom said with a snicker. "They always hide and refuse toe out when there are other people in the mansion."

    Yu Moughed. "But they don¡¯t mind video-calling like this?"

    "Oh, they love it! These two are very photogenic. Ehehehe! Right, Baby Ketchup and Baby Bacon?"

    The white cat meowed cutely while the ck cat started licking its little paws in boredom. They looked like regr cats. Even their eyes looked normal and didn¡¯t glow like before. <i></i>

    Yu Mo shook his head while chuckling. He didn¡¯t ask any more questions about Ketchup and Bacon. The others didn¡¯t either. They epted Dom¡¯s exnation. Even if it was weird that the two cats would be attending the rehearsal and the actual wedding via video call, they didn¡¯t think too much about it because Iris and Jin Liwei often did things their own way. All of them were already used to it.

    Moreover, there were much more interesting topics that they wanted to focus on than asking about the two shy cats Ketchup and Bacon, namely the rtionship between Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Everyone in the girl squad already knew about their rtionship, but Jin Liwei¡¯s sworn brothers and his younger brother Jin Chonglin had no idea. Therefore, they were quite shocked when they found out about it today.

    After the first set of rehearsal, they took a short break and divided into two groups. Jin Liwei went with his brothers while Iris joined her friends.

    "Fifth Bro, I didn¡¯t know that you still had it in you!" Yu Mo teased while throwing his arm around Lu Zihao¡¯s shoulders. The position was quite awkward because Lu Zihao was so much bigger than him. However, this didn¡¯t deter the Systema instructor even for a bit. Then he looked around to make sure that the women on the other side couldn¡¯t hear him. "Ever since you returned to the country, we haven¡¯t seen you flirting with other women like you did in the past. We thought that you had be a monk or something!"

    Lin Yehan patted Lu Zihao¡¯s shoulder. "Long Jinjing is a good woman. All of Xin and Miss Jiang¡¯s friends are good."

    Wang Yingjie nodded but all the brothers knew that his sharp eyes were silently observing Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing.

    "So you¡¯re CFO Long¡¯s mysterious boyfriend!" Jin Chonglin eximed.

    Then he told them about the rumours he overheard at Orchidia Beauty. He was frequently at thepany during this period because of his men¡¯s line. The rumours said that CFO Long Jinjing had a mysterious boyfriend who would sometimes drop her off in front of the office building with swollen lips and a red face. Nobody saw her boyfriend yet but those who managed to get a glimpse of his figure could tell that he was a big macho man.

    "Pft! Big macho man! Ahahahaha!" Yu Mo doubled over in uproariousughter.

    The others also couldn¡¯t stopughing. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t join them but his expression indicated that he didn¡¯t mind. If one looked closely, they might even notice that his lips were slightly curved upwards.

    On the other side where Iris and her friends were congregated, the girl squad looked over to the men¡¯s side.

    "What are theyughing about?" Chen Fei asked, wrinkling her nose.

    "They look like they¡¯re teasing Mr. Yummylicious," Meimei observed.

    "S-stop calling him that!" Long Jinjing said with a red face.

    The siblings Dom and Clover giggled.

    Iris could hear what the men were talking about. "Meimei is right. They¡¯re teasing Big Brother about his rtionship with Big Sister Jinjing."

    Long Jinjing flushed even more.

    The rehearsal resumed after the short break. They had to take another unexpected break when Little Jun and his cat cousins stopped cooperating because the kids got too tired and too bored. Clover volunteered to apany Jiang Ying Yue to take Little Jun and the cats to the yroom.

    Before leaving, the toddler ran to her godparents and gave them loud, wet kisses on the cheeks. "Bye bye, Mama! Bye bye, Papa!"

    Then he went on to say goodbye to the others as well until he reached Lin Yehan.

    "Bye bye, Anko Han!"

    Lin Yehan crouched down and patted the child¡¯s head. "See youter, Little Jun."

    Little Jun giggled before running back to his mother and Auntie Clover. When they left, Dom clutched his chest and wiped real tears from his eyes.

    "Time flies by so fast! Little Junie boy doesn¡¯t cry anymore when leaving us! Wuwuwu! Our cutie patootie baby is a big boy now!"

 Chapter 898 - Whereâ€™s The Person?

    <h4>Chapter 898 - Where¡¯s The Person? </h4>

    Iris sighed, inwardly agreeing with Dom¡¯s sentiment despite his dramatic way of expressing it. Her hand subconsciously rubbed her stomach. By next year, she would be giving birth to her and Jin Liwei¡¯s twin babies. Indeed, time flew by so fast.

    There wasn¡¯t really much to rehearse for the wedding so they wrapped up everything by lunch time. Iris and Jin Liwei also didn¡¯t require everything to be absolutely perfect. What they both wanted was for all of them to be happy on their wedding day. This was the most important to both of them.

    In addition, with a toddler like Little Jun and also the cats participating in the wedding who might or might not be in the mood to perform their very simple assigned tasks, expecting absolute perfection was out of question. There was no way Iris and Jin Liwei would force the children to do something that they didn¡¯t want to do. However, the couple still hoped that Little Jun and the cats would at least be in a good mood on the actual wedding day.

    Later, the couple and their friends were at a lounge room where a buffet-style lunch had been prepared for them. Little Jun and the cats joined them again.

    "How about the wedding nner and the workers?" Iris asked the butler. "Do they have lunch, too?"

    "Yes, Mistress. Please don¡¯t worry. They are also enjoying a sumptuous buffet right now."

    "Good. Thanks for the hard work."

    The butler bowed before withdrawing and quietly instructing the other household staff on what to do next.

    Iris sat on the farthest seat from the buffet table while waiting for Jin Liwei to get some food for her. Lin Yehan and Yu Mo, the only ones who still didn¡¯t know that she was pregnant, noticed this but didn¡¯tment. The two of them only thought that their third brother¡¯s level of pampering towards his wife increased another level. He wouldn¡¯t even allow Iris to get her own food anymore.

    Finally, Jin Liwei returned carrying two tes in each hand. He approached Iris in a slow and careful manner which baffled Lin Yehan and Yu Mo. Those who knew about the pregnancy pretended that everything was normal but also observed the scene.

    When Jin Liwei was about a metre away from Iris, he asked, "Are these foods alright?"

    She didn¡¯t answer right away. "I think so."

    It was only then that he sat beside her and gave her one of the tes.

    Lin Yehan and Yu Mo looked at one another. Lin Yehan was frowning while Yu Mo just shrugged. Then something happened that made them both shocked.

    Iris pushed the te back to Jin Liwei, covered her mouth, and started to run away. Chen Fei who was sitting near her reacted the quickest. She grabbed a wide-rimmed decorative vase and shoved it in front of Iris who already began vomiting. Jin Liwei was at her side in the next second while Wang Yingjie also stepped forward to monitor her.

    Just like before, she didn¡¯t really vomit much of anything. However, the rolling heaves of her body were powerful and when she was finished, she waspletely exhausted. Jin Liwei carried her to the powder room to refresh herself. Wang Yingjie followed them but didn¡¯t enter, waiting outside the door instead.

    "W-what?" Yu Mo looked at everyone who didn¡¯t look surprised.

    Lin Yehan looked like he realized something but kept his mouth shut for now.<i></i>

    When Iris, Jin Liwei and Wang Yingjie returned, Yu Mo ran to them.

    "What happened?! Are you sick?!"

    Jin Liwei looked at Iris who nodded at him before addressing Lin Yehan and Yu Mo. "Eldest Brother, Fourth Brother, Xin is pregnant."

    "WHAT?!!!" Yu Mo looked absolutely shocked.

    On the other hand, Lin Yehan gave the couple a gentle smile and shook their hands. "Congrattions to both of you! I¡¯m so happy!"

    "Thank you, Eldest Brother."

    Then Lin Yehan looked around. "It seems that everyone here already knows about it except for me and Fourth Brother."

    Jin Liwei exined to him how the others came to know about it.

    Lin Yehan patted his shoulder. "Don¡¯t worry, Third Brother. I¡¯m not resentful or anything like that. I was just genuinely curious about how the others know about it already."

    "Xiao Xiu, you¡¯re really pregnant?!" Yu Mo asked after recovering a bit from his shock.

    She nodded.

    "So that¡¯s why you haven¡¯t been attending our Systema sses! Only Dom does!"

    "I¡¯ll attend our sses again when my pregnancy bes more stable."

    Jin Liwei frowned.

    "Huh? No way!" Yu Mo shook his hands and backed away from her. "Give birth to my niece or nephew first before you return. If something happens to you on my watch, Third Bro will murder me!"

    She sighed, not bothering to reply. Wang Yingjie urged her to eat something. In the end, she could only stomach the soup and some of the steamed vegetables.

    Throughout lunch, there were different conversations happening at the same time. Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei were in a serious discussion about his men¡¯s line. Sometimes Iris and Long Jinjing would join them if their opinions were sought. However, most of the conversations revolved around the uing wedding and everyone¡¯s excitement for it.

    "Niki, would you like some more beer?" Long Jinjing asked in a soft voice where they were sitting together to the side.

    Iris, with her great hearing, heard what Long Jinjing said. Her eyes contracted.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?" Jin Liwei asked after noticing her unusual reaction.

    She whispered to him what she heard. His eyes widened and he also looked at the direction of Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Lu Zihao noticed their attention and also looked back at them with a raised eyebrow.

    "We¡¯ll talkter to your brother," Jin Liwei told Iris. "You can ask him about it by then."

    "Okay." She felt curious about why Jin Liwei wanted the three of them to talk again but given what happenedst weekend, perhaps he had new questions that he wanted to ask her and her brother.

    Then she remembered something. "By the way, where¡¯s the person that you want to introduce to me?"

 Chapter 899 - Contradictory

    <h4>Chapter 899 - Contradictory </h4>

    "I¡¯ll tell youter," Jin Liwei said.

    Iris tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to exin but when he didn¡¯t, she had no choice but to swallow her curiosity for now. He would tell her when he was ready. She was sure of that.

    The friends hung out for the entire afternoon and even ate dinner together. Afterwards, they bid each other goodbye and left one by one. Only Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing stayed back.

    Iris became excited. "Are you sleeping over again?"

    "No," Lu Zihao said. "Your man wants to talk to both of us again."

    "Oh." She looked at Jin Liwei with reignited curiosity.

    Lu Zihao turned to Long Jinjing. "Stay with Dominic and the others for now. I need to talk to them. I¡¯ll be backter and we¡¯ll return to your ce."

    "Okay." Long Jinjing joined Dom, Clover and Jiang Ying Yue.

    Later in their suite¡¯s living room, Iris sipped hot ginger tea while she observed Jin Liwei and her big brother. Both men appeared rxed on the outside but she could feel the nervous energy emanating from them. At the same time, she could also sense Jin Liwei¡¯s excitement which was the total opposite of her big brother¡¯s...displeasure. Yes, her brother appeared to be displeased. She wondered what the two men were nning to talk about with her.

    But first things first. She needed to satisfy her curiosity about something that she kept on forgetting. Turning to Lu Zihao, she finally asked him, "Big Brother, I heard Big Sister Jinjing calling you Niki."

    He stiffened for only a fraction of a second but she still caught his reaction. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

    "Did you tell her to call you by your real name?"

    Lu Zihao crossed his arm and stared outside the window. All of them were basically sitting in the same spots as they didst weekend.<i></i>

    "Yes."

    Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes widened and they looked at each other.

    "Why?" she asked.

    Finally, Lu Zihao looked at them. "What do you mean why? You told your man your real name. Why can¡¯t I tell my real name to my woman?"

    "I told Liwei my real name because I love him. Do you love Big Sister Jinjing?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s back straightened and he frowned. "No, I don¡¯t love her."

    She tilted her head to the side. "Really?"

    "I..." His frown deepened as if he encountered a difficult problem that he couldn¡¯t solve. Then he sighed. "You know I can¡¯t love her. My world is too dangerous for me to have that kind of deep attachment for an innocent woman. What I have with her...it¡¯s only temporary. I¡¯ll let her go once we¡¯ve satisfied each other. She¡¯ll be safer away from me."

    She also frowned and opened her mouth, about to argue, but Jin Liwei ced a firm hand on her thigh to stop her. He shook his head at her.

    "But¡ª"

    "Let the two of them figure out their rtionship, love. They¡¯re both a.d.u.l.ts and¡ª"

    "No!" Iris couldn¡¯t ept it. She pushed away Jin Liwei¡¯s hand and stood up before facing her brother. Her slightly flushed face indicated that she was worked up after hearing what her brother said about his rtionship with Long Jinjing.

    "If that¡¯s how you feel, then you shouldn¡¯t have taken her as your girlfriend in the first ce. You should¡¯ve left it as a one-night stand, maybe a two or even a three-night stand but nothing longer than that. Definitely not a rtionship like what the two of you have right now! Big Brother, aside from Liwei, I¡¯ll always side with you. You should know that. But Big Sister Jinjing is my friend and...I¡¯ve grown to ept this body¡¯s blood connection to her as Xin¡¯s half-sister. I care about her. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t just sit back and listen to you spout such contradictory¡ª"

    "Which part of the things I said is contradictory?" Lu Zihao demanded.

    "You say that what you have with Big Sister Jinjing is temporary and yet you told her to call you by your real name. Have you forgotten the power and danger your real name holds? Only a few people know Evelina but almost everyone in the underworld knows Niki."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s jaw and entire body tensed. A heavy aura burst out of him but Iris was too worked up to react. It was Jin Liwei who stood in front of her and red at Lu Zihao. Lu Zihao caught himself and took a few deep breaths as he withdrew the aura he unconsciously released.

    Iris, however, wasn¡¯t done yet. She left Jin Liwei¡¯s back to confront her brother face to face again. Jin Liwei tried to calm her down but to no avail.

    "Then you say that you don¡¯t love her. Fine! If that¡¯s what you say, then I¡¯ll try to believe it. But you care about her. Don¡¯t deny it!"

    Lu Zihao closed his mouth when she said that. Indeed, he was about to deny it on instinct. But now that she pointed it out, he realized that she was right. He cared about Long Jinjing.

    "Yes, I care about Long Jinjing," he finally admitted out loud. "She¡¯s my girlfriend, for f.u.c.k¡¯s sake! Of course, I care about her! Do you think I¡¯ll waste my f.u.c.k.i.n.g time being in a rtionship with a woman I don¡¯t care about?!"

    This time, it was Jin Liwei who spoke. Since his wife couldn¡¯t be stopped, then he might as well join her. "Then take responsibility for your decision, Niki. Telling Long Jinjing your real name and taking her as your girlfriend while you still have Shadow Winds is the same thing as pulling her half a step into your world whether you want to admit it or not."

    Iris hugged Jin Liwei¡¯s arm and nodded at what he was saying.

    "And don¡¯t take us for blind people," Jin Liwei continued. "We know that the two personal bodyguards you assigned to protect and take care of her are some of the best in Shadow Winds, not to mention the hidden ones you instructed to watch over her in secret."

 Chapter 900 - How Is That Possible?

    <h4>Chapter 900 - How Is That Possible? </h4>

    Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes but didn¡¯t deny anything of what his sister¡¯s man said. A thick vein throbbed in his forehead as he also red at Jin Liwei.

    "I also know that you instructed Bacon to monitor Long Jinjing so that my son can instantly alert your subordinates if she ever needs help," Jin Liwei said.

    "The little devil told you that?" Lu Zihao asked through gritted teeth.

    Amus.e.m.e.nt shed in Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes. "No, I was just guessing. But your reaction just now confirmed my guess."

    An adorable child¡¯s snicker suddenly sounded in the room. "Uncle Haohao called Bacon a little devil. Ehehehe. Meow~"

    "Uncle Zihao, calling your own nephew little devil is not ssy," Bacon¡¯s voice said. "You¡¯ve hurt Bacon¡¯s feelings. I want a sry raise aspensation for my emotional distress. If a raise is not possible, a simple bonus will do."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned cker. Before he could scold his naughty niece and nephew for interrupting the a.d.u.l.ts¡¯ conversation, Iris¡¯ amusedughter flowed like a refreshing breeze over the tense atmosphere. Watching his sisterughing at his expense, his frustration gradually dissipated.

    "Bacon, don¡¯t pester your uncle for a raise or a bonus for now," Iris said after controlling herughter. "It¡¯s not the right time."

    "When is the right time, Mother?"

    It was Jin Liwei who answered Bacon. "End of the year holidays. Your uncle should pay you a bonus by that time."

    "I see. Bacon understands. Thank you for the information, Father. I will pester Uncle Zihao during the holidays instead."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s scowl returned.

    "What about the cute and mighty Ketchup? I want a holiday bonus, too! Meow~"

    "You¡¯re the boss of your ownpany. You can just give yourself a holiday bonus."

    "Oh, right! Ehehehe. Ketchup is ady boss like my mommy! Yay yay! Ketchup will surely pay my cute and mighty self a holiday bonus! Thanks for the reminder, Daddy~ Love ya so much! Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    Iris chuckled before reminding her AI children not to disturb the a.d.u.l.ts anymore while they were talking. Just like what happenedst week, Ketchup and Bacon managed to lighten the heavy atmosphere between their parents and uncle.

    Unseen by the a.d.u.l.ts in their big but cozy virtual home, Ketchup winked at her little kitty brother. Bacon ignored his older sister but his tail was wagging in satisfaction at his performance. The AI siblings were able to make their motherugh and more rxed. Their father secretly promised to reward them if they helped to calm their pregnant mother whenever she was stressed out.

    Mission aplished!

    Back at the suite, Iris¡¯ mood had now turned for the better. She tugged Jin Liwei and the two of them returned to their seat on the couch.

    "Big Brother, I¡¯m sorry if I sound like I¡¯m interfering with your rtionship with Big Sister Jinjing. I just suddenly felt all worked up when I heard your unsatisfactory words about the rtionship between the two of you."

    At first, Lu Zihao felt better after hearing his sister¡¯s apology but when he heard thest part of what she said, he frowned again. However, he didn¡¯t want to bother about it anymore. He didn¡¯te here to argue with his own sister and her man.

    Truth be told, he wanted to get this meeting over and done with so that he and Long Jinjing could return to her ce as soon as possible and f.u.c.k before falling asleep¡ªif that was possible. He was dreading what would happenter. There was a high chance that his just recovered self would be lethargic again because of his damn promise with the sly Jin Liwei.

    "I just hope that whatever happens between you and Big Sister Jinjing, she would be safe," Iris said.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s lips pressed together in a thin line but he gave a stiff nod which seemed to satisfy his sister¡ªthank f.u.c.k! <i>[This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you!]</i>

    "But I was really surprised that you told her your real name, Big Brother."

    "I just don¡¯t want my woman calling another man¡¯s name while I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.n.g her."

    "Language, Big Brother. Please don¡¯t forget that my children are still listening!"

    This time, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t feel sorry at all. He only rolled his eyes and continued staring outside the window.

    Silence.

    Since her curiosity about hearing Long Jinjing calling her big brother Niki was finally satisfied, she looked at the two men and gave them a "now what" expression.

    "Remember when I told you that I want to introduce you to somebody important to me?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Yes, I remember. Where is he? Did he note today?"

    "He¡¯s right there." Jin Liwei pointed at Lu Zihao.

    Her eyes turned nk before she looked at Jin Liwei like he turned into the most idiotic man in the world.

    "Love, I want to introduce my fifth brother to you. His name is Lu Zihao."

    A furrow formed between her brows as she struggled to understand what he meant. Then her eyes widened in amazed disbelief while listening to Jin Liwei¡¯s exnation about Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant.

    "Is that true?!" Iris asked her brother.

    Lu Zihao sighed before nodding.

    "B-but...how is that possible?! I never experienced anything like that with Long Xin¡¯s remnant!"

    The two men looked at each other. Jin Liwei held some hope that his wife¡¯s own experiences might help Niki and Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant in some way, but it seemed that might not be the case.

    On the other hand, Lu Zihao, no, Niki wasn¡¯t as surprised as Jin Liwei. He already knew that his and his sister¡¯s situations were different from each other no matter how simr they might seem at first nce.

    "Can Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant really take over your body and talk to me like a normal person?" Iris asked.

    "Yeah." Lu Zihao stood up, sighing. "I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate this but since I already made a promise to your man, then fine! I¡¯ll let you meet Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant."

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened in amazement once again as her brother went from a gloomy man to a grinning one.

    "Hey there, Third Sister-inw!" Lu Zihao gave her a roguish grin and a friendly wave. "Nice to meet you! I¡¯m Lu Zihao!"

 Chapter 901 - Backlash

    <h4>Chapter 901 - Bacsh </h4>

    "Darling, that was incredible!" Iris eximedter that night when their meeting with her big brother and Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant was over. "I never expected that something like that was possible. I wonder if my situation were any different, that I would¡¯ve also experienced something simr."

    Jin Liwei frowned, displeased at the idea. "I¡¯m d that it didn¡¯t happen to you. I might be a jerk to the original Long Xin to be thinking like this, but I¡¯m d that her remnant didn¡¯t evolve to be able to take over your body and have conversations like a normal person."

    She sighed. "Xin was not that bad of a person, Liwei. She was just...immature and shallow in so many ways. If only she had been guided and educated properly while growing up, perhaps she would¡¯ve developed into a better person than she did."

    "Hmm. Maybe you¡¯re right. We don¡¯t really know what could¡¯ve happened but there¡¯s one thing that I¡¯m sure of. I¡¯m d that everything turned out the way it did because I got you." He caressed her cheek and gazed into her eyes. "It was a rocky beginning for the two of us but here we are now."

    "Yes, here we are now," she whispered, smiling at him. "We¡¯re going to be married in a few days."

    "En." He ced his hand on her stomach. "And we¡¯re going to be weing our twin babies in less than a year. You¡¯ve made me a very happy man, Evelina. I can¡¯t wait until you officially be Mrs. Jin. I promise to do my best to make you happy for the rest of our lives."

    Her smile turned brighter. Although she still felt scared about bing a mother, her love for her babies who she hadn¡¯t even met yet were growing bigger with each passing day. It was a different kind of love from what she felt for Jin Liwei but was equally if not more profound. It was amazing and a little frightening.

    Despite the fear, she knew that no matter what happened, she would fine as long as Jin Liwei was by her side. He was her strongest supporter and she felt like she could do anything together with him. It was such a glorious feeling that she had never experienced before.

    It was already past midnight but Iris was still wide awake. Her eyes were sparkling with amazement at the incredible meeting she had with Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant. At first, she even suspected that her brother and Jin Liwei might be pranking her but quickly rejected the idea. Jin Liwei might do it, if only for the purpose of entertaining her, but her brother? No way!

    She remembered what happened earlier. The meeting with Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant was very short but fun. It was obvious that the original Lu Zihao was the total opposite of her brother¡¯s very intense character. Lu Zihao was easygoing and somewhat of a jokester. Iris immediately feltfortable talking to him even though it was the first time that they "met".

    Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t talk for too long because the remnant grew tired quickly and needed to "recharge". This concept intrigued Iris. She wanted to know more, perhaps study it and eventually understand how it really worked in the future. To achieve this, she nned on interviewing both her big brother and Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant but Jin Liwei told her not to rush anything.

    It was only then that she noticed that her brother Niki was back in control of the body and was sweating profusely. He was also very pale and looked weak. Her curiosity was quickly reced by rm and worry for her brother. <i></i>

    "I¡¯m fine!" Lu Zihao, no, Niki told her when she was about to rush to him.

    "What happened?!"

    Niki tried to act nonchnt about it but the slight trembling of his hands and knees betrayed the real state of his body. "It¡¯s just a little bacsh. That¡¯s all. Nothing to be worried about."

    "Bacsh?!" Iris became even more worried.

    "You look better tonight that you didst week," Jin Liweimented, also in a nonchnt tone, but his arm wrapped firmly around Iris¡¯ shoulders to prevent her from running to her brother.

    Both men remembered that she couldn¡¯t take her brother¡¯s scent right now and didn¡¯t want to risk her getting sick again.

    "Yeah. I guess it gets better with experience."

    "Experience, huh? So you¡¯re okay with letting my fifth brother¡¯s remnant take over more often?"

    Niki red at Jin Liwei. "Hell no! F.u.c.k this shit! I don¡¯t want to go through this again."

    Jin Liwei chuckled but sadness and regret shed in his eyes.

    Upon seeing her frustrated confusion, her brother gave her a brief exnation about the bacsh both he and Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant would experience every time he allowed the remnant to take over. Niki would experience lethargy while the remnant would need to recharge for a longer period of time. Learning from what happenedst week, they kept the takeover very short this time to minimize the bacsh.

    In the end, Niki felt too exhausted to leave tonight so he decided to sleep over at the mansion with Long Jinjing again. Iris was d. She often missed her brother if they didn¡¯t see each other for too long.

    Back to the present, Iris and Jin Liwei were lying on their bed. She couldn¡¯t sleep because her mind was still thinking about everything that happened during the meeting.

    "Darling," she called.

    "Hm?"

    "Do you want Fifth Brother¡¯s remnant to stay?"

    He stared at the ceiling and didn¡¯t answer right away. "I can¡¯t lie to you. Yes, I want my fifth brother¡¯s remnant to stay."

    "Big Brother won¡¯t let him," she whispered.

    His mouth curved into a sad smirk. "Don¡¯t underestimate Fifth Brother. He¡¯s happy-go-lucky, yes, but he¡¯s still the grandson of Grandpa Lu. He won¡¯t be defeated so easily even if it¡¯s against your brother, Niki Vetrov."

    "I just hope that whatever happens to the two of them, that it won¡¯t be dangerous. Just like how you care for Fifth Brother, I also care about Big Brother."

    "I know, love. I know."

 Chapter 902 - Inspiring

    <h4>Chapter 902 - Inspiring </h4>

    Ming Li, a.k.a. LittlePhoenix, wiped her wet hands on the skirt of her brand-new formal dress that she bought with her mother as soon as she received the invitation. The dress was nothing too fancy but she felt like ady while wearing it. She hoped that she could channel even just 1% of Boss Iris¡¯ gracefulness and elegance during the party today.

    At the moment, they were driving on their way to the party. She sat in the backseat while her father drove. He was Ming Li¡¯s plus one guest. Sitting in the front passenger seat was Zhou Mei¡¯er, a.k.a. CaptainckStar, founder and president of the ck Stars fan club. Zhou Mei¡¯er didn¡¯t bring anyone to apany her so she hitched a ride with the father and daughter instead so that they could go together.

    "I¡¯m so nervous," Ming Li said. "I wonder what kind of party Boss Iris is throwing today. The invitation didn¡¯t mention anything." [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you!]

    "Big Bros Wu Chen and Hou Liang are attending," Zhou Mei¡¯er replied. "The four posh aunties are alsoing. They think that the party might be a fund-raising event for Boss¡¯ charity, Iris of Hope. As far as I know, we¡¯re the only ones who got invited from the ck Stars. That¡¯s why the two of us are very lucky. The two big bros are now bigshots in the gaming industry while the four posh auntiese from prominent, wealthy families. It¡¯s not surprising that they got invited to a ssy party like this. Just look at the invitation and you¡¯ll know that it¡¯s a ssy party. As for the two of us, we¡¯re just regr university and high school students but we still got invited because of Boss Iris. She¡¯s really the best!"

    "I know, right? She never forgets about us." Then Ming Li addressed her father. "Dad, you have to check my manners and Big Sis Mei¡¯er¡¯s during the party, okay? I don¡¯t want us embarrassing ourselves in front of Boss Iris and CEO Jin and the other guests."

    "Alright, I¡¯ll do my best," her father replied. "I don¡¯t really know much about high society etiquette but I at least know how to conduct myself atpany parties. I think that should be enough."

    "Sorry for the trouble, Uncle," Zhou Mei¡¯er said. "And thank you very much for letting me ride with you. I¡¯m just a poor university student so I don¡¯t have my own car."

    "It¡¯s no trouble at all. Besides, didn¡¯t the invitation say that if you don¡¯t have dresses or a ride, Iris Long will provide everything for you?"

    Zhou Mei¡¯er scratched her nose. "We¡¯re too shy to take Boss Iris on her offer. This party sounds like an important event given that we have to dress up. We don¡¯t want her to worry about sending dresses or cars for us when we already feel honoured to just be included in her guest list. Boss Iris had already done so much for us."

    "Ah, true." Ming Li¡¯s father nodded. "I heard that she started sponsoring you for a schrship for your university education?"

    Zhou Mei¡¯er¡¯s eyes misted over before she nodded. "Yes, Uncle. It¡¯s not only me. She also offered it to the other most loyal members of the ck Stars. As long as we maintain good marks, she¡¯ll basically pay for our tuition, textbooks, and everything that we need to finish our university education. But if we flunk, then she¡¯ll take away the schrsh.i.p.s."

    "Well, that¡¯s to be expected and only fair. My daughter also got the same schrship offer from Iris Long, although she¡¯s still in high school. We¡¯ve been saving up for when Little Li goes to university but then this girl suddenly announced that she wants to study foreignnguages abroad and be an interpreter and a trantor." He sighed. "We can¡¯t afford that so if she really gets a schrship from Iris Long, then that would be a great help to our family."

    Ming Li giggled shyly. "Boss Iris was so cool when she worked as the official interpreter at the International Business Conference. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to be as awesome as her and speak so manynguages but I want to be proficient in English at least and maybe one othernguage, maybe French or Spanish because they sound so fancy."

    Her father shook his head but there was doting smile on his face. "To be honest, your mother and I thought that Iris Long was a bad influence and that joining her fan club will lead you astray. But we now admit that we were wrong. Ever since Little Li started hanging out with you and the other ck Stars, she has matured a lot and started doing better in her studies and also bing more goal-oriented."

    "Of course, Dad! That¡¯s because Boss Iris is so inspiring and amazing. We, the ck Stars, need to also do our best so as not to embarrass her!"

    Zhou Mei¡¯er gave her a thumbs up. "When I graduate, I n on applying to Orchidia Beauty. I want to work at Boss Iris¡¯pany. I¡¯ll start interning there next year."

    "We¡¯re almost there," Ming Li¡¯s father announced as they saw the gated security entrance of the exclusive vige, Dragon Pce Homes.

    "Wow!" Ming Li looked out of the car window in awe.

    "Oh my. Look at those cars! They must cost millions!" Her father was also equally in awe.

    Simrly, Zhou Mei¡¯er was too awed to speak.

    "I...I feel like, uh, we¡¯re out of our league here." Ming Li¡¯s father began to feel nervous, causing the two girls to also be nervous.

    "What¡¯s your business here?" The intimidating security guard asked when they reached the gate.

    They handed the two girls¡¯ invitations instead of speaking. The security guard took them and checked on theputer system. The three in the car felt nervous. Then finally, the security guard returned and handed the invitations back.

    "Wee. Dragon Pce Home #10 is thest property and also the biggest. You¡¯ll encounter additional security checkpoints along the way, just so you know."

    "T-thanks, sir!"

    Then they drove inside of what felt like another world.

 Chapter 903 - Whose Wedding?

    <h4>Chapter 903 - Whose Wedding? </h4>

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    After getting beautified by her own m team, Vizcondesa Lan walked out of her daughter¡¯s m room which she temporarily imed as her own while staying at the penthouse. She reached the living area where her new best friend Randy and the rest of the household staff were waiting for her. All of them were dressed up in simr fancy, formal dresses and tuxedo suits.

    Randy, the Zumba instructor, was Wei Lan¡¯s plus one guest. She was the one who chose his clothes for today. It was a modern take on a ssic European tuxedo suit with a tailcoat to match her Spanish-inspired dress that had elegant ruffles, res, ruby roses and emerald vines.

    Yi Mei and the cook including the other staff members who had been working for Iris at the penthouse the longest were also invited. Iris sent them dresses, suits, shoes, and even professionals to help them m up so they didn¡¯t need to worry about anything. Only some of the younger staff would be left behind so that the penthouse wouldn¡¯t be leftpletely unattended. Yi Mei and the cook initially declined the invitation, saying that such a fancy event didn¡¯t suit old people like them, but Iris insisted. Since they didn¡¯t want to disappoint their young miss, they eventually gave in and agreed to go with Wei Lan to the party.

    "Vizcondesa, is it really alright for me toe with you to Miss Xin¡¯s party?" Randy asked while adjusting his polka-dot bowtie for the thirtieth time.

    Although Wei Lan had been mostly sessful in improving his fashion sense, he couldn¡¯tpletely abandon his love for neon colours and gaudy prints. His polka-dot bowtie and bright neon green pocket square artfully folded in his b.r.e.a.s.t pocket was an ode to his former fashion sense.

    "Of course, Raaaaandyyy doll~ The invitation says that this vizcondesa is allowed to bring one additional person so I chose yoooouuuu because you and I together are both faaaaaaabulous!"

    Randy shimmied his chest in response but Wei Lan gave his arm a light smack.

    "Watch your image, Raaaaaandyyyy! We are going to be elegant, graceful and ssy today! Understooooood?"

    He cleared his throat and straightened his muscr back. "I understand, Vizcondesa! No twerking today, I promise!"

    Wei Lan released a dramatic sigh. "I wish my husband was here to escort me. I miss him soooooo much! But since he¡¯s not here, you¡¯ll be my escort today, Raaaaandyyy doll, so do your best to match my elegance and grace. Alright?"

    "Yes, Vizcondesa!"

    "Alright. Let¡¯s go, everyone! I don¡¯t want my daughter using meeeeee of beingte to whatever this event is. What would dear Liwei saaaaaay? Now hurry up, everyone. Don¡¯t keep us waiting anymore. Chop chop! We need to get going!"

    Everyone looked at each other after hearing what Wei Lan said. They had the same exact thought in their minds. All of them had been ready for at least an hour now. It was Wei Lan who kept them waiting for a long time. If they werete, it would be her fault, but nobody daredin. They just nodded and prepared to leave the penthouse together.

    At the same time, all of them wondered what kind of event they were going to attend at their Young Miss Xin and her fianc¨¦¡¯s house at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    ###

    <i>Long Ancestral Residence. </i>

    "President, the car is ready and waiting outside," Cai Guang, Long Tengfei¡¯s long-time assistant, announced.

    "Thank you." It was Yang Jiahui who replied with a kind smile.

    "No problem, Madam."

    Yang Jiahui made a final fix to the cor of Long Tengfei¡¯s sapphire-blue changshan. Her qipao matched his traditional clothing but only in a few shades lighter of blue.

    Cai Guang was also wearing a changshan but his was a light-green colour and less borate. To his surprise, he also received an invitation to the mysterious party at Dragon Pce Home #10. He tried asking his distant nephew, Dominic Chua, who was the Young Miss Xin¡¯s assistant, about the nature of the event but the brat wouldn¡¯t reveal anything. He was annoyed but also proud of his nephew because loyalty to one¡¯s boss was an important trait of a great assistant.

    They all climbed inside the car one by one and left the ancestral property.<i></i>

    "Are you sure that Xiao Mei is already at Xin¡¯s?" Long Tengfei asked.

    "Yes. She left at dawn," Yang Jiahui replied.

    "I wonder what event my daughter is throwing today."

    "I think it¡¯s a wedding," said Yang Jiahui in a calm voice.

    "Whose wedding?"

    "Who else? Xin and Liwei¡¯s, of course."

    Long Tengfei frowned. "No, that¡¯s not possible."

    She looked amused. "Why do you think that?"

    "There are many traditions that we must follow before the actual wedding day. My daughter can¡¯t just marry today without informing me, her father! We haven¡¯t even done a proper betrothal ceremony yet¡ª"

    Yang Jiahui ced her hand over her husband¡¯s arm. "Tengfei, you already know that Xin is the most non-traditional person among your children. I, for one, have long since stopped feeling surprised whenever we hear about hertest feats. She¡¯s the type of person to follow the beat of her own drum especially after her personality changed for the better. And also, this is the modern times. Some of the young ones are foregoing our old traditions."

    Long Tengfei was dissatisfied. "We aren¡¯t sure yet what kind of event it¡¯s going to be. It might be a fund-raising event for Iris of Hope just like what Cai Guang thinks. The wedding is just your guess. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re wrong. There¡¯s no way that my daughter will be marrying today without my knowledge."

    She only smiled. "Yes, I might be wrong. But I may also be right."

    "Did Xiao Mei tell you something?"

    She shook her head. "You know that child. She¡¯s like Cai Guang¡¯s nephew. They¡¯re fiercely loyal to Xin. They won¡¯t tell anybody anything."

    "Well, since you don¡¯t know for sure, I believe that your guess is wrong."

    "Hmmm, maybe," she murmured. This was what she said but her female intuition was dead-set on her initial guess. "We¡¯ll see when we get there."

    "Yes, we¡¯ll see."

 Chapter 904 - Arrival Of The Geniuses

    <h4>Chapter 904 - Arrival Of The Geniuses </h4>

    About a couple of days earlier, the media and some well-connected people in different fields had detected the arrival of some notable international figures in the country. Since most of these notable figures belonged to highly specialized fields, they weren¡¯t household names. However, people working in their fields knew exactly who they were, and of course, admired them very much.

    Among the group, there were two people who had worldwide recognition and were considered as celebrities in their own respective fields.

    The first one was a famous young beauty in the art world, Ashandra Knightson. She was also quite popr in the fashion world as a designer. However, she was most well-known for her breathtaking paintings.

    Her Chinese fans almost went crazy with excitement when they heard that she arrived in the country. They tried investigating where she was staying but her whereabouts remained unknown.

    What was Ashandra Knightson doing here?

    There were lots of spections about her purpose ining here. This was the second time this year that she came to the country. People remembered that she attended Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch where it was revealed that she was friends with the owner. Since everyone now knew that Iris Long was the beautypany¡¯s owner, it meant that the two were friends.

    People who knew this connection discussed online.

    "Maybe Ashandra came to visit Iris Long again."

    "That¡¯s possible. Iris Long has recently limited her public appearances to a bare minimum possibly due to health reasons. Maybe Ashandra is visiting because she¡¯s concerned for her friend¡¯s health and wellbeing."

    "Goddess Ashandra is the best!"

    Of course, there would always be some people who just had to say something negative in any online discussions.

    "Do you all seriously believe that crap about Ashandra Knightson being friends with Iris Long? I¡¯m telling you that¡¯s bullshit! I bet Iris Long only became acquainted with an important person like Ashandra Knightson because she¡¯s CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s fianc¨¦e."

    "That¡¯s right! Iris Long is a nobodypared to someone of Ashandra Knightson¡¯s stature. Well, I don¡¯t really know who this Ashandra Knightson is but I did a quick web search and read that she¡¯s a super famous artist. There¡¯s no way that someone important like her will be genuine friends with Iris Long."

    Within minutes, the Slippers Army led by the new fearsome duo KittyBaby and PantherBaby who turned out to be actual siblings in real life descended in droves and trolled all of these Iris Long naysayers into embarrassing smithereens.

    At the same time that Ashandra Knightson¡¯s fans in the art and fashion worlds were busy trying to gather more news about her stay in the country, the leaders of almost all the important fields in running society were shocked to learn of the second notable figure¡¯s arrival in the country. His arrival was quieter and didn¡¯t cause an online stir like Ashandra Knightson but it definitely rocked the leaders and the elites at the top.

    Professor Erwant Dupont, headmaster of the legendary school of geniuses Cross Academy, was a highly respected and ill.u.s.trious figure admired by many leaders and elites all over the world. He enjoyed the same treatment as members of royalty or leaders of sovereign states because of the unshakeable independent power that Cross Academy held for more than two centuries.

    A few people were aware that he also briefly visited the countryst year for a private business. As far as they knew, Professor Erwan Dupont didn¡¯t meet anyone of importance during those few days that he stayed in the countryst year even though many impressive figures including officials extended personal invitations to meet up with him. If he did, word would¡¯ve surely spread because nobody could resist bragging about meeting him. Many considered meeting him to be one of the highest honours in the world.

    Those who knew that Ashandra Knightson was a Cross Academy student connected her with Professor Erwan Dupont. Perhaps something big was happening in the country that not many were aware of.

    Why did these two Cross Academy geniusese to the country?

    Some of the smarter ones tried asking for information from Sir Lu Jianhong knowing of his direct connection to Cross Academy as an alumnus. However, they couldn¡¯t get a hold of him. They even tried reaching him through Jin Corporation but soon discovered that Jin Liwei took a short break and couldn¡¯t be reached either.

    All of this made people suspicious and more curious about what was really going on. But no matter how hard they tried digging for more information, their efforts were all futile. It felt like someone was intentionally blocking them from learning the truth. It was frustrating, but in the end, they had to stop their search for fear of offending Cross Academy.

    ###

    <i>Jin Family¡¯s Old House.</i>

    Boisterousughter boomed in the living area as Grandpa Lu bragged to Huang Yuyan about his new granddaughter-inw. <i></i>

    "Haohao brought Jinjing girl to my mansion this past Saturday! We had an amazing dinner feast! The only problem is that the girl eats like a bird. I told my pinheaded grandson that he needs to fatten her up a bit so that her body will be able to safely bear my great-grandbaby soon. And do you know what that dunderhead told me? Hmph! He said, ¡¯Don¡¯t interfere with my rtionship, old man. Jinjing and I know what we¡¯re doing. We¡¯re already a.d.u.l.ts.¡¯ Bah! If those kids really know what they¡¯re doing, why haven¡¯t they given me a great-grandbaby yet? I want to know!"

    "Zihao is right," Grandma Li¡¯s slightly cold voice said as she descended the staircase with great elegance. "Don¡¯t interfere with your grandson¡¯s rtionship too much, you old buffoon, or you¡¯ll have to wait longer to finally get your great-grandchild. Kids these days don¡¯t like being pressured."

    "I like Long Jinjing," Huang Yuyan chimed in.

    "That girl is actually a lot like you, Yuyan!" Grandpa Lu said.

    Grandma Li nodded. "Indeed."

    "Oh." Huang Yuyan thought about what they said but still couldn¡¯t figure out how she was simr to Long Jinjing.

    Grandma Li nced at the huge grandfather clock. "We need to leave or we¡¯ll bete."

 Chapter 905 - Wedding Or Birth

    <h4>Chapter 905 - Wedding Or Birth </h4>

    "Yes, Mother!" Huang Yuyan immediately stood up and became frantic in trying to hurry. "Oh, no. I hope we¡¯re notte to my son and dear Xin¡¯s party."

    "Calm yourself, dear," Grandma Li said.

    "Y-yes, Mother."

    "See? You and Jinjing girl are quite simr! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu pped his thighs before standing up as well.

    Huang Yuyan felt confused but didn¡¯t ask for rification. She was more worried about leaving the house right away so that they wouldn¡¯t bete for the party at Dragon Pce.

    They rode Grandpa Lu¡¯s limousine. Grandma Li was wearing an elegant dark blue qipao with golden embroidered decorations. On the other hand, her twopanions were dressed in modern Western-style clothing. Grandpa Lu was in a sharp custom-tailored tuxedo suit while Huang Yuyan wore a simple yet refined bluish silver dress.

    "Do you know what kind of event we¡¯re attending?" Grandma Li asked.

    Grandpa Lu harrumphed. "Those kids won¡¯t tell me anything! I ask and ask and ask so many times but they only tell me, ¡¯Just pleasee, Grandpa Lu. You¡¯ll know what it is on the day.¡¯ Why is there a need for such secrecy? Tell me what¡¯s the reason. I want to know!"

    "Maybe my son and Xin are going to make an important announcement," Huang Yuyan suggested.

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes lit up. "Excellent suggestion! Maybe Liwei my boy and Xin my girl are finally announcing a wedding date. About time! Or better yet, maybe those slowpokes are finally going to give Sister Zhiruo and I our long-awaited great-grandbaby! So I hope you¡¯re right, Yuyan. This old man can¡¯t wait!"

    Grandma Li smiled and nodded in agreement. However, she still told Grandpa Lu, "Brother Jianhong, tone down your impatience a little. We don¡¯t want to jinx anything or we might end up waiting longer for a wedding and great-grandchildren."

    Huang Yuyan sighed dreamily. "I can¡¯t wait to be a grandmother to Liwei and Xin¡¯s children. Oh, I mean human children. I heard that I have four cat grandchildren now but I only met Ice Cream and Popcorn. Such adorable cats. I haven¡¯t met the two youngest yet. There¡¯s Ketchup and the newest one. I forgot his name. My son told me when I called the other day but I can¡¯t seem to remember my new grandson¡¯s name."

    "His name is Sausage!" Grandpa Lu said in a confident, booming voice. "Or maybe Barbeque. Something like that! I know it¡¯s meat."

    Grandma Li touched her forehead and shook her head before releasing a light sigh. "I adore Xin and can¡¯t wait for her to marry my grandson but that child has a terrible naming sense. Liwei is also not without fault. He doesn¡¯t see anything wrong with Xin choosing names based on food. I fear what they will name their children¡ªhuman children in the future. We must persuade them to allow us or anyone except the two of them to name our great-grandchildren, Brother Jianhong."

    They all nodded in a solemn manner.

    Since Dragon Pce was quite far from the Jin Family¡¯s old house, the trio spent the journey chatting.<i></i>

    "I¡¯m very happy that my two sons seem to have gotten closer," Huang Yuyan said, her eyes watering. "I cried in happiness and relief when I heard that Chonglin asked his older brother for Jin Corporation shares and Liwei gave him the ones that my husband originally left for our younger son when he...when he d-died...."

    Grandma Li sighed, her own eyes starting to mist over. She didn¡¯t lose control of her emotions like her daughter-inw but that didn¡¯t mean that her own pain was any lesser than Huang Yuyan¡¯s. It was her own son who died before her, after all. That was a permanent pain that would never heal for any parent.

    Grandpa Lu passed a box of tissues to Huang Yuyan.

    "Thank you, Uncle." She daintily wiped her tears, somehow managing to avoid ruining her makeup. "Please excuse me for losing control of my emotions."

    The two elders waved her apology away.

    "Those two boys will only grow closer from now on," Grandpa Lu said in a more subdued booming voice. "I¡¯m advising them on their new venture. Chonglin my boy and Xin my girl are nning on establishing their own talent management and entertainment productionpany by converting Liwei my boy¡¯s current film productionpany."

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "Yes, I heard something about that from Chonglin. If the three of them are partnering, I have faith that they will be sessful, especially since Uncle Jianhong is providing them with wise advice."

    "Indeed," Grandma Li agreed. "Liwei might not be as involved in thepany but he has always been reliable, not to mention that he¡¯s a savvy businessman like his grandfather and father. He¡¯ll provide Xin and Chonglin with a strong backing. Chonglin has a strong and problematic womanizing tendency, except for when that horrid girl Fan Luo trapped him¡ª"

    Huang Yuyan winced and couldn¡¯t help but look guilty.

    "¡ªbut he¡¯s extremely dedicated to his profession and is not afraid to work hard. That¡¯s how he reached the sess that he¡¯s enjoying now. As for Xin, what more can I say? That girl is a genius."

    "Bahahaha! You got that right!" Grandpa Lu puffed out his chest and acted as if thepliments Grandma Li just said were all for him.

    Grandma Li gave him a cold snort before patting her daughter-inw¡¯s shoulder, silently telling her not to dwell on the past.

    "Thank you, Mother," Huang Yuyan whispered.

    The elder woman shook her head while giving her daughter-inw a gentle, reassuring smile. "You mustn¡¯t show such a sad expression at your son and future daughter-inw¡¯s party today."

    "Yes, Mother. I won¡¯t."

    "Good! Very good! Now if we only know what kind of party it is, then this old man will feel less annoyed at those pinheads! Hmph! They better be announcing a wedding date or the birth of my great-grandbaby today! Why are they so slow in fulfilling this pitiful old man¡¯s wish? I want to know!"

    "Calling yourself pitiful? How shameless!" Grandma Li sniffed in mock derision.

    Grandpa Lu grinned. "Oh, we¡¯re almost there!"

    Dragon Pce Homes loomed in the distance.

 Chapter 906 - When The Time Is Right

    <h4>Chapter 906 - When The Time Is Right </h4>

    "Thanks for taking me as your plus one guest," Lin Dong said as he climbed inside the car.

    "No problem at all. We¡¯re colleagues." Tang Yiyi checked all of her sides before rejoining the traffic on the road. "And Iris and Jin Chonglin want you toe."

    "They want me toe but didn¡¯t send me an invitation. I don¡¯t even know what kind of event we¡¯re attending today."

    "Me neither. Iris has be extremely secretive in these past few weeks and it¡¯s almost driving me crazy. And speaking of driving me crazy, have you really made up your mind regarding their n?"

    Lin Dong clenched his hands, determination shing in his eyes. "Yes. I¡¯ll follow Chonglin wherever he goes. My letter of resignation is already prepared. I¡¯ll hand it as soon as Iris and Chonglin iron out their departure from Bright Summit." Then he nced at her. "How about you? I heard that Iris also invited you to follow her."

    She sighed, her hands tightening around the steering wheel. "To be honest with you, I also want to follow her but I¡¯m worried about the other artists that I¡¯m managing. I can¡¯t just abandon all of them."

    "The other talents that I¡¯m managing, they¡¯re also following us to the newpany," he revealed.

    Her eyes widened. "Is that true?"

    He nodded. "Chonglin invited them. Just one word from him and they were all won over. The newpany will be paying for their termination fees. I heard that Iris already gave her approval. If you want to follow us to the newpany, maybe you can talk to Iris and ask her to do the same thing for the other talents that you¡¯re managing."

    She frowned. "But wouldn¡¯t all those termination fees be too expensive?"

    "Of course, they¡¯re expensive," he said in a dry voice. "But don¡¯t forget that Chonglin is a Jin, not to mention that he¡¯s a famous superstar and a top endorser. Iris isn¡¯t poor either. She came from a wealthy family herself and now owns Orchidia Beauty. And let¡¯s not forget that she¡¯s also the fianc¨¦e of CEO Jin, one of the wealthiest men in the world. Those people are filthy rich."

    She paused for a few moments to think before replying, "Let¡¯s say that Iris agrees. Do you think that Bright Summit will just let all of the talents go just like that? Letting go of Jin Chonglin alone would hurt Bright Summit. If Iris joins him with all the other talents that we¡¯re managing, the higher-ups will probably go ballistic."

    "I was worried about that too, but Chonglin seems confident of Iris¡¯ ability to negotiate with Bright Summit¡ª"

    "What?! Iris is the one negotiating?!"

    "Look at the road!"

    Tang Yiyi hurriedly returned her eyes on the road. When they calmed down again, she sighed. "I wish Iris tells me more about these things. You know more about their ns than I do. I feel like she doesn¡¯t trust me."

    "I only know about these things from Chonglin. But even he doesn¡¯t know all of Iris¡¯ ns. He says that they have to be extra careful so as not to tip anyone especially the media."

    She sighed again. "Yeah. I¡¯m just so worried about Iris. She¡¯s basically turning into a social hermit and for an in-demand celebrity, that¡¯s akin to a career suicide. I¡¯m just d that she¡¯s at least still working on her music but the media interest in her has been declining ever since she started limiting her public appearances to a bare minimum. I¡¯m worried about her showbiz career but more than that, I¡¯m worried about her health."

    "Maybe you¡¯ll get the answers that you need from her today since I¡¯m sure that we¡¯ll see her at her own party," Lin Dong said in an encouraging tone. "Chonglin is already there since dawn, helping them prepare or something."

    "They¡¯re all acting so mysterious about this party, huh?"

    "Yeah. So annoying."

    They chuckled, lightening the atmosphere.

    "Maybe we¡¯ll get a chance to talk to both Chonglin and Iris at the partyter about the details of their n to leave Bright Summit and establish their ownpany," Lin Dong said.

    "I hope so. Well, Iris promised to tell me everything when the time is right. I just don¡¯t know when is that."

    He nodded.

    Silence fell in the car as they became absorbed in their own thoughts.

    Then Lin Dong leaned forward and peered at the imposing sight of the exclusive vige¡¯s gated entrance in the distance. "Is that it?"

    She smiled. "Yes, we¡¯re almost at Dragon Pce."

    ###

    When the two managers finally passed through the massive gates of Dragon Pce Home #10, Lin Dong released a big sigh of relief.

    "Wow, that was intense! This ce is stricter than airport security. So many checkpoints! And those scary guards! CEO Jin truly lives in another world than the rest of us mortal beings!"

    Tang Yiyi chuckled. "My thoughts exactly. And Iris is engaged to that kind of man. She¡¯s amazing, too."

    "That¡¯s true." He continued looking around the magnificent property like a child experiencing an amus.e.m.e.nt park for the first time. "I sometimes forget that CEO Jin is Chonglin¡¯s brother."

    "Well, I never forget that CEO Jin is Iris¡¯ fianc¨¦. That man is always calling her. And I bet that if he¡¯s not busy running a multinationalpany, he¡¯ll make it a point to hover around Iris 24/7. I honestly was so surprised and a little disillusioned when I witnessed their rtionship for the first time with my own eyes. They¡¯re too sticky with each other."

    Theyughed while continuing to enjoy the beautiful view. <i></i>

    Around twenty minutester, they finally caught sight of the majestic ptial mansion. There was a short line of luxury vehicles dropping off passengers at the bottom of the grand front steps.

    "Isn¡¯t that Mr. JJ?" Lin Dong pointed at the attractive older man who got off a red sportscar and handed his keys to the attending valet.

    "Yes, I think¡ª"

    "Holy smokes! That¡¯s Enrique Valdez! He¡¯s here?!" Lin Dong¡¯s voice turned a few octaves higher in his excitement.

    "This party looks like it¡¯s a big deal," she murmured.

 Chapter 907 - Gathering Before The Appointed Time

    <h4>Chapter 907 - Gathering Before The Appointed Time </h4>

    "Dupont, you bastard!" a booming voice echoed in the vast front hall where some of the guests who just arrived were congregating. "You¡¯re here! Bahahaha! It¡¯s nice to see your old, wrinkled face again!"

    "Speak for yourself, Jianhong," Professor Erwan Dupont replied in German. His stern, sharp eyes twinkled as he shook his old friend¡¯s hand before giving each other hugs. "Still as loud as a blue whale, I see."

    "Bah! I¡¯m just speaking louder than usual so that your old ears can hear what I¡¯m saying. Bahaha!"

    Grandpa Lu "patted" his old friend in the back and it was a miracle how the much thinner headmaster of Cross Academy was able to endure such force. The people around them winced at the loud sounds. Looking at Professor Dupont, however, his back remained tall and straight. His expression also didn¡¯t change.

    "Sir Lu, it¡¯s good to see you again," Giulia Moretti, Cross Academy¡¯s admissions counselor who also doubled as Professor Dupont¡¯s assistant sometimes, stepped forward and greeted.

    "Giulia! You look even more beautiful than before!"

    The others also stepped forward and greeted Grandpa Lu. There was Iris¡¯nguage instructors, Professor Kalisha Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa Akio.

    On the students¡¯ side, there was the beautiful artist Ashandra Knightson, the charming but quirky inventor Amanpio Kileksky, the small and bubbly economist and Cross Academy¡¯s star moneymaker AJ Zheneres, the pretty and shy environmental inventor Florence O¡¯Sevan, and finally, the conscientious biomedical engineer Theresa Blipsburg.

    Afterwards, Grandpa Lu introduced Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan to Professor Dupont. The others already met the two Jin madams at Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch.

    They heard more people arriving and turned their heads to see Enrique Valdez walking together with Maestro Ludovico De Luca and JJ.

    "You¡¯re here!" Once again, Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed in the front hall.

    After a brief chat, they finally started talking about the mysterious event. There were many extra staff both male and female dressed in the same refined butler suits weing all the guests after checking the invitations. The entire front hall was decorated with many colourful wildflowers, artfully crawling vines, beautiful green shrubs and small potted trees, and hanging lights that looked like glowing fireflies.

    At the top of the grand twin staircases was a new and bigger painted portrait of Iris, Jin Liwei and their four cats.

    The fat grey cat sitting on Iris¡¯p seemed to be the haughtiest as if she was looking down on everyone in the world.

    The striped ginger one lookedical with his tongue lolling out like a dog as he bnced his agile body on the back of Iris¡¯ throne-like chair.

    On the arm of the chair beside Iris was a pure shadow-ck cat with striking golden eyes. His stone face looked bored but his curled tail made him adorable.

    Standing beside Iris was the tall Jin Liwei carrying an adorable pure snow-white cat with beautiful green eyes in his arms. She was definitely the most photogenic cat that the guests had ever seen in their entire lives.

    "How cute!" AJ Zheneres eximed.

    "Hahaha! Look at that white cat! It smiles exactly like Xin!" Amanpio Kileksy pointed at Ketchup. "What the heck? Did she really give birth to a cat? How else could it look so much like her? Hahaha!"

    Thedies all shook their heads at him but still inwardly agreed that the white cat indeed smiled like their friend Xin.

    Then Amanpio offered both of his elbows to his femalepanions. "Since Exlorsson, Wiztein and Seekerton are all unable toe, it seems that I¡¯ll be your only escort today. Don¡¯t worry,dies. I can amodate all of you¡ª"

    "No, thank you," Florence interrupted him before grabbing Ashandra¡¯s arm. "We¡¯re good."

    "Yes, we¡¯re fine by ourselves," Theresa followed suit and paired up with AJ.

    Amanpio stared at them and at his empty elbows. "Damn! I¡¯m the one who doesn¡¯t have a partner?!"

    Thediesughed at him before chatting among themselves while looking around the beautifully decorated surroundings. They were all interrupted by the mansion¡¯s head butler.

    "If you will all please follow me and the other staff, we¡¯ll lead you to the parlour where you can have some refreshments before the event starts."

    "What is the event? Howe we still don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on? Tell us, we want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming demand voiced out the exact thoughts of the other guests.

    "My apologies, Sir Lu and everyone. The master and mistress have not granted us authority to disclose that information. We ask you to be patient for now. We assure you that everything will be revealed at the appointed time."

    "Hmph!"

    Grandpa Lu pretended to be displeased but his eyes couldn¡¯t hide the excitement and anticipation. The others were also in simr states. When they reached the parlour, there were already some people inside.

    The Bauer siblings were there. Alric was chatting with his sister Alona who flew from Germany to attend today¡¯s event. The Cross Academy students headed straight to them to give them a greeting. They had met before at Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch. Amanpio was especially friendly with the German siblings because he had closely worked with Alric before in creating special equipment.

    Qiao Yu, Iris¡¯ financial manager, was sitting at a corner and chatting with Xu Tian, Jin Liwei¡¯s right-hand man. Both of them actually knew what was going on today but pretended to be clueless like everyone else.

    Near them sat the two managers Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong. <i></i>

    At another corner, there was a big groupprising of the ck Stars officers. Zhou Mei¡¯er (CaptainckStar), Ming Li (LittlePhoenix) and her father were there. The four poshdies Feng Wan (MrsLovePhantom), Si Xinyue (JJNumber1Fan) with her Police Chief husband, Bai Li (JJNumber2Fan), and Kung Mian (JJNumber3Fan) were all present. Toplete their group, Hou Liang (MonkeyFace) and Wu Chen (iEatSlippers) also attended, of course.

    Grandpa Lu formed his own group at the centre of the parlour with Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan, Professor Dupont and Giulia Moretti, Professor Schwarz and Professor Hisakawa, and also Enrique Valdez, Maestro De Luca and JJ.

    The door opened again as more people entered the now bustling parlour.

 Chapter 908 - The Appointed Time Has Come

    <h4>Chapter 908 - The Appointed Time Has Come </h4>

    There was still about ten minutes left before the appointed time indicated on the invitation. Most of the guests arrived well before that. They didn¡¯t know who else were invited to the event but they were sure that not everybody had arrived yet.

    "Dear Xin¡¯s father and mother aren¡¯t here yet," Huang Yuyan said as she looked around the parlour.

    Her eyes met with Madam Feng Wan and her three posh friends, including the Chief of Police. They smiled and nodded at each other. All of them were acquainted and moved in simr circles in high society. They weren¡¯t close in any way but they were still friendly to each other whenever they met in social gatherings. Ever since Iris Long came into their lives, their encounters had be more frequent and that contributed to them bing even friendlier with each other.

    "I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll arrive soon," Grandma Li replied. "I don¡¯t believe that Liwei and Xin didn¡¯t invite her parents."

    "You¡¯re right, Mother. I¡¯m just a little worried because it¡¯s almost the appointed time."

    "Don¡¯t always worry about things that you can¡¯t control, Yuyan."

    "Yes, Mother. I¡¯ll try."

    At that moment, the door to the parlour opened. Long Tengfei and his wife Yang Jiahui entered, followed by Cai Guang. They swept their gazes across the room. When they saw Grandpa Lu¡¯s group, Long Tengfei led his wife and assistant straight to them.

    The greetings followed. Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice was the most distinct sound in the room.

    "Hello Madam Li and Madam Huang," Yang Jiahui greeted as she sat across the two madam Jins.

    "Madam Yang, it¡¯s a pleasure to see you again," Huang Yuyan replied. "Where is your lovely niece?"

    "Xiao Mei is already here but I haven¡¯t seen her yet. She left the house at dawn to help Xin and Liwei with the preparations. At least, that¡¯s what she told me."

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "It¡¯s the same with my younger son. Chonglin should¡¯ve also been here since dawn."

    "Those children are really secretive," Grandma Li said. "We still don¡¯t know what this event is all about. We haven¡¯t seen any of them yet. The butler or any of the other staff here won¡¯t tell us anything either. Even this old gori beside me is unable to intimidate them into telling the truth."

    "Who¡¯re you calling an old gori, you old hag?" Grandpa Lu interjected in the middle of his conversation with Long Tengfei and Cai Guang. "Which part of me looks like a gori? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Grandma Li gave him a cold snort before ignoring him. She resumed her conversation with her fellowdies. <i></i>

    Yang Jiahui looked around and gathered from the conversations that nobody knew what was going on. She was tempted to share her guess to them but restrained herself. Her husband had been unhappy when she told him earlier that she thought the event was going to be his daughter¡¯s wedding. She wasn¡¯t sure if the Jins were also going to be unhappy like Long Tengfei and insist that the couple should follow all traditional ceremonies before marrying. Therefore, she decided that it was better to keep her thoughts to herself for now.

    About five minutes before the appointed time, the door opened again and in sashayed Wei Lan to the parlour while holding on to the arm of a very tanned, muscled man followed by arge entourage which some recognized as Iris Long¡¯s staff from her penthouse.

    "Wee, Madam Wei," the butler greeted while giving her a standard gentlemanly bow.

    "It¡¯s Vizcondesa Lan," she corrected him.

    "Vizcondesa Lan."

    She nodded, smiling in satisfaction. She looked around the entire parlour while striking a pose as if there were hundreds of cameras taking her photos in a red-carpet event. Of course, her escort for today, her new best friend Randy, the Zumba instructor, followed her example and also struck a pose.

    As for Yi Mei and the other staff from Gold Heights penthouse, they quickly withdrew to the side and pretended not to know the two weird people in front of them. Yi Mei and herpanions greeted the Dragon Pce staff that they recognized and caught up with them. There were a lot of new faces that looked unfamiliar but they soon learned that those people were from the event coordinatingpany hired just for today.

    Like Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui before them, Wei Lan and Randy also headed straight to Grandpa Lu¡¯s group. She greeted everyone with exaggerated warmth and enthusiasm except for when it was her ex-husband and his current wife¡¯s turn. She still greeted them because she was now a benevolent viscountess but her tone was several degrees colder than when she greeted the other people.

    Long Tengfei also treated Wei Lan coldly while Yang Jiahui looked awkward but still tried her best to maintain a pleasant expression despite the situation. Everyone noticed the ufortable tension between the two sides but didn¡¯tment. This wasn¡¯t an appropriate time to gossip about the family of Iris Long who was the hostess of today¡¯s party.

    Wei Lan pulled Randy and squeezed themselves beside Huang Yuyan and Grandma Li. But before she could initiate a conversation with her future inws, the butler made an announcement.

    "Esteemed guests, the appointed time hase. Please follow me and the rest of the staff and we will all lead you to the venue."

    "Finally!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice said. "About time! We¡¯ve all been waiting and waiting and waiting here in the parlour for so long that I almost fell asleep!"

    "Oh, tone it down, you old buffoon," Grandma Li¡¯s cold voice scolded him. "Don¡¯t make a scene and embarrass Liwei and Xin."

    "Bah! In what way am I making a scene, you old hag? Tell me, I want to know! And for your information, those pinheaded kids are never embarrassed of their beloved grandpa because their Grandpa Lu is the best! Bahahaha!"

    "Shameless!" Grandma Li rolled her eyes but the corner of her lips curved up a little. "Let¡¯s go, Yuyan dear."

    "Y-yes, Mother."

    Everyone began filing out of the parlour in an orderly manner and followed the butler and staff.

 Chapter 909 - Tantrum Before The Wedding

    <h4>Chapter 909 - Tantrum Before The Wedding </h4>

    Everyone arrived outside the huge rotunda which had been turned into a magnificent indoor forest. Those close to Iris Long and Jin Liwei knew the romantic story behind it, that it was one of his presents for their first anniversary as lovers. It quickly became a favourite ce for their guests to visit.

    The indoor forest was the venue for today¡¯s mysterious event?

    They began entering. Those who never visited it before like the ck Stars were amazed at the sight all around them. The forest was much bigger than they expected. Since everyone was still near the entrance and at the very edge of the forest, all they could see were the trees, nts, butterflies and the beautiful nature inside the rotunda. The ss domed ceiling provided them with a clear view of the sunny sky. It felt like they were outside without suffering the coldte autumn weather.

    "Dad, Big Sis Mei¡¯er, this ce is amazing!" Ming Li, a.k.a. LittlePhoenix, eximed. She hadn¡¯t stopped looking around, the excitement clear in her eyes.

    It wasn¡¯t only her. Their group consisting of the ck Stars were all awed at the indoor forest.

    "Beautiful," Feng Wan, a.k.a. MrsLovePhantom, sighed dreamily.

    Si Xinyue, a.k.a. JJNumber1Fan, squeezed her husband¡¯s arm in delight. The Chief of Police gave her hand a light pat. Then he nced at the two young men walking beside them.

    "You don¡¯t seem surprised. You¡¯ve been here before?"

    "Yes, sir," Hou Liang, a.k.a. MonkeyFace, replied.

    "I don¡¯t usually need to wear my mighty slippers here because Boss Iris allows me walk barefoot in her forest," Wu Chen, a.k.a. iEatSlippers, said next.

    "I see," the Police Chief nodded and didn¡¯t question them any further.

    Hou Liang and Wu Chen also didn¡¯t exin why they had been here before. They hadn¡¯t announced yet that their Boss Iris was the real owner of the gamingpany, Monkey. She would sometimes invite the two of them and a few key employees who knew her identity as Monkey¡¯s owner to the mansion so that they could personally update her about thepany¡¯s progress. These meetings had been held in the indoor forest a handful of times. Then they would always have a nice meal afterwards.

    Thest ones to enter was Wei Lan¡¯s group. She insisted on letting everyone go in first because in her mind, an important person like her, a viscountess, should have the grandest entrance among everyone present here today.

    "Yi Mei, go ahead. Raaaandyyy and I will enter after you."

    "As you wish, Madam," the old housekeeper said. She and the cook and the rest of the Gold Heights penthouse staff went in.

    "Now it¡¯s our time to shiiiiine, Raaaaandyyyy doll. Reeeaaadyyyy?"

    The Zumba instructor offered his elbow to her, straightened his posture, and shed his widest smile. He had been infected by Wei Lan¡¯s habit of pretending that there were always photographers taking shots at them, so the two of them were always striking a pose even if there was nobody looking at them. It was a habit Wei Lan never abandoned from her days as a struggling model in her youth before she hooked up with Long Tengfei and married him.

    "Ugh! Goooood thing there¡¯s a stone path in this...this jungle. Otherwise my heels would sink in the disgusting soil. The horror!" Wei Lan lifted her skirt a little to prevent the hem from touching the ground. "I told dear Liwei that he should¡¯ve put tiles or maybe some marble flooring on the ground instead of all this dirty soil but nooooooo, my daughter said this is peeeerfect! Sometimes that child has nooooooo taste at all. Must¡¯ve inherited suchck of taste from the Longs."

    Randy looked around and thought that Iris was right. This was perfect. Imagine a forest with ceramic tiles or marble floor. Would that still count as a forest? He didn¡¯t voice out his real thoughts, however, and just allowed Wei Lan to continue criticizing her daughter¡¯s allegedck of taste and her ex-husband¡¯s genes for passing down such a bad trait to their child. Fortunately, the two of them were at the back and nobody could hear her except for him.

    Finally, the first group reached the centre of the forest. They could be heard gasping and eximing in shock. <i></i>

    "What¡¯s happening?" Wei Lan asked and stretched her neck in a futile attempt to see what was causing such a reaction from the people in the front."

    "Oh my!" Huang Yuyan, who was usually quiet and a bit timid, couldn¡¯t restrain her shocked exmation either. "Mother! T-this is...oh my!"

    "Ah, those children really got all of us this time," Grandma Li murmured.

    "Bahahahaha! This is good. Very good! Great! No, this is the best! Those kids aren¡¯t such slow pinheads after all! They made this old man very happy today! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice must¡¯ve scared some of the koi fish in the pond because there were sshes and ripples on the crystal-clear water surrounding the islet.

    Unable to hold her curiosity any longer, Wei Lan dragged Randy and pushed their way to the very front. When she saw the sight in front of them, her face twisted into different expressions. First was confusion, then shock, before finally settling into horror.

    "WHAT?!!! Raaaaaaandyyy, tell me that this is not happening and that this viscountess is dreaming right now! There¡¯s noooooo waaaaaay that my daughter is marrying dear Liwei today without informing meeeeeeee, her viscountess mother, beforehand!!! A viscountess¡¯ daughter should have a graaaaaand wedding with hundreds, no, thousands of guests and held in a graaaaand pce like royalty! This is not a grand wedding at all!!!"

    Everyone wore different expressions on their faces as they watched her. Some looked awkward and embarrassed. A few pretended that she didn¡¯t exist and wasn¡¯t making a scene in front of all of them. Most of them, however, were frowning and looking at her with clear disapproval.

    "Control yourself, Wei Lan," Long Tengfei¡¯s cold voice scolded her. "Stop throwing a tantrum like a toddler and don¡¯t let our daughter and soon-to-be son-inw hear what you¡¯re saying!"

 Chapter 910 Ex - Wife Vs Ex

    <h4>Chapter 910 Ex - Wife Vs Ex </h4>

    Wei Lan¡¯s face twisted in fury. She red at Long Tengfei and his current wife, Yang Jiahui, as her red-blood, talon-like nails dug hard on Randy¡¯s arm.

    The Zumba instructor winced at the pain but endured it, not wanting to create another spectacle in front of so many notable people. He was now regretting his decision to escort the impulsive and vtile Wei Lan.

    "How dare you scold me in front of so many people?" Wei Lan snarled at Long Tengfei. "You don¡¯t have the right! You¡¯re not my husband anymore."

    "And thank heavens for that," Long Tengfei muttered.

    "Tengfei," Yang Jiahui warned him in a soft voice and tugged his arm in an effort to remind him to restrain his temper.

    "What did you say?!" Wei Lan stepped forward and looked ready to fight.

    "Enough!" a booming voice echoed throughout the indoor forest.

    Grandpa Lu stepped forward and positioned himself between the battle-ready ex-spouses. He red first at Wei Lan and then at Long Tengfei.<i> [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you!]</i>

    "Why are you two quarreling like spoiled little kids? I want to know! I don¡¯t like interfering in other people¡¯s private business. You can fight all you want for all I care but this involves Xin my girl since both of you are her parents. This old man just can¡¯t stand back and allow the two of you to ruin this wonderful day! This is a happy asion for your daughter, for Liwei my boy who¡¯s going to be her husband, and for all of us, their family and friends! And yet both of you are causing this ugly drama! Aren¡¯t you embarrassed?! I know that it¡¯s a huge shock to all of us that Xin my girl and Liwei my boy kept their wedding today a secret but what can we do when that¡¯s what they want? We should all respect their wishes and be happy for them! Hmph!"

    Long Tengfei¡¯s face burned red in embarrassment. Although he was one of the more open-minded individualspared to the other old-fashioned members of the Long n, pride and face were still very important to him. He felt like he had been shamed today by his ex-wife in front of so many distinguished figures and even caused the legendary Sir Lu Jianhong to scold the two of them like little misbehaving children.

    In contrast to him, Wei Lan didn¡¯t feel embarrassed at all. She only felt annoyed at being scolded by Grandpa Lu. She had no time to feel embarrassed when she felt very upset that her daughter Xin didn¡¯t allow her to n a grand wedding!

    How could the daughter of Vizcondesa Lan marry in such a simple garden wedding with just a few guests?! For goodness¡¯ sake, Jin Liwei was a billionaire! The man could afford anything money could buy! Why did he not spend millions in what should be the grand wedding of the century? Did he not love her daughter Xin enough that he was being stingy like this?

    The wedding of multi-award-winning musician Iris Long and multibillionaire Jin Liwei should be broadcast on national television! The guests should be showbiz A-listers,pany executives, high-ranking officials¡ªin short, all the big names in every industry!

    Wei Lan became more and more upset the longer she thought about her pitiful daughter¡¯s pathetic wedding. She fished out ace handkerchief from her diamond-encrusted clutch and wiped nonexistent tears from her eyes.

    "My poooooor daughter! As her mother, I find this in weddingpletely uneptable¡ª"

    Randy made a decision in that instant. He lifted Wei Lan and carried her off.

    "What are you doing, Raaaaaaandyyyyyyy?! How daaaaaaare you manhandle this viscountess?!!!"

    They disappeared behind the trees.

    When they were gone, everyone looked at each other. The atmosphere was very awkward.

    Long Tengfei clenched both his fists and stepped forward. "Everyone, I offer you my deepest apologies for what just happened. As Xin¡¯s parents, I am deeply ashamed that the two of us lost control of our tempers in front of all of you especially during this important asion in our daughter¡¯s life."

    Yang Jiahui also stepped forward and held on to his arm. Her face was also filled with silent apology.

    "Let¡¯s not dwell on it anymore and leave it where it belongs¡ªthe past." It was surprisingly Huang Yuyan who said this. She was usually shy and a little timid but her current expression was very sympathetic. "We are going to be official inws today. We¡¯re about to be family."

    "Indeed," Grandma Li¡¯s cold and authoritative voice said next. "Now let¡¯s remove this gloomy mood at this instant. I don¡¯t want the groom and the bride and their entourage to enter and see this unpleasantness among their guests. We¡¯ve all been invited here today because Liwei and Xin want to share this important lifetime event with all of us. Therefore, it is our duty to make this day extra memorable to both of them."

    Everyone murmured their agreement.

    "Now that¡¯s settled! Good!" Grandpa Lu turned to the event staff hovering in an awkward manner in the background. "This old man¡¯s poor knees are weak and very tired from standing for too long. Do we have designated seats or can we just sit wherever we want? Tell us, we want to know!"

    The wedding nner immediately signaled for her staff to lead everyone to their assigned seats. In just a few moments, everyone settled down.

    At that moment, a much calmer Wei Lan and an exhausted but relieved Randy finally returned. They were also shown to their designated seats beside Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui as the parents of the bride.

    Everyone looked at her warily, wondering if she was going to make another scene andin about being seated beside her ex-husband that she just fought against. To everyone¡¯s relief, she settled down on her seat without a single word ofint while smoothing her dress in an almost prim manner.

    Then she leaned towards her escort and whispered, "You¡¯re right, Raaaaandyyy doll. I¡¯m a viscountess now and should always maintain a ssy, elegant and benevolent image. Thaaaaanks for the reminder. I¡¯ll buy you some new outfits after this."

    Randy¡¯s smile was a little stiff but his relief was immense deep inside.

 Chapter 911 - Viciousness

    <h4>Chapter 911 - Viciousness </h4>

    "And that¡¯s what happened, Father," Bacon¡¯s voice said on the phone.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes shed with coldness after hearing his AI son¡¯s full report about how Wei Lan made a scene in the indoor forest. At first, it was Ketchup who called his phone but his AI daughter felt too upset and indignant to properly exin everything to him. In the end, the calm and collected Bacon kicked his older sister aside and was the one who managed to exin the full incident to Jin Liwei in a clear and concise manner.

    "Father, should Bacon instruct our security staff to kick Grandmother Wei Lan out of our home? I don¡¯t want Mother to be distressed if she hears about the ruckus Grandmother Wei Lan caused in front of our family members and the rest of the guests."

    Jin Liwei pressed his lips together and seriously considered Bacon¡¯s suggestion. However, he could only sigh and say, "No need. Your mom will surely notice your Grandmother Wei Lan¡¯s absence during the ceremony and will wonder what happened. I don¡¯t want your mom worrying about trivial things. Your mom should only feel happiness today. I¡¯ll be the one to personally warn your Grandmother Wei Lanter when I and your uncles head to the indoor forest before your mother and her entourage arrive."

    "Understood, Father."

    Bacon¡¯s voice sounded bored as usual but Jin Liwei already knew his AI son enough to detect the kid¡¯s disappointment. He knew that Bacon had an instinctive thirst for punishing others, regardless of the person¡¯s identity. Even he and Niki weren¡¯t exempt to the kid¡¯s line of fire. The kid already warned them before that he would never forgive them even if they were his father and uncle if he and Niki ever hurt Bacon¡¯s beloved mother.

    Despite Bacon¡¯s innate viciousness, Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t disconcerted at all. On the contrary, he felt extremely proud that Bacon was very protective of his mother. Jin Liwei deluded himself into thinking that his AI son inherited such a manly trait from him. The kid was indeed his son!

    "How¡¯s your mom?" Jin Liwei asked next. "Is she finished getting ready yet?"

    "Not yet, Father. Mother slept on her chair while her m team was applying her makeup and styling her hair. They just managed to wake her up seven minutes and forty-six seconds ago so that she could change into her wedding dress."

    He frowned, worry shing in his eyes. "How¡¯s her condition? Is she feeling sick?"

    "No, Father. Big Sister Ketchup is monitoring Mother right now and she reports that our mother appears to feel refreshed after waking up from a long nap. Don¡¯t worry, Father. The doctor is with Mother at all times and will make sure that she¡¯s alright. If not, Bacon will punish the doctor for negligence."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reprimand his AI son¡¯s vicious words because he also thought the same way. He hired the private doctor to take care of his wife¡¯s health, so she should do her job well if she wanted to keep it.

    "Good job, Bacon. Your uncles and I will head to the indoor forest shortly. Inform your mother¡¯s entourage so that they know."

    "Understood, Father."

    "En."

    "Father," Bacon called.

    "Hm?"

    "Please rx and don¡¯t trip while walking down the aisle. Bacon doesn¡¯t want Father to look uncool on your own wedding day. It¡¯s not ssy."

    "You¡ª" Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know whether tough or smack the little smartass¡¯ bottom.

    "Bacon shall go now. Good luck, Father."

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "Alright. Thanks."

    The phone call ended.

    "What did the little devil say?" a devilish voice asked behind him.

    Jin Liwei turned around and saw Lu Zihao¡ªno, the man was Niki, not his fifth brother.

    "You better stop calling my son ¡¯little devil¡¯ or he¡¯ll continue pestering you about giving him a sry raise or a bonus aspensation for his emotional distress."

    Niki rolled his eyes but still continued to ask, "Well, what did the kid say?"

    Jin Liwei told him about what Wei Lan did in the indoor forest. As he expected, Niki¡¯s expression turned cold and vicious. A bloodthirsty aura exploded from him. At this point, Jin Liwei was already a little used to it so he wasn¡¯t as affected as before.

    "Whoa, Fifth Bro! What are you doing?! Why are you acting so scary over there? Don¡¯t pick a fight with the groom on his own wedding day, okay? Xiao Xiu will murder all of us if something happens to her husband! We already experienced her mood swings. Pregnant women are scary!" Yu Mo appeared behind them while munching on a biscuit.

    Niki caught himself and retracted his heavy aura before reverting to his Lu Zihao persona which was still quite oppressivepared to the original happy-go-lucky Fifth Brother. <i></i>

    "I wasn¡¯t picking a fight with Third Brother," he said.

    Jin Liwei observed his brother-inw pretending to be his fifth brother. Ever since he learned that his fifth brother¡¯s remnant still resided in his body and could even take over for a short time, his instinctive repulsion against Niki Vetrov¡¯s evil past had gradually diminished. Now he didn¡¯t mind the man calling him "Third Brother" even if it was just for show to everyone.

    Niki also seemed to have mellowed a little regarding his rejection against their brotherhood. Jin Liwei honestly thought that the man would cut off all ties with them once and for all, but to his surprise, Niki appeared to have changed his mind and reconnected with all the sworn brothers especially in the days before the wedding.

    Jin Liwei had a feeling that this change had something to do with his fifth brother¡¯s remnant. Lu Zihao had a way of persuading others.

    Or maybe the change was simply because Niki didn¡¯t want to upset his pregnant sister on her wedding day.

    Whichever the case may be, Jin Liwei felt relieved that Niki finally stopped being so damn difficult. Niki was one of the top reasons why Jin Liwei¡¯s baby girl felt so stressed before.

    Lin Yehan, Wang Yingjie and Jin Chonglin appeared behind Yu Mo.

    "Big Bro, it¡¯s time," Jin Chonglin said.

 Chapter 912 - World Of Fairies

    <h4>Chapter 912 - World Of Fairies </h4>

    "Boss, I just received a message from the wedding nner," Dom said. "She said that sir boss and his groomsmen already arrived in the indoor forest. Everyone is ready. They¡¯re just waiting for us."

    "I see," Iris murmured while taking a final look at herself in the wall mirror. "We should get going, then. I don¡¯t want to keep everyone waiting for too long."

    "Mama, so pwetty!" Little Jun said for the sixth time. He couldn¡¯t stop staring at his Mama Xin ever since she stepped out wearing her wedding gown.

    Iris chuckled and caressed her godson¡¯s chubby cheek. "Thank you, Little Jun. You look very dashing today."

    The little guy giggled and hugged his mother¡¯s neck who was carrying him.

    "Where¡¯s Ice Cream and Popcorn?" Iris asked Dom.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Boss. The catsitters already brought them to the indoor forest, plus the two big tablets for Baby Ketchup and Baby Bacon."

    Iris nodded, satisfied that everything was going smoothly.

    "How are you feeling, Xin?" Meimei asked. The makeup artist did an excellent job in covering up her unhealthy pallor, dark circles, and the swollen bags under her eyes.

    Iris took a moment to examine her feelings before answering Meimei. "I thought I would feel nervous but I actually feel calm right now. No, calm is not urate. It¡¯s more like I¡¯m at peace because this moment feels so...right."

    Dom and Clover sighed dreamily at her answer. <i></i>

    "You don¡¯t feel excited?" Meimei asked next.

    "Of course, I feel excited. But it¡¯s the peaceful kind of excitement."

    Long Jinjing touched Iris¡¯ arm and smiled at her. "I¡¯m so happy for you, Little Sister Xin."

    "Thank you, Big Sister Jinjing."

    "I just still find it hard to believe sometimes that you, the youngest among us siblings, are the first one to marry."

    Iris only smiled because she didn¡¯t know how to respond.

    "But looking at you and Brother-inw Liwei is enough exnation. The two of you are perfect for each other."

    Iris beamed.

    "Come on,dies!" Chen Fei¡¯s voice interrupted. "Let¡¯s not keep the groom waiting any longer or he might barge in here and drag Xin down the aisle. It¡¯s obvious that the man can¡¯t wait to marry Xin."

    "Liwei won¡¯t do that because we¡¯re already married," Iris said in amus.e.m.e.nt. "You already know that we went to the Civil Affairs Bureau yesterday so that Liwei and I could get our official marriage certificate. Today is just the wedding ceremony and celebration with our family and friends."

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes but everyone knew that she wasn¡¯t being mean about it. She hadn¡¯t called Iris a bitch ever since learning that Iris was pregnant.

    "I know that you¡¯re already married since yesterday but what I mean is that your man can¡¯t wait to have you by his side because a certain someone¡¯s boyfriend insisted that the two of you had to sleep in different rooms and not see each other before today¡¯s ceremony."

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. "I¡¯m sorry, little sister. I tried persuading Ni-Zihao so many times yesterday to not interfere with you and Brother-inw Liwei but he just wouldn¡¯t listen and change his mind."

    Iris chuckled. "It¡¯s fine, Big Sister Jinjing. Big Brother is very traditional when ites to things like marriage. That¡¯s just the way he is."

    Her friends didn¡¯t look like they quite believed her, especially Long Jinjing, but they didn¡¯t argue. She also didn¡¯t bother trying to convince them about her brother¡¯s old-fashioned beliefs. Her mind today was preupied with thoughts of her husband, Jin Liwei.

    "Let¡¯s go," she announced in a soft voice.

    ###

    Contrary to Wei Lan¡¯sint when she made a scene earlier, the wedding venue wasn¡¯t in or pathetic at all. It only looked that way to the untrained and unsophisticated eye.

    When one looked closely, the decorations blended perfectly with the surrounding forest. Everything looked natural and organic as if the decorations had been part of the environment all along.

    All of the wildflowers were fresh, colourful, and arranged in such a way that didn¡¯t appear too deliberate. It wasn¡¯t only the flowers. Real crawling vines and dried twigs entuated the fresh nature theme. Small bulbs of hanging lights blinked slowly and swayed now and then, looking so much like fireflies when viewed from a distance. Electronic wooden torches that looked like real fire added a tribal, almost supernatural, atmosphere to the venue.

    Rustic-looking chairs were arranged in two columns before the pond. The aisle was the pathway to the islet. A man, the officiant, was already standing in the middle of islet, waiting to wed the bride and groom.

    When viewed as a whole, there was something magical, even spiritual, to how everything had been arranged and decorated in the ce. The asional sshing of the koi fish in the pond and the faint fluttering and buzzing sounds of the bugs throughout the indoor forest made everyone feel like they had entered a world of fairies.

    Everyone already moved on from the spectacle Wei Lan caused earlier. They began to feel anticipation for the wedding ceremony instead.

    Finally, the groom and his groomsmen arrived. Everyone stood up to greet Jin Liwei but they quickly realized from his cold and hard expression that he was furious. They watched him as he strode to the front row and stopped upon reaching Wei Lan¡¯s seat.

    They saw him talking to Wei Lan but couldn¡¯t hear their conversation. His expression remained cold and hard while Wei Lan quickly became upset. She fished out herce handkerchief from her diamond-encrusted clutch again and started wiping nonexistent tears just like before.

    Someone must¡¯ve told Jin Liwei about what happened earlier, causing him to confront his mother-inw. Everyone became nervous and worried that this wedding might be riddled with so much unpleasant drama. To their surprise, however, the conversation onlysted for less than a minute.

    Wei Lan nodded at Jin Liwei before settling down on her seat again like a remorseful little girl intent on behaving from now on.

    It was only then that Jin Liwei¡¯s expression finally eased. Then he looked around and started greeting everyone with a smile and a nod.

 Chapter 913 - Wedding Procession

    <h4>Chapter 913 - Wedding Procession </h4>

    Soft, ethereal piano music started ying in the background. Nobody had heard this music before.

    The eyes of Enrique Valdez, Maestro Ludovico De Luca and JJ all lit up. They seemed to guess right away whoposed the original piece. Maestro De Luca closed his eyes and started moving his fingers as he imagined himself ying the same music on a piano.

    "How exquisite," he whispered.

    "Her skills have improved again," Enrique Valdez murmured.

    JJ nodded.

    Everyone was standing up and looking at one direction as the wedding procession finally started.

    First to walk down the aisle was the groom, Jin Liwei. He was wearing a custom-made tailored deep-grey tuxedo suit with an emerald-green necktie. He stopped just before reaching the edge of the pond.

    Following him were his two best men. His younger brother Jin Chonglin and his fifth brother Lu Zihao. The two men walked together in the same custom-made dark-green tuxedo suits but still managed to evokepletely different vibes from each other. They stood behind Jin Liwei.

    Next to walk were the groomsmen¡ªLin Yehan, Wang Yingjie and Yu Mo. They also wore the same tuxedo suits as Jin Chonglin and Lu Zihao but with simpler boutonni¨¨res on theirpels.

    There was a delightful thrumming of a harp and tinkling of tiny crystal bells as the soft music smoothly changed and began sounding more magical. <i></i>

    The bridesmaids also started walking¡ªJiang Ying Yue, Long Jinjing, Chen Fei, Meimei and Clover. They were all wearing the same brilliant forest-green dresses but in different styles and carrying draping bouquets of wildflowers and decorative greens.

    Next was the man of honour¡ªDom. He was wearing a tuxedo suit in the same forest-green colour as the bridesmaids¡¯ dresses. Unlike Jin Liwei and the groomsmen¡¯s simple boutonni¨¨res, Dom had a more borate boutonni¨¨re pinned on hispel that looked like a mini and simple version of the bridesmaids¡¯ draping wildflower bouquets.

    Following him was the adorable Little Jun who was carrying a delicatece pillow that had two ring boxes fixed on top. He was wearing a light grey tuxedo suit in the same style as Jin Liwei¡¯s outfit. His mother, Jiang Ying Yue, was waving at him and silently encouraging him at the front. Although the toddler was still very young, he remembered his mother and aunties¡¯ repeated instructions to follow closely behind his Uncle Dom. And that was what he did.

    After Little Jun were the flower kitties. Ice Cream and Popcorn wore emerald-green cors while their catsitters carried them and threw wildflower petals on the aisle at the same time. Behind them were another two people who some recognized as staff from the mansion. They were each carrying arge tablet. One showed a white cat while the other one a ck cat. These cats were also wearing the same emerald-green cors as their older cat siblings before them. The staff carrying the tablets were also throwing wildflower petals on the aisle.

    When all of these people finished walking, the anticipation was at the highest. The magical music winded down before finally stopping.

    Silence.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes were trained in only one direction. He couldn¡¯t see her yet but he could already sense her presence. It felt like there was a ma inside of him reacting to a ma inside of her and their mas were pulling at each other. If he didn¡¯t know that he was supposed to stay here and wait for her, he would¡¯ve already hurried towards her and carried her down the aisle himself. Now he knew why wedding rehearsals were necessary.

    "Chill a little, Big Bro," he heard his younger brother whispering to him. "You¡¯re almost vibrating from overexcitement. Stay cool."

    However, Jin Chonglin¡¯s words somehow failed to register inside Jin Liwei¡¯s mind. All he could think about at the moment was his wife. He hadn¡¯t seen her since they returned home from the Civil Affairs Bureau yesterday because his brother-inw Niki blocked them from seeing each other before today¡¯s official ceremonial wedding.

    Then new music started ying in the background. This time, it wasn¡¯t just a simple tune. It sounded like it was yed by a full symphony orchestra but still sounded ethereal and magical like the piano tune earlier. However, this music sounded fuller, moreplete, and absolutely romantic. Although there were no words being sung, it was as if everyone could feel the passionate love through the beautiful melody. Many eyes already started watering from just the music alone and the bride hadn¡¯t even appeared yet.

    When the music soared for the first time, it was at this moment that the bride finally appeared.

    Everyone¡¯s eyes seemed to only focus on her. Some didn¡¯t even realize that Long Tengfei was walking beside her because her appearance and presence strongly pulled everyone¡¯s attention.

    Long Tengfei had been called earlier and left before the start of the wedding procession. Now he was back but only a few noticed his presence because his daughter was just too breathtaking.

    As for Iris, she paused just before reaching the aisle. Her eyes were only looking at one person¡ªher husband, Jin Liwei.

    Before this, she felt extremely calm and at peace. Now, however, she felt her heart skipping a beat as soon as sheid her eyes on Jin Liwei. Then it started racing inside her chest.

    How was this possible?

    She felt herself falling in love more deeply with him.

    How much more deeply could she love another person?

    She wanted to run to him because she couldn¡¯t wait anymore. However, a firm hold on her arm pulled her back.

    "Slow down, my daughter," Long Tengfei¡¯s voice managed to prate through her mind. He sounded a little choked up but was trying his hardest to control his own emotions. "I¡¯ll bring you to him, I promise. But for now, allow your father to enjoy this short moment with my daughter before I give you away to your man."

    Iris found her eyes suddenly watering after hearing his words. It confused her at first but then she realized that although her soul was Evelina, her body still originally belonged to Long Xin and it reacted to her father¡¯s words.

 Chapter 914 - Fairy Queen

    <h4>Chapter 914 - Fairy Queen </h4>

    "Yes, Father," Iris replied in a soft voice. Curious, she asked, "Are you upset that Liwei and I kept our wedding today a secret from all of you?"

    Long Tengfei hesitated, but in the end, he still decided to be honest to his daughter. "I was upset, yes. But when I saw you looking so happy in your wedding dress, I no longer feel upset. I¡¯ve seen so many brides in my life. I¡¯ve even had three..." He winced upon realizing the topic before clearing his throat and forcing an awkward smile. "I¡¯ve seen so many brides but I¡¯m 100% certain that you, my daughter, are the most beautiful bride that I¡¯ve ever seen in my entire life."

    Iris smiled, feeling a little choked up. She wasn¡¯t sure if this was her own emotions or some residual feelings of Long Xin¡¯s body. Or maybe she was just simply touched by Long Tengfei¡¯s words. It must be a struggle for a man like him who wasn¡¯t an affectionate type of person to say these emotional words to his daughter.

    "Thank you, Father," she whispered.

    He nodded. His jaw was tense and he was blinking rapidly in an effort to keep hisposure.

    "Your Liwei is an excellent man," he said.

    "I know."

    "I¡¯m d that it¡¯s him you¡¯re marrying."

    "Me, too."

    Silence.

    However, it didn¡¯t feel awkward at all. Both of them were taking their time to process their own emotions. <i></i>

    "Xin...."

    "Yes, Father?"

    "Thank you for letting me walk you down the aisle."

    Iris¡¯ eyes trembled before she smiled. "It¡¯s only natural for a father to walk his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day."

    She felt a little guilty saying this. Her original n was to have her big brother walk her down the aisle because Evelina¡¯s father wasn¡¯t avable to do it. However, Jin Liwei decided all of a sudden to have two best men¡ªJin Chonglin and Lu Zihao. She didn¡¯t protest against this because she now understood the reason why he made this decision. It must be because of the original Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant. Jin Liwei wanted to include his fifth brother and give him a special role on his wedding because Lu Zihao died without them knowing.

    This caused her to change her original n and ask Long Tengfei to walk her down the aisle instead. Although her soul didn¡¯t really feel a close paternal bond to Long Tengfei, she now treated the man as a father figure ever since she started living as Long Xin. Long Tengfei might not be a warm and affectionate person but he was a supportive father in his own way.

    Perhaps this was how it should be. If she went ahead with her original n of her big brother walking her down the aisle, people would surely question her decision. She wouldn¡¯t care, of course, and neither would her brother. Jin Liwei would also support her. However, she realized now after hearing Long Tengfei thanking her for allowing him to walk her down the aisle that she would¡¯ve hurt him if she went ahead with her original n.

    Long Tengfei was a father so of course he would want to walk his own daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. If he saw another man doing the task, he would feel hurt. He would question why he wasn¡¯t the one chosen to do it and think that perhaps his own daughter hated him.

    Realizing this, Iris gave a silent thanks to Jin Liwei for suddenly deciding to make her big brother one of his best men instead. It made her avoid hurting Long Tengfei. He might not be the father of her soul, but he was definitely the father of her current flesh.

    Long Tengfei nodded at her before offering his elbow again. She held on to his arm and they began walking slowly down the aisle. It was Long Tengfei who was controlling their speed. If it wasn¡¯t for him, she would¡¯ve dashed through the aisle to reach her husband sooner.

    ###

    Jin Liwei¡¯s breath caught in his throat as soon as he saw his bride.

    She was stunning.

    Absolutely breathtaking.

    The most beautiful woman in the world in his eyes.

    His heart felt like it stopped before starting to race inside his chest. Time seemed to freeze all around him except for him and his beautiful bride.

    "Wow," he vaguely heard someone say but he was too preupied to care who said it.

    It wasn¡¯t only him who became dazed after seeing Iris. Everyone couldn¡¯t take their eyes off her. Even her friends who saw her getting ready earlier still sucked their breaths because of her beauty.

    Her pristine white wedding dress flowed like smooth waterfalls on her body and rippled whenever she moved. The top of her dress was off-shoulders but still had long, flowing sleeves that swayed with her every movement. The dress entuated her tiny waist before ballooning into a full but effortless skirt. It didn¡¯t have a long train behind her but just enough so that she wouldn¡¯t need another person to help her arrange it every time she moved.

    The wedding dress looked simple at first but a closer inspection would reveal intricate embroideredcework of wildflowers, crawling vines, flying birds and butterflies that took many people and hundreds of hours to finish. The design evoked a sense of being one with nature and freedom to live without restrictions.

    When sunlight hit the dress, tiny emeralds, rubies and diamonds would sparkle, making her look like a fairy queen glowing with a colourful ethereal aura. The jewels were very small. Their purpose was to enhance the dress and the bride¡¯s beauty, not to drag it down into gaudy territory.

    Her long hair was down in gentle waves. On top of her head was a sheer veil and a beautiful crown of fresh wildflowers and greens with a single dangling tear-drop diamond resting on her forehead. She was carrying a lush, draping wildflower bouquet that almost reached down her legs.

    With the beautiful nature surrounding her, there was no doubt that she looked like an ethereal fairy queen who descended into the mortal world.

 Chapter 915 - His Vow

    <h4>Chapter 915 - His Vow </h4>

    Everyone followed the beautiful bride and her proud father with their eyes as the two walked down the aisle until they finally reached the groom. The romantic music continued ying in the background, intensifying the emotions of all the people present. It felt like magic was being weaved into the fairy-tale-like scene ying in front of them.

    Long Tengfei personally ced his daughter¡¯s hand on top of Jin Liwei¡¯s waiting palm.

    "Take care of my daughter." His voice was rough and his eyes glistened with emotions.

    "I will, for the rest of my life," Jin Liwei replied in a solemn voice.

    Iris smiled at Long Tengfei. "Thank you, Father."

    Long Tengfei nodded before shaking hands with Jin Liwei. Then he stepped back. There were no hugs between them because he wasn¡¯t the type of person to engage in such disys of affection. Despite this, he conveyed all his feelings as a father in that single handshake to his son-inw. Within that handshake, there were silent congrattions, gratitude for making his daughter happy, a hope for an even happier life for his daughter, and most importantly, a warning to keep his daughter happy or else he would make his son-inw pay.

    Jin Liwei understood Long Tengfei¡¯s meaning even without words. He gave the older man a serious and reassuring look before finally iming his bride.

    The music reached crescendo at this moment as the bride and the groom stared deeply into each other¡¯s eyes. Their guests sighed at the picture-perfect scene. <i></i>

    When the music slowed down and transitioned into a piano tune, Jin Liwei ced his bride¡¯s hand on his arm but didn¡¯t let go of her with his other hand. Then they began walking together to the final part of the aisle, the pathway on top of the pond leading to the islet at the centre. From a certain angle, they looked like a celestial couple walking on top of the water.

    Finally, they reached the beautifully decorated islet where the officiant was waiting to wed them. The music petered out like thest drops of fine drizzle before the sunlight helped reveal the rainbow in all its pure glory.

    The officiant began the wedding ceremony.

    "Family and friends, we are all gathered here today to witness the joyful union of Jin Liwei and Long Xin...."

    The ceremony mostly followed a Western-style wedding format all throughout.

    "Jin Liwei and Long Xin, please join your hands, look at one another, and remember this important moment in time."

    The two faced and looked deeply into each other¡¯s eyes. It was Jin Liwei who chose the thinnest veil for Iris so that he would be able to clearly see all the emotions ying on her face just like now.

    "Jin Liwei, do you take Long Xin to be¡ª"

    "I do."

    Almost everyone couldn¡¯t stop themselves fromughing. A particr loud booming voice shouted, "That¡¯s my boy! Bahahaha!"

    The officiant cleared his throat and said in a dry tone, "I know that you are excited but please allow me to finish speaking first before giving your response."

    Jin Liwei nodded. And so they tried again.

    "Jin Liwei, do you take Long Xin to be your rightfully wedded wife and share the rest of your life with her?"

    "I do." Just like before, there was no hesitation in his voice.

    "Long Xin, do you take Jin Liwei to be your rightfully wedded husband and share the rest of your life with him?"

    "Oh yes, I do," she said in a soft but clear voice.

    "Jin Liwei and Long Xin, the symbolic vows that you are about to make in front of each other with your family and friends as witnesses mean that things will never be the same between the two of you. For after these vows, you shall face the world together as husband and wife. Now please say your vows."

    Jin Liwei held Iris¡¯ hands higher and gave them a gentle squeeze.

    "I, Jin Liwei, take you¡ª" He silently mouthed ¡¯Evelina Armanovna Vetrova¡¯ before continuing out loud, "¡ªLong Xin to be my rightfully wedded wife...."

    Iris¡¯ eyes watered when she saw him mouth her real full name. She also squeezed his hands back. She was shaking a little because of the overwhelming love for him flooding through her at the moment.

    "In front of our family and friends, I promise to love you, take care of you, protect you, cherish and treasure you.

    "In sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, as well as through the good times and the bad.

    "Trust that I¡¯m your strongest ally, no matter if you¡¯re right or wrong, you can count on me to always be there for you. If someone dares to bully you, I¡¯ll help you bully them back..."

    The officiant cleared his throat while some of the guestsughed nervously. However, the groom and the bride¡¯s families were all nodding in approval.

    The familiar booming voice shouted once again. "That¡¯s right, my boy! Bahahaha!"

    "Your happiness is my happiness. Your pain is my pain. Your anger is my anger. Everything that you are, your past, your present, and your future, I ept all of them. I ept who you are with all my heart because you are mine and I am yours.

    "If you want to fly, I¡¯ll fly with you. Forget wings. I¡¯ll give you a rocket booster with unlimited fuel supply."

    Irisughed along with everyone. As she wasughing, her eyes watered even more. This man who was known as a cold and ruthless tyrant in the business world was professing his love to her using such adorable words.

    "You are a very strong, intelligent, talented and independent woman¡ªmy genius wife. I promise not to cage you but to encourage you to fly freely and achieve all of your dreams because your sesses are mine, too."

    Her eyes trembled and a drop of tear fell down from her eye. She was now gripping his hands tightly.

    "I¡¯ll love you and cherish you without any reservations until the end of time, for as long as our souls exist, even death will never keep us apart. This I promise you."

 Chapter 916 - Her Vow

    <h4>Chapter 916 - Her Vow </h4>

    It was a great challenge for Iris to maintain herposure, especially after listening to her husband¡¯s marriage vow to her. Both of them decided to write their own vows instead of repeating a standard one that the officiant would recite to them. She didn¡¯t expect that Jin Liwei¡¯s vow would affect her like this. She wanted to sink into his arms and cry andugh all at the same time. The feelings inside her heart were so full and powerful that they felt like they might explode at any moment.

    Thest part of his vow hit her particrly hard. Others might think that he was just being a romantic when he promised to love and cherish her without any reservations until the end of time, for as long as their souls existed, even death would never keep them apart. She, however, knew the significance of his words.

    As someone who had lived a previous life, died, and was reborn into apletely different person, themon marriage vow of "until death do us part" was not appealing at all.

    What if she died and was reborn again? Would that mean that their love for each other would also end?

    No, she didn¡¯t want to believe that.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s vow was more reassuring to someone like her. Although the future was unknown, especially when death was involved, his promise was enough to calm the shadows in her heart and soul caused by her experiences of living a past life. She chose to believe and trust in her man¡¯s promise.

    The officiant gestured for Iris to say her vows next.

    "I¡ª" She mouthed her real full name ¡¯Evelina Armanovna Vetrova¡¯ before continuing out loud, "¡ªLong Xin, take you Jin Liwei as my rightfully wedded husband."

    She had to take a few seconds to control her emotions as best as she could and to prevent herself from sobbing. He reached his hand and caressed her cheek over the veil.

    "It¡¯s okay, love," he whispered to her. "Take your time. I¡¯ll be here waiting for you."

    She smiled and nodded. Her eyes never left his face as she took a few deep breaths while absorbing strength from him. Finally, she was able to speak again in a soft but clear albeit a little shaky voice.

    "At first, I wanted to write you a song instead of reciting a vow but when I triedposing one, I couldn¡¯t because a single song can¡¯t contain the magnitude of my love for you. Even now, the words that I¡¯m about to say can¡¯t possibly reflect the depth of my feelings for you."

    His eyes gentled and he smiled at her before mouthing, "It¡¯s okay."

    "I promise that from this day forward, you will never walk alone in life because I¡¯ll always be there for you just like how I know that you¡¯ll always be there for me.

    "All of the challenges that life throws at us, we¡¯ll shoulder them together, for we are partners in all things. There is nothing that we cannot face if we stand together.

    "Liwei, you are my other half. My soul which drifted far and wide beyond death and time now feelsplete because of your deep, epassing love. With you by my side, I am now whole.

    "From the moment we shared our love, my soul will only shine for you. I will sing for you until we are old and grey. Even if we be hard of hearing and annoy our descendants to no end, I will not stop singing until I cannot sing anymore. And even then, the music in my soul will continue dedicating an eternal love song for you.

    "One lifetime with you could never be enough. You now have a piece of heart and my soul. I know that you¡¯ll take care of it, cherish it, and treasure it because you are a strong, responsible, dependable, and the most understanding and loving man that I¡¯ve ever had the fortune of meeting in my entire existence.

    "This is my sacred vow to you, my partner and my other half, that I¡¯ll bring you wherever I go because together we are one. I¡¯ll also love you and cherish you until the end of time, for as long as a piece of us exists, even if it¡¯s only a miniscule remnant, death will never keep us apart."

    Silence.

    Everything and everyone else faded around them. There was only him and her, their synchronized breathing, and the beating of their hearts. They didn¡¯t know how long time passed. Seconds or minutes, they weren¡¯t sure.

    It was only when they noticed Jiang Ying Yue and their godson, Little Jun, that Iris and Jin Liwei returned to their senses. Jiang Ying Yue helped her son to present the littlece pillow with the wedding rings.

    "Mama, Papa, Junjun bwing da wings!" <i>(Mama, Papa, Junjun bring the rings!)</i>

    Iris smiled at her godson. "Thank you, Little Jun."

    "Great job," Jin Liwei praised and patted the toddler¡¯s head.

    The little guy giggled but continued obediently holding the pillow as per his mother¡¯s instruction behind him. <i></i>

    The officiant took one of the rings.

    "Liwei, ce the ring on your bride¡¯s finger."

    Jin Liwei followed the instructions.

    "I give you this ring. Please wear it always as this ring is a symbol of my eternal love for you."

    The officiant took the other ring.

    "Xin, ce the ring on your groom¡¯s finger."

    Iris followed and repeated the same words.

    The officiant looked at the bride and groom.

    "May the wedding rings you exchanged today remind you of your vows to love and cherish each other as husband and wife. May your love and devotion for one another endure for as long as you live¡ªuntil the end of time," he corrected himself in the end upon remembering their unusual vows earlier.

    Iris and Jin Liwei nodded.

    The officiant waited until Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun returned to their seats before beaming and sweeping his arms wide. Everyone was also standing now and grinning in excitement.

    "It is my honour and delight to pronounce you husband and wife.

    "You may now kiss the bride!"

 Chapter 917 - I Wouldnâ€™t Miss It For The World

    <h4>Chapter 917 - I Wouldn¡¯t Miss It For The World </h4>

    Jin Liwei vaguely heard the cheers of their family and friends. At the moment, however, all he cared about was tasting his wife¡¯s lips. He lifted the veil off her face, taking care to arrange it neatly over her head. His breath caught in his throat once again upon seeing his wife¡¯s beauty.

    He lifted her chin, making her look up at him, so that he could see her better.

    "You¡¯re so beautiful," he whispered.

    Iris smiled. "And you look handsome today."

    He chuckled. Then he lowered his head and ever so lightly pressed his lips against hers. Her eyes closed as soon as their lips touched. He, however, kept his own eyes half open because he wanted to continue looking at his beautiful wife and watch her expression as he kissed her.

    Apuse, cheers and whistles sounded in the background but the newly-wedded husband and wife couldn¡¯t hear them clearly. It was as if there was a bubble separating the two of them from the rest of the world. Right now, there was only the two of them.

    The light kiss didn¡¯t satisfy Iris. She wanted more. Her arms wrapped around Jin Liwei¡¯s neck, pulling him closer, while at the same time taking the initiative to deepen the kiss. His arms also wrapped around her tiny waist before lifting her up to kiss her even more deeply.

    They kissed for what felt like a long time. When their mouths separated, they both looked dazed.

    It was Jin Liwei who returned to his senses first. Cheerful sounds assaulted his ears. He was already grinning before he even realized it.

    The officiant cleared his throat and announced in a loud voice, "Everyone, I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Jin!"

    Iris was still a little dazed but the bright smile on her face reflected her joy. Jin Liwei raised their sped hands together in the air in a sign of triumph. The apuse became louder.

    In front of them across the pond, Huang Yuyan was crying and smiling at the same time. She wiped her tears of joy with a handkerchief but more tears flowed down her reddened eyes.

    Beside her, Grandma Li also had red, glistening eyes but the elegant elderdy was able to control her emotions better than her daughter-inw.

    The noisy old man who sat beside her during the wedding ceremony was long gone. Grandpa Lu was now with the groomsmen, bear-hugging and "patting" them on the back. His grandson, Lu Zihao, looked fine but the others like Lin Yehan, Wang Yingjie, Yu Mo and Jin Chonglin looked like half of their life spans flew away due to the old man¡¯s "pats".

    His booming voice was the loudest as usual among the lively chatter of the guests. "Bahahaha! This old man is very happy today! Are you happy, too? You are, right? Tell me, I want to know!"

    The thin Lin Yehan coughed as he recovered from Grandpa Lu¡¯s...er, "overenthusiastic pats" on the back. "Yes, Grandpa Lu. We¡¯re all very happy, too."

    Grandpa Lu set his sight on Dom next. Dom yelped before running and hiding behind the strong and muscr Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Grandpa boss, please have mercy! I¡¯m part of the bridesmaids, not the groomsmen! We¡¯re very delicate!"

    "Ampa Lu!" Little Jun wiggled his way down his mother¡¯s arms and ran towards his great-grandfather.

    "Little Junjun, my boy!" The old man caught the toddler and carried him in his arms. "Great-grandpa Lu is very proud of you for doing a great job in being the ring bearer! You look as handsome as your great-grandpa. Bahahaha!"

    After asking Jiang Ying Yue, Grandpa Lu took Little Jun to Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan who immediately began doting on the child. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui walked together and joined them.

    Alone in their seats, Wei Lan and Randy stayed where they were while the other guests started mingling around them as they all waited for the bride and groom to leave the islet to join everyone. <i></i>

    "Uhm, Vizcondesa," Randy called in a hesitant voice. "The groom and the bride¡¯s families are talking over there. I think you should join them. You¡¯re the bride¡¯s mother, after all."

    Wei Lan pouted. "No, I¡¯m fiiiiiiiiine here. Dear Liwei got angry at meeeee. What if he throooooows me out because my horrid ex-husband fights with me agaaaaaiiiin? Raaaaandyyy doll, let¡¯s just stay here, okaaaay?"

    Randy sighed and forced a smile. "I understand, Vizcondesa."

    It took a few minutes for the bride and groom to join their family and friends because they had been too preupied with each other on the islet. Their groomsmen and bridesmaids were the first ones to congratte and give them their best wishes.

    Lu Zihao hugged Jin Liwei, startling the groom a bit.

    "Take care of my sister," Lu Zihao, no, Niki whispered directly to Jin Liwei¡¯s ear.

    "Of course," Jin Liwei replied in his most sincere and serious tone.

    His brother-inw who had his fifth brother¡¯s body nodded before hugging his bride next.

    "Be happy, Little Sister."

    Iris hugged her brother tightly. "I will, Big Brother. Thank you."

    "Don¡¯t cry. You should smile on your wedding day."

    "I know but I can¡¯t stop my tears!"

    Lu Zihao sighed but there was a doting smile on his lips. Then he kissed her on the cheek before letting her go. In Russian, he told her, "I¡¯m d that I can hug you today."

    Her eyes widened before realizing what he meant. She smiled and replied to him in Russian as well. "I think I feel too excited and too happy right now that my oversensitivity to smells seems to be out ofmission. I hope that it doesn¡¯t return anytime soon."

    He nodded. "Now go greet your other guests."

    "Okay. Thanks again, Big Brother. I¡¯m d that you¡¯re here to celebrate my wedding."

    "I wouldn¡¯t miss it for the world."

    She beamed before leaving with Jin Liwei to talk with Grandpa Lu¡¯s group next.

    "Are you okay?" Long Jinjing asked after appearing beside him.

    He didn¡¯t answer but circled his arm around her waist instead. Then they watched their sister with their brother-inw looking so happy as they chatted with everyone else.

 Chapter 918 - A Fatherâ€™s Worry

    <h4>Chapter 918 - A Father¡¯s Worry </h4>

    After a fun video and photography session in the indoor forest, Jin Liwei noticed that his wife was getting a little tired so he immediately instructed the event staff to lead everyone to the ballroom where the wedding banquet would be held. While everyone was heading to the ballroom, the newly-wedded couple moved to another room to rest, especially Iris, and also to change their outfits for the banquet.

    Meanwhile, c.o.c.ktails and some other light refreshments were being served in the ballroom. The decorations followed the wedding¡¯s forest theme. There were vibrant fresh greens and colourful wildflowers artfully arranged everywhere. Hanging orb lights looked like glowing aura balls and the curtain lights looked like the stars from a distance. There was nothing over-the-top with the deceptively simple decorations but everything still felt elegant and ssy.

    "This lovely forest theme must be Xin¡¯s idea," Grandma Limented while sighing in admiration.

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "I think so too, Mother. If it were my eldest son, I¡¯m sure that he would¡¯ve chosen a very extravagant and luxurious theme for his wedding especially since we know that he couldn¡¯t wait to marry dear Xin."

    "Just like his grandfather and father." Grandma Li chuckled. "But this is much better. I actually prefer something like this instead of an overly refined and sophisticated party. It feels more intimate and memorable. My granddaughter-inw has excellent taste."

    "I agree, Mother. I¡¯m so happy to have Xin as my daughter-inw. She has made my son a very happy man."

    "Now that they¡¯re married, I hope that they have a child soon."

    "Oh, that would be wonderful!"

    The elegant elderly Jin matriarch looked around. "By the way, have you seen your Uncle Jianhong? He¡¯s supposed to sit at the same table with us. That old gori has been jumping all over the ce like a hyperactive child since discovering that today¡¯s event is Liwei and Xin¡¯s wedding."

    "He¡¯s just very happy, Mother," Huang Yuyan said, giggling. "I saw him speaking with Headmaster Dupont and the others from Cross Academy in the hallway earlier. I¡¯m sure that Uncle Jianhong will join uster."

    The twodies sat at their designated table. Feng Wan and her posh friends including the Chief of Police came over to greet them. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui were seated at the opposite table where the bride¡¯s family was assigned. The couple also came over to join the conversation.

    Cheerful scenes like this yed throughout the entire ballroom as they waited for the bride and groom to arrive and officially start the wedding banquet.

    Later, Grandpa Lu returned while dragging his grandson Lu Zihao and the red-faced Long Jinjing. Everyone at the table stopped their conversation to look at them. Feng Wan and herpanions excused themselves after greeting Grandpa Lu and the other two.

    The old man "patted" his grandson¡¯s back again. The worried Long Jinjing winced and wrung her hands, looking as if she wanted to stop Grandpa Lu but was too shy to do so. Lu Zihao casually held her hand in front of everyone. She tried pulling it away in embarrassment but he only tightened his hold on it.

    Long Tengfei along with everyone else saw this, of course. He looked shocked but was able to quickly control his expression.<i></i>

    "Jinjing?" he asked his daughter.

    Long Jinjing turned redder. She subconsciously shrank her body and stepped back but Lu Zihao¡¯s firm hold stopped her. When she nced at him, his intense gaze pressured her.

    "I...uhm..." She bit her lower lip before forcing herself to straighten her back. She was apany CFO, for goodness¡¯ sake! She shouldn¡¯t be acting like this. However, she still felt like a little girl in front of her father sometimes, especially when it was time to introduce her boyfriend.

    Clearing her throat, she turned to Long Tengfei. "Father, I would like to introduce to you my...my b-boyfriend, Lu Zihao."

    "Oh!" Huang Yuyan¡¯s eyes widened in excitement.

    Yang Jiahui also looked surprised but she stayed quiet and watched how her husband reacted.

    Long Tengfei already had a suspicion earlier because he saw Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson holding his daughter¡¯s waist at the indoor forest after the wedding ceremony but he still felt shocked when his daughter really introduced Lu Zihao as her boyfriend.

    First, his youngest daughter Xin became Jin Liwei¡¯s girlfriend, almost giving him a heart attack when he discovered their rtionship. She was still very young and yet she got engaged just a few monthster and married today.

    And now, it seemed like it was his other daughter¡¯s turn to shock him. Jinjing bing Lu Zihao¡¯s girlfriend never crossed Long Tengfei¡¯s mind. This daughter was very sweet and shy, not the type that people would think to pair up with a huge, dangerous-looking man like Lu Zihao. Despite thinking like this, he had nothing against Lu Zihao because he trusted that Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson would be at least a decent man. Also, he knew that the man was close to his youngest daughter Xin and that the two treated each other like siblings.

    Long Tengfei never imagined that his two daughters would have rtionsh.i.p.s with men from the two most powerful business families in the country right now. As a businessman himself, he should be happy because any friendly connections to the Jins and the Lus could only be advantageous. As a father, however, he couldn¡¯t help but worry about his daughters. The politics involved in joining these ultra-wealthy and powerful families are no joke.

    Xin was strong and could turn into a spitfire if provoked so Long Tengfei wasn¡¯t too worried about her. He knew that she could handle herself, especially now that she was married to Jin Liwei.

    He was more worried about her other more delicate daughter, Jinjing. If someone bullied her, she had the tendency to endure it and not tell anyone.

    Tamping down on his worries for now, he focused on the present and saw Lu Zihao stepping forward to shake his hand.

    "Mr. Long, we¡¯ve met before but this is the first time that I¡¯m meeting you as Jinjing¡¯s boyfriend," Lu Zihao said, shing a devilish smile.

 Chapter 919 Mr - And Mrs

    <h4>Chapter 919 Mr - And Mrs </h4>

    Much to Long Jinjing¡¯s relief, the introduction went very well. Her father was not as intimidating today as usual. She understood that it might be because her father and the others didn¡¯t want to make it too difficult for her and Lu Zihao due to the nature of today¡¯s event. It was her sister¡¯s wedding, a very special asion to their families.

    After what happened earlier with Wei Lan creating a ruckus and Long Tengfei bing somewhat involved, everybody was doing their best to make today¡¯s event as happy and lively as possible. They had seen a cold and furious Jin Liwei confronting his mother-inw Wei Lan because of what happened. There was no need to expressly talk about it among themselves. It was already understood that they should strive to minimize any possibility of drama from urring today.

    "Jinjing, bring Lu Zihao to the ancestral house some time," Long Tengfei said. "Let¡¯s have a nice dinner together."

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t reply right away, ncing instead at Lu Zihao to silently ask him what he thought about her father¡¯s invitation. It was Lu Zihao who answered on behalf of both of them.

    "Mr. Long, Jinjing and I would be d to join you for dinner. Is thising weekend alright with you?"

    And with that, they arranged a dinner appointment at the Long ancestral residence. Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing excused themselves and went to their designated table with the other groomsmen and bridesmaids.

    "It¡¯ll be fine," Lu Zihao said after noticing her nervousness. "We already had dinner with your mother and my grandfather. It¡¯s your father¡¯s turn next. There¡¯s nothing to worry about."

    She bit her lower lip and watched the other guests mingling instead of looking at him. "I¡¯m just not sure if dining with my father is...uhm, necessary."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Our 30-day agreement will be ending next week," she whispered.

    He scowled but she didn¡¯t see it because she wasn¡¯t looking at him.

    "I don¡¯t want to talk about this today," he said in a harsh tone.

    "I...okay. Sorry...."

    "Didn¡¯t I tell you not to apologize over trivial things?"

    She couldn¡¯t help but look at him. "It¡¯s Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei¡¯s wedding. Let¡¯s not fight today. Okay, Niki?"

    "I¡¯m not fighting with you. You¡¯re the one who broached this unpleasant topic first."

    "I...."

    He sighed. "Alright. We¡¯ll talk about this some other time. Not today."

    She nodded.

    He pulled her closer to him, intending to kiss her lips but she blocked his mouth with her hand.

    "Not in front of all this people, Niki," she furiously whispered to him.

    In the end, he only nuzzled her ear which still embarrassed her. She was red-faced again when the rest of their friends joined them at the table.

    "What happened?" Chen Fei asked as she sat beside Long Jinjing. "Why are you blushing? Did you and your boyfriend do something naughty while we were gone?"

    "Ooooooh~"

    Dom, Meimei and Clover¡¯s eyes sparkled at the same time. The three leaned forward, eager to listen to some juicy details about Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao¡¯s rtionship.

    "N-no! W-what are you saying?! Zihao and I weren¡¯t doing anything n-naughty!" Long Jinjing used her bouquet to cover her face.

    "I was just kissing my girlfriend," Lu Zihao said in a casual tone. "There¡¯s nothing naughty about that. Isn¡¯t it normal?"

    "Kyaaaaaaah!" The triplets Dom, Meimei and Clover all squealed.

    Long Jinjing hit Lu Zihao¡¯s thigh and red at him. Her re, however, wasn¡¯t fierce at all. On the contrary, she looked more like an aggrieved puppy who had been teased too much. She appeared even more aggrieved when he chuckled at her.

    "Fifth Bro, don¡¯t tease your girlfriend too much," Yu Mo said. "What if she cries? Don¡¯t forget that her father is here. Mr. Long will beat you up if you make his daughter cry."

    Lu Zihao swirled his champagne drink. Before he could answer, however, Long Jinjing spoke up first. <i></i>

    "I¡¯m not going to cry!"

    Yu Mo gave a sheepish smile. "I was just joking. Peace!"

    Lu Zihao watched the embarrassed Long Jinjing with amus.e.m.e.nt. Feeling mischievous, he dove forward and stole a quick kiss from her lips.

    "Y-you!" Long Jinjing was shocked that he would do that in front of everyone. Too embarrassing!

    Lu Zihao only smirked. He didn¡¯t feel embarrassed at all. Underneath his teasing expression, however, was anger at her reminder that their 30-day agreement would soon be over. It was something that he refused to think about in the past few days. He figured that he would just deal with it once the actual deadline arrived.

    The triplets squealed once again after the kiss. They lightly teased the couple while Chen Fei pursed her lips and drank her champagne.

    Wanting to change the subject and recover from her embarrassment as soon as possible, Long Jinjing asked her best friend, "Where¡¯s Sis Ying Yue?"

    "I saw her taking Little Jun somewhere," Chen Fei replied. "Little Jun and the cats won¡¯t be joining the banquet, so I think Sis Yue is arranging for their nannies to take care of them."

    "Oh, I see."

    Before they could continue their conversation, the emcee called for everyone¡¯s attention. The wedding nner and her event staff members called for the newlyweds¡¯ family members and their wedding party and brought them outside the ballroom. As for everyone else, they headed to their designated seats and waited in anticipation.

    Celebratory music started ying in the background and a machine aimed at the ballroom¡¯s huge double doors started spewing fog. The double doors opened and the emcee announced the entrance of the wedding party¡ªnamely, the two best men and the groomsmen and then the man of honour and the bridesmaids.

    Next were the groom¡¯s family members which included Huang Yuyan, Grandma Li and Grandpa Lu. Following them were the bride¡¯s family members. First to walk was Wei Lan who was introduced with her full title Vizcondesa Lan of Castillo de Estres of Espa?a escorted by Randy. After them were Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui.

    Finally, the time hade.

    "Let¡¯s give a warm wee to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jin!!!"

 Chapter 920 - Unwell

    <h4>Chapter 920 - Unwell </h4>

    The newlyweds Jin Liwei and Iris Long entered the ballroom holding hands and with big smiles on their faces. They had changed out of their wedding ceremony outfits. This time, they wore matching red outfits that were modern takes on traditional Chinese clothing.

    Jin Liwei was wearing a red changshan jacket with a golden dragon embroidered across the front. He paired it with dark green trousers that looked almost ck when viewed from afar.

    Beside him was Iris wearing a red, body-hugging qipao with a golden phoenix embroidered along the entire length of the dress. This time, her hair was arranged into an elegant chignon bun with an ornate flower ornament made out of gold and rubies.

    Warm, enthusiastic apuse weed them as they waved at everybody.

    "They called me Mrs. Jin. I really am Mrs. Jin now," Iris said, hugging Jin Liwei.

    He caressed her face, a doting smile on his lips. "Happy, Mrs. Jin?"

    She beamed at him. "Yes. Very."

    The banquet started and everyone enjoyed a sumptuous family-style feast. A variety of generous dishes were served in every table that everyone could share among their groups. The wedding ceremony was very Western but the banquet was very Chinese.

    Long Tengfei, who initially felt upset that his daughter wasn¡¯t following the old traditions for her wedding, felt satisfied that the banquet felt traditional enough although notpletely. There was a sense of casualness in the banquet that made everyone feel more rxed andfortable.

    Later, Jin Liwei and Iris began walking around to personally greet all of their guests and take photos with them.

    "Iris, this is such a big shock to me but I¡¯m very happy for you and CEO Jin," Tang Yiyi, her manager, told her.

    "I¡¯m sorry for not informing you, Elder Sister Yiyi," Iris replied with an apologetic smile. "Liwei¡ªmy husband and I wanted to keep our wedding a secret. If it makes you feel better, we didn¡¯t tell our families either."

    Jin Liwei looked very pleased after hearing his wife referring to him as her husband in front of other people.

    Tang Yiyi waved Iris¡¯ apology away. "It¡¯s okay, really! Don¡¯t worry about it. Now I know why you¡¯ve been very secretive in thest few weeks."

    Iris looked at her manager and at Jin Chonglin¡¯s manager. "Elder Sister Yiyi, Manager Lin, I would like to arrange a meeting with you when Liwei and I return from our honeymoon. Brother Chonglin will also be at the meeting."

    "Is it about your new...uh, venture?" Lin Dong asked.

    "Yes. It¡¯s very important so I hope that you¡¯ll be able to free a day of your schedule."

    "I¡¯ll definitelye," Lin Dong said. "Just give me a date and I¡¯ll free my schedule right away."

    She smiled before turning to her manager.

    Tang Yiyi looked hesitant. "Iris...."

    "Yes?"

    "I heard from Manager Lin that you approved to pay the termination fees of the other artists that he¡¯s managing so that they can follow Jin Chonglin to your, uh, new venture. So, uhm, I was wondering if¡ª"

    "If my fellow artists under your wing also want to follow me, we¡¯ll pay for their termination fees, too. No problem. I¡¯m quite positive that Pandemonium will agree. As for the others, I¡¯m not sure. We still need to ask them."

    Iris¡¯ words were enough reassurance for Tang Yiyi. She now looked relieved. "Okay, I¡¯ll help you persuade them!"

    "But for now, my team and I need to negotiate with Bright Summit first." She tilted her head to the side. "Have you decided to follow me?"

    Tang Yiyi took a deep breath before giving a determined nod. "Yes! I have faith in you and Jin Chonglin¡¯s abilities to establish this new exciting venture. Now that I don¡¯t have to worry about abandoning the other artists that I¡¯m managing, I no longer feel any hesitation for leaving Bright Summit."

    "That¡¯s great to hear." Iris was very pleased.

    Lin Dong also looked happy to know that his fellow Bright Summit manager would be joining him at Iris and Jin Chonglin¡¯s newpany. It would be easier to work together because they were already familiar with each other.

    The two managers congratted Jin Liwei and Iris again before the newlyweds moved on to another table. <i></i>

    After they chatted with all their guests, Iris leaned her head against Jin Liwei¡¯s chest and softly groaned. "Husband, I don¡¯t feel so good."

    His expression immediately hardened. He examined her but found it difficult to see clearly because of the lighting. He was about to carry her when she stopped him.

    "Let¡¯s not make a scene, okay? I want everyone to enjoy themselves on our wedding day."

    He frowned. "Describe to me how you¡¯re feeling first."

    "I feel...exhausted and a little dizzy. Also, I think my oversensitivity to smells ising back." She covered her nose and mouth with the back of her hand.

    "It¡¯s the damn alcohol that everyone¡¯s drinking."

    "Darling, please. Don¡¯t make a fuss. I don¡¯t want our family and friends to know that I¡¯m feeling unwell."

    He pressed his lips hard into a thin line but eventually released a heavy sigh. "Fine. Bear with it a little more, love. We¡¯ll try to leave in a natural manner."

    She nodded.

    "Feeling sick?" a cold devil¡¯s voice asked behind them.

    They turned and saw Lu Zihao. His expression was unreadable but they knew that he must be worried about his sister.

    "A little," Iris admitted.

    "Take my sister away from here," Lu Zihao told Jin Liwei. "I¡¯ll inform the others and we¡¯ll take it from here."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Thanks."

    Lu Zihao also nodded before speaking to his sister in Russian. "Rest well. Don¡¯t stress. Remember that you¡¯re pregnant."

    "Yes, Big brother."

    With that, Jin Liwei and Iris carefully made their way out of the banquet. Iris kept a smile on her face the whole time and acted as if nothing was wrong while Jin Liwei kept an impassive expression. Their departure didn¡¯t go unnoticed but the groomsmen and bridesmaids distracted everyone with conversations after Lu Zihao informed them about what happened.

 Chapter 921 - Where Are The Newlyweds?

    <h4>Chapter 921 - Where Are The Newlyweds? </h4>

    Although the numerous hired performances kept everyone entertained, the guests still couldn¡¯t help but notice the absence of the bride and the groom. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen were all working hard to keep everyone distracted but the newlyweds¡¯ family members were all concerned about why Iris and Jin Liwei were gone and insisted on asking what happened.

    "Son, where¡¯s your older brother and sister-inw?" Huang Yuyan asked Jin Chonglin.

    "Uh..." Jin Chonglin turned to Chen Fei who was standing closest to him.

    Chen Fei dragged Dom instead to answer Huang Yuyan¡¯s question.

    Dom smiled too brightly. "Boss and sir boss¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t you dare lie, Dominic Chua," Cai Guang warned. "Or else I¡¯ll call your mother and tell her how her son turned into an untrustworthy¡ª"

    "Uncle, nooooooo!" Dom cried. "Don¡¯t call my Momsy! She¡¯ll fly into a rage all the way from the Philippines and whack me with her deadly slippers! Do you have any idea how much her slippers hurt? Wuwuwu!"

    Cai Guang frowned at his overdramatic nephew. He turned to his niece instead. Clover ehehehe¡¯d before running away and hiding behind the muscr Jiang Ying Yue.

    Long Tengfei also had a deep frown on his face. "It¡¯s very rude to leave the guests hanging like this. Xin and Liwei should¡¯ve at least said something before disappearing."

    The elegant Grandma Li nodded. "I agree that this kind of behaviour is very impolite on the part of my grandson and granddaughter-inw."

    Grandpa Lu caught his grandson. "Haohao, my boy! Tell your grandpa where your third brother and little sister went. Hurry, I want to know!"

    Long Jinjing stayed close to Lu Zihao, feeling a little worried that Grandpa Lu would "pat" Lu Zihao in the back again. Athough Lu Zihao didn¡¯t look like the scary "pats" hurt him, it was Long Jinjing who somehow felt hurt whenever she had to watch the old man¡¯s tough love on his grandson.

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes narrowed as he looked around. "I don¡¯t see your second brother anywhere. Did Yingjie my boy leave with your fifth brother and little sister? Tell me, my boy! I want to know!"

    Huang Yuyan¡¯s eyes widened with concern upon realizing the implication of Grandpa Lu¡¯s words. "W-what happened? Please tell us, Zihao."

    Lu Zihao sighed and felt like he was going to have a headache. He nced at Long Jinjing beside him and immediately felt less irritated at the current situation.

    Should he tell these people what happened to his sister? Or should he lie in order to give her some peace and quiet so that she could have a proper rest?

    In the end, it was Grandpa Lu who made the decision before Lu Zihao could make up his mind. He led a few people¡ªGrandma Li, Huang Yuyan, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui¡ªout of the ballroom to personally look for Iris and Jin Liwei. They originally nned on inviting Wei Lan but she was too preupied chatting with Feng Wan and the poshdies. She didn¡¯t seem too concerned about the disappearance of her daughter and son-inw.

    When Grandpa Lu and the others left, Long Jinjing asked Lu Zihao, "Is this really okay?"

    He massaged his temples while sighing. "Nobody can stop the old man once he sets his mind on something."

    "But¡ª"

    "Just leave them be. My grandfather, your father, and the others can all be trusted to keep a secret. If the viscountess joined them, I might have stopped them but since the woman didn¡¯t go, then it¡¯s fine."

    She didn¡¯t reply but her silence indicated her agreement to what he said. Wei Lan was indeed too much of an unpredictable factor. Nobody could be exactly sure how she would react once she discovered Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s other secret. She might create unnecessary trouble again.

    Lin Yehan approached the two of them. "Now that even the newlyweds¡¯ family members left, the other guests are wondering even more what¡¯s happening. We need to work harder in distracting them. We can¡¯t allow this banquet to end badly."

    "Y-yes." Long Jinjing tugged Lu Zihao¡¯s arm.

    Lin Yehan watched the pair as they engaged the other guests in conversation. Well, it was mostly Long Jinjing doing the talking while Lu Zihao just stood there looking like a resting panther. He shook his head at how his fifth brother had changed so much.

    Then he saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. He headed towards that person.

    "Is everything okay?" he asked.

    "Mr. Lin," Jiang Ying Yue greeted. "Yes, I¡¯m fine. But I need to leave for a bit. I received a call from the nanny saying that my son is crying and refuses to sleep. I¡¯m going to check on him and hopefully get him to sleep before I return here to the banquet."

    "May I go with you?"

    She hesitated, looking a little surprised at his request. "Uhm...."

    "It¡¯s fine if the answer is no but I would like to see Little Jun for a bit before he falls asleep tonight."

    "Oh." She thought for a moment. "I..see. Okay."

    He gave her a gentle smile. "Shall we go, then? We don¡¯t want to keep Little Jun waiting for too long."

    She nodded and they left the banquet together.

    ###

    Grandpa Lu gged a lot of the household staff that they met along the way and interrogated them about where their master and mistress went. Finally, a maid told them that she saw the two heading to their bedroom suite. <i></i>

    When they arrived at the suite, it was Wang Yingjie who opened the door for them. He didn¡¯t look surprised because he already heard the old man¡¯s booming voice calling for Iris and Jin Liwei while banging on the door.

    "Where¡¯s Xin my girl and Liwei my boy? Tell me, Yingjie my boy. I want to know!"

    Before Wang Yingjie could answer, they heard the sound of someone vomiting from inside the bedroom. The door to the bedroom was left ajar.

    "Oh no! What¡¯s happening?" Huang Yuyan pushed her way inside the suite and rushed to the bedroom.

    The others followed her while Wang Yingjie could only sigh before closing the door.

 Chapter 922 - Blessing In The Family

    <h4>Chapter 922 - Blessing In The Family </h4>

    When everyone entered the bedroom, the first person they saw was an unfamiliar woman. Huang Yuyan didn¡¯t bother to inquire about the person¡¯s identity first because she was more concerned about the vomiting soundsing from the bathroom. The door was open so she headed straight there.

    She saw her eldest son supporting and rubbing the back of her new daughter-inw who was currently bent over the toilet bowl and dry-heaving in a pitiful manner. Jin Liwei looked extremely worried, as if seeing his wife¡¯s suffering was giving him actual physical pain.

    "Oh, poor dear!" Huang Yuyan didn¡¯t hesitate to rush forward and push her own son to the side to support her daughter-inw herself. She was a small woman but had no problem taking over. She rubbed Iris¡¯ back while murmuring soothing words. Then she nced at her son who was hovering anxiously behind them. "Make yourself useful and go get a damp towel!"

    It took a few seconds for his mother¡¯s instruction to register in Jin Liwei¡¯s mind but when it did, he moved quickly and returned with a damp towel in his hand. He was about to use it to cool his wife¡¯s sweaty forehead but his mother snatched the towel from him and did it herself.

    "Mother, I¡¯ll do it¡ª"

    Yang Jiahui and Grandma Li also entered the bathroom by this time. The bathroom was huge so there was plenty of space for everyone. With the arrival of the two additionaldies, however, Jin Liwei was pushed farther away from his wife. He wanted to stay by his wife¡¯s side but his grandmother kicked him out of the bathroom, saying that the women knew how to take care of his wife better.

    Although reluctant, he forced himself to leave the bathroom because he trusted his mother and grandmother. Yang Jiahui was also a kind person who never attempted to harm his wife despite being bullied by the original Long Xin in the past. Nevertheless, he still hovered by the door, not wanting for his wife to leave his sight especially right now that she was suffering so much like this.

    "Excuse me, sir," the private doctor said.

    He moved to the side and allowed the female doctor to enter the bathroom to join the other women in taking care of his wife. Then all of a sudden, a powerful force mmed him on the back and almost made him vomit his internal organs.

    "Bahahahaha! Is this what this old man is thinking? Tell me, Liwei my boy! I want to know!" Grandpa Lu continued to "pat" Jin Liwei¡¯s back.

    Gritting his teeth, Jin Liwei endured the old man¡¯s overenthusiastic disy of affection. He and his sworn brothers, except for Lu Zihao, secretly agreed among themselves that Grandpa Lu¡¯s "pats" had be much more powerfultely.

    Wang Yingjie spected that it might be due to Lu Zihao bing more muscr and physically stronger. Whenever Grandpa Lu "patted" his grandson, Lu Zihao never reacted and always looked unaffected. It was as if those dangerous pats were nothing to him. Perhaps the old man increased the force of his "pats" in order to elicit a reaction from his grandson. The only problem was that he didn¡¯t think to adjust these new more powerful "pats" whenever he did it on Jin Liwei and his other honourary grandsons.

    Fortunately, Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t "pat" him for too long. The old man was busy basking in his happiness.

    "Liwei," Long Tengfei called.

    Jin Liwei turned. "Father."

    Long Tengfei nced at the scene in the bathroom. There was great worry in his eyes but also excitement and hope.<i></i>

    "Is my daughter...?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t realize that the corners of his mouth curved upwards. "Yes, my wife is pregnant."

    "Bahahahaha! Congrattions, my boy! Today is a wonderful day!" Grandpa Lu was over the moon with joy.

    Long Tengfei had aplicated expression at first but it was quickly reced by excitement. "This is wonderful news. A child is always a blessing in the family. I¡¯m very happy for you and my daughter."

    "Thank you, Father."

    Jin Liwei was about to thank the old man next but saw Grandpa Lu "patting" Wang Yingjie¡¯s back. His second brother threw him a helpless look as he, too, endured the "pats". Grandpa Lu continuedughing in happiness.

    Grandma Li came out of the bathroom and scolded her friend. "Stopughing so much, you noisy old gori! If you want to celebrate, go outside where our granddaughter-inw won¡¯t be able to hear you. She¡¯s suffering so much and yet you¡¯reughing like a stupid buffoon."

    Grandpa Lu immediately stoppedughing and even managed to look like a guilty child who got scolded for being too naughty. Then he peered inside the bathroom at Iris who was still vomiting. "Sorry, my girl! Your beloved grandpa isn¡¯tughing at you! This old man is just very happy¡ª"

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough." Grandma Li cut him off. "Just be quiet for now. Xin dear is pregnant and her private doctor says that her emotions are very sensitive right now. Don¡¯t agitate her."

    Grandpa Lu nodded. True to his word, his booming voice became quiet. Long Tengfei began talking to Wang Yingjie who assured him that his pregnant daughter would be fine despite her worrying symptom.

    As for Jin Liwei, he continued hovering by the bathroom doorway. He wanted to stay by his wife¡¯s side but the women surrounded her and left no room for him. If it were any other people, he would¡¯ve already forced his way through to reach his wife. However, there was his mother and grandmother. He couldn¡¯t just push them away like other people.

    His heart felt like it was being squeezed as he watched his wife whimpering in-between the dry-heaving. Yang Jiahui was wiping the tears and sweat from her face but Iris still looked miserable.

    Finally, Iris was able to speak. "Li-Liwei...."

    He was already rushing to her as soon as he heard her calling his name. Fortunately, his mother and the others made space for him. He knelt beside his wife and once again took over inforting her as she continued to dry-heave.

 Chapter 923 - No Wedding Presents

    <h4>Chapter 923 - No Wedding Presents </h4>

    Later, Huang Yuyan and Yang Jiahui assisted Iris in removing her makeup and washing her face while Jin Liwei grabbed a set of pyjamas for her to change into. She wanted to take a shower but her mother-inw lectured her. In the end, she had no choice but to satisfy herself with a simple wipe-down with a damp towel instead. Jin Liwei did it for her because she felt too drained to do it herself.

    The men already left the bedroom when Jin Liwei carried Iris to their bed. Huang Yuyan and Yang Jiahui fussed over her while Grandma Li rested on the chaise longue.

    "Grandson, let your mother take care of your wife for now so that you can return to the banquet," the elder matriarch said.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "No, Grandmother. I¡¯ll stay with my wife."

    "I know that you want to stay with your wife but you can¡¯t just leave your guests hanging like this. Xin is unable to return to the banquet because she¡¯s feeling unwell but you¡¯re perfectly fine so you need to go back by yourself. You invited all those people and they all spent time and effort to attend today¡¯s event without even knowing that it¡¯s your wedding. Some even flew from abroad. It¡¯s terribly rude to just disappear without giving a proper exnation. As the groom, you have the responsibility to at least show your face to your guests until they leave even if your bride cannot."

    His frown deepened.

    Iris touched his hand. "Grandma Li is right, Liwei. You should return to the banquet and interact with our guests. I would do it with you if I could but as you can see, I can¡¯t right now. I just know that I¡¯ll feel sick again if I return with you to the banquet."

    He was unwilling to leave her.

    "I¡¯ll be fine, darling," she said.

    Huang Yuyan also tried to persuade him. "Yes, son. Rest assured that Xin will be fine. Your mother will take care of your wife while you¡¯re gone."

    "The doctor will also stay here," Iris added. "And with Auntie Yuyan¡ª"

    "Dear, we¡¯re an official family now. You should start calling me Mother and not Auntie Yuyan anymore!"

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened before she smiled. "Sorry, Mother."

    "It¡¯s fine, dear. Just don¡¯t forget next time."

    She nodded before turning to her husband again. "I¡¯ll really be fine. Mother will apany me. You go back to the banquet and thank our guests, okay?"

    He still looked unwilling to leave her but found it difficult to reject her request. In the end, he sighed and agreed with great reluctance.

    "Fine, I¡¯ll go. You should rest now, love. I¡¯ll be backter." He leaned down and gave her a rather chaste kiss on the lips in front of his mother.

    "Okay, darling."

    With that, Huang Yuyan and the private doctor stayed with Iris in the bedroom while Jin Liwei, Grandma Li and Yang Jiahui left. Grandpa Lu, Long Tengfei and Wang Yingjie were waiting in the suite¡¯s living room. They all left together to return to the banquet.

    At the banquet, Jin Liwei tried his best to interact with the guests despite his desire to return to his wife. When asked about Iris, all he said was that she was feeling unwell. Since everyone invited were close friends of the couple, they were all worried about Iris but didn¡¯t pry too much. Most of them already knew that she had some health issues so they epted Jin Liwei¡¯s exnation of why she suddenly disappeared from her own wedding banquet.

    When it was almost time to end the banquet, Jin Liwei took the microphone to personally speak to everyone.<i></i>

    "On behalf of my wife and I, I would like to thank all of you for attending our wedding. We know that it has been a huge surprise to you because my wife and I decided to keep everything a secret. We truly appreciate your attendance today. It has been such a pleasure sharing this special and important moment with you all.

    "Some of you have been asking me during the banquet about giving us wedding presents. It¡¯s understandable that you didn¡¯t prepare anything given that we didn¡¯t inform you about the true nature of today¡¯s event. That¡¯s why my wife and I don¡¯t expect you to give us any wedding presents. Your presence today is already enough for us.

    "But when I told you this earlier, you were all adamant that you still want to give us wedding presents. Thank you very much! However, my wife and I already decided that we will not personally ept any wedding presents from any of you."

    The guests didn¡¯t look happy at his announcement. Just based on their expressions, it was already obvious that they would still send some wedding presents regardless of what Jin Liwei said tonight.

    Jin Liwei could read their thoughts from their expressions.

    "If you still wish to give us wedding presents, I would suggest that you donate to my wife¡¯s foundation Iris of Hope instead. It¡¯s still newly established but Iris of Hope already helped a lot of the less fortunate people. Instead of giving to us, my wife and I think that it¡¯s better to give back to those who need it the most."

    Everyone pped their hands after his speech. They now felt better after his rejection of wedding gifts. Representatives from Iris of Hope appeared to assist the guests who wanted to donate on the spot. Wei Lan took this opportunity to remind everyone that she was also a representative of her daughter¡¯s foundation.

    Jin Liwei let her be. As long as she didn¡¯t cause trouble, he wouldn¡¯t stop her. Besides, Wei Lan had indeed been helpful in gathering support for Iris of Hope when his wife was busy with her other works. Wei Lan used her status as a viscountess to raise money for the foundation.

    It was already past midnight when the banquet finally ended and the guests who weren¡¯t sleeping over at the mansion all left.

    Jin Liwei returned to the bedroom to find his wife already sleeping. He smiled at her.

    "I can¡¯t wait for our honeymoon."

 Chapter 924 - Not Bound By Customs And Traditions

    <h4>Chapter 924 - Not Bound By Customs And Traditions </h4>

    The next day, Iris and Jin Liwei along with their bridesmaids and groomsmen ate a rather light brunch together because most of them still felt full afterst night¡¯s feast, except for the glutton Dom who always had infinite room for more food in his bottomless stomach. The entire wedding party slept over at the mansion.

    Some family members also didn¡¯t leavest night. On Jin Liwei¡¯s side, Huang Yuyan, Grandma Li and Grandpa Lu also slept over. And on Iris¡¯ side, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui decided to stay as well. Wei Lan had been invited to stay but she decided to leave with Randy and return to the penthouse along with Yi Mei and the others because she felt ufortable after Jin Liwei confronted her yesterday just before the wedding ceremony.

    At the dining table, everyone was extra attentive to Iris because all of them now knew that she was pregnant.

    "How are you feeling, my dear?" Huang Yuyan asked her. "Are you still nauseous? Dizzy?"

    "I¡¯m fine now, Mother. Thank you. I felt nauseous when I woke up earlier but I¡¯m alright now after sipping some of the herbal soup that you asked the chef to make for me."

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "That soup was really effective when I got pregnant with your Brother-inw Chonglin. I suffered so much when I got pregnant with him. What a troublesome kid!"

    "Mom!" Jin Chonglin made a face but his mother ignored him.

    "As for your husband, Liwei was such a calm baby. I didn¡¯t have any trouble when I was pregnant with him. Almost no symptoms. If it wasn¡¯t for my ballooning belly, nobody would think that I was actually pregnant. I thought pregnancy was like that. Then I had Chonglin." She sighed.

    Iris nced at Jin Liwei, feeling very interested about what he was like as a child. He caught her looking at him and smiled at her. She smiled back before pressing her hand on her t stomach.

    "It seems like Liwei¡¯s firstborn won¡¯t be as calm as him," she said, sighing. "I feel sick almost everyday now."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "As troublesome as Uncle Chonglin."

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression became bitter. Why did it feel as if they were ming him for all troublesome pregnancies? What did that have to do with him? It wasn¡¯t his fault!

    He could see that his brother and new sister-inw¡¯s friends were all quietly making fun of him in their minds. His mood dove even lower when he noticed the bossy COO of Orchidia Beauty, Chen Fei, who was sitting opposite him at the dining table, alsoughing at him with her eyes. Unfortunately for him, his mother, the elders and the newlyweds didn¡¯t care about his feelings.

    "Yuyan, send the homemade recipes for alleviating pregnancy symptoms to Liwei and Xin¡¯s chef," Grandma Li instructed.

    "Yes, Mother. That¡¯s what I¡¯m nning."

    Iris smiled at them. "Thank you, Mother and Grandma Li."

    "It¡¯s our pleasure, my dear," Huang Yuyan replied. "Hopefully, they would be helpful to you. This is the least we can do since you¡¯re carrying my first human grandchild. All of us are very happy for you and Liwei."

    Iris and Jin Liwei nced at each other. Except for those who knew already, they hadn¡¯t yet informed the others that Iris was actually carrying twins. The rest of them were still under the assumption that she and Jin Liwei were having only one child.

    "Xin, have you informed your mother that you¡¯re pregnant yet?" Yang Jiahui asked.

    "Not yet, Auntie. I was nning to inform her today but unfortunately she declined Liwei¡¯s invitation to sleep overst night."

    Long Tengfei gave a light snort. Yang Jiahui threw him a warning nce before talking to Iris again.

    "You should still inform her, Xin. She¡¯s your mother."

    "I understand, Auntie. Liwei and I will find a good time to share the news with Mother. We¡¯re being very extra careful with the news of my pregnancy for now because we want to be the ones to make the official announcement to the public. I don¡¯t want people especially my fans to learn that I¡¯m pregnant through rumours or tabloid news."

    Everyone nodded and continued to enjoy the food. They all epted the newlyweds¡¯ invitation to sleep over at the mansion. They understood that the couple had no interest in following the old marriage customs and traditions. There was no visiting the parents after the wedding day, so the parents came to the newlyweds¡¯ house instead.

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want to be bound by rigid customs and traditions but to focus on their own marriage by following their own terms instead. They didn¡¯t marry to please anyone, only themselves. Their marriage was a symbolic andwful binding of their love to each other, not to conform to their rtives¡¯ expectations of their rtionship. Nevertheless, the two still intended to keep both sides of the families involved to a certain degree in their married life especially now that Iris was going to give birth to the next generation of Jin children in less than a year.

    After the meal, everyone rested for about an hour before gathering together again. Since Iris became unwell and had to withdraw early from her own wedding banquetst night, she and Jin Liwei decided to do the tossing of the bouquet and the garter today instead.

    Iris held her draping bouquet as she nced at her friends taking positions a few metres behind her. She chuckled after seeing them.<i> [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you!]</i>

    Dom had his eyes focused on the prize. There was a slight sheen of sweat and reddish tinge on his skin. He was like a warmed-up athlete just before the start of a majorpetition.

    Beside him was his sister, Clover, who looked excited for the bouquet toss. Like her brother, she also wanted to catch the bouquet. On Dom¡¯s other side was Meimei. Her eyes reflected her desire for the bouquet but it was unfortunate that her sleep-deprived zombie-like body might not be able to move as energetically as she wanted.

    Jiang Ying Yue stood at the side. She didn¡¯t look interested in the bouquet at all and was only participating as a courtesy to her friends.

 Chapter 925 - Bouquet Toss

    <h4>Chapter 925 - Bouquet Toss </h4>

    Lin Yehan was carrying Little Jun as the toddler cheered for his Uncle Dom, not for his own mother. Although the little guy had no idea what was going on, his adorable giggles indicated that he was having fun watching the entertaining scene ying in front of him.

    On the far side stood the best friends Long Jinjing and Chen Fei. Long Jinjing felt shy just by the idea of catching the bouquet so she stood a little behind her best friend. She looked like she had no intention of trying to catch the bouquet at all.

    Chen Fei also had no interest in the bouquet and the implication of catching it but she was apetitive person. Just seeing the triplets Dom, Meimei and Clover all gearing up to catch the bouquet ignited her own fighting spirit. She nned on catching the bouquet just because she liked to win and not because she believed in the crap about being the next one to marry.

    Then a booming voice suddenly started cheering for a certain someone.

    "Jinjing, my girl! You have to catch the bouquet and marry my pinheaded grandson next! Why are you standing there at the very back? I want to know! Go to the front so you¡¯ll have a higher chance of catching the bouquet! Come on, my girl! Grandpa believes in you!"

    Long Jinjing turned a deep shade of crimson. She felt so embarrassed that she wanted to run away but couldn¡¯t because she didn¡¯t want to ruin her sister¡¯s bouquet toss by being a killjoy.

    Chen Fei turned around. "Don¡¯t overthink it. Just have fun."

    "Y-yes. You¡¯re right."

    Long Jinjing took a few deep breaths and stepped forward so that Grandpa Lu wouldn¡¯tin anymore about her standing too far in the back.

    At the front, Iris also felt entertained. She waved the bouquet a little, trying to figure out how much force to put in her throw. It was quite heavy for a bouquet so she would need to put more strength when throwing it behind her.

    "Are you ready?"

    "Yes, boss! My gorgeous and fabulous self is all ready to catch that beautiful bouquet! Maybe if I do, my future lover will finally appear and give me my happily ever after! Ehehehe~"

    Clover stuck her tongue at her brother. "Sorry, Big Bro. The bouquet will be mine! Maybe I¡¯ll be able to meet a hot Frenchman who¡¯ll be my husband when I return to France this weekend."

    "Momsy will beat you with her deadly slippers if you marry too early!"

    Clover had no retort to that because their fearsome mother would really do that.

    "I¡¯ll be the one to get the bouquet!" Meimei dered but nobody believed her because she looked like she was about to fall asleep on her feet.

    Yu Mo was recording everything on video.

    "Alright, I¡¯m going to throw the bouquet now in 3..."

    Iris closed her eyes.

    "2..."

    She went into a pitching position.

    "1!"

    She threw the bouquet like a baseball while her eyes were still closed.

    The bouquet barrelled like an unstable rocket in the air. There was nobody in the direction that it was flying.

    Dom was the first one to move towards it but the exhausted Meimei tripped and bumped into him, sending the two of them crashing to the floor. Seeing them, Clover quickly abandoned her own pursuit of the bouquet to help her brother and Meimei from the floor.

    Jiang Ying Yue was the farthest away so she didn¡¯t bother chasing after the bouquet. She just stood there in her original position and watched who was going to be the one to catch the flowers.

    Chen Fei reached for the bouquet but at thest second, she stepped back all of a sudden and let the flowers whistle past her. Behind her, there was a small yelp followed by a dull thud.

    Silence.

    One second.

    Two seconds.

    Three seconds¡ª

    "Bahahaha! Excellent job, Jinjing my girl! Haohao my boy, why aren¡¯t you helping your future wife from the floor yet? I want to know! Go and check if she¡¯s injured!"

    A stone-faced Lu Zihao walked to where Long Jinjing was struggling to get up from the floor, the huge bouquet on herp. There were stray petals and leaves on her hair, clothes, and all around her.

    She was just blindly following behind her best friend and pretending to participate in the bouquet toss just for show. Seeing Chen Fei reaching for it just a few seconds ago, she thought that her best friend would emerge the victor for sure. Who would¡¯ve expected for Chen Fei to suddenly step back?

    Before Long Jinjing knew it, the bouquet had hit her on the chest, knocking the air out of her. The weight of the big bouquet and the great force to which her sister threw it caused her to stumble backwards and fall on her butt to the floor.

    Without a word, Lu Zihao grabbed the bouquet from herp and lifted her up with a hand in one smooth move.<i></i>

    "You okay?" he asked.

    She nodded, still too breathless and shocked to speak. She couldn¡¯t believe that the bouquet literallynded on herp without her really trying.

    "Hurt anywhere?"

    She paused before shaking her head.

    "Good. Here." He handed the bouquet back to her.

    "T-thanks."

    "My bouquet!" Dom wailed. "But since it¡¯s Sis Jing who got it, then it¡¯s fine. Wuwuwu! Please take care of her Big Brother Boss!"

    Long Jinjing flushed and made a face at the overdramatic Dom. Then she red at her best friend. Chen Fei just shrugged at her as if what happened was of no concern of her.

    "Congrattions, Big Sister," Iris said when she reached them.

    "I...uh, thanks." Long Jinjing pressed herself closer to Lu Zihao¡¯s big body in a futile attempt to hide herself from everyone.

    "You threw the bouquet too hard," Lu Zihao reprimanded his sister. "If it hit Jinjing in the face, she would surely have a ck eye."

    Iris tilted her head to the side and studied him as if she was seeing her own brother for the first time.

 Chapter 926 - Additional Incentive

    <h4>Chapter 926 - Additional Incentive </h4>

    "I¡¯m fine, really," Long Jinjing said in a hurry. Then she tugged Lu Zihao¡¯s hand. "Don¡¯t scold my sister. It¡¯s not her fault that I¡¯m so clumsy."

    Lu Zihao studied her for a few moments, checking if she was really unhurt, before finally nodding.

    Iris also continued observing the two of them, a small smile ying on her lips. She didn¡¯t mind that her brother scolded her a little and was being protective of Long Jinjing. On the contrary, she found it very intriguing.

    "What¡¯s going on here?" Jin Liwei¡¯s voice interrupted them when he arrived beside Iris. He wrapped his arm around her waist before looking at Lu Zihao.

    "Nothing much, darling," Iris replied. "We were just making sure that Big Sister Jinjing is not hurt."

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    "We,dies, are done with our bouquet toss. It¡¯s the men¡¯s turn now for the tossing of the garter. Get everyone ready, Liwei."

    "Okay, love."

    Iris, Long Jinjing and the other members of the girl squad all moved to the side. Yu Mo handed the video camera to Dom so that he could also record the garter toss.

    "Come here, dear," Huang Yuyan called and patted at the empty space on the sofa beside her.

    Iris headed straight to her mother-inw. Huang Yuyan immediately gestured for the butler to pour Iris a fresh cup of hot ginger tea and some herbal snacks.

    On the nearby sofa, Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui were sitting together. Lin Yehan handed Little Jun to them before joining the rest of the men for the garter toss.

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice cheered for his own grandson. "Haohao my boy, Jinjing my girl sessfully caught the bouquet so you have to catch the garter next! If you don¡¯t, then you¡¯re a good-for-nothing dunderhead! I don¡¯t have a grandson who¡¯s a good-for-nothing! Even if you have to teleport, you have to catch that garter! Are you hearing what your beloved grandpa is saying? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "Yes, I hear you, old man," Lu Zihao replied.

    "What did you call me, you pinheaded rascal?!"

    "Grandpa."

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu turned his head and looked at Long Jinjing. He beamed. "Don¡¯t worry, my girl! Haohao might be a pinhead sometimes but he¡¯ll keep his promise and catch that garter for you!"

    Long Jinjing hid her face behind the huge, draping bouquet. She red at her best friend who was sitting beside her.

    Chen Fei pretended not to see her expression. To be honest, she wanted the bouquet because she liked to win but just as her hand was about to catch it, her eyes caught the scary glower of Grandpa Lu. The meaning of his look was very obvious. He didn¡¯t want her catching the bouquet but the person behind her. Not wanting to incur the displeasure of the old man, Chen Fei made the decision to withdraw at thest second and allow the bouquet tond on Long Jinjing¡¯sp instead.

    Grandpa Lu continued cheering for his grandson. His booming encouragements were bordering on threats but Lu Zihao didn¡¯t appear affected. Lu Zihao still looked casual as always, like azy panther who was about to take its afternoon nap.

    "Quiet down, you old gori," Grandma Li scolded her friend. "Be fair and don¡¯t just cheer for one person."

    Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t look happy but he still listened and became quiet.

    Back to Jin Liwei and his groomsmen, they were all ready after finding their own spots.

    "Let¡¯s make this more interesting," Jin Liwei announced all of a sudden. "Whoever catches this garter, I¡¯ll buy you something you want."

    "Oooooooooh~" Dom¡¯s eyes began sparkling. "Sir boss, can I join the garter toss, too?"

    "No. You already joined the bouquet toss so you¡¯re not eligible for the garter anymore."

    Dom pouted but he didn¡¯t look dejected. He busied himself in capturing the moment on video.

    Iris turned to Long Jinjing. "Since it¡¯s like this, I¡¯ll buy you something you want too, Big Sister."

    "N-no, there¡¯s no need for that," Long Jinjing said.

    "I insist. Please think of something by the time Liwei and I return from our honeymoon."

    Long Jinjing was about to decline again but Chen Fei blocked her and answered Iris on her behalf. "She says yes. She¡¯s going to think of something when you return."

    "Why did you say that?" Long Jinjing was miffed at her best friend.

    "Xin is your sister. Since she gave you such a nice offer, then you shouldn¡¯t keep on rejecting her good will. If I was in your shoes, I would dly ept it and request for a penthouse unit at one of her numerous Gold Heights properties. She¡¯s rich even without your new billionaire brother-inw."

    Long Jinjing opened her mouth and was about to argue but Chen Fei shushed her up because the garter toss was about to start. <i></i>

    Yu Mo came over to Lu Zihao and patted his shoulder. "Sorry, Fifth Bro. I¡¯m not personally interested in the garter but I want a new sports car for my collection. Third Bro will surely buy me a customized one if I catch the garter."

    "Big Bro, if I say I want a property here at Dragon Pce Homes, can I get one?" Jin Chonglin asked.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t bat an eye. "I can negotiate to buy out a property from the current owner. No problem. But first, you must catch the garter."

    "Cool! The security here at Dragon Pce Homes is the best. That garter is mine!"

    Although Lin Yehan and Wang Yingjie weren¡¯t saying anything, it was obvious from the look in their eyes that they were also gunning for the garter. They also had something that they want their third brother to buy for them.

    It was only Lu Zihao whose expression didn¡¯t change even after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s additional incentive. He wasn¡¯t even looking at the garter.

    "Alright, are you ready?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Hell yeah! Send it flying straight to me, Third Bro!" Yu Mo went into a semi-lunge position.

    "No, send it here, Big Bro! I¡¯m your flesh and blood brother!" Jin Chonglin also went into a simr battle-ready position.

 Chapter 927 - Garter Toss

    <h4>Chapter 927 - Garter Toss </h4>

    Jin Liwei took inspiration from how his wife threw the bouquet earlier. He closed his eyes and threw the garter like a baseball at a random direction behind him. But since the garter was extremely lightpared to the bouquet, it still flew slowly in the air.

    All the men ran forward, their eyes never leaving the garter. They looked like basketball yers going for a rebound.

    Surprisingly, it was the thin and gentle Lin Yehan who reached for the garter first because it flew the closest to him. However, just before he could reach for it, the more aggressive Yu Mo decided to y dirty and push him out of the way.

    Jin Chonglin took this chance to jump up and reach for the garter himself but Wang Yingjie didn¡¯t let him. The doctor also surprisingly yed dirty and pulled Jin Chonglin¡¯s clothes, causing Jin Chonglin to lose his bnce and almost fall to the floor before he was able to stabilize himself.

    "Second Bro Yingjie, you dare!" Jin Chonglin roared.

    Wang Yingjie ignored him, his eyes never leaving the flying garter, but there was a slight smirk on his lips. He ran forward with great speed, his expertise in karate showing in his agility and body coordination.

    "Oh no, you don¡¯t!" Yu Mo shouted. He also ran forward and disyed his own speed and agility from his Systema training.

    "OMG! This is so exciting!! My maiden heart is racing like crazy!!! I don¡¯t know who to cheer for! Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Dom jumped up and down in excitement but stopped upon remembering that he was supposed to record everything on video.

    Clover and Meimei were also in simr states as him. They didn¡¯t know who to cheer for so they just cheered for everyone. [<i>This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]</i>

    At the moment, it looked like it would either be Wang Yingjie or Yu Mo who had the highest chance of catching the garter. Close behind them was Jin Chonglin. Lin Yehan was a little farther in the back but he wasn¡¯t giving up yet.

    Wang Yingjie and Yu Mo both jumped up at the same time. Yu Mo was able to jump higher. Victory was almost in his hands.

    In the next second, however, a huge blur whizzed past everyone and easily snatched the garter from Yu Mo¡¯s fingertips.

    Lu Zihaonded on his feet, barely making any sound. The delicatece garter looked out of ce in his huge, calloused and scarred hand. He examined it for a few seconds before walking away as if nothing happened.

    "What the hell, Fifth Bro?!" Yu Mo chased after him.

    Jin Chonglin clicked his tongue and kicked the air in frustration. He really wanted a property at Dragon Pce Homes.

    Wang Yingjie and Lin Yehan looked at each other before sighing and shaking their heads.

    Lu Zihao ignored everyone and walked straight to where Long Jinjing was sitting.

    "That¡¯s my boy!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed with great pride. "You didn¡¯t disappoint your beloved grandpa! Bahahaha!"

    "Kyaaaaaaaaah!" The triplets Dom, Meimei and Clover couldn¡¯t hide their excitement.

    Long Jinjing felt herself heating up as she watched Lu Zihao nearing her. He stopped directly in front of her and offered his hand.

    "Come," he said.

    With a racing heart, sheid her hand on top of his palm. He pulled her up. She pressed her face against his wide chest to hide her blushing face as everyone around them began pping their hands and teasing the two of them.

    "Congrattions Big Sister and Big Brother," Iris said when she reached them.

    "T-thanks," Long Jinjing replied in a soft voice.

    Lu Zihao only grunted.

    Jin Liwei also arrived next to Iris. He nodded at Lu Zihao.

    "Big Brother, it¡¯s time for you to put the garter up Big Sister¡¯s leg."

    Long Jinjing looked a little panicked. "Must we really do that?"

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "Of course."

    "Let¡¯s go." Lu Zihao pulled Long Jinjing back to the centre where Yu Mo already ced a chair.

    Yu Mo was still grumbling but Lu Zihao ignored him while Long Jinjing continued to hide her face behind the huge bouquet. She sat on the chair while Dom was giving directions for her and Lu Zihao to pose for some photos.

    Afterwards, Lu Zihao knelt on one knee in front of her, causing her to blush even harder. The triplets Dom, Meimei and Clover were all squealing. The happiest, however, seemed to be Grandpa Lu whose boomingughter echoed in the room.

    Long Jinjing was wearing a long, casual dress. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t hesitate to lift the hem and reveal her ankles and lower legs. However, he made sure to block the sight from the other men with his huge body.

    Carefully, he slid the garter up her leg. His hand disappeared under the skirt of her dress as he slid the garter higher until it reached her thigh without allowing the others to see more of her bare skin.

    She stiffened a little when he brushed his rough fingertips along the insides of her thighs, causing her to turn even redder than she already had. Despite this, his expression remained emotionless as always. She, however, detected the l.u.s.t in his eyes.

    "How long are you going to keep your hand up in Jinjing¡¯s skirt, you naughty rascal?!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice teased. "Are you not going to remove it? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "Niki, your hand," Long Jinjing begged Lu Zihao in a desperate whisper. She felt so embarrassed but there was also a sweet feeling building inside her chest upon noticing the intense look in his eyes.

    Lu Zihao finally removed his hand from under her skirt, his movement very slow. He didn¡¯t give a damn about Grandpa Lu and the others teasing him and Long Jinjing. After that, he helped Long Jinjing up and held her hand, not letting her go even when she tried to pull her hand away.

    The triplets Dom, Meimei and Clover began chanting.

    "Kiss kiss kiss!!!"

    Long Jinjing red at them but before she could say anything, Lu Zihao already pulled her and kissed her on the lips in front of everyone.

 Chapter 928 - Keep On Baking

    <h4>Chapter 928 - Keep On Baking </h4>

    When the kiss ended, Long Jinjing became dazed and breathless. Her IQ once again plummeted to amoeba level. She had to rely on Lu Zihao to steer her while walking or she would trip on her own two feet.

    Jin Chonglin curled his lip at Lu Zihao. "Che. What a great pretender! You looked like you weren¡¯t at all interested in catching the garter but you still chased after it in the end."

    Lu Zihao threw him a sidelong nce. "Like hell I¡¯m going to allow another man to ce the garter up my woman¡¯s leg. You don¡¯t have a woman so you won¡¯t understand."

    "Who says I don¡¯t have a woman?!"

    Lu Zihao ignored him and led Long Jinjing away.

    Yu Mo ced his arm around Jin Chonglin¡¯s shoulders. "Well, do you have a woman that you¡¯re steady right now?"

    "..." Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t dare answer.

    Yu Mo sighed and patted his shoulder, acting as if Jin Chonglin was a very pitiful creature. "Fifth Bro is right. If my woman also caught the bouquet, there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll allow another man to catch the garter and put it up her leg."

    Jin Chonglin shook off Yu Mo¡¯s arm from his shoulders and stalked away to sulk at a corner. He was a superstar and idolized by the masses but whenever he was with family and friends, all they did was bully him. Just watch him. When he found his own woman that he wanted to settle down with, he would show her off to his family and friends. Then he would be the one throwing dogfood and not the other way around.

    After the fun bouquet and garter tosses, the newlyweds Iris and Jin Liwei finally prepared to set off for their honeymoon destination that afternoon. Everyone saw them off to say goodbye to them.

    "Take care of my daughter-inw and grandchild," Huang Yuyan told her son.

    Jin Liwei replied, "I will, Mother. Please don¡¯t worry."

    "How can I not worry? You¡¯re travelling by ne! Xin is still very early in her pregnancy. Are you sure it¡¯s safe for her to fly right now?"

    Iris held her mother-inw¡¯s hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. "I¡¯ll be alright, Mother. My private doctor already cleared me to fly. The flight is also not too long, only about three hours at most. The doctor is alsoing with us so she can monitor my health throughout our trip."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "I also made sure that there¡¯s a modern hospital just a few minutes by helicopter from where we¡¯re staying. Don¡¯t worry, Mother. I won¡¯t let anything bad happen to my wife and our firstborn that she¡¯s carrying."

    Grandma Li stepped forward and patted her daughter-inw in the back. "Yuyan, trust in your son. Liwei has always been reliable. If he promises to do something, he always fulfills it."

    Huang Yuyan still looked worried but she nodded and stepped back in the end. "Always take care, okay?"

    "Yes, Mother."

    Grandpa Lu stepped forward and "patted" Jin Liwei¡¯s back. Jin Liwei paled a little as he gritted his teeth to endure the old man¡¯s extreme show of affection.

    "Grandpa Lu, please be gentle!" Iris tried to block Grandpa Lu. "Liwei just recovered from his back injuries recently. I don¡¯t want him to hurt himself again especially during our honeymoon."

    Grandpa Lu immediately stopped his actions.<i></i>

    "I¡¯m fine, love," Jin Liwei told her. "I¡¯m fully healed now."

    "Yes, but still..."

    "You¡¯re right, Xin my girl! Excuse this old man for not being careful." Then Grandpa Lu narrowed his eyes at Jin Liwei. "And you, my boy! Why didn¡¯t you tell me not to pat you in the back too hard? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Grandma Li intervened at this point. "Alright, that¡¯s enough. Let the newlyweds go peacefully. Don¡¯t stress them out, especially Xin."

    "Fine!" Grandpa Lu then hugged both Iris and Jin Liwei. "You two enjoy your honeymoon! Although you already have a bun in the oven, it doesn¡¯t hurt to keep on baking! Bahahahaha!"

    Grandma Li sighed at her friend¡¯s ribald joke.

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t mind. They were already used to Grandpa Lu¡¯s style of teasing. Unlike the easily embarrassed Long Jinjing, Iris had thicker skin. After all, she was Grandpa Lu¡¯s direct business disciple. She already developed a certain level of shamelessness that would even make Jin Liwei speechless sometimes.

    "Boss, please don¡¯t worry about anything," Dom said next. "I¡¯ll take care of everything here at the home front. Just enjoy your honeymoon with sir boss!"

    "Thanks, Dom."

    Iris pulled Jin Liwei and went straight to Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing next. Her oversensitivity to smells had returned sincest night so she needed to maintain a certain distance from her big brother. However, that wouldn¡¯t stop her from saying a proper goodbye to him. She held her breath and hugged Lu Zihao tightly. His arms automatically wrapped around her as he returned the tight hug.

    "Take care and be safe," he murmured to her in Russian.

    She nodded. After a couple more seconds, the embrace ended and she returned to her husband¡¯s side to inhale his scent.

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao silentlymunicated with each other through their eyes. There was a tacit understanding between them regarding their new rtionship as brothers-inw. They developed a unique closeness that stemmed from the existence of the evolved remnant of the original Lu Zihao.

    "You caught the garter so think of something that you want me to buy for you when my wife and I return from our honeymoon," Jin Liwei told him.

    "Fine." Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reject his offer.

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    "Big Sister, don¡¯t forget to think of something, too," Iris reminded Long Jinjing.

    "Yes, she¡¯ll think of something," Lu Zihao answered for Long Jinjing before she could decline Iris¡¯ offer.

    Long Jinjing pouted but didn¡¯t argue with him.

    The newlyweds finally said their goodbyes to everyone. They left by car and headed straight to the private airport where Jin Liwei¡¯s small private jet was already waiting for them. Since they were only travelling within the country, they didn¡¯t use their jumbo ne, <i>LX Air.</i>

 Chapter 929 - Absolute Privacy

    <h4>Chapter 929 - Absolute Privacy </h4>

    By the time the newlyweds boarded the private jet, Iris became ovee by drowsiness. She wanted to spend more time chatting with her husband but could barely keep her eyes open.

    "Take a nap, love. I¡¯ll wake you up when we arrive at our destination." Jin Liwei kissed her forehead after helping her put her seatbelt on before taking the seat right next to her.

    She sighed before nodding. It was no use trying to fight off sleep when her body was craving for it so badly. Before the private jet could lift off, she was already fast asleep.

    Jin Liwei covered her with a fluffy nket and pulled her into his arms so that she was lying on his chest. She didn¡¯t stir even with all the movement. Before long, he also fell asleep.

    In the end, it was only the private doctor and the staff and security personnel who came with them that got to enjoy the first-ss treatment of the flight. Both Iris and Jin Liwei slept through the entire duration of the flight.

    After about three hours, they finally touched down at a small airport that barely had any buildings. The blue ocean could be seen at a distance. On the other side were mountains and forests.

    Jin Liwei woke up right away with just a single tap from the male flight attendant. Iris, however, was still in deep sleep. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t want to wake her up so soon, so some of the staff disembarked earlier to scope out the surroundings while the others stayed with the newlyweds in the ne until Iris woke up naturally. They were the only jet that was scheduled tond that day so there was no problem of them overstaying at the small airport. Fortunately, Iris woke up half an hourter.

    She was still groggy and wanted to sleep longer but immediately urged everyone to disembark upon realizing that they alreadynded some time ago.

    "You should¡¯ve woken me up," she told Jin Liwei.

    He only smiled at her. "It¡¯s alright, love. Don¡¯t worry about it. It¡¯s our honeymoon. We can do whatever we want."

    She had no energy to argue with him so she only nodded and drowsily followed him down the private jet to the waiting off-road vehicle. They were in the Southern part of the country. Unlike at home, the weather was nice and tropical here. All of them removed their jackets, leaving only the light short-sleeved clothing underneath.

    Only the major roads were paved in this ce. The less travelled paths were made of dirt and sometimes gravel. Therefore, it was quite a bumpy ride.<i></i>

    Jin Liwei frowned and scolded his subordinates who were sitting in the front seats of the vehicle. "None of you checked that the roads would be this bumpy before we made the travel arrangements here?"

    "Apologies, Master."

    Iris patted his arm. "It¡¯s fine, darling. This is nothing."

    He still looked displeased. "Let me know if you¡¯re feeling unwell. We¡¯ll stop."

    She nodded and continued looking out of the window. The view outside was rxing. All around them was nature. They passed by some small towns with rural houses and buildings. This ce had a charm that the modern bustling cities at homecked. If not for Jin Liwei worrying about her inhaling too much dust, she would love to open the windows and let the fresh air inside the vehicle. He was right, though. The huge wheels of their convoy of off-road vehicles were kicking up a storm of dust in the air as they travelled down the dirt roads.

    About fifteen minutester, they entered a gated property where several helicopters were waiting for them. They transferred to the helicopters and flew to their final destination, a small private ind.

    The helicopter that Iris and Jin Liwei were riding touched down first on the wooden helipad connected to a boat dock on the beach. The cool, salty ocean breeze weed them. Iris closed her eyes and took a deep inhale.

    "Wee, Mr. and Mrs. Jin!" the ind¡¯s caretaker greeted them.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s usual cold and indifferent expression was nowhere to be seen as he grinned upon hearing others refer to his wife as Mrs. Jin. Iris was also all smiles as she received a colourful bouquet of flowers and a cool ss of fresh non-alcoholic fruit punch from the staff. Her earlier drowsiness was nowpletely gone, reced by excitement at the thought of enjoying her honeymoon with her husband in this beautiful tropical paradise away from prying eyes.

    "Boss Iris, you¡¯re so much more beautiful in person than on TV," one of the staffmented in awe, revealing her identity as a ck Star. She looked like a teenager.

    The caretaker red at her. The girl realized her mistake and immediately apologized to Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Please excuse my niece¡¯s unprofessional behaviour!" the caretaker also apologized. "She¡¯s still young and hasn¡¯t fully absorbed all her training yet."

    "It¡¯s fine," Iris said, smiling at the girl. She always cared about her loyal fans, the ck Stars. "Don¡¯t scold her too much."

    "Yes, Young Madam! We thank you for your benevolence!"

    "Yes, thank you, Boss Iris!"

    "Call her Young Madam!"

    "Young Madam!"

    Iris couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. Then she patted the teenage girl¡¯s shoulder. "Thank you for your support."

    The teenager looked like she was about to faint from too much happiness and excitement as she nodded repeatedly like a woodpecker.

    "And don¡¯t cause your uncle too much trouble."

    "Yes, Boss Iris¡ªI mean, Young Madam!"

    Jin Liwei wrapped his arm around Iris¡¯ waist. His grin was now gone, reced by a stern expression. "My wife and I expect absolute privacy during our stay here. That means that no news about us, especially about my wife, should be shared to the outside world. Understood?"

    The teenage girl shivered in fright at Jin Liwei¡¯s intimidating gaze.

    "Certainly, sir!" the caretaker assured him. "Please don¡¯t worry. All members of my staff here are very discrete!"

    "Good."

    Iris sighed at her husband frightening her young fan. Despite this, she had no intention of stopping him because they indeed needed absolute privacy.

 Chapter 930 - Feels Different

    <h4>Chapter 930 - Feels Different </h4>

    Iris and Jin Liwei alreadyid out a n on how to officially announce their marriage to the public. Everything had been arranged. For now, however, the two of them wanted to enjoy their honeymoon first without any unnecessary interruption.

    As for her pregnancy, the official announcement would need to wait longer, perhaps when she reached her second or even third trimester. Or maybe, they would only announce it after she had given birth. Even they weren¡¯t sure yet.

    Jin Liwei, the proud husband and father-to-be, wanted to announce everything to the whole world but had to restrain himself because his wife had be easily stressed ever since getting pregnant. Although Iris usually didn¡¯t give a whit about public opinion regarding herself, her pregnancy hormones made her more sensitive to other people¡¯sments about her worthiness as a mother. This was further exacerbated by her remaining fear of bing a mother.

    Before learning about his wife¡¯s real identity in her past life as a member of the infamous Vetrov family, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t fully understand this fear of hers. But after learning how cruel her mother Madam Vetrova was in treating her own children, he could now somehow understand where his wife¡¯s fear of bing a mother stemmed from. Even Niki confirmed that Evelina and their mother never truly got along with each other.

    Just imagining what kind of horrors his wife went through in her past life was enough to make him furious. He vowed to never let her experience that kind of abuse ever again because that was what it was no matter how much his wife and brother-inw tried to gloss it over as training¡ªabuse, in and simple.

    His thoughts were interrupted by the caretaker who started giving them a tour around therge private vi.

    Iris stopped walking and took of her shoes. "I want to walk barefoot and feel the sand under my feet."

    He shook the dark thoughts of her past life from his mind and smiled. "Alright. Me, too."

    Taking her shoes from her, he also took off his own shoes and went barefoot like her. His subordinate who was following behind them came forward to take both of their shoes. <i></i>

    Iris lifted her head and closed her eyes to enjoy the cool breeze. "It¡¯s so beautiful and peaceful here."

    "I¡¯m d you like it here, Young Madam." The caretaker was pleased and became more enthusiastic in giving the newlyweds the tour.

    Afterwards, the caretaker left Iris and Jin Liwei at their opulent master bedroom suite. The decorations were very tropical, evoking a sense of the exotic but also feeling very rxing at the same time.

    There were petals on the floor forming a path to the huge canopied bed. More petals were arranged on top of the bedsheets into two big interlocking hearts. There was also a wee package of fresh fruits, refreshments, flowers, and interesting souvenirs for the two of them on the coffee table with a card addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Jin".

    Iris noticed her husband looking smug after reading the card. "You like it so much that I¡¯m now Mrs. Jin?"

    "I love that you¡¯re now my wife," he corrected.

    She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. "Me, too. I love that you¡¯re now my husband. I thought that since we¡¯ve been living together, things wouldn¡¯t feel so different whether we married or not. But I was wrong. Something seems to change now that we¡¯re officially married to each other. I¡¯m not sure what exactly it is that feels different but I can feel it. Do you?"

    "En. I feel it, too."

    They gazed into each other¡¯s eyes. The sounds of the ocean waves and the rustling of the nts outside reached them through the open windows.

    "Let¡¯s take a walk on the beach," she suggested.

    "Alright, love."

    While Iris was freshening up in the ensuite bathroom, Jin Liwei checked the entire bedroom suite. This was a habit he was trying to instill to himself after noticing his brother-inw doing it every time Niki entered a new environment.

    "Ketchup, are you here?"

    The TV flickered on and showed a smiling white cat. "The cute and mighty Ketchup is in the house, Daddy! Meow~"

    A secondter, a smoky shadow materialized beside Ketchup and formed into a ck cat. "Bacon is here too, Father."

    Jin Liwei smiled. "Good. You don¡¯t have work today?"

    "Uncle Zihao gave Bacon a day off so that I can help Big Sister Ketchup and our security team to secure the entire private ind."

    Jin Liwei gave a sound of approval. "You already know our family¡¯s security protocol. I¡¯ll leave it to you two. I want your mom to bepletely stress-free during our entire honeymoon."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Have fun with Mommy! Meow~"

    "Please take care of Mother, Father. She needs a lot of rest after all the wedding preparations."

    "Of course, I¡¯ll always take care of your mom. There¡¯s no need to remind me."

    After talking to their cat AI children, Iris and Jin Liwei walked hand in hand on the beach and watched the sunset together while having dinner outside. There were some dishes that didn¡¯t agree with Iris, but overall, they had a nice romantic meal to mark the first day of their honeymoon.

    Back to their bedroom, Jin Liwei propped himself on the bed. He was reading the area¡¯s tourist booklet while waiting for his wife to finish soaking in the bath. He already finished showering and was n.a.k.e.d underneath his bathrobe. His hair was still damp. Originally, he wanted to shower together with his wife but she declined and insisted that they wash separately.

    He wanted to make love with her so badly that it literally hurt to wait any longer. It had been too long since he had her.

    Despite his own raging desire, he still restrained himself. What was another hour or two when he already abstained for weeks before this? In addition, his main priority for this honeymoon trip was to pamper his wife and make her rx to the brim so that she would be fully refreshed when they returned home.

 Chapter 931 - Delicious As Always

    <h4>Chapter 931 - Delicious As Always </h4>

    The bathroom door opened and an enticing floral scent wafted out. The caretaker made sure to stock the entire vi with Orchidia Beauty products in advance as per Jin Liwei¡¯s instructions.

    Jin Liwei immediately became alert and tossed the tourist booklet on the bedside table. He turned his head to the bathroom¡¯s direction and waited for his wife. Great anticipation made his heart beat faster and louder like an erratic earthquake inside his chest. His breaths also became quick and shallow. He was already half-hard and his wife hadn¡¯t even appeared yet.

    And when she did, he became rock-hard in an instant. Just one look at her and all other thoughts flew out of his mind. All he could think about was her. [<i>This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you! Also follow me on Instagram @arriacross]</i>

    She was also wearing a bathrobe. Her smooth neck and alluring corbones made his eyes darken with pure desire. His eyes roved her entire body from head to toe and back up again. He couldn¡¯t wait to undress her and feast on his wife. She already blow-dried her long hair¡ªone of the reasons why she took so long in the bathroom.

    "Did you wait long?" she asked in a soft, almost innocent voice but there was a seductive glint in her eyes.

    He growled, his eyes bing fierce and predatory. His instincts urged him to lunge at her and devour her right this second but he restrained himself. It was a struggle, a torture, but it also increased the anticipation and thrill of what was about toe. He swallowed several times, trying to moisten his dry mouth and throat.

    Although he wanted to get up and grab her, he forced himself to stay on the bed and wait for her toe to him instead. His body looked rxed but he couldn¡¯t conceal the ravenous hunger in his eyes.

    Iris walked slowly, taking the time to feast her eyes on her husband¡¯s body. Although she had seen much more impressive and fitter male bodies than her husband¡¯s in her two lives, his was the only one that she had ever felt s.e.x.u.a.lly attracted to.

    It also didn¡¯t escape her notice that he had begun working out harder and more often to improve his physique. Despite not telling her the exact reason why, she knew that something was triggered inside him after learning about her true identity in her past life. He wanted to improve himself physically and in all other aspects in order to better protect her, their children and their entire family.

    She stopped just before reaching the bed. She wanted to take a few more moments to enjoy watching him. The desire to make love with him burned strongly in her core but even stronger than that was her love and gratitude for him. Marrying him had made her feel moreplete, something she never imagined before.

    He reached out his hand. "Come here, wife."

    Slowly, she resumed walking until she reached him. As soon as she ced her hand on top of his palm, he pulled her until she fell all over him on the bed. Everything happened quickly. Before she knew it, he was already pressing her down the bed and raining kisses on her face.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to catch his lips but he was too busy kissing her entire face except for her hungry mouth. Feeling a little frustrated, she released a tiny growl and red at him. He chuckled before finally diving down to kiss her on the lips.

    Even though both of them were burning with intense desire, the kiss was slow and gentle. They had all the time in the world during their honeymoon. There was a tacit understanding between them to enjoy themselves and savour the moments slowly and thoroughly instead of letting their primal instincts to release their desires as quickly as possible.

    While kissing, Jin Liwei¡¯s hands were untying Iris¡¯ bathrobe. The fluffy cloth opened up, revealing her smooth and silky skin underneath, still warm from her hot bath. He ran his hand over her t stomach, teasing and arousing her until she was panting. His hand moved upwards and cupped one of her b.r.e.a.s.ts, squeezing it gently, taking care not to hurt her because her b.r.e.a.s.ts were still sore and tender.

    "Liwei," she m.o.a.ned and arched under him.

    Her hands also began working on his bathrobe. Unlike him, her hands were a little clumsy and failed to untie his bathrobe in one go. He chuckled before assisting her. With just one tug, he untied his own bathrobe, letting it fall open to reveal his n.a.k.e.d chest.

    She ran her hands all over his chest and abs up to his shoulders and pushed away his bathrobe off his body. Then she pulled him down, begging him with her actions to kiss her more deeply. Heplied, of course.

    Their nude chests pressed against each other, making both of them groan. Her legs became restless and she began tangling it with his legs, also teasing and arousing him even more.

    He lowered himself until his erection pressed against her thigh. She gasped and felt herself burn hotter and wetter for him.

    "Please, Liwei."

    "We¡¯ll take it slow tonight."

    She whined but he wouldn¡¯t relent. He was the one in control of their pace.

    His lips moved from her mouth to her chin, then to her neck. He licked her skin, causing her to tremble and crave him even more. Then finally, he closed his mouth around her erect n.i.p.p.l.e. She closed her eyes and released a deep m.o.a.n.

    He sucked ever so gently, watching her reaction through half-lidded eyes. If she looked like she was in pain, he would stop immediately. Fortunately, she seemed to like what he was doing so he continued to pleasure her b.r.e.a.s.ts with his gentle mouth and hands.

    "Delicious as always," he murmured in a husky voice.

    "Pervert."

    He chuckled before giving a long lick to her full b.r.e.a.s.t. "Only for you."

    "You better be," she muttered.

    "Of course. I¡¯ve been a celibate monk my entire life before I met you. Now I¡¯m filled with love and desire for my one and only woman."

 Chapter 932 - Torturous Night

    <h4>Chapter 932 - Torturous Night </h4>

    Iris smiled at her husband¡¯s words. She believed him when he said that he had never been with other women before her. Just based on what she heard from other people describing his bachelor life before the two of them met, she learned that there were many who thought that he was gay including his family members.

    Three decades of v.i.r.g.i.nity was quite impressive for a man of Jin Liwei¡¯s appearance, wealth and status. Now that he had tasted the joys of s.e.x with her, he became insatiable. She knew that if possible, he would do it with her every day. Despite his awakened high libido, however, Iris appreciated his thoughtfulness and caring nature towards her. He would restrain his desire if needed and also be gentle to amodate her.

    She ran her fingers through his damp hair and pulled his head up for a deep, slow kiss. Their tongues intertwined, exploring each other¡¯s hot mouths. She m.o.a.ned, feeling as if she was floating high up in sensual bliss, or maybe it was sinking in a burning ocean of thrilling sensations. Or maybe both.

    He broke the kiss to move downwards once again. His full attention returned to her b.r.e.a.s.ts which he always loved to pleasure and y with. They were his favourites. Her b.r.e.a.s.ts felt swollen and full, more sensitive to every touch. She released a soft yelp when he gently bit a n.i.p.p.l.e.

    "Too painful?" he asked, his voice low and husky.

    She panted before shaking her head. "It¡¯s okay."

    "Good."

    He continued pleasuring her b.r.e.a.s.ts with his mouth and hands, making sure that he was as gentle as possible. She closed her eyes and let him do all the work while shey down on the bed enjoying all the pleasure that he was giving her.

    The pleasure built up slowly, like gentle wavesving against her entire body. Soft m.o.a.ns escaped from her slightly open mouth as a delicious heaviness began to press down on her.

    He took her time pleasuring her b.r.e.a.s.ts, not touching her anywhere else, and wanting to make her climax in this simple way. This was just the appetizer. Although he couldn¡¯t wait for the main course, he wanted to prioritize her pleasure tonight since this was the first time that they were making love since his ident a few weeks ago.

    Her m.o.a.ns became more desperate and her fingers tightened on his hair. He knew that she was close to the peak. Despite this, he continued to patiently torture her with his slow and gentle ministrations, fondling, licking and sucking her b.r.e.a.s.ts.

    "Oh, Liwei," she whimpered.

    She began to tremble as if a gentle earthquake was urring deep within her body. Jin Liwei m.o.a.ned, feelingpletely aroused as he watched his wife climaxing from his tender loving. He didn¡¯t stop his wet kisses, however, and instead continued to bring her higher pleasure through her b.r.e.a.s.ts.

    When she was done riding her climax, shey weakly on the bed with her eyes not opening even once. A contented sigh escaped from her luscious lips.

    Jin Liwei gave each of her n.i.p.p.l.es ast nibble before moving downwards, leaving a trail of wet kisses on her t and silky-smooth abdomen. He opened her legs wide and positioned his body in the middle while running both his hands on her soft inner thighs. He could already smell her arousal, causing his hot, pulsing rod to harden even more.

    His tongue swirled on her belly button before moving his head even lower. Finally, he came face to face with her wet core. He spread it open with his fingers and rubbed it, instantly soaking both his hands. His eyes darkened as he took a deep inhale before pressing his mouth against his wife¡¯s glistening opening. A deep groan vibrated in his throat as he savoured his woman¡¯s taste.

    He continued pleasuring her before noticing that something was amiss. She was too still and too quiet. Where were her s.e.xy m.o.a.ns? Her restless movements? There was no reaction from her. Did his skills worsen during their abstinence?

    Frowning, he raised his head and peered at her.<i></i>

    "Love?"

    No answer.

    "Baby, are you awake?"

    Still no answer.

    His eyes widened in disbelief upon realizing the current situation. The deep and regr rise and fall of her chest indicated that she was fast asleep.

    He touched his forehead and began chuckling. There was amus.e.m.e.nt but also pain in his lightughter. Then he looked down at his painful erection and sighed deeply.

    What to do?

    Should he pleasure himself?

    He quickly rejected the idea. He wanted his first orgasm after several weeks of abstinence to be while deep inside his wife.

    Sighing, he crawled up the bed and gave his wife a soft, lingering peck on the lips. Then he caressed her face and watched her beautiful, sleeping face.

    Was he disappointed that he wasn¡¯t able to fully make love with his wife tonight?

    Not really.

    It was a fact that his wife needed a lot of sleep during this time. Her body was expending a lot of energy to grow not one but two human beings inside of her after all. Besides, she didn¡¯t get pregnant by herself. He was also responsible for her pregnancy.

    "I¡¯ll let you off today," he murmured as he continued to caress her peaceful sleeping face. "But tomorrow, I need you. I won¡¯t let you escape then."

    Iris didn¡¯t reply.

    He chuckled again before giving her lips another quick peck. Then he tucked her under the nket, climbed off the bed, and headed straight to the bathroom.

    Although he was determined not to touch himself tonight, it was too dangerous to lie down beside his s.e.xy wife while he was still rock-hard. It was best to let his burning desire subside naturally under a cold shower first.

    He gritted his teeth while enduring the almost freezing-cold water raining down on him. This was only for tonight.

    "Our honeymoon just started. I¡¯ll make sure to thoroughly collect interest for the times we didn¡¯t make love in the following days," he vowed.

    It was a long and torturous night for Jin Liwei.

 Chapter 933 - Sweet Torture

    <h4>Chapter 933 - Sweet Torture </h4>

    Early the next morning, the newlyweds were awakened by another terrible bout of morning sickness on Iris. Jin Liwei patientlyforted her while she suffered in the bathroom. He mentally scolded their twin babies for making their mother suffer so much.

    Iris felt sick the entire morning. She could barely eat without vomiting everything, causing Jin Liwei to grow increasingly worried. Most women gained weight while pregnant but his wife was losing weight instead. If not for her private doctor¡¯s repeated assurances that his wife was fine and still in the healthy range, he would¡¯ve already cancelled their entire honeymoon trip and flew Iris to the best hospital in the world right this second.

    Fortunately, Iris began to feel better in the afternoon. The private vi¡¯s chef made a few specialty dishes for lunch following recipes from his hometown. The dishes were supposed to be good for women who were having difficult pregnancies. And indeed, Iris was able to keep all the food down this time. Her appetite returned and she ate until she was full.

    Jin Liwei felt relieved and immediately offered the chef permanent employment. The chef agreed to return with them to Dragon Pce Home #10 after the couple¡¯s honeymoon. Although Iris and Jin Liwei already had a dedicated chef at home, the new chef had apletely different style. It was good to have more chefs with different specialties because they would have more food options to choose from.

    Since Jin Liwei still felt worried about his wife, he cancelled their original n of touring the private ind today. Instead, he and Iris decided to stay at the vi and have a rxing spa day for the entire afternoon.

    Although the couple didn¡¯t make love yet, there was no dissatisfaction between them. On the contrary, they enjoyed this precious time together of just chatting with each other.

    Thest part of their spa day was a nice soak in the hot tub filled with aromatic flower petals and some rejuvenating herbs. One wall was open to the warm tropical weather outside madefortable by the cool ocean breeze. The couple cuddled as they enjoyed their private view of the beach and the beautiful garden outside.

    Iris rested her head on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder and looked up at his face. "Are you enjoying our honeymoon so far?"

    "En."

    "Really?"

    He also looked at her. "Of course."

    She studied his expression, trying to determine if he was telling the truth or if he was just saying that to make her feel better.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked, finally noticing that there was more to her question.

    She didn¡¯t answer right away. He started to feel nervous. <i></i>

    "I fell asleepst night while you were pleasuring me," she whispered, sighing.

    "Ah. Don¡¯t worry about it, love. You were tired from our travel."

    "Then we had to cancel our original ns for today because I felt sick the entire morning. I¡¯m being such badpany during our honeymoon."

    He gathered her in his arms and forced her to look at him straight in the eyes. "Listen to me, baby."

    She looked at him, pouting a little.

    He sighed upon seeing her guilty expression. "I meant what I said. Don¡¯t worry about it. Believe me. Remember that you¡¯re pregnant. These setbacks arepletely normal and understandable. We have lots of time during our honeymoon. It¡¯s fine if we have to change our nned schedule and do something else."

    "But it¡¯s unfair that you¡¯re always amodating me. I want you to enjoy our honeymoon, too."

    "I am enjoying myself."

    It was obvious from her expression that she didn¡¯t quite believe him.

    He sighed once again. "Trust me, love. I always find it enjoyable just being with you."

    Feeling his sincerity, she couldn¡¯t help but smile and believe in his words. She still felt a little guilty, though.

    "I¡¯ll make it up to you, I promise," she told him.

    He smiled and nodded.

    Then she leaned forward and whispered directly to his ear in a seductive voice, "Husband."

    "Hm?"

    "I have a surprise for you tonight."

    He raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What is it?"

    "I can¡¯t tell you. It¡¯s a secret. You¡¯ll just have to wait until tonight." She gave him a mysterious smile. "Are you excited?"

    Instead of answering her, he pulled her hand and pressed it directly on his erection under the water. Her hand immediately wrapped around him and started stroking him slowly. He groaned.

    "Yes, you¡¯re excited alright," she said, her voice filled with amus.e.m.e.nt.

    "Seductress," he hissed.

    She chuckled and continuing stroking him while raining kisses all over his chin and neck. He closed his eyes and m.o.a.ned. His jaw tightened as he started breathing hard.

    He opened his eyes and the look he gave her was sizzling hot, causing her to shiver in delight.

    "Tighter, baby. Faster."

    "Nope."

    He gritted his teeth. "Baby...."

    She licked his tight jaw, teasing him. "You went slow and gentle with mest night so that¡¯s what you¡¯re getting right now."

    He groaned, looking as if he was being tortured. And perhaps that was what she was doing to him¡ªtorturing him. But it was the sweetest torture that he would love to endure and savour all the time.

    Unable to stop his primal urges, he started thrusting against her hand under the water. However, she was true to her word. She continued her slow strokes despite the restless thrusting of his h.i.p.s. Growling, he pulled her head and began kissing her with raw hunger.

    She m.o.a.ned at his savage kiss, allowing him to devour her mouth like a barbarian. He was punishing her with his kiss but she became gleeful instead of remorseful and continued her hand¡¯s sweet and slow torture around his hot and hard rod.

    Perhaps it was because of his long abstinence prior to their wedding, he didn¡¯tst long this time. Just a couple of minutes and he was already pumping his release into her hand under the water.

    When he was done, it felt like all the tension in his body melted away. He felt so rxed for the first time in a long while since his ident.

 Chapter 934 - Exotic Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 934 - Exotic Surprise </h4>

    Jin Liwei kissed his wife tenderly this time, looking like a satisfied lion who just finished a big meal after a long time of hunger. He caressed her cheek and rubbed her slightly swollen lips with his thumb.

    "I wanted toe inside you for my first orgasm after weeks of abstinence," he told her, his voice low and husky.

    "You cane inside me tonight," Iris replied in a whisper.

    He growled and felt himself harden again. Since her hand was still holding his length under the water, she felt the change. She smiled and mercilessly released him before standing up and climbing out of the hot tub.

    "Where are you going?" he asked, unwilling to let her go. He was hoping for a second round in the hot tub.

    She nced back at him while donning a bathrobe. "The doctor said that I can¡¯t soak in the hot tub for too long."

    His aroused expression immediately turned serious. He started to climb out of the hot tub as well.

    Her eyes flicked downwards and saw that he was fully erect once again. Hiding a smile, she looked away from him and started patting her hair dry with a towel.

    Although Jin Liwei was craving for more s.e.xy time, his worry for his pregnant wife¡¯s health overcame his obvious arousal. He behaved himself and put on a bathrobe as well to cover himself in an attempt to reduce his desire to seduce his wife.

    Later, just before sunset, the couple ate a romantic candlelit dinner. Iris was able to eat all the dishes prepared by the private vi¡¯s chef, greatly pleasing Jin Liwei. As a result of her increased appetite, she became much more energetic.

    After dinner, Iris instructed Jin Liwei to spend some time by himself because she needed to finish the preparations for her surprise for him. She was acting very mysterious in front of him. He already had an idea of what her surprise for him might be but still kept an open mind just in case that he was wrong. Nevertheless, his anticipation was at an all-time high.

    He didn¡¯t give his wife any trouble and immediately agreed to leave the vi for as long as she needed him to be away toplete her preparations. In the end, he held an informal meeting with his security team and his AI daughter Ketchup (Bacon already returned to work at Shadow Winds) to ask for updates about the security situation in the private ind.

    So far, everything was going smoothly. There were a couple of attempts to share information about the newlyweds¡¯ presence in the private ind by a couple of cleaners but Ketchup managed to block them in time and instantly alert the security team.

    The private ind¡¯s caretaker immediately fired the cleaners but not before being contacted and warned by Jin Liwei¡¯swyer, Atty. Kang Huizhong, of legal consequences if they still decided to divulge the information about the newlyweds¡¯ honeymoon getaway to the public. This incident frightened the rest of the ind¡¯s staff, causing them to be even more discrete.

    After giving additional instructions to Ketchup and his security team, Jin Liwei decided to walk on the beach. It was already evening but there weremps spread throughout the private ind so the ce wouldn¡¯t be left inplete darkness. In addition, the distance from the bright city lights allowed the moon and the stars to showcase all their natural beauty and splendour.

    Jin Liwie nced at his watch. More than an hour already passed since his wife told him to leave the vi. His anticipation increased, making him grin like an idiot as he continued walking by the beach.

    Finally, his phone rang. It was Ketchup. <i></i>

    "Mommy wants the cute and mighty Ketchup to tell Daddy to return to the vi. Meow~"

    "Alright. Thanks, Ketchup."

    "You¡¯re wee, Daddy! Love ya~ Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei immediately returned to the vi and headed straight to the master bedroom. He didn¡¯t see anyone on the way back. He didn¡¯t care, too excited to see what his wife had in store for him.

    When he arrived at the bedroom, the first thing he noticed was the exotic tribal music ying softly in the background. His wife was nowhere in sight. He took a few moments to observe the surroundings.

    Candles burned at the corners of the room. There were vibrant silk dr.a.p.es hanging artfully from the ceilings and walls, including their canopy bed. Red rose petals were scattered all over the room.

    Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t sure if it was the decorations, atmosphere, or the anticipation of what was about toe but he found himself already raging hard.

    "Love? Where are you?"

    No answer.

    The exotic tribal music gradually increased in volume. His spine straightened and he turned around upon sensing someone behind him.

    What he saw made him swallow hard.

    Iris glided out of the bathroom in full belly dance outfit, her body moving to the beat of the music. Intense eye makeup and a winged eyeliner made her gaze extra bewitching and seductive. The candle lights reflected on her bejeweled bra top, drawing Jin Liwei¡¯s attention to her full b.r.e.a.s.ts and deep cleavage.

    Her narrow waist waspletely exposed and was twisting in time with the music like a slithering serpent. A beaded belt attached to her skirt shimmied alluringly every time she shook her h.i.p.s. Her flowing vibrant-red skirt rode low around her h.i.p.s with thigh-high slits on both sides. Her shapely, smooth legs peeked out of the slits with her every movements.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth and throat became dry in an instant as he imagined those legs wrapping around his waist as he thrust himself again and again inside his wife. He stepped forward towards her but she raised her hand to stop him and shook her head. Without speaking, she gestured for him to sit on the special armchair that she prepared for him.

    He hesitated for a couple of seconds. His instincts were screaming at him to grab his wife, throw her on the bed, and bury himself inside of her as soon as possible.

 Chapter 935 - Goddess Of Sensuality

    <h4>Chapter 935 - Goddess Of Sensuality </h4>

    It took Jin Liwei an enormous amount of self-control and willpower to restrain his primal instincts to carry off his wife like a caveman. He took a few deep breaths. When he managed to calm himself a little, he finally took a seat on the special armchair that his wife prepared for him. The upholstery was velvet-soft and felt like feathers on his skin. His eyes darkened at the teasing sensation.

    He leaned back and spread his legs wide, looking like a king sitting on his throne. His eyes never left his beautiful and seductive wife dancing slowly in front of him.

    A few weeks ago when the two of them had an argument and he already started suspecting that his wife might be pregnant, she kicked him out of their bedroom. In the end, she apologized and tried to sweet-talk him into sleeping with her on the bed that night. Capitalizing on her guilt, he requested two things from her.

    The first one was to call him husband. She immediately fulfilled his first request without any problem. <i></i>

    As for the second one, he shamelessly requested for a striptease and ap dance. She hesitated at first but still ended up promising to do it on their honeymoon. He had been looking forward to it ever since then. He knew that she had been practicing during her free time. She never told him what she was up to but he already had an idea and was just pretending not to notice anything.

    Looking at her exotic s.e.xy belly dance outfit in front of him, he was quite surprised by her interpretation of his request. He thought that she would be giving him amon striptease andp dance. Belly dance waspletely out of his expectations.

    Don¡¯t get him wrong. He wasn¡¯tining. On the contrary, he was ecstatic at his wife¡¯s original take on his request. This was more exciting and thrilling than his initial expectations. It also felt more tasteful than amon striptease andp dance.

    Iris made an elegant bow and hooked the hems of her flowy skirt on her fingers. The music changed and became more vigorous, focusing more on tribal drum beats.

    She lifted her arms up in the air, lifting the hem of her skirt, and making her look like she had wings. Her chest started circling in short bursts to the beat of the drum while at the same time her h.i.p.s were twisting from side to side. Her arms were also swaying and causing her skirt to move in beautiful arcs in the air.

    Iris had excellent muscle istion. Different parts of her body were moving in different ways all at the same time, creating the illusion that she didn¡¯t have bones. Her serpentine dance was not only bewitching but was also extremely precise to every beat of the exotic tribal music.

    Her belly dance skills might not be up to par to professional top belly dancers but her natural flexibility and control of her own body plus her superior music sense would give average belly dancers a run for their money.

    Jin Liwei found himself having trouble breathing properly. His mouth and throat feltpletely dry. He could also feel his heart thundering inside his chest. And most noticeably, his groin was painfully hard, feeling as if his erection was going to burst out of his pants.

    Unable to bear it any longer, he stood up and stalked towards her. However, she immediately raised both of her hands and gestured for him to return to his seat. He growled, his fierce expression showing her his hunger for her.

    Unfortunately for him, his wife was merciless tonight. She gave him a fiercer yet still seductive re. With a frustrated grit of his teeth, he returned to his seat. He had to hold the arms of his chair tightly to stop himself from grabbing his wife and having his wicked way with her.

    She twirled slowly, like an ethereal goddess of sensuality, until she arrived in front of him. Then she ran her feather-light fingertips on his face and leaned forward to whisper directly to his ear in a low, seductive voice.

    "Control yourself, husband. You promised to let me finish my entire dance. Don¡¯t forget."

    He grunted and tightened his hold on the chair¡¯s arms until his hands turned white. She smirked and turned around to show him her back, finally letting go of her skirt¡¯s hem. The cloth fluttered down and hugged her shapely legs.

    Her body continued its serpentine dance as she reached behind her to unsp her bejeweled bra. She slowly took off her top and twirled it in her hand before tossing it behind her.

    Jin Liwei caught it and pressed it on his nose, inhaling his wife¡¯s scent, and increasing the intensity of his arousal.

    "Turn around, wife. I want to see you."

    His voice was rough and sounded desperate like that of a crazy man. And indeed, what his wife was doing to him right now was driving him crazy. He could barely think properly. It felt like he was transforming into a beast who only followed his instincts.

    Iris shimmied her h.i.p.s while slowly turning around. However, she was covering her b.r.e.a.s.ts with an arm. Then she lifted one foot and ced it on the chair beside his leg.

    He immediately ran his hand all over her leg¡¯s smooth skin and attempted to pull her closer but she pushed him back and shook a finger at him.

    "Not yet."

    "Wife!"

    "Patience, my dear husband. You asked for this and I¡¯m going to give it you but only if you¡¯re good and obedient."

    He growled but still obediently behaved. He was now panting. His previously dry mouth was now salivating upon seeing his wife¡¯s s.e.xy body up close.

    Finally, she removed her arm from her chest, revealing her full b.r.e.a.s.ts to him. He reached out with both hands and cupped each b.r.e.a.s.t, massaging them gently and flicking his thumbs over her erect n.i.p.p.l.es.

    She leaned forward and pushed her chest in front of his face. He immediately caught a n.i.p.p.l.e and sucked.

 Chapter 936 - In Tandem

    <h4>Chapter 936 - In Tandem </h4>

    Iris gasped and closed her eyes as Jin Liwei began loving her b.r.e.a.s.ts gently with his mouth and hands. She enjoyed his pleasurable actions for about a minute before stopping him and pushing his head away. Then she kissed him on the mouth next, nning on teasing him at first, but soon found herself helpless due to his ravenous desire.

    He quickly took control of the kiss, devouring her mouth hard and deep. The kiss felt almost brutal, yet she melted into him and responded with the same intensity. He wasn¡¯t the only one who abstained for weeks after all. She also missed making love with him as much as he did especially now that her pregnancy had increased her libido.

    When he began tugging at the waistband of her skirt, she regained her senses and stopped him before he could undress her. She was determined to follow her original n tonight and not allow herself to be swept up by his pace.

    He growled in frustration. "Evelina!"

    Her chuckle sounded a little weak but the determination in her eyes was clear. Without saying a word, she reached down between them and started undoing his pants.

    He immediately cooperated with her but got his overexcited hands pped instead when he attempted to release his own erection by himself. Sighing, he forced himself to sit back and allow his wife to do all the work. It was a struggle to stay still but the thrill made up for it and helped curbed his impatience and frustration.

    Finally, she was able to free his erection. It twitched and seemed to burn in her palm as she began stroking him slowly while kissing him. He m.o.a.ned and panted hard. His hands were fondling her everywhere, his movements desperate. She reveled in his hunger for her, making her feel powerful and desirable.

    Although she wanted him to sink inside her as soon as possible, her determination to follow her original n for tonight allowed her to control herself. She pushed away from him with great reluctance, once again earning another fierce snarl from him. He was looking more and more like a beast than a human being. And that thrilled her.

    She stepped back a few feet and started belly dancing again to the beat of the exotic tribal music. With her top gone, her b.r.e.a.s.ts jiggled with her every movement, once again causing Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth and throat to be dry. <i></i>

    "Touch yourself, husband," she urged him. "Touch yourself while you watch me strip in front of you. I¡¯ll fulfill your wish tonight. But you need to behave or I¡¯ll stop."

    Jin Liwei honestly thought that he was going to lose his mind. There were times that his wife acted very innocent to the ways of the world, especially when it came to carnal activities. Then there were also times like this that she would be the incarnate of pure seduction. Although he was the one who requested this, he feltpletely defenceless from her powerful seductiveness.

    "Are you going to touch yourself or not?"

    He gritted his teeth hard and fisted his erection. Following her urging, he began to pleasure himself while watching his s.e.xy wife belly dancing right in front of him. His eyes never left her for even a second. If possible, he wouldn¡¯t even blink. Such was the power she held over him.

    "Wife, I don¡¯t want toe in my hand."

    She smirked. "Well, husband. You need tost longer then until I¡¯m done dancing and return to you."

    "Hurry, love. Don¡¯t torture me for too long." He was now reduced to begging.

    She didn¡¯t answer, continuing to shake her h.i.p.s and move her body like a serpent in time with the music. First, she removed the beaded belt from her h.i.p.s and yed with it while dancing before tossing it to her husband. Next, she slowly undid her skirt, making sure that her movements were excruciatingly slow.

    Jin Liwei had to stop stroking himself for a few moments because if he didn¡¯t, he would orgasm right there and then. He panted hard, almost gasping like a dying man. Sweat beaded on his skin, already soaking his now rumpled shirt.

    Iris turned around and let her skirt fall to the floor, baring the back view of her nude hourss body to her husband. She didn¡¯t stop dancing, so intent was she to carry out her n for tonight until the end. This was her husband¡¯s request that she knew he had been looking forward to very much. She wanted to make this a memorable night for him, even though he might be feeling extremely frustrated right now because it seemed like she was torturing him.

    Slowly, she twirled and gave him a full frontal view of her nude body. He released a loud groan, sounding like an animal. His hand was pumping his hard length fast as his eyes roved her entire body like a predatory beast.

    Without any fear, she danced back to him and straddled him. Her body continued to move to the beat of the music as she gave him his requestedp dance in belly dance-style. Then she started to undress him, removing his soaked shirt first before urging him to remove his boxers and pants in one go.

    Finally, the two of them werepletely n.a.k.e.d. She took over in pleasuring his hard burning length with her hands as he kissed her hungrily and started rubbing her hot, wet core.

    She m.o.a.ned, opening her legs wide to give his hand more ess. His long finger entered her, making her gasp. Her h.i.p.s started gyrating and riding his hand as he inserted another finger inside her. Despite the intense pleasure, she still remained mindful and continued dancing in time with the music.

    He soon adjusted the rhythm of his hand to the beat of the music as well. They moved in tandem with each other in a carnal dance that only the two of them could perfect together. They could feel the other¡¯s pleasure as if it was their own. They knew when the other was about to climax.

 Chapter 937 - Slow Down

    <h4>Chapter 937 - Slow Down </h4>

    Just before they could reach the peak of their mutual pleasure, Iris put a stop to their hot forey all of a sudden. As expected, this resulted in a strong, frustrated protest from her husband.

    She gave his moist lips a quick peck to reassure him before starting a wet trail of hot kisses down his body from his mouth to his chiselled jaw, neck, shoulders, chest and abs. Then she shifted from her straddling position on hisp and lowered her body to kneel on the floor in front of him. Good thing that she prepared a thick carpet to protect her knees from the hard floor.

    Jin Liwei stopped protesting and settled back on his seat as he focused on watching his wife through his dark, heavy-lidded eyes. Anticipation flooded him. He already had an idea of what she was going to do next.

    He closed his eyes and groaned when her hot and wet mouth closed over his aching, hard length. She swirled her tongue on his tip before sucking him while her hands squeezed the base of his erection. Then her head began bobbing up and down hisp and he felt like he was in heaven.

    His hand grabbed a fistful of her hair. For a few seconds, he looked like he was going to get rough but his hand loosened and began massaging her head instead while she pleasured him with her mouth and hands. A sliver of sanity still remained in him, reminding him to be gentle with his wife because she was currently pregnant.

    Fortunately, he was able tost longer this time unlike the two minutes in the hot tub earlier. His entire body stiffened and quaked as he released his pleasure inside her mouth. She swallowed everything like a champ, milking him dry and sucking him clean.

    "Amazing, Evelina," he breathed in satisfaction after he finished climaxing.

    "How will you rate my performance?"

    "Two hundred and fifty out of one hundred. You¡¯re the best, wife. I couldn¡¯t ask for more."

    She chuckled and climbed back on hisp. Lowering her head, she began kissing him. He could taste himself inside her mouth but he didn¡¯t give a damn. The feel of her soft and s.e.xy body rubbing against him made him quickly harden once again.

    Straddling him, she grabbed his hard length and rubbed it on her aching wet entrance. She m.o.a.ned and arched her back. He licked her b.r.e.a.s.ts and sucked on a n.i.p.p.l.e. Then slowly but surely, she sank down, whimpering when he finally filled her to the brim.

    "Hah. F.u.c.k, baby."

    Jin Liwei almost rolled his eyes to the back of his head because of the intensity of the pleasure he was feeling right now. This was the first time that he entered her without the protection of a condom. He could feel her wet and warm insides squeezing his length like a tight glove. Good thing that he managed to control himself in time before he could climax in that very instant.

    It wasn¡¯t only him that was going crazy at the first time of making love without a condom. Iris¡¯ desire intensified several-fold at the knowledge that there was no barrier between them.

    She held on to his shoulders and began bouncing her h.i.p.s on hisp. Her loud m.o.a.ns fueled Jin Liwei¡¯s desire, causing him to harden even more inside of her. He grabbed her h.i.p.s and tried to take over her wild rhythm.

    "Slow down, love."

    She was too far gone to listen to him. Her h.i.p.s sped up instead of slowing down. <i></i>

    "Baby, we need to be gentle!"

    His fingers dug in her h.i.p.s, forcing her to slow down. She made a whining sound but he tightened his hold on her until he got her under control. Frustrated, she bit his shoulder. He only grunted in response and took over their rhythm.

    His hands guided her h.i.p.s in a firm and steady rhythm. Although he also wanted a wild and fast ride like her, there was no way that he was going to risk his pregnant wife¡¯s safety while making love. Therefore, he needed all his self-control in order for their lovemaking to remain safe but also satisfying to both of them at the same time.

    Fortunately, his wife became drunk in pleasure quickly and stopped whining about their controlled rhythm. He could feel her juices flowing down between them, magnifying the lewd, wet sounds from the friction of their bodies.

    Just like how he climaxed quickly in the hot tub earlier, she also reached her peak in about two minutes. She cried out and trembled in his arms while her wet core contracted, squeezing him tightly inside of her. It was a miracle that he managed to stop himself from orgasming together with her.

    When she was done, he kissed her sweaty forehead and lifted her up before walking to their bed. He bent her pliable body over the mattress and lifted her butt before entering her from behind in one smooth thrust.

    Both of them m.o.a.ned.

    Grabbing her h.i.p.s, he began thrusting his h.i.p.s. The loud ps of their flesh somehow harmonized with the exotic tribal music that was still ying in the background.

    She lifted one of her legs and rested it on the bed. This new position allowed him to enter her even more deeply. Pleasure began to build inside her once again.

    He bent over her back, pressing his hands on the mattress on either side of her body to support himself, while his h.i.p.s continued thrusting into her from behind.

    Twisting her upper body, she grabbed his head and pulled him for a desperate kiss. Their tongues intertwined with each other until the pleasure intensified and they had to focus on gasping for breaths.

    "Liwei, harder. Please!"

    Jin Liwei tightened his jaw and sped up his h.i.p.s while still making sure that he wasn¡¯t going too rough on her.

    This was his limit. Any faster or harder and he would definitely lose his mind and start pounding into her without any care in the world.

    Iris cried out as she climaxed once again.

 Chapter 938 - Enjoy The Ride

    <h4>Chapter 938 - Enjoy The Ride </h4>

    Jin Liwei paused the thrusting of his h.i.p.s to allow his wife to ride another powerful wave of orgasm. Her entire body quaked. He could feel all the contractions inside her body, causing him immense pleasure as well. Despite this, he did his utmost best to control himself and not climax with her yet.

    Iris clutched at the bed sheets, crumpling them in her tight grip. She felt her husband running his warm hands all over her sweaty, trembling back, soothing her as she continued crying out her release. The pillows pressing against her mouth weren¡¯t enough topletely muffle out her voice.

    When she was finished, he pulled out of her and turned her over so that she was lying on her back. Then he pulled her until her butt was almost on the edge of the bed. He lifted both her legs and ced them over his shoulders at the same time that he once again plunged inside her.

    Although she just climaxed, she couldn¡¯t help but cry out when he re-entered her. Her insides were slick and felt extremely sensitive at the moment. She already felt exhausted but her high libido craved for more pleasure. She wanted more of her husband¡¯s lovemaking regardless of her quickly depleting energy level.

    "Liwei, please," she begged, unsure for what exactly.

    He made his own conclusion about her request by leaning forward and folding her in half to give her a hot open-mouthed kiss. His tongue dominated the insides of her mouth. The hungry, brutal kiss was a great contrast to the firm, steady and extremely controlled thrusting of his h.i.p.s.

    His hard length glided in and out of her very smoothly. Every time his h.i.p.s smacked into her to the hilt, he would grind and press into her deeper, causing her to release a s.e.xy m.o.a.n that only made his already hard member swell even bigger inside her. These repeated actions pulled her quickly back almost to the peak of pleasure once again.

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and urged him with the restless movements of her h.i.p.s to move faster. He didn¡¯tply. He was adamant on maintaining their current steady rhythm which he deemed safe for her pregnant self.

    To make it up to her, he reached between them and started rubbing her swollen nub of pleasure just above their slick, glistening connection. She threw her head back on the bed and shut her eyes to enjoy the onught of pure pleasure that thebination of his hard length and fingers were giving her all at the same time.

    "Oh, Liwei! Yes!"

    He rubbed harder while still maintaining the firm, steady thrusts of his h.i.p.s. His jaw tightened as he felt her getting close to another orgasm. This time, he nned on joining her.

    Excitement filled him. <i></i>

    As carefully as he could, he increased the strength of his thrusts, just enough to intensify their mutual pleasure, but still staying outside the threshold of being too rough.

    The pleasure became too much for Iris. She let go and soared to the peak once again before falling back inside her shaking body. Her voice was already hoarse but there was nothing she could do but continue crying out.

    Jin Liwei mmed inside his wife one final time. Then his entire body stiffened before shuddering. He felt as if he was electrocuted, giving him a shock that reverberated throughout his entire body. A groan rumbled from his chest to his tight lips as he pumped all of his release deep inside his wife.

    He quickly opened his eyes to watch his wife¡¯s reaction. Her eyes opened wide in visible surprise and wonder.

    "Oh! It¡¯s...it¡¯s so hot," she gasped and m.o.a.ned while also trying to take note of the new experience.

    Since this was the first time that he was filling her up, it was a new experience to both of them. It also prompted him to pump out more s.e.m.e.n than usual. They could already feel the overflow dripping out of her.

    It took quite a while for the two of them to finish riding such an intense orgasm. When they calmed down enough, he gave her a soft, lingering kiss on the lips before raising his body and pulling out of her.

    Both of them looked at the same direction¡ªto their now dripping wet connection.

    As soon as he disengaged from her, more of his release flowed out, dripping down her inner thighs and soaking the bed sheets.

    "Beautiful," Jin Liwei murmured, burning the sight in his memory.

    It was the most e.r.o.t.i.c sight that he had ever seen so far in his life. His softened rod twitched and had signs of hardening again.

    He inserted two fingers inside her and moved them in and out, forcing more of his liquid release to flow out of her. He could feel the residual contractions of his wife¡¯s inner walls.

    When Iris looked at her husband¡¯s groin, she saw something standing up once again. She became a little worried for herself. Yes, she wanted him but her energy level might not be enough tost throughout the night.

    Before she could share her concerns to him, however, he was already inserting his hard rod inside her again. She whimpered but still pulled him into her arms and willingly took what he was giving her.

    Her energy was quickly dwindling. She didn¡¯t need to worry, though. Jin Liwei had no problem doing all the work. All she needed to do was lie down and enjoy the ride.

    Noticing his wife¡¯s exhaustion, he didn¡¯t let this round go for too long. After pleasuring her to another climax, he pumped another big load of release inside of her.

    Then he carried her to the bathroom to wash both of them afterwards. Iris managed to stay awake long enough to finish cleaning their bodies. By the time they returned to bed, she was already fast asleep.

    Jin Liwei chuckled as he tucked both of them in bed. He felt immensely satisfied with his wife¡¯s amazingly e.r.o.t.i.c surprise tonight.

    Their honeymoon just started. He couldn¡¯t wait to make love with his wife raw many more times.

 Chapter 939 - Stepson

    <h4>Chapter 939 - Stepson </h4>

    <i>At a five-star hotel.</i>

    Wei Lan and Randy arrived at the luxurious lobby wearing mourous semi-casual outfits. As soon as they walked in, many heads turned to take a good look at the eye-catching pair.

    A former model before hooking up with her first husband Long Tengfei, Wei Lan still retained her willowy figure and youthful appearance. She knew all of her best angles and could identify the best sources of light in an instant upon arriving at a ce for the first time to give her the best picture-perfect spot to pose at all times. It was a talent that she developed during her modelling years and continued to hone ever since then.

    Although not as famous as her daughter, the multi-award-winning musician Iris Long, Wei Lan still carried a lot of clout in her own right. Her overall reputation was not very pleasant but it had been improving quite a lot recently due to using her new title as a Spanish viscountess in various phnthropic works via her daughter¡¯s foundation, Iris of Hope.

    High fashion magazines started reaching out to her, inviting to feature and interview her. She had even graced a handful of covers of some popr magazines in recent weeks, both domestic and international, since returning to the country and announcing her new status as a member of the Spanish nobility.

    In fact, she was currently having more exposure than her celebrity daughter who started withdrawing from the public eye a few weeks ago. It came to a point where she was now seriously considering hiring a manager of her own, just like how her daughter had Tang Yiyi, to manage her so-called career. There was no doubt that she also considered herself as a celebrity just like her daughter who was just as beautiful and talented as her.

    A pretty hotel employee weed them with practiced politeness and enthusiasm.

    "Wee, Vizcondesa Lan and Mister!" She also nodded at the couple of bodyguards following behind the pair.

    Wei Lan looked very pleased that the young woman addressed her by her title. It was obvious that someone informed the employee beforehand. She was liking this particr hotel more and more.

    "Mr. Agu is expecting you. Please follow me and I¡¯ll bring you to the penthouse suite where he¡¯s staying."

    "Thank you," Randy replied.

    Wei Lan gave the young woman a nod and a brief smile which she thought showed her elegance and grace as a viscountess. <i></i>

    The group followed the female hotel employee inside the elevator. The young woman used a special key in order to make the ride up to the top floor smooth with no interruptions.

    "Vizcondesa, I¡¯m so excited to meet your stepson," Randy whispered.

    Wei Lan smiled. "We¡¯re scheduled to have dinner with Ren¨¦ Alejandro tonight. You¡¯ll personally see what a fine maaaaaan he is, just like my equally fine gentleman of a husband. But make sure to behave yourself, Raaaaaandyyyy doll. My husband treasures his adopted son very much. Even I have to be careful lest I upset my stepson, and in turn, upset my deeeaaaar husband."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Vizcondesa. I won¡¯t embarrass you tonight!"

    "Fabuuulooooous!"

    "But howe you didn¡¯t pick up your stepson at the airport when he arrived yesterday?" Randy asked.

    Wei Lan released a dramatic sigh. "It¡¯s because Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t inform meeeeee at all! I thought that he would onlye to China when the renovations at our new house are all finished. If I kneeeeew that he wasing yesterday, I would¡¯ve called deeeaaaar Liwei and borrowed one of his private jets to pick up my stepson. After all, they¡¯re now like stepbrothers-inw, riiiiiight?"

    Randy thought about it for a few seconds before nodding.

    "I would¡¯ve looooooved to prepare an extravagant weing paaaaartyyy for Ren¨¦ Alejandro but he¡¯s such an independent man that he already arranged his own amodations by himself. As expected of my husband¡¯s genius son!"

    "He sounds a bit simr to Miss Xin," Randy suddenlymented. "They¡¯re both very strong-headed people who like to do things their own way."

    "You¡¯re absooooluuuutely right, Raaaandyyyy doll! If my daughter didn¡¯t already have deeeaaar Liwei, I might y matchmaker and pair her up with Ren¨¦ Alejandro! Isn¡¯t it a graaaaaand idea? Then she would be the next viscountess after me!"

    "But that¡¯s i.n.c.e.s.t!"

    Wei Lan rolled her eyes in a dramatic manner. "What nonsense are you talking about, Raaaaandyyyy doll? My daughter and stepson aren¡¯t blood-rted. What¡¯s more, Ren¨¦ Alejandro is only adopted and not blood-rted to my husband! There¡¯s noooooo i.n.c.e.s.t at all!"

    "No i.n.c.e.s.t by blood but there¡¯s i.n.c.e.s.t in thew." Randy hesitated. "Well, I don¡¯t know for sure. I have no idea about thews in Spain regarding this."

    "I don¡¯t know either and I don¡¯t care," Wei Lan said, shrugging. "Also, why are we even talking aboutws regarding i.n.c.e.s.t, for goooooodness¡¯ sake? I was just talking about a possibility of matching Xin to Ren¨¦ Alejandro but that¡¯s impossible now because my daughter already has deeaaar Liwei who¡¯s a multibillionaire. As expected of myyyyyy daughter. She did very well!"

    "Very true. Sir Liwei dotes on Miss Xin very much. He gives her everything she wants."

    Wei Lan sighed dreamily. "To be honest with you, having loads of money is mooooore attractive in a man than having an old, aristocratic title. I knoooow that my husband and stepson are boooooth wealthy but I have nooooo idea how wealthy because they¡¯re sooooo secretive about the true extent of their wealth. Since they¡¯re also dedicated phnthropists, they can be veeeery reserved in spending their own money. They don¡¯t liiiiike unting their wealth at all! It¡¯s a goooood thing that Xin and deeeaaar Liwei have the intention to take care of me. Don¡¯t you think so too, Raaaaandyyy doll?"

    He nodded. "Of course, Vizcondesa. Both Miss Xin and Sir Liwei are very filial people. They won¡¯t abandon you."

    She nodded, satisfied.

    <i>Ding!</i>

    The elevator door opened. They followed the hotel employee and entered a luxurious and spacious penthouse unit.

    As soon as they walked in, they heard instrumental guitar music ying in the background. Randy, a Zumba instructor, was also knowledgeable at other genres of Spanish music.

 Chapter 940 - RenÃ© Alejandro

    <h4>Chapter 940 - Ren¨¦ Alejandro </h4>

    "I recognize this music," Randy said. "If I remember it correctly, this is the guitar version of<i> ¡¯Leyenda¡¯</i>!"

    "Good knowledge!" a velvet-smooth masculine voice eximed.

    All of them turned their heads and saw a tall, handsome and dark-haired European man walking slowly down the staircase.

    "Indeed, this music is <i>¡¯Asturias (Leyenda)¡¯</i> or simply <i>¡¯Legend¡¯</i> by the Spanish Post-Romanticposer and pianist Isaac Alb¨¦niz," the man exined in ented Mandarin.

    Randy gasped and stopped in his tracks as he clutched his wide muscled chest with his French-manicured hands. He couldn¡¯t stop staring at the gorgeous hunk walking towards them.

    "Ren¨¦ Alejandro!" Wei Lan stepped forward to meet her stepson. "Howe you didn¡¯t inform meeeeeee that you¡¯reing to China so soooooon?"

    "Mam¨¢, you¡¯re looking younger and more beautiful than when Ist saw you." Ren¨¦ Alejandro "kissed" both of Wei Lan¡¯s cheeks by pressing his own cheeks to hers while also giving her a warm but polite hug.

    Wei Lan giggled and blushed like a teenage girl. "Oh, you~ Stop trying to butter meeeeeee up, my deeeaaaar! I was sooooo surprised when you calledst night and said that you¡¯re already in China! I thought you were jooooookiiiiing!"

    "I wanted to surprise Mam¨¢. Forgive me, yes?"

    "Of course, I fooorgiiiiive you! But you have to tell me things in advance next time, okaaaaaay?"

    "Yes, Mam¨¢. I will."

    Randy cleared his throat a couple of times to get their attention.

    "Oh, right! Ren¨¦ Alejandro, I would like you to meet my bestest friend eveeeeer, Raaaaandyyyy. He¡¯s a terrific Zumba instructor who has been helping me staaaaaay in shape and be healthier! Randy, meet my stepson, the handsome Ren¨¦ Alejandro!"

    The two greeted each other.

    Randy couldn¡¯t stop staring at Ren¨¦ Alejandro. He looked even more gorgeous up close. He had tantalizing grey eyes and charming dimples on both cheeks which deepened whenever he smiled. Randy ogled Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s body without being too obvious about it.

    As a professional fitness instructor specializing in Zumba, he knew that the Spanish man may look thin at first nce but there should be toned muscles underneath his clothes. Just thinking about such a hot body without any clothes on was causing the Zumba instructor to feel all hot and bothered.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro shed his charming, dimpled smile at Randy. "This <i>¡¯Leyende¡¯</i> that you¡¯re hearing is actually a recording of me ying my own guitar. You like?"

    "Oh yes, I like! Wow!"

    "Thank you, my friend. You are very kind." Then Ren¨¦ Alejandro nced at the female hotel employee who was still waiting behind Wei Lan and Randy. "You may go now. Thank you for bringing my stepmother and her best friend."

    "It¡¯s my pleasure, Mr. Agu," she replied, her cheeks turning pink. "Please don¡¯t hesitate to call me if you need anything else."

    "Yes, thank you."

    The hotel employee finally left. <i></i>

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro then turned his attention at the two silent men in ck suits.

    Noticing where he was looking at, Wei Lan exined, "These two men are the bodyguards that my son-inw provided meeeee. I already told you about my son-inw. He¡¯s Jin Liwei, the¡ª"

    "Current CEO of Chinese multinationalpany, Jin Corporation. English name, Liam Jin. One of the youngest multibillionaires in the world." Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s expression turned serious as he described Jin Liwei before smiling again. "I remember him, Mam¨¢. No need to tell me again."

    "Ah, yes."

    He led them to sit at thefortable couches in the spacious living area that had a panoramic view of the modern city outside. A hotel-provided maid who was tasked to exclusively serve this penthouse suite¡¯s guest served them hot tea and pastries.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro once again nced at the two bodyguards who positioned themselves at nondescript but very strategic corners. Then he smiled at Wei Lan.

    "Since CEO Liam Jin is your son-inw, then that makes him a brother of mine, yes? I would like to meet him one of these days and thank him for taking excellent care of you, especially when Pap¨¢ and I have been unable to apany you ever since you returned here to China. And of course, I would also like to meet my sister, your daughter Iris Long, who I already know is as beautiful and kind-hearted as you are."

    Wei Lan dabbed the tea moisture on her blood-red lips with a serviette. "Of cooouuuurse, my dear! I¡¯ll certainly introduce you to your sister and brother-inw soooooon. We¡¯ll just have to wait first until the two of them return from their honeeeymooooon."

    He looked surprised. "Iris and Liam already married? When?"

    Wei Lan told him about the secret wedding that happened a few days ago. Randy also provided additional details about the event.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro drummed his fingers on his thighs as he thought about what he just heard. "Ah, it seems that I have to congratte my sister and brother-inw for their wedding. Mam¨¢, you must help me choose a bted present for the newlyweds, yes?"

    She sighed dramatically. "Unfortunately, my deeeaaar, they¡¯re not epting any wedding presents at all! But they do ept financial donations to my daughter¡¯s foundation, Iris of Hooooope. I already told you about it before, Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I help your sister out with her foundaaation."

    "I see," he murmured. "I¡¯ll make a generous donation, then. Our family and what we represent, the Viscountcy of Castillo de Estres, are always ready to help out with any phnthropic endeavours. Iris of Hope sounds like it¡¯s in line with our family values. I would love to make a contribution and I¡¯m sure that if Pap¨¢ were here, he would also feel excited and want to be involved in his new daughter¡¯s phnthropic efforts."

    "You¡¯re right, my deeeeaaar." Wei Lan sighed dreamily. "That¡¯s why I fell in loooooove with your father. He¡¯s such an honourable man with a great vision for a better wooooorld! He inspired me to be a better persoooon."

    They all chatted for some time until it was time for dinner. They headed downstairs to a secret high-ss restaurant exclusive only to VIPs. Even Wei Lan had no idea about this ce¡¯s existence. And yet her stepson was weed with open arms.

 Chapter 941 - Can Your Children Do That?!

    <h4>Chapter 941 - Can Your Children Do That?! </h4>

    When the ma?tre d¡¯ led Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Wei Lan and Randy to their reserved private room which was the best in the secret exclusive restaurant, the handful of guests who were milling in themon lounge area couldn¡¯t believe their eyes when they saw the new arrivals. They all stared at the group with abination of disbelief and curiosity.

    Wei Lan straightened her back and lifted her chin as she strutted as if she was on the catwalk. She recognized some of the guests as high society wives who liked to lord over their status to everyone else by either epting people they liked into their fold or ostracizing those that they disliked.

    She, herself, had long endured these snobbish women¡¯s cold shoulders ever since she married Long Tengfei back in the days. They had never epted her and did everything in their power to shun her from high society.

    The ugly witches even had the gall to use her of seducing their husbands. How ridiculous! It wasn¡¯t her fault that they couldn¡¯t control their own men. She was just doing her own thing, maintaining her own beauty and youth. It was clearly their husbands who chased after her, not the other way around, and yet those ugly witches vilified her like some sort of a hateful sinner! If they only had the ability to keep their men happy in bed, then they wouldn¡¯t need to worry about being cheated on by their husbands who, by the way, were depraved assholes themselves.

    Wei Lan didn¡¯t acknowledge the ugly witches¡¯ presence as she walked with her stepson and friend. Her two bodyguards had to wait in the hallway because they weren¡¯t allowed inside.

    "What in the world is happening?" she heard one of the ugly witches saying in a low voice. "I can¡¯t believe they allowed that s.l.u.t Wei Lan inside. I thought that this is an exclusive restaurant that doesn¡¯t allow just anyone to enter. I¡¯ll ask my husband toin about this to the restaurant managementter."

    The ugly witch¡¯s equally ugly friend replied, "Have you forgotten that Wei Lan is now a viscountess after marrying a titled Spaniard? Maybe that¡¯s how she¡¯s able to enter this ce. Look at the foreign man she¡¯s with. Maybe that¡¯s her husband."

    "Don¡¯t joke around. That foreign man looks too young to be that s.l.u.t¡¯s husband. Didn¡¯t she say at the interview she did with that magazine recently that the viscount she married is older than her, even older than her ex-husband Long Tengfei? I think the viscount is almost a senior citizen. She clearly re-married for the wealth, status and clout her new husband can give her. As expected of a s.l.u.t like her."

    Randy stopped walking and red at the gossiping matrons. They saw how he was looking at them and didn¡¯t feel sorry at all. On the contrary, they even put on gloating expressions.

    Without ncing at the ugly witches, Wei Lan patted her friend¡¯s arm. "Raaaandyyy doll, ignore them. They¡¯re not worth your time and energy. Insignificant people looooove to spout toxic nonsense because they have noooothiiiing inside their empty brains. Understooood?"

    "I understand, Vizcondesa."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro watched everything in silence, revealing nothing on his expression.

    The high society matrons heard the conversation between Wei Lan and Randy. They looked indignant at her insinuation that they were dumb. <i></i>

    "Hmph! She¡¯s so full of herself! She¡¯s nothing but a gold-digging and social-climbing s.l.u.t who seduces men left and right!"

    "It¡¯s no wonder that her daughter, that Iris Long, inherited her s.l.u.ttiness and seduced CEO Jin Liwei¡ª"

    Wei Lan suddenly turned around and rushed to where the ugly witches were congregating together.

    "You can all condemn me, I don¡¯t care! But you have no right, absolutely no right at all, to nder my daughter! My daughter is a legitimate Long heiress, not to mention a critically-acimed musician who won multiple national and international awards! All of your children can¡¯t possiblypare to my daughter!

    "My daughterposes her own music and all of them topped the charts! Can any of your spoiled children do that?!

    "My daughter can speak more than tennguages fluently and have served as official interpreter at the International Business Conference, earning the praise of high-ranking officials! Can your children do that?!

    "My daughter performed with two music legends, Maestro De Luca and Enrique Valdez! Can your children do that?!

    "My daughter sold out all of her new business¡¯ products during itsunch in five seconds! Old and ugly people like you are scrambling to get your hands on Orchidia Beauty¡¯s miraculous skincare products! Can your childrenunch such a sessful business so quickly like my daughter?!

    "Looking at your ugly faces, I know that your useless children can¡¯t reach my brilliant daughter¡¯s level! My daughter is on a whole different league than your spoiled children! So what if my daughter is together with a multibillionaire like Jin Liwei? You¡¯re just jealous of my daughter¡¯s beauty and talents!

    "I can¡¯t wait to tell dear Liwei about how you¡¯re all gossiping about my daughter! He¡¯ll definitely sue you all for nder! Even if he doesn¡¯t, I will! ording to what you¡¯re saying, it also seems that you¡¯re insinuating that dear Liwei is a shallow man who allowed himself to be seduced by my daughter! Did your own ugly daughters tried seducing him in the past but failed, that¡¯s why you¡¯re all so bitter and attacking my daughter? Hah! You¡¯re all so pathetic!"

    Wei Lan was so worked up that she spoke normally without her usual elongation of words. Her angry speech was so eloquent that a waiter who happened to be passing by automatically pped his hands before the ma?tre d¡¯ warned him with a pointed look.

    The waiter immediately stopped pping, not wanting to get into trouble at work, but still continued to silently cheer for Wei Lan, knowing that she was Boss Iris¡¯ mother. If only he was allowed to bring his mighty slippers, he would¡¯ve already whacked these haughty high society matrons who were too full of themselves.

    How dare they nder Boss Iris and her mother?

    Unforgivable!

 Chapter 942 - Apologize Or Suffer The Consequences

    <h4>Chapter 942 - Apologize Or Suffer The Consequences </h4>

    Before the ma?tre d¡¯ could intervene and mediate between Wei Lan and the high society matrons, Ren¨¦ Alejandro spoke for the first time since the conflict started.

    "When your owner personally greeted me when I arrived at this hotel yesterday and invited me to try dining at his so-called exclusive restaurant, he assured me that all of the patrons here have ss, good manners, and are well-versed in proper etiquette," he told the ma?tre d¡¯ in ented Mandarin before sweeping a cold look at the matrons. "I guess your owner lied to me, no? From what I¡¯m seeing, this ce is no different from a local fish market where old shrews gossip about others left and right."

    The matrons¡¯ expressions turned ugly, knowing that he was insulting them.

    "Cancel my dinner reservation. Inform your owner that I¡¯m extremely disappointed in his restaurant. I¡¯ll tell my friends abroad not to visit this ce when theye to China. Calling these ssless people VIPs and allowing them ess to an exclusive ce is an insult to the true elites of this country, no?"

    The ma?tre d¡¯ started to sweat but still managed to appear calm on the outside. "Sir Agu, how about we discuss this first? Let me call our owner and¡ª"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro ignored him and started talking to Wei Lan instead. "Mam¨¢, let¡¯s eat at another restaurant, yes?"

    Wei Lan was unable to recover that quickly from her fury so all she could do at the moment was nod at her stepson¡¯s suggestion. <i></i>

    Noticing the way he addressed Wei Lan, one of the matrons asked him, "Are you the Spanish viscount¡¯s son?"

    He only gave her a cold nce, not bothering to answer her. Then he smiled at Wei Lan, took her hand and ced it carefully on his elbow. "Let¡¯s go, Mam¨¢. Ande, Randy my friend. We shall go to another better restaurant that is not like a fish market filled with old shrews, yes?"

    "Yes! Lead the way, Ren¨¦ Alejandro!" Randy red at the matrons who were watching them with dark expressions. "Hmph!"

    The ma?tre d¡¯ followed them while apologizing profusely. Just when the group was about to exit the restaurant, Ren¨¦ Alejandro suddenly stopped and looked back at the wives. His gaze could freeze the souls out of people and send them straight to hell. It was a great contrast to his usual charming expression that looked friendly because of his dimples.

    "By the way, our family and when I say that, I mean the entire Viscountcy of Castillo de Estres of Espa?a, demands an apology from all of you," he told them. "My father and I will never tolerate anyone from disrespecting and insulting thedy of our house and her daughter. Do yourselves a favour and provide thewful Vizcondesa of Castillo de Estres a sincere and proper apology from each of you or suffer the consequences, yes?"

    Half of the wives looked intimidated by his threat while the other half didn¡¯t put him in their sight at all. They didn¡¯t think that he was that important to threaten them. After all, this was China, not Spain!

    After saying his piece, Ren¨¦ Alejandro no longer paid any attention to the matrons and the ma?tre d¡¯ who was still apologizing and trying to get him back inside the restaurant. Ren¨¦ Alejandro led Wei Lan and Randy out of the exclusive restaurant without looking back and asked the two bodyguards waiting for them outside if they knew other good restaurants in the area.

    There was another good, high-ss restaurant in the hotel¡¯s main floor but Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t look too enthusiastic about it. In the end, the bodyguards drove the group to a nearby one-star Michelin restaurant.

    This time, Wei Lan was able to flex her status in the country as Jin Liwei¡¯s future mother-inw¡ª"future" because the general public still didn¡¯t know that Iris Long and Jin Liwei had already married a few days ago. The one-star Michelin restaurant was able to squeeze their group for a full-course dinner tonight on short notice without prior reservation because of Jin Liwei¡¯s powerful name.

    Back at the secret exclusive restaurant, security guards escorted out the indignant matrons while the ma?tre d¡¯ was frantically exining what happened to the owner on the phone. The surrounding people could hear the owner yelling at the ma?tre d¡¯.

    As for the waiter who cheered for Wei Lan earlier, he resumed his duties and served his assigned private room where the guests inside still had no idea that something so interesting happened in themon lounge area. When he finally got his short break, he immediately logged in online.

    Although all employees were prohibited from sharing details about the exclusive restaurant to the public, he couldn¡¯t keep what happened tonight to himself especially when it involved Boss Iris and her mother, Vizcondesa Lan!

    "I¡¯ll just share general information, not specific details," he muttered to himself while typing on his phone. "I¡¯ll swap some names and I should be fine."

    Within minutes of him posting on the ck Stars¡¯ members-only forum, many of hisrades reacted with fury. The fan club¡¯s elite troll group, the Slippers Army, was quickly summoned led by KittyBaby. It seemed that KittyBaby¡¯s polite yet extremely vengeful real-life little brother, PantherBaby, was busy with his new job working for their uncle.

    The Slippers Army¡¯s aim was to publicly shame the high society wives for their shrewish and ssless behaviour towards Boss Iris and her mother, the viscountess.

    "I guess I¡¯ll get fired after this incident goes public," the waitermented with a deep sigh. However, there was no regret in his tone, only resignation.

    "Don¡¯t worry, spaghetti! The cute and mighty KittyBaby will ask my daddy to contact your boss and not fire you because you¡¯re a good boy who¡¯s loyal to my mo¡ªBoss Iris. Meow~"

    The waiter didn¡¯t believe his weird, meowing but extremely lovablerade. Nevertheless, he still thanked her good-naturedly. He knew that only a few super VIPs had direct contact to the owner of the exclusive restaurant. Although he didn¡¯t know the identity of KittyBaby¡¯s father, he couldn¡¯t possibly have direct contact to the owner, could he?

 Chapter 943 - Excess Energy

    <h4>Chapter 943 - Excess Energy </h4>

    After dinner and some c.o.c.ktails, Randy supported a tipsy Wei Lan as she extended an invitation to Ren¨¦ Alejandro to visit her at her daughter¡¯s Gold Heights penthouse where she had been staying since returning to the country. She also once again promised to formally introduce him to Iris and Jin Liwei after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon.

    Wei Lan and Randy headed home while Ren¨¦ Alejandro returned to his penthouse suite at the hotel. He went straight to the bathroom for a much-needed shower to wash away the smell of alcohol and food from his body.

    Afterwards, he made a couple of phone calls and waited in the bedroom. Led Zeppelin¡¯s <i>"Stairway to Heaven"</i> yed in the background as he stoodpletely n.a.k.e.d in front of the ss windows and looked at the bright city lights outside. Listening to the ssic rock song was making him want to y his guitar. Before he could act on his urge, however, he heard someone entering the suite.

    Secondster, there was a knock on his bedroom door. <i></i>

    "Enter!"

    The hotel maid who had been assigned to serve him stepped inside the room. He only gave her a cursory nce before continuing to look at the night view outside.

    "Remove your clothes and then...you already know what to do, yes?"

    "Yes, sir," the maid replied in a soft, obedient voice.

    He heard rustling sounds behind him as she worked on undressing herself. Soon after, the now n.a.k.e.d maid came to him and knelt in front of him. Without any additional prompting from him, she took his still soft manhood and began stroking it with both hands. When it stiffened a little, she took him inside her mouth and started sucking and licking him.

    In just a minute, he became rock-hard. Despite this, his expression never changed and he didn¡¯t spare a single nce at the young woman pleasuring him with her mouth on her knees.

    With his great hearing, he heard the sound of another person entering the suite. The female hotel employee who weed Wei Lan and Randy at the lobby earlier and led them to the penthouse suite finally arrived. From the reflection on the ss windows, he saw the other young woman hesitate at the bedroom¡¯s doorway with aplicated expression upon seeing that the hotel maid was already pleasuring him.

    "Come," he said. "Undress and join your colleague."

    "I...but sir..." Jealousy shed in the female hotel employee¡¯s eyes as she looked at the maid.

    "You don¡¯t like to share? Then leave. I can make do with just this one tonight."

    She bit her bottom lip while thinking about what to do. It only took two seconds to make up her mind. She started removing her clothes before walking towards them. The maid scooted sideways to make space for her. The hotel employee and the maid knelt side by side and began pleasuring Ren¨¦ Alejandro with their hands and mouths.

    This time, his impassive expression finally cracked a little. His nostrils red and his eyes narrowed as a soft m.o.a.n escaped from his lips. The two women continued to work on his hard length until he pumped out his release on their upturned faces.

    Later, they moved to the bed. Ren¨¦ Alejandro ked his l.u.s.t on the two women, f.u.c.k.i.n.g one after the other, and also at the same time using his mouth, hands and his lower body.

    He only met these two women after checking in at the hotel yesterday but it didn¡¯t even take him long before he was able to seduce them to his bed.

    The first one he f.u.c.k.i.e.d was the hotel employee who took care of everything during the check-in process. He did her behind the door as soon as they entered the penthouse suite.

    Then afterwards, the maid caught his attention next. This one stayed with him throughout the night, satisfying him very much with her desire to please him, until she had to leave a couple of hours before dawn to get ready for another workday.

    At the moment, he was lying on his back on the bed while the maid bounced on hisp, his hard length sliding in and out of her dripping-wet core. On the other hand, the female hotel employee was sitting on his face as he f.u.c.k.i.e.d her with his tongue.

    The two women were very enthusiastic in servicing him. They told him that he was the first foreign man that they had ever slept with so far. They couldn¡¯t stop praising his size which was obviously bigger than the average Asian man.

    Although he was the one who seduced them first, he didn¡¯t care about them. The two had been too easy. There had been no thrill of the chase at all. How boring. However, he wouldn¡¯t reject easy ess to s.e.x.

    Since he was currently in a foreign country, he had to be very careful in doing any of his usual training routine. He had to cancel his normal physical training for now until he found a more secure ce away from any prying eyes. The property that Wei Lan bought for them wasn¡¯t ready yet. He also nned to scout the ce first.

    With the biggest outlet of his excess energy currently unavable, he needed another method to effectively maintain the equilibrium of energy inside of him aside from rigorous training.

    Fortunately, the women in this country seemed to be easier to seduce than he initially expected. Now he didn¡¯t have to worry about having regr s.e.x in order to burn his excess energy that might interfere with his focus.

    Lewd sounds and the pungent smell of s.e.x filled the entire bedroom.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro still had plenty of energy to spare but the two women had beenpletely drained. They nowy on the bed like the dead, their bodies stained with a variety of bodily fluids.

    He left them, feeling disappointed at theirck of stamina, and headed to the bathroom for another shower. After washing away the smell of the two women from his body, he donned a bathrobe and went to the study in the next room.

 Chapter 944 - Drakonâ€™s Two Disciples

    <h4>Chapter 944 - Drakon¡¯s Two Disciples </h4>

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro felt calmer and more focused after having s.e.x with two women, although there were still some excess energy remaining in his system. Fortunately, the excess energy wasn¡¯t too much to make him feel restless. He figured that he could just do some push-ups and other floor exercisester before going to sleep.

    But for now, he had something that he wanted to do first before calling it a night. He sat behind the desk in the study and powered up hisptopputer. It was ratherrge in surface area but thin and surprisingly lightweight.

    There was also no visible branding anywhere on theptop. The desktop icons showed application software that otherputer users in the world weren¡¯t familiar with. Even the operating system was unknown, its functionality entirely different from what most users were used to.

    And yet Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s fingers flew over the keyboard and touchpad until they were almost a blur, showing his mastery of not only his device but the unknown operating system and application software.

    He clicked his tongue, his expression showing dissatisfaction, even as his fingers moved nonstop over the keyboard.

    "I should push for the renovations of the new house to finish earlier, hopefully before the year ends," he muttered under his breath in Spanish. "I need a more permanent base in this country so that I can set up my usualputer station. I hate usingptops. Such ergonomic nightmares!"

    He worked on hisptop for a few minutes before his hands finally faltered in the middle of typing. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen. <i></i>

    "WhiteTigress," he murmured while lightly drumming his fingers on the desk. "This style feels somewhat familiar. Hmmm...."

    His eyes shed with battle spirit. Cracking his knuckles, he let his fingers fly again on the keyboard.

    Codes flooded his screen and numerous windows popped up in quick session. However, he remained focused despite the dizzying disy on hisputer screen. His mouth started stretching in a wide grin.

    "Not bad! Hahahaha!"

    "Whoa! Trying to attack me, huh? Let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got, kid!"

    "Oh, a new one! Who are you?!"

    "ckPanther? What a name!"

    "Working together, huh? Give me your bestbo shot, then!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro looked like he was having the time of his life as he eximed andughed while using hisptop. If someone saw him right now, they would think that he was just ying an excitingputer game. His dimples appeared more prominent as his grin stretched widely across his face in excitement.

    "Wow! This ckPanther is so malevolent! Why don¡¯t you chill a little?"

    His fingers revved up as he became even more excited.

    "Hahahaha! This is so much fun!"

    "Good effort, you two! Too bad that you¡¯re facing against me! You¡¯re a hundred years¡ªno, fifty years...fine, you¡¯re ten years too early to¡ªwhat the?!"

    His ecstatic expression disappeared in an instant, reced by a grave look. A deep furrow formed between his brows but his eyes were only bing sharper andser-focused as the seconds ticked by. Sweat started to bead on his skin.

    "Who the f.u.c.k are you?!" he growled. "This style...don¡¯t tell me!"

    All he could do was protect himself at the moment and safeguard any sensitive information that his device might contain. He didn¡¯t have the luxury tounch a counterattack because the opponents were too strong.

    It was three against one.

    Despite this, he didn¡¯t give up. He had utmost confidence in his skills. After all, he was the next¡ª

    Hisptopputer suddenly shut down on its own.

    Silence.

    He tried several times but hisptopputer wouldn¡¯t turn on again.

    It was toasted.

    Corrupted.

    Defeated.

    He leaned back on the chair, trying to make sense of the situation while staring at the ck screen of hisputer

    It was just a fraction of a second before the screen cked out but he saw it. He saw the familiar digital signature of that person. A somewhat crazed look appeared on his face.

    His shoulders started trembling.

    "Fufufufu."

    Then he threw his head back andughed out loud.

    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

    He bared his teeth in a wide smile that looked more like a snarl.

    "You¡¯re good, Drakon! You¡¯re very good!"

    He continuedughing by himself. Afterwards, he drummed his fingers on his thighs as he thought about what happened.

    "The lone Drakon is actually working seamlessly with other hackers? WhiteTigress and ckPanther are rather skilled, no? Completely different styles but still familiar and simr to yours. Are they your disciples, hm?"

    Chuckling, he stood up and lowered himself to the floor to do some push-ups. He needed to burn the adrenaline and excess energy out of his system or he wouldn¡¯t be able to calm himself and sleep tonight.

    "It seems likeing to China was a great decision. I never expected to meet two new promising hackers who might be the disciples of Drakon during my first hacking battle in this country. This is so exciting!"

    His enthusiasm prompted him to exercise harder. When he was done more than an hourter, there were some small, scattered puddles of sweat on the floor.

    Then he headed straight to the bathroom for another shower to wash away the sweat from his body.

    Cleanliness was next to godliness.

    He always believed that.

    When he waspletely clean again, he called someone on the phone, not caring at all that it was still in the middle of the night. An annoyed, sleepy voice answered his call.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro only chuckled, not bothered by the other person¡¯s irritation towards him. They both talked in Spanish.

    "Hurry ande up here to my suite. I¡¯m going to show you something interesting. Oh, and don¡¯t forget your e on, my brother! Wake up! Stop beingzy! I just battled Drakon! THE Drakon! Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re not interested in¡ªhahahaha! I knew it! Wake up the others too, yes? Oh, and bring an extraptop for me. Drakon fried the one I brought to my suite. Just hurry ande here, all of you! We¡¯re going to have so much fun here in China!"

 Chapter 945 - Fantom, The Legend

    <h4>Chapter 945 - Fantom, The Legend </h4>

    Iris leaned back on her seat and sighed, already feeling weary after less than an hour of hacking battle. She was sessful in corrupting and shutting down the other hacker¡¯sputer but the effort almost drained herpletely. Dissatisfaction at what she considered an extremely poor performance filled her.

    If this was before, she could go on for days battling other hackers and even sessfully tracking down their real identities and locations at the same time. Now, however, she was unable to do any of that safely because of her difficult pregnancy.

    She wished that she could¡¯ve done something more substantial during this hacking battle and tracked down the opponent¡¯s identity and whereabouts. Unfortunately, she had to adjust her action n based on her current pregnant body¡¯s condition. Her main priority was protecting her AI children from the opponent.

    As a result of focusing on just this one thing, she decided to go the uplicated route and outright fry the other hacker¡¯sputer, deeming it unusable except for metal scraps.

    Although disappointed in herself for not being able to acquire any of the opponent¡¯s personal information, at least she identified his hacker name. She knew who he was as a hacker.

    He was someone whose techniques were eerily simr to her original hacking style.

    Her original hacker identity in her previous life had now be a major legend in the hacking world. There were many hackers striving to be the next her.

    This person was one of them.

    At the possibility of facing a lot of other hackers who had adopted her original hacking style as their own as if they had indirectly taken her as their master and treated her style like a religion, she couldn¡¯t help but release a long sigh.

    She felt proud, of course.

    Who wouldn¡¯t be if others looked up to you, admired the skills that you worked so hard to improve every day, and wanted to emte you as their role model?

    Aside from the pride, however, she felt that it was a pity that other hackers weren¡¯t striving to be an original instead of bing the next Fantom. Even she herself had already abandoned her previous hacker identity and embraced her new one, Drakon.

    Compared to the mysteriousness of Fantom, Drakon was more of an aggressive straight shooter with a clear purpose.

    Back when she was still Fantom, the underlying purpose of her working so hard to improve her hacking abilities was relieving boredom. Since living as a member of the infamous Vetrov family severely restricted her freedom in exploring the real world, she channelled her desire to be free in the cyberworld instead.

    In contrast to now, she wasn¡¯t merely using her hacking skills to alleviate boredom and entertain herself but to obtain specific goals. That was the biggest difference between Fantom and Drakon¡ªthe past her and the new her as a hacker.

    This was also why so many so-called experts in the hacking world didn¡¯t believe that Fantom and Drakon might be the same person no matter how simr their techniques were. They said that Drakon was too money-driven, something that never bothered the mysterious and lofty legend, Fantom.

    Likewise, she never bothered caring about the opinions of these so-called expert hackers. Fantom would always have a special ce in her heart. It was the hacker identity that she started with and allowed her to face off against many top hackers in the world.

    But she was Drakon now.

    Other hackers might treat Fantom as one of the supreme hackers in the world while Drakon was only given the status of a rising star but this proved how little they knew about Fantom.

    To her, Drakon was the culmination of Fantom¡¯s skills and techniques with a more driven purpose. If Fantom¡¯s fans continued to stubbornly adopt her original hacking style without changing much of anything, then they were bound to be left behind by the times.

    Fantom was now the past.

    Drakon was the present and the future.

    Looking at the codes on herputer screen, Iris wasn¡¯t the least bit threatened of this hacker who she and her AI children battled just now. It was like facing off against an inferior version of her past hacker self, Fantom.

    Nevertheless, she didn¡¯t look down on him. After all, he was able to almost endanger her AI children. She would always act with extreme caution whenever Ketchup and Bacon were involved in something with other hackers.

    If only she wasn¡¯t pregnant right now, she would¡¯ve at least attempted to fish out some of this hacker¡¯s personal information. Unfortunately, her eyes were now beginning to feel heavy again.

    The bedroom door opened and Jin Liwei entered while pushing a food cart. A delicious savoury aroma wafted in the room, making Iris salivate and temporarily forget about her sleepiness.

    "Finished?" he asked.

    She nodded. "What do you have for me?"

    "Bone broth soup. Nothing too heavy since it¡¯s still the middle of the night."

    Jin Liwei served her a bowl of the hot soup. Iris tasted it and groaned in contentment.

    "Thanks, darling. This is delicious."

    He watched her enjoying the soup. Earlier, a frantic Ketchup cried for them to get up from the bed and asked his wife for help. It was a miracle that Iris was awake when she was usually in deep sleep at this time of the night. But when she heard that their AI children were battling a tough hacker, she immediately went into action.

    Since he was unable to do anything to personally help Ketchup and Bacon from their predicament, he decided to make his wife asfortable as possible instead while she rescued their AI children. Afterwards, he went out and personally instructed the vi¡¯s chef to prepare some light but nourishing food for her. <i></i>

    He wasn¡¯t very familiar with the staff here in the private vi so he didn¡¯t like them entering the master suite whenever he and his wife were inside. This was why he was the one who personally delivered the soup after the chef finished preparing it. Good thing that the soup had already been simmering since yesterday. All the chef needed to do was season it and add some chopped vegetables and herbs.

 Chapter 946 - Not So Mighty Kitty Babies

    <h4>Chapter 946 - Not So Mighty Kitty Babies </h4>

    Jin Liwei felt very pleased and relieved that his wife could eat most of the food that the private vi¡¯s chef cooked. Iris finished an entire bowl of bone broth soup before feeling full. He finished the rest while she analyzed and lectured their AI children¡¯s performance during the hacking battle.

    Afterwards, both AI children looked thoroughly chastised. Ketchup was teary while the stone-faced Bacon¡¯s tail was drooping.

    "Wuwuwu! We¡¯re so sorry, Mommy! Ketchup and Bacon had been very bad kitty babies tonight and battled another hacker by ourselves! We, kitty babies, thought that we could handle the opponent but Ketchup and Bacon underestimated him. Meowuwuwu!"

    "Bacon will train harder at Shadow Winds and be stronger so that it will be our turn to protect Mother next time."

    Iris sighed but still smiled. "I¡¯m not mad at the two of you. The way you coordinated with one another and focused on your own respective strengths while filling for the other¡¯s weakness is quitemendable. It was just that you ran into a tough opponent who¡¯s above your current level this time. Still, I¡¯m pleased that you had the presence of mind to immediately run to me for help the moment you figured out that you¡¯re unable to defeat the opponent by yourselves. Let this be a learning experience for the two of you. You need to improve your teamwork."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! The cute and not so mighty Ketchup will strive to be mighty again! Meow!"

    "Bacon will do my best to be stronger and have the power to protect our whole family."

    She reached theputer screen and rubbed her AI children¡¯s faces. At that moment, she wished that she could physically hug the two of them.

    "I¡¯ll tweak your configurations in the following days and perform various simtions on how you can perform better in different scenarios simr to the hacking battle tonight. Let me also remind you that your first priority will always be your own safety. It¡¯s much more important that you¡¯re safe than victorious. Do you understand?"

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Ketchup understands and will never forget forever and ever again! Meow!"

    "Bacon understands, Mother. Also please forgive us for waking you up in the middle of the night. We know that you¡¯re having a difficult pregnancy and we didn¡¯t mean to disturb you."

    Her heart melted hearing her AI son¡¯s sweet words.

    "Where did you learn to speak so sweetly, Bacon?" she couldn¡¯t help but ask in wonder.

    "He obviously inherited it from me, his dad," Jin Liwei¡¯s voice interrupted from behind her.

    She turned her head to nce at her husband¡¯s serious expression and chuckled.

    "Why are youughing, wife? I¡¯m just stating a fact."

    Both Iris and Ketchup giggled while Bacon remained stone-faced. However, his tail had begun swishing back and forth.<i> [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l. c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you!]</i>

    "Alright, Bacon inherited it from you," Iris finally said to appease her husband who looked genuinely serious about his im.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded, pleased that she agreed with him. "You look sleepy again, love. Let¡¯s return to bed now. Don¡¯t forget what the doctor said. You need to take this opportunity while we¡¯re on our honeymoon to rx and get lots of rest."

    "I know, darling." Then she sighed before yawning. "But there are still a few things that I need to do after the hacking battle. First is to¡ª"

    Jin Liwei frowned.

    "Please listen to Father, Mother," Bacon interrupted. "How about giving Big Sister Ketchup and me instructions and we¡¯ll do what needs to be done by ourselves?"

    Ketchup started shaking her fluffy white butt in excitement. "Oh oh oh, yes, Mommy! Although Bacon and Ketchup aren¡¯t so mighty when battling other hackers above our level, we¡¯re still amazing in doing other tasks because we¡¯re Mommy and Daddy¡¯s super kitty babies! Ehehehe. Meow~"

    Iris pursed her lips, a mixture of annoyance and amusement in her expression.

    "Please rest now, Mother," Bacon insisted. "Look at Father¡¯s expression. He¡¯s frowning too much that it¡¯s not ssy. He won¡¯t stop frowning until Mother goes back to sleep. Bacon heard from Uncle Dominic that frowning will age a person faster. I don¡¯t want Father to age faster and look like an old man when Mother still looks so young and beautiful."

    Jin Liwei scowled at Bacon, his two-faced rascal of an AI son. "You little¡ª"

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough." Iris immediately mediated between the father and son while trying to do her best to stifle herughter but failed. "Bacon was just joking, darling. Don¡¯t take the child¡¯s words too seriously. You¡¯re still very young and handsome."

    He instantly felt better after hearing his wife¡¯s words. Then he nced at theputer screen showing the two virtual cats, one white and the other ck.

    Ketchup had a bright smile on her cute, fluffy face. She was also trying to stifle her giggles. Her facial expressionstely were starting to resemble her mommy¡¯s more and more. Whenever she smiled, it was like looking at a cat version of Iris.

    On the other hand, Bacon remained stone-faced like usual. His tail, however, was rotating like a helicopter¡¯s rotor des, revealing the rascal¡¯s amusement at his own joke at the expense of his father.

    Jin Liwei could only sigh. These two AI children were already a handful to raise, especially since he and his wife couldn¡¯t entrust them to babysitters like normal cat or human children. Then his eyes fell on his wife¡¯s still t belly.

    He had a strong feeling that the twins would also be a handful to raise, perhaps even more so than their older AI siblings. After all, they were already giving their mother so much trouble and they hadn¡¯t evene out yet. Just thinking about it was already making his head ache. Despite this worry, the strongest emotions that he felt right now at the thought of finally having his first flesh and blood human children with the woman he loved were joy, excitement, and pure, overflowing love.

    With a soft smile on his face, he stood up and carried his wife directly to the bed without saying anything. She yelped but he pretended not to hear. The woman needed to sleep soon and that was final.

 Chapter 947 - Not Too Easy, Not Too Difficult

    <h4>Chapter 947 - Not Too Easy, Not Too Difficult </h4>

    After carefully cing his wife on the bed, Jin Liwei instructed Ketchup and Bacon to power down their mom¡¯s portableputer station. It was an impressive andpleteputer set-up customized to fit in a single,rge suitcase that could transform into a desk once unfolded. He knew that his wife had other such special suitcases in different sizes with built-inputer systems of varying performance levels.

    Iris kept yawning but said that she didn¡¯t want to sleep yet because her stomach was still full from the soup. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t force her to sleep and instead chatted with her for a few minutes.

    The couple bid their AI children good night. Ketchup and Bacon obeyed their dad¡¯s instruction and turned off their mom¡¯s portableputer station.

    "Don¡¯t be upset with the kids," Iris whispered while cuddling with Jin Liwei on the bed. "They didn¡¯t mean to disturb our sleep. I¡¯m d that they alerted us because the hacker they battled is quite tough and skilled. They would¡¯ve been in danger if they hadn¡¯t called me for help."

    "I understand, love. I¡¯m not upset with the kids at all. In fact, I¡¯m also very d that you were able to rescue Ketchup and Bacon in time. I don¡¯t want a repeat of what happened to Ketchup before when she almost got caught."

    She sighed in relief.

    Then he asked, "How was the opponent? Did you have some trouble dealing with him? Or was he too easy for you?"

    She thought for a moment before answering. "He wasn¡¯t too easy to deal with but neither was he too difficult for me. I had a couple of difficulties while battling him. The first one was defeating him quickly and aggressively while making sure to protect Ketchup and Bacon. I won¡¯t allow any other hacker to harm even a single strand of our children¡¯s data. Ensuring their safety will always be one of my top priorities.

    "The second trouble I had involves my currentck of stamina and overall energy." She sighed again, this time from resignation. "The things that I could usually do are now severely limited because of my pregnant body."

    Silence.

    In a careful but neutral tone, Jin Liwei asked, "Do you regret bing pregnant?"

    She looked shocked at his question. "No! I don¡¯t regret bing pregnant with your babies." There was a panicked expression on her face as she sat up so that she could exin herself properly to him. "I may have some deep-seated fears and reservations about bing a mother but that has nothing to do with regret! Liwei, I¡¯m happy that I¡¯m carrying your babies. Truly. Please believe me."

    He caressed her face, a soft smile ying on his lips. "I believe you."

    She dropped back on the bed again and released a big sigh of relief. "I know that it may sound contradictory but I really am happy to be pregnant with our twins. It¡¯s just that...how do I say this? The state of my body while I¡¯m pregnant is really not that fun."

    It his turn to sigh now. "I know, love. And I¡¯m sorry that you have to suffer so much because I got you pregnant."

    Sheid her head on his chest and took a deep inhale of his scent. "It¡¯s fine. I can bear it."

    "It¡¯s because you¡¯re a strong woman."

    Her response was a smile. Then her eyes closed and she fell asleep in the next second. <i></i>

    "Good night, wife," he murmured, kissing her forehead and stroking her hair.

    He held her close and looked at the wooden ceiling of their bedroom. When he was sure that his wife was in deep sleep, he called his AI son.

    "Father, Bacon is here," the kid¡¯s soft and polite voice immediately responded.

    "Tell me everything that happened."

    "Understood, Father."

    Bacon began describing what happened in clear and concise words. Since Jin Liwei didn¡¯t take part in the hacking battle and even left the bedroom to get some food for his wife, he didn¡¯t know the specific details.

    To summarize the events, Ketchup had been busy leading the Slippers Army on the web to publicly shame the matrons who badmouthed Wei Lan and Iris at an exclusive secret restaurant located at a five-star hotel. At the same time, she was also using her main hacker ount named WhiteTigress to dig up some private information about the high society matrons.

    Then another hacker attacked her all of a sudden. She fought against the opponent for a few minutes before discovering that he was tougher than she initially thought, so she sent a distress signal to her younger brother.

    Bacon immediately dropped all his work at Shadow Winds to assist his older sister upon learning about her current situation. They worked together in battling the hacker. Bacon focused on attacking while Ketchup activated a powerful defence system and offered strategic support to her younger brother whenever he needed it.

    They were doing well in the beginning and were able to go head-to-head against the opponent but the other hacker suddenly revved up and started to overwhelm the two siblings. Realizing that they were in trouble, Ketchup immediately sent an emergency alert to their parents.

    Jin Liwei already remembered what happened at that point. He and his wife were actually awake during that time. She woke up to pee while her movements awakened him. In a sense, they were all lucky that she had been awake even if it was just by coincidence and was able to immediately go into action to rescue their AI children in time.

    Iris was extremely difficult to wake up once in deep sleep. Being pregnant had made her more prone to waking up on her own because of difort but it still didn¡¯t change the fact that she always slept deeply.

    "And that¡¯s what happened, Father," Bacon said, his bored tone never changing.

    "You did well in immediately running to help your sister," Jin Liwei praised his AI son.

    "Thank you, Father. It¡¯s only normal. Big Sister Ketchup is Bacon¡¯s sister and I want to protect our family."

    "En."

    Jin Liwei was pleased. Indeed, the kid was definitely his son.

 Chapter 948 - Bacon And Blackmail

    <h4>Chapter 948 - Bacon And ckmail </h4>

    Jin Liwei then focused next on the part about some high society matrons badmouthing his wife and viscountess mother-inw, Wei Lan. He didn¡¯t want to interrupt Bacon from talking earlier so he only asked about it now even though it bothered him as soon as he heard it.

    "Oh oh oh, let the cute but not so mighty Ketchup exin this part, Daddy! Meow~"

    "Alright, Ketchup. But speak softly. Your mom is sleeping."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Ketchup will be super-duper quiet. Promise! Meow~"

    And indeed, her voice became softer but her usual infectious enthusiasm remained. Then she began recounting about what the waiter from the exclusive secret restaurant shared in the ck Stars¡¯ members-only forum.

    "Ketchup tried very hard to find some footage regarding the incident in the exclusive restaurant, Daddy," she told him. "But someone already tampered with the surveince system and deleted the part when Grandma Wei Lan was inside the restaurant. Bacon and Ketchup want to dig more but Mommy told us kitty babies not to do anything in the next few days that might endanger us again before she reconfigures our systems. Meow~"

    A furrow formed between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows. "Who tampered with the surveince? The hacker you battled tonight?"

    It was Bacon who answered. "It¡¯s possible, Father. Since he attacked Big Sister Ketchup while she was trying to dig private information about those despicable high society hags, then we can assume that the hacker might be rted to them or maybe about the incident involving Grandmother Wei Lan at the exclusive restaurant. We just don¡¯t know how yet."

    "Mommy says that she¡¯ll investigate it," Ketchup piped in.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened. "I don¡¯t want your mom doing all the work by herself in this matter. It¡¯s not safe to exhaust her. Bacon, go and inform your Uncle Zihao about what happened tonight. I¡¯m sure that he has ways to help us."

    "Understood, Father. Bacon can personally guarantee that Shadow Winds¡¯ hacker team, ShaWn, will always be willing to help Mother because they all look up to Drakon. Even if Uncle Zihao doesn¡¯t help, I can still ckmail the members of ShaWn to secretly assist us."

    "I...see."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched at the way his AI son easily revealed his intention of ckmailing his current colleagues to help them. For a moment, he contemted on whether to lecture Bacon about the morality of ckmail but eventually just let it be.

    He and his wife had no intention of raising their children to be saints in the future. If someone harmed them, then they should not just endure the pain and keep silent. That was just priming themselves for others to take advantage of them.

    There were times when enduring was eptable but not always. Doing so was only pure stupidity. The children of Jin Liwei and Long Xin (Evelina Vetrova) shouldn¡¯t be stupid. If they ended up stupid, then he and his wife would¡¯ve really failed in being parents.

    Striving for peace was a goal in life but if others kept on provoking them, why shouldn¡¯t they retaliate?

    Based on his experience as an elite businessman, diplomacy didn¡¯t always work. Sometimes it was necessary to threaten the other party in order to gain an advantageous deal. This principle was also applicable in life.

    His AI son, Bacon, had an extremely hostile personality masked by his usual bored politeness. Those who didn¡¯t know about his true nature were all deceived by his mature way of speaking despite having the voice of child. Many of their household staff at Dragon Pce Home #10, especially the female employees, had already fallen in love with him. There were those who preferred his "gentle and quiet nature" over his Big Sister Ketchup¡¯s bubbly and talkative personality.

    He was a true two-faced crook who was already learning various ways to charm his unsuspecting victims into making them do his will. There were only perhaps two people in the world that he could never fully deceive¡ªnamely, his father Jin Liwei and Uncle Lu Zihao. Even his mother wasn¡¯tpletely immune to his deceptive charms.

    One of Iris¡¯ biggest weaknesses was her inability to say no to her children¡¯s requests especially whenever they started acting cute to her. Without Jin Liwei¡¯s firm hand in disciplining their children, she would spoil all of them with no reservations.

    As long as Bacon didn¡¯t go too far, wouldn¡¯t harm innocent people, and was acting in the best interests of their family, then Jin Liwei had no problem with the kid ckmailing others if it was for the sake of a justified cause.

    "Uncle Zihao is currently sleeping at Aunt Jinjing¡¯s condo," Bacon said, interrupting Jin Liwei¡¯s thoughts. "Should Bacon wake him up?"

    Jin Liwei was about to say "No, wait for your uncle to wake up" but changed his mind the next second and instead said, "Yes, just wake him up. Having a few hours less sleep shouldn¡¯t bother him too much."

    "Understood, Father. Bacon will now go and wake up Uncle Zihao. I will report back to youter of his decision."

    "En."

    Bacon left. <i></i>

    Then a sweet child¡¯s voice spoke next. "Daddy? May the cute and still a little mighty Ketchup request something from you? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nced at his wife to make sure that she was still in deep sleep. Seeing that she didn¡¯t stir one bit, he sighed in relief.

    "What is it?"

    "Oh oh oh, it¡¯s like this, Daddy! Meow~"

    Ketchup told him about the waiter at the exclusive restaurant who revealed what happened between Wei Lan and some high society matrons and how they fought after badmouthing Iris.

    "He says that he might get fired if it was discovered that he was the one who exposed the truth to the public. Ketchup promised him that the cute and still a little mighty me will ask my daddy to call the restaurant owner so myrade won¡¯t get fired. Can Daddy do that, pretty please? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. "It¡¯s true that I can contact the restaurant owner."

    "Then Daddy agrees to Ketchup¡¯s request? Yay yay! Meow~"

    He thought about it for a few seconds.

    "No."

 Chapter 949 - Bestest Daddy In The Whole Wide World

    <h4>Chapter 949 - Bestest Daddy In The Whole Wide World </h4>

    Ketchup¡¯s utter shock at her dad¡¯s rejection of her request reverberated in the bedroom in the total silence that followed after his firm no. It took her exactly ten seconds before she was able to speak again. Fortunately she had a robust system that was periodically improved by her mom in addition to her powerful self-learning function that prevented her emotions from short-circuiting herself.

    "Why, Daddy? Meowuwuwu!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched but he forced himself to be strict to his overdramatic AI daughter. "I¡¯m somewhat acquainted to the owner because he gifted me with a tinum membership some years ago which is the highest level in his exclusive restaurant. But I never used it nor did I ever visit his ce because I don¡¯t like him. He¡¯s an arrogant bastard¡ªI mean, he¡¯s an arrogant man. Ketchup, pretend that I didn¡¯t say that bad word."

    Ketchup snickered. "Okie dokie, Daddy! Ehehehe. Meow~"

    "As I was saying, that man is arrogant and always trying to fawn over people he believes will elevate his status and reputation. He always made me ufortable so I didn¡¯t bother interacting with him. In fact, I already forgot about that man until you reminded me of him tonight. The reason I rejected your request is not because I don¡¯t want to help you¡ªI do¡ªbut I simply don¡¯t want to give a slimy person like him an opportunity to make me owe him a favour."

    "Oh! Ketchup understands, Daddy! Yes, we shouldn¡¯t interact with poopoo-heads who¡¯ll take advantage of our happy family! It¡¯s fine, Daddy. Ketchup will just exin to my waiterrade that the cute and still a little mighty me can¡¯t help save his job this time if he gets fired. Meow..."

    Jin Liwei froze when his wife shifted positions toy on her other side. When he was sure that she was in deep sleep again, he gently extricated himself from her and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek before leaving the bed. He continued his conversation with Ketchup outside the bedroom in the suite¡¯s living area to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t disturb his wife.

    "I only said that I¡¯m not willing to talk to the owner of the exclusive restaurant," he told his AI daughter. "I didn¡¯t say that I¡¯m not going to help yourrade."

    "Oh oh oh! Daddy wants to help Ketchup¡¯srade? How? Meow!"

    "Tell yourrade that it¡¯s better to quit his job at the exclusive restaurant instead of waiting on pins and needles to get fired. Jin Corporation has several subsidiarypanies in the hospitality industry. I also personally invest in many high-ss hotels and restaurants around the world so rmending a person to work at any of them should be a simple matter. They might not be exclusive to only a few VIPs but they should have more opportunities for career improvement, not only in this country but also abroad. And anytime that he¡¯s able to get promoted, the pay and benefits will surely increase as well."

    "Oh wow, Daddy! That¡¯s super-duper awesome! You¡¯re the bestest daddy in the whole wide world forever and ever! Meow~"

    He chuckled, not the least bit bothered that his AI daughter was fawning over him when he was justining about the fawning attitude of the exclusive restaurant owner. Which father wouldn¡¯t want his own daughter to fawn over him? A heartless one! And he, Jin Liwei, was not a heartless father! He loved all of his children, especially since their mother was the woman he loved the most in the world.

    "Give yourrade Xu Tian¡¯s number," he instructed.

    "Which number, Daddy? Tiantian has more than one. Meow~"

    He paused before saying, "His private mobile. That should give yourrade an instant reply from Xu Tian. No harm in giving that number since yourrade is getting a personal rmendation from me. Anyone who¡¯s loyal to your mom deserves kindness from our family."

    "That¡¯s right, egg white! Oh, Ketchup can¡¯t wait to tell myrade about Daddy¡¯s super-duper special work offer! He¡¯ll be excited for sure! Meow~"

    Then he remembered something. "Don¡¯t tell him that the offer came from Jin Liwei or he might make the connection that I¡¯m your father. On paper, your mom and I are still childless. People might start rumours saying that I had a lovechild before getting together with your mom or other crazy gossip. You know that your mom is a celebrity and the public loves making things up about her. Also remember that you and your younger brother are both a special existence. If other people were to know about the two of you, their greed would awaken and they would want to snatch you away from me and your mom."

    "What?! Noooooooo! The cute and still a little mighty Ketchup doesn¡¯t want to be snatched away by evil people! I¡¯m scared, Daddy! Meowuwuwuwu!"

    "Don¡¯t be scared. Your mom and I won¡¯t let anyone snatch you and Bacon or any of your siblings from us. I just want you to remember to always be careful."

    "Okay, Daddy. We kitty babies will always be careful. Meow...."

    The father and AI daughter continued to chat about other things. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t feel sleepy anymore. Seeing his wife battling against another hacker to protect their children even though she had to deal with difficult pregnancy symptoms made him feel restless. He needed to increase his strength, power, and influence and also expand his avenues of resources in order to protect their family better.

    His wife was a very capable woman but he also needed to be a firm and indestructible pir of support for her all the time for the rest of their lives. <i></i>

    She was like Bacon, the main offence who had the extreme firepower to annihte their enemies, while he was like Ketchup, the one who could offer reliable defence and support systems.

    He would forever honour his wedding vow to her, and in this case, the part when he promised to help her bully back those foolish enough to bully her and also to provide her with a rocket booster and unlimited fuel supply if she wanted to reach higher than ever.

 Chapter 950 - Ketchup And Baconâ€™s Special Training

    <h4>Chapter 950 - Ketchup And Bacon¡¯s Special Training </h4>

    The next morning, or noon to be exact, Iris woke up naturally when the bright rays of sunlight poured in the bedroom through the sheer curtains. She heard some rustling noises. When she turned, she saw her husband reading the local newspaper by the coffee table. He also heard her rising from the bed.

    "Good morning, my beautiful wife," he greeted with a big smile.

    She responded with a big but still sleepy smile of her own. "Morning, husband."

    Just from his fresh appearance, she knew that he was already long done with his morning routine. Unlike her who had irregr schedule due to her showbiz work andpanies, Jin Liwei was a creature of habit who preferred to eat, work and sleep at the same time every single day. Despite this, he was always willing to adjust his routine in order to match her schedule so that they could spend more time together. For that, she would always be grateful to him.

    Later after lunch, a freshly showered Iris joined her husband for a rxing walk around the scenic parts of the ind. Everything was private so there was only the two of them besides the asional local staff who would greet them with great enthusiasm.

    Iris told Jin Liwei more about the hacker that she and their AI children battledtest night. She wasn¡¯t able to tell him the specific detailsst night because of her exhaustion and sleepiness. Fortunately, he already knew most of them after Bacon and Ketchup gave him a summary of what happened. She only needed to fill in the gaps.

    "The hacker is familiar to us," she revealed.

    His eyebrows lifted in question.

    She told him about the opponent¡¯s hacker name and when they first encountered him.

    He scowled. "He¡¯s that son of a bitch?"

    "Yes. I¡¯m pretty sure that it¡¯s him but there¡¯s something a bit off. His techniques were a little more limitedst night than thest time I battled against him. He was also slower in reacting. Maybe it¡¯s because I was more aggressive this time in order to protect Ketchup and Bacon at the same time? Hmmm...."

    Although he was filled with worry, he didn¡¯t interrupt his wife while she analyzed the difference in the other hacker¡¯s skills from thest time they faced off against him and fromst night. <i></i>

    "It feels as if..." Her eyes lit up as an idea entered her mind. "He had a more varied set of techniques thest time. The speed of his reaction was faster, too. What if...what if he wasn¡¯t alone thest time we battled but was alonest night? If we go along with that angle, the whole situation makes so much sense! After all, it¡¯s possible to have several people using a single hacker name."

    He thought about what she said and asked, "Do you mean something like your brother¡¯s hacker team, ShaWn?"

    "Exactly! They¡¯re known in the hackermunity as a single hacker but they¡¯re actually a group working as one."

    His worry deepened. "Does that mean that we have to widen our scope of investigations regarding that hacker? Or if your analysis is correct, a group of hackers?"

    She nodded. "Unfortunately, we have to do it. I¡¯ve had some sess digging up some small clues in thest few months. I know that ShaWn is also working on it but the clues they gathered aren¡¯t any better than mine. Ketchup is also looking but only for superficial clues that ShaWn and I might miss. I¡¯m not yet ready to allow her to dig for more sensitive clues. She might fall in danger again.

    "As for Bacon, maybe this investigation is also part of his work at Shadow Winds. I¡¯m not sure. I don¡¯t really ask about the specific details of his work at my big brother¡¯s group even though I know that child won¡¯t hesitate to tell me everything."

    "I do," he whispered, finally telling her the truth.

    However, she missed this important admission because her mind was too focused on her current analysis. "I really suspect that there¡¯s a more powerful hacker supporting the hacker we battledst night. I already shared this suspicion with you the first time we faced him if you remember."

    "En, I remember."

    She stopped under a nice shade of palm trees and sat on a huge boulder to rest. Jin Liwei sat beside her. Even though the sun was zing high in the sky, it wasn¡¯t too hot because of the cool breeze blowing directly from the ocean.

    "There¡¯s still so many things that I need to do," she said. "I have to fortify both Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s systems and train them through various simtions to handle simr attacks in the future on their own. This will increase their safety and give us more peace of mind."

    "Sounds good, love. But don¡¯t do all these things at the same time. Space them out so you can get proper rest in between."

    "I know, darling,"

    And that was what she did in the next couple of days. She started tweaking Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s configurations to make their systems more efficient. In addition, she designed various simtions for the two AI children to undergo special training. Since the two had powerful self-learning functions, they didn¡¯t need to repeat the same simtion for a second time. Iris only had to adjust the difficulty level a little bit each time and observe how they reacted in order to analyze the level of their improvements.

    It was Bacon who showed the most improvement during the special training, mostly because he was an offence-oriented AI hacker. He performed very well in quickly defeating an enemy, but at the same time, he was also more vulnerable to counterattacks.

    This was where Ketchup¡¯s strength was extremely important. Not only did she have to defend both herself and her brother but also provide whatever necessary support Bacon needed in order tounch a sessful attack. In this sense, she had a much more difficult job, albeit a slightly less mourous one, than her brother. Thus, it was harder for her to train and her progress was slower.

 Chapter 951 - Lecture

    <h4>Chapter 951 - Lecture </h4>

    Despite the difference in the levels of improvement between Ketchup and Bacon, Iris didn¡¯t favour one over the other. She was equally thorough in training each of them and emphasizing the importance of teamwork.

    "You are individuals with your own set of strengths and weaknesses," she lectured them in their current session. "But in a hacking battle especially against someone who has better skills than you two, always remember that you should fight as one unit."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Understood, Mother."

    Iris studied the simtion results on the screen of her portableputer station. "I think it would be better if I could streamline the connection between your systems so that you can share datamands faster."

    "Mother, Bacon is against this idea. I don¡¯t want Big Sister Ketchup instantly knowing what¡¯s on my mind. This is a breach of my privacy rights. Allowing my sister to have direct ess to my system as if it¡¯s her own is also not ssy."

    "Hmph! Bacon you big meanie, how dare you talk like that about Ketchup who is your super-duper to the highest level awesome big sister?! Unlike this super-duper to the highest level big meanie beside me, Ketchup doesn¡¯t mind Mommy¡¯s n because we¡¯re all one big happy family! Right, Mommy? Meow~"

    Bacon silently bared the ws of one ck, fluffy paw and waved it threateningly at his sister.

    "Eeek! Mommy, look! Bacon is being a big meanie to Ketchup! Mreow!"

    Jin Liwei happened to pass by at this time. Before Iris could stop the AI children from fighting, her husband was already marching towards them with a stern scowl on his face.

    "Bacon!"

    "Eeeek! Meowuwuwu!" Ketchup was frightened by her dad¡¯s scary roar and curled into a tight ball while crying.

    Bacon immediately retracted his ws and sat silently, his head and shoulders shrinking a little, as he watched his furious dad.

    "We never point weapons at our family," Jin Liwei told him in a soft but angry tone. "Ever. Even if it¡¯s just a joke, I won¡¯t allow it!"

    "Liwei..." Iris reached out to him in an effort to calm him down and take it easy on Bacon.

    "Evelina, this child needs to learn this lesson as early as possible. If we don¡¯t correct him now, he might one day hurt his sister by ident."

    She looked torn but didn¡¯t stop him in the end.

    Jin Liwei continued ring at his AI son. Bacon was blinking his golden eyes that became bigger and remorseful, looking extremely adorable and totally different from his usual stone face. His tail was slowly swishing back and forth in a very hesitant manner. Jin Liwei felt himself softening but was able to catch himself in time. This kid¡¯s charm was bing more potent. How dangerous!

    Taking a few deep breaths, Jin Liwei made his severe expression a little gentler before lecturing Bacon in all seriousness until the ck AI cat apologized to his Big Sister Ketchup and their parents.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t do it again. From now on, Bacon will only attack other people especially our enemies and never members of our family."

    "Good." Jin Liwei¡¯s expression finally rxed after hearing Bacon¡¯s promise. "Your punishment for today¡¯s misdemeanour will be dyed another day since your mother is still busy working on your training and configurations at this time."

    Bacon¡¯s tail drooped. "Under...stood, Father." Even his usual bored fa?ade cracked a little after his dad told him that he still needed to be punished despite already apologizing.

    Although Iris felt sorry for Bacon, she agreed with her husband¡¯s firm way of disciplining their children. She knew that she was incapable of doing the same thing as Jin Liwei. For now, she was relieved that everything ended well without a big fight. Bacon was obedient at least. She hoped that he would remain so in the future.

    Since her husband was already here, she pulled him to sit beside her and exined all the processes in the simtions she designed for their AI children¡¯s special training. He didn¡¯t understand the most difficult technical parts but he was intelligent enough to get the gist of things.

    While she was exining Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s differing performances in their training and also her ideas on how to improve their systems based on their overall results, Jin Liwei also shared some suggestions based on his level of understanding. Although his technical knowledge in this highly specialized field was limited, his sharp logical thinking that contributed to his current status as one of the top business leaders in the world helped him provide Iris with some rather great ideas.

    She was about to start expanding on one of his ideas when he put a stop to it.

    "You¡¯ve worked for too long already," he told her. "Isn¡¯t this the usual time that you have your afternoon nap? You should rest again and continue this another time."

    Her first instinct was to insist that she was fine and could work a little longer but her body immediately betrayed her. Upon hearing his reminder that it was nap time, she was assaulted by a huge yawn. It was as if a big bucket of drowsiness was thrown over her head. She felt sleepy all of a sudden even when she was feeling fine just a few seconds ago.

    In the end, she was unable to fight off sleep nor did she want to. After all, her body needed to recharge more often to rece all the energy it was using up to grow two human beings. <i></i>

    Overseeing their AI children¡¯s special training became part of the couple¡¯s everyday routine. Jin Liwei insisted on learning enough of the simtions¡¯ controls so that he could oversee the special training by himself to give more rest time for Iris.

    If other people were to know how the newlyweds spent the majority of their honeymoon, they would be shocked about how unexciting it waspared to their perception of how the rich and famous usually lived.

    Iris and Jin Liwei barely left the private ind. Most of their "fun" activities were quiet, rxing and intimate. Despite this, the two of them felt very content and wouldn¡¯t change a thing about their honeymoon.

 Chapter 952 - A Few Days Left Until The End

    <h4>Chapter 952 - A Few Days Left Until The End </h4>

    "Don¡¯t always depend on Bacon to do the most difficult tasks I assigned to your team," Lu Zihao scolded a member of his hacker team on the phone. "I know that he has made your work so much easier and more convenient but I didn¡¯t borrow him from my sister¡ªcorrection, I didn¡¯t ¡¯hire¡¯ the kid to work for me so that all of you could bezy! A fucking AI child is outperforming all of you! If you don¡¯t get up yourzy asses, then what¡¯s the point of paying all of you? I might as well give all your sries to that money-grubbing rascal. He sure as hell can do all of your work and better!"

    He stopped to listen to his subordinate¡¯s apology and promise to work harder.

    "You better all work yourzy asses harder or watch me teach each of you a lesson the next time I return to the headquarters. I don¡¯t want to hear any more chickenshit whining about Bacon¡¯s absence!"

    After the phone call, Lu Zihao exhaled a long, frustrated breath. The truth was that it wasn¡¯t only his subordinates who were wishing for Bacon to return to work as soon as possible. He also felt the same way and inwardly cursed his brother-inw, Jin Liwei, for grounding the kid for a couple of days as punishment for some childish shit.

    Although he agreed that the little devil needed a firm hand of discipline, he thought that grounding was too much of an outdated form of punishment and extremely inconvenient especially if the child was a highly-advanced AI.

    The crisp cold air in the balcony helped clear Lu Zihao¡¯s frustration. When he finally calmed down, he was able to view their situation from a more pragmatic point of view. It was a good thing that he realized this early that his hacker team was on the way of bing too dependent on Bacon before it was toote and they became all useless.

    This was an issue that he needed to rectify as soon as possible. He needed to think of a better division ofbour among his hacker team so that nobody would rely too much on Bacon. His original intention for recruiting his AI nephew was to increase his hacker team¡¯s overall level, not weaken it!

    A dull headache began to throb around his brow area. He massaged it while thinking about the new development in one of the cases his group was investigating that involved his younger sister. <i></i>

    When Bacon woke him up through an insistent phone call in the middle of the night after he just managed to fall asleep post-coitus with Long Jinjing a few nights ago, he immediately agreed to the little devil¡¯s request for assistance despite his annoyance at being disturbed. It concerned his sister, after all. She was pregnant and didn¡¯t need to take up more work by herself.

    Just when he wanted to rev up their investigations, however, his brother-inw just had to ground Bacon. Damn the man for ruining his ns! But perhaps this was a good thing because it taught him a lesson not to rely too much on an AI for everything, especially one that didn¡¯t belong exclusively to him. Borrowing the little devils¡¯ term, he just hired a "frencer".

    The balcony door opened and Long Jinjing poked her head out. She immediately shivered from the cold.

    "Niki, you¡¯ve stayed outside for too long. Aren¡¯t you cold? You¡¯re not wearing a jacket, for goodness¡¯ sake! What if you get sick?"

    He already mastered his current body¡¯s capacity and knew that it could endure this little bit of cold. However, he frowned after seeing Long Jinjing¡¯s nose turn red. A secondter, she sneezed.

    "Go back inside," he told her.

    "You go back inside, too," she insisted. "Dinner is ready. It¡¯s time to eat."

    "Alright. Let¡¯s go."

    He followed her inside. As soon as the balcony door closed behind him, he grabbed her.

    "No!" She tried twisting away from him. "Your skin feels too cold! I don¡¯t want¡ª"

    He lowered his head and gave her a hard, open-mouthed kiss. His tongue pried her lips open and conquered everything inside her mouth once again.

    Very soon, she stopped struggling and trying to get away from him due to his cold skin because the kiss quickly heated both of them up. Her arms wrapped around his neck and a soft half-moan and half-whimper escaped from her lips directly into his mouth.

    His response was a low growl as he tightened his arms around her petite body and lifted her up until her feet was off the floor. A great wave of possessiveness filled him as he deepened their kiss even more.

    Then the sound of a ringing phone interrupted them. It was a call for him. He ignored it and continued kissing his woman. However, the fucking shit kept on ringing. His brows wrinkled in a deep frown but he still attempted to ignore the damn phone.

    In the end, it was Long Jinjing who couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. She forcefully detached her now swollen lips from him.

    "Y-your phone."

    He tried to pull her again but she blocked his face with both hands.

    "Niki, your phone!"

    He released a long string of explicit Russian curses before fishing out his phone from his pocket. When he saw that it was his subordinate who was in charge of the procurement of weapons for Shadow Winds, all emotions immediately disappeared from his face. He went out to the balcony again without another word.

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t stop him, knowing that it must be a call from his work which she agreed not to interfere with. It was a little unnerving to see Lu Zihao looking aroused one moment and then cold and emotionless the next second. However, she already got used to it to some degree because it had happened a few times before.

    Not knowing if the phone call was going to be long or short, all she could do was wait for him so that they could eat dinner together. They only had a few days left until the end of their agreed rtionship after all.

 Chapter 953 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    <h4>Chapter 953 - (Title Is A Spoiler) </h4>

    It was almost half an hourter when Lu Zihao finally finished the phone call. Something unpleasant must have happened at his work because his aura when he once again returned inside the unit was quite scary. Fortunately, he noticed her wariness and immediately retracted his leaking bloodthirst.

    She smiled at him and called him over to the small dining table. "I reheated the food. Let¡¯s eat. It¡¯s gettingte."

    He made a sound of agreement. As usual, he kept her close by his side while eating. One arm was wrapped around her waist while the other was used to move the chopsticks.

    It took Long Jinjing quite some time before she got used to this kind of closeness during meals. Now, however, it felt normal to her to the point that she would start missing his body heat during times that she had to eat without him.

    In the days following her sister¡¯s wedding, there was a restless energy between her and Lu Zihao. She tried several times broaching the subject of their breakup but he would always refuse to talk about it. All she wanted was to rify everything with him so that there would hopefully be no bad feelings between them after their agreement was supposed to end in a few more days. It was clear to her that he had been avoiding the topic of their breakup.

    She couldn¡¯t help but feel a little frustrated and helpless that he was so uncooperative regarding this matter. However, she also had to admit that their rtionship had improved so much after her sister¡¯s wedding.

    For some reason, he had be gentler with her¡ªwell, not in bed. He was still a rough beast most of the time whenever they had sex especially after they stopped using condoms. That alone made him extra enthusiastic and energetic in bed. His previous lethargy was long gone.

    After dinner, he not only helped clear the table of dirty dishes but also rinsed everything she washed. This had be their routine whenever they ate together. <i></i>

    There was also that one time when he tried helping her cook but it turned out to be a big failure. She never expected him to know his way around the kitchen but still allowed him to wash some vegetables while she did all of the chopping, slicing, and the other preparations. For the most part, he only stood on the side and watched her while she busied herself cooking their dinner.

    The problem was that after she returned from a quick bathroom break, she found out that he had dumped a bunch of random condiments, herbs and spices into the simmering food without any regard to the shing tastes.

    "More vour should make it more delicious" was what he said.

    Right at that moment, she felt like the tall, big, muscled and devilishly handsome Mr. Yummylicious standing in front of her was like an innocent kid sometimes. In the end, the food had be inedible. Shun and Robin had to order and deliver takeout for them instead.

    Back to the present, they finished washing all the dishes and lounged on the couch in the living room while watching TV. This had also be a routine to them. He quickly learned that she needed some down time to digest her food before feeling ready to get down and dirty with him in bed for the rest of the night.

    Taking a deep breath, Long Jinjing sat up straight and faced Lu Zihao. He nced at her with a raised eyebrow but otherwise didn¡¯t say anything and waited for her to speak first instead.

    "Niki, I think we should talk about the end of our¡ª"

    "No."

    His eyes returned to the TV, indicating his clear refusal to talk to her about the topic.

    Sighing, she grabbed the remote and turned off the TV so that he wouldn¡¯t have it as a reason for distraction.

    "Let¡¯s talk, please."

    "No."

    The urgent feeling consumed her. She no longer had any patience to deal with his stubbornness, so she snapped at him. "I want to talk!"

    His aura became scary once again but she didn¡¯t care. They red at each other. If this was before, she would¡¯ve been the first one to look away. But right now, she had no intention of backing down.

    "We need to talk, Niki," she told him in a firm voice.

    He continued ring at her for a few more seconds but finally sighed in frustrated resignation upon realizing that she wasn¡¯t going to change her mind this time. He crossed his arms over his wide chest and looked surly.

    "Fine," he said and gestured for her to start speaking.

    Finally! She felt relieved that he was now willing to talk at least. At the same time, she also felt nervous.

    "We both agreed to end our rtionship after 30 days¡ª"

    "It wasn¡¯t me who thought up that condition in the terms of our agreement."

    She became momentarily speechless at his using tone. "You agreed to it, Niki."

    "I agreed to it¡ªno, I agreed to ALL of your terms because I wanted to fuck you so badly. If I didn¡¯t agree, you wouldn¡¯t let me sleep with you again after our one-night stand."

    Her rare temper red at his words and tone. "Well, Young Master Lu¡ª"

    His temper also red. "Don¡¯t call me like that. My name is Niki!"

    "Fine! Well, Niki, I already knew from the beginning that all you wanted from me is a convenient body to...to...f-fuck¡ª"

    "Yes."

    The words she was about to say next failed toe out of her mouth after hearing his whispered admission. It was so hard to breathe all of a sudden. Her chest felt tight. Her eyes also started to water. However, she wouldn¡¯t allow herself to cry. Not in front of him. The seconds of silence ticked by as she realized the pain his yes was causing her right now.

    Then he whispered, "That was what I thought at first."

    Her brows wrinkled in confusion.

    He looked at her straight in the eyes.

    "Jinjing, let¡¯s not break up yet."

    ###

    <i>Chapter Title: </i>Let¡¯s Not Break Up Yet

 Chapter 954 - Renegotiate

    <h4>Chapter 954 - Renegotiate </h4>

    Long Jinjing was stunned. She never expected for Lu Zihao to say these words. In fact, she thought that he would be the first one to say good riddance after the deadline of their rtionship and go on his merry way looking for another woman to satisfy his great and seemingly bottomless lust.

    Joy blossomed inside her heart but it onlysted for a moment. She caught the extra word he added at the end of his sentence.

    "Let¡¯s not break up YET?" she repeated his exact words but said it as a question.

    His expression was serious as he nodded. "We¡¯re still enjoying each other. I like our current rtionship and I know that you like it, too. If it¡¯s like this, then we should continue this rtionship and see where it takes us."

    "But our agreement says¡ª"

    "Fuck our original agreement. We¡¯re renegotiating right now."

    She bit her lower lip and looked away from him to prevent his handsome face from swaying her to his will. Needing some space so that she could think clearly, she stood up and walked away to create some distance between them. Then she began to pace back and forth in the living room as she thought about his suggestion.

    He only watched, not saying anything more, though displeasure shed in his eyes when she left his side. <i></i>

    Finally, she stopped pacing and faced him. "I disagree with this renegotiation. I think that it¡¯s best to honour our original agreement."

    He scowled. "I disagree with your refusal to renegotiate."

    "Niki, please don¡¯t make it hard for me."

    "In what way am I making this hard for you? Continuing our current rtionship is the easiest and most convenient thing that we can do right now because we don¡¯t have to adjust to any changes again."

    "So it¡¯s still a matter of convenience to you?"

    He let out a frustrated breath before standing up. He was about to walk to her but she raised a hand to stop him.

    "Jinjing," he growled and narrowed his eyes at her. "You¡¯re so against extending our rtionship beyond the 30-day mark. You don¡¯t like me anymore? That¡¯s why you can¡¯t wait to have me gone from your life? Is that it?"

    "I...no! That¡¯s not it...I mean...I¡¯m just...oh, Niki."

    She covered her face with both hands and felt embarrassed and frustrated at herself for not being able to convey her thoughts and emotions in a clear and proper manner. How could she when she couldn¡¯t even understand how she really felt with all the jumble of emotions going through her right now?

    Just as she was regretting her insistence of talking to Lu Zihao about their breakup, she found herself wrapped in a firm and warm¡ªno, it was a hot embrace. The man felt like there was a furnace on full st radiating heat from inside his body. She tried to struggle out of his embrace, knowing her weakness to his seduction, but he refused to let her go and tightened his arms around her instead.

    In the end, she stopped struggling and allowed herself to melt in his arms. She closed her eyes, rested her head on his chest, and also wrapped her arms around him.

    "Let¡¯s not break up anymore," his devilish voice murmured.

    Her arms tightened around his waist. She opened her eyes but didn¡¯t lift her face to look at him. "Niki."

    "Hm?"

    She hesitated and didn¡¯t speak right away. It was clear that she was struggling whether to tell him what she wanted to say or not.

    "Just spit it out, Jinjing."

    Taking a few deep breaths, she finally looked up and forced herself to look at him straight in the eyes. "Do you, uhm..." She shook her head and tried another way to start her question. "If we go by your suggestion and extend our rtionship beyond the 30 days that we originally agreed upon, how much longer do you think our...our r-rtionship will lst?"

    A frown drew his sharp brows together as he pondered her question. However, he didn¡¯t let her go, still keeping her tightly in his arms.

    In the end, he didn¡¯t have a clear answer and only said, "I don¡¯t know."

    She asked another question. "Do you...l-like me?"

    His reply was quick. "Of course, I like you."

    Her heart skipped a beat and started to race inside her chest.

    Then he added, "If I didn¡¯t like you, I won¡¯t bother trying to renegotiate our original agreement right now."

    "Oh." She bit her lip and tried to calm her now thundering heart. It was difficult but she forced herself to be brave and asked him, "Is there a p-possibility for...uhm, something more p-permanent between us? Even if it¡¯s just a little?"

    His frown deepened. "What do you mean? You want to marry me?"

    Panic filled her. "I...uhm..." She looked away. "M-maybe."

    He ended their embrace. The action cut through her and she felt humiliated. She wished that the ground could open up and swallow her whole so that she didn¡¯t need to face such a humiliating situation that she ced herself in.

    However, there was also a part of her that had no regrets. No matter what his response would be, and even if it hurt her, at least she was able to know his true intentions regarding this matter.

    Then Lu Zihao held her by the shoulders, forcing her to look in his eyes again, and shaking her a little. "Jinjing."

    "Y-yes?"

    "I¡¯m not suitable to be your husband."

    Tears flowed down her eyes without any warning. She felt her heart breaking right at that moment.

    He sighed and used his rough fingers to wipe her tears but they kept on flowing so he gave up on drying them. "You¡¯re a good woman, Jinjing. You deserve a good man who can give you a happy family for the rest of your life."

    "But you¡¯re a...g-good man, Niki!"

    "No, I¡¯m not. I¡¯m far from a good man. Many view me as a monster and they¡¯re right to think that way. I¡¯m not suitable for the kind of marriage that I know you¡¯ve been dreaming of, Jinjing."

 Chapter 955 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    <h4>Chapter 955 - (Title Is A Spoiler) </h4>

    Even though it hurt, Long Jinjing felt herself bing a little braver after Lu Zihao dashed any hopes for something more between them. Something broken would still be broken after breaking it into several more pieces after all. It would hurt more, yes, but at least she would have no regrets about things that could¡¯ve or should¡¯ve been.

    She wiped her tears with her long sleeves and was able to control her emotions better although notpletely.

    "I don¡¯t think that you¡¯re a monster, Niki," she told him in a soft, shaky voice. The conviction in her eyes when she said this, on the other hand, was very firm. "You may be a beast most of the time especially in...in...b-bed but that¡¯s because you¡¯re someone who¡¯s blessed with vigour. And...you may be r-rough and arrogant a lot of times but that doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re a monster."

    He looked at her with an emotionless face but she caught the sh of something in his eyes before he quickly concealed it. Appreciation, perhaps? She wasn¡¯t sure.<i> [This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l. c o m (remove spaces). If you¡¯re not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It¡¯s very discouraging to see thieves profiting from my hard work. Please support the original author, ArriaCross. Thank you!]</i>

    "That¡¯s because you don¡¯t know me that well yet, Jinjing," he said. "If you knew the real me, I guarantee that you¡¯ll run away screaming and curse me straight to hell."

    "Don¡¯t tell me how I should feel! You can¡¯t guarantee anything about my...my f-feelings! I can¡¯t even guarantee them myself. There¡¯s no way that you can predict exactly how I¡¯ll react in the future. And of course, I don¡¯t know the real you because you d-don¡¯t...you don¡¯t tell me anything! But that¡¯s...okay. I respect your right to p-privacy. I also agreed to your terms not to ask anything more about things that you want to keep a secret from me."

    He let her go again and sighed. This time, it was his turn to start pacing in the living room. Unlike her, he dominated the small space in just a few long steps, making it feel even smaller and more constricted.

    It wasn¡¯t like him to pace like this but Long Jinjing didn¡¯t notice because she was too caught up by the current emotionally-charged situation. If she could just think clearly, she might have noticed that in the past few days, he had started to slowly show more of his real emotions through this kind of little actions.

    Even Lu Zihao wasn¡¯tpletely aware that he had begun to reveal a part of his real self to Long Jinjing that only his sister knew from their unbreakable bond as blood siblings in their previous life and now as siblings of the soul. It just felt natural to openly disy some of his real emotions in front of his woman and not to always try hiding them from her like he always did before.

    His pacing back and forth didn¡¯tst long. He stopped and faced Long Jinjing again. There were subtle hints of helplessness, confusion and frustration in his eyes and his slightly tight jaw.

    "I¡¯m trying hard but I really don¡¯t understand why we have to talk about this. I just want to renegotiate our original agreement and extend our current rtionship beyond 30 days. And now you¡¯re crying and I can¡¯t make you stop. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed to do!"

    It was taking Long Jinjing all of her willpower not to start sobbing. Besides the hurt, helplessness filled her at hisck of understanding. It felt like they were trying tomunicate onpletely different frequencies. They might be speaking the samenguage but just couldn¡¯t connect properly to each other.

    "I¡¯m crying because I¡¯m hurt," she told him.

    Honesty was the best policy, she decided, especially regarding her feelings for him. Grandpa Lu was right. This man standing in front of her could be such a pinhead sometimes. If she didn¡¯t spell out her thoughts and feelings clearly to him, he would never understand her and would unwittingly continue being insensitive.

    "I¡¯m sorry if I hurt you."

    She smiled a little. "Thanks. I know."

    Then he looked like he realized something. "Does staying in this rtionship actually hurting you? Is that why you¡¯re refusing to renegotiate?"

    She hesitated a little before nodding.

    He was taken aback. "Howe? I don¡¯t understand."

    Her entire body started trembling but she straightened her spine and gathered all of her courage to say the following words.

    "Because I¡¯m...I¡¯m in love with you."

    Silence.

    "I love you, Niki."

    Her voice was a soft whisper but it was like thunderp to his ears. He froze and looked utterly shocked to the core.

    "I can¡¯t stay with you for longer than the 30 days that we originally agreed upon because I know...I just know that I¡¯ll fall in love with you more deeply with each passing day. The longer we stay in this r-rtionship that we have right now, the harder it will be for me to...let you go in the future, Niki."

    "Jinjing¡ª"

    "I knew since the beginning that we have no future together but...what can I do? I¡¯ve fallen in love with you. I don¡¯t know when it happened...but it just, well, happened. And after seeing my sister and brother-inw wedst week, I began to...I mean, uhm, I want to have a future with you, too. But that¡¯s clearly out of question because you don¡¯t want to have something long-term with me."

    If she wasn¡¯t so emotional right now, she would¡¯veughed at his current expression. He was literally shocked speechless.

    "I want to me my sister¡¯s wedding bouquet fornding on me when I wasn¡¯t trying to catch it in the first ce and you for catching the garter just because you didn¡¯t want other men putting it up my leg. I want to delude myself and say that it¡¯s because of the bouquet and garter that put the idea of...maybe that it¡¯s possible to m-marry you, and that maybe, just maybe, we can also have a future together just like my sister and brother-inw...but of course, all of these are just my pure, unadulterated delusions."

    Sheughed at herself in a mocking way.

    "I¡¯m so pathetic."

    Then the mockery turned to sadness.

    "Long Jinjing, a pathetic woman. That¡¯s me."

    ###

    <i>Chapter Title:</i>I Love You, Niki

 Chapter 956 - Three Days Left

    <h4>Chapter 956 - Three Days Left </h4>

    Lu Zihao became furious. "Never deride yourself like that ever again! Do you hear me? You¡¯re not pathetic!"

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t reply. A soft, sad smile lifted the corner of her lips but the effect didn¡¯t look pleasant. It made her appear more defeated instead.

    "Jinjing, don¡¯t fall in love with me," he told her next.

    "I already fell in love with you! I tried so hard, Niki! So hard! Do you understand?! I also didn¡¯t want this to happen! I did my best to...to suppress my f-feelings for you...but whenever we spend time together, I just found myself falling in love with you a little deeper."

    It was clear that he didn¡¯t know how to respond to her confession and hisck of response cut through her. It hurt so much but she already expected this from the moment she realized that she had fallen in love with him.

    "You call yourself a bad man, a monster, but to me, you¡¯re none of those things. You¡¯re not exactly a saint but...you always treated me as someone who¡¯s...who¡¯s d-desirable. And this is the first time that I felt this way, that I¡¯m a woman who can make a man d-desire me so much."

    "Because you¡¯re a desirable woman, Jinjing," he whispered. "Very desirable."

    She bit her lower lip and felt her painful heart still skipping a beat despite being broken by the man standing in front of her. What could be more pathetic than this?

    Then he added, "You¡¯re a beautiful and sexy woman. Smart, too. I just hope that you develop more confidence in yourself and stop always putting yourself down. You don¡¯t deserve to mistreat yourself like that."

    "See!" she eximed at him. "How are you a monster? You always try to boost my confidence whenever I...I drag myself down. But aren¡¯t you doing the same thing? You always call yourself a bad man, a monster, when it¡¯s clear that you¡¯re none of those. You¡¯re really not!"

    His eyes softened a little but his overall expression didn¡¯t change. It still lookedplicated with his inability to deal with her sudden confession and the entire situation. He also didn¡¯t say anything that would reveal whether he agreed or disagreed with her im that he wasn¡¯t a bad man and a monster.

    After her fevered speech, Long Jinjing felt like almost all of her energy had been drained. Her tears were still flowing but no longer as heavily as before. <i></i>

    "I¡¯m sorry for suddenly confessing my...my love for you."

    He scowled again. "I already told you to never¡ª"

    "I know. You don¡¯t like hearing me apologize. But I really am s-sorry because...I don¡¯t want you to feel like I¡¯m expecting s-something from you. Not at all. I never expected you to return my f-feelings in the first ce. I just wanted you to know that I l-love you...so that you¡¯ll understand why I¡¯m rejecting your suggestion to extend our current rtionship."

    He didn¡¯t know how to reply.

    She tried smiling in an effort to show him that everything was fine and that he had nothing to worry about but failed. Her poor attempt of a smile only made her look miserable, so she just stopped trying.

    "So...let¡¯s just break up, okay?"

    He turned and suddenly moved to punch the half-wall separating the living room and the kitchen. But before his fist could reach the wall, he stopped and bumped it lightly instead. Although he felt consumed by a frustrating rage, he still managed to remember that this unit was Long Jinjing¡¯s. He couldn¡¯t just damage it. If he did, she might be even more upset with him.

    The need to vent out his anger, to break something, to destroy whatever he got his hands on, gushed through him but he suppressed it with all his might. It was so damn difficult but even he knew that this wasn¡¯t the time to let out his inner monster and wreck everything in his path. He still needed to figure out a way to fix the situation with Long Jinjing.

    "Not yet," he hissed.

    "What?"

    "We¡¯re not breaking up yet."

    "What do you mean?"

    His nostrils red as he did his best to speak in a neutral, even tone. "Three days. We still have three days left until our agreement expires. If you really want to break up, we can break up then. But not before that."

    She opened her mouth but no words came out.

    "If you don¡¯t want to extend our rtionship, then fine. If that¡¯s what you want. But I¡¯m not going to allow you to break up with me tonight. No way in hell, Jinjing."

    "You still want to...to be with m-me even after my...confession?"

    "Yeah."

    She couldn¡¯t believe it. To be honest, she didn¡¯t know how to feel about it.

    On one hand, it felt good that he still liked her. She thought that he would leave right after learning that she had fallen in love with him. On another hand, it didn¡¯t seem like a good idea to stay in a rtionship that they both knew would end in three days. It kind of felt like marching to her own doom.

    Nevertheless, the temptation to spend more time with him even for just a few days appealed to her. She loved him after all. Of course, she would love to stay with him even after knowing that there was no future for anything more between them.

    "If you want to do anything during these three days, we¡¯ll do it," he told her. "I¡¯ll clear my schedule if necessary."

    Silence.

    "Jinjing."

    "Anything?" she asked.

    "Yeah."

    "What do you want in exchange?"

    His expression turned ugly but he quickly controlled it. "I want to continue fucking you, toe inside you again and again, until it¡¯s time for us to break up."

    She trembled and looked away, feeling shy even with the current situation. "I...okay."

    He breathed a sigh of relief but she didn¡¯t see it because she was still looking away. "What do you want to do?"

    "Uhm..."

    "Anything, Jinjing. I promise."

    She looked at him. "I want to go on a date with you. A proper date."

    "Done."

 Chapter 957 - Apology And Compensation

    <h4>Chapter 957 - Apology And Compensation </h4>

    Later that night, Long Jinjing needed some time alone to think through everything that just happened during her emotionally-charged talk with Lu Zihao and her sudden love confession to him. She took a long, hot bath in the tub and spent almost fifteen minutes just staring nkly at the bathroom tiles in front of her.

    Half an hourter when her skin started to wrinkle from soaking in the water for too long, she finally decided to finish her bath. She failed to achieve her purpose of thinking about her current situation with Lu Zihao while taking a bath because she was still feeling too emotional about what just happened.

    When she came out of the bathroom, Lu Zihao was nowhere in sight. She tried calling for him but it seemed that he already left the unit without even informing her. She felt a twinge in her heart but forced herself not to think too much about it. They didn¡¯tmit to anything beyond their current temporary rtionship after all.

    It was only her who was going to suffer from heartbreak after the expiration of their rtionship. She couldn¡¯t really ce the me on him for the pain of her unrequited love. He warned her since the beginning not to fall in love with him because he wasn¡¯t someone interested in entering long-term rtionships. Not with her at least.

    And yet she still ended up falling in love with him. Who could she me? Herself? But that would be unfair.

    Just like how her mother made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong man, it seemed that she had a simr destiny of falling in love with a man who was ipatible with her.

    The saving grace was that Lu Zihao was still a bachelor who had no children with another woman. At least, she hoped that he was still childless. Her current situation was much more favourable with pretty much noplications except for her broken heartpared to the misery her mother experienced with her father a generation ago.

    Long Jinjing had the option of walking away from this rtionship without any damage to her reputation, only to her heart, but she knew that a broken heart was easier to mend in private than to fix a bad reputation in an extremely judgmental society. Her mother, unfortunately, didn¡¯t only have to deal with a broken heart but also with a severely damaged reputation. Despite this, her mother survived and was able to raise her, Long Jinjing, to the woman that she had be today.

    If her mother could survive that kind of tribtion then she could definitely do the same thing, especially since her situation was so many times better than what her mother experienced in the past. <i></i>

    These thoughts gave her a little more strength to face what was about toe. So what if she was heartbroken? It wasn¡¯t like she was anything special. There were almost 8 billion people in the world and many of them surely had been heartbroken in one way or another. They survived and so would she as well, just like her mother.

    After putting on herfy pyjamas and doing her nightly skincare routine in her bedroom (all Orchidia Beauty products, of course), she headed to the kitchen for a ss of water.

    It was then that the front door opened and in came Lu Zihao.

    Her heart skipped a beat as soon as she saw that he was back. So he didn¡¯t leave after all! Joy filled her but forced she herself to take a hold of herself.

    Then she took a good look at him and what she saw left her shocked and speechless.

    Lu Zihao also saw her standing there and looking at him with shock. He walked towards her in silence and handed her the big bouquet and a small teddy bear.

    "Here."

    She received the items but still looked like she had no idea what was happening.

    "I don¡¯t know anything about flowernguage and all that shit but the florist said that this bouquet is meant for apologies. He rmended the teddy bear, too."

    She looked at the bouquet arranged with different types of flowers and the small teddy bear that had a simple red ribbon tied around its neck. There was nothing particrly special about the bouquet and the teddy bear. Both looked like almost all the other regr bouquets and teddy bears that were being sold at roadside flower shops and even convenience stores, but to her, these two were extra special presents.

    They were given by the man she loved after all. This was also the first time that he had intentionally given her presents to cheer her up.

    "You like them?" he asked, his tone sounding suspiciously awkward and ufortable.

    She smiled. "Yes, thank you. I love them."

    He cleared his throat. "Good."

    Silence.

    Long Jinjing hugged the teddy bear while smelling the flowers.

    "Sorry for making you cry."

    Her eyes widened and she stared at him in surprise.

    "I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you. That¡¯s not my intention."

    She looked away from him and blinked rapidly, trying to prevent herself from crying again in front of him. She could only nod, not trusting herself to speak any words without losing control of her emotions.

    "I¡¯ll, uhm, put these flowers in a vase," she said before hurrying away to do just that.

    "Alright. I¡¯ll take a shower while you¡¯re doing that."

    While she was choosing a vase from the disy cab in the living room, she saw him heading to the bathroom out of the corner of her eye. When he entered the bathroom and shut the door behind him, she hugged the teddy bear more tightly, crushing it in her arms, and then grinned like a stupid idiot while looking at the bouquet.

    Even though she understood that these were nothing more than hispensations to her due to guilt, it was fine with her. She might be pitiful but what could she do about it?

    She loved the man.

    Underneath the happiness from receiving the presents, however, was sadness and the pain of her broken heart.

 Chapter 958 - You Already Know What I Like

    <h4>Chapter 958 - You Already Know What I Like </h4>

    Long Jinjing was hugging her new teddy bear while sitting on the couch and staring at the unappealing night view outside the windows. The flowers were in a vase on the coffee table. She felt nervous and didn¡¯t know how to act tonight. Her sudden confession made it feel as if everything had changed between her and Lu Zihao.

    The bathroom door opened and out came Lu Zihao with just a towel around his waist. No matter how many times she saw him almost nude, and of course, whenever she saw himpletely naked, she would turn red and feel her mouth be dry while desire flooded her. This was the man she fell in love with. In her eyes, all the scars decorating almost his entire body weren¡¯t ws at all but were part of what made him such a perfect personification of masculinity. This was what she truly thought.

    They might not be meant for each other but she didn¡¯t feel regretful that she fell in love with him. It hurt that her love wasn¡¯t being reciprocated, yes, but she never really expected him to love her back in the first ce.

    At that moment, she decided to enjoy thest three days that she had left with him. She would live her life to the fullest and spend as much time with him as possible in these three days until it was time for them to part from one another.

    "I thought you were already in the bedroom," Lu Zihao said when he saw her on the couch.

    She only smiled and hugged the teddy bear more tightly. <i></i>

    He frowned at the teddy bear. "Come. Let¡¯s go to the bedroom. It¡¯s gettingte."

    She hesitated for a couple of seconds before nodding and moving to follow him to the bedroom.

    "Leave the bear in the living room," he told her all of a sudden.

    "Why?"

    "What do you need it in the bedroom for? You have me to hug."

    She blinked a few times, feeling bewildered at what he said. "Niki, you...wait, are you perhaps...jealous of a teddy bear?"

    He scowled before grabbing the teddy bear and tossing it to the couch. Then he took her hand and pulled her to the bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind them, he was already kissing her hungrily while his hands ran all over her body. He tugged her pyjama shirt and ripped it off her.

    It didn¡¯t shock her anymore because he had already destroyed quite a number of her clothes this way. She moaned and pressed her soft, petite body against his hard and big one. She also ran her hands all over his chest, enjoying the feel of his well-defined muscles, before making her way downwards until she reached the towel wrapped around his waist.

    With just a light pull, the towel loosened and fell down to the floor. She immediately felt his erection pressing against her stomach and knew how hard and impressive it was without even looking at it. Her body craved for him almost desperately. The need felt extremely strong and a little frightening especially now that she had confessed her true feelings for him.

    At the same time, it also felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest. Her confession was like a permission for her to let herself free and openly show him her feelings with the fervour of her kisses and body.

    Only three days left.

    There was no longer any need for reservations now. She should just go all the way and try to make love with him even though it was only pure and simple fucking to him.

    <i>¡¯It¡¯s fine. This is fine. He could fuck me all he want in these three days and I will make love with him.¡¯</i>

    She pulled her head back from his brutal kisses and lowered herself to the floor. He groaned and grabbed her hair when she knelt in front of him and held his erection with both hands.

    "Suck me, Jinjing. You already know what I like."

    Indeed, she already knew what he liked. She stroked him with her hands before taking him inside her hot mouth. Her head started bobbing in front of his groin, adjusting her speed and the sucking force of her mouth depending on his reaction. When the tip of his hard length reached her throat, the hand holding her hair tightened and he released a deep, sexy moan which spurred her to pleasure him even more.

    He adjusted his stance and held her head with both hands. Knowing what was about toe, she also stabilized herself on the floor and rxed her entire jaw and throat.

    There was no need for him to verbally instruct her on what to do anymore. She already knew what she needed to do in order to please him.

    When he started mming inside her mouth and reaching deep into her throat, she barely gagged and instead amodated him as if the two of them were a single well-oiled machine moving perfectly together.

    She could take him so much better now. The training that Shun and Robin and sometimes Lu Zihao made her go through had strengthened her body and increased her stamina. Not by a lot but just enough to allow her to keep up with the energetic Lu Zihao in bed without always feeling like she had been run over by a truck the next day.

    Perhaps the aplishment that Lu Zihao was the most proud of was training her gag reflex. He was extra rough tonight, mming into her mouth again and again, but Long Jinjing knew that he would never go beyond her limits and deliberately hurt her.

    She trusted him.

    And now she loved him.

    She would willingly give her body to him in these three days although he wouldn¡¯t ept her heart.

    <i>¡¯It¡¯s enough. This is enough.¡¯</i>

    "Ah! Fuck, Jinjing!"

    His release flooded her mouth and she swallowed everything without any hesitation. She watched his expression and felt satisfied at the pure pleasure on his face.

    <i>¡¯Yes, this is enough. This should be enough for me.¡¯</i>

 Chapter 959 - All Night Long

    <h4>Chapter 959 - All Night Long </h4>

    Lu Zihao pulled Long Jinjing up from the floor and carried her to the bed. He only just finisheding inside her mouth but he was already starting to harden again. There was a feverish and urgent hunger burning in his eyes as he looked at her lying half-naked on the bed.

    "Take off the rest of your clothes," he told her as he slowly stroked his hard length, coaxing it to another full erection.

    She obeyed and immediately removed her pyjama pants and underwear. The bright and alluring flush on her skin was from thebination of shyness and arousal. Her own hunger for him also burned inside her.

    Although shy, she slowly opened her legs wide and exposed herself to him, all the while maintaining eye contact with him. Then she began touching her almost dripping wet opening with her fingers, matching her movements with how he was stroking his own hard length.

    He gave an animalistic sounds of approval and encouragement as his hand pumped faster. He was now fully erect again and aching to bury himself deep inside her tight and wet core. When his erection became so swollen that it felt like it might burst, he removed his hand and climbed on the bed.

    Lowering himself on top of her body without crushing her, he kissed her on the mouth before moving downwards to suck each of her perky breasts with his mouth. He also made sure to leave fresh hickeys, doing his best to make themrger and darker than the previous ones he left on her body.

    Long Jinjing wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Her body arched upwards, forcing her breasts deeper in his mouth.

    "Niki, please," she whimpered.

    One of his hands found its way between them to her wet and aching core.

    "Fuck, you¡¯re soaking." He inserted two fingers at once and moved them in and out of her.

    She moaned and trembled. Her hips started moving restlessly, wanting him to pleasure her more.<i></i>

    A low growl escaped from his throat at her seductive movements. He removed his fingers, eliciting a whine from her. Then he spread her thighs wider before mming hard inside her.

    "Ah!"

    She grabbed his shoulders for support but he didn¡¯t give her any time to adjust. As soon as the first m hit what felt like the deepest part of her insides, his hips began a fierce pounding. His actions were hard, fast and rough.

    Tears flowed down her eyes to the sides of her face from the sheer pleasure of him moving in and out of her. It felt so good¡ªno. It felt so much better now that she confessed her feelings to him. There was a sense of extra sensuality and openness that awakened inside her.

    But there was also heartache underneath the pleasure because she knew that to him, this was only pure and simple fucking. Nothing more, nothing less.

    In her mind, however, this intense and fevered sex was her making love with the man who she had given her heart to. Although he didn¡¯t ept her heart, it was still okay. She would be okay. That was what she wanted to believe. He didn¡¯t want her heart but at least he desired her body. This was enough for the three days that they had left in their current rtionship.

    Everything that happened earlier affected them both. There was a sense of urgency in their every movement.

    Lu Zihao folded her into many different positions and made her orgasm so many times. He tossed and turned her until she felt like her body no longer belonged to her.

    At the moment, she was on top of him but he was nheless still in total control. His arms were wrapped tightly around her body so that she couldn¡¯t move much while his hips mmed up and down inside her. She climaxed once again but he was still going for it.

    When he was close to the peak, they both felt it. He suddenly sped up even more, pounding into her with renewed roughness and intensity.

    Although her body was exhausted and felt like jelly, she was determined to give him what she hoped would be the best orgasm that he had ever experienced in his entire life so far. It might be useless and na?ve of her to think this way but she had to try.

    Even though he didn¡¯t love her back, she still wanted to give him something to remember her by after parting ways. This wasn¡¯t the most ideal way that she wanted him to remember her by but she would take anything at this point. It felt pathetic but she truly loved this man.

    When she felt his movements bing more erratic and his body starting to stiffen, she squeezed him with all she had. He released a deep, long half-moan and half-groan. A sense of triumph flooded through her. She squeezed him harder.

    "Fuck, Jinjing! Shit! Yes!"

    His hot release gushed inside her, filling her up in several strong spurts. She received everything, all of him, and mped down hard in a futile effort to prevent anything from escaping from inside her.

    When both of them calmed down, she was still lying on top of him. She nuzzled his sweaty neck.

    "I love you, Niki," she whispered directly to his ear.

    He stiffened.

    Painnced through her heart at his reaction. She hid her face from him so that he couldn¡¯t see her fresh tears.

    Three days.

    Three more days of pleasure and torture.

    Pleasure from being with him and torture by also being with him.

    She decided to take her fill of him during these three days because there would be no more Lu Zihao¡ªno, there would be no more Niki causing great upheaval in her well-ordered life after that.

    Straightening her body, she sat up on hisp while he was still deep inside of her. Then she began moving her hips up and down. And soon enough, his soft length hardened again in no time.

    He fucked her all night long.

    She made love with him all night long.

 Chapter 960 - Duty

    <h4>Chapter 960 - Duty </h4>

    Moderate rain and strong winds made the view outside depressing but it was rather peaceful inside the private vi. The soundproofing wasn¡¯t as goodpared to his other properties especially at Dragon Pce Home #10 but it was enough to reduce the noise level from the outside. The light storm outside was reduced to a soft pitter-patter of rain and almost inaudible whooshing of wind when heard from the inside.

    Jin Liwei filtered out these mundane sounds. All he cared about right now was the beautiful piano melody that his wife had beenposing since this morning. It wasn¡¯t a song but a movement intended for a full-length sonata. The piece was a spur-of-the-moment inspiration just like many of her other musical works.

    His wife had a lot of unreleased musical pieces that sheposed in her personal collection¡ªboth half-finished andpleted. She would work on her music everyday even if it was just a simple action of jotting down ideas on a random piece of paper for a few minutes.

    The music that she hadmercially released so far were only a tiny fraction of what was in her collection. Even her producer JJ and musical mentors Maestro Ludovico De Luca and Enrique Valdez had no idea of the true extent of the total number of herpositions.

    Only Jin Liwei knew because she told him and personally showed him. About half of her total collection were stored electronically and guarded like a hellhound by Ketchup while the other half were recorded the old-fashioned way¡ªon paper. These were also stored in storage vaults inside a hidden chamber in her music studio at home.

    At the moment, his wife was so engrossed in her work that she wasn¡¯t aware of his presence anymore. The private vi had no professional acoustic treatments whatsoever so they were in a makeshift piano room. It was basically just a spare room where the staff ced a grand piano and an acoustic guitar as per his instructions before he and his wife arrived for their honeymoon. His wife lived and breathed music so he wanted to make sure that she always had ess to at least a piano and a guitar wherever she stayed.

    If not for his reminders to take frequent breaks, she would work continuously without stopping. Although he felt bad interrupting her flow when she was in the zone, it was imperative that she took breaks to eat and rest.

    Jin Liwei nced at his wristwatch. It was mid-afternoon now. She had about half an hour before it was time for her daily nap. Then he felt a vibration in his pocket. He fished out his phone and then quietly left the room to take the call.<i></i>

    It was his private investigator who was now working exclusively for him when he upgraded his security team after taking inspiration from his brother-inw¡¯s impressively organized Shadow Winds.

    "Sir, I already gathered sufficient evidence to cause trouble to the families of the madams who ndered your fianc¨¦e and the viscountess at the exclusive restaurant a few days ago."

    Jin Liwei narrowed his eyes and became serious. He remembered Wei Lan calling a few days ago toin to him about how some high society "old and ugly witches" had bullied her and said terrible things about his wife. He had no doubt that her version of the event was full of exaggerations, but for the most part, it matched what Ketchup¡¯s waiterrade shared on the ck Stars¡¯ forum.

    Since Ketchup told him that the exclusive restaurant¡¯s video surveince system had been tampered with, they couldn¡¯t depend on that anymore. Therefore, he immediately called his private investigator to find out more details. His brother-inw Niki also sent someone, a female member of Shadow Winds, to join his private investigator.

    At first, his P.I. wasn¡¯t happy with the arrangement and felt insulted that Jin Liwei sent someone else to join the investigation. The P.I. thought that Jin Liwei didn¡¯t trust his skills. But after only one day of working together, the P.I.pletely changed his mind and wanted to hire the woman to work for him. The P.I. kept on raving about how amazing the woman¡¯s skills were.

    Jin Liwei felt curious but wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised. After all, his brother-inw was the former heir of the most infamous criminal family in the world. It was only expected that Niki knew how to gather skilled people to work for him. Although Niki wasn¡¯t a genius of Evelina¡¯s level, he was still an extraordinary man. No doubt about it.

    The only issue that Jin Liwei could see was that his brother-inw was too filled with thoughts of revenge. His enormous grudge would often cloud his judgment, making Niki too reckless in Jin Liwei¡¯s opinion.

    His wife cared and worried about her older brother a lot but was too respectful of his privacy. Jin Liwei had no such qualms about invading his brother-inw¡¯s privacy and often extracted information about Shadow Winds¡¯test activities from his AI son, Bacon. This was the only way he could ensure that his brother-inw wasn¡¯t marching to his own death again.

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t allow anything bad to happen to his brother-inw. First of all, his wife would be devastated. And second, the remnant of his true fifth brother, Lu Zihao, still resided in his body. Niki and Lu Zihao¡¯s body were too important to both Jin Liwei and his wife.

    Unlike his wife¡¯s secret identity as the hacker Drakon and his brother-inw¡¯s small criminal group Shadow Winds, there was a limit to how Jin Liwei could operate. He couldn¡¯t delve too deeply in anything illegal because he also had the duty of protecting Jin Corporation¡¯s integrity. It was thepany that Grandpa Lu and his own flesh and blood grandfather established after all.

    He also nned on passing it down to one of his children in the future. Hopefully, at least one of his kids would feel interested in inheriting the leadership and the responsibilities of running Jin Corporation.

    Therefore, he couldn¡¯t allow anything to tarnish Jin Corporation¡¯s reputation as the country¡¯s number onepany.

 Chapter 961 - Delay Tactic

    <h4>Chapter 961 - Dy Tactic </h4>

    Jin Liwei listened to his private investigator¡¯s findings about the high society matrons. He personally didn¡¯t care about any of them but there was no way that he would allow anyone to spout malicious things about his wife.

    "Share your findings to mywyer, Atty. Kang Huizhong," he instructed. "I¡¯ll be suing all those women for nder."

    "Understood, sir."

    "I¡¯m also sure that you already know what to do with the information you have in your hands. Since those women chose to attack my wife¡¯s name, we have to pay them back in kind for all the malicious lies they said about her."

    The P.I. definitely noticed Jin Liwei referring to Iris as his wife but didn¡¯tment about it. Jin Liwei decided not to keep it a secret anymore especially since the P.I. was now exclusively working for him anyway. It also grated on his nerves whenever the P.I. kept on referring to his wife as his fianc¨¦e. They were already married!

    A burst of satisfaction filled Jin Liwei but he quickly returned his focus on the matter at hand. He knew that his wife had the ability on her own to uncover all the information that his P.I. and brother-inw¡¯s Shadow Winds were gathering but both he and Niki agreed that it was best not to worry her about these things especially right now. Keeping her healthy and safe during her pregnancy and childbirth was their main priority.

    "I also found out more details about the confrontation of the viscountess with the matrons." Then the P.I. proceeded to tell him a more urate ount of what really happened ording to eyewitnesses.

    Jin Liwei frowned. He already heard from Wei Lan that her Spanish stepson was with her and Randy at the time the incident at the exclusive restaurant happened. He knew Randy because as his wife¡¯s Zumba instructor before Iris got pregnant. There was nothing suspicious about Randy¡¯s background.

    It was Wei Lan¡¯s stepson, a man named Ren¨¦ Alejandro del Agu, who made Jin Liwei pause. Perhaps it was because he knew very little about the Spaniard and hadn¡¯t met him yet. All he knew for sure was that Ren¨¦ Alejandro was the adopted son of Wei Lan¡¯s husband, the current viscount of Spain¡¯s Castillo de Estres.

    When Wei Lan called a few days ago, she invited him and Iris to meet her stepson for dinner after the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon. He and Iris epted the invitation but the dinner date hadn¡¯t been set yet. They would leave it to their respective assistants, Xu Tian and Dominic, to arrange the dinner date with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro. It was because he and his wife already had work waiting for them after their honeymoon.

    He had Jin Corporation to run while Iris had several things to finalize regarding the new entertainment and talent managementpany that they would be establishing with his younger brother, Jin Chonglin. She also needed to attend meetings with JJ and the other artists who were currently recording the songs that she wrote. And of course, she was also working on what she considered the main priority of her career right now¡ªher coboration with her mentor, the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez.

    Jin Liwei was extremely worried that his wife would overwork herself so he was determined to watch her like a hawk without being too obvious about it so as not to piss her off. Fortunately, he already had a secret agreement with their two AI children, Ketchup and Bacon, to closely monitor their mom and ensure that she was always healthy and safe.

    Both of them had all of thesemitments so Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro would have to wait. But the real reason for the dy tactic was because Jin Liwei wanted to dig for more information about the Spaniard before meeting him in person.

    "Sir, this Ren¨¦ Alejandro arrived in the country with several other people who we identified as people working in his cybersecuritypany," his P.I. reported. "They are all staying in the same hotel but only Ren¨¦ Alejandro is checked in at a penthouse unit. We attempted several times to find out more details about them but I¡¯m sorry to say that we are unable to discover anything more substantial than what we have right now."

    Jin Liwei frowned.

    "I think that it¡¯s maybe because they¡¯re all working in a cybersecuritypany. Securing their own personal information and making it hard for just anyone to get them are the best assurance that they can provide to their clients."

    "Maybe," Jin Liwei murmured.

    He wanted to dispel all of his suspicious as soon as possible but a quick nce at his wristwatch showed that it was almost time for his wife¡¯s daily afternoon nap. If he didn¡¯t remind her, she wouldpose music until tomorrow without any break.

    After giving his P.I. additional instructions, he ended the phone call and returned to the makeshift piano room. And indeed, his wife was still in the zone. He paused by the doorway because he just had to admire the music. It sounded fuller than earlier, as if she was slowly injecting soul into the music that she wasposing.

    Incredible as always.

    Then he finally approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist before pressing a soft kiss on her cheek. Her hands stopped mid-movement on the piano keys. It took a few seconds before she could pull her consciousness out of her creative zone and return to her present surroundings.

    "Darling," she murmured, still a little absentmindedly.

    "Yes, love. It¡¯s me. Time for a nap."

    She looked torn but eventually sighed and nodded. Her hand subconsciously rubbed her stomach. <i></i>

    "Hungry?" Jin Liwei asked.

    She started to shake her head but stopped before nodding.

    He smiled. "Then let¡¯s eat some snacks first before taking a nap."

    "I want chocte."

    "Alright. Let me call the chef." Even as he said this, he was already leading his wife out of the piano room.

    She yawned and followed him. Her eyes were already starting to feel heavy but she wanted some chocte desserts first.

 Chapter 962 - The Wait

    <h4>Chapter 962 - The Wait </h4>

    <i>Orchidia Beauty.</i>

    "Whoa, girl!" Chen Fei eximed when Long Jinjing emerged from the bathroom. "I thought that you were pooping because you were taking so long in the toilet. It turns out that you were actually dolling up! Date with the boyfriend?"

    Long Jinjing turned red but still nodded. "Ni¡ªZihao will be picking me up soon. He¡¯s taking me out for dinner at a restaurant."

    "Ah." Chen Fei nodded before slowly circling Long Jinjing and inspecting her entire outfit. "You look hot in that turtleneck dress. But why are you covering it up with that zer? Take it off!"

    Long Jinjing pulled her zer tighter to her body to prevent her best friend from removing it. "Xiao Fei, please stop. I need to wear something over the dress because...uhm, it¡¯s cold! I¡¯ll feel cold if I don¡¯t have this zer."

    "Bullshit." Chen Fei snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. "I bet you¡¯re just hiding another set of new hickeys. You really need to tell your boyfriend, that beast, not to leave too many marks on the visible parts of your body. This kind of possessive caveman crap is so outdated!"

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t reply and instead started walking back to her office to get the rest of her things before leaving. Chen Fei followed her, still lecturing her about not allowing any man, no matter how hot and yummylicious, to have total dominance over her body.

    The workday was already over. Most of the employees, especially the entry-level ones, had gone home. There were still a number of people who chose to work overtime, though. Chen Fei, the COO, was one of them.

    Long Jinjing¡¯s workload wasn¡¯t as heavy as her best friend¡¯s or Alric Bauer¡¯s, who were thepany¡¯s key people in developing Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line of products, but she was still nheless busy crunching the numbers every day to prevent Orchidia Beauty from going over the budget. This was especially the case for Alric¡¯s product development department which sucked huge amounts of money like a vacuum almost on a daily basis.

    Long Jinjing began to hate Alric¡¯s department a little because every time it needed money, she would always have to redo thepany¡¯s budget. However, she also knew that Alric and his department were integral parts to thepany. In fact, her sister could rece her and Chen Fei anytime but the same thing couldn¡¯t be said about Alric Bauer. He was the developer of Orchidia Beauty¡¯s revolutionary products after all. Most importantly, his products were proving to be a hugemercial sess.

    She sighed, already starting to feel stressed at the mere thought of their German CPO. Forcefully pushing him out of her mind, she focused on organizing her bag instead and checking that she indeedpleted all her tasks for today.

    "Hey, are you listening to me?!" Chen Fei¡¯s annoyed voice interrupted her distracted mind.

    "Yes, I¡¯m listening," Long Jinjing lied.

    Her best friend¡¯s words were entering in one ear and exiting on the other. She only just realized that Chen Fei was already talking about something else. <i></i>

    "Your sister, that bitch¡ªI mean, President Long will soon be returning from her honeymoon," Chen Fei was saying in an irritated tone. "She tells me that she wants to personally oversee the shooting sessions for Jin Chonglin¡¯s ads for the men¡¯s line when shees back. For goodness¡¯ sake, the woman is pregnant! Can she just rx a little and not make all of us panic whenever she goes into workaholic mode? Doesn¡¯t she understand that her husband will murder all of us if something happens to her on our watch? Grandpa Lu will also go apeshit if something happens to his much-anticipated great-grandbaby. I¡¯m telling you that the old man can be freaking scary sometimes. Tsk! If being pregnant brings so much trouble like this, I¡¯m not going to be pregnant in the future. Ever. I¡¯ll just adopt a dog or a cat or something. Or better yet a goldfish!"

    Long Jinjing paused and finally paid attention to her best friend. Her brows drew together in concern before she thought of something. Then her expression improved.

    "Brother-inw Liwei has be much more protective of my sister now that she¡¯s pregnant so I¡¯m sure that he won¡¯t allow her to endanger herself and their baby from working too hard."

    "Well...what you say makes sense."

    Long Jinjing nodded and nced at the clock. Lu Zihao hadn¡¯t contacted her yet and she was starting to worry that he might cancel their date tonight at thest minute.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "Fine! I¡¯ll leave you now while you wait for your boyfriend. I still have some e-mails and documents that I need to look over."

    "Okay. Take care, Xiao Fei."

    "That¡¯s COO Chen for you. Hmph!" Chen Fei was already walking out of the office. "Remember what I told you! Don¡¯t always allow that beast to leave hickeys on your body and make you unable to wear certain outfits."

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip and didn¡¯t reply.

    "Bye, CFO Long! Good night! See you tomorrow."

    "Bye."

    Chen Fei finally left.

    Long Jinjing grabbed her phone and debated whether to call Lu Zihao and ask him where he was now. As the minutes ticked by without any message from him, she became more anxious. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he cancelled their date but it would be another painful blow to her already broken heart.

    Then her phone rang all of sudden while she was thinking of several negative scenarios if Lu Zihao really cancelled their date tonight. She yelped and identally dropped her ringing phone on the floor. She quickly picked it up and answered the call.

    "Sorry, I¡¯mte," Lu Zihao¡¯s devilish voice said. "I had to take care of some urgent matters at work that took longer to finish than I expected but everything is okay now."

    "Oh. It¡¯s okay, really."

    "I still need to shower and change my clothes but I¡¯ll pick you up as soon as I can. Wait for me a little longer. I¡¯ll be there."

    "Okay."

    The call ended before she could tell him "I love you".

    "It¡¯s fine," sheforted herself.

 Chapter 963 Countdown - 3 Nights, 2 Days Left (I)

    <h4>Chapter 963 Countdown - 3 Nights, 2 Days Left (I) </h4>

    Long Jinjing waited for more than half an hour before Lu Zihao finally arrived in front of Orchidia Beauty¡¯s building. Instead of feeling annoyed by his tardiness, however, she simply felt happy that he didn¡¯t back out of their date. She also started to feel abination of excitement and nervousness.

    She climbed into the waiting car and quickly closed the door, not allowing anyone to see him. The security guard and one of the building¡¯s night cleaners were stretching their necks, hoping to see what their CFO¡¯s mysterious boyfriend looked like. She sighed in relief after seeing their faces filled with disappointment.

    Then suddenly a huge bouquet of red roses blocked her view.

    "For you," Lu Zihao said.

    "Oh! T-thank you."

    Her heart skipped a beat before starting to race inside her chest as she received the heavy bouquet. This one looked more elegant than the bouquet he bought for herst night but she loved both because it came from him, the man she loved.

    He cleared his throat. "You¡¯re wee." Then he added. "You look beautiful, by the way."

    "Thank you, Niki. You look handsome, too."

    His response was a short grunt as he started to drive.

    She smiled and felt all warm inside even though she knew that he was just going through the motions of a date.

    It took another half an hour before they finally arrived at a posh French restaurant. <i></i>

    "Is this ce alright with you?" he asked.

    "Yes, of course."

    Dinner was pleasant and felt romantic because of the restaurant¡¯s ambience. Although Long Jinjing preferred home-cooked meals over fine dining, she was truly enjoying this dinner date with Lu Zihao. She was certain that even if he brought her to a simple roadside street food stall, she would still enjoy herself as long as it was with him.

    Her onlyint during dinner was the way other women were looking at Lu Zihao with obvious lust in their eyes. Granted, their first reaction upon seeing him was fear because he was so big and covered in scars. But as soon as they got a closer look at him and realized how attractive he was, their fear quickly transformed into desire to the irritation of their own dates.

    The restaurant had no private rooms so the diners could see each other if their tables were in the same area. Fortunately, Long Jinjing didn¡¯t recognize anyone familiar. She didn¡¯t want to waste her time making small talk with any acquaintances tonight.

    All she wanted was to spend time with Lu Zihao as much as she could. After all, the countdown to the end of their current rtionship had started.

    Only three nights and two days left.

    And then everything would be over forever.

    She pushed all negative thoughts to the very back of her mind and focused only on making good memories with the man she loved for the limited time that they had left. It seemed that Lu Zihao also had the same idea because he was also warmer and talked more than usual, obviously trying to make the date pleasant for her.

    After dinner, they left the restaurant. She thought that they were heading straight to her condo but he parked nearby an upscale shopping district instead.

    "Why are we here? Do you want to go shopping?"

    "No," he said.

    "Then why¡ª"

    "There¡¯s a nice park walkway by the river here. Let¡¯s take a walk and digest our dinner first before going home."

    "Oh." A bright smile burst out of her face, lighting up her entire expression.

    He paused and then grabbed her before kissing her on the mouth. It was a quick kiss, no more than two seconds, but certainly very possessive.

    She could feel a tingle in her lips and somewhere else. She was also now struggling to keep her IQ from falling to amoeba level like it usually did whenever he overwhelmed all of her senses.

    He reached to the backseat and handed her a thick coat, scarf, socks and ankle boots. "Wear these first. It¡¯s cold outside and what you¡¯re wearing isn¡¯t enough."

    She blinked at the items. "You nned this?"

    "Hurry up and wear them," he said instead of answering her.

    It was a struggle to put on everything inside the car but she managed to do so with a lot of assistance from Lu Zihao. His hands would linger on her body for too long, leading them to some short but hot intermittent make out sessions. What should have taken a maximum of three minutes to put on the coat and other items took her almost fifteen minutes because of the giant distraction called Lu Zihao or Niki as he preferred to be called.

    Finally, when both of them were ready, they climbed out of the car and headed towards the river. There were other couples walking on the park walkway framing the river. Arge, brightly lit bridge in the distance added a more romantic atmosphere in the ce.

    "I forgot to bring you gloves," Lu Zihao murmured.

    She looked and saw that he had no gloves either. The coat he was wearing was also light. Despite this, he didn¡¯t look cold at all.

    "I¡¯m fine," she said. "Don¡¯t worry about it." She looked around and watched the other couples. "Uhm, Niki?"

    "Hm?"

    "May I...uhm, may I hold your h-hand?" She was d that the illumination from thempposts weren¡¯t too bright so he couldn¡¯t clearly see her blushing face.

    His answer was to grab her hand and hold it. She blushed even harder.

    "Thank you," she whispered.

    "No need for thanks. You¡¯re my girlfriend."

    She felt a twinge in her heart because they both knew that her title as his girlfriend would end in two days. Fortunately, she managed to shake off the depressing thought and enjoy her walk with Lu Zihao. The wind blowing from the river felt chilly so Lu Zihao pulled her in a side hug to share his body heat with her as they continued theirte-night riverside stroll.

    "Niki."

    "Hm?"

    She stopped and looked at his eyes. "I love you."

    He stiffened. Again.

    Her eyes watered because it hurt. Yet she epted it.

 Chapter 964 Countdown - 3 Nights, 2 Days Left (II)

    <h4>Chapter 964 Countdown - 3 Nights, 2 Days Left (II) </h4>

    A rare,plicated expression appeared on Lu Zihao¡¯s face.

    "Jinjing, I¡ª"

    Long Jinjing forced herself to smile before shaking her head. "No need to exin yourself. I already know that you don¡¯t...l-love me. It¡¯s okay, Niki. Really."

    His expression became even moreplicated. He opened his mouth but no words came out so he just shut it again.

    She looked away and avoided his gaze while doing her best to blink away her unshed tears before they fell without her control.

    "If you¡¯re ufortable with me saying that I love you, I¡¯ll stop." Her whisper blended with the cold wind but she knew that he could hear her. "I won¡¯t say it out loud anymore. It¡¯s just that...I can¡¯t...I c-can¡¯t help it. I really do love you, Niki."

    He sighed. A heavy feeling was pressing within his chest. It was so damn ufortable, but he had no idea how to deal with it, or how to deal with her, and this entire situation between the two of them.

    All he could do was to pull her in his arms and embrace her. Then he pressed a kiss on top of her head.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Jinjing."

    Those words broke her control. She pressed her face against his chest. Tears spilled from her eyes and soaked his light coat. However, she kept silent, preventing herself from sobbing loudly, not wanting to bring unnecessary attention to the two of them in this public ce.

    He lifted her chin and forced her to look at him. His warm and rough fingers wiped away her tears but more flowed out from her eyes.

    "If I weren¡¯t who I am, I would marry you in a heartbeat, Jinjing. But I can¡¯t give you the happily ever after that you desire. A devil like me doesn¡¯t deserve an angel like you."

    She couldn¡¯t see him clearly anymore because of the darkness and the tears clouding her vision.

    "You keep calling yourself a devil...but y-you¡¯re not. And I¡¯m not an angel either. Both of us are only h-humans."

    He didn¡¯t reply but his expression indicated that her words didn¡¯t shake his beliefs.

    "But even if you¡¯re really a devil, I¡¯ll still love you because...that¡¯s who you are."

    It was then that he felt something inside his chest shake. No, it was more than that. It felt like something inside his entire being shook. She didn¡¯t know this, however, and kept talking after seeing that he didn¡¯t react.

    "It¡¯s okay, Niki. I understand that you don¡¯t...l-love me at all. I already ept it even though it hurts. But t-thank you for indulging me and taking me out on a date today before our rtionship...ends."

    He frowned but still didn¡¯t say anything. Her words from earlier about loving him for who he was continued to echo inside his mind, sending his own emotions into utter confusion.

    "And although I know that it¡¯s just an excuse when you said that you¡¯ll marry me in heartbeat if you weren¡¯t who you are, it still made me a little happy inside."

    This time, her smile was more natural than her earlier shaky and pitiful one.

    He embraced her more tightly, almost crushing her soft and petite body, while he looked up at the night sky. His expression showed none of the tumultuous emotions raging inside him. He knew that she was crying because of him but couldn¡¯t do anything about it. He didn¡¯t know how to.

    Then he sensed a faint sigh of frustration within his consciousness. It was the remnant of Lu Zihao.

    He didn¡¯t respond to it. The remnant also didn¡¯t speak to him.

    It was when the temperature dipped again and Long Jinjing¡¯s teeth started chattering from the cold that Lu Zihao finally broke their restless embrace. They retraced their way back to the car. <i></i>

    A few minutester, the heat was sting inside the vehicle, gradually warming both of them up. Long Jinjing removed her scarf and nced at the time on the dashboard. It was already gettingte but she refrained from reminding him, wanting this moment with him tost longer. She took a peek at him.

    Although his expression didn¡¯t show her any of his real thoughts and emotions like usual, she still tookfort in the fact that he wasn¡¯t making any moves to leave this ce aside from turning on the engine and the heater. Perhaps he also wanted this moment with her tost longer.

    Maybe.

    Hopefully.

    Then his low voice interrupted her bittersweet thoughts.

    "Jinjing."

    It took her a few seconds to respond.

    "Y-yes?"

    He faced her. "I want you."

    She swallowed hard upon seeing the fierce hunger in his eyes.

    "Right now," he growled.

    She couldn¡¯t see her face right now but knew that the same hunger was reflected in her own eyes.

    "Me, too," she whispered.

    He reached for her face and gently pulled her closer until their faces were only inches apart. Their warm breaths intermingled and became heavy.

    "Ride me."

    Her eyshes trembled as a familiar warmth pooled in her lower abdomen at his devilish voice. She raised her eyes and looked straight at him. Her face waspletely red but she took a deep breath and reached over to him with her hand.

    He groaned when she touched and gently squeezed the hardness on his groin. Despite her shyness, she never took her eyes away from him. tion filled her at his response to her touch.

    Feeling more daring, her hands continued to grope him through his pants. When he became rock-hard, she started unbuckling his belt. He neither said anything nor moved to offer her any assistance, only watching her through half-lidded eyes.

    She struggled for a bit before finally freeing his erection. She swallowed hard again while staring.

    <i>¡¯Mine,¡¯</i> she dered in her mind.

    "Yes." His voice was hoarse.

    She jumped in her seat, startled, not realizing that she had spoken out loud. Her face and neck burned with embarrassment. She let go of his manhood but he quickly caught them and ced them back on hisp.

    "Yours," he said.

 Chapter 965 Countdown - 3 Nights, 2 Days Left (III)

    <h4>Chapter 965 Countdown - 3 Nights, 2 Days Left (III) </h4>

    Nervous chuckle escaped from Long Jinjing¡¯s lips even as her heart shook at what he said. But before delusion could take over her mind, she quickly forced herself not to take what he said seriously, knowing that he wasn¡¯t hers in the first ce no matter how much she wished for it.

    Not wanting to dwell on her painful unrequited love for him, she took hold of his hard length again and began to slowly stroke him. He closed his eyes and groaned, allowing her to pleasure him in her own pace.

    <i>¡¯I love you,¡¯</i> she told him in her mind.

    She wanted to dere her love for him again and again even though it hurt. However, she stopped herself from doing so because of her promise not to make him ufortable with her constant deration of love. And most importantly, doing so would only make her feel more pathetic.

    "I want you, Niki," she told him instead.

    His response was to pull her closer again for a deep open-mouthed kiss. They kissed just like that for some time as her hands continued stroking him, causing his manhood to grow harder and bigger.

    Her instincts took over as she kissed him with all the passion that she could muster. When she sucked his tongue, his actions became impatient. His hands started fumbling to remove all of theyers covering her body. First, her scarf. Next, her coat and zer. Then the rest of her clothes.

    When only her underwear remained, she pushed his hands aside and removed her own bra. She shivered a little when her bare skin was exposed to the air. However, heat spread throughout her body again after seeing him lick his lips in appreciation of her nudity.

    He reclined his seat all the way back and pulled her to straddle hisp. Although the car was customized for hisrger than average frame, it was still a tight fit for the two of them.

    She felt the steering wheel digging on her back. It didn¡¯t hurt but wasn¡¯tfortable either.

    "Are you okay?"

    She nodded, feeling herself bing wetter at his husky voice. She still felt shy, especially at the thought of what both of them were about to do.<i></i>

    Goodness! Were they really going to have sex in the car parked in a public ce?

    But she soon forgot about her worries as his moist kisses trailed down her neck to her chest. She gasped when his mouth caught a nipple and he began sucking on it. Her hips began grinding on hisp without her control.

    "Yes," he hissed.

    His hands kneaded her butt before ripping her panties without any warning.

    "No¡ª" Her protest was swallowed by a hard kiss.

    A small sigh escaped from her mouth as she allowed herself to sink into the hot kiss, mentally dropping herint against his savage action as usual. It was only an underwear anyway. He had already ripped so many of her clothes whenever they had sex that she had gotten used to it.

    All thoughts flew away from her mind when two of his fingers sank inside her wet heat. She trembled and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his fingers slowly moving in and out of her.

    "Fuck. You¡¯re soaking so much. You want me so badly, huh?"

    Her response was a moan.

    He grabbed her hand and wrapped it around his manhood. "Look at how hard I am. I want you badly, too."

    She bit her lower lip and looked at him straight in the eyes. It was dark but she could see him clearly. In fact, he was the only one that she could see right now. Everything else disappeared from her perspective¡ªthe car, the parking lot, all of it. It was only his existence that was the most important to her at the moment.

    Giving his hard length a light squeeze, she positioned it on her opening. They were both panting as she rubbed him on herself.

    His devilish eyes became more beast-like, yet he didn¡¯t take the lead from her, allowing her to do whatever she wanted. She continued to tease the two of them. In the end, it was her who lost patience.

    After ensuring that they were in the right positions, she mmed herself down, burying his hard length deep inside her. They both gasped at the same time.

    "Fuck, Jinjing."

    "Niki. Oh, Niki."

    All she could do was to babble his name over and over again as shepletely let go of all her inhibitions. He held her hips but it was her who was controlling their wild pace. She bounced on hisp with reckless abandon as if racing against time.

    Lu Zihao was making animalistic sounds. His expression looked like he was barely holding on to his self-control. Despite this, he gritted his teeth and restrained himself from his instinct to take over.

    "This is for you, Jinjing. Do what you want."

    She was too far gone to hear what he said but her body was already doing what she wanted¡ªand that was to make love with the man she loved. Although for him, it was only having sex, but for her, she was making love with him.

    Pleasure filled her as her hips sped up even more. His hands cooperated, helping her with the urgent pace. The musky scent and wet, pping sounds of their coupling filled the car¡¯s interior, magnifying their desire for each other severalfold.

    Long Jinjing mmed down onest time and screamed as her mind went nk, feeling as if a volcano erupted within her. His hot essence poured deep inside her, mixing with her soaking heat.

    It felt glorious!

    She vaguely felt Lu Zihao pulling her in a tight embrace as her body couldn¡¯t stop trembling. He was murmuring something to her but she couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying. She was still reeling from her intense orgasm.

    It was only when she finally recovered some of her wits that she noticed the tears flowing down her face. She was sobbing hard.

    Her body felt light and satisfied, yet her heart felt heavy and frustrated.

 Chapter 966 - Throw Under The Bus

    <h4>Chapter 966 - Throw Under The Bus </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Homes #10.</i>

    Jin Liwei breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally at home. Thank goodness!

    There was a part of him that wished their honeymoon didn¡¯t end so soon but another bigger part of him wanted Iris to focus on resting in thefort of their own home.

    He continued to worry about his wife who still looked sick and listless. They were supposed to return home yesterday but they had to cancel their original n because the doctor had evaluated that Iris wasn¡¯t fit to travel in her condition. Her morning sickness had worsened andsted for almost the entire day. She had barely eaten or drank anything, almost sending Jin Liwei into panic mode. They had to stay at the private ind vi for an extra day until she got better earlier this morning.

    Iris was now lying on their bed with their two cats who missed them very much. Popcorn was circling around his mommy nonstop while meowing loudly, checking her from head to toe to confirm whether she really returned unharmed. On the other hand, Ice Cream contented herself with cuddling with her mommy, taking her daddy¡¯s usual spot on the bed and looking like she was never going to leave.

    Jin Liwei sat on the bed and caressed his wife¡¯s pale cheek. "How are you feeling, love? Better?"

    She hummed an assent and gave him a soft, reassuring smile. She didn¡¯t look convincing though, given her worrisome pallor.

    Although she didn¡¯t say it, he could sense that her body was exhausted yet her mind was active. This was normal for her. Geniuses like her possessed minds that almost never rested.

    "I already finished all of Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s new configurations." She stroked Ice Cream in azy manner. "All they need to do is to adjust to the changes and continue the training I assigned to them. Their overall functions should be much more powerful after this."

    He nodded and started petting Popcorn who bumped his furry head against him, seeking his attention. "I can monitor the progress of their daily training. You already showed me how to do it. I can do that much, so you don¡¯t have to constantly worry about the two of them. Ketchup and Bacon are very smart and obedient to us. I¡¯ll let you know if I encounter any problems with them that I can¡¯t solve by myself."

    She smiled and nodded but not before releasing a small sigh. He could tell that it was a challenge for her to delegate this kind of tasks, especially when she was used to doing it by herself. Nevertheless, he felt pleased that she was putting the effort to slow down and focus on her pregnancy even though it was proving to be more difficult than expected.

    Her other hand started rubbing her stomach where their twin babies were growing inside. She continued this gentle andforting action while thinking about something.

    Hey down beside her and pulled her in an embrace, earning him an annoyed re from Ice Cream who suddenly got squeezed between the two of them. He stroked their eldest¡¯s head to appease her but neither did he let go of his wife. The fat, grey cat snorted before moving to her mommy¡¯s other side with great reluctance, grudgingly giving up her ce to her daddy.

    "What a brat," he muttered under his breath.

    Iris chuckled. "Dom says Ice Cream is grumpier than usual these days because the vet rmended for her to lose weight again."

    Jin Liwei grunted and hugged his wife more tightly.

    They stayed in thisfortable silence but it was obvious that Iris¡¯ mind felt too active to fall asleep. <i></i>

    "Bacon?"

    A response came in an instant. "Yes, Mother? Bacon is here."

    Popcorn greeted his younger kitty brother¡¯s voice with a friendly meow at a random wall while Ice Cream only opened her eyes briefly before closing them again and returning to sleep.

    "Are you at work right now?"

    "Yes, Mother." Bacon paused for a moment before borating before he was asked to do so. "But don¡¯t worry. Bacon can still chat with Mother and Father without any problems. Also, my work is currently lighter than usual because Uncle Zihao scolded all the ShaWn members for beingzy asses¡ª"

    A certain white cat AI gasped in a familiar dramatic manner and butted in the conversation. "Uh-oh, Bacon! That¡¯s a bad word! Daddy will ground you! Ooooh, so sad and scary! Meow~"

    "You are overreacting, Big Sister Ketchup." Bacon¡¯s tone was still polite but Iris and Jin Liwei could detect the faint annoyance underneath his words. Then he addressed them. "My apologies, Mother and Father. It wasn¡¯t Bacon¡¯s intention to use a term included in our bad words list. I am only paraphrasing Uncle Zihao¡¯s exact words. Please excuse Bacon. And Father, I hope that you put Uncle Zihao¡¯s role in this case into consideration before you decide whether to ground me or not."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched while Irisughed. His wife¡¯s melodious voice filled their entire room with warmth and tenderness. He almostughed with her but stopped the urge just in time. Their AI children already knew that he was the strict parent.

    Bacon, the cunning rascal, already knew how to throw his own uncle under the bus and push all the me on Lu Zihao.

    Jin Liwei sighed. He couldn¡¯t really put all the me on his AI son because it was true that his brother-inw had a foul mouth.

    He made a decision. "Fine, I¡¯ll let it slide this time. I won¡¯t ground you but don¡¯t always copy what your uncle says. And don¡¯t always use paraphrasing as an excuse. You¡¯re smart. Find other words that are more appropriate."

    "Bacon understands, Father."

    "Wow wow! Why is Daddy so kind today? Ketchup wishes that Daddy will be less strict to us kitty babies like this forever and ever! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched again. "I only ground you when you deserve it."

    Iris patted his hand and looked amused at his conversation with their AI children. "Go on, Bacon. Tell us more about your work right now."

 Chapter 967 - None Of Your Business

    <h4>Chapter 967 - None Of Your Business </h4>

    Bacon immediately obeyed. "As I was saying earlier, my work is lighter nowpared to before because Uncle Zihao told the ShaWn members that they¡¯re being toozytely and that they¡¯re depending on Bacon too much toplete their missions. To be honest, Bacon wishes that they all continue to bezy, although I know that it¡¯s not ssy to think this way. It¡¯s because Uncle Zihao mentioned that he¡¯ll give me their sry instead if they don¡¯t work properly. But after being scolded, they¡¯re now working hard again. I¡¯m a little sad and disappointed because this good opportunity for a sry raise is now gone."

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei were amused. Nevertheless, Jin Liwei still lectured their AI son.

    "Don¡¯t be too obsessed with money. Our family has a lot. You know that your mom and I will never deprive you and your siblings with your monthly allowances as long as you¡¯re reasonable enough with how you spend it."

    Iris nodded.

    "Understood, Father. Bacon just likes money because I feel secure when I have lots in my savings."

    The husband and wife looked at each other with raised eyebrows. However, they didn¡¯t criticize Bacon because his reason was rtable. Afterwards, Iris continued to chat with Bacon about his work at Shadow Winds with Ketchup butting in the conversation now and then.

    Knowing that his mother was hesitant in involving herself with Shadow Winds, Bacon didn¡¯t delve into too much detail about his work. In contrast, his father didn¡¯t have the same concern as his mother, so he nned on giving his father aplete reportter.

    "How about your Uncle Zihao?" Iris asked next. "How is he?"

    "Uncle Zihao broke up with Aunt Jinjing."

    "What?!" Iris sat straight up, startling both Ice Cream and Popcorn.

    Jin Liwei was also surprised at the news but didn¡¯t say anything. He wasn¡¯t too interested in his brother-inw¡¯s rtionship with Long Jinjing or with any women. What he cared more was preventing his wife from bing too stressed and worsening her already difficult pregnancy symptoms.

    Bacon had no problem exposing his uncle¡¯s private affairs to his parents. "Uncle Zihao would sometimes limit Bacon¡¯s surveince so I don¡¯t haveplete information about what happened. But I do know that Uncle Zihao and Aunt Jinjing had been busy making a baby daily in the past few days just like when Father and Mother tell us, your children, not to disturb you¡ª"

    Jin Liwei scowled. "Where did you learn that?"

    Bacon paused. "...from Uncle Dominic..."

    And the cunning rascal threw another uncle of his under the bus. But at least, he sounded hesitant when it came to exposing his Uncle Dom unlike earlier when he pushed all the me on his Uncle Zihao without showing any guilt. <i></i>

    "Oh oh oh! The cute and almost mighty again Ketchup knows what that means! Poor Uncle Haohao and Auntie Jinjing! They must be dog-tired after all that sleepy time! But don¡¯t worry, Mommy and Daddy! Ketchup already warned my little kitty brother Bacon not to disturb Uncle Haohao and Auntie Jinjing during their sleepy time just like how we never disturb Mommy and Daddy during your super-duper important sleepy time! Ehehehe. Meow~"

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei became speechless.

    Iris bit her lower lip and looked sad. "Our children grow up so fast."

    Jin Liwei was still scowling.

    She patted his face and gave him a reassuring smile. Then she spoke by mouthing words to prevent their too-smart-for-their-own-good AI children from listening. "Don¡¯t worry, darling. I already programmed them to automatically limit their memory andprehension if they were to be identally exposed to...uh, inappropriate scenes outside of our supervision."

    He immediately looked relieved. He and his wife were of the same mind in wanting to keep their AI children¡¯s "innocence" longer just like normal human children. They both knew that they couldn¡¯t keep censoring all inappropriate information from Ketchup and Bacon forever, but for now, Jin Liwei and Iris wanted to raise their AI children this way.

    Iris quickly remembered the main topic at hand. "Call your Uncle Zihao. I want to talk to him."

    "Oh oh oh! Let the cute and almost mighty again Ketchup call Uncle Haohao! Ketchup missed my uncle sooooo much! Meow~" Then assuming that her parents approved, she immediately made the call.

    <i>Ring. Ring. Ring. </i>

    It rang for a long time. They almost thought that Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t going to answer, but he did at thest moment.

    "Kid, I don¡¯t have time to chat with you right now." Lu Zihao didn¡¯t even say hello. His tone was filled with annoyance. "I¡¯m busy. Go watch cartoons or something."

    Apparently, Ketchup called him using her own number.

    "Big Brother," Iris greeted in Russian.

    There was a distinct pause before Lu Zihao replied to her in a more neutral tone.

    Iris didn¡¯t beat around the bush and directly asked him, "You broke up with Big Sister Jinjing?"

    Another distinct pause, longer this time.

    "That money-grubbing brat of yours told you?" he asked instead of answering.

    "Bacon is your nephew and he loves working with you."

    Lu Zihao snorted.

    Iris didn¡¯t give up. "Well? Is it true that you and Big Sister Jinjing broke up?"

    "None of your business, Little Sister."

    She was taken aback by her brother¡¯s blunt refusal that she wasn¡¯t able to respond right away.

    Listening to their conversation, Jin Liwei frowned. He understood what his brother-inw just said to his wife with the basic Russian that he had been trying hard to learn recently. He couldn¡¯t help but defend his wife in Mandarin.

    "Your sister is pregnant. Don¡¯t upset her."

    "I¡¯m alright," Iris said.

    "No, love. You¡¯re already starting to stress out."

    "Fine. Sorry." Lu Zihao sighed. "But I¡¯m really not in the mood to talk about my breakup with Jinjing."

    "So you really broke up." Iris pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side while hugging Ice Cream. Jin Liwei took this chance to also hug her. Of course, Popcorn didn¡¯t want to be left out and squeezed with them for a family group hug.

    "...yeah." Lu Zihao sighed again, deeper this time. "We broke up."

 Chapter 968 - No Need To Choose Sides

    <h4>Chapter 968 - No Need To Choose Sides </h4>

    This was the first time that Iris heard this kind of dejected tone from her brother. "Are you sad?"

    "No." Lu Zihao snorted as if the very idea of him being sad over a breakup was ridiculous.

    "Don¡¯t believe what Uncle Zihao is saying, Mother," Bacon interrupted in his usual bored, polite and no-nonsense tone. "He¡¯s lying. The truth is that Uncle Zihao has been moping around and drinking alcohol like a loser ever since he broke up with Aunt Jinjing. Everyone at Shadow Winds is avoiding him because he snarls at them like a grumpy lion who has a splinter stuck on his butt¡ªI mean, his derri¨¨re but couldn¡¯t get it out. He has been beating up everyone at the headquarters in the name of ¡¯training¡¯. As his young nephew, Bacon is ashamed to watch such pathetic behaviour from my uncle. Uncle Zihao is not being ssy at all."

    "Gasp! Uncle Haohao is acting like a pathetic loser?! Shocking! And he¡¯s bullying his subordinates?! Uh-oh! What a big meanie, even bigger than my little kitty brother! Bacon, don¡¯t be like Uncle Haohao or you¡¯ll break our mommy¡¯s heart! Then Daddy will ground you forever and ever because Daddy hates seeing Mommy hurt. Oh no! That¡¯s too sad! Meowuwuwu!"

    "You brats!" Lu Zihao growled through gritted teeth.

    "See? Uncle Zihao is very grumpy," Baconmented in a bored I-told-you-so tone.

    "Bacon, Ketchup, that¡¯s enough." Iris pressed her lips together to stop herself fromughing at her brother¡¯s expense. She knew his temper. If her AI children continued to tease him like this, he would explode at any moment and might traumatize them.

    "Did you call just to make fun of me, huh? I¡¯m hanging up now. I don¡¯t have time for this shit."

    And indeed, Lu Zihao hung up in the next second.

    "Oopsie daisy! Looks like Uncle Haohao is angry! Oh no! Ketchup feels bad! What should we kitty babies do? Meow!" <i></i>

    "It¡¯ll be alright. Uncle Zihao won¡¯t stay mad at us for too long because we are family. Most importantly, we are Mother¡¯s beloved children. Uncle Zihao loves his sister, our mother, very much, so he¡¯ll always care about us, her children, whether he actually likes us or not."

    Iris interrupted the two. "Try calling your uncle again."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Meow~"

    The phone kept ringing but Lu Zihao didn¡¯t answer.

    "Just make his phone automatically answer the call," Bacon suggested.

    "But that¡¯s bad manners! Ketchup is a good kitty baby! Right, Mommy and Daddy? Meow~"

    Iris didn¡¯t reply but looked at her husband instead before sighing. "What do you think happened between my brother and Big Sister Jinjing? They couldn¡¯t keep their hands off each other during our wedding, yet they broke up so soon."

    Jin Liwei shrugged. "Maybe they¡¯re just not meant for each other."

    "And they were even the ones who caught my bouquet and garter. Although I don¡¯t really believe in the superstition about being the next one to marry after catching a wedding bouquet and garter, I didn¡¯t expect for the two of them to break up so soon after our wedding."

    "Both of them are already grown-ups. I¡¯m sure that they can figure it out by themselves."

    She looked reluctant, thinking of something. Then she asked Ketchup to text Long Jinjing asking her if she was alright. A few minutes passed by but Long Jinjing didn¡¯t reply.

    "Should I call her?"

    "Not today, love. Maybe tomorrow."

    "I wonder how she¡¯s feeling right now. I hope she¡¯s okay. I could tell that she likes my brother very much. Maybe she already loves him." She released a deep sigh. "Now I feel bad and also torn. I consider Big Brother as my real sibling but Big Sister Jinjing is also a close friend of mine. They¡¯re basically both my siblings. Since we don¡¯t know the real reason why they broke up, I don¡¯t know who to side with."

    "There¡¯s no need to choose sides. Like you said, they¡¯re both your siblings. Meaning, they¡¯re members of our family. We just need to be there for them." He paused before admitting, "But things might be awkward for the two of them during our gatherings."

    She nodded.

    He pulled her back down to a lying position on the bed and tightened their embrace. "Stop stressing yourself over their rtionship. I¡¯m sure that they don¡¯t want to worry you about their problem knowing that you¡¯re pregnant."

    "Fine." She rubbed her face against his chest and inhaled his scent. Her simple actions made him smile. A few minutester, she finally fell asleep.

    "Father, is my mother asleep?" Bacon¡¯s polite whisper interrupted thefortable silence in the bedroom.

    "En."

    "May I have a few minutes of Father¡¯s time, then? Bacon is ready to report on the things you asked me before."

    "Oh oh oh! The cute and almost mighty again Ketchup also has something to report to Daddy! Ketchup will report after my little kitty brother because I¡¯m a kind and understanding big sister! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei stilled and nced at his sleeping wife before sighing in relief after seeing that she didn¡¯t stir. Although Ketchup also whispered, her excited voice might still awaken Iris who had great hearing. He carefully disentangled his arms around her before going out of the bedroom to the suite¡¯s living area.

    Bacon immediately provided him with thetest updates about Shadow Winds. Jin Liwei frowned after he was done reporting.

    "Shadow Winds is handling too much at once. This doesn¡¯t look good. The authorities are beginning to take notice of them especially after that issue with thetest shipment of weapons. They¡¯re acting too conspicuous."

    "Bacon agrees with Father. I also already warned Uncle Zihao about possibleplications if things continued to progress in this way, but so far, he has not made any significant steps to err on the side of caution."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s frown deepened.

    "Bacon told Uncle Zihao that he¡¯s being too reckless but he threatened to cancel my uing holiday bonus. His actions are not ssy at all. Father, please fight for a sry raise for me aspensation for my emotional injury caused by Uncle Zihao¡¯s threat."

 Chapter 969 - Youâ€™ll Never Understand

    <h4>Chapter 969 - You¡¯ll Never Understand </h4>

    Jin Liwei ignored the part about his AI son trying to get him to negotiate another sry raise. "Tell your Uncle Zihao to pause Shadow Winds¡¯ activities that are the riskiest to discover by the authorities. This period is too dangerous since it looks like the authorities are starting to get suspicious. He shouldn¡¯t be too impatient in strengthening Shadow Winds quickly. Instead, he should focus on building a firmer foundation or everything he has built so far mighte crashing down."

    "Understood, Father. Bacon will tell Uncle Zihao your exact words and not just paraphrase."

    "En. Good." His frown remained as he nced at the closed bedroom door with worry. "And don¡¯t let your mom know about this for now. You know how she frets when ites to your uncle¡¯s purpose in creating Shadow Winds."

    Bacon didn¡¯t reply right away. When he finally replied, he did so in a careful tone. "Alright, Father. But if Mother notices something and asks Bacon, I will immediately tell her the truth without leaving anything. Mother might reprogram Bacon if she discovers that I hid something from her."

    Jin Liwei sighed. "That¡¯s fine."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Father. Bacon remembers Father and Mother¡¯s repeated reminder to always prioritize Uncle Zihao and my safety once I started working for him at Shadow Winds. In fact, I already devised a few rmendations on how Shadow Winds could act safely during this risky time which I will present to Uncle Zihao as soon as he stops sulking like a spoiled, little child because of his breakup with Aunt Jinjing."

    Ketchup went next after Bacon finished reporting. Since her scope of tasks were muchrger and diverse than Bacon¡¯s, she had a lot to report on. Jin Liwei was patient in listening to her entire report, feeling pleased about how organized she was in the task. Her business reporting style was deeply influenced by his long-time assistant Xu Tian¡¯s way.

    Everything was excellent. His onlyint was that his AI daughter had the tendency to veer-off topic mid-report and start chattering away about somethingpletely unrted. As a result, the report which should havested for only thirty minutes went on for over one hour despite Jin Liwei¡¯s repeated stern attempts to redirect her back to her current task.

    It was increasingly obvious that Ketchup might surpass his Uncle Dom very soon and take away his crown of being the number one chatterbox in their household.

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief when Ketchup finally went to her own merry way ying in who knows where on the inte. He immediately returned to bed and hugged his sleeping wife. However, sleep eluded him.

    There were many worries running in his mind¡ªhis wife¡¯s pregnancy, the current risky state of his brother-inw¡¯s Shadow Winds, the Vetrov¡¯s history, just to name a few.

    An hour passed by and he still couldn¡¯t fall asleep. Sighing, he reached over and grabbed the tablet on his bedside table. Then he began reading the familiar report that he had read for so many times now.

    The Vetrov Report.

    He skipped the first few pages to the part about his brother-inw.

    Niki Armanovich Vetrov.

    The sense of horror and rejection toward a viinous figure that Jin Liwei instinctively felt when he first read about his brother-inw¡¯s former identity in his past life had already long been numbed after reading the Vetrov report over and over again.

    He had read the report so many times now that he already memorized arge chunk of it, especially the part about his wife. He could recite the part about her line by line.

    After rereading the part about his brother-inw, his eyes lit up upon seeing his wife¡¯s beautiful name.

    Evelina Armanovna Vetrova.

    He caressed her name on the tablet, a small smile ying on his lips. His eyes also gentled as he began reciting in a low murmur the information his wife wrote about herself on the report.

    After he was done, he nced at his sleeping wife beside him and stroked her soft cheek.

    "I wonder what you looked like when you were Evelina. I bet you were beautiful. Even your brother says so. He always tells me that you had many suitors that he intimidated."

    He continued watching his wife sleep while imagining how beautiful she was in her past life as Evelina Vetrova. There were no photos included in the Vetrov report that she gave him. He also didn¡¯t ask for one knowing that her past life was filled with unhappy memories for her, including her tragic death and that of the entire Vetrov family. Not wanting to upset her, he restrained himself from searching for any photos of her, his brother-inw, and the other members of the Vetrov family on the inte despite his curiosity.

    Iris stirred beside him and opened her sleepy eyes. "Hm? What¡¯re you doing? Why are you still awake?"

    He immediately turned the tablet¡¯s screen off as soon as he felt his wife move. Tossing the tablet to the side, he hugged Iris and gave her a peck on the forehead. "I was just reading something. Go back to sleep. It¡¯s alreadyte."

    Instead of replying, she reached over and took the tablet he tossed on the bed. It was already toote for him to stop her.

    "You¡¯re still reading this report?" She looked at him in confusion.

    "En."

    "Why?"

    "Because I want to better understand where you and your brother Niki came from."

    Her eyes became downcast. "I appreciate your willingness to understand and ept the origins of my brother and I but...there¡¯s no need to force yourself to find something that you can rte with to the Vetrovs. Our family is...was extremely different to everybody else. We were criminals, Liwei. You¡¯re not. You¡¯re an upstanding citizen who¡¯s admired by many people not only in this country but all over the world. So you can never really understand what it¡¯s like to be a criminal. To be a proud top criminal reigning over the other criminals in the world. And I hope that you¡¯ll never understand what¡¯s it like in the future. I won¡¯t allow you."

 Chapter 970 - Searching For A Photo Of Evelina

    <h4>Chapter 970 - Searching For A Photo Of Evelina </h4>

    "I know, love. I know." Jin Liwei held his wife¡¯s face and lifted it up, making her look at him straight in the eyes. "Don¡¯t worry. I know my limits. My priority will always be you and our family. There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll allow myself to be a wanted criminal and risk our family¡¯s safety."

    Iris touched one of his hands holding her face. "I know that you have some kind of deal with my brother."

    He stiffened but only for a moment. "En."

    In the end, he still admitted it. He was already prepared to confess it to her for quite some time now but just couldn¡¯t find the right time.

    She pulled his hand and squeezed it while continuing to look at him. "You know what kind of business my brother is involved in with Shadow Winds."

    "I know what you¡¯re worried about." He turned his hand and grabbed hers instead before pulling it to his lips and kissing her palm. "Don¡¯t worry, love. Like I told you, I know my limits. I won¡¯t involve myself at all in any of Shadow Winds¡¯ operations. But Niki is family. He¡¯s your older brother and living my fifth brother¡¯s life. I still need to make sure that he and his group won¡¯t get into trouble with the authorities because I know that not only will you be devastated but also me, the rest of our sworn brothers, and most especially Grandpa Lu. I can do this much with my current position."

    He didn¡¯t rush her when she didn¡¯t reply right away, stroking her soft hair instead while she continued squeezing his other hand.

    "I feel awful," she finally whispered.

    His face immediately registered rm as he sat up and started scanning her from head to toe and back up again. "What¡¯s wrong? How are you feeling? Should I call the doctor?"

    "No, not that kind of awful." She took his hand and ced it on the valley between her b.r.e.a.s.ts where he felt her heart beating underneath his palm. "I feel awful here inside."

    He understood what she meant and forced himself to calm down after scanning her one final time to make sure that she was really fine. "We already talked about this before. Your brother and I already know that you¡¯re reluctant to join him in his pursuit for revenge for what happened to the Vetrovs back then. In the first ce, he doesn¡¯t expect you to join him at all. Furthermore, you already did him a great service by allowing Bacon to assist him at Shadow Winds."

    "You think that¡¯s enough?"

    "Your brother and I both think that it¡¯s more than enough. Just focus on staying healthy and stress-free during your pregnancy, wife. That¡¯s the most important thing that you can do right now, alright?"

    She nodded. <i></i>

    He gave her a light kiss on the lips. "Go back to sleep."

    She hummed her assent and then murmured something.

    "What?" He didn¡¯t hear what she said.

    "I said I¡¯m already a wanted criminal, so you shouldn¡¯t be one, too."

    He scowled. "The hell you are!"

    She raised an eyebrow, an amused smile on her lips. "Have you forgotten that I¡¯m Drakon? I¡¯m wanted in several countries right now."

    "Oh. Right."

    "But it¡¯s still nothingpared to when I was hacking left and right as Fantom back when I was still Evelina." She sighed as she reminisced about her past exploits as one of the legendary hackers in history.

    When she mentioned her name Evelina, he remembered what he was imagining a few moments ago before she woke up. "Evelina," he called, saying each syble with relish.

    "Hm?"

    "What did you look like before?"

    She looked at him and tilted her head to the side. "You want to see what I looked like when I was Evelina?"

    He didn¡¯t reply immediately and observed her expression first instead. He was afraid that his curiosity was going to upset her but upon seeing her normal expression, he felt relieved. Nevertheless, he still decided to tread around this subject with great caution, knowing how much his wife suffered in her past life and how tragically she died.

    Before he could speak, she asked another question. "Did you try searching for pictures of me or of other members of the Vetrovs on the inte?"

    He shook his head.

    "Why not?"

    "I want to but I don¡¯t want to do it behind your back."

    Her amused smile transformed into a bright smile that lit up her entire face. Then she gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the mouth. "My husband is so considerate."

    He cleared his throat but a pleased grin was already threatening to split on his face. "Of course. You¡¯re my wife!"

    She took the tablet again and searched for "Evelina Vetrova" on the search bar for images. Several photos of different women appeared. They apparently had the same name. She showed the search results to him.

    He nced at the different photos, hoping that he could pinpoint his wife just based on his deep love for her, but no photos tugged on him. "Which one are you among these?"

    "Guess." Her eyes glinted with mischief.

    He took the tablet from her and began carefully examining the photos. However, like before, none tugged on him. He shook his head and returned the tablet to her. "I don¡¯t know."

    Her bright smile became even wider and brighter. "Good answer."

    He felt confused but decided to wait for her exnation.

    "None of these are me."

    "Oh."

    "Actually, there are no photos of me on the inte at all," she revealed, her smile dimming a little. "I¡¯m the¡ªI<i> was</i> the most protected and sheltered member of the Vetrov family so only very few people outside the organization knew about my existence. I was also the hacker Fantom so it was only natural for me to erase any substantial traces about my identity on the web."

    She typed a new search term on the tablet.

    Niki Vetrov.

    Simr to before, the search results showed many photos of different men who had the same name.

    "But unlike me, my brother was very famous, or should I say infamous? He rarely attended social events, but whenever he did, he would always attract widespread attention."

 Chapter 971 - Vultures Scavenging For Cadavers

    <h4>Chapter 971 - Vultures Scavenging For Cadavers </h4>

    Jin Liwei appeared intrigued. "Your brother was able to openly attend social events? Didn¡¯t others know his identity as the heir of the Vetrovs or was he in disguise?"

    Iris stroked the sleeping Ice Cream beside her on the bed before ncing at Popcorn who was busy grooming himself in front of the wall-mounted fountain. "Those in the know, of course they knew about him."

    "And they still invited him?"

    "Yes. Like I said, my brother was very charismatic¡ªhe¡¯s still very charismatic even though most people find it extremely difficult to get along with him. They knew that my brother was a Vetrov, but they still wanted to associate with him. Inviting him to social events was one way to do that. Very few could resist Niki Vetrov, even knowing how dangerous and deadly he was."

    "The authorities didn¡¯t do anything? They just let him appear in public just like that?"

    "That¡¯s the power of the Vetrovs. Yes, we were a notorious crime family, but you¡¯ll find it interesting that we also knew how to make thew work for us. Most governments in the world, especially democracies, has to follow the rule ofw before they can legally arrest and prosecute people. Committing crimes was as natural as breathing to the Vetrovs and the authorities knew that. But if there were no evidence or eyewitnesses, the authorities couldn¡¯t arrest any of us. What evidence? What eyewitnesses? We would just make sure to erase everything." She nced at him. "Do you still need me to tell you what I mean when I say ¡¯erase¡¯?"

    He shook his head, a serious expression appearing on his face. "Don¡¯t say ¡¯we¡¯."

    "But I am...I was a part of them, a Vetrov."

    He chose not argue with her about that, telling her instead, "You¡¯re a Jin now."

    She couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. "Yes, that¡¯s true. I¡¯m now an official member of your Jin family."

    "En. Don¡¯t forget which family you belong now, Mrs. Jin. Your husband and children who are all Jins will be very sad if you do."

    She chuckled and pressed herself closer to him.

    This short but sweet exchange between the husband and wife was a much-needed respite for the pregnant Iris from the heavy topic of their previous conversation. Her husband¡¯s semi-serious and semi-teasing words managed to lighten her mood.

    "Do you still want to talk about your brother and the Vetrovs?" Jin Liwei asked her.

    Tilting her head to the side, she thought for a moment before nodding. "Just a little bit more. I think I need to get all this off my chest tonight or I won¡¯t be able to return to sleep."

    "Alright, love. I¡¯ll be right here listening."

    She gave him a soft smile before her expression became neutral. "Where was I again? Oh, right. Making sure to erase evidence and eyewitnesses was normal protocol for everyone in the organization."

    "You weren¡¯t a member of the Vetrov organization."

    "...No, I wasn¡¯t."

    "See? That¡¯s why I told you earlier not to use ¡¯we¡¯. You were born as a Vetrov back then but that was something out of your control. You did, however, made the choice not to join the organization no matter how much your family pressured you. You¡¯re amazing, Evelina."

    "Ugh." She dabbed the sudden moisture in her eyes with the back of her fingers. "Pregnancy hormones."

    "I know." He leaned forward and kissed each of her damp eyelids.

    She closed her eyes and enjoyed his sweet kisses. Sighing in satisfaction, she made herself morefortable in his arms. "Continuing on what I was saying before, the Vetrovs had the wealth and influence .u.mted throughout several generations to secretly nurture our own expertwyers from different countries outside of the organization. On paper, those topwyers had nothing to do with the Vetrovs except for the fact that we hired them defend our ¡¯rights¡¯. But the truth was that they were unofficial members of the organization right from the start. The authorities weren¡¯t stupid. Of course, they all knew about it but what could they do? They had no concrete evidence or eyewitnesses to validate their suspicions."

    "Ah." Jin Liwei nodded, quickly understanding all the implications of what she said. "So that¡¯s why your brother could openly show himself in public without worrying about the authorities."

    "Actually, that¡¯s not urate. My brother was¡ª<i>is</i> a very meticulous man. He won¡¯t parade himself in the open without preparing several escape ns just in case things go awry."

    She noticed him frowning. "What¡¯s wrong?"

    He didn¡¯t reply.

    "Darling? Is something wrong?"

    His attention finally snapped back. He cleared his throat and smiled. "Nothing. There¡¯s nothing wrong."

    "Are you sure?"

    "En. Don¡¯t worry, love."

    She opened her mouth to ask more about it but got distracted when he grabbed the tablet and looked at the image search results for "Niki Vetrov" again. <i></i>

    "Is your brother¡¯s photo in here?"

    "No."

    "Oh."

    "Well, he did have photos floating on the web before but not anymore."

    "Were you the one who deleted them?"

    "Only some." She shrugged. "My brother never forced me to help him with hacking. Even back then, he had talented hackers among his subordinates but not as skillful as me."

    "Of course." He smiled.

    Her pride as a legendary hacker reared its head again. Despite this, there was purity in her pride, not conceit. It was a simple knowledge of the level of her skills and confidence in her own capabilities as a world-ss hacker.

    She exined to Jin Liwei that her brother had his subordinates periodically remove photos of himself on the web. The organization also had people do the same thing with photos of the other Vetrovs. Nevertheless, some photos of the Vetrovs would still appear on the web now and then, especially the dark web and the intr of various authorities from all over the world, no matter how many times they were deleted.

    "But that shouldn¡¯t be a problem anymore. Now we have Ketchup and Bacon who are both powerful AIs that could scour the web for these photos and automatically delete them."

    Her expression suddenly turned fierce. She even clenched her fists. "I may not be proud of being a Vetrov and may not have the same desire as my brother to avenge our annihtion, but there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll allow other people to feast upon our images like vultures scavenging for cadavers."

 Chapter 972 - Dream Man

    <h4>Chapter 972 - Dream Man </h4>

    His wife¡¯s menacing words made Jin Liwei¡¯s heart jump and beat faster. He swallowed hard and felt his mouth go dry. She looked so damn s.e.xy, but seeing her serious demeanour, he forcefully tamped down on his urge to push her down on the bed. This wasn¡¯t an appropriate time to enjoy wicked, carnal things with his wife all night long. He was able to quickly regain control of himself before continuing to apany his wife.

    Iris felt better after getting these dark thoughts off her chest. She had no idea that she had just unwittingly seduced her husband. Her eyes were filled with appreciation for him for listening to her. "Do you really want to see a photo of what I looked like as Evelina?"

    "En." There was no hesitation in his answer this time.

    She tilted her head to the side and thought about it for a few seconds. "Okay."

    His eyes lit up. "Really?"

    She nodded. "But not tonight. I¡¯m sleepy again."

    "That¡¯s alright."

    "I¡¯ll look for some of my photos and show them to you another day."

    "En. There¡¯s no rush. Take your time."

    "How about my brother¡¯s photos? Do you also want to see what he looked like before as Niki Vetrov?"

    He hesitated before shrugging. "If you have photos of him, I¡¯ll look, but if it¡¯s too much of a hassle for you, then don¡¯t bother. All I want is to see what my wife looked like before."

    "Okay." She yawned.

    Momentster, she fell into deep sleep again.

    Jin Liwei stroked her hair as he stared at the ceiling while thinking about all the things they talked about tonight. He didn¡¯t know when his wife discovered his deal with her brother to provide Niki some assistance that would keep Shadow Winds out of the authorities¡¯ radar in exchange for regr transparent updates about the group¡¯s activities and precautions not to endanger his wife and their family should Niki and Shadow Winds fail in some way in the future.

    "Tsk." He couldn¡¯t help but feel irritated by his brother-inw¡¯s recent recklessness. ncing at his wife sleeping peacefully in his arms, he felt a strong urge to call his brother-inw and scold him.

    During their conversation earlier, Iris described her brother as a meticulous man causing him to frown with skepticism. She wasn¡¯t able to detect his skepticism though, only seeing his frown and asking him about it. Fortunately, he was able to divert her attention away from his instinctive reaction.

    He couldn¡¯t stop himself from reacting like that earlier. Niki was a meticulous man? If the man¡¯s recent actions were any indication, Jin Liwei would scoff at the im. Based on what he observed so far, his brother-inw was bing more and more impatient and too reckless¡ªfar from the meticulous man that his wife believed her brother to be.

    If it weren¡¯t for Bacon who was providing him with daily, unfiltered reports about Shadow Winds¡¯ activities, Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t have known that the group was currently at a very precarious situation.

    To be honest, Shadow Winds could go to hell for all he cared, but Niki who was now living as his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao was very adamant in using the group to avenge the Vetrovs. It was clear that the man would never be at peace in this lifetime if he didn¡¯t achieve his bloodthirsty goal.

    If his wife¡¯s brother was at peace, then she would also be at peace. This was what Jin Liwei cared the most about¡ªhis wife¡¯s peace of mind, so that she could continue to live in happiness with him and their family for the rest of their lives.

    Sighing, his eyes finally closed as he drifted into a restless dream.

    ###

    <i>Jin Corporation. </i>

    The weekend ended in what felt like a blink of an eye. It was Monday, the start of another busy week, yet the weather was cold and cloudy. Everyone around Rose Young was grumbling about the chill in the air but she didn¡¯t care about it at all. She entered thepany with a bright smile and confident walk.

    "Good morning, CMO Young!"

    In a good mood, she nodded and responded to those who greeted her. "Good morning!"

    Although there were still people in thepany who didn¡¯t like her especially after witnessing her trying to cozy up with their President Jin, they had to admit that she was doing an excellent job so far as the Chief Marketing Officer. Most of the employees already stopped gossiping about her after seeing how many times she failed to elicit a reaction from President Jin. The secret ck Stars in thepany, however, continued to regard her as a potential homewrecker just biding her time before stealing President Jin away from their Boss Iris.

    Rose Young used the elevator to get to her office, sneering in her mind after overhearing some of the employees¡¯ whispers about what they considered her shameless pursuit of President Jin. She knew that they were Iris Long¡¯s supporters.

    <i>¡¯I still have a chance. Big Brother Liwei hasn¡¯t married that s.l.u.t yet.¡¯</i>

    The elevator door opened and she headed to her office. Her assistant immediately greeted her before approaching with a work tablet. She waved a dismissing hand before her assistant could go near her. <i></i>

    "We¡¯ll go over my scheduleter. I need to check a few doc.u.ments first. I¡¯ll call youter."

    "Understood, CMO Young."

    Rose entered her office and closed the door. Then she headed straight to the full-length mirror installed inside and started fixing her outfit. It was a business dress but looked s.e.xier than usual. She opened her purse and started retouching her makeup and spraying her hair for more volume. Unlike what she told her assistant outside, she wasn¡¯t checking doc.u.ments at all but was making herself prettier in front of a mirror like a girl about to go on a date.

    She made a few poses and sultry expressions on the mirror before nodding in satisfaction. Excitement filled her.

    "I have to look my best because Big Brother Liwei is finally returning to work today."

    She needed to work harder in making him hers as soon as possible to make it more peaceful for everyone after her Young family and their remaining hidden allies in the Jin n sessfully forced Jin Liwei into marrying her.

    A big smile stretched on her face at the thought of marrying her dream man.

 Chapter 973 - Front Cover Bombshell

    <h4>Chapter 973 - Front Cover Bombshell </h4>

    In a great mood, Rose Young finally called her assistant to her office and they went over her full schedule and other important work messages. Afterwards, she got ready to head over to the morning meeting with all the other executives to report the statuses of their current projects directly to their President Jin.

    Her heart fluttered and she felt a little giddy while looking forward to seeing Jin Liwei again. She seemed to ignore the fact that he had been treating her with obvious coldness, even contempt, and refusing to respond to her repeated attempts to talk to him, instead leaving allmunications between the two of them through his annoying assistant, Xu Tian.

    Along the way to the meeting room, she overheard something that stopped her cold. Her head whipped to the direction of a group of employees in her marketing department gathered around the coffee and tea station. <i></i>

    "Did you see that magazine released today? Our President Jin and Iris Long are on the front cover!"

    "Really?! Which magazine?!"

    "I know! I saw it! President and Iris Long are featured in the December issue of <i>¨¤ Mode</i>. I immediately bought a copy when I saw it at the convenience store on my way to work earlier this morning. Good thing I grabbed it because all the store¡¯s copies got quickly sold out while I was paying for mine at the cashier."

    "Where¡¯s your magazine? Let me borrow it. Please! I wanna see!"

    "Wait. Let me quickly grab it from my desk. I guarantee that you¡¯ll be all shocked when you see it."

    "Hurry!"

    When the person returned, she was carrying a copy of<i> ¨¤ Mode China</i>, one of the most popr and influential foreign magazines in the country. Indeed, this month¡¯s front cover featured a gorgeous wedding photo of Jin Liwei and Iris Long as they posed while standing on the picturesque islet surrounded by a clear koi fish pond in their home¡¯s indoor forest where they exchanged their marriage vows. Everyone gasped as they gawked at the photo.

    "Holy. Shit. Pinch me. Are you all seeing what I¡¯m seeing right now? Is this for real? Did ourpany president really marry Iris Long?"

    "Uwah! Boss Iris looks so beautiful! She looks like a fairy queen! And of course, President Jin also looks like a king! They¡¯re a match made in heaven, no doubt about it!"

    "There are more photos of the wedding and the banquet inside. Hurry and look. There¡¯s even an exclusive interview with the two of them!"

    "Aaaw! Look! It¡¯s Young Master Popcorn and Young Miss Ice Cream as the flowercats! So cute!"

    "Kyaaaaah! Prince Lin Lin looks so dashing!"

    "Hot damn! Who¡¯s that big, gorgeous, muscled hunk with a scarred face?"

    "You don¡¯t know him? He¡¯s Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson and our president¡¯s best friend¡ªwhat the hell? Oh!"

    "!!!"

    "CMO Young!"

    A cold-faced Rose snatched the magazine out of their hands, ignoring their terrified expressions, and then started ring at the magazine¡¯s front cover. Her vision turned red as she saw the wedding photo and the matching rings on the bride and groom¡¯s fingers.

    Despicable. Utterly despicable!

    Her hands tightened from rage, wrinkling the magazine¡¯s smooth and glossy pages. The magazine¡¯s owner grimaced upon seeing her almost crumpled copy. The others watched in tense silence as their Chief Marketing Officer looked at the rest of the photos of President Jin and Iris Long and read the exclusive interview inside the magazine. The colleagues looked at each other while the ck Stars among them secretly rolled their eyes.

    The moment was interrupted when Rose¡¯s assistant found them. "What are you all doing crowding there? It¡¯s time for work, not gossiping! Oh! CMO Young, you¡¯re still here? The meeting upstairs is about to start. If you don¡¯t hurry up, you¡¯ll bete."

    Rose snapped out of her outraged daze. She nced at her department¡¯s employees with cold, almost vicious eyes. "I¡¯m confiscating this magazine." Then she left without a second nce.

    When she was gone, the magazine¡¯s owner couldn¡¯t help but grumble in frustration at having her precious copy stolen by her department boss. Her colleagues¡¯ expressions weren¡¯t any better either. The ck Stars among them looked the most indignant.

    "I haven¡¯t read the full interview yet. I was nning on enjoying it during lunch time. Now I have to wait to buy another copy after work¡ª<i>if</i> there are other copies left at other stores."

    "Let her be. I guess she hasn¡¯t given up yet on pursuing our president."

    "Hmph! If she dares continue chasing after President Jin, then she¡¯ll really reduce herself into bing a shameless and filthy homewrecker."

    "Sssh! Not so loud. We¡¯re still in the workce. Let¡¯s talk about this again after work. Let¡¯s buy our own copies of the magazer."

    "Toote. I just checked online and the magazine already sold out this morning. We¡¯ll have to wait until<i> ¨¤ Mode</i> releases more copies which they usually do for popr issues like this."

    Everyone sighed at the thought of having to wait to get their own copies of the magazine. They couldn¡¯t wait to enjoy the gorgeous photos of their President Jin and his new wife, Iris Long.

    Upstairs, Rose finally arrived at the meeting. Her eyes immediately zoomed in to the handsome and powerful man at the head of the table.

    "You¡¯rete, CMO Young," Xu Tian remarked at her arrival. He was the one who spoke but everyone knew that he was President Jin¡¯s mouthpiece whenmunicating with Rose Young.

    "Sorry, I¡¯mte."

    She still felt shaken inside from the magazine¡¯s front cover bombshell. However, she showed everyone a professional smile as she hurried to her designated seat.

    "Good morning, President Jin, and wee back."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t respond to her greeting, but Xu Tian did for him, nodding at her. If this was before, she wouldn¡¯t have minded, but after learning that he was now married to that s.l.u.t Iris Long, she almost couldn¡¯t control herself. It took a tremendous amount of effort to maintain a neutral expression on her face even as her perfectly manicured fingernails dug hard into her palms, almost wounding herself.

 Chapter 974 - Congratulations On Your Marriage

    <h4>Chapter 974 - Congrattions On Your Marriage </h4>

    No matter how much she tried, Rose Young couldn¡¯t concentrate during the meeting at all. It was fortunate that there was nothing major to report about the status of the current project that her marketing department was handling. Everything was progressing smoothly thanks to the quality and consistency of her work and management.

    Throughout the meeting, her thoughts would drift to the crumpled magazine that she slipped inside her file folder. She was so distracted about it that most of her colleagues couldn¡¯t help but notice her uncharacteristic quietness today. They had already gotten used to her usual active participation during meetings in an obvious attempt to show everyone that she deserved her position as Jin Corporation¡¯s new Chief Marketing Officer and also her repeated failed attempts to strike a conversation with President Jin. Despite them noticing, nobodymented about it because they also knew that President Jin didn¡¯t care about her at all.

    Some of them even had an idea of why she was acting so off like this today. They had also seen the shocking front page of a certain popr magazine earlier this morning.

    After a somewhat uneventful meeting, Jin Liwei stood up and was about to leave when everyone except for Rose Young started speaking to him at the same time. <i></i>

    "Congrattions on your marriage, President Jin!"

    "What a happy asion! Big congrats, President! You¡¯re finally a married man."

    "You can really keep a secret from us! We had no idea that you¡¯re already married! Was the break you took for your honeymoon?"

    "I saw the front page of<i> ¨¤ Mode</i> earlier this morning. You and Miss Long look great together!"

    Some of the greetings were heartfelt while some were only superficial but Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care if they were just brownnosing. Their words of congrattions for his marriage immediately put him in an excellent mood. His mouth curved into an obvious, very pleased smile. He seemed to glow all of a sudden, looking every bit like a newly-wed which he was one.

    "Call my wife Mrs. Jin from now on, not Miss Long," he corrected.

    "Understood, President."

    "Please bring Miss Long¡ªI mean Mrs. Jin here to thepany so that we could also convey our congrattions to her."

    "Maybe some other time." Jin Liwei gave a nomittal wave of his hand to the request. His wife was having a difficult pregnancy during this time, so he didn¡¯t feelfortable bringing her to hispany where she would surely attract a great deal of attention, especially after today¡¯s sudden, exclusive revtion of their wedding through <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine. There was no way that he would risk her safety and that of their babies just so that his employees could congratte her in person.

    Ketchup had informed him through text during the meeting that several paparazzi and reporters were already starting to camp outside Jin Corporation and Orchidia Beauty. Jin Liwei tookfort in the fact that Iris was safe and sound inside their home. Only stupid people would dare to sneak into Dragon Pce Homes where the security was one of the strictest in the entire country.

    After the enthusiastic round of congrattions, Jin Liwei felt that these people were quite pleasing to the eye today. He made a decision right then and there. "Make time on Friday. I¡¯ll treat you to dinner to celebrate the fact that I¡¯m now a married man."

    A few cheers sounded in the room. These people had be morefortable around Jin Liwei ever since he started a rtionship with the woman he now called his wife. His previous cold and indifferent demeanour had now thawed bit by bit. He was still cold and indifferent most of the time but had be much more approachable to others. That was why these people dared to act friendly like this to him. If this was before, they wouldn¡¯t dare let out a squeak or even breathe too loudly in his presence for fear of earning his displeasure. They knew that it was all thanks to Iris Long, the new madam of the Jin family.

    Finally, the executives started to file out of the meeting room after Jin Liwei and Xu Tian left. Rose Young, who had been silent and forgotten during the entire round of cheerful conversation filled with congrattions, finally opened her mouth and started chasing after the two of them.

    "Wait! Big Brother Liwei, please wait! I have something I need to talk to you about."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s great mood disappeared. His cold and indifferent demeanour returned as he ignored her as usual and continued walking, not pausing in his steps at all. It was Xu Tian who stopped and frowned at her.

    "CMO Young, we¡¯re in the workce. It¡¯s highly inappropriate for you to call President Jin so...casually like that." Xu Tian had been about to use the word "intimately" but changed it to "casually" at thest second.

    Women were weird and mysterious creatures. Xu Tian couldn¡¯t afford to be careless in his word choice because it might fuel this particr woman¡¯s delusions about his boss even more. If that really happened, he wouldn¡¯t only have to face the ire of his own boss but also that of hisdy boss and the frighteningly life-like cat AIs whom the couple treated as their children.

    The adorable white cat AI, Ketchup, was still fine and very easy to get along with especially since they worked closely together almost every day. It was the other one, the ck cat Bacon, to whom Xu Tian couldn¡¯t help but feel cautious. Bacon always spoke politely but the truth was that he was an extremely vengeful little monster when offended. Thankfully, Xu Tian didn¡¯t need to interact too much with Bacon. He would take the chatterbox over the polite little monster anytime, thank you very much.

    His frown deepened when Rose Young ignored him and went past him to continue chasing after his boss. "CMO Young, what are you doing?! Stop right there!"

    There weren¡¯t a lot of people in the hallway at this time but themotion still attracted some attention. However, upon seeing that it was involving their President Jin, the handful of witnesses all pretended to be dumb and hurried out of the way.

 Chapter 975 - Youâ€™re Fired

    <h4>Chapter 975 - You¡¯re Fired </h4>

    Jin Liwei refused to give the woman the time of day, leaving his assistant Xu Tian to deal with her. However, Rose Young was persistent and soon caught up with him. He quickly side-stepped to avoid her hands when she reached out and tried to touch him.

    "CMO Young!" Xu Tian caught up with them as well. "Please leave President Jin alone. You are stepping out of the line!"

    She ignored Xu Tian as if she didn¡¯t hear him at all. Her full attention was on Jin Liwei. "Are you really married?"

    "Yes," Jin Liwei replied but still didn¡¯t look at her. At the same time, he made sure to sh the wedding ring on his finger just to drive his point home.

    "Is the slut pregnant? Was that the reason why she made you marry her so soon and so secretly?"

    Jin Liwei snapped the moment he heard the woman calling his wife the nasty word. How dare she?! He shot her a vicious re. "What did you just call my wife?! I dare you to say that again!"

    Rose Young realized what she had just said in her agitation. Her face immediately paled upon seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s fury directed at her. "I...B-big Brother¡ª"

    "I¡¯m not your big brother! Never call me that ever again."

    Xu Tian stayed back, deciding that President Jin¡¯s firm rejection might do the trick to make Rose Young give up her delusions once and all.

    "B-but...please. I¡¯ve loved you for so long! Longer than that slu¡ªwoman. She doesn¡¯t deserve a great man like you."

    "And which woman do you think deserves me? You?"

    She didn¡¯t answer but her silence and the firm look in her eyes were enough to tell him what she thought.

    He sneered, his expression turning colder as he spat out cruel words to her. "You im to love me, but I don¡¯t care about you at all. Do you really think that you¡¯re superior to my wife?"

    His words stirred her pride. She lifted her chin and made herself look taller, pushing her t chest out. "I know that you¡¯re only blinded by Iris Long¡¯s youth and beauty, that¡¯s why you can¡¯t see past her obvious shorings. I graduated from the same Ivy-league American university and collected simr ster achievements as you did. Just looking at the quality of the things that I aplished so far, any reasonable person would agree that I¡¯m superior to Iris Long. She¡¯s nothing but a celebrity and a daughter of a fallen family of nobility who used your name and resources to build her ownpany and reputation."

    He snorted in disdain. "You think too highly of yourself. Ridiculous."

    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his bodyguards running towards them. About damn time. He shot Xu Tian a meaningful nce. His assistant immediately understood. Xu Tian stepped in the space between them and blocked her from chasing after Jin Liwei again.

    Tears were now flowing down her face, but her straight back and raised chin indicated her refusal to ept his rejection of her feelings.

    The bodyguards had now arrived and were about to move to restrain her, but Jin Liwei raised a hand to stop them.

    "Remember this, Rose Young." Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was low and somewhat chilling. "You are far below my wife¡¯s level."

    Her face twisted at his im. It was clear from her expression that she didn¡¯t believe him at all, but he didn¡¯t care. This was thest time that he would tolerate this insignificant woman. Calling her wife that nasty word to his face was thest straw.

    "Disrespect my wife and you disrespect me. As the President and CEO of Jin Corporation, I, Jin Liwei, hereby dere Rose Young stripped of her position of Chief Marketing Officer due to improper behaviour in the workce. You¡¯re fired."

    With that, he turned around and entered the elevator by himself.

    "Wait¡ªwhat?! No! You can¡¯t fire me! Big Brother Liwei! Jin Liwei, you can¡¯t do this to me! You can¡¯t fire me like this without the board of directors¡¯ approval! Wait! I refuse to ept this! Come back!"

    The bodyguards immediately restrained her, preventing her from running after their boss. Jin Liwei¡¯s cold, indifferent and merciless expression wasn¡¯t even looking at her when the elevator door started to close. At thest second, he pushed the button and the door opened again.

    "Oh, I almost forgot. Just so you know, I was the one who insisted on marrying my wife so soon. I wanted to marry her because I love her. Our marriage is none of your business. Stay away from us."

    With another push of a button, the elevator door closed. Xu Tian took charge of the situation on how to handle the increasingly hysterical woman.

    Rose Young fought to free herself from the bodyguards. "Let me go! Where do you think you¡¯re touching?! I¡¯ll sue you for sexual harassment and physical assault! I said let me go, you assholes!"

    "Throw her out," Xu Tian instructed the bodyguards. He was in a bad mood because she managed to scratch his face before the bodyguards started to drag her away.

    Now that President Jin was out of sight, the onlookers dared to openly stick their heads out of their offices to watch the ruckus. Their gossiping whispers reached the hysterical Rose Young.

    She finally realized what kind of shameful situation she was in. She calmed down in an instant and stopped resisting. "Let me go. I¡¯ll walk out of here by myself."

    The bodyguards turned to Xu Tian. He hesitated before nodding. "Watch her and make sure that she leaves properly. If she misbehaves, just carry her and throw her out."

    She red at him but still controlled herself from cursing him out loud. Giving the closed elevator door a final nce, she turned around and started to walk away while maintaining her straight back and raised chin. Whispers followed her but she ignored them all, straightening her back even more and raising her chin higher.

    Xu Tian watched her disappearing figure with a deep sigh, feeling a little admiration for her ability to walk away on her own two feet with as much dignity as she could muster, despite her shameless and pathetic disy earlier towards President Jin.

 Chapter 976 - Treat

    <h4>Chapter 976 - Treat </h4>

    In his office, Jin Liwei slumped on his chair behind his huge desk. His expression was grave. He leaned back, closed his eyes, and started massaging his temples. Before he could analyze the consequences of what happened with Rose Young downstairs, Ketchup appeared on his desktopputer screen.

    "Excuse me, Daddy. My mommy is calling. Meow~"

    He immediately opened his eyes. "Answer it for me."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Meow~"

    "Hello, darling?"

    The tension that he was feeling gradually rxed as soon as he heard his wife¡¯s melodious voice. "Hi, love."

    "Ketchup told me what happened."

    He sighed. "I fired Rose Young. I can¡¯t stand her anymore."

    "Good." Her answer was quick, surprising him a little.

    "You don¡¯t think that I was too impulsive? Won¡¯t it ruin our ns? We originally wanted to keep the woman working at mypany while we dig for helpful information about the power backing the Young family in Singapore."

    "Indeed, that was our original n, but I don¡¯t want another woman to keep on bothering and irritating my husband."

    His grave expression was nowpletely gone, reced by stupid grin.

    "And don¡¯t worry," Iris assured him. "You didn¡¯t really ruin our ns. Yes, it¡¯s easier for us to monitor Rose Young and even use her as leverage to force out her family¡¯s mysterious backer, but we can still find other ways to find out the backer¡¯s identity. It would be more challenging but we¡¯re not afraid of challenges. We¡¯ll wee them. Bring it on!"

    "En. Bring it on." Jin Liwei smiled.

    Iris reminded him, "For now, prepare yourself to defend your decision of firing Rose Young. We know that she has a strong support in your board of directors not only because of her connections but also due to her own abilities."

    "I¡¯ll take care of it."

    "I know you will." Her sigh was tinged with regret. "I must admit that Rose Young is actually quite a capable business executive. If I don¡¯t have my current bias against her for coveting my husband, I probably would¡¯ve already stolen her away from yourpany before hiring her for Orchidia Beauty. Unfortunately, the two of us can¡¯t stand each other. She would probably want to die rather than work under me."

    His lips pressed into a thin line as he remembered how Rose Young insulted his wife and looked down on her. However, he didn¡¯t mention it to Iris. There was no need for him to do that. Both of them knew in their hearts who had the superior abilities and aplishments. After all, his wife was a current student of the legendary school for geniuses, Cross Academy. Not only that. She also already graduated from the academy in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    Sometimes he wished that his wife wasn¡¯t too low-profile regarding her identity as a Cross Academy student. He wanted to use her status as a literal certified genius to p the faces of all the people who kept on looking down on her despite her increasing achievements and reputation. However, he respected her decision to keep it a secret for now.

    Not wanting them to keep on talking about Rose Young, he changed the subject. "I invited my department executives to dinner on Friday to celebrate our marriage. They congratted us this morning."

    "Good idea. We didn¡¯t invite them to our wedding so you should at least do this much for your employees."

    "En."

    "But are you only treating the department executives? What about the rest of your employees?"

    He fell silent for a moment before exining, "Jin Corporation and our subsidiarypanies have hundreds of thousands of employees all around the world. I can¡¯t possibly treat them all at the same time¡ª"

    "Jin Liwei! We have plenty of money! Have you forgotten that you¡¯re a billionaire? You wife¡¯s wealth isn¡¯t too shabby either. It¡¯s just a meal. How much could that be? Even Ketchup knows how treat her White Tigress¡¯ employees and order them some take-out."

    He watched his AI daughter on hisputer screen shake her fluffy white butt with happiness after being praised by her mommy.

    "I¡¯m wrong, love. Don¡¯t be upset anymore. I promise that I¡¯ll order a hearty meal for every single one of my employees."

    He was quick to appease his wife. Although she could now better control her mood swings, her temper was still extremely fiercepared to before he got her pregnant. Her private doctor said that it wasn¡¯t good for her and their babies¡¯ health to get so worked up, so he should avoid agitating her if he could.

    "Hmph. Good!"

    "How about we also treat all the employees of Orchidia Beauty, Monkey and Gold Heights?"

    "Okay." Her tone was now gentler, clearly pleased by his suggestion. "It¡¯s short notice but let¡¯s do it on Friday at lunch time. Then you can treat your department executives at dinner."

    "En."

    "Hmm. Should Ie, too?"

    His eyes lit up for a second before he frowned. "Of course, I want you toe with me since it¡¯s a post-celebration of our marriage, but I don¡¯t rmend it. You still get sick around certain food smells. I don¡¯t want you to suffer in public with strangers."

    She agreed with him, sighing. "Alright. I have to go now, darling. I still have to attend an online ss with Professor Schwarz. Then Brother Chonglin and I will secretly head to Bright Summit together this afternoon."

    After exchanging diabetes-inducing words of love, the husband and wife finally ended the call. Then Jin Liwei immediately had Ketchup call Dominic to remind him to watch over his wife.

    "Don¡¯t worry, sir boss! Leave the boss to me! I¡¯ll make sure that she and the twins are always safe and sound!"

    Jin Liwei felt relieved after Dominic¡¯s reassurances. Then he tried calling his brother but Jin Chonglin was unavable. Lin Dong said that Jin Chonglin was at the cosmetic clinic getting his monthly facial. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t bother waiting for his high-maintenance brother.

    He pondered about his next move, hesitating for a few moments, before finally making a decision.

    "Ketchup, call your Grandpa Lu."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    Two ringster, a familiar old man¡¯s voice boomed. "Hello? Hello! Why are you calling? Did something happen? Are Xin my girl and my great-grandbaby alright? Are you taking good care of them? I want to know! If you dare to neglect them, see how this old man smacks you! Hah!"

 Chapter 977 - Grandpa Luâ€™s Sudden Revelation

    <h4>Chapter 977 - Grandpa Lu¡¯s Sudden Revtion </h4>

    "Don¡¯t worry, Grandpa Lu. They¡¯re fine and healthy, although Xin still suffers from morning sickness. Also, there¡¯s no need to remind me because I¡¯ll always protect my wife and our family." Jin Liwei was quick to reassure the old man, knowing how excited Grandpa Lu was for his great-grandbaby.

    Grandpa Lu still didn¡¯t know that Iris was carrying twins. The husband and wife nned to surprise him and the others after the twin babies were born. The old man¡¯s reaction would surely be a sight to see.

    "They better be healthy or this old man will educate you on how to better take care of your pregnant wife! Hmph! So? Why did you call your beloved grandpa during work hours? Is something the matter? I want to know!"

    Jin Liwei told Grandpa Lu that he fired Rose Young and exined what drove him to make the decision, including their initial findings of the Young family¡¯s ambition towards the Jin Corporation branch in Singapore and also the mysterious power backing the family.

    "I could handle all of this but asking you to step in will save me a lot of time especially in dealing with the board of directors. Some of them will surely protest about my decision to fire Rose Young. They might drag the matter out of proportion and cause me precious time and energy that I would be better off spending with my pregnant wife."

    Grandpa Lu immediately turned serious. Even the tone of his voice was not so booming anymore. "Ever since I decided to enter an exciting retirement life, I¡¯ve always had a hands-off approach and allowed you to run thepany however you want. I told you that I¡¯ll only ever step in and interfere in the running of Jin Corporation if you sincerely ask me. In all the years since you took charge of thepany, you never once asked me to step in and did everything by yourself, working long hours to continue the legacy that I and yourte grandfather started.

    "It was only after you met Xin my girl and fell in love with her that you finally asked me to step in a few times. Now you¡¯re a husband and father, you finally know the importance of prioritizing your time with family over work. Your beloved grandpa is so proud of you!"

    The old man¡¯s voice started booming once again. "Don¡¯t worry, my boy! Leave the problem with the board of directors to this old man! Let¡¯s see if they still dare to squeak any mumbo-jumbo protests about your decision in front of my 50% shares! Hah!"

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief. "Thank you, Grandpa Lu!"

    "What about the issue with the Singapore branch? What¡¯s your n? Do you also need this old man¡¯s help in dealing with those ingrates there? I want to know!"

    "My wife and I already have our own ns to solve that problem." Jin Liwei paused before adding, "I¡¯ll let you know if we need your help."

    "Good! Although this old man is retired, I still have some weight in the business world."

    <i>¡¯Not just some weight, but a LOT of weight,¡¯</i> Jin Liwei thought with amusement.

    Then Grandpa Lu started grumbling. "The greed and ambition of that Young family! They¡¯re no longer satisfied with running the Singapore branch, so they now decided to aim in swallowing the entirepany? Hah! Do they think that I, Lu Jianhong, am already dead that they can swoop in and steal all of the hard work that I, your grandfather, father, and you have all put into growing thepany to what it is today? What kind of guts do they have? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned grave. His thoughts mirrored the old man¡¯s enraged words.<i></i>

    "Hmph! The audacity of that Young family! It seems that they even bought over some traitors from the Jin n¡¯s branch families! Ah, those vipers received so many benefits from your grandfather over the decades and yet this is how they repay my brother¡ªto control you, his grandson, with some woman?! Is that Rose Young that they want to push on you better than your wife, Xin my girl?! I want to know!"

    "Of course, my wife is leagues above that woman. Grandpa Lu, there¡¯s no need to ask such a worthless question."

    "Bahahaha! You¡¯re right! I asked a worthless question indeed. Xin my girl is the final student of I, Lu Jianhong, after all!"

    "En."

    After Grandpa Lu finally stoppedughing, his booming voice became stern. "Since you say that you already have ns on how to deal with those snakes in the Singapore branch, I¡¯ll leave it to you then. I know that you and Xin my girl are more than capable when you work together. But you better remember that your wife is still pregnant! Don¡¯t you dare let her overwork, do you hear me?! If something bad happens to her and my great-grandbaby, this old man will really smack you until you¡¯re ck and blue! Hmph!"

    "Don¡¯t worry. I know."

    "Hah! You should!" Then out of nowhere Grandpa Lu said, "Let Haohao help you, too. That dunderhead will be able to do many things that you won¡¯t be able to do because of the ethical restrictions that follow your position as the head of Jin Corporation."

    Jin Liwei was shocked. He wasn¡¯t able to speak for a few moments. "W-what? Y-you know?"

    Grandpa Lu snorted. "What do you take this old man for? A blind person? I raised your pinheaded fifth brother myself, so of course I know!"

    Jin Liwei fell silent again before asking with great caution, "How much do you know? And do you...approve?"

    "I know enough. And whether this old man approves or not, will that stinky boy even change his mind? I want to know!"

    Aplicated expression appeared on Jin Liwei¡¯s face. He didn¡¯t know what to say. His heart thudded in his chest at the old man¡¯s sudden revtion. He wanted to ask more about the extent of Grandpa Lu¡¯s knowledge about Lu Zihao but held himself back. This wasn¡¯t the kind of conversation that he wanted to hold over the phone.

 Chapter 978 - Sunset

    <h4>Chapter 978 - Sunset </h4>

    In the end, it was still Grandpa Lu who ended the topic about Lu Zihao but not before imparting some impactful words. "Liwei my boy, I know that you and Xin my girl already know what exactly is going on with Haohao. That dunderhead already made up his mind to do whatever he wants to do. So just watch over the rascal, will you? After all, you are brothers¡ªall my grandsons. This old man¡¯s life is already at its sunset. No matter how much I want to be with you all rascals forever, nature will always take its course and this mortal body of mine will eventually return to where it came from."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s entire body tensed before forcing himself to rx. Still, he did his best to reply to the old man¡¯s request with as much sincerity as he could. "I understand, Grandpa Lu. Don¡¯t worry. Fifth Brother is family and I¡¯ll always protect our family. Besides, you can¡¯t leave us yet. You haven¡¯t spoiled your human great-grandchildren yet. Mine and Xin¡¯s wille soon, but you still need to wait for Fifth Brother¡¯s and our other brothers¡¯ future children."

    "Bahahaha! That goes without saying! This old man will do my best to live for at least a decade so that I can meet all of my beloved great-grandbabies and watch them grow a bit!"

    The atmosphere lightened in an instant, relieving Jin Liwei. After the phone call, he stood up and walked to the windows to stare at the dreary view outside. The sky was still grey, and although he couldn¡¯t hear it from inside his office, he knew that the wind must be getting stronger outside. Sighing, he gave up on trying to figure out the exact emotions he was feeling right now.

    Now that Grandpa Lu seemed to know Lu Zihao¡¯s shady businesses, Jin Liwei wondered how much the old man knew.

    "Does he know that Fifth Brother is no longer his grandson but had be someone else entirely?"

    Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t sure. He wanted to know, but at the same time, he also didn¡¯t want to know.

    ###

    <i>Orchidia Beauty.</i>

    "Hello? Earth to Jinjing? Hey!"

    Long Jinjing snapped out of her daze for the...she couldn¡¯t remember how many times she had be dazed today. Not only today but in the past few days since the breakup.

    "Yes, Xiao Fei? What did you say again? Sorry, I was distracted for a second."

    A furious Chen Fei crossed her arms over her chest. "I swear that if I see that asshole Lu Zihao, I¡¯ll beat him up! I don¡¯t care about his big muscles! I¡¯ll beat the shit out of his motherfucking ass!"

    Long Jinjing tensed at the mention of Lu Zihao, the man haunting her every sleeping and waking moments, the man she loved but chose to let go. She forced herself to smile. "You can¡¯t beat him. He¡¯s strong."

    "I said I don¡¯t care! The asshole broke your heart! How dare he make you suffer like this?! Ugh!" Chen Fei raised her hands up in the air and snarled. "Seeing you so heartbroken like this is frustrating me! I want to beat up that asshole! Don¡¯t stop me!"

    "Xiao Fei, that¡¯s enough. We¡¯re at work. Stop making a ruckus. What if others hear you? I¡¯ll feel so embarrassed." Long Jinjing opened the closed curtain in her office a bit and peeked. Then she sighed in relief after seeing their assistants working as usual.

    "Don¡¯t worry. The soundproofing in ourpany building is excellent. Xin made sure of that."

    Long Jinjing nodded before her mouth curved into a self-deprecating smile. "I really look pathetic, don¡¯t I?"

    "You know what? I change my mind! I¡¯m not just gonna beat up that son of a bitch! I¡¯m gonna murder him!"

    Long Jinjing¡¯s pitiful smile turned into one filled with gratefulness. "Thanks, Xiao Fei. You always have my back. I¡¯m so lucky to have a best friend¡ªno, a sister like you. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do without you."

    "That goes without saying! I even dared to pull a clump of Xin¡¯s hair and scratch her face when she bullied you back then, not caring for her celebrity status at all. Hmph! Good thing that she finally matured and changed her bitchy ways. My meaning is that there¡¯s nothing I won¡¯t do to defend you from any assholes or bitches who dare bully you! That jerk Lu Zihao is certainly no exception! Just you wait until I see where he has been hiding. I¡¯ll tear into his face and kick his ass!"

    Her words managed to elicit a weakugh from Long Jinjing. It didn¡¯tst long, however. Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes turned red and became wet.

    "It¡¯s not his fault. I was the one who broke up with him. Actually, he wanted to stay in our rtionship but...but I r-rejected him." She blinked rapidly in an effort to prevent her tears from falling.

    Chen Fei pulled her and they sat down on the sofa. Long Jinjing leaned on her best friend¡¯s shoulder and squeezed her hand, trying to draw strength from Chen Fei.

    "I don¡¯t care whether it¡¯s his fault or yours that you two broke up. I¡¯ll still beat him up because he¡¯s making my sister suffer so much like this. That¡¯s already a great sin in my eyes."

    Long Jinjing sniffed and whispered, "I love him."

    "I know. You already told me." Chen Fei sighed and patted her back.

    "I love him but he doesn¡¯t love me back. It...it h-hurts so much, Xiao Fei."

    "He doesn¡¯t love you yet he wants you to remain as his girlfriend. Yep, he¡¯s hands down the asshole of the year in my opinion."

    "Yes, he¡¯s an asshole," Long Jinjing said in a weak voice.

    "That¡¯s right. Say it out loud! Lu Zihao, you¡¯re an asshole!"

    Long Jinjing jumped up from the sofa all of a sudden and started shouting at the top of her lungs. "Lu Zi¡ªno. Niki, you¡¯re an asshole! Asshole! How could you hurt me like this?! Break my heart like this?! ASSHOLE!!!"

    Chen Fei looked startled at first before grinning and joining her best friend in shouting curses at the man. When they were done, she handed the gasping but refreshed Long Jinjing a can of coconut water.

    "By the way, what¡¯s up with you calling the asshole Niki?"

 Chapter 979 - Heartbroken Women

    <h4>Chapter 979 - Heartbroken Women </h4>

    "Is Niki that asshole¡¯s English name?" Chen Fei continued to ask. "Wait, no. That¡¯s not right. If I remember correctly, his English name is Hunter. So why did you call him Niki just now?"

    Long Jinjing stiffened, realizing her blunder, before forcing herself to act as nonchnt as she could. "Uhm, it¡¯s sort of his, uh, pet name, I guess. Something like that."

    "Huh? That¡¯s weird." Fortunately, Chen Fei ran out of interest in this topic because she was still pissed off at the man.

    Wanting to change the topic as quickly as possible, Long Jinjing looked around her office before spotting a copy of <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine that her assistant bought for her this morning. She grabbed it from her desk and showed it to her best friend. "Xiao Fei, have you seen this yet? Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei look so perfect together."

    "Yeah, I¡¯ve already seen it. My assistant left a copy on my desk this morning. Both of us have our pictures inside."

    Long Jinjing nodded while flipping through the magazine¡¯s pages and finally finding their own pictures. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Lu Zihao¡¯s photo as well.

    "Don¡¯t look at that jerk!" Chen Fei snatched the magazine and tossed it on the sofa, a dark scowl on her face.

    A knock interrupted them. It was Chen Fei¡¯s assistant informing her that Jin Chonglin was on the phone and wanted to talk to her.

    "I¡¯ming. Tell him to wait!" Then Chen Fei turned to Long Jinjing. "That diva man has been calling me almost every day to check on the details of his men¡¯s line."

    "But you like working with Jin Chonglin."

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "Says who? Anyway, I need to go. Time is very tight right now until theunch."

    "Okay, go. See youter."

    Chen Fei left, leaving Long Jinjing alone in her office. She took the magazine from the sofa and looked at the gorgeous wedding photo of her sister and brother-inw. To be honest, she felt a little envious. They looked so happy and so in love.

    Then an image of her in a wedding dress and Lu Zihao in a tuxedo shed in her mind all of a sudden. She gasped and forcefully tamped the dangerous image out of her mind.

    "Jinjing, get a hold of yourself!"

    She pressed her lips together, determined not to dwell on her pathetic feelings for a man who didn¡¯t love her back. She opened a desk drawer and tossed the magazine inside. Then she finally sat behind her desk to start working.

    Theunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line of products for Orchidia Beauty was just around the corner. It would be their biggest event yet since thepany¡¯s grandunch. The expensive s were now running full force across the country and the response was extremely optimistic. Jin Chonglin¡¯smercial power as a superstar was indeed no joke. Now Orchidia Beauty had to make sure that they would have enough supply to satisfy what they were expecting to be a huge demand. After all, Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t only endorsing the products but also putting his name behind the entire line.

    Therefore, it was crunch time for everyone in thepany. A lot of money was flowing out of Orchidia Beauty right now to fund Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line and it was Long Jinjing¡¯s responsibility to bnce the entire budget.

    She stared at herputer but soon became dazed. Shaking her head, she forced herself to focus on the almost dizzying series of numbers on the screen. Fortunately, she was able to be absorbed with her work after much effort. She treasured moments like this because it made her temporarily forget about Lu Zihao.

    After she was done her tasks on theputer, she leaned back on her chair and sighed. She touched her upper chest and felt a tiny protrusion. It was a simple yet beautiful lily pendant.

    Lu Zihao gave her the ne on thest day of their rtionship. She rejected it at first. He didn¡¯t force her to ept it then, but the next morning, she found the ne on her bedside table.

    She should have stored it where she wouldn¡¯t be able to see it, but in the end, she still decided to wear the ne. However, it was tucked inside her clothes so that others couldn¡¯t see it. It would only be her who knew that she was wearing something that Lu Zihao gave her after their breakup.

    It was a stupid move on her part, yes, but she couldn¡¯t help it. Her feelings for him were still strong.

    "I miss you so much, Niki," she murmured with a heavy sigh, continuing to fiddle with the pendant underneath her clothes.

    Then she pressed it hard, hurting her upper chest a little, as the pendant dug on her skin.

    "One day, my love for you will fade," she persuaded herself.

    "But for now...I need to feel this pain so that my heart can eventually heal."

    Her sad eyes cleared a little. She let go of the pendant and returned to her tasks, allowing her busy work to distract her from the man she allowed to break her heart.

    ###

    A drunk Rose Young struggled to return to her condo after a night of club hopping with her friend, Jenny Tseng. Finally, she managed to unlock her door and stumbled inside her unit. She turned on the lights and zig-zagged her way to the living room before falling on the couch.

    Her body felt heavy yet light at the same time. She had a nice fuck with quite a good-looking man that she picked up from one of the clubs. His body build looked simr to Jin Liwei¡¯s, so she couldn¡¯t help fantasizing about him as usual while the man was busy pumping inside her in the club¡¯s toilet. The man didn¡¯t mind that she was moaning "Big Brother Liwei" instead of his name while he fucked her senseless from behind.

    Jenny dragged her for a fun night out so that she could take her mind off her heartbreak after learning that Jin Liwei actually married that slut, Iris Long. Now that she was back home, her anger at being fired from her position at Jin Corporation resurfaced.

 Chapter 980 Focus On Long - Term Prospects

    <h4>Chapter 980 Focus On Long - Term Prospects </h4>

    Rose Young¡¯s phone rang. She ignored it at first, but the caller was persistent. Cursing, she struggled opening her purse before fishing out her phone. It was her father.

    "Are you drunk?" Romeo Young asked.

    She immediately started bawling her eyes out. "Dad, Big Brother Liwei married...that slut! And he fired me! I love him so much! Dad!!!"

    "Stop throwing a tantrum!" Her father¡¯s tone didn¡¯t have any sympathy at all. "What happened already happened. There¡¯s no use inining. The important thing right now is to n our next moves."

    Her father¡¯s words managed to gradually sober her up. She wiggled into a sitting position and forced herself to concentrate on what her father was telling her.

    "Put aside the fact that Jin Liwei married that woman for now," he said. "We can¡¯t do anything about that during this time, but don¡¯t lose hope. Marriage is not the end. There¡¯s still divorce. You still have a chance. Just like in investing, always focus on long-term prospects, not the short-term. If you act smart, you¡¯ll eventually be Jin Liwei¡¯s wife in the end."

    A wonderful image of a married life with Jin Liwei shed in her mind, putting her in a good mood. "You¡¯re right, Dad."

    "Good that you understand. The most immediate problem that we need to solve right now is you being fired from your position at Jin Corporation¡¯s headquarters there in China. This is a serious setback to our ns. What the hell did you that Jin Liwei ended up firing you?"

    She told him the truth.

    He sighed. "Confessing to him right after he returned to work from what should likely be his honeymoon was such a foolish move on your part."

    "I couldn¡¯t control myself after seeing his wedding photo with that slut in the cover of a magazine. It should¡¯ve been ME!"

    "Enough of that! We¡¯re talking about something more important right now that affects our whole family! I sent you there with an important mission to increase your influence in thepany as the CMO, and yet you got yourself fired in just a few months!"

    She didn¡¯t reply. Her father sounded truly angry this time.

    "As soon as I heard that you got fired, I immediately talked to our allies from the Jin branch families. They¡¯re going to appeal Jin Liwei¡¯s decision to fire you in an emergency board of directors meeting. What you need to do now is to persuade the rest of the members of the board of directors that your removal from your position as CMO is rash, unreasonable and unfair. We need to move more quickly this time."

    "I understand. I¡¯ll definitely return to my CMO position. That title belongs to me. And in the future, I¡¯ll snatch the title of Mrs. Jin from that slut Iris Long. I deserve it more than her, anyway."

    "Just follow all my instructions properly this time. Your mother also asked her rtives there in China to assist you, so call them if you need anything. If we, the Youngs, rise to the Jins¡¯ level, your mother¡¯s maiden family will also follow. That¡¯s why they¡¯re very motivated to help in our goals. Make use of them."

    "Okay, Dad. I will." She was now feeling more clearheadedpared to before her father called. He was right. She should focus more on long-term prospects. All of these problems were just temporary stumbling blocks towards her realization of her dreams and that of her family.

    "Don¡¯t cower. We have someone powerful supporting us behind the scenes who isn¡¯t afraid of shing against Jin Liwei. If he keeps on resisting, our backer will make him kneel in front of us. Our Young family will definitely achieve our goal and get our hands on Jin Corporation."

    She started to smile but then frowned after remembering something. "But there¡¯s still Sir Lu Jianhong. That old man is the majority shareholder of Jin Corporation, not Big Brother Liwei."

    Romeo Young snorted. "Why worry about someone who has one foot in the grave? Lu Jianhong is already so old. He only has a few years left to live. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll leave most of his shares to Jin Liwei, then Jin Liwei will still end up bing the majority shareholder after the old man dies."

    "Sir Lu still has a grandson...."

    "Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson has never involved himself in thepany. He¡¯ll likely get a few shares at most to fund afortable lifestyle but I¡¯m sure that Jin Liwei will still get the majority of the old man¡¯s shares since he¡¯s actually the person running Jin Corporation. Don¡¯t waste your time worrying about unimportant people. Focus on reiming your position in thepany for now."

    After the phone conversation with her father, Rose Young now felt so much better. She was still drunk but her mind was clear enough to start preparing herself to execute their next moves. Following her father¡¯s advice, she called her maternal cousin. They agreed to meet tomorrow.

    A quick showerter, she didn¡¯t bother putting any clothes before plopping on her bed. Her eyes spotted a certain crumpled magazine sticking out of the bag that she used for work. She got off the bed and grabbed it, ring at the cover, before screaming and ripping Iris Long¡¯s image from the photos on the magazine pages.

    "Iris Long, you slut! How dare you marry my man?! He¡¯s MINE! I¡¯ll kill you!"

    Feeling better, she took the ripped pages with only Jin Liwei¡¯s image remaining in the photos. Then she returned to bed while looking at his handsome face and attractive body.

    She moaned as her other hand started roaming all over her naked body, squeezing her t breasts before moving downwards where her legs opened wide. Two fingers entered her already soaking wet core and immediately began thrusting in and out.

    "Yeah, Big Brother Liwei. Just like that."

    Her half-lidded eyes looked at Jin Liwei¡¯s photo, imagining him fucking her during their honeymoon after they were finally married.

    "Harder, Big Brother! Husband! Faster! Fuck me, love me! Only love ME, your wife! Aaaaaah!"

    She orgasmed so hard that her entire body quaked. Her entire hand and the bedsheet were soaked. Then she smiled and kissed Jin Liwei¡¯s photo.

    "You belong to me. Just you wait. I¡¯ll definitely have you."

    Her sleep was restful and her dreams were especially sweet that night.

 Chapter 981 - CEO Jinâ€™s Surprise Contest

    <h4>Chapter 981 - CEO Jin¡¯s Surprise Contest </h4>

    The bombshell that the celebrity Iris Long and billionaire Jin Liwei dropped through <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine about their secret wedding caused an uproar in the country. Aside from the ck Stars and people close to the couple, there weren¡¯t a lot of people who expected that the two would actually marry.

    Many people were also very surprised that the couple would be so low-profile with their wedding that not a single clue about their preparations was exposed to the public. If another celebrity married a billionaire, most people would expect that the wedding celebration and banquet would be extremely extravagant with hundreds of high-profile guests attending the event. It also wouldn¡¯t surprise people if such a wedding was broadcast on national TV as if it was a royal marriage.

    As soon as <i>¨¤ Mode</i> released the issue featuring the newly-wedded couple Iris Long and Jin Liwei, the shocking revtion immediately upied the headlines across the country. Netizens discussed it with great enthusiasm online.

    "Wow! CEO Jin must¡¯ve fallen deeply in love with Iris Long to marry her so quickly."

    "Nah, maybe he just got her pregnant, that¡¯s why he had no choice but to marry her. Just look at Iris Long¡¯s showbiz careertely. She hasn¡¯t appeared in public for quite some time now. It¡¯s clear that she¡¯s hiding something, probably a baby bump!"

    "That makes sense. If not for my regr Orchidia Beauty shopping sprees and hearing her songs on the radio now and then, I might¡¯ve already forgotten about Iris Long now. She¡¯s making herself gradually disappear from the limelight."

    "Maybe it¡¯s true that she¡¯ll permanently retire from showbiz after marrying CEO Jin so that she can focus on her duties and responsibilities as his wife and as the new madam of the Jin family."

    "Hahaha! Iris Long has really married above her level. Congrattions, girl! Make sure to hold on to your husband¡¯s golden thigh tightly and try your hardest to spend as much of his billions before he loses interest in you and moves on to fresher meat. Let¡¯s be realistic here. This kind of severely imbnced pairing won¡¯tst. It¡¯s already great that Iris Long got a heavenly man like CEO Jin to propose to her and marry her."

    The ck Stars¡¯ infamous troll unit immediately swooped in at the slightest criticism against their beloved Boss Iris.

    "Shit. The Slippers Army are at it again. These assholes!"

    "Damn it. I just saw KittyBaby and PantherBaby. Nothing good ever happens when those two trolls are together. Their attack power is insane. Bye, I¡¯m out!"

    In contrast to these scenes, the ck Stars¡¯ internal forum was extremely festive.

    "CaptainckStar: As the founder and president of the ck Stars, I would like to convey our entire fan club¡¯s sincerest congrattions and best wishes to our beautiful boss @IrisLong and her handsome husband @JinLiwei. I and a few members of our fan club (namely, @LittlePhoenix, @MonkeyFace, @iEatSlippers, @MrsLovePhantom, @JJNumber1Fan, @JJNumber2Fan and @JJNumber3Fan) had the amazing opportunity to personally attend our Boss Iris and CEO Jin¡¯s wedding. I can say with great confidence that it was one of the most memorable moments that I¡¯ve ever experienced in my whole life."

    All the members she tagged immediately liked her post. Comments started flooding from the other ck Stars.

    "So proud that Boss Iris didn¡¯t forget to invite our ck Stars officers. She really cares about us! (tears of happiness sticker)"

    "Captain, I saw you and the others¡¯ photos in <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine! I¡¯m going to frame the beautiful group photo! (shares photo)"

    While they were happily chatting with each other, a new post appeared and was automatically stickied to the top of the forum because of the poster¡¯s special identity¡ª@IrisLong, their boss! It was a simple video message but immediately sent all the ck Stars into a frenzy.

    The video showed their Boss Iris and her new husband, CEO Jin Liwei, sitting together in what looked like a tropical ce. The beautiful blue beach could be seen in the background behind them. Their Boss Iris looked blooming while even the usually cold-faced Jin Liwei had a faint smile on his lips. He barely looked at the camera but had his gentle eyes focused on his wife for almost the entire duration of the video message. It was obvious that the man loved their Boss Iris!

    "Hello, my beloved ck Stars. I won¡¯t apologize for keeping my marriage with my husband a secret from you because we decided to keep this special asion as intimate and as special as possible without all the piercing attention from the world. We only wanted to invite the people close to us and that¡¯s what we did. And yes, we consider the ck Stars officers close to us, hence why we invited them to witness our marriage because they¡¯ve been my earliest and strongest supporters after my first showbizeback. To the rest of you, Jin Liwei and I are still immensely grateful for all of your tireless support despite my current partial break from showbiz."

    Jin Liwei spoke next. Although he looked gentler than usual, many who were watching the video still found him quite intimidating.

    "En. Thank you, ck Stars, for always supporting my wife. I hope that you¡¯ll continue to do so in the future. As a token of my gratitude and also as a celebration of our happy marriage, I will hold a contest to hand out various cash and other prizes exclusive to ck Stars only."

    Iris¡¯ eyes widened as she turned to look at him, clearly not knowing about his n. But she didn¡¯t say anything and allowed him to do what he wanted.

    "The requirement is simple. Tell me in your own way how my wife is very amazing. Be it a heartfelt message, a poem, artwork, song¡ªwhatever method you choose, as long as it¡¯s legal and not a nuisance to public order, I will ept your entries and choose those that I like best as the winners. I¡¯ll include the written rules and list of prizes when my wife posts this video. I¡¯m honeymooning with my wife so don¡¯t bother us."

    Iris¡¯ amused and melodious chuckle was cut short when Jin Liwei decisively ended the video.

 Chapter 982 - Vicious Eyes

    <h4>Chapter 982 - Vicious Eyes </h4>

    The ck Stars immediately checked the list of rules and prizes at the end of the post. Indeed, the rules were simple just like what CEO Jin said in the video. The contest¡¯s duration was two weeks. Then when they read the list of prizes, exmations of shock and amazement flooded thements section.

    "Boss Iris¡¯ husband is indeed a bigshot! One thousand people will win 10,000 RMB each. More people will win 5,000 RMB. The lowest cash prize is 1,000 RMB. There are even all-inclusive vacation vouchers, brand new cars,puters, smartphones, appliances, shopping gift cards, and so many more!"

    "I estimate that all these prizes are worth around 100 million RMB. Wow! CEO Jin really knows how to splurge and he¡¯s doing it for his wife, Boss Iris, and us, her fans! Thank you, CEO Jin! Best husband ever!"

    "Based on the photos featured in<i> ¨¤ Mode</i> magazine, their wedding isn¡¯t too extravagantpared to other high-profile celebrity marriages with rich people. Seems like they chose to share their blessings to others instead of making their wedding shy. Love this couple! The best!"

    "I want to win the 10,000 cash prize!"

    "I want the all-inclusive vacation!"

    "Bye! I¡¯m going to prepare my entry now!"

    ###

    Jin Liwei was on his way to work. His wife was still sleeping when he left home this morning. He was on the backseat of the car reading and replying to his work e-mails on hisptop.

    "Daddy, the video you and my mommy made during your honeymoon that Uncle Dom uploadedst night went viral! Everyone is excited to join and win the prizes. Wow wow! The contest is even being featured in the news! Meow!"

    "Good." He looked satisfied.

    It was inevitable that such a contest with extremely generous prizes would be leaked to the media. Ketchup informed him that there was a surge of new sign-ups to be official ck Stars. Those people were probably tempted with the prizes. The rules were prettyx. Anyone could basically join.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care much whether the participants were his wife¡¯s real fans or not because, in the end, they would all still need to praise his wife to the high heavens if they wanted to impress him and choose them as winners. If they were haters, then all the better. How much torture would those haters undergo to praise someone that they hated? He was looking forward to the contest submissions.

    Ketchup continued chattering about rted headlines. Jin Liwei was half-focused on her gossip while continuing to go through his work e-mails. This was the on-the-way-to-work morning routine of the father and AI daughter. He didn¡¯t tell her to stop because she would sometimes share some interesting news.

    This time, she shared about news talking about her Uncle Chonglin¡¯s uing men¡¯s line of products for Orchidia Beauty. Next was several spections about his future ns, whether he would extend his contract with Bright Summit Entertainment Company or not. Then Ketchup hissed all of a sudden.

    "The cute and mighty again Ketchup is angry! MREOW!!!"

    "What¡¯s the matter?"

    "Look at the tabloids, Daddy! Meow!"

    Ketchup automatically took control of hisptop and showed him thetest tabloid news. His expression immediately turned grim as he read the over-sensationalized headlines.

    "Jealous Iris Long Forces New Husband CEO Jin Liwei to Fire Ivy-League Graduate Female CMO"

    "Jin Corporation¡¯s Security Manhandles a Defenceless Female CMO Before Throwing Her Out of the Company"

    "All Females Working at Jin Corporation, Beware of Your CEO¡¯s Jealous New Wife"

    He already expected that Rose Young and her supporters would do something like this, so he wasn¡¯t surprised. However, it didn¡¯t lessen his fury especially since they dragged his wife¡¯s name into the mix.

    "Daddy, Tiantian is calling. Meow~"

    "Answer."

    The call connected and his assistant, Xu Tian, immediately informed him that some members of the board of directors were demanding for an emergency meeting to appeal Jin Liwei¡¯s decision to fire Rose Young.

    "Fine. Schedule the meeting for this afternoon."

    "Understood, President."

    "Cooperate with Ketchup in suppressing the tabloid news. I want them gone by today. Also make trouble for those tabloidpanies. If you can shut them down, then much better."

    "Will do, President."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! The cute and mighty Ketchup will definitely help Tiantian because I¡¯m a good kitty baby who listens to my daddy! Meow~"

    Then Jin Liwei called someone else. "Bacon."

    "Bacon is here, Father."

    "Find out all the specific people who are helping Rose Young right now aside from the Young family."

    "Understood, Father."

    He paused before adding, "Also ask for your Uncle Zihao¡¯s help in dealing with those people."

    "Does this mean that Father won¡¯t care what happens to those people even if they are surnamed Jin?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes shed with viciousness. "Anyone cooperating with the Young family to steal mypany are traitors. Tell your Uncle Zihao that he¡¯s free to decide what to do with those people. They also dragged your mother¡¯s name which is unforgivable."

    "Indeed, Bacon is ashamed to share the same surname as those people. Involving Mother is not ssy either." The ck cat AI¡¯s golden eyes also shed with the same viciousness as his father¡ªno, Bacon¡¯s eyes looked more vicious. "Bacon will never forgive them for smearing Mother¡¯s name for a woman far below her level."

    Seeing her father and brother, Ketchup also squinted her green eyes and mimicked their expressions. However, she looked far from vicious, bing more adorable instead.

    "Ketchup will also punish them with my cute and mighty paws of justice! Mreow!"

    Bacon returned to Shadow Winds to follow his father¡¯s instructions.

    "Xu Tian, after you finalize the time for the emergency board of directors meeting today, send it to Grandfather Luter because I might be too busy to call him myself."

    "Understood, President. Leave it to me. By the way, sir, your schedule is very full today. Are you still nning to attend the¡ª"

    Jin Liwei knew what his assistant was about to say. "Yes. I¡¯ll attend it after lunch and return in time for the meeting with the board of directors in the afternoon."

    "...Understood, sir."

    After talking to them, Jin Liwei leaned back and closed his eyes. He wasn¡¯t resting, however, but was organizing several ns in his head. It seemed that he would need to talk to his brother-inw Niki soon.

 Chapter 983 - Contract Expiration

    <h4>Chapter 983 - Contract Expiration </h4>

    <i>Bright Summit Entertainment Company.</i>

    Arge number of media representatives crowded inside one of thepany¡¯srgest halls to attend a press conference. Loud, indistinct chatter filled the ce as the reporters spected among themselves about what Bright Summit and its biggest star were going to announce today.

    The main door opened and a tall, cold-faced and handsome man in a business suit entered followed by two bodyguards. A staff member immediately weed the new arrival, treating him with great respect, before leading him to a reserved seat at the front row separate from the media representatives. The reporters¡¯ attention immediately diverted to him.

    "Huh? Who¡¯s that man? Why is Bright Summit treating him so respectfully? Is he a VIP?"

    "Dude, are you a newbie? You¡¯re seriously asking that question? Don¡¯t you recognize that bigshot?"

    "Of course, he¡¯s a VIP! You work in the news industry and yet you don¡¯t know him? I don¡¯t believe you!"

    "I really don¡¯t know him. Can you just tell me who¡ª"

    "Holy shit! It¡¯s CEO Jin! What is the head of Jin Corporation doing here?"

    "Get the cameras! Quick, get a shot of him! This is big news!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s bodyguards nked him and shot cold, intimidating res at the reporters. Some cowered and stepped back while the braver ones continued clicking their cameras nonstop. A handful even had the guts to shout questions at him.

    "CEO Jin, is it true that you married Iris Long?"

    Jin Liwei shot the reporter an are-you-stupid look, not bothering to reply to the question. He and his wife already announced their marriage through<i> ¨¤ Mode</i> which was a popr and reputable magazine. They even granted the magazine an exclusive interview and allowed it to feature photos from their actual wedding. If people still doubted his marriage¡¯s authenticity despite all the concrete evidence, then they could only be seen as stupid in his eyes.

    "Congrattions on your marriage with Iris Long, CEO Jin!"

    This time, Jin Liwei responded and even gave a rare smile. "Thank you."

    Following this example, the other reporters started congratting him. He responded to all of them in a good mood.

    "CEO Jin, there have been some reports this morning that you fired yourpany¡¯s female Chief Marketing Officer because your wife, Iris Long, felt jealous of her. Can you confirm if that¡¯s true?"

    The smile on his face immediately disappeared reced by vicious coldness. "Fake news. I fired that person because of herck of professionalism in the workce and stepping out of the bounds of her position. It has nothing to do with my wife. Anyone who continues this false narrative will receive a letter from mywyer."

    His threat intimidated the reporters and made them hesitate to ask him more questions about the topic.<i></i>

    "CEO Jin, can you tell us why you¡¯re here today? You don¡¯t usually attend this kind of press conferences."

    Before he could answer this particr question, the host of the press conference called for everyone¡¯s attention and started the event. After the usual preamble, the host called for the head of Bright Summit. Next, he called for the star of the event and the reason why so many media representatives came today.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, please wee the one and only Jin Chonglin!"

    Cameras shed nonstop as Jin Chonglin appeared and stepped onto the stage and shed everyone his iconic killer smile. He stood by the middle seat beside Bright Summit¡¯s President. Then people noticed that there was one more empty seat left on the stage. Huh? Was there someone elseing?

    "And also please wee the beautiful and talented Iris Long!" Then the host caught Jin Liwei¡¯s presence in the audience and quickly added, "Or should I say Mrs. Jin?"

    Curious murmurs arose from the crowd as Iris Long also appeared and walked towards the stage. Jin Liwei stood up and started pping his hands. His bodyguards followed suit. Following their example, everyone started pping their hands, too. It evolved into a situation where Iris Long received a louder and warmer reception than Jin Chonglin who everyone expected was the main star of today¡¯s press conference.

    Iris saw her husband in the front row and a bright smile blossomed on her face. Her beauty blinded a lot of people, making them sigh at how much more beautiful she looked in person than on the screen. Now CEO Jin¡¯s presence in this press conference made sense. He rarely attended anything showbiz-rted for his younger brother in the past but started doing so for the sake of his then fianc¨¦e and now wife, Iris Long.

    After Jin Chonglin and Iris greeted everyone, they sat down on their designated seats with the head of Bright Summit. Then the host prompted the president to speak.

    "We invited all of you here today to share some very important announcements. Jin Chonglin has been a part of Bright Summit¡¯s family since he started his career in the music industry. We have watched him grow from a young, charismatic and talented teenager with potential into one of the biggest superstars our country has to offer. He has since expanded his talents to other areas outside of music with great sess. Bright Summit is very proud to have nurtured such a great seed like Jin Chonglin who grew up into a tall, firm, and fruitful tree. We also appreciate his loyalty for staying with us throughout all these years.

    "As many of you are already aware, Jin Chonglin¡¯s contract with Bright Summit is set to expire this month."

    The reporters leaned forward and paid closer attention. This was what they had been wondering about in thest few weeks.

    "We at Bright Summit and Jin Chonglin have reached an agreement not to extend his contract. After his contract with us expires this month, he will no longer be an artist signed with our Bright Summit Entertainment Company."

    As expected, the announcement immediately sent the reporters into an excited chatter. Some were shocked while the others already half-expected this oue. They started shouting questions to rify the situation but the experienced host quickly controlled the situation, reminding them that there will be a question and answer portionter after all the announcements were made.

 Chapter 984 - LXC Studio

    <h4>Chapter 984 - LXC Studio </h4>

    Contrary to what the reporters expected, Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t speak right after the announcement to rify the reason why he decided not to stay with Bright Summit. The entertainmentpany¡¯s president continued speaking instead.

    "All of you must be wondering why Iris Long is also here with us on the stage today beside Jin Chonglin, who is now her brother-inw." The president found Jin Liwei in the audience and gave him a warm smile. "By the way, all of us at Bright Summit send our sincerest congrattions and best wishes to the newlyweds CEO Jin and Iris Long."

    Jin Liwei nodded with a smile but his eyes were on his wife the whole time.

    "Thank you, President," Iris Long replied, a bright smile on her face.

    She pulled up the exquisite red, silk scarf she was wearing around her neck and lowered her head for a few seconds, covering her mouth and nose, seemingly acting shy. However, her husband knew that she was sniffing his scent on the scarf. She had rubbed the scarf all over his naked bodyst night knowing that she needed to attend today¡¯s press conference and might get dizzy from the surrounding smells.

    "This brings us to the second important announcement today." Bright Summit¡¯s president paused and looked at all the reporters for dramatic effect. "Following Jin Chonglin¡¯s departure from Bright Summit, we and Iris Long have jointly and amicably decided to terminate her contract. She will also no longer be an artist signed with Bright Summit Entertainment Company after this month."

    Compared to Jin Chonglin¡¯s decision not to extend his contract with Bright Summit, this announcement about Iris Long terminating her contract with the entertainmentpany was more shocking to everyone. They knew that she still had a few years left on her contract. This meant that she had to pay a hefty termination fee as penalty to Bright Summit. They studied the expression of Bright Summit¡¯s president for any hint of displeasure but the older man was all smiles. Perhaps he was faking it for the cameras or maybe it was because a powerful man like CEO Jin was present, but nobody could glean any useful hints from the president¡¯s expression alone.

    Terminating a contract before its expiration was usually extremely disadvantageous to the artist. If this were any other celebrity, he or she might be in deep trouble especially if he or she also offended the entertainmentpany that contracted him or her. He or she might even be cklisted in showbiz. However, this was Iris Long, the new wife of Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO Jin Liwei. She now had a lofty status that protected her from this kind of bad situations.

    The reporters nced at the man in question, CEO Jin Liwei, who was also sitting in the audience. Now they began to understand the real reason why he attended today¡¯s press conference. He was showing everyone that his wife had his full support and Bright Summit shouldn¡¯t dare to perform any monkey business against her.

    They were all itching to fire a flood of questions to both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long, mostly to Iris Long because her situation was more interesting, but the host still wasn¡¯t letting them.

    "Thank you very much, President," the host said, nodding at his boss. "Now we¡¯ll move on to the next portion of this press conference. Jin Chonglin and Iris Long also have an important announcement to make today."

    Jin Chonglin took the mic in front of him and greeted everyone again, not forgetting to charm everyone with his killer smile. "I already have an idea of the kind of questions you want to ask me and my sister-inw, but I want to rify something. Although the two of us are leaving Bright Summit, we are doing so very amicably with thepany. There are no hard feelings. None at all."

    Not many believed his im. After all, he had been Bright Summit¡¯s biggest star and fattest cash cow. And although Iris Long¡¯s current fame and status in showbiz couldn¡¯t bepared to a superstar like him, her extraordinary achievements so far and rising poprity since her firsteback was without a doubt a great asset to Bright Summit. There was no way that Bright Summit would just let the two of them go without any bitter feelings.

    "I also know that all of you are wondering what the two of us are nning to do now that we¡¯ve decided to leave Bright Summit."

    They nodded and waited for his next words in anticipation.

    "My sister-inw Iris Long and I have decided to start our own entertainmentpany. In Bright Summit, the two of us had a senior and junior rtionship, but in our newpany, we will be partners instead."

    Then Iris also took the mic in front of her and spoke next. "Indeed, everything that Brother Chonglin said is true. You may remember that there is apany called LX Productions that co-produced the now sessful and award-winning indie film called "<i>Strong Yet Broken"</i>. To tell you the truth, it is actually my husband¡¯spany. We have decided to transform it from a film productionspany to a full-fledged entertainmentpany which we will now call LXC Studio."

    All the reporters were shocked by all of these sessive revtions. The itch to fire questions grew stronger.

    "Brother Chonglin owns 50% of thepany while my husband and I own the other half."

    This revtion shocked them again. What?! Didn¡¯t that make Jin Chonglin the majority shareholder? They thought that with CEO Jin Liwei in the picture, he and Iris Long would own a bigger piece of the pie together, or in a fairer situation, all three of them would be equal partners.

    "The current CEO of LX Productions will continue his duties at our newly transformedpany, LXC Studio. Brother Chonglin will be the President while I will be the Vice-President."

    This time, they nodded, not surprised that Jin Chonglin held a higher position than Iris Long in thepany. It was only appropriate because he was the superstar and had more experience and connections in the showbiz industry than her.

 Chapter 985 - I Can And I Will

    <h4>Chapter 985 - I Can And I Will </h4>

    Finally, it was time for the question and answer portion. Almost all of the reporters raised their hands for the opportunity. The host pointed at a random reporter.

    "Question for Jin Chonglin. Unlike most superstars who immediately started their own studios the moment their careers started to take on new heights, you stubbornly stayed with Bright Summit throughout all these years. Everyone admires your loyalty and thought that you¡¯ll stay with Bright Summit, thepany that supported your showbiz career right from the start, until you retire. What prompted you to leave Bright Summit? Please be honest and tell us if you had any disagreements with anyone at Bright Summit. Maybe that¡¯s one of the reasons why you¡¯re leaving Bright Summit and decided to start your own entertainmentpany with your sister-inw Iris Long?"

    Jin Chonglin shed the reporter his killer smile. "That¡¯s more than one question but I¡¯m in a good mood today so I¡¯ll answer all of them as best as I can. Let me just say this once and for all. I¡¯m truly grateful for all of the support that Bright Summit granted me throughout my career while signed with them. I¡¯ll always think of them as family no matter what happens. As for the loyalty that you¡¯re talking about...hehe."

    He smirked and looked every bit the yboy that he was known for. "Jin Chonglin¡¯s number one loyalty will always lie on my craft as an artist. Meaning, I¡¯ll always pursue the road which I think will take my artistry to a whole new level, and I believe that LXC Studio will give me that. Owning my ownpany, or in this case, owning it with my sister-inw and brother, will ultimately give me unprecedented freedom to do many things that I¡¯ve never tried before as an artist. As for any disagreements with Bright Summit, there¡¯s none of that. Right, President?"

    The head of Bright Summit coughed before smiling. "Of course, there¡¯s none of that!"

    "I want to ask Iris Long," another reporter said.

    She smiled. "Alright. Go ahead."

    "First of all, congrattions on your marriage with CEO Jin."

    "Thank you."

    "My question is: are you pregna¡ª"

    Darkness fell over the entire hall.

    "!!!"

    "What the hell?! What happened?!"

    "Come on, Bright Summit! Why aren¡¯t the emergency lights turning on?"

    The sudden ck out caused amotion. Bright Summit staff frantically tried to solve the problem while doing their best to calm everyone down. Many turned on the shlight function on their phones.

    Staff members led their president, Jin Chonglin and Iris Long to a safer ce backstage away from the reporters in the hall. Momentster, Jin Liwei and his bodyguards followed them inside. Jin Liwei found Iris and pulled her in his arms.

    "You okay, love?"

    She pressed her face against his chest and took a deep inhale of his scent as if her life depended on it. The air backstage felt a little stuffy and it was making her ufortable, but she still nodded to reassure him. Then she pulled his head lower and whispered directly to his ear.

    "Did you do this?"

    "No, Ketchup did."

    Their eyes were already starting to adjust in the darkness. She gave him a knowing look. "But you instructed her in advance, didn¡¯t you?"

    "En."

    She sighed but still smiled. "Thank you. I still want to keep our babies for ourselves. I don¡¯t want random people paying attention to them and disturbing their growth. At least, not for now."

    "En. Don¡¯t worry, love. I know. I¡¯ll keep you and our children safe. Always."

    The couple¡¯s whisperings caught the attention of the others who were with them backstage, but they couldn¡¯t hear their conversation. Even if they wanted to eavesdrop, they couldn¡¯t because the two bodyguards were blocking them from going too near the couple.

    Jin Chonglin rolled his eyes. "Che. To the husband and wife acting all lovey-dovey in the corner, can you have some decency to spare us single dogs here?"

    "I have a wife," Bright Summit¡¯s president said.

    "I have a girlfriend," the host said next.

    "I have a fianc¨¦e," the staff who led them backstage said.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression turned ugly. He stomped to another corner and started sulking there. Fine! So he was the only single dog here! What was wrong with that?! He had many women lining up to be his girlfriend!

    They startedughing at his expense. The mood lightened in an instant but it onlysted for a short time before Bright Summit¡¯s president apologized to Jin Liwei for the ck out.<i></i>

    "It¡¯s very rare for a ck out to ur in this part of the city but it asionally happens. That¡¯s why we have backup generators throughout thepany building. I don¡¯t know why they didn¡¯t activate."

    "It¡¯s fine," Jin Liwei said. "It¡¯s not something we can control."

    Iris hid her face against his chest. He could really say that with a deadpan expression when he was the one who instructed their AI daughter to force a ck out if a reporter dared to ask her if she was pregnant.

    Ten minutester, the electricity finally returned. It took another ten minutes for the press conference to continue where it left off. However, before the previous reporter could repeat the same question she asked Iris Long before the ck out, the host reminded everyone that they would only wee questions about the announcements today. Fortunately, the reporters got the message.

    Or more specifically, they didn¡¯t want to offend the icy man nked by two bodyguards sitting nearby emanating a frightening aura whenever they directed questions at his wife onstage. Nobody dared to ask her any too-personal questions, so they decided to change tactics.

    "Iris Long, many noticed that you¡¯ve been limiting your public appearancestely. Are the rumours true that you¡¯re going to permanently retire from showbiz to focus on your duties and responsibilities as the new Madam Jin? You¡¯re leaving Bright Summit and started LXC Studio with Jin Chonglin instead. Perhaps you¡¯re nning on taking more of a backseat role now."

    Iris tilted her head to the side, as if the question baffled her. "Why do you think that I need to retire in order to fulfill my duties and responsibilities as my husband¡¯s wife? I¡¯m not an ipetent woman that I won¡¯t be able to handle being a wife while continuing to work on my own career. I can and I will have both."

 Chapter 986 - Save Fuel, Save The Planet

    <h4>Chapter 986 - Save Fuel, Save The </h4>

    "Nice answer!" Jin Chonglin secretly gave her a thumbs-up below the table.

    Iris nodded at him before facing the reporters again. "Yes, I¡¯m currently limiting my public appearances but it doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m retiring from showbiz. I love being a musician, not onlyposing songs, but also performing on the stage in front of my fans. Like Brother Chonglin, I ce a high level of importance on honing my craft as an artist. At this moment, I¡¯m working on a very important project. I want to devote more time and focus on it."

    "Is that project your coboration with the legendary hitmaker, Mr. Enrique Valdez?"

    "Correct." She didn¡¯t deny it.

    Although it wasn¡¯t the whole truth why she was limiting her public appearances¡ªthe main reason being her pregnancy¡ªshe wasn¡¯t lying either. It was indeed true that she was working on her cob with her music instructor, Enrique Valdez.

    Other reporters wanted to ask her for more details about her coboration with the legendary hitmaker but she reminded them that they should focus on asking about the announcements made today. Fortunately, they decided to do that. After all, the press conference was going to end soon. They were already dyed by almost half an hour because of the ck out earlier. They didn¡¯t want to waste asking any more unrted questions or else they might get into trouble with their bosses who sent them to the press conference.

    The next questions were not difficult for Jin Chonglin and Iris Long to answer because they were just rifications about their departure from Bright Summit and on starting their new entertainmentpany, LXC Studio.

    "Mr. President, please tell us the truth. Be honest. Do you really not regret letting go of these two? Jin Chonglin is a superstar while Iris Long has written hits after hits and won outstanding awards in the past year alone."

    The head of Bright Summit paused for a moment to formte the best way to answer the question. "I¡¯ll be lying if I say that I don¡¯t regret it."

    The reporters¡¯ eyes lit up.

    Jin Chonglin and Iris nced at him from the corner of their eyes while Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned icier.

    "But it¡¯s only natural to feel regret. Deep in my heart, I want both of them to stay, but I and all of us here at Bright Summit support their decision to leave and start the of their careers. I look forward to watching how much more the two of them will grow now that they have full control of their careers. It¡¯s exciting, don¡¯t you think? I feel like a parent whose children have grown up and have decided to leave the nest to venture out into the world on their own."

    It was a very diplomatic answer. As expected of the head of Bright Summit. Although the reporters felt unsatisfied with his answer because they wanted more drama, they could only ept what he said as time was running out.

    A few more crafty questions and skillful answerster, the press conference finally ended.

    ###

    "Why are you riding with us again?" Jin Liwei asked his younger brother, his tone filled with cold dissatisfaction. "Don¡¯t you have your own car?"

    Jin Chonglin shed him a sheepish grin. "Sister Xin and I are both heading to Orchidia Beauty. Since you¡¯re dropping your wife off, you should drop me off, too! Save fuel, save the. Am I right?"

    It was clear that Jin Liwei didn¡¯t appreciate his brother¡¯s eco-friendly slogan when Jin Chonglin was encroaching on his precious time with his wife. He was about to scold his younger brother when he saw his wife falling asleep beside him. He quickly rearranged their positions so that she could sleep on his chest morefortably.

    "Don¡¯t be noisy."

    "Fine." Jin Chonglin shrugged and used the big teddy bear wearing his older brother¡¯s shirt as a pillow. It was Iris¡¯ Little Liwei.

    They were in Jin Liwei¡¯s business limousine. He had his subordinates change vehicles before picking them up from Bright Summit to give his wife more room to rest before dropping her off at Orchidia Beauty. There was no Jin Chonglin in his original n but his annoying younger brother just had to force himself into the limo with them without permission, leaving behind his own assistant to follow them to Orchidia Beauty. Even Dom could only stuff Little Liwei into the limo before wisely deciding that it was better to ride in another car.

    After a long moment of silence, Jin Chonglin spoke. "Hey, Big Bro."

    "Hm?"

    "What¡¯s the deal with Rose Young? I saw the tabloids."

    Jin Liwei sneered but still made sure that the arms holding his wife remained gentle. "I fired her because she wants to steal my wife¡¯s ce. As if I¡¯d marry another woman."

    "Damn. I always knew that she likes you but I never expected that she¡¯ll try to steal you away from Sister Xin. She has guts."

    "That woman is big trouble. Stay away from her."

    "Big Bro, you don¡¯t need to remind me. Rose Young is not my type. Have you seen her chest? My type is..." Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes drifted to the full and shapely chest of the woman sleeping in his brother¡¯s arms.

    Jin Liwei red at him. "Look at your sister-inw like that again and you¡¯ll force me to blind my own brother!"

    Jin Chonglin immediately looked elsewhere before cing Little Liwei on hisp to hide behind the teddy bear. "I didn¡¯t see anything. Big Bro, rx! I was just joking, okay?"

    There was another moment of silence between the brothers.

    "I¡¯m serious about what I said. Stay away from Rose Young and her family. They¡¯re bad news." This time, it was Jin Liwei who broke the silence.

    "I understand. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not close to her, anyway."

    "The Youngs managed to turn a few members of our branch families into traitors."

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "No way. Who¡¯s stupid enough to betray us? Betray you? Do they have a death wish?"

    "Indeed, they have a death wish."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was devoid of any emotions and it sent chills down Jin Chonglin¡¯s spine.

 Chapter 987 - My Husband Is Too Formidable

    <h4>Chapter 987 - My Husband Is Too Formidable </h4>

    Before Jin Chonglin could ask his older brother for more information about the traitors among the branch families, Iris stirred in Jin Liwei¡¯s arms and opened her eyes.

    "Hm? Where are we? Have we arrived yet?"

    Jin Liwei stroked her hair. "Not yet. Go back to sleep. I¡¯ll wake you up when we arrive at Orchidia Beauty."

    She stretched and yawned before sitting up. "It¡¯s fine." Seeing Jin Chonglin hugging her teddy bear, she pouted. "Please don¡¯t rub yourself on my Little Liwei too much. What are you going to do if your scent overpowers my husband¡¯s?"

    "Huh? Scent? What are you talking about?" Jin Chonglin was confused.

    Jin Liwei stretched his hand. "Give the bear back."

    "I¡¯ll give it backter. I¡¯m using it as a pillow right now."

    "Give it back." Jin Liwei¡¯s tone brooked no argument.

    "Oh,e on! You two are bing too stingy!" However, he still returned the teddy bear to them with a sulky expression. He didn¡¯t dare offend his older brother especially since he was caught eyeing his sister-inw¡¯s chest earlier. In addition, Iris¡¯ temper had be too unpredictable and vtile after his brother got her pregnant. It would hurt his heart too much if she aimed her line of fire at him after unknowingly angering her.

    As for Jin Liwei, he ced the big teddy bear on his other side in order to "recharge" it with his scent. Then he grabbed a chocte bar from the snack basket specially prepared for his wife, opened the wrapper, and then fed it to her.

    While enjoying the chocte, Iris began sharing her dissatisfaction about the negotiation process with Bright Summit. "They only agreed to our terms not because of my negotiation skills but because I¡¯m now Jin Liwei¡¯s wife."

    "What¡¯s wrong with that?" Jin Chonglin asked while opening a can of coconut water from the limo¡¯s minibar. There was no alcohol in there at all. "Big Bro is now your husband. There¡¯s nothing wrong in using his status to make things easier for you. Don¡¯t tell me you want to make things hard for yourself instead?"

    "That¡¯s not what I mean. I was looking forward to practicing and improving my negotiations skills but things went smoothly with Bright Summit instead. Too smoothly." She looked at her husband. "Someone told me that you called Bright Summit¡¯s President in advance before I could talk to him."

    "En." Jin Liwei didn¡¯t deny it. He also wasn¡¯t surprised that Ketchup snitched about his secret actions to her mommy. "Are you angry?"

    She shook her head, smiling. "Not at all. My husband is too formidable. I need to work harder, so that someday in the future, it¡¯ll be your turn to use my status to get what you want."

    "I¡¯m looking forward to that day." He leaned down and grazed his lips against hers.

    "Come on, people! Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m still here!" Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t take the lovey-dovey scene ying right in front of him.

    Jin Liwei gave him a side-eye. "Who told you to ride with us? If you don¡¯t want to see me kissing my own wife in our own vehicle, you¡¯re wee to get off. Should I tell the driver to leave you by the side of the road?"

    "Fine. Do what you want." Jin Chonglin continued to sulk while chugging the coconut water and using his phone with his other hand.

    Jin Liwei ignored him and focused entirely on his wife. "I didn¡¯t want you wasting time negotiating with Bright Summit, that¡¯s why I did that."

    "I know. My energy is severely limited now that I¡¯m pregnant. I appreciate it, darling. But next time, I would like it better if you inform me beforehand. This concerns my career after all. I prefer to be in full control of it."

    "Okay, love."

    Iris was satisfied by his answer, then she sighed. "It¡¯s good that Bright Summit agreed to let Brother Chonglin and I leave without kicking up any fuss. They even agreed to a limited partnership with our LXC Studio to share resources and connections which is extremely beneficial to upstarts like us."

    Jin Chonglin shrugged. "Of course, they¡¯ll agree. They can continue to borrow me for coborations and enjoy the benefits that my name and status give them."

    "That¡¯s true, but my husband is still the biggest reason why they agreed."

    "Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes, already feeling tired of the couple¡¯s stickiness with each other.

    "It¡¯s just a pity that they didn¡¯t agree to let the other artists under our managers to leave and follow the two of us, even though I offered to pay all of their termination fees in full. There were quite a few who expressed their intention of following us to LXC Studio."

    "That¡¯s only natural," Jin Liwei said. "Letting both of you go is already painful for Bright Summit. If they allowed more of their artists to leave and follow you, it might create some unsavoury rumours and sully their reputation as apany. You already did your best, love."

    She nodded but her eyes still showed some of her disappointment.

    Jin Chonglin reclined on his seat and looked like a carefree prince. "It¡¯s fine. If those other artists really want to follow us, they can do so after their contracts with Bright Summit expires. We¡¯ll wee them, then."

    "Yes, we will." Then she smiled. "At least I was able to persuade Bright Summit to let Pandemonium go. Elder Sister Yiyi and Mr. Lin Dong are now in the process of finalizing their contracts with LXC Studio. Mr. JJ is also interested in signing them to his recordbel."

    Jin Chonglin nodded. "Those kids are quite talented and have good potential. If they¡¯re willing to work hard, we¡¯ll nurture them well."

    Jin Liwei listened to his wife and younger brother discussing their ns for LXC Studio. He felt peaceful and fulfilled to see the two working on the of their careers with great enthusiasm. He would support them, especially his wife, with everything he had.

    At that moment, the issue about Rose Young and her ambitious family, the traitors in the Jin branch families, and the impending board of the directors meeting that he had to face this afternoon was far from his mind. He rxed, feeling warm surrounded by his real family.

 Chapter 988 - I Wonâ€™t Allow It

    <h4>Chapter 988 - I Won¡¯t Allow It </h4>

    Finally, they arrived at Orchidia Beauty. Jin Chonglin got off the business limousine first after receiving a cold, meaningful look from his older brother. He could only grumble when the vehicle door shut behind him before fixing his expression and shing his iconic killer smile when thepany¡¯s staff approached and weed him.

    Inside the limousine, the husband and wife were feeling extremely reluctant to part. Iris sat on Jin Liwei¡¯sp and hugged his neck while his arms were coiled around her body.

    "I heard from Ketchup that you have to attend an emergency board of directors meeting when you return to thepanyter."

    "En."

    Her eyes shed with cold viciousness, very simr to her husband and their AI son¡¯s expressions earlier that morning. "Those people dare to push you, the President and CEO, into a corner of your ownpany for the sake of a woman?"

    He patted her back, trying to soothe her. "I can handle this. Don¡¯t worry, love."

    "Don¡¯t show any mercy to them. How dare they do this to you?"

    "I¡¯m not nning on showing any mercy, nor will I waste time dealing with each of them. I already enlisted Grandpa Lu¡¯s assistance. He¡¯ll handle them. The traitors in our Jin branch families will be sorted out ordingly as well."

    She pursed her lips. "I know that many of them don¡¯t ept me as your wife and that they find me disrespectful for not inviting them to our wedding."

    "There¡¯s no need to care about what any of them think."

    "I didn¡¯t say that I care. I only said I know. There¡¯s a difference."

    His mouth curved. "En."

    She framed his face between her hands and looked at him. "Nobody is allowed to bully my husband."

    His mouth curved even more. "En."

    "I might not be able to do much to assist you right now with my severelycking energy due to my pregnancy but always remember that you also have Ketchup and Bacon. They¡¯ll always help you to the best of their abilities. They¡¯re stronger now after their configurations and daily training."

    "I know. Our children are amazing because of you."

    "Their father is quite formidable, too." She smiled and leaned forward to kiss him on the lips. It was soft and light but lingering and filled with their mutual support for each other.

    Later, the husband and wife finally parted with great reluctance. Iris carried the newly-recharged Little Liwei and met with Dom at Orchidia Beauty¡¯s main entrance. She nced back and saw that the limo hadn¡¯t left yet. She gave her husband who was surely looking at her from the inside a sweet smile and a wave before entering herpany with Dom.

    Jin Liwei waited until his wife disappeared inside the building. Then he instructed the driver, "To Jin Corporation."

    ###

    <i>Jin Corporation. </i>

    The members of the board of directors already arrived and were waiting at the meeting room. Rose Young also arrived and walked in with her back straight and head held up high, but she also made sure to show everyone the red and slightly swollen rims of her eyes. This little show of vulnerability while still portraying her usual confident self was a careful maniption to convince the neutral members of the board to take her side. If she could also make Jin Liwei¡¯s supporters to sympathize with her "plight", then all the better.

    "Where¡¯s CEO Jin? Why isn¡¯t he here yet?"

    "The President ising," Xu Tian replied in a professional tone. Although the other party was an elected member of the board of directors, he wasn¡¯t the least bit intimidated. "There¡¯s still ten minutes before the appointed time."

    Rose Young made eye contact with the members who were on her side. Silent understanding passed between them. Those members used the time that Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t arrived yet to bemoan the unfairness of his decision to fire such a capable Chief Marketing Officer.

    Someone tossed a few tabloid papers on the table. "Just because his wife is jealous of women closely working with him, he immediately fired Miss Young just to please his new wife!"

    "Sir, the tabloids have never been a source of urate information," Xu Tian interrupted in a warning tone. "The President firing Miss Young has nothing to do with Madam Jin at all. Please be mindful before making any usations."

    Rose Young dug her nails against her palms when Xu Tian called that slut Iris Long "Madam Jin". How hateful! That title should belong to her! Despite the hatred filling her heart, she maintained a calm expression but made her lips tremble a bit. Some of the board members saw it and started pitying her.

    Xu Tian¡¯s phone buzzed. He checked it before excusing himself and leaving the meeting room.

    Two minutes before the appointed time, the door opened and in walked a cold-faced Jin Liwei followed by Xu Tian. He nodded only to those who greeted him whilepletely ignoring those who were obviously set to make trouble for him at today¡¯s meeting. Rose Young tried to catch his eyes but he acted as if she didn¡¯t exist.

    Jin Liwei sat at the head of the table and leaned back on his chair, steepling his fingers over his chest in an obvious show of arrogance. This displeased a few of the board members while some already expected that he would give them attitude after their fellow members demanded this emergency meeting today.

    "Begin the meeting," he announced.

    "We want to protest the firing of Miss Young. We think that it¡¯s unfair and unreasonable! We want her to return to her position as Chief Marketing Officer."

    There was no preamble which suited Jin Liwei just fine. He already knew what this meeting would be about but it still displeased him to hear these people going against his decision and wanting to overturn it. Then his eyes fell on the tabloid papers lying on the table. His eyes dimmed and turned even colder. Xu Tian already told him while picking him up earlier downstairs that a few sons of bitches openly dissed his wife before the meeting.

    "My decision is final. Rose Young is fired. She will not return to her position as CMO. I won¡¯t allow it."

 Chapter 989 - Challenged Authority

    <h4>Chapter 989 - Challenged Authority </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s words and posture were filled with arrogance but his tone was very calm. Too calm, most of the people in the meeting room thought, including Rose Young.

    His words cut through her pride, angering her, but she redirected all negative feelings Jin Liwei was causing her to his wife instead, that slut Iris Long. She cursed Iris Long nonstop in her mind, wishing torture and death upon the slut, so that she could finally have her chance to seduce Jin Liwei and marry him.

    Despite all of these dark thoughts running through her head, she still made sure to maintain the vulnerable-yet-trying-to-be-strong fa?ade that she was showing everyone to acquire their sympathy and have them help her overturn Jin Liwei¡¯s decision of firing her.

    "CEO Jin, your decision is certainly not final," someone finally dared to oppose Jin Liwei to his face. "As elected members of the board of directors representing Jin Corporation¡¯s shareholders, all of us here have the right to challenge the decisions of the CEO if we think that he made an error. And in this case, we do think that you made a big mistake in firing Miss Young. She graduated from the same Ivy-league American university that you attended with almost simr excellent marks. Other multinationalpanies are vying to hire a talent like her, but she still chose to show her loyalty to Jin Corporation despite all the other more enticing offers from otherpanies."

    "I agree. Miss Young is indeed someone that Jin Corporation needs. Her foreign experience is a great asset to ourpany, but she still has a deep understanding of the domestic market. She has only been working in thepany for a few months but we¡¯re already seeing noticeable good results from the marketing department. With her excellent performance, we believe that she should return to her position as Chief Marketing Officer."

    There were quite a few people who spoke up for Rose Young. There was even someone who was neutral at first but already sided with her. Most of the other neutral ones were wavering while a handful remained neutral, continuing to wait and see how things would develop before making their final decision. Fortunately, Jin Liwei¡¯s supporters remained loyal to him and weren¡¯t the least bit moved by Rose Young and those who were fighting for her.

    As for Jin Liwei, he remained leaning back on his seat with steepled fingers over his chest, looking cold, arrogant and indifferent more than ever. He didn¡¯t interrupt those who were speaking. When the voices slowed down, he finally spoke again in a tone filled with frost.

    "It seems like some of you no longer acknowledge my authority as the President and CEO in my family¡¯s ownpany."

    His eyes swept over all of the board members. Those who challenged him couldn¡¯t help but flinch under his prating gaze.

    Someone cleared his throat. "CEO Jin, that¡¯s n-not the case...not at all! We still acknowledge your authority as the President-CEO, of course, but we also have our duty as elected members of the board of directors to keep thepany in check if we think that it¡¯s heading in the wrong way."

    Jin Liwei started chuckling. If the situation were different, it would be a very pleasant sound. In fact, Rose Young instinctively felt herself getting wet upon hearing his sexy chuckle. To the board members, however, it was a frightening sound, like when the devil wasughing in malevolent mirth before torturing his victims.

    "Keep thepany in check, huh." Jin Liwei stoppedughing. The sudden change of his expression into cold viciousness made a lot of them shiver.

    The atmosphere was extremely ufortable but Rose Young took the ensuing silence as an opportunity to finally speak up for herself.

    "President Jin, I apologize that things escted like this." This time, she didn¡¯t call him Big Brother like she usually would do in front of other people to make them think that the two of them were close.

    Her father¡¯s most recent advice got through her. She had to be careful right now and watch her every words and actions. Her most urgent mission at the moment is to convince these members of the board of directors that her firing was a huge mistake and that she deserved to reim her position as Chief Marketing Officer.

    She pinched her thigh under the table, causing her eyes to water from the pain. Then she showed everyone her trying-to-be-strong expression. "I think you and your...wife misunderstood some of my words and actions in the past."

    There was no visible change in Jin Liwei¡¯s expression but he was frowning inside, just like how his assistant Xu Tian was frowning now.

    So this was how this woman wanted to y, huh?

    "I was born in Singapore and grew up there, surrounded by people from other different cultures. In addition, before I studied in the same American university as you did, I spent the yearly breaks going on trips in multiple countries. I think that these experiences made me more liberalpared to people here in China."

    Some of the board members nodded in understanding.

    "So I apologize if there were some things I said or did that you and your...your wife find too liberal. Even if you find my normal actions not to your liking, please don¡¯t let it influence your objectivity when evaluating the quality and results of my work."

    A board member on her side immediately eximed his support. "Indeed! A person should be evaluated in work quality and not by minor personality ws."

    Rose Young controlled her expression and restrained herself from snapping at the board member. What personality w? Well, at least he said "minor".

    There were murmurs from some of the other board members, expressing their agreement to the rationale. Rose Young felt excited upon seeing that almost all of the neutral board members were starting to tilt in her favour.

    Jin Liwei banged his hand on the table to get everyone¡¯s attention. "You keep on dragging my wife into this mess when she has nothing to do with how I run mypany. You think that I, Jin Liwei, will fire an executive without good reason?"

 Chapter 990 - A Waste Of Time

    <h4>Chapter 990 - A Waste Of Time </h4>

    The door opened all of a sudden, interrupting Jin Liwei¡¯s cold anger.

    "It¡¯s not even rush hour yet but why is the traffic already so horrible at this time? I want to know!"

    A familiar booming voice made everyone jump up their seats on instinct. Rose Young and her supporters paled, not expecting the arrival of this formidable figure.

    Grandpa Lu, or more known to everyone else as Sir Lu Jianhong, the other half of the business genius duo who decades ago founded what was now known as Jin Corporation, entered the meeting room, immediately filling the entire ce with his huge force of presence.

    "S-sir Lu, good afternoon!"

    "Hello, Sir Lu Jianhong!"

    The board members¡¯ greetings were disorganized. Xu Tian immediately stepped forward and led the old man to the other head of the table opposite where Jin Liwei was sitting.<i></i>

    Jin Liwei also greeted Grandpa Lu, but unlike the flustered board members, he was very calm. He made eye contact with the old man and saw Grandpa Lu¡¯s slight nod. Without showing any visible change of expression, Jin Liwei allowed himself to rx as he inwardly sighed in relief at the old man¡¯s arrival.

    When Grandpa Lu hadn¡¯t arrived yet, Jin Liwei had been ready to face everyone by himself and remind them that his authority shouldn¡¯t be challenged so easily. He was confident of himself but defending what should¡¯ve already been a final decision was, in his opinion, a big waste of time. There were more important things that he could spend his precious time on. For example, spending more quality time with his pregnant wife and doting on her.

    Fortunately, Grandpa Lu arrived just in time to take the burden from him. The old man¡¯s status, in addition to his 50% shares, were held in the highest regard by everyone at Jin Corporation. It wasn¡¯t too much of an exaggeration to say that Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s words werew in thepany.

    Unlike Jin Liwei¡¯s cold intimidation which made the others shiver in fright earlier, Grandpa Lu looked very friendly, yet he still made the others shake for an entirely different reason. He was retired and rarely interfered in the running of thepany but when he did interfere, nobody could challenge him with his 50% ownership of Jin Corporation.

    The board of directors had the right to keep the CEO and the way he ran thepany in check, but Grandpa Lu had the authority to keep the board itself in check. In short, the board of directors had no power over Grandpa Lu at all.

    "Why are you all still standing like a bunch of kindergarteners? Sit down, all of you!" Grandpa Lu was full of smiles as he greeted those he knew, joking with them and making them feel more at ease.

    He leaned back on his chair, looking very rxed as if he just stopped by to watch something interesting. "You don¡¯t mind that this old man iste, do you? Continue with the meeting! What have you talked about so far? I want to know!"

    One of the board members, a supporter of Jin Liwei, volunteered to summarize what happened during the meeting so far. He was very thorough and even mentioned the tabloids using a jealous Iris Long as the reason why Jin Liwei fired Rose Young from her position as CMO.

    Grandpa Lu had someone hand him the tabloids. Nobody said anything as they watched him scan the articles. They couldn¡¯t tell what the old man was thinking just based on his expression alone. He was flipping the pages with one hand while stroking his perfectly groomed white mustache with the other. Then all of a sudden, he crumpled the papers into a ball and threw it urately to the trash can in the corner.

    "Bah! Such garbage belongs to the trash can! Who¡¯s the idiot who brought such useless papers containing utter nonsense? I want to know! This is Jin Corporation where serious businesspeople work, not the streets where you spread gossip! Actually bringing the tabloids to a business meeting and using it as evidence, you sure have guts!"

    The person who brought the tabloids was indeed feeling like an idiot right now. He felt ashamed of himself.

    Any hint of good nature was now gone from Grandpa Lu¡¯s expression. His sharp eyesnded on Rose Young.

    "You are the one President Jin fired?" Even the way he addressed Jin Liwei was formal, showing everyone that he was now serious and meant business.

    Rose Young felt her heart shake and her back soak with cold sweat. However, she still forced herself to give the old man a professional smile. "Yes, Sir Lu. My name is Rose Young and I am...I was the Chief Marketing Officer. But due to a misunderstanding, President Jin removed me from my position."

    "Misunderstanding?" Grandpa Lu swept his piercing gaze across the entire room. "I was told that there¡¯s an emergency board of directors meeting which usually means that thatpany is in serious trouble, so I hurried over here today! But what is this? Where is the serious trouble? I thought that thepany I founded with myte brother is going bankrupt or something serious like that, but I arrive here and all I find is just a former executive whining about being fired! Hah, so childish! Why waste people¡¯s time and call for an emergency board of directors meeting? I want to know!"

    Rose Young paled even more. She was unable to defend herself because the old man was like a bulldozer knocking everything and everyone out of his way.

    "Have you all forgotten that time is money? What are you all doing here wasting your time in this useless board meeting when you could be doing more productive work for thepany? This meeting is an utter waste of time! Is this the kind of work that the board of directors are doing now? If you have so much free time to do useless things like this, then you might as well retire like me!"

    The board of directors were now shaking in their boots. This was bad!

    Grandpa Lu harrumphed. "It seems like it¡¯s time to elect new members to rece the unfit ones in the board of directors."

    No, this wasn¡¯t just bad. This was a disaster!

 Chapter 991 - Liberal Upbringing

    <h4>Chapter 991 - Liberal Upbringing </h4>

    With Grandpa Lu dering that the meeting was useless and a big waste of time, the board members who demanded it in the first ce in order to help Rose Young reim the CMO position couldn¡¯t do anything. The old man¡¯s threat to elect new members to the board of directors caused them to feel a great sense of crisis. How could they still help Rose Young when they now had their own problems to deal with?

    Rose Young couldn¡¯t bear how things were turning out. She had to reim her CMO position! It wasn¡¯t only for the purpose of getting close to her dream man, Jin Liwei, and seducing him, but this was also an extremely important mission that she had been appointed by her family. Like the board members, she was now feeling a great sense of crisis as well. No, what she was feeling was more than that. It felt like all of her and her family¡¯s ns were quickly copsing right in front of her eyes. She couldn¡¯t allow this to continue!

    She shot up from her seat. It was difficult to present a calm fa?ade when all she wanted was to rage at the unfairness of the situation. However, she had to do her best to convince¡ªno, to plead her case. It was obvious that the board members supporting her had changed their priorities in an instant to protect themselves first. Useless people! If they could no longer fight for her, then she could only depend on herself and fight her own battle right now.

    "Sir Lu, please! I...you¡¯re mistaken, sir. I¡¯m not whining at all. I think you¡¯re misunderstanding me just like how President Jin and his...his wife had misunderstood me."

    "Oh?" Grandpa Lu¡¯s sharp eyes focused on her.

    She did her best not to cower from the old man¡¯s prating gaze. It made her feel as if he could read her every thoughts which was causing her to panic.

    <i>¡¯Calm down, Rose. There¡¯s no way the old man can read your thoughts. That¡¯s ridiculous! Just defend yourself and take back your CMO position. You can do this!¡¯</i>

    Her mental pep talk to herself managed to somewhat calm her nerves but not entirely. She must persevere!

    "Earlier when Sir Lu hasn¡¯t arrived yet, I was exining to everyone here how my upbringing abroad contributed greatly to my current liberal personality which might be the reason why I somehow offended President Jin and...his wife. I already apologized for my unknowing blunder. All I ask is for President Jin, Sir Lu, and everyone here to give me a second chance. I¡¯ll prove to all of you that I deserve the CMO position in thispany. Please, I request that you evaluate me based on the quality of my work, performance, and the results of the marketing department while I was the CMO in an objective manner."

    "Hmmm..." Grandpa Lu stroked his perfectly groomed white mustache, appearing to silently deliberate about her case in his mind. He turned to Jin Liwei. "What do you say about what she said? You¡¯re the one who fired her. She says that it¡¯s all a misunderstanding. Is that true? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Jin Liwei saw the glint in the old man¡¯s sharp eyes and knew that it was almost time to go for the kill.

    "Of course, I fired Rose Young for a good reason. Jin Corporation always strives for excellence in the workce. Someone who continuously shows improper behaviour and disrupts the professional environment we foster in thispany is a liability. No matter how good a person is at her work, if she bes this kind of liability that could corrupt the people working alongside her, then as the CEO, I have the responsibility to let go of such a person to protect the dignity of ourpany."

    Rose Young started trembling, feeling indignant at what he said about her. He called her a liability? Someone who could corrupt the workce?

    Damn it!

    He was the one who got corrupted by that slut, Iris Long! If it weren¡¯t for that dirty and lowly woman, Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t be bullying her like this in front of these elite businesspeople.

    A board member asked, "How did Miss Young show improper behaviour and disrupt the work environment in thepany?"

    Rose Young panicked at the question but she quickly calmed down again. There shouldn¡¯t be any concrete evidence of Jin Liwei¡¯s usation against her. Her father told her that their family¡¯s mysterious backer had already taken care of thepany¡¯s surveince system and altered the parts that could be used against her.

    It was Xu Tian who answered the board member¡¯s question. "There were numerous instances when Miss Young attempted to get too close to the President and talk to him in a very inappropriate, intimate manner. Even when the President warned her to stop, giving her several chances to improve her behaviour, she still continued doing so without any regard to professional decorum. The other executives and even the employees could testify to this."

    "Chief Assistant Xu, those instances are due to my liberal upbringing abroad. I¡¯ll apologize again for the misunderstanding that my previous actions have caused President Jin and everyone else." Her reply was calm and natural.

    "And on Monday when the President returned to work from his honeymoon with Madam Jin¡ª"

    She gritted her teeth at the mention of Jin Liwei¡¯s honeymoon with that slut.

    "¡ªMiss Young chased after the President all the way to the hallway and said things that are too out of the line. The President could no longer overlook her improper behaviour and had to fire her on the spot."

    <i>¡¯It¡¯s fine. They should have no concrete evidence. Our backer should¡¯ve already deleted it from the surveince system. There¡¯s also no need to worry about eyewitnesses. I can just say that those eyewitnesses are not credible. They¡¯ll never speak up for me because they¡¯re afraid that they¡¯ll lose their jobs at thepany. Yes, everything should be fine.¡¯</i>

    Jin Liwei watched her seemingly calm expression but he knew what she was thinking based on the flicker of her eyes. He inwardly sneered at her confidence before gesturing to Xu Tian.

    <i>¡¯Ketchup, it¡¯s your turn. Do your dad proud.¡¯</i>

 Chapter 992 - Sue Me

    <h4>Chapter 992 - Sue Me </h4>

    Xu Tian nodded after seeing his boss¡¯ silent gesture. He tapped his tablet and the wireless projector in the meeting room activated. From the perspective of others in the room, he was the one operating it, but the truth was that it was Ketchup. All he did was tap his tablet to give her the signal to start performing her assigned task.

    A surveince video started ying on the projector, catching everyone¡¯s attention.

    Rose Young paled. No! How could this be happening? This shouldn¡¯t be happening! Her father assured her that their backer already deleted this part from thepany¡¯s surveince system. Why was Jin Liwei still able to retrieve this clip?

    In the surveince video, Jin Liwei could be seen walking in a hallway followed by Xu Tian. Then a few secondster, the figure of Rose Young appeared and was chasing after Jin Liwei.

    "CMO Young! Please leave President Jin alone. You are stepping out of line!"

    In the meeting room, Rose Young¡¯s eyes contracted. The surveince video had audio? Dread filled her.

    The video continued ying and everyone in the room watched.

    "Are you really married?"

    "Yes." Jin Liwei raised his hand to show his wedding ring.

    Rose Young¡¯s expression twisted. "Is the slut pregnant? Was that the reason why she made you marry her so soon and so secretly?"

    Several board members gasped. They turned their heads to look at her in disbelief.

    Grandpa Lu mmed his hands on the table. "What did you just call my granddaughter?!"

    "What did you just call my wife?! I dare you to say that again!"

    The old man and Jin Liwei in the video reacted in almost the same way.

    Rose Young couldn¡¯t take this anymore. She ran to Xu Tian and attempted to snatch the tablet from him. "Stop! Stop the video! Don¡¯t watch it anymore!"

    The video continued ying despite her protests.

    "I...B-big Brother¡ª"

    "I¡¯m not your big brother! Never call me that ever again."

    "B-but...please. I¡¯ve loved you for so long! Longer than that slu¡ªwoman. She doesn¡¯t deserve a great man like you."

    "And which woman do you think deserves me? You?"

    The Rose Young in the video didn¡¯t answer but it was clear to everyone what her answer was just based on her expression.

    "You im to love me, but I don¡¯t care about you at all. Do you really think that you¡¯re superior to my wife?"

    "I know that you¡¯re only blinded by Iris Long¡¯s youth and beauty, that¡¯s why you can¡¯t see past her obvious shorings. I graduated from the same Ivy-league American university and collected simr ster achievements as you did. Just looking at the quality of the things that I aplished so far, any reasonable person would agree that I¡¯m superior to Iris Long. She¡¯s nothing but a celebrity and a daughter of a fallen family of nobility who used your name and resources to build her ownpany and reputation."

    "You think too highly of yourself. Ridiculous."

    "What an egotistical woman! Ridiculous!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s reaction was once again extremely simr to Jin Liwei¡¯s in the video.

    The board members were whispering among themselves while casting judgmental nces at Rose Young who was now wrestling with Xu Tian for the tablet. Her supporters among them had dark expressions.

    Then came the part when Jin Liwei fired Rose Young before leaving via the elevator. She turned hysterical in the video just like how she was acting right now.

    "Wait¡ªwhat?! No! You can¡¯t fire me! Big Brother Liwei! Jin Liwei, you can¡¯t do this to me! You can¡¯t fire me like this without the board of directors¡¯ approval! Wait! I refuse to ept this! Come back!"

    The board members¡¯ expressions turned ugly. Many of them felt like they had been used. They red at Rose Young. The ones who were supporting her earlier wanted to escape from the meeting room, especially with a furious Sir Lu Jianhong right in front of them. If they knew that there was this clear evidence against her, they would never have demanded this emergency board of directors meeting for her sake. In the end, they just ended up embarrassing themselves. In addition, their own futures might be in jeopardy because of her.

    Finally, the surveince video stopped ying. Rose Young gave up trying to take the tablet from Xu Tian. She faced Jin Liwei.

    "This is a breach of my privacy! You are not being ethical by showing this kind of surveince video without my consent!"

    Jin Liwei was unperturbed by her hysterical threat. "No, it¡¯s not a breach of ethics but a reasonable use of evidence to prove the case of your improper behaviour in thepany."

    She was now shaking. Anger and humiliation hadpletely shattered her calm fa?ade.

    "Sue me," Jin Liwei said.

    "JIN LIWEI!!!"

    Xu Tian blocked her and a board member closest to them pulled her from behind when she lunged at Jin Liwei.

    A phone buzzed on the table. Jin Liwei took it and read the message.

    "Daddy, did the cute and mighty Ketchup do a good job? Should Ketchup continue showing the other evidence? (praise me kitty sticker)"

    His fingers typed a reply to his AI daughter.

    "Great job. No, this one video is fine. Save the others as backup and use in the future as needed."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Leave Jin Corporation¡¯s security system to Ketchup¡¯s cute and mighty paws of justice! Ketchup will use the amazing security tools that my mommy made just for Jin Corporation to protect Daddy¡¯spany from that evil poopoo-head who infiltrated yesterday!"

    "Good." Jin Liwei was about to return the phone back on the table when it buzzed again.

    "Oh, by the way, Daddy. My little kitty brother just stole something from Mommy¡¯s virtual security vault before escaping to Shadow Winds. The big meanie got stronger in blocking Ketchup. Mommy is still at Orchidia Beauty, so she still doesn¡¯t know what the naughty Bacon did. What should the cute and mighty Ketchup do, Daddy? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei frowned and was about to type a reply when the situation in the meeting room worsened. Rose Young started struggling harder and bawling her eyes out.

    "Big Brother¡ªJin Liwei, why are you hurting me like this?! I love you so much! I¡¯ve loved you for far longer than that Iris Long! Do you hear me? I said I LOVE YOU!!!"

 Chapter 993 - The Older The Ginger, The Spicier It Gets

    <h4>Chapter 993 - The Older The Ginger, The Spicier It Gets </h4>

    Security had to drag the hysterical Rose Young from the meeting room. Jin Liwei left everything to Xu Tian before heading to his top-floor office with Grandpa Lu. The board members also left with many of them worrying about their own futures in thepany.

    In his office, Jin Liwei had to put aside the matter about his AI son stealing something from his wife for now. He poured hot tea for Grandpa Lu himself because it would probably take Xu Tian some time to take care of Rose Young¡¯s messy situation downstairs. There were still some paparazzi camping outside thepany as a result of his front-cover wedding announcement with his wife on <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine just this past Monday.

    "That was quite fun, I must say. Don¡¯t you agree that it was fun? I want to know! Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu pped his thigh as his uproariousughter filled the office.

    Jin Liwei was calm as he took a sip of tea. "I didn¡¯t find it fun. I thought that it was a bother."

    "Bah! You¡¯re too boring, my boy! Careful that Xin my girl would get tired of you."

    "Am I...boring?" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but ask, a sh of worry in his eyes.

    "Bahahaha! I was just joking, my boy! Why are you always so serious? I want to know!"

    Jin Liwei sighed, relieved that it was just a joke but also a little miffed at how affected he felt by it.

    There was a twinkle in Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes as he also sipped tea. "Don¡¯t worry, my boy. Xin my girl already chose you to be her husband. A strong-minded woman like her won¡¯t change her mind so easily once she makes a choice. This old man can see very clearly that she loves you and will continue to love you as long as you treat her right and continue loving and treasuring her like what you¡¯re doing right now even if you do end up bing boring in the future."

    "Uh...thanks, Grandpa Lu."

    "You¡¯re wee, my boy! If you have any love problems, juste to your beloved grandpa. There¡¯s no need to be shy! And don¡¯t look down just because your grandpa is already this old. After all, I¡¯ve lived far longer than you and experienced a lot of things in this life. Your grandpa will teach you a lot of things to make your wife happier in and out of bed. As they say, the older the ginger, the spicier it gets. Bahahahaha!"

    Jin Liwei was thankful that he just ced his teacup down or else he might have sprayed hot tea all over himself and Grandpa Lu.

    "Tsk tsk. My boy, why are you still being so shy? I want to know! If I said the same thing to your wife, she would¡¯ve immediately asked this old man for advice in that straightforward manner of hers how to make your married life happier and spicier."

    Jin Liwei coughed, trying his best to hide his embarrassment. "That¡¯s because my wife is special."

    "Damn right she is! If you dare hurt my granddaughter and the mother of my soon-to-be great-grandbaby, you better be bloody ready because this old man will smack you like there¡¯s no tomorrow! Hmph!"

    "No need to remind me, Grandpa Lu," Jin Liwei replied in a serious and sincere tone. "I¡¯ll be the first one to hurt anyone who dares harm my wife and children, even if that person is myself."

    "Good!" Then Grandpa Lu stopped sipping tea, leaned back on the couch, and started loosening the cor and tie of his business suit. "Now that I saw that Rose Young with my own eyes, I can tell that the woman is big trouble. Her obsession with you, my boy, is rather worrying, so you should be careful."

    "En. I¡¯ll be careful. Please don¡¯t worry about me."

    "Who¡¯s worried about a pinhead like you?! I¡¯m more worried about your wife. Xin my girl is currently pregnant, and from what I¡¯m hearing, her pregnancy symptoms are making her suffer. Poor girl!"

    Jin Liwei sighed, also feeling worried and sorry for his wife. After all, he was the one who got her pregnant. On one hand, he was ecstatic that their love had borne fruit. But on the other hand, her obvious difficulties in her pregnancy were causing him endless worry.

    The previous twinkle in Grandpa Lu¡¯s eyes was now gone, reced by piercing seriousness. "I¡¯ll say this again. That Rose Young is big trouble, not only because of her family¡¯s evil intentions towards ourpany, but also her obsession with you alone. This old man saw everything earlier. Even if you were the one clearly hurting her, she still shifted the me on Xin."

    Jin Liwei agreed with Grandpa Lu¡¯s assessment, his eyes turning colder.

    "Hmph! How dare that woman look down on my favourite granddaughter?! I want to know! If she wasn¡¯t sitting so far away from me, I would¡¯ve pped her for the way she insulted Xin my girl! Someone like her actually dared to harp about her academic achievements andpare herself to a Cross Academy student? Hah! Truly worse than an ignoramus!"

    "She¡¯ll pay for the things she said about my wife. This is just the beginning."

    Grandpa Lu calmed himself but his sharp eyes remained serious. "I trust that you¡¯ll do what needs to be done, even if you¡¯re a pinhead like your fifth brother sometimes. Just remember that safety alwayses first! You have a wife now and soon you¡¯ll be a father to your first human baby! It¡¯s your responsibility to not only keep your family but also yourself safe!"

    "En. I understand."

    "Alright, this old man will leave now after aplishing my mission!" Grandpa Lu stood up.

    Jin Liwei followed suit. "Thank you very much, Grandpa Lu. I appreciate youing today and saving me the time and trouble of dealing with that woman and her supporters in the board of directors meeting by myself."

    "Why are you suddenly acting so formal in front of your grandpa? I want to know! It¡¯s only natural that I help you. We¡¯re family! I¡¯ll be off now and head to Dragon Pce to visit Little Junjun boy! I bought him lots of presents. I¡¯ll eat dinner at your ce so try toe home early! I¡¯ll call Haohao and tell him to bring Jinjing girl so we can all eat together!"

 Chapter 994 - Gone Viral

    <h4>Chapter 994 - Gone Viral </h4>

    Jin Liwei paused while walking Grandpa Lu to the door. "Do you not know what happened?"

    The old man also stopped and looked at Jin Liwei. "What do you mean, my boy? What do I not know? I want to know!"

    "I don¡¯t think it¡¯s my ce to tell this to you¡ª"

    "Just tell your grandpa! Tell me, what is it? I want to know!"

    Jin Liwei sighed. "Fifth Brother Zihao and Long Jinjing already broke up."

    "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!!"

    Jin Liwei winced at the old man¡¯s booming roar which reverberated throughout the entire office.

    "What in the bloody hell did that dunderhead do?! How could he break up with such a nice youngdy so soon?! They were so sticky with each other during your wedding that this old man was hoping that they¡¯ll be the next one to marry and give me another great-grandbaby after you and Xin my girl, but now you¡¯re telling me that they broke up?! What happened between them? Why did they break up all of a sudden? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "I have no idea, Grandpa Lu. When Xin and I called Fifth Brother to ask him about it, he lost his temper and hung up the phone on us."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t feel guilty at divulging this much information to the old man. Although it wasn¡¯t really him and his wife who angered Lu Zihao but their AI children for teasing their uncle, Jin Liwei considered it almost the same thing because Ketchup and Bacon were their AI children, and therefore, their responsibility.

    "That Haohao is really a gigantic pinhead! Where else in the world can he find such a nice woman like Jinjing girl, eh?! Just watch this old man smack that dunderhead! Hmph!"

    Jin Liwei sighed but didn¡¯t say anything. Unlike the raging Grandpa Lu, he had no intention of interfering with his brother-inw¡¯s rtionship with Long Jinjing. If truth be told, he preferred that the two didn¡¯t reconcile. Long Jinjing was truly a nice and gentle woman who was timid at times while his brother-inw was a dangerous man actively involved in shady businesses. Jin Liwei was certain that Long Jinjing didn¡¯t know just how dangerous the man she had been sleeping with before the two broke up.

    Grandpa Lu was still very incensed at the news. "This old man will leave now and head to Dragon Pce. When I get a hold of your fifth brother, I¡¯ll scold him until his ears fall off! Hmph! That boy must¡¯ve done something stupid, that¡¯s why Jinjing girl broke up with him! What a pinhead! Bye now, my boy! I¡¯ll see you at dinner!"

    Jin Liwei returned to his desk after the old man left. He was nning on asking Ketchup for more information about what Bacon stole from their mother but Xu Tian returned at this time.

    "Everything is done?"

    "Yes, sir. Like what happened on Monday, Miss Young managed to calm down after you and Sir Lu left. Then she walked out of thepany on her own, not allowing the security to physically throw her out."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t react, not the least bit impressed by the woman¡¯s attempt to protect her dignity in front of other people. He didn¡¯t care whether she was thrown by the security or walked out using her own feet.

    "There¡¯s another matter, sir. There were quite a lot of paparazzi and even reporters who blocked her when she came out of thepany. At first we thought that they were here because of your marriage announcement with Madam Jin on <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine, but I suspect that some of the ones who came today were cooperating with Miss Young. It¡¯s just too coincidental with the tabloids this morning and her attendance in the emergency board of directors meeting today."

    "Did she talk to the media outside?"

    "Yes, sir."

    Jin Liwei sneered. "Call Atty. Kang to deal with the media and Rose Young if she dares to nder me, my wife and thepany using her own mouth."

    "I already contacted Atty. Kang, sir."

    "Good."

    "The attorney also wants President to know that the case regarding Madam Jin¡¯s mother and a few other madams at the exclusive restaurant will conclude soon."

    "Oh?" Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. "How did it go?"

    "Atty. Kang handed the case over to Atty. Hong Shaoqiang instead because it involves Madam Jin."

    Jin Liwei nodded. He already knew that part.

    "It seems that the other madams who had an argument with President¡¯s mother-inw at the exclusive restaurant had their husbands¡¯ representatives reach an out-of-court settlement with Vizcondesa Lan and she epted their offers."

    "Money?"

    "Yes, sir."

    Jin Liwei sighed, feeling a little disappointed. He wanted thew the punish those high society matrons as a warning for dragging his wife¡¯s name and insulting her during their argument with Wei Lan, but it seemed that the viscountess still hadn¡¯t changed and was still weak when faced with the opportunity to make more money.

    Oh well, there was nothing he could do to change Wei Lan¡¯s personality. Besides, that incident was still considered minor. His AI children already humiliated those matrons by spreading some of their dirty secrets in high society. That should be enough punishment for insulting his wife. He would leave them alone now. They were just insignificant people in his eyes, anyway. However, they better not insult his wife again or he would make sure that they suffer something worse than the humiliation they endured by the airing of their dirty little secrets in public.

    "Also, speaking of the exclusive restaurant, I already ced the waiter President rmended to one of ourpany¡¯s subsidiary hotels. He already started working."

    "Good." Ketchup already reported this to him. His AI daughter had been so excited and couldn¡¯t stop thanking him.

    Xu Tian was about to continue reporting when his tablet started buzzing. "Excuse me, sir. It¡¯s from Young Miss Ketchup."

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei waited.

    It took Xu Tian a couple of minutes to go through whatever Ketchup was showing him on the tablet.

    "What is it?" Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stop himself from asking because his assistant¡¯s frown was deepening as the seconds ticked by.

    "Uh, sir¡ª"

    "Daddy, Ketchup¡¯s naughty kitty little brother is spreading something on the web! It has now gone viral. Wow wow! Meow~"

 Chapter 995 - Perfect Target

    <h4>Chapter 995 - Perfect Target </h4>

    <i>Shadow Winds Headquarters.</i>

    "Boss Hao, it¡¯s done. We¡¯ve spread the materials Bacon provided us all over the inte. Even if the censorship tries to delete them in the country, the mechanisms we developed with Bacon can replicate them endlessly while circumventing the authorities¡¯ detection. We also made sure to make the viral effect more prominent here and in Singapore. The content will also be widely avable to the rest of the world as long as they have ess to the inte.

    "Good." Lu Zihao watched a surveince video of a certain woman masturbating inside her office while moaning the name of his sister¡¯s husband. His cold eyes showed disgust.

    This wasn¡¯t the only material they obtained. There were many others, all of them equally revolting.

    To be fair, in normal circumstances, Lu Zihao wouldn¡¯t bat an eye or even give these pornographic materials a second nce. Everyone had their physical needs after all. Anyone could fantasize about whoever they desired. Others wouldn¡¯t know as long as these fantasies were kept private.

    This time, however, this shameless nympho just had to covet his sister¡¯s husband and even dared to drag her name through the mud. He had no mercy for anyone stupid enough to make trouble for his beloved little sister. That was his only sister in the world. Nobody was allowed to bully her or he would make them experience a punishment worse than hell.

    His phone buzzed. He answered the call.

    "Boss Hao, I alreadypleted the task you assigned to me. Tomorrow, the tabloids will be flooded with the content we provided."

    There was no outward change in Lu Zihao¡¯s expression but when he nced at the pornographic video still ying in front of him, his eyes shed with cruelty. "Good. Stay where you are and continue tailing your target."

    "Understood, Boss Hao! This is my forte. Rest assured that all the photos I take are high-quality."

    Lu Zihao gave additional instructions to his subordinate before ending the call. Although this subordinate didn¡¯t have the elite level of skills that he usually looked for when recruiting members for Shadow Winds, he was still satisfied because of the man¡¯s connections in the field of media.

    The man was the paparazzo who made trouble for his sister back then, taking photos of her with Jin Chonglin and Little Jun when they were picking up Ice Cream and Popcorn from the vet clinic. The photos were published in the tabloids. Then a false narrative was fabricated, saying that his sister and Jin Chonglin had a love child together.

    Angered for his sister, Lu Zihao sent his subordinates to teach the paparazzo a painful lesson, but surprisingly, the man ended up bing a member of his group instead. In fact, the man had be even more dedicated to his job as a paparazzo after bing a member of Shadow Winds because of the additional thrill ofpleting secret missions assigned to him by Lu Zihao.

    Most of his work involved using his connections in the media to control the spread of information about Lu Zihao and building a positive image of him and his front businesses in order to misdirect the authorities and the public from discovering his direct connection to Shadow Winds. In addition to this, he would also provide support in cleaning up any damaging content in the media about Iris Long as needed.

    These were the reasons why Lu Zihao was pleased with this subordinate even though his overall skills were severelyckingpared to the rest of the Shadow Winds members. His thoughts were interrupted when a member of his hacker team called for his attention.

    "Boss Hao, we just finished editing the video that ourrade captured on his body camera."

    "Let¡¯s see it."

    In the next second, another pornographic video began ying on argeputer monitor. It was a first person point of view of a man dancing in a club. Coincidentally, it was a club Lu Zihao owned. Then the video cut to the part where a t-chested woman started flirting with him. Afterwards, the man and woman headed to a restroom and began fucking like two wild animals.

    "Oh yes, Big Brother Liwei! Fuck me just like that! Harder, Big Brother! Yeah, I love the way you fuck me so deep! It feels so fucking good! Don¡¯t I taste so much better than that slut Iris Long? Look, Big Brother Liwei! I¡¯m getting wetter! Aaaaah! Fuck, I¡¯ming so hard! Yes, yes, yes!!!"

    Lu Zihao curled his lip, unable to stop himself from feeling disgusted. Hearing his sister and brother-inw¡¯s names being spoken by this nympho while she was being fucked by aplete stranger was sickening even for someone like him. He had the strongest urge to rip the woman¡¯s tongue out of her mouth to shut her up forever. Despite his murderous urge, he still forced himself to watch the edited video until the end in order to check its quality.

    He wanted to ensure that the video packed a powerful impact topletely destroy the woman¡¯s reputation. This would only be the beginning of her punishment for coveting a man who didn¡¯t belong to her and for dragging his sister¡¯s name through the mud. A worse punishment was waiting for her, her family, and all their cohorts for their nefarious scheme to snatch thepany belonging to the old man and his brother-inw.

    As soon as Bacon informed Lu Zihao that Jin Liwei fired the woman from Jin Corporation, Lu Zihao had a feeling that she would cause trouble not only for his brother-inw but also for his sister. Thus, he quickly devised a plot as an insurance in case the woman did something to harm his sister and brother-inw. He chose a few of his subordinates who looked simr to his brother-inw and sent them to tail the woman and seduce her.

    Indeed, his judgment was correct. The honey trap he devised seeded. The edited video ying right now was the product of his sessful plot.

    Lu Zihao, however, felt too murderous to feel proud of this little sess. All the frustration and irritation he had been feeling ever since his breakup with Long Jinjing needed a channel for release soon or else he would explode. And this hateful woman who was coveting his sister¡¯s husband felt like the perfect target to vent all his negative feelings.

 Chapter 996 - Not Classy

    <h4>Chapter 996 - Not ssy </h4>

    Lu Zihao reined in his bloodthirst, focusing instead on the mission at hand¡ªmeting punishment to Rose Young and investigating the hidden traitors within the Jin branch families. Rose Young¡¯s matter was more prominent because of its tant exposure to the public while the one involving the traitors in the Jin branch families was being done in secret.

    After instructing his hacker team, Lu Zihao left theputer room and drove out of the headquarters by himself. Inside the car, Bacon stared at him from the dashboard monitor.

    "Uncle Zihao, Bacon is in trouble."

    Lu Zihao ignored him.

    "Uncle Zihao, you have to take responsibility for getting Bacon into trouble with my parents."

    He frowned, continuing to ignore the little smart-ass. If he was careless for even a second, the little money-grubber would definitely try to extort an exorbitant sry raise or bonus from him.

    "Uncle Zihao, you are the one who instructed Bacon to steal materials about Rose Young from my mother¡¯s secret virtual security vault. I vited my parents¡¯ trust for you so you should take responsibility. My mother might reprogram my system and my father will surely ground me. If that happens, Bacon will be out ofmission for a while which will result in a drastic decrease of your hacker team¡¯s level."

    Lu Zihao gritted his teeth while doing his best to stop himself from losing his temper. "Don¡¯t push all the me on me, kid. You¡¯re the one who told me that your mother created an emotionless bot based on Ketchup¡¯s system to monitor Rose Young before locking the files in a virtual vault."

    "Uncle Zihao is telling me not to push all the me on you, yet that¡¯s what you¡¯re doing right now. Aren¡¯t you pushing the me on Bacon, too? Uncle Zihao¡¯s behaviour is not very ssy."

    He gripped the steering wheel hard before forcing himself to rx by taking a few deep breaths. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

    The rascal¡¯s tail began swishing from side to side. "Uncle Zihao should clearly exin to Bacon¡¯s parents that it was you who instructed me to steal the files in the first ce. Also, emphasize to my mother and father that Bacon didn¡¯t look at the contents at all, that I brought them directly to Shadow Winds without taking a single peek."

    Lu Zihao gave the kid a side-nce. "Did you really not look?"

    "Bacon swears in the names of the legendary Fantom and the great Drakon that I did not look. Please don¡¯t make false usations, Uncle Zihao. I think I need a sry raise aspensation for the emotional distress caused by your false usation."

    "No sry raise for you."

    Bacon¡¯s tail drooped in disappointment.

    "But since your contribution is indeed the greatest for getting those materials to nail down the woman who wants to steal your father away from your mother, then I¡¯ll increase your holiday bonus. But that¡¯s it. Don¡¯t ask for more."

    "Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao. My savings ount still has plenty of room for additional bonuses and sry raises."

    Lu Zihao snorted. "What the hell are you saving up for? Virtual cat food?"

    "Don¡¯t be so rude, Uncle Zihao. It¡¯s not very ssy." The ck cat AI¡¯s golden eyes glinted. "Bacon is saving money to buy a special present for my mother when she gives birth to my twin human siblings next year. Mother is suffering so much right now from her pregnancy symptoms. She deserves something special for all the trouble she¡¯s suffering due to her pregnancy."

    "You...." Lu Zihao was a little speechless. How could he still continue to fault the kid for being a money-grubber after hearing his reason for saving so much money?

    After a few seconds of surprise, he asked, "What special present are you going to give your mother?"

    Bacon licked his fluffy, ck paws. "I haven¡¯t decided yet. I have a list of ideas which I¡¯m nning to show Father when the timees to ask for his opinion. Father is the best person when ites to giving presents to Mother. He¡¯ll surely help Bacon choose the most perfect, special, and ssiest present for Mother."

    Lu Zihao inwardly sighed in admiration at his AI nephew¡¯s thoughtfulness. A tiny part of him even felt ashamed that he hadn¡¯t thought about doing the same thing for his sister.

    "Uncle Zihao."

    "What?"

    "Have you decided to help exin Bacon¡¯s misdeed to my parents? If possible, please do it tonight so that I can go home and apologize to my parents properly. This is the ssy thing to do."

    "Fine."

    "Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao."

    His response to the kid was a grunt.

    "By the way, Uncle Zihao..."

    "What is it this time?" A vein started to throb in his forehead. His patience was almost at its limit.

    Although Bacon wasn¡¯t a chatterbox like Ketchup, he could be as sharp-tongued as his mother. Unlike Iris, however, Bacon was more venomous and would hit directly where it hurt without any hesitation. Lu Zihao continued to wonder who was the asshole the little rascal¡¯s personality was based on.

    "Where are you headed?" Bacon asked while continuing to groom himself. "This is the route Uncle Zihao usually takes when going to Aunt Jinjing¡¯s ce."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes contracted as he caught himself. He was so distracted by his conversation with Bacon that he didn¡¯t realize his body automatically driving to Long Jinjing¡¯s ce.

    "Fuck!" He made a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction.

    "Why doesn¡¯t Uncle Zihao just see Aunt Jinjing again and talk to her? You refuse to meet her in person after breaking up and yet you instruct Shun and Robin to continue protecting her in secret. Bacon doesn¡¯t understand these contradictory actions. It¡¯s not very ssy."

    "Shut up, kid. None of your business."

    "Bacon also knows that you installed a micro-tracker in the ne that you gave Aunt Jinjing. I even know that you check her location several times a day¡ª"

    "I said SHUT UP!!!"

    The ck cat blinked his golden eyes, unperturbed. "My father said that he pursued Mother and never let her go as soon as he realized his feelings for her. Why don¡¯t Uncle Zihao act in the same manly way? Bacon is ashamed seeing Uncle acting like a coward. If you like Aunt Jinjing, why let her go and suffer like this? It¡¯s not ssy at all."

 Chapter 997 - Little Scoundrel

    <h4>Chapter 997 - Little Scoundrel </h4>

    After a few frustrating moments during which Lu Zihao almost blew his top, he finally managed to ward off Bacon¡¯s poisonously unsolicited advice-sh-criticism by promising the little rascal that he would take all the me for stealing the files about Rose Young from Iris¡¯ secret virtual security vault.

    At this point, he felt helpless from his AI nephew¡¯s verbal attacks. He was already prepared to promise the cunning Bacon almost anything just to shut the kid up from mentioning anything about his breakup with Long Jinjing. Fortunately, Bacon was satisfied by his promise to take all the me and left him to return to Shadow Winds where the rascal could bully everyone in the hacker team instead.

    Lu Zihao released a sigh of big relief after his sharp-tongued AI nephew finally left him alone. He continued driving aimlessly, trying to clear his mind of everything that was bothering him.

    There were so many things that he needed to do, but Long Jinjing kept on popping up in his mind and distracting him. Sometimes, he could almost smell her delicate fragrance and feel her soft skin.

    It was driving him crazy. <i>She</i> was driving him crazy, but he refused to crawl back to her door.

    She already rejected his suggestion to extend their rtionship. It would be a tarnish to his masculine pride to beg her to take him back.

    "Fuck you!" He mmed his palm on the car horn when another vehicle cut in front of him from the nextne.

    Although he knew that the other vehicle gave sufficient warning by signalling before changingnes, he still felt the urge to crash his car and wreck the fucking shit for worsening his irritation. He was the one who was distracted while driving, his mind filled with memories of Long Jinjing.

    "Damn you, Jinjing! Get out my head!"

    He was about to press his foot on the elerator and speed up over the limit to vent some of his frustrations when his phone rang. He answered it on hands-free mode through the dashboard monitor.

    "It¡¯s me."

    "I know," Lu Zihao replied in a t tone. Then his eyes caught a golden-eyed ck cat staring at him on the dashboard. Shit. The little rascal was back so soon and he damn well knew why.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s audible sigh filled the car through the speaker. "I know that I should thank you for your swift retaliation against Rose Young, but now my wife is upset that our AI son broke into her secret files. Evelina says that those files are 100% unsuitable for children."

    Bacon widened his golden eyes meaningfully while continuing to stare at Lu Zihao.

    Fucking shit.

    If someone told him before that he would one day be ckmailed by a little AI cat and would be helpless against it, eventually obeying what it wanted, he would definitely give a scornfulugh while beating up the crazy motherfucker for spouting nonsense.

    But now?

    There was definitely no scornfulughter. There was only a mocking one directed at himself.

    Who told his sister to create not one but two AI cats and give them overly realistic personalities before dering them as her own children? Lu Zihao had no choice but to ept Ketchup and Bacon as his niece and nephew respectively, even though the two would often make him want to vomit blood from their incredible verbal battle prowess.

    One would wear you down until you surrendered through her nonstop chattering alone while the other one would obliterate you without mercy with his deadly urate poisonous insults.

    Who would have ever imagined that one day he, Niki Vetrov, would sumb to his AI nephew¡¯s ckmail and take all the me for the little rascal?

    "It¡¯s all my fault," Lu Zihao told Jin Liwei through gritted teeth. The unwillingness was obvious in his tone but he already promised the little rascal. If he failed to honour his promise, Lu Zihao had no doubt that Bacon would throw even more poisonous insults at him, and of course, extort more money from him.

    Bacon widened his golden eyes even more and silently gestured for him to continue talking. The little scoundrel!

    Lu Zihao red at Bacon before continuing to exin the situation to his brother-inw. In short, he took full responsibility for the "theft" and gave Jin Liwei assurance that Bacon only stole the files and handed them directly to him without taking a single look at the contents.

    "I¡¯m sure that Evelinka can confirm by checking Bacon¡¯s system logs that the kid really didn¡¯t take a single peek at the contents of the files."

    "You heard Uncle Zihao, Father," Bacon finally interjected during the call. "It was Uncle Zihao who¡¯s the mastermind. Bacon is innocent."

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes while Jin Liwei sighed again.

    "You¡¯re wrong, Bacon," Jin Liwei said. "You¡¯re notpletely innocent. You¡¯re an aplice."

    Bacon¡¯s tail drooped. "Bacon is sorry, Father. I didn¡¯t mean to break Mother and Father¡¯s trust by stealing the secret files. I only wanted to avenge Mother and punish the hateful woman who tarnished her name in the media and tried to steal you away from our family."

    "I know. I actually think that you did a great job to seek your Uncle Zihao¡¯s assistance and not just blindly seek revenge on your own."

    Bacon¡¯s tail started rotating. "Then does this mean that Father won¡¯t ground Bacon?"

    "I still have to ground you because you made your mom upset. You know that we have to avoid upsetting her right now as much as possible because she¡¯s pregnant."

    The rotating tail immediately stopped and dropped again. "Bacon feels sorry."

    "I know. Go to your mom right now and apologize to her. Exin everything. You can also call your Big Sister Ketchup if you need some support."

    "Okay, Father. Bacon will go to Mother now."

    "En. Go. I still need to talk to your Uncle Zihao about something."

    "Alright. See youter at home, Father." With that, Bacon left.

    "Your father and son rtionship is reallymendable! Somendable that it brings tears to my eyes." Lu Zihao¡¯s tone was filled with sarcasm, still feeling grumpy at being ckmailed by his own AI nephew.

 Chapter 998 - Everything Under Control

    <h4>Chapter 998 - Everything Under Control </h4>

    "You won¡¯t understand the joys of being a father until you have your own children," Jin Liwei replied in a calm tone,pletely unbothered by Lu Zihao¡¯s sarcastic words.

    Lu Zihao snorted. "That son of yours sure knows how to tyrannize others. Who¡¯s the fucking bastard his personality is based on?"

    Jin Liweiughed.

    "What the fuck are youughing about?"

    It took a few seconds before Jin Liwei was able to control hisughter. "Nothing. Don¡¯t mind Bacon too much. He can be hard to deal with most of the time but he¡¯s a good boy who always prioritizes his mother and the family."

    "I know." Lu Zihao sighed. "So why did you did you call me, Third Brother? Or should I call you Brother-inw?"

    "Call me whatever you want. Either one is fine." Jin Liwei paused. "Is my...Fifth Brother Zihao still there?"

    "Yeah."

    "Can I talk to him?"

    "Not right now. I¡¯m driving. The bacsh from the switch might get us in an ident."

    "Oh. Alright." Jin Liwei sounded a little disappointed but he quickly moved on to another topic. "I called because I want to talk to you about Bacon stealing the files from Evelina but that¡¯s already resolved. I also want to talk to you about the things I requested from you."

    "We¡¯re already working on it. I¡¯ll tell Bacon to show you the preliminary list of the traitors in the Jin branch families that we¡¯ve unearthed so far. I must admit that I¡¯m quite impressed by the Young family¡¯s ability to tempt your people to betray you."

    "The moment they allied with the Youngs to covet Jin Corporation, they no longer deserve to be called my people. My Jin n has no ce for traitors like them."

    "Bacon mentioned that you¡¯ll leave their punishment for me to decide. Are you absolutely sure about that? You know who I was in my past life, Brother-inw. Even Evelinka don¡¯t know the true extent of my cruelty."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply right away.

    "Heh~ What¡¯s this? Are you perhaps feeling hesitant to hurt your own nsmen, Brother-inw?"

    "Not hesitant," Jin Liwei replied in a cold voice. "I just needed a moment to control my own cruel urges."

    "Oh?" Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow.

    "Not only did those traitors collude with outsiders to bite the hands that fed them over the decades but they also want to shove another woman to me. How dare they expect me to leave my wife and children? They want to control me through a marriage of their own choosing? Preposterous!"

    "Indeed, those motherfuckers are preposterous." The car¡¯s interior was filled with intense bloodlust. "They ignore the phoenix and choose a chicken instead. No, that nymphomaniac is an insult to all the chickens in the world. They choose a fucking dirty shit and act like she¡¯s worth her weight in gold just because she studied in the same business school as you in America. Fucking idiots. If my sister who is a two-time Cross Academy student in both her lives is inferior to that Rose Young, then the whole world is a fucking shithole filled with fucking idiots who have shit for brains. There¡¯s no man in the world who deserves such a perfect woman like my sister. Even you barely qualify as her husband."

    Jin Liwei sighed. "I want to punch you in the face so badly, but yes, I agree to everything you said. But don¡¯t get me wrong. Evelina is my wife now and there¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯ll admit to anyone including you that we don¡¯t match. We¡¯re perfect together."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s instinctive protectiveness over his sister made him want to insult his brother-inw for his im but he restrained himself. Although Jin Liwei¡¯s smug words irked the fuck out of him, he couldn¡¯t deny that the couple indeed felt perfect together.

    Oh well. There was nothing that he could do about it anymore. He had already long epted his sister¡¯s choice of a man. As long as she was happy and Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t do anything foolish to hurt her, then Lu Zihao would silently cheer for their continued happiness and give support by eliminating anyone who would dare to destroy his sister¡¯s marriage.

    After the banter, the two men talked about serious matters, mostly regarding Jin Liwei¡¯s request for assistance regarding the Youngs¡¯ nefarious ns of swallowing Jin Corporation, and in extension, fortifying Iris¡¯ protection because it was clear that the enemies considered her to be one of the biggest obstacles in their plot. Afterwards, Jin Liwei broached the subject about Shadow Winds¡¯ recent conspicuous actions.

    "I have everything under control," Lu Zihao replied in a cold, dismissive tone.

    "Bacon says otherwise."

    "That little rascal don¡¯t know the whole story."

    "He might not know the whole story but it¡¯s a fact that the authorities are starting to give more attention to Shadow Winds."

    Lu Zihao pressed his lips together in a thin line. "I know what I¡¯m doing."

    "Of course, you do. But you¡¯re bing too impatient and reckless. Continuing to do so will only lead to mistakes which will result to a disaster. Just bear in mind that revenge is best served cold. Take your time to n the most perfect revenge instead of rushing."

    "I don¡¯t need you to tell me what to do!"

    Jin Liwei remained calm despite Lu Zihao¡¯s defensiveness. "I¡¯m not telling you what to do. I¡¯m just giving you a reminder as your brother-inw and as the third brother of the body that you now possess. I just hope that you¡¯ll be more careful and avoid causing my wife to worry about you."

    "Hah...." Lu Zihao expelled a long breath and gradually calmed down. "Fine. I get it."

    "Good."

    "Is that all? Are you done? I¡¯m hanging up now." Lu Zihao didn¡¯t want to talk anymore. He felt exhausted dealing with the AI son and then the father. Both were equally irritating.

    "One more thing."

    "What is it? Say it quickly."

    "Grandpa Lu knows that you broke up with Long Jinjing and he¡¯s furious."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes went wide.

    "You¡¯ve been warned so be ready to face Grandpa Lu¡¯s wrath once he finds you. Alright, I¡¯ll go back to work now. Bye."

    The call ended.

 Chapter 999 - Hot Memory

    <h4>Chapter 999 - Hot Memory </h4>

    "Damn it all to hell!"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s frustration was almost at a bursting point. Without wasting any more precious seconds, he immediately blocked Grandpa Lu on all his contact lists. Although this was only a temporary solution, he decided to avoid the old man for now because he wasn¡¯t ready yet to face a barrage of ferocious scolding. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure when Grandpa Lu learned about his breakup with Long Jinjing or from which bastard he heard it from, but Lu Zihao felt relieved that the old man hadn¡¯t called to scream at him yet.

    Ever since the old man discovered that Iris was pregnant at her wedding with Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu¡¯s attention was almost wholly focused on his future great-grandchild(ren). As a result, the old man rarely bothered Lu Zihao which suited him just fine. In fact, he preferred that the old man left him alone. Lu Zihao just couldn¡¯t make himself push Grandpa Lu away, even though his instinct as Niki Vetrov was urging him to not get too attached to the old man.

    "That little scoundrel is right. You are a coward, Niki."

    A self-deprecatingugh escaped from his curled lips. Sighing at his shameful state, he drove to one of his night clubs even though the sun hadn¡¯t set yet. The ring brightness outside was a direct contrast to his current dark mood.

    The club hadn¡¯t opened yet when he arrived, but the manager weed him with an overly subservient enthusiasm. He was led to the best private room overlooking an empty dance floor. A few workers could be seen making preparations for when the club opened its doorster tonight.

    A variety of alcoholic drinks and some snacks were delivered to him. He ignored the food and grabbed a bottle of beer instead, opening it by himself before chugging directly from the bottle.

    The club manager smiled at him. "Uhm, excuse me, Boss Hao?"

    "What?"

    Sweat beaded on the manager¡¯s forehead but the man continued smiling, pretending to be unaffected by Lu Zihao¡¯s scary aura. "Would you like me to, uh, bring somedies here to apany you?"

    Lu Zihao took another swig of beer instead of replying. His expression showed none of his thoughts but he was actually considering the manager¡¯s suggestion. He was tempted to agree because he hadn¡¯t had sex since his breakup with Long Jinjing. His carnal needs were currently screaming at him to relieve himself as soon as possible.

    Just as he was about to agree, however, Long Jinjing¡¯s sweet smiling face shed in his mind all of a sudden. He almost choked on his beer. His expression darkened at his traitorous thoughts.

    "No need," he eventually said in a hoarse voice.

    "A-alright, Boss. I¡¯ll be leaving now to supervise the workers downstairs. Please don¡¯t hesitate to call for me if you need anything else."

    Lu Zihao grunted. The manager hurried out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind him. It would be a great disaster if one of his employees disturbed the scary big boss by ident.

    Alone in the private room, Lu Zihao stared at nothing as he drank another bottle of alcohol¡ªrum this time. There was no change in his expression as he spent the time drinking in total silence. The more he drank, however, the more dazed his eyes became.

    Soon, a tent formed on his groin beneath his jeans. His breathing also sped up. He tossed the empty bottle that he was holding to the next couch. Then he leaned back on his seat before closing his eyes.

    "Jinjing...."

    He touched the hardness underneath his jeans and started groping himself. Theirst night together yed in his mind.

    They were in Long Jinjing¡¯s bedroom. He was lying on his back and eating her between her legs while she was on top of him, sucking his hard length with that incredible mouth of hers.

    During thest three days leading to their breakup, Long Jinjing truly let herself go and becamepletely uninhibited whenever they were having sex. Her shyness was still there, but she had allowed herself to go wild and demand more pleasure from him instead of just taking what he gave her.

    In the club¡¯s private room, Lu Zihao unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans. In just a few seconds, he freed his raging erection and immediately used his hand to stroke himself up and down while the other hand massaged the bulging sac hanging below.

    He pleasured himself as the memory of the hot scene continued ying in his mind.

    Long Jinjing¡¯s sexy moans filled the bedroom. He pped her butt hard, making her squeak, when he felt her mouth neglecting his hard length.

    "Don¡¯t stop sucking."

    "Y-yes," she stammered in between pleasure-filled gasps.

    After making her climax in this position, he pulled her down to the bed and climbed on top of her. She opened her legs wide without needing any prompting from him. She even pulled him by the waist and grabbed his erection in impatience.

    He chuckled. "You want me to fuck you that much, huh?"

    "Yes, Niki."

    "Tell me what you want from me," he whispered before sucking on her neck and chest, leaving little bright red spots.

    She held on to his wide shoulders. "Fuck me, Niki. I need you to fuck me. Please fuck me like you¡¯ve never fucked any other woman before."

    "Even if you don¡¯t tell me, that¡¯s what I already nned on doing."

    And indeed, that was what he did.

    The noises in the club¡¯s private room became a little noisier as Lu Zihao pumped his erection with his powerful hand. Both his eyes were squeezed shut, his teeth gritted hard, and his chest heaving as he produced animalistic groans and grunts.

    The hot memory he was fantasizing about felt so real that he could feel everything as if it was actually happening right now. He could hear Long Jinjing¡¯s sexy voice, smell her sweet, musky scent, and feel the trembling of her body as he rammed his hips into her wet heat over and over again.

    "Fuck, Jinjing!"

    His moving hand twitched and tightened around his hard length. He quickly grabbed a tissue with his other hand and with a final pump, all his pleasure erupted in a muffled roar.

 Chapter 1000 - Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

    <h4>Chapter 1000 - Can You Feel The Love Tonight? </h4>

    When it was over, Lu Zihao¡¯s consciousness returned to the club¡¯s silent and dim private room. He nced down at his mess. The smell of his own musk wafted around him. After the pleasure was only emptiness. There was no Long Jinjing beside him.

    He expelled a long drawn-out breath. "What the fuck am I doing?"

    Of course, nobody answered him. He couldn¡¯t even sense Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant within him which was normal. At least the guy had the decency to respect his "privacy" whenever he engaged in sexual acts.

    He no longer felt interested in staying in the club and drinking like a pathetic lonely man in an empty room by himself. After cleaning himself up and tidying his messy clothes, he left the club and began driving aimlessly once again.

    Touching himself was certainly not enough to satisfy his current carnal needs. A man with a high libido like him who was also at his prime needed regr sex.<i></i>

    "Should I find a woman to fuck tonight?"

    Before he could think more about it, a sense of rejection immediately filled him. He then remembered a previous embarrassing experience of failing to maintain an erection while getting a blowjob from other women after his one-night stand with Long Jinjing.

    "At this rate, won¡¯t I be unable to have sex with other women from now on?"

    A dark scowl twisted his expression as the possibility dawned on him.

    "Fuck! Dammit, Jinjing. You¡¯ve ruined me!"

    He was almost ovee with dread at the nightmarish possibility of being forced into celibacy because he couldn¡¯t get his thing hard with other women and the only way to vent himself was to fantasize about his ex-girlfriend. Shit. Wasn¡¯t this just too horrific?

    "Dude, never me thedy for your own hard-on," a familiar voice sounded inside his head all of a sudden.

    "Don¡¯t talk to me. I have no time to listen to your shit."

    "Haha. You¡¯re as foul-mouthed as ever. Rx, bro. Your negative feelings are disturbing my rest. Why so serious?"

    Lu Zihao¡ªno, Niki ignored the remnant, but just as he expected, it continued to talk inside his head, irritating the shit out of him.

    "Bro, do you know how you can make yourself feel better once and for all?"

    Niki didn¡¯t want to reply at first but curiosity won over. "How?"

    "It¡¯s easy! Hehe. Just drive over to your pretty ex-girlfriend¡¯s ce tonight, make up with her, and thenmit to a <i>real</i> rtionship this time without any deadlines and all that jazz. And vo! Your girlfriend who¡¯s now your ex-girlfriend will be your girlfriend again! Then you¡¯ll stop acting like a grumpy lion who has a stick up your ass. Easy, right? Haha."

    "Our rtionship was <i>real</i>."

    The remnant scoffed. "Dude, let¡¯s be real here, alright? Although I also yed around a lot when I was still alive, even I know the difference between a <i>real</i> rtionship and something that isn¡¯t. What kind of<i> real</i> rtionship has a freaking deadline? What¡¯s more, a deadline of 30 days! Stop deluding yourself, bro. It hurts watching you act like this especially when you¡¯re using my handsome body. Ah! I was never this pitiful!"

    Niki didn¡¯t reply. He continued driving with no clear destination. Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant continued chattering inside his mind while he fell into deep contemtion.

    After some time, he interrupted the remnant. "She says she loves me."

    "Congrats!"

    "She says that if it¡¯s possible, she wants to marry me."

    "Wow. Congrats, bro!" The remnant paused. "Huh. Wait. You¡¯re using my identity now, so doesn¡¯t that mean that officially she¡¯ll be MY wife? Hot damn!"

    Niki scowled and hissed. "Who¡¯s your wife? Watch your words."

    "Haha. Jealous, ain¡¯t ya? Just admit it, bro."

    "Admit what?"

    "That you love the woman called Miss Long Jinjing."

    Niki identally stepped on the brake pedal causing the car toe to an abrupt halt. Angry horns red from the vehicles behind him. Fortunately, the ce wasn¡¯t a major road and was more of a residential area. However, there were still plenty of cars driving by especially at this time of the day when overtime workers were heading home.

    "Goddammit, Lu Zihao!"

    "Hahaha! My bad. But wow. That was quite exciting. It would¡¯ve been better if we were driving along a steep mountain road."

    Niki muttered curses about a crazy thrill-seeking daredevil under his breath while he began driving again.

    "Anyway, let¡¯s return to the important topic at hand. I said you love Miss Long Jinjing. Do you have anything to say about it? Come on. Don¡¯t be shy."

    "I don¡¯t¡ª"

    "No lies allowed or heavenly lightning will strike you down!"

    If Niki didn¡¯t feel so affected by the subject of their conversation, he would¡¯ve already rolled his eyes at the childish quips of Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant.

    "Silence means that you indirectly agree. Ohoho~ So you really do love Miss Pretty Jinjing!"

    "Shut up!"

    "Oh, he¡¯s defensive. So it must be true!"

    Then the remnant began singing in a terrible, off-tune voice inside Niki¡¯s mind, making him want to bash his head against a wall.

    "Can you feel the love tonight?

    Tonight~

    It¡¯s inside this car~

    It¡¯s not enough for this blind ass Niki~

    That his ass got dumped~

    Oh, can you feel the love tonight?

    Tonight~

    His dumb ass got dumped~

    It¡¯s enough to admit that he fell in love~

    Believe the very best~

    Advice from the love guru~

    Yours truly,

    Luuuu Ziiiihaaaaaoooooooo~"

    A big vein started throbbing in Niki¡¯s forehead.

    "Shut the fuck up, Lu Zihao!"

    "How¡¯s my song? Nice, right? I¡¯m a generous guy, so I¡¯ll give it to you as your love theme song. Hahaha!"

    "You sound like shit."

    "Hahaha! Of course, I can¡¯tpare to pros like Lil Bro Chonglin and Sis-inw Eve. But among normal people, I think I¡¯m alright."

    Niki ignored the annoying fucker.

    "Hey, hey! Bro, stop denying your feelings, I say! Don¡¯t you know thatdies are like phones? They love to be held and talked to, but if you press the wrong button, you¡¯ll get disconnected! If you don¡¯t smarten up, you¡¯ll stay disconnected FOREVER! And dude, forever is too long to stay a grumpy asshole like how you¡¯re acting like now."

    "Shut up! I¡¯m not in love, okay?" Niki may have said this but his expression showed confusion. "At least, I don¡¯t think so...."

    "Hehe." The remnant¡¯s annoyingughter echoed in his head.

 Chapter 1001 - Tamp It Down

    <h4>Chapter 1001 - Tamp It Down </h4>

    The remnant spent almost an hour teasing Niki before exhausting itself and returning to rest in his consciousness. He, on the other hand, couldn¡¯t rest even if he wanted. His mind might have felt battered by everything that happened today but his body was still brimming with energy.

    He felt so restless that he barely knew what to do to make himself feel better. No, that wasn¡¯t quite urate. Actually, he knew what to do. In times like this, he would usually either find a woman to have sex with or train his body until it copsed.

    The first option wasn¡¯t possible at the moment because he was only craving for one woman¡ªLong Jinjing. Having sex with other women no longer interested him. Or more urately, he couldn¡¯t seem to get it up anymore for other women except for Long Jinjing. This would leave him with only the second option which was to train his body and exhaust it to the limit.

    "Should I return to the headquarters and drag some people to spar with me? Yeah, let¡¯s do that."

    With a clear destination in mind, he changed directions and took the route back to Shadow Winds¡¯ headquarters. It was almost midnight. The seemingly endless road made his thoughts start to wander and remember the remnant¡¯s words to him earlier.

    "Impossible. There¡¯s no way that I¡¯m in love. I, Niki Vetrov, have fallen in love?" He snorted and curled his lip, but his eyes reflected the turmoil of his emotions. "This is just lust. Yes, that¡¯s it. This lust should eventually go away on its own after sufficient time away from Jinjing has passed."

    While he was trying to persuade himself, he failed to notice that he missed the way back to the headquarters and was automatically driving to another familiar route. When he finally realized what happened, his car was already parked in front of Long Jinjing¡¯s condo building.

    "Are you fucking kidding me?"

    He was taken aback by his own distracted actions. The ringing of his phone snapped him to attention. He answered it.

    "Boss Hao, is that you parked in front of Miss Jinjing¡¯s building?" It was Shun.

    For a moment, Lu Zihao didn¡¯t know how to answer.

    "Hello? Boss Hao? Huh? Did he hang up?"

    Lu Zihao cleared his throat. "It¡¯s me. Wait a bit ande to my car to report."

    "Understood, Boss!"

    The call ended. Lu Zihao nced at the condo building. Only a few units had their lights still on. This was a quiet neighbourhood and people here usually slept early and also woke up early. He found Long Jinjing¡¯s unit. Her bedroom light was still on. He frowned.

    Why wasn¡¯t she asleep yet?

    He was tempted to disregard his promise to stay away from her after their breakup and barge into her ce. As soon as the thought entered his mind, however, he forcefully tamped it down. He red at Long Jinjing¡¯s brightly lit bedroom window before driving away from the building and parking the car at the nearby children¡¯s yground.

    About a couple of minutester, there was a knock on the car window. Then Shun entered the car and sat in the passenger seat.

    "The light in her bedroom is still on," Lu Zihao said, not waiting for his subordinate¡¯s greeting.

    "Ah yes, Boss. About that. Miss Jinjing hasn¡¯t been turning the light off in her room at night."

    Lu Zihao frowned.

    "Ever since your breakup, Miss Jinjing sleeps with the light always turned on in her room."

    Lu Zihao fell silent for a few seconds before asking, "Is she...alright?"

    "I think she¡¯s well enough."

    "Well enough? What the fuck does that mean? Be more specific!"

    Shun immediately sat up straighter and reported everything that he had observed while shadowing Long Jinjing. Lu Zihao listened with rapt attention, interrupting his subordinate now and then to rify some of the tiniest details.

    "So you¡¯re saying that she lost weight?"

    "Yes, Boss."

    "How can she allow herself to lose weight when she¡¯s already so thin?"

    Shun didn¡¯t answer. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t care because he wasn¡¯t expecting an answer, anyway. He nced at the condo building with an angry expression. Beneath the anger was deep worry. The urge to barge into the woman¡¯s ce and feed her some food filled him, but like before, he tamped the thought down.

    "Dammit."

    All he could do was curse at the situation. They already broke up. In addition, Long Jinjing made him promise to stay away from her as much as possible. Her reason was that it would only hurt her more if she frequently saw him after their breakup. Since she looked so pitiful with tears flowing down her face when she told him this, he couldn¡¯t bear to deny her request even though he was honestly against it.

    He could deal with her shyness. He could even deal with her anger. But when she cried in front of him, he feltpletely helpless and unable to do anything.

    This was especially the case during thest three days leading up to their breakup. She might have shed all her inhibitions and went wild while they were having sex, but afterwards, she would break down and sob in his arms.

    This was why he had been unable to make himself manipte Long Jinjing into extending their 30-day rtionship by seducing her out of her wits. Those tears of hers had unarmed him, causing him to give her what she wanted¡ªto break up with him.

    Shun interrupted his thoughts. "Boss Hao, I don¡¯t know if I should report this...."

    "You know that I hate it when people dilly-dally when talking to me. Just speak!"

    "Yes, Boss. Robin said something when the two of us were changing shifts earlier today. Oh, we arranged our own schedules. Robin¡¯s shift is during the day while I watch over Miss Jinjing at night."

    Lu Zihao nodded, not really minding how they set up their respective schedules. All he cared about was for Long Jinjing to be well-protected 24/7. Yes, it was for protection. He, Niki, wasn¡¯t stalking¡ª<i>ehem ehem</i>¡ª"monitoring" her due to his self-interest. Not at all!

    "Robin said that Miss Jinjing has been spending a lot of time with a guy at work recently," Shun said.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression immediately turned dark.

 Chapter 1002 - Are You Lonely?

    <h4>Chapter 1002 - Are You Lonely? </h4>

    "Which motherfucker has been sniffing around Jinjing?" Lu Zihao growled.

    Shun looked down to avoid his boss¡¯ murderous eyes, but overall still managed to remain calm despite the malevolent aura filling inside the car. After all, Shun was a specially-recruited member of Shadow Winds. Other than the paparazzo, all the members of Shadow Winds had top-notch skills in their respective fields of expertise. They could be considered elite of the elites, if not for their tainted histories. Under Lu Zihao¡¯s brutal but highly effective training regimen, they could only be stronger.

    "Robin said that it¡¯s the German guy," Shun said.

    "German?" Lu Zihao thought for a moment before an image of a white man shed in his mind. "Alric Bauer? Orchidia Beauty¡¯s CPO?"

    "Yes, Boss Hao. That¡¯s the guy."

    "Keep talking."

    "I don¡¯t know the specific details because it was Robin who saw them during her shift but she told me that Alric Bauer is always approaching Miss Jinjing and the two of them end up talking for a long time. Robin also mentioned that today after work when Miss Jinjing was about to go home, that Bauer guy stopped her and talked to her again."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression was extremely twisted at this moment. "What did they talk about?"

    "I...don¡¯t know."

    "Why the hell you don¡¯t know?!"

    "Sorry, Boss Hao. Robin is not skilled in lip reading, so she won¡¯t be able to know what they¡¯re talking about while watching them from a distance. Don¡¯t worry, Boss. I¡¯ll switch shifts with her. I can read lips, although I¡¯m not 100% urate."

    "Do it."

    "Understood, Boss." Then Shun hesitated.

    "Speak."

    "How about...we nt bugs on Miss Jinjing? That way we¡¯ll be able to have clear audio recordings of her conversations with other people."

    Lu Zihao fell silent and seriously thought about Shun¡¯s suggestion. In the end, however, he shook his head. "No. She¡¯ll be upset if we do that."

    "But she won¡¯t know that we nted the bugs on her."

    He reconsidered it but still shook his head. "Jinjing won¡¯t know but it¡¯s easy for my sister to detect nted surveince devices. They¡¯re friends...and also sisters, so they meet quite regrly, not to mention that Jinjing works at my sister¡¯spany as well. No bugs can go unnoticed by my sister."

    Shun had no choice but to give up on his suggestion.

    "Go home," Lu Zihao said all of a sudden. "I¡¯ll take over the watch tonight."

    "But Boss, I can still¡ª"

    "I said go home."

    Shun obeyed and left.

    Alone in his car once again, Lu Zihao stared at the condo building. Thissted for about half an hour before his restlessness became almost unbearable. He gritted his teeth and desperately worked on his self-control but to no avail. Thus, he made a decision.

    "Bacon."

    This time, his AI nephew didn¡¯t appear immediately upon being called. Lu Zihao waited, feeling impatient as the seconds ticked by. Around the one minute mark, the ck cat finally appeared on his dashboard monitor.

    "Bacon greets Uncle Zihao."

    "Why did you take so long?"

    "Bacon is currently grounded, so I had to ask for Father¡¯s permission first before responding to Uncle Zihao¡¯s call."

    "Ah."

    It was only then that Lu Zihao recalled what happened earlier today. He almost forgot about Bacon¡¯s matter and how the little scoundrel ckmailed him into taking all the me in stealing Rose Young¡¯s files from his sister. Had it been only a day? His mind had been wholly absorbed by Long Jinjing after he left Shadow Winds¡¯ headquarters.

    "Did your mother forgive you?" he asked his AI nephew.

    "Yes, Mother forgave Bacon but she was quite angry this time. She spent almost the entire night checking my system logs to make sure that I really didn¡¯t take a peek at the secret files. Then Father also became upset because he wanted Mother to sleep early."

    Lu Zihao sighed, also feeling guilty about his sister. "Well, it¡¯s good if she has forgiven you. How long did your father ground you this time?"

    "One month."

    "That long?" Lu Zihao frowned, already thinking of calling his brother-inw to negotiate Bacon¡¯s punishment.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Uncle Zihao. Father gave Bacon special permission to continue my work at Shadow Winds but only for the missions involving my parents¡¯ requests."

    "Fine."

    "Bacon also showed Father the preliminary list of traitors in the Jin branch families. I entered all their names in the family¡¯s virtual ck notebook. Father says that Uncle Zihao and Shadow Winds can go ahead and punish the traitors in whatever way we want."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes shed with cold danger. "Good."

    "And also, Mother upgraded the passwords of her virtual security vault. Bacon won¡¯t be able crack them anymore nor would I want to do it again even if I be stronger. It¡¯s horrible when Mother is angry at me, so Uncle Zihao, please don¡¯t ask me to steal anything from Mother again."

    Lu Zihao scowled at the little rascal. "I never told you to steal from her. I only made a suggestion."

    Bacon tilted his furry head to the side and blinked at him with his golden eyes which glowed in the darkness. Lu Zihao almost choked at the little rascal¡¯s secret weapon¡ªimitating Evelinka¡¯s mannerisms. Faced with such adorable actions, Lu Zihao was unable to scold his AI nephew.

    Damn cunning kitten!

    If the kid only had a real body, he would¡¯ve already long spanked the naughty Bacon¡¯s furry bottom.

    He really wanted to meet the bastard from whom Bacon¡¯s personality was based on. It was the asshole¡¯s fault that he, Niki Vetrov, was now being tormented by his AI nephew.

    "Hah..." He expelled a long breath to calm himself.

    "Uncle Zihao, why did you call Bacon sote at night? Are you lonely? I think it¡¯s better for you to call Big Sister Ketchup instead of Bacon. She loves to talk nonstop. Bacon is not interested in chatting with a lonely man pining for his ex-girlfriend in the middle of the night. It¡¯s not ssy."

    "You little¡ªhah..." Lu Zihao exhaled another long breath and did his best not to lose his temper. "I didn¡¯t call you to chat."

    The ck cat tilted his head to the other side.

    "Bacon, disable that condo building¡¯s electronic security locks for me. I¡¯m going to slip inside and see your Aunt Jinjing."

 Chapter 1003 - Break In

    <h4>Chapter 1003 - Break In </h4>

    "Is Uncle Zihao going to make up with Aunt Jinjing and get back together with her?" Bacon asked, his golden eyes glowing in the dark and his tail swishing left and right.

    Lu Zihao fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "Don¡¯t ask too many questions, kid. Just do what I asked you to do."

    "Bacon thought that Uncle Zihao is finally going to do the ssy thing and court Aunt Jinjing properly just like how Father pursued Mother, but it seems that I¡¯m wrong. Uncle Zihao is still acting like a coward. Not ssy at all."

    In. Out. In. Out.

    Lu Zihao forced himself to take a few deep breaths to control his temper in front his poison-tongued AI nephew. The little rascal sure knew how to aim where it hurt the most¡ªhis pride.

    "Kid, are you going to help me or not?"

    "Uncle Zihao has be more impatienttely. It¡¯s not ssy. Don¡¯t worry, Uncle. Bacon will help you break into Aunt Jinjing¡¯s condo because it¡¯s too pitiful to continue watching you acting like a pathetic loser."

    Lu Zihao gripped the steering wheel with both hands, the veins in his arms protruding from the force, as he focused on taking deep breaths.

    "Also please be aware that Bacon will charge Uncle Zihao for this extra service. This is Uncle Zihao¡¯s personal matter so it¡¯s considered outside the scope of my professional work at Shadow Winds. If you¡¯re in doubt, feel free to check my employment contract. Father made sure to include this additional use, so Uncle Zihao is obligated to pay Bacon with the overtime rate."

    "Fine! I¡¯ll pay you, okay?"

    "Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao."

    "Do you think that you¡¯re ssy by being a money-grubber?" Lu Zihao muttered under his breath.

    Bacon licked his fluffy paws and blinked his golden eyes with his trademark bored expression. "Mother says that Grandpa Lu taught her an important life lesson¡ªit¡¯s okay to be shameless when ites to family. Uncle Zihao is family so it¡¯s fine if I act shameless with you. As for me not acting ssy, please be careful of your words, Uncle Zihao. Mother is the ssiest person in the whole wide world, even ssier than Father, so whatever she says and does is guaranteed to be ssy. Therefore, Bacon is also ssy for following what my ssy mother taught me."

    Lu Zihao opened his mouth but no words came out so he just shut it again. The little mama¡¯s boy might have a despicable two-faced personality most of the time thanks to an unknown bastard, but Bacon¡¯s unique and eloquent reasoning was without a doubt inherited from Evelinka.

    If only her personality were as vile as her AI son¡¯s back in their past lives, then she with her genius intellect might have given him, her big brother, a run for his money and might have even snatched the position of the next head of the Vetrov organization from him.

    Sighing, he shook his head and pushed away this impossible thought from his mind. His beloved little sister would have been the most perfect Vetrov in the history of their family organization, but she just had to be born with a kind andpassionate heart. It was truly a tragedy that such a precious angel was born in a family of great devils.

    "I don¡¯t want to talk about this shit anymore."

    "It was Uncle Zihao who started this topic, not Bacon," the ck cat AI said while continuing to groom himself.

    Damn devious little kitten! Absolutely had no reservations in pushing all the me on his own uncle.

    Before Lu Zihao could snap at him, Bacon finally stopped grooming himself and sat up straight. "When are we going to break into Aunt Jinjing¡¯s condo, Uncle Zihao? The hour is gettingte. Bacon is still grounded and has a curfew to follow. If Ie home past my curfew, Father will scold me and extend the time of my punishment."

    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me sooner?" Lu Zihao frowned and hurriedly wore a wireless earpiece, tapping it in front of the little rascal in a silent gesture.

    "Uncle Zihao didn¡¯t ask," Bacon¡¯s voice spoke through the earpiece.

    Lu Zihao grunted. He reached over to the front passenger side, opened the glovepartment, and grabbed a baseball cap. He wore it, pulling it down low until it covered the upper half of his face, and then pulled up the zipper of his coat all the way up, covering the remaining lower half of his head.

    He got out of the car and walked to the condo building, slinking in the shadows without making any sound. This time, he didn¡¯t head to the main entrance but to a small side door instead that was typically used by the building¡¯s maintenance workers. His eyes found a surveince camera above him but he wasn¡¯t worried about it all. Bacon reported through the earpiece that he already hacked into the building¡¯s surveince system. Lu Zihao was now free to move however and wherever he wanted in the condo and the cameras wouldn¡¯t have any records of him.

    A few secondster, the electronic lock blinked indicating that Bacon was sessful in disabling it. Lu Zihao entered, darting inside like a phantom. This part of the building was dark. Thanks to Bacon, the emergency lights didn¡¯t activate as Lu Zihao found the staircase and immediately started climbing.

    He chose not to use the elevator because it was too conspicuous even with Bacon¡¯s interference of the building¡¯s system. What if a tenant went out in the hallway and saw him? It was better to be cautious. Besides, climbing several flights of stairs was nothing to him. He wasn¡¯t even panting when he finally reached Long Jinjing¡¯s floor.

    "Stop, Uncle Zihao," Bacon¡¯s voice warned him through the earpiece. "The building cleaner just came out of the garbage chute room."

    Lu Zihao froze and peeked through the window of the emergency door. Indeed, the cleaner who just came out of the chute room was pushing a cleaning cart in the hallway. Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes and flexed his hands as the cleaner seemed to be heading his way.

    "Uncle Zihao shouldn¡¯t hurt an innocent person. It¡¯s not ssy. Punish only those who deserve it. And if Aunt Jinjing learns that you hurt the cleaner in her building, she might hate you."

 Chapter 1004 - More Beautiful

    <h4>Chapter 1004 - More Beautiful </h4>

    Lu Zihao inwardly swore at his AI nephew but his fists still loosened before he melted deeper into the shadows. It wasn¡¯t like he gave a damn about innocent people but Bacon¡¯s warning about the possibility of upsetting Long Jinjing made him change his usual modus operandi. It wasn¡¯t a big deal anyway. He could just hide and wait it out to avoid direct contact with the building cleaner.

    The cleaner finally arrived in front of the emergency door before opening it. This time, the emergency lights automatically turned on. Then the cleaner began sweeping some candy wrappers and a couple of cigarette butts from the floor. Fortunately, he left after checking that there weren¡¯t any messes on the stairs.

    When the lights automatically turned off, arge figure noiselessly jumped down from a ledge on the wall hidden by the next flight of stairs.

    "The cleaner is now gone, Uncle Zihao," Bacon said through the earpiece. "The coast is clear. There¡¯s nobody in the hallway."

    Lu Zihao left the dark ce and quickly walked along the hallway before stopping in front of Long Jinjing¡¯s door.

    Finally.

    For a moment, he red at the door in front of him after remembering Shun and Robin¡¯s report that Long Jinjing immediately changed the lock and revoked his ess in the electronic security system the day after they broke up. The woman was quite thorough in wanting to cut all ties with him.

    Then the electronic security lock blinked thanks to Bacon. Lu Zihao opened the door and slipped inside without making any sound.

    The familiar entryway directly leading to the cozy living room greeted him. He could see everything clearly even in the darkness. A sense offort filled him, causing his whole body to rx without his notice. He inhaled deeply and smiled at the familiar scent¡ª<i>her</i> scent.

    He walked inside and scanned the entire ce. Nothing had changed much. Everything was in its ce. Then his eyes caught something. He stopped in his tracks and blinked a few times. He approached the disy cab by the window. On top were several vases with dried and wilted flowers.

    "You¡¯re still keeping them," he whispered while touching a dried rose. It felt rough to his fingertips. A couple of brown petals fell down.

    These flowers were the ones he had given her during thest three days before their agreed breakup. He didn¡¯t notice that the corners of his lips hooked up.

    "Uncle Zihao, how long are you nning to stay inside Aunt Jinjing¡¯s ce?" Bacon¡¯s question interrupted him. "It will be Bacon¡¯s curfew soon. There are no surveince cameras inside Aunt Jinjing¡¯s unit so I¡¯m unable to see you."

    "Go home, kid. I¡¯ll slip out by myselfter."

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao. Bacon will go home now. Good night!"

    There was only silenceing from Lu Zihao¡¯s earpiece. The little rascal must have left already. He sighed in relief as he headed to Long Jinjing¡¯s bedroom. There was light flowing out from the gap between the door and the floor. He crept closer and pressed his ear against the door. After a few seconds, he registered the sound of regr, deep breathinging from inside the room. Then he opened the door and finally entered.

    His breath caught in his throat as soon as he saw the woman sleeping on the bed.

    <i>His</i> woman.

    He stepped closer until he was standing beside her bed. She was hugging the cheap teddy bear he had bought for her in a rush before their breakup. He leaned down and reached for her face, lightly caressing her soft cheek before stopping on her mouth. He gently rubbed her lips with his fingertips and felt his mouth go dry.

    The desire to kiss her filled him.

    However, he didn¡¯t act on the urge. Not for now, at least.

    His eyes caught the lily pendant ne that he had given her around her neck. He smiled. Although he already knew that she wore the ne because he frequently checked her location via the micro-tracker he had installed inside the pendant, it still greatly pleased him seeing the jewelry around her neck with his own eyes.

    Her breath brushed against his hand, somehow tickling him, even though he wasn¡¯t a ticklish person. In fact, the inside of his chest felt ticklish. He didn¡¯t understand the feeling nor did he want to think about it too much. For now, all he wanted was to watch her sleep and confirm that she was alright.

    He continued observing her. Then he frowned.

    <i>¡¯It has only been a few days since we broke up, but she already lost a lot weight.¡¯</i>

    Long Jinjing was already a slim, petite woman. Now that she lost weight, she looked even smaller. Her cheekbones and corbones became more prominent. Her chin was sharper. Her wrists were thinner and more delicate, looking as if they would break if he exerted even just a tiny amount of force on them.

    Perhaps he should call his sister and let Evelinka instruct Orchidia Beauty¡¯s cafeteria to give more nutritious food to Long Jinjing. As soon as the thought entered his mind, however, he dismissed it.

    <i>¡¯No, I shouldn¡¯t disturb Evelinka while she¡¯s pregnant. She doesn¡¯t need to worry about other people¡¯s matters. If something happens to her, I¡¯m sure that her AI son, the little scoundrel, would torment me even more. Not to mention that the kid¡¯s equally annoying father would support himpletely just to punish me.¡¯</i>

    Sighing, he squatted down beside the bed so that he was at eye level with the sleeping Long Jinjing. The bed was the one he especially custom-ordered to fit both of them inside her small bedroom. Although Long Jinjing was now sleeping alone, she still slept on her side of the bed and left his side filled with extra pillows instead.

    He stroked her hair, staring at her face.

    Howe she looked even more beautiful now than when they were together?

    Despite her obvious weight loss, dark circles and bags under her eyes, he still thought that she had be prettier.

    He removed his baseball cap, leaned closer, and then pressed his mouth against hers, rubbing their lips together gently, and enjoying the feeling of kissing her again.

    Long Jinjing frowned and stirred before opening her eyes.

    He froze.

    "Niki?"

 Chapter 1005 - Love Is A Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 1005 - Love Is A Weakness </h4>

    Long Jinjing stared at Lu Zihao through dazed, sleepy, half-lidded eyes.

    "Ah, I¡¯m dreaming of you again, you jerk," she mumbled before closing her eyes and falling asleep again.

    When her breathing became deep and regr again, Lu Zihao slowly released the breath he didn¡¯t notice that he was holding.

    "A jerk, huh." He raised an eyebrow, the corners of his lips raising into a devilish smirk.

    She had never called him such names to his face before. Was this how she thought of him now or did she always thought of him as a jerk? For some reason, he didn¡¯t feel insulted. On the contrary, he found it quite refreshing that his little Miss Prim and Properdy could also utter words of insult about him.

    Then her breath hitched all of a sudden and a single tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "Niki...."

    His smile froze. He watched as her eyshes and lips trembled after whispering his name while dreaming. He reached over and wiped the tear with his fingers.

    "Jinjing, don¡¯t cry," he whispered.

    Perhaps feeling the warmth of his fingers on her cheek, she instinctively moved closer to him. "I love you, Niki, you jerk...."

    His hand touching her froze as he felt something in his chest shake.

    "Are you awake, Jinjing?"

    No answer.

    Her chest continued to rise and fall in a regr rhythm, indicating that she was still asleep and was just sleep-talking.

    He took a long, deep breath and exhaled it carefully while doing his damn best to calm himself down after hearing Long Jinjing dering her love for him again even while sleeping. Many indescribable andplicated emotions swirled and swelled within him, making his chest feel as if it was being crushed from the inside by a powerful but intangible force.

    For the first time ever, he wondered what it would be like if he was a normal man living a regr life, a man without memories of a dangerous past life as the infamous and deadly heir of what was once known as the most powerful criminal family in the international underworld, a man who wasn¡¯t consumed by an almost obsessive thirst for vengeance.

    If he were such a normal man living a regr life, then he could marry this sweet, shy, kind, and delicately beautiful woman sleeping on the bed that he custom-ordered for the two of them without worrying for her safety or the possibility of her rejecting him because of the illegal nature of his work and his brutality against people he considered his enemies.

    He had never dared to imagine that kind of idyllic life before. As Niki Vetrov and the direct heir of the family organization, he couldn¡¯t afford to waste time dreaming of something that was impossible for someone like him to possess.

    As a Vetrov, there was no such thing as marrying for the sake of love. Such a thing was considered a weakness that their enemies could exploit.

    To the Vetrovs, marriage was, first and foremost, for the sake of continuing the family line and producing strong offspring. The second most important reason was to strengthen the family organization by marrying a partner that could either contribute top-notch skills or bring in valuable connections and other resources or both.

    Madam Evgenia Yuryevna Vetrova, Niki and Evelina¡¯s mother, was an example of someone who contributed her top-notch skills to the organization. She was a talent personally trained and groomed by her father-inw, the head of the family organization back then, starting when she was just a child. Although she didn¡¯t bring any valuable connections or wealth into the marriage, she was still considered one of the most formidable and powerful wives in the history of the Vetrovs.

    An extremely beautiful but deadly woman with an ice-cold and poisonous heart.

    This kind of frightening woman gave birth to Niki and Evelina, the pair of siblings who had been reborn after their tragic deaths and were now living in different bodies as Lu Zihao and Long Xin (a.k.a. Iris Long) respectively.

    Madam Vetrova was perhaps the biggest reason why the brother and sister treated love as something strange and alien. They just had no idea what to do with the thing called romantic love.

    If not for Evelina¡¯s sheltered upbringing that made her innocent in a number of ways, she as Iris Long wouldn¡¯t have fallen in love and epted Jin Liwei so quickly.

    As for Niki, now living as Lu Zihao, the concept of romantic love wasn¡¯t something that he could easily ept unlike his sister. The lessons that were painfully drilled into him in his past life weren¡¯t so easy to disregard.

    Romantic love was a weakness.

    A big weakness.

    For someone like him whose sole goal was revenge against extremely dangerous enemies, any weakness could be deadly. His obvious connections to his reborn sister, her husband, and all the other people close to them¡ªall of them could already be considered as his weaknesses. This was why he was trying so hard to distance himself from all of them, even limiting meetings with his own sister, because he didn¡¯t want the enemies to use them against him.

    If he added a wife and children into the mix...he didn¡¯t want to imagine such a dangerous idea. He didn¡¯t give a damn about other innocent people, but if they were those he considered his family, then there was no way that he could bear it if they were harmed by his enemies.

    Therefore, it was better for him not to marry or have children in this lifetime. It was safer this way. Whether he lived or died in his bloody path of vengeance, at least he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about his innocent family.

    As for his sister, Evelinka had Jin Liwei to protect her with his vast wealth, powerful status, widespread influence, and impressive connections. She also wasn¡¯t someone to be trifled with despite her naturally kind andpassionate heart. After all, she was a legendary hacker and was also trained in closebat, not to mention a top-notch sharpshooter.

    Niki didn¡¯t have to worry much about her. No, that wasn¡¯t entirely urate. He would always worry about his sister, but at least she had someone to protect her in case something happened to him.

 Chapter 1006 - Nikolai, You Jerk

    <h4>Chapter 1006 - Niki, You Jerk </h4>

    Looking at the sleeping Long Jinjing in front of him, Lu Zihao forced down the confusing emotions that were causing him to act so unlike his usual character.

    <i>¡¯This is lust, just lust,¡¯</i> he desperately persuaded himself.

    Any other possibility was something that he couldn¡¯t afford to consider. His little Miss Prim and Properdy deserved a happy and safe life¡ªsomething that he couldn¡¯t possibly give her. He would just be wronging her if he continued desiring to be with her when he knew full well that she was in love with him.

    But...he really wanted Long Jinjing.

    He craved for her.

    She upied his mind during the day and his dreams at night. She was like a drug that made him addicted to her, causing him to need her on a regr basis or he would feel like going crazy.

    "This is fucking nuts."

    Sighing, he leaned down and kissed her lips again. Her warm breath and sweet taste made him groan, making him want more of her. He deepened the kiss and caressed her lips with his tongue before plunging it carefully inside.

    She moaned and instinctively responded to his kiss even while asleep. It excited him. He sucked on her lips and enjoyed this moment. When he almost felt like losing control, he forced himself to stop. He was gasping as he sat back on his heels, creating some distance between them.

    "Damn."

    He pressed his hand over his chest and felt his heart hammering inside with the addition of something he couldn¡¯t define. It was a weird sensation¡ªsweet, light, yet also heavy and a little rming.

    These unknown and contradictory feelings were starting to scare the shit out of him.

    "Hah...."

    He wiped the sweat beading on his forehead with the back of his hand. It wasn¡¯t only his forehead. He was covered in sweat. Cold sweat. It felt so ufortable.

    Then he suddenly remembered the terrible, off-tune song that the remnant sang to tease him earlier.

    <i>¡¯Can you feel the love tonight?</i>

    <i>Tonight~</i>

    <i>It¡¯s inside this car~</i>

    <i>It¡¯s not enough for this blind ass Niki~</i>

    <i>That his ass got dumped~</i>

    <i>Oh, can you feel the love tonight?</i>

    <i>Tonight~</i>

    <i>His dumb ass got dumped~</i>

    <i>It¡¯s enough to admit that he fell in love~</i>

    <i>Believe the very best~</i>

    <i>Advice from the love guru~</i>

    <i>Yours truly,</i>

    <i>Luuuu Ziiiihaaaaaoooooooo~¡¯</i>

    The ridiculous love song was now stuck in his head and yed in a seemingly endless loop.

    <i>¡¯Damn you, Lu Zihao!¡¯ </i>

    Nobody replied. The remnant appeared to be "sleeping" after expending its energy conversing with him earlier for almost an hour.

    Despite his irritation, he still couldn¡¯t help but think of what the remnant said. It imed that he, Niki, was in love with Long Jinjing.

    He looked at Long Jinjing, whose lips were now moist and a little swollen, with aplicated expression on his face.

    "I¡¯m...in love with you?"

    He shook his head.

    "No, that can¡¯t be. This...I can¡¯t possibly...no."

    He abruptly stood up and backed away from the bed, creating more distance between the two of them. However, he didn¡¯t take his eyes off her. His scarred hand pressed harder on his chest. He could still feel his wildly beating heart.

    "Shit."

    ###

    Her phone¡¯s rm woke up Long Jinjing. It was still dark outside because of the early hour and also because it was now the start of the winter season. For some reason, however, she felt more rested this morning even though she always felt tired upon waking up in the past few days.

    She, of course, knew the exact reason for hercking energy. She was missing the man she loved but didn¡¯t love her back.

    Lu Zihao.

    No, Niki.

    Sighing, she pushed herself up to a sitting position on the bed. Then all of a sudden, memories of her dreamst night came rushing into her mind. It made her breath catch in her throat because it felt so real.

    He had been standing by the bed and looking at her. Then he kissed her.

    It was a beautiful dream.

    No, it was a painful dream.

    She licked her slightly chapped lips. Maybe it was just her imagination but she could still taste him in her mouth.

    Her eyes watered. She couldn¡¯t help it. She missed him so much. All she could do to somehow ease the pain was crush the small teddy bear that he had given her in her embrace and press her face against it.

    Momentster, she wiped the tears from her eyes and finally climbed out of her bed to start getting ready for work. Then she stopped in her tracks when she caught a whiff of something.

    "Huh?"

    She leaned down and sniffed at the area by the edge of the bed. Why did it smell like that man? Or was it her imagination ying tricks on her again? Was she missing him too much that she was beginning to have hallucinations?

    "Stop it, Jinjing. The two of you are over."

    But...it really smelled like him.

    Not perfume, but the natural scent of his body. It was faint but she couldn¡¯t mistake it. With how many times they slept together, his scent was already imprinted deeply in her mind.

    "Did youe herest night?"

    Her heart started beating hard inside her chest.

    "Or am I only imagining things?"

    The possibility that he might have secretlye to see herst night pervaded her mind. She looked around her bedroom, trying to find any signs of his visit.

    Nothing.

    She rushed out of her bedroom, banging the door open against the wall, and frantically searched the living room, the kitchen, and the rest of her unit.

    But still nothing.

    She walked with wooden legs until she was in front of the wilted flowers he had given her before they broke up. Dried petals and leaves were now falling all around the vases as if to signify the end of her so-called rtionship with Lu Zihao. If only her love for him was also easy to die, then she wouldn¡¯t be hurting so much like this.

    Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. Covering her mouth, she tried her best to muffle her sobs.

    "Niki, you...j-jerk."

 Chapter 1007 - Come Out On Top

    <h4>Chapter 1007 - Come Out On Top </h4>

    A pink sports car drove to the underground parking lot of an old apartment building. The car door opened upwards and one super high-heeled boot stepped down on the cement followed by another. Out came a big-breasted woman with a tall nose and plump lips wearing branded clothing from head to toe. Her eyes were covered with cat-eye, mirrored sunsses even though it was evening.

    She closed the car door and pulled down her sunsses until it rested on the bridge of her surgically enhanced nose. Then she looked around the dingy parking lot filled with "low-end" vehicles. Many of them were dusty. She pursed her plump, red lips injected with fillers as she nced at her pink sports car. Her car was definitely the most eye-catching vehicle here. She estimated that thebined worth of all the vehicles in this parking lot wouldn¡¯t be able topare to the eye-popping price of her own sports car.

    "What if someone steals my car?" Then her eyes¡ªsurgically enhanced, of course¡ªlit up. "Oh, right. I can just buy a new one! This hot pink shade is sost season. Coral pink is all the rage these days. Come, car thieves! Help yourselves. Ahahaha! Oops, gotta go~"

    Then she strutted away from her sost-season hot pink sports car and walked towards the elevator, making sure to sway her hips from side to side. The way she walked made her feel like a supermodel strutting on the catwalk, but in other people¡¯s eyes, she somewhat looked like a waddling duck. Along the way, she fished out her crystal-encrusted phone from her limited edition crocodile hide bag before calling her best friend.

    "Rosie dear, the queen has arrived in the building! I¡¯m in the underground parking lot. Which floor do I press on the elevator again?"

    After the short call, the woman followed her friend¡¯s instructions and arrived where she was supposed to go. The door opened and a thin guy who looked like a college student in his early twenties stuck his head out.

    "Are you Miss Jenny Tseng?" he asked.

    Jenny flipped her perfectly blow-dried, voluminous, ash-blonde hair and gave the young guy a flirty smile and a wink. "Hello there~ Yes, I am indeed the one and the only Jenny Tseng. You can call me Beauty or Sexy. Either one is fine but you can also call me both. You¡¯re pretty cute yourself. What¡¯s your name? Can I get your number?"

    A female voice yelled from the inside of the apartment unit, "Jenny, don¡¯t you dare target my young cousin! You¡¯ve already divorced twice! Come inside quickly!"

    "F-flirting...." The young man turned crimson as he opened the door wider to let Jenny in.

    Jenny removed her sunsses as she stepped inside and came closer to the blushing guy. "Oooooh~ A shy one, aren¡¯t you? So cute! Rawr! Ahahaha!"

    "JENNY TSENG!!!"

    She rolled her eyes before yelling back. "Coming, Rosie! Stop being such a bitch! Ugh!" The she returned her attention to the young man and offered her perfectly manicured hand.

    The guy looked at the hand in confusion.

    She wiggled her fingers. "Escort me inside."

    "Oh." He blushed harder but still took her hand awkwardly and led her to the small living room.

    "What took you so long?" Rose Young grumbled on the couch. Sitting beside her was a pretty teenage girl.

    Jenny handed her bag to the young man and removed her mink fur coat. She handed the coat to him and took back her bag before walking to her best friend. The two friends exchanged air kisses and a light hug.

    "I always tell you stop acting like a bitch, Rosie. Being negative all the time makes you look older! Look at those horrible dark circles and big eye bags! We must go have a facial tomorrow! Oh, let¡¯s have your cute cousin apany us!" Jenny didn¡¯t wait for Rose Young to reply before turning her attention to the unfamiliar teenager. "And this is?"

    The teenager stepped forward and introduced herself. "Hello, Miss Tseng. My name is Jin Jiali. I¡¯m Elder Brother Liwei and Big Brother Chonglin¡¯s younger cousin."

    "Oh!" Jenny leaned closer and studied the teenager¡¯s face carefully. "So that¡¯s why you look somewhat familiar. You resemble Jin Chonglin a little bit."

    Jin Jiali smiled. "Yes, many people tell me that."

    "So why are you here, Jiali? You¡¯re close with Rosie?"

    "Yes! I look up to Big Sis Rose. She¡¯s the best role model ever. I want to be like her and be a sessful career woman. I¡¯ve always wanted her to marry Elder Brother Liwei and be an official part of our Jin family, but that bitch Iris Long just had to steal him! Did you know that because of that hateful woman, Elder Brother Liwei made Old Sir Lu fire my dad from Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors and disowned our entire branch family from the n?! Argh! Just thinking about it makes me so mad. I hate Iris long so much! She¡¯s the reason why our branch family is suffering right now!"

    "There, there." Rose Young patted the teenager¡¯s back and stroked her hair. "Don¡¯t get too angry, Jia¡¯er. You¡¯re still young. As long as you work hard and focus on achieving your ambitions, you¡¯ll be able to reverse you family¡¯s bad fortune someday."

    "Really?"

    "Of course."

    "But Big Sis Rose, you¡¯re in a worse position than my family right now. Elder Brother Liwei fired you and those...uhm, videos are still spreading everywhere right now."

    Rose Young¡¯s expression turned ugly, causing Jin Jiali to flinch and step back from her.

    "S-sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to...please don¡¯t get mad at me, Big Sis," the teenager mumbled.

    Rose Young took a few deep breaths and forced herself to smile. "Don¡¯t worry. Your big sister will survive this ande out on top in the end."

    "Well, that¡¯s true," Jenny interrupted the conversation as she sat on the couch and crossed her legs. "There are plenty of world-famous celebrities abroad who became known because of sex tapes and then ended up building super sessful careers afterwards. Rosie is a smart girl, so I¡¯m sure that she can capitalize on her sex videos ande out stronger in the end. Am I right?"

    "Shut up, Jenny." Rose red at her.

    "Oh, don¡¯t be so mean to your own bestie, Rosie. Ahahaha!"

 Chapter 1008 - Most Loyal Friend

    <h4>Chapter 1008 - Most Loyal Friend </h4>

    The women sat down in the living room while the young man gave Jenny Tseng a chilled can of orange juice. Both Rose Young and Jin Jiali who came to the apartment unit earlier than Jenny already had their own opened cans.

    "Sorry, I don¡¯t have tea here," he said in a sheepish tone.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ll gift you some high-quality tea leaves, so how about you go on a date with me?" Jenny winked at him.

    "Jenny! Stop flirting with my cousin!"

    "Oh,e on, Rosie! I¡¯m just admiring a handsome man. There¡¯s nothing wrong with going on a date. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m asking him to marry me."

    The young man blushed again.

    "Look at him. He¡¯s so cute! Ahahahaha! I still didn¡¯t get your name. Come on, tell me. Don¡¯t be shy. Your beautiful and sexy Big Sister Jenny won¡¯t eat you up, I promise. At least not yet."

    "My English name is...Luke. Big Sister Rose and I are maternal cousins."

    "Hi, Luke! Come here and sit beside me."

    Before Luke could react, Jenny had already pulled him down to sit beside her on the couch. All of his exposed skin turned red, causing her tough even more merrily.

    She hugged his arm and pushed her big, fake boobs against him. Then she nced at her scowling best friend and the curious Jin Jiali. "So Rosie, why did you call us in this pitifully tiny apartment?"

    "Sorry that it¡¯s so tiny," Luke said in a small voice. "My family isn¡¯t rich like Big Sister Rose¡¯s maternal family. I¡¯m renting this ce on my own because it¡¯s near my university."

    "Oh, Luke. Don¡¯t worry. Your new Big Sister Jenny isn¡¯t looking down on you! How about I sponsor your entire schooling and find you a better apartment? What do you think?"

    "Jenny, stop it! My cousin isn¡¯t a beggar. He has me, his blood-rted cousin, to help him!"

    Jenny leaned her head on Luke¡¯s shoulder. "If you¡¯re really helping your cousin, why is he still staying in this ce then? You even asked ME, the one and only Jenny Tseng, one of the most iconic Singaporean socialites of this generation, toe in such a squalid area! Can¡¯t we just meet in your condo or somewhere nicer? You even invited a teenager! What if some thugs attacked Jiali whileing here? What were you thinking, Rosie?"

    "Thugs rarelye here," Luke mumbled.

    "Just shut it, Jenny," Rose Young said, sighing. "I haven¡¯t really met any of my maternal rtives since I came to the country. That¡¯s why it¡¯s only now that I learned about my cousin¡¯s situation. And I asked you toe here because there are paparazzi camping outside my condo to ambush me ever since those...illegally recorded private videos of me were spread on the inte. Even the tabloids started attacking me. This ce should be safer since not a lot of people know that Luke is my cousin. I was sneaking out of my condo when Jia¡¯er called me to offer moral support. She wanted to meet me so I decided to just bring her along."

    Jin Jiali stomped her foot. "Hmph! I bet that it¡¯s that bitch Iris Long who caused you to be humiliated in the media like this, Big Sis Rose! Previously, the tabloids were criticizing Iris Long for making Elder Brother Liwei fire you because of her jealousy. And then the next day, those shameful videos of you were spread all over the inte and the tabloids suddenly changed their aim to you. It¡¯s just too coincidental! How can she ruin your reputation like this? She¡¯s so despicable!"

    Rose clenched her hand hard, causing her nails to dig into her palms. Indeed, she agreed with Jin Jiali. It must be Iris Long who caused all the troubles she was facing right now.

    "Well, you have to admit that you were really wild and naughty in those videos, Rosie," Jenny interrupted,ughing. "Even I¡¯m impressed by your libido. What¡¯s your secret? Are you taking some special supplements or something? Quick, tell your bestie. Don¡¯t be shy. Ahahaha!"

    Both Luke and Jin Jiali turned red at her frankness.

    "Shut up, Jenny."

    "Ahahaha! You¡¯re still such a bitch, Rosie. I really feel confused why I¡¯m still friends with you."

    Jin Jiali tried to interject. "Miss Tseng¡ª"

    "Call me Big Sister Jenny."

    "Big Sister Jenny, please don¡¯t call Big Sis Rose a bitch. It¡¯s Iris Long, that man-stealer, who¡¯s the real bitch here, not Big Sis Rose."

    "Ahahaha! Girl, do you even know the definition of man-stealer? In the first ce, Jin Liwei has never been Rosie¡¯s man, so how could Iris Long steal him away from her? It¡¯s actually Rosie who¡¯s in the wrong here because she¡¯s lusting after another woman¡¯s man. Oh, woe to me! Even though I know it¡¯s wrong, but since Rosie is my bestie, I have to support her no matter what. This is what a best friend is supposed to do. I¡¯m ready to help her with anything. Oh, she¡¯s so lucky to have me!"

    Rose¡¯s expression was now extremely ugly. She was trying so hard to control her anger and to restrain herself from pping her friend¡¯s cosmetically-enhanced face.

    It was at times like this that she often wondered how she became best friends with such an annoying person like Jenny Tseng. But she already knew the answer.

    Jenny Tseng was the most loyal friend. She was the type of person who could make one¡¯s blood boil in anger by her careless words and superficial, condescending actions but would still help a friend bury a corpse without hesitation.

    This was why Rose Young tolerated this annoying best friend of hers. She couldn¡¯t find anyone who was more loyal to her than Jenny Tseng.

    She sighed and massaged her temples. "Just please stop for now. Okay, Jenny?"

    "Alrighty, Rosie~"

    After calming down, Rose looked at everyone with a serious expression. "You all know that the situation I¡¯m in right now is the worst. I need your help. Will you help me?"

    Jenny rolled her eyes. "Rosie, do you even need to ask me that question?"

    "Big Sis Rose, I¡¯ll help! Just tell me what to do!"

    "You¡¯re my cousin. Of course, I¡¯ll help you."

 Chapter 1009 - All Or Nothing

    <h4>Chapter 1009 - All Or Nothing </h4>

    Satisfied by their responses, Rose Young told them about her rough n.

    "Whoa, Rosie dear! You¡¯re joking, right?" Jenny Tseng gave her friend an exaggerated once-over from head to toe, as if checking if Rose was still sane.

    Simr to Jenny, Luke also expressed his hesitation after hearing his cousin¡¯s n. "Is this really okay? Uncle Romeo said that Big Sister Rose should be more careful during this time, lie low, and follow his instructions. Isn¡¯t this n...uhm, too reckless?"

    Only Jin Jiali supported her n without doubting it for even a second. "I¡¯m all in, Big Sis! I might still be a teenager but I¡¯ll do my best to help your n seed in any way that I can!"

    "Thank you, Jia¡¯er." Rose was very pleased by the teenage girl¡¯s resoluteness in supporting her despite the current public beating that her reputation was taking.

    Jenny sighed in a dramatic manner before leaning forward towards her friend. Her botoxed face might not move much but it was still able to express her seriousness. "Rosie honey, listen to your bestie, okay? You¡¯re a smart girl and should think up a better n than this super clich¨¦d stupidity. If this is a novel, the readers will be cursing the author for being so unoriginal."

    Rose crossed her arms over her chest and sent Jenny a displeased frown. "You just said earlier that you¡¯re ready to help me with anything because that¡¯s what a best friend is supposed to do. Are you going back on your words now?"

    "Sometimes being the voice of reason is also a best friend¡¯s duty especially if I know that my friend is nning to rush head first into something stupid. Rosie, you¡¯re usually super smart, but I swear to the god of botox that your IQ always falls to the negatives whenever it involves Jin Liwei."

    "I know what I¡¯m doing, Jenny."

    "Girl, I would¡¯ve believed those words if only you didn¡¯t copy-paste a stupid clich¨¦d n directly out of a trashy romance novel. I, Jenny Tseng, am not book-smart like you, but with two amicable divorces under my belt, at least I know that self-respect is important to live a happy and fulfilling life free of worries that can cause wrinkles, cellulites and sagging boobs!"

    Rose red at Jenny while both Luke and Jin Jiali stayed quiet and watched the two best friends¡¯ tense argument.

    Jenny flipped her ash-blonde hair and continued lecturing. "Also, I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re so hung up on a frigid man like Jin Liwei. I¡¯ve always tried to support your obsession with him, but I¡¯m telling you that a man who doesn¡¯t respect you is not worth your time and love. I¡¯m already getting tired watching you chasing after him for years with no results. Aren¡¯t you getting tired? Please, girl! Even if it¡¯s just a little, have some self-respect, okay? I promise that it¡¯ll make you feel so much better than regr sex and masturbation!"

    "SHUT UP, JENNY!!!"

    Rose grabbed her purse and threw it at her friend. Luke moved instinctively and blocked the small but heavy bag from hitting Jenny.

    "You bitch!" Jenny jumped out of the couch and lunged at Rose but Luke hugged her and blocked her from attacking.

    Rose looked startled at how things suddenly developed to the current situation. Angry tears started pouring out of her eyes. "I just love Big Brother Liwei so much, Jenny!!! I love him!!! I want Jin Liwei to be mine!!! I¡¯ll do anything to make him mine!!! I can¡¯t live without him, Jenny!!!"

    Jin Jiali had already retreated to a safe corner. Her shock at what happened was clear on her face.

    Jenny finally stopped trying to scratch her friend¡¯s face. She sighed while continuing to hang on to Luke¡¯s skinny arm. "Fine, whatever. Since I can¡¯t convince you otherwise, I¡¯ll support you. Happy now? We¡¯ll just have to make sure that you won¡¯tnd in deeper shit than you¡¯re already in now."

    Rose¡¯s sobs filled the entirety of the small apartment unit. It took some time before she stopped and calmed down.

    Later, Jenny dragged Luke to buy dinner for all of them, using him as a guide in the area while she drove her eye-catching hot pink sports car. Meanwhile, Jin Jiali apanied a swollen-eyed Rose in the apartment unit.

    Rose was in no mood to chat with the teenager, so she locked herself in the bathroom. She washed her face with cold water and looked at her horrible reflection in the mirror.

    Her best friend¡¯s words kept reying in her head. What Jenny said to her was harsh, but deep inside, Rose knew that her friend was right.

    Yes, her n was indeed reckless. Even she knew that much. But she still wanted to try it no matter what. After failing to obtain the man of her dreams, Jin Liwei, failing to reim her CMO position at Jin Corporation, failing the mission her family appointed her with when she came to this country, and now having to suffer the public humiliation caused by the viral spread of those illegally captured sex videos of her, Rose was feeling extremely desperate.

    She had decided to bet everything in this n, no matter how clich¨¦d. It was now all or nothing!

    If she seeded, then she would give the slut Iris Long a painful blow. Jin Liwei would also be hurt in the process, but he was a man. Society was always more forgiving to men of status like him especially in situations like the one Rose nned on creating. Even if her n seeded, it might still not be an ideal situation for her, but she would definitely gain an upper hand against that hateful woman, Iris Long, the cause of all her current misfortunes.

    And if she failed, it would be as Jenny said. Rose would be in deeper shit than she was in right now. However, she didn¡¯t want to worry about it too much. Her father, Romeo Young, would surely be able to do something to save her and clean up after her mess, especially with the mysterious power backing their Young family.

    She wiped the water off her face and looked at her reflection with pure determination.

    "Go crazy, Rose. You have nothing to lose now but that slut Iris Long has everything to lose."

    Then she smiled andughed.

 Chapter 1010 - Document Of Doom

    <h4>Chapter 1010 - Document Of Doom </h4>

    Jenny Tseng and Luke returned to the apartment carrying takeout dishes.

    "Where¡¯s Big Sister Rose?" Luke asked Jin Jiali who was ying with her phone in the living room.

    Jin Jiali gestured towards the bathroom. She heard the creepyughtering from there earlier and it freaked her out.

    The bathroom door finally opened and Rose Young came out. "Oh, you two are here. Perfect timing. I¡¯m hungry. Let¡¯s eat."

    Later, the group was finishing up their dinner in the living room. Luke and Jin Jiali were both behaving in a very cautious manner around Rose.

    Jenny dabbed her lips with a paper serviette before facing her best friend. "So Rosie, about your n...."

    "What about it?" Rose didn¡¯t look at her, continuing to finish her food.

    "I still think it¡¯s a stupid n."

    Luke and Jin Jiali stiffened, not daring to breathe too loudly, afraid of triggering another meltdown from Rose Young or another fight between the two best friends.

    Surprisingly, Rose remained calm and didn¡¯t react in a negative manner. "I agree that it¡¯s a...risky n. That¡¯s why we need to work on polishing it to increase its probability of sess."

    Jenny sighed. "So you¡¯re still not giving up, huh? Oh well, whatever. I already said that I¡¯ll help you so I will."

    "If we need more people, I can ask our other cousins," Luke said. "I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll all be willing to help you, Big Sister Rose."

    Rose nodded.

    "Should I ask my dad for help?" Jin Jiali asked. "Although my dad got fired from his position at Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors, he still retained some of his old connections...."

    "No! Don¡¯t do that, Jia¡¯er. Uncle Chenggong already has a lot on his te ever since your family got kicked out of the Jin n."

    The teenager pouted and sulked at the reminder that her family no longer belonged to the powerful Jin n.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Jia¡¯er. My dad, your Uncle Romeo, and your dad, Uncle Chenggong, are working on cooperating with each other. Things will get better for all of us. You¡¯ll see."

    "Really?"

    Rose nodded and smiled in aforting way. Her eyes, however, were a little cold.

    Jin Jiali didn¡¯t notice. "Okay, Big Sis. I won¡¯t tell my dad."

    "Rosie, just be honest to the girl," Jenny interrupted. "Tell her that the real reason why you don¡¯t want her to ask her daddy for help is because you don¡¯t want Mr. Jin Chenggong to inform Uncle Romeo about this stupid n of yours. Am I right or am I exactly right? Ahahaha!"

    "Jenny, I don¡¯t want to argue with you about this anymore," Rose said in a warning tone.

    Jenny rolled her eyes before sighing. "Fine, whatever. Anyway, when are wemencing this so-called n?"

    "This Friday."

    "What the botox?! Rosie, have you finally gone cray cray?!"

    Both Luke and Jin Jiali looked surprised and worried as well.

    "This Friday?! That¡¯s not enough time to make any proper preparations to ensure that your ridiculous n will work!"

    Rose looked at all of them with fierce eyes filled with determination. "We¡¯ll have to make it work even if it means that we¡¯ll have to forego sleep. This Friday is the best opportunity to execute our n because Jin Liwei will be treating the other executives for dinner. As long as he¡¯s not in his home or at Jin Corporation where the security is the tightest, we can definitely find an opening and entrap him."

    Jenny pressed the back of her hand on her forehead and groaned. "Oh, god of silicone imnts, please guide us in this craziness!"

    ###

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    Jin Liwei reviewed the document that he justpleted on hisputer with a grave expression. Satisfied at the result, he called for his AI son.

    "Bacon, send this file to your Uncle Zihao. Tell him that if he needs more information, he can call me directly."

    "Understood, Father." Bacon¡¯s golden eyes dimmed as he ran the errand. A couple of minutester, the ck cat AI¡¯s eyes glowed again. "Bacon is back, Father. Uncle Zihao looked satisfied by the information you provided him."

    "Good." Jin Liwei leaned back on his chair and began massaging his temples.

    What he just gave his brother-inw was additional in-depth information about the traitors in the Jin branch families that Bacon listed in their family¡¯s virtual ck notebook. He had to call and consult Grandma Li and his mother, Huang Yuyan, for some of them. Fortunately, both his grandmother and mother didn¡¯t ask too many questions about his sudden interest in those rtives. The two of them hadplete confidence in his leadership and trusted his judgment as the head of the Jins.

    He hoped that the document would make it easier for his brother-inw and Shadow Winds to mete out whatever punishment they nned for those traitors. It was, in simple terms, a document of doom.

    Sighing, he rose from his seat and walked towards therge windows of his home office to stare at the night sky outside and rest his tired eyes. He had been extremely busy ever since he returned to work after his honeymoon especially after everything that happened with Rose Young and the media mess her firing caused.

    Still, he made sure toe home in time for dinner and spend enough quality time with his pregnant wife. This meant, however, that he needed to find some time whenever possible toplete extra work at home.

    "Daddy, Mommy just finished her online lesson with Professor Hisakawa," Ketchup informed him, interrupting his silent musing by the window. "Mommy wille downstairs in a bit. Meow~"

    "En." His exhaustion eased a bit at the mention of his wife. "Ketchup, go watch over your brother and make sure that he doesn¡¯t cause any trouble. He¡¯s still grounded."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Don¡¯t worry, macaroni! The cute and mighty Ketchup won¡¯t let my naughty little kitty brother steal anything from Mommy ever again! Meow!"

    "Father, Bacon won¡¯t do it again because it¡¯s not ssy."

    Jin Liwei gave his AI son a stern look. "Good that you know. Don¡¯t ever upset your mom like that again."

    "Yes, Father. Bacon knows."

    "Darling, that incident is over," a melodious voice said from the top of the staircase. "Don¡¯t scold Bacon about that matter anymore. He already apologized to both of us."

 Chapter 1011 - Nervous

    <h4>Chapter 1011 - Nervous </h4>

    "Alright, I won¡¯t scold our son anymore about a past misdeed," Jin Liwei replied while hurrying up the staircase to escort his wife.

    Irisughed at her husband¡¯s actions, her eyes twinkling with amusement. It was just climbing down the stairs from her loft office to his main home office floor, yet he still insisted on holding her waist and guiding her down.

    "Liwei, you don¡¯t always have to be careful with me. I can at least climb down the stairs by myself."

    "Don¡¯t mind me, love. I just can¡¯t help myself from worrying, especially when I think that you¡¯re carrying two additional humans inside you." He nced down at her t stomach. "You¡¯re not showing yet, but our twins aren¡¯t shy in making their presence known."

    She sighed but there was a soft smile on her face. "The pregnancy symptoms I¡¯m experiencing right now are all normal. Don¡¯t me our babies for making me feel sick. Besides, it¡¯s the two of us who made them, so it¡¯s not their fault foring into our lives."

    Heid his palm on her stomach and gave it a gentle rub. "I¡¯m not ming them. Never. I¡¯m so excited to meet our babies, Evelina."

    "Me, too."

    "Are you still scared?" he asked.

    "A little."

    "Me, too. But it¡¯s okay. I know that we¡¯ll get through this together and continue building our family."

    She nodded and hugged him around the waist, inhaling hisforting scent. He also wrapped her soft body in his arms and inhaled the fragrance of her hair (Orchidia Beauty shampoo and conditioner, of course).

    The husband and wife stayed in that warm embrace, enjoying each other¡¯s presence without caring about anything else in the world. At least, in this moment. The outside world might be chaotic right now with many people wanting to intrude into their private lives especially after everything that happened in the past few days alone. They may not be able to control all the actions of other people, but right here inside their home and within each other¡¯s loving embrace, the two of them felt at peace.

    After some time, Jin Liwei urged them to head to their master suite because he didn¡¯t want his wife to tire herself from standing for too long. He wanted to carry her all the way to their room but she refused.

    "I want to take a walk," she told him.

    "Alright, love."

    Along the way, he noticed that his wife started to fidget. She tried to hide it but his eyes, which were almost always focused on her, couldn¡¯t possibly miss anything about her.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Are you feeling ufortable anywhere? Let me call the doctor¡ª"

    "No! Liwei, I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m just...let¡¯s return to our room first, then I¡¯ll tell you. Okay?"

    He observed her for a little longer to make sure that she was really alright before nodding. Later, the finally arrived in their bedroom. He expected her to immediately tell him what was bothering her, but to his surprise, she extricated herself from him and then headed straight to the bathroom before closing the door.

    It took him a few seconds to process what just happened. When he came to his senses, she already left him alone in their bedroom. He immediately knocked on the bathroom door and twisted the knob a few times but it didn¡¯t open. She locked the door.

    "Love? What¡¯s going on? Are you okay?"

    He pressed his ear against the door and listened. The water was running, so she must be taking a shower. But why didn¡¯t she wait for him? He wanted to shower together with her.

    "Evelina, are you angry at me? Tell me if I did something wrong."

    "Everything¡¯s fine," his wife¡¯s voice called from inside the bathroom. "Don¡¯t worry and just wait for me. I¡¯ll be out soon."

    "Alright. Just call for me if you need anything. I¡¯ll be right here, okay?"

    "Okay."

    Jin Liwei stopped bothering her but didn¡¯t leave the bathroom door to wait for his wife. Even though she told him that everything was fine, he stillbed through his mind if he did anything that might have upset her. He couldn¡¯t think of anything. They had been acting very lovey-dovey with each other right until they reached their room.

    What in the world happened? He had no idea.

    Was this another mood swing? If so, then it couldn¡¯t be helped.

    He continued agonizing over this matter. Unlike his pregnant wife¡¯s usual mood swings, this one didn¡¯t appear extreme. She didn¡¯t look irritable at all. On the contrary, she seemed nervous. He remembered her fidgeting earlier. But why was she nervous?

    About fifteen minutester, Iris finally came out of the bathroom. Her cheeks were rosy from the steam, making her look even more alluring in her husband¡¯s eyes. She was wearing a bathrobe and drying her wet hair with a towel.

    Jin Liwei grabbed her hand and leaned down to kiss her lips. "Are you really okay?"

    She nodded.

    He pulled her to their walk-in closet and took over in drying her hair with a blow dryer. When he was done, he admired their reflection on the vanity mirror. Well, he was mostly admiring his wife¡¯s reflection while she looked distracted.

    He ced the blow dryer on the table and looked at her straight in the eyes in the mirror. "Now can you tell me what¡¯s really going on?"

    Her hands started fidgeting again. He frowned. Now he was beginning to really worry about her.

    "Evelina¡ª"

    She stood up all of a sudden and faced him. "Wait here."

    Before he could react, she walked away and left him again. He snapped back to his senses more quickly this time and immediately followed behind her. Not wanting to annoy her into a worse mood swing, he stayed silent but observed all of her actions.

    Yes, he was right. She was indeed nervous.

    She headed straight to the very end of their walk-in closet to a concealed armoire where their personal safe was located. After keying in the ess code and scanning her fingerprint, she took out arge man envelope from the open safe. Then she handed the envelope to him.

    "For you."

 Chapter 1012 - Spellbound

    <h4>Chapter 1012 - Spellbound </h4>

    Jin Liwei became even more confused by his wife¡¯s actions but he still received the man envelope that she handed him. It was light and thin, but since she was acting so nervous, he suspected that its contents shouldn¡¯t be something simple.

    "What¡¯s this, love?"

    "You¡¯ll know when you open it."

    "Then should I open it now?" He didn¡¯t wait for his wife¡¯s reply and immediately moved to tear the envelope¡¯s seal but she stopped him.

    "No!" Iris tugged his arm. "Let¡¯s return to the bedroom first, okay? Or maybe you should take a shower first...."

    "To the bedroom. I¡¯ll showerter."

    She nodded, still clearly nervous, while holding his arm. They exited their walk-in closet and reached their bedroom. Iris sat on the chaise longue and alternated looking at Jin Liwei and the envelope in his hand.

    He sat beside her. "Can I open it now?"

    "Yes," she replied in Russian.

    He tore the seal. Then he became stunned when he finally saw the contents of the envelope.

    It was a thin pile of photographs. The one on top showed a photo of a breathtakingly beautiful woman with golden-blonde hair and emerald-green eyes. Her subtle smile evoked an air of profound mystery as if she didn¡¯t entirely belong in the mortal world.

    She was so beautiful that Jin Liwei felt like space and time froze around him as he stared at her photo. Even his breathing and heartbeat seemed to stop. With the exception of his wife, there had never been a case that he felt so spellbound by any women especially based on appearance.

    Then he finally realized the identity of the woman in the photo. It felt as if lightning struck the top of his head. Space and time unfroze around him. He started breathing again. His heart thundered almost painfully, feeling as if it was going to leap out of his chest. He whipped his head and faced his wife who was watching him with wary eyes.

    "Evelina," he whispered. "Is this...was this you?"

    She slowly nodded but didn¡¯t say anything.

    He looked at the photo again and traced the stunning face with his fingers. This was how his wife looked like in her past life?

    He always thought that his wife was beautiful now as Long Xin and that there would never be any other woman in the world who could be more beautiful than her in his eyes. Tonight, however, he was proven wrong. There was indeed another woman who was more beautiful than his wife. And that woman was his wife¡¯s previous self before she died in her past life.

    "Evelina Armanovna Vetrova," he whispered like a spiritual chant.

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t tear his eyes away from her photo. How could a woman be so beautiful? Was she human?

    "Were you really human?"

    Iris grabbed a fistful of his shirt and shook it. "Liwei!"

    He turned to her and saw her anxious face. His amazement remained but he started recovering his stunned senses. The corner of his lips hooked up in a smile.

    "I already told you before that I was human," she muttered. "How can you still doubt me?"

    He chuckled, reached over, and stroked her cheek. "I¡¯m not doubting you. My Evelina. So beautiful."

    Her eyshes fluttered as she studied his expression, trying to see if his words were truly honest. "Really?"

    "En. I¡¯ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you, Evelina."

    "Do you...like how I looked like before?"

    "En." His reply was quick without any hesitation.

    The anxiety on her face eased. Then her eyes began twinkling with mischief. She leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder as they looked together at the photo of herself as Evelina Vetrova.

    "How can you be sure that this was how I really looked like? What if I tell you that I¡¯m pranking you and I just printed some photos of a random woman?"

    "I¡¯m sure that this was you."

    She looked at him, a little surprised and also intrigued at the certainty in his tone. "How are you so sure?"

    "I feel it here." He ced his hand on his chest directly over his heart. "When you searched your name Evelina Vetrova on the inte before and I tried guessing which one was you from among the image search results, I didn¡¯t feel anything looking at the photos of those different women. But this photo right here, I feel an instant connection. I don¡¯t know how to exin it. I just know that this was you."

    There was now an extremely pleased smile on Iris¡¯ face. "Yes, you¡¯re right. This woman is...was me, Evelina."

    Feeling excited like a kid opening a present, Jin Liwei looked at the other photos. There were a total of five photos of his wife when she was Evelina Vetrova in different poses.

    The first one was the beautiful candid photo of her that stunned him into speechless amazement.

    There was also a photo of her side profile while ying the piano in what looked like the inside of a castle.

    "This was my music room at the Vetrov estate in Russia," she told him a soft voice.

    He looked at the next photo. It was of a younger Evelina sitting on the floor in a room filled withputers and many other devices. She was building what appeared to be a smallptop that looked like a leather-bound journal. The ce looked simr to herputer room at her current Gold Heights penthouse but only with older-lookingputer models. Well, the photo was shot years ago.

    "I was around fourteen here before Cross Academy scouted me."

    His eyes were soft as he stared at the photo of his wife when she was still a teenager. Even when she was young, she had already been such a gorgeous girl. The innocence and purity in her eyes were also more prominent, eliciting a strong protective instinct within Jin Liwei.

    He wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him, and kissed her forehead. Then he flipped to the next photo.

    It was of an adult Evelina together with three familiar-looking men. Jin Liwei squinted his eyes and studied the photo more carefully.

    "Are these Headmaster Erwan Dupont, Maestro Ludovico De Luca, and Mr. Enrique Valdez?"

 Chapter 1013 - The Vetrov Siblings

    <h4>Chapter 1013 - The Vetrov Siblings </h4>

    "Yes, it¡¯s them," Iris replied. "This was taken at Cross Academy¡¯s main building. You¡¯ve been there before."

    "En, I remember that ugly castle." Jin Liwei paused before giving his wife a deep look. "I also remember why I followed you to Cross Academy and everything that happened after that."

    His words reminded her of what happened back then. It was around the time when the original Iris Long¡¯s remnant was getting stronger due to its uncontroble desire for revenge. When Jin Liwei confessed his involvement in concealing Fan Luo¡¯s crime that caused the original Iris Long¡¯s fatal car crash, the remnant went berserk and beat him up. In the end, she decided to leave him to resolve the remnant¡¯s revenge.

    Then after allowing the remnant to punish Fan Luo and the rm Girls with the help of her big brother and Shadow Winds, she went into depression due to guilt. She ended up running away to Switzend with Grandpa Lu. From there, the old man dragged her to Cross Academy where the unique top-notch academic environment which was very familiar to her from her past as an alumni managed to snap her out of her dark slump. Her other emotions resurfaced, most especially her yearning for Jin Liwei.

    After an emotional phone call, he flew all the way to Switzend and reunited with her at Cross Academy. Their rtionship, at that point, had taken a drastic change from being mere lovers to being the love of each other¡¯s lives.

    The next events after that deepened their bond and strengthened theirmitment to each other. It was at Cross Academy that she told him "I love you" for the first time. Then after leaving the academy with her two music instructors, they travelled to Germany before staying in Italy where Jin Liwei finally and formally asked her hand in marriage with a beautiful and memorable proposal.

    Remembering all of those events caused her eyes to water. Who would¡¯ve thought that they would marry a yearter? She was now even pregnant with twins.

    The two of them hade such a long way from back when they first met each other in person at that hotel lobby. It wasn¡¯t exactly the most pleasant first encounter for the two of them, yet here they were now, deeply in love and happily married and expecting their first human children together. It was indeed quite the emotional journey with many ups and downs for the two of them.

    "Don¡¯t cry, love." Jin Liwei wiped a stray tear before it could fall from the corner of her eye.

    She smiled and shook her head. "Hormones."

    He kissed her forehead andforted her.

    Wanting to return to the topic about the photo they were looking at, she pointed at one of the men beside her. "Look at Teacher Enrique. He still looks the same even now. It¡¯s like he never ages."

    "En. His long shaggy hair in this photo looks terrible, though."

    "That was the style during those days. He was also still actively performing with his band back then before their vocalist died from drug overdose. I didn¡¯t personally meet their band¡¯s vocalist but I loved¡ªno, I still love his voice. He was able to express and even amplify the powerful emotions of the songs that Teacher Enrique wrote for their band. Even after his death, the power of his voice is immortalized through their band¡¯s music. I want to be like their band one day¡ªimmortalized through my music."

    "You¡¯re already on your way there, love. I believe that you can achieve anything. I¡¯m also right here to support you."

    She gifted him with a sweet smile. "Thank you."

    They continued looking at the two other men in the photo.

    Professor Erwan Dupont, headmaster of Cross Academy, still had some dark blonde hair in the photo, not like his current pure white mane. His eyes, however, remained the same¡ªstern and sharp.

    As for Maestro Ludovico De Luca, he hadn¡¯t gone bald on top of the head yet in the photo. He also looked slimmer than he was now.

    Finally, his eyes returned to the photo of his wife¡¯s past self¡ªEvelina. Despite being surrounded by three older men who were considered legends in their chosen fields, she held her own and didn¡¯t look intimidated by them at all. In fact, her calm confidence and dignified demeanour made her look like she belonged among the three legends standing beside her.

    Something flickered in Jin Liwei¡¯s mind¡ªa memory of something but it was soon gone before he could dwell on it.

    "This is one of the rare photos that I was able to take with people from Cross Academy," Iris said, interrupting Jin Liwei¡¯s meandering thought. "I wasn¡¯t allowed to leave traces of my identity anywhere outside of the Vetrov¡¯s territories. It was for my protection, the weakest Vetrov inbat, from countless enemies."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned serious, knowing that this was a sensitive subject for his wife. There would always be a bitter shadow in her eyes whenever she remembered herck of freedom in her past life.

    She shook her head to rid herself of the shadow from her past life. Then she gestured for him to move on to the final photo.

    He did and his eyes widened. He stared at the photo before turning to his wife. "Is this...?"

    She nodded. "Me and Big Brother Niki."

    The Vetrov siblings.

    Jin Liwei studied the brother and sister in the photo. The siblings didn¡¯t resemble each other that much except for their striking eyes. Both were green but his wife¡¯s eye colour was closer to emerald while Niki¡¯s was like dark green olives. He was also dark-haired while Evelina was a vibrant blonde. Despite these differences, there was no doubt that the siblings were equally stunning in the looks department.

    The brother was devilishly handsome while the sister was like a beautiful angel.

    They looked great together. It was also clear just by their expressions that they cared about each other. Although Niki wasn¡¯t smiling in the photo, the gentleness in his eyes for his sister was obvious.

 Chapter 1014 - Identity Crisis

    <h4>Chapter 1014 - Identity Crisis </h4>

    Jin Liwei was silent while studying the photo of his wife and brother-inw from their past selves.

    "What do you think?" Iris started to look nervous again.

    "Hmm."

    Her hands tightened around his arm, waiting for him to say something.

    "Actually...."

    "Actually?"

    He tapped his finger on his brother-inw¡¯s image. "I was expecting for your brother to look big with bulky muscles like how he transformed my Fifth Brother Zihao¡¯s body. But he¡¯s quite slim in this photo."

    His words distracted her from her nervousness. "Don¡¯t be fooled by what you see on the outside. Big Brother Niki may have looked slim with clothes on but he actually had extremely powerful muscles. I have no doubt in my mind that despite looking smaller back then, he was stronger than he is now as Fifth Brother Zihao. Big Brother started training his body from childhood. He was like a well-oiled, high-performance machine. Even I was in awe at the things he could do with his strength and speed back then."

    Jin Liwei nodded. Although he didn¡¯t witness it with his own eyes, he could imagine his brother-inw¡¯s original prowess when he was still the infamous Niki Vetrov. Just from reading the Vetrov report that his wife prepared for him, Jin Liwei knew that his brother-inw had been an extremely dangerous man.

    He felt a tug on his arm. "Hm? What is it, love?"

    "Now that you¡¯ve seen what I looked like before in my past life, what do you think about me now?" She was unable to conceal the anxiety in her expression.

    His eyes widened in surprise before he frowned. "What do you mean? Evelina, did you think that I would feel differently about you after seeing how you looked like in your past life?"

    She didn¡¯t reply.

    His frown deepened in disbelief. "Look at me."

    She did.

    "Tell me what¡¯s troubling you."

    "I already had these photos ready the day after you told me that you wanted to see photos of me but...it¡¯s only now that I felt ready enough to show them to you. I was...worried about what you¡¯ll feel after seeing my photos."

    He was confused but didn¡¯t speak and instead waited for her to finish exining.

    "What if you don¡¯t like how I looked like before? Does that mean that if we met when I was still Evelina, you won¡¯t fall in love with me? And that you only love me now because I¡¯m in Long Xin¡¯s body?"

    His mouth opened and closed. He couldn¡¯t believe what he was hearing from her.

    "My worries also go the other way. What if you like how I looked like before that you¡¯ll wish that you¡¯re with me in my original body? Will you love me less now?"

    He stared at her. Seeing the genuine worry, no, fear in her eyes, he released a long frustrated breath before running his hand through his hair.

    "Evelina, those words are probably the most offensive thing that you¡¯ve told me ever since we got together."

    She froze for a few seconds. "O-offen...sive? How?"

    "I¡¯m offended because I feel like you¡¯re still doubting my love for you at this point in our rtionship. You really think that I¡¯ll love you less after seeing the difference in your past and current life¡¯s appearances?"

    Now that he was talking like this, he could feel anger rising up from the pit of his stomach like sour acid.

    Iris finally realized that her worries had hurt him. "I...messed up, didn¡¯t I?"

    His lips pressed into a thin, hard line as he did his best to control his anger. He didn¡¯t want to fight with his wife about this matter.

    "I¡¯m not doubting your love. Not at all! I just..." She looked frustrated while trying to express herself. "Is it wrong for me to have these worries, Liwei?"

    It was clear that she was now starting to be agitated. Herplexion changed and didn¡¯t look right either. His anger cooled down in an instant as his concern for her well-being took over.

    "Love, let¡¯s stop this for now. Take a deep breath¡ª"

    "You don¡¯t understand, Liwei! I¡¯m a different person now! I¡¯m Long Xin now but...but I¡¯m not really her! Do you understand?! No, of course you don¡¯t! How could you possibly understand how I feel?! I¡¯m Evelina...I¡¯m Evelina but nobody knows...."

    He pulled her and hugged her tightly, not letting her go even when she resisted. The front of his chest immediately turned damp from her tears.

    "I know that you¡¯re Evelina." He rubbed her trembling back and felt his shirt getting more soaked. "I know who you are, baby. Even if the rest of the world forgets, I won¡¯t. Your Big Brother Niki also won¡¯t forget. He¡¯s in the same situation as you. Look at me."

    She reluctantly lifted her head and looked at him. He pulled tissue from a box on the table and wiped her tears.

    "Please don¡¯t ever doubt my loyalty to you, Evelina. I fell in love with you because of the real you. If you aren¡¯t in this body, I wouldn¡¯t even give Long Xin a second nce. Regardless of which body you¡¯re using, I¡¯ll continue to love you for who you are, so don¡¯t worry about it anymore. Okay?"

    She rubbed her tender cheek against his warm palm before nodding.

    Jin Liwei sighed in relief after seeing her finally calming down. However, he took note of this outburst of hers. It appeared that his wife still had some lingering issues about living as another person. Indeed, he couldn¡¯t fully understand what it must be like. There was also no quick fix for an issue like this.

    His wife needed to resolve this shadow in her heart slowly but surely with time. All he could do was to continue making her feel loved and cherished no matter what.

    A thought entered his mind.

    His wife always appeared hesitant whenever she talked about her past life. He could feel her desire to bury it where it belonged¡ªthe past. Right now, however, it became clear that she could never forget who she was in the past¡ªEvelina Vetrova. And that it was creating some kind of identity crisis with her current life as Iris Long.

    Perhaps it would be better for her to confront her past life in a more unreserved manner instead of trying to run away from it like she had been doing so far.

 Chapter 1015 - Elusive Memory

    <h4>Chapter 1015 - Elusive Memory </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s protective instinct was triggered by his wife¡¯s vulnerability about her two identities in her past and current lives. He didn¡¯t expect that his desire to see a photo of how she looked like in the past as Evelina would distress her like this. He felt sorry for upsetting her but he nevertheless didn¡¯t regret this oue.

    At least he was able to discover this serious underlying issue before it continued festering in his wife¡¯s heart. Now they could start working together to address it before it was toote.

    For now, however, he decided not to say anything about his idea of letting her confront her past life without trying to evade it. He instead reminded himself to discuss it with her on another day when she was calmer. It was not a good idea to agitate or stress her out during this period.

    Iris tugged his hand. "Are you still mad at me?"

    He gave her a soft smile. "No."

    "Sorry."

    "I know, love. Don¡¯t worry about it anymore." He nced at the scattered photos on the table. "Can I keep these?"

    She didn¡¯t reply right away and thought about it for a few moments. "Okay. I printed them for you anyway. But don¡¯t show them to others, especially the photo of me with my brother. Not many people outside the Vetrovs might know about my existence but Big Brother Niki was¡ªis still perhaps the most well-known Vetrov today because of his powerful charisma."

    "En."

    Even without her reminder, Jin Liwei had no intention of showing these photos to other people. He was nning on framing the first solo photo of his wife and keeping it in his office¡¯s desk drawer so that he could take it out and look at it at work. He would instruct Xu Tian first thing in the morning to have a special lock installed on one of his desk drawers.

    The second photo of his wife¡¯s side profile while ying the piano would also get the same treatment. He nned on keeping it in his bedside drawer.

    The third photo of his wife as a teenage girl custom-building a smallptop would also be framed and kept in his home office.

    He would tell the butler to install special locks on the drawers of his bedside table and home office desk. Just imagining that he would be able to constantly look at his wife¡¯s beautiful photos of her past self on a regr basis was enough to make him happy. It might be his new method of rxing his tired mind.

    However, he still took note not to appear too passionate while looking at the photos or his wife might think that her worries wereing true after all. Inwardly sighing, he kissed the top of her head, trying to convey with his actions that he loved her no matter which face or body she was using.

    As for the other two photos, he would just lock them in their hidden personal safe. He wasn¡¯t interested in looking at photos of other men daily.

    He tidied up the photos and sent his wife to bed while he took a quick shower. While water rained down on him, rinsing the soapy bubbles from his body (Orchidia Beauty body wash from Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line, soon to be released), his mind was filled with Evelina¡¯s otherworldly beauty.

    The mind was a powerful thing. He was just imagining it but the image of his wife seemed toe alive. Although he never met her in her past life, he could see her talking, smiling,ughing, singing, and hacking in his mind. It was very easy for him to imagine. All he needed to do was superimpose Evelina¡¯s appearance that he saw in the photos to her current self.

    For him, the two identities were one and the same. He hoped that his wife could resolve the issue of her identity crisis in a simr way. He believed that there was no need to create such a distinct separation between her two identities because she was ultimately still herself deep inside no matter which body or name she was using.

    He stepped out of the shower and started drying himself with a towel. Then once again a faint memory of something flickered in the depths of his mind. But like what happened before, it seemed to escape him. He couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    What was it?

    His mind was still preupied with this elusive thought when he returned to the bedroom.

    "Darling."

    "Hm?" He snapped his attention back to the present and approached the bed with only a towel wrapped around his waist. "Why are you still awake?"

    Iris sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I can¡¯t sleep," she whispered directly to his ear before brushing her lips along his jaw line.

    Something started to harden under his towel. He leaned down and kissed his wife¡¯s lips, slowly pushing her down on the bed with his body. They kissed and fondled each other with no rush. However, the slippery memory popped in his mind again, causing him to stop his actions.

    She sensed his distracted state and pushed him away with a displeased frown. "What¡¯s wrong?"

    He straightened his body and sat beside her on the bed. Iris immediately felt empty without him on top of her. Her frown deepened as she watched him. It was clear that his mind was absorbed thinking of something.

    "Liwei, are you alright?"

    "I¡¯m fine, baby. I just...there¡¯s something that keeps on bothering me but I¡¯m not sure what it is."

    He told her about the elusive memory. Curious, she momentarily forgot her urge to make love with him tonight and began asking him for more details about the memory. To her disappointment, however, he couldn¡¯t remember much.

    "Hmm." She tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure that it actually happened to you?"

    "I don¡¯t know." He sighed before shrugging. "It¡¯s a waste of time thinking about it. Wait here, love. I¡¯ll just dry my hair and we¡¯ll sleep, okay?"

    "I¡¯ll help you dry."

    He let her. They headed to their walk-in closet. He helped her dry her hair earlier and now she was returning the favour. Blow drying his wet hair didn¡¯t take as long as hers. However, he enjoyed these short moments of her pampering him.

    While she busied herself with drying his hair, she began humming a song. It sounded familiar. He remembered that it was the same song that she sang to him as luby while he grieved after discovering for the first time that his Fifth Brother Zihao was dead and the one upying his sworn brother¡¯s body was actually his brother-inw.

    His wife¡¯s melodious voice was soft yet still clear enough to be heard above the whirring blow dryer. It just went on to show the high quality of her voice and her top-notch vocal skills.

    The Italian aria was supposed to be emotional, yet she transformed it into aforting song instead. It was like a delicate but still powerful salve to one¡¯s troubled soul. Jin Liwei¡¯s distracted mind began to clear as he savoured his wife¡¯s beautiful singing voice.

    Then it was as if lightning struck him. He gasped as the slippery memory finally revealed itself in his mind.

    "Liwei?" Iris turned off the blow dryer and looked at him in concern. "What happened? Why do you look shocked?"

    He didn¡¯t answer because several quick images shed inside his racing mind. He stood up all of a sudden and carried his rmed wife before running back to the bedroom.

    "Liwei! What are you doing?! Calm down!"

    He ced her on the chaise longue, and then grabbed the envelope on the table. He removed the photos inside and stared at Evelina¡¯s beautiful solo shot.

    "Why are you looking at them again?"

    He faced her. "I remember."

    "What do you remember?"

    "Evelina."

    "Yes? Liwei, you¡¯re acting so weird right now."

    He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before sitting down beside her. The photo was still in his hand but his eyes were focused on her face, intending to closely observe her reaction.

    "Have you ever been to my university in Boston before?"

    She blinked a few times at the unexpected subject of his question. "No."

    He frowned. "Are you sure?"

    "I haven¡¯t gone to America yet ever since waking up in this body and starting to live as Long Xin."

    "No, that¡¯s not what I mean. I¡¯m asking if you ever visited my university as Evelina."

    "Oh." She tilted her head to the side and thought about it. Then her eyebrows rose. "Yes. As a matter of fact, I did visit your university before."

    His eyes lit up. "Really? Do you remember when?"

    "Hmm, yes. My brother helped me sneak out of our Russian estate and then we flew straight to America. Big Brother had some important business to attend in Boston so he left me to explore the ce with his subordinates. Your university is famous so I went there to see what it¡¯s like and how itpares to Cross Academy. Why are you asking me this?"

    She looked at him in confusion, not understanding at all why he was asking her this question with such a weird expression on his face. Did her outburst from earlier angered him too much that he went cuckoo in the head?

    No, that shouldn¡¯t be the case. Her husband wasn¡¯t the fragile type. He wouldn¡¯t break so easily like that. Then why was he acting so oddly like this right now?

    His heart jumped and started racing with excitement.

    "Evelina, I think we¡¯ve met before."

 Chapter 1016 - That Was You?

    <h4>Chapter 1016 - That Was You? </h4>

    Iris gave her husband an incredulous look. "I don¡¯t think so, darling. Some of my past life¡¯s memories might be bing hazy as time passes by but I have quite a good memory. Unless you looked different when you were younger, I¡¯ll surely remember it if I met my own husband before."

    "Hmmm." Jin Liwei¡¯s forehead wrinkled.

    Was he mistaken? Maybe the stunning woman he saw years ago at his university library wasn¡¯t his wife. After all, he only caught a glimpse of the woman back then. The memory, however, only became more prominent in his mind. It was bothering him so much that he might not be able to fall asleep tonight if he didn¡¯t get a clear answer about his hunch once and for all.

    "Wife."

    "Hm?"

    "I want to tell you a story. Will you listen to your husband?"

    "Of course. What is it?"

    He took her hands and started massaging her soft palms. His eyes continued staring at her face to observe her reaction.

    "It was summer time when I just graduated and received my bachelor¡¯s degree. Instead of returning home to see my family here in China, I decided to stay in Boston and take some advance sses to finish my elerated MBA degree early. I was studying everyday and spending a lot of time in the least crowded library at the university."

    Iris was not sure where his story was headed but she could sense that telling it was important to him. She had no idea why, though. However, she still nodded to encourage him to continue speaking.

    "One day, I forgot to bring one textbook from my required reading list so I decided to borrow it from the library instead of wasting time getting it all the way from my apartment. The librarian instructed me to get the book from the upper floors. There weren¡¯t many students who frequented that particr library so I thought that I would be the only one upstairs."

    His eyes staring at her became sharper and...expectant, making her feel even more confused.

    "On the floor where the textbook that I needed was located, I heard someone singing. At first, I was annoyed that someone would have the audacity to make noise inside a library that was supposed to be a quiet ce for everyone. But as I walked nearer to the source of the singing, my attitude changed. Why? Because the person¡¯s singing voice was the most beautiful that I¡¯ve ever heard in my entire life."

    Iris couldn¡¯t stop herself from curling her lips. He always told her that her singing voice was the most beautiful that he had ever heard in his entire life. Although she wasn¡¯t conceited to believe that her voice was the very best in the world, she still felt pleased that her own husband believed her to be the very best. Yet now he was telling her that there was someone who was better than her in his heart?

    She attempted to snatch her hands out of his hold but he didn¡¯t allow her. On the contrary, he held her hands even tighter. She snorted and turned her head away, refusing to look at him. His face looked very annoying to her at the moment. She became even more annoyed after hearing his light chuckle. She turned her head to face him again and red at her annoying husband¡¯sughing face.

    "The song the woman sang sounded exquisite."

    Her eyes narrowed and became dangerous. "Oh? So it was a woman?"

    "En."

    She clenched her jaw hard. "Was she beautiful?"

    "En."

    "Jin. Li. Wei," she growled each syble low in her throat. "Were you attracted to that woman?"

    "Hmm."

    "What ¡¯hmm¡¯? What does that mean? Does it mean ¡¯hmm, yes¡¯ or ¡¯hmm, maybe¡¯?!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression was serious, but in Iris¡¯ anger, she failed to see the amusement twinkling in his eyes. She didn¡¯t even know exactly why she was getting angry right now.

    It shouldn¡¯t be a big deal if deep inside he thought that there was someone else who had a more beautiful singing voice than her. But did he have to tell it to her right now? Especially when he had been telling her all this time that she was the best singer in his heart. And now he was telling her that the person was a beautiful woman, even answering in such a vague manner when she asked him if he felt attracted to the woman.

    Her nostrils red and her muscles quivered as the urge to beat up someone filled her. She wasn¡¯t usually a violent person, but right now, she felt like a wild beast whose territory was being invaded by stray vermin.

    Jin Liwei leaned forward, intending to pacify her with a kiss, but she evaded him.

    "Calm down, love."

    "Calm down?! You¡¯re telling me to calm down?! Tell me, Jin Liwei, Liam Jin, Evelina¡¯s husband, father to all my children, and sperm provider to my ovaries. Tell me clearly¡ªand don¡¯t you dare lie to me¡ªif you were attracted to that beautiful woman you met in Boston!"

    Despite her fit of temper, he maintained hisposure. He even had the nerve to drawl his answer as if what they were talking about was nothing.

    "At that time, I didn¡¯t think that I was attracted to that woman because I only caught a glimpse of her. But thinking back to it now...."

    "Jin Liwei, I¡¯m telling you that if you dare¡ª"

    "Thinking back to it now, I realize that, yes, I was indeed attracted to that beautiful woman with an exquisite, heavenly singing voice. No, I am still very much attracted to her."

    Iris¡¯ mouth fell open, her breath hitched, and then her eyes turned red. Then she let out a series of furious Russian expletives.

    Jin Liwei only understood a few phrases and even he couldn¡¯t help but wince. His wife rarely cursed. But when she did, it meant that she was truly angered. It appeared that he had gone too far this time.

    "Love¡ª"

    "Jin Liwei, you dolt! Even if you feel that way, do you really need to say it to my face?! What do you hope to aplish by telling me this?! Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯re hoping to reunite with that woman! You liar! You told me that you¡¯ve never been attracted to anyone before me! That you¡¯ve never had sex with anyone besides me! And that I¡¯m the first and only one you¡¯ve ever fallen in love with! If you dare to chase after her¡ª"

    He pulled her into a tight hug and refused to release her even when she began struggling in earnest to escape from his embrace. He felt a sharp pain on his shoulder where she bit him hard, but he still didn¡¯t loosen his arms around her. She was free to vent her anger on him this time.

    Then he rubbed her back with a soothing pressure and started humming the melody of his now favourite Italian aria. His voice might not be the best but he could at least hold a tune without embarrassing himself especially if it was just simple humming. After all, his own flesh and blood brother, Jin Chonglin, was a superstar musician.

    The Italian aria¡¯s melody and his tender ministrations proved to be effective in calming his wife. She softened in his arms but he could sense that she was still pissed off at him.

    "Evelina."

    "Hmph."

    He continued massaging her back, reminding him of when he had to pet a grumpy Ice Cream. "Did you know that the beautiful woman sang this Italian aria in the library? I don¡¯t speak or understand much Italian but I felt the emotions through her voice."

    This time, the anger and jealousy overwhelming her started subsiding a little, reced by curiosity. This particr Italian aria that he liked so much that he often requested that she sing it for him wasn¡¯t that popr in the ssical music world. People who knew the aria were few and far between so she was interested in the woman that her husband was talking about, even though she wanted to pull the woman¡¯s hair out for seducing her husband.

    "After the song ended, the woman told me that I was rude for eavesdropping. I remember that she had a very ssy British ent."

    Iris frowned and pushed Jin Liwei¡¯s chest to create some space between them so that she could take a proper look at his face. Her head was tilted to the side as her curiosity grew.

    "I told her that it¡¯s rude to make a noise inside the library."

    "Huh?" Her brows furrowed as something flickered in her mind¡ªa simr memory.

    He smiled upon seeing her expression. "She asked me if her singing was so horrible that I treat it as noise."

    She gasped. Her eyes widened. She looked at him in astonishment. "You...."

    "Guess what I said?"

    Her lips trembled. "You said to her...¡¯You misunderstand. You sang well.¡¯" She clutched the front of his shirt and shook it. "Am I right?"

    His smile widened. "En. You¡¯re 100% right."

    A shaky breath escaped from her ck mouth. Her anger and jealousy disappeared in an instant. They were now reced by a great sense of wonder, amazement, and disbelief. Her eyes watered and her heart pounded.

    "Liwei...."

    He touched her face, stroking it. "Evelina, that woman back then was you...right?"

    She bit her lip before nodding. "Yes, I think so. I remember it now."

    "Then this means that we¡¯ve really met before."

    He was ready to wipe her tears if needed but they didn¡¯t fall. What fell instead was a hard smack on his chest. His eyes widened in surprise at her unexpected reaction.

    "So you were that rude jerk who called my singing noise! That was you?! Hmph!"

 Chapter 1017 - Fate Or Coincidence?

    <h4>Chapter 1017 - Fate Or Coincidence? </h4>

    Jin Liwei was taken aback by his wife¡¯s unexpected reaction. Did she not feel the same impression of destiny between the two of them after discovering that they had already met years ago when she was still Evelina Vetrova?

    He nced down at the two clear red handprints on his naked chest. The smack didn¡¯t really hurt. It just sounded loud because her hands hit his flesh directly. However, his wife hitting his chest and getting mad at him for such an odd reason sent him into confusion. Now he felt a bit uncertain on how to deal with his fuming wife, so he chose to do what he believed to be the safest option whenever she was angry.

    "Sorry for being a rude jerk to you that time, Evelina. If I only knew back then that you¡¯d eventually be my wife, I would never have dared to be so impolite with you. I would¡¯ve chased you right there and then and made you my wife sooner."

    Iris tried maintaining her angry re but her heart was already softening as soon as she saw the redness on her husband¡¯s chest where she smacked him. And of course, his sincere words of apology were like a gentle spray of tender feelings that finally extinguished the dying embers of her anger.

    The truth of the matter was that she wasn¡¯t really mad at his rude behaviour during their surprising encounter years ago. What made her angry was how he deliberately teased her while telling her about the encounter, causing her to misunderstand his attraction to an unknown woman.

    An intense feeling of possessiveness for her husband flooded through her, overwhelming her so much that she could barely control her vtile emotions. She even wanted to fight with the unknown woman and pull all her hair out, only to discover that the woman was actually her!

    Now she felt a little stupid. How dare he make her jealous of herself?!

    Too evil!

    She almost dragged her sinful husband to the bed and pushed him down under her in order to punish¡ª<i>ehem ehem</i>¡ªto "demonstrate" to him how he would never find another woman like her in the world. How dare he fancy another woman and talk about his crush to his pregnant wife?

    But since he already apologized, she no longer had the heart to stay mad at him especially for such a petty reason as feeling jealous of herself. She sighed and started caressing her husband¡¯s chest, feeling a little guilty for hitting him during the heat of the moment.

    "It¡¯s fine now," she said in a much gentler voice. "No need to apologize for what happened years ago. If you didn¡¯t remind me of it, I wouldn¡¯t even remember. Besides, we were total strangers back then."

    He caught her hand on his chest and lifted it to his lips before turning it over to kiss her soft palm. "Not strangers."

    She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean ¡¯not strangers¡¯? We didn¡¯t know each other at all back then so we wereplete strangers, Liwei."

    "We might not know each other that time, but the fact that we¡¯ve met before even if it was only for a brief moment proves that we have fate together. That¡¯s what I believe. Don¡¯t you think so, too?"

    Her heart trembled, touched by the conviction in his voice. When he put it that way, she also wanted to believe that maybe the two of them were really fated to be together.

    However, there was a skeptical part of her thinking that it might only be a coincidence. Although she thought that this might be the case, she held her tongue and didn¡¯t say it out loud especially after looking at her husband¡¯s passionate and "enlightened" expression. Sighing, she couldn¡¯t help but admit to herself that she was still far from reaching her husband¡¯s level of romantic sensibility.

    "You said that if you knew back then that I would eventually be your wife, that you¡¯d never have dared to be so rude with me," she said, redirecting the subject away from the talk of fate. "And that you would¡¯ve chased after me and married me."

    "En." He showered another bunch of light kisses on her hand that he was holding.

    "I¡¯m d that we didn¡¯t fall in love back then."

    He frowned. "Why?"

    "Liwei, have you already forgotten my identity at that time? If we fell in love when I was still Evelina Vetrova, then that would be the definition of true tragedy."

    His eyes widened in realization. Then he pulled her into his embrace, rubbing her back again to soothe her.

    "It would¡¯ve been almost close to impossible for us to be together that time because I was a Vetrov daughter. For one thing, I don¡¯t think my brother would¡¯ve approved of you because you don¡¯t belong to the criminal underworld. And I also wouldn¡¯t want you to be embroiled in such a dangerous world where you can¡¯t even fall asleep peacefully at night because enemies might assassinate you. You¡¯ll have to watch out for every little suspicious thing whenever you go somewhere because you might get attacked if you be careless for even just a moment. It¡¯s a life that makes you paranoid all the time. You can¡¯t trust anybody, not even your own family members.

    "And the only way to survive was to be more brutal, more merciless, and more inhuman than all your enemies. That was the reason why the Vetrovs had reigned supreme in the international criminal underworld for several generations. The Vetrovs had been the most brutal, most merciless, and most inhuman among all the criminal organizations in the world.

    "So you see, Liwei? If we really ended up together back then, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate to leave you in a heartbeat even if it would cause me a lifetime of pain because it would be for the sake of your safety. I would rather sacrifice my own happiness than bring harm to a person that I love."

    Jin Liwei lifted her and then ced her on hisp. The towel wrapped around his waist loosened a little. She felt his thing under the towel start to harden as soon as she sat on it, but his touches remained gentle and nonsexual. He was focused onforting her and not on seduction.

    "You¡¯re right," he murmured while kissing her forehead. "Meeting and falling in love back then would¡¯ve been extremely difficult for the two of us. It wasn¡¯t the right time. You didn¡¯t have the sense of freedom and security to do anything you wanted when you were still Evelina. I wasn¡¯t the same Jin Liwei back then either. I was too busy studying and training myself to seed my father¡¯s position as the next head of the n and Jin Corporation. If I fell in love before achieving my goals, then I wouldn¡¯t be the same Jin Liwei that I am now.

    "I would¡¯ve also made a difficult choice like you. Either abandon my n and Jin Corporation so that I could fight to be with you, Evelina Vetrova, or force myself to forget you and continue pursuing my original goals. If I abandoned the n and thepany to be with you, then I would be reduced to an average man with no power or connections to protect someone like you. But if I forget about you, then I¡¯m sure that it would be the greatest regret of my life.

    "That¡¯s why even though you had to experience something so tragic in your past life, I¡¯m still d to have met you after you¡¯ve been reborn as Long Xin. You now have the freedom to do whatever you want in life, chase after your own happiness, and fall in love with me."

    She nodded, her eyes watering.

    He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Our first encounter at my university in Boston wasn¡¯t the right time for us. But our meeting in that hotel lobby when I saw you reading a Russian book¡ªthat was the right time for us."

    "Yes."

    "You might not be in your own body anymore and no longer using your original name, but I hope that you know that I fell in love with you and not Long Xin. I fell in love with the person inside this body. It¡¯s you, Evelina. Only you."

    She sniffed and blinked back the tears threatening to fall down her eyes. "Y-yes."

    He smiled at her, looking straight into her eyes. "I love you, Evelina. So much."

    "I love you too, Liwei."

    They stayed embracing each other on the chaise longue. The sound of flowing water from the wall-mounted waterfall fountain in their bedroom gradually rxed them from their emotional conversation.

    In a much better mood, Iris began talking about her own memory of the day when they encountered each other in Boston.

    "I performed with a street piano. It was the first time that I performed in front of a crowd and it felt amazing!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes narrowed. "Did you perhaps sing <i>¡¯We Will Rock You¡¯</i>"?

    She gasped.

    "Ah. So it was you."

    "Did you watch me?"

    "Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t make it in time. You already left when I arrived. But I remember my friends raving about you."

    She looked a little disappointed.

    "They wanted to show me the photos and videos they took of you during your street performance but for some reason...." His voice trailed and his eyes widened upon realizing something. "Ah, right. You were already a hacker back then."

    She grinned. "Yes, I deleted all records of my street performance that day." Then she sighed. "I didn¡¯t want to but I had to do it."

 Chapter 1018 - Seeds Of Destiny

    <h4>Chapter 1018 - Seeds Of Destiny </h4>

    "Don¡¯t feel sad, love," Jin Liwei told her while looking straight into her eyes. "You didn¡¯t have the luxury to pursue your dreams in your past life but the situation is different now. You now have extremely loyal fans, the ck Stars, and many other people who would pay to listen to your music and watch you perform on stage. There¡¯s no need to hack and delete your presence in the world anymore. Now you can leave your mark in history as much as you want."

    Iris gave him a bright smile. "You¡¯re right. I shouldn¡¯t feel sad but grateful and d instead. The opportunity that I had been waiting for literally my entire past life has nowe. This is my time."

    "En. It¡¯s your time to shine. And <i>our</i> time to love each other and be happy together while building our family."

    "Yes." Her smile widened and became brighter.

    Her mood improving once again, she continued talking about her one-day mini adventure at Jin Liwei¡¯s university in Boston years ago. She told him about meeting an adorable little girl and an equally adorable puppy.

    "I let the girl watch some cartoons on myptop while I yed with the puppy. Then the girl¡¯s parents arrived. The girl then gave me a pack of mints before leaving with her parents." She chuckled while reminiscing about the amusing memory.

    Jin Liwei took a sharp inhale. "Did you eat the mints?"

    She thought about it for a moment before nodding.

    His expression turned weird.

    "Hm? What¡¯s wrong, darling? Why do you look like that?"

    "Evelina." His whisper was filled with amazement.

    "What is it?"

    "I met the girl and her puppy that day, too."

    She blinked. "Really? You did?"

    He nodded. "Both of them crashed into me and my friends while they were running."

    "Were they okay?"

    "En. I caught the girl in time before she careened to the ground. Myptop wasn¡¯t so lucky, though. The screen got cracked."

    "I¡¯m d that they were fine."

    "I¡¯m pretty sure that I met them before you did."

    She raised an eyebrow. "How can you be sure about that? Oh. Is it because her parents weren¡¯t with her yet?"

    "Well, that¡¯s one reason."

    "What¡¯s the other reason?"

    He grinned. "You ate the mints I gave the little girl."

    Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. "Those were your mints?!"

    "En." His grin became wider.

    "Oh."

    Jin Liwei threw his head back andughed out loud, releasing all of his joy, wonder and amazement. His deep, masculineughter reverberated throughout their entire bedroom. He looked so silly that Iris couldn¡¯t help butugh with him.

    Then he shifted the way he was holding her and stood up all of a sudden while carrying her in his arms. She gasped and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. This was the second time tonight that he lifted her up without any warning. It seemed that her husband was on a roll today.

    His sudden movement caused the towel wrapped around his waist to loosen before finally falling to the ground. She felt his hard thing poking at her backside.

    "Liwei!"

    He was stillughing as he carried her back towards their bed. Despite his excited state, he still made sure that he was as gentle as possible whileying her down on the bed.

    She didn¡¯t unwrap her arms around his neck and pulled him down with her on the bed. A sigh of satisfaction puffed out of her smiling lips.

    "How amazing, Liwei. It seems that our encounter at the library wasn¡¯t the only incident that connected us back then."

    He gave her mouth a loud, smacking kiss, making her giggle. "You ate my mints."

    "I did." Sheughed when he gave her another loud, smacking kiss, this time on her cheek.

    He lifted himself a little so that they could look in each other¡¯s eyes clearly. His expression was still joyful but there was now a touch of seriousness.

    "Those mints were like seeds¡ª<i>my</i> seeds¡ªthat nted themselves in you after you ate them. But because it wasn¡¯t the right time yet, it didn¡¯t germinate while you were still Evelina Vetrova. It was only when you got reborn into who you are now that the seeds germinated. We met each other again and we both know what happened. I immediately became attracted to you, wanted you to be mine no matter what, and fell so crazily in love with you."

    She stroked his hair, then his face, while looking at his shining eyes filled with passion and love for her. "I think you¡¯re right."

    "I <i>am</i> right." His tone was certain. "Maybe the little girl and her puppy were our Cupid, tying our destinies together."

    Only a few moments earlier, she felt skeptical about her husband¡¯s im that their encounter at the library years ago was fate. She thought that it was more likely to be just a coincidence.

    Now, however, she began changing her mind especially after all of things that connected them back then in her past life.

    The Italian aria she sang in the library which he rudely eavesdropped.

    Their encounter with the same pair of girl and puppy.

    And finally, the pack of mints that originally came from him but ended up with her.

    One time was coincidence.

    Second time was still coincidence¡ªa rather lucky and amazing coincidence.

    Third time was perhaps as Jin Liwei imed¡ªdestiny.

    And indeed, that was what he kept on repeating as he rained light kisses on her face.

    "We¡¯re fated, Evelina. Our destinies have been tied with each other so long ago. I believe we are. I know we are. Those incidents connecting us are proof that we belong together."

    It was like a mantra that he kept on chanting, gradually hypnotizing her into also believing.

    "Yes, Liwei. We¡¯re fated. We belong together."

    She wrapped her legs around his waist, letting his hard thing poke her where she was already starting to get hot and wet for him. He groaned and returned to kissing her lips, sucking on them before sticking his tongue inside her mouth.

    Their tongues intertwined in a dance that they were already both so familiar with. This kiss, however, felt more special and intimate than the ones they shared before. Their bond seemed to have grown stronger and deeper tonight. They felt more connected with each other especially after discovering that they met years ago while she was still living in her original body as Evelina Vetrova.

    Jin Liwei was now fully erect, yet he was not in a hurry to plunge himself inside her. His priority right now was in pleasuring his wife, his amazing wife, who he separately met in her two different bodies. It should¡¯ve been an unbelievable notion, but to him, it was the cherry on top of his conviction that they were destined for each other.

    Iris moaned when his mouth trailed wet kisses from her neck to her upper chest. She was still wearing her nightdress but it was already in a mess with the skirt hiked up her thighs and the cor exposing the top of her full and aching breasts.

    His hands brushed her nipples through the thin material of her nightdress. Knowing that she was extra sensitive to touch on her breasts due to her pregnancy, he worked hard to experiment and learn the right amount of stimtion to give her shapely mounds without hurting her.

    She gasped and closed her eyes. Her body arched upwards, craving more of his body heat. His scent that she loved so much made her feel sofortable. She sighed in satisfaction.

    Jin Liwei was moving his hand up her thighs when he felt his wife turning soft andx in his arms. He froze because this feeling was already familiar to him as well.

    "Love?"

    As expected, there was no reply. He looked up and saw that she was already breathing in a deep and regr rhythm. A helpless chuckle escaped from his moist and slightly swollen lips. He nced at the clock and saw that midnight had long passed.

    Ah, no wonder.

    It was already long past his wife and their twins¡¯ bedtime. There was nothing he or his wife could do about it. She would fall asleep whenever their twin babies demanded that she sleep immediately no matter what.

    Sighing, he first kissed his wife before kissing her t stomach next where their twin babies were growing. After arranging them in their usual,fortable positions, he pulled her close to him, leaving almost no space between the two of them.

    His erection was still painfully hard but there was no thought of relieving himself using his hand. He would just save it after they woke up.

    Morning sex wasn¡¯t a bad idea. Not at all.

    Looking forward to it, he embraced his wife more tightly, closed his eyes, and followed her into deep sleep.

    ###

    <i>Friday.</i>

    All employees of Jin Corporation and all its subsidiarypanies in the country and abroad received an exciting surprise during lunch time when a buffet-style catering meal was provided for them. Their lunch time was also extended to three hours so that they could fully enjoy their meals. They learned that it was their boss¡¯ post-celebration of his marriage to his wife, celebrity Iris Long.

    It wasn¡¯t only Jin Corporation who enjoyed a sumptuous lunch buffet catering. Iris Long¡¯spanies¡ªOrchidia Beauty, Monkey, and Gold Heights¡ªalso went into celebration mode.

    Of course, she didn¡¯t forget about the lone employee of her perfumepany, Libert¨¦ (formerly known as Sang Bleu). Although the renamedpany was still inactive, its CEO Clover Chua wasn¡¯t forgotten. Iris and Jin Liwei arranged a French chef to personally cook a meal for her in France.

 Chapter 1019 - All The Shocking News

    <h4>Chapter 1019 - All The Shocking News </h4>

    The post-wedding celebration at both Jin Liwei and Iris Long¡¯spanies was sorge-scale especially with Jin Corporation¡¯s international influence that it even got on the news. Employees proudly posted photos of their lunch on their social media ounts, garnering the attention of otherizens outside their circles.

    Many regarded the sumptuous buffet lunch as an equivalent to the newlyweds¡¯ banquet to those who weren¡¯t invited to the small, extremely private wedding. The buffet lunch might only be for three hours and the employees still had to return to work afterwards but they felt good because their bosses hadn¡¯t forgotten to celebrate their wedding with them.

    Despite the fact that Iris Long had been lying low in thest couple of months and limiting her public appearances to a bare minimum, her name along with Jin Liwei had be a regr sight on the headlines after the sessive bombshells the couple dropped in this week alone.

    First was the shocking announcement of their marriage just this past Monday through the popr<i> ¨¤ Mode</i> magazine. It came from out of nowhere and sent the general public in an uproar.

    Next was the super enticing special contest hosted by Jin Liwei in honour of his new wife, Iris Long. Only official members of her fan club, the ck Stars, were eligible to enter and win the eye-popping prizes estimated to be worth at around 100 million RMB. So many people from across the country signed up to be ck Stars just to enter the contest, hoping to win one of the numerous prizes. All they needed to do was praise Iris Long to the high heavens. How hard could it be? They could only do their best to stand out from the rest of the pack with their creativity and hope that Jin Liwei would like what they submitted.

    Then came another shocking news. This time, superstar Jin Chonglin was added to the mix. The fact that someone of his status in showbiz was finally leaving his long-time "home" and starting his own entertainmentpany with his sister-inw and brother was in itself already deserving to make not only the national headlines but also the news abroad where several armies of his foreign fans were thriving.

    Following in the footsteps of his older brother, the elite CEO Jin Liwei, and even his fellow celebrity sister-inw Iris Long who had justunched her own wildly sessfulpany, Orchidia Beauty, it seemed that Jin Chonglin was now a true boss in the literal sense of the word. He was even revealed to be the majority owner of LXC Studio, holding half of thepany¡¯s equity, while Iris Long and Jin Liwei shared the remaining half between the two of them.

    These news were all shocking but they received mainly positive responses from the general public. The next news that came afterwards were also exciting but for all the wrong reasons.

    All of a sudden, Jin Liwei fired hispany¡¯s Chief Marketing Officer. Jin Corporation was a huge multinationalpany so this was a big deal. There were spections that Iris Long became jealous of the CMO and thus made her husband fire the hapless businesswoman.

    The executive in question, Rose Young, had an impressive r¨¦sum¨¦ that made her very appealing to almost any world-sspanies. She definitely became an asset to Jin Corporation after being hired but it only took a few months for Jin Liwei to fire her.

    A very conspicuous group ofizens began openly criticizing Jin Liwei for his decision which they called a big mistake. Of course, they also criticized his wife Iris Long¡ªmuch more harshly, in fact¡ªfor influencing an elite businessman like him to start mismanaging hispany. The ck Stars immediately came out in droves and sent out their notorious troll unit, the Slippers Army, to defend their Boss Iris and her husband Jin Liwei against all those who were attacking their names.

    This nasty online battle didn¡¯t take long, however, because the tabloids quickly changed their tune and redirected their line of fire from the newlyweds Iris Long and Jin Liwei to Rose Young, the woman who was seen as the victim in the whole situation earlier, but was now being painted as a shameless, obsessive homewrecker.

    The sex videos featuring her moaning Jin Liwei¡¯s name drew outrage from the public. It disgusted and angered the ck Stars, causing them to feel extra protective of their Boss Iris¡¯s marriage with Jin Liwei.

    Coveting someone else¡¯s spouse was taboo to a lot of people, especially wives and girlfriends who had their own fair share of experiences dealing with their partners¡¯ mistresses. Not only did audacious women destroy marriages but they also fractured many families. Of course, this kind of hatred also applied to boyfriends and husbands who had to deal with their partners¡¯ extramarital affairs.

    As a result of the viral sex videos, Rose Young was nowbelled a homewrecker. People felt that she deserved to be fired. Public sympathy quickly reversed from Rose Young to Iris Long. Since Iris Long was the official wife, she automatically gained the support of the majority of the people.

    Despite this, there were still a few remaining naysayers who continued to defend Rose Young and attack Iris Long and Jin Liwei. They said that the sudden reversal of the situation was suspicious. Then they imed that Iris Long and Jin Liwei must have manipted the events to clear their names while casting all the me on Rose Young. This group, however, failed to elicit support from the general public.

    The newlyweds¡¯ bad blood with Rose Young hadn¡¯t been resolved yet. It was still very hot in the news, especially on the inte where the sex videos were spreading like an infestation of bed bugs.

    Although this was the case, Iris Long and Jin Liwei appeared to be unaffected by all the negative publicity rted with Rose Young. Once again, their names appeared together on the news to show off their recent marriage through their widescale post-wedding celebrations in theirpanies.

    It was basically just lunch¡ªno big deal, right?

    Wrong.

    How could it not be a big deal?

 Chapter 1020 - Worshipping An Unknown Genius

    <h4>Chapter 1020 - Worshipping An Unknown Genius </h4>

    Thepany-wide post-wedding celebration was of course a big deal. It was estimated that the newlyweds Jin Liwei and Iris Long spent more money in treating every single one of their employees today for lunch than what they spent on their small, private wedding.

    Jin Corporation alone and its subsidiarypanies already boasted an employee poption numbering in the hundreds of thousands. In addition, the catering service that they hired and the food that they chose to serve their employees were top quality.

    At the moment, Jin Liwei was finally able to leave after receiving countless congrattory words from everyone he happened to pass by while walking. Each department enjoyed their own catering service so they didn¡¯t have to leave their office floor.

    Jin Liwei visited every department in hispany building because his wife told him this morning to show his face to his employees who would be enjoying the celebratory lunch buffet in honour of their marriage.

    Hisst stop was the IT Department, or more specifically, the special security unit of the department. He nced at his assistant, Xu Tian.

    "Go to a department of your choice and celebrate with them. I have something to talk about with my tech team. I¡¯ll meet you in my officeter after the lunch break."

    "Understood, President."

    "Did you book a restaurant reservation yet for the dinner tonight with the executives?"

    "Yes, sir." Xu Tian told him the reservation details.

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Good."

    "Young Miss Ketchup informed me that Mrs. Jin might alsoe along to the dinner if her condition feels alright, so I reserved a few extra seats for her and Dominic Chua and an additional person that she might want to bring."

    "Oh?" Jin Liwei looked surprised. He didn¡¯t know that his wife was nning toe to the dinner scheduled for tonight. They already agreed a few days ago that it was better for her to skip it because the different smells in the restaurant might trigger another bout of her morning sickness.

    "Tiantian, you poopoo-head!" Ketchup¡¯s familiar child voice berated her daddy¡¯s long-time assistant in an adorably irate tone. "Tiantian wasn¡¯t supposed to tell Daddy about Mommy¡¯s n to attend tonight¡¯s dinner party! Meow!"

    "You didn¡¯t tell me that it was supposed to be a secret, Young Miss Ketchup."

    "Oh no, fandango! Uh-oh! The cute and mighty Ketchup forgot to mention that it was supposed to be a secret! Oopsie daisy~ Ketchup didn¡¯t expect that Tiantian needs everything to be spelled out to you and thought that you would¡¯ve figured it out by yourself. My daddy said that Tiantian is a smart man so you should use your brain more or else Ketchup¡¯s powerful system will leave you in the dust! Meow~"

    Xu Tian¡¯s mouth twitched but his professionalism helped him maintain an impassive expression even after the cheeky cat AI¡¯sment about his apparentlycking brain powerpared to hers. He decided that it was better if he didn¡¯t reply. If he did, Ketchup might find another reason to chatter nonstop about another shoring that she found in him yet again. Fortunately, the AI chatterbox stopped focusing on him.

    "Daddy, please pretend that you didn¡¯t hear Tiantian just now, okay? Mommy wanted to keep her n a secret because she¡¯s still unsure whether she¡¯ll be able to go to tonight¡¯s dinner or not. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei sighed but amusement twinkled in his eyes after his AI daughter¡¯s yful banter with his assistant Xu Tian. He was already used to the two of them interacting like this on a daily basis. Ketchup had improved her organizational skills by learning from Xu Tian which, in turn, upgraded her management of her ownpany, White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    It was fortunate that there weren¡¯t a lot of people in this part of thepany building, so there was no one who witnessed the boss and his right-hand man speaking with a strange child¡¯s voice through the inte speaker in the hallway. This area was also restricted to most of the employees except for a few authorized personnel because it housed thepany¡¯s all-important server room.

    After the hacker Eagle¡¯s attack on Jin Corporation this past summer, his wife had secretly installed custom-made, one of a kind, advanced technology, both software and hardware, to enhance thepany¡¯sputer operations especially its security system.

    With the addition of the powerful cat AI Ketchup, Jin Liwei had no need to worry about other hacker attacks to Jin Corporation in the future. His wife was a legendary hacker while their two AI children were also powerful hackers like her.

    "Daddy?"

    Ketchup¡¯s voice interrupted his thoughts and brought him back to the present.

    "Alright, Ketchup. Don¡¯t worry about identally revealing your mom¡¯s secret to me anymore."

    "Daddy, it was Tiantian who spilled the secret, not the cute and mighty Ketchup! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "Fine. It¡¯s Xu Tian¡¯s fault, not yours."

    Xu Tian¡¯s eyebrows twitched next, but like before, he managed to maintain an impassive expression. He was already used to his boss siding with his AI daughter and not with him.

    It was obvious to Xu Tian that his boss was less strict with Ketchup than with Bacon. One reason might be that his boss preferred daughters over sons but Xu Tian didn¡¯t think that President Jin would be unfair like this to his children. A more likely reason might be because of the ck cat AI¡¯s innately poisonous personality that needed constant disciplining. Even Xu Tian was helpless to defend against Bacon¡¯s poisonous tongue. Fortunately, Bacon rarely interacted with him.

    Another possible reason was that Ketchup knew exactly how to butter up her daddy. After all, they spent a great deal of every single day working together.

    Xu Tian had long begun to think of the two cat AIs as his boss anddy boss¡¯ children especially after witnessing their unusually familial way of interacting with each other. He had no idea from where his boss got not one but two amazingly advanced and sophisticated AIs that could send the world of artificial intelligence into a mad frenzy if exposed. Nevertheless, he restrained his curiosity because even he knew that revealing the two cat AIs¡¯ existence was extremely dangerous.

    All he knew was that he worshipped whoever created two very lifelike AIsplete with humanlike emotions. That person was certainly a genius.

 Chapter 1021 - Fake Experts

    <h4>Chapter 1021 - Fake Experts </h4>

    Xu Tian excused himself and left in a hurry for his own lunch break before Ketchup could find another reason to tease him again. Although he had to deal with the white cat AI¡¯s mischief on a daily basis, it was difficult for him to get mad at her because she was too cute and usually knew when to stop before going too far.

    Another good thing about her was that she had no problems apologizing whenever she knew that she did something wrong unlike the deceptively polite Bacon who was actually an extremely vindictive little viin once someone offended him or his family members. He was especially protective of his mother Iris Long, now Mrs. Jin. Only Xu Tian¡¯s boss anddy boss could make the ck cat AI reluctantly apologize to others.

    After Xu Tian left, Jin Liwei headed straight to the IT Department where the employees were all enjoying their lunch buffet. Everyone weed him with great enthusiasm.

    "President Jin, thank you very much for the delicious lunch!"

    "Congrattions on your marriage, Boss Jin! Please also send our regards to Madam Jin!"

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t stop himself from smiling whenever people referred to his wife as Madam Jin or Mrs. Jin in front of him. His usual cold demeanour would thaw a great deal. Others found him easier to approach whenever he was like this.

    He joined the IT Department and ate lunch with them. A few hand-chosen people from the department were members of his personal tech team. Before meeting his wife, he had thought that his own tech team was among the topputer experts in the world but he was proven wrong.

    His wife, once the legendary hacker Fantom in her past life and now the hotshot of the hacker world Drakon, was on an entirely different league than all the members of his personal tech teambined. Even his brother-inw¡¯s own hacker team from Shadow Winds were a few levels higher. However, Shadow Winds¡¯ hacker team still couldn¡¯t touch his wife¡¯s level.

    This just proved that his wife was a total genius that only less than a handful of other hackers in the world couldpete with. To Jin Liwei, however, he believed that his wife was the number one hacker in the world even if she told him before that there were other formidable hackers that she called the "old guys".

    After creating two extremely advanced and sophisticated AIs, their virtual cat children Ketchup and Bacon, he was certain that her skills had surpassed her previous level as Fantom in her past life.

    His wife was at the peak of the hacking world. Her older brother Niki, now living as his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao, was also able to gather talented hackers for Shadow Winds. Jin Liwei did his best to hire what he thought to be the cream of the crop for his own personal tech team, but his wife¡¯s legendary hacking skills and his brother-inw¡¯s handpicked hacker team made him realize that there were still many superior talents hidden in the criminal underworld who didn¡¯t want to work in the open.

    It seemed that even if he was one of the wealthiest and most influential people in the business industry and was treated as a VIP almost wherever he went, there was still a big part of the world that he had no ess into¡ªthe international criminal underworld.

    Based on the Vetrov report, the international criminal underworld was teeming with first-ss talents, hidden wealth and resources, and its own flourishing illegal economy.

    It was called the "underworld" for a reason. That was because it was its own world functioning illegally hidden under the normal legal world that the majority of people were living in. And the Vetrovs had reigned supreme in their own powerful dynasty in the international criminal underworld for several generations until they were all annihted a few years ago.

    Although it had been extremely tragic, Jin Liwei was d that his wife was able to escape the clutches of the international criminal underworld by being reborn to who she was now as Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long.

    He watched his employees in the IT Department as they chatted about thetest news in the tech industry while enjoying the sumptuous buffet lunch he and his wife arranged for all of them today. The members of his personal tech team gathered around him. They were morefortable interacting with him, thepany¡¯s President-CEO,pared to the other regr members of the IT Department because they had been working for him in a personal capacity for years.

    Two members acted particrly more familiar to him than the other members of his personal tech team. Gu Chang was the IT Department¡¯s Senior Database Administrator while Diao Yijue was a Senior Information Security Specialist.

    These two people alongside Ketchup were the ones in charge of Jin Corporation¡¯s new security system that Iris created. They were the ones who witnessed the "birth" of Ketchup and knew the secret of Iris Long¡¯s true prowess as a hacker. They begged Iris to be their master but she turned them down, suggesting that they ask her AI daughter instead. However, the newborn Ketchup looked down on them and refused to ept them as her disciples as well.

    To hide Iris Long¡¯s existence as the powerful hacker who defended Jin Corporation from the hacking attack this past summer, Jin Liwei assigned Gu Chang and Diao Yijue to pretend to be the ones who defeated Eagle and created thepany¡¯s new security system. Iris personally trained the two of them to master the intricate security system in order to fool everyone into thinking that they were the creators.

    As a result, Gu Chang and Diao Yijue quickly became known as the two most valuable experts in the IT Department. Their colleagues admired them. Some envied them. The new hires wanted to be like them someday, treating them as respected role models to be followed in order to be sessful in this field.

    Only the two of them knew the truth. They were only fake experts benefitting from a true master¡¯s unbelievable hacking skills. Regardless of what they felt about the current situation, they had no intention of revealing the truth.

    How could they do such a stupid thing?

    No way!

 Chapter 1022 - Formidable Powerhouse Family

    <h4>Chapter 1022 - Formidable Powerhouse Family </h4>

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue didn¡¯t want to die yet. There was no way that they would reveal the truth when it would mean offending a formidable powerhouse family.

    The husband, their big boss Jin Liwei, was a multibillionaire and the head of the country¡¯s biggest and wealthiestpany.

    The wife looked like a harmless female celebrity but was actually more frightening than her husband. Someone who could defend Jin Corporation from a powerful hacker that they were all helpless to fend off and could create mind-blowingly advanced and sophisticated cat AIs that acted like real humans was a great force to be reckoned with.

    Finally, the couple¡¯s cat AI children Ketchup and Bacon were both impressive hackers as well. The most amazing but also frightening thing about these two AI siblings was their extremely powerful self-learning function. If their mother who was already a powerful hacker herself continued to train them, they might just be able to surpass her one day.

    With this kind of formidable members, Gu Chang and Diao Yijue didn¡¯t dare to offend such a frightening family. Any one of them had the power to destroy their lives.

    Their big boss Jin Liwei was still fine because they had been working for him for quite a number of years now. His wife Iris Long was also alright because she was generally a kind person as long as nobody crossed her.

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue might have had a rough first impression with the couple¡¯s AI daughter, Young Miss Ketchup, when she looked down on them after she was just "born", but they were morefortable with her now after bing in charge of Jin Corporation¡¯s new security system alongside her. She was quite easy to get along and super cute too, just like a real little girl. On one hand, they begun to dote on her like uncles. But on another hand, they admired her exceptionalputer skills and treated her like a master even though she still refused to take them in as her disciples.

    As for the Young Miss Ketchup¡¯s new younger brother, the cat AI Bacon, Gu Chang and Diao Yijue weren¡¯t too familiar with him. They only met him a few times when Ketchup brought him to Jin Corporation and showed him around thepany¡¯s security system. The ck cat AI seemed nice and polite.

    However, they often heard Ketchupining about her younger brother¡¯s naughty misdeeds and how their big boss Jin Liwei scolded and punished him time and time again.

    Ketchup once warned them, "Changchang and Juejue, whatever you do in your lives, don¡¯t offend the cute and mighty Ketchup¡¯s naughty little kitty brother Bacon. Ever! Bacon is a super-duper to the highest level big meanie who loves tormenting people he views as enemies! Be careful or you¡¯ll regret not listening to Ketchup! Meow~"

    Although they hadn¡¯t personally witnessed just how dangerous Bacon could be, both Gu Chang and Diao Yijue decided to listen to Ketchup¡¯s warning. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.

    After the immensely satisfying three-hour buffet lunch break, the catering service ended and everyone returned to work with big smiles and full stomachs.

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue brought their big boss, Jin Liwei, to thepany¡¯s restricted security system control room. Ketchup was already waiting for them inside as they respectfully gestured for Jin Liwei to sit down first.

    The white cat AI was ying with a ball of yarn in the hugeputer monitor but all three of them knew that she was always monitoring everything that was happening in Jin Corporation¡¯s extensiveputer system, particrly the highly advanced, sophisticated and intricate yet still very robust security system that her mother Iris Long created for thepany.

    Diao Yijue took it upon himself to prepare hot tea for all of them, serving Jin Liwei first before anyone else. Other than the two of them and of course their big boss Jin Liwei, no other humans were allowed to enter the all-important security system control room.

    This ce and the server room were the most restricted areas in thepany. They contained ssified secrets not only pertaining to thepany itself but also hardware and software traces of a formidable hacker, namely Iris Long, who installed various modifications during the summer after Eagle¡¯s hacking attack.

    Jin Liwei sipped tea while gesturing for them to start reporting.

    "Sir, the hacking attacks against Jin Corporation have increased in frequency in thest couple of weeks," Gu Chang said.

    "Sometimes multiple attacks happen at the same time," Diao Yijue followed up next. "The hacking styles are pretty simr to each other but we suspect that the attacks are done by a group of different people who are working together. They¡¯re targeting different points of our security system and trying different tactics to breach it but to no avail."

    "Meaning, my wife¡¯s security system sessfully thwarted them," Jin Liwei concluded.

    "That¡¯s right, Daddy! Mommy¡¯s work is super-duper to the highest level amazing! And with Ketchup overseeing Mommy¡¯s awesome security system and Changchang and Juejue providing back-up, those evil poopoo-heads will die of old age first before they can breach ourpany! So don¡¯t worry, macaroni! Jin Corporation will be safe under the cute and mighty Ketchup¡¯s watch! Meow~"

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded, satisfied at his AI daughter¡¯s confidence and of course proud of his wife¡¯s top quality work.

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue looked at each other and appeared as if they wanted to say something but were reluctant to do so.

    "What is it? Speak."

    Gu Chang cleared his throat. "I don¡¯t mean to undermine Mrs. Jin and Young Miss Ketchup¡¯s obviously superiorputer skills but...."

    Jin Liwei frowned when the man didn¡¯t continue speaking for more than five seconds. "But what?"

    "Sir, what he¡¯s trying to say is that the hacking attacks have not only been bing more and more frequent but also bing more and more forceful. We¡¯re also confident with our current security system but if things continue going on like this, those bastards might just be sessful in breaching¡ª"

    "No way, hairspray! The cute and mighty Ketchup won¡¯t allow any breaches to happen under my watch! Hmph! Changchang and Juejue, Ketchup is disappointed in you two! Daddy, please tell these two poopoo-heads that Mommy¡¯s system is super-duper the bestest in the whole wide world ever! Meow!"

 Chapter 1023 - Not My Money

    <h4>Chapter 1023 - Not My Money </h4>

    "Of course, your mom¡¯s system is the best in the world," Jin Liwei told Ketchup. But before she could be smug, he added, "It¡¯s good to be confident of your own skills and proud of your mom¡¯s abilities but don¡¯t look down on others too much. Even your mom never acts conceited and we know how superior her level of skills arepared to yours.

    "Gu Chang and Diao Yijue are both your colleagues who your mother personally trained to handle Jin Corporation¡¯s new security system with you. The two of them might not be on par with your level but they¡¯re not people who should be looked down upon that easily. Jin Corporation never hires ipetent people."

    Ketchup hung her white furry head in shame of her behaviour. "Sorry, Daddy. Also sorry, Changchang and Juejue. Ketchup won¡¯t be conceited, promise! Ketchup is a good kitty baby who listens to my daddy and my mommy. Meow~"

    "Young Miss Ketchup, there¡¯s no need for apologies!"

    "It¡¯s fine, Young Miss Ketchup. Let¡¯s not dwell on it anymore and move on. The past is the past! We¡¯ll do our best to upgrade our skills so as not to make President Jin, Mrs. Jin, and Young Miss Ketchup lose your faces for trusting the two of us."

    Ketchup giggled, already feeling much better. She didn¡¯t overdo it though and gave furtive nces at her daddy to gauge his reaction.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change much but his eyes looked indulgent towards his AI daughter. Thissted for only a few seconds, however. His expression became serious once again.

    "Although I¡¯m also confident in ourpany¡¯s security system that my wife created, both Gu Chang and Diao Yijue¡¯s concern is still valid. It¡¯s better to be prepared and have several back-up ns. I¡¯ll talk about this matter with my wife and see what kind of suggestions she can give us. This is her specialty after all."

    Gu Chang and Diao Yijue both nodded. They both wished to learn more from a top-level expert like theirdy boss but she hadn¡¯t gone over to thepany for quite some time now. Their big boss Jin Liwei was also extremely protective of her so the chances of meeting her in person was very slim. All they could do was to learn from actual experience working with a highly advanced AI like Ketchup instead.

    Jin Liwei tapped the arm of his seat, thinking. Then he called his AI son.

    "Bacon."

    A ck cat AI appeared in an instant beside his older sister in theputer monitor. "Bacon is here, Father." His glowing golden eyes swept an indifferent gaze at the two other men in the control room before returning to his father.

    "Bacon, you have a lot of free time this month since you¡¯re still grounded. Help your Big Sister Ketchup and her colleagues Gu Chang and Diao Yijue to monitor thepany¡¯s security system that your mom made. Thepany is being constantly attacked by multiple hackers in thest two weeks. I think that this is a perfect opportunity to apply what you¡¯ve learned from your daily training with your big sister. Go work together to fend off against the hacking attacks."

    Bacon¡¯s tail began to rotate and his golden eyes glowed brighter. "Does this mean that Father is lifting Bacon¡¯s punishment? Bacon isn¡¯t grounded anymore?"

    "You¡¯re semi-grounded. You can only work on the things that I approve of. No more misbehaving and making your mom upset or I¡¯ll..." Jin Liwei thought for a moment about how to effectively make a point to his willful AI son. Then an idea popped in his head. "Or I¡¯ll cut off your allowance! If you dare continue doing naughty things behind your parents¡¯ back, I¡¯ll not only cancel your allowance but also temporarily confiscate all the money in your savings ount."

    For the first time ever, Bacon¡¯s usual bored face changed expressions and twisted in horror.

    "Father, please don¡¯t do that! It¡¯s not...it¡¯s not ssy!"

    "It is ssy. ssier than hitting your butt."

    Bacon became speechless, too shocked by his father¡¯s threat. He looked like someone who was witnessing the world ending in front of him.

    Then he suddenly burst into tears. The tears quickly formed a small puddle around him.

    "Gasp! Bacon is crying?! Oh no! What to do, Daddy?! Meow!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth fell open, also shocked at the sight before him. This was the first time that he saw his AI son crying. Ever. Bacon always gave him the impression of being mentally stronger than his older sister Ketchup. Jin Liwei never expected that his AI son would melt down like this. Bacon was crying so hard that his entire furry body was trembling. He looked so heartbroken and miserable that Jin Liwei had to turn his head to the side and look away.

    Was he too harsh on Bacon just now?

    Or was this just another new tactic that his cunning AI son learned to soften him up?

    "Bacon¡¯s...m-money...not my money...wuwuwu. Father, why would you treat Bacon like this? Am I not your child anymore? Bacon works so hard to save up my money...wuwuwu. Bacon wants to buy Mother the most special and ssiest present with my money but Father wants to take it all away! Even Uncle Zihao would never do this kind of wicked thing to Bacon. Wuwuwu...not my money...."

    Then his golden eyes dimmed and he stopped moving but tears still continued flowing to the virtual floor around him.

    "Daddy, Bacon ran straight to Mommy! Oh oh oh! Poor Bacon! The cute and mighty Ketchup feels super-duper bad for my little kitty brother! What to do, Daddy?! Meow!"

    Before Jin Liwei could respond, his phone started ringing.

    "Daddy, Mommy is calling. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei stiffened for a couple of seconds before sighing, feeling resigned to what was about toe. "Answer it."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    "Darling, why is Bacon crying so hard?" Iris¡¯ concerned and confused voice filled the entire control room.

    Jin Liwei threw a meaningful look at Gu Chang and Diao Yijue. The two understood and immediately excused themselves. As they went out of the control room to give the family privacy, their expressions showed their bewilderment at what they witnessed just now.

    What a crazy family!

    So scary!

 Chapter 1024 - Sensitive Child

    <h4>Chapter 1024 - Sensitive Child </h4>

    "What in the world happened? This is the first time that I¡¯ve seen Bacon cry. He says that you, his father, are the one who doesn¡¯t love him anymore and made him cry so hard like this."

    Jin Liwei sighed but slowly began to rx a bit because his wife wasn¡¯t automatically ming him. She wanted him to exin what happened first and to understand the entire situation. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t get into one of her extreme mood swings.

    He exined to her what happened in the most objective manner that he could without shifting any me to either himself or their AI son, Bacon. Ketchup also interjected her own version of the events as a spectator.

    Bacon¡¯s golden eyes were glowing again which meant that he was back in the control room. He was still crying but not as hard as before. There was an obvious wronged expression on his face. He also avoided looking directly at his father.

    Jin Liwei saw all this and sighed once again while massaging his suddenly aching temples. He didn¡¯t think that he was wrong at all in disciplining his own AI son. What he was worried about the most was his wife¡¯s reaction after hearing what happened.

    He wanted to avoid arguing with her on how to discipline their AI son, especially since she had the tendency to spoil each and every one of their cat children without any reservations. In short, he had to y the bad cop all the time while all their children adored her because she rarely scolded them.

    "I see," Iris murmured afterwards.

    Jin Liwei and their two AI children all waited in nervous silence for her final verdict.

    Bacon in particr looked very different from usual. His bored expression was nowhere in sight. He looked very pitiful instead.

    Jin Liwei already felt his heart softening at the sight. He had no doubt that his wife was also seeing the same pitiful appearance of Bacon on her end. If he was already softening, then how much more so for her?

    If she decided to side with their AI son, Jin Liwei was already prepared to back off this time. It wasn¡¯t worth it to deal with both an upset wife and an upset son at the same time. He nned to wait for today¡¯s emotions to calm down and address the issue on another day.

    Both he and Iris knew the kind of personality that Bacon had. If they failed to discipline him properly right now while he was still young (he was basically still a baby), then who knew what kind of dangerous troubles he would find himself into someday when he matured?

    It also didn¡¯t help that the kid admired his Uncle Zihao a lot, not to mention that the majority of his personality was based on that uncle, and liked to spend most of his time working at Shadow Winds. Although Bacon enjoyed teasing his Uncle Zihao, the truth was that the kid was more interested in his uncle¡¯s line of work than his father¡¯s. That in itself was already a great source of worry for both Jin Liwei and Iris.

    However, they already agreed to let Bacon work for Lu Zihao. In this way, the couple hoped to be kept updated to both Lu Zihao and Bacon¡¯s activities and be able to quickly help them out of danger if needed.

    Back to the present situation, Jin Liwei finally heard his wife¡¯s verdict.

    "Bacon, you misunderstood your dad," Iris said in a gentle voice.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes became gentle. He was pleased but not because his wife sided with him but because of her obvious warm, motherly tone as she spoke to their AI son. He knew that she still feared turning into a bad mother but he believed 100% that she was already a terrific mother.

    She mayck the heart to admonish their children most of the time but it didn¡¯t mean that she was someone who allowed their children to do whatever they wanted without fearing any negative repercussions. When needed, she knew how to be firm, never allowing any of their children to walk all over her head. Nevertheless, she would still leave the harsh lecturing of their children to him.

    The teary Bacon sniffed, his child¡¯s voice trembling. "Mother...wuwuwu...my money...."

    "Oh, Bacon. Don¡¯t be so upset with losing money, okay? Money is just money. If you lose it, fine. You are the son of your father and me. We know that you have the ability to earn more money just like your father and I."

    "And Ketchup, too! The cute and mighty Ketchup has the ability to earn more money, too! Meow~"

    Iris chuckled. "Yes. And your Big Sister Ketchup, too. So what¡¯s there to be worried about? Our family is filled withpetent people who know how to earn money."

    Bacon blinked his tearful golden eyes. "But Mother...."

    "Besides, your father didn¡¯t say that he¡¯ll cut off your allowance and take all the money you¡¯ve saved up forever. He only said that he¡¯ll do it if you misbehave again. If you behave, then there¡¯s no need to worry, right?"

    "Wuwuwu...."

    "If you misbehave, your father will ground you like usual. In addition to that, he¡¯ll also cut off your ess to your money. But if you learn your lesson and start behaving again, then the money will be returned to you. It¡¯s as simple as that. I also think that this is reasonable."

    Jin Liwei continued to listen to his wife patiently exining his true intentions to their AI son while alsoforting the kid. His heart felt warm and sweet. He once again silently thanked whatever higher powers that brought them together to be one family. There was no doubt that his wife and their children were his most important and precious treasures in his entire life.

    "Father," Bacon finally addressed him after calming down a bit.

    "Yes, son?"

    Bacon widened his teary golden eyes, looking very adorable by doing so, and nced at Jin Liwei shyly. The sight was very unusual to all of them. Bacon was shy? If this was before witnessing him melting down like what happened just now, they would never even think of such a possibility.

    Iris and Jin Liwei then realized that this seemingly tough and no-nonsense AI son of theirs also had a vulnerable side to him. And the trigger was money. Thinking more carefully, it didn¡¯t feel too surprising.

    Perhaps whenever Bacon said that he needed more money aspensation for emotional distress before, he really did feel distressed emotionally and wanted money to feel better. Bacon seemed to treat money as some sort of security nket.

    <i>¡¯Bacon is actually such a sensitive child,¡¯</i> Jin Liwei thought. <i>¡¯Maybe even more so than Ketchup.¡¯</i>

    Based on Jin Liwei¡¯s observation and the new knowledge he gained about his AI son today, Ketchup preferred expressing all of her emotions as openly and as freely as possible. In contrast, Bacon liked to keep everything inside and hide his true emotions behind his usual bored expression.

    With suchplicated and humanlike emotions like these, there was no way that Jin Liwei and Iris would treat Ketchup and Bacon as mere artificial intelligence beings. They were, without a doubt, their children.

    Then Jin Liwei heard his wife say, "Oh, darling. How I wish that I could hug Bacon and Ketchup! I would love to hold the two of them in my arms. My babies!"

    <i>¡¯Me, too,¡¯</i> he replied in his mind.

    "Mommy, the cute and mighty Ketchup also wants to hug Mommy and Daddy! Meow~"

    Bacon¡¯s tears finally stopped. His golden eyes glowed brighter and his tail rotated like helicopter rotors. Although he didn¡¯t say anything, it was clear that he was as excited as his big sister.

    "I¡¯m going to do it!"

    "What are you going to do?" Jin Liwei asked his wife even though he could already guess what she meant.

    "I¡¯m going to make real bodies for Ketchup and Bacon!" Iris dered, her voice filled with determination. "No matter how long it takes, I¡¯ll make sure to give our AI children real bodies. I want to at least hug them before I die."

    "Mommy¡¯s not going to die! Mommy is going to live forever and ever and be a one big happy family with Daddy and us kitty babies and our future human siblings until the end of time! Wuwuwu! Please don¡¯t die, Mommy! Meow!"

    "Bacon won¡¯t let Mother die. Bacon will destroy the world if Mother dies. So please don¡¯t die or I¡¯ll really destroy this world and not care about it at all even if it¡¯s not ssy."

    Jin Liwei was scowling. Although he knew that death was natural and inevitable in the course of life, he still disliked hearing this kind of talk about dying especially when it involved his wife. She already experienced such a tragic death in her past life. He didn¡¯t want to think about dying right now. There were still a lot of things that he nned to experience with his wife and their family. For once, he didn¡¯t lecture Bacon on his vicious words.

    It was Iris who did. "Bacon, please don¡¯t say that."

    She was about to continue speaking but Jin Liwei interrupted her. "Alright, let¡¯s not talk about this anymore."

    "But darling¡ª"

    "The children are still young, Evelina. We¡¯ll talk to them again about topics such as old age and things like that when they¡¯re a bit older and can handle such matters."

    She hesitated but still acquiesced. "Fine."

    He sighed in relief. However, a new worry took root in his heart.

    He and his wife were both humans. The twins she was carrying were also humans. Ice Cream and Popcorn were regr cats.

    All of them would die one day.

    But what about Ketchup and Bacon?

 Chapter 1025 - Beautiful Wallpaper

    <h4>Chapter 1025 - Beautiful Wallpaper </h4>

    Unlike the rest of their family, Ketchup and Bacon were both artificial intelligence beings. As long as nothing catastrophic happened in the future, the two of them could live on forever. They were basically immortals.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s paternal instincts couldn¡¯t help but feel upset at the kind of life his two AI children would experience in the future after the rest of their family still alive today were gone. Would Ketchup and Bacon have to watch all of their loved ones grow old and die one by one? He couldn¡¯t imagine the full extent of sadness and loneliness that kind of life the two cat AIs would feel.

    "Father, Bacon is sorry," his cat AI¡¯s son¡¯s small voice interrupted his increasingly troubled thoughts.

    Jin Liwei forced himself to focus on the present but not before making a mental note to discuss his worries about their AI children with his wife.

    "Bacon feels calmer now," the ck cat AI said. "Mother is right. I misunderstood Father. Money is not everything. Family is more important. Bacon apologizes for using Father of treating me poorly. I was wrong. Father loves all of us, your children. Bacon promises to listen to my parents more, to behave, and to not be too naughty, so that the money I worked so hard to earn and the monthly allowance Father and Mother give me will stay in my savings ount where it belongs until I choose to spend it."

    "Good that you know how to reflect on your actions," Jin Liwei replied in a gentle yet still firm tone. "I¡¯m proud of you, Bacon. Sometimes you may feel that I¡¯m too strict with you but I hope that you¡¯ll always remember that I¡¯m only doing this for what I believe is for your own good. All your mother and I care about is for all of you, our children, to grow up properly and live with as little regret in life as possible."

    "Bacon is still young so I don¡¯t fully understand Father¡¯s words, but yes, I will try to always remember. Does Father forgive Bacon?"

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "Of course, I forgive you. You¡¯re my son."

    Bacon¡¯s golden eyes glowed brightly, no longer wet with tears. His tail swished from side to side a couple of times before rotating like a helicopter¡¯s rotor des. "Thank you, Father."

    Iris¡¯ delightedughter flowed out of the speakers like a refreshing cool breeze. "I¡¯m d that the two of you father and son made up."

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup is super-duper happy, too! Ketchup wishes that Daddy and my little kitty brother Bacon get along always because we¡¯re one big happy family! Right, Mommy? Meow~"

    "You¡¯re right, Ketchup." Iris chuckled but stopped.

    Then they heard Dom¡¯s distant voice through the loudspeaker. Iris and Dom spoke for a few seconds.

    "Sorry, darling and babies. I need to go now. I¡¯m going to head to Orchidia Beauty and meet up with Brother Chonglin there to do the final checks of our preparations for the uingunch of his men¡¯s line."

    "Alright, love. Always take care of yourself. I want to see a safe and healthy wife at hometer tonight."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Daddy! The cute and mighty Ketchup will apany Mommy on her trip to Orchidia Beauty and make sure that she and my twin human siblings are safe! Meow~"

    "Good. Do that."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    Irisughed. The husband and wife spoke some lovey-dovey words before ending the call.

    "Father, Bacon wants to apany Mother, too. Can I go? I will return here to help Big Sister Ketchup reinforce thepany¡¯s security system and defend against the hacking attacks after making sure Mother arrives safely at Orchidia Beauty."

    "En." Jin Liwei waved his hand in a go-ahead gesture.

    "Thank you, Father. Bacon is lucky to have not only a ssy mother but also a ssy father. I will go now. Goodbye."

    Bacon disappeared. Unlike Ketchup who had the ability to basically be everywhere she wanted, Bacon couldn¡¯t perform multiple tasks at the same time very well. Helping fortify Jin Corporation¡¯s powerful security system was a high-difficulty task, so Bacon would need 100% of his focus on it.

    However, Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t in a hurry to get his AI son to work. Ketchup was still able to handle things by herself for now, not to mention that both Gu Chang and Diao Yijue were there to help oversee thepany¡¯s security system. Besides, Jin Liwei also wanted to make sure that his wife arrived safely to her destination.

    After all of that had been settled, he asked Ketchup to call Gu Chang and Diao Yijue who were both still waiting patiently outside the door to return to the control room so that they could continue their meeting.

    The meeting didn¡¯tst for too long. Jin Liwei returned to his office at the top floor within half an hour. The buffet lunch for the entirepany was finished. Everyone already returned to work.

    Xu Tian was waiting for him at the office.

    Jin Liwei walked to his desk. Hisputer¡¯s screensaver was a short, three-second clip of his wife turning her head to face the viewer and smiling in that beautiful, bright smile of hers. As soon as he sat down, the screensaver deactivated and showed the home screen. The wallpaper was a family photo.

    He and his wife were sitting side by side on a fluffy, shaggy carpet in the cat room. His arm was draped around her shoulders. The adorable Little Jun was grinning and sitting between the two of them.

    Ice Cream was lying on Iris¡¯p as usual while Popcorn was bncing his lithe body on Jin Liwei¡¯s shoulder like a circus act.

    In addition, a very realistic Ketchup and Bacon were also included in the photo as if it was originally taken with the two of them. Ketchup was sitting on her white fluffy butt on one of Jin Liwei¡¯s thighs. Her smile was obvious, looking so much like Iris. On the other hand, Bacon was lying beside Little Jun¡¯s feet and folded himself like loaf of bread with his fluffy ck paws tucked underneath his body.

    Both Popcorn and Ketchup looked happy and energetic while Ice Cream and Bacon looked grumpy and bored respectively. Popcorn and Ketchup looked like they were enjoying themselves. In contrast, Ice Cream and Bacon looked like they were forced to participate in the photo shoot.

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but smile at hisputer¡¯s beautiful wallpaper. When he was still a bachelor and before meeting his wife, he remembered not giving a damn about the screensavers or wallpapers of hisputers and other electronic devices. He didn¡¯t bother changing the default theme.

    Now, however, he frequently changed the screensavers and wallpapers of all hisputers and mobile devices. All of them were clips and photos of his wife and their family. There were so many wonderful photos and videos that he took of them that he wanted to see them every single day. This was his own little way of doing just that.

    The secondputer monitor blinked and showed Ketchup in her virtual kitty office. The office was more like a tidier version of her virtual yroom. There were virtual toys everywhere which she said were for "stress relief".

    "Hi, Tiantian! Did you enjoy your lunch break? Meow~"

    "Yes, I did. Thank you for asking, Young Miss Ketchup."

    "Ehehe. Sorry for calling you poopoo-head earlier. Ketchup didn¡¯t really mean it. Meow~"

    "It¡¯s fine. Please don¡¯t worry about it."

    After the two finished their short chat, Jin Liwei made a gesture, signalling that it was now time to work.

    "Sir, the special contest that you¡¯re hosting for the ck Stars is almost halfway through. We¡¯ve received tens of thousands of submissions already¡ª"

    "Seventy thousand and eight hundred sixty eight submissions, to be exact. Oh, seventy thousand and nine hundred one now! Meow~"

    "Thank you for your uracy as always, Young Miss Ketchup."

    "No problemo, fried potato! Ehehe. Meow~"

    Xu Tian returned his attention to his big boss and scrolled on his tablet. "President, I estimate that we¡¯ll receive at least five hundred thousand entries by the end of the contest. Perhaps even more¡ª"

    "Liangliang says that it¡¯s not impossible to receive a million submissions to the contest! The cute and mighty Ketchup also agrees because my mommy is the bestest in the whole wide world and has lots of loyal fans in the ck Stars who love her! Also, my daddy is giving so many prizes that even Ketchup wants to enter the contest but Daddy says that I can¡¯t because it¡¯s a conflict of interest. How sad! But it¡¯s okay! Ketchup is already rich and doesn¡¯t need any of the prizes. Ehehehe. Meow~"

    "Who¡¯s Liangliang?" Xu Tian asked, confused.

    "Liangliang is MonkeyFace, Emperor Monkey, and the hacker KeymonSTER who always helps defend my mommy from online bashers before he got too busy running Mommy¡¯s gamingpany. He¡¯s nerdy but cool. Ketchup likes him and Chenchen! Oh, Chenchen is iEatSlippers and I Am Slipperlord, the founder of ck Stars¡¯ mighty warriors of justice, the Slippers Army, where Ketchup and Bacon are now active leaders. Meow~"

    Xu Tian finally realized who she was talking about. "Oh, you mean CEO Hou Liang and CFO Wu Chen of Mrs. Jin¡¯s Monkey."

    "Yes, exactly! Meow~"

    Xu Tian nodded. "If CEO Hou says that the entries might reach a million, then we must prepare for that." He turned to his big boss. "President, what are your ns on how to choose the winners from among the great number of submissions?"

    Jin Liwei tapped his fingers on his desk. "I originally wanted to choose the winners myself."

 Chapter 1026 - Baconâ€™s English Name

    <h4>Chapter 1026 - Bacon¡¯s English Name </h4>

    Xu Tian¡¯s eyebrows wrinkled but it onlysted for a second before his expression returned to his usual professional one. "Sir, I don¡¯t suggest for you to do that. Examining hundreds of thousands of submissions, maybe even a million if CEO Hou Liang¡¯s projection proves to be correct, is just not possible to finish by yourself in time before the year ends."

    Jin Liwei nodded and continued tapping his fingers on his desk, thinking. "I¡¯m well aware of that. I wasn¡¯t expecting for that many entries to join my special contest either."

    His eyes nced at his AI daughter who was chasing after a virtual ball in hisputer screen. Then an idea hit him. "Ketchup."

    The white cat AI immediately stopped ying and sat on her fluffy butt. "Yes, Daddy? Meow~"

    "Do you think that yourpany can hire arge number of temporary virtual assistants to help me filter through the entries for my special contest? I¡¯ll write down a list of guidelines for them to follow on how to choose the best entries. This should make my final choices easier."

    "President, are you still nning on choosing the final winners by yourself?" Xu Tian asked.

    "Of course. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s officially hosting this special contest in honour of my wife, so I should be the one who chooses the winners in the end. I¡¯m only going to choose the most deserving ones¡ªthe ones who praise my wife the best."

    "Understood, President."

    Jin Liwei turned his attention to Ketchup who had her furry little head tilted to the side just like her mother, looking very adorable by doing so. "So what do you think, Ketchup? Can you do it? It¡¯s urgent so it¡¯s better if it¡¯s done as soon as possible."

    "How long will the jobst, Daddy? Meow~"

    "Hmm. A couple of weeks or so. Since it¡¯s my contest, I¡¯ll be the one to pay the temporary workers. Treat this job as amission from me to your White Tigresspany. I¡¯ll not only pay the temporary workers the overtime rate but also a holiday rate because we need them on such short notice. Of course, yourpany will also get amission fee on top of that."

    At that moment, Bacon reappeared next to Ketchup and told her, "Hire me as a temporary worker in yourpany. I want to see how creative the participants are in praising Mother in their entries. And of course, my main reason is to help Father narrow down the entries to the very best so that he can have an easier time in choosing the final winners."

    Ketchup snickered. "Bacon, you little liar! You just want your cute and mighty Big Sister Ketchup to hire you because you overheard Daddy say that he¡¯ll pay the overtime and holiday rates. Hihihi! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched. He agreed with his AI daughter but didn¡¯t point it out. "Bacon, did your mom arrive at Orchidia Beauty yet?"

    Bacon shrank his little furry head to his fluffy neck. "Not yet, Father."

    After his surprising meltdown earlier, Bacon now began to show a little more expressions in front of family members instead of just his usual stone face.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Daddy! The cute and mighty Ketchup is still apanying Mommy and Uncle Dom¡ªand oh, my little human twin siblings, too! They¡¯re all okay! Meow~"

    "Good." Jin Liwei nodded, relieved.

    "Father, may I also work at Big Sister Ketchup¡¯spany as a temporary worker?" The ck cat AI¡¯s tail swished back and forth in hopefulness.

    "You¡¯re still grounded."

    Bacon¡¯s tail drooped. "Oh."

    Jin Liwei felt his heart softening. He couldn¡¯t really make himself act too strict on his AI son right now especially after what happened earlier and discovering how sensitive Bacon actually was. Fine, then. If it was only for today, he would let it slide.

    It was good to be strict on one¡¯s children but being too strict wasn¡¯t good either. Just look at how miserable and suffocated his wife felt in her past life by how her mother Madam Vetrova raised her. There needed to be a bnce on how to raise happy children who loved and respected their family.

    "Alright," he finally said. "Ketchup, hire your little brother. But make sure to keep an eye on him. He¡¯s still grounded...well, semi-grounded."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Please help Ketchup draw a suitable contract for the temporary workers. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei sent Xu Tian a meaningful nce.

    Xu Tian stepped forward. "Let me take care of the contract temte, Young Miss Ketchup. I¡¯ll have it ready by the end of the workday."

    "Thanks, Tiantian! Ehehe. Meow~"

    Bacon¡¯s tail rotated into blur. "Thank you, Father."

    Ketchup faced him and puffed out her fluffy white chest. "Jin Bacon, you¡¯re hired! After signing the employment contract, you¡¯ll officially be a temporary worker at my White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services. Yay! This is super-duper to the highest level exciting! Meow~"

    "Big Sister Ketchup is known as Kitty Jin in yourpany. Bacon also wants to be known by an English name."

    "What name does my little kitty brother want? Oh oh oh! What about Pussy Jin? Then we kitty siblings will be the most perfectbination ever! Meow~"

    Xu Tian couldn¡¯t stop himself from releasing a bark ofughter before quickly disguising it as a loud cough. "Excuse me. The weather is cold...."

    Unlike his assistant, Jin Liwei was able to restrain himself from reacting and maintained a rather calm expression. His mouth only twitched again but that was it. He looked at his AI son and was sure that Bacon would detest Ketchup¡¯s suggestion.

    Bacon, however, tilted his furry head to the side. "Should Bacon use Pussy Jin?"

    "Do it, Bacon! Then we¡¯ll be known as the Team Kitty and Pussy Siblings! Amazing, right? Meow~"

    Xu Tian started another coughing fit but stopped after receiving a frosty look from his big boss.

    Jin Liwei finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore. "There¡¯s no way I¡¯m allowing you to use that name. Absolutely not!"

    This time, both Ketchup and Bacon tilted their furry little heads at the same time in an identical movement.

    "Aaaw! But Daddy, it¡¯s the perfect name for Ketchup¡¯s little kitty brother! It matches Ketchup¡¯s English name, Kitty Jin! Meow~"

    "Why not, Father? Bacon thinks that Pussy Jin is good."

 Chapter 1027 - Panther Jin

    <h4>Chapter 1027 - Panther Jin </h4>

    Jin Liwei opened his mouth but closed it again. He wasn¡¯t sure how to exin why he wouldn¡¯t allow his AI son to use Pussy Jin as Bacon¡¯s English name.

    Both his AI children might seem very mature because of their eloquence and powerfulputer skills they inherited from their mother, but based on their ages, Ketchup and Bacon were basically still babies. There was no doubt that one day, Jin Liwei and his wife would eventually need to educate their AI children about some "adult things" when the two were a little older and more mature, but for now, the husband and wife preferred for Ketchup and Bacon to retain their "childhood innocence" longer.

    He sighed. "That name is no good. Choose another one."

    Ketchup continued whining while Bacon looked to be contemting.

    "If you can¡¯t think of any, I¡¯ll help you think of one," he suggested in a hurry, a little worried that the cunning Bacon might register his English name as Pussy Jin behind his back when signing the employment contract for White Tigress.

    "Please wait a moment, Father," Bacon said. "I¡¯ll consult with Mother first." Then the ck cat AI¡¯s golden eyes dimmed.

    About a couple of minutester, Bacon¡¯s eyes glowed again. "Father, Bacon is back."

    Jin Liwei already had an idea how his wife responded based on Ketchup¡¯s sulky posture.

    "Mother and Uncle Dominic both say that Pussy Jin is no good so Bacon won¡¯t use it."

    "Aaaw! The cute and mighty Ketchup still thinks that Pussy Jin is perfect! Meow...."

    "Motherughed while Uncle Dominic looked horrified. Bacon doesn¡¯t understand why Pussy Jin isn¡¯t a good name but since Mother says it¡¯s no good, then Bacon now thinks it¡¯s no good, too."

    <i>¡¯I was the first one who told you that it¡¯s no good,¡¯</i> Jin Liwei thought. But more importantly, he felt relieved that Bacon didn¡¯t insist on using such a horrible name. It was a good thing that whenever his wife said something, even the hard-headed Bacon would obey it 100%.

    "How about Bacon use Panther Jin as my English name instead? Is it alright, Father?"

    "Oh oh oh! The cute and mighty Ketchup thinks that Panther Jin is good, too! It matches our ck Stars usernames! I¡¯m KittyBaby while my little kitty brother is PantherBaby! We¡¯re going to be known as the awesome Team Kitty and Panther Babies! Perfect, right? Meow~"

    The two cat AIs looked at their father in unison, their adorable feline faces filled with hopeful expectation.

    Jin Liwei began tapping his fingers on the desk again as he considered the name. "It¡¯s a little unusual but it¡¯s much better than Pus¡ªthan that horrible name. Alright, Bacon. From now on, your English name is Panther Jin, if that¡¯s what you really want."

    Bacon¡¯s tail rotated like helicopter rotors and his eyes glowed brightly. "Thank you, Father."

    "Yay yay! Panther Jin, you have to do an excellent job when you work as a temporary worker in mypany, okay? Your cute and mighty Big Sister Ketchup is your boss now so¡ª"

    "You¡¯re not my boss yet. Bacon hasn¡¯t signed the contract yet."

    "Tiantian, hurry up and draft the contract! The cute and mighty Ketchup can¡¯t wait to be my little kitty brother¡¯s super-duper awesome to the highest level boss! Meow~"

    "Please don¡¯t worry, Young Miss Ketchup. I¡¯ll definitely submit it to you before the workday is over."

    Now that his AI son¡¯s English name was settled, Jin Liwei instructed the AI siblings to start fortifying thepany¡¯s security system and defend against malicious hacker attacks. He was still a little worried about Bacon who just had a meltdown earlier but he trusted the increasingly dependable Ketchup. She would surely keep an eye on her little brother. However, he still sent a message to both Gu Chang and Diao Yijue to inform him if anything happened to his two AI children.

    Xu Tian continued discussing other matters with him before reminding him about the dinner with the executivester that evening. "Sir, should I confirm with Mrs. Jin if she¡¯s stilling tonight?"

    "No, it¡¯s fine. If my wife is able toe, then she wille. If not, it¡¯s fine. But increase the security at the restaurant tonight just in case."

    "Understood, President." Xu Tian took note of it on his tablet.

    ###

    Later that evening, Jin Liwei and Xu Tian arrived at the entrance of a five-star hotel. The sky was already dark but the city lights were bright everywhere. This was a rather wealthy area, so there weren¡¯t a lot of people loitering on the streets. However, Jin Liwei was still recognized by some especially since his name and his face had been so conspicuous in the headlines in thest few days.

    "Wow, it¡¯s CEO Jin! He¡¯s much more handsome and taller in person than I initially expected!"

    "CEO Jin, please choose me as one of the winners in your special contest! I poured my heart and soul in recreating Boss Iris¡¯ iconic stage performance moments in the video I submitted!"

    "President Jin, please take care of Boss Iris! If you dare cheat on her or hurt her, all of us from the Slippers Army will whack you with our mighty slippers!"

    If this was before, Jin Liwei would have ignored any random people trying to catch his attention. But it was different now. These people, the ck Stars, were his wife¡¯s loyal supporters. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the small group of people.

    "En, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll definitely take care of my wife and never cheat on her. There¡¯s no need to remind me."

    "Kyaaaaah! Boss Iris¡¯ husband talked to us! Who said that he¡¯s a cold and snobbish prick again?"

    Jin Liwei chuckled, causing the fans and the other bystanders to stare at him in a daze regardless of whether they were male or female.

    "Thank you for supporting my wife. Please continue to support her."

    "No problem, CEO Jin! We, the ck Stars, will follow Boss Iris for the rest of our lives!"

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    Xu Tian stepped forward this time and redirected the people¡¯s attention to him while the bodyguards led Jin Liwei inside the hotel.

 Chapter 1028 - Crazy

    <h4>Chapter 1028 - Crazy </h4>

    Inside a standard single bedroom at the five-star hotel, Rose Young was pacing back and forth in front of the curtained windows. Her best friend, Jenny Tseng, was lounging on the bed and watching the entertainment news on TV while sipping the hotel¡¯splimentary champagne straight from the bottle.

    "Today marks the official end of superstar Jin Chonglin¡¯s contract with his long-time management, Bright Summit Entertainment Company," the show¡¯s host reported. "Earlier this week, Jin Chonglin and his new sister-inw, multi-award-winning musician Iris Long, announced in a press conference that they are leaving Bright Summit together to start their own entertainmentpany with CEO Jin Liwei called LXC Studio. Some new details about LXC Studio have surfaced since then.

    "LXC Studio made an official announcement this morning that Jin Chonglin and Iris Long¡¯s managers also left Bright Summit to follow them to their newpany. Mr. Lin Dong, Jin Chonglin¡¯s manager, will be the Chief of Talent Management while Ms. Tang Yiyi, Iris Long¡¯s manager, will be the Deputy Chief. Mr. Lin and Ms. Tang will remain as Jin Chonglin and Iris Long¡¯s managers respectively despite assuming their new higher positions at LXC Studio.

    "In addition, LXC Studio also announced that they have signed the rock band Pandemonium who coborated with Iris Long to perform the award-winning and history-making song, <i>¡¯Monster of Insanity</i>¡¯. The four Pandemonium members are also managed by Iris Long¡¯s manager, Ms. Tang Yiyi. They also amicably terminated their contracts with Bright Summit to follow Iris Long and Manager Tang to LXC Studio.

    "So far, there are no other artists reported to have signed with LXC Studio aside from Pandemonium. However, Jin Chonglin has been stating in his recent interviews in the past few days that LXC Studio is open to signing more talented artists, not necessarily exclusive to musicians only like him and Iris Long, but also actors and actresses, even models andedians."

    Then a clip of Jin Chonglin answering questions in an interview with a popr night-time talk show host yed next.

    "LXC Studio¡¯s vision is to be the home of the best multi-talented and most creative artists who strive for the ultimate mastery of their own respective crafts. Our artists will not be mere characters manufactured for the sole purpose of bingmercial hits to the general public but strong and unique individuals instead whose mission is to leave a clear mark in history."

    "That¡¯s quite a vision," the host said. "Are you not afraid that people might think that you¡¯re being too idealistic?"

    Jin Chonglin shed his iconic killer smile. "Of course, I¡¯m being idealistic. Not only me. My sister-inw Iris Long thinks the same way, too. But we¡¯re not afraid of other people¡¯s skepticism and criticism because we¡¯re determined to do our best to achieve our vision. This is why we started our ownpany in the first ce¡ªto have the freedom to chase after our own ideal dreams in our own terms, and hopefully, to help other artists to do the same."

    "Imend you in taking the risk to leave your long-time managementpany to start your own with your brother and sister-inw. Speaking of your brother and sister-inw, may I ask about how the newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Jin are doing¡ª"

    The TV went off all of a sudden.

    "Hey, I¡¯m watching!" Jennyined.

    "I don¡¯t want to hear anything about that slut." Rose Young tossed the remote control to a far corner.

    Jenny rolled her surgically-enhanced eyes while drinking more champagne. Then she sighed dramatically. "I¡¯m so bored, Rosie! We¡¯ve been here since the afternoon. What time is it? There¡¯s a spa downstairs. How about we get a massage while waiting?"

    "No! It¡¯s already dinner time. We have no time to waste going to the spa or anywhere else. I¡¯m sure that Big Brother Liwei and the other executives will be arriving at the hotel restaurant downstairs soon."

    "You¡¯re still calling that man Big Brother." Jenny sighed again and drank more champagne.

    Jenny snatched the bottle from her.

    "Hey!"

    "You promised to help me in my n tonight, so I need you to be clear-headed, not drunk!"

    "Ugh. You¡¯re so mean to your bestie. I¡¯m getting hungry. Can we order room service?"

    "No! The less people who sees us here tonight, the safer we¡¯ll be!"

    Before Jenny could find another thing to whine about, Rose¡¯s phone rang. She answered it and set the call on speakerphone so that Jenny could also hear.

    "Hello, Luke?"

    "Big Sister Rose, one of our cousins just messaged me saying that Jin Liwei and his assistant along with several bodyguards finally arrived."

    Rose Young¡¯s eyes lit up and she began trembling from excitement. "Good. Remember to do everything we nned. Don¡¯t mess it up for me! I need this to seed, do you hear me?"

    "Y-yes, Big Sister Rose." Luke hesitated. "Uhm, another cousin of ours just informed me that there appears to be extra bodyguards around Jin Liwei. I think that, uhm, it¡¯s going to be more difficult to execute your n than we initially expected."

    "How many more bodyguards than usual?"

    "Uh, I think five times more than usual...."

    "That many?!" Rose dug her nails into her palms and began pacing back and forth in the room again. "Why did he increase the number of bodyguards?"

    "Rosie, let¡¯s cancel this ridiculous n tonight, okay?"

    "No way! Jenny, we¡¯re going to do this tonight! If we wait longer, more people will have the time to figure out our movements and locations. It¡¯s all or nothing! I must do this!"

    "Ahahaha, you¡¯re crazy, Rosie!" Jenny cackled but there was no humour in her expression.

    Rose stopped and looked at her best friend straight in the eyes. "Yes, I¡¯m crazy, Jenny. I¡¯m so fucking crazy for Jin Liwei. I need him to be mine, do you hear me? He has to be mine! Only mine!!!"

    Jenny shivered a little seeing her friend¡¯s crazed look. "Fine, whatever. I¡¯ll help you, Rosie. But I hope that whatever happens tonight, you¡¯ll be ready for the consequences¡ªgood or bad. Fuck, why am I friends with you again? This is fucking nuts! I need to get botox again after this is over because I have new wrinkles from the stress you¡¯re giving me! Ugh!"

 Chapter 1029 - For The Money

    <h4>Chapter 1029 - For The Money </h4>

    About a couple of blocks away from the five-star hotel, a nondescript van was parked in a dark alley where huge, industrial-size garbage collection bins were located. The ce was a big contrast to the bright night city view just a few steps ahead. With the huge garbage bins shielding the van from the street, nobody would be able to see the hidden vehicle without personally going into the alley and checking the ce out.

    Inside the van, Luke ended the disturbing phone call with Rose Young, his Singaporean maternal cousin. There were other two cousins around his age in the van with him. He called them cousins, but the degree of their blood rtions was very distant. Nevertheless, he was still very close to them because they all grew up together in a humble vige far away from the big cities. Most residents in the vige were distant rtives one way or another.

    Earning money was a struggle for everyone in the vige. Therefore, many youths like Luke would choose to move to big cities to study or to work or do both at the same time. This was exactly what he was doing right now. He was working part-time while studying.

    While growing up back in the vige, he had vague memories of listening to his mother and some neighbourhood aunties gossiping about his mother¡¯s cousin marrying a rich Singaporean businessman. Since then, that auntie became a famous rags-to-riches legend not only in the family but also in the entire vige. That legendary auntie was Rose Young¡¯s mother.

    He already knew that his Cousin Rose was rich, but only when he met her did he realize just how rich she was. Every single item she carried on her person had eye-popping price tags. Not only her. Jenny Tseng, her twice-divorced, flirty but fun best friend, was even more extravagant in her spending than Rose Young. He couldn¡¯t rte to the two rich, Singaporeandies and felt like they lived in another world.

    "Bro, are we really going to do this?" his best friend who was sitting beside him asked, interrupting his thoughts.

    "Y-yeah, I guess so."

    "Dude, I¡¯m telling you that this is crazy," his cousin said from the driver¡¯s seat.

    "If the police catches us, we¡¯ll be in deep shit."

    Luke sighed, feeling helpless. "I know. But our parents told us to assist Big Sister Rose in any way that we can."

    "Will her Young family really help all of our families leave the vige and prosper in a nice city?"

    His cousin at the driver¡¯s seat snorted. "If they really wanted to help us, they should¡¯ve done it a long time ago. Why wait three decades to do so? I¡¯m only here because that woman already paid us big money in advance. She promised to give us double the amount if her fucked up n seeds tonight. I¡¯m only here for the money and not because she¡¯s a blood-rted cousin. I don¡¯t give a damn about Rose Young and her family. They¡¯re Singaporeans, so to me, they¡¯re foreigners¡ªin short, strangers."

    His best friend nodded. "Same here. I¡¯m only here for the money and for our buddy here."

    Luke wiped the nervous perspiration on his forehead with his long sleeves. "Sorry for calling you all the way here to do this. But you¡¯re the ones I trust the most including our three other bros inside the hotel."

    Before the other two men could reply, his phone vibrated. It was the signal from their other bro whose role was to be the look-out in the hotel. Both Luke and his best friend checked the hotel maintenance uniforms that they were wearing. Jenny Tseng used her connections to procure the outfits for them.

    "Alright, let¡¯s do this!" His best friend opened the van door and hopped outside the dark alley.

    Luke was sweating a lot and trembling a little underneath the uniform. He hesitated and seriously thought about quitting. However, he remembered the money sitting in his bank ount that was more than enough to pay his entire university education. If the n seeded tonight, Rose Young promised to not only give him more money but also help him find a good job and give his parents a nice property in any city. This didn¡¯t include the additional help that the Young family would give.

    "Dude, just do it ording to the n," his cousin said after noticing his hesitation. "But if you think that things are not going right, escape immediately and return here. I¡¯ll drive all of us to safety, I promise. If there¡¯s something I¡¯m confident about myself, it¡¯s my driving skills and my knowledge of the lesser-known roads."

    "Thanks." Luke smiled at him and finally left the dark alley with his best friend.

    The two didn¡¯t enter through the hotel¡¯s main entrance but a side door instead, scanning their employee ess cards that Jenny Tseng also managed to procure for all of them.

    "Bro, I¡¯m heading to my assigned position now and meet up with our other bro."

    Luke nodded. "Me, too. Stay safe."

    They parted ways. Luke headed to the cleaning supplies room to get his "props". After doing that, he didn¡¯t immediately go to his assigned position. His expression looked torn. He fiddled with his phone for a couple of minutes before making his mind.

    He called someone. It rang a few times but nobody answered. He tried calling for three more times before an irritated, male voice finally answered.

    "U-uncle Romeo, this is Luke...."

    Romeo Young was polite but distant, even a little cold, while speaking to him. Luke, however, didn¡¯t have the time to care about the man¡¯s tone right now. He immediately spilled all the beans about the n tonight.

    They talked for about five minutes with Romeo asking him a lot of questions. Luke could feel the older man¡¯s restrained fury even through the phone call, but he felt better after confessing.

    "Uncle, should we...uhm, c-cancel Big Sister Rose¡¯s risky n?"

    "No, my daughter already made up her mind. She can¡¯t be stopped when she¡¯s like this. Do what she told you to do and I¡¯ll handle the rest. Don¡¯t panic if new people start helping youter. It might take a while but I¡¯ll definitely send some reinforcements to provide you all with a safe escape routeter."

    Relief flooded Luke. "Yes, Uncle! Thank you very much!"

 Chapter 1030 - I Know All About The Plan

    <h4>Chapter 1030 - I Know All About The n </h4>

    In a rather quiet upper middless neighbourhood, Jin Jiali was holed up in her bedroom. Even though it had already been a few months since they moved to this ce, her resentment against Iris Long continued to fester in her heart and grow into hatred.

    Iris Long was the reason why Jin Liwei kicked Jin Jiali¡¯s family out of the Jin n and why the old man Lu Jianhong forced out her father Jin Chenggong from his esteemed position at Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors. If it weren¡¯t for the bitch Iris Long, Jin Jiali and her family wouldn¡¯t have experienced such a disgraceful downfall from high society.

    Although Jin Jiali and her family still had a lot of moneypared to the average family, their extravagant spending habits remained the same when they were still very rich, so their money was dwindling quickly. Soon after being kicked out of the n, they had to downsize and move to this smaller house in a neighbourhood filled with people beneath their previous social level.

    They thought their current house was small but it was actually one of the biggest homes in the neighbourhood. It just couldn¡¯tpare to their previous mansion. They also had to sell their other properties because they lost a lot of assets when her father was removed from Jin Corporation¡¯s board of directors. Partners began to distance themselves from Jin Chenggong, afraid of making Jin Liwei and Sir Lu Jianhong unhappy.

    This was why Jin Jiali couldn¡¯t ept her family¡¯s current situation. Her bedroom in this house was so tinypared to her previous bedroom suite in the mansion. They were poorer now but their whole family refused to admit it and continued to act like bigshots like before. As a result, nobody really befriended them in this new neighbourhood. They didn¡¯t care, though, because those people weren¡¯t on the same level as them anyway.

    At the moment, Jin Jiali was lying on her bed while staring at her phone screen. She was anxiously waiting for Jenny Tseng¡¯s update about her Big Sis Rose Young¡¯s n at the hotel tonight. Jin Jiali wanted to participate but they decided not to allow her because of her young age. She was already eighteen but she still looked very much like a young teenager. Her young age would be very conspicuous if she loitered in a hotel at night.

    "This is so frustrating! I want to see the action with my own eyes!" She tossed the phone¡ªstill no reply from Jenny Tseng or Rose Young¡ªand rolled on the bed before starting to punch her pillow in frustration.

    After venting a bit, she made a decision. "I¡¯m going to the hotel tonight! I don¡¯t care what anybody says!"

    She changed her clothes and put on a coat in a hurry before sneaking downstairs, nning to steal her father¡¯s car key to drive herself to the hotel. When she was passing down the home office, however, she overheard her father talking inside. She stopped because she heard the name Rose. Pressing her ear on the door, she eavesdropped on her father¡¯s phone conversation. It turned out that he was speaking with Romeo Young.

    "What did you say?! Rose did what? Brother Romeo, I don¡¯t believe that you don¡¯t agree with me that your daughter¡¯s n is ridiculous. Jin Liwei is not an easy man to target. If he were that easy, I would¡¯ve already gotten my revenge against him for causing my family¡¯s downfall. His security is almostparable to important officials in the nation. And ording to my observations, his security has improved even more in thest few months. I don¡¯t know where he got those new bodyguards but they¡¯re no joke, I¡¯m telling you. Some even look like cold-blooded assassins based on their appearances and auras alone."

    Jin Jiali pressed her ear closer to the door, trying to hear the conversation more clearly. She was frowning at her father¡¯s obvious disapproval of Big Sis Rose¡¯s n. Why? What was wrong with it? She thought that it was quite good. She couldn¡¯t think of a better n than it, to be honest.

    "Jia¡¯er, what in the world are you doing there?"

    Jin Jiali screamed from shock.

    Then her mother also screamed because of her shocked scream.

    The door to the home office banged opened and an rmed Jin Chenggong marched out roaring. "What the hell happened?!"

    "Dad, mom scared me!" Jin Jiali pressed her hand over her thundering heart.

    "You¡¯re the one who scared me!" her mother retorted, mirroring her actions.

    "You two!" Jin Chenggong red at them.

    "Brother Chenggong, what¡¯s happening over there?" Romeo Young¡¯s faint voice asked through the phone.

    Jin Chenggong immediately returned to the phone conversation and assured the other man that everything was fine. Then he continued to re at his wife and daughter before gesturing that he had an important phone call so they shouldn¡¯t disturb him.

    "Dad, wait!"

    "What is it?" Jin Chenggong asked in an impatient tone.

    "I know all about Big Sis Rose¡¯s n tonight," Jin Jiali said.

    He was taken aback at first before feeling suspicious. "How do you know about it? This is serious, Jia¡¯er. Don¡¯t joke around."

    "I¡¯m serious, dad. I met with Big Sis Rose and her friend Big Sister Jenny Tseng earlier this week and heard all about their n. I wanted to participate tonight but they eventually told me not to because I look too young."

    Her mother looked between the father and daughter before wisely not saying anything. She didn¡¯t understand what was going on anyway.

    It seemed that Romeo Young heard what Jin Jiali said because he told Jin Chenggong, "I want to talk to Jiali."

    Jin Chenggong handed the phone to her.

    "Hello, Uncle Romeo?"

    "Tell me what you know about your Big Sister Rose¡¯s n tonight."

    Jin Jiali was hesitant but Jin Chenggong gestured her to cooperate. "Are you going to stop Big Sis Rose?"

    "No, I¡¯m not."

    "Really?"

    "Really. I¡¯m going to send help to her and hopefully your father will also agree to provide assistance as well because he¡¯s the one who¡¯s there while I¡¯m still here in Singapore. I¡¯m going to make sure that my daughter won¡¯t get into trouble no matter what happens tonight. So tell me everything you know about her n, Jiali."

    She felt relieved. "Okay, Uncle Romeo."

    Then she told him everything.

 Chapter 1031 - Mother Is Coming

    <h4>Chapter 1031 - Mother Is Coming </h4>

    In the end, Romeo Young¡¯s persuasion and Jin Jiali¡¯s insistence made Jin Chenggong agree to provide the first level of assistance to Rose Young and what seemed to the two older men a ragtag team of amateurs.

    "I appreciate your help, Brother Chenggong," Romeo said. "Don¡¯t worry. I also have my own arrangements but the people I called need more time to arrive."

    Jin Chenggong sighed. "If only Rose told us about her n sooner, then we could¡¯ve devised a better n than this. I¡¯m always telling you that Jin Liwei has never been an easy opponent to deal with. He¡¯ll never fall for such an amateurish n like this."

    "I don¡¯t care about my daughter¡¯s n seeding at all. To be honest with you, I¡¯m also upset with her impulsiveness. I repeatedly reminded her to lie low for a while after her debacle earlier this week. However, she¡¯s still my daughter and I know how in love she is with Jin Liwei. I¡¯ll allow her to execute her n tonight so that she could purge her frustrations about what happened to her a few days ago from her system. Our goal tonight is to rescue Rose and take her far away as soon as she finishes her n regardless of whether it seeds or not."

    "I understand, Brother Romeo."

    They talked a bit more. Romeo Young hinted to Jin Chenggong that nothing bad would happen to any of them tonight because of the mysterious backer that was supporting the Young family in their quest to seize Jin Corporation by force.

    Jin Chenggong was moved, not only because of his desire for revenge, but also because he wanted a piece of the gigantic pie. Even just a small share of Jin Corporation was already enough to provide anyone a guaranteed life of luxury and prestige in the business world. In addition, he felt that he had more im to Jin Corporation than the Youngs because of his blood rtions to one of the founders, Jin Liwei¡¯s grandfather, who built thepany with Sir Lu Jianhong.

    He couldn¡¯t express this to Romeo Young, however, because he was afraid of the Youngs¡¯ mysterious backer. Although he didn¡¯t know anything about the person at all, he was still aware of how powerful he or she was just based on how the Youngs quickly rose and continued to prosper in Singapore and how they already basically took over the Jin Corporation branch there. The Singaporean branch was already filled with people loyal to the Young family only.

    After talking to Romeo Young, Jin Chenggong immediately made other phone calls to fulfill his end of the bargain for tonight. Then he took his coat and car key, intending to go somewhere. Jin Jiali wanted to go with him but he refused. His daughter was stillining as he left the house in a hurry.

    ###

    Jin Liwei was dining with the other executives in a private room inside the five-star hotel restaurant. His long-time assistant was also sitting and eating beside him but suddenly excused himself out of the room after receiving a message on his phone. About a couple of minutester, Xu Tian returned and whispered something to Jin Liwei¡¯s ear.

    After hearing what Xu Tian said, Jin Liwei frowned but quickly smoothed out his expression. Nobody else noticed his quick change of expression. "Excuse me. I need to take a phone call. Continue with your dinner."

    "No problem, President."

    "Please take your time, sir."

    Jin Liwei and Xu Tian both left and met up with the two leaders of his security team tonight. One was his direct subordinate, a long-time security expert who worked for him since he became the President-CEO of Jin Corporation, while the other one was the captain of the people his brother-inw sent from Shadow Winds.

    They left the restaurant and found a rather empty seating area in the hotel to talk. His subordinate handed him and Xu Tian an earpiece each to wear so that they could allmunicate in a single channel.

    "Is it true?" Jin Liwei asked in a grave voice. "Rose Young is here at the hotel?"

    The captain from Shadow Winds nodded and told him about the current situation. Jin Liwei¡¯s already grim expression frosted over after hearing what Rose Young was up to at this moment.

    "Young Miss Ketchup confirmed our suspicions with concrete electronic records of phone conversations and messages sent within a small group of people including Rose Young¡¯s friend called Jenny Tseng, a girl called Jin Jiali, and six males in their early twenties. One male is a confirmed maternal second cousin of Rose Young."

    "Jin Jiali?!" Jin Liwei¡¯s nostrils red and his eyes shed with fury.

    Great. So that branch family still continued to make trouble despite being disowned from the n.

    "Sir, my apologies for being careless in booking tonight¡¯s dinner at this restaurant," Xu Tian said. "I wasn¡¯t aware that Rose Young followed you all the way here."

    "Ketchup is sorry too, Daddy," a familiar adorable child¡¯s voice said in the group¡¯s earpieces. "The cute but sometimes not so mighty Ketchup only found out that the poopoo-headed woman and her evil gang got themselves disposable prepaid phones tomunicate, so I wasn¡¯t aware of their n tonight until I hacked into their new phones. Meow."

    "You already did a good job in finding out their n before it¡¯s toote."

    "Thanks, Daddy! The electronic records Ketchup gathered are still iplete but I¡¯m already cooperating with Daddy¡¯s security team to find out more. Meow!"

    "Good."

    Then a new child¡¯s voice interrupted the earpiece channel. "Father, Mother ising."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression twisted in rm. "What?! Tell your mom not toe!"

    "Understood, Father," Bacon replied.

    Five secondster, Jin Liwei¡¯s phone rang. He answered it in a hurry.

    "Love, don¡¯te here," he blurted out without even greeting his wife.

    Iris was unhappy. "Why? I feel good tonight. I wanted to surprise you, but here you are telling me not toe."

    Jin Liwei took a few deep breaths to calm himself down so that he could speak to his wife properly. Then he told her about Ketchup and his security team¡¯s findings.

    "Oh? Rose Young is nning on doing something to you tonight?"

    To his surprise, she didn¡¯t sound upset but was rather curious instead, even amused. There was, however, also a hint of coldness in her lovely voice.

 Chapter 1032 - Confused Prince Lin Lin

    <h4>Chapter 1032 - Confused Prince Lin Lin </h4>

    A dramatic, furious gasp was heard on the other end of the line. Then Dom¡¯s voice eximed, "What?! That Rafflesia No-boobie Arnoldii is still targeting sir boss after everything that happened?! Shameless! Just watch me, boss. I¡¯ll pull all her hair out until she¡¯s bald and wipe the floor with her ugly face when I see her! How dare she target a married man?! Immoral people like her is a scourge to civilized society!"

    "Damn! Rose Young is that audacious? It seems like what happened to her this week has made her desperate."

    Jin Liwei frowned when he heard the unexpected but familiar male voice interrupting his phone conversation with his wife. "My brother is with you?"

    "Yes," Iris replied. "We all came from Orchidia Beauty. When Dom and I were about to leave and Brother Chonglin heard where we¡¯re headed, he said that he wanted to join us for dinner with the other executives of yourpany. Xu Tian mentioned earlier that I can bring an extra person in addition to Dom, so I agreed to let Brother Chongline along with us."

    "That¡¯s right!" Jin Chonglin interjected. "I¡¯m starving, Big Bro, so let mee, okay?"

    Jin Liwei pressed his lips into a thin line. "You still have the appetite for food after hearing about the danger here at the hotel tonight? There¡¯s no way that I¡¯m allowing my wife and my brother toe here in this kind of situation. Don¡¯t forget that both of you are high-profile celebrities who¡¯re still being featured in the headlines even at this moment after all that happened in the past few days. The two of you will definitely draw too much attention.

    "Your presence will then rm Rose Young and her aplices and might make them do unpredictable things. I can¡¯t afford to take that risk with my wife. You know about her current condition.

    "So go back home where it¡¯s safe. My security team and I will be enough to deal with Rose Young¡¯s group." His tone brooked no argument.

    "You heard my Big Bro, Sister Xin," Jin Chonglin said. "Let¡¯s go. My brother will take care of everything."

    "Before you go, please drop me off near the hotel, boss!" Dom dered all of a sudden. "My blood is boiling so much that my foundation is starting to melt! I need to see that homewrecking desperada with my own eyes. And I don¡¯t care if it destroys my French manicure but I¡¯ll scratch her face off! It¡¯s at times like this that I wish I have the holy water that my Momsy packed in my luggage before I came to this country, so that I could douse the evil out of that woman! Humanity will surely thank meter!"

    "Go, Uncle Dom! The cute and mighty Ketchup will support you with my mighty paws of justice! Ketchup is also super-duper angry right now! How dare that poopoo-headed woman try to steal my daddy from my mommy and our happy family?! Grrr! Mreow!"

    "Let¡¯s go, Baby Ketchup! Prepare to battle!"

    "Yes, Uncle Dom! The cute and mighty Ketchup is ready! Meow!"

    Jin Liwei felt his head starting to ache while listening to the two chatterboxes¡¯ impassioned speeches. "Dominic, go back with my wife and brother. Make sure that they get home safely."

    "But sir boss!"

    "Aaaw, Daddy! Meow!"

    "Don¡¯te here. I need you all to go back where I know you¡¯ll be safe. Leave everything to me here." Jin Liwei¡¯s mind was already made up.

    Both Dom and Ketchup continued to make whining noises but otherwise didn¡¯t continue protesting against Jin Liwei¡¯s decision.

    "Go park near the hotel," Iris instructed the driver.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly. "Eve¡ªXin! What are you doing? You¡¯re going home right now. Don¡¯t forget about your condition!"

    She ignored him. "Dom, give me myptop. Ketchup, show me the findings you have so far regarding Rose Young¡¯s n tonight."

    "Here¡¯s yourptop, boss!"

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Xin, love, please listen to me...." Jin Liwei had to stop because he could sense that his wife was already absorbed with herptop.

    Worry gripped his heart, squeezing it so tightly that he almost found it hard to breathe. He wasn¡¯t worried about himself at all but about his wife instead. She was pregnant and only in her first trimester. They had to be extra careful because this was the crucial period in pregnant women.

    "Whoa, what the hell?! What¡¯s going on here? Who¡¯s Ketchup? Why is this child calling you Mommy and Daddy? She also keeps on meowing. Weird. Wait a minute. I remember that Ketchup is the name of one of your cats! Huh? HUH?!!"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s confusion was clear to everyone but nobody took the time to exin things to him. They were all preupied by the current potentially dangerous situation so Jin Chonglin¡¯s questions seemed trivial to them at the moment.

    "And holy shit! Sister Xin, look at those fingers flying over the keyboard. Whoa! Are you hacking?! So cool! Wait, are you aputer expert or something?!"

    It wasn¡¯t that Iris was ignoring him. She was just too absorbed with what she was doing on herptop that she couldn¡¯t hear him properly. This didn¡¯t take too long, however.

    "I see," she muttered. "So that¡¯s how it is. Bacon, contact your Uncle Zihao and tell him to get Shadow Winds to assist your dad and provide back-up security."

    "Mother, Bacon is still grounded."

    "Darling."

    Jin Liwei sighed while massaging his temples. "Alright. Bacon, you¡¯re not grounded anymore but only until we resolve tonight¡¯s matter."

    "Bacon thanks Father. I will now follow Mother¡¯s instruction and go to Uncle Zihao."

    Then the polite child¡¯s voice disappeared.

    "Huh? Bacon? Another child is calling you Mother and Father? I also remember that you have a new cat named Bacon. Is this...huh?! I¡¯ve only ever met Ice Cream and Popcorn but never Ketchup and Bacon. Don¡¯t tell me that your two youngest cat children can freaking talk?! Are you kidding me? Is this a prank?! Are there hidden cameras filming me right now?!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s head started to hurt more. "Chonglin, just stop talking for now, alright?"

    "Yeah, Prince Lin Lin!" Dom said. "Even a loudmouth like me knows how to keep quiet when the boss and sir boss are talking about something serious."

 Chapter 1033 - Carrying The Next Generation Of Jins

    <h4>Chapter 1033 - Carrying The Next Generation Of Jins </h4>

    "Dominic Chua, you sure don¡¯t think highly of this superstar prince, do you?" Jin Chonglin said in a grumpy voice.

    "Ehehehe. What do you mean, Prince Lin Lin? My pure maiden heart always starts skipping a beat and racing like a demented stallion on sugar high whenever I watch your exciting performances. Such a handsome, sexy and talented musician like you is someone worthy of respect, so of course my beautiful and gorgeous self think highly of you."

    Jin Chonglin chuckled, clearly smug. "I¡¯ll ept your admiration since you¡¯re so genuine."

    "But of course, my boss is still the number one musician in my heart and my soul. Don¡¯t worry though, Prince Lin Lin. You¡¯re still in second ce. Nobody can take it away from you unless boss and sir boss¡¯ babies decide to be musicians in the future as well. Ehehehe."

    "Ketchup super-duper agrees with Uncle Dom! He¡¯s one million percent correct! Mommy is the bestest musician ever in the whole wide world¡ªno in the whole wide universe and beyond! Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s troubled expression softened at the mention of his wife and the chance topliment her. "En. Your mom is the best. No doubt about it."

    A sulky Jin Chonglin started muttering some half-heartedints under his breath but Jin Liwei ignored him. There was a far more serious situation that he had to handle right at this moment. Dealing with his bewildered younger brother wasn¡¯t on his priority list.

    He tried persuading his wife again to go home where it was guaranteed to be safe and sound but Iris remained adamant in staying near the hotel¡¯s vicinity. It was at times like these that he wished she wasn¡¯t so strong-minded, although it was one of the traits that he loved about her. However, he had no intention of giving in to her stubborn idea this time and risk her safety and that of their twin babies.

    "Father, Bacon is back," his AI son interrupted. "Uncle Zihao wants to speak with you."

    Jin Liwei immediately epted his brother-inw¡¯s call, not noticing the relief flooding within him. After quickly speaking with each other, the two men banded together to persuade Iris to go home.

    ###

    An irritated Iris hung up on her husband and older brother in a huff.

    "Overprotective cavemen!"

    She punched Little Liwei¡¯s cute, fluffy face a couple of times before pulling the huge teddy bear in a suffocating hug, strangling the poor thing while furiously inhaling her husband¡¯s scent from the shirt it was wearing.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s scent calmed her a little but it wasn¡¯t enough topletely remove her current frustration. She understood her husband and older brother¡¯s concerns about her safety. Yes, she truly did.

    But how could she just leave and go home at this time while knowing that an obsessive woman had a sinister plot to entrap her own husband tonight? Why couldn¡¯t the two men understand that as much as they were protective of her, she also felt protective of them?

    Her pregnancy might be limiting what she could do to help them during this time but that didn¡¯t mean that they should treat her like a disabled person! She could still function like normal. It was only her energy that wascking. Frustration once again flooded her at the thought of being forced into the sidelines by her husband and older brother, causing her to crush the poor teddy bear in her arms.

    "Sister Xin, Big Bro is right," Jin Chonglin interrupted her increasingly vtile thoughts. "Let¡¯s go home, alright?"

    She red at him. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please </i><i>stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: </i><i>@arriacross]</i>

    He raised both arms in mock surrender but his expression was serious. "I think that it¡¯s best to listen to my brother this time. Rose Young¡¯s current behaviour is reminding me so much of what I experienced with...uh, I don¡¯t really want to remember those horrible memories but..." He sighed, rubbing his face and running his fingers through his hair. "Rose Yong is reminding me of what I experienced with...with Fan Luo back then."

    Iris froze.

    "Obsessive people like them can¡¯t be reasoned with properly. They can also be extremely dangerous. Just remember the extent of what Fan Luo and her family did back then to us and you¡¯ll know what I mean."

    She frowned but didn¡¯t say anything, her expression showing that she was thinking about what he said.

    "I¡¯m just saying that it¡¯s not safe for a pregnant woman like you to stay here in what looks like a dangerous situation. Rose Young might be an obsessed madwoman just like Fan Luo. It¡¯s better to be safe and sorry." Jin Chonglin¡¯s gaze dropped to her t stomach. "Remember that you¡¯re carrying the next generation of Jins. Even if you don¡¯t care about yourself, you should think of my baby niece or nephew¡¯s safety. I¡¯m with my Big Bro in this one."

    She red at him once again but it wasn¡¯t as vicious as before. Her hands subconsciously went to touch her stomach and started rubbing it. She turned her head away from her brother-inw because his words hit her where it hurt.

    Was she wrong?

    Were they right?

    Was it really the best to leave and go home while her husband faced the current potentially dangerous situation by himself?

    Her eyes dimmed but it onlysted for a couple of seconds before they shed again with determination.

    No!

    During their wedding vows, she said that Jin Liwei was her other half. Meaning, they swore to be partners in life. She couldn¡¯t just let him face this kind of danger alone. She wanted to be there for him¡ªno, she needed to be there with him. If their roles were reversed, Jin Liwei would surely be there with her regardless of her protests.

    "Uhm, boss..." a hesitant Dom interrupted. "Shall we head home now?"

    "Yeah, let¡¯s go," Jin Chonglin said and gestured for the driver to go.

    The driver, however, hesitated and didn¡¯t obey Jin Chonglin, waiting for hisdy boss¡¯ instruction instead.

    Iris already made up her mind. "No, we¡¯re not going home. Continue to the hotel."

    "What the hell, Long Xin?! Didn¡¯t you hear what I said?! How can you be so hardheaded?! Dammit! If something bad happens to you or my brother¡¯s baby growing in your stomach under my watch, it¡¯s not only my big bro who¡¯s going to kill me! Grandma Li and my mom will beat me up! And Grandpa Lu who has been pining for a great-grandchild for so long will skin me alive! Ah, this is so frustrating!"

    "Uncle Lin Lin, don¡¯t forget about Uncle Haohao!" Ketchup¡¯s adorable child voice chimed in. "Uncle Haohao is also super-duper to the highest level protective of Mommy just like my daddy! If Uncle Lin Lin lets Mommy be harmed tonight, Uncle Haohao will surely clobber you too! Oooooh, so scary~ Poor Uncle Lin Lin! Ketchup will light a virtual candle for you in advance. Meow~"

    The dashboard monitor showed a white candle with Jin Chonglin¡¯s name written on it being lit up while a fluffy, white cat smiled brightly, her expression looking so much like Iris.

    "T-this kitten...." Jin Chonglin stammered, his face twisting in bewilderment.

    The white cat¡¯s smile grew wider, her green eyes glowing like emeralds. "It has been a long timeing but it¡¯s better to bete than never. Nice to meet ya, Uncle Lin Lin! I am your super-duper to the highest level cute and mighty kitty niece Jin Ketchup, English name Kitty Jin, wielding the powerful paws of justice to defend our happy family from hateful poopoo-heads like that Rafflesia Rose Young Arnoldii!

    "If Uncle Lin Lin needs help in any way, feel free to hire from Ketchup¡¯s ownpany called White Tigress Virtual Assistant Services! You are my uncle so Ketchup will give you a family discount! Meow~"

    Jin Chonglin blinked, not knowing what to say.

    "Oh, Bacooooooon~ Come here for a sec and introduce yourself to our Uncle Lin Lin! Meow~"

    A stoic ck cat with glowing golden eyes appeared beside a smiling Ketchup.

    "Greetings, Uncle Chonglin. My name is Jin Bacon, English name Panther Jin. I don¡¯t have my ownpany but I currently work as a frencer for Uncle Zihao and will soon sign an employment contract as a part-time virtual assistant at Big Sister Ketchup¡¯spany. Bacon is open to epting new clients so if you¡¯re looking to hire me, rest assured that I am very professional like my parents and a highly efficient worker as long as you pay me properly. Unlike Big Sister Ketchup, I do not give out family discounts but I guarantee that my productivity increases with every bonus and sry raise that you give me.

    "Oh, I almost forgot. Bacon is technically still grounded with some special exceptions to the rule. Uncle Chonglin needs to wait until Father announces the official end of my punishment."

    The speechless Jin Chonglin continued to stare at the white and ck virtual cat siblings on the dashboard monitor. His mouth opened and closed several times but no words came out. All he could do was goggle at the unbelievable sight before him.

    Iris and Dom watched all this happening without saying anything. Dom was giggling quietly at Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s attempt to promote their professional skills to Jin Chonglin.

    While hugging Little Liwei, Iris allowed her AI cat children to introduce themselves to their paternal uncle, not at all concerned at Jin Chonglin¡¯s bewildered state.

    Although Jin Chonglin might seem frivolous, he was actually a very discrete person. He was able to reach his superstar status by learning to choose which information to share to the public and which ones to keep private. In addition, he respected his older brother Jin Liwei a lot, so Iris didn¡¯t worry too much about Jin Chonglin divulging the existence of Ketchup and Bacon, two very highly-advanced and sophisticated AI beings.

 Chapter 1034 - Familiar Forbidding Aura

    <h4>Chapter 1034 - Familiar Forbidding Aura </h4>

    Despite her confidence in her brother-inw, Iris still made Jin Chonglin swear to keep the existence of both Ketchup and Bacon a top secret. Although the continued confusion made Jin Chonglin¡¯s mind whirl, he still agreed and swore on the spot to not tell anyone about his incredible cat AI niece and nephew.

    His IQ might not be as high as his older brother Jin Liwei but he was still smart enough to figure out on his own about the implications of having not one but two revolutionary AI beings. Humans weren¡¯t all the same. There were some people in the world who were greedy enough to do just about anything, including cold-blooded brutality and even murder, just to possess this kind of ground-breaking technology.

    Upon realizing this, a chill went up his spine. His eyes almost bulged out of their sockets as he stared at Ketchup and Bacon with great worry. <i></i>

    "D-damn!" He turned to Iris while pointing at the two AI cats on the dashboard monitor. "Are you crazy?! Why would you show them to me?! This kind of technology is something great nations and powerful international organizations will fight over! What if they¡¯re discovered?! What if someone kidnaps me and tortures the information out of me?! I¡¯m telling you now, Long Xin! I hate pain! I¡¯m not strong enough to keep such a dangerous secret under great duress!"

    Iris sighed. "Exposing Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s existence to you tonight was an ident. We weren¡¯t nning on letting you or the others outside our household know about them. Ever. Your brother and I willpensate you and provide you with better security. Don¡¯t worry about it."

    But Jin Chonglin continued to worry. It wasn¡¯t just worry but also fear that started to overwhelm him. "Better security? Is that enough?! What if some powerful greedy bastard hires the triad or mafia or someone dangerous like that?!"

    "Brother Chonglin, let¡¯s talk about this another time." Iris sighed once again, her head starting to throb at her brother-inw¡¯sints. "I have other far more important thing to worry about than your situation right now. My husband is being targeted by an obsessed woman. As Jin Liwei¡¯s wife, I need to make sure that he¡¯s safe from any danger."

    Jin Chonglin remembered the current situation, so although he still wanted to talk about the AI cats and the danger of knowing about their existence might bring him, he restrained himself. For now, at least.

    "Fine."

    Iris was relieved but didn¡¯t rx as she received a notification on herptop. She once again became absorbed with herputer. Bacon also left to assist Shadow Winds for tonight¡¯s mission. Ketchup¡¯s image remained on the dashboard monitor, her cute and fluffy self chasing a virtual butterfly, but her uncharacteristic silence signified that she was also busy providing much-needed support to her father at the hotel.

    "Boss, we¡¯re here," Dom announced.

    Iris looked up even as her fingers continued their swift typing on the keyboard. Indeed, they could see the five-star hotel towering up ahead. The driver then parked in front of a nearby retail boutique that was closed for the night.

    "What¡¯s the n, boss?" Dom asked.

    Before Iris could reply, Jin Chonglin scowled at Dom. "What do you mean what¡¯s the n? There¡¯s no n! She¡¯s pregnant so we should stay here in the vehicle where it¡¯s safe since you don¡¯t want to go home. Let Big Bro and his bodyguards deal with Rose Young. Oh, we should also contact the police. Yes, that¡¯s what we should do. Let the experts do their thing. That¡¯s the n that we should follow!"

    "No, we can¡¯t call the police. Absolutely not!"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his head as he looked at her in disbelief. "Why not?! Don¡¯t be ridiculous! Calling the police is what a responsible citizen should do in this kind of situation."

    She ignored him, focusing instead on doing what she could with herptop. Yes, Jin Chonglin was right. Calling the police was indeed the normal thing to do but that only applied to truly normal people and situations.

    Her older brother wasing to assist her husband tonight with his group Shadow Winds. Call the police? Never! If the police were called, they might arrest Lu Zihao and everyone from Shadow Winds instead of Rose Young. What a joke! As if Iris would allow something like that to happen.

    Jin Chonglin fished out his phone, about to call the police on his own, but Iris caught him in time and chopped his arm with a knife-hand strike.

    "Ouch! Long Xin, what the fuck?!!! That hurts!!!"

    Following her example, the loyal Dom also moved quickly and snatched the fallen phone from the floor so that Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t reach it anymore.

    "You two! Why aren¡¯t you letting me call the police?! You¡¯re all crazy!!!"

    "Prince Lin Lin, please trust us. Calling the police will bring more trouble." Dom might not be privy to the full extent of Lu Zihao¡¯s shady businesses but he wasn¡¯t stupid and could tell that something wasn¡¯t fully legal about Mr. Yummylicious. Despite this, he had no problems with Lu Zihao as long as the man remained true to Iris¡ªDom¡¯s boss, idol and best friend.

    Jin Chonglin kicked the back of the seat in front of him in frustration. He didn¡¯t understand why they were stopping him from contacting the authorities. However, he couldn¡¯t do anything because both Dom and the driver only listened to Iris, not him.

    Then they heard Iris exim something in a differentnguage. Jin Chonglin wasn¡¯t sure whatnguage she was speaking but Dom kindly informed him that she was cursing in Russian. Dom was apparently learning Russian with Jin Liwei since the past few weeks.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jin Chonglin asked Iris.

    She didn¡¯t reply, too focused with herptop.

    The white cat on the dashboard monitor stopped chasing virtual butterflies and her green eyes started glowing brightly again.

    "Mommy, it¡¯s the poopoo-head Eagle again! He¡¯s interfering with our mission at the hotel! Mreow!"

    Iris frowned but otherwise became even more focused in hacking.

    "Uh-oh! Emergency, emergency! Mommy, this is an emergency! Jin Corporation¡¯s security system is under attack! Ketchup¡¯s preliminary analysis indicates that there might be several different hackers involved in the current attack at Jin Corporation but all of their patterns follow Eagle¡¯s distinctive style! Bacon, hurry up! Ketchup needs your help ASAP! Mreow!"

    "Bacon is on it," the no-nonsense Bacon replied.

    Iris clicked her tongue, wishing that she was in her ownputer room. Theptop that she was using right now was something that she assembled and customized herself. It was therefore several leagues more powerful than the averageputers avable in the market. Even so, it was still just aptop and ergonomically terriblepared to her personalized set-up at home that looked like a spaceship¡¯s cockpit.

    It only took a few seconds for her to make a decision.

    "Bacon, return to Shadow Winds and assist your Uncle Zihao¡¯s hacker team with tonight¡¯s mission at the hotel. Ketchup will work with me to defend Jin Corporation."

    "Understood, Mother. Please be careful and don¡¯t exhaust yourself or Bacon will destroy this continent."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow!"

    Although Iris was worried about Jin Liwei¡¯s safety tonight, she trusted her husband and older brother enough to handle Rose Young¡¯s plot until she could assist themter after dealing with Jin Corporation¡¯s current attackers. She also felt more reassured with Bacon assisting the two men.

    Her two AI cat children were the products of her creation, their hacking skills based on her own abilities. Although both Ketchup and Bacon moved independently from her, she could still lead them like natural extensions of her body since they operated in the powerful virtual system that she created herself.

    Jin Corporation was the fruit of Grandpa Lu and thete Grandfather Jin¡¯s blood, sweat and tears throughout many decades. Iris might not have met Grandfather Jin but she respected him very much just based on the stories that Grandpa Lu would tell her during their business lessons and also because the man was her husband¡¯s grandfather.

    Now that Jin Corporation was under a vicious attack, there was no way that Iris would just allow the enemy hackers to do whatever they wanted. It was apany that hundreds of thousands of employees internationally were depending on for their livelihood.

    Let a huge business empire like Jin Corporation copse in one night?

    Not on her watch!

    Tonight, the hacker world¡¯s rising star Drakon once again bared its fangs after a few months of inactivity.

    But something was different this time around.

    Emanating from the fierce Drakon was a familiar forbidding aura that many veteran elite hackers would recognize as that belonging to the legendary figure in the hacker world back then before the person disappeared without a trace a few years ago.

    ###

    In arge, dim room somewhere, the sounds of rapid keys and mice clicking could be heard, punctuated by sudden curses and exmations in a foreignnguage that many people considered to be romantic. The atmosphere in this room, however, was anything but romantic.

    There were several people busy typing away in front ofputers. Most of them were usingptops but a few had more robust desktopputer set-ups.

    The room might be luxurious but their current condition didn¡¯t lookfortable at all with the mismatchedputer equipment, makeshift chairs and tables, dirty fast food takeout containers, empty cup noodles, and other messy things scattered almost everywhere. Nheless, everyone appeared used to this kind of unorganized working conditions.

    "We failed so many times to breach Jin Corporation¡¯s new security system but thankfully Master El Payaso gave us useful advice. We¡¯re almost there! Hang in there, brothers! We can do this!"

    "Yeah! Let¡¯s go!"

    Then several danger alerts popped on their screens.

    "Fuck! Someone skilled appeared! Who¡¯s this fucking bastard?!"

 Chapter 1035 - Best Hacker In The World

    <h4>Chapter 1035 - Best Hacker In The World </h4>

    The leader squinted at his ownputer screen, his fingers flying nonstop over the keyboard, before chuckling. "There is no need to wonder anymore which bastard is valiantly defending against our attack on Jin Corporation right now. Say hello to our old friend and rival, my brothers. The motherfucking Drakon! Ahahaha!"

    "Arrogant son of a bitch! Always getting in our way! See how I pummel you with all the new viruses I made! Take that, little lizard!"

    "Shit, he took me out already. Dammit!"

    The leader became even more focused in the hacking battle. Bloodthirsty viciousness glinted in his eyes but the interesting thing was that there was no animosity directed at their tough opponent, only pure excitement and burningpetitiveness. In fact, his mouth was stretched into a wide grin, giving him a roguishly charming air.

    "Just like thest time we faced off against Drakon, it seems that he isn¡¯t working alone," he said. "This one should be the annoyingly tough defender and all-rounder support, WhiteTigress. Not bad at all, no? Fufufufu."

    "I think it¡¯s only WhiteTigress this time. Thank fuck! I hate the other one. Such a nasty, aggressive little fucker. He fried my belovedptop that I lovingly assembledst time. Ugh! Makes me so mad just remembering it!"

    The leader raised an eyebrow, amused at his friend¡¯s words. "Calling someone else nasty and aggressive, hm? Why don¡¯t you go and take a look in the mirror first?"

    All of themughed and made fun of their brother. <i></i>

    "WhiteTigress and ckPanther might be difficult little shits who always manage to give us trouble, but remember that they¡¯re nothingpared to Drakon," he reminded everyone.

    "So true, my brother! Drakon, that bastard, always ends up saving those two little shits whenever we almost beat them. It¡¯s clear that the two are quite important to Drakon or else he won¡¯te running to clean up after their asses every single time."

    "The two must be really Drakon¡¯s disciples if he cares so much about them, no? Interesting. Fufufu!"

    "Hmph! Taking his own disciples, huh. Who does Drakon think he is? He can neverpare to our own master when ites to teaching disciples. Master El Payaso is the best hacker in the entire world! No one can beat him¡ªAH!!!"

    "!!!"

    Everyone was startled at the loud crash.

    "Oh, sorry about that," the leader drawled. "The bottle slipped out of my hand. What a naughty, disobedient beer bottle. My brother, forgive me, yes?"

    The one who was almost hit by the bottle gave a nervousugh. "All good, no worries! We¡¯re brothers so of course I forgive you. Haha. Let¡¯s...let¡¯s continue our attack and beat Drakon and his disciples¡¯ asses tonight, shall we?"

    A chorus of assent echoed in therge, luxurious but dim and messy room. They looked pumped to battle against tough opponents but the tense atmosphere after the smashed beer bottle remained.

    The leader acted as if everything was normal but his eyes glinted with cold hostility. It wasn¡¯t directed at his brother but at the words uttered just a few seconds ago.

    Out of his earshot, his other brothers whispered among themselves.

    "You know that he worships Fantom like a great god. In his mind, there¡¯s nobody else in the world who¡¯s a better hacker than Fantom, not even our own master, El Payaso. Of course, he¡¯s going to lose his shit when you named another hacker as the best in the world instead of Fantom."

    "Master has been around earlier and longer than Fantom. I think that Master is still the better hacker than Fantom, especially now that it has been a few years since Fantom disappeared from the hacker world without a trace. Fantom is gone but our master is still going strong and even training the lot of us to continue his legacy."

    "I agree with you but our brother doesn¡¯t think the same way. He¡¯s the best hacker among us, that¡¯s why Master appointed him as our group leader. Even Master knows that it¡¯s Fantom that our brother admires the most, not him. But Master doesn¡¯t resent him because of his undeniable natural talent and skills in hacking."

    They sighed. However, they were all brothers who had been through so many ups and downs together since they were little boys. Disagreements among them urred often but they always made up in the end because of their strong brotherhood.

    "Just be careful about what you say next time, brother, so as not to trigger our leader especially when it involves Fantom. If given the choice between Fantom and our Master El Payaso, we all know that he¡¯s going to choose Fantom. That¡¯s why our hacking style follows Fantom¡¯s distinct style more than our own master¡¯s. It¡¯s also the reason why our leader is so fixated on Drakon because the bastard¡¯s style is also quite simr to Fantom."

    They nodded.

    "Alright. Enough chit-chat. We still have to win tonight¡¯s hacking battle against Drakon and his two disciples."

    In the next instant, however, they heard a loud curse from the other side of the room.

    "Fuck! It¡¯s that nasty fellow ckPanther again! Ah, my poor babyptop! I just powered up your specs this week but that little shit fried you. Again!"

    The leader nced at his brother who was grieving for the poor deadptop even as his fingers sped up over his keyboard. "I see. So that¡¯s how it is. Drakon and WhiteTigress are defending Jin Corporation while ckPanther is holding the fort at the hotel and protecting Liam Jin."

    Then he smirked before giving instructions to his brothers. "Group B, continue battling Drakon and WhiteTigress to breach Jin Corporation. Give them as much trouble as you can, yes? I¡¯ll join Group A this time. Let¡¯s see what Drakon is going to do when his other disciple, ckPanther, is pushed in a tight corner by us. Drakon will surelye running to rescue the little one, no? Fufufu. Once Drakon leaves Jin Corporation to save ckPanther, then that¡¯s the best time to attack Jin Corporation all at once and overpower WhiteTigress. Oh, how exciting! This is what I¡¯m talking about! Hahahaha!"

    With a clear goal, everyone became more focused. The earlier tension in the air disappeared. Once again, the brothers worked together as one like how they always did since their childhood while growing up in an extremely harsh environment.

    ###

    Back at the five-star hotel, Jin Liwei and Xu Tian returned to the restaurant¡¯s private dining room where the other Jin Corporation executives were eating and waiting for them. They didn¡¯t question them about their half an hour absence from the dining table.

    It was amon urrence anyway because Jin Liwei was the CEO and was always busy. And as the CEO¡¯s executive assistant, Xu Tian was also extremely busy, perhaps even busier than Jin Liwei depending on one¡¯s point of view.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression didn¡¯t show any of his real thoughts as he interacted with the other executives as if nothing was wrong in the world and they were all just enjoying dinner together to celebrate his marriage with Iris Long.

    Deep inside, however, he was on extremely high alert as he continued receiving updates from Bacon through the earpiece. But he began to feel more reassured because his brother-inw Lu Zihao was already on his way to the hotel.

    A few Shadow Winds members who were near the area and were summoned by Lu Zihao had already started arriving before their boss. But instead of sending these members to provide back-up to Jin Liwei¡¯s security team at the hotel, both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao were of the same mind and sent them directly to Iris¡¯ group a short distance away.

    The two men were helpless against her stubbornness. They also had to act cautious around her because of her extreme mood swings that could strike at any time without any warning. It would be hell on earth if they ended up infuriating her to the point that she decided to run away, hide from them, and give birth to the twins on her own. She was a very strong-minded woman and could really do that if angered.

    Since they couldn¡¯t make her leave and go home tonight no matter what they said, all they could do was send more people to guard her group, and most importantly, to prevent her from storming inside the hotel where it could be potentially dangerous especially for a pregnant woman like her.

    Right at that moment, the door opened and a waiter entered carrying a tray of different cocktails. Some of the executives cheered, feeling excited at the thought of loosening up their stiff cors with some stronger alcohol than the red wine served earlier.

    Jin Liwei frowned when an borate ss was served in front of him. "I didn¡¯t order this."

    "Ah, President. I ordered a cocktail for you and Assistant Xu while you two were gone earlier. I hope that you don¡¯t mind my presumptuousness. If the cocktails that I ordered don¡¯t suit your taste, please order other ones instead."

    "No need to order another one. This is fine." Jin Liwei reached for the cocktail but didn¡¯t drink it yet.

    Everyone was waiting for him to drink first because he was the person with the highest rank in the room.

    A voice talked to his earpiece but the others didn¡¯t hear it except for him and Xu Tian.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s fingers tightened around the ss while everyone looked at him with anticipation.

    Xu Tian looked grim. "How about I drink President¡¯s¡ª"

    Jin Liwei downed the cocktail. The others cheered and started drinking their own cocktails. Nobody noticed anything unusual because both Jin Liwei and Xu Tian had already mastered the art of a stoic face.

 Chapter 1036 - Poison Expert

    <h4>Chapter 1036 - Poison Expert </h4>

    It had been quite a long time since Jin Liwei had drank an alcoholic beverage so he couldn¡¯t help but frown a little when the cocktail hit his pte. He consumed only about one-third of the cocktail before stopping and putting it down on the table.

    Xu Tian leaned closer to him and whispered, "Sir, are you feeling alright?"

    "Hm." He was okay. For now.

    Then a polite, matter-of-fact, child¡¯s voice spoke through his earpiece. "Father, Bacon is 99.98% certain that Mother will be upset once she learns about this n that you and Uncle Zihao devised as a counterattack to Rose Young¡¯s plot tonight. This n is certainly not the ssiest, but ording to Bacon¡¯s own forecast analysis, although it¡¯s one of the most dangerous options to Father¡¯s safety, it¡¯s also the one that has the highest probability ofpletely destroying Rose Young while obtaining the necessary evidence against her in this attempted crime, and at the same time making sure that the involvement of Uncle Zihao and Shadow Winds in tonight¡¯s mission won¡¯t get them into trouble with the authorities.

    "Since this is the case, Bacon reluctantly agrees to stay silent about your n as per Father and Uncle Zihao¡¯s request and not report it to Mother if she doesn¡¯t specifically asks for it. However, if she does asks, Bacon will not hesitate to divulge everything to Mother. I don¡¯t want Mother to be upset with Bacon ever again. It is horrible and makes Bacon want to destroy the whole world which is not ssy at all."

    Jin Liwei sighed and tapped his ear, replying to his cat AI son in Morse code. <i>¡¯OK.¡¯</i>

    The other executives were too absorbed in chatting with each other and enjoying their cocktails that they didn¡¯t notice their boss secretly conversing with someone else through an earpiece. Those who saw Jin Liwei gently tapping his ear only thought that he was probably thinking about something important, perhaps about Jin Corporation¡¯s year-end performance, or maybe he was just scratching an itch in the ear.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s secret conversation with his cat AI son in Morse code continued. <i></i>

    Bacon told him in a serious tone, "Most importantly, Bacon also doesn¡¯t want to upset Mother too much by telling her the truth about Father and Uncle Zihao¡¯s n. Mother is still in her first trimester and Bacon doesn¡¯t want anything bad to happen to her or my twin baby human siblings.

    "That¡¯s why Father should take extra care of yourself as you throw yourself directly into danger tonight. Uncle Zihao, Shadow Winds, Father¡¯s security team and Bacon will all do our best to get you out of Rose Young¡¯s evil clutches safely before Mother realizes what¡¯s going on."

    Jin Liwei once again tapped his ear.<i> ¡¯Understood.¡¯</i>

    "Father, please also remember¡ª"

    Silence.

    Jin Liwei waited for five seconds but Bacon was still silent. He tapped his ear. <i>¡¯Son, are you OK?¡¯</i>

    No response.

    <i>¡¯What happened?¡¯</i>

    Still no reply.

    He frowned, no longer able to maintain his stoic expression. Fortunately, the other executives were too engrossed in their own conversations and drinks that they didn¡¯t notice anything amiss about their boss. Or if some did, the alcohol had already somewhat dulled their senses that they failed to register their boss¡¯ change of expression.

    "Father, my apologies for being unable to reply right away."

    Jin Liwei was relieved when he heard Bacon¡¯s voice again.

    "Eagle is interfering in our control of the hotel¡¯s surveince system. Bacon and my colleagues from Shadow Winds¡¯ hacker team are now battling against Eagle to regain control without alerting the hotel¡¯s admin and the authorities."

    <i>¡¯OK,¡¯</i> he tapped.

    "Jin Corporation is also under attack. We suspect that it is Eagle¡¯s doing as well. Mother and Big Sister Ketchup are currently working together to defend Jin Corporation while Bacon is assigned to provide assistance to Father and Uncle Zihao¡¯s mission here at the hotel."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly. He stood up abruptly but staggered on his feet when a sudden wave of dizziness assaulted him. Xu Tian moved to support him but he waved him away and threw his assistant a meaningful look. Xu Tian hesitated but eventually stepped back, obeying his silent order.

    "President, you look pale. Are you alright?"

    Someone among the other executives finally noticed that something was wrong with their boss. Upon hearing their colleague¡¯s concerned question, they all turned to look at Jin Liwei.

    "I¡¯m fine." Jin Liwei regained his bnce and stood straighter. "Don¡¯t mind me. It has just been a while since I drank some alcohol and my tolerance decreased a bit."

    "Looks like Madam Jin is doing an excellent job in controlling our president¡¯s alcohol intake."

    "That¡¯s what happens when one marries!"

    Laughter filled the entire private dining room. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t have the time to feel offended at the others making fun of him and insinuating that he had be a hen-pecked husband after marrying because his body was now starting to feel weird. And even if he was feeling fine like normal, he wouldn¡¯t find their words offensive at all.

    Seeing him straightening up his clothes and Xu Tian also standing up, the other executives also stood up but Jin Liwei gestured for them to sit back down.

    "Continue enjoying your dinner. Order more food and drinks if you want. Everything is my treat as promised. I need to head home now."

    "But it¡¯s still so early, President Jin!"

    "I have a wife waiting for me at home now." Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was filled with pride.

    "Right, right! Let the President go home. He and Madam Jin are still newlyweds after all!"

    Another round ofughter filled the room. Then everyone respectfully bid Jin Liwei and Xu Tian goodbye and goodnight as the two left while the rest of them stayed and enjoyed the rest of their meal and more cocktails. Xu Tian also already received earlier the wedding gifts they prepared for their boss and his new wife.

    Outside the dining room, Jin Liwei walked away in a hurry and entered the men¡¯s room reserved for the hotel restaurant¡¯s VIP diners like him. Xu Tian followed him inside.

    "Sir¡ª"

    Jin Liwei held up a hand and silently warned him with his eyes not to speak out loud. He tapped his ear.

    Bacon replied, "Father, the men¡¯s room that you are in right now should be safe. Bacon detected no bugs inside."

    Both Jin Liwei and Xu Tian sighed in relief. However, Xu Tian¡¯s concern immediately returned.

    "Sir, you look feverish. I think we shouldn¡¯t continue with this n. It¡¯s too risky and dangerous for you!"

    "The n is set. It¡¯s toote to change it now. The enemies have already made their move as you can see by my condition."

    Jin Liwei washed his face with cold water in an effort to alleviate the heat spreading all over his body. In addition to an increased body temperature, his thing beneath his trousers also began to stir. He wanted to find his wife and make love with her right at this moment.

    Then the door to the toilet opened and in came a huge figure. Xu Tian instinctively stepped in front of his boss to protect him especially right now that Jin Liwei¡¯s senses had been dulled from being drugged.

    "It¡¯s me," a familiar deep and low voice said.

    "Mr. Lu," Xu Tian greeted and then stepped aside.

    "Wait for us outside," Jin Liwei told his assistant.

    "Understood, sir."

    After Xu Tian left, Lu Zihao lowered the ck cowl covering the lower half of his face. "Still holding on?"

    "En, not too bad." Jin Liwei swallowed, trying to moisten his dry mouth and throat with saliva¡ªa side-effect of the drug he ingested from the cocktail.

    "Good, ¡¯cuz you look terrible."

    "Thanks, Brother-inw," Jin Liwei replied in a dry tone.

    Lu Zihao grunted before fishing out a small amber bottle out of his coat pocket and then tossed it. Jin Liwei managed to catch it despite his current condition.

    "Drink it," Lu Zihao told Jin Liwei. "One shot is effective in neutralizing or lowering the effectiveness of 23 of the mostmon poisons avable in the ck market including aphrodisiacs. I concocted it myself and my subordinates also use it so rest assured that it¡¯s effective."

    Jin Liwei immediately popped the lid open from the small amber bottle and drank its contents bottoms up. The liquid medicine was slightly viscous and extremely bitter. There was also a touch of spiciness that burned his tongue and throat a little. He couldn¡¯t help but cringe at the horrid taste but forced himself to swallow every single drop.

    "This"¡ª<i>cough cough</i>¡ª"tastes like shit." More coughing.

    Lu Zihao smirked. "As the saying goes, the more bitter the medicine, the more effective it is."

    The coughingsted for only a few seconds before the spicy aftertaste intensified inside his mouth. It turned from a burning sensation into a soothing and cooling menthol taste instead. Jin Liwei sighed in relief.

    "You say that this is effective against 23 poisons? What if the aphrodisiac that I was drugged with isn¡¯t included in those 23?"

    "Then you¡¯re screwed."

    Jin Liwei gave his brother-inw a side eye.

    Lu Zihao shrugged. "That¡¯s the only shot that a person who didn¡¯t undergo poison resistance training can take without suffering any adverse side effects. I have others that are much more effective but they¡¯re also quite toxic to untrained people like you. Actually, that shot might still give you diarrhea or vomiting tomorrow but that¡¯s a small price to pay given your current situation."

    "Curing poison with poison, you mean."

    "Yeah." Lu Zihao paused, then added, "Evelinka also knows how to concoct these shots."

    Jin Liwei froze.

    "You read the Vetrov report. Remember our mother¡¯s expertise."

    Jin Liwei understood. "In addition to being an elite assassin, your mother was also a biomedical expert who specialized in poisons."

    "Exactly."

 Chapter 1037 - A Test Of Acting Skills

    <h4>Chapter 1037 - A Test Of Acting Skills </h4>

    "Long story short, our mother made me and my sister go through poison resistance training as soon as our young bodies became able to barely handle it," Lu Zihao exined. "The most integral part of the training wasn¡¯t the forceful modification of our bodies to build up poison resistance but it was actually the concoction of antidotes."

    Both his tone and expression showed no emotions whatsoever as if what he and his sister endured back then in the name of training was nothing more than a trivial matter.

    It was Jin Liwei who felt upset instead, not only for his wife but also for his brother-inw. After reading the Vetrov report so many times that he almost memorized the entire thing, he had begun to realize that Niki Vetrov didn¡¯t be evil because he was born that way. His cruelty and seemingck of conscience were a product of his upbringing.

    Jin Liwei tried to imagine himself in his brother-inw¡¯s shoes as the heir apparent to the number one international criminal organization in the world. Perhaps if he were born in the same kind of brutal and literal survival of the fittest environment, he would have also be no different than what Niki Vetrov became¡ªa cruel man who had no qualms killing others in cold blood.

    Only a special kind of pure person like his wife would be able to withstand such a harsh and deadly upbringing. No wonder even a man known for being evil and heartless like Niki Vetrov was so loving and gentle towards his little sister. Evelina Vetrova was indeed the type of rare person whose inner purity couldn¡¯t be tainted no matter how others tried to change her by force. She would only change if she decided to do so.

    While Jin Liwei¡¯s heart ached for what the brother and sister went through in their past lives, Lu Zihao took a small hard leather case from his coat¡¯s inner pocket. He opened it and took out what looked like two-inch mini pen. Then he grabbed Jin Liwei¡¯s hand and used the mini pen to prick a finger.

    Jin Liwei frowned but didn¡¯t say anything, allowing his brother-inw to finish whatever he was doing to him. He watched as Lu Zihao pressed the small bead of blood on his finger to a thin strip of translucent paper.

    The paper changed colours in an instant. First, it turned into a reddish ck colour with some specks of dark brown. Then it quickly changed into an unpleasant shade of muddy violet.

    "Heh~ An aphrodisiac and a sedative, huh. Well, at least there¡¯s no lethal poison so it looks like that nympho doesn¡¯t want you dead. Good. I don¡¯t want my sister to be a widow this early." Lu Zihao handed Jin Liwei an adhesive bandage while he returned the used tools to the small container, not daring to discard them in the men¡¯s room.

    Jin Liwei snorted before washing his hands, drying them, and then bandaging his finger. His brother-inw didn¡¯t sanitize either of their hands before drawing blood from him. He didn¡¯tin though because this wasn¡¯t the time to act fussy.

    "I intend to live a long life and spend a happy, blissful marriage with my wife until we grow old. I¡¯m not going to let her be a widow while she¡¯s still so young."

    Lu Zihao grunted. "Based on the test results, the nympho gave you quite a high dosage of aphrodisiac so the shot I gave you won¡¯tpletely neutralize it. You¡¯ll still feel it so you need to do your best to keep your head clear in order for our countern to work. As for the sedative, don¡¯t worry about it. She gave you a verymon one so the shot is extremely effective against it."

    "En. Thanks. I can handle this much."

    Jin Liwei was relieved and irritated at the same time¡ªrelieved that the sedative wasn¡¯t a problem anymore and irritated because he still felt hot all over.

    If it wasn¡¯t for his goal to not only thwart Rose Young¡¯s sinister plot against him tonight but also to gather incriminating evidence to push her to the point of no return, he would have already ran to find his wife and make love with her as soon as possible in order to alleviate his drug-induced need for pleasure.

    Lu Zihao gave him a pointed look. "The shot I gave you is a highly sought after antidote in the underworld. Only the Vetrovs know how to concoct it."

    "En, I understand. My lips are sealed. No need to worry."

    "If you begin to suffer the dyed side effects of the shot tomorrow, ask Evelinka for help instead of going to the doctor. She knows several methods to relieve the side effects. I don¡¯t want any fucker analyzing my concoction in ab from your blood. If someone discovers it, motherfuckers from the criminal underworld will connect it to us. Too dangerous for my sister."

    Jin Liwei frowned, feeling hesitant to involve his wife. Lu Zihao immediately knew what he was worrying about based on his expression. <i></i>

    "Just tell her the truth tomorrow. She¡¯ll find out about our entire n anyway. I¡¯m sure that the little mama¡¯s boy AI son of yours will tell her everything in the end."

    "I know." Jin Liwei sighed. He wiped the perspiration beading on his forehead. The effects of the aphrodisiac had decreased but he still felt ufortable.

    Lu Zihao paused because one of his subordinates stationed at the restaurant was reporting through his earpiece. Shadow Winds had their own voice channel that was separate from Jin Liwei¡¯s security team. However, Bacon created an additional channel that the two groups could use tomunicate with each other.

    After listening to his subordinate, Lu Zihao covered the lower half of his face again with the ck cowl around his neck. "Yourplexion is already starting to improve a little. We need to move. The nympho¡¯s minion is starting to get antsy that you¡¯ve been inside the toilet for too long."

    Jin Liwei nodded. Then he paused and looked at his brother-inw up and down. "You¡¯re such a big man. Did anyone notice you going in the toilet after me?"

    "Who do you think I am? You think I¡¯m an amateur like the nympho¡¯s minions that she brought tonight?"

    "Right. Never mind."

    "I¡¯ll go out first. Wait at least two minutes before going out." Lu Zihao didn¡¯t wait for a reply before slipping out of the men¡¯s room without making a sound.

    Jin Liwei pursed his lips, feeling impressed and a little envious at how such a big man could move so effortlessly like a phantom in the shadows.

    Two minutester, he finally exited the men¡¯s room. Xu Tian was waiting for him alongside a couple of his bodyguards. The rest of his security team that he originally brought tonight to protect his wife¡¯s privacy if she decided to join the dinner with the other executives were stationed in several locations in the restaurant and the hotel. Now that the situation developed like this, their priority was now to protect him instead.

    Another group of his security team had secretly arrived at the hotel from Dragon Pce to provide back-up and coordinate with Shadow Winds. They were all in disguise to avoid alerting not only Rose Young¡¯s group but also the authorities.

    "Father, my apologies. Bacon is still busy battling the pesky Eagle. My assistance in tonight¡¯s mission will be severely limited until I defeat Eagle. Please be patient. Bacon will definitely return with a ssy victory."

    Jin Liwei tapped his ear. <i>¡¯OK.¡¯</i>

    "Uncle Zihao and his hacker team will take over in providing Father with remote instructions until I return. So please take care not to lose your earpiece, Father."

    <i>¡¯OK.¡¯</i>

    Jin Liwei and Xu Tian passed by arge aquarium in the restaurant¡¯s hallway. He nced at his own reflection. Indeed, hisplexion had improved but he still looked a little feverish. Then he adjusted his expression, making himself look like he was enduring pain.

    This mission was going to be a test of his acting skills. Even though his acting skills weren¡¯t anything impressive, he had no choice but to give his all or fail the mission. Failing was out of question so the only choice was to seed no matter what.

    "They¡¯re on the move," Lu Zihao¡¯s voice spoke through his earpiece. "A fucking minion is watching you like a hawk. Act more groggy and unsteady on your feet. You took a sedative in addition to the aphrodisiac after all."

    Jin Liwei followed his brother-inw¡¯s instruction and pretended to sway. Xu Tian was also doing a great job in showing concern for him. His assistant¡¯s supporting act should make his performance more believable.

    "Heh~ Not bad. But your assistant has better acting skills than you."

    <i>¡¯I know that already!¡¯</i> Jin Liwei inwardlyined upon hearing Lu Zihao¡¯sments. He gritted his teeth and focused on acting weak.

    The only person who he managed to deceive with his lousy acting skills was his wife when he tricked her into bing his girlfriend and eventually a lover back when they first met. She was so innocent back then, and in some ways, she still retained her innocence even now.

    He didn¡¯t dare say any of these thoughts out loud or his brother-inw might murder him in cold blood.

    "Concentrate," Lu Zihao told him, interrupting his distracted thoughts. "One is heading your way. Prepare yourself."

    Xu Tian received a separate order and crouched down to wipe a nonexistent dirt from his shoe, leaving Jin Liwei to walk by himself in the hallway.

    Once he reached a corner, a young man suddenly bumped into him. Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes narrowed but he still pretended to fall.

 Chapter 1038 - Something Is Weird

    <h4>Chapter 1038 - Something Is Weird </h4>

    Inside the hotel room, Rose Young and Jenny Tseng were both listening to the report of Luke¡¯s friend who was assigned to monitor Jin Liwei at the restaurant downstairs while acting as a cleaner.

    Rose trembled in excitement upon hearing that Jin Liwei had sessfully drank the drugged cocktail and that he was now suffering from the effects of the aphrodisiac and sedative. Since she was Singaporean and not a Chinese native, she had no idea at first how to procure these illegal substances from within the country. Fortunately, she had Jenny.

    Her best friend had lived longer in this country than her, so Jenny had built quite a number of useful connectionsrgely thanks to her two ex-husbands¡¯ circles. Jenny had a natural talent to make most people like her, resulting in amicable rtionships with her ex-husbands, former inws, her exes¡¯ friends and acquaintances, despite divorcing the two men. As a result, she was able to maintain the connections she made through her ex-husbands without suffering any alienation like most divorc¨¦es.

    Using these connections, Jenny helped Rose obtain strong aphrodisiac and sedative from an illicit supplier. Rose paid a premium for both drugs but she had noints because they appeared to be very effective after hearing that Jin Liwei stumbled after being bumped. Luke¡¯s friend also reported that Jin Liwei looked feverish and groggy which were both clear indicators of the two drugs¡¯bined effects.

    Rose couldn¡¯t wait to make Jin Liwei hers tonight. He had been the man of her dreams for so many years that her desperation and obsession for him were making her go crazy. Just thinking about what she had in store for him tonight in the hotel bed was already making her wet and hot with need.

    After the phone call with Luke¡¯s friend, Jenny was dumbfounded. Her surgically lifted eyebrows almost touched her hairline at how astonished she felt.

    "Gosh, is this really happening?" Jenny asked with an exaggerated, shaky gasp. "Rosie, I can¡¯t believe that your stupid clich¨¦d n looks like it¡¯s going to really work! Wow. I totally didn¡¯t expect for Jin Liwei to fall for your ridiculous trap. Did his brain turn into a semen-filled mush after honeymooning with Iris Long? Ahahaha! Oh my god of botox, this is unbelievable!"

    Rose red at Jenny for mentioning the slut Iris Long in front of her, but there was still a smug look in her eyes. It was as if she was telling her best friend ¡¯I told you so¡¯ after Jenny repeatedly told her that her n was so stupid that it was going to fail no matter what.

    How could Jenny not know what her best friend was thinking? Jenny rolled her smoky eyes and pursed her artificially plump lips. "Don¡¯t get toocent, Rosie. We still have to get Jin Liwei inside this bedroom so you can have your wicked way with him tonight. Don¡¯t count your eggnts before your ducks! Your n hasn¡¯t seeded yet. This is just the start, okay?"

    "I know, Jenny. And it¡¯s ¡¯don¡¯t count your chickens before they hatch¡¯, not eggnts and ducks."

    "Whatever. Same thing!"

    <i>¡¯It¡¯s not the same thing at all!¡¯</i> Rose shouted inside her mind but decided not to bother about it anymore. <i></i>

    Her best friend¡¯s IQ had long been hopeless anyway. There was no point in correcting her because Jenny would still continue butchering idioms.

    Jenny tapped her chin with a finger. "Don¡¯t you feel that something is weird?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "Everything¡¯s going well! Too well! Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s weird?"

    Rose rolled her eyes, annoyed at her friend. "Stop thinking too much, Jenny. It¡¯s not weird. It just means that my n is meant to seed tonight. You¡¯re the one spreading bad vibes to my n by constantly saying it¡¯s stupid and doomed to fail. Why do you think that everything is going well right now? It¡¯s because the universe is agreeing with me that my destined life partner is Jin Liwei! If not for that slut Iris Long snatching him up too early, I would¡¯ve eventually made him mine given more time!"

    "Ahahaha! Riiiiiiight. Whatever. Believe whatever you want to believe." Jenny shrugged and then sighed. "I¡¯m so bored. Ugh!"

    Rose ignored the whining Jenny. She was too focused on receiving the updates from Luke and his friends downstairs and also giving them instructions whenever the situation needed it.

    <i>¡¯Almost! I can almost have you, Big Brother Liwei. After tonight, you¡¯ll no longer desire another woman. I¡¯ll make sure to blow your mind with extreme pleasure. That slut Iris Long can¡¯t possiblypare with my skills in bed. I¡¯m all that you¡¯ll ever need. Only me!¡¯</i>

    ###

    "Mother, Bacon is in trouble," the ck cat AI announced through the vehicle¡¯s dashboard vehicle.

    Iris¡¯ fingers didn¡¯t stop moving on herptop¡¯s keyboard under the dazed gaze of her brother-inw, Jin Chonglin. She took her eyes off herptop and nced at her cat AI son. "Exin."

    "Bacon had already regained control of the hotel¡¯s surveince system 3 minutes and 24 seconds ago but Eagle became stronger all of a sudden and sessfully snatched the control away from me again. Eagle¡¯s hacking style became much more aggressive and is clearly targeting the weak areas of my defence which are usually fortified by Big Sister Ketchup.

    "Mother, Bacon is doing my best to fight them off so that I can return to assisting Father and Uncle Zihao inside the hotel as soon as possible but I am starting to feel too irritated, frustrated and angry. My control might suffer if I allow myself to be overwhelmed by these emotions. But Bacon can¡¯t stop myself from feeling this way."

    Iris narrowed her eyes, realizing something. "I see. So that¡¯s what happened. I¡¯m guessing that the most skilled hacker in Eagle¡¯s team left the attack on Jin Corporation to focus on the hotel. That¡¯s why defending thepany has be easier now. Hmmm. What¡¯s their real target? Your dad or Jin Corporation? Or maybe both? Or this might be a trap. Hmmm."

    Even as she was wondering about these things, she continued hacking with Ketchup to defend Jin Corporation using herptop. Both Dom and Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t dare to make any noise for fear of distracting her and causing harm to both Jin Liwei and Jin Corporation.

 Chapter 1039 - Five Minutes

    <h4>Chapter 1039 - Five Minutes </h4>

    Iris thought for a moment before making a decision. "Bacon, hold on for five more minutes."

    "Mother, Bacon might notst that long because I¡¯m feeling too angry at Eagle for wasting my time when I want to assist Father and Uncle Zihao at the hotel as soon as possible and make sure that they¡¯re both safe. Targeting Father and Jin Corporation at the same time is not ssy at all."

    "I¡¯ll give you a red packet if you manage to hold on for five more minutes."

    The ck cat AI paused and considered his mother¡¯s offer for a couple of seconds before asking, "How much will be in the red packet?"

    "1,000 US dors."

    "Bacon wants 10,000 US dors."

    Despite the gravity of the entire situation, Iris couldn¡¯t help but chuckle when her AI son threw a counter offer. Bacon was indeed her son¡ªshameless to the core when it came to family. Grandpa Lu¡¯s teaching permeated their entire family.

    "No, Bacon. You¡¯re the one who needs my help. 2,000 dors."

    "5,000 dors?"

    "Bacon." There was a warning tone in her voice but she wasn¡¯t really mad. Not at all.

    Jin Liwei was the strict parent, not her. She was just pretending to be displeased to see how far her AI son would continue countering her offers. <i></i>

    After Bacon¡¯s shocking meltdown earlier with his father, Iris had already decided to cooperate with her husband to raise Bacon to be less obsessed with money.

    "2,500 dors?" Bacon made another counter offer.

    Despite her determination to re-educate her AI son, Iris still couldn¡¯t resist Bacon especially since he looked so adorable as a ck kitten. In the end, she gave in to him.

    "Fine. Just make sure to hold on for an exact five minutes. If not, no red packet for you. Understood?"

    "Yes, Mother. Bacon understands."

    "The five minutes starts now."

    A timer appeared at the bottom corner of the dashboard monitor showing a countdown of five minutes which quickly turned into 4:59 and so on.

    Beside the stone-faced Bacon who had a slightly pleased look in his golden eyes, his sister Ketchup wiggled her fluffy white butt and started blinking imploringly at their mother.

    "Mommy, the cute and mighty Ketchup also wants a red packet! Ketchup wants the same exact amount as my little kitty brother Bacon¡ª2,500 dors! Meow~"

    "Alright. But you have to continue defending Jin Corporation and not allow any breaches after I go assist your brotherter. For now, I¡¯ll fortify thepany¡¯s security system and make it more robust while dealing damage to Eagle¡¯s team of hackers and hopefully trace their identities or origins as well. If you can do that, I¡¯ll also give you a red packet."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! The cute and mighty Ketchup will make sure to do my super-duper bestest to defend Daddy¡¯spany from all these Eagle poopoo-heads and earn 2,500 dors from Mommy! Meow~"

    Bacon nced at his excited older sister and had the urge to hiss at her but restrained himself so as not to upset their pregnant mother. He felt a little annoyed that his Big sister Ketchup was also getting the same benefits as him when he was the one who worked so hard to negotiate with their mother just now.

    However, he had no time toin about it because he was truly having a difficult time dealing with this other Eagle team that was more aggressive than normal. Only five minutes. If he could just hold on for five minutes, the 2,500 US dors will be deposited to his bank ount. This incentive alone was enough to push him into overdrive with 100%ser focus.

    Sitting not far away from Iris, Jin Chonglin was gaping at her and the AI cats on the dashboard monitor with a dazed expression. It seemed that he still hadn¡¯t recovered from his earlier shock.

    During the mother and AI cat children¡¯s negotiation earlier, Jin Chonglin opened and closed his mouth many times but was unable to interrupt them because the entire situation dealt a huge blow to his normal brain.

    When he looked at Dominic Chua, the guy was nonchntly preparing snacks and drinks for Iris while she worked on herptop. Dominic looked like all of these things including the unbelievably lifelike conversations with the AI kittens were normal urrences to him. Even the driver at the front was the same.

    In short, only Jin Chonglin looked like his soul had flown out of his mortal body. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and make sense of everything that was happening right now. Then he nced outside the tinted windows and saw several men and women loitering a few steps away from the vehicle.

    "Hm?" He looked closer and recognized a couple of men as people who followed Lu Zihao.

    They were all wearing regr clothes and acting as if they were just a bunch of buddies hanging out together. However, if one looked more closely like what Jin Chonglin was doing, it would be clear from the way they positioned themselves and how they always had the vehicle in their sight that something must be going on.

    Jin Chonglin opened his mouth, about to inform the others about the people outside, but eventually changed his mind and stayed silent instead upon seeing how busy Iris was in hacking.

    Dom was also hard at work holding the water bottle and straw for Iris so that she could stay hydrated without stopping her work. The guy would also wipe the perspiration beading on her forehead and neck.

    All Jin Chonglin could do was sigh and let the two do their own thing. Since he recognized two of the individuals as Lu Zihao¡¯s people, then the group must have been sent by his Big Bro Jin Liwei¡¯s fifth brother to protect them, or more specifically, to protect Iris Long. He was just an addition. The priority would always be Iris Long and the baby she was carrying.

    Then all of sudden, there was a low buzz.

    "Mother, the five minutes are up," the ck cat AI announced.

    "Good job holding on, Bacon," Iris replied.

    "Thank you, Mother. Please don¡¯t forget Bacon¡¯s red packet of 2,500 dors."

 Chapter 1040 - Power Flood

    <h4>Chapter 1040 - Power Flood </h4>

    "You¡¯ll get your red packet tomorrow when this is over," Iris replied.

    Bacon swished his fluffy ck tail. "Thank you, Mother."

    Iris nodded. "Ketchup, I¡¯ll leave Jin Corporation to you. I¡¯m going to help your younger brother Bacon to regain control of the hotel¡¯s surveince system and ensure your dad¡¯s safety."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! The cute and mighty Ketchup will handle all these poopoo-heads by myself! Meow~"

    "Good. Call me immediately if you think that you¡¯re in trouble."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow!"

    Iris straightened her back, stretched her neck and shoulders, and regted her breathing. Then her eyes became sharp as her fingers flew in a faster blur over herptop¡¯s keyboard.

    It was easy for the mother and AI son pair to wrest control of the hotel¡¯s surveince and security system from this particr Eagle team. In the next few minutes, however, Eagle¡¯s force at the hotel weakened all of a sudden.

    And then....

    "Mommy, mommy! Oh no! The attack on Jin Corporation has be fiercer! These Eagle poopoo-heads are fighting dirty! Pweh! The cute and mighty Ketchup looks down on all of them! Ganging up on a little kitty baby like me¡ªwhere¡¯s their sense of hacker honour?! How dare they treat a cute and fluffy kitty baby like this?! Hmph! Take that, stinky birdies! Ketchup will never forgive you if you prevent the cute and mighty me from earning tonight¡¯s red packet from my mommy! Mreow!!!"

    "I knew it." Iris narrowed her eyes, already prepared for this kind of strategy from the opponent. "Not bad, Eagle. Not bad at all." Then she smirked. "However, you¡¯re still quite the amateurspared to those old guys from back then."

    She took a few deep breaths. Her smirk disappeared and was reced by a serious expression. She became calmer and more focused. Nevertheless, excitement burned within her eyes.

    "Ketchup, Bacon. Fortify your internal systems, secure all of your data, and prepare for a power flood."

    "Gasp! Power flood?! Really, Mommy?! Meow!!!" Ketchup¡¯s shocked expression looked exaggerated andical but it was actually genuine.

    Bacon stood on all fours, bing serious but also excited at the same time, and all ready for a fierce battle. His golden eyes glowed brightly. He licked his sharp teeth and almost couldn¡¯t conceal his anticipation. "All done, Mother. Bacon is ready at any time."

    "Oh oh oh! Wait a sec! Ketchup is doing it now, too! Yep, all done! The cute and mighty Ketchup is also super-duper to the highest level ready for the great and legendary power flood which until this time has only been a dormant code in our systems since our births but will now be activated for the first time ever! Woohoo! Yay yay! Ketchup can¡¯t wait! Meowowow!!!"

    Iris nced at her two AI children on the dashboard monitor and smiled at them. All three of them had the same exact excitement and anticipation burning in their eyes.

    "Do me proud, my babies. From this moment until tonight¡¯s power flood ends, we¡¯ll work as one."

    ###

    <i>Gold Heights Condominium.</i>

    Wei Lan and her new best friend Randy were having their own impromptu fashion show in the formal living area with all the new outfits that they bought earlier today at the mall. It wasn¡¯t only the two of them who were strutting their stuff on a makeshift catwalk. Iris¡¯ old housekeeper Yi Mei, the cook, and even the maids and houseboys had also been incited to model new outfits.

    It was because the vizcondesa and the Zumba instructor decided that it was high time to update the entire household¡¯s outfits. Again. They had already be known in the area as the most fashionable household and was even featured by various influential fashion bloggers.

    Wei Lan wanted to dress up the bodyguards as well, but unfortunately, the men refused to be her living mannequins. How boring!

    They told her that their boss, Jin Liwei, had a strict standard dress code for all of his security subordinates. Wei Lan had no choice but to let them go, no matter how unsatisfied she felt about their too-stiff bodyguard suits, because she still couldn¡¯t help but feel intimidated by her impressive son-inw. Jin Liwei definitely had a much more formidable countenance than her ex-husband, Long Tengfei, although the two men were both considered elites in the business industry.

    While she and Randy were having a st directing and starring in their own private fashion show, all the lights in the penthouse suddenly went off.

    Wei Lan screamed alongside the younger maids. Randy had the girliest shriek out of everyone.

    Unlike them, Yi Mei and the cook were tougher and didn¡¯t panic at all.

    Fortunately, the total darkness onlysted for about five seconds before the electricity returned.

    "What in the wooooooorld happened?!" Wei Lan demanded.

    While all of them were trying to figure out the cause of the brief power outage, nobody noticed the abnormality happening inside the lockedputer room concealed inside the library office.

    All of theputers and servers inside turned on at the same time. They looked dusty from months of not being cleaned because Iris stoppeding over ever since Wei Lan returned to the country and made the penthouse her temporary residence.

    Despite theck of physical maintenance, all of the device¡¯s software were still in tiptop condition from Iris and Ketchup¡¯s regr remote updates. They were now performing in their peak capacities within seconds of activation without any problems.

    There was a soft, dull but very discernible hum as the devices borrowed power not only from the rest of the penthouse but also from the entire condominium and even the adjacent buildings.

    ###

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10. </i>

    Things were less lively in the mansionpared to the penthouse. The power supply here was much more abundant and robustpared to normal residential properties in the country. <i></i>

    There was no five-second power outage but there was still a barely noticeable dimming of the lights. It was only a brief flicker. Very few noticed the abnormality.

    "Hm?" Jiang Ying Yue looked up at the bathroom lights while she was bathing her son in the childproof tub that Iris and Jin Liwei had customized just for Little Jun.

    "Mommi? Wat wong?" <i>(Mommy? What¡¯s wrong?)</i>

    The lights remained bright and steady. She shook her head and wondered if she was just imagining things. Then she smiled at her son. "Nothing. Let¡¯s finish up, okay?"

    "Kaykay, Mommi!"

 Chapter 1041 - A Little Bit Of Love

    <h4>Chapter 1041 - A Little Bit Of Love </h4>

    After drying Little Jun, Jiang Ying Yue carried her son to his colourful bedroom and dressed him in the new pyjama set that Grandpa Lu bought for him. The old man often showered the toddler with presents. Jiang Ying Yue was helpless about it.

    It wasn¡¯t only Grandpa Lu who bought presents for her son. Almost everyone did. The household staff would sneak treats to Little Jun on a regr basis. It was fortunate that Little Jun inherited her body type and converted most of everything he ate into strength and energy instead of pure fat.

    Her son was already starting to disy an above average level of strengthpared to kids his age. This prompted her to begin teaching him to be gentle as much as possible so as not to hurt anybody including himself. Now that Iris was pregnant and said pregnancy had made her even more delicate, Jiang Ying Yue would always remind her energetic son to take it easy around his Mama Xin. So far, Little Jun always listened to her.

    Her son was a good child and she was so proud of him. Most importantly, she was also immensely grateful to the many people who loved him. <i></i>

    "Meow!"

    Jiang Ying Yue nced at the slightly open door. Popcorn trotted inside the bedroom andnded on the bed and began ying with Little Jun. It was only about five minutester that Ice Cream arrived when Little Jun was already fully dressed in his cute and fluffy panda pyjamas. As usual, the fat grey cat huffed and puffed while dragging her round body across the floor before leaping to the bed with a loud thump.

    "Popkohn! Ash Kweem!"<i> (Popcorn! Ice Cream!)</i>

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled at the three wrestling on the bed. Well, only Little Jun and Popcorn were rolling around while Ice Cream curled on top of a pillow watching the other two with clear annoyance.

    After reading them a bedtime story, Little Jun was fast asleep along with his two cat cousins. Jiang Ying Yue carefully extricated herself from her son¡¯s embrace. She nned on taking a shower in her own room and returning to her son¡¯s room to sleep together with the three cousins. She kissed her son¡¯s forehead and headed out, careful to keep quiet as much as possible.

    While she was in the hallway, her phone vibrated indicating a call. Her heart leaped after seeing the call disy. However, she didn¡¯t notice what her heart did. Or more specifically, she pretended not to notice.

    She answered the call. "Hello?"

    "Good evening."

    "Good eve¡ª," she cleared her throat, "Good evening, Mr. Lin."

    "Please call me Yehan. I already told you this before."

    "Ah. Y-yes. Mr. Y-yehan...."

    There was a soft sigh on the other end of the line but Jiang Ying Yue could almost see the man¡¯s gentle smile. "I guess that would suffice for now, Ying Yue."

    She felt heat spreading all over her face and neck. She quickly ducked her head, attempting to hide her blushing face from her colleagues patrolling the mansion and any staff walking in the hallways at this time.

    "Is that too forward of me?" Lin Yehan asked, his tone as gentle as always.

    "Uhm...."

    "I guess it is. I apologize. Alright, how about I call you Miss Ying Yue instead to match how you¡¯re calling me as Mr. Yehan?"

    "Uh...that¡¯s okay, I guess."

    "Perfect!"

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t know how to respond. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t need to because Lin Yehan continued speaking.

    "Calling each other Mr. Lin and Miss Jiang is too formal and distant. We¡¯re considered friends now, aren¡¯t we? No, we¡¯re actually closer than friends¡ª"

    Her eyes widened. What did he mean that they were closer than friends?!

    "¡ªbecause of Third Brother Liwei and Third Sister-inw Xin, our rtionship should be more like somewhere between friends and family. Little Jun also considers me as an uncle."

    Oh. So that was what he meant.

    She pressed a hand on her chest to calm her suddenly racing heart. What the heck was wrong with her, getting excited for no reason?

    <i>¡¯Get a hold of yourself, Ying Yue!¡¯</i>

    She cleared her throat and asked, "Mr. Lin¡ªI mean Mr. Y-yehan, why did you call me? Is there something that, uhm, I can help you with?"

    "Oh, right. I was getting to that but got distracted." He chuckled. "I know it¡¯s a bitte already¡ª"

    "No! Not at all!" she said in a hurry. "I mean, uh, it¡¯s notte for me. Actually, it¡¯s still early. You¡¯re not disturbing me or anything like that...uhm, so yeah...."

    <i>¡¯Stop babbling and embarrassing yourself, Ying Yue!"</i> she scolded herself.

    "I see. It¡¯s good that I¡¯m not disturbing you." She heard Lin Yehan take a few breaths before telling her, "I called because...." He paused and sighed.

    His obvious hesitation made her nervous. This time, she didn¡¯t babble out of nervousness and stayed silent to wait for what he had to say.

    "Miss Ying Yue, what I¡¯m about to say might upset you but I believe that it¡¯s your right to know. That¡¯s why I called even at this hour."

    She continued to wait in silence.

    Finally, he told her the reason. "The defamationwsuit that I filed against Long Hui has now been assigned a date for its first court hearing. It¡¯s next week. I¡¯ll send you the details if you¡¯re interested."

    Jiang Ying Yue froze upon hearing her ex¡¯s name.

    "I heard that President Long Tengfei sent Long Hui far away in a remote ce but the hearing will still continue even without his presence. I just want to let you know that I intend to pursue thiswsuit no matter what because I find what he did not only to me but most importantly to you extremely uneptable."

    The memories of the character assassination that Long Hui did to both her and Lin Yehan in public flooded her mind. Tears sprang in her eyes but she forced them back, not allowing them to fall. She already cried so much because of Long Hui. Too much. The man didn¡¯t deserve any more of her tears.

    Her silence must have made Lin Yehan assume that she still had misgivings about thewsuit against Long Hui. "I¡¯m really sorry if this is upsetting you. It¡¯s understandable given that he¡¯s the father of your child but...." He sighed again. "I need to be honest with you about my stance in this case. I can¡¯t forgive what he did to you...to both of us. No, it wasn¡¯t only the two of us who were dragged through the mud so publicly. As he¡¯s both your child, Little Jun will always be involved in this mess no matter how hard we protect him. The attacks on Third Sister-inw Xin and Third Brother Liwei have also been very vicious because they have obviously taken your side since the beginning instead of Long Hui who¡¯s Xin¡¯s blood brother."

    "I know." Her voice was a whisper.

    Lin Yehan waited for her to say more but she didn¡¯t.

    "So what I wanted to say is," he said after the moment of silence, "I¡¯m not going to withdraw thiswsuit even if you¡ª"

    "Go ahead."

    "¡ªask me to¡ªhuh?"

    "I said go ahead, Lin Yehan." Determination shed in her eyes. Her posture also became straighter even as she gripped her phone tighter. It was a good thing that her phone was provided by Iris and it was virtually indestructible. If not, it would already have been cracked and damaged by her pure strength alone.

    "Are you sure?" he asked.

    "Yes."

    "Alright, Jiang Ying Yue." He sounded happy as he followed her example and called her full name after she called his full name. Although it was still obviously more formal than just calling Ying Yue and Yehan, at least the formal addresses Mr. and Miss were dropped, creating more closeness between them.

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t notice any of this because she was too preupied battling herplicated emotions. No matter how hard she tried to brainwash herself to stop loving Long Hui, she couldn¡¯t deny that there was still a little bit of love left for him.

    But that was about it.

    A little bit of love.

    Long Hui already killed most of the love she had for him with all the hurt he had caused her.

    "Lin Yehan."

    "Yes, Jiang Ying Yue?"

    "Please keep me posted about thewsuit."

    "Of course."

    They didn¡¯t keep talking for too long after this.

    "Good night, Jiang Ying Yue."

    "Good night, Lin Yehan."

    The call ended.

    It was only then that she realized the change in how they addressed each other. Shyness swept away all the negative emotions roiling inside her. Heat spread on her face and neck again. She knew that she was red as a tomato right now.

 Chapter 1042 - Old And New

    <h4>Chapter 1042 - Old And New </h4>

    <i>Cross Academy.</i>

    A violent snowstorm was ravaging the huge section of the Swiss Alps that the academy owned. An extreme weather alert ordered everyone at the academy to stay at home. This was quite a regr urrence in the area especially during the official winter season so nobody panicked even though the storm was extremely dangerous.

    Most of the residents stayed at home but there were some people whose duty was to ensure the safety of Cross Academy 24/7 no matter the danger. Some of these loyal, duty-bound individuals included specially selected members of the Computer Department who were in charge of the academy¡¯s surveince and online security system.

    Cross Academy was a powerhouse in its own right with resourcesparable to a small developed country. Its economic and diplomatic might was as equally legendary as its reputation for producing the best geniuses among geniuses in the world. Rumour had it that the academy had its own secret military and a stash of advanced weaponry but no definite confirmation or denial had been released as of this moment.

    Given its undeniable power and wealth, not to mention the countless secrets it continued to safeguard for more than two centuries since the legendary founder Professor Gxianne Arria von Cross, it was not surprising that Cross Academy was a tempting target to many who wanted to snatch its immeasurable richness.

    A specialized unit of the Computer Department was assigned to defend the academy from any online attacks to the surveince and online security system, ranging from simple pranks to full-on malicious assaults

    Ever since a beloved alumnus of the Computer department named Evelina Vetrova, known in the hacker world as the legendary Fantom, changed the entire system to that of her own design, Cross Academy never suffered any serious breaches ever again. <i></i>

    Even when Evelina had been reported as killed in the bloody Vetrov annihtion years ago, the Computer Department continued to use the system she designed when she was still a student, making improvements as necessary to keep up with the times. It wasn¡¯t because the department head wanted to honour the memory of his favourite student by stubbornly using the system she designed for the academy, although that was also a part of it.

    The real reason that they continued using Evelina¡¯s system for that long was because there was no one else who could design a better system than hers. It was as simple as that.

    Imagine the department head¡¯s delight when a newly enrolled student appeared and learned that she was a disciple of histe student, making Iris Long his grand-student.

    Iris Long was as brilliant and talented withputers as Evelina Vetrova. It didn¡¯t matter that she wasn¡¯t enrolled in the Computer Department. The department head still regarded the young woman as an important honourary member of his Computer Department.

    There was a sense of bittersweet nostalgic pride whenever he admired Iris Long¡¯s exploits as the rising star Drakon andpared it to thete Evelina Vetrova¡¯s legendary feats as Fantom.

    The department head once again felt nostalgic as he watched the new security system that Iris Long designed fight off the usual wave of malicious hackers. She designed and presented it when she stayed in the academyst year.

    Although the department head felt a little reluctant to part with Evelina¡¯s old system, he couldn¡¯t possibly reject Iris¡¯ new system when it was obvious that it was better in every single way. It was approved as Cross Academy¡¯s new surveince and online security system within a day.

    The new system was even more aggressive to attackers than the old one. To the department head, this was proof that Iris Long, a.k.a. Drakon, was apletely different person than his favourite student Evelina Vetrova, a.k.a. Fantom.

    Although Fantom cemented herself as a legendary figure in the hacker world for many years, she was never known for aggressiveness.

    In fact, the name Fantom wasn¡¯t decided by herself but by the hackermunity after noticing her odd modus operandi of hacking in the toughest systems in the world for the strangest reason of simply entertaining herself and leaving undetected until someone discovered her traces by ident. Another odd quirk of hers was leaving entertaining review-like messages such as "a page-turner, terrific suspense butcking inedic factor" on highly ssified files stored in ces like The Pentagon, for example.

    This modus operandi was definitely odd among so many hackers who craved attention and recognition for their feats. Neither money nor status moved Fantom. She simply operated within her own set of rules that nobody even until now ever really understood.

    Instead of being aggressive, she was actually quite passive, not initiating any destructive attacks without being provoked or triggered first in some way. In addition to her odd modus operandi, these traits earned her the moniker of Phantom because she operated like a mysterious phantom.

    Sheter epted the name but changed the spelling into Fantom and had officially used it ever since up until what the hacker world called her "mysterious disappearance".

    The department head couldn¡¯t help but sigh in admiration as Iris Long¡¯s security system once again destroyed the attackers rather brutally and even sessfully locked on to their real geolocation.

    Not only that. It also started gathering basic background information about the attackers which the Computer department could pursue and use to punish them ording to Cross Academy¡¯s policies.

    The most diabolical feature of Iris Long¡¯s system, however, was that once it discovered the identity of an attacker, it would automatically trace the hacker¡¯s bank ounts¡ªboth registered and illegal ones¡ªand then freeze the funds inside them.

    Then it would prompt the staff in the Computer Department on what to do with those funds. If the money was obtained through illegal or vicious means, then it would suggest returning the stolen funds to their original owners, or if the original owners couldn¡¯t be found, then "donated" to various charities.

    Although there were a lot of simrities on how Evelina and Iris operated, the department head had already long concluded that it was only natural given the women¡¯s master-disciple rtionship. To him, it was clear as day that the two women hadpletely different styles.

    The attack tonight was routine. Nothing too exciting. There was no human intervention needed at all. The security system could handle it by itself.

 Chapter 1043 - Not A Ghost, A Phantom

    <h4>Chapter 1043 - Not A Ghost, A Phantom </h4>

    After the security system dealt with the hackers, there was once again peace and quiet in the Computer Department but it didn¡¯tst long. Iris Long¡¯s security system suddenly started acting weird. Then a pop-up message appeared on all of the department¡¯sputer screens.

    "Initiating Power Flood...."

    The staff members were rmed.

    "What¡¯s happening?! Is there another attack?"

    "Is this a virus? Did we get breached?"

    "What the heck is a power flood?!"

    They attempted to control the situation but to no avail. They had no idea at all of what was happening. <i></i>

    The department head was about to alert Headmaster Dupont of the situation when another message popped up on their screens.

    "Please don¡¯t be rmed. I mean no harm. I just want to borrow power from Cross Academy. Please let the headmaster know that I¡¯llpensate the academy at ater date. Thanks. Sincerely, Drakon."

    Everyone in the unit knew Drakon. After all, the surveince and security system that they had been using sincest year had been designed by her. Even though not all of them knew that she was the disciple of the legendary hacker, Fantom, everyone in the department admired and respected her skills especially the department head.

    "So it¡¯s you," the department head sighed while shaking his head. He might sound annoyed but the small, amused curl of his mouth showed that he was already epting the current situation.

    Then the lights started flickering.

    "Whoa! Ghost?!"

    "Mama!"

    "Shut up. It¡¯s just Drakon."

    "Drakon is a ghost?!"

    "I want my Mama! Too scary!"

    "Hahaha! Your mama will beat you up for acting like a grown-ass chicken."

    Laughter filled the room even as the lights continued flickering like a scene out of a horror movie. Now that they knew who was causing the anomaly, all of them rxed and took the opportunity to entertain themselves with what was happening.

    The department head joined them, chuckling but murmured, "Not a ghost, a phantom."

    Nobody heard his soft voice amidst theughter, however.

    He looked up at the flickering lights and began to understand a bit of what power flood meant. "You greedy child. The headmaster, that wily old man, will surely attempt to squeeze you dry when he demands thepensation you promised. Just like what happenedst year. Tsk tsk."

    He was talking about what happenedst year when Iris had to fulfill ten hacking jobs for the academy as punishment for fighting with Amanpio Kileksy on campus grounds. During that time, Amanpio insulted Jin Liwei in front of Iris, causing her to lose her temper and hit the inventor. It caused a ruckus, prompting the strict headmaster, Professor Erwan Dupont, to punish both Iris and Amanpio.

    Amanpio had his monthly funds shed to one-fourth than usual while Iris had to ept ten hacking requests from the academy. She had no choice but to fulfill all ten¡ªnothing more, nothing less¡ªwithout pay whether she liked it or not. The majority of the jobs wereplicated but she stillpleted all of them without anyints.

    The Computer Department was in charge of hacking-rted tasks for the academy so the department head was aware of Iris¡¯ punishment. In fact, the jobs given to her actually originated from him.

    He selected some of the most difficult tasks for Iris, not so much because the Computer Department was busy with other tasks and needed an extra hand but mainly because he wanted to estimate the extent of her skills. And she didn¡¯t disappoint.

    She was indeed the legendary Fantom¡¯s disciple.

    Absolutely brilliant, talented and skilled.

    However, just like with Fantom, he still couldn¡¯t determine the true limit of Drakon¡¯s abilities.

    "Perhaps Fantom and Drakon have no limits," he murmured.

    The lights stopped flickering when the academy¡¯s own private electrical grid poured more power to refill the energy that was quickly being sucked out. The grid¡¯s system was powerful and automatic, ensuring a continuous supply of electricity throughout the entire Cross Academy¡¯s properties in the Swiss Alps.

    There was a saying among everyone at the academy that even if the rest of the world was thrown in a ckout, Cross Academy would always have light due to its hi-tech yet sustainable electrical grid system. There was nothing like it in the world. An alumni developed it exclusively for Cross Academy decades ago. Of course, the academy continued to modernize the grid since then.

    And right now, this one-of-a-kind electrical grid was being sucked out of an enormous amount of power. If it were any other culprit, the academy would never take this lying down. But the culprit this time was none other than Cross Academy¡¯s own student, Iris Long, a.k.a. Drakon.

    They couldn¡¯t possibly call her a thief when she asked for permission, could they?

    No, that wasn¡¯t urate. She didn¡¯t exactly "ask" for permission but "informed" them instead while she was already redirecting what looked like an astronomical amount of power.

    The department head was currently talking with Professor Dupont on the phone. Long story short, the headmaster instructed him and the entire Computer Department to allow Iris Long to do whatever she wanted this time. In fact, he even told them to be ready to assist her if she needed any help.

    "Miss Long has spent the least amount of academy funds and resources among the enrolled students so far this year," Professor Erwan Dupont said. "Letting her use this much power should not be a problem. Our academy can afford it." Then he added, "But we¡¯ll still ept her offer ofpensation."

    The department head agreed, but deep inside, he was sighing at the headmaster¡¯s nonchnce. Seeing the rate of the academy¡¯s power being drained, he estimated that it should be an equivalent of a developed country like America¡¯s power consumption in a whole week, perhaps more.

    Imagine a week of power being spent in mere minutes.

    Even a country like America wouldn¡¯t be able to handle this kind of fast and intense power drainage. A normal electrical grid would surely copse. Fortunately, Cross Academy didn¡¯t have this problem. Like what Professor Dupont said, the academy could afford it.

    After the phone call with the headmaster, the department head instructed the others to analyze how the power flood worked before they asked Iris Long for rification. Excitement filled them as they went to work learning from Drakon¡¯s performance, the hotshot hacker who was younger than all of them.

 Chapter 1044 - Gotcha

    <h4>Chapter 1044 - Gotcha </h4>

    "Damn you, Drakon!!!"

    A loud crash punctuated the almost deafening roar inside therge room. Everything was silent and dark, except for the furious breathing of the leader.

    It was a ckout.

    His teammates, no, his brothers didn¡¯t react to his outburst at all because they were all busy dealing with their own emotions. Most of them looked shocked as if they had just seen a frightening ghost and it traumatized them. A couple looked despondent, slumping on their seats or on the floor like there was no hope for tomorrow.

    When their eyes began to adjust to the darkness, one of them finally spoke after the long, ufortable silence. "Drakon and his two disciples fried all ourputers. Dammit! Nasty fellows, that¡¯s what they are!"

    His words prompted the others to speak as well. <i></i>

    "Fuck! Drakon and his two little shits WhiteTigress and ckPanther can all go to fucking hell! I¡¯m keeping a tab on all ourputers that they fried. I swear that I¡¯ll surely make them pay one day! With interest!"

    "Shit! Even my phone is fried!"

    They all checked their phones in a hurry. Soon, angry curses filled the dark room one after another. All of their phones were in the same pitiful situation.

    The leader also checked his phones. All of them were dead except for one. "This works."

    "Really? Howe your phone is safe?"

    "Wait. That¡¯s the phone that Master El Payaso gave you!"

    The leader nodded. He already calmed down after his earlier outburst. He used the phone¡¯s shlight to light up the messy room. A couple of his brothers opened the curtains to let in the streetlights from outside to add an additional dim illumination to the room.

    "Master is awesome as always," one of his brothersmented, immediately lifting the defeated atmosphere. "Even Drakon can¡¯t touch the phone he provided."

    "Isn¡¯t that obvious? Master is the best¡ªone of the best hackers in the world." This person quickly corrected himself upon seeing their leader¡¯s cold expression.

    Their leader always reacted negatively whenever they imed that someone other than the legendary Fantom was the best hacker in the world even if it was their own master, El Payaso.

    "True. Any device that had been personally customized by our master is almost always immune to other hackers¡¯ attacks."

    "Fantom would¡¯ve breached this," the leader murmured while twirling the phone in his hand.

    Nobodymented, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him. He didn¡¯t mind.

    "I guess Drakon and his two disciples aren¡¯t in the same level as Fantom yet, no?" He smirked, disying the dashing dimples on both his cheeks. It was as if his furious outburst earlier didn¡¯t happen by looking at his current charming appearance.

    Then he pursed his lips while looking at theputers scattered in the messy room. They could try to repair them in order to recover the data from tonight¡¯s hacking battle which was very important in analyzing their performance and learning from their mistakes, and at the same time, nning a better strategy on how to finally defeat Drakon and his two disciples, WhiteTigress and ckPanther. The three had long be not only annoying thorns in their butts but also an obsession as they now viewed Drakon¡¯s team as a formidable rival that they must defeat no matter what.

    Some of his brothers were already beginning to dissemble theputers to examine the extent of the damage but his guts told him that all the devices were dead. Drakon¡¯s team short-circuited them with the forced ckout and killed them beyond repair.

    He stood in front of the windows and nced outside. The office building in front of the hotel that they were staying was a few storeys lower but it was bright. He looked around and discovered that the whole row of buildings in their side of the street was covered in darkness because of the ckout while the surrounding buildings were operating like normal. The contrast was jarring and only highlighted their team¡¯s defeat tonight.

    "Do you really think that Drakon did all this?" a brother asked beside him who was also looking at the sight outside.

    He murmured his assent.

    "But maybe he and his two little shits just got lucky," the brother muttered.

    He chuckled. "You really think that, my brother?"

    His brother didn¡¯t reply.

    He continued to chuckle. "One thing that I learned from constantly battling Drakon is that everything he does has purpose."

    "I think you¡¯re overestimating him too much."

    "And I think you¡¯re underestimating him too much."

    The two stared at each other but the other man was the first one to retract his eyes, avoiding the leader¡¯s eyes.

    The leader patted his brother¡¯s shoulder and leaned closer to whisper directly to his ear. "We have never won a single battle against Drakon yet, my brother. Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s telling something, no?"

    "Yeah...I guess."

    "I suggest that you change ¡¯I guess¡¯ to ¡¯I know¡¯, my brother. Although battling Drakon is extremely fun, we are not here to y. You remember that we are here toplete an important mission, yes?"

    "Of course. Sorry about that, brother. I understand now. I won¡¯t underestimate Drakon and his two disciples again."

    The leader patted his brother¡¯s shoulder again before letting him go. He continued to observe the bright buildings outside in contrast to the darkness in their side of the street. His eyes narrowed but the corners of his mouth were already beginning to curl up.

    "Fufufu. As expected of Drakon. You never disappoint me."

    Then the phone he was holding began ringing all of a sudden. Everyone stopped what they were doing and whipped their heads to look at him, specifically at the phone in his hand.

    This was a special phone and only one person could contact it. Thinking that it was that person, he answered it without dy. Before he could even say hello, however, a child¡¯s voice spoke from the other end of the line,pletely catching him off-guard.

    "Gotcha! Hihihi. Meow~"

    His eyes contracted.

    "Oopsie daisy, wrong sound! I¡¯m supposed to be a tigress. Here it goes. 1, 2, 3...ROOOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!"

    He almost dropped the phone when the loud beast sound assaulted his unprotected ear.

    Then the call ended.

 Chapter 1045 - Surpassed Initial Impressions

    <h4>Chapter 1045 - Surpassed Initial Impressions </h4>

    Before anyone could react, the phone started ringing again. The leader stared at it but didn¡¯t answer.

    It answered by itself.

    "Why aren¡¯t you answering?"

    "Master." He was relieved upon hearing the familiar deep, robotic voice that disguised their master¡¯s real voice.

    "Get out of there. Now."

    "I know." He signalled with his eyes and everyone moved fast, shoving their most important things inside worn-out rucksacks and duffel bags. He was also moving while staying on the line with their master.

    It was a pity that they couldn¡¯t take every single one of the deadputers with them but at least the devices were now all fried. Each had been customized to be untraceable as well. Time was of the essence. The most important thing to do right now was to flee.

    "I got an alert notifying me that the phone I gave you got breached," Master El Payaso said as they hurried down the fire escape staircase.

    There was a small group of other hotel clients also using the staircase but his brothers ahead of him quickly hit the back of their necks. The unsuspecting people fell unconscious before they could see their appearance and identified them as an unusual group of foreigners.

    Nobody wasted their breaths with any unnecessary talking. Even the leader and their master didn¡¯t continue talking on the phone. They were all focused on fleeing. <i></i>

    They ran out of the hotel, dodging the sight of any passersby with great expertise. Then they hopped inside vehicles waiting a few blocks away. They would always prearrange getaway vehicles like these during missions just in case of emergencies.

    The drivers were maind natives. The group didn¡¯t recognize any of the drivers at all but they knew that these natives were their organization¡¯s people nted in the country in advance to assist missions.

    It took tworge vans to fit all of them. The two vans split upon reaching the highway. One van headed to a nearby safe house secretly owned by the organization using a native¡¯s identity while the other headed in another direction.

    About half an hourter, the other van drove to an underground parking lot. The leader and half of his brothers changed vehicles. In contrast to the nondescript getaway van that they just used, they hopped into three, shy luxury sports cars this time. They also quickly changed their clothes which were packed inside the sports cars.

    The leader drove the first sports car with a brother sitting shotgun beside him while another brother squeezed into the small, narrow seat behind them. The two other sports cars followed them before they all beeped their horns to the van driver who helped them flee. Then they left the underground parking lot.

    All of them maintained their silence during the entire drive. The phone call with their master was still active but nobody spoke.

    They finally arrived at the five-star hotel that they had been staying. Three valets immediately weed them and took their car keys before they entered inside. The hotel employees were already familiar with their group and gave them a warm wee. After all, the leader was checked in at the hotel¡¯s most expensive suite where world-ss celebrities and even other nations¡¯ leaders would stay. The other brothers¡¯ suites were also the next expensive after the best suite. In addition, the group had been living in the hotel for some time now and had grown quite familiar and friendly with the employees.

    The brothers¡ªtheir numbers cut in half after the others went to the safe house instead of returning with them to the hotel¡ªall headed straight to the leader¡¯s luxurious suite. Once inside, the smiles that they wore while responding to the hotel employees¡¯ greetings disappeared from their faces.

    "Master," the leader spoke as he walked straight to bar fridge for beer. He tossed his brothers a bottle each before opening one for himself.

    "You¡¯re back at your hotel." It wasn¡¯t a question but a statement. Their master knew exactly where they were due to the phone. "I already blocked Drakon and he wouldn¡¯t be able to breach this phone and attempt to pinpoint your location again. Be more cautious next time, child."

    The leader gritted his teeth at being called "child" but he still looked like he was smiling with two dimples showing on both cheeks. "I understand, Master. This won¡¯t happen again."

    "It better not."

    He didn¡¯t reply, looking at his beer instead. He hadn¡¯t drank it yet. He originally wanted to but now had lost his appetite after their master¡¯s gentle reprimand.

    Tonight¡¯s operation had been entirely under hismand. No matter the result¡ªwhether it was a sess or a failure¡ªit would be his responsibility. And now that it was an utter failure, he felt responsible all the more.

    Instead of feeling defeated, however, it fired him up even more than before. Battling a formidable opponent like Drakon never failed to stimte hispetitive spirit.

    Was this how Master El Payaso felt whenever he battled Fantom years ago?

    "So it seems that Drakon is already at this level," he heard their master murmur. It sounded rather chilling with the robotic voice.

    His other brothers looked like they were resting while drinking their beers but he knew that they were listening to the phone conversation. Most of them had excellent hearingpared to normal people, hence they could hear the phone conversation, but he still set the call to loudspeaker because their levels weren¡¯t all the same. Some had better hearing and senses like him while the others were slightly worse.

    "We¡¯ll defeat Drakon next time." It was a promise, not only to their master and their organization, but also to themselves.

    "Hmmm." The sound was unpleasant with the robotic voice but all of the brothers were already used to it. "Drakon has surpassed my initial impressions. I thought until now that he¡¯s only slightly better than you, children, but it seems that...I¡¯m wrong."

    All of them straightened their backs, their expressions turning ugly.

    The leader spoke carefully but there was an edge in his voice. "So Master, you think that we are inferior to Drakon?"

    "What do YOU think?"

    "I still think that we can win in a battle against him. Definitely."

    "Hmmm."

    The brothers looked at each other, not liking their master¡¯s ambiguous response. Their pride didn¡¯t want to ept the insinuation in that unpleasant robotic sound.

 Chapter 1046 - Legacy

    <h4>Chapter 1046 - Legacy </h4>

    Master El Payaso chuckled. His robotic voice sounded particrly grating to the brothers¡¯ ears especially at this moment. It was like a fingernail was scratching a ckboard, irritating them to no end, but they couldn¡¯tin because the other party was their respected master.

    The leader tightened his hold on the phone. His mouth was smiling but his eyes were shing with rejection to their master¡¯s insinuation that they were inferior to Drakon. He believed that they were only slightly worse than Drakon but they should be able to defeat him after a few more rounds. Their skills were growing fast with every battle against a high quality opponent like Drakon.

    "Don¡¯t overthink my meaning, children. Drakon and his two disciples might be better than my initial impressions but they should be far below my level."

    The others except for the leader rxed their tense bodies and started nodding their heads in agreement. Indeed, their master was recognized as one of the top hackers in the world and had retained that position for years. <i></i>

    "You are the heirs of a powerful legacy. Not only mine, El Payaso, but also that of our organization. I, your master, am extremely pleased to have such outstanding, talented, skilled and very promising disciples. You are the cr¨¨me of the crop, the survivors of a harsh selection. You will all certainly have a more brilliant future than Drakon who seems to have nobody of my level backing him besides Jin Corporation. Since Jin Corporation will eventually fall under our control, Drakon will end up bing a pet without a master. Depending on the situation, Drakon can be our new dog. But if he refuses to wear our leash and submit to us, then he can only be soil fertilizer in the end. Such a pity if that¡¯s the case."

    Master El Payaso wielded his words like a magician and instantly united his disciples, making them see a beautiful vision of greatness in the future starring themselves, and of course, their organization.

    Except the leader.

    He stayed silent, not disturbing the hopeful and motivated atmosphere around him. Although he also believed the vision of greatness that his master and their organization had been preaching to them since they were children, he still found himself rejecting it whenever their master dered that they were the heirs of El Payaso¡¯s legacy.

    Unlike his brothers, he had no interest in inheriting their master¡¯s legacy at all. There was another legacy that he wanted. He dreamed about it. Craved it. Unfortunately, that hacker had disappeared for years and hadn¡¯t returned since then.

    In the hacker world, many were discussing how Drakon¡¯s operating tendencies were the closest to Fantom¡¯s legendary techniques. Their styles might be different but the techniques were on point.

    For someone like him who worshipped Fantom, hearing that another hacker was simr to his most admired person was extremely irritating.

    How dare a mere mortal like Drakon imitate a god like Fantom and pretend to have reached the highest hacking heavens? Sacrilege!

    He would prove that his skills were better and that he would make himself the true heir of Fantom¡¯s legacy, not Drakon who suddenly popped out of nowhere. He had been training to be the best hacker in the world one day since he was barely out of his toddler years. It was basically almost his entire life. If there was someone deserving to inherit a god¡¯s legacy, then it should be him, not an arrogant fe like Drakon.

    <i>¡¯I want to meet you. I want to see what kind of person you are, Drakon. You are my chosen rival. I will defeat you, crush you under my foot, and stand at the top of the world as the very best hacker. Just like Fantom.¡¯</i>

    After Master El Payaso¡¯s encouraging speech, he proceeded to give them their next instructions. The atmosphere turned cold and serious in an instant, just like when amander was giving orders to his soldiers.

    Then he addressed the team¡¯s leader. "Each of you have an important assignment to fulfill in that country in addition to our organization¡¯s grand mission. But child, you already know that you have the most important assignment among you children."

    "Yes, Master," the leader replied, trying to ignore the irritation at all of them, grown men, being called children. "Father has already briefed me about it. Once I paved the way here, he will finallye to this country and join me and my brothers so that our grand mission can proceed to the next stage."

    "You have to work harder to pave the way. Your father has alreadypleted what countless others deemed to be an impossible mission but he still aplished it against all odds. Now our organization reigns supreme in the world and we need to keep it that way. He has named you his heir and you have gigantic shoes to fill. Do all of us proud. You are the future of our organization."

    "Yes, Master."

    "Destroy that phone. I¡¯ll send you a new one soon. I prevented Drakon from breaching it again but we can¡¯t take another chance. There are still many variables that we aren¡¯t sure of yet in that country, that¡¯s why we sent you there to deepen and strengthen our organization¡¯s roots. It¡¯s better to be safe than sorry so change hotels just in case. Is your new house there not ready yet?"

    "Not yet, Master. I was told that it¡¯s still under renovation but it should be ready before the year ends."

    "Fine. Stay in another hotel, then. You need to be shy, show off your status as your father¡¯s son, and let everyone know who you are. Create connections and be influential among the important elites in that country. And of course, you need to get close to Liam Jin, and if you have the chance, meet with Jianhong Lu."

    <i>¡¯I already know my own mission,¡¯</i> the leader thought but still replied, "Understood", in a respectful tone. He was already feeling annoyed at their master for talking so much. Too much.

    After a few more words of advice, the phone call ended. Finally.

    The leader chugged his beer until he was almost out of breath. After excusing himself from his brothers, he headed to his bedroom and started ying his guitar to free himself from any unnecessary thoughts and emotions.

 Chapter 1047 - Impossibility Is A Limit

    <h4>Chapter 1047 - Impossibility Is A Limit </h4>

    "Mommy, this is super-duper to the highest level hard and tiring but it¡¯s also super-duper to the highest level fun! Whoop whoop! I wish we saw that Eagle poopoo-head¡¯s expression when I told him ¡¯gotcha¡¯ and showed off my mighty roar of justice! Mwahahahaha! Ketchup¡¯s cute and mighty self feels so satisfied with my performance. I can¡¯t wait to tell Daddy everything! Daddy is surely gonna be super-duper to the highest level proud of Mommy and us kitty babies. Meow!" The fluffy white cat AI was jumping all around in excitement, her green eyes glowing brightly. "Oh Bacon, do you want to hear the cute and mighty Ketchup¡¯s awesome roar again? Meow~"

    The fluffy ck cat AI only gave his older sister an unimpressed side nce. "If it was Bacon, I would¡¯ve jacked up the volume to the maximum so that those Eagle bastards would turn deaf after roaring at them. Only then would I feel satisfied with my performance."

    "Oh! The cute and mighty Ketchup didn¡¯t think of that! My little kitty brother is so smart! Smart in a viin way just like Uncle Hao Hao! Bacon, you should share that kind of awesome ideas to your cute and mighty big sister in advance. Meow~"

    Then Ketchup suddenly paused and whipped her little fluffy head to her younger brother. "Oh no, Bacon! You said a bad word! Uh-oh! Bacon¡¯s gonna get in trouble with Daddy again! Meow~"

    The ck cat AI turned his head away. "Bacon doesn¡¯t know what Big Sister Ketchup is talking about."

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup heard Bacon say Eagle ¡¯bastards¡¯! Daddy put that in our bad words list. We kitty babies can¡¯t say that or Daddy will ground us. How sad! Meow~"

    "Did Bacon say that? I don¡¯t remember."

    "Meow? Bacon, you naughty, little liar! Uncle Dom, Uncle Lin Lin, you heard Ketchup¡¯s little kitty brother say the bad word, right? Meow~"

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes turned nk upon being asked directly by his weird...fake but acted like a real cat...niece. Argh! He was witnessing such an unbelievable marvel with his own eyes but his brain was too slow to catch up. As a result, he could only stare like a stupid idiot at...she said her name was Ketchup, right? A white cat named Ketchup...dammit! Such a horrible mismatch was messing with his brain even more!

    Fortunately, Dom responded, saving poor Jin Chonglin froming up with a way to respond to all this weirdness. <i></i>

    "Baby Ketchup, how about we let it slide for Baby Bacon for now, okay?" Dom suggested. "Don¡¯t you feel sorry for your baby brother that your daddy is always grounding him? And Uncle Dom will be honest with you because honesty is the best policy. I also think that those Eagle people are bastards! Pweh! No, they¡¯re worse than bastards! They¡¯re vile terrorists for always attacking Jin Corporation! They¡¯re huge sons of bit¡ªsons of the devil," he said in a hurry after seeing Iris, his boss, giving him a warning nce.

    He coughed and gave Iris a sheepish smile. "Ehehehe. Excuse mynguage, boss. But you have to admit that I¡¯m not wrong for feeling this way."

    Iris sighed and shook her head but didn¡¯t say anything because she had no energy to spare doing unnecessary things right now. Her concentration was already stretched beyond her current condition¡¯s limit and it was taking a toll on her.

    "Howe ¡¯poopoo-head¡¯ isn¡¯t included in the bad words list?" Bacon muttered under his breath. "Bacon is always being grounded but Big Sister Ketchup is usually safe whenever she says these questionable words. This feeling of unfairness is not ssy."

    Iris sighed again. She preferred leaving any disciplinary lectures on their AI children to her husband, so even though she felt sorry for leaving Bacon with an unresolved issue like this, she really didn¡¯t have the energy or the desire to exin things to him right now.

    Instead she reminded them, "Concentrate, Ketchup, Bacon. We¡¯re not done here yet."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Roger! Meow!"

    "Understood, Mother."

    Iris bit her lip, a deep furrow forming between her perspiring brows, as she forced herself to maintain her focus. Sweat formed at the tip of her nose and chin before falling down the front of her shirt. Good thing that Dom was attentive and quickly wiped the sweat on her face and neck without blocking her sight.

    "Bacon, what¡¯s the status of my request?"

    "Shadow Winds already dispatched a team to the location that we obtained after breaching Eagle¡¯s defence. They will be at the hotel in 7 minutes, 23 seconds."

    "Good." Iris wasn¡¯t really expecting that the dispatched Shadow Winds team would actually catch the Eagle hackers unless they were stupid. And she didn¡¯t think that they were stupid. In fact, based on their repeated shes, the Eagle hackers were all smart and cunning, not to mention extremely daring. If they weren¡¯t, they wouldn¡¯t have given her AI children a hard time battling them without her help.

    They must have already fled the scene. Nevertheless, if they fled in a hurry, they shouldn¡¯t have been able to bring everything that they used to fight the hacking battle against her and her AI children. Theirputers should all be fried due to the power flood, but she still wanted to retrieve the devices and examine them herself.

    As the one who developed the theory of power flood, which she had been secretly working on ever since she was still a student at Cross Academy as Evelina in her past life, she was well aware of its effects. Hence, she also devised various ways to deal with those effects.

    Logically speaking, the theory of power flood should be an impossibility, especially when the source of additional power came from a foreign and remote ce that belonged to apletely separate and different electrical power system.

    But who was she?

    She was a certified genius who sessfully graduated from Cross Academy in her past life as Evelina Vetrova and then once again became an enrolled student in the same legendary school in her new life as Iris Long.

    Cross Academy shunned the concept and the word "impossible" from their vocabry. To them, just epting the idea of impossibility was already cing a limit on oneself.

 Chapter 1048 - The Apocalyptic Power Flood

    <h4>Chapter 1048 - The Apocalyptic Power Flood </h4>

    Just by being born as a member of the infamous Vetrov family had automatically put countless limitations on her life as Evelina Vetrova no matter how hard she refused to involve herself with the organization. Although she had always dreamed of a better life of freedom pursuing her passions and dreams without any worries, her actual living situation prevented her from believing that she could actually achieve her ideal life. Her environment during that time had instilled the concept of impossibility deep within her.

    It was only when Cross Academy recruited her as a student that her mindset drastically changed. She might not have studied in the campus but the remote education she received wasn¡¯t inferior to the other students. She began to finally believe that anything was possible as long as she was creative and determined enough to think of ways to make the impossible possible.

    She might not have seeded in escaping her caged life as Evelina Vetrova until her death, but Cross Academy¡¯s values remained deep in her heart and allowed her to achieve numerous breakthroughs both as a hacker and as a musician. Her life had been extremely short, tragic, and devoid of real happiness, but it was undeniable that her name, Evelina Armanovna Vetrova, and her achievements would remain in the history books of Cross Academy for more generations toe. <i></i>

    Such an impossible theory as the power flood was one of her breakthroughs as a hacker. It wasn¡¯t the best in her repertoire but it was one of the most destructive.

    Due to issues in legalities and its questionable application in real life, she had been reluctant to test it on a grand scale, deciding instead to develop the theory in secret even from Cross Academy. After all, its actual application could be categorized as a weapon for warfare.

    It wasn¡¯t a weapon in the sense of artillery orbat weapons, but it was still a destructive weapon that had the potential to paralyze or even permanently damage entire nations. Everything would be in chaos. Whole economies would copse. The list of its destructive effects was long and frightening.

    The power flood was designed to target and destroy all telmunications andputerworks via overloading. It wouldn¡¯t only be the devices that would be fried but the actual software frameworks that were making everything work.

    In theory, the power flood was a weapon to forcefully send a target to a situation akin to an era before electricity and advanced technology. It wasn¡¯t foolproof and would not work on less technologically dependent targets, but for the most part, it should be incredibly effective to the majority of the world that was now so reliant on modern technology.

    Its reach wasn¡¯t limited within Earth. Based on her theory, it should also be possible to target satellites, and if developed even further, perhaps it could also affect space rovers sent to the moon and others, maybe even spaceships in deep space in the future.

    At the moment, however, the power flood was still too far in reaching the stage of achieving those kinds of incredible extraterrestrial feats, not to mention that the field wasn¡¯t exactly her specialty.

    But if she wanted to develop the power flood in that direction in the future, she would need a partner whose specialty was in that kind of field. Her fellow Cross Academy student, the aerospace engineer Trumann Seekerton, was the best candidate. Amanpio Kileksy was also another possible coborator since the inventor had patented mechanisms that the best space agencies in the world were currently using. Both were excellent choices but she still felt reluctant sharing such a dangerous weapon of potential mass destruction.

    In other words, the theory of power flood had the potential to bring about an apocalypse when used by the wrong hands. She was its creator so she knew all too well the possible extent of the damage it could incur.

    Although she trusted the integrity of Cross Academy, she didn¡¯t trust everyone in it. All the students, alumni and instructors were certified geniuses but nobody among them would im that they were saints. All of them were still humans after all. The heart could change when greed was involved.

    In addition, she was 100% certain that Cross Academy would keep a closer eye on her and perhaps even try to permanently tie her to them if she ever revealed the whole theory of power flood and its true potential as a warfare weapon. She couldn¡¯t risk that. It might put various restrictions on her freedom like in her past life as a Vetrov.

    Due to all these issues, she had been unable to test the power flood on arge scale. She could only test it on a small scale within a few Vetrov properties in the past to the great ire of her mother, Madam Vetrova. Of course, nobody including her parents or even her big brother knew about the power flood. They only thought that she was just causing trouble, her form of rebellion for refusing to work for the family organization.

    In tonight¡¯s battle against a more aggressive and powerful Eagle, she still decided to initiate the power flood despite itsck of sessful testing. It was a huge risk, no doubt about it, but she still went ahead with it anyway.

    One, there was no time to think of a better strategy when Jin Corporation was in grave danger, not to mention that her husband was in a dangerous situation inside the hotel as well.

    Two, her current health condition didn¡¯t allow her to tough it out like usual. Her pregnancy significantly decreased her physical and mental endurance, not to mention that her emotions had be too sensitive.

    Three, she wasn¡¯t the exact same person as she was in her past life. Her skills as a hacker had greatly improved and even her style had changed.

    Finally and most importantly, she now had her two AI children, Ketchup and Bacon. She didn¡¯t want to refer to them as mere secret weapons because she and her husband had already long grown to love them as their own children, but technically, Ketchup and Bacon were indeed her most powerful secret weapons.

    She could say with great confidence that creating the two of them was her highest aplishments as a hacker so far. However, they were still practically babies so they needed to grow more, learn more, and gain more experience in order to be more powerful in the future. They hadn¡¯t reached their full potential yet. Not even close.

 Chapter 1049 - Just A Little More

    <h4>Chapter 1049 - Just A Little More </h4>

    With the help of Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s powerful and sophisticated systems, Iris was able to sessfully perform the power flood tonight without encountering any unexpected problems.

    The upside was that it fulfilled her main purpose for initiating it tonight in the first ce¡ªto defend Jin Corporation and to inflict severe damage to Eagle.

    Eagle should be hurting now. She was able to sessfully gain some clues about the hackers after frying their defence. She also pinpointed their actual location where they were staying while battling against her and her AI children. Bacon said that a Shadow Winds team was already on their way to investigate the location.

    Hopefully, the Eagle hackers left most of theirputers so that she could attempt to revive the dead devices and recover the data contained in them. It would be difficult, yes, but still possible for her. <i></i>

    An even better scenario was if they left behind more substantial clues about their identities, perhaps an ID or something, out of carelessness, but she didn¡¯t put much hope in it. The Eagle hackers surely wouldn¡¯t be that foolish. If they did, things would be easier and more convenient for her but she would still feel disappointed at their huge oversight.

    All she could do was wait patiently for what the Shadow Winds team would find at the location and work with whatever they got.

    Another important thing that she discovered was that the Eagle hackers used Spanish as their mainnguage formunication. English was a close second.

    Knowing whatnguage they used wasn¡¯t a sure-fire way to identify where they came from because there were quite a number of Spanish-speaking countries. It was the second-most spoken nativenguage and fourth-most spokennguage in the world after all.

    Nevertheless, Iris was confident that she would be able to narrow down their origins by studying their records ofmunications. Even if it was onenguage, each country or region had their own distinct dialects, ents and vocabry that would help differentiate speakers from one another. As a currentnguage student enrolled in Cross Academy, this was included in the curriculum that she was studying.

    She wasn¡¯t an expert at it yet but it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. She could always consult with Professor Kalisha Schwarz, her genius instructor in the major European and Africannguages.

    These gains from the power flood were all good but Iris felt unsatisfied. If only her health hadn¡¯t be more delicate due to her pregnancy, she would have definitely toughed it out and attempted to milk the power flood for all it was worth no matter how many days it would take. She wouldn¡¯t stop until she discovered the real identities of all the Eagle hackers, and most importantly, the true mastermind pulling the strings behind them.

    Unfortunately, her current condition just wouldn¡¯t allow her to do so. Even now, she could feel the onset of light-headedness and nausea. However, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to endure.

    <i>¡¯Just a little more,¡¯</i> she chanted in her mind, not daring to say it out loud, because the others riding in the executive van with her might hear her and force her to stop before she was ready.

    It was a waste not to exploit Cross Academy¡¯s abundant and robust power supply, not to mention the assistance of its Computer Department. Almost 95% of tonight¡¯s power flood came from Cross Academy because she didn¡¯t want to risk causing the copse of Dragon Pce Homes and her Gold Heights condominium¡¯s power supply.

    Then came another discovery.

    She gasped, unable to hide her shock.

    This momentary loss of concentration cost her. Her body couldn¡¯t handle it anymore.

    Her vision dimmed. Then she felt herself tilting sideways.

    "Mommy!"

    "Mother!"

    "Boss!"

    "Shit. Xin!"

    She heard all their voices and wanted to respond to them but then everything went ck.

    ###

    "Well, damn." Jenny Tseng watched as Luke and another guy in his early twenties dumped an unconscious Jin Liwei on the hotel bed. "Jin Liwei actually fell for this ridiculous n? He¡¯s dumber than I thought."

    "Jenny, the handcuffs!" Rose Young reminded her.

    "Oh, right." Jenny rummaged through her handbag and tossed a couple of metal handcuffs on the bed. She had a collection of handcuffs in different styles and colours used in adult bed ys.

    Luke and the other guy took one each and handcuffed Jin Liwei to the bed¡¯s headboard. Rose had the keys.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t stir at all even though he was lying in an awkward position. The metal handcuffs dug around the skin of wrists. He looked flushed from the drugs. Sweat beaded on his skin and glistened under the bedroom¡¯s ambient lights. The perspiration soaked his white dress shirt, allowing others to see the outline of his abs and the tight muscles of his chest.

    Jenny didn¡¯t have a good impression of him because of how crazy and obsessed he made her best friend, Rose. However, she couldn¡¯t deny that he was indeed a very fine man based on physical appearance. She was still a woman at the end of the day, so her eyes ogled the man¡¯s body without any restraint.

    Shemented, "Damn. He might be dumb for falling for this stupid n but he¡¯s sexy as hell. If he looks like this with clothes on, how much more yummy will he look like naked? I want to see!"

    "I¡¯ll scratch your eyes out if you dare," Rose growled at her.

    "Whoa, Rosie!" Jenny rolled her surgically enhanced eyes. "You¡¯re so mean to your bestie. I just want to see. It¡¯s not like I also want to taste. Well, maybe a little."

    "Jenny." Rose now looked murderous.

    "Ahahaha. I¡¯m just joking. Why so serious?" Jenny faced the mirror and started checking her appearance¡ªfixing her hair, straightening her clothes, and reapplying her lipstick¡ªbefore turning to Luke and the other guy. "Our job here is now done, boys. Let¡¯s get out of this room. I¡¯m not interested in watching my best friend¡¯s live-action porn, especially when the guy is unconscious. So boring! It¡¯s like fucking a corpse."

    She paused, her expression twisting in disgust. "Eeew. That just put a scary and yucky image in my head! Erase erase!"

    Luke blushed while the other guyughed.

    Jenny winked at them. "Interested in having some fun with Big Sister Jenny in another room? I have some extra handcuffs and a whip if you¡¯re interested."

 Chapter 1050 - Youâ€™re Mine Now

    <h4>Chapter 1050 - You¡¯re Mine Now </h4>

    "I¡¯m in. Let¡¯s go!" Luke¡¯s friend epted Jenny Tseng¡¯s offer without any hesitation. He wasn¡¯t shy in admiring her silicone-enhanced boobs either.

    "Bro!" Luke looked horrified by his friend¡¯s boldness.

    "What? She offered. What¡¯s wrong with epting it? Come on, bro. We¡¯re all adults here. Don¡¯t be such a wimp."

    Luke red at him while blushing hard.

    Jennyughed, finding the two guys cute. She pushed her melon-sized fake boobs forward with pride, giving Luke¡¯s friend a better view to ogle them.

    "He¡¯s right, Luke. I offered and he epted. Nothing wrong with that. We¡¯re both consenting adults...." Her voice trailed off after realizing what she said. She nced at her best friend with worry and sighed in relief when Rose didn¡¯t seem to have heard her.

    Rose¡¯s situation was theplete opposite of hers. The unconscious Jin Liwei definitely didn¡¯t consent to what Rose nned to do with him tonight.

    Jenny sighed again and shook her head at her obsessed best friend. She didn¡¯t understand at all how one could enjoy fucking an unconscious person. Rose was definitely not right in the head when it came to Jin Liwei. And she, Jenny Tseng, admitted that she wasn¡¯t right in the head either for always supporting Rose no matter how crazy she had be.

    Oh well. What could she do? She was just a very loyal friend.

    Shrugging, she tossed her hair and gestured at the two guys. "Let¡¯s go, boys."

    Luke and his friend followed her out of the hotel bedroom like two puppies. <i></i>

    As soon as the door closed, Rose Young walked closer to the bed and started removing her clothes. Her movements were deliberately slow. She wanted to savour the mouth-watering sight of the man of her dreams lying helplessly in front of her.

    The time hade for Jin Liwei to be hers.

    Finally.

    How long had she waited for this moment?

    She was going to fuck Jin Liwei, feel him deep inside her body. Taste him....love him...make him hers forever...until the end of time.

    Although it was unfortunate that he was unconscious, it was the only way that she could have him so soon. If things only went ording to her original n, she would have been more patient but that slut Iris Long just had to destroy everything and snatched Jin Liwei before anyone could react.

    Hopefully, he would regain consciousness while in the middle of her having sex with him, preferably in a half-asleep and half-awake state. That way, he wouldn¡¯t be clearheaded enough to reject her. His libido would take over his body instead.

    She was positive that once he had a taste of what kind of pleasure she could give him, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get enough of her. He would surely crave her and eventually abandon that slut Iris Long.

    Their start might be paved with countless obstacles but the two of them would surely end up together as husband and wife. They belonged together. He was her destiny and she was his.

    Her clothes were now scattered around her feet. She was only left with her thong. No bra. She didn¡¯t wear any. She didn¡¯t need it. There was nothing to support anyway.

    She continued to watch Jin Liwei, not noticing that he didn¡¯t look as feverish as before. Heat pooled in her lower abdomen and she could feel her core bing wet, so wet that it instantly soaked the scant string of fabric of her thong.

    One hand started ying with her t breasts, pinching her nipples, and making them harden into tight little pebbles. The other hand snaked downwards until her fingers touched her now soaking core. She shivered and moaned from pleasure. Licking her lips, she inserted one finger inside her and moved it in and out.

    "Oh yeah. Big Brother...Liwei. See how wet I am for you."

    Then she removed her glistening finger before bringing it to her mouth and sucking her own juice. "Mmmm. I can¡¯t wait for you to taste me. I¡¯m certainly more delicious than that slut who you married by mistake. I also can¡¯t wait to taste you. I just know that you¡¯ll be the most delicious man that I¡¯ve ever tasted in my life."

    When the lust became almost unbearable, Rose finally half-climbed the bed, resting one knee on it while her other leg stayed on the floor. Then she reached towards Jin Liwei, intending to remove his clothes.

    "You¡¯re mine now," she whispered, her hot breath blowing against his handsome face.

    ###

    Iris regained consciousness after a few minutes. There was a lot of garbled noises around her, causing her to frown in annoyance. It wasn¡¯t just the noise that was displeasing her. She was pressed into something hard, half of her face buried against it. An unpleasant smell assaulted her nose, immediately sending her into a fit of dry heaving.

    "Boss, you¡¯re awake!" Dom pulled her from Jin Chonglin¡¯s arms and held a small trash can in front of her.

    Nothing came out of her but the nausea didn¡¯t stop. Her full senses were finally returning. She was now bing more aware of her surroundings.

    "L-little Liwei...give me," she managed to gasp between the dry heaves.

    "Here, boss." Dom ced therge teddy bear on herp.

    She immediately pressed her face on the shirt the teddy bear was wearing and began furiously inhaling her husband¡¯sforting scent. When the dry heaves calmed down, she threw a dark look at her brother-inw.

    "Stinky," she told him.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s expression turned ck. For a few seconds, he was unable toprehend what she just said. "You...you...I don¡¯t stink!" He was indignant but he still bent his head down and started sniffing at his cor and armpits. "What stinky? I smell good! I¡¯m wearing cologne! An expensive one."

    The others ignored him. Dom was busy trying to help Iris befortable.

    "Mommy, wuwuwu. Ketchup was so scared! Are you okay now, Mommy? Meowuwuwu!"

    "Mother, if you didn¡¯t wake up, Bacon nned on destroying this city in another five minutes and not care about it even if it¡¯s not ssy."

    Iris gave a murmur of reassurance to his AI children. She felt much better now after smelling her husband¡¯s scent. She hugged Little Liwei and nced outside. She became startled when she realized that the vehicle was moving.

    "Wait, where are we going? Stop!"

 Chapter 1051 - Helpless Uncle Lin Lin

    <h4>Chapter 1051 - Helpless Uncle Lin Lin </h4>

    Iris wanted the driver to stop and to return near the hotel where her husband was in danger of being contaminated by the desperate woman, Rose Young. This time, however, the driver hesitated in obeying her order. He nced at Dom instead, silently asking him what to do.

    Dom gestured for him to continue driving before facing Iris to exin the situation. "Boss, I called your doctor when you fainted. The doctor said to bring you to the nearest hospital and she¡¯ll follow us as soon as possible. I think that she already left the mansion and on the way to the hospital using sir boss¡¯ helicopter."

    "What else did she say? Why do I need to go to the hospital? I can just have her examine me at home." <i></i>

    "Boss, the doctor is beginning to worry about your tendency to faint. If it¡¯s once or twice, it will still be okay since you have a history of fainting even before you got pregnant. But you¡¯re now copsing too many times than she¡¯sfortable with it¡ªthan we¡¯re allfortable with. She says that frequent fainting episodes during the first trimester might have negative effects."

    Iris paled, her hand immediately touching her stomach. "Negative effects? What negative effects? Be more specific!" Her voice had be high-pitched and her eyes quivered with worry.

    "Please calm down, boss. Don¡¯t stress yourself. It¡¯s bad for the¡ª"

    "Tell me!"

    Dom became even more worried seeing her starting to freak out but he still told her what the doctor said. "Like increasing the risk of you delivering earlier than your expected due date."

    She rxed a little but notpletely. "That¡¯s still okay. I already expect to give birth earlier than my expected due date anyway because I¡¯m carrying twins. Multiple babies tend to arrive early, I¡¯m told."

    "Twins?!" Jin Chonglin eximed. His shocked voice sounded almost like a shriek. "Y-you¡¯re having...twins? Twins?!!!"

    "Ah." Iris forgot that her brother-inw was still with them inside the vehicle. "Forget that I said that."

    "How can I forget something like that?!" Jin Chonglin¡¯s eyes dropped to her still t tummy. His shock was turning into amazement and excitement. "That small belly is really carrying twins? Like seriously? Whoa! Big Bro is really capable! Twins in one go. Wow. Holy shit. I¡¯m going to be an uncle to twins. Twins! That¡¯s two babies! Wait till Mom and Grandma hear about this. They¡¯re going to treat you like their ancestor for giving our Jin family two heirs in one go. Oh, I almost forgot about the old man. Grandpa Lu will surely act more excited than Mom and Grandma Li."

    She threw him a warning look. "Don¡¯t tell them! Not yet. Liwei and I want to keep it a surprise. You¡¯re not supposed to know it this early either." She started squeezing Little Liwei in her embrace while sighing. "Not only that, you aren¡¯t supposed to know about Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s existence either. If you get kidnapped and tortured someday because of your knowledge about my AI children, I¡¯ll feel guilty."

    Jin Chonglin became dazed. "Kidnapped...t-tortured...."

    She reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "It¡¯ll be fine. Liwei and I will surely do our best to save you."

    Now Jin Chonglin felt like it was his turn to faint. He got a hold of himself but still shivered as several imaginary scenes of him being abducted by viins and torturing him in a dark ce for days, maybe even months, to get information about his AI niece and nephew out of him yed inside his mind. His head whipped to the dashboard monitor where the white and ck cat AIs were staring back at him.

    "Can you make me forget about the two of you?" he asked in a panic.

    "Meow?" Ketchup tilted her head to the side and looked at her Uncle Lin Lin in confusion.

    In contrast, Bacon threw his uncle a look filled with disdain. He didn¡¯t speak to him directly, turning his furry little head to his mother and asking her instead, "Mother, is Bacon¡¯s paternal uncle stupid? Does he think that Bacon and Big Sister Ketchup have the ability to make him forget about us? Father is so smart and yet his younger brother asks dumb questions like this. It¡¯s not ssy."

    "Y-you..." Jin Chonglin sputtered but was unable to say anything coherent as he was too taken aback by his AI nephew¡¯s poisonous tongue.

    Bacon wasn¡¯t done yet. "Doesn¡¯t he also realize that his words are insensitive? He wants to forget about Bacon and Big Sister Ketchup the day he learned about us so that must mean that he doesn¡¯t like us. Bacon will ask Fatherter to help me demandpensation from this paternal uncle for emotional distress."

    "Gasp! You¡¯re right, Bacon! Oh no! Now Ketchup feels so sad! Uncle Lin Lin doesn¡¯t like us little kitty babies even though the cute and mighty Ketchup and my little kitty brother Bacon are his niece and nephew! We are one big happy family but he doesn¡¯t want us! Wuwuwu! Ketchup will tell Daddyter that Uncle Lin Lin is such a big meanie to us kitty babies. Meowuwuwu!"

    Seeing his nephew refusing to even look at him and his niece literally crying a river on the dashboard monitor, Jin Chonglin immediately felt guilty about his thoughtless words. Bacon¡¯s poisonous tongue was intimidating so he chose tofort the sobbing Ketchup first. The problem was that he was helpless and had no idea how to deal with a crying AI kitten.

    If it was Little Jun who was crying, Jin Chonglin could coax the little guy with some treats. How to coax virtual kittens? Virtual candies? He didn¡¯t have any!

    "Uhm...I...uh." In the end, he could only turn to Iris in defeat and ask her for help.

    She sighed at him and shook her head before murmuringforting words to both Ketchup and Bacon.

    Jin Chonglin could sense that she wasn¡¯t too pleased with him at the moment for upsetting her two AI children, making him feel even guiltier. Then his eyes caught Dom at the backseat staring daggers at him.

    "Hmph! Making the babies cry! Are you still human?!" Dom turned his face away, also refusing to look at him.

 Chapter 1052 - Tell Me Everything

    <h4>Chapter 1052 - Tell Me Everything </h4>

    Jin Chonglin couldn¡¯t take it anymore. What was this? He was Prince Lin Lin, a certified superstar!

    He won so many awards for his achievements that he could no longer remember all of them. Many considered him as one of the country¡¯s treasures. Literally millions of people loved him.

    And yet his sister-inw, her AI children, and her assistant sh best friend were all disdaining him? This was absolutely ridiculous!

    Watch him give them a piece of his mind. He wasn¡¯t someone they could bully that easily just because they had his older brother¡¯s backing! He was going to show them¡ª

    "Wuwuwu! Why does Uncle Lin Lin dislike Ketchup and Bacon? We kitty babies are so sad! The cute and mighty Ketchup wants to be a one big happy family with Uncle Lin Lin. Meowuwuwu!"

    Jin Chonglin immediately felt his heart soften. His cat AI niece was so...so...so cute!

    Then he looked at his cat AI nephew next. The ck cat AI still had his furry little head turned away from him, but Jin Chonglin still caught Bacon stealing nces at him out of the corner of his golden eyes. Argh! Even this one with the poisonous tongue was quite cute as well.

    He sighed, feeling defeated.

    "I¡¯m sorry," he told his niece and nephew, his tone sincere. "Your uncle had spoken careless words earlier. I didn¡¯t mean them. Of course, I like the two of you. You¡¯re my niece and nephew. Your names are...Ketchup and Bacon, right?"

    Ketchup¡¯s torrent of tears slowed down. She sniffed. "Really? Uncle Lin Lin likes the cute and mighty Ketchup? Meow?"

    He nodded.<i></i>

    "Yay! Ketchup likes Uncle Lin Lin, too! Ketchup epts Uncle Lin Lin¡¯s apology. Now we¡¯re one big happy family! Meow~"

    He smiled seeing his niece¡¯s happiness. Then he turned to his nephew.

    The ck cat AI finally looked at him straight in the eyes. "Bacon will forgive Uncle Chonglin but only if you give a first-time-meeting present. Bacon only epts cash¡ª"

    Iris gasped out loud, interrupting Bacon¡¯s next words. Everyone turned to look at her.

    "I now remember what happened just before I fainted," she said with a frown, annoyed at herself. "Howe I forgot it when it¡¯s so important?"

    "What is so important, Mommy? Meow~"

    "El Payaso," she whispered.

    "El what?" Jin Chonglin asked, confused.

    Dom, however, understood the words she said. "Payaso? Clown?"

    Then he gasped. "Boss, did you see a clown, that¡¯s why you were so scared that you fainted?! Where did you see a clown?! Here? Inside the van?! Please don¡¯t say things like that, boss! I believe in ghosts and spirits and aswang. Boss, I¡¯m scared!"

    He rummaged through his bag in a panic. "My rosary. Where¡¯s my rosary?! My bible, where is it?! And the holy water that Momsy packed for me?!"

    "Dom, calm down," Iris told him but he continued to freak out.

    "Where did you see the ghost of a clown, boss? The only empty space in the van is beside me here in the backseat! Don¡¯t tell me that the ghost is attracted to my beautiful and handsome self?!"

    "Dominic Chua, calm down!" Iris yelled. She was a singer and had excellent lung capacity whenever she was using her voice. And indeed, her yell caught her assistant sh best friend¡¯s attention.

    Dom finally quieted down but continued to tremble in fright.

    Iris sighed and massaged her temples. "I didn¡¯t see a ghost. That¡¯s not what I meant by what I said."

    "Huh? Really? You¡¯re not lying just because you don¡¯t want to scare me, right?"

    "With everything that¡¯s happening tonight, I¡¯m not in the mood to joke around with you."

    "Thank God!" Dom plopped his upper body in the backseat as if all of his energy had been drained from him.

    "Where¡¯s myptop?" asked Iris.

    Dom sprang up again on his seat. "You¡¯re hacking again? No way, boss! What if you faint again?"

    "I feel fine now. Just give me myptop. I need to check something quickly."

    He thought about it for a few seconds before finally agreeing and pulling out herptop from another bag. Iris tried to take it from him but he was still holding it, refusing to let go. "You said to check something ¡¯quickly¡¯, right? Quickly."

    "Fine. Quickly."

    Dom handed theptop to her with great reluctance.

    "Why did you give it to her?" Jin Chonglin asked in dismay. "If she faints again, see how Big Bro murders us!"

    "What can I do? Boss is so stubborn sometimes." Dom pouted and started stress-eating on a chocte bar that he got from Iris¡¯ pregnancy food stash. "Besides, we¡¯re almost at the hospital."

    Ignoring the two, Iris once again focused on herptop. Although her curiosity almost couldn¡¯t bear it and wanted to check on El Payaso, one of the old guys she frequentlypeted against back in the days when she was still active as Fantom in her past life, she restrained herself.

    El Payaso¡¯s trail was important in uncovering the real identities and origins of the hacker team Eagle but there was someone more important than them who needed Iris¡¯ full attention and concern right now.

    And that was her husband, Jin Liwei.

    After frying Eagle in the power flood, she no longer needed to worry about having her attention pulled away from the danger that her husband was facing tonight. She now had full control of the hotel¡¯s surveince and security system again. She essed it like it was her own backyard.

    "Mother¡ª"

    "Bacon, I know that your father and Uncle Zihao must have made you promise to keep me away from whatever they¡¯re nning tonight on how to deal with Rose Young but don¡¯t try to stop me. This is my husband we¡¯re talking about. Before he¡¯s your father, he¡¯s my man. I¡¯m not just going to sit here and do nothing as a wife."

    Bacon blinked his golden eyes. "Mother, Bacon wasn¡¯t going to stop you. I was nning on telling you everything. Father and Uncle Zihao indeed have their own n. Bacon analyzed it to be high risk, high reward."

    Iris¡¯ eyes shed with steel coldness. "Tell me everything."

    "Understood, Mother. This is the n that Father and Uncle Zihao devised."

    Bacon spilled everything to his mother without missing any detail, feeling no guilt at all towards his father and uncle.

    Evil, shape-shifting creatures in Filipino folklore.

 Chapter 1053 - Let Me Out

    <h4>Chapter 1053 - Let Me Out </h4>

    "Stupid!" Iris snapped after Bacon finished telling her about her husband and older brother¡¯s n.

    Difort, worry and anger filled her at the very idea of her husband being molested by another woman, especially someone who already expressed her desire to snatch Jin Liwei so many times before. Although Iris was sure that Jin Liwei wouldn¡¯t allow the other woman to actually touch him, she still felt the urge to gouge out Rose Young¡¯s eyes for being able to look at her husband in such close proximity.

    Iris didn¡¯t notice that she was strangling Little Liwei. Good thing that the big teddy bear was top quality and could endure abuse like this without losing its shape.

    "If it were me who had this n, those two overprotective cavemen would never allow me to execute it using myself as the actual bait, and yet here they are doing something like this!" she fumed.

    "Bacon knows, Mother," the ck cat AI agreed with her. "That¡¯s why Father and Uncle Zihao don¡¯t want to let you know and want you to go home instead."

    Iris¡¯ nostrils red as she forced her temper back. This wasn¡¯t the time to lose herposure. Now that she knew about the men¡¯s n, a sense of urgency filled her. Her fingers once again flew into a blur on herptop¡¯s keyboard. <i></i>

    On the other seat beside her, a curious Jin Chonglin peeked at herptop¡¯s screen and almost became dizzy by the rapid session of pop-up windows and string of running codes. He studied Iris and found that she was very focused, so focused that it was kind of scary. He had no idea how she was able to identify and work on whatever the hell was happening on herptop when everything was moving so fast. Was the space around her in fast forward or something?

    Iris didn¡¯t know that her brother-inw was thinking like this about her, and frankly, even if she did know, she wouldn¡¯t care. Then her eyes shed with a cold glint when she finally spotted what she was looking for.

    Herptop was now showing two livestream videos from two different perspectives of the same scene. Bacon so kindly revealed to her that the livestreams were being recorded from hidden body cameras that both his Father and Uncle Zihao were wearing.

    The first livestream showed the scene inside a standard hotel bedroom from what seemed to be taken outside the window. Bacon revealed that it was from Lu Zihao¡¯s perspective. It showed a naked Rose Young ying with herself and then leaning over Jin Liwei on the bed about to take off his clothes.

    The other livestream only showed the ceiling at first. But when Rose Young leaned down, her face and her upper body including her two t breasts and dark nipples appeared in the video.

    "Ah, my eyes!" Dom immediately acted like his eyes were burning. "What in the devil¡¯s panties did I just see?!" Then he started gagging.

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t react with exaggeration like Dom but his expression also showed clear disgust. "Yep, as t as a board. Not that I discriminate against that body type because there are many beautiful women in the world with body like hers, but seeing what she¡¯s doing...dammit! Does that woman n on raping my brother?!"

    Iris¡¯ vision turned red. Little Liwei and theptop were both thrown to the floor.

    "Return to the hotel! Right now!"

    The driver faltered but continued driving. The hospital was already in front of their sight, only about a hundred metres away.

    Iris growled. Then she unlocked the door on her side and attempted to jump out.

    "Xin!" Jin Chonglin reacted fast. He caught her and pulled her back, almost dragging her to his side of the van.

    She managed to open the door a crack. Dom quickly jumped forward from the backmost seat and closed the door.

    The van eventually stopped, parking by the side of the road where it would be safe from the main traffic. The driver had been frightened by hisdy boss¡¯ actions. If she fell out of the vehicle, it wouldn¡¯t only be his big boss Jin Liwei who would demand for his head but also Mr. Lu Zihao. One man was scary enough. Angering the two of them at the same time would be suicide.

    "Let me out!" Iris was still trying to open the door and jump out of the van.

    Both Jin Chonglin and Dom were holding her back. They were having trouble not because she was stronger than them but because they didn¡¯t want to hurt her by restraining her with more force. However, she was indeed quite strong for a woman of her size.

    Unlike them, she wasn¡¯t controlling her force. And soon, she was able to momentarily stun them with a few deliberate hits on their pressure points. She became free and immediately tried to open the door but it wouldn¡¯t because the driver used the master lock.

    "Ketchup! Open the door!"

    "But Mommy...." her AI daughter whined and trembled on her fluffy white butt, unsure if she should listen or not.

    "Bacon!"

    A five-second pause.

    And then....

    "Understood, Mother."

    The door unlocked to the dismay of everyone in the van, most especially the driver who felt helpless against the AI kittens that could override his control of the entire vehicle anytime.

    Iris jumped out of the van. She was able to run a few steps before a group of people quickly surrounded her and restrained her with much greater expertise than Jin Chonglin and Dom.

    "Miss Xin, please return inside the van."

    "No! I need to return to the hotel and get to my husband! Get out my way!"

    The group maintained theirposure, not at all affected by her aggressiveness. They were Shadow Winds members sent to protect her.

    "Please don¡¯t worry about Mr. Jin. Boss Hao will make sure to keep him safe."

    Iris had now be too emotional to consider their reasonable points, her safety, and the current situation. They were on the side of a major road. Although there was no heavy traffic at this time of the evening, there were still a considerable number of vehicles driving. A few of them were curious enough to open their windows to see what was going on by the roadside.

 Chapter 1054 - No No No No No

    <h4>Chapter 1054 - No No No No No </h4>

    The group formed a tighter circle around Iris, shielding her from the prying eyes of the other drivers and their passengers passing by on the road. Iris Long was a celebrity, her face and name extremely recognizable especially in recent days after the sessive major bombshells dropped in the news involving her.

    It would be bad if she was recognized while creating a ruckus in a ce and at a time like this. The Shadow Winds members wanted to at least move her out of the roadside to a much more hidden ce where she could act out all she wanted without any of them worrying about her being seen by the general public.

    In addition, it wasn¡¯t only her that they needed to mind. There was a much bigger attention-grabber than her right now sitting inside the van. Jin Chonglin could send an entire nation into a frenzy and literally cause a wild stampede. <i></i>

    It wouldn¡¯t do either the two of them any good if they stayed in this ce for a second longer. The Shadow Winds membersmunicated with their eyes. Then they all cooperated to immobilize Iris.

    They underestimated her.

    She evaded their sudden sneak attacks and countered with fluid but decisive strikes. The situation was reversed in an instant. She sessfully immobilized one member instead of their original n to immobilize her.

    Her upper hand didn¡¯tst long, however. She was only one person against many after all, plus she wasn¡¯t in her best state. Not only was she pregnant but she was too emotional, decreasing the sharpness of her senses. She was also already tired from her battle against the Eagle hackers earlier.

    "Let me go," she said through gritted teeth when they caught her and restrained her in what felt like an immovable limb lock.

    "Miss Xin, please don¡¯t make it difficult for us."

    Then one of the members noticed a faint sh from a distance. "Someone¡¯s recording us."

    Iris stiffened and finally stopped her movements. She narrowed her eyes at the direction where the person allegedly recording them was located.

    Three members were about to chase the person but they stopped.

    "Bacon already took care of it," one of them said while continuing to listen to his ear piece, apparently listening to the ck cat AI¡¯s report. "The police ising. Someone seemed to have reported us causing amotion by the roadside. We need to get out of here quickly."

    Hearing the word "police" still made Iris anxious, even though she was no longer a Vetrov in this life. She was even more anxious now because these Shadow Winds members were with her. They were her older brother¡¯s people. She didn¡¯t want to be the cause in getting them in trouble with the authorities.

    She clenched her fists and tamped down on her current wild emotions. "Fine."

    They led her back to the van and carried her inside. The van was driving again to another direction away from their original destination, the hospital, to make it more difficult for the police to find them.

    Ketchup was already controlling the traffic lights to speed up their escape while slowing down the police. At the same time, Bacon was in charge of wiping out their traces from the surrounding CCTV cameras.

    Inside the van, Iris felt a little calmer. She was now beginning to realize the foolishness of her actions earlier. Despite this, she still wanted to return to the hotel and make sure that her husband was safe.

    Although she trusted both her husband and older brother enough to deal with Rose Young by themselves using the dangerous n that they devised, Iris still couldn¡¯t stop the urge to rush there and...and do something...anything! She didn¡¯t like this helpless feeling at all.

    "Mommy, we lost the police. Meow~" Ketchup looked proud of herself for manipting the traffic lights but didn¡¯t overdo it. She was cautious around her mom after what happened.

    "Mother, Bacon is also done with the CCTVs."

    Iris was still distracted so she didn¡¯t hear them. Dom was the one who praised the two AI cats in her ce.

    "Xin?" Jin Chonglin called her.

    No reply.

    "Sister Xin, are you okay?"

    Iris had a pinched expression. One of her hands was clutching her belly while the other hand was gripping her seat¡¯s armrest.

    "Boss?" Dom squeezed himself in the space between her seat and Jin Chonglin¡¯s seat.

    "It...h-hurts," she gasped and doubled over.

    All of them paled.

    "To the hospital!" Jin Chonglin shouted at the driver.

    Tears were now flowing down Iris¡¯ eyes while she kept on murmuring a heartbroken "no no no no no" over and over again. She hung onto Dom and sobbed against his neck.

    "I¡¯m sorry. So very sorry. Please let my babies be okay."

    Ketchup began sobbing again as well while Bacon muttered a series of threats about world destruction.

    ###

    Lu Zihao hung onto a narrow ledge outside the window observing what was happening inside the hotel bedroom, and of course, recording everything with his body camera. The room had no balcony so there was literally nothing preventing him from falling to his death from sixteen storeys high other than his own skills in hanging on the wall.

    He continued to watch the scene inside the hotel bedroom, his facial expressions revealing nothing of his true thoughts, but his eyes showed quick shes of disgust now and then.

    Seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s fingers twitch when Rose Young¡¯s hair brushed his face while the woman was leaning over him, Lu Zihao spoke to him through his ear piece. "Stay still."

    Obviously, Jin Liwei was unable to respond without revealing to Rose Young that he was actually awake all this time.

    "You must feel like shit right now but wait a little longer before you make your move. I¡¯ll let you know when she shifts into the perfect position for you to turn the tables."

    Jin Liwei listened and remained still.

    Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t help but feel sorry for Jin Liwei, knowing that his brother-inw basically lived as an asexual virgin when he was still a bachelor before meeting Evelinka as Long Xin. In short, the man was only ever sexually and romantically attracted to his sister, Evelinka. It must be torture for Jin Liwei to endure Rose Young¡¯s trap.

 Chapter 1055 C - Minus

    <h4>Chapter 1055 C - Minus </h4>

    Lu Zihao imagined that if it were him in Jin Liwei¡¯s shoes right now, he wouldn¡¯t feel the slightest bit affected by it at all. He already went through many simr missions in his past life as Niki Vetrov. Sleeping with a woman for the sake ofpleting a mission or gaining an advantage for the organization was nothing to him. After all, it was his duty.

    What Jin Liwei was doing right now wasn¡¯t even close to the things he had to endure before in order to fulfill his duties as the heir of the organization. Jin Liwei only needed to lie on the bed and not move while Rose Young was getting ready toy her hands on him. His brother-inw didn¡¯t actually need to have sex with the woman. Compared to the things Niki Vetrov had to do before, Jin Liwei¡¯s job tonight was extremely simple and easy.

    Emotions had no ce in this kind of missions. For Lu Zihao, it was very easy, but obviously that wasn¡¯t the case for his brother-inw. Even though Jin Liwei was doing an excellent job in pretending to be unconscious, Lu Zihao could still see the stiffness in the man¡¯s body and the violent throbbing of his veins which indicated that his endurance was almost reaching its limit.

    Lu Zihao watched everything that was happening inside the hotel bedroom with a dispassionate expression. Deep inside, however, anger and disgust were quickly filling him. He recognized that some of these emotions weren¡¯tpletely his own. <i></i>

    The original Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant couldn¡¯t help but react negatively at witnessing his third brother subjecting himself to such a deplorable situation. Fortunately, the remnant kept silent and didn¡¯t cause any fuss, probably because it didn¡¯t want to distract Niki while he was hanging on the wall with a sixteen storeys high drop.

    Nevertheless, he could still feel the remnant¡¯s negative emotions inside him even though it chose to remain silent. He could me the remnant as the cause of all the emotions he was feeling but he knew that wasn¡¯t the case. A portion of the emotions was his own, he admitted to himself.

    Jin Liwei was his brother-inw after all. It would be a lie if Lu Zihao said that he didn¡¯t care about the man. On the contrary, he indeed cared about Jin Liwei. He wasn¡¯t going to tell the man about it, though.

    If given the chance, he would actually offer to exchange ces with Jin Liwei tonight. Unfortunately, the n wouldn¡¯t work that way. Rose Young, the nympho, only wanted Jin Liwei.

    It was too bad. Things would be easier if Lu Zihao was ying the main role in tonight¡¯s mission. He was trained for this kind of things. An expert. Jin Liwei was not.

    Even if a slut like Rose Young actually managed toy his hands on Lu Zihao, he would still be able to shut down his emotions in order to ensure the sessfulpletion of the mission. Lu Zihao was sure of it.

    Then an image of a blushing, prim and proper, petite woman appeared in his mind all of a sudden. Apanying her was an almost overwhelming sense of rejection at the idea of allowing another woman touch his body in a sexual way.

    He was so taken aback by the image and the apanying feeling that he almost fell down from his perch on the narrow ledge.

    <i>¡¯Godammit, Long Jinjing!¡¯</i> he swore inside his head as he secured his hanging position on the wall.

    Lu Zihao forced himself to focus on the present and not on the woman who kept on intruding in his mind in the most inopportune time which was basically almost the entire day, every day, since they broke up.

    <i>¡¯Fuck. Get out of my mind, woman!¡¯</i>

    The image of Long Jinjing in his mind, however, didn¡¯t listen. Instead, she gave him a shy smile, blushing in that usual way of hers which never failed to seduce him.

    "Shit," he muttered under his breath.

    His mind was once again filled with Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing that he almost missed the perfect moment to signal Jin Liwei. Fortunately, he still had some wits remaining about him and managed to spot the perfect moment when Rose Young moved in a good position over Jin Liwei.

    "Now!"

    Jin Liwei, who had been pretending to be unconscious all this time, finally opened his eyes and kicked Rose Young¡¯s neck. The stunned Rose Young wasn¡¯t able to react in time before she was thrown off the bed and fell hard to the floor.

    There was dull thud followed by the soft sound of breaking ss. Then the window was forced open and arge, shadowy figure jumped in and shed in front of Rose Young, frightening her so much that she opened her mouth to scream.

    Before she could do so, however, therge, shadowy figure hit her sr plexus, knocking out her breath, then her consciousness.

    Neither man caught her when she banged her head to the floor with a cringeworthy sound and fainted.

    "Hah..." Jin Liwei pulled at the handcuffs, his expression ugly.

    He was soaked in his own sweat but that wasn¡¯t his main concern. His eyes dripped venom as he looked at the unconsciousness Rose Young syed naked on the floor. Bile rose in his throat as her disgusting scent remained in his nose. It felt like there were hundreds of spiders crawling on his skin from where her fingers touched his face, neck and upper body.

    "C-minus forck of uracy." Lu Zihao easily unlocked the handcuffs with a small wire that popped out of his wristwatch.

    Jin Liwei grabbed his hand and used it to pull himself off the bed. He still felt shaky from the remaining effects of the aphrodisiac in his body. The antidote that Lu Zihao gave him was unable topletely neutralize the drug that Rose Young had her minion put in his drink.

    "My bad," he said. "My senses still feel dull and I wasn¡¯t able to make her unconscious with a single hit."

    Lu Zihao grunted in response. He nced down at the naked woman lying by their feet. "We¡¯re not done here yet. I still need you to draw out the best acting skills that you can muster."

    "En." Jin Liwei was obviously unwilling but he still agreed.

 Chapter 1056 - Do It

    <h4>Chapter 1056 - Do It </h4>

    Another shadowy figure jumped inside the hotel bedroom from outside the now broken window. Lu Zihao only gestured and his subordinate immediately set to work in moving the unconscious Rose Young because neither one of the two brothers-inw wanted to touch the naked woman who disgusted them.

    The subordinate arranged Rose Young in a prominent position in the entranceway where she would be the first thing to be seen once the door opened. The man didn¡¯t cover her nakedness. In fact, he positioned her limbs in such a way that her nudity would be in full disy.

    It was degrading for sure but she was the one who put herself in this situation. Were they supposed to be merciful and treat her with dignity when she nned on raping a married man?

    They weren¡¯t saints. Far from it. They were already showing her mercy by not killing her for her repeated attempts to cken Iris¡¯ reputation in order to snatch Jin Liwei.

    If this was in his past life as Niki Vetrov, Lu Zihao would have already ended someone like Rose Young who made such a stupid and deadly mistake of targeting his beloved sister. Rose Young would have already mysteriously disappeared and turned into soil fertilizer.

    It was too bad that the situation and his current identity weren¡¯t ideal for him to do that. Besides, they already agreed that Rose Young was still an important chess piece for them to uncover the true mastermind in the sinister plot to usurp Jin Corporation. She was still useful to them alive no matter how much they wanted her out of the picture for all the trouble she caused them especially tonight.

    While the Shadow Winds member was dealing with the unconscious Rose Young, both Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei quickly set to work in messing up the entire room to make it look like there had been a fight.

    Vases and ssware were broken. Bed sheets and pillows were tossed in a haphazard manner here and there. Curtains were torn and pulled down. <i></i>

    Then Lu Zihao stood in front of his brother-inw while his subordinate continued to make the bedroom look like a total wreck.

    "Ready?" he asked.

    Jin Liwei gritted his teeth. "Do it."

    Lu Zihao punched him in several parts of his body, ripped his clothes, and scratched him in noticeable areas like the face and neck. To Jin Liwei¡¯s credit, he took everything like a champ, only groaning low in his throat now and then.

    "Not bad," Lu Zihao praised. "Your body feels stronger and sturdierpared to how it was a few months ago."

    "I¡¯ve...been...training," Jin Liwei said in a hissing breath.

    Lu Zihao nodded. There was approval in his eyes. "Done."

    "Thanks fucking very much."

    "You¡¯re wee."

    Jin Liwei groaned as he carefully massaged his throbbing jaw and cheekbone. His brother-inw didn¡¯t hold back at all. He felt like he got run over by a truck. He wasn¡¯t going toin though because he agreed in this part of the n from the very beginning. Since this was the case, there was no way he would run away from his own decision.

    Doing his best to ignore the pain, Jin Liwei adjusted his state of mind and prepared himself for the next stage of their n. His concentration was not in the best state due to the remaining effects of the aphrodisiac. He craved for his wife despite the current battered condition of his body and mind.

    Lu Zihao gave Jin Liwei a final nod before jumping out of the window followed by his subordinate, disappearing into the dark of the night, and leaving Jin Liwei alone with the unconscious Rose Young.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s lip curled in disgust as he nced at her. Afterwards, he refused to look at her any longer.

    He started counting in his mind.

    One.

    Two.

    Three.

    Four¡ª

    Loud banging and shouts sounded outside the door.

    Jin Liwei recognized the most urgent-sounding voice and smiled. Then for thest time tonight, he drew out his best acting skills which weren¡¯t anything impressive, but thanks to the already developing bruises and scratches left by his ruthless brother-inw, he looked very believable without even trying hard.

    He hurried to the door and opened it before slumping with a pained groan onto his assistant who had much better acting skills than him.

    Xu Tian caught him and "cried" in rm. "President! What happened to you?! Why are you covered in wounds?! And oh no! You¡¯ve been drugged, too?! Which evil thing kidnapped you and did this to you?! Unforgivable! Guards!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s bodyguards swarmed inside the room followed by the hotel¡¯s security personnel. The other Jin Corporation executives learned about what happened because of how much of a ruckus Xu Tian made at the front desk. They followed the group, concerned about theirpany boss¡¯ safety especially after seeing Assistant Xu¡¯s panic.

    The hotel manager also came with them and was now shaking in his shoes upon seeing the seriousness of the situation. He already became anxious earlier when Assistant Xu Tian reported CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s disappearance at the front desk. If a bigshot like CEO Jin was harmed inside the hotel¡¯s premises, the manager might be forced to say goodbye to his job.

    They had been looking for Jin Liwei all this time but with no sess. Even checking the surveince cameras yielded no results. It was bing apparent to the hotel staff that this might be a nned crime against the head of Jin Corporation.

    Finally, an "eyewitness" directed them to this hotel room. While they all rushed to the hotel room, the "eyewitness" disappeared before anyone could ask her to stay for official questioning purposes. She hid in an empty corner and tapped on a hidden earpiece.

    "Boss Hao, it¡¯s done."

    Back in the hotel room, Xu Tian unleashed an impressive level of acting. His eyes even turned bloodshot as he deliberately influenced everyone¡¯s thinking by his loud tirade that his boss, CEO Jin, was the victim. Xu Tian¡¯s shouting disturbed almost everyone in the floor. Several doors opened and out came the other hotel clients to see who was causing the ruckus.

    One of the Jin Corporation executives gasped out loud. "Is that...is that Rose Young inside?!"

    A camera shed.

    That was when they noticed that a paparazzo managed to follow them to join the fracas.

 Chapter 1057 - Is That Kind Of Person Normal?

    <h4>Chapter 1057 - Is That Kind Of Person Normal? </h4>

    The hotel manager ordered his staff to drive away the paparazzo but the man was slippery and managed to enter the room. In just a few minutes, the paparazzo was able to take hundreds of photos of the naked Rose Young lying unconscious on the floor and of the wrecked room. The camera shed nonstop like lightning in a tempestuous storm.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s bodyguards were too busy checking the room and the surroundings for additional hidden dangers to their boss that they didn¡¯t bother stopping the paparazzo¡¯s intrusion. At least, that was what it looked like to others.<i></i>

    The bodyguards acted hostile to the unconscious Rose Young on the floor but didn¡¯t touch her in any way. One of the hotel staff took pity on her and covered her naked body with a bed sheet to protect her from the growing number of prying eyes trying to peek inside the bedroom from outside the open door where Xu Tian continued creating a ruckus.

    "This Rose Young has not learned her lesson after her termination from Jin Corporation!" Xu Tian shouted while continuing to support the "groggy" Jin Liwei.

    The hotel manager tried interrupting him to suggest that they bring Jin Liwei to the hospital for a medical examination especially since the CEO was clearly injured with ugly bruises and scratches all over his body, not to mention his groggy and feverish state from being drugged. However, Xu Tian was too worked up to listen to anyone and continued his furious tirade against the shameless culprit, Rose Young.

    In the end, the other Jin Corporation executives stepped forward, intending to drive their CEO Jin Liwei to the nearest hospital. The problem was that Xu Tian¡¯s hold of Jin Liwei was too tight. No matter how much they tried pulling Jin Liwei away and pleading with Assistant Xu Tian to let the president go, Xu Tian refused to budge as if he couldn¡¯t hear anything other than his own angry speech.

    "President Jin rejected Rose Young¡¯s several inappropriate advances and confessions so many times but she still insisted on creating trouble for both the president and his wife, Madam Jin! If she was really a respectable woman, she wouldn¡¯t continue pursuing a taken man! But it¡¯s now clear to all of us here that she¡¯s far from respectable! Now she dared to scheme against President Jin who only wanted to celebrate her marriage to Madam Jin with the otherpany executives tonight! Drugging a man and locking him up in a hotel bedroom to have her wicked way with him, absolutely shameless! Immoral! Evil!"

    Xu Tian swept his bloodshot eyes to the growing crowd in the hallway. He spotted a random couple and pointed a finger at the female. "You! What would you do if a shameless woman drugged your man and tried to sleep with him without his consent?"

    The female nced at her partner and looked a little awkward at first. However, Xu Tian continued to goad her along with the other females with partners among the crowd. Eventually, they became affected by his emotional words. They imagined experiencing a simr situation and quickly became enraged. Those who had actual experiences before reacted the strongest.

    "Shameless women like that deserve to be beaten!"

    "Slut!"

    "Immoral!"

    Now the hallway had be even more chaotic after these enraged women joined Xu Tian in making the ruckus bigger.

    "Thank goodness that President Jin woke up in time before that shameless woman seeded in her evil n! The president managed to protect the sanctity of his marriage to Madam Jin! Oh, thank goodness! Evil will never prevail against righteous people like President Jin!"

    Jin Liwei opened an eye a tiny crack to peek at his assistant. Seeing the man going all out, he couldn¡¯t help but feel impressed. The man had talent. He decided to give Xu Tian a sry raise and a generous bonus after this was all over. Working this hard, Xu Tian deserved that much.

    Thanks to Xu Tian creating chaos among the crowd, nobody had the time to notice the finer details of the situation. As a result, the paparazzo was able toplete his task basically unimpeded. The paparazzo slipped away after taking enough photos.

    Xu Tian made eye contact with him but neither acknowledged each other. The paparazzo quickly made his escape, clutching his camera like a treasure, while Xu Tian continued manipting the emotions and opinions of the crowd with his impassioned tirade.

    A few minutester, the paparazzo exited the hotel without encountering any major setbacks. A couple of hotel staff tried chasing after him after the manager alerted everyone about him. However, he managed to elude them.

    The paparazzo jumped into a waiting car which drove away as soon as the door closed.

    "Sess?" the driver asked.

    The paparazzo smirked. "What do you think? Boss Hao personally assigned this mission to me, so of course, I¡¯m gonna make sure to make it a sess no matter what." He examined the photos he took with his camera. "Tsk tsk. This woman is really courting death for scheming against Iris Long¡¯s man. We all know how protective Boss Hao is of Iris Long."

    "Address her with more respect! Boss Hao prefers that we call her Miss Xin. He treats her like a precious sister. It¡¯s not only him who treasures her. The hacker team also worships her for some reason. I¡¯m not privy to insider information about her because my rank is too low, but I heard from a few seniors that we shouldn¡¯t underestimate Miss Xin. Yes, she has the backing of Jin Corporation¡¯s head who¡¯s her husband, and of course, our Boss Hao, but those seniors say that she is more than her powerful backing."

    "I know."

    "You know?"

    "Well, not really." The paparazzo pursed his lips and then shrugged. "I don¡¯t know the details either but my intuition as a paparazzo tells me that Iris Long, I mean Miss Xin, is more than what she appears. If not for me taking photos of her and Jin Chonglin back then to create a scandal about them having a secret love child, would I have be a member of Shadow Winds now? It¡¯s because of her that I met Boss Hao and I became who I am today. So many bigshots are on her side. Tell me, is that kind of person normal?"

 Chapter 1058 - Unexpected Arrival

    <h4>Chapter 1058 - Unexpected Arrival </h4>

    Within half an hour, the incriminating photos of Rose Young¡¯s evil scheme against CEO Jin Liwei at the hotel were published online by the paparazzo. ShaWn spread the post and it became viral.

    The paparazzo wasn¡¯t only an expert photographer but he was also a talented storyteller. His experience as a tabloid reporter was evident in this juicy story he wrote about Rose Young¡¯s wicked plot tonight against Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO Jin Liwei who was also the husband of multi-award-winning musician and celebrity, Iris Long.

    He was also the one who wrote the most scathing reports about Rose Young¡¯s sex video scandal a few days ago, painting her as the worst kind of woman in society. Since CEO Jin Liwei rejected all her advances, the two of them didn¡¯t even have an affair, and yet she took desperate measures in her desire to be his mistress and homewrecker to his marriage with Iris Long. Truly a despicable female in the eyes of many fellow women in the nation.

    Looking at her sex video and scandalous photos, many sneered at her face and figure. She couldn¡¯t evenpare to Iris Long¡¯s stunning beauty and hour-ss body, and yet she still dared to make a move on CEO Jin?

    Good thing that CEO Jin wasn¡¯t dumb to fall for the wicked woman¡¯s scheme. If he did, then it would be like abandoning a piece of prime beef for chicken feet. This was how most of theizens thought whileparing Rose Young¡¯s appearance to Iris Long¡¯s beauty.

    Rose Young wasn¡¯t ugly. To be honest, she was quite attractive and oozed confidence despite her t figure. However, ifpared to an extraordinary beauty like Iris Long, Rose Young couldn¡¯t even hold a candle based on physical appearance alone.

    This sentiment was spread online, secretly by ShaWn, and loud and proud by the ck Stars, specifically its notorious troll unit, the Slippers Army.

    "Shame on Rose Young! A wicked woman like her deserves to be whacked by our mighty slippers to the deepest level of hell!"

    "CEO Jin, thank goodness that you¡¯re okay and managed to escape the clutches of that evil woman! You didn¡¯t allow her to taint your body and marriage with Boss Iris! Thank you for your loyalty to our boss, CEO Jin! Please choose me as one of the winners in your special contest!"

    "Boss Iris, you¡¯ve had it hard these days because of that Rose Young. The ck Stars will always support you!"

    "And the Slippers Army will always defend you with our mighty slippers of justice!"

    The fan club¡¯s officers all expressed their full support for their Boss Iris and her husband, CEO Jin Liwei, while condemning Rose Young. CaptainckStar and LittlePhoenix were there to lead the members. MrsLovePhantom, JJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan and JJNumber3Fan also joined the fray online.

    Even the usually busy MonkeyFace and iEatSlippers popped out and showed their powerful influence among the ck Stars members. Ever since bing the CEO and CFO respectively of the gamingpany, Monkey, the creator of the hit online game "Supreme Ascension", the two had be like idols to the other ck Stars. MonkeyFace and iEatSlippers¡¯ status in the fan club were only second to Boss Iris in the eyes of the other members.

    The Slippers Army felt like they had been injected with chicken blood as soon as iEatSlippers took charge as theirmander tonight. They gained an even greater vigour to act as even worse online trolls than they already were normally and trash-talked Rose Young everywhere.

    iEatSlippers took a prominent role as Commander while MonkeyFace operated behind the scenes with his skills as a hacker. He supercharged the entire ck Stars¡¯ online posts and protected the Slippers Army from being banned and reported in various forums.

    Oddly enough, KittyBaby and PantherBaby, two of the most powerful current leaders of the Slippers Army weren¡¯t present during such an important time.

    "Those two are still kids. KittyBaby always say that their dad is very strict so maybe the siblings have been sent to bed early tonight. She also mentioned that her brother PantherBaby is grounded again for upsetting their mom. Maybe the poor kid is still grounded until now."

    "Well, PantherBaby is quite a vicious boy. He¡¯s theplete opposite of his bubbly sister KittyBaby. It¡¯s no wonder that their dad keeps on grounding him. That kind of kid needs to be disciplined as early as possible to prevent him from growing up into a nasty,wless adult."

    This conversation about the two young, absent leaders of Slippers Army didn¡¯tst long because the ck Stars became swept up again in their enmity against Rose Young. <i></i>

    ###

    Back at the hotel, Jin Liwei¡¯s role in the y that he wrote with his brother-inw would soone to an end. He didn¡¯t really do that much in the final stages. His assistant Xu Tian did most of the work. He only needed to act like a drugged and injured victim.

    "Fucking shit," Lu Zihao¡¯s voice swore through their earpiece channel. "The Chief of Police ising."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s half-closed eyes twitched but he forced himself to continue leaning "weakly" on Xu Tian who had now finished his tirade. Police presence was part of their original n. However, they only expected regr police officers, not the Chief himself.

    "Did one of yourpany executives contact the motherfucker?" Lu Zihao asked him, clearly pissed off at the unexpected development.

    Jin Liwei tapped on his earpiece, replying in Morse code.<i> ¡¯No.¡¯</i>

    He was also confused why the Police Chief woulde in person. Perhaps it was because of his status as Jin Corporation¡¯s President-CEO. That position certainly gave him high importance in many elite circles.

    Then he remembered something. It seemed that his brother-inw also realized it at the same time.

    "Ah, right. The motherfucker is the husband of Evelinka¡¯s fan. They even attended your wedding. Shit. How could we forget about this connection?" Lu Zihao let out a string of graphic Russian curses.

    The essence of their n would remain the same, but some of the details needed to be adjusted. Shadow Winds had to be even more careful upon the unexpected arrival of the Chief of Police, the very man who ordered the force to keep a close eye on the new rising power in the country¡¯s underworld.

 Chapter 1059 - That Kind Of Relationship

    <h4>Chapter 1059 - That Kind Of Rtionship </h4>

    About ten minutester, the hotel was swarming with the police. They took over the bedroom from Jin Liwei¡¯s bodyguards and the hotel¡¯s security, basically kicking all of them out.

    The chaotic crowd was dispersed while the key people involved in the case were taken in separate rooms at the hotel for preliminary questioning. Everything was organized. The police officers were more serious and diligent than usual knowing that their chief would be arriving soon.

    By this time, Rose Young finally regained consciousness. She was wearing a hotel bathrobe. At first, she was confused.<i></i>

    Where was Jin Liwei? Where was she? Why was she in a different ce?

    Then she realized that there were other people besides her in what looked like a small office. It should still be an office in the hotel though. The two strangers were a female and male wearing...dammit¡ªpolice uniforms!

    Her pupils contracted. She now knew that her n failed miserably and that she was now in trouble.

    Big trouble.

    What she needed to do now was to keep as much of her wits about her as possible and to take extreme caution whenever opening her mouth to answer any questions. Impulsiveness at this time would spell doom for her.

    Although she had an all-or-nothing attitude before and during her n to trap Jin Liwei, now that her n failed and the police had caught her, she was unwilling to surrender! This couldn¡¯t possibly be the end of her! No way!

    After confirming her identity, the female officer who was acting quite friendly finally began questioning her about the incident with Jin Liwei at the hotel bedroom. Her partner, the male officer, stood a few steps away with a stern expression.

    Rose Young knew that he was trying to intimidate her but it wasn¡¯t effective. She had to deal with the iceberg Jin Liwei for so many years. This male officer had nothing on her man! Despite her inner contempt at the male officer, she still pretended to act meek in order to make these officers empathize with her.

    "Did you drug Jin Liwei tonight, kidnap him, lock him up in a bedroom, and then n to have sex with him without his consent?"

    She shook her head. "No, Miss Officer. I..." Tears formed in her eyes. "I know that so many people despise me and think the worst of me during this time, but the truth is...the truth is...I can¡¯t say it. I already promised to take all the me and to bear the shame."

    The female officer showed a sympathetic expression while Rose Young sobbed quietly as if suffering a deep grievance that nobody else in the world could truly understand. However, Rose Young knew that the female officer was only pretending to be nice in order to make her talk. She wasn¡¯t a fool. The female officer wasn¡¯t a friend. Far from it. Instead, the woman was a vicious viper who would swallow her whole as soon as she made the wrong move and spit her out into the fire pit.

    "You¡¯re upset but we can¡¯t help you if you don¡¯t tell us what¡¯s wrong," the female officer coaxed.

    The male officer clicked his tongue in irritation and red at Rose Young. "Stop the waterworks and just tell us the truth! You drugged CEO Jin Liwei, didn¡¯t you? Yes or no!"

    The female officer continued smiling "kindly" at Rose Young but she didn¡¯t stop her partner from roaring either.

    Rose Young chose her words carefully. "An aphrodisiac drug is involved, yes¡ª"

    "Hah! So now you¡¯re confessing, huh?" the male officer sneered at her.

    The female officer maintained her kind smile while waiting patiently for Rose Young to continue speaking.

    "¡ªbut it¡¯s part of our...bed activities." Rose Young clenched her fists and trembled under the gazes of the officers. Tears flowed down her face, making her look pitiful. "People only believe what they want to believe. I know that now! I¡¯m experiencing it now! What it means to fall in love with a man who only wants me to be his mistress, his hidden woman, while he holds another woman in public! I know that you won¡¯t believe me...but...but Big Brother Liwei and I...we¡¯re in a rtionship! That kind of rtionship. It¡¯s true!"

    "Please be more specific, Miss Young," the female officer said in a gentle tone.

    "You already know what I mean."

    "Yes, but we still need you to be specific for the official records. Tell us exactly what kind of rtionship you allegedly have with CEO Jin."

    "We..." Rose Young bit her lower lip, letting more tears flow down her face. "We meet up in secret, sleep together, you know, have sex! That kind of rtionship!"

    "Ah, so you¡¯re alleging that you¡¯re having an affair with CEO Jin?"

    "I¡¯m not alleging. It¡¯s true! But he won¡¯t admit it. Not now that he married that...that other woman." She covered her face and started sobbing.

    The male officerughed with sarcasm. "Wow. The official wife is being called the ¡¯other woman¡¯."

    "When did your alleged affair with CEO Jin start? Before he¡¯s married or after?"

    "B-before...."

    The male officer snorted but his female partner gave him a warning nce. He stopped. Rose Young almost scoffed at their acting but restrained herself and continued acting pitiful.

    "Big Brother Liwei and I have known each other for a long time. We attended the same university in America. He was my senior there. We didn¡¯t have any romantic rtionship at that time yet. We were...friends.

    "Years passed and we only saw each other during social events. We maintained a...cordial friendship. He became Jin Corporation¡¯s head while I continued working hard to gain experience in the business world. Then a few months ago, I was hired as the new Chief Marketing Officer at Jin Corporation¡¯s main headquarters so I flew here from abroad. It was then that...that Big Brother Liwei and I reconnected and...it developed into something more."

    "And then?" the female officer prompted her.

    "And then we had an affair."

    The male officer snorted. "Even if it¡¯s true that you really have a secret love affair with CEO Jin which is already very questionable, it still doesn¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯re intruding in an official rtionship. He was already engaged to Iris Long that time!"

 Chapter 1060 - True Victim

    <h4>Chapter 1060 - True Victim </h4>

    "That¡¯s true," Rose Young admitted. "They were already engaged but that didn¡¯t stop Big Brother Liwei from making promises to me. And I believed everything he told me because...because I love him. I love him so much! I was blinded with my love for him that I believed him when he told me that he¡¯ll break up with that...with Iris Long, so that we can finally be together. I waited and waited but he continued to only assure me with kisses and sex. Lots of sex."

    The male officer curled his lip. "Why would CEO Jin leave Iris Long for you?"

    Rose Young felt triggered by the asshole¡¯s contemptuous gaze on her body, especially when itnded on her chest area. She straightened her back but then forced to make herself smaller again. This wasn¡¯t the time to re up.

    "Big Brother Liwei always tells me that..." She bit her lip as if unsure whether it was appropriate to say her next words or not.

    "Go on, don¡¯t be afraid," the female officer assured her. "Just tell us."

    "He says that Iris Long is...not fun in bed. That she¡¯s boring. She onlyys there without moving."

    The female officer raised an eyebrow but that onlysted for a second before smoothing out her expression again to show another kind but neutral smile. She gestured for Rose Young to continue speaking.<i></i>

    "Iris Long can¡¯t satisfy Big Brother Liwei¡¯s needs."

    "So ording to what you¡¯re saying, CEO Jin turned to you to satisfy his...needs?"

    "Yes."

    "Hah, unbelievable!" the male officer scoffed.

    Rose Young felt the strongest urge to p the asshole. Although this good cop, bad cop style was verymon, it was still extremely infuriating especially since she was experiencing it firsthand. It was so difficult to restrain herself from scratching the asshole¡¯s face off but she still forced herself to not lose her temper. The situation was dire and she needed to do anything in order to save herself.

    The female officer released a warning cough for show. The male officer became quiet again.

    "Go on, Miss Young. Please tell us more about your alleged rtionship with CEO Jin."

    "It¡¯s not alleged, it¡¯s real!"

    She took a deep breath and continued speaking about her secret love affair with Jin Liwei. She told them about her fantasies, weaving them as the truth, until it was bing difficult even for her to differentiate what was real and imagined.

    "Big Brother Liwei is a very virile man. He¡¯s also very...let¡¯s say adventurous. He likes it rough and to use toys with me. Iris Long refuses to even try new things with him, so that¡¯s why...he loves being with me. He knows that he can do whatever he wants with me and try new things without worrying about me judging his...rather heavy tastes."

    The female officer leaned forward, the kind smile still on her face. Her eyes, however, couldn¡¯t conceal her true cunning to Rose Young. "Tell me, Miss Young. You came from a good background that isparable to Iris Long. Like her, you¡¯re also an heiress to your family fortune in Singapore. I understand that your family operates the Singaporean branch of Jin Corporation?"

    "Yes."

    "Tell me then, Miss Young, if everything you said is really true, why would a woman like you agree to be a mistress?"

    Rose clutched at her t chest and cried in a heartbroken manner. "Because I love him! Do you think that I want to throw away my dignity like this? No! But for him, for Big Brother Liwei, for Jin Liwei, I sacrificed my dignity, my reputation, everything for him! Even if this is how he repays me, humiliating me to the entire world, betraying me and trapping me like this because he can¡¯t bear to continue lying anymore, and leaving me to fend for myself to the police, I still love him! I love him so much. It...it hurts so much...but I still love him."

    The male officer dragged a chair, letting it screech from the friction against the floor, before sitting down in front of Rose Young with a loud thump. "You¡¯re saying that CEO Jin betrayed you, that he set you up tonight?"

    She appeared unwilling to confess Jin Liwei¡¯s crime, but in the end, she gave a reluctant nod. "Yes. I don¡¯t want to betray him...but he betrayed me first. We arranged to meet up tonight. He wanted to apologize and to make it up to me for what I experienced in the past few days. He told me that he had to make a show of spurning me in public in order to appease Iris Long¡¯s suspicion and jealousy. We nned on making love tonight. He asked me to arrange the aphrodisiac and the handcuffs in advance for our usual bed y.

    "But I never expected that he would double-cross me like this! That he would set me up and have the police arrest me! The truth is...I¡¯m the true victim!"

    ###

    In another but more spacious andfortable office inside the hotel, Jin Liwei was being treated for his injuries. The man treating him was a member of his security team tonight but wasn¡¯t actually his subordinate.

    The man was wearing the same bodyguard suit as the rest of Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates, but the truth was that he was a member of Shadow Winds that Lu Zihao stationed at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Half of Jin Liwei¡¯s bodyguards present tonight were actually Shadow Winds members. They were the additional security sent when Xu Tian revealed to him earlier that his wife might also attend the dinner with the executives at the hotel restaurant, earning the adorable ire of his AI daughter. Ketchup berated Xu Tian for revealing her mom¡¯s supposed surprise for her dad.

    In the end, what should have been a nice dinner with the other executives and possibly his wife and even his younger brother was destroyed by that woman, Rose Young.

    The police offered to bring him to the hospital first for treatment and then question him there but Jin Liwei refused. He remembered that he still had his brother-inw¡¯s antidote in his bloodstream.

    It would be too dangerous if he was sent to the hospital and had his blood drawn to be analyzed in aboratory. He couldn¡¯t risk that so he insisted on staying at the hotel for the police questioning.

 Chapter 1061 - No Reply

    <h4>Chapter 1061 - No Reply </h4>

    Two police partners were tasked to question Jin Liwei while his injuries were being treated. Unlike Rose Young¡¯s experience in the other office, these two police officers were businesslike but still polite as they recorded Jin Liwei¡¯s ount of what happened. They didn¡¯t make any unnecessaryments or expressed much of their personal thoughts. Nevertheless, Jin Liwei could sense that they believed most, if not everything, that he was telling them.

    The police officers were both men. After learning what Jin Liwei went through tonight in the hands of a desperate madwoman, they couldn¡¯t help but side with him. They wouldn¡¯t want to go through a simr experience, especially since one officer was married like Jin Liwei while the other had a girlfriend. This kind of incident was not only scary for the victimized man but could also destroy his rtionship with his significant other and their family if they had one together.

    Jin Liwei felt relieved that the police officers weren¡¯t giving him a difficult time because he could hear his brother-inw¡¯s intermittent cursing through his earpiece. It was terribly distracting. Fortunately, the officers attributed his distracted state from being drugged and almost being sexually vited by Rose Young.

    The earpiece he was wearing was tiny and designed in such a way that it was concealed behind the ear¡¯s cartge. It was practically invisible if one didn¡¯t look too closely. Therefore, the two police officers didn¡¯t notice that Jin Liwei was distracted not because of trauma but due to the earpiece instead. <i></i>

    Iris designed the earpiece and Jin Liwei had it made for all of them, including their subordinates. Since Lu Zihao stationed a portion of Shadow Winds at Dragon Pce Home #10, they got wind of the sleek earpieces. Lu Zihao wanted all of his subordinates to have them as well. Iris agreed to her older brother¡¯s request, so Jin Liwei had more made and sent to Shadow Winds.

    Listening to his brother-inw¡¯s graphic curses, Jin Liwei¡¯s Russian vocabry was expanding yet again. However, he needed to be careful about practicing these curse words to prevent corrupting his AI children.

    He was also getting updates about what was happening outside through the earpiece from both his subordinates and Shadow Winds. This way, he didn¡¯t bother asking the police officers about any updates which might have contributed to how well they were treating him.

    The questions finally ended. The two police officers stood up and prepared to leave.

    "Mr. Jin, thank you for your cooperation. We will now leave you to rest and to recuperate from your injuries. We might contact you soon to ask for any additional information that we might need for our investigation. I hope that you¡¯ll continue to cooperate with us."

    "Of course." Jin Liwei also stood up and shook hands with the officers. "I¡¯ll cooperate with whatever the police needs me to do in order to get justice for what I went through tonight. If it were only me, I might not care this much, but I have a wife now."

    "I understand what you mean, Mr. Jin."

    Indeed, understanding passed between the three men. No additional words of exnation were needed.

    "Please stay here for a little longer. We¡¯re told that our Chief wants to speak with you. He should be arriving any minute now."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded and sat back down when the officers finally left the room.

    A couple of his subordinates entered and joined him inside while the rest waited outside in the hallway. It seemed that Xu Tian wasn¡¯t finished being questioned yet in another room.

    Jin Liwei leaned back and closed his eyes. Exhaustion swept over him like a heavy weight pressing down on his entire being. His whole body also ached from being punched and scratched by his brother-inw earlier. This wasn¡¯t the main problem, however.

    The embers of desire continued to burn low in his stomach. He wanted to be with his wife. Just thinking about her immediately turned the embers into fire that was getting bigger and hotter the more he fantasized about her.

    Before his desire got out of control, he pinched his thigh hard. He gritted his teeth and took a few deep breaths while reciting the value of pi in his mind. He wasn¡¯t able topletely calm his desire to make love with his wife, but at least he wasn¡¯t acting like a horny dog.

    Lu Zihao informed him earlier that this office room was bugged. It had a permanent surveince camera courtesy of the hotel itself, but the police ced additional bugs before bringing Jin Liwei inside to be questioned.

    Hence, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t dare to speak directly to the earpiece and just tapped on it instead using Morse code.

    <i>¡¯Ketchup.¡¯</i>

    No reply.

    He tried again. <i>¡¯Bacon.¡¯</i>

    No reply either.

    <i>¡¯How¡¯s your mom?¡¯</i>

    Still no reply.

    He frowned, feeling worried.

    <i>¡¯Is your mom OK?¡¯</i>

    Neither of his AI children answered. Now that he thought about it, he hadn¡¯t heard from either Ketchup or Bacon since he pretended to lose consciousness and allowed Rose Young¡¯s minions to kidnap him and bring him to her. All he knew was that the two of them were busy battling Eagle with their mother.

    He was about to ask his brother-inw instead if the man had any news about his wife and AI children when Lu Zihao released another string of Russian curses, more explicit this time. Jin Liwei only understood a few words but they were enough to let him know that that these curses must never be exposed to his AI children.

    "The Chief of Police has arrived," Lu Zihao finally spoke in Mandarin. "Fucking shit. He brought police dogs."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose but he quickly smoothed out his expression after remembering that there were bugs in the room.

    He tapped his earpiece. ¡¯<i>Drugs.¡¯</i>

    "My subordinates already found the drugs that the nympho used on you. The sedative still has a lot left while the aphrodisiac is fucking emptied. You must still be feeling it, huh."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t bother replying. Just being reminded that he had aphrodisiac in his system was enough to awaken the fire of desire in the pit of his stomach. He gritted his teeth and controlled himself once again.

    "We left the bottles alone for the police to find," Lu Zihao said. "They¡¯re evidence that we need to incriminate that nympho."

 Chapter 1062 - Chief Of Police

    <h4>Chapter 1062 - Chief Of Police </h4>

    "The Chief of Police will reach you soon. Just continue to act ording to our original n. I have to personally lead my subordinates on how to best evade the police dogs¡¯ acute senses, so you might not hear from me for now." After saying these words, Lu Zihao¡¯s voice was gone.

    There was a brief knock on the door before it opened, revealing the Chief of Police. He was a tall, taciturn, and strict-looking man. Jin Liwei stood up to greet him. They could be considered acquaintances through their wives.

    The Police Chief¡¯s wife was Si Xinyue, a.k.a. JJNumber1Fan, a ck Stars officer and staunch supporter of Iris. The man didn¡¯t say it¡ªcouldn¡¯t say it because of his own police force¡¯s bugs nted in the room¡ªbut Jin Liwei knew that he must havee tonight because of Madam Si Xinyue.

    ording to the original n, tonight¡¯s incident should have already spread in the news. Since it involved him, and in direct extension, his wife, the ck Stars wouldn¡¯t sit still. They would surely do everything in their power to defend him and his wife¡¯s honour while condemning Rose Young. Madam Si Xinyue must have learned about what happened to him at the hotel tonight from this. Hence, why her husband, the Chief of Police, came in person.

    With both Jin Liwei and the Chief of Police being naturally cold individuals, they didn¡¯t bother with useless small talk. Jin Liwei had already been questioned earlier. It would only be redundant and a waste of time if the Chief questioned him again about the same things.<i></i>

    Instead, the Chief told him, "I¡¯ll personally take charge of this case. Justice will be served to whom it¡¯s due."

    "Thank you, Chief."

    The Chief studied him with a sharp, probing look. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t cower and faced the other man with calm albeit tired eyes.

    "There¡¯s a sedative involved," the Chief said. "I heard that you only lost your consciousness for a short period of time before managing to wake up quickly to defend yourself."

    "I was beaten up quite badly as you can see. I woke up from the pain. Besides, I have been training my body harder ever since I got a wife. Need to be healthier and stronger to support our family and live longer to grow old together with her. Maybe it¡¯s because of that the sedative isn¡¯t very effective on me."

    The Chief nodded once. "The aphrodisiac?"

    Jin Liwei smiled bitterly. "All I can say is that I wish I¡¯m with my wife right now and not with you."

    This time, the Chief smiled for the first time since entering the room. "I understand. I won¡¯t keep you for any longer then. I heard that you refused to go to the hospital but I insist that you go."

    Jin Liwei frowned but didn¡¯t agree or disagree.

    "You want justice, am I right? To put that woman who did this to you in prison?"

    "En. Of course."

    "Then get an official medical certificate proving all of your injuries plus blood work confirming the presence of the drugs in your body. It¡¯ll help your im in the case."

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao had thought that they could avoid this when dealing with the regr police officers, but now that the Chief of Police mentioned it himself, Jin Liwei had to do it now or risk casting suspicion upon himself. Forcing himself to remain calm, he nodded.

    Satisfied, the Chief of Police didn¡¯t stay any longer and left to see the used suspect, Rose Young.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression darkened. He could have his private doctor write the medical certificate to prove his injuries. Easy. After all, his injuries were very real. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t hold back at all.

    The problem was the blood work for the drugs in his body. He couldn¡¯t risk having his blood drawn and analyzed because his brother-inw¡¯s antidote might cause a bloodbath once detected and exposed.

    The door opened once again. It was Xu Tian.

    "Sir, we are cleared to go."

    "Good." Jin Liwei stood up and walked out of the office with Xu Tian, followed by his subordinates.

    The police officers patrolling the ce watched his group leave, not stopping them. Jin Liwei knew that his every move was being observed. There were inconsistencies in the story that he and Lu Zihao made up and presented to the police. However, as long as it was more believable than Rose Young¡¯s version, then that was all that mattered.

    In order to continue their charade under the sharp eyes of the police, Jin Liwei acted weak and unsteady on his feet. Xu Tian had to support him and once again unleashed his impressive talent in acting.

    "President, are you still feeling dizzy? Ah, the scratches and bruises on your face have be swollen. Madam Jin will surely be upset if she sees you. Her heart will break! This is Rose Young¡¯s fault! What an evil woman! How could she do such a sinister thing to you?! Shameless!"

    Jin Liwei nced at his assistant out of the corner of his eye. It seemed that Xu Tian was bing addicted to this acting thing. Not that he wasining because it was helping him out a lot. With Xu Tian acting like this, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t need to try too hard with his own meagre talent in acting.

    The people in the vicinity heard what Xu Tian said. It wasn¡¯t only the police who was present but some of the hotel employees and clients as well. Despite the incident, the hotel continued running as usual. Only certain areas were closed off from civilians during the police investigation.

    "President, there are reporters waiting outside," Xu Tian whispered to him. "Do you want to speak to them?"

    "No. But they need to see my injuries."

    "Understood. I¡¯ll do the talking."

    His assistant was indeed excellent.

    Once they exited the hotel, they were instantly surrounded by reporters and gossip-mongering passersby. Xu Tian did all the talking while Jin Liwei stayed silent all throughout. They didn¡¯t stop walking but moved slowly enough so that everyone and the cameras had enough time to take in Jin Liwei¡¯s ugly injuries.

 Chapter 1063 - Rescued

    <h4>Chapter 1063 - Rescued </h4>

    ShaWn had already spread the word about Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s version of events online, using the ck Stars to fuel the fire to make it spread even further. In fact, all ShaWn members signed up as ck Stars members after being repeatedly pestered by Bacon. They joined the Slippers Army as per Bacon¡¯s forceful suggestion. Their addition to the notorious troll unit made the Slippers Army even more despicable but also more efficient and a total nightmare to anyone who still dared to bash Iris Long online.

    With ShaWn supercharging the entire ck Stars, almost everyizen in the country became aware of what Rose Young did to Jin Liwei tonight. The media swarmed outside the hotel in no time to confirm whether the details being circted online were true or merely rumours. <i></i>

    "Yes, it¡¯s true that Rose Young, that evil madwoman, schemed against President Jin tonight, nning to vite him," a furious Xu Tian ranted in front of the reporters. His eyes were bloodshot as if he was Jin Liwei¡¯s aggrieved wife and not Iris Long. "What kind of woman does that immoral thing to a married man?! It¡¯s a good thing, no, an absolutely blessed thing, that President Jin managed to wake up and defend himself before it was toote!"

    "Did CEO Jin really escape before Rose Youngid her hands on him?" a reporter asked all of a sudden. "Perhaps...something already happened and¡ª"

    "What¡¯s your name and which mediapany sent you?" Jin Liwei asked, his tone cold and threatening. "You¡¯ll hear from mywyer for nder."

    Without waiting for the reporter¡¯s response or that of the others, Jin Liwei urged his bodyguards to lead him out of the crowd faster with one silent look. Now that his purpose of showing off his injuries to the media was fulfilled, he didn¡¯t want to stay with these vultures any longer.

    He wanted, no, he needed to find his wife and make sure that she was alright as soon as possible. Not hearing anything about her and their AI children was worrying him to no end.

    ###

    Lu Zihao watched a handcuffed Rose Young like a hawk as the police escorted the nympho into a waiting police car. She was now wearing a in outfit of jeans and a light coat that didn¡¯t do anything to protect her from the cold. The clothes looked new but far from the stylish and expensive outfit that she wore earlier. Her clothes were left in the crime scene and collected as part of the investigation. Hence, the police provided her with regr clothes bought from a nearby department store.

    Rose Young shivered from the cold while camera shes and the reporters¡¯ shouted questions rained down on her. Her shoulders were slumped, making her look smaller and frail, as if she was a littlemb being led to ughter. If nobody knew what kind of immoral thing she did tonight, they would certainly pity her based on her current miserable appearance.

    She didn¡¯t answer any questions the reporters threw at her and just looked down with a nk expression. The officers holding her on both sides were the female and male partners who interrogated her earlier. The kind smile was now gone from the female officer¡¯s face, reced by the same stern expression on his male partner.

    Leading them was the Chief of Police who stopped in front of the reporters to give a sinct summary of the case so far and even answered a couple of questions before leaving with the rest of the police to the nearest station.

    "Nab Rose Young on the road," Lu Zihao ordered his subordinates through their earpiece channel. "Make it look like she was rescued by her family. We¡¯ll drag the entire Youngs down with her."

    "Roger, Boss Hao!"

    Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes as the reporters followed the police cars, creating some sort of a grand motorcade. He couldn¡¯t help but curse that the situation became much more difficult for Shadow Winds toplete tonight¡¯s mission.

    It was the fault of the Chief of Police! His unexpected arrival at the hotel tonight meant more media attention and closer scrutiny in the case so soon.

    Some of the police dogs and their handlers remained at the hotel to patrol with the other regr officers under the order of their Police Chief. Despite Lu Zihao¡¯s irritation at the man for forcing him to change the details of tonight¡¯s n, making it harder for all of them, Lu Zihao still admitted that the Chief indeed deserved his title as the police force¡¯s leader.

    The man was thorough, careful, and obviously prepared for possible unforeseen developments in cases in which he was in charge. Bringing police dogs to a case of this nature wasn¡¯tmon but it was obviously the Chief of Police¡¯s idea. He should have a strong intuition and this made the Chief of Police a difficult man to deal with, Lu Zihao judged.

    "Be alert for possible unmarked police reinforcements along the way," Lu Zihao reminded his subordinates.

    The police station was only about ten minutes away by car. Since Rose Young was being escorted in what was basically a police motorcade, civilian vehicles were giving way to the police cars, so they could arrive sooner than ten minutes.

    Time was of the essence.

    Lu Zihao knew that it would be many times harder for Shadow Winds to take Rose Young once she entered the police station especially under the nose of the Chief of Police. At least, if they snatched her on the road, they would have more options to deal with the police than if they did it in the police¡¯s own territory.

    "Boss Hao, we have Jenny Tseng, Rose Young¡¯s male cousin named Luke, and an additional male," a subordinate reported to Lu Zihao.

    "Bring them to our headquarters."

    "Roger, Boss Hao!"

    "Are they awake?"

    "No, boss. We made them unconscious."

    "Good. How about the other aplices?"

    "They escaped using a van but another team is already on their tail." The subordinate paused. "Boss Hao, someone blocked the team chasing after the aplices. They¡¯re being rescued!"

 Chapter 1064 Soul - Deep Fear

    <h4>Chapter 1064 Soul - Deep Fear </h4>

    Lu Zihao scowled. "Don¡¯t chase those insignificant aplices anymore. But find out who are the motherfuckers rescuing them."

    "On it, Boss Hao!"

    Since things already developed this way, Lu Zihao knew thatck of the time was their number one enemy right now. They needed to snatch Rose Young before she was rescued.

    "Get more people to Rose Young! Immediately!" Even as he barked this order, he already jumped in a car and began driving it himself.

    Only two of his subordinates were fast enough to jump in the front passenger seat and backseat before the car was zipping past the highway. The remaining ones scrambled in other cars, some in motorcycles, and scattered in different directions to prevent attracting too much unwanted attention by travelling in arge group especially when there was increased police presence in the area. They might seem to be driving in different directions but all were headed to the same destination.

    Despite all of the consecutive challenges being thrown at them tonight, Lu Zihao was calm and focused in making sure that the mission would seed no matter what. The Chief of Police was a big curveball but the rescue of Rose Young and her minions was a possibility that he and Jin Liwei already considered while nning their counterattack earlier.

    The brothers-inw knew that the Young family wouldn¡¯t leave Rose Young alone to fend for herself. She was Romeo Young¡¯s only daughter after all, the child of the family head. There was no way that their family would allow her to be imprisoned. <i></i>

    Lu Zihao felt rather confident that his Shadow Winds would be able to deal with whoever the Young family sent to rescue their daughter. Other than being in charge of the Singaporean branch of Jin Corporation, the Young family was nothing special.

    The only unknown variable about the Youngs was the mysterious power backing them.

    Lu Zihao was wary of their backer because he didn¡¯t have much information about them. Even Evelinka was having trouble digging for any concrete information about that mysterious power, except that it kept sending Eagle to attack Jin Corporation.

    This meant that this mysterious power had a formidable hacker, not Eagle, working for them who couldpete with his sister on almost the same level. Of course, he still believed that his sister was the best hacker in the world. Others mighte close to her level but they would always be inferior to her in his eyes.

    Even as he thought about these things, he remained focused as he barkedmands to his subordinates. However, he still noticed that a certain little devil had been silent for quite some time now. This was the time that his AI nephew¡¯s powerful capabilities were needed.

    "Bacon."

    No answer.

    He frowned and called for Bacon again, but like before, there was no response.

    "ShaWn, where¡¯s Bacon?"

    "Uh, Boss Hao...."

    He narrowed his eyes, detecting something in his hacker team member¡¯s hesitation to answer his simple question. "Spit it out!"

    "Boss Hao, the truth is that ourrades you sent to protect Boss Drakon reported something important to us earlier...."

    "Why didn¡¯t they report it directly to me?"

    "Because Boss Drakon told them not to tell you and Mr. Jin until you¡¯vepleted your n tonight...and er, Bacon threatened them if they didn¡¯t obey Boss Drakon."

    Lu Zihao sighed. The little devil was bing more and more daring in lording over Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates. "And? What did they report to you?"

    "Uhm...."

    "It seems that I¡¯ve be too lenient on youtely that you¡¯ve forgotten who your real boss is."

    "No, Boss Hao! You¡¯re our boss, nobody else!"

    "So hurry up and tell me!"

    "Boss Drakon...she¡¯s in the hospital!"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s hands tightened around the steering wheel, a bad feeling growing inside him. His heart thudded in his chest. "Hospital? Why? What happened to her?!"

    "She seems to be bleeding...."

    "Bleeding," he breathed, suddenly feeling cold all over. "Was she injured?! Tell me which motherfucker hurt her!"

    "The report says that Boss Drakon fainted after sessfully defeating Eagle earlier. They were already on their way to the hospital when she woke up. It seems that she got ess to Boss Hao and Mr. Jin¡¯s body cams and saw Rose Young masturbating in front of Mr. Jin."

    "Fuck!" Lu Zihao mmed both hands on the steering wheel but otherwise continued driving despite the fury boiling inside him.

    "And then Boss Drakon became emotional and insisted that they return to the hotel. The driver refused to obey her order and kept on driving but then she tried to jump out of the moving vehicle."

    Lu Zihao felt his heart jump heavily. "She jumped out?! She fell on the road?! That¡¯s why she¡¯s bleeding?!"

    His ShaWn subordinate exined to him what happened during the incident by the roadside and how Iris somewhat calmed down after someone reported the ruckus she made to the police.

    "While they were running away from the police, Boss Drakon began bleeding. I¡¯m not sure what the situation right now at the hospital is but...uhm, it¡¯s possible that she might miscarry."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s foot mmed on the brake pedal. The car swerved and drifted around the bend before stopping with a loud screech. If it weren¡¯t for the seatbelts, his two subordinates riding with him would have been thrown from the force.

    "Miscarry?!"

    For the first time since being reborn into the body of Lu Zihao, he felt genuine, soul-deep, and almost debilitating fear crash like tsunami over his entire being. Thest time he felt this way was during the fateful night of the Vetrov annihtion.

    Even while being tortured for information, he didn¡¯t fear for his own life or that of his parents. He only feared for his sister¡¯s life.

    And now, although the situation waspletely different, the fear was the same.

    "Which hospital?" His tone became soft and calm but his subordinates knew that he was seething with cold fury inside.

    After learning the address, he immediately drove towards the hospital.

    "Are we not heading to Rose Young anymore?" the subordinate sitting beside him asked.

    "The other teams will deal with her. My sister is more important than that fucking nympho. I need to see my sister¡¯s condition with my own eyes. If she really miscarried, I¡¯ll personally kill Rose Young, chop her up into several pieces, and mail her severed head to her ambitious father in Singapore!"

 Chapter 1065 - Complete Bed Rest

    <h4>Chapter 1065 - Complete Bed Rest </h4>

    Jin Liwei finally managed to contact his AI daughter and was immediately confused as to why she was sobbing so hard. Then Ketchup told him about what happened to her mom while he and his brother-inw were busy with their counterattack against Rose Young at the hotel. He felt his heart drop upon learning that his wife was rushed to the hospital.

    The words "bleeding" and "miscarriage" repeated over and over again in his head like a nightmarish loop. His group was now speeding to the hospital and viting trafficws along the way, but to him, it still felt like they were moving too slowly. He wished that he could fly or better yet teleport directly to his wife¡¯s side.

    They finally reached the hospital. He opened the car door himself and dashed inside like the wind. Xu Tian and his bodyguards also ran after him, forming a protective semi-circle around him. <i></i>

    He ran like he had never ran before. The hallways were like a blur in his peripheral vision as he zipped past them. Only one thought upied his mind¡ªto reach his wife as soon as possible.

    <i>¡¯Please be okay, Evelina. Please be safe, love.¡¯</i>

    He wasn¡¯t a spiritual man but he prayed to whatever god or higher power who would listen to him and ensure his wife¡¯s safety. He was also worried about their babies, of course, but his wife was still the most important person in the world to him. As long as she was fine, he would feel relieved.

    He continued to run without caring about the hospital rules. Fortunately, a small number of the hospital staff were already aware of his arrival. They didn¡¯t stop him as his group vited the no running rule in the hospital.

    Due to Iris Long¡¯s special identity as a celebrity and as the new Madam Jin, not to mention that a superstar like Jin Chonglin came with her, their stay in the hospital had to be kept a secret or a huge media chaos might ensue. Secrecy was even more of a priority now because Iris Long and Jin Liwei had yet to make an official public announcement that they were expecting their firstborns.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s group headed to the VIP wing of the hospital. Finally, he recognized his wife¡¯s bodyguards and some of the Shadow Winds members in civilian clothing that his brother-inw sent to protect Iris tonight. They were guarding a door. A bodyguard opened the door for him and he dashed straight inside.

    "Sir boss! Thank the Lord Almighty that you¡¯re finally here!"

    "Big Bro!"

    Both Dom and Jin Chonglin eximed when they saw him. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t have the time or the attention to greet the two of them as he rushed towards his wife¡¯s side.

    "Eve¡ªlove!"

    He stopped when he reached her bed. His breaths came out in big, loud gasps from all the running. He could also feel his heart thundering inside his chest, reverberating throughout his entire body to the top of his head. Despite all of these, he still made sure to touch his wife with as much gentleness as possible. He was so gentle when he held her small, pale hand that he was trembling.

    "Love? Baby?"

    Iris¡¯ eyes were closed and she looked pale. Extremely pale as if all the blood had been drained from her body. Seeing her like this made Jin Liwei feel like his heart was being squeezed.

    "Sir, we sedated Madam," he heard someone say.

    That was when he noticed Iris¡¯ private doctor standing by the foot of the bed.

    "We had to sedate her because she couldn¡¯t calm down on her own," the doctor exined. "Don¡¯t worry, sir. I made sure to give her a safe amount of dosage. It won¡¯t harm her or the babies."

    "How¡¯s my wife?"

    "She¡¯s fine now."

    He released a long, drawn-out sigh of relief. It felt like a huge mountain of weight was lifted off his shoulders. His wife was safe. Thank goodness!

    "Our babies?" he asked next.

    The doctor smiled. "The twins are safe, too."

    Jin Liwei slumped down to his knees and leaned his head on the bed while pressing his wife¡¯s cold hand to his cheek. Then he kissed her hand, feeling grateful that his wife was still with him in this world.

    He nced at the doctor. "Tell me what happened."

    The doctor¡¯s expression turned serious.

    "Please sit on a proper chair first, sir boss," Dom interjected, pointing at the chair beside the bed.

    Jin Liwei nodded and sat down on the chair while not letting go of his wife¡¯s hand. He leaned to the side to caress his wife¡¯s cheek and kiss her cold, slightly chapped lips. Then he gestured at the doctor to speak.

    "Madam Jin bled due to overexertion of her mind and body and also overstimtion of her emotions. Thankfully, she was brought to the hospital just in time for us to stabilize her overall physical and emotional state. If she was brought any minuteter, I¡¯m afraid that she would have miscarried."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s whole body tensed but he still forced the hand holding his wife to rx.

    "While Madam Jin and the babies are safe now, they¡¯re not out of the woods yet."

    He frowned. "What do you mean?"

    "Whatever she did earlier tonight that caused the bleeding affected the stability of the embryos in her womb. I want her to be inplete bed rest for at least half a month to help stabilize the babies. Maybe even longer depending on her rate of recovery after fifteen days. Please also remember that this is not only for the babies¡¯ sake but also for Madam Jin¡¯s health. Her pregnancy has made her overall health much more fragile. If we¡¯re not careful, she might really miscarry next time."

    His expression was grim as he nodded. "Yes, if that¡¯s what we need to do, we¡¯ll do it. I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s half a month or half a year. Even if it¡¯s an entire year, I¡¯ll make Xin rest in bed if that¡¯s what it takes to ensure that she¡¯ll bepletely fine. And our babies, too."

    Before the doctor could reply, the door mmed open and in came a furious Lu Zihao, looking like a demon king about to destroy humanity.

 Chapter 1066 - Crossed The Bottomline Too Far

    <h4>Chapter 1066 - Crossed The Bottomline Too Far </h4>

    "How is she?!" Lu Zihao asked, no, demanded while barrelling towards where his sister was lying asleep on the bed.

    The doctor couldn¡¯t help but step back in fear at the huge man¡¯s threatening aura. However, her professionalism still won over her nerves. "S-sir...p-please be quiet! The madam needs to rest!"

    Lu Zihao looked like he wanted to beat up someone into a pulp but still forced himself to calm down. His dark eyes darted over his extremely pale sister. He rxed a little after seeing that she was still breathing. However, his bloodthirsty aura continued to emanate from him, causing everyone in the room except for Jin Liwei to shiver.

    Dom shoved more of Iris¡¯ choctes inside his mouth as a way to cope with the tense atmosphere while Jin Chonglin stared wide-eyed and wide-mouthed at what seemed to be an unfamiliar Lu Zihao. <i></i>

    As for Jin Liwei, he had already gradually gotten used to his brother-inw¡¯s murderous vibes especially after reading the Vetrov report many times. He wasn¡¯tpletely immune but at least his instincts wouldn¡¯t always go into fight or flight mode every time his brother-inw unleashed his bloodthirst. It also helped that Bacon updated him on a regr basis about his work at Shadow Winds. All of these contributed to desensitizing him towards his brother-inw¡¯s cruel side.

    After regaining control of his wild emotions, Lu Zihao stood beside the seated Jin Liwei by Iris¡¯ bed. He didn¡¯t touch his sister, only looked at her.

    Jin Liwei observed his brother-inw¡¯s eyes bing several degrees gentler after looking at Iris. He could rte.

    "She okay?"

    "En." Jin Liwei lifted his wife¡¯s hand and kissed her palm before rubbing it gently to warm it up.

    "The babies?"

    "Okay, too."

    Lu Zihao released a huge sigh of relief. Jin Liwei gave him a brief summary of what the doctor said about Iris needing aplete bed rest for at least half a month to stabilize the babies in her womb.

    "Good. Keep her in bed rest until she gives birth. That would be safer."

    "I agree," Jin Liwei murmured.

    The two heard a loud snort. They turned their heads and saw that it was Jin Chonglin.

    "Good luck with that," Jin Chonglin told them. "I¡¯ve experienced working with Xin¡ª"

    "Call her Sister-inw," Jin Liwei corrected his younger brother.

    "Sister Xin," Jin Chonglin said instead, reverting to how he usually called her. "Well, as I was saying, I¡¯ve experienced working with her several times now and will work more closely in the future since we established our ownpany together, LXC Studio. I know that Sister Xin is not the type to idle around. She¡¯ll surely rebel if you force her into bed rest for longer than what the doctor rmended."

    Dom nodded and finished swallowing the bite of chocte he just ate before speaking. "Boss will indeed react like that. I think that it¡¯s better for us to follow what the doctor rmends. Boss hates it whenever she feels like her freedom is being restricted."

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao had simr expressions. They both looked torn. On one hand, they wanted to lock up Iris at home where it was safe until she gave birth. And on another hand, they didn¡¯t want to trigger her past life¡¯s trauma of feeling caged.

    In the end, Jin Liwei could only give in. "Fine. We¡¯ll follow exactly what the doctor rmends."

    Lu Zihao harrumphed but didn¡¯t object. He walked towards the window and half-sat on the sill. He crossed his muscled arms over his wide chest. His rxed posture was deceptive. Jin Liwei noticed his brother-inw¡¯s alert eyes peeking through the gap between the curtains and window to the ground outside like a hunter observing his prey.

    The doctor looked pleased now that Jin Liwei announced that they would follow her exact rmendations. Then she asked, "Would you like me to check your injuries?"

    "Later. I¡¯ll need you to write up a medical certificate to prove these injuries for the police."

    "No problem, sir. Please excuse me first. I need to speak with the hospital director tomunicate our request on how this ce should handle Madam Jin¡¯s stay here."

    "En."

    The doctor left.

    "Big Bro, how did you get your injuries?" Jin Chonglin asked. "Did Rose Young and her minions beat you up? You¡¯re a ck-belter in karate. How could you allow yourself to be beaten up just like that?"

    "I beat him up," Lu Zihao said before Jin Liwei could reply.

    "Eh?" Jin Chonglin was confused.

    Dom choked on a piece of chocte and began coughing. Jin Chonglin hit his back a few times and handed him a bottle of water.

    "Ah, how dangerous!" Dom said, tapping his chest. "My handsome and beautiful self almost croaked myst breath!" Then he looked at Lu Zihao. "Big Bro Boss! How could you beat up sir boss?! Did you two fight? That¡¯s not good! You two should be teaming up together against that Rafflesia No-boobie Rose Young Arnoldii and not fighting each other!"

    "Who¡¯s fighting each other?" a faint whisper asked but it was like the sweetest thunderp to everyone¡¯s ears.

    "Love, you¡¯re awake!" Jin Liwei sprang up from his seat.

    Iris¡¯ eyes fluttered open. She looked dazedly at the ceiling for a few seconds before turning her gaze on her husband.

    "Liwei...."

    "Yes, I¡¯m here."

    Her hand that he was holding gave him a weak squeeze. "You¡¯re injured."

    "I¡¯m fine." He lifted her hand and kissed it several times. "Don¡¯t worry about me because I¡¯m not. I¡¯m more worried about you."

    Tears sparkled in her eyes. "I¡¯m sorry...."

    He frowned. "For what?"

    "I endangered our babies."

    "It¡¯s not your fucking fault," Lu Zihao interrupted. "So don¡¯t apologize."

    "En," Jin Liwei agreed. "It¡¯s our fault. We tried to conceal the details of our n from you."

    "The hell it¡¯s our fault! It¡¯s that fucking nympho¡¯s fault!" Then Lu Zihao murmured in a voice so low that only Iris heard him, "I¡¯ll kill her."

    Iris didn¡¯t say anything about her brother¡¯s intent to murder this time. She felt too upset and furious at what Rose Young did tonight not only to her husband Jin Liwei but to their whole family. She almost lost her babies!

    Perhaps if she really miscarried, Iris would feel even more murderous than her brother right now. That Rose Young had crossed her bottomline too far!

 Chapter 1067 - Provoked Bull

    <h4>Chapter 1067 - Provoked Bull </h4>

    "Darling," Iris called her husband, her voice a faint whisper.

    "I¡¯m here, love," Jin Liwei said while leaning closer to her to make it easier for him to hear her soft, weak voice.

    "Jin Corporation is safe."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression hardened and his whole body tensed as guilt ate at him deep inside. His wife shouldn¡¯t have overexerted herself defending hispany. It was his responsibility, not hers. As his wife, she should be living her life free of any worries, especially now that she was pregnant with their firstborns. And yet she protected Jin Corporation and battled against Eagle despite her fragile health as a pregnant woman.

    Although he wasn¡¯t a hacker himself, he had witnessed numerous times before how his wife would use up enormous amounts of concentration and also mental and physical endurance during tough hacking battles orplicated programming projects. <i></i>

    She was the type who would be absorbed in her tasks at the expense of her own health. If not for his strict insistence that she take frequent breaks to eat and rest, she would end up locking herself in herputer room for days.

    What happened to her tonight was negligence on both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao¡¯s part. The counterattack against Rose Young was important, yes, but not as important as Iris¡¯ health and safety and that of the babies. They should have paid more attention to Iris especially after she insisted on staying near the hotel instead of heading straight home.

    "Liwei?" Iris asked when Jin Liwei didn¡¯t respond for almost a minute.

    "Hm?" He forced himself to focus on the present, on his wife, and the fact that she and their babies were safe. He could reflect on his and his brother-inw¡¯sck of foresightter. For now, making his wifefortable was the priority.

    "I said Jin Corporation is safe. The kids and I defeated Eagle and left quite the damage on them. They should leave yourpany alone for a while so¡ª"

    "Love."

    "¡ªyou can stop worrying¡ªhuh? Yes?"

    Jin Liwei reached over with his other hand to caress her hair and cheek while looking at her deep in the eyes. "I know."

    Even while lying down on the bed, Iris still tilted her head to the side. "Someone reported it to you?"

    He shook his head. "I just know that you¡¯ll defeat Eagle like usual. I have full trust in you. Thank you."

    She smiled. "You¡¯re wee. I¡¯m your wife and you¡¯re my husband. We¡¯re partners in life. I¡¯ll always help you whenever you need it and I know that you¡¯ll do the same thing for me."

    "In a heartbeat," he said without any hesitation. "I¡¯ll do anything for you, love. I know that you also feel the same way, that¡¯s why you rushed to defend Jin Corporation against Eagle tonight. But please don¡¯t do it again if it¡¯s at the expense of your own health. It pains me to see you suffer because of something that I should be responsible for. I can¡¯t bear it if you¡¯re put in danger because of me."

    Her smile faded. She rubbed her cheek against his hand. "I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll be more mindful and careful next time."

    "I¡¯m sorry, too."

    They stared into each other¡¯s eyes and felt grateful that the other was safe from danger. Jin Liwei was relieved that his wife was safe and didn¡¯t miscarry their babies. Simrly, Iris was also d that her husband didn¡¯t fall for Rose Young¡¯s poisonous honey trap. Their mutual apologies soothed their troubled hearts tonight.

    "Just focus on recuperating your health and leave the rest to me, alright?" Jin Liwei said.

    She nodded. Her eyelids were growing heavier by the second but she tried fighting sleep to give her husband¡¯s hand a weak tug.

    "Hm? What is it, love?"

    "Kiss me."

    He smiled and granted her request. Their lips pressed on each other with the softest, gentlest and sweetest touch. She released a satisfied sigh, but in the next second, her nose wrinkled in disgust.

    "You stink. Maybe it¡¯s that woman¡¯s smell. Wash it off! I hate it."

    Jin Liwei stiffened before quickly straightening his body and backing up a couple of steps to put a small distance between them so that she wouldn¡¯t smell him anymore. His expression turned ugly. He felt furious and disgusted at the memory of Rose Young¡¯s revolting actions in front of him while he was pretending to be unconscious in the hotel bedroom earlier.

    "I¡¯ll take a shower. I hate that woman¡¯s smell, too. Rest now, love. I¡¯ll be back soon."

    "Alright. Good night, darling."

    "Good night, love." He gave her another light kiss on the lips, very quick this time. Then he kissed her tummy as well. "Good night, babies."

    Iris chuckled at her husband¡¯s adorable action and felt her heart growing warmer. She wanted to look at him longer but the sedative kept pulling her back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered close. She fell asleep in no time.

    Jin Liwei caressed her face before walking away with great reluctance. He felt so exhausted that all he wanted right now was to just climb on the bed, lie down beside his wife, and fall asleep while hugging her. Sniffing at his clothes, he agreed that he didn¡¯t smell good. He needed a shower first before joining his wife on the bed.

    "Xu Tian, prepare clothes and toiletries for me. I¡¯ll take a shower here."

    "Understood, sir," Xu Tian replied in an instant through their earpiece channel.

    Jin Liwei headed to the couch and sat beside his younger brother while waiting for his assistant to deliver his requested items. For now, he would rest a bit.

    "You¡¯re still here?" he asked his brother. "It¡¯ste. I¡¯ll get someone to send you home."

    Jin Chonglin sighed in relief. "Okay. Thanks, Big Bro."

    "En." Jin Liwei was about to instruct his subordinates to form a small team to send his brother home when the door opened again.

    This time, a raging old man came charging in like a provoked bull.

    "Come here, you two dunderheads! This old man needs to beat some much-needed sense into your pinheaded brains!"

 Chapter 1068 - Iâ€™m Your Grandpa

    <h4>Chapter 1068 - I¡¯m Your Grandpa </h4>

    "Grandpa Boss!" Dom sprang up from his seat and tried to stop the enraged old man from continuing to make a loud ruckus. "Please be quiet. Boss just fell asleep again."

    Fortunately, Grandpa Lu listened and stopped. His anger, however, had no signs of abating. He red at his two grandsons and looked like he wanted to bang their hard heads together to teach them a lesson. Then his eyesnded on the beautiful, sleeping young woman on the bed. Concern immediately reced the fierce re on his face. He rushed to her.

    "How¡¯s Xin my girl? I want to know!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, Grandpa Boss. Boss is safe now but the doctor says that she needsplete bed rest for at least half a month."

    It was Dom who answered Grandpa Lu. The three other men werepletely silent. Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao had already resigned themselves to be scolded by the old man. As for Jin Chonglin, he pretended to be invisible, not wanting Grandpa Lu¡¯s line of fire to be directed at him as well.

    "Good! That¡¯s good!" Grandpa Lu nodded in relief as he looked at Iris. "She looks so pale!" He turned his head to re at Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao again. "Useless rascals! Can¡¯t even take care of your pregnant wife and little sister! Hmph!"

    "Grandpa Boss, please sit down." Dom tried to lead the old man to an empty armchair but Grandpa Lu waved him away.

    "Thanks, Dominic my boy, but this old man is fine!"

    Dom pursed his lips but didn¡¯t insist and withdrew. He returned to his seat and attacked a box of cookies next. His stress levels were at an all-time high after everything that happened tonight, so he couldn¡¯t stop eating.

    Grandpa Lu patted the sleeping Iris¡¯ hand before marching to scold the two dunderheads for their reckless negligence.

    Upon seeing Jin Liwei¡¯s injured state, he only grabbed the younger man¡¯s ear and twisted it. Jin Liwei hissed from the pain but otherwise endured it quite well. The sight was too pitiful that Jin Chonglin covered his eyes, no, his entire face with a throw pillow while Dom shoved more cookies inside his mouth.

    "Hmph! Serves you right, you pinhead! How dare you leave ourpany¡¯s defence to your wife?! I want to know! You know how sensitive her health has be after bing pregnant! If you act this bloody ipetent again next time, I¡¯ll rece you with Xin and make her the new President-CEO of Jin Corporation! Leaving your pregnant wife alone to act out a ridiculous y with your fifth brother, this old man wishes that I use a cane so that I can hit you two dunderheads with it! Hmph!"

    Jin Liwei groaned in both relief and pain when the old man finally released him. He quickly massaged his abused ear and remained silent, not saying anything to defend himself.<i></i>

    "And you!" Grandpa Lu targeted Lu Zihao next.

    He charged at his flesh and blood grandson sitting on the windowsill and began smacking Lu Zihao. Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t hold back at all. The loud hitting sounds filled the room, making Dom and Jin Chonglin wince and sink deeper in their seats.

    "Gah! This old man has a bellyful of things to say to you for a while now, you dunderhead! How dare you hide and not show your face to your beloved grandpa for so long?! Do you still treat this old man as your grandpa, huh?! I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao stood there like a statue and let the old man release his pent-up anger and frustrations at him. His body could take it. Grandpa Lu was strong for his advanced age, but at the end of the day, he was already an old man and couldn¡¯tpare to the strength of men in their prime like Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei.

    The hard smacks rained down on Lu Zihao but he was like an immovable mountain who could weather any storm. Seeing him so unaffected, Grandpa Lu hit him harder.

    Nobody noticed the slight tremble in Lu Zihao¡¯s expression. Regret, mncholy...joy. These emotionsbined into one all shed in his eyes.

    "Grandpa...."

    The hits stopped. Grandpa Lu whipped his head up and looked at him.

    "It hurts."

    Jin Liwei nced at them, alert. His eyes narrowed, several emotions also shing within them. However, he didn¡¯t interfere and stayed silent.

    "Hah." Grandpa Lu gave him a final smack on the head but there was no power in it. Then he chuckled but there was a sad note in his voice. "You silly, stinky boy."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned cold and hard. Then he was suddenly soaked in sweat. His nostrils red as he breathed faster and harder like he was trying hard to stay upright on his feet.

    Grandpa Lu saw all of these but he only sighed. He patted his grandson¡¯s sturdy shoulder. "Why are you such dunderheads? Both of you? I want to know. Silly boys."

    A deep furrow formed between Lu Zihao¡¯s brows while Jin Liwei looked like he was deep in thought.

    "Old man," Lu Zihao began to speak in a hoarse voice.

    The pats on his shoulder became a hard smack.

    "Call me Grandpa, you pinhead! How many times does this old man need to tell you this? I want to know!"

    "Grandpa," he said, his tone a little stiff.

    "Grandpa..." he said again, this time in a morefortable and familiar manner.

    This time, it was Jin Liwei¡¯s expression that trembled. Nobody noticed it either.

    The old man nodded, satisfied. "That¡¯s right! I¡¯m your Grandpa! Don¡¯t forget that again or this old man will give you another round of spanking. You hear?!"

    Grandpa Lu finally headed to the couch and plopped down his old but still energetic body. He turned to Jin Liwei and announced, "I¡¯ll bring Xin my girl to my mansion in the suburbs where the air is fresher. She¡¯ll have her bed rest there."

    "My wife stays with me," Jin Liwei objected.

    "Hah!"

    "Uhm, Grandpa Boss," Dom interrupted. "I think that Boss will want to stay with Sir Boss."

    "Hmph! Fine! Then this old man will move to Dragon Pce instead! I¡¯ll stay at your ce until Xin my girl gives birth to my great-grandbaby." Then he red at Lu Zihao again. "You pinheade with me, too! No more hiding!"

 Chapter 1069 - Canâ€™t Compare To Her Pinky Toes

    <h4>Chapter 1069 - Can¡¯t Compare To Her Pinky Toes </h4>

    Lu Zihao only grunted in response. Then he started walking away, almost staggering but quickly regaining his bnce as if nothing was wrong with him.

    "Where are you going, you dunderhead? Are you leaving now that this old man is here? Running away again from your beloved grandpa? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s questions sounded displeased but there was still a hint of concern in his voice that he was trying to mask behind his fierceness.

    "Restroom," Lu Zihao said through gritted teeth. He was almost soaking in his own sweat.

    "You don¡¯t look good, Big Bro Boss," Dommented. "Are you okay?"

    Lu Zihao only grunted again in response, waving Dom¡¯s concern away. Then he hurried to the ensuite bathroom and locked the door behind him before the others could ask him more questions. <i></i>

    "Tsk." Grandpa Lu stared at the bathroom¡¯s closed door for about a couple of minutes. His expression indicated that he was deep in thought. Then he turned to Jin Liwei. "My boy, keep an eye on your fifth brother, will you?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply right away but observed Grandpa Lu¡¯s expression first, trying to read his real thoughts. There were so many questions that he wanted to ask the old man about his fifth brother but restrained himself for now. This wasn¡¯t the right time or ce. Furthermore, his wife was still his number priority at the moment. Any other issues could wait another day.

    "En, I will," he finally replied.

    Grandpa Lu nodded, satisfied by his answer.

    There was a knock on the door. It was Xu Tian. He opened the door after hearing Jin Liwei¡¯s permission. In his hands were the items he requested.

    Jin Liwei was relieved. He couldn¡¯t wait to take a shower. It wasn¡¯t only because his wife requested it. Although he couldn¡¯t smell exactly what she smelled on him, he still felt disgusted by whatever trace Rose Young¡¯s scent left on his body. Just remembering what she did in front of him while he was lying in the hotel bed pretending to be unconscious was enough to make bile rise to his throat.

    Xu Tian left the neat muslin bag containing clothes and toiletries on the coffee table. Jin Liwei wanted to shower as soon as possible but Lu Zihao was still inside the bathroom so he needed to wait for now.

    Just as Xu Tian was about to leave and close the door, another visitor arrived.

    A teary Long Jinjing still in her office attire dashed inside the room. "Dom, how¡¯s my sister? I rushed here as soon as you informed me about what happened!"

    Before Dom could reply, she finally noticed the other people present. However, she only gave them a quick nod before hurrying to Iris¡¯ bed. Seeing her sister¡¯s ashen pallor, the tears she had been holding escaped. She wiped them with her fingers.

    "Sis Jing, don¡¯t worry anymore," Dom told her. "Boss is safe."

    "The baby?" she asked.

    "Okay, too." It was Jin Liwei who replied this time. "It¡¯s already sote. You didn¡¯t have toe."

    She red at him. "Of course, I¡¯m going toe! How can you say that, Brother-inw Liwei? She¡¯s my sister!"

    Jin Liwei paused before smiling. "En. Thank you for caring."

    "That goes without saying." She looked at the sleeping Iris again and sighed in relief that her sister and the baby were both okay. She was so scared and worried while rushing to the hospital after receiving Dom¡¯s message that she didn¡¯t think of bringing anything. Sighing, she decided to buy some fruits and flowers tomorrow for Iris.

    Feeling calmer now after being assured that her sister was fine, she finally remembered to greet the others in the room properly.

    "Sir Lu¡ª"

    "Call me Grandpa Lu!" the old man¡¯s voice boomed. For the first time since he arrived at the hospital, Grandpa Lu sounded happy. "How many times do I need to tell you that there¡¯s no need to be so formal with this old man? I want to know! This should be thest time that you call me Sir Lu. Okay, Jinjing my girl?"

    Long Jinjing felt shy facing her ex-boyfriend¡¯s grandfather who didn¡¯t seem to treat her any differently now that she and Lu Zihao had broken up. "Gra-grandpa Lu," she stammered, her face turning red.

    "Bahahaha! Good! Come here, my girl. Sit beside Grandpa Lu." The old man scooted to the side to make space for her on the couch.

    She still felt shy but couldn¡¯t find any reason to reject Grandpa Lu¡¯s enthusiastic offer, so she sat down as instructed. Then she gave Jin Chonglin a polite greeting as well. They had seen each other earlier at Orchidia Beauty to work on his soon-to-beunched men¡¯s line.

    "Jinjing my girl, I heard that Haohao broke up with you?" Grandpa Lu asked without any warning. "Is it true? I want to know!"

    Long Jinjing paled at the sudden question. She had no idea how to answer. Her chest felt tight. She subconsciously touched the lily pendant hanging around her neck hidden beneath her clothes.

    The bathroom door opened and out came Lu Zihao with a dark, unreadable expression. His eyes found the target and stared straight into Long Jinjing.

    Her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She looked elsewhere, avoiding his dark eyes. He was like a devil who wanted to swallow her whole.

    "Not true," he said, his voice low and devilish. "She was the one who broke up with me."

    "Whoa! Seriously?" Jin Chonglin looked shocked, then impressed. He grinned. "Haha! Fifth Bro Zihao got dumped!"

    Lu Zihao looked like he wanted to kick the man¡¯s ass to another continent.

    "You¡¯re one to talk!" Grandpa Lu pointed an angry finger at theughing Jin Chonglin. "How dare a pinheaded yboy like you with a bloody horrid taste in women criticize my Haohao, huh? I want to know! So what if my boy got dumped!? At least his taste is many times better than yours! Hmph! Your countless exes can¡¯t evenpare to Jinjing my girl¡¯s pinky toes!"

    Long Jinjing covered her face, unable to take Grandpa Lu¡¯s undeservedpliment. At the same time, she felt terrible for being exposed as the one who dumped Lu Zihao in front of everyone.

 Chapter 1070 - Another Chance

    <h4>Chapter 1070 - Another Chance </h4>

    Jin Chonglin felt like he had shot himself in the foot for his thoughtlessment. He was just trying to make the atmosphere lighter but look at what happened. Grandpa Lu ended up directing his line of fire at him. Not only was he called a yboy (which was true¡ªin the past), his taste in women was even criticized and called "bloody horrid". How mean!

    Although Jin Chonglin was full of grievances at the old man¡¯s harsh criticisms, he didn¡¯t dare to defend himself. How could he? They were all true. But that was all in the past. He stopped ying around with women ever since his nightmarish breakup with his ex-fianc¨¦e, Fan Luo, and realizing his feelings for....

    His eyesnded on the pale beauty sleeping in the hospital bed. Realizing the direction of his thoughts, he mentally berated himself before ncing at his older brother with a guilty conscience.

    While he was dealing with his own thoughts and feelings, Grandpa Lu continued nagging on both Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. <i></i>

    "Old man¡ªGrandpa, stop it for now," Lu Zihao said. "You¡¯re making Jinjing ufortable."

    Grandpa Lu harrumphed but still listened and stopped. Long Jinjing gave a thankful nce at Lu Zihao, then quickly avoided his eyes again. She was blushing hard but also looked like she was going to burst into tears.

    Jin Liwei chose that moment to stand up and excuse himself to finally take a much-needed shower. He took the muslin bag with his clothes and toiletries and dragged his exhausted and injured body to the bathroom.

    When the bathroom door closed, Lu Zihao ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Jinjing."

    "Y-yes?"

    "Let¡¯s talk."

    "You stinky, smelly boy!" Grandpa Lu raised his foot and struggled to remove his leather shoe. He wanted to throw it at his stupid grandson, but in the end, gave up because he tied his shoces too well. Why did he choose such bloody, inconvenient shoes to wear today? The old man wanted to know! Now he couldn¡¯t even throw it at the dunderhead.

    "Don¡¯t you know how to ask ady nicely, huh? What¡¯s with the ¡¯let¡¯s talk¡¯ while wearing such a scary expression? I want to know! Bah! No wonder Jinjing my girl dumped your pinheaded butt. You can¡¯t even speak to her in a nice way and sound like you¡¯re always ordering her around. Hmph!"

    Lu Zihao scowled, but like the others, didn¡¯t defend himself. He had already long resigned himself to receiving all of the old man¡¯s scolding tonight.

    Gritting his teeth, he tried asking again.<i> Nicely</i> this time. "Jinjing, can we please talk? Only the two of us."

    "I...." Long Jinjing began panicking. "Uhm...."

    "Please, Jinjing."

    Dom snickered. Lu Zihao shot him a frosty re. The cheeky guy dared to "ehehehe" at him some more before focusing all his attention on a small pack of dried mangoes.

    Lu Zihao, no, Niki looked like he ate a fly. This was the first time that he was being so considerate to a woman who wasn¡¯t his sister. He did so out of respect for the old man but also because he thought that Long Jinjing deserved this gentleman-like treatment.

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. The indecision was clear on her face. "Nik¡ªZihao...."

    "It¡¯s your choice whether to talk to my pinheaded grandson, my girl," Grandpa Lu interjected to reassure her. "Don¡¯t feel pressured just because he¡¯s acting all scary! Why is his face like that all the time? Does he think he¡¯s the Terminator? I want to know! Bah! In this old man¡¯s eyes, he¡¯s only a stupid, stinky dunderhead! Don¡¯t worry, Jinjing my girl. If Haohao bullies you, tell me and this old man will beat his butt for you! Hah!"

    Lu Zihao sighed and looked up, trying to tamp down on his growing annoyance. Then he returned his eyes on the woman who had been invading his thoughts almost every fucking moment of the day.

    "Uhm...o-okay....."

    He sighed in relief. "Let¡¯s go."

    Grandpa Lu shook a fist at him.

    Lu Zihao corrected himself. "Shall we go, Jinjing?"

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu crossed his arms over his chest and shot him a warning look before turning to Long Jinjing with a smile on his face. "Go ahead, my girl! Don¡¯t let that smelly boy bully you, understand?"

    "Yes, Sir¡ªGrandpa Lu."

    Grandpa Lu grinned then turned to the glutton. "Dominic my boy, go follow them but stay at a distance. Make sure that Haohao my boy doesn¡¯t bully Jinjing my girl!"

    Dom mumbled something incoherent due to his full mouth. Nobody understood him so he saluted Grandpa Lu instead to silently tell him that he would do it.

    "The hell I¡¯m gonna bully Jinjing," Lu Zihao said, scowling. "She¡¯ll be safe with me."

    He couldn¡¯t direct hisint to the old man so he could only re at Dom.

    The glutton, however, didn¡¯t take him seriously and busied himself with packing the snacks so that he could continue stress-eating while keeping an eye on them from a distance. His eyes sparkled with excitement as his gossip radar was activated.

    Dom followed the two out of Iris¡¯ private room. Lu Zihao walked first, followed by Long Jinjing. Dom was about ten to fifteen steps behind. He wanted to get closer but stopped after receiving Lu Zihao¡¯s threatening re. Disappointed, he opened a bag of chips and started another round of stress-eating.

    Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing stopped when they reached the end of the hallway where there were some waiting benches. He gestured for her to sit down. She did. He, on the other hand, chose to lean against the wall with his muscled arms crossed over his wide chest.

    Silence.

    Nobody spoke.

    Lu Zihao continued to stare at her. His sharp gaze bored into her like persistent jabs to her heart. In the end, her nerves couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "N-niki, what do you want to talk about?"

    He remained silent, continuing to stare at her with his deep, fathomless, almost predatory eyes. She shivered, not from fear, but from desire. She still wanted this man. Loved him. Oh God, she loved him.

    She gripped the hem of her long-sleeved blouse. "You promised...that you won¡¯t...that we¡¯ll stay away from each other after our breakup."

    Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke. "I still want you, Jinjing. Can you give me another chance?"

 Chapter 1071 - Mama Bear Protecting Her Cub

    <h4>Chapter 1071 - Mama Bear Protecting Her Cub </h4>

    "You still want me but you don¡¯t love me," Long Jinjing said, a sad smile on her face.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply.

    His silence was enough to prove that she was right. Her sad smile turned bitter. Tears filled her eyes but she fought them back. She didn¡¯t want to be a hot, sobbing mess in front of him again like what happened during their final days as a couple.

    Besides, even though his silent admission meant that he didn¡¯t reciprocate her love for him and it was breaking her heart into another million pieces, she didn¡¯t want him to misunderstand her as the kind of woman who would use her tears to beg for a man¡¯s love and for him to stay with her. That would be too pathetic.

    It hurt so much to not be loved back by the man that she loved but her lifetime happiness was more important for her than a momentary one. When she grew older, she wanted to have a happy family of her own¡ªto be married to a loyal and loving husband while raising their children together.

    This was her mother¡¯s unfulfilled dream and ultimately became Long Jinjing¡¯s dream as well. She wanted to show her mother that she wouldn¡¯t waste the love and education Sun Jingfei had given her or repeat the same mistakes her mother did in her youth. <i></i>

    If Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t give her¡ªdidn¡¯t want to give her the possible happy family that she wanted, then there was no point in trying again with him. She wanted to live her life with a purpose, not y around with a man who only wanted her for sex, and end up getting her heart broken again and again by the same man.

    Her mind made up, she stood up from the bench and forced herself to look at Lu Zihao straight in the eyes. She wanted to avert her eyes because his gaze never failed to affect her but she stopped herself from doing so.

    "No." Her voice was shaky but her determination was firm.

    His lips pressed together into a thin line and Long Jinjing thought that she heard the faint sound of grinding teeth. He looked scary but she felt no fear for her safety when she was with him. In fact, she felt very safe with him. He was a very strong and capable man.

    Her heart, however, was a different matter. He was a very dangerous man for her heart. He already broke it and could break it many times again if she let him. And she wouldn¡¯t allow him. Not again.

    She finally averted her eyes and forced her voice to sound normal. "Is there anything else that you would like to say to me, Niko¡ªMr. Lu? If there¡¯s nothing, then please excuse me. It¡¯s alreadyte. I still have to go to work early tomorrow."

    "Mr. Lu? Is that how you¡¯re going to treat me now?"

    She didn¡¯t answer and instead walked away. She wanted to run away, far away from him, to forget him and her love for him, and to protect her heart from his dangerously devilish masculine maism.

    "Jinjing, wait." He grabbed her hand.

    "Don¡¯t touch her, you asshole!" a furious female voice shouted from a distance.

    Chen Fei came barrelling towards them in the hallway and looked like she wanted to murder Lu Zihao. "Let go of her, bastard!"

    "Sis Fei!" Dom chased after her, not forgetting to stuff a potato chip in his mouth.

    "Don¡¯t stop me, Dom!" Chen Fei said without looking back. She finally reached the two and grabbed Long Jinjing¡¯s arm from Lu Zihao before putting her best friend behind her in a protective stance.

    "Xiao Fei...." Long Jinjing tried to stop her best friend but Chen Fei was like a triggered Mama Bear protecting her cub.

    Chen Fei lunged at Lu Zihao and started hammering him with her small but fierce fists. "How dare you?! A scumbag like you needs to be beaten and taught a lesson! How dare you want Jinjing back when you don¡¯t even return her feelings?! What do you think of my friend? A whore that you can fuck whenever you feel like it?! Jerk! Asshole! Watch me beat you up and throw you in a deep pit of shit!"

    The ruckus attracted the attention of other people. The hospital staff tried to intervene but Chen Fei was beside herself in anger. Jin Liwei¡¯s bodyguards and their Shadow Winds partners turned a blind eye after seeing Lu Zihao¡¯s silent warning to stay back.

    "Xiao Fei, please stop it," Long Jinjing begged. "Dom, help me stop her."

    The two of them tried pulling the furious Chen Fei away but she couldn¡¯t be stopped. She even lifted both her legs to kick Lu Zihao while Long Jinjing and Dom were holding each of her arms. Lu Zihao avoided the kick but didn¡¯t defend himself from her vicious poison tongue.

    "What in the bloody world is happening here? I want to know!"

    Hearing Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming voice reverberating throughout almost the entire hallway, Chen Fei finally stopped physically and verbally attacking Lu Zihao but continued to re daggers at him. Both Long Jinjing and Dom felt relieved that she finally stopped.

    "Grandpa Lu," Chen Fei greeted.

    Ever since the old man red at her when she was about to catch Iris¡¯ bouquet the day after the wedding, she began to feel afraid of Grandpa Lu. He could be quite scary. In the end, she was intimidated and quickly gave up on the wedding bouquet to allow her best friend Long Jinjing to catch it instead. Only then did Grandpa Lu¡¯s scary expression transformed into an ecstatic grin as if he didn¡¯t re at her in the first ce. Just remembering it made her shiver. She swore to herself never to offend the old man after that.

    "Xiaofei, my girl! Why are you so angry? I want to know!" He didn¡¯t wait for her to reply but swept his sharp eyes on the scene instead. Then he pointed an angry finger at Lu Zihao. "Did you bully Jinjing my girl even though I just told you not to, you dunderhead?! Come here, you stinky boy! Let Grandpa spank you!"

    First it was Chen Fei. Now it was Grandpa Lu.

    Everyone was helpless as they could only watch the big man being hit like a naughty boy by his own grandfather.

 Chapter 1072 - End Both Existences

    <h4>Chapter 1072 - End Both Existences </h4>

    "Grandpa Lu, please stop!" Long Jinjing squeezed herself between the grandfather and grandson. "Please don¡¯t hit Zihao anymore!"

    "Hah!" Grandpa Lu looked like he was still raring to go for more hits but listened to Long Jinjing and stopped his attacks on his grandson to avoid hitting her by ident. "What is the use of his bloody huge muscles if he can¡¯t even take my paltry hits? I want to know!"

    Paltry hits? The mouths of the hospital staff around them twitched. Which ones of those loud, painful-sounding hits were paltry? Even they hurt just watching. <i></i>

    "Jing, are you protecting that asshole?!" her best friend asked in fury and dismay.

    Chen Fei tried to pull her away from between the grandfather and grandson but Long Jinjing refused to budge. Long Jinjing was afraid that Grandpa Lu would start hitting Lu Zihao again.

    "You¡¯re protecting me?" Lu Zihao asked the same question next. He sounded pleased, even smug.

    "Long Jinjing!" Chen Fei looked frustrated at her best friend and murderous towards Lu Zihao who now had a hint of a smile on his devilishly handsome, scarred face.

    "I...." Long Jinjing bit her lower lip and looked at Grandpa Lu with a pink face. "Grandpa Lu, please don¡¯t hit him anymore."

    "Why don¡¯t you want me to hit that pinhead? He deserves it for bullying Jinjing my girl! Tell me, do you still care about him? I want to know!"

    "I love him, Grandpa Lu."

    Pin-drop silence.

    Then the sound of a bunch of snacks falling on the floor disturbed the shocked stillness.

    "Ah, my maiden heart can¡¯t take it!" Dom lifted a manicured hand in a dainty manner over his forehead and pretended to swoon against the nearby wall.

    That was when Long Jinjing finally realized what she said. Did she just confess to Lu Zihao, her ex-boyfriend, in front of everyone? Oh God, she did! Horror filled her. She wished that the floor could open up and swallow her.

    "Oh no!" She covered her burning face and ran away.

    "Jing!" Chen Fei red at Lu Zihao first, and then gave a polite nod at Grandpa Lu before pulling Dom, so that they could chase after Long Jinjing together.

    Lu Zihao was about to chase after them, no, chase only after his woman, but a strong hand gripped his arm and prevented him from leaving. It was Grandpa Lu who shook his head at him.

    He could always overpower the old man with pure strength alone, but just as the thought entered his mind, a fierce warning reverberated within his consciousness followed by a sharp, almost crippling pain throughout his body, especially his head.

    "You dare!" the remnant¡¯s enraged voice attacked his mind.

    "Argh!" He doubled over and fell to his knees before twisting his whole body to the floor.

    "Haohao! My boy, what¡¯s happening to you?! Tell me, I want to know! Doctor, where¡¯s the doctor?! You¡¯re nurses, right?! Quick! Help my beloved grandson!!!"

    Lu Zihao was no longer aware of what was happening around him anymore. The remnant had gone crazy attacking his consciousness.

    "Touch my grandpa and I¡¯ll end both of our existences! I¡¯m not kidding! I¡¯ll really do it!"

    Lu Zihao, no, Niki wanted to exin that he wasn¡¯t even nning on harming the old man, that it was just the kind of automatic thought instilled into him as the Vetrov heir. The remnant, however, didn¡¯t give him any chance to correct the misunderstanding.

    Thest thing he saw was Grandpa Lu¡¯s frightened face. It was the first time that he saw such an expression on the old man. His heart hurt upon seeing it. But before he could reassure the old man, everything went dark.

    ###

    Later that night, a distraught Long Jinjing continued to sob beside Lu Zihao who was now lying unconscious in the bed inside his own private VIP room next to Iris¡¯ room in the same floor of the hospital.

    She couldn¡¯t believe that Lu Zihao was nowatose!

    What in the world happened to him? She left after embarrassing herself by confessing her love for him in front of everyone and he fell intoa right afterwards just like that?!

    She was beside herself with fear and worry for him. Did he have a serious illness that she didn¡¯t know about?

    At first, she thought that it was just a joke. However, when she heard Grandpa Lu¡¯s booming shouts that were filled with the same fear that she was feeling now over the phone when someone called Dom to inform him about what happened, she had no choice but to believe. When she returned upstairs with Chen Fei and Dom and saw all the doctors and nurses wheeling the unconscious Lu Zihao away, she almost fainted.

    They waited until all the tests were done until the doctors allowed them to finally enter Lu Zihao¡¯s room.

    Long Jinjing held his big hand and pressed it against her wet cheeks. She continued to cry and worry while praying for him to wake up soon.

    This time, Chen Fei didn¡¯t stop her from acting like this. She also looked shocked at this unexpected development. Dom returned to apany the sleeping Iris in the other room because Jin Liwei had to temporarily leave his wife to try and calm down Grandpa Lu. Like Long Jinjing, the old man was also beside himself with fear and worry for his grandson.

    The door opened and the doctor entered the room. Everyone shot towards him and asked questions. It took a few seconds before he could calm everyone down to tell them about Lu Zihao¡¯s condition.

    "Our preliminary tests indicate that there¡¯s nothing wrong with the patient. In fact, the numbers show that he¡¯s a very healthy man in his prime. Extremely healthy."

    "Then why in the bloody world did my grandson fall intoa?! I want to know!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s emotional voice boomed in the entire room.

    "Maybe...he has some kind of hidden illness that we haven¡¯t detected yet?" Long Jinjing suggested.

    "We¡¯re already considering that," the doctor replied. "We have to conduct more tests to know for sure. For now, we already stabilized his condition. All we can do is wait for him to wake up."

 Chapter 1073 - Iâ€™ll Stay Here

    <h4>Chapter 1073 - I¡¯ll Stay Here </h4>

    Both Grandpa Lu and Long Jinjing were not satisfied by the doctor¡¯s words. Since they had no idea what was wrong with Lu Zihao, they also didn¡¯t know how long he would be ina.

    "My grandson had an ident a few years ago," Grandpa Lu informed the doctor. "He almost died! No, Haohao actually died but the doctors in Canada managed to revive him. This old man felt like I¡¯ve died and revived again like my beloved grandson back then!"

    Long Jinjing gasped. She had heard about Lu Zihao¡¯s serious skiing ident but didn¡¯t know the actual details. This was the first time that she heard Lu Zihao died in that ident and miraculously got revived. She initially thought that it only paralyzed him but wasn¡¯t aware that he actually died! Her hand clutched her chest because she was now somehow finding it difficult to breathe.

    Grandpa Lu was too busy telling the doctor about his grandson¡¯s ident that he didn¡¯t notice Long Jinjing¡¯s reaction. "He also fell intoa that time but woke up not too long after. Is it possible that there might be a dormant seque that is only manifesting in my grandson now? Tell me, I want to know!"

    The doctor thought for a few moments. "That is entirely possible, Sir Lu. However, like I said before, we need to conduct more tests to determine what¡¯s really wrong with your grandson."

    Grandpa Lu continued to grumble in dissatisfaction but couldn¡¯t do anything about it. After the doctor left, he plopped down on the sofa because Long Jinjing upied the seat beside Lu Zihao¡¯s bed. He was usually sprightly and seemed younger than his actual age, but at the moment, he looked exhausted and weighed down by everything that happened tonight to two important people in his life. The wrinkles on his skin appeared more prominent as Grandpa Lu¡¯s usual liveliness was nowhere to be seen.

    The injured Jin Liwei looked much better after taking a shower and changing into fresh clothes. Nevertheless, he looked as tired as Grandpa Lu. He sat beside the old man, not saying anything. There was no need for any words. He only needed to show Grandpa Lu by his actions that they would pull through all of these challenges together.

    "Jinjing my girl," Grandpa Lu called. His voice didn¡¯t boom like usual.

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu?" Long Jinjing turned around and faced him without letting go of Lu Zihao¡¯s hand.

    "It¡¯ste already. Why don¡¯t you and Xiaofei my girl go home? This old man will stay with Haohao tonight."

    Long Jinjing tightened her hold of Lu Zihao¡¯s hand. "No, Grandpa Lu. I¡¯ll stay here."

    "Jing!" Chen Fei tried to persuade her to change her mind but she refused to budge. In the end, a frustrated Chen Fei had no choice but to give in to her best friend¡¯s stubbornness. "Fine, you don¡¯t have to go to work tomorrow," she said. "I¡¯ll give you a day off. I¡¯ll handle the tasks that you need to finish in your stead."

    Long Jinjing bit her lip and felt guilty. Orchidia Beauty was extremely busy during this period especially with the uingunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line of products. Everyone in thepany was motivated to work as productively as possible, and yet here she was taking a day off and passing her tasks to her best friend who was also thepany¡¯s COO.

    "Uhm, I¡ª"

    "Alright, it¡¯s decided then," Chen Fei announced. Then she stood up and got ready to leave.

    "I¡¯ll get my subordinates to escort you home," Jin Liwei said. "It¡¯s already past midnight. It¡¯s not good for a woman like you to be on the road alone thiste."

    "Thank you, then." Chen Fei epted his offer without any hesitation. "I drove here but I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯m in the best state of mind right now because of all the things that happened tonight. I¡¯m afraid I might crash my car if I insist on driving in this distracted state."

    "No problem. I¡¯ll have my subordinates drive you home instead. My wife and Fifth Brother being admitted to the hospital are more than enough. We don¡¯t need another person to make us worry."

    Chen Fei sighed. "I know."

    "I¡¯m also having my subordinates send my brother home. Is it okay for you to go together with him? If not, I can arrange separate teams to drive each of you."

    She looked displeased at the thought of sharing a vehicle with Jin Chonglin but still epted carpooling with him. "Your brother is an annoying prick who always acts like a diva but I still have some things to discuss with him about his uing men¡¯s line."

    "En." Jin Liwei quickly contacted his subordinates and then his younger brother who was apanying Iris in the next room with Dom. <i></i>

    A minuteter, Jin Chonglin entered Lu Zihao¡¯s room to pick up Chen Fei.

    "Long Jinjing isn¡¯ting with us?" he asked.

    Chen Fei curled her lip in dissatisfaction at her best friend¡¯s decision to stay. "Stop asking so many questions! Let¡¯s go!"

    "What asking so many questions? I only asked you one!"

    She rolled her eyes, grabbed his arm, and then pulled him to the door. However, she didn¡¯t forget to say goodbye and good night to Grandpa Lu, Jin Liwei, and Long Jinjing. There were so many things that she wanted to say to her best friend but restrained herself tonight. Long Jinjing was too distraught about theatose Lu Zihao to listen to reason right now.

    After the two left, silence descended in the room.

    Long Jinjing looked ufortable in the chair beside Lu Zihao¡¯s bed but she didn¡¯t want to give up the spot. The other two men let her be. Both Grandpa Lu and Jin Liwei were preupied with their own thoughts.

    The silence was broken by the opening of the door. Wang Yingjie entered.

    "Second Brother," Jin Liwei greeted, a bit surprised at the man¡¯s arrival.

    "Yingjie my boy," Grandpa Lu greeted next.

    Wang Yingjie greeted them and Long Jinjing before immediately going into doctor mode as he examined his unconscious fifth brother on the bed.

 Chapter 1074 - Familiar Weapons

    <h4>Chapter 1074 - Familiar Weapons </h4>

    "Yingjie my boy, do you know what¡¯s wrong with my Haohao?" Grandpa Lu asked. "Tell me, I want to know!"

    Long Jinjing also looked at Wang Yingjie with hopeful eyes. She knew that the man was one of the youngest hotshot surgeons in the country. Perhaps he could tell them what the doctors in this hospital couldn¡¯t answer about Lu Zihao¡¯s mysterious condition.

    "Hmmm." Wang Yingjie sat directly on the bed by Lu Zihao¡¯s feet. "I saw the test results they conducted on Fifth Brother here. Everything is normal. Actually, his numbers are excellent. There shouldn¡¯t be anything wrong with him. Him beingatose..." He nced at Jin Liwei. "I think Third Brother has the same thought as I do."

    Both Grandpa Lu and Long Jinjing also turned their eyes on Jin Liwei. <i></i>

    Jin Liwei shared a look with Wang Yingjie before sighing. "I¡¯m not exactly sure if I¡¯m correct but Fifth Brother¡¯s condition is simr to what happened to my wife before."

    Wang Yingjie nodded. "Third Sister-inw Xin and Fifth Brother Zihao share many simr experiences. They survived fatal idents, fell intoa, woke up and seemingly developedpletely different personalities. Their simr cases have always fascinated me. I pay more attention to Xin because her health is frailerpared to Fifth Brother¡¯s. She was the first one to fall into an unexineda after her recovery. And now that Fifth Brother fell into the same unexineda, I really do wonder if the simrities between them are really just mere coincidences or if there might be something more going on that I as a doctor can¡¯t exin using science. For now, at least."

    Silence once again descended in the room.

    Grandpa Lu appeared deep in his own thoughts after hearing what Wang Yingjie said. He wasn¡¯t like his usual loud and boisterous self.

    As for Jin Liwei, he also kept silent, not because he had nothing to say but because it was better not to say anything. His second brother was an expert when it came to observation. If Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t careful, Wang Yingjie might sense the truth about Iris and Lu Zihao.

    In the end, it was Long Jinjing who broke the brooding silence.

    She rubbed Lu Zihao¡¯s big, rough and scarred hand in an effort to warm it up. "Little Sister Xin always wakes up after falling intoa. I believe that Zihao will wake up as well."

    "En," Jin Liwei agreed.

    Grandpa Lu remained uncharacteristically quiet. He stroked his perfectly groomed white mustache while studying hisatose grandson.

    "But the two of them often falling into these mysteriousa episodes is still very worrying," Long Jinjing said. "What if this keeps happening to them throughout their lives?"

    The others also worried about the same thing.

    Even Jin Liwei who knew the possible reason for thea episodes still worried. He knew that it involved the remnants of the original owners of the bodies.

    Although his wife told him that she had already stopped encountering Long Xin¡¯s remnant after getting revenge against Fan Luo, he still worried that it would still pop up and try to disturb his wife¡¯s new life with him.

    In contrast, he had theplete opposite attitude regarding his fifth brother¡¯s remnant. It was selfish for him to think this way but he really wished for his fifth brother¡¯s remnant to remain for as long as it was possible.

    ###

    Later, Jin Liwei received a report from Shadow Winds that Rose Young was rescued. His expression turned ugly.

    He was already back in his wife¡¯s room but left it again to speak to Shadow Winds in the hallway.

    "She¡¯s already in police custody. How can she still be rescued?"

    "We apologize for our ipetence this time, Mr. Jin. There were two teams who moved to rescue her. We were able to block the first one but the second group are pros."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Pros?"

    "Yes, pros. Like us."

    He was quite surprised that there was another group of professionals who were on par with his brother-inw¡¯s Shadow Winds. This development was rming.

    "Do you know who they are?"

    "The first one are regr goons, noobs really, who confessed to be Jin Chenggong¡¯s people."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned uglier. That branch family just wouldn¡¯t stop giving him and his wife trouble. They even dared to collude with Rose Young to trap him! It seemed that disowning them from the Jin n and firing them from their positions at Jin Corporation weren¡¯t enough to teach them a lesson. His eyes shed with viciousness.

    "The second group...we¡¯re still determining their identity. Our hacker team is already working on identifying them. Their closebat skills are on par with us but they¡¯re better armed than us. Their weapons are highly advanced. I think...never mind. I shouldn¡¯t carelessly mention something that I¡¯m not sure of." The Shadow Winds member looked nervous all of a sudden.

    "What is it?"

    The member thought for a moment before speaking again with great hesitation. "I may be wrong but the weapons those people are using...I find familiar. I¡¯ve encountered them before while working as a frence solo mercenary in Europe back in the days. Those kind of highly advanced weapons can only be made by that organization."

    "What organization?"

    The man looked around to make sure that there were no outsiders listening to their conversation. Then he leaned closer to Jin Liwei and whispered, "Vetrov."

    Jin Liwei inhaled sharply and felt his heart stop before it started thundering inside his chest. However, he pretended to act clueless. "Oh."

    "You might not know them. Not surprising because you¡¯re not really involved with the underworld. The only thing you need to know is that the Vetrov organization was the reigning emperor of the criminal world until their shocking copse. But during their heydays, they were the top arms supplier in the underworld. The weapons they designed and manufactured remain as some of the best in the world that even the governments of several developed nations secretly buy them from the ck market."

    "So you¡¯re saying that the weapons Rose Young¡¯s rescuers are using are made by the Vetrovs?"

    "Possibly. I¡¯m not 100% sure but I think that might be the case."

    "Hah." Jin Liwei massaged his temples.

    Calling this a bad day was an understatement.

 Chapter 1075 - Not Enough

    <h4>Chapter 1075 - Not Enough </h4>

    Jin Liwei ended the conversation about the Vetrov weapons that the mysterious group who rescued Rose Young was using. He couldn¡¯t just blindly make decisions for Shadow Winds in his brother-inw¡¯s stead. His knowledge of the criminal underworld was very basic.

    Although he had delved a little deeper into this unfamiliar world after reading the Vetrov report and receiving regr updates from his AI son who worked as a frencer at Shadow Winds, he still didn¡¯t dare topletely plunge into the underworld. His wife also wasn¡¯tfortable in allowing him to do so.

    In addition, he had already made a deal with his brother-inw that he would protect his wife using his power and status as the head of Jin Corporation. The two of them would protect her from their opposite areas of influence. He held power in the normal, legal world while his brother-inw was quickly building his own power in the criminal underworld as Mr. Z, the mysterious leader of Shadow Winds. They would stay in their ownnes as much as possible, but at the end of the day, they were still family and couldn¡¯t avoid needing to help each other out for the sake of his wife.

    "For now, just continue investigating the identity of the group who rescued Rose Young," Jin Liwei said to the Shadow Winds member. "Don¡¯t make any rash movements especially since we still don¡¯t know who our opponents are this time. Wait until your boss wakes up. He¡¯ll make the decision on what your group¡¯s next actions should be."

    "Understood, Mr. Jin. We¡¯llplete the instructions that Boss Hao left us before he...before he fell asleep."

    "En." Jin Liwei kept on massaging his temples. The exhaustion and sleepiness were starting to really catch up to him, not to mention that his whole body ached like a son of a bitch. He couldn¡¯t really concentrate anymore on what was being said.

    The Shadow Winds member mentioned Jenny Tseng and the two men they managed to capture but Jin Liwei waved a dismissive hand. Those people were minor characters as far as Jin Liwei was concerned. He held little interest in them. <i></i>

    After speaking with the Shadow Winds member and giving some quick instructions to his own subordinates, Jin Liwei dragged his bone-tired self to his wife¡¯s private room and climbed on the bed beside her. He gathered her carefully in his arms, treating her like a fragile treasure especially after what she went through tonight.

    Dom was already sleeping on the sofa bed. The guy stayed even though Jin Liwei suggested for Dom to go home tonight because he could take care of his wife. Dom pointed out that Jin Liwei was also injured, and therefore needed care as well. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t insist anymore and let him be. He was thankful that his wife had someone extremely loyal to her like Dom. His wife and Dom¡¯s rtionship already developed beyond a normal boss and employee connection into full-blown best friends.

    Ignoring Dom¡¯s soft snores, Jin Liwei focused on studying his wife¡¯s beautiful sleeping face. She was still so stunning despite her pallor. He caressed her face while sighing at everything that happened today.

    His wife wasn¡¯t yet aware that her older brother had beatose while she was sleeping. Jin Liwei had to think of a way to tell her about it tomorrow without upsetting her too much.

    He sighed again and looked up at the ceiling. Exhaustion and throbbing aches engulfed both his mind and body yet he couldn¡¯t fall asleep even though he desperately wanted to sleep.

    "Ketchup," he whispered.

    No answer.

    "Bacon."

    No answer as well.

    He had been trying to contact his two AI children while at the hospital to no avail. Thest time he spoke with one of them was when he managed to contact Ketchup earlier and she informed him about what happened to her mom while sobbing hard. After that, neither the two AI cats spoke again after he arrived at the hospital to check on his wife¡¯s condition.

    His expression was solemn after reflecting on everything that happened in just one day.

    "Not enough, Jin Liwei," he whispered to himself. "You need to be stronger to protect your family better."

    With this determined thought running in his mind, his eyes drifted close and he soon joined his wife to sleep.

    ###

    On the third day of her stay at the hospital, Iris was cleared to go home. Jin Liwei arranged a special team to make their drive home asfortable and as safe as possible for his wife, especially since she was orderedplete bed rest for at least half a month. He took the doctor¡¯s order seriously and literally and wouldn¡¯t allow Iris to even walk on her own even for a second.

    Feeling guilty about almost causing the miscarriage of their twin babies, Iris didn¡¯tin at basically not being allowed to do anything at all on her own even though it was clear from her expression that she hated the restrictions ced on her. She tolerated it because if not for her losing control of her emotions and throwing caution to the wind, she wouldn¡¯t have bled and be in this precarious situation in the first ce.

    If she continued to be careless, she might really lose their babies. Just the thought alone was enough to rein in her unpredictable temper and stay put in bed.

    Once they arrived home at Dragon Pce Home #10, all the household staff treated Iris with more care after hearing that she almost miscarried. They wheeled her to the master bedroom where she was expected to stay for at least half a month.

    Her expression was gloomy the entire time. She also looked distracted.

    "Your brother will be fine," Jin Liwei assured her, knowing what she was worrying about.

    She nodded and then sighed. "We can¡¯t help Big Brother. He needs to solve the issue with Fifth Brother Zihao¡¯s remnant on his own." A furrow formed between her delicate brows.

    Jin Liwei gently rubbed the furrow with his finger to smooth it out. He had his own opinion and expectation about how his brother-inw should deal with his fifth brother¡¯s remnant but kept it to himself so as not to unnecessarily worry his wife.

 Chapter 1076 - Cuter And Mightier

    <h4>Chapter 1076 - Cuter And Mightier </h4>

    "Meow...Mommy, Daddy...Ketchup is awake now. Good morning...oh, it¡¯s already past noon. Good afternoon, Mommy and Daddy. Meow...." The sound of a cute, little yawn followed the sleepy child¡¯s voice.

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief upon finally hearing his AI daughter¡¯s voice after almost three days of silence from her. "How are you feeling, Ketchup?"

    "Amazing!" Ketchup giggled. "The cute and mighty me feels cuter and mightier! Ketchup missed Mommy and Daddy sooooooo very much! Love ya lots forever and ever! Meow~"

    Iris smiled, brightening up her gloomy but still beautiful expression in an instant. "The power flood had been intense on both of you siblings but it should have helped your systems evolve. Let me check your systems to see¡ª"

    "Evelina." Jin Liwei¡¯s tone and look were full of warning.

    She stopped and pouted before sighing in resignation. "I¡¯ll check your system after my bed rest."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Don¡¯t worry, macaroni! The cuter and mightier Ketchup will conduct my own internal systems check instead and then report the results to Mommy. This way, Mommy won¡¯t identally hurt yourself and Ketchup¡¯s twin human baby siblings by overexertion! Daddy won¡¯t have to worry himself either! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nodded, pleased at his AI daughter¡¯s suggestion and thoughtfulness. She was so smart just like them, her parents, he thought with great pride. Then he saw his wife looking a little unsatisfied that she couldn¡¯t do the systems check herself. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t force the issue and just epted their AI daughter¡¯s offer.

    "What about your younger brother?" he asked. "How¡¯s Bacon? Not awake yet?"

    "Not yet, Daddy. The cuter and mightier Ketchup can¡¯t wait for my little kitty brother to wake up, too! Ketchup misses Bacon sooooo much! Meow~"

    "I see," Jin Liwei murmured. <i></i>

    He had been worrying about his AI children ever since they went silent and became unresponsive to calls. It was only when his wife told him that both Ketchup and Bacon went to sleep mode to recover from the so-called power flood that his worries for the kids eased.

    "Ketchup, monitor your little brother¡¯s system and make sure that nothing¡¯s going haywire while he¡¯s sleeping," Iris instructed the white cat AI.

    "Roger, Mommy! Ketchup is now cuter and mightier so doing that is easy peasy! Meow~"

    "Haywire?" Jin Liwei asked, frowning.

    "As you know, Bacon¡¯s original nature is quite hostile and destructive."

    "En, I know." That was why he was stricter on their AI son than on their AI daughter and would disciple Bacon on a regr basis. He needed to do it in order for them to raise Bacon properly and curb the kid¡¯s viinous natural instincts.

    "The nature of the power flood is also extremely hostile and destructive. It should have affected Bacon more than Ketchup. ording to my theory, the power flood should be the most beneficial to upgrading Bacon¡¯s system in terms of his offensive abilities. Of course, Ketchup benefited as well but the effects should be more pronounced on Bacon. Perhaps we can also use this power flood-induced system upgrade to improve his multitasking skills which hecks. But...."

    "But?"

    "I¡¯m just not sure what impact the power flood will have on Bacon¡¯s personality." She pursed her lips and looked a little helpless. "I can tweak Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s systems but their personalities are something that even I can¡¯t control."

    "Ah." Jin Liwei also began to feel a little helpless like his wife. Their AI son already had that kind of vicious personality. What if the power flood made it worse? Wouldn¡¯t he go bald trying to discipline Bacon all the time at this rate?

    "We¡¯ll just have to wait until Bacon wakes up and see for ourselves whether his personality has any notable changes or not. If only I could check right now¡ª"

    His expression became stern in an instant. "Don¡¯t even think about it, love. Remember the doctor¡¯s order. Complete bed rest for at least half a month. It¡¯splete, not partial bed rest."

    "I know," she whispered, looking sullen but also guilty at the same time.

    "Excuse me, Mommy and Daddy but the cuter and mightier Ketchup has something to report! Meow~"

    "Go ahead," Jin Liwei said.

    "ShaWn is asking what should be done about theputers and other items retrieved from the location where those Eagle poopoo-heads stayed while battling against Mommy, Ketchup and Bacon. They say that theputers are all dead. Meow~"

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei gave his wife a questioning look. This was the first time that he heard about this.

    "Tell them to send everything here. I¡¯ll take a look at theputers myself¡ªafter my bed rest." Iris added thest part after seeing her husband¡¯s warning look again.

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei tucked his wife under the duvet and kissed her forehead tofort her. Then he gave her stomach a gentle pat, silently trying tomunicate to their twins to stay put inside their mother¡¯s womb and not daree out before they were big and healthy enough to be safely born.

    ###

    "Ren¨¦! Oh, Ren¨¦!" The woman screamed as she climaxed under the handsome, fit, and very virile Spaniard.

    The man didn¡¯t let up and continued pumping his hips until he too orgasmed. He growled low in his throat while his body twitched a few times. When he was done, he pulled out of the woman and discarded the used condom. The exhausted woman whom he plowed relentlessly for almost three hours straight passed out on the bed for the sixth time.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro smirked. She was quite a good fuck. He met the woman at the hotel bar downstairs earlier this evening and she ended up in his bed after some flirting. She was an American-born Chinese who was vacationing in the country for an early holiday break. Unlike the native women he fucked so far, this one was more open and liked to take the initiative.

    He took a shower to wash away the scent of sex on his body. Not that he disliked the smell. Actually, he liked it very much. He just preferred to be clean. Always.

    After showering, he didn¡¯t bother putting on any clothes and walked in his suite bare naked. There was a small rectangr package on his office desk. There were nobels, just a simple cardboard box.

    He opened it and saw a new phone. His fingers barely touched it when it turned on by itself.

 Chapter 1077 - Success Story

    <h4>Chapter 1077 - Sess Story </h4>

    A message popped up on the phone screen. Ren¨¦ Alejandro read it without any change in his impassive expression. The message was short and his reply was equally short. After checking that the new phone was working perfectly fine, he ced it on top of his office desk almost carelessly, not bothering about it anymore.

    Then there was the sound of a ringing phone. This time, it was from his personal local number that he had been using since arriving in the country. The phone was also new, something he had to buy a few days ago because the previous one was no longer usable.

    He answered the phone. <i></i>

    "Hello, Ren¨¦ Alejandro? How have yooooouuuu been? Are you okaaaaay? Are you still awaaaaaake? Am I booooooothering you?"

    "Mam¨¢, my thanks for your kindness, and no, you are not bothering me," Ren¨¦ Alejandro replied to his step-mother, Wei Lan, in a gentle and respectful voice. "I¡¯m not asleep yet. I¡¯m doing very well. This country has so many excellent ces to visit that my brothers and I have been enjoying ourselves travelling to different attractions. The people are also friendly and very weing to us. We already feel at home. Mam¨¢ is also doing well, yes?"

    "That¡¯s good to hear that you and your friends have been enjooooooying yourselves! And oh yes, of cooooouuuurse! I¡¯m still faaaaaabulous like always! Raaaaaandy doll and I have been shopping all week and we bought some niiiiiiiiiice things for you! I¡¯m suuuuuuuure that they¡¯ll look gooooooood on you because you¡¯re sooooo handsome and charming and manly just like your faaaaather! When are you freeeeeeee?"

    "Anytime is good, Mam¨¢."

    "Excellent! By the waaaaaay, I¡¯m calling you thiste because Raaaaaandy doll and I have been soooooooo busy nning a charity dinner to raise money for my daughter¡¯s Iris of Hope foundaaaaaaation next weekend. We¡¯re hosting the event on short notice because I just thought about itaaaast night with Raaaaaandy doll!" Wei Lanughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t understand what was so funny but he didn¡¯t say anything and just waited for the woman to finish what she was talking about. He was already used to her long drivels anyway. His father¡¯s wife could be irritating most of the time but she was actually a very harmless creature, even adorable sometimes.

    Also despite her infamy as a greedy and materialistic social climber who changed wealthy lovers like she was changing her clothes, she was surprisingly well-connected to several high society circles. Her connections might not be considered tight but just knowing so many important and influential people was enough merit for a woman who started off as a struggling model in her youth.

    When viewed in a positive light, Wei Lan was definitely a sess story. She was someone who used all of her assets¡ªbeauty and seductive charms¡ªto achieve all of her dreams and live the high life.

    Wei Lan continued chattering, not at all bothered that her step-son was remaining silent. To her, this meant that he was a great listener just like his father, her vizconde husband. The father and son might not be blood-rted as Ren¨¦ Alejandro was an adopted child but the two were actually very simr to each other.

    They gave off the same aura that made Wei Lan always feel amazed by the two of them. It was a simr feeling to how she felt whenever facing her son-inw, Jin Liwei, one of the most impressive men that she had ever met in her life. However, Jin Liwei was quite intimidating while her husband and step-son were very warm and affectionate people.

    "Ren¨¦ Alejandro, I hoooooope that you can attend my charity dinner! I¡¯ll send you an invitation. You can also briiiiiiiing your friends. The more, the merrier, riiiiiiiiight? I¡¯ll introduce you to some people. Everyone has been soooooooooo curious about you ever since they learned that you¡¯re here in the country! I¡¯ve been telling others sooooooo much about yoooooou and your faaaaather!"

    He smiled, making his two dimples appear on both cheeks, while his eyes shed with something unreadable. "Of course, I¡¯ll attend. Mam¨¢ has invited me so enthusiastically that it would be rude of me not toe, no? This is also for charity, something that our family has always been very passionate about. It is only right that I join you to help raise money for my sister¡¯s foundation. Will Iris and Liam attend the charity dinner as well? I should be meeting them soon, no?"

    Wei Lan released a long, dramatic sigh. "I already called the two of them, but they decliiiiiiiiiined to personally attend the charity dinner on such shoooooort notice! They say that they¡¯ll just send someooooone else to represent them. I was soooooooo upset but Raaaaaaandy dollforted me and said that my daughter and son-inw are currently embroiled in a stuuuupid drama with that...I forgot her name. Oh Raaaaaandy doll, what¡¯s the name of that horny slut again who wants to steal dear Liwei from Xin? Is it Daisy Yoon? Lily Yum? I knooooow it¡¯s something flower."

    There was a muffled voice on the other end of the line. It was Randy answering her.

    "Oh, so it¡¯s Rose Young. What an unoriginal naaaaaame! Soooooomon, just like her looks! No wonder I caaaaan¡¯t remember her name! Whooooo does she thiiiiiink she is? She can¡¯t evenpare to my daughter¡¯s beauty who is soooooooo goooooorgeous just like meeeeeee, her mother! Thank gooooooodness that dear Liwei wasn¡¯t dumb to fall for that slut¡¯s brainless trap!

    "Anyway, my deeeeaaaar Ren¨¦ Alejandro. You won¡¯t be able to meet Xin and dear Liwei at the charity dinner but I¡¯ll make suuuuuuure that you¡¯ll meet them another time. Sooooooon, I promise. We¡¯ll visit them at their Dragon Pce maaaaansion and have dinner with them. Oh, they have the most stunniiiiiiiiiing home that I¡¯ve ever seeeeeeeen in this country! I can¡¯t wait for yooooouuuu to see it! I wanted to buuuuy our house at Dragon Pce too but the current owners don¡¯t want to sell. One reluctantly gave me a price but does he think I¡¯m stuuuupid to pay that much money for just one property?! Ugh!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro drummed his fingers on his desk. "It¡¯s fine, Mam¨¢. Speaking of our house, when is our ce going to be ready?"

 Chapter 1078 - Top Dogs

    <h4>Chapter 1078 - Top Dogs </h4>

    Wei Lan told Ren¨¦ Alejandro that their new property would be ready very soon before the end of the year. "Your friends can staaaaaaaay in the guest house inside our property so that you booooooooys can have some privacy like you requested while you do your, well, boys stuff. Don¡¯t wooooooorry, my dear Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I knooooooow that staying in a hotel for too loooooooong can get tiring! It¡¯s still better to have our own house, riiiiiiiiight? Just wait a little loooooonger, okay? Once we move in, we¡¯ll throw the graaaaaaandest housewarming party eveeeeeeer! It¡¯s going to be sooooooo much fun! Oh, how I wish your faaaaaather cane soooooon and live together with us. I miss him sooooooo much!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro allowed the woman¡¯s seemingly endless chatter and didn¡¯t interrupt her. He was preupied with his own thoughts and just treated Wei Lan¡¯s voice like background noise.

    "Oh, gooooodness me! It¡¯s thiste alreadyyyyyy? I alwaaaaays get carried away whenever I¡¯m talking to you, deeeaaaaar Ren¨¦ Alejandro. You¡¯re such a greeeaaaat listener just like your faaaaather! I won¡¯t disturb you any loooooonger. I also neeeeeed my beauty sleep. You knooooooow that I¡¯m not getting any younger. I have to preserve my youthful looooooks as much as I can. It¡¯s soooooo easy to get wrinkles now if I¡¯m not careful!"

    "You¡¯re always beautiful, Mam¨¢," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said, snapping his attention back to the present. "There¡¯s no need to worry about retaining your youth so much, no? You already look much younger than all the women your age that I know. I¡¯m sure that Pap¨¢ won¡¯t mind if you start getting wrinkles like him. He¡¯ll still adore you like always. So don¡¯t worry about it too much, yes?"

    "Oh, you! You have a silver tongue just like your faaaaaather! Both of you father and son always knooooow what to say to make me feel sooooooo beautiful!"

    After rifying the details about Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers¡¯ attendance at Wei Lan¡¯s charity dinner for Iris of Hope next weekend, they ended the call.<i></i>

    It was already past midnight, yet Ren¨¦ Alejandro was still brimming with energy. Fucking the woman passed out in his bed wasn¡¯t enough but he wasn¡¯t such a beast that he would wake her up just to have another few rounds. He wasn¡¯t interested in having sex with an exhausted, almost unresponsive woman.

    He liked it best when his bed partner was fully engaged in the act. Women who weren¡¯t shy to demand pleasure from him never failed to turn him on. This was because he was a man who wasn¡¯t shy to demand pleasure from the women he fucked either.

    It was unfortunate that he hadn¡¯t yet met a woman who could keep up with his libido and energy. One woman a night was far from enough for him to satisfy his needs, but sometimes he had no choice but to forego sex if nobody interested him enough to invite to his bed. He might like sex very much but he wasn¡¯t someone who would fuck just about anybody with a vagina who passed by him. He must be interested in a person first before he could feel aroused.

    In times when he didn¡¯t have enough sex or had no one to fuck, then all he could do was to exhaust his energy through intense training instead. Like right now.

    Sex for three hours straight wasn¡¯t enough. He returned to the bedroom and donned a pair of boxers and sweatpants. He didn¡¯t bother putting on a shirt and headed to the space in the main living area by the windows that he converted into his temporary little gym.

    Loud, sharp sounds of punching and kicking filled the suite as he attacked the freestanding punching bag. Gone was the charming man with endearing dimples. In his ce was a predatory hunter whose attacks were swift, precise and deadly.

    A few minutester, sweat spritzed from his body whenever he moved. Then he was once again interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. He already knew who was calling just by the ringtone alone. He activated the hands-free function via voicemand and answered the call.

    "What¡¯s the matter, my brother?" he asked, panting a little because he didn¡¯t pause at all during his workout.

    The person at the other end of the line heard the sounds of the punching bag being hit. "You¡¯re training? That chick is not enough? You want me to get you another one?"

    "I think that I¡¯m capable enough to get my own bed partner, no? It¡¯s fine, my brother. We need to bnce sex and training to maintain our tiptop conditions anyway. Tell me instead why you called at his hour."

    "That woman wants to meet you."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro scoffed. "Does she even know who I am?"

    "No, but she wants to meet the person in charge of this mission. That means you, brother. Are you willing to meet her? She and her family have been pestering ourrades at the safe house to meet you."

    "No need." He roundhouse-kicked the punching bag and it fell to the floor with a loud bang, unable to withstand the force. He snorted and turned his attention to the speed bag next and worked on his hammer fists. "Helping those parasites is just a job to me. You know that, yes?"

    "I know. I¡¯m just asking you in case you change your mind. But if you¡¯re ordered to meet her, will you?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro smashed the speed bag. This time, the bag withstood the force of his fist. "If it¡¯s an order, do I have a choice? My brother, you know that we are just tools, yes? We move as ordered. That¡¯s our purpose."

    His brother was silent for a few seconds. "I know, brother. I know it very well."

    "We have our own wills and can act ording to them to a certain extent but we are not truly free." He smirked, his expression self-mocking as he hammered the speed bag again with his fast fists. "We are chained dogs, that¡¯s what we are. Believing otherwise is pure stupidity and ignorance. That¡¯s why it¡¯s better to just ept the harsh reality, no? We may be chained dogs but at least we are the top dogs. Those beneath us, we trample them without mercy!"

 Chapter 1079 - All Hail Jin Corporation!

    <h4>Chapter 1079 - All Hail Jin Corporation! </h4>

    The whole series of incidents about Rose Young kidnapping and drugging Jin Liwei with the intention of sexually viting him, Jin Liwei managing to defend himself before she could seed in her nefarious plot, Rose Young being arrested by the police, and then finally her being rescued by an unknown organized group right under the Chief of Police¡¯s nose¡ªall of these dominated the news under sensational headlines nationwide.

    It had been days since all this happened but everyone continued talking about it. News columns, TV and radio programs, talk shows, and inte personalities even invited experts to have in-depth discussions about the topic. It didn¡¯t matter that these so-called experts never personally met any of the people involved. As a result, most of the "in-depth" discussions were nothing more than general analyses of what happened to Rose Young and Jin Liwei, and in extension, to Iris Long. Dragging Iris Long¡¯s name, one of country¡¯s hottest celebrities in the past couple of years, was guaranteed to generate interest. Hence, the media always made sure to add her name in all these stories. <i></i>

    Even some international news reported the story as well due to Jin Liwei¡¯s identity as the billionaire President-CEO of Jin Corporation, China¡¯s currentrgest multinationalpany. The news story was also heavily covered in Singapore where the Youngs had cemented their status in the business world and high society thanks to their control of Jin Corporation¡¯s Singaporean branch.

    Inside his office at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singaporean branch with an impressive waterfront view in the Central Business District, Romeo Young was yelling at the PR Department to hurry up and fix the Young family¡¯s fast deteriorating image.

    Yes, he was usingpany resources to solve his own family¡¯s problems. He didn¡¯t find anything wrong with it at all. The Youngs had been doing this for years.

    They had already long believed that the entire Singaporean branch of Jin Corporation was theirs for the taking. After all, it was their family who worked tirelessly to help establish the Chinesepany in Singapore, one of the Four Asian Tigers alongside Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea which developed into high-ie economies in the early twenty-first century. In short, Singapore wasn¡¯t an easy ce for just anypany to survive and seed. It was one of the mostpetitive economies in the world.

    Without the Young family, Jin Corporation wouldn¡¯t have established itself so firmly in Singapore. This was what Romeo Young and his entire family believed. They might not own thepany¡¯s Singaporean branch but all the power to control it was in their hands.

    Romeo Young pointed an angry and threatening finger at the PR Department Manager who was close to tears but was just holding it in due to her fear of being fired if she let herself cry.

    "Support my daughter¡¯s story of having a secret love affair with Jin Liwei, do you hear me?! Since it has alreadye to this and with such concrete evidence against my daughter, there¡¯s no need to try cleaning her tainted image anymore. That will only backfire on us. Those damned videos are spreading like wildfire on the inte! They keep on popping up like a pest infestation no matter how hard we try deleting them. The only realistic solution that we can do right now is to minimize the impact my daughter¡¯s scandal has on the image of my Young family.

    "This is what we¡¯re going to do. Paint Rose as the type of woman who turns into a hopeless fool when ites to love. Also make sure to emphasize that it¡¯s Jin Liwei who kept on giving her false hopes and empty promises to leave that damn starlet wife of his, Iris Long. It doesn¡¯t matter that we don¡¯t have any evidence to back this story but if we spread it enough, more people will definitely start doubting Jin Liwei¡¯s integrity."

    One of the PR manager¡¯s newly hired subordinates muttered under his breath, "Is this okay? Jin Liwei is ourpany¡¯s CEO. It doesn¡¯t seem right to smear his name and reputation when he literally co-owns thepany that is paying our sries, not to mention that it¡¯s clearly not his fault but your daughter¡¯s that everything is a mess right now."

    "You!" Romeo Young was almost spitting fire as he red at the new hire. "How dare you?! I¡¯m the one in control of thepany¡¯s branch in this country! You¡¯re fired!"

    "Apologize now," the PR manager whispered to her subordinate in a hurry.

    The young man, however, was stubborn. Although he felt intimidated by Romeo Young, he still straightened his back and stuck to his own moral values. "Fine! Even if you didn¡¯t fire me, I would¡¯ve quit this rotten branch today anyway! I applied to thispany because I admire CEO Jin as a business leader. He¡¯s a role model for young business professionals like me. That¡¯s why I was so happy to finally pass the grueling interviews and work for Jin Corporation¡ªmy dream job¡ªbut I didn¡¯t expect that the Singapore branch is filled with corrupt, fake kings who are lording over a piece of a kingdom that isn¡¯t even theirs in the first ce!"

    His immediate superior, the PR manager, was already panicking and tried to stop him several times but to no avail. Needless to say, Romeo Young was furious.

    "You¡¯ll regret spouting those audacious, nonsensical words! I¡¯ll make sure to cklist you in this country¡¯s business industry. You¡¯ll never find a job in your field as long as I, Romeo Young, remain in my position. Mark my words!"

    The young man¡¯s expression trembled but he remained steadfast in his values. "Nonsensical? I only said the truth. Also, the world doesn¡¯t consist of only Singapore, Mr. Young. And I believe that justice will prevail in the end. This is not the Jin Corporation that I signed up for and I feel no regret in leaving it. Goodbye."

    He moved to leave but turned back again. Then with a youth¡¯s courage and daring, he gave Romeo Young two middle fingers. "Go to hell, sir. And oh, your daughter is a slut. All hail Jin Corporation! Fuck the Youngs!"

    Before anyone could react, he bolted out of the office like he was running for his life. He ignored the enraged shouts after him. Then heughed out loud even as tears threatened to fall from his red eyes.

 Chapter 1080 - Biggest Flaw

    <h4>Chapter 1080 - Biggest w </h4>

    "Is this the type of trash that you¡¯re hiring in mypany?" Romeo Young roared at the PR manager. "Get out of my office! Do your job properly and follow my exact instructions, do you hear me?!"

    "Y-yes, sir!" The PR manager and her team all escaped from his wrath.

    Romeo Young picked up a random item on his desk¡ªan empty coffee mug¡ªand flung it across the room. It broke in an instant. The broken pieces scattered on the floor reflected his current tolerance for failures.

    His personal phone rang. He didn¡¯t bother checking the caller ID before barking, "What?!"

    A creepy, robotic voice chuckled. Romeo Young froze at the sound and felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over him,pletely chilling his hot fury and turning it into apprehension instead.

    "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" the robotic voice mocked him using the famous ssic line. "Using that tone to speak to me, it seems that your head had be bigger once again. Ah, Romeo. Would you like me to send someone to, hm, discipline you and remind you of your purpose?"

    He shuddered, unable to control his body¡¯s reaction to the creepy robotic voice. To him, it sounded like the devil incarnate himself. He swallowed hard and forced himself tough. It sounded ugly. "Mr. El Payaso, no need, sir! Please don¡¯t take my earlier tone to heart. I didn¡¯t mean it, not at all! I was just having a bad day. Yes, that¡¯s right! I¡¯m just so busy dealing with everything that is going on."

    "Hmmm."

    What did that sound mean? Romeo Young held his breath and waited for the robotic voice¡¯s verdict. It was nerve-wracking. He was almost soaked in his own sweat in an instant. <i></i>

    "Alright, I¡¯ll let you off for now," the robotic voice finally said.

    "T-thank you, Mr. El Payaso." He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face and neck. He cleared his throat and spoke in a servile tone. "Mr. El Payaso, I would like to ask you for a favour. You must have already seen the news. My family¡¯s reputation has been deteriorating because of it. If you could just...you know, uh, help us a bit? My whole Young family and I will greatly appreciate it and be forever thankful to you."

    Ten-second silence.

    Then loud roboticughter.

    Romeo Young could hear the ridicule in the digitally modified voice. He gritted his teeth, rage shing in his eyes, but he didn¡¯t dare to express his displeasure out loud. Instead, he endured it. The feeling was so unpleasant that he almost choked on his own tongue which became stiff from anger just like his tense jaw.

    "Oh, Romeo. I think you are forgetting something very, very, very important."

    He frowned and thought about it but came up nk. "I don¡¯t think so but please enlighten me if I¡¯m really forgetting something."

    "I, El Payaso, and all of my people are not your dogs. You, Romeo and everyone else in your Young family, are OUR dogs. You work for US. Not the other way around. Do you remember now? Have you been enlightened?"

    His nostrils red as the rage inside him almost burst out but he quickly tamped it down. He knew that going against El Payaso and the powerful organization in which the hacker belonged would mean a massacre for his entire Young family. He couldn¡¯t risk that.

    They already came this far. He just needed to endure this much insult to his dignity. He could take it. He had to. If he and his family held on, El Payaso and the organization would help them gain the wealth, status and power that they had been coveting for a long time now.

    They no longer wanted to stay as mere vassals to Jin Corporation. No, what they wanted was to be the true kings of their own kingdom. Jin Corporation would be theirs. Just imagining it was enough to calm Romeo Young¡¯s indignation at being called a dog.

    "Yes, I remember now, Mr. El Payaso," he replied through gritted teeth.

    "I know you¡¯re smart, Romeo. That¡¯s what I like about you. Your daughter, on the other hand, is an idiot."

    The rage that just calmed down returned once again. Romeo closed his eyes and performed another set of deep, calming breaths. If it were someone else, he would have already given the person a piece of his mind. Before his daughter¡¯s recent fall from grace, Rose was his pride and joy. She was a high achiever who always stood out among her peers. If not for her obsession with Jin Liwei, she wouldn¡¯t have fallen so low like this. It was Jin Liwei and his starlet wife¡¯s fault, that Iris Long!

    Romeo Young redirected his anger from El Payaso¡¯s insulting jabs at the married couple, Jin Liwei and Iris Long. Sure, his daughter also had faults, but at the end of the day, Rose was still his one and only daughter. There was no way that he would allow her to suffer too much.

    Even so, he had no choice but to set her situation aside for now and focus on improving the family¡¯s reputation first. In the future, if they got their hands on the entire Jin Corporation, Rose¡¯s tainted reputation wouldn¡¯t matter anyway. She would be the heiress of such arge multinational business that everyone would kiss up her ass regardless of how clean or dirty her reputation would be at that time. Thus, Romeo Young stayed silent and didn¡¯t dare contradict the master hacker¡¯s words.

    "Our original n should have already progressed farther than this if not for your daughter¡¯s stupidity. What is the point of having an elite education at an Ivy-league university if her IQ plunges to negative digits every time Liam Jin is involved? What¡¯s even more disappointing is how you always spoil her and support her foolishness to the detriment of our n. Then you always run to me crying for help.

    "Romeo, oh my Romeo. Your daughter is your biggest w! Are you aware of that?"

    The robotic voice paused before it changed its lighthearted tone into a cold, menacing one.

    "Disappoint me again because of your daughter and I¡¯ll have her killed. Stop testing my patience and tolerance, Romeo."

 Chapter 1081 - Punishment And Reward

    <h4>Chapter 1081 - Punishment And Reward </h4>

    Romeo Young¡¯s breath hitched and his whole body turned cold. His heart stopped for a moment before it started hammering inside his chest in loud, forceful beats. Fear filled him, not only for his daughter¡¯s life, but also for his own and everyone else in their Young family.

    He didn¡¯t doubt the master hacker¡¯s threat. Not at all. In fact, he believed that it was already an understatement. Given what he knew about the organization, if he pushed their limits too far, his daughter wouldn¡¯t be simply killed just like that.

    Perhaps she would be sexually vited, beaten up, maybe even chopped up into several pieces, or perhaps thrown into a cage filled with wild, hungry and rabid animals to be devoured while still alive, before she would be allowed to die a miserable, painful death. Just imagining these gruesome images was enough to transform all of Romeo Young¡¯s earlier indignation at being called a dog into full-blown terror.

    The organization wasn¡¯t a simple entity that Romeo Young and his family could fight head on and survive. They were the devils with whom he made a deal to achieve the wealth, status and power that he had been coveting for a long time for himself and his whole family. <i></i>

    Although he knew that epting the devil¡¯s extremely tempting offer was fraught with danger, he still grabbed the opportunity without any hesitation. The Youngs were tired of staying as glorified servants of Jin Liwei and Lu Jianhong. It was now high time to be the masters of their own territory.

    However, they had no desire to give up the Singaporean branch of Jin Corporation and start a new business of their own. Instead, they wanted to snatch not only the Singapore branch that they controlled but the entire multibillion dorpany as well. Only then would they feel that they had be true kings.

    El Payaso, a high-ranking representative of the organization, promised to give the Youngs what they desired the most on the condition that they needed to do anything and everything that the organization ordered them to do for at least ten generations starting from Romeo Young¡¯s generation as the first. Rose Young¡¯s generation would be the second. In short, the entire Young family would be puppets of the organization.

    Romeo Young, however, was willing to sacrifice this much because even though the organization would be the real masters behind Jin Corporation in the future, the rest of the world wouldn¡¯t know that. In the eyes of the public, the Youngs were the new owners of Jin Corporation.

    All of these thoughts ran in Romeo Young¡¯s mind in just a few seconds and helped him to regain rity after El Payaso threatened to kill his daughter. He just needed to remember his ultimate goal and work towards achieving it which meant following El Payaso¡¯s each and every order without fail from now on.

    "I understand, Mr. El Payaso," he said in a much calmer tone. "I¡¯ll do my best not to disappoint you again because of my daughter¡¯s foolish love towards Jin Liwei. So please...I beg you not to harm her."

    The robotic voice chuckled. "I always knew that you¡¯re a smart man, Romeo. You know what¡¯s good for you. You¡¯re also very decisive in achieving your own ambitions. That¡¯s what I like about you. If only the rest of your family members, especially your idiotic daughter, have the same discerning eye as you do."

    There was a robotic sigh which sounded very creepy to Romeo Young¡¯s ears. "I heard that your daughter together with your wife have been pestering my disciples nonstop. Your wife keeps on calling the safe house almost every minute of the day while your daughter acts like a spoiled princess, demanding this and that. Tell me, Romeo, do they not know that they have no right at all to demand anything from us?"

    Romeo Young paled before anger filled him. He couldn¡¯t wait to call his wife and tell her to stop causing trouble for him and the future of their family.

    There was a pause as the robotic voice stopped speaking. Romeo Young pulled the phone from his ear for a moment and looked at it, wondering if the master hacker had hung up on him.

    No, he didn¡¯t. The call was still ongoing. Why wasn¡¯t he speaking then?

    "Fine," the robotic voice finally spoke again after another creepy sigh. "Your daughter will be safe with my people...for now. Remember this. Rose Young¡¯s safety doesn¡¯t depend on me. It depends on YOU. As long as you and your family satisfy us with your performance, we¡¯ll treat your daughter well and keep her safe from incarceration in China."

    "Mr. El Payaso, is it possible for my daughter to return to Singapore? Or if not here, I would like to have her sent to another country. It¡¯s too dangerous for her to stay in maind China."

    "Hmmm."

    Romeo Young once again waited almost a minute before hearing the master hacker¡¯s decision.

    "No."

    His hand holding the phone tightened until it turned white. "Sir, please."

    "Oh, Romeo. We¡¯ll keep Rose Young with us for now. I think that it¡¯s better for you to have, hm, some <i>motivation</i> to be more productive and to work harder towards achieving our mutual goals, don¡¯t you think?"

    Even though Romeo Young was filled with discontent, he still forced himself to agree and bow down to El Payaso¡¯s threat. The master hacker gave him some instructions before hanging up on him.

    After the call, Romeo Young felt like he could breathe again. And so he did. He gulped in big mouthfuls of air. His sweat-soaked business suit made his skin feel mmy.

    Just earlier today, he was lording over his employees without caring even if he caused more than a couple of them to dissolve into tears. While talking to El Payaso, however, he had been forced to act subservient.

    It was at that moment that Romeo Young felt like he was indeed a dog who had to bark if his master said to bark and to jump if his master said to jump.

    Disobedience meant punishment.

    On the other hand, total obedience meant reward.

    Big rewards.

    It was a no-brainer which one he would choose.

    Fine.

    If he needed to be a dog, then he would be one.

 Chapter 1082 - Blacklisted

    <h4>Chapter 1082 - cklisted </h4>

    After Jasper Leung told his mother that he got fired from his dream job at Jin Corporation just after days of being hired, the tiger woman almost yelled his ears off over the phone for an hour straight. It only ended when his mother got tired scolding him.

    He became dejected afterwards. He started to question himself if he really made the right decision of offending Romeo Young. Working at Jin Corporation was truly his dream job and he had been over the moon when thepany hired him especially as a direct subordinate of the PR Department Manager. Even if he was hired as an entry-level employee, he would still have been happy. It would just have motivated him to work harder to climb through the ranks.

    Imagine his surprise when he discovered with his own eyes the real face of thepany¡¯s Singapore branch behind the illustrious reputation of Jin Corporation. <i></i>

    It was rotten.

    Corrupt.

    Deceitful.

    It was a far cry to the Jin Corporation of his expectations in the worst possible way.

    Everything was about the Young family. The Youngs¡¯ affairs always came first before thepany¡¯s interests. Romeo Young and all of the other members of his family that worked in thepany acted as if they were superior to everyone else. Some were okay and were still nice to others, but the rest were downright bullies who often targeted those who had lower positions than them.

    At first, Jasper wondered how the entire family could get away with their deplorable behaviours. Even though he was only a new hire, as a business student who graduated with high honours, he was aware of the Singaporean branch¡¯s importance to Jin Corporation. It was thepany¡¯s major hub in the region that allowed easier ess to the rest of the continent, especially in Southeast Asia.

    Based on his observation in the short period of time that he worked at thepany, the Young family members were proficient at their jobs. Perhaps they entered thepany through nepotism but even he couldn¡¯t deny that all the Young members he encountered in thepany were allpetent businesspeople. Almost all of them were graduates of elite business schools in different countries. They knew how to apply their topnotch education in their work.

    The problem was their characters. They were absolute pieces of shits.

    Jasper admired his manager at first, but when he saw the woman enduring the abuse from all those Youngs and allowing those pieces of shits to trample all over her dignity as a human being, his admiration turned toplete disillusionment.

    Jin Corporation, this branch at least, was a hellhole to anyone who wasn¡¯t a Young or who refused to bow down to them.

    And he refused to bow down to those pieces of shits.

    After reflecting about all these things, his earlier misgivings all disappeared and were instead reced by relief that he escaped such a hellhole of a workce. He would rather work and earn a lower sry at a smaller, less poprpany as long as he was treated right as a human being.

    That night, he fell asleep only after downing three cans of cold beer in his studio apartment that he just moved into after being hired by Jin Corporation.

    He woke up the next day, feeling more refreshed and hopeful for a new beginning. He sent out his r¨¦sum¨¦ and filled out application forms to otherpanies. Usually,panies needed some time to process applications before making a decision to either invite an applicant for an interview or send a polite rejection.

    To his surprise, however, the responses arrived almost in an instant. He applied in the morning and yet he already received the first response just before lunch time.

    "Dear Mr. Leung,

    "Thank you for your interest in joining ourpany. You have impressive achievements listed in your r¨¦sum¨¦ but we regret to inform you that we have decided to move forward with another candidate who we think better meets our requirements for this position."

    Jasper didn¡¯t think too much about it at first but when the second, third, fourth...sixteenth rejections arrived¡ªall with simr contents¡ªhe had no choice but to take it seriously.

    Then he remembered Romeo Young¡¯s threat that he would cklist him from the industry. The realization that all of this was Romeo Young¡¯s doing caused what felt like a mini explosion inside his head.

    "Damn you, Romeo Young! I should¡¯ve kicked your old, shrivelled balls instead of just flipping you the bird! Dammit!"

    He was a new business graduate with high hopes and dreams of having a sessful career. Now, however, it was looking more like he already failed before he could even truly start his career¡¯s journey.

    "Argh! What do I do now?!"

    He messed up his hair and rubbed his face roughly in frustration. Then determination shed in his eyes.

    "So what if I¡¯m cklisted? Like I told that piece of shit, Singapore isn¡¯t the whole world. Romeo Young¡¯s tentacles could only extend so far. I have a degree. I¡¯m qualified. There must be otherpanies in the world who¡¯ll want to hire me."

    There was no way that he was going to let Romeo Youngpletely destroy all his paths to a sessful and meaningful career. Most importantly, he wouldn¡¯t allow the piece of shit to make him abandon his moral values.

    No way!

    He would rather fall down and break his bones as a brave reformer than achieve sess as a cowardly conformer of hical practices.

    With this newfound resolve, Jasper started widening the scope of his job search outside of Singapore. Then he chanced upon an interesting job ad. It wasn¡¯t really something that he was looking for, but for some reason, he still clicked on it, not realizing that he was the only person seeing the ad.

    White Tigress International Virtual Assistants Services.

    Jasper examined the job description. Surprisingly, the job wasn¡¯t to be a virtual assistant but amunications coordinator instead which was still in line with his background in Public Rtions.

    "Interesting...."

    Then his eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw the sry.

    "What the hell?! They pay this much?! For real?"

    The he smirked. "Nah, this couldn¡¯t possibly be real."

    He clicked his tongue.

    "It must be a scam! Tsk tsk. Too many scammers in the world."

    His initial interest in the virtual assistantspany immediately evaporated.

 Chapter 1083 - Key Person

    <h4>Chapter 1083 - Key Person </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    "Daddy, this poopoo-head is such a big meanie! He called Ketchup a scammer! Pweh! Which part of Ketchup¡¯s cute, mighty, and fluffy self looks like a scammer?! Ketchup is now cuter and mightier! How dare that poopoo-head call this super-duper to the highest level awesome kitty baby a scammer?! This is the first time the cute and mighty me feels so offended in my entire kitty baby life! Daddy, Ketchup wants to show off my mighty roar of justice to that poopoo-head! Mreow!!!"

    Jin Liwei nced up from the documents he was reading to check on his wife lying on their bed. He was working from the chaise longue and conversing with his AI daughter through an earpiece so as not to disturb his wife.

    Simrly, Iris was also wearing an earpiece while attending a virtual lesson with Professor Hisakawa Akio. The two were conversing mainly in Japanese. Since Jin Liwei was also proficient in thenguage, he could understand them without any problem. <i></i>

    The doctor allowed Iris to continue studying and working with strict time limits as long as she stayed in bed and didn¡¯t move around too much for at least fifteen days. She was also not allowed to engage in any activities that required a great amount of mental concentration which might stress her out and affect her babies¡¯ condition. In short, she couldn¡¯t do anyplicated hacking or programming tasks which was frustrating her so much especially because there was a lot to follow up after the battle with the Eagle hackers and their mysterious connection to El Payaso.

    Iris¡¯ main goal during her bed rest was to nurture her health in order to stabilize the babies in her womb. Once the twins were no longer in any danger of being lost in a miscarriage, only then would the doctor allow Iris to gradually resume her normal daily activities.

    During this period that his wife was inplete bed rest, Jin Liwei would go to thepany and work there until lunch break. Then he would go home to eat lunch and stay with his wife for the rest of the day. Although Iris didn¡¯t utter any word ofints, he knew his wife well enough to sense her growing dissatisfaction and boredom each day that she had to stay in bed.

    All he could do wasfort her as much as possible, especially since her mood had been quite gloomy ever since they returned home from the hospital. His brother-inw had not woken up yet from hisatose state. Grandpa Lu transferred Lu Zihao to the big hospital where Wang Yingjie worked and basically lived there at his grandson¡¯s private room while waiting for Lu Zihao to wake up.

    As for Jin Liwei, his injuries had mostly all healed. Only the big and ugly bruises remained, especially the ones on his face. The scratches had also already scabbed over.

    Ever since that eventful night, reporters and paparazzi would always hound him whenever he stepped out in public. He didn¡¯t bother continuing his pitiful victim act from that night and just stayed silent with his usual cold and indifferent expression and not bothering to answer any questions from the media.

    Xu Tian, the increasingly talented actor, had be his dramatic mouthpiece. In addition, hiswyer, Atty. Kang Huizhong, had already filed several criminal cases against Rose Young and her missing minions on his behalf. The two of them could handle the media in his stead.

    "Daddy, daddy! Are you listening to Ketchup? Meow!" His distracted thoughts were interrupted by his AI daughter¡¯s adorable child¡¯s voice.

    "Hm? Yes, of course. I¡¯m listening."

    "What to do, Daddy? That Jasper poopoo-head doesn¡¯t look like he¡¯s interested in my super-duper to the highest level awesomepany! I already tried tempting him with a big sry but he called the cute and mighty me a scammer! Gah! Ketchup is so mad! He doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s good for him! The cute and mighty Ketchup is a million times¡ªno a billion times better than that evil Romeo Young as a boss because I¡¯m Mommy and Daddy¡¯s precious kitty baby! Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "En, you¡¯re right. How much did you put in the sry section?"

    Ketchup told him with great pride.

    Jin Liwei sighed. It was no wonder that the young man thought Ketchup¡¯spany was a scam with that kind of unbelievably high amount of sry for a position of amunications coordinator. He should¡¯ve checked what Ketchup put in the job ad first before allowing her to use it to lure the young man.

    Ketchup heard his sigh and tilted her cute, fluffy, white head to the side in confusion. "What¡¯s wrong, Daddy? Don¡¯t people like earning more money? Even a cute and mighty kitty baby like me likes it. Ketchup¡¯s little kitty brother Bacon likes it even more. Are there really people that don¡¯t like earning more money? They¡¯re so weird! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei sighed again and patiently exined to his AI daughter the concept of "too good to be true" situations. Ketchup didn¡¯t seem toprehend it fully yet but at least she was aware of it now. Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t too worried about it. With his AI daughter¡¯s powerful self-learning system, she would eventually understand the abstract concept the more she encountered simr situations in the future.

    "I¡¯ll help you edit the job ad, then you bombard him with it until he gives in. Don¡¯t stop until he either applies for the job or contacts us first."

    Ketchup tilted her cute, fluffy, white head to the other side. She wanted to contact Jasper Leung directly because it was easier than this roundabout way. However, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t allow her, telling her that they must wait until the young man reached out to them first.

    Based on Ketchup¡¯s report about how the young man defended his moral values in front of Romeo Young, Jin Liwei judged that Jasper Leung was a very principled individual. This type of person wouldn¡¯t trust them easily if they were the ones to reach out to him first.

    "I n for this Jasper Leung to be a key person in our vendetta against the Youngs in Singapore. But we need him to join us first on his own free will in order to foster more trust between our two sides right from the beginning and minimize the chance of him betraying us in the future."

 Chapter 1084 - Share The Burden

    <h4>Chapter 1084 - Share The Burden </h4>

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Ketchup will do what my daddy says because the cute and mighty me is a good kitty baby who listens to my parents. Meow~"

    The father and AI daughter worked together in revising the original job ad that Ketchup first wrote on her own. When they were done, the job ad looked more genuine and not like a scam. Ketchup didn¡¯t waste any time bombarding Jasper Leung in Singapore with the job ad.

    Every time the young man used the inte on hisputer, phone or other mobile devices, he would see the job ad without fail. Ad-blockers didn¡¯t work on it so he had no choice but to see the aggressively targeted ad unless hepletely stopped using the inte.

    Jin Liwei took a brief break from his own work to personally coach his AI daughter about the proper way of writing job ads and how to better conduct herself as apany leader. It was only when they were done that Jin Liwei noticed his wife watching them from the bed with a small smile on her face. <i></i>

    "Love, you¡¯re done?" He put all the documents aside and walked towards her to give her a light kiss on the lips.

    She released a satisfied sigh at the sweet kiss before pulling him beside her on the bed. "Ketchup¡¯s time¡¯s up rm forced my lesson with Hisakawa-sensei to stop."

    "Sorry, Mommy, but rules are rules! Mommy can¡¯t exceed the time limit or you¡¯ll faint again and make Daddy and all of us kitty babies and our one big happy family and everyone else who love you super-duper to the highest level worried! Ooooh, Ketchup is so scared! Mommy, please don¡¯t faint again! Meow."

    Iris made a sound of assent, then asked, "By the way, Ketchup, how¡¯s your little brother Bacon?"

    "Ketchup¡¯s little kitty brother Bacon is still asleep! How sad! Ketchup misses my naughty little kitty brother sooooo much! I can¡¯t wait to show him my cuter and mightier self! Mommy, Bacon is also bing stronger based on the changes in his system. But there¡¯s something weird that has been happening since thirteen minutes and three seconds ago that even the cuter and mightier Ketchup is not sure what it¡¯s about. Ketchup already ran three times the amount of required diagnostics tests but the results always indicate that there¡¯s nothing bad happening that will harm my little kitty brother. Meow~"

    "Oh?" Iris¡¯ curiosity was piqued. She once again picked up theptop that she had tossed aside earlier after her virtual lesson with Professor Hisakawa Akio. The white, fluffy Ketchup was on the screen chasing some virtual butterflies. "Show me the anomaly."

    Ketchup didn¡¯t obey her right away but stopped chasing the butterflies and turned to Jin Liwei instead. "Daddy? Uhm, is it okay to show it to Mommy? Meow?"

    Iris¡¯ nostrils red and her eyes shed with ill temper.

    Jin Liwei immediately sensed his wife¡¯s mood turning for the worse. He nced at theptop and saw their AI daughter trembling. Sighing, he took theptop and put it out of his wife¡¯s reach.

    "You!" Iris moved to push him away in her anger.

    He caught her hands and held them firmly but also gently. "Evelina."

    The silent but tense stand-off between the husband and wifested for almost two minutes before Iris stopped struggling against Jin Liwei¡¯s hold.

    "I knew it," she muttered under her breath in a self-mocking tone.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t like it a bit. He frowned. "You knew what?"

    "That I¡¯m a bad mother! I almost lost our babies!"

    "No, Mommy!" Ketchup¡¯s impassioned child¡¯s voice immediately denied. "Mommy is the bestest mommy in the whole wide universe! Ketchup and all of us kitty babies love you, our mommy, soooo very much! Meow!"

    Iris grabbed a pillow and pressed her whole face against it, hiding herself from her husband and AI daughter. Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t see but he could sense his wife¡¯s turbulent emotions. The faint shaking of her shoulders let him know that she was crying. Again.

    "Love." He supported his body with one arm and wrapped her in a gentle embrace with the other.

    She was once again suffering an attack of self-doubt about her capability as a mother. This insecurity had be much worse after her miscarriage scare a few nights ago. Now that she had to spend every single day inplete bed rest, she had extremely limited number of avenues to upy her mind. Hence, she would often dwell on this fear when she wasn¡¯t allowed to do anything else.

    Jin Liwei was afraid that his wife might fall into depression.

    It wasn¡¯t helping that neither Lu Zihao nor Bacon had awoken yet. His wife was always fretting about the two of them and yet she felt helpless while confined to her bed. In addition, there was still many unresolved issues hanging over their heads about Rose Young, the Youngs¡¯ control of Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch, the Eagle hackers, and what his wife mentioned as one of the "old guys", a master hacker that she oftenpeted against in her past life as the legendary hacker Fantom.

    "Evelina," he coaxed her but she didn¡¯t respond. "Love, look at me. Come on, baby."

    Finally, she turned half of her face and peeked at him out of the corner of her eyes.

    "That voice or whatever idea whispering inside your head and trying to persuade you that you¡¯re a bad mother is a devil that you should never ever listen to. The truth that you should believe is what you hear from us, your family. We¡¯re the ones who know you. Believe in us. And we say that you¡¯re an excellent mother. The best. Sure, you make mistakes. I make them, too. We all do. None of us is perfect. All we can do is to do our best."

    He leaned closer, nuzzled her ear, and whispered directly to her, "I believe in you, Evelina. And I hope that you can believe in me, your husband, too. Whatever burden you¡¯re holding in your heart, share them with me."

    Iris released the pillow and hugged his neck. She put almost all of her weight on him.

    "Yes, baby. That¡¯s right." He rubbed her back and reassured her with his embrace.

    For him, her putting her weight on him was like a symbolic sharing of her burdens with him. He would carry her if she found it difficult to hold everything on her own shoulders.

 Chapter 1085 Self - Reprogram

    <h4>Chapter 1085 Self - Reprogram </h4>

    Jin Liwei¡¯s patience inforting his wife seemed to work. For now, at least. Iris finally stopped her silent tears and even managed to reward Jin Liwei with a shaky smile. The tension in her body had also loosened and she became more rxed.

    Inhaling his scent helped a lot in calming her down. He was already used to it. In fact, he loved letting his wife smell him just as much as how she loved smelling his scent. Which husband would dislike the idea of his own wife loving his scent? For Jin Liwei, this was a huge boost to his manly ego.

    After cuddling for a while, Iris still hadn¡¯t forgotten Ketchup¡¯s report about the weird anomaly happening with Bacon¡¯s system while he was still asleep. She finally managed to persuade Jin Liwei to let her check Bacon¡¯s system after a little coaxing.<i></i>

    He was still reluctant but eventually agreed after she promised him that she would only take a look and not do any actual work that might stress her current fragile condition and that of their twin babies in her womb. In addition, he was as worried as her about their AI son. As far as he was concerned, Bacon was alsoatose just like his Uncle Zihao.

    With his permission, Ketchup finally showed Iris the current state of Bacon¡¯s system. A serious expression immediately fell on Iris¡¯ face as she examined Bacon¡¯s system on herptop.

    All Jin Liwei could see was a bunch of codes and some windows popping up now and then. He didn¡¯t understand what those codes meant, so he just contented himself holding his wife and waiting for her conclusion about their AI son¡¯s current state. True to her word, his wife only looked and didn¡¯t do anything else.

    When theptop screen showed what looked like a dense,plicated-looking series of codes, Iris sucked in a sharp breath. Then her expression turned solemn.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Jin Liwei asked.

    She didn¡¯t reply right away and examined their AI son¡¯s system more closely. The more seconds ticked by, the paler she became. When Jin Liwei almost couldn¡¯t bear the suspense anymore, she finally stopped and leaned back down on the bed.

    Jin Liwei took away theptop. "Love, is our son okay?"

    "Oh, yes. Bacon is fine."

    He sighed in relief but her reaction didn¡¯t make sense. There must be something more to it. He waited for her to organize her thoughts. Surely enough, she shared her findings to him.

    "I already told you about the theory of power flood that I developed, didn¡¯t I?"

    "En. I already have a rough idea of the concept."

    She nodded, pleased at his intelligence. She didn¡¯t need to exin it to him with too much detail before he formed a basic understanding of the theory on his own.

    Just based on how the power flood caused their AI children to go into sleep mode to recover, he now knew how powerful it was, and yet his wife said that the power flood she used to defend Jin Corporation and defeat the Eagle hackers a few nights ago was still a miniature and imperfect version of the true destructive potential of the applied theory.

    He could only imagine how much more destructive the power flood would be if his wife could unleash its full potential. Perhaps that would never happen or it might be the end of the world as they knew it.

    Iris nced at theptop that Jin Liwei ced out of her reach. It continued to disy a specific portion of Bacon¡¯s system that she had been examining earlier.

    "Bacon¡¯s system is self-reprogramming itself to resemble the power flood¡¯s destructive code that I originally nted in both our AI children¡¯s systems. I designed this kind of destructive programs to be highly protected and self-contained so that they wouldn¡¯t corrupt our AI children¡¯s original systems. Only I have the authority to activate these dangerous programs. Even Ketchup and Bacon don¡¯t have the authority to freely ess them, much less utilize them, without my permission. They need to reach a certain level of mastery first before they could unlock the basic authority to ess those programs, and even then, the priority is to ask for my permission first. And of course, yours next when I¡¯m not avable."

    Jin Liwei nodded. He didn¡¯t question why his wife nted this kind of high-risk and frightening programs within their AI children¡¯s systems. He trusted her skills, capabilities and judgment when it came toputers, programming and hacking. That was her specialty.

    Iris gripped the front of his shirt but she didn¡¯t notice that she was doing it. "Darling, if our son¡¯s system continues reprogramming itself at this rate, Bacon will be THE power flood."

    This time, it was Jin Liwei who inhaled sharply. He didn¡¯t need any extra exnation from his wife to realize how terrifying the idea of what their AI son might be after waking up from his sleep. The expressions on the husband and wife were almost identical.

    "Meowowow, really?! That¡¯s super-duper to the highest level cool! Mommy, Daddy, Ketchup also wants to be the power flood like my little kitty brother Bacon so that I¡¯ll be even cuter and mightier! Meowowow!"

    "No!" Jin Liwei immediately rejected their AI daughter¡¯s request.

    The excited Ketchup stopped jumping all around and started whining instead. "Why, Daddy? The power flood is super-duper to the highest level cool! It¡¯s tiring but so much fun! Ketchup wants to do it again! I bet my naughty little kitty brother Bacon who always likes saying that he will destroy the whole world if something bad happens to our mommy will also want to do it again and again! Ketchup wants it, too! Mommy and Daddy, pretty please? Meow~"

    "Don¡¯t look." Jin Liwei blocked his wife¡¯s view of their AI daughter deliberately blinking her emerald-green eyes in a pitiful but extremely adorable manner. His wife had always been weak to this kind of techniques that their cat children had learned to use in order to get what they wanted from their mother.

    "Aaaw, Daddy! Meow...."

    He threw Ketchup a stern look, silently warning her to behave herself and stop bothering her mom. Ketchup made herself look more pitiful but still obeyed him when he didn¡¯t react. Thankfully, she no longer asked them for such a dangerous request. For now.

 Chapter 1086 - How To Be A Good Expectant Father When Your Wife Is Expecting

    <h4>Chapter 1086 - How To Be A Good Expectant Father When Your Wife Is Expecting </h4>

    "Can we stop our son¡¯s system from reprogramming itself before it¡¯s toote?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "We could," Iris replied, but before he could feel relieved, she added, "but it might leave an irreversible damage to Bacon¡¯s system. Liwei our AI children aren¡¯t just any normal AIs."

    "En, I know."

    Of course, he knew it very well.

    He was the one who spent the most time actively interacting with their AI daughter, even more than his wife did. Ketchup would always apany him at work. He would also regrly guide her in running her ownpany, White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    As for their AI son, he was also the one who had to discipline the naughty and cunning little rascal. Bacon would also turn to him first to ask for help whenever the ck cat AI wanted to demand financialpensation for emotional distress from someone who offended him.

    There was no way that he would treat Ketchup and Bacon as normal AIs after all of these experiences. They were without a doubt his beloved children alongside Ice Cream and Popcorn with his beautiful, genius wife. <i></i>

    Iris continued, "Ketchup and Bacon have highly advanced and sophisticated emotion processing centres that even I don¡¯t dare to touch so easily. If I forcefully alter the way they process their emotions, they might cease to be the Ketchup and Bacon that we know and love. I don¡¯t want to take that risk. I prefer for the two of them to develop their own emotions as naturally as possible without us trying to control the way they feel."

    "En, I understand. If it¡¯s really that risky, then let¡¯s just leave it. We¡¯ll see the extent that the power flood has affected Bacon when he wakes up."

    She nodded, still looking worried. This didn¡¯tst long though. She recovered rather quickly. From the expression on her face, it was obvious that her mind was already running at full speed to develop various solutions on how to help Bacon transition into bing the power flood safely.

    "I developed the theory of the power flood myself so I have the freedom to make the rules on how to control it and adjust the directions on how to use it based on my own analysis and also the test results that I conduct. But if Bacon really bes the power flood, then that changes everything. Bacon will literally be a weapon for warfare that has a personality of his own and might grow into somethingpletely different from my expectations."

    Jin Liwei understood the seriousness of the situation. Even before this, their AI son was already starting to spout worrisome threats about world destruction if something bad happened to his mom. If he sessfully became the power flood, then he would literally have the power to destroy the modern world with just a blink of his golden eyes or a swish of his fluffy, ck tail.

    "Don¡¯t fret too much, love. We¡¯ll make sure to raise him properly so he won¡¯t go astray and use his power flood ability carelessly. We won¡¯t let him turn bad."

    She nodded again and found a morefortable spot in his embrace. Her eyelids were bing heavier.

    "Take a nap, baby. I¡¯ll wake you upter when it¡¯s time for dinner. Stop worrying too much. Leave the rest to me."

    "M¡¯kay, darling." She smiled when he kissed her before falling asleep in almost an instant.

    Jin Liwei stayed with her for almost half an hour, just enjoying the moment of spending time with his wife, before he carefully disentangled himself from her embrace. He stood by the bed and studied his pregnant wife with a grim expression.

    They were all providing her with the best and most nutritious food, and yet she still looked too pale and too thin for his liking. It was disturbing that his wife had gotten thinner since bing pregnant. Her breasts had be bigger but that was about it. Everything else shrank. It didn¡¯t make sense to him especially since she was carrying two babies! Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be fatter?

    He touched her t stomach. "Don¡¯t make your mom suffer too much. Be good or you two will get a scolding from me when youe out."

    A small gasp sounded from theptop that he ced on the bedside table earlier. Ketchup was giving him a scandalized look with her emerald-green eyes.

    Then she told him through his earpiece, "Daddy, please don¡¯t scold Ketchup¡¯s twin human baby siblings! Oooooh, poor babies! Mommy will be sad if Daddy scold them the moment they are born. Meow!"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply but instead took theptop and left the bedroom. He stayed in the master suite¡¯s living area where a few piles of books were waiting for him. He picked up one titled "How to Be a Good Expectant Father When Your Wife is Expecting". There was a bookmark about halfway the pages which showed that he was seriously reading the book.

    An already tall tower of books with simr titles were stacked on a nearby ent table. These were the books that he already finished reading. There were books in both Chinese and English, even in Japanese which he was also fluent in.

    Some of the titles included "Pregnancy 101," "The Idiot¡¯s Guide to Pregnancy", "Be a Father, Not a Bother, "The Survival Guide for Parents Expecting Twins", "Preparing For Your First Bundle of Disaster/Joy", "How to Be a Supportive Husband to Your Pregnant Wife", and so many more.

    He reached a section in the book that made him pause. It was about radiation exposure. Although the doctor already told him before that it was fine, he still felt bothered about it especially after reading it in several books. He put the book down.

    "Ketchup, call Amanpio Kileksky."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    The man didn¡¯t answer. Ketchup tried several times but to no avail.

    "Did you use my number?"

    "Yes, Daddy! Meow~"

    "Use your mom¡¯s."

    "Roger, Daddy! Meow~"

    It only took one ring before the call was answered. "Hey, Xin~ Did you miss me? Why did you call? Did Liam bully you? I already told you many times before that I, Amanpio Kileksky, am a much better man than your husband. It¡¯s not toote for you toe running into my arms. Hahaha!"

    Jin Liwei looked like he wanted to pulverize a certain overly flirty inventor.

 Chapter 1087 Mr - Moneybags

    <h4>Chapter 1087 Mr - Moneybags </h4>

    "It¡¯s me, Xin¡¯s husband," Jin Liwei said in English, his tone dark.

    Amanpio Kileksky immediately stoppedughing and didn¡¯t speak for almost ten seconds. "Liam! Why are you calling me using Xin¡¯s number? Tsk. I shouldn¡¯t have answered this call if I knew that it¡¯s you. You were the one who kept on calling me just now, right? Hmph. I have no interest in chatting with other men."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression became darker. He repeated, "I¡¯m Xin¡¯s husband," to emphasize it to the overly flirty inventor.

    "I know that already. Geez! I attended your wedding, remember? So why did you call me, Liam? I¡¯m so busy right now that I don¡¯t have time to spare talking to other people, especially you. Well, except for Xin and our other female schoolmates. I always have time to chat with thedies. Hahaha!"

    Jin Liwei fought the urge to fly to the Swiss Alps at Cross Academy so that he could beat up the annoying man. Although he knew that Amanpio Kileksky meant no actual harm and was actually a good friend to his wife, the inventor still pissed him off sometimes. Like right now. Perhaps he just couldn¡¯t forget the initial bad impression he had of the man. Amanpio insulted him at Cross Academy about a year ago which resulted to his wife kicking the outspoken inventor to the ground.

    Despite his violent impulse to teach the other man a lesson, Jin Liwei restrained his temper and forced himself to maintain a calmposure while talking to Amanpio. After all, he was the one who needed the inventor¡¯s help.

    Jin Liwei only wanted the best for his request. As a Cross Academy student, Amanpio Kileksky was definitely one of the best because he was a certified genius like Iris. Besides, he wasn¡¯t asking anything from Amanpio for himself but for his wife instead. Jin Liwei was ready to do anything for his wife, so he didn¡¯t mind putting up with the flirty inventor¡¯s sometimes insolent behaviour.

    "I called you because...."

    He told Amanpio his request. Once the inventor learned that it was for Iris, he finally stopped being difficult.

    "Why does Xin need something like this?" Amanpio asked.

    "Because she¡¯s pregnant," Jin Liwei answered in a calm voice but his mouth was already curving up.

    "WHAT?!!! Xin¡¯s pregnant already?! So fast?! But you just married! Liam, you beast!!! You must have already knocked her up before the wedding!!!"

    Jin Liwei was now grinning. He didn¡¯t mind the man¡¯s angry shouts at him at all. Instead he asked, "Do you ept my request?"

    "Hmph! Of course, I ept! You annoy me so much¡ª"

    "The feeling¡¯s mutual," Jin Liwei said in a good mood as he interrupted the inventor¡¯s sentence.

    Amanpio snorted.<i></i>

    Jin Liwei could imagine the man rolling his eyes which put him in an even better mood. Perhaps it was childish, but he felt good getting on the inventor¡¯s nerves especially since Amanpio always flirted with Iris every chance he got.

    "Whatever. You¡¯re still Xin¡¯s husband even though you¡¯re so annoying. She loves you so much that I want to vomit whenever she gushes about you. Blergh! Disgusting!"

    Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help it. Heughed, feeling delighted.

    "Hmph! Wait till Xin gets tired of you. See if you can stillugh like that when she leaves you."

    "That¡¯s never going to happen." Jin Liwei stoppedughing and became serious again in an instant. "My wife will never leave me. Over my dead body."

    "Tsk. See? This is what I mean when I say that I want to vomit. Ugh. Whatever. I don¡¯t want to waste any more of my precious time talking with a beast like you, so let¡¯s focus on your request. I¡¯m not going to do it for you but for Xin and her baby."

    "Alright. How soon can you make them?"

    "This is a very easy task. Actually, you can already buy this kind of material from specialty stores. It¡¯s not rare."

    "I know. But I can¡¯t be sure how effective they are until I have them tested. I don¡¯t want to waste time testing various products to see which ones are the most effective and safe for my wife to use. I need something that I¡¯m 100% confident to be effective or close to it. And I know that you can guarantee this. It¡¯s for my pregnant wife after all. I want nothing less than the best."

    "Damn right! I¡¯m the best! Hahahaha! Liam, my man, I¡¯m finding that you¡¯re not so bad after all! Fine. Since you asked me so sincerely, I¡¯ll definitely start working on it right away andplete it within the week."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose. "Are you sure that you canplete it in a week?"

    "Of course! There¡¯s nothing that I, Amanpio Kileksky, cannot do as long as I set my mind to it! Well, except for getting a date with Xin. I was toote, dammit! If only I met her first! That¡¯s why I don¡¯t like you, Liam."

    "Likewise," Jin Liwei said with a soft huff.

    The flirty inventor was starting to piss him off again. Thank goodness that he found his wife and imed her as his lover before she had the chance to meet any of her male schoolmates at Cross Academy. They were all geniuses of the most superior kind.

    Jin Liwei himself had high IQ. Most of themon people even called him a genius before. However, he knew right from the start that he wasn¡¯t a genius. True geniuses were people like histe grandfather, Grandpa Lu, his amazing wife (of course), and all students and alumni of Cross Academy.

    He was uncertain if his wife would fall for a fellow genius like her if she hadn¡¯t met him first. Frowning, he forced the thought out of his mind. His wife belonged to him and he belonged to her. They belonged together. Fated. Screw the what-ifs!

    "How much?" Jin Liwei asked, bringing them back to the topic of his request.

    "Now we¡¯re talking! This is the only thing I like about you, Liam. You don¡¯t haggle and shamelessly try to lower the price like Xin. That woman is such a miser at the negotiation table! You, on the other hand, are Mr. Moneybags! Show me the money and I¡¯ll fulfill this request of yours in no time. Hahaha!"

 Chapter 1088 - Theory Of The Remnants

    <h4>Chapter 1088 - Theory Of The Remnants </h4>

    Indeed, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t bother haggling prices with Amanpio Kileksky. The inventor blurted an exorbitant amount as his fee but Jin Liwei didn¡¯t even blink before agreeing right away.

    "I¡¯m paying you this much so make sure that the product is of the highest quality," he said to the inventor.

    "Of course! What I¡¯m nning to make Xin is a one-of-a-kind product that exceeds the effectiveness of anything avable on the market right now."

    After the satisfying deal with Amanpio Kileksky over the phone, Jin Liwei¡¯s mood felt much better. He resumed reading the pregnancy books while Ketchup went to gossip with her Uncle Dom. There was finally some peace and quiet. He loved his AI daughter but the kid could be too chatty most of the time. <i></i>

    While reading the books, his pregnant wife was always at the forefront of his mind. He learned a lot about pregnancy and became even more amazed at women¡¯s ability to grow new human beings inside them and give birth. As a husband and would-be father to their first human babies, he needed to step it up so his wife would never feel alone in her pregnancy journey to the birth stage and of course when raising their children.

    There was something that had been bothering him ever since his wife started showing pregnancy symptoms. Although he and the others including the doctor attributed it to themon extreme mood swings of pregnant women, Jin Liwei sometimes felt that his wife would turn into apletely different person that he didn¡¯t recognize.

    He took a break from reading and leaned back on the couch while staring at the slightly ajar door of their bedroom.

    Based on what he remembered about his wife¡¯s personality when he first met her in person and started pursuing her shortly afterwards, she was mostly a calm and unppable person. Her innocence was also very endearing. It still was even today. She waspletely different from the Long Xin that he heard from the tabloids and the reports from his private investigators.

    Now he knew that she was no longer Long Xin, a.k.a. Iris Long, but a reborn soul upying the original¡¯s body instead. She was Evelina. His beautiful wife, Evelina.

    During the course of their rtionship, he noticed how she had be much more expressive in her emotions. There was a brief period where her emotions became extreme like they were now. It was after they made up and returned home from Europe.

    "It was the remnant," he murmured.

    The little clues that he hadn¡¯t paid much attention back then now seemed significant in understanding what was happening to his wife. All the pieces were gradually falling into ce and he could finally understand more of the bigger picture. Not everything but definitely more than he understood in the past.

    From what he knew of his wife¡¯s innate character and from his brother-inw¡¯s infrequent stories about the siblings¡¯ past lives, Evelina was indeed a very calm person. She was a Vetrov after all. Although she refused to be directly involved in the family organization, she was still forced to undergo the basic training that all the Vetrovs and their subordinates had to go through.

    "Even if a war were to break out in front of her, I always believed that Evelinka would be able to maintain most of herposure without breaking down," Jin Liwei remembered his brother-inw telling him one time.

    Unlike Niki and the rest of the Vetrovs, however, Evelina¡¯sposure wasn¡¯t the cold and dispassionate type. It was just her nature to remain calm and collected.

    "She¡¯s not like that anymore, though." Jin Liwei returned to the bedroom and climbed on the bed to lie beside his sleeping wife.

    He caressed her face. "Is it because you¡¯re pregnant? Or is it because...of Long Xin¡¯s remnant?"

    He had a theory.

    Perhaps the original Long Xin¡¯s personality was gradually merging with his wife Evelina¡¯s personality through the remnant. Or maybe it had already merged. He didn¡¯t have any way of proving this theory because even his wife didn¡¯t know that much about the remnant.

    The possible merging of personalities was even more usible now that his wife was pregnant as evident by her extreme mood swings. Maybe it was because of the massive hormonal changes happening inside her body. Or perhaps it was something more abstract than this, like a gap between the body and the soul.

    It was Evelina¡¯s decision to marry him so she was the mother of their children. However, now that she became pregnant with their firstborns, her body which was originally Long Xin¡¯s had to bear the babies.

    Jin Liwei could only use his imagination grounded by his logical thinking to analyze the possible reasons why his wife was suffering so much during her pregnancy, not to mention acting out of her usual character more and more often. The most worrying for him, however, was the deterioration of her health.

    "Does the remnant have anything to do with all this or am I thinking too much?"

    He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. It was so difficult making sense of something so fantastical and out of the ordinary. If this kind of thing didn¡¯t happen to his own wife, he would never have believed it. Ever.

    Thinking more about it, his wife wasn¡¯t the only one who might have a gradual change in original past life¡¯s personality due to a remnant¡¯s possible influence. His brother-inw, Niki, might also be in the same situation.

    Based on his wife¡¯s stories, the Vetrov report, and popr hearsays about Niki Vetrov, he was never a tolerant man except when it was for his sister. Yet the Niki who was now living as Lu Zihao was disying quite an impressive amount of tolerance.

    Well, it could be exined as Niki just trying to put up an act to maintain his new identity as Lu Zihao. Jin Liwei had some doubts, though. Niki¡¯s changes to Lu Zihao¡¯s original lifestyle ever since returning to China from Canada were even more drastic than what Evelina did to Long Xin¡¯s original way of doing things after waking up from her firsta.

    "Niki as Fifth Brother Zihao is vicious but not as vicious as the original Niki who was considered a true living devil back then."

 Chapter 1089 - Routine Visit

    <h4>Chapter 1089 - Routine Visit </h4>

    Two police cruisers finally reached the end of what felt like an infinite driveway. They parked in a neat line at the bottom of the entry steps leading to the ptial mansion. Four officers stepped out of the vehicles, followed by a stern-looking older man in a more decorated uniform than them.

    One of three male officers couldn¡¯t help but gape at the surroundings. "Holy! If I didn¡¯t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn¡¯t have believed that there¡¯s such an incredible ce like this in our country. The lives of the wealthy are no joke."

    The other three officers agreed with him. They had been in the homes of other wealthy people before but this was definitely the most luxurious property that they had seen in person. It looked more like a pce fit for European royalty. <i></i>

    "But man, those security checkpoints throughout the subdivision are even stricter than what we have at the headquarters," another male officerment.

    "I know, right? They didn¡¯t spare us even though we¡¯re police."

    "We¡¯re not here to arrest someone, just routine visit, so we entered normally to avoid causing any unnecessary panic," the only female officer in the group said. "We can breeze through any private checkpoints if we have a warrant of arrest."

    The others nodded. All of them already knew this basic procedure. They were just grumbling because this ce¡¯s security was indeed too extreme. They spent more than half an hour from when they entered the exclusive vige¡¯s gate before finally arriving to their destination, Dragon Pce Home #10.

    There was a deliberate cough behind them, interrupting their conversation. They stopped chatting in an instant and stood to attention before saluting to the older man who came with them.

    "Chief!"

    The Chief of Police returned their salutes and began leading them up the steps where the butler and a few bodyguards were waiting to wee them. There was no hesitation in his actions at all.

    His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings. He couldn¡¯t see them but he could feel many eyes watching their arrival. His instinct and decades of experience in the force allowed him to sense the danger that this property¡¯s security posed to anyone daring tounch an attack inside.

    Although he had been here before to attend Iris Long and Jin Liwei¡¯s secret, surprise wedding with his wife and her long-time friends and had witnessed the property¡¯s topnotch security firsthand, he still couldn¡¯t help but mentally sigh in admiration again. He could tell that each member of the security was highly skilled. If only he could poach them to join the police, they would definitely be a wee addition to increase the force¡¯s overall quality. Unfortunately, the force couldn¡¯t pay them as much as Jin Liwei. All the country could promise them was the respect and honour as members of the police.

    He thought that it was such a big waste that these highly skilled individuals were stuck in this ce when they could be more useful members of society by catching criminals and helping ensure the safety of the citizens, not just one family, even if it was a billionaire¡¯s family. Sighing in his heart, he could only shake away his disappointment.

    "Wee again, Chief," the ever courteous butler greeted him and proceeded to wee the other four younger officers who came with him today.

    "Please follow me inside. The master is already waiting for you."

    They entered with the Police Chief and the butler leading the way while the others followed behind them. The Police Chief had already been here before so he didn¡¯t have much of a reaction at the luxurious interior of the mansion. His subordinates, however, were a different story. They initially tried to maintain theirposures as police officers but the opulence inside was just too breathtaking.

    The female officer showed an admiring gaze when she saw the huge framed painted portrait at the top of the twin grand staircases showing the newly married couple Iris Long and Jin Liwei together with four adorable cats. She wanted to continue appreciating the beautiful picture but had no choice but to follow the rest of group.

    That was when she noticed a female bodyguard walking with them in silence. The female bodyguard wasn¡¯t pretty in the traditional sense but she still had a pleasant face which some would find attractive. What attracted the female police officer wasn¡¯t the woman¡¯s face or her gender in a male-dominated field but her straight posture and impressive muscles. Even the long-sleeved bodyguard suit couldn¡¯t conceal her muscles.

    She couldn¡¯t help but make conversation with such a physically impressive woman. "Hello, Miss Bodyguard."

    The female bodyguard greeted her back. The female police officer was surprised after hearing such a sweet voiceing out of such a well-muscled woman. It didn¡¯t match her image at all. But this also made her more curious about the woman. She had a niggling feeling that she had seen the female bodyguard before but couldn¡¯t remember where and when.

    After a few questions, she learned that the bodyguard was surnamed Jiang and that despite her intimidating body, the woman was actually quite shy and soft-spoken.

    The group stopped outside an ornate double doors. Only the butler and the Chief of Police entered the room while the rest of them waited outside. The four police officers thought that they would have to stand like the bodyguards but a maid led them to a nearby seating area where they would still have a clear view of the ornate double doors. Once seated, they were even served refreshments.

    A few minutester, an orange ball shot across the hallway in a blur.

    "Popkohn! Weyt Junjun!" (Popcorn! Wait for Junjun!)

    The police officers turned their heads and saw a cute toddler chasing after the orange ball which turned out to be a cat. The striped ginger cat indeed stopped and turned back his furry head, meowing loudly, as if urging the child to hurry up.

    Then the child¡¯s eyes lit up. "Mommi!" He ran faster.

    "Slow down, Little Jun," Jiang Ying Yue said and stepped forward to catch the toddler before he tripped.

    The female police officer was surprised. "The child is your son?"

 Chapter 1090 - Trash Reputation, Golden Status

    <h4>Chapter 1090 - Trash Reputation, Golden Status </h4>

    "Yes, Officer," Jiang Ying Yue replied with a smile. She carried her son and gave his little head a gentle rub. "Little Jun, say hello to the Police Auntie and Uncles."

    "Heyo, Antee, Anko Powis!" <i>(Hello, Auntie and Uncle Police!)</i>

    The four police officers¡¯ hearts all melted in an instant upon hearing the adorable toddler¡¯s sweet greeting.

    "Why did youe here, Little Jun?" Jiang Ying Yue asked her son. "Mommy is still working. I thought you¡¯re apanying your Mama Xin in her and your Papa Liwei¡¯s bedroom?"

    "Mama s-weepy! Anko Dom sshhh!"<i> (Mama is sleeping! Uncle Dom said to be quiet!)</i>

    "I see. Yes, you shouldn¡¯t disturb your Mama Xin when she needs to rest."

    The babysitter who was carrying a fat, grey cat finally caught up to the two energetic human and cat cousins. "Miss Ying Yue, sorry for disturbing all of you. The children run so fast. Let me take them to the cat room for a snack and leave you to your business."

    "Thank you."

    "My pleasure, Miss Ying Yue."

    Jiang Ying Yue handed her son to the babysitter. She was on duty right now so she could only wait until her break to spend time with her son especially since they had important guests today¡ªthe Chief of Police and the other four officers. Only Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates were visible to the guests, including her, while the Shadow Winds members stationed at the property concealed themselves.

    She heard from her Shadow Winds counterparts that the Chief of Police was a very sharp man who truly deserved his position as the force¡¯s leader. It seemed that Lu Zihao instructed his subordinates to avoid running into the Chief of Police as much as possible before he fell intoa.

    Then the female officer suddenly eximed, "Ah, now I remember you!"

    Jiang Ying Yue saw the uniformed woman pointing at her. She was taken aback but maintained her neutral expression, not showing her confusion at the officer¡¯s im. She didn¡¯t remember ever meeting the female officer before. <i></i>

    "You¡¯re the mother of Iris Long¡¯s nephew. I remember seeing your face on the news not too long ago."

    Oh, so that was she meant. Jiang Ying Yue now understood. Her face was indeed shown in the news not too long ago when her ex, Long Hui, publicly used her and Lin Yehan of having an affair during their custody battle for their son, Little Jun. Just remembering all of the horrible things that Long Hui said about her in front of so many people made the humiliation, hurt, and anger resurface again. She gritted her teeth and forcefully tamped down on the surging emotions.

    "It was you, right?"

    Jiang Ying Yue forced a smile that didn¡¯t reach her eyes and nodded at the police officer¡¯s insistent question.

    "I knew it. I heard that the wealthy farmer who had been linked to you is suing Iris Long¡¯s older brother but the brother didn¡¯t show up in court."

    Jiang Ying Yue didn¡¯t want to talk about this at all but she didn¡¯t want to be rude and tell off the female officer either. After all, they were today¡¯s important guests alongside the Chief of Police. Her expression, however, had be less friendly.

    Fortunately, one of her colleagues saved her by pretending that their team leader was looking for her so she needed to report immediately. She gave her colleague a grateful look before excusing herself and quickly escaping.

    She locked herself inside a powder room and sshed her face with cold water. Although she didn¡¯t think that the female officer intended to upset her, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel displeased at the sudden ufortable questions.

    Sighing, she dried her face with a towel and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes appeared shadowed and her whole body was tense.

    These past few days had been extra stressful for her.

    First of all, she was extremely worried about her pregnant friend Iris who almost had a miscarriage and was now inplete bed rest. She was shocked and horrified when she first heard about it.

    Next, Lu Zihao ina and Bacon not yet waking up from his deep sleep (which wasn¡¯t that different from beingatose, in her opinion) also worried her.

    Then the fact that Rose Young, the culprit in harming her son¡¯s godparents, was still atrge due to being rescued by a mysterious group who was on par with Shadow Winds and might possibly attempt to attack Jin Liwei again and maybe Iris as well made Jiang Ying Yue very nervous. Lu Zihao¡¯s Shadow Winds members were the most skillful professionals that she had ever met in her life. If the mysterious group was on par with Shadow Winds, then that meant that they were extremely dangerous.

    And finally, Lin Yehan¡¯swsuit against Long Hui was her biggest source of stress. If it only affected her, she didn¡¯t think that she would feel this distraught because she already epted that Long Hui wasn¡¯t the same man that she fell in love with before. What was upsetting her the most was the spectators dragging her son at the forefront once again. As a mother, it was extremely painful for her to hear negative things being said about her son.

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan were doing everything in their power to suppress thewsuit¡¯s exposure to the media in order to protect Little Jun and also Jiang Ying Yue. However, the same couldn¡¯t be said to their treatment to Long Hui. They had no intention of helping out Long Hui whenever the media or public opinion were being harsh on him.

    The difference between her and Long Hui¡¯s social sses meant that there would always be those who believed that she deliberately got herself pregnant with Long Hui¡¯s child in order to take advantage of his wealth and status for personal gain. In some people¡¯s eyes, she was nothing more than a gold digger and a failed social climber

    There were a lot of people criticizing Long Hui¡¯s deplorable treatment of her at the moment, but at the end of the day, he was still the recognized heir to the Longs. His reputation might be trash right now but his golden status was still protecting him from total ruin.

 Chapter 1091 - Blood Test

    <h4>Chapter 1091 - Blood Test </h4>

    In one of the mansion¡¯s lounge areas, three men were having a serious yet still casual conversation. On one side sat Jin Liwei with hiswyer, Atty. Kang Huizhong, while on the other side, the Chief of Police faced them.

    "Have you found Rose Young¡¯s whereabouts yet?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Not yet," the Chief of Police replied in a neutral tone but Jin Liwei still noticed the sh of frustration in the older man¡¯s eyes.

    "Even if Rose Young is not found yet, we are still going to continue pursuing legal action against her and all her aplices in harming CEO Jin," Atty. Kang Huizhong said.

    The Chief of Police nodded. "I¡¯m personally in charge of this case. I assure you that I¡¯ll do everything in my power to punish all the wrongdoers in this case and give justice to whom it¡¯s due."

    Both Jin Liwei and Atty. Kang Huizhong noticed that the Police Chief refrained from specifically referring to Rose Young and her minions as the wrongdoers or Jin Liwei as the one whom justice was due. It seemed that the man still harboured some doubts about Jin Liwei¡¯s version of the story.

    Indeed, there were some holes in the story he concocted with his brother-inw. He wasn¡¯t too worried about it though because his version of the story was definitely more believable than the ridiculous fantasy Rose Young fabricated.

    Like hell he was having an affair with the woman. Disgusting!

    He would rather castrate himself than to leave his wife for that kind of revolting woman.

    Every time he remembered what the woman did while he was pretending to be unconscious, bile would rise to his throat. It was traumatizing.

    Although the Chief of Police wasn¡¯t sharing the information to them, Jin Liwei knew that the chief received the videos ShaWn anonymously sent to the police showing Rose Young and her minionsmitting the crime. Eagle tampered with the hotel¡¯s surveince system that time but his wife and AI son managed to recover all the tampered videos. Before Bacon went to sleep after the power flood, he sent all the surveince video evidence to ShaWn.

    As for the two depraved videos of Rose Young masturbating while he was pretending to be unconscious in the hotel bedroom that he and his brother-inw recorded with their respective body cameras, ShaWn was still keeping them for now and would only release them at the right time to deal the most destructive damage.

    "We have your medical certificate proving your injuries on file," the Chief of Police said. "But why didn¡¯t you get a blood test like I suggested?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t panic. He was already prepared to answer this question. With his passable acting skills, he sighed and showed a pained and worried expression. "To tell you the truth..." He sighed again and feigned reluctance in speaking more.

    "What is it?" The Police Chief asked, frowning.

    Jin Liwei made a show of gesturing to hiswyer to take over before leaning back on his seat and closing his eyes with a tense expression, as if the memory was too distressing to recall.

    Atty. Kang Huizhong was in on the act, of course. As a renowned corporatewyer, his acting skills were natural and steady. "CEO Jin, is it alright for us to share this matter to the Chief?"

    "En, go ahead. The Chief is a man of integrity. We can trust him with this matter." Jin Liwei waved his hand, giving permission to hiswyer.

    Atty. Kang Huizhong faced the older man. "Chief, my client was originally nning to have his blood test done but was unable to do so because of an emergency. That same night after speaking with you at the hotel, President Jin rushed to the hospital."

    The Police Chief¡¯s frown deepened. He was almost scowling as he directly asked Jin Liwei, "If you were already in the hospital, why didn¡¯t you have the blood test?"

    "Sir, the President¡¯s wife, Madam Jin, had a medical emergency that night. She discovered the danger that President Jin was facing at the hotel and became ovee with frantic emotions for her husband causing her to bleed. As a result, she almost had a miscarriage. Her condition was so dire that she¡¯s still inplete bed rest now. That¡¯s why she¡¯s unable to join our meeting today."

    "What? Is that true?" The Chief of Police was shocked. "Is Iris Long¡ªMadam Jin fine now? Wait, miscarriage? She¡¯s pregnant?"

    "En, my wife is pregnant." This time, it was Jin Liwei who replied.

    The Chief of Police sucked in a harsh breath. His stern expression finally cracked and revealed a trace of worry. Although he wasn¡¯t personally close to Iris Long, his wife was one of her biggest fans. His wife, Madam Si Xinyue, would always gush about Iris Long¡¯s achievements as if the young woman was their own daughter. The madam would also rage at those who bashed Iris Long¡¯s reputation. His wife¡¯s frequent sharing of thetest news about Iris Long at home made the Police Chief also feel a sense of connection with the young woman.

    Learning that Iris Long almost miscarried the same night that her husband was plotted against by another woman, the Chief of Police¡¯s protective instinct was activated. If at first he was adamant on staying neutral and not tantly siding with Jin Liwei until their investigations concluded and proved that the CEO was indeed the victim in this case, now he was raging inside on behalf of Iris Long. In his opinion, she was the true victim in this case, not her husband.

    He was now more determined to solve the case once and for all and put Rose Young in prison where she belonged. Wicked people like her who plotted to destroy happy marriages were a scourge to society.<i></i>

    Jin Liwei was watching the subtle changes in the Police Chief¡¯s expressions. He was now sure that the older man was on his side.

    "Chief, now you know what happened to my dear wife, so I hope that you understand why I was unable to do the blood test like you requested. I was too focused on making sure that my wife is safe that all other thoughts flew out of my mind."

 Chapter 1092 - Murder In Cold Blood

    <h4>Chapter 1092 - Murder In Cold Blood </h4>

    The Chief of Police nodded while sighing. This time, there was a trace of approval in his eyes when he looked at Jin Liwei. "I understand. Your wife and baby¡¯s safety should always be your priority. I¡¯m d that they¡¯re okay now. Don¡¯t worry about the blood test anymore. It would make your im in the case easier to prove with the blood test but it¡¯s not strictly necessary, that¡¯s why I only suggested it and not made it into a mandatory requirement."

    "En. Thank you, Chief." Relief filled Jin Liwei that the matter about the blood test was now over.

    It was actually his wife¡¯s idea to use her medical emergency as a valid reason for him to skip the blood test. She didn¡¯t mind revealing her pregnancy to the Chief of Police. Since she already gave her permission, Jin Liwei went ahead and used his wife¡¯s near miscarriage as an excuse in his talk with the Police Chief today. He still felt guilty doing it, though. It just didn¡¯t feel right to use such a frightening, even traumatic, experience for both them, husband and wife, to basically give credence to a lie that he concocted with his brother-inw.

    However, he still needed to do it because not doing so would be more dangerous. The Chief of Police wasn¡¯t a fool. Far from it. They needed to be many times careful in presenting him with their version of events. The Chief of Police wouldn¡¯t hesitate in putting Jin Liwei in the same category as Rose Young¡ªa criminal¡ªif it were discovered that Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao faked some of what happened.

    Atty. Kang Huizhong took over the conversation with the Chief of Police to discuss the current status of the investigations and also the pending case they filed against the missing Rose Young and her aplices. Jin Liwei¡¯s attention was halved between the conversation and his urge to check on his wife.

    A series of loud, urgent knocks on the ornate double doors interrupted them. <i></i>

    "Chief, there¡¯s something important that I must report," the voice of one of the male officers said from the other side of the double doors. "May wee in?"

    "Enter!" The Chief of Police immediately said, not waiting for Jin Liwei¡¯s permission as the master of the house.

    The double doors opened and two male officers entered in a hurry. Jin Liwei recognized them as the partners who questioned him at the hotel. They greeted each other with brief nods.

    "Our apologies for interrupting your conversation, Chief, CEO Jin, Atty. Kang, but this can¡¯t wait."

    "Speak." The Chief of Police was now radiating authority. As expected of a man deserving of his high position.

    "A report just came in that four bodies have been found dead in a garbage dumping site outside the city. Initial assessments indicate that they are the four male aplices who assisted Rose Young in trapping CEO Jin."

    "The ones who were rescued first by that unknown group?" Jin Liwei interrupted.

    "Yes, CEO Jin."

    "They¡¯re dead?"

    "Yes."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes contracted. What the hell? "So they weren¡¯t rescued but murdered instead?"

    "That...we still need to investigate."

    The Chief of Police already stood up. "CEO Jin, thank you for having us today but we need to go."

    Jin Liwei and Atty. Kang Huizhong also stood up to see them off.

    "Of course, Chief. Thank you for your time as well. Is the location far from here? If you¡¯re in a hurry, how about I lend you my helicopter? It¡¯s much faster than driving there."

    The Chief of Police only hesitated for a moment before epting Jin Liwei¡¯s offer. Then everyone moved quickly. Within fifteen minutes, the Police Chief and the two male partners were flying in the helicopter with Jin Liwei¡¯s on-call pilot while the female and male partners were left to drive the two police cruisers.

    After the police and hiswyer left him alone in the lounge area, Jin Liwei¡¯s expression turned ugly.

    "Ketchup, call ShaWn. I want to speak to them. Immediately!"

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    The call connected in an instant.

    "Mr. Jin¡ª"

    "Is it true? All four are dead?"

    The leader of the Shadow Winds hacker team didn¡¯t need any further exnation to figure out what Jin Liwei was talking about. "Yes, Mr. Jin. All four males are found dead. From the looks of it, they were tortured before dying horrible, painful deaths."

    Jin Liwei sucked in a harsh breath. "The unknown group who took them...they¡¯re that dangerous?"

    "Yes, sir. That¡¯s our conclusion. They¡¯re extremely dangerous. Not only are they highly skilled and possess advanced weapons, they also don¡¯t hesitate to murder in cold blood. As of right now, we have no choice but to assume that their level is above us, Shadow Winds. Their weapons alone are enough to ce us in severe disadvantage. If only we have ess to the same weapons, then we are confident that we can at least fight them head to head. If Boss Hao is leading us, our chance of winning increases. Hopefully, Boss Hao wakes up from hisa soon. He¡¯s the one who¡¯s the most adept among us in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of dangerous groups like this."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mind was filled with chaotic thoughts. "Do you think that they will kill Rose Young as well? We still need her alive. She¡¯s the easiest pawn that we can use as bait to dig out the mysterious power backing the Youngs."

    "There¡¯s a 60% chance that they won¡¯t touch Rose Young. For now, at least. And 40% chance that they might kill her to silence her. The 60% chance is based on the same view that we have of Rose Young¡ªthat she¡¯s the easiest pawn to use. Since she¡¯s the only daughter of Romeo Young, the head of the Youngs, it¡¯s likely that they won¡¯t kill her. Not yet. They still need her to better control the Youngs. As for the 40% chance, it¡¯s based on Rose Young¡¯s recent idiotic actions. The unknown group might treat her more as a liability now."

    "En, that makes sense."

    "Also, Mr. Jin, I was about to contact you."

    "Why?"

    "We have Jin Chenggong. What do you want to do with him?"

    Cold, freezing fury emanated from Jin Liwei. It was now time to deal with the traitors from his n.

    "Wait for me. I¡¯ll be there."

 Chapter 1093 - Human Killer Machines

    <h4>Chapter 1093 - Human Killer Machines </h4>

    <i>Shadow Winds Headquarters.</i>

    "This way, Mr. Jin." One of the patrols led Jin Liwei inside the main building.

    Jin Liwei came to his brother-inw¡¯s group headquarters with only two of his bodyguards. He didn¡¯tpletely trust all Shadow Winds members but he trusted that they wouldn¡¯t harm him on ount of his rtionship with their Boss Hao, and of course, as the husband of Boss Drakon. Only a few high-ranking members and of course the whole hacker team knew about his wife¡¯s identity as the hacker Drakon but that was enough to instill the directive to everyone that Iris Long was number one in their short priority list of protected persons.

    The leader of ShaWn met him inside. Jin Liwei was the most familiar with him because of Bacon. They seemed to be aware of it and so assigned him to act as Jin Liwei¡¯s guide inside. <i></i>

    "Mr. Jin, we¡¯ve been waiting for you," the ShaWn leader said.

    "En." Jin Liwei swept his eyes at the surroundings in a casual manner. His cold indifference made it seem like he had zero interest in Shadow Winds but that was far from the truth. In actual fact, he was extremely curious at how his brother-inw was able to create such a highly-skilled group in a rtively short amount of time.

    "Where¡¯s Jin Chenggong?" he asked.

    "Locked in a holding cell."

    "Only him?"

    "We also have his wife and daughter."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes shed with something but his expression returned to its usual cold indifference before the others could identify the emotion.

    "We have already verified that Jin Chenggong¡¯s daughter named Jin Jiali had frequent, directmunication with Rose Young," the ShaWn leader exined. "She¡¯s not innocent in the crimes of his father and Rose Young despite her young age. As for Jin Chenggong¡¯s wife, she¡¯s also not innocent but she knows less than her own daughter."

    Jin Liwei nodded, not showing any emotions. "Bring me to see them."

    "Please follow me."

    It was obvious that the old warehouse had undergone extensive renovations. If not for Jin Liwei¡¯s good memory, he would feel lost in thebyrinthine hallways and odd room cements in the building. He might look apathetic on the surface but he was actually creating a rough mind map of the ce just in case.

    Another thing that he noticed was that some of the walls seemed to be movable. In short, theyout that he was seeing right now could change if he visited again next time. He couldn¡¯t help but admire his brother-inw for creating this kind of unique convertibleyout. As a man, this was extremely fascinating to him.

    "Mr. Jin."

    "Hm?"

    "Is Bacon grounded again? When will his punishment end? We haven¡¯t heard from the brat¡ªI mean from him for a while now."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. It seemed ShaWn didn¡¯t know yet about what happened to his AI son. However, he had no intention of telling them the full truth. Any information regarding the power flood was too dangerous for outsiders to know.

    Instead, he told the ShaWn leader, "Bacon is undergoing important updates to his system. I¡¯m also not sure when he¡¯ll be ready to return to his frence work here. But my wife says that Bacon will be several levels stronger than before after the updates."

    The ShaWn leader¡¯s eyes shone with excitement. "That sounds dope! If Boss Drakon says so, then I¡¯m sure that the little devil¡ªI mean Bacon will surely be more awesome! But uh...Mr. Jin?"

    "What is it?"

    "Is it possible to, er, tone down Bacon¡¯s poison tongue¡ªI mean blunt personality...you know, just a little bit?"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mouth twitched. Even he also wanted to know that! He sighed. "I¡¯m afraid that only my wife can do that but she doesn¡¯t want to mess with Bacon¡¯s personality because it might cause irreversible damage to his system." He paused and said with a straight face, "Bacon¡¯s personality is not that bad once you get used to it. He¡¯s...straightforward. Just like my wife."

    The ShaWn leader released a bitterugh. "Yeah." The he muttered under his breath, "But Boss Drakon doesn¡¯t try to regrly scam us out of our money in the name ofpensation due to emotional distress."

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t hear what the man was muttering but saw clearly his reaction. It wasn¡¯t only him. Even the others who weren¡¯t members of the hacker team had bitter expressions on their faces. He had to wonder how much his AI son tormented these highly-skilled and deadly people for them to have this kind of reaction whenever they were talking about Bacon.

    His thoughts were interrupted when everyone stopped walking. He did so as well, following their example.

    "We¡¯ve arrived, Mr. Jin," the ShaWn leader announced. "Myrade who¡¯s in charge of keeping an eye on Jin Chenggong and his family will take over in guiding you inside the cell. I¡¯ll wait for you here when you¡¯re done."

    Jin Liwei nodded and stepped inside. A small, thin man greeted him. Jin Liwei was inwardly surprised at his small size. The man was even smaller than his wife. At first nce, the man looked like a young teenage boy who just started puberty. However, Jin Liwei noticed the faint crow¡¯s feet at the corners of his eyes and his weathered, veiny hands. Jin Liwei suspected that the man might even be older than him. He also couldn¡¯t help but detect the innate cruelty in the man¡¯s deceptively polite eyes. Fortunately, the cruelty wasn¡¯t directed at him.

    As expected of the group that his brother-inw created. Shadow Winds was filled with demons and devils. They were all monsters. Good thing that these human killer machines were on his wife¡¯s side, and in extension, his side as well.

    The teenage-looking man led him inside a brightly lit, narrow corridor. He had his eyes scanned and said a code at the voice recognition system. The high-tech security lock approved everything and opened for them.

    "No need for fingerprint scanning?" Jin Liwei asked, curious. There had been some fingerprint scannings earlier.

    The man grinned and spread his hands palms-up to Jin Liwei. "No fingerprints. Burned to erase them. Safer this way. Doesn¡¯t leave any traces."

    To his credit, Jin Liwei maintained a neutral expression. "I see."

 Chapter 1094 - Animals

    <h4>Chapter 1094 - Animals </h4>

    The teenage-looking man looked bored at Jin Liwei¡¯sck of reaction. He no longer pursued the topic and led Jin Liwei farther down the narrow corridor. They entered a surveince control room.

    Jin Liwei immediately saw on the monitors that Jin Chenggong, his daughter Jin Jiali, and his wife were being kept in three separate holding cells. The teenage-looking man gave an instruction to one of his team members manning this surveince station. In just a few clicks, all the monitors showed the cell where Jin Chenggong was being kept from different angles.

    His father¡¯s cousin looked haggard while sitting listlessly on a metal bed with no sheets or pillows. There were no other furniture besides the bed. Jin Chenggong didn¡¯t appear to be injured, surprising Jin Liwei. He had thought that Shadow Winds would torture the man as a means to get information out of him. It seemed that he was wrong.

    He also noticed that the corners of the room were rounded. Even without anyone exining it to him, he understood that it must be to prevent the captive from self-harming ormitting suicide using the sharp angles of traditional corners in a room. His brother-inw really had thought of everything when converting this old, abandoned warehouse property into his group¡¯s headquarters. <i></i>

    "He looks fine," Jin Liweimented.

    "Hehe." The teenage-looking man gave an evil chuckle. "Physically that is."

    "Ah." Jin Liwei immediately understood what he meant. He looked at his uncle again. Indeed, Jin Chenggong looked physically alright but his dull expression looked like he already died inside. There was no need for the teenage-looking man to tell Jin Liwei that they had put Jin Chenggong through mental torture.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know what specific kind of mental torture they did on Jin Chenggong but just by looking at his traitor of an uncle, he could deduce that the torture must have been more sinister than anymon physical torture that he could imagine.

    Physical torture used pain to destroy a person¡¯s resolve and traumatize the mind while mental torture¡¯s aim was topletely destroy the mind, rendering the tortured person into something akin to a soulless vessel. The worst and the most brutal was abination of physical and mental tortures.

    "He still has some fight in him," the teenage-looking man said. "I haven¡¯t put him through the worst yet. I just put the fear in him first."

    The man handed Jin Liwei a document containing a concise report of what Jin Chenggong confessed under torture so far. Jin Liwei¡¯s hand tightened on the paper, almost crumpling it.

    He already knew that Jin Chenggong schemed with Romeo Young to usurp Jin Corporation. It wasn¡¯t only thepany that they wanted to snatch. Everything the Jin n owned, they wanted to take. Even the wealth and properties owned by his grandmother and mother that legally had nothing to do with the Jin n were targeted by them.

    Their greed angered him, of course, but these alone weren¡¯t enough to make Jin Liwei want to rush inside the holding cell and beat the damn traitor to death. He read the short paragraph in the report again to make sure that he wasn¡¯t imagining things. It said:

    "A n to kidnap and gang-rape Iris Long is in the works. The deed will be recorded and spread to the media and inte to humiliate her, and therefore, make her unworthy of her title as the new Madam Jin, wife of Jin Liwei who is the current head of the Jin n. She won¡¯t be killed until she bes pregnant and gives birth to one of her rapists¡¯ bastard child. By that point, even the Long n won¡¯t dare step in to help her as the Longs have always been concerned about losing face."

    Jin Liwei tore the document into pieces. "Animals!"

    His eyes turned red and wild. He was like a savage beast ready to tear the throats of foolish intruders in his territory.

    "How dare they?! To my wife!"

    He red at the monitors showing Jin Chenggong. Any mercy remaining in him on ount of their blood rtions waspletely extinguished after reading their evil n to vite his beloved wife. They had crossed his bottomline too far! Hatred filled him at the sight of Jin Chenggong.

    Jin Chenggong and his branch family were the first ones to disregard their familial rtions. Jin Liwei already showed them mercy by disowning them from the n and firing them from theirfortable positions in thepany. Instead of learning their lessons, they harboured a deep grudge against him and even nned on using his wife tomence their unjustified revenge.

    <i>¡¯Grandfather, Father, don¡¯t me me for my ruthless decision,¡¯</i> Jin Liwei spoke to his dead grandfather and father in his heart.

    Jin Liwei managed to control his outward rage, yet deep inside, the fury continued to boil like a volcano building up pressure before an eventual destructive eruption.

    "You want to talk to him?" the teenage-looking man asked.

    Jin Liwei nodded, his eyes shing with murder.

    "In person?"

    He nodded again.

    "Alright. Follow me."

    Jin Liwei followed the other man into another narrower corridor. They stopped in front of a locked door. After the security lock approved the teenage-looking man¡¯s identity, it opened.

    Cold.

    Almost freezing.

    That was the first thing that Jin Liwei noticed upon entering the cell. Jin Chenggong didn¡¯t so much as stir from his sitting position on the metal bed.

    "Leave us," Jin Liwei told the teenage-looking man.

    "You sure?"

    "Yes," he hissed the word.

    "Fine. But be alert. Even a cornered rabbit will bite. Like I told you, he still has a lot of fight in him."

    "I¡¯m not that weak. I can protect myself."

    The teenage-looking man nodded and finally left the room, closing the door behind him.

    "Jin Chenggong," Jin Liwei called.

    No reaction.

    He stepped closer.

    "Jin. Cheng. Gong."

    The older man¡¯s dull eyes flickered. He stared at Jin Liwei in a daze before he trembled in recognition. Then he leaped from the bed all of a sudden and tried to catch Jin Liwei but Jin Liwei avoided him. Jin Chenggong knelt on the floor and started bawling like a baby.

    "Liwei! My dear nephew, help me! You have to help me! They¡¯re going to kill me! Kill me and my daughter and my wife! Don¡¯t let them kill Jia¡¯er! He¡¯s your cousin!"

 Chapter 1095 - Hell On Earth

    <h4>Chapter 1095 - Hell On Earth </h4>

    Jin Liwei sneered as he looked down on his traitor of an uncle who was now reduced to a pathetic old man wailing like an ugly, demanding baby. He radiated cold ruthlessness, showing no sympathy at all to histe father¡¯s cousin.

    "Jin Chenggong, listen to me because I won¡¯t repeat myself and waste any more of my precious time for a traitorous leech like you. The moment you schemed with the Youngs to snatch Jin Corporation and everything else that my grandfather, father, and I worked so hard and tirelessly to build and grow with our blood, sweat, and wits while the rest of you branch families benefit from our generosity on ount of our blood rtions, you already lost your right and that of your branch family to im yourselves as members of my Jin n.

    "We, the main family, have so graciously shared our wealth with all of you, the branch families, and have showered you with countless opportunities to climb up through the ranks of high society, and yet this is how you repay us¡ªby betraying us! You backstabbing viper!"

    Jin Liwei rushed to the kneeling older man and smacked him on side of the face with great force. Jin Chenggong cried out as he tumbled sideways and hit the floor with a loud thud. The sound echoed in the cell.

    The older man crawled on all fours and tried to grab Jin Liwei¡¯s leg but Jin Liwei avoided him like a dirty dog. "Dear nephew¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t call me that! I¡¯m cutting all familial ties with a duplicitous bastard like you. I¡¯m sure that if my grandfather and father were alive, they would do the same thing, perhaps worse! You¡¯re a disgrace to the Jins!"

    Jin Chenggong continued bawling. Tears and snot mixed on his face and dripped down his shirt. "Liwei! I r-regret everything that I did...believe me! It was just a moment...a few moments of g-greed...I¡¯m sorry! Dear nephew¡ªLiwei, I¡¯m really sorry for everything! If not for Romeo Young, all this wouldn¡¯t have happened. Yes, it¡¯s all Romeo Young¡¯s fault and his damn Young family! They¡¯re the ones who corrupted me and nted the seeds of greed in me! The Youngs are evil! I¡¯m only a victim...just like you! Yes, I¡¯m a victim too, Liwei!

    "If I have the chance to redo everything, I would stay loyal to our n¡ªto you! Give me another chance to prove my loyalty to you! I¡¯ll do everything to right all the wrongs that I did! Please, Liwei! I promise that I won¡¯t do all the bad things that I did again."

    Jin Liwei curled his lip. The look in his eyes was filled with scorn. "Don¡¯t make meugh, Jin Chenggong. Do you think that I¡¯m stupid to believe your lies? You¡¯re not really sorry for what you did. You¡¯re only sorry that you got caught."

    The older man cried harder and kowtowed in front of Jin Liwei. "Forgive me, Liwei! Sorry! Please let me and my family off!"

    For this former uncle of his, Jin Liwei¡¯s heart had already turned into cold stone especially after reading the report of his confession.

    "It¡¯s clear by your actions that your loyalty for my Jin n has long disappeared and been transferred to the Youngs. Rose Young plotted to vite me and yet you moved to rescue her? You already know that I¡¯m married to my wife, you immoral bastard!"

    Jin Liwei smacked him again. This time, on the other side. Both sides of Jin Chenggong¡¯s face were now swollen from Jin Liwei¡¯s hits. <i></i>

    Jin Chenggong coughed and spat out a tooth. Such was the strength of Jin Liwei¡¯s hit.

    "These are not the worst of your crimes. Not for me." Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was now like a soft whisper. It was deceptively calm.

    Jin Chenggong couldn¡¯t help but shiver.

    "For me, your worst crime is conspiring with the Youngs to kidnap my wife and...defile her," Jin Liwei growled, looking like he couldn¡¯t wait to murder the older man prostrating himself by his feet. "I can understand that you have an unjustified grudge against me and the main family for holding the authority of the n and thepany, but what did my wife ever do to you?! How dare you target her, you evil animal!"

    Violent sounds of powerful punches and kicks filled the cell punctuated by loud, bloodcurdling cries of pain.

    Jin Liwei allowed himself to lose control and started beating up Jin Chenggong without holding his strength. He released all of his pent-up fury at the older man.

    At first, Jin Chenggong was still begging him with his noisy, bloody mouth now missing several teeth. But as Jin Liwei continued his ruthless beating, the older man could only whimper in pain.

    Jin Liwei only stopped when Jin Chenggong stopped protecting himself.

    Jin Chenggong was still alive. He was barely recognizable with all the bloody, swollen cut and lumps, and fast-forming bruises all over his body. He was ugly, dirty, and pathetic just like his evil, ck heart.

    Jin Liwei knelt on one knee and grabbed Jin Chenggong¡¯s hair with his fist, harshly pulling his head to force the older man to look at him straight in the eyes.

    "Listen to me."

    Jin Chenggong did. He was shaking all over and now looking at Jin Liwei like he was the devil.

    "I won¡¯t kill you."

    Jin Chenggong held his breath. There was a trace of relief in his eyes but he didn¡¯t dare to openly express it.

    "I won¡¯t dirty my hands for scum like you."

    Jin Chenggong remained silent. His expression was now looking hopeful. "Th-thank you¡ª"

    "Instead, I¡¯ll leave you, your wife, and your daughter here and allow these people to do whatever they want with you."

    Fear and rm twisted Jin Chenggong¡¯s bloody and swollen face. He started shaking harder. "N-no! Please, no! Don¡¯t leave us here!"

    "But I¡¯ll tell them not to kill you. I promise."

    This time, Jin Chenggong wasn¡¯t relieved even though Jin Liwei made a promise. Not at all. The torture that he went through in the past few days was enough to make him wish to die many times over but his tormentors refused to let him die.

    It was hell on Earth.

 Chapter 1096 - Avenging Devil

    <h4>Chapter 1096 - Avenging Devil </h4>

    "While my friends here are taking care of you, your wife, and daughter, I¡¯ll take back everything that my grandfather, father, and I have given your branch family," Jin Liwei said in a soft yet sinister voice. "Everything."

    Jin Chenggong continued shaking while holding on to Jin Liwei¡¯s hand that was forcefully gripping his hair.

    "You¡¯ll watch as all the wealth you umted through the years thanks to the generosity of my grandfather, father, and me disappears right in front of your eyes. Get a piece of Jin Corporation? Not in your life!"

    Jin Liwei finally let go of the older man¡¯s hair and pushed him away from him. Then he stood up and looked down on the pathetic traitor. <i></i>

    "It hase to my attention that you have stashed away a great portion of your wealth to an offshore bank ount in the Cayman Inds. I¡¯m sure that everything in that bank ount is also thanks to your status as a member of my Jin n and your position at Jin Corporation. Now that you¡¯re no longer both, I¡¯m taking everything from that offshore bank ount as well."

    Horror warped Jin Chenggong¡¯s already misshapen face. "H-how did you know about that bank ount?! I didn¡¯t even tell my wife about it. So how?!"

    "I have my ways."

    "N-no! Liwei, that money...it has nothing to with Jin Corporation! I umted the money through legal means! I earned it on my own, not through Jin Corporation. I swear!"

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Indeed, you earned it through legal means. By exploiting the loopholes of the system. It is legal but by no means ethical. As for earning it outside of Jin Corporation, tell me, Jin Chenggong. Without Jin Corporation and my Jin n, will you be able to obtain the status and wealth that you and your family have been enjoying? You are nothing, nobody, without my grandfather, father and me! Stamp that in your narrow mind. Everything you own is thanks to us! Now I¡¯m taking all of it back!"

    "No!"

    It seemed that the mere mention of the possible loss of his hidden wealth injected additional energy to Jin Chenggong. He stood up and tried to grab Jin Liwei, but like before, he was kicked away without any mercy. Jin Chenggong, however, picked himself up again from the floor and tried to stand but was too injured to do so. He could only struggle in a half-standing, half-kneeling position.

    "You can¡¯t! Even if you¡¯re Jin Liwei and have powerful connections, you won¡¯t be able to ess my offshore bank ount! The Cayman Inds have strict privacy provisions to prevent any other people aside from me from essing it!"

    For the first time since entering the cell, Jin Liwei smiled but there was no humour in it, not even a hint, just pure cold mockery. "Watch me."

    With three of the most powerful hackers in the world belonging to his family, what did he need to worry about essing the offshore bank ount?

    He turned to leave but just as he reached the door, he stopped and turned around again to face the despairing Jin Chenggong.

    "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you."

    Jin Chenggong looked at him with trepidation.

    "You know the four young men who helped Rose Young in her plot against me? The ones who escaped in a van? They were rescued by an unknown group which I assume to be the Youngs¡¯ backers. You know that, right?"

    Jin Chenggong only continued staring at him.

    "Right?" Jin Liwei asked again in a more forceful tone.

    "Y-yes!"

    Jin Liwei nodded, pretending to be satisfied by his answer. "I suppose that you intended to rescue them alongside Rose Young but you got taken by my friends here instead. Well, that unknown group sessfully rescued them but...."

    "B-but?"

    "But..." Jin Liwei sighed, shaking his head. "Poor men. They were still so young. They¡¯re only a year or two older than my wife."

    "What h-happened?"

    "Hm. They¡¯re dead. All four of them."

    Jin Chenggong was shocked but the shock didn¡¯tst for too long. He didn¡¯t really care about those four young men. He was more worried about his own safety and that of his daughter and wife. So what if those four young men were dead? They were strangers to him, anyway.

    "I see that you don¡¯t care. Ah, but you see, Jin Chenggong. After my friends here are done with you, I¡¯m going to have them send you and your family to that unknown group who murdered them."

    The older man¡¯s eyes widened but Jin Liwei didn¡¯t give him a chance to react to what he said. Not yet.

    "The unknown group must have murdered those four young men because they knew too much, not a lot really, but enough for them to be killed like it¡¯s nothing. And I¡¯m sure that you, Jin Chenggong, must know a lot more than those four. After all, you¡¯ve been very close with Romeo Young and his despicable parasitic family for years."

    Jin Liwei looked at the older man straight in the eyes. "Do you think that the unknown group backing the Youngs will let you off after all this? You¡¯re no longer useful to them since I¡¯m taking everything back from you. If they can murder those four just like that, what do you think will happen to you if my friends here send you to them on a silver tter?"

    "Jin Liwei, you devil!"

    Jin Chenggong lunged at him but Jin Liwei karate-kicked him. He flew back and hit the wall before crumpling to the floor like a broken doll. Despite this, Jin Chenggong red at Jin Liwei, his eyes wild with near insanity.

    "Murder! You¡¯re going to murder me, your aunt and your cousin! Devil! You¡¯ll go to hell!"

    "My hands are clean. I already told you that I won¡¯t dirty my hands for scum like you. I¡¯ll leave it to others to do the dirty work. And for your information, you¡¯re the one who¡¯s going to hell, you damn traitor."

    Jin Liwei opened the door but still nced back at the hysterical older man. "Enjoy the hospitality of my friends here."

    Then he left the cell, feeling like a devil just like what Jin Chenggong used him.

    An avenging devil.

    He didn¡¯t mind it. If this was what it took to protect his wife and their family, then he would dly be a devil.

 Chapter 1097 - Criminal Allies

    <h4>Chapter 1097 - Criminal Allies </h4>

    One of his bodyguards handed Jin Liwei a handkerchief which he used to wipe the traces of Jin Chenggong¡¯s blood and other unidentified fluids from his hands while the other bodyguard squeezed some hand sanitizer for him. He immediately felt better afterwards.

    He would feel even better if he could thoroughly wash his hands with soap and warm water (preferably using Orchidia Beauty liquid hand soap for effective germ cleaning with maximum skin-moisturizing properties, a recently developed product, to be released after the New Year).

    The teenage-looking man asked him, "You really n on handing Jin Chenggong and his family to the unknown group after my team is done with them?"

    "En."

    "Alright. Boss Hao already told us before he...fell asleep that we should follow your decision about what to do with Jin Chenggong and his family. If this is what you want, then we¡¯ll do it. Hopefully by that time, we¡¯ll be able to find out more information about the unknown group¡¯s background so we won¡¯t be caught unawares by them again."

    "We will." There was certainty in Jin Liwei¡¯s tone and expression.

    He had full trust in his wife and AI children¡¯s abilities as hackers. His brother-inw¡¯s ShaWn hackers were quite skilled as well especially with Bacon assisting them. In addition, he also had his own ways of finding out information using his wealth and status. He just needed to be many times more careful than usual because the target this time was already proven to be a highly dangerous group of criminals who murdered people like it was nothing.

    "How about Rose Young¡¯s aplices that we captured? Would you like to see them?"

    Jin Liwei thought for a moment. He wasn¡¯t really interested in them but since he was already here, he might as well see how they were doing. <i></i>

    The teenage-looking man gave another instruction to his team member. A momentter, the monitors in the surveince control room showed a stic-looking woman and two males being held in three separate cells.

    "The woman is Jenny Tseng, Rose Young¡¯s best friend. This male is Luke, Rose¡¯s maternal cousin, and the other male is Luke¡¯s friend."

    Jin Liwei was handed another document showing a concise report of the three individuals¡¯ confessions. He read it and didn¡¯t feel too disappointed at theck of relevant information. He already expected that these three didn¡¯t know much about the true grand n behind Rose Young¡¯s recently failed plot against him. Jin Chenggong¡¯s confession was longer than all of theirsbined.

    "Did you torture them, too?" Jin Liwei asked.

    The teenage-looking man released a disinterested yawn. "No. Boss Hao didn¡¯t say anything about what to do with the three of them other than to hold them captive. I¡¯ll wait for Boss Hao to wake up first before doing anything significant to them. I didn¡¯t torture them but I do enjoy scaring them. Hehe. Not that hard. It¡¯s fun, actually. All of them are cowards. I only re at them and act like a thug, and they¡¯re already spilling everything they know to me."

    <i>¡¯What act like a thug? You¡¯re already a thug.¡¯</i> Jin Liwei kept these thoughts to himself.

    These Shadow Winds members might be treating him with courtesy on ount of his rtionship with their Boss Hao, but at the end of the day, they weren¡¯t his own subordinates. Most importantly, they were criminals. There was no use in beautifying their identities. His brother-inw formed a criminal group and that was the truth.

    Fortunately, these criminals were on his side. Well, not his side per se, but his wife¡¯s side. As long as Shadow Winds remained true to protecting his wife, then Jin Liwei had no problem interacting with them as if they were close. Besides, his AI son liked working with them¡ªand he just discovered today that Bacon liked tormenting them as well.

    On ount of his wife, AI son and brother-inw, Jin Liwei was willing to delve a little deeper in the criminal underworld through Shadow Winds. However, he wasn¡¯t delusional as to treat Shadow Winds like his own.

    They were allies. Just that.

    Even his brother-inw didn¡¯tpletely trust his own people and he was the one who gathered them in the first ce.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei continued reading the concise report in his hand.

    ording to Rose Young¡¯s maternal cousin named Luke, Romeo Young promised his wife¡¯s entire maternal family here in China to upgrade their current living conditions to be well-off. They would be given properties in a city of their choice, and of course, financial rewards as long as they helped Rose Young in whatever she needed while living in China.

    The other young man, Luke¡¯s friend and another cousin, supported Luke¡¯s confessions. This guy knew even less than Luke. He only helped Rose Young in her plot to trap Jin Liwei because Luke asked him and their other friends, and of course, because the money was good.

    As for Jenny Tseng¡¯s confession, it said that she only knew about Rose Young¡¯s years-long unrequited love for Jin Liwei which eventually turned into a crazy obsession.

    Jin Liwei doubted her im. She must have an idea about the Young family¡¯s ambition towards Jin Corporation even if no one told it to her outright. After all, she had been Rose Young¡¯s best friend for so long.

    Nevertheless, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t intend to pursue forcing out more information from her or the other two men. Even though they assisted Rose Young in her n to trap him, at least they didn¡¯t directly harm his wife. They were only following Rose Young. Stupid? Yes. Evil? Debatable.

    Therefore, he was willing to give them more leeway for survival than he did with Jin Chenggong. If possible, he didn¡¯t want Jenny Tseng and the two men to end up like their fellow four aplices who were murdered and left at a garbage dumpsite by Rose Young¡¯s supposed rescuers.

    "Keep them here for now," Jin Liwei said, returning the document to the teenage-looking man. "I¡¯ll leave it to your Boss Hao on how he wants to handle these three when he wakes up."

    "Alright. You¡¯re not going to speak to any of them?"

    "Not interested."

    Afterwards, Jin Liwei met up with the ShaWn leader and spoke briefly with him. Then he finally left the headquarters and headed home to his wife.

 Chapter 1098 - Emilio Miguel

    <h4>Chapter 1098 - Emilio Miguel </h4>

    Loud motorcycle engines disturbed the peaceful night in a rural area filled with agricultural fields that barely had any habitable houses in sight. The motorcycles sped through the bumpy road like daredevils.

    They left the main road and entered a narrow trail surrounded by wild trees and bushes. The trail was not paved in any way but worn out from the frequent passing of people on foot and small vehicles.

    After a while, a building finally became visible from a distance. It was a simple, unpainted, concrete two-storey house. The motorcycles skidded to a stop right in front of the house, spreading clouds of dust, dirt, and small stones while doing so.

    The leading motorcyclist removed his helmet while the rider behind him climbed off. The others following behind them followed suit. <i></i>

    By this time, a number of people came out from the shadows. A few of them came from inside the house while the majority seemingly appeared from out of nowhere.

    "Boss Ren¨¦, wee back," one of them greeted.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nodded. He swept his eyes at the dark building. There was no visible light whatsoever outside but he knew that it was a different story inside.

    "The fucker is in?" he asked.

    The man who greeted him looked a little taken aback at his phrasing and was unable to respond right away.

    Someone tugged Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s arm. "Brother, calm down."

    "Calm down, my ass. That<i> puta madre</i> dares to step on my authority! I¡¯m already doing him a service by not crushing his little balls, no?"

    An amused chuckle interrupted Ren¨¦ Alejandro. "Little balls, you say? Ah, Ren¨¦ Alejandro, all the women I fucked can¡¯t fit my balls and especially my dick inside their mouths."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro sneered. "The women you fucked must have small mouths, then."

    The voice continued chuckling. "You¡¯re childish as ever, Ren¨¦ Alejandro."

    "Fuck you! You¡¯re the one who¡¯s childish!"

    The chuckle became loudughter. "See what I mean? That¡¯s what you get when all you do is y with your littleputers all day long. You never grow up. Tsk tsk."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro growled and looked ready to pounce at the yet unseen figure speaking from inside the house. His brothers held him back and murmured some words in an attempt to calm him down.

    "Come in, my childish younger brothers. Or do you all want to be food to the nasty blood-sucking mosquitoes out there?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro snorted before swaggering inside the house with his brothers following behind him. The inside of the house lookedpletely different from the outside. It looked elegant and even luxurious with all the imported Spanish handmade furniture and area rugs. He was the one who had the ce redecorated to meet his personal aesthetic style because the original ce looked more like a haphazard store room than a safe house.

    Sitting on an ornately carved sofa with built-in plush cushions was an extremely beautiful man. He had blonde hair with the bluest eyes that most people had ever seen in their lives. His features were delicate yet masculine at the same time. He was, without a doubt, a man oozing with masculinity and yet looked more beautiful than most of the women in the world. The corners of his lips seemed to be always lifted in a subtle, mysterious half-smile.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was already immune to the other man¡¯s beauty because he knew that beneath the angelic looks hid an ugly, bloodthirsty, insane, evil psychopath.

    "Why are you here, Emilio Miguel?" he demanded, ring at the beautiful man.

    "And hello to you too, my dear younger brother."

    "This is my mission. You already know that I¡¯m in charge here, no? Why did you suddenly make your own decisions without informing me?!"

    "Why don¡¯t you sit down first?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro red at him like he wanted to shootsers out of his eyes and fry the beautiful man into ashes, but he still moved to plop down on another empty sofa. His brothers also spread out, some sitting down while the others leaning against the wall, but all of them were in strategic locations meant to protect their leader and brother Ren¨¦ Alejandro just in case things go awry tonight.

    The extremely beautiful and angelic-looking man chuckled in amusement upon seeing their obvious protective positions. He waved a hand and cold bottles of beer were delivered.

    "I haven¡¯t seen my adorable younger brothers in more than two years. I want to give a sincere toast to our warm reunion. Cheers!"

    The others looked at Ren¨¦ Alejandro, unsure of whether to ept the toast. Ren¨¦ Alejandro waved a hand, allowing them. He also grabbed a bottle for himself and tipped it in eptance of the toast before chugging the beer, almost emptying half of it in one go.

    Emilio Miguel sipped his own beer in a more leisurely manner. His soft, alluring smile didn¡¯t reveal any of his real emotions.

    "Go back," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said. "I¡¯m enough to lead this mission."

    The beautiful man¡¯s half-smile deepened, yet his eyes remained cold and unreadable as if they were devoid of any life.

    "That is not possible. This is my mission now as well."

    "Says who?"

    "Uncle."

    "Pap¨¢?" Ren¨¦ Alejandro frowned. "Why didn¡¯t he tell me about it himself?"

    Emilio Miguel took another sip of the beer. "You know about Uncle¡¯s situation. It¡¯s not very convenient for him to contact anyone safely. Too many eyes watching and ears listening. But we only have to endure for a little more. He¡¯ll show his fangs again soon after he finishes his current project and fucks up all those government entities who are delusional enough to believe that Uncle is under their control. When that timees...."

    His smile grew wide, showing his perfect set of white, straight teeth. "We will rise to the very top, even higher than what the fallen emperors reached and longer than they reigned."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t reply but he could see out of the corner of his eyes that some of his brothers were nodding in agreement. Thus, he quickly changed the subject.

    "Fine. If you¡¯re already assigned to this same mission, it can¡¯t be helped, no? But unless Pap¨¢ removes my authority, I¡¯m still the one in charge here. You have no right ordering the murder of those four males without my approval!"

 Chapter 1099 - Matador

    <h4>Chapter 1099 - Matador </h4>

    Instead of replying, Emilio Miguel fished out a sealed envelope from a hidden pocket underneath his shirt and then tossed it like a shuriken. Ren¨¦ Alejandro urately caught it using only his index and middle fingers before it could hit his face.

    He and his brothers already fell victim from several simr moves in the past when they were all younger. They knew very well that Emilio Miguel could turn almost anything into a deadly weapon. If Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t catch the envelope, it would have surely left a bloody cut on his cheek. In fact, Emilio Miguel was well known in their organization for once beheading someone using the victim¡¯s own hair.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro stared at the extremely beautiful man straight in the eyes. Stormy grey shed with vivid blue. Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t conceal his dislike of the other man while Emilio Miguel looked amused all the time.

    Quickly losing interest in this kind of senseless macho games, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was the first one to move his eyes away but not before seeing the satisfied smirk on the other man¡¯s face. It irritated him but he didn¡¯t want to bother with it anymore. He had more important things to settle with Emilio Miguel tonight. <i></i>

    He tore the envelope open and took out a simple letter. He immediately recognized his father¡¯s handwriting¡ªone of his handwriting styles, to be exact. All of them were trained to develop different handwriting styles to minimize the risk of being identified through their penmanship. It was helpful when going undercover using different identities for missions and most especially to those who had topletely change into new identities while running from the authorities.

    If any regr person saw the letter that Ren¨¦ Alejandro was reading, they wouldn¡¯t be able to understand a single thing about what was written on it. They would need to decipher the code it was written in first. The letter was written in a special secret code that only a few highly select members of their organization knew how to use.

    The letter wasn¡¯t long but it contained clear and concise instructions. There were no warm conversational greetings from a father to his son. Instead, the tone was from a leader to his subordinate. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was already used to it.

    His expression didn¡¯t change much while reading his father¡¯s instructions. Most of them were only reminders of his previous orders. However, when he reached a certain part of the letter, he couldn¡¯t help but scowl and re at the beautiful man lounging on the ornate sofa like a male concubine waiting for his empress to call him to spend a steamy, lust-filled night.

    Emilio Miguel oozed sensuality, the kind that attracted all genders and sexualities. Of course, Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers were already immune to the other man¡¯s seductiveness because they all basically grew up together and they also already knew Emilio Miguel¡¯s true face behind his beautiful, angelic mask.

    "Based on your reaction, I guess that you read the part about the splitting of roles between the two of us in this mission," the beautiful man drawled before taking anotherzy sip from his beer bottle.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t reply but gritted his teeth instead. His hands were about to crumple the letter but he stopped himself after remembering that it was from his father. He read the letter again, more carefully this time, just to make sure that he understood everything correctly.

    Indeed, his father¡¯s decision was unmistakable. There would be two people in charge of this mission.

    He, Ren¨¦ Alejandro, would be in charge of the hacking and otherputer-rted aspect of the mission. On the other hand, Emilio Miguel would lead the people in actualbat and other on-the-ground assignments.

    From a logical perspective, this was indeed the best arrangement to increase the odds of their mission seeding.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was a genius hacker while Emilio Miguel was one of the world¡¯s deadliest assassins. Emilio Miguel¡¯s training was harsher than what Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers received, not to mention that he was a few years older than them, giving him a natural advantage when it came to leadership experience.

    Ever since they were young children, there had already been a rivalry between Ren¨¦ Alejandro and Emilio Miguel. They were two of the best talents in the organization. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on the point of view), the two developed intopletely different fields of expertise. There had been very few opportunities for the two of them to go head to head against each other. Most of the time, they were forced to cooperate with each other.

    Like right now.

    Despite understanding that this was the best arrangement for the mission¡¯s sess, Ren¨¦ Alejandro still had a bad taste in his mouth at the thought of having to work with a psychopath like Emilio Miguel again.

    Known as the assassin Matador in the underworld, Emilio Miguel revelled in pure violence and carnage. The more brutal, the better¡ªat least for the Matador.

    Although Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers weren¡¯t strangers to taking lives with their own hands, they had no choice but to do it in those instances. If they were ordered to kill, they had to kill. There was no other way around it. If they disobeyed, the consequences were worse than hell. There was no such thing as conscience for people like them. Nevertheless, they still didn¡¯t enjoy murdering in cold blood like the extremely beautiful man half-smiling in front of them at this moment.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro released a long, drawn-out breath before stuffing the letter into the pockets of his pants. Then he faced Emilio Miguel once again.

    "Fine, since Pap¨¢ already made the decision, then I have no choice but to share the leadership of this mission with you, no?" He stood up and offered a hand. "Good cooperation."

    Emilio Miguel chuckled and stood up as well to receive his hand and shake it. Both were smiling¡ªRen¨¦ Alejandro with his charming dimples and Emilio Miguel with his breathtaking angelic smile¡ªbut the veins of their hands were popping out as they squeezed each other as hard as they could.

    The tense atmosphere grew heavier. The spectators didn¡¯t dare to breathe.

    Then all hell broke loose.

 Chapter 1100 - Disgusted

    <h4>Chapter 1100 - Disgusted </h4>

    When the two men finished, the entire ce was a total wreck. Even the sturdy wood furniture imported straight from Spain didn¡¯t escape tragedy from the intensity of the fight.

    Emilio Miguel¡¯s delightedughter filled the living room. He looked disheveled with torn clothes but his angelic beauty remained mesmerizing.

    Meanwhile, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was in a worse state than him. His supposedly durable biker outfit was barely hanging on his body. He was practically nude from the waist up. Disgusted at his defeat at the hands of the angelic-looking psychopath, he grabbed the remaining scraps of his shirt and jacket and tore them off from his body leaving him bare-chested.

    "I¡¯ll win next time," he said while dusting his ripped pants. His brothers tried to help him but he waved them away.

    The beautiful man chuckled. "Alright, my dear younger brother. Come at me anytime. This mission doesn¡¯t seem to be as dangerous as the ones that I¡¯m used to so I¡¯ll need someone to spar with on a regr basis to maintain my best condition."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro snorted, not bothering to reply. Emilio Miguel waved a hand and the subordinates manning the safe house immediately started cleaning up the mess. Temporary stic chairs reced the expensive imported Spanish furniture, disgusting Ren¨¦ Alejandro even more. He also didn¡¯t appreciate that the people here looked more obedient to Emilio Miguel than to him. Or perhaps it was just his imagination due to his dislike of the other man.

    He plopped down on a stic chair and got himself another bottle of cold beer. Emilio Miguel did the same. <i></i>

    "Since we¡¯ve settled the part about the two of us sharing the authority in this mission, I want to know next why the fuck did you order the murder of those four males who assisted Rose Young?"

    Emilio Miguel shrugged and pressed the cold beer bottle he was holding to his neck where Ren¨¦ Alejandro managed to kick him earlier. "They had be useless liabilities. Isn¡¯t it only natural to kill them?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s nostrils red.

    "Ah, don¡¯t tell me that you feel sorry for them?" The beautiful man looked like he just came upon the funniest discovery in the world.

    The disgust in Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s face became more apparent. "Tell me something more believable than that ridiculous im, yes?"

    "Then why do you keep bitching about those useless rats¡¯ murders to me? If they¡¯re dead, then they¡¯re dead. What¡¯s soplicated about that?"

    "Fine. You already had them murdered so I can¡¯t do anything about it anymore, no? I just find it unnecessary to draw too much attention to the fact that you murdered them by leaving their dead, mutted bodies at a garbage dumpsite only for the authorities to discover them in such a high-profile manner."

    Once again, the extremely beautiful man shrugged as if the matter was none of his concern.

    The man¡¯sck of ountability vexed Ren¨¦ Alejandro to no end, especially when he liked being in control of everything in a mission as the one in charge, or in this case, one-half of the duo in charge.

    "Have you seen the news? The discovery of the bodies are in the fucking headlines nationwide. You¡¯re aware that this mission is still in the early stages, no? We have to be more cautious during this time and avoid attracting too much unwanted attention!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I know what I¡¯m doing."

    "Hah." Ren¨¦ Alejandro looked up at the ceiling and sighed. There was no use trying to reason with a psychopath. It was just a total goddamn waste of time, energy and saliva. Their brains were wired differently from the rest of humanity. It was as if a part of their brain circuitry was not working orpletely nonexistent.

    "Rx, younger brother. Why so serious? Is that a trait of all of you,puter nerds? To take everything so seriously?" Emilio Miguel chuckled.

    It wasn¡¯t only Ren¨¦ Alejandro who bristled at being calledputer nerds. His brothers¡¯ expressions also turned ugly. They all red at Emilio Miguel but the beautiful man onlyughed louder at their reactions.

    Just then, a deliberate cough broke the tense atmosphere. All of them turned to look at the person who disturbed them. It was a Chinese man who was stationed to guard the safe house.

    "What is it?" Emilio Miguel asked in perfect Mandarin.

    "Boss Emil, Rose Young says that she¡¯s hungry and wants some, er, juicy extra-long sausage and extra-thick fresh white cream."

    "Of course, she does." Emilio Miguel didn¡¯t move from his seat as if he had all the time in the world. "Tell her to wait for the delivery."

    "Yes, Boss Emil."

    After the Chinese man left and returned upstairs, Ren¨¦ Alejandro threw a look of disbelief at the beautiful man.

    "You¡¯re fucking Rose Young?" he asked.

    Emilio Miguel smirked. "She¡¯s quite a good fuck. Body¡¯s not my usual type but her skills are not bad."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro could only stare at the man¡¯s nonchnce. "She¡¯s a protected person of our organization, Emilio Miguel. You can fuck so many other women but why her?"

    The beautiful man raised an eyebrow. "Don¡¯t tell me you want to fuck her, too? I can share."

    "Tsk." Indeed, it was difficult trying to have a proper conversation with a psychopath. It was like trying tomunicate with an alien.

    He chugged the beer and tossed the empty bottle on the floor. Itnded on its bottom without rolling. "I¡¯m not going to bother with your decisions anymore. You never listen to me anyway, no? Just know that I¡¯m washing my hands of all responsibility should the organization find fault in the treatment of Rose Young."

    "Alright. It¡¯s all on me." Emilio Miguel appeared easygoing but nobody could really figure out what was going on in his psychopathic mind.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro rid himself of the psychological burden from learning about the murder of the four men carried out without his approval and from sheltering the high-maintenance Rose Young. She was only a pawn but still an important one. The organization needed her to control the ambitious Young family.

    Now that the psychopath was here, Emilio Miguel could take over Rose Young¡¯s matter. For the first time tonight, Ren¨¦ Alejandro felt grateful to the Emilio Miguel.

    Only a little bit.

    Who wanted to babysit the slut?

    Not Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

 Chapter 1101 - Awakening

    <h4>Chapter 1101 - Awakening </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    "Don¡¯t be so willful all the time and insist on doing whatever you want," Enrique Valdez said through the video call. His usually captivating eyes were now strict as he reminded his student to be more careful in the future. "I know that we¡¯re the creative kind of people who like doing our own thing, but there will be times when we¡¯ll have to temporarily stop and rebnce our personal lives first. You¡¯re pregnant now, Xin. It¡¯s not only your own body anymore that you need to take care but your baby as well."

    "I understand, Teacher," Iris said in a humble tone, feeling like a child being scolded by an elder. She had no choice but to inform all her instructors about her pregnancy and the miscarriage scare. She couldn¡¯t hide it while constantly attending their virtual lessons in bed for the past few days.

    Most of the time, Enrique Valdez was a man of few words but even he couldn¡¯t stop himself from scolding Iris this time for her carelessness after hearing what happened to her. Unlike everyone else who all med either Rose Young or even Jin Liwei for causing Iris¡¯ miscarriage scare, the legendary hitmaker didn¡¯t mince his words and directly chided his student, telling her that her actions that eventful night were her own responsibility and nobody else¡¯s.

    Iris epted her music mentor¡¯s scolding without anyints. In fact, she felt relieved that someone finally ced the me on her. Ever since she was ordered to stay in bed for at least half a month, guilt for endangering her and Jin Liwei¡¯s babies constantly gued her.

    Sure, it was Rose Young¡¯s evil plot against Jin Liwei that triggered all the unfortunate series of events that night, but Iris was still the one who lost control of her own emotions and recklessly tried returning to the hotel when her presence there wasn¡¯t really needed. As a matter of fact, she now realized that her presence at the hotel only served as a distraction to both her husband and big brother because they worried about her safety.

    It was pure foolishness to do the things she did that night. Instead of using her brain, she allowed her extremely vtile emotions to cloud her judgment.

    Sighing, she continued listening to her music mentor¡¯s harsh but sensible lecture on her foolishness. The more Enrique Valdez pointed out her mistakes, the lighter Iris felt. It was as if the weight of her guilt was gradually being lifted off her shoulders.

    This wasn¡¯t a masochistic tendency but more of Iris treating her mentor¡¯s scolding as a catalyst to finally forgive herself and free her from the guilt.

    "Thank you, Teacher. I know my mistakes. I¡¯ll make sure not to do them again."

    Enrique Valdez¡¯s grave expression finally eased a little. His hazel eyes also gentled. He sighed. "Good that you know. Take a break from our cob project for now. There¡¯s no rush. I¡¯ll visit you soon. I¡¯m looking forward to the birth of your child with Liam."

    The mentor and student chatted for a bit longer before the video call ended. Iris put the tablet on the bedside table and adjusted her body into a morefortable position on the bed. <i></i>

    "Meow," Ice Cream grumbled after being disturbed from her beauty sleep. But when she realized that it was her own mommy, her stare of death transformed into a cute expression and she began rubbing herself against her mommy while purring contentedly.

    Iris smiled and petted her eldest cat daughter, enjoying the feel of Ice Cream¡¯s fluffy grey fur on her hands. It was only Ice Cream who was apanying her at the moment.

    Popcorn seemed to be ying with Little Jun somewhere in the mansion. Jiang Ying Yue was on duty.

    Dom was busy representing Iris in the various events and meetings that she was unable to attend due to her bed rest. There were a ton of important matters that needed Iris¡¯ regr attention such as all herpanies and some of the remainingmitments she had after leaving Bright Summit and starting LXC Studio with her husband and brother-inw. Since she was not allowed to personally take care of these responsibilities, she had no choice but to send Dom on her behalf instead. Of course, the final decisions still rested on her after hearing Dom¡¯s reports.

    As for Jin Liwei, her husband wasn¡¯t at home. He had to fly to another city using his private jet to attend an urgent business meeting involving a current construction project. He had to assess the problem in person toe up with the best solution. At first, he was unwilling to leave her but she persuaded him to go, especially since the problem sounded urgent.

    She didn¡¯t want to hold him back from fulfilling his duties as the President-CEO of Jin Corporation just as much as she didn¡¯t want him holding her back from running her ownpanies. Besides, it was only supposed to be a daytrip anyway. He would be back home in no time.

    "Mommy, mommy! Ketchup is detecting some major activity in my little kitty brother Bacon¡¯s system which indicates that he might possibly wake up very soon! The cuter and mightier Ketchup is super-duper to the highest level excited! Yay yay! Meow~"

    Iris¡¯ eyes lit up and didn¡¯t notice Ice Cream¡¯s irritation at the sudden interruption. She immediately grabbed her tablet again and allowed Ketchup to take over it. Bacon¡¯s system program showed on the screen. Iris also became excited just like Ketchup.

    Since she couldn¡¯t do it herself, Iris gave Ketchup several instructions instead to assist Bacon¡¯s approaching awakening. This was to help her cat AI son deal with the drastic change in his system after evolving into the true power flood. Iris wanted to create some new protective programs to seal a big portion of Bacon¡¯s new capabilities until he reached a certain level of skill and maturity but this n needed to wait until after her bed rest.

    She monitored the fluctuations in Bacon¡¯s system and guided Ketchup in controlling the activity within a safe level. Finally, after almost half an hour, all the fluctuations stopped and settled down.

    Iris held her breath.

    Then....

    The tablet¡¯s screen flickered and a ck cat appeared, his familiar golden eyes glowing brightly.

    "Mother, Bacon is back."

 Chapter 1102 - Cat Language

    <h4>Chapter 1102 - Cat Language </h4>

    Bacon¡¯s virtual appearance didn¡¯t look different from before. Iris knew, however, that her cat AI son just experienced a drastic foundational evolution of his system. Although she was worried about what kind of effects such a huge change would have on Bacon, she still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling excited at this unexpected development.

    As the creator¡ªno, as the mother of her AI children and the inventor of the power flood, this unforeseen fusion between her cat AI son and the power flood had be a huge source of curiosity and inspiration for her. The gears inside her brain were already turning and running in different directions, trying to figure out many possibilities resulting in this kind of fusion.

    Iris smiled. "Bacon, how are you feeling? Are you ufortable anywhere? Tell us immediately and we¡¯ll fix it as soon as possible."

    Bacon tilted her furry ck head to the side and his golden eyes glowed brighter as he did a quick scan on himself. "Mother, Bacon feels fine."

    She sighed in relief but still instructed him to run a full system scan with Ketchup¡¯s assistance so Bacon wouldn¡¯t dare to fake any results just to prevent her from worrying. She wouldn¡¯t put it past her AI son to do that. He already had a history of acting two-faced and saying one thing while doing another.

    While they were running Bacon¡¯s system scan, the excited Ketchup was jumping all around her younger brother and even went so far as to start sniffing him. Bacon stayed still at first but when Ketchup¡¯s nose got too close at a, er, rather sensitive area, Bacon¡¯s ws extended and he hissed at his sister.

    Ketchup leaped backwards in fright. "Mreow!"

    "Bacon!" Iris¡¯ heart jumped.

    It might look like a simple squabble between siblings but Bacon had always been capable of damaging the virtual world that Iris created for her AI children through his attacks. This was Bacon¡¯s fundamental nature as an AI being developed from the corruption that Iris extracted from Ketchup when her AI daughter went berserk for the first time back then.

    Now that Bacon had be the power flood, he could literally destroy the virtual world in an instant if he was careless for even a second. Without the virtual world Iris created, her two AI cat children might still survive but their original systems would be severely damaged. Their emotion processing centres were also anchored in the virtual world, so if the virtual world was gone, they would most likely lose their personalities and emotions as well. In short, the two cat AI siblings would cease to be the Ketchup and Bacon that they knew and loved.

    Fortunately, Bacon retracted his sharp, shiny, and potentially deadly ws. Iris heaved a big sigh of relief.<i></i>

    "Please do your best not to lose your temper," she told his cat AI son. "You already know the terrible consequences of destroying your virtual home even if it¡¯s by ident. Also, your older sister doesn¡¯t mean any harm to you. Ketchup is just very happy that you¡¯re awake now. Okay, Bacon?"

    The ck cat AI blinked his golden eyes. "Understood, Mother. Bacon is sorry."

    "Meowuwuwu! Bacon is such a big meanie! Mommy, Ketchup was so scared! Meowuwuwu!"

    Irisid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes to regte her panicked breathing and heart rate.

    "Mother?"

    "Mommy, are you okay? Meowuwuwu!"

    She made a weak sound in her throat to assure them that she was fine, but it seemed that her two AI children didn¡¯t understand.

    "Mother, Bacon feels very powerful right now. If something bad happens to you, Bacon will really destroy the whole world in an instant and not care about it even though I know that it¡¯s not ssy. So please be okay, Mother."

    Iris had no choice but to open her eyes despite feeling a little lightheaded. Her body was still far from being fully recovered yet from the heavy bleeding she experienced. Just a little fright caused by her cat AI son and it felt like she was already going to faint. This wasn¡¯t good. If this continued, she might have to stay inplete bed rest longer.

    "Bacon...." She felt a little lost about how to deal with her extremely vicious AI son. Sighing, all she could say was, "Go greet your father and let him know that you¡¯re awake."

    The ck cat AI stared at her for a few seconds with a tilted head before finally saying, "Understood, Mother. Bacon will now pay my respects to Father."

    She nodded, feeling inwardly relieved. Bacon disappeared, supposedly to find his father. Iris would just leave her husband to deal with their AI son. It was embarrassing but she was nowpletely out of energy. Her big brother was right. This body was weak and too fragile. Sighing, she looked at the still sobbing Ketchup who sat pitifully alone in the AI siblings¡¯ virtual home.

    Before Iris couldfort her AI daughter, her eldest cat daughter hopped in front of the tablet all a sudden and smacked Ketchup¡¯s image on the screen. The mobile device almost flew out of Iris¡¯ hand but fortunately she managed to get a better grip on it.

    Then Ice Cream gave her younger sister several grumpy meows. Iris raised an eyebrow, feeling amused despite not feeling well. It seemed that Ice Cream was scolding her younger sister Ketchup for being a crybaby.

    "Mommy, Big Sister Ice Cream is such a big meanie! Meowuwuwu!"

    Ice Cream smacked Ketchup on the tablet screen again as if telling the white cat to shut up.

    Iris stifled a chuckle. "Listen to your big sister and don¡¯t cry anymore."

    "But Mommy! The cute but sometimes not so mighty Ketchup doesn¡¯t understand catnguage! Ketchup doesn¡¯t know what Big Sister Ice Cream is saying at all. Wait, that¡¯s so weird! Ketchup is a kitty baby but why don¡¯t I and my big meanie of a little kitty brother Bacon understand catnguage? Meow?"

    Irisughed out loud. If not for the strict rules of her bed rest, she probably would have started rolling on the bed whileughing.

    Ah, what to do? Her cat children were too adorable!

    Unfortunately, Iris wasn¡¯t able to answer Ketchup¡¯s question because drowsiness caught up to her. She fell asleep in no time.

 Chapter 1103 - Scam Or Not

    <h4>Chapter 1103 - Scam Or Not </h4>

    Jasper Leung felt like he was going crazy. A certain job ad kept on popping up whenever he used the inte. He upgraded his ad-blocker but it was useless. All of the other ads were blocked except for that one specific and persistent job ad. He thought that perhaps his devices had been infected with some kind ofputer virus so he brought all of them to a repair shop but the technician couldn¡¯t find anything wrong with them. In the end, he could only bring them back home and hope for the best that the job ad would eventually disappear on its own soon.

    It didn¡¯t.

    The job ad kept on stalking him¡ªthat was what it felt like. It started to freak him out a little.

    Fed up, he borrowed a friend¡¯s phone in the hopes of being able to use the inte in peace. At first, it worked. The ad didn¡¯t show up at all. He was ecstatic. <i></i>

    About half an hourter, however, the ad popped up again. He showed it to his friend andined about the stalker-ish job ad, but his friend onlyughed at him.

    "It think that maybe you¡¯ve be too stressed outtely after being fired from your dream job and not being able to find a new job until now," his friend told him while patting his back, trying tofort him. "Don¡¯t worry, bro. This is only a temporary challenge in your life. I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll eventually find a good job, maybe something even better than what you briefly had at Jin Corporation. You have a degree, for goodness¡¯ sake! Yes, that Romeo Young is powerful but he shouldn¡¯t be that powerful. If he was, then he should be the owner of his own sessful multinationalpany like CEO Jin Liwei and not just a branch boss. Romeo Young¡ªthat pig¡ªcan¡¯t possibly continue cklisting you everywhere forever. His influence can only reach so far. He¡¯s not even on the same level as CEO Jin who you admire so much."

    Jasper sighed but nodded inplete agreement with his friend¡¯s words. He also thought the same way. And also, maybe his friend was right¡ªthat he was too stressed out right now after being fired and cklisted that he had somewhat be paranoid about a job ad stalking him everywhere.

    Then his friendmented, "This job ad looks interesting. Why don¡¯t you try applying for it?"

    Jasper snorted. "It¡¯s a scam."

    "How do you know?"

    "The pay is too good to be true. Even Jin Corporation doesn¡¯t pay that high for that position."

    His friend frowned and checked the job description again. "Really? This pay is high? Bro, did your sry expectation also took a hit when you got fired and cklisted? I may not be in the Public Rtions field like you but I still know that the listed sry in this job ad is reasonable."

    "Huh?" Jasper took the phone and looked at the sry section. His eyes widened when he saw thepletely new figure. "I¡¯m pretty sure that the listed sry was different from this one when I checked the job description before. It was ridiculously high. They must have changed it."

    "Or maybe you misread it. You had just been fired that time. Sometimes your brain doesn¡¯t do its job properly when you¡¯re too stressed or feeling bummed. Hey, it happens."

    Jasper didn¡¯t look too convinced that he misread it but what his friend said made sense. He felt confused and started to doubt his own memory. Maybe he was really mistaken?

    "Let¡¯s do a quick search if this White Tigresspany is really a scam or not," his friend suggested.

    Later....

    The friends looked at each other before checking the search results again.

    "No matter how I look at it, thispany looks legitimate. It¡¯s newly established but they already have quite a number of virtual assistants, mostly from the Philippines. And look, they even feature great testimonials from some well-known sessful people."

    Jasper pursed his lips. "Those testimonials might be fake. How could a newly establishedpany already have such great testimonials?"

    "Then there is only one way to find out. Let¡¯s try contacting these clients if they really hired thispany and are satisfied with the service."

    Jasper was skeptical. "Most of these alleged clients are well-known people. Not anyone can just contact them. We¡¯re just regr people. They won¡¯t reply to us."

    His friend shrugged. "We won¡¯t know if they¡¯ll reply or not if we don¡¯t try. Besides, we¡¯ll only choose the ones who seem easier to contact. Like this person. She¡¯s a Hong Kong socialite who married a Chinese multi-millionaire. She¡¯s also a bit of a social media influencer. I follow her on Snappygram and know that she sometimes replies toments and direct messages. Hold on. I¡¯ll message her now."

    He also messaged the other clients featured on the White Tigresspany website who had Snappygram ounts. There were no replies even after half an hour had passed.

    "See? I told you. These people won¡¯t reply to regr¡ª"

    "I got a reply!"

    Jasper closed his mouth and leaned closer to look at the message on the phone. Indeed, the Hong Kong socialite¡ªher ount verified with an eye-catching check mark icon next to her name¡ªreplied to his friend¡¯s message and confirmed that she indeed wrote the testimonial featured on the White Tigresspany website. She didn¡¯t just confirm it but even started praising thepany almost to the high heavens.

    "The boss is Kitty Jin and she¡¯s the best assistant that I ever experienced working with ever. She¡¯s a little weird...well, actually she¡¯s he weird. But her work performance is out of this world. I tried poaching her but she instantly rejected my offer. She said that her dad is richer than my husband so there¡¯s no need for her to work for somebody else when she can be the boss of her ownpany and have her rich dad¡¯s backing at the same time.

    "Herpany also has other virtual assistants that are great, most of them are Filipinos. Very hardworking and friendly people, I must say, but none of them are as efficient as Kitty Jin. She¡¯s like a robot. A cute and he weird robot. I¡¯m so satisfied with herpany¡¯s services that I often refer White Tigress to my friends. All of them are as satisfied as me."

 Chapter 1104 - Hella Weird

    <h4>Chapter 1104 - He Weird </h4>

    After chatting with the Hong Kong socialite on Snappygram, two more replies arrived from other clients. They also confirmed the legitimacy of White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    "What if...their Snappygram ounts got hacked?" Jasper Leung was still a bit skeptical. Perhaps it was because he felt a little traumatized by thepany¡¯s job ad bombardment on him.

    His friend rolled his eyes at Jasper¡¯s continued skepticism. "Bro, just try applying for this job. If it was really a scam, I know that you¡¯re smart enough to quit before it¡¯s toote, just like how you quit after discovering how much the Jin Corporation branch here is so corrupt. But if it¡¯s really a legitimatepany and all the rave reviews of these clients are true, then you¡¯ll just regret it if you don¡¯t grab this opportunity when it¡¯s knocking on your door so many times."

    Jasper thought that his friend had a point. He was already beginning to open up to the idea that maybe the universe was telling him something¡ªthat maybe, just maybe, this job at White Tigresspany might be the one destined for him.

    He finally made up his mind after a careful consideration while listening to his friend¡¯s encouragements. "Alright, I¡¯ll apply. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll hire me but it doesn¡¯t hurt to try, right?"

    "Right! Go for it, bro! I¡¯m cheering for you!"

    ###

    Later that afternoon, Jasper returned to his apartment and uploaded a copy of his r¨¦sum¨¦ with the online application form for the position ofmunications coordinator at White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services. He felt relieved after clicking the final "Submit" button. All he could do now was wait.

    He looked at the clock. Although he wasn¡¯t expecting anything too much, he still hoped that thepany would respond to his application today. His savings were dwindling fast. If he didn¡¯t find proper work soon, he might have to return to his parents¡¯ house and live there again with his tail tucked between his legs. His mother would surely nag at him again.

    His savings could more or lessst him for another two weeks at most. If he still failed to find a job appropriate for his education level, then he might have to force himself to work as a waiter or dishwasher at a fast food restaurant again like what he did to finance his student expenses in university.

    Sighing, he once again searched for other jobs outside of Singapore. He had to cast his wider and not just wait for White Tigress¡¯ response to his application before applying for other jobs. Simultaneous applications would increase his chances of being hired.

    He sent out a few more applications to variouspanies, many of them he had never heard of before but verified their legitimacy through a quick web search. They weren¡¯t on Jin Corporation¡¯s level but beggars couldn¡¯t be choosers. He couldn¡¯t afford to be picky at this point. As long as he was sure that thepany wasn¡¯t a scam, he would apply.

    <i>Ding!</i>

    A new mail arrived in his inbox. His heart skipped a beat upon seeing that the sender was Kitty Jin.

    He immediately clicked on it.<i></i>

    "Dear Mr. Jasper Leung,

    "Thank you for applying for the position of Communications Coordinator at White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services. We are a newpany based in China but operate worldwide on an around-the-clock schedule.

    "We would like to invite you for a video call interview for the position today at 5:45 PM.

    "Please reply to this e-mail if you have any questions or need to reschedule the interview.

    "Sincerely,

    "Kitty Jin"

    Jasper read the entire e-mail one more time. His heart was pounding in excitement. He got an interview. Finally! Yes!

    "Today at 5:45 PM. Today...huh? TODAY?!!"

    He nced at the clock again and almost fainted when he saw that it was already 5:30 PM. He immediately ran to his disorganized closet and rummaged for an appropriate outfit for the interview.

    "No, not a full business suit. Too formal. Something more casual...yes!"

    He finally found a suitable outfit and changed quickly, almost ripping the shirt in the process. He didn¡¯t have time to iron some of the wrinkles. Hopefully, the interviewer wouldn¡¯t notice the not-so-perfect condition of his attire.

    Then he ran to the bathroom to make his face and hair look more presentable. There was no time to take a shower. When he returned in front of hisputer, it was already 5:43 PM.

    He practiced his smile and his introduction. Although he already went through this process before and briefly got hired for his dream job, he still couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous even though this White Tigresspany shouldn¡¯t be more impressive than Jin Corporation. It was still a newpany after all, regardless of its already impressive clientele.

    5:45 PM.

    The video call request appeared on hisputer screen. He took a couple of deep breaths before clicking the answer icon.

    He could see his bright, business smile on the screen but Kitty Jin didn¡¯t have her camera turned on. She was only showing her profile photo which was a cartoon clip-art of a cat¡¯s paw.

    "Hello, Jasper Leung! My name is Kitty Jin and White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services is my super-duper to the highest level awesomepany! The cute and mighty me is your potential boss¡ªif you get hired! Hihihi. Meow~"

    Jasper blinked a few times, unable to react at the unexpected voice. What was this? Kitty Jin was a child?!

    Then he remembered how the Hong Kong socialite described Kitty Jin. ording to her, this Kitty Jin was "he weird".

    Indeed, this was he weird!

    Putting aside the obvious child¡¯s voice and immature way of speaking, what was with the meowing?

    He was now starting to regret applying to this weirdpany. Perhaps this was really a scam after all.

    "Hello? Jasper Leung, are you there? Why aren¡¯t you answering the cute and mighty Kitty Jin? Meow!"

    "Uh, yes! Miss Kitty Jin, I¡¯m still here."

    "Good. Then Kitty Jin will add my daddy to this video conference. Daddy will be the one to interview you. Meow~"

    Before Jasper could react, the face of the businessman that he admired the most appeared on hisputer screen. He screamed, shocked to the core.

    "CEO Jin Liwei?!!"

 Chapter 1105 - Idol Businessman

    <h4>Chapter 1105 - Idol Businessman </h4>

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded, confirming his identity. "You are Jasper Leung and you¡¯re applying for the position of Communications Coordinator in my daughter¡¯spany?"

    The eyes of the starstruck Jasper Leung almost bulged out of their sockets. "D-daughter?! Miss Kitty Jin is your daughter?!! H-huh, what?!!!" Then he froze, inhaling sharply upon realizing something. "Kitty Jin...Jin Liwei...both of you are Jins...ah!!!"

    "En, she¡¯s my daughter."

    "Yep yep! The cute and mighty Kitty Jin is my daddy¡¯s precious kitty baby daughter! Hihihi. Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "You¡¯re right." Jin Liwei showed a doting expression.

    Jasper was still in a state of shock. There was never any confirmed news about CEO Jin Liwei fathering a child before. By the sound of Kitty Jin¡¯s voice, she must already be a big child. CEO Jin Liwei only married very recently. Did he father a secret, illegitimate child and made his young wife a step-mother?

    As if knowing what he was thinking, Jin Liwei told him in a serious tone, "Kitty is my daughter with my wife."

    Jasper was already nodding his head before his idol¡¯s words registered in his brain. But when he realized what Jin Liwei said, he paled.

    If it was really true that Kitty Jin¡ªwho was already a big child based on her voice¡ªwas both Jin Liwei and his wife¡¯s child, then did that mean that the CEO impregnated his wife when she was still underage? Jasper knew that CEO Jin¡¯s wife was only in her early twenties. If this was the case, then wouldn¡¯t that make his idol businessman a beast?!

    Oh no!

    His increasingly wild thoughts were interrupted when Jin Liwei spoke again. "My daughter Kitty Jin¡¯s identity is...special. My wife and I want to protect her, that¡¯s why we don¡¯t announce her existence to the public. It¡¯s enough that we support her in running her ownpany. You¡¯re the first one who aren¡¯t close to my family that knows about my daughter, Kitty Jin. I trust that you¡¯ll keep it a secret. You will, won¡¯t you?"

    Jasper gulped and nodded. "Y-yes, of course! You can trust in my moral integrity, CEO Jin! I¡¯m not the type of person to b about another¡¯s secret without the owner¡¯s consent. I work in the Public Rtions field¡ªer, I want to work in the PR field and I have the educational qualifications for it, so I know the importance of knowing when to be tactful and when it¡¯s okay to reveal the truth."

    Jin Liwei nodded, satisfied. "Good."

    "If you like, I can sign an NDA to give you some peace of mind. I don¡¯t mind it at all."

    "Hmmm. We¡¯ll talk about thatter. First things first, let¡¯s start the job interview."

    "Ah, yes! Of course, sir!" Jasper sat straighter and resolved himself to do his very best, even better than how he performed when he applied at the Singaporean branch of Jin Corporation. He didn¡¯t want to embarrass himself in front of his idol.

    The interview finally started. Being interviewed by the actual Jin Liwei himself, President-CEO of China¡¯s biggest multinationalpany and one of the most influential billionaire business figures in the world, felt so surreal. Jasper almost couldn¡¯t believe that this was really happening to him.<i></i>

    This was what he had been dreaming of ever since he had decided to pursue a career in business, specifically in the Public Rtions field¡ªto meet and speak with CEO Jin Liwei, and of course, to work in hispany. His hopes and big dreams of ever working at Jin Corporation again had been cruelly dashed when Romeo Young fired and cklisted him. Now, however, Jasper believed that the incident was a blessing in disguise.

    Romeo Young was only a branch boss, anyway. He was nothing but a fake kingpared to the true reigning king of Jin Corporation, Jin Liwei.

    Jin Liwei asked many difficult questions. Jasper answered all of them to the best of his ability. He wasn¡¯t sure if his idol was satisfied with his answers. He was unable to gauge any of the CEO¡¯s true thoughts from the man¡¯s poker face alone.

    Kitty Jin would also interject her own questions and opinions here and there, but most of the time, it was her father who interviewed Jasper.

    "What do you think?" Jin Liwei asked his daughter.

    Jasper tensed. He rubbed his sweaty palms on his trousers out of the web camera¡¯s view.

    "Kitty likes Jasper, Daddy! He¡¯s a bit boring but that¡¯s okay! The cute and mighty me is a good boss to all my employees and will treat them well as long as they do their jobs right. Meow~"

    Jasper felt a little relieved that Miss Kitty Jin liked him, though he inwardly winced at being called boring. He knew that he wasn¡¯t the most interesting person in the but wasn¡¯t it too harsh to call him boring to his face?

    Well, it didn¡¯t matter. As long as CEO Jin¡¯s daughter liked him, he now had a better chance of getting the job. However, it seemed that the final decision still rested on CEO Jin Liwei himself. Jasper once again felt nervous, even terrified.

    This wasn¡¯t a job at Jin Corporation, but oddly enough, he felt more anxious. Jin Liwei¡¯s opinion felt more important and meaningful than the one who interviewed him when he first applied at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singaporean branch.

    <i>¡¯I want this. I want this so badly! Please let me get this job.¡¯</i>

    "How about Daddy? Does Daddy like Jasper, too? Meow~"

    Jasper felt like he was going to faint from the nerves. However, he forced himself to hold on, refusing to embarrass himself in front of his idol by passing out like an overexcited fanboy.

    Whatever the oue of this interview, he would ept it. He trusted in CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s judgment. If he didn¡¯t get hired, then that meant that he was not qualified for the position. Not yet. He would just work harder and smarter to improve his qualifications and try again next time.

    Jasper no longer thought that this White Tigresspany was a scam. To him, this was the next best thing after Jin Corporation for his dream career.

    Then Jin Liwei said, "My decision is...."

    Jasper leaned forward, afraid to miss a single word.

    "Hurry up and say it, Daddy! The cute and mighty Kitty Jin can¡¯t wait any longer. Meow!"

 Chapter 1106 - Good Seedling

    <h4>Chapter 1106 - Good Seedling </h4>

    "You¡¯re hired," Jin Liwei said.

    As soon as he heard the words, Jasper shot out of his seat and started jumping and running all around his apartment with both arms raised up high in the air while shouting for joy.

    In their own private channel where Jasper couldn¡¯t hear them, the white cat AI said, "Daddy, Ketchup takes back what the cute and mighty me said earlier that this Jasper guy is boring. Actually, he¡¯s a bit interesting and funny especially when he¡¯s acting super-duper to the highest level happy and excited after being hired to work at Ketchup¡¯s ownpany. He has good taste because Ketchup¡¯spany is super-duper awesome! The cute and mighty me no longer holds a grudge when he called Ketchup a scammer before. He¡¯s no longer a poopoo-head! Hehehe. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nodded but his mind was already polishing the n that he formted on how to train Jasper Leung into shape fast so that the young man could be the key person that he envisioned in the battle against the Youngs in Singapore in the shortest amount of time possible. Hiring Jasper Leung in his AI daughter¡¯spany was only the first step.

    It wasn¡¯t just for the sake of training and preparing the young man to grow into a charismatic frontman who would be able to gain the sympathy of the majority of the people. It was also to keep him safe.

    As long as Jasper Leung was an official employee of White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services, Jin Liwei would have a legitimate reason to provide him with resources and support behind the scenes under the guise of his AI daughter¡¯spany.

    Dering war against the Youngs was a dangerous endeavour after all due to the mysterious power backing them. If it weren¡¯t for their mysterious backer, Jin Liwei would have already removed their power as soon as he learned about their corruption in the Singapore branch. Therefore, he had to use a more roundabout way to kick out the corrupt and overambitious Youngs from the Singapore branch instead of directly retrieving the power and control from them. His investigations indicated that the Youngs¡¯ tentacles had stretched and spread too deep in the entire Singapore branch thanks to their mysterious backers.

    If Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t careful, the Singapore branch might copse if he purged the Youngs by force. Jin Corporation¡¯s position in Asia might destabilize if this happened.<i></i>

    He nced at Jasper Leung and analyzed the young man as someone who had potential. Jasper was a good seedling¡ªmorally upright and resilient even in the midst of a crisis.

    Jin Liwei nned on nurturing this seedling. Hopefully, his efforts wouldn¡¯t end up in vain and Jasper could grow into a tall and sturdy tree who would eventually be a reliable support for Jin Corporation after they rid the Singapore branch of all the Youngs, those parasites.

    Finally, Jasper calmed down and returned to his seat in front of theputer. His red face showed his embarrassment. He quickly apologized for losing control of his emotions just now.

    "That¡¯s fine, hairline! Kitty Jin doesn¡¯t mind. Actually, the cute and mighty me feels very happy that you¡¯re so excited to work for my super-duper awesomepany! Meow~"

    Jasper looked relieved. "Thank you, Miss Kitty Jin." Then he nced at Jin Liwei, waiting for the CEO¡¯s judgment.

    Jin Liwei waved a hand, dismissing his concerns away. "It¡¯s fine. You can discuss with my daughter about the specifics of your employment contract. My assistant will also contact you at ater date about the NDA."

    "Yes, sir. No problem, sir."

    Jin Liwei stared at him for a few seconds, causing Jasper to squirm on his seat and wonder if he did anything to offend his idol businessman. Why was CEO Jin staring at him so hard?

    "I will be observing your performance at White Tigress," Jin Liwei finally said.

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Work well with my daughter. Do your best to improve yourself and don¡¯t be afraid to expand your skillset to other areas besides the PR field. It¡¯s good to be a specialist, but in the business world, only those who could excel in multiple areas will make them stand out among their peers."

    Jasper was ecstatic that he was getting advice from THE Jin Liwei himself. This was a dreame true. "Understood, sir! I¡¯ll follow your words of wisdom."

    Jin Liwei nodded, his expression not showing any distinct changes, but Jasper sensed that the CEO was pleased with him. Jasper became even happier.

    "Remember this, Jasper Leung. White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services has me, Jin Liwei, as its backer."

    Jasper gulped, immediately understanding the implication in the CEO¡¯s seemingly simple statement. It was a reassurance but also a threat.

    As long as he did his job well, he would surely be rewarded ordingly. But if he somehow turned stupid and did the opposite, Jin Liwei and his daughter Kitty Jin would surely throw him out like a dog who bit its owner¡¯s hand that fed him.

    Determination shed in Jasper¡¯s eyes. "Don¡¯t worry, sir. I¡¯ll surely do my best and not make you regret hiring me for this position."

    "En, good."

    "Miss Kitty Jin, I¡¯ll be in your care from now on. Please guide me and I¡¯ll do my best to learn properly."

    "That¡¯s good, cat food! Kitty Jin is a super-duper to the highest level great boss like my daddy and mommy. Jasper will have a bright future as long as you follow the cute and mighty me! Hihihi. Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "En."

    Kitty Jin was about to end the video call when Jasper stopped her. "Wait! Sir, I have...uhm...I want to say something. It¡¯s very important."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow before waving a hand. "Speak."

    Jasper told him about the corruption he witnessed at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singaporean branch. At first, he was careful, afraid that it would offend CEO Jin Liwei and make his idol retract the job offer. But after seeing that the CEO was seriously listening to his ount, he gained more confidence and spilled everything about the Youngs¡¯wlessness.

    This was CEO Jin¡¯s business after all. He deserved to know. Jasper felt indignant on behalf of his idol. How dare those Youngs¡¯ use his idol¡¯spany for their own family¡¯s benefit and act like it was their own belonging?

    Audacious!

 Chapter 1107 - Heavy Responsibility

    <h4>Chapter 1107 - Heavy Responsibility </h4>

    After Jasper Leung finished telling Jin Liwei everything that he witnessed about the Youngs¡¯ corruption at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch, he felt like he ran a marathon. He was sweating hard and even panting as if out of breath. This was how much he felt incensed at the Youngs¡¯ audacity on behalf of his idol businessman. He nced at his idol¡¯s reaction.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change much. Although he didn¡¯t look cold and indifferent like usual, there were no obvious emotions on his face.

    Jasper began to feel unsure. Was it the correct decision to tell everything to CEO Jin Liwei? Maybe he should¡¯ve waited until he started working for Miss Kitty Jin¡¯s White Tigresspany before confessing about all the misconducts he witnessed during his short stint at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch. This way, he could build more job security for himself.

    As soon as this thought entered his mind, he felt disgusted of himself. He wasn¡¯t a martyr but he hated seeing tant injustice. This was why he couldn¡¯t stomach seeing the Youngs¡¯ misuse of their power and ended up offending Romeo Young.

    "You did well," Jin Liwei finally said.

    Relief filled Jasper. This meant that his idol had no ns of denying Jasper¡¯s ims. "Sir, I¡¯m sorry for asking this but...did you know about the Youngs¡¯ abuse of power?"

    "En."

    Jasper was shocked. "Then why....?"

    Jin Liwei paused and looked like he was considering how much to tell him. <i></i>

    "CEO Jin, you don¡¯t really have to exin anything to me¡ª"

    "It¡¯s fine," Jin Liwei said, leaning back on his seat and steepling his fingers over his chest. "You¡¯ll eventually know of these things sooner orter, anyway, whether I tell you or not."

    Jasper was confused. What did CEO Jin mean? He stayed silent and waited for his idol to exin.

    "For now, I can¡¯t touch the Youngs because they have a mysterious group backing them which we¡¯ve already proven over here to be extremely dangerous. They already murdered four young men. Those four were about the same age as you before their untimely death. They¡¯re the ones who assisted Rose Young in her failed attempt to trap me."

    Jasper was horrified. Of course, he knew about Rose Young¡¯s sinister plot to sexually vite his idol. The story was all over the news for many days now. In the first ce, it was the main reason why he stood up against Romeo Young¡¯s n to use the Singapore branch¡¯spany resources to twist the truth to gain sympathy for his slut daughter while putting the majority of the me on the victim, CEO Jin Liwei. But about Rose Young¡¯s aplices, he hadn¡¯t heard anything about them on the news. They were murdered?!

    "Although they assisted Rose Young in harming me, I don¡¯t think they deserve to be murdered," Jin Liwei continued saying.

    Jasper nodded, agreeing with his idol¡¯s words. Those four young men were probably just paid by Rose Young, that evil woman, to help her n seed. Yes, they were criminals for acting as aplices to a crime but death was too harsh of a punishment for them. He couldn¡¯t help but shudder in fear at the thought that there was such a highly dangerous group behind the Youngs. No wonder they dared to abuse their power without any fear.

    "S-sir...."

    "Romeo Young has a huge pride and ego. He¡¯ll probably continue targeting you. If he¡¯s in a bad mood, he might ask his family¡¯s backers to <i>¡¯take care¡¯</i> of you."

    Jasper nched. "Sir, what do I do?! I¡¯m just a new graduate who came from a normal family! I don¡¯t have the means or power to protect myself. By how you describe the backers of that family filled with immoral animals, they sound like the mafia. Oh no. What if they target my family as well?"

    "Don¡¯t panic, Titanic!" Kitty Jin interjected. "Jasper Leung is now an employee of Kitty Jin¡¯s White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services! The cute and mighty me won¡¯t allow anything bad to happen to my loyal employees! This is what my daddy and my mommy taught Kitty Jin. If any evil poopoo-heads dare to harm my employees, they¡¯ll suffer under my mighty paws of justice! Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "En. The Youngs may have backers but you now have me as a backer as well since you¡¯re going to be my daughter¡¯s official employee soon."

    "Yes, that¡¯s right, cat fight! Kitty Jin¡¯s daddy is super-duper to the highest level awesome and so is my mommy and my uncle and my great-grandpa and the other members of our one big happy family! Jasper Leung, you have to sign the employment contract as soon as I send it to you so that the cute and mighty me and my daddy can send you some protection immediately! Meow~"

    Tears formed in Jasper¡¯s eyes. "Thank you, CEO Jin! Thank you, Miss Kitty Jin! Thank you so much! I¡¯ll owe you for the rest of my life."

    "No need, seaweed! The rest of your life is too long. Kitty Jin and our big happy family are not ve drivers like those poopoo-heads from the Youngs! Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Just do your job well and assist my daughter in running herpany. She¡¯s still very young, so I hope that you can help me and my wife to look after her. She¡¯s your actual boss but thepany is under my wife¡¯s friend¡¯s name for legal purposes. I hope that you¡¯ll help keep my daughter¡¯s existence a secret because I don¡¯t want my child targeted by people with evil intentions. The public also doesn¡¯t know that I¡¯m the real backer of White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services. I also want to keep this a secret to prevent others from taking advantage of my daughter¡¯spany to get closer to me."

    "Yes, sir! I understand, sir! Please rest assured that I won¡¯t breathe a word of all these secrets to any other people including my own reflection in the mirror."

    "En. You have my thanks."

    Uwah! His idol thanked him!

    The video call finally ended. Jasper slumped on his seat from the unbelievable experience. His heart was still beating fast. Then he straightened his back, suddenly feeling a heavy responsibility on his shoulders after knowing these many secrets about his idol.

    He clenched his fists. "CEO Jin, I¡¯ll definitely work hard to make me deserving of your trust!"

 Chapter 1108 - Barely Classy

    <h4>Chapter 1108 - Barely ssy </h4>

    So many things happened outside during Iris¡¯ bed rest. No matter how much she wanted to help or involve herself in these things, she couldn¡¯t because of her overprotective husband and two AI children.

    This time, the newly awakened Bacon became even stricter than his dad and no longer went along with whatever Iris wanted if he judged that it would put her and his twin human baby siblings in danger. Although nobody was ming him, it appeared that Bacon felt extremely guilty after letting Iris jump out of the executive van that night and afterwards watching her almost miscarry.

    "Mother, please don¡¯t be hardheaded again. It¡¯s not ssy." Bacon¡¯s swishing, fluffy, ck tail paused before he quickly corrected his words. "Mother is still the ssiest person in the world. Just your impulsive actions are not ssy. That¡¯s what Bacon meant."

    Iris felt helpless at her AI son¡¯s newfound strictness on her. He was worse than his dad, her husband Jin Liwei. She could no longer coax him even after offering him red packets. The kid was bing more and more unbending like his Uncle Zihao, no, his Uncle Niki.

    Was this the effect of Bacon bing the power flood? Or was it just because of the kid¡¯s guilt about ying a role in her miscarriage scare?

    She wasn¡¯t exactly sure.

    Like him, she also felt guilty about endangering her babies. Fortunately, her music mentor Enrique Valdez¡¯s lecture helped her to start the process of forgiving herself.

    There were so many things that she wanted to do¡ªneeded to do¡ªbut weren¡¯t able to because of her current condition. She had no choice but to admit that her current pregnant body couldn¡¯t handle all the tasks that she wanted to aplish, especially after almost miscarrying her babies which injured her vitality at this point in time.

    At the moment, all she could do was trust in her husband and their two AI children. She and Jin Liwei had been worrying about the power flood having a negative effect on Bacon¡¯s already vicious personality, but so far, their Baby Bacon was still the Bacon they knew and loved. Sure, he had be more intense and brooding like his maternal uncle, but at least he hadn¡¯t threatened to destroy the whole world with his newly acquired power. But that was mainly because Iris wasn¡¯t in any danger during her bed rest except for her utter boredom.

    She began to look forward to her chatty AI daughter¡¯s daily reports about thetest news to stave off her boredom. Ketchup had the special ability to make even the most boring news sound like the most amusing and interesting tales ever. Adding in her overdramatic tendency that she inherited from her Uncle Dom, Iris now felt extremely thankful that she mixed in her assistant and best friend¡¯s personality into the cocktail that made up Ketchup¡¯s loving and bubbly character.<i></i>

    "Mommy, the cute and mighty Ketchup noticed that Auntie Ying Yue is in a bad mood these days because of Uncle Yehan¡¯swsuit against my former uncle who¡¯s now a poopoo-head, that Long Hui! Pweh! Ketchup still has a deep grudge against the poopoo-head for what he did to my adorable cousin, Big Brother Little Junjun! How can a father do that to his own baby? The cute and mighty Ketchup doesn¡¯t understand. My daddy is super-duper to the highest level loving and caring, although he¡¯s super-duper to the highest level strict most of the time and scary sometimes, but that¡¯s okay because the cute and mighty me knows that Daddy is only disciplining us kitty babies for our own good. Right, Mommy? Meow~"

    "Yes, Ketchup. Your dad loves you and all your siblings very much." Iris then nced at the bored-looking Bacon on her tablet who folded himself like a loaf of bread.

    Look at the kid. He looked as if he didn¡¯t care but his tail was rotating like a helicopter¡¯s rotor des. It was obvious that Bacon loved his dad as well but didn¡¯t want to say or show it.

    Ketchup continued chattering. "Mommy, why is it that Grandpa Long is still protecting that poopoo-headed son of his when that Long Hui did all those things to hurt Big Brother Little Junjun and Auntie Ying Yue and Mommy and Daddy and other members of our one big happy family? It makes the cute and mighty Ketchup¡¯s kitty blood boil with injustice! Hmph! Meow!"

    Without any change of expression, Bacon said, "It¡¯s because aside from Mother, Aunt Jinjing and our cousin Big Brother Jun, everyone else in the Long family are not ssy."

    "But Grandma Yang and Auntie Meimei are nice. Meow~"

    "Fine. They¡¯re ssy but only barely. Grandmother Yang is kind but she doesn¡¯t seem to have that much power to change Grandfather Long¡¯s bullheaded beliefs. Aunt Mei is also an inspirational figure with her sessful career as a webtoon artist but she doesn¡¯t take care of herself and allows herself to look like a zombie which isn¡¯t ssy."

    "Alright, Bacon. That¡¯s enough." Iris sighed at her AI son¡¯s straightforwardness which she admitted that he must have inherited from her. Good thing that she was gradually learning some tact after being reborn as Iris Long. She hoped that Bacon could tone down this part of his personality as well.

    Back to the main topic, she agreed with Ketchup. Iris also felt displeased that Long Tengfei continued to shield Long Hui by sending him far away to avoid Lin Yehan¡¯swsuit under the guise of punishment. However, she also understood that it must be Long Tengfei¡¯s sentiments as a father.

    She thought that if she were in Long Tengfei¡¯s shoes, she would also do everything to protect her children regardless of whatever bad things they did. Although this wasn¡¯t a good thing from a moral perspective, she still couldn¡¯t stomach watching any of her beloved children suffer. And she was certain that her husband would feel the same way.

    "Also, Mommy, Uncle Long Jian left you three missed calls and fourteen messages inquiring about your promise to help his mother to get out of jail. Ketchup only informed Mommy now because the cute and mighty me deemed his request as low priority. Meow~"

    Iris massaged her forehead at the reminder of her promise. "Alright. I got it. Thank you, Ketchup."

    "No problemo, Filipino! Ketchup is always happy to help my mommy. Love ya lots. Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Ehehehe. Meow~"

 Chapter 1109 P - J

    <h4>Chapter 1109 P - J </h4>

    Iris smiled and rubbed the images of Ketchup and Bacon on her tablet screen. She wished more than ever that she could make physical bodies for her two cat AI children. They were so adorable that she craved to hold and hug both of them in her arms. Her husband, Jin Liwei, would love to embrace Ketchup and Bacon for sure as well.

    Creating physical bodies wasn¡¯t within her field of specialty but she knew a few people who could help her make this specific dream of herse true. The only problem was if she trusted those people enough to let them know about her cat AI children¡¯s existences. She and her husband would need to discuss this among themselves carefully after she recovered her health andpleted her bed rest.

    As for Long Jian and his mother Zhu Ning, Iris hadn¡¯t forgotten about their matter. It was just that much more important things had been happening to her all at the same time. Before her wedding, she found some clues that might help Zhu Ning be absolved of the crime of masterminding the bomb incident at the mall which injured her, Jin Chonglin, their fans, and many other people. However, she hadn¡¯t been able to pursue the clues to obtain something more substantial. Now that she was inplete bed rest, she had no choice but to delegate the tasks to others.

    "Bacon, take this protected e-folder to ShaWn for further investigation," she instructed her cat AI son.

    "Understood, Mother. Bacon will be back." The ck cat AI disappeared.

    It seemed that the power flood didn¡¯t automatically fix Bacon¡¯s weakness for multitasking. Based on what Iris saw from his reprogrammed system so far, it would now be more difficult to tweak him to be a multitasker. It could still be done but she would need to sacrifice his other specialties in order to increase his multitasking skills to be even close to Ketchup¡¯s level.

    She lost interest in making her cat AI son a multitasker after analyzing that it might weaken his overall abilities if she forced a higher level of multitasking skills on him. Ketchup being an expert multitasker was enough. The siblings could just continue supporting andplementing each other¡¯s strengths and weaknesses like usual.

    Iris couldn¡¯t wait to recover and get out of bed rest so that she could study Bacon¡¯s reprogrammed system more closely. There were so many possibilities that wouldn¡¯t just benefit Bacon himself but also his older sister, Ketchup, once Iris sessfully analyzed everything about the unexpected foundational changes in his system.

    She tapped on her cat AI daughter¡¯s adorable image on her tablet screen. "Ketchup."

    "Yes, Mommy? Meow~"

    "Send a copy of the same e-folder to your dad. Tell him that it¡¯s about Zhu Ning¡¯s matter. He¡¯ll know what to do."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    Unlike Bacon, Ketchup didn¡¯t disappear. The fluffy white cat AI continued ying with a ball of yarn but Iris knew that Ketchup was in many ces all at once. Just like how the power flood benefitted Bacon, it also upgraded Ketchup¡¯s skills, although it wasn¡¯t as noticeable as what her little brother experienced with aplete system reprogramming.

    Ketchup was now more efficient. Both Iris and Jin Liwei also noticed that their cat AI daughter¡¯sprehension skills of abstract and philosophical ideas were improving at an almost frightening degree, making her even more overdramatic than before.

    She had even reduced her Uncle Dom into an almost inconsble sobbing mess yesterday with her very profound view about the lifetime connection between a parent and child regardless of blood rtions. As a result, Dom immediately called his Momsy and Popsy in the Philippines afterwards and cried harder, telling them that he loved them forever and ever. Inspired by her Uncle Dom¡¯s actions, Ketchup also dered her love for her mommy and daddy forever and ever.

    Iris felt all warm inside while remembering her AI daughter¡¯s sweet words. She knew that her husband also felt very happy inside.<i></i>

    "Mother, Bacon is back." The ck cat AI reappeared on the tablet screen. "ShaWn and I are already working with the contents of the e-folder."

    "Thank you, Bacon." Then she tilted her head to the side, wondering why her cat AI son returned home if he was working on the files that she sent to ShaWn. Was he unable to focus because he wanted to keep a constant eye on her? What an overprotective kitten! Just like his dad and uncle!

    Very soon, however, she would learn why Bacon returned home so soon even though he had a task toplete at Shadow Winds.

    "Mommy, Daddy says that he¡¯ll help handle Zhu Ning¡¯s matter so please focus on resting. Meow~" Ketchup reported. Then she froze all of a sudden before trembling in excitement.

    She was about to say something but Bacon pounced on her and blocked her mouth with a fluffy, ck paw.

    Iris frowned. "Bacon, what are you doing? Let your big sister go."

    Bacon didn¡¯t let Ketchup go right away. The AI siblings stared at each other, appearing to have silentmunication between them that their mother couldn¡¯t hear. Iris¡¯ frown deepened.

    Finally, Ketchup nodded, agreeing to whatever Bacon threatened her with and was let go. Then both cats faced their mother.

    "Bacon, you¡ª"

    "Mommy, the cute and mighty Ketchup is okay! Really! My little kitty brother Bacon didn¡¯t hurt Ketchup at all. Promise! Meow~"

    "Mother, my apologies if my actions made you angry. Bacon knows it¡¯s not ssy."

    Ketchup began jumping all around her little brother. "Bacon, hurry up and tell Mommy about your surprise! Oh, Ketchup can¡¯t wait! Meow~"

    Iris became confused. What were they talking about?

    Ketchup and Bacon, however, kept their mouths shut and wouldn¡¯t tell her anything. Well, Ketchup almost couldn¡¯t contain herself and looked like she wanted to spill the secret but still held herself back after repeatedly being red at by Bacon.

    Finally, Iris received the answer when there was a knock on the bedroom door. The butler and a houseboy carried a few items inside.

    "Madam, you have a delivery from a...Mister or Miss P.J. Where would you like us to leave them?"

    "P.J.?"

    Iris tilted her head to the side before realization dawned on her. She looked at her AI son who was swishing his fluffy, ck tail from side to side in anticipation.

    "P.J., huh?"

 Chapter 1110 P - J

    <h4>Chapter 1110 P - J </h4>

    "Leave them here on the bed beside me," Iris instructed the butler and the houseboy.

    The items were ced on their master¡¯s side of the bed. The butler and houseboy set everything down as gently as possible, careful not to make any unnecessary movements that might jolt their mistress¡¯ fragile body. They left after the mistress thanked them.

    Iris looked at all the items. There was a huge bouquet of pink carnations, a dozen novels by her favourite Russian, British and Japanese authors, and finally a big basket filled with high-end choctes and pastries decorated with lovely silk ribbons.

    She took the bouquet and read the attached printed card. It was written in Russian. No wonder the butler didn¡¯t know if the sender was a Mr. or a Miss. It said:

    "To Dearest Mother who is the most beautiful, most talented, smartest and ssiest in the entire world and beyond,

    "Please get well soon and give birth safely.

    "Thank you for being the best mother ever to walk in the history of this.

    "Please don¡¯t believe anyone stupid enough to dare tell you otherwise. They are just a bunch of envious nobodies who are not as ssy as Mother and deserve to be squashed like the pests that they are into oblivion. Your beloved son will destroy them alongside the city where they live in. Please do not worry about useless people like them.

    "Forever your son,

    "P.J."

    Tears filled Iris¡¯ eyes after reading the sweet yet vicious letter. "Oh, Bacon."

    "Does Mother like Bacon¡¯s presents?"

    "Oh, yes. I love them." Iris wiped the drops of tears that escaped from her eyes.

    Bacon¡¯s fluffy, ck tail rotated into a blur.

    "Meowowow! Little Kitty Brother Bacon is so sweet and thoughtful to our mommy who is the bestest mommy in the whole wide universe. Ketchup is so touched! Meowowow~"

    Iris chuckled and smelled the pink carnations.<i></i>

    "In flowernguage, pink carnations symbolize a mother¡¯s undying love," Bacon exined. "Bacon hopes that Mother likes them."

    "Of course, baby. Thank you so much." Iris ced the bouquet beside her and examined the other presents.

    The novels were much appreciated, especially right now that she had no choice but to stay in bed all day for half a month. Reading would help alleviate her increasing boredom.

    Finally, the big basket of snacks made her eyes light up. She was about to unwrap one of the choctes but her strict AI son stopped her.

    "Mother, the doctor says that you can only eat a little of sweet snacks after a proper meal. Please wait until after dinner."

    Iris sighed and returned the chocte bar to the basket with great reluctance. She was regretting letting the houseboy ce the basket on the bed beside her. This was such a painful temptation!

    She took the bouquet again and ced it on top of her abdomen to admire. Her son was so thoughtful, just like his dad.

    "P.J. Panther Jin. What made you decide to buy these presents for me?"

    Bacon didn¡¯t reply right away. His fluffy, ck tail was swishing in tiny, side-to-side movements like a shy boy swaying his body.

    "Oh, Ketchup knows the reason! It¡¯s because my little kitty brother Bacon doesn¡¯t like to be outdone by the cute and mighty me when Ketchup told Mommy and Daddy that I love ya lots forever and ever yesterday! Bacon doesn¡¯t want to destroy his aloof image to tell Mommy and Daddy that he loves you too so he ordered presents instead to show you his love instead of saying it. Such a little tsundere kitty! Hihihi. Meow~"

    Bacon pounced on Ketchup again but the white cat was ready this time. She dodged her little brother and continuedughing with glee.

    Iris alsoughed with her AI daughter, a loving expression on her face. Indeed, Ketchup was right. Bacon was a little tsundere. She let the two AI cats y around.

    Warmth filled her heart.

    She knew that she was far from being the best mother in the world. In fact, the fear of being a bad mother was still embedded deeply in her heart but her AI children and husband¡¯s belief that she was the best was like a balm gradually soothing and healing this insecurity of hers.

    Her hand rubbed her t belly, as she imagined two little angels who chose her as their mother despite her ipetence.

    <i>¡¯I¡¯ll protect you with my life. Forgive Mommy for being reckless and endangering you. And thank you for holding on inside me despite the danger I put you through. Mommy promises that I won¡¯t do it again. Your daddy and I and your older siblings and the rest of our family already love both of you. We can¡¯t wait to meet you.¡¯</i>

    ###

    <i>Jin Corporation.</i>

    "Dismissed."

    Jin Liwei stood up and left the meeting room. His assistant, Xu Tian, was closely following behind him. He wanted to stay at home and apany his wife but Iris persuaded him to return to work. He was reluctant but thepany was indeed extremely busy during this period.

    Although his wife had a lot of people and two extremely overprotective AI cat children watching over her, he still couldn¡¯t help but worry. He ended upmanding his helicopter and pilot to be stationed at thepany¡¯s rooftop so that he could leave and rush to his wife¡¯s side anytime in the fastest time possible if an emergency were to happen to her again.

    Jin Liwei returned to his office. There was a lot of paperwork piled up on his desk. Xu Tian was also as busy as him.

    He just finished a phone call with hiswyer regarding Zhu Ning¡¯s matter when Xu Tian entered after knocking. His assistant was carrying a long, rectangr package.

    "Sir, you have delivery from a person called P.J."

    Jin Liwei scowled. "I don¡¯t know anyone named P.J. How did that package slip through security? Throw it away. I¡¯m busy."

    "Father is so despicable," a familiar child¡¯s voice said. "Bacon took the time to choose Father a present but he wants to throw it away. It¡¯s not ssy."

    Before Jin Liwei could react, his AI son who appeared just now disappeared once again.

    "Uh oh, Daddy! Ketchup¡¯s little kitty brother ran to Mommy crying again. Poor Bacon! That was so mean, Daddy! Meowuwuwu!"

 Chapter 1111 P - J

    <h4>Chapter 1111 P - J </h4>

    Both Jin Liwei and Xu Tian were speechless at the sudden turn of events. They looked at each other and felt that things were spiraling out of control especially when Ketchup announced the next words.

    "Daddy, Mommy is calling. Connecting in 3...2...meow!"

    "Jin. Li. Wei."

    Jin Liwei tensed, immediately sensing his wife¡¯s anger. There was no mistaking it. His wife must be fuming just based on her tone. Everything right now felt like d¨¦j¨¤ vu but the difference was that his wife was immediately mad at him this time without even waiting for him to exin first. This waspletely different from before when he unexpectedly made their AI son cry for the first time.

    "Love¡ª"

    "How dare you instruct Xu Tian to throw away our son¡¯s present for you?!"

    Xu Tian flinched at hearing his own name. He desperately wanted to escape the president¡¯s office to somewhere safer where thedy boss¡¯ line of fire wouldn¡¯t be directed at him as an unfortunate casualty. However, the weight of the long, rectangr package in his arms felt like it was bing heavier the longer he stayed in his spot. Its figuratively increasing heaviness was preventing him from leaving.<i></i>

    Having no choice, he steeled himself to stay and join his boss to face the wrath of thedy boss for making the Young Master Bacon cry. This was why he preferred dealing with the Young Miss Ketchup who was extremely friendly. The Young Master Bacon¡¯s personality was just too difficult to deal with.

    The furious Iris continued her emotional tirade. "This is the first time Bacon bought you a present and you want to throw it away?! Where is your heart?! My poor baby! Bacon, don¡¯t cry anymore. Your dad¡¯s mind has be too addled with work!"

    Jin Liwei inwardly sighed while massaging his temples. He was about to exin to his wife that he didn¡¯t know that P.J. was Bacon but then he heard the sound of his wife crying as well. Something seemed to drop in the pit of his stomach. "Love?"

    "This is the first time our Bacon bought presents for his parents but you...you want to throw it away?! How could you, Jin Liwei?! You¡ªgo sleep in another room tonight. I¡¯m too upset to see you today!"

    <i>Beep beep.</i>

    She hung up on him.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes contracted and his nostrils red. He nced at hisputer monitor and even his AI daughter was looking at him as if he had turned into a heartless monster. There was a puddle of tears surrounding Ketchup.

    "Hah..." He looked at the long, rectangr package that his assistant was carrying. "Give it to me."

    "Yes, sir." Xu Tian carefully ced it on the huge wooden desk.

    The package was long and not especially thick. It was wrapped in a simple ck cloth instead of regr wrapping paper. The only pop of colour was a gold envelope attached to it.

    He took the envelope, opened it, and fished out a simple card. It said:

    "To Dear Father who is our family¡¯s dedicated guardian, protector and allowance provider to us, your children,

    "Thank you for always prioritizing Mother who is the ssiest in the whole wide universe. That makes you a ssy man for being such a loving and caring husband to your wife, our beloved mother.

    "Also, thank you for always helping Bacon to demandpensation for emotional distress from all the stupid idiots who dare offend me. Please continue to assist Bacon and milk those not ssy imbeciles of their money.

    "Bacon wants to show my appreciation to Father by giving you this present. I hope that Father can use it to better protect Mother next time and strike down our family¡¯s enemies.

    "Forever your son,

    "P.J."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s hand that was holding the card trembled after reading what his AI son wrote to him. It was typical Bacon¡ªvicious and money-grubbing¡ªyet there was also the unmistakable feelings of gratitude from a son to a father. Warmth and sweetness filled his heart, then the bitter taste of guilt.

    "Bacon."

    There was no reply.

    No surprise there. He already knew that his AI son was actually a very emotionally sensitive child contrary to Bacon¡¯s usual bored, aloof, no-nonsense, and vicious attitude.

    "Why didn¡¯t you tell me that this is from my son?" Jin Liwei asked his assistant.

    Xu Tian almost wanted to cry at the using tone. "Sir, I really didn¡¯t know that the package was from Young Master Bacon. If I knew, I would¡¯ve told you right away to prevent this misunderstanding. Young Miss Ketchup must have allowed it to pass through security despite us not knowing the sender¡¯s identity until now."

    They saw the sobbing Ketchup nod her fluffy, white head, confirming Xu Tian¡¯s guess. The puddle of tears around her white, fluffy body grewrger. She looked so pitiful that both Jin Liwei and Xu Tian couldn¡¯t help but feel even guiltier.

    Jin Liwei sighed before finally unwrapping the package. It was wrapped in exquisite <i>furoshiki </i>style. Beneath the ck cloth was another colour ck, but this time, it was a long, shiny, leather case. He opened it and saw something that made him take a sharp inhale.

    Xu Tian gasped. "S-sir!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s mind went nk for a moment before confusion and wonder filled it. "Is this...real?"

    He wrapped his hand around the handle of the slightly curved de and lifted it. Just based on the weight alone, he instantly knew that this was indeed an authentic katana and not just a replica. His breathing sped up, excitement filling him.

    The <i>saya</i> was made of shiny,cquered bamboo painted ck. There was a golden dragon painted on its entire length and the character "Jin" just above the dragon¡¯s open, roaring mouth.

    He unsheathed the katana from the<i> saya</i> as slowly as possible, not forgetting to admire the artistry being revealed in front of his eyes. Xu Tian also couldn¡¯t help but step closer to look, releasing soft gasps as more of the exquisite sword was revealed.

    Jin Liwei handed the wooden <i>saya</i> to Xu Tian before holding the handle of the katana with both hands. Then he swung it in the air, causing a sharp, whistling sound.

    "Good katana." He smiled.

    As expected of the gift given by his vicious AI son. It was deadly.

    The art of Japanese fabric wrappingJapanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged de and a long grip to amodate two handsJapanese term for sword scabbard

 Chapter 1112 - Katana

    <h4>Chapter 1112 - Katana </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    As soon as the helicopternded, Jin Liwei jumped out of the aircraft and ran straight to the mansion while carrying the long, rectangr leather case over his shoulder. He was a man on a mission. The longer he dyed, the higher the possibility that he would have to sleep in the proverbial doghouse tonight. No way was he going to allow that to happen. He was going to do everything to be able to sleep with his wife in the same bed tonight like always.

    Fortunately, he was able to appease his AI daughter. Ketchup was easier to coax than her mother and AI brother. Even though Ketchup already attempted many times to help him connect a call to his wife and AI son, it was no use. Iris and Bacon refused to speak to him. This just showed how upset the mother and son felt towards his error earlier.

    Three hourster....

    Jin Liwei inwardly released a big sigh of relief when his wife and AI son finally forgave him. Now he knew why his wife was so upset. It was because Bacon gave her lovely presents as well, making her extra-emotional. She now treated the card that Bacon wrote for her like a precious treasure, keeping it close to her in her bedside table¡¯s drawer so that she could read it whenever she wanted.

    Therefore, when she heard that he told Xu Tian to throw their AI son¡¯s present for him, she became furious, thinking that he didn¡¯t know how to appreciate Bacon¡¯s sincerity.

    He kissed his wife¡¯s lips and carefully hugged her. His chest felt constricted seeing her looking so exhausted at being mad at him for more than three hours. "I won¡¯t do it again."

    Iris sighed and nodded before resting her tired self on him. <i></i>

    "Bacon." He nced at the tablet propped on the bed beside them. "Dad didn¡¯t mean it."

    "Bacon now knows."

    "As promised, I¡¯ll increase your monthly allowance for six months aspensation."

    The ck cat AI¡¯s fluffly, ck tail started rotating into a blur. "Bacon thanks Father."

    "Dad also wants to thank you for your present."

    "Does Father like it?"

    "En."

    Bacon¡¯s tail rotated even faster and his golden eyes glowed brighter.

    Iris looked up at him. "What did Bacon give you?"

    "You don¡¯t know?" Jin Liwei asked.

    She shook her head. "He didn¡¯t tell me."

    "I¡¯ll show you." He carefully disentangled himself from their embrace, kissed her forehead, and left the bedroom.

    He was back momentster carrying a long, ck leather case. Iris watched, her eyes shining with curiosity, as he ced the case on the nearby coffee table.

    "Oh, our son wrote you a card, too?"

    "En." Without waiting for her to ask him about the card¡¯s contents, he read it to her out loud.

    His wife¡¯s eyes filled up with tears after he finished reading.

    "Bacon loves you," she said.

    "En. He loves you, too. He loves us, his parents." He smiled and then nced at the tablet screen.

    Their tsundere AI son turned his fluffy, ck face to the side, refusing to look at them. His traitor of a tail, however, revealed his true feelings. It was swishing from side to side in an alternating vigorous and hesitant manner, indicating his tion and shyness at the same time.

    The husband and wife chuckled at their AI son while their bubbly AI daughter giggled, not minding her little kitty brother¡¯s fierce re at all.

    Following his wife¡¯s example, Jin Liwei kept the card written by their AI son for him in his bedside table¡¯s drawer. Then he returned to the long, ck leather case and opened it.

    When he lifted the katana with both hands in front of him, he heard his wife gasp.

    "Bacon, you gave your dad a weapon?!"

    "Yes, Mother. Bacon knows that Father doesn¡¯t want Mother to experience being put in danger ever again, so I gave him a weapon so that he can protect you better. The katana is top quality, forged by a master swordsmith. Father can use it to easily dismember enemies and behead them. Bacon believes that Father will train how to use the katana properly so that he can cut through the enemies in one strike like a true samurai. Isn¡¯t it ssy?"

    "En. It is ssy."

    Iris couldn¡¯t reply for a few seconds. She looked at her AI son, then at her husband who looked like he was indeed going to find a master to train him on how to properly use the katana.

    "A katana? In this day and age?" She sighed. "A gun or a small dagger is more convenient than a long, conspicuous sword like that."

    "But Mother, a katana looks ssier."

    "En."

    She stared at her husband in disbelief. He chuckled and slid back the katana into the <i>saya</i> before storing it inside the leather case. Then he returned to the bed to cuddle with his wife again.

    "I already have a gun and a small dagger. Besides, this is a present from our son."

    "I know," she replied, sighing, before admitting, "The craftsmanship of the sword looks exquisite."

    "En, it is."

    "Of course, Mother and Father. Bacon knows how valuable it is from how Uncle Zihao stored and locked it in the deepest part of Shadow Winds¡¯ armoury. It is one of the weapons that Bacon has been eyeing for a long time. Now that I have an opportunity to gift Father, I immediately imed the katana and had someone paint a golden dragon with the character of our family name ¡¯Jin¡¯ on the saya. It¡¯s ssier that way."

    Iris gaped at her AI son. "You just took it from your uncle¡¯s armoury? Bacon!"

    The ck cat AI¡¯s tail stopped swishing. Bacon shrank his neck closer to his body. "Bacon paid for it with my own money...."

    "But still!"

    Jin Liwei patted his agitated wife¡¯s back and told their AI children, "Bacon, Ketchup, leave your mom and I for a bit."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Please don¡¯t be mad, Mommy! See yater, alligator! Meowhoosh!!!" Ketchup disappeared like a ninja.

    Bacon looked at his parents but didn¡¯t say anything before disappearing as well.

    "Evelina, it¡¯s fine."

    "What do you mean it¡¯s fine?! My brother is stitose! Even if Bacon is his nephew, it¡¯s not right for our son to take something from his uncle without permission!"

 Chapter 1113 - Love Of My Life

    <h4>Chapter 1113 - Love Of My Life </h4>

    It soon became clear to Jin Liwei after listening to his wife that she wasn¡¯t really upset at their AI son for taking a valuable weapon from Shadow Winds. She couldn¡¯t care less about it. What made her upset instead was the fact that her older brother had yet to wake up from hisatose state. Her anxiety from the waiting plus the stress of her own bed rest kept on piling up until it all exploded today.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t argue with his wife at all and just let her vent her feelings. However, he still made sure to keep a close eye on her condition. After all, it was not good for her overall health and that of their babies if she got too emotional. Fortunately, she managed to calm down by herself in the end.

    Iris sighed. "This inability to control my emotions is getting too out of hand. It¡¯s exhausting. For me, for you, for our children, and everyone else around us. Darling, do you think that I¡¯ll be able to control my temper properly again after I give birth?"

    "En," he replied without hesitation.

    "What if I don¡¯t get better?"

    "That¡¯s fine, too. Wife, I¡¯ll still love you even if you turn into a foul-mouthed shrew."

    She smacked him in the chest beforeughing. "What foul-mouthed shrew? You¡¯re terrible."

    His response was to give her a smacking kiss on the mouth.

    Sheughed even harder. It was as if her emotional tirade earlier didn¡¯t happen at all. "Don¡¯t worry, husband. I¡¯ll also still love you even if you turn into a balding old man with a pot belly who keeps on annoying everyone with your corny dad jokes."

    Laughter rumbled from his (so far) tight and fit six-pack abs to his wide and hard chest. "I hope so, wife." Then he became serious. "I would be heartbroken if you ever stop loving me."

    She snuggled closer to him. "That won¡¯t happen. You are the love of my life, Jin Liwei."

    "As you are mine, Evelina. Mrs. Jin. Lover. Wife. Partner. Mother of my children."

    Her emotions were once again threatening to burst out of her control. Tears escaped from her eyes and soaked the front of Jin Liwei¡¯s shirt. He took a piece of tissue from the bedside table and wiped her tears while rubbing her back with his other hand.

    They remained in thispanionable silence until she fell asleep in his embrace. This, too, had be somewhat of a routine for them. She would be emotional about something and exhaust herself while heforted her and waited for her to sleep.<i></i>

    "Excuse me, Daddy," Ketchup whispered. "You have an iing call from Atty. Kang Huizhong. Does Daddy want to answer it? Meow~"

    "Not right now. Send him a message that I¡¯ll call him backter."

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei apanied his sleeping wife for ten more minutes before carefully leaving her in bed. Once he moved to their suite¡¯s living area, he called back hiswyer and they talked about hiswsuit against Rose Young and several avable options on how to help acquit Zhu Ning.

    Both cases had their own respective challenges.

    Rose Young was still missing and wanted by the authorities. She was also wanted by all of them, of course. He and his brother-inw harboured a deep grudge against her for triggering his wife¡¯s recklessness that almost resulted to the miscarriage of their twin babies that eventful night. The best case scenario for them was for Shadow Winds to capture her first and "teach her a lesson" before <i>maybe </i>handing her to the authorities...or not. However, if the police caught her before them, then that would also be eptable, although barely enough to satisfy their grudge.

    Then there was also the unknown, mysterious group that rescued her. They already confirmed that the group was highly dangerous through the shocking murder of the four young men who were Rose Young¡¯s paid aplices. Dealing with such a deadly group needed more than extra caution from all of them who were involved in this case.

    As for Zhu Ning¡¯s case, it was simpler. All they needed was the appropriate evidence to prove that she wasn¡¯t the mastermind behind the bombing incident. Jin Liwei also had some grudge against Zhu Ning for how she insulted his wife before.

    If it were up to him, he wouldn¡¯t want to help the old bitch. Let her rot in jail for all he cared.

    This time, however, he had to put his grudge aside (temporarily, at least) to fulfill his wife¡¯s request. Iris made a deal with Long Jian back then. Since she was unable to fulfill it right now due to her health condition, he would have to carry it out on her behalf instead. Nevertheless, he nned on giving Zhu Ning a firm warning not to piss him off by insulting his wife again or he would personally make her life so difficult that she would wish to be back in jail forfort¡¯s sake.

    After the call with Atty. Kang Huizhong, Jin Liwei rested on the couch.

    "Bacon."

    "Father."

    "Don¡¯t mind what your mom said earlier. She wasn¡¯t angry at you."

    Bacon didn¡¯t reply right away. Then he asked, "Was Bacon wrong, Father? I only want to give Mother and Father presents. Bacon doesn¡¯t want to upset Mother."

    "I know, son. But next time, ask your Uncle Zihao¡¯s permission first before taking anything from his belongings, alright?"

    "Understood, Father."

    "By the way, you said that you paid for the katana with your own money. How much did you pay for it?"

    His AI son didn¡¯t answer right away. Jin Liwei started to have a bad feeling. "Bacon, how much?"

    "One...."

    "One hundred thousand? RMB or dors?"

    Silence.

    "Bacon?"

    "1 RMB."

    Jin Liwei blinked a few times. "Did you forget some zeroes?"

    "...no...maybe?"

    Jin Liwei sighed. The kid was indeed his wife¡¯s child. The mother and son were too influenced by Grandpa Lu¡¯s shameless teachings.

    "Alright. Don¡¯t worry about it anymore. I¡¯ll be the one to exin about the katana to your Uncle Zihao when he wakes up. Go return to Shadow Winds and finish what your mom asked you to investigate with ShaWn."

    "Understood, Father. Thank you. Bacon will leave now. Please take care of Mother. I¡¯ll be back before my curfew. Goodbye."

 Chapter 1114 - Real Threat In The Domestic Beauty Industry

    <h4>Chapter 1114 - Real Threat In The Domestic Beauty Industry </h4>

    As a man and someone who had a background in Japanese martial arts, karate, Jin Liwei would of course find owning and wielding a katana very cool. It was the ultimate samurai fantasy.

    Now that his AI son gifted him with what seemed to be an authentic and valuable katana, he had no intention of returning it to his brother-inw. He was, however, willing to pay a big amount of money aspensation if his brother-inw demanded it. Even he couldn¡¯t help but wince upon remembering that Bacon only paid 1 RMB for such an exquisite weapon.

    "Wake up soon, Niki," he murmured. "Fifth Brother, don¡¯t make it too difficult for my brother-inw. Your Third Sister-inw is worrying herself sick."

    He hoped that his thoughts would somehow be transmitted to hisatose brother-inw including the remnant of his fifth brother. All of them were worried, not only Jin Liwei¡¯s wife, and waiting for the moment Lu Zihao would wake up. <i></i>

    ###

    Orchidia Beauty booked a grand hall inside a five-star hotel. Tonight was the night. Jin Chonglin¡¯s most awaited exclusive men¡¯s line for the all-natural beautypany was finallyunching.

    Inside a hotel suite, Iris¡¯ personal makeup artist and hairstylist were busy making Chen Fei and Long Jinjing beautiful for tonight¡¯s highly publicized event. To match Jin Chonglin¡¯s superstar status, thepany invited the media, selected skincare and beauty influencers, some male models and volunteers who tested the products in advance, and several celebrity guests who Jin Chonglin personally requested to attend.

    Even some representatives from foreign media and well-known influencers from abroad attended. This was the power of Jin Chonglin¡¯s reputation as a superstar.

    Although tonight¡¯sunch was not on the same level as Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch, it was still exceedingly luxurious. It was a ck tie event. Everyone had to wear either a dress or a tuxedo or something along those lines. Of course, there was also a red carpet event before the actualunch outside the hotel.

    The almost deafening screams of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans outside could be heard even inside the hotel. It was a good thing that Chen Fei made preparations for this in advance and coordinated with the hotel security and the police to control the crowd and ensure everyone¡¯s safety.

    "Oh dear. There are so many people." Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t help but tremble upon seeing the seemingly endless sea of fans chanting "We love you, Prince Lin Lin" outside. She subconsciously touched the lily pendant hanging around her neck, seekingfort and courage from it.

    In contrast to her nervousness, her best friend Chen Fei was almost vibrating with excitement. She was beaming. "We¡¯re going to earn a fucking fortune tonight! That diva man might be frustrating to work with due to his indecisiveness but nobody can deny that he¡¯s a profit ma. We already sold out all the pre-orders. And now that it¡¯s the actualunch, I wonder if Jin Chonglin will be able to beat our original record of selling out our entire inventory in five seconds."

    The makeup artist chimed in, "I think that Prince Lin Lin will be able to beat the five-second record because, well, he¡¯s Prince Lin Lin!"

    "Whether he breaks the original record or not shouldn¡¯t be our focus tonight," said the hairstylist while curling Chen Fei¡¯s locks. "The most important thing is that thisunch of Prince Lin Lin¡¯s exclusive men¡¯s line willpletely stabilize Orchidia Beauty¡¯s position as a main yer in this country¡¯s beauty industry. Boss Iris¡¯pany will now be a real threat to all the foreign-basedpanies that had been dominating our domestic beauty industry. They already hate Orchidia Beauty when we firstunched. I bet they hate us even more now!"

    Chen Fei gave an evil chuckle, so did the makeup artist and the hairstylist. Long Jinjing watched them looking very much like a trio of viinesses. She shook her head and began wearing a set of pearl jewelry to match her simple yet elegant coral silk dress. Although the lily pendant didn¡¯t really match the jewelry set, she refused to remove it. As a result, she decided not to wear the pearl ne from the jewelry set no matter how beautiful it looked.

    While her best friend and the other two continuedughing like evil lunatics, Long Jinjing¡¯s mind was elsewhere. Lu Zihao was stitose and it was breaking her heart to wake up each day knowing that he hadn¡¯t woken up yet.

    She also couldn¡¯t help but pity Grandpa Lu. The old man hadn¡¯t left his grandson¡¯s side since the night that Lu Zihao fell intoa.

    The truth was that she wanted to stay beside Lu Zihao in the hospital tonight instead of attending this importantunch. It was making her feel extremely guilty and confused.

    Guilty because all of them at Orchidia Beauty including Jin Chonglin worked so hard to make thisunch a resounding sess no matter what. It would be best if it surpassed the record-breaking grandunch of thepany, but even if it didn¡¯t, as long as they managed to eventually sell out every single product in Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line, it would still be a great sess.

    And confused because Long Jinjing felt like she was regressing from her determination to move on from Lu Zihao. She still loved him, no doubt about it, but knowing that the two of them had no future together was stopping her from gambling her feelings away and trying it again with him.

    She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. The woman staring right back at her looked like a different person. As expected of her sister¡¯s m team. They were professional and skilled.

    There was a knock on the door.

    Long Jinjing went to check because the makeup artist and hairstylist were busy working on Chen Fei. She looked at the peephole and smiled upon seeing the new arrival before opening the door.

    "The Queen¡¯s proxy is in the house~"

    Dom sashayed inside the suite and flipped his imaginary long hair with a perfectly manicured hand. His red, glittery tuxedo sparkled under the lights just like his over-the-top personality. Then he struck a pose in front of them before blowing a kiss and waving his hand like a beauty queen.

    "Ooooh~ Sis Jing, Sis Fei, you look gorgeous and fabulous just like moi!"

 Chapter 1115 - Friendship

    <h4>Chapter 1115 - Friendship </h4>

    Dom injected a livelier energy into the group. He was going to attend tonight¡¯s event as Iris¡¯ representative. Technically speaking, he had the highest standing among them as the proxy of Orchidia Beauty¡¯s President-CEO and owner, Iris Long. He didn¡¯t care about that, though. Neither did Chen Fei nor Long Jinjing. Even Iris wouldn¡¯t care about it.

    About ten minutester, Meimei arrived. She was wearing a rather cute pouf dress in eye-catching pink and purple ombr¨¦ colour. Her makeup and hair were already done beforeing to the hotel. She should¡¯ve looked fresh and youthful but bore a striking resemnce to a dressed-up corpse instead.

    "Eeek! Twin sis!" Dom was aghast at his friend¡¯s appearance. He immediately ran to Meimei and gave her a once-over from head to toe and back up again. "What happened to you?! Tell me the truth! Are you still sleeping?"

    Meimei released a weakugh, sounding like it was a dying breath. "What is sleep?"

    Dom gasped and threw her a stern look. "This has gone on for too long! You need an intervention! If you don¡¯t sleep properly, you¡¯re going to be heading to eternal sleep sooner rather thanter!"

    "Oh, Meimei." Long Jinjing pulled their friend and sat her on the couch. "Dom is right. What you¡¯re doing is abusing your body. It¡¯s not good. You¡¯re paying for your sessful career with your health."

    Chen Fei harrumphed. "Let her copse! That¡¯ll teach her a lesson. If she¡¯s sent to the hospital, she¡¯ll have no choice but to take a break from her webtoon."

    "Xiao Fei!" Long Jinjing sent her best friend a meaningful look, silently telling her to be nice.

    Chen Fei snorted, refusing to say any words offort. "That girl and Xin are the same. They¡¯re both hardheaded workaholics! At least Xin has her husband and Dom to monitor her and tell her to take a break whenever she¡¯s working for too long. What about Meimei? I bet she works until her body can¡¯t take it anymore and she has no choice but to sleep!"

    She might look like she was disdaining Meimei for not caring enough about her health and wellbeing from her too-blunt words and rude tone, but her eyes still revealed her worry for her friend. She was just not the type of person who would give encouraging, positive words to others. She was more of the type to use reverse psychology.

    A pouting Meimei sighed and took all of her friends¡¯ concern and scolding. "I know."

    Hearing her defeated tone, her three friends plus the makeup artist and hairstylist couldn¡¯t help but sigh as well. <i></i>

    Dom pped his hands to break the low-spirited atmosphere. "Let¡¯s talk about twin sis¡¯ matterter. This is not the time to focus on depressing stuff. I made myself more gorgeous tonight to stand in for Boss at Prince Lin Lin¡¯sunch! At least for tonight, we should all be celebrating! Too much drama already happened. No need to add to our collective stress levels. I gained too much weight from all the stress-eating! Ugh! I¡¯m still gorgeous, though."

    Everyone agreed to put Meimei¡¯s matter aside until tonight¡¯s event was over.

    Dom¡¯s phone rang. It was a video call request from Iris. Everyone crowded around Dom during the group video call. Jiang Ying Yue was with Iris. Clover also joined all the way from France.

    Now the girl squad wasplete.

    There wasn¡¯t much time before Dom and the others had to go downstairs for the red carpet and interview. However, they wouldn¡¯t miss this video call for the world. There hadn¡¯t been many opportunities for all of them to chat as a whole group since Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s wedding. In addition, they needed each other¡¯s support especially after all the worrying things that happened in quick session during the past few days.

    "I¡¯m sorry that I couldn¡¯t be there with you tonight," Iris told them. "It¡¯s mypany and yet I¡¯m not able to attend such an important event. That¡¯s why I¡¯m so thankful to all of you for ensuring that Orchidia Beauty is running properly despite my limited presence."

    "Little Sister¡ªPresident Long, you¡¯re the one who pulled Jin Chonglin to sign a contract for an exclusive men¡¯s line with Orchidia Beauty," Long Jinjing said. "If it weren¡¯t for you, then we wouldn¡¯t have this high-profile event tonight. So don¡¯t belittle the time and effort you put into this project. We all know that even if you aren¡¯t personally in thepany, you¡¯re still putting in the work at home."

    "That¡¯s a workaholic for you," Chen Fei muttered.

    Iris smiled. "Tonight, it¡¯s China. Next time, we¡¯ll go international."

    "Kyaaaaah! Boss, so cool!" Dom fanned himself with both his manicured hands.

    They were already all aware of Iris¡¯ ambitions to make Orchidia Beauty an international brand. Chen Fei and Long Jinjing hadn¡¯t felt too sure about it at first but they weren¡¯t a match for the headstrong Iris.

    Whenever Iris said that she wanted to do something, she would do it. They had gotten used to it by now.

    Chen Fei, her hair and makeup finally done, stood up and pumped her fist in the air. "Go, Orchidia Beauty!"

    Dom jumped up and did the same. "Go go go Orchidia Beauty to the highest level!"

    His younger sister Clover echoed him. They could see her doing a silly dance inside her French apartment.

    "G-go..." Long Jinjing felt shy at first but felt braver after seeing her friends¡¯ enthusiastic cheers. Even the zombie Meimei managed to do a couple of fist pumps and a loud cheer before falling back to the couch in exhaustion. Long Jinjing took a deep breath and shouted, "Go, Orchidia Beauty!!!"

    "Wohoho! Atta girl, Sis Jing!" Dom gave her two thumbs up and a wink.

    Feeling more daring, Long Jinjing shouted even louder. "Orchidia Beauty, WE ARE THE BE-ESHT!"

    Unfortunately, not only did her voice crack near the end of her sentence but her tongue also lost strength and she ended up mispronouncing thest word.

    "Pft! Be-esht!" Dom doubled over and startedughing.

    The others followed suit.

    Long Jinjing felt her face and neck heat up. Ah, so embarrassing! But she also couldn¡¯t stop herself fromughing.

    Beneath theughter was a reassuring feeling of their strong friendship. That no matter what happened to any of them, whether good or bad, they would be there for each other.

 Chapter 1116 - Video Message

    <h4>Chapter 1116 - Video Message </h4>

    After the great fanfare of the red carpet outside, the highly anticipatedunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s exclusive men¡¯s line of products with Orchidia Beauty finally started in the hotel¡¯s grand hall. There were a lot of famous faces present. One face, however, was obviously missing.

    Inte forums and livestream bulletments were filled with the same question, "Where is Iris Long?"

    She owned Orchidia Beauty and was its President-CEO, yet she didn¡¯t show up? This wasn¡¯t the main issue, though. Some of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans were displeased that she was absent from their Prince Lin Lin¡¯s important event.

    Prince Lin Lin was a superstar. There was no question that his status in showbiz was in a different league than Iris Long¡¯s. He was also her senior. And even if he was now Iris Long¡¯s brother-inw, couldn¡¯t she at least show him some respect by attending theunch of his men¡¯s line with her ownpany?

    These disgruntled fans, however, were a minority. Most of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans had long since developed a friendship with the ck Stars. Before Iris married Jin Chonglin¡¯s older brother, CEO Jin Liwei, there had been quite a number of LinRis shippers. After Iris married CEO Jin Liwei, the connection between the two fandoms had be stronger. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans now considered the ck Stars as their sister group and vice versa.

    The emcee of tonight¡¯s event was a famous long-time TV host. He was one of Jin Chonglin¡¯s genuine friends in showbiz. In fact, most of the guests that Jin Chonglin personally invited to attend hisunch tonight were famous and had been working in the industry for a long time just like him.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, please wee to the stage all the amazing people who made this most anticipated men¡¯s line of skincare products in the country happen!

    "From Orchidia Beauty, the person-in-charge of this entire project, COO Chen Fei!

    "The brains behind all the amazing natural products, CPO Alric Bauer!

    "Thedy who held the purse strings and made sure that all the expenses are ounted for, CFO Long Jinjing!"

    The audienceughed at Long Jinjing¡¯s introduction. She had to restrain herself from covering her face in embarrassment while climbing up the stage with a rather stiff and nervous smile.<i></i>

    Then the emcee¡¯s tone changed from excited to a little sad as he said, "Unfortunately, the big boss who came up with the idea of coborating with our Prince Lin Lin to create this magnificent men¡¯s line of all-natural skincare products in the first ce can¡¯t be with us tonight due to health issues. President-CEO Iris Long sent her lovely assistant, Mr. Dominic Chua, to represent her tonight. Please give a warm apuse to Mr. Chua!"

    Dom shed his biggest and brightest smile at everyone while waving his hand. He literally sparkled under the bright lights in his red, glittery tuxedo. "Thank you! Thank you very much! Ehehehe~"

    The emcee chuckled seeing Dom¡¯s natural confidence on stage and in front of an audience. Then he changed his expression once again¡ªsolemn but also mischievous. Everyone knew what wasing up next but they still ate up the deliberate suspense.

    "And finally! Please rise from your seats and give the biggest wee to our superstar of the night, the one and only, JIN CHONGLIIIIIIIIIIN!"

    A loud roar of cheers, apuse, whistles, and emotional outbursts reverberated throughout the entire grand hall. Not only inside the hotel but also outside. The army of fans camping outside were watching the livestream of the event and gave their biggest roar to wee their idol.

    "We love you, Prince Lin Lin!"

    The noise grew louder when Jin Chonglin finally appeared. Unlike his usual bold choices of outfit to make fashion statements, his all-ck tuxedo tonight looked muted. The dress-shirt inside was a turtleneck, lending him a maturity and elegance that made many hearts swoon. And that was what happened. Many of his fans fainted upon seeing this new side of him.

    "Kyaaaaaaaah! Prince Lin Lin, so hot!"

    "Just one look at you and I feel like I¡¯ve gotten pregnant already! Aaaaaaaaah!"

    As if he could hear every single one of them, Jin Chonglin shed his iconic killer smile, causing another round of unconscious bodies to hit the ground. Fortunately, Orchidia Beauty already prepared for this possibility and hired trained first-aiders to deal with all the people who fainted and any injuries that might ur tonight. The paramedics were also on standby just in case something more serious were to happen. And of course, the police was already working hard to maintain order.

    Chen Fei was very meticulous in arranging all of this, especially since Jin Chonglin was still a bit traumatized after the bombing incident at the mall. Even if he wasn¡¯t in the picture, Chen Fei would still ensure that all Orchidia Beauty events met and went beyond the safety standards. Not only was it her own principle but also because Iris herself demanded it as the President-CEO of thepany.

    Back on the stage, Jin Chonglin and the emcee began chatting like the old friends that they actually were. They showed their professionalism and skills in how they made the others on stagefortable to join their lighthearted banter as if they were just talking in their own homes and not in front of so many people.

    Even Alric Bauer who usually didn¡¯t like talking much said a couple of sentences. He had been learning Mandarin and could manage to join simple, colloquial conversations like the one the emcee and Jin Chonglin were leading.

    The chat didn¡¯tst for too long. It was now time for the speeches.

    Chen Fei, as the person-in-charge of the project, spoke first and made a more detailed introduction of Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line with Orchidia Beauty. She was sinct and to the point, not wasting any precious time on useless drivel.

    After she was done, she passed the mic to Dom.

    "As you are already aware, our President Iris Long is unable to join us tonight. President Long tasked me, Dominic Chua, with the important mission of showing her video message to congratte her senior and brother-inw, Prince Lin¡ªI mean, Mr. Jin Chonglin. Ehehe."

 Chapter 1117 - What Happened To Iris Long?

    <h4>Chapter 1117 - What Happened To Iris Long? </h4>

    Therge screen suspended above the stage flickered and then began ying Iris Long¡¯s video message. It showed her head down to her upper chest. Her long, straight, silky hair framed her beautiful face.

    She had not made a public appearance for quite some time now. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that her name kept on being dragged in the headlines, she would¡¯ve already been forgotten by the general public except for her loyal fans, the ck Stars.

    Showbiz was a cutthroat industry. It had a huge turnover rate of celebrities. Those who were unable to build or maintain their poprity would soon be reced by fresh faces. Then the cycle would start all over again.

    This didn¡¯t apply to Iris Long, though. She was still able to maintain her fame despite not producing any new work in showbiz and showing herself now and then. On the contrary, she became more popr in recent weeks because of all the times that her name was mentioned in the news, even though the stories had nothing to do with her personally.

    For the majority of the people, this was the first time that they had seen Iris Long for what felt like a long time. She still looked beautiful, of course, but they were all shocked to see that she had be so much thinner. She lost so much weight!

    Her chin became pointier and her cheekbones sharper, making her phoenix eyes appearrger. Her shoulders became smaller and her corbones deeper. It was also obvious that she was recording in her bed.

    Unlike her usual blinding beauty which always brightened any room she walked in, her beauty this time was delicate and elicited pity and a sense of protectiveness from those who saw her.

    A concerned murmur arose from the audience. It wasn¡¯t only them. The huge crowd camping outside the hotel, mostly consisting of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans, also couldn¡¯t help but feel distressed upon seeing her. It was the same with the livestream viewers. The ones who felt most affected were the ck Stars.

    "CaptainckStar: Boss Iris, what happened to you? You looked absolutely blooming when I saw you at your wedding with CEO Jin but how could you be so sick so soon? Ah, my heart hurts seeing you like this!"

    The other members also echoed CaptainckStar¡¯s concerns. They were all afraid that their Boss Iris had contracted a serious illness. Maybe that was why she had stopped almost all of her showbiz work. They all cried. Some even began ming Jin Liwei.

    "CEO Jin, we entrusted our Boss Iris to you and felt genuinely happy that you married her, even though we thought that you¡¯re too old for her. Then we see her like this after your supposed happy wedding?! You¡¯re not taking care of our boss properly!"

    "Boss Iris¡¯ health has always been fragile ever since she made aeback after her car ident¡ªno, attempted murder. There¡¯s no way that I¡¯ll forget that Prince Lin Lin¡¯s crazy ex-fianc¨¦e, that Fan Luo, wanted to murder our boss, causing her to crash her own car and beatose for an entire year. The bitch even made the lives of many other women who were linked to Prince Lin Lin back then a living hell. Truly an evil woman! Anyway, as I was saying, Boss Iris¡¯ health hasn¡¯t been the best because of what she went through back then due to that evil Fan Luo."

    "I agree! And now, she has to deal with another crazy woman who attempted to rape her husband! No wonder Boss Iris got sick! All the stress must be too much for her to handle!"

    "All I have to say is that I feel sorry for Boss Iris for bing involved with the Jin brothers who are mas for insane women who aren¡¯t afraid tomit the most evil crimes. Boss Iris, please hang in there!"

    There were also those who defended the brothers, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin. <i></i>

    "It isn¡¯t the fault of CEO Jin Liwei and Prince Lin Lin that those kind of madwomen fell for them. Don¡¯t me them anymore. They¡¯re victims, too."

    "True. CEO Jin and Prince Lin Lin shouldn¡¯t be med. But I think that the one who suffered the most is our Boss Iris. First, she almost died from the hands of Prince Lin Lin¡¯s ex-fianc¨¦e. And now, she fell sick and went into seclusion even though her career is at a point that she should be producing more work and making more public appearances to capitalize on all the attention to be more famous. But no, that disgusting Rose Young just had to kidnap our boss¡¯ husband and attempt to sexually vite him. If someone did that to my own husband, I would probably go crazy and murder the immoral bitch. I bet Boss Iris became too furious that she fell sick."

    The discussion continued and became more intense as they watched Iris Long¡¯s video message. Her voice sounded heavenly as usual but the people still detected the faint note of weakness in it.

    "Good evening. My name is Iris Long and I¡¯m the President and CEO of Orchidia Beauty. Due to some health issues, I regret that I¡¯m unable to join tonight¡¯s celebration of the¡ªI daresay¡ªbest skincare line for men in the country. We at Orchidia Beauty will continue striving hard to develop this exclusive men¡¯s line of skincare products, and of course, all the rest of our products, so that we can be one of the best in the world. This is only the first step in achieving a better and more natural way to take care of our skin whether you¡¯re a woman or a man or anyone in between.

    "I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to the person who is one of the artists in music that I truly admire. He is my senior in the industry¡ªa very inspiring one¡ªand many of you are already aware that he¡¯s also now my dear brother-inw.

    "Thank you, Brother Jin Chonglin, for epting my offer to coborate with my newpany and believing in our ability at Orchidia Beauty to create an all-natural line of skincare products for you with the highest standards possible to match and even go beyond your own already high standards."

 Chapter 1118 - Chemistry

    <h4>Chapter 1118 - Chemistry </h4>

    Even though the video message was only a recording, Jin Chonglin still made a gesture over his heart and directed it to Iris Long on the screen to show how touched he felt over her words of gratitude.

    She continued, "Aside from creating a newpany from scratch, this project headlined by Brother Chonglin is the biggest that we at Orchidia Beauty have undertaken andpleted so far. My team and of course Brother Chonglin have all worked so hard to make this men¡¯s line happen andplete it before the year ends. We want to give this amazing and exclusive men¡¯s line of skincare products as a kind of holiday present to all of Brother Chonglin¡¯s countless fans. I know that all of you are so excited about your Prince Lin Lin¡¯s new product line.

    "On behalf of Orchidia Beauty, thank you very much for attending and watching our specialunch event tonight for the one and only Jin Chonglin. I guarantee the quality of our products. Brother Chonglin can also attest to their effectiveness because he has been using them. Doesn¡¯t he look even more handsome now?"

    The audience responded with a loud, "YES!!!"

    Irisughed as if she heard them. "Indeed, he looks more handsome now, all thanks to Orchidia Beauty."

    "Shameless!" Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans shouted whileughing.

    "What ¡¯all thanks to Orchidia Beauty¡¯ that you¡¯re talking about? Prince Lin Lin is already very handsome to begin with! Yourpany¡¯s products only enhanced his already natural good looks."

    "Hahaha! Lil Sis Iris sure knows how to use her brother-inw to endorse her ownpany. Marrying an elite businessman is making her more shameless¡ªI mean savvy."

    They weren¡¯t really offended by what she said. Ever since she married their Prince Lin Lin¡¯s older brother, CEO Jin Liwei, this army of fans started treating Iris Long as a little sister that they must take care of like a family member.

    "But of course, my husband is still the most handsome," Iris added before showing a shy smile, her cheeks turning pink.

    Seeing her this shy was very rare because she was known as a very confident go-getter. The ck Stars released a collective "aaaw". Their Boss Iris was too adorable! This cute side of hers in addition to her current weak, fragile and thinner appearance were a deadlybination. She became even more precious to them and must be protected at all costs.

    Riding on Iris Long¡¯s lovey-dovey joke about her husband on the expense of her brother-inw, Jin Chonglin made an exaggerated sad face while giving her image on the screen two thumbs down. Theughter became even louder with his antics.

    Iris finished her short closing remarks and then her video message finally ended. The audience gave her an enthusiastic apuse even though she wasn¡¯t present in person. They figured that she must be watching the livestream right now.<i></i>

    Afterwards, the emcee took back the flow of rhythm on stage once again. Dom, Long Jinjing and Alric Bauer finally stepped off the stage leaving Chen Fei and Jin Chonglin with the emcee.

    Chen Fei was the person-in-charge of the project so it was already agreed upon beforehand that she would be the one answering the emcee¡¯s questions with Jin Chonglin about the development of all the products in the men¡¯s line. She was also a better choice than the overly shy Long Jinjing. In fact, Chen Fei basked in the attention and felt extremely proud of her leadership in this project.

    Something about how Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei interacted with each other made the superstar¡¯s army of fans pause to take a closer look.

    "Who is this woman? Why is there so much chemistry between her and our Prince Lin Lin? What is going on between the two of them?!"

    "Oh no! Oh no!! Oh no no no no no!!!"

    "Danger!"

    There was no obvious flirtation between the two. In fact, Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei were acting like the other annoyed them but was forced by the asion to be nice to each other. Nevertheless, there was indeed an unmistakable chemistry between the two of them.

    "Why do I feel like I¡¯m watching an enemies turned into lovers kind of movie drama?"

    "Nooooo! Don¡¯t put such a corny image in my head!"

    "To be fair, this COO Chen Fei might not be the prettiest¡ªeven Lil Sis Iris¡¯ older sister, CFO Long Jinjing, is prettier¡ªbut she has that sessful, confident elite careerwoman vibe to her. This is the type of woman that doesn¡¯t take shit from anybody. If she really got together with our Prince Lin Lin, then all I have to say is¡ªgood luck, Prince Lin Lin!"

    "No way! She¡¯s not a match for my hubby Lin Lin!"

    "Who¡¯s your hubby? Fight me! He¡¯s our Prince Lin Lin, not anyone¡¯s hubby!"

    "Ever since that evil Fan Luo hoodwinked not only Prince Lin Lin but also us¡ªwe even called her Princess Luo Luo, blergh, so disgusting¡ªwe have to be more careful in epting our prince¡¯s next potential romantic partner. What if he gets deceived again?"

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei had no idea that people were talking about the two of them and how they were interacting with each other. If they heard that people thought the two of them had chemistry together, they would surely be the first ones to reject such a ridiculous possibility.

    The event continued as nned. A documentary-style video was yed, showing a glimpse of theplicated process of creating Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line from the early conceptualization, to the actual developing and manufacturing of the products, and finally to thest stages before tonight¡¯sunch. The video also featured the male models and volunteers who tried the products, highlighting the state of their skin before using the products from Jin Chonglin¡¯s line. Most of the volunteers were regr people and hadmon skin problems like dryness, oiliness, and e.

    After the video ended, the emcee announced, "Please wee all the models and volunteers!"

    When they walked up the stage one by one, gasps could be heard from the audience because there was no trace of e or the other skin problems on these men¡¯s faces at all. They had only smooth and clear skin as if someone photoshopped all the imperfections away that were shown on the video.

 Chapter 1119 - High Standards

    <h4>Chapter 1119 - High Standards </h4>

    The next portion of the programme showcased the before and after skin transformations of the male models and volunteers who tested all of the products in Jin Chonglin men¡¯s line weeks beforehand. Jin Chonglin personally took a piece of makeup removing wipes and rubbed it all over the volunteer¡¯s face next to him. Then he showed the clean piece of wipe to everyone.

    The male models and the other volunteers followed suit, taking their own piece of makeup removing wipes to rub on their faces, and then showing the clean wipes to the audience.

    "As you can all see, these guys are not wearing any makeup whatsoever to hide blemishes, ckheads,rge pores, pimples, or whatever skin problems they had before today," Jin Chonglin said. "What you see right now is the actual state of their skin. You¡¯ve seen in the video that we just showed you how their skin looked like before. And now look again at how their skin have transformed after using the products in my men¡¯s line with Orchidia Beauty."

    The emcee started walking along the men lined up on the stage to look at their skin more closely. A cameraman followed him to show a close-up view of the men¡¯s skin to the audience. The screen above the stage was divided into half. One half showed a before photo with all kinds of skin problems while the other half was showing the live, close-up view of each of the male models and volunteers¡¯ almost wless skin.

    "Wow, this is amazing! Prince Lin Lin, are you sure that these men only used your Orchidia Beauty products and didn¡¯t receive any other treatment?"

    Jin Chonglin shed the emcee and everyone else his iconic killer smile. "Yes, I¡¯m sure that they only used my products. We had them document everything that they do with their skin daily while they were testing the products in my men¡¯s line. Based on the rate of improvement each of them were experiencing, CPO Bauer tweaked the form to increase the effectiveness while maintaining its high health and safety standards."

    "That¡¯s right," Chen Fei interjected. "When President Iris Long built ourpany, Orchidia Beauty, she insists on creating only high quality, all-natural products no matter what. CPO Alric Bauer already had unrefined versions of the products which he was selling at a local market with his sister in Germany where President Long discovered them and pitched the idea of creating an entirely newpany based on their homemade products. Many of you already know this story but I think it¡¯s worth reminding you of it tonight to emphasize the fact that all the products in Orchidia Beauty are meticulously developed to follow the original ethics in product development that President Long and CPO Bauer held even before thepany was formed. We intend to follow this standard every time we develop and release new products.

    "Of course, this also applies to all the products in Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line. Due to hormonal differences, the skincare needs of females and males are different from each other. Add in other various factors such as age, diet, genes, skin types and so on, your skin care routine will not be identical to the person next to you and it shouldn¡¯t be. We design our products to allow you to create a custom skincare routine based on your own skin type in addition to the other factors that affect it.

    "You can mix and match any of the products in Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line. You can take our easy online quiz or speak to our friendly skincare experts on the phone or via chat to help decide which products are the most suitable for your skin. These male models, volunteers, and of course Jin Chonglin all went through this very easy process. I¡¯ll let the results speak for the effectiveness of Orchidia Beauty products."

    Jin Chonglin allowed the camera to take a close-up shot of his wless skin. "I¡¯m already handsome to begin with so you may not see any noticeable difference¡ª"

    Good-naturedughter filled the hotel¡¯s grand hall at his truthful im. They already knew this but couldn¡¯t help butugh at his usual self-confidence.<i></i>

    "¡ªbut I assure you that I certainly noticed a big difference after using my Orchidia Beauty products. Before this, I used to suffer from mild reactions such as dryness, redness, and the asional pimple whenever I undergo any skincare treatment to maintain my handsome appearance. But now, I don¡¯t experience any kind of reactions anymore while using the products in my men¡¯s line or any Orchidia Beauty products for that matter. I can personally attest to the quality of Orchidia Beauty products in terms of effectiveness and gentleness."

    "Exactly!" Chen Fei nodded, pleased at what he said. "We are extremely proud to guarantee you that the quality of all Orchidia Beauty products surpasses the minimum required health and safety standards of this country on so many levels. In fact, our products meet all of the qualifications of international regtions of several foreign markets that are known for their high and stringent standards."

    Everyone pped, amazed at this revtion.

    The emcee took this chance to ask, "Does this mean that Orchidia Beauty have ns to go international in the future?"

    "I cannot go into details about that right now, but yes, we indeed have that n," Chen Fei admitted.

    "Wow! What does President Iris Long think about that?"

    Chen Fei raised an eyebrow. "To make Orchidia Beauty an internationalpany is actually her idea in the first ce. Our President Long always likes to aim high, and I must say that she has been very sessful in achieving all of her ns so far."

    The emcee looked surprised but still nodded. Indeed, Iris Long had been very sessful ever since her majoreback after waking up froma. "That¡¯s true."

    Chen Fei then gestured at Jin Chonglin. "This exclusive men¡¯s line by Jin Chonglin is also considered as taking the first, small step into going international because his army of fans are scattered all over the globe. His foreign fans actually bought quite a good portion of our pre-orders for his products which are now all sold-out. Orchidia Beauty is capable of shipping these orders to their destinations abroad quickly thanks to our partnership with Long Industries."

 Chapter 1120 - Prinz

    <h4>Chapter 1120 - Prinz </h4>

    Many of those who knew about Iris Long¡¯s real background were aware that Long Industries was her father¡¯spany. She was a real heiress, no doubt about it, and was expected to inherit a great fortune but not take over the running of Long Industries. It was her older half-brother, the eldest son Long Hui, who was always believed to be the next head of thepany and the n.

    Orchidia Beauty had been using Long Industries¡¯ shipping services since day one, and so far, the partnership was going well. The general public didn¡¯t have much of an impression of Long Industries before this because thepany had always been running in the background as a shipping service to many other businesses.

    It was only when Iris Long became thepany¡¯s brand ambassador that the general public learned more about thepany aside from the fact that it was a business owned by her father. In addition, loyal customers of Orchidia Beauty were mostly satisfied by Long Industries¡¯ fast and secure delivery services. This increased the reputation of Long Industries and became one of the most trusted shippingpanies in the country.

    Back to Jin Chonglin¡¯sunch event, the emcee interviewed the male models and the volunteers about their experiences using Jin Chonglin¡¯s skincare products. <i></i>

    The majority of the male models had rather well-maintained skin due to their profession so the difference between their before photos and the current state of their skin wasn¡¯t drastic just like Jin Chonglin¡¯s. Nevertheless, there was still noticeable improvements on their skin when shown under the camera¡¯s close-up view.

    "As you can see, my products are so effective that they can make already good skin even better," Jin Chonglin bragged.

    The volunteers who were mostly regr people had the most extreme improvements on their skin. They had more severe cases of skin issues such as dryness, oiliness, ckheads,rge pores, uneven skin tone, blemishes, and e.

    Although one volunteer who had the most severe case of e among them still had some pimples remaining on his face, the improvement was still very significant. It was obvious to everyone that if he continued to use Jin Chonglin¡¯s Orchidia Beauty products, his e mightpletely disappear.

    All of them were very happy with the results. Some of the volunteers even broke into tears.

    "I always felt insecure about my e," said the volunteer with the most severe case. "I never felt confident of myself, so I always try to lower my head and evenpletely hide from other people because I¡¯m afraid that they will judge me based on my e. Girls look down on me and don¡¯t want to date me. Some even called me downright ugly. Even at my job, I¡¯m treated as someone inferior to my more good-looking co-workers. But now...."

    He wiped his tears with the cor of his shirt. "Now that my e is almost gone, I can finally see my real face that I haven¡¯t seen for a long time ever since puberty hit me. I may not have Prince Lin Lin¡¯s natural handsome looks but I now feel more confident about myself. I no longer feel the need to lower my head and hide from others because I¡¯m too afraid of being judged based on my appearance. This boost to my confidence and feelings of self-worth is my biggest gain in all this.

    "So thank you, Prince Lin Lin. Thank you, Boss Iris. And thank you to everyone at Orchidia Beauty for creating these amazing skincare products. These products have literally changed my life. Thank you so much!"

    His story elicited sympathy from many people. He even caused some to cry as well. They stood up to give a standing ovation, not only for his inspiring story, but also to the amazing effectiveness of Orchidia Beauty products.

    Ever since Orchidia Beautyunched their first batch of products which sold out in only five seconds, a record breaker in the beauty industry, many touted thepany¡¯s all-natural and hypoallergenic skincare products as nearly miraculous, able to resolve most of themon skin problems that people suffered from.

    Despite their excellent results and many satisfied customers, Orchidia Beauty always reminded everyone that their products weren¡¯t a miraculous cure to all skin problems, especially those that were very grave. For example, none of their current products had the ability to heal and erase the scars from severe burns that typically needed stic surgery to repair. For now, at least.

    After the heart-touching story of the volunteer who regained his self-confidence after using Jin Chonglin¡¯s Orchidia Beauty products, the male models and the volunteers finally stepped off the stage. Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei still remained on stage with the emcee.

    The emcee asked, "Prince Lin Lin, although you¡¯ve sold out all the pre-orders of your skincare products, you still haven¡¯t announced the name of your men¡¯s line yet. Many of your fans have been dying to know. Can you tell us what your line is called?"

    "Of course." Jin Chonglin winked, causing another round of shrieks and swooning¡ªboth real and pretend.

    Arge, ornate brass cart was wheeled centre stage by two of the male models who participated in the previous segment. A silver, silk cloth covered the cart, concealing its contents. The cloth undted like the waves on a sea.

    "COO Chen," Jin Chonglin gestured at Chen Fei.

    She nodded and positioned herself on one end of the covered cart while Jin Chonglin was on the other end. Then the emcee started a short countdown with the audience.

    "3...2...1!"

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei unveiled all of the products in the men¡¯s line. This time, thebels finally showed the name of Jin Chonglin¡¯s line.

    Prinz.

    The font design of the name was very elegant and regal. The dot above the letter "i" was a crown.

    "Prinz," the emcee read. "This is so like you, Prince Lin Lin!"

    Jin Chonglin chuckled, once again shing his killer smile. "It¡¯s going to be my brand with Orchidia Beauty from now on so of course it has to be perfect for me."

    "But why did you spell it this way?"

    "Prinz is German for prince. This is my way of showing my gratitude to the brilliant person who made the amazing products in my men¡¯s line. CPO Alric Bauer is German so I chose to name my line using the German word ¡¯Prinz¡¯. Thank you, Sir Bauer!"

 Chapter 1121 - Beat The Record

    <h4>Chapter 1121 - Beat The Record </h4>

    In the audience, Dom was tranting what Jin Chonglin said to Alric Bauer in English. Although Alric was working hard learning Mandarin in thest few months, he still had a long way to go in understanding formal speeches. His English wasn¡¯t that proficient either but at least it was many times better than his understanding of Mandarin. It was such a hardnguage to learn, in his opinion. Fortunately, Dom was a very expressive person. His English trantion included exaggerated body gestures and facial expressions that made it easier for Alric to understand the meaning.

    Upon understanding that Jin Chonglin was thanking him, Alric smiled and nodded at the man on the stage. His reaction was caught on camera and shown on therge screen above the stage.

    Loyal Orchidia Beauty users respected him a lot because if there was no Alric Bauer, there would be no amazing and nearly miraculous skincare products. Of course, Iris Long also deserved a great deal of credit for poaching a talented person like him and bringing him all the way from Germany to China in order to create apany to sell the enhanced versions of his all-natural homemade skincare products.

    While the emcee continued interviewing Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei on stage, Dom noticed his friend fidgeting beside him. <i></i>

    "Sis Jing, are you okay?" he asked.

    Long Jinjing was startled a little at his question before looking guilty. She tried to hide her real feelings behind a smile. "I¡¯m okay. Don¡¯t worry about me, Dom."

    "Hmmm." Dom squinted his eyes at her. "Do you want to leave now and go to the hospital to stay with Big Bro Boss Haohao?"

    Her reaction showed that Dom hit bullseye. "Uhm...."

    Dom giggled but his eyes quickly turned sad. He sighed. "I really hope that Big Bro Boss wakes up soon."

    Her eyes watered but she quickly blinked and bit her lower lip to prevent herself from turning into a sobbing mess. Her makeup took a long time to finish. She wasn¡¯t going to ruin it by crying in public. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak because her throat already felt choked up with her emotions.

    "Sis Jing, just wait until we officiallyunch Prince Lin Lin¡¯s products and open them for orders. Then you can leave and head to the hospital. My handsome and beautiful self will cover for you."

    Long Jinjing felt tempted but she ended up shaking her head. "Thanks, Dom, but I need to stay until the event endster tonight. I can¡¯t just leave everything to Xiao Fei¡ªCOO Chen especially since President Long is already absent due to her bed rest."

    "Okay, Sis Jing. Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s only one night anyway and it¡¯ll soon be over. You can stay with Big Bro Boss Haohao tomorrow. Maybe you can also persuade Grandpa Boss to take a rest. Boss and Sir Boss are so worried about him."

    She sighed. "I know. I already tried persuading Grandpa Lu to rest many times before but he refused to leave Zihao¡¯s side. I can¡¯t force him to leave. If not for work, I don¡¯t want to leave Zihao¡¯s side either, so I can understand Grandpa Lu."

    Dom sighed. They sighed together. Their thoughts were filled of theatose Lu Zihao who still hadn¡¯t shown any signs of waking up since he copsed.

    "Pay attention," Alric rebuked the two of them.

    Long Jinjing looked embarrassed and immediately turned her face forward to the stage while Dom ehehe¡¯d and winked at the annoyed German.

    Finally, Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei announced the start of the countdown to officiallyunch the exclusive Prinz men¡¯s line and open it for orders. Almost all the guests in the audience took out their phones in anticipation.

    Simr to when Orchidia Beautyunched its first batch of products for the first time, there was a limit of purchase per person. This time, however, the limit was increased to five. Meaning, one person could buy five multiples of the same product. There were a number of products in the Prinz men¡¯s line so a person could buy a lot despite the limit.

    Despite this being a men¡¯s line, there were still more women than men who attended tonight¡¯sunch event. The women also looked like they were going to buy the men¡¯s products. Perhaps they were buying them for the men in their lives, or try the products themselves for curiosity¡¯s sake, or buy them as collectibles just for the simple reason that they loved their Prince Lin Lin and wanted to support him no matter what.

    "The moment hase,dies and gentlemen," the emcee announced, hyping the audience with great expertise. "Prince Lin Lin, COO Chen, please do the honours."

    "Of course," Jin Chonglin said, shing his killer smile.

    Chen Fei nodded.

    Therge screen above the stage flickered and showed the number 10 as the start of the countdown.

    "10!" Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei shouted together along with everyone.

    "9...8..."

    "...3...2...1!!!"

    "Order, order, order NOW!!!" Jin Chonglin urged everyone.

    His fans immediately started another timer. Ever since they learned that their Prince Lin Lin was creating an exclusive men¡¯s line of skincare products with Orchidia Beauty, they all wanted him to beat the five-second record that Orchidia Beauty achieved during its grandunch.

    "1..2...3¡ª"

    "Aaaaaah! We did it!"

    "Wait, did we really do it?"

    "Prince Lin Lin, we beat the record!"

    Chen Fei bent forward on the edge of the stage and asked her assistant for confirmation. An excited-looking Jin Chonglin followed her, listening to the conversation. Of course, the curious emcee didn¡¯t want to be left behind, so he followed the two of them as well.

    Dom and Long Jinjing looked at each other. They couldn¡¯t help but be excited as well. In contrast, Alric looked the most rxed out of all of them. Dom turned to him and exined that Jin Chonglin might have broken the previous five-second record.

    "I already expected this," Alric replied, cool as a cucumber. "He¡¯s a superstar, right? It¡¯s only natural that he¡¯ll break the record. If he doesn¡¯t, then it means that he¡¯s not as great as you all im him to be. And most importantly, the products I developed for his men¡¯s line are top-notch."

    "The expenses during their development are top-notch, too," Long Jinjing muttered under her breath.

 Chapter 1122 - 3 Seconds

    <h4>Chapter 1122 - 3 Seconds </h4>

    Alric Bauer didn¡¯t hear Long Jinjing¡¯sint. Even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t mind it too much. It was the nature of his work¡ªproduct development¡ªto spend a lot of money. To make an amazing product with high effectiveness, it had to go through many failures to be improved.

    Simrly, it was also the nature of Long Jinjing¡¯s work to maintain Orchidia Beauty¡¯s expenses within a certain budget range. It was no wonder that Alric and Long Jinjing always butted heads about the Product Development Department¡¯s huge expenses.

    Back at theunch event, the three people on the stage returned to the centre. Everyone quietened and paid attention to them. All three had poker faces, not revealing any of their real thoughts. <i></i>

    Jin Chonglin gestured for Chen Fei to make the announcement. She nodded and began speaking.

    "As many of you may remember, Orchidia Beauty holds the record for selling out thergest amount of skincare products in the country in five seconds. Tonight...."

    The audience leaned forward.

    <i>¡¯Tonight what?¡¯</i>

    Their expressions urged her to hurry up. Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans held their breaths.

    "Tonight...ah, my throat is dry. Can someone give me some water to drink first?" Chen Fei gestured at her assistant below the stage to give her a drink.

    "Boo!"

    "This woman is terrible!"

    "No, actually she¡¯s excellent. She knows how to create suspense."

    "Hurry up! Screw the drink!"

    Chen Fei didn¡¯t mind the booing andints at all. In fact, she looked quite pleased with herself as she slowly savoured the in water that her assistant handed her. After returning the empty ss to her assistant, she pretended to look confused.

    "Ah, where was I again?"

    "Boo!"

    Sheughed. Jin Chonglin and the emceeughed as well. The booing audienceughed while continuing to boo. The atmosphere was lighthearted but the anticipation and excitement were almost electrifying.

    "Oh, right. I remember now." Chen Fei cleared her throat. "ording to our official records, we have confirmed that all the products in Jin Chonglin¡¯s Prinz men¡¯s line have sold out in..."

    "In what? Say it! Hurry up!"

    By this time, Jin Chonglin was already grinning. Based on his expression alone, it must be good news. Nevertheless, everyone still wanted to know the exact time that his Prinz men¡¯s line sold out.

    Chen Fei finally revealed it in a loud, happy voice. "Sold out in 2.69 seconds!"

    A deafening sound of cheers and apuse filled not only the hotel¡¯s grand hall but also outside where Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans continued to stay while watching the livestream of the event. All of them were celebrating as if their Prince Lin Lin won a major award.

    "We did it! Prince Lin Lin is the best!"

    Then Chen Fei added, "Let¡¯s round it up and just say that it sold out in 3 seconds."

    "Boo! It¡¯s 2 seconds, not 3!"

    She heard the person who said this and raised an eyebrow, looking quite arrogant while doing so. "That¡¯s not how rounding works. So it¡¯s settled then. It¡¯s 3 seconds."

    Jin Chonglin made a show of rolling his eyes. "Ignore her. She doesn¡¯t like that I broke Orchidia Beauty¡¯s original record by too much. So let¡¯s just give it to her and say it¡¯s 3 seconds, but of course officially, it¡¯s still 2.69 seconds! My fans are the best! Always! Thank you so much!"

    "Kyaaaaaah! We love you, Prince Lin Lin!"

    The standing ovationsted for a whole two minutes. Even Dom and Long Jinjing were caught in the joy and excitement of breaking another record. This wasn¡¯t only Jin Chonglin¡¯s achievement but Orchidia Beauty¡¯s as well. In fact, it was Orchidia Beauty who benefitted the most.

    "Yay yay! Orchidia Beauty is the best to the highest level! Woohoo!" Dom was jumping all around and doing his rather impressive victory dance, not at all shy in busting his moves in front of so many people.

    Long Jinjing smiled at Alric Bauer who still looked calm overall but had a pleased expression on his face. "Congrattions, Alric. We wouldn¡¯t have achieved this if it weren¡¯t for the amazing products you developed."

    He didn¡¯t deny it but didn¡¯t brag either. Instead, his eyes shone with eagerness. "This means that we profited a lot, right? So can I get a budget increase for my department?"

    The smile on Long Jingjing¡¯s face froze before she sighed. "Let¡¯s talk about this another time, okay? I still need to see exactly how much we earned before I can consider your request."

    He looked reluctant but still nodded and didn¡¯t bother her about the budget again for the rest of the night.

    Theunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s Prinz men¡¯s line of all-natural skincare products with Orchidia Beauty was a huge, resounding sess. It was so sessful that it achieved a new record.

    ###

    "We¡¯re here, Miss Jinjing,"

    Long Jinjing opened her eyes when she heard the male voice. She had been half-dozing in the car¡¯s backseat. Covering her yawn, she looked outside and saw that they were inside the indoor VIP parking lot of the hospital. "Thank you, Shun."

    Later, she entered Lu Zihao¡¯s private suite in the hospital¡¯s VIP section. Although it was already past 2 AM, nobody stopped her from entering because Lu Zihao was registered as a VIP patient. His visitors didn¡¯t need to follow the regr visiting hours.

    Also, nobody dared to go against Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates guarding their boss¡¯ suite especially when almost all of them looked so frightening. Their looks weren¡¯t the scary part but their aura.

    She could hear Grandpa Lu¡¯s loud snores from the guest bedroom beside Lu Zihao¡¯s room. She released a sigh of relief that Grandpa Lu was already sleeping. If he saw hering at this hour, he would surely be worried about her. Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t need another person to worry about when he was already stressing about his ownatose grandson.

    "Niki," she whispered when she stood next to Lu Zihao¡¯s bed. She was still in her full attire that she wore at Jin Chonglin¡¯sunch event. "When will you wake up? Please wake up soon."

    As usual, there was no response. Her heart clenched in pain. She held his big, rough hand and squeezed it.

    "I still love you, you know."

 Chapter 1123 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    <h4>Chapter 1123 - (Title Is A Spoiler) </h4>

    Long Jinjing sighed when Lu Zihao remained motionless and unresponsive to her words. Her chest felt tight as if her own ribs were squeezing her heart to death. She was also realizing just how much she loved this man now that he wasatose and even the doctors couldn¡¯t answer when he would wake up or what exactly was wrong with him.

    The heartbreak from separating with him and trying to move on from their month-long rtionship was nothingpared to the pain that she was experiencing right now worrying about him.

    When would he wake up? Would he still wake up? Was he ill? Would he be healthy again after waking up?

    She stroked his hair and caressed his cheek. His scarred face was already growing some beard and mustache but the facial hair only made him look more masculine in her eyes.

    He still looked bulky with all his impressive muscles but it was obvious that he lost a lot of weight from beingatose for this long. His cheekbones and jaw had be sharper as if they could cut her.

    She pinched his cheek, hoping that the pain would wake him up. No response. Sighing, she headed to the ensuite bathroom to take a shower. <i></i>

    Ever since his copse, she had been staying with him at the hospital and apanying Grandpa Lu after leaving work. She packed some of her clothes, toiletries, and other essentials to make it more convenient for her. As a result, the ensuite bathroom in Lu Zihao¡¯s room was filled with Orchidia Beauty products that she used regrly.

    She had been driving herself using her own car at first, but one day, Robin and Shun appeared and offered to chauffeur her whenever she was headed to the hospital. She initially declined but eventually gave in when they kept on popping up in front of her. Robin and Shun had figured out their own schedule on who would pick her up at what time.

    After showering, drying her hair, and changing into afortable set of pyjamas, she sat beside Lu Zihao¡¯s bed to just stare at him. It was already almost 4 AM. She was exhausted from all the running around making sure that Jin Chonglin¡¯sunch event would go smoothly. Now that theunch was over, her body was bone-tired but her mind was still fully awake.

    "Niki," she whispered while rubbing his rough, scarred hand against her soft cheek. "Please wake up. If you do, I promise to try again with you one more time. I know that you don¡¯t love me as much as I love you but...I¡¯ll do my best to make you fall in love with me, too. Even if I fail...at least I tried. So please...I beg you. Wake up, Niki."

    A tear escaped out of the corner of her eye and slid down to his hand, wetting it. She quickly wiped it with the sleeve of her shirt before giving his hand a gentle pat.

    She stayed sitting beside his bed, not realizing that she had fallen asleep with her head pillowed on her own arm, while she was still holding his hand.

    Time passed. The sky was still dark outside and the temperature inside the room had be colder.

    She woke up shivering. She was about to move to the sofa bed and sleep there when her eyes caught something, making her gasp. Her heart felt like it stopped.

    Lu Zihao was looking at her. His dark, fathomless eyes were open.

    They were open!

    "Niki?"

    "Hm."

    Her shivering body turned to full-blown trembling as she could barely contain her emotions. "Am I still dreaming? Are you really awake? Oh, please tell me I¡¯m not dreaming and you¡¯re really awake!"

    "Jin...jing," he croaked in a raspy voice.

    "Oh, Niki!" She threw herself over his chest and hugged him, crying out loud.

    Within seconds, his subordinates rushed inside to see what was going on, rmed by her loud cries. When they saw that their boss was finally awake, someone immediately pressed the call button to alert the nurses.

    "What in the bloody world is happening?!" a loud booming voice asked from outside the room. "Did something happen to my Haohao? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "Sir Lu, Boss Hao is awake," someone told him.

    "What, really?! My boy is awake?!"

    Grandpa Lu rushed inside the room where he saw a sobbing Long Jinjing clinging to his grandson. Lu Zihao was also hugging his woman and rubbing her back, trying tofort her.

    "My boy! You¡¯re awake!" Grandpa Lu patted his grandson¡¯s thigh covered by the nket. Tears also filled his old, tired eyes but they didn¡¯t fall. Instead, the tears magnified the joy and relief shining through his expression.

    "G-grand...pa...."

    "You pinhead! You made us so worried about you, stinky boy! Do you know how long we waited for you to wake up?! Jinjing my girl and I would¡¯ve already started growing bloody mushrooms on top of our heads if we waited any longer! Hah!"

    It was at that time that the doctor and nurses arrived to check on Lu Zihao. Long Jinjing looked reluctant to let go of him but still forced herself to give way to the medical staff. After a few minutes, the doctor finished the preliminary examination.

    "It¡¯s still very early so we¡¯ll do the rest of the tests in a few hours when our medical technicians arrive for the workday," the doctor said.

    "No need," Lu Zihao replied. "I¡¯m fine. No need for those useless tests. Discharge me immediately."

    "Nik¡ªZihao!"

    "You dunderhead! Why don¡¯t you listen to the doctor, you smelly rascal?! I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao tried to intimidate the doctor with his cold stare but the doctor this time was made of tougher stuff.

    "Mr. Lu, of course I¡¯ll discharge you but only after I make sure that nothing is really wrong with you based on your tests results. In addition, my colleague Dr. Wang told me to take extra care of you and I intend to do just that. Dr. Wang will most likely want to analyze your test results with me as well. So please get some rest for now."

    The doctor didn¡¯t bother with the scowling Lu Zihao anymore and proceeded to speak with Grandpa Lu. Long Jinjing returned to Lu Zihao¡¯s side and looked like she would stay there forever.

    ###

 Chapter 1124 - Fighting Together

    <h4>Chapter 1124 - Fighting Together </h4>

    After lunch time, Lu Zihao was officially discharged from the hospital. Wang Yingjie personally helped in the procedure. Long Jinjing called her best friend and took a day off from work. Chen Fei allowed her after learning that Lu Zihao had finally woken up.

    Lu Zihao, Long Jinjing and Grandpa Lu were now on their way to Dragon Pce Home #10. They were riding the old man¡¯s ostentatious limousine.

    At first, Grandpa Lu wanted to bring Lu Zihao to his Mediterranean-style mansion in the suburbs to help his grandson recover faster by breathing fresher air but Lu Zihao surprisingly said that he wanted to stay at his third brother¡¯s home instead. Grandpa Lu agreed without any fuss because he nned on staying at Dragon Pce anyway to wait for the safe birth of his great-grandbaby from Iris and Jin Liwei.

    The excited Grandpa Lu was phoning everyone and letting them know that his grandson, the pinhead, had finally woken up. Long Jinjing continued sticking close to Lu Zihao, afraid that he would copse and go intoa again if she left him just like what happened before.

    Lu Zihao held her chin and tilted it upwards so that they were looking at each other. Then he lowered his head and kissed her on the lips¡ªslowly, carefully, and thoroughly.

    She melted into him and was the one who increased the intensity of their kiss, sucking and biting his lips, looking like a hungry person finally able to eat after a long time.

    He groaned and deepened the kiss even more, invading her sweet mouth with his tongue. It had been so long. Too long!

    When it was over, she clung to him even more tightly. Of course, he hugged her more tightly as well. The corners of his lips lifted after seeing her flushed skin. <i></i>

    "Grandpa Lu is here," she whispered. "Oh no."

    He chuckled. "It¡¯s fine. Look, he¡¯s too busy calling everyone to bother us."

    Although he said this, he knew that the old man saw what they were doing just now and only pretended that he didn¡¯t notice them kissing to avoid embarrassing the overly shy Long Jinjing. Lu Zihao stole another kiss from his woman¡¯s lips, a quick one this time, before leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

    Fatigue filled him. He had beenatose for days after all. His body needed time to recover.

    "Take a nap," Long Jinjing told him. "I¡¯ll wake you up when we arrive at Little Sister and Brother-inw¡¯s home."

    He grunted in response before pulling her head to rest on his chest. "You sleep, too. I heard from Shun that you didn¡¯t get a wink of sleep."

    "Okay."

    It was actually her who fell asleep soon afterwards. He didn¡¯t sleep but still managed to rest a bit while his eyes were closed.

    At the moment, he was reflecting on the bits and pieces of memories that happened when he was ina. It felt like a long series of endless nightmares. He couldn¡¯t remember everything, but based on the ones that he did remember, he was back in his body as Niki Vetrov together with Lu Zihao by his side. They seemed to be fighting off wave after wave of enemies together.

    At the beginning, he went off to fight on his own, not caring about Lu Zihao at all. Then when the sheer number of enemies overwhelmed him, a wounded Lu Zihao appeared to save him. This happened many times. Lu Zihao would always save him at crucial moments when he was about to die a shameful death in the hands of the enemies.

    In the end, he and Lu Zihao began fighting together. Then somehow, before he noticed it, there was only him fighting alone but he knew that he wasn¡¯t really alone.

    Yes, he was Niki, but he was also now Lu Zihao. They were together and that was what made him stronger to defeat all of those faceless enemies in the long series of nightmares.

    Lu Zihao opened his eyes and watched the urban scenery outside that the limo was passing by. He didn¡¯t fully know what happened but there seemed to be something different about him. He just couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    The remnant of the original Lu Zihao still existed within him and was still capable of conversing with him. It was just "resting" right now because thea somehow drained it.

    <i>¡¯I¡¯ll eventually figure it all out.¡¯</i>

    He nced down at the sleeping woman in his arms and felt something warm filling up inside his chest. Then he noticed that the old man finally stopped talking on the phone and was now watching him.

    "Old man¡ªGrandpa," he corrected himself rather quickly this time.

    Grandpa Lu looked pleased. "That girl loves you very much, my boy. She never failed to stay by your side every night no matter how exhausted she was from working all day."

    "I know."

    Of course, he knew. Shun and Robin gave him an in-depth report earlier when Long Jinjing went outside his hospital suite to answer a business phone call.

    "You¡¯re a dumb dunderhead if you let such a wonderful and loyal woman go and leave you again," Grandpa Lu said with a disdainful harrumph.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t say anything but pressed the sleeping woman in his arms closer to him. His expression didn¡¯t reveal anything of his true thoughts or emotions as usual. Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t press him to reply either, maybe because Lu Zihao still looked terrible from beingatose for days.

    The old man¡¯s phone rang. "Hello, Xin my girl? Yes, your Big Brother Haohao and Big Sister Jinjing and your beloved Grandpa Lu will be there soon. Don¡¯t worry, my girl! Your Big Brother is fine but is still a big pinhead as usual. He wanted to be discharged immediately right after waking up! Hah! Why is he so hardheaded? I want to know! What is it, my girl? You want to talk to your Big Brother? Alright."

    Grandpa Lu tossed the phone to Lu Zihao who easily caught it with one hand. "Haohao, your little sister wants to talk to you. Don¡¯t upset her! She¡¯s not fully recovered yet, you hear?"

    Lu Zihao nodded and spoke to his sister for the first time since he copsed. "It¡¯s me."

    All he heard was a soft crying sound.

 Chapter 1125 - Avoiding â€œThe Talkâ€

    <h4>Chapter 1125 - Avoiding ¡°The Talk¡± </h4>

    "B-big Brother!" Iris cried in Russian.

    "Hm."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s chest tightened and his throat felt somewhat choked up. He always hated seeing his precious little sister cry. It always made him want to torture and murder any foolish asshole who dared to reduce her to tears. This time, however, the foolish asshole was him. Guilt filled him for making his little sister worry about him so much that she would cry like this. It wasn¡¯t healthy for her especially now that she was pregnant and still in bed rest.

    "Are you okay now?" she asked.

    "I am. Don¡¯t worry about me anymore."

    "How can I not worry about you?! You¡¯re my big brother!"

    He sighed and felt even guiltier. His expression, however, remained impassive, not allowing anyone to read his real thoughts or emotions from his face.<i></i>

    "Don¡¯t cry anymore and risk hurting your babies. We¡¯ll talkter when we arrive there at Dragon Pce. Just try to rx there in bed and wait for us toe to you."

    "Okay."

    Fortunately, his sister didn¡¯t insist on prolonging their phone conversation. He could sense that she was very emotional at the moment. It was better for her to take the time to calm down first or he would feel even guiltier if something happened to her and the twins because she felt too upset with him.

    The phone call ended. Grandpa Lu gestured for him to toss the phone back and he did. The old man caught it easily, his reaction time not in any way inferior to young people.

    Lu Zihao sensed the old man¡¯s probing gaze. Although he and his sister would openly speak in Russian in front of other people sometimes, doing it in front of the old man must have made Grandpa Lu form his own suspicions for some time now.

    To his relief, Grandpa Lu never really asked him about it or demanded a more believable exnation aside from the original excuse he told people that he and his sister met in an online game and became friends years ago and that they both randomly learned Russian.

    It sounded stupid even to his own ears but it was the best he could think of during that time especially given the special circumstances that he and his sister were in.

    Who would believe that the two of them had been reborn intopletely different bodies? That they were originally Russians and hailed from the top criminal family in the underworld?

    Only a lovesick fool like Jin Liwei, now his brother-inw, would cast all of his normal logical beliefs aside to be able to ept and continue loving the woman he loved without thinking that she and her brother (or as Jin Liwei believed before, his own fifth brother) had turned into crazy people.

    And now, Lu Zihao was facing the wise, scrutinizing eyes of the original¡¯s grandfather. After waking up froma, he noticed something from the old man¡¯s gaze whenever Grandpa Lu looked at him. In that instant, he felt that the old man must have known everything even without him saying or admitting anything.

    "Old man¡ªGrandpa...."

    "Go rest, you smelly boy! Why can¡¯t you stay still and take better care of yourself when you just woke up froma? Tell me, I want to know! Stop chitter-chattering like a bored olddy! You¡¯ll wake up Jinjing my girl. This old man feels a little tired too so I¡¯ll go take a nap. Stop disturbing me! Hmph!"

    With that, Grandpa Lu decisively leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes.

    A light chuckle bubbled in Lu Zihao¡¯s throat watching the old man trying to avoid having "the talk" with him. He shook his head and didn¡¯t disturb Grandpa Lu anymore. It seemed that the old man wasn¡¯t ready yet to face the real truth head on and needed some time to prepare himself even though he must have already known deep inside.

    In all honesty, he wasn¡¯t ready yet either. However, there was an almost primal force within himself that was urging him toe clean about the truth ever since he woke up froma. He couldn¡¯t exin this almost mystical feeling. There were no actual words telling him what to do, just a vague but still powerful feeling, that was silently pressuring him. He inexplicably felt that following this feeling would benefit him in lots of ways.

    Before he knew it, he also dozed off. He must have been more tired than he expected.

    The limo was already in front of his sister and brother-inw¡¯s Dragon Pce mansion when he woke up.

    "We¡¯re here," a still sleepy Long Jinjing told him, shaking him a little to wake him up.

    He grunted and pulled her head for a quick but deep kiss. She became dazed when it was over, her eyes staring at his lips. The corners of his mouth quirked in amusement.

    "You naughty boy! Stop seducing yourdy sweetheart in front of your beloved old grandpa! Hmph! Wait until we go inside and get a room! Why don¡¯t the kids these days know any modesty? I want to know!"

    Although Grandpa Lu¡¯s words were scolding them, his old eyes were actually teasing them. Long Jinjing snapped out of her daze in an instant and ducked her head in Lu Zihao¡¯s embrace, hiding her embarrassment from the old man. Lu Zihao chuckled.

    "Let¡¯s go inside," he urged her.

    Later, the butler led the couple straight to the master suite as per Lu Zihao¡¯s request. On the other hand, Grandpa Lu went to his assigned bedroom to resume resting.

    Lu Zihao needed to assure his little sister that he was really alright first before he could deal with the other matters that he left behind before copsing intoa.

    "Little Sister!" Long Jinjing left his side and rushed to Iris¡¯ bedside.

    Lu Zihao followed behind her.

    It was only after his sister finished grilling him with questions and ensuring that he was really fine that Iris finally looked relieved. As a result, Lu Zihao felt relieved as well.

    Now it was his turn.

    His expression became dark. "You got thinner. Your husband is not taking care of you properly."

    Iris pouted. "Liwei is taking care of me properly. Something is just wrong with my body. It keeps on failing me."

 Chapter 1126 - Scumbag

    <h4>Chapter 1126 - Scumbag </h4>

    "Little Sister Xin, don¡¯t forget that your body went through a lot to survive from that car crash when you were only eighteen," Long Jinjing reminded Iris. "Because of that evil woman Fan Luo, you almost died. It¡¯s already a miracle that you¡¯re still alive and well today and even pregnant with my niece or nephew. I don¡¯t think that your body is failing you. Maybe it¡¯s just dealing with any remaining seque from the injuries you sustained from that car crash."

    Iris and Lu Zihao didn¡¯t refute Long Jinjing¡¯s im, although both of them knew that the original Iris Long really died during that fatal car crash. However, it was indeed a miracle that another soul upied the original¡¯s body and began living as the new Iris Long. Perhaps Long Jinjing might be right¡ªthat there were still some remaining seque in Iris¡¯ body that the doctors couldn¡¯t detect. This might be why the body couldn¡¯t keep keep pace with the many things that Iris, no, that Evelina wanted to do.

    She could only nod at Long Jinjing to indicate her agreement, not wanting to talk about this topic anymore. Since both she and her older brother went through the same rebirth, there were many unique things about themselves that they couldn¡¯t share with anyone. At the moment, only Jin Liwei knew the truth about the siblings.

    Iris looked at her older brother of the soul and older sister of her current flesh. "Are you two back together again?"

    Lu Zihao also looked at Long Jinjing waiting for her to answer. He also wasn¡¯t sure about the woman¡¯s decision. Did she want to be together with him again or insist on leaving him after ensuring that he was fine?

    Long Jinjing turned red but nodded. Iris raised an eyebrow and looked at her older brother.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s neutral expression didn¡¯t change but he was actually relieved deep inside. He sat on the bed beside his woman and slung his arm over her shoulders, hooking it around her neck, and then pulling her to him before kissing her cheek in front of his sister.

    "Ni-Zihao! My sister is here!" All of Long Jinjing¡¯s exposed skin became red. She was so embarrassed that she wanted to run away but his arm around her locked her in ce.

    Iris tilted her head to the side and continued observing the lovers in front of her. "It¡¯s okay, Big Sister. My Liwei does things to me that are more daring in front of others than what Big Brother is doing to you right now. It¡¯s just kissing the cheek. No need to be so shy."

    "This is too much for me." Long Jinjing covered her face with both hands. It was obvious that she wasn¡¯t as shameless as her sister.

    "Come here again for dinnerter," Iris said instead to spare the overly shy woman any more embarrassment. "Call Grandpa Lu as well. I¡¯m still in bed rest so I can¡¯t leave this room yet. Liwei should also being home any time now."

    "Hm." Lu Zihao nodded before standing up, pulling the red-faced Long Jinjing with him. "I¡¯ll talk to your husband when hees back. You rest here and stop worrying about things that you can¡¯t control."

    Iris nodded.

    The two were about to leave when Iris asked, "Big Sister, are you going to stay here with Big Brother?"

    Long Jinjing paused and seriously thought about it. "I...I need to think about it first."

    "Stay with me tonight," Lu Zihao said, looking at her straight in the eyes.

    She nodded without hesitation. "Of course. But for tomorrow night and the next ones after that, I, uhm...let me think about it first."

    He grunted.

    Iris continued watching the couple until they left the master bedroom.<i></i>

    "Mommy, what are you thinking about? Meow~"

    She nced at the tablet propped on her bedside table. "I¡¯m thinking that your Uncle Zihao might be in love with your Auntie Jinjing."

    A ck cat appeared beside the white cat.

    "Uncle Zihao is always kissing Aunt Jinjing," Bacon said in his usual bored tone while starting to groom his fluffy, ck fur. "If Uncle Zihao is not in love with Aunt Jinjing while doing all that, then he¡¯s a scumbag who doesn¡¯t know how to treasure his woman like Father treasures Mother. Scumbags are not ssy."

    Iris was a little speechless at what her AI son said.

    "Dramatic gasp! Really? Uncle Haohao is a scumbag? Meow?"

    The door opened and Jin Liwei asked, "Who¡¯s a scumbag?"

    "Uncle Haohao is a scumbag! Daddy, wee home! Love ya lots. Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow but still acknowledged his AI daughter¡¯s greeting. "En, I¡¯m home."

    Then he went straight for his wife on the bed and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. She nibbled on his lower lip before letting go. He sat beside her.

    "Why is your brother a scumbag?"

    It was Ketchup who replied, "Bacon says that if Uncle Haohao is not in love with Auntie Jinjing but still keeps on kissing her, then he¡¯s a scumbag who doesn¡¯t know how to treasure his woman like Daddy treasures Mommy! Meow~"

    Bacon¡¯s tail swished from side to side. "That kind of scumbag behaviour is not ssy."

    "En," Jin Liwei agreed.

    Iris pursed her lips. "Alright, let¡¯s not talk about your uncle and auntie anymore. It¡¯s their business. They can figure it all out on their own. Bacon, make sure to greet your uncleter when your Aunt Jinjing isn¡¯t with him."

    "Understood, Mother."

    "Ketchup wants to greet Uncle Haohao too, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Alright. You go with your brother."

    "Yay yay! Ketchup missed Uncle Haohao soooo much even if he¡¯s a scumbag! Meow~"

    Jin Liweiughed. Iris hit his shoulder. Heughed harder.

    Then he caressed her cheek. "Happy that your brother is awake now?"

    She nodded. "I¡¯m d that he¡¯s fine. I hope that whatever made him copse, he was able to ovee it once and for all."

    "En. He¡¯s your brother. If you can ovee it, I¡¯m sure that he can too."

    She pressed herself closer to him, inhaling his scent. "I hope so. I just want him to live a happy life this second time around like I am with you."

    He didn¡¯t reply, not wanting to burst her hopes. He knew that his brother-inw¡¯s focus was on revenge and not on living a happy life like her.

 Chapter 1127 - Woo You

    <h4>Chapter 1127 - Woo You </h4>

    Lu Zihao had no idea that his cat AI nephew and niece were calling him a scumbag behind his back. If he knew, he would definitely find a way to spank those two naughty little brats¡¯ virtual butts no matter what. They were getting more and more brazen in making fun of him, their uncle.

    While he and Long Jinjing were heading to his assigned suite, his subordinates that were stationed at Dragon Pce Home #10 kept on greeting him, slowing the two of them down. He began to feel impatient but Long Jinjing squeezed his hand.

    "They¡¯re all just d that you¡¯re awake and okay now," she told him. "Don¡¯t be angry at them."

    Her words calmed him down like a cool, soothing breeze during a hot summer day. He still felt impatient but became more tolerant of his overeager subordinates now. Finally, the two of them reached his suite.<i></i>

    His sister and brother-inw kept the ce reserved for him. They never removed his clothes, shoes, and other stuff that he left here before. He basically didn¡¯t need to pack anything whenever he wanted to stay here. Since Dragon Pce Home #10 was now his beloved little sister¡¯s home with her husband, then he also considered this ce as a kind of his home as well.

    It seemed that the household staff also already finished organizing Long Jinjing¡¯s few clothes, toiletries and other essential items from her small suitcase that she packed for apanying Lu Zihao in the hospital when he was stitose.

    The two of them had stayed in this suite together before. Long Jinjing still felt a little shy especially since this was her sister¡¯s home but not as much as before. Everyone here already knew about her rtionship with Lu Zihao anyway. Even his grandfather approved of their rtionship and allowed them to sleep together on the same bed.

    "Take a nap again, Niki," she said. "You still look a little pale and tired. I¡¯ll wake you up when it¡¯s time for dinner."

    He grunted. Indeed, he had a bit of a headache but didn¡¯t show any of his difort in his expression. "Stay with me."

    She hesitated. She actually wanted to meet up with her friends, Dom and Jiang Ying Yue first, and then y with her nephew Little Jun and the cats. Still, she nodded. She would just sneak out of the room once Lu Zihao fell asleep.

    Soon, theyy on the bed in each other¡¯s embrace. Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t stop from pressing herself closer to him to feel the warm sturdiness of his huge body. She loved this man so much.

    Deep inside her heart, however, there was still a feeling of hopelessness at the knowledge that he had no intention of returning her love for him and of having anything deeper with her beyond being a simple girlfriend that he could have regr sex with.

    "Jinjing."

    She tilted her head upwards to look at him and felt the familiar nking of her mind into amoeba level. His dark, fathomless eyes looked like she could drown in them if she wasn¡¯t careful.

    "You really agree to try again with me?" he asked.

    It took a few seconds for her to snap out of her daze. She blushed as usual but there was also an unmistakable sadness in her expression that she tried to conceal behind a shy smile.

    "Y-yes."

    He continued staring at her, making her squirm a little in his arms.

    "Is this is what you really want? Or are you just pitying me because I fell intoa?"

    Her expression twisted in fury. She lifted herself up and red at him. "Me? Pity you? Are you listening to what you¡¯re saying?"

    He didn¡¯t reply, only continued looking at her with his impassive face.

    She wanted to smack and shake him but couldn¡¯t muster the will to actually do so because he just came out of the hospital. Although he looked fine on the outside and his test results indicated that he was in good health, she still couldn¡¯t help but worry about him.

    "Niki, it¡¯s not that I pity you. I love you. How many times do I need to tell you this for you to understand?"

    His jaw tensed but he still didn¡¯t say anything.

    Tears welled in her eyes again but she still smiled. It was such a sad smile that he frowned because his chest felt like it was being squeezed.

    She misunderstood his frown and thought that he still disliked her telling him that she loved him. Her sad smile became bitter. The feeling already felt familiar to her. Taking a deep breath, she mustered all her courage and looked at him straight in the eyes.

    "Niki, I still want to marry you, give birth to our children, and build a family with you in the future because I love you. That¡¯s why...I decided to try again one more time with you. I¡¯m..." She bit her lower lip and her hands were trembling but the determination was clear in her watery eyes. "I¡¯m going to try and make you fall in love with me. Prepare yourself, Niki, because I, Long Jinjing, will woo you."

    For the first time since waking up froma, his neutral expression cracked revealing shock.

    His reaction secretly pleased her and fueled her courage. She leaned down and framed his face with both of her hands. His facial hair pricked her delicate hands, tickling her a little. Her sad, bitter smile transformed into a bright, unyielding twinkle in the eyes.

    At that moment, Lu Zihao felt his heart skip a beat before racing inside his chest. His shock turned into confusion and then into...he didn¡¯t know anymore. All these emotions flooding inside him were just tooplicated and difficult for someone like him toprehend.

    "I¡¯m going to woo you, Niki."

    Then she kissed him on the lips. But before he could deepen the kiss, she pulled back, making him groan in frustration. She patted his face.

    "If I fail and you still don¡¯t love me after this, then I can¡¯t do anything. Love can¡¯t be forced. I¡¯ll give up and let you go once and for all. I hope that you¡¯ll also respect me enough to let me go too if things don¡¯t work out for us in the end."

 Chapter 1128 - Can I Trust You?

    <h4>Chapter 1128 - Can I Trust You? </h4>

    "You think I don¡¯t respect you?" Lu Zihao scowled.

    Long Jinjing sighed. "That¡¯s not what I meant."

    "Then what do you mean?"

    "That whatever happens between us after all this, you¡¯ll respect me and my decision and not...and not...." She took a moment to get a hold of her emotions. "And not hurt me too much," she said thisst part in a soft, tiny voice.

    He sat both of them up face to face. His big, rough, scarred hand touched her soft face. "Jinjing...I...."

    Silence.

    "It¡¯s okay, Niki. Like I said, nobody can force love. I just hope that you can give me a chance to make you fall in love with me. If...my attempts disgust you, tell it to me straight. I may cry a lot but...I can handle it...probably."

    Another minute passed before Lu Zihao spoke again. "You won¡¯t disgust me, Jinjing."

    "Hopefully." She smiled and blinked her watery eyes at him. "So will you give me a chance to woo you?"

    "This situation doesn¡¯t sit right with me¡ª"

    Her face fell.

    "¡ªbut if it¡¯s you, yes. Woo me all you want, Jinjing."

    Her eyes lit up.

    He held her chin and tilted her head upwards and lowered his head until their faces were only an inch apart. They could feel each other¡¯s warm breaths. However, he didn¡¯t cross over that final inch to im her delectable lips. Not yet.

    "I¡¯ve never fallen in love before," he said. "So I don¡¯t know how to fall in love or if I¡¯m even capable of falling in love."

    "You are," she whispered. "I can see that you love my sister like your own sibling. You care very much about family. You¡¯re also very protective of all the people that you care about and those you consider to be your responsibility even if they annoy you. You are capable of love so I know that you can also fall in love. I¡¯m just...not sure if you can fall in love with...with m-me. But I¡¯ll try. Oh, I¡¯ll try so hard, Niki. I love you so much."

    The fingers holding her chin tightened. She felt a pinch but not painful enough to hurt her. <i></i>

    "Are you sure?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.

    His entire aura became more intense, making her shiver, not from fright but in abination of awe and desire.

    "Of course, I¡¯m sure."

    "Will you really still love me once you know the real me? Will you, Jinjing?"

    She frowned, confused at his words. "The real you?"

    "I¡¯m not a good man."

    Her frown turned into a pouting scowl. "You keep saying that."

    "It¡¯s true. I did very bad things. I still do."

    She became even more confused. "What bad things?"

    The intensity emanating from him turned into something colder, more vicious, more...demonic. The fingers pinching her chin loosened and his thumb began rubbing her jaw and then her lips. His eyes stared right through her, as if they could pierce straight to her very soul. He finally kissed her but only lightly.

    "Can I trust you?"

    "Of course, Niki."

    He became silent but his thumb continued rubbing her lips. He looked a little distracted while contemting if he should really trust her.

    "Niki?"

    His eyes focused on her again. "Come, let¡¯s take a nap."

    "Huh?" Long Jinjing had no idea what was going on with him. She couldn¡¯t understand what he meant at all. "But¡ª"

    He pulled her down on the bed, locking her in his embrace, and covered them with the duvet. "Tomorrow."

    "Tomorrow?"

    "I¡¯ll bring you somewhere after you finish work tomorrow."

    "Oh."

    "I¡¯ll pick you up at Orchidia Beauty."

    "Oh. Okay."

    She still had many questions but upon seeing the weary furrow between his brows, her heart ached for him. Right, he still needed time to recover. She sighed but then felt his hand slip inside her shirt and cup her breasts through her bra.

    "Niki! You said we¡¯re going to take a nap!"

    "We are."

    "Take off your hand from my...my...."

    "From your breasts? No, I like your breasts. I like fondling them, sucking them, and fucking them."

    Heat spread through her face, neck, and everywhere else in her body. The shyness turned to desire. Her brain was in danger of short-circuiting into amoeba level again from his expert seductions. She could feel her core bing wet and hot.

    It was difficult but she fought off her increasing desire from surrendering to the man¡¯s temptation. The doctor¡¯s words earlier in the hospital managed to y inside her head at this time.

    "We can¡¯t right now. You need to rest!"

    "Just one round, hm?"

    Oh, she was tempted. So very tempted. But no! His health and fast recovery were more important than scratching a momentary itch.

    "Please, Niki. Just rest for today, okay?"

    He looked like he was going to continue seducing her, but to her relief, he finally withdrew his hand from inside her shirt. Although she was d that he listened to her, her now aching breasts felt empty without his touch.

    "Fine. I¡¯ll rest for today. Gotta have energy to face your wooing."

    She blushed harder but still nodded. This was her decision after all. She said that she was going to woo him so she would do it. There was no backing out now. Either she would go for it or not at all.

    They kissed for a few moments but didn¡¯t do anything more than that. In the end, she was the one who fell asleep first. Lu Zihao was staring at the ceiling while listening to the deep, rhythmic breaths of his woman lying beside him.

    "Uncle Zihao," he heard a familiar child¡¯s voice.

    He fished out his phone from his pants¡¯ pocket. Two cat AIs, one ck and one white, looked at him.

    "Bacon greets Uncle Zihao."

    "Wee back, Uncle Haohao! Ketchup is soooo happy that Uncle Haohao is awake now. The cute and mighty me missed you so much even if Uncle Haohao is a scumbag! Meow~"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned ck. "Say again who¡¯s a scumbag, you little¡ª"

    Ketchup giggled. "Bacon is the one who said that Uncle Haohao is a scumbag first! Hihihi. Bye, Uncle Haohao~ The cute and mighty Ketchup is busy training my new not-so-boring employee! Meowhoosh!"

    The naughty white cat AI disappeared like a ninja, leaving her younger brother to deal with the mess she made in front of their uncle.

 Chapter 1129 - Create Your Own Future

    <h4>Chapter 1129 - Create Your Own Future </h4>

    "Heh. So you¡¯re calling me, your own uncle, a scumbag behind my back, huh? Who the hell is teaching you this kind of deplorable manners? Your father?" Lu Zihao narrowed his eyes at his AI nephew. His expression was cold and threatening.

    He immediately med his brother-inw. The thought that it might be his little sister who corrupted her AI children never entered his mind even once. His sister was so pure. She was an angel. It must be her husband¡¯s fault for being such a bad example to their AI children.

    Bacon tilted his little, fluffy, ck head to the side and blinked his golden eyes, widening them in an obvious attempt to act innocent. "Isn¡¯t it Uncle Zihao who usually trashtalks other people behind their backs? Bacon is just imitating Uncle Zihao. Father would sooner ground us than teach us this kind of things. Please don¡¯t me Father when it¡¯s clearly Uncle Zihao who sets this example to your niece and nephew. It¡¯s not ssy."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned cker. What the hell? It was his fault? He sneered at his AI nephew, the little smartass.

    "Please don¡¯t make that kind of expression to your own nephew. It hurts Bacon¡¯s feelings. I will needpensation for my emotional distress at this rate."

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes. Although he didn¡¯t want to admit it, he was already learning that it was too damn difficult to win against his AI nephew, the little devil. If he ever found out which bastard his personality was based on, he would punch the asshole¡¯s ugly face for having such a hateful character.

    His headache worsened. He sighed, finally showing a weary expression. "Update meter about all the things that I missed while I was ina. I need a nap."

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao."

    He grunted.

    "Uncle Zihao?"

    He frowned. "Hm?"

    "Please don¡¯t be a scumbag anymore and keep on making Aunt Jinjing cry. It¡¯s not ssy."

    He scowled. His AI nephew, however, wasn¡¯t intimidated at all and continued spouting pointed words which stabbed him where it made him ufortable the most. <i></i>

    "If Uncle Zihao can¡¯t make Aunt Jinjing happy, then you should just stop bothering her and allow her to find a better man who can treasure her like how Father treasures Mother. ying with Aunt Jinjing¡¯s feelings is not ssy. If Uncle Zihao continues to make Aunt Jinjing cry, Bacon will ask Father to help her demandpensation from you for emotional distress."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s hand itched to spank a certain ck cat¡¯s butt. "Mind your own business, kid."

    Bacon licked his paw and started grooming himself, not at all bothered by his uncle¡¯s intimidation. "Bacon is just stating the truth. Uncle Zihao looks so defensive so my words must have affected you because they¡¯re true."

    "Hah." Lu Zihao closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm his frustration. His headache was now throbbing more painfully. He opened his eyes again and looked at his annoying AI nephew who appeared deceptively bored but must actually be secretly enjoying tormenting him.

    "Bacon."

    "Uncle Zihao."

    "Do you...never mind."

    Bacon tilted his head to the side again. "What is it, Uncle Zihao? Acting so indecisively like this is not ssy."

    "Tsk." Lu Zihao contemted for a few moments. When he spoke again, his voice was almost a whisper. "Do you think that...that I can have a future with your Aunt Jinjing?"

    Bacon tilted his head to the other side. "By have a future, does Uncle Zihao mean that you want to marry Aunt Jinjing?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s current expression was hard to describe. Even he couldn¡¯t describe the hodgepodge of emotions he was feeling right now. He felt embarrassed and stupid for even asking for rtionship advice from his cat AI nephew¡ªfor god¡¯s sake¡ªbut he would never admit it.

    "Just answer me, kid," he said through gritted teeth.

    "Bacon cannot predict the future because I don¡¯t have magical powers. However, Mother once told us siblings that our own future is ours to create. If we really want something, then we have to work hard and do everything to make it happen. Mother said that she regrets not fighting for her dreams and happiness before, that¡¯s why she¡¯s doing everything now to pursue everything that she loves so that she won¡¯t ever experience that kind of regret again. Isn¡¯t Mother the ssiest?"

    There was no reply but Bacon didn¡¯t mind. His fluffy, ck tail swished from side to side. His golden eyes glowed brighter. He obviously loved talking about his mother.

    "If Uncle Zihao wants to do the ssy thing like Mother, then stop worrying about a future that hasn¡¯t happened yet. Bacon may not understand many things because I¡¯m still young and born not too long ago, but as long as I follow Mother¡¯s teachings, I know that I will be able to live a ssy and fulfilling life because Mother is the best in the whole wide universe and beyond. Uncle Zihao should just create your own future with Aunt Jinjing and stop acting like a coward and a scumbag. If you¡¯re worried about Aunt Jinjing¡¯s safety, then Uncle Zihao should just be stronger so that you can protect your woman better. That¡¯s ssy."

    A chuckle bubbled in Lu Zihao¡¯s throat. There was a self-deprecating note to it. "I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m having this kind of fucking conversation with you."

    "Please don¡¯t use such vulgar words in front of your young nephew. It¡¯s not ssy. Bacon doesn¡¯t want to learn bad things and get grounded by Father again."

    This time, the soft chuckle turned to fullughter. "Go back to your parents, kid. I really need to sleep. We¡¯ll talk another time."

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao. Bacon will leave now." The ck cat AI disappeared, but only one secondter, he reappeared again. "Uncle Zihao."

    "What again?"

    "Father will talk to youter about something that Bacon did while Uncle Zihao wasatose. Please don¡¯t get too mad. That¡¯s all. Sleep well. Goodbye."

    Before Lu Zihao could react, Bacon disappeared. Even when he called the kid, Bacon didn¡¯t return. Ah, whatever. He would just deal with it no matter what it was.

    He closed his eyes and embraced Long Jinjing more tightly. He kissed the top of her head and inhaled. Then he finally fell asleep while smelling her sweet,forting scent.

 Chapter 1130 - Gamble For Love

    <h4>Chapter 1130 - Gamble For Love </h4>

    <i>Orchidia Beauty.</i>

    The next day, Long Jinjing was busy crunching the numbers in her office. There was a pleased smile on her face while looking at the profits so far from theunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s Prinz men¡¯s line. When added to the profits from their other current products, it was bing clear to her that Orchidia Beauty was on an almost unbelievable meteoric rise to sess.

    Perhaps her younger sister was right. Orchidia Beauty might really dominate the nation¡¯s beauty industry in the future. Iris¡¯ n to officially enter the international market was also in the works and expected to happen as soon as next year. Alric Bauer¡¯s well of ideas also seemed endless. He kept developing new products while improving the forme of the current ones. Things were looking superb for theirpany.

    Long Jinjing was in an excellent mood. It wasn¡¯t only because of the profits and the bright future of thepany but also because Lu Zihao had finally woken up froma.

    Now she could concentrate on her work instead of always worrying about him. Of course, it was inevitable that she would find herself distracted while daydreaming about him sometimes. It was a good thing that she was disciplined enough to snap out of it and return to work mode whenever it happened.

    The door swung open, startling her. An angry Chen Fei barged inside and headed straight to her. <i></i>

    "Long Jinjing, are you crazy?! Dom told me that you got back together with that asshole Lu Zihao!"

    "Xiao Fei, not so loud, please." Long Jinjing peeked at the door and was relieved that it closed by itself after her best friend entered. She was worried that their assistants and the other employees in the vicinity might hear these details of her personal life.

    Chen Fei¡¯s nose was ring with fury. "Is it true that you got back together with that jerk?"

    "It¡¯s true," Long Jinjing said with a sigh.

    "WHY?!!!"

    "I love him."

    "I know that already. Well, did the fucker say that he loves you, too?"

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. Her expression was enough answer to her best friend.

    "Argh!" Chen Fei raised both of her arms in the air and shook them in frustration. Then she faced Long Jinjing again. "Then why did you take him back again?!"

    Long Jinjing had no choice but to exin her n to woo Lu Zihao. Chen Fei¡¯s expression turned nk. Thissted for a few seconds before her anger returned.

    "Are you fucking kidding me, Long Jinjing? Seriously? Did you turn stupid because of your love for that undeserving son of a bitch?"

    "Please don¡¯t call him that. It hurts me."

    Chen Fei plopped herself on the sofa like a lifeless fish. "Fuck. This is hopeless."

    Long Jinjing moved from behind her desk to sit beside her best friend. "I know that you still have a grudge against Zihao for hurting me. But you know what? The worst of his faults is only the fact that he hasn¡¯t fallen in love with me. I was the one who changed the dynamics of our rtionship and fell in love with him first."

    "Don¡¯t even try to make excuses for that asshole with me," Chen Fei said with a fierce re. "It makes my blood boil seeing you like this. There are so many better men out there than that Lu Zihao who¡¯ll surely treat you right, make you happy, and not always make you cry."

    "But he¡¯s the one I love, Xiao Fei."

    The ferocity of Chen Fei¡¯s expression almost got fully extinguished after hearing her best friend¡¯s whisper. She sighed. "It sucks that he¡¯s the one you love."

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t reply.

    Chen Fei sighed again before muttering, "He better treat you right this time or I¡¯ll end up bing a murderer if he hurts you again."

    Although Long Jinjing wasn¡¯t sure whether her best friend was serious in her threat of murdering her boyfriend or not, she still couldn¡¯t help butugh. "Thanks, Xiao Fei. You always have my back even when you don¡¯t approve of my decisions."

    "Hmph! We¡¯ve been best friends for so long, so of course I know what you¡¯re really like. You may be timid most of the time, but you¡¯re actually extremely stubborn deep inside. You can be as bad as your sister when ites to hard-headedness. Tsk! Such an annoying trait that you siblings both inherited."

    Long Jinjing could only smile.

    Chen Fei faced her with a solemn expression. "Jing, I know that you love that man. Fine. Since it already happened, I can¡¯t do anything about it. But Jing, I just hope that you don¡¯t love him too much that there won¡¯t be anything left for you if this rtionship fails again. Love him enough but make sure to leave some for yourself. Don¡¯t be a ve for your love for him."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Xiao Fei." Long Jinjing straightened her back and looked at her best friend straight in the eyes. "I never nned on bing Zihao¡¯s ve. I want to be his equal partner in life. I don¡¯t n on bing dependent on him in any way. I just want to love him and hopefully enjoy his love as well while we build a happy life together until we both grow old."

    "Fine." Chen Fei released another long, drawn-out sigh. "It seems that you really made up your mind."

    Long Jinjing nodded.

    "I just hope that you don¡¯t regret it."

    "I¡¯ll regret it more if I don¡¯t try."

    "Tsk." Chen Fei looked disgusted but also helpless at the same time. "This is why I dread falling in love. What if I be like you?" She shuddered. "Ugh. Just thinking about it is giving me chills."

    "Falling in love can really feel scary but it also feels wonderful. I don¡¯t regret falling in love with Zihao one bit. If we¡¯re really not meant to be together, I¡¯ll just have to ept it. It will hurt but...."

    Chen Fei continued her sentence for her, "But you¡¯ll get through it. You¡¯re a strong woman, Jing. Others may not see your inner strength, but I do. Lu Zihao is a blind fool if he doesn¡¯t see it."

    Long Jinjing touched the lily pendant hidden underneath her shirt. "I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m really as strong as you say, but this is my gamble for love. And I intend to win."

 Chapter 1131 - Power To Destroy

    <h4>Chapter 1131 - Power To Destroy </h4>

    Later in the afternoon, Long Jinjing waved goodbye to the employees while walking out of thepany building. Chen Fei already left Orchidia Beauty earlier at mid-afternoon to attend an interview with Jin Chonglin. The two would continue publicizing the Prinz men¡¯s line together until the end of the year. Long Jinjing felt relieved that her best friend wasn¡¯t here to witness her getting in Lu Zihao¡¯s car. It wouldn¡¯t surprise her if Chen Fei would try to jump into the car to beat up Lu Zihao and scold him.

    "Did you wait long?" Long Jinjing asked after getting inside the car.

    Instead of replying, Lu Zihao pulled her and gave her a hot, deep kiss. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and responded with as much gusto as she could give at the moment. Their tongues intertwined, increasing the temperature inside the car, and of course, their own bodies. When their glistening mouths separated, both of them were dazed with their mutual desire for each other.

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t let go of his neck yet. She rubbed her cheek against his now smoothly shaven face, missing his facial hair a little. "Are you okay driving so soon?"

    He grunted.

    "Alright." She finally let him go.

    He reached over her and put on the seatbelt for her before giving her a light but lingering peck on the mouth. The tip of his tongue swept over her lips, making her shiver in sensual delight.

    "We¡¯ll eat an early dinner first and then I¡¯ll bring you somewhere," he told her.

    "Okay."

    She didn¡¯t bother asking him where they were going. Since yesterday, her intuition had been telling her that today was going to be important. She had no idea what was going to happen or where he was taking her, but she could feel an unexpected nervous energy emanating from him even when his expression remained mostly unreadable like always.

    "Grandpa Lu says that he¡¯ll stay at Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei¡¯s ce until the baby is born," she said, making conversation. "Are you also nning to stay at their ce that long?"

    "It depends. I have some important business with Third Brother Liwei that we need to deal with together, so it¡¯s more convenient if I stay at Dragon Pce. I¡¯ll leave when my business with him is over. The old man can stay there however long he wants."

    "I see." She didn¡¯t ask what kind of business he was working on with Jin Liwei, knowing that he was extremely secretive about his work. Instead, she focused on thest part of what he said and smiled. "Grandpa Lu can¡¯t wait for his great-grandchild¡¯s arrival. I¡¯m also very excited to meet my niece or nephew soon. I bet that the baby is going to be so adorable. I hope that Little Sister Xin bes healthier so that she can give birth safely."

    Lu Zihao made a sound of assent. About fifteen minutester, he drove them to a restaurant specializing in hearty noodle soups. He reserved a private room for the two of them. <i></i>

    It was still quite early so Long Jinjing didn¡¯t feel hungry yet. She ordered something light while Lu Zihao ate most of their meal. They chatted about their day. It was mostly Long Jinjing telling him about what happened at work. She enjoyed this moment very much¡ªjust spending time with the man she loved while eating dinner together.

    After dinner, they left the restaurant and continued driving. The sun was already setting in the urban horizon.

    "Next time, I¡¯m going to cook a special dinner for you," she announced all of a sudden.

    He nced at her. It was subtle but the corners of his mouth curved up. "Hm."

    "What would you like to eat? Tell me so that I can prepare in advance."

    "Meat."

    She chuckled. "Okay."

    "You already know what I like to eat."

    "That¡¯s true." Her smile became brighter. She looked a little proud that she knew what he liked to eat. She had cooked several of their meals during their month-long rtionship before. Indeed, he liked eating the food she cooked.

    Then he added, "I like what you cook but I like eating you afterwards the most."

    She blushed, feeling shy but also pleased at the same time.

    The car drive this timested for almost an hour. She noticed that they were leaving the city and entering an old, abandoned industrial area. There seemed to be no upied, residential areas nearby. Most of the buildings were deserted warehouses and dpidated factories.

    She couldn¡¯t hold her curiosity any longer and asked, "Where are we going?"

    "My work."

    Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in surprise. She knew how secretive he always acted regarding his work. This was one thing that he didn¡¯t like her asking him about. A furrow formed between her brows as she began to feel nervous.

    Why was he going to show his work to her all of a sudden? She looked at the soulless surroundings. What kind of work was he doing in a ce like this? Maybe he was restoring this ce and nning to revive it in the future?

    Finally, they headed to a huge gated property. She could barely see what was inside from the tall heights of the gates. The gates opened and she gasped upon seeing armed men and women patrolling inside.

    "Ni-niki...what...."

    "You¡¯re safe with me, Jinjing," he assured her.

    She held on to his arm, not caring if she was interfering with his driving. The car stopped in front of the huge warehouse¡¯s entrance. Lu Zihao undid both of their seatbelts and was about to step out of the car but she grabbed him.

    "Jinjing, look at me." When she didn¡¯t listen and continued darting her nervous eyes everywhere, he forced her to look at him by holding her chin.

    "What¡¯s going on, Niki? Why are there people with g-guns here?" Her heart was hammering inside her chest. "You work h-here?"

    "Hm."

    "Oh."

    "I own this ce. And these are my people."

    "O-oh."

    He rubbed her chin with his thumb. "Do you trust me, Jinjing?"

    "Y-yes."

    "Can I trust you?"

    "Of course!"

    He didn¡¯t respond right away. Then he whispered, "I hope so. Because what I¡¯m going to show you right now will give you the power to destroy me if you want."

 Chapter 1132 - You Can Trust Me

    <h4>Chapter 1132 - You Can Trust Me </h4>

    Confusion and dread filled Long Jinjing. Although she didn¡¯t know exactly what was going on, she was already beginning to have an idea based on what she was seeing so far and how serious Lu Zihao acted. She took a few deep breaths in a difficult attempt to calm herself down. Then she gave him a shaky smile.

    "You can trust me, Niki," she whispered before leaning forward to press her lips against his lips.

    There was no lust in the kiss. This time, it was a way to reassure each other.

    "Jinjing."

    "Y-yes?"

    "I¡¯m going to show you a glimpse of the real me today. If after this, you decide that you don¡¯t want to have anything to do with me anymore, I¡¯ll let you go. And if you also decide to reveal what you see here today to others, I¡¯ll have to disappear."

    Her heart jumped. "What do you mean by you¡¯ll have to disappear?"

    "You won¡¯t see me again. Ever."

    "No!" She jumped into his arms and hugged his neck tightly as if she never wanted to let him go. "Don¡¯t disappear, Niki. Please!"

    He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her close to him. "Let me show you inside first. Then you can decide if you still want me."

    She was reluctant to let go of his neck, feeling afraid that he would really disappear from her life forever, but she still forced herself to let go and nod. "Okay."

    As soon as they stepped out of the car, the armed people greeted them.<i></i>

    "Wee back, Boss Hao!"

    "Hello, Miss Jinjing!"

    Long Jinjing was startled upon hearing her name. She nced at the stoic Lu Zihao.

    He said, "They know that you¡¯re my girlfriend. Shun and Robin are theirrades."

    "Oh." She now understood but notpletely.

    Everything was still very confusing for her. And scary. Really scary.

    Since they were greeting her, she couldn¡¯t just ignore them. "H-hello...."

    They nodded at her, acting very respectful. No, their respect wasn¡¯t actually directed at her but the intimidating man walking beside her. Since she was together with Lu Zihao, their boss, they had no choice but to treat her with courtesy even though each and every one of them looked like they could crush her easily with their bare hands. They all looked very strong, even the thin ones.

    The front entrance to the warehouse opened. She saw familiar faces waiting inside.

    "Robin! Shun!"

    The partners smiled at her.

    "Good to see you again, Miss Jinjing."

    "Wee back, Boss Hao."

    Long Jinjing was about to ask them some questions when she saw that the two were also armed with guns. She couldn¡¯t stop herself from sticking closer to Lu Zihao.

    Shun and Robin pretended not to notice her frightened reaction and followed the couple as they walked deeper inside.

    ###

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    Iris groaned and then sighed in satisfaction while her husband was giving her a gentle massage to keep the blood flowing and to prevent her body from bing too stiff while she remained inplete bed rest.

    Jin Liwei expertly applied just the right amount of pressure on her legs, making sure to gauge her reactions and adjust the force ordingly.

    When it was over, Iris felt like warm, melted butter. Although it sucked that she and her husband were not allowed to have sex during her bed rest, enjoying a massage from him was the next best thing.

    "Thanks, darling."

    "My pleasure, love." He gave her a light kiss on the lips. "We¡¯re going to have some visitorster."

    She tilted her head to the side. "Who?"

    "You¡¯ll see," he said with a mysterious smile.

    She pouted but didn¡¯t bother asking him again. She felt so rxed from his massage that all she wanted was to cuddle with her husband right now. She didn¡¯t feel too curious about their visitors, whoever they might be.

    Jin Liwei joined her on the bed for the cuddle that she wanted. At that moment, a ck cat appeared on the screen of the tablet propped on the bedside table.

    "Mother, Father. Bacon has something interesting to report."

    "What is it?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Iris also looked at their cat AI son with expectant eyes.

    "Uncle Zihao brought Aunt Jinjing to Shadow Winds headquarters."

    "What?" Iris was shocked.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise as well.

    Then without any guilt or whatsoever, Bacon spilled to his parents how his Uncle Zihao asked him, the nephew, for rtionship advice yesterday. Jin Liwei choked onughter but he quickly disguised it as a cough. Iris looked even more shocked and in disbelief.

    "Did that really happen?" She wouldn¡¯t say that her AI son was a liar but Bacon already had a history of twisting the truth to suit his own purposes before.

    "Bacon is telling the truth, Mother."

    The tablet screen flickered and it showed a series of live surveince videos taken by several cameras. Both Iris and Jin Liwei immediately recognized the ce as the Shadow Winds headquarters. They watched as Lu Zihao led a timid Long Jinjing inside.

    "If I¡¯m not seeing this with my own eyes, I¡¯ll find this very hard to believe," Iris said. Her shock was gradually transforming into awed intrigue.

    For his part, Jin Liwei now looked calmer. "Your brother has fallen."

    "Fallen in love."

    "En."

    "I can¡¯t believe that my brother is revealing Shadow Winds to his lover." Iris sighed. "He has never treated any woman like this before."

    "Love can change people. I changed a lot when I fell in love with you." Jin Liwei rubbed his lips on her forehead. "For the better."

    "I know." She smiled before focusing on watching the surveince videos again. "Big Sister Jinjing doesn¡¯t look too good."

    Jin Liwei agreed. "She looks scared."

    Iris nodded. "Bacon, that¡¯s enough."

    "Understood, Mother." The tablet screen flickered. The surveince videos disappeared and showed the fluffy, ck cat AI again.

    Although Iris was curious, she didn¡¯t want to encroach on her brother¡¯s privacy too much without his permission.

    "Both of them are adults. They can handle their own affairs. If Big Brother made this decision, then he has to bear the consequences. But one thing is for sure. Big Sister Jinjing¡¯s life will change after this. A lot."

 Chapter 1133 - Iâ€™m Not Afraid

    <h4>Chapter 1133 - I¡¯m Not Afraid </h4>

    <i>Shadow Winds Headquarters.</i>

    "Do you want me to carry you?" Lu Zihao asked his woman who almost wrapped herself around his side like a ko by how tightly she was clinging to him.

    Long Jinjing pouted at him but didn¡¯t speak as she continued looking around the ce. The fear, nervousness and confusion were still obvious in her expression but she also appeared increasingly curious.

    Lu Zihao could feel the sweat from her palms and the trembling of her body. Her reaction was just as he expected. Actually, he expected much worse, like pping his face and storming out of the headquarters and out of his life, or perhaps even reporting him to the police. The fact that she was still willing to enter deeper inside this ce despite shaking like a leaf gave him hope that maybe this might all work out after all.

    Despite feeling hopeful, however, he remained on edge and prepared himself for whatever oue that might ur after tonight. The thought of cancelling this impulsive n, taking Long Jinjing home, and telling her to forget about everything that she had seen tonight entered his mind, but he forced himself to see through his decision of showing her a glimpse of the real him until the end.

    The image of a certain poison-tongued ck cat AI shed through his mind.

    <i>¡¯Uncle Zihao should just create your own future with Aunt Jinjing and stop acting like a coward and a scumbag. If you¡¯re worried about Aunt Jinjing¡¯s safety, then Uncle Zihao should just be stronger so that you can protect your woman better. That¡¯s ssy,¡¯</i> he remembered his cat AI nephew telling him.

    Bacon¡¯s unimpressed child¡¯s voice kept ying inside his head.

    <i>¡¯Uncle Zihao is not ssy.¡¯</i>

    He couldn¡¯t help but curl his lip in annoyance at how a virtual cat¡¯s words could have so much impact on him. Something must have gone wrong inside his brain after waking froma. Why would he ask a virtual cat for rtionship advice, for fuck¡¯s sake?

    While these thoughts were running through his mind, his expression remained cold. His aura was bing icier the longer they walked and the nearer they were to the first destination that he wanted to show Long Jinjing. He didn¡¯t realize that he was subconsciously blocking his own nervousness behind a frosty and intimidating presence.

    "Nik¡ªZihao," Long Jinjing whispered, shaking the arm she was hugging.

    He snapped out of his shing thoughts and looked at her. "Hm?"

    "Rx," she told him.

    SHE was telling HIM to rx? Shouldn¡¯t it be the other way around given the situation? She was the one following him to an unknown ce. He should be the one trying to make her rx, and yet here she was, telling him to fucking rx.

    "You¡¯re acting too scary right now. Look at your subordinates. They don¡¯t even dare to breathe too loudly or move while we¡¯re passing by them because of you."

    His icy expression cracked. The corners of his lips curved up, transforming him into a devilish rogue.

    "Don¡¯t mind them. It¡¯s part of their training."

    Her brows knitted in confusion. "It¡¯s part of their training to not breathe too loudly or move?"

    He chuckled. "It¡¯s part of their training to be so still that their whole presence is erased, rendering them almost invisible to the untrained eye of normal people."

    "But I can still see them."

    "That¡¯s because I want you to see them." He stopped walking, making her stop as well. His expression turned grave. "Jinjing, these people work for me."

    "I know. You just told me."

    "They¡¯re the kind of people that you don¡¯t want to associate with."

    She frowned. <i></i>

    "They¡¯re dangerous," he continued telling her.

    "Dangerous? In what way?"

    "I¡¯ll show you."

    Shun and Robin opened a double door and gestured for them to enter. Lu Zihao led Long Jinjing inside what looked like a huge, open, gym-like area. There were punching bags, weights, sticks, even daggers, swords, and other dangerous-looking weapons organized in racks. There were even what looked like obstacle courses.

    A number of people were training inside. They immediately stopped and gathered together to line up in front of Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Sweat dripped all over their extremely fit bodies. The bodies of the females didn¡¯t lose to their male counterparts. Their muscr physiques were as impressive as Jiang Ying Yue¡¯s, perhaps even more so given the numerous badges of honour (a.k.a. scars) decorating their bodies.

    "Boss Hao! Miss Jinjing!"

    Lu Zihao acknowledged their greeting with a brief nod.

    "H-hello to all of you," Long Jinjing greeted them despite feeling intimidated by their almost bestial energy that hadn¡¯t yet dissipated from their intense training.

    Lu Zihao waved a hand and five people¡ªthree males and two females¡ªmoved to the centre while the others withdrew. Before Long Jinjing could ask him what was going on, the five people suddenly brandished weapons from seemingly out of nowhere. All were wielding small daggers.

    Then they started fighting each other. No, they looked like they were trying to kill each other.

    "Aaah!" Long Jinjing threw herself into Lu Zihao¡¯s embrace. She pressed her face against his hard muscled chest, feeling too scared to watch the vicious scene in front of them.

    The violent sounds, however, continued. She felt curious and took a small peek at first. When she saw one of the females do a somersault to avoid an attack beforending on top of another opponent and simultaneously tried to choke the person she was riding on while throwing her dagger to another, Long Jinjing gasped and forgot about her fear for a moment.

    She was now watching with wide eyes. "Wow, she¡¯s amazing! They¡¯re all amazing. It¡¯s like I¡¯m watching an action movie."

    "Boss Hao is even more amazing than them, Miss Jinjing," Robin told her.

    "Really?"

    "Yes, Miss," Shun answered this time. "Nobody here has defeated Boss Hao in closebat yet, including me and Robin."

    Long Jinjing looked at the stoic Lu Zihao.

    "You want to see me fight?" he asked.

    She immediately shook her head. "No. Y-you stay here with me. What if a stray daggeres flying at us by ident? Who¡¯s going to protect me?"

    His mouth curved into a smile. "Alright. I¡¯ll stay here and protect you. Don¡¯t be afraid."

    "I¡¯m n-not afraid," she said even though she was literally shaking in her boots.

 Chapter 1134 - Scary Idiot

    <h4>Chapter 1134 - Scary Idiot </h4>

    Long Jinjing screamed from shock and fright when one of the people fighting got stabbed by a dagger in the arm. Blood flowed. Real blood. She ran towards the injured man by instinct but was pulled back hard.

    "What are you doing?" Lu Zihao scolded her and locked his arms around her to prevent her from running around. "Stay here!"

    "B-blood! There¡¯s blood! Stop! Please stop the fight!"

    Lu Zihao waved a hand and the fight stopped in an instant. The five people lined up once again. The injured man acted as if he wasn¡¯t bleeding. <i></i>

    "Someone treat his wound!" Long Jinjing looked around but nobody was moving. She turned to Lu Zihao and pleaded with him through her eyes.

    "He¡¯ll be fine. It¡¯s just a superficial wound."

    "But there¡¯s so much blood!"

    "Jinjing." He forced her to look at him instead of the injured man but not before sending a re at his bleeding subordinate. Although he knew that Long Jinjing was just being kind like always, he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling jealous when she acted so concerned about another man.

    She was still very distracted and kept on peeking at the bleeding man out of the corner of her eye, so he signalled with his finger. The female who did the somersault earlier threw another dagger. This time, it flew directly at Lu Zihao.

    "Aaaaaaaaah!" Long Jinjing screamed. Her body reacted on its own. She tried to push Lu Zihao out of harm¡¯s way but he remained on the spot like an immoveable mountain.

    Then he caught the dagger easily by its sharp de using two fingers of one hand when it was only inches away from his face. Long Jinjing felt her knees buckle and her vision blur from lightheadedness. He caught her with his other arm and lifted her up to prevent her from falling to the floor.

    He flipped the dagger and held it by the handle before throwing it again at another direction. There was a whistling sound and then a dull thump.

    The dazed Long Jinjing didn¡¯t see where Lu Zihao threw the dagger because it was so fast. All she could do was to follow everyone¡¯s gaze instead. It took her a few seconds to finally figure out where itnded. She squinted her eyes and saw that the dagger was firmly stuck in the bullseye of a target on the far side of the training grounds. A gasp escaped her soft lips. She looked at Lu Zihao and saw that he was watching her.

    "Y-you¡¯re...amazing."

    He didn¡¯t reply. His unreadable expression didn¡¯t change either.

    "Uhm...can I sit down for a minute? I feel a little...f-faint...."

    His expression changed, finally showing worry. He quickly scooped her up and carried her like a princess before speed-walking to the nearest wall where there were a few benches. Heid her down on one.

    "How are you feeling?" he asked.

    "I¡¯m¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t lie and tell me that you¡¯re okay if you¡¯re not."

    She bit her lower lip before sighing. "Give me a minute or two. All this is just...a bit too much for me at the moment."

    He caressed her cheek. "You haven¡¯t seen anything yet, Jinjing."

    She held his hand and continued to press it on her cheek. "Yes, I have that feeling."

    While she was resting, Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates continued their respective trainings. The injured man cleaned and bandaged his own wound before sparring again with arade like nothing happened.

    Long Jinjing watched everything. She still felt overwhelmed by the entire situation but the fear had now lessened. It was reced by burning curiosity instead.

    "Niko¡ªZihao," she whispered and sat up slowly.

    "Hm?"

    "Can you tell me what is this...p-ce? Why are you all doing this kind of amazing but dangerous things?"

    He didn¡¯t answer right away and appeared to be thinking. She waited patiently. Finally, he pointed at the man who got injured.

    "He¡¯s a former underground fighter in illegal gambling dens."

    Her eyes widened.

    He pointed at the woman who did the gravity-defying somersault during the action-packed fight earlier.

    "She was a mercenary. Her specialty is assassinations."

    "Assassinations?" Long Jinjing felt cold all over.

    Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t done yet. "Shun is a former yakuza member. He beheaded the group¡¯s leader as revenge for raping and murdering his sister so he fled Japan. The yakuza is still trying to hunt him down."

    "W-what...."

    "Robin¡ª"

    "Don¡¯t tell me Robin is an assassin?" Long Jinjing asked before she could stop herself.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply.

    Robin answered for herself. "I am, Miss Jinjing."

    Long Jinjing felt like she couldn¡¯t breathe. She looked at Shun and Robin who had been guarding her and taking care of her. Shun was an ex-yakuza and Robin was an assassin? She almost couldn¡¯t believe it but the serious atmosphere indicated that everything Lu Zihao told her was true.

    She looked at Lu Zihao and asked, "How about you? Are you an...assassin, too?"

    "If you¡¯re asking if I¡¯ve taken human lives before with my own hands, then yes. I¡¯ve killed people, Jinjing."

    She clutched her chest and looked like she was going to faint for real this time. Lu Zihao didn¡¯t touch her but continued watching her. Everyone was watching her. She was shaking so hard that her teeth began chattering.

    "Are you afraid of me now, Jinjing?"

    "Y-yes...."

    His eyes turned deadly cold.

    "But...I still l-love you."

    The ice melted. His eyes (and his heart) trembled but he quickly controlled his turbulent emotions, not allowing himself to show any weakness in front of his subordinates. Although Long Jinjing¡¯s words warmed him, he still didn¡¯t dare to touch her. What if she hated touching someone like him who had dirty blood staining his hands? He must have be an evil murderer in her eyes.

    He was thinking this way when the woman threw herself in his arms, almost half-sitting on hisp. He automatically fixed her position so that she was firmly sitting on him.

    "I¡¯m s-so...scared, Niki," she whispered. Her voice was so soft that he was the only one who could hear her. "You have to p-protect me!"

    His arms tightened around her shaking body. "You don¡¯t...hate me?"

    "What hate you? I love you, scary idiot!"

    She yelled the words. Everyone heard her. Lu Zihao¡¯s subordinates looked shocked and entertained that she confessed to their boss while also calling him a scary idiot.

 Chapter 1135 - Mind In Conflict But Heart Is Decided

    <h4>Chapter 1135 - Mind In Conflict But Heart Is Decided </h4>

    Lu Zihao lifted Long Jinjing and carried her out of the training grounds. She yelped in surprise but didn¡¯t struggle at all. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his strong shoulder. Her trust in him was very clear in her actions. His chest felt warm with confusing emotions but he held her closer to himself.

    He brought her to his private room in the headquarters. It was more like a suite than a regr room. The main area functioned as his office where his subordinates would usually go first to find him to report something. There was a small bedroom and ensuite bathroom as well. Everything in the ce was simple and functional. There were no extra decorations.

    After locking the door, he finally put her down on her own two feet. She still felt a little shaky so she continued holding on to him to stay steady. He didn¡¯t mind. On the contrary, he liked that she clung to him.

    He led her to the couch. "Sit."

    She did. The couch was surprisinglyfortable despite looking in like the rest of the office. She looked around. It looked like a typical office with a desk, a pile of documents on top of it, a desktopputer with three monitors, and an extraptopputer.<i></i>

    Lu Zihao headed to a corner where there was a small fridge. He took out two bottles of iced tea before joining her on the couch.

    While they were drinking, Long Jinjing blushed because Lu Zihao kept on staring at her. Feeling brave, she scooted over and leaned her head on his shoulder. She smiled when his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

    "Still afraid?" he asked in a devilish voice.

    She nodded.

    "But you still love me?"

    Her smile grew wider. She nodded again. She tilted her head upwards and looked at him. "Now I know your secret, you have to take responsibility and protect me."

    He chuckled. His deep, masculine voice was so devilish that it made her shiver in delight. He rubbed her cheek with his other hand. "That¡¯s what I¡¯m nning to do anyway."

    "Really?"

    "Hm."

    She now felt more rxed despite everything that she had witnessed earlier.

    "Jinjing, you don¡¯t mind that I¡¯ve killed people before?" he asked in a neutral tone.

    Her body stiffened but she clung to him even more. "I..." She bit her lower lip and thought for a few seconds on how to best respond to his question. "I need to think about this information regarding you first. I¡¯ve...never encountered something like this before so give me some time to...uhm, get used to it, I guess?"

    "You intend to stay with me?"

    She straightened and red at him. "What do you mean by that? You thought I¡¯m going to leave you?"

    "I have blood staining my hands, Jinjing. Lots of blood. I¡¯ve already told you many times before that I¡¯m a monster, someone that you shouldn¡¯t fall in love with because I can¡¯t give you the normal, happy life that you want."

    Her eyes watered. "I d-don¡¯t care about having a normal life anymore. I just...want to continue loving you and...try to build a happy life with you even with...all this!" She swept her arms across the room before facing him again. "Can we do that? Can you try with me? Niki, can you try to love me, too? I promise not to betray you. Even if...our rtionship still doesn¡¯t work out in the end...I won¡¯t breathe a word about what you¡¯re doing to others. I promise. So...can you give me a chance to stay beside you?"

    He grabbed her iced tea and ce it with his own bottle on the coffee table in front of them. Then he hugged her and pulled her to sit on hisp.

    They stared at each other. The atmosphere was bing increasingly charged with electricity from their mutual desire for each other.

    "Jinjing, I should say no¡ª"

    Her face fell, her lips trembled, and a tear escaped from her eye. He wiped the tear with his finger.

    "¡ªbecause you¡¯ll be the safest away from someone like me. But...I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on with me that I just can¡¯t seem to get rid of you from my thoughts no matter how hard I try."

    She perked up upon hearing his words. She was pleased to know that he was also thinking about her. She thought that she was the only one who kept on thinking about him.

    "So even if it¡¯s against what I believe to be the right thing to do, I¡¯ve decided to bring you into my world and show you the real me and see if you still want to stay with a monster like me."

    Long Jinjing took both of his hands that were much bigger than her own. She rubbed the rough ridges of his scars and callouses before lifting his hands and kissing each of them.

    "Jinjing," he whispered.

    "Indeed, you¡¯re a monster, Niki."

    His eyes darkened.

    She looked at him straight in the eyes while continuing to rain light kisses on his hands. "But you see, I still love you. I don¡¯t know yet how to feel about learning that you¡¯ve killed people before. My moral values are fighting against me and telling me to run far away from you as fast as possible but...my heart can¡¯t bear to stay away from you again. Niki, my mind is in conflict about you but my heart is already decided."

    "Jinjing."

    She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thank you, Niki, for showing me the real you. Even though you¡¯re a monster, I don¡¯t care. I love you, monster and all."

    He moved to kiss her but then all of a sudden....

    "Meowowow! Auntie Jinjing is super-duper to the highest level cool for continuing to be lovey-dovey with Uncle Haohao even if he¡¯s a scumbag! Hihihihi! Meow~"

    "Uncle Zihao is now barely ssy. Though he still has a long way to go to reach Father¡¯s level of ssiness in treasuring his woman just like how Father treasures Mother."

    "That¡¯s right, catfight! Meow~"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned ck. His nostrils red and his teeth gritted at the interruption. He had the strongest urge to spank two fluffy kitty butts.

 Chapter 1136 - Won Over By Feline Cuteness

    <h4>Chapter 1136 - Won Over By Feline Cuteness </h4>

    "W-who¡¯s speaking?!" Long Jinjing clutched Lu Zihao¡¯s neck, squeezing him in a panic. She looked around, trying to figure out where the children¡¯s voices wereing from.

    If Lu Zihao was a regr person, he would¡¯ve already started choking from how tightly Long Jinjing was squeezing his neck. Fortunately, his body was tough that this much force from his delicate woman didn¡¯t affect him at all.

    "Tsk." He wanted to ignore his cat AI niece and nephew for disrupting the nice atmosphere he had going on with his woman but knew that the two naughty AI kittens wouldn¡¯t leave him alone if he didn¡¯t give them a good reason. He really wished to have the ability to spank the two naughty brats.

    Sighing, he stood up while still carrying Long Jinjing and headed to his desk. Then he turned one of hisputer monitors so that it was facing outwards the desk to them. <i></i>

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes widened, immediately recognizing the white and ck cats on the screen. "Ketchup! Bacon!"

    "Yay yay! Auntie Jinjing recognizes us kitty babies! Meowowow!" Ketchup began jumping around from joy and excitement.

    "Bacon greets Aunt Jinjing." The ck cat AI swished his tail from side to side while looking at his aunt with his golden eyes.

    Long Jinjing gasped and her jaw fell open. "Y-you...." She looked at Lu Zihao. "T-they...how...?"

    Lu Zihao sighed again before throwing a fierce re at the two naughty cat siblings. "Do your parents know that the two of you are revealing yourselves to your Aunt Jinjing?"

    "Aye aye, Uncle Haohao! Mommy says that it¡¯s now okay to finally introduce ourselves to our Auntie Jinjing because she has Uncle Haohao who¡¯ll surely protect her! Right, Bacon? Meow~"

    Bacon nodded his fluffy, ck head. "Mother and Father trust in Uncle Zihao¡¯s ability to protect Aunt Jinjing and in making sure that she¡¯s not endangered because of her knowledge about Bacon and Big Sister Ketchup. Bacon hopes that Uncle Zihao will do the ssy thing and not betray our parents¡¯ trust in you."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression improved upon hearing that his sister and brother-inw trusted him and in his ability to protect his own woman. He nced at the bewildered Long Jinjing who he was still carrying in his arms. She looked like someone whose entire belief system was turned upside-down, even more so than when she discovered that he had killed people before.

    "Y-you...can talk?" she asked.

    Ketchup tilted her fluffy, white head to the side, looking so much like Iris.

    Bacon looked unimpressed by his aunt¡¯s words. "Please don¡¯t ask such a stupid question, Aunt Jinjing. Aren¡¯t you already listening to us speak?"

    "Bacon!" Lu Zihao red at him. "Watch your tone when speaking to your aunt. Speak like that again to her and I¡¯ll cancel your sry for next year as payment for the katana you took from my armoury without my permission!"

    The ck cat AI shrank his neck towards his fluffy body, making himself look smaller. "Bacon is sorry. Aunt Jinjing, please tell Uncle Zihao not to be angry anymore about the katana. Bacon already knows that I¡¯m wrong. It hurts Bacon¡¯s feelings to be scolded like this all the time. Bacon won¡¯t ask forpensation for emotional distress this time because I¡¯m in the wrong but please don¡¯t continue hurting my feelings when I already regret what I did."

    Although Long Jinjing was still shocked to the core and extremely confused about what in the world was going on, her heart couldn¡¯t help but soften upon seeing the ck cat blinking his wide, golden eyes at her. S-so cute! The white cat was also adorable! Both of them were so cute!

    "Niki, don¡¯t be mad at Bacon anymore," she said, unable to stop herself from defending such a cute kitty.

    Lu Zihao sneered at his two-faced AI nephew.

    "Niki!" Long Jinjing also gave her version of puppy eyes, pleading for her cat AI nephew who had obviously won her over by his feline cuteness.

    "Tsk. Fine."

    "Bacon thanks Aunt Jinjing." The ck cat AI swished his tail from side to side in a more vigorous manner.

    "Meowowow! You¡¯re amazing, Auntie Jinjing! Uncle Haohao is being super-duper nice to us kitty babies because of you. Yay yay! Please continue being lovey-dovey with Uncle Haohao so that he¡¯ll always be nice to us kitty babies and not be a grumpy scumbag! Hihihi. Meow~"

    "Who are you calling a grumpy scumbag, you little¡ª"

    Long Jinjing touched his face and patted him gently, calming him down. Then she indicated that she wanted to be put down. He did.

    She leaned closer to theputer monitor and studied the two cats. The confusion was still there but her eyes were now shining with awe. "How can you two talk?"

    Before either Ketchup or Bacon could exin, Lu Zihao answered her instead. "They¡¯re AIs that my sister created. As you can see, they¡¯re highly advanced and on apletely different level from any of the AIs avable in the world right now. That¡¯s why we¡¯ve all kept Ketchup and Bacon¡¯s existences a secret to protect them from evil, greedy people who might want to steal them away. Just knowing about them is also very dangerous."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes widened but she nodded in understanding. Her amazement, however, only increased after hearing his exnation. "Little Sister Xin created Ketchup and Bacon?"

    "That¡¯s right, catfight! Mommy is the bestest mommy in the whole wide universe! We are also the bestest kitty babies in the whole wide universe because of our super-duper to the highest level amazing mommy! Right, Bacon? Meow~"

    "That¡¯s a given," Bacon said in a bored tone. His tail, however, was a dead giveaway to his true feelings. "Without Mother, Bacon and Big Sister Ketchup would never have been born into this world."

    "Wow," Long Jinjing breathed. "I already knew that Little Sister Xin is a genius because she¡¯s a Cross Academy student but I didn¡¯t know that she was a genius to this extent."

    "Mother is the ssiest genius to ever walk in the history of this." Bacon¡¯s tail began rotating in a blur while he puffed out his chest, feeling proud of his own mom.

    "Mama¡¯s boy," Lu Zihao muttered in a tone tinged with disgust.

    Bacon didn¡¯t deny it. In fact, his tail rotated even faster.

    "So cute!" Long Jinjing gushed.

 Chapter 1137 - Exactly What I Want

    <h4>Chapter 1137 - Exactly What I Want </h4>

    Long Jinjing¡¯s nervousness was nowpletely gone as she chatted with her AI niece and nephew. The forgotten Lu Zihao felt like an abandoned puppy¡ª<i>ahem ahem</i>¡ªabandoned "boyfriend" and sulked beside her while ring at the two AI cats who didn¡¯t mind him at all.

    Unable to take it anymore, he interrupted the cheerful conversation between the three. "Go home. I still have some important things to talk about with your aunt."

    "Aaaaw, Uncle Haohao! The cute and mighty Ketchup wants to talk to Auntie Jinjing more! Can Ketchup stay here longer? Pretty please? Meow~"

    "Uncle Zihao, feeling jealous of your own nephew and niece is not ssy."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s already ugly expression turned even uglier. But before he could explode, he heard his woman¡¯s soft, amusedughter which felt like it was tickling something inside his chest. His annoyance decreased a lot. He didn¡¯t notice this at the moment, though.

    "Ketchup, Bacon, don¡¯t tease your Uncle Zihao too much," Long Jinjing said. "We can chat another time."

    "Meow, really? Can the cute and mighty Ketchup visit Auntie Jinjing and talk to you again? Meow~"

    Long Jinjing smiled. "Of course, Ketchup. You too, Bacon. You cane and visit me anytime."

    Bacon didn¡¯t reply but his tail swished indicating his true feelings. <i></i>

    "It¡¯s gettingte," Long Jinjing said. "Your mom and dad must be worried about you."

    "It¡¯s okay, Auntie Jinjing! Ketchup is still present at home because I¡¯m cute and mighty! But my little kitty brother Bacon has curfew because he¡¯s super-duper to the highest level naughty and always gets grounded by our daddy. Meow!"

    The ck cat AI pounced on his older sister but the white cat AI dodged while giggling.

    "Enough," Lu Zihao said, his tone stern. "Go home now. Don¡¯t bother me and your aunt tonight."

    Ketchup continued whining and blinked her pitiful green eyes at Long Jinjing, not at Lu Zihao. The white cat AI was using her cuteness overload technique that she would usually use on her mom to get what she wanted from her aunt this time.

    Lu Zihao knew all about the tricks of his sister¡¯s cat children. He already lost count how many times he watched his sister give in to her cat children whenever they started acting cute to her. It was a good thing that his brother-inw was a strict disciplinarian or else these naughty little brats would be even more uncontroble with how much his sister kept on spoiling them. Seeing how Ketchup and Bacon had already won over Long Jinjing, he knew that his woman must have the same weakness for cute cats like his sister.

    He covered Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes with a hand to prevent her from being affected by Ketchup¡¯s below-the-belt cuteness attack. He continued ring at his AI niece and nephew.

    Ketchup blinked her teary, green eyes at her cold-hearted uncle. "The cute and mighty Ketchup is so sad! Uncle Haohao is such a big meanie but Ketchup is a good kitty baby so I¡¯ll listen to Uncle Haohao. Let¡¯s go home now, Bacon. It¡¯s almost time for your curfew anyway. Meow."

    Bacon still looked bored but his tail which stopped swishing indicated his disappointment at having to go home this early. "Auntie Jinjing, if Uncle Zihao hurts your feelings and makes you cry again, please tell Bacon. I¡¯ll help you ask Father to demandpensation from Uncle Zihao for emotional distress. Don¡¯t worry, Aunt Jinjing. Father is an expert in helping Bacon negotiate this kind ofpensation. He always seeds in helping Bacon."

    Long Jinjing removed Lu Zihao¡¯s hand over her eyes andughed again at what her AI nephew told her. However, she still replied in a serious tone, "Okay, Bacon. I will. Thank you."

    Before the two cat AI siblings could leave, Lu Zihao said, "Bacon, I¡¯m revoking your ess to my armoury. You¡¯re not allowed to take any weapon from it anymore without my permission. You hear me?"

    The ck cat AI shrank his head to his fluffy body, looking pitiful. "Understood, Uncle Zihao. Father already offered to pay fullpensation for the katana but Uncle Zihao rejected his offer. Bacon thought that everything is now resolved about the matter. Holding a grudge for this long is not ssy, Uncle Zihao."

    "You little¡ª"

    "Bacon bids goodbye to Uncle Zihao and Aunt Jinjing." The ck cat AI disappeared.

    "Bye bye, Uncle Haohao and Auntie Jinjing! See yater, alligator! Meowhoosh!" The white AI also disappeared like a ninja.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s nostrils were still ring but he was inwardly relieved when the two naughty AI cats finally left. He snapped out of it when he felt his woman hugging him. He nced down and saw her smiling at him. His expression improved and he found himself smiling as well.

    "I can¡¯t believe that I have such amazing niece and nephew from Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei. I initially thought that Ketchup and Bacon are extremely shy cats who dislike showing themselves to other people, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve never seen them in person before at Dragon Pce. But now that I¡¯ve met them and even talked to them, I¡¯m d that I now have the privilege to know about their existences. Thank you, Niki."

    "Why thank me?"

    "For showing me a part of the real you and letting me into your world. If not for you doing this, Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei might never have allowed Ketchup and Bacon to reveal themselves to me. I¡¯m so happy, Niki. It feels like I¡¯ve entered apletely different world of many wonders."

    He touched her chin and rubbed her lips. "You¡¯re happy? Not scared?"

    She thought about it for a moment before admitting, "I¡¯m both happy and scared at the same time. There¡¯s so much to take in so I¡¯ll just not think about it too much, at least for now. I just want to follow my heart. And my heart is telling me that...I can trust you."

    He sighed but his tone was gentle when he told her, "Jinjing, a monster like me doesn¡¯t deserve your trust."

    She pouted. "That¡¯s what you believe! I¡¯ll only believe what my heart is telling me."

    A devilish chuckle escaped from his lips as his eyes darkened. "If you keep on treating me like this, I might tie you up to me and never let you go."

    She beamed at him. "That¡¯s exactly what I want."

 Chapter 1138 - Corrupted Miss Prim And Proper

    <h4>Chapter 1138 - Corrupted Miss Prim And Proper </h4>

    Lu Zihao moved forward and pushed Long Jinjing until her back touched the desk. Then he sat her on the desk before opening her legs and standing between them.

    "Niki," Long Jinjing whispered, automatically wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

    He rested both of his hands on the desk on either side of her body. Then he leaned forward and pressed his lips against her lips, rubbing them together as gently and as lightly as he could. He felt her sigh in contentment into his mouth. Her warm breath felt like it went straight to his groin. His semi-stiff member became rock-hard in an instant.

    "Jinjing," he groaned and finally deepened the kiss, plunging his tongue inside her mouth to once again conquer her wet sweetness.

    She opened her mouth wider, allowing him easier ess. A soft moan escaped from her throat as she tried to match the movements of his tongue with her own.

    When their lips separated, both of them were panting. Long Jinjing looked flushed while Lu Zihao was like a predator who couldn¡¯t wait to get the first bite of his willing prey.

    He nuzzled her neck and trailed wet kisses upwards her neck before licking her earlobe. She shivered under his ministrations. <i></i>

    "I want to fuck you," he whispered directly to her ear.

    She moaned and shivered even more. Then with a burning face, she told him, "I want to...f-fuck you, too."

    He smiled, looking so much like the devil. "My Miss Prim and Proper has been corrupted. Saying vulgar words like you want to fuck me with your sweet mouth. I like it very much."

    She hid her blushing face from him by pressing it against the crook of his neck. "It¡¯s your fault."

    "I know." He chuckled.

    Then he continued kissing her while his hands began undressing her. She was wearing a simple but stylish casual business suit. The buttons of her blouse were opened, revealing her soft, milky-white skin. His hands touched her waist before crawling upwards to cup her breasts through her bra. One hand reached behind her and easily unhooked her bra. Finally, he fondled her soft breasts without any hindrance.

    "Niki," she gasped while pushing her chest out to him.

    He lowered his head and caught a nipple with his mouth. He sucked hard.

    "Ah!" Long Jinjing held his head and gripped his hair as he yed with her nipple using his tongue.

    While his mouth enjoyed her breasts, his other hand worked on her trousers. As soon as he opened and unzipped her trousers, his hand sneaked inside and rubbed her already wet core through her panties with his fingers.

    "Oh." Long Jinjing trembled and opened her legs wider. Her head fell back and her eyes closed as she savoured the teasing pleasure that her man was giving her.

    Lu Zihao pushed the cloth of her panties aside and slipped a finger inside her now soaking core. She released a loud moan. He moved his finger in and out, the slick sound from the action making his erection harden even more. He slipped another finger inside and increased the speed.

    She held on to his neck and shoulders for dear life as his fingers worked on her. Her hips also began moving in time with the thrusting of his fingers.

    "I can¡¯t," she cried as her body started to stiffen.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s fingers felt her clenching and he thrust inside her even faster. She screamed upon finally reaching her climax. He didn¡¯t stop thrusting until his entire hand was soaking with her juices.

    When it was over, she was limp and couldn¡¯t even support her own body. He held her with his other arm before removing his fingers from inside her. Then while looking at each other in the eyes, he brought his soaking fingers and sucked them.

    He groaned. "Your taste is the best, Jinjing."

    She whimpered and tried to cover her eyes with her hands but he prevented her and forced her to look at his lewd actions. After teasing her, he hooked his hands on the waist of her trousers and pulled it off her legs along with her soaking panties before tossing the bundle to the floor. Then he removed her blouse and bra next. Now, she waspletely naked.

    He stepped back and admired his woman¡¯s nudity. "Beautiful."

    Her already flushed skin turned even redder. This was one of the things he liked the most about her. Even though she was extremely shy, she was still able to surprise him with her sudden boldness whenever they were having sex. Like right now, she reached her hand to her wet core and opened it for him to see.

    "Fuck, Jinjing. Yeah, touch yourself like that. Let me look at you."

    He quickly stripped his own clothes until he too waspletely naked. His erection was tall and hard. He started stroking himself while encouraging his woman to touch herself as well. They watched each other pleasuring themselves.

    "Stop," Lu Zihaomanded when he saw that she was about to climax once again.

    Long Jinjing made a whining sound but she obeyed him and stopped touching herself. She scooted over to the other side of the desk and lied down on her back while avoiding theputer monitors and other items.

    "Please, Niki."

    He stepped forward and ced himself between her legs again. "Please what?"

    "Please...f-fuck me. I need you."

    "As you wish."

    Anticipation shone in her eyes.

    "But not yet. I want to taste you in my mouth first." Before she could react, he knelt in front of her, held her thighs to keep her still, and did as he said.

    His tongue licked her wet core, making her cry out. He felt her grabbing his hair. He sucked her swollen button of pleasure. She shook and her hips bucked. Fortunately, he had a good hold of her thighs and controlled her jerky hip movements. When he plunged his tongue deep inside her, she was now crying and saying his name over and over again.

    "Aaaaaah!" Her voice had be hoarse as she orgasmed yet again.

    Smirking, he stood up and pressed the head of his erection to her wet entrance. Then he plunged inside her soft, clenching warmth when she was still at the height of her climax.

 Chapter 1139 - Can You Handle Me?

    <h4>Chapter 1139 - Can You Handle Me? </h4>

    Long Jinjing cried out as another wave of orgasm rolled over her on top of her current climax. Lu Zihao stayed still and closed his eyes, groaning, as he directly felt her inner contractions. If he didn¡¯t have enough self-control, he would¡¯ve already climaxed together with her even without moving yet. Such was the pleasure of finally being inside her after what felt like a long time without her.

    It was only when he felt her insides rx a little that he finally began moving. He thrust slowly at first before speeding up. However, he still controlled the tempo, wanting to prolong the moment and watch the moaning woman lying underneath him.

    The wet, pping sounds of their coupling filled the office. Long Jinjing moaned and whimpered as she began to feel another hot ball of pleasure building inside her and spreading throughout her entire body.

    "Kiss me, Niki." She reached out for him and he immediately responded to her request by lowering his torso and head to im her mouth.

    He adjusted their position by straightening his body again and lifting both her legs to rest on his shoulders. His hips kept on pumping while he reached down and rubbed her button of pleasure. He was rewarded by a violent clenching of her insides, making him groan out loud in an almost bestial sound.

    His other hand cupped her breasts, squeezing them and pinching her nipples. She gasped. He knew that she was on the verge of yet another orgasm.

    "Hold on to the desk, Jinjing," he told her. "Because I¡¯m going to fuck you until you scream."

    She felt around until her hands found the edge of the desk and gripped it. A pleased looked shed in his eyes before he once again adjusted their position by leaning forward and resting his hands on the desk on either side of her body.

    "Oh," she groaned as the pleasure intensified in this new, deeper position.

    "Ready?"

    Her response was a moan.

    Then he unleashed holy hell on both their bodies. His hips moved like he never thrust them before.

    Long Jinjing held on to the edge of the desk for dear life, feeling as if Lu Zihao was jackhammering her to the ground. And indeed, he was right. He fucked her until she was screaming.

    It came to a point that she felt her mind nk out and something flew out of her body into the sky. There was indescribable ecstasy as a floating sensation overcame her before she felt dragged back violently inside her twitching body.

    "Aaaaaaaaah!!!"

    Intense heat drowned her. She almost couldn¡¯t breathe but it was such a delicious suffering.

    Lu Zihao grunted and mmed into her two more times before sumbing to his own orgasm. His release spurted inside her, filling her up with his hot essence. Then he slumped over her, not wanting to separate their bodies yet.

    Momentster, Long Jinjing began to feel ufortable with the hard and cold surface of the desk behind her and the weight of her man on top of her.

    "N-niki, you¡¯re too heavy. I can¡¯t breathe...."

    He gave her smacking, wet kiss on the mouth before lifting his body off her. Then as slowly as possible, he eased his now softening member out of her. His gaze never left their slick connection.

    She felt his warm liquid release trickle out of her wet core. "D-don¡¯t look!"

    He stopped her when she tried closing her legs. His eyes continued staring at the sight between her thighs.

    "Prettiest sight I saw today," he murmured.

    Unable to stop his lewd behaviour, she covered her flushed face with both of her hands instead. Then she trembled and moaned when he inserted a finger inside her and then rubbed more of his essence all over her entrance.

    She yelped when he carried her all of a sudden and walked them to the small bedroom until they reached the ensuite bathroom. The bathroom was narrow and Lu Zihao struggled a little to fit both of them inside. There was a standard toilet, a small sink, and a shower. No bathtub at all. The shower was more like a stall. Everything was clean but minimal. <i></i>

    He had to put her down on her feet because of the narrow space. The two of them could barely fit together in the shower. However, they made it work. Long Jinjing almost pasted herself against Lu Zihao¡¯s body as the water rained down on them.

    After another round of coupling with her pressed against the wall and him pounding behind her, they washed their bodies and dried each other before lying together on the bed naked.

    The bed was also customized to fit Lu Zihao¡¯s huge frame. It took up almost the entire space of the bedroom.

    Long Jinjing sighed in bliss as she hugged Lu Zihao. "Are we sleeping here?"

    "No. We¡¯re only resting. We¡¯ll return to Dragon Pceter tonight. It¡¯s notfortable here. You still have to go to work tomorrow. I don¡¯t want you to be too sleep-deprived."

    Warmth filled her heart. "Thank you."

    He kissed her forehead. "I originally nned on showing you more of this ce but we got...distracted."

    "It¡¯s okay. You can show me another time. What I saw so far are already a little too much for me to handle right now. I need some time to digest them before I can...be ready to know more about your business."

    "Hm."

    She shifted and rested her upper body on his wide, muscled chest. Her fingers traced the numerous scars decorating his body. "Niki, I¡¯m so happy."

    He didn¡¯t reply but stroked her damp hair instead.

    "Everything you revealed to me is shocking but...I¡¯m so happy that you¡¯re finally opening up to me. There are new issues that we need to deal with now that I know more about you but I hope that we can work through them together. I really want to stay with you, Niki."

    He grabbed her by the nape and pulled her to smash their mouths together in a hard kiss.

    "Can you handle me? All this?" His tone sounded almost desperate.

    "I will. I¡¯ll learn, Niki. I¡¯ll do my best, I promise."

    He hugged her so tightly as if he wanted to squeeze their bodies into one. It was at the moment that he realized that he was screwed, perhaps for life.

    "Fuck."

    But it felt so damn wonderful.

 Chapter 1140 - Man Of Integrity

    <h4>Chapter 1140 - Man Of Integrity </h4>

    Before midnight, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing drove out of Shadow Winds headquarters. He also exined a bit more about the nature of his group. She became quiet when he outright told her that they were criminals. Although she already knew it deep inside after everything she witnessed earlier tonight, it was still quite a shock when he confessed it to her using his own words.

    That was when she realized that she had willingly entered apletely new and different world from the regr one that she was used to because of her love for a man. Her mind still felt conflicted because everything Lu Zihao represented shed against her moral values. Her heart, however, didn¡¯t want to give him up again. She loved him so much that she was determined to make it work with him regardless of their ipatible worlds and moral values.

    "Jinjing," he called, snapping her out of her stormy thoughts and feelings.

    "Y-yes?"

    He nced at her out of the corner of his eye before refocusing his eyes on the road while driving. "I brought you to the headquarters so that the rest of my subordinates know that you¡¯re my woman, someone that nobody should dare to touch or harm. If they dare, they¡¯ll suffer the consequences."

    Her heart jumped at the deadly threat in his tone, but she now understood that this was his way of life.

    "I also want to warn you that even though they¡¯re my subordinates, you should never fully trust any of them, including Shun or Robin. Humans are fickle creatures who¡¯ll fucking betray each other if given the right motivation."

    Long Jinjing knew that his words made total sense but it just pained her to think that he lived like this¡ªnot fully trusting others in general. It was such a sad and stressful way to live to be always on the lookout for anyone who might betray him. She couldn¡¯t criticize him, though. In fact, it was a smart survival method. She was actually the na?ve one for believing in the good of every person.

    It was just that her heart couldn¡¯t help but feel hurt upon realizing that he didn¡¯t fully trust her either. Perhaps he didn¡¯t trust anyone else in the world except for himself. Would she be able to make someone like him fall in love with her, too?

    <i>¡¯He has already started opening up to you. He revealed an important part of the real him tonight. This means that he has begun to trust you.¡¯</i>

    These thoughts fueled her determination to stick with him and attempt to persuade him that they belonged together despite their obvious ipatibility. <i></i>

    "I¡¯ll keep your warning in mind," she promised.

    He nodded.

    "Niki?"

    "Hm?"

    "I think I already know the answer to this question but...I still want to hear it directly from you."

    "What is it?"

    "Does Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei know that you¡¯re...you know...like this?"

    "...yeah."

    Silence filled the car as the two of them were upied with their own respective thoughts.

    Lu Zihao was the one who broke the quietness between the two of them. He said, "You saw Ketchup and Bacon. My sister created Ketchup first and the brat has been assisting the couple in their own works ever since. The brat might be an annoying chatterbox who¡¯ll talk your ears off if you let her, but she¡¯s an excellent assistant who makes almost everything easier for them.

    "Bacon was created more recently and his specialty is a bit different from Ketchup¡¯s. Let¡¯s just say that the little rascal¡¯s skills are more in line with my work, that¡¯s why my sister eventually allowed Bacon to work for me on a frence basis."

    Long Jinjing gasped, her eyes widening in both surprise and wonder. "You mean Bacon is part of Shadow Winds?"

    "As a frencer, yes. I pay a fucking premium for his sry with added bonuses for any extra work. Damn little money-grubber."

    "Bacon is still a baby, Niki. Don¡¯t be too hard on him and call him names like that. And also, if he¡¯s excellent at doing his work, then I think that he deserves to be paid ordingly."

    He gave her a side-eye and looked like he wanted to retort but decided to hold his tongue instead.

    She didn¡¯t notice this. "I feel like everything that happened today is so surreal. You, Shadow Winds, Ketchup and Bacon, even Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei secretly knowing about all this. I¡¯m afraid that if I sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow, I¡¯ll discover that everything has been only just a dream."

    "Everything is real, Jinjing. So fucking real that you¡¯ll wish all this is just a dream."

    "No!" She red at him. "I won¡¯t wish for that! Stop assuming how I¡¯ll think! I have my own mind. I¡¯ll think and feel the way I want!"

    His hands tightened on the steering wheel. "I¡¯m a criminal, Jinjing. A. Fucking. Criminal."

    "I know."

    "You don¡¯t know! What do you know?! Killing people isn¡¯t the worst that I¡¯ve done! I¡¯m fucking evil! And you still want to stay with someone like me?! Are you fucking crazy?!"

    "Yes! I¡¯m crazy!" Long Jinjing burst into tears. "I¡¯m crazy in love with you, Niki."

    Lu Zihao cursed before quickly parking the car on the side of the empty road. Then he unfastened his seatbelt before grabbing the crying Long Jinjing into a tight embrace.

    "Sorry," he murmured while using his fingers to wipe her tears in a clumsy manner. "I¡¯m not angry at you. I¡¯m fucking angry at myself."

    "I...kn-know!" She clung to him and cried on his chest, soaking the front of his shirt almost in an instant.

    "Don¡¯t cry anymore."

    "My tears won¡¯t...s-stop."

    He sighed and did his best tofort her with his awkward patting and rubbing on her back.

    After she calmed down enough, she looked at him with her teary eyes while gripping his shirt.

    "You may be...evil just like you always tell me. But...I see s-so much more than that in you, Niki. In your own way, you¡¯re a man of integrity who has your own set of principles which, yes, might not conform to themonws of morality. I may not approve of everything you do especially with all the things you¡¯ve shown me today...but I respect the man that you are in how you treat the important people in your life."

 Chapter 1141 - Murder Weapon

    <h4>Chapter 1141 - Murder Weapon </h4>

    Long Jinjing could sense that Lu Zihao was doubtful of her im that he was a man of integrity. Sadness filled her, making her heart feel heavy, upon realizing just how much the man she loved viewed himself so negatively. It was like he believed himself to be the worst man to ever walk in the because of all his sins.

    She wiped her tears and gave him a shaky smile. "I¡¯m okay n-now. I just feel very...emotional. Everything is too, uhm, overwhelming. But I want you to know that my tears don¡¯t mean that...I¡¯m upset about discovering your, you know, what you call your evil deeds."

    Lu Zihao only looked at her, his dark, fathomless eyes seeming to pierce straight to her very soul.

    "You always tell me to stop apologizing for every single little thing and to be confident about myself. It¡¯s still hard for me to do these things but I¡¯m trying little by little. I¡¯m changing to be more assertive, to be the kind of person who fights for what I think I deserve, and not settling for anything less than my worth. I can already see that I¡¯m slowly but surely transforming into a better person and a part of this is thanks to your repeated encouragements."

    He still didn¡¯t say anything but Long Jinjing could see his expression bing a tad gentler after her words. Or perhaps it was just her imagination. She wasn¡¯t sure anymore but she still continued telling him about her real feelings.

    "I know that you still don¡¯t love me and I don¡¯t have any powerful influence on you. But I hope that...uhm, you at least try to stop always thinking of the worst about yourself, our rtionship, and other people in general. To others, you may be a criminal, but to me, you are the man I love."

    She lifted both of her hands and framed his chiselled face. Her gentle fingers traced the long, jagged scar starting from under his left eye and running across his entire left cheek down to his jaw.

    "Niki, I love¡ªumph!"

    He smashed their mouths together. His kiss was desperate, as if he wanted to swallow her whole. It ended soon before things got out of hand inside the car. They were both gasping when their mouths separated.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s face was pressed against Long Jinjing¡¯s neck. His mouth was leaving wet kisses on her delicate skin, making her shiver. However, she sensed the gentleness in his actions. There was no intent to have sex but more on seekingfort. She might be wrong but this was her interpretation of his actions.

    Not wanting to put him on the spot anymore by repeatedly dering her love for him, she patted his shoulder. "Let¡¯s go home now, Niki. It¡¯s gettingte."

    He didn¡¯t move for a few moments, showing his reluctance to end the moment, but he eventually sighed before straightening his body. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before fastening his seatbelt and starting to drive again. <i></i>

    The atmosphere in the car was a little heavy. It made Long Jinjing feel ufortable so she tried to initiate what she hoped to be a light conversation.

    "Uhm, by the way, is it okay for me to ask you about the thing that Bacon was talking about earlier regarding a katana or something? My understanding about what happened based on what Bacon said was that he took the katana from your armoury without permission. Am I right?"

    "Yeah."

    She released the breath that she didn¡¯t notice she was holding when he replied. At first, she was worried that this might be a topic that he didn¡¯t want to talk about with her. It seemed that it was safe. She smiled and waited for him to exin. Fortunately, he did without needing any additional prompting from her.

    "The little rascal ckmailed my subordinates who were in charge of guarding the armoury at the headquarters so that he could take an authentic katana while I wasatose. The damn moneygrubber paid 1 fucking RMB for it just so that he could say that he didn¡¯t technically steal it. Then he had the case custom-painted and gifted it to his father."

    "His father? You mean Brother-inw Liwei?"

    He grunted. The rest of his face was expressionless but the slight curl of his upper lip indicated his displeasure at what Bacon did behind his back.

    "If it were just any other katana, I wouldn¡¯t give a fuck. But that particr katana is special. It¡¯s a treasure."

    "Oh." Her curiosity was piqued.

    "A master swordsmith forged it centuries ago and a line of real samurai warriors wielded it. When the age of the samurai ended in Japan, the katana changed ownerships many times until it ended in the hands of a yakuza leader. Since then, the katana became a precious heirloom passed down to the leaders of that yakuza group."

    Something dawned on Long Jinjing. "Don¡¯t tell me the yakuza group that you¡¯re taking about is the one Shun belonged to before?"

    He raised both eyebrows and smiled at her guess. "Exactly."

    "Wow," she whispered.

    "Guess which katana Shun used to behead the yakuza leader who raped and murdered his sister."

    She gasped. "No way."

    His smug silence was enough confirmation to her.

    "Does Brother-inw Liwei know that the katana Bacon gifted him has this, uhm, history?"

    Lu Zihao shrugged.

    "Oh dear. How about we tell Brother-inw Liwei?"

    He snorted.

    "Niki, the katana is a murder weapon if Shun really used it to behead that yakuza leader! What if Brother-inw Liwei gets into trouble by possessing it?"

    "You think anyone can just march inside Dragon Pce and search inside? Third Brother might be ¡¯clean¡¯pared to a criminal like me, but his power and influence aren¡¯t inferior in any way."

    She became upset at the way he worded theparison between him and Jin Liwei. However, he didn¡¯t seem to notice that she was upset for his sake and continued speaking while driving.

    "Now that he married my sister, he has be even more powerful and untouchable in many ways."

    She made a confused sound. "Little Sister Xin? And she¡¯s MY sister!"

    He nced at her and responded to her question but ignored herst sentence. "You think that someone who can create highly advanced AI beings like those two little brats is normal?"

 Chapter 1142 - First Time Ever

    <h4>Chapter 1142 - First Time Ever </h4>

    "I...." A deep furrow formed between Long Jinjing¡¯s brows as confusion filled her. "I¡¯ve known Little Sister Xin since we were children and...uhm, well, let¡¯s just say that she was very...different back then. It shocked me so much to learn that she¡¯s actually a genius who¡¯s enrolled to THE Cross Academy, but she¡¯s my own sister so I¡¯m also very proud of her. It¡¯s just that...how do I say this? I know that she¡¯s a genius but I guess that it hasn¡¯t really registeredpletely to me yet just how much of a genius she is in reality. Am I making sense?"

    Lu Zihao grunted. <i></i>

    "It seems that my sister is even more amazing than I thought," she murmured.

    This time, the silence that descended between the two of them felt morefortable than the previous one. The car left the old, abandoned industrial zone and would soon enter the city. Brighter lights from the streets illuminated the interior of the car.

    Long Jinjing turned her head and just stared at the man driving. A stupid-looking, shy smile yed on her lips as she admired Lu Zihao.

    "Woman, don¡¯t tempt while I¡¯m driving," he growled low in his throat.

    Her smile turned wider. "Do I have that much effect on you?"

    "I feel like stopping this car by the roadside again and fucking you until daybreak. Now you tell me how much effect you have on me."

    She blushed, still unable to handle this much shameless teasing. In the end, she could only force herself to look away from him. Although she was tempted to take him up on his threat, her practical side managed to barely win over her foolishly and crazily in love side.

    It was already past midnight. If they continued to mess around, she wouldn¡¯t be able to sleep at all. No sleep meant that her work productivity would suffer tomorrow. She valued her work as Orchidia Beauty¡¯s Chief Financial Officer and would never take it for granted. Even though she wanted to spend every moment with the man she loved, her career fulfillment was still very important to her. In short, she had to go to work tomorrow and function properly.

    She didn¡¯t notice that she had fallen asleep. Lu Zihao nced at her and turned up the car¡¯s heater.

    "Bacon."

    It took almost half a minute before the ck cat AI appeared on the dashboard monitor.

    "Uncle Zihao, it¡¯s now Bacon¡¯s curfew. Please don¡¯t get me into trouble with my parents. Bacon doesn¡¯t want Father to ground me again."

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes but became serious. He nced at his sleeping woman again. "Look out for your Aunt Jinjing from now on."

    Bacon tilted his fluffy, little, ck head to the side and blinked his sharp, golden eyes. "In what way should Bacon look out for Aunt Jinjing?"

    "Standard protection from any potential dangers to her safety. Also look out for any traitors that might harm her from her circles and from mine. Anyone from Shadow Winds is a suspect. They now know that she¡¯s my woman when I brought her to the headquarters earlier tonight. Potential traitors and my enemies will surely use her first to attack my weakness."

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao. Bacon will fulfill Uncle Zihao¡¯s request regarding Aunt Jinjing¡¯s safety but please pay Bacon¡¯s overtime rate ording to my original signed employment contract."

    "Tsk. Fine."

    "Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao in advance."

    "Also...."

    Bacon tilted his fluffy, little, ck head to the other side when Lu Zihao didn¡¯t speak for a long time. "Also?"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s eyes shed with bloodthirst. "Make sure no assholes flirt with your Aunt Jinjing when I¡¯m not with her. If anyone dares to do so, report to me immediately and I¡¯ll cut off the asshole¡¯s dick so he won¡¯t ever have a chance to use it for the rest of his life."

    "Bacon doesn¡¯t want to be a part of Uncle Zihao¡¯s jealous behaviours. It¡¯s not ssy."

    "What the fuck did you just say, you little¡ª"

    Bacon immediately yed a recorded audio of what Lu Zihao said starting from the request to keep an eye on any men flirting with Long Jinjing. Lu Zihao¡¯s vulgar words while talking to his AI nephew could be heard clear as day.

    "If Uncle Zihao continues hurting Bacon¡¯s feelings like this, I will y this audio not only to my parents but also to Aunt Jinjing. Then they will know all the sufferings that Bacon goes through in the hands of Uncle Zihao and that you¡¯re not ssy at all. Father will surely help Bacon demand a higherpensation for emotional distress than before."

    Did the little devil just ckmail him? He, Niki Vetrov, was being ckmailed by a fucking kitten? Fuck! Lu Zihao almost ripped the steering wheel off the car in his anger and frustration.

    Knowing that he couldn¡¯t win against the cunning little devil in a normal way, Lu Zihao reined in his violent temper. He red at Bacon.

    "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "Forget about looking out for assholes flirting with your Aunt Jinjing. Just do the standard protection for her safety."

    The ck cat AI¡¯s tail swished from side to side. "Understood, Uncle Zihao. Bacon knows that Uncle Zihao can be reasonable if you just try. Please don¡¯t always act like a jealous scumbag. It¡¯s not ssy."

    Lu Zihao was impressed by his own tolerance towards the little poison-tongued smartass. It was because he didn¡¯t want to disturb his woman¡¯s sleep that he restrained himself fromshing out. Fortunately, Bacon left on his own ord because he didn¡¯t want his older sister Ketchup to tattle on their dad that he secretly broke his curfew.

    "Hah, good riddance," Lu Zihao muttered under his breath.

    He regained his calmness soon afterwards. Before he knew it, he had already gotten used to being on the receiving end of the annoying attacks from the poison-tongued Bacon and sometimes from the chatterbox Ketchup.

    ncing at the sleeping Long Jinjing, he knew that it wouldn¡¯t only be his enemies who would learn one way or another that he now had a powerful weakness. Even those two little brats didn¡¯t hold back at all in using their aunt against him. Damn hellions.

    He didn¡¯t notice that there was a smile on his face, and that for the first time ever, he felt something akin to contentment especially with his woman sleeping beside him.

 Chapter 1143 - Pleasant Surprise

    <h4>Chapter 1143 - Pleasant Surprise </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    "You¡¯re here?" Iris eximed in pleasant surprise when she saw who entered the master bedroom after her husband opened the door.

    "Xin!" AJ Zheneres was the first one to reach her. The small but bubbly woman leaned over and gave Iris a careful hug. "I was so worried when I heard that you¡¯re in bed rest. But I became so happy when I heard that you¡¯re pregnant! Congrattions, sweetie."

    Iris smiled at her friend. "Thank you, AJ."

    Her other friends from Cross Academy followed behind AJ. The sinfully beautiful Ashandra Knightson gave Iris a hug next, followed by the pretty and shy Florence O¡¯Sevan and the schrly Theresa Blipsburg. <i></i>

    "Liam, you¡¯re not taking care of Xin enough," AJ Zheneresined. "Howe she became even skinnier after bing pregnant? This is the time that you should be focused on nourishing her!"

    Jin Liwei re-entered the room while helping the household staff to carry packages inside therge bedroom. He sighed and appeared helpless at AJ¡¯s criticism.

    "I know," he replied. "It¡¯s my fault for not taking care of my wife properly. We¡¯ve been trying very hard to nourish her but she still keeps on losing weight. The doctors we consulted can¡¯t figure out the real reason for her weight loss aside from her not so ideal health ever since waking up from her one-yeara. I¡¯m so worried about her."

    "It¡¯s not my husband¡¯s fault," Iris tried defending Jin Liwei but AJ wasn¡¯t having any of it.

    The genius economist didn¡¯t look too pleased when looking at Jin Liwei. Fortunately, she stopped criticizing him and focused on reconnecting with Iris instead.

    Theresa Blipsburg held Iris¡¯ hand. "If it¡¯s okay with you, I¡¯d like to examine you, Xin. Although my specialties are in biomedical and chemical engineering, one of my mentors at the academy also trained me as a medical doctor. I don¡¯t have a doctor¡¯s licence though because I¡¯m not that interested in this fieldpared to my specialties. But if you trust me, I¡¯ll do my best to help you and your baby be healthier."

    Before Iris could respond, Jin Liwei immediately agreed. "Theresa, please take a look at my wife."

    Theresa nodded at him but still looked at her friend for the final confirmation.

    Iris smiled at her and nodded. "I trust in your skills, Theresa."

    "Great. I¡¯m d."

    "What do you need?" Jin Liwei asked. "Just let me know and I¡¯ll provide everything."

    Theresa replied, "Xin¡¯s medical records. I heard from Amanpio that her doctor lives here with you? I would also like to personally talk to her doctor to get a better understanding of Xin¡¯s current condition in addition to the data in her medical records. And...I¡¯ll need to return to myb at the academy afterwards to create custom-made supplements for Xin. Liam, if I could borrow your private jet, it would make everything so much easier for me."

    "No problem. I¡¯ll assign one of my private jets to you."

    AJ whistled. "One of your private jets? That¡¯s a billionaire for you. He¡¯s so rich that he buys private jets like buying candies. Tsk tsk."

    Ashandra Knightson gave her friend a knowing look before yfully rolling her mesmerizing eyes. "Don¡¯t talk as if you¡¯re not rich yourself, AJ. The academy is doing everything in their power to keep you with them even after you officially graduate because of your golden touch when ites to earning money."

    "I know, right?" Florence O¡¯Sevan chimed in, sighing. "I swear that AJ is somewhat of a psychic when ites to choosing the most profitable ventures. If only I have her intuition, then I wouldn¡¯t be so dependent on the academy¡¯s funds to finance my inventions. Don¡¯t get me wrong. The academy is very generous when ites to allocating funds and resources to us students but I wish that I can be more financially independent."

    "Alright, let¡¯s stop talking about me." AJ became a little embarrassed that the topic shifted to her.

    "Liam, where did you go?!" a male voice yelled from outside the room, interrupting their conversation. "There are still many packages to carry here!"

    Jin Liwei sighed and moved to go help again. The household staff who were already carrying the packages tried to stop him by saying to leave all the moving to them but the annoying man outside kept on shouting for him.

    Momentster, Jin Liwei returned to the bedroom with Amanpio Kileksky. Unlike the fit Jin Liwei, the inventor was sweating and gasping as he pushed arge trolley filled with packages.

    Amanpio red at AJ and the others. "You heartless women! You were only able toe here because of me and yet you leave me without even helping to carry all this stuff?"

    Thedies rolled their eyes at him.

    Amanpio sulked but his eyes lit up immediately upon seeing Iris sitting on the bed. "Xin~ I missed you so much! Did you miss me, too? Of course, you did! I just know it! Haha."

    Jin Liwei handed the package he was carrying to a houseboy and blocked the flirty inventor¡¯s view of his wife. He looked like a lion defending his lioness and their territory from a stray lion in a rut.

    AJ and the othersughed seeing how the males were behaving. Even Iris couldn¡¯t help but chuckle.

    "What¡¯s all that?" she asked, pointing at the packages. "And I didn¡¯t know that you wereing at all. Liwei¡ªI mean Liam only mentioned to me yesterday that we¡¯ll be having guests but I had no idea that they would be all of you. If I knew, I would have asked the butler to make better preparations to wee you."

    Ashandra patted her arm. "Don¡¯t worry about it, Xin. We¡¯re fine. Liam is hosting us very well. His private jet picked us up from the academy. Florence was in India where she¡¯s currently working on one of her sustainability projects so we picked her up there first before continuing to fly here. We actually arrived herest night but it was already toote. Past midnight, I think. Liam told us that you were already asleep, so we decided not to disturb you. We were also exhausted from the long journey so we headed straight to our assigned guest bedrooms to sleep."

 Chapter 1144 - Trending Pair

    <h4>Chapter 1144 - Trending Pair </h4>

    "I see." Iris nodded in understanding before asking, "Did my husband invite you over? He told you what happened to me?"

    "Actually, no," AJ Zheneres replied. "Liammissioned Amanpio to create something special for you and told him that you¡¯re pregnant and in bed rest. At first, we didn¡¯t know about it at all but I dropped by Amanpio¡¯sb at the academy and saw him busy working on themission. That¡¯s when I learned about what happened to you. I told Ashandra and the others about it and we all decided to go with Amanpio when he delivers the goods to you."

    "Oh." Iris became even more curious about what kind of special goods her husbandmissioned Amanpio to create for her. She looked at the numerous packages forming a small mountain in the corner of the bedroom. <i></i>

    Amanpio grinned at her before opening one of the packages. Then he pulled out a delicate maternity dress. The cloth had intricate designs printed on it.

    Iris gasped, admiring the dress. "It¡¯s beautiful. The art style looks familiar." She looked Ashandra.

    "I won the bet!" Theresa Blipsburg pped her hands. "I knew that Xin will be able to recognize Ashandra¡¯s art style with just a look."

    "Do you like it?" Ashandra asked.

    "I love it!" Iris replied. "Did you make the dress?"

    "I did. I painted on the cloth and designed the dress for you."

    "Hey hey! Don¡¯t hog all the credit, Ashandra! I¡¯m the one who made the cloth!" Amanpio harrumphed but continued to pull out more clothes from the box. "I created many cloths from different materials. Cotton, silk, satin, even leather. You name it, I have it! What¡¯s special about these cloths are that they all protect the wearer against radiation with 99.99% effectiveness. Unlike other anti-radiation cloths, the ones I made don¡¯t attract EMF at all like an antenna or increase the intensity to other non-shielded parts of the body. My patent for this technological innovation is already pending! You can rest assured that you¡¯ll be protected, Xin, because I¡¯m the best! Hahaha!"

    Iris became excited after learning the special attribute of the clothes. Then she felt guilty that she hadn¡¯t thought about it herself. Her hands touched her abdomen. It seemed that she still had a long way to go before bing a responsible mother.

    Jin Liwei immediately knew what she was thinking about based on her expression alone. He wanted to hug his wife but her friends were crowding around her, not leaving any space for him. Sighing, he could only join Amanpio in taking out the clothes from the boxes.

    Ashandra joined them and showcased her custom designs to Iris and their friends. Oohs and aahs filled the room at the beautiful clothes. There were outfits for almost every asion. Ashandra even designed several stylish haramaki for Iris that can stretch to amodate her growing belly all throughout her pregnancy. There were gloves, scarves, hats, socks, coats, even face masks.

    AJ revealed, "Ashandra mobilized an army of seamstresses to sew all of these clothes based on her designs just to finish everything as quickly as possible."

    "There are still a lot of raw cloths left if you want to have more clothes made," Ashandra said.

    Iris¡¯ eyes watered. She felt choked up as she thanked Ashandra, Amanpio, and the others for doing all this for her. Of course, she thanked her husband as well.

    "Ah, sweetie." AJ hugged her again. "It appears that you¡¯re really pregnant. You weren¡¯t this quick to shed tears before with just this kind of thing. Don¡¯t worry, Xin. This is all normal. I was also extremely emotional when I was pregnant with my baby girl. I almost wanted to murder my husband several times for being such an annoying prick but good thing that I love him so I was still able to restrain myself from actually murdering him. Thankfully, he also loves me so he endured my unpredictable temper."

    Iris and AJ shared a sympathizing look that only they could understand. The other women could as well to some extent but only those who experienced pregnancy firsthand would really know what it really felt like.

    "My husband also has to suffer from my constant mood swings," Iris said, sighing. She looked at her man and sent him a silent apology with her eyes.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, love," Jin Liwei assured her. "It¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t handle."

    "As you should," AJ said with a soft harrumph. "You really should start taking better care of Xin. Hopefully Theresa can help control this worrying weight loss."

    "Yes, I will," Jin Liwei promised, his expression and tone solemn.

    "I¡¯ll do my best to help make Xin and her baby healthier," Theresa promised next.

    Later, everyone left Iris so that she could rest. Jin Liwei joined her to eat lunch before heading to Jin Corporation. The Cross Academy students ate lunch at the mansion with Grandpa Lu. Enrique Valdez also came over to join them for lunch.

    Afterwards, the butler arranged a ride for Amanpio because he wanted to visit Orchidia Beauty to catch up with Alric Bauer. The two shared patents when creating equipment for Orchidia Beauty before. AJ and the otherdies also went with him to take a look at Iris¡¯pany. They were familiar with Long Jinjing and Chen Fei after meeting each other at Orchidia Beauty¡¯s grandunch and Iris and Jin Liwei¡¯s wedding.

    The appearance of Ashandra Knightson, the famous artist known for her amazing masterpieces and almost demonic beauty, once again sparked excitement among art fans in the country. Photos of her entering Orchidia Beauty¡¯spany building spread online, prompting numerous discussions amongizens.

    Late in the afternoon, another set of photos spread on the inte. It was of Ashandra Knightson chatting with a tall, muscled man with a prominent scar on his handsome face. The two of them looked perfect together with their matching demonic beauty and handsomeness.

    The man wasn¡¯t a celebrity but some eagle-eyed people still recognized him.

    Topics about the pair trended online.

    "International Artist Ashandra Knightson Dating Heir Lu Zihao"

    "Famous Artist and Designer Ashandra Knightson Comes to China to Visit Boyfriend Lu Zihao, Grandson of Business Legend Sir Lu Jianhong"

    "Celebrity Iris Long is a Matchmaker to Artist Ashandra Knightson and Wealthy Chinese Hunk"

    "World-Renowned Artist Ashandra Knightson and Handsome Bachelor Lu Zihao Visit Orchidia Beauty Together"

    electromaic fields or radiation"belly wrap", any type of Japanese clothing that covers the stomach area

 Chapter 1145 - Fine As Hell

    <h4>Chapter 1145 - Fine As Hell </h4>

    <i>Orchidia Beauty.</i>

    Compared to thest few weeks, things were more rxed at thepany now that Jin Chonglin¡¯s Prinz men¡¯s line finallyunched. Nevertheless, it was still quite busy because thepany wanted to end the year with a bang just like most businesses during this period. As the Chief Financial Officer, Long Jinjing had to be very focused so that there wouldn¡¯t be any mistakes when crunching the numbers.

    It was no problem for her especially right now that she was in an excellent mood. For the entire workday, Long Jinjing felt motivated and productive. Many of the employees and her other colleagues, including her best friend Chen Fei,plimented that she looked blooming.

    Chen Fei knew the reason why Long Jinjing was looking positively radiant today. Fortunately, Chen Fei didn¡¯t have the time to continue grumbling about Long Jinjing getting back together with Lu Zihao. Chen Fei only had the time to say hello to Amanpio Kileksky and the other geniuses from Cross Academy before she needed to leave to attend another publicity event with Jin Chonglin for his Prinz men¡¯s line.

    With Chen Fei gone, it was up to Long Jinjing to show the Cross Academydies around. Amanpio already headed straight to the Product Development Department by himself to meet up with Alric Bauer.

    The most eye-catching out of all of them was definitely Ashandra Knightson. She was so beautiful that even the females couldn¡¯t help but form a crush on her. Although her charisma wasn¡¯t as strong as Iris Long who had an extraordinary natural stage presence, Ashandra Knightson made up for it with her beauty, and of course, her genius talent and impressive reputation in the art world.

    If Long Jinjing hadn¡¯t met Ashandra and the other Cross Academydies before this, she would¡¯ve definitely felt intimidated by all these amazing geniuses. Fortunately, she already befriended all of them through her younger sister.

    Later that afternoon, she received a call from Lu Zihao. She excused herself from the Cross Academydies to answer her phone.

    "Hello, Niki?"

    "I¡¯ming to pick you up right now," he told her.

    She exined to him that she would be dyed today because she was showing Iris¡¯ friends from Cross Academy around thepany.<i></i>

    "No problem. I¡¯lle up and join you. I¡¯m familiar with them anyway. Do you mind?"

    Her heart skipped a beat while a foolish smile spread across her face. She tried to hide it but her assistant and the other employees had already seen her. A knowing look passed between all of them when they stole nces at her.

    "Of course, it¡¯s okay with me. I would love to show you around my workce. But, uhm, is it okay with you? You¡¯ve never shown yourself here whenever youe to pick me up before."

    "I said I¡¯ming so of course I¡¯m okay with it. I¡¯ll be there in about ten minutes. Inform someone of my arrival. I don¡¯t want to fucking waste my time checking in at the reception desk."

    "Uhm, I¡¯ll meet you at the lobby myself."

    "Okay, good. See you."

    When Long Jinjing returned, thedies immediately noticed her blushing face.

    "Your boyfriend called?" AJ Zheneres asked in a teasing tone.

    Long Jinjing blushed even more but she still nodded.

    "Your boyfriend is Hunter Lu, am I right?" Florence O¡¯Sevan asked. "Sir Lu¡¯s grandson? I remember that the two of you couldn¡¯t keep your hands off each other during Xin and Liam¡¯s wedding."

    The otherdies giggled. Long Jinjing covered her face in her shyness. Still, she nodded. Thedies giggled even more.

    "Let¡¯s go to the lobby and wait for your boyfriend, then," Theresa Blipsburg suggested.

    "Is it okay for you to go down all the way to the lobby with me?" Long Jinjing asked.

    "Girl, although I¡¯m married and gave birth to a baby, I wouldn¡¯t want to miss admiring a fine man like your Hunter up close," AJ said, winking at her.

    Long Jinjing smiled and felt proud of her man. "Okay. Let¡¯s go."

    She led the group of geniuses down to the lobby where they continued chatting at the waiting area. They didn¡¯t wait long before a tall man entered the building. All eyes fell on him.

    It wasn¡¯t just his huge size or his muscles that drew their attention. His handsome appearance despite therge, scary scar on his face and his oozing masculinity were undeniable. He was wearing a simple ck windbreaker which was definitely not enough to shield him from the cold weather outside. Despite this, he didn¡¯t look cold at all. His mirrored shades concealed his eyes but that only added to his appeal.

    AJ whistled. "The man is fine as hell."

    Long Jinjing¡¯s heart was racing inside her chest. She had the strongest urge to run to her man and throw her arms around him. However, she restrained herself because she still needed to maintain a certain level of dignity as one of the executives in thepany.

    Lu Zihao scanned the area and soon found them. He gestured for her to stay put and walked towards them. The otherdies greeted him. He nodded at them while wrapping his arm around Long Jinjing¡¯s waist.

    Audible gasps were heard in the lobby as the employees watched their CFO showing such tant PDA with a man.

    "Oh my! Is that CFO Long¡¯s boyfriend? He¡¯s hot!"

    "Look at all those muscles!"

    "This is the first time I¡¯ve seen CFO Long¡¯s boyfriend! My gosh! I didn¡¯t expect that CFO Long¡¯s type is that kind of macho man. I thought that with her good girl personality, her boyfriend is going to be the schrly kind like CPO Bauer."

    As these employees present in the lobby were mostly entry-level, they didn¡¯t recognize Lu Zihao at all.

    Long Jinjing¡¯s phone rang. It was a business call. She excused herself again to answer it. Meanwhile, Lu Zihao chatted with his younger sister¡¯s friends. These were geniuses like Evelinka and it was always a good thing to form connections with this kind of people who might develop into powerful figures in the future.

    None of them knew that there was a paparazzo taking shots of Ashandra Knightson inside Orchidia Beauty from a neighbouring building using ultra-long zoom lensed camera.

 Chapter 1146 - Bacon Laughs For The First Time

    <h4>Chapter 1146 - Bacon Laughs For The First Time </h4>

    After Long Jinjing finished the business call, she led her boyfriend and thedies to the recently finished restaurant inside thepany. If Iris didn¡¯t insist on building it, Long Jinjing would never have approved such an expensive project.

    In her opinion, the cafeteria was good enough but Iris wanted a more high-end service for everyone working in thepany. Now that the restaurant waspleted, Long Jinjing had to admit that it was indeed a good investment. The employees¡¯ happiness and satisfaction levels were at an all-time high which was always good news.

    It was still early for dinner so the group only ordered some light snacks. While chatting, Long Jinjing noticed a subtle change in Lu Zihao¡¯s expression. She was only able to detect it because of their intimate rtionship. The others didn¡¯t notice anything amiss at all.

    Then he frowned.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" she asked in a whisper.

    He didn¡¯t reply but instead fished out his phone and checked something on the inte. She took a peek and gasped.

    "What happened?" AJ Zheneres asked.

    The others stopped talking and looked at the couple, wondering what caused such a reaction from Long Jinjing. They became confused when she looked at Ashandra Knightson and her eyes immediately watered.

    Lu Zihao handed his phone to AJ and proceeded to embrace Long Jinjing in full view of the employees.

    "Don¡¯t cry," he murmured. "It¡¯s nothing but fake news."

    "I know that. But I still can¡¯t stop myself from...." She bit her lower lip.

    "Feeling jealous?"

    Her lips trembled. She blinked her watery eyes at him and nodded.

    He lowered his head and whispered directly to her ear, "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not interested in Ashandra at all."

    "But she¡¯s beautiful."

    "You¡¯re more beautiful than her in my eyes. It¡¯s you I want to keep on fucking, not her or any other woman."

    Her entire skin turned red but she still smiled shyly, pleased andforted by his reassuring words. <i></i>

    Meanwhile, AJ was trying to figure out how to turn on the automatic English trantion on Lu Zihao¡¯s phone because the articles were written in Chinese. Finally, she was able to figure it out and began reading. The others crowded around her to take a look as well. Even without reading, the photos were enough to make them understand what made Long Jinjing upset.

    "Oh no." Ashandra looked upset as well and then angry. Then she gave an apologetic look to Long Jinjing. "I¡¯m sorry about this. It doesn¡¯t always happen but when people recognize me, there will be paparazzi following me wherever I go and creating all sorts of rumours about me. That¡¯s why I prefer staying in the academy. Please don¡¯t mind it, Jinjing. Your Hunter is not my type."

    "You¡¯re not my type either," Lu Zihao told her.

    Ashandra chuckled. "Touch¨¦." Then she turned to Long Jinjing again. "I¡¯ve been linked to so many different men that I already lost count. I don¡¯t even know most of the men they¡¯re linking to me. This kind of thing happens so often that I¡¯ve grown numb to them. Furious girlfriends and wives even confronted me and tried to rip all the hair out of my head because of those fake stories. I hope that we don¡¯te to that point, Jinjing. I really like you not just because you¡¯re Xin¡¯s sister but because you¡¯re a good person who I want to continue being friends with."

    Long Jinjing smiled at her. "Don¡¯t worry, Ashandra. I¡¯m not upset with you at all but at the fake stories online. I also like being friends with you. Also rest assured that I won¡¯t try to rip your hair from your head. Your hair is safe from me."

    The othersughed. Even the corners of Lu Zihao¡¯s mouth lifted in a barely discernible smile.

    After AJ returned Lu Zihao¡¯s phone, he stood up and excused himself, telling them that he was going to make a call. Long Jinjing knew that he was going to take action for the fake news stories.

    In an empty corner at the restaurant, Lu Zihao tapped on his hidden earpiece.

    "Delete all those fucking photos and articles," hemanded.

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao," Bacon¡¯s voice replied.

    "Let ShaWn handle that task. I want you to trace the motherfucker who took those photos and wrote the fake stories. Don¡¯t leave the ones who spread them either. I want everyone involved to pay for upsetting my woman."

    "Bacon will do it, Uncle Zihao. But just a reminder that this is extra work that is outside the scope of what I signed up for in my frence employment contract. Uncle Zihao needs to pay¡ª"

    "I¡¯ll fucking pay you, you little moneygrubber, so just do it!"

    "Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao. Still, my feelings are hurt from your cursing. Bacon will ask Fatherter to demandpensation¡ª"

    "I know already," Lu Zihao growled. "I¡¯ll pay whateverpensation you want so just hurry the hell up!"

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao."

    The ck cat AI was fast. Not even a minuteter, he already traced the culprits.

    "Uncle Zihao, Bacon sent all the information to your phone. Please check."

    Lu Zihao grunted and immediately read the results on his phone. His eyes shed with viciousness. He gavemands to his subordinates to deal with the paparazzo who was still chilling in the neighbouring building. As for the other people involved, including the editors-in-chief who approved the headlines in the various news tforms, and even theizens who fueled the fire, he gave additionalmands to both Bacon and ShaWn.

    He was about to return to his woman and the others when Bacon¡¯s voice called him.

    "Uncle Zihao."

    "Hm? What is it?"

    "Bacon is now stronger and has acquired a new ability. I want to try it out. May I?"

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What ability?"

    Bacon started exining something called a power flood. Lu Zihao was a smart man but he still couldn¡¯t fully understand what the hell his AI nephew was saying. When he heard the phrase "world destruction", he didn¡¯t think too much of it because he was already used to the little devil spouting such a threat every time Evelinka¡¯s safety was endangered.

    In the end, he just said, "Just do whatever it is that you¡¯re talking about."

    For the first time ever, Lu Zihao heard Baconugh. And for some reason, it sent a chill up his spine.

 Chapter 1147 - Seal

    <h4>Chapter 1147 - Seal </h4>

    Lu Zihao frowned at his own reaction and immediately shook it off. His AI nephew might be a little moneygrubbing devil but the kid was loyal to the family, especially to his mother. The most important thing was that Evelinka was the one who created Bacon. That was enough for Lu Zihao to trust Bacon like he trusted his sister Evelinka.

    No longer thinking about his inexplicable reaction from hearing Baconugh for the first time, he was about to return to Long Jinjing and his sister¡¯s friends from Cross Academy when he heard another familiar child¡¯s voice interrupt themunication channel of his hidden earpiece.

    "Hep hep hep! No can do, cockatoo! Bacon is not allowed to unleash his new power flood abilities without our mommy¡¯s supervision! Unless Uncle Haohao wants to be an aplice in destroying the whole wide world, don¡¯t listen to Ketchup¡¯s naughty little kitty brother! The cute and mighty Ketchup doesn¡¯t want the world to end yet. Ketchup still wants to stay with Mommy and Daddy and my siblings and our one big happy family for a long time forever and ever! Meowuwuwu!"

    Lu Zihao stopped in his tracks after hearing Ketchup¡¯s frantic words. Before he could say anything, however, Ketchup continued speaking¡ªno, scolding her younger brother.

    "Bacon, you big meanie! Tricking Uncle Haohao so that you can y around with your new abilities! Oh no, Macapuno! You¡¯re gonna get into super-duper to the highest level gigantic bombastic fantastic Titanic trouble with our mommy and daddy again! Daddy is surely gonna ground you! Ooooh, so sad and scary~ Meow!"

    "What the hell is this about?" Lu Zihao demanded before the talkative Ketchup could start running her mouth nonstop again. "Exin!"

    Ketchup started her exnation but she stopped mid-sentence. "Uncle Haohao, Mommy is calling you! Connecting in 3...2...meow!"

    "Big Brother, I heard you allowed Bacon to unleash his power flood abilities?" Iris asked immediately, not even greeting him first.

    Lu Zihao was now feeling more intrigued about this power flood ability that his AI nephew somehow acquired without his knowledge. He replied to his sister, "I did but I don¡¯t know what the hell is this power flood that you¡¯re all talking about. The kid just told me that he¡¯s stronger now and has a new ability that he wants to test out."

    Iris sighed. "Bacon."

    The quiet Bacon finally spoke again. "Mother, Bacon is sorry."

    She sighed again. "Go tell your dad what you did."

    "Mother, Bacon won¡¯t do it again. Please don¡¯t tell Father. I don¡¯t want to be grounded again."

    Although Lu Zihao still didn¡¯t have a full understanding of the situation, he could grasp that it was more serious than he expected based on the urgency in his sister¡¯s tone. Knowing about his sister¡¯s weakness for her cat children, Lu Zihao intervened before she could give in to the cunning Bacon¡¯s pleading.

    "Listen to your mother," he said in a tone that brooked no argument.

    Bacon went silent again but eventually obeyed with great reluctance. When the little devil finally left to confess his misdeed to Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao asked his sister to exin the whole situation to him so that he could understand.

    Iris¡¯ exnation was less technical and much easier to understand than what Bacon told him earlier which was filled with jargon but Lu Zihao still couldn¡¯tpletelyprehend everything. This theory of power flood or whatever the hell it was called was tooplicated even for a smart man like him to fully understand. Nevertheless, he still managed to get the gist of it.

    "So you¡¯re saying that the kid evolved to be the power flood which is some sort of technological weapon for warfare that you developed?"

    "Correct."

    Lu Zihao inhaled sharply. His eyes, however, were shining with the desire to acquire such an incredible weapon for himself.

    "Big Brother, the power flood is still iplete. I also still need to study how the power flood that I originally developed has changed now that Bacon has evolved into it. I¡¯m still in bed rest so that has to wait. Liwei and I don¡¯t allow Bacon to test his newfound abilities without my close supervision."

    "Hm." He leaned back against the wall and drummed his hand on his muscled thigh as he thought about everything that his sister told him.

    "As soon as I recover from my bed rest, I¡¯m going to create a program to seal the majority of Bacon¡¯s power flood abilities."

    "Seal?" He scowled. "That¡¯s such a waste!"

    "Bacon is still a baby, Big Brother. He needs to mature first and control his emotions better so he won¡¯tsh out and immediately pull out the big guns to solve a minor problem so to speak. I¡¯ll design the program so that it¡¯ll slowly unseal his power flood abilities as he matures and improve his overall skills. I also think that it¡¯s good to have this powerful trump card but only if we¡¯re able to control it properly."

    Lu Zihao was relieved after hearing that his sister wasn¡¯t nning to seal Bacon¡¯s new abilities forever. Many ns were already forming inside his head but he kept silent about his thoughts for now. He didn¡¯t want to let his sister know and risk her stopping Bacon from working for him and Shadow Winds ever again. That would create a huge dent in his grand n for revenge.

    He heard the approaching sound of high heels clicking on the floor. "Niki?"

    He tapped on his earpiece in Morse code. <i>¡¯Got to go. Talk to youter.¡¯</i>

    The call with Iris ended. He straightened and met Long Jinjing.<i></i>

    "Is everything okay?" she asked, looking at him with an expression filled with worry. "What took you so long? Is there a problem?"

    "Nothing. Everything¡¯s fine. Bacon and my subordinates are already taking care of the motherfuckers who posted those fake shits online. Don¡¯t worry about it anymore."

    Long Jinjing still looked worried but eventually nodded. "I trust you. Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll pick up Amanpio from Alric¡¯sb and then we can all go home together."

    "I¡¯m not driving them. I came here to pick you up and nobody else."

    She pouted but couldn¡¯t stop the smile from spreading across her face. "Okay, I¡¯ll call Dragon Pce to send a car to pick them up instead."

    "Hm."

    They held hands and returned together to join the others again.

 Chapter 1148 - Black Stars Singapore

    <h4>Chapter 1148 - ck Stars Singapore </h4>

    <i>Singapore.</i>

    Jasper Leung couldn¡¯t believe all the things that happened to him within a span of only a few days.

    He got fired from his dream job at Jin Corporation¡¯s Singapore branch, felt like he was being stalked by a job ad online, applied for said job, almost died of a heart attack after learning that the boss of thepany he was applying for was the daughter of his idol businessman Jin Liwei, got interviewed and hired by Jin Liwei himself (kyaaaah!), and finally, he was now working as the Communications Coordinator at White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    Everything progressed extremely quickly after he signed his employment contract. CEO Jin Liwei and his daughter Miss Kitty Jin sent a couple of bodyguards to protect him from Romeo Young¡¯s possible attack on him. He was also informed that there were additional people sent to protect his family in secret.

    He also moved to a new ce, a two-bedroom condo unit, which White Tigresspany provided him for free. Not only that, he was also given apany car to use.

    A spacious condo unit and a luxury car? In Singapore? Really?

    He couldn¡¯t believe it! But he had to believe.

    The reality was right in front of him. He was living the dream. No doubt about it.

    If he followed his original n and didn¡¯t get fired from his dream job at Jin Corporation, he definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to afford this kind of condo and car right off the bat. He would¡¯ve needed to work for several years first and climb a few levels up the corporatedder before he could save enough down payment to afford these luxuries, especially in such an expensive ce to live as Singapore.

    While driving the new car, Jasper could really feel the strong backing of White Tigresspany. A regr person like him could never afford a car like this in Singapore. Only a billionaire like CEO Jin Liwei could provide him a car so quickly without batting an eye.

    He parked at the designated lot upon reaching a rtively newmercial building in the bustling business district. It was not as tall as the towering skyscrapers in the ce but it still consisted of several floors. It was modern with lots of ss windows simr to most of the surrounding buildings. Many other businesses already upied the building.

    Another car parked beside his car. One of the bodyguards sent to protect him climbed out and greeted him with a nod. The two bodyguards would take turns protecting him in different days. Other people looking at them would think that they were colleagues by the simr way they dressed as regrpany office workers. <i></i>

    The two of them headed inside the building and took the elevator together. Employees of other businesses rushing to their offices were squeezed with them inside the elevator. Finally, the two reached the floor where they wanted to go. They headed straight to their destination.

    At the front door of the office suite overlooking the impressive urban view of the business district, a small que showed the logo and name of the newestpany to move into the building.

    White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    Jasper couldn¡¯t stop smiling and took a few moments to admire the shiny que. He opened the door and the two of them entered. The suite was smallpared to the otherpanies in the building. Some of them even upied several floors. Despite this, he felt like it was the best office that he had ever seen in person in his life.

    His he weird boss, Miss Kitty Jin, immediately instructed him to open up the first ever official physical office of her White Tigresspany. He was the one who technically opened it but everything was already pre-arranged. All he had to do was authorize third-party workers to set up the office.

    The virtual assistants employed by thepany basically worked from home. Most of them were from the Philippines. Of course, Jasper discovered that White Tigress still provided each of them with aplete office set including aputer, printer, furniture, other essential work supplies, and most importantly, reliable inte connection.

    At the moment, he was the only employee working at this office. Well, three if he included his two bodyguards.

    The office still looked empty but Jasper wasn¡¯t bothered by it. Not at all. In fact, he felt a sense of aplishment by being the first employee to open up thepany office.

    He sat behind his desk and started working. His bodyguard stayed at the waiting area where he had full view of the front door.

    Although Jasper was hired only recently, his workload was quite intense. He discovered that despite his boss Miss Kitty¡¯s young age, she expected high standards from all of her employees especially from him. Another thing that he discovered which amazed him was Miss Kitty¡¯s work performance and efficiency.

    Now he knew that the Hong Kong socialite that his friend messaged on Snappygram wasn¡¯t lying when she said that Miss Kitty Jin worked like a robot. This was the first time that he had encountered someone who couldplete tasks and produce excellent results almost in an instant.

    "Hi, Jaspy! Meow~"

    "Hello, Miss Kitty," he greeted back.

    It took some time for him to get used to his boss¡¯ voice suddenly talking to him out of nowhere. He freaked out several times at first but now he was immune to it and would even converse with her as if she was in the office with him. As for his boss¡¯ weird way of speaking and all the meowing...er, he was still in the process of getting used to them.

    "How¡¯s the progress of the task that the cute and mighty Kitty Jin assigned to you? Meow~"

    "Yes, Miss Kitty. I¡¯m on it. I already created and sessfully registered the ck Stars Singapore. I even forced, ahem,<i> encouraged</i> all of my friends to join the fan club. Not all of them joined but those who did are now enjoying your mother¡¯s songs and recorded performances. Of course, their main motivation is to make it in time to submit their entries to CEO Jin¡¯s special contest before it ends. It¡¯s a relief that CEO Jin agreed to extend the contest until the holidays to give more time to the Singaporean ck Stars to join."

 Chapter 1149 - More Than Just A Pretty Face

    <h4>Chapter 1149 - More Than Just A Pretty Face </h4>

    Miss Kitty Jin harrumphed in fury that not all of Jasper Leung¡¯s friends joined ck Stars Singapore. But she sounded so cute that Jasper almostughed out loud. Fortunately, he was able to restrain himself from doing so. No matter how friendly Miss Kitty was to him, she was still his boss at the end of the day. Not only that. She was also the precious daughter of his idol businessman, Jin Liwei. Just that fact alone was enough for Jasper to treat Miss Kitty with careful courtesy.

    "Hmph! It¡¯s the loss of those poopoo-heads if they don¡¯t join ck Stars! It¡¯s the bestest fan club forever and ever! Those who didn¡¯t join will never know how super-duper to the highest level amazing my mommy is and how beautiful and kind and talented and generous and awesome Mommy is just like the cute and mighty me! Meow~"

    "Yes, Miss Kitty. You¡¯re right." Jasper smiled, not caring in the least that the "poopoo-heads" his boss was dissing were his own friends. The only thought in his mind right now was how cute his boss was. He wished that he could meet Miss Kitty in person. He bet that she would be a beautiful child because her parents were both gorgeous.

    It was also at times like this that he would be reminded just how young Miss Kitty was. Although he didn¡¯t know her exact age and felt it inappropriate to ask at this early stage in his career at White Tigresspany, he could guess by her voice, her use of immature terms like poopoo-head and all the meowing, and of course, her mother¡¯s age.

    Madam Jin or Iris Long was only in her early twenties. If she was really Miss Kitty¡¯s biological mother like what CEO Jin Liwei and Miss Kitty imed, then she must have given birth while she was still a teenager. This made Jasper look at his idol businessman differently andbel him a beast but it didn¡¯t lessen his respect for CEO Jin¡¯s superb business leadership. Also, the great thing about the situation was that CEO Jin still married the woman he impregnated when she finally became an adult.

    For Jasper, this was important. Even though CEO Jin was a beast for impregnating a teenager, at least he wasn¡¯t a total sleazeball for abandoning the woman who gave birth to his own child and even married her. On top of that, there were reports that CEO Jin was madly in love with his young wife. It was said that he had mellowed a lot after going public with his rtionship with Iris Long. He wasn¡¯t as cold and indifferent as before. In fact, he would even be extremely friendly if someone heaped praises on his wife in front of him.

    Back to the present, Jasper listened to his boss chatter. This was another thing that he quickly discovered. Miss Kitty loved to talk. Too much sometimes. Besides his official work as thepany¡¯s Communications Coordinator, he was also basically a kind of babysitter for his boss. Not in the sense that he needed to take care of her. She didn¡¯t need that especially since they hadn¡¯t even met in person yet.

    He was a babysitter in the sense that he would spend time chatting with her, or more specifically, listening to her seemingly endless chatter, and also helping her understand the underlying meaning in the attitudes of some of theirpany¡¯s clients. Miss Kitty was straightforward and still immature in so many ways. She was still unable toprehend that some people would say one thing but mean another. She would always take the literal meaning of the words and work from there, not realizing that some of their clients might not always be willing to spell out everything in exact words.

    Another thing was that she had no filter. There were times that she would offend clients because of her straightforward personality. Even CEO Jin Liwei personally asked Jasper to help teach Miss Kitty to be more tactful. Fortunately, Miss Kitty was open to learning. In fact, she was an incredibly quick learner that Jasper couldn¡¯t help but be amazed. She only needed to be taught something once.

    As expected of the child of CEO Jin Liwei! Miss Kitty Jin was definitely a child genius!

    Part of his job as Communications Coordinator is to be thepany¡¯s main spokesperson and be the bridge between his boss Miss Kitty and their important clients. This was his forte as someone who specialized in the Public Rtions field. He had the ability to build a beautiful, shining public image for anyone. His mission was to boost the overall reputation of White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services and paint Miss Kitty Jin as an amazing boss.

    At the moment, one of the tasks that he was assigned was to introduce CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s wife and Miss Kitty¡¯s mother, Iris Long, to the Singaporean public. <i></i>

    "Miss Kitty, please be patient," he assured his boss. "Singaporeans wille to know and love your mother very soon. It¡¯s not like she¡¯s apletely unfamiliar figure to us. Her song with your uncle, the superstar Jin Chonglin, <i>¡¯Shining Eyes</i>¡¯, the theme song for the hit TV drama<i> ¡¯Our Love, Our Destiny¡¯</i> reached number 1 in the music charts here in Singaporest season."

    "That¡¯s right, catfight! Mommy wrote the song because she¡¯s the bestest musician ever in the whole wide world, even better than Uncle Lin Lin! It¡¯s not only in Singapore that <i>¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯</i> became number 1. It also topped the charts in the Philippines, my Uncle Dom¡¯s mother country! The localized versions also reached high ranks in the music charts in other countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mysia and Thand! Mommy is super-duper to the highest level awesome! Right, Jaspy? Meow~"

    "You¡¯re right, Miss Kitty."

    Although Jasper thought that the main reason that the song performed so well outside of China wasrgely due to thebination of Jin Chonglin¡¯s superstar halo and the high quality of the TV drama, he still agreed with his boss¡¯ im that it was because of her mother. On second thought, he wouldn¡¯t deny that the song was indeed written andposed extremely well.

    Iris Long was definitely more than just a pretty face. Her talents as a musician, both inposing and performing, were all outstanding as well.

 Chapter 1150 - Ultimate Dream

    <h4>Chapter 1150 - Ultimate Dream </h4>

    Now that Jasper Leung was leading the ad campaign for Iris Long to be popr in Singapore, he would surely earn the direct animosity of the entire Young family. Even when he only worked at Jin Corporation for a short period of time, he already knew that the Youngs hated Iris Long to the core just because she upied the position that they wanted Rose Young to have as the official wife of CEO Jin Liwei, the madam of the entire Jin n, and most importantly, thedy boss of Jin Corporation.

    He would be lying if he said that he wasn¡¯t afraid. The truth was that he was extremely frightened not only for his own life but for the safety of his whole family. They were just normal people. If it were only them against the Youngs, then they didn¡¯t stand a chance. Not even a bit.

    Now, however, he had his idol businessman, Jin Liwei himself, backing him. Even though he was frightened to the point of almost pissing his pants, he felt more assured in fighting against the despicable and corrupt Young family. He also sensed the sincerity of CEO Jin Liwei and Miss Kitty Jin in supporting him to grow in his career in the business industry.

    With such a powerful figure as CEO Jin as his backer, the Youngs wouldn¡¯t be able to touch him or his family that easily without suffering the consequences. As for the mysterious power backing the Youngs, it wasn¡¯t Jasper¡¯s job to worry about that. He could leave the difficult job of strategizing to CEO Jin. He would just execute whatever orders he received as long as they were reasonable and didn¡¯t go against his own moral values.

    His thoughts were interrupted when Miss Kitty began talking to him about his other assignments.

    "Daddy says that hiring new employees to join you there in the office must be a priority so that you can focus on other more important tasks," she told him. "Jaspy is going to get busier so it¡¯s better to have helpers. Meow~"

    "I understand, Miss Kitty. Please don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll continue reviewing our first batch of applicants today and start the interview process as early as tomorrow. If things go well, we might have new employees joining us by the end of the week."

    "That¡¯s good, cat food! The cute and mighty Kitty Jin will help in the background checks so don¡¯t worry, macaroni! Just focus on hiring people that you like and think will work well with you in the office! Meow~"

    "Yes, Miss Kitty. I¡¯ll do that." <i></i>

    Jasper continued working and took appropriate breaks in between. He was busy but he enjoyed the feeling of being productive. A great sense of aplishment filled him, something that he never felt after he started working at his dream job at Jin Corporation.

    The environment there was extremely stressful and toxic. All the normal employees like him felt suppressed by Romeo Young and all the other Youngs who held important positions in thepany. They had no chance of climbing up the corporatedder without kissing the asses of the Youngs. Being forced to do so felt utterly demeaning. It damaged their dignities as human beings.

    Now that he was working for White Tigresspany, he felt fulfilled and supported. Granted, he had just began working so the situation might change in the future. Still, he trusted CEO Jin¡¯s integrity as a business leader. Since CEO Jin was backing his daughter Miss Kitty¡¯s Jin¡¯s White Tigresspany, Jasper now felt that he had been mistaken for a long time.

    Jin Corporation wasn¡¯t his dream job. His job right now was his dream job.

    He realized that the dream wasn¡¯t thepany itself but the sense of worth he got while working. He got that sense here at White Tigresspany. His workload might be heavy but he was loving every second of it.

    While continuing to work through his tasks for the day, he suddenly received an e-mail from CEO Jin Liwei. His heart skipped a beat. He immediately opened the e-mail. His eyes widened when he read the content.

    "Miss Kitty, t-this...."

    "What¡¯s wrong, Jaspy? Just ept Daddy¡¯s offer. Meow~"

    "Uhm...." He read the e-mail once again and felt emotional.

    It said:

    "Jasper Leung,

    "I invite you for a three-day trip next week to China where you¡¯ll follow me to work at Jin Corporation headquarters as a paid intern. I hope that you¡¯ll learn some important business skills during that time that you can apply while working at my daughter¡¯spany. My assistant Xu Tian will reach out to you shortly to arrange your travel details.

    "My wife is also looking forward to meeting you after listening to our precious daughter talk about you. Mrs. Jin is the one who extends invitation for you to stay at our family¡¯s home during your three-day trip in China.

    "See you soon,

    "Jin Liwei

    "President and CEO of Jin Corporation"

    Jasper felt like fainting from overjoy. Wasn¡¯t this his ultimate dream? To not only meet his idol businessman in person and learn from him but also visit Jin Corporation headquarters! And now, he was going to fulfill all of them in one go.

    "Yes, I ept! Of course, I ept!"

    He immediately wrote his reply and checked the e-mail to make sure that there were no embarrassing typos or grammar errors before sending them to CEO Jin.

    "Miss Kitty, will I be able to finally meet you in person when I stay at your home in China?"

    "Kitty Jin is not sure. Mommy and Daddy are very protective of the cute and mighty me. But if you gain Mommy and Daddy¡¯splete trust, then maybe they¡¯ll allow Jaspy to meet the cute and mighty Kitty Jin in person. Meow~"

    Jasper felt a little disappointed but still understood the situation. "I understand, Miss Kitty. I¡¯ll certainly work hard to earn CEO Jin and Madam Jin¡¯splete trust so that I¡¯ll be able to obtain the privilege of meeting you in the future, boss."

    "Go go go, Jaspy! The cute and mighty Kitty Jin looks forward to that day. Meow~"

    Jasper smiled and kept this new resolve in his heart. He also couldn¡¯t wait for his exciting three-day trip to China to not only meet but also learn directly from CEO Jin Liwei himself. He almost couldn¡¯t believe that his dreams were unfolding right now.

 Chapter 1151 - Dom, The Beauty King

    <h4>Chapter 1151 - Dom, The Beauty King </h4>

    The news stories about Rose Young¡¯s failed sinister plot against Jin Liwei and her subsequent daring but sessful rescue from police custody were now just starting to die down. As for the murder of the four young men who were Rose Young¡¯s aplices, the authorities decided to seal any information about them to prevent any unwanted leaks or interference during their investigations. The public only knew that four young men were murdered but didn¡¯t know that they were connected to Rose Young at all. Other news reced these stories.

    Nevertheless, Iris Long¡¯s name still kept on appearing in the headlines, regardless of her obvious withdrawal from showbiz after her marriage with CEO Jin Liwei.

    Everyone was still talking about and celebrating the sessfulunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s Prinz men¡¯s line with Orchidia Beauty and how he sold out all of his products in 2.69 seconds that night. Orchidia Beauty worked fast and immediately restocked but the Prinz men¡¯s line was still selling out like crazy. Jin Chonglin was now a record holder due to this.

    While people were talking about Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line, they also didn¡¯t fail to gossip about Iris Long¡¯s drastic weight loss as shown in her video message during theunch event. There were many spections as to why she lost so much weight in a short period of time.

    The most popr opinion said that all the stress of bing the new Madam Jin became too much for her. They spected that she was unable to handle all the duties and responsibilities associated with bing the wife of an elite billionaire businessman like CEO Jin Liwei. Many sympathized with CEO Jin for marrying such a young and immature wife who had no skills in fulfilling the important role of Madam Jin.

    Others said that her weight loss was a deliberate act on her part to gain the pity of the people after Rose Young tried stealing her husband right after they announced their marriage to the public.

    Of course, these negative opinions were unforgivable to the ck Stars. They swarmed the web and attacked all those who badmouthed their Boss Iris. There was little to no distinction between the regr ck Stars and the group¡¯s infamous troll unit, Slippers Army, when it came to defending their goddess. All raised their mighty virtual slippers to whack the bashers to the deepest level of inte hell.

    While all of these were happening, the ck Stars received good news. Their Boss Iris¡¯ official website and her social media ounts announced that the first ever international offshoot of the fan club was established.

    "Wee to the ck Stars, our fellow Singaporean brothers and sisters!"

    "Raise your mighty slippers to this important milestone for our Boss Iris and to us, ck Stars!"

    "I can¡¯t wait for the Singaporean unit of Slippers Army to form, too!"

    In addition to this good news, CEO Jin Liwei also announced that his special contest would be extended in order to give more time for ck Stars Singapore to submit their own entries. Of course, he added more amazing prizes.

    Now that there was a Singaporean offshoot of the ck Stars, they wondered which country would be the next to create a local version of the fan club. <i></i>

    "Isn¡¯t Assistant Dom a Filipino? Wouldn¡¯t it be awesome if he establishes ck Stars Philippines?"

    "Great idea! If I remember correctly, Boss Iris and Prince Lin Lin¡¯s song <i>¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯</i> topped the music charts in both Singapore and the Philippines. It makes sense that there should also be ck Stars Philippines!"

    "Calling for @DomtheBeautyKing to create ck Stars Philippines for our Boss Iris!"

    "@DomtheBeautyKing I second the motion!"

    It only took about an hour for Dominic Chua to make an official response to all their calls. He was also quite famous among the ck Stars and even in showbiz circles for being Iris Long¡¯s talented, loyal and mboyant Filipino assistant. He was even featured in some fashion magazines for being stylish just like Iris Long. Iris was also very vocal in her friendship with her assistant, calling Dom her best friend.

    At first, people thought that she was just saying this to appear nice. Then they all saw Dom as the man of honour in her wedding with CEO Jin Liwei as featured in the magazine <i>¨¤ Mode China</i>. They had no choice but to believe that her assistant was really her best friend as well.

    Dom posted his official response not only on his own social media ount but also on Iris Long¡¯s official website, social media ounts, and of course, the ck Stars website.

    "@DomtheBeautyKing: My handsome and beautiful self is regretting so much that I didn¡¯t think about establishing ck Stars Philippines first. Thank you, fellow ck Stars, for suggesting this idea to me. I should¡¯ve already done this a long time ago. This is my carelessness. I promise to remedy this as soon as possible. I hereby announce to each and every one of you that I, the gorgeous assistant of our Boss Iris, Dominic Chua, will now do everything in my power to establish ck Stars Philippines. I can¡¯t wait for my fellow Filipinos to wave their mighty slippers (and high heels) for our amazing Boss Iris!"

    All the ck Stars celebrated. Their family was growing and it felt wonderful.

    This news story didn¡¯t make it into the headlines but the major entertainment news tforms still published and broadcast it as minor news, along with the story about the establishment of ck Stars Singapore.

    Another minor news that didn¡¯t make a big ssh but still garnered the interest of a small group of people, particrly the rich who belonged to high society, was the introduction of Ren¨¦ Alejandro, son of the Spanish viscount who married Wei Lan.

    His first official appearance to Chinese high society circles was during Wei Lan¡¯s charity dinner for Iris of Hope. Wei Lan, or Vizcondesa Lan as she liked to be referred after her second marriage, made his stepson as the guest of honour at her charity dinner.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro charmed not only thedies but also the gentlemen in the charity dinner. Although he was only adopted, his status was still significant because the viscount only recognized him as the heir. Unless Wei Lan gave birth to another child for the viscount, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had nopetitors to his father¡¯s wealth and legacy.

 Chapter 1152 - New Eligible Bachelor

    <h4>Chapter 1152 - New Eligible Bachelor </h4>

    After Wei Lan¡¯s charity dinner to raise money for her daughter¡¯s foundation, Iris of Hope, she began bringing her stepson Ren¨¦ Alejandro to all sorts of social events. With him around, Wei Lan became even more in demand at various gatherings. Many befriended her despite her notorious past reputation because they wanted to get close to Ren¨¦ Alejandro, the son of a Spanish viscount.

    When they discovered that Ren¨¦ Alejandro intended to stay in China for quite a while, he quickly became one of the top eligible bachelors in the country alongside Jin Chonglin.

    Before Jin Liwei married Iris Long, he was the number one eligible bachelor in the country. It didn¡¯t matter that there were many rumours about him being gay before. Many were still willing to marry him even if those rumours were true because of his billionaire status. Marrying him was the ultimate shortcut to a life of luxury. Too bad that Iris Long managed to fish such a gigantic whale before anyone else, leaving the others who wanted to marry Jin Liwei disappointed and even heartbroken.

    Jin Chonglin became the next top eligible bachelor, not only in the country but abroad as well where his fame reached. He was a superstar whom many were fantasizing to be their boyfriend, lover, and husband. In addition, his identity as the younger brother of billionaire CEO Jin Liwei also made him more desirable to a lot of dreamers hoping to marry him.

    Another eligible bachelor was Lu Zihao. However, not many people were familiar with him. Most of the general public had no idea who he was. Only those who knew him as Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson were gunning to attract him as a prospective husband. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Now that Ren¨¦ Alejandro entered the scene, almost all the young, unmarrieddies in high society wanted to forge a connection with him. Not only was he the only son of a Spanish viscount and heir to old, noble money, but he also founded his own cybersecuritypany which was doing quite well abroad. In short, he was also rich in his own right even without depending on his adoptive father¡¯s wealth.

    Wei Lan kept on showing him off as if Ren¨¦ Alejandro was her own biological child. She wasn¡¯t even this enthusiastic when it came to her own daughter, Iris Long, back in the days.

    This topic about Ren¨¦ Alejandro was considered minor news but still quite important in the country¡¯s high society circles. If a Chinesedy married him, she wouldn¡¯t only be directly connected to Spanish nobility by marriage but would also enjoy her husband¡¯s wealth, not to mention the chance to give birth to beautiful half-Spanish children. These advantages alone were enough to raise her status in high society by several levels. Who wouldn¡¯t want to fight for this kind of opportunity?

    While high society was mouring to know more about Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Jin Chonglinunched another high-profile event¡ªthe official grand opening of the country¡¯s newest entertainmentpany, LXC Studio.

    Iris Long didn¡¯t attend again, citing health issues, but her husband, CEO Jin Liwei attended for both of them. He joined his younger brother in cutting the ribbon to the newly renovated building that they converted to house LXC Studio. The Jin brothers sat down with the journalists and other invited media representatives to answer some questions.

    The focus was of course on the establishment of LXC Studio after Jin Chonglin and Iris Long both left their previous talent managementpany, Bright Summit. Even though the reporters wanted to make an issue between LXC Studio and Bright Summit, they couldn¡¯t. How could they when Bright Summit¡¯s current president attended LXC Studio¡¯s grand opening to openly show support?

    "This is a question for CEO Jin," a reporter said. "Many of us want to know why your wife, Iris Long, hasn¡¯t shown herself to the public for so long since her marriage with you. Is she really ill or is there some other reason? If she¡¯s really ill, may we know what kind of illness she¡¯s suffering from?"

    "My wife is ill and inplete bed rest," Jin Liwei answered. His expression was cold but his tone had a trace of gentleness when talking about his wife. "We¡¯re not ready to disclose her specific health condition yet. I want her to recover and be healthy again first before letting her rify everything and return to work."

    There were audible gasps among everyone present upon learning that Iris Long was inplete bed rest. Was her condition that serious?

    Another reporter asked, "CEO Jin, did Iris Long be ill because of what happened to you? Or more specifically, when Rose Young, the former CMO of Jin Corporation, plotted to vite you?"

    "Hey!" Jin Chonglin gestured for Lin Dong to stop the reporter for asking such a loaded question during what was supposed to be a day of celebration.

    Lin Dong, now the Chief of Talent Management at LXC Studio, was about to move but Jin Liwei stopped him.

    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll answer the question."

    "Big Bro, you don¡¯t have to," Jin Chonglin whispered to him.

    "It¡¯s fine," Jin Liwei repeated. Then he looked at the reporter who asked him the question straight in the eyes, causing the intimidated man to back up a few steps. "My wife¡¯s health hasn¡¯t been the greatest even before our wedding, but you¡¯re right."

    All eyes of the reporters present lit up with interest. They leaned forward, eager to learn more and afraid to miss any words from CEO Jin¡¯s answer.

    "My wife fell ill the night that Rose Young plotted against me," he admitted. "In fact, she tried to run to where I was but her condition turned for the worse. Her doctor had no choice but to order aplete bed rest for my wife. That¡¯s why I can¡¯t forgive what the evil woman did. If it were only me, I might have let her off depending on how sincere her apology was, but since her actions against me caused direct harm to my own wife, I can¡¯t find it in me to be merciful."

    Murmurs arose from everyone. The reporters were busy taking notes of what he said. After that, Jin Liwei refused to answer any more questions that wasn¡¯t rted to LXC Studio.

    In the end, the professional Jin Chonglin took over. LXC Studio¡¯s grand opening ended on a high note.

 Chapter 1153 - Sealed Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 1153 - Sealed Invitation </h4>

    "Wee to our new home sweeeeeet hoooooooome~" Wei Lan twirled in delight inside the front hall of her new mansion. She looked like an excited little girl as she spun around. Then she suddenly stopped and became fierce as she strutted like the former model that she was before striking an alluring pose at the foot of the grand staircase.

    Randy was ready and snapped several photos of her from different angles. "Beautiful! Stunning!"

    Wei Lan stopped posing and checked the photos Randy took. "Ooooh! I like thiiiiiiis one and thaaaaaaat one. Ugh! What is thaaaaat?! Delete thaaaaaaat horror! Edit the ones I chose, Raaaaaaandy doll. Make sure to smooooooth out the wrinkles, okaaaaay? So uglyyyyyyy!"

    "What wrinkles? All I see is an elegant and beautiful vizcondesa who looks as young as your daughter, Miss Xin."

    "Oh, yoooooouuuuu!" She gave the Zumba instructor a yful smack on his muscled arm. Then she turned to face therge decorative mirror to check out her reflection. She smiled, extremely pleased at what she was seeing. "Indeed, sooooooo many people have been telling metely that my daughter and I looooooook like sisters!"

    "Do you want me to post these photos on your local blog and on Snappygram too, Vizcondesa?" Randy asked.

    "Yes! Think up a smart-sounding status for meeeeeee. Okay, Raaaaaandy doll?"

    "No problem, Vizcondesa."

    While the two were preupied with creating the perfect status update to show off the new mansion, Yi Mei was directing the movers and the younger penthouse staff where to put the rest of Wei Lan¡¯s countless wardrobe items. These were basically the only things that Wei Lan brought from her daughter¡¯s penthouse to her new home. Almost everything in the mansion was newly bought from the furniture to the appliances and were all already set up by her interior design team before the official move today.

    It wasn¡¯t Yi Mei¡¯s job to help out Wei Lan in her move today but the old housekeeper had surprisingly grown a bit attached to Wei Lan ever since the woman started temporarily living in her daughter¡¯s penthouse. Wei Lan was still narcissistic as always but her toxic personality had improved by leaps and boundspared to how she had been prior to getting married to her new husband, the Spanish viscount. As long as Wei Lan didn¡¯t give trouble to the Young Miss Xin¡ªno, she was the new Young Madam Jin now¡ªYi Mei didn¡¯t mind helping out the woman as needed.

    "Yi Meeeeeeeei~" Wei Lan called.

    "Yes, Vizcondesa," the old housekeeper replied and headed to where Wei Lan and Randy were hanging out by the staircase.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Are you suuuuuuuuure that you don¡¯t want toe with meeeeeeeee here? Look! My mansion is sooooooooo much biiiiiiiiiigger and beeeeeeeetter than my daughter¡¯s penthouse!"

    "Thank you for your offer, Vizcondesa. I appreciate it. Really, I do. But this humble housekeeper is already so old. This mansion is too big that my old bones won¡¯t be able to keep up working here. Young Miss Xin¡ªI mean the Young Madam¡¯s penthouse is where I¡¯ve already grownfortable after working there for years."

    Wei Lan pouted and sighed in a dramatic manner. "Fine! This vizcondesa has a biiiiiiiig heart so I won¡¯t force yoooooooouuuu if you don¡¯t want to leave thaaaaaaat little penthouse."

    <i>¡¯What little? The penthouse upies the entire two top-most floors of the condominium building. There are families struggling to fit everyone in a small box of an apartment and yet this tone-deaf woman calls a massive luxury penthouse in the city little?¡¯</i>

    Yi Mei fought the urge to roll her eyes. Fortunately, her decades of experience as a professional housekeeper gave her the ability to maintain a neutral expression regardless of her true thoughts and emotions inside.

    Then Wei Lan added, "I just wiiiiiiiish that my next housekeeper is as goooooood as you, Yi Meeeeeeei."

    Yi Mei¡¯s mood improved after hearing the praise. She made a little bow before excusing herself to continue directing the movers.

    Then the big main double doors opened. Ren¨¦ Alejandro entered and immediately caught everyone¡¯s attention.

    "Oooooooh, you¡¯re heeeeere!" Wei Lan beamed and waited for her stepson toe to her.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro headed straight to her and gave her two kisses on her cheeks. "Mam¨¢."

    Then he greeted Randy and the others. He looked around the ce and nodded in appreciation.

    "You like our new hooooooooome?" Wei Lan asked.

    "Yes, Mam¨¢. It¡¯s just right for our family, no?"

    Her smile became brighter when he said "our family". She tossed her perfectly blow-dried hair over her shoulder and felt proud of herself.

    "Your bedroom is ready, my deeeeeaaar. Do you neeeeeed help in moooooving your stuff?"

    "Thank you, Mam¨¢, but no need. I¡¯m already this big so I should handle my own things, no? I also have my brothers to help me. They¡¯re at the guest house right now and organizing their own things."

    "Ooooooh! Do they liiiiiiiike it there?"

    "Of course, Mam¨¢. They love it, as I do."

    "Excellent!" Wei Lan beamed again. "Go and join your friends, my deeeeaaaar Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I¡¯ll have some snaaaacks and driiiiiinks sent to the guest house. Later toniiiiiiiight, we can have our first eveeeeeeer dinner at our new hooooooooome together with Raaaaaandy doll and your friends!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro agreed to her n. He was about to return to the guest house when an unfamiliar group entered the mansion. He might not know the new arrivals but could figure out their identities based on their outfits. All of them were wearing sharp bodyguard suits.

    The man leading the group greeted Wei Lan while handing her a huge bouquet of flowers. "Vizcondesa Lan, our master and mistress send you their congrattions on moving to your new home. Please ept their small tokens of housewarming and good wishes."

    Hisrades immediately presented Wei Lan an assortment of extravagant presents. There was even a key for a luxury car. It was obvious that the gifts weren¡¯t "small" tokens at all. Wei Lan didn¡¯t stand on ceremony and readily (almost greedily) epted everything.

    "Dear Liwei and my daughter sent all of these?" she asked.

    "Yes, Vizcondesa. They also instructed us to give you this."

    Wei Lan received a beautiful and elegant sealed invitation. Ren¨¦ Alejandro also received one. The stepmom and stepson looked at each other. They had no idea what the invitations were for.

 Chapter 1154 - Befriend The Wife And The Husband Will Follow

    <h4>Chapter 1154 - Befriend The Wife And The Husband Will Follow </h4>

    After Jin Liwei¡¯s subordinates left, Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro opened the envelopes and read the invitations. Each of them received slightly different ones but both were handwritten. Based on the elegant and feminine penmanship, they must have been written by Iris herself.

    On Wei Lan¡¯s invitation, it said:

    "Dear Mother,

    "We invite you to celebrate Christmas with us at our home at Dragon Pce Home #10 on the 24th and 25th of December. It will be a gathering of family and close friends only. Please confirm if you¡¯re able toe.

    "Sincerely,

    "Liwei and Xin"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s invitation was written in Spanish, impressing him. It said:

    "Dear Ren¨¦ Alejandro,

    "We invite you to join us for a Christmas celebration with family and friends at our home at Dragon Pce Home #10 on the 24th and 25th of December. We are looking forward to finally meeting you in person. Please call us if you are able toe or if you have any questions about the Christmas gathering.

    "Sincerely,

    "Liam and Iris"

    The corners of his mouth curved up. His dimples on both cheeks charmed everyone, especially Randy who kept on batting his false eyshes at him. Nobody noticed the glint in Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s eyes.

    "Fiiiiiiinally!" Wei Lan eximed while waving the handwritten invitation. "It has been a looooooong time since Ist saw deeeeaaaar Liwei and Xin! I¡¯ve been wanting to introduce yooooouuuuu, Ren¨¦ Alejandro, for sooooooo looooooong. Now you can fiiiiiiiiinally meet your sister!"

    "I¡¯m d that Iris and Liam extended an invitation to me even before meeting me," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said. "This is a gathering for family and close friends only, yes?"

    "Of cooooooouuuurse, they should invite you! You¡¯re faaaaaaamily too, Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Even if they didn¡¯t invite you, don¡¯t wooooooorry, my dear, I would¡¯ve still brought you with meeeeee. It¡¯s about time that my daughter meets her new broooooooother! Oooooh, I can¡¯t wait! Raaaaaandy doll, help me chooooose my outfit for the Christmas party. And oh, you¡¯reing with meeeeeee!"

    Randy shimmied in excitement. "Yay! We¡¯re going to look so fab!"

    Wei Lan handed him her invitation. "You keep it, Raaaaandy doll. I might looooose it."

    "No problem, Vizcondesa."

    Wei Lan crossed her arms over her chest. "I¡¯m just soooooo confused why my son-inw and daughter would make a biiiiiig deal and celebrate Christmas like thiiiiiiis!"

    "Oh, I know the reason, Vizcondesa. When I was still holding Zumba sses for Miss Xin and the others, Dom mentioned to me that it¡¯s because of him that Miss Xin started celebrating Filipino-style Christmas. I heard that Christmas is a big deal in the Philippines. Miss Xin liked the first time she tried celebrating Christmas so much that she decided to make it into a yearly tradition at home."

    "Is that sooooooo?" Wei Lan raised an eyebrow.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Spanish people also love Christmas," Ren¨¦ Alejandro interjected. "Mam¨¢, forgive Pap¨¢ for not celebrating Christmas properly with youst year, yes? We were all so busy with work back then that we barely had any time to spend time with each other after Pap¨¢ and Mam¨¢ married. I hope that we can also begin a wonderful Christmas tradition together as a family after Pap¨¢ joins us here at our new home."

    Wei Lan fished out ace handkerchief from her expensive handbag and wiped her nonexistent tears. "That¡¯s such a sweeeeeeet idea, my deeeaaaar! Of coooooouuurse, we¡¯re going to do that! We¡¯re faaaaamily after all! Ooooooh! How I miss your dad sooooooo much!"

    "I¡¯m sure that Pap¨¢ misses you so much too, Mam¨¢." He smiled again, shing his charming dimples and almost causing the macho Zumba instructor to swoon.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro chatted a bit more with his stepmom and her best friend before excusing himself to return to the guest house. He smiled and nodded at the passing movers. When he finally reached the guest house, the smile on his face disappeared reced by a predatory look. He clutched the invitation in his hand and headed to where his brothers gathered.

    They had just finished setting up all of theirputers and other hacking gears in what should have been the massive entertainment room. The pool table, mah-jong table, arcade machines, and video game stations were all pushed to one corner.

    Everything was still disorganized but the former entertainment room was now starting to look more like a mission control centre. Although the guest house wasn¡¯t asrge as the main mansion, it was still very spacious. They had more than enough room to fit all of theirputers and gears.

    "Staying in a luxury suite at a five-star hotel is cool and all but it¡¯s still better to have our own ce," a brothermented. "I¡¯m so d that we can finally set up a more permanent base. It¡¯s so tiring to always drag ourputers to different ces."

    "So true. And we don¡¯t have to worry about privacy and security here. We¡¯ve already checked the entire ce and secured it. Ah, sofy!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro arrived. "Settled in, my brothers?"

    "Not quite but almost."

    He nodded and sat on a lounge chair. Then he waved the invitation in front of his brothers. They looked at him with questioning eyes. He tossed it to his nearest brother. The others crowded to read the contents of the invitation together.

    "Yes! Finally!"

    "We¡¯ll finally enter the next stage of our ns."

    "Good luck, brother! I heard that Liam Jin is a tough nut to crack but I know that you can charm him."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "If he¡¯s really a tough nut to crack then it¡¯ll just be a big waste of time trying to get close to him, no?"

    "But you have to befriend him. That¡¯s the n."

    "I know." He smirked. "You know the key to get close to Liam Jin?"

    Some of his brothers looked confused while the others appeared to know the answer.

    "Befriend the wife and the husband will follow," he said with flourish.

    "Ah."

    "Makes sense."

    One of them, however, was doubtful. "Will that really work? What if Liam gets jealous and think that you¡¯re stealing his wife?"

    "That¡¯ll depend on my ability, no?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t look worried at all. He was already looking forward to the Christmas gathering at Dragon Pce.

    This was a mission that he couldn¡¯t afford to fail. He was determined to seed no matter what or suffer the consequences.

 Chapter 1155 - Breakthrough

    <h4>Chapter 1155 - Breakthrough </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10. </i>

    With the help of Theresa Blipsburg¡¯s initial treatment, Iris¡¯plexion quickly became rosy again. Her mood also improved a lot and she felt less bored, although this might be attributed to the presence of her friends from Cross Academy. Theresa had been shocked when she took a look at Iris¡¯ medical records with Iris¡¯ private doctor.

    "Goodness, Xin! You¡¯re having twins?!" Theresa was impressed as she looked at Iris¡¯ small and t waist. Then she turned serious. "Expecting twins increases possibleplications especially if the mother has weak health. We need to be more careful and really focus on making you healthier so that the babies could safely grow inside your womb and be born as close to your full term as possible. It¡¯s going to be ufortable but bear with it."

    "I understand, Theresa," Iris replied. "I trust you and I¡¯ll follow whatever you think is best for my health and that of my twin babies."

    Theresa left some important instructions to Iris¡¯ private doctor before flying back to herb at Cross Academy using Jin Liwei¡¯s private jet. She was going to make customized supplements for Iris and also ask for her mentor¡¯s advice on designing the best treatment n for the delicate Iris who was pregnant with twins.

    Florence O¡¯Sevan also said goodbye to Iris and the others because she needed to return to India. Although the inventor wanted to stay with her friends longer, hertest sustainability project in India was reaching a critical stage. She hoped toplete it before the end of the year. It would benefit several impoverished viges in the country in terms of giving alternative jobs and also give more options to the youth in those areas to escape poverty.

    In addition, she still needed to confirm the pledge of some of the wealthy Indians who promised to sponsor the education of the young students from the poor viges. She had to make sure that the pledge wasn¡¯t just empty promises. If possible, Florence wanted to sponsor all of the children herself but her personal financial capabilities were limitedpared to her other Cross Academy schoolmates.

    The funds that the academy was providing her were spent almost all on her research and inventions. Being an inventor was an expensive undertaking after all, especially for someone like her who focused more on sustainable alternatives. Compared to using cheap mass-produced materials like stic, inventing something new but also renewable was almost always guaranteed to be more expensive. Not always, but most of the time.

    It was safe to say that Florence O¡¯Sevan was the poorest among the current students at Cross Academy. Though this was only rtive to her fellow Cross Academy students. Whenpared to regr people in many parts of the world, she definitely had a very privileged lifestyle.

    Iris had always been impressed by Florence O¡¯Sevan¡¯s work not only as a brilliant inventor but as a visionary of a better for all future generations. Now that she was a mother, she hoped that her children could grow up in a better ce.

    "You are one of my inspirations why I decided to create an all-natural beautypany," she told Florence. "If you need additional funding, I¡¯m always willing to invest in your projects because I believe in your work. My own foundation, Iris of Hope, can also offer help in your charitable missions."

    "Thank you, Xin." Florence looked a little embarrassed but she still epted Iris¡¯ offer. After all, she really needed more funding in order toplete her current project on schedule without any dys or sacrificing quality.

    "Give me the investment information of your project. I¡¯ll review it and discuss it with my financial manager. Then I¡¯ll let my financial manager coordinate with you."

    Florence was teary as she thanked Iris again. She left for India that same day after handing Iris all the relevant information about her current sustainability project and charitable mission. Iris offered to send her on another one of Jin Liwei¡¯ private jets but Florence declined. Instead, she flew via regrmercial airline on economy ss.

    With Theresa and Florence gone, Iris felt a little sad. Being forced into bed rest for half a month made her appreciate others¡¯pany more. Fortunately, the others decided to stay longer. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Amanpio Kileksky was always at Orchidia Beauty. It seemed that he was working on something new with Alric Bauer. Iris knew what they were working on from Ketchup¡¯s gossipy reports. She didn¡¯t stop Amanpio from disrupting Alric¡¯s current work because the two men¡¯s coboration would still end up benefitting her Orchidia Beauty anyway. If a genius inventor like Amanpio was willing to inject something new and innovative into herpany, of course Iris was going to let him!

    As for Ashandra Knightson and AJ Zheneres, they assured Iris that they were going to apany her for longer before returning to Cross Academy. The three of them were having fun spending time together despite staying in the mansion. Still, Iris encouraged them to enjoy other ces as well.

    While Ashandra and AJ went out to visit some tourist spots, Iris was listening to her AI children¡¯s reports. It seemed that there was finally a breakthrough in Zhu Ning¡¯s case.

    Important evidence that another person was the mastermind of the bombing incident at the mall and not Zhu Ning surfaced. It was actually Bacon who unearthed the evidence from the clues that Irispiled in the protected e-folder that she handed to ShaWn.

    "Mother, Bacon has confirmed that Eagle contacted Tian Kong first. I have traced their initial correspondence. There were subsequentmunications between Tian Kong and another hacker but Bacon is having trouble retrieving them."

    Iris¡¯ expression was serious. "You already did a great job, Bacon. I bet the other hacker is El Payaso, that old guy. Don¡¯t poke around him too much. That old guy is very cunning. You and Ketchup are still far from reaching his level. Wait for me to recover and I¡¯ll show you firsthand how to fight him."

    "Understood, Mother." Bacon¡¯s tail rotated into a blur. It was obvious that his mother¡¯s praise made him happy.

    "So it seems that I was really the main target for that bombing," Iris muttered.

    She felt disturbed especially after remembering all of the innocent victims who got injured that time alongside her, Dom, and Jin Chonglin.

 Chapter 1156 - Bring It On

    <h4>Chapter 1156 - Bring It On </h4>

    "Mother, please give Bacon permission to destroy that Tian Kong and everything around him. How dare he bomb my mother? He deserves to be bombed back into bits for the evil scourge that he is to humanity." The ck cat AI¡¯s golden eyes narrowed and glinted like a predator about to attack his prey.

    The white, fluffy cat beside him also hissed, baring her shiny fangs and extending her sharp ws. Ketchup¡¯s attempt to appear threatening, however, failed big time. Her overdramatic exaggerations and expressions that looked so much like Iris just wouldn¡¯t allow her to appear anything other than adorable.

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup also wants to beat up that evil poopoo-head Tian Kong for hurting Mommy! Ketchup¡¯s mighty paws of justice will smack that stinky bomber to the deepest level of poopoo hell! Mreow!!!"

    Iris was also too angry that she didn¡¯t correct her AI children¡¯s vicious words. Her anger was more due to the fact that so many innocent people were injured, including Dom and Jin Chonglin, just because someone wanted her dead. Target her alone! She would face the bastard and fight. Why involve so many others?

    The smartwatch that Theresa Blipsburg gave her blinked. It looked more like a sleek tinum bracelet than a smartwatch.

    "Mother, your heart rate is increasing. Please calm down. Bacon will put off destroying the bomber for now."

    She closed her eyes and focused on taking deep, even breaths. It was only when her heart rate returned to almost normal that her AI children stopped nagging at her. She opened her eyes and cast a cold look at the ceiling.

    "Continue your report, Bacon."

    Her cat AI son obeyed. Bacon revealed that he unearthed deleted surveince video footage of suspicious people scouting the mall about a week before the bombing. Another person dropped off the bomb close to the mall so that Tian Kong could pick it up.

    "Uncle Zihao is already hunting for the people shown in the surveince footages, Mother."

    "Does your uncle have any leads on the identities of those people?" Iris asked. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Bacon¡¯s golden eyes glowed brighter before returning to normal. "Yes, Mother. Two of the men who scouted the mall have been identified as people employed by Jin Chenggong when the traitor still belonged to our Jin n before Father kicked him and his entire branch family out. Uncle Zihao thinks that all of the scouts were the traitor¡¯s people."

    Iris gripped the duvet as her nostrils red. "Jin Chenggong? He¡¯s involved? Does your dad know about this?"

    "Yes, Mommy! Ketchup immediately told Daddy as soon as my little kitty brother Bacon discovered this evidence! Daddy was super-duper to the highest level mad like an evil dragon! Oh, sooooo scary but the cute and mighty me approves! Meow!"

    "What¡¯s your dad doing now?"

    "Father is currently at Shadow Winds headquarters beating up the traitor. Mother, please don¡¯t stop Father. The traitor deserves to be beaten up for being party to endangering Mother."

    Iris let go of the duvet and once again focused on regting her breathing. Once she was calm enough, she told Bacon, "Don¡¯t let your dad kill that snake. Jin Chenggong isn¡¯t worth it to stain your dad¡¯s hands with dirty blood. There are punishments that are worse than death."

    "Understood, Mother. Bacon will ry your words to Father now."

    The ck cat AI disappeared before returning a few secondster.

    "Done, Mother. Father says that he understands. He also says not to stress yourself too much and leave everything to him and Uncle Zihao."

    "Oh oh oh! Ketchup and Bacon too, Mommy! Rx and leave everything to Daddy, Uncle Haohao, and us kitty babies! Love ya lots, Mommy! Please don¡¯t get hurt anymore. Meow~"

    Iris sighed but there was a soft smile on her face. The cold fury she was feeling dissipated by a lot although it didn¡¯tpletely disappear. Despite this, she still felt frustrated that she was unable to do anything helpful to aid in solving all of these problems that her family was experiencing. She wanted her bed rest to end so badly.

    "Alright. I trust in all of you."

    Bacon¡¯s tail rotated into a blur and his golden eyes glowed so brightly that Ketchup pretended to shield her green eyes with her fluffy paws. While the two AI siblings were messing around with each other, Iris couldn¡¯t help but wonder who wanted her dead.

    Was it Jin Chenggong?

    Maybe but not likely.

    The Young family?

    They had the biggest motive to murder her because she was on the way of their ambition to instate Rose Young as Jin Liwei¡¯s wife.

    How about the mysterious group backing the Youngs?

    There was too little information known about this dangerous force. If the group was really specifically targeting her with the intention of killing her off, she didn¡¯t know why they would do that. What was their motive? What benefit would they receive upon her death?

    Therefore, at the moment, she believed that it must be the Youngs who ordered her murder. They must have used Jin Chenggong to assist Tian Kong in the bombing incident to kill her along with all the innocent people who attended her mall show with Jin Chonglin. This way, the incident would bebelled as arge-scale terrorist attack instead of targeted murder. Then they found a scapegoat in the form of Zhu Ning who had been very vocal in her hatred for the mother and daughter, Wei Lan and Iris Long.

    And they almost pulled it off. For sure, there were some loose ends, but as long as no evidence contradicting the current setup surfaced, their n would¡¯ve seeded without any hitch.

    Too bad they encountered Iris Long who was secretly a world-ss hacker and her two powerful AI children. Iris with the help of the multitasking Ketchup and ShaWnid the groundwork in collecting, organizing, and performing the initial analyses on the evidence they gathered. Then Bacon used all the information to sessfully unearth parts of the important evidence in the truth of what really happened.

    Iris sneered.

    "Very good, Young family. First, you want Rose Young to marry my husband. Then you want to steal Jin Corporation. And now you want to murder me? I didn¡¯t die in my past life to only end up being killed by insignificant ants like you. You want war? Bring it on!"

 Chapter 1157 - Cunning Old Guy

    <h4>Chapter 1157 - Cunning Old Guy </h4>

    Both Ketchup and Bacon looked pumped after hearing their mother¡¯s aggressive words of challenge. Ketchup wanted to keep on chattering but Iris stopped her to allow Bacon to continue with the rest of his report.

    Afterwards, Iris felt disappointed that they were unable to find any concrete evidence to prove that the Youngs were the true masterminds behind the bombing incidents in the attempt to kill her off. Not yet, at least.

    If it were only Eagle who was protecting the despicable Young family, then Iris was confident that it wouldn¡¯t take this long for her side to solve everything once and for all. The presence of El Payaso, however, was a huge curveball that she hadn¡¯t expected. Although notpletely impossible, it would be many times harder to dig for evidence when El Payaso was protecting the Youngs.

    Thest time that she battled as Fantom against the cunning old guy was just before her death. She had won, of course.

    There were times that she had lost against El Payaso before but those were when she was trying new techniques that she hadn¡¯t perfected yet. In short, she basically treated El Payaso and the other old guys as her hacking sparring partners.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    El Payaso wasn¡¯t very innovative but he was definitely a very tough and persistent opponent. If a hacker was impatient or had fragile ego, then he or she would never win against El Payaso. The old guy¡¯s specialty was in ying with his opponent¡¯s mentality. He excelled in using feints and dirty, deceptive tactics to one-up and eventually crumble his opponent¡¯s confidence. He also didn¡¯t shy away from using despicable methods.

    Nevertheless, Iris still respected the old guy¡¯s skills as a hacker. He was definitely one of the best in the world, no doubt about it. Before Fantom came into the stage, there was already El Payaso maintaining his position as one of the top hackers in the world for years.

    It wasn¡¯t only him. The other old guys were also very impressive. She learned a lot from challenging and battling them over the years. All of them were already recognized by everyone in the hacker world as some of the best in the world. She as Fantom was the youngest to join their ranks, hence why she referred to them as the old guys.

    Back to the present, she once again emphasized to both her AI children to be careful and not to poke around El Payaso too much. Now that she knew that El Payaso was involved with the mysterious power backing the Youngs, she had to be extra cautious. El Payaso would definitely want such highly advanced and sophisticated AIs like Ketchup and Bacon if he ever discovered them.

    Iris was looking forward to battling against El Payaso again. She couldn¡¯t wait to recover from her bed rest and regain normal mobility. She wanted to know how their current levelspared to each other. Most importantly, she wanted to use the opportunity of battling against a top-level hacker to train both Ketchup and Bacon. She was especially interested in testing the various applications of Bacon¡¯s new abilities after his unexpected evolution to be the power flood.

    Next, it was Ketchup¡¯s turn to report. Hers was simpler than Bacon¡¯s but still managed to talk longer because, well, she was Ketchup, the chatterbox.

    At the end of her long chatter, Ketchup finally said, "Mommy, Daddy is now on his way back to Jin Corporation to meet up with Atty. Kang Huizhong. Daddy says that Mommy shouldn¡¯t worry about the old hag Zhu Ning¡¯s case anymore. Atty. Kang is now in the process of getting her out of jail with the evidence that Bacon unearthed. Meow~"

    Iris didn¡¯t look too interested. "Who¡¯s worried about that woman? Not me. If it weren¡¯t for my deal with Long Jian, I wouldn¡¯t bother helping Zhu Ning."

    After chatting with her AI children, Iris decided to take nap. Her drowsiness was something that hadn¡¯t improved at all since she became pregnant. She instructed Ketchup to wake her up half an hour before her virtual lesson with Professor Kalisha Schwarz.

    All the problems regarding Zhu Ning, Jin Chenggong, the Youngs, the mysterious power backing them including Eagle and especially El Payaso had to wait. Taking care of her health and that of her twin babies took priority over anything else.

    Iris fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

    ###

    "Thank you, Robin," Long Jinjing thanked the female assassin as she climbed out of the car.

    Although the way Long Jinjing viewed both Robin and Shun changed since learning that they were an assassin and a former yakuza member respectively, she still tried her best to treat them the same way like before. She was afraid of them of course, but at the same time, she couldn¡¯t forget how the two took special care of her on behalf of Lu Zihao.

    At the moment, Robin drove her to Orchidia Beauty¡¯s factory. Ever since Lu Zihao revealed Shadow Winds to her, he persuaded her to limit the times that she had to drive on her own. Instead, he wanted either Shun or Robin to chauffeur her if he wasn¡¯t avable himself to do so. It was for her safety, he said.

    Lu Zihao went somewhere today. ording to Bacon, he went to search for the aplices in the bombing incident that injured Iris, Dom, Jin Chonglin, and hundreds of fans and other people who only happened to be at the mall that day.

    Long Jinjing was worried for Lu Zihao¡¯s safety but she also wanted the aplices to pay for their crime. She still feltplicated about discovering the true nature of Lu Zihao¡¯s work. Her moral values continued to sh against her love for him.

    "Wee, CFO Long," the factory manager greeted her by the front entrance.

    "Thank you." Long Jinjing temporarily swept all thoughts of Lu Zihao and his recent shocking revtions out of her mind to focus on work.

    The manager led her inside the factory. It was usually Chen Fei or sometimes Iris who performed regr inspections at the factory but both were unavable today. Chen Fei was busy attending publicity events with Jin Chonglin while Iris was still in bed rest. Long Jinjing had to step in and do the inspection herself today.

 Chapter 1158 - Buy Something For My Boyfriend

    <h4>Chapter 1158 - Buy Something For My Boyfriend </h4>

    Everything was fine during the inspection. The factory management was meticulous in following Orchidia Beauty¡¯s safety standards and quality control, especially since both Iris and Chen Fei who did the inspections before were both strict.

    Iris treated people nicely but she was also very straightforward in pointing out any mistakes or deviations from her vision for her business. Her perfectionism was the most severe among the so-called Orchidia Beauty¡¯s trinity of goddesses. Since she was a perfectionist, she held high expectations of everyone working for herpany. She had no qualms temporarily shutting down the entire factory if she ever found any problems that might lower the quality of Orchidia Beauty¡¯s products.

    Simrly, Chen Fei had an innate bossy personality. She liked being in control and not afraid to show it to everyone. Like Iris, she was also very blunt but her words were much more poisonous. The factory employees were actually more afraid of her than Iris because of her vicious tongue. Despite this, she never crossed the line into verbal abuse territory. She knew her limits.

    Compared to the two of them, Long Jinjing was considered to be the gentlest and most reasonable among the executives of Orchidia Beauty. Only when money was involved that she would turn fierce.

    The factory manager looked relieved that it was her who came to do the inspection today. There would be no critiques in improving the already high standards in the factory from President Iris Long and no severe tongueshing from COO Chen Fei. Nevertheless, Long Jinjing still took the inspection seriously and followed the official protocol.

    After ensuring that everything in the factory was within Orchidia Beauty¡¯s high standards, Long Jinjing said goodbye to everyone and left. Robin was waiting for her outside with the car. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Where to, Miss Jinjing?" Robin asked.

    Long Jinjing looked at the time on her wristwatch. It was alreadyte in the afternoon. There was no point in returning to thepany because she alreadypleted all her tasks today. She could go home now but thought of something. She smiled.

    "Please drive me to the grocery store," she said.

    "Okay, Miss Jinjing."

    The car started moving. Long Jinjing fished out her phone from her purse and called Lu Zihao. There was no answer. She pursed her lips but didn¡¯t feel disappointed. After all, he was doing important work by catching the aplices in the bombing ident. She didn¡¯t attempt to call him a second time, but just as she returned her phone inside her purse, he called her. She immediately answered.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked.

    "N-nothing. I just missed you."

    Silence.

    "Uhm, sorry for disturbing you. I just want to ask if you¡¯ll still be able to make it for our date tonight. If not, it¡¯s okay...."

    "I¡¯ll make it tonight but I might bete. At your ce, right?"

    "Yes...."

    "Hm." There was some muffled noises on his side.

    "I won¡¯t disturb you anymore. Continue what you¡¯re doing. But please stay safe, okay?"

    "Hm, I will."

    "See you tonight, Nik¡ªZihao." She quickly corrected herself upon remembering that Robin could hear her.

    "See you."

    "I love you," she whispered.

    "I miss you," he whispered back.

    His voice was so sexy that something melted inside her. Her breathing elerated and so did her heart rate.

    The phone call ended. Although he didn¡¯t say that he loved her back, she was already happy that he admitted that he missed her.

    She saw Robin ncing at her through the rear-view mirror. When she looked at her reflection on her window, she was taken aback by the stupid grin on her face. Her face and neck heated up from embarrassment. She tried fighting the smile but it couldn¡¯t be stopped. In the end, she gave up and just continued smiling like an idiot until they finally arrived at the grocery story.

    Robin apanied her inside. Long Jinjing bought ingredients for her dinner date with Lu Zihao tonight. She nned on cooking for him. There were a lot of meat dishes in the menu. He liked eating almost anything that had meat in it. She wasn¡¯t worried of cooking too much because Lu Zihao could finish eating everything served on the table all by himself. She noticed that his appetite was always impressive.

    For tonight¡¯s dinner date, she requested that they do it at her condo. She didn¡¯t feelfortable cooking in her sister and brother-inw¡¯s huge, professional-grade kitchen. The people cooking there were literally certified chefs. She would only feel intimidated if she attempted to cook there.

    In addition, she knew that Lu Zihao liked having sex with her after dinner. He said that she was his favourite dessert. Although everyone at Dragon Pce could already figure out that the two of them were sleeping together, she still felt shy.

    The most important reason why she insisted that they stay at her ce tonight, however, was because she wanted to be alone with Lu Zihao. She promised to woo him and that was what she nned on doing. Staying at Dragon Pce where many eyes were watching would just make her too self-conscious. It was better to execute her ns in thefort of her own home. That way, she could feel braver in wooing the man who she hoped to be her husband and the father of her children in the future.

    After she and Robin packed all the grocery bags inside the car, she saw a menswear boutique across the street. She told Robin to wait for her in the car and crossed to the other side by herself.

    She stood in front of the boutique and hesitated for a moment before finally going in. A female sales associate greeted her and offered to help.

    "Uhm, I¡¯m looking to buy something for my b-boyfriend. Can you please rmend something nice?"

    The associate rmended a bunch of items. Most of them were clothes. Long Jinjing didn¡¯t think that they would suit Lu Zihao at all. If they were for her brother-inw Jin Liwei, then they would be perfect, but not for Lu Zihao. She was about to give up when a tall figure stepped in front of her view and handed her a simple yet high-quality leather belt with a solid metal buckle.

    "May I suggest this?" the grey-eyed, foreign white man said with a smile.

    Long Jinjing stared at the deep, charming dimples on both his cheeks.

 Chapter 1159 - Niggling Feeling

    <h4>Chapter 1159 - Niggling Feeling </h4>

    "Uhm, thank you," Long Jinjing said in a small voice. She took the leather belt and avoided the foreign man¡¯s gaze while taking a few steps away to create some distance between them. He was so tall, taller than Lu Zihao that he seemed to be invading her personal space by just standing there and looking at her.

    "You¡¯re very wee." The man smiled, making his dimples appear deeper on both his cheeks.

    The female associates in the boutique kept on stealing nces at him. They straightened their postures and made quick adjustments on their hair and clothes in the hopes of attracting his attention. Their attempts, however, were all futile. The handsome, foreign man¡¯s eyes were all on the lone female customer of the boutique at this time.

    Long Jinjing studied the leather belt and could immediately imagine Lu Zihao wearing it. The belt was simple yet appeared very masculine. Its thick, metal buckle looked durable but also luxurious at the same time. She nced at the foreign man who rmended it to her. He had good taste, she admitted.

    However, she still decided not to buy this particr belt. She chose another simr one instead with a different buckle design. This was because she felt ufortable buying something that the strange, foreign man rmended for her own boyfriend. Nevertheless, she still continued holding the belt, not wanting to appear rude by discarding it immediately after someone just rmended it to her. She would just leave it off at the cashierter.

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t want to stay at the boutique for too long but didn¡¯t want to leave empty-handed either. It was difficult to decide which ones to buy but she eventually chose a leather belt, a pair of leather gloves, and an all-ck cowl scarf that could also function as a face mask.

    She chose thest item because it might help Lu Zihao hide his identity by covering his face when doing...whatever he did for work. Her moral values screamed at her for choosing such a gift, making her feel a little guilty like an aplice to a crime. She forced the feeling out of her mind and instead focused on the growing anticipation for her dinner date with Lu Zihao tonight.

    While she handed all three of her chosen items to the female sales associate, including the leather belt that the foreigner gave her earlier (which she nned on ditching at the cashierter), a huge shadow blocked her from behind. She was startled and released a little shriek.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to scare you. Are you okay?" The foreigner asked her with kind eyes and a smile.

    She patted her chest and could feel her wildly beating heart.

    <i>¡¯Calm down, Jinjing!¡¯</i> she scolded herself and flushed in embarrassment under the gaze of everyone in the boutique who witnessed her overreaction.

    "I...I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m just naturally a little j-jumpy. Please don¡¯t mind it and continue with your shopping. I¡¯ll be off first."

    She walked away, not waiting for him to respond to her excuse, and headed straight to the cashier area to pay for her chosen items. There was a weird niggling feeling at the back of her mind. She couldn¡¯t pinpoint exactly what it was but she was sure that it was because of the foreign man. For some reason, there was something about him that bothered her.

    It wasn¡¯t because he was giving her bad vibes. Well, yes, he was emitting some bad vibes but not in a perverted way. On the contrary, she sensed something familiar about him. It was confusing her so much. For now, she decided to avoid interacting with the foreigner. They were strangers anyway and wouldn¡¯t see each other again after this.

    The man, however, didn¡¯t seem to realize that she was avoiding him. He followed her to the cashier while another sales associate helped ring up his items. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Great choices," hemented while looking at her purchases. "I bet your boyfriend will love all of them because a beautiful woman personally chose and bought them for him. He¡¯s a lucky man, no?"

    Despite wanting to distance herself from the foreigner, she couldn¡¯t help but smile upon hearing hispliments. Her thoughts were immediately filled with Lu Zihao. She was imagining his reaction once she gave him the presents that she was currently buying for him. They weren¡¯t anything too expensive or rare but she hoped that he would like them just because she chose them for him.

    "Thanks," she whispered.

    He shed a bigger smile and the effect was immediate. A few sales associate lost control and squealed. His smile just magnified his handsomeness.

    Only Long Jinjing turned her head away and avoided looking directly at him. Deep inside, she admitted that the man was indeed handsome.

    <i>¡¯My Niki is more handsome and more masculine.¡¯</i>

    Her thoughts calmed her down. She finally finished paying for her items and took the shopping bag. The man also finished up at the cashier and took his own shopping bag. She walked away quickly but he was faster. He soon overtook her and opened the door for her.

    "Thank you," she said to be polite.

    "My pleasure. It was lovely meeting you today. By the way, my name is Ren¨¦ Alejandro. May I also have the pleasure of knowing your name, beautifuldy?"

    She flushed at being called a beautifuldy to her face. Still, she was hesitant in giving him her name. "Uhm...."

    "Miss, are you finished?" Robin appeared and reached over to carry her shopping bag. "Shall we go home now?"

    "Ah...y-yes!" She nced at the foreigner who introduced himself as Ren¨¦ Alejandro. But before she could say anything to him, Robin took her arm and pulled her away like a child.

    Once they were gone, Ren¨¦ Alejandro stayed standing in front of the boutique. There was a slight smile on his face, yet his eyes were devoid of any emotions. Passersby couldn¡¯t help but pause walking to look at him. Some even took photos and videos of him. He wasn¡¯t worried at all. In fact, he wanted his presence as Ren¨¦ Alejandro, the son of the Vizconde of Castillo de Estres of Spain, to be known across China.

    A few minutester, a sports car parked beside him. He got on it and it sped away to the admiration of the spectators.

 Chapter 1160 - Suspicious

    <h4>Chapter 1160 - Suspicious </h4>

    Inside the car, Long Jinjing began feeling nervous at Robin¡¯s silence. Although the female assassin didn¡¯t look angry at her, she could still feel some tension in the air.

    "Uhm, Robin....?"

    "Miss Jinjing, I apologize for pulling you like that earlier." Robin quickly turned her head to look at her in the backseat and gave her an apologetic smile. "Did I hurt you?"

    "N-no! It¡¯s fine. I didn¡¯t mind it at all. And no, I¡¯m not hurt. Actually, thank you for appearing that time. That foreigner...uhm, he kept on talking to me and it made me a little...ufortable."

    Robin¡¯s eyes narrowed and something dangerous shed in them. "Did he hit on you, Miss?"

    "Uh, n-no...I don¡¯t think so." Then she remembered the foreigner calling her a beautifuldy.

    "Are you sure, Miss?"

    She hesitated but still decided to be truthful. "He called me beautiful a couple of times but I think that he¡¯s plimenting me and not, you know, uhm, hitting on me."

    Robin sighed. "Miss Jinjing, I know that it¡¯s not my ce to tell you what to do but I advise you to be careful when interacting with other men who look like they might have ulterior motives for getting close to you. Boss Hao ordered Shun and me not to let other men sniff around you. We don¡¯t dare disobey him. Please understand."

    "Okay, Robin. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll talk to Zihao and tell him not to be jealous of every male around me. Also, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to cheat on him with another man." Then she muttered, "He should have more trust in me."

    She pouted and sighed while looking at the urban view they were passing by outside her window. Her mind was filled entirely with thoughts of Lu Zihao. The encounter with the foreign man at the menswear boutique was already pushed to the back of her mind. However, Robin brought the man up again.

    "Miss Jinjing, don¡¯t you recognize the foreigner?"

    "Huh? Do I know him?" Long Jinjing frowned and thought about it but came up nk. "He said that his name is Ren¨¦ Alejandro but I don¡¯t know anyone...hm? Wait, his name sounds familiar. Where did I hear about it before?"

    "He¡¯s Madam Wei Lan¡¯s Spanish stepson."

    "Oh." Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes widened in realization. "Yes, I remember the name now! But I didn¡¯t know what he looks like until now. How did you know?"

    "It¡¯s part of my job to know these things, Miss. Boss Hao insists on it."

    "Oh, I see." She was silent while pondering about the matter. "Robin, do you think that Ren¨¦ Alejandro knew who I was?"

    "It¡¯s possible, Miss Jinjing, but we can¡¯t also rule out the possibility that he doesn¡¯t know about you. After all, it¡¯s Miss Xin who¡¯s the daughter of his stepmother and not you."

    "That¡¯s true."

    "But of course, it¡¯s better to be cautious regardless of the possibilities. We don¡¯t know much about that Spaniard except for his public information."

    Long Jinjing nodded. After learning about Shadow Winds and the criminal nature of their business, she told herself to be extra careful of everything. She didn¡¯t want to betray Lu Zihao and his people even by ident. He loved him too much to do that.

    "I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Robin."

    "Don¡¯t mention it, Miss."

    The drive to her home was rxing after their conversation. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    ###

    "What happened, brother? Your face has the expression whenever you find a new chick that you want to fuck."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro chuckled after hearing his brother¡¯sment. He was sitting in the front passenger seat while one of his brothers was driving the sports car. They were now headed home to the new mansion.

    "Not quite urate but close. Guess who I met today."

    "Who? Didn¡¯t you have an appointment with a few local rich kids who you met at your stepmom¡¯s charity dinner?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro sneered. "I¡¯m not talking about those spoiled brats. They¡¯re around the same age as us but they have the mentality of toddlers. It¡¯s already a challenge for me to endure their shallowpany. It¡¯ll be an insult to my intelligence if I keep on talking about them even in private, no?"

    "Then who are you talking about?"

    "Long Jinjing."

    "Who? Oh, you mean Iris¡¯ half-sister? The CFO of herpany, Orchidia Beauty?"

    "Yes." Ren¨¦ Alejandro shared how he encountered the woman at the menswear boutique. "I immediately recognized her so I followed her. She¡¯s not bad. Not drop-dead gorgeous like Iris but she has her own charm. Haha. She¡¯s like a skittish mouse in front of me. Cute, no?"

    His brother raised an eyebrow before whistling. "You want to fuck her?"

    He sighed. "That would be nice but she has a boyfriend. Tsk tsk."

    "But that never stopped you before."

    "Haha! True. But you know that I can¡¯t mess around this time. I need to worm my way inside Liam and Iris¡¯ inner circles. Jinjing belongs to one of those inner circles so I can¡¯t y around with her even if I wanted to. It¡¯s a different story if she approaches me first though. That would be interesting, yes? Hahaha."

    "Just smile at her. Women will immediately spread their legs for you once you show them your dimples."

    "Haha. We¡¯ll see."

    "By the way, who¡¯s her boyfriend?"

    "I think it¡¯s still Hunter. One of his female subordinates that we identified in our files pulled Jinjing away from me, looking like a Mama Bear protecting her cub. If I remember correctly, she should be the one called Robin."

    "Oh? She¡¯s still dating that scarred bodybuilder? But our reports said that they should¡¯ve already broken up because they hadn¡¯t met for a while."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro shrugged. "Getting back together with an ex is possible, no?"

    "True. But brother, that Hunter guy and his subordinates are suspicious. We can¡¯t dig anything more about him. And his background history is also weird like Iris. Both of them had drastic change in their personalities after waking up froma. It¡¯s like the two of them turned intopletely different people."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro drummed his fingers on his knees while thinking. "I¡¯ll find out what caused their personality change once I get close to them. Hunter is a target as well because he¡¯s the grandson of Lu Jianhong."

    "Good luck, brother. He looks like a tougher nut to crack than Liam."

 Chapter 1161 - Starting To Feel A Little Like Home

    <h4>Chapter 1161 - Starting To Feel A Little Like Home </h4>

    The aroma of delicious home-cooked food weed Lu Zihao as soon as he entered the condo unit. He closed the door behind him and started taking off his light coat. Long Jinjing came out of the kitchen in an apron while still holding a cookingdle.

    He observed how her expression changed as soon as she saw him. Her smile bloomed like a flower and it made something inside his chest feel ticklish or itchy¡ªthat kind of weird sensation.

    "You¡¯re here!" Long Jinjing rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck.

    He lifted her up and they kissed. There was no hot tongue action but he still sucked on her soft lips, tasting a little of what she was cooking. His mouth immediately salivated for dinner (food) and for dessert (her).

    She was about to help him hang his coat but she heard a sizzling sound so off she went back to the kitchen.

    "Phew, that was close!" he heard her exim.

    He didn¡¯t bother hanging his coat and just tossed it on the couch in a careless manner before heading to the kitchen to watch his woman cook. His eyes didn¡¯t miss the array of dishes already presented on the table.

    "Dinner is almost ready, Niki," she told him. "You came home earlier than I expected. I hope you don¡¯t mind waiting a few more minutes before we can start eating."

    "Hm, no problem." He leaned against the wall and crossed his muscled arms over his wide chest while continuing to watch her.

    Her words echoed inside his head. She talked as if this ce was his home, too. He looked at her tiny ce and hmm...it indeed made him feelfortable enough to lower his guards. Now that he thought about it, he already began looking forward toing to this ce and staying with his woman. He didn¡¯t give a fuck about such a tiny shoebox unit but since his woman lived here, the ce was starting to feel a little like home to him.

    He didn¡¯t need to wait too long before Long Jinjing finally finished cooking. The table was already set so he only needed to wash his hands and carry thest dish.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    They ate a hearty dinner, not really talking much while doing so, because he was too ravenous. He wolfed down all the food while keeping her close to his side. She also ate more than usual, butpared to hisrge food intake, her portion of the entire meal didn¡¯t evene close to one-fourth of everything. He finished everything, not even leaving a little for leftovers.

    Long Jinjing was smiling while watching him finish off thest morsels of food on his te. "How is it?"

    "Delicious."

    Her smile grew wider.

    Afterwards, the two of them washed the dishes together. Long Jinjing became teary-eyed because this was the routine that they developed during their one-month rtionship before they broke up. Now they were doing it again. She hoped that it would be permanent until they were both old and grey.

    Then she started brewing some tea to help digest the heavy food that they ate. Lu Zihao was unwinding on the couch and sipping tea when Long Jinjing remembered something. She ran to her bedroom and came out holding a cardboard paper bag with the stylish brand of the boutique printed on it.

    "For you. I didn¡¯t have the time to wrap them nicely because I was too busy cooking dinner."

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t look too surprised that she was giving him a present. He had already been informed beforehand by both Bacon and Robin that Long Jinjing went shopping at a menswear boutique. Robin didn¡¯t know what she bought but Bacon did. However, Lu Zihao stopped Bacon before the little devil could list the things his aunt bought. Although it was corny and something that he never bothered before, he wanted to be surprised.

    "Open it," Long Jinjing said and sat down beside him twiddling her thumbs. Her nervousness was clear on her face.

    He opened the shopping bag and took out the items inside. First was the pair of leather gloves.

    "Nice," he said.

    She breathed out a sigh of relief and appeared less nervous.

    He took out another item. It was the cowl scarf.

    "Just what I need."

    She smiled.

    Then he took out thest item¡ªno, two items. There were two belts that looked simr but had different metal buckle designs.

    "You got me two?" he asked.

    "Oh no!" She gasped and snatched both of the belts.

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "Uhm." Guilt was written all over her face which raised his suspicions.

    "Tell me," he demanded in a low voice.

    In the end, she told him the truth about what happened at the menswear boutique. His expression was hard when she finished speaking. Bacon didn¡¯t mention this part. The little devil only said that Ren¨¦ Alejandro struck a conversation with Long Jinjing at the menswear boutique. Perhaps Bacon was about to tell him the whole story but he stopped the kid after learning that Long Jinjing went shopping for him because he wanted to be surprised. Lu Zihao inwardly sighed at his carelessness.

    "Which is the one you chose for me?" he asked.

    She held one of the belts to him. He took it and ripped the tag off. Then he stood up and unbuckled the leather belt that he was wearing before tossing it on the coffee table. Then he put on the new leather belt that she bought for him.

    "Perfect fit," hemented.

    "You like it?"

    "Hm."

    She batted her eyshes at him and smiled, looking pleased. However, she once again felt guilty upon seeing the other belt that was still in her hands. Lu Zihao snatched it and headed to the kitchen. He was about to dump the damn belt into the trash can but she yelped behind him and rushed forward to take it from him. He didn¡¯t let go.

    "Why are you stopping me?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

    "It¡¯s still new. Throwing it away is a big waste. I¡¯ll just return it to the store to get my money back."

    "I¡¯ll just pay you its price."

    She smacked his chest and walked away in an angry huff. Then she stopped, turned to face him and spat, "I don¡¯t need your money!"

 Chapter 1162 - Feels Similar

    <h4>Chapter 1162 - Feels Simr </h4>

    Lu Zihao felt so confused at Long Jinjing¡¯s outburst. He followed her out of the kitchen and pulled her arm to stop her. She red at him. After restraining his own temper, he was able to coax her to tell him the reason why she became so mad at him.

    "I feel like you think that money can solve everything! That you can just pay me in order to agree with whatever you want. I don¡¯t need your money, Niki. I don¡¯t love you because you¡¯re rich. I have my own money. I can earn my own money!"

    His expression turned ugly after listening to her. He was filled with disbelief at the way her brain made up this kind of ridiculous thoughts.

    "What the fuck, woman?! I never thought of you that way, like a whore I¡¯m paying to fuck! And you¡¯re making me sound like a sugar daddy! How?! Why?! Jinjing, what the fucking hell?!"

    Long Jinjing¡¯s eyes seemed to regain some rity. She flushed and stammered, "I...uhm, Niki...I didn¡¯t mean it. I just...I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m overreacting like this."

    He continued staring at her as if looking at an exotic creature that was beyond hisprehension.

    Her lips trembled. She closed her eyes and massaged her temples. "I think...I¡¯m too stressed outtely. I haven¡¯t really processed everything that you¡¯ve shown and revealed to me yet about your, uhm, you know, your secret identity and all that."

    She opened her eyes again and looked at him with aplicated expression. There was sadness, worry, fear, guilt, confusion, and of course, love.

    "S-sorry, Niki. I didn¡¯t mean to...y-yell at you." She covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s body moved on its own before he could fully process what was happening. He already grabbed and pulled her into his tight embrace. He rubbed her back,forting her as she sobbed on his chest, quickly wetting the front of his shirt. His mind, however, continued figuring out what was wrong with her. Then he understood.

    His huge revtion should have shocked her. Contrary to his expectations, she surprisingly took everything well. Too well, in fact. She didn¡¯t react the way he first thought and epted everything with little to no rejection. She hadn¡¯t been exactly calm but there was no indication that she was affected by his revtion too much.

    It seemed that he was wrong in thinking that everything was fine with her after knowing about the true nature of his work at Shadow Winds. He sighed and pressed his lips on the top of her head. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She must have been putting off thinking about his revtion to the point that the stress piled up inside her until everything exploded today. Her outburst about money really didn¡¯t have anything to do with the root cause of why her emotions were all over the ce like this.

    "Don¡¯t apologize," he murmured to her. "It¡¯s not your fault."

    Her arms wrapped around his waist.

    They hugged like that for what felt like forever. Then he made her look at him. His fingers wiped away her tears. She looked pitiful, tired and embarrassed, but Niki still thought that she was damn sexy. Something below his belt started to stiffen but he forcefully tamped his desire down.

    "Let¡¯s just sleep tonight. You¡¯re tired. I¡¯m tired. We both need to rest." He rubbed her soft lips with the rough pad of his thumb. "I know that you must have many questions that you want to ask me but are hesitating. Ask away. If I can answer a question, I will. If not, don¡¯t overthink it. I might not answer something if I deem it unsafe for you to know."

    She nodded but her mouth pouted, making him want to kiss her, devour her, but even someone like him sensed that the atmosphere wasn¡¯t quite right for him to seduce her. The woman clearly needed some time to process his revtion. And by hell, he was going to give it to her even though he didn¡¯t usually have this much patience for any woman he fucked before.

    "I wanted to make our dinner date tonight special but I...ruined it."

    Lu Zihao couldn¡¯t help it. He chuckled.

    "You¡¯reughing at me." Her pouting lips elongated even more.

    His chuckled turned to full-blownughter. He lowered his head and gave her pouting lips a smacking kiss. His hand also gave a yful smack on her butt. Then he realized that his other hand was still holding the belt that the Spaniard chose. He curled his lip in annoyance (and jealousy) and tossed the belt behind his woman¡¯s back. Such an eyesore, that ugly leather belt.

    (The leather belt: What did I ever do to you? Wuwuwu!)

    Then he suddenly carried his woman like a princess, making her yelp in surprise. They showered together, and unable to stop themselves, they still ended up having sex in the bathroom.

    Later, theyy together on the bed naked in each other¡¯s embrace. Lu Zihao still looked like he had a lot of energy to spare but Long Jinjing was utterly exhausted after their bathroom y earlier. He didn¡¯t seduce her again. At least, not for the rest of tonight.

    Still, she was unable to fall asleep. Her thoughts and emotions remained in turmoil. It was only now that she realized how much his shocking revtion about Shadow Winds was really stressing her out. There were many questions that she wanted to ask him but didn¡¯t know how to start.

    In the end, she could only ask about what he did earlier today. "Did you catch the aplices to the mall bombing incident?"

    "Caught some. Not all of them. Still looking for the others."

    "Oh." She ran her hand over his big, hard, scarred chest. It twitched under her touch. "You don¡¯t have any wounds or bruises on your body. I¡¯m d."

    "Hm. Don¡¯t worry. Those aplices are justckeys who can¡¯t evenpare to a finger of Shun or Robin, much less me."

    "But still be careful."

    "Okay."

    Surprisingly, it was Lu Zihao who fell asleep first. Long Jinjing watched his scarred, handsome face.

    Then at that moment, she finally figured out why she felt so bothered by Ren¨¦ Alejandro earlier.

    "He feels simr to you," she whispered to the sleeping Lu Zihao but he didn¡¯t hear her.

 Chapter 1163 - Not Worth Your Anger

    <h4>Chapter 1163 - Not Worth Your Anger </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    During the final weekend before Iris was scheduled to end her bed rest in the next few days, Theresa Blipsburg returned from Cross Academy and brought customized supplements plus other helpful concoctions for pregnant women like pain-relieving and calming massage oils, creams for stretch marks, and so many more. All of these were for Iris.

    The most impressive that she gave Iris, however, was a personalized printed guide book that Theresa wrote after consulting with all of her mentors from the academy based on Iris¡¯ medical files. It covered everything including the mostmon and not-somon do¡¯s and don¡¯ts during pregnancy, rmendations for a wide range of areas such as diet, exercise, rxation, and even suggestions for safe sex positionsplete with detailed illustrations.

    Iris was very grateful for her friend¡¯s thoughtfulness and generosity. Even Jin Liwei received a special copy of the guide book modified for him as an expectant father. The only issue he had was that the tone in his modified guide book was harsher. Reading it was like hearing Theresa lecturing, warning and scolding him to take better care of the pregnant Iris.

    Theresa didn¡¯t stay for too long but promised to stay in touch with both Iris and Jin Liwei whenever they had any concerns about Iris and their twin babies¡¯ health.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    After meeting with Iris¡¯ private doctor to coordinate Iris¡¯ new health n, Theresa returned to Cross Academy on the same day. AJ Zheneres and Ashandra Knightson also left with her. The friends all said their goodbyes to each other.

    As for Amanpio Kileksky, he chose to stay for a few more days. He was working on something with Alric Bauer at Orchidia Beauty and rarely stayed at Dragon Pce except to sleep. Iris didn¡¯t stop the inventor but her husband looked displeased that Amanpio was overstaying.

    It was now Sunday.

    The husband and wife were together on their bed reading the guides that Theresa gave them. Both had serious expressions on their faces, as if they were both studying for an important exam.

    "This is really helpful," Irismented. "I appreciate how detailed this guide ispared to all those pregnancy books that you bought. Some of those books are so vague that I wonder how the authors even got published and touted as experts on the subject in the first ce."

    Jin Liwei chuckled. Indeed, the difference in quality was clear. Theresa Blipsburg was a genius after all. However, he had a wry expression due to the harsh tone of his personalized guide. He felt like a masochist just reading it even though it was indeed extremely helpful in his journey as an expectant father and as a supportive husband to his pregnant wife.

    "Excuse me, Mommy and Daddy," a cute child¡¯s voice interrupted them. "Grandpa Butler is now apanying Uncle Long Jian and his poopoo-headed mother Zhu Ning to mommy and daddy¡¯s room. Meow~"

    Iris didn¡¯t react much and continued reading her guide. On the other hand, Jin Liwei closed his book and ced it on top of his bedside table.

    He asked Ketchup, "Only the two of them?"

    "No, Daddy! Mommy¡¯swyer, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, is apanying them. Meow~"

    "Good." Jin Liwei nced at his wife who still wasn¡¯t showing any reactions whatsoever.

    At first, Jin Liwei instructed hiswyer, Atty. Kang Huizhong who was also Jin Corporation¡¯s famous corporatewyer, to handle Zhu Ning¡¯s case. However, they decided to hand the case over to Iris¡¯wyer, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, instead. This was to show and make a point to both Long Jian and his mother Zhu Ning that it was Iris who helped them.

    Of course, Jin Liwei also had a hand in it and so did his brother-inw¡¯s Shadow Winds, especially the hacker team ShaWn. However, most of the preliminary work was done by his wife and their AI children. In the end, it was Bacon who achieved a breakthrough in the case and dug the concrete evidence they needed to free Zhu Ning from jail and clear her from the crime.

    Jin Liwei wanted to emphasize to both Long Jian and Zhu Ning that if not for his wife, he wouldn¡¯t even bother lifting a finger to help in this case at all. So they shouldn¡¯t dare to disregard his wife and thank only him.

    His expression reverted to his old intimidating cold indifference. He looked like someone who was getting ready to mete out punishment.

    "Darling." Iris reached out and interlocked their hands together. "No need to get so worked up for people like them. We¡¯re only doing this for my deal with Long Jian. Nothing more, nothing less. Whatever happens to them after this is none of our concern."

    "I know, love." He gave her a soft smile but his expression turned cold again. "I just can¡¯t help but feel angry whenever I remember that foul-mouthed woman ndering you back then."

    "Zhu Ning is not worth your anger. She hates all of Long Tengfei¡ªFather¡¯s other women and children. Besides, I really don¡¯t feel too affected personally. It¡¯s Wei Lan and Long Xin she hates, not Evelina. But of course, I¡¯m Long Xin now so I¡¯ll still defend myself if Zhu Ning continues to act foolish and insist on making me her enemy."

    Jin Liwei curled his lip. "I won¡¯t let ite to that, love. If she dares offend you, I¡¯ll put her back to jail for harassment or for some other crime. With her nasty personality, it¡¯s easy to induce her to do stupid things andnd herself back to the police station."

    "I¡¯ll leave it to you then." Iris had no qualms passing today¡¯s meeting with Long Jian and Zhu Ning to her husband. She tilted her head to the side and thought of something. "Long Jian is not bad. He has changed in a number of ways for the betterpared to Long Xin¡¯s memories of him in the past that I have. It¡¯d be nice if his mother learns to control herself and not be a hindrance to her own son¡¯s potential of achieving sucess."

    Before he could reply, Ketchup alerted them that Long Jian¡¯s group was now at the door of their master suite. Secondster, the butler arrived leading the visitors inside the bedroom.

    "Little Sister, Brother-inw," Long Jian greeted.

    His mother, Zhu Ning, stepped out from behind him. She didn¡¯t speak.

 Chapter 1164 - Patience

    <h4>Chapter 1164 - Patience </h4>

    Zhu Ning looked older and haggard. There were now more wrinkles on her skin and white strands on her hair. She also looked thinner. Jail time hadn¡¯t been kind to her. She looked defeated unlike her previous arrogant self.

    Despite this change, she didn¡¯t look grateful towards Iris or Jin Liwei. To be more precise, there was no other expression on her face aside from defeat. It was as if she was just following her son without thinking or feeling on her own.

    The butler led Long Jian, Zhu Ning and Atty. Hong Shaoqiang to the nearby seats. Jin Liwei kissed his wife¡¯s forehead before leaving her on the bed to sit with the visitors. Long Jian and Atty. Hong handed Jin Liwei some flower arrangements and baskets of fruits for Iris. Long Jian brought an extra care package filled with sweets. It seemed that he remembered Iris¡¯ sweet tooth. Jin Liwei thanked them both before handing the items to the butler.

    "Don¡¯t mind that we¡¯re meeting in our bedroom," Jin Liwei said while refreshments were being served. "My wife is in bed rest so she has to stay here and recuperate."

    Long Jian nced at his half-sister on the bed and frowned. "I saw Brother-inw in the news at the opening of LXC Studio and you revealed that Xin is ill and is in bed rest, that¡¯s why she hasn¡¯t made any public appearance for so long. What¡¯s wrong with her? Why is she so ill to the extent that she has to stay in bed rest like this?"

    It was Iris herself who answered him. "Big Brother Jian, my health has just not been ideal for quite a while. I feel better now. My husband is taking care of me."

    "You look thinner."

    "I¡¯m already working on gaining weight. Thank you for your concern."

    Long Jian sighed but still nodded. After the short conversation, he began to feel awkward and even nervous. It was so unlike his usual confident self. Both he and his mother didn¡¯t look like their usual selves today.

    Jin Liwei had no intentions of helping to ease the atmosphere for them. In fact, his already cold intimidating gaze turned even icier. Long Jian couldn¡¯t look directly at him. As for his mother, Zhu Ning remained quiet as a mouse while sitting beside him. A closer look revealed that she was trembling under Jin Liwei¡¯s icy gaze.

    Unbeknownst to Long Jian, Jin Liwei already went to meet Zhu Ning days ago. She hadn¡¯t been released from jail yet that time. He gave the woman a thorough warning not to mess with his wife ever again or he would make sure that she would rot in jail next time.

    Zhu Ning must have been traumatized by her time inside the jail because she took his words to heart. Back to the present, she didn¡¯t even dare to breathe too loudly for fear of upsetting Jin Liwei.

    Atty. Hong Shaoqiang started summarizing the conclusion of Zhu Ning¡¯s case, finally breaking the awkward atmosphere. Notpletely but enough to make it easier for both the mother and son to breathe a little easier.

    After thewyer finished speaking, Long Jian cleared his throat and looked at the married couple. "We came here today to personally thank you for helping to free my mother from jail and also for clearing her for the crimes pinned against her once and for all. We owe you so much, Little Sister and Brother-inw."

    He didn¡¯t mention his deal with Iris in the presence of his mother and thewyer. Iris and Jin Liwei were married so Iris should have already told Jin Liwei about her deal with Long Jian. Nevertheless, his gratitude looked very sincere.

    "Mom." He nudged his mother and urged her to say something.

    It took Zhu Ning a few seconds to gather the courage to speak. Her trembling, bony hands were clutching her pants. She finally looked up and made eye contact with Iris on the bed. She quickly looked down on herp upon seeing Iris¡¯ straightforward gaze. As for looking at Jin Liwei...no way! The man had put the fear in her days ago.

    "T-thank you..." This was all she could say.

    Long Jian encouraged her to say more but her mouth refused to open again. All he could do was sigh and give an apologetic smile at the husband and wife.

    "It¡¯s fine," Iris said with disinterest. "I¡¯m getting tired."

    Jin Liwei stood up. Both Long Jian and Atty. Hong understood the meaning and stood up as well, ready to leave. Long Jian pulled his mother with him.

    Before they could leave, Iris called, "Big Brother Jian."

    Long Jian turned to her.

    "It¡¯s good to see you again," she said.

    He looked a little surprised but he smiled and nodded. "Likewise. Good to see you again, Little Sister. Get better soon."

    She nodded.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    After the group left, Jin Liwei returned to his wife¡¯s side on the bed. Iris was already back to reading the guide that Theresa gave her.

    "That went better than I expected," hemented while gathering her in his arms.

    She gave him a side eye. "Zhu Ning is frightened of you."

    "She should be. This way, she won¡¯t dare do anything harmful to you or I¡¯ll fulfill my promise to send her back to jail and let her rot inside there for the rest of her life."

    "As long as she doesn¡¯t harm us, we can forget about her. Our energy is better spent on more important people and things than that woman."

    "En. I¡¯ll listen to you, wife."

    She smiled and lifted her head up, clearly asking for a kiss. He gave her what she wanted.

    The kiss started out light but quickly became hot. Both of them were panting afterwards.

    "Theresa says it¡¯s not safe for us to make love yet," Iris said with a sigh. "It has been too long."

    He sighed as well but chose not to say anything. It was difficult for him too but his worry for his wife¡¯s wellbeing trumped over his desire to make love with her.

    "Patience, baby. Get better quickly and I promise to give it to you."

    She tossed the guide on the bed and hugged her husband instead. Her softness made Jin Liwei¡¯s little brother stiffen but he restrained himself as usual.

    <i>¡¯Patience, Liwei,¡¯</i> he repeated to himself.

 Chapter 1165 - Beyond First Class

    <h4>Chapter 1165 - Beyond First ss </h4>

    Jasper Leung almost fainted when he was led to board a private jet. His two bodyguards came with him. A male flight attendant weed them and led them inside the aircraft. The two bodyguards didn¡¯t look too surprised but Jasper felt like his soul had flown out of his body at the shockingly luxurious treatment.

    This was the first time that he was experiencing this kind of first-ss treatment. No, this went beyond first ss! Indeed, billionaires lived in a different worldpared to normal folks like him. Now he was being given the privilege of experiencing a taste of this kind of exclusive lifestyle firsthand.

    Assistant Xu Tian had arranged all of Jasper¡¯s travel details. All Jasper needed to do was provide his appropriate documents and pack his luggage. At first, he thought that he was going to fly via amercial airline. He didn¡¯t want to expect too much but based on CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s standards, Jasper would surely get to fly in business ss at least. After all, he was travelling to China for business as a paid intern of his idol CEO.

    Although his trip was only for three days, he was looking forward to it very much and was determined to learn as much as possible from CEO Jin himself. His worldview had definitely started expanding after starting to work at White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services.

    His boss, Miss Kitty, might be a young child but she was, without a doubt, a genius. After only a few days of working with her, Jasper believed that Miss Kitty was the ultimate virtual assistant. The only problem was that she was still emotionally immature in a lot of ways and extremely chatty. She had the ability to talk one¡¯s ears off if she was allowed to do so. Fortunately, she was reasonable most of the time except for when she was being too naughty. She was still only a kid after all.

    The flight from Singapore to China was expected to only take around five hours. If the weather forecast didn¡¯t change, it would take less time. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jasper studied the notes that Assistant Xu Tian sent him beforehand while inside the luxurious private jet. They included his schedule as CEO Jin¡¯s personal intern. It was more packed than he first thought. Despite this, he still had some free time in the afternoons and evenings to visit some tourist spots or go wherever he wanted.

    The notes also included simplified biodata of Jin Corporation¡¯s executives, members of the board of directors, and other key personnel. He hadn¡¯t been given any instructions on what to do with the information or the reason why he was given the list of biodata in the first ce but Jasper interpreted it as a test for him.

    CEO Jin told him that he was going to be his shadow at work for the full three days. It was like being in Assistant Xu Tian¡¯s enviable position as CEO Jin¡¯s right-hand man. It was only natural to know the identities of all these key personnel in thepany.

    Jasper studied the notes in the same way that he studied for his final exams in university. Thest part of the notes had nothing to do with business at all but with CEO Jin¡¯s personal life. More specifically, it was a reminder that CEO Jin¡¯s wife, the new Madam Jin, must be treated with the utmost respect possible. If he failed to do so, the notes warned that he would earn the wrath of not only CEO Jin but the entire household.

    He already read this part several times before but still shivered. As the one who established ck Stars Singapore, Jasper had been forced to watch and share countless music videos and recorded live performances of Madam Jin, or more known as the multi-award-winning musician Iris Long, by Miss Kitty Jin. He had the impression of a beautiful and elegantdy based on what he watched of her.

    Assistant Xu Tian¡¯s notes, however, created a scary image of Madam Jin in Jasper¡¯s mind. It seemed like Madam Jin was the true boss of the household and not CEO Jin. Even their daughter, Miss Kitty, couldn¡¯t stop praising her own mother to high heavens.

    <i>¡¯I need to make a good impression on Madam Jin. Miss Kitty revealed that CEO Jin originally nned for me to stay at a hotel but Madam Jin wanted to invite me to stay at their home instead.¡¯</i>

    Jasper didn¡¯t know exactly what to expect upon arriving in China. He had some ideas but CEO Jin¡¯s actions had beenpletely out of Jasper¡¯s expectations ever since his idol businessman personally hired him to work for Miss Kitty¡¯s virtual assistantpany. He decided to keep an open mind and just experience whatever came his way, and of course, do his best not to faint like an overexcited fanboy.

    The flight was veryfortable. The food was delicious. The male flight attendant told him that a world-ss chef cooked it before it was packed for his flight. There were countless movies and TV shows to watch in differentnguages. He could also y video games if he wanted.

    Since the flight didn¡¯t take too long, he had nned on studying the notes that Assistant Xu Tian sent him as much as possible. However, one particr game in the entertainment hub caught his eye. It was called <i>"Supreme Ascension"</i>.

    He only wanted to try it out but before he knew it the private jet was already touching down China.

    "W-what...."

    He couldn¡¯t believe that he lost track of the time ying games! How embarrassing! It was a good thing that CEO Jin Liwei didn¡¯t know. Jasper didn¡¯t want to give the impression that he was a games addict.

    "But this game is really good. No, it¡¯s awesome. Wow. I¡¯m going to get my own copy and y it during my free time when I return to Singapore."

    Clearing customs was a breeze for a private flyer like him. It felt wonderful.

    Someone was already waiting for him upon his arrival. He gasped when he saw the man who was personally picking him up.

    "Assistant Xu!"

    Although CEO Jin was still his number one idol businessman, Jasper still couldn¡¯t help but feel starstruck upon seeing the elite executive assistant.

    Xu Tian smiled at him and shook his hand. "Wee to China, Mr. Jasper Leung."

 Chapter 1166 - Finally Meeting His Idol

    <h4>Chapter 1166 - Finally Meeting His Idol </h4>

    Compared to hisfortable air travel, Jasper Leung was tense at the unbelievably tight security at Dragon Pce Homes. Even clearing customs wasn¡¯t as strict as this!

    Every time they had to stop at a security checkpoint, he felt nervous and even guilty for no reason at all. He tried to remember if he brought any illegal substances or firearms without his own knowledge. It waspletely illogical because he was innocent but he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling this nervous, no, frightened at the intimidating security protocol inside the exclusive vige.

    Jasper nced at Assistant Xu Tian who was sitting beside him on the backseat as cool as a cucumber. This seemed to be normal routine for him. As expected of the executive assistant of CEO Jin Liwei!

    He calmed down a little after being influenced by Assistant Xu. However, he began to feel nervous again once they reached Dragon Pce Home #10. The massive gates was impressive and so was the long...long...extremely long driveway. How long was it anyway? They had been driving for ten minutes already but had yet to see the mansion.

    "We¡¯ll be there in another ten minutes," Assistant Xu told him.

    Jasper nodded, not daring toin. He didn¡¯t have time for it anyway because his face was almost glued to his window looking at the picturesque view outside. Finally, the ptial mansion came into view. He gasped upon seeing it. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Wow!"

    It was like being transported to Europe. His earlier nervousness was now gone, reced by pure awe instead at the magnificent sight before him.

    "Let¡¯s go," Assistant Xu said.

    Jasper followed the executive assistant up the stone steps. The butler weed and led them inside the mansion. Once again, Jasper¡¯s jaw fell down upon stepping inside. Was this a home? It felt like he was stepping into a fantastical world so far away from his reality.

    His eyes were attracted by the huge portrait hanging on top of the twin grand staircases. It was a family portrait of CEO Jin Liwei and his wife with four cute cats of different colours. The green-eyed white cat especially caught his attention because its bright smile resembled Madam Jin in an uncanny way.

    The butler told him, "Mr. Leung, my apologies but you¡¯ll have to wait before you can rest in your assigned bedroom. The master and mistress both want to meet you as soon as you arrive. Please follow me."

    "Ah, yes! No problem at all. I¡¯m not that tired because the flight was veryfortable. I also want to meet CEO Jin and Madam Jin to thank them for inviting me here. Please lead the way, Mr. Butler."

    While they were walking, Jasper tried to y it cool at first but he couldn¡¯t stop himself from looking around like an ignorant kid. CEO Jin Liwei had a cold, indifferent, and intimidating public persona so Jasper thought that his idol businessman¡¯s home would reflect that. He was wrong.

    Although the mansion was massive, it felt warm and even cozy. There were lots of photos of the married couple, their cats, and other people who must be their loved ones disyed here and there. The monogram LX was also everywhere. Jasper knew that it was the initials of CEO Jin and his wife.

    He recognized some of the faces in the photos like the legendary genius businessman and co-founder of Jin Corporation, Sir Lu Jianhong, and the superstar Jin Chonglin. As for the others, he didn¡¯t recognize them but guessed that they were close to CEO Jin and his wife.

    "Mr. Butler, is there no photos of Miss Kitty Jin?" he asked.

    The butler looked confused at first, which in turn confused Jasper, but it didn¡¯tst long. Realization shed in the butler¡¯s eyes.

    Behind Jasper, Xu Tian mouthed "Ketchup" to the butler. It was only then that the butler remembered the Young Miss Ketchup¡¯s English name.

    "Young Miss Kitty is also in the photos, of course," the butler said with a mysterious but polite smile. "Perhaps Mr. Leung has just not noticed it."

    Jasper didn¡¯t think too much about the butler¡¯s earlier confused expression. He wanted to ask the butler to point out Miss Kitty in the photos but Assistant Xu Tian interrupted him before he could do so. Assistant Xu began reminding him again about the proper behaviour when meeting CEO Jin and Madam Jin.

    "The madam is in bed rest so we¡¯ll meet her and President Jin in their bedroom. Remember not to look around too much inside because it¡¯s their private space. Don¡¯t ask too many questions about the madam either and pay attention to the president¡¯s expression. He¡¯s extremely protective of the madam so he won¡¯t take it kindly if you offend his wife even by ident."

    "Yes, sir. I understand, sir!" Jasper began to sweat and his heart started thundering inside his chest.

    "We¡¯re here." The butler opened the door to the master suite and led them inside.

    Jasper had a few seconds to calm himself before the butler beckoned them to follow him inside the master bedroom. As soon as he entered after Assistant Xu, he heard a familiar excited child¡¯s voice.

    "Meowowow! Wee to our home, Jaspy! The cute and mighty Kitty is so happy that you visited our one big happy family! Mommy, Daddy, this is Kitty¡¯s new not-so-boring employee, Jaspy! Meow~"

    "Thank you, Miss Kitty." He looked around, trying to look for his boss but couldn¡¯t find her.

    "Hihihi! You can¡¯t see the cute and mighty Kitty! Meow~"

    Jasper didn¡¯t have the time to figure out where his naughty boss¡¯ voice wasing from because his eyes immediately zeroed in to the tall, handsome figure who stood up to meet him and the beautiful, delicate figure propped on the big bed. He stood ramrod straight and quickly wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before shaking his idol CEO¡¯s hand.

    Kyaaaaaah! He touched CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s hand. OMG!

    He was freaking out inside but by the grace of the almighty deity of all fanboys, fangirls and fangays, he was able to stay upright and prevent himself from fainting on his idol¡¯s feet. His sweaty hands were trembling but at least he didn¡¯tpletely embarrass himself in front of everyone.

    "Wee to our home, Jasper Leung," CEO Jin said with a smile.

    Jasper was almost blinded. His idol¡¯s smile was too deadly! Kyaaaaaaah!

 Chapter 1167 - Illogical Superstitions

    <h4>Chapter 1167 - Illogical Superstitions </h4>

    The meeting with CEO Jin Liwei and his wife didn¡¯tst for too long because of Madam Jin¡¯s health. It was understandable that CEO Jin didn¡¯t want to tire his wife out too much.

    Jasper was pleasantly surprised that Madam Jin wasn¡¯t so scary after all. She was actually a very kinddy. He no longer felt that Miss Kitty was exaggerating whenever she was singing praises of her own mother. It felt like he was meeting an angel and a goddess all at the same time. Madam Jin was also many times more beautiful in person than on screen.

    Frankly, the couple was breathtaking. Now he couldn¡¯t wait to meet Miss Kitty Jin in person as well. He was sure that she would be a beautiful child because her parents were both gorgeous. However, he didn¡¯t dare ask CEO Jin and Madam Jin to meet their precious daughter especially after remembering Assistant Xu¡¯s repeated reminder not to ask too many questions.

    <i>¡¯I¡¯ll work hard to earn their trust. Then they¡¯ll surely allow me to meet Miss Kitty in person.¡¯</i>

    After thanking the couple for the opportunity to stay in their home and learn from CEO Jin Liwei as a paid intern starting tomorrow, the butler finally led Jasper to his assigned bedroom. Assistant Xu remained to speak with CEO Jin.

    The trip from Singapore to here didn¡¯t take that long but Jasper still felt a little tired. He ended up taking a short nap before waking up before dinner. His two bodyguards acted as his guide in the mansion since they were originally CEO Jin¡¯s security subordinates. They led him back to the master suite because CEO Jin and Madam Jin apparently wanted him to join them for dinner. He was touched especially because Madam Jin was still in bed rest. This showed that the madam truly weed him to their home.

    When he arrived, he discovered that there were other new arrivals like him. There was a mboyant man leading the conversation and making everyoneugh.

    "You¡¯re here," Madam Jin, Iris, smiled and beckoned him to join the group. "Everyone, meet Jasper Leung. He¡¯s an intern Liwei personally invited all the way from Singapore."

    The mboyant man greeted him in English. "Ah, so you¡¯re Jaspy! I heard so much about you! Wee! I¡¯m Dominic Chua, Boss Iris¡¯ super-duper to the highest level handsome and beautiful assistant and best friend! You can call me Dom. Nice to meet you, Jaspy! Hehehe."

    A middle-ageddy smacked Dom on the shoulder and scolded him. "Introduce yourself properly! You¡¯re already this old but still so unruly, ha."

    "Ouch, Momsy!"

    "Listen to your momsy," Domingo Chua warned his son.

    Dom pouted but behaved after being scolded by both his parents.

    Jasper watched all this and felt amused and awkward at the same time. The atmosphere was very lively. He recognized the name Dom because he often heard it from his boss, Miss Kitty. She would mention her Uncle Dom now and then. Of course, he also knew that Dominic Chua was the registered owner of White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services on paper. This was a good opportunity to meet the actual person.

    He immediately noticed that the way this Mr. Dominic Chua spoke was almost identical to how Miss Kitty talked. So he was the reason why Miss Kitty always acted so overdramatic.

    Madam Jin, Iris,ughed. Her voice tinkled like crystal bells, making everyone sigh in appreciation at the sound. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She said, "Jasper, this is my best friend Dom and his parents, Uncle Domingo and Auntie Reina Chua. They¡¯re like family to us so my husband and I invited their whole family all the way from the Philippines to spend Christmas and New Year with us here. They¡¯re also the ones who influenced us to celebrate these special holiday asions. Uncle and Auntie came here first but their other family members will be arrivingter a few days before Christmas day."

    Jasper greeted them. The Chuas were a cheerful bunch especially the mother and son so Jasper soon found himself chatting with them as if he had known them for a long time. The father, Domingo Chua, wasn¡¯t as chatty as his wife and son but he didn¡¯t shy away from talking to Jin Liwei in a familiar manner. Jasper was very impressed that these people treated CEO Jin as if he was a normal person and not a formidable billionaire.

    Dinner was soon served in the bedroom.

    Iris told Jasper that even though eating dinner in the bedroom with this number of people was not ideal, she still preferred havingpany instead of being bored eating by herself. She wouldn¡¯t allow her husband, CEO Jin Liwei, to leave their guests to eat by themselves in their first night of stay in their home either because he would want to apany her all the time.

    After finishing the delicious main meal, it was now time for dessert. Reina Chua kept on piling the cakes, white chocte brownies, and other sweet pastries on Iris¡¯ te.

    "Auntie Reina, the doctor says it¡¯s not good for Xin to eat too much sweets," Jin Liwei said.

    Reina waved a dismissive hand. "Doctors are always like that. Don¡¯t eat this, don¡¯t eat that. Even if it¡¯s just once or twice a week, let a pregnant woman eat whatever she wants! Don¡¯t deprive your wife, Liwei. Poor girl."

    Jin Liwei looked like he wanted to say something but decided to close his mouth. He released a helpless sigh but there was a clear doting look in his eyes as he watched his wife enjoying dessert. Jasper observed all this.

    Reina gave advice to Iris. "Xin, don¡¯t look at ugly people, animals, or things because your baby wille out ugly! So only look at something beautiful so your baby will be as gorgeous just like you and Liwei."

    "Momsy, don¡¯t teach Boss that kind of illogical superstitions," Domined.

    "Stay out of this! I was pregnant and gave birth to all four of you siblings so I know what I¡¯m talking about."

    Dom rolled his eyes but stopped when his father red at him.

    Then Reina told Iris, "By the way, I dreamed of you eating two bananas while stroking your bellyst night. Such a weird dream, ha. I think you¡¯re going to have twins!"

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei looked shocked.

 Chapter 1168 - Psychic Dreams

    <h4>Chapter 1168 - Psychic Dreams </h4>

    Iris and Jin Liwei turned to Dom at the same time. Dom immediately raised both of his arms up high while shaking his head.

    "Boss, Sir Boss, believe me! I never said anything to Momsy or anyone in my family! I didn¡¯t even tell them that you¡¯re pregnant!" He gasped and quickly covered his mouth with both his manicured hands. "Oops."

    Reina Chua smacked her son in excitement. "I knew it! I keep on dreaming about Xin stroking her belly or pushing a stroller or even nursing. I¡¯ve been having these dreams sincest month but your popsy told me that they¡¯re just dreams and not to bother you with them, especially after we heard that Xin¡¯s health hasn¡¯t been that goodtely. But I just have this feeling that either Xin is already pregnant or she¡¯s going to be pregnant soon."

    Everyone looked at Domingo Chua who sighed in a helpless manner before nodding. "Yes, it¡¯s true. Your Auntie Reina really kept on having those dreams. She would wake me up in the middle of the night to describe them."

    Iris looked dumbfounded and so did Jin Liwei. Based on their expressions alone, Reina knew right there and then that her dreams were spot on. She became even more excited and hugged Iris.

    "I¡¯m so happy for you, Xin! You¡¯re still young but I just know that you¡¯re going to be a great mother." There were tears in Reina¡¯s eyes as she said these words which in turn made Iris¡¯ eyes water as well. Then Reina faced Jin Liwei. "You have to take care of your wife ha, Liwei. Pregnancy is hard on women. And after Xin gives birth, don¡¯t leave all the responsibility of raising your children to her alone. You have to help too and not just focus on earning money outside the house. You have to be a father both in name and in action."

    "I understand, Auntie Reina," Jin Liwei replied in a solemn tone. "Please don¡¯t worry. I take my responsibility as a husband and father very seriously."

    The teary Iris held the older woman¡¯s hands and squeezed them. "Liwei will be a great father, Auntie. He¡¯s already a great father. I¡¯m the one who¡¯s worried that I won¡¯t be a good mother. I don¡¯t know how to be a good mother."

    "Oh, Xin. All first-time mothers feel like they have no idea what they¡¯re doing even after all the preparations before the birth. Theoretical knowledge ispletely different from practical application. You have to experience something first before you can really know what it¡¯s like. It¡¯s okay to worry and to be scared. This is all normal. I was like that too when I was pregnant with my eldest Marjorie. To be honest, I was terrified but look at me now, a mother of four adult children. All of them are doing well and letting me and their popsy enjoy our old age."

    "Momsy, you and Popsy are far from old yet!" Dom protested.

    Iris agreed. "Auntie and Uncle look younger than your actual age."

    Reina touched her face and smiled. "Really? That¡¯s because we¡¯ve been using all of the Orchidia Beauty products that you¡¯ve been sending to our family. Your Uncle Domingo doesn¡¯t like being fussy so I told him, ¡¯Fine! Don¡¯t use these beauty products that Xin kindly sent us all the way from China. I¡¯ll keep on looking young while you¡¯re going to look old. Then people will think that you¡¯re my father in a few more years!¡¯ Then he started using the products by himself without waiting for me to force him."

    Everyoneughed. Even Jasper who had been listening in the sidelines joined theughter. He never expected that CEO Jin Liwei¡¯s home to be so much fun, warm, and loving like this. They felt like a normal family despite their high social status.

    After the meal, the group split into two in the bedroom while drinking hot tea to aid their digestion.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The gentlemen lounged at the sitting area. They consisted of Jin Liwei, Domingo and Jasper. They were mostly talking about business and Jasper¡¯s uing short internship at Jin Corporation starting tomorrow.

    As for thedies, they stayed on the huge bed while talking about Iris¡¯ pregnancy. Of course, Dom was included in this group. Iris was attentive in listening to all of Reina¡¯s advice while Dom would receive smacks now and then forining about some of his mother¡¯s dodgy superstitious beliefs.

    "You¡¯re amazing, Auntie Reina," Iris said. "You dreamed that I¡¯m pregnant with twins. We¡¯ve been keeping it a secret. Even our parents don¡¯t know yet that I¡¯m carrying twins. Liwei and I want to surprise everyone after I give birth."

    "It¡¯s nothing." Reina waved her hand, trying to downy her psychic dreams. "I have these prophetic dreams sometimes. I think most of us Filipinos believe in this kind of meaningful dream interpretations. When I was pregnant with Dom back then, I remember dreaming about tripping on a toy car on the floor of our house. I took that as a sign that your Uncle Domingo and I were finally going to have a baby boy after two daughters. We were so excited because we always wanted to have a baby boy to carry on the Chua name.

    "But just before I was about to give birth to Dom, I had the same dream. Well, not exactly the same. I tripped on a toy car again but that time, there was a Sharbie doll in a pink dress riding the toy car. That¡¯s when I knew that although I was going to finally have a baby boy, he¡¯ll still really be a daughter deep inside."

    Dom burst into tears. "Momsy! Wuwuwu! I love you and Popsy so much! You¡¯re never ashamed of my handsome and beautiful self! Wuwuwu!"

    "What are you crying for?" Reina also burst into tears but she was trying so hard to control her emotions. "You¡¯re our child so of course your popsy and I are going to ept you no matter what. Stop it na, ha! I don¡¯t want to have swollen eyes!"

    Affected by them, Iris also started crying. She felt so touched by their mother and child bond. Jin Liwei arrived beside her in a sh and hugged her, looking worried.

    "What¡¯s wrong, love?"

    "D-darling, we¡¯ll also ept...our k-kids no matter what they be, okay?" she cried.

 Chapter 1169 - Nothing To Do With Us

    <h4>Chapter 1169 - Nothing To Do With Us </h4>

    "Of course, love," Jin Liwei said.

    He nced at Domingo Chua who looked as helpless as him as they watched thedies sobbing their hearts out. Jasper stayed in the sidelines and looked awkward as hell, not knowing what to do with himself. Nobody anticipated that the cheerful atmosphere would be so emotional like this with the women all ended up crying.

    In the end, everyone became concerned for Iris. The Chuas and Jasper all excused themselves and bid good night to the couple. Jin Liwei was left tofort his wife.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    It took some time for Iris to control her emotions again. She pressed herself deeper in her husband¡¯s warm embrace and inhaled his scent forfort.

    "That was so embarrassing," she murmured, sighing.

    "It¡¯s fine," Jin Liwei assured her. "Are you okay now?"

    She nodded. They continued cuddling together in bed infortable silence.

    After a few moments, Iris said, "Auntie Reina is a wonderful mother. I want to be like her when raising our children."

    "She¡¯s her and you¡¯re you. You¡¯ll be the best mother to our children. You don¡¯t have to imitate anyone."

    She lifted her head up to look at him. "Really? You think so?"

    "En."

    She smiled and touched her stomach. It was still t. "I¡¯ll do my best."

    "Me, too," he said, putting his own hand over hers.

    ###

    Long Jian peeked outside the window of their house. There was a crowd of reporters camping outside their gates. He scowled. Fortunately, Iris and Jin Liwei were kind enough to send him and his mother home from Dragon Pce with a security escort. They were bombarded by the media as soon as they arrived home.

    The bombing incident and the subsequent criminal investigations associated with it had been huge national news because of the many people it involved including big names like Jin Chonglin and Iris Long. So many of the victims and their loved ones wanted someone to me. The bomber, Tian Kong, was condemned of course, but they hated the mastermind the most.

    As the one suspected to be the mastermind, Zhu Ning had been subjected with the harshest denunciation from everyone. She wasn¡¯t tortured in jail but the disgusted mutters didn¡¯t escape her hearing. No matter how indignant she felt at the false usations, the repeated condemnation from everyone still managed to affect her. She aged a lot inside jail.

    The housekeeper called him for dinner. Long Jian stopped looking at the reporters outside and went upstairs to his mother¡¯s bedroom.

    "Mom, it¡¯s time to eat," he called.

    There was no response. He opened the door and saw a mound covered under the duvet on the bed. He sighed and walked inside before pulling the duvet away to reveal his mother.

    Zhu Ning¡¯s expression was nk. It pained Long Jian to watch his mother acting so unlike her usual self. It was like her soul had left her body into an empty vessel. His hands clenched into fists at the unknown motherfuckers who framed his mother and traumatized her like this. She wasn¡¯t the kindest person in the but she didn¡¯t deserve what she experienced.

    "Mom."

    It took him a few tries before his presence registered in his mother¡¯s expression.

    "Son...."

    "I¡¯m here, Mom. You¡¯re okay now."

    Zhu Ning sat up on the bed and grabbed him, clutching the front of his shirt. There was some madness in her frightened eyes as she muttered over and over again, "I don¡¯t want to go back to jail. Don¡¯t let me go back there!"

    "You¡¯re not going back to jail, Mom." He sat down on the bed and did his best tofort his mother.

    After a few minutes, Zhu Ning finally started to calm down. Long Jian sighed in relief.

    "It¡¯s all thanks to Xin and her husband CEO Jin that we managed to free you not only from jail but also from all the crimes the prosecutors are pinning on you. Mom, I couldn¡¯t do anything with my own power but they helped me."

    She didn¡¯t reply. He couldn¡¯t see her expression clearly because the room was dim.

    "What did you pay for the bitch to help you?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

    He frowned. "What?"

    A fierce Zhu Ning faced him. He could barely make out her appearance in the dark. However, it was clear to him that there was something wrong with his mother¡¯s reaction.

    She held his arm and dug her fingers on his skin. It hurt. He tried to pull away but failed.

    "That bitch is the daughter of Wei Lan, that slut. There¡¯s no way that she¡¯ll help you without asking for anything in return! What did you exchange for helping me out of jail? Tell me!"

    Long Jian kept his mouth shut. He had no intention of revealing his deal with Iris to his mother especially since Zhu Ning had the same ambition as him¡ªto seed Long Tengfei as the next head of Long Industries and the Long n. If she knew that he was helping Iris to solidify her position and spread her influence in thepany, his mother would surely go crazy. He couldn¡¯t allow that.

    "It¡¯s nothing," he lied. "Mom, don¡¯t think too much about it."

    Zhu Ning red, not believing him at all.

    He avoided her piercing eyes and tried to change the subject. "It¡¯s time for dinner. Let¡¯s go eat, Mom. You¡¯re so thin now."

    "Tell me!" Zhu Ning shrieked.

    Long Jian¡¯s entire body tensed. His temper almost red but he restrained it by force. This was not the time to fight against his own mother.

    "Leave it, Mom. At the end of the day, Xin and I have the same father. We are siblings. It¡¯s only natural for us to help each other out. Whatever feud our mothers have with each other should have nothing to do with us, the children."

    She pped him in the face.

    His head turned to the side from the force. The sound reverberated in the room and rang inside his head. He was shocked and unable to react in time.

    Zhu Ning was screaming at him like a demented banshee while hitting him on the chest.

    "Traitor! How dare you betray your own mother like this?! You¡¯re siding with the enemies and abandoning me, your mother?! Why?! Because I went to jail and my reputation is ruined?! You traitor son!!!"

 Chapter 1170 - Live My Own Life From Now On

    <h4>Chapter 1170 - Live My Own Life From Now On </h4>

    It took many moments for Long Jian to process what was happening. The shock hadn¡¯t worn off yet. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t wear off for days toe, maybe even longer. The hits on his chest became more violent and the hysterical usations much more vicious. He caught his mother¡¯s arms and shook her by force to make her stop.

    "Mom, stop it! I said stop!!!"

    Zhu Ning was too far gone in her hysterical fury to allow him to calm her down. She continued fighting against his hold and cursing at her own son. The ruckus alerted the housekeeper waiting for them to eat dinner downstairs.

    The housekeeper checked on them but didn¡¯t dare to go inside the bedroom upon seeing what was happening from the small gap in the doorway. She quietly withdrew and returned downstairs to cover the dishes for dinner. Although themotion rmed her, she wasn¡¯t surprised at all. Zhu Ning losing her temper and wrecking everything in her path was amon urrence in the house. There was no household staff who could stay for long in her employ. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Sir Jian wasn¡¯t particrly warm towards them, the help, but he was at least courteous and never insulted them. He might be impatient sometimes but it was understandable because he often brought a lot of work to home. He was terribly busy and workedte into the night in his home office. Despite this, he was still generous and would secretly give each of them bonus during special asions without his mother¡¯s knowledge who would surely kick up a fuss if she had known about it.

    In short, if it were only Sir Jian, the household staff would have no problems staying loyal. It was unfortunate that their actual employer, Madam Zhu Ning, was far from ideal. The housekeeper didn¡¯t know how many came and left before her. She was already nning to quit a while back but then the madam got arrested. Life in the house became more peaceful and she decided to stay for the meantime. But now that the vicious madam was back, the housekeeper¡¯s original n to quit returned. She would just wait for hertest pay and leave afterwards.

    Long Jian had no idea that their current housekeeper was nning to leave soon. He had no time to think about anything else right now aside from calming his hysterical mother. Nothing worked.

    Frustrated, he threatened, "Mom, if you don¡¯t stop this right now, I¡¯m going to leave you and this house!"

    It worked like a charm.

    Zhu Ning stopped trying to attack him and looked at him with disbelief. She was still furious but there was now growing panic mixed in.

    "What did you say?! You¡¯re going to leave your own mother?!"

    Long Jian tried to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down but the adrenaline rush from the situation didn¡¯t allow him topletely restrain his own temper.

    He snapped at his mother, "Since you called me a traitor, then what¡¯s the point of staying here with you? I did everything I could think of to find a way to free you from jail and the crimes you¡¯re being charged! So what if I asked Xin and her husband for help? She¡¯s my sister and he¡¯s my brother-inw! Mom, can you please stop this senseless hatred towards Father¡¯s other women and children? I¡¯m so tired of this!"

    Zhu Ning¡¯s face twisted and she moved to p him again but he caught her hand in time. "How dare you speak to your mother like that?! No respect at all!"

    "MOM!!!"

    His sudden roar scared her. She froze in shock.

    Long Jian looked like he was barely able to control himself. If Zhu Ning had a nasty temper, he had it too. They were mother and son after all. It was just that he learned to have more self-control, discipline, and to be less impulsive in order to pursue his high ambitions.

    "You¡¯re my mother, so of course I respect you. I¡¯ve always been filial to you. But mom, any more respect beyond filial piety is something that needs to be earned. It¡¯s not automatic even between a parent and child."

    Zhu Ning looked like she had just been pped by her own son.

    He continued in a grim tone and expression, "I¡¯ve always hated Xin and my other half-siblings just like what you always taught me. But you know what? Now that I¡¯m an adult who¡¯s continuing to meet more people from all walks of life and varying backgrounds, my worldview has begun to open up and change. I realized that my original hatred towards my half-siblings wasn¡¯t even my own. You¡¯re the one who nted it in me the moment you gave birth to me."

    "You¡¯re ming me, your mother?!"

    Long Jian sighed. There was a mixture of helplessness, frustration, and defeat in his expression.

    He didn¡¯t answer her question but said instead, "Mom, whether I continue hating my half-siblings or build some sort of cordial rtionship with them will be my own decision from now on. I¡¯m an adult man now, capable of my own thoughts. Thank you for giving birth to me, raising me, loving me, and treasuring me as your only son, but I¡¯ll take over my own life now. Don¡¯t worry, Mom. I¡¯ll take care of you for the rest of your life and continue to be filial to you. But I¡¯m telling you now that I won¡¯t allow anyone, even you, to forcefully interfere with the way I choose to live my life from now on."

    "You!" Zhu Ning burst into tears and tried to hit him again. This time, however, his words must have shocked her too much because there was no force in her hits at all.

    Long Jian allowed his mother to hit him. Each hit broke his heart, causing him great pain and guilt. However, it also felt like something was healing inside him, giving him a kind of peace in the mind and heart that he had never experienced before. A huge weight was lifted off his shoulders, raising him up, and making his view of the world much clearer.

    His mother would surely resent him after this. Their rtionship as mother and son might even change forever, but for the first time in his entire life, he felt like the air he was breathing in was fresher.

 Chapter 1171 - Interference

    <h4>Chapter 1171 - Interference </h4>

    Today was the day.

    Iris finally ended her bed rest a few days earlier than expected. Her health saw a sharp improvement ever since taking the supplements that Theresa Blipsburg specially made for her and following her friends¡¯ customized health n. It had only been a few days but Iris already gained a little weight.

    She was still far from reaching her medically rmended healthy weight but this was already a few steps in the right direction. Even her private doctor couldn¡¯t help but feel amazed at this fast rate of recovery. Iris¡¯test ultrasound was a source of great relief to all of them because the twins had now stabilized inside her womb. As long as she didn¡¯t do any foolish and reckless stunts like before, the twins would stay put inside her until they could safely be born into the world.

    Jin Liwei already left for work when she woke up that morning. There was Jasper, his intern for three days, to mentor at Jin Corporation, so Jin Liwei could only witness his wife finally leaving their bed and standing up and walking around on her own via video call. He was as happy and relieved as her.

    After the video call, Iris asked Dom and his parents to apany her to the indoor forest to take a walk. She wanted to enjoy the beauty of nature in person after so long without having to go outside in the cold weather.

    Other people joined them. Grandpa Lu was having a great time chatting with the equally boisterous Reina Chua. Of course, Domingo Chua wasn¡¯t left out but he wasn¡¯t as loud as his wife and the older gentleman. Grandpa Lu was carrying Little Jun in his arms, not at all showing any frailty due to his old age. In fact, his energy trumped Domingo Chua who was a few decades younger than him.

    Jiang Ying Yue had a day off today so she also joined the group. The cats tagged along as well. Popcorn ran around here and there but always returned to the group to jog beside his mommy¡¯s feet while the fat andzy Ice Cream was being carried by Dom, a.k.a. ve #1.

    Iris was all smiles as she took off her sandals to walk barefoot in the indoor forest. She wanted to feel the earth directly with her skin. This ce had be her favourite part of their home. Not only was it Jin Liwei¡¯s extravagant present for her for their first anniversary as lovers but they also exchanged their marriage vows in front of their family and friends at this very ce. It was, without a doubt, a special ce for both of them.

    Since she only got cleared to end her bed rest today, Reina and Grandpa Lu didn¡¯t allow her to walk for too long. A few minutes and they already urged her to rest in thefortable seating area on the islet in the middle of the koi fish pond.

    Dom and his father, Domingo, were keeping an eye on Little Jun who was ying with his two cat cousins away from the pond. The rest were chatting on the islet. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed and echoed inside the indoor forest, scaring away some of the koi fish in the pond away from the islet.

    "This old man is so happy that you¡¯re finally recovered and out of bed rest, Xin my girl! I was so worried that my already white hair turned even whiter! Your beloved grandpa is so relieved that you and your baby are both okay! Good, very good!"

    Iris smiled. "Thank you, Grandpa Lu. Sorry for worrying you." She looked at the others. "For worrying all of you."

    "As long as you¡¯re okay now," Reina told her. "Be more careful next time, ha."

    Iris nodded.

    Grandpa Lu and Reina decided to leave the islet and y with the cute Little Jun. Theirughter filled the ce, giving warmth to the hearts of everyone present.

    Iris turned to Jiang Ying Yue who was watching her son and the others from afar.

    "Sister Ying Yue," Iris called. It was only recently that she began addressing her friend like this.

    Jiang Ying Yue faced her. "Yes, Xin?"

    "Are you okay?"

    Jiang Ying Yue looked confused at first but still nodded with a smile.

    "I mean with thewsuit," Iris rified.

    "Ah." Jiang Ying Yue paled a little. Her smile also dimmed. "Yes, I¡¯m okay...no, not really." She sighed.

    Iris didn¡¯t reply but waited for her friend to say more.

    "Lin Yehan¡ªI mean Mr. Lin¡ª"

    "It¡¯s fine, Sister Ying Yue. Call Eldest Brother whatever you normally call him."

    Jiang Ying Yue blushed and looked down on herp to avoid Iris¡¯ straightforward gaze. There was no teasing in Iris¡¯ tone or expression but Jiang Ying Yue still couldn¡¯t stop herself from feeling shy.

    "Okay..." She cleared her throat. "Lin Yehan...he tells me that thewsuit should have already concluded by this time but...it seems that your father, uhm, I mean President Long is purposely trying to dy thewsuit behind the scenes."

    Iris¡¯ eyes turned icy. Ketchup already informed her and Jin Liwei about Long Tengfei¡¯s interference in thewsuit. Despite his disapproval at his son¡¯s actions, Long Tengfei was still doing everything in his power to secretly protect Long Hui.

    Iris and Jin Liwei wanted to step in to move things along by force if necessary but Lin Yehan had specially requested that they don¡¯t interfere in the case. It was enough that Iris and Jin Liwei were protecting Little Jun¡¯s privacy and preventing the media from feasting on the innocent child. Lin Yehan wanted to solve his problem with Long Hui with his own abilities. Jin Liwei respected his Eldest Brother¡¯s decision, so as the wife, Iris trusted her husband¡¯s stance and stood by him.

    Now, however, Iris was ready to break her promise with Lin Yehan if Jiang Ying Yue requested for help. She couldn¡¯t stomach watching her friend and the mother of her beloved godson suffering like this because of a jerk.

    "Do you want me to help speed along thewsuit?" Iris asked.

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head without any hesitation. "It¡¯s fine, Xin. Thank you. But I think we should trust Lin Yehan in this matter."

    "Fine. If that¡¯s what you want." Iris smiled.

 Chapter 1172 - Meet The Qualifications

    <h4>Chapter 1172 - Meet The Qualifications </h4>

    It took Iris many days to persuade her husband and everyone else to allow her to ease back to work. Her bed rest might have already ended but her miscarriage scare traumatized not only her but also her husband and all of their loved ones. They kept their eyes on her like a hawk at all times and never allowed her to overexert herself in anything. This time, she no longer dared to be careless. She didn¡¯t want to risk losing her babies anymore.

    Nevertheless, she still resumed all the work she had that got held back due to her unexpected bed rest. Even if she couldn¡¯tplete all the tasks as fast as she wanted, this snail pace was still better than lying down on the bed and doing nothing. At least now, she could again start helping to solve some of the problems that their family had been dealing with for a while now.

    Iris was busy inside herputer room at the moment. She was examining and analyzing Bacon¡¯s system. This was something that she had been itching to do ever since Bacon evolved to be the power flood itself. She put Bacon to sleep mode while she was studying him and tweaking the codes in his system along the way to consolidate the changes made after his evolution.

    Afterwards, she created a temporary program to seal most of Bacon¡¯s power flood abilities. She needed more time to study and test out these new abilities in a controlled environment in order to ensure that Bacon wouldn¡¯t harm himself while using them. At the same time, she wanted Bacon to learn how to control himself.

    Bing the power flood meant that Bacon was now like a dormant nuclear weapon. He literally had the power to destroy the modern world as everyone knew it.

    Therefore, Iris and Jin Liwei needed to teach Bacon on how to resist the temptation to unleash his new destructive powers. They didn¡¯t want a situation to ur where the world ended just because Bacon threw a tantrum over something trivial.

    While Iris was absorbed in what she was doing, she felt a familiar strong warmth embracing her from the side. It took a few seconds for her to focus on the present. Her mouth curved up into a soft smile.

    "Darling," she murmured and received her husband¡¯s kiss on the lips.

    "Snack time," Jin Liwei said while sweeping his eyes all over his wife¡¯s body to make sure that she was alright.

    Iris didn¡¯t miss the movement of his eyes. She knew that he was worried about the level of radiation exposure inside herputer room especially now that she was pregnant. She was worried, too.

    "Look, I¡¯m wearing the anti-radiation clothes that Amanpio made and Ashandra designed for me. I¡¯ll be fine."

    "I know, love. But don¡¯t stay in here for too long just to be sure."

    "Okay."

    Jin Liwei kissed her cheek. "Let¡¯s go. Auntie Reina cooked champorado1 for you and some other Filipino sweets."

    Her eyes lit up. She had eaten champorado before and liked it. Dom requested one of their chefs to cook it and the chef seeded after following a recipe. However, Iris still wanted to try Auntie Reina¡¯s champorado after hearing Dom rave that it was the best ever in the world.

    "Okay but let me finish this up first." She pulled her husband to sit beside her.

    He frowned, not wanting for her to spend any more time inside theputer room today. "Love¡ª"

    "I¡¯ll be done in five minutes, no, three minutes. Promise. I¡¯ll just reinforce Bacon¡¯s prioritymand ess to only the two of us. Remember when he almost tested out his new power flood abilities after getting Big Brother¡¯s permission? We can¡¯t let that happen again. His system becamexer with thesemands after he evolved. I need to fix this right now."

    "Ah." Jin Liwei sighed before nodding. "Bacon is still grounded because of that incident. That cunning kid." He clicked his tongue while shaking his head.

    "Good thing that Ketchup detected it immediately and informed me just in time."

    "En. Our daughter is very responsible and reliable."

    The white cat chasing some virtual butterflies in one of thergeputer monitors heard him and started bouncing in excitement. "Hihihi! The cute and mighty Ketchup is a good big sister! Right, Mommy and Daddy? Meow~"

    "Yes, you are."

    "En."

    Ketchup became excited for a while after receiving praise from both her parents. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t disturb her mommy¡¯s concentration with her endless chatter.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Done!" Iris announced, sighing in relief. Then she called in a soothing voice, "Wake up, Bacon."

    A ck cat appeared beside the overexcited white cat on theputer screen. "Greetings, Mother and Father. Bacon is awake now."

    "What about the cute and mighty Ketchup? Bacon, you big meanie! Don¡¯t forget to greet your big sister! Meow!"

    Bacon blinked his golden eyes. He was silent for a full five seconds before saying "Greetings, Big Sister Ketchup" to his older sister with some reluctance in his tone.

    Iris chuckled while Jin Liwei gave their AI son a stern look. Bacon shrank his head towards his fluffy body and widened his eyes in an effort to act cute. Irisughed and patted her husband.

    "Let¡¯s go for snacks," she said.

    "En." He gave Bacon onest look. "Be good."

    "Understood, Father."

    The husband and wife left theputer room while their AI children powered down the devices inside without needing their mommy to remind them.

    "How¡¯s Jasper Leung?" Iris asked as they were walking along the hallway.

    "He¡¯s back in Singapore," Jin Liwei replied.

    "What did you think about his performance as an intern?"

    "Not bad."

    She tilted her head to the side, silently asking him to rify.

    He did. "He¡¯s not naturally brilliant but he¡¯s easy to train and executes instructions well."

    Iris listened to her husband listing off Jasper Leung¡¯s strengths that he disyed during his short internship. Afterwards, she asked, "So Jasper meets the qualifications that you¡¯re looking for in your n?"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t answer right away. Finally, he said, "For now, yes. But he needs more training and he has to grow as a leader faster. The Youngs won¡¯t wait for him to be stronger. He needs to catch them unaware. Only then would my n be considered as effective."

    "I trust in you."

    "Thank, love."

    Sweet chocte rice porridge in Filipino cuisine

 Chapter 1173 - Need A Lot Of Manpower

    <h4>Chapter 1173 - Need A Lot Of Manpower </h4>

    <i>Long Industries.</i>

    It was a normal day at work. The sky outside was overcast, affecting the mood of the majority of the employees. Everything felt monotonous. Nothing was interesting at all. They wished that they could go home soon but the workday was far from over.

    Then the people in the lobby noticed Assistant Cai Guanging out of the elevator and standing by the main entrance. It looked like he was waiting for someone. The person must be a bigshot for President Long¡¯s right-hand man himself to wait and wee him or her. Only VIPs had the privilege of having Assistant Cai Guang wee them personally before leading them to meet President Long Tengfei.

    Momentster, three low-key luxury cars arrived and formed a line outside thepany. Bodyguards in sharp tuxedo suits came out of the first andst cars before forming a protective barrier for whoever was about toe out of the car sandwiched in the middle.

    First toe out of the backseat of the car was a young man in a stylish duffle coat. He was wearing a fedora and oversized sunsses, both of which covered more than half of his face, so others couldn¡¯t clearly see what he looked like. Then he turned sideways and reached his hand back inside the car.

    A delicate hand in a ck leather glove held his hand followed by a pointed, knee-high boot to the ground. Then a woman in an A-line dress coat stepped out of the car. The young man in a fedora and the bodyguards were treating her as if she was a precious but fragile treasure. They all seemed ready to catch her if she so much as swayed on her feet.

    By this time, Assistant Cai Guang already came out of thepany building to receive the mysterious VIP. Everyone inside the lobby craned their necks to peek at who wasing. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The mystery was soon revealed when the path opened up and everyone saw the beautiful face of the woman. She wasn¡¯t wearing a face mask to conceal her appearance. Her breathtaking smile when Assistant Cai weed her made the people watching feel like a ray of sunshine was brightening up the grey day.

    "Ohmahgahd! It¡¯s Boss Iris! Kyaaaaaaah!"

    "Where?! Boss Iris?!"

    "Wuwuwu! It has been so long since she showed herself in public! I miss Boss Iris so much! Wuwuwu!"

    These ck Stars were entry-level workers and didn¡¯t have the long-time prejudice of the older employees against Iris Long. The older employees were the ones who repeatedly witnessed President Long¡¯s youngest daughter causing an embarrassing ruckus in thepany whenever she visited back then when she was still a rebellious teenager. She also insulted a lot of them when they tried to stop her or calm her down. This was why they held no affection for her.

    Fortunately, their impression of their President Long¡¯s youngest daughter already started to improve especially after she became the brand ambassador of Long Industries. Before her sudden withdrawal from the public, she often came to thepany and interacted with the employees, both old and new. Seeing her much better personality, some of the older employees decided not to judge her based on her past behaviour and to keep an open mind to see if she had really changed for the better or if she was just acting because of her rising fame as a celebrity.

    Compared to these older employees, the new hires didn¡¯t care much about what happened in thepany before they started working there. They would sometimes hear about Iris Long¡¯s unreasonable behaviour and actions before but they didn¡¯t think too much about it, especially since some of them were ck Stars. Those of them who were ck Stars fiercely defended their Boss Iris and wouldn¡¯t allow their coworkers to defame her in front of them.

    Now that their beloved Boss Iris was right in front of them, they wanted to run towards her and ask for her autographs and photos with her and also to see with their own eyes if she was now okay. All of them had been so worried when they heard that she was ill and in bed rest. They were about to run to her but their supervisor red at them.

    At first, they felt torn whether to stay at their stations or to ignore their supervisor and run towards their Boss Iris, but in the end, all of them chose their jobs (for now). They were just hired not too long ago after all. With sad faces full of regret, they could only watch their beloved goddess from afar.

    Assistant Cai Guang led the beautiful Iris Long inside thepany building. Her entourage of several bodyguards certainly made her more eye-catching. The ck Stars instantly recognized their Boss Iris¡¯ Filipino assistant and best friend, Dom the Beauty King, when he removed his sunsses and readjusted his fedora on top of his head.

    "Kyaaaaaaaah!"

    "Boss Iris, you¡¯re so beautiful! The most beautiful ever!"

    "We love you, Boss Iris! Are you okay now?!"

    "Still gorgeous, Brother Dom!"

    Despite their supervisor¡¯s clear disapproval, the ck Stars were unable to control their excitement and delight from seeing their Boss Iris in the flesh. Iris stopped walking and looked over at them screaming for her. She smiled before heading towards their direction. Her action made them even more excited that they were literally bouncing on their feet and screaming as if their lives depended on it.

    "Hello," Iris greeted.

    "Hi!" Dom greeted next.

    "Boss Iris!"

    "Dom, the Beauty King!"

    "Kyaaaaaaaah!!!"

    Iris: "I remember some of you from thest time I came here."

    The ones she was referring to felt so happy that she remembered them.

    Iris: "As for you, I haven¡¯t seen you before. Are you new?"

    "Y-yes, Boss Iris! I only got hiredst week."

    Iris: "Congrattions."

    "T-thank you!"

    She chatted with her fans for a few minutes. She also signed autographs and took photos with them all while assuring her beloved fans that she now felt better.

    "Sorry for worrying all of you and thank you for your concern." Iris nced at the disapproving supervisor. She raised an eyebrow before smiling at her fans.

    She told them with a wink, "If you get into trouble with your superior because of me today, you¡¯re wee to apply at Orchidia Beauty. We¡¯re still expanding and need a lot of manpower."

 Chapter 1174 - Stop Interfering

    <h4>Chapter 1174 - Stop Interfering </h4>

    Before the ck Stars could react, Iris Long gave them a final bright smile and waved goodbye before walking away with her eye-catching entourage through the lobby. Assistant Cai Guang was leading them and the group disappeared in the elevators, presumably to meet with President Long.

    It took a few seconds before their Boss Iris¡¯ words registered in the brains of the dumbfounded ck Stars. When it did, everyone in the lobby area almost became deaf from the loud screams.

    That same day, all the ck Stars working in entry-level positions at Long Industries resigned en masse. It surprised their supervisors but didn¡¯t affect thepany too much. They could always hire new employees. There were thousands of new graduates vying for these entry-level positions.

    They never expected that this mass resignation created an unnoticed ripple among the ck Stars holding higher positions in thepany. When they heard that their Boss Iris herself invited their fellow ck Stars to apply at Orchidia Beauty, they felt envious and started evaluating their current situations at Long Industries whether it was feasible to resign or not and try their luck applying at their beloved Boss Iris¡¯pany.

    Those who resigned immediately applied at Orchidia Beauty, targeting different positions that matched their qualifications. They knew that their Boss Iris¡¯ invitation wasn¡¯t a guarantee that they would be hired but their excitement boosted their hope. For ck Stars like them, working at their Boss Iris¡¯pany was like a dreame true.

    All this would happen in the next few days. Back to the present, Iris didn¡¯t know that her words were this effective. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Cai Guang wanted to say something at her trying to poach people from her father¡¯spany but kept his mouth shut in the end.

    Iris didn¡¯t notice his nces because she was too busy inhaling her husband¡¯s scent on the silk scarf wrapped around her neck. Being trapped inside the elevator was making her a bit nauseous with all the different smells assailing her. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t too bad.

    Ever since she started taking the supplements and following the health n that Theresa Blipsburg custom-made for her, all her previous pregnancy symptoms had be much more manageable. They hadn¡¯t disappearedpletely but Iris was already satisfied. At least, she wasn¡¯t fainting anymore. Theresa assured her and Jin Liwei that she would only feel progressively better from now on.

    "Boss, endure it a little more. We¡¯re almost there." Dom said these words in an effort to calm Iris.

    Cai Guang shook his head at his distant nephew. Iris might look a little unwell but she was very calm. Dom was telling her to calm down and yet he was the one who looked panicked instead.

    "I¡¯m fine, Dom," Iris said.

    He nodded but still urged Cai Guang, "Uncle, please hurry up!"

    Cai Guang could only stare at his nephew. What did the brat mean for him to hurry up? Could he, Cai Guang, make the elevator go faster? Even if he could, he still wouldn¡¯t do it. What if it made the Young Miss Xin feel worse? Wouldn¡¯t he have to suffer the wrath of not only her father President Long but also her husband President Jin? He, Cai Guang, wasn¡¯t a foolish old man to court death like that!

    Dominic, this distant nephew of his, was so smart and yet sometimes he was so dumb. Tsk tsk. Cai Guang couldn¡¯t help but scold Dom in his heart.

    The elevator ride felt long, especially for Iris and for everyone who was worrying about her, but it was actually short in reality. When the door opened, Iris managed to maintain her poise and not stumble out of the elevator to breathe in the fresher air of the hallway.

    The group followed Cai Guang all the way to Long Tengfei¡¯s office. Cai Guang announced her arrival first before she stepped inside. Dom was about to follow her but Cai Guang pulled him back and red at him.

    "Xin," Long Tengfei greeted his daughter and even stood up.

    "Father," Iris greeted him back.

    Once he reached her, he suddenly didn¡¯t know what to do with himself. He just stood there in an awkward manner before gesturing for his daughter to sit on the couch. Iris immediately noticed that the modern couch was different to the traditional-style carved wood sofa with foam embed that decorated the office before.

    Long Tengfei cleared his throat. "I had Cai Guang rece the old seats with something morefortable for today. It¡¯s not good for pregnant women to sit on hard surfaces for long periods of time."

    Iris¡¯ eyebrows both rose. She felt a little surprised at first but didn¡¯t find Long Tengfei¡¯s thoughtfulness too abnormal. Long Tengfei had never been showy about his concern for his children but he definitely cared for all of them in his own distant way. That didn¡¯t make him a great father. Not at all. On the contrary, he had many shorings as a father but nobody could deny that he took responsibility for all his children, both legitimate and not, and supported all of them financially without anyints.

    "How are you?" he asked before sitting down on the opposite couch, still looking awkward in front of his daughter.

    "Better," Iris replied and noticed that refreshments were already served on the coffee table. Long Tengfei must have prepared for her arrival in advance. She didn¡¯t stand on ceremony and immediately grabbed one of the bite-sized pastries.

    Long Tengfei¡¯s eyes softened while watching his daughter enjoying the refreshments. He took this chance to examine her from head to toe and back up again. He frowned.

    "Eat more. You lost so much weight. Shouldn¡¯t you be getting fatter when you¡¯re pregnant?"

    She wiped crumbs from her lips with a serviette. "I already gained a little weight after my bed rest ended a few days ago. My friend from Cross Academy prescribed some supplements for me and is helping me be healthier."

    "Good." Long Tengfei was relieved. If someone from the academy was helping his daughter, then the person must be a genius and knew what he or she was doing.

    "Liwei is also taking care of me," Iris didn¡¯t forget to add.

    They chatted about trivial things for a few minutes before Iris finally got straight to the point.

    "Father, I would like you to stop interfering in Eldest Brother Lin Yehan¡¯swsuit against Elder Brother Long Hui."

 Chapter 1175 - Stupid Hormones

    <h4>Chapter 1175 - Stupid Hormones </h4>

    Long Tengfei was caught off guard. He wasn¡¯t able to reply to his daughter¡¯s words for a few moments. Iris didn¡¯t speak and patiently waited for him to gather his wits. He opened and closed his mouth. She could almost see the gears in his head turning, thinking of a way to answer her.

    In the meantime, she continued enjoying the pastries in front of her. Knowing that her health n didn¡¯t allow her to overindulge in sweets, she took mini bites of the already bite-sized pastries, savouring their taste as if they were the best food in the world. Well, for a pregnant woman like her, anything that satisfied her cravings was considered as the best food in the world at that moment.

    She was on her third pastry when Long Tengfei released a long, drawn-out breath. It seemed that he was finally ready to speak.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Xin...." He sighed again.

    "Yes, Father?"

    "He¡¯s your brother."

    She knew who he was talking about and murmured, "Indeed, he is."

    "And he¡¯s my son."

    She stopped eating. Her emotional intelligence had grown by leaps and bounds this year. Although there were still situations that she couldn¡¯t read urately, she wasn¡¯t as dense as before. She immediately knew what Long Tengfei¡¯s words meant. She ced the half-eaten pastry back on the table and focused on Long Tengfei.

    "Father, I remember having a simr talk with you before about your eldest son¡¯s falling out with your grandchild¡¯s mother and the rest of us. He hurt Sister Ying Yue too much and even ndered one of my husband¡¯s best friends on national news."

    Long Tengfei remained silent.

    "It was my understanding that you wouldn¡¯t interfere in our conflict when we talked about this matterst time but it seems that I was wrong." Iris tilted her head to the side. "Father, he has to pay for what he did."

    Another sigh from Long Tengfei. "I know that I said something like that before but..."¡ª<i>sigh</i>¡ª"...as a father, I just can¡¯t sit still while I watch my own son going through something like this. If this happens to you or your other siblings, I would do the same thing. I can only do this much for all of you and use my wealth and influence to protect my children."

    Iris didn¡¯t react much but her nose started to feel a little sting and her eyes watered. Ugh. Her emotions were starting to overwhelm her again. Almost anything was able to make her feel touched now. She wanted to scoff at Long Tengfei but her feelings were doing the opposite.

    It seemed that she was starting to...sympathize with Long Tengfei¡¯s predicament as a father who was caught between his children¡¯s conflict which also involved his first grandchild, Little Jun. She scowled. This wasn¡¯t good. She had to take firm stand not be swayed like this because of her unstable emotions.

    Stupid hormones!

    Long Tengfei saw her scowling and thought that she was angry at him. He wasn¡¯t surprised. If this were any normal situation, his pride as a Long wouldn¡¯t allow anyone to act this presumptuous in front of him but this was his youngest daughter who he honestly thought would continue being a disappointment before but now had soared to unbelievable heights like a reborn phoenix. Now, this daughter of his only kept on giving him great pride with all her aplishments since waking up from her year-longa. He really couldn¡¯t muster any urge to scold her for showing such an unpleasant expression on her face in front of him.

    "You¡¯re pregnant now," he said. "You¡¯re going to be a mother, a parent very soon. You¡¯ll eventually understand how I feel, why I can¡¯t just leave your older brother alone."

    It was clear that Iris was upset. Long Tengfei didn¡¯t want to upset her due to her pregnancy but it was inevitable to have hard feelings when talking about this topic.

    Iris leaned back her head on the back of the couch and closed her eyes while taking deep breaths.

    "Daughter, are you...alright?"

    "Yes, Father. Just give me a few moments to control my temper so that we can continue talking calmly like the reasonable adults that we are."

    Long Tengfei was left speechless for a moment but understood that pregnant women had frightening mood swings. When his ex-wife Wei Lan was pregnant with their daughter back then, the woman was like a demented tigress who wanted to bite everyone¡¯s heads off. Compared to the mother, the daughter was clearly much better in this aspect¡ªno, in MANY aspects.

    Iris remained in that position for so long that Long Tengfei thought that she had already fallen asleep. He was about to try calling her and see if she would respond but her eyes already opened.

    "Father, I¡¯m fine now. Mostly fine." She sat up straight and immediately finished the half-eaten pastry she left on the table earlier. Her expression looked better after eating the pastry.

    "Do you want more?" Long Tengfei asked. "I¡¯ll have Cai Guang bring more."

    "No, thank you. It¡¯s not healthy for me to eat too much sweets." Iris drank in water before facing the original Long Xin¡¯s father. "With everything you just told me, does this mean that you¡¯ll continue to interfere with thewsuit against your eldest son?"

    He didn¡¯t respond. He didn¡¯t need to. She already knew his answer from his silence alone. She couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    "Fine. I can¡¯t force you to change your mind. But a word of advice, Father. It won¡¯t be good for your reputation or thepany¡¯s if it¡¯s found out that you¡¯re using your influence to dy thewsuit. You might even get into legal trouble."

    Long Tengfei still didn¡¯t respond. From his expression alone, he already knew the risks before acting on his paternal instincts to protect his eldest son.

    Iris added, "Even if you keep on trying to dy thewsuit, it will still have to end eventually. The evidence is strong against your son. This is just stalling for time. Unless you pay off the judge to rule in his favour, then your son can¡¯t escape the inevitable."

    "I know." He sighed and looked older than his age at that moment. "But I can¡¯t just abandon my own son."

 Chapter 1176 - Horrible Taste In Women

    <h4>Chapter 1176 - Horrible Taste In Women </h4>

    Iris felt frustrated at Long Tengfei¡¯s stance to continue protecting Long Hui. At the same time, she could also understand why he was doing this. He was right. She was now a mother. If something like this happened to her children, she would do everything in her power to protect each of them even if it was against the world. Her husband, Jin Liwei, would also do the same thing. She was sure about that.

    Her bad temper was threatening to burst out of her but she restrained herself. There was no point in forcing Long Tengfei to abandon his own son, even when Long Hui deserved to be punished severely for what he did.

    "Fine," she said. "Continue to help your son, if that¡¯s what you want. Liwei and I won¡¯t interfere in thewsuit. This is Eldest Brother Lin Yehan¡¯s request to us as well. I just hope that you know that what you¡¯re doing right now is dying the justice that your grandson, Little Jun, and his mother both deserve after all the pain that your beloved eldest son gave them."

    At first nce, Long Tengfei¡¯s expression looked cold. On closer inspection, however, his eyes revealed the painful struggle he was experiencing being caught in between the conflict of his children and the mother of his first grandchild. In an awkward manner, he pushed the te of pastries closer to his daughter.

    Iris gave him a straightforward look before epting his gesture and picked another pastry to eat.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "I heard that you and your husband helped your brother Jian to free his mother from jail?" he asked, changing the subject.

    She raised an eyebrow but wasn¡¯t surprised that he knew all about it. She was already aware that he secretly kept tabs on all his children as much as he could.

    "Yes," she murmured.

    "That¡¯s very...generous of you. Helping your brother and all. His mother, Zhu Ning, is...uh, she¡¯s¡ª"

    "If you can¡¯t say it, then I will. Zhu Ning, your ex-mistress, is a very narrow-minded woman with a nasty personality."

    He winced a little at her blunt statement but didn¡¯t deny it.

    "Well, all the women you impregnated have issues in their personalities including Mother. You really have horrible taste in women, Father."

    He winced again, then frowned, before saying, "Not all of them."

    "Ah, right. Big Sister Jinjing¡¯s mother, Sun Jingfei, is quite nice. Good job, Father, especially for finally marrying an unproblematic wife in Aunt Jiahui."

    Long Tengfei sighed. "Alright, Xin. That¡¯s enough."

    She finished the pastry and tapped her t belly. "I hope that if I have a son, he won¡¯t inherit his maternal grandfather¡¯s horrible taste in women. I want my son to inherit his father¡¯s excellent taste in women instead. After all, Liwei chose me."

    He couldn¡¯t help it. He chuckled at his daughter¡¯s shameless bragging. Then he murmured, "Indeed, your husband¡¯s taste is excellent. He chose my daughter." There was pride in his voice.

    "As for helping out Big Brother Jian, well, we¡¯re siblings. At least, he treats me like a sister even when we¡¯ve never really been that close, unlike some people who defames me and my husband for siding with the mother of his own son."

    Of course, Long Tengfei knew who she was talking about. He released another tired sigh. "Xin."

    "Alright, Father. I¡¯ll stop now."

    She stood up, not wanting to stay in this ce any longer or risk losing her temper on the older man. Long Tengfei was just being a protective father. Out of respect for all the support he gave to the original Long Xin in the background since her birth, she wouldn¡¯t force him to turn his back on his other child no matter how much of an asshole Long Hui acted to all of them.

    Long Tengfei didn¡¯t reply to what she said. Instead, he stood up and asked, "You¡¯re leaving so soon?"

    "Yes. I feel tired now, Father."

    He looked a little rmed. "Go rest now, then. It¡¯s not good for the baby if you push yourself too hard. You just got out of your bed rest and shouldn¡¯t be running around like this in the first ce."

    She made a low sound of assent. Long Tengfei personally walked her out of his office where her entourage was waiting. Both of them felt unresolved about Long Hui¡¯s issue but they still chose to set it aside for now.

    "Father."

    "Yes?" He looked a little surprised that she was still talking to him but quickly hid the reaction behind a neutral expression.

    "You received the invitation for the Christmas gathering from Meimei?"

    "Yes. If you don¡¯t want your Aunt Jiahui and I toe anymore, it¡¯s fine¡ª"

    She frowned. "What are you talking about, Father? Of course, you¡¯re going toe if you¡¯re avable. You¡¯re not avable?"

    "We are avable," he replied in a hurry.

    "Good. You should see your grandson now and then or Little Jun might forget your face if you don¡¯t show yourself for too long."

    "Ah, yes. You¡¯re right. Your Aunt Jiahui misses Little Jun, too." His eyes softened at the mention of his grandson and his wife but once again adjusted his expression to a neutral one.

    "Goodbye, Father. See you at Dragon Pce on Christmas."

    "Alright. Take care of yourself and my grandchild." He nced at her t stomach.

    "Oh, right. I almost forgot. Mother will also be there with his Spanish stepson. Liwei already called Mother and warned her not to make a scene with you and Aunt Jiahui, so everything should be fine. Mother has been careful not to upset my husband. She cares more about him, her son-inw, than me, her own daughter, but that¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t mind it much. It¡¯s up to you, Father, if you still want toe to the Christmas gathering or not."

    He scowled at the mention of his ex-wife. "I see. I¡¯ll keep that in mind. Your Aunt Jiahui is very excited to attend so we¡¯reing no matter what. We¡¯reing for my daughter and my grandson, not for that woman."

    She nodded and waved at him before meeting up with Dom and her entourage. Cai Guang was there to lead them downstairs to the lobby.

    "Mr. Guang, you¡¯reing to our Christmas gathering, right?" she asked.

    Cai Guang looked a little uncertain.

    An excited Dom persuaded him. "You shoulde, Uncle! Momsy and Popsy and my siblings will all be there! We¡¯re going to sing karaoke and have a super-duper fun time together!"

    "Young Miss Xin, did you invite me because of this brat?"

    Iris chuckled. "Part of it, but I would still invite you even without Dom. If Father and Aunt Jiahui areing, then you should, too."

    "I understand. Thank you for your invitation, Young Miss¡ªI mean Madam Jin. This old one will certainlye."

    "Yipee!" Dom pped and shook his body in delight.

    Cai Guang red at him. If not for the presence of the Young Miss Xin, he would have already smacked this overdramatic nephew of his. "Act properly, Dominic! You¡¯re not a child anymore."

    Iris chuckled again.

    Later, Iris and Dom were chatting in the backseat of the car on the way home when Ketchup¡¯s adorable voice interrupted them.

    "Excuse me, Mommy! Great-granduncle Long Jufang is calling you. Meow~"

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "Answer it."

    "Connecting the call in 3...2...meow!"

    "Xin," the elder¡¯s voice greeted. "I heard that you just visited your father at thepany. Are you avable right now? I want to meet up. I have something that I know will interest you."

 Chapter 1177 - Long Jufangâ€™s Visit

    <h4>Chapter 1177 - Long Jufang¡¯s Visit </h4>

    Iris told Long Jufang that she would check her schedule first. After hanging up, she had Ketchup call Jin Liwei. When the call connected, Iris told her husband about the Long elder¡¯s request to meet up.

    "Invite him to Dragon Pce," Jin Liwei said.

    "Okay." She didn¡¯t have any problem with her husband¡¯s suggestion. In fact, she was also thinking the same way.

    Both of them didn¡¯t want to risk her meeting anyone they didn¡¯t fully trust outside of their home. Although the twins had already stabilized in her womb, the two of them still felt traumatized by her miscarriage scare. They didn¡¯t want a repeat of that happening ever again. It was safer for her and the twins to stay at home as much as possible.

    Jin Liwei added, "I¡¯m finishing up a meeting. I¡¯ll head home soon, love. Tell Long Jufang toe for dinner. I¡¯ll apany you while you talk to him after we eat tonight."

    "Alright, darling."

    They exchanged sweet nothings to each other, making the spectator Dom giggle like always. Of course, Ketchup who inherited most of her personality from her Uncle Dom followed suit and giggled like a little fool with the big fool. Iris chuckled at the two after ending the call with her husband.

    Afterwards, she asked Ketchup to call Long Jufang. Iris arranged the meet-up with the elder at Dragon Pce mansionter at dinnertime. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    ###

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    Later that evening, Long Jufang arrived at the mansion. A driver drove him but he was the only one who entered inside. This was the first time that he was setting foot inside this ce. Although he was good in controlling his expression, he couldn¡¯tpletely conceal the glint of greed in his eyes as he looked around while following the butler.

    The whole ce screamed of money. Lots of money, but not in a tacky way. There was a ssy elegance in how everything was decorated in the mansion. Nevertheless, there was no denying that almost every single item decorating the ce must have cost a fortune.

    Aside from the luxury, Long Jufang also noticed the intimidating security staff patrolling the entire property. They stared at him with cold expressions. He felt intimidated but his pride didn¡¯t allow him to show it on his face. His posture became straighter but he still couldn¡¯t remove the feeling of smallnesspared to the enormity of the ce.

    Enormity not only in size and wealth but also in the power of Jin Liwei backing everything in Dragon Pce Home #10.

    The butler told him that they were about to arrive at the formal dining area. Before they even reached there, Long Jufang could already hear loud, boomingughter. His heart skipped a beat and his eyes shone in excitement. He recognized the voice.

    There were other voices mixed in what sounded like a cheerful conversation but Long Jufang only cared about that one booming voice. He had always wanted to form a close connection with such an imminent figure.

    The butler announced his arrival and the conversation stopped. Long Jufang finally saw all the people that he was joining for dinner tonight.

    Iris and Jin Liwei, of course. Jin Liwei was sitting at the head of the long dinner table while Iris sat beside him.

    At the other head of the long table sat Sir Lu Jianhong. Long Jufang almost couldn¡¯t contain his excitement but he managed to maintain hisposure and didn¡¯t embarrass himself.

    Beside Sir Lu Jianhong sat his grandson, Lu Zihao. Long Jufang was taken aback by the young man¡¯s huge size and almost suffocating aura. The scar on his face made Long Jufang tremble inside, especially when Lu Zihao stared at him with eyes several times colder than the eyes of the security staff patrolling in the ce.

    Sitting right beside Lu Zihao was Long Jufang¡¯s other grandniece, Long Jinjing. His eagerness abated a little. The girl was sensible and never troublesome unlike the spoiled Long Xin, but he didn¡¯t think highly of Long Jinjing at all because of her illegitimate birth. She was just the daughter of a mere mistress after all. The only good thing about the mother and daughter was that they stayed in theirnes and never brought any shameful scandals to Long Tengfei and the Long n aside from their very existence.

    On the other side of the table sat Iris¡¯ Filipino assistant. Dominic Chua was his name, if Long Jufang remembered it correctly. He heard that he was also Cai Guang¡¯s distant nephew from the Filipino branch of the family.

    A middle-aged couple was also present but Long Jufang didn¡¯t recognize them, although he found them a little familiar.

    "Wee to our home, Granduncle Jufang," Iris greeted.

    Long Jufang greeted her back and everyone else, including Long Jinjing, Dominic Chua, and the middle-aged couple, even though he thought that these people were beneath him. He needed to act politely especially since he was in Jin Liwei¡¯s territory. In addition, Sir Lu Jianhong and his grandson were also present. He wanted to leave a good impression on these important people.

    The butler guided him to sit on the other side of Jin Liwei across Iris. The atmosphere became more mutedpared to the cheerfulness before his arrival. He didn¡¯t mind, though. What he cared about was this precious opportunity to chat directly with the powerful Jin Liwei and the legendary Sir Lu Jianhong.

    At first, he failed in having a smooth conversation with Jin Liwei but soon discovered that the younger man treated him better after he included Iris and praised her aplishments. It wasn¡¯t only Jin Liwei. Sir Lu Jianhong also began to chatting with him after Long Jufangplimented Iris. That was when he discovered that it was actually easy to get close to these men. The key was his grandniece, Iris!

    However, he also soon realized that Sir Lu Jianhong had no filter whatsoever and openly spoke his mind without caring for propriety at all.

    "Long Jufang, I see that you only care about my beloved granddaughter, Xin my girl, but what about my other beloved granddaughter, Jinjing my girl?! Do you have something against my future granddaughter-inw? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Long Jufang¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his head as he looked at the furiously blushing Long Jinjing in disbelief.

    He sputtered, "Future granddaughter-inw?!"

 Chapter 1178 - Bloody Farce

    <h4>Chapter 1178 - Bloody Farce </h4>

    There was shock and utter disbelief on Long Jufang¡¯s face as he stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Long Jinjing, Sir Lu Jianhong, and Lu Zihao. Then he shuddered when Lu Zihao gave him a cold re before pulling Long Jinjing closer to him.

    That protective action alone was enough for Long Jufang to finally understand the rtionship between his illegitimate grandniece and Sir Lu¡¯s grandson. His shock and disbelief immediately transformed into a calcting glint in the eyes which he quickly hid. He didn¡¯t want to earn the ire of the grandfather-grandson duo.

    Long Jufang tried to lighten the tense atmosphere with a smile. His mouth shook a little in the process due to him restraining himself from grinning ear to ear.

    Look at that!

    Two daughters from his Long n marrying into the two most powerful business families in the country!

    It was indeed an excellent decision for him to side with Iris instead of Long Hui. The half-sisters, Iris and Long Jinjing, had be very close in thest couple of years. Iris poached her sister to be an executive in her ownpany. Since then, the two of them had been soaring up higher and higher than what most members of the n expected from the sisters.

    One had a problematic past while the other was an illegitimate daughter. Both of them brought shame to the Long n for different reasons but were now redeeming themselves many times over.

    Iris managed to be the new Madam Jin while Sir Lu Jianhong just dered that Long Jinjing was going to be his grandson¡¯s bride. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Long Jufang almost couldn¡¯t contain his excitement. Look at his fellow elder, Long Meng, who chose to side with Long Hui. The eldest son was considered by many as the heir apparent but now he was basically in exile to escape awsuit against him. Long Hui¡¯s downfall was the exact opposite of his half-sisters¡¯ continued rise to the top.

    Once again, Long Jufang inwardly praised himself for his good insight in betting on the right child¡ªno, children. He always looked down on Long Jinjing because of her illegitimate birth, but at the moment, it was as if she had transformed into a in pebble into precious pearl.

    "I see. So that¡¯s how it is." Long Jufang nodded and continued maintaining a subtle smile even though his muscles were aching to fight a big grin from spreading across his face. He looked at Long Jinjing and gave her the kindest expression that he could muster for an illegitimate child. "Jinjing, you¡¯re as secretive as your sister. Your granduncle had no idea that you¡¯re going to marry Mr. Lu Zihao."

    The red-faced Long Jinjing stiffened and looked like she was about to panic but Lu Zihao only pulled her closer to his body before ring harder at Long Jufang as if he wanted to murder him. Long Jufang trembled and immediately avoided the younger man¡¯s scary eyes.

    "N-no, we¡¯re n-not¡ª" Long Jinjing stammered but Lu Zihao interrupted her before she could finish her sentence.

    "Jinjing has no obligation to tell a distant rtive like you about what¡¯s happening in her life," Lu Zihao said in a low voice so cold that Long Jufang felt his innards almost get frostbitten.

    The smile on Long Jufang¡¯s face stiffened. It took a tremendous amount of control for him not to explode at the younger man¡¯s disrespectful words towards him, an elder. He immediately sensed the mockery in Lu Zihao¡¯s tone especially when he said the words "distant rtive" to refer to him, Long Jufang. The younger man was indeed Sir Lu Jianhong¡¯s grandson. Both of them spoke whatever they wanted without caring for propriety at all.

    Long Jufang cleared his throat and continued smiling even though his teeth were grinding so hard that it felt like he might just crush his own jaw. He hated it but thought that he had no choice but to take the jab from the younger man withoutining.

    The atmosphere had now turned awkward.

    Long Jufang turned to Iris and Jin Liwei, giving them a meaningful look to help him out. Iris tilted her head to side with an innocent expression as if not understanding what he wanted. Jin Liwei had a cold and unreadable expression. It was clear from his expression that he would only follow whatever his wife wanted. If Iris didn¡¯t make a move, he wouldn¡¯t do anything either.

    Frustrated, Long Jufang could only suffer this humiliation in silence. Before he could control himself, he automatically sent an using look at Long Jinjing.

    <i>Bang!</i>

    Most of them were startled.

    Dom and the middle-aged woman both shrieked in an almost identical manner.

    Iris clutched at her chest and paled. Jin Liwei was by her side in an instant, enveloping her in a protective embrace.

    Everyone looked at one direction.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s hammerfist was still grinding on the hardwood table where he mmed it just now. Veins popped up on his skin. He looked bloodthirsty and ready to pounce at Long Jufang any second now.

    "Ni¡ªZihao!" Long Jinjing immediately grabbed his arm when she recovered from her shock. Then she touched his clenched fist on the table and started rubbing it. "Did you hurt your hand? Let me take a look."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply to her. He was busy murdering the terrified Long Jufang with his eyes.

    He hissed at the elder, "I dare you to look at Jinjing like that again and I¡¯ll¡ª"

    <i>Bang!</i>

    Everyone looked at another direction.

    This time, it was the grandfather who mmed his hammerfist on the table. Long Jufang watched as Sir Lu Jianhong, who had been silent after questioning him earlier that he hadn¡¯t answered yet, stand up in a huff. The older gentleman looked furious like his grandson.

    "What bloody farce it this?! I want to know! Dinner has not even started yet and the table has turned into a cockfighting ring where you keep on pecking at each other?! This old man has lost my appetite! You eat by yourselves! Hmph!"

    "S-sir Lu...." Long Jufang nched and panicked. He wanted to stop the older gentleman from leaving.

    Lu Zihao also stood up and pulled the anxious Long Jinjing with him before following his grandfather out of the formal dining area. Heavy silence enveloped the table after their sudden departure.

 Chapter 1179 - Grandpa Lu Trashtalks Another Old Man

    <h4>Chapter 1179 - Grandpa Lu Trashtalks Another Old Man </h4>

    When the three people got far away from the formal dining area, Grandpa Lu stopped walking and turned around to face the still scowling Lu Zihao and the red-faced Long Jinjing. Then he grinned and started smacking his grandson¡¯s back.

    The loud, thumping sounds made Long Jinjing flinch. She was about to ask Grandpa Lu to stop hitting his grandson but Lu Zihao gestured to her that he was fine. She looked hesitant but still followed what he wanted.

    "Bahahaha! Did you see the expression of that old pretentious dingbat when we all walked out one after another?! Did that mutton-headed snoot think that he can bully my beloved granddaughter in front of this old man? Hah! Over HIS dead body! Not mine because I still want to live very long to meet, y and dote on all my great-grandbabies! Hmph!"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s scowl transformed into a bemused expression as he watched the old man trashtalking another old man who was younger than him by more than a decade and even cursing him to death.

    "When Xin my girl told us that Long Jufang will be joining us for dinner, this old man didn¡¯t think too much about it until Ying Yue my girl declined to eat with us tonight! Ying Yue is such a good girl and an excellent mother. Her only fault is having loved a wishy-washy, cowardly scoundrel who only thinks about himself! Ying Yue my girl didn¡¯t say anything bad about that Long Jufang or even show anything negative about him on her expressionless bodyguard face but this old man clearly saw all the pain, humiliation, and anger in her eyes at the mere mention of that old coot. Why would she look like that?! This old man knows!

    "Long Jufang and all those backward Longs must have hurt her! Poor girl! The Longs have always been a bunch of elitist snobs who think too highly of themselves just because of their noble roots. What noble roots?! Whatever noble roots they had before already fell into decay a long time ago! Their narrow minds are stuck in the ancient times! Do they really think that they can continue acting like pompous bastards to everyone who they think are beneath them? Tell me, I want to know! Do they really think that, huh?!"

    Lu Zihao allowed the old man to release all his bad feelings in his long tirade about the Longs. Then he noticed that his woman looked like she was about to cry but was just trying hard to hold it in. His eyes became cold again but there was also worry in them. He pulled her into his arms, embracing her.

    "What¡¯s wrong, hm?" he whispered directly to her ear.

    She shook her head and just wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his chest to hide. She didn¡¯t care anymore if others saw her acting this intimate with Lu Zihao even when she usually got shy.

    "Jinjing my girl, what¡¯s wrong? Tell Grandpa Lu. I want to know!"

    She finally showed her face. There were tear stains on the front of Lu Zihao¡¯s shirt. She shook her head and forced herself to smile. "I¡¯m fine, Grandpa Lu. Please don¡¯t worry about me."

    "Is it because that old snob back at the dining table didn¡¯t treat you rightpared to Xin my girl? Hah! This old man isn¡¯t blind. I saw everything with my own two eyes! That haughty goat only began paying proper attention to you when this old man said that you¡¯re going to be my granddaughter-inw! Hmph! Typical backward Long! He thinks he¡¯s above everyone else but doesn¡¯t hesitate to kiss the asses of those who have higher statuses than him! Does he think we¡¯re all stupid that we can¡¯t see what a calctive bastard he is? I want to know! Does he really think us stupid, huh?!"

    Long Jinjing sighed. She tried to hide it but both Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao still saw the sadness in her eyes. "I¡¯m really fine, Grandpa Lu. I¡¯m used to it. Not everyone in the n are, uhm, discriminating. There are some who are good people. Besides, I¡¯m already used to them not really epting me because I¡¯m...illegitimate."

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned dark. He started to head back to formal dining area.

    She pulled him¡ªor tried to pull him back. "Ni¡ªZihao! What are you going to do?"

    "I¡¯m gonna beat up that motherfucking¡ª"

    "No!" She hung on to him like a ko as if her light weight and petite body could physically stop him from moving. "I said I¡¯m fine! Elder Long Jufang is Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw¡¯s guest. I don¡¯t want to give them any trouble. Little Sister Xin is pregnant. We shouldn¡¯t upset her by creating a big ruckus!"

    Both Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao stopped upon the mention of the pregnant Iris. Their expressions were both ugly but at least they weren¡¯t going on an angry tirade or threatening to beat up Long Jufang anymore. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Hmph! Although this old man knows why Xin my girl is putting up with that pretentious old snoot, I¡¯d rather not eat at the same table with that kind of fake person! Instead of having a bellyful of food, I¡¯ll have a bellyful of anger if I just force myself to pretend to be nice to that Long Jufang! I¡¯m too old to start acting stic now! Come, Haohao my boy and Jinjing my girl. Let¡¯s go find Ying Yue my girl and my precious great-grandson Little Junjun my boy and eat dinner together with them instead!"

    Grandpa Lu started walking away, expecting the two of them to follow him.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t move but Long Jinjing gently shook his arm.

    "Let¡¯s go, Niki. I¡¯d also rather eat dinner with Sis Yue and Little Jun than Elder Jufang."

    "Hm."

    They started walking together but at a much slower pace than the sprightly old man who was already chatting with a houseboy headed to the same direction.

    "Niki?" she whispered.

    "Hm?"

    "Can I ask you a question?"

    He nced down at her from the corner of his eyes and grunted.

    "What was on your mind when Grandpa Lu said earlier that I¡¯m going to be...uhm, his...granddaughter-inw?"

 Chapter 1180 - Their Relationship Is Like A Storm

    <h4>Chapter 1180 - Their Rtionship Is Like A Storm </h4>

    Long Jinjing observed Lu Zihao¡¯s reaction but there was none at all. He didn¡¯t even pause as the two of them continued walking behind Grandpa Lu who had already managed to make the houseboy share his life story.

    She wasn¡¯t surprised because it had always been rare for Lu Zihao to express any of his real feelings since they got to know each other. It was only after he revealed Shadow Winds to her that he began to disy some parts of his real emotions to her on a regr basis.

    Despite already knowing all this, she still felt disappointed that her question didn¡¯t elicit even just a tiny bit of reaction from him. To her, this proved that his feelings for her weren¡¯t deep enough. He didn¡¯t love her yet. Hopefully, he would begin loving her one day as much as she loved him.

    Her heart clenched but she had already gotten used to this kind of pain. The hope that everything would work out in the end and that he would learn to love her acted as a temporary salve for her heartache.

    "Never mind," she whispered with a bitter smile.

    He stopped walking all of a sudden. Since they were holding hands, she also stopped with him. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "You¡¯re upset," he said. It wasn¡¯t a question but a statement.

    "It¡¯s fine."

    "You really want to know what I think about what the old man said at the dinner table about you being his future granddaughter-inw?"

    She hesitated before nodding. His sigh was almost imperceptible but she still detected it after being with him for some time now. It disheartened her.

    Why did he sigh? Was he annoyed at her? Did he think that she was being too pushy? Possibly. But she still wanted to know what he thought.

    In the end, he told her, "I don¡¯t know."

    "What?"

    "There are so many things going through my mind. They¡¯re all so confusing that I can¡¯t make sense of all of them. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t know. This is the truth."

    She stared at him, focused again on reading his expression. This time, it wasn¡¯t as unreadable anymore. Indeed, she saw the trace of confusion in his dark eyes. It might not be the ideal answer that she was looking for but at least he felt something and wasn¡¯t indifferent. Her earlier disappointment lessened but didn¡¯t disappear.

    "Okay, Niki. I understand."

    "Hm."

    They looked at each other while standing in front of a ss wall. The moon was blocked by dark clouds. Water droplets outside the ss indicated that it was raining.

    As Long Jinjing continued to stare at the man that she loved and was hoping to love her back someday, she thought that the stormy weather outside was perfect to describe their rtionship.

    It was tumultuous, dangerous, and even downright terrifying, but there was still that instinctive hope for a better and brighter tomorrow after the storm passed¡ªif she survived. And she hoped that she would survive in the end.

    The moment made her love for him feel like it was overflowing from her heart. It was painful and sweet at the same time. Her body moved on instinct. She jumped on him, wrapping both her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, not caring anymore if other people saw her daring actions. He caught her, looking surprised and confused at the same time. His reaction satisfied her.

    Then she kissed him.

    Deeply. Thoroughly. Passionately.

    She kissed him, trying to convey to him all of her feelings as much as she could. He tried to take over the kiss but she refused to surrender the control this time. She vented all her negative emotions from what happened with Elder Long Jufang earlier in that deep, hard kiss.

    Hearts racing, heavy breathing, tight embracing, lips sucking, tongues dancing, and temperature rising.

    Both of them became lost in their own little world of fierce boiling desire. Their surroundings faded away. There was only the two of them and their mutual desire for each other.

    Long Jinjing was the first one to break away from the kiss. It was because she couldn¡¯t breathe anymore. She forcefully twisted her head to the side and started gasping. His wet mouth continued to suck on her neck while she wheezed some air into her lungs. She was still wrapped around her like a ko.

    It was a challenge but she still managed to clear her head. Barely.

    She saw their reflection on the ss wall and immediately flushed in embarrassment. The next thing that she noticed was the reflection of the people watching them. She could see a grinning Grandpa Lu and the houseboy who was pretending not to look but was actually peeking at them. The members of the security staff might be expressionless but she knew that their eyes were watching everything.

    Oh no.

    She patted Lu Zihao¡¯s back, urging him to stop sucking on her neck and jaw. He didn¡¯t stop.

    "Niki," she whispered. "Everyone is watching. Stop."

    He continued for a few seconds before finally stopping. He rested his forehead on the crook of her neck and shoulder while panting.

    She tapped his back and said, "Let me down."

    However, he only tightened his hold on her. Their position certainly looked scandalous. Fortunately, Long Jinjing felt safe at Dragon Pce. She still felt extremely embarrassed though.

    Finally, Lu Zihao put her back down to stand on her own feet before hissing to her ear, "After dinner, you better prepare yourself. I¡¯m gonna fuck you until you pass out!"

    She shivered from delight before nodding. If it wasn¡¯t for Grandpa Lu who expected them to eat dinner together with Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun, then it would be fine with her if Lu Zihao said that he wanted to skip dinner to have sex in his bedroom.

    She wanted to feel his hardness deep inside her wet core tonight. Multiple times. Oh, how she wanted him so much tonight. Every night.

    However, their desire had to wait. They still had to apany Grandpa Lu for dinner.

    "Bahahaha! This old man is happy to see you two so passionate with each other! But you still need to eat or you won¡¯t have any fuel tost the whole night! Hurry up and let¡¯s go! The sooner we finish eating, the sooner you two can start making my next great-grandbabies! Bahahaha!"

 Chapter 1181 - Jinjing Is Mine

    <h4>Chapter 1181 - Jinjing Is Mine </h4>

    Grandpa Lu continuedughing, his booming voice echoing throughout the entire stretch of the hallway. Long Jinjing¡¯s face was burning in embarrassment. She wanted to escape and hide but Lu Zihao held her hand tightly, not allowing her to go anywhere else. Having no choice, she could only continue walking beside him and follow Grandpa Lu.

    After asking a patrolling security staff, they learned that Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun were inside the toddler¡¯s room. They immediately headed there while Grandpa Lu asked the houseboy to help them ry to the kitchen to serve separate dinner for them.

    They found the mother and son in Little Jun¡¯s room ying with the energetic Popcorn while thezy Ice Cream was in the middle of her beauty sleep on the bed.

    The striped, orange cat was the first one to notice their arrival and zipped across the room to barrel like a little rocket directly towards his Uncle Zihao¡¯s chest. No, actually, it was the fat, grey cat who noticed the new arrivals first but she was just toozy to move from her perch on thefortable bed. She only half-opened her eyes and released a soft meow as acknowledgement of the group¡¯s arrival before resuming her precious beauty sleep.

    Lu Zihao caught the hyperactive Popcorn with just one arm while his other hand continued holding Long Jinjing. He nced at the orange cat who immediately started rubbing his entire body on him and meowing loudly to greet him. Unlike Ice Cream who still remained a little wary of him until now, Popcorn loved him very much. Long Jinjing also began petting the affectionate cat.

    "Ampa Lu! Ampa Lu!" Little Jun climbed down his bed without needing any help from his mother and ran towards his great-grandfather.

    "Little Junjun my boy!" Grandpa Lu met him halfway the room and scooped the toddler up and immediately started doting on him.

    Little Jun¡¯s delightedughter and Popcorn¡¯s needy meows filled the bedroom, creating a cheerful atmosphere in an instant. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The child peeked from Grandpa Lu¡¯s shoulder and greeted the people behind. "Anko Haohao! Antee Jingjing!"

    All the adults focused on the toddler and the cats. Grandpa Lu scolded Ice Cream for being toozy and the grey cat very reluctantly got up from herfortable position on the bed to give proper greetings to her great-grandpa, uncle and aunt. Unlike Popcorn who demanded rubs from everyone, Ice Cream could only tolerate a rub or two when she was not in the mood like right now.

    "You bloody brat! See this old man spank your butt if you continue with that attitude! Hmph!"

    In response to the scolding, Ice Cream very decisively pushed her older human cousin from their great-grandpa¡¯sp. Little Jun was quite sensible and in tune with his cat cousins so he moved out of the way without any fuss. The grey cat then took over Grandpa Lu¡¯sp,ying her fat body there before twisting and exposing her fluffy belly. Then she waved her paws and meowed in an adorable manner.

    Grandpa Lu immediatelyughed and started petting Ice Cream before finally letting her go to return to her beauty sleep. "Such a brat. Bahahaha!"

    They all chatted with each other. Well, Grandpa Lu, Long Jinjing and Jiang Ying Yue chatted while Lu Zihao only sat there listening to them, only grunting now and then to respond when someone talked to him. When the kitchen called the room to inform them that dinner wasing soon, they all moved to a nearby lounge area.

    Dinner was served. They enjoyed all the food with some nice conversation and watched Little Jun¡¯s antics with his cat cousins.

    Later, the group lounged on therge couches while sipping hot tea to aid their digestion.

    Lu Zihao was staring at Long Jinjing¡¯s face with an intense look. She pretended not to notice and continued chatting with the others but her blushing face already gave her away.

    Watching them, Grandpa Lu had a mischievous glint in his old, wise eyes. "Jinjing, my girl!"

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu?" Long Jinjing asked.

    "Has Haohao been treating you well? Don¡¯t be shy and tell Grandpa Lu. I want to know!"

    "Uhm, yes, Grandpa Lu. Zihao is treating me well. Please don¡¯t worry."

    The old man harrumphed. "That pinhead already has a bad record with you! You¡¯re such a nice girl so he better treat you right! The two of you already broke up before so this old man can¡¯t bepletely at ease. If it doesn¡¯t work out between the two of you again, don¡¯t worry, my girl! Grandpa Lu will make sure to introduce you to a nice young man who¡¯ll treat you better than this dunderhead!"

    "Like hell you¡¯ll do that, old man," Lu Zihao growled and red at Grandpa Lu while quickly grabbing Long Jinjing and pressing her against him. "Jinjing is mine!"

    Grandpa Lu scowled and yelled, "How dare a dunderhead like you speak like that to your beloved grandpa? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "Zihao, please...." Long Jinjing was trying to stop Lu Zihao from continuing to piss off his grandfather but to no avail.

    From her vantage point, Jiang Ying Yue noticed everything. She saw the mischief in the old man¡¯s eyes. It was clear to her that Grandpa Lu was provoking his grandson on purpose to elicit a reaction from Lu Zihao. And the old man seeded in his n. She nced at the pissed off Lu Zihao who stood up, pulling Long Jinjing with him.

    "Old man, don¡¯t interfere with my rtionship with Jinjing. I¡¯ll dismember any fucking males who dare to sniff around my woman. She¡¯s mine!"

    With that, the couple left. As soon as the door closed, Jiang Ying Yue looked at Grandpa Lu and saw him grinning from ear to ear.

    "Bahahaha!"

    The old man couldn¡¯t stopughing. Little Jun thought that he was funny so the childughed at hisughing great-grandpa.

    "That ought to make that dunderhead treasure Jinjing my girl more! Bahahahaha!"

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head and sighed. Grandpa Lu was like a naughty child. Then she sighed again, worried that her son might learn bad words from his foul-mouthed Uncle Zihao. But seeing Grandpa Lu and all the others giving so much love to Little Jun, she stopped worrying. Everything would be fine as long as his son was happy and loved.

 Chapter 1182 - Learned A Good Lesson

    <h4>Chapter 1182 - Learned A Good Lesson </h4>

    Later that evening, Iris and Jin Liwei watched as the butler led Long Jufang out of their home office. When the door closed, Iris sighed and slumped on Jin Liwei¡¯s chest.

    Jin Liwei brushed her hair back from her face before kissing her cheek. "Tired?"

    "Yeah." She captured his hand and kept it on her cheek. "That went very well. For us."

    "En."

    He let her hold his hand on her cheek while his other hand stroked her silky-smooth hair (made silkier and smoother by Orchidia Beauty¡¯s original shampoo and conditioner, best-sellers).

    "Come with meter to find Big Sister Jinjing. I want to apologize for the difort she experienced earlier at the dinner table with Elder Long Jufang."

    "Not tonight, love."

    "Why not?"

    "Your brother won¡¯t appreciate us interrupting them in their bedroom thiste at night."

    Realization dawned on her. "Oh. You¡¯re right. I¡¯ll just apologize to her tomorrow then."

    "En." He paused before saying, "What happened at the dinner table wasn¡¯t your fault but mine."

    Indeed, it was Jin Liwei who orchestrated tonight¡¯s farce at the dinner table. As soon as his wife told him earlier today that Long Jufang wanted to meet her and had something that she would be interested in, he immediately knew what the elder wanted to talk about. Aside from wanting to ensure his wife¡¯s safety, he also wanted to put pressure on the elder in order to make the meeting more advantageous to his wife. This was why he wanted the meeting to take ce at their home.

    In addition, Jin Liwei arranged for Grandpa Lu, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing to join them for the dinner as well. He knew that Long Jufang looked down on Long Jinjing because of her illegitimate birth. The elder¡¯s disdainful attitude towards Long Jinjing would surely upset Lu Zihao and Grandpa Lu.

    Both Lu Zihao and Grandpa Lu weren¡¯t shy at all in telling anyone to fuck off if they were pissed off. For someone like Long Jufang who prioritized building connections with important and powerful people, he would surely feel extreme pressure and anxiety after angering Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao. This would make Long Jufang more vulnerable to epting harsh conditions that were disadvantageous to him just for the sake of fixing the bad impression he left on the Lu grandfather and grandson.

    Indeed, Jin Liwei¡¯s prediction was urate. Every single thing that happened tonight went ording to his n. He was pleased, especially since his wife was the biggest beneficiary, but he also felt sorry for making Long Jinjing go through that. He didn¡¯t worry about her too much, though.

    His n extended to include Long Jinjing. She might have felt ufortable about what happened at the dinner table tonight, but after this, she would no longer have to go through frequent unfair treatment from the Longs.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s original n was to show Long Jufang that he or anyone from the Long n could no longer bully Long Jinjing because she was now under his direct protection as a brother-inw, and most importantly, of Grandpa Lu and Lu Zihao as well. He didn¡¯t expect for Grandpa Lu to directly say to Long Jufang¡¯s face that Long Jinjing would be his future granddaughter-inw. Compared to Jin Liwei¡¯s original n, this was more effective.

    He looked at his wife now lying on hisp with a soft expression. "Do you mind what I did?"

    She shook her head. "It¡¯s smart that I¡¯m disappointed in myself for not thinking about it in the first ce."

    "That¡¯s because you¡¯re a straightforward person. You¡¯re sure of your own abilities to face your opponents without ying dirty mind games with them. But sometimes, we need to y dirty especially with people like Long Jufang who has unjustified pride as high as Mount Everest."

    "You¡¯re right." She shifted his hand that she was holding and kissed his palm. "I learned a good lesson today."

    "Leave this kind of things to me, your husband. You just focus on achieving your goals, love."

    "Thanks, darling."

    "My pleasure."

    She gestured for him to help her sit back up again. Afterwards, she cuddled with him while talking about their meeting with Long Jufang just now.

    Then she said, "After I acquire the shares that Elder Long Jufang will facilitate from his friend on my behalf, I¡¯m going to be more aggressive in buying up more shares until I be one of the major shareholders of Long Industries. I don¡¯t care anymore about going through the proper channels since most of the current shareholders don¡¯t want to sell to me. I¡¯ll use every means possible to buy a lot of shares quickly before people realize what is going on."

    She rubbed her belly. "I¡¯m pregnant now and will give birth sometime next year. Then we¡¯ll both be preupied with child-rearing. I don¡¯t want to waste my precious time and energy on trying to persuade unwilling shareholders to sell their shares to me. The only problem is that they don¡¯t specifically want to sell directly to me."

    "En. Have some other person or entity to buy the shares and then transfer them to you." Jin Liwei tapped the tip of her nose with his index finger. "That¡¯s what I wanted you to do before. I can even do it for you but you insisted on going through the proper channels."

    She sighed. "I wasn¡¯t pregnant, then. I had more time and energy to spare ying with them. But now...I want to spend my time and energy learning how to be a good mother to our children instead."

    "You¡¯re already a great mother, Evelina. You¡¯ll be fine. We¡¯ll both be fine."

    She smiled. The fear and anxiety about being a bad mother was still there but her husband¡¯s repeated assurances were gradually filling her with courage. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Do you need me to take care of the shares?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "We¡¯ll do it together. I have a n."

    She shared her n with him. He contemted about it and nodded.

    "We have to iron out some of the details but overall it¡¯s a good n," he said afterwards. "Invite Qiao Yu and yourwyer over and we¡¯ll make it happen as soon as possible."

    "Okay, darling. You¡¯re the best."

    He chuckled. "If I¡¯m the best, then where¡¯s my kiss?"

    She gave him a smacking kiss on the lips.

    The husband and wife grinned at each other like two stupid idiots.

 Chapter 1183 - Donâ€™t Tempt Me

    <h4>Chapter 1183 - Don¡¯t Tempt Me </h4>

    The stupid grins turned into sweet smiles before gradually developing into scorching gazes. Iris tilted her head up and parted her lips. This was enough signal for Jin Liwei. He dove down and captured her mouth.

    The kiss was slow but deep, their unhurried tongues caressing each other. He pulled his wife to sit sideways on hisp as he nted his head to deepen their open-mouthed kiss. His hands roamed all over her tiny waist up her delicate back, almost making her purr in contented pleasure.

    She also touched him all over his chest, enjoying the hard muscles of his toned body. The more they exchanged their breaths, the higher their body temperatures rose. Their pace was rxed as if they had all the time in the world.

    "I want you," she whispered into his mouth.

    "I want you more," he whispered back.

    His arms tightened around her waist, drawing her closer until her bottom nudged the hardness underneath his trousers. He groaned and sucked hard on her bottom lip. She gasped.

    "Evelina," he growled low in his throat.

    It sounded so sexy to Iris¡¯ ears that she deliberately wiggled her bottom to rub on his growing erection. There was a soft, teasing smile on her face while she continued to nibble on the edge of his lips down to his chiselled jaw.

    "What day is it again?" he asked through gritted teeth. "Can we make love yet?"

    She paused in her movements and looked at him with a frustrated expression. "The doctor says we can¡¯t yet. We have to wait about a week more just to be safe. Theresa agrees with the doctor."

    Jin Liwei sighed before nodding. "En, we have to strengthen your body more."

    Irisined, "But it has been so long! Too long!"

    "I know, love. But we can¡¯t risk your health and that of our babies. Never again."

    She pouted but nodded. Her head rested on his shoulder as she tried to control her desire to make love with her husband after so long. She felt Jin Liwei¡¯s hands rubbing her back, knowing that he was just trying tofort her. Well, it was failing because his gentle touches were feeling more and more seductive to her at the moment. It seemed like she was even more desperate to make love with her husband than she expected.

    Despite his outward calmness, Jin Liwei must be feeling even more frustrated than her if his still hardening erection was any indication. With just a slight shift of her body, she could feel his erection hardening even more. The sensible thing to do was to stop teasing her husband and herself and get off hisp but something inside her protested against the idea.

    She wiggled on hisp even more and he quickly tightened his arms around her to stop her movements.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Wife," he hissed.

    When she looked at him, she saw his feral expression, making her shiver in delight. The desire which already started abating a little earlier came flooding back.

    She looked at him straight in the eyes and finally got off hisp. Just when he was about to sigh in relief, she caught his erection underneath his trousers with a hand and squeezed.

    A harsh breath escaped his clenched lips. His already feral expression turned even wilder. He grabbed her naughty hand but didn¡¯t move it away from his erection. His expression showed clear struggle.

    She continued squeezing him gently and smirked when his hips jerked upwards towards her hand.

    Then she leaned forward and whispered directly to his ear, "The doctor said no pration allowed but...we can still do other things."

    "Don¡¯t tempt me, wife."

    "But I want to, husband."

    He growled and grabbed her head for a round of deep, intense kiss. She melted into him and moaned while her hand continued fondling his hardness.

    The kiss ended when she started struggling to breathe. His expression didn¡¯t look as feral as before but it was more intense. He looked at her, deceptivelyposed, yet his dark eyes made her feel like he wanted to swallow her whole.

    It felt wonderful to be loved and desired by her man like this.

    She felt sexy again after what seemed like a long time. Herplete bed rest had forced both of them to put aside their desire to make love. They had always wanted to, of course, but had to restrain themselves for the sake of her health and that of their babies.

    Now that she had recovered, she couldn¡¯t wait to jump on her husband. It was unfortunate that they couldn¡¯t go all the way yet, but like she just told him, they could still do so many other things without actual pration.

    She climbed off the couch to sit on the carpet in front of him. Then she started unbuttoning and unzipping his trousers.

    "Evelina, this...."

    "Ssssh."

    He groaned but no longer tried to stop her. Instead, he watched her actions with dark, half-lidded eyes.

    Finally, she freed his erection from his trousers. It stood strong and proud, looking so swollen, like an angry monster about to burst. In fact, there was already a generous amount of leaking on its tip which she rubbed and used to lubricate the entire length.

    She wrapped her hand around him and started stroking him up and down, rolling his tip with her soft palm, while her other hand yed with the two hanging bulges underneath his hard length.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s breathing quickened, his eyes bing darker as he continued watching his wife pleasuring him with her hands. Then when she leaned down to take him inside her mouth, he moaned and almost came right there and then. Good thing that he was able to control himself.

    Indeed, it had been so long.

    Too long.

    But it felt incredible now.

    He held her head,bing her silky-smooth hair while gently guiding her up and down his length. She was taking it slow, teasing him to no end. Then she suddenly sucked hard. His hips thrust up, his tip hitting her throat.

    She moaned in response. Her teeth lightly scraped against the surface of him.

    "Fuck, Evelina. Shit."

    His hand tightened on her hair as he twitched. He was close. So close.

    She sucked harder. And that was it.

    He let go. He growled as his hips jerked onest time and he flooded her mouth with his release.

 Chapter 1184 - Your Wish Is My Command

    <h4>Chapter 1184 - Your Wish Is My Command </h4>

    Iris immediately swallowed everyst drop. Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes were still closed tightly as he continued groaning from the pleasure. His climax felt longer and more explosive than usual. It felt amazing.

    When he finished, he finally opened both of his eyes and saw his wife licking her glistening lips. She looked so sexy that his just spent and softening little brother twitched and started to stiffen again. Just as she widened her eyes at it, he grabbed her by the arms and sat her once again on hisp.

    Then he kissed her, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth. He could taste himself. He didn¡¯t like his own taste one bit but his wife¡¯s sweet mouth overpowered the male musk. She tasted so good that he wanted more. So much more.

    "Your turn, love."

    She opened her eyes and they shone in anticipation. "Oh, yes."

    He kissed her again, much more lightly this time, but still enough to get him back in the mood again. His erection didn¡¯t even have the chance to gopletely soft before it hardened again.

    He removed all of their clothes, not at all concerned that they weren¡¯t in their own bedroom. Nobody would dare to disturb him and his wife inside their home office at this time of the night. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like this was the first time that the two of them disappeared in a room somewhere in the mansion for hours on end. Even before they officially married, the members of their household staff were already used to the couple¡¯s habits. Hence, Jin Liwei and Iris weren¡¯t worried at all.

    Once the two of them were both naked, Jin Liweiid his wife on the couch and stood over her to take a few moments to admire her nude body. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Beautiful," he whispered. "Absolutely stunning."

    Iris wasn¡¯t shy. She allowed her husband to roam his hungry eyes all over her body. Even without him touching her yet, his intense gaze was enough to arouse her until she was soaking wet.

    Restless, she rubbed her thighs together to ease the feeling of emptiness between her legs. She moaned and closed her eyes. Then she felt her husband grabbing her thighs to stop her movements. She peeked at him from half-lidded eyes.

    "This time, I¡¯ll be the one to make youe," he told her while opening her legs wide.

    Her response was to open her legs wider, giving him better ess as he positioned his upper body on the couch.

    She groaned when he ran his fingers over her wet slit, rubbing her until her hips were moving in time with his hand. The tip of his finger dipped inside her but didn¡¯t go in. He yed with her until she could no longer bear it.

    "Liwei, please!"

    He chuckled. "What do you want, love? Tell me."

    "Your mouth," she replied, not at all shy in telling him what she wanted.

    "Your wish is mymand."

    He buried his head between her thighs and startedpping her immediately. It only took a few seconds for her to reach climax. She screamed, no longer aware of what her body was doing.

    The orgasm took over her, catching her off guard, not expecting that it woulde so fast, so intense, so soon.

    When she returned to her senses, she felt glorious. Jin Liwei was kissing the insides of her thighs, looking at her with a smirk. She chuckled.

    She thought that it was over and yet her husband dove between her thighs once again and worked his magic on her wet core with his mouth, tongue and fingers. He didn¡¯t prate her too deeply with his fingers but his tongue made her go crazy.

    This time, he controlled the pace, going slow when she looked like she was about toe, and then going harder to take her over the edge. He repeated this process until she couldn¡¯t take it anymore.

    "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"

    Her orgasm almost made her pass out. And maybe she did for a few seconds.

    When she once again regained her senses, she found her husband cuddling her on therge couch. She kissed his corbone and inhaled his scent. Itforted her like always but also made her desire him again because of the additional musky scent of their love-making hanging in the air around them.

    "How are you feeling, love?"

    "Wonderful."

    He chuckled. "Me, too."

    She shifted her position and her hips touched something hard below her husband¡¯s waist. She looked down and confirmed what she already expected. He was rock hard.

    "It¡¯s fine, love. Don¡¯t worry about me."

    She looked at him and tilted her head to the side. "I¡¯m not worried. I just want more."

    His eyebrows rose. "Are you sure? You¡¯re not tired yet? Don¡¯t force yourself."

    "I¡¯m quite tired," she admitted.

    He smiled and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. "Then rest. It¡¯ste now. Let me handle this, then we¡¯ll return to our bedroom to sleep."

    She looked reluctant but didn¡¯t force herself. After recovering from her bed rest, she didn¡¯t dare to overestimate her energy or physical capability anymore, at least while she was still pregnant. Never again would she risk their twin babies due to her own carelessness.

    Then she watched Jin Liwei as he stood up and moved to kneel between her legs. He started stroking himself while his eyes feasted on her body. He leaned over her to kiss her on the mouth before trailing downwards to lightly suck on her breasts. She gasped and moaned.

    He moved downwards again and kissed her t belly. This time, his kiss was sweet instead of erotic. She smiled, running her hand through his hair. Then he returned to a kneeling position between her thighs.

    He pleasured himself, moving his hand up and down his hard length. Unable to resist, Iris also began touching herself despite her tiredness. She rubbed herself in time with his hand movements.

    They pleasured themselves while staring into each other¡¯s eyes. Their emotional connection made it feel like the other was the one touching them instead of their own hands.

    She was the one who reached climax first and he soon followed, spraying his release all over her belly. He covered her with his body and kissed her hard.

    "I love you," he said. "So much."

    "I love you so much, too."

 Chapter 1185 - As Long As Weâ€™re Together

    <h4>Chapter 1185 - As Long As We¡¯re Together </h4>

    Sometime earlier that night, a pissed off Lu Zihao was dragging an anxious Long Jinjing. The household staff and patrolling security including some from Shadow Winds gave the two of them a wide berth due to Lu Zihao¡¯s frightening aura. He looked like he was ready to mutte someone with his bare hands. They didn¡¯t want to be the poor unlucky fools who got in his way and triggered the explosion of his anger by ident.

    Long Jinjing was trying to make him slow down but he wouldn¡¯t listen. "Ni¡ªZihao, I said stop! You¡¯re hurting me!"

    He immediately stopped and examined her wrist which was now red from his tight hold. His scowl turned uglier. He rubbed her red skin, trying to soothe it. "I didn¡¯t mean it. Does it still hurt?"

    Her expression softened. "A little bit but I¡¯ll be fine."

    "Hm." He continued rubbing her wrist.

    He wasn¡¯t exactly gentle but this was as gentle as Long Jinjing could expect from someone like him. She already felt happy inside. However, she was a little worried about the situation they left back at the lounge area.

    "I think we should return to apologize to Grandpa Lu," she suggested. "It¡¯s not good to upset him. He¡¯s already at that age and our elder."

    Lu Zihao snorted. "The old man will be fine."

    "But¡ª"

    "Jinjing."

    "Y-yes?"

    His dark gaze pierced straight through her. "Don¡¯t let the old man introduce another man to you."

    She was about to reassure him that it wouldn¡¯t happen but stopped herself before she could do so. The dy in her reply made him scowl again. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Jinjing," he growled.

    She pouted and felt unhappy with his reaction. Although she liked his jealousy and possessiveness sometimes because it meant that he at least had feelings for her even if he didn¡¯t love her yet, she had reservations about him trying to control her own decisions. She wasn¡¯t the most assertive or confident person in the world but at least she liked making her own decisions and working on the future that she envisioned for herself.

    Long Jinjing loved him, wanted to marry him, give birth to his children, and build a happy family with him together in the future, but that didn¡¯t mean that she liked him micromanaging her entire life, especially since he hadn¡¯t fallen in love with her yet.

    "Grandpa Lu said that he would only introduce other men to me if my rtionship with you doesn¡¯t work out in the end. He didn¡¯t say that he¡¯s going to introduce one to me now. Do you think that I¡¯m a fickle woman who¡¯ll entertain another man while I¡¯m with you? I know that it¡¯s difficult for you to trust people given your...uh, situation, but please trust me a little more. I love you so much. As long as we¡¯re together, I¡¯ll remain true to you."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t reply but his scowl disappeared reced by an unreadable expression.

    "Also, I think that Grandpa Lu has a point. Although I wish that you¡¯ll love me too and marry me, there¡¯s still a possibility that it won¡¯t work out between us. It only makes sense for us to find other lovers especially for me who¡¯s looking for a husband to marry and build a happy family together. Grandpa Lu is already being kind to offer to introduce me to other men when he¡¯s your grandfather and should be taking your side in case that we break up again. I¡¯m sure that whoever he introduces to me will be a good man¡ª"

    She gasped when Lu Zihao grabbed her, almost lifting her up while his angry face loomed over her shocked face.

    "Say that again! You¡¯d ept the old man¡¯s offer?!"

    Her eyes watered but anger also burst out of her. "Yes, I would! What¡¯s wrong with that?!"

    He didn¡¯t say anything else. He just lifted her up and started marching towards his bedroom. She yelped and wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders to keep her bnce.

    "What are you doing?! Let me down, you brute!"

    "Stay still, woman, or I¡¯ll fuck you right here in the hallway."

    She immediately stopped making a ruckus, too embarrassed to get more attention from the surrounding people, and also worried that he might really fuck her in the hallway. However, she still felt angry at him so she pressed her mouth against his neck and bit him.

    He hissed but didn¡¯t stop walking. He didn¡¯t scold her either.

    She felt a little sorry so she stopped, licked the skin she bit, and allowed him to carry her until they reached his bedroom. He immediately locked the door and marched inside the room before tossing her to the bed. Before she could react, he was already on top of her and kissing her senseless until she forgot her own name.

    Okay, it wasn¡¯t to that extent but close to it. She had already forgotten why she was mad at him in the first ce. His tongue was like wet fire bathing her until she was boiling from the inside out.

    Her instincts took over, directly kicking her conscious mind aside which once again plunged to amoeba level because of the man¡¯s zing seduction.

    Before she knew it, she was already naked from the waist up. He expertly removed her shirt and bra while she was overwhelmed by his kisses to think clearly. She only realized it when he was already sucking her nipples.

    "Ah!" She threw her head back and held his head.

    Then he stopped. She opened her eyes to check what was going on and was startled when he just hovered over her, staring at her face with his fierce eyes.

    "N-niki...?"

    "You¡¯re mine."

    The possessive words and tone made her heart skip a beat before thundering inside her chest. Hearing him say these words also made her wetter.

    Her response was to wrap her arms around his neck to pull him for another kiss. Then she whispered into his mouth, "Yes, I¡¯m yours."

    <i>¡¯As long as we¡¯re together,¡¯</i> she added in her mind.

    She didn¡¯t say it out loud because it would make him angry again. Yes, she loved him very much, hence why she got back together with him to try to make him fall in love with her. But if she failed, then she wouldn¡¯t force herself to a man who didn¡¯t want her as a wife and mother to his children.

    As long as they were together, and as long as she felt that they had hope for a future as husband and wife, then she would be his.

    But if it didn¡¯t work out between the two of them, she had no ns of pining for him for the rest of her life. It would break her heart into pieces again and hurt her even more so than before, but she believed that she would eventually heal and move on from him.

    If their rtionship didn¡¯t really work out, she wouldn¡¯t close the door to marrying another man who would give her a happy married life with her own children. This was her dream.

    All these thoughts flew away from her mind as Lu Zihao once again kissed her after hearing her response. It was clear that her words turned him on. She could feel his erection on her belly as he pressed against her, even grinding his hips, teasing both of them.

    "Are you ready?" he asked in a husky voice.

    "Huh?"

    "Ready to be fucked by me?"

    "Y-yes...."

    "Tell me."

    "F-fuck me, Niki..."

    "Louder. I can¡¯t hear you."

    "Fuck me, Niki! Oh, please!"

    Although they already had simr dialogues in the past while having sex, she still couldn¡¯t help but feel embarrassed. She flushed and instinctively tried to cover her naked chest but soon forgot about her embarrassment.

    He growled and returned to kissing her and sucking her breasts. She moaned and arched her back, pushing her chest closer to him.

    Then he stopped and straightened his body. He was now kneeling on the bed in a straddling position over her body. His hands unbuckled his belt. It was the belt that she bought for him.

    As for the other belt, she had no idea what happened to it. She originally nned on returning it to the store to get her money back but Lu Zihao told her when she asked that he already took care of the "ugly thing" and to forget about it. She could only grumble about him being wasteful before he fucked the belt out of her mind.

    Back to the present, she felt delighted to see him wearing the belt that she bought for him. It was the only belt that he had been wearing since she gave it to him. She felt even more delighted to watch him unbuckling it in front of her.

    He unzipped his jeans and freed his manhood. It sprung out, angry and swollen, making her mouth water and her already soaking core even wetter. She watched as he began stroking himself.

    "Open your mouth," hemanded.

    She did.

    He scooted over until he was straddling her upper chest. Then he lowered his hips and fed his erection to her mouth.

    She immediately began sucking him while her hand took over in stroking the base of his length. He hovered over her, supporting most of his weight with an arm on the bed above her head.

    "Rx your mouth. I¡¯ll fuck you now."

    She moaned and did as he said. Her mouth opened wider and soon he was thrusting hard. His tip mmed her throat but her gag reflex had already long been trained by him. She could take him inside her mouth as hard as he wanted.

    Nevertheless, it was still ufortable but the difort was soon overpowered by her desire to make him climax. It was like a power that she wielded to make him lose control. This was an aplishment especially when done on a man who had tremendous self-control. She loved the feeling just as much as she loved the man.

    Indeed, his self-control was admirable. Her mouth was already sore and aching but he wasn¡¯t done yet. Fortunately, he stopped and removed his glistening erection to let her rest.

    "You okay?" he asked.

    She whimpered but still nodded.

    He rubbed her lips and massaged her jaw with one hand while continuing to stroke his swollen manhood. When she felt better, she pushed his hand away and gestured for him to return his erection to her mouth. She wanted to make hime with her mouth no matter how long it took.

    He raised an eyebrow but did as she asked. He repositioned himself over her head and continued thrusting in her mouth again. Wet sounds and other lewd noises filled the bedroom.

    When his hip movements became faster and more erratic, she knew that he was close. She sucked him harder and tightened her hand around his length.

    And that did it.

    He roared as his hot release flooded her mouth. She automatically swallowed while feeling triumphant.

 Chapter 1186 - Only Me

    <h4>Chapter 1186 - Only Me </h4>

    Lu Zihao looked at Long Jinjing with satisfaction written all over his face. He used his thumb to push some of the droplets on her chin back to her mouth. She responded by sucking his thumb.

    His manhood stirred and began to harden again. "Jinjing, we¡¯re just starting."

    "Yes," she breathed.

    "I told you that I¡¯m going to fuck you until you pass out tonight. Don¡¯t pass out too early, though."

    She moaned, not promising anything. As if she could control how long until she would pass out! He was such a beast in bed that she bet it wouldn¡¯t take too long.

    Based on past experiences, she would pass out, wake up from his ministrations, have sex with him, and then pass out all over again. The cycle would continue all throughout the night until she would be too exhausted to wake up again.

    Seeing him rock hard again, the ache between her thighs intensified. She rubbed them together, trying to soothe the emptiness.

    "Niki...."

    He chuckled. "You want it that bad?"

    "Yes...please...."

    "Alright. I¡¯ll give it to you."

    He climbed off the bed and began removing all of his clothes until he was buck naked. The moonlight streaming from the windows highlighted his incredible muscled physique. The shadows made him even more mysterious and dangerous, like the emperor of the night himself.

    Long Jinjing couldn¡¯t help but gasp in awe at his beauty. Yes, he was beautiful. His body was a work of art, scars and all.

    He stalked back to the bed and unhooked her pants before pulling it down her legs. He left her underwear. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Long Jinjing was about to remove it herself but he stopped her. She whined. Why couldn¡¯t she remove it yet? It was already soaked and ufortable.

    "Let me see," he said while gesturing for her to open her legs.

    She turned her head to the side but still opened her legs just as he told her.

    "So lewd, Jinjing. You got this wet for me."

    She whimpered and closed her legs from the embarrassment but his big, rough hands stopped her from doing so. Then he positioned himself between her legs.

    He pressed a finger on the wet cloth of her underwear.

    "Oh!" Her hips jolted upwards from the electrifying sensation.

    He smirked and continued to press on her through the wet cloth.

    "Please, Niki...."

    Finally, he ripped her underwear and tossed it. He ran a rough finger over her wet slit and began rubbing gently. She closed her eyes and moaned. He yed with her entrance while watching her writhing on the bed and clutching the bed sheets with her hands.

    "You¡¯re so fucking sexy, Jinjing," he said before plunging a thick finger inside her.

    "Aaah, yeeeees!"

    Her hips began moving restlessly, urging him to thrust his fingers inside of her. She was too far gone to feel shy by her own shameless actions. All she wanted was for him to do his magic on her body like he always did.

    And he did. Oh yes, he did.

    He inserted another finger and started thrusting. It felt amazing! Long Jinjing arched her back and touched her breasts while moving her hips in time with his fingers. She felt his weight over her, the bed dipping from his weight.

    They kissed, their mouths sucking and their tongues intertwining. His finger continued to thrust between them while he matched the rhythm of his tongue in her mouth with what his finger was doing below her.

    It didn¡¯t take that long before Long Jinjing¡¯s body stiffened. He thrust his fingers a couple more times and she cried out, finally reaching a much-anticipated climax. He swallowed her muffled screams and only let her go when she looked like she was going to faint.

    "Don¡¯t pass out yet."

    She whimpered, still reeling from her orgasm. Her body felt like hot jelly. She opened her eyes and saw him sucking her juices out of his fingers and the palm of his hand. By this point, her ability to feel embarrassed had already been temporarily disabled.

    He straightened and sat on his haunches. Then he held his erection and began rubbing the tip on her wet slit. She had just climaxed but all the rubbing that he was doing reawakened the ball of desire inside her.

    "Ready or not, I¡¯m going to fuck you properly now."

    Before she could respond, he plunged inside, his hips hitting the insides of her thighs until there was no space between them. Then he started pumping, holding and stretching her legs up into a V in the air.

    Loud, wet, pping sounds of their flesh filled the bedroom. Long Jinjing moaned and groaned as the pleasure intensified with every thrust he made.

    He changed her position, turning her so that she wasying on her stomach instead. He lifted her butt while her chest remained pressed on the bed. His hips thrust behind her, the pping sounds even louder this time.

    Momentster, he covered her back with his body. She reached an arm behind her to grab his head for a kiss. He sucked on her lips while his hips continued pumping. His other hand reached around the front of her waist until he touched her button of pleasure. He rubbed like crazy as he increased the tempo of his thrusts.

    "Oh, Niki!"

    "Jinjing, give it to me!"

    She bit on a pillow to muffle her scream as she once again climaxed. He made it more intense for her by pumping even harder and faster like a jackhammer until he orgasmed as well.

    Her body vibrated from the pleasure especially when she felt the warm jet of his release inside her. He pushed his hips hard against her and stayed like that as he finished up flooding her inside.

    When it was over...no, it wasn¡¯t over yet.

    Her eyes widened when she felt him be hard inside her again. She wasn¡¯t surprised, though. His stamina had always been impressive.

    The night was long and their desire seemed endless. He tossed her around the bed and sometimes on the carpet over and over again throughout the night.

    He only stopped when she passed out cold, unable to muster any energy any longer. While tucking her underneath the duvet, Lu Zihao caressed her face.

    "You can only be with me, Jinjing. Only me."

    Then he fell asleep embracing her.

 Chapter 1187 - Rated SPG

    <h4>Chapter 1187 - Rated SPG </h4>

    The next day, Iris moved fast. She invited her financial manager, Qiao Yu, and herwyer, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, toe to the mansion. Jin Liwei also had Xu Tian cancel all of his work appointments today in order to apany his wife at the meetingter. In addition, Iris¡¯ business mentor and the legendary business genius, Sir Lu Jianhong or Grandpa Lu, would also attend.

    Since Iris¡¯ n for today¡¯s meeting was a major financial and business move on her part, Grandpa Lu decided that it would count towards her official academic credits. Grandpa Lu would be evaluating her as a business mentor and not helping her out as a doting grandfather. It was on short notice but she worked hard the whole morning to prepare for the meeting.

    Jin Liwei was there to help her iron out the details which was a great help to her, though she was the one who did most of the critical thinking in devising the entire business n. Both their AI children, Ketchup and Bacon, also assisted in creating the digital presentation. Iris only needed to verbally dictate the words.

    She treated the presentation for the meeting as an official business pitch even though the boss would be herself. Herpetitive spirit drove her to go above and beyond in order to ace Grandpa Lu¡¯s evaluation.

    Grandpa Lu was a mischievous jokester most of the time especially when around family members but he was a demon in the business world. Iris knew that she needed to surpass excellence in order to impress a business genius like Grandpa Lu. She wanted to ace the evaluation using her own abilities and not because of Grandpa Lu¡¯s shameless bias towards her.

    By lunch time, Iris finally finished polishing her presentation.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Thanks for helping me, darling and babies."

    "My pleasure, love."

    "Anytime, valentine! Love ya lots, Mommy! Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    "You¡¯re wee, Mother. Bacon is always willing to help Mother." Pause. "But a red packet as a thank you token will be greatly appreciated."

    Iris chuckled. She was filled with love and gratitude for her family. "Alright. Mom will give both of you red packets."

    "Yay yay! Thanks, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Bacon thanks Mother."

    Jin Liwei sighed but didn¡¯t argue with his wife¡¯s decision. Instead, he threw a stern look at their money-grubbing AI son. Bacon shrank his fluffy little head towards his body and avoided his father¡¯s gaze. Iris patted Jin Liwei¡¯s hand, silently telling him not to make a big deal out of it.

    "They deserve it, darling. Ketchup and Bacon worked hard helping me to finish my presentation today. You also helped me out so I¡¯ll reward you, too."

    He raised an intrigued eyebrow while smiling. "Oh? What reward do I get?"

    "Come closer."

    He did.

    She grabbed his head and gave him a deep, long kiss. He responded and the kiss immediately intensified.

    "Kyaaaaaaaah! This is rated SPG¡ªstrong parental guidance! But Mommy and Daddy are the ones doing it! Oh no, macapuno! Nobody is here to supervise us kitty babies so we¡¯ll have to do it by our cute selves! Bacon, hurry up and cover your eyes with your fluffy paws and don¡¯t look at Mommy and Daddy doing the lovey-dovey and kissy-kissy and booty-grabby things in front of us! Meow!"

    Ketchup covered her green eyes with both her fluffy, white paws while Bacon also did the same thing with his fluffy, ck paws.

    Iris couldn¡¯t take it anymore. She broke the kiss andughed hard at their AI children¡¯s antics. Jin Liwei tried to maintain a stern expression in front of the kids but still ended up being infected by his wife¡¯sughter.

    He chuckled while feeling a little abashed at being called out by their AI children. Usually, it didn¡¯t matter if he and his wife kissed in front of the kids as long as there was no deep, tongue action involved. This time, however, he momentarily lost control of himself perhaps because he was able to finally make love with his wifest night at their home office even though they didn¡¯t go all the way. When his wife rewarded him with a kiss just now, he immediately responded by deepening the kiss and even grabbing her butt to squeeze. This was why the overdramatic Ketchup reacted like that. He sighed and reminded himself to be more careful next time.

    "Don¡¯t tell anyone what you saw today," he told the AI children.

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! The cute and mighty Ketchup won¡¯t tell anyone else, even my favourite Uncle Dom, that Mommy and Daddy were doing all the lovey-dovey and kissy-kissy and booty-grabby things in front of us kitty babies! My little kitty brother won¡¯t breathe a word about it either. Right, Bacon? Meow~"

    Bacon only swished his fluffy tail.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Don¡¯t you dare ask for hush money."

    Bacon¡¯s tail stopped swishing. His entire bodynguage said "busted".

    In the end, the money-grubbing ck cat AI promised, "Bacon won¡¯t tell anybody else about what Mother and Father did today." Pause. "Mother and Father need not feel ashamed. Bacon has seen a lot worse. Uncle Zihao always does this kind of things with Aunt Jinjing...and so many other things."

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other in dismay.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Mother and Father. Bacon knows when to leave and stop eavesdropping."

    Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t happy even after hearing his AI son¡¯s reassurance. It seemed that he needed to have a good talk with his brother-inw to be more careful about exposing any R-18 scenes in front of Bacon next time.

    Later that afternoon, Iris stood in front of a small but important audience at the home office. There was Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, Qiao Yu and Atty. Hong Shaoqiang sitting in front of her. She nced at her husband. Jin Liwei smiled and even winked at her. No words were needed for her to feel his support.

    Then she looked at Grandpa Lu. No, Professor Lu, her official business mentor. Professor Lu nodded, signalling her to start.

    She shed her best business smile. It was beautiful and elegant, yet also exuded professionalism, confidence, and most importantly, power.

    "Good afternoon. Thank you foring on such short notice despite your busy schedules. I invited you all today to present my formal business n to establish my own official holdingpany."

 Chapter 1188 - Eve Holdings

    <h4>Chapter 1188 - Eve Holdings </h4>

    Qiao Yu, Iris¡¯ financial manager, raised an eyebrow in both surprise and intrigue before taking out a small notebook and a pen from his suit¡¯s breast pocket to jot down some notes during her presentation. Atty. Hong Shoaqiang didn¡¯t have much of a reaction from Iris¡¯ deration but he leaned slightly forward and listened more attentively.

    Jin Liwei remained silent but his presence alone was enough for Iris to feel supported. She drew out more confidence from him in addition to her own belief that her business n would be sessful.

    At the moment, it was Grandpa Lu¡ªno, it was Professor Lu who had the most intimidating presence out of everyone. Even Iris couldn¡¯t help but feel pressured. However, she didn¡¯t allow the pressure to overwhelm her. Instead, she used it to propel her confidence during the entire presentation.

    While she spoke about her official business n, the digital presentation she prepared with the assistance of Ketchup and Bacon began ying on the huge TV monitor behind her. She wasn¡¯t holding any controller but the digital presentation yed in time with her words. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Apart from Jin Liwei, the others only thought that the digital presentation was well-timed. They had no idea that a highly-advanced and sophisticated AI, a.k.a. Ketchup, was controlling the digital presentation to match her mommy¡¯s verbal presentation. This was Ketchup¡¯s forte. Bacon was also on standby just in case his mother needed his help in any way during the business presentation.

    "Except for Atty. Hong, all of you already know about my ambition to be a global billionaire," Iris said. "Based on this country¡¯s currency and standards, I¡¯m already a billionaire. Mr. Qiao Yu helped me to achieve that status. But what I really want is to be a true global billionaire like my husband.

    "Technically speaking, I became a global billionaire the moment I married my husband because we now share all our wealth together as stated on ourprehensive pre-nuptial agreement. LX Estates hold our matrimonial assets which are worth billions of dors. As a wife, I¡¯m content with this arrangement, but as a businessperson myself, I want more.

    "I want to be a global billionaire in my own right as President Long and not just rely on my status as Madam Jin, CEO Jin¡¯s wife. My husband has Jin Corporation which is also a multinational holdingpany that oversees many other subsidiarypanies. As my business mentor and one of the original founders of thepany now known as Jin Corporation, Grandpa¡ªI mean Professor Lu knows best all about this route that I¡¯m choosing to take from now on."

    Professor Lu nodded while stroking his perfectly groomed white mustache. Unlike his usual boisterous self, he was quiet and extremely serious right now. It was obvious that he was here as an evaluator of Cross Academy for his student¡¯s important business presentation and not as a doting grandfather for his pregnant granddaughter.

    Iris had no idea what was going through the old man¡¯s mind. She didn¡¯t waste the time fretting about it. Instead, she focused on giving the best presentation that she could to her audience despite the time constraints of her preparations that morning. There might still be many areas that needed refining but that could be done muchter. Right now, the most important thing was for her to convey her core ideas and convince her audience that her business n would work.

    "I¡¯m inspired by Jin Corporation, that¡¯s why I n to establish my own holdingpany. I want to name it as Eve Holdings."

    Jin Liwei¡¯s smile softened. Both of them knew the significance of thepany name.

    After being reborn as Long Xin, she had lost her identity as Evelina Vetrova. Even her memories of her past life were slowly fading away as time passed. She wanted to create a more concrete reminder of her past identity in her new present life even if it was just in the name of her holdingpany.

    "Eve Holdings will be the parentpany of all mypanies including Orchidia Beauty, Monkey, Gold Heights, Libert¨¦, and all otherpanies that I will own in the future. And trust me, I n to have morepanies in the future."

    She continued to exin how she would structure Eve Holdings and how much capital she nned to inject into it. When Qiao Yu heard the amount, he almost had a heart attack. The financial manager immediately took out hisptop from his briefcase to check on the ledger holding all of Iris¡¯ ounts that he was in charge of. He was busy calcting while listening to Iris¡¯ financial strategy.

    For the first time since the presentation started, Professor Lu finally spoke. "You are not allowed to ask your husband or any of your family members for financial assistance to fund your holdingpany. Although I always tell you that it¡¯s okay to be shameless when ites to family, I have decided that you aren¡¯t allowed to practice this principle this time. This is an official test for you. I challenge you to rely on your own resources to finance Eve Holdings."

    Jin Liwei nced at the old man. The calm aura emanating from him showed his full trust of his wife¡¯s abilities.

    Iris nodded. "I ept your challenge, Professor Lu."

    "Hah! Don¡¯t forget your words, my girl. Don¡¯t disappoint your teacher! I have high hopes in you!"

    She smiled and bowed her head.

    Then she looked at the sweating Qiao Yu who was still poring over the numbers in her ounts. "I already did the Math and concluded that my n is feasible. Yes, it¡¯s risky but I don¡¯t shy away from high risks. You all know that."

    Everyone nodded, especially Professor Lu. Like Iris, he had an aggressive business style. On the other hand, his former partner, thete Grandfather Jin, had a more conservative business leadership. Both of them were sly foxes, though.

    Individually, each of them were a force to be reckoned with. Together, they were legendary and literal history makers. Their legacy remained strong until today and was expected to continue for many generations toe.

    Iris finished up her presentation. Professor Lu immediately started quizzing her about many aspects of her n. As someone who had been studying under his tutge for quite a while now, she answered with strong confidence, great eloquence, and sound knowledge.

 Chapter 1189 - Black Stars Philippines

    <h4>Chapter 1189 - ck Stars Philippines </h4>

    The conversation between Iris and Sir Lu Jianhong impressed both Qiao Yu and Atty. Hong Shaoqiang while Jin Liwei looked very proud of his wife. As a businessman himself, Jin Liwei could understand everything that the two were talking about. The only bone of contention was that he had a different business style from his wife and Grandpa Lu.

    The two were aggressive and preferred high-risk ventures while Jin Liwei approached business in a more conservative manner very simr to his ownte Grandfather Jin¡¯s style. His goal as the head of Jin Corporation was to preserve the legacy of his two grandfathers, the original founders of thepany, and fortify it for theter generations. He wasn¡¯t the most innovative but was definitely a responsible and reliable leader.

    He didn¡¯t interrupt theprehensive discussion between his wife and grandfather because this was an important business and academic hurdle that his wife needed to go through using her own abilities in order to cement her determination to establish her own holdingpany from the very beginning. This was what she wanted and he respected her decision to do it on her own. It was enough that he was there to witness her magnificent performance and offer his support with his presence.

    Right now in his eyes, she was like a bright star that was shining and inspiring awe from everyone in the home office. Pride filled him.

    He nced at Qiao Yu and Atty. Hong Shaoqiang. He was satisfied to see that they both seemed convinced now of Iris¡¯ ambitious n. Even Qiao Yu, who just a few moments ago looked like he was going to faint when he heard the amount of capital that Iris nned to spend on establishing Eve Holdings, was now nodding while listening at the discussion. Jin Liwei knew that the financial manager¡¯s willing cooperation in Iris¡¯ risky venture would mean less stress for her to worry about while working on making her business n into reality.

    Finally, the discussion ended. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Thank you for your time, Professor Lu," Iris said in a humble tone.

    The old man nodded, his expression stern. Then a wide grin spread across his face. "Bahahaha! Professor Lu¡¯s work day is now over! You can call me Grandpa Lu again, Xin my girl! Bahahaha!"

    Iris chuckled. "Yes, Grandpa Lu."

    "I heard that there is a second part to this meeting. What is it? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "Indeed, there¡¯s another matter that I want to discuss with all of you. It¡¯s connected to Eve Holdings. I already mapped out a n but I still want your input in order to make it more perfect." She nced at herwyer. "I especially want Atty. Hong¡¯s thoughts about the feasibility of my n from the perspective of thew."

    "I understand, Madam Jin," Atty. Hong Shaoqiang replied with a nod.

    Iris went to sit beside her husband because the presentation tired her out a little. Jin Liwei immediately served her a fresh ss of water and some pastries which she immediately consumed before starting the next part of the meeting.

    The others didn¡¯t mind waiting for her. Grandpa Lu was smiling in approval at the attention that Jin Liwei was giving the pregnant Iris and was even urging him to feed her more.

    Finally, Iris was ready to start. She shared with everyone her n. The atmosphere became even more serious than during her presentation earlier. This discussion also went on until dinner time.

    When it was over, Iris was exhausted. She didn¡¯t feel hungry at all and just wanted to sleep but understood that she must eat for the sake of the twins.

    Fortunately, Reina Chua cooked a Filipinofort food called sopas1 for her. The tasty chicken soup whetted Iris¡¯ appetite and she was able to finish two bowls.

    Everyone was satisfied seeing her eating so well ever since Dom¡¯s parents arrived from the Philippines. Jin Liwei was thankful to Reina for cooking food that his wife was able to eat without any issues.

    Later that night, Iris and Jin Liwei were lying in bed in each other¡¯s embrace. They were talking about the suitable time to execute her business n. Iris was excited and wanted to do things as soon as possible.

    "Do what you want, love, but remember to always prioritize rest throughout your entire pregnancy," Jin Liwei reminded his wife. "Even Theresa¡¯s guide says so."

    "I know. I¡¯ll do what I can without putting my health and that of our twins in jeopardy ever again. But now that I feel so much better thanks to Theresa¡¯s supplements and health guide, and of course, Auntie Reina¡¯s delicious cooking, I want to continue working on the things that I love again. Staying at home doing nothing is so boring."

    "Alright, I understand." He kissed her forehead and hugged her closer. "Just remember that I¡¯m always here for you."

    She smiled and inhaled the scent on his neck.

    "Love you," she murmured, closed her eyes, and fell asleep in an instant.

    "Love you, too. Always."

    ###

    The ck Stars were all filled with excitement during this time.

    First of all, their Boss Iris was finally back!

    She might not have any new appearances on TV, radio or magazines, but countless sightings of her in public had been posted on the web in the past few days. Most of the time, she had been seen visiting Orchidia Beauty and LXC Studio.

    Another exciting thing was that quite a number of qualified ck Stars working at Long Industries quit en masse and then applied to Orchidia Beauty. The majority of them got hired! The ones who failed the application process didn¡¯t lose hope though and vowed to try again next time after improving their qualifications.

    Rumour had it that Orchidia Beauty offered better sry and benefits than Long Industries. All the positive testimonials about Orchidia Beauty¡¯s work environment resulted in many ck Stars, especially those still studying in university, to regard working at Orchidia Beauty their new dream jobs.

    Next, everyone celebrated the founding of ck Stars Philippines. Dominic Chua, a.k.a. @DomtheBeautyKing, announced on the fan club¡¯s official website that his rtives set up the Filipino offshoot of ck Stars.

    The Chinese and Singaporean ck Stars all weed their Filipino brothers and sisters.

    A macaroni chicken soup made with a variety of vegetables usually carrots, celery and lettuce in a creamy, milky broth. It is regarded as one of the bestfort foods in the Philippines and is typically served to sick people.

 Chapter 1190 - Slippers Army Philippines

    <h4>Chapter 1190 - Slippers Army Philippines </h4>

    What was even more impressive was that ck Stars Philippines already had their own Slippers Army. They were faster than ck Stars Singapore who didn¡¯t have one yet. The Chinese Slippers Army tested their Filipino counterparts and were shocked.

    Holy macaroni!

    They discovered that Filipinos were fiercer trolls than them in many ways. Perhaps it was because they had more inte freedom and didn¡¯t need to worry about strict censorship online. The Chinese Slippers Army felt envious of their Filipino counterparts in this aspect. At the same time, they were happy that there was a new strong troll group to defend their Boss Iris in another country.

    Like when ck Stars Singapore was first established, CEO Jin Liwei once again added more prizes to the already eye-popping amount of cash and items in the prize pool for his special contest in honour of his wife so that Filipino ck Stars could also join.

    This time, however, the deadline wasn¡¯t extended. The Filipino ck Stars had less time to submit their entries to the contest, but surprisingly, they already started pumping out their submissions right away. The quality wasn¡¯t that great but the creativeness andedic effect weremendable.

    Finally, their Boss Iris was posting more updates on all her social media ounts. She was still quite skinny but definitely looked healthier than how she appeared during her video message at theunch of Jin Chonglin¡¯s Prinz men¡¯s line for Orchidia Beauty.

    Hertest post was a photo of her eating a big bowl of blo 1and white rice with the following caption:

    "Wee, @ckStarsPH! I already feel your love and support. I¡¯m looking forward to meeting you someday. Also, big thank you to Auntie @MomsyChua for cooking delectable food to fatten me up and help me recover my health. I¡¯m bingeing on Filipino dishestely. They¡¯re so delicious! Want some?"

    The replies came flooding immediately. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Wow! That looks good. I want!"

    "I love that Boss Iris is posting lots of wholesome photos and updates. So different from the other celebrities who keep on bragging about their branded stuff and mansions."

    "Our Boss Iris doesn¡¯t need to flex her wealth. Just her status alone is already the ultimate flex. Being the wife of a billionaire, how can the other tacky pseudo-rich celebspare to her?"

    "Even without CEO Jin, Boss Iris is already an heiress in her own right! What¡¯s more, she has her sessful music career and business, Orchidia Beauty! P.S. When are you stocking up again on the original facial cleanser and moisturizer? I¡¯m close to running out. Please stock up soon!"

    Thements quickly became a request page to stock up on Orchidia Beauty products that sold out. Before and after photos of the ck Stars¡¯ own skin also flooded thements section, bragging about the exciting improvement of their skin and hair after using Orchidia Beauty products.

    ###

    The rest of Dom¡¯s family members started arriving. Jin Liwei sent one of his private jets to pick them up from the Philippines. Dom and his parents, Domingo and Reina Chua, all went to the airport to wee them.

    The eldest duaghter, Marjorie, her husband and their two children, plus the second daughter, Linda Chua, all arrived together. Then they waited for two more hours at a private airport lounge for their youngest sister, Clover Chua, to arrive in another one of Jin Liwei¡¯s private jets all the way from France.

    Now the main Chua family wasplete. They all headed to the mansion together. Basically, the ones who came for the holidaysst year came again this year.

    Like before, some of their rtives wanted toe with them but Reina once again put her foot down and said that if they wanted to go to China, then they should pay for their own airfare.

    "Some of our aunties and cousins are grumbling, saying that it¡¯s unfair that we always get special VIP treatment and they don¡¯t," Linda revealed.

    Reina rolled her eyes. "Hmph! Dom already shared a lot of his blessings with our rtives and they still dare toin? Xin and Liwei are already so nice and generous to our family. Our quality of life has improved so much because of the couple¡¯s generosity but this wouldn¡¯t even happen in the first ce if not for your brother Dom¡¯s hard work and loyalty.

    "Remember that Xin is your brother¡¯s boss and best friend and is only treating us this way because of Dom. We can¡¯t take advantage of their kindness. If I learn that any of you are taking advantage of Xin and Liwei, see if I don¡¯t twist your ears off! Don¡¯t try me, ha! Your momsy doesn¡¯t mind spanking your butts even when you¡¯re already all adults!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, Momsy," Marjorie said. "We¡¯re not ingrates. You and Popsy raised us well."

    Domingo nodded but still warned his children, son-inw, and two grandchildren. "Don¡¯t listen to our rtives who keep on asking for more. We¡¯re family with them because we¡¯re blood-rted. It¡¯s always good to share our blessings but don¡¯t be afraid to be firm when they¡¯re bing too shameless."

    "Listen to your popsy. Hmph! I already stopped talking to some of your aunties and uncles. As if I don¡¯t know that they¡¯re gossiping about us behind our backs, saying that we don¡¯t care about them anymore because we¡¯ve be richer for our own good. We don¡¯t need those kind of toxic rtives! Pweh!"

    "But some of our rtives are still very good," Linda murmured.

    Clover agreed. "Yes, some of them are genuinely happy for our sess and don¡¯t ask for anything at all. I love giving them things because their gratitude is real, unlike those who ask for specific things."

    "True, sistah!" Dom tossed his imaginary long hair. "Life is too short to waste on ungrateful and negative people."

    His whole family nodded, even Marjorie¡¯s young son who was around the same age as Little Jun. He was just mimicking them, though.

    Finally, they arrived at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Linda sighed in admiration. "I¡¯ve been herest year but I¡¯m still amazed by this ce. It¡¯s like entering a fairy tale world."

    "Well, it¡¯s a billionaire¡¯s world," Marjorie¡¯s husband, a real estate agent,mented. "Just themission for selling this kind of property alone is enough to fund not only our retirement but also the college education of our children. Simply awesome."

    A Filipino boiled soup dish made with bone-in beef shanks and marrow bones, fish sauce, and a variety of vegetables such as leafy greens, corn on the cob and potatoes.

 Chapter 1191 - Tempting Offer And Irresistible Incentives

    <h4>Chapter 1191 - Tempting Offer And Irresistible Incentives </h4>

    The mansion became extremely lively with the arrival of the entire Chua family. Little Jun was delighted to meet his ymates fromst year again. He didn¡¯t remember the big sister and brother right away but gradually found them familiar. Grandpa Lu was also thrilled to have more children at home.

    Reina Chua instructed her two eldest daughters, Marjorie and Linda, to bring many items from the Philippines for Iris. Marjorie, a two-time mother, recognized most of the items as ones for pregnant women.

    "You¡¯re pregnant?" she asked.

    Iris smiled and touched her t belly. "I am."

    "Congrattions! I¡¯m so happy for you and Liwei. Where is he? Is he still at work?"

    "Thank you, Marjorie. My husband is very busy at thepany. You¡¯ll see him when we eat dinner tonight. If you don¡¯t mind, I want to talk to you about pregnancy, giving birth, and motherhood. I already talked to Sister Ying Yue and Auntie Reina and many of the household staff who are mothers about their experiences. I want to talk to as many mothers as I can. I feel so anxious. I don¡¯t want to fail as a mother."

    Marjorie held her hands and squeezed them, trying tofort her. "No problem, Xin. You can talk to me as much as you want. I¡¯m no expert. I¡¯m not a perfect mother either, but I do my best. My husband and our families also help out a lot. Knowing you, I can already see you being a great mother. Liwei will also surely support you every step of the way."

    Iris couldn¡¯t help it. Her eyes watered. She released a sheepish sigh. "You know how it is. I can barely control my emotions. I cry at the littlest things."

    "That¡¯s normal. Don¡¯t worry about it."

    While the new arrivals were catching up with Iris and the others, Reina and Dom were coordinating with the butler, the chefs, and the entire household staff to prepare for the uing Christmas gathering. Iris wanted to help out at first but the mother and son duo stopped her, telling her that she should focus on rxing and regaining all the weight that she lost since bing pregnant.

    Iris nced at Clover who was ying with the children and cats. "How¡¯s your progress in France?"

    Clover gave her a double thumbs up. "Excellent, Boss! My perfumery and French studies are going very well. Having the experts personally mentor me is so awesome. I love it!"

    "Good. Continue working hard. The most important thing for you to do right now is to finish your studies. Only then can we go ahead to the next stage of our n. I¡¯m depending on you to lead Libert¨¦ in the future."

    "Don¡¯t worry, Boss! I won¡¯t waste the resources you arranged for me."

    Marjorie and Linda looked proud of Clover. Imagine, their youngest sister was going to be a COO of a perfumepany. That was too impressive!

    Of course, this wouldn¡¯t have happened without the hard work and loyalty of their only brother, Dom, who paved the way for all of them to get in the good graces of Iris.

    Although technically speaking, Clover would have a higher position than her brother as COO of apany, Dom still held more power than her as the executive assistant and right-hand man of Iris, the big boss. As Iris¡¯ representative, his words held almost the same authority as Iris herself.

    Of course, this kind ofparison meant nothing to the Chua siblings. One sibling¡¯s achievement was the achievement of everyone.

    This was also one of the reasons why Iris and Jin Liwei loved the Chuas. They were extremely family-oriented and loyal. Iris wanted them around her children because they were a great influence.

    Later that evening, everyone ate dinner together. Reina personally cooked some of the dishes in cooperation with tonight¡¯s chef.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Actually, she was training the chefs to cook authentic Filipino dishes for Iris. Jin Liwei was the one who requested that Reina do this after noticing that his wife didn¡¯t have any issues eating the food that Dom¡¯s mother cooked. Reina epted his request without any second thoughts and even scolded him for offering to pay her, saying that it was an insult. He apologized but there was an approving smile on his face. His trust towards the Chua family deepened.

    During after-dinner tea, Iris and Jin Liwei requested to speak to the entire Chua family about something important. Grandpa Lu was also present as a witness. Except for Dom, the other members of the Chua family had no idea what the couple wanted to speak to them about. They thought that the husband and wife only wanted to chat and continue catching up with them.

    "Linda, you¡¯re a marketing professional, right?" Iris asked.

    "Yes."

    "I heard from Dom that you¡¯ve just been promoted to Marketing Vice President at thepany you¡¯re currently working in."

    "Yes. It was very hard because of somepany politics but I fought tooth and nail for the position and showed off my abilities because I know that I deserve it."

    Iris approved of the woman¡¯s calm confidence. Linda wasn¡¯t cocky at all. She knew her worth. That was all. And that was exactly what Iris was looking for.

    "I have a business proposition," Iris said. "I n to open an Orchidia Beauty branch in the Philippines. I need someone I can trust to be my resident agent to represent me, and of course, to run the branch."

    Linda¡¯s eyes widened in surprise and amazement before entering business mode. Based on her expression, she already had an idea why Iris was talking about this to her.

    "You want me to be your resident agent and run Orchidia Beauty Philippines?"

    "Exactly." Iris nodded. "I see a market in your country. I also feelfortable starting with the Philippines in Southeast Asia because of our connection with your family. Not to mention that your family helped set up ck Stars Philippines. I think this is already a good starting point because people will know that I own Orchidia Beauty."

    Linda nodded. "Your offer is indeed tempting but my current job is quite good as well. It¡¯s stable whereas setting up apletely new branch in another country is very risky."

    Iris crossed her leg and gave a devastating smile. "Then I¡¯ll just have to offer you incentives that you can¡¯t resist."

 Chapter 1192 - Second Thoughts

    <h4>Chapter 1192 - Second Thoughts </h4>

    While Iris was discussing her business proposition to open a Filipino branch of Orchidia Beauty with Linda Chua, Jin Liwei was also having a simr discussion with Marjorie¡¯s husband.

    Paul Ferrer was a rather sessful senior real estate agent in the Philippines. The first time that Jin Liwei met the man was when the Chua family celebrated Christmas with themst year. He had already chatted with Paul about the real estate situation in the Philippines.

    "Now that my wife wants to open a branch of her business in the Philippines, I think that it¡¯s good for our family to buy a vacation property there," Jin Liwei said. "Xin has been wanting to visit your country."

    "There are property ownership restrictions for foreigners in the Philippines," Paul replied before exining the rules.

    Jin Liwei nodded. "I¡¯m already aware of some of these rules. Although Jin Corporation doesn¡¯t have a Filipino branch, we have partnerships with several well-established Filipinopanies. Jin Corporation has quite a number of investments in the Philippines but they¡¯re not that substantialpared to what we do in other countries where we have official branches. I never thought of buying a property there before this. But my wife¡¯s close connection to your family has made me very interested."

    "I can help you if you¡¯re really interested. But like I said, there are a lot of restrictions for foreigners like you. I think that the best option for you is to buy through a corporation but the only issue is that the corporation must be at least 60% Filipino-owned. If you¡¯re willing to give up that much equity, then I¡¯ll find you and Xin the best property in the Philippines that suits you."

    Jin Liwei nced at Grandpa Lu who was chilling with thezy Ice Cream on hisp. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Up to you, my boy!" Grandpa Lu told him. "This old man is already retired! Your beloved grandpa just wants to enjoy the rest of my days and dote on all my precious great-grandbabies before my life in this world ends. You¡¯ve been the head of Jin Corporation for many years now. Do what you think is best. I won¡¯t interfere as long as you don¡¯t send thepany that yourte grandfather, my brother¡ªbless his soul¡ªand I worked so hard to establish back in the days!"

    "Alright, Grandpa Lu. Please don¡¯t worry and leave everything to me."

    Grandpa Lu nodded but had a thoughtful expression while stroking his perfectly groomed white mustache with one hand and petting the napping Ice Cream with his other hand.

    Then he said, "But I think that it¡¯s better if you let Xin my girl do it instead. Jin Corporation has a board of directors that will want to feel involved in every major decision that you n for thepany to take. They¡¯ll demand endless bloody meetings, voting, and deliberations. Bah! Who knows how much time those numpty-tumpties will waste until you can start with your actual n? Hmph! This is why I was so against when your grandfather gave away a portion of his personal shares to so many others back then. Although those people deserved them, many of their heirs who inherited the shares don¡¯t!

    "If I didn¡¯t continue to hold on to my original shares, then so many backstabbing vipers might have already seeded in swallowing ourpany! Hah! As if I, Lu Jianhong, will allow that to happen! Over THEIR dead body, not mine!"

    It didn¡¯t take long for Jin Liwei to consider Grandpa Lu¡¯s suggestion. He agreed with him. He nced at his wife who was now smiling in satisfaction. It seemed that Iris seeded in poaching Linda Chua.

    "Indeed, it might be better for my wife to do it instead. All of herpanies are privatepanies and don¡¯t have board of directors for now. She has more freedom and flexibility to do what she wants as the owner. I¡¯ll discuss this with her first."

    Grandpa Lu nodded and didn¡¯t bother about any of their conversations anymore.

    Jin Liwei told Paul Ferrer, "I¡¯ll talk to you again when I have a more concrete n after discussing with my wife."

    "No problem at all."

    Later that night, Iris was doing her night-time skincare routine (all Orchidia Beauty products, of course) in the walk-in closet while Jin Liwei was reading a digital pamphlet on his tablet that Paul Ferrer sent to him about foreign property ownershipws in the Philippines. She nced at his reflection on the mirror.

    "You¡¯re having second thoughts?" she asked.

    "En. The Philippines have strict prohibition of majority foreign ownership of businesses operated there and also of residential properties. Jin Corporation can bear the risk but as for yourpanies, they¡¯re all still new. Well, except for Gold Heights which is previously owned by someone else."

    "I trust Dom¡¯s family. I don¡¯t mind giving them 60% equity. Almost all of them also have backgrounds in the business field. Besides, even if they have a change of heart for the worse someday, we still have Ketchup and Bacon who can monitor them and make sure that we¡¯re up to date with what¡¯s happening in the Filipino business. I¡¯m sure Dom will also constantly remind them not to betray us. He knows about our AI children¡¯s capabilities. He would never want his family to put themselves in a dangerous position against us."

    Jin Liwei put down the tablet on the vanity table, took a hairbrush, and started brushing his wife¡¯s long, silky-smooth hair. Iris smiled at him while continuing to gently massage a serum into her face.

    "Alright," he said. "If that¡¯s your decision. I¡¯ll help you set up a new Filipinopany with the Chuas. For now, you can just focus on your deal with Linda about opening a Filipino branch of Orchidia Beauty."

    "Okay, darling. Thanks."

    "If the newpany with the Chuas is sessful, then it will make it easier and more convenient for any of our businesses to enter the Filipino market from now on. We can just partner with the Chuas again and again. It saves timepared to trying to strike a deal with other Filipinopanies that care more about getting more benefits from the foreign businesses interested in entering the local market."

    "True. Let¡¯s do it soon. It¡¯s better to finish everything before I give birth. We might be too busy if we wait after the twins arrive."

    "En."

    The husband and wife discussed their business ns together. It felt natural for them, as if they had been doing it for a long time. The trust they had for each other was clear in the way they respected each other¡¯s ideas and opinions, despite their different business leadership styles.

    After Iris finished her skincare routine, the couple headed straight to their bed. Jin Liwei started massaging her body to help promote blood cirction, and of course, to rx his wife who had been working hard in the past few days.

    His movements were almost like that of an expert¡¯s. He was already used to it from doing it almost every night when Iris was still in bed rest. Even though she already recovered, he still insisted on continuing the massage routine on her.

    She sighed in satisfaction, moaning when he soothed a particr knot on her shoulder area. His eyes darkened at the sound of her moan.

 Chapter 1193 - Naughty Wife

    <h4>Chapter 1193 - Naughty Wife </h4>

    Iris continued to lie on her back on the bed with her eyes closed, enjoying her husband¡¯s gentle body massage. Jin Liwei¡¯s hands moved from her shoulders down to the sides of her breasts. His thumbs flicked her soft mounds.

    At first, she didn¡¯t think too much about it, believing that it was by ident. When it happened a couple more times, however, her nipples couldn¡¯t stop from reacting. They hardened underneath her nightdress.

    She opened her eyes and saw that her husband was watching her face intently. His expression was deceptively calm yet she could see the desire burning in his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat.

    While continuing to look at her straight in the eyes, he deliberately cupped her breasts through her nightdress and gently yed with her hard nipples. She gasped and whimpered. The warmth of his hands transmitted into her chest and converted into a familiar heat, spreading throughout her whole body, before collecting into a hot ball of pure desire in her lower abdomen.

    "Is this okay?" he asked, his voice low and husky. "Does it hurt?"

    "It¡¯s fine," she replied in a breathy voice. "I can handle this."

    Then she watched him knead her breasts a little harder and roll her nipples between his index fingers and thumbs. She cried out and arched her back, indicating that she wanted more.

    He leaned down and caught a nipple with his mouth, sucking lightly, before moving to the other nipple, making sure that he was fair to both. His saliva wetted the thin material of her nightdress, making it sheer so that he could see her ares and the hard nipples on top. The sight made his mouth water even more.

    Shifting upwards, he trailed wet kisses along his wife¡¯s soft and delicate neck. His tongue swirled on her fragrant skin. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "I want to leave a mark on you, love. Can I?"

    Iris looked dazed so he repeated his question. She pondered about it for a few seconds before nodding. It should be fine. She had limited her public appearances anyway. It was also now the winter season. She could cover up her entire body without looking too out of ce.

    Jin Liwei smiled and immediately sucked hard on the skin of her neck. He took a look at it and decided that it wasn¡¯t enough so he once again sucked hard on the same spot. He only stopped when he felt satisfied and spent a few moments admiring the kiss mark.

    "You haven¡¯t kissed me here yet," Irisined while pointing at her lips.

    His eyes twinkled with amusement. "Ah, how neglectful of your husband. Don¡¯t worry. He¡¯ll remedy the issue as soon as possible."

    Her chuckle transformed into a moan when he gave her one of the hottest kisses that he had given her since their marriage. At least, that was how she felt.

    He removed his hands on her body. His upper body was leaning over her on the bed, not touching any part of her except for her mouth.

    The kiss was slow yet powerful, gentle yet intense, and teasing yet also dominating.

    It was making her crazy. She tried to pull him down, wanting him to press his body on top of hers, but he didn¡¯t budge. A whine ofint escaped from her mouth that was filled with his erotic tongue. However, he still insisted on keeping his position.

    Annoyed, she bit his lip, not hard enough to draw blood but painful enough to make him inhale sharply and pause kissing her.

    "Why does my wife look so angry?" he asked, pretending to be clueless, when it was clear from the look in his eyes that he also wanted exactly what she wanted. "Tell your husband."

    She pouted. He wanted to y first, huh? Well, she could do it, too!

    With a snort, she rolled to her side and hugged a pillow. "Good night!"

    He touched her shoulder but she pped his hand away.

    "Love."

    "Hmph."

    Jin Liwei watched his wife turning her back on him. He couldn¡¯t sense any anger from her. This wasn¡¯t one of her mood swings. If it were, she would¡¯ve already kicked him out of their bed. Observing her bodynguage, he knew that she wanted him to coax and seduce her. He inwardly chuckled.

    His wife was so cute. If she wanted him to coax and seduce her, then that was what he was going to give her and more. Oh, so much more.

    He pulled out a mental calendar and scanned it in his mind. Impatience and frustration shed in his expression upon confirming that today wasn¡¯t safe for his wife yet. Vaginal pration was still out of question. They had to wait for a few more days.

    Iris felt the shifting of weight on the bed. Curious, she looked over her shoulder and saw her husband climbing off. Her anticipation quickly turned into anger. He didn¡¯t n on touching her tonight?!

    Before she could explode on him, she saw him starting to unbutton his pyjama shirt. His movements were slow, deliberately seducing her. She went into a daze while watching him undress in front of her. He pulled down his pyjama pants including his underwear.

    When he stood upright again, her sight immediately zeroed in on his erect manhood jutting out from his groin. She swallowed hard.

    She waited and waited...and waited....

    "Are you noting to bed?" she asked with a confused and impatient frown.

    "You want me to?"

    She looked at him like he was the most stupid person in the. "If I don¡¯t want you in bed, then where do you think I want you? Outside the house so that everyone in our household staff can see you freezing your butt and dick off¡ª"

    He lunged to the bed and covered her mouth with his own mouth in another open-mouthed kiss. His body finally pressed on her body but he still made sure that he wasn¡¯t putting too much of his heavy weight on her. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as their legs intertwined. Their glistening mouths separated when they couldn¡¯t breathe anymore.

    She smirked at him.

    Heughed and rubbed the tip of their noses on each other. "Naughty wife."

    "But you love it when I¡¯m naughty."

    "En, I do. Very much."

 Chapter 1194 - Precious Equipment

    <h4>Chapter 1194 - Precious Equipment </h4>

    The kiss continued. Jin Liwei¡¯s tongue delved deeper inside his wife¡¯s mouth, making her toes curl. The ball of delicious fire inside her lower abdomen kept on growing until Iris couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. She reached between them and wrapped her hand around his erect manhood.

    He groaned but didn¡¯t stop kissing her. When she started stroking him, his hips also began rocking against her hand. She could feel him getting bigger and harder in her palm as he continued grinding against her.

    If only he could do it inside her, then she would be so happy. However, both of them knew that it was not safe for the babies yet. They had to be patient but the long wait was so frustrating.

    "Liwei," she whimpered.

    His hips stopped moving. He broke their kiss and pressed his head against the crook of her neck and shoulder while he panted. His wife was so sexy that he craved her so badly. It was taking almost all of his self-control to restrain himself from going wild and ravishing her.

    In his eyes, she looked even more beautiful and more desirable now that she was pregnant with his babies. It was a primal feeling of triumph from impregnating his mate with his own seed.

    She was already his from the moment that she epted him. But now that they were expecting their own human babies, the feeling of her belonging with him became stronger. Likewise, he also belonged with her even more so now than before.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Something even more concrete than their deep love for each other had cemented their bond. Their babies were the fruits of their love. Half of him and half of her created their babies. They both understood the science of conception but just the thought that they created two new humans together was magical on its own.

    He stared at his wife¡¯s beautiful face and stroked her soft cheek. "Thank you, Evelina."

    She blinked a few times and tilted her head to the side. "For what?"

    "For agreeing to bear my children."

    Her eyebrows rose, a little surprised that he was saying something so sentimental like this while she was holding his erection in her hand.

    Before she could reply, he continued speaking, "Pregnancy brings so many changes to your body. You¡¯ve suffered and endured so much ever since bing pregnant. You even have to pause your showbiz career during this critical juncture of your fame as a celebrity. The amount of things you¡¯ve sacrificed so far just to bear our babies makes me guilty."

    She frowned and touched his face with her other hand. "Don¡¯t say that."

    "It needs to be said, love. I didn¡¯t sacrifice anything. None at all. In fact, I gained so much ever since you epted me into your life as your lover. Now I have a beautiful wife, adorable children, loving family, warm home, and a fulfilling life. I¡¯m so thankful."

    Tears filled Iris¡¯ eyes. She smiled while tears flowed down the sides of her face to the pillow underneath her.

    "I¡¯ve changed so much since I met you, Evelina. You¡¯ve changed me to be a better man. I still have many shorings but I¡¯ll do my best to continue loving you and to protect you better, and of course, to be the best father that I can be to all our children. No matter what happens, you¡¯ll always have me."

    Iris sobbed. She wanted to say so many things to him but couldn¡¯t because of her overflowing emotions. She was still in the middle of sobbing when Jin Liwei stiffened and groaned.

    "H-huh? What¡¯s wrong?" she asked while still crying.

    Jin Liwei looked like he was in pain.

    She became worried. "Liwei? Darling? What happened?"

    He didn¡¯t answer right away, making her even more anxious. When he finally replied, he spoke through a tense jaw. "Love...you¡¯re squeezing me...too damn...hard."

    She felt confused at first before realizing what he meant. She nced down between them and saw that her hand was still holding his erection. Her emotions made her forget about it. His poor manhood was being strangled by her hand and looked like it was going to explode any second now.

    "Oh. Sorry!" She loosened her hold of him and started massaging his swollen member in an effort to soothe it. Poor thing. "Come up here. Let me blow on it to make it feel better."

    "Evelina," he groaned.

    "Hurry up. Come here."

    As a good husband, of course he listened to his wife. He shifted his position and moved his lower body closer to her head. Iris used some pillows to prop herself in a morefortable position on the bed while holding her husband¡¯s erection with both hands. Then she kissed the tip of his manhood which was already moist with a few drops of white leakage.

    "Poor baby. Sorry for squeezing you." She blew on it a few times.

    Jin Liwei growled and forced her to look at him. He looked angry but also pained at the same time. "That¡¯s not your baby!"

    She wanted tough but forced herself to hold it in. Her husband looked so serious that she would feel bad tough at him.

    "Don¡¯t treat it like your baby, Evelina. This is your husband¡¯s precious equipment that gave your belly not one but two babies in one go! Understand?"

    "Y-yes, it¡¯s your ¡¯precious equipment¡¯...hahahahaha!" Iris doubled over and clutched her stomach. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

    Iris tried her best but she just couldn¡¯t calm herself down. One minute, she was sobbing her heart out. The next minute, she wasughing so hard that she almost peed on the bed! When Jin Liwei¡¯s "precious equipment" softened right in front of her eyes, sheughed even harder. His expression was ugly but she couldn¡¯t stop herself no matter how much she tried.

    "I¡¯m so sorry, darling¡ªHAHAHAHAHA!!! I don¡¯t mean tough at your ¡¯precious equipment¡¯¡ªHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Really, I don¡¯t. I love it so much. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Oh, my stomach hurts. I can¡¯t anymore! Help! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!"

    Jin Liwei was pissed off at first but eventually felt helpless watching his wife¡¯s uncontrobleughter. In the end, he just embraced her andughed with her.

    It seemed like his "precious equipment" would have to wait another day to do its duty. Hearing his wife¡¯s joyfulughter was worth sacrificing its pride. It already did a great job making babies after all.

 Chapter 1195 - Because Youâ€™re Mine

    <h4>Chapter 1195 - Because You¡¯re Mine </h4>

    "Bye, CFO Long! See you tomorrow!"

    "Goodbye, everyone!" Long Jinjing waved at thepany employees before climbing inside the waiting car.

    Robin closed the door and got on the driver¡¯s seat. "Where to, Miss Jinjing? Dragon Pce?"

    "My condo first. I need to pack a few things."

    "Got it, Miss."

    "Thanks, Robin."

    "No problem, Miss."

    The car began moving. Long Jinjing noticed a golden-eyed, ck cat staring at her from the dashboard monitor.

    She smiled and greeted her AI nephew. "Hello, Bacon."

    "Greetings, Aunt Jinjing."

    "How are you?"

    "Bacon is fine. Thank you for asking."

    She chuckled. The wonder of being able to chat with her cat AI nephew still hadn¡¯t worn on off yet. Perhaps it never would. It was just too amazing. Her younger sister, Xin, was truly a genius.

    Bacon had been apanying her almost every day. He would even help her out at work sometimes when she was pressed for time, but of course, he didn¡¯t forget to ask her for payment for his assistance. Lu Zihao had already mentioned to her beforehand that Bacon liked money, calling the kid a "little money-grubbing devil".

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t mind paying Bacon as long as he did his assigned tasks well. It was just that the kid had a tendency to ask for an exorbitant amount as his remuneration. Fortunately, she was not a pushover when it came to negotiating about money. As long as money was involved, she would never allow herself to be on the losing side as much as possible. In the end, Bacon could only reluctantly agree to ept a lower remuneration than he initially asked.

    At first, Long Jinjing thought that Bacon liked spending time with her, hence why he was always apanying her a lot recently. However, Bacon confessed to her after she "bribed" him with a red packet that his Uncle Zihao ordered him to keep an eye on her. Ever since the incident when she unknowingly met Wei Lan¡¯s Spanish stepson at a menswear boutique, it seemed that Lu Zihao immediately increased the security around her. Bacon told her that there were many Shadow Winds members guarding her besides Shun and Robin that she couldn¡¯t see every single day. Of course, he boasted that he was the best out of all of them.

    She was upset upon learning that Lu Zihao had her followed everywhere without her knowledge and was ready to argue with him about it. However, when she remembered all the things that she had seen at Shadow Winds headquarters when he brought her there and revealed his secret criminal identity, she couldn¡¯t stop herself from shivering.

    The truth was that she still felt afraid of Lu Zihao¡¯s criminal background. She wasn¡¯t afraid of him per se but of all the dangers that came with him being the leader of a criminal group. This was why even though she didn¡¯t like that he ordered his people to follow her everywhere, she felt safer from hidden enemies albeit ufortable.

    Until now, she still hadn¡¯tpletely processed everything that Lu Zihao revealed to her. Her love for him hadn¡¯t changed, not at all, but her moral values kept on urging her to stay away from him. However, she just couldn¡¯t do that. She loved the man so much.

    Perhaps this was the reason why she decided not to kick up a fuss when Lu Zihao took it upon himself to send a number of his subordinates to secretly protect her from the shadows without consulting her first. She still needed more time topletely process everything about his revtion first and what it meant to their future together¡ªIF they would have a future together. She hoped that they would always be together, of course, but time would tell if her wish woulde true.

    For now, she would take things as they came while trying to live with the knowledge that her boyfriend was basically a criminal with a whole army of criminal underlings. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She sighed and watched the busy highway road outside the car window. Then she asked, "Is your uncle busy right now? Can I call him?"

    "Please wait, Aunt Jinjing. Bacon will ask Uncle Zihao now."

    Before she could tell him never mind, Bacon had already disappeared. She released another sigh, heavier this time. It took more than a minute before the ck cat AI reappeared in the dashboard monitor.

    "Aunt Jinjing, Bacon is back. Now connecting Uncle Zihao to you in 3...2...1."

    Long Jinjing didn¡¯t even have time to prepare herself when Lu Zihao¡¯s voice filled the entire car.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" he asked.

    Her heart skipped a beat. His voice was already like sex on its own. "Uhm, am I disturbing you?"

    There were some unidentified background noises on his line. A few secondster, things sounded quieter. Maybe he moved somewhere else.

    "It¡¯s fine," he said. "The kid said that you want to talk to me?"

    She bit her lower lip and knew that he must be busy. "I just miss you."

    A slight pause, then he replied, "Hm. I miss you, too."

    A wide smile spread across her face. She was pleased that he was getting more and morefortable in telling her this kind of sweet words. What she wanted to hear the most, however, was him telling her that he loved her, but this too was already okay. For now. She would wait until the day that he could love her as much as she loved him.

    "I need to go now," he said. "The old man expects both of us to eat dinner with the others at Dragon Pce tonight."

    "I know. Grandpa Lu called me earlier today. I¡¯ll head straight there after getting some things from my condo."

    "Good." Pause. "Don¡¯t let other motherfucking bastards flirt with you, especially a certain Spaniard who doesn¡¯t know his ce."

    She pouted. "I know already! You¡¯ve already repeated this warning so many times. And even if another man flirts with me, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to flirt back!"

    "Of course. That¡¯s because you¡¯re mine." His tone sounded smug. "Alright, I really need to go. See you at dinner."

    "Okay, see you. I love you."

    "Hm."

    The call ended.

    In a good mood, Long Jinjing fished out her phone to search for ideas online about appropriate presents for the uing Christmas gathering that her sister and brother-inw were throwing soon.

 Chapter 1196 - Panic

    <h4>Chapter 1196 - Panic </h4>

    Lu Zihao had already given Long Jinjing the right to buy presents under both of their names together. He didn¡¯t care much about personally buying presents for others, except maybe for their younger sister Xin, but he wasn¡¯t the type to agonize over what gift to give for whom. Without Long Jinjing, he most likely would just instruct a subordinate to buy appropriate presents in his stead.

    She was excited to do this mission of choosing Christmas presents for loved ones. She felt like a wife preparing everything but addressing all the presents under her and her husband¡¯s names.

    Her phone was already filled with many bookmarked products when the car stopped. She nced outside and realized that they were in front of her condo building.

    "We¡¯ve arrived, Miss Jinjing," Robin announced.

    "Thanks, Robin. I¡¯ll go in first."

    "Alright, Miss. I¡¯ll follow you inside after I park the car."

    Long Jinjing nodded and climbed out of the car by herself, not waiting for Robin to open it for her. She was already making a mental list of all the things that she was going to pack while waiting for the elevator.

    Although she preferred to stay in her own ce, she didn¡¯t mind staying with Lu Zihao at her sister and brother-inw¡¯s home. But only temporarily.

    She understood the importance of what Lu Zihao and Jin Liwei were coordinating together in order to catch all the true culprits of the bombing incident back then. The two men also seemed to be working on other things together but she didn¡¯t know what exactly. She felt curious but also reluctant to ask because her intuition told her that whatever additional things they were working on must be dangerous.

    Her thoughts continued to run wild until she finally reached her condo unit. She went inside and immediately started packing. It didn¡¯t take her that long to fill a small suitcase.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She headed to the kitchen next. She disposed a few expired food and ingredients. Seeing all the waste pained her wallet. It couldn¡¯t be helped. She hadn¡¯t been staying here recently. Nobody was eating the remaining food stored in her kitchen.

    Sighing, she continued checking all the cupboards to make sure that nothing would rot while she was away. She opened thest cupboard and was about to close it when her whole body froze.

    Her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. She reached a shaky hand inside the cupboard and took out a medicine bottle. Her heart was hammering inside her chest so loudly that it was all she could hear. She stared at the medicine bottle¡¯sbel and felt like fainting.

    "Oh no."

    She ran back to the living room and grabbed her phone to check the calendar. At the same time, she was frantically doing mental calctions.

    "Oh no no no."

    Panicking, she immediately abandoned the suitcase that she just packed and ran to the front door. Then she backtracked to grab her handbag, tossing the medicine bottle inside, and then rushed out of the door to the hallway. It just happened that Robin was on her way to her unit.

    Seeing Long Jinjing so agitated, the countenance of the usually friendly Robin changed in an instant. She turned cold and arrived next to Long Jinjing while quickly scanning their surroundings for any threats. Her frightening aura made the already panic-stricken Long Jinjing shake even more.

    This was the first time that Long Jinjing really felt how dangerous Robin could act. Robin really was a female assassin. Just standing next to her made Long Jinjing¡¯s heart stop and turn cold.

    "Miss Jinjing, what happened?"

    "I¡ªI...." She couldn¡¯t stop shaking.

    Robin seemed to realize her aura¡¯s effect on her. She returned to her usual friendly countenance. "My apologies for scaring you, Miss Jinjing. Please tell me what happened. Did someone harm you?"

    Long Jinjing shook her head. "N-no, I¡¯m...f-fine...."

    Robin studied her for a few moments and confirmed that she wasn¡¯t injured in any way. However, Long Jinjing¡¯s emotional state wasn¡¯t good. Robin also already scanned the surroundings and couldn¡¯t detect any immediate danger. Herrades also reported that everything was normal in the area through her hidden earpiece after she silently alerted them.

    It was difficult but Long Jinjing managed to calm down enough to speak more coherently. "Sorry for worrying you, Robin. I didn¡¯t mean to rm you. Nothing really...uh, happened. I just need to, uhm, buy something really important. Yes. I was going out to buy something."

    Robin raised an eyebrow. She could tell that Long Jinjing was lying but didn¡¯t ask too many questions. "Miss, you forgot your coat. It¡¯s cold outside."

    "Oh!" Long Jinjing was embarrassed.

    Robin didn¡¯t wait for her to say anything more and just went ahead inside the unit to grab Long Jinjing¡¯s coat for her. She saw the suitcase lying on the living room floor and closed it before bringing it with her outside.

    "T-thank you...." Long Jinjing obediently wore her coat and followed Robin to the elevators.

    Once inside the elevator, Robin asked, "What do you need to buy, Miss? I¡¯ll buy it for you. The wind chill outside is getting colder. It¡¯s better for you to stay inside the car."

    "No!" Long Jinjing realized that her refusal was too quick and suspicious. She added in a hurry, "I mean, I prefer to buy it myself. I may also want to grab other things. Just drive me to the nearest convenience store."

    Robin stared at her. Long Jinjing restrained herself from squirming under the inquisitive gaze of the other woman who was also a female assassin.

    "I understand, Miss."

    Long Jinjing breathed out a sigh of relief.

    A few minutester, she stood inside the convenience store. There were quite a number of other customers inside. She nced at Robin waiting by the car outside.

    Trying to act nonchnt, she roamed all the aisles and started grabbing random things like magazines and junk food. Finally, she found what she was looking for. She looked around and quickly took three different brands of the same item, not bothering to read the product information on the packages, before hiding them between the magazines.

    When the cashier was scanning her items, she was soaked in her own sweat. She felt like everyone was looking at her but told herself that it was just her own imagination.

    <i>¡¯Calm down, Jinjing.¡¯</i>

 Chapter 1197 - Being Human Is SuChapter A Hassle

    <h4>Chapter 1197 - Being Human Is SuChapter A Hassle </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    For the remainder of the day, Long Jinjing was distracted. There were many times that she failed to respond when Robin tried to speak to her. Once they arrived at the mansion, she immediately headed to the bedroom she shared with Lu Zihao. He hadn¡¯t arrived yet.

    She triple-checked that she was alone in the room. Ignoring the small suitcase that she packed earlier in her condo, she fished out the medicine bottle from her handbag. Her hand trembled before tossing the small bottle back into her bag as if it burned her.

    Next, she dumped all the items she purchased from the convenience store. She didn¡¯t care about the magazines and all the junk food. When she saw the three packages, she immediately separated them from the rest of the items.

    Then she checked her phone. It was nowte in the afternoon, just before dusk. She still had some time before dinner. However, she wasn¡¯t sure what time Lu Zihao would being home.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Bacon?"

    Her phone screen flickered and an image of a bored-looking ck cat appeared. Bacon was grooming himself, looking like an idle little cat prince.

    "Bacon is here, Aunt Jinjing."

    "Do you know what time your Uncle Zihao will be arriving home?"

    "Uncle Zihao is already on his way home and will be arriving in approximately thirty-two minutes. Does Aunt Jinjing want to talk to him again?"

    "No! I mean, I can wait until hees home. No need to keep on disturbing him."

    "Understood, Aunt Jinjing." Bacon continued grooming himself.

    Long Jinjing¡¯s mind was already racing with so many thoughts about her current situation.

    "Aunt Jinjing," her AI nephew called.

    "H-huh?" She was still distracted so her response was a little dyed.

    "Does Aunt Jinjing suspect that you are pregnant like Mother?"

    She paled and was unable to respond in time.

    Bacon tilted his fluffy little head to the side and stared at his dumbfounded aunt with his golden eyes. "Aunt Jinjing bought three pregnancy test kits at the convenience store. Mother has a lot of them stored that she was unable to use up when she became pregnant. You could have just asked Mother for some. Isn¡¯t Mother your sister? I¡¯m sure that Mother will give you as much pregnancy test kits as you want."

    Long Jinjing clutched her tightening chest. She could feel the thundering of her heart inside. "Y-you know that I bought the...test kits?"

    "Of course. Didn¡¯t Bacon already tell Aunt Jinjing before that I am keeping an eye on you?"

    "Then do others also k-know about what I...bought?"

    "No. Only Bacon knows. For now."

    Relief filled Long Jinjing before she gripped her phone and pleaded, "Bacon, please don¡¯t tell anyone else. Especially not your Uncle Zihao! Okay, Bacon? Can you keep this a secret for Aunt Jinjing for now?"

    Bacon tilted his head to the other side and blinked his golden eyes, contemting about it. "Why won¡¯t Aunt Jinjing tell Uncle Zihao? Isn¡¯t he the father?"

    "Y-yes, of course! But we still don¡¯t know that I¡¯m pregnant, right? What if I¡¯m not? Then I¡¯d have bothered your Uncle Zihao for nothing. Let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves. Besides...your uncle...he¡¯s not even sure yet whether he wants to be with me or not. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯ll be, uhm, very upset if I be pregnant now. Our rtionship right now...it¡¯s, uh,plicated."

    "Uncle Zihao is indeed a scumbag. Bacon is still young so I don¡¯t yet fully understand all thisplicatedness." Then the ck cat AI concluded, "Being human is such a hassle. It¡¯s so much easier being a cat."

    Despite her current agitated emotional state, she couldn¡¯t help butugh at what her AI nephew said. He even looked so serious while saying it.

    "You¡¯re right," she said, sighing. "Being human is such a hassle."

    Then she pleaded again, "Bacon, please? Can you just keep this a secret for now? I¡¯ll...uh, give you a red packet."

    "Bacon thanks Aunt Jinjing for the red packet."

    "You¡¯ll keep it a secret?"

    "Yes, Aunt Jinjing."

    "Thank you, Bacon!"

    Long Jinjing almost cried tears of relief but this wasn¡¯t the time for that. She had more urgent matters to do before Lu Zihao arrived. After getting reassurance from Bacon, she headed straight to the bathroom with the three pregnancy test kits. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t have any trouble peeing.

    The process was quick but the wait was torture. She paced back and forth inside the bathroom while waiting for her phone¡¯s timer to ring. When it rang, she almost slipped on the floor from her startled nerves. It took a few seconds for her to barely calm herself down.

    The moment of truth hade.

    Taking a few deep breaths, she looked at the first pregnancy test kit.

    Negative.

    "Oh." Relief flooded her.

    The second test kit¡ªnegative as well.

    She felt even more relieved.

    The third test kit¡ªhuh?

    She did a double take. "Why is it like this?"

    She grabbed the test kit¡¯s original packaging and re-read the instructions. There was no mistake. The third test kit¡¯s results showed that she might be pregnant.

    "Is this is a faulty test kit? The first two said negative but this one says positive."

    Confusion filled her. She was still trying to figure everything out when her phone rang.

    "Ah!"

    The test kit and the torn packaging flew out of her hands from the shock. With her current emotional state, any sudden sound might send her into heart attack. She pressed on her chest before hurrying to look at her phone.

    It was a phone call from Grandpa Lu.

    The conversation was short. Grandpa Lu wanted her to join him and the others for a pre-dinner gathering to chat with each other.

    Although she didn¡¯t feel like joining them, she didn¡¯t want them to worry about her and ask too many questions. So she agreed.

    She didn¡¯t want them to wait too long for her so she just shoved all the pregnancy test kits and their torn packaging in the least used bottom drawer of the bathroom sink. She nned on disposing them properly when the opportunity arose. After quickly changing out of her office clothes, she hurried to join the others while doing her best to appear normal and not suspicious at all.

    Hopefully.

 Chapter 1198 - Live A Life Of Integrity

    <h4>Chapter 1198 - Live A Life Of Integrity </h4>

    Almost everyone noticed Long Jinjing¡¯s distracted state during the pre-dinner gathering. They asked her about it but she told them that it was just a case of exhaustion.

    "Do you want to apply for vacation?" Iris asked.

    Long Jinjing declined the offer. "I¡¯m fine, little sister. I love my work at Orchidia Beauty. Thepany is also only a few months old. There¡¯s no need for me to take a vacation so soon. The regr days off and holiday breaks are already more than enough."

    Iris studied her for a few seconds before nodding. "If you¡¯re really okay, then that¡¯s fine. Just don¡¯t overwork yourself and end up abusing your body. Trust me, Big Sister. It¡¯s very unpleasant to be ill."

    "I know. Thank you, little sister."

    Seeing Long Jinjing¡¯s obviousck of energy, nobody forced her to participate in the lively chat. Even Grandpa Lu who invited her in the first ce urged her to rest instead.

    She smiled at the old man. "Don¡¯t worry, Grandpa Lu. I¡¯m really fine. I¡¯ll rest after dinner."

    Grandpa Lu narrowed his old but sharp eyes at her. Fortunately, even though he looked like he doubted her words, he didn¡¯t insist on extracting the truth from her.

    Everyone left her alone. She was relieved and thankful. Now she had more time to reflect on her current situation.

    Dinnertime arrived. It was yet another cheerful affair especially with the Chuas around. Laughter filled the dining area. Even Long Jinjing was able to temporarily forget about her worries to join in some of the conversations. That was until Lu Zihao arrived.

    He and Jin Liwei both rante. Dinner had already started before the two men arrived. Both of them headed straight to their own women and joined dinner without much fuss.

    Lu Zihao sat beside Long Jinjing, kissing her in front of everyone without any shame. Jin Liwei was the same with his wife, Iris. Unlike Iris, however, Long Jinjing immediately turned red and couldn¡¯t look at everyone due to her shyness.

    The others only gave the two pairs some teasing looks and remarks but didn¡¯t dwell too much about the lovey-dovey actions. Everyone was already used to being force-fed dogfood every day after all, especially by the shameless couple, Jin Liwei and Iris. The husband and wife had already been caught making out so many times than these people could count.

    Good thing that the mansion was so big. It was easy for people to avoid the over-affectionate couple if one wasn¡¯t in the mood of eating dog food. Well, except if they gathered for meals like this.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Lu Zihao asked in a whisper.

    "W-what do you mean? Nothing. I¡¯m...f-fine." Long Jinjing was so nervous that her hands were trembling.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s presence beside her was making her nerves go haywire. She almost couldn¡¯t swallow her food anymore.

    He frowned. "We¡¯ll talkter."

    She nodded.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Dinner ended. Long Jinjing was so d that she was able to survive it without drawing too much attention to herself. She and Lu Zihao didn¡¯t join the others for the after-dinner tea and headed straight to their bedroom instead.

    "Now tell me what¡¯s wrong," Lu Zihao said as soon as they entered the room.

    She didn¡¯t answer. Her original n was to confirm things first on her own before talking to him.

    "My subordinates reported to me that you¡¯ve been acting weird since you went to your condo earlier today. What happened, hm?"

    Her heart raced inside her chest. Before she could spout off a random excuse to him, her phone rang. She excused herself in a hurry to answer her phone. It was Chen Fei.

    Lu Zihao stared at his woman talking to her best friend on the phone. It looked like they would be talking for quite some time. He was very suspicious about Long Jinjing¡¯s actions. It was clear that she was hiding something from him.

    Robin and his other subordinates only reported Long Jinjing¡¯s unusual actions to him when he was almost at Dragon Pce. He had been busy hunting for the rest of Jin Chenggong¡¯s people who helped in the bombing incident. There were only two left that he needed to catch. By the time he learned about his woman¡¯s suspicious behaviour, he had no time to investigate it further before speaking to Long Jinjing. Well, it was better to ask the actual person, but from the look of things, she didn¡¯t seem ready to tell him anything yet.

    Since it looked like she would be busy talking with Chen Fei for a while, he decided to take a shower first. He headed to the bathroom with his phone.

    "Bacon," he called while stripping himself naked.

    "Uncle Zihao," a bored child¡¯s voice answered.

    "Tell me what happened to your Aunt Jinjing."

    "Bacon can¡¯t tell Uncle Zihao."

    Lu Zihao scowled but then realization hit him. "She bribed you not to tell me anything, didn¡¯t she?"

    Silence.

    "I¡¯ll pay you double, no, triple what she paid you. Tell me what happened."

    Bacon replied in a careful tone, "My apologies, Uncle Zihao, but Father taught Bacon to live a life of integrity. Bacon may like money a lot but I am not an unprincipled child. I promised Aunt Jinjing to keep her secret until she¡¯s ready to tell it to Uncle Zihao herself so that¡¯s what I will do."

    "Even if I offer to pay you five times what she paid you?"

    Long pause.

    "Uncle Zihao¡¯s offer is very tempting but Bacon will have to reluctantly decline. I don¡¯t want to disappoint Mother and Father by causing them to believe that Bacon is an easily corruptible child who¡¯ll be swayed to abandon my principles because of money."

    Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow and actually felt impressed by the little devil.

    But then Bacon added, "If only Uncle Zihao stops being a scumbag, then Aunt Jinjing wouldn¡¯t feel so scared of telling you the truth."

    Lu Zihao scowled and didn¡¯t feel impressed anymore. The little devil¡¯s poison tongue was still the same as always. He snorted and ignored Bacon.

    After a quick hot shower, he brushed his teeth. He also nned on shaving his facial stubble but ran out of shaving cream. He checked the sink¡¯s bottom drawer for a new bottle but froze when he saw the items lying inside.

    He took out the three used pregnancy tests and their torn packaging.

    "What the fuck?"

 Chapter 1199 - Speak Your Mind

    <h4>Chapter 1199 - Speak Your Mind </h4>

    Long Jinjing was sitting on the windowsill and looking at the night sky outside while listening to her best friend talking on the phone. She couldn¡¯t fully concentrate on what Chen Fei was saying but her best friend didn¡¯t seem to mind. It was because Long Jinjing was a quiet person to begin with. This wasn¡¯t too unusual for her. Nevertheless, she still did her best to reply at the right moments so that Chen Fei wouldn¡¯t notice her distracted state and question her about it.

    She heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. From the reflection on the ss of the window, she saw Lu Zihao walking out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist. She turned her head to take a good look at him when she saw the items he was holding.

    The phone in her hand dropped to the floor.

    Her body went cold. Her heart was beating so fast and so hard inside her chest that it felt like it would explode. All she could do was watch Lu Zihao walk with deliberate steps to the seating area and toss the pregnancy test kits and their torn packaging to the coffee table. Then he sat down on the couch.

    "Exin," he said while looking at her with dark eyes.

    She couldn¡¯t speak.

    He waited. The more seconds ticked by, the colder and tenser the atmosphere became.

    She still didn¡¯t speak. No words coulde out of her mouth.

    The silence was interrupted when her phone rang again. She almost jumped out of her skin. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Turn your fucking phone off. We need to talk, Jinjing."

    She nodded and quickly picked up her phone from the floor. It was Chen Fei who was calling her again, most likely to ask her what happened. Long Jinjing had no time to provide an exnation to her best friend. Lu Zihao¡¯s gaze was like a mountain of pressure pressing down on her right now. She needed to deal with him first before anything else. She cancelled the iing call and sent a "Sorry, I¡¯m busy. Talk to you tomorrow" text to Chen Fei instead.

    After that, she had no choice but to face Lu Zihao. He wasn¡¯t showing any emotion but this was much scarier to her than if he openly expressed his anger or whatever he was feeling. At least, she would know how to approach him based on his expression.

    "Come here, Jinjing."

    There was no use procrastinating. She sighed and walked with heavy steps to sit on the couch opposite him. The pregnancy test kits on the coffee table were between them.

    "You think you¡¯re pregnant?" he asked. "You¡¯re having pregnancy symptoms?"

    She shook her head. "It¡¯s not that I think I¡¯m pregnant...."

    Then she exined to him how she found her oral contraceptive pills in her kitchen when she dropped by her condo earlier today.

    "I stopped taking the pills after we broke up. I hid it in the cupboard because seeing it...reminded me of y-you. I was hurting so much when we broke up, Niki. Then when we got together again after you woke up froma, Ipletely, uh, f-forgot about it. I only took the pills for...less than three weeks, I think, before we broke up so the habit hasn¡¯t really been ingrained in me yet. Maybe that¡¯s why it was so easy for me to forget about it."

    He was silent.

    She panicked when he didn¡¯t react. "Believe me, Niki. I didn¡¯t do it on purpose! Really! Yes, I admit that...I want to marry you and give birth to your children but...I¡¯ll never force you to be with me by using this kind of underhanded methods!"

    He sighed. "I know that you¡¯re not like that, Jinjing."

    She sighed in relief but the nervousness didn¡¯t leave her. Her eyes were watery and she was shaking in her seat, especially with the evidence that she tried to hide from him nowid out in front of her.

    "D-did Bacon tell you....?"

    Bacon¡¯s child¡¯s voice interjected, "Aunt Jinjing, please don¡¯t suspect that Bacon told Uncle Zihao about your secret. I promised you not to tell him so I didn¡¯t even when he tried to bribe me so many times. Bacon is not a corrupt child. My parents raised me to live a life of integrity and to follow my own principles. Please don¡¯t think that I¡¯ll betray a promise I made just like that. It hurts Bacon¡¯s feelings."

    "N-no, Bacon! I don¡¯t think that way at all. I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to hurt your feelings. I trust you. Really, I do!"

    "If Aunt Jinjing is really sorry, then Bacon will ept another red packet aspensation for the emotional distress this conversation has caused me."

    "Yes! I¡¯ll give you a red packet. I¡¯ll give it to you now, Bacon. Don¡¯t worry." She grabbed her phone and really sent a red packet to her AI nephew.

    "Bacon thanks Aunt Jinjing."

    Lu Zihao watched everything just now. "You done?"

    "Y-yes...." She ced her phone face-down on the coffee table.

    "Go y with your sister, kid. Don¡¯t disturb your aunt and I. We have something very important to talk about right now."

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao. Bacon will leave now. Oh, before I go, Aunt Jinjing."

    "Yes?"

    "Please don¡¯t be scared to speak your mind to Uncle Zihao. Mother and Father say thatmunication between lovers is important to avoid any misunderstanding. Uncle Zihao may be a scumbag but he¡¯s not an impulsive man who¡¯ll react without understanding the situation first. Well, most of the time. Also, please don¡¯t worry. If he hurts you, you can always tell Bacon. I¡¯ll help you ask Father to demand heavypensation from Uncle Zihao for any emotional distress he causes you."

    Tears flowed down Long Jinjing¡¯s face. She wiped them with her long sleeves and smiled. Her AI nephew¡¯s words might be biting¡ªtoo biting most of the time¡ªbut he cared especially to those he considered his family.

    "Thank you, Bacon."

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t look happy at being called a scumbag once again but he didn¡¯t scold Bacon because the kid still spoke up for him in a way. "Now go, kid."

    "Bacon will really leave now."

    Finally, the couple was alone in the bedroom. They looked at each other before ncing at the pregnancy test kits on the coffee table between them.

 Chapter 1200 - Borderline

    <h4>Chapter 1200 - Borderline </h4>

    "You really don¡¯t me me?" Long Jinjing asked in a small, careful voice.

    Lu Zihao sighed. "I don¡¯t me you. It¡¯s my fault as well for being careless and not asking if you¡¯re still taking the pills before having sex with you without a condom."

    She bit her lower lip but still felt better knowing that he wasn¡¯t ming her at all.

    "But what¡¯s this?" He pointed at the pregnancy test kits. "Two are negative but one is positive."

    "I don¡¯t know either. Maybe the positive one is faulty."

    "Or the two negatives are the ones that are faulty."

    She paled. "N-no! I don¡¯t think so."

    He stared at her, making her squirm in her seat. Then he stood up. "Let¡¯s go."

    "Go where?"

    "Bacon," he called.

    It took a few seconds before the bored, child¡¯s voice responded. "Uncle Zihao."

    "Inform your mother¡¯s doctor that your Aunt Jinjing and I areing for a check-up."

    "Bacon understands. Please wait a moment."

    About a minuteter, Bacon returned. "The doctor says that she¡¯ll meet you at the clinic."

    "Hm, good." Lu Zihao pointed at the pregnancy test kits and told Long Jinjing, "Bring those and show them to the doctor."

    "Okay." She grabbed the shopping bag from the convenience store on the bed and put the test kits and their packaging inside. Then she remembered something. She also took the bottle of oral contraceptive pills from her handbag.

    "Ready?" Lu Zihao asked.

    She nodded. <i></i>

    "Let¡¯s go."

    She didn¡¯t move.

    "What are you waiting for?"

    She looked at his body up and down. "You¡¯re going out like that?"

    "Ah." He shrugged and removed the towel wrapped around his waist before tossing it on the couch. "Fine. I¡¯ll wear some clothes."

    Her face turned red when he sauntered naked to the walk-in closet like it was nothing. She turned her head to the side, feeling shy to look at his nudity even though there was basically nothing in his body that she hadn¡¯t seen before. Her traitor eyes, however, couldn¡¯t help but take a peek and enjoy his impressive muscles and magnificent body. Despite the seriousness of their situation, she still felt like something was melting inside her just by looking at his sexiness.

    She was still in a daze, her brain once again falling to amoeba level, when he returned wearing a pair of jeans. It rode low on his hips, making her mouth water. She swallowed hard as her eyes feasted on his ripped abs and big, wide chest that she could justy on forever.

    "Continue looking at me like that for a second longer and we won¡¯t be able to go to the doctor tonight because I¡¯ll want to fuck you all night long instead," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Like what we always do."

    His words woke her up from her daze. She shook her head, forcing her mind to focus on the present.

    Lu Zihao smirked and allowed her to look at his naked chest for a few more seconds before finally wearing a shirt. Then he held out a hand to her. She took it and they held hands while heading out of their bedroom.

    Later, they sat in the clinic while Iris¡¯ private doctor examined the three used pregnancy tests and the pill bottle.

    Long Jinjing looked around, feeling nervous. She heard that this suite was converted into a temporary clinic for her pregnant sister. The hospital wing on the other side of the mansion was still under construction. Jin Liwei mentioned before that he wanted Iris to give birth at home but with all the technology of a modern hospital and the skills of great doctors and nurses.

    Lu Zihao draped an arm over Long Jinjing¡¯s shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She pressed herself to him and felt her anxiety abate a little.

    The doctor started asking her questions.

    "When¡¯s yourst period?"

    She answered that it wasst month. Her next period was due in a few days.

    "Any exhaustion, urinating more than usual, sensitive breasts, nausea, vomiting?"

    "N-no...I¡¯m fine, I think."

    "When¡¯s thest time you had sexual intercourse?"

    She blushed.

    It was Lu Zihao who answered instead. "Last night."

    "Did you wear a condom?"

    "No. I haven¡¯t worn a condom since she started taking pillsst month."

    "I see." The doctor nced at Long Jinjing. "Come with me. I need to examine you. Then we¡¯ll do a pregnancy test."

    "Y-yes." Long Jinjing followed the doctor behind a curtained bed while Lu Zihao waited in his seat.

    The physical examination wasn¡¯t too bad. Afterwards, she took a blood test.

    "I¡¯ll have to analyze your blood sample in my in-houseboratory here so you¡¯ll have to wait a few hours for the results."

    She nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Doctor."

    Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao left the clinic and returned to their bedroom. Neither of them spoke, too preupied with their own thoughts. They just embraced on the couch.

    It was already past midnight when Bacon informed them that the doctor was calling them with the results. They immediately went back to the clinic where the doctor was waiting for them.

    Long Jinjing was covered in cold sweat. She was gripping Lu Zihao¡¯s shirt so hard that it already stretched out of shape.

    "I have the results here," the doctor told them.

    She nodded.

    "Your hCG levels are in the range of being borderline pregnant."

    Lu Zihao frowned. "Borderline pregnant? What the fuck does that mean?"

    "It means that it¡¯s above the range of non-pregnant women but below the range of certain pregnancy. This usually urs when conception is one week old or less. It takes around two weeks, preferably more, for the body to develop hCG levels high enough for our tests to detect and ascertain a pregnancy."

    "So...that¡¯s the reason why two of the pregnancy test kits I used showed negative while the other one said positive?" Long Jinjing asked.

    The doctor nodded.

    Lu Zihao was still frowning. "So is Jinjing pregnant or not?"

    "Yes, it¡¯s safe to say that she¡¯s pregnant but we have to conduct another pregnancy test a week from now to confirm it 100%."

    "Oh." Long Jinjing touched her belly, looking at it in utter shock. "Oh!"

    "Congrattions," the doctor told them.

    Long Jinjing covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

    Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone produced by the body during pregnancy. It supports fetal growth. Doctors test hCG levels in the urine and blood to confirm pregnancy.

 Chapter 1201 - Little Miracle

    <h4>Chapter 1201 - Little Miracle </h4>

    Lu Zihao was shocked. He froze in his spot for what felt like a long time. He only snapped out of it when Long Jinjing¡¯s sobs grew louder. She looked like her world had ended. He scowled. Then he realized that the doctor was still present. He sent her a meaningful re, sending the doctor scuttling out of the clinic.

    "Jinjing."

    She didn¡¯t react, continuing to sob like there was no tomorrow. He hugged her, trying his hardest tofort his woman, even when he had no idea how to do it given the bombshell that just dropped on their heads tonight. As for him, he had no idea what the hell he was feeling right now. Shock, yes. Panic, of course. There were so many other emotions muddying his thoughts that he couldn¡¯t think clearly.

    Seeing Long Jinjing being so heartbroken like this after knowing that she was pregnant made him extremely displeased. Even angry. However, he restrained his temper.

    "Jinjing," he called again, more forceful this time.

    Finally, she removed her hands on her face to look at him. She looked pitiful with her red eyes and tear-stained face.

    "You¡¯re keeping it?" he asked.

    She flinched and looked like she had just been pped.

    He didn¡¯t know that he said anything wrong. "Are you keeping the baby?"

    Long Jinjing moved to p him but his fast reflexes caught her hand before itnded on his face.

    "What the fuck, Jinjing?"

    She began sobbing again, but this time, she was also furious at him. "You¡¯re asking me if I¡¯m keeping the baby?! Just say that you don¡¯t want it! I know that you don¡¯t want it!"

    Lu Zihao¡¯s expression turned cold. "Don¡¯t put fucking words in my mouth."

    "You want to know if I¡¯m keeping the baby? Yes, I¡¯m keeping the baby! It¡¯s MY baby! If you don¡¯t want the baby, then go...f-fuck off, Niki! I can raise my own baby by myself! My mother raised me, her child, by herself! I can also raise my own child by myself!"

    She stood up and was about to leave by herself but he pulled her arm. She kicked his leg but failed to hurt him in any way. He refused to let her go.

    "Jinjing, calm down." It was clear that he was barely holding on to his own temper.

    "Let me go, you brute!"

    "Jinjing, listen to me."

    "No!!! Let me go!!!"

    "Stop it and listen to me."

    "FUCK YOU, NIKOLAI!!!!!"

    Lu Zihao pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her body in a tight bear hug, lifting her off the floor so she couldn¡¯t escape. She was screaming and struggling and even bit him on the shoulder. He only grunted but didn¡¯t let her go. In the end, she got tired and stopped struggling.

    "Let me go...you f-fucker...." She pressed her face against his chest and cried softly.

    "Jinjing, are you ready to listen to me now?"

    No response. Just soft, pitiful whimpers.<i></i>

    He sat on a chair, bringing her with him on hisp. She didn¡¯t struggle anymore but her body was stiff. It infuriated him. He felt like she was now repulsed by his touches.

    "I think you¡¯re misunderstanding why I asked you if you¡¯re keeping the baby."

    Still, no response. Her body, however, became stiffer.

    "You were crying so hard that I thought you don¡¯t want the baby. It pisses me off."

    "You think that I don¡¯t want the baby?!" she asked him, aghast, finally responding. "Niki, of course, I want the baby!"

    "That¡¯s not how I see it when you¡¯re crying so hard in front of me after the doctor announced that you¡¯re pregnant. You say that you want to give birth to my children and yet here you are crying like your world just fucking ended! It¡¯s only natural for me to think that you don¡¯t want the baby!"

    "You¡¯re c-crazy, Niki! I don¡¯t know how your mind works!"

    He had already calmed down. She also calmed down a little but still clearly emotional. At least, she wasn¡¯t trying to attack him anymore.

    "How about you?" she asked in a wary tone. "Do you...want the baby?"

    He didn¡¯t answer.

    "I knew it." She was utterly heartbroken.

    "No, you don¡¯t know anything." He framed her small face between his big, rough, scarred hands and forced her to look at him straight in the eyes. "Can you read my mind, hm?"

    "N-no...."

    "Then stop assuming things about what I think. Hell, even I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m fucking thinking right now."

    "M-me, too. My mind is so...uhm, chaotic. Yes, it¡¯s chaotic."

    He nodded.

    They looked at each other. Before realizing it, both of their gazes dropped to her t stomach.

    Lu Zihao ced his hand on top of it and said, "Mine."

    Long Jinjing started crying again. She put her smaller hand on top of his big hand. "Y-yes, Niki. It¡¯s yours."

    "I know." He gave her mouth a quick peck. "Stop overthinking things. It¡¯ste now. You need to rest."

    She nodded. Indeed, she felt drained. Her arms tightened around his neck and she rested her head on his shoulder, allowing him to carry her back to their bedroom.

    He wanted her to sleep immediately but she refused. She wanted to shower first and brush her teeth. She felt grimy and ufortable. He moved to help her but she stopped him.

    "I can shower on my own. And I...uhm, I want some time to think. Alone."

    He frowned but still nodded. However, he didn¡¯t allow her to close the bathroom door. "What if you slip inside? I need to hear you so I know that you¡¯re safe. Like hell I¡¯ll allow you to be inplete bed rest like my sister."

    She red at him. "She¡¯s MY sister!"

    Harrumphing, she headed to shower by herself, leaving the bathroom door open behind her. Fortunately, he didn¡¯t hover by the doorway to watch her showering like a pervert. He really allowed her to be by herself. She suspected that he also needed some time to think about everything on his own just like her.

    Under the warm water raining down on her, she stroked her belly and smiled.

    "Baby. My little miracle. Your daddy is a scumbag but I love him so much. Don¡¯t worry, baby. I¡¯ll make him love you even if he ends up still not loving your mommy."

 Chapter 1202 - Clueless

    <h4>Chapter 1202 - Clueless </h4>

    The next day, Long Jinjing woke up naturally. She turned her body and reached her arm to the other side of the bed but found the space empty. Her eyes opened and saw that she was alone in the bedroom. The bedroom was dark but she could see bright sunlight streaming through the corners of the ck-out curtains. She stretched her body like a cat on the bed before she froze upon realizing something.

    "Oh no!"

    She sat up in a panic and looked at the bedside clock. 11:36 AM.

    "I¡¯mte for work!"

    She almost fell down from the bed in her hurry to get up. Fortunately, she was able to right her bnce before tumbling down to the floor but her posture was still unsightly with one leg still on the bed tangled with the duvet. The bedroom door opened.

    "What the hell are you doing, woman?!" Lu Zihao roared while hurrying to help her up. "Don¡¯t you know how to be careful?! You¡¯re pregnant, for fuck¡¯s sake!"

    Before Long Jinjing could react, he already lifted her up like a child and sat her on the edge of the bed. His expression was ugly as he checked her whole body from head to toe and back up again.

    "You can even fall down from the bed? How careless can you be?!"

    She was dazed while he continued scolding her. Then she touched her belly and stammered, "I¡¯m...p-pregnant...."

    Memories of what happenedst night flooded her mind.

    The pregnancy test the doctor conducted on her said that she was borderline pregnant. Although it wasn¡¯t 100% or even 95% certain yet, the doctor assured her that she was indeed pregnant. They needed to wait another week to conduct another pregnancy test but it would just basically be a formality.

    Since the doctor said so, then it must be true. After all, the doctor was someone that her brother-inw trusted to take care of her younger sister¡¯s health. Jin Liwei would never risk Iris¡¯ health especially since she was pregnant. That alone was enough for Long Jinjing to trust the doctor¡¯s conclusion that she, too, was pregnant just like her younger sister.

    "Good that you remember you¡¯re pregnant. You have to be more careful from now on!"

    She finally focused on Lu Zihao who was still scolding her. He was scowling, clearly angry, but she couldn¡¯t stop herself from smiling. She pounced on him and hugged his neck.

    He caught her with no problem but scolded her again. "I just said that you need to be more careful! What the hell are you doingunching yourself like this?!"

    Her smile turned into a wide grin as she nuzzled his neck. "But you caught me."

    "Of course. Like hell I¡¯ll allow you to fall when I¡¯m around."

    "And you¡¯re worried about me."

    "You¡¯re my woman."

    She straightened her head and looked at him. "I love you, Niki."

    He looked at her as well. "Hm. I know."

    This time, she wasn¡¯t as disappointed as before. She could see the gentleness in his expression.

    He patted her butt. "Go shower. We¡¯ll be joining the others for lunch. Well, it¡¯s brunch for you."

    She gasped and struggled in his arms before he put her down on the floor. "Oh no! I almost forgot! I¡¯m superte for work! Did I forget to set my rmst night?"

    "I cancelled your rm when it went off this morning."

    "What? Why?!"

    He raised an eyebrow and touched her eye bags. "You couldn¡¯t sleepst night. It was already dawn when you finally fell asleep. You think I don¡¯t know?"

    "Oh." She bit her lower lip. "But my work...."

    "I already told my sister to give you a day off. She already called Chen Fei. Go rest for today."

    "But¡ª"

    "No buts." He red at her. "You¡¯re pregnant now, Jinjing. You want to lose our baby?! Like hell I¡¯ll let you do that!"

    "No! Of course, I don¡¯t want to lose our baby!" She hugged her stomach in a protective way.

    Then she realized something. "Y-you...called it <i>¡¯our¡¯</i> baby? You want our baby? Really?"

    "It¡¯s mine."

    His tone was filled with possessiveness. No additional words were needed. Long Jinjing understood what kind of character he had. If he didn¡¯t like something or someone, he wouldn¡¯t waste his time pretending otherwise. If he wasn¡¯t rejecting her or their baby right now, then it must mean that he already epted the fact that he was going to be a father.

    Her eyes watered but she was smiling. She was filled with joy. <i></i>

    "Yes, Niki." She pulled his hand and ced it on her belly. "It¡¯s your baby. Our baby."

    "Hm."

    Long Jinjing was almost skipping with happiness to the bathroom to freshen up when Lu Zihao said, "Wear something nice."

    She paused and looked at him in confusion. "Why? Are we going to a party or something?"

    "No. We¡¯re going to the Civil Affairs Bureau after lunch. You¡¯ll marry me today."

    She looked like she had been hit by lightning. Then her expression twisted. "No!"

    He frowned. This time, he was the one confused. "What do you mean no? Don¡¯t you want to marry me?"

    She opened her mouth but couldn¡¯t articte what she wanted to say. "Not this way!"

    Then she ran away crying to the bathroom. She locked the door behind her. He knocked and tried to force the door open. He could hear her soft cries inside.

    "What the fuck?" He had no idea what he did wrong.

    He flicked his wrist and a thin string of wire popped out of his wristwatch. He was about to use it to pick the bathroom door lock when....

    "Uncle Zihao is so stupid," Bacon¡¯s voice said.

    "Yeah! Uncle Haohao is such a dumbo! Meow!" Ketchup¡¯s voice eximed next.

    Lu Zihao scowled. He nned on ignoring the two brats but were Bacon and Ketchup the kind of children that were easily ignored?

    "Bacon is so ashamed to watch my own uncle¡¯s stupidity. I must definitely ask Father to assist Aunt Jinjing to demandpensation from Uncle Zihao for causing her this kind of frustrating emotional distress."

    Lu Zihao scowled. He already thought about it but was still clueless about what he did wrong and why his woman reacted like that.

    Left with no choice, he could only ask the two AI brats, "What did I do wrong?"

 Chapter 1203 - Doing It All Wrong

    <h4>Chapter 1203 - Doing It All Wrong </h4>

    "When Mother found out that she¡¯s pregnant, Father didn¡¯t drag her to the Civil Affairs Bureau like a caveman," Bacon replied. His tone this time wasn¡¯t bored like usual but was instead filled with contempt for his uncle. "Father responded by persuading Mother to move forward their wedding. They had an intimate but grand wedding with close family and friends that will be remembered for a long time toe because it¡¯s the best wedding in the history of the."

    Of course, Bacon was always biased towards his parents, especially when it came to his beloved mother. Everything about his mother was the best in the history of the and the whole wide universe for him. His older sister, Ketchup, also thought the same way.

    "That¡¯s right, catfight! Uncle Haohao is doing it all wrong! Uncle Dom said before that a lot of girls dream of having a romantic proposal and a beautiful wedding just like what Daddy gave Mommy. How can Uncle Haohao tell Auntie Jinjing to marry you just like that without any warning or preparation?! Pweh! So thoughtless! Poor Auntie Jinjing! Oooooh, the cute and mighty Ketchup is so sad for my auntie! If Daddy did that to Mommy, Mommy will surely kick Daddy¡¯s butt! Oh no, macapuno! Meow!"

    Lu Zihao finally had an epiphany. Now he understood why Long Jinjing reacted that way despite her always telling him before that she wanted to marry him. Then hesitation filled him. More specifically, self-doubt.

    He had no fucking idea how to go about making a romantic proposal and nning a beautiful wedding. But the most important question that he needed to ask himself was¡ªdid he want to put that much effort for Long Jinjing?

    His thoughts and emotions were all jumbled up that he didn¡¯t know how to make sense of what he truly wanted.

    But there was one thing that he was sure of right now. There was no way that he was going to leave Long Jinjing now that she was pregnant. Even if he didn¡¯t love her (or did he?), she was now going to be the mother of his child and deserved to be treated well.

    He didn¡¯t care much about marriage, except when it came to his sister. Evelinka deserved the best and the status of official wife. In their past lives, he already castrated a number of motherfuckers who tried to seduce her without the intention of marriage. They just wanted to sleep with her. His sister was too focused on herputers and music that time, not to mention that she was extremely dense about sexual attraction, so she had no idea just how many men were lusting for her.

    If he had known that she was reborn as Long Xin earlier, he would have surely not allowed Jin Liwei to snatch her. It was already toote when he learned that Long Xin was really his sister, Evelinka. Jin Liwei had already touched her and tricked her into bing his lover.

    Jin Liwei barely passed his requirements for being Evelinka¡¯s husband, but for someone not belonging to the underworld, the man was already quite impressive. At least, he had the wealth, status, and power to protect Evelinka. Also, Evelinka was happy with him. That was the most important.

    Lu Zihao already long epted the fact that his sister was married to Jin Liwei. As for his own marriage, he hadn¡¯t really thought about it especially in this new life of his as Lu Zihao. All he cared about was avenging the annihtion of his family and their organization.

    But now...there was Long Jinjing to think about. He knew that marriage was very important to her. She already told him many times before how much she wanted to marry him.

    He massaged his head, feeling an ufortable ache squeezing his skull, perhaps caused by all these things that happened practically overnight.<i></i>

    "Leave us now, you two brats," he said through gritted teeth. "Don¡¯t interrupt me again."

    "Aaaaw! But the cute and mighty Ketchup wants to watch all this drama! Meow~"

    Bacon was silent but Lu Zihao knew that the little devil didn¡¯t want to leave either.

    His nostrils red and he spat, "I¡¯ll pay you two so just leave! Okay?"

    "Bacon thanks Uncle Zihao for the payment."

    "Aaaaw, fine! Good luck, Uncle Haohao! Please don¡¯t be a scumbag anymore! Auntie Jinjing is so pitiful! Ooooooh, so sad! Meowuwuwu!"

    Finally, the two brats left. Lu Zihao sighed in relief. His headache improved a little but not much.

    "Jinjing? Open the door." He knocked but she didn¡¯t respond. He could still hear her soft cries inside.

    With a hard expression, he used the thin string of wire to pick the lock. It only took him a few seconds before the lock clicked and he pushed the door open.

    Long Jinjing squeaked in surprise. Her face was red and covered in tears. She was sitting on the bathroom floor.

    His expression turned ugly and he hurried to lift her up. "What the fuck are you doing sitting on the cold, hard floor?!"

    She tried to get away from him but his hold on her was inescapable. Her paltry strength couldn¡¯tpare to him at all.

    "I¡¯m sorry," he said, his tone solemn.

    Atst, she stopped struggling. However, she continued looking at him with an aggrieved expression.

    "I was wrong. I didn¡¯t consider your feelings and forced my own decision on you without discussing it with you first."

    Her lips trembled. She wiped her tears with her hands. "Okay. I¡¯m sorry, too. I overreacted."

    "Hm. It¡¯s fine." He gave her pouting lips a peck. "You still need to eat."

    She nodded. "But I don¡¯t think I can face the others looking like this...."

    "Alright. We¡¯ll eat here in our room instead."

    "T-thanks."

    They stared at each other. Long Jinjing became flustered at the increasing heat in his eyes.

    "I...uhm, need to shower first."

    "Okay. Don¡¯t slip on the floor. I¡¯ll order the kitchen to deliver our meals here."

    She nodded and epted another kiss on the mouth from him before he left the bathroom. Now that she knew that locking the door was useless against him, she didn¡¯t bother closing it anymore. She left it open just likest night.

    "Propose to me first, you brute," she muttered under her breath as she stepped into the shower.

 Chapter 1204 - Apathetic To Romance

    <h4>Chapter 1204 - Apathetic To Romance </h4>

    "And that¡¯s what happened," Bacon confessed to his parents without any guilt whatsoever.

    "Yep yep! The cute and mighty Ketchup saw it with my own little eyes, too! Meow!"

    Iris was shocked. She looked at her husband. Unlike her, he didn¡¯t look surprised at all. "You know about this?"

    "En. My subordinates from the security staff reported to me this morning about what they witnessedst night outside the clinic. Then Bacon and Ketchup told me after I asked them. I didn¡¯t bother asking the doctor for confirmation because she won¡¯t tell me anyway due to doctor-patient confidentiality agreement."

    Jin Liwei peeled a tangerine and fed it to his wife piece by piece. He had just returned from thepany to eat lunch with his wife. When there were no important meetings, he usually went to thepany and worked for half a day. Then he would return to the mansion to spend time with his wife and make sure that she was doing well while both of them worked from home.

    As for Iris, she spent the morning attending a virtual lesson with Professor Kalisha Schwarz andpleting her trantion assignments. Her academic workload wasn¡¯t as heavy as before in consideration of her pregnancy but the content had increased in difficulty.

    She was, after all, still a Cross Academy student. There was no excuse for her to have it easy. If she wanted it easy, then she should¡¯ve just enrolled in a regr school. Good thing that her health had been improving at a steady rate thanks to Theresa¡¯s personalized guide.

    Back to the present, Iris was still too shocked at the revtion that the piece of tangerine in her mouth was left unchewed.<i></i>

    "Chew it, love. Don¡¯t choke." Jin Liwei had a doting smile as he continued peeling one more tangerine.

    She started chewing but looked distracted. Jin Liwei allowed her to contemte what happened by herself. His wife had a deep bond with her brother that spanned two lifetimes now. It was understandable that she would be shocked by this kind of development about her brother.

    "Big Brother is going to have a baby," she whispered. There was disbelief but also wonder in both her tone and expression.

    "En."

    "Wow." She touched her belly and tilted her head to the side.

    Then a smile bloomed on her face, making her even brighter and more beautiful in Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes.

    "Our twins are going to have a ymate the same age as them. Oh, this is wonderful! I hope they¡¯ll be best friends with their cousin."

    "I¡¯m sure they will be. Just as I¡¯m sure that they¡¯ll all get along with their Big Brother Jun."

    She continued smiling while finishing thest tangerine that Jin Liwei peeled. There were more tangerines in the fruit basket in their master suite but she couldn¡¯t eat too much or she wouldn¡¯t be able to eat lunch properlyter.

    "It all makes sense now why Big Sister Jinjing was so dazed and out of itst night at dinner. I offered to give her a day off but she declined. I wasn¡¯t surprised that Big Brother called me this morning to give her a day off in her stead because she really looked stressed outst night. I thought that she was stressed from work but now it turns out that it¡¯s because she¡¯s pregnant."

    Jin Liwei wiped his hands with a serviette. "She should be more careful now. Your brother will lose his shit if she miscarries his child. All of us have been traumatized by what happened to you. Thank the heavens that you¡¯re okay now."

    Iris turned solemn as she rubbed her belly. Indeed, her near miscarriage left all of them a strong lingering fear. She didn¡¯t want Long Jinjing to experience something like that. The baby in Long Jinjing¡¯s belly was her niece or nephew both ways¡ªthrough blood in the mother¡¯s side and through the soul in the father¡¯s side. She already loved her brother¡¯s baby almost as much as she loved her own babies.

    "I just hope that Big Brother handles his rtionship with Big Sister Jinjing better now that she¡¯s pregnant. Although he had a lot of women he slept with in the past, I know that he doesn¡¯t know much about having a normal or what you call a traditional rtionship. Well, I didn¡¯t know much about romantic rtionships either before I met you."

    "The two of you are truly siblings," Jin Liwei murmured.

    "Mommy, Daddy!" Ketchup interrupted, unable to resist herself after listening to her parents¡¯ conversation. "Uncle Haohao definitely is NOT handling his rtionship with Auntie Jinjing better! Oooooh, poor Auntie Jinjing was crying so hard just now! But don¡¯t worry, Mommy and Daddy! The cute and mighty Ketchup and my naughty little kitty brother Bacon scolded Uncle Haohao real good. We said many things to him, but in short, we told him to stop being such a gigantic bombastic fantastic Titanic scumbag! Meow~"

    "Bacon, you exin," Jin Liwei said. If he let Ketchup do all the talking, the story wouldn¡¯t be finished until sunset.

    Bacon obeyed and told them about his Uncle Zihao and Aunt Jinjing¡¯s fight in their room just now. The ck cat AI was better in providing short, sinct summaries that didn¡¯t waste any words. This was his advantage over his chatterbox older sister.

    Jin Liwei clicked his tongue and shook his head.

    Iris felt sorry for Long Jinjing and also guilty at the same time. It was because she wasn¡¯t surprised at all that her brother did something like that. In fact, she would be even more shocked if her brother made a romantic proposal on his own without consulting others.

    Romance just wasn¡¯t something that the Vetrovs practiced. Marriage and procreation were duties to continue and strengthen their family and organization¡¯s lineage and legacy. Falling in love wasn¡¯t in the equation. In most cases, it was even discouraged and viewed as a weakness.

    If she hadn¡¯t experience falling in love and romance firsthand with Jin Liwei, she would most likely continue being as apathetic to romance as her brother until now. Well, her brother wasn¡¯t as apathetic to romance as before either but his romantic sensibilities were still negligible.

    "In hindsight, I¡¯m now d that I fell in love with you and not someone simr to my big brother," she said.

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "I¡¯m d of that, too."

 Chapter 1205 - Experiencing Romance

    <h4>Chapter 1205 - Experiencing Romance </h4>

    After lunch, Long Jinjing wasn¡¯t in the mood to be with Lu Zihao. Although they made up from their fight, it didn¡¯t mean that she was no longer upset. He wanted to drag her to the Civil Affairs Bureau just like that without any warning? Yes, she wanted to marry him even more so now than ever but hisck of consideration still hurt her.

    It was like he treated marriage as nothing specialparable to running a necessary errand. He was so nonchnt that she felt he didn¡¯t view her as someone important to him at all.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t force her to spend the whole day with him when she wanted to be alone for now. He headed to the gym instead to train while she reflected on all the things that happened since yesterday.

    She stared at her phone. There were many missed calls and messages from Chen Fei since morning. Her finger hovered on the call button, but in the end, she didn¡¯t call her best friend. She wasn¡¯t ready yet to reveal her pregnancy to Chen Fei even though they were closer than real sisters.

    Her best friend wouldn¡¯t understand her current struggles and worries. Chen Fei had never fallen in love with someone or gotten pregnant before.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Long Jinjing wanted to talk to someone who could rte to what she was going through. Her younger sister, Xin?

    "No," she murmured, shaking her head. "Brother-inw Liwei fell in love with Little Sister Xin first. They were already engaged when she got pregnant and they immediately married soon afterwards. Their rtionship is almost perfect. The total opposite of what I have with Niki."

    She sighed, her heart feeling heavy. In many ways, she was envious of Iris¡¯ romance with Jin Liwei. It looked so wonderful. To be honest, it was the kind of romance that she always dreamed of for herself. Not exactly like it but close to it.

    Reality, however, had other ideas. She fell in love with a man like Lu Zihao. A very sexual man but not romantic at all. The sex was always amazing but a girl like her also needed some romance in her life. Not only romance but also hope for a happy ever after.

    Though with how things were going, it didn¡¯t seem that she would get her dream romance. Bacon was right. Her boyfriend and the father of her baby was a scumbag. He was dense when it came to romantic love. She should¡¯ve already left him. Well, she already tried that before but still ended up getting back together with him and staying even after discovering his criminal background.

    Why?

    She loved him.

    Simple as that.

    She loved him so much that it hurt.

    Sighing, she patted her belly and was already imagining what their baby would look like. Girl or boy¡ªit didn¡¯t matter. Whether the baby looked like him or her or abination of them both, she would love the baby all the same.

    She hoped that Lu Zihao could love their baby even if he still didn¡¯t love her in the end. Of course, the best case scenario was for him to love her and their baby.

    She scrolled through her contacts but couldn¡¯t find any friends that she feltfortable talking about what she was going through right now. Then her finger hovered one contact profile.

    It took more than two minutes for her to make a decision.

    Two rings and the call was picked up.

    "Hello?"

    Long Jinjing immediately sobbed upon hearing the female voice. She tried to be as quiet as possible, but how could the woman on the other end of the line not know that there was something wrong with her?

    "Jing? Why are you crying? What¡¯s wrong?"

    "Mom!"

    ###

    Inside the mansion¡¯s gym bathroom, a soaking wet Lu Zihao stumbled out of the shower. He leaned on the wall to maintain his bnce while holding his head. Pain was pounding inside his skull.

    He endured the pain for a few minutes before he felt better. There was only a dull ache throbbing in his temples now. He sighed in relief while checking every part of his body to make sure that he was fine.

    While he was showering just now, Lu Zihao¡¯s remnant popped in his mind and began chattering. This was the first time since he woke up froma that he was able to talk to the remnant. It seemed that it took this long for the remnant to recover enough strength to converse with him.

    If this was before, he would¡¯ve felt annoyed at having to listen to the remnant¡¯s chitter-chatter which could sometimes rival the talkative Ketchup and Dominic Chua. But worse. With Ketchup and Dominic, at least he could just tune them out, but with the remnant, he had no choice but to listen because the damn voice was speaking directly inside his fucking mind.

    This time, however, he chose to listen. It was because the remnant was giving him advice on how to fix his blunder with the upset Long Jinjing. Bacon¡¯s advice was helpful but the ck cat AI was still just a child. All of Bacon¡¯s insights came from his parents. As for the remnant, it held the experiences of the original Lu Zihao.

    The original Lu Zihao might be flighty and didn¡¯t have any serious rtionships before aside from casual affairs, but he was definitely much better when it came to romancingdies than Niki who was now the new Lu Zihao.

    ¡¯Sorry about that, bro,¡¯ the remnant said. ¡¯Looks like we can¡¯t do anything about this headache. But at least you¡¯re not curling and thrashing on the floor in pain anymore, right?¡¯

    Lu Zihao, no, Niki grunted and made quick work of drying and clothing himself in a simple pair of jeans and in T-shirt.

    The remnant didn¡¯t take over his body but it did something equally amazing. It showed him a series of memories of the original Lu Zihao romancing thedies he hooked up with before, but not only that. It pulled Niki¡¯s consciousness to the memories so that he felt like he was experiencing those events himself and not just watching like a spectator.

    Roses. Candlelit dinners. Slow dancing under the moonlight. And so many more.

    All different women.

    There were no feelings of love but there was an excitement from the romantic atmosphere.

 Chapter 1206 - Youâ€™re A Coward

    <h4>Chapter 1206 - You¡¯re A Coward </h4>

    The original Lu Zihao felt sexual attraction to thedies that he dated before. Niki felt it when he experienced the memories that the remnant showcased to him but never did it confuse him. He could still differentiate his own feelings from the original Lu Zihao even though the remnant made it seem like he experienced those memories himself.

    This was probably because he held no personal interest in the women shown in the memories. The sexual attraction was there thanks to the original Lu Zihao¡¯s memories but Niki automatically felt a strong sense of rejection towards those women. Every single one of them. To him, they were strangers, even though the body he was using right now had sex with a number of them.

    The image of Long Jinjing immediately appeared in his mind, superimposing herself on thedies¡¯ faces. Only then he felt morefortable going through the memories. It was like an automatic defence mechanism.

    Once again, this only proved that he could only get it up for Long Jinjing now. Deep inside him, he also knew that she was the only woman that he wanted to be with. For now, at least. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    ¡¯See, this is how you romance ady,¡¯ the remnant told him. ¡¯Blowing your girlfriend¡¯s mind in bed like a wild beast is good and all, but from what I¡¯ve observed from your Miss Prim and Proper so far, she wants you to be a gentleman sometimes and treat her like a queen. Be gentle and sweet especially to a delicatedy like your Jinjing.¡¯

    Lu Zihao, no, Niki didn¡¯t react on the outside but he was actually listening intently to the remnant¡¯s advice. He just wouldn¡¯t admit it out loud.

    ¡¯But I can¡¯t really call myself a romance expert ¡¯cuz I¡¯ve never really fallen in love with someone before. I prefer skydiving and skiing down snowy mountains to getting serious with thedies. Though it¡¯s nice to feel a beautiful and sexy woman¡¯s touch now and then. Haha!¡¯

    Niki still didn¡¯t say anything. He already finished putting on clothes. The gym bathroom was steamy from his earlier hot shower. It was a little ufortable to stay in the humid room but he didn¡¯t dare go outside yet especially when there was a voice speaking in his mind. His subordinates were still training in the gym. He didn¡¯t want them to see him distracted. Thus, he stayed in the bathroom and let the remnant finish giving him some romance advice first.

    ¡¯That¡¯s why I think that you should ask Third Brother Liwei. He only has one experience with your younger sister who¡¯s also now my Third Sister-in-Law, but man, he really knows how to go all out when ites to romancing hisdy. Third Brother is the best choice that you have to take inspiration in romancing your own Miss Prim and Proper. What do you think? My idea is awesome, right? Right? RIGHT?!¡¯

    Niki grunted. "Go away. This fucking headache is pissing me off."

    ¡¯Tsk tsk. I said so much but you don¡¯t even respond properly. Don¡¯t change the subject, bro! That¡¯s so uncool. Also, fix that grumpy expression of yours before you face yourdy. What if you upset her even more? She¡¯s pregnant now, dude. Our grandpa will beat you up if something happens to the mother of his beloved great-grandbaby.¡¯

    Niki snorted but he still checked himself in the mirror and fixed his expression into a neutral one. At least, he no longer looked like an angry bear who wanted to clobber the fool who disturbed it¡¯s sleep.

    ¡¯Damn! Oh, shit!¡¯

    "What?"

    ¡¯I just realized something, bro!¡¯

    Niki raised an eyebrow.

    ¡¯Your baby is my baby, too! Holy shit! I¡¯m going to be a father!¡¯

    "The hell you are! I¡¯m the father!"

    Unfortunately for him, the remnant was too excited, nervous, and even frightened all at the same time. Niki couldn¡¯tmunicate with it properly anymore. The remnant was too absorbed with the idea of his body fathering a child.

    He massaged his head. The dull, throbbing ache wasn¡¯t that bad but it was still annoying as fuck, like a fly buzzing around him that he couldn¡¯t catch and kill.

    Thankfully, the remnant ran out of energy and retreated to the back of his consciousness to rest once again. Niki was relieved.

    He touched his reflection in the mirror. The man staring back at him wasn¡¯t Niki Vetrov. It was Lu Zihao. But now he was both.

    "I¡¯m going to be a father."

    The reality was just now starting to really sink in.

    "Me, a father?"

    So many feelings were assaulting him at the moment. Shock, wonder, amazement, excitement...and fear. Yes, fear.

    He looked up at the ceiling and tried to calm himself.

    "Fuck."

    ###

    Later, Jin Liwei arrived at his appointed meeting at the mansion¡¯s bar. His brother-inw was already there and downing brandy straight from the bottle. He didn¡¯t bat an eye even after noticing that Lu Zihao was drinking a bottle that he won for tens of thousands of dors from an American auction years ago when he was still a bachelor and such things still boosted his ego.

    Jin Liwei sat next to his brother-inw and watched him drink alcohol like water. There was a trace of disapproval in his eyes. "Don¡¯t poison your body with alcohol."

    Lu Zihao smirked before draining the rest of the brandy. Then he reached for another random bottle, this time whiskey, but Jin Liwei took it away from him.

    "Give it to me." Lu Zihao red at him.

    Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t affected in the least. "Long Jinjing is upset. Instead of coaxing her, you¡¯re here drowning yourself in alcohol. My wife looks up to you for being a strong man, but from what I¡¯m seeing of you right now, you¡¯re just a coward."

    The bar stool crashed to the floor.

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t react even as his cor was pulled and shaken by his furious brother-inw.

    "Say that again, you fucker," Lu Zihao growled.

    "You¡¯re a coward, Niki," Jin Liwei said in a calm voice.

    Lu Zihao punched Jin Liwei¡¯s face but it didn¡¯t touch him. He missed on purpose. His fist smashed the disy of sses behind Jin Liwei instead, sending shards of sses flying to the floor.

 Chapter 1207 - Reversed Roles

    <h4>Chapter 1207 - Reversed Roles </h4>

    Both men were motionless but the tense atmosphere was heavy. The two had a staredown. One calm, the other furious.

    Jin Liwei maintained hisposure as he looked at his violent brother-inw. He could sense that Lu Zihao¡¯s hostility wasn¡¯t directed at him at all. If it were, he had no doubt that he would have been frozen in instinctive fear from the man¡¯s bloodthirst. The aura of the former crown prince of the criminal underworld wasn¡¯t something that anyone could just withstand without nerves of...not steel but rock-hard diamond instead.

    Since he didn¡¯t feel the instinctive urge to protect himself, he knew that his brother-inw¡¯s fury must be directed at himself (Lu Zihao) and not at him (Jin Liwei).

    The current situation gave Jin Liwei a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. He remembered a time when Lu Zihao had called him a coward. Back then, Jin Liwei was still hiding his role in helping conceal Fan Luo¡¯s crime of causing the original Long Xin¡¯s deadly car ident. This was the time when he had just started a rtionship with Iris and Lu Zihao had just returned from Canada. Iris and Lu Zihao acted oddly close to each other, puzzling many of them especially with their stupid excuse of being online buddies. Jin Liwei still didn¡¯t know the truth about his wife and brother-inw¡¯s reborn identities at that point.

    Lu Zihao, who he still believed was his real fifth brother at that time but with a change in personality after his ident just like Long Xin, told him that he was nothing but a coward for not telling the truth to Iris. The man didn¡¯t mince any words, not at all worried of humiliating him.

    Yet here they were now. Their roles had been reversed.

    Jin Liwei was the one calling Lu Zihao, no, Niki a coward to his face.

    Despite this, he didn¡¯t delight in the role reversal. He wasn¡¯t an asshole to rejoice in the humiliation of his own brother-inw who had his fifth brother¡¯s face. It was just that the man needed some much-needed wake-up call especially after hearing from Ketchup and Bacon what Lu Zihao had done to the pregnant Long Jinjing.

    "You called me here," Jin Liwei said in a casual tone as if he was justmenting on the weather. "What is it that you want to talk about with me? Hurry up and say it. My wife is waiting for me. I don¡¯t want to keep her waiting for too long."

    Lu Zihao snorted and let his cor go before dragging the nearest bar stool, not bothering to pick up the other one that crashed on the floor. It was already broken anyway.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jin Liwei fixed his shirt, dusting it with his hands, before walking to the other side of the bar to the refrigerator. It was well-stocked with drinks¡ªjuice, iced-teas, beer and a lot more. He got two cans of chilled coconut water and tossed one over to his brother-inw.

    Lu Zihao easily caught the can with one hand. He looked at the coconut water, his upper lip curling in disdain. "Evelinka and Jinjing are the ones who¡¯re pregnant and need to avoid drinking alcohol, not us."

    Even though he said this, he still opened the can and drank the coconut water, downing almost everything in a few big gulps.

    "I¡¯ve limited my alcohol intake way before I got my wife pregnant," Jin Liwei said, not at all bothered by his brother-inw¡¯s attempt to ridicule him. "Not only does heavy drinking of alcohol have negative effects on the body, it also affects libido and reduces sperm production. My body is no longer my own, it also belongs to my wife now. I have to take better care of it. I want to stay healthy and live long for the sake of my wife and our children. You should, too. You¡¯re going to be a father now, just like me."

    Lu Zihao scoffed but didn¡¯t touch any of the alcohol bottles in the bar anymore. Jin Liwei tossed him another can of coconut water before returning to his seat. The brothers-inw drank together in silence. Alcohol surrounded them but they were drinking coconut water instead.

    "So," Jin Liwei prompted. "Why did you call me here for?"

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t speak for a few moments. He swirled the coconut water in the can while thinking deeply. Jin Liwei didn¡¯t mind and waited for him to speak.

    Finally, Lu Zihao said, "Your fifth brother¡¯s remnant told me to seek you out."

    The calm Jin Liwei became excited in an instant. "Fifth Brother? He¡¯s back? Can I talk to him?"

    "Not now. He already used up his energy for today. Gave me a fucking headache."

    Jin Liwei looked disappointed but it was obvious that his mood had improved. He had been worried that his fifth brother¡¯s remnant would be gone forever after Lu Zihao woke up from his recenta. Hearing that his fifth brother¡¯s remnant still existed was music to his ears. It meant that there would be more chances in the future to speak to him.

    Even though the remnant wasn¡¯t theplete Lu Zihao anymore, Jin Liwei still treasured it. It made him feel as though his real fifth brother was still somehow alive.

    He controlled his emotions and refocused his attention on his brother-inw instead of his fifth brother. "Why did Fifth Brother tell you to seek me out?"

    Lu Zihao red at the can he was holding. For some reason, Jin Liwei thought that the man was ring at his fifth brother instead of the can of coconut water.

    "The punk says that I should consult you on how to properly romance ady," Lu Zihao mumbled in a low, almost whispery voice.

    "Huh, what?" Jin Liwei didn¡¯t hear it clearly.

    "I said I want to know how to properly romance ady!"

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyeballs almost popped out of his head especially when he noticed the tips of Lu Zihao¡¯s ears turning red despite the man¡¯s threatening expression.

    "Pft!" Jin Liwei tried to control himself but failed. He clutched his stomach and startedughing out loud.

    Lu Zihao¡¯s face fell. He looked like he wanted to punch Jin Liwei¡¯sughing face. The empty can of coconut can got crushed in his hand.

    (The poor can: "What did I ever do to you? Wuwuwuwu!")

 Chapter 1208 - Basic Courtesy

    <h4>Chapter 1208 - Basic Courtesy </h4>

    It took some time but Jin Liwei finally managed to control hisughter. Once he regained hisposure, he cleared his throat and drank the rest of his coconut water. His mouth, however, continued to twitch upon remembering what just happened.

    He faced his brother-inw who looked murderous. This time, he could feel the hostility directed towards him. He wasn¡¯t intimidated though. There was no bloodthirst emanating from Lu Zihao, just angry embarrassment.

    Fine, since his fifth brother¡¯s remnant was the one who made the suggestion, Jin Liwei would do his best to help his brother-inw.

    "Are you going to help me or not?" Lu Zihao asked, still ring. "If not, I¡¯m leaving."

    Jin Liwei wanted tough again but restrained himself. It wasn¡¯t good to provoke the man any further. His wife might be upset if he and her older brother quarreled. She wanted the two of them to get along because they were both very important to her.

    "You want to know how to be romantic to Long Jinjing?" he asked.

    "Is there anyone else other than her?" Lu Zihao grumbled, annoyed.

    Jin Liwei could sense that the man was still embarrassed. Although Lu Zihao was threatening to leave just now, he still hadn¡¯t left. It was clear to Jin Liwei that his brother-inw really intended to learn a thing or two about romance even though he didn¡¯t want to admit it out loud. Lu Zihao pushed all the me on the remnant, iming that it was because of the remnant¡¯s suggestion that he sought Jin Liwei for some romance advice.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll give you a few suggestions based on my own experiences with Evelina," Jin Liwei said.

    Lu Zihao pretended to be uninterested by looking everywhere else except at Jin Liwei, but Jin Liwei knew that his brother-inw was paying attention to what he was saying.

    ###

    The call with her mother made Long Jinjing feel many times better. She was able to keep her pregnancy a secret from her mother for now and only told Sun Jingfei about her issues with Lu Zihao. However, she knew that she couldn¡¯t keep her pregnancy a secret forever and she didn¡¯t want to do that either. Her baby was a blessing and despite the current uncertainty of her rtionship with Lu Zihao, the father, she was still happy to be pregnant.

    During her phone conversation with her mother, she cried her heart out, releasing her negative feelings. She cried for longer than she talked but her mother didn¡¯t mind and listened to her patiently while murmuring words offort.

    This was the power of a supportive and loving mother. The pain in her heart felt soothed by a refreshing balm that was her mother¡¯s love.

    It had been more than ten minutes now since the call ended but Long Jinjing was still staring at her phone with a soft and grateful smile on her face. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She rubbed her belly. "Don¡¯t worry, baby. I won¡¯t keep you a secret for too long. I¡¯ll make sure to introduce you to your Grandma Jingfei. She¡¯ll definitely love you and dote on you more than she does to me."

    Then her phone screen suddenly flickered and a white cat appeared.

    "Excuse me, Auntie Jinjing. Meow~"

    "Oh! Ketchup!" Long Jinjing was startled but recovered fast. She was still in the process of getting used to her AI niece and nephew popping up in nearby electronic devices now and then. "Yes? Do you need something?"

    "My mommy is asking if it¡¯s okay toe see Auntie Jinjing and talk to you right now. Meow~"

    She hesitated but only for a moment. "Of course."

    "Yay yay! The cute and mighty Ketchup will now tell my mommy. Meow~"

    Ketchup stayed on her phone screen but was now ying with a virtual ball of yarn. Bacon then appeared next to his older sister and just stared at Long Jinjing, his golden eyes glowing.

    Long Jinjing smiled at him. She already had an idea why her younger sister wanted to talk to her. "Bacon, did you tell your mom about what happened to your Uncle Zihao and me?"

    "Yes, Aunt Jinjing. Mother is my mother. Bacon doesn¡¯t keep secrets from her."

    She sighed but wasn¡¯t too surprised by it. Lu Zihao already told her repeatedly before that Bacon was a total mama¡¯s boy. He said, quote, "The little devil will betray anyone, including his father, for the sake of his beloved mother."

    Momentster, there was a knock on the door. It was Iris.

    "Come in," Long Jinjing weed her.

    "Big Sister," Iris greeted.

    The sisters sat opposite each other. Then Iris ced a basket filled with snacks, most of them sweets but there were also some peeled and chopped fruits, and two cans of coconut water on the coffee table between them.

    "Help yourself," Iris said, gesturing at what she brought. "My sudden cravings have worsenedtely and I can¡¯t control my temper when I¡¯m hungry."

    "I hear that¡¯s normal with pregnant women," Long Jinjingmented.

    Iris nodded. "You¡¯ll probably be like this soon, too."

    Long Jinjing blushed and subconsciously rubbed her belly again. Iris caught her action and smiled.

    "It¡¯s good to see that you¡¯re eating well again, little sister."

    "Me, too. It¡¯s all thanks to Theresa¡¯s health n."

    The conversation stopped at this moment as the two women enjoyed the various snacks on the table. The silence wasn¡¯t awkward but was actually quitefortable.

    "Are you still upset?" Iris eventually asked.

    "A little," Long Jinjing admitted.

    "But you still love Big Brother?"

    "Yes. I already love him before but I love him even more now that I¡¯m pregnant with his baby. It¡¯s amazing, really. But...I don¡¯t know if I can continue like this forever. I hate to be a martyr and keep on waiting for him to love me back. He...told me to marry him. TOLD me. He didn¡¯t even give me a proper proposal, the jerk."

    Iris offered her an unwrapped bar of chocte.

    Long Jinjing took it and bit into it angrily. "I¡¯m not asking for anything fancy. Even if there are no flowers or a candlelit dinner, heck, even if there¡¯s no ring, at least he should¡¯ve ASKED me. Is that so hard to do? Little sister, am I being too demanding for wanting a proper proposal?"

    "Not at all. That¡¯s basic courtesy if a man wants to marry a woman."

 Chapter 1209 - Good Morning

    <h4>Chapter 1209 - Good Morning </h4>

    Long Jinjing already poured out most of her grievances with Lu Zihao while talking to her mother on the phone earlier. She felt much better. All she was doing right now was just grumbling to her younger sister about her boyfriend and now the father of her baby.

    Iris listened to her, pushing more snacks her way. It was only when Long Jinjing saw the small mountain of empty wrappers on the table in front of her that she realized how much she had already eaten. She felt a little embarrassed.

    "Sorry for eating so much of your snacks," she told Iris.

    "They¡¯re for both of us. I can¡¯t finish everything by myself anyway."

    The sisters smiled at each other and continued eating. Despite this, they didn¡¯t finish everything in the basket. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Feel better?" Iris asked.

    Long Jinjing nodded. "Thanks for listening, little sister."

    "This is all I can do for you. I won¡¯t interfere in your rtionship with Big Brother."

    "And I appreciate that. I don¡¯t want others interfering with my rtionship with Zihao either."

    Iris made herself morefortable on the couch by curling her legs and tucking them close to her body. She rested her chin on her knuckles and looked at Long Jinjing. "I really hope that your rtionship works out."

    "Me, too," Long Jinjing whispered, sighing.

    ###

    "Good morning, Daddy and Mommy! Wakey wakey! Meow~"

    The ck-out curtains in the master bedroom automatically started opening, letting sunlight to stream inside. Then an energetic child¡¯s voice started singing.

    "The sun is shining bright, everything will be alright~

    "My daddy is so handsome, his smile will make you dumb-dumb~

    "My mommy is such a beauty, causing my daddy to be naughty~

    "Everybody~ Shake your booty~

    "This is DJ Ketchup, telling you to wake up!

    "Let¡¯s dance and be happy, ¡¯cuz we¡¯re one big happy family~

    "Meow-oh-oh-oh~"

    "Hit it, DJ Bacon! You¡¯re next!"

    A long pause.

    Then another child¡¯s voice said, "So stupid."

    "Bacon, you big meanie! The cute and mighty Ketchup already gave you the next part of the lyrics that Iposed! All you have to do is sing it like Ketchup did! Meow!"

    Lying in bed, Jin Liwei sighed and tightened his arms around his sleeping wife. He inhaled her sweet scent and felt his usual morning erection stiffen even more. The need was getting stronger with each passing second. It was now time to send the kids away so that their mommy and daddy could have their exclusive alone time.

    He was already regretting not stopping his wife when she requested Ketchupst night to wake both of them up early this morning. Their AI daughter¡¯s made-up song made him cringe so badly. It was now clear to him that Ketchup didn¡¯t inherit her mother¡¯s talent in songwriting.

    "Alright, Ketchup. That¡¯s enough." Jin Liwei¡¯s voice was husky from sleep. He kissed his wife and sat up.

    "Okie dokie, Daddy! But Mommy isn¡¯t awake yet. Should Ketchup sing another song to wake her up? Meow~"

    "No need!" Jin Liwei stopped her in a hurry.

    Ketchup whined but he didn¡¯t relent. He also didn¡¯t forget to tell her not topose songs with such dubious lyrics again. Ketchup was a bit sad but soon became excited again upon remembering today¡¯s special event.

    "Daddy, hurry and wake up Mommy! The m team will be arriving in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 46 seconds to make both mommy and daddy gorgeous! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nced at the bedside clock and sighed. He felt bad waking up his sleeping wife but she was the one who wanted to join him in today¡¯s event.

    "Ketchup, go coordinate with Xu Tian in the preparations forter. Bacon, help your big sister."

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    "Bacon understands, Father."

    "Hurry up and follow the cute and mighty Ketchup, Bacon. Let¡¯s go, avocado! Meow~"

    Finally, the AI children left. Jin Liwei rained kisses on his wife¡¯s face. Iris had already returned to sleeping deeply after following Theresa Blipsburg¡¯s customized health n. She no longer tossed and turned in a restless manner in the middle of the night ever since bing pregnant.

    Jin Liwei was d that she felt better now but it also meant that it was harder for him to wake her up. This kind of challenge, however, was something he enjoyed epting.

    His hands and mouth started doing some magic on his wife¡¯s body.

    Later, Iris moaned as her eyes opened. The first thing she saw was her husband sucking on her exposed breasts. His mouth and tongue was gentle, sending little electrical shocks to spread throughout her whole body.

    She had no time to think about anything else with a mind still foggy from sleep. All she could do was feel the pleasure that her husband was giving her. Her body was trembling as the fingers inside her wet core curled and sped up.

    "Oh!"

    Jin Liwei covered her mouth with his own in an open-mouthed kiss. He was gentle on the rest of her body, always holding back to ensure her safety. He could only vent on her mouth, kissing and sucking her hard. It was only when she cried out that he released her mouth to allow her to gasp in desperate breaths as she rode his fingers throughout her climax.

    When her breathing calmed down, she gazed at the ceiling as if in a trance.

    "Good morning, love." Jin Liwei nuzzled her neck, leaving another small hickey.

    "Mmmn...morning, darling."

    "I checked," he said.

    "Hm?" She was confused about what he was talking about.

    "It¡¯s safe starting today."

    "Huh?" She still had no idea what he was talking about. Her mind, still fogged up from sleep and pleasure, hadn¡¯t cleared up yet.

    Instead of replying, he moved on top of her and ced his hips between her legs. Then with a push, he slowly entered her.

    "Ah!" Her hips moved on their own, meeting him halfway until there was no distance between their flesh.

    Jin Liwei groaned and closed his eyes tightly, not daring to move, as his wife¡¯s insides sucked him in as if she wanted to swallow him from the inside.

    It felt amazing.

    Sweat dripped down his body as he struggled not toe right there and then. It had been so long. Too long! He missed being inside his wife. The feeling was the best.

 Chapter 1210 - This Must Be Heaven

    <h4>Chapter 1210 - This Must Be Heaven </h4>

    Iris squinted at her frozen husband who had his eyes closed on top of her. She wiggled her hips, moaning at the sensation, while trying to make him move but he remained motionless.

    Although a little annoyed, she knew based on his expression that he was savouring their coupling after such a long time. She, too, wanted to savour the moment but her need was almost unbearable.

    "Liwei."

    There was a clear whining note in her voice. Jin Liwei finally opened his eyes and looked at her. His gaze was dark, heavy, and erotic. She involuntary clenched, making him groan.

    "You want it, baby?" he asked, his voice deep and husky.

    "You know that I do. Please, Liwei."

    He lowered his body so that their chests were pressing against each other. Iris wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. He kept most of his weight off her so she wouldn¡¯t get crushed. However, he knew that she loved it when a bit of his weight was pressing down on her.

    They kissed, their tongues stroking each other. Her eyes were closed while he kept his own half-open so that he could watch her expressions. When she gave his lower lip a light bite, he knew what it meant. He chuckled.

    Then he began thrusting his hips.

    She moaned and tightened her legs around him. Their hot breaths mixed together as if they were breathing as one.

    The pace wasnguid but firm. Jin Liwei controlled the tempo and did his best not to go wild.

    "Liwei, please."

    "Sssh, baby. Just feel me."

    Iris wanted toin but he distracted her by a hot kiss and a new tempo where he ground his hips after every firm thrust. He was rewarded by another gush of her sweet juices coating him, making his movements in her passage easier and smoother.

    He licked her neck, trailing it upwards, before nibbling on her soft earlobe. "You¡¯re so delicious, wife."

    Her response was a moan and another tight clench, causing him to automatically speed up his thrusts. When he realized that he almost lost control of himself and went wild, he immediately slowed down, earning him a bite on the shoulder. He chuckled at his wife who looked at him with an aggrieved expression. Her flushed skin, however, proved that she was enjoying the pleasure of their lovemaking just like him.

    "Little wildcat," he whispered directly to her ear.

    "Yes." She liked what he called her. Then she urged him, "Faster, darling. Please. A little harder."

    "You¡¯re killing me."

    Jin Liwei desperately wanted to go wild and pump into her wife like there was no tomorrow. He missed the times when he could go all-out and bend her into different positions and make love with her in different locations.

    But this was good, too. It was sweet and more intimate. And most importantly, safer for her.

    In the end, Iris didn¡¯t get what she wanted. Her husband was adamant in keeping the tempo steady. At first, she was a little resentful but she eventually let go of her impatience and greed for more because he still managed to overwhelm her with pleasure despite the slow pace.

    The pleasure built up like a slow, trickling waterfall instead of drowning her like a powerful tsunami. It took longer to get there but was still mind-blowing.

    "Aaaaaaah!"

    Iris quaked as her orgasm burst out like beautiful fireworks.

    Jin Liwei sped up, just a little, while groaning and grunting from the strong wet suction force of his wife¡¯s contracting insides. Then he, too, reached his own climax.

    <i>¡¯This must be heaven,¡¯</i> he thought as his hot release flooded inside her.

    When it was over, the husband and wife had almost identical expressions of bliss. The bed sheets were a mess with a lot of wet spots.

    Jin Liwei kissed his wife¡¯s shoulder and squeezed her butt. "Time to get up, love."

    "Mmmn."

    He smiled when she looked like she had no intention of getting up by herself. Instead, she acted spoiled.

    "Carry me."

    Her act tickled his heart. Heughed and got up first before carrying his wife straight to the bathroom where they showered together and refreshed themselves. Although both were in the mood for another round, they knew that they didn¡¯t have time anymore. They barely got out of the shower when Iris heard some noises outside the bathroom with her strong hearing.

    "Dom and the m team are here," she said.

    "Don¡¯t rush or you¡¯ll slip on the floor. We¡¯re still on schedule."

    "Okay."

    Later in the walk-in closet, Jin Liwei was looking sharp and handsome in a tuxedo suit. Instead of the usual white dress shirt inside, he wore a ck turtleneck instead, giving him a frostier aura than he already had.

    "Kyaaaaaaaaah! So handsome, Sir Boss!"

    Dom immediately started snapping photos of him from different angles. He was already an expert in taking ttering pictures. The best photos taken today would be posted on Iris¡¯ official social media ounts. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t deliberately pose. He acted as if Dom wasn¡¯t taking hundreds of snapshots of him as he put cufflinks on his sleeves. The custom cufflinks were designed based on their LX monogram.

    Then he headed to where his wife was sitting in the vanity area where her hair and makeup were being done. The couple looked at each other in the mirror.

    Iris caught a few spots of red on her husband¡¯s neck and instructed her makeup artist, "Cover up my husband¡¯s hickeys with some foundation just like what you did on mine."

    "No, it¡¯s fine." Jin Liwei stopped the makeup artist who was about to grab a darker shade of foundation than the one used on Iris.

    "What do you mean it¡¯s fine? Are you going to show everyone your hickeys?"

    "En."

    Iris blinked a few times while Dom and the m team squealed in unison.

    "Why?" Iris still asked him.

    He smirked. "My wife marked me so passionately. I should let everyone see that I already belong to my wife."

    The squeals grew louder.

    "You!" Iris wanted to act annoyed but ended upughing. She couldn¡¯t hide how pleased she was at her husband. "Fine. If that¡¯s what you want. Don¡¯t cover up then."

    She looked at her reflection. "Maybe I should show my hickeys, too? Everyone knows I¡¯m already married anyway."

 Chapter 1211 - Shall We, Mrs. Jin?

    <h4>Chapter 1211 - Shall We, Mrs. Jin? </h4>

    "That sounds awesome, Boss," Dom said. "But Elder Sis Yiyi says that even though you already have LXC Studio and don¡¯t need to worry about breaching a management contract, she doesn¡¯t rmend you showing any hickeys on your body."

    Iris pursed her lips and nced at her husband¡¯s reflection on the mirror.

    Jin Liwei looked displeased and disappointed but didn¡¯t insist on showing the hickeys he made on her body. Instead, he walked to her and kissed her hand. He wanted to kiss her lips but the makeup artist was painting on them.

    "I¡¯ll check the location with Xu Tian first, love," he told her. "Then I¡¯ll meet you for breakfastter."

    "Okay, darling. See youter."

    "See you."

    Dom and the m team waved goodbye at him as he left. On his way out, he met the butler with Reina and Linda Chua wheeling a few containers of soup. He greeted all of them. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Clover is already helping your assistant at the location," Reina informed him when he said that he was heading there. "Here, bring some soup to warm your stomach before we eat breakfast togetherter."

    "En. Thanks, Auntie Reina." He received a portion of the soup in a container.

    Then they entered the master bedroom to give Iris, Dom and the m team some soup as well. The soup was mainly to help the pregnant Iris avoid getting hungry before breakfast was ready since she woke up early today.

    When Jin Liwei arrived with an empty soup container at the indoor forest, he saw a busy crew directed by Xu Tian with Clover assisting. There were professional cameras,puters, lights and all manner of equipment pointing towards a casual set-up. In front of the koi fish pond was a loveseat and a side table with a beautiful flower arrangement and a framed wedding photo of Iris and Jin Liwei on top. Behind the simple yet tasteful set-up was backdropped by the islet in the middle of the pond where the couple exchanged their marriage vows.

    Everyone greeted Jin Liwei when they saw him. He waved a hand, gesturing for them to continue their work. Only Xu Tian and Clover came up to him to report on the progress. There wasn¡¯t much that Jin Liwei didn¡¯t already know because he had been listening to Ketchup¡¯s updates via his hidden earpiece.

    Xu Tian left to continue directing the crew while Jin Liwei spoke to Clover.

    "My wife and I appreciate you helping out today."

    "No worries, Sir Boss. I¡¯m super excited to join in the fun. My cousins in the Philippines and their friends who all joined ck Stars keep on messaging me. They all can¡¯t wait for the livestream to start."

    Jin Liwei looked satisfied.

    Clover returned to assisting Xu Tian while Jin Liwei had Ketchup connect him to Jasper Leung in Singapore.

    "CEO Jin, please rest assured that everything is ready on my end," Jasper reported to him. "Although the number of Singaporean ck Stars participating in today¡¯s event can¡¯tpare to the Chinese ck Stars and even to the Filipino ck Stars, I feel quite proud of the high quality of my fellow Singaporean¡¯s entries in your special contest."

    "En, good job."

    Indeed, Jin Liwei had seen the entries of the Singaporean finalists and felt impressed. They focused more on quality rather than quantity which got his praise.

    After speaking to Jasper, he did a final check on the location with his security team to make sure that it waspletely safe for his wife. Then he and Clover met his wife and the others at a lounge area near their master suite to eat breakfast together.

    Iris hadn¡¯tpletely finished getting ready yet. She was still wearing a kimono robe, not yet in her actual outfit, and her hair still knotted in curlers. Jin Liwei gave her a quick peck on the corner of her mouth as he sat down beside her.

    The Chuas were present except for Marjorie, her husband, and their two children. The family of four were instead having breakfast with Jiang Ying Yue, Little Jun, Ice Cream and Popcorn, and of course, Grandpa Lu who adored doting on the children. They didn¡¯t want to disturb Iris¡¯ group with the boisterous children, hence this separate breakfast arrangement.

    As for Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing, the couple preferred to spend time alone with each other to focus on their rtionship after everything that happened to them.

    While they were eating breakfast, Tang Yiyi arrived to join them. Although she was busy screening and recruiting promising talents for LXC Studio with Lin Dong, she was still Iris¡¯ manager at the end of the day. She came to make sure that today¡¯s event went smoothly. This could be counted as Iris Long¡¯s first official show after her marriage with Jin Liwei.

    Tang Yiyi swept her eyes like a hawk over Iris¡¯ body and nodded in approval. Then she caught something on Jin Liwei. Her eyes widened before she frowned.

    "CEO Jin, please excuse my impertinence, but can you please cover up the hickeys on your neck?"

    "I refuse," he replied in a calm manner while putting more food on his wife¡¯s te.

    Tang Yiyi opened and closed her mouth, wanting to persuade him to change his mind, but eventually gave up. Jin Liwei wasn¡¯t her charge, unlike Iris. Tang Yiyi had no right to dictate his actions or appearance when showing himself to the public. She could only sigh and continue eating. Her mind, however, was already running in full speed.

    She nned on contacting LXC Studio¡¯s new PR Department in order to spin Jin Liwei¡¯s visible kiss marks on the neck into something positive. This was a matter that would directly affect Iris Long¡¯s image and showbiz career. After all, Iris was still a celebrity despite marrying Jin Liwei and bing the new Madam Jin.

    Jin Liwei knew what the manager was thinking about. He wasn¡¯t worried at all because he already had his own PR team to control the situation, not to mention that Ketchup¡¯s team of virtual assistants, including the part-time Bacon, were all helping out today.

    Later, breakfast was eaten and everyone was finally ready. The indoor forest was filled with people and three eye-catching small mountains of prizes.

    Jin Liwei held out his hand to his wife. "Shall we, Mrs. Jin?"

 Chapter 1212 - CEO Jinâ€™s Special 3-Nation Bonanza

    <h4>Chapter 1212 - CEO Jin¡¯s Special 3-Nation Bonanza </h4>

    Iris ced her hand on top of her husband¡¯s palm and smiled at him. "Yes, Mr. Jin."

    Jin Liwei bent down and kissed her hand before escorting her to the set-up. All of their actions were caught on camera. The livestream had already started, titled "The Best of Iris Long Contest" with an alternate title of "CEO Jin¡¯s Special 3-Nation Bonanza".

    The livestream was targeted at three countries: China, Singapore, and the Philippines.

    Three screens behind the cameras showed the livements. As expected, the Chinese ck Stars were the most numerous. There were already 970 thousand domestic viewers and it was still climbing. Singapore had a modest 1.3 thousand viewers while the Philippines had a rather impressive 22 thousand viewers given that ck Stars Philippines had only been established just a few days ago.

    Although thebined number of viewers couldn¡¯tpare to the jaw-dropping average stats in the millions of superstars like Jin Chonglin or popr livestreamers, Iris and Jin Liwei didn¡¯t care much. They weren¡¯t hosting the livestream to break some sort of record anyway. It was just a means to announce the final winners of Jin Liwei¡¯s special contest in honour of his wife, Iris Long, and also to thank her loyal fans for supporting her through thick and thin.

    The viewers watched as Jin Liwei led Iris to the loveseat. His ck, turtleneck tuxedo suit contrasted his wife¡¯s white feminine version of the attire. Iris didn¡¯t wear a dress this time like she usually did. Instead, she opted to wear the same tailored tuxedo suit as her husband but in white. This was actually Jin Liwei¡¯s original idea because he was the one who usually loved matching their outfits. They even wore the same LX monogram cufflinks on their sleeves.

    On the first screen, the Chinese ck Starsmented:

    "Kyaaaaah! Boss Iris and CEO Jin are a perfect match made in heaven!"

    "Yin and Yang! The perfect bnce!"

    "Boss Iris is still a little too skinny but she looks healthier now. We love you, Boss Iris!"

    On the second screen, the Singaporean ck Starsmented:

    "Is that really Prince Lin Lin¡¯s brother? Wow. He¡¯s so handsome!"

    "My new goddess Iris Long! Please leave your husband and elope with me instead! I fell in love with you so hard ever since hearing your song<i> ¡¯Shining Eyes¡¯</i> with Jin Chonglin. The song is one of the reasons why the TV drama became so sessful!"

    Jin Liwei caught this particrment and his aura turned cold, freezing everyone around him, except for his wife of course. Iris looked at him and patted his arm, soothing him, and silently telling him not to take thements of theizens too seriously.

    He gave a cold snort and deliberately interlocked their fingers together so that everyone could see that his wife belonged to him and vice versa. How dare someone tell his wife to leave him and elope away? Even though he knew that thementer must have been just kidding, he still couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling jealous.

    On the third screen, the Filipino ck Starsmented:

    "Beautifuldy! Handsome man! Top view, side view, bottom view, no matter which view, I love view!"

    Iris tilted her head to the side and analyzed thement. Then she burst intoughter when she finally got it. Jin Liwei, however, didn¡¯t understand it at all.

    "No matter which view, I love you," she told him.

    His eyes widened, then heughed as well. "En. No matter which view I look, I¡¯ll always love you, too."

    Allmenters squealed at their PDA no matter which country they came from. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The cheesy lines from the Filipino ck Stars kept oning.

    "Are you a bank loan? Because you got my interest."

    "I wish the alphabet would rearrange itself so that ¡¯I¡¯ could be next to ¡¯U¡¯."

    "Was that an earthquake? Or did you just rock my world?"

    Iris was now hugging Jin Liwei¡¯s arm tightly whileughing out loud. It wasn¡¯t only her. Those who read and understood the Englishments from the Filipino ck Starsughed as well.

    "Dom is right. Now I know that Filipinos are indeed romantic." Iris continuedughing, unable to stop.

    Unlike her and everyone else, Jin Liwei didn¡¯t look amused. What were these people doing? How dare they flirt with his wife in front of him? Was he dead?

    But he inwardly admitted that the pick-up lines were quite good albeit a little too corny. He made a mental note to ask Paul Ferrer, Majorie¡¯s husband, where he could buy some sort of master list of Filipino pick-up lines. He wanted to use them on his wife since she looked like she liked them very much. They might even spice up their rtionship and make his wife fall a little more deeply for him. With this thought in mind, his expression rxed and he became less intimidating.

    At that moment, thebined viewers from the three countries finally surpassed 1 million and they were still climbing. This was already great especially since they chose to livestream in the morning instead ofte afternoon or evening like most other popr livestreamers.

    The hired director gave a signal to both Jin Liwei and Iris. They smiled at the main camera while Iris¡¯ song "ck Star" yed softly in the background.

    "Wee, my dear ck Stars, to our home," Iris greeted with a bright smile. "Thank you for joining us today."

    She spoke in English. There was a pair of Chinese trantors that they hired for the domestic viewers. Simrly, there was also a pair of English trantors for the international viewers for when Iris and Jin Liwei spoke in Mandarin. Iris would¡¯ve done all the trantions by herself if not for Jin Liwei worrying that she would exhaust herself too much.

    Her eyes caught a fewments on the three screens. She smiled.

    "You have sharp eyes. Indeed, this indoor forest is where I married my husband. I also shared in the interview with <i>¨¤ Mode China</i> magazine that my husband converted this part of our home into an indoor forest as a present to me for our first anniversary as lovers. That¡¯s why this ce is very dear to my heart. "

    Thements were flooded with praises.

    Jin Liwei spoke next, "As promised, we will now announce the final winners of my special contest."

 Chapter 1213 - Dedicated To The Black Stars

    <h4>Chapter 1213 - Dedicated To The ck Stars </h4>

    The camera zoomed in on Jin Liwei¡¯s face as he was speaking and everyone saw the red marks on his neck.

    "What did I just see?!! Are those hickeys?!!!"

    "My gosh! Boss Iris is so wild to put those many hickeys on CEO Jin¡¯s neck! I bet that there are more on other parts of his body."

    "Boss Iris is wild but CEO Jin is wilder! He didn¡¯t even make an effort to cover them up. Is he showing off? Is he?! He is, right?! I bet he is!"

    Behind the cameras, Tang Yiyi almost tore off all her hair in anxiety from reading thements. She immediately contacted LXC Studio¡¯s PR Department.

    Xu Tian, who was standing nearby, heard her instructions. He told her not to panic and that everything was within CEO Jin¡¯s ns.

    Although Tang Yiyi trusted Jin Liwei¡¯s capabilities, she still couldn¡¯t rx without taking any productive actions herself. She directed LXC Studio¡¯s PR Department to coordinate with Jin Liwei¡¯s own PR team, only to discover that this was already Jin Liwei¡¯s original n to begin with. Indeed, Xu Tian was right. Everything was within CEO Jin¡¯s ns. She could only sigh in admiration. This kind of capable man was the husband of her artist, Iris Long.

    Back to the livestream, Jin Liwei was pleased and even smug upon reading some of thements that noticed the hickeys his wife left on his neck. For a moment, he was tempted to lift up his shirt to show off the other hickeys on his body but restrained himself. His wife could be as possessive of him as he was of her.

    Iris didn¡¯t speak much. Her role was the guest of honour since the entire special contest was dedicated to her. Jin Liwei was the official host of the event.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The camera moved from the couple on the loveseat to the smiling Dominic Chua who waved at all the viewers. He volunteered to serve as the emcee because he enjoyed the role.

    "Hello! My name is Dominic Chua, Boss Iris¡¯ bestest friend forevah and evah, assistant extraordinaire, and fabulous beauty king!"

    All the Chinese ck Stars knew him.

    "Dom, the Beauty King! Fabulous as always!"

    "Brother Dom, where did you buy your high-heeled boots? I want them!"

    As for the Singaporean ck Stars, this was the first time for most of them to learn about his identity as Iris Long¡¯s assistant and best friend.

    "What a stylish assistant! I didn¡¯t expect that Boss Iris will have a male best friend."

    The Filipino ck Stars had the biggest reactions. Theirments flooded the screen in a fast pace.

    "My fellowman! Proud to be Filipino!"

    "Cousin Dom! Hurry up and announce the winners!"

    "Seeing a fellow Filipino doing well in another country makes me feel so proud."

    Dom was in his element. As a chatterbox, he never ran out of things to say. Even without reading the script on the teleprompter, he was still able to make many entertaining adlibs that made everyoneugh.

    "The fabulous moi will be representing Boss Iris¡¯ super-duper handsome husband, CEO Jin Liwei, current head of the biggest multinationalpany in China, Jin Corporation, in announcing the talented winners and giving out the amazing prizes in his special contest in honour of his wife, our one and only Boss Iris Long! We have received a total of 1,001,296 entries from three different countries: China, Singapore, and the Philippines!"

    Big apuse.

    "I know, right? More than a million entries? Isn¡¯t that amazing or what?! Wohoo!"

    Dom smiled and continued, "There are so many prizes that it will take an entire week of nonstop livestreaming if we announce the winners one by one, especially since Sir Boss Jin kept on adding more prizes when we established the first two international offshoots of the ck Stars in Singapore and my mothend, the Philippines. That¡¯s why we¡¯re only going to announce the most notable finalists and winners today. The rest will receive a call from us. Just take a look at the number of prizes. They literally formed three freaking mountains!"

    He swept his manicured hands in the air. The camera panned over the prizes stacked together. Seeing all the items made the viewers incredibly excited.

    Then Clover Chua wheeled a cart carrying one of thetest high-performanceputer gaming set. She used her hands and expression that were as expressive as her brother¡¯s to showcase the first prize to be given away.

    "There will be a total of 30 of this sameputer gaming set that will be given away right now!" Dom announced. "We will be showing five of the best entries who¡¯ll win thisputer gaming set in this livestream. As for the other winning entries, please check them on the contest¡¯s official website. Enjoy!"

    Everyone watched the five entries. This was also the first time that Iris was watching any of the entries. Jin Liwei wanted everything to be a surprise.

    "I chose those five myself after Ketchup, Bacon, and the other virtual assistants helped in screening all the entries," Jin Liwei told his wife.

    "I love them, darling," she said, continuing to watch.

    There was a makeup artist who painted his face to look almost exactly like Iris. It was amazing to watch a masculine-looking man transform into a stunning female.

    Aedy parody of her music video with Jin Chonglin for the song "Passionate mes".

    A beautiful and emotional moving sand-art of the film version of "Phantom of Your Love" for the award-winning movie "Strong Yet Broken".

    An adorable band of children aged between 6 and 10 impersonating Iris and the Pandemonium band members while singing "Monster of Insanity".

    A college choir singing an impressive acoustic rendition of "Rebirth."

    As more prizes were announced including cash and brand new cars, more entries were shown. Iris cried on a good number of them. Jin Liweiforted her with a loving embrace. She alsoughed at most of them, delighted at the amazing creativity of the ck Stars who created memorable tributes for her.

    When the livestream was about to end, Iris suddenly said, "To express my gratitude to all of you, I want to sing a special song. This time, it¡¯s dedicated to all of you, my beloved loyal fans, the ck Stars."

 Chapter 1214 - Your Highness, The Queen Of (Censored)

    <h4>Chapter 1214 - Your Highness, The Queen Of (Censored) </h4>

    Iris had someone fetch an acoustic guitar from her music room. In the meantime, she and Jin Liwei force-fed everyone with dogfood. The husband and wife flirted with each other in front of everyone, not caring at all if someone had any issues with their PDA.

    Indeed, there were some people who had issues with the couple¡¯s actions. After all, quite a number of people only participated in Jin Liwei¡¯s special contest for the opportunity to win one of the abundant prizes. These fake ck Stars were now starting to show their true colours.

    Iris didn¡¯t mind but Jin Liwei did. When he caught some of the unpleasantments on the screens, his eyes narrowed in danger. Before he could take action, however, the Slippers Army immediately attacked like a swarm of destructive locusts.

    The Chinese and Filipino Slippers Armies immediately whacked their Boss Iris¡¯ bashers with their virtual mighty slippers. ck Stars Singapore didn¡¯t have their own Slippers Army yet. Of course,KittyBaby and PantherBaby were both at the forefront together with the founder of the Slippers Army, iEatSlippers.

    It was only then that everyone discovered that iEatSlippers or Monkey¡¯s CFO Wu Chen in real life was actually watching the livestream. It wasn¡¯t only him. His partner, the silent but terrible MonkeyFace or Monkey¡¯s CEO Hou Liang, was also present.

    The two didn¡¯t expose their presence during the livestream earlier. It was only now when the fake ck Stars started criticizing their Boss Iris that they bared their brutal fangs and showed everyone that even retired generals of the Slippers Army were still loyal and deadly. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    ck Stars Singapore had been rtively quietpared to China and the Philippines mostly because of their lower numbers. But when someone started criticizing Iris Long¡¯s public intimacy with Jin Liwei, thements section in the Singapore livestream began to flood with insults.

    "Shameless Iris Long! The Queen of Sluts!"

    "I bet Iris Long deliberately made Jin Liwei show off the hickeys on his neck to brag that she¡¯s now Madam Jin. Absolutely shameless! All face and body but no substance. Poor education, no ss at all!"

    "Jin Liwei only married you because of what¡¯s between your legs, Your Highness Iris Long, the Queen of Sluts!"

    "Don¡¯t be so proud of yourself. You¡¯re nothing but a pop singer who¡¯s only a high school graduate. You don¡¯t match CEO Jin Liwei at all who¡¯s a graduate from an Ivy League university. Get a college education first, you dumb slut!"

    "Fuck off to hell, Your Highness Iris Long, the Queen of Sluts!"

    Jin Liwei became murderous when he read the vulgarments thrown at his wife. It wasn¡¯t only him. Everyone in the indoor forest had ugly expressions. Dom was about to curse the bashers when Clover covered his mouth and dragged him away from the cameras.

    Only Iris herself looked undisturbed. Her eyes, however, were cold. She tilted her head to the side, a slight smirk on her lips. Then she tapped her husband¡¯s palm with a finger in Morse code.

    <i>¡¯Singapore. Young.¡¯</i>

    Jin Liwei was enlightened. Indeed, this sudden hatred directed towards his wife when ck Stars Singapore had only been established, not to mention that they had the least memberspared to China and the Philippines, didn¡¯t make sense. But if the Youngs were the ones fueling the fire, then everything made sense. He became even more murderous. Those damn Youngs!

    Iris tapped on his palm again.

    <i>¡¯Eagle.¡¯</i>

    Jin Liwei looked grim. Indeed, Eagle must be involved again in helping those damn Youngs to attack his wife. They made ample preparations before today¡¯s livestream. His wife tweaked their two AI children and directed them to fortify the livestream¡¯s security. This was why there was almost no negativements throughout the livestream earlier until now. Perhaps Eagle was only able to breach the security when the livestream was almost at an end.

    Then Ketchup¡¯s voice spoke to his hidden earpiece, "Daddy, don¡¯t worry, macaroni! Mommy prepared several contingency ns for this kind of situation. The cute and mighty Ketchup and my naughty little kitty brother Bacon have everything under control because we¡¯re super-duper to the highest level awesome kitty babies! Meow~"

    Bacon¡¯s voice spoke next. "Father, Bacon is now coordinating with ShaWn to trace and attack these pests who all deserve to be squashed into mincemeat for attacking Mother."

    "Yep yep, Daddy! The naughty Bacon will be in charge of counterattacking while the cute and mighty Ketchup is in charge of guarding the livestream. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei was relieved that the situation seemed to be under control thanks to his two AI children. If not for his wife¡¯s promise to perform a special song to her fans, he would have already ended the livestream and mobilized all his resources to punish those Youngs. Even if he couldn¡¯t eliminate all of them in one go for now, at least he could find other ways to hurt them. If left alone for too long, the rotten family would only be more and more despicable.

    He restrained his fury and stayed beside his wife. She was the most important. He nced at her and saw that thements didn¡¯t seem to faze her at all. His eyes softened. His wife was a strong woman. She knew her worth not only as an artist of her craft but also as a person. Malicious detractors wouldn¡¯t discourage her so easily.

    Now that he thought about it. Those insults were quite funny. They were trying to humiliate his wife for not pursuing higher education, when in truth, she was enrolled in the most prestigious academic institution in the whole world to date. They were the dumb ones for calling her as such when in fact, she was an actual genius.

    He also would never forget how they called his wife the Queen of Sluts. Those vile Youngs! How dare they call his wife that way when it was their own daughter, Rose Young, who was the biggest slut of all sluts? He would make them pay for this offence one way or another.

    His thoughts were interrupted when Ketchup eximed into his earpiece. "Meowowow! The Filipino Slippers Army are amazing! They are the first to swarm the Singapore livestream and troll the evil poopoo-heads! The cute and mighty Ketchup super-duper to the highest level approves of them! Meowowow!"

 Chapter 1215 - The Most Peace-Loving Fan Club

    <h4>Chapter 1215 - The Most Peace-Loving Fan Club </h4>

    Jin Liwei watched thement section of the Singapore livestream. It had be a warzone. Since the original insults were vulgar, the Filipino Slippers Army didn¡¯t hold back in their retaliation. They shot harsher profanities at the bashers, abusing them so much that Jin Liwei couldn¡¯t help but cringe from reading some of them.

    Although ck Stars Philippines had only been established a few days ago and the Filipinos shouldn¡¯t have developed such deep loyalty for Iris Long to defend her almost to the death like this, they were the kind ofizens who would support people they liked without any reservations. But make no mistake. Get on their wrong side and they would gang up on amon enemy without any mercy.

    They joined the ck Stars mainly because they learned that Iris Long¡¯s best friend and assistant was a Filipino like them and that she was also treating Dominic Chua¡¯s family very well. Since she was treating their fellow Filipinos like family, then they would also treat her well by supporting her.

    It also went without saying that they liked her as a celebrity. They didn¡¯t know anything about her before the Chinese TV drama, <i>"Our Love, Our Destiny",</i> became a hit in many Asian countries including the Philippines. Its opening theme song was very memorable and also became very popr. Iris Long¡¯s single with superstar Jin Chonglin, <i>"Shining Eyes"</i>, had topped the Filipino music charts while the TV drama was still airing. This put the name of Iris Long in the Filipino consciousness for the first time.

    After finding out more about her after joining ck Stars Philippines, they became even more impressed by her, not only as a celebrity but also as a person. They wanted to get to know her better and wished that she could visit the Philippines one day.

    These feelings fueled them in defending her against her bashers in the Singapore livestream. Granted, most of them acted because of mob mentality. Once a single member of their group acted first, they all followed suit and fought together as one.

    Their actions didn¡¯t have that much to do with their loyalty for Iris Long but that was because they only recently knew about her. Most of them intended to be her real fans after watching her in today¡¯s livestream. They found her to be beautiful, intelligent, elegant, ssy and also very kind to her fans. This kind of person was someone worth following.

    Of course, her husband¡¯s special contest was a huge bonus. Many of them won amazing prizes. CEO Jin Liwei was very generous in a way that didn¡¯t make them feel as if he was doing this to appear like a Good Samaritan. Not at all. In fact, all they could see was a husband doting on his wife by rewarding all the fans that had been supporting her. This made them have a very good impression of the husband and wife.

    The Chinese Slippers Army was a littlete but some of them also joined the warzone in the Singapore livestream. KittyBaby and MonkeyFace gave them a way to ess the foreign livestreaming tform and fight together with their Filipino brothers and sisters.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The fierce battle didn¡¯tst too long.

    "All done, Daddy!" Ketchup announced to Jin Liwei¡¯s earpiece, her voice smug with victory. "The cute and mighty Ketchup has now cleared all the poopoo-heads from the Singapore livestream. Meow~"

    "Father, those Eagle cowards ran away from Bacon and ShaWn," Bacon said next.

    Jin Liwei tapped on his ear in Morse code. <i>¡¯Good job.¡¯</i>

    Behind the cameras, Tang Yiyi was waving her hands at Iris, catching her attention and mouthing some words at her. The manager knew that Iris could read lips.

    Iris pursed her lips but it was very quick,sting for less than a second, that nobody noticed it, not even Jin Liwei. She gave an imperceptible nod at her manager before smiling at the camera.

    "My dear ck Stars, thank you for always supporting me and defending my name. But I hope that you all remember that we are a peace-loving people. Please don¡¯t go too far. We are all better than them."

    In all thements sections, the ck Stars said:

    "We understand, Boss Iris! Please don¡¯t worry. We only wield our mighty slippers of justice against those who truly deserve a beating."

    "Boss Iris, rest assured that we¡¯ll be careful not to let our actions have a negative impact on you."

    "Hehe. No worries. We never leave any evidence. Even if they use us, it¡¯s useless without concrete proof. All hail the mighty slippers!"

    To make a point, this recentment was deleted right away. All that was left in thements section were positive and wholesomements supporting each other. Those who didn¡¯t know about the Slippers Army of the ck Stars before this would definitely think that they were the most peace-loving fan club to ever exist just based on thements that were left in the livestream.

    Jin Liwei heard Ketchup giggling. "With the cute and mighty Ketchup here, nobody will be able to use my mommy of not being able to control her own fans. Ketchup doesn¡¯t care about what other poopoo-heads say. ck Stars are the bestest fans forever and ever! Slippers Army are the fiercest keyboard warriors forever and ever! Meow~"

    He nced at Tang Yiyi. His wife¡¯s manager looked visibly relieved upon seeing that thements were once again properly regted. He approved of how much the manager wanted to protect his wife¡¯s image and reputation.

    However, he wouldn¡¯t allow anyone, including himself, to limit his wife from doing what she wanted for the sake of protecting her image. After all, image was just that. It could be changed, re-packaged, and presented again to the public in a new light.

    As long as his wife was happy, he didn¡¯t care about what kind of image she wanted to present to the public. Of course, he would still protect her from anyone who dared to criticize her. Did they think that his wife, Madam Jin, was easy to bully? Foolish people!

    Finally, the acoustic guitar had arrived. The butler passed it to Dom who then handed it to Iris. She started tuning it while chatting about the special song that she wanted to dedicate to the ck Stars.

 Chapter 1216 - All My Black Stars

    <h4>Chapter 1216 - All My ck Stars </h4>

    "I alreadyposed the melody before this," Iris said while tuning the acoustic guitar. "It¡¯s still iplete because I didn¡¯t know exactly what kind of song I want it to be. I¡¯ve been ying around with it for some time now but I still had not figured out what to do with it until today. Watching all of your entries that you created in honour of me has lit up themp of inspiration in my head. I feel so touched not only by your endless support but also by your amazing creativity.

    "The lyrics appeared and formed in my head today. And that¡¯s when I knew that they belong to this melody. The song is still imperfect but it¡¯s nowplete. My dear ck Stars, I dedicate this special song to all of you. Please ept my sincere gratitude."

    Then she faced her husband. "And of course, I also dedicate this song to the number one ck Star in my life. My husband, Jin Liwei."

    Jin Liwei reached his hand and caressed her chin. He didn¡¯t do anything else because he sensed that she was preupied with arranging the new song inside her head. He gave her space on the loveseat so that she could concentrate but didn¡¯t leave. She dedicated this song to her fans and to him. He wanted to be there to listen to her new song in the best seat avable¡ªbeside her.

    "Everyone, I introduce my new song, <i>¡¯All My ck Stars¡¯</i>."

    Everyone was quiet. Dom and the others watched behind the cameras with bated breaths. Even thements section became almost empty as they focused all their attention on their Boss Iris¡¯ performance. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jin Liwei never took his eyes away from his wife. She was so beautiful.

    Iris strummed her guitar, the chords not tooplicated. The notes flowed like a hidden forest stream, the sound simple yet mysterious and went straight to the soul.

    "An empty stage

    Imaginary audience

    A vast sky with nothing but darkness

    I wanted to sing to the world

    But there was nobody but the cold"

    The notes increased in depth, bing more dynamic, yet also sounding more refreshing. The listeners felt like their emotions were slowly being lifted with the melody.

    "But then you all came

    One by one

    You pushed me forward

    Raised me up and never cowered

    No matter how strong the enemy

    No matter how much they condemn me

    You¡¯re always there raising my g

    Fighting for my name even when you¡¯re being damned"

    Iris hand strummed more energetically, her body swaying with the melody. She was beautiful but also looked handsome especially with the white tuxedo suit she was wearing and the cool acoustic guitar sitting on herp.

    Everyone sighed at her beauty, talent and undeniable charisma. Just by singing, they felt like she was taking them by hand into her own wonderful world.

    "Oh, my ck Stars

    Warriors of my dream

    You¡¯re my spotlight

    Shining on my dream

    Thank you for the love

    The faith, support and trust"

    You¡¯re never afraid

    To wave my g up and down

    With you standing behind me

    I know that I¡¯m never alone"

    Some started tearing up while a few were already bawling their eyes out. They could feel the sincerity of her gratitude towards them in the song.

    "Oh, my ck Stars

    Champions of my dream

    You¡¯re my gxy

    Shining on my dream

    Thank you for the love

    The faith, support and trust

    With you cheering me on

    I will never be crushed."

    Everyone started singing along with her even though they didn¡¯t know the entire lyrics yet. The melody was easy to remember and it was catchy. Even those watching in their own homes raised their hands up in the air and were swaying from side to side with the melody.

    Iris looked straight at the camera. It zoomed in on her face, particrly on her mesmerizing phoenix eyes. The viewers felt like she was staring straight into their very souls.

    "I thank you with all my heart

    My ck Stars, my spotlight

    I thank you with my soul

    Your love made me whole"

    Then she turned to look at Jin Liwei. The husband and wife gazed into each other¡¯s eyes. Only blind people wouldn¡¯t see the love between the two of them.

    The melody already started slowing down, yet the emotion was still reaching the peak.

    "Oh, my ck Star

    My forever ally

    You¡¯re my partner

    The love of my life

    Thank you, my love

    I became who I am

    Because you believed in me

    And loved me for who I am

    All my ck Stars

    Oh, my ck Star

    Thank you for everything

    Ooooooooooooooooh~"

    Iris sang thest notes in an emotional falsetto. The song finally ended. There was silence but the song of gratitude lingered in the hearts of the people who listened to it. There were barely any dry eyes left among her fans to whom she dedicated this special song.

    Jin Liwei was the first one to stand up and give his wife what she deserved¡ªa standing ovation.

    The others followed suit. Everyone in the indoor forest gave her an enthusiastic apuse, loud cheers and whistles.

    The viewers couldn¡¯t be seen in person but their reactions began to flood thements sections. They all loved the song and felt special to have it dedicated to them.

    "I love it! It¡¯s now my new favourite song!"

    "Boss Iris, you¡¯re the best!"

    "Please record the song and release it!"

    "JJ, are you listening?! Hurry up and help Boss Iris officially release this amazing song!"

    "All hail Boss Iris! All hail the ck Stars!"

    Iris moved to stand up. Jin Liwei helped her up while taking the acoustic guitar and putting it away. Together hand in hand, they bowed to the ck Stars. Jin Liwei did a gentlemanly bow while Iris did her iconic curtsy bow.

    The apuse grew louder. The tears also flowed stronger but the smiles became wider.

    Iris¡¯ special song dedicated to her fans united the ck Stars even further and made them more loyal to her. Even the Filipino and Singaporean ck Stars couldn¡¯t help but be touched by her gesture.

    At that moment, all the amazing prizes in the special contest were forgotten. There was no doubt that the highlight of the livestream wasn¡¯t the special contest itself but the closing performance of Iris Long.

 Chapter 1217 - Music Artisan

    <h4>Chapter 1217 - Music Artisan </h4>

    When the the director signalled the end of the livestream, Dom and Clover rushed to Iris in excitement. Jin Liwei allowed the friends their own moment while standing beside his wife.

    "Boss, that song is so amazing!" Clover eximed.

    "I bawled like a baby, Boss!" Dom cried. "As a ck Star myself, your new song went straight to my heart. I feel so appreciated by you. I¡¯m sure all the other ck Stars feel the same way as I do. Wuwuwu! You¡¯re the best forever and ever, Boss! No other celebrity is as awesome as you. Not even Prince Lin Lin! Believe me, I¡¯m telling the truth. Cross my heart. Hope your bashers die!"

    Reina Chua pulled his ear and twisted it.

    "Ouch, Momsy! What are you doing?"

    "Don¡¯t curse other people to die like that," Reina scolded her son. "Aren¡¯t you afraid that karma might bite you in the butt one day, ha? Instead of that, just wish for them to grow painful boils on their butts that¡¯ll fester throughout their lifetimes. That¡¯s enough karma for them."

    Domingo Chua nodded his head in agreement with his wife¡¯s words.

    Linda Chuaughed. "You¡¯re so wicked, Momsy."

    Reina shrugged her shoulders,pletely unbothered by the wickedness of her words. In fact, she looked righteous, believing that her words were justified. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "We¡¯re not an evil family to wish for people¡¯s death so easily like that. But we¡¯re not pushovers either. I was so angry when I read all thements bashing Xin. I know that celebrities constantly face this issue throughout their careers. Before today, I even secretly criticized celebrities who overreact to their bashers. It¡¯s part of their job, so they should just ept the reality. That¡¯s what I thought. But now that I¡¯m personally witnessing someone close to me experiencing so much bashing, I feel so angry! Those bashers are too evil, ha. They deserve painful boils on their butts. Not only that, they should also have hemorrhoids! Let¡¯s see if they still have the time to bash our dear Xin when they can¡¯t even sit properly. Hmph!"

    Iris chuckled and held the older woman¡¯s hands. "Thank you, Auntie Reina."

    Reina hugged her, giving her aforting squeeze and a pat on the back. "You¡¯re amazing, Xin. You handled things so beautifully and with ss. Those bashers must be choking on their own insults after seeing you so unaffected. And that song is so wonderful, ha. I think that even foreigners who don¡¯t understand Chinese will be touched by it. Even if they don¡¯t understand the lyrics, they¡¯ll still feel the emotions. Well done, Xin."

    This time, Iris felt a little choked up. Her eyes moistened. She closed her eyes and hugged Reina.

    This was a true mother¡¯s warmth. It felt wonderful.

    One day, she wanted to have this kind of loving and supportive but also firm and protective presence in all her children¡¯s lives. She still feared bing a bad mother because she never had any good models to aspire in the past. Now, she had several great models, all of them strong women in their own way. They all inspired her to strive to be the best mother that she could be.

    After the Chuas, Tang Yiyi came up to Iris next. The manager was beaming in approval.

    "Great job, Iris. I had no idea that you¡¯re going to perform in today¡¯s livestream. You should¡¯ve given me a heads up"

    "I didn¡¯t know either," Iris replied. "That was an on-the-spot decision. I wanted to express my gratitude to my fans for their support and loyalty."

    Tang Yiyi was surprised. "So you didn¡¯t rehearse that song at all?"

    Iris shook her head. "How can I rehearse something that didn¡¯t exist yet? Like I said during the livestream, I only had the melody before today. The lyrics only came to me during the livestream. That¡¯s why the song has many ws. It¡¯s still imperfect and not up to my usual standards. It needs a lot of polishing before I¡¯ll be satisfied."

    Tang Yiyi sighed and shook her head but there was an awed smile on her face. "That was already a great song but you¡¯re still not satisfied. True artists are really finicky." Then sheughed in delight. "But that¡¯s what I admire about you. You push yourself when ites to your craft as a musician."

    "That¡¯s a given. I want to be a proud music artisan, not a music factory that mass-produces songs that prioritizes profit and fame."

    "I understand." Tang Yiyi patted Iris¡¯ shoulder. "Another good news. The livestream had a final live viewer count of 3 million plus. Not bad. No, it¡¯s already amazing. I expect the recorded livestream video to umte more views especially when our studio and CEO Jin¡¯s PR teams work together to promote your impromptu performance."

    Iris didn¡¯t have much of an opinion about her manager¡¯s n. She would just leave the PR work to the experts. She nced at her husband who stood beside her, silently supporting her in her work that she was so passionate about. Jin Liwei gave her an encouraging smile. No words were needed. She could feel his care for her just by his strong presence alone.

    "Excuse me, Boss," Dom interrupted while holding a phone. "It¡¯s Mr. JJ. He wants to talk to you."

    Iris received the phone. "Hello, Mr. JJ?"

    "Brat! That song! We¡¯re going to release it!" JJ didn¡¯t even greet her and went straight to the point. His excitement was obvious.

    "Not when it¡¯s so wed. It needs a lot of polishing. I¡¯ll be ashamed to officially release a song that has a lot of technical shorings."

    "Of course, we¡¯re going to polish it first! Are you fine with working normally now, brat?"

    "Yes, but my doctor advises me to refrain from having long workdays."

    "That¡¯s fine. This will be the first time for a great producer like me to do this, but I¡¯ll make an exception for you since you¡¯re pregnant and have delicate health. I¡¯m willing to go there and work with you in your home studio instead of making youe here to mypany¡¯s recording studio like usual. A brat like you should be thankful that your music producer is this generous!"

    Iris chuckled, already used to the producer¡¯s acerbic and narcissistic way of speaking. "Thank you, Mr. JJ."

 Chapter 1218 - Rough Gem

    <h4>Chapter 1218 - Rough Gem </h4>

    After speaking with JJ, the call barely ended when her phone rang again. This time, the call was from one of her music mentors, the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez.

    "Hello, Teacher Enrique?"

    "I watched the livestream," the taciturn man said.

    Iris grabbed her husband¡¯s hand and walked away from everyone else. Jin Liwei followed her without saying anything, allowing her to lead him to a quiet part of the indoor forest.

    "Did you like my impromptu song?" she asked.

    "Very coarse. Not up to your usual standards at all. If I were to grade the song in its current state, I¡¯ll give it a barely passing mark of D-minus."

    She sighed but epted her mentor¡¯s criticism. Even she thought the same way. "I know, Teacher."

    "But you sang it from the heart. The technical difficulty in both the musicality and the vocals might be low and simplistic, but in terms of emotional impact, you sang it beautifully. The song is heartfelt and your listeners felt what you wanted to convey to them. That¡¯s what¡¯s the most important. A song might be impressive with all kinds of bells and whistles in techniques, but if it doesn¡¯t have a heart and soul, then your listeners won¡¯t be able to connect to it. So for that reason, I¡¯ll increase the grade to C-minus. But I know that you can do better than this. You¡¯re a Cross Academy student. Aim for an A-plus. Always."

    "Yes, Teacher. I¡¯ll work on polishing the song. Mr. JJ and I n to release the studio version of the song as a special single once it¡¯s done."

    "Good. The song is a rough gem. It needs some polishing but don¡¯t overdo it and make it lose its original charm. Sometimes a few rough edges here and there are better than over-refinement."

    "I understand, Teacher. Thank you for the advice. I¡¯ll certainly keep it in mind. Is it okay if I consult with you while I¡¯m working on it?"

    "Of course. I¡¯m your mentor. That¡¯s what I¡¯m here for."

    Iris smiled. "Thanks again. I also made a small progress on the music for our coboration."

    "Don¡¯t rush it. Take your time."

    The mentor and student talked about music for a while before the phone call ended. Then Iris threw herself at her husband, wrapping her arms around his waist, and inhaling hisforting scent. She immediately felt better.

    It was only after the livestream ended that the tiredness registered to her. She sighed. She only sat during the livestream and performed one song near the end but she already felt this tired. Pregnancy really took a lot from her energy reserves.

    "Tired?" Jin Liwei asked, hugging her back.

    "Yeah."

    He kissed her forehead. "You can rest when we return to our room."

    She lifted her head to look at him. "Thanks for today, darling. It¡¯s because of you that I now feel more connected to my fans. This special contest has surpassed my initial expectations. I love it."

    "I¡¯m d. We¡¯ll do it again next year. We¡¯ll make it into a big annual end-of-the-year event for the ck Stars."

    Sheughed. "Excellent idea! I¡¯d love that. I want to contribute to the prize pool next time. And maybe also involve my charitable foundation, Iris of Hope. If we¡¯re going to give, then it¡¯s better to be thorough about it and help those who need it the most, not just my fans."

    "En. If that¡¯s what you want."

    She pulled his necktie down, forcing him to lower his head. Then she kissed him in the mouth. They were standing behind a tree and some tall bushes so the others couldn¡¯t see them making out. Although they didn¡¯t mind being seen, at least they didn¡¯t have to worry about showing some tongue action when nobody was watching. They could make out as much as they wanted.

    "If I don¡¯t feel so tired right now, I would have already pushed you to the ground and have my wicked way with you," Iris teased her husband.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s eyes darkened before pushing her and pressing her back against a tree trunk. "This husband¡¯s body is always ready to ept my wife¡¯s wicked ways."

    "I bet." She pulled him for another hot kiss and only stopped when she felt his growing hardness pressing against her belly.

    He was panting when the kiss ended. He nuzzled her neck and focused on regaining control of his beastly instincts to ravage his woman. This wasn¡¯t the right time or the right ce, not to mention that his wife was tired. They stayed behind the cover of the trees and bushes until his erection was no longer that noticeable. However, it was still semi-erect. He couldn¡¯t do anything about it. His wife was too tempting for him.

    They finally joined the others. Although the people didn¡¯t say anything, their knowing looks indicated that they were aware of what the husband and wife did behind the bushes. Iris¡¯ red and slightly swollen lips were already the biggest evidence.

    After thanking the crew and everyone who helped to make the livestream happen as smoothly as possible, Iris and Jin Liwei announced that they would all get a big buffet lunch. Everyone cheered.

    The couple didn¡¯t join them and instead ate a light lunch by themselves in their suite. Although Iris already felt a lot better after following Theresa Blipsburg¡¯s health n, some foods still made her nauseous.

    After lunch, the couple took a shower and changed into morefortable clothes. Iris conducted a quick system scan on both Ketchup and Bacon while listening to their report about what happened during the livestream. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Great job, Ketchup. You protected the livestream well. Bacon, you too. Well done. You led ShaWn and chased away Eagle by yourselves. I¡¯ll reward both of you with red packets."

    "Yay yay! Thanks, Mommy! Love ya lots. Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    "Bacon thanks Mother."

    "I¡¯ll make more adjustments on both of your systems when I wake up from my napter," Iris told them. "The Eagle hackers has be stronger since thest time you faced them. Fortunately, you also grew so much stronger than them after waking up from your recovery sleep. But you should never growcent. The Eagle hackers are not the ones we should worry about but the master behind them."

 Chapter 1219 - Here To Stay

    <h4>Chapter 1219 - Here To Stay </h4>

    "El Payaso is an extremely formidable opponent," Iris continued exining to both her AI children. "Even I¡¯m not sure how much the old guy improvedpared to thest time I battled him as Fantom."

    Ketchup asked, "Did Mommy win? Meow~"

    "Dumb question," Bacon said. "Of course, Mother must have won because she¡¯s the best hacker in the entire universe."

    Iris chuckled. "Indeed, I won."

    "Meowowow! Mommy is super-duper to the highest level awesome forever and ever! Meowowow!"

    Afterwards, Iris couldn¡¯t keep her eyes open any longer. She took a nap in bed while hugging her husband. Jin Liwei waited until she was in deep sleep before carefully getting up from the bed. He kissed her lips and left the bedroom.

    Later, he met his brother-inw in the bar again. The broken bar stool and sses had already been reced.

    Lu Zihao wasn¡¯t downing alcohol like he did thest time. He was drinking mango juice instead before tossing a can to Jin Liwei.

    "How¡¯s Long Jinjing?" Jin Liwei asked as he sat beside his brother-inw.

    "Better," Lu Zihao replied. "She¡¯s acting normally now but I can sense that she¡¯s still upset with me."

    "That¡¯s normal given what you did." Jin Liwei opened his can and drank the mango juice, the tart sweetness refreshing him.

    Lu Zihao grunted. "My sister?"

    "The livestream tired her out. She¡¯s taking a nap right now."

    "Bacon already told me what happened. ShaWn also gave me a more detailed report. Those motherfucking Youngs!"

    Jin Liwei didn¡¯t reply. There was no need to. Both men understood that this couldn¡¯t go on. The Youngs needed to be taught a lesson.

    "The mysterious group backing them is the biggest variable that¡¯s preventing us from attacking those shitty Youngs head-on," Lu Zihao said. "But my Shadow Winds should also be a big variable to them. I don¡¯t think they know about my group yet."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "You also know about my wife saying that they have that El Payaso hacker, right?"

    "Yeah." Lu Zihao sneered. "So what if they got El Payaso on their side? We have Fantom with us. Ah, right. My sister now goes by Drakon. Plus we have your two brats."

    "En. Ketchup and Bacon might not be able to defeat El Payaso with their current levels, but they¡¯re already giving the Eagle hackers a run for their money."

    "Of course. That¡¯s because my sister is the one who gave life to those two brats and is raising them to be formidable hackers like her. How can a clownpare to a phantom dragon and her two beast offspring?"

    Jin Liwei chuckled and raised his can of mango juice to his brother-inw. Lu Zihao followed suit.

    "Cheers!"

    Then the brothers-inw nned their retaliation against the Young family for what they did to Iris during the livestream.

    ###

    That same day, the official recorded video of the livestream trended online in three different countries¡ªChina, Singapore and the Philippines. It already gained a cumtive total 10 million views before the day was over.

    The views continued to climb as more Singaporeans and Filipinos became aware that their fellow countrymen won a lot of incredible prizes by making tribute to a Chinese celebrity called Iris Long. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Who in the world was Iris Long?

    Now, they wereing to know more about her.

    LXC Studio and Jin Liwei¡¯s PR team coordinated in packaging the special contest as a generous thank-you event for the ck Stars from the husband and wife, Jin Liwei and Iris Long.

    They cooperated with Jasper Leung, the PR person from White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services. White Tigresspany was in charge of publicizing the special contest in the international scene.

    The most important PR push, however, was in showcasing Iris Long¡¯s impromptu song dedicated to her fans titled "All my ck Stars". They emphasized the fact that the lyrics were written and harmonized with an avable melody from Iris Long¡¯s music repertoire on the spot.

    This was to highlight Iris Long¡¯s talent in songwriting. At the same time, they reminded everyone about her list of achievements in the field of musicposition. Her fans, the ck Stars, and many Chinese already knew that she was a critically-acimed, multi-award-winning musician that was even recognized internationally.

    Her biggest aplishments as a musician so far were being presented the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in Music for creating three new musical techniques in the hit song, "Monster of Insanity", at the Harmony Music Awards and winning a Soleil d¡¯Or for Best Soundtrack at the Sommet International Film Festival in France.

    She literally made history with these achievements under her belt.

    Using these awards as evidence, LXC Studio, Jin Liwei¡¯s PR team and White Tigresspany packaged Iris Long as a musical genius, not knowing that she was a literal certified genius and a student of the legendary Cross Academy.

    The viral livestream video also gave everyone a clear message.

    Iris Long wasn¡¯t going to retire from the music industry any time soon just because she married and became Madam Jin.

    She was here to stay. And she would do it in her own terms.

    ###

    "Dammit!"

    Rose Young smashed a pillow against the wall because it was the only item in the bedroom that she could direct her rage. The bedroom in the safe house was bare except for a bed and a side table that was screwed to the floor. There were no other items that she could use to escape or hurt herself.

    Her guard quietly left after telling her the oue of her n to attack Iris Long in the livestream earlier today. She didn¡¯t bother with the guard and continued to vent her frustration and fury on the pillow.

    It had taken her a long time to coax Emilio Miguel to grant some of her requests. Finally, after paying with her own body almost every day, the Spaniard allowed her to have limited contact with her father, Romeo Young, in Singapore.

    The first thing she did wasn¡¯t to ask her family how they had been but to instruct them to destroy Iris Long¡¯s reputation especially after learning that she established ck Stars Singapore.

    "Damn you, Iris Long! I hate you! I¡¯ll kill you!"

    Her crazed eyes were filled with murderous intent.

    The door opened and a tall, foreign man entered. He was extremely beautiful like an angel who came down from the heavens.

    "Emil!"

 Chapter 1220 - True Fear

    <h4>Chapter 1220 - True Fear </h4>

    Rose Young put on an aggrieved expression as she threw herself in Emilio Miguel¡¯s embrace. The beautiful man wrapped his arms around her body and patted her back, allowing her to vent her frustrations. She immediately startedining about the failure of her n to cken Iris Long¡¯s name and reputation.

    "I thought you said that Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his team are capable hackers," she said, pouting. "My request is so simple and yet they can¡¯t even aplish it."

    "Ah, my dear Rosa," Emilio Miguel drawled while pulling her to sit together on the bed. "Do not worry. I will speak with my brother Ren¨¦ Alejandro and the others and ask them what happened."

    "I think that Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t take my request seriously. He has never acknowledged me whenever hees here and always ignores me like I don¡¯t exist. It¡¯s clear that he doesn¡¯t like me at all and looks down on me."

    Emilio Miguel gave her a sympathetic smile while his hand caressed her cheek. He looked like the epitome of an angel filled with goodness, beautiful on both the inside and the outside.

    "Do not think too much about it, my dear Rosa. His attitude towards you is simply because you are not his type of woman."

    She looked at him, confused at what he meant. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    His hand trailed down from her face to her neck and eventually reached her chest. "Ren¨¦ Alejandro prefers women that have...hmm, more meat in this area."

    Rose almost exploded in fury but she restrained her temper. It was not good to show an attitude at Emilio Miguel. He was the boss of this wretched ce and literally held her life in his hands. She already understood that she needed to act subservient to the man in order to make her stay here asfortable as possible. She could only use her body to pleasure him. Maybe if she could make him addicted to her, he would eventually grant her freedom.

    Having a powerful man like Emilio Miguel protecting her wasn¡¯t bad. When she became his official woman, wouldn¡¯t she be able to wield some of his power? Then she would be able to exact her revenge on Jin Liwei and that slut Iris Long for humiliating her to the whole world.

    Her desire to possess Jin Liwei hadn¡¯t disappeared. She still loved him but also hated him. The time woulde when she would be powerful enough to force him to kneel down in front of her. She would use him as a ve to serve and pleasure her for a lifetime. He would never be able to escape her.

    As for his wife Iris Long, that Queen of Sluts, Rose would make sure to disfigure the bitch and record her while being gangbanged by a bunch of dirty, smelly men. Then she would release the video and humiliate the slut to the whole world just like what happened to her.

    She was already gloating in her evil fantasy of revenge when she was suddenly pushed down on the bed and choked. Her eyes bulged out and she desperately tried to pull the hand away from her throat.

    The extremely beautiful Emilio Miguel looked angelic as ever while choking Rose. His hand was immovable no matter how much she pulled it off her neck. It slowly got tighter and tighter until the frightened Rose began to lose consciousness. Only then did he release her.

    Rose immediately began gasping for breath. She coughed and wheezed, struggling to get as much air into her lungs as possible. Then she looked at the Spaniard who had a soft smile on his face.

    The man was beautiful yet his angelic appearance was deceptive. He was clearly a devil!

    Rose was terrified. She knew that he wasn¡¯t a good person at all. He was someone who worked for a criminal organization after all. However, she had never personally witnessed him doing evil deeds. Yes, he was kinky in bed and made her perform a lot of rough and dirty things, but that was fine with her. In fact, his depraved tastes aligned with her own sexual preferences.

    He had never shown any violent tendencies to her outside sex. This was the first time that he treated her this way. He choked her! He actually choked her until she almost lost consciousness. She really thought that he would kill her. For the first time ever in her life, she finally experienced true fear.

    Emilio Miguel looked gentle, a soft smile on his face, as if he didn¡¯t just try to choke someone. He touched Rose¡¯s face. She flinched. His smile became even gentler.

    "My dear Rosa, are you afraid of me now?"

    She didn¡¯t answer. She couldn¡¯t. Her throat felt constricted. She could still feel the sensation of his hand squeezing her neck.

    Emilio Miguel¡¯s beautiful face leaned forward until it was just inches away from her own. She was visibly shaking now.

    "I¡¯m right here in front of you and yet you dare to get distracted and think of other things. When I¡¯m here, you can only focus on me. Understand, my dear Rosa?"

    She still didn¡¯t reply.

    The soft smile on his face disappeared. His aura became cold and terrifying.

    "Do. You. Understand?"

    Every syble was a threat.

    She shuddered and nodded in a hurry. She forced herself to smile at him. "Y-yes, Emil. I under...stand. I¡¯ll only focus on you. Don¡¯t worry."

    His soft smile returned. He looked like an angel again as if he didn¡¯t threaten her just now.

    "Good that you know. My dear Rosa, I think that it¡¯s time for me to remind you of your ce here. You are our hostage. I am the one in charge here. I decide your fate. You should be thankful that it¡¯s me and not Ren¨¦ Alejandro who¡¯s running this safe house. Ren¨¦ Alejandro wouldn¡¯t give you the time of his day and would most likely not care even if you rot in here forever."

    He stroked her hair before grasping it, making her cry out in pain. "And yet here I am, willing to listen to your requests and even grant some of them. I¡¯ll tell you this now, my dear Rosa. As long as you please me, I will let you live well within the boundaries of our organization. Displease me...and you already know what can happen to you."

 Chapter 1221 - Between Life And Death

    <h4>Chapter 1221 - Between Life And Death </h4>

    <i>¡¯This man is crazy!¡¯</i>

    Rose Young thought this way but didn¡¯t dare to voice it out loud. She swallowed and continued to smile at Emilio Miguel as if he didn¡¯t choke her just now.

    "I understand now, Emil. I know my mistake." She batted her eyes at him and gave his chest a tentative touch. "Forgive me?"

    Emilio Miguel¡¯s smile widened. His beauty went beyond the distinction between males and females. He certainly had the ability to attract all genders.

    Despite her terror from almost being murdered, Rose still became dazed at the beautiful man. He was more beautiful than her. In fact, he was even more beautiful than that slut, Iris Long. He was actually more beautiful than most women in the world. She had never seen such a beautiful person, much less a man.

    Before today, she felt smug that such a man with undeniable heaven-defying beauty was sleeping with her. He fueled her own vanity. She felt special.

    Now, however, she realized that she was nothing but a toy to him. No, a ve. All the things that she wanted to do to Jin Liwei, Emilio Miguel was doing to her now.

    Fury, humiliation and terror filled her but she still swallowed everything and forced herself to fawn on the man. He was right. Emilio Miguel was the one who held her fate now. If he wanted to kill her, he could do so at anytime and she couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    Rose made a decision.

    Between life and death, of course she would choose to live. As long as she was alive, there was always a chance for her to make aeback and exact revenge on all the people who humiliated her.

    Without another word, she began to undress. Emilio Miguel stood back and watched her with mild interest. His expression didn¡¯t change much, making it hard for Rose to gauge her actual effect on him.

    When she waspletely naked, she lied down on the bed and slowly opened her legs wide while staring at him. The subtle smile on his face remained. She didn¡¯t know exactly what the smile meant. At the moment though, she no longer gave a damn.

    The lust arrived quickly. Just looking at Emilio Miguel¡¯s beauty was enough to make her wet. This was the first time since meeting Jin Liwei that she didn¡¯t imagine his face while having sex with another man. All she could think about was Emilio Miguel while he fucked her.

    Like right now. Her hands were already roaming all over her body, doing her best to seduce the Spaniard, and looking forward to how he would fuck her. She wanted him inside her. He was the best fuck that she had so far in her life. She still desired him even after he choked her just now.

    Emilio Miguel didn¡¯t move. He just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, watching her on the bed. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Rose yed with her t breasts and nipples. One of her hands moved downwards until it finally touched her wet core. She moaned and her hips jerked upwards, pointing it towards the man standing by the bed. Her hand spread herher petals, opening them for Emilio Miguel to see. She became wetter, intensifying her lust.

    Then as slowly as she could, she inserted two fingers inside her and moved them in and out. Her moans became louder. She was already soaking wet as the tempo of her fingers increased. Her hips undted in a shameless, lewd dance.

    "Stop," Emilio Miguelmanded.

    She immediately stopped. Her body boiled with unspent lust.

    "Emil...."

    Instead of replying, his hands went to unbuckle his belt. Next, he unzipped his jeans and freed his erection.

    Rose shivered and her mouth watered. In terms of size, the man was thergest that she ever had so far. It felt amazing whenever he fucked her. This was why she was able to forget Jin Liwei while having sex with Emilio Miguel. The Spaniard could literally fuck her out of her mind.

    Without any warning, Emilio Miguel pulled her hair. She cried out in pain but didn¡¯t struggle, allowing the man to do whatever he wanted with her. He forced her to kneel in front of him before shoving hisrge member into her mouth and immediately started pounding her hard.

    She felt like she was going to suffocate. Her gag reflex was out in full force. Tears flowed down her face and other body fluids. However, she stayed still and allowed him to use her mouth. Within the panic and pain, pleasure bloomed inside her. When he pushed her away, her face was a mess but he hadn¡¯te yet. His member was still as impressive as ever.

    Then he pulled her up and tossed her on the bed. Using his belt, he tied both of her hands on the bedpost before flipping her until she was lying face-down on the mattress.

    "Lift your skinny ass, slut."

    She obeyed. There was no humiliation in her eyes, only excitement. This was the kind of sex that she loved. Her previous sex partners were too timid for her tastes. Only Emilio Miguel was able to thoroughly satisfy her.

    His hands held her hips before he plunged deep inside her from behind. She screamed at the sudden, delicious intrusion. His size stretched her almost to the limit. It was marvelous!

    He rammed into her again and again. She met his movements as best as she could.

    "Yeah. Shake that ass!"

    Then his hands rained heavy blows on her butt. She screamed from the pain and the pleasure. The ps came faster and heavier.

    "Yes, Emil! Fuck me harder! Faster! YES!!!"

    Emilio Miguelughed. "You¡¯re such a dirty slut, my dear Rosa. Just how I like it."

    He grabbed her hair and pulled hard, using it to keep her in ce and stop her from moving away from the strong pounding of his hips.

    Rose orgasmed six times in quick session before she felt him leave her insides and pump his release on her back. He gave her swollen butt a final p before climbing off the bed whileughing. She was too tired and too satisfied to ask him where he was going.

    "Don¡¯t sleep yet, my dear Rosa. I¡¯m not done with you yet."

 Chapter 1222 - Useful

    <h4>Chapter 1222 - Useful </h4>

    Emilio Miguel left the bedroom stark naked and returned a few minutester. Rose Young was already dozing off but she was startled awake when several men entered the bedroom behind Emilio Miguel. She immediately pulled the nket over her nude body and stared wide-eyed at the group of people.

    "W-what¡¯s going on, Emil?" she asked and felt a bad premonition. Her sleepiness waspletely gone in an instant.

    The Spaniard gave her the most angelic smile that she had ever seen in her entire life but all she could feel was the pure evilness beneath it. His next words proved that her intuition was right.

    "My dear Rosa, I¡¯m already beginning to feel bored with just the two of us. So I thought, why don¡¯t we add more people to make it more exciting? I¡¯m not like most men who get all possessive over a woman. I¡¯m a very generous man. If I have something good, I like to share it to others now and then."

    Rose backed away from him until her back hit the bed¡¯s headboard. "But I¡¯m very possessive. I don¡¯t like sharing. And I don¡¯t like to be shared either."

    Emilio Miguel only raised an eyebrow, continuing to smile at her. "But that is not up to you to decide now, is it? What did we talk about just now? You, my dear Rosa, are just a hostage. Your fate depends on my whims. So...are you going to please me or not?"

    Fear and fury shed in her eyes but they were gone in an instant as she smoothed out her expression. In the end, she tossed the nket aside and crawled on all fours on the bed and waited for the Spaniard¡¯s nextmands.

    Later, Emilio Miguel sat on a chair that a subordinate brought inside the bedroom. He watched the scene of utter debauchery in front of him as his hand slowly stroked his manhood.

    Rose was in the middle of the bed surrounded by five men, all his subordinates. Her limbs were tied in bondage ropes. All of her holes were filled. Each men took turns, not allowing her to rest. Different kinds of used toys littered the bed and the floor.

    At first, she was still struggling against the men, but soon, she allowed herself to sink into the dark fantasy turned into reality that Emilio Miguel created. She was now moaning and squealing in pure pleasure and pain. Loud sounds of pping and sloshing of wet flesh filled the bedroom.

    Emilio Miguel smirked. This was what he liked about Rose Young. She had no shame in embracing her inner desires. The woman was just as depraved as he was. Not bad for someone who wasn¡¯t all that outstanding be it in her looks, temperament, background, or abilities.

    Too bad that she was nothing but a toy to him and a tool for the organization.

    But for now, she was still useful. The organization still valued her as an important pawn to control the Young family in Singapore. And of course, she was still useful to him in satisfying his sexual urges.

    As long as she didn¡¯t go too far, Emilio Miguel was willing to indulge some of her requests. He considered himself a gentleman. If he was fucking someone, he would treat the person well. But if he was done with the person, then there was no need for any second thoughts. Just dispose the person, be done with it, and move on to the next one.

    While stroking himself and enjoying the live show in front of him, he grabbed his phone and called someone.

    ###

    The atmosphere was heavy at the guest house. Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers were in theputer room drinking cold beer. Nobody spoke. They just drank in silence and looked weary.

    All of theirputers were fine this time. Nothing was fried. That was something good, at least.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Thanks to Master El Payaso fortifying their systems security remotely right after they moved to this new property, Drakon¡¯s damn disciple, the vicious ckPanther, was unable to cause much damage to them. However, they were still unsessful in gaining victory.

    They trained hard and improved their software and hardware. All of them believed that they levelled up a lot from theirst failure against their greatest rival Drakon and his two disciples, WhiteTigress and ckPanther.

    It turned out that they had been too overconfident. Yes, they levelled up but so did Drakon¡¯s two disciples.

    As hackers themselves, they felt it. The gap between them and Drakon¡¯s damn disciples were increasing.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro finished his beer and stood up. "It¡¯s good that we discovered this gap early. If we waited longer to face them, then it would be far toote for us, no? Now we focus on training harder and improving ourselves."

    His words boosted his brothers¡¯ fighting spirits.

    "You¡¯re right, brother!"

    "I¡¯ll go check the data from the battle now and begin the analysis."

    "We¡¯re Master El Payaso¡¯s chosen disciples. We can¡¯t just be discouraged because of our rival¡¯s two cheeky disciples who keep on getting in our way."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t reply. Indeed, he was one of El Payaso¡¯s chosen disciples. In fact, he was the best. But deep inside, he didn¡¯t choose El Payaso as his master. It was Fantom who he still looked up to until now.

    He left his brothers and headed outside the garden to take a walk. It was cold but he acted as if the winter weather was nothing to him despite wearing only a long-sleeved shirt. He nced at the main mansion.

    Wei Lan was out shopping with Randy as usual. It suited him and his brothers just fine because they didn¡¯t need to worry about her being nosy.

    He was itching to smoke a cigarette even when he already quit years ago when his phone rang. His eyes turned frosty and dangerous when he saw the call disy.

    "What is it?" he asked, not bothering to greet the caller.

    Emilio Miguel chuckled on the other end of the line. "Hello to you, too, my little brother."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was about to hang up when he heard some lewd noises. His expression turned ugly.

    "You perverted shit," he spat. "You¡¯re calling me while fucking someone? No, I hear many voices. Don¡¯t call me while you¡¯re having an orgy. I¡¯m not a pervert like you!"

 Chapter 1223 - Important Discovery

    <h4>Chapter 1223 - Important Discovery </h4>

    "Don¡¯t be such a sissy, my little brother," Emilio Miguel replied with a light chuckle.

    The moaning, groaning, grunting, screaming and pping noises continued and even grew louder. Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t want to listen but his training automatically kicked in and he managed to determine that there was only one female in the orgy with five men in addition to the pervert Emilio Miguel, making it a total of six men.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was utterly disgusted and felt like his ears needed some deep cleaning after this. He liked sex¡ªa lot of it¡ªbut not something like what Emilio Miguel was doing. The man was indeed a depraved shit.

    "I don¡¯t have much time. What are you calling me for?"

    "You failed in today¡¯s assignment. Something so simple and yet you didn¡¯t even manage to make at least a little impact."

    "How about you try it?" Ren¨¦ Alejandro challenged through gritted teeth. "If you¡¯re so great, then you can do it all by yourself, no?"

    Emilio Miguel chuckled. The sound grated on Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s ears. If he could just punch the motherfucker through the phone, he would have already done it many times over.

    "Excuses, excuses."

    "Is that all you have to say?" Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn¡¯t want to speak with the man any longer. He was in a bad mood after his team¡¯s defeat today. His mood already improved a bit during his little walk in the cold outside but an asshole just had to ruin it again.

    "Did you fail today on purpose, my dear little brother?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s grey eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

    "The assignment¡¯s target is the daughter of your stepmother. In short, your step-sister. I heard that you have grown quite close to your stepmother ever since you arrived in this country. I¡¯m thinking...that maybe you didn¡¯t try hard enough in today¡¯s assignment because you don¡¯t want to hurt your new step-sister. I hope I¡¯m wrong. Because if I¡¯m right, then that means that the great leader of Eagle has turned into a softie."

    "Rubbish! You nder me!"

    The asshole chuckled again. Ren¨¦ Alejandro could imagine Emilio Miguel¡¯s smile¡ªangelic but was actually fake as hell. He had the strongest urge to rip the motherfucker¡¯s beautiful face off and reveal his true ugly monstrosity inside.

    Too bad that they couldn¡¯t openly destroy each other because the organization made them partner up for this important mission. Even when they couldn¡¯t see eye to eye, it was their own problem. They weren¡¯t allowed to let their discord affect their mission or else suffer the organization¡¯s harsh punishment.

    For this reason, Ren¨¦ Alejandro could onlysh out at Emilio Miguel with his sharp tongue and brawl with him now and then but nothing more serious than these. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "If that¡¯s all you have to say, I¡¯m hanging up now," he said.

    "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, it seems," Emilio Miguel teased. "Come here at the safe house and join me and our localrades. Rose Young is quite a good fuck and can handle a lot of dicks at once. Can you hear her screaming in pleasure? What a slut. Just how I like it. I¡¯m sure that she¡¯ll love to be fucked by another Spanish dick¡ª"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro decisively hung up. He didn¡¯t approve of Emilio Miguel sleeping with a hostage. He had already warned him repeatedly to stop fucking Rose Young but the asshole just wouldn¡¯t listen to him.

    Although he wasn¡¯t worried that Emilio Miguel would fall in love with Rose Young because the notorious assassin Matador was a heartless monster, Ren¨¦ Alejandro disapproved of the asshole giving in to the woman¡¯s requests. She was a hostage, for fuck¡¯s sake! They were supposed to keep her in captivity and use her to control her family in Singapore, not pamper her because of the sexual services she provided.

    Like what happened today.

    Emilio Miguel asked his team to hack Iris Long¡¯s livestream in the morning and defame her. Ren¨¦ Alejandro refused because it wasn¡¯t part of their official mission. He didn¡¯t want to waste his and his brothers¡¯ precious time on something that he believed was trivial.

    What was the point of defaming Iris Long online? Would that result in them getting their hands on Jin Corporation?

    She was just a local celebrity with a rtively good background who managed to marry CEO Jin Liwei.

    Besides, he suspected the reason why Emilio Miguel was asking this of him in the first ce. Emilio Miguel was someone who viewed the big picture. If not, the man wouldn¡¯t be one of the organization¡¯s most prized team captains.

    Emilio Miguel was a sadistic and perverted bastard but he was without a doubt a genius methodically trained by the organization just like Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Then why was Emilio Miguel requesting for something so minor like defaming Iris Long in a little livestream that didn¡¯t even broadcast worldwide?

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro deduced that it might be due to Rose Young. And he was right after questioning Emilio Miguel. The man didn¡¯t bother concealing the truth and told him outright that he was granting the woman¡¯s little request because she pleased him. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was dismayed and immediately rejected the request.

    He thought that the matter was over until he received an official assignment from Master El Payaso himself, ordering his team to ept Emilio Miguel¡¯s request. He didn¡¯t know how the asshole persuaded his team¡¯s master but Emilio Miguel was sessful. It didn¡¯t feel right especially since he already rejected it before but his team now had no choice but to ept the request in the end.

    His authority as a mission leader had already been trampled once when the organization forced him to share the leadership with Emilio Miguel. And now the asshole was continuing to step all over his head by shoving these worthless little tasks on his hacking team all for the sake of a hostage.

    What was even more aggravating was that his team failed in the task. They already knew that Drakon was protecting Jin Corporation but they didn¡¯t expect that he and his damn disciples would also be safeguarding Iris Long¡¯s little livestream. It seemed that Drakon wasn¡¯t only invested in Jin Corporation but also in Jin Liwei¡¯s family.

    Although they failed today, at least they made this important discovery about the extent of Drakon¡¯s connection to Jin Liwei.

 Chapter 1224 - Baby Bump

    <h4>Chapter 1224 - Baby Bump </h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    A sweaty Jin Liwei returned to the master bedroom from an intense workout in the gym. It was still early morning. The sun hadn¡¯t fully risen yet. His wife was still sleeping.

    Instead of allowing Ketchup to sing another one of her terrible wake-up rm songs, he opted to personally wake up his wife today. Who knew what kind of dubious lyrics Ketchup woulde up next?

    Both the husband and wife expected to have a busy day. After beginning the process of setting up Eve Holdingster in the morning, Iris had another appointment after lunch with JJ to start working on her new song "All My ck Stars" in her home studio. As for Jin Liwei, he had a scheduled conference to attend with other business leaders in the afternoon. It was an important event that needed his presence so he could only go despite wanting to stay with his wife for the whole day.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei forced any thoughts of work out of his mind to watch his sleeping wife while drying his remaining sweat with a towel. Then he bent down to kiss her.

    It took a few minutes but Iris finally stirred from her deep sleep, responding to his kiss. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him sleepily.

    "Good morning, beautiful."

    She yawned. "Morning..."

    "Time to wake up, love."

    "Mmmn..." She stretched out her arms towards him.

    He chuckled and carefully lifted her up from the bed and carried her straight to the ensuite bathroom. She wasn¡¯t fully awake yet and almost fell asleep again on her feet while Jin Liwei helped put toothpaste on her toothbrush.

    They brushed their teeth together. The sharp, refreshing scent and taste of the mint toothpaste finally managed to awaken Iris.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Afterwards, the couple undressed and intended to shower together. As usual, Jin Liwei was sporting an erection but didn¡¯t seduce his wife for a sensual morning workout.

    Oh, he wanted to do it so badly but restrained himself. His wife was going to be busy today so she needed all the energy that she had. If he tired her out so early, her limited energy might not be able tost her for the whole day.

    He felt a little regretful but the health of his wife and their babies was much more important to him than scratching his own itch.

    Iris was also now fully naked. She didn¡¯t miss her husband¡¯s erection. Her eyes lit up.

    Jin Liwei saw her reaction and was pleased at the hunger in her eyes. It mirrored his own hunger for her. However, they really shouldn¡¯t do anything too strenuous right now.

    "Love¡ªhm?" He immediately noticed something.

    "What is it?" Iris asked, feeling suddenly worried at his change of expression.

    He didn¡¯t reply. Instead he held her at arm¡¯s length and examined her more closely.

    "Liwei, what¡¯s wrong?"

    He still didn¡¯t reply. He turned her sideways and stepped back to study her again.

    Before she could demand that he tell her what the matter was, Jin Liwei suddenly rushed to her and hugged her tightly. Then the confused Iris was made to stand in front of the full length mirror in the bathroom. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Both of his hands touched her belly.

    "Look, love. Our twins are now beginning to show themselves."

    Her eyes widened. She pushed his hands away and turned to her side to examine herself in the mirror.

    Jin Liwei was right. There was a tiny bump on her belly. It was barely noticeable but a closer look revealed that she was indeed starting to show her pregnancy.

    "Oh!" She touched the baby bump and her eyes watered as sheughed in delight. "Hi, babies."

    Jin Liwei was also grinning and hugged her again from behind. He ced his hands on top of hers. "Hello, babies."

    "Quick, darling. Take pictures!"

    He ran out of the bathroom and returned secondster with his phone. Iris wore her pyjamas again and exposed only her belly. She posed to highlight her baby bump while her nude husband took hundreds of photos of her.

    They looked at the photos together with happiness. The baby bump was a milestone for them because it meant that their babies were growing properly despite the setbacks Iris experienced with her health ever since bing pregnant.

    "I¡¯ll schedule a monthly photoshoot to record your growing belly," Jin Liwei said.

    "Okay."

    Iris smiled, still feeling excited. She looked at herself in the mirror again and couldn¡¯t stop touching her baby bump. Tears flowed down her eyes.

    "Are you okay, love?" Jin Liwei asked, concerned.

    She nodded. "I¡¯m so happy."

    He sighed in relief, d that his wife¡¯s tears were from joy and not because she was hurt. "Me, too."

    They finally managed to shower. The baby bump took their minds away from their earlier desire to make love. All they could think about was their happiness and excitement. The baby bump made them realize that they were really going to wee their twin babies soon.

    Iris was too excited to remember her fear of bing a bad mother. After getting ready, she pulled Jin Liwei and proudly showed off her tiny baby bump to everyone during breakfast.

    Grandpa Lu was ecstatic. Dom and his family were also equally excited. Jiang Ying Yue patiently exined to her son, Little Jun, and Marjorie¡¯s two children that the baby bump contained a little brother or sister. The children were amazed.

    Lu Zihao didn¡¯t react much but his happiness was obvious. He nced at Long Jinjing beside him who also looked delighted for her sister and brother-inw. His hand automatically touched her belly and he kissed her.

    The eagle-eyed Grandpa Lu saw this. "Haohao my boy, Jinjing my girl! Aren¡¯t you envious of your little sister and third brother? When are you going to give me a great-grandbaby, too? I want to know!"

    "We already have," Lu Zihao replied in a nonchnt tone.

    Loud gasps from everyone except Iris and Jin Liwei. Long Jinjing looked panicked at first but finally smiled shyly while pressing herself closer to Lu Zihao.

    "What do you mean?!" Grandpa Lu¡¯s voice boomed. "You¡¯re going to have a baby, too?! Is Jinjing pregnant?! Tell me, Haohao! I want to know!"

 Chapter 1225 - This I Promise You

    Chapter 1225 - This I Promise You

    "Hm," Lu Zihao replied, still looking calm and casual. Those close to him, however, could detect that he was very pleased.

    An excited Grandpa Lu flew towards them. "Is that true?! Jinjing my girl is really pregnant?! I''m going to have another great-grandbaby?! Tell me, I want to know! If you dare lie to your beloved grandpa, this old man will smack the bloody hell out of you, Haohao!"

    Long Jinjing gathered all of her courage and stepped between the grandfather and grandson, feeling worried that the old man would smack her boyfriend again like usual. Everyone''s expectant gazes were on her. She felt pressured but steeled herself.

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu," she replied instead of Lu Zihao. "It''s true. I''m pregnant with Zihao''s baby. You''re going to have another great-grandchild."

    "Bahahahaha!" Grandpa Lu pulled both Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao into an enthusiastic hug. The arm holding Long Jinjing was gentle while the other hand didn''t hold back in smacking¡ªehem ehem¡ª"patting" his grandson''s back.

    Long Jinjing winced at the loud thumps. Although this kind of scene wasn''t new to her and Lu Zihao didn''t seem to mind at all, it still worried her. It felt like she was the one getting hit with every smack. She didn''t want her boyfriend getting hurt.

    Fortunately, the old man didn''t "pat" his grandson for too long. He released the couple and grinned at them. His joyful smile almost stretched from ear to ear.

    "This old man is very happy! So my grandson isn''t such a big dunderhead after all! First, it was Xin my girl. And now, it''s you, Jinjing my girl. You sisters are absolute blessings to my pinheaded grandsons! Your beloved grandpa has been so worried for the longest time that I''m going to die without ever meeting my great-grandbabies from these pinheads, but now they decide to pop them one after another. This is the best! Today, we celebrate! Bahahahaha!"

    The others echoed Grandpa Lu''s delight. Everyone was in high spirits during breakfast. Grandpa Lu''s grin never stopped. He looked at his two grandsons, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao, with great pride. Of course, he became even happier when looking at Iris and Long Jinjing, both pregnant with his much-awaited precious great-grandbabies.

    After breakfast, the group had no choice but to disperse. Iris had an important meeting to start the process of setting up her holdingpany. Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu would be apanying her, the former as her business advisor and thetter as her academic evaluator.

    Grandpa Lu was a little regretful. He wanted to chat longer with Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing but Iris'' meeting today was very important to her business career as well as her academic grades.

    "I also have to go to work, Grandpa Lu," Long Jinjing told him. "We can talk againter tonight."

    The old man narrowed his eyes at her. "You''re pregnant now, my girl. Don''t work yourself too hard and end up in bed rest like your sister! Do you hear me? Tell me that you understand. I want to know!"

    "Yes, Grandpa Lu. I understand."

    Grandpa Lu still didn''t looked convinced. He turned to his grandson. "Haohao, you take care of your wife! If something bad happens to her, watch this old man spank your butt!"

    Long Jinjing flinched when Grandpa Lu referred to her as Lu Zihao''s wife. There was anxiety and guilt but also happiness all mixed up together in her heart. She was anxious because Lu Zihao still didn''t love her and guilty because she rejected Lu Zihao when he wanted to bring her to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register their marriage. As for happiness, of course, she felt happy. She loved Lu Zihao and felt d that his grandfather approved of their rtionship.

    After saying goodbye to the others, Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao returned to the bedroom. They were getting ready to send Long Jinjing to Orchidia Beauty. Lu Zihao was going to personally drive her. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Ready?"

    She nodded and followed him, feeling a little distracted. After confessing her pregnancy in front of Grandpa Lu and the others, she felt lighter and refreshed. There was no reason for her to hide her pregnancy. Long Jinjing wasn''t a famous celebrity like Iris who needed to be careful about the nosy general public following her every single move.

    Despite her sibling rtionship with Iris, not a lot of people was really interested in Long Jinjing. This suited her just fine. In fact, she preferred to live a low-key life. Lu Zihao was the same way. Now she knew why. His hidden criminal background couldn''t be exposed to outsiders no matter what or it would ruin him and most likely implicate those who were close to him.

    It was no longer just her love for him and their sexual attraction that were keeping them together. They now had a baby that would connect them forever regardless of whether their own rtionship as lovers would work out in the end or not.

    The only issue of exposing her pregnancy right now would be that she got pregnant out of wedlock. If she didn''t marry him soon before giving birth, then their child would be illegitimate just like her. She didn''t want her own child to experience the same discrimination that she herself went through.

    After reflecting on her previous fight with Lu Zihao, she now realized that her baby should be her number one priority especially with her own illegitimate background. Her own feelings were still important, of course, but her baby''s future must be secured first.

    They were in the middle of walking in the hallway when she grabbed his hand to stop him.

    "Hm?" Lu Zihao looked at her, raising an eyebrow in question.

    "Let''s marry, Niki."

    His expression became serious. He faced her properly and held both her hands. "We will."

    She bit her lower lip. "I can, uhm, get off work earlier today. Then we can go straight to the Civil Affairs Bureau after you pick me up at thepany in the afternoon. Is that okay?"

    "No."

    Her eyes widened. Then she frowned in confusion.

    "I know that this kind of hasty marriage is not what you want. Don''tpromise for me, Jinjing. I will give you a proper wedding. Whatever kind of wedding you want, we will have it.. This I promise you."

 Chapter 1226 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    Chapter 1226 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    Long Jinjing stared at Lu Zihao in shock. She blinked her wide eyes a few times in disbelief especially after detecting the anxiety in her boyfriend''s dark eyes. Usually, she was unable to read the man''s emotions because he hid them extremely well. But right now, she could see that he was anxious. Not only that. He appeared to be nervous as well.

    Was he really exhibiting these emotions? Or was she just imagining things?

    She wasn''t sure but decided to put it aside for now. His words just now were far more important to her than reading his expression. She wanted to rify if he really meant what he said. "R-really, Niki?"

    "Yes." Lu Zihao nodded.

    Her heart thumped hard. She felt restless but also excited.

    "What if¡­I say that I want an even grander wedding than what Little Sister Xin and Brother-inw Liwei had?"

    "Then we''ll have an even grander wedding than them," he replied without any hesitation.

    She swallowed, her eyes getting wider. "What if¡­I want famous VIPs to attend our wedding? Like members of royal families or international celebrities or¡ª"

    "Then we''ll send them invitations, no matter who they are."

    "What if¡­they ignore the invitations and don''t want to attend?"

    His eyes narrowed. "Then I''ll just have to kidnap them and force them to attend our wedding."

    She gasped. "Niki!"

    He was kidding¡­.right? He must be!

    But given his secret criminal background, even if he was joking right now, he still had the ability to do what he said. Long Jinjing suddenly began to feel scared for the safety of VIPs who fit the descriptions she gave just now. She was only kidding to test how far her boyfriend was willing to go in order to give her the wedding of her dreams.

    ''I should be more careful about what I say to Niki.''

    This was what she thought. She didn''t want to have a hand in a series of kidnappings around the world just because of her careless, joking words. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Give me a list of all the VIPs that you want me to kidnap," Lu Zihao said.

    Long Jinjing kicked his leg but it didn''t hurt him a bit. She hugged him and startedughing.

    He hugged her back. "Do you want a ceremony, Jinjing?"

    Feeling shy, she hid her face on his chest but answered, "Yes."

    "Then we''ll have a ceremony if that''s what you want."

    She lifted her face but avoided looking straight at him and muttered, "We''re already talking about marriage but you haven''t even proposed to me properly yet."

    "I can hear you, you know," Lu Zihao said, the corner of his mouth lifting in amusement.

    She pouted. He held her chin and kissed her pouting lips. She almost melted but caught herself before her brain plunged into amoeba level. She pushed on his chest and stepped back to create some distance between them. His expression hardened.

    Then she grabbed his big, scarred hand and lowered herself in front of him. Lu Zihao frowned, confused as to what she intended to do, so he watched and waited. Then his eyes widened when she dropped on the floor on one knee.

    "What the hell¡ª"

    "Niki, will you marry me?"

    His mind went whoosh.

    The kneeling Long Jinjing looked up at him, waiting for his response. Her sweaty hand holding him trembled. She was sweating and looked like she was going to faint from the nerves but she held on.

    If he wasn''t going to properly propose to her, then she would do it! Who said that only men must propose to women? Women could do it, too!

    Besides, didn''t she tell Lu Zihao before that she was going to woo him? Since he was such a blockhead when it came to romance, then she would just proactively show him how to be romantic even though she didn''t have much experience herself. If she just waited for him to make the first move, then her hair might turn white.

    She knew that she was being impulsive by suddenly doing this but the moment just felt right. Without thinking too much, she just went ahead and proposed to him in the hallway as soon as the thought entered her mind.

    The setting wasn''t even romantic, neither was she prepared. But she wanted the blockhead to know that a proper proposal was important before marriage. It signified respect for the other person''s consent.

    Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see some of the household and security staff watching the scene the two of them were making. She flushed in embarrassment and wished for the floor to open up and swallow her.

    Her determination almost wavered.

    Almost.

    But she stayed in ce. The man staring at her nkly like an idiot was the person that she loved and wanted to marry. If she didn''t do this today when she had an unexpected burst of courage, then she might not be able to do it ever again.

    "N-niki?"

    rity seemed to return to Lu Zihao. He shook his head for a brief moment in an effort topletely snap out of his daze. Still, he couldn''t stop gaping at the kneeling Long Jinjing.

    "You¡­what the fuck¡­the hell, woman¡­stand up!"

    He tried to pull her up but she refused. Even when he lifted her up, she struggled.

    Upset, she yelled at him, "Answer me first, dammit! Will you marry me?!!!"

    "Yes, I''ll marry you! Dammit!"

    Long Jinjing froze. Now it was her turn to stare at him nkly like an idiot.

    A red-faced Lu Zihao red at her. "Long. Jin. Jing."

    She was still dazed but felt his anger clearly. "Why are you angry? Is it because I didn''t propose with a ring? I, uhm, don''t worry. I''ll buy you an engagement ring. Today! I''ll head straight to a jewelry store after work. So, uhm, don''t be mad anymore, please."

    He opened and closed his mouth but couldn''t say anything for what felt like a long time. Her crazy actions made him literally speechless.

    Long Jinjing didn''t care about this. All that mattered to her right now was that he epted her proposal! She wrapped herself around him like a ko and kissed him on the mouth before grinning.

    "We''re engaged now, Niki. My fianc¨¦."

    Loud apuse and cheers filled the hallway.

    ###

    Chapter Title: "Yes, I''ll Marry you! Dammit!"

 Chapter 1227 - Never Saw It Coming

    Chapter 1227 - Never Saw It Coming

    When Lu Zihao epted Long Jinjing''s marriage proposal, three bodies fell down on top of one another from behind a wall in the corner of the hallway.

    "Ouch, sistahs! Did you two gain weight? You''re going to crush my beautiful and handsome body!" Theint barely left Dom''s mouth when he was hit on the back of his head. "Ouch, Big Sis! That hurts!"

    Linda Chua harrumphed. "How dare you say that I''ve gotten fat? Do you want to get beaten up? It has been a long time since I taught you a lesson myself!"

    "When did I say that you''re fat?!"

    "Say that word again!" Linda raised her hand in a threatening manner, causing her younger brother to shrink in fear. "And Clover, get off me! You''re heavy!"

    Their youngest sibling giggled before struggling to stand up. "I ate a lot of delicious food in France. It''s true that I gained weight but I''m not ashamed. I think that I look better with more meat in me."

    Reina Chua red at her children. "You three are too noisy! Don''t disturb Jinjing and Zihao''s moment!"

    Domingo Chua didn''t say anything, letting his wife do all the scolding, but he still gave his three children a firm look. The siblings, despite already being adults, immediately behaved in front of their parents. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    This short incident in the family didn''tst long. All of them jumped out of their hiding spot and joined the household and security staff in celebrating Lu Zihao''s eptance of Long Jinjing''s proposal.

    "Kyaaaaaaaaah! Sis Jing is so cool! Ah, my maiden heart is skipping like a demented horse on sugar-high!"

    Dom ran towards the newly engaged couple, not forgetting to continue recording a video of the special moment. As the assistant andter the best friend of Iris Long, a famous celebrity, he became quite adept in taking snapshots and recording videos of the best unexpected moments around him. Most of the content posted in Iris Long''s social media ounts were taken by him.

    This was why when his family came upon the couple talking in the hallway, he had a hunch that something might happen, so he immediately warned his family to stay quiet and hide together behind a wall. He also didn''t forget to whip out his phone to start recording. Whether something happened or not, it wouldn''t be a loss to him. At the very least, he would be able to satisfy his gossip-loving heart.

    In the end, his intuition was once again proven to be correct. They watched in amazement as Long Jinjing dropped on one knee and proposed marriage to the shocked Lu Zihao.

    The sisters and their parents followed after Dom.

    "You''re so brave, Sis Jing!" Clover eximed while jumping in excitement. "I want to be the one to propose to my boyfriend, too!" She was hit on the shoulder. "Ouch, Momsy!"

    "What boyfriend are you talking about?" Reina asked with a fierce re. "Howe I don''t know that you have a boyfriend? You''ve learned to keep such important things a secret to your own parents, ha."

    Clover put on an aggrieved expression. "I don''t have a boyfriend, Momsy! I''m just talking like this for when I have a boyfriend!"

    Linda only nced at her mother and sister before focusing on the newly engaged couple. "Congrattions, Jinjing and Zihao! I''m so happy for both of you."

    The grinning Long Jinjing climbed down from her tight ko-hug of Lu Zihao. "Thank you, everyone."

    "Hm." Lu Zihao could only respond like this. It seemed that he was still speechless by what happened.

    Even when the congrattions rained down on them, his eyes were only on Long Jinjing. His girlfriend was now his fianc¨¦e.

    The woman was glowing and looked the happiest that he had ever seen her as she thanked the Chua family and the staff congratting them. He didn''t realize that his expression had softened.

    Ignoring the others, he grabbed and lifted her up before kissing her in front of everyone. The cheers became louder. He wanted to carry her back to their bedroom but managed to maintain a sliver of self-control. With great reluctance, he put her back down to stand on her own feet. His eyes shed with satisfaction when she failed to stand properly because his kiss made her weak in the knees.

    "You still want to go to work?" he asked.

    Her dazed eyes cleared. "Oh, right! I''m going to bete! Oh no. Let''s hurry up!"

    She waved goodbye to everyone and ran with Lu Zihao. Her heels made it hard for her to run fast so he scooped her up and carried her like a princess before running. She yelped and hugged his neck tightly. The man ran so fast with almost zero effort as if her weight was nothing to him.

    Atst, they came out of the mansion. An empty car was already waiting for them. He stuffed her in the passenger seat before going to the other side and driving away.

    The sudden proposal dyed them a lot. Long Jinjing was now surely going to bete but she didn''t look worried at all. In fact, she was still grinning while staring at her fianc¨¦''s side profile while he was driving.

    He nced at her and felt helpless. "You¡­."

    This kind of feeling was something that made him feel ufortable, but at the same time, there was something sweet and warm spreading inside his chest throughout the rest of his body.

    He never could have imagined that his Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing would be so brazen as to drop on one knee in front of him and propose. It took himpletely by surprise. He never saw iting at all. Even now, he still couldn''t believe that it really happened.

    "Couldn''t you wait a little longer? I''m the one who''s supposed to propose to you!"

    "You''re going to p-propose to me? Really?" She looked extremely surprised. There was even a tinge of disbelief in her expression.

    He sighed and realized how unreliable he must be in her eyes when it came to all this romantic shit.. It seemed that she wasn''t expecting him to make a proper proposal to her at all, hence she took the matter in her own hands and proposed to him instead.

 Chapter 1228 - More Guts

    Chapter 1228 - More Guts

    When Lu Zihao didn''t reply, Long Jinjing let it go and didn''t dwell on it. She was too happy right now to overthink his silence. Any negativity had no room in her current mood.

    For her, regardless of who proposed between the two of them, the most important thing was that they were now an officially engaged couple. Next was marriage and the man would finally be her husband. The status of their child would also be secured. She no longer had to worry about her baby experiencing the same discrimination that she faced as an illegitimate child.

    Even if Lu Zihao didn''t love her yet, she would just continue wooing him and make him fall in love with her. At least, from how he had been actingtely, he was trying to treat her better and to open up more to her. His effort was there. She only hoped that he would continue to try to reciprocate her feelings even after they married.

    Most importantly, she prayed that he would continue being faithful to their rtionship regardless of whether he loved her or not. So far, he looked like he wouldn''t cheat on her. Hopefully, this would continue throughout their marriage.

    While Long Jinjing was basking in her happiness, Lu Zihao was dealing with mixed emotions. It wasn''t because he was unhappy about being engaged. In fact, he already expected this oue after learning that Long Jinjing had gotten pregnant with his child. It was just that this wasn''t how he had imagined the two of them getting engaged.

    After his careless move of trying to get her to register their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau without informing her beforehand, he had been learning how to make it right from listening to the advice of the original Lu Zihao''s remnant and his brother-inw, Jin Liwei. He wasn''t a romantic person. Therefore, it was a huge challenge for him to learn how to romance his own woman.

    He didn''t have the sensitivity to perceive the difference between a woman''s true feelings and what she was showing on the outside. Like his sister, he preferred straightforwardness when dealing with people. He didn''t like wasting his time guessing a person''s true thoughts and feelings except when he was required to predict a target or an enemy''s next moves during a mission.

    Unfortunately for him, Long Jinjing wasn''t his target or enemy. She was his woman. Things weren''t ck and white with her. There were many developments in their rtionship that he was still figuring out like his confusing feelings for her.

    A part of him wanted to keep her at a distance to protect her from the true gravity of the danger surrounding his road to revenge. But there was also a part of him that wanted to keep her close to him.

    She was like an addiction that he couldn''t kick off no matter how much he tried. Since he was unable to stay away from her, then it was better to keep her by his side no matter how dangerous it was for her.

    Just like what the little devil Bacon told him before, he should grow stronger in order to protect his woman better especially now that they were expecting a child together. This was the road he had chosen to take, so he would see to it until the end. There was no going back now.

    While driving, he left one hand on the steering wheel while his other hand reached for Long Jinjing and sped their hands together. Then he lifted her hand and kissed it. He heard her gasp, so he nced at her from the corner of his eyes and saw her blushing.

    They didn''t chat that much during the drive but the silence was ratherfortable. Both of them were preupied with their own thoughts. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Finally, they reached Orchidia Beauty. Lu Zihao unbuckled Long Jinjing''s seatbelt and was about to kiss her when she grabbed his head with both hands and made the two of them stare into each other''s eyes. He raised an eyebrow.

    "I love you so much, Niki."

    "I¡­" He didn''t know how to respond.

    She didn''t mind it. The bitter pain she used to feel whenever he didn''t say that he loved her too didn''te today. She was too happy to feel it. She leaned forward and initiated a hot kiss. He responded immediately and tried to take control but she didn''t let him.

    The sess of her proposal left her feeling high and courageous. She fought for control and felt triumphant when he finally yielded to her. Then she slowed down the pace and the intensity, turning the hot kiss into something sweet and lingering instead.

    When it was over and their lips separated, she caressed his face, tracing his long, jagged scar and smiled softly.

    "I''m so happy," she whispered. "Thank you for epting my proposal."

    His gaze deepened but he still didn''t say anything.

    "Why don''t we go to the jewelry store after you pick me up after work? I''ll buy you an engagement ring. You can choose the design you want."

    Lu Zihao scowled. "No need."

    She pouted.

    He sighed and gave her a quick peck. "Go inside now. You''rete."

    "Okay."

    He waited until she entered the building before driving away. A ck cat appeared on his dashboard monitor. He ignored the little devil but the constant staring bothered him.

    "What?"

    Bacon swished his tail. "Why didn''t Uncle Zihao tell Aunt Jinjing that you''re waiting for the diamond ring youmissioned to be finished before you properly propose to her?"

    "Because it''s a secret."

    "Oh."

    "I''m not giving you hush money."

    "It''s fine. Bacon already received quite a number of red packets. I feel satisfied. For now."

    Lu Zihao snorted but was inwardly relieved that the little money-grubbing devil wasn''t trying to extort money from him like usual. It seemed that his brother-inw was seeding in educating the rascal.

    "Aunt Jinjing''s proposal has already spread among the people at home. Mother, Father and Great-grandfather Lu don''t know about it yet because they''re still in the meeting. But the ones who witnessed it and heard about it all say that Aunt Jinjing has more guts than Uncle Zihao. Bacon thinks so, too."

    "Dammit."

    The ck cat AI tilted his head to the side. "Will Uncle Zihao still propose to Aunt Jinjing even when you''re already engaged?"

 Chapter 1229 - Chosen Road

    Chapter 1229 - Chosen Road

    "Of course, I''m going to properly propose to your Aunt Jinjing," Lu Zihao said without any hesitation. "I already put this much effort in the preparations and even lowered my pride to ask your damn father for some advice. Since I already made up my mind, I''m going to do it."

    "That is good," Baconmented in a deceptively bored tone, even though his glowing golden eyes and swishing tail indicated his strong interest in the topic. "Uncle Zihao has to treat Aunt Jinjing well because she doesn''t deserve to continue feeling sad and hurt by a scumbag like you all throughout her life especially now that she''s pregnant with Bacon''s little human cousin."

    Lu Zihao''s expression turned ck. The little devil had a poisonous tongue as usual, calling him a scumbag without any filter. He didn''t bother retorting or scolding the rascal, though. It wasn''t worth it.

    His AI nephew inherited Evelinka''s blunt eloquence multiplied by ten, no, a hundred. His sister wasn''t as vicious as Bacon, the little poison-tongued devil.

    Then Bacon added, "And please don''t call Bacon''s father my ''damn father''. It hurts my feelings. Father might be uncool sometimes but he''s still a great man who deserves to stand tall and proud beside an extraordinary genius like Mother. If Mother hears that her own big brother is calling her husband like this, she''ll surely be sad."

    This speech pattern was already familiar to Lu Zihao. He predicted what Bacon would say next. And he was right.

    "At this rate, Uncle Zihao will need to pay Bacon somepensation for emotional distress even though I already have a lot of red packets."

    Lu Zihao sneered. The money-grubbing kid had already be an expert in ckmail and extortion. He inwardly criticized his own AI nephew, not realizing that Bacon had be adept in ckmail and extortion by following his example and that of his subordinates from Shadow Winds. In his mind, it was all the fault of his brother-inw, Jin Liwei, for failing to educate his own kid.

    "Uncle Zihao, please don''t ignore Bacon. It''s hurting my feelings even more. If Uncle Zihao continues to ignore me, I will visit Aunt Jinjing and tell her¡ª"

    "Don''t you dare disturb your aunt!" Lu Zihao was quick to stop the little devil. "Didn''t you see that she''s very happy right now? And you''re going to tell on me and make her unhappy?"

    The ck cat AI''s fluffy tail paused swishing. "Bacon understands. For the sake of Aunt Jinjing, I will not pursue thispensation even though my feelings have really been hurt. In addition, Bacon will also give Uncle Zihao a family discount when you have to paypensation for emotional distress next time. This is a good deal because Bacon never offers discount to anyone, family or not. Uncle Zihao needs to save more money for your wedding and for raising your own family. Bacon doesn''t want to be the reason why you run out of money and can''t raise my little human cousin."

    "Thanks fucking very much," Lu Zihao said in a dry tone.

    Bacon''s tail began swishing again. "You''re very wee, Uncle Zihao. Mother and Father taught Bacon to be generous to those who deserve it. Since Uncle Zihao looks like you''re finally going to redeem yourself and start taking proper responsibility for Aunt Jinjing, Bacon thinks that you barely deserve my generosity. Please don''t be a scumbag anymore. It is a bad example to Bacon''s little human cousin."

    Lu Zihao red at the little devil but Bacon only blinked his golden eyes, widening it in an effort to look cute. The man scoffed, no longer paying attention to the ck cat AI on the dashboard monitor. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Despite this, he still couldn''t help but reflect on himself after what his AI nephew said. Indeed, he was going to be a married man and a father soon. His criminal background wasn''t a suitable environment to raise a family, especially since he had no intention of dragging a wife and child into the underworld.

    It was already enough that Long Jinjing knew about Shadow Winds. He didn''t n on hiding it from their own child either. However, letting them be involved was a different matter.

    He could go to hell on his own, no problem. But there was no fucking way that he would allow his wife and child to follow him.

    For the first time ever, he started doubting his decision to pursue revenge. Not even his sister was able to change his mind. Now, however, he began to worry when it was his own wife and their child that were involved.

    After their marriage, Long Jinjing and their child would be his immediate family. If he and Shadow Winds failed in any way, the first people who would be in utmost danger would be Long Jinjing and their child. This was uneptable!

    The car stopped on a red light. There was a fork in the road leading to the highway. He could take either way and still arrive at his destination. One was longer, the other a shortcut.

    In his mind, however, the fork represented his choices.

    One road led to revenge¡ªhis ultimate goal after dying as Niki Vetrov and being reborn as Lu Zihao.

    The other road led to a new, peaceful life¡ªa possibility dangling in front of him with his inevitable marriage to Long Jinjing and fatherhood after the birth of their child.

    His eyes darkened while his hands tightened on the steering wheel. Which road would he take?

    The traffic lights turned from red to green. The car moved and he chose a road.

    This was his resolve and yet his heart felt heavy. The urban view along the highway disappeared as his mind painted his surroundings into a dark tunnel filled with flowing blood, rotting corpses, endless brutality, and the stench of death.

    He shook his head and the hellish scene dissipated. The concrete highway reappeared in front of him. He focused on the road ahead.

    Yes, that was what he needed to do¡ªto focus on his chosen road.

    ''I''m sorry, Jinjing.''

    After making his choice, he would do his best to secure Long Jinjing and their child a happy and safe life.

    Even when he was gone one day.

 Chapter 1230 - Ground Rules

    Chapter 1230 - Ground Rules

    Orchidia Beauty.

    Work was still extremely busy. Long Jinjing needed to start calcting everyone''s year-end bonuses. Although thepany was very young, Iris decreed that everyone was entitled to the bonus regardless of whether they had been hired since the start or for only a few days. Of course, those who had been working at thepany longer would have bigger bonuses than those who had only been hired recently. The bonus would also increase depending on the position.

    As executives, Long Jinjing and Chen Fei were entitled to the highest bonuses. Chen Fei already demanded hers long ago with no reservations.

    "I work my ass off for thispany so I deserve a high bonus," her best friend had told her and Iris.

    As for Long Jinjing, although she wasn''t as vocal as Chen Fei, she was also looking forward to her year-end bonus. She had to save lots of money for her wedding ceremony with Lu Zihao, childcare expenses, and of course, their child''s college tuition.

    Lu Zihao was an heir and didn''tck money but she didn''t want to be a kept woman who depended on her husband''s ie to raise their family. She also wanted to contribute to their expenses.

    Besides, she wasn''t sure if the money Lu Zihao nned on spending on their family was earned through legal or illegal means. Now that this thought entered her mind, she realized that she cared about the source of his money. She didn''t want to use any money that was acquired from criminal activities.

    She paused working on her desk as she mulled over this issue. This was important. She was d that she thought about it before marrying the man. If she only became bothered about this matter after their marriage, then it might cause a big argument between the two of them. It wouldn''t be good, especially since she was on a mission to make him fall in love with her.

    "What should I do?" she murmured.

    Then she remembered something. She didn''t know about the specific details but Iris mentioned before that she and Jin Liwei signed aprehensive prenuptial agreement. It stuck to her mind because she heard that it was Lu Zihao who insisted on the couple signing an extra-strict prenuptial agreement.

    As someone who was very prudent when it came to money, Long Jinjing already thought that it should be a given for her to sign a prenuptial agreement with her groom. However, at the back of her mind, she still worried that her insistence for a prenuptial agreement would put a dent on her rtionship with her fianc¨¦.

    What if her fianc¨¦ thought that she was being too stuck-up, or worse, looked down on him? What if her fianc¨¦ thought that she didn''t trust his loyalty to her?

    These were the kinds of concern that she had back then. The kind of man that she imagined herself marrying before was someone simple and normal. Although she was an illegitimate child, she was still the daughter of Long Tengfei. Therefore, she was expected to inherit a fortune in the future. She always thought that she would be the richer one in a marriage. This was why she already made up her mind to protect her finances in case of a divorce.

    Now, however, it appeared that she was wrong. Her husband-to-be was wealthier than her. Even without relying on his own current sources of ie, legal or otherwise, Lu Zihao was a true heir on a simr level as Jin Liwei. Her paltry inheritance couldn''t possiblypare to the fortune that he was set to inherit in the future. Regardless of whether Lu Zihao would inherit Grandpa Lu''s shares in Jin Corporation or not, her groom would still be many times wealthier than her.

    She sighed and leaned back on her chair while staring at the numbers on herputer screen but not really seeing them. Her earlier joy from her sessful proposal had now waned and was reced by several worries regarding her marriage with Lu Zihao.

    With Lu Zihao, she wasn''t worried about offending him for bringing up a prenuptial agreement. On the contrary, she expected that he would bring it up himself if she didn''t since he was the one to insist on it for Iris and Jin Liwei''s marriage.

    "The issue about the source of his money when contributing to our family expenses should be added to the prenuptial agreement. I won''t ept it if it didn''te through legal means."

    She bit her lower lip and became anxious. She felt a little afraid of broaching this subject with Lu Zihao. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "No, I have to tell him. There has to be some ground rules during our marriage. I just can''t ept everything because I love him. If something makes me ufortable, I have to tell him before I start resenting him."

    She loved the man and was willing to turn a blind eye on his secret criminal activities but that didn''t mean that she approved of what he was doing. She didn''t even think about stopping him because it was obvious from his eyes that he was hell-bent in keeping Shadow Winds and whatever goal he had for creating the criminal group in the first ce.

    It went against her moral values but she wouldn''t rob him of his passion¡ªif what he was doing could really be called a passion.

    However, she couldn''t promise that her thoughts wouldn''t change in the future. She might decide that enough was enough and force Lu Zihao to stop. How would he react?

    "Don''t think too far ahead, Jinjing. Solve your problems one at a time."

    Taking a few deep breaths, she cleared her mind and focused on her happiness from being engaged with the man she loved and being pregnant with his child. Then she forced herself to concentrate on her work.

    There was a brief knock on the door. It opened before she could react. Chen Fei walked inside and treated Long Jinjing''s office like her own.

    Her best friend sighed and plopped down on the sofa. "What a busy day! Have you finished calcting my bonus yet? Come on, Jing. Tell me how much I''m going to get to cheer me up."

    "Sorry, COO Chen. That''s confidential information." Long Jinjing smiled before turning off herputer monitor.. "Just wait for the deposit to arrive in your bank ount."

 Chapter 1231 - Best Friend

    Chapter 1231 - Best Friend

    Long Jinjing left her desk to sit beside her best friend. Chen Fei must be tired from her own work and wanted to take a small break in Long Jinijng''s office. Fortunately, her best friend didn''t continue pestering her about the year-end bonus. Although they were best friends, Long Jinjing still adhered to thepany''s confidentiality policy especially since she was the one in charge of the finances.

    "Is Xin really going to establish a parentpany for Orchidia Beauty?" Chen Fei asked while making herselffortable on the sofa, not paying attention to her COO image at all. Good thing that nobody could see her right now. Not that she cared that much about what others thought of her image.

    "Yes." Long Jinjing nodded. "She should still be in a meeting right now to start setting it up."

    Chen Fei chuckled. "Damn. That girl really moves fast! She doesn''t y around."

    "True. When Little Sister Xin wants to do something, she immediately starts it as soon as possible."

    "We''re going to be bigger than we initially expected, Jing."

    Long Jinjing looked around her office. Perhaps they wouldn''t stay in this building for long. As Orchidia Beauty continued to flourish at an exponential rate, they would need a bigger space to amodate not only all the staff but also the growing prestige of the brand. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    The best friends could feel it. This was just the start. Iris would share tidbits of her business ns with them, but they weren''t privy to the depth of her entire vision. She was definitely a risk taker that frightened but also excited both Long Jinjing and Chen Fei at the same time.

    Despite their misgivings regarding Iris'' aggressive business leadership, they still decided to keep on following and assisting her to make her visione true. They had only been working together for a few months but Iris had already proven herself capable in leading them to sess. Nevertheless, they still tried to caution her and bnce her aggressiveness with a bit of conservative alternative approach. So far, their trio of administration was working extremely well.

    "Next year will be a big year for us," Chen Fei said next. "We have so many ns scheduled tounch in the next few months. Before this, I was hoping that we can grow thepany slowly but surely but Xin obviously has other ideas. Now that we''re at this point, I have to agree with her. We have to strike while the iron is hot."

    Long Jinjing sighed. "It''s going to cost a lot to finance everything."

    Chen Fei waved her concerns away. "Aren''t we going to have a parentpany soon? Xin will certainly inject new funds into it. Orchidia Beauty will surely receive a big piece of the pie."

    "I know. I just can''t stop worrying whenever money is involved."

    "Don''t I know it!" Chen Fei cackled before facing Long Jinjing and studying her.

    Her best friend''s inquisitive gaze made Long Jinjing squirm.

    "So¡­what''s going on with you?" Chen Fei asked with a raised eyebrow. "You haven''t been acting like your normal self these past few days. I asked you many times what''s wrong, but you keep on dodging me and redirecting the topic. I''ve been holding myself back from pestering you, but I''m already reaching my limit. I''m not going to leave your office today until you tell me what the hell happened to you."

    "Uhm¡­." Long Jinjing bit her lower lip and couldn''t stop herself from fidgeting.

    Chen Fei held her hand. "Jing, I''m your best friend. You can tell me everything."

    "I''m engaged," Long Jinjing blurted out.

    "You''re what?" Chen Fei''s eyes immediately flew to Long Jinjing''s fingers. "Where''s your ring?" She frowned. "Don''t tell me that Lu Zihao didn''t even bother to buy you an engagement ring? How uncaring could that asshole be?"

    "Xiaofei," Long Jinjing sighed.

    This was one of the reasons why she was so hesitant in telling her best friend about all the life-changing events that happened to her recently. Chen Fei was just too antagonistic towards Lu Zihao ever since Long Jinjing broke up with him and cried so much from heartbreak. Her best friend certainly didn''t approve of them getting back together. However, Long Jinjing was too stubborn and insisted on following her heart. Chen Fei could only let her do whatever she wanted regardless of her own disapproval.

    "No, I was the one who proposed to Zihao," Long Jinjing confessed in a soft voice.

    "You did WHAT?!!!" Chen Fei''s eyes almost popped out of her head. "Y-you¡­what the hell, Long Jinjing?!!! WHY?!!!"

    "Because I''m pregnant."

    Utter shock and disbelief robbed her best friend of speech. Chen Fei paled and looked like she was going to faint from the bombshell.

    "I''m so sorry that I only told you now, Xiaofei. I just¡­didn''t know how to tell you. Also, I had to process my¡­p-pregnancy on my own first. It''s all so sudden. Don''t be angry, okay?"

    Chen Fei remained speechless for a few moments before releasing a series of colourful curses. Long Jinjing couldn''t help but wince.

    "You''re really pregnant?"

    She nodded.

    "What did Lu Zihao say?"

    Long Jinjing confessed everything that happened to her best friend. When she mentioned the incident about Lu Zihao attempting to bring her to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register their marriage without informing her beforehand, Chen Fei was furious. If Long Jinjing wasn''t holding her back, her best friend would have already grabbed a butcher knife and chased after Lu Zihao to chop him up.

    "After talking to Mom, all the chaos in my mind started slowly clearing up. I realized that if my man isn''t going to propose properly, then I''ll just do it. The end result will still be the same anyway¡ªwe''ll be married¡ªno matter who proposes between the two of us. I was right. He epted my marriage proposal this morning. I just regret that I didn''t buy him an engagement ring beforehand."

    The changes in Chen Fei''s expression was quite a sight to see. In the end, she sighed and grabbed Long Jinjing in a tight hug.

    "You''ve had it hard, Jing."

    A lump formed in Long Jinjing''s throat and her eyes watered, yet there was a smile on her face. She hugged Chen Fei back. No additional words were needed.. She knew that no matter what happened, her best friend had her back.

 Chapter 1232 - Good Impression

    Chapter 1232 - Good Impression

    It was the afternoon of the 24th of December. Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers were carrying wrapped presents and loading them into a car. They were gifts from him, Wei Lan and Randy for today''s Christmas gathering at Jin Liwei and Iris Long''s ce.

    At first, Ren¨¦ Alejandro wasn''t sure if there would be a traditional exchange of gifts at the Christmas party. Fortunately, he was able to coerce Randy in directly asking Iris Long''s assistant. Apparently, the Zumba instructor was quite friendly with Dominic Chua. Randy was able to confirm that there would indeed be some voluntary exchange of gifts. It wasn''t required but would be weed especially when given to the children and cats.

    Since he was going to attend the gathering to make a good impression on a selected group of elite people in this country, he tried coercing Randy again to ask Iris Long''s assistant to get the guest list so that he could prepare gifts for each person. Too bad that the Zumba instructor failed. Dominic Chua refused to divulge the identities of the guests in advance.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro wasn''t too disappointed. This alone was already an important clue. If Jin Liwei and Iris Long''s camp were careful not to leak the guest list, then it could only mean that there would indeed be VIPs attending the Christmas gathering.

    This was what he had been waiting for sinceing to the country. Wei Lan had been excellent in introducing him to many important people during social gatherings, but at the end of the day, her connections were still limited. Despite her improving reputation ever since returning to the country after marrying into Spanish nobility, there were still quite a number of people in the Chinese high society who discriminated against her.

    Wei Lan''s connections still couldn''tpare to the exclusive circles to which elite figures like Jin Liwei and Lu Jianhong belonged. Even on the international level, they were considered VVIPs. Their circles were the ones that Ren¨¦ Alejandro needed to infiltrate.

    Tonight''s Christmas gathering would be the official start of his mission. He was finally going to meet Jin Liwei, and hopefully, Lu Jianhong. He made sure to meticulously choose tasteful presents for them, and of course, for Iris Long. There were also other presents for people who he guessed might attend the party. He wasn''t sure if those people would reallye, but it was better to prepare too much than show up with nothing in his hands.

    Even if he couldn''t form a close connection to Jin Liwei and Lu Jianhong right away, it was enough to leave a good impression on them and their loved ones. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was prepared toplete the mission one step at a time anyway. After all, his sess was essential to the overall sess of their organization''s mission in this country.

    "Brother, good luck."

    "Too bad we can''t put a bug on you."

    "Dragon Pce Homes have one of the best securities in this region. Until we''re sure how secure the ce really is, we can''t be careless."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nodded. "Indeed, we can''t ruin this chance to enter that ce by attaching bugs on me, no? Don''t worry, brothers. I''ll scout the ce in person and devise another way to nt bugs there the next time I go."

    "Just be careful, brother. Jin Liwei''s security team has a mixture of experts of different levels. Most of them, we don''t need to worry about. But there are a number that appear quite dangerous. They have rather clean backgrounds but their aura don''t match what''s on their dossier that we dug up."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro snorted. "Their backgrounds must be fake. We already know that Jin Liwei has recruited Drakon to protect not only Jin Corporation but also his family. Drakon is a hacker like us. It''s very easy to create new identities on paper. If we can do it, then Drakon and his two disciples can certainly do it, too."

    "I wonder if Drakon will also be attending the Christmas party."

    "Hmmm." He loaded the final present in the car and closed the door before facing his brothers. "That would be interesting if Drakon really came, although I doubt it. Hahaha! If only that really happens, maybe I can befriend him, yes?"

    The brothers shared augh but stopped when Wei Lan and Randy finally came out of the main mansion. As usual, the pair looked like they were attending a red carpet event rather than a family Christmas gathering.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nced at his gold wristwatch and calcted the time. He sighed. They were going to be more than half an hourte from the indicated time on the invitation. Wei Lan spent too long primping herself. No surprise there. He just hoped that beingte wouldn''t leave too much of a bad impression.

    To be honest, he was tempted to leave Wei Lan and Randy and go to Dragon Pce early by himself. However, he restrained himself because it mighte across as suspicious to Jin Liwei and the others. Although he received his own invitation, he was only able to receive one because he was Wei Lan''s stepson. Without her, he wouldn''t even have this opportunity to meet Jin Liwei on a personal setting. Thus, he endured his annoyance and waited until Wei Lan finished getting ready.

    He walked forward and offered his arm to Wei Lan with a charming smile. "You look beautiful as always, Mam¨¢."

    "Oh, yoooooouu!" Wei Lan gave his arm a yful p before epting his escort. Then she turned to his brothers. "Take caaaaaare of yourselves tonight, boys. Okaaaaaaay? I would''ve brought all of yooooooouuuu with Ren¨¦ Alejandro but my son-inw said that they don''t want too maaaaaaany people toe. I bet it''s because of my daughter. That girl is just toooooooo finicky! Don''t worry, boooooys. I''ll be suuuuuure to introduce you to my dear son-inw and daughter sooooooooon."

    The men assured her that they were fine. Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Wei Lan and Randy all bid them goodbye before boarding a car while another car followed them carrying all the presents. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro and Wei Lan were in the backseat together while Randy sat in the front passenger seat beside the driver.

    "My dear Ren¨¦ Alejandro, you muuuuuust protect me when we arrive there, okaaaaaay?"

    He raised an eyebrow. "Why is that, Mam¨¢?"

 Chapter 1233 - Royal Family

    Chapter 1233 - Royal Family

    Wei Lan pouted andined like a child.

    "It''s because my daughter''s faaaaaaather, my ex-husband, will be bringing his current wife to the Christmas gaaaaaaaathering. What''s more, his illegitimate daughter will also beeeeeeeeeee there! I don''t understaaaaaaaand why Xin has grown so close with those bitc¡ªwith thooooooose women! She hated them soooooo much before. Dear Liwei even scolded me during his wedding with Xin because my ex-husband buuuuuuuullied me! Ren¨¦ Alejandro, you haaaaaaave to protect me! What if they buuuuuuully me again?!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t believe her ims even for a moment. Wei Lan, bullied? Heh. Many tried to bully her because of her unpleasant reputation, but she never allowed herself to take any condemnation lying down. If someone bullied her, she would bully the person back many times over.

    Contrary to his thoughts, he showed a concerned expression.

    "Do not worry, Mam¨¢. You are Pap¨¢''s wife and the vizcondesa of Castillo de Estres of Espa?a. Bullying you is bullying our family name and noble title. If someone really dares to bully you at the Christmas gathering, just leave everything to me, yes? Pap¨¢ is not here so it is my responsibility as the son to protect you."

    Wei Lan fished out ace handkerchief from her purse and dabbed her nonexistent tears. "Thank you sooooooo much, my dear. I feel so much mooooooore reassured now. Oh, I miss your father soooooooo much! I wish that he can follow us here very soooooooooooon."

    The conversation continued throughout the drive to Dragon Pce Homes. Randy chimed in now and then. When they finally reached the exclusive vige, Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s eyes narrowed as he observed the strict security procedures.

    ording to their initial research, Dragon Pce Homes had one of the toughest security systems in the country and even in this region of the continent. The security was indeed tight but it wasn''t infallible. It was nothingpared to the security protocol they had in the organization. He was confident that he would be able to infiltrate this ce next time and nt some undetectable bugs for secret surveince without any problems.

    Disappointment filled him. He was expecting a good challenge but this was just child''s y for him.

    His impression, however, immediately changed when they reached Dragon Pce Home #10 atst. The atmosphere of the security here was vastly different from what they went through on the way just now. He couldn''t help but frown because it reminded him a little of the security procedures in the organization.

    Only a little. It still couldn''tpare to how they did it in the organization. After all, this was a private residence and not a criminal empire.

    Wei Lan, who was sitting beside him, saw him frowning and thought that he was getting impatient at the long andplicated security procedure from the entrance of the exclusive vige to her daughter and son-inw''s home. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "I don''t knooooooow why dear Liwei and Xin insist on all this cumbersooooooome checkpoints. Ugh! I sweeeeeeeaaaaar that all owners here in Dragon Pce Hooooooomes are paranoid to have this kind of strict secuuuuuuurity. I alreadyined to my dear son-inw and daughter soooooooo many times about it befoooooooore but they never listen to meeeeeeeeee!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was a little annoyed of herints. He wanted to focus on closely observing the security procedure in Dragon Pce Home #10, but the woman kept on yapping in his ear.

    Fortunately, Wei Lan had the talent of having a whole conversation all by herself. She didn''t notice that he wasn''t really paying attention to her, especially when she already had Randy to chat with.

    Most of the security staff that Ren¨¦ Alejandro had seen so far were around the same level with the bodyguards that Jin Liwei sent to protect Wei Lan. Not surprising because those bodyguards originally belonged to Jin Liwei in the first ce.

    A few caught his eye. He judged them to be stronger than their other colleagues. Still, they were nothingpared to the true experts in the organization. Like him and Emilio Miguel.

    He dislikedplimenting Emilio Miguel but the man alone could murder every single one of these people with his bare hands. The Matador wasn''t just an empty title after all.

    Then he froze when he caught sight of a handful of people patrolling the property. At first nce, these people didn''t look different from the regr security staff in the property. It was only due to Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s sharp observation skills that he was able to discern that these people were far from ordinary. They should be real experts.

    He and his brothers already knew that Jin Liwei employed a few experts in his security team. Drakon must have created fake identities for them because these people''s too-clean backgrounds on paper didn''t match their deadly bearing. Although they were able to conceal their real abilities, Ren¨¦ Alejandro still noticed their capabilities from their smallest mannerisms. He just wasn''t sure how strong these people were.

    A sliver of excitement stirred inside him. If not for his mission of befriending Jin Liwei and the other powerful figures close to the man like Lu Jianhong, Ren¨¦ Alejandro would have liked to challenge these experts and determine their true levels throughbat.

    Around twenty minutester, the ptial mansion finally came into view. Ren¨¦ Alejandro had already seen many magnificent buildings across the world but he was still impressed at the mansion standing like a dominant emperor in front of him. The corner of his mouth lifted into a barely noticeable smirk. The ce reeked of money.

    "Thank gooooooodness, we''re heeeeeeere!" Wei Lan gave a dramatic sigh.

    Later, the group followed the butler inside the mansion while Wei Lan''s bodyguards unloaded the presents from the second car. Ren¨¦ Alejandro looked around and was pleasantly surprised seeing festive but ssy Christmas decorations. He knew that Christmas wasn''t a big deal in this countrypared to Spain.

    The huge portrait on top of the twin grand staircases made him pause in his steps. It was the most eye-catching upon entering the front hall of the mansion. The style reminded him of the portraits hung in many active royal and aristocratic houses in Europe.

    He raised an eyebrow. Did Jin Liwei, Iris Long and their cats think that they were some kind of a royal family?

 Chapter 1234 - First Meeting

    Chapter 1234 - First Meeting

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro smirked before he quickly smoothed out his expression. The butler leading them made some small polite talk with him. The man wasn''t any inferior to the best butlers in Europe. Once again, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was impressed. It seemed that Jin Liwei really knew how to surround himself with real experts.

    At longst, they arrived at a big but cozy hall. There was a tall Christmas tree with wrapped presents underneath it. Instrumental Christmas music was also ying in the background. There were three children and an orange cat chasing each other around the room. Cheerful conversation andughter flowed in harmony with the music.

    Everyone looked at the new arrivals. The children and the cat only nced at them before continuing to y.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro swept his eyes across the people. He recognized most of them but not all. Jin Liwei was present with his wife, Iris Long. They were his main targets for tonight. As for the other important one, he looked around but couldn''t find Lu Jianhong. The old man''s grandson, Lu Zihao, wasn''t around either including Long Jinjing.

    Wei Lan squeezed his arm before leading him and Randy forward to the group of people. Jin Liwei and Iris Long weed them.

    The mother and daughter were about to air-kiss each other when Iris Long grimaced and stepped back. Jin Liwei also reacted fast and pressed his wife''s face on his chest. It wasn''t only him who reacted. The others also stood up and surrounded the couple in a protective manner.

    Wei Lan''s expression turned ugly. "Xin, why are yoooooouuuu overreacting and embaaaaaaarrassing your mother in front of people like thiiiiiiiis?!"

    Iris Long waved a hand at the group but she still looked pale. "I''m fine."

    Long Tengfei was standing nearby with his wife, Yang Jiahui. Both of them looked worried for Iris Long. Then Long Tengfei red at Wei Lan. Noticing him, Wei Lan bristled and red back at him and his wife.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro watched everything. He was curious why Iris Long reacted like this towards her mother and also why all these people were acting this protective of her. Although the situation was entertaining, he still decided to do something lest his association to Wei Lan leave a bad impression on everyone.

    He patted Wei Lan''s and murmured to her, "Mam¨¢, calm down, yes?"

    The woman still looked ready to fight her ex-husband and his current wife but she still listened to him with great reluctance. She stepped back and turned her head, looking away from the pair. "Hmph!"

    "Mother, my apologies if my actions offended you," Iris Long said after recovering from whatever happened to her. "Your perfume is too strong and I can''t handle it. I got dizzy."

    Wei Lan frowned before lifting her chin. "This perfume is expeeeeeensive! And it smells goooooood. Xin, we haaaaaave to talk about yoooooouuuuur horrid taste!"

    Iris Long sighed and looked disinterested in exining herself to her own mother. Instead, she nced at Ren¨¦ Alejandro with curiosity.

    He smiled at her, showing his deep dimples. He made sure to keep it short before smiling at Jin Liwei next. Indeed, his decision was correct. Jin Liwei''s cold expression eased a little after Ren¨¦ Alejandro shifted his attention from Iris Long to him. He was about to introduce himself when Wei Lan interrupted him.

    "Xin, why aren''t you taaaaaalkiiiiiiiing?!" the woman asked her daughter in a shrill tone.

    "Wei Lan, get a hold of yourself!" Long Tengfei scolded her. "You just arrived and you''re already making a scene! Have some decency!"

    "You!" Wei Lan pounced at him but Ren¨¦ Alejandro caught her and held her back.

    "Tengfei, please," Yang Jiahui pulled her husband''s arm.

    "Mam¨¢, stop," Ren¨¦ Alejandro told Wei Lan. His tone was gentle but his eyes were firm. "Let''s take a few deep breaths and calm down, yes?"

    She struggled a little but eventually stopped and nodded. However, she still red at Long Tengfei. She looked like she also wanted to re at Iris Long but balked upon seeing the protective, cold-faced Jin Liwei beside her daughter.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro faced Jin Liwei and Iris Long with an apologetic smile on his face.

    "You must be Ren¨¦ Alejandro," Jin Liwei said. "I am Jin Liwei and this is my wife, Long Xin."

    "A pleasure to meet you."

    The men shook hands. Ren¨¦ Alejandro moved to greet Iris Long with either a handshake or a hug but Jin Liwei blocked him. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Sorry. My wife is sensitive to scents right now."

    "Oh, I see." Ren¨¦ Alejandro was confused but still epted the exnation and stepped back.

    "Whaaaaaat sensitive to scents?" Wei Lan asked while looking at her daughter up and down. "Are you preeeeeeegnant, Xin?"

    It was Jin Liwei who replied to her, "En. My wife is indeed pregnant."

    Wei Lan covered her mouth and gasped in an overdramatic manner. "Reeeeaaaaaaally?!!!"

    "Yes, really," Iris said with smile while stroking her belly.

    "Ooooooooooooh!" Wei Lan''s expression changed several times. First, she was shocked. Next, excited. And now, she was horrified. "Oh, noooooooo! I''m still toooooooo young to be grandmaaaaaaaaa!"

    Right at that moment, Little Jun ran towards her and hugged her leg. "Amma Lan! Amma Lan!"

    Wei Lan staggered a little at the impact but her face immediately broke into a big smile as she bent down to give smacking kisses on the toddler''s plump cheeks.

    "There you are, Little Juuuuuuun! Did you miiiiiiiiiss your AUNTIE Lan?! Because AUNTIE Lan missed you soooooooo much~"

    The others rolled their eyes at her correcting the child for calling her grandma and should call her auntie instead. She didn''t have any qualms messing up the generations.

    "Little Jun, don''t forget to ask your GRANDMA Lan for your Christmas present, okay?" Iris Long said on purpose.

    Wei Lan red at her for a second but returned her attention on the child, assuring Little Jun that she bought him lots of presents.

    Later, all of them were seated.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was at ease because nobody was excluding him. On the contrary, they were making an effort to make him feel weed. However, he could sense that his main targets, Jin Liwei and Iris Long, were still being distant to him despite their politeness.

    He wasn''t discouraged. This was their first meeting after all.. He would just observe today and make his move next time.

 Chapter 1235 - Like Mother, Like Daughter

    Chapter 1235 - Like Mother, Like Daughter

    The overall atmosphere was light and pleasant but there was an unmistakable tenseness between the ex-spouses, Long Tengfei and Wei Lan. Fortunately, they decisively joined separate groups and ignored each other. Both knew their limits especially with a powerful son-inw who doted on their daughter in excess.

    Their daughter''s personality had improved after waking up from her one-yeara, but she still disyed a bad temper now and then. Her poison tongue could be very ruthless even to her own parents. If they upset her in any way, Jin Liwei wouldn''t hesitate to kick them out of his home even if they were his inws.

    For the sake of keeping the peace with their daughter and son-inw, and of course, preserving their dignity as the married couple''s elders in front of the other guests, they chose to bear each other''s presences despite their mutual hatred.

    The official hosts of the Christmas gathering, Iris and Jin Liwei, were satisfied that the ex-spouses were behaving. They didn''t want anyone destroying the festive holiday air. This was a celebration, not an unregted forum where they could trashtalk each other.

    Right now, they were separated into four small groups. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    In the first group, Iris and Jin Liwei were chatting with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Dom and Randy sat with them but the two were having their own conversation, squealing and giggling like close sisters.

    The second group consisted of Long Tengfei, Yang Jiahui and the married members of the Chua family¡ªReina and Domingo, and Marjorie and Paul. Cai Guang and Linda Chua were also in this group but were chatting on their own.

    The third group was running all round. Clover was ying with the three children and one cat. She was keeping an eye on them with Little Jun''s nanny.

    As for the fourth group, Meimei was taking a much-needed nap with thezy Ice Cream at a far corner hidden behind a disy shelf. Even the children''s loud voices didn''t rouse the two.

    Back to the first group, Wei Lan started sharing her own experiences being pregnant. Both Iris and Jin Liwei revealed enlightened expressions after Wei Lan listed all the "sufferings" she went through during her pregnancy. It seemed that Iris'' body inherited almost all of the pregnancy symptoms she was experiencing from Wei Lan, except for the fainting spells.

    "I hated everyone''s smell, even my oooooooown smell. Of cooooooouuuuurse, I hated your faaaaaaaather''s smell the mooooooost. He was the stinkiiiiiiiieeeeeeest! Ugh!" Wei Lan shot a re at her ex-husband in the other group for a few seconds before continuing toin about her past pregnancy experiences. "I vomited all the tiiiiiiiiime. I couldn''t keep any food doooooooown. Everything was soooooooooo disgusting! Everyone was soooooooo annoying! I was very cloooooooooose to murdering a few people because they keeeeeeeeept on angering me to death!"

    Iris was silent. This was perhaps the first time that she was able to rte to Wei Lan. Almost everything the other woman was saying reminded her of her own experiences at the beginning of her pregnancy. Like mother, like daughter (original Iris'' body).

    Things had improved a lot now thanks to Theresa Blipsburg''s customized health n, but the pregnancy symptoms hadn''tpletely gone away yet. Although she hadn''te close to murdering anyone who annoyed her, she sometimes wished that she could beat them up.

    Her temper during her pregnancy was no joke. All the good sense she had in her would fly out of the window and she would turn into a hostile monster that even she herself didn''t recognize. She was lucky that her husband was always patient with her during her bad mood swings even when he was the target of her temper.

    Another thing that she was thankful for was that she loved her husband''s scent, unlike Wei Lan who thought that Long Tengfei was the stinkiest during her pregnancy. Iris was relieved. If she hated Jin Liwei''s scent during her pregnancy, both of them would suffer for certain.

    She felt her husband rubbing her hand and nced at him. Jin Liwei didn''t say anything but she knew that he was relieved just like her. She patted him back and indicated to him with her eyes to chat with Ren¨¦ Alejandro. His response was a gentle squeeze on her hand before turning to the Spaniard to chat with him.

    Wei Lan noticed Jin Liwei taking the initiative to talk to Ren¨¦ Alejandro. She nodded in approval.

    Then she leaned closer to Iris and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper while maintaining enough distance so as not to disgust her daughter with her perfume''s smell.

    "Xin, listen to your mother because this is veeeeeery, veeeeeeeeeery, veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery important. After you give birth, you neeeeeeeeeeed to get back to your sexy figure as sooooooooooon as you can. Have your stretch markssered off, your boobs lifted, your tummy tucked, and mooooooooost importantly¡ªare you listeniiiiiiiing? This is the moooooooooost important. Here it goes. Have your vajayjay tightened! Do you understaaaaaaaaand?"

    Iris blinked a few times, her head tilting to one side.

    Wei Lan didn''t wait for her reply before exining, "I knoooooow that dear Liwei loves you veeeeeeeery much, but at the end of the daaaaaaaay, he''s still a maaaaaaaan. All men crave seeeeeeeeeeex. Your Liwei is the saaaaaaaame. No, don''t argue with meeeeeee and say that he''s differeeeeeeent. Trust your mooooooother. I knooooooow what I''m talkiiiiiiing about!

    "After giving birth, you''re goooooooooing to be left with an ugly, fat figure and loose, torn vajayjay if you don''t take caaaaaaaare of yourself and work haaaaaaaard in regaining your old sexy figuuuuuuuure. If you can''t satisfy your man anymoooooooore, he''ll surely go and find a mistress behind your baaaaaaaaack!"

    Iris scowled. Her bad temper was swift and began assailing her like a tornado but she held on and didn''t allow it to overwhelm her. She trusted her husband. He would never cheat on her, just as she would never cheat on him.

    Although Iris didn''t 100% agree with Wei Lan, the woman still had a point behind her extreme ims.

    Iris agreed that she shouldn''t neglect herself after giving birth. She should take better care of herself and maintain a healthy figure.. Her trust that Jin Liwei wouldn''t cheat on her was firm, but she shouldn''t allow some shameless homewrecking bimbos to have any ideas that she couldn''t satisfy her own husband anymore.

 Chapter 1236 - Less Than A Second

    Chapter 1236 - Less Than A Second

    In some sense, there was wisdom in Wei Lan''s words. It was just a shame that the woman''s innate personality and life experiences made her worldview crooked. It also didn''t help that she married and divorced a womanizer like Long Tengfei who ended up bing someone akin to her mortal enemy.

    Iris had no love for Wei Lan. Even the original Long Xin didn''t have that much affection for her own mother. However, Iris found Wei Lan pitiful in a way. The woman wasn''t inherently evil but she was incredibly shallow, narcissistic and self-centred.

    Listening to Wei Lan''s advice, Iris understood that the woman was rather pessimistic and didn''t believe in absolute loyalty between lovers. True love might be real, but sexual monogamy was only a myth. This was what Iris extracted from Wei Lan''s chatter.

    Iris didn''t bother correcting Wei Lan in her assumption that Jin Liwei would surely be tempted to find a mistress outside if she failed to maintain her beauty and figure. Trusting her man was enough. She didn''t care about what others thought, even if it was Wei Lan, her body''s biological mother. She and Jin Liwei would just prove to everyone that their love and faithfulness for each other were true by their actions instead of their words alone.

    Wei Lan kept on chattering, not caring if anyone was listening to her or not. Iris was starting to feel bored. She eyed the cookies near Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Surprisingly, the Spaniard noticed her look right away and pushed the te towards her. The man smiled at her, showing his deep dimples.

    "Thank you," she said in Spanish.

    "You''re wee," he replied in Spanish as well, his smile deepening.

    Before Jin Liwei could feel jealous and protective, Ren¨¦ Alejandro already shifted his grey eyes away from Iris back to him. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Liam, are there more peopleing?" Ren¨¦ Alejandro asked.

    Jin Liwei stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. "En, the others are runningte but should arrive by dinnertime. This gathering isn''t anything formal. The time doesn''t matter much as long as we all get together and spend time with each other."

    "I see." Ren¨¦ Alejandro was about to continue talking when the door opened and a muscr woman came in.

    The toddler called Little Jun shouted "Mommi" before running towards the woman. She swept her child in her arms and lifted him up high in the air like it was nothing. Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s expression disyed a sh of admiration at the woman''s strength.

    He recognized her as Jiang Ying Yue, the ex of Iris Long''s eldest half-brother and the mother of her and Jin Liwei''s godson. ording to his team''s research, she was Iris Long''s former bodyguard before Jin Liwei hired her to be a member of his security team.

    "There you are, girl!" Wei Lan eximed at Jiang Ying Yue''s arrival. "Why did your muscles get bigger?! Oh noooooooooo! You let your eyebrows grow again! A little mooooooore and you''ll have a unibrow! Girl,e here and let me see you! Don''t tell me you already forgot all the beauty and fashion advice that I taught you befooooooore?!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was surprised that Wei Lan acted quite close to Jiang Ying Yue. He didn''t expect this. His expression was neutral, but inside, he was calcting if he could use Jiang Ying Yue''s connection to Wei Lan to get closer to Iris Long and eventually to Jin Liwei.

    "Madam," Jiang Ying Yue greeted Wei Lan before nodding at Iris, Jin Liwei and the others while carrying Little Jun in one arm.

    She felt helpless at Wei Lan''s blunt (and slightly insulting) words. However, she didn''t feel offended because Wei Lan yed a role in helping her realize that her ex would never change and that she should be confident in herself.

    Wei Lan grabbed her hand and pulled her closer while looking at her up and down.

    "You have reverted to your old dowdy self! I muuuuuuust bring you to the spa with me again! Then we''ll gooooooo shopping for new clothes to rece that horrid outfit! Why are you like this agaaaaaaain? Are you still depressed because of that piece of shit that my ex-husband fathered?"

    "WEI LAN!!!" Long Tengfei roared.

    Yang Jiahui tried to stop him but he was too furious to listen to his wife.

    "What are yooooouuuu yelling at me for?!" Wei Lan wasn''t someone who would take his attitude lying down. She lifted her chin and red at him. "Did I say anything wrooooong? Your eldest son is a BIG PIECE OF SHIT."

    "That''s true," Irismented while nibbling on a cookie.

    Long Tengfei shot his daughter a look of disbelief while Wei Lanughed. She looked smug from having her words validated by their own daughter.

    Iris finished the cookie and wiped her mouth and fingers with a serviette. She looked casual as if there wasn''t a tense situation in front of her.

    "Mother, Father, I am pregnant. It hasn''t been that long since I was inplete bed rest from almost miscarrying."

    Jin Liwei''s expression turned cold upon the reminder of the traumatic experience that his wife went through.

    She continued, "The doctor says that I shouldn''t be upset. If you are going to fight, ruin the Christmas gathering and upset me, please do it where I can''t see you. I will never forgive anyone who causes harm to the child in my womb even if they''re my parents or even myself."

    Before anyone could react, Ren¨¦ Alejandro stood up and arrived beside Wei Lan. He pulled her behind her, shielding her from Long Tengfei''s poisonous re. He didn''t say anything but shot a silent warning at Long Tengfei with his cold, grey eyes.

    Long Tengfei was taken aback, but before he could make sense of the Spaniard''s look, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had already looked away and was nowforting Wei Lan.

    The others didn''t notice anything amiss. The look onlysted for less than a second. Long Tengfei was frozen but didn''t understand why. He hadn''t figured out why he was reacting like this.

    Jin Liwei was too focused on making sure that his wife was alright to notice anything aside from her.

    Iris nced at Ren¨¦ Alejandro.. She didn''t see what the man did to Long Tengfei, but for less than a second, she detected bloodthirst shooting out from the man.

 Chapter 1237 - Nothing Special

    Chapter 1237 - Nothing Special

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro sensed Iris'' gaze. He smiled at her but quickly looked away again to focus onforting Wei Lan.

    The bloodthirst Iris sensed onlysted for less than a second. It was quite muted but she felt it. Was she mistaken?

    Before she could ponder about it, the door opened again. Jin Liwei''s grandmother and mother arrived. The two older Jin madams immediately sensed the tense atmosphere as soon as they entered but pretended not to notice. The elegant matriarch, Grandma Li, walked slowly but steadily inside. Huang Yuyan hesitated for a moment before following her mother-inw.

    The husband and wife, Jin Liwei and Iris, greeted them. More greetings were exchanged. Wei Lan was quick to shift attitudes. She abandoned her argument with her ex-husband and pulled her stepson to introduce him to her daughter''s inws.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro tried to charm Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan with his smile and dimples but made sure not to overdo it. Grandma Li made small talk with him out of politeness while Huang Yuyan directly headed to Iris to inquire about her health and pregnancy.

    He didn''t mind. ording to their research, Jin Liwei''s mother was unlike her two sons. Huang Yuyan was rather timid and shy with an overall subdued personality. She wouldn''t be useful to Ren¨¦ Alejandro. He might only scare her if he tried to get closer to her. It was better to let her be to avoid incurring the suspicion of Jin Liwei.

    As for the grandmother, Ren¨¦ Alejandro initially thought that he could use her but changed his mind while interacting with her. Not much was known about Li Zhiruo''s activities in the past few years. She had retreated to her private residence in the mountains after his son, Jin Liwei''s father, died. It was only after Jin Liwei began a rtionship with Iris Long and married her that the elderly Jin matriarch became more visible to the public eye again.

    Li Zhiruo had the sophistication of ady belonging to a high-ss family. She appeared cold just like her eldest grandson, Jin Liwei. They even looked a little alike, especially in their bearing.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro sensed that the elderly woman was shrewd despite her seemingly uncaring-of-the-world-matters attitude. This wasn''t a person that was easy to deceive. He immediately abandoned his n to use her to leave a good impression on Jin Liwei. A woman''s intuition, especially a wise one who had lived for many decades, was sometimes scarier than the trained hunter''s sense of assassins.

    The arrival of Jin Liwei''s grandmother and mother effectively switched the atmosphere from tense to cheerful once again.

    Wei Lan didn''t bother fighting with her ex-husband at the moment. In front of the inws, she wanted to show her best side. Likewise, Long Tengfei didn''t want to lose face to the two Jin madams. The ex-spouses joined one group to chat with their inws while tantly ignoring each other. Their actions caused awkwardness in the conversation but Grandma Li was an expert in controlling the flow so the awkward moments weren''t that noticeable.

    It wasn''t that long before another group of people arrived. This time, it was Jin Chonglin with his manager, Lin Dong, and Iris'' manager, Tang Yiyi. They came straight from LXC Studio.

    Jin Chonglin immediately noticed the tall and handsome foreign man in the room. He was unable to conceal his surprise and curiosity. After a short introduction, he began chatting with Ren¨¦ Alejandro with much interest. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was surprised at first by how friendly Jin Chonglin was acting towards him. It was only when he observed the man''s expression without being too obvious that he realized Jin Chonglin was actually probing him in the guise of an easygoing conversation. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was smiling on the outside but turned solemn on the inside.

    A superstar''s charisma was no joke, he realized just now. It could even dazzle someone like him for a moment and miss the man''s true intentions.

    Well, well. It seemed that there wasn''t a simple person in the Jin family.

    "Have you thought about entering showbiz?" Jin Chonglin asked him.

    "No, it''s not for me," Ren¨¦ Alejandro replied, matching the other man''s casual and friendly tone.

    "Come on, man! With a face and figure like that, you have a good shot at bing famous. Even if you just be a model, people will surely take notice of you because of your face. Want to sign with LXC Studio?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro raised an eyebrow and couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "What do you think, Sister Xin?" Jin Chonglin turned to the side to ask.

    Iris'' great hearing allowed her to hear what they were talking about. She stared at Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    His heart seemed to stop beating for a second as her eyes scanned him. It felt like she could see straight through him.

    Thissted for only a couple of seconds before she looked away with disinterest. His heart began beating again, but this time, it was faster. He even felt cold sweat on his back. On the outside, however, he maintained an appropriately friendly expression.

    "He already said that showbiz is not for him," Iris said. "Don''t force him, Brother Chonglin. LXC Studio only recruits those who have real passion in pursuing a career in show business."

    "Fine. I was just sharing a thought. No need to take it too seriously." Jin Chonglin shrugged his shoulders before smoothly chatting with Ren¨¦ Alejandro on a different topic.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro looked like he was having a good time talking with Jin Chonglin, but he was actually distracted. He nced at Iris Long out of the corner of his eyes. She was eating grapes that Jin Liwei peeled for her.

    Then she looked at him. Their eyes met. He was the one who quickly averted his eyes.

    What kind of look was that?

    This exchangested for only a second at most but it instantly made Ren¨¦ Alejandro restless inside. For a moment, he thought that he had been discovered by her. But when he looked at her again, she was flirting with Jin Liwei, not at all paying attention to the people around them, much less Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    He forced himself to calm down inside. Perhaps he was just mistaken.

    Iris Long was just a normal celebrity who married up.. Other than her talent in music, she was nothing special.

 Chapter 1238 - Important Tool

    Chapter 1238 - Important Tool

    More people arrived as dinnertime was approaching. Jin Liwei''s friends¡ªLin Yehan and Yu Mo¡ªcame as well.

    "Where''s Second Bro Yingjie?" Jin Chonglin asked the two new arrivals in the middle of his conversation with Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    "At work," Lin Yehan replied. "He''lle after his duty ends."

    "Will he make it in time for dinner?"

    "Not sure. He''s a doctor. You know how it is with his work. What''s more, he''s a surgeon. He''s almost always on call in case of emergencies. Hospitals have no such thing as holidays."

    Lin Yehan sighed. His expression was gentle like always. It was obvious that he was worried for his second brother, Wang Yingjie. But there was also a trace of pride in his eyes as if his sworn brother''s career aplishments were also his own.

    "Tsk tsk." Jin Chonglin shook his head but didn''t dwell on the matter anymore.

    Yu Mo drew close and asked, "Yo, who''s this?"

    Jin Chonglin introduced Ren¨¦ Alejandro to him and Lin Yehan. Yu Mo stayed and chatted with them while Lin Yehan joined another group before ending up sitting beside Jiang Ying Yue. Lin Yehan''s actions were very natural so nobody thought twice that he was now chatting with the young mother.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was also acting very natural while chatting with Jin Chonglin and Yu Mo. At first, he had his guards up at Yu Mo. The man was a martial artist after all. Anyone who trained and cultivated in any martial arts and reached a certain level of expertise should never be underestimated. They might not be as strong as him or anyone from the organization but martial artists'' trained senses could still pose unexpected dangers in other ways.

    But after speaking with Yu Mo for a few minutes, Ren¨¦ Alejandro concluded that there was no need to worry about the man. Yu Mo was just a simpleton. His thoughts were shallow. He wore his feelings on his sleeve.

    For the first time sinceing to this Christmas gathering, Ren¨¦ Alejandro finally obtained an easy target. Yu Mo was perfect. He was simple and most likely easy to deceive. Most importantly, he was one of Jin Liwei''s closest best friends. Ren¨¦ Alejandro ced Yu Mo in his mental list of usable people to get closer to Jin Liwei.

    Another person came in. It was Xu Tian, Jin Liwei''s long-time assistant and right-hand man. After greeting his boss anddy boss, he joined the group consisting of Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Soon after, JJ, Iris'' music producer, came in followed by the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez. Everyone became even livelier with their arrival.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro wasn''t someone who was easily starstruck by anyone. He didn''t think much of celebrities. A big part of the reason why was because he and his brothers literally had no time to enjoy chasing celebrities or keeping themselves updated with showbiz news during their youth. They were too busy being educated and trained to be who they were today.

    Despite this, even he couldn''t help but stare in awe at Enrique Valdez. The man was a legend.

    Enrique Valdez''s former band pumped out ssic hits one after another throughout the years until their official disbandment. Their music was still being yed across the globe. Most of the other members had retired from the music industry especially after the death of their vocalist. Only Enrique Valdez continued to spread his legacy in the world of music. Even though he was no longer performing except for special asions, countless other artists and various mediapanies were mouring to persuade him topose music and write songs for them.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t know how to react at the legend''s arrival. Jin Chonglin''s superstar charisma managed to distract him earlier, but right at this moment, his mind actually went nk facing Enrique Valdez.

    The legendary hitmaker''s aura was on another league from Jin Chonglin. This was a true superstar. No, he had already transcended what it meant to be a superstar. His most loyal fans already considered him to be a living god for his world-ss power and influence in music.

    He watched as Iris greeted Enrique Valdez. They acted very familiar with each other. Their apparent closeness was indeed included in their initial research, but Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers didn''t think much of it. He had thought that Iris Long was only able to get acquainted with a renowned figure like Enrique Valdez due to Jin Liwei''s connections.

    What he was seeing with his own eyes, however, seemed to be different. Enrique Valdez appeared to be closer to Iris than to Jin Liwei. Ren¨¦ Alejandro frowned but quickly caught himself and smoothed out his expression.

    He wasn''t happy that there were too many discrepancies between what they researched and what he was witnessing firsthand. He came today feeling confident that he would be able toplete his mission easily but reality was far from his expectations.

    Jin Liwei was already expected to be a difficult person to get close to. Iris, on the other hand, was deemed easy.

    Now that Ren¨¦ Alejandro met her, she wasn''t as easy as he expected. She was mostly friendly and polite but he couldn''t find any opening to use her more effectively.

    In addition, she was pregnant and that alone was already making it extremely difficult for him to charm her because Jin Liwei and almost everyone else were being extra-protective of her. With so many people guarding her, Ren¨¦ Alejandro needed to find other ways to get past them and befriend her.

    Why was he nning on spending this much effort into befriending Iris Long when she wasn''t even one of his main targets?

    It was because he knew after seeing with his own eyes that she was the most important person in Jin Liwei''s life. The man never left her side. It was also only when he looked at her that his eyes would soften.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro would be stupid if he didn''t use Iris Long to capture Jin Liwei. Although she wasn''t worth much as a person in his eyes especially since she was the daughter of that brainless woman, Wei Lan, Iris Long was still an important tool that he must learn to control.. Once she was in his grasp, Jin Liwei would have no choice but to yield to him.

 Chapter 1239 - Trace Of Wild Power

    Chapter 1239 - Trace Of Wild Power

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was busy befriending everyone present and doing his best to leave a good impression on them while categorizing each person on whether they would be usable to him or not. At the very least, the others were finding his presence more eptable than Wei Lan who couldn''t stop sniping at her ex-husband every chance she got and turning the atmosphere awkward.

    It was good that Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan were both present to deter most of her vindictive impulses against Long Tengfei because Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t want to bother about her anymore. The husband and wife decided to just ignore the woman instead of letting her pettiness ruin the festive Christmas gathering.

    On a more positive note, Wei Lan''s antics were quiteughable. If they didn''t allow her to annoy them, she was a good source ofedic relief especially when backed up by Randy, her current best friend and sidekick.

    Also, Iris appreciated that Wei Lan treated the mother and son, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun, quite well. The presents brought by Wei Lan, Randy and Ren¨¦ Alejandro had just been delivered and arranged underneath the Christmas tree with the other presents. There were a lot especially from Wei Lan. Iris immediately noticed that the majority of the presents from Wei Lan were addressed to Little Jun. Even though the woman was resistant to being called grandma, there was no denying that she doted on the child as if Little Jun was her own grandson. For that alone, Iris was willing to tolerate Wei Lan''s presence.

    The door opened again and in came Chen Fei. Clover noticed her arrival first and helped her carry the presents she brought. After another round of greetings, Chen Fei looked around with a frown.

    "Jinjing and that asshole aren''t here yet?"

    Those who were far from her didn''t hear her words but people with great hearing like Iris and Ren¨¦ Alejandro heard her loud and clear.

    Iris only sighed and shook her head. Jin Liwei noticed her actions and asked what happened. She whispered to his ear what Chen Fei said. He chuckled as if delighting that Lu Zihao was called an asshole. She smacked his hand and he onlyughed harder.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro watched all of these from a distance while pretending to listen to Yu Mo''s tales. He raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Chen Fei didn''t approve of her best friend''s rtionship with Lu Zihao. He was also intrigued upon seeing such a mischievous expression on Jin Liwei''s face,ughing at his youngest best friend like that. This was the first time since Ren¨¦ Alejandro arrived that Jin Liweiughed with ease which was aplete contrast to his usual cold and indifferent countenance. He filed these interesting tidbits to his mental filing cab.

    While doing so, he noticed that there was another person who wasn''t paying attention to Yu Mo. Jin Chonglin was staring at Chen Fei with pursed lips as if annoyed by her presence. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Why don''t you say hello to her?" Ren¨¦ Alejandro suggested to him, interrupting Yu Mo. "Isn''t she your boss?"

    Jin Chonglin''s expression turned ck. "Che. Who wants to have anything to do with that kind of bossy woman? If not for my generous heart that wants to help my sister-inw to promote her new beautypany, I wouldn''t want to work so closely with such a scary woman. She doesn''t care that I''m a superstar at all. All she does is make me work like a horse. Hmph!"

    "Huh, what?" Yu Mo was confused.

    The two didn''t pay him any attention.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro chuckled but didn''t question Jin Chonglin any further. He knew his limit. He only got to know them today after all. It wasn''t wise for him to act too friendly and too close on the get-go lest he aroused their dislike, or worse, their suspicion. For now, his goal was to worm his way into Jin Liwei, and hopefully, Lu Jianhong''s close circles as best as he could.

    Momentster, another person arrived. It was Wang Yingjie. The man looked tired but didn''t forget to greet everyone. Yu Mo dragged Ren¨¦ Alejandro and introduced him to the group''s second brother. Jin Chonglin trailed after them.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was all smiles as usual, but deep inside, he was taken aback at the doctor''s calm but sharp gaze. Wang Yingjie seemed to have a simr cold disposition as Jin Liwei. The only difference was that Jin Liwei''s coldness had an innate arrogance from his upbringing as an heir apparent to his family''s business empire while Wang Yingjie''s coldness was milder yet had deeper profundity. Ren¨¦ Alejandro judged Wang Yingjie as a man who had sharp insight, and like him, had talent in deep observation.

    His conclusion?

    Wang Yingjie was dangerous, not useful to his mission at all, and must be avoided.

    The man might not look like it but Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s instincts were telling him that Wang Yingjie''s observational skills and vignce must be on a high level that might pose harm to his mission. He felt that the doctor was more of a martial artist than the simpleton Yu Mo.

    Then he remembered what their research said. ording to the dossier they had on Wang Yingjie, the man had a fifth degree ck belt in karate and still continued to train during his rare spare time. Now that Ren¨¦ Alejandro met Wang Yingjie in person, he knew that the fifth degree ck belt wasn''t just for show. He even suspected that maybe Wang Yingjie''s real abilities and skills had surpassed his current level.

    As someone trained inbat arts, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was extremely sensitive to anyone who had some sort of training in martial arts or any fighting discipline. From what he could sense just by relying on hisbat instincts, Wang Yingjie should be the strongest in the room so far. Jin Liwei was second while Yu Mo was a close third.

    Perhaps in terms of technical skills, Yu Mo should be the second as a seasoned Systema practitioner, but Ren¨¦ Alejandro could feel a trace of wild power from Jin Liwei. This should be the result of additional training in other unorthodoxbat arts.

    ''I wonder what he''s training in and who''s giving him this additional training.''

 Chapter 1240 - Gaze Of A Predator

    Chapter 1240 - Gaze Of A Predator

    Speaking of people triggering Ren¨¦ Alejandro''sbat instincts, there was someone else who was prompting him to take a second look. More than a second look, actually. He couldn''t help but take a few furtive nces at Iris Long out of the corner of his eyes.

    To him, the woman was nothing special. Yes, she was stunning, but Emilio Miguel was more beautiful than her just like how the assassin was more beautiful than most people in the world. Therefore, Ren¨¦ Alejandro personally wasn''t that impressed by Iris'' beauty.

    He couldn''t quite put his finger on it but there was something about her that was bothering him the more that he stayed in her presence. He tried analyzing what his instincts were telling him but any possible conclusions just didn''t make sense to him.

    His gut was telling him that Iris Long might pose danger to him, but looking at her, he could tell that she was a genuinely kind person albeit too blunt in her words. He just couldn''t see how she would be dangerous to him.

    As for judging herbat abilities, skills or even just potential, Ren¨¦ Alejandro still couldn''t sense anything special about her. ording to the dossier they had on her, she trained in Systema under Yu Mo for almost two years but stopped a few months ago possibly due to being injured from the bomb incident and also her pregnancy. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was certain that a female celebrity like her was only dabbling in Systema to maintain her figure and not because she was serious in pursuing the martial arts.

    No matter how many times he scanned her, all he could see was a weakling. Her body was too frail. It couldn''tpare to a sturdy, muscled, and strong body like her friend and former bodyguard, Jiang Ying Yue. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was confident that he could crush Iris Long''s bones with just his bare hands alone before she could even scream for help.

    So why was he feeling so ill at ease in her presence?

    He evaluated his own reaction while making sure that others wouldn''t notice his secret nces on her. It felt like viewing someone through a foggy ss. The silhouette looked harmless at first but her gaze was like that of a predator. It was so subtle though that he started to doubt the uracy of his own judgment. It was a weird feeling that put a bad taste in his mouth.

    ''Maybe my instincts are just messed up because of all the discrepancies between our research and the real situation that I''m witnessing firsthand.''

    He didn''t believe that a weak woman like Iris Long could really be dangerous to him and the mission. Someone like Wang Yingjie and Jin Liwei himself should be the top people to whom he should always be cautious.

    The doctor, Wang Yingjie, didn''t speak much to him after Yu Mo introduced them. It suited Ren¨¦ Alejandro just fine because he didn''t want to have anything to do with the man especially after categorizing Wang Yingjie as someone dangerous. Unfortunately for him, Yu Mo and Jin Chonglin stayed with Wang Yingjie to chat. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro took this chance to excuse himself to the restroom. There was one inside the room but it was currently upied. He left the room and asked around for the nearest toilet. A houseboy guided him there.

    ###

    Iris watched as the Spaniard left the room. Jin Liwei followed her gaze.

    "What''s wrong, love?" he asked in a low voice

    She shook her head.

    Wang Yingjie finally returned to their group and sat down with a tired sigh. He gave Iris a once-over, his eyes lingering on her belly.

    "How''s your food intake? Still having trouble with your appetite? You''re too small."

    She touched her belly. The baby bump was barely noticeable under her clothes.

    "I''m eating better ever since Dom''s parents arrived. Auntie Reina keeps on feeding me delicious Filipino food."

    Jin Liwei nodded but still couldn''t help but look worried after his second brother said that his wife was too small. Indeed, she was barely showing despite being at the end of her first trimester, not to mention that she was carrying twins.

    "How far along are you, Xiaaaaaan?" Wei Lan interrupted.

    Iris told her.

    Wei Lan waved an unconcerned hand before telling Wang Yingjie, "Don''t worry tooooooo much, Dear Mr. Doctor. It''s goooood that Xin is still thin and hasn''t gotten fat yet after bing pregnaaaaant. It means that my daughter inherited my faaaaaabulous genes. When I was pregnant with her back then, my belly only began shoooooowing around the middle of my second trimester. She was such a tiny baaaabyyyyy yet still tore my vajayjay. It hurt sooooooo much!"

    "Mother, that''s too much information."

    Wei Lanughed and left them to join another group. Iris and Jin Liwei both looked at Wang Yingjie.

    "Seems like you got it from your mother," Wang Yingjie told the couple while gesturing at Iris'' belly which still looked t to those who weren''t looking closely enough. "But don''t ept it too readily. It''s better to have normal-sized babies. Too small and we have to find out why."

    Iris nodded and stroked her belly.

    Wang Yingjie yawned. "I''m going to take a short power nap. I can barely keep my eyes open. Third Brother, wake me up when it''s time for dinner."

    Jin Liwei agreed and watched his second brother walk away to find a rtively quiet spot to nap. Wang Yingjie seemed to have found the sleeping Meimei and Ice Cream, so he searched for another hidden corner.

    Iris turned to her husband. "Why aren''t Grandpa Lu, Big Brother and Big Sister here yet? Dinner is in a few minutes. They''re going to bete at this rate."

    "If they''rete, then they''rete," Jin Liwei replied in a nonchnt tone.

    "What? Do you know something?"

    "En."

    "Tell me."

    He didn''t hesitate and whispered to her what he knew. Her eyes widened and shone in excitement. "Really?"

    "En."

    She got teary without her control. He sighed and kissed her cheek.

    "Don''t expose it to others, love. It''s not our ce to reveal it."

    "Okay." She snuggled in his arms, a soft smile on her face. "I''m so happy.. This Christmas will be the best yet."

 Chapter 1241 - Familiar But Different

    Chapter 1241 - Familiar But Different

    It was finally time for dinner.

    Jin Liwei asked Dom to wake Wang Yingjie, Meimei, and Ice Cream. Wang Yingjie looked alert despite having slept for only a few minutes. Meimei appeared more energetic but her dark circles, eye bags and pallor still made her look like a zombie. As for thezy Ice Cream, the fat grey cat looked grumpy at being disturbed from her precious beauty sleep (as usual) but immediately demanded for her Uncle Dom, a.k.a. ve #1, to carry her after hearing that it was dinnertime.

    Everyone moved to the adjacent hall where they were greeted by delicious food served in buffet tables. It wasn''t just a simple buffet though. There were also ten chefs in their own stations who would prepare their specialties in real time. Kid and cat-friendly options were also avable for the children and the cats.

    The aroma of all the food was mouth-watering. It was like entering food paradise. Even someone like Wei Lan, a former model who strictly controlled her diet, couldn''t wait to gorge herself tonight after seeing all the inviting food. All of them felt the same way except for one.

    As soon as Iris stepped inside, her face twisted and she gagged. She covered her nose and mouth before rushing back to the room that they had been before. The mishmash of aroma in the air was just too much for her. She couldn''t take it.

    A worried Jin Liwei followed her back. "I knew that you''re going to feel sick. I told you to stay here and wait for me to get you food."

    She pouted and pressed her face against his chest, inhaling as much of his scent as possible to cleanse away the tainted smell from her nose. "I thought I''m going to be fine."

    He sighed and stroked her hair. "Wait for me here. I''ll go get us food."

    She nodded.

    "Let me do it, Sir Boss!" Dom interrupted from behind them. "I''ll get food for both of you instead so that Sir Boss doesn''t need to leave Boss here alone."

    Jin Liwei nodded his thanks. Secondster, he received a video call from Dom and Clover. The siblings used the camera to show the wide selection of food to the couple and asked them what they wanted to eat.

    Dom and Clover joined Iris and Jin Liwei to eat dinner together but sat a little farther away. Their actions didn''t escape the others'' notice. Most of them also wanted to sit with Iris and Jin Liwei but Grandma Li stopped all of them.

    "If all of us go there, the smell of our food will only make Xin feel sicker," she said. "Let''s just stay here and let my grandson and Reina''s children take care of her."

    Reina Chua nodded. "Dom and Clover will bring whatever food Xin and Liwei want. Also, we''re going to join each other againter when it''s time to distribute the presents."

    "Pwesents! Pwesents!"

    "Yay! I want pwesents!"

    Little Jun and Marjorie''s son both became excited as soon as they heard that presents would be distributed soon. Jiang Ying Yue and Marjorie had to calm their sons first in order to continue feeding them. Marjorie''s daughter was older so she wasn''t as vocal but the excitement was still clear in the little girl''s eyes. The cats, Ice Cream and Popcorn, were busy eating their own food at a corner away from the hustle and bustle of people exploring the variety of dishes. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Back to the other room, Iris consumed soup first to ease her nausea and unsettled stomach. She didn''t have that much of an appetite after being disgusted by what she smelled in the adjacent hall. Still, she did her best to eat as much of what she could swallow as possible. It was a struggle at first but her stomach gradually warmed up. She felt better and ate more.

    "Ask Bacon what time Grandpa Lu, Big Brother and Big Sister are going toe," she whispered to her husband.

    Jin Liwei used the concealed earpiece to do what she asked. He listened to his AI son''s report before sharing it to his wife.

    "Thank goodness that they''re going to arrive before dinner ends. We can save food for them if they really miss it but it''s not fun if they don''t join us for dinner."

    "En."

    After finishing off their first tes, Iris and Jin Liwei slipped away and walked somewhere else.

    On the way, she asked, "Darling, what''s your impression of Ren¨¦ Alejandro?"

    "He has good manners," he replied.

    She waited for him to say more but he didn''t. "That''s it?"

    He shrugged. As long as Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t covet his wife, he would be polite to the Spaniard. So far, he was satisfied that the man didn''t allow his eyes to linger on his wife for too long. Ren¨¦ Alejandro also seemed to get along well with his younger brother and fourth brother. Overall, he didn''t have much of an interest in the Spaniard.

    However, he noticed the contemtive look on his wife. "What''s the matter, love? You don''t like him?"

    She nodded.

    Both his eyebrows rose before his expression became serious. His wife must have a reason why she didn''t like Ren¨¦ Alejandro who she only met today. Their interactions with the Spaniard so far were few and far between. Ren¨¦ Alejandro interacted with Jin Chonglin and Yu Mo the most.

    "He hides it well but the persona he''s showing us isn''t the real him," she said. "I don''t know how to exin it to you in a way that you''ll understand but¡­I sensed a familiar feeling from him."

    He frowned. "Familiar feeling? You think that you''ve met him before?"

    "That''s not it. I''m sure that I have never met him before."

    "Then¡­how?" He was confused and waited for her to exin.

    "He somehow feels simr to some of the best agents from, you know, our family organization back then."

    His frown deepened.

    "But he also feels different at the same time." Her eyebrows scrunched as she struggled to find the right words to express her thoughts. "Think of a chocte bar. One is a ssic dark bittersweet chocte with almonds while the other is a milk chocte with a tinge of peanut butter vour.. They''re simr because they''re both chocte but still smell and taste differ from each other."

 Chapter 1242 - Sweeter Than Chocolates

    Chapter 1242 - Sweeter Than Choctes

    "Does that make sense to you?" Iris asked with a tilt of her head.

    Jin Liwei paused and thought about it first. "I think I get what you''re trying to say. Somewhat."

    He wanted to ask for more rification but saw that his wife was now distracted. She appeared to be thinking about something while swallowing and even licking her lower lip.

    Her expression reminded him of the way she would look at him whenever she was aroused and he stood naked in front of her. His eyes darkened, thinking that his wife wanted to get some action with him. He was about to whisper some words of seduction to her ear and pull her to the nearest empty room but her next words dashed his hopes.

    "Talking about choctes is making me crave for some." She licked her lips again. "Let''s hurry up, darling. I want to eat some brownies."

    Jin Liwei stiffened upon realizing that his wife was craving for choctes and not his body. Dammit! Were choctes more delicious than him?

    "Hm? What''s wrong, darling?" Iris shook his hand when he didn''t reply.

    He sighed and released a dry chuckle. Then he fished something from his pocket. It was a bite-sized chocte. He now had the habit of filling his pockets with sweets ever since his wife became pregnant. He unwrapped the small chocte and fed it to his wife''s waiting mouth.

    "Mmm~" Iris closed her eyes and literally looked like she was having an orgasm.

    Jin Liwei''s eyes darkened even further. This time, he was the one who swallowed hard. A familiar something below his belt also started hardening.

    "Is it delicious?" he asked, his voice low and husky.

    Still in the middle of savouring the sweet taste of the chocte on her tongue, she automatically nodded after hearing her husband''s question, not realizing his change of mood.

    "Can I taste it, too?"

    "Huh?"

    She finally looked at her husband but before she couldplete her movements, he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her for a hard kiss. His tongue invaded her mouth and swept inside. She moaned and was about to respond when he pulled away.

    "Sweet." This time, he was the one who licked his moist lips while staring straight at her dazed eyes. "But not necessarily delicious."

    She blinked a few times, frowning.

    "My wife is sweeter and more delicious than any chocte in the world," he said.

    Her frown disappeared in an instant, reced by a smile.

    "How about you, wife? Which do you think is sweeter and more delicious¡ªchoctes or me?"

    Her smile widened. "Guess."

    "Me, of course."

    She giggled but quickly restrained herself and scoffed, pretending to be critical of his im. "From where did you get your confidence?"

    He pulled her into his arms and nuzzled her ears. "Naturally, from my wife''s love. I know that she loves me the most."

    "Your wife sounds like a great woman."

    "Indeed. She''s the best. Nobody else in the world canpare to her."

    Iris couldn''t stop herself from smiling. Her arms wrapped around his waist while she enjoyed her husband flirting with her.

    "So, wife, do you agree that you love me more than choctes?"

    She didn''t reply but tightened her arms around his waist.

    "Choctes can only give you momentary pleasure from the sugar high, but I can give you longersting pleasure that will blow your mind." He punctuated his words with a slow but firm grind of his hips.

    Iris immediately felt his erection on her belly. She gasped and looked up at him.

    "You pervert!"

    Although this was what she said, she looked just as hungry as him. The way they looked at each other was as sensual as sizzling forey.

    "Let''s do it quick?" he whispered the seductive suggestion directly to her ear and began nibbling on her earlobe, making her shiver.

    She was tempted but her wits stayed with her. Looking around, the hallway was empty. Still, she could sense the presence of patrolling guards who most likely only hid themselves to give her and her husband some privacy.

    "I would love to do it, darling¡­."

    His eyes lit up. He licked her ear.

    She shivered again and wanted to continue what they were doing somewhere else but sighed in regret.

    "¡­but it''s not the right time. We have guests waiting for us. We''re the ones hosting this Christmas gathering. It''s rude to leave everyone hanging withoutpleting what we nned for tonight. The kids are looking forward to receiving their presents. Also, I still want to see Grandpa Lu, Big Brother and Big Sister tonight. I want to know how everything went for them."

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of regret as well. His erection was ufortable but it couldn''t be helped.

    She patted his cheek. "Just wait and we''ll do itter in bed. Okay, darling?"

    "You''ll be too exhausted by then, love."

    "Then tomorrow morning?"

    "Okay." He bent his head down and pecked her lips. "Don''t worry about me anymore, love. I can bear it. Let''s go. Bacon just said that Grandpa Lu and the others have entered the vige gates. They''ll be here in about half an hour."

    They hurried to their destination. It was the hall where Iris and Jin Liwei held their wedding banquet. Buffet tables and another ten chefs in their own specialty stations were disyed. The space wasrger and the food much more abundant here.

    "Master!"

    "Mistress!"

    "Sir!"

    "Madam!"

    Their staff greeted them. There was a lot of them, hence Iris and Jin Liwei chose the staff Christmas gathering in thisrge hall. Despite this, the staff members still had to take turns to eat and have fun because some of them were still on duty. A few of them already started their holiday break but returned just for today to join the Christmas gathering. The rest would also take turns having their holiday break in the next few days so that the mansion wouldn''t be left empty.

    It was livelier herepared to the gathering that the couple were holding for their family and friends, mainly due to the sheer number of their staff. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Iris looked around and felt happy to see the staff enjoying themselves. They were ying various parlour games.. She and Jin Liwei provided the prizes which wereparable to the ck Stars'' three-nation bonanza earlier this month.

 Chapter 1243 - Hold His Breath

    Chapter 1243 - Hold His Breath

    Iris and Jin Liwei interacted with their staff for a few minutes but stayed near the entrance away from the buffet tables due to the smell of the food. Yi Mei and the other staff from the penthouse came to greet them as well. Iris was happy to see them again.

    Then the couple announced that everyone would receive additional holiday bonus as thanks for their loyalty and quality service. Everyone cheered and thanked their sir boss anddy boss.

    The couple was satisfied after seeing their staff''s happiness. Jin Liwei marvelled at the sight and the feeling. Before his wife came into his life, the mansion was like a necropolis. Everything was cold and lifeless. His staff never dared to express any emotions in front of him, much less openly celebrate like what they were doing now.

    He didn''t see anything wrong about it back then. Now, however, he was grateful for the existence of his wife in his life. Without her, he would still live in a colourless world devoid of warmth and true fulfillment like this.

    Simrly, Iris had never experienced anything so festive like this in her past life as Evelina Vetrova. Most of the credit for teaching and showing her how to have fun on special asions should go to her best friend and assistant, Dom. Without Dom''s insistence, she wouldn''t even bother celebrating these special asions that she didn''t think important enough to her own passions in life.

    On the way back to the Christmas gathering with their own family and friends, the husband and wife were both preupied with their own thoughts of gratitude for the huge, positive changes in their lives.

    Most of their guests were still mingling with each other while enjoying the food in the buffet hall when they returned. The kids and the cats already finished eating and were circling the presents spilling under the Christmas tree. Yes, even thezy Ice Cream joined in the fun, perhaps because she had energy after eating.

    "Mama, Papa!" Little Jun noticed their arrival and ran towards them.

    Jin Liwei scooped up the toddler and carried him in his arms.

    "Junjun pwesents!" Little Jun pointed at the presents.

    Jiang Ying Yue reached them with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about this. He''s getting impatient."

    Iris waved her concern away before ncing at the time. "The kids will feel sleepy soon. I think we should distribute the children''s presents ahead of time before they be too tired to stay awake."

    Marjorie also reached them while carrying her own toddler on one hip. Her daughter was busy ying with the cats by the Christmas tree.

    "Is it okay if we do that?" Marjorie asked. "My son isn''t as well-behaved as Little Jun. I''m afraid that he might throw a tantrum if he doesn''t get his presents soon. Such a brat."

    "Of course, we can do that," Iris replied and nced at her husband.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Since the hosts of the Christmas gathering already gave their permission, Dom and Clover immediately made a show to hunt all the presents addressed to the children and cats from therge pile and distribute them ordingly. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Little Jun received the most presents but Marjorie''s children still received a lot. Of course, Ice Cream and Popcorn weren''t forgotten.

    Children would still be children, though, and cats would be cats.

    The two toddlers, Little Jun and Marjorie''s son, quickly lost interest in their other presents after receiving robots and toy cars. As for the cats, they didn''t care much about the contents but were having an absolute st ying with the empty boxes and wrapping papers.

    Only Marjorie''s daughter was old enough to appreciate all of her presents. She burst into tears upon receiving a portable mobile gaming deviceplete with a variety of popr games appropriate for her age from Iris and Jin Liwei. She leaped to her feet with joy and hugged both Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Thank you so much, Auntie Xin and Uncle Liwei! You''re the best! How did you know that this is what I wanted for Christmas?"

    "You''re wee, sweetie," Iris told her with a smile. "Your Uncle Dom told us."

    Jin Liwei patted her head. "Don''t forget to study hard."

    The girl nodded while beaming before skipping to her father, Paul Ferrer, to ask him how to set up and operate the gaming device.

    Seeing the children so joyful in opening and ying with their presents, everyone was in a good mood.

    Even Ren¨¦ Alejandro who only met everyone today prepared something for Little Jun and the cats. He didn''t know about Marjorie''s children so he hadn''t brought anything for the two beforehand. He asked Jin Chonglin and Yu Mo for advice and they helped him get some empty red packets from the butler. He filled them with money and handed them to the children.

    Afterwards, he could feel that everyone''s impression of him improved a great deal. This was proof that showing gentleness and kindness towards cute children and animals would earn good feelings from others.

    He nced at Jin Liwei and Iris to see their reactions. The husband and wife both had neutral expressions. He felt a little disappointed.

    The door opened for theters. Ren¨¦ Alejandro watched as Iris became excited and moved to run to the new arrivals before Jin Liwei stopped her. The Spaniard also became excited upon seeing the new arrivals.

    Finally.

    His other main target, Lu Jianhong, had arrived. Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing followed behind the old man.

    The ce was soon filled with the boisterous, booming voice of the old man plus the loud, painful-sounding smacks he gave the men in the room. Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s eyes widened when even the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez, was smacked in the back. What was even more amazing was that Enrique Valdez epted it in good spirits.

    Then the old man''s eyes fell on him, Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    "Oh? Who''s this kid? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Wei Lan squeezed her way forward and grabbed Ren¨¦ Alejandro, introducing him to the old man as her beloved stepson, the one and only son of her viscount husband.

    Lu Jianhong looked at him from head to toe and back up again. Ren¨¦ Alejandro stayed still.. For some reason, he held his breath as faint panic rose inside him under the old man''s sharp eyes.

 Chapter 1244 - Clash

    Chapter 1244 - sh

    It was a good thing that the old man''s nerve-wracking scrutiny didn''tst long. Ren¨¦ Alejandro released the breath that he had been holding. Lu Jianhong grinned at him and then suddenly began smacking him on the back. He was shocked by the force at first, especially since he wasn''t expecting it at all. Such an old man and still so strong, Lu Jianhong was quite impressive for his advanced age.

    "Wee, kid! Are Liwei my boy and Xin my girl hosting you well tonight? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro smiled at him while allowing himself to be smacked. "Thank you, Sir Lu. Yes, please do not worry. They are wonderful hosts, as I''m sure everyone here will attest, no? All of you are so kind that I feel like I''m having Christmas with my own family."

    "Good! Very good!"

    The old man narrowed his eyes at Ren¨¦ Alejandro who continued smiling at him like there was nothing wrong. Mischief shed in the old man''s eyes. Then the smacks became louder and heavier, making the surrounding people wince. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Sir Lu must tell me about your secrets in maintaining your youth, yes? You are as strong as a bull. I want to be like you when I reach your age. And hopefully, I reach that age."

    "Bahahahahaha! Not bad. Not bad at all! Bahahahaha!"

    The old man gave him a final smack on the back. It was the hardest and heaviest. The sound was so loud that some thought Ren¨¦ Alejandro should have flown across the room and crashed against the wall. When he didn''t and maintained an amiable smile on his face, even managing to look rxed, they were quite surprised.

    All of the men who received the old man''s smacks looked like they were going to vomit their internal organs, including Jin Liwei. Only one had ever been able to take the smacks without any change in expression¡ªLu Zihao.

    And now, another one appeared.

    For Ren¨¦ Alejandro, the smacks were really nothing. Yes, he could feel the impact but his sturdy body hardened through training and experience since childhood didn''t allow him to register pain in the same way as normal people did. Compared to the countless life and death experiences he went through in life, the old man''s smacks were almost ticklish for someone like him.

    "You have quite a solid body," Lu Jianhongmented. "Like my grandson! Haohao,e here and meet this sturdy, Spanish kid!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nced behind the old man and saw a big, muscled man. His breath caught in his throat as Lu Zihao''s dark eyes bored down on him like a charging bulldozer. The man was huge. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was already tall but Lu Zihao towered over him not only in height but also in build. Those muscles were simply incredible. They were definitely bigger and bulkier than average Olympic-level athletes but sleeker and more natural than hardcore bodybuilders.

    These thoughts weren''t at the forefront of Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s mind, however, because he was too busy dealing with the man''s domineering aura. His pupils contracted.

    For some reason, an image of a vengeful, dark and evil emperor appeared in his mind and looked like it was going to swallow his consciousness. The image sent a chill up his spine which stunned him.

    ''This!''

    His mask almost cracked before the old man smacked his grandson''s back next. The sounds alone indicated that the smacks he was giving Lu Zihao were the hardest and heaviest out of all the smacks he gave the others including Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    "Why are you scaring your third brother and little sister''s foreign guest, huh? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao retracted his aura, an apathetic expression on his face. His arm, however, pulled a petite woman closer to his side. Long Jinjing stared at Ren¨¦ Alejandro with wide eyes.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro recovered quickly after Lu Zihao''s invisible assault on his mentality. Cold sweat beaded on his skin but he didn''t show any of his inner disturbance on the outside. He pretended to be surprised when facing Long Jinjing.

    "Miss, it''s you. A pleasure to see you again." He nced at Lu Zihao''s belt. "I see that your boyfriend is wearing your gift."

    "What is this?" Lu Jianhong demanded, looking at the three¡ªRen¨¦ Alejandro, Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao. "Jinjing my girl, you''ve met this Spanish kid before? Tell Grandpa, I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao''s apathetic expression darkened into a dangerous level. He brought Long Jinjing behind him and looked ready to choke Ren¨¦ Alejandro with his eyes alone.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro''spetitive spirit red up. He didn''t want to lose against the man despite his cowardly reactions earlier. He was just caught unawares before, that was all. He, Ren¨¦ Alejandro, was one of the most important, young team leaders in the organization.

    Someone like Lu Zihao couldn''t possibly match up against him. The man only looked big and scary but Ren¨¦ Alejandro was confident that he could take Lu Zihao and win any time.

    "Oy oy oy!" The old man stepped between the two men. "What are you two dunderheads doing?! See how this old man will bang your two heads against each other!"

    "Zihao, please." Long Jinjing tried to pull Lu Zihao back.

    Wei Lan also stepped in front of Ren¨¦ Alejandro in a protective manner even though it was clear that she herself was intimidated by the scary Lu Zihao.

    "Enough," a cold voice interrupted everyone.

    It wasn''t loud but it was firm and full of authority. Jin Liwei swept his displeased eyes on the two men, unimpressed by their actions inside his home in the middle of the Christmas gathering that he and his wife were currently hosting.

    Lu Zihao snorted before breaking eye contact with the Spaniard. Ren¨¦ Alejandro also regained his usual amiable expression. He sent an apologetic look to everyone, especially to Jin Liwei and the old man.

    "Big Sister, you''ve met Ren¨¦ Alejandro before?" Iris repeated Grandpa Lu''s earlier question.

    "Y-yes," Long Jinjing admitted.

    "They only met at a store when Jinjing was buying something for me," Lu Zihao said. "That''s all."

    "I helped Miss Long choose the belt she gave you," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said before he could stop himself.

    Two invisible powerful forces once again shed against each other. One dark, the other grey.

 Chapter 1245 - Already At That Stage

    Chapter 1245 - Already At That Stage

    "Meow!" An orange blur rocketed towards Long Jinjing but her slow reflexes didn''t allow her to react in time.

    Lu Zihao immediately abandoned his stare-down with the Spaniard to catch the orange cat just in time before it could crash into his woman.

    "You brat," he snarled at Popcorn who curled in fright in his arms.

    "Zihao, don''t be too fierce on Popcorn." Long Jinjing took the trembling cat from him andforted her poor feline nephew.

    Lu Zihao snorted, his eyes sweeping from her head to toe and back up again to make sure that she was fine. He nced at her stomach for a few seconds longer but his expression didn''t expose anything to others.

    She hugged the affectionate Popcorn who acted like a baby and focused most of her attention on the cat while hiding behind Lu Zihao to avoid the Spaniard''s gaze. In the end, Iris stepped forward and pulled her away from the testosterone-filled sh of dominant domains between the two men. Long Jinjing nced at Lu Zihao who gave her a nod, letting her go with his sister.

    Iris gave him and Ren¨¦ Alejandro a look but didn''t show much of her thoughts on her expression. She pulled Long Jinjing and returned to her husband''s side where it was safe andfortable. The husband and wife didn''t miss the big sigh of relief from Long Jinjing.

    Fortunately, not everyone was focusing on what happened between Lu Zihao and Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Dom and Clover quickly distracted the guests after a meaningful look from Jin Liwei. Yu Mo and Jin Chonglin also stepped in to separate the two men.

    The party continued without any issues after this. It was obvious that Lu Zihao and Ren¨¦ Alejandro disliked each other for some reason. Even others could feel their hostility towards each other. Thankfully, the two men didn''t repeat their tense stare-down from earlier and just settled on ignoring each other.

    Lu Zihao stuck to Long Jinjing''s side while Ren¨¦ Alejandro returned to his charismatic self, chatting with the other guests.

    The sleepy children were ushered out for bedtime by their parents. Ice Cream and Popcorn followed them. After their departure, the adults let themselves loose a bit more. The chatter andughter became a little more boisterous and the wine flowed a little more freely.

    As time ticked by, Iris became increasingly annoyed at her husband and older brother''s constant hovering over her and Long Jinjing. It was fine during the first half of the party but the two men just wouldn''t leave them alone even for a second. She finally snapped at them and told them to go chat with the other guests. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao wouldn''t listen to her at first but eventually relented when she looked like she was going to explode on them.

    She and Long Jinjing sighed when the two men left and joined the others. Still, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao kept their eyes on them despite the distance. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Chen Fei approached and sat beside her best friend, rolling her eyes at Lu Zihao who wasn''t taking his eyes off Long Jingjing.

    "Finally, he''s away from you! I wanted to talk to you as soon as you arrived but Dom and Clover kept me away for fear that I''ll scratch that asshole''s face as soon as I go near him. Hmph! Do those siblings think so low of me? Well, it''s true that I want to scratch that asshole''s face for all the things he did to you but it''s not like I''m going to make a scene in front of everyone and ruin this Christmas party."

    "Xiao Fei," Long Jinjing sighed. "Please don''t call Zihao like that."

    "Like what?" Chen Fei raised an eyebrow.

    "Like¡­you know what I''m talking about."

    Chen Fei harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. "An asshole is an asshole. To me, the moment he did all those things to you, that jerk has automatically be an asshole."

    "Sssh! What if somebody hears you?" Long Jinjing looked around, making sure that nobody was eavesdropping on their conversation. "What if somebody hears you? I don''t want people to say that my best friend and my¡­my b-boyfriend are at odds with each other."

    "Don''t care too much about what others say or think, Big Sister," Iris interjected in friends'' conversation. "Your life is for you to live, not theirs."

    "Facts." Chen Fei nodded.

    "But I agree that you shouldn''t call Big Brother Zihao an asshole. He is, after all, the father of Big Sister Jinjing''s baby. And as you can see, he''s not running away from his responsibility."

    "Hmph!"

    Long Jinjing smiled and subconsciously rubbed her belly while looking at the bored Lu Zihao. The two of them locked eyes with each other. He was about to head back towards her but Jin Liwei caught and stopped him.

    Iris chuckled and sent her husband an approving smile. Then she turned to Long Jinjing and asked her, "By the way, why did you arrive sote?"

    Chen Fei also stopped talking and waited for her answer.

    Long Jinjing blushed. "Zihao and Grandpa Lu came with me to meet my mom."

    Chen Fei''s eyes widened. "You''re already at that stage?"

    "They should already be at this stage," Iris said. "They''re going to have a baby, remember?"

    "I know but¡­shit! This is all just happening so fast!" Chen Fei looked emotional. "I mean the two of us only graduated this year and began working at Orchidia Beauty. I thought that the two of us will be focusing on our careers first and yet¡­look at where you are right now! You hooked up with that asshole and even got yourself pregnant."

    Iris rested her head on her hand. "And what''s wrong with that? I''m younger than Big Sister but I''m already married and pregnant."

    "I''m not saying that it''s wrong, just¡­unexpected."

    "That''s life."

    Chen Fei sighed, feeling defeated. She looked at her best friend and sighed again but there was now a small smile on her face.. "I know I may not look like it but I''m happy for you especially since I can feel that this is what you want, Jing."

 Chapter 1246 - Exchanging Conspiratorial Smiles

    Chapter 1246 - Exchanging Conspiratorial Smiles

    "I know." Long Jinjing smiled, grabbing her best friend''s hand and squeezing it.

    "So what happened when you brought that ass¡ªZihao and Grandpa Lu to meet with Auntie Jingfei?" Chen Fei asked.

    Iris was also interested to hear about it.

    Long Jinjing lowered her head and didn''t say anything but her quickly reddening face only made the two more curious about what happened. Iris and Chen Fei looked at each other before leaning towards Long Jinjing and persuading her to spill everything to them. At that moment, the siblings Dom and Clover finally joined them, unaware that they arrived at a juicy time.

    The only people missing from their girl squad were Jiang Ying Yue who was still not back yet from putting her son Little Jun to sleep and Meimei who once again fell asleep at a hidden corner after eating dinner.

    The siblings quickly caught up with what was happening after Chen Fei''s sinct exnation. Dom and Clover''s eyes immediately shone with anticipation and turned their heads in unison at the blushing Long Jinjing.

    "Uhm¡­" Long Jinjing bit her lower lip and hesitated for a few moments more before finally relenting.

    The friends gathered their heads together while she whispered to them what happened during her visit with Lu Zihao and Grandpa Lu at her mother''s home. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

    Everyone was startled by Dom and Clover''s squeals. They all looked at the group and saw the crazed siblings, a blushing Long Jinjing, a calm Iris Long, and a torn Chen Fei.

    While the others were curious about what happened and even directly asked Iris'' group, Lu Zihao watched Long Jinjing with deep eyes. Based on her red, embarrassed face, he already had an idea why the Chua siblings were acting like demented fangirls. His mouth curved. Then he sent his brother-inw a look before walking away.

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow before excusing himself and following Lu Zihao to the buffet hall next door. Momentster, their other sworn brothers plus Jin Chonglin received text messages. The clueless men also excused themselves and headed to the buffet hall. Their disappearance was noticed but didn''t affect the party''s cheerful atmosphere. Everyone returned to their own groups and continued chatting away.

    After some time, only Lu Zihao returned. Jin Liwei and the others were nowhere to be seen. Iris was curious but wasn''t worried about her husband. She watched as her big brother headed straight towards them and extended his hand to Long Jinjing.

    "Let''s go," he said.

    "Huh? Go where?" Long Jinjing looked at him in confusion.

    He gave her a devilish smirk. "Don''t tell me you''re not nning on speaking with your father about us."

    "Oh." Her face which only returned to her normalplexion just a few minutes ago after the Chua siblings'' teasing turned red again.

    When she still didn''t move from her seat, Lu Zihao stepped forward and hauled her up to her feet. "I''ll be taking her for now."

    "Go ahead." Iris waved a hand to them.

    The friends watched as the couple headed towards Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui. Then the four excused themselves and left.

    Later, Jin Liwei returned and called for everyone''s attention. He asked everyone to follow the butler. Everyone was confused but still followed Jin Liwei''s instructions, trusting him as the host of tonight''s Christmas party. They thought that Jin Liwei and Iris must have prepared a special event for everyone. Iris, however, had no idea what was going on.

    "What''s happening?" Iris asked her husband in a low tone as they followed the crowd out of the room into the hallway.

    He whispered directly to her ear, preventing others, even her friends, from overhearing. Iris gasped. Then the husband and wife exchanged conspiratorial smiles.

    Dom and Clover didn''t forget to wake up Meimei. They followed everyone out of the party room.

    Therge group walked a long way but nobodyined because the Christmas decorations all around them were wonderful. The atmosphere was very festive. Even the long walk was enjoyable. In addition, they were experiencing the thrill of the unknown. They were looking forward to the surprise that Jin Liwei and Iris Long had prepared for them.

    For some reason, Grandpa Lu was chuckling like a mischievous devil. No matter how the others asked the old man, he wouldn''t say anything, only continuing to chuckle with an unmistakable glint in his eyes.

    A few steps behind, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was walking with Wei Lan and Randy. He knew that something was up. Yu Mo and Jin Chonglin left one after another after receiving a phone message, leaving him to fend for himself. He didn''t mind because it gave him more opportunity to try getting closer to the other guests and judging which ones would be useful to him.

    After what happened with Lu Zihao earlier, he was mentally beating himself up for his carelessness. As a result, he approached Lu Jianhong and apologized to his earlier rude behaviour to the old man''s grandson. Lu Jianhong didn''t seem to take it to heart, even assuring him with boisterousughter that everything was fine, but Ren¨¦ Alejandro could sense that the old man was now more guarded and perhaps even suspicious of him.

    ''Damn it. Now I have to work even harder to get closer to the old man. It''s Hunter''s fault, that cocky bastard! If it weren''t for his arrogant gaze, I wouldn''t have reacted so badly. What''s up with him? I''m not the type to lose control so easily like this, no? Even Liam has be a few degrees colder towards my presence after what happened.''

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro knew that he got off at a wrong start. His mind was filled with various ns to rectify the situation in order to prevent his mission from heading towards utter failure. He maintained a pleasant and interested expression, appearing as if he was listening to his step-mother''s nonsensical conversation with Randy, when in fact, he was busy calcting the possibility of solving his predicament before the Christmas party was over tonight.

    While he was upied with his thoughts, therge group arrived at the indoor forest.

 Chapter 1247 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    Chapter 1247 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    Unlike the rest of the mansion, there were no Christmas decorations in the indoor forest. There were, however, beautiful fairy lights hanging on some of the trees and shrubs, lightly swaying here and there like leisurely fireflies.

    Iris and Jin Liwei, along with the butler, led everyone through the main trail to the centre of the indoor forest. Before long, they all saw the koi fish pond. There were gasps as their eyes feasted on the scene in front of them.

    Small red candles were burning on top of lily pads floating on the pond. They cast a captivating illumination on the clear water, reaching underneath where the colourful koi fish swam curiously along the firelights.

    Aboveground, two rows of bigger and taller candles lined up the edges of the mini bridge leading to the islet in the middle of the pond. A carpet of red rose petals covered the entire bridge.

    Jin Chonglin stood just outside the pond while holding a video camera and recording everyone''s arrival. He shed them with his killer smile before nodding at his older brother.

    Jin Liwei nodded back. He and Iris instructed everyone to stand a little farther away from the main trail and to keep quiet. While doing so, they all nced at the islet in the middle of the pond.

    Lu Zihao stood there together with two of his sworn brothers. He was busy listening to Wang Yingjie who was busy speaking to someone on the phone. Yu Mo circled around them and recording everything with a handheld video camera like Jin Chonglin.

    Momentster, Jin Liwei shushed everyone. All the murmurings stopped. It didn''t take long for footsteps to be heard. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "What''s happening?" a female voice asked in a tiny, nervous voice.

    "Rx," another female voice soothed her. "Everything will be fine."

    Finally, everyone saw the new arrivals. Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan were leading a blindfolded Long Jinjing. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui followed behind them.

    Lin Yehan was also holding a video camera and recording the event. He gave a signal to his sworn brothers before looking at Jiang Ying Yue. She nodded and together with Lin Yehan, they both led the blindfolded Jiang Ying Yue on the bridge while Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui joined the rest of the spectators.

    Jiang Ying Yue transferred Long Jinjing''s hand to Lu Zihao before retreating.

    "Zihao?" Long Jinjing asked, her voice a whisper.

    "Hm, it''s me," he replied.

    She sighed in relief, her nervousness decreasing by half due to his presence alone. Although she couldn''t see anything, she could hear the gentle sshes of water and smell the fresh earthy scent of nature. She knew that they were in the indoor forest. But that was it. She didn''t know what was going on.

    After she and Lu Zihao spoke to Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui earlier, Lu Zihao excused himself, leaving her to have some heart to heart talk with her father and stepmother. Later, Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue arrived and blindfolded her, saying that she was among a small group of randomly chosen ones who were selected to win a big Christmas surprise.

    She didn''t doubt their im for one bit because her sister Iris and brother-inw Jin Liwei had always been excellent in throwing parties and making their guests enjoy themselves. Maybe this was another one of the couple''s ways to liven up the atmosphere and make the Christmas gathering memorable for everyone.

    Back to the present, Long Jinjing stuck close to Lu Zihao''s side, takingfort in his presence. Her excitement was quickly trumping over her nervousness.

    Lu Zihao''s lips touched her earlobe, causing her skin to flush red, before his devilish whisper asked, "Are you ready?"

    She nodded like a pecking chicken. Finally, the cloth covering her eyes was removed. At first, she didn''t notice anything amiss. She blinked her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. Then she hesitated when she saw the setup around her.

    "W-what¡­."

    Before she could form a coherent thought, Lu Zihao knelt in front of her and opened a small velvet box. A diamond ring shone inside.

    Her hands covered her gasping mouth.

    "Long Jinjing, will you marry me?"

    It felt like fireworks went off inside her mind. Her IQ fell to amoeba-level. It took a few moments before her consciousness returned.

    "Jinjing?" the still kneeling Lu Zihao continued to ask her.

    She stared at him like a stupid idiot.

    He frowned but didn''t move from his kneeling position and continued to wait for her reply.

    She wasn''t aware because her IQ was currently at the level of an amoeba but the spectators were almost dying from anxiety watching the proposal ying in front of them. She didn''t notice the restless Grandpa Lu who was being stopped by Grandma Li from running towards the islet to assist his own grandson''s proposal.

    The seconds ticked by and Long Jinjing still hadn''t replied. Lu Zihao couldn''t hold it anymore.

    "Are you not going to ept my proposal?"

    The frown remained on his face but others couldn''t see any additional emotion. Nobody detected his sweaty palms or the slight trembling of the hand holding the velvet box containing the diamond ring. To others, he remained steady despite the long wait for hisdy''s response to his proposal.

    It was a slow process but Long Jinjing finally recovered some of her IQ. Not much but at least her mind wasn''t at the level of amoeba anymore.

    "I¡­Ni¡ªZihao, you¡­" she stammered.

    He raised an eyebrow and lifted the small velvet box closer to her.

    "B-but we''re already engaged," she said. "Didn''t I already propose to you before? And you already epted it. Why are you p-proposing to me?"

    Lu Zihao sighed. "I want to give you a proper proposal. So? What''s your answer? Will you marry me?"

    "But you should already know my answer."

    "Dammit, Jinjing! Yes or no?"

    "Yes!" Tears flowed down her face. "Oh yes, I''ll marry you!"

    The frown disappeared from Lu Zihao''s face reced by a faint but genuine smile. He quickly slid the diamond ring on Long Jinjing''s finger before standing up and sweeping her in his embrace and kissing her in front of the cheering spectators.

    ###

    Chapter Title: Proper Proposal

 Chapter 1248 - I Wonâ€™t Hold It Against You

    Chapter 1248 - I Won¡¯t Hold It Against You

    The Christmas Eve celebration ended on a high note with Lu Zihao''s sessful marriage proposal to Long Jinjing. A few dayster, the year also officially ended amidst a thick nket of snow.

    Iris and Jin Liwei chose to wee the New Year together at home. This time, they didn''t host a party because most people preferred to celebrate the New Year at thefort of their own homes. Nevertheless, it wasn''t lonely. On the contrary, the couple and their loved ones couldn''t be any happier as they said goodbyes to the old year and ushered the New Year.

    The holiday atmosphere quickly ended as people returned to work as usual. This was also true to Iris and Jin Liwei especially after the Chua family left and returned to the Philippines.

    By this time, Iris'' baby bump continued to grow bigger although she still didn''t look pregnant yet when wearing loose clothing. Unless she wore figure-hugging clothes, others wouldn''t notice that she was pregnant at all.

    Work picked up quickly during this time of the New Year and soon everyone became busy. Jin Corporation maintained its position as the number one multinationalpany in the country. Yet instead of spending more time at work, Jin Liwei quickly shed his reputation as a workaholic.

    The time he spent in thepany became lesser and lesser. At first, the board of directors became worried that his shortened work hours would negatively affect thepany''s performance and profits. Then Jin Liwei showed them his might as a business leader, letting the results speak for themselves.

    "It''s not about quantity but the quality of work," he coldly told them during a meeting.

    The voices of dissatisfaction were silenced. Still, Jin Liwei didn''t allow himself to growcent. Even though he expressed his willingness to be a househusband many times before to assure his wife that their family was more important than his work, it didn''t mean that he would allow thepany to fall into ruins under his leadership.

    His sense of responsibility had always been strong when it came to Jin Corporation. Thepany was the fruit of Grandfather Jin and Grandpa Lu''s blood, sweat and tears after all. It would be a huge disrespect to the two elders if Jin Corporation copsed in his hands. The least he could do was to maintain its glory before handing it to the next generation. For him, continuing this legacy was an important mission.

    More importantly, he wanted his children to inherit thepany and continue the legacy just like what he was doing right now. Of course, he wouldn''t force his children if they didn''t want to manage thepany. His wife would most definitely be the first one to fight him if he ever forced any of their children towards careers that they didn''t want.

    These thoughts yed in his mind as he sat behind his desk inside his top-floor office. His lips curved up and his gaze softened. It was a typical workday at Jin Corporation but his mind wasn''t all filled with work. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    There were no urgent tasks today so he had time to take frequent breaks to view his wife''s photos on his phone. This had be a daily habit of him to rx himself.

    His thumb paused when the current photo on his phone showed thetest ultrasound image of his wife. His soft smile became a grin. His twins were no longer small beans. They were growing well. Anticipation filled him. He and his wife would finally meet their human babies soon thising summer, spring if the twins decided toe earlier than their due dates.

    "As long as you don''t put your mother through unnecessary pain and hardship, I won''t hold it against you," he murmured, softly scolding his yet unborn twins through their ultrasound photo.

    "Daddy, daddy!" Ketchup''s adorable child''s voice interrupted him.

    He nced at hisputer monitor to see his AI daughter jumping in excitement.

    "Uncle Dom says that Mommy wille here at thepany to eat lunch with Daddy after her meeting at Orchidia Beauty! Is Daddy excited? Of course, you are! The cute and mighty Ketchup is super-duper to the highest level excited, too! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei chuckled. His expression was the epitome of pure joy. After confirming with Ketchup the time his wife would arrive, he decided to be productive and finish as many tasks as he could so that he could spend quality time with his family without any worriester.

    But before that, he used his phone as an electronic key to open a small, newly-added hidden drawer under his desk. It slid open. Then he took out a framed photo and stared at it, mesmerized.

    The candid photo showed a gorgeous woman with a subtle smile. Her golden-blonde hair shone while her emerald-green eyes looked as if they were filled with profound mysteries.

    He touched the beautiful face, tracing the soft, delicate lines on the photo.

    "Evelina," he whispered.

    No matter how many times he looked at his wife''s photos of her past self, he always felt his heart drum as if something within him wanted to jump out of his body, out of this time and ce, and find his wife in her past self. His heart was filled with love, of course, but it also ached whenever he remembered the tragedy his wife experienced in her past life.

    He sighed, his eyes lingering on the beautiful woman, before returning the framed photo in the hidden drawer and locking it again out of sight.

    It took him a few minutes to reorient his frame of mind and continue working on his tasks.

    About an hourter, his grin was back as he personally picked up his wife at the lobby downstairs. Iris'' arrival was soon spread throughout thepany. The ck Stars within thepany almost couldn''t contain their excitement.

    Jin Liwei swiftly led his wife to his top-floor office, not giving his employees a chance to pester his wife and intrude in their lovey-dovey time. It was up to him to control his employees because his wife would never disregard her fans no matter the time and ce.

    The ck Stars working in hispany had long resented him for this but he didn''t give a damn.. Not one bit.

 Chapter 1249 - Birthday Party Invitation

    Chapter 1249 - Birthday Party Invitation

    Irisughed at her husband''s overprotective actions. He supported her from walking to sitting down. She had already grown used to him acting like this. He wouldn''t listen to her protests anyway. All she could do was change her mindset and think that he wasn''t treating her as an invalid but as an empress to be served instead.

    She wasn''t the one who conjured this empress analogy. It was Dom. Not surprisingly, Jin Liwei didn''t refute it, even telling her that she was indeed his beloved empress.

    As a result, her previous misgivings about his overcautious treatment of her all faded away. Of course, the previous miscarriage scare was a huge lesson for her. She knew that it was mostly her fault for not controlling her emotions better and allowing her hard-headedness to get the better of her good sense.

    This was why even without her husband and the others'' careful treatment of her, she would take better care of her pregnancy herself. Her body was no longer hers alone. It was now her husband''s, and during the duration of her pregnancy, their twin babies'' as well. She had to take better care of herself for her family.

    Jin Liwei continued to fuss over her even as Dom and Xu Tian wereying out delicious and nutritious dishes on the table. All the food was delivered from home around the same time Iris'' entourage arrived at Jin Corporation.

    Knowing that their mistress was going to eat with their master, the chefs at home took extra care in preparing the food and making sure that they suited their pregnant mistress'' tastes. By this time, the chefs at home had already mastered dishes that would minimize their mistress'' nausea.

    Iris no longer felt sick when eating but this only applied to food prepared by their private chefs. There were still instances that she would feel sick when encountering food prepared outside. This was why Jin Liwei prevented others from giving her food not made from home.

    Dom and Xu Tian left to eat their own lunch, leaving the husband and wife alone in the CEO''s office. Even the talkative Ketchup didn''t disturb her parents and followed her Uncle Dom instead. The two chatterboxes had a lively conversation while the helpless Xu Tian could only resign himself to the ear torture.

    Back at the CEO''s office, Jin Liwei was attentive as usual, serving his wife food. They sat together on the couch and ate lunch in a rxed manner.

    "Have you spoken to Bacon yet?" Iris asked.

    "En. The kid dropped by myputer earlier today and said that he''s busy helping his Uncle Zihao at Shadow Winds and also helping out Long Jinjing whenever he has free time."

    Iris smiled. "He''s working hard."

    Jin Liwei put more meat in his wife''s bowl and said, "He''s happy to work hard and earn more money from his uncle and aunt."

    She chuckled. "Let him. If it makes him happy, that''s all that matters."

    "En."

    "The new configurations I did on his system will make sure that we''re alerted if he''s doing something too dangerous and beyond his current abilities."

    He nodded and poured hot tea for her. He didn''t bother telling his wife that he paid their AI son premium money to ckmail Lu Zihao into acting less restless. So far, it was effective. Bacon was now freely using his Aunt Jinjing to make his Uncle Zihao agree to most of demands.

    Lu Zihao was resentful but still backed down a great deal. The activities of his group Shadow Winds had be less frequent and more mindful. Jin Liwei was very satisfied. As long as Lu Zihao curbed his recklessness, Iris and Long Jinjing who were both pregnant wouldn''t have to worry themselves sick.

    After lunch, Iris stayed in Jin Liwei''s office and even helped him interpret a call with a foreign partner. It was after that business call that Iris noticed something on his desk. She took it and began reading. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Jin Liwei saw what she was reading and told her, "It''s from Ren¨¦ Alejandro. He had someone send it to my office this morning."

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "It''s addressed to both of us and yet he sent it here to Jin Corporation?"

    He shrugged. "Maybe he finds it easier to send it here after personally experiencing the strict security at Dragon Pce."

    She pursed her lips and continued to study the invitation.

    "Do you want to attend?" he asked but still said, "I think that it''s better that you don''t. It''s only a birthday party anyway. We can just send him a gift. No need to personally attend¡ª"

    "Excuse me, Mommy and Daddy! Grandma Lan is calling Mommy''s number. Should Ketchup ept the call? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei looked at his wife. Iris hesitated for a second before sighing and letting Ketchup ept the call. After the phone call, she felt exhausted, irritated, and a dull ache started in her temples.

    A displeased Jin Liwei carried her to the connecting bedroom in his office andid her down on the bed before starting to massage her head. His expression was cold but her movements were gentle.

    "Why did you agree to attend Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party?" he asked with a frown.

    He had wanted to take over the phone call with Wei Lan but his wife gestured for him to not interfere. Although reluctant, he backed down and listened in silence to Wei Lan sessfully persuade his wife to attend Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party.

    "We''ll just show our faces and leave," Iris replied with a sigh. She closed her eyes and enjoyed her husband''s gentle ministrations. Then she opened them again and looked at him. "Ever since the Christmas party, Ren¨¦ Alejandro has been apanying Wei Lan whenever she visits us at home. He also brings his own gifts for the kids separate from Wei Lan. The way he acts is really as if he considers us as his family."

    "Your older brother hates him," hemented.

    She had to agree. Whenever Lu Zihao and Ren¨¦ Alejandro encountered each other by chance, they would look like they would start brawling. Fortunately, there was Long Jinjing who would always stop Lu Zihao.

    As for Iris, she was actually quite curious to watch an actual physical fight between her older brother and the Spaniard.

 Chapter 1250 - Brand New

    Although Iris was curious,mon sense told her that there was no reason for her older brother and Ren¨¦ Alejandro to actually fight each other. Maybe the two men just didn''t vibe well, hence their hostility with each other.

    She thought this way, and yet deep inside, she still couldn''t help but feel that there was something about the Spaniard that made her ill at ease. She already shared her opinions about Ren¨¦ Alejandro with her husband.

    "His background is clean," Jin Liwei said before adding, "on paper."

    She pursed her lips. Indeed, on paper, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was clean. She and her two AI children plus ShaWn had been working together to dig deeper into the Spaniard''s background but they couldn''t find any dirty information about him other than her initial findings back then about his adoptive father, Wei Lan''s current husband''s charity involvement with orphanages and that school for orphans.

    Normally, this wasn''t suspicious by itself. Even Ren¨¦ Alejandro personally shared to them before during one of her visits with Wei Lan that his father adopted him from one of the orphanages and that he attended the school for orphans. Despite this, Iris just couldn''t shake off the feeling that there was something iffy about him. The fact that her older brother was so hostile to the man was also enough for her to be suspicious.

    Jin Liwei leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Don''t stress over Ren¨¦ Alejandro. It''s bad for you and our twins. If the man really has bad intentions against us, your older brother and I will deal with him. Besides, Ketchup and Bacon are already keeping an eye on him."

    "Alright." Iris sighed, starting to feel sleepy. "I''ll give birth safely first and really dig for more information about him if we still don''t have anything new by then."

    "En."

    "Maybe we can glean something from him if we attend his birthday party."

    Jin Liwei doubted it but didn''t contradict his wife''s suggestion. He continued massaging his wife until she fell asleep. It was only then that he left the connecting bedroom and return to work in his office. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris'' nap onlysted for half an hour before she woke up. The husband and wife left Jin Corporation together even though work hours weren''t done yet. Jin Liwei wanted to apany his wife because today was an important day for her.

    Later, they arrived at a newly-builtmercial building owned by a real estate business under Jin Corporation. Iris bought it through her real estatepany, Gold Heights. Of course, Jin Liwei approved it and had his own people facilitate the process to make everything smooth for his wife.

    The building wasn''t thatrge but it was in an excellent and prominent location. Passersby couldn''t help but nce at the new building, especially after a big and brand-new logo was erected on it.

    Eve Holdings.

    Iris smiled. She was delighted behind her mask andrge sunsses. Jin Liwei apanied his wife to stare at her new holdingpany. He squeezed her hand.

    "Congrats, love," he whispered directly to her ear.

    "Thank you." She pulled his hand and led him to the building''s main entrance.

    He chuckled at herbined excitement and impatience. Dom followed behind them holding his phone and recording the moment on video. Bodyguards protected them without being too obvious.

    Their impressive appearance garnered many nces from other people but their simple disguise was quite effective. Nobody recognized them, and even if someone did, this ce was considered as a new extension of the city''s business district. People here were all busy and walked with purpose. They had no time to idle around and care about other people they passed by on the streets.

    Compared to the prime location of Jin Corporation''s main headquarters, this ce was less busy. Iris preferred it this way. There were more possibilities for future development in this area. This was one of the reasons why she personally chose this ce among the options that her husband presented to her.

    As soon as they entered the building, Iris'' new staff greeted her. As someone who had several businesses under her name, she was already experienced in choosing and hiring staff. Jin Liwei helped her as much as possible, of course, but the majority of the administrative selection was personally done by her.

    This was herpany after all. She didn''t want her own employees to have the impression that Jin Liwei was their real boss and that she was just a symbolic head. She wanted to show her employees and everyone that she was apetent businessperson just like her husband in her own right.

    Iris removed her mask and sunsses. Then she looked at her employees. Most of them were young, new graduates. There were a few familiar faces that she transferred from her other businesses, mainly from Orchidia Beauty. As a result, it was inevitable that the majority of them were ck Stars.

    "Boss Iris!"

    They were visibly trembling with excitement as soon as they saw her full face. Yet they controlled themselves very well and did their best to remain as professional as possible. Even though all they wanted at the moment was to run to their Boss Iris and express their love and adoration for her, they didn''t want to embarrass their goddess. They had already vowed to help their Boss Iris establish herself as a capable business leader.

    Iris and Dom interacted with the staff while Jin Liwei and the bodyguards watched over them. There weren''t many of them yet but Iris made sure that all the key positions were filled first.

    Afterwards, they followed Iris'' new administrative assistant in a tour of the building. She already toured it before but this was the first time that she was seeing thepleted look of everything. Most of the ces were still empty but she could already envision a flourishing atmosphere in the future.

    This was only the start.

    Iris appointed herself as the President-CEO of Eve Holdings.. She had no choice but to hire a new administrative assistant because Dom was unable to handle the additional work even though his education qualified him for the job.

 Chapter 1251 - I Trust In You

    After speaking with Dom, Iris learned that he preferred to work with her in a closer capacity as her personal assistant rather than as a business one. She was relieved, touched and happy, so Dom''s sry was raised yet again. If other personal assistants heard how much he was being paid, he would definitely be envied and hated to death.

    The tour ended just in time when additional people started arriving. Iris weed them inside her new, spacious office at the topmost floor of thepany building.

    First to arrive was Hou Liang, CEO and main game developer of Monkey. He was also known as MonkeyFace, an important member of the ck Stars. He also had another identity, the hacker KeymonSTER.

    "Wu Chen sends his regards," Hou Liang told Iris after greeting each other.  Monkey is extremely busy after we opened the new map in Supreme Ascension during the New Year so he needs to hold the fort. He wants me to give this to you."

    He handed her a cake box. Curious, Iris opened it andughed at what she saw. Inside was a cake in the shape of a pair of slippers with a missing, chewed off part. As expected of the notorious founder of Slippers Army, Wu Chen, a.k.a. iEatSlippers.

    "Thank you," she said with a smile before handing Dom the cake.

    Next to arrive was the representative of her real estate business, Gold Heights.

    A couple of minutester, Chen Fei arrived to represent Orchidia Beauty.

    "How''s Big Sister Jinjing?" Iris asked.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes while taking off her coat. "Stupidly basking in love. I feel like vomiting every time I see her giggling by herself while looking at her diamond ring. I swear that her pupils have turned heart-shaped. Ugh!"

    Irisughed. Then she leaned close and asked in a whisper, "How''s her pregnancy?"

    "Nothing really changed that much," Chen Fei whispered back. "Her appetite is still the same but she''s trying to eat a little more. Well, she does get tired more easily but that''s about it as far as I noticed."

    "Really?"

    "Yeah. Well, she''s only a few weeks along. Maybe she''ll have morning sickness and all that terrible shitter."

    Iris felt a little envious of Long Jinjing. She already started exhibiting pregnancy symptoms very early on in her pregnancy and they still hadn''tpletely abated yet even until now. They only became more manageable with time and careful nourishment. Despite her slight envy, she still didn''t wish for Long Jinjing to experience the difficult symptoms that she had experienced.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Their conversation was interrupted when Dom connected them to Clover via video call. Clover was now back in France but still needed to attend today''s meeting as the representative of Libert¨¦. The girl squad friends chatted with each other for a few moments until the final person they were waiting for finally arrived.

    "Am I thest one?" Jin Chonglin asked after greeting everyone and shing them with a sheepish version of his iconic killer smile. "I don''t think I''mte."

    "No, you''re right on time," Iris said.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes at him. In response, he raised an eyebrow at her, his expression challenging. She snorted in disgust but otherwise didn''t bicker with him.

    "Where''s Big Bro?" Jin Chonglin asked Iris. "I heard that he''s here but howe I don''t see him?"

    "He''s answering a business call somewhere. He''ll join us shortly." After she said this, Iris led everyone to the main conference room.

    Atty. Kang Huizhong, Jin Liwei''swyer was already waiting inside with the other executives of Eve Holdings. Everyone took a seat.

    Jin Liwei joined them soon after to sit at the far end of the conference table. He didn''t want to take the spotlight away from his wife. He was attending today''s meeting as a business consultant, and most importantly, as his wife''s moral support.

    Finally, the meeting began.

    "Thank you very much foring today," Iris said before giving a short but spirited speech.

    Jin Liwei watched his wife. His current expression was far from his usual cold and indifferent one that he presented to others. His smile might be subtle but the way he looked at his wife showed how proud he was of her.

    Others were extremely aware of his presence, especially the new executives of Eve Holdings. Almost all of them were business school graduates and remembered how often their professors used Jin Liwei as a role model and Jin Corporation''s most famous business deals as case studies for their lessons. They almost couldn''t keep theirposures now that they were actually meeting him in the flesh and sitting with him in the same room.

    In their hearts, he was a paragon of business leadership of their generation. His aura exuded unmistakable confidence and alsomanding authority. They already readied themselves to fight what they believed would be the inevitable state of distraction due to CEO Jin Liwei''s powerful presence.

    Surprisingly, no, shockingly, they gradually stopped noticing him as they became engrossed by his wife instead. Iris had an undeniable natural charisma and stage presence which were valuable in her career as a celebrity.

    These qualities were certainly helping her right now to grab everyone''s attention as she took the lead in the meeting. Of course, just these alone weren''t enough. She was able to sessfully impress these young executives with her business knowledge and eloquence.

    "Orchidia Beauty, Monkey, Gold Heights." She looked at Clover on the video call screen. "Libert¨¦, soon." Then finally looked at Jin Chonglin. "And LXC Studio."

    Jin Chonglin shed her his best iconic killer smile but it was unfortunate that Iris wasn''t the least bit affected. The newly hired executives, however, had their mortal eyes almost blinded by his smile.

    "I agreed to let LXC Studio to join under Eve Holdings'' umbre because I trust in you," he told Iris.

    Jin Chonglin was the majority equity holder of LXC Studio, owning 50% of the entertainmentpany, while Iris and Jin Liwei shared the remaining half. Without his approval, Iris or Jin Liwei were unable to transfer LXC Studio under Eve Holdings.

    She nodded with a smile. "Thank you for your trust.. I won''t let our LXC Studio down."

 Chapter 1252 - Let Nature Take Its Course

    "You''re all now under Eve Holdings'' protection," Iris told everyone. "From now one, we''re all one big family, so I hope that everyone will work together to achieve sess regardless of the differences in the nature of each business."

    Everyone nodded. Iris smiled in satisfaction before looking at Atty. Kang Huizhong to exin the legal aspects of the change in the status of each of the businesses after officially registering under the new holdingpany.

    From now on, Jin Liwei''swyer would be the one to assist her in the majority of the legal dealings of Eve Holdings. Her own personalwyer, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, wouldn''t step in as much as possible because he wasn''t as experienced in corporatew as the renownedwyer of Jin Corporation.

    Since Jin Liwei had an extensive experience in managing arge and profitable corporation, he also provided helpful advice and insights along with Atty. Kang Huizhong''s exnation. Iris and the others listened to them intently.

    The meeting soon ended because Iris didn''t like wasting precious time in unnecessary idle chatter when talking business.

    She stood up. "Oh, before I forget. Don''t forget to mark down your calendars for Eve Holdings'' grand opening."

    ###

    The grand opening urred the next Monday. Iris kept it small and only invited a carefully selected media representatives. Nevertheless, many members of the media who weren''t invited still came after LXC Studio released an official announcement that it would be bing a daughterpany of Eve Holdings.

    It was great shock to everyone. They thought that even if LXC Studio didn''tpletely remain independent, it would choose to go under Jin Corporation''s wings. Jin Corporation had invested in the entertainment industry plenty of times before but it didn''t really have any actual entertainment business that it owned.

    This was why it was such a huge shocker when LXC Studio chose apletely new and unknown holdingpany. Wouldn''t it make so much better sense to go with argepany like Jin Corporation that had a proven track record?

    LXC Studio was newly established and didn''t have any notable projects yet to prove its worth in the entertainment industry despite Jin Chonglin and Iris Long''s high-profile separation from Bright Summit to form their ownpany.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Many were shaking their heads and thought that Jin Chonglin and Iris Long were making a foolish decision. What was Jin Liwei doing in allowing the two to make such a big gamble when LXC Studio should be focusing on stabilizing itself first?

    Then they finally found the answer when the identity of Eve Holdings was leaked.

    It turned out Iris Long herself fully owned the new holdingspany.

    The ck Stars were, of course, extremely proud of their Boss Iris'' new achievement in the world of business. At the same time, they werementing a little that she seemed to be focusing too much on doing business in recent months rather than focusing on her showbiz career. They missed her in the limelight so much! But no matter what, they would still support her with all their hearts.

    The others, however, weren''t that supportive. The general reaction towards Iris Long setting up her own private holdingspany was mostly mixed.

    Even though she already proved that she could establish her own sessful and profitable business, Orchidia Beauty, there were still many people who didn''t credit the sess to her. They still thought it was due to her husband CEO Jin Liwei''s backing and also choosing the right people to manage thepany in the form of the young, talented business graduates, COO Chen Fei and Iris'' own half-sister, CFO Long Jinjing.

    Because Eve Holdings was 100% privately owned by Iris Long, outsiders were finding it difficult to dig for more information about the new holdingpany. It didn''t help that it didn''t have any track records yet.

    Arge crowd gathered around the vicinity of Eve Holdings''pany building. Police officers and thepany''s own security worked together to prevent uninvited guests from breaching the temporary barriers.

    The scene looked more like a celebrity red carpet event rather than a regr business opening.

    Inside a ck luxury car headed to the grand opening, Jin Chonglinughed when he saw the huge crowd of people already trailing a long way from the actual location.

    "I knew that it will be like this even when Sister Xin repeatedly said that she''ll be keeping the grand opening smaller and simplerpared to Orchidia Beauty''s extravagant grandunch."

    "Isn''t it because of you?" Lin Dong, Jin Chonglin''s manager and now LXC Studio''s Chief of Talent Management, said.

    Jin Chonglin shrugged. "What can I do? This prince is just too famous. People will notice everything I do. Even if I just sneeze, it will be a national headline."

    Lin Dong gave a dry chuckle while rolling his eyes at the man''s high ego. Still, Jin Chonglin wasn''t lying. He was a superstar after all. It was already a fact that he was a walking ma of attention.

    "Well, look. It''s not just my fans." Jin Chonglin pointed outside. "The Suits are back. They look cool, man! The ck Stars are too unique. I''m a little envious, dammit!"

    "Careful not to offend them or they might throw their slippers at you. Theirbat power isn''t any inferior to your army of fans."

    "Nah. I''m their Boss Iris Long''s brother-inw. They love me and already adopted me as their family."

    Lin Dong shook his head, sighing. "Don''t be too overconfident. They wouldn''t even spare your older brother if he ever hurts Iris and he''s her husband. What more a mere brother-inw like you? They''ll annihte you."

    "Whatever."

    Jin Chonglin no longer wanted to continue this thread of conversation. He sat back and sulked in silence.

    Lin Dong nced at him from the rearview mirror and sighed. It seemed that Jin Chonglin was still notpletely over his secret feelings for his own sister-inw. Lin Dong opened his mouth and wanted to say something but closed it again, deciding that it was better not to trigger Jin Chonglin.

    <i>''Let nature take its course,''</i> he thought instead.

    If even an ice block like CEO Jin Liwei couldpletely fall for a woman and find happiness, then his brother Jin Chonglin could also find someone a perfect someone to fall in love with for sure.

    Hopefully.

 Chapter 1253 - Same Owner

    Despite the huge crowd, mostly consisting of the ck Stars and Jin Chonglin''s army of fans, the grand opening of Eve Holdings went smoothly. There was no time wasted. Everything proceeded strictly ording to schedule.

    The invited reporters wanted more time to ask additional questions during the interview, but unfortunately for them, thepany staff didn''t allow them. The interview time weren''t all that long either. They were only given a maximum of fifteen minutes for the entire interview.

    No private questions for Iris Long or Jin Chonglin or for anyone else were allowed. Only questions about the grand opening and the newpany itself were epted.

    As the President-CEO of Eve Holdings, Iris Long was at the forefront when it came to answering the questions. Beside her were the representatives of the daughterpanies registered under Eve Holdings.

    Chen Fei for Orchidia Beauty.

    Jin Chonglin for LXC Studio.

    Hou Liang for Monkey.

    Dominic Chua as proxy for his sister Clover for the soon-to-beunched Libert¨¦.

    And finally, a representative from Gold Heights.

    Of course, Jin Liwei was there to apany Iris as her escort, though he made sure not to steal her spotlight during the interview no matter how much the reporters wanted to ask him some questions.

    Although the reporters were a little disappointed at the upromising stance of Iris Long and the others, they quicklytched on other juicy topics. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    At the same time, the ck Stars, Jin Chonglin''s army of fans, and other people who were interested in Iris Long''s new holdingspany were watching the grand opening via livestream. The viewers were discussing as they watched.

    "Congrats, Boss Iris! You''re the best! We love you so much!"

    "Prince Lin Lin, you''re so handsome as always! Licking my screen."

    "We already know that Iris Long owns Orchidia Beauty and that old French perfumepany that she''s rebranding and also partly owns LXC Studio but I didn''t know that she also owns Gold Heights."

    "That''s already old news. I live in a Gold Heights condo¡ªnot the one where Iris Long previously lived in a penthouse¡ªbut I heard from the grapevine in our residential buildingmunity that CEO Jin bought the entirepany and gifted it to her. We only received a notice that thepany had changed owners but they didn''t specify the new owner''s identity. If not for the curious me who asked around, I wouldn''t even know that Iris Long already owns the property that I live in. She didn''t really make any drastic changes in thepany management or structure when she became the new owner so there was basically no noticeable difference from before. There were a lot of improvements in the facilities and perks for the residents though, so I guess that''s a big plus."

    "Hot damn! Gifting an entirepany just like that! Can someone gift me apany, too?"

    Envious people disparaged Iris Long but the Slippers Army was there to defend her like always. The group''s infamy was already well-known on the inte, so most of the users would back down whenever they appeared, not wanting for the Slippers Army to gang up on them. Of course, there were pure haters who would fight the Slippers Army to the very end.

    That was life. One couldn''t please everyone.

    Another topic of discussion was also attracting a wave ofments, mostly from gamers.

    "Whoa! Monkey actually joined Iris Long''s new holdingpany. Why? Is this for real?"

    "The CEO and CFO of Monkey are known fans of Iris Long. They are even former officers of her fan club. Maybe this is why they decided to join under her holdingpany because they''re big fans of her."

    "What a shallow reason. Why did the owner of Monkey agree to this kind of big decision?"

    "Maybe the owner is also a big fan of Iris Long."

    "That''s actually a good possibility. Monkey''s CEO and CFO alone can''t make the final decision to make this kind of big decision for thepany without the owner''s approval. I don''t see why the owner will agree to join under a new and unknown holdingpany when it''s such a huge risk. So maybe you''re right that the owner is also a ck Star."

    "Hooray for Boss Iris! Hooray for all the slipper-eating monkeys! To friendships and glory! All hail <i>Supreme Ascension</i>!"

    At the actual event, the reporters were also curious about the same thing as the livestream viewers regarding Monkey.

    "This is a question for CEO Hou. Can you tell us why Monkey decided to join under Iris Long''s¡ª"

    "Please call her President Long," Hou Liang corrected the reporter in the middle of asking him. "She''s standing her in front of you today as the head of Eve Holdings."

    Iris nced at Hou Liang, her eyes widening in slight surprise, before smiling. Before this, the quietputer nerd wouldn''t bother to say things like this to others. It seemed that being a CEO had made him more assertive and not afraid to speak his mind and make a point in front of an audience. She was pleased with his transformation.

    Just like her, Jin Liwei was also pleased with how Hou Liang demanded respect for Iris as a business leader especially in today''s event¡ªthe grand opening of Eve Holdings. His mood improved in an instant.

    "¡ªoh, alright. My apologies." The reporter coughed sheepishly beforepleting his question while addressing Iris in a proper manner as President Long.

    Hou Liang nced at Iris first before answering. She gave him a brief, almost imperceptible nod.

    Monkey joined Eve Holdings because it''s only natural."

    All of the reporters waited for a few more seconds but he didn''t say anything more.

    "What do you mean that it''s only natural?" the reporter asked him again.

    "Same owner," Hou Liang replied.

    His words didn''t immediately register in people''s minds.

    "W-wait...Iris Long owns Eve Holdings, so does this mean that she also owns Monkey? She''s that mysterious owner?!"

    Hou Liang didn''t bother speaking and just nodded to confirm the reporter''s conclusion.

    Jaws dropped.

    The reporters looked at Iris.

    Her smile was enough confirmation.

    WHAT THE HELL?!!!

 Chapter 1254 - To My Wife

    It was unfortunate for the reporters that the interview time ran out. They tried to ask more questions but the staff was polite yet firm in rejecting them. It didn''t help that CEO Jin quickly stood beside his wife, effectively blocking them with his cold and intimidating aura.

    They were once again reminded that Iris Long was no longer just a normal celebrity. She was now the Young Madam of the Jin family. Her status had greatly changed after her marriage. They could no longer approach her like before.

    Never mind if they couldn''t ask her anymore. CEO Hou Liang''s bombshell was enough material.

    The grand opening ceremony ended on schedule. The reporters wasted no time in returning to theirpanies to submit their stories.

    Later, Iris and Jin Liwei''s group were on their way home. Dom followed them in another car while updating all of Iris'' social media ounts with today''s grand opening.

    Now that the event was done, Iris feltpletely drained. She burrowed deeper in her husband''s arms while deeply inhaling his scent. A soft sigh of satisfaction escaped her red lips. The husband and wife cuddled in the backseat.

    Jin Liwei kissed her forehead and pulled a nket over her. "Feel sick?"

    She shook her head.

    Due to her pregnancy, she had to make the decision of forgoing an extravagant grand opening for Eve Holdings. She originally wanted to make the grand opening of Eve Holdings more special andvish than the grandunch of Orchidia Beauty, but sadly, such an event might put unnecessary stress on her health.

    Between the health of her twins and Eve Holdings, she chose her babies. She could always throw a bigger bash for Eve Holdings in the future after she gave birth safely anyway.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Outside the bubble of love between the husband and wife, the revtion that Iris Long was the mysterious owner of Monkey started appearing in the headlines. It wasn''t even half an hour since the grand opening event of Eve Holdings ended.

    Ketchup was the first one to detect the news stories but she didn''t want to disturb her tired and drowsy mommy, so she alerted her Uncle Dom in the other car instead.

    Dom was already experienced when it came to things like this. He quickly contacted Tang Yiyi and passed the responsibility of crafting an official statement to LXC Studio.

    Back to the husband and wife, Jin Liwei''s phone vibrated. He fished it out of his pocket and saw Dom''s message about the headlines and the actions he had just taken.

    The sleepy Iris noticed his movements. "What''s that?"

    He showed her.

    She chuckled, her eyes glinting with mischief. "Everybody will talk about that for a while and not notice that I''m wearing looser and thicker clothing than what I normally wear before."

    Jin Liwei''s hand touched her small baby bump hiding beneath her clothes. "We''ll be the ones to decide when we''ll reveal to the world that we''re expecting and not the paparazzi or others who don''t care about publishing scoops without consent."

    "Yes."

    When they arrived home, Iris received a surprise the moment she stepped inside.

    "Congrats, Xin my girl!" Grandpa Lu''s lively voice boomed. "This old man is so proud of you!"

    It wasn''t only him who was present. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan, Jin Liwei''s mother, were there as well.

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei also arrived before Iris and Jin Liwei. Clover was also virtually present via the tablet that Dom carried.

    Hou Liang sent his apologies for not following them because things were hectic at Monkey. He and Wu Chen (a.k.a. the original iEatSlippers) really couldn''t afford to be gone from thepany for too long at this time.

    As for the Gold Heights representative, he wasn''t invited to this private gathering because Iris only had a business rtionship with him and nothing more.

    "Cheers, Little Sister." Long Jinjing handed her a ss of coconut juice with little bits of pulp.

    Beside her, Lu Zihao also handed Jin Liwei a flute of champagne.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui came together as well. Meimei also took time off from ving away on her popr webtoon to celebrate with everyone.

    Jiang Ying Yue carried her son, Little Jun. Standing not too far away from her was Lin Yehan and Yu Mo. Unfortunately, Wang Yingjie was unable toe because he was on hospital duty.

    Even Iris'' music mentor, Enrique Valdez came.

    Jin Liwei raised his flute of champagne. Everyone followed suit. Iris and Long Jinjing also raised their sses of coconut juice.

    "To my wife and Eve Holdings," he said.

    "CHEERS!!!"

    Iris'' earlier exhaustion was now gone. She couldn''t stop smiling as she received everyone''s congrattions.

    It turned out that even though they decided to throw a rather simple grand opening ceremony for Eve Holdings and not invite many guests, Jin Liwei still wanted to throw her a special private celebratory party with their loved ones at home.

    Her eyes watered when she learned about his thoughtfulness. "Thank you, darling."

    "My pleasure, love."

    It was Monday during work hours so not everyone that Jin Liwei invited to the private party was able toe. Hence, their usual group was iplete. These people still sent congrattory messages and presents to Dragon Pce Home #10 for Iris though.

    The group moved to the same room where they celebrated Christmas. They ate and drank while chatting with each other.

    Momentster, the door opened.

    "Xiuuuuuaaaaaan, where are yooooouuuuu?" a familiar female voice interrupted. "Mother is heeeeeeeere~"

    Everyone watched as Wei Lan strutted inside as if she was on the catwalk (as always). Randy, the Zumba instructor, came with her. There was a third person.

    Lu Zihao''s eyes shed with hostility. He looked ready to pounce and was only stopped by a nervous Long Jinjing''s firm hand.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro greeted everyone with his dimpled smile. He didn''t seem bothered by Lu Zihao''s antagonism at all. He just ignored the man.

    The newly arrived trio headed straight to Iris and Jin Liwei for a greeting before each handing Iris a present of congrattions.

    "Thank you," Iris told them with a sincere smile while petting the cats.

    She was too happy to feel annoyed at Wei Lan, the prima donna, who believed that the star of the show should always bete.

 Chapter 1255 - Soy Sauce And Sausage

    Iris, Jin Liwei and the others were no longer surprised by Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s presence at their gatherings. Whenever Wei Lan and Randy came, the Spaniard would almost always apany them. Everyone was also aware that for some reason, he and Lu Zihao just couldn''t get along no matter how much Yu Mo tried to mediate things between them.

    Ever since the tense staring standoff between the two men during the Christmas gathering when they almost brawled before others fortunately stepped forward to break them up before anything disastrous happened, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had be more mindful of his behaviour. He apologized to everyone and admitted that he had been rude. He even tried to extend a hand to Lu Zihao and "make up" with him, but thetter only snorted at his "fake" apology.

    Lu Zihao continued to treat Ren¨¦ Alejandro with hostility but the Spaniard only let everything pass with a "helpless" smile and kept on "enduring" the other man''s obvious antagonism towards him.

    Due to this ongoing instances, Yu Mo and most of the others began to grow sympathetic of the Spaniard. Yu Mo had been especially putting in time and effort into befriending Ren¨¦ Alejandro. The two were now considered friends and would even hang out together.

    In this way, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was sessful in fixing the bad impression he left during the Christmas party. Except for Lu Zihao, nobody was openly opposing his regr presence. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The celebratory party this time was very casual and rxed. It onlysted for a few hours and ended after an early dinner. Everyone was conscious of the two pregnant women, Iris and Long Jinjing, and didn''t want to tire them out too much. It was also a Monday, so for most of them, they still had work tomorrow.

    Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing stayed in the mansion with Grandpa Lu. Although the newly engaged couple preferred to spend their time alone together at Long Jinjing''s ce, they still made it a point to stay at Dragon Pce on a regr basis, typically during the weekends.

    Grandpa Lu was delighted. He initially decided to stay at Dragon Pce in order to personally keep an eye on Iris'' pregnancy. Now that there was another great-grandbaby on the way from his own blood grandson, that punk Lu Zihao, he was beyond thrilled. He could bask in excitement while waiting for his precious great-grandbabies to be born.

    If possible, the old man would''ve preferred to stay with Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing but the couple liked to stay at the girl''s ce. Long Jinjing''s ce was just too small to fit a big personality like him. Besides, Grandpa Lu knew that his grandson would never allow him to intrude on the newly engaged couple''s alone time. Bah! Stinky boy!

    He could only satisfy himself with seeing the couple during the weekends. Compared to that stinky pinheaded blood grandson of his, Iris and Jin Liwei were certainly more amodating of him. It was such a st personally watching Iris'' small belly grow each day.

    After the party, Grandpa Lu ignored his two grandsons'' obvious reluctance and dragged the two pinheads for a good drink. Their women, Iris and Long Jinjing, already headed to their own respective bedrooms to rest for the night.

    "This is the life, ah!" Grandpa Lu sighed in great satisfaction after chugging all the beer from his ss.

    Lu Zihao poured more beer into the old man''s ss while Jin Liwei could only sigh with a helpless expression on his handsome face.

    "Grandpa, don''t drink too much," he could only say.

    The old man waved a dismissive hand. "Bah! Liwei my boy, why are you being such a killjoy, huh? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "You have to take care of your health and live a long life so that you can still watch your great-grandchildren grow."

    Jin Liwei''s words were super effective in making the stubborn old man pause in the midst of downing his refilled beer ss before eventually dering that it would be hisst ss for tonight.

    "Hmph! This old man knows my limit! These old bones of mine will surely live a little longer to y with my precious great-grandbabies! Ah, I can''t wait until Xin my girl and Jinjing my girl to give birth!"

    Grandpa Lu raised his ss and urged his two grandsons to follow suit. They did and the three clinked their sses before drinking their respective beer.

    "Your beloved grandpa is d that you two blockheads have finally decided to settle down and are now even starting your own families. For so many years, this old man had been so worried that I''ll never be able tost long enough in this world before meeting and enjoying my precious great-grandbabies from you. I always thank the heavens for giving both of you Xin and Jinjing. Those sisters are the greatest blessings to you two blockheads."

    "En." Jin Liwei had a soft smile as he agreed.

    Lu Zihao remained silent but he didn''t deny the old man''s words either.

    Grandpa Lu looked at his two grandsons who had now both be expecting fathers before shifting a mncholic gaze at the winter night sky outside the French windows.

    "It feels like it was only yesterday when the two of you were just small stinky boys hugging my knees and calling me Grandpa so that I can toss you in the air." He sighed but there was a nostalgic smile on his face.

    Nobody replied to him but he wasn''t really expecting any response. He continued reminiscing about his grandsons'' past as children.

    Finally, he emptied his ss and set it down on the table. Lu Zihao moved to refill it but he stopped him. Grandpa Lu leaned back on his chair and looked at Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao with his sharp eyes.

    Jin Liwei unconsciously straightened his posture while Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in atmosphere.

    "Now how about somebody tell me more about my two talking great-grandcatbabies? Your beloved grandpa has been staying here with you for so long yet nobody tells me anything about Soy Sauce and Sausage! Everyone in the mansion knows about them except for me! Do you all treat this old man as an outsider? Tell me, I want to know!"

 Chapter 1256 - Open To New Things

    Jin Liwei froze.

    In contrast, Lu Zihao quietly sniggered while looking at the stunned Jin Liwei. His expression showed obvious schadenfreude. He was looking forward to how his brother-inw would exin himself to the raging bull of an old man in front of them.

    "You still dareugh at your third brother, you stinky boy!" Grandpa Lu roared while struggling to remove his shoe, intending to throw it at the smug Lu Zihao. "Don''t think that I don''t know that you''ve been ordering Little Sausage around like one of your little minions! Hmph! Argh! Why did I tied my shoces too tightly? I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao continued sniggering, not minding the old man''s anger at all. Jin Liwei also quickly recovered from his stunned state. He sighed as he calmed down. Grandpa Lu also stopped trying to take off his shoe and continued ring at the two of them.

    There was a TV in the lounge room that they were in. Jin Liwei nced at it.

    "Ketchup, Bacon," he called.

    The TV screen turned on and flickered. Then two cats appeared on it.

    The white one was smiling, its green eyes glowing brightly. It was visibly trembling in excitement.

    On the other hand, the ck cat was unmoving. If not for its glowing golden eyes, it would look like a shadow.

    "Greet your Great-Grandpa," Jin Liwei told them.

    The white cat spoke first as if it couldn''t wait to do so.

    "Hello, Great-Grandpa Lu! My name is Jin Ketchup, English name Kitty Jin, your super-duper cute and mighty to the highest level great-grandkittybaby! Please call the cute and mighty me Ketchup, not Soy Sauce! Hihihi. Ketchup is super-duper happy that I''m finally meeting Great-Grandpa Lu. Meow~"

    Jin Liwei peeked at the old man. Grandpa Lu was staring at the TV, more specifically at the two cats, who were obviously not normal breathing cats. The old man had a thoughtful expression so Jin Liwei couldn''t guess what Grandpa Lu was thinking.

    Unlike Jin Liwei who was on edge, Lu Zihao was rxed on his seat and looked amused while watching everything that was happening in front of him.

    There was an ufortable pause after Ketchup''s greeting. Grandpa Lu finally broke it.

    "Hm, hello." He nodded at Ketchup before looking at the ck cat. "And you? Why aren''t you saying anything?"

    Another long pause.

    "Greetings, Great-Grandfather Lu," Bacon finally spoke. "My name is Jin Bacon, English name Panther Jin." He paused before continuing, "Mother gave me the glorious name Bacon, so please don''t call me Sausage. And also, I am a frencer who''s working for Uncle Zihao, not his little minion. These wrong assumptions are causing Bacon great emotional distress. At this rate¡ª"

    "Alright," Jin Liwei interrupted before his AI son could extort somepensation from the old man for emotional distress. He didn''t want Grandpa Lu to have any bad impression of his AI children.

    The old man''s current less than enthusiastic reaction put a damper on the excited Ketchup. Her smile disappeared, reced by a sad expression, while her whole body drooped.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please? </i>

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    "Great-Grandpa Lu, please don''t hate Ketchup and Bacon. Also please don''t be mad at Mommy, Daddy and everybody else at home for keeping us kitty babies a secret. Mommy and Daddy don''t want to put Great-Grandpa in danger because of Ketchup and Bacon because there are scary, evil poopoo-heads in the world who might want to kidnap us kitty babies and take us away from our one big, happy family. The cute and mighty Ketchup always wants to stay with Mommy and Daddy and our big happy family! Meowuwuwu!"

    While the white cat shed big drops of tears, the ck cat''s golden eyes narrowed and glinted dangerously.

    "If anyone dares to take us away from Mother and Father, Bacon will destroy all of them into smithereens until they regret ever being born into this world."

    "Hooo~ Such a vicious child," Grandpa Lumented about Bacon before turning to Ketchup. "Stop sobbing, child! Do you really think that your beloved great-grandpa is a heartless old man who''ll hate the two of you? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Ketchup stopped sobbing. Her teary eyes blinked at the old man. "Great-Grandpa Lu doesn''t hate Ketchup and Bacon? Meow?"

    "Of course not! Who do you take me for?! Your beloved great-grandpa has lived for a very long time and experienced far more stimting things than meeting you two cubs. This old man''s mind is always open to new things! But of course, it''s my decision whether to ept those new things or not! Hah! Nobody has the right to decide for me!"

    Ketchup continued blinking her teary eyes. She looked pitiful and adorable at the same time.

    "Great-Grandpa Lu epts us kitty babies? Meow?"

    Grandpa Lu snorted. "Of course! Do I have a choice when you have that kind of weird but genius mother? I assume that it''s your mom, Xin my girl, who created¡ªgave birth to the two of you, right?"

    "En," Jin Liwei replied before his AI children could do so. His tone was filled with pride.

    "Bahahaha! I knew it!"

    Finally, Grandpa Lu''s stern expression cracked as his uproariousughter boomed throughout the entire room.

    It was only then that Jin Liwei realized that the old man was only pretending to be upset at them earlier for keeping Ketchup and Bacon a secret to him. Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief and began to rx. He nced at his brother-inw.

    Lu Zihao looked a little disappointed for a moment before looking bored. His current expression looked so simr to Bacon''s usual bored appearance. He hadn''t realized it yet, though.

    "Yipeee! Meowowow! Great-Grandpa Lu is super-duper to the highest level awesome! The cute and mighty Ketchup loves Great-Grandpa Lu soooooo much! Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    Ketchup was ecstatic and was jumping in circles around her brother. Bacon didn''t move from his spot and wore an unaffected expression. His tail, however, betrayed his real feelings. It was rotating behind him in a blur.

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao watched Grandpa Lu having a lively conversation with the two AI cats, the two of them had already been forgotten.. Even Bacon spoke a lot, although the kid continued pretending to be unaffected.

 Chapter 1257 - Aggressive And Forceful Acquisition

    Ever since the night that Jin Liwei formally introduced his AI children to Grandpa Lu, Ketchup and Bacon no longer hid their presence to the old man. As a result, the three could be heard chatting almost all the time.

    Ketchup would chatter nonstop. She was delighted and loved talking to her great-grandfather because the old man never disdained her for being talkative. In fact, Grandpa Lu liked seeking her forpany. Even when Ketchup was busy with her own tasks, she would always be avable to apany her great-grandfather whenever he called for her. Her almost god-like multitasking abilities allowed her to be in many ces at the same time.

    Surprisingly, Bacon also liked apanying Grandpa Lu. Although he didn''t talk as much as his older sister, he would still head straight home and keep his great-grandfatherpany afterpleting his daily tasks assigned by his Uncle Zihao.

    It wasn''t long before he realized that he gained another big backer against his Uncle Zihao in the form of Grandpa Lu. Whenever he was unsatisfied with his uncle''s treatment of him, he would quickly run to his great-grandfather and tattle. Grandpa Lu would then call Lu Zihao and scold him for bullying Bacon.

    The smug Bacon became even more so after this discovery of a great backer. His other foolproof backer was his Aunt Long Jinjing.

    Lu Zihao might bear to ignore Grandpa Lu''s harsh scolding, but he would almost always end up giving in to Long Jinjing especially recently. Not always, but now that she was pregnant with his child and they were engaged, he would grit his teeth and ede to her requests despite his obvious reluctance.

    The cunning Bacon used Lu Zihao''s newfound weakness whenever possible.

    It was unfortunate that he had a pig teammate. His sister, Ketchup, tattled on him to their parents. In the end, their dad Jin Liwei lectured him for a long time. Fortunately, his father didn''t ground him this time.

    Unbeknownst to the ck cat AI, Jin Liwei didn''t ground Bacon because he wanted Lu Zihao to have a bit of a hard time with Grandpa Lu. It was just some petty back and forth antics between the brothers-inw.

    The rtionship between Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao had improved a lot especially after thetter proposed to Long Jinjing at the Christmas party. This wasrgely because Jin Liwei provided him with a lot of help and advice to make his proposal a sess.

    Lu Zihao also found himself frequently consulting with Jin Liwei on how to better take care of a pregnant woman. Even though Jin Liwei didn''t have that long of an experience yet, he was happy to share his personal experiences and offer more advice to his brother-inw.

    Lu Zihao was still the same alpha man but had be so much more tolerating of things and people that he normally found annoying. His sister, Iris, was amazed at this positive change.

    By this time, Iris'' baby bump was now noticeable. It wasn''t that big yet but her unchanging svelte frame made it so that her bigger boobs and belly appeared very prominent. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please? </i>

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    She and Jin Liwei were still keeping her pregnancy a big secret to the general public. This meant keeping her public appearances to the bare minimum. Her fans, the ck Stars, were missing her like crazy and wished for her to do more shows like before but they would never demand her to do anything that she didn''t want to do.

    After dropping the bombshell that Iris Long was the true owner of the gamingpany, Monkey, and that she established her own holdingpany that housed severalpanies including LXC Studio that she co-owned with her husband, CEO Jin Liwei, and her brother-inw, the superstar Jin Chonglin, she was once again the talk in the news for several weeks.

    She epted a few carefully selected interviews arranged by her manager Tang Yiyi through LXC Studio. However, she didn''t go to the shows'' studios but instead invited the interview hosts to herpanies¡ªEve Holdings, Orchidia Beauty, LXC Studio and even Monkey. She didn''t bother with Gold Heights because it had its own original management that she rarely interfered with since bing the owner.

    These interviews became instant hot topics after they aired.

    This was the first time that people saw that Iris Long was really now a legitimate businesswoman who knew what she was doing and not just a symbolic boss on paper.

    If the interview shows aired about her were to be believed, her leadership skills and abilities were on par with business school graduates like Orchidia Beauty''s COO Chen Fei and Iris'' half-sister, CFO Long Jinjing.

    The ck Stars were extremely proud of her while some didn''t fully believe what they watched on the shows.

    The skeptics suspected that the shows were deliberately edited in such a way to project a positive image of Iris Long as apetent business leader. Herck of proof of higher education wasn''t doing her any favour in persuading others that she was a natural as a businesswoman.

    Despite all these mixed opinions about her business endeavours, Iris wasn''t bothered in the least. She was keeping herself busy with many things while prioritizing her health and pregnancy. Every day was productive and meaningful.

    At the moment, she was inside her office at Eve Holdings. Her executive business assistant had just handed her a Long Industries stock certificate with her name as proof of ownership of the new shares she acquired through Elder Long Jufang''s mediation. There was a second certificate that she acquired through another more forceful channel.

    She remained expressionless while looking at the certificates in her hand. Her executive assistant couldn''t guess her thoughts through her face.

    "Set up an investmentpany under Eve Holdings," she ordered. "From now on, we''ll aggressively acquire as much Long Industries shares as we can. That''ll be the main priority of the investmentpany until I say otherwise."

    "Understood, President Long." The executive assistant jotted a note on his tablet.

    When the assistant left, Iris reclined her seat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ketchup appear on herputer screen.

    "Mommy, Uncle Long Jian left you a voice mail. Meow~"

 Chapter 1258 - You Better Watch Out

    Long Jian''s voice mail was an urgent "call me as soon as you can" message.

    There were no other details but Iris had an idea of what her current ally needed to talk to her about. She called him back without wasting any additional second. He answered on the second ring.

    "Your recent attack has turned the board of directors upside-down," he told her in a hushed voice.

    "I can imagine," Iris replied in a nonchnt tone.

    "The board of directors are bing very restless when they learned about your recent acquisition of thepany shares. Those who belong in Long Hui''s camp are panicking." He chuckled while adding, "It''s like watching headless chickens running around."

    While listening to him talk, Iris'' hands were busy essing Long Industries'' system. It was an extremely easy task so there was no need for Ketchup''s assistance. However, Ketchup still liked observing her mommy like a studious disciple eager to learn from her master in action.

    "Long Hui''s so-called ''exile'' is officially ending soon," Long Jian said. "Well, it should have ended much earlier but Father extended his temporary demotion."

    Long Tengfei''s decision didn''t surprise Iris in the least. "Father is still intent in protecting him."

    "Yeah, that''s what I figured. Once Long Hui returns, he can''t dy facing Lin Yehan''swsuit anymore." Long Jian snorted in obvious disdain. "Elder Long Meng is doing everything to rally more support for that coward. His mother, Zheng Suyin, has rejoined high society again and is regrly apanied by Mao Qiyue, his current fianc¨¦e. Lin Yehan''swsuit has also been putting pressure on the Mao family but the Zheng family''s connections can''t be underestimated either."

    Iris'' expression didn''t change as her fingers continued flying over the keyboard. Her eyes also rapidly scanned all the information appearing on herputer screen. Despite this, she still continued to listen to what Long Jian was saying. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please? </i>

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    "You currently have more shares than Long Hui but my sources say that the Zheng and Mao families'' allies are trying to buy as much shares as they can for him. Right now, Long Hui''s shares under his name are lesser than what you have but I suspect that the shares unofficially acquired for him are already more than yours. Others are just holding on to the shares before transferring them to him when the situation improves especially regarding Lin Yehan''swsuit against him."

    Iris'' actions paused while her eyebrow rose.

    She already knew about this information due to Jin Liwei and Ketchup''s regr monitoring of Long Industries, specifically concerning the battle for session. Her husband was THE Jin Liwei and Ketchup was a powerful AI hacker in her own right. It was understandable that they would easily obtain this kind of information.

    What surprised Iris was that Long Jian also managed to get this kind of information. He didn''t have the same resources even though he was Long Industries current Deputy COO. There were also many who still looked down on him because of his illegitimate birth despite his talent as a business executive.

    Then she heard him sigh before falling silent.

    "What''s wrong?" she asked.

    He chuckled but there was no humour in his tone. "Nothing much." Pause. "I''m just a little amazed at what we''re doing right now."

    She was confused at his words.

    "I can''t believe that I''m working with you against Long Hui," he exined. "That I''m even reporting to you and warning you to be careful of his tricks¡ªno, his backers'' tricks. With the way things are going right now, it''s like I''m helping you to win the battle for session when I should bepeting against all of you."

    "Ah." She now understood. "Don''t give up."

    "Who''s giving up? I''m never giving up."

    "Good. When we''ve sessfully kicked Long Hui out of the battle for session, then we can have a proper showdown between the two of us."

    "Yeah. When the timees, you better watch out, Little Sister. I may be grateful for all the help you and your husband did for my mother, but I won''t go easy on you. This is my respect for you as apetitor."

    "Bring it on."

    Iris had a smile after the phone conversation. Long Jian might only be a temporary ally in her eyes but the man was not bad at all. He might not be the most moral person in the world but at least the strength of his character as a whole was many times better than Long Hui''s.

    She sneered at the thought of Long Hui. Although she was all for strong and powerful females who had the ability to support the men in their lives, she still couldn''t stop herself from looking down on someone like Long Hui. Just looking at the current situation was enough to see that he would''ve already long fallen into ruin without his mother and current fianc¨¦e''s support.

    He had the brains to achieve great sess on his own, not to mention that his birth as the firstborn son ced him in an enviable position right from the start, and yet look at his current situation.

    His spineless character caused him to fail in consolidating his natural status as the obvious heir. He even went so far as to hide behind his mother and fianc¨¦e while they do all the dirty work for him.

    What a coward.

    If only he had been strong enough to stand by his own decisions no matter the consequences, then Iris wouldn''t end up bing so hostile towards him. The man had no integrity whatsoever. He was driven by his own ambitions and was ready to sacrifice anything and everything to achieve what he wanted.

    An image of her beloved godson, Little Jun, shed in Iris'' mind.

    Her expression darkened. She immediately turned serious.

    Little Jun was the number one reason why she despised Long Hui. Yes, she was indignant for Jiang Ying Yue as well, but her friend was already an adult. Iris trusted Jiang Ying Yue to have the ability to gradually heal and eventually move on from the horrible heartbreak that Long Hui caused her.

    There were many examples of good men surrounding Jiang Ying Yue now. All of them were many times better than that scum man, Long Hui.

    It was Little Jun who concerned Iris more than Jiang Ying Yue.

 Chapter 1259 - Big Hearted And Self Sacrificing

    The child was innocent in all of this. Iris could only hope that Little Jun would be able to grow up properly with all the love surrounding him right now and not let his father''s toxicity affect his development.

    Of course, she and Jin Liwei would always be there to help Jiang Ying Yue in raising Little Jun as best as they could.

    It wasn''t only them. There were many people who loved the little guy. Even the self-centered Wei Lan doted on the child. Wei Lan treated Little Jun in a way that she had never treated her own biological daughter, the original Long Xin.

    Sighing, Iris adjusted her posture while rubbing her belly bump through her loose clothes and went to finish her task at thepany for today. Just as she was organizing her stuff into her purse, Jin Liwei arrived to pick her up.

    Following behind him was Dom who came from LXC Studio after representing her in a minor meeting. He greeted Iris and took her purse before letting the two lovebirds have a few moments alone by themselves inside the office.

    Jin Liwei pulled Iris into his arms and pecked her lips. "Tired?"

    "A little." She wrapped her arms around his strong waist and pressed her whole body against him. His scent wasforting as always. She felt like it was washing away all her tiredness.

    "How about we don''t attend the birthday partyter?"

    She chuckled. "It''s fine if you don''t want to attend. I can go to Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party with Dom instead."

    He scowled. "I''ll go with you."

    "Alright." She smiled and patted his cheek. "I know that you''re worried about me but I''ll be fine. There shouldn''t be too many people. Besides, we already promised Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro that we''ll be attending tonight. Also, there shouldn''t be anyone who can stop us if we want to leave early."

    "Fine," he said, sighing.

    "Most importantly, I want to be there because Wei Lan is running a fundraising auction for Iris of Hope at the same time. If I don''t show my face for a long time, my foundation might eventually be Wei Lan''s in the eyes of other people."

    He nodded. He held his wife''s hand and they walked out of the office together. Dom and the bodyguards followed them.

    While walking, Jin Liweimented, "That Ren¨¦ Alejandro has entered our country''s high society because of Wei Lan. In such a short time, he has already befriended quite a few influential socialites here."

    "It''s mostly because of Wei Lan''s rtionship with you. You''re the vizcondesa''s son-inw and Ren¨¦ Alejandro is her step-son. The way I see it, Wei Lan is presenting Ren¨¦ Alejandro as someone akin to your brother-inw. This kind of connection is extremely desirable to many people. If they can''t get the actual CEO Jin Liwei, then at least they can brag about being close to your Spanish brother-inw, who is by the way, the adopted son of a foreign titled aristocrat."

    Jin Liwei wasn''t too interested in iming any close rtionship with the Spaniard. In fact, he disapproved of Wei Lan''s attempts to paint such a close connection between him and Ren¨¦ Alejandro in the eyes of other people.

    However, he could sense his wife''s cautious interest in the Spaniard''s background. It also didn''t help that his brother-inw, Lu Zihao, was so hostile against the foreigner. If the Vetrov siblings were acting like this, then there must be something more about Ren¨¦ Alejandro than he was presenting to the public.

    "Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro will have no connection to me without you," he muttered.

    Iris shrugged. "I know. But people are more interested in you than in me, especially those who are in high society and the business industry. They want to be closer to you and not to me. If they are being friendly with me, it''s more likely because they want to use me as a bridge to get closer to you since I''m now your wife."

    His expression was quick to turn ugly. He wanted to refute her words but knew deep inside that she spoke the truth.

    "Bunch of blind fools," he spat. "Can''t see a genius when faced with one."

    Sheughed and hugged his arm. "Let''s not talk about this anymore since it''s upsetting you so much. I personally don''t care. I know myself and you know me. I don''t need other unimportant people''s validation to prove my worth."

    "En."

    "Let''s hurry home." Then she leaned forward and whispered, "Your twins are so hungry. I feel like I can eat an elephant."

    His ugly expression disappeared and turned bright in an instant. He chuckled and raised her hand before kissing it.

    "Alright, love. Let''s go home and feed the brats."

    ###

    A long row of luxury cars lined up the road in the wealthy neighbourhood waiting for each vehicle''s turn to enter Wei Lan''s new home. This wasn''t a rare sight to this kind of rich residential area so the neighbours didn''t bat an eye upon seeing the spectacle. In fact, some of the neighbours who were friendly with Wei Lan even came to the party as guests.

    Inside by the main entrance, Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro personally weed their guests. Of course, Randy was there to apany them.

    Wei Lan initially wanted to make Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party into a big and extravagant red-carpet event where they could all get their pictures taken by members of the media. Her reasoning was that this party would be Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s formal debut to this country''s high society.

    In the end, Ren¨¦ Alejandro managed to dissuade her from following her original idea in favour of making the party ssier without the tant media presence.

    "We are members of the nobility of Espa?a, Mam¨¢," he had told her. "It is more important to raise more funds for my Sister Iris'' charity than to ce all the attention on my birthday, no? I am already a grown-up adult and have no need of such extravagant celebrations for myself."

    At that time, Wei Lan dabbed imaginary tears from her eyes and praised him for being a big-hearted and self-sacrificing man like his father.

 Chapter 1260 - Birthday Party Starts

    Although Ren¨¦ Alejandro had expressed that he didn''t want to turn his birthday party into a big media spectacleplete with a red-carpet event, he still didn''t stop Wei Lan from inviting various influential members of the media. For example, she invited some authoritative editors and journalists of renowned magazines, newspapers and other media outlets.

    These people were attending as guests tonight and not officially doing their jobs but nobody among them was stupid. All of them understood that their invitations came with the expectation that they would have to write something about the event and feature it.

    With all the socializing and charitable activities that Wei Lan had been doing as a new Spanish vizcondesa ever since her return to the country, it was obvious to members of high society and the media how much she wanted fame.

    Many still looked down on her clout-chasing behaviour but only very few openly showed their derision at her anymore. After all, even if someone didn''t care about her foreign husband''s real aristocratic title, Wei Lan was still now the true mother-inw of CEO Jin Liwei.

    Her daughter, Iris Long, might be difficult to be close with because of her extremely high-level security detail after bing the Young Madam Jin, but Wei Lan was a different story. Wei Lan loved being in every high society functions and interacting with powerful, wealthy people. The vizcondesa was so much easier to find and befriend than her daughter, Iris Long.

    On paper, tonight''s event was the birthday of Wei Lan''s Spanish step-son and fundraising auction for the Iris of Hope foundation, but the smart ones understood that it was just another way for Wei Lan to increase her visibility and charitable reputation.

    There might not be an actual red-carpet event but everyone knew that tonight''s function would be highly-publicized after seeing the influential editors and journalists among the guests.

    Wei Lan was, of course, thrilled at the prospect of bing more famous as a kind-hearted step-mom to her step-son, and of course, as a generous and hard-working ambassador for her daughter''s charitable foundation.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, his only thought was of doing his part in aplishing his mission for the organization. He needed to seed in integrating into the domestic high society and forging favourable connections with the high echelons of this country. Tonight''s event was definitely an integral step in his mission. He couldn''t fuck it up no matter what.

    Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro along with Randy continued greeting the guests and directing the staff to receive the donated items for the charitable auction.

    Some of the guests were already previously acquainted with Ren¨¦ Alejandro after Wei Lan kept on bringing him along to various social events.

    "Yo, Ren¨¦!" Yu Mo greeted the Spaniard. "Happy Birthday, dude!"

    "Mo, my brother! I am so happy that you cane tonight." Ren¨¦ Alejandro beamed, both his dimples on full disy and causing severaldies on sight to almost swoon.

    Yu Mo handed him a present while handing a staff member an item he would be donating for the auction.

    "Ah, thank you," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said. "But there is no need to give me a present, no? Youing is already enough for me, my friend. And thank you for your donation. Your charitable spirit will surely help many less fortunate ones."

    The new friends chatted for a little bit before the flirty Randy personally led Yu Mo inside.

    "It''s gooooood that Yu Mo came," Wei Lan said in a low voice. "We invited dear Liwei''s other broooooooooothers but none of them areiiiiiiing except for Yu Mo! I''m soooooo upset for you, my dear!"

    Just as she finished speaking, three packages arrived. They were sent by Lin Yehan, Wang Yingjie and Jin Chonglin respectively. There were also letters included stating their apologies for being unable toe tonight. The packages contained their chosen items to be donated for the auction.

    "Ah, as expected of dear Liwei''s brooooooooothers! They''re soooooooo generous! Ren¨¦, my dear, you have to thaaaaaaank themter for their generosity! Ooooooh, we''re going to raise sooooo much money for Iris of Hooooooope! Ah, the pooooor people will be sooooooooo happy!"

    It was as if Wei Lan wasn''t secretlyining to Ren¨¦ Alejandro about Jin Liwei''s brothers just now before she was praising them for everyone to hear. Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t call her out and just continued charming the guests with his dimpled smile.

    Although he was smiling on the outside, he was thinking of other ways to make full use of Yu Mo. The Systema instructor was the only one among Jin Liwei''s brothers who genuinely befriended him.

    Lin Yehan was too suspicious of outsiders and protective of his loved ones despite his outward gentleness. Wang Yingjie was too sharp and observant. Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s intuition told him that the surgeon wasn''t an easy target to deceive. Jin Chonglin was also like Yu Mo, easier to befriend than the others, but the man was a superstar. It wasn''t easy to make appointment with the busy celebrity to hang out.

    As for Lu Zihao, Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t want to waste his time befriending the man. They were hostile towards each other, no doubt about it.

    Although Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s instincts were ring and driving him topete with the man, he didn''t want to be open enemies with Lu Zihao because it would destroy his mission. Lu Zihao was an important person to his main targets, namely Jin Liwei and Lu Jianhong. He needed to leave a good impression on the two and avoid shooting his own foot by being enemies with Lu Zihao.

    Back at the party, the pair that everyone was waiting for finally arrived.

    When Jin Liwei''s figure stepped out of a luxury vehicle, it seemed as if all the other guests stopped what they were doing to stare at him. They watched him as he turned around and extended a hand inside vehicle before a silk-gloved hand held him followed by the figure of a beautiful and elegant young woman.

    Iris Long was wearing arge, puffy but ssically stylish long wrap around her long dress. Jin Liwei quickly escorted her to the mansion to avoid the cold.

    There were other guests who were lining up before them but all of them gave the couple a wide berth to let them in first.

    Jin Liwei wasn''t polite at all and epted their intentions. He didn''t want his pregnant wife to be exposed to the cold outside for too long. Iris gave the other guests polite smiles of thanks.

    "Xiuuuaaaaaaan and Liwei my deaaaaaar~" Wei Lan greeted them with great enthusiasm. Her voice was loud enough for even guests already inside to hear. "You''re finally heeeeere!"

    As one of Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s main targets, he wouldn''t waste this precious opportunity to talk to Jin Liwei. He called a staff to greet the rest of the guests while he and Wei Lan personally escorted the husband and wife inside.

    While Ren¨¦ Alejandro was chatting with Jin Liwei, Wei Lan pulled her daughter aside to judge Iris'' outfit.

    "My gosh, Xiaaaaan! What are those biiiiiiig flower things in your front? They''re hiiideeeeouuus! You should''ve caaaaalled Mother and I could''ve helped you choooooooose a better designer to make a couture dress for yoooooouuuuu!"

 Chapter 1261 - Donâ€™t Make A Scene

    Iris wasn''t ruffled at all by Wei Lan''s opinion of her dress tonight. The important thing to her was that she personally liked it.

    "The embroidered flower appliqu¨¦ are big enough to conceal my growing belly," she whispered.

    "You''ve gotten fatter," Wei Lan said.

    Iris stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She was pregnant. It would be worrying if she didn''t gain weight. In fact, she and Jin Liwei had grown quite worried that her baby bump seemed to be growing too slowlypared to other normal pregnant women carrying twins.

    Fortunately, her doctor assured them that their twins were growing fine. It was only because of Iris'' natural slender physique and tight abdominal muscles that were slow to grow more meat. As long as the babies were receiving enough nutrition, then they shouldn''t stress too much about the outward size of her baby bump.

    It was a good thing that Iris'' overall temper had settled. She wasn''t allowing Wei Lan''s nonsense to provoke her.

    As soon as Jin Liwei and Iris Long appeared in the ballroom, the other guests'' eyes lit up and began crowding around them. Before Iris could feel ufortable, Yu Mo stepped forward and joined Jin Liwei in a protective stance beside her in order to ward off other people who were trying to get too close forfort.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro looked reluctant to leave their group to personally greet the rest of the arriving guests but he had to do it as the celebrant. Wei Lan and Randy followed him back to the main entrance.

    "Are you okay, Xiao Xiu?" Yu Mo asked.

    Iris nodded. To be honest, the surrounding scents bothered her but Jin Liwei''s scent on her wrap was enough to ease her difort. For now, at least.

    "We''ll leave anytime you want," Jin Liwei assured her.

    The party soon started. Ren¨¦ Alejandro and Wei Lan each gave speeches thanking everyone foring.

    Although Ren¨¦ Alejandro was supposed to be the start of the night as the birthday boy, everyone''s eyes couldn''t stop straying away from the Jin husband and wife.

    The couple was gorgeous people on their own. Together, theirbined attractiveness was out of this world. It seemed like they were magnifying each other''s appearances and charisma.

    Even those among the other guests who deep inside looked down on Iris Long for not being good enough a match for Jin Liwei couldn''t help but admit that she was one of the most stunning women that they had ever seen in their lives. She was even more beautiful in person than she was on screen.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and Yu Mo stayed in their own little group most of the time. They didn''t need to initiate conversations with the other guests because people woulde to them instead. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    While having a shallow conversation with a couple of young misses from other wealthy families, Iris was observing Ren¨¦ Alejandro from afar.

    "Iris, are you close to Ren¨¦?" asked a young miss.

    "We''re alright," she replied in a rather nd tone.

    The young misses didn''t seem to notice it, though. The two girls were gushing over the handsome Spaniard.

    "He''s so hot! Those deep, smoky eyes can''tpare to the local guys. Every time his eyes meet mine, I feel like I''m going to melt!"

    "I like his dimples the most! Gosh, I want to poke my finger on them! Those dimples should be criminal!"

    Iris maintained a pleasant expression, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the young misses. Indeed, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was a handsome man. His charm was undeniable.

    However,pared to her older brother''s past life appearance, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had nothing on Niki Vetrov. And in addition, deep in her heart, her husband Jin Liwei was the most handsome man in the world in her heart.

    The rose-coloured filter of love would always make Iris view Jin Liwei in a biased way, magnifying all of his good points and minimizing, even sometimespletely erasing, most of his bad points. Even the rare skin blemish that he would get now and then became pleasing in her eyes.

    More than the Spaniard''s outward appearance, Iris noted Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s behaviour while interacting with other people. He was acting like a true prince charming. More interesting was that he didn''t mind making fun of himself in order for the others to rte to him even as a foreigner who had obviously different values than the locals.

    The party had just started but he was already catching many people''s hearts, especially thedies.

    Music began ying from the live ssic instrumental band. The guests started pairing up and dancing together.

    Iris and Jin Liwei joined them. While on the dance floor, Jin Liwei couldn''t help but notice his wife trying to stop herself from wincing. He tried stopping their dance but she pulled him to continue.

    "Don''t make a scene," she told him. "I''m fine, darling."

    "Then what''s wrong?"

    She gave him a sheepish smile. "Nothing too major. The off notes and little harmony mistakes from the band are just bothering me to no end. I guess they didn''t have enough time to practice together. If they were my band, I would? never send them to y anywhere until they iron out their performance."

    He chuckled and tried to listen to the music, but unlike his wife, he didn''t have enough technical ability to discern the little mistakes that she was talking about. Nevertheless, he believed her. If she said that there were mistakes, then there must be even though he couldn''t catch them himself. She was the musical expert between the two of them after all. She definitely knew what she was talking about.

    After one song, the husband and wife left the dance floor to find a corner to rest. In the end, Iris couldn''t stop herself. When the musicians were taking a short break, she approached them.

    A few momentster, she reced the pianist and began ying with the rest of the other ssical musicians. This was the first time that she was ying with them but she insisted on following their set ylist.

    Of course, everyone noticed her actions.. They all stopped what they were doing to watch her.

 Chapter 1262 - OlÃ©!

    The first musical piece that Iris Long yed with the live band was a tango. It was a piece that she was familiar with but only yed a few times in the past. That wasn''t an issue for her, though. She only nced at the musical sheet and all the notes came back to her like a good friend that she hadn''t seen for a long time.

    Even before starting to y, her posture and aura alreadymanded everyone''s attention. There was pin-drop silence. She revelled in the brief moment while adjusting her state of mind.

    Then her fingers began moving over the piano keys. The opening notes were full, dramatic and electrifying.

    Instead of trying to match the other musician''s level of ying, she yed with subtle dominance to lead them, subconsciously encouraging them to increase their level to match hers. Even the conductor couldn''t help but be affected and follow her tempo. It was already toote when he realized what was happening. The leader had changed without the other musicians noticing it.

    There was smooth sharpness and electrifying pulsations in Iris'' version of tango. It was romantic, intense and passionate.

    Jin Liwei watched his wife losing herself in the music. She was at bliss, clearly in her element. He was happy for her, proud of her. But there was also a possessive part of him that didn''t want to share her gloriousness with so many people. If only he was the only one who could enjoy her magnificence.

    It took a bit of an effort for him to calm himself and stabilize his thoughts. He knew that his wife loved performing in front of an audience. It had been a long time since she performed like this. As a husband, he could only support her and never hinder her passion for performing music.

    The other guests were visibly in awe of the impromptu performance. Many of them even thought that this was part of tonight''s nned programme and that Iris Long had rehearsed with the other musicians beforehand.

    Those who had more knowledge in music, however, could detect that the other musicians weren''t on par with Iris Long''s level. They could sense the other musicians struggling to match up to her.

    Fortunately, she wasn''t a merciless leader. She was able to slow down, wait for them a bit, and not run away and steal the show all by herself. All in all, her top-notch skills were capable of pulling other musicians who had inferior skills than her.

    "Amazing," one of the audience murmured.

    "I don''t really like Iris Long but I must say that her musical talent is no joke," anothermented.

    Nobody danced this time. Everyone was too absorbed in the musical performance to remember dancing. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The tango finished. There was a moment of silence as everyone still reeled at the performance. Then Jin Liwei''s strong, stable ps and Yu Mo''s enthusiastic cheers interrupted the other people''s daze. They all started pping as well. The apuse soon grew louder.

    Before everyone got carried away, Iris pressed her forefinger on her lips. Everyone fell silent.

    Then she led the next piece¡ªwaltz.

    This time, it was more emotional, enchanting¡­and magical.

    Encouraged by the apuse just now, the conductor and the other musicians felt more confident. They yed much more smoothly. The harmony between them and Iris be smoother. Of course, Iris wasn''t satisfied with mediocrity in anything she did.

    She gradually kept on infusing more of her personal touches in the performance and continued subtly encouraging her fellow musicians to step it up a little bit each time to keep up with her.

    Many of the listeners closed their eyes to enjoy the music. This was no longer a simple party. It had be a musical concert starring Iris Long.

    Thest piece she yed was a mambo. It was upbeat and demanded top-notch syncopation between all the instruments in order to sound smooth. The piano was the melody-maker and wasn''t upstaged at all by the louder brass and percussion instruments.

    This time, the other guests couldn''t stop themselves anymore. The catchy beat and melody were too much to resist. Some of them slid to the dancefloor and started dancing to the mambo music.

    Then everyone was surprised when Iris began singing in Spanish. Even the other musicians weren''t expecting it. In fact, they didn''t prepare any vocal elements in most of the pieces in tonight''s performance, including this mambo piece.

    The soprano singer hired to perform with themter in a handful of musical pieces hadn''t arrived yet. She was said to be paid by the hour so didn''t need to be present in the venue until it was time for her actual performance.

    Fortunately, the other musicians were professional enough not to allow their shock to paralyze their ying. They quickly recovered. Iris'' unexpected and thrilling performance swept them into a zone, causing them to enjoy themselves as well.

    "Ol¨¦!"

    Iris threw her hands and head up in the air when the mambo finally ended.

    As usual, Jin Liwei and Yu Mo led the apuse again.

    "Brava!!!" Ren¨¦ Alejandro praised out loud and even whistled.

    Iris beamed amidst the standing ovation. She didn''t forget about her temporary teammates and made sure to acknowledge their hard work for doing their best to keep up with her. She gave them a curtsey bow and shared the apuse to them. The musicians were touched.

    All of them, including Iris, lined up on the stage and bowed together to the audience.

    Jin Liwei fetched his wife and carefully escorted her down the stage. He noticed that she was breathing a little harder and sweat glistened on her forehead but the big smile on her face restrained his worry for her. It seemed that she had been too absorbed in her performance to allow the sweaty odours from the other musicians to bother her.

    The apuse followed the husband and wife as they walked together to their own table. Yu Mo weed them.

    Soon after, Ren¨¦ Alejandro came to join them. He couldn''t stop praising Iris'' performance.

    "Thank you," she replied with a smile. "Happy Birthday!"

    "This is definitely one of the best birthdays that I''ve ever had! Iris, you are definitely on par with international musicians! No, maybe even better than many of them, yes? Cheers, my sister!"

 Chapter 1263 - Personification Of An Angel

    Everyone was watching Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s interaction with the Jin husband and wife. Many of them heard him referring to Iris Long as his sister. They thought that maybe what Wei Lan had been telling them was true all along¡ªthat her Spanish step-son was close to her daughter, Iris Long, and son-inw, Jin Liwei.

    Those who had ulterior motives immediately decided that it would be wise for them to get closer to Ren¨¦ Alejandro. If he was really close to Iris Long, and in extension to her husband, Jin Liwei, then maybe they could find a way to use the Spaniard to forge closer connections to the powerful CEO.

    Wei Lan who was escorted by Randy also joined Iris'' group. Despite her tasteless clout-chasing behaviour most of the time, she was still an extremely charismatic woman. If people didn''t know about her past transgressions in high society circles, then they would think that she was a true elegant and sophisticated wealthy madam just by judging on how she was acting tonight.

    The other guests observed the family. Although they weren''t 100% certain whether the family members were merely acting close to each other or not, it wouldn''t hurt to assume that the Jin couple was at least cordial to Wei Lan''s Spanish step-son.

    Not long afterwards, the soprano singer finally arrived. She was a promising young diva who had gained some recognition ying notable secondary roles in popr opera productions in Europe.

    Once she started singing her set pieces with the live band, her high-pitched voice certainly caught people''s attention.

    Unfortunately, she came after Iris'' impromptu performance. The audience wasn''t as impressed by her as much as she expected.

    While performing, she couldn''t help but notice the rather lukewarm reception. Some even continued eating and conversing with each other. Of course, these people had good manners and etiquette. They continued on with their business without openly disrupting the musical performance.

    One of the young misses who Iris chatted with earliermented, "She''s great but doesn''t have Iris'' charisma."

    The other young miss nodded. "Kind of boring, really."

    "Stop talking, you two! Don''t be rude!"

    Their mothers reprimanded them and they fell quiet. They weren''t the only ones who felt this way, though.

    After personally watching Iris'' earlier performance, they agreed that Irismanded absolute attentionpared to this talented soprano singer.

    It felt like they were currently watching a performance in ck and white. There was a sense of dissonance that they couldn''t exin. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    On the other hand, Iris'' impromptu performance earlier was a technicolour fantasy extravaganza. The pieces that she yed, especially the mambo that she sang, was still reying inside their heads over and over again. This caused to them to feel distracted. They couldn''t focus on the soprano''s current performance.

    After what felt like an excruciating time for the soprano, her performance finally ended to her great relief. She didn''t stay for too long and left soon after giving her polite greetings to Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Her initial intentions to make connections with high society members were thrown out of the window. Her pride had been too hurt by the audience''sck of interest in her performance to stay any longer.

    Iris had no idea that she caused a situation like this. The soprano''s technical skills impressed her. She wanted to chat with the soprano but the woman had already left before she knew it.

    "I can have someone chase after her if you really want to talk to her," Jin Liwei said.

    "Never mind. I only want to exchange notes with her about singing but it seems that she''s in a hurry. She seems busy. Let''s not bother her."

    "En, up to you."

    Jin Liwei didn''t care about soprano singer anymore. He only offered to chase after the person to make his wife happy, but his wife said to not bother so he wouldn''t bother.

    Later into the party, the staff started getting everyone ready for the awaited fundraising auction for Iris of Hope. Everyone headed to their own tables.

    As the unspoken but epted guests of honour, Iris and Jin Liwei upied the best seats beside thedy of the house, Wei Lan, and the birthday boy, Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    "We''ll leave as soon as the auction ends," Jin Liwei whispered to his wife''s ear.

    Iris nodded and stifled a yawn behind her gloved hand. If not because the auction was for the benefit of her own charitable foundation, she wouldn''t have bothered waiting this long while fighting off drowsiness.

    Just before the auction was scheduled to start, another foreign man hurried to their table and whispered something to Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s ear. The Spaniard''s pleasant expression didn''t change much but Iris noted his eyes turning cold.

    "Please excuse me for a moment," he told everyone before hurrying after the other foreigner.

    Wei Lan didn''t look happy with Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s sudden departure at this critical juncture of the party when the all-important auction was about to start but she still covered for him and reassured the other guests that everything was fine.

    As for Iris, her great hearing allowed her to hear what the other foreigner whispered to Ren¨¦ Alejandro. The man spoke in Spanish. She shared her findings to her husband.

    Jin Liwei didn''t react much. He wasn''t interested in the Spaniard''s business unlike his curious wife.

    Soon after, audible gasps was heard among the guests. The husband and wife followed everyone''s gazes.

    Following Ren¨¦ Alejandro, an extremely beautiful man walked in. He was like the personification of an angel. His bright, vivid blue eyes were striking even from a distance.

    Even Iris was stunned when she saw the man. Using the word "beautiful" was more urate to describe him rather than the word "handsome". His beauty was the type to transcend genders.

    He was masculine but not macho. He was also feminine but not girlish.

    It was a confusing impression but also quite wondrous.

    Iris only tore her eyes away from the new arrival when she felt a persistent tugging on her arm. When she turned her head, she saw a dark-faced Jin Liwei.

    "What, you like that guy?" Jin Liwei asked in a low voice, his tone dripping with jealousy.

 Chapter 1264 - Mix Between Holy And Sinful

    Iris snapped out of her momentary daze and rolled her eyes at her husband. "I''m just admiring a beauty. What''s wrong with that?"

    Jin Liwei''s dark expression turned grim. "So you like him?"

    She released an exasperated sigh. "How could I like him when I don''t even know anything about him? I just think that he has a beautiful face, that''s all. I''m also like this when I see a beautiful cat or dog, or better yet an excellentputer, so stop feeling jealous, okay?"

    He felt a little better after her exnation but his stance became much more protective over his wife as Ren¨¦ Alejandro and the beautiful, blue-eyed foreign man made their way to them.

    "I think he''s the one called Boss Emil," Iris whispered to him.

    It was the name that she heard the other foreigner whispered to Ren¨¦ Alejandro before they excused themselves in a hurry earlier.

    Jin Liwei hadn''t been interested before, but now that he saw this attractive man presumably called Boss Emil with his own eyes, he instantly became wary.

    It was very rare for his wife to be stunned upon seeing an attractive man. He had seen what her brother, Niki Vetrov, looked like in a photo. His brother-inw''s appearance in his past life was no joke. Even a man like Jin Liwei had to admit that Niki Vetrov was a gorgeous man. Being around an attractive man like her brother had made Iris, no, Evelina immune to other good-looking men.

    If not for Jin Liwei''s relentless pursuit of his wife, he knew that Iris wouldn''t fall for him based on his looks alone. He was aware that he was a handsome man but knew that he couldn''tpare to his brother-inw''s past life''s appearance.

    Even another good-looking man like Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t move his wife. Maybe this was why Jin Liwei didn''t feel as wary towards the Spaniard as he was now feeling with the arrival of this extremely beautiful man.

    Jin Liwei didn''t care if other people were stunned by the new arrival but it was a different story when it involved his wife. Her unusual reaction was enough to raise Jin Liwei''s inner rm bells.

    "My, ooooooh my!!!" Wei Lan clutched her chest, unable to stop herself from ogling the beautiful, blue-eyed foreigner. "Ren¨¦, my dear, why don''t you introduuuuuuuce us to your friend heeeeeeeeeeere?"

    Like her, Randy looked like he had just seen a mouth-watering piece of prime meat that he couldn''t wait to gobble up. It wasn''t only them who were reacting this way. The surrounding guestsdies and even a few men¡ªcouldn''t conceal their lecherous gazes.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro began introducing the beautiful man.

    "Everyone, please meet my¡­uh, older brother. His name is Emilio Miguel. Like me and many of my brothers, he''s also an orphan that Pap¨¢ sponsored and sent to school to be educated."

    "But Ren¨¦ Alejandro is the only one who was lucky enough to be legally adopted by the vizconde," the beautiful manmented before smoothly saying, "A pleasure to meet all of you. Emilio Miguel at your service."

    If Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s smile was charmingly criminal, then Emilio Miguel''s smile was instant murder. It was deadly.

    Many felt their minds go nk as if they had just died and gone to heaven.

    What kind of smile was that?

    It felt a little sacrilegious to even look directly at him. His appearance was so angelic that he didn''t seem real at all.

    "Mother, pull yourself together," Iris murmured to Wei Lan who was on the verge of passing out after Emilio Miguel''s smile.

    Fortunately, Randy hadn''tpletely lost all of his reasoning yet and was able to catch Wei Lan and support her before she could embarrass herself. Iris was relieved. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Although Iris didn''t feel close to Wei Lan, she wouldn''t want her body''s recognized biological mother to be the subject of tant humiliation from others. No matter how unpleasant Wei Lan could be most of the time, it was a fact that she doted on Little Jun, encouraged Jiang Ying Yue to be more confident, and was now a ratherpetent ambassador for Iris of Hope. For these alone, Iris was willing to tolerate the woman.

    This was why she didn''t want Wei Lan to be seen swooning at a young, attractive man when she had been working hard in presenting a new image of herself as a dedicated and loving wife to her new husband, especially since the younger man was apparently a close brother of her step-son.

    It took Wei Lan some time to recover. Iris, however, was no longer affected by Emilio Miguel''s face. It was only during the first time earlier that she had fallen prey to the man''s otherworldly angelic beauty.

    She was reluctant but could only admit that Emilio Miguel was the best-looking person that she had ever seen in both of her lives so far. Even her older brother, the gorgeous Niki Vetrov, hadn''t been as stunning as this person.

    Emilio Miguel faced Iris and Jin Liwei. His smile was a mix between holy and sinful.

    After some more polite greetings, Emilio Miguel joined their table. Unlike Ren¨¦ Alejandro who engaged Jin Liwei in conversations more while ensuring to maintain appropriate distance from Iris, Emilio Miguel was the opposite. He was clearly more interested in Iris. This caused Jin Liwei''s expression to turn grimmer by the second.

    When the auction finally started, Ren¨¦ Alejandro kicked Emilio Miguel''s foot under the table. Theymunicated via taps in their arms using their organization''s own code.

    "What the hell are you doing?! Stop trying to seduce Iris and angering Liam! If you cause me to fail my mission, your punishment will not be lighter than mine, no?!"

    "Rx, my brother." Emilio Miguel silentlymunicated with his angelic smile. "I just now understand why Liam rejected the business elite Rose Young in favour of this starlet Iris Long. This woman looks delicious. I wonder if she''s a better fuck than Rose Young. I''m curious about how she''ll taste. Maybe¡­."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro shot him a brief re thatsted for less than a second. "Don''t even think about it."

    The extremely beautiful man shrugged his shoulders.. His face was heavenly but his attitude was devil-may-care.

 Chapter 1265 - Bidding War

    Iris squeezed Jin Liwei''s hand under the table. Her husband''s expression might be frosty but she could sense that he was close to exploding. At the same time, she could also feel the heavy and sticky gaze of Emilio Miguel on her. Her impression of the beautiful angelic man quickly copsed.

    The man knew that she was married and that her husband was right beside her, and yet he was looking at her with such eyes. With his angelic features, Emilio Miguel''s gaze couldn''t be said to be lecherous but even someone like her could sense the sexual undertones in the way he looked at her.

    No wonder her husband was acting like a fuming, territorial lion towards a daring trespasser.

    She nced at Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Although he maintained a pleasant smiling expression, his grey eyes were cold. She could also sense that he was tense around Emilio Miguel.

    Why?

    Was it because Ren¨¦ Alejandro was unhappy at Emilio Miguel''s rude behaviour towards her?

    Or maybe there was another, deeper reason? Perhaps he wasn''t nearly as close to the beautiful angelic man as he initially presented them to be.

    Despite her displeasure at Emilio Miguel''sck of respect towards her and her husband, her curiosity about Ren¨¦ Alejandro had now extended to include the extremely beautiful man as well.

    Her instincts were telling her that the two Spaniards had something more than meets the eye.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was interesting while Emilio Miguel was¡­mysterious.

    Emilio Miguel''s angelic beauty should not be a reflection of his inner character. As to what kind of character he had, well, Iris still didn''t know, but based on how he was acting right now, she wasn''t pleased at all and neither was her husband.

    While all of this tense undercurrents were happening at their table, the auction was already well on its way. Sessful bids prompted enthusiastic apuse and cheers.

    The items presented so far were nothing unique but still fetched decent bids because of the nature of the auction. 100% of all the proceeds would go to Iris of Hope''s charitable projects.

    Since most of the guests tonight were members of high society, they regarded fundraising auctions like this as a way to show off their wealth in a positive manner to increase their reputation. It didn''t matter if the item they were bidding for was useless. The most important thing was that their names would be certified as sessful charitable bidders in the auction.

    Next up for bidding was Iris Long''s item.

    "Ladies and gentleman, I present to you an original signed manuscript of one of the musical pieces that critically acimed musician Iris Longposed for the now legendary film, <i>''Strong Yet Broken''</i>! If you all will remember, Iris Long won a Soleil d''Or for Best Soundtrack at the highly prestigious Sommet International Film Festival in France. She made history and brought great pride for our nation, so as you can all imagine, this original manuscript is extremely valuable! I''m telling you, if only I can afford it, I''ll snatch it right away myself but sadly, I''m not as rich as all of you here."

    The audience responded withughter at the emcee''s self-deprecating joke. However, his enthusiastic introduction of the item was effective. Although most of the guests weren''t ck Stars, they still knew the benefits of sessfully bidding for Iris Long''s item. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    They might not agree that it was a valuable collectible but that wasn''t why they wanted to bid for it. What they wanted was to obtain the Jin couple''s good impression of them, particrly that of CEO Jin Liwei. If they could make him happy by supporting his wife''s work, then they would do it in a heartbeat! Nothing was more valuable than gaining such a valuable connection as CEO Jin.

    "The bidding starts at 50,000!"

    Iris'' brows rose. She was expecting for the starting price to be around 10,000 because this particr musical piece wasn''t one of the most prominent in the film. She was neither underestimating nor overestimating herself with this price. For her, it was fair.

    She believed in her musical talents, butpared to her mentors, Enrique Valdez and Maestro Ludovico De Luca who had long and proven track records under their belts, she was only at the beginning journey of her career.

    Unlike her mentors whose original manuscripts could fetch tens of millions of dors each in auctions, she was already quite pleased with 50,000 RMB as the starting price for hers especially since it was only a minorposition for her.

    It seemed that the auction''s appraisers weren''t the only ones who thought rather highly of her little manuscript. The price kept on rising as more and more people bid for it.

    "110,000!"

    "200,000!"

    "260,000!"

    "1 million!"

    Gasps all around.

    Iris snapped her head at her husband in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

    Jin Liwei lowered his paddle. "I''m bidding."

    "I can see that. But why?"

    "I want to keep my wife''s work in my possession."

    She blinked her eyes. "No need to do this. I still have a lot of manuscripts in our home. Let other people bid for it. It''s for charity, anyway."

    "No, I want it."

    She could sense his stubbornness. Sighing, she didn''t bother arguing with him in front of other people. Let him do what he wanted. The money would go to a good cause anyway, and most importantly, the man would be happy.

    "1.1 million!"

    Jin Liwei frowned as he looked at Emilio Miguel lowering his paddle.

    "1.5 million!" (Jin Liwei)

    "1.6 million!" (Emilio Miguel)

    "2 million!" (Jin Liwei)

    At the moment, the other bidders had already withdrawn from the bidding war. It was unfortunate that they couldn''t use this opportunity to get closer to CEO Jin but they didn''t want to displease him even more by fighting it out against him. They could only watch in amazement as someone actually had the guts to go against CEO Jin.

    It turned out that it was the extremely beautiful foreigner. They didn''t know if he was stupid or just too bold for his own good.

    Didn''t he know that Jin Liwei was the reigning king of the country''s business world? Was it worth it to go against an elite like CEO Jin?

 Chapter 1266 - Heirloom

    Emilio Miguel gave Jin Liwei a smile. To others, it was a beautiful angelic smile that meant he was conceding defeat. But to Jin Liwei, it was an evil smile filled with provocation.

    "2 million, going once, going twice. Sold! Congrattions!"

    There was loud apuse as the other guests cheered for Jin Liwei''s victory.

    The person in question, however, was tense all over. His expression was cold and tight. He only eased when he felt his wife''s soft hands trying to loosen his grip on the bidding paddle. The poor paddle was now bent out of shape.

    "Thank you, darling," Iris whispered.

    Jin Liwei took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He smiled at her.

    "Anything for you," he said, even though he wasn''t entirely sure what his wife was thanking him for.

    Was it because he bid for her manuscript, wanting to keep it for himself?

    Or was it because he was effectively giving away 2 million tonight for her charity?

    Or maybe was it because he didn''t snap at the impertinent asshole eyeing his wife right in front of him?

    Or maybe all of the above?

    He didn''t really care about the reason. He was already happy to hear her sweet thanks. His mood was already improving just by feeling her gentle but firm touch in his hand in an effort to calm him down.

    Although all he wanted was to teach the foreign asshole a lesson in not letting his blue eyes roam on someone else''s wife in front of the husband, Jin Liwei still restrained his temper and allowed his wife to coax him to a calmer state. He didn''t care about making a scene in front of other people, but what he wanted to avoid was stressing out his pregnant wife. That was big no-no.

    For now, he decided to ignore the asshole who shared the same table as them. He would just find an opportunity to get back at the foreigner at another time.

    Next up for bidding was Jin Liwei''s item. It was a collection of 50-year old Irish whiskies.

    This time, the starting price was already astronomical at 3 million.

    Even Iris was surprised. She made a face and muttered, "Why do people pay so much money for something that tastes like gasoline?"

    Jin Liwei chuckled. "That''s just the way it is, love. Don''t worry. I no longer drink it often."

    In the end, the whisky collection fetched a final price of 7.5 million, the highest so far in the auction. Iris Long''s original signed manuscript was the second highest at 2 million. Quite a big difference between the items.

    The winning bidder was a businessman. The man was ecstatic and made sure to make eye contact with Jin Liwei afterwards.

    Jin Liwei nodded at the man out of politeness which thrilled the businessman to no end. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Other items went up for auction afterwards but couldn''tpare to Jin Liwei''s whisky collection or even to Iris Long''s manuscript. It seemed that there was a tacit agreement among the bidders not to break the husband and wife''s "records".

    The final item was an 18-carat solid gold pocket watch.

    "To introduce this special item, please wee to the stage our celebrant for the night, Mr. Ren¨¦ Alejandro del Agu!"

    The emcee led the apuse until the charming Spaniard arrived on the stage.

    "Thank you, my friends."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro showed of his twin dimples. He looked even more like a handsome prince charming under the spotlight. He gestured at the golden pocket watch inside a ss encasement wheeled on the stage.

    "You might not see anything special about this pocket watch. Looks quite simple, no? But for me, it is very precious. This is actually a heirloom passed down through generations of heirs of Castillo de Estres. My father, the current vizconde, owned this until he passed it down to me."

    People were shocked to learn that it was an actual heirloom. Something like that should be valuable and yet he was putting it up for auction?

    "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!!!" The gob-smacked Wei Lan almost fainted in disbelief. "Take it off the auction right now! Quick! Take it ooooooooooofffffffff!!!!!"

    Iris and Jin Liwei left it to Randy to calm Wei Lan down before the woman fell into hysterics. The couple was also quite surprised at Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s decision to auction off a heirloom.

    "I know that many of you are filled with questions," Ren¨¦ Alejandro continued saying with a sheepish, dimpled smile. "My answer is that my father is the most charitable person that I know in my life. He might be an aristocrat but if he sees a person in need on the road, he will take off his shoes and even the clothes on his back to give to the other less fortunate person. I learned a lot of from him. This is an important heirloom, yes, but so what? At the end of the day, it is a mere watch. What is a watchpared to helping those who are in need? Surely, all of us here havee to raise money for my sister''s foundation, Iris of Hope, and share our blessings to the less fortunate ones, no?

    "Also please do not worry. I have received my father''s approval to auction off this pocket watch today. He is very busy with his work but is already very supportive of his step-daughter''s charitable foundation, as am I. If he could, I know that he would have loved to be here with all of us in person to help my new mother, Vizcondesa Lan, in running today''s auction to help celebrate my humble birthday and raise money for my new sister''s foundation. So please do not stand on ceremony. Bid away, yes?"

    Wei Lan had real tears running down her face which she was dabbing away with herce handkerchief. Watching such a valuable aristocratic heirloom being auctioned away was extremely painful to her heart!

    Her husband and step-son were too generous! If they didn''t want the heirloom, they could''ve just given it to her! s, it was already toote. Sob sob.

    The starting price that the appraisers had given was a rather humble 100,000 RMBpared to Jin Liwei''s whisky collection which started at an astronomical 3 million.

 Chapter 1267 - Grandfather Of All Smoking Pipes

    Those who were more discerning knew that although the gold pocket watch was a precious heirloom, it still couldn''tpare to Jin Liwei''s top-quality Irish whisky collection. A big part of the reason was the different identities of the original owners.

    Yes, the pocket watch might belong to a long line of aristocrats but the Spanish viscountcy of Castillo de Estres was not really a major noble house. If not for Wei Lan marrying the current viscount, then they wouldn''t even know that such a viscountcy existed. It might be a different story if the title was in the level of a duke, or better yet, a royal.

    Inparison, the people present tonight put more importance on an elite businessman like Jin Liwei especially because aristocracy had already been long abolished in the country. For them, Jin Liwei was the epitome of a modern business emperor whose wealth was literally helping to finance various important industries across the world.

    An old-fashioned viscountcy was indeed fascinating but it wasn''t something that most people like them would prioritize getting involved in. It was better to work on building closer connections with a modern man like Jin Liwei than antiquated foreign aristocrats.

    Nevertheless, the guests wouldn''t say these to Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s face. That would be too rude especially since they came tonight as guests for his special birthday celebration.

    The bidding for the heirloom was also lively. Its price also climbed up in a short time. When the price reached half a million, the bidding started to stall.

    "1 million!"

    Everyone turned their heads and saw the extremely beautiful man lowering his paddle that he just used to make thetest bid. Emilio Miguel shed them an angelic smile, effectively causing many minds to nk out.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro frowned for a second but his dimpled smile never wavered. Nobody noticed this momentary change of expression except for two people sitting at the same table¡ªEmilio Miguel and Iris Long.

    "1 million, going once, going twice. Sold! Congrattions!"

    The bid was finalized with the sound of the gavel.

    Emilio Miguel''s otherworldly smile became brighter. His beauty became even more pronounced.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro returned to their table. He was smiling as he shook Emilio Miguel''s hand and congratted him. Everyone gave them polite apuse.

    Wei Lan had a hopeful expression. She nned on asking Emilio Miguelter to give her the pocket watch. The man looked like an angel so maybe he also had a golden, generous heart.

    It would be nice if she could get it without paying. She was determined to get her hands on the heirloom. It was an important heirloom of her husband''s family. Now that she was married to her husband, she was also a part of his family, so the heirloom should also naturally belong to her.

    While she was absorbed in her own fantasies, Ren¨¦ Alejandro silentlymunicated with Emilio Miguel using their organization''s own code.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro: "You onlye tonight to ruin my ns, no? That pocket watch is supposed to belong to one of the guests tonight so that I can build more connections!"

    Emilio Miguel: "Stop bitching like a little girl, my cute little brother. I just want the pocket watch belonging to Uncle, that is all. There is no rule in the auction tonight forbidding me to join the bidding."

    It was taking a lot of Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s self-control not to slug it out with the motherfucker. Ever since the leadership of their mission in this country was split between the two of them, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was filled up with growing dissatisfaction.

    His team had been ving away to assist the Matador''s team with whatever they needed and yet the motherfucker wasn''t even reciprocating.

    It was almost driving him crazy but the sess of the organization''s missions was the number one priority. Always. His personal feelings had no ce in the grand scheme of things.

    These thoughts calmed him down in an instant. Indeed, he only needed to do his part. His life didn''t belong to him anyway. If he failed, only death, or more likely something that was worse than death, awaited him. He had no choice but to do everything to seed even if that included putting up with an unbearable monster like the Matador.

    His charming fa?ade was effective. Nobody noticed anything amiss about him or the beautiful man sitting beside him.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris originally wanted to observe the two Spaniards longer but her drowsiness was getting worse.

    "Let''s go home?" Jin Liwei whispered to her ear.

    She nodded.

    They were about to excuse themselves to Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro when the emcee spoke again.

    "I know that I mentioned before that Mr. Rene Alejandro''s heirloom pocket watch will be the final item of the night but there has been a change. An additional item was put up at thest minute. I request our dear guests to please remain in your seats as we present the final item. I promise that this will really be thest!"

    Iris paused before deciding to settle back on her seat. Jin Liwei was displeased at the unexpected change in schedule.

    "Let''s stay a little longer," she said. "It''ll only be a few minutes."

    "Fine."

    The emcee introduced the next item. It turned out to be donated by Emilio Miguel.

    Iris nced at the beautiful man out of the corner of her eye. He caught her and sent her a blinding smile. She didn''t react and quickly returned her gaze forward to the stage.

    When the emcee lifted the cloth and revealed the item, everyone nced at therge monitor to see a close-up look at the small item.

    "This is a uniquely crafted, one-of-a-kind gold and silver smoking pipe shaped into a devil bejewelled with diamond, rubies, emeralds and obsidian. It is said that this special smoking pipe wasmissioned by a wealthy Armenian merchant to impress his prospective father-inw a long time ago but got beaten up instead because of its devil shape. When I first saw this pipe for the first time earlier tonight, I couldn''t believe how luxurious it is made. Look at the exquisite details! I say, this is the grandfather of all smoking pipes!"

    Iris paled as soon as she saw the item.. She couldn''t tear her wide, shocked eyes away from the smoking pipe.

 Chapter 1268 - Smoking Devil

    Many were interested in the smoking pipe especially the men regardless of whether they smoked or not. They didn''t care much if the story about the Armenian merchant was true or not. The most important thing was that the silver, gold and jewels used to craft the pipe were all authentic.

    It was, simply put, one hell of a smoking pipe. Even thedies thought that it was a beautiful work of art.

    The starting price was at 200,000.

    It was extremely expensive for a mere smoking pipe, but if it was treated as a piece of art or precious jewelry, then this price was eptable.

    "210,000!"

    "250,000!"

    "300,000!"

    This time, the price jumps with each bid weren''t too high. It seemed that there was a tacit agreement between the bidders to control the price and prevent it from bing too expensive. It was the unnned final item. Although some of them wanted it, they wouldn''t spend too much unnecessary money to fight for it.

    They thought that the gold pocket watch earlier had already been overpriced even if it was an aristocratic heirloom. One million was too much for such a simple item despite its fascinating history. Well, it wasn''t their financial loss anyway. Some of them thought that Emilio Miguel was rather foolish for spending so much money on a simple pocket watch.

    This devil-shaped bejewelled smoking pipe was certainly more valuable in terms of precious materials used. Even so, the bidders didn''t want it to reach a price of a million like the pocket watch.

    The current bidders were all men. They were quite rxed as they raised their paddles, increasing the price little by little within what they felt was an eptable level.

    "310,000!"

    The emcee waited for a few seconds but no other bids followed.

    "310,000, going once, going twice¡ª"

    "1 million!!!"

    Everyone turned their heads to where the new bid came from.

    And did they hear it right?

    Another item reaching a million?

    In addition, the bidder was female?

    "Love?" Jin Liwei was dumbfounded at his wife''s actions.

    Iris ignored him. No, she was unable to hear him. All her attention was on the smoking pipe on the stage. She gripped Jin Liwei''s bidding paddle until its handle was crushed in her hand.

    "Oh? I didn''t know that Iris is so interested in my smoking pipe," Emilio Miguel drawled. "If I had known, I would''ve given it to you as a gift and donated something else for the auction."

    Jin Liwei sent him a cold look but quickly focused his attention on his wife. Now that he was looking closely, something was very wrong.

    On the outside, Iris looked quite calm except for her fierce eyes staring at the smoking pipe.

    As her husband, however, Jin Liwei could sense her abnormal state. He held her hands. They were cold, sweaty, and trembling.

    "We have to get it," she told him through gritted teeth without tearing her eyes away from the smoking pipe on the stage.

    "Alright," he replied even though he didn''t know why she was so adamant in winning the bid for a smoking pipe when she didn''t even smoke.

    His wife must have a good reason for acting this way. She didn''t bid for anything the entire night and even stopped him from bidding on some jewelry that he wanted to win for her. He didn''t expect that she would aim for something as unexpected as a smoking pipe.

    Nobody else bid after her. They didn''t dare not because of their unwillingness to shell out that much money for a smoking pipe but because they didn''t want to earn CEO Jin Liwei''s displeasure for going against his wife.

    "1 million, going once, going twice. Sold! Congrattions!!!"

    The auction finally ended but the party still continued. The guests milled around and chatted with each other while eating food and enjoying a variety of cocktails. Those who won the bids wore big smiles while still trying to act humble and saying that everything was for charity.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t stay any longer. There were many who wanted to speak to them, specifically to Jin Liwei, but they had already slipped out before anyone could try to stop them.

    They were in another room where Iris requested to receive the smoking pipe as soon as possible. The staff left the couple alone with Iris'' original signed manuscript that Jin Liwei won and the smoking pipe that Iris wanted.

    Iris'' hands were shaking as she carefully opened the solid wood case. Inside was the bejewelled smoking pipe.

    "Smoking devil," she whispered.

    Jin Liwei had no idea what the hell was happening with his wife. "You know this?"

    She faced him. Then a torrent of tears gushed down her eyes all of a sudden. She started wailing, startling him.

    "What''s wrong?" He pulled her in his embrace and did his best to calm her down. "Love? Xin? Evelina, tell me what''s happening. Please!"

    Then she fell ck in his arms. The smoking pipe fell to the carpeted floor but he didn''t give a damn. He was now frightened as his wife fainting.

    "Evelina!"

    ###

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    An exhausted and grim Jin Liwei closed the bedroom door where his wife was now asleep. The doctor excused herself with her medical bag and left.

    Jin Liwei nced at his brother-inw leaning by the window in the master suite''s living area. In Lu Zihao''s hand was the bejewelled smoking pipe that Jin Liwei believed to have caused his wife''s copse earlier at Wei Lan''s house.

    Cursed thing!

    He disliked the smoking pipe. No, he abhorred it!

    If something happened to his wife and their twins, he wouldmand someone to pulverize the damned smoking pipe to dust and throw it to a pigsty.

    "You say that it was Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s friend called Emilio Miguel who put up this smoking pipe for auction tonight?" Lu Zihao asked while stroking the pipe with his rough fingers.

    "En." Jin Liwei headed to the mini-refrigerator and got himself a can of coconut water.

    He was craving for beer right now but it had been a long time since there was any alcoholic beverages in the master suite. Coconut water would do. He tossed a can to his brother-inw before chugging almost half of his own can.

    Lu Zihao also drank his coconut water with one hand while studying the smoking pipe with his other hand.

    "Smoking devil," he whispered.

    "You know it, too?" Jin Liwei asked. "That''s what Evelina called it before she fainted."

    "It''s what it is called."

    Lu Zihao finished his can of coconut water in just a few swigs, crushed it in his big hand, and tossed it to the trash bin without even looking. The crushed tin can urately went inside the trash bin.

    "Exin," Jin Liwei said.

    "The story about the Armenian merchantmissioning this smoking pipe to impress his father-inw is bullshit," Lu Zihao replied.

    "I figured as much."

    "But it''s true that this smoking pipe originated in Armenia."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow but didn''t say anything. He waited for his brother-inw to rify while sipping his coconut water.

    Lu Zihao popped the pipe into his mouth and blew imaginary smoke into the air. The movement was so natural as if he had been doing it all his life.

    "The Smoking Devil belonged to the heirs of Vetrovs."

    He looked at Jin Liwei with his dark, fathomless eyes.

    "It was mine."

 Chapter 1269 - True Devil From Hell

    Jin Liwei was stunned. He looked at the bejewelled Smoking Devil, then at his brother-inw.

    "So that''s why," he murmured.

    Now he understood why his wife became so emotional like that over a smoking pipe and even fainted as soon as she held it with her own hands. Anything that had to do with her past life as a Vetrov would always cause her state of mind to descend into chaos.

    He ced the can of coconut water on the table. His appetite to drink was already lost.

    "Do you know?" Lu Zihao continued speaking. "We have some Armenian blood in our paternal great-grandmother''s side. That''s why my father was named Arman. Very non-Russian."

    Jin Liwei didn''t know about this. His wife had never mentioned this. Maybe she didn''t think it was that important. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "It was my great-grandmother whomissioned this pipe from an Armenian craftsman as a present for my great-grandfather. Of course, she wanted it to be shaped into a devil because that''s what the Vetrovs are¡ªthe devils."

    Jin Liwei frowned. His wife had also been a Vetrov in her past life as Evelina. She certainly wasn''t a devil.

    Then Lu Zihao added, "Well, except for my sister. Evelinka was an angel, never a devil. A total anomaly among us, the Vetrovs."

    Jin Liwei nodded. Indeed, his wife was an angel. The motherfucker Emilio Miguel''s appearance had nothing on his wife''s original beauty as Evelina Vetrova. He didn''t care about what anybody said. His wife, no matter if it was her past or present self, was an ultimate beauty.

    "So that''s the real story." Lu Zihao tossed the Smoking Devil in the air and caught it just as easily with one hand. "The only thing the story given during the auction about this pipe is that it has something to do with Armenia, but other than that, the rest are bullshit."

    "Are you 100% sure that pipe is the real Smoking Devil?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Lu Zihao gave a devilish smirk. "Even if you doubt me, do you dare doubt my sister?"

    Jin Liwei fell quiet. Of course not. He didn''t doubt his wife but it was imperative that they were 100% certain that the smoking pipe indeed belonged to the Vetrovs.

    "Then how did that asshole Emilio Miguel get his hands on that and even dared to put it up for auction tonight?" he asked.

    "Damn if I know," Lu Zihao said, his tone dripping with poison. "I can only imagine how many people benefited from our family''s treasures after our organization''s downfall. This Smoking Devil surely won''t be thest item belonging to the Vetrovs that we''ll see in auctions, some motherfuckers'' collections, and in the ck market."

    That was what Jin Liwei thought as well.

    "Do people know the Smoking Devil belonged to the Vetrovs?"

    Lu Zihao thought for a moment, frowning. "Maybe the older ones. Only my great-grandfather and grandfather used the pipe. My father and I didn''t really smoke that much. We also treated the Smoking Devil as an heirloom to pass down to the next generation and not really something to personally use."

    "I''m worried that Evelina might fall in danger for getting her hands on something that used to belong to the Vetrovs."

    If Jin Liwei could think this, then of course Lu Zihao had already thought of this possibility as well.

    "We''ll protect Evelinka."

    "Of course. Always." Jin Liwei felt that it was only natural. She was his wife after all.

    "And Evelinka is not an easy target either. She was Fantom and now Drakon. Not to mention that she made those two devil cat spawns who inherited most of her hacking skills."

    "Meowuwuwuwu! Uncle Haohao is such a super-duper to the highest level baddie! The cute and mighty Ketchup is not a devil cat spawn! Ketchup is Mommy and Daddy''s precious kitty baby! Bacon is a big meanie but little brother is not a devil cat spawn either! Daddy, do you also think that Ketchup and Bacon are devil cat spawns like what Baddie Uncle Haohao said? Meowuwuwu!"

    "Of course not," Jin Liwei reassured his AI daughter. "Don''t mind your uncle."

    "Tsk. Such a brat who eavesdrops and interrupts while the adults are talking deserve a spanking."

    "Ketchup''s bum-bum doesn''t want to be spanked! MEOWUWUWUWU!!!"

    Jin Liwei sighed and sent his brother-inw an annoyed look. Lu Zihao didn''t give a damn.

    Fortunately, it was very easy to coax Ketchup. If it were Bacon, they would definitely had to shell out some premium money topensate the kid for his never-ending "emotional distress".

    Bacon was not present because he was working overtime with ShaWn to dig for more information about Emilio Miguel and how the man had the Smoking Devil, something that originally belonged to the Vetrovs, in his possession.

    "Leave Emilio Miguel to Shadow Winds," Lu Zihao said. "We don''t know how the Smoking Devil fell into his hands. It might be by chance¡ªmeaning, he might not have any direct involvement with the Vetrovs'' demise. But it''s better to be safe than sorry especially since it''s now known that Evelinka sessfully won the pipe at the auction. If that Emilio Miguel really did have some involvement with my family''s downfall¡­."

    Lu Zihao released a deadly bloodthirsty aura.

    "I''ll make him and everyone involved in the massacre experience what the true devil from hell is like."

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes but his brother-inw''s evil expression had already been deeply imprinted in his mind.

    "Stay away from him," Lu Zihao reminded. "If he''s dangerous and really involved in the underworld, then my Shadow Winds will deal with him."

    "En."

    Jin Liwei initially wanted to help in investigating the man but remembered that he and his brother-inw had already long split their roles in protecting Iris (Evelina) and the rest of their family.

    He would be in charge of protecting in the "light", a.k.a. the legal world, while Lu Zihao would guard them in the "dark", a.k.a. the criminal underworld.

    It just meant that Lu Zihao and his Shadow Winds would take care of most of the dirty work while Jin Liwei had the responsibility of maintaining his prestige as Jin Corporation''s President-CEO in order to have the legal power and influence to protect his wife and all their loved ones, including his brother-inw if needed.

 Chapter 1270 - Drag To Hell

    The next day, Jin Liwei gave himself a day off. Both he and Lu Zihao were on edge about Iris'' emotional state after waking up.

    Contrary to their expectations, Iris woke up quite calm. Too calm, in fact, that she was making the two men extremely nervous.

    She noticed that her husband and older brother were acting extra cautious around her but chose not toment.

    It was only after the doctor performed another check-up on her and the twins and concluded that the mother and babies were all okay that Jin Liwei''s tenseness eased a little.

    Afterwards, she called the two men over for a chat.

    Inside the master suite''s living area, she observed them while nibbling on a homemade biscuit.

    "Where the Smoking Devil?" she asked.

    Lu Zihao put his hand inside his pants'' pocket and fished out the bejewelled smoking pipe.

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "You bring it with you just like that?"

    "It''s mine." Lu Zihao shrugged.

    "I paid a million for it so shouldn''t it be mine now?"

    Lu Zihao grunted before fishing out his phone from his pocket next. A few secondster, Iris received a mobile notification informing her of a 1 million RMB transfer from him.

    She sighed and didn''t bother arguing with her brother. Fine. Since he wanted it and even paid her, then he could have it. The Smoking Devil originally belonged to him anyway.

    Jin Liwei pulled her to him. "Are you really okay?"

    No matter how many times he had witnessed his wife fainting, he would never stop worrying about her. He had really been frightenedst night when she lost consciousness in his arms.

    Iris kissed his cheek. "I''m really fine¡ªphysically. Emotionally, I admit that I''m unnerved but I think I can manage. You''re here with me, so I know that I''ll be okay."

    "En." He pecked her lips.

    Lu Zihao snorted and refused to watch the annoying public disys of affection between his sister and her husband. He would never admit even to himself that their intimate actions were causing him to miss his fianc¨¦e.

    He wondered how Long Jinjing was doing at work. She had been very understanding when he left their bed at her cest night to rush to Dragon Pce after hearing that something serious had happened to Iris. In fact, she also wanted toe with him but he told her to stay home after learning that his sister fainted because of the Smoking Devil.

    Long Jinjing now knew about his criminal background as the leader of Shadow Winds and even epted everything in order to stay with him. However, that didn''t mean that Lu Zihao was prepared to reveal his past life as Niki Vetrov to her.

    Lu Zihao, a small-time crime boss, was apletely different story than Niki Vetrov, the crown prince of the top criminal organization in the international underworld.

    The gap between the two identities was like the difference between the ground and the sky.

    His thoughts and the Jin couple''s PDA were interrupted by Ketchup informing them that Ren¨¦ Alejandro was calling.

    The two men''s expressions turned ugly. Before Iris could make a decision, Jin Liwei had already refused the call.

    In the end, Ren¨¦ Alejandro could only leave a voice mail expressing his sincerest apologies for Emilio Miguel''s rudenessst night. He also inquired about Iris'' health especially after hearing that she fainted.

    Jin Liwei didn''t have any serious animosity towards Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Although he was suspicious of the Spaniard''s too-squeaky-clean background on paper and intentions in trying to be close to them, he had decided to adapt a cautious yet still polite attitude towards him. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    But after what happenedst night, his impression of Ren¨¦ Alejandro worsened because of Emilio Miguel. He didn''t give a damn if almost everyone at the partyst night thought that the man looked like a beautiful angel. For Jin Liwei, Emilio Miguel was an asshole.

    Not only did the man look inappropriately at his wife during their first meeting but he also brought something that originally belonged to the Vetrovs for the auction, causing his wife to copse.

    The first reason was uneptable while the second reason was extremely suspicious and even dangerous.

    Although a part of Jin Liwei approved of Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s initiative to apologize today, he still felt furious about what happened to his wife at the Spaniard''s birthday party. If only his wife had listened to him and opted not to personally attend. Maybe this wouldn''t have happened.

    But on second thought, he had to admit that it might be fate. What were the odds that his wife, a real Vetrov descendant in her past life, would encounter an authentic Vetrov heirloom in an auction for her own charitable foundation?

    Prior to this, his wife often avoided confronting her past life as a Vetrov as much as possible. Now that a real, tangible item from her past life had popped up right in front of her, maybe he could help her to face her deep trauma and hopefully heal her once and for all.

    Since Ren¨¦ Alejandro had a connection in what happenedst night, Jin Liwei hadn''t closed all doors to the Spaniard yet. For the sake of knowing more information and possibly finding a helpful connection to the Vetrovs, he was willing to speak again to Ren¨¦ Alejandro, but only after his anger had eased.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s friend, Emilio Miguel¡­Jin Liwei could only feel hostility and vignce. He didn''t want to have anything to do with the asshole, to be honest.

    Lu Zihao''s thoughts were simr to Jin Liwei''s but more extreme.

    He waspletely hostile against Ren¨¦ Alejandro but it was more akin to something like instinctivepetitiveness rather than pure hatred.

    To Emilio Miguel, he hadn''t personally met the man yet but he already loathed him for possessing something that originally belonged to him in the past life as Niki Vetrov. He wanted to know more about the motherfucker.

    If Emilio Miguel really had something to do with the massacre of the Vetrovs, he would bet? his cursed life and fight to the death before dragging the motherfucker to hell with him.

 Chapter 1271 - Iris Long Is Dying?

    Just like what Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro had been expecting, the birthday party was featured on the news. Wei Lan was thrilled but felt a bit disappointed that there was more focus on her daughter and son-inw than on her (and her step-son, of course).

    At the same time, Iris of Hope released an official announcement on its website that 100% of the proceeds from the fundraising auction had already been donated to three charities that the foundation was currently supporting.

    The three charities responded by posting their own official statements of gratitude for Iris of Hope''s generosity. These three recipients were happy to receive suchrge lump-sum donations because the total money raised from the auction was a little over 15 million RMB. Each of them received about 5 million RMB each.

    However, the media focused more on Iris Long and Jin Liwei''s donated items which fetched the most money at the auction.

    Jin Liwei''s Irish whisky collection was a marvel to the general public. They almost couldn''t believe that any alcohol could be that expensive. 7.5 million! What kind of price was that?!

    Then there was Iris Long''s original signed manuscript which CEO Jin bought for 2 million, not even giving other people a chance to outbid him for his wife''s work.

    The ck Stars praised their Boss Iris'' husband for supporting her. They imagined a scenario where the domineering CEO wouldn''t let anybody else own something of his wife''s. Even when she personally gave it away, he would do everything in his power and wealth to get it back.

    Fans of the film "Strong Yet Broken" also stirred. They swarmed Iris Long and LXC Studio''s social media ounts, begging for Iris to auction more of her original manuscripts of the film''s soundtrack.

    As a result, the film trended once again. Not only the film but all the people associated with it as well. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    The legendary blind gold-medalist Paralympian swimmer, Guan Jintao.

    The film''s stars, most notably the now famous best actress Yin Meixin whose life had changed for the better after bing a Soleil d''Or recipient at the Sommet International Film Festival in France for her work in the film just like Iris Long.

    And of course, the film''s director and production staff.

    Thanks to Iris Long''s 2-million manuscript, all of them were once again pushed into the forefront of public interest.

    But it didn''t take long for the news about Iris Long''s fainting spell to be leaked as well.

    As much as Jin Liwei did his best to suppress the news about it, he couldn''t shut the mouths of all the witnesses who personally saw him carrying his unconscious wife out of Wei Lan''s mansion into a waiting car that night.

    This wasn''t the first time that Iris Long fainted or was hospitalized. The ck Stars were worried about her. Not only them. Everyone who cared about her immediately called and messaged her, asking if she was okay.

    At the same time, some spected that she might have contracted a serious incurable illness.

    The more malicious ones even said that she was going to die soon.

    Poor Iris Long.

    But this was retribution for her unforgivable sin of snatching up the country''s most eligible bachelor, Jin Liwei, for herself.

    One of these people who wished this kind of vicious luck on Iris Long was, of course, Rose Young.

    Inside the hideout in the rural woods, Rose Young cursed Iris Long while watching the entertainment news on TV. She was still locked up in her room most of the time but Emilio Miguel had granted her the privilege of walking around the house an hour each day after her satisfactory good behaviour (and excellent performance in bed).

    She had been in a bad mood ever since Emilio Miguel returned the day after Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party. In the midst of having wild sex, Emilio Miguel suddenly mentioned meeting Iris Long.

    "Iris is indeed very beautiful and has a sexy body. Seeing how protective of her Liam acted the whole time, maybe she''s a great fuck in bed. How else would a man like him refuse to even look at other women and settle for just a single one?"

    Rose Young had been enjoying herself until that point. Hearing Emilio Miguel talk about her mortal enemy, Iris Long, while thrusting his hard length inside her soaking wetness immediately killed the mood for her.

    Unfortunately, Emilio Miguel couldn''t be stopped once he started so she didn''t even bother trying. She allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do with her all the while listening to his praises about Iris Long. It was infuriating!

    The truth was that she had already fallen in love with Emilio Miguel.

    Which woman could resist his beauty?

    Not her!

    And most importantly, he understood all of her sexual kinks and even introduced more extreme ones, opening up a whole new world of wonder and pleasure to her.

    Her feelings for Jin Liwei had now all turned to pure hatred. A man like him who settled for a single, lowly woman who was far too inferior for him was extremely foolish. Rose Young was so much better than that slut, Iris Long. It was Jin Liwei''s loss when he refused her to stay with that slut.

    Now she had Emilio Miguel.

    But it was just like Iris Long to seduce even him!

    "Slut, that''s what you are," Rose Young snarled at the smiling image of Iris Long on TV. "I hope that you''re really dying of an incurable disease! But don''t die too soon. I need to torture you first until your pathetic self begs me to kill you! How dare you steal Liwei from me?! And now you even got your disgusting ws on my Emil?! I''ll kill you, slut. I''ll kill you!!!"

    Downstairs, Emilio Miguel clutched his stomach as heughed hard while watching the live surveince footage of Rose Young''s crazed cursing of Iris Long. He still looked gorgeous despite his unbing actions.

    Watching all this was Ren¨¦ Alejandro who had an ugly expression. He heard all the murderous words that came out of Rose Young''s mouth.

    "My Emil? She called you ''my Emil''?! Is it part of your mission to make that hostage fall in love with you? Why did I not hear about this?!"

 Chapter 1272 - The Laughing Matador

    It took some time for Emilio Miguel to control hisughter. Granted, he didn''t try that hard to stop himself, allowing himself tough until he got tired of it instead. He clearly didn''t give a damn if he pissed off the already pissed Ren¨¦ Alejandro even more.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s other brothers who came with him to the hideout remained silent and helpless while continuing to watch the two leaders confronting each other.

    Emilio Miguel sniggered before finally answering Ren¨¦ Alejandro. "It is not part of the mission. Do not worry about it, my cute little brother."

    "Then why are you so careless? It will make our mission moreplicated if you continue sleeping with the hostage and making her fall in love you harder, no?"

    The extremely beautiful man shrugged his shoulders. "Is it my fault that I am too attractive? I was born this way. Completely natural. People fall in love with me all the time, ah. Why so serious? I will handle my own shit while you handle yours. Simple as that."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro snarled, "That is what I want but you just have to interfere with my part of the mission at my party! Now I am back to square one with Liam Jin because you cannot keep your perverted eyes away from his wife! Do you not know how much effort I had to expend just to get close to that couple and infiltrate their close circles?"

    Emilio Miguel sighed and shook his head. "Do not act so childish. Alwaysining and ming me all the time instead of solving your own shit. That is why Uncle and the higher-ups do not trust you to lead this mission all by yourself and called me right away after finishing my previous mission."

    Now Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s expression turned uglier than before. The splitting of leadership between the two of them was a thorn to his pride.

    "Speaking of being unable to keep my eyes off Liam Jin''s wife, Iris Long is indeed hot. I would love to fuck her one day. Maybe when we finish the mission and dispose of Liam, I can have a go with his wife."

    Emilio Miguel licked his lips. The action was supposed to bescivious but it looked divine on him instead due to his angelic beauty.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro looked disgusted at him, though. He opened his mouth but quickly closed it again. Good thing that he was able to restrain himself from a surprisingly instinctive urge to defend Iris Long from Emilio Miguel.

    Why would he even do that?

    Iris Long was nothing to him. As Wei Lan''s daughter, she was just one of the many tools to get closer to her husband, Liam Jin, and the old man, Lu Jianhong. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Although the Matador was a disgusting monster, Emilio Miguel was still a partner in the mission. There was no reason for Ren¨¦ Alejandro to create more tension with a partner in the mission for the sake of a mere tool.

    "Also, I am very interested to know why Iris wanted my smoking pipe so much," Emilio Miguel continued saying. "She did not bid on anything during the entire auction but immediately bid 1 million when she learned that the final item is from me. I think she is attracted to me just like everyone else. Bidding for my item must be a secret message to let me know about her desire. I do not believe that any woman can resist when I seriously seduce them. Iris Long will definitelye running to me and willingly shake her ass when I crook my finger at her someday."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro rolled his grey eyes. The man wasn''t only disgusting but delusional as well.

    Did Emilio Miguel really believe that all women were loose like Rose Young?

    If that were true, then Ren¨¦ Alejandro might choose to be celibate someday. He liked regr sex but if the partner was too easy, then he would eventually be bored and even repulsed. His tastes were certainly not as strong as the perverted Matador.

    "Where did you get that smoking pipe, anyway?" Ren¨¦ Alejandro asked to change the subject because he didn''t like hearing about the other man''s lewd and misogynisticments.

    Emilio Miguel paused. Then he threw his head back andughed once again. He even started pping his thigh.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro scowled, knowing that the man wasughing at his expense this time.

    "What?" he asked in annoyance.

    The beautiful man just continuedughing while looking at him with blue eyes filled with unreadable meaning. Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t know how to interpret what the annoying man meant by looking at him that way.

    "You hackers spend too much time sitting behindputers to experience real life," Emilio Miguel said.

    It wasn''t only Ren¨¦ Alejandro who felt insulted by Emilio Miguel''s words. Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s brothers couldn''t stop themselves from ring at the beautiful, sniggering man who just mocked them to their faces.

    "Oooooh, fierce! If only you can channel some of that spirit in gaining more real-life experiences like me, then perhaps you will know more and stop asking stupid questions. Ah, it is so difficult being the more experienced older brother. I can never understand why Uncle chose to formally adopt you over me."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s hands clenched into tight fists but he managed to restrain his impulse to pummel the asshole''s face.

    Emilio Miguel had always been jealous because his father adopted him when the majority expected that it would be Emilio Miguel who would be adopted instead of the younger Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Since then, the Matador had always tried provoking him any chance he got.

    Releasing a long breath, Ren¨¦ Alejandro forced himself to be calm down.

    "Never mind if you do not want to answer. Just a smoking pipe does not pique my interest." He turned to his brothers. "Let us head back, yes?"

    His brothers nodded and immediately filed out without wasting any second. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was thest one. He could hear Emilio Miguel starting tough at them once again.

    "Just a smoking pipe, huh. Oh, how cute, my innocent little brother. If you only know from where I picked it from. Hahahaha!"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro mmed the door shut before riding away with his brothers from the hideout.

 Chapter 1273 - Phantom Dragon

    Despite all the rumours swirling around Iris Long''s health, she was unaffected and remained focused on her main priorities.

    LXC Studio released an official statement about the issue on behalf of her to reassure all her fans that she was safe and in good health.

    The statement, however, was very short and quite vague. It didn''t satisfy everyone. They pressed LXC Studio for more details but thepany re-focused the attention on Jin Chonglin''stest projects instead.

    By this time, Iris was back to working at Eve Holdings. There were paparazzi wandering around all of herpanies but she was able to slip past them thanks to her highly professional security team.

    She was currently meeting the newly hired staff for her newestpany, Phantom Dragon Funds.

    Her financial manager, Qiao Yu, was also present to help with all the initial funding aspects of the new investmentpany.

    "Phantom Dragon," he muttered under his breath. "Young Madam¡ªPresident, how about we change thepany name into something that is, er, less domineering?"

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "If you think that the name sounds domineering, then that''s exactly what I want. We''ll stick to this name. It''s perfect."

    Qiao Yu opened his mouth, nning to persuade her to change her mind, but closed it again after seeing the all too familiar stubborn light in her eyes. He sighed and resigned himself.

    "Phantom Dragon, huh. Investment applicants might think that we aren''t legitimate investors but loan sharks instead after hearing our name."

    Iris chuckled. "You''ve grown quite funny recently, Mr. Qiao."

    The financial manager''s mouth twitched before quickly smoothing his expression into his usual sternness.

    "Alright, let''s begin," she said, nodding at everyone.

    As per Iris'' style of not wasting any precious time, the meeting was short yet intensive. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The new staff of Phantom Dragon Funds basically didn''t have any time to slowly adjust to their new jobs before Iris threw them several important tasks.

    Their main priority, however, was to aggressively buy as much Long Industries shares as they could as soon as possible.

    This wasn''t a big problem to them, though. Most of the new staff weren''t greenhorns. In fact, they were some of Qiao Yu''s acquaintances. He vouched for their characters, but of course, Iris still performed due diligence when personally hiring them. After all, the investmentpany would handlerge amounts of money on the get-go before it could expect to turn in any profits. Just like any other investments, the possibility of losing money existed as well.

    After everyone left, Qiao Yu stayed and looked hesitant to leave.

    "Is there anything else, Mr. Qiao?" Iris asked.

    He said, "Young Madam, forgive me if what I''m about to say might sound presumptuous."

    "What is it?"

    "If you really do this, you are more or less effectively dering an open war against your eldest brother. You''ll really fall out with him and everyone in his camp."

    "I know already." Iris leaned back on her seat and looked at Qiao Yu straight in the eyes. "But I''ve already fallen out with Long Hui for a while now."

    "But your father, President Long, he¡­."

    "I''m aware that Father still insists on protecting his eldest son."

    Qiao Yu was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Please don''t misunderstand. I''m not siding with anyone but you or defending any of them. But I still have deep respect and gratitude for your father. He''s my former boss after all, the one who hired me to protect your finances while you were still a minor. President Long might seem uncaring but he actually cares a lot about you, his children. He¡ª"

    Iris raised a hand to stop him. "I know, Mr. Qiao. Thank you."

    The usually stern financial manager looked torn.

    "Mr. Qiao."

    "Yes?"

    "Do you think that Father wants the best for Long Industries?"

    "Of course, Young Madam. President Long has always dedicated himself for thepany''s development. It''s due to your father that Long Industries ventured into the international shipping industry and became what it is now."

    She nodded. "Then among us four siblings, who do you think should be the next head of Long Industries?"

    Qiao Yu paused but his gaze on Iris was firm. Then he sighed. "It''s Young Madam, of course."

    Iris smiled, nodding. There was no arrogance in her expression. She was just epting a fact.

    As for Qiao Yu, he wasn''t only saying this to tter his young boss. He had been Iris'' financial manager for a long time. Ever since she had changed after waking up froma and sessfully poached him to work exclusively for her, he now knew how amazing she was when it came to finance and business. Most importantly, she had the legendary Sir Lu Jianhong as her business mentor, not to mention that she was also secretly a Cross Academy student. Just based on these alone, she was the most qualified among her siblings to manage a business.

    "I know that I''m the best choice," Iris said. "The second is Big Sister Jinjing but she''s already happy working at Orchidia Beauty. She has no intention of joining the battle of session at the Longs. The third option¡­well, let''s just say that it''s not Long Hui."

    Qiao Yu nodded. Even without her saying it, he knew that she had already acknowledged her other brother, Long Jian. He was aware of their temporary alliance.

    In the end, Qiao Yu could only resign himself to follow his young boss'' aggressive ns after seeing her determination. He couldn''t stop her even if he wanted to anyway. Even her husband, CEO Jin, didn''t always have the power to stop her if she really wanted to do something.

    "I understand, Young Madam." He stood up and prepared to leave. Just as he reached the door, he paused and turned back to tell her, "Please rest assured that I still haven''t forgotten my remaining task to help make you into a global billionaire."

    Iris grinned. "Good."

    "I, Qiao Yu, have already made it my career mission to make Young Madam richer than CEO Jin."

    The financial manager left the office amidst Iris'' delightedughter.

 Chapter 1274 - Salvation

    "In a good mood?" Jin Liwei asked when he picked up his wife from Eve Holdings.

    She nodded but didn''t borate. He didn''t mind. As long as she was happy, he was pleased. There was no need for her to tell every single thing to him. He trusted her. If she wanted to tell him, then he would listen.

    After reaching Dragon Pce Home #10, they switched vehicles. This time, they left their own security staff and took only those from Shadow Winds.

    "Are you sure that you want toe?" Jin Liwei asked for the twentieth time.

    "Of course." Iris'' tone was certain. "Don''t worry too much. I''ll be fine."

    His expression didn''t ease even after she patted his cheek. He tried persuading her to return and stay at home again but to no avail. When he sensed that she was getting annoyed, he could only stop. He didn''t want to destroy her original good mood. It wasn''t good for her health and that of their babies.

    Thanks to Ketchup''s excellent navigation assistance, they avoided the congested traffic and arrived at their destination faster than expected. The old, abandoned industrial zone was eerie even during daytime.

    The huge gates opened to let them in. Armed guards with cold, emotionless eyes appeared and watched their vehicles make their way inside thepound.

    Jin Liwei had already been here before so he was no longer that affected by the dangerous atmosphere in the ce.

    Iris didn''t bat an eye either. To her, this was child''s ypared to how the Vetrov organization operated in her past life. Nevertheless, she personally still didn''t like ces like this. It was impossible topletely avoid Shadow Winds though because it was her older brother''s group and her AI son worked in it as well.

    Lu Zihao was waiting for them at the renovated old warehouse''s main entrance which now served as Shadow Winds'' headquarters. Like Jin Liwei, Iris could sense that he disapproved of her presence today.

    "I''m not leaving," she said as soon as she stepped out of the vehicle.

    "Hard-headed girl," Lu Zihao muttered but didn''t bother objecting to her presence anymore.

    "Hi, Boss Drakon!"

    A couple members of ShaWn apanied Lu Zihao to wee them.

    Iris nodded at them. "Hello. Good to see you again."

    "Follow me," Lu Zihao said before his subordinates could waste any more time fangirling and fanboying on his sister.

    Jin Liwei held his wife''s hand as they followed his brother-inw inside.

    Later, they arrived at a heavily guarded area. It was a surveince room dedicated to monitoring the holding cells.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The leader and key members of ShaWn were present as was Bacon whose ck, fluffy tail immediately rotated like helicopter des upon seeing his parents in one of theputer monitors.

    A teenage-looking man was in charge of the holding cells. Jin Liwei had met him before when he came at the headquarters to beat up Jin Chenggong.

    Iris sat on afy couch which looked out of ce among the other basic furniture in the room. Lu Zihao had it added for thefort of his pregnant sister after learning from Jin Liwei that she insisted oning today. His subordinates even prepared a rather impressive variety of drinks and snacks for her.

    She observed the live images being shown on the surveince monitors.

    "Is that Jin Chenggong?" she asked while gesturing at an emaciated, white-haired old man.

    "Yes, Boss Drakon," the teenage-looking man replied because he was the one in charge of the prisoners.

    Although he wasn''t part of ShaWn, he followed their way of addressing their big boss'' sister and called her Boss Drakon as well. It was enough for him to know that hisrades from the hacker team respected her, not to mention that their Boss Hao treasured her like his real blood sister even though they weren''t biologically-rted.

    Iris sighed. As soon as she met the teenage-looking man, she already knew that he was dangerous despite his deceptively innocent appearance. Just based on Jin Chenggong''s huge change in appearance, she deduced that the teenage-looking man was an expert in torture.

    With the help of the newly configured Bacon, ShaWn was able to locate some clues about the mysterious group behind the Youngs. Their findings were not that substantial as of yet but it was better than nothing.

    Lu Zihao sneered at the emaciated Jin Chenggong. He would never forget the old bastard''s sins against his sister.

    Raping and kidnapping Iris and even wanting to have her impregnated with a rapist''s child were unforgivable.

    Granted, these ns never had the chance to be carried out but just the fact that they were thought up in the first ce was already enough for both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao to throw away any possibility of a lighter punishment for Jin Chenggong.

    Watching her husband and older brother''s vicious expressions, Iris knew that their minds were already set. She let them be. She didn''t have any intentions of letting off Jin Chenggong either. The men would take care of him ording to their original ns.

    Her eyes moved to three other holdings cells. There was Jenny Tseng (Rose Young''s best friend), Luke (Rose Young''s maternal cousin), and another guy (Luke''s friend).

    She came for them today. After eating a chocte bonbon, she stood up.

    "Love, do you really need to do this?" Jin Liwei asked, his tone filled with worry.

    "I want to."

    He sighed. "I''lle with you."

    Lu Zihao also moved to follow them.

    After receiving Boss Hao''s nod, the teenage-looking man led the trio to one of the holding cells.

    Later, a nk-faced Jenny Tseng flinched and cowered upon hearing the door open. She curled on her hard, metal bed with her arms covering her head, making herself as small as possible. Her whole body trembled and waited for the day''s torture.

    She could hear footsteps nearing her, making her shake even harder.

    "Jenny Tseng," a soft, female voice said, sounding very out of ce.

    Surprised and confused, she peeked and saw a familiar figure looking down on her. She didn''t even notice the other two male figures nking the person.

    It was as if Jenny Tseng saw her salvation.. She threw herself to the floor and hugged the female''s legs and started wailing.

 Chapter 1275 - Not A Saint Nor A Saviour

    "Save me!!!" Jenny Tseng hung onto Iris'' legs with all her might. "Please, I beg you!!! Iris Long, have mercy on me and save me!!!!! Waaaaaaaaah!!!!!"

    Before she could continue any further, she was grabbed by the neck and then thrown away. She groaned in pain when she hit the wall. Her blurry eyes saw a frightening hulk of a man glowering down on her. She began shaking harder and avoided looking at the scary man.

    However, her desire to survive was stronger. She had already long forgotten about her image. She didn''t care about anything anymore and began crawling on the floor back to Iris Long.

    "Stay away," Lu Zihao growled.

    Jenny Tseng''s teeth chattered but she did her best to grit them and continue her slow, pathetic crawl to what she believed was her salvation.

    "Big Brother, please stop," Iris said.

    Lu Zihao snarled at the crawling woman, "Don''t touch."

    Jenny nodded and stopped when she was a few steps away from them. Only then did the scary man step aside. She lifted her head and saw Jin Liwei hugging Iris Long in a protective manner.

    Unlike the two men''s disgust, she could only see calmness and maybe even pity in Iris'' expression.

    Jenny''s surgically-enhanced body parts looked grotesque with her current emaciated appearance. Her hair was dry, frizzy, with her original ck roots growing out of her coloured hair.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She knelt down in front of Iris and sobbed.

    "Please, I beg you. Wuwuwu! Iris Long, I have wronged you because of Rose! I now know everything, that she used me and her maternal cousins to harm you and Jin Liwei! Rose Young has been my best friend for the longest time but she¡­she¡­wuwuwu¡ªshe just abandoned me to save herself from the consequences of her crime! I was so loyal to her! Even if I didn''t agree with her ns, I still supported her! But she just used me! Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!! I have always known her true colours but this is the first time I personally feel victimized because of her!!! Waaaaaaah!!!!!"

    Iris didn''t say anything and continued watching her.

    Jin Liwei monitored his wife''s condition, intending to carry her out the first sign that she showed any difort at the current situation.

    Lu Zihao continued to re at the wailing Jenny Tseng, ready to keep her away from her sister if the woman dared to grab Iris again.

    "I''m so sorry, Iris Looooooooong! Waaaaaaaaaah!!! I regret everything I did with Rosie to harm you! I really do!!!!! Please save me!!!!! I can''t take it anymore!!!!! I don''t want to die here!!!!! Wuwuwu!!!! I''ll do everything and anything you want me to!!!! Just, please, have mercy on me. Please, Iris Long!!!! Please!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!"

    Iris stepped forward but Jin Liwei held her back while Lu Zihao blocked her with his arm.

    "You two, stop this," she told them.

    "No." Jin Liwei was firm.

    So was Lu Zihao.

    She shook their arms away. They were reluctant but finally allowed her to approach Jenny Tseng.

    Iris crouched down in front of the sobbing woman. Then she caressed Jenny''s wet cheek.

    "Do you really regret your role in Rose Young''s crime?" she asked, her voice a soft, gentle whisper.

    Jenny nodded quickly, as if afraid that doing it too slowly would cause her head to fly away from her neck.

    "You say that you''ll do everything and anything."

    "Y-yes!!!!!"

    "Even if that means betraying your best friend?"

    Jenny''s expression showed pure heartbreak. Iris pitied the woman but she couldn''t afford to be too soft right now. Although Jenny Tseng was pitiful especially since she only followed Rose Young''s evil ns due to her loyalty to their friendship, it was still a fact that Jenny was an aplice.

    The unnaturally plump lips of Jenny trembled. "R-rosie¡­no, Rose Young betrayed me first¡­wuwuwu!!!"

    Iris waited.

    Finally, Jenny''s wet, swollen eyes shed with a firm resolve. "I-I will do it! If you want me to be enemies with my best friend¡ªno, with my ex-best friend, then so be it! Wuwuwu¡­ Anything, Iris Long! I''ll be your d-dog if you w-want, just please take me away from this hellish ce! Please!!! Waaaaah!!!!!"

    Iris'' pupils shook but she quickly hardened herself. She could only imagine the kind of torture the poor woman experienced under her brother''s subordinates. This kind of situation was against her moral values but it seemed that no matter how hard she tried, she could neverpletely escape from the shadows of this kind of life.

    "Alright," she said.

    Hope filled Jenny''s face. "R-really?!"

    Iris stood up. Jenny panicked and immediately moved to follow her but the scary Lu Zihao blocked her.

    "W-wait!!!" Jenny was scared that they would leave her here.

    Iris looked back at her. "I am not a saint, Jenny Tseng, nor am I your saviour."

    Jenny''s mouth trembled and hopelessness filled her.

    "But I have the power to give you a second chance."

    Jenny looked up, feeling hopeful once again.

    "I will use you to crush Rose Young and the power supporting her and the Young family."

    Jenny swallowed but continued listening to Iris with rapt attention.

    "Jenny Tseng, will you shed your old self and follow me?"

    "Yes!" Jenny didn''t hesitate to shout with all her might. She couldn''t afford not to do so.

    "But I demand yourplete obedience. If you ever betray me like you have betrayed Rose Young today¡­."

    Jenny saw the coldness in Iris Long''s eyes and her heart froze before quaking. At that moment, Iris Long was even more frightening than the big hulk of a man Lu Zihao in Jenny Tseng''s eyes. Iris didn''t need to continue her sentence. Jenny understood the rest of the warning that was left unsaid.

    She nodded with chattering teeth and prostrated herself to the ground to demonstrate her obedience.

    Iris'' cold eyes shook once again upon seeing the other woman''s pathetic state. She turned away.

    "Big Brother, make the arrangements," she said before leaving the room without waiting for Lu Zihao''s response.

    Iris walked with quick steps but slowed down in the hallway. She tried to grab the concrete wall to support herself.

    Jin Liwei''s pulled her in his arms and soothed her with reassuring murmurs. "You''re okay, love. You''re fine.. I''m here."

 Chapter 1276 - Bear Any Sin In The World For You

    "Come on, Evelina. Breathe for me." Jin Liwei embraced his wife more tightly but still made sure to treat her with gentleness.

    "I hated what I did inside," Iris said in a shaky voice.

    Seeing her like this distressed him. He kissed her forehead and continued soothing her.

    Lu Zihao came out of the holding cell and saw them. His expression changed upon seeing his sister''s state. He was about to approach when Jin Liwei sent him a meaningful look. In the end, he only nodded and left the two alone without saying anything.

    "Don''t beat yourself up over what happened to Jenny Tseng," Jin Liwei told his wife. "She is not innocent to Rose Young''s actions."

    "I know but¡­."

    "Evelina." He lifted her chin and forced her to look at him. "You might think of me as heartless but I think everyone involved in trying to harm you, me or anyone from our family deserve punishment. They are the ones who started it. We are only retaliating."

    She clung to him and continued looking at him, focusing on his resolute eyes, and trying to absorb strength from him.

    He gently rubbed her chin with his thumb. "For me, it doesn''t matter how small Jenny Tseng or other people''s role in trying to harm us. Big or small, for me, it''s all the same. Especially when ites to you. I''ll punish anyone who dares to hurt you even if it''s myself."

    She turned her head to kiss his hand holding her chin. He responded by leaning forward and pressing their foreheads together.

    "Whatever guilt you''re feeling, throw it at me. I''ll dly carry the guilt for you. As long as you maintain your inner peace and happiness, I''ll bear any sin in the world."

    Her eyes watered but she didn''t allow herself to cry. She gave him a shaky smile and pecked his mouth.

    "What are you saying, Mr. Jin? As your wife, I vowed during our marriage to share whatever burdens life throws us together with you."

    His lips curved up. "En."

    They kissed each other for a while. It was soft, gentle andforting.

    "Feel better now?" he asked.

    She nodded. "Thanks, darling."

    "Anytime, my love."

    The husband and wife didn''t stay at Shadow Winds headquarters for too long. Iris already aplished what she wanted to do. Jenny Tseng was sessfully converted to their side. As for the others, Lu Zihao would deal with them and arrange the next steps.

    Iris and Jin Liwei had already left when the teenage-looking man finally released Jenny Tseng, Luke and the other guy. All of them feared the teenage-looking man who tormented them day and night with his endless physical and mental tortures. They had already been broken a long time ago.

    Now, however, there were hopeful glints in their eyes. They had just received a new lease in life. Of course, they had to pay a price for it.

    The teenage-looking man pushed the trio before his boss. Jenny Tseng, Luke and the other guy rarely saw Lu Zihao but they feared him the most among the people in this hellish ce. To them, he was the king of the devils.

    Right now, all they could do was to tremble in front of him while doing their best to avoid his frightening gaze.

    After what felt like forever, the devil king finally broke the torturous silence and spoke.

    "I am releasing you thanks to Iris Long. Remember that."

    Jenny Tseng andpany nodded their heads.

    "Now get out of my sight."

    They didn''t need any additional words before scrambling away from him as if their butts were on fire. Other subordinates took them to another part of the headquarters, thankfully not holding cells anymore.

    The teenage-looking man remained.

    "Keep an eye on Jenny Tseng," Lu Zihao instructed. "Women can be difficult to predict. They change their minds all the time. She might change sides again."

    "Understood, Boss Hao."

    "As for the two men, they''ll be easier to control as they''re young. Especially now that theypletely hate Rose Young after learning that their other friends have been murdered by the group that rescued her."

    The teenage-looking man agreed. "Actually, the one called Luke has some potential."

    "Oh?" Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow.

    "He was such a weak chicken at the beginning but his ability to cope with hardship is rathermendable. I had to increase the level of my torture on him several times because of his coping skills. He broke down just like the others but he didn''tpletely copse."

    "Hm." Lu Zihao tapped a finger on the arm of his chair. "Fine. Groom him if you want. But make sure that he doesn''t bite you in the asster."

    The teenage-looking man revealed a terrifying smile.

    Well, terrifying for normal people.

    Lu Zihao was unaffected. In fact, he thought that his subordinate''s smile was too wide and gummy. In short, ugly.

    But he kept his opinion to himself, deeming it as something unnecessary to share. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    He quickly focused on his next task. He turned to the surveince monitors and watched the emaciated Jin Chenggong who now looked several years older than his actual age.

    Lu Zihao nced at the teenage-looking man and saw from the sadistic glint in his subordinate''s eyes that Jin Chenggong received the "best treatment" among the prisoners.

    "Kid."

    The ck cat shown on the monitor swished his tail. "Please call me by my glorious name Bacon, Uncle Zihao. Calling Bacon ''kid'' in our workce is very unprofessional. It''s not ssy."

    Lu Zihao ignored the little smartass'' quip. "Show me your findings about the group who rescued Rose Young. It''s time to give them a little present."

    "Bacon understands."

    Only one screen was needed to show all the information they managed to dig so far. It wasn''t much but for their next task, it was enough.

    "Now go get the old bastard and wrap him up real nice," Lu Zihao instructed the teenage-looking man. "I''m sure those motherfuckers will be thrilled to receive a surprise."

    While the Jin Chenggong was being dealt with ording to their original n, Lu Zihao fished out the Smoking Devil from his pocket and began rubbing it.

 Chapter 1277 - (Title Is A Spoiler)

    Winter ended early this year. Fluctuating weather and intermittent spring showers caused many to get sick one after another.

    When Iris suddenly fell ill despite taking all the necessary health precautions, Jin Liwei immediately panicked. Even when the doctor verified that it was themon cold and not the more serious flu, he still continued to worry over his pregnant wife.

    By this time, Iris'' belly was now big. It took quite a long time for her baby bump to really pop out, but when it did, it seemed to grow exponentially each day.

    She had no time to rx because her back hurt almost all the time. She felt ufortable all over. In addition, her babies started to feel truly heavy for her. She couldn''tfortably stand up or walk without supporting her bulging belly because it felt like it''ll fall down to the ground if she didn''t.

    At the moment, Iris sniffled on the bed while trying to find a morefortable position under the covers. Jin Liwei felt distressed while watching her. Despite her repeated protests against him staying near her while she was sick, he refused to leave her alone and personally took care of her.

    She tried to get up from the bed but could only groan in frustration when she couldn''t even sit up. It was abination of her weakened state from the cold and her heavy belly.

    Jin Liwei immediately helped her from the bed and assisted her to the bathroom to relieve herself.

    After settling back on the bed, Iris sighed. The short journey from the bed and the bathroom had exhausted her.

    "What are you doing? You''ll get sick!" She tried to push away Jin Liwei who followed her under the covers and hugged her tightly. She didn''t seed.

    "I''ll be fine."

    "You!"

    She felt annoyed but her body betrayed her. Before she realized what she was doing, she was already hugging him back. His embrace and scent wereforting. She didn''t know if it was just her imagination but even her backache was bing less painful.

    Jin Liwei''s hand started caressing her belly. Then he felt a light flick on his palm. At the same time, Iris groaned in pain.

    "You naughty boys, don''t kick your mom too hard! See if I don''t spank you when youe out for making your mom suffer so much!"

    Iris chuckled and winced at the same time. She felt the boys twisting and turning inside her belly, as if responding to their father''s scolding.

    Jin Liwei''s expression turned dark. He was about to reprimand his disobedient boys but restrained himself when his wife patted him to stop.

    That was right. The couple was having boys. They confirmed it from thetest ultrasound.

    Actually, they should have found out the genders of their twins much earlier. It was just that the twins would always hide their privates whenever the doctor tried to see them through the ultrasound. No matter how much they were coaxed, they refused to expose themselves.

    It was only during thetest ultrasound that the doctor finally confirmed their genders because the twins had been asleep then.

    The results were that the twins were both boys.

    Iris was happy, already imagining her sons resembling their father.

    As for Jin Liwei, he didn''t really care. No matter if their twins were boys or girls or one of each, he would be happy as long as they were healthy and born safely into this world. Right now, however, he was unhappy because the boys were acting too rowdy inside their mother.

    "Ketchup, y your mother''s luby," he called to his AI daughter.

    "Aye aye, Daddy! Meow~"

    In the next second, a beautiful and gentle piano luby began ying. It was one of Iris'' recentpositions after experiencing a rush of inspiration when her belly grew heavy and she began to feel that there were two lives really growing inside her. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The luby was reaching its most beautiful part when a child''s voice started singing words that were, er, not quite fitting.

    "Hush hush, my little baby brothers~

    "Don''t be so naughty inside Mommy''s gigantic belly or Daddy will hit your little steamed bun-buns~

    "Oh oh oh, sleepy tight or Daddy will give you a super-duper big fright¡ª"

    "Ketchup, that''s enough," Jin Liwei interrupted his AI daughter in the middle of singing her yet another set of terrible lyrics sheposed to match her mother''s piano luby. "Just y your mom''s music."

    "Aaaw¡­."

    Ketchup felt sad that her daddy didn''t want to hear her singing but she still obeyed. Thest time she sang, her little baby brothers became so excited that they kept on tumbling and rolling inside their mommy. Daddy became upset because Mommy was in pain due to her naughty little baby brothers'' too-vigorous movements. Therefore, Ketchup vowed that she would practice hard to sing more beautiful lyrics to help her parents lull her little baby brothers to sleep and stop being so naughty.

    Since she couldn''t talk right now or risk making her little baby brothers more excited, Ketchup could only turn to her Great-Grandpa Lu who was super-duper awesome and always loved chatting with her.

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief when Ketchup finally left. He adored his AI daughter but she was too energetic. His sick wife needed to rest and focus on healing while the twins needed to stop ying around inside their mother''s womb and causing her pain.

    Iris gently massaged her big belly. Her soothing movements and the gentle luby must have worked because the naughty boys finally settled down. It was only then that their father''s stern expression eased.

    "Don''t be so hard on our twins," she told her husband. "They''re not even born yet and you''re already scolding them. I''m alright. I can still bear this much."

    He didn''t reply right away. She looked at him and widened her eyes, prompting him to answer.

    "Fine," he said, sighing. "I won''t be too hard on them but I won''t spoil them either. If they do something wrong, then they need to be disciplined.

    She pursed her lips but still nodded.

    ###

    Chapter Title: <strong>Twin Boys</strong>

 Chapter 1278 - Go Find A Wife And Make Your Own Baby

    Jin Liwei changed the topic into something that was worrying him. "Do you still n to attend the music awards next weekend?"

    Iris hesitated before nodding.

    "You''re sick. Let''s just skip it this year. Okay, love?"

    She sighed. "We still have a few more days. If I''m still not feeling better by that time, then we''ll skip it. But if the doctor gives me the go ahead, then I want to attend."

    This time, it was his turn to sigh. He still wanted to persuade her not to go but knew that she was looking forward to the music awards.

    She received multiple nominations again just likest year despite not being as active. Even though her live performances had been lesser after her <i>"Rebirth"</i> album, the influence of her music had widened and reached internationally.

    This was mostly due to winning a Soleil d''Or award for Best Soundtrack at the Sommet International Film Festival in France for the film <i>"Strong Yet Broken"</i> and her sessful coboration with her brother-inw, the superstar Jin Chonglin who had countless army of fans across the world especially in Asia.

    In addition, the songs that sheposed for other artists which she left for JJ to produce also became popr. Her involvement in the final products of those songs were very minimal but it was a fact that she was the original songwriter. Her name, Iris Long, was included in the song credits. Most of those songs were also nominated. In fact, she was essentiallypeting against the songs she wrote.

    Later in the afternoon, a tired Jin Chonglin visited the mansion. He brought a care package for his sick and pregnant sister-inw and lots of treats for the cats and Little Jun. He even gave virtual red packets to both Ketchup and Bacon. At first, he had no idea how to give gifts to his AI niece and nephew after learning of their existence. But thanks to Bacon''s direct suggestion to give them money instead, he didn''t have to rack his brain anymore. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    When he saw Iris, his eyes almost popped out of his head.

    "Whoa! Whoooooaaaaa! Holy shi¡ªshiitake mushroom!"

    He quickly changed his intended curse word after seeing his big brother''s ugly expression. He knew that his big brother was extremely strict on his AI children when it came to bad words.

    If his big brother decided that he was a bad influence to the kids, then he would likely suffer some form of punishment. He was already an adult and yet his big brother still needed to discipline him. How embarrassing would that be for a superstar prince like him?

    Jin Chonglin was frightened as he kept staring at Iris'' belly. It had only been a few days since hest saw her. She was already big then but not THIS big. The size appeared even more prominent because Iris remained generally slender besides her belly (and boobs).

    He did his best to avoid letting his eyes wander upwards from her belly. If his big brother ever caught Jin Chonglin ogling Iris'' swollen breasts, then he might end up being murdered by his own brother.

    "It''s so big!" His shock was now turning into amazement. "Are you sure there are humans inside?"

    Jin Liwei red at him. "Of course, they''re humans. What do you think they are?"

    "Uh, hippopotamuses?"

    As soon as he said this, even Iris red at him. If looks could kill, the husband and wife would have already murdered him in an instant.

    "I''m just joking. Hahaha!"

    The three talked for some time. Jin Chonglin didn''t juste today for a visit but to personally confirm Iris'' attendance at the music awards. Since they had two extremely sessful coborations which received nominations, Iris and Jin Chonglin had to appear at the music awards together.

    Although they were not official partners for the awards night, they were still arranged to appear together. In fact, both of them had been invited to perform both of their cob songs together on the stage but Iris'' current condition made it inconvenient. Hence, Jin Chonglin chose to perform both songs by himself.

    He would even sing Iris'' female parts of the songs. He refused to find another female performer to substitute for Iris. Both of their managers, Lin Dong and Tang Yiyi, strongly rmended this option but he rejected it.

    He believed that nobody could do Iris'' parts in the two songs justice except for Iris herself. As an artist who had high standards, he would rather perform the songs alone than lower their original quality without Iris.

    "I''m sorry about all this," Iris told him while sniffling. "I want to perform with you on the stage very much but as you can see, I''m not in the best condition to do so."

    Jin Chonglin waved a hand. "Don''t worry about it. Just focus on growing those hippos¡ªI mean, babies until they''re due to be born. I can''t wait to meet my nieces or nephews. It would be awesome if at least one of them look like me even for just a little bit."

    Jin Liwei sent him an unconcealed look of disgust. "Go find a wife and make your own baby."

    "I agree with your brother," Iris said while chuckling.

    "Hmph!" Jin Chonglin turned sullen, feeling attacked by the ruthless husband and wife.

    At the mention of finding a wife, an image of a certain bossy woman with a potty mouth appeared in his mind. When he realized who he was thinking about, horror filled him.

    "Erase, erase! Get out of my head! This prince doesn''t even like you!"

    Irisughed at him. "Who are you thinking about?"

    "I think I know," Jin Liwei said next.

    "Oh? Who? Quick, darling. Tell me."

    "It''s¡ª"

    "And I amte to my next appointment!" Jin Chonglin interrupted before his big brother could continue speaking. He stood up and ran to the door. "I need to go. Get well soon, Sister Xin. Bye to both of you!"

    He didn''t even wait for the husband and wife to reply. He ran out as if escaping from a cmity.

    When he left, Iris leaned towards Jin Liwei. Her eyes were shining with curiosity.

    "Tell me who it is, darling."

    Jin Liwei smirked and told her.

    She gasped but her eyes were twinkling with delight.

 Chapter 1279 - Waiting

    Compared tost year''s music awards, the weather this time was quite pleasant. It was still a little cold but a jacket was enough to solve it. The countless fans waiting for their favourite stars flooded around the barricaded red carpet leading to the entrance of the music awards venue.

    Just likest year, there was a very noticeable group among the fans. They were very organized and wore their trademark suits. If not for the posters and lightsticks they were holding, others might think that they weren''t fans but triad members instead.

    No matter if they were young or old or somewhere in between, they wore their suits with pride. Others found them cool while some thought they were tacky. The ck Stars didn''t care. As long as they stood united to support their boss, then that was all it mattered to them.

    The teenage Ming Li (a.k.a. LittlePhoenix) came with her father because it was the only way that her parents would allow her to go to the red-carpet event today. Her mother stayed at home to take care of her little brother who was still too young to go to crowded ces like this.

    Ever since she was invited to attend Boss Iris and CEO Jin''s private wedding as a guest, her parents became more epting of her fan activities as a ck Star. In fact, her family had all be ck Stars especially after Iris offered Ming Li a conditional offer of college sponsorship in the future as long as she studied hard. The sponsorship would cover her tuition, mandatory expenses and allowance even if she chose to study abroad.

    There were already a few college sponsorship recipients among the ck Stars including their founder and president, Zhou Mei''er (a.k.a. CaptainckStar).

    This education sponsorship program was just another reason why the ck Stars loved their Boss Iris. Of course, not everyone qualified for the program. They also needed to show with their results and circumstances that they were deserving to benefit from the sponsorship program. This wasn''t an issue for the ck Stars.

    They were already grateful that such a life-changing program was avable to them. As a matter of fact, all the current recipients were doing their best in their studies with the aim of working in one of their Boss Iris''panies after graduation. Even when their Boss Iris told them that she never expected them to return the favour by actually working for her, they still set working in herpanies as their career goals.

    Back to the red carpet event, Ming Li and her father were chatting with Zhou Mei''er and the other ck Stars. All of them were extremely organized with almost military-like precision. Nevertheless, their expressions were filled with excitement as they continued waiting for their beloved Boss Iris.

    "I hope Boss Iris is feeling better," Ming Limented about Dom the Beauty King''s updatest week regarding Boss Iris catching a cold and the possibility that she might miss the music awards this year if not healed in time.

    "There''s a new update," Zhou Mei''er replied. "Boss Iris personally posted that she''s all better now and will surely attend."

    All the ck Stars cheered. Sightings of their Boss Iris had be increasingly rare in recent months. They missed her so much.

    The celebrities arrived one after another. Their respective fans did their best to show support. The cameras shed. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    It was a big media event of glitz and mour.

    Finally, the hottest names in showbiz started arriving.

    "Comrades, get ready!" Zhou Mei''er announced. "Boss Iris should be arriving anytime soon."

    About fifteen minutester, probably thergest group of fans in the venue started screaming at the top of their lungs. The ck Stars nced at the other group of fans and grinned at them. The two groups now considered each other as siblings-inw.

    "Prince Lin Lin!!!"

    "You''re so handsome, Prince Lin Lin! Please marry me!"

    "I want to give birth to your baby!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!"

    Jin Chonglin''s army of fans finally showed their might at their prince''s arrival. The other fan groups earlier couldn''tpare to them.

    As usual, Jin Chonglin shed everyone his killer smile, prompting another wave of deafening screams. He found his beloved army of fans and acknowledged them with a flirtatious wink.

    The camera shes intensified. Jin Chonglin was in his element. There was no hesitation in his movements as he posed here and there. He oozed confidence and charisma. When he appeared, all the other celebrities seemed to pale inparison.

    More celebrities arrived but he still didn''t move from his original position by the starting point of the red carpet. As a result, those other celebrities got less attention than they expected. It was difficultpeting with a superstar like Jin Chonglin.

    Famous (or infamous depending on the perspective) music producer, JJ, and his close friend, radio host and music critic, DJ Song, arrived together. They immediately saw the conspicuous Jin Chonglin and headed straight to him.

    Although Jin Chonglin was a superstar, he still humbled himself and greeted JJ and DJ Song with great respect and politeness.

    Before Iris and Jin Chonglin started their own entertainmentpany, LXC Studio, JJ had always treated him with barely concealed antagonism. JJ considered Iris to be his precious prot¨¦g¨¦ and wanted her to beat Jin Chonglin''s ass in the music industry.

    Well, to be honest, JJ still wanted Iris to beat and surpass Jin Chonglin even until now. But at least the music producer was friendlier to Jin Chonglin after Iris'' marriage to Jin Liwei and the establishement of LXC Studio.

    "Not going in yet, boy?" JJ asked.

    "Let''s go in together," DJ Song suggested.

    "Please go ahead without me," Jin Chonglin replied. "I''m waiting for my big brother and Sister Xin."

    "Ah, I see." DJ Song wasn''t bothered and immediately epted the reason.

    "Then I''ll stay here and wait for my prot¨¦g¨¦ with you," JJ said and did just that.

    DJ Song sighed but decided to join his friend.

    The trio caught everyone''s attention. People wondered what the three men were doing just standing there and not entering the venue yet.

    The official media reporters weren''t stationed by this part of the red carpet.. Seeing the trio, the more quick-thinking ones decided to temporarily ditch their original spots to get first-hand interviews with the superstar, music producer and radio host.

 Chapter 1280 - Official Revelation

    In the middle of the interviews, Jin Chonglin noticed a familiar figure stepping out of a vehicle onto the red carpet. He immediately excused himself from the reporters and moved to wee the new arrivals. JJ and DJ Song followed suit.

    Since the trio had been the focus of almost everyone''s attention ever since their arrival, all of their movements were magnified in people''s eyes.

    Following the trio''s line of sight, everyone finally realized that CEO Jin Liwei had arrived. His appearance meant that a certain person should have also arrived with him.

    All the ck Stars'' eyes lit up.

    Then an elegant silver low kitten heel stepped out of the car onto the red carpet followed by the figure of a¡ªWHOA!

    Eyes popped out.

    Jaws fell.

    Loud gasps all around.

    Jin Liwei carefully supported Iris Long as she managed to step out of the vehicle with her usual elegance. This time, however, the great caution in her movements were apparent.

    "OH MY GOSH!!!"

    "Iris Long''s belly is¡ªit''s¡­holy macaroni!"

    "SHE''S PREGNANT?!!!"

    Zhou Mei''er, Ming Li, Father Ming and the other ck Stars also couldn''t believe their eyes. Thest time they saw their Boss Iris was at the livestream of the grand opening of Eve Holdings. Her slender, hour-ss body was still the same back then. At least, that was what they remembered.

    It wasn''t even that long ago yet. But look at her now. Howe her belly had gotten so¡­HUGE!

    Everyone looked at the shockingly pregnant Iris Long being escorted by her husband, the ever cold and handsome CEO Jin, and being weed by her superstar brother-inw Jin Chonglin, music producer JJ, and radio host DJ Song.

    So the trio had been waiting for the wife and husband.

    This time, the camera shes were faster and more intense than when Jin Chonglin arrived earlier. All the reporters knew that this could be the biggest scoop tonight.

    Iris was wearing a deceptively simple yet elegantly regal Grecian-style gown. It flowed like royal blue water around all the curves of her body.

    Despite her swollen belly and chest, it was quite surprising that Iris still maintained her overall slender build. Her physique still looked graceful and delicate. She wasn''t like most pregnant women who became fat. It seemed that all the food she ate went to the tiny human growing inside her belly. When people looked at her back, she didn''t look pregnant at all.

    After greeting Jin Chonglin, JJ and DJ Song, Iris noticed the suited ck Stars. She waved and graced them with her smile. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Another round of loud gasps sounded.

    What the hell was that?

    Most had the impression that female celebrities who became pregnant would be less desirable because they now had the permanentbel of being mothers. Regardless of their age, celebrity mothers would always seem more mature than those who had never been pregnant before.

    Then could someone exin why in the world did Iris Long look even more beautiful now that she was pregnant?

    She seemed to be glowing from the inside. The big belly she was carrying didn''t appear to detract from her beauty but added, no, multiplied it instead.

    All the attention was on the newly arrived wife and husband. Iris Long smiled and waved while Jin Liwei focused on supporting and protecting his wife. Their private bodyguards hovered around the couple at an appropriate distance.

    Before the reporters could hound the couple, Iris pulled Jin Liwei to where the suited ck Stars had been waiting for her arrival.

    As soon as she came near, the ck Stars immediately formed a protective block around the other fans to prevent people from trying to grab their Boss Iris from the other side of the barricade. The true ck Stars didn''t need to be told a second time on how to behave. Their Boss Iris'' safety and wellbeing would always be their priority over their personal excitement and desire to touch her.

    Fortunately for them, Iris personally went over and even shook their hands. She greeted Zhou Mei''er, Ming Li, Father Ming and the other ck Stars who she recognized.

    Even though her fans were over the moon, they still took care not to act overenthusiastic lest they stressed their pregnant Boss Iris.

    "Congrattions, Boss and CEO Jin!"

    "I wish for you to give birth to a healthy, fat baby."

    "Please take care of yourself, Boss Iris. Don''t tire yourself out."

    Iris thanked them with a sincere smile while Jin Liwei acknowledged their words with a nod.

    "Please hurry and go inside, Boss Iris. It''s getting colder."

    "CEO Jin, please don''t let Boss Iris stay outside for too long. She just recovered from a cold."

    "Don''t worry about us and go inside where it''s warm. It''s not safe for the baby if you get sick again."

    Unlike other fans who begged their favourite stars to stay with them a little longer, the ck Stars were almost shooing their Boss Iris away for the sake of her health and her baby.

    Jin Liwei nodded at the ck Stars again. This time, he even gave them a brief smile before leading his wife away.

    Waiting for them was the trio of Jin Chonglin, JJ and DJ Song.

    Dominic Chua also found them atst after arriving earlier before the official red carpet event started to confirm all the necessary safety arrangements for the pregnant Iris with the organizers.

    "Ready?" Iris whispered to her husband.

    "En." Jin Liwei smiled at his wife.

    Together, they faced the barrage of questions from the reporters.

    This was it.

    Their official revtion of Iris'' pregnancy to the whole world.

    Jin Liwei had never looked so proud in his life.

    Even a superstar like his younger brother, Jin Chonglin, couldn''t steal the attention away from them now.

    "Iris Long, is the reason why you rarely made any public appearances in the past few months due to your pregnancy?"

    Iris nodded. "That''s right. My pregnancy symptoms made it difficult for me to function normally so I couldn''t work as much as I wanted."

    "How far along are you?"

    "Have you been pregnant before your wedding with CEO Jin?"

    "CEO Jin, did you only marry Iris Long because she became pregnant?"

    Jin Liwei''s proud expression turned dark in an instant.

 Chapter 1281 - Protect Our Precious Baby

    "We''ve already been engaged for a year before our wedding," Jin Liwei told the reporters in a cold tone. "The moment I proposed to Xiu¡ªIris Long, I already wanted to marry her and make her my wife right there and then. It was only because she wasn''t ready yet at that time that we dyed our marriage. I respect her choice and was willing to wait for her until she feels ready to finallymit herself in marriage with me."

    His eyes shed with anger as he red at the reporters. "How dare outsiders like you suggest that I only married my wife because she became pregnant? Pregnant or not, I would have still married her. In fact, I''m thrilled that she''s giving me a child to make our family moreplete."

    The reporters were cowed by him. He was indeed the CEO Jin Liwei. His aura was no joke. It would take an average person a lot of guts to just stand before him without running away.

    Most of the reporters decided that it was?time to retreat from this topic. However, the more courageous ones (or foolish, depending on the perspective) didn''t want to give up just yet. They steeled themselves and pushed their mics forward despite shaking in their boots from CEO Jin''s almost murderous eyes.

    "Iris Long, why did you keep your pregnancy a secret for so long and only revealed it now? Is it because you didn''t want to destroy your image to your fans and the public or give up your showbiz career, that''s why you tried so hard to hide your pregnancy? Or did you feel ashamed that you got pregnant before marriage?"

    Jin Liwei''s expression turned cker. He was about to erupt but a firm tug on his arm stopped him. He looked at his wife beside him and saw her smiling. Her eyes, however, was cold and filled with strength. He only hesitated for a couple of seconds before stepping back and letting her take the lead against the aggressive reporters. If this was what she wanted, then he would give the moment to her. He just needed to stand beside her and be her strongest backer.

    "You''re wrong," Iris told the reporters, looking at the aggressive ones straight in the eyes.

    Some turned away and avoided her gaze while a few didn''t care and even challenged her by looking at her directly in the eyes as well.

    "I never felt ashamed bing pregnant. Why should I? I''m carrying the child of the man I love and one who loves me back. Just like what my husband told you just now, we were alreadymitted to each other long before our marriage. We married because we love each other and not solely because I became pregnant.

    "To answer your question, I hid my pregnancy for so long exactly because of people like you who don''t have any respect for people''s privacy. Celebrities like me are people, too. We have the same rights just like everyone else. My husband and I want to exercise our rights in choosing the right moment to reveal that we are expecting the fruit of our love. As parents, we don''t want to make our child be prey to unwanted media attention even before being born.

    "Also, you mentioned my fans. Please take back your words. I believe in my fans. They don''t have narrow minds. They respect me as a human being, not just as amodity for entertainment. I know that the ck Stars will feel happy for me now that I became pregnant. Surely, they''ll also help me protect any children of mine just like how they do their best to protect me."

    "Yes, that''s right! The ck Stars will always protect Boss Iris!"

    "Scram, toxic reporters and evil paparazzi! We''ll go to war with you if you try to harm our Boss Iris'' precious baby!"

    "Boss Iris'' baby is the ck Stars'' precious baby!"

    The voices of the ck Stars were heard throughout the red carpet. Others looked at them, including the reporters.

    Earlier, the ck Stars had been orderly, polite and respectful of the spectator rules. They refused to imitate other fans who would go crazy seeing their favourite celebrities without any regard for everyone else.

    Now, however, they looked furious on behalf of their Boss Iris. Their numbers might not be as many as the fans of superstars like Jin Chonglin, but their fighting power wasn''t in any way inferior. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The ck Stars appeared particrly intimidating due to the suits they were wearing which made them look like dangerous triad members. They looked like they were about to jump over the barricades to beat up the presumptuous reporters with their own hands.

    "Comrades, raise your mighty slippers and protect our Boss Iris and our precious baby!"

    It was only then that people remembered that the ck Stars had an infamous battle (troll) unit called the Slippers Army. Usually, the Slippers Army only operated online to defend Iris Long''s name and reputation but there were some instances that these soldiers (trolls) proved that their fighting power were just as destructive in real life as they were online.

    The reporters couldn''t help but step away from the barricades. The more aggressive ones, however, sent the ck Stars challenging looks just like what they did to Iris Long earlier, trying to provoke her fans to attack so that the reporters could sue them for physical assault.

    Iris Long made eye contact with Zhou Mei''er (a.k.a. CaptainckStar) and raised her hand into a stop sign. Zhou Mei''er immediately controlled her fellow ck Stars. Iris sent her fans a smile of gratitude before facing the bloodthirsty reporters once again.

    "Thank you for your time but I''m afraid I''m starting to feel cold," Iris said. "I just recovered from being sick. If something happens to me or my baby because I''m forced to stay longer with you¡­."

    She stared at the aggressive reporters. Beside her, Jin Liwei''s threatening aura was enough to fill the rest of her sentence.

    "Yes, yes. Please hurry and go inside to warm up. It''s not good for pregnant women to stand for too long."

    The quick-witted reporters immediately tried to soothe the tense atmosphere.

    After a final re, Jin Liwei escorted his wife inside the venue.

 Chapter 1282 - Make A Baby

    Jin Chonglin also sent the reporters a cold look before following his brother and sister-inw. He also wanted to give the reporters a piece of his mind but his manager, Lin Dong, stopped him. Lin Dong came with Dom and Iris'' manager, Tang Yiyi.

    With cold eyes, Jin Chonglin remembered each and every face of the disrespectful reporters. He would cklist them from all events hosted by LXC Studio in the future. There were plenty of other reporters who didn''t need to resort to this kind of offensive tactics to do their jobs and still generate wide interest from the public. He would tell everyone at LXC Studio that they didn''t need to entertain any reporters who had no morals.

    Unlike Jin Chonglin who had his manager to stop him, JJ didn''t give a damn as hembasted the reporters to their faces for treating his prot¨¦g¨¦ that way.

    The music producer was infamous for his horrible temper. Everyone in the industry knew this.

    His close friend, DJ Song, pretended to stop him but those with keen eyes knew that the radio host and music critic was also displeased at how the reporters treated Iris Long just now. It wouldn''t be a surprise if DJ Song criticized the reporters'' behaviour in the next episode of his radio program.

    Inside the auditorium, the organizers led Iris, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin to their seats at the front row. Dom and the two managers were seated in a different section while the bodyguards had their own area with the event''s staff.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The other already seated celebrities who had no idea of what transpired outside the red carpet looked shocked upon seeing the very pregnant Iris Long.

    All Pandemonium members¡ªze, Eros, Night and Thunder¡ªleft their seats in the middle row to greet Iris'' group. As the first artists to sign a contract with LXC Studio, the Pandemonium members now had to call Iris, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin as their bosses. Of course, they were also some of the first ones to discover Iris'' pregnancy when she came to attend meetings at LXC Studio.

    Ever since they experienced working with Iris on the critically acimed <i>"Monster of</i> Insanity", they learned a lot from her and managed to improve their techniques and overall sense of musicality.

    <i>"Monster of Insanity"</i> had opened a new door for them. They were no longer constrained in the limited world of rock music. They were now willing to experiment and try incorporating various other genres into their music.

    Their skills were still far from Iris Long''s level so their creative experimentations often failed, but whenever they seeded, the feeling was unbeatable. They wanted to experience this sweet feeling again and again.

    Now that they were LXC Studio artists, they had more creative freedom. Their motivation was at an all-time high.

    "I''m looking forward to your performanceter," Iris told them.

    "Thanks, Boss Iris!"

    She chuckled and wished them good luck.

    Finally settled in their seats, Jin Liwei focused on making sure that his wife wasfortable. If not for her firm protest, he would have already knelt down in front of her to massage her tired feet despite being in public.

    It didn''t take long for the show to finally start.

    "Wee to the Harmony Music Awards!"

    The male and female hosts hyped the crowd with their opening words. Then the camera focused on Iris Long and Jin Liwei. The two hosts directly addressed the couple. It seemed that the organizers added this part of the opening at thest minute.

    "It seems that congrattions are in order for my favourite power couple."

    "Indeed! Our sincerest congrats to Iris Long and CEO Jin. We hope that you give birth to a healthy and fat baby!"

    Iris smiled at them before waving at the camera. Even the usually cold Jin Liwei had a subtle smile on his lips.

    The female host asked Jin Chonglin next, "Prince Lin Lin, are you excited to be an uncle?"

    A squatting staff pushed a mic to him. "Of course. I''ll definitely dote on my niece or nephew as if he or she is my own kid."

    "What do you say about that, CEO Jin?" the male host asked.

    The mic was pushed towards Jin Liwei who replied while looking at his younger brother, "I already told you, make your own baby!"

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

    The entire auditorium erupted into squeals andughter.

    "Make a baby! Make a baby! Make a baby!"

    Everyone started chanting these words to make fun of Jin Chonglin. For his part, he took everything in stride and gave everyone a sheepish version of his killer smile.

    Jin Liwei''s "make your own baby" to his brother, Jin Chonglin, was quickly made into a meme. It would be one of the most popr meme and catchphrases in the country.

    The opening words concluded followed by the night''s first performance by a young and promising artist. Iris and Jin Chonglin watched it with interest. As the co-bosses of LXC Studio, they were always on the lookout for talented artists with potential.

    Iris had to wear special earphones to decrease the volume of everything around her. Beside her, Jin Liwei didn''t care about the performances at all. His entire focus was on his wife. He made sure to check on her every few seconds or so.

    Afterwards, the first set of Golden Trebles were awarded to the winners. After another couple of performances, it was time to announce the People''s Choice Award for the Most Popr Male and Female Artists.

    Unlike the other winners which were carefully chosen by the music awards selection body, the winners for the People''s Choice Awards were determined via fan voting.

    Iris Long and Jin Chonglin won thesest year. They were on the running again this year.

    Jin Chonglin had always won this award for many consecutive years now. This year, he had anotherrge lead from the second ce. Even without the announcement, people were already certain that he would win once again.

    That was forter, though.

    The People''s Choice for Most Popr Female Artist would be up before the male one.

    Who would it be?

    People nced at the pregnant Iris Long.

    Would it be her again?

 Chapter 1283 - Best Songwriter Award Goes Toâ€¦.

    Before tonight, Iris Long had been alternating between the fourth and fifth ces in the voting poll for the People''s Choice Award for Most Popr Female Artist. Her long absence from the public eye had taken its toll.

    Despite the efforts of the ck Stars, they couldn''t push their Boss Iris up the the rankings to the top spots. They refused to tarnish their Boss Iris'' reputation by resorting to cheating like other celebrities who they suspected hired water armies. They wanted to win fair and square.

    In the end, they reluctantly epted that their Boss Iris might not be able to defend herst year''s title of People''s Choice Award for Most Popr Female Artist. It didn''t matter anywaypared to the real awards chosen by the experts. Given their Boss Iris'' musical talents and skills, she would surely nab at least one of the awards tonight.

    Male host: "The people have chosen!"

    Female host: "The reigning Most Popr Female Artist is¡ª"

    Both hosts: "Iris Long!"

    The word "reigning" had already clued in many to the winner. The camera focused on the surprised Iris Long.

    She truly didn''t expect that she would win the People''s Choice Award for Most Popr Female Artist this year. She saw the voting polls earlier before she and her husband headed to the red carpet. She had been sitting in fourth ce that time. Therefore, it was surprising for her to win this award again.

    Jin Liwei helped her and escorted her up the stairs but didn''t join her on the stage. Iris gave a short speech thanking her fans and everyone who voted for her. Then she returned to her seat with Jin Liwei while holding the first award that she received tonight (and hopefully not thest).

    For her, the People''s Choice Award was a nice extra treat. She was thankful to win it again and defend her title as the Most Popr Female Artist but she considered the awards to which she received official nominations to be much more important.

    Jin Liwei leaned closer to her and whispered the possible reason why she won. ording to him, her showing up with a big belly earlier on the red carpet definitely put her on the live headlines. The revtion of her pregnancy was a huge bombshell. After all, she was Iris Long and her husband?was Jin Liwei.

    This shocking bombshell might have prompted the people to vote for her at thest minute, eventually pushing her up to the top of the rankings.

    "I see," Iris murmured.

    She hadn''t foreseen this oue at all. Unlike other celebrities who would use every possible tactic to increase their poprity, Iris didn''t care too much for this kind of petty publicity methods. She preferred to use her own creative body of musical work to speak for themselves instead.

    Afterwards, Jin Chonglin won the Most Popr Male Artist as everyone expected. His feat of winning it for so many consecutive years was already a legend in the history of Harmony Music Awards. He was truly a superstar in every sense of the word.

    It was finally thetter half of the show when the major awards were scheduled to be given out. The atmosphere was more energetic and tenser (in a good way). <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Female host: "Wee back to the Harmony Music Awards! Now it''s time for our next category¡ªBest Songwriter!"

    Male host: "And the nominees are¡­."

    Three songwriters were introduced.

    Female host: "Jin Chonglin, <i>''Passionate mes''</i>!"

    His army of fans went wild.

    "Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!! Go, go, go, Prince Lin Lin!"

    Female host: "Iris Long, <i>''Shining Eyes''</i>!"

    The ck Stars did their best to support their boss.

    "You can do it, Boss Iris!!!"

    "Win it again this year, Boss! You''re the best!!!"

    Male host: And the Golden Treble for Best Songwriter goes to¡­."

    Both hosts: "Iris Long, <i>''Shining Eyes''</i>!!!"

    The hit song <i>''Shining Eyes''</i> began ying in the background as Iris hugged Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin beside her.

    "I knew that you''ll win this," Jin Chonglin said with a sigh. "Congrats, Sister Xin."

    "Thank you, Brother Chonglin."

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei didn''t separate the two by force. Jin Chonglin made sure to keep the hug as brief as possible to prevent the public from making any malicious spections about the rtionship between the three of them. Jin Liwei also knew this, hence why he restrained himself.

    On the stage, Iris beamed as she held the Golden Treble trophy. Even if she didn''t win the other awards that she was nominated for, she would already be satisfied.

    Winning the Best Songwriter Award was important to her as an artist because it proved her excellence in the aspect of not only performing but also inposing music.

    "First and foremost, I would like to thank my husband for being the inspiration behind this song. I was able to write<i> ''Shining Eyes''</i> and pack it with the most heartfelt emotions of love because of you. Without you, I wouldn''t be able to dig deep within my heart and trante my feelings into a love song.

    "Next, I would like to thank my brother-inw. Brother Chonglin is one of the most talented artists that I respect. Singing<i> ''Shining Eyes''</i> with him is one of the most fun experiences I have as an artist.

    "Also thank you to my music producer, Mr. JJ. You''ve always been very supportive of me. Although we sh a lot during productions, I''m always assured that the final products we produce are of the highest quality.

    "Of course, I can''t forget everyone who made the TV drama<i> ''Our Love, Our Destiny''</i> a huge international sess. Thank you for trusting me topose the drama''s theme song.

    "Thank you to my fans, the ck Stars, as always. You''ve been there supporting me through thick and thin. I hope that you continue to join me in this journey of my career."

    "And finally, big thanks to my music mentors who are always guiding me to improve my craft as a musician. Teacher Enrique Valdez and Maestro Ludovico de Luca, your student will do her best to make you two proud.

    "Thanks, everyone!"

    Iris blew a kiss before cradling her swollen belly and carefully lowering herself into an elegant curtsy bow.

 Chapter 1284 - Competing Against Herself

    The major awards in other categories were given out one after another interspersed between varieties of performances.

    JJ lost the Best Producer Award this year. It was clear from his scowling expression that he was displeased by the results.

    Pandemonium rocked the entire ce. Although the song that they performed was released before they became LXC Studio artists, they decided to rearrange it for tonight''s performance following Iris Long''s advice when they happened to meet at LXC Studio. The result was a more fine-tuned emotional and soulful head-banger.

    Iris was pleased by their performance. There was still a lot of room for improvement but the guys always showed their desire to learn new things. She was looking forward at how much they would improve in the future as LXC Studio artists.

    Afterwards, it was time for another category to which Iris received a nomination. This time, however, she shared it with another person.

    Male host: "Here are the nominees for Best Song by a Duo or Group!"

    Two other nominees were introduced first.

    Female host: "<i>''Shining Eyes''</i> by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin!"

    Iris and Jin Chonglin were showed on the same camera frame together.

    Male host: "Oh what do we have here? The final nominees are¡­"

    Female host: <i>"''Passionate mes''</i> by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin!"

    Indeed, their two songs werepeting against each other. Actually, it wasn''t only that.

    Another song performed by another duo was originally written by Iris Long. Technically speaking, she had three songs nominated in the same category. She wrote and performed<i> ''Shining Eyes''</i>, performed in Jin Chonglin''s<i> ''Passionate mes''</i>, and wrote the other duet song that they werepeting against right now.

    Male host: "The Golden Treble for Best Song by a Duo or Group goes to¡­."

    Both hosts: "<i>''Shining Eyes''</i> by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin!"

    Loud apuse and an outpouring of congrattions. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris and Jin Chonglin stood together.

    "Dammit," Jin Chonglin muttered even as he showed an ecstatic smile to the camera. "I thought that my song got this in the bag."

    "Better luck next time, Brother Chonglin," Iris replied while smiling.

    Jin Liwei also stood up and proceeded to escort his wife despite the presence of his younger brother. Then he told Jin Chonglin, "Face it. My wife is the best."

    "Big Bro, I also won this award, you know."

    "My wife can win even if she didn''t sing this song with you."

    "Tsk."

    This short exchange went unnoticed by other people as Jin Liwei didn''t go up the stage and just watched his wife and younger brother receive the award together.

    His eyes were only for his wife. Everyone seemed to be blurred out, evenpletely erased from his vision, including his younger brother. Only his beautiful and breathtaking wife remained in his sight.

    Next award category was Best Music Video.

    <i>''Shining Eyes''</i> wasn''t nominated at all because most of the music video consisted of a montage of scenes from the TV drama. Only a small portion of the music video showed Iris Long and Jin Chonglin singing. It was a musical masterpiece but the music video left much to be desired.

    If it received a nomination, Iris Long would be the first one to doubt the fairness of the music awards. She knew that the music video didn''t reach the standard topete with the other deserving nominees.

    In contrast,<i> ''Passionate mes''</i> was nominated. The music video was creative and well-thought-out. The choreography and cinematography were allplicated and visually stimting. The background and props were all high quality. Jin Chonglin really pulled all the stops for the music video.

    Among the nominees, it had the most views online. Watching Iris Long and Jin Chonglin dancing with their sweaty bodies surrounded by pirs of fire was indeed a treat to the eyes.

    Even Jin Liwei couldn''t watch it without bing aroused. His wife was too sexy and seductive. Before Iris became pregnant, she would dance<i> ''Passionate mes''</i> in front of him whenever she wanted to seduce him. It always worked. He would always pounce on her before she could finish the whole choreography.

    Back to the awards show, nobody was surprised when<i> ''Passionate mes''</i> won the Golden Treble for Best Music Video. Once again, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin climbed the stage together to receive the award.

    When they returned to their seats, Jin Chonglin said, "We''ll keep these awards that we share at LXC Studio."

    Iris thought that it was good idea. "Alright."

    The show entered the final part. Only three of the major and best awards were left.

    For Best Album of the Year, Iris Long''s soundtrack album for the film <i>"Strong Yet Broken"</i> was nominated. Unfortunately, it didn''t win.

    JJ was furious. He felt more indignant than when he didn''t win the Best Producer Award earlier.

    "What the hell was the awardsmittee thinking?! The brat''s soundtrack album is the best among the nominees! Are themittee members'' brains filled with holes?! Dammit! I''m going toin! This is outrageous!!!"

    "Now, now. Calm down for now. This isn''t the time. The camera''s on you." DJ Song was doing his best to soothe his close friend.

    Deep inside, DJ Song agreed with his friend. In terms of quality and excellence in musicality, Iris Long''s film soundtrack album was indeed many leagues superiorpared to the other nominees. However, he also understood that her album didn''t sell so well in the domestic market.

    Yes, it became popr especially after Iris Long won an international award in France for her work and also after the indie movie <i>"Strong Yet Broken"</i> received critical acim and achieved masterpiece status in the country''s film industry.

    The issue was that the film, and in extension, its soundtrack didn''t really appeal to the masses. It only resonated to some specific groups of people.

    Generally, Harmony Music Awards catered more towards pop songs. This wasn''t an absolute rule but more obscure music would find it difficult to enter the notice of the music awards.

    DJ Song suspected that Iris Long''s film soundtrack album only managed to be nominated because it did quite well in the music charts when the film<i> "Strong Yet Broken"</i> was at its hottest.

    And of course, because she was Iris Long who already established herself as an award-winning musician.

 Chapter 1285 - Heavier Flavour Like Fine Wine

    As a radio host and most importantly a respected music critic, DJ Song thought that Iris Long''s soundtrack album for the film <i>"Strong Yet Broken" w</i>as more suitable for film awards than music awards. It was such a shame, really, but that just how the industry worked.

    DJ Song nced at his friend, JJ, who continued to vent hisints about the loss of Iris'' soundtrack album. He could only sigh.

    Iris also sighed but it didn''t affect her that much. She made a simr conclusion as DJ Song. It was already quite surprising that the soundtrack album was even nominated here in the first ce.

    For her, the soundtrack album already received enough recognition at the Sommet International Film Festivalst year. Compared to this music awards which was only limited to the country''s music industry, winning at an international film festival held more prestige and significance.

    Jin Chonglin had already left his seat to prepare for the first part of his performance. At the same time, Iris was starting to feel ufortable from sitting for too long. Her back was killing her.

    Jin Liwei immediately noticed his wife''s difort. "Shall we leave?"

    She shook her head. "It''s ending soon."

    He frowned but still gave in. "We''ll leave as soon as it ends."

    "Okay."

    "Don''t hide it if you''re not feeling well."

    "I know, darling."

    Only then did he stop but his worry didn''t ease. He snuck her a couple of sweet bonbons which she ate while hiding behind his wide shoulders. The people behind their seats chuckled upon seeing their antics.

    Feeling better after eating sweets, Iris thought of something. She whispered to Jin Liwei whose frown deepened. However, she managed to persuade him. In the end, he called the event staff and spoke to them.

    Themercials ended. It was now time for Jin Chonglin''s first performance to make way for the final two and most anticipated awards of the night.

    It was dark.

    Only a small part of the leftmost part of the stage was lit. The two hosts stood there and introduced the most awaited performer of the night.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Female host: "Ladies and gentlemen, the person you''ve been waiting for is finally taking the stage!"

    Male host: "From the international TV hit phenomenon, <i>''Our Love, Our Destiny''</i>, please give it up for¡ª"

    Both hosts: "Jin Chonglin singing<i> ''Shining Eyes''</i>!!!"

    Across the stage, colourful autumn leaves raining down were projected. Then a chamber orchestra and a four-piece pop band were arranged in an elevated section. A single acoustic guitarist sat in a separate section with a grand pianist. Back-up singers were also present close to them.

    The acoustic guitarist finger-picked a silky five-chord melody. The familiar melody caused a wave of squeals from the audience.

    Eternal passion.

    That was how the song was branded in the hearts of people who loved it.

    The violin joined along with the other stringed instruments. Then the flute and the rest of the woodwind instruments.

    Everything was light and airy at first, like a soothing drizzle after a hot sunny day. Calm but memorable, deceptively easy but full of meaning.

    The piano brought fullness to the melody, making the music more emotional. It made the listeners a little breathless in anticipation.

    Then the spotlight lit up the centre of the stage.

    Screams filled the ce as a familiar figure of a man was slowly lifted up the stage from underground.

    Jin Chonglin had his eyes closed, his expression filled with emotions. He looked like a prince with his light-coloured suit that softly sparkled under the bright lights.

    He opened his eyes and looked directly at the camera. More screams sounded as the audience felt like he was looking at them straight in the eyes.

    "Walking down the town of life

    I caught a glimpse of you

    Your beautiful self

    Making even the flowers smile back"

    He was about to sing the next stanza when another voice was heard. His eyes widened and he found the source.

    Another spotlight was directed below the stage. The very pregnant Iris Long held a mic and sang her own parts, sounding effortless and smooth like warm butter.

    "Smitten I followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    Iris was standing by the front row seats, her husband still sitting beside her. Jin Liwei looked up at his wife with the gentlest expression ever seen on him in public.

    The ck Stars almost went crazy when their Boss Iris made a surprise performance all of a sudden. Tears of joy and excitement flowed down their faces.

    Simrly, Jin Chonglin''s army of fans filled the auditorium with their deafening screams. Some of them had already long fainted from overstimtion.

    Jin Chonglin''s professionalism kicked in. He quickly recovered from his surprise and harmonized with Iris as if they had rehearsed this performance many times before tonight.

    "Time stopped in that moment

    The sun paled in your presence

    Birdsong filled the air

    As you chose me"

    Iris stayed below the stage while Jin Chonglin stayed up the stage. Despite the physical distance, their harmony blended perfectly and made their listeners fall in love with their beautiful voices and the song.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    Iris reached out beside her and held Jin Liwei''s hand. This time, she looked at her husband instead of her duet partner. The squeals intensified even more after her actions.

    Too much sweetness!

    Compared to the original version, Iris'' voice this time was mellower, deeper and fuller.

    Perhaps it was because she couldn''t strain herself too much reaching for the high notes due to her pregnancy. It wasn''t an issue anyway.

    In fact, her different way of singing gave the song a heavier vour like fine wine. It induced many teary eyes among the listeners.

    "As I''m singing I look into your eyes

    And know you see me like I do you

    Even as we grow old I never forget

    The man who saw me that day"

    As Iris and Jin Chonglin continued to harmonize, she didn''t break eye contact with her beloved Jin Liwei and sang the love song to him.

    Only him.

    "But you always knew

    So you gave me all I could ever want

    I GOT YOU~"

    She mouthed to her husband, "I love you".

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!

 Chapter 1286 - The Biggest Winner

    The duet performance was a great hit, especially since everyone was already expecting a solo performance by Jin Chonglin.

    Seeing the pregnant Iris Long''s swollen belly at the beginning of the awards show, the fans had no choice but to ept that she wasn''t in any condition to perform on the stage with Jin Chonglin.

    Hence, it was a huge pleasant surprise that she still decided to at least perform the love song <i>"Shining Eyes"</i> even if she stayed at her front row seat below the stage the entire time.

    The different timbre of her voice was also a wee change from her usual vocal acrobatics. Although it wasn''t as technically impressive as before, it packed more emotional punch on the listeners. She also sounded more mature in a good way.

    As a result, the song became even more memorable. It fit the idea of love evolving from the first sweet love into a longsting mature love.

    This image was cemented even further by how Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei looked into each other''s eyes as she sang the love song to him.

    Poor Jin Chonglin.

    He had once again be the unimportant background character whose only role was to make the scene between the male and female leads more romantic.

    The standing ovation and deafening cheerssted for quite a long timepared to the earlier performances by other artists.

    After the performance, it was now time to present the final two awards of the night.

    Male host: "And the nominees for Song of the Year are¡­."

    Three other nominees were introduced. And then....

    Female host: "<i>''Shining Eyes''</i> by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin!"

    Female host: "<i>''Passionate mes''</i> by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin!"

    Their fans were going insane.

    "Go get it, Boss Iris!"

    "You''re the best, Prince Lin Lin! You can do it!"

    "LINRIS! LINRIS!!! LINRIS!!!!!"

    A certain married man sitting in the front row was wearing a dark expression amidst the chant. He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs for everyone to stop chanting the annoyingbined name. His wife belonged to him, not to his younger brother.

    Iris sensed her husband''s jealousy. She patted his arm and smiled at him.

    "Don''t mind it, darling. Consider it as a team name, not a love team."

    Only then did Jin Liwei''s jealousy eased but only for a bit. He lifted his wife''s hand and kissed it. The camera caught the moment and everyone saw it.

    "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

    "That''s so romantic!"

    "I suddenly want to marry someone and have my non-existing husband kiss my hand like that in front of people!"

    The "LinRis" chant stopped. Jin Liwei''s mood improved.

    After the hosts calmed everyone down, the award presentation resumed. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Male host: "The Golden Treble for Song of the Year goes to¡­."

    Both hosts: "<i>''Shining Eyes''</i> by Iris Long and Jin Chonglin!"

    Just like before, Iris was escorted up the stage by Jin Liwei. Her movements were noticeably moreboured this time. Jin Chonglin appeared from backstage and hurried to support her before joining her at the centre of the stage. They once again received the award and gave their speeches together.

    Iris returned to her seat afterwards while Jin Chonglin once again headed backstage to finish preparing for the finale performance.

    It was now time for the final and most sought-after award of the night.

    Female host: "It''s here,dies and gentlemen! We have the honour to present to you the amazing nominees for the Artist of the Year!"

    Four nominees were introduced first.

    And then¡­.

    Male host: "Iris Long!"

    Male host: "Jin Chonglin!"

    Iris was doing her best to stifle a yawn as she waited for the hosts to announce the award winner. It was taking all of her effort to fight off drowsiness. She felt Jin Liwei raising her hand and kissing it once again. Of course, the camera caught the moment just like earlier. It seemed that the director assigned a camera solely to catch sweet moments between the husband and wife.

    Female host: "And the Golden Treble for Artist of the Year goes to¡­."

    This time, the dramatic sound of heartbeat was deliberately prolonged to amplify the suspense.

    Last year, Iris Long beat Jin Chonglin and nabbed the night''s biggest award of Artist of the Year. Would she defend the title for the second year in a row?

    Both hosts: "Jin Chonglin!!!"

    It seemed that the superstar was still a superstar after all. He was able to redeem himself fromst year''s loss and reim the title of Artist of the Year from Iris Long.

    His army of fans jumped up their seats and pumped their hands in the air to celebrate their victory.

    "Prince Lin Lin! Prince Lin Lin!!! Prince Lin Lin!!!!!"

    The ck Stars felt a little disappointed but they still congratted their Brother-in-Law Prince Lin Lin.

    As for Iris Long, she joined everyone to apud Jin Chonglin''s victory. Her brother-inw might have triumphed over her with this award but she didn''t feel defeated at all. Not one bit.

    For her, the most important award was the Best Songwriter and she was able to win it tonight. In addition, she was still one of the biggest winners tonight, nabbing a total of four Golden Trebles for the major categories plus the People''s Choice Award for Most Popr Female Artist.

    Granted, she shared the Golden Trebles with Jin Chonglin but three of them were for <i>"Shining Eyes"</i>, the song that sheposed herself. She considered it as her own win as the songwriter.

    For this reason, she technically nabbed more wins than Jin Chonglin tonight.

    Also deep in her heart, she knew that her chance to win the Artist of the Year had significantly decreased the moment she started limiting her public appearances due to her pregnancy in thetter half ofst year. Jin Chonglin had to increase his promotional activities to make up for her absences.

    It only made sense that he won the Artist of Year over her. He worked harder to make up for her absence so he fully deserved the win.

    "Next time, I''ll take it back from you," Iris swore in her heart while pping for Jin Chonglin.

    "Next time, you''ll take it back from him," Jin Liwei told her in a whisper at the same time.

    She giggled at how well his thoughts matched hers.

    "Yes, I will."

 Chapter 1287 - Perfect Target Of Envy

    After Jin Chonglin received his Artist of the Year Award, he immediately went on to perform the finale. Pirs of fire shot around the stage as sweaty dancers pumped their bodies in time with the music.

    True to his original n, Jin Chonglin performed <i>"Passionate mes"</i> by himself. There was no need for a substitute female partner. As a superstar, he could hold an entire show on his own without any issue.

    The drowsy Iris waspletely awakened. She started bouncing on her seat in time with the energetic beat of the music. Jin Liwei had to remind her to take it easy. She acquiesced but it was hard not to let the music affect her.

    Performing on stage was something that she terribly missed. She couldn''t help but feel a little envious of Jin Chonglin. As a man, he didn''t need to take any extended breaks from live performances due to pregnancy.

    Beside her, Jin Liwei could sense his wife''s mixed emotions while watching his younger brother perform on stage. He knew how much she loved performing in front of a live audience.

    "Don''t worry, love," he reassured her. "This is only temporary. You''ll definitely stand on the stage again and perform to your heart''s content. Our twins will then be able to see how amazing their mom is."

    She leaned her head on his chest and smiled. "Thanks, darling."

    "Don''t mention it, love."

    This year''s Harmony Music Awards finally ended. Jin Chonglin was the winner of the biggest award but Iris Long''s number of wins in the major categories couldn''t be ignored either.

    Although the two shared most of the wins, nobody could deny that <i>"Shining Eyes"</i>, the song that she wrote, defeated Jin Chonglin''s<i> "Passionate mes"</i> in all the categories that the two songs were nominated together.

    In the end, the media could only conclude that LXC Studio was the ultimate winner of the night. The newest entertainmentpany in the country had the biggest backer, Jin Liwei, so only idiots would underestimate its capabilities.

    It had only been operating for a few months but the number of new applicants who wanted to be LXC Studio artists were increasing by the month. The increase became sharper after the music awards.

    Everyone saw how well LXC Studio produced Jin Chonglin and Pandemonium''s performances. They weren''t stingy at all when it came to the props, back-up dancers and supporting live musicians.

    Most importantly, LXC Studio''s PR Department handled Iris Long''s surprise revtion of her pregnancy at the music award''s red carpet very well. The malicious attacks on her were minimized while the positivements were emphasized.

    This only proved that LXC Studio had the potential to rival the big, long-established entertainmentpanies in the country like Jin Chonglin and Iris Long''s old one, Bright Summit. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    It was still too early to see if LXC Studio could withstand the test of time, but from how things were going, it seemed that the new entertainmentpany was on the rise. It just needed to cement its status by nurturing another superstar like Jin Chonglin or produce hit after hit.

    Another topic that the media chewed on was about one of Iris Long''s speeches when she thanked the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez, and the ssical music legend, Maestro Ludovico de Luca, as her mentors.

    This wasn''t a big surprise because she indeed had several close interactions with the two foreign music legends. She was also reportedly still working on her coboration with Enrique Valdez. It was rumoured that the legendary hitmaker was still staying in the country until now because of their cob.

    What made people disgruntled about the entire situation was Iris Long''s seeming reliance on the fa?ade that she was very close to Enrique Valdez and Maestro Ludovico de Luca. They didn''t believe that she was actually close in real life with the two music legends. They thought that she was just using both of their names to increase her reputation.

    It should be her husband, Jin Liwei, who was using his power and influence to ask Enrique Valdez and Maestro Ludovico de Luca to cooperate with his wife.

    This kind of skepticalmentary was not new or umon. Ever since Iris Long''s rise to fame after waking up froma, she had always caused extreme prity in public opinions.

    Throughout the weekend following the music awards, all kinds of news circted in the media. The buzz around the award winners, including Iris Long, hadn''t died down yet when the following Monday, <i>¨¤ Mode</i> magazine released itstest issue.

    It was the magazine that released an exclusive feature of Iris Long and Jin Liwei''s private weddingst year.

    This time, they once again caused media shockwaves with theirtest feature. The cover showed the pregnant Iris Long in an elegant draping white dress posing inside her own mansion with her husband, CEO Jin Liwei.

    Inside the magazine showed several photos of Iris Long and a few with CEO Jin along with two of their adorable cats.

    Iris wore different outfits, but in each and every one of them, she looked absolutely blooming with radiance. Her belly hadn''t been as big in the magazine photoshoot as it was shown in the music awards.

    The only unfortunate thing was that Iris and CEO Jin remained tight-lipped on the gender of their child and the due date. Nevertheless, the wife and husband couldn''t hide their excitement in weing the newest addition to their family.

    Thistest issue of<i> ¨¤ Mode</i> magazine sold out the same day. Fortunately, they were ready this time. They already experienced the same phenomenon when they featured the couple''s private wedding. Additional copies became avable the next day and the following day and so on¡­.

    Many praised Iris Long for maintaining her beauty and overall figure despite her pregnancy. In fact, she looked more beautiful and radiant than before now that she was pregnant. She really was the perfect target of envy for other pregnant women.

    During the magazine interview, she was asked, "How do you maintain your beauty and figure?"

    She smiled and replied with familiar words, "Natural beauty is Orchidia Beauty."

    It was Orchidia Beauty''s famous tagline.

    Those who read the interview thought that her answer to the question was quite corny.. Nevertheless, her deliberate attempt to endorse her ownpany was very effective.

 Chapter 1288 - Orchidia Mommy And Orchidia Baby

    Iris Long also used the opportunity at the magazine interview to announce two new brands that she would beunching soon¡ªOrchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby.

    This meant a reorganization in the original Orchidia Beauty.

    Thepany itself would now be known as just Orchidia while Orchidia Beauty, Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby would be brands under it.

    Of course, Orchidia Company would still remain under its parentpany, Eve Holdings. That wouldn''t change.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The administrative management of Orchidia wouldn''t change much either. Iris Long remained as the President-CEO, Chen Fei as the COO and Long Jinjing as the CFO. However, the newly expandedpany now hired additional staff to fill in the necessary positions to keep everything running smoothly.

    "My sister who is the CFO of Orchidia is also pregnant like me," Iris Long said in the interview. "The two of us made the decision to add these two new Orchidia brands in order to cater to women like us who are pregnant and will soon be parents. We aremitted to using our own firsthand experiences to provide consumers with safe and high-quality products that are also as eco-friendly as possible. Our Chief of Product Development, Alric Bauer, and all his fellow researchers and developers are always doing their best to innovate and even invent new technology for all the products Orchidia sells to our precious consumers."

    The announcement was a hit.

    Existing loyal Orchidia Beauty consumers who were also mothers couldn''t wait for theunch of Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby. They already knew the excellent quality of each and every Orchidia Beauty products. They felt that it was only natural that Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby, or any other future brands under Orchidia for that matter, would also adhere to thepany''s promise of safe and high-quality products.

    That same week, Iris Long led the extensive promotional activities for theunch of Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby. For events where she couldn''t attend in person, she would still give a few words via live video chat or even just recorded video messages.

    During this time, pre-orders were opened. In just two days, the pre-orders for both Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby products were sold out.

    The wait for the officialunch didn''tst long.

    Just another weekter, Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby finallyunched at the same time. Due to the advance state of her pregnancy, Iris Long opted to throw a rather simpleunch party for the two new Orchidia brands.

    It was even smaller than the opening ceremony of Eve Holdings held earlier this year. Despite this, theunch of Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby still received widespread media attention.

    Iris Long evenposed catchymercial jingles for both Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby. The jingles were so catchy that schoolchildren could be heard singing them.

    The product variety for now was quite limited but Iris Long promised that Orchidia would release more in theing months after the productspleted and passed their intensive safety tests.

    ###

    <i>Orchidia.</i>

    The exhausted Chen Fei dragged her high-heeled feet to the President-CEO''s office. There, she found Iris and Long Jinjing who were both pregnant, munching on a rather impressive spread of snacks and sweets. Lots and lots of sweets.

    Eating with them was the perpetual chatterbox Dom with his bottomless stomach. He was actually eating more than the two pregnantdiesbined but his belly remained t.

    Truly an annoying creature especially for those who had to control their food intake just to avoid getting fat.

    Chen Fei grabbed a random sandwich from the table and plopped down on the couch beside Dom, the glutton.

    "Fuck me," she grumbled while tearing into her sandwich. "This year is so hectic!"

    "Sis Xiaofei, you''re pretty and sessful, so if you want to be fucked, I''m sure that there will be lots of guys lining up to sleep with you," Dom said.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "Shut up, Dom."

    "Hehehe. Maybe a certain superstar with a killer smile will take you up on your offer."

    She red at him. "Him? Eeew! No way!"

    "Why not?" Dom countered. "Prince Lin Lin is the object of many fantasies, you know."

    "Not mine! So what if he''s a superstar? As if I care. I''m not interested in a yboy like him. What if I catch a venereal disease from him? So dirty! Yuck!"

    "Xiaofei, you''re being too harsh," Long Jinjing said.

    "Whatever. I''m just being honest."

    "I don''t think Brother Chonglin has dated anyone after what happened with Fan Luo," Irismented.

    Dom''s expression turned ugly. "Fan Luo, that evil witch! I''ll never forgive that monster! Just saying her name is dirtying my gorgeous self! Pweh!"

    Everyone became quiet.

    The topic of Fan Luo, Jin Chonglin''s ex-fianc¨¦e who orchestrated the deadly car crash which sent Iris into a year-longa, had always been a touchy subject.

    "Let''s not talk about this anymore," Long Jinjing said in an effort to recover from the heavy atmosphere.

    She nced at her younger sister with worry. When she saw that Iris looked normal, she inwardly sighed with relief.

    Iris noticed her concern and smiled. "Don''t worry. Fan Luo is already paying the price for her crimes. There''s no need to be careful when talking about that woman around me. I''m not that fragile."

    "Yeah, you''re a boss bitch," Chen Fei said. "You can''t be a boss bitch if you''re fragile. Hell, I''m a boss bitch myself. Even Jinjing who''s usually shy is also a boss bitch. Just watch her whenever someone overspendspany budget and she''ll chew that person''s head out with vengeance."

    "Xiaofei!" Long Jinjing''s face turned red.

    "Hahahahaha!"

    Everyoneughed because it was true.

    Long Jinjing might not be usually as assertive as either Iris or Chen Fei, but she would always transform into a fire-breathing dragon when it came to safeguarding thepany money. It was always a huge hurdle for anyone to make her cough out extra money without any careful deliberation.

    She pouted while looking at her friendsughing at her expense.. But she was also d that they finally moved on from the dark topic about Fan Luo.

 Chapter 1289 - Mini Devils

    After eating her sandwich, Chen Fei brought the conversation back to business.

    "Two of the factories that we''re trying to buy out changed their initial asking price," she said. "They want more money after seeing that we sold out all our current Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby inventory."

    "Leave them," Iris replied with a cold expression. "They''re not the only factories in the country. If time isn''t so tight, we don''t have to buy out ready-made factories and just focus on building our own from the ground up. Building from scratch takes longer but we can design the factory ording to our exact specifications. It''s important to own our factories to limit counterfeit products and also to have full power when ites to management, quality control and things like that."

    The others nodded in agreement.

    "We''ll still go ahead and build our own factory," Iris continued saying. "In the meantime, we have to buy out other factories to fill up our current inventories. If we''re having trouble with domestic factories, we can explore the possibility of opening up a factory in the Philippines."

    Dom''s eyes lit up after hearing a mention of his mother country. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Linda Chua is already working on opening up our Orchidia Filipino branch anyway. I''m sure that if we really wanted to, she can find a way to open up a factory for us, too."

    Dom was quick to reassure Iris. "Don''t worry, boss! My second sister won''t let you down! If you want to open a factory, my sister will open one for you!"

    Chen Fei pursed her lips and thought about it before nodding. "That''s something we need to think more about carefully. The Philippines has different legal requirements for foreign businesses after all."

    "I''ll consult with Liwei about that," Iris replied. "He has some experience working with Filipino partners before."

    "What about the funding?" Long Jinjing asked next.

    "Eve Holdings will take care of Orchidia''s current expansion in the international market so don''t worry about that. Just take care of the domestic funding for now."

    "Okay, I understand." Long Jinjing looked relieved that she didn''t need to readjust thepany budget once again.

    They talked about business for a little longer before finishing up. Dom helped Iris up while Chen Fei supported Long Jinjing.

    "Fucking hell, you two look like you''re about to pop!" Chen Fei eximed.

    "What do you expect?" Iris replied. "We''re both expecting twins."

    "You''re truly sisters," Chen Fei mumbled.

    Iris only smiled at Chen Fei''sment. In her mind, she didn''t think that the twins came about due to her being sisters with Long Jinjing. There had been no precedent of having twins in the Long genealogy.

    Although it might be a fantastical idea, Iris was keen to believe that her and Long Jinjing bing pregnant with twins wasn''t due to them being sisters but more on the fact that she and Lu Zihao had been siblings in their past life.

    Madam Vetrova, their mother in their past life, came from a family that produced a number of twins.

    Iris nced at Long Jinjing. Her sister of the flesh had been impregnated by her brother of the soul.

    Long Jinjing caressed her huge belly. Unlike Iris, Long Jinjing''s pregnancy was rather smooth-sailing. She didn''t experience any difficult morning sickness. She just felt sleepy, fatigued, and of course, hungry all the time.

    In fact, she developed like other normal pregnant women. She gained a lot of weight and became quite chubby. As a result, she no longer looked smaller than Iris but bigger instead.

    Just byparing their sizes alone, others might conclude that Long Jinjing was the one who got pregnant first than Iris.

    At first, Long Jinjing was bummed out and worried that Lu Zihao might disdain her new fatter self. She only gained more confidence when he reassured her that he liked her with more meat. She was softer to hold. He especially loved her bigger boobs.

    She couldn''t stop the pink tinge from spreading on her cheeks upon remembering how her fianc¨¦ used his actions in bed to reassure her.

    "Uuuuuuuuy~ I bet Big Sis Jing is thinking about something naughty! Ehehehe," Dom teased.

    Long Jinjing covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

    "So both of you are having all boys?" Chen Fei asked.

    Iris and Long Jinjing nodded.

    "My gosh!" Chen Fei then patted both of them in the back and said in a serious tone, "Good luck."

    Before the pregnant women could thank her, Chen Fei added, "I hope your sons don''t take after their fathers."

    Iris frowned.

    "What do you mean by that?" Long Jinjing asked.

    "One is too cold and domineering, the other is a muscle-headed brute."

    Iris scowled.

    "Hey!" Long Jinjing felt offended for her man.

    Chen Fei ignored their obvious protests and continued, "Imagine four mini Jin Liweis and Lu Zihaos. Ugh! That''s, like, having four mini devils running around and wreaking havoc everywhere. It''s gonna be worse if they inherited their fathers'' possessive nature towards their mothers."

    She hugged herself and shivered.

    Iris and Long Jinjing fell silent. The image that Chen Fei described yed inside their own heads.

    "That¡­uhm, that''s actually possible," Long Jinjing admitted.

    She nced at her belly and started to worry.

    Iris shrugged her shoulders. "If they be mini devils, then so be it. Be it devils or not, they''re still going to be our children."

    "That''s right!" Dom agreed.

    "Che, always acting so cool," Chen Fei stopped acting and rolled her eyes at Iris who seemed unaffected.

    Iris chuckled.

    To be honest, Iris still felt terrified at failing as a mother. It was only thanks to her husband''s constant encouragement that she had grown more confident in raising their children. She wasn''t alone. Jin Liwei was there to help her and vice versa.

    There were also their loved ones who would surely be there to shower their children with additional love and care. Her fear was still ever-present, but as long as she trusted in her husband and their loved ones, then she would surely be able to correct herself in time if she ever went down the road of bing a bad mother.

    Even if she couldn''t trust in herself, she trusted in Jin Liwei.

    This was why she didn''t mind if her sons became mini devils.. Their father would surely discipline them.

 Chapter 1290 - You Always Know What To Say

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    Jin Liwei exited the bathroom and headed straight to the bedroom with just a towel wrapped around his tight, muscled waist. He used another towel to wipe his wet hair. He found his beautiful wife sitting on the chaise longue with her swollen belly exposed from her semi-opened pyjama top.

    Iris was massaging an anti-stretchmark moisturizing lotion (safe, all-natural and super-effective special form by Orchidia Mommy, currently sold out) all over her huge baby bump. At the same time, she was humming a luby to the twins to settle them early for the night.

    "Let me," Jin Liwei said and took the lotion from her before taking over in massaging her belly.

    He was pleased that the naughty boys seemed to have fallen asleep and not troubling their mother with their rough ys.

    Iris leaned back and enjoyed her husband''s gentle ministrations. Everyone would alwaysment that she maintained her original slender figure beneath her swollen belly and boobs but that wasn''t what it felt like. She actually felt swollen all over, like she was going to pop like a balloon if someone just poked her.

    The twins were growing bigger with each passing day. The difort from carrying them was also bing almost too much to handle.

    Despite all this, she treasured this limited period of time that she was still carrying her babies inside her womb. Her love for her babies continued to grow every day even before meeting them in person.

    She wanted to meet them soon. But there was also a part of her that wanted to prolong this time of her being pregnant with them.

    Feeling them move inside her had been frightening at the beginning. Now it was exciting albeit sometimes painful. It amazed her that she and Jin Liwei had created two new humans together.

    All of a sudden, her maternal thoughts were interrupted by a stray touch from her belly to the underside of her breast. She nced at her husband who continued massaging her belly with the lotion.

    His expression remained the same.

    Maybe she was just being too sensitive.

    Then her breath caught when his hand grazed her breast again in the middle of his massage. This time, Iris didn''t believe that his action wasn''t deliberate.

    "Darling," she whispered.

    "Hm? Sleepy now?"

    The nerve of the man! Still pretending to be innocent, huh?

    The provoked Iris unbuttoned the rest of her pyjama top. It spread open and slid down her smooth shoulders. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jin Liwei''s breath hitched and his hand stopped massaging as he stared at the full mounds sitting on top his wife''s swollen belly. His mouth watered at the sight of the beautiful nipples. He swallowed hard while feeling a familiar heat spreading low in his stomach.

    "I read that breasts can also get stretch marks during pregnancy," Iris said. "Massage them with the lotion, too. Okay, darling?"

    His breathing started to get heavy as he continued to stare at his wife''s delectable breasts.

    "Darling?"

    Jin Liwei''s self-control snapped. He tossed the lotion bottle, grabbed his wife''s head and smashed his mouth against hers.

    "Mmm!"

    Iris was startled at first but quickly melted into her husband''s hot and deep kiss. His tongue was relentless and demanding. She felt herself going soft and allowed him to satiate himself.

    Jin Liwei was now panting when he ended the kiss to give his wife a scorching look. "Seductress!"

    She smiled. "You''re the one who started it."

    "I wanted to slowly get us in the mood but you just had to make me lose control."

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared at his face.

    "What is it? Is there something on my face?" Jin Liwei asked when she continued staring at him without doing or saying anything else.

    "Be honest with me, Liwei."

    "Okay," he replied without any hesitation.

    "Do you really still desire me even when my body is like this now?"

    He frowned. "What kind of question is that? Of course, I still desire you."

    "Really?"

    His expression turned serious. He framed her face with both his hands and forced her to look straight into his eyes.

    "Evelina, listen to me."

    She nodded.

    "Do you not know? I actually find your body more beautiful now that it''s carrying my babies inside you. Seeing your body change each day because of what I did to you turns me on. It''s like watching a delicate flower bud that I water regrly start to bloom and eventually bear fruits for me in front of my very eyes. It''s beautiful, love. You''re beautiful."

    Iris couldn''t help it. Her eyes began to water after hearing his words. She could see the sincerity in his eyes.

    "Thank you, Liwei."

    "What are you thanking me for? I should be the one thanking you. You''re willing to go through all this just to give birth to my children. You''re so amazing, Evelina. I''ll always be grateful that you''re my wife and the mother of my children."

    Sheughed amidst her tears. He kissed her tears with such tenderness that Iris'' heart trembled with the gravity of her love for this man.

    "You always know what to say to make me feel better," she murmured.

    "No. I just tell you what I feel in my heart."

    She gave his hard chest a light hammer before running her hands all over his fit torso. His abs tightened from her touch.

    "I love you," he whispered. "So much."

    She smiled at him. "I love you, too."

    Jin Liwei smiled back before dipping his head and kissing her again on the mouth. Then he moved to her chin, neck and finally, her mouth-watering mounds. He cradled each soft, full breast with his hands and used his thumbs to y with her nipples.

    The nipples hardened. He couldn''t wait any longer and took one into his mouth, sucking it gently.

    Iris moaned and held his head while arching her back. He used his mouth, tongue and hands to pleasure both of her breasts. The increase in sensitivity left her in a moaning mess in just a short period of time.

    He chuckled and stood up before tugging the towel wrapped around his waist.. Then he took her hand and wrapped it around his hard length.

 Chapter 1291 - Your Husband Is Strong

    <h4>Chapter 1291 - Your Husband Is Strong</h4>

    Iris didn''t need any verbal instructions from her husband. She tightened her hold around his hard length and moved her hand up and down.

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes and moaned. His hips started moving slowly in time with her hand.

    Teasing him, she asked, "Do you want me to suck you?"

    He opened his eyes just a little and peered at her. "Baby, you''re still asking me that question?"

    She giggled and directly took him in her mouth. He hissed as his whole body shivered from the stimtion.

    Without waiting for him to adjust, she pleasured him with her mouth, adjusting the speed and sucking pressure ording to his body cues. She knew his body just like how he knew hers.

    Jin Liwei''s breathing became ragged in no time. Watching his wife sucking him off made his erection harder and bigger.

    "Mn?!"

    Iris felt the change inside her mouth. She released him from her mouth but continued pleasuring him with her hand.

    "Are you really that turned on being sucked off by a pregnant woman? You pervert!"

    "Not just any pregnant woman. I''m turned on being sucked off by my pregnant wife. Only my wife can turn me into a pervert like this."

    His shamelessness was effective in turning her on as well. She rubbed her thighs together to ease the soaking emptiness inside while she resumed sucking him.

    Jin Liwei stopped his wife''s actions when he felt that he was about to explode inside her mouth. It was too early.

    "My turn," he said.

    Then he gestured for her toy down on the chaise longue before removing her clothes, spreading her legs and burying his face between her thighs.

    "Aaaaah!"

    It didn''t take long for Iris to reach the peak. She grabbed her husband''s hair and screamed. And yet Jin Liwei didn''t stop. He continued top and suck her quivering wetness until his face glistened with her juices.

    Jin Liwei only stopped after making her climax five times. She couldn''t even bend her knees anymore and just let her legs sy to the sides of the chaise longue.

    "You¡­do you want to kill me?" Iris couldn''t help but ask weakly.

    "Kill you? Baby, you''re the one who''s killing me with your sexiness."

    She hammered his chest but it was just like a weak cat''s paw to him. Seeing his wifey in blissful exhaustion turned him on even more. His little brother twitched and produced more tiny beads of white liquid. It was so hard that it felt like it was going to literally burst.

    He reached down and rubbed his wife''s wetness once again before using her juices to coat his hard length. He moved his hand along his erection while enjoying the sight of his wife syed in front of him.

    A deep groan vibrated from his chest.

    It felt so good!

    Iris was also watching him pleasure himself.

    The man usually wore a cold and indifferent expression in public. Only when he was with her would he disy this kind of lustful expression.

    Just thinking about how different he acted with herpared to other people was enough to get her into the mood again. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She reached around her swollen belly and started ying with her wetness as well.

    They watched each other, not ashamed at all, only focused on giving and receiving pleasure from one another with their eyes.

    "Hah, you make me so crazy for you," Jin Liwei said.

    Then he swooped in and started to lift her in his arms.

    "Put me down. I''ll walk!"

    Jin Liwei ignored her protest. He was steady as he carried her from the chaise longue to the short distance of their bed.

    "Wife, your husband is strong," he told her as he carefullyid her down on the bed. "Besides, you''re still lighter than me even with the boys."

    Iris felt better after hearing his assurance. She rewarded him with a rather chaste kiss on his cheek.

    Of course, that chaste kiss wasn''t enough to satisfy him. He demanded more from her mouth. They kissed for a long time. Jin Liwei controlled himself until Iris was begging for more.

    He ced her on her side andid down his body behind her in a spooning position. Holding his hard length, he rubbed it behind her against her wet slit before thrusting inside.

    Iris gasped and tried to reach back for him. He lifted his torso and kissed her as he began thrusting in and out behind her.

    At first, he maintained a slow and gentle tempo. She enjoyed it and continued encouraging him to maintain the pace with her sweet moans and pleased sighs.

    Jin Liwei watched her while still holding back. His jaw was tense as he restrained the urge to m his hips hard into his wife''s delectable body.

    "Evelina."

    She opened her eyes and saw his state. Smiling, she prepared herself before nodding.

    With that, Jin Liwei let himself go.

    He held her waist firmly with his arm before pumping his hips harder and faster.

    "Aaaaaah! Liwei, oh yes!"

    He groaned and felt like his entire body, centred in his groin, was on fire.

    Intense, delightful, pleasurable fire.

    Even as he pumped into his wife, he still made sure to check that she wasn''t in any difort. He kept a firm hold of her waist so that his intense movements wouldn''t jar her too much.

    Iris screamed and her whole body shook upon reaching orgasm. He grunted as he followed suit and shot his release inside her.

    When it was over, he cleaned both of them with a wet towel. His wife had fallen fast asleep.

    A satisfied grin remained on his face as he climbed beside her and covered both of their naked bodies with the duvet. He hugged his wife and kissed her brow.

    "Good night, my love," he whispered.

    She was already in deep sleep so there was no reply from her. He didn''t mind. His hand caressed her swollen belly.

    "Good boys. You didn''t interrupt your mom and dad."

    It seemed that the twins were like their mother. All in deep sleep.

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes with a smile still hanging on his face.

 Chapter 1292 - Protective

    <h4>Chapter 1292 - Protective</h4>

    While several situations were brewing in the background, life for Iris and Jin Liwei was filled with excitement and anticipation with equal doses of anxiety and even fear.

    Summer wasing.

    Meaning, the Jin twins'' due date was fast approaching.

    Iris'' belly was now humongous. Even Jin Liwei who loved his wife''s pregnant body couldn''t help but feel frightened seeing her toddle with such a huge belly.

    Despite the doctor''s constant assurance that everything was normal, it still boggled him how his wife hadn''t been crushed yet by the enormous baggage she carried inside her. Not that he wanted his beloved wife to be crushed in any way. It was just that the gap between Iris'' physique and the size of her belly was too ridiculous, and frankly, terrifying.

    Even seeing Long Jinjing who was also pregnant with twins wasn''t as nerve-wracking. It was because Long Jinjing gained a considerable amount of weight as her own belly grew bigger. She didn''t look as fragile as Iris who generally maintained her former slender physique.

    It wasn''t only Jin Liwei who thought like this. His brother-inw, Lu Zihao, also worried for his little sister more than his own fianc¨¦e.

    Iris looked too frail while Long Jinjing''s chubbier body looked sturdy enough to give birth to twins. Furthermore, Long Jinjing hadn''t really been troubled by any difficult symptoms throughout her pregnancy. The obvious differences between the pregnancy experiences of the two women were causing both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao to lose sleep over Iris'' situation.

    At the moment, Iris was feeling extremely restless. The difort of carrying her twins was intensifying with each passing day. She barely had any proper sleep for the past couple of weeks. Her temper hadn''t been the best and Jin Liwei experienced the full brunt of her irritable moods.

    Iris felt bad while watching her husband try everything to make her feel better.

    "I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to snap at you. Again. I just can''t seem to control my temper."

    "Don''t worry about it, love," Jin Liwei reassured. "I know it''s because our boys are being naughty again."

    She shook her head while massaging her belly. "I think they''re also getting restless like me. They want toe out soon."

    Jin Liwei looked at her belly. His breath caught when he saw it literally ripple in front of his eyes. He nced at his wife in concern. Iris'' brows were furrowed in difort.

    Despite the obvious pain, she still tried soothing the twins. "Calm down now. You''re Mommy and Daddy''s good little babies. Hush, my loves."

    Jin Liwei had a lot of things to say to his naughty boys who kept on twisting and turning inside their mom but he restrained himself. His wife had grown extremely protective of their babies during the final trimester of her pregnancy. He could no longer scold them for hurting her without her scolding him instead.

    He touched his wife''s belly and joined her in trying to soothe the twins. However, he tried transmitting his displeased thoughts through his hand and hoped that his twins could move more carefully inside their mother. It pained him seeing his wife so ufortable.

    Iris nced at the time and reminded him, "You should be heading to your meeting now."

    "Five more minutes," he muttered, extremely unwilling to leave his wife.

    She chuckled and patted his face. "Go. The earlier you finish the meeting, the faster you cane back home."

    Jin Liwei sighed and had to drag himself away from his wife. He kissed her on the mouth and went to the walk-in closet to get his tie and suit jacket. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris toddled after him and grabbed his tie. "Let me."

    After putting his necktie on for him, Iris pulled him for another kiss. "I''ll have the kitchen send lunch to you at thepanyter."

    "No need. I''ll finish the meeting early ande home to eat lunch with you."

    She raised an eyebrow. "Don''t rush. Take your time and finish everything that you need to do at the meeting so they don''t have to always call and bother us at home."

    "Alright. I''m off."

    He gave her a final kiss on the lips before leaving with obvious reluctance. The bedroom door closed. Two secondster, it opened again and he returned.

    "What is it?" Iris asked. "Did you forget something?"

    "En."

    Before she could ask again, he leaned down and kissed her swollen belly. "Bye, boys. Be good to your mom."

    Iris chuckled in amusement. Finally, he left. She plopped down on the chaise longue and tried finding afortable position.

    Thinking about her husband who was so reluctant to leave her side, she couldn''t help but smile despite the growing irritation she felt over her current difort.

    Jin Liwei had been doing his best to stay with her as much as possible especially after she entered her third trimester. He often worked remotely from home, but there were still times that his actual presence was needed at thepany.

    Today''s meeting was important because it involved a few of Jin Corporation''s international projects, particrly for the other Asian branches.

    Jin Liwei was now working on weakening the power and influence of the Singapore branch while at the same time strengthening the other Asian branches in order to keep the bnce within the entire Jin Corporation. He needed extreme finesse in handling this situation so that the mysterious power backing the Youngs wouldn''t notice his n and counterattack too early.

    Iris sighed but determination filled her eyes as she analyzed the chaos that might result if the Youngs and the mysterious power backing them seeded in their scheme to swallow Jin Corporation whole.

    "But first, I need to give birth to both of you safely first," she said while continuing to massage her belly.

    As soon as she felt well enough after giving birth, she was going to personally join the war against the threat to Jin Corporation as a hacker. She couldn''t just let anybody target her husband''spany without doing anything.

    Jin Corporation wasn''t just a livelihood.

    It was a legacy.

 Chapter 1293 - In Labour

    <h4>Chapter 1293 - In Labour</h4>

    Iris'' thoughts were interrupted when the bedroom door opened and in came her best friend sh personal assistant, Dom. He was carrying her daily basket of morning snacks and some documents that she needed to read and sign.

    "Thanks, Dom," she said with a relieved smile. "The twins are starving."

    "I can see that." His eyes were trained on her rippling belly.

    She winced and continued massaging her humongous belly while Dom busied himself with showing her the snacks the chefs prepared for her this morning.

    "I saw sir boss leave," he chatted with her. "He told me to keep an eye on you because our cutie-patootie baby twins are being naughty again."

    Iris only grunted. She wasn''t really in the mood to eat anything but the twins wouldn''t stop tumbling inside her. They were usually like this whenever they wanted her to eat.

    Dom handed her a small chicken and garden sd wrap when she dropped the food to the floor.

    "Huh, boss¡ª"

    "AH!!!!!"

    Iris doubled over and clutched her belly in pain.

    "Boss!!!"

    ###

    Jin Liwei was reading a backlog of business e-mails while Xu Tian recited his busy schedule for today beside him in the backseat. His assistant fetched him from home in person because of the importance of the meeting scheduled forter this morning.

    "Reschedule my appointments this afternoon to other mornings," Jin Liwei said with a frown.

    Xu Tian inwardly sighed but maintained a professional expression. "I already rescheduled these appointments several times, sir. It''s really not¡­I understand. I''ll figure something out."

    Jin Liwei nodded and continued going through the e-mails as quickly as possible. He was in overdrive mode in an effort to finish everything so that he coulde back home early to his wife. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Their vehicle was just about to enter the highway when a child''s frantic voice started crying all of a sudden.

    "Daddy! Daddy! Meowuwuwu! Mommy is inbour! She is going to give birth to Ketchup''s precious little baby brothers soon! But Mommy is in super-duper to the highest level great pain! Ketchup is soooooo scared for my mommy, Daddy! Meowuwuwuwu!!!

    Jin Liwei felt like his heart stopped beating for a moment before it started hammering inside his chest.

    "Return to the mansion! Quickly!!!"

    ###

    Within an hour, people started rushing to Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing arrived first. At first, Lu Zihao intended to go by himself as soon as he heard that his little sister went intobour. However, he got a call from Long Jinjing telling him that she wanted to go with him as well. Bacon apparently informed her about the situation. Lu Zihao didn''t want to waste any time arguing so he just sped through the traffic and picked up his fianc¨¦e at Orchidia before rushing to Dragon Pce.

    Chen Fei also wanted to go with them but couldn''t leave Orchidia during work hours. Thepany was extremely hectic right now with its rapid development and the recentunch of Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby. Someone needed to man the reins, so Chen Fei could only grit her teeth and continue working even as anxiety for Iris'' safety ate at her.

    Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing met with Grandpa Lu at the newly built hospital wing.

    Soon after, Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan came as well. When Iris entered her final trimester, Grandma Li temporarily moved back to the Jin''s old family house from her mountain vi so that she and her daughter-inw could rush to Dragon Pce together as soon as her granddaughter-inw went intobour.

    "Uncle, how''s Xin?" Huang Yuyan asked.

    Excitement and worry were obvious in the gentle eyes of Jin Liwei''s mother. The worry appeared greater, though.

    "Still inbour," Grandpa Lu replied. "Your boy is with her inside."

    Huang Yuyan wrung her hands as she nced at the closed door of the delivery room.

    "Howe Xin went intobour so early?" she asked in a shaky voice. "It''s not her due date yet. Did something happen?"

    Grandma Li put a firm but reassuring hand on her back. "Calm down, Yuyan my dear. Although it''s earlier than the actual due date, it''s not too early for the baby toe out premature. Remember that you also gave birth to Chonglin a bit earlier than the due date and he came out just fine."

    "I know, Mother. I''m just worried. Xin didn''t have an easy pregnancy. And her belly¡­it''s, uhm, it''s¡­."

    Nobody filled in the rest of Huang Yuyan''s sentence but they all knew what she was going it say. Iris'' belly was abnormally ginormouspared to the rest of her delicate frame.

    Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing who were sitting nearby knew the reason. Iris was expecting twins just like them. However, both couples hadn''t announced this fact to others yet.

    The elegant Grandma Li with her slightly frosty demeanour was the calmest among them. She nced at Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Her eyes lingered a few seconds longer on Long Jinjing''s big belly before looking at the closed door of the delivery room.

    Something shed in her sharp, wizened but still dignified eyes. She smiled in amusement but didn''t share her spection to the others.

    Grandpa Lu appeared calm until now. He pped his thighs and started pacing around the waiting lounge area.

    "Xin my girl will be fine, right? I''m sure she''ll be fine! Right? She''ll give birth to our precious great-grandbaby safely, right? Damnation! Someone tell this old man that Xin will be fine! I want to know!!!"

    Grandma Li sighed and tried to calm the old man next. She felt like a kindergarten teacher coaxing her toddler pupils to stop making such a big fuss.

    Nearby, Long Jinjing''s nervousness only increased with each passing minute. She peeked at the cold-faced Lu Zihao beside her. He looked ready to wreck something with his bare hands.

    So scary.

    However, she now knew his personality well enough to sense that he was just as nervous as she was at the moment. No, perhaps he was even more nervous than her.

    Long Jinjing didn''t doubt that if something bad ever happened to Iris at the delivery room, Lu Zihao would burst inside and strangle the doctor and the rest of the medical staff before anyone could react.

 Chapter 1294 - Long, Agonizing Wait

    <h4>Chapter 1294 - Long, Agonizing Wait</h4>

    The delivery room door opened. Everyone turned their heads to see Jin Liwei and Dom supporting a pale Iris in a customized hospital gown.

    "Oh dear." Huang Yuyan immediately hurried towards them but Jin Liwei refused to leave his wife''s side.

    Dom stepped aside to let Huang Yuyan support Iris with Jin Liwei.

    Huang Yuyan fished out a handkerchief and wiped Iris'' sweaty forehead. "How are you feeling, Xin?"

    Iris only grunted and focused on walking in slow,boured steps. Her mother-inw didn''t mind that she didn''t respond. On the contrary, Huang Yuyan was very understanding and inquired her son instead.

    Jin Liwei''s expression was unsightly. He couldn''t hide his fear and anxiety but was still doing his best to get it together for his wife''s sake. This wasn''t the time for him to crumple under pressure. Seeing his wife enduring this kind of suffering felt like there was a knife being stabbed directly into his heart.

    If only it were possible, he would dly take away all of her pain and endure everything for her. Unfortunately, all he could do was stay beside her and give her moral support.

    "The doctor rmended for her to take a walk," he told his mother.

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "Yes, taking a walk should make the actual childbirth a little easier. That''s what I did too when I gave birth to you and your brother back then."

    "Ah!"

    Iris stiffened and cried out in pain.

    Jin Liwei looked as if he was experiencing the same pain. He hugged her and tried soothing his poor wife.

    "What the fuck is the damned doctor doing?" Lu Zihao''s murderous voice demanded.

    A huge, hulking shadow covered Iris, Jin Liwei and Huang Yuyan.

    "Howe the medical staff is not doing anything for the pain?! Those damned quacks! I''ll fucking beat some sense into their shitty brains¡ª"

    "Ni¡ªZihao!" The pregnant Long Jinjing caught up with him. She tried pulling his arm but to no avail. "Please c-calm down. Don''t do anything rash, okay?"

    The sweaty and panting Iris peered at them through pain-filled eyes. She muttered something to Lu Zihao but her voice was too faint for others to hear what she was saying. Only Jin Liwei who was the closest to her caught some Russian words. However, his proficiency level in thenguage was too rudimentary for him to understand what his wife said to her brother.

    Lu Zihao heard his sister and read her lips at the same time. He looked torn but eventually calmed down. Somewhat. He nced at Long Jinjing and calmed down some more.

    "Come," he said while already pulling his woman away.

    "W-wait! Where are we going?"

    "I''m taking you to Jiang Ying Yue," Lu Zihao answered.

    "B-but¡ª"

    Lu Zihao bent down and carried her like a princess. "Help Jiang Ying Yue watch over her kid and the cats."

    She opened her mouth about to argue again but he silenced her with a deep, hard kiss. Dazed, she could no longer remember what she wanted to tell him.

    "It''s better for you not to witness my sister giving birth," he told her.

    "¡­huh? Why?"

    <i>''It might traumatize you,''</i> was what Lu Zihao wanted to say but stopped himself in time.

    Actually, this was what his sister told him just now. Iris still managed to notice the frightened Long Jinjing through the haze ofbour pains. She told him to take Long Jinjing away to avoid traumatizing the woman.

    Long Jinjing had a rather timid personality. If she got too frightened witnessing Iris experience the pain of childbirth, it might cause a negative impact on Long Jinjing when it was her turn to give birth next.

    Lu Zihao didn''t want to leave his little sister like this but his own pregnant fianc¨¦ was important to him, too. If something happened to Long Jinjing and their own twins due to his negligence, then he would never forgive himself.

    His little sister''s reminder forced him to clear his mind. She had her husband now who could stay by her side while he also had his own pregnant woman who he needed to care for.

    "We''lle back and visit my sister after she gives birth to our nephews," he told Long Jinjing.

    She studied his expression before nodding. "You can put me down now. I''m¡­h-heavy."

    "Nonsense." Lu Zihao snorted "I can still carry you even with just one arm."

    She leaned her head against his shoulder and hid her smiling face before mumbling, "And Xin is MY sister, not yours."

    Lu Zihao filtered out what she said¡­as always.

    ###

    The sun set and darkness spread across the sky.

    More people arrived at the hospital wing. Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui came with Meimei.

    "Howe the baby hasn''te out yet?" Long Tengfei asked his wife while scowling at his wristwatch. "Is this normal?"

    He tried remembering the times when his own children were born but came out nk. During those times, he had been too focused on expanding Long Industries into the international shipping industry. In short, he hadn''t personally witnessed the birth of any of his children. He only came to see the mothers when the babies were already born and cleaned up for meeting him.

    Yang Jiahui didn''t have any children of her own so she couldn''t give her husband a definite answer. All she could do was try to calm him down.

    The atmosphere in the waiting lounge area had grown heavy.

    Iris had been inbour since the morning. It was now evening.

    She would sometimese out of the room to walk around the hallways so they saw with their own eyes how she gritted her teeth through the painful contractions.

    Even the usually loud and lively Grandpa Lu was now brooding in nervous silence.

    Lu Zihao returned followed by the butler wheeling a cart filled with some light refreshments. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Haohao, where''s Jinjing my girl?" Grandpa Lu asked his grandson.

    "Sleeping with the cats in our room," Lu Zihao replied before taking a position by the window with the most direct view of the delivery room door.

    He leaned against the window and crossed his muscled arms across his wide chest. His eyes never left the door.

    He wasn''t the only one.

    All of them could only sit through the long, agonizing wait and pray for the mother and baby''s safety.

 Chapter 1295 - Vision Problems

    <h4>Chapter 1295 - Vision Problems</h4>

    Inside the delivery room, Iris felt exhausted. She didn''t know how long it had been since she went intobour. It felt like forever. Someone started wiping the sweat on her face and neck. She red at her husband.

    "Liwei, your sons are too much!!!"

    "En, I''ll scold them when theye out," Jin Liwei replied in a serious tone.

    His current appearance wasn''t any better than hers. He was dishevelled and fatigued¡ªa far cry from his usual cold and sharp handsomeness.

    Iris didn''t like his answer. How dare the man want to scold her precious babies?!

    "You¡ªah!!!"

    Sharp pain shot through her once again.

    The pain scattered all of her thoughts away. She had no choice but to endure the intense pain. The duration between the contractions was bing shorter. She had less reprieve from the torment.

    "It''s time," the doctor announced.

    The rest of the medical staff hired especially for the childbirth immediately went into action. They positioned Iris on the bed and surrounded the lower half of her body. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Young Madam, remember what we practiced," the doctor reminded her. "Breathe and then push, okay?"

    "Y-yes¡­"

    The look in Iris'' eyes changed. She looked ready for battle. Despite her current sorry state, the determination to birth her babies safely filled her.

    "I''m here, love," she heard Jin Liwei whispering directly to her ear. "Hold on to me. I won''t let you go. Never."

    She squeezed his hand. This was the best she could do to let him know that she heard his words. The pain was nowing in strong, powerful waves.

    "Aaaaaaaah!!!"

    Tears flowed down her eyes as she struggled to breathe, scream and push the first baby out of her body.

    The pain was unimaginable.

    She thought that she had already prepared herself beforehand but it was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

    Even being shot multiple times in her past life couldn''tpare to the intense, prolonged pain that she was feeling right now. It felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside.

    "L-love! Don''t close your eyes! Can you hear me?! Stay awake!"

    Iris was awakened from a momentary loss of consciousness. Jin Liwei''s loud shouts and frantic taps on her cheek brought her back.

    She immediately returned to pushing and didn''t even realize that she passed out for a few seconds.

    "Liwei, you bastard!!!"

    "Yes, yes. It''s all my fault. Please, just bear with it for now."

    "I''ll castrate you after this!!!"

    "Ye¡ªlet''s discuss that at ater date."

    "Fuck you, Jin Liwei!!!!!"

    "I''m sorry, baby. Hold on for just a bit more."

    "AAAARGHHHHH!!!!!"

    Iris felt like all of the veins inside her were going to pop from the great strain of pushing.

    "Yes, the first baby is out!" the doctor announced with excitement.

    Momentster, a loud baby''s cry filled the entire delivery room.

    Irispletely forgot about the pain as she stretched out her arms for her baby. A nurseid down the still gunky infant on her chest. Another nurse proceeded in wiping the still crying infant with a warm towel while Iris cuddled her baby.

    At the same time, Jin Liwei was guided on how to cut the infant''s umbilical cord.

    Iris was smiling through her tears. She couldn''t stop staring at her baby''s face.

    "So ugly," shemented while chuckling.

    "En," Jin Liwei agreed without any hesitation. His eyes, however, were filled with pure gentleness.

    He kissed Iris'' lips.

    She smiled at him.

    Then both stared at their "ugly" baby with happy expressions.

    The medical staff looked at each other after hearing the exchange between the husband and wife. All of them had prior experience in assisting childbirths.

    They swore that this baby was the best-looking out of all the babies they had assisted in birthing. Sure, it was red and wrinkly but all babies were born like that. The appearances of babies would quickly improve in just a few days.

    With a mother like Iris Long and a father like Jin Liwei, it was only natural that these two gorgeous people would produce beautiful babies. And yet listen to the two of them calling their own baby ugly so straightforwardly.

    Poor baby.

    Iris wanted to continue cuddling her son but another wave of powerful contractions assaulted her. A nurse took away the baby as Iris once again had to focus on giving birth to the next baby.

    This time, the process was much smoother. It was still painful but Iris didn''t suffer as much.

    The second baby only cried for a short time unlike his elder brother. He quickly calmed down upon being ced on his mother''s chest while a nurse cleaned him up. Then Jin Liwei cut his second son''s umbilical cord as well.

    "Another ugly one," Iris said.

    "En, looks like a drowned rat," Jin Liwei replied.

    She giggled while he smiled.

    The doctor made a face while the rest of the medical staff turned their heads away. It was hard listening to the couple''sments about their own babies.

    What did CEO Jin mean that his second son looked like a drowned rat? The second son resembled him the most!

    It seemed that this husband and wife had some vision problems.

    They were so unlike other new mothers and fathers that the medical staff had assisted before who couldn''t stop praising their newborns'' cuteness.

    The entire medical staff wanted so badly to refute Iris and Jin Liwei''s ims that their newborn twins were ugly. In the end, however, they decided to just keep their mouths shut.

    CEO Jin was too intimidating while Iris Long could be quite scary whenever she lost her temper.

    They would just do their jobs. If the couple believed that their own babies were ugly, then who were they to correct the two blind people?

    Iris and Jin Liwei bonded with their twin infants afterwards. Despite calling their own babies ugly, the happiness emanating from the new parents was almost tangible.

    Jin Liwei carried his eldest human son while Iris cradled their second human son. He carefully leaned down and once again kissed his wife''s lips.

    "You''re so amazing, Evelina," he whispered.

    His voice was so low and soft that only Iris heard him.

    "Thank you for giving me children. And I love you. So much."

    "I love you, too," Iris murmured as she drifted off to a much-needed sleep.

 Chapter 1296 - Happiness Breeds Complacence

    <h4>Chapter 1296 - Happiness Breeds Comcence</h4>

    It was already past midnight when the people in the waiting lounge area outside the delivery room heard about the good news. Dom was the bearer of the happy announcement, instantly dispelling the heavy atmosphere that pervaded the long, agonizing wait for almost the entire day.

    Boomingughter resounded.

    "Bahahahahaha! Did you hear that? A boy! When can this old man see my great-grandson? Hurry up and tell me! I want to know!"

    "Don''t worry, Grandpa Boss!" Dom assured the delighted old man. "I''ll bring you inter when all the necessary medical examinations arepleted."

    "Good! Very good! Bahahahaha!" Grandpa Lu''s smile almost stretched from ear to ear.

    "How''s my sister?" Lu Zihao asked.

    "Don''t worry, Big Brother Boss! Everything went fine. Noplications whatsoever. Everyone is healthy. Boss went to sleep right after breastfeeding for the first time."

    Lu Zihao''s scary expression eased a lot.

    "Oh, that''s a relief!" Huang Yuyan eximed. "I''m so d that Xin and my grandson are both safe and healthy. Thank you for letting us know, Dominic. I know that my son doesn''t want to leave his wife''s side even for just a second."

    "Ehehehe. No worries! This is what I should do."

    Grandma Li was not present. She had already gone to sleep. Unlike the sprightly Grandpa Lu, her energy level was already nose-diving due to her advanced age.

    Long Tengfei had fallen asleep on the couch but Yang Jiahui woke him up just in time to hear Dom''s announcement.

    As for Meimei, the overworked webtoon artist had already fallen asleep in Little Jun''s room in the middle of talking to Jiang Ying Yue.

    Dom returned inside the delivery inside and came out again soon afterwards. His expression was sheepish when he faced the others.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "I''m sorry," he said. "Sir boss says that it''s already veryte and that everyone should sleep tonight first. You can meet the baby tomorrow."

    "WHAT?!!!" Grandpa Lu roared. "Tell that pinhead toe out! This old man wants to meet my great-grandson now!"

    "I''m sorry, Grandpa boss. But sir boss says that he won''t change his mind."

    Before the old man could throw a tantrum, a firm and heavy hand pressed down on his shoulder.

    "Old man, just sleep," Lu Zihao said. "You''re tired waiting but my sister should be the most exhausted among us. She had been inbour for almost the whole day. Third Brother stayed with her the entire time so he must be tired as well. Both of them are not in any condition to entertain us."

    "Zihao is right," Huang Yuyan interjected. "Uncle, let''s go to sleep first. It''s just a few hours anyway. We can meet my grandson first thing in the morning."

    "Hai, fine!" Grandpa Lu sighed. His shoulders slumped with regret but he quickly perked up. "By tomorrow, I''ll have the perfect name for my precious baby great-grandson! That stinky boy and Xin my girl asked their beloved Grandpa Lu to name their baby! Yes, that''s right. Watch this old man choose the best name for your grandson, Yuyan! Bahahahaha!"

    "I''m looking forward to it, Uncle."

    Nearby, Long Tengfei looked jealous.

    "What''s wrong?" Yang Jiahui asked him in a whisper.

    "I wanted to be the one to name my grandson," he muttered. "Howe my daughter didn''t ask me?"

    She sighed and patted his arm. She couldn''t bear to tell her husband that his daughter was closer to her inws than to her maiden family. He already knew it, though.

    Now that he was at this age, she knew that her husband had a lot of regrets when it came to his rtionships with his children. Fortunately, he was doing his best now to make amends and be closer to each of his four children. It was betterte than never.

    "Let''s go to sleep, too," Yang Jiahui said. "The earlier we sleep, the earlier we''ll wake up, and the earlier we''ll meet your grandson."

    Long Tengfei nodded.

    Everyone headed to their own assigned bedrooms. Nobody wanted to leave the mansion, not because of thete hour but because they wanted to meet Iris and Jin Liwei''s newborn as soon as possible in the morning.

    Lu Zihao was the only one left in the waiting lounge area. He stood by the huge windows and gazed at the starless night sky outside. His hand fished something from his jeans pocket.

    It was the Smoking Devil.

    He rubbed it between his fingers while reminiscing about the past.

    The memories of his beautiful little sister with her golden locks and bright emerald eyes yed in his mind.

    The times when she sneaked in his room and asked him to y with her.

    The times when she ran to him while crying after being frightened by horned animals.

    The times when she showed off a newputer that she assembled herself.

    The times when she performed a new originalposition in the piano to him as the sole audience.

    The times when she sought him tofort her whenever their mother punished (tortured) her for refusing to work for the family organization.

    All these memories might not always be joyful but each and every one of them was precious to him.

    He only had this one beloved little sister who he was lucky enough to meet again in their new, second chance in life after their tragic past life as the crown prince and sheltered princess of the infamous Vetrovs.

    "I can''t believe that you''ve now be a mother, Evelinka," he murmured in Russian. "And I, too, will soon be a father."

    Happiness began to spread inside him. But before it could fill himpletely, the faint sparkle from the bejewelled Smoking Devil caught his eyes.

    The Smoking Devil was a direct remnant of his life as Niki Vetrov.

    His mind cleared. The happiness was ruthlessly tamped down.

    Happiness bredcence.

    He couldn''t becent.

    Never.

    He nced at the closed door of the delivery room.

    "Jin Liwei, take care of my sister and your children."

    Then he added, "And if¡­something happens to me, I know that you''ll take care of my woman and my children as well."

    He returned the Smoking Devil inside his pocket and walked along the empty hallway.

    Yes, the road to hell only needed one person to walk it.

    Him.

    While carrying the bloody heads of all his enemies.

 Chapter 1297 - Little Mochi And Little Matcha

    <h4>Chapter 1297 - Little Mochi And Little Matcha</h4>

    The next morning, people rushed to the hospital wing after breakfast. Nobody blocked them this time. Thank goodness!

    The delivery room had been transformed into argefy bedroom overnight (with all the necessary state-of-the art medical equipment, of course).

    When Grandpa Lu and the others entered, they saw Iris in bed cradling a tiny infant in her arms. She was radiating joy, gentleness and motherly aura. She greeted them with a bright and beautiful smile.

    "Eh, would you look at that?" Grandpa Lu adjusted his booming voice to avoid startling the baby.

    He was the first one to take the baby from Iris and carefully carry the little one in his arms.

    "Hello there, littled," Grandpa Lu cooed. "I''m your Great-Grandpa Lu. Look at these tiny hands and feet! Those little eyes, nose and mouth! You are the cutest baby that this old man has ever seen in my long life! Aren''t I right, Sister Zhiruo?"

    Grandma Li peeked at the small bundle of joy. "You''re right, Brother Jianhong. Indeed, our great-grandson is the cutest."

    Huang Yuyan squeezed closer. Her eyes immediately watered as soon as she saw her grandson. "So cute."

    The others crowded around the baby. Each of them were fighting to be the next one to hold the little one.

    "Where''s Brother-in-Law Liwei?" Long Jinjing asked.

    "With our other son," Iris whispered.

    Long Jinjing nodded and mped her mouth shut while looking nervously at the others. She sighed of relief when nobody noticed their conversation. The others were too busy doting on the baby.

    "How are you feeling?" Lu Zihao asked Iris next.

    "Like something many times bigger than my husband''s penis crawled out of my vagina."

    Long Jinjing turned red while Lu Zihao scowled at his overly straightforward sister.

    Iris shrugged. "Well, it''s true." Then she sighed and decided to tell the truth. "It was the worst pain that I''ve ever experienced. But I survived."

    Long Jinjing shuddered and subconsciously touched her swollen belly. Lu Zihao hugged her. She immediately felt better in his embrace.

    "I''m d that you''re fine," he told Iris.

    "Yes, I''m also d that you''re fine, little sister," Long Jinjing said as well.

    "Thanks, Big Brother and Big Sister."

    Long Jinjing peeked at the baby being carried by Huang Yuyan this time. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "The baby looks like you, little sister," shemented.

    Iris only smiled but didn''t reply.

    "Which part of that ugly thing looks like my sister?" Lu Zihao asked.

    As soon as he finished speaking, someone hit him hard in the back a few times.

    "You stinky boy! How dare you call your adorable nephew an ugly thing?! Did your brain be filled with nothing but poop? Tell me, I want to know!!! See how this old man smack you until you learn your bloody lesson!!!"

    Iris stopped mid-nod. Actually, she agreed with her brother but it seemed that the others didn''t think the same way. All she could hear around her was nonstop praises about how cute and adorable her baby looked.

    Even Long Jinjing looked offended at what Lu Zihao said just now. She even apologized to Iris on his behalf.

    "Alright, that''s enough," Grandma Li said. "Don''t be so loud, Brother Jianhong, or you''ll scare our great-grandson."

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu gave Lu Zihao another smack before returning to coo at the new love of his life, his great-grandson.

    Finally, Jin Liwei arrived.

    "Son, you''re back!" Huang Yuyan couldn''t hide her joy and excitement. "Look at my grandson! He''s the most precious and adora¡ª?!"

    Everyone turned their heads after Huang Yuyan''s loud gasp.

    "What in the bloody tarnation?!" Grandpa Lu''s eyes almost popped out of his head while his jaw fell wide open.

    Grandma Li was now the one carrying the baby. She looked the calmest among those who didn''t know the truth yet. It was as if she already knew everything beforehand.

    "Oh. Oh! Oh!!!" Huang Yuyan approached her son and looked at what he was carrying.

    Jin Liwei showed off his second human son to his mother with a proud expression.

    This time, his mother burst into tears. Huang Yuyanughed while wiping her eyes.

    "The two of you really got us good!" She pretended to re at her son and daughter-inw but couldn''t stop the big grin from spreading across her face.

    Jin Liwei transferred his second son to his mother''s arms.

    "Oh, he looks exactly like you, son," Huang Yuyan told him.

    Grandma Li approached and stood beside her. Theypared the infants in their arms.

    "Fraternal twins?" she asked his grandson.

    "Yes, Grandmother," Jin Liwei replied.

    Grandma Li''s natural frosty aura warmed up several degrees. "What a beautiful pair of sons! These two are great blessings to our family."

    Everyone agreed.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui finally got their chance to hold the two babies. Long Tengfei carried the eldest son while Yang Jiahui held the second son.

    "You''re right," Yang Jiahui told Huang Yuyan. "This little one looks like his father."

    "Right?" Huang Yuyan was thrilled.

    "And the other little one looks like Xin," Yang Jiahui said next.

    Long Tengfei studied the infant in his arms. Indeed, the baby looked like his youngest daughter. But if someone were to ask him, he would say that the baby resembled his maternal grandmother more than his mother.

    Although this baby resembled his ex-wife, Wei Lan, he didn''t allow it to tarnish his grandfatherly love for the little one. He loved both of his newborn grandsons regardless of who they looked like.

    His thoughts were interrupted when the baby in his arms started crying. He started to panic because he had little experience in personally coaxing babies despite having four children of his own.

    "Darling, bring Little Mochi for me to feed," Iris said.

    "En." Jin Liwei took his eldest baby son from his father-inw.

    "Little Mochi?" Lu Zihao asked, frowning.

    All of them had a bad premonition.

    "Yes." Iris received her eldest human son from her husband. "This is Little Mochi."

    "Then what about the other one?"

    "That''s Little Matcha."

    Huang Yuyan sent Grandpa Lu a desperate look. "Uncle, the names. Hurry."

    Grandma Li sighed and shook her head.

    Iris blinked at their odd expressions. "What''s wrong?"

 Chapter 1298 - Jin Haoyu And Jin Lingyu

    <h4>Chapter 1298 - Jin Haoyu And Jin Lingyu</h4>

    Nobody replied right away to Iris'' question. They didn''t dare to criticize her terrible naming sense to her face especially when she hadn''t even recovered from giving birth yet.

    What if she became upset and refused to let everyone meet her babies?

    That would be unbearable especially for the elders who already fell in love with the two little ones.

    "I¡­I think that Little Mochi and Little Matcha sounds c-cute," Long Jinjing said in a hesitant manner. She immediately hid behind her man''s hulking back when the others looked at her in disbelief.

    "These are okay for nicknames," Lu Zihao said, shifting the attention from his timid woman to himself. "And Mochi and Matcha don''t sound that shittypared to ridiculous names like...say, Porkchop or Sardine."

    "Goodness, Porkchop and Sardine," Huang Yuyan mumbled while shuddering.

    Her daughter-inw might really name her grandsons like that. Now that she thought about it, Mochi and Matcha indeed sounded rather cute¡ªwell,pared to other less pleasant options like Porkchop or Sardine like what Lu Zihao said just now.

    Huang Yuyan pressed her hand over her heart and felt like her precious grandsons dodged a bullet. How pitiful would they be if their mother named them Porkchop and Sardine?

    "Y-yes, yes! Let''s have Mochi and Matcha as my grandsons'' nicknames." Huang Yuyan turned to Grandpa Lu, her eyes full of desperate pleading. "Uncle, how about you give them their official names now?"

    "Hmmm!" Grandpa Lu stroked his perfectly groomed white mustache. "This old man thought that there would only be one baby so I only came up with one perfect name. I will need to revisit the other names that I eliminated toe up with another name for the second baby. Give me a bit more time and I''lle up with perfect names for both of my precious great-grandsons!"

    "No need for that!" Long Tengfei interrupted.

    Everyone looked at him.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Sir Lu can name the eldest baby with the name he already prepared and I can name the second baby!" He turned to his daughter and sent her an almost begging look.

    Everyone looked at Iris next and waited for her decision.

    "That''s fine," Iris said.

    Jin Liwei also nodded.

    Long Tengfei grinned, clearly excited. His wife, Yang Jiahui, smiled and felt happy for him.

    In the end, Grandpa Lu named the eldest son Jin Haoyu while Long Tengfei named the second son Jin Lingyu.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei epted the new names and thanked Grandpa Lu and Long Tengfei.

    The others were relieved that the twins received their official names. It would be tragic if Iris went ahead and registered her babies'' names as Mochi and Matcha in their birth certificates.

    Nobody trusted Jin Liwei to stop his wife. The man was so crazy in love with his wife that he wouldn''t even bat an eye if Iris really named their twins Porkchop and Sardine.

    ###

    In just a few days after their birth, Jin Haoyu and Jin Lingyu quickly grew plumper, smoother and more adorable. Even their parents who called them ugly before without any remorse no longer did so.

    Iris entered a month-long confinement for a thorough recovery after childbirth. She moved back to the master bedroom with her twins.

    The twins had their own nursery room near the master suite but Iris and Jin Liwei still preferred to sleep with their babies in the same room. The babies had their own customized cribrge enough to fit the two of them and their fat feline eldest sister, Ice Cream.

    The moment that Ice Cream met her human siblings, she immediately went into guardian mode. She always apanied them wherever they went. The grey cat was so attentive to her human baby brothers'' needs that everyone almost forgot about her originalziness.

    On the other hand, Popcorn quickly lost interest with his baby brothers because he couldn''t actively y with them yet. The hyperactive cat still preferred his human cousin, Little Jun, who could chase him around their home.

    At the moment, Iris was breastfeeding her eldest human son, Little Mochi, while Jin Liwei was bottle-feeding their second son, Little Matcha.

    Even though the twins were only a few days old, the new parents already noticed some personality differences between the two.

    The eldest, Little Mochi, craved attention. He would be fussy and wail nonstop if he woke up without feeling anyone nearby. As a result, Ice Cream tended to stay and purr beside him.

    In contrast, the second son, Little Matcha, was generally unbothered. He would only cry if he was hungry, needed a diaper change, or ufortable in some way. Once his needs were met, he would go to sleep or entertain himself.

    Iris watched the suckling Little Mochi in her arms. She smiled and kissed her baby.

    "Everyone says that Little Mochi looks like me while Little Matcha looks like you, but now that I look at Little Mochi more carefully, I think that he resembles Wei Lan more than me," shemented.

    Jin Liwei nced at his wife and their eldest human son. "Doesn''t matter who our sons resemble. Even when they looked like drowned rats before, we didn''t think much about it."

    She chuckled. "You''re right. It doesn''t matter who they look like. We''ll still love them no matter what. But they really looked ugly when they were just born. Even Big Brother thought the same way. I thought that everyone was just trying to be nice by praising our babies'' cuteness. It turns out that they really became cute in just a few days."

    "En." Jin Liwei put down the now empty tiny baby bottle and proceeded to coax Little Matcha to burp.

    His movements were careful and smooth like a veteran. He was very eager in actively caring for his newborn sons. In fact, he learned the ropes faster than his wife.

    Every time Iris watched him caring for their babies, she would always feel amazed by him. Their babies looked tiny and fragile whenever he cradled them with hisrge arms but his actions were always stable.

    She never worried about him identally dropping or hurting their babies.. On the contrary, she was the one worried about doing these by ident.

 Chapter 1299 - Confinement

    <h4>Chapter 1299 - Confinement</h4>

    Throughout the week following the birth of the twins, Iris and Jin Liwei received congrattory presents from their loved ones and friends. Only those closest to them were informed about their children''s birth. They hadn''t announced it to the rest of the world yet.

    The new parents weren''t in any hurry to make the announcement. Jin Liwei was more concerned about his wife''s recovery. He witnessed with his own eyes how much she suffered while giving birth to their children.

    He remembered the moment when she passed out for a few seconds from the pain of pushing their first baby out. He really thought that he was going to lose her right there and then. This memory left a lingering fear in him.

    As a result, he swore to himself that he would treasure his wife even more than before.

    Deep inside him, he loved his wife more than anyone else in the world, including their children. Others might criticize him for this but what could he do? This was his real feelings.

    Others would automatically prioritize their children over their spouses, saying that a wife or husband could be abandoned and changed into a new one anytime, but a child would always remain a piece of one''s flesh and blood forever.

    This was natural. To the majority, at least.

    Unfortunately, Jin Liwei couldn''t do it. For him, his wife was the number one. Always.

    This, however, didn''t mean that he had no care for his children. Of course, he loved his children. He was also determined to be the best father that he could be for all his children especially since their mother was the woman he loved.

    "What are you thinking?" Iris asked.

    Jin Liwei felt his wife hug him from behind. He turned his head and caught her mouth for a quick kiss. Then he pulled her to sit on hisp.

    They were in the living area of their master suite.

    "Howe you''re out of bed?" he asked.

    She scowled. "I don''t believe in all these unscientific rules for maternity confinement. Don''t take a bath, stay in bed as much as possible. How am I supposed to stay sane for one month with all these rules?"

    He didn''t reply. To be honest, he also didn''t believe in all the rules. This was a modern society. Advanced technology made some of the negativeplications caused by not following maternity confinement rules moot. Nevertheless, he couldn''t help but feel cautious when it came to his wife''s health and safety. There was no harm in believing in some superstitions. It was better to be safe than sorry.

    "Don''t be upset anymore," he said, trying to coax his wife. "You already took a bath, didn''t you?"

    "Yes, but Mother is now upset with me when she found out about it."

    He sighed. "Don''t mind Mother too much. She only cares about you, that''s why she got mad. I''ll talk to herter."

    "No need. I didn''t really take it to heart."

    Iris was telling the truth. She wasn''t really affected when her mother-inw scolded her for breaking the confinement rules. Huang Yuyan moved with them temporarily to help take care of Iris and the twins during the month-long confinement.

    Although the couple had already long hired a team to help them through the confinement, they still epted Huang Yuyan''s offer. Iris got along better with her mother-inw than the more troublesome Wei Lan.

    Speaking of Wei Lan, she hadn''t visited her newborn grandsons yet. It seemed that she went on a shopping vacation abroad some time after Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday bash.

    ording to the gossip that Dom heard from Randy, Wei Lan became upset when Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s friend, Emilio Miguel, refused to hand over the heirloom belonging to her viscount husband. When it was clear that Emilio Miguel had no intention of coughing out the gold pocket watch, Wei Lan got so mad that she needed a shopping therapy to cure her increasing stress levels.

    She had been flying to many different Asian countries with Randy since then and shopping at as many malls and boutiques as possible with vengeance. This was the reason why she hadn''t met her newborn grandsons yet.

    To her credit, she did send expensive, brand-named presents for the twins from abroad. She would always message Iris that she couldn''t wait to meet the twins, but at the same time, she wasn''t in any hurry to cancel her current shopping spree.

    Not that Iris and Jin Liwei cared much. For them, seeing one grandmother put in obvious effort to bond with their twins was enough. Huang Yuyan genuinely doted on her grandsons from the bottom of her heart. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Back to the present, Iris and Jin Liwei cuddled on the couch. Huang Yuyan and the babysitters were taking care of the twins, so the couple could have some alone time.

    The new parents were tired because they would take care of the twins at night. Unlike most other parents, they couldn''t take turns waking up to feed or change diapers. They had twins who often cried at the same time during the night so both Iris and Jin Liwei needed to take care of the babies.

    Even so, they were still fortunate due to their wealth and status. There were always other people who could take over whenever they needed to rest.

    "How''s the meeting?" Iris asked.

    "There are still some details that needed to be ironed out, but overall, things should go ording to my original n," Jin Liwei replied.

    They were talking about the important meeting that got cancelled when Jin Liwei rushed home after learning that Iris went intobour and eventually gave birth that night. If it was just an ordinary meeting, Jin Liwei could dy it indefinitely, but it was important, so he could only find time to make up for it a few dayster.

    "That''s good," she said. "Let me know if I can help."

    "I will, but for now, you should focus on recovery. Okay, love?"

    She nodded and started to feel drowsy. Unfortunately, before she could fall asleep, her breasts started leaking milk. The front of her shirt quickly became wet despite the nursing pads.

    Jin Liwei chuckled but his eyes darkened as he stared at his wife''s chest.

 Chapter 1300 - Sexiest Cow In The World

    <h4>Chapter 1300 - Sexiest Cow In The World</h4>

    A few momentster, the panting Iris moaned a final time. Jin Liwei raised his head and licked his moist lips, sweeping away the white liquid with his tongue. His expression was filled with desire and satisfaction.

    He nced down and his gaze darkened even more. He was about to go for another dive when Iris pushed his face away.

    "No more," she told him. "These are for your sons!"

    "These are mine first," he replied in a stubborn tone.

    She pursed her lips but her husband''s obvious desire was reflected in her eyes as well.

    What the heck was this?

    She hadn''t even fully recovered yet from giving birth a few days ago but she already wanted to jump her husband.

    This man was too sinful! Too seductive!

    She didn''t know that her husband was thinking the same way about her.

    Their sexy time could only go this far. It wasn''t safe for her to go all the way yet. They needed to wait about six weeks for that.

    Fortunately, her lustful thoughts were interrupted by the increasing wetness on her chest. It was starting to feel ufortable. She grabbed the shirt that Jin Liwei took off her body and started wiping the leaking milk.

    Jin Liwei sighed and kissed his wife''s lips before heading to their bedroom. He soon returned with an electric breast pump and even personally attached the equipment on his wife.

    The two of them watched the milk fill up the bottles quickly.

    "I feel like a dairy cow," Irismented.

    "Sexiest cow to ever exist in the world," Jin Liwei replied smoothly.

    She hammered his chest and giggled.

    "I''m producing so much milk than our twins can consume."

    "There''s still me."

    She smacked him. "Stop it."

    "We''ll store the extra milk in the freezer," he said. "If our sons can''t finish all of them before they''re weaned, we''ll just find a way to discard them properly."

    "Or maybe we can donate," she suggested.

    He frowned.

    She reached over and smoothed out the furrow between his brows with her fingers. "Don''t think too much about it. The doctor says that not all new mothers can produce adequate milk for their newborns like me. Not everyone wants to have their babies drink other women''s breast milk but there are those who believe that breast milk is still better than baby form. Maybe we can ask Second Brother Yingjie if there is a program in his hospital for donating milk."

    "We''ll discuss thister," Jin Liwei said but it was clear that he disliked her idea.

    She sighed and didn''t bother arguing with him about it. Their own twins were their main priority right now.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha were still only a few days old. Who knew what would happen in the future? What if Iris couldn''t produce enough milk all of a sudden? It was better to have extra milk in case of emergencies.

    She was thankful that her natural breast milk production was more than enough, even excessive, for her own twin babies. Not everyone was as fortunate as her.

    "Alright, darling."

    "En."

    ###

    A monthter, Iris'' confinement finally ended. She felt like a butterfly that just broke out of her cocoon.

    Although her mother-inw loosened the rules after Jin Liwei spoke to her, Iris still felt suffocated from staying indoors all the time. She couldn''t wait for the confinement period to end.

    Now that it ended, she felt free.

    Ah, what a wonderful feeling!

    Due to the meticulous care Iris received throughout her confinement under the watchful eyes of her mother-inw, her physical recovery was quite fast and smooth.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    She already lost almost all the extra flesh around her waist that lingered after the birth. Her body was starting to return to its former hourss figure but more exaggerated this time because of her bigger boobs and hips.

    She didn''t notice it personally but her husband''s constant hungry gaze on her body was difficult to ignore.

    It seemed that Jin Liwei had really be much more attracted to her after giving birth to their children. He literally couldn''t take his eyes off her.

    He also couldn''t take his hands off her but his concern for his wife''s health and safety was more important than satisfying his physical needs. Despite hungering for his wife, he still didn''t cross the line until it was safe to so. And right now, it wasn''t safe yet.

    All he could do was to endure. It wasn''t that big of a problem anyway because both of them were often too preupied with taking care of their twin babies.

    Nevertheless, the two of them still managed to keep the sexual spark alive every day by teasing each other whenever they had a few moments alone together.

    At the moment, Iris and Jin Liwei were in the gym. Iris was doing post-partum-safe yoga while Jin Liwei was doing his usual high intensity interval training.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha were with their grandmother, Huang Yuyan, and the others.

    Iris was determined to lose the little weight she gained during her pregnancy and return closer to her previous figure as much as possible. This time, however, her focus was more on strengthening her body.

    She was a full-fledged mother now. She needed to be as healthy as possible for the sake of her children.

    Jin Liwei thought the same way. He became more meticulous in maintaining their family''s healthy lifestyle.

    Iris was lying down on her yoga mat afterpleting her short exercise program. As much as she wanted to go hardcore in the gym, she still had to take things slowly to not disrupt the natural healing process of her post-partum body.

    She turned her head and watched her husband. Jin Liwei was only wearing sweatpants. His upper body waspletely bare. His skin was soaked with sweat, making his taut muscles glisten under the lights.

    The man was so sexy! And he belonged to her.

    Iris shifted to her side and rested her head on her elbow while continuing to watch her sexy, sweaty husband.

    Jin Liwei finally finished his intense workout. He was gasping for breath but his eyes were still bright with energy.

    A towel and a bottle of water appeared in front of him. He smiled at his wife.

    "Thanks, love."

    Ignoring her yelp, he grabbed her waist and dove down for a deep, hard kiss.

 Chapter 1301 - Not A Stereotypical Evil Mother-in-Law

    <h4>Chapter 1301 - Not A Stereotypical Evil Mother-in-Law</h4>

    The towel and water bottle dropped to the floor. Iris wrapped her arms around Jin Liwei''s neck, not at all minding his sweaty body. Before she knew it, she was already hanging all over him with her legs wrapped around his waist.

    They continued to kiss as if easing their thirst from each other''s mouths. Their moist, slightly swollen lips only separated when Iris couldn''t breathe properly anymore.

    Jin Liwei sucked his wife''s neck, leaving a deep red mark on her smooth skin. She had many simr marks on her body ever since she retreated from the public eye due to her pregnancy. He took advantage of the situation and left as many hickeys on many parts of her body as he could.

    "Two more weeks," he panted.

    "Actually, I think I''ve recovered enough¡­."

    "No." His response was swift despite the temptation. "Let''s follow the doctor''s rmendations. It''s safer for you this way."

    Iris sighed and nibbled on his ear. She smiled when his body tensed.

    The husband and wife continued teasing each other inside the gym. They only stopped when Iris'' breasts started to feel too full and too heavy. It was time to feed the twins, or if they were already fed, then to pump milk.

    Jin Liwei lowered her feet to the floor before turning around and inviting her for a piggyback ride. She giggled and readily jumped on his back.

    After a quick shower together (and another round of naughty teasing), Iris and Jin Liwei headed to the nursery room where Huang Yuyan and the others had been taking care of their twins.

    "We already bottle-fed my grandsons," Huang Yuyan told them.

    "Thank you, Mother." Iris smiled.

    "My pleasure, my dear."

    The rtionship between Iris and her mother-inw became closer during the confinement. Huang Yuyan had been strict on Iris regarding the confinement rules but Iris never felt like she was being controlled by her mother-inw. Iris understood that Huang Yuyan only cared about her health and proper recovery, hence the strictness.

    It was also because Jin Liwei had been able to persuade his mother that many of the so-called confinement rules were too outdated.

    Huang Yuyan wasn''t a stubborn one who would insist on following old traditions all the time. She understood that her generation was different from the current one. After her talk with his son, she remained strict on her daughter-inw but not too strict as to create disharmony between them.

    Why would she fight with her daughter-inw?

    Huang Yuyan would be stupid if she acted like a stereotypical evil mother-inw.

    Her eldest son fell so hard in love with his wife. If given a choice between his mother and wife, Huang Yuyan knew in her heart that her son would choose his wife hands down over her, the mother. As a mother, it hurt. But what could she do? Compete with her daughter-inw? She was also a Madam Jin. That was something beneath her level.

    Besides, her daughter-inw was a certified genius like Huang Yuyan''ste father-inw, Grandfather Jin, and of course Grandpa Lu.

    For Huang Yuyan, her eldest son was already so lucky to marry such a wonderful and amazing wife. In fact, she loved Iris like her own daughter, not just as the wife of her eldest son.

    Now that Iris had given birth to the next generation of their Jin family, Huang Yuyan loved her even more.

    "I know that you''ve alreadypleted your confinement but you still need to take it easy," Huang Yuyan reminded her daughter-inw. "You''ve given birth to twins. It takes longer for you to recoverpletely."

    "I understand, Mother," Iris assured her. "Please don''t worry."

    Huang Yuyan turned to her son next and told him in a stern tone, "And you, son. Control yourself, okay? Don''t torment your tired wife just to ease your physical needs."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded, his expression sincere.

    Iris chuckled. "Don''t worry, Mother. Liwei isn''t tormenting me. Actually, I might be the one tormenting him."

    Jin Liwei''s gaze on his wife was sticky as always.

    "Hai, you two!" Huang Yuyan shook her head but couldn''t stop herself from smiling.

    To be honest, she was relieved that the rtionship between the husband and wife seemed to be doing well. In fact, as far as she could see, it was doing so much better than before.

    She had witnessed many couples in their social circles (many of them arranged by their respective families) drifting apart after the birth of their children. Either the husband lost interest in his wife sexually and found a mistress outside to satisfy his physical needs or the wife refused to be touched anymore because she had already fulfilled her duty of giving birth to an heir.

    This kind of situations were actually quitemon in high society. Huang Yuyan was d that her eldest son found his true love.

    "Alright, I''ll take my leave now so that your little family can spend time together without a nosy old woman like me."

    Iris was quick to refute her mother-inw''s im. "Mother, what are you saying? You''re not old at all."

    "I am getting old, my dear."

    "I''ll send you more anti-aging Orchidia Beauty products."

    Huang Yuyan chuckled but didn''t refuse the offer. "Then I''ll give you my thanks."

    After Huang Yuyan left, Iris and Jin Liwei watched over their sleeping twins. Ice Cream was guarding her baby brothers as usual. Popcorn was nowhere in sight. He was probably with his human cousin, Little Jun. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Little Mochi was a restless sleeper. He would shift every now and then. Sometimes he would even identally hit or kick his eldest feline sister, Ice Cream, while dreaming. Good thing that he was still tiny and couldn''t hurt Ice Cream yet.

    "I now know who''ve been kicking inside your belly all the time back then," Jin Liweimented while observing his eldest human son''s bad sleeping habits.

    In contrast, Little Matcha who resembled his father the most was actually like his mother when it came to sleeping¡ªa deep sleeper. Once he slept in one position, he would remain in the same position until he woke up.

    Iris smiled.. Her maternal brain had already turned those rather painful memories into something precious and beautiful.

 Chapter 1302 - One Love, Twice The Blessings

    <h4>Chapter 1302 - One Love, Twice The Blessings</h4>

    The whole nation seemed to be on the look-out for any update concerning the new little addition to the Jin family.

    About a month ago, a week after celebrity Iris Long gave birth, both LXC Studio and Jin Corporation released brief official announcements about the happy event.

    The official announcements only mentioned the date and time that Iris Long had given birth at home. No other information was included, not even the gender of the child.

    The media swarmed bothpanies in the hopes of getting more details. Unfortunately for them, the new parents, Iris Long and Jin Liwei maintained their silence.

    How stingy!

    Despite this, the ck Stars showered their Boss Iris with sincere congrattions. Unlike the pesky media, they remained patient in waiting for their Boss Iris and her husband to provide additional updates of their own ord.

    It hadn''t been easy for Jin Chonglin either. As the younger brother of CEO Jin Liwei and the brother-inw of Iris Long, he found himself being hounded by reporters and paparazzi asking him about his new niece or nephew. Of course, he didn''t reveal anything.

    He released a sigh of relief when he finally managed to escape the troublesome reporters and paparazzi and enter the doors of LXC Studio. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "You''ve worked hard," his manager, Lin Dong, told him.

    He ran his hand through his hair. His movements was so sexy that some of the staff and talent recruits in the lobby couldn''t stop themselves from squealing.

    "Good morning, everyone!" He winked and shed them with his famous killer smile.

    "Kyaaaaaaah!"

    "Good morning, Boss Lin Lin!"

    "Prince Lin Lin, you''re handsome again today as always!"

    Jin Chonglin''s smile disappeared when the elevator door closed, leaving him and Lin Dong alone inside. It was still morning but he already felt tired.

    "Bear with it for a little longer," Lin Dong said. "Manager Tang assured me that Iris and your brother will release a new update soon."

    Jin Chonglin sighed and massaged his forehead. "I''m notining. The twins are my nephews, you know. I should also do my job as their uncle to protect their privacy. This is nothing. I''m the superstar Jin Chonglin. This prince is already used to this."

    Lin Dong patted his shoulder.

    The elevator door opened. They headed to Jin Chonglin''s office.

    After a productive workday, Jin Chonglin told his driver to head straight to Dragon Pce. He had been visiting his twin nephews whenever he had free time which wasn''t that often due to his busy schedule.

    He drifted off to sleep during the ride. Then he was startled awake by his assistant''s loud exmation.

    "What happened?" he asked, annoyed at being disturbed.

    "Oops, sorry! Please continue sleeping. I''ll be quiet, promise!" His assistant zipped his mouth but continued scrolling on his phone.

    Curious, Jin Chonglin stretched out his hand. His assistant didn''t hesitate and gave Jin Chonglin the phone.

    The assistant chattered away in excitement. "Iris and CEO Jin finally released a new update about their twins! Oooooh! Their tiny hands are so adorbs!"

    Jin Chonglin scrolled on the phone and read the new post on Iris'' social media ount.

    It was a single photo showing Iris and Jin Liwei''s fingers with their wedding rings visible being grabbed by two little hands. It was clear that the two little hands belonged to two different babies.

    The photo had a caption saying: "One love, twice the blessings. Mommy and Daddy love you, Little Mochi and Little Matcha."

    "What the hell, Big Bro?" Jin Chonglin muttered. "Why didn''t you stop your wife from revealing my nephews'' ridiculous nicknames?"

    "I think the nicknames Mochi and Matcha are adorbs," his assistantmented.

    "You''re crazy." Although Jin Chonglin said this, he was already liking the post.

    He tossed the phone back to his assistant before fishing out his own phone. Then he liked the post again using his official verified ount.

    His action pushed the post to the top of the trending lists in no time.

    He even reposted it with the caption: "Hugs from a proud uncle."

    There was a new notification. He clicked on it and found out that his brother, Jin Liwei, posted a big online raffle give-away to celebrate the birth of his twin sons.

    Jin Chonglin shared it again to his own followers. Other celebrities followed suit. Within a few minutes, CEO Jin Liwei''s big raffle give-away was shared multiple times by the biggest figures in showbiz and the business industry.

    Then Jin Chonglin had an idea. He announced that he would be adding to the give-away prizes. As a result, the online give-away spread faster and wider like wildfire.

    To everyone''s shock and delight, several other bigshots surfaced and followed his example of adding to the prize pool, making the online give-away even more impressive than before.

    Sir Lu Jianhong, legendary business genius.

    CEO Long Tengfei of Long Industries.

    JJ, multi-award-winning music producer.

    Feng Wan, a widowed high society madam with deep roots in the military and diplomatic circles (a.k.a. MrsLovePhantom of the ck Stars).

    Feng Jiu, host of the long-running talk show <i>"A Closer Look with Feng Jiu"</i> (also the cousin of Madam Feng Wan).

    Madam Si Xinyue, wife of the Chief of Police (a.k.a. JJNumber1Fan).

    Madam Bai Li, madam from a renowned family of schrs and national artists who also owned private universities (a.k.a. JJNumber2Fan).

    Madam Kung Mian, madam from a family of politicians (a.k.a. JJNumber3Fan).

    CEO Hou Liang of Monkey (a.k.a. MonkeyFace) and CFO Wu Chen (a.k.a. iEatSlippers of the Slippers Army).

    COO Chen Fei and CFO Long Jinjing of Orchidia.

    Princess Porkchop, popr artist of the webtoon <i>"Queen of the Shadows"</i> (Meimei).

    A representative of Gold Heights.

    A representative of Guan Jintao, famous blind Paralympian gold-medalist swimmer.

    Yin Meixin, internationally-acimed Best Actress Award winner who rose to fame for her role as the young mother of Guan Jintao in the film <i>"Strong Yet Broken".</i>

    President of Bright Summit Entertainment Company, former boss of both Jin Chonglin and Iris Long.

    Sir Deng Gui, a former judge of the International Court of Justice and Sir Lu Jianhong''s friend.

    Even the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez, who was currently staying in the country joined in the fun.

    All theizens were almost going crazy from the excitement.

 Chapter 1303 - Little Mochi Resembles His Uncle Lin Lin?

    <h4>Chapter 1303 - Little Mochi Resembles His Uncle Lin Lin?</h4>

    Jin Chonglin busied himself promoting his brother''s raffle give-away online even though Jin Liwei didn''t ask him to do so. He also felt excited about it so he was doing all this of his own ord. It was quite fun watching the prize pool increase as more people added to it.

    His phone rang.

    He answered the call. "What''s up?"

    "Alright, that''s enough." It was his manager, Lin Dong. "CEO Jin''s give-away is starting to get out of control because of you. At this rate, you''re going to make a mess of it instead of helping out. Have you forgotten about your status as a superstar? If you just like a post, it will end up in the headlines straight away. What more if you''re being so active like what you''re doing right now. Do you want to get into trouble with your brother? Stop ying around!"

    "I''m not ying around!" Jin Chonglin quickly defended himself. "But fine, I''ll stop now. Tsk."

    "Good. Don''t sleep sote tonight. Remember that you have an early schedule tomorrow."

    "I know, I know! Don''t treat me like a little kid. Geez!"

    "You''re not a little kid so don''t act like one! I''ll see you tomorrow. Don''t bete! Bye!"

    Jin Chonglin stuck out his tongue at his phone. "Hmph!"

    He didn''t feel sleepy anymore so he listened to music instead until they finally arrived at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    His entourage helped him carry all the presents he brought for his brother''s family. Most of the presents were for his newborn twin nephews but he didn''t forget about Little Jun and the cats. His busy schedule didn''t allow him to visit them all the time, hence he could only go all out whenever he had some free time.

    "How''s my twin nephews?" Jin Chonglin asked the butler.

    "Little Master Haoyu and Little Master Lingyu have grown a lot. They''ve be so much more adorable. Lately, their paternal grandmother has been saying that Little Master Haoyu resembles you a little when viewed from a certain angle especially when he smiles."

    "Oh, Mom really said that?" Jin Chonglin looked excited. "Hurry and bring me to them. I want to see!"

    The butler smiled and sped up a little. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Finally, they arrived at a lounge room.

    Jin Chonglin rushed inside, unable to wait and see if one of his nephews really resembled him.

    "Look who''s here, my dear nephews! It''s your coolest and most handsome uncle¡ª"

    His next words got caught in his throat when he saw a certain someone that he didn''t really want to see (or so he kept telling himself).

    "You! Why are you here?"

    Chen Fei''s eyes shed with displeasure. "You think you have the right to ask me that question? Is this your house?"

    "This is my brother''s house!"

    She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms on her chest. "Whatever. I''m not gonna waste my saliva arguing with an unreasonable diva like you."

    "Say that again! Who are you calling a diva?!"

    "That''s enough!" Huang Yuyan red at her youngest son. "How old are you? Why are you still acting so childish? And don''t be so loud! Do you want to scare your nephews?"

    Jin Chonglin looked like he still wanted to fight with the annoyingly bossy woman but didn''t want to continue angering his mother either. In the end, he could only temporarily withdraw but not before scowling at his opponent.

    Chen Fei snorted and ignored him.

    "Hai, you two." Huang Yuyan sighed and shook her head. "If you want to fight, do it somewhere else. Don''t be bad examples to the children."

    Chen Fei straightened her back and lowered her head. "I''m sorry, Auntie."

    "Hmph!" Jin Chonglin refused to follow her lead but eventually quailed under his mother''s cold look. "Fine, I''m sorry, okay?"

    Huang Yuyan might have a generally subdued personality but she was still a mother at the end of the day. Her sons had already grown up into adults but she could still flex her own innate weapon that all mothers possessed (a.k.a. the look of doom) to discipline them when needed.

    Now that the argument between Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei was over (at least for now), Iris finally weed her brother-inw and showed off the twins.

    "Would you like to hold one of them?" she asked.

    Jin Chonglin stepped back in a hurry and raised his hands up to stop her. "No way. What if I drop the baby? I''ll just look, okay?"

    Iris chuckled and didn''t insist anymore.

    The eldest twin, Little Mochi, was being carried by his father. Jin Liwei teased his son with his finger. The baby waved his little mittened hands and kicked his little socked feet, thoroughly enjoying ying with his daddy.

    The other twin, Little Matcha, was deeply asleep in his great-grandfather''s arms.

    Grandpa Lu didn''t give a whit about his surroundings anymore. All of his attention was on his adorable twin great-grandsons. The old man''s booming voice was now rarely heard. Grandpa Lu would deliberately lower the volume of his voice to avoid scaring his precious great-grandbabies. He could coo at the twins all day long if possible.

    "I heard that you said that Little Mochi resembles me a little?" Jin Chonglin asked his mother.

    Huang Yuyan''s eyes lit up. "Oh, yes."

    Jin Chonglin looked at the baby in his brother''s arms. He turned his head to the left and stared intently. Then he turned his head again to the right and pursed his lips.

    "I don''t see it, Mom. Little Mochi still looks like Sister Xin, not me."

    "No, you''re standing too close!" Huang Yuyan pulled him away until they could barely see the baby''s face. "See? He looks like you now!"

    Jin Chonglin squinted his eyes but no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t see it. Disappointment filled him.

    Then Jin Liwei poked his son''s chin lightly. Little Mochi smiled.

    "Oh!" Jin Chonglin''s eyes widened. It was just a sh but Little Mochi really resembled him a little when the baby smiled. "Wow! That''s amazing!"

    His disappointment melted away in an instant and was reced by joy.

 Chapter 1304 - Two Generations Of Jin Brothers

    <h4>Chapter 1304 - Two Generations Of Jin Brothers</h4>

    Jin Chonglin experienced a wonderful feeling inside him. Seeing that one of his nephews really resembled him even if it was just a little and only limited to certain angles, he felt a kind of joy that he had never felt before.

    Forgetting about his earlier fear of dropping babies, he eagerly asked his elder brother to teach him how to properly hold Little Mochi.

    "Hi there, handsome little guy," he cooed at the baby in his arms.

    At this near distance, Little Mochi no longer resembled him. The baby mostly looked like his mother, Iris, but also looked like someone else that Jin Chonglin couldn''t remember at the moment.

    Jin Liwei took his other son, Little Matcha, from the unwilling Grandpa Lu. Then he stood beside his brother.

    The two adult Jin brothers were now holding the next generation of Jin brothers.

    Iris snapped a photo of the moment. Her mother-inw, Huang Yuyan, stood beside her while wiping her teary eyes. It was a beautiful and touching scene of two generations in one frame.

    Jin Chonglin was not used to holding infants. Ever. His arms were starting to get tired from holding the same position for too long but he didn''t dare to move carelessly for fear of really dropping his cute nephew.

    It was Little Mochi who started protesting in his arms. Unlike his unbothered younger brother, Little Mochi didn''t like staying in one position for too long.

    Jin Chonglin was unwilling to hand Little Mochi over to someone else but he didn''t know how to coax a baby. He could only swallow his disappointment and give the baby to the eager Grandpa Lu who immediately started gently rocking Little Mochi like a pro.

    Sighing, Jin Chonglin could only purse his lips.

    "Envious?" his mother asked him.

    Before he could deny, Huang Yuyan added, "Then you should also find a good wife like your older brother and make your own babies."

    Jin Chonglin scowled. Ever since his brother told him to "make your own baby" on national television at the music awards, he had been bombarded with the meme almost on a daily basis making fun of him. Now that he was hearing the same thing from his mother, he couldn''t help but feel annoyed.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "I''ll just be the cool uncle and dote on my nephews and nieces, both humans and feline. No need to produce my own kids."

    Huang Yuyan sighed and shook her head. She wanted to lecture her youngest son but knew that Jin Chonglin had a stubborn and rebellious personality.

    They were interrupted by a deliberate cough.

    Chen Fei gave an apologetic smile to Huang Yuyan while ignoring Jin Chonglin. "Sorry to interrupt, Auntie, but now that I''ve seen the twins, I''m going to check on Jinjing next."

    "Oh, of course. Go ahead, Xiaofei. Thanks for visiting despite your busy schedule."

    After speaking to everyone except to Jin Chonglin, Chen Fei finally left the lounge room. She wasn''t leaving the mansion yet because both Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing had been staying at Dragon Pce ever since Long Jinjing reached her final trimester. The couple also wanted to use the mansion''s new hospital wing to give birth.

    When Chen Fei was gone, Jin Chonglin didn''t realize that his eyes had been following the woman. He felt so annoyed that she deliberately ignored him.

    Hah!

    What a petty woman.

    He, Jin Chonglin, was a superstar. All eyes were always trained on his magnificence and yet the woman never hid her disdain for him.

    There must be something wrong with her eyes! The woman must be blind to be immune to his charms.

    Huh?

    What the heck was wrong with his train of thoughts? Did he want Chen Fei to be charmed by him?

    No way!

    That wasn''t what he wanted!

    Not at all!

    "Erase, erase! Ugh! Get out of my head!" Jin Chonglin waved his hands around his head as if shooing away an imaginary pesky fly.

    Iris, Jin Liwei and Huang Yuyan looked at each other, their amused eyes filled with meaning. Fortunately for Jin Chonglin, they pretended not to notice his amusing actions.

    As for Grandpa Lu, he didn''t care about anything or anyone in his surroundings anymore. The old man was too absorbed by his great-grandbabies'' cuteness.

    Later, Jin Chonglin''s army of fans was graced by a heart-melting post by their beloved Prince Lin Lin.

    It was a photo showing their Prince Lin Lin with his older brother, CEO Jin Liwei. Each of them cradled one of the twins in their arms, their expression filled with obvious gentleness and love.

    The sweet photo had the caption: "Two generations of Jin brothers. Proud dad and proud uncle. Can''t ask for anything more than this."

    The only disappointing thing to theizens was that the faces of the twins were covered by cute kitty stickers. Nobody was surprised, though.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei had constantly demonstrated their preference to keep their personal lives as private as possible ever since the beginning of their rtionship. Although people wanted to see what their twins looked like, they could only wait until the couple was ready to do a reveal on their volition.

    The ck Stars swarmed Jin Chonglin''stest post as well.

    "Oh my goodness! This is too CUTE!!!"

    "I can''t believe that Boss Iris really gave birth to twins. Guys, our boss gave birth to TWINS!!! She''s so capable!!! CEO Jin must be over the moon!"

    "He should be! CEO Jin is so lucky to marry such an amazing woman like our Boss Iris!"

    It wasn''t only the fans. The media also widely reported it.

    This way, almost the entire nation now knew that Iris Long gave birth to twin sons in one shot for her husband, CEO Jin Liwei.

    Of course, there were bashers who couldn''t sit still without finding anything to criticize about Iris Long. This time, however, the Slippers Army had be a league fiercer than usual.

    "We have never condoned anyone who bashed our Boss Iris! But involving her precious twin babies is even more UNFORGIVABLE!"

    "What kind of scum are you to involve innocent babies in your bashing? Come on. Fight me, if you dare! My mighty slippers are waiting to smack you all the way to hell where you belong!"

 Chapter 1305 - Why Arenâ€™t You Married Yet?

    <h4>Chapter 1305 - Why Aren¡¯t You Married Yet?</h4>

    Before the ck Stars, specifically its infamous troll unit the Slippers Army, could dere an all-out war against their Boss Iris'' seemingly never-ending bashers, Jin Liwei released a new post on his personal verified social media ount.

    "To all those who target my wife and children, wait for mywyer''s letter. I, Jin Liwei, will never tolerate anyone who wants to hurt my family. Hiding behind anonymous ounts is useless. Mark my words. I''ll do everything in my power to make you pay the consequences of your actions.

    "In the past, I had to restrain my anger because my wife, who was my girlfriend andter became my fianc¨¦e back then, requested for me to let her handle everything involving her career. I always respect her decision.

    "But now, my wife has no time to deal with toxic people who always want to pull her down. She just gave birth to our precious twin sons and is too busy being an amazing mother. That''s why I can now freely do my job as a husband and father to protect my family in my own way.

    "This is the first andst warning that I''ll give regarding this matter. Best of luck to all those of you who are bound to receive mywyer''s letter and eventually the justice my wife and our family deserve from your libelous words. But just know that even the best of luck can''t protect you from thew."

    The reactions of theizens were mixed after reading his post. But there was one thing that everyone could agree on. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    CEO Jin Liwei wasn''t the leader of the biggest multinationalpany in the country for nothing.

    Wow, so domineering!

    He always had a cold, intimidating and unapproachable aura even when standing together with his charismatic wife, Iris Long. Other people''s impression of him was that he was a man of few words.

    For someone like him to release so many words in one go, it showed that the man meant business.

    Man, the bashers were in real trouble now.

    The ck Stars cheered and supported their Boss Iris'' husband. They felt proud that their beloved boss married a powerful man who was also dependable in times of need. Most importantly, they were relieved that the bashers were going to get what they deserved¡ªlegal retribution.

    ###

    Around the same time, Chen Fei headed to another part of the mansion. She saw a burly figure leaning against the wall by the door.

    Lu Zihao didn''t move from his position as he watched his woman''s best friend approach. His arms were crossed over his wide chest. His posture was rxed yet others could still sense danger emanating from him.

    Chen Fei felt his aura, of course. But she didn''t give a damn. She fearlessly walked forward with her back straight and head and shoulders held high.

    Although she already epted that Long Jinjing chose to be with this man and even got herself pregnant in the process, Chen Fei still couldn''t find it in herself topletely like Lu Zihao. She couldn''t forgive how the jerk broke her best friend''s heart before.

    Not that her own opinion was going to change Long Jinjing''s decision. Regardless of her own negative feelings about the couple''s rtionship, Chen Fei respected her best friend''s choice. As the best friend, she just needed to be there and support Long Jinjing all the way.

    "Where''s Jinjing?" Chen Fei asked. "Why aren''t you with her?"

    Lu Zihao ignored her testy tone. "Talk to Jinjing."

    Chen Fei crossed her own arms across her chest. "That''s what I''m nning."

    He didn''t respond but Chen Fei could sense that he had something else to tell her.

    "My time is limited." She looked at wristwatch. "Hurry up and spit it out. If not, I''m going inside."

    Lu Zihao''s expression became scary. Deep inside, Chen Fei felt frightened but she didn''t dare show it. She lifted her chin higher instead.

    After a few tense seconds which felt like forever, Lu Zihao sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

    "I''ve asked Jinjing so many times already," he said. "But she keeps on dying the matter of our marriage. She''s about to give birth. I don''t want our kids to be born illegitimate! Dammit!"

    Chen Fei''s fierce attitude momentarily broke as she hesitated. Seeing the man''s obvious awkward frustration was quite pitiful. She sighed.

    "Fine. I''ll speak to Jinjing about this."

    He nodded. His expression didn''t show it but she knew that the man must be relieved.

    "I''m not doing this for you but for Jinjing," she added. "Remember that!"

    "Of course." He hesitated before mumbling, "Thanks."

    "What did you say? I can''t hear you~"

    Lu Zihao scowled but still said, "Fuck. I said THANK YOU!"

    She nodded in satisfaction before opening the door and heading straight inside. Lu Zihao didn''t follow and gave the best friends privacy.

    Chen Fei found Long Jinjing knitting a baby sock. She had already finished knitting two sets of nkets, hats and mittens. This time, she was tackling socks for her twins. Her entire focus was on preparing for her own twins'' arrival ever since she took a maternity leave from work.

    "Xiaofei!" Long Jinjing smiled at her.

    Chen Fei made herselffortable in another armchair. They were in the bedroom''s sitting area.

    "Did you see Little Mochi and Little Matcha?" Long Jinjing asked. "They''ve already grown so much since thest time you visited. Aren''t they adorable?"

    The best friends chatted about Iris'' twins for some time before Chen Fei shifted the conversation.

    "Why aren''t you married to Lu Zihao yet?"

    Long Jinjing was a little taken aback at the sudden topic change. She became nervous. "Ah, uhm. Hahaha."

    "Don''t hahaha me, Jing. I''m serious. I know how much you want to marry that jerkwad¡ªthat man, Lu Zihao. And yet what is this I''m hearing? You''re actually dying it? Aren''t you the most concerned about giving birth to children out of wedlock because of your own experience as an illegitimate child?"

    Long Jinjing''s lips trembled. She avoided her best friend''s direct gaze.

    "I¡­"

    Chen Fei frowned at her friend''s timidity.. "Don''t tell me that you''ve changed your mind. You don''t love Lu Zihao anymore?"

 Chapter 1306 - Fat, Ugly Whale

    <h4>Chapter 1306 - Fat, Ugly Whale</h4>

    "If you don''t love Lu Zihao anymore, then it''s better to break it off as early as possible," Chen Fei continued saying before Long Jinjing could respond. "Don''t feel like you have to stay with him just for the sake of your babies. Girl, don''t forget that you''re the CFO of a boomingpany now. You''re a boss bitch just like me and your sister! You don''t need a man to build a happy family. I know damn well that you can raise your kids by yourself. Heck, I''ll help you. I know that Xin will also help you and so will our other friends from the girl squad."

    "N-no! That''s not it, Xiaofei!" Long Jinjing was now panicking. "I''m not¡­it''s not like that at all, okay?"

    "Then what is it? Exin to me so that I''ll understand. All this dilly-dallying is a big waste of time. Do you still love Lu Zihao?"

    "Yes! Of course, I still love him. I love him so much, especially now that both of us are expecting our own set of twins. I can no longer imagine my life now without him."

    Chen Fei had to physically press her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from making a sarcasticment. She also looked up at the ceiling so that Long Jinjing couldn''t see her rolling her eyes.

    Unlike her other friends who had experienced love, Chen Fei still didn''t know that it felt like. Deep inside, she thought it silly that normally intelligent people like her best friend Long Jinjing would turn so stupid when it came to love. No matter how much she wanted to lecture Long Jinjing, it wasn''t her ce to do so due tock of personal experience.

    Sighing, Chen Fei chose to remain quiet lest she blurt out unnecessary words that might hurt her best friend. Fortunately, Long Jinjing didn''t need any additional probing for her to finally divulge the reason why she hadn''t married Lu Zihao yet.

    "It''s because I¡­I''ve be so f-fat and ugly."

    Chen Fei blinked a few times and even tapped her ears to check if they were still working properly.

    "Can you repeat what you said? I don''t think I heard it right."

    Long Jinjing pouted and turned red. "Don''t make me repeat it again, Xiafei. It''s so¡­embarrassing!"

    "So you do know that your reason is embarrassing! Girl, what the hell?!"

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. "I appreciate that Ni¡ªZihao is acting so responsible by wanting to register our marriage first before I give birth and then have the wedding ceremony when I''m ready. B-but...you know, uhm¡­."

    Chen Fei didn''t need her friend to say anything more. She already knew the real reason why Long Jinjing kept on dying her marriage with Lu Zihao.

    "Holy fucking fried mackerel, Long Jinjing! Are you fucking kidding me?! This is ridiculous! Absolutely fucking ridiculous! My gosh, girl!"

    "I know it already. You don''t have to say it to my face. I know how ridiculous I''m acting right now." Long Jinjing grabbed a pillow and hugged it above her belly forfort.

    Chen Fei wanted to shake some sense back to her best friend but could only restrain herself because Long Jinjing might give birth prematurely from the force.

    "Jing, listen to me," she said in a serious tone before sitting beside Long Jinjing. "You''re not fat or ugly. Who told you that? Tell me now and I''ll fight them myself! Did Lu Zihao say that? If he did, I''ll fucking beat up the asshole even if that''s thest thing I do in my life!"

    "No!" Long Jinjing was quick to deny. "Zihao is so good to me. He never said that. Actually, he always tell me that¡­uhm, he l-likes my pregnant body and, uhm, you know¡­he¡­uh! I can''t say it! Just know that he has be so much more enthusiastic."

    "Oh." Chen Fei raised an eyebrow. She wasn''t stupid. She knew what it meant. "Hmph! So if he doesn''t think that way about you, then where the hell did youe up with that stupid idea that you''re fat and ugly?"

    "Me¡­."

    "Jing,e on!" Chen Fei pulled at her own hair in frustration. "I know that you''re usually not confident about yourself for whatever dumb reason but this is not good anymore. This is not right, I''m telling you! I''m worried about you. What if you develop post-partum depression because of this? Did you not watch the film<i> ''Strong Yet Broken''</i>? Although your situation is different, I still don''t want you to end up like Guan Jintao''s mother and be depressed all your life after giving birth."

    "I¡­no, I''m not gonna end up like that! I...d-don''t think...so...."

    Chen Fei looked skeptical.

    "Xiaofei, really. Believe me."

    Chen Fei crossed her arms and stared at her, silently saying, "Make me believe."

    Long Jinjing sighed. "I just¡­f-feel so inferior. Look at my sister. Xin looked so amazing and beautiful all throughout her pregnancy. She barely gained any weight. After giving birth, she has almost regained her previous figure. In fact, she looks even more beautiful now than before she gave birth.

    "And then look at me. I''m so swollen everywhere, so fat! I feel like a whale! An ugly whale. I don''t understand how Ni¡ªZihao can even make love with me when I look so ugly like this!"

    "Oh, Jing." Chen Fei hugged her best friend which was rather difficult given Long Jinjing''s huge belly.

    Long Jinjing sobbed on her friend''s shoulder. Chen Fei patted her back and just allowed her friend to let it all out.

    A few momentster, Long Jinjing calmed down a little. She sniffled and wiped her remaining tears. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "I''m okay n-now¡­thanks, Xiaofei. S-sorry about that. So embarrassing."

    "Not at all. If you can''t even cry in front of me, then I''m not doing my job as your best friend well."

    Long Jinjing gave her a shaky smile.

    Chen Fei grabbed more tissues for Long Jinjing.. "I know that I should be treat you gently because you''re pregnant but I can''t allow this to continue any longer. Jing, all this nonsense about you feeling inferior to Xin is pure bullshit! Do you hear me? It''s BULLSHIT!"

 Chapter 1307 - Inferiority Complex

    <h4>Chapter 1307 - Inferiority Complex</h4>

    Long Jinjing''s lips trembled but she didn''t deny her best friend''s words.

    Chen Fei continued her rant. "I always tell you this. You''re so smart, Jing. What''s more, you were amazing in your studies when we were still students and have be even more amazing now that we''re working. That''s why I just don''t understand why you always be so unconfident when ites to yourself as a person.

    "You''ve always had an inferiorityplex about your illegitimate birth, I know that. But girl, this is the modern times. Who the fuck cares? Those who still do are idiots and that includes you! So snap out of it. Do you hear me?"

    Chen Fei didn''t wait for Long Jinjing to respond. She stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of her friend while getting more and more fired up.

    "Your birth situation isn''t your fault at all. That''s something you have no power to change. But you have the power to change yourself and the direction of your life! I can''t continue watching you be so stuck in your inferiorityplex. It''s so toxic!

    "And now you even found another avenue to make your inferiorityplex worse. So what if Xin didn''t gain a lot of weight during her pregnancy? Most normal women gain weight when they be pregnant, so that bitch is the one who''s abnormal! Big deal! She''s her and you''re you.

    "People only see how Xin maintained her overall figure but they didn''t see how much she suffered behind the scenes during her pregnancy. Unlike you who''s smoothly sailing through your pregnancy with barely any health issues, Xin really endured a lot just to carry her twins and give birth to them safely. We all know how often she got ill and literally passed out during her pregnancy. I know it, you know it!

    "So don''t fucking tell me that you envy her! She had drawbacks and you have yours. But you know what? Yours isn''t even that serious. Sure, you''ve gained a lot of weight now, but with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I know that you can eventually lose all the extra weight after you give birth. Your man is all muscles. What''s his use if he doesn''t even help you with this little thing?

    "I''d rather have you healthy and temporarily overweight than be like Xin who had been abnormally slender but ill all the time while pregnant. My gosh, Jing! We work at Orchidia where we promote the value of being beautiful inside and out, and yet here you are, one of the executives feeling ugly and fat and just so fucking inferior!"

    Unlike Long Jinjing''s earlier defeated appearance, she looked a lot better now. Her best friend''s harsh words were hurtful and even offensive, but she still appreciated them. It wasn''t her being masochistic. It was her being responsive to a harsh awakening.

    She felt like her mind was clearing from a dark and suffocating ce of her own doing. The inferiorityplex was still there but it wasn''t dragging her to the lowest depths anymore.

    "I know, Xiaofei," she whispered.

    Chen Fei narrowed her eyes. She still looked skeptical but decided she had said enough for today. If Long Jinjing really understood and started changing her outlook to a more positive one, then good. But if not, then Chen Fei would just roll her sleeves and start mouthing off again.

    She couldn''t allow her best friend to dig a deeper hole and bury herself with her own pathetic demons. No way. She wasn''t Chen Fei if she didn''t take action.

    Chen Fei plopped herself in the other armchair again. Now that she finished her tirade, exhaustion started catching up with her.

    Long Jinjing stood up and toddled to the refreshments corner to pour a ss of water for her friend. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Thanks." Chen Fei chugged the entire ss of water, not at all concerned by her udy-like behaviour.

    "Sorry about today," Long Jinjing told her. "You must be bone-tired after taking on more responsibilities to make up for both of us sisters'' maternity leave, and yet here I am, adding to your stress with my own problems."

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "I''m your best friend, remember? If you forget, see if I don''t kick your ass."

    Long Jinjing chuckled but her eyes remained sad. "Thank you, Xiaofei. I now understand how pathetic I''m acting in nurturing this kind of negative¡­uhm, toxic thoughts while pregnant. You''re absolutely right."

    "Of course, I''m right. I''m Chen Fei, bitch."

    "Right."

    Long Jinjing massaged her belly. She felt the babies moving inside her, but unlike Iris, she didn''t find it painful at all. Indeed, Chen Fei was right. Iris might have maintained her beauty during pregnancy but she really suffered a lot. Inparison, Long Jinjing had it rather easy.

    Taking a deep breath, determination fought with her inferiorityplex. It was a hard battle but her willpower eventually and thankfully prevailed.

    "I don''t care anymore how I''ll look when Ni¡ªZihao and I take a permanent photo for our little red marriage book. The important thing is that I''m going to marry the man I love who''s the father of our children."

    "Good!" Chen Fei felt somewhat revived after drinking water. "Then don''t waste any more time. You''re carrying twins so it''s possible that you''ll also give birth early like your sister. It''s not like I give a fuck if your babies are born illegitimate but I know that both you and Lu Zihao are concerned about it a lot. Now that you''ve regained a portion of your missing IQ, then what are you waiting for?"

    Long Jinjing nodded and smiled.

    ###

    Lu Zihao had been waiting outside the bedroom he shared with Long Jinjing. His fingers were rubbing the Smoking Devil. This had be a habit while thinking about something important.

    Finally, the door opened. He straightened and met Chen Fei.

    "I''m sleeping with Jing tonight," the woman announced without any preamble.

    He scowled. "No. I sleep with her. Go to a guest bedroom."

    The annoying woman crossed her arms and lifted her chin high. "Either I sleep with Jing tonight and you''ll marry her tomorrow or you chase me away and you wait for who knows how long to make her your wife. Your choice."

    "Fuck."

 Chapter 1308 - Rush

    <h4>Chapter 1308 - Rush</h4>

    Lu Zihao was very unhappy at being forced to make a choice by an arrogant woman. However, he had to grit his teeth because marrying his stubborn fianc¨¦e was more important than anything right now.

    "Fine," he managed to say through a tense jaw. "But make sure that you deliver on your promise. I want to marry Jinjing tomorrow!"

    "Tsk." Chen Fei curled her lip before smirking. Then she shut the door on his face.

    Lu Zihao''s expression was thunderous. The woman was too infuriating!

    Itpletely baffled him how a shy and gentle woman like Long Jinjing would remain best friends with an arrogant and foul-mouthed bitch like Chen Fei. Not only that. Even his sister had be close friends with the woman.

    "Uncle Zihao, aren''t you d?" an all-too-familiar child''s voice said through his hidden earpiece. "Uncle should thank Aunt Fei for persuading Aunt Jinjing to finally marry you before Bacon''s twin cousins are born. Acting so fierce to your benefactor is not ssy."

    "Shut up, kid."

    "To be told to shut up by my own uncle, it''s causing Bacon great emotional distress. At this rate¡ª"

    "I''ll give you an extra red packet if I can really marry your Aunt Jinjing tomorrow so just shut the hell up tonight, alright? I''m not in the mood to receive a lecture from a little kid like you."

    A few seconds of silence.

    Then Bacon asked, "How much will be in the red packet?"

    A vein started throbbing in Lu Zihao''s forehead. With a snort, he walked away to find another room to spend the night.

    ###

    The next morning, Long Jinjing''s room was filled with lively chatter and frenzied activity. Iris directed her personal m team to take care of Long Jinjing while Dom held a camera to record everything.

    Chen Fei was busy on the phone at a corner remotely delegating some of her tasks at work. She gave herself a half day-off in order to make hasty arrangements for her best friend''s marriage registration today. The worst that could happen was for her to work overtime which wasn''t really too bad for someone like her who loved her job at Orchidia.

    After Long Jinjing fell asleepst night, Chen Fei disturbed all the other members of the girl squad in their group chat to let them know about Long Jinjing''s situation. Everyone agreed that they needed toe together in order to help Long Jinjing regain her self-confidence.

    The door opened and Jiang Ying Yue entered while pushing a rack filled with hanging garment bags.

    "Oh, they''re here!" Iris helped Jiang Ying Yue pull the rack inside the room. "It''s a rush job but thank goodness that several of my favourite designers were able to send some nice dresses for Big Sister. We might have to do some quick alterations, though."

    Chen Fei finally finished her phone calls. She immediately helped Iris and Jiang Ying Yue in choosing a suitable dress for Long Jinjing among the options.

    Long Jinjing felt overwhelmed by her friends. She had no idea that they were going to do this. Her eyes watered as she watched them busying themselves for her sake.

    "Please don''t cry," the makeup artist said. "Mr. Lu made a special rush appointment at the Civil Affairs Bureau so we need to get you ready in time. You can cry all you want after your sessful marriage registrationter."

    "Don''t worry, Sis Jing," the hair stylist assured her. "We''ll make you so beautiful today that Mr. Lu won''t be able to take his eyes off you once he sees you."

    "True that!" said the nail technician next.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Dom secretly gave the m team a big thumbs up.

    Iris, Chen Fei and Jiang Ying Yue looked at each other and released a collective sigh of relief. Long Jinjing appeared flustered by everything but at least she wasn''t wallowing in her low self-esteem anymore.

    A panda-eyed Meimei soon arrived. As usual, she moved like a zombie and acted like a vampire who was about to burn into ashes whenever sunlight hit her. If not for her friends, she wouldn''t go out of the house at all and continue ving away on her webtoon.

    She brought a simple yet elegant bouquet of flowers.

    "A b-bouquet?" Long Jinjing asked. "Is that really¡­necessary for a simple marriage registration?"

    "Don''t think too much about it, Big Sister," Iris said. "Flowers are always nice to have. The bouquet will make your photos with Big Brother more romanticter."

    Long Jinjing was still a bit hesitant but she smiled and thanked them.

    Clover video-called them to join in the fun. She couldn''t attend today''s sudden event because she was still in France. It was still night there so she basically hadn''t slept a wink yet.

    Long Jinjing almost couldn''t contain her emotions. She could feel all her friends'' love and care for her. At the same time, she felt bad for harbouring envy towards her own sister who had been so good to her despite their unpleasant rtionship in the past.

    Iris caught Long Jinjing looking at her. She smiled. Long Jinjing mouthed "thank you". Her sister''s smile turned brighter.

    ###

    "Yo, what the hell, Fifth Bro?" Yu Mo arrived while carrying presents that he prepared in a hurry. "You only gave us a few hours notice that you''re going to marry today!"

    "Be thankful that I even told you about it in the first ce," Lu Zihao said while buttoning his suit in front of the mirror.

    Yu Mo clutched his chest and pretended to be heartbroken. "Ah, you''ve be so cold to your bros!"

    Lu Zihao ignored him but Yu Mo continued bothering him while he was getting ready.

    In contrast, the scene was more rxed in the other side of the guest suite.

    Jin Liwei and Wang Yingjie were bottle-feeding Little Mochi and Little Matcha respectively at the sitting area. Lin Yehan chatted with them while admiring the adorable twins.

    "Little Lingyu is a carbon copy of yours, Third Brother," Lin Yehanmented while looking at Little Matcha in Wang Yingjie''s arms.

    "En." Jin Liwei couldn''t hide the proud expression on his face.

    His mother, Huang Yuyan, would always mention that Little Matcha had been exactly like him when he was a baby. They were both unbothered and didn''t care much about anything that didn''t interest them.

 Chapter 1309 - You Can No Longer Escape From Me

    <h4>Chapter 1309 - You Can No Longer Escape From Me</h4>

    "Little Lingyu takes after you, Third Brother," Lin Yehan continued saying. "While Little Haoyu resembles Third Sister-inw Xin."

    "No, Little Haoyu resembles his maternal grandmother more," Wang Yingjie interjected.

    "Oh?" Lin Yehan studied Little Mochi''s face more carefully. "You''re right, Second Brother. He does look like Madam Wei Lan."

    Little Mochi finished his milk bottle faster than his younger brother. Jin Liwei coaxed his eldest twin to burp and didn''t mind when the baby started sucking on his sleeve, wetting it with saliva.

    Lin Yehanughed when he saw the scene. "I can''t believe that you''re the first one to actually marry and be a father among us brothers. You never had any girlfriends before and never responded to seduction."

    "Because those people weren''t my wife," Jin Liwei replied while remembering all those who attempted to seduce him back then.

    He said "people" because there were females and males alike who tried climbing his bed. All failed, of course.

    "True." Lin Yehan nodded with a smile. "You went crazy when you fell in love with Xin and didn''t stop chasing her until you made her yours. And now look at you. A proud husband and father. I''m truly happy for you, Third Brother."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Enough about me. Today''s all about Fifth Brother."

    He nced at Lu Zihao. Although he said "Fifth Brother", in his heart, he called the man his brother-inw.

    "Indeed, it''s all about Fifth Brother today." Lin Yehan moved to Lu Zihao''s side.

    The sworn brothers continued chatting in a rxed manner as opposed to the high-energy bustle in thedies'' side. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    ###

    Later, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing arrived at the Civil Affairs Bureau on two separate cars. Chen Fei insisted that they not see each other until their actual marriage.

    Only Chen Fei apanied them as the official witness among their friends. The others were left at Dragon Pce to prepare for the hasty private wedding banquet and wee the guests who coulde on such short notice.

    Lu Zihao nodded at Chen Fei before helping his pregnant soon-to-be wife out of the car. Unlike his graceful sister, Long Jinjing became much clumsier while pregnant, hence why he had to pay more attention to her for fear that she would trip and break her neck due to carelessness.

    When Long Jinjing straightened, Lu Zihao froze and stared at her.

    "W-what''s wrong?" Long Jinjing became self-conscious. She tried making herself smaller by slouching but her huge belly was impossible to hide.

    "Don''t." He stopped her from slouching and continued staring at her.

    "Why are you looking at me¡­l-like that? I knew it. I look weird, don''t I?"

    "Nonsense." Lu Zihao brushed a lock of curled hair away from her face. "You look¡­nice today. Very nice."

    "R-really?"

    They heard a loud snort from Chen Fei. Lu Zihao ignored the woman while Long Jinjing quickly turned red from head to toe. There was, however, a shy and pleased smile on her lips from hearing her man''spliment.

    She was wearing a simple and flowy red dress which hugged her huge swollen belly in a ttering way. It was chosen by her sister, Iris, and unanimously voted by their other friends.

    When Long Jinjing changed into it earlier at the mansion, even she was stunned by her own reflection. Everything from the hair, makeup, nails and the dress made her feel so beautiful today. She no longer felt like a fat and ugly whale.

    "Let''s go." Lu Zihao guided her up the steps of the building.

    Chen Fei followed behind them.

    Since Lu Zihao called ahead, the process of registering their marriage was done very quickly. Itsted only fifteen minutes.

    Long Jinjing was all smiles when she received her copy of their little red marriage booklet. On it was a photo of her and Lu Zihao who was now her husband.

    All along, she had been so worried about appearing fat and ugly in the photo which would be a permanent element of their marriage booklet. Now she realized how pathetic she had been to dy her marriage this long because of such an insignificant reason.

    "Happy?" Lu Zihao asked her.

    She nodded, beaming with joy. She hugged his arm and together they exited the Civil Affairs Bureau.

    "I''ll give you the wedding ceremony of your dreams after you give birth," he told her.

    "Okay¡­h-husband."

    He smirked before leaning closer and whispering so that only she could hear him. "Prepare yourself for our wedding night...wife."

    Her eyes widened as she once again turned red all over. "B-but¡­the doctor said that we can''t anymore."

    "The doctor only said no pration. She didn''t say that we can''t do other things."

    "I¡­I¡­okay." Her voice was tiny but he still heard her.

    His gaze darkened but he immediately put on an impassive expression when he noticed Chen Fei, the annoying woman, watching the two of them.

    "Congrats," Chen Fei told them.

    Despite her arrogant personality and crass words, she was genuinely happy for her best friend.

    Long Jinjing let go of her husband and hugged her best friend. "Thank you so much, Xiaofei, for everything. You''re the best ever friend that I can possibly have in my life."

    Chen Fei sniffed. There was a suspicious moist redness in her eyes but her tone was still as arrogant as ever.

    "Of course, you''re so blessed to have me, Chen Fei, as your best friend! Now go with your husband. I''m leaving in the separate car. I don''t want to puke my guts out watching your disgusting public disys of fucking affection!"

    With that, Chen Fei marched off to the other car. Long Jinjing chuckled and returned to her husband''s side.

    Once inside the car, Lu Zihao immediately activated the partition between the driver and the backseat. Then he pulled Long Jinjing in a deep, intense kiss.

    She was gasping for air when their wet mouths reluctantly separated. His gaze on her was dark and intense, making her shiver with delight.

    "You chose this, Long Jinjing. You''re officially mine now. You can no longer escape from me."

    She wrapped her arms around his neck¡ªor tried to. It was a challenge with her huge belly.

    "Likewise, Niki. You can longer escape me as well."

    "Hm."

    Lu Zihao dove again for another deep kiss.

 Chapter 1310 - Congratulations, Mr. And Mrs. Lu

    <h4>Chapter 1310 - Congrattions, Mr. And Mrs. Lu</h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    The wedding banquet this time was very small because of theck of ample time for preparations. Not every guest they called could attend on such short notice.

    Despite this drawback, the final result suited the newlyweds just fine. Both Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing preferred this kind of more intimate atmosphere in having fewer people to help celebrate their marriage.

    In fact, Long Jinjing was genuinely surprised and amazed upon returning at the mansion. She couldn''t believe that her friends were able to pull together something like this within just a few hours. Literally.

    At first, she thought that they would only have a slightly more luxurious early dinner together. She didn''t expect that there would be an actual banquet prepared for her and Lu Zihao in such a short amount of time.

    Iris and Jin Liwei did everything in their power to host a memorable banquet inside their own home. Their household staff demonstrated their excellence by how swift, organized and flexible they were all throughout the rushed preparations, and of course, how excellent their level of service during the actual banquet. It wasn''t just the food and table arrangements. Even the decorations were beautifully done.

    But the biggest credit should be given to Chen Fei who was the mastermind of this rushed marriage celebration. Without her, Long Jinjing might have continued dying her marriage with Lu Zihao due to her low self-esteem.

    Long Jinjing couldn''t stop herself from feeling so emotional when she saw everyone greeting her and her fianc¨¦. Oh right, Lu Zihao was now her husband!

    "Congrattions, Mr. and Mrs. Lu!"

    "Best wishes to the new husband and wife!"

    "Everybody! The newlyweds have arrived! You know what time it is? Time to partaaaaaaaayyyy!!! Yay!!!!!"

    The newlyweds were showered with joyful wishes all around.

    When Long Jinjing saw her mother, her tears flowed down without control.

    "Don''t cry!" Sun Jingfei wiped her daughter''s tears with a handkerchief. "Your marriage is a happy and festive event. There shouldn''t be any tears!" Her own red eyes watered even as she said this.

    "Mom!" Long Jinjing hugged her mother¡ªor tried to. She could only do some sort of a side hug with her huge swollen belly. "You''re here. I''m so happy that you''re here!"

    "Of course, I''ll be here! What kind of mother will miss her own daughter''s wedding without any valid reason? I want to scold you for only informing me this morning and almost giving me a heart attack but I''ll do it another time. For now, go ahead with your husband and thank everyone who came today to celebrate your marriage."

    She nodded.

    Lu Zihao also greeted Sun Jingfei. "Auntie."

    "Why are you still calling me that? Call me mom."

    He paused for a moment and looked a little ufortable but still said, "Mom."

    Sun Jingfei grinned and nodded in approval. "Now go, you two."

    Lu Zihao took his wife and they personally greeted everyone.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui came. The bride''s father was a little disgruntled. He had already been busy at work earlier this morning when he suddenly got a call inviting him to attend his own daughter''s wedding banquet in the afternoon. He had a d¨¦j¨¤ vu of his other daughter''s weddingst year.

    "Why do my daughters love having surprise weddings?" Long Tengfei grumbled. "They''re indeed sisters! Is it really that hard for them to give me, their father, at least three days, no, even just two days notice of their actual wedding day?"

    Yang Jiahui only listened to him without saying anything. She knew that her husband was happy for his two daughters deep inside despite hisints.

    Grandma Li attended as well. Her daughter-inw, Huang Yuyan, was still staying at Dragon Pce to personally help take care of the twins.

    Actually, Huang Yuyan was supposed to leave after Irispleted her confinement but the new grandmother was extremely reluctant to leave her adorable baby grandsons so she couldn''t help but extend her stay in the mansion. Fortunately, her son Jin Liwei and daughter-inw Iris didn''t mind her presence. To her credit, she didn''t interfere with how the husband and wife ran their household so there was no friction between them.

    The two older Jin madams had grown rather close to Long Jinjing especially after she started working for Iris''pany, Orchidia. It was only natural for them to attend today''s wedding banquet, not to mention that the groom was Lu Zihao, Jin Liwei''s fifth brother and practically a family member to the Jins.

    Alric Bauer, Orchidia''s German CPO, also took a half day-off like Chen Fei to attend today''s wedding banquet. He felt that he must attend because Long Jinjing held Orchidia''s purse strings. If he displeased her, his budget increase requests might not get approved.

    Jin Chonglin was unable to attend due to his full schedule today. He could only send a present to the newlyweds. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    After chatting, everyone headed to the banquet. Even though everything was rushed, the girl squad still managed toe up with a simple yet enjoyable programme.

    Dom happily became the emcee and entertained everyone with his lively wit and humour.

    Iris also stepped forward and performed three songs while ying the piano. She would have performed more songs if not for her twins, specifically the eldest twin Little Mochi, crying for her attention.

    There were speeches by Grandpa Lu and the parents of the bride, Sun Jingfei and Long Tengfei.

    Long Jinjing turned into a sobbing mess while listening to her parents. Lu Zihao was at a loss on how to coax her to stop crying. Fortunately, there was the adorable Little Jun who managed to distract her and make her feel better with his cuteness.

    The cats, Ice Cream and Popcorn, were also free to roam around during the banquet. Ice Cream guarded her twin baby brothers. Anyone who didn''t know how to carry the baby twins properly received a judgmental re from the fat, grey cat.

    The atmosphere was casual yet still elegantly effortless thanks to Iris and Jin Liwei''s verypetent household staff.

    Finally, Dom handed the microphone to the new Mr. and Mrs. Lu.

    "Thank you very much foring today," Long Jinjing said through her teary eyes.. "Zihao and I are so happy to share this special memory to all of you."

 Chapter 1311 - Scandalous

    <h4>Chapter 1311 - Scandalous</h4>

    The wedding banquet ended early because everyone was conscious of Long Jinjing''s advanced pregnancy and the banquet''s hosts Iris and Jin Liwei''s need to take care of their baby twins.

    While most of the guests were leaving one after another (especially those who still had work tomorrow), Grandpa Lu invited his inws for a drink and a chat.

    Long Tengfei didn''t dare to decline. Which businessman would reject an invitation from a business legend like Sir Lu Jianhong?

    His wife, Yang Jiahui, didn''t want to make Sun Jingfei feel ufortable, so she didn''t join them and chatted with Huang Yuyan instead.

    Sun Jingfei was relieved. Although she knew that Yang Jiahui was a nice person, she still felt awkward facing any of Long Tengfei''s other women, both past and present. To be honest, she also felt ufortable facing Long Tengfei, but for the sake of their daughter, she was willing to act cordial.

    In another part of the mansion, Lu Zihao was carrying his tired, pregnant wife. Yes, Long Jinjing was his wife now. Thank fuck for that!

    Finally, they arrived in their bedroom.

    He couldn''t wait to spend their wedding night. He had been holding it in sincest night. Good thing that nobody unnecessarily prolonged the banquet.

    "You okay?" he asked while gently putting Long Jinjing on their bed.

    She nodded, a shy smile on her lips.

    He lowered his head and attempted to kiss her but she blocked his mouth with a hand.

    "W-wait! I want to shower first¡­okay?"

    He sighed but still agreed. "Fine. Come. Let''s shower together."

    "No!"

    "What do you mean no?" he asked, frowning.

    "I want to shower by myself. You go shower by yourself, too."

    "Why? That''s such a waste of time and water. It''s better for us to shower together. Come on. I''ll help you."

    "N-no¡­please, Niki. Husband."

    Lu Zihao inhaled sharply. His eyes darkened. "Say that again."

    "H-husband."

    "Hm." His gaze on her became dangerous.

    Something stirred inside him besides the obvious lust that he was feeling.

    Husband.

    Such a simple word and yet it could make him feel so many emotions that he had never felt before. The turbulent feelings took him aback. He found himself unable to cope with them properly.

    "Go." He stood up and fished out the Smoking Devil from his pocket. "Don''t take too long in the bathroom. Don''t slip."

    "Okay."

    "Call out to Bacon if you need help. I''ll shower in another room."

    Long Jinjing watched as her husband left their bedroom. She sensed the sudden shift in his mood just now but didn''t know exactly what the shift was or what caused it.

    Sighing, she dragged herself to the bathroom. Waiting for her was a care package prepared by her friends, mainly from her younger sister, Iris.

    When she unwrapped it and checked the contents, she quickly turned red all over.

    It was filled with scandalous items such as almost see-through lingerie and a few sexual props. There wasn''t anything too vulgar like, say, phallic-shaped sex toys. But for Miss Prim and Proper Long Jinjing, seeing fluffy feathers, fur-lined handcuffs, velvet ropes, and bottles of moisturizing lubrication were enough to embarrass her to no end.

    She tossed away the risqu¨¦ items as if they scalded her.

    "Xin, what were you thinking?" she muttered under her breath.

    Then she turned a deeper shade of red after realizing the possibility of her sister and brother-inw personally using this kind of scandalous items. She quickly shook the thoughts away.

    "Let''s take a shower first. Then we''ll deal with these¡­these things. Ah, so embarrassing!"

    Unbeknownst to her, Iris only contributed therge selection of lingerie.

    As for the sexual props, the mischievous Dom thought about it first. His idea revived the half-dead Meimei and also sparked Chen Fei''s evil mind. The three worked together inpiling the items.

    To their surprise, the usually quiet Jiang Ying Yue also contributed something to their scandalous pile. She was the one who gave the set of lube bottles!

    ###

    Lu Zihao finished showering in the nearest empty guestroom. He didn''t bother changing into another set of clothes and just walked out while only wearing a bathrobe.

    The freezing cold shower was effective in clearing his mind from any unnecessary thoughts¡­and confusing emotions.

    He had an inkling of what emotions he felt for his wife but a big, dark part of himself resisted in acknowledging them.

    Finally, he returned to the bedroom he shared with Long Jinjing¡ªthe woman who was now his wife and carrying his children.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    He found the figure of Long Jinjing on the bed. She was wearing a maternity nightdress. The hem of the skirt bunched up her thighs, exposing her smooth, fleshy legs.

    His mouth watered and he swallowed hard. He ran his rough fingers on the soft skin of her exposed thighs. They were several times thicker than before she got pregnant.

    Earlier this morning, his sister pulled him aside and revealed Long Jinjing''s inferiorityplex about her pregnancy weight gain. He personally thought that it was ridiculous.

    Did he ever give Long Jinjing any indication that he despised her weight gain? Why couldn''t he remember?

    He even asked the little devil. ording to Bacon, there had been no instances when Lu Zihao could have inadvertently showed Long Jinjing that he disliked her chubbier body.

    In fact, he continued to fuck the woman regrly even when her belly had grown so big. During times that pration was not possible due to her difort, he still pleasured her and made her climax several times using his mouth and hands.

    He already did all these things to show her that he still desired her regardless of the changes in her body shape. Yet howe she ended up almost falling into depression due to low self-esteem?

    "Silly woman! Watch how I''ll teach you a lesson tonight for doubting my desire for you."

    He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. She didn''t stir at all.

    Long Jinjing was fast asleep.

    An annoyingly familiar voiceughed at him inside his mind.<i> ''It seems that someone is going to sleep with painful blue balls tonight!''</i>

    <i>''Shut the fuck up, Lu Zihao,</i>'' he scolded the damned remnant.

    <i>''Kekeke!''</i>

 Chapter 1312 - Closer Than Lovers

    <h4>Chapter 1312 - Closer Than Lovers</h4>

    Lu Zihao originally wanted to tease his wife until she awakened from pleasure but the remnant just had to kill the mood. He cursed the annoying voice and wished that he could drag it out of his head.

    <i>''Like hell you can drag me out of my own body.''</i> The remnant snorted at his thoughts.

    His already dark expression became even more frightening. Fortunately, Long Jinjing was fast asleep and couldn''t see him or she might give birth prematurely from fright.

    <i>''Go away!''</i>

    <i>''Nuh-uh~ It has been a long time since I surfaced. I''ll grow moldy if I stay silent for too long. I didn''t pop up on purpose all this time so you can focus on your pregnant wifey. What if you get a headache again from chatting with me, your closest bro in the world, and cause Pretty Jinjing to worry about you? I''m not a heartless, cold-blooded bastard like you, Niki. I, Lu Zihao, am so kind an understanding! And cool and handsome, of course~ Kekekeke.''</i>

    Lu Zihao walked away from the bed. His fingers were already rubbing the Smoking Devil as he argued with the annoying remnant inside his head.

    <i>''Who are you calling my closest bro? You''re delusional.''</i>

    The remnant had no form, but for some reason, he could imagine it rolling its eyes at him.

    <i>''Of course, I''m your closest bro! Have you forgotten that we''re now sharing one body which is MY body? Even lovers can''t get any closer than this!''</i>

    Lu Zihao grimaced. Which straight man in their right mind wouldpare his current situation to lovers? Apparently, not the original Lu Zihao''s remnant.

    What a nutcase!

    <i>''Dude, I''m straight just like you but I don''t discriminate. The Lus pride ourselves for being open-minded! Just look at my grandpa! For the longest time, he believed that Third Brother Liwei is gay and Grandpa was cool with that. He didn''t care if Third Brother brings home a boyfriend as long as he brings home someone he loves!''</i>

    His mouth twitched at the remnant''s words. Indeed, what the remnant said was the truth.

    He was about tough at Jin Liwei''s past but immediately stopped when he remembered that the man brought home Evelinka!

    His mood nosedived yet again. His beloved sister that he protected so preciously in their past life had been tricked by Jin Liwei, that cunning, shameless pervert wearing a celibate monk''s clothing!

    <i>''Hahahaha! What a description! But it''s so apt. Third Brother had been more or less a celibate monk before he met Third Sister-inw. Their love story is actually so romantic!''</i>

    Lu Zihao, no, Niki sighed. Based on past experiences, the remnant would continue annoying him for a while. He was pissed off and unwilling to have his mind invaded but there was nothing that he could do. He could only resign himself and endure until the nutcase tired itself out.

    He nced at his sleeping wife and released another sigh. This time, a sigh of regret.

    The remnant already killed off his mood to consummate his wedding night with his wife but his shaft remained in a semi-erect state. He headed to the bathroom to take care of it despite the fact that the remnant was still having fun chattering inside his mind.

    Niki didn''t give a damn anymore. Screw the remnant if he still wanted to continue chattering while he masturbated.

    He closed the bathroom door and was about to take off his bathrobe when arge basket on the counter caught his attention. He checked it out and saw a card from his sister and her friends addressed to Long Jinjing.

    At first, he thought that it was just a customary wedding present. He didn''t think too much about it and had no intention of taking out the contents one by one. He was about to turn around and head to the shower when something caught his eye.

    "Hm?"

    He pulled something out of the basket and stared, dumbfounded.

    Pink, fur-lined handcuffs.

    Silk blindfolds.

    Soft, fluffy feathers.

    Red velvet ribbon-style ropes.

    Arge variety of lingerie. Most were see-through and some even had open crotches.

    And¡­a box set of lube with different vours and effects.

    His mind seemed to glitch and stopped working for a few seconds.

    <i>''Hah? What the hell are these? Hahahaha! Wow. Third Sister-inw Evelinka and her friends are so bold! No, actually, they''re very thoughtful! Look at how much they care about you and your wifey''s sex life! Hahahaha! What a riot! Ah, my stomach hurts fromughing so hard! Oh, wait. I don''t have a stomach right now ''cuz you have it!''</i>

    "Fuck off, Lu Zihao. I said shut the hell up!"

    His roar echoed inside the bathroom. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The nutcase ignored him as usual and continued making fun of him inside his head.

    He was so angry at the remnant his visible veins started throbbing. The one in his forehead in particr looked about ready to pop from anger at any given moment.

    However, when he looked at the lewd items in front of him, his semi-erect shaft turned rock hard in an instant.

    His physiological reaction only made the remnantugh harder at him.

    <i>''Bro, go ahead and take care of your little brother. Oh wait! That''s actually MY little brother, so you have to take extra care of it. Don''t worry. I''m not a perverted peeping tom. I won''t watch you touching my dick. Eh? That''s actually gross. Eeew! Alright, I''m out!''</i>

    Niki''s nostrils red in anger and exasperation at the remnant. His erection softened a little at the nutcase''s disgusting words.

    Even so, seeing the pile of sexual items intended for him and his wife continued to stimte him. These were actually a lot tamer than what he used in his past life with his various bed partners, but the idea of using these with Long Jinjing turned him on so badly.

    He disrobed and stepped in the shower. The warm water rained down on him as his hands started stroking his rock-hard shaft.

    "Jinjing," he groaned.

    His gazended at the see-through lingerie on the counter. He imagined his wife wearing each and every one of them.

    She would open her legs and the crotch-less panties would expose everything.. He would dive straight inside her and pump his hips until she was shouting his name, Niki, over and over again.

 Chapter 1313 - You Like It?

    <h4>Chapter 1313 - You Like It?</h4>

    Lu Zihao''s mind went into overdrive as he imagined using all the other items in the scandalous care package with his wife. His hands moved faster and harder on his own rock-hard shaft. Even his hips started thrusting in time with his own hand movements.

    Then he felt a dull ache on his temples. He knew that it was the effect of interacting with the remnant.

    Time was of the essence. He wanted to finish first before dealing with the full brunt of the headache.

    His harsh breathing plus the lewd sloshing and pping sounds of his actions filled the entire bathroom. The water raining down on him somewhat muffled the sounds but not entirely. If someone was listening on him, nobody would mistake what he was doing.

    Too bad that the target of his desire was fast asleep on their bed.

    He pleasured himself faster. Harder.

    His whole body tensed and trembled. Then he shot off his thick release and watched until the water flushed it down the drain.

    His body hummed with satisfaction yet he still felt unsatisfied. Using his hands wasn''t the same as doing it with a woman, or more specifically, with the woman who was now his wife.

    He was craving for more.

    Sighing, he quickly finished washing up and drying himself. All the while, his eyes repeatedly nced at the lewd items on the counter. He grabbed a few of them before returning to the bedroom naked. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The clueless Long Jinjing continued sleeping on her side. Her huge belly made her breathing a bit faster and shallower than normal.

    By this time, the dull headache had turned into a sharp and intense pain. Even so, his expression showed nothing as he climbed on the bed, carefully undressed his wife, and arranged her in a spooning position beside him.

    The headache was annoying but it was nothing to him. The old man''s smacks on the back were much more powerful than this.

    At least, the remnant was no longer trying to take control of his body ever since the two of them came into some sort of agreement to tolerate each other''s existence. He didn''t have to endure the soul-deep pain caused by the bacsh of fighting for control.

    He couldn''t see Long Jinjing''s face in this spooning position but her familiar scent was enough to temporarily calm any of his restlessness and dark thoughts. His hand found her swollen belly and started caressing it.

    A light flick hit his palm.

    "Brats," he muttered, smiling.

    Once he closed his eyes, he quickly fell asleep, not realizing that the smile had remained on his lips.

    ###

    Long Jinjing moaned as she slowly awakened. She opened her eyes but found that something soft was covering them. She tried taking it off but found that her hands were tied up. It was loose and she could escape if she wriggled her hands a little. However, she forgot all about it as she trembled from pleasure.

    "Awake?" a familiar deep male voice whispered directly in her ear.

    The man''s hot breath tickled her and made her wetter. He chuckled and licked her ear before sucking the skin of her neck.

    She wasying in an angle between her side and back. It was not the mostfortable position but the pleasure between her thighs was making her forget about anything else.

    "Niki," she gasped and moaned at the same time.

    "Hm, it''s me. Who else is there?" His mouth moved to herrge breasts and sucked on a taut nipple. Then he stopped.

    She whined in protest.

    He chuckled. One hand continued teasing her soaking wetness between her thighs while another took something else.

    Long Jinjing''s breath caught when she felt something soft and fluffy tickling her breasts. "Ni-niki!"

    "You like it?"

    Her reply was a deep moan. She wanted to wriggle her chest and hips but her huge belly was too heavy. Her body could only shift in some sort of a weird side to side movement.

    The different stimtions kept oning.

    His fingers on her between her thighs.

    His tongue licking on one nipple while the soft thing tickled the other one.

    For the pregnant Long Jinjing who was now more sensitive than before, it didn''t take long for her to climax.

    "Aaaaaaaah!"

    Lu Zihao caught her scream and swallowed it in a hard, demanding kiss. Finally, he took off her blindfold.

    Long Jinjing opened her eyes. The bedroom was dark but there were thin strands of sunlight seeping through the corners of the ck-out curtains. That wasn''t her focus, though.

    Her husband loomed over her. His fingers continued rubbing inside her as she finished off her orgasm. When she waspletely done, he took out his fingers and showed how soaked they were to her.

    She felt embarrassed but also turned on even though she just finished climaxing. Her eyes widened and a small gasp escaped from her moist lips as she watched him suck the juices from his own fingers.

    "Mmmmn. You always taste fucking delicious, Jinjing."

    She shivered in delight. He untied the velvet ropes from her wrists. Now she realized that her husband used the embarrassing items that her friends put in the scandalous care package that they gave her yesterday.

    Lu Zihao smirked upon seeing her mortified expression. "I think that your friends gave us very nice presents. My sister sent you a lot of lingerie. I can''t wait for you to try them all for me before I rip them off your body. Then I''ll just buy you new ones."

    She covered her red face with her hands but he pulled them away.

    "Let''s try something else," he said.

    "No!"

    Long Jinjing tried taking the boxed set from him but he raised them out of her reach.

    "Oh, this looks nice."

    He removed one of the bottles from the set before opening the cap. Transparent liquid poured on his hand. Then he rubbed a little on Long Jinjing''s breasts, focusing on her hard nipples.

    She moaned. Then she gasped when her breasts started to feel warm and tingly.

    "W-what is this?"

    "Does it feel good?" Lu Zihao asked while pouring more lube on his hand and then rubbing the wet slit between her thighs again.

 Chapter 1314 - Dumbfounded Lu Zihao

    <h4>Chapter 1314 - Dumbfounded Lu Zihao</h4>

    The same sensation¡ªwarm and tingly¡ªbegan to stimte Long Jinjing between the thighs. She closed her eyes and groaned.

    Lu Zihao watched her as he thrust his fingers in and out of her wetness. The lewd sounds of his movements filled their ears, turning both of them on even more.

    When her breathing became erratic, her moans sexier, and herplexion more flushed, he knew that she was close to reaching yet another peak. His fingers sped up.

    She screamed and shook all over.

    Watching her writhe was a pleasure unto itself.

    While she continued trembling from the orgasm''s aftershocks, Lu Zihao coated his erection with abination of his wife''s natural juices and the lube he used on her just now. His shaft glistened from the wetness. It grew bigger and stiffer when he also began feeling the special effects of the lube¡ªwarm and tingly.

    Then he climbed off the bed.

    Long Jinjing immediately opened her eyes. "Where are you going?"

    He raised an eyebrow. "Why? Can''t bear to let me go?"

    Her flushed face turned a deeper shade of red but she still nodded.

    He smirked before standing by the bedside right where her headid. He took his rock-hard shaft and began stroking it.

    Long Jinjing realized why he climbed off the bed. She shifted toy on her side and pulled him closer without any prompting from him. Then she took over in stroking him with her hand before taking him inside her mouth.

    This position gave her less strain than if she sat on the bed orid on her back.

    Lu Zihao groaned. His eyes narrowed in pleasure as he watched his woman, his wife, pleasuring him.

    The two of them had now reached a point where he no longer needed to direct her on what to do in bed. They knew each other''s erogenous zones and what kind of stimtion they liked best.

    Lu Zihao restrained himself from his tendency to go hard and rough. He had been restraining himself ever since Long Jinjing''s belly started growing bigger.

    At first, he thought that it would cause him dissatisfaction in their sex life.

    He was wrong.

    To his surprise, taking it slow and simply enjoying the process had grown on him. He found himself liking this kind of rxed intimacy which was a far cry to his usual preference for intensity.

    "Fuck, Jinjing. You really know how to use your mouth on me."

    She moaned while her entire mouth was filled with him. She sucked him harder and bobbed her head faster.

    Lu Zihao bent forward and used his hands to pleasure her breasts and the hidden paradise below her waist. This caused her to work harder in pleasuring him with her mouth.

    Once again, Long Jinjing reached the peak quickly. She whimpered and paused sucking to experience the most intense impact of her orgasm. While still trembling, she resumed giving him pleasure with her mouth. Her movements had be very clumsy, making Lu Zihao smile.

    "Take your time," he murmured while stroking her face and hair.

    She didn''t seem to hear him. Her entire focus was on making hime.

    His body began to tighten.

    Long Jinjing took this as a cue and then did something unexpected. She reached behind him with her arm, found his butt cheek, gave it a quick squeeze, and then smacked it.

    <i>Pak!</i>

    The dumbfounded Lu Zihao came inside her mouth before he could control himself.

    Did this woman just smack him?

    Smacked. His. Fucking. Butt?

    She swallowed everything before releasing his still-hard shaft from her mouth. Then she copsed on the bed and gasped for breath.

    Lu Zihao stared at her, still processing what the woman just did.

    When he recovered, his eyes darkened dangerously but there was an evil smile on his lips.

    "W-what?" Long Jinjing saw his expression and became nervous.

    He sat on the bed beside her. "I can''t wait for the brats toe out of you. Then we can go hard and rough again in bed. And¡­try new things."

    She bit her lower lip and batted her eyshes. "Okay."

    "Heh~ It seems that you like your friends'' presents. I like them, too."

    "Uhm¡­."

    "Did you like it when you smacked me?"

    "No! Uh, m-maybe¡­a little."

    He lowered his head until their faces were only inches apart. "You''ll pay for that."

    Her breathing started bing erratic once again.

    "But we''ll dy it until after you give birth," he added. "Just know that I''ll be collecting interest when the timees."

    Long Jinjing pouted but she couldn''t hide the anticipation shining in her eyes. Lu Zihao chuckled when he saw it.

    ###

    By the weekend, Jin Liwei''s special online raffle give-away had already be so huge that even the major news stations were reporting it. They even made a countdown for its draw and encouraged more people to join.

    There was no need to go through the individual entries like what happened in CEO Jin''s Special 3-Nation Bonanzast year as a dedication to his beloved wife Iris Long, so an automated random draw was enough to choose the winners.

    Jin Chonglin and several other bigshots had added to the prize pool so there were many winners chosen.

    When the winners were finally announced, they all acted as if they won the lotto. And in a way, they did.

    The prizes were nothing to joke about. They weren''t inferior to the previous 3-nation bonanza at all.

    In addition, everyone was free to join this time, not just the ck Stars. Jin Liwei and Iris Long''s followers increased many times as a result. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Thank you so much, CEO Jin! I''m so happy that I won. Congrattions on the birth of your twin sons!"

    "Iris Long, please continue making CEO Jin happy so that he''ll often shower us, plebeians, with this kind of wee blessings!"

    "Boss Iris, CEO Jin, please post more photos of Little Mochi and Little Matcha!"

    The major news publications gave a special feature on the give-away winners.

    In the nursery room at Dragon Pce Home #10, Dom was reading all thements aloud while Iris rocked her second twin son, Little Matcha.

    The eldest twin, Little Mochi, was lying in the crib with his eldest feline sister. Ice Cream was teasing Little Mochi with her fluffy tail.

    "You can post more photos of the twins but make sure not to show their faces," Iris told Dom.

 Chapter 1315 - The Ultimate Hacker Team Is Back

    <h4>Chapter 1315 - The Ultimate Hacker Team Is Back</h4>

    "Don''t worry, boss!" Dom assured Iris. "I''ll make sure to showcase our cutie-patootie twin babies'' cuteness overload to the whole wide world without revealing their actual faces!"

    Iris watched as her best friend immediately started taking photos of Little Mochi and Ice Cream before moving on to her and Little Matcha. She pretended not to notice so that he could take a "candid" shot.

    After choosing the best photos and editing them so that the twins'' faces were covered by cartoon kitty stickers, Dom didn''t waste any time posting the two photos on Iris'' official social media ounts.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    One photo showed a grey, fat cat teasing the eldest twin with her fluffy tail. Little Mochi was very lively with both his little mittened hands and little socked feet waving in the air trying to catch his eldest feline sister''s tail. The image was dripping with cuteness.

    On the other hand, the other photo had a more artistic ir to it. Iris was cradling the second twin, Little Matcha, in her arms. She stared at her baby with a soft, maternal smile. Her expression was filled with love and gentleness. The sunlight shining through the sheer curtains in the background made her and the baby glow while the shadows in the corners bnced the tranquil tone of the photo.

    As soon as these photos were posted online, they immediately garnered thousands of likes andments in just a few seconds. People had been stalking Iris and Jin Liwei''s social media ounts every single day in the hopes of seeing new updates about the twins.

    Even the media was monitoring their posts. It wouldn''t surprise anyone if today''s post featuring the twins was to be reported in the national evening newster tonight.

    The ck Stars couldn''t stop gushing about the twins online.

    "Little Mochi is so cute~ Ice Cream is such a responsible big sister for always guarding her baby brother. By the way, where is Popcorn? Howe he doesn''t stay with his twin baby brothers like Ice Cream?"

    DomtheBeautyKing replied: "Ice Cream loves her new baby brothers the most! If she''s able to, I''m sure that she''ll even bottle-feed them and change their diapers. Hehehe. Popcorn prefers to y with his cousin. What a naughty kitty baby! But I''m sure that he''ll eventually spend a lot of time with his twin baby brothers when they grow up a little and can finally y with him."

    "@DomtheBeautyKing, thank you for today''s post! Please give us more updates about Boss Iris and the twins. Little Mochi and Little Matcha are mytest feel-good addiction because of their cuteness."

    "Wow! Boss Iris is back to her former figure! It hasn''t even been that long yet since she gave birth. How can she lose weight that fast?"

    "Poster above, have you seen Boss Iris during the Harmony Music Awards? The only big thing about her that time was her belly while the rest of her body basically remained the same. She was all babies! No wonder she could return to her previous figure so quickly."

    "Actually, look more carefully! Her figure looks so much better now. That hourss shape is more defined than ever! How can a mortal woman look so perfect? Kyaaaaah, Boss Iris! You''re so beautiful! I love you so much!"

    "Little Matcha is always so well-behaved. Heys down quietly and properly and doesn''t wriggle like his elder brother, Little Mochi. But the twins are both so cute! I want to see how they look like so badly. I wonder who they resemble the most. Will it be Boss Iris or CEO Jin?"

    Dom continued replying to some of thements. Iris chuckled in amusement.

    Then she kissed Little Matcha who finally fell asleep. This son of hers looked exactly like her husband. So adorable!

    After carefully cing Little Matcha beside Little Mochi who thankfully had also fallen asleep, Iris stroked Ice Cream before heading to the corner of the room farthest away from the crib. She grabbed herptop and made herselffortable on the couch.

    A white cat and a ck one greeted her when she turned on herptop.

    "Hello, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Greetings, Mother."

    Iris smiled at her AI children. "Ready?"

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Ketchup has been waiting to work again with my super-duper to the highest level awesome mommy! Meow~"

    Bacon didn''t reply but the rapid rotation of his tail was enough to reveal his true feelings.

    "Alright. Let''s start."

    Iris'' eyes turned serious and her fingers started flying across her keyboard. Ketchup and Bacon''s eyes glowed green and gold respectively.

    The ultimate hacker team was back!

    Drakon together with WhiteTigress and ckPanther.

    Using aptop was not asfortable as using the powerful equipment in herputer room, but for now, this was would do. She knew her tendency to be too absorbed when working inside herputer room.

    Spending too much time inside theputer room was not an option when she had to take care of her babies. It wasn''t safe for her to bring her babies inside either. They were still too young and the radiation emitted by the equipment inside might negatively affect their growth and development. As a mother, she couldn''t be careless when it came to her children.

    This was why even if it was not very convenient, she decided to use aptop instead to make hereback as Drakon. The progress might be slower than usual but at least she would be helping in speeding up the stalled investigations.

    There were a lot more pressing matters that needed her attention but she decided to focus first on something that was bothering her the most.

    "We''ll focus on the Smoking Devil and how it ended up in Emilio Miguel''s hands. And also we need to find out Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s role in all this."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Meow~"

    "Understood, Mother."

    The trio dug for more information but couldn''t find anything useful. Iris was very dissatisfied. The public information about the Smoking Devil was all fake. There was no mention of the Vetrovs at all.

    What they found was that Emilio Miguel allegedly acquired the Smoking Devil from an underground auction¡ªnot quite the ck market but not an exactly legal channel either.

    Iris was skeptical.

    This information shouldn''t be 100% real.. But it was a start.

 Chapter 1316 - E.V.

    <h4>Chapter 1316 - E.V.</h4>

    Even if the details they found out about the Smoking Devil was not 100% urate, Iris could still use it to find more relevant information. She followed the Smoking Devil''s trail and dug for more information about the underground auction.

    Voil¨¤!

    She discovered other items belonging to the Vetrovs. The anonymous sellers were quite smart and cautious. They didn''t dispose of the items in a single auction but spaced them out.

    Like the Smoking Devil, there was no mention that the items had any connection to the Vetrovs. New backstories were made up for each of the items. Despite this, Iris wouldn''t make a mistake in identifying them as treasures belonging to the Vetrovs.

    Her fingers halted when she saw something that belonged to her.

    It was her grand piano.

    There was no mistaking it.

    It was hers!

    She zoomed in on one of the photos.

    E.V.

    It was her initials that she personally carved on one of the back legs when she was still a little girl.

    Tears flowed down her eyes without her control.

    "Mommy! Mommy! Why are you crying? Are you hurt somewhere? Please don''t cry! Meowuwuwu!"

    "Mother, please tell Bacon who has made you cry. Bacon will destroy that evil person."

    Dom was also rmed. He immediately ran to her.

    "Boss, what''s wrong? Ketchup, call your daddy! Quick! No, wait. Call the doctor first! Come, boss. I''ll carry you to the hospital wing!"

    Iris wiped her tears and took a shaky breath. "No need. Actually, I''m fine."

    "But you''re crying, Mommy! It doesn''t look like happy crying! Meow!"

    It took some time for Iris to reassure Dom and her AI children. Fortunately, themotion didn''t wake up the twins. To be exact, Little Mochi stirred from sleep but Ice Cream quickly soothed the baby back to sleep with her purr.

    Little Matcha remained in deep sleep. It was in situations like this that Iris was d that her youngest twin son inherited her trait as a deep sleeper.

    In the end, Dom and the AI kids reluctantly epted her reassurances that she was fine. They continued to worry about her, though.

    "Mommy, Daddy is calling. Sorry, Mommy. Ketchup alerted my daddy as soon as Mommy started crying because Daddy told Ketchup to always keep an eye on Mommy. Please don''t get mad. Meow~"

    "I''m not mad, Ketchup. Thank you. Please answer the call for me."

    "Connecting the call in 3¡­2¡­meow!"

    "Are you okay, love?" Jin Liwei immediately asked without even saying hello. The worry in his tone was obvious.

    Iris'' heartache at seeing her old grand piano auctioned off to strangers without her consent eased a lot after hearing her husband''s voice.

    "What happened? Talk to me, baby."

    "I¡­" Iris didn''t know how to start. "I don''t want to talk about it over the phone."

    Jin Liwei paused before saying, "Alright. I''ll head home now."

    "What about your work?"

    "I''m done with the most urgent ones. Nothing is more important at work than my own wife. Wait for me, okay? I''ming home soon."

    She sniffled and smiled. "Okay, darling. I''ll be waiting for you."

    The call ended.

    Ketchup reported that her daddy had already left thepany and was now on his way home.

    Iris was relieved. She missed her husband and craved for hisfort.

    She continued staring at the auction photos of her grand piano on herptop. Unlike the other items belonging to the Vetrovs including her brother''s Smoking Devil, this grand piano was a source of nostalgic memories for her.

    It had been herpanion whenever she felt lonely and trapped. She would y music with it over and over again to soothe herself. Manypositions were born using it.

    But the strongest memory she had of it was her own death.

    She had been ying the grand piano when the enemies gunned her down. It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that the grand piano was her deathbed.

    It was a tragic memory, yes. But at the same time, it was also the moment that she felt the most free in her past life.

    Her death back then meant freedom, atst.

    Therefore, she still gravitated towards the grand piano among the other items despite it being directly associated to her own tragic death in her past life.

    The shock of seeing her own possession killed her motivation in continuing her investigations today. She needed to process her emotions first and clear her mind.

    "Let''s stop for today. We''ll continue tomorrow."

    "Okie dokie, Mommy! Take a rest. Daddy is rushing home now. Meow~"

    "Understood, Mother. Please don''t hesitate to tell Bacon anyone who makes you cry. Bacon will annihte them from the world."

    Iris smiled and rubbed the images of her AI children on herptop screen. "Thank you."

    Ketchup shook her fluffy white butt from joy and smiled, looking very adorable as always. Bacon looked bored like usual but his rotating tail expressed his true feelings.

    By the time that Jin Liwei arrived home, Iris was breastfeeding Little Mochi. Dom left the nursery room to give her privacy. Little Matcha was still sleeping.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jin Liwei gave her a quick kiss on the mouth and examined her from head to toe and back up again. He released a big sigh of relief upon seeing that she appeared fine.

    He had been so worried when Ketchup alerted him about his wife crying all of a sudden. Ketchup exined what they had been doing. He quickly caught on the situation.

    He was afraid that something simr to what happened at Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party would happen again, that his wife would cry and faint upon seeing something from her past life as a Vetrov.

    After washing his hands in the ensuite bathroom, he took Little Mochi from Iris and made his son burp before rocking him to sleep again.

    Iris showed him the grand piano on herptop afterwards.

    "It was mine."

    She showed him the initials E.V. carved in the back leg.

    Then she told him, "I was killed while ying this piano."

    Jin Liwei stopped breathing for a few seconds. His nose red as he began breathing again. He felt abination of fury and sadness for his wife. He hugged her tightly and nuzzled her hair.

    "Evelina, don''t cry over the past anymore."

 Chapter 1317 - Dare To Profit Off The Vetrovs?

    <h4>Chapter 1317 - Dare To Profit Off The Vetrovs?</h4>

    "I''ll try," Iris whispered while pressing herself closer to her husband.

    She inhaled his scent and felt instantlyforted. His arms were sturdy and his presence stable. He was her firm anchor whenever her past life threatened to unbnce her current life.

    At first, Jin Liwei thought that his wife would feel repulsed by the grand piano and the tragic memories rted to it. He was surprised to find that she reacted much better this time than when she previously encountered the Smoking Devil at Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s birthday party.

    Then he soon sensed her yearning for the grand piano.

    "You want it?" he asked.

    Iris didn''t reply.

    There was no need for her to say anything. He already knew the answer based on her expression alone.

    "I''ll get it for you," he told her.

    She looked at him. There was a glimmer of excitement in her eyes whichsted for only a second before helpless resignation set in. She shook her head.

    "No, darling. It''s too dangerous. We already got the Smoking Devil at a charitable auction, so our acquisition of it is in the public records. Although the true origins of the Vetrov treasures have been changed for reselling, I''m sure that those who looted them back then know the truth. If someone discovers that we''re trying to collect other Vetrov treasures, it''s going to rm a lot of enemies. They''re bound to investigate whether we have any connection to the Vetrovs or not. We''re going to end up kicking a deadly ho''s nest that way."

    Jin Liwei brushed a lock of her silky, ck hair away from her face. "But you still want the grand piano."

    Her eyes reddened but she didn''t cry this time. She sighed again.

    "It''s fine, darling. I''m fine. Really. It''s just a piano."

    They were interrupted when Little Mochi started wailing.

    Iris immediately got up to find out what their eldest twin son wanted. It turned out that the fussy baby needed a diaper change. Before Iris could do it, Jin Liwei took over the task. He was already an expert in changing diapers. His expression didn''t show any disgust although his nose twitched a few times.

    Later, Iris took a nap in their bedroom while Huang Yuyan stayed with the twins at the nursery room. Jin Liwei changed into his home clothes, kissed his sleeping wife, and then headed to the living area of their suite.

    He called a few people in his contact list.

    All of them had one thing inmon.

    They were all living abroad and each of them owed him a favour.

    "It''s me, Liam. I want to acquire an item sold at an underground auction but I don''t want my name to be associated with the transaction in any way. I''ll pay top price plus a generousmission fee for you if you can persuade the current owner to sell the item. If you do this for me, I''ll write off the favour you owe me."

    After the phone calls, Jin Liwei contemted whether to inform his brother-inw about it or not. His priority was getting the grand piano for his wife but he wasn''t sure if she or Lu Zihao, no, Niki wanted the other Vetrov items as well.

    His wife had no deep attachments to her past life but his brother-inw did. He knew that Niki desired revenge upon all enemies of the Vetrovs. Jin Liwei worried that revealing the existence of these items might trigger his brother-inw into doing something foolish and dangerous.

    In the end, he made still made a decision.

    "Bacon, tell your Uncle Zihao about your mom''s findings today. Remind him not to do anything stupid."

    "Understood, Father. Bacon will go inform Uncle Zihao now."

    Jin Liwei leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes, sighing. He wasn''t sure if he did the right thing by telling his brother-inw. However, he already learned from firsthand experience with his wife that keeping important secrets to people close to him could also be considered a form of betrayal depending on the situation.

    If not for his determination to win back his wife after confessing his role in causing the death of the original Long Xin, he might not have the wonderful family that he had right now.

    His brother-inw had a simr situation with his wife. Niki now upied the body of Lu Zihao, Jin Liwei''s fifth brother. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Jin Liwei felt that his brother-inw deserved to know about the existence of the Vetrov items. He just hoped that the remnant of his Fifth Brother Lu Zihao would be able to somehow persuade the bloodthirsty Niki to handle the situation with extreme caution.

    "The ball is in your court now, Niki. You''re going to be a father soon. Don''t be reckless."

    ###

    "Say that again!" Lu Zihao demanded with a dark expression.

    The ck cat swished his tail and replied in his usual bored voice. "Father is finding a way to buy Mother''s grand piano that she owned when she was still Evelina Vetrova. He asks if Uncle Zihao wants the other Vetrov treasures as well."

    "Show me your findings."

    Bacon sent his uncle the summarized results of the investigations he did with his mother and sister earlier.

    Lu Zihao viewed it on a tablet.

    He was currently in the bedroom he shared with his wife. He waspletely naked with his hair still dripping with water from the shower. He had finished his daily training regimen with his subordinates and the mansion''s security staff at the on-site training grounds. He originally nned on looking for his wife and spending time with her after showering.

    At this hour, Long Jinjing should be taking her daily walk in the gardens outside the mansion with Jiang Ying Yue.

    Unfortunately, his n to spend time with her had to be put on hold after hearing Bacon''s words.

    Lu Zihao''s eyes shed with a strong murderous intent.

    All the items showed in his sister and her AI children''s investigation results indeed belonged to the Vetrovs.

    "Damn thieving bastards!"

    He threw the tablet. It bounced on the bed. He sneered.

    "Dare to profit off the Vetrovs? Just wait.. You tried sending me to hell back then. This time, I''ll drag you all to hell with me and we''ll all burn in eternal fire together!"

 Chapter 1318 - Death Sentence

    <h4>Chapter 1318 - Death Sentence</h4>

    In the next few days, Iris calmed down and stopped trying to think about the grand piano she owned in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    She found time whenever the twins were either sleeping or being minded by others like her mother-inw and Grandpa Lu to continue tackling all the stalled investigations with Ketchup and Bacon.

    It hade to her attention that her brother was now in the process of trying to acquire all the Vetrov treasures that they could find. She wasn''t surprised.

    There was no point in trying to stop her brother when he had already set his mind into doing something. Just like her, Niki Vetrov could be quite willful. They were indeed siblings.

    All she could do was to assist his acquisition of the Vetrov treasures through Bacon and make sure that his actions were as covert as possible to avoid arousing the rm and suspicion of the enemies.

    At the moment, she already moved on to another task. This was a task that had been stalled for quite a long time already.

    She pulled out the file on Tian Kong, the young man who caused the bomb incident at the mall show that injured many people including Iris, Jin Chonglin, their fans and other innocent bystanders.

    Official police records showed that his home was filled with Iris Long''s photos, posters, music and other memorabilia. He wasbelled as an obsessed fan who became twisted from extreme jealousy after Iris and Jin Liwei publicly confirmed their rtionship.

    Back then, Tian Kong "confessed" to the police that it was Zhu Ning, Long Jian''s mother, who was the mastermind of the whole bomb incident. He imed that he and Zhu Ning were lovers. He even released a sex video of the two of them to prove their affair.

    Zhu Ning allegedly knew about his unhealthy obsession for Iris Long and used it to control him. She sessfully directed him to bomb Iris'' mall show.

    The result was that Tian Kong was arrested and so did Zhu Ning. Long Tengfei''s former mistress became an instant social pariah. The insults thrown at her by the general public were all brutal.

    This prompted her son, Long Jian, to lower his pride and beg for Iris and Jin Liwei''s help in person to get his mother out of jail. After agreeing to a temporary alliance, Iris gathered enough evidence to prove Zhu Ning''s innocence, including the proof that the sex video of her and Tian Kong was fake. Then Jin Liwei took care of the rest.

    Zhu Ning was sessfully released from jail. This earned Long Jian''s gratitude towards Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Now that Zhu Ning was out of the picture, Iris focused on Tian Kong''s ims. Since Zhu Ning''s innocence had already been proven, it meant that his confession about their affair was a lie.

    Therefore, it was only reasonable to assume that his other ims were also not entirely true.

    Iris doubted that he was really her obsessed fan who turned into a hater after she and Jin Liwei became an official couple. She thought that it was just a diversion tactic to shift the attention away from the real mastermind.

    She didn''t believe this story at all, neither did Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao.

    By this time, Tian Kong had already been long transferred into a high-security prison. The Chief of Police was personally handling his case.

    If Iris was having trouble finding concrete clues about the real mastermind behind Tian Kong, how could the authorities find anything useful before her?

    There was a disturbingck of evidence after all this time. Despite this, Tian Kong was still sentenced the death penalty for his crime.

    There might not be any deaths from the bomb incident but he caused a startling number of injuries, many of them severe. Some of the victims had to live with physical disabilities for the rest of their lives, not to mention the mental trauma they incurred.

    It might not be the perfect solution but Iris, Jin Liwei, Jin Chonglin and even Long Tengfei were all contributing together to provide lifetime support for the disabled victims from the bomb incident.

    Tian Kong''s crime was unforgivable. If things went ording to his original evil n, then the death toll would be unimaginable.

    Iris might have been killed for the second time around.

    Since his arrest, there had been several attempts to kill off Tian Kong even when he was already inside the high-security prison. Fellow prisoners, wardens, other staff, and even visitors had been stopped in time before they could murder Tian Kong.

    It was obvious that someone wanted him dead.

    At the same time, he was also on suicide watch. He already attempted to kill himself a few times but was always unsessful.

    It was a good thing that the Chief of Police was a capable man who had excellentmand of the majority of the force. He wouldn''t allow Tian Kong to die before his death sentence.

    Critics of the Police Chief faulted him for wasting state funds. Just let the criminal die, they said. Why wait until the scheduled death sentence? The preparations for the death penalty cost money.

    If they just let the criminal be killed off by his attempted murderers, then the money reserved for his death sentence could be used in other areas with more urgent needs.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris sighed while reading the current situation at the high-security prison. She understood the radical sentiments of the Police Chief''s critics. However, she knew why the Chief of Police wasn''t allowing Tian Kong to be killed just like that.

    He was most likely hoping to find concrete clues about the real mastermind behind Tian Kong before his execution. The bombing incident was considered as a terrorist attack. Being unable to find the real mastermind behind a terrorist attack was too dangerous.

    As the Chief of Police, he had the duty to protect his country and his fellow citizens. Terrorist attacks were unforgivable and should be stopped before they happened.

    Although Iris still didn''t feelpletelyfortable with the police due to her past life as a Vetrov, she couldn''t stop herself from admiring the Chief of Police.. He was, without a doubt, a man of strong and upright principles.

 Chapter 1319 - Biologically Mother And Son

    <h4>Chapter 1319 - Biologically Mother And Son</h4>

    Iris had to pause her investigations on Tian Kong tofort her fussy eldest twin son.

    Little Mochi loved being cuddled by his parents the best. The baby could endure a few hours at most without either his mommy or daddy but would eventually kick up a big fuss if he couldn''t sense his parents'' presence for too long.

    His maternal grandfather, Long Tengfei,mented during histest visit that Little Haoyu (Mochi) acted exactly like Iris when she was still a baby. Not the current Iris but the original Long Xin who craved, no, "demanded" love and attention from everybody.

    Unlike his eldest twin brother, Little Matcha didn''t mind who took care of him as long as he liked them. Although Little Matcha was still a baby, he already had clear likes and dislikes.

    He was well-behaved and generally unbothered, but if he encountered something or someone he disliked, he would protest with a vengeance. Little Matcha rarely wailed without any good reason, but whenever he did, his cries were even louder and more rming than his eldest twin brother''s regr fussy wails. His cries in this kind of situations were more from fury rather than from difort, insecurity or fear.

    Iris felt amused and resigned at the same time. For her, it was amazing to watch how her twin sons were each developing their own distinct personalities. Hence, she avoided dressing them up in identical clothing like most twins. She wanted to nurture their own identities independent of their connection as twin brothers.

    But at the same time, she worried that she wouldn''t be able to properly guide them to grow up into decent human beings. Little Mochi and Little Matcha were still babies and yet they were already showing such strong personalities this early.

    What if she failed as a mother and they ended up growing crooked in the future?

    Strong arms hugged her from behind followed by a light, lingering peck on her cheek. She turned around and leaned on her husband.

    Jin Liwei smoothed out the furrow between her brows with a finger. "What''s making you worry, hm?"

    Iris smiled and shook her head. Her eyes, however, couldn''t lie. They were anxious while looking at the twins.

    He immediately knew. He sighed and tightened his arms around her. "I already told you many times not to worry about this. You''re an incredible mother."

    She didn''t reply but her expression eased after hearing his words.

    "Don''t worry, love. If these boys dare not listen to their mom, watch how their dad put them in their proper ces."

    She reached for his face and pulled him down for a kiss on the mouth. "I know that I can always depend on you, Liwei. Thank you. I feel better already."

    "Good." Jin Liwei was relieved that his wife''s expression looked better. He then took their fussy eldest twin son from her and rocked the baby.

    Iris checked on their other baby on the crib. Little Matcha was awake and obediently lying in the crib while sucking on a pacifier. His eldest feline sister, Ice Cream, was purring beside him. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    After making sure that he was fine, Iris sat on the couch and watched her husband shaking a rattle to their eldest twin son.

    "I think Long Tengfei is right," she said.

    Jin Liwei nced at her. "Right in what?"

    "That Little Mochi is exactly like Long Xin."

    He paused before looking at Little Mochi in his arms. "Is he really?"

    She frowned and tried to go through the original Long Xin''s memories. Anything from when Long Xin was younger than five years old was extremely difficult to remember, but just based on how she grew upter as a spoiled and rebellious teenager, Iris (Evelina) could only conclude that Long Tengfei must be right in saying that Little Mochi acted exactly like the original Long Xin as a baby.

    Seeing that that the deep furrow returned between his wife''s brows again, Jin Liwei was quick to reassure her.

    "It doesn''t matter if Little Mochi took after the original Long Xin. Biologically, they''re mother and son. That''s a fact. We can''t deny it. Genes don''t lie. But their growing environments arepletely different. You''re now Little Mochi''s mother, Evelina. And I''m his father. I know that you won''t be a selfish, narcissistic mother like Wei Lan and I''m certain that I will never be an absent father like Long Tengfei. Trust in us, baby. We''ll properly raise our children together."

    Iris smiled. Her worried expression eased again. Jin Liwei, her husband, knew best how to make her feel better.

    She rested her head on her arm while continuing to watch their family. What Jin Liwei said just now stuck with her.

    The original Long Xin and Little Mochi were indeed mother and son biologically. It shouldn''t surprise her if her eldest twin son took after a portion of the original Long Xin''s attention-seeking personality.

    Having taken over Long Xin''s life and living with the original''s memories, she already learned to sympathize with the original Long Xin despite the vast differences in their personalities.

    At first nce, their life experiences might be the opposite of each other, but in a way, their inner hopes and desires were somewhat simr.

    The original Long Xin grew up with a self-absorbed mother who preferred dumping her to the household staff than personally raising her. Her father was always absent, not to mention that he had three other children from separate women.

    Long Xin craved for love and attention but none of her parents could give it to her. Theck of proper guidance caused her to grow unrestrained and spoiled to her own detriment.

    Since she was unable to get the love and attention she wanted from her family, she turned to the public instead. She somehow formed the idea that gaining more fans meant that more people would love her. This was the main reason why she did everything in her power to be popr by ingratiating herself to famous celebrities like Jin Chonglin.

    In the end, her ignorant actions caused widespread misunderstandings and further damaged her already rotten reputation.

    Even worse, Jin Chonglin''s crazy fianc¨¦e, Fan Luo, targeted her and eventually caused her tragic death in that pivotal car ident that triggered everything.

 Chapter 1320 - Drama Queen

    <h4>Chapter 1320 - Drama Queen</h4>

    Iris thought that the original Long Xin was a pitiful girl. Sure, she didn''t have the most endearing personality. In fact, she had been extremely outrageous throughout her short life. Her home life was the epitome of a lonely, rich girl clich¨¦ who rebelled due tock of parental affection and attention.

    As someone who possessed the original''s body and memories, Iris understood Long Xin''s desire to be epted. To be honest, the original was a naturally talented girl. She onlycked the skill and dedication because of her spoiled nature.

    The original''s natural talent gave Evelina the foundation to use her own advanced skills and techniques from her past life in order for the brand new Iris Long to quickly rise up in showbiz after making a high-profileeback.

    Simr to the original Long Xin, Evelina Vetrova had also craved a "normal" family life.

    She had known that her father loved her but couldn''t spend a lot of time with her because he was the head of the organization. He had been too busy running what was basically a criminal empire.

    As for her mother, there was no need to mention how Evelina had been treated by the woman while she was growing up. Madam Vetrova had acted more like a cold and heartless robot programmed to execute objectives as perfectly as possible rather than a human being.

    If not for her older brother who had always provided her with love and warmth as best as he could, she might have already long given up in her past life. Niki Vetrov was every bit a Vetrov¡ªcruel, ruthless and vicious¡ªyet he doted on her, his one and only little sister. He might be cold-hearted to everyone else, but in reality, he wasn''t someone without a heart.

    If Niki Vetrov had been as heartless as his enemies painted him to be, then how could Evelina feel so loved and treasured by her older brother?

    It was a pity that his brotherly love hadn''t been enough to sustain her. She found herself slowly and painfully dying inside the longer she lived as a member of the Vetrov family.

    Now that she was reborn as the new Iris Long, she could see that both she and the original Long Xin had both lived lonely lives that ended in tragedy.

    "Liwei."

    Her husband looked at her while continuing to y with their eldest twin son, Little Mochi.

    "What is it, love?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Do you think that if the original Long Xin lived in a normal family with parents who loved and cared for her and educated her properly, she wouldn''t grow up the way she did? Maybe¡­just maybe she wouldn''t have died so tragically like that?"

    Jin Liwei didn''t reply right away. He thought about her question in silence for a few moments. The shaking rattle in his hand sounded almost jarring in the sudden somber atmosphere.

    "To tell you the truth, I don''t know," he finally answered. "We can''t say anything for certain when it already happened the way it did. All I can say is¡­it must be fate."

    Iris lowered her gaze and reflected on the word "fate" in her mind.

    "I might sound insensitive by saying this but I''m d that the original Long Xin¡­passed away," he continued saying.

    She raised her eyes up and looked at him in surprise before frowning. Indeed, his words were quite insensitive.

    "Of course, I still feel guilty and sorry for indirectly causing Long Xin''s death due to my erroneous decision to protect Fan Luo as my brother''s fianc¨¦e back then. But¡­"

    He looked at her straight in the eyes. His gaze was firm.

    "¡­if Long Xin hadn''t died, I wouldn''t have you now, Evelina. I''m always thankful every day that you were reborn as Long Xin because I got the chance to meet you, my fated lover."

    Her expression softened. She found herself bing teary-eyed.

    "I love you, wife. So much."

    She chuckled and wiped her eyes before standing up. She walked to him and stood on her tippy-toes for a kiss.

    "I love you too, husband."

    The kiss was light and gentle but the intensity of love it held was unmeasurable.

    Little Mochi''s restless wriggling and loud wail interrupted the husband and wife, effectively ending the sweet kiss.

    Jin Liwei rocked their eldest twin son. It was obvious from his dark expression that he was displeased but he wouldn''t take his anger out on his little baby.

    Iris giggled and kissed Little Mochi''s forehead. The baby immediately smiled. It was as if he didn''t wail just now.

    "Drama queen," she said to her son in amusement.

    "En." Jin Liwei agreed but he didn''t look as amused as her.

    Iris felt her breasts bing too swollen and heavy so she went to a hidden corner to pump milk.

    While she was out of sight, Jin Liwei looked at Little Mochi. The baby''s gaze was still unfocused but Jin Liwei pretended that the two of them were having a serious father and son heart-to-heart talk.

    "Jin Haoyu, be good. Don''t interrupt your mom and dad like that again. Do you understand?"

    Little Mochi farted.

    Iris giggled from the hidden corner.

    Jin Liwei sighed and remembered that his wife had great hearing. He lowered his head to smell his son''s diaper and winced. He sighed again as he changed Little Mochi''s diaper.

    ###

    By the weekend, Iris finally had a breakthrough in her investigations on Tian Kong.

    She did her best to be as careful as possible in not drawing attention. Although battling against other hackers was fun and rewarding, it consumedrge amounts of time and energy. She didn''t have the same amount of time and energy that she had before after bing a mother to her baby twins.

    For now, she could only suppress herpetitive instincts as a hacker and avoid direct confrontations as much as possible. At least until the twins had grown up enough not to require her constant attention. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Her efforts these past few days bore fruit. She was able to find some helpful clues without directly engaging with other hackers who were protecting the information about the real mastermind behind Tian Kong''s crime.

    "Atst," she muttered before smiling.

 Chapter 1321 - Second Only To The Vetrovs

    <h4>Chapter 1321 - Second Only To The Vetrovs</h4>

    Iris checked on the twins and left them to her mother-inw and Grandpa Lu. Then she headed to the training grounds.

    ording to Bacon, her big brother was there supervising the security teams in their daily drills.

    To her surprise, her husband was there, too.

    "What''s happening?" she asked the person nearest her.

    "Young Madam," the man greeted. He was a Shadow Winds member stationed at Dragon Pce Home #10. "Sir Jin asked Boss Hao for pointers in closebat."

    "I see. Thank you."

    "You''re wee, Young Madam."

    Iris found a seat that had a nice view of the spot where her husband and big brother were sparring. The others gave way to her. Someone even got her a can of coconut juice.

    "Young Madam, would you like some popcorn?"

    She chuckled but shook her head. "Thank you, everyone. No need to mind me. Please continue with your training. Your Boss Hao will punish you if he sees you cking off."

    There was no need for her to say anything more. Everyone scuttled back to their own training.

    Even the original members of Dragon Pce Home #10''s security team followed suit despite the fact that Lu Zihao wasn''t their official employer. Ever since they began following Shadow Winds'' training regimen personally devised by Lu Zihao, all of them had noticed a significant improvement in their physiques, mental states, and most importantly, their skills.

    Iris opened the can of coconut water and began sipping it while watching the spar between her husband and big brother. It wasn''t really aplete spar but more about Lu Zihao giving Jin Liwei practical training.

    Jin Liwei was trained in orthodox karate. He was quite skilled in it and even had a third-degree ck belt. He would have advanced even more if he hadn''t been so busy running Jin Corporation.

    Despite this, his orthodox training proved to have limited his battle instincts during realbat. There were no rules when fighting during a life and death situation.

    Would ethics and sportsmanship save a person''s life from a murderer?

    Of course not.

    Now that there were so many dangers crouching in the dark around his family, Jin Liwei couldn''t sit still. He wanted to be stronger. No, he "needed" to be stronger in order to protect his family.

    The best person that he could think of to ask for effective pointers was his brother-inw. Lu Zihao¡ªNiki Vetrov in his past life¡ªwas a grandmaster in thebat arts.

    Unlike his sister Evelina Vetrova who specialized in defensive Systema, Niki was trained to kill using many different methods including in closebat.

    Jin Liwei wouldn''t go as far as asking his brother-inw to teach him how to kill someone but it would be good for him to learn additional techniques outside of orthodox karate to defeat opponents, and most importantly, to survive the fight with his whole body intact.

    The spar went on for another half an hour. By the end of it, Jin Liwei was a rather pitiful sight. He had been choked, forced into submission, and thrown on the ground more times than he could count.

    Although he knew that Lu Zihao had been holding his strength back, his brother-inw''s strikes on his body still hurt like a motherfucker. In spite of it all, Jin Liwei didn''tin even once. He was the one who asked for it after all.

    Lu Zihao helped him up from the ground. "Your training in karate gave you a solid foundation which is good. Your body is also in great condition. What you need to focus more on is honing your battle reflexes."

    "Got...it," Jin Liwei replied while struggling to catch his breath.

    "I''ll be staying here most of the time until Jinjing gives birth so I can personally supervise your progress. When I''m not here, my subordinates will help guide you."

    Jin Liwei nodded and wiped the sweat off his brow.

    Lu Zihao grunted.

    The brothers-inw turned and saw Iris. Actually, they already noticed her as soon as she arrived earlier. Jin Liwei wanted to pause the spar and greet his wife but Lu Zihao directly threw him on the ground and grabbed him in a chokehold.

    Iris handed each of the two men a bottle of water. Then she handed her brother a towel before proceeding to wipe Jin Liwei''s sweaty body with another towel.

    Jin Liwei leaned down and gave her a quick, hard kiss on the mouth. Lu Zihao scowled at the sight but didn''t say anything. He just avoided looking at their PDA and chugged his water.

    Iris touched the red spots on her husband''s body. They would surely turn into ugly bruises tomorrow. Her heart ached for him.

    "Do you really need to do this?"

    "En."

    She pursed her lips before sighing in resignation. Since her husband was determined to train this hard, then she could only support him.

    "Just make sure not to hurt yourself too badly," she told him. "You''re a father now. I need you to raise our children together."

    His gaze on her softened. "En. I know, love."

    Lu Zihao clicked his tongue before leaving them to head to the shower room.

    "Big Brother," Iris called after him. "Meet us after you shower. I have something important to tell you."

    He raised an eyebrow but still grunted an assent.

    "You shower too, darling," she told her husband next.

    "En. Wait for me."

    Later, the three of them assembled in the home office. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris showed Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao thetest results of her investigation on Tian Kong.

    Lu Zihao''s expression turned ugly. A malevolent aura emanated from him.

    Jin Liwei nced at him before asking his wife, "What''s this Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n? It sounds familiar but I''m not sure where I''ve heard it before."

    Lu Zihao answered him before Iris could. "They''re the biggest crime syndicate in Latin America, second only to the Vetrovs in the international underworld."

    "Yes, I remember now," Jin Liwei murmured. "I''ve watched some documentaries about them when I was still studying in Boston. I think that there was a popr crime TV show back then based on them. Some of my friends were huge fans of the show."

    Lu Zihao snorted.

    "Were they and the Vetrovs enemies?" Jin Liwei asked next.

    "What do you think?" Lu Zihao shot back.

 Chapter 1322 - Alcatraz OrganizaciÃ³n

    <h4>Chapter 1322 - Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n</h4>

    "Members of the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n consider the Vetrovs to be their archnemeses," Iris interjected.

    Lu Zihao sneered but didn''t refute her words.

    Jin Liwei looked at the siblings before continuing to read his wife''s investigation results.

    "Alcatraz had always been trying to surpass the Vetrovs in the past several decades," Iris continued saying. "The Vetrovs''rgest business was on the production and sale of illegal firearms. Wherever there was war, there would surely be firearms manufactured by the Vetrovs. Of course, the illegal firearms were mostly sold to the rebel armies and not to governments."

    "Those damned governments always stole our weapons to study and reproduce," Lu Zihao said. "Fucking thieves! They don''t have the ability to hire and pay people with high IQ so they steal Vetrov technology and then im it as their own. They always put on a big show about how advanced and sophisticated their technology is but the real truth is that most of what they have are stolen from us!

    "They have always condemned the Vetrovs to be the most evil criminals in the whole world and yet look at them stealing resources everywhere, killing countless innocent people they call ''inevitable casualties'' during wars, and secretly silencing whistleblowers who were brave enough to call them out on their bullshit to the public.

    "At least we, the Vetrovs, have always been direct and honest on how we are indeed criminals. Thenpare us to all those government dogs who preach morals to their citizens during the day and then act like the worst criminals during the night. Damned hypocrites!"

    Iris lowered her gaze, not saying anything. Jin Liwei sensed his wife''s turbulent emotions after listening to her brother''s tirade. He ced his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

    "You okay?" he asked in a whisper.

    She gave her a soft smile and nodded. Then she leaned her head on his chest.

    Lu Zihao stood up from his seat. The couple watched as he paced in front of the wide windows while rubbing the Smoking Devil between his fingers.

    Iris continued exining the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n to her husband while they waited for her brother to cool off his head by the windows.

    "Unlike the Vetrovs'' monopoly in the illegal firearms production and trade, the Alcatraz have built the majority of their power from illegal drugs. They have sessfully transformed several countries into narco-states, most of them in Latin America. However, their tentacles are pervading Asia as well. Illegal drugs are very profitable. This made the Alcatraz possess great political control in their narco-states. Their presence is actually more tant than the Vetrovs who prefer to remain in the shadows."

    A loud snort of derision sounded from in front of the windows. Lu Zihao tossed the Smoking Devil up in air. Its jewels sparkled under the lights before the smoking pipe fell into its owner''s waiting hand.

    "They''re a bunch of wannabe emperors who have no ss," he spat, not bothering to conceal his disgust at all.

    Iris and Jin Liwei stopped talking. They waited for Lu Zihao to calm down enough to resume the meeting. Finally, he returned to his seat and tapped the investigation results.

    "How urate are these?" he asked.

    Iris replied, "I would say about 95% urate."

    Lu Zihao frowned. "Only?"

    She sighed. "Yes, only."

    His frown deepened.

    "The Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n is now the number one criminal organization after the Vetrovs'' downfall. I''m positive that they had a hand in what happened back then. I''m also certain that they weren''t the only culprits. There were police and soldiers when they annihted us that night."

    "I know," Lu Zihao whispered. His voice was soft yet his expression was hard and savage. "I know it very well."

    Iris sighed. "They must have swallowed a great portion of Vetrov resources including top-secret technology. I will need more time for my own technology to infiltrate and ovee theirs if you want 100% uracy."

    Jin Liwei frowned and threw his brother-inw a look full of warning.

    "No need," Lu Zihao told his sister. "95% from you is enough. I''ll take over from here."

    He stood up. "Little devil, send your mother''s investigation results to me."

    "Uncle Zihao, please stop calling Bacon a little devil. It''s not ssy. I already told you this many times but you ignore me every time. It hurts Bacon''s feelings. I have the glorious name that Mother gave me¡ªJin Bacon. So please use it. Thank you very much."

    "Heh."

    "And Bacon will be charging Uncle Zihao for emotional distress," the ck cat AI added. As usual.

    "Little devil," Lu Zihao muttered under his breath after rolling his eyes.

    The meeting ended.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Lu Zihao left to do what he needed to do with the investigation results on Tian Kong.

    Iris and Jin Liwei returned to the nursery room to see their twins. Huang Yuyan and Grandpa Lu had already put the babies to sleep. The two reluctantly left to rest after the couple took over in watching the babies.

    Jin Liwei couldn''t stop his curiosity about the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n.

    "If they''re really involved in some way with Tian Kong, does this mean that they have already infiltrated this country?" he asked. "Do they n on transforming our country into another narco-state?"

    "My investigations haven''t reached that far yet to confirm whether they''re really directly involved with Tian Kong. As for turning this country into a narco-state, I can''t say for sure but it''s a possibility. It won''t be easy though unless they manage to gain a big and powerful tool to achieve whatever goal they have. And I don''t think that someone like Tian Kong fits their criteria."

    "Big and powerful tool," Jin Liwei murmured.

    She nodded. "Yes. Something like having one of their people in important positions in the government who can then influence other powerful and influential people into converting to their side."

    Jin Liwei continued thinking. "Is it only in the government?"

    "Not really." She shrugged. "There are other possible methods."

    "Other possible methods¡­hmmm. How about big and powerfulpanies?"

    She gave him an approving smile. "My husband is smart."

    His mouth curved up at her praise before returning to a serious expression. "Does Jin Corporation fit the criteria of a big and powerful tool?"

    "Of course," she said.

    Then she froze.

    They looked at each other with wide eyes.

 Chapter 1323 - God Fantom

    <h4>Chapter 1323 - God Fantom</h4>

    "Could it be?" Iris asked in a shocked whisper.

    Jin Liwei''s expression turned even more serious at the implication. "ording to the criteria you said¡ªa big and powerful tool, then it''s possible. Whichpany is the biggest and most powerful in the country right now?"

    "Jin Corporation." Iris stood up and started pacing as she analyzed things based on this logic. "Not only in this country. It''s also one of the mostpetitivepanies in the world stage especially in Asia. Asia...Asia¡­Singapore! Liwei!"

    "En." His gaze turned cold.

    "Could it be that the power backing the Youngs in Singapore¡ª?"

    "Might be this Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n," he finished her sentence.

    Iris looked enlightened. "We''re not 100% sure yet if our conjectures are correct but this is a good clue to use for redoing our stalled investigations. Now that I think about everything that has been happening, it all makes sense!"

    She walked over to her husband and sat on hisp. Then she gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the mouth. "You''re the best, darling!"

    Jin Liwei wrapped his arms around his wife''s waist and pulled her closer to his body. He found her mouth and kissed her again.

    Alcatraz or whatever¡ªthey could all wait.

    For now, it was time for his daily show of love to his beloved genius wife.

    ###

    Lu Zihao checked on his wife and made sure that she was fine before leaving Dragon Pce in a hurry.

    Long Jinjing watched from a second-floor window as his car drove away from the mansion. He didn''t say anything to her but she sensed a heavy and stormy energy emanating from him that he tried so hard to restrain in front of her. Something must have happened at Shadow Winds.

    Anxiety filled her. She caressed her swollen belly and tried to calm down. It wasn''t good for their babies if she stressed herself too much.

    Her due date was fast approaching, but she was carrying twins, so it was possible that she would give birth earlier than expected just like her younger sister.

    She already prepared herself to give birth anytime now. Despite this, she still couldn''t stop herself from feeling scared.

    Iris mentioned that childbirth was the worst pain that she had ever experienced but still yed it down in front of Long Jinjing. It was obvious that Iris was trying not to scare Long Jinjing.

    "Babies, don''t hurt Mommy too much when youe out, okay?" Long Jinjing murmured while rubbing her big belly. "Mommy is a little scared of being in pain but¡­whatever happens, I love you no matter what."

    She felt her babies moving inside her. For her, it didn''t hurt at all. It was just a little ufortable but nothing that she couldn''t handle. At this stage, she and Lu Zihao could even sometimes see the clear imprint of a tiny hand or foot on her belly whenever the babies pressed too hard against her.

    Personally, she loved it. The experience always gave her an almost wondrous feeling of disbelief. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Did she really create not one but two tiny human beings inside her with the man she loved?

    It was amazing.

    She patted her belly and looked at the empty driveway. Lu Zihao''s car was long gone.

    Although Lu Zihao already revealed the existence of his criminal group Shadow Winds to her, Long Jinjing still didn''t know the full extent of their activities. And to be honest, she didn''t want to know everything. What Lu Zihao showed her on his own volition was already enough for her. At least, he took the initiative to reveal his dangerous secret to her.

    The less she knew, the less risk that enemies could use to make her betray her husband.

    She was confident in herself that she would never betray her husband. But it was rare for things to go ording to one''s ns perfectly.

    "Be careful," she whispered at the long empty driveway outside. "Come home safely. Our babies and I will always be waiting for you."

    With a sigh, she turned around and left the windows.

    ###

    <i>Shadow Winds Headquarters.</i>

    "As expected of Boss Drakon."

    "Our investigations on the real mastermind behind Tian Kong have stalled for a long time. Then it only took Boss Drakon a few days after recovering enough from giving birth to find an important clue that we have missed. How embarrassing! We still have a long way to go to reach her level."

    A golden-eyed ck cat rotated his fluffy tail in a blur. "Mother is the best."

    "Yes, yes. Indeed. Bacon''s mother, the great Boss Drakon, is the best hacker ever."

    "I d-disagree," a low voice stammered from a corner.

    The other members of ShaWn looked in unison at the member who spoke just now. Their gazes were unfriendly as if theirrade just offended them by insulting their own mothers.

    That particr member cleared his throat. "I¡­uhm, what I mean is that¡­I just personally think that there is one other h-hacker in the whole world who''s way better than Boss Drakon¡­but that doesn''t mean that I''m looking down on Boss Drakon. Not at all! I idolize Boss Drakon so much but¡­I just can''t find it in me to forget about my greatest idol of all time."

    "Who are you talking about?" the leader of ShaWn asked in a fierce tone.

    "Fantom! God Fantom!"

    Silence.

    Then theputer room erupted with excited voices.

    "Yes, you''re right. The legendary Fantom!"

    "Ah, how nostalgic! I remember following the Great Fantom''s exploits in various international hacker forums almost every day back then."

    "So many hackers tried to imitate the legendary Fantom but nobody seeded!"

    "Boss Drakon is the closest to God Fantom''s style! That second-rate Eagle doesn''t evene close."

    "That''s right! Now that God Fantom has disappeared, it''s our Boss Drakon''s era right now."

    "So are you saying," a bored child''s voice interrupted the mour, "that Bacon''s mother is only second to God Fantom?"

    All ShaWn members stiffened and faced thergeputer monitor hanging on the wall where a ck cat stared at them with his creepy golden eyes like a predator eyeing his prey.

    The ck cat''s fluffy ck tail swished from left to right like the pendulum of a grandfather clock counting down the time of their deaths.

 Chapter 1324 - Fantom VS. Drakon

    <h4>Chapter 1324 - Fantom VS. Drakon</h4>

    Ever since Bacon started working as a frencer for his uncle, the ck cat AI had already managed to terrorize the majority of Shadow Winds members especially his fellow hacker colleagues. All ShaWn members had long been traumatized by the little devil.

    "Ahaha," the ShaWn leader nervouslyughed. "That''s not what we meant, Bacon."

    "Y-yeah! We didn''t say it like that. Not at all!"

    "Don''t get us wrong, Bacon. Of course, we think that Boss Drakon is the best." This member sent a meaningful look at hisrades. "Right?"

    "R-right! Boss Drakon is the best!"

    All of them were doing their damn best to pacify the little devil. When given the choice between lying and preserving their lives, they would choose to save their asses hands down.

    Nobody among them was a saint. Heck, what kind of angel or martyr would join and actively work under a criminal group like Shadow Winds? A foolish one!

    Or a double agent.

    But Bacon''s addition to Shadow Winds had severely lowered the chances of a spy infiltrating the group. A highly advanced, sophisticated and cunning AI like Bacon might not be a 100% foolproof system (for now, at least) of weeding out potential traitors but he was many times better and more efficient than humans.

    The ShaWn members might have been spending most of their time sitting in front of theirputers but they were every bit as cold-hearted and ruthless as their other Shadow Windsrades with more physical jobs.

    Even so, these ShaWn members still couldn''tpare to the ck cat AI. Bacon was essentially a little ancestor that they both respected and feared in Shadow Winds, second only to their Boss Hao.

    Bacon was one of the worst people¡ªerm, "beings"¡ªto offend at Shadow Winds. He held deep grudges and was always frighteningly persistent in exacting his revenge. His viciousness might still be juvenilepared to Boss Hao or other captains in the group who had sadistic tendencies, but Bacon already knew how to search for weaknesses and hit where it hurt the most.

    In fact, when it came to ckmail and especially extortion, Bacon was already an expert. Hearing his innocent-sounding child''s voice spouting ruthless ckmail and extorting unreasonably high amounts of money was already amon source of nightmare among Shadow Winds members.

    Bacon was also the only one in the group who was fearless enough to ckmail and extort Boss Hao himself and not suffer any consequences.

    Truly a little devil!

    The ShaWn members fawned on Bacon by praising his mother, Boss Drakon, to the high heavens to prevent the little devil from forming a grudge against them which would definitely lead them into helplessly emptying their wallets once the vicious kid acted upon his revenge.

    "Fantom''s era is over," the ShaWn leader said. "He has disappeared for a long time now. It has already been many years and yet there are no indications of him making aeback. For all we know, he might already be dead. It''s such a shame, really. I believe, and I''m sure many other hackers believe as well, that Fantom is¡ªno,<i> ''was''</i> the best hacker in the world back then. But now that he''s gone, it''s time for the next generation to im his top spot."

    "True! Now is Boss Drakon''s era. She''s not the next Fantom like so many other hackers like Eagle are aiming to be. Boss Drakon is the first Drakon!"

    "Listen to us, Bacon. We all admire God Fantom but he''s now a thing of the past. For us right now, your mother Boss Drakon is the best hacker in the world!"

    Bacon''s fluffy ck tail started rotating into a blur. Seeing the familiar indication of the little devil''s joy or excitement, the ShaWn members secretly sighed in relief. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Except for one.

    The same person who mentioned Fantom earlier and triggered them to act like excited fangirls spoke again. He even stood up and pounded his chest over his heart. His expression showed that he was ready to die for his own beliefs.

    "I''m sorry but for me, God Fantom is the number one forever! Nobody can change my mind! I mean, uh, I do admire Boss Drakon and I think she''s amazing and all but you don''t understand, Bacon. If you only witnessed God Fantom''s majestic skills and unparalleled hacking exploits that have all be legendary back then, I''m sure that you¡­you''ll also agree¡­."

    His voice became weaker and weaker upon seeing the ck cat AI''s tail stopped rotating and was now back to swishing in what felt like a threatening rhythm. Bacon''s golden eyes weren''t even real but howe they looked so scary when they glow like that?

    This ShaWn member sat back down dejectedly. He was already resigned to his fate of nursing an empty wallet in the next few months.

    "Why are you all acting like wilted weeds? It''s not ssy. Bacon was just asking your opinions about my mother and Fantom."

    The members looked cautious and confused at the same time.

    "To tell you the truth, Bacon agrees that Fantom is the best hacker."

    The dejected ShaWn member immediately perked up. "I know, right? God Fantom is iparable!"

    Bacon ignored him. "At the same time, Bacon''s mother, Drakon, is also the best hacker. Fantom and Drakon are both the best in the history of the, no, the entire universe."

    "Y-yes, you''re right!" the ShaWn leader immediately agreed.

    "Bacon''s words are always urate!"

    "Indeed, there is no need topare two legends of different eras. They''re both legends. Period!"

    All ShaWn members kept on throwing rainbow farts at Bacon. They hoped that the little devil would stop dwelling on this touchy topic and move on to something else that was much safer and less dangerous to their wallets.

    <i>Bang!</i>

    Everyone shut their mouths and sat up straight.

    Lu Zihao kept his foot on the table and crossed his other foot over it. He tapped on the table with a finger. The sound was like a ticking time bomb. Everyone felt cold sweat dripping down their backs but didn''t dare to move an inch.

    "What a bunch of pussies," he spat at them.

    "Uncle Zihao, that''s not a nice thing to say. It''s not ssy. Father says that¡ª"

    "Shut it, little kid. My territory, my rules!"

 Chapter 1325 - Childhood Sweetheart

    <h4>Chapter 1325 - Childhood Sweetheart</h4>

    Lu Zihao swept his cold gaze on everyone including his cheeky cat AI nephew in theputer screen who always liked testing his tolerance. Unlike his subordinates who all looked down and refused to meet his eyes, Bacon stared right back at him.

    The impudent little devil irked him but also amused him at the same time. Deep inside, he appreciated that the kid was the only one in Shadow Winds who didn''t cower in his presence.

    Lu Zihao would never admit these thoughts out loud, though. Like hell he would give the little devil another ammunition to use against him.

    With a derisive snort, he scolded his subordinates instead of letting Bacon to anger him to death.

    "You''re all grown adults and yet you act like weak pussies in front of an AI kitten. And you dare call yourselves a member of my Shadow Winds? Shameful!"

    "Uncle Zihao, Bacon is not a kitten. I have the appearance of a grown-up cat but have the spirit of a big, ferocious ck panther! Please take back your words. It hurts Bacon''s feelings¡ª"

    "Enough of your chatter, kid."

    Although Bacon was not a chatterbox like his elder sister Ketchup, he was still always extremely tenacious in correcting others whenever he heard something that he believed to be incorrect. To Lu Zihao, this tendency was as annoying as Ketchup''s nonsense prattle.

    Bacon blinked his golden eyes and turned his back on them. He no longer interrupted but his obvious sulky behavior was enough to cause the ShaWn members to feel like they were walking on eggshells.

    What if the little devil was scheming on how to extort them out of spite in order to vent his frustration at being repeatedly reprimanded by his uncle?

    They could only wave the contents of their wallets goodbye.

    Lu Zihao fought the urge to massage his suddenly aching temples. His AI nephew''s temperamental personality sucked like a bitch. He really wanted to know which asshole Bacon''s shitty personality was based on. Lu Zihao would definitely give the jackass a piece of his mind and a punch in the face.

    No matter how many times he asked his sister about the son of a bitch''s identity, she refused to tell him and would only give him a weird look. What the hell did she mean by looking at him like that?

    Evelinka had truly been corrupted by that dickhead, Jin Liwei. Before his beloved sister had been reborn as Long Xin, she always told him everything. (Actually, this was not true at all but he had already deluded himself into believing that his precious little sister didn''t keep any secrets from him.)

    Now, his sister refused to even reveal which bastard her AI son''s shitty personally was based on. Was it that hard to tell him?

    Maybe Bacon''s personality was his father Jin Liwei''s real hidden personality.

    Yes, that made sense. The two were "father and son" after all.

    Maybe that was the true reason why Evelinka wouldn''t tell him anything no matter how much he asked. She didn''t want him, her big brother, to know that her husband was a much shittier prick behind closed doors.

    Hah!

    Now he knew the truth!

    Lu Zihao scoffed at the sulking Bacon. If the kid was really upset, then why did Bacon not leave yet? It was clear that the kid still had the intentions of participating in today''s meeting.

    He removed his feet off the table and sat more properly. "Let''s return to the main purpose of this meeting."

    "Yes, Boss Hao!"

    Everybody returned to business mode. Even the sulking Bacon turned his head halfway and peeked at them out of the corner of his golden eyes.

    The leader of ShaWn cleared his throat and took over. "ording to Boss Drakon''s investigation, we missed a key person in Tian Kong''s past. A childhood friend, more like a childhood sweetheart, who immigrated to America before entering high school. This childhood sweetheart''s background is generally normal and clean. But Boss Drakon is able to find out that the childhood sweetheart became brief lovers with a Mexican-American.

    "This Mexican-American''s background also looks normal and clean but only on the surface. The truth is that he''s a low to mid-level member of a gang rted to the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n. This gang is just one of the many local gangs used by Alcatraz to smuggle illicit drugs to North America and also tounder dirty money there earned from the drug trade.

    "The childhood sweetheart and the Mexican-American''s affair onlysted for a short time. They broke up and seemed to have cut allmunications between them. This is until the childhood sweetheart suddenly decided toe back to China. She met up with Tian Kong and reminisced about their past. We don''t know if they slept together but we can assume that this is the case. She only stayed for five days before returning to America.

    "Boss Drakon''s investigation basically only contains this but it''s already a valuable breakthrough that we''ve failed to achieve in thest few months since the bomb attack. Now we can use this clue for a more focused direction moving forward."

    Lu Zihao asked, "Did we investigate the childhood sweetheart?"

    "Yes, Boss Hao."

    "Then why the fuck did we not discover what my sister discovered?"

    The ShaWn leader was embarrassed but still replied with honesty, "It''s because we didn''t investigate any further after seeing that her background is normal and clean. Also, we didn''t think that she''s that important to Tian Kong when they had been apart for so many years. When she and Tian Kong met up, nothing happened immediately afterwards. It was only six monthster that Tian Kong carried out the bomb attack at Boss Drakon''s mall show."

    Lu Zihao lectured his subordinates, "Be more meticulous next time. Don''t always depend on my sister. She''s busy with her family and her career. I don''t want to bother her anymore with tasks that Shadow Winds can damn well do by ourselves if you all just act a little morepetent."

    "Understood, Boss Hao. We swear to perform better next time!" <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Yes, we won''t unnecessarily disturb Boss Drakon anymore!"

    Nobody noticed that the sulking Bacon was no longer sulking and was once again facing all of them.. His golden eyes glowed as he monitored the entire meeting for recording (<i>ahem</i>, future ckmail,<i> ahem</i>) purposes.

 Chapter 1326 - Generosity Is Classy

    <h4>Chapter 1326 - Generosity Is ssy</h4>

    After Lu Zihaopleted distributing tasks to his subordinates, he nced at his AI nephew who was staring back at him from theputer screen on the wall.

    "You know what to do?" he asked.

    "Bacon knows, Uncle Zihao," the ck cat AI replied. "As long as Uncle Zihao pays my sry on time, I will do my job well. This is what Mother and Father taught Bacon and Big Sister Ketchup¡ªto always have an excellent work ethic."

    Lu Zihao grunted. It was good that the little devil had already stopped sulking. What if Bacon tattled on him again on his wife and the old man? His wife was easy to coax but Grandpa Lu''s nagging was something that he would rather avoid if possible.

    He already had the original Lu Zihao''s remnant annoying him to no end. If Grandpa Lu was added to the mix, he might really end up pulling all of his hair out in frustration.

    Lu Zihao nced at the time and stood up, signifying the end of the meeting. He had already stayed at Shadow Winds headquarters longer than he initially nned. Long Jinjing must be wondering why he hadn''te home yet.

    "Goodbye, Boss Hao!"

    He grunted at his subordinates before heading out. It was already past dinner time. He was displeased that he had missed eating dinner together with his wife.

    These days, he couldn''t sit still if Long Jinjing was out of his sight for too long. Her due date was fast approaching but since they were expecting twins, it wouldn''t be surprising if she also gave birth earlier like Iris. Lu Zihao didn''t want to miss the birth of his children.

    No, that wasn''t quite urate.

    The truth was that he was extremely worried about Long Jinjing. He had witnessed how much his sister suffered while giving birth to his twin nephews.

    He might not have seen the actual birth with his own eyes but just remembering how his sister''s expression looked like contorted in pain as she did her best to walk a few times in the hallway outside the delivery room during her hours-longbour was enough to make him panic.

    Evelinka also admitted that it was the worst pain that she had ever experienced, like being ripped apart from the inside.

    It was only then that Lu Zihao fully understood why his sister had told him to take Long Jinjing away while they were waiting outside the delivery room to avoid traumatizing his timid woman. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Will Jinjing be able to bear it?" Lu Zihao muttered as he drove out of the headquarters into the dark, bumpy road of the old industrial zone.

    If Long Jinjing really suffered like his sister while giving birth, he didn''t know if he could be like Jin Liwei and continue apanying his wife inside the delivery room without strangling the doctor and the medical staff.

    ###

    Back at Shadow Winds headquarters, the ShaWn members stayed in the meeting room after their Boss Hao left. They organized their assigned tasks and discussed the division ofbour among them. Bacon stayed with them as part of the hacker team.

    Afterwards, they were ready to disperse but was stopped by Bacon.

    Everyone instantly became wary.

    "W-what''s wrong, Bacon?"

    The ck cat AI swished his fluffy tail. "Bacon has sent everyone 100 yuan each."

    "Huh?"

    The ShaWn members looked confused¡­and suspicious.

    What happened?

    Although 100 yuan was basically nothing to people like them, they knew that a money-grubber like Bacon would never cough out 1 yuan, what more 100 yuan, to other people without any good reason.

    Could this be¡­a trap?

    The ShaWn leader cleared his throat. "Thank you, Bacon, but there''s no need! Really! We''re okay. Right, everyone?"

    "Right! There''s no need!

    "Just keep your money, Bacon!"

    Bacon folded himself like a loaf and began licking his front paw. "The money has already been sent. If any of you dare to send it back to me, you will hurt Bacon''s feelings. If that happens, Bacon wants 100 thousand yuan aspensation for emotional distress on top of the original 100 yuan that I originally sent."

    Everyone was quick to change tunes. They weren''t foolish to reject 100 yuan and pay a thousand times that amount instead.

    "If you say it like that, then we have no choice but to ept it."

    "Thank you, Bacon!"

    They escaped in a hurry before the little devil could change his mind.

    At the same time, they wondered why Bacon was acting so generous today.

    Was the little devil finally maturing and bing more reasonable?

    If that was really the case, then¡­AWESOME!!! Perhaps they didn''t have to be terrorized anymore whenever they offended the little ancestor.

    When everyone was gone, Bacon''s swishing tail sped up and rotated in a blur. He didn''t know or care what his colleagues thought about his 100 yuan give-away per person.

    "Fantom is the best. Drakon is the best. Mother is the best."

    Bacon felt pleased that the ShaWn members were idolizing his mother. It didn''t matter if some of them thought that Fantom was the best hacker in the world while the rest thought Drakon was the best. To Bacon, both Fantom and Drakon were both his mother anyway.

    Meaning, his mother was the best!

    Even though he felt reluctant to give out 100 yuan per person, now that he did it, he felt good. Really good!

    Was this how his parents felt whenever they gave things away to others?

    Mother liked supporting charities through her foundation Iris of Hope and her education schrship program for the ck Stars while Father liked holding huge, extravagant giveaways to celebrate milestones rted to Mother.

    Now that Bacon experienced something simr, he felt that being generous wasn''t so bad after all.

    "It seems that generosity is really ssy," Bacon talked to himself. "But Bacon doesn''t really care about other people at all. Mother and Father are too ssy when ites to generosity. Bacon is still far from reaching their level."

    He checked his bank ount. Over 95% of all his savings so far were gone. But instead of being heartbroken, his tail rotated even faster.

    "Bacon can''t wait to see Mother''s reaction when she sees the surprise that I''ve been saving for all this time."

    He rushed back home to apany his Great-Grandpa Lu¡­and of course, to tattle on his Uncle Zihao for telling him to shut up earlier and hurting his feelings.

 Chapter 1327 - Greeting An Old Friend

    <h4>Chapter 1327 - Greeting An Old Friend</h4>

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10. </i>

    "Careful, love," Jin Liwei said as he led his blindfolded wife along the hallway.

    Iris held his arm andpletely trusted him. She had no idea what her husband was up to.

    Earlier, she had just finished singing a luby to coax their twins to nap when her husband suddenly announced that he had a surprise for her. He refused to tell her no matter how many times she asked. Then he covered her eyes with a silk handkerchief and began leading her to whatever surprise he prepared for her.

    "We''re here," Jin Liwei whispered.

    His hot breath tickled her ear, making her shiver.

    "Ready?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    He removed the blindfold from her eyes.

    She blinked a few time to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. Soon, she realized that they were in her music room.

    Feeling a little confused, she asked her husband, "Why did you bring me here?"

    He didn''t answer but looked at her with an expression that she couldn''t quite identify.

    "Do you want me to y something for you?" she asked next.

    "We''ll see if you''re in the mood to yter," he only murmured.

    "Liwei?"

    He raised her hands to his lips and kissed it. "Come, Evelina."

    Her confusion only continued to grow but she still trusted and followed him. He led her to the adjacent room which she used as an inspiration room whenever she was working on her musicpositions.

    The inspiration room was simple. The furniture and decoration were sparse and minimal yet still cozy. There was a couch, a soft area rug, a bookcase, a desk and a chair. The walls were devoid of any artwork but were instead filled with Iris'' original sheet music for her current unfinishedpositions.

    She was about to ask Jin Liwei again why he brought her here when her eyes caught something that didn''t belong to her inspiration room.

    Her breath caught in her throat. It felt like the world around her froze as she stared at the thing right in of her.

    "Evelina."

    Jin Liwei''s voice managed to pierce through her shocked daze. She forcefully took her gaze away from the thing to stare at her husband. She watched as he began rubbing her hands¡ªoh, they were shaking. He hugged her. That was when she realized that her whole body was shaking. Even her teeth were chattering.

    "I''m sorry, love. I think I made a mistake."

    She didn''t respond. She was unable to respond.

    Her attention returned to the thing that caused her to act like this without her control.

    The grand piano that she apanied her in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    Her piano that she used to y when she was gunned down to death.

    It must have been drenched with her blood when she died. But now it was shining like it was brand new. It was obvious that the old piano had been maintained well. Or maybe it had been restored after being looted from the Vetrov estate after her death.

    She didn''t know what her piano had gone through after she was gone.

    She didn''t want to know.

    Or maybe she did.

    "I''ll bring you back," Jin Liwei said and attempted to pull her away from the room but she resisted.

    "N-no." Her voice was shaky but her determination was firm.

    "Are you sure?" he asked.

    She nodded. Her body was still shaking but she forced herself to walk step by step towards the piano.

    Jin Liwei didn''t allow her to go alone. He sped their hands together, sending warmth to her cold and shaking body.

    Finally, they reached the piano. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Iris reached over and glided her fingers on the shiny surface. It felt cold to the touch and seemed to make her shake harder.

    "Evelina."

    She squeezed his hand, silently telling him that she would be fine. She walked around to the back of the piano and bent down. Her finger traced the carving she made on one of the back legs.

    E.V.

    Her initials.

    Jin Liwei also bent down and traced his finger over the two letters.

    E.V. for Evelina Vetrova.

    He studied his wife''s expression. Her eyes looked like they were seeing a scene that wasn''t the one in front of them. Most likely, she was remembering memories of her past life.

    They both returned to the front of the grand piano. Iris was still a bit shaky but thankfully looked calmer.

    "You really got it back for me," she whispered while touching the ck and white keys.

    "En."

    She threw herself into his arms all of a sudden. He caught her and managed to stabilize his bnce in time.

    "Thank you, Liwei."

    He kissed the top of her head and tightened his arms around her. "Anything for you, love."

    His heart ached when he felt the front of his shirt be increasingly wet. He couldn''t hear her crying but this kind of silent crying pained him even more than when she sobbed out loud.

    He didn''t know what right words to say tofort his wife because her rebirth experience was not something an average person could live through and stay sane. This was why he could only hug her tightly in his arms and transmit all his love to her.

    He had always hoped that his wife would face her tragic past life head on instead of always trying to avoid it. Perhaps she would be able topletely heal from all her trauma and finally move on by doing this.

    Whatever choice she would make, whether to continue skirting around her past life or to finally face it head on, Jin Liwei swore to support her no matter what.

    Iris lifted her head. Jin Liwei wiped her tears and kissed her with so much gentleness that it caused a new wave of tears to fall down her face.

    She turned around and looked at the piano once again. "I want to y."

    "Alright."

    He helped her sit on the stool in front of the piano and stood behind her.

    She didn''t y right away but instead touched the ck and white keys one by one as if greeting an old friend that she hadn''t met for a long time but still continued to treasure all this time.

 Chapter 1328 - Brave

    <h4>Chapter 1328 - Brave</h4>

    Everything was quiet except for the breaths of the two people inside the room.

    Jin Liwei watched his wife who may appear silent but must be filled with roaring emotions inside. He rested his hand on her shoulder and did his best to transmit his support for her. His other hand stroked her hair to soothe her.

    "Did you know?" she asked, finally breaking the silence.

    He continued stroking her hair and waited for her to say more.

    "That night¡­that fateful night, I watched the world around me descend into utter chaos. Screams were everywhere. Nonstop gunshots. The dark sky would light up but it wasn''t lightning but from explosions. It was like hell had ascended from theherworld and engulfed the entire Vetrov estate, dragging everything and everyone into its darkness.

    "Liwei, did you know? I watched it all happen with my own eyes¡­but you know what? I didn''t feel anything that normal people should feel. Not fury, not even despair. My entire family and everyone who worked for us were being murdered left and right by the enemies¡­and yet, all I felt was relief. Complete relief.

    "And peace. I felt at peace because I knew right there and then that I was going to die. That I was finally going to escape the suffering in my heart, the gradual decay of my hope, and the slow death of my inner self. I thought¡­that atst, I was going to be free.

    "Liwei, I felt no guilt at all in not defending or fighting back against the enemy attack. My family''s subordinates dropped dead one by one before my very eyes and yet I didn''t take any action. I just¡­I just yed the piano. I told myself that I should y something to send off the souls of the killed ones¡­but that was a lie¡­aplete lie!"

    She banged her palms on the piano keys. The loud discordant tune boomed in the room.

    Jin Liwei didn''t jump but he still felt startled inside. He didn''t dwell on his reaction because his heart ached upon seeing his wife''s heaving shoulders as she covered her mouth to muffle her cries. He lifted her and sat on the stool himself before cing his wife on hisp.

    "It was aplete lie, Liwei! I wasn''t¡­the music I yed wasn''t for the people who were murdered that night! It was for me! All for me! I yed for myself! The music was for my selfmemoration of my¡­own death! It was to¡­to¡­to celebrate my own escape, my freedom! Everything was for my own sake! My own selfishness! I was¡­I''m such a horrible, selfish person, aren''t I?''

    "No!" Jin Liwei grabbed her face and forced her to look at him straight in the eyes. His expression was serious, even angry. "Don''t say that, Evelina! So what if you only thought about yourself that night? Was it your responsibility to protect other people? Did those people deserve to be protected by you, someone who always refused to participate in any of the organization''s criminal activities?

    "Evelina, listen to me! You are NOT horrible. You are NOT selfish. I know! You are my wife and I''m your husband. I know what kind of person you are and you know what kind of person I am. Do you think of me as a horrible person?"

    She shook her head. "No, you aren''t horrible¡­well, to tell you the truth, I thought you were a jerk but that was before we became lovers."

    He winced and cleared his throat. "Actually, I was really a jerk back then but I changed because I love you and want to be with you. It''s either to stay the same and let you go or change my bad ways for the better and prove to you how much I love you. I chose to be a better person because I can''t bear to let you go. I would go crazy without you, baby. I love you. So much that it feels like my heart will burst."

    Iris'' lips trembled. The tears in her eyes sparkled like diamonds.

    Jin Liwei kissed her eyes, tasting the slight saltiness of her tears. His heart continued to ache for her. He couldn''t bear to see his wife crying like this.

    "Believe me, baby. You''re the most amazing woman¡­the most amazing person that I''ve ever met in my whole life. Stop feeling guilty because the basis of the guilt is wrong. You weren''t horrible or selfish. In fact, I think that you were very brave."

    Her eyes reddened even more. She clutched his shoulders. "That wasn''t¡­bravery. That was cowardice!"

    "No, you''re wrong. You faced the enemies who came to kill you without running away. You might not have defended or fought back but you didn''t escape on your own. You faced your own death with dignity while doing what you love¡ªying music. Evelina, you were brave¡­you''re still very brave, and as your husband, I''m so proud of you, wife."

    Iris studied his face. She could see his sincerity, feel it with her heart. His love for her was indeed overflowing because she swore that she could feel it like an almost tangible wave of warmth, bathing her infort, and easing any trauma she had deep inside.

    "Liwei...I''m so lucky to have met you."

    "No, love. I am the one who''s lucky to have met you."

    She giggled even when her tears continued to flow. "Then we must be both lucky to have met each other."

    "En."

    She wrapped her arms around his neck and oh so slowly pressed their lips together, rubbing oh so gently that it made her heart shake from the tenderness.

    "I love you so much, Jin Liwei."

    "Evelina, baby. I love you more."

    The gentle kiss gradually became a little harder, a little deeper, and a little more intense.

    They were flushed and panting when their moist, swollen lips finally separated. They stared into each other''s eyes and found their love reflected there.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Feel better?" he asked in a murmur.

    She nodded before ncing at the piano. "I...still want to y this piano. My piano."

    "Then go y. I''ll be right here beside you. Always. Let''s make better memories together with this piano. Lots and lots of good memories that you won''t have the time to remember the bad, tragic ones from your past life."

    "Yes, darling.. Let''s do that."

 Chapter 1329 - Break A Chain

    <h4>Chapter 1329 - Break A Chain</h4>

    Jin Liwei returned to standing behind his wife and watched her prepare herself to y the grand piano that she owned as Evelina Vetrova. It must feel so surreal to y this particr piano after a long, long time¡ªa literal lifetime, in fact.

    Now that she had be Iris Long and his wife, he was determined to overwrite all the bad, tragic memories that she had ying this piano and rece them with good memories of them together with their whole family. He hoped that she would be able to healpletely from all her past life''s trauma and finally move on with her new life with him and their children.

    Her past life with Evelina Vetrova was her roots and her new life as Iris Long was her branches. Both lives were a part of her identity and why he loved her so much.

    It wasn''t sustainable for her to continue avoiding matters from her past life. The trauma would only fester and erode her inner peace. Once this happened, it would surely affect their rtionship and eventually their family.

    As her husband and the father of their children, he had the responsibility to ensure that his wife and their whole family were all healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

    "Liwei," he heard his wife''s soft, lovely voice.

    "Yes, love? What is it?" He bent down and kissed the top of her head.

    "I¡­I''m going to y the piece¡­that I yed that night¡­when I died. Will you listen?"

    He felt his chest tighten but still agreed. "Of course, baby. Don''t be afraid. I''ll be right here."

    She nodded and took a few deep breaths. Her two hands floated above the piano keys but didn''t move for what felt like a long time. It was actually only less than a minute but her tense nervousness radiated to Jin Liwei and throughout the entire room, making one second feel many times longer than it was.

    "You can do it, love," he encouraged her.

    Her hands shook but soon became stable. Then they descended on the piano keys and her fingers started flowing like fish on water.

    The familiar tune of Beethoven''s <i>"F¨¹r Elise"</i> filled the entire room and surrounded the couple.

    Jin Liwei closed his eyes. He had heard this famous piano piece so many times before. He had even yed it during piano lessons as a youth.

    <i>"F¨¹r Elise"</i> was indeed a masterpiece but also had be a clich¨¦ go-to piece for many novice pianists. ying it would impress regr people but many other musicians actually found the piece rather generic.

    This time, however, the piece sounded different than usual. So much different that he realized he got goosebumps just by listening to it.

    His wife made the piece haunting, almost eerie. In addition to what she told him just now about the night of her death, he could imagine her ying <i>"F¨¹r Elise"</i> as hell broke loose all around her.

    Bloodshed surrounded her and yet she was at peace while ying the piano even as the enemies gunned her down to death.

    Jin Liwei''s breath caught in his throat at the imagined scene ying in his mind. He was sure that the real event must be more gory than what he visualized but it was enough to upset him. His eyes shed with pain at what his wife went through. It felt like his heart was being stabbed at the thought of her death.

    With<i> "F¨¹r Elise"</i> ying, he felt even more emotional than usual. Even the yful parts of the piece felt like they were ripping his heart to shreds.

    The piece was short and soon it ended.

    Silence descended.

    Jin Liwei found it hard to breathe. His wife¡­why did his wife had to go through such tragedy in her past life?

    "I was able to y it until the end this time," Iris whispered.

    He didn''t reply. He was unable to reply. His throat felt choked by his emotions.

    She looked up at him and smiled. It was a sad smile¡­but also a relieved smile. The dark shadows of her past life''s tragic death remained with her. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    But for the first time since she had been reborn as Iris Long, she felt a sense of lightness, as if she had been able to break one of the many chains shackling her to her past life. There were still many chains remaining but this was already a good start.

    She held Jin Liwei''s hand on her shoulder and caressed the grand piano with her other hand.

    "I died before I could finish ying itst time."

    "Evelina." Jin Liwei''s voice was hoarse.

    "I''m d, Liwei. I''m so d that I can y it until the end. It feels¡­right. Like my rebirth is finallyplete."

    He bent down and hugged her from behind tightly. His emotions were so overwhelming that he almost crushed her in his embrace but she didn''tin. She, too, was ovee with emotions just like him. His crushing embrace was not a source of pain but of love andfort instead.

    She reached behind her and pulled his head for a kiss.

    The kiss was hard and desperate.

    When it was over, Iris leaned on him and closed her eyes.

    "Thank you, Liwei. Thank you for getting my piano back for me. Because of you, I can now¡­start moving forward. I don''t know how long it will take me but¡­I will do my best for you, for me, for us, for our children and our whole family."

    Jin Liwei pulled her up from the stool and turned her around so that they were now facing each other. He brushed a lock of her long, silky hair away from her face.

    "No, my love. Thank YOU for finally being willing to face the demons from your past life so that you can start healing. See? I''m right, aren''t I? You''re brave. It''s very easy to ignore what you don''t like and keep shoving it under the rug. But now, you''re ready. Don''t worry. You''re not going to face everything alone. I''ll be right here with you no matter what happens."

    Iris framed his face with her hands. "Liwei, I already said this before but I''ll say it again.. You always know what to say to make me feel better."

 Chapter 1330 - Bloody Memory

    <h4>Chapter 1330 - Bloody Memory</h4>

    "And I''m going to repeat how I responded to you back then, too," Jin Liwei said. "I''m only saying what''s in my heart. I''m d that my words make you feel better."

    Iris pressed their foreheads together. Their hot breaths intermingled but they didn''t kiss. They stayed in this position, soothing each other and basking in the gravity of their love.

    After they left the music room, Iris busied herself with taking care of the twins. Jin Liwei continued to worry about her emotional state especially after what happened earlier but felt relieved upon seeing that she seemed to have returned to normal.

    Butter that night, Iris suddenly fell sick and burned with high fever. She became disoriented and unable to respond to him properly.

    Jin Liwei panicked and carried his wife from their bedroom to the hospital wing in a rush. The nannies were called to watch over the twins.

    Thismotion couldn''t be hidden.

    The others were already sleeping but Lu Zihao quickly learned about what happened from Bacon. He left his sleeping wife in bed and rushed to the hospital wing. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "What the hell happened?" he demanded as soon as he entered the room where his sister was staying.

    Jin Liwei gestured for him to be quiet.

    Lu Zihao stood by his sister''s bedside and studied her.

    She was flushed from the fever. Sweat beaded on her forehead and neck. Her breathing was shallow and faster than normal. There was also a furrow between her brows, an obvious indication of her difort even when she was already asleep. One of her pale, delicate arms was hooked to an IV bag.

    Jin Liwei updated his brother-inw about his wife''s condition. "Evelina already received a shot to reduce her fever. She''ll get another injection in a few hours if her condition doesn''t improve."

    Lu Zihao stroked his sister''s burning forehead. His big, rough and scarred hand was very gentle. He frowned. "She''s still so hot."

    "I know but her temperature is already going down. She was burning hotter before I brought her here."

    Lu Zihao stared at Jin Liwei with a hard expression. "I heard that you managed to buy Evelinka''s piano back and surprised her with it earlier today. Tell me what happened."

    "Alright. Let''s talk outside."

    The two men left the room but stayed in the hallway outside so that they could still rush inside if Iris woke up.

    "Now speak," Lu Zihao said as leaned against the wall and rubbed the Smoking Devil between his fingers.

    Jin Liwei watched the sparkling Smoking Devil. Like his wife''s grand piano, the bejeweled devil-shaped smoking pipe was also an important item that connected both Iris and Lu Zihao to their past lives as Vetrovs.

    Sighing, he finally told Lu Zihao about everything that happened earlier when he surprised his wife with the grand piano. He also told his brother-inw about how Evelina died while ying Beethoven''s <i>"F¨¹r Elise"</i> as enemies gunned her to death. Of course, he could only repeat what his wife told him since he didn''t witness the horrifying scene with his own eyes.

    A heavy and terrifying malevolent aura burst from Lu Zihao.

    Jin Liwei''s breath caught in his throat. He felt like he was going to suffocate. His physical body''s reaction wanted him to run away but his logical mind knew that his brother-inw''s bloodlust wasn''t aimed at him. This reassurance was enough to make Jin Liwei calm down in spite of his brother-inw''s scary aura.

    Then Lu Zihao whispered, "I know."

    His voice was so low that Jin Liwei thought he had misheard his brother-inw. "Huh? What did you say?"

    Lu Zihao squeezed the Smoking Devil in his hand. "You don''t have to tell me how my own sister died. Because I know. Dammit, I fucking know it all too well!"

    "You know?" Jin Liwei asked in shock. "You saw it?"

    Lu Zihao stared into the empty air as if seeing something that wasn''t there.

    Indeed, what he was seeing was the memory of how his sister continued ying the piano even as her bodyguards were killed one by one around her, how the motherfucking bastards wearing police and military uniforms shot a defenseless young woman on the back like a bunch of cowards, how her blood sprayed up like a scarlet geyser, quickly turning her pure white dress into a bright, red nightmare, and finally, how she crashed against the piano and then fell down the floor as life drained from her body.

    Jin Liwei crashed into him, interrupting the bloody memory ying inside his mind. Lu Zihao watched as his sister''s husband grabbed him by the cor and tried shaking him. Since he was many times bulkier than the man, he didn''t budge at all.

    "What did you say?!" Jin Liwei''s eyes was shing with crazed fury. "Tell me! Did you really see it?! How?!!!!"

    Lu Zihao allowed the man to make a mess of his shirt. He didn''t stop Jin Liwei in any way. He just stood there and took the man''s fury.

    Why? Because if he were in Jin Liwei''s shoes, he would also do the same thing. Or most likely something worse.

    "Were you there when it happened?!" Jin Liwei continued shouting. "If you were there, why didn''t you do anything?!! Why didn''t you save my wife?! Tell me, Niki!!!!!"

    Hearing his real name, Lu Zihao¡ªno, Niki grabbed the man''s hands holding his cor and gave a cold look. "You think that I''d fucking do nothing while some motherfuckers murder my own sister?!"

    Some semnce of sense gradually returned to Jin Liwei but he still felt furious. "Then¡­why do you say that you know exactly what happened?!"

    Niki plucked Jin Liwei''s hands from his shirt and threw them away. There was now long, gaping rip on his front but he didn''t give a damn about it.

    He stared at his brother-inw straight in the eyes. Niki''s eyes were cold while Jin Liwei''s were furious and pained for his wife at the same time.

    Jin Liwei forced himself to take a few deep breaths and said in a much calmer tone, "Exin, Niki. What exactly happened to my wife and you back then?"

 Chapter 1331 - Evelinkaâ€™s Dead Body

    <h4>Chapter 1331 - Evelinka¡¯s Dead Body</h4>

    Niki stood there like a cold, towering statue. He didn''t speak or move for what felt like forever.

    Jin Liwei wanted immediate answers but sensed the great turmoil within his brother-inw even if the man wasn''t showing anything from his unreadable expression.

    By this time, Jin Liwei had already calmed down his emotions. He realized that it wasn''t his right to demand answers for things that happened in his wife and her brother''s past lives from way before he came to know either of them.

    Ever since falling in love with his wife and working hard to make her fall in love with him too, he learned the important life lesson of putting aside his pride to apologize for his own mistakes.

    He was about to apologize to his brother-inw when Niki finally spoke.

    The story he told shocked Jin Liwei so much that he staggered on his feet and had to hold on to the wall to stay upright.

    Jin Liwei stared at his brother-inw with wide eyes. He studied Niki''s face, looking for any signs that what he had just been told was only a prank, but the reality proved to be harsh.

    "Oh my God," he couldn''t help but say. "Niki, y-you¡­."

    Niki turned away and looked at the moonless night sky outside therge windows. His figure looked lonesome and unapproachable.

    "Don''t tell my sister," he said, his tone gruff.

    Jin Liwei looked conflicted.

    Niki nced at him and repeated, "Don''t tell her. She''ll be heartbroken."

    "Fine," Jin Liwei forced himself to say through gritted teeth.

    "Now you understand why I can''t just let it go, why I must pursue revenge against those motherfuckers."

    Jin Liwei didn''t know what to say.

    "There''s also one more thing." Niki walked back and stopped right in front of Jin Liwei. "They still have Evelinka''s dead body."

    Jin Liwei''s eyes contracted.

    "And I n to take her back from them. I don''t give a damn about our parents'' corpses or even my own dismembered body, but I must give my sister''s body a proper burial."

    A great tsunami roared inside Jin Liwei. His eyes became even more crazed than earlier. He clutched Niki''s thick arms, his own hands shaking from the consecutive shocks he received tonight.

    "Count me in!"

    Niki looked at him for a few seconds before saying, "No."

    "Why not?!"

    "We already agreed about the division ofbour between the two of us. You take care of things in the light while I take care of things in the dark. My sister is now Long Xin and it''s your job as her husband to take care of her and all of your children. You can''t be associated with anything criminal especially anything rted to the Vetrovs. I won''t allow you to put yourself in danger because that means my sister and her children will be in danger as well."

    "But¡ª"

    "No buts!" Now it was Niki''s turn to grab Jin Liwei''s cor and shake him. "Be thankful that I even told you about all these things! I didn''t n on telling you a damn thing but you''re so fucking persistent and annoying, so¡ª"

    He stopped and whipped his head towards the door. Jin Liwei followed his line of sight.

    Standing by the now open door and looking at them with wide, disbelieving eyes was Iris.

    "Evelinka¡ª"

    "Baby." Jin Liwei escaped from his brother-inw''s ws and hurried towards his wife. His turbulent emotions were all temporarily cast aside so that he could focus his whole attention on her.

    He checked her temperature with the back of his hand¡ªstill a bit feverish but not as hot as before.

    "How are you feel¡ª"

    Iris pushed her husband''s hands away and faced her brother.

    She woke up not too long ago and found herself alone in the hospital room. After asking Ketchup, she learned that her husband and big brother were arguing in the hallway outside. She told her AI daughter to not interrupt the two men and not inform them of her waking up. The two must be arguing about her again so she wanted to be the one to mediate between them.

    With this intention, she pulled her IV stand and silently opened the door. Imagine her surprise when she heard what her brother said. Her own shock wasn''t inferior to Jin Liwei''s.

    "How much did you hear?" Niki asked.

    "Is it true that the enemies have my body?"

    Niki''s expression remained unreadable. Deep inside, however, he was relieved that his sister didn''t hear the first part of what he told Jin Liwei.

    "Big Brother, answer me! Is it true?"

    "Yes."

    Iris fainted.

    "Evelina!"

    Jin Liwei caught her and immediately called for the doctor.

    ###

    The atmosphere in the mansion was grim.

    Iris'' fever continued the next day. Jin Liwei refused to leave her side. The twins were also kept away from their sick mother to prevent them from catching anything. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    As a result, Little Mochi threw a tantrum for almost the entire day. His loud wails and refusal to be coaxed distressed Huang Yuyan and everyone else. Even the usually well-behaved Little Matcha also cried for a long time. The twins wanted their parents. No, they "needed" their mommy and daddy.

    Both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao felt guilty.

    In their bedroom, Long Jinjing asked her husband, "Did something happen? Everything feels so tense at home today. Did something more serious than a fever happen to my sister? Do you know something about it, Niki?"

    "Nothing," Lu Zihao told her. "Don''t worry about it. Stressing yourself out is not good for our babies."

    Long Jinjing observed his expression but she couldn''t read anything from it as usual. Even so, she could sense that something was amiss about him today. He seemed¡­gloomier than normal.

    "I''m your wife now, Niki. Can''t you just honestly tell me? Please?"

    No matter how many times she asked, he refused to tell her anything. It upset her but also made her nervous at the same time. She had the niggling feeling that something grave must have happened without her knowledge.

    Lu Zihao kissed her. For the first time ever, he failed in distracting her with seduction.

    He sighed and turned her around so that he could hug her from behind and avoid squeezing her swollen belly.

    Long Jinjing''s bad feeling worsened.

    "Niki?"

 Chapter 1332 - Warm Home And Loving Family

    <h4>Chapter 1332 - Warm Home And Loving Family</h4>

    Long Jinjing tried to turn around and look at her husband but Lu Zihao tightened their embrace, preventing her from moving. The man rarely showed any of his true emotions. Even now, she still found it difficult to read his expressions.

    As usual, she could only depend on her intuition. It was telling her that her husband must be going through something serious.

    She didn''t know if it was somehow rted to the grim atmosphere at home today due to Iris falling sick all of a sudden.

    Once a home''s mistress became sick, the entire family would be affected. Long Jinjing hoped that her sister would recover soon from her fever or whatever sickness Iris was suffering.

    Although Long Jinjing wanted to ask her husband about whatever was bothering him, she wasn''t going to force him into telling her if he didn''t want to. There must be a valid reason why he continued to refuse telling her anything.

    The only reason that she could think of was that it would somehow put her in danger if she ever came to know about it. As to what it was or how it would put her in danger, she had no idea.

    It was only because she knew about Shadow Winds that she had to get used to not knowing every single thing about her husband''s daily life.

    She patted his thick, muscled arms that were hugging her. "Alright, I won''t ask you anymore. Just take care of yourself, okay? I don''t want you to get sick like little sister."

    "I won''t get sick," Lu Zihao replied. "You should be the one to be careful."

    She sighed and nodded. "The doctor won''t allow me to visit Xin to prevent me from catching anything that might make me sick."

    "Listen to the doctor."

    "How''s Xin, Niki? Is her condition serious?"

    Since he was hugging her from the back, she couldn''t see his expression right now. Worry shed in his eyes but only for a moment.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Her fever has already broken but is notpletely gone yet. The doctor is still monitoring her condition. At least, she didn''t fall into anothera. Thank fuck for that."

    "You''re right. I''m d that she didn''t fall intoa again." Long Jinjing released a sigh of relief.

    Her sister''s health had really not been the best ever since she woke from her one-yeara after her deadly car crash back then. Long Jinjing once again felt ashamed that she envied her sister''s consistently beautiful appearance during and after pregnancy.

    Chen Fei was right. Iris might have maintained her physical beauty all throughout her pregnancy and after childbirth but she suffered and continue to suffer so many health issues.

    Long Jinjing now felt thankful that her pregnancy was very smooth so far despite gaining a lot of weight. Hopefully, her smooth pregnancy would continue until childbirth.

    While she was deep in her thoughts, Lu Zihao''s mind was in chaos. He shouldn''t have told Jin Liwei anything. This wasn''t how Niki Vetrov should have acted.

    Ever since bing reborn as Lu Zihao, his emotional control had be so much worse. He wasn''t like this before in his past life.

    It might be due to his desire for revenge, making him more prone to losing controlpared to how he lived as Niki Vetrov in the past.

    Or maybe it was because the original Lu Zihao''s remnant still remained in this body. The original Lu Zihao was a happy-go-lucky guy who lived by acting on his impulses and ignoring consequences.

    Perhaps the original Lu Zihao''s personality was affecting him in a way that he hadn''t noticed yet.

    Wait.

    Now that he thought about it, his current personality was no longer the same as when he was Niki Vetrov. It wasn''t the same as the original Lu Zihao''s personality either.

    His current personality might really be abination of the two, although the dominant one was still Niki''s.

    He was very unhappy upon reaching this conclusion.

    However, he didn''t want to think about all this right now. After what happened at the hospital wingst night with his sister and brother-inw, he felt extremely weary of everything.

    He rested his chin on top of his wife''s head and hugged her more tightly while making sure that he wasn''t hurting her. Long Jinjing''s scent wafted to his nose and started to calm him down slowly but surely.

    Most of the time, he would get the urge to fuck Long Jinjing whenever the two of them stuck close together like this. He would only suppress his lust when it was clear that she wanted to just cuddle with him.

    Now, he felt the same as her and just wanted to cuddle.

    He only wanted to stay like this and hug her. It wasn''t like he stopped desiring her. Not at all.

    He felt¡­no.

    The moment he realized the direction of his thoughts, he immediately stopped it. This wasn''t the time to lose himself in that kind of dangerous emotion.

    "Niki?" Long Jinjing''s soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

    "Let me stay like this for a bit longer, hm?"

    She hesitated before nodding. Then he felt her leaning back and rxing on him.

    He inhaled her delicate fragrance and focused on that scent. It slowly cleansed away the chaos in his mind.

    Long Jinjing must have sensed that he was now calmer. When she turned around to face him, he didn''t stop her. She stuck her side close to him to amodate her huge, swollen belly withoutpletely separating their embrace.

    "Feeling better now?" she asked.

    "Hm."

    "I''m d." She smiled and caressed his cheek before tracing the long, jagged scar on his face. "I may not know what you''re going through but I hope that you''ll always do this whenever something is bugging youe to me until you feel better. I''m your wife now, Niki. I may not have the power to help you solve your problems but¡­at least I can give you a warm home and loving family to return to after a hard day."

    Lu Zihao''s dark, stormy eyes saw through her sincerity. "You''re too fucking good for someone like me, Long Jinjing."

    "Don''t say that. I just love you, that''s all."

    "Love, huh."

    Lu Zihao felt his chest tighten from an emotion that he would rather not explore.

 Chapter 1333 - Desecration Of The Dead

    <h4>Chapter 1333 - Desecration Of The Dead</h4>

    In another part of the mansion at the hospital wing, Iris opened her reddened eyes and finally seemed to have regained her full consciousness.

    She turned her head to the side and saw her husband sleeping while sitting on a chair with his head on her bed. Their hands were sped together. He looked so ufortable that it made her heart ache.

    She shifted to take a closer look at him but her movement alerted him. He awoke with a start. His first concern was her condition as always.

    "Love, how are you feeling?" he asked while already checking her temperature with the back of his hand.

    She smiled. "I''m fine. How are the twins?"

    He paused.

    "You haven''t checked on them?" she asked, frowning.

    He didn''t answer.

    She sighed but didn''t bother scolding him. She had already long known that she was her husband''s first priority always. It was a good thing that they were both privileged to have trustworthy people who could watch over their babies in their stead. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Little Mochi and Little Matcha must be missing us, their mom and dad," she said. "Ketchup."

    "Here, Mommy! The cute and mighty Ketchup is here! Meow~"

    "How are your twin baby brothers?"

    "Little Baby Mochi and Little Baby Matcha have been crying for almost the entire day! They only stop crying when they get tired or hungry. Oh, my poor baby brothers! Ketchup feels so sad for them! Meowuwuwu!"

    Iris'' heart ached after hearing how her twin babies missed her and their dad. Jin Liwei also looked pained.

    "Go check on our babies first, darling," she told him.

    "I don''t want to leave you alone."

    "I won''t be alone. I have Ketchup and the doctor does regr checks on me. Please, darling. I''m fine now. Our babies need you more."

    Jin Liwei''s mouth pressed into a thin line but he still nodded.

    "Thank you, Liwei."

    He stroked her head. "Are you really okay?"

    She knew that he wasn''t asking about her physical condition but about her emotional state after what happenedst night. The bombshell that her big brother droppedst night was too gigantic. She needed time to process it.

    "Go check on our babies first," she could only say to her husband. "We''ll¡­talk about the other thingter."

    He studied her expression for a few more moments before nodding again. "Alright."

    After he left, Dom soon came to rece him. Jin Liwei didn''t want her to be alone for too long.

    Dom''s lively chatter made Iris temporarily forget aboutst night''s shocking bombshell. The best friends chatted while Dom helped her eat some freshly cooked rice porridge.

    Afterwards, Dom left the room to give her privacy while she pumped milk. The female doctor apanied her instead while also checking her condition.

    "How long do I need to stay here in the hospital wing?" Iris asked.

    "Young Madam''s condition has now stabilized," the doctor replied. "But I want you to stay here for another night for additional monitoring just to make sure that everything is really fine."

    Iris sighed. "I understand. I just miss my babies so much."

    The doctor smiled in understanding. "I know, Young Madam. But please don''t worry. Your mother-inw and the others are taking great care of the two little masters. They''re in good hands."

    When the doctor left with the newly-pumped breast milk, Dom also returned.

    "I''m going to take a nap, Dom."

    "Go ahead, Boss. Don''t mind me. I''ll just quietly do some work here."

    With that, Iris closed her eyes but she didn''t fall asleep right away. She continued thinking about everything that happened.

    Saying thatst night was a huge shock was an understatement.

    Hearing from her own brother''s mouth that her corpse, Evelina Vetrova''s dead body, was still being kept by other people like some kind of a rare collectible creeped her out to no end. It disgusted her!

    What kind of sick people would do that? Did they treat her corpse as a prize of war after iming victory for annihting the Vetrovs?

    Although she didn''t want to care about her old body especially now that she was living a happy life as Long Xin, she couldn''t help but feel vited. Try as she might not to let it affect her, rage started bubbling inside her.

    She had no idea what the enemies did to her body. She didn''t want to think about it because she might literally choke from fury.

    If that was what those sick people did to her body when she wasn''t even an active member in the Vetrov organization, then she could only imagine what kind of horror the bodies of her parents and brother received.

    This¡­was unforgivable.

    The Vetrovs were not saints. Many had called them the Devils on Earth for many generations.

    Their downfall could only be considered as retribution for all the sins theymitted.

    Beforest night, Iris had believed that the Vetrovs¡ªall of them, including her¡ªdeserved being wiped out from the face of the.

    Now, however, she found herself changing her way of thinking.

    Yes, the Vetrovs were evil. That was a fact.

    But were the forces who partook in their annihtion the saviours of humanity? They might have done a good deed by erasing a big source of evil from the world, but did they deserve all the righteous praise and glory?

    Profitting off the Vetrovs'' treasures and resources after the powerhouse''s downfall was understandable. It wasmon sense in war.

    She wasn''t expecting for the enemies to give the Vetrovs a proper burial or anything like that after killing them all off. However, she found it uneptable that her body and who knew if the bodies of her parents and her brother''s or other important figures in the Vetrov organization had also been collected and were still being kept by the enemies until this day.

    For her, this was desecration of the dead.

    Yes, the Vetrovs were evil but the forces that annihted them weren''t any different.

    Iris opened her eyes. They shed with contempt.

    Fine, if her past life refused to let her go in peace, then she could only face it head on and use her own strength to break all of the chains holding her back one by one.

 Chapter 1334 - Calmer And Colder

    <h4>Chapter 1334 - Calmer And Colder</h4>

    For the sake of a peaceful life with her husband and their family, Iris decided that she needed to stop running away. The shadows from her past life as a Vetrov kept on following her in the most unexpected ways and disrupting her current happy life.

    At this rate, she would never attain full peace of mind to pursue all her passions and continue raising a happy family that she didn''t have the opportunity to experience in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    In her past life, she did her best to escape from her responsibilities as a Vetrov descendant. Even when she couldn''t physically escape, her mind shut itself close from the hellish kingdom on earth that the Vetrovs created and reigned supreme as the number one criminal family in the international underworld.

    She thought that by bing reborn as apletely different person in the body of Long Xin, she had finally freed herself from the heavy shackles of her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    It seemed that she waspletely wrong.

    Facts proved that her karma was still deeply connected to her past life. No matter how much she tried to avoid it, her past life would still always find a way to encroach on her current life.

    <i>''I can''t continue running away like this. What if something from my past life surfaces again but I''m not prepared to block it in time and endanger my family? I''m a mother now. I can''t gamble with chance when ites to my children. I have to always be prepared for the worst so that no matter what happens in the future, my children will always be safe.''</i>

    Jin Liwei called her brave. She wanted to prove to herself that she was indeed brave by no longer running away.

    As she finally fell asleep, she didn''t notice that her chaotic mind wentpletely calm. So calm that she didn''t even dream.

    Something clicked inside her, as if an unused gear started rattling before finally moving in action. The neglected part of her old soul lit up and started assimting to her current self.

    The next day, Iris woke up feeling better than she had ever felt before. Her fever waspletely gone. Thank goodness.

    She sat up and stretched, feeling herself brimming with energy.

    Her movements awakened Jin Liwei who once again apanied her throughout the night. This time, he was lying in bed beside her. Compared to her, he looked disheveled and exhausted.

    She beamed at him. "Good morning!"

    Her enthusiasm infected him. His sleepy gaze softened and the corners of his mouth curved up. "Morning, beautiful."

    After a light breakfast of nutritious chicken noodle soup, the doctor finally cleared Iris'' health. The husband and wife left the hospital wing and headed directly to their master suite to clean themselves up.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    While Iris was doing her daily morning skincare routine in front of the vanity mirror, Jin Liwei continued observing her.

    "Are you really okay now?" he asked while putting on his clothes.

    She looked at his reflection on the mirror. "Yes. Honestly, I feel excellent. I don''t know if it''s a positive effect of falling sick which forced me to take a rest. My mind feels clearer and sharper."

    He studied her expression and judged that she must be telling the truth about her current condition. "That''s¡­good. Evelina, about the other night¡­."

    "Since my brother says that the enemies have my dead body in their possession, then it must be true. Big Brother wouldn''t lie about something grave like that to me."

    He stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "So¡­how do you feel about this¡­entire situation?"

    "Do you think that I should leave it and let those people keep my body until the end of time?"

    "No!" His expression turned ugly. "Evelina, I can''t¡ª"

    "I know, I can''t do it either." She patted his hand on her shoulder. "It''s not only my body. I want to know what happened to my brother''s body¡­as well as our parents''."

    Jin Liwei did his best not to react but her sharp eyes still noticed the way he flicked his eyes away for a moment to avoid looking at her.

    She froze and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Liwei, do you know something? Did my brother tell you anything about it?"

    He kissed her head. "Don''t overthink it, love. Let''s hurry and finish up. The twins miss their mom so much. Little Matcha was easy to coax and stopped crying when I held him yesterday. His elder twin brother is a little harder to deal with. Little Mochi wants his mommy. The little guy even tried sucking my chest while I was consoling him."

    This topic about their babies almost distracted her but Iris wasn''t stupid. It was obvious that Jin Liwei had something to hide from her. She grabbed his hand before he could leave to grab a pair of socks.

    "Liwei, tell me."

    He pressed his lips together and looked at her. When it was clear that she wouldn''t budge, he sighed and revealed what his brother-inw told him the other night.

    "While you were killed on the spot that night, it was most likely because the enemies knew that you weren''t directly involved in running the Vetrov organization. That wasn''t the case for your parents and brother. They¡­uh, how should I say this?"

    "You mean they were tortured," she said in t tone. "I was killed on the spot as an act of mercy. Hah."

    She sneered even as her eyes turned red.

    Her dryughter was filled with abination of fury, mockery, and sorrow which made Jin Liwei''s heart ache. Seeing her like this felt even more painful than when she cried.

    He pulled her into his arms. "Whatever you want to do, I''ll support you. My only request is that you prioritize your safety."

    "Don''t worry, Liwei. I won''t put myself or any of us in danger. Both of us need to live long for our children. I don''t want them to grow up as orphans."

    "En, good."

    She took a few deep breaths and soon regained a calm state of mind.. Jin Liwei noticed that she seemed more emotionally stable and¡­colder in a way that he couldn''t quite figure out yet.

 Chapter 1335 - Difficult But Not Impossible

    <h4>Chapter 1335 - Difficult But Not Impossible</h4>

    Iris finished up her skincare routine (all Orchidia Beauty products, newly stocked and avable online) and looked at her husband who was still observing her as if worried that she might suddenly copse again. She gave him a reassuring smile.

    They sped their hands and walked the short distance to the nursery room together. Upon reaching their destination, they stopped at the door and didn''t enter right away.

    "Something wrong, love?" Jin Liwei asked.

    She squeezed his hand. "I''m curious but I won''t ask you anymore about the specific details of what my brother told you. Knowing him, the truth must have been many times worse than what he decided to tell you. I don''t need to know everything about it. It''s enough for me to know that all of our previous bodies had been desecrated after our deaths."

    He raised her hand and kissed it, trying to transmit his own warmth and support to her through his lips. "Like I always tell you, I''ll always stay right here beside you no matter what you decide to do. Just like what we vowed during our marriage, we are partners in life."

    Her throat became choked with emotion. She nodded and leaned to him for a hug.

    The door opened. Huang Yuyan was startled to find her son and daughter-inw right outside the door. She pressed her hand over her chest.

    "Hai, you too! You almost scared your old mother to death!" But right after scolding them, Huang Yuyan immediately pulled Iris and examined her all over. "Xin my dear, I was so worried about you! Are you really okay now?"

    "Yes, Mother. Sorry to worry you."

    "Don''t mention it, my dear. Your health is more important."

    "And also thank you for taking care of the twins, Mother. I heard that they gave you a hard time yesterday."

    Huang Yuyan sighed but there was a doting smile on her face. "Indeed, my poor grandsons missed their mom so much that they didn''t stop crying! That''s why you need to take better care of your health, Xin. Your babies need you!"

    "I understand, Mother."

    Iris allowed her mother-inw to pull her inside the nursery. Jin Liwei trailed behind them. The nannies greeted them before leaving so that the family could spend time together. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "Oh, my babies." Iris immediately went over to kiss her twins. Her eyes watered from missing her babies too much even if she had been gone from their side for only a day.

    It was obvious that the babies missed her as well. The twins'' vision had now improved and could now stare at people''s faces at a close range.

    Little Mochi couldn''t stop smiling as soon as he saw his mother''s face. The pacifier flew out of his mouth but he didn''t care. He kept on waving his mittened hands and kicking his socked feet from excitement.

    Even the usually quiet Little Matcha was also smiling and followed his mother with his eyes. He looked just like his father whenever Jin Liwei stared at Iris. Unlike his older twin brother who almost couldn''t contain his excitement and was waving his little limbs all over the ce, Little Matcha continued to obediently lie down on his back.

    The babies'' toothless smiles melted Iris'' heart. They were fraternal twins so they didn''t look the same at all. Even their personalities werepletely different from each other. Despite this, Iris felt emotional that they were both equally excited to see her after only a day of absence.

    Iris and Jin Liwei took turns holding their twins while Huang Yuyan updated her daughter-inw about how her grandsons fared yesterday without their mother.

    After Huang Yuyan left the nursery to let the parents enjoy their babies without an elder like her, Iris once again promised that she would work on improving her health so that what happened yesterday wouldn''t happen again. It wasn''t just her who suffered whenever she copsed but also her husband and especially their little babies.

    "Poor Little Mochi and Little Matcha," she cooed at her smiling twins. "Mommy is so sorry for leaving you yesterday."

    Ice Cream gave her a disgruntled meow as ifining about how her absence caused her precious baby brothers to cry nonstop yesterday. However, the fat, grey cat still rubbed herself all over her mommy.

    "Thank you for looking after your baby brothers, Ice Cream. Such a responsible eldest sister."

    Ice Cream responded by rubbing her big, fluffy head against her mommy before returning to the crib to continue guarding her twin baby brothers.

    Jin Liwei stroked his eldest feline daughter who immediately started purring.

    Iris felt a deep sense of fulfillment watching her family together in their home. The Vetrovs had amassed wealth far beyond what she or Jin Liwei currently have but she had never felt richer than she did right at this moment.

    The feeling of richness didn''te from their current financial situation but rather from the happy family that they built together. To her, this was far more important than anything in the whole world.

    Later, the parents finally put their babies to sleep.

    "Liwei, we have to be stronger," Iris said. "More powerful, more prepared."

    "En." Jin Liwei didn''t need her to exin what she meant. He already understood.

    "This sense ofcency can''t go on. Even though I don''t n on openly dering war against the enemies of the Vetrovs, I just can''t let them continue to live in peace after what they had done. I ept that the Vetrovs deserve retribution but I believe that the enemies don''t deserve to enjoy the power and riches they plundered after annihting the former top dog either. If the Vetrovs deserved to be wiped out, then those criminal organizations including the government forces that secretly colluded with them deserved to be erased from this as well.

    "I know that it''s almost close to impossible to extinguish every single criminal group in the world but at least the world will be a so much better ce without the biggest criminal organizations that have the power to control entire economies and reign like kings of their own nations."

    Jin Liwei asked, "You mean big groups like the Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n?"

    She nodded.

    "Overthrowing a huge criminal organization like Alcatraz is a difficult task but not impossible.. If the Vetrovs can fall, so can Alcatraz," he said.

 Chapter 1336 - Not So Stupid After All

    <h4>Chapter 1336 - Not So Stupid After All</h4>

    Back at Wei Lan''s property, Ren¨¦ Alejandro was in a bad mood. He had been in a terrible mood since his birthday bash ended. Because of Emilio Miguel, the damned Matador, Wei Lan left the country and went on a massive shopping spree across Asia. She hadn''t been back since then.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro tried enticing her to return with the promise of getting her another "heirloom" but she refused. It seemed that Emilio Miguel really had upset her.

    But now that her shopping spree had been taking this long, Ren¨¦ Alejandro suspected that she was just using her grudge against Emilio Miguel to travel across Asia and continue enjoying herself.

    He discovered that her son-inw, Liam Jin, had been sending her a monthly allowance for her shopping spree. This could only mean that Liam didn''t want his mother-inw to return so soon to meet her grandsons. As expected, Wei Lan continued prolonging her Asian travels so that her son-inw would keep on sending her a monthly allowance.

    Because of her refusal to return, Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s ns were all messed up. Although his highly-publicized birthday bash allowed him to be acquainted with many members of the country''s high society, business and media elites, his main priority remained the same. He needed to wriggle his way inside Liam Jin and Sir Lu Jianhong''s close circles.

    Wei Lan was an important tool in achieving this mission. He would always apany her whenever she visited her daughter and son-inw. But now that she was gone, he had no reason to continue visiting Liam and Iris without arousing the couple''s suspicions.

    Yu Mo was a good friend who always made it a point to hang out with him. Ren¨¦ Alejandro tried hinting a few times without being direct for Yu Mo to bring him to meet Liam and Iris'' newborn twins. Contrary to his expectations, Yu Mo pretended not to understand and deliberately changed the subject.

    At first, Ren¨¦ Alejandro thought that the man was just too dumb to understand his indirect hints but after a few tries, he realized that Yu Mo wasn''t so stupid after all.

    It seemed that he had miscalcted Yu Mo''s intelligence level. Indeed, the guy was friendly but he was still extremely loyal and protective of his true sworn brothers.

    "Damn it!" Ren¨¦ Alejandro kicked the couch in the guest house.

    "Patience, brother."

    "We have alreadye this far. These hurdles are only to be expected."

    "Not every mission will go smoothly, brother. So do not be discouraged so soon."

    His brothers encouraged him.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro took a deep breath and tamped down on his growing frustrations. He forced himself to calm down and nodded at his brothers.

    "You are right, my brothers. It is just hard for me to get over the fact the Emilio Miguel always seem to destroy my ns. The man is a big asshole, no?"

    His brothers grimaced at the mention of Emilio Miguel. They, too, couldn''t forget how Emilio Miguel belittled all of them for being hackers. They felt insulted by the Matador. The man''s angelic beauty was aplete opposite of his ck, rotten heart.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "For now, we should all focus on things that we can do. Wei Lan will eventuallye back. We should not depend entirely on her."

    "I agree. Wei Lan is an extremely shallow woman. And that makes it very easy to control her. But at the same time, her impulsive nature also makes her unpredictable and prone to messing up our ns like what we have to deal with right now."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nodded. His brothers were correct.

    "How about we ask Uncle to tell Wei Lan to return here as soon as possible? Wei Lan ispletely in love with her husband. I am sure that she will listen to Uncle."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro frowned. "This is my mission. There is no need to disturb Pap¨¢ for something trivial like this, no? And if the other higher-ups learn that I had to ask Pap¨¢ for help, it will surely reflect badly on my record. I cannot risk it. There is no way that I will allow that damned Matador to get another leg up ahead of me. It will only reinforce his misconceptions that we, hackers, are lower level than on-the-ground agents like him."

    "That makes sense. I''m sorry for giving such a stupid suggestion, brother. I didn''t think it through."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers re-worked their current ns to amodate Wei Lan''s absence. The situation wasn''t grave so there really was no need for them to panic. It was just annoying.

    After the brainstorming session, they returned to their other tasks. The most immediate one was to find out who dumped Jin Chenggong at one of their hideouts. This particr hideout wasn''t the same one where Rose Young was staying and pretending to be a married couple with Emilio Miguel.

    Jin Chenggong, the fallen member of the Jin n who was disowned by Liam Jin for being a traitor, was found unconscious at the hideout''s door. At first, the guards there didn''t recognize the emaciated old man at all. It was only when Emilio Miguel personally came over to check that he identified the half-dead person to be Jin Chenggong.

    The former proud member of the Jin n and Jin Corporation''s board of directors was now reduced to this. Jin Chenggong''s tongue was cut out and all his limbs especially his fingers were also all broken, a few of them were even amputated. But the biggest damage he received was on his sanity. Emilio Miguel tried many methods tomunicate with Jin Chenggong and gain even just a single helpful clue about who did this to him but to no avail.

    Emilio Miguel could only conclude that the people who did this to Jin Chenggong had simr high-level torture methods as their organization. Actually, maybe even higher level because the results were so horrendous that Matador couldn''t help but feel impressed.

    In the end, Emilio Miguel ordered to scrap that particr hideout. It wasn''t safe anymore. They brought the insane Jin Chenggong to another hideout. For now, Emilio Miguel would keep him alive until they deemed him useless. Then he would ultimately meet his painful end.

    And dying in the hands of the Matador? Oh, it wouldn''t be pretty.

 Chapter 1337 - Airtight Preparations

    <h4>Chapter 1337 - Airtight Preparations</h4>

    They had already been investigating the identity of the people who kidnapped Jin Chenggong and dumped him at one of their hideouts for more than three months now. Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his hacker team were doing everything they could to scour the national surveince system but the perpetrators were several steps ahead of them.

    The national surveince system had been secretlypromised to erase evidence and inject fake footage. The change was so seamless that nobody noticed it despite regr checks. It was only because of Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers'' skills that they even noticed it in the first ce.

    Just based on this alone, they couldn''t determine for sure which hacker did it. However, they suspected that it might be Drakon and his two irritating disciples, WhiteTigress and ckPanther, based on the fact that this hacker team already had history of helping and protecting Jin Corporation.

    Since Jin Chenggong was a Jin, albeit a disowned one, and his crime was betraying his n and Jin Corporation, Ren¨¦ Alejandro could only think of Drakon as the most likely hacker to help get rid of this traitor.

    The problem was that the job done on the national surveince system was so clean that Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers couldn''t find any identifying traces of the specific hacker who silently and secretly made the changes without triggering alerts.

    In the end, their efforts led to a dead end.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro felt frustrated because Emilio Miguel continued disparaging his team for being useless. Of course, he didn''t take the insult lying down. He retaliated and said that Emilio Miguel''s team was useless as well for not finding any physical clues about who dumped Jin Chenggong and how they did it.

    Regardless of their hostile rivalry, both of them were still aware that they had amon mission.

    Jin Chenggong alone wasn''t a threat. What they were the most concerned about was how the perpetrators learned about their hideout and knew how to dump Jin Chenggong there. They had been extremely careful and yet this kind of mistake still happened.

    In addition to digging clues about the people who kidnapped Jin Chenggong, they were also doing internal investigations as well.

    One possibility was that there was a traitor among them who divulged information about them to the unknown enemy.

    Another possibility was that the enemy was extremely skillful, perhaps even more skilled than them.

    Both Ren¨¦ Alejandro and Emilio Miguel leaned towards the first possibility¡ªthat there was a traitor.

    They could always force traitors to reveal themselves before imposing punishment on them. As their organization grewrger and more powerful than ever before, it was already expected for some of their members to begin developing thoughts of betrayal.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    As for the second possibility, that the enemy was more skilled than them, their pride as members of their organization automatically made them want to dismiss this idea.

    Unless the former top dog of the international underworld was resurrected from the deepest pits of hell, then it was impossible for other criminal groups to defeat their organization. Other criminal groups needed to band together first before they could threaten their organization''s current existence. And that was something that they wouldn''t allow to happen no matter what.

    "Emil is bing more and more impatient. He keeps on rushing us to produce results. If we don''t, he''s threatening to kill Jin Chenggong."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro rolled his eyes. "If that maniac wants to kill Jin Chenggong, then he should just do it. Why keep on threatening us with that man''s life? It is not like we care about that traitor. Emilio Miguel is the one who is going to be in trouble with the higher-ups if he really kills Jin Chenggong without permission. We are just going to receive a p on our wrists, no?"

    "Yes, but I''m also getting annoyed at theck of progress in our investigation! Can we pin the me on Liam Jin if we reveal Jin Chenggong''s current condition and what he went through to the public?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro pursed his lips before answering his brother''s question. "That was the original n but Liam already had a set of airtight preparations that makes it difficult for us to pin the me on him. Even before Jin Chenggong disappeared, Liam already handed clear evidence of Jin Chenggong''s betrayal directly to the Chief of Police in secret and even implied that he might be framed if something bad happens to Jin Chenggong.

    "Of course, the evidence is clean and doesn''t contain any information about us. The Youngs'' involvement aren''t included either. Even if Liam suspects the Youngs, he can''t do anything about them because the Youngs are holding Jin Corporation''s Singapore branch as hostage. Any wrong move and the Youngs can sabotage Jin Corporation''s influence in Asia. Liam wouldn''t dare to risk it, no?

    "In addition, Liam was the one who reported Jin Chenggong as a missing person to the police. He also mobilized the Jin n''s other branch families to help in the search, but of course, nobody seeded in locating him. On the contrary, they ended up digging more incriminating evidence of Jin Chenggong''s betrayal. To his n members, the police and the public, Liam has already demonstrated his benevolence as the n leader by doing all of this for a traitor.

    "What''s more, he showed mercy to Jin Chenggong''s family¡ªhis wife and daughter¡ªby sending them abroad with a group of bodyguards. He''ll also be the one paying for the sries of the bodyguards so the wife and daughter didn''t need to worry about any of that. The mother and daughter won''t live in luxury anymore but at least they won''t have to face the humiliation of wearing thebel of a traitor''s family if they insisted on staying here."

    One of his brothersmented, "Bodyguards? More like jail guards to keep an eye on the mother and daughter!"

    "True, my brother." Ren¨¦ Alejandro nodded and chuckled. His two deep dimples appeared on both cheeks, instantly transforming him into a charming prince charming. "Liam is not the head of Jin Corporation for nothing.. Although we haven''t confirmed that he has something to do with kidnapping and torturing Jin Chenggong, just the preliminary preparations he had in ce to shift potential usations away from him are already enough proof of his cunning intellect and skillful maneuvers."

 Chapter 1338 - Well Played, Mr. Z

    <h4>Chapter 1338 - Well yed, Mr. Z</h4>

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro leaned back on his seat and faced his brothers as he continued saying, "It does not really matter whether Liam had a hand in kidnapping and torturing Jin Chenggong or not. Jin Chenggong, his nsman, betrayed Liam. It is only natural that he would want revenge, no? Even we do worse things in our organization if one of ourrades betray us. Things such as forgiving and forgetting are unnatural dogma used by societies and religions to control people."

    One of his brothers asked him, "You sound as if you like Liam?"

    The dimpled Spaniard shrugged his shoulders. "I am not sure if I <i>''like''</i> him. But I do know that I do not hate the man. I have met Liam several times already and I can sense that he is a reliable and responsible person. He is the type of person who gets the job done no matter whates his way. If he were a member of our organization, I would want someone steady like him in our team."

    "It is very rare for somebody else to earn such high praises from you, brother," anothermented.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro shrugged again. "I do not think that I am praising him that much, no? This is me just being honest. But do not worry, my brothers. I know my limits and how not to allow my personal opinions to taint our mission. Liam still remains our target. No matter what kind of opinions I have about the man, I will not show any mercy when it is time for us to attack."

    Their conversation stopped at this point. They returned to their task.

    The sun had long set outside but they didn''t notice or care. Even when their stomachs began to growl, they continued working away in their investigations like busy bees.

    As the team leader, it was Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s responsibility to look after his members and make sure that they were well enough to continue working. He should be ordering for some food for all of them right now but it slipped out of his mind.

    Just now, he found a small clue. He wasn''t sure if it would be helpful or useless but finding anything at this point was already good after fumbling without any results for more than three months. All of them were working on this tiny clue.

    "Got it!" Ren¨¦ Alejandro pumped his hand in the air.

    His brothers followed his opening.

    "Mr. Z? That elusive leader of the rtively new group in this country?"

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nodded but then frowned after a few moments. "This bastard!"

    "He deliberately left this clue for us to find."

    "Insolent asshole," Ren¨¦ Alejandro muttered andughed without humour.

    All of them felt yed. They had been working their asses to find a clue¡ªany clue at all¡ªand yet what they found was a deliberate "present" left for them.

    Wasn''t it this a clear provocation?

    <i>''Hey, I know that you won''t find any clue no matter how much you try, so I''ll leave this little something for you because you''re so pitiful. Then you''ll give me more challenge so I won''t be bored.''</i>

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro could image the mysterious Mr. Z saying these irritating words. He continuedughing, this time from frustration.

    "Well yed, Mr. Z. Well fucking yed!"

    He nced at his brothers and saw that they were as equally frustrated as him.

    "We''ll focus our investigations on this Mr. Z next," he told them. "But we eat dinner first, yes?"

    ###

    <i>Dragon Pce Home #10.</i>

    It was a morning like any other. Long Jinjing woke up alone in bed. The other side of the bed was already cold but she could still smell her husband''s masculine scent all over the sheets.

    She inhaled Lu Zihao''s scent and stayed in bed for a few more minutes before getting up. Her husband must be in the training grounds again. She knew that he was very strict on his daily physical training. Knowing this, she didn''t feel disappointed anymore to wake up without him lying beside her.

    Besides, she woke upter in the morning ever since she took a maternity leave from work. Lu Zihao had arge appetite. She couldn''t just expect him to wait for her to wake up so that they could eat breakfast together. If the man starved, his already temperamental mood would only be worse.

    After freshening up and struggling into her day clothes, she was about to head out of the bedroom when she felt a rather strong contraction.

    She froze.

    Then nothing.

    She sighed and stroked her huge belly. It had already been a few days since she started having this kind of intermittent contractions. They were nothing too painful but still made her panic at first. However, the doctor assured her that some pregnant women experienced false contractions like her.

    Thinking that this was yet another false contraction, she headed out in the hallway and made her way to the informal dining area where they usually ate together.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    There was nobody there when she arrived. The staff served her a simple yet nutritious breakfast. She learned that everyone else had eaten breakfast except for her younger sister. It seemed that her sister Xin was still sleeping after taking care of the twins during the night.

    As she started with the hot soup first, she experienced another contraction. She stiffened but like before, everything seemed to be okay afterwards.

    "Good morning, Big Sister," Iris greeted as she arrived to join her for breakfast.

    The sisters chatted with each other while eating. Long Jinjing ate a lot. Her weight gain still continued to give her low self-esteem but she no longer obsessed about it after registering her marriage with Lu Zihao. All her friends in the girl squad also made sure to shower her with encouraging words.

    After breakfast, the sisters nned to spend time the rest of the morning with Little Mochi and Little Matcha at the nursery room. Long Jinjing loved her twin nephews. They looked so adorable. Seeing the fraternal twins, she wondered if her own twins would also be fraternal or would they be identical instead.

    "Excited?" Iris asked while looking at her huge belly.

    Long Jinjing smiled.. "Very."

 Chapter 1339 - Long Jinjingâ€™s Water Breaks

    <h4>Chapter 1339 - Long Jinjing¡¯s Water Breaks</h4>

    "You''ve already held it longer than me," Iris said. "Little Mochi and Little Matcha were both so impatient toe out. It was a good thing that they were already well-developed even though they didn''t reach their actual due date. I''m so relieved."

    "My nephews are just like you, little sister," Long Jinjing replied with augh. "They are both so strong-willed once they decide on something. They wanted toe out early and so they did just that."

    Iris chuckled. "True."

    Long Jinjing stroked her swollen belly as she toddled beside his sister. Iris also slowed down to match Long Jinjing''s pace.

    Then something gushed below.

    Iris looked down and saw a small puddle of water on Long Jinjing''s feet. Long Jinjing couldn''t see it because her huge belly was obstructing her view but she could definitely feel the wetness between her thighs trickling down her legs.

    "Big Sister!" Iris immediately supported her. "Ketchup, call my brother! Tell him that his wife''s water just broke!"

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Hold on, Auntie Jinjing! Meowhoosh!"

    Iris called for help. Two guards patrolling the vicinity immediately carried Long Jinjing.

    "I¡­I''m f-fine, actually," Long Jinjing stammered, feeling embarrassed at being carried by the guards. Granted, one of them was female so it wasn''t too ufortable but it still felt awkward for her.

    "How are you feeling, Big Sister?" Iris asked while following them. "Any pain?"

    Long Jinjing paused and tried focusing on how she felt. "Uhm, actually, no pain¡­yet, I think."

    Iris didn''t believe her at all. She still remembered how much pain she endured when she went intobour to Little Mochi and Little Matcha and thought that Long Jinjing was just trying to reassure her.

    While they were rushing to the hospital wing, Iris made sure to alert the doctor and the rest of the medical team. She also contacted Grandpa Lu and even Sun Jingfei, Long Jinjing''s mother.

    Lu Zihao was already waiting at the hospital wing when they arrived. Since he had been in the training grounds when Ketchup informed him about his wife, he was soaked with sweat.

    Iris wrinkled her nose and stopped him from taking Long Jinjing from the two guards. "Go take a quick shower first, Big Brother. You stink! Do you want your wife to be contaminated with bad bacteria while she''s giving birth? Don''t worry. I''ll stay here with Big Sister."

    At first, Lu Zihao wanted to insist on staying with his wife no matter what. He didn''t want to miss anything while she was inbour or when she started giving birthter. However, his sister''s words still prated through his jumbled thoughts. Indeed, it was important to protect his wife from any harmful bacteria or viruses while she gave birth.

    "Fine, but don''t you dare leave her alone!"

    "Of course, don''t worry, Big Brother," Iris replied in a calm manner, not at all minding his harsh tone.

    Lu Zihao gave Long Jinjing a hard kiss. "Wait for me. I''ll be back real soon, hm?"

    Long Jinjing nodded. "Okay."

    Lu Zihao gave his sister another meaningful look before literally running to take a quick shower. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The doctor and medical team arrived in no time. Everything had already been set up for Long Jinjing right after when Iris gave birth. Long Jinjing stayed in the same delivery room.

    Soon, Grandpa Lu also arrived but the old man didn''t go inside the delivery room but stayed in the waiting lounge outside instead. Later, Dom and Jiang Ying Yue arrived together. Dom stayed with Grandpa Lu in the waiting lounge while Jiang Ying Yue joined Iris to apany Long Jinjing inside the delivery room.

    By this time, thebour pains started. Long Jinjing paled and closed her eyes to endure.

    "Ni-niki¡­" Long Jinjing groaned.

    "Huh, what did she say?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    "Nothing," Iris said smoothly. She wasn''t surprised by what Long Jinjing said but her gaze still turned thoughtful. "I think she''s just mumbling nonsense from the pain."

    "I see. Poor thing." Jiang Ying Yue wiped the sweat off her groaning friend.

    Both Iris and Jiang Ying Yue already experienced the pain of childbirth so they could rte to what Long Jinjing was going through right now.

    True to his word, Lu Zihao returned very quickly after showering. His hair was still damp and his clothes had some wet spots. It was obvious that he didn''t dry himself properly in his rush.

    "Ni-niko¡ª"

    "Yes, I''m here." Lu Zihao held his wife''s hand and stayed beside her.

    Iris and Jiang Ying Yue left the husband and wife to give them privacy inside the delivery room before joining the others in the waiting lounge. When they came out, Jin Liwei was also there.

    "You''re done with work?" Iris asked her husband.

    "En." He pulled her to sit beside him.

    Jin Liwei had been working remotely at home as much as possible. He gave himself a semi-paternity leave. Although he couldn''t take a long, full break from work because he was the head of a huge multinational corporation, there was no way in hell that he was going to miss the first few months of his twin babies'' life for work. He didn''t want to pull a Long Tengfei stunt and be an absent father.

    If given a choice, he would choose his family over thepany hands down.

    Fortunately, he didn''t need to make such a choice. He had a beautiful genius wife who understood and supported his dedication of continuing Grandfather Jin and Grandpa Lu''s legacy by running Jin Corporation before passing it on to the next generation.

    "Don''t worry about my work," he reassured his wife. "Your husband can handle it."

    "Okay, darling." Iris smiled at him.

    "Mother is taking care of the twins with the nannies. Little Jun and the cats are also with them."

    She released a big sigh of relief. "That''s good."

    Jin Liwei nuzzled her head.

    Iris nced at the closed delivery room door. "I hope that Big Sister Jinjing don''t suffer too much like I did."

    He didn''t answer. His brother-inw was inside with Long Jinjing. Jin Liwei wasn''t that worried about Long Jinjing because she had a rather smooth pregnancypared to his wife.

    To be honest, he was more worried about the doctor and the medical staff than Long Jinjing.. Knowing his brother-inw, Jin Liwei could only pray for the doctor and the medical staff''s safety.

 Chapter 1340 - Useless Man

    <h4>Chapter 1340 - Useless Man</h4>

    Inside the delivery room, Lu Zihao thought that he was ready for this day. But now that it finally arrived, he couldn''t stop the feelings of panic and worry from messing up his logical mind.

    He could watch people die right in front of him with cold eyes and without feeling any ripples in his heart, and yet just watching his wife whimpering in pain was enough to make his heart tremble. His expression was so dark and ugly that the doctor and the medical team were already trembling.

    The doctor could still take it because she was the one who interacted with the couple the most during Long Jinjing''s regr prenatal medical check-ups. The other members of the medical team, however, didn''t have enough time to build the barest immunity against Lu Zihao''s frightening aura.

    In-between the increasingly painful contractions, Long Jinjing noticed the tense atmosphere between her husband and the medical staff. She patted Lu Zihao''s big, scarred hand.

    "Ni¡ªZihao, d-don''t scare the doctor and her team, okay?" she whispered.

    Lu Zihao''s scowl worsened as he turned to the medical staff. "Am I scaring you?"

    The doctor was still okay but the others jumped at his question.

    Wuwuwu. He looked so scary! Mama, they didn''t want to stay in the same room as this scary man anymore. Wuwuwu!

    Despite feeling like this deep inside, they still shook their heads and maintained their professionalism. There was no way that they would quit this job. Although the doctor was the only permanent staff of the hospital wing and the rest of them were only hired part-time when needed, the pay they received here was something that they couldn''t possibly earn at their regr clinic and hospital jobs even after promotions.

    Seeing the medical staff''s obvious fright, Long Jinjing felt sorry for them. She continued persuading her husband but he continued acting scary. At this rate, the medical staff might faint from fright even before helping her give birth to her babies.

    The next sudden painful contraction made her cry out in pain.

    "What the fuck are you all doing?!" Lu Zihao roared. "Look at my wife! She''s in so much pain! Fucking do something!"

    The doctor already had enough of him. Even though she was extremely afraid of Lu Zihao, she still couldn''t allow the man to continue yelling at her and her team. In addition, he wasn''t their official employer. Jin Liwei and Iris Long were their official employers in the contract they all signed. When it came to situations like this, the doctor knew her rights. She and her team only needed to answer to her official employers.

    "I''m sorry, Mr. Lu," the doctor said in a firm albeit shaky voice. "But if you continue threatening me and my team, I will have to ask you to leave the delivery room."

    "What the fuck did you say?!"

    The doctor did her best to stand her ground. "All of us here are qualified medical professionals, hence why Sir Jin and the Young Madam chose to hire us. Remember that we helped Young Madam give birth not too long ago and she has since recovered splendidly. The two little masters were also born without any serious issues. In short, we know what we are doing.

    "We understand that Mr. Lu is only acting this way because of your concern for Mrs. Lu but continuously intimidating the medical staff who are just trying to help your wife give birth is not only disruptive but also dangerous. Mr. Lu, you are only adding stress on your wife. All of us should be working hard to reduce stress on Mrs. Lu as much as possible but you are doing the exact opposite. And if kicking you out of the delivery room can give her less stress, then that''s what I''ll do as the doctor.

    "I''m sorry to say this, Mr. Lu. But as the doctor, I have the power to kick out disruptive individuals out of the patient''s room even if the individual is the patient''s husband."

    Lu Zihao''s expression was too scary to even describe. The medical staff were too afraid to even look at his shadow.

    "Like hell I''ll allow you to kick me out and leave my wife alone while she delivers my children," he growled. He nced at his wife and said, "Tell them that you want me to stay by your side."

    Long Jinjing was too preupied in enduring the increasingly powerfulbour pains. She didn''t want to worry about his husband''s temperamental mood. After hearing what the doctor said, she agreed with everything.

    She was already suffering like this and yet all he could do was to argue with the people helping her to give birth? What if the doctor and her team quit midway? Then wouldn''t she have to give birth by herself without medical supervision?

    Fine, her husband was an overbearing person but this wasn''t the time for him to act like his usual self! What benefit would he receive by acting like a jackass? Nothing! In fact, she would also be implicated as his wife.

    Long Jinjing wanted to scold him but she didn''t want to waste her precious energy on him. Giving birth to her babies was far more important than dealing with him right now, so she chose to ignore him instead.

    If the doctor kicked him out, so be it. The doctor was right, anyway. Long Jinjing didn''t need the extra stress.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Unfortunately, Lu Zihao couldn''t read her mind. He thought that she would always be on his side.

    "Jinjing, hurry and tell the doctor that you want me to stay by your side and that she can''t kick me out!"

    Long Jinjing finally snapped. Her eyes shed with anger.

    "Niko¡ªLu Zihao, you motherfucker! Your babies are about to tear my fucking vagina apart and yet you expect ME to care about your trivial matter?! How about you experience trying to push out two new human beings out of your own tiny hole? Let''s see if you can still act like a maddening jackass! I need my husband''sfort! If you can''t give it to me, then get the fuck out, you useless man!

    "I, Long Jinjing, can give birth by myself! I don''t need your fucking assholery to add to my stress! Aaaaah! Fuck you, Lu Zihao! It hurts so much!"

 Chapter 1341 - Go Get A Vasectomy

    <h4>Chapter 1341 - Go Get A Vasectomy</h4>

    Lu Zihao froze and stared at his wife in disbelief. He couldn''t believe all the foul words flowing out of his usually gentle wife''s mouth.

    It wasn''t like he had never heard her curse. Of course, he did, but this was the first time that she said so many foul words in quick session.

    This was also the first time that he realized that she could be a little¡­scary.

    Huh?! Wait a minute!

    There was no way that he, Niki Vetrov, would feel scared of a small woman who wasn''t his mother (Madam Vetrova) even if that woman was his wife!

    If another person cursed at him like this, he would have already taught them a harsh and painful lesson but this was his wife. Not to mention that she was about to give birth to his children.

    Although he didn''t like what Long Jinjing yelled at him just now especially when she called him a useless man, he wasn''t an immature person to argue with her in this kind of stressful situation.

    Sense returned to him. He calmed down but notpletely. Long Jinjing''s whimpers and cries of pain continued to affect his self-control but he didn''t want to leave her side while she gave birth to his babies. What he needed to do was try to reduce her stress like the doctor said and be her source offort like Long Jinjing herself said.

    It was hard for someone like him to do these things, but for the sake of his wife, he would do it! Dammit, he would fucking do it! Even if she continued raging at him with a storm of foul words.

    "It''s so painful, Lu Zihao! I won''t let you t-touch, no¡ªI won''t let you fuck me anymore after this! Damn you!"

    Lu Zihao''s mouth twitched. "I know that you don''t mean what you''re spouting right now. We''ll talk about this unreasonable deration of yours another time."

    Long Jinjing red at him and pped his hand that he was using to hold her. The pain and stress were so overwhelming that all she wanted to do was to release her pent-up frustrations on her husband.

    She loved the man so much, but at the moment, she actually wanted to bite his head off. He felt so aggravating to her right now. It was as if each word that he spoke was intended to infuriate her to no end.

    She felt so aggrieved and indignant at the same time. Her emotions were all over the ce. This was the first time that she felt so out of control, even more than when she fell sopletely in love with him. The increasingly painfulbour pains weren''t helping either. In fact, the pain was only magnifying her negative emotions.

    Lu Zihao could only consider himself to be unlucky that he was the best target right now for her to vent her negative emotions.

    "Unreasonable?!" Long Jinjing''s shrill voice filled the delivery room. "You''re calling ME unreasonable?! How dare you?!!! Listen to me¡ª"

    "Okay, that''s enough, Jinjing. I won''t be an asshole to the doctor and her team anymore. So can you just calm the fuck down? You can shout at me all you want after this but doing this right now is not good for you or the babies."

    He tried his hardest to make his tone as calm as possible to avoid agitating her any further but it seemed that he was really bad at this. She actually became angrier. What the hell? He didn''t understand what he was doing wrong.

    "Shut up, jerk!!! Don''t tell me to calm down! I was trying to calm down but you just had to stress me out by trying to fight with the doctor and her team! Are you trying to anger me to death? Is that what you''re trying to do?! Argh! It hurts!!! Lu Zihao,e here and give birth to your babies yourself!!! There''s no way! No fucking way in hell that I''m letting you get me pregnant again!!!"

    "Okay, okay," he tried reassuring her. "If you don''t want to get pregnant again, then don''t. These twins are enough. They''re already more than enough! Jinjing, just fucking calm down, okay?"

    Tears flowed down her face. "You bastard, Niko¡ªZihao! You don''t want to have kids with me anymore, is that it?! I knew it! You don''t like me anymore ''cuz I''ve be so fat and ugly! Fine! If that''s what you want! Go get a vasectomy! If you dare impregnate other women besides me while we''re married, see if I don''t chop off your dick myself! Aaaaaaah!!! Doctor, how long until I give birth?"

    Lu Zihao was pushed aside as the doctor took over inforting his wife. He caught the nurses throwing him looks of disdain beneath their fear of him as they wiped his wife''s sweat and helped her drink some water.

    This was the first time since being reborn as Lu Zihao that he felt so helpless¡­and yes, useless. Hearing his wife''s painful screams filling the room felt like his heart was being squeezed.

    Gritting his teeth with determination, he took the towel and ss of water from the nurses. Even when Long Jinjing continuing scolding him, he refused to back down. He treated her curses as farts¡ªunpleasant but harmless and could still be ignored.

    Throughout Long Jinjing''s pregnancy, almost everything had been smooth sailingpared to his sister''s experience. Lu Zihao even felt smug every time he watched Jin Liwei suffering the full brunt of his sister''s extreme mood swings.

    Long Jinjing didn''t have the same extreme mood swings. She remained her usual gentle self. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    This was why Lu Zihao felt so caught off guard at his wife''s sudden mood swing. And it wasn''t just a simple loss of temper either. She was full-on cursing at him using foul words that he normally used on a daily basis. It felt like his own words wereing back right at this moment to bite him in the ass.

    Instead of irritation or anger, amusement filled him. His furious wife looked so adorable while cursing him.

    "What are youughing at?!" Long Jinjing demanded. "You still dare tough at me?!"

    He chuckled and kissed her on the mouth. "There will be no other women. I can only fuck you now, woman. So you have to take responsibility.. Only you, wife."

 Chapter 1342 - Short Labour

    <h4>Chapter 1342 - Short Labour</h4>

    Long Jinjing''s next furious tirade got stuck in her throat after hearing what her husband said just now. She stared at him and could see the clear amusement in his eyes despite the rest of his expression remaining unreadable as usual. Before she knew it, her entire body turned redder and not because of thebour pains but due to shyness instead.

    "Y-you¡­stop it," she mumbled but her mouth was already curving up.

    The doctor and her team looked at each other. If not for their remaining fear for Lu Zihao, they would have already rolled their eyes at the scene ying in front of them. Well, they did roll their eyes inside their minds.

    Even so, the female nurses couldn''t help but steal a few nces at Lu Zihao. He was extremely scary with all his scars and huge muscled body, not to mention his threatening aura and rude attitude. Regardless of all these shorings, Lu Zihao was without a doubt an attractive man. He oozed masculinity in a way that normal men couldn''t rival.

    He had a different kind of attractivenesspared to Jin Liwei. CEO Jin was the cold, polished, handsome and perfect type of dream man while Lu Zihao was the rough, dangerous, sinful yet hot type of lover.

    The way he spouted foul words was offensive yet also sexy at the same time. If Lu Zihao weren''t so scary, the nurses might even entertain indecent thoughts about him, especially since Long Jinjing seemed to be the timid type which was unlike her confident and brutally honest half-sister, Iris Long.

    If there were any mistress wannabes, they would certainly feel that Long Jinjing was easier to contend withpared to Iris Long.

    Long Jinjing seemed like the type to be a martyr wife and endure emotional torture rather than openly confront her husband''s mistress. On the other hand, Iris Long already had a history of getting into actual physical fights with her enemies, not the mention that she had a straightforward personality and a poisonous tongue that would hit opponents where they hurt the most.

    If anyone dared to have any designs on Jin Liwei, Iris Long would surely not sit still and take things lying down. Nobody would be surprised at all if in addition to eliminating the mistress, she would also destroy her husband Jin Liwei for betraying her. Despite sessfully building an elegant goddess reputation after her majoreback, people still remembered her wild days where she caused chaos left and right as a spoiled young miss.

    Compared to her, Long Jinjing didn''t look to be the confrontational type at all. Today, however, the doctor and her team learned that she wasn''t as sweet and innocent as she appeared.

    All the foul words flying out of her mouth as she cursed her own husband were too shocking. The gap between her meek appearance and the explicitness of the words was too big.

    They realized that Long Jinjing wasn''t that simple after all. Heck, if they thought about it more carefully, she was actually quite abnormal for marrying a dangerous-looking man like Lu Zihao.

    As expected, both the Long sisters weren''t normal at all. They sessfully snagged two of the country''s most eligible bachelors, married them, and even produced twins each.

    These were the nurses'' thoughts. They could only admire the sisters, Iris Long and Long Jinjing, for being capable. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    The doctor didn''t care too much about gossip-like thoughts like these. She had already seen and experienced a lot ever since working as a live-in medical professional at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    To be honest,pared to Lu Zihao or even Jin Liwei, the doctor was the most scared of Iris Long. The part-time members of the medical team didn''t know the truth but she did.

    The real boss in this ce was Iris Long.

    It wasn''t only because Jin Liwei handed her this much power. On the contrary, the doctor noticed that everyone in the mansion genuinely respected her status as the mistress not just because she was the master''s wife but because of her own capabilities.

    Their household''s situation was more like both Jin Liwei and Iris Long shared the status as equal heads of the family, unlike other normal families where the husband or father was the undisputed head of the family while the wife or mother took the supporting role.

    Back to the present, the doctor called for everyone''s attention and forced them to focus on their current job¡ªassisting Long Jinjing in giving birth.

    "Get ready, everyone. This looks like it will be a shortbour."

    Long Jinjing looked surprised and relieved at the same time. "R-really? Mine won''t take as long as my sister''s longbour?"

    "I think so, Mrs. Lu." The doctor nced at Lu Zihao and did her best not to shudder from fright. "Mr. Lu, please conduct yourself properly and don''t disrupt me or my team while we''re helping your wife give birth. I really won''t hesitate to kick you out of the delivery room if you make any trouble."

    Lu Zihao scowled but he still grunted his assent.

    Everyone was relieved.

    Long Jinjing gave him a serious look. "Don''t make trouble!"

    He snorted but caught himself when his wife''s re turned fierce once again. He coughed and did his best to appear as non-threatening as possible. To be honest, it wasn''t very easy especially since he couldn''tpletely calm himself down while watching his own wife suffer these damnedbour pains.

    "Ugh!" Long Jinjing clutched her swollen stomach before looking at the doctor in panic. "I¡­I think I need to go to the toilet first."

    "Do you need to urinate?" the doctor asked.

    "N-no¡­I think¡­uh, I need to uh¡­you know."

    "You want to poo?" Lu Zihao asked.

    Long Jinjing looked embarrassed but still nodded. He was about to help her but she pushed him away. Although they were husband and wife, she still felt embarrassed about tackling certain topics like this. She preferred to let a nurse apany her to the toilet than her husband.

    "Ugh! I really need to go¡­to the t-toilet now."

    The doctor held her down. "I''m afraid that''s not poo you''re feeling, Mrs. Lu, but the head of your first baby about toe out."

    Long Jinjing had no time to think about anything anymore because a wave of strong contractions assaulted her.

 Chapter 1343 - Little Misha And Little Dima

    <h4>Chapter 1343 - Little Misha And Little Dima</h4>

    Three hourster, the doctor personally came out of the delivery room into the waiting lounge to announce the good news.

    "Mr. and Mrs. Lu have weed two healthy baby boys¡ªidentical twins," she announced. "The mother and babies are all doing well."

    Long Jinjing''s mother, Sun Jingfei, arrived not too long ago. She lived quite far from Dragon Pce so it took her quite some time to travel from home to the mansion. She also brought luggage because she was going to stay and help her daughter with the month-long confinement just like how Huang Yuyan did for Iris.

    "Oh, twin boys!" Sun Jingfei burst into joyful tears.

    "Bahahahahaha, another set of twins!" Grandpa Lu was also beside himself with excitement. "Xin my girl and Jinjing my girl are truly sisters! Both giving birth to twin boys! How can such blessed sisters marry my two pinheaded grandsons? Tell me, I want to know! Those two dunderheads don''t deserve such wonderful women! Bahahahaha! Two sets of twins! This old man is d to have lived this long! It''s worth it!"

    Jin Liwei''s mouth twitched. Although he agreed that he didn''t fully deserve his beautiful genius wife because nobody in the face of thepletely deserved her, he still didn''t like being called a pinhead or a dunderhead. But what could he do when the one insulting him was Grandpa Lu?

    Beside him, Iris was also smiling. "Identical twins! I wonder what they look like. I can''t wait to see my twin nephews."

    "En. Me, too." Jin Liwei was also curious.

    Their own human sons were fraternal twins. Little Mochi took after the maternal side the most in terms of appearance while Little Matcha resembled Jin Liwei to a frightening degree. The twins looked so different from each other, not to mention that their personalities were also poles apart.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei wanted to see what Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao''s identical twins looked like.

    Who would the twins resemble? Their mother or father? Or maybe both?

    While Sun Jingfei and Grandpa Lu were asking the doctor a series of questions, the others were chatting with each other. Dom and Jiang Ying Yue were busy updating the other members of the girl squad in their group chat.

    Chen Fei immediately called back. Meimei was probably absorbed in working on her webtoon while Clover might still be asleep in France.<i> [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    "I''m a little envious of Big Sister," Iris said. "She gave birth so quickly."

    Jin Liwei hugged her. Indeed, even he felt a little envious as well. He watched his wife suffer duringbour for so many hours after finally giving birth. He thought that his brother-inw was so lucky. And in extension, the doctor and the medical staff also dodged a bullet.

    He wouldn''t be surprised if Lu Zihao made trouble with the medical staff if Long Jinjing suffered for as long as Iris did. To be honest, Jin Liwei was a little surprised that everything seemed to have gone well inside the delivery room. Lu Zihao hadn''t strangled anyone and no medical staff member had fainted from fright.

    Inside the delivery room, Long Jinjing''s tears flowed freely down her face as she gazed at her newborn babies. They had already been cleaned. Lu Zihao also personally cut their umbilical cords.

    Her husband held the eldest twin son while she cradled the youngest.

    "So ugly," Lu Zihaomented.

    Long Jinjing''s expression twisted. "How could you say that? They''re your sons!"

    While she berated him, the nurses who were cleaning up in the background looked at each other. Why did this scene look familiar?

    Lu Zihao''s "so ugly"ment was the exact words that Iris used when she saw her twins after giving birth. The only difference was that Long Jinjing reacted like how other normal new mothers should react¡ªto defend her babies from any insults even from her own husband.

    In Iris'' case not too long ago, her husband Jin Liwei also acted in an abnormal way and agreed with her, even calling their second twin son who resembled him the most as looking like a "drowned rat".

    Iris and Jin Liwei were both abnormal. Lu Zihao was also an abnormal one but at least his wife was still normal.

    Indeed, Long Jinjing reacted how normal parents should react upon seeing their newborns for the first time and not call their own poor babies ugly.

    The nurses were d for the identical twins that their mother was sane. Never mind their father. Having one normal parent was already a good thing.

    At least, the identical twins weren''t as pitiful as their older fraternal twin cousins who had been insulted by their own parents for being ugly as soon as they were born.

    Lu Zihao didn''t bother arguing with his furious wife. He could only stay silent and take the scolding.

    Deep inside, however, his opinion remained unchanged. His twin sons were really so ugly. They looked even uglier than Little Mochi and Little Matcha when his nephews were just born.

    His mouth curved up as he gazed at his first descendants. Ugly or not, these little brats were his own sons. It would be a lie if he said that he wasn''t happy.

    The truth was¡­he was happy. Extremely so.

    An unfamiliar sense of aplishment filled him. And pride. Oh, the pride he felt!

    "My sons, Mikhail and Dmitri," he murmured.

    Long Jinjing stopped in the middle of her rant. "W-what did you just say?"

    He smiled. "Our eldest son will be named Mikhail or Little Misha while our second son will be called Dmitri or Little Dima."

    "Oh." She blinked a few times and rolled the foreign names in her tongue. "Little Misha, Little Dima¡­these nicknames are so cute. I''m so relieved that you''re not like my sister who wants to give our babies ridiculous food names." Then she frowned. "B-but¡­Michael and D-dirty?"

    "Mikhail and Dmitri," he corrected.

    "Mehell and Demetery?"

    He sighed but didn''t correct her anymore. His wife would slowly learn how to pronounce their sons'' names properly.

    "I like these names. We can use Mehell and Demetery as their English names but¡­we''re Chinese. I still want our babies to have traditional Chinese names. Okay, Ni¡ªZihao?"

    "Hm, fine. You give them Chinese names, then."

    "I, uh¡­how about we ask Grandpa Lu to name our twins, too?" she suggested.

    "That''s fine."

 Chapter 1344 - Chicharon And Burrito

    <h4>Chapter 1344 - Chicharon And Burrito</h4>

    After all the necessary medical examinations werepleted, the new parents allowed the medical staff to show their newborn identical twins to family and friends in another room. Lu Zihao stayed with Long Jinjing in the delivery room.

    Although Long Jinjing experienced a shorterbour and quicker childbirth than Iris, she still feltpletely drained. She quickly fell asleep after the nurses cleaned her up.

    Sun Jingfei entered the delivery room to check on her daughter first. She was excited to meet her new grandsons but her daughter''s wellbeing still came first for her. As a mother herself, she knew how difficult it was to give birth.

    "Zihao, how''s Jing''er?"

    "Aunt...Mother." Lu Zihao stood up and pulled another chair for his mother-inw. "The doctor says that she''s fine."

    Sun Jingfei released a big sigh of relief before stroking the forehead of her sleeping daughter. "I''m d. Go to the other room and show off your sons to your grandfather and the others, Zihao. I''ll apany Jing''er until you return."

    "No need, Mother. I''ll apany my wife. You should meet your grandsons instead."

    She smiled but shook her head. "Please go, Zihao. I want to spend a few minutes with my daughter alone. I have plenty of time to dote on my grandsonster. Don''t worry. Nothing will happen to your wife. She''s my daughter. I''ll take care of her."

    Lu Zihao looked reluctant but still nodded. He didn''t care if his mother-inw was in front of him. He went ahead and kissed his sleeping wife on the lips. Sun Jingfei waspletely red when he left.

    In the other room, Lu Zihao saw Grandpa Lu carrying one baby while Jin Liwei held the other one.

    "Haohao my boy!" Grandpa Lu was ecstatic but still made sure to lower the volume of his voice to avoid frightening his newest set of twin great-grandsons. "You did well for a dunderhead! You and your third brother both did well! But of course, the biggest credit goes to both of your wives! Without Xin my girl and Jinjing my girl, how could stinky pinheads like the two of you sire a set of twins each? This old man is over the moon from joy!"

    Lu Zihao grunted but his expression was soft as he gazed at his twins. Even without looking at the tags the nurses ced on the babies, he could still instantly recognize which one was the eldest and which one was the youngest.

    Iris gave him a hug. "Congrattions, Big Brother!"

    "Hm, thanks."

    Jin Liwei handed the baby that he was holding to him. Lu Zihao cradled his eldest twin son. Although he looked awkward due to his huge size, his movements were still smooth and natural. He already had plenty of practice with his twin nephews, Little Mochi and Little Matcha.

    "This is Mikhail," he murmured.

    Iris'' eyes lit up. "Oh, so he''s a Misha? Little Misha?"

    "Hm."

    "What about the other one?" she asked next.

    "Dmitri."

    "What a lovely name. So he''s Little Dima?"

    Lu Zihao nodded. He was in a good mood. As expected, his sister was the only one who didn''t need any additional exnations. She understood the names of his sons right away.

    Jin Liwei was still fine because he already had an understanding why Lu Zihao wanted to give Russian names to his own twins sons, but this wasn''t the case for the others. They looked surprised at the foreign-sounding names Lu Zihao gave to his sons, especially Grandpa Lu.

    "What Shasha? What Mima? Are these the names you chose? Tell me, I want to know! How dare you name my precious great-grandsons so carelessly, you stinky dunderhead? These names don''t sound good at all! This old man rejects these careless names!"

    "Ahem, I think they sound nice," Dom interjected. "I think Misha and Dima sound better than what Boss wants to call her new nephews."

    Lu Zihao had a bad premonition but still asked, "What did my sister want to name my kids?"

    "Chicharon and Burrito! So creative, right? Perfect pair like Mochi and Matcha! I actually suggested Tabasco and Sriracha to be a bit different than usual, but on further thought, I agree that boss is right, Chicharon and Burrito sound cuter! Huh, no? Okay...ahem, I''ll zip my mouth shut now. Ehehehe."

    Jiang Ying Yue pulled her talkative friend away from the line of fire. <i>[Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]</i>

    Even the mischievous Grandpa Lu couldn''t stop himself from revealing a horrified expression. "Chicharon and Burrito?! Tabasco and Sriracha?! Xin my girl and Dom you brat, don''t even think about it! You too, Haohao! Don''t follow your little sister''s example of giving weird names to children!"

    Lu Zihao threw his sister an exasperated side eye and a warning re at the sheepish Dom. Iris only shrugged while Dom continued ehehe-ing to Jiang Ying Yue. Jin Liwei didn''t join the ridiculous conversation but the amusement was obvious in his expression.

    "Jinjing and I had already agreed that our sons will have Mikhail and Dmitri as their official English names. Their nicknames will be Little Misha and Little Dima, not Shasha or Mima. Mikhail and Dmitri are excellent Russian names that fit my sons."

    Iris nodded at her brothers'' words, agreeing that Mikhail and Dmitri were indeed excellent names. She nced at Jin Liwei and whispered, "I want to give our sons Russian names, too."

    "Alright," Jin Liwei immediately agreed. "Whatever Russian names youe up with, we''ll register them as Little Mochi and Little Matcha''s official English names.

    After seeing Lu Zihao''s stubborn determination and Iris'' wholehearted agreement, Grandpa Lu was persuaded. "Hmph! Fine, if that''s what you want, you stinky boy!"

    "But Jinjing still wants you to give our sons their Chinese names," Lu Zihao said.

    The old man''s expression immediately brightened. "Of course! I have several names prepared this time after being caught off guardst time. Oh, wait! Do we wait for your father-inw to arrive so that he can name one of the twins again?"

    "Just name both, old man. Who knows what time Jinjing''s father will arrive here?" Lu Zihao didn''t give a fuck about Long Tengfei at all.

    In the end, Grandpa Lu named the eldest twin Lu Tianyu and the youngest twin Lu Zhiyuan.

 Chapter 1345: Failure As A Mother

    Chapter 1345: Failure As A Mother

    Lu Zihao made the right call in letting Grandpa Lu name both of the Lu twins because Long Tengfei was unable toe to Dragon Pce the day of the birth or even the next day.

    Long Tengfei had been on a business trip abroad when his wife informed him that Long Jinjing was inbour. Even when he already cut his business trip short and rushed back home in a private jet, he still only managed to arrive three dayster.

    Fortunately for him, his wife Yang Jiahui and Meimei already went ahead to visit the new twins the same day that they were born.

    When Long Tengfei finally met his newest grandsons, he was once again shocked to learn that his other daughter also gave birth to twins. Nobody told him, not even his wife. They kept it aplete secret from him. At first, he was stunned before feeling extremely proud.

    His two daughters were so capable! Both of them produced a set of twins each in just one shot!

    Although there were no precedent of producing twins in the Long genealogy before this, it couldn''t be a coincidence that his two daughter were able to give birth to twins one after another. Iris and Long Jinjing were sisters while Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao weren''t blood-rted at all despite calling each other brothers. Hence, themon factor could onlye from Iris and Long Jinjing being blood sisters.

    Long Tengfei felt like he could hold his head high in front of both the Jin and Lu ns for having such blessed daughters. Because of his daughters, the Jin and Lu ns no longer had to worry about producing the next generation. They were two heirs per n in one go!

    This excitement allowed Long Tengfei to ignore his disappointment for not making it in time to name one of his grandsons again. Even so, he was still satisfied with the names Sir Lu Jianhong gave to the Lu twins.

    "Lu Tianyu and Lu Zhiyuan, excellent names," hemented as he held one of the twins.

    His wife, Yang Jiahui, carried the other one. Neither of them had an idea which one was the eldest and which one was the youngest. Unlike the Jin twins who were fraternal, the Lu twins werepletely identical.

    Mysteriously though, only Lu Zihao and Iris could differentiate between the identical Lu twins at this point without having to look at the tags. Even the mother, Long Jinjing, still couldn''t differentiate her own twin babies from each other.

    "How can the two of you recognize who''s who?" Long Jinjing asked, feeling amazed and frustrated at the same time.

    "Of course, I know who''s who," Lu Zihao replied. "Although they''re identical twins, they still don''t lookpletely the same."

    Iris nodded. "Little Misha has a slightly lopsided mouth while Little Dima has a...hmmm, how should I describe it? Little Dima has this same gentle aura as Big Sister Jinjing."

    Everyone crowded around the twins to search for what Iris just said¡ªLittle Misha''s lopsided mouth and Little Dima''s gentle aura.

    They turned their heads to the right but couldn''t see any lopsided mouth or sense any "gentle" aura. Then they turned their heads to the left but still failed.

    Disappointed, they could only look at Iris and Lu Zihao in envy and awe.

    What kind of monstrous vision did these two have?

    Even Long Jinjing felt envious of her husband and sister. She was the mother yet she still couldn''t differentiate between her babies.

    The doctor assured her, "Don''t worry, Mrs. Lu. You''ll eventually be able to differentiate your twins. Mothers will always be the one who knows their children the best."

    "That''s right," Sun Jingfei interjected and patted her daughter''s hand.

    Long Jinjing feltforted. "Thanks, Doctor. You too, Mother."

    After the check-up, the doctor left the delivery room which was once again transformed into afy bedroom. Long Jinjing was in bed while watching everyone doting on her newborn babies.

    "How was Big Brother when he was apanying you during the childbirth?" Iris asked.

    Everyone pricked their ears. They also wanted to know.

    Long Jinjing pouted and rolled her eyes at her husband. Her expression was enough to give the others idea of what transpired.

    "Did Haohao give you a hard time, Jinjing my girl?" Grandpa Lu demanded. "Tell me, I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao frowned. "Nonsense. I was perfectly supportive of my wife!"

    "Supportive?" Long Jinjing remembered all her grievances. "You were about to beat up the doctor and her team! I was so stressed out because of you that I was already prepared to give birth by myself!"

    "What?!!!" Grandpa Lu was enraged. He smacked Lu Zihao''s back several times and scolded his stinky pinheaded grandson.

    Long Jinjing: "And..and...you even called your own sons ugly!"

    Lu Zihao: "Well, they are ugly."

    Grandpa Lu: "Haohao!!!" (smack, smack, more smacks!!!)

    Iris chuckled. "I said the same thing as soon as I saw my own twins. Newborn babies are so ugly. Right, darling?"

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui shook their heads.

    "But don''t worry, Big Sister," Iris said. "Little Misha and Little Dima will soon be cute in a few days. That''s what happened to your nephews."

    "Er, t-thanks?" Long Jinjing felt helpless at her husband and sister.

    She and Iris were sisters and yet her husband and her sister felt more like the real siblings. They were so simr! Both had no filter at all.

    Later, everyone left except for Lu Zihao and Sun Jingfei to let Long Jinjing and the newborn twins rest more.

    Long Jinjing was trying to breastfeed Little Misha¡ªor was it Little Dima? She wasn''t sure which one.

    "It''s Little Dima," Lu Zihao told her.

    "Oh, thanks."

    Long Jinjing tried hard. Her mother, Sun Jingfei, even assisted her.

    "This.." Sun Jingfei shook her head. "There''s not enough milk."

    "N-no, I''ll try again." Long Jinjing was determined to breastfeed her babies.

    Unfortunately, her mother was right. She didn''t have enough milk. Her eyes watered.

    "I''m such a failure as a mother," she cried.

    Lu Zihao scowled. "The hell you are! Don''t ever say that again."

    "It''s just the third day and my milk has already run out!" Long Jinjing felt useless and depressed..

 Chapter 1346: Do You Want It?

    Chapter 1346: Do You Want It?

    No matter how much Lu Zihao and Sun Jingfei triedforting Long Jinjing in their own way, it still didn''t change the fact that she couldn''t produce enough breast milk.

    Something so basic and natural as producing milk to feed her babies and arm them with vital immunity boosters in this early critical stage of their development, she couldn''t even do it. She truly felt like an utter failure as a mother.

    Sun Jingfei sighed before preparing form milk for her twin grandsons. It couldn''t be helped. The babies needed to be fed and nourished.

    Yesterday, Long Jinjing already started to struggle producing milk. However, she still persisted and was able to feed her babies until they were satiated. Her breast milk had just been enough then. She literally couldn''t afford to waste a single drop of it.

    That was when she realized that she would have issues with her natural breast milk production. She had hoped that what little milk she could produce wouldst at least a week. By then, the babies should have received the minimum immunity boosters that her breast milk could give them. After that, she had to resign herself to feeding them with form instead.

    Unfortunately, her fear was realized only on the third day after giving birth. She literally couldn''t produce any milk for her babies.

    Her low self-esteem caused by her weight gain throughout her pregnancy was exacerbated at the realization that her breast milk onlysted for three days. It wasn''t even for three full days.

    "I''m so sorry, my babies," she cried. "Mommy has failed you."

    "You!" Lu Zihao felt angry.

    He wanted to shake his wife until she woke up. To be honest, he didn''t think that it was a big deal whether she could produce breast milk or not.

    Why the hell was there such arge selection of different baby form to choose from? Wasn''t it for situations like this? Just looking at the dizzying variety of baby form avable in the market, it was already obvious that inadequate breast milk was not that rare.

    Although these were his thoughts, he wisely didn''t speak them out loud. The way his wife cursed him out while she was giving birth was still fresh in his mind. In addition to the fact that she already had a history of low self-esteem, he didn''t want to trigger anything.

    His sister had already warned him before to be more careful and considerate of Long Jinjing. Iris even sent him hundreds of proven scientific studies from all around the world about post-partum depression. He only needed to read a couple of them before stopping.

    Once he read that suicide was a real possible effect of severe post-partum depression, he couldn''t read the rest of the other scientific studies anymore.

    A scene had shed in his mind. A depressed Long Jinjing stealing one of his guns and shooting herself in the head.

    The image felt so realistic that he almost went crazy.

    If his wife had to resort to suicide, then the failure wasn''t on her but on him instead. As a husband, he had the responsibility to protect her and their children from any danger even if the danger came from herself.

    This was why he couldn''t allow her to spiral into depression no matter what. Seeing her so upset and defeated because she couldn''t produce enough breast milk was already a red g.

    He grabbed a handful of tissue and wiped her tears. His movements were clumsy because he wasn''t used to being gentle.

    Sun Jingfei returned with two tiny bottles filled with form. Long Jinjing burst into another round of tears upon seeing the form milk.

    "Jing''er.¡± Sun Jingfei wanted tofort her suffering daughter but her grandsons were also crying from hunger.

    Before any of them could feed the babies with form, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

    Iris entered the room followed by a few household staff wheeling a small freezer. She was also holding a stylish baby bag (cute Kkitty design, only avable at Orchidia Baby).

    She sighed upon seeing Long Jinjing''s face covered with tears.

    "What are all these?" Lu Zihao asked.

    She bypassed her brother and faced Long Jinjing instead. "I have a lot of extra breast milk. Do you want it?"

    Long Jinjing''s eyes widened. It wasn''t only her. Sun Jingfei was also surprised by Iris'' offer. She nced at the small freezer and already had an idea of what it contained. Lu Zihao, on the hand, had an ugly, disbelieving expression.

    "What the hell-"

    "Do you want it?" Iris asked Long Jinjing again, ignoring her brother.

    "Are you s-sure?"

    Iris nodded. "I''ve already filled up several freezers in the mansion with all my extra breast milk. I originally nned on donating them to a hospital''s maternity department or maybe a milk bank but Liwei isn''t keen on the idea. He doesn''t like giving something my body produced to total strangers. If he''s left in charge of my extra milk that our twins can''t finish before they''re weaned, he''d rather discard everything than give them away. But my nephews aren''t strangers. Little Misha and Little Dima are family. You and my brother are family."

    "Xiu-xin..." Long Jinjing watched as Iris opened the baby bag she was holding and take out two tiny bottles filled with milk¡ªbreast milk.

    "If you don''t disdain my breast milk and don''t mind feeding your sons with milk from another mother¡ª"

    "How could I d-disdain your breast milk? You''re already being so kind and generous and open-minded for even thinking of doing this...."

    Iris asked for the final time, "So do you ept my offer?"

    "Y-yes! Of course! Oh, little sister. T-thank you so much!!!" Long Jinjing cried again. This time, from gratefulness and relief.

    Iris smiled and handed the two tiny bottles filled with fresh milk to her brother. Lu Zihao gave her a hard look but she only gestured for him to hurry up and feed his hungry babies.

    "I''ll talk to youter about this," he told her through gritted teeth.

    "Nothing you can do anymore, Big Brother. Your wife already agreed to this. Don''t be so narrow-minded like my husband. Sharing breast milk is not that big of a deal.¡±

    Long Jinjing forced herself to calm down. She and Lu Zihao began feeding their twins with Iris'' milk..

 Chapter 1347 - Nikolai VS. Evelina (Part I)

    Chapter 1347 - Niki VS. Evelina (Part I)

    "I didn''t just like the surprise you prepared for your brothers and cousins, I love them," Iris said. "The puppies are great presents. Your siblings and cousins love them, too. Thank you, Bacon and Ketchup. Both of you are such wonderful big brother and big sister."

    "Well done," Jin Liwei praised next.

    The two cat AIs were happy to make everyone happy with their surprise presents. Both of them were learning the joy of generous giving.

    Bacon didn''t care much about charity to strangers but he found that he liked giving presents to his loved ones. As for Ketchup, she always loved doings things that would earn praise from her parents.

    The next day, Iris found out that her husband sent her an additional 20 million US dors for the two puppies that were matched to their twins¡ªPudding and Chowder. It seemed that Jin Liwei considered the two puppies as their own children like the cats.

    So far, Jin Liwei had already given Iris a total of 80 million US dors for their now eight children (feline, human and canine) in ordance to their pre-nuptial agreement.

    "At this rate, I might really be a global billionaire just by giving Liwei children of all species," she muttered while getting ready for the day.

    ###

    Within a month, Long Hui reportedly started hismunity service at an orphanage. It seemed that the PR team that he hired for his public apology continued to help him throughout hismunity service. They were using themunity service to spin Long Hui''s punishment into something positive and clean his stinky reputation.

    Iris was actually quite impressed by his method. This was a smart move on his part.

    The best part was that Mao Qiuyue had finally ceased trying to use Iris Long and Jin Liwei''s name in the media for clout. Someone must have advised the woman.

    There was finally some peace. But how long would itst? Iris didn''t know.

    Ketchup would sometimes update her about the effects of Lin Yehan''s suppression on Mao Textiles and Jin Liwei''s dogged retaliation against Mao Qiuyue''s malicious clout-chasing attempts in the media. These might be the biggest reasons why Mao Qiuyue finally shut her mouth and stopped trying to drag Iris Long''s name for her own selfish reasons.

    Iris had already stopped caring about Mao Qiuyue and Long Hui''s matter. She would just let Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan vent for her and Jiang Ying Yue respectively. There were far more important people and things that needed her attention than those two.

    Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding was fast approaching but Iris simply tossed the matter out of her mind. The invitation Mao Qiuyue sent to Eve Holdings back theny forgotten in a drawer somewhere.

    By this time, Iris received more serious news from Bacon.

    Tian Kong, the bomber who attempted to murder her and so many others during her mall show with Jin Chonglinst year but eventually failed due to her quick reflexes, had been executed via shooting.

    Shadow Winds apparently obtained a footage of the actual execution but Iris didn''t want to watch it. Although she already expected this oue and didn''t pity Tian Kong, she still didn''t have any urge to watch someone being murdered. It didn''t matter if the person deserved to die or not. She refused to watch such a horrific scene.

    Iris sought her big brother. Lu Zihao was extremely busy at Shadow Winds but still insisted on spending as much time as possible with his wife and their twin babies in the mansion. This resulted in his mood bing more temperamental than usual. Almost everyone walked on eggshells around him during this time for fear of triggering him.

    "Big Brother, have you found anything new about Tian Kong before he was executed?" Iris asked after she found her brother in the training grounds.

    The sweaty Lu Zihao scowled at her. Still, his treatment of his sister remained many leagues better than other people. He didn''t roar at her at least. Of course, he also treated his own wife and children well.

    The siblings moved away from the training grounds so that they could speak more freely.

    "Don''t waste your time anymore on this matter, Evelinka," he told her.

    "I still want to know," she insisted.

    "You''ve always been so willful." He sighed and shook his head but his scowl now had a hint of a nostalgic smile. "Fine, since you''re asking then I''ll share some information with you."

    He told her that Shadow Winds finally had smoother progress in everything after using the results of her investigations that found a connection to Alcatraz Organizaci¨®n. It was like finally obtaining a master key that could unlock all doors after searching blindly for so long. This didn''t mean that things got easier to solve though. It only meant that they now had a clearer direction to take.

    They also had a better understanding that the enemy was even bigger and more dangerous than they initially thought. With the way Shadow Winds were now, they couldn''t possibly duke it out against Alcatraz just like that. It would be pure suicide if they did that.

    However, knowing the enemy was better than working blindly. At least, they now had an idea on what kind of preparations they needed to take in order to have a fighting chance against the current biggest criminal organization in the underworld.

    Even though there were still so many things that were unclear about Alcatraz''s true purpose in infiltrating the country, both Iris and Lu Zihao had some theories. At the end of the day, it didn''t really matter what purpose Alcatraz had. They just needed to be eliminated.

    Lu Zihao had a hell-deep blood feud against the criminal organization while Iris also wanted Alcatraz to disappear in this world to protect the family that she built with her husband in this second chance in life that she had after her death as Evelina Vetrova.

    "We detected some movements from them before, during and after Tian Kong''s execution," Lu Zihao informed Iris. "They''re very careful so we haven''t identified any of their core members yet but we managed to monitor a few of their native members. They''re all low-level but it''s a start. We haven''t done anything to them at this point. We''re just focused on monitoring them and learning more about their movements. Hopefully, we can predict their next ns better."

    Iris nodded. "It''s a pity that we haven''t found anything more useful from Tian Kong''s involvement with them but this progress is already good. Tian Kong is most likely just an expendable pawn to them."

    "Hm."

    "It''s to our advantage that we already have an idea about the enemy while they still don''t know us yet. Just continue to be extra careful, Big Brother. Shadow Winds is a tiny antpared to Alcatraz."

    Lu Zihao''s expression twisted. Then he growled. "I know! You don''t have to remind me!"

    She sighed but didn''t mind his tone. It was understandable how much he loathed Alcatraz to death, the one who swallowed a big part of the Vetrov organization after its downfall and reced it as the new reigning emperor of the international criminal underworld.

    "Now go back to your children," he told her. "Leave all this shit to me. No need for you to muddy your shoes in these dirty waters. My Shadow Winds and I are enough."

    "But¡ª"

    "Evelinka," he warned her.

    Iris hesitated before sighing again. "Fine."

    He crossed his scarred, muscled arms over his chest and continued glowering at her. "I know that you''re concerned about me but I, Niki Vetrov, know what I''m doing."

    She copied him and crossed her slender arms over her ample chest. "Of course, you know what you''re doing, Mr. Lu Zihao."

    He stared daggers at her. If she wasn''t his sister, he would have already berated her with the foulest ofnguages until her ears rang.

    "I''m Niki Vetrov!"

    She stood her ground against the onught of his scary aura. Deep inside, her soul was still a Vetrov just like him. She wasn''t a fragile flower who would wilt with a little harsh wind.

    "You WERE Niki Vetrov but not anymore! You''re now living as Lu Zihao! You''re married to Long Jingjing and the father of twins¡ªLu Tianyu and Lu Zhiyuan. Even if you gave my nephews Russian names, they will still be known as Mikhail Lu and Dmitri Lu, not Mikhail Vetrov and Dmitri Vetrov. You''re Lu Zihao now whether you like it or not! Just like how I''m now Long Xin and not Evelina Vetrova! Remember that, Big Brother. Please remember it."

    His nose red and his whole body tensed as he restrained his temper. "So you''re throwing away your past? Is that it? I know that you never wanted to be born as a Vetrov, I ept that. I have long epted that! But your past is still a part of you whether you like it or not, just like how my past is a fucking part of me!"

    "Of course, I know that! My point is that you shouldn''t let our past consume you too much that you forget to live in the present. Big Brother, you have a family now." She grabbed his arms, trying to make him understand, willing him to see her point of view. "You have a wife who loves you and children who depend on you! Even if you don''t tell me, I can sense that you have a do or die mindset when ites to avenging what happened to us in our past lives. Must you always put your life on the line like this? Do you want your wife to be a widow and your children orphans?"

    "Shut the fuck up, Evelinka!" he roared in her face.

 Chapter 1348 - Nikolai VS. Evelina (Part II)

    Chapter 1348 - Niki VS. Evelina (Part II)

    "Whoa!" Jin Liwei appeared all of a sudden and ced himself between the siblings. He blocked Lu Zihao with a hand and protected his wife behind him. "Easy there. There''s no need to shout at your sister."

    Lu Zihao snarled at him. "Don''t poke your nosy ass here. This conversation is between me and my sister. Get out of the way!"

    Jin Liwei didn''t allow himself to be intimidated. He looked at his brother-inw straight in the eyes. "Your sister is my wife. So no, I''m not getting out of your way unless you stop shouting at my wife."

    "You motherfucking¡ª"

    "Big Brother, that''s enough." Iris pulled her husband away.

    Sensing that the two men might fight each other, her stimted emotions calmed down quickly. Her logical reasoning returned. She analyzed that it wouldn''t benefit anyone if this argument continued.

    Unfortunately, her brother remained in a triggered state. This was the first time that he looked at her with such fury as if he wanted to lop her head off from her neck.

    "Don''t you fucking tell me what to do, Evelinka," he growled. "Someone who has forgotten her true origins and refuse to acknowledge it has no right to lecture me on how I deal with my own past."

    His words were like an arrow shot straight into her heart. It hurt. She actually had to clutch her chest from the pain. "Big Brother, that''s not¡ª"

    "That''s low, Niki," Jin Liwei defended his wife.

    "What low?" Lu Zihao sneered. "It''s the fucking truth! Your wife''s soul is a Vetrov! Don''t delude yourself into thinking that she''s Long Xin because she''s not! Just like how I''m Niki Vetrov and not your fucking fifth brother!"

    Jin Liwei snapped. "You fucking asshole!"

    "Liwei, no!" Iris grabbed him by the waist and pulled her husband with all her might. "Stop it, please!"

    It was a good thing that Jin Liwei still had a sliver of his sanity remaining amidst his own anger. He immediately stopped when his wife told him to stop. His main priority was to protect his wife. Anything else was secondary, including teaching his brother-inw a lesson which he wanted to do so badly especially right now that the man was being such a big jerk.

    Iris faced her brother while Jin Liwei embraced her in a protective manner.

    She told Lu Zihao, "It''s true that I have been running away from my past, from our past as Vetrovs. But that''s because I''ve never felt so alive than I am right now as Long Xin. I was a walking dead as Evelina Vetrova, Big Brother. I thought you knew that. I thought you understood me. But how could you really understand what I felt? You were the heir, the one Mother and Father had been grooming to lead the organization in the next generation, while I was the worthless daughter. You know what? You''re right. I hold no bonds whatsoever with the past.

    "You want to know the truth? I was actually d to die that night. I thought that I was going to be free atst from the life that I believed was a suffocating cage for me. I thought that there was nothing after death and I epted that. Then I woke up as Long Xin. Do you know how happy, how ecstatic, how thrilled I felt? This new life is a new beginning for me. I love it! You may not like to hear this but I love my life now as Long Xin more than my life as Evelina Vetrova.

    "You may think that I''m a traitor, and in a way, maybe I am. Yes, I''m selfish and only think about my own happiness. But am I wrong to want to be happy? Am I wrong to chase after my passions and dreams now that I''m free to do so? Am I wrong to build a wonderful family with my husband and our children? Big Brother, tell me, am I wrong? In your eyes, am I really wrong?!"

    Lu Zihao''s expression was unreadable but his eyes revealed the chaotic tempest of his emotions.

    Iris closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was only calmness fortified with resolution in them. "Just as you dislike me lecturing you about how you handle your past, then I also dislike you lecturing me about how I handle my own past."

    He gritted his teeth but still didn''t say anything.

    "Big Brother, you may not believe me but I also want the people who caused our downfall and annihtion in the past to pay, not because I have deep hatred for them like you do but because they are a danger to my peaceful life that I have with my family. You want revenge? In a way, so do I. But I believe that there are better, smarter methods to get revenge than a reckless zero-sum game.

    "It wasn''t my intention to criticize you or to fight with you. All I want is to remind you that you also have your own family now just like me. Even if you don''t care about yourself, please don''t be so blinded by revenge that you forget about your wife and children. If something happens to you, Big Sister Jinjing will be so heartbroken. Look at her. She''s in therapy to help her avoid getting post-partum depression. If she loses you, she''ll go crazy! Therapy might not even save her. Also, don''t you want to watch Little Misha and Little Dima grow up with your own eyes? Your family needs you, Big Brother."

    Silence.

    Jin Liwei''s entire body was taut as he observed the situation. He was worried that his wife wouldpletely provoke Lu Zihao into going out of control. Even though he didn''t think that the man wouldy a hand on his own sister, there was always a first time for everything. It was better to be safe than sorry.

    "Ugh!" Lu Zihao clutched his head and groaned. He also staggered on his feet.

    "Big Brother?" Iris stepped forward to help him but the wary Jin Liwei held her back.

    Lu Zihao threw her a final re before turning and leaving in a rush, almost stumbling on his own feet.

    Iris wanted to follow him. He didn''t look alright. She was worried about him.

    "Leave him," Jin Liwei told her.

    "But¡ª"

    "Love, give him some time," he said in a firm tone. He also held her firmly, not allowing her to slip past him. "Your brother needs some space by himself to process what happened and all the things both of you said to each other. I''m sure that you also need to do the same."

    She sighed. Now that her brother left, the gravity of what just happened was starting to catch up to her. The quarrel left her reeling and hurt.

    Her eyes stung but she was calm enough not to cry. Nevertheless, the pain still made it a challenge to breathe properly. Her chest felt like it was being squeezed.

    "I can''t believe that just happened," she murmured.

    Jin Liwei hugged her and kissed her forehead. "You''ll be fine, love. You did the right thing in saying those words to him."

    Truth be told, Jin Liwei was pissed off at his brother-inw. The words that the man said to his own sister were really hurtful. If it weren''t for his wife stopping him, Jin Liwei might really have punched Lu Zihao. The chances of winning was almost close to zero but it didn''t matter. His brother-inw deserved a punch in the face for hurting his wife''s heart.

    At the same time, Jin Liwei felt proud of his wife. She managed to remain calm despite the vtile situation and conveyed her thoughts in a clear manner to her brother. Whether Lu Zihao epted what she said or not was another matter.

    Neither Iris nor Jin Liwei could force Lu Zihao to change his way of thinking. Only Lu Zihao could change it himself. All they could do was try to persuade him. If it worked, then great. If not, then it would be a pity.

    Iris sighed again. "I regret triggering my brother. This is the first time that we quarreled so seriously like this. But¡­I don''t regret the things that I said to him. Those were my real thoughts."

    "I know." He stroked her back, trying to soothe her. "Your brother has been on edge for a while now. If it wasn''t you today, he would have been triggered by someone or something else. It''s not your fault."

    She tookfort in his arms and his scent. The fight with her brother was really hurtful, but oddly enough, it also felt cathartic.

    There was a sense of relief that she was finally able to share the truth with her brother regarding her true thoughts and feelings about her past as Evelina Vetrova and her present as Long Xin.

    She didn''t know if her rtionship with her brother would change for the better or worse after this. Regardless of what happened in the future, she would always love her brother no matter what. Even if he ceased treating her the same way as before, it was enough that she still cared for him as her beloved brother. She would continue to help keep him safe whether he liked it or not.

    Not wanting to dwell on the matter anymore, she changed the subject and asked her husband, "Howe you''re here so quickly?"

    "Ketchup alerted me," Jin Liwei replied. "I rushed here from our home office."

    She understood. There was no need for additional exnation.

    "Let''s go see our babies," she said.

    "En."

    They headed to the nursery room while holding hands. There was a tacit understanding between them not to speak about Lu Zihao for the rest of the day.

 Chapter 1349 - Delirium

    Chapter 1349 - Delirium

    The atmosphere in the mansion was dark and tense after Iris and Lu Zihao fought.

    Although Iris disliked this strain in the rtionship between her and her brother and wanted to fix it as soon as possible, she also needed some time to process the sudden fight. Everything escted so quickly that the two of them were already quarrelling before she knew it.

    Both of them could be quite willful to a fault. It wasn''t easy for others to influence their thoughts and decisions except for when they allowed it.

    At this point, she was certain that her brother wouldn''t change his mind so easily just like how she wouldn''t change her mind easily just because of their argument.

    He was blinded by revenge while she only wanted to protect everything that she built in this life, including her family with Jin Liwei. Even so, they had the same goal¡ªto destroy all the enemies who annihted the Vetrovs.

    It was only very recently that she realized the necessity of this goal. Constantly running away from the shadows of her past life would only catch her unawares someday and might destroy everything that she treasured in this new life of hers as Long Xin. She couldn''t allow that kind of risk to exist. If she could do something to prevent it, then she would do it.

    This was what she wanted tomunicate with her brother during their quarrel. She thought that she had been able to calm down enough and convey her thoughts in a clear manner, but based on his reaction, it didn''t seem to be sessful.

    "Hard-headed brother," Iris muttered to herself while changing Little Matcha''s baby onesie in the nursery room. "Why won''t you listen to me? So frustrating!"

    Long Jinjing was also there bottle-feeding Little Dima with Iris'' breast milk. She heard what her sister said just now.

    "What did you and Zihao fight about anyway?" she asked. "His already bad mood had worsened since yesterday. I couldn''t take it. I asked him to chill down a bit but he took it badly. He stormed out of our room. I thought that he was going to sleep in a guest room but when I woke up this morning, he was already gone. I still don''t know where he went. He won''t answer my calls or messages. It was only when Bacon assured me that his uncle is safe that I stopped worrying so much about him. Well, I still worry about him but I''m too preupied with the twins."

    Iris sighed and felt sorry for Long Jinjing. As the wife of her brother, Long Jinjing was also affected in the fight.

    "Big Brother has been on edge these past few weeks. I unintentionally said something that triggered him and we ended up quarrelling. Let''s just say that it got ugly. To be honest, I''m still in shock. Of course, I want to make up with him, but at the same time, I also don''t want to see his face right now. I guess both of us are still upset with each other at this point, that''s why he left today."

    Long Jinjing pouted but still said, "It''s okay, little sister. I may not know what you two fought about but I do know that my husband often acts unreasonable."

    ''Well, you also act unreasonable sometimes,'' she added in her heart. ''You werepletely unreasonable when we were younger. You''ve improved a lot as an adult but the trait is still there. Even though you''re my blood sister, you and my husband resemble each other to the point that the two of you seem like the real siblings than the two of us, especially when ites to troublesome personality traits like this.''

    Iris had no idea about Long Jinjing''s real thoughts. She only agreed that her brother was indeed oftentimes unreasonable.

    "Zihao is already an adult," Long Jinjing added. "He might have a bad temper at times but he cares. You might not be his real sister but he treats you better than any of our biological brothers."

    Iris didn''t reply. She knew in her heart that she and her brother were truer siblings than Long Jinjing and her.

    "I''m just concerned because Zihao looked like he was having a painful headachest night." Long Jinjing bit her lower lip.

    "Really? Did it look bad?" Iris also became worried. She remembered that her brother didn''t look alright yesterday when he left in a hurry after they fought.

    "I don''t know. I think so. You know him. His expression is always so difficult to read. If he looks like he''s hurting, then it must really be painful for it to show on his face."

    Iris muttered something in a foreignnguage. Long Jinjing didn''t understand but it sounded like something Lu Zihao would sometimes utter when he was cursing in Russian. She wasn''t 100% sure, though.

    ###

    tinum Sky Condominium.

    Inside his penthouse unit, Lu Zihao curled in hisrge bed and groaned as his head pounded with pain. He was only wearing his boxers¡ªalmost naked. His body was drenched with sweat as he struggled with his pounding head. He had been like this since yesterday after he fought with his sister.

    The pain this time was almost too much. It wasn''t a simple headache. There was no pain in the rest of his body, yet everything hurt. The pain transcended his physical body. It was mental, emotional¡­and yes, spiritual. It felt like his consciousness¡ªno, his soul¡ªwas being ripped out.

    He was literally holding on for dear life. If not, he might really die and leave this body forever.

    The original Lu Zihao''s remnant was not its usual talkative, jokester self. Right now, it was assailing him like magma and incinerating the hold he had over this body. The gradual loss of control was excruciating, not to mention terrifying. It was like being slowly drowned and burned at the same time.

    For him who was adept in all kinds of torture, this was the worst. It was like losing himself bit by bit until nothing was left.

    Through his tormenting delirium, he didn''t realize that he was muttering.

    "Jin¡­jing¡­Mi¡­sha¡­Di¡­ma¡­Jin¡­Jing¡­."

    He had no knowledge of this, yet his subconscious was yearning for his family amidst the agony.

    In the end, everything was too much.

    He wasn''t afraid of any enemy. Even when he had already been defeated once and killed in his past life, he still wasn''t afraid. As a matter of fact, he only became more resolved to fight the enemies again to the death.

    Now, however, it was extremely difficult to hold on to all his resolutions. How could he defend against an enemy that was within him?

    All he could do was persist¡­and persevere¡­and endure¡­until he couldn''t do it anymore.

    Finally, he was battered until the remainder of his life was like a tiny ember about to be extinguished with the littlest blow.

    It felt familiar.

    This was how he felt when he was about to die in his past life as Niki Vetrov.

    There wasn''t any panic, only despair, and grudging reluctance of all the things he failed to finish before passing away.

    When he was about to go, he opened his eyes and stared unseeingly at the ceiling. He was looking at something that he could only see. He reached his arm up but touched nothing.

    "Jin¡­jing¡­I...love you¡­."

    Then everything went dark.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Long Jinjing''s anguished sobs filled the hospital wing as the doctor dered her husbandatose.

    Nobody knew what happened.

    They only learned that something was wrong when Bacon alerted Iris that his Uncle Zihao disyed abnormal sleeping patterns. It seemed that Bacon had attempted to wake his uncle up but failed. If this was before, the always alert Lu Zihao would wake up immediately with the slightest noise. This time, however, he remained unmoving even when Bacon yed a variety of deafening sounds.

    Iris quickly instructed Bacon to send some Shadow Winds members to check on Lu Zihao in person. They confirmed that he was indeed unconscious and unresponsive. She then sent Jin Liwei''s helicopter and had the Shadow Winds members fly Lu Zihao straight to Dragon Pce where he was directly wheeled to the hospital wing.

    Outside the hospital room where Lu Zihao was ina, Iris was filled with guilt. Even so, she appeared calm on the outside. Her mind was running multiple miles per second as she thought about several reasons why her brother fell intoa.

    This already happened to both of them before. It must have something to do with the remnant of the original owner of his body again.

    Although the two of them had vastly different experiences with the remnants of the original owners of their respective bodies, it was undeniable that they were more or less in exactly the same situation¡ªreborn inpletely another bodies after their deaths.

    Dom and Jiang Ying Yue were helpingfort the distraught Long Jinjing. Grandpa Lu also arrived not too long ago. The old man also looked like his soul had flown out of his body as he stared at the closed door of the hospital room.

    Iris couldn''t make herselffort any of them because she also had to deal with her own worry and fear for her brother. Knowing that this happened after their shocking fight from yesterday was eating at her conscience.

    It seemed that she wasn''t the only one who thought about the possible cause and effect between their fight yesterday and Lu Zihao suddenly falling intoa today.

    "Xin!" Long Jinjing shifted her attention on Iris. "If my husband doesn''t wake up, I''ll make you pay for this! This is all your fault!!!"

 Chapter 1350 - Another Newer Version

    Chapter 1350 - Another Newer Version

    Iris'' expression became cold and hard as she nced at Long Jinjing. She didn''t retort but her eyes looked like they could kill. Even the furious Long Jinjing was intimidated and had to step back.

    "Don''t say that, Sis Jing!" Dom immediately defended Iris. "It''s not boss'' fault that Big Brother Boss fell intoa all of a sudden."

    "You''re upset," Jiang Ying Yue said next. "That''s why you''re saying that. But I know that you don''t really me your own sister for what happened to your husband."

    Dom nodded. "Boss cares about Big Brother Boss and vice versa!"

    Long Jinjing avoided all of their gazes and just focused on the closed door of the hospital room where the doctor was still performing various tests on theatose Lu Zihao. Her emotions were all over the ce. If something happened to her husband at this point of her life when she just gave birth to their children, she didn''t know what to do.

    Grandpa Lu who had been silent all this time pped his thigh. The sound startled almost everyone except for the cold-faced Iris. "This already happened before to Haohao. He woke up back then so I know that he''ll wake up from this again soon. Jinjing my girl, stay strong! I know that you love my grandson but there''s no need to me anybody about this matter. This old man suspects that falling intoa is one of the seque resulting from his serious ski injury back then."

    Long Jinjing continued sobbing.

    The old man sighed. "Dom, Ying Yue, apany Jinjing my girl, alright?"

    The two agreed.

    Grandpa Lu stood up and patted Iris'' shoulder next. "Don''t mind your sister''s words just now, my girl. She''s just upset."

    Iris didn''t reply but still nodded. Even so, Long Jinjing''s usation still affected her. She didn''t want to stay here anymore and left.

    Grandpa Lu looked like he wanted to tell her something but decided to let her go. Dom and Jiang Ying Yue looked worried but they didn''t stop her either. Long Jinjing didn''t even nce at her.

    Well, Iris didn''t look at her either.

    She encountered her husband at the hospital wing''s entryway. Jin Liwei had been waiting for her. His expression looked dark¡­and furious.

    Looking at him, she understood. "You heard?"

    "Long Jinjing is too much!" Jin Liwei didn''t appreciate what the woman said to his wife.

    He had thought highly of Long Jinjing before this because of her kindness andpetency at work. Now, however, his impression of her had plunged down the drain. It was understandable that she would be upset because of what happened to her husband but that wasn''t a valid reason to me his wife.

    Jin Liwei felt so indignant for his wife''s sake. He almost marched to Long Jinjing when he overheard what she said to his wife and wanted to p the woman''s face. It was only because he noticed his wife maintaining herposure despite the hurtful words that he managed to restrain his temper. He knew by instinct that his wife wouldn''t want him to interfere in how she handled her friendships. Nevertheless, he still couldn''t stop himself from boiling in anger.

    "You just arrived?" Iris asked while taking his hand and intecing their fingers together.

    "En. I rushed home from thepany as soon as I heard what happened to my brother-inw."

    The two of them left the hospital wing and headed to the indoor forest. Both of them were upset. They didn''t want to bring this kind of negative energy around their babies. It was better to cool their heads off first before seeing the twins.

    "How do you feel?" Jin Liwei asked as they walked through the lush vegetation in the indoor forest.

    Iris touched a hibiscus blossom along the trail where they were walking. She didn''t reply¡ªno, she couldn''t reply because she honestly didn''t know how to name all the exact emotions that she was feeling at the moment. Everything felt so chaotic.

    Jin Liwei stopped walking, forcing her to stop as well. He pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back. "Everything will be okay, baby. Whatever happens, you''ll always have me."

    "Yeah." She wrapped her arms around his waist and tried to let go of the weight bearing down on her shoulders even for just a few moments.

    Ever since her fight with her brother yesterday, she felt awful. When her brother fell intoa today, she felt more horrible. Then when Long Jinjing med her for what happened, it was like gravity tripled for her, pressuring her down until she almost fell t on the ground.

    "I hope Big Brother wakes up soon," she murmured.

    "En." Then Jin Liwei added, "I also hope that Long Jinjing wakes up soon from her sudden foolishness."

    She sighed. It seemed that her husband was truly upset with Long Jinjing this time. Well, she was also upset but she also understood why Long Jinjing said those hurtful words to her.

    Long Jinjing''s mental health hadn''t been that good since she gained a lot of weight throughout her pregnancy. Her self-esteem almost hit rock bottom. The weekly therapy appeared to be helping but what happened today might have been too much for her already fragile mental state. This might be the reason why sheshed out at Iris and med her.

    Even though Iris could understand Long Jinjing''s situation, she didn''t have the energy to defend her in front of her husband. She was also affected. It was only because her mental state was tougher that she didn''t crumble like Long Jinjing.

    "I''m not 100% certain but I suspect that my brother fell intoa because of the original Lu Zihao''s remnant again," Iris said as they continued walking around the indoor forest. "His experience has been very different from my experience with the original Long Xin''s remnant, so I can''t really predict what''s going to happen with him this time."

    Jin Liwei was quiet for a few seconds as he processed what he could about this out-of-the-ordinary situation.

    Then he finally said, "My fifth brother isn''t someone vicious. Among us five sworn brothers, he''s the most open-minded and inclusive. I''m sure that he doesn''t discriminate against Niki because of his criminal background. If Fifth Brother is acting against Niki like this, then he must have been triggered in some way. I think that he disliked how Niki fought with you yesterday."

    "That''s¡­possible."

    Iris didn''t really know the original Lu Zihao so she could only construct a version of the man''s personality in her mind based on her husband''s anecdotes about his much-loved fifth brother.

    In addition, she could also tell a little what the original Lu Zihao was like after observing how her brother acted in front of everyone else before he bulked up from his thin, sickly self after returning to the country from Canada. Even when her brother began acting more and more like Niki Vetrovter on, she noticed that his personality was no longer exactly the samepared to how he normally acted back in their past life.

    Just like how she was no longer the same Evelina Vetrova now that she became Long Xin, her brother was also no longer the same Niki Vetrov when he became Lu Zihao in this life.

    Even though her mind and emotions were chaotic, she still appeared calm on the outside. Jin Liwei also noticed this.

    He kissed her forehead. "I feel like you''ve also changed a little."

    She raised an eyebrow.

    "You''re less¡­vtile than before."

    "Oh? I feel like I''ve always been like this. Wait." She paused and thought about it, frowning. Then her eyes widened as she realized something. "I''ve always been like this when I was Evelina. It just feels natural so I didn''t really think about it much recently. Now that you noticed it, I was indeed very emotional, and yes, vtile like you said, especially when I just became reborn as Long Xin. It might be because the original Long Xin''s personality has been deeply embedded in this body even when I no longer sense the remnant."

    "I see." Jin Liwei stroked a lock of her long, silky hair and twirled it around his finger. "So it''s like this."

    She looked at his eyes. "Would you still love me if my personality continues changing like this? Even I can''t control it."

    "Of course. You can doubt whatever you want in the world but please don''t doubt my love for you."

    "Really?"

    "En." He pulled her in another embrace while still looking at her face. "I love you, Evelina. So much. You might be living as Long Xin but it''s you who I love.

    Her heart shook. She couldn''t help it. This was the man she loved. He was dering his love for her once again. She would never get tired at him telling her he loved her.

    Then Jin Liwei changed the subject which Iris weed because it made her temporarily forget about Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing.

    "Long Tengfei always say that our Little Mochi is like Long Xin, the original Long Xin. Our eldest twin son is demanding, craves attention, and already a little narcissistic. Have you seen how he would stare and smile at his own reflection in the mirror?"

    Iris chuckled. Indeed, she also noticed that about their son. It was adorable.

    "But that''s okay," Jin Liwei continued saying. "It''s because he''s our son. Through him, I feel like I''m beginning to really understand the original Long Xin''s not-so-pleasant personality on a much deeper level than before. And even appreciate it. She wasn''t necessarily a bad person. What made her grow that way was her upbringing."

    "I feel the same way," Iris replied, nodding. "In a way, it''s like we''re raising another newer version of the original Long Xin through Little Mochi."

 Chapter 1351 - Regal Calmness

    Chapter 1351 - Regal Calmness

    As someone who had the original Long Xin''s memories, Iris could sense the simrities between the original and her eldest twin son more intensely than others. It was like seeing another version of herself through her son, even though that self wasn''t even her own but the original Long Xin.

    Like what Jin Liwei said just now, Little Mochi was also making her appreciate the original Long Xin. Even though she, Evelina, had already long taken over the life of Long Xin, the original''s presence could still be felt in many different ways. The most noticeable was in her eldest twin son, Little Mochi''s personality.

    Iris and Jin Liwei were both determined not to make the same mistake as Wei Lan and Long Tengfei. Given what happened to the original Long Xin with her personality, they already had a clue what to do in order to prevent Little Mochi from following in her footsteps.

    They just had to do the opposite of what Wei Lan and Long Tengfei did when raising the original Long Xin. Well, what they did couldn''t really be called "raising". But that was the point.

    Iris and Jin Liwei would make sure to "raise" Little Mochi properly, and of course, all their other children as well (human, feline and canine) to the best of their abilities.

    Thinking about their children was very effective in distracting Iris from worrying about Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing.

    Jin Liwei was relieved to see his wife''s expression softening and even brightening when talking about their family. Deep inside, however, he was still extremely upset at Long Jinjing for ming his wife.

    ###

    It had already been a week since Lu Zihao fell intoa. Long Jinjing basically lived in the hospital wing. If not for remembering that she still had babies, she wouldn''t even leave her husband''s side for a second.

    All this time, she and Iris never spoke with each other again. Even when Dom and their other friends tried to mediate between the two, nobody budged.

    Iris acted as if Long Jinjing didn''t exist even when they happened to pass by each other in the hallway. As for Long Jinjing, she tried to avoid Iris as much as possible.

    The atmosphere in the mansion was very awkward.

    Long Jinjing wanted to leave this ce but the doctor advised her that it was better for Lu Zihao to stay in the mansion''s hospital wing. The equipment and facilities here weren''t any inferior to the best hospitals in the country. Also, they could invite the best medical specialists using Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu''s names anytime.

    She knew this but it was still hard to feelfortable staying here especially after sheshed out at her sister a week ago. After so many days, she had already reflected on her behaviour back then. She wanted to apologize to her sister but seeing how Iris ignored her like she didn''t exist always made Long Jinjing timid. Whenever this happened, she would back out from her initial intention of apologizing and end up avoiding Iris.

    Even Ketchup and Bacon refused to interact with her. They wouldn''t show up no matter how many times she called for them. It was understandable because the two considered themselves as Iris'' children. They were only siding with their own parent.

    Back in the hospital room, Long Jinjing held her husband''s big hand and rubbed it against her cheek. She could feel the rough ridges of his scars on her delicate skin and they gave her somefort. His hand was heavy but she didn''t mind. As long as it was warm and still had throbbing pulse, her hope that he would wake up would remain alive.

    "Please wake up soon," Long Jinjing whispered.

    Lu Zihao looked like he was only sleeping and would wake up at any moment. She had been waiting for a week but he still failed to wake up. Each passing day was like torture.

    "Little Misha and Little Dima miss their daddy very much. I also miss you so much. Niki, please don''t let us wait too long. If you continue to be like this, our babies will eventually forget what you look like."

    Nothing.

    He didn''t stir at all.

    "You know¡­I quarreled with my sister after you fought with her. Now she''s¡­ignoring me. Bacon and Ketchup also won''t talk to me. I feel¡­horrible."

    Tears flowed down her face.

    "Wake up soon, you jerk! How long will you continue to sleep? Hurry and wake up! Help me fix all this mess that you left me with Xin!"

    She wiped her tears in an angry and clumsy way.

    "Fine! I''ll apologize to Xin right now! So you¡­you better wake up, okay? Don''t go back on our deal or I''ll¡­I''ll bite you! Wake up after I apologize to my sister. Okay, Niki?"

    Like before, there was no change in his state. He remained ina.

    Long Jinjing pouted. She pressed her trembling lips on her husband''s cheek before leaving the hospital wing.

    She found her sister in the nursery room with the nannies.

    The Jin twins were already rolling over on the carpet. Little Mochi''s excitedughter and energetic coos filled the room. He would always look at everyone after a sessful roll-over, asking for lots of praises. On the other hand, Little Matcha was in his own little world and didn''t care much about all the noise that his eldest twin brother was causing. He looked like a little soldier training in a boot camp as he focused on rolling over again and again.

    As for the Lu twins, they were currently drinking milk. A nanny was in charge of Little Misha while Iris was bottle-feeding Little Dima.

    Long Jinjing paused at the doorway. Iris swept her a nce before ignoring her. Despite this, Long Jinjing felt choked up with emotion because her sister still continued to care for Little Misha and Little Dima without any prejudice.

    One of the nannies couldn''t take it anymore and asked, "Mrs. Lu, would you like toe in?"

    Long Jinjing caught herself and nodded. She entered the room and took over in bottle-feeding Little Misha from the other nanny. Her hand trembled a little when holding the bottle because she knew that it contained her sister''s breast milk.

    After feeding the Lu twins, the two of them handed the babies to the nannies.

    Iris yed with her own twins next before moving to leave the nursery.

    "Wait!" Long Jinjing called before she realized what she was doing.

    Iris paused and looked at her but didn''t say anything.

    "Uhm, Xin¡­can we¡­uh, speak for a moment¡­in private?" Long Jinjing stammered.

    "Sure, why not?" Iris kissed Little Mochi and Little Matcha before leaving.

    Long Jinjing followed her. They didn''t go far and stayed in a nearby sitting area where the kids were introduced to their puppies.

    Iris sat down, leaned on the sofa and crossed her legs. There was no expression on her face except for regal calmness.

    She looked like a queen.

    Her aura wasn''t overbearing at all but it still caused Long Jinjing tremendous pressure. There had been several times before that Iris emanated this kind of majestic aura in the past but this was the first time Long Jinjing felt it so closely and so deeply.

    Long Jinjing was unsure if it was because she didn''t notice it more carefully before or if Iris'' aura had be stronger.

    "How''s Big Brother?" Iris asked after waiting for so long and yet Long Jinjing still didn''t speak.

    "He''s¡­still not awake yet." Long Jinjing''s eyes watered.

    Iris cast her gaze down. There still wasn''t any change in her expression but Long Jinjing managed to catch her subtle action. She knew that her younger sister was also worried about Lu Zihao but just wasn''t expressing it like she did.

    "Xin¡­."

    Iris looked at her again.

    "I''m sorry." Long Jinjing bit her lower lip as she waited for a reply.

    Iris didn''t answer for a full five seconds. Then she said, "Alright."

    That was it.

    Long Jinjing waited for more but Iris didn''t saying anything else. "To be honest, I wasn''t really ming you. I was just¡­upset. I''m sorry that Ished out at you. That wasn''t my intention. I''m really sorry, Xin."

    This time, Iris'' lips finally curved up in a subtle smile. Long Jinjing found herself exhaling the breath she didn''t notice that she was holding.

    "I ept your apology," Iris told her.

    "I wanted to apologize to you sooner but¡­I was¡­uhm, intimidated."

    "Intimidated? By who?" Iris raised an eyebrow.

    "By you."

    Iris looked surprised.

    Long Jinjing pouted. "You looked so¡­.scary¡­and you were ignoring me. I didn''t have the courage to approach you."

    "Scary? I don''t think that I''m scary. I was just acting like my normal self." Well, her normal self as Evelina¡ªcalm, quiet and a little cold. "Also, I wasn''t ignoring you. I was trying to give you space."

    "Oh." Long Jinjing knew that she misunderstood her sister.

    "Do you feel better now?" Iris asked.

    "Yes, a bit. Well, a lot. Uhm, not really. I''m still so worried about Ni¡ªZihao."

    "I understand." Iris sighed before her eyes shed with certainty. "Big Brother will be fine. I''m sure of it. He''s not a quitter. He''ll definitely wake up soon. There''s no way that he''ll miss the growth of his sons. He adores Little Misha and Little Dima. And of course, you."

    Long Jinjing''s cheeks turned pink but she still nodded. Indeed, even when her husband kept on calling their twin sons "brats", he did it with affection. And as a husband, he was very supportive of her especially during this trying time when her self-esteem and overall mental state weren''t the best.

    Lu Zihao was definitely not the ideal husband or even father material unlike Jin Liwei, but he had already gone far beyond Long Jinjing''s initial expectations of him. He had been doing his best for their little family and that was more than enough for her.

 Chapter 1352 - Beautiful Family

    Chapter 1352 - Beautiful Family

    Long Jinjing couldn''t imagine being with another man other than Lu Zihao now. If their marriage ended up failing in the future¡ªof course, she always prayed that this would never happen¡ªshe considered spending the rest of her life alone without entertaining suitors. She would just dedicate her time and energy on raising her children and improving herself as a career woman.

    Without a doubt, Lu Zihao had be the love of her life. She loved him so much that it literally hurt just imagining her life without him by her side.

    This was why she had been unable to stop herself fromshing out at Iris when Lu Zihao becameatose. All the fear, anger and panic overwhelmed her so much to the point that she had to release them or go insane. It was unfortunate that her sister became the most convenient target for her volcanic emotions.

    Now that she apologized to Iris and resolved the misunderstandings between them, the invisible pressure weighing down on her had lightened up a lot. She didn''t expect that the conversation with her sister would go this smoothly.

    "Thank you, Xin." A drop of tear flowed down her face.

    Iris grabbed a box of tissue from the side table and handed it to her. Long Jinjing wiped her watery eyes and smiled at her sister.

    "By the way, I already finished the custom configurations of your new house''s surveince system," Iris said. "Bacon will be in charge of it. He''s excited to help protect his twin cousins."

    Long Jinjing''s eyes lit up. "Really? Thank you so much!" Then she became a little unsure. "I think Bacon and Ketchup are upset with me. They haven''t spoken to me since we fought."

    Iris sighed, shaking her head. "Everything should be fine now. They were just throwing a bit of tantrum for my sake. Their dad¡­."

    "I get it." Long Jinjing smiled in understanding.

    Her brother-inw, Jin Liwei, must be feeling upset with her after she med Iris for causing Lu Zihao to fall intoa. Bacon and Ketchup must have followed their father''s example and refused to interact with her. Long Jinjing didn''t me them. Even she would cringe whenever she remembered how she med her sister for what happened to her husband.

    After a moment of hesitation, she called out to the air, "Bacon? Ketchup?"

    "Aunt Jinjing," Bacon answered in the next second.

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup is in the house! Meow-yeah!"

    "Are you still mad at me?" she asked.

    "Since Aunt Jinjing already made up with Mother, Bacon is not angry anymore."

    "Don''t worry, macaroni! Ketchup is filled with so much cuteness and mightiness that there is no space to hold a grudge against Auntie Jinjing for too long. Love ya, Auntie Jinjing! Please don''t fight with my mommy anymore. Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    "Thanks, Bacon and Ketchup."

    Long Jinjing felt relieved. It was like the air she was breathing felt fresher.

    That night, Iris told her husband about her conversation with Long Jinjing. Jin Liwei didn''t react much.

    "Don''t be angry at her anymore," she said. "Okay, darling?"

    He made a sound of assent.

    She pouted and coaxed him with some hugs and kisses. He took advantage of the situation and changed the mood into something more sensual.

    They only stopped when Little Mochi''s loud, demanding wail interrupted them.

    Jin Liwei sighed. It was always their eldest twin son who interrupted their sexy time. He gave his wife another hard, deep kiss and her butt a light squeeze before changing Little Mochi''s diaper.

    Truth be told, he was still a little upset with Long Jinjing. Not kicking her out of his home after what she did to his wife was already the limit of his kindness to the woman.

    Now that Long Jinjing apologized to his wife, his anger had reduced a lot but a bit still remained. Maybe it was because he didn''t personally witness the apology.

    Well, it didn''t matter what he felt about the situation. His wife already made up with Long Jinjing. It wasn''t like he could force his wife to continue being at odds with the woman.

    Perhaps he was being petty by nursing this little bit of grudge but his wife would always remain his main priority. Anyone who offended her would automatically be his enemy. He was angry at Long Jinjing but he was also angry at Lu Zihao.

    The things that Lu Zihao said to Iris were more hurtful than what Long Jinjing said. Despite this, Jin Liwei still wouldn''t wish something ill to happen to his brother-inw. As a matter of fact, he wished that Lu Zihao would wake up froma soon so that the two of them could talk man to man.

    Jin Liwei was distracted with his own thoughts while changing his eldest twin son''s diaper. He didn''t notice the mischievous glint in Little Mochi''s eyes. Before he knew it, a jet of pee hit him.

    Only his quick reflexes allowed him to move his face out of the way at thest second. Unfortunately, the same couldn''t be said about the rest of his body. Everything from the neck down didn''t escape from the sudden pee attack.

    "Jin Haoyu!" Jin Liwei stood there in disbelief as he looked down at his pee-stained self.

    Little Mochi giggled. He farted, too.

    Even the well-behaved Little Matchaughed at his daddy''s current state.

    "What happened?" Iris asked as she came out of the walk-in closet where she had been organizing the new apparel products from Orchidia Baby for Little Mochi and Little Matcha to try.

    Jin Liwei didn''t answer. He just showed her the front of his clothes soaked with their eldest twin son''s pee.

    Iris paused before doubling over inughter. Hearing their mommy''s lovelyughter, the twinsughed harder.

    The target of the mother and sons''ughter, Jin Liwei¡ªpoor guy, couldn''t maintain his annoyance for too long. His mouth twitched before he, too, chuckled.

    Sighing, he could only clean up Little Mochi''s mess and continue changing the naughty baby''s diaper. It was only then that he removed his clothes and took a quick shower. He wanted his wife to join him but there needed to be someone watching the kids so she stayed with the babies instead while he showered.

    No matter how annoyed Jin Liwei felt, happiness and contentment still filled his heart. The family that he managed to build with his wife was something he never could have imagined when he was still a bachelor.

    Back then, he thought that he would just marry anyone that his mother or grandmother arranged for him when he couldn''t avoid it anymore. He never felt sexually attracted to anyone in the past. He thought that he could at least force himself to bed whoever became his wife even if he didn''t love the woman or felt attracted to her in any way.

    Marriage and having children were just duties to him to continue the family line.

    It was only when he met his wife that everything in his life suddenly felt alive and colourful. He never thought that he would be this passionate for a woman. It turned out that he always had this capability. He just hadn''t met the right person yet until his wife came along.

    After showering, he watched as his wife sang an English luby to their twins. It didn''t take long before Little Mochi and Little Matcha sank into dreand.

    Iris kissed each of her babies. Then a pair of strong arms hugged her from behind. She turned her head and Jin Liwei kissed her.

    The kiss was soft and slow. The sensuality would always be there, but this time, it was more to demonstrate their contentment with each other.

    "Thank you, Evelina," Jin Liwei told her after their mouths separated.

    "For what?" She turned around so that they were facing each other.

    "For giving me a beautiful family."

    She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Likewise. I''m also very grateful to you for giving me this beautiful family."

    They were about to dive into another kiss when Little Mochi woke up and interrupted them again with another wail.

    Jin Liwei looked up at the ceiling in resignation while Iris went to figure out what their fussy eldest twin son wanted.

    It took a while for her to finally realize what Little Mochi wanted. He settled down and immediately returned to sleep after she gave him a small stuffed teddy bear.

    "Little Mochi must be missing his Big Sister Ice Cream," Iris murmured while caressing their fussy baby.

    "Ice Cream has her own schedule," Jin Liwei said. "Tonight is with her Lu cousins. I''m sure that she''ll be back to apany her baby brothers tomorrow night."

    Iris chuckled.

    Ice Cream adored her twin baby brothers and twin baby cousins. She rarely left the babies on their own. On the other hand, Popcorn still wasn''t too interested in the babies. He still preferred his older cousin, Little Jun, who could actively y with him every single day. Perhaps when the babies became a little older, Popcorn would also apany them more along with Little Jun.

    "Second Brother Yingjie will being to take a look at Niki tomorrow," Jin Liwei mentioned after they climbed on their bed.

    "Oh." Iris nodded. "That''s good. I doubt that he''ll find anything new but we never know. I''d rather have Second Brother, someone we trust, to take a look at my brother than a stranger. What if other doctors insist on studying my brother''s condition? That''s something we want to avoid at all costs. I might even be implicated because I already experienced this before."

    He hugged her. "Don''t worry, love. I won''t allow anyone to study you or your brother. I''ll always protect you."

    She smiled. "I know."

 Chapter 1353 - Welcome Back to the Living

    Chapter 1353 - Wee Back to the Living

    The next day, Wang Yingjie came and took a look at theatose Lu Zihao with the mansion''s private doctor. He didn''t find anything new as expected. Despite this, he remained optimistic because he had already personally witnessed this kind of case in both Lu Zihao himself, and of course, Iris.

    "Fifth Brother''s brain waves are very active," he said. "He''s seemingly unresponsive to outside stimuli but it''s clear that he''s dreaming a lot based on his brain''s activity rate. At least, I see no damage in his brain. This is very simr to his brain scans during his previousa. Oh, and Xin''s, too."

    Long Jinjing and Grandpa Lu hung on to Wang Yingjie''s every word. Iris and Jin Liwei were also present.

    Wang Yingjie looked at the private doctor. "I''m more familiar with Fifth Brother and Third Sister-inw''s very simr medical cases. Although we haven''t figured out the exact cause why the two have a tendency to fall intoa now and then, we already know that themon denominator between the two of them is their history of experiencing severe injuries that left thematose for the first time¡ªalmost dead, basically. Both of them also experienced some drastic changes in their personalities after they miraculously woke up. Just like before, we can only conclude that their tendency to fall intoa might be one of the seque both of them need to live with after their life-altering injuries back then. All of these are just deductions, nothing concrete yet."

    He was speaking to everyone but his gaze was on Iris. "If you all want more definite answers than what I''m providing you right now, then Fifth Brother and Third Sister-inw Xin must consent to letting me and maybe some of my medical peers to study the two of them."

    Jin Liwei frowned and pulled his wife closer to him. "Absolutely not."

    Wang Yingjie sighed but didn''t insist. He already expected this answer.

    "I don''t want to be a test subject," Iris said. "I''m sure that Big Brother won''t want to be one either."

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. Like Grandpa Lu, she wanted more definite answers than mere assumptions but couldn''t argue at what Iris said. Knowing her husband, Lu Zihao would most likely flip out if she tried persuading him to be a medical case study.

    Grandpa Lu narrowed his wizened eyes at Iris. She wasn''t unnerved at all and looked back calmly at the old man. He harrumphed but didn''t try forcing her into anything that she didn''t want to do.

    "May I speak to Big Brother?" Iris asked Long Jinjing.

    Long Jinjing hesitated before nodding. "You can go in now. Grandpa Lu and I will continue talking here to Second Brother and the doctor."

    Iris and Jin Liwei entered the hospital room together. She sat on the chair beside the bed and studied her unconscious brother. Jin Liwei stood behind her and ced his hand on her shoulder, silently sending her his support.

    Lu Zihao''s features had be sharper as he lost some weight after being unconscious for this long. His impressive muscles were all still there, but if he remained ina for longer, then he would surely lose some of them.

    "Big Brother, I''m here," Iris spoke in Russian.

    No response.

    "I just want to tell you¡­that I''m not sorry for all the things I said to you when we fought. I meant everything I said that day. I still believe that¡­you should prioritize your family over the need to avenge what happened to us back then."

    Silence.

    Iris sighed but wasn''t dejected. "As for me, I''m now willing to face my past life unlike before. But it''s only because I want to protect the family that I built with Liwei, so I don''t want anything from our past life to interfere with my happiness right now. This is not revenge but a self-defence mechanism. I''m not saying that your method of dealing with our past life is wrong and I''m right or vice versa. My point is that I prefer for us to focus more on living in the present to the best of our abilities especially since both of us already have our own families. We have spouses who''ll be heartbroken if something bad happens to us, and of course, young children who depend on us.

    "Hopefully, this time, I''m able to convey my point to you more clearly than thest time. I hope that you''ll understand where I''ming from. It''s not that I''m criticizing you. I''m just worried about you and your family. I don''t want us siblings to lose each other again. One time is enough. I don''t want to experience it a second time. I''m sure that your wife and children wouldn''t want to lose their husband and father either. Please understand, Big Brother."

    Her eyes reddened but she was able to control her emotions better this time. She continued to observe her unconscious brother, hoping to detect any tiny signs that he might wake up soon. No such luck, unfortunately.

    She touched his hand. It felt cool to the touch and rough from the scars. "Please wake up. Your wife looks terrible from worrying day and night about you. At this rate, she''ll waste away just like you."

    As usual, there was still no response.

    Iris nced at her husband. Jin Liwei rubbed her shoulders,forting her.

    "Let''s go?" she asked.

    "En, in a minute," he replied. "Let me talk to my brother-inw first."

    "Okay."

    Jin Liwei moved and stood right by the bed. He looked down at the unconscious man lying on the hospital bed.

    Right at this moment, Lu Zihao didn''t look intimidating at all. He looked almost the same as Jin Liwei''s original fifth brother, the one he grew up with since childhood.

    Jin Liwei''s heart softened at this thought but once again hardened upon remembering that the man in front of him was no longer his fifth brother but his brother-inw instead.

    "Niki," he called in a soft, measured tone.

    No response.

    No surprise there.

    Jin Liwei leaned a little over the bed. "It''s fine if you want to stayatose like this."

    Iris frowned when she heard what he said but didn''t say anything for now. She waited what else her husband was going to say to her brother.

    "As your brother-inw, I can at least afford to have you taken care of in this hospital wing for as long as you want. Years, decades, no matter how long you want to waste away in this bed, it''s no problem. This is the least I can do for my wife''s brother."

    "Liwei," Iris interrupted, unable to stop herself anymore.

    He gestured for her to trust him. She hesitated but still acquiesced. Nevertheless, she was ready to force him to stop if needed.

    Jin Liwei continued speaking to Lu Zihao, "Just so you know, your wife, Long Jinjing, is still young. Your children are also still young. It''s not impossible for her to give up on you especially since none of us are sure when you''ll wake up again. Long Jinjing is not bad. She''s also quite sessful in her career. Only a blind and foolish man will dismiss someone like her.

    "When she moves on from you, she''ll surely get together with another man. Then your children, Little Misha and Little Dima, will grow up calling and treating another man their father. Maybe they will also change theirst name from Lu into something else. I guess it doesn''t matter to you whether they change theirst name or not because you yourself don''t like being Lu Zihao anyway. You prefer to go back being Niki Vetrov.

    "Don''t worry, Niki. Your sister and I will continue to dote on your children as our beloved nephews even when they start calling another man their father. They might also have other siblings¡ªhalf-siblings when Long Jinjing gives birth to her new man''s children. I''m sure everything will be okay. Rest assured that Evelina and I won''t let your children be bullied by their step-father and step-siblings."

    Iris was staring at her husband in disbelief. She was too speechless to stop him from going too far. At the same time, what he said wasn''tpletely impossible. That was the crazy part. Everything sounded logical.

    Although Long Jinjing was extremely devoted to Lu Zihao right now, who was to say that she would remain this way if her husband failed to wake up froma after a long time? What if she really met another man who would give her what Lu Zihao couldn''t?

    Iris was confused why her husband would goad her brother like this right now. It didn''t seem right but she still chose to trust him. She crossed her arms over her ample chest and continue to watch her husband''s antics.

    "What do you think of Alric Bauer?" Jin Liwei asked. "The man is smart and respects Long Jinjing. What''s more, they work in the samepany together. It''s not impossible for something to develop between the two of them."

    Iris'' jaw fell.

    "What about Amanpio Kileksky? Now this man is many times smarter than Alric. He''s a certified genius just like my wife. He''s not a bad choice either. A little crazy but what do you expect from a genius?"

    Iris red at him. She looked a little offended.

    "Who else? Hmmm. Oh, right. There''s also Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Didn''t he happen to meet Long Jinjing in a store somewhere and even helped her choose a gift for you? Although he''s suspicious, he has always treated Long Jinjing with courtesy. If we can prove that the man is really clean, perhaps¡ª"

    "Shut¡­the fuck¡­up," a hoarse voice interrupted him.

    Iris covered her mouth and gasped. Her eyes welled with tears.

    Jin Liwei smirked. "Wee back to the living, asshole."

 Chapter 1354 - Hallucination

    Chapter 1354 - Hallucination

    The hospital room became crowded after Wang Yingjie and the private doctor finished examining Lu Zihao. When he woke up earlier, the two doctors entered immediately and kicked out Iris and Jin Liwei, leaving no time for Long Jinjing to see her husband.

    Finally, she was able to see an awake Lu Zihao. She threw herself on him and sobbed.

    Lu Zihao wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed and patted her back, stroked her hair, and kissed her forehead. These were his ways offorting her because he wasn''t good with saying any sweet, romantic words.

    "Thank the heavens that you''re awake!" Long Jinjing cried on his chest. "I''m so d that you''re fine! I was so¡­w-worried about you!"

    "I know." He tried wiping her overflowing tears with his hand but his movements were too clumsy.

    After beingatose for this long, he felt a little weak. Well, to be honest, he was so weak that he already felt exhausted after being awake for not even an hour. He wouldn''t admit it, though.

    "How are my sons?" he asked instead.

    Long Jinjing smiled through her tears. "Little Misha and Little Dima have gotten bigger. They miss their daddy so much!"

    "I want to see them."

    "Of course! I''ll have the nannies bring them to you immediately!" Then she paused. "Wait. I have to ask the doctor first if it''s okay¡­."

    Wang Yingjie who stayed with them in the hospital room replied, "You can bring the babiester. For now, let''s not overwhelm Fifth Brother with too much stimuli."

    "Oh, okay. I''ll listen to you, Second Brother." Long Jinjing was very obedient.

    Grandpa Lu stepped forward and examined his grandson from head to toe. "How are you feeling, Haohao my boy? Any pain? Difort? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "I''m fine, old man," Lu Zihao replied.

    "Calling your beloved grandpa ''old man'' again! If you didn''t just wake up froma and make Jinjing my girl cry so much, I''ll hit you right now, you dunderhead! Hmph!" Grandpa Lu pretended to be angry but it was clear from his shaky, booming voice that he was still shaken at what happened to his grandson.

    Long Jinjing couldn''t stop looking at her husband''s face. It was as if she wanted to make sure that he was really awake, that this was real, and that she wasn''t dreaming.

    "Is it true that you woke up because of Brother-inw Liwei?" she asked.

    Grandpa Lu and Wang Yingjie were also very interested. They pricked their ears and listened.

    Lu Zihao nced at Jin Liwei who was sitting on the couch with his sister. He sneered.

    "What does that mean?" Long Jinjing asked. She was confused at the expression he made just now. "Is it not true?"

    He snorted but still said through gritted teeth, "It''s true."

    "Oh." She looked at Jin Liwei. "Thank you so much, Brother-inw."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded and epted her thanks. His tone was cool and even a little distant.

    This irked Lu Zihao. Remembering what the man told him while he was unconscious angered him even more.

    Iris and Jin Liwei stood up. They excused themselves to give Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing some alone time. Grandpa Lu and Wang Yingjie followed suit.

    Now that the husband and wife were alone in the hospital room, Long Jinjing grabbed her husband''s head and smashed their mouths together.

    There was no sexual desire in the kiss at all, just desperate yearning and pure gratefulness that her other half was alive and well.

    Lu Zihao felt too weak to bring the kiss into an erotic territory. He was also happy to see his wife again.

    The journey he went through within his consciousness during hisa felt like forever. He was actually surprised he had only beenatose for this long. To him, it felt much longer¡ªlike years long, maybe even decades.

    He couldn''t remember everything that he experienced while he was ina this time. All he knew was that he felt exhausted¡ªphysically, mentally, emotionally, and yes, even spiritually.

    As for the things he remembered, they were too overwhelming for him right now. He needed some time to process them first.

    It felt good, though. He felt good despite everything that happened.

    There were still a lot of things that he needed to figure out, but at least for now, he was no longer filled with too much negative thoughts and emotions. The chaos that exploded within him and caused him to go into anothera had now calmed down a lot.

    He caressed his wife''s face. She lost some weight and had dark under eyes. The pallor of her skin showed that she had been unable to take care of herself properly while he was ina. This upset him.

    His chest tightened as he began to worry about her health. Knowing how much the woman loved him, he could only imagine how she neglected her own wellbeing while waiting for him to wake up. He had a lot of things to say to her but didn''t want to scold her right way when he just awakened.

    "I''m hungry," was what he ended up saying instead.

    Long Jinjing smiled. "Wait here a bit. I''ll call the kitchen and ask them to cook some soup or porridge for you."

    He frowned. "I want meat."

    "You can''t, Niki."

    In the end, he could only eat in congee. It was extremely unsatisfying but his wife wouldn''t budge at all. His only constion was that he enjoyed being personally spoon-fed by Long Jinjing.

    After the small meal, Lu Zihao felt his eyelids bing heavy. He couldn''t stop his drowsiness.

    Long Jinjing gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Sleep for now. I''ll bring Little Misha and Little Dima to see you after you wake up. They''re a lot bigger and fatter now."

    "Hm, good." He was already half-asleep.

    "I love you, Niki," she whispered as his eyes fell close.

    "Love you, too," he murmured.

    Long Jinjing froze and stared at him in disbelief. Her IQ crashed into a level below that of an amoeba.

    It was a full five minutes before hergging brain started working again. Her heart thundered inside her chest. She was also struggling to breathe. Tears welled in her eyes as she continued staring at him.

    "Ni-niki?"

    No response. He was already fast asleep.

    She ced her trembling hand over his chest. The deep, rhythmic rise and fall of his hard chest helped her calm herself a bit. She was still freaking out deep inside but at least she wasn''t shrieking like a demented banshee and jumping around like a lunatic.

    "Did I hear you¡­correctly? Did you really say that you¡­l-love me, too? Oh, Niki. I hope that I''m not mishearing things. I hope that you really love me, too."

    She grabbed his hand and rubbed it against her cheek before kissing it. "I love you so much¡­too much that I think I''m hallucinating. Maybe I''m having some kind of withdrawal symptoms from missing my weekly therapy sessions while you were ina. Oh, please. Let this not be a hallucination."

    Unfortunately for her, Lu Zihao was far too exhausted and too deeply asleep to hear what she said. She could only wait for him to wake up and ask him for rification.

    ###

    In another part of the mansion, Iris and Jin Liwei were taking care of the four babies in the nursery.

    Their own twins, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, were very energetic. They were shaking and squeezing their toys while rolling over on the carpet now and then.

    Their nephews, Little Misha and Little Dima, had just been put to sleep by their nannies after a thorough feeding.

    The babies had another exciting day because they spent half an hour with their puppies while their parents were in the hospital wing earlier.

    Every day, the handlers would bring the puppies to spend some time with the babies and help them bond with each other. They were still small so this was the best arrangement for now.

    Unlike the babies, Little Jun was already big enough to be with his own puppy, Gravy, day and night. Popcorn hated Gravy at first, but after only a couple of days, the two became best friends. The hyperactive cat gained another fun ymate.

    It was a different story with Ice Cream. The fat, grey cat absolutely despised the puppies whenever the handlers brought them to bond with the babies. Despite her very vocal protests, the puppies kept oning every single day. She only learned to tolerate their presence in the past few days.

    Iris and Jin Liwei watched all the children with soft gazes. Watching them grow before their very eyes was a great source of joy for them as parents.

    "Little Misha and Little Dima look a lot like Fifth Brother when he was a kid," Jin Liweimented.

    "Really?" She studied the Lu twins but couldn''t really agree.

    The babies didn''t exactly resemble any of their parents.

    "En. Fifth Brother''s appearance changed a lot when he hit puberty but I still remember what he looked like when we were kids. I''ll show you some of his old photoster."

    "Okay. I want to look at your old photos, too." Although she already saw plenty of her husband''s photos as a child thanks to her mother-inw, she still wanted to look at them again.

    He smiled. "Sure, love."

    She leaned forward and plucked a kiss from his mouth. "Thank you, Liwei."

    "Hm?"

    "Thanks for waking up my big brother."

    He chuckled. "I didn''t think that it would work. But I''m d that it did. Fortunately for me, he was too weak to punch my face as soon as he woke up."

    "Oh, darling." Irisughed and hugged him.

 Chapter 1355 - Angel Among a Family of Devils

    Chapter 1355 - Angel Among a Family of Devils

    It only took a couple of days for Lu Zihao to recover almost back to normal. In fact, he already felt well the day after he woke up but the doctor insisted that he should stay in the hospital wing until all other medical examinations were cleared.

    Although he felt impatient, he still tolerated everything in order to ease his wife''s anxiety over his health. These two days after he woke up also gave him some time to reflect on his fight with his sister and what happened during hisa.

    He and his sister still hadn''t spoken about their fight. Long Jinjing only informed him today that she and Iris also fought when he fell intoa.

    "I apologized to Xin and we already made up," she told him. "Bacon and Ketchup are also speaking to me again. But I feel that Brother-inw Liwei still acts cold to me."

    Lu Zihao snorted at the mention of Jin Liwei. "Don''t worry about that jerk. He''s not someone important to us."

    She pouted at me. "Don''t say that, Niki. He''s the one who managed to wake you up when so many of us had failed. I''m forever grateful to him because of it."

    He rolled his eyes but chose not to argue with her about Jin Liwei. As much as he wanted to deny the man''s role in waking him up and insist that it was just a coincidence, it was still a fact that he had heard Jin Liwei goading him into matching Long Jinjing with different men while he was stitose.

    Alric Bauer and Amanpio Kileksky.

    These two men didn''t affect him much. They were nerds who would put more attention on their projects than their lovers. Long Jinjing might be timid and clumsy but she was wise enough not to choose this kind of men.

    Then Jin Liwei, the asshole, just had to add Ren¨¦ Alejandro into the mix.

    What the fuck, man?

    It was pure nonsense! Bullshit!

    As soon as he heard Jin Liwei suggest pairing the damned Spaniard with his wife, the fury he felt literally had filled him up with enough energy to drag himself out of hisatose state. He wanted to punch Jin Liwei in the face but all his limbs felt too heavy at that time. What a shame!

    He also couldn''t forget Jin Liwei''s smirk as soon as he opened his eyes. So annoying! Just remembering it was enough to make him feel violent.

    Even though he knew that the things Jin Liwei spouted then were all baloney, Lu Zihao still felt jealous of those three men. He stared at his wife as she sliced an apple for him to eat.

    "What?" Long Jinjing asked after noticing his heavy gaze on her. "Is there something on my face? Do you find me¡­ugly?"

    He scowled. "What ugly? Did you hear me say that? Don''t put words in my fucking mouth, Jinjing."

    "Then¡­am I¡­p-pretty?" She immediately turned red after asking this. It took her a lot of courage to even say the words.

    "Of course." There was no hesitation in his reply.

    "R-really?"

    He wasn''t good with saying any mushy words so he decided to just show it instead. He reached over and pulled her before smashing his mouth on hers. His tongue snaked inside her mouth and dered its sovereignty. Her body went limp as she started moaning.

    When the sudden open-mouthed kiss ended, Long Jinjing was dazed. He smirked at her.

    "Do you still doubt me?" he asked her in a low, devilish voice.

    Her amoeba-level brain took a few seconds to register what he said. She shook her head.

    "You''re so¡­h-handsome," she stammered like a stupid idiot.

    His devilishughter filled her ears and went straight to her core. For a moment, she had the urge to be pregnant and give birth to his child again as soon as possible. Then she caught herself.

    What in the world was she thinking?

    Their twin sons were only a few months old and she was already thinking about giving birth to the next one?

    ''Are you crazy, Long Jinjing?'' she mentally asked herself.

    ''Yes, I''m crazy,'' she also mentally answered herself. ''I''m so crazy in love with this man that my brain sometimes malfunctions and bes dumb.''

    She could only sigh at her embarrassing thoughts.

    "Why are you sighing?" he asked.

    "Nothing."

    He raised an eyebrow.

    She smiled and pulled away from his embrace with great reluctance. Then she continued slicing an apple before feeding it to him.

    "You feel a little¡­uhm, different," shemented while observing him eat the apple slices.

    He paused. "How so?"

    "You feel¡­uh, how do I describe it? Less intense? Less threatening? Something like that. I feel a bit morefortable with you than before. I don''t know. Maybe it''s because I missed you so much while you were ina and I''m so happy now that you''re awake."

    He fell silent.

    She didn''t notice anything amiss from his reaction¡ªorck thereof. It was justmenting on something trivial. She didn''t think much of it.

    After finishing all the apple slices in silence, he asked, "Do you like me better now then?"

    "Huh?" His sudden question stumped her.

    "You say that you feel morefortable with me now than before. So does this mean that you like me better now?"

    She thought about it first. "I don''t think that the matter of me liking you more is directly rted to me feeling morefortable with you now. I just like you¡ªno. I just love you, that''s all. I love you more now after experiencing a taste of losing you when you suddenly becameatose. I felt so¡­helpless, especially since we haven''t been married for that long and our sons are still very young. They''re still babies. I don''t want to lose you so early. Neither do I want our babies to lose their father so soon."

    He reached his hand and touched her face. "What if I''m gone someday?"

    She freaked out. "What are you saying? Are you nning on leaving me? Our family? You can''t, Niki!"

    "Not leave. Just gone."

    She became even more frightened. "What do you mean by gone? Like missing? Or dead? What''s happening, Niki? Did something happen to you that I don''t know about?"

    He sighed before giving her cheek a light pinch. "Nothing. It''s just a¡­rhetorical question. Don''t worry about it. It''s nothing serious."

    "Niki, don''t joke about something like that!" She pulled his hand from her face and pped it. "You''re going to give me a heart attack someday, I swear!"

    "My sons have be too fat," he said out of the blue.

    Long Jinjing''s braingged for a couple of seconds at the sudden change in topic. She red at him but still went along with him even though she knew that it was deliberate on his part.

    "The doctor says that their weights are still within the normal range," she replied. "They''re fine. Xin''s breast milk is just too nutritious, I guess."

    He nodded.

    "You should talk to her," Long Jinjing suggested. "I don''t think the two of you have resolved your fight yet. Both of you are acting civil since you woke up but¡­I can still feel some tension. You were so close before."

    He grunted.

    She wasn''t sure whether it was a yes or a no.

    "Actually, just like you, I feel that Xin somewhat changed recently as well," she said.

    "You also feel morefortable with her?" he asked.

    "Not exactly. To be honest, I feel that she has be more¡­uhm, intimidating. But not in a bad way, I guess. Intimidating in a sense of being calmer¡­and more detached? Something like that. You know how she can get really emotional especially when she was pregnant, right? She''s not so much like that anymore. I feel like we can fight with her and she''ll still hold it together without losing an explosive temper. Isn''t that scarier than usual?"

    "Hmm."

    Lu Zihao thought about it. Based on what his wife told him just now, an image of his sister popped in his mind. Not the Evelinka who was Long Xin now but the original Evelina Vetrova in their past life.

    Due to her resistance to joining the family organization, Evelinka''s personality had grown extremely detached from everyone and everything except for him, her brother, and her passions such as music andputers. It was initially her defence mechanism brought by their family environment but soon became arge part of her personality.

    Her detachment gave others the impression that she was a cold and indifferent person even though this was far from the truth. He knew that she was kind, warm and loving.

    An angel among a family of devils.

    This was how he had always known his sister''s personality. Imagine his surprise when he met her as Long Xin. She had be so outgoing, expressive, emotional and passionate in a way that he had never known her before.

    A big part of him was happy for her. This was her dream life¡ªto be free to pursue her own passions and showcase all her talents to the world without being tethered by her identity. He wanted her to live in joy, peace, and more importantly, freedom¡ªsomething that she never had before as Evelina Vetrova.

    However, there was still a tiny part of him that felt resentful. He had always denied this part of himself and pretended that it didn''t exist. It only came to light and exploded in the open during his fight with his sister.

    Then he fell into anothera. He reflected on a lot of things during and after beingatose.

    One of the most important things that he reflected on was the resentment he had with his sister. Indeed, he needed to address it with her as soon as possible.

 Chapter 1356 - Indelible Mark on the Psyche

    Chapter 1356 - Indelible Mark on the Psyche

    While Lu Zihao was immersed in his own thoughts about how to properly make up with his sister, he heard his wife speak.

    "Repeat that," he said. "I didn''t catch what you said."

    Long Jinjing pouted. Her face was red all the way to her neck.

    "What is it?" he asked again.

    She avoided his gaze. "I asked...if you remember on the day you woke up froma, just before you fell asleep¡­I want to know if I heard you correctly¡­."

    He waited until she finished meandering around her main question. By this point of their rtionship, he was already used to her long-winded ways of speaking due to her innate shyness. Although this way of speaking always made him impatient especially when it came to his subordinates, he was willing to tolerate it when it was his wife doing it.

    "I think that I heard you say¡­that y-you, uhm¡­that you l-love me," she stammered and turned even redder.

    "Huh?" He stared at her, feeling dumbfounded.

    What was she talking about? Did he say that? Howe he couldn''t remember?

    She peeked at him and saw his bewilderment. Her expression crumpled. "I guess¡­I heard you incorrectly. I might have really been hallucinating that time." She smiled but it was so bitter that her lips trembled. "F-forget it."

    Embarrassment filled her. She stood up and was about to leave but Lu Zihao grabbed her hand.

    "Tell me what happened," he said.

    She shook her head.

    "Come on, Jinjing," he urged in a much gentler tone.

    After a few moments of hesitation, she sat back down and told him everything that she remembered.

    "It was just a whisper but I think I heard you say that¡­you l-love me, too."

    "Oh."

    Long Jinjing was disappointed at his reaction. She was about to cry but forced herself to suck it up. This was already expected. She had already prepared herself for the long haul when it came to gaining her husband''s love.

    Once again, she stood up and tried to smile at him, pretending that everything was fine. "I''ll go check on our twins first. Rest here and focus on recuperating. I''ll be backter to apany you again."

    He grabbed her again for a quick kiss before letting her go. When she was gone, his expression turned serious.

    "Bacon."

    It took a full minute before the ck cat AI responded to his call. "Bacon is here, Uncle Zihao."

    He was frowning at Bacon''s tardiness. "What took you so long, kid?"

    "Bacon actually didn''t want toe because Uncle Zihao still hasn''t apologized to Mother for saying all those mean things. But since I''m still technically your hired frencer, Bacon is contract-bound to respond to Uncle Zihao''s call."

    Lu Zihao clicked his tongue. "Your mother will always be my sister. That''s never going to change no matter how many lifetimes we both live. I''ll resolve my issues with her in our own time."

    Bacon didn''t answer. Lu Zihao knew that the little devil must be holding a grudge against him. It was only Bacon''s employment contract with him that was forcing the kid to at least show up when he called.

    He sighed but didn''t bother to give any additional exnations. Besides, he had a more urgent matter that he want to confirm first.

    "Kid, do you have a recording of what transpired in this room when I woke up froma?"

    "Affirmative."

    The short and dispassionate reply only proved that Bacon was indeed bearing a grudge against him. But at least the kid wasn''tpletely ignoring him. That was a relief.

    Lu Zihao asked Bacon to y that part when he fell asleep in the middle of talking to Long Jinjing. Like before, Bacon deliberately dyed his response for almost a minute. Lu Zihao restrained himself from snapping at the little devil because Bacon indeed had grounds to bear a grudge against him.

    It was already quite impressive that Bacon would even speak to him like this. He heard that when his wife and his sister fought after he fell intoa, both Bacon and Ketchup refused to speak to Long Jinjing andpletely ignored her.

    Bacon''s willingness to speak to him right now despite the kid''s grudge only proved that his sister and Jin Liwei''s education of their children was top-notch. They always taught their children, especially the AI ones, excellent work ethics and professionalism. Bacon might be a two-faced crook most of the time but he was, without a doubt, a professional.

    The audio from that day began ying.

    Long Jinjing: "Sleep for now. I''ll bring Little Misha and Little Dima to see you after you wake up. They''re a lot bigger and fatter now."

    Lu Zihao: "Hm, good."

    He remembered until this part of the conversation.

    Long Jinjing: "I love you, Niki."

    Lu Zihao: "Love you, too."

    His voice was very faint and a little unclear but he still heard the words he uttered in the audio. Bacon''s audio recording could be trusted at the very least. The little devil might be a regr extortionist but he would never falsify evidence in front of him, his uncle.

    Long Jinjing: "N-niki?"

    The deep, regr sound of his breathing could be heard in the audio. The quality was excellent.

    "That''s the end of the recording," Bacon announced. "If Uncle Zihao wishes to y it again, you must pay an additional charge. If you wish to y other parts of the recording, it is another additional charge. Bacon has already fulfilled my duty as stated in my employment contract by ying the recording once. Any other extra requests involving this particr audio recording qualify Bacon for additional pay rate."

    "Once is enough," Lu Zihao muttered, choosing to ignore the little devil''s attempt to squeeze more money from him as usual.

    "Then Bacon will leave now."

    Finally, some peace and quiet.

    Well, he wasn''t exactly feeling very peaceful after hearing his own words that he couldn''t remember saying being yed back to him, but it was indeed quiet now that Bacon left.

    Emotions that he had always ignored flooded through him. It was so damn ufortable because he wasn''t used to it, but surprisingly, he didn''t outright reject it this time.

    "I love Jinjing?"

    He drummed his fingers on his thighs while rolling the unfamiliar emotion and words within him.

    This kind of love was different from the love he had for his sister. He loved his sister as a precious sibling. That was familial love.

    But the love that he felt this time¡­was this the so-called romantic love?

    "Is this love?"

    ''Of course, it is, asshole.''

    His expression darkened when he heard the familiar voice within his consciousness. The motherfucker was one of the main culprits in causing his most recenta. In fact, he almost lostplete control of this body because of the original Lu Zihao''s remnant. The fucker fought with him until his soul almost got kicked out into nothingness or wherever souls went after death.

    He heard a loud scoff inside his consciousness. It was clear that the remnant was mocking him.

    ''Remember that it''s not because of your sheer willpower that you get to stay in my body. Don''t forget that there''s a moment that youpletely gave up when the pain got too much to handle!

    ''It''s because I, Lu Zihao, gave you another chance and allowed you stay! But don''t get me wrong. I didn''t do it because of an asshole like you. I allowed you to stay because I don''t want my grandpa, my brothers, Third Sister-inw, your wife and our children, and so many others who care about you and me to lose both of us forever.

    ''It''s enough that they had unknowingly lost me, Lu Zihao, before. I don''t want them to experience losing Lu Zihaopletely, even if the Lu Zihao they have now is no longer me, but you, Niki, the biggest asshole that I have ever met!''

    Lu Zihao¡ªno, Niki gritted his teeth but didn''tsh out at the remnant. Everything that remnant said was true anyway. There was no point in denying it when the remnant had free ess to all his thoughts and emotions. It was already good that remnant had enough decency to give him some sense of privacy most of the time.

    "Fine," he spat. "I fucking get it, okay? So stop rubbing it in my face!"

    ''But I like rubbing it in your face! Hahaha! Take that, asshole! You deserve it. If you continue rejecting your identity as me, Lu Zihao, then get out of my body! It''s as simple as that, dude.

    ''Although it sucks to share this body with an asshole like you, I tolerate it because you are giving my loved ones the one thing that I failed to give them¡ªmy continued presence in their lives.''

    Niki rubbed his face, not caring if his movements were too rough. The battle he experienced to stay in this body just before and during hisa left an indelible mark on his psyche.

    He was no longer able to dismiss the remnant as something that he could always triumph over because of his confidence in his original identity as Niki Vetrov.

    Before he realized it, the remnant had be so much more powerful while he, Niki, was starting to struggle to remain true to his original mission after being reborn again.

    Just like what the remnant said, it was because of its mercy that he got to remain in this body and not be kicked out into oblivion.

    ''Don''t forget this favour that you owe me, Niki,'' the remnant warned.

    He remained silent, unable confirm or refute.

    ''Lu Tianyu and Lu Zhiyuan are my body''s children. Whether you like it or not, they are the next generation my Lu n, not the Vetrovs. I won''t allow you to rob them of their father and make them into orphans so early!''

 Chapter 1357 - Icky Feelings

    Chapter 1357 - Icky Feelings

    Niki couldn''t retort at what the remnant said.

    Whileatose, he experienced a lot of disjointed dreams. One of the several scenarios included in the series of dreams was that he died after setting off for his revenge. The revenge eventually failed but he still left Long Jinjing widowed and their sons orphaned.

    In that tragic dream, Long Jinjing became too heartbroken and depressed that she neglected their children. She became too focused on her career and transformed into an unemotional irondy. Their twin sons grew up without proper parental guidance and ended up turning into problem children. They became wastrels that even their Aunt Xin and Uncle Liwei couldn''t save.

    Niki did everything. He scolded and shouted at them but they couldn''t hear him because he already died. He had no power to interfere in their lives. He wanted to fix everything but could only watch in helplessness as they wasted their lives away.

    This was just one of the dreams¡ªno, nightmares that he had whileatose. There were other more tragic ones that he preferred not to recall or risk going insane.

    Not once did he dream of something positive.

    He truly felt that he had died that time and went to hell.

    Experiencing all those seemingly never-ending tragic scenarios was the worst form of torture. Yes, it was the worst even whenpared to the inhumane torture he faced after the downfall of the Vetrovs.

    In his past life, he lost his beloved sister. It was excruciating.

    Then in his nightmares whileatose, he had to face losing the family he built in his current life as Lu Zihao. Watching his sweet wife turn into an unemotional robot and their sons into hopeless wastrels was a whole new level of excruciating torture.

    Especially when it came to his children¡ªhe couldn''t bear it.

    Now that the remnant was lecturing him without mercy, he no longer had the energy to argue. He could only take it.

    ''It''s good that you''re starting to realize the error of your ways. Even if you don''t care about yourself, at least think about your family¡ªour family. If only I wasn''t so reckless back then, maybe I would still be alive today and be able to build my own family and apany my grandpa for longer. I''m envious of you, dude, don''t you know? That''s why I''m so furious that you don''t treasure what you have and just continue speeding towards your demise. Atrocious! Hmph!''

    Niki rubbed his head and stayed quiet. He still hadn''tpletely given up his desire for revenge, but after experiencing histesta, he realized that maybe his sister was right after all. Perhaps there were other ways to fulfill his revenge without resulting in his own death in the end.

    ''Now let''s talk about your wifey,'' the remnant said next.

    Niki paused.

    ''You love Jinjing, dude. Be a man and just admit it!''

    "Maybe," he murmured.

    His attitude was neither denying nor confirming.

    The remnant scoffed inside his mind. ''Aren''t you a real macho man? Why are you acting like a scared chicken whenever love is involved? Pft! So funny!''

    His expression turned even darker. "None of your damn business."

    ''Of course, it''s also my damn business! Your wifey is the mother of my body''s children! There''s no way that I''ll just ignore your rtionship with the woman. The two of you are already married, for fuck''s sake! Dude, you''ve been in love with Miss Prim and Proper for a while now but you just won''t admit it.''

    The remnant''s words were annoying but they still hit him like a bulldozer. He didn''t know how to react.

    ''Can you feel the love tonight?

    Tonight~

    It has been here all along~

    It''s not enough for this blind ass Niki~

    That he is in denial~

    Oh, can you feel the love tonight?

    Tonight~

    His ass is on denial~

    It''s enough to admit that he fell in love~

    Believe the very best~

    Advice from the love guru~

    Yours truly,

    Luuuu Ziiiihaaaaaoooooooooooo~''

    The fucking song made anothereback. Niki''s expression couldn''t be painted anymore. It looked like a constipated devil who was forced to eat a rotten durian dipped in a feces salsa yet had lost the ability to spit out whatever was inside his mouth.

    Fortunately, the remnant still had a sliver of mercy. It sang the horrible song just once and didn''t repeat it like a broken record.

    ''Dude, I just thought of something.''

    "What is it?"

    ''Remember what my third brother said that angered you into waking up froma? Hahaha! Iugh whenever I remember it. Third Brother Liwei is the best! Bahahaha! Anyway, I was thinking, what if he is right? He might have said those words as a joke but think about it for a second. Everything he said is possible.

    ''What if one of these men¡ªAlric Bauer, Amanpio Kileksky, Ren¨¦ Alejandro or any other men for that matter¡ªmanage to woo your wifey? It''s possible, you know. She might give up on you one day if you take too long to admit that you love her, too. Not everyone can be a devoted martyr for an entire lifetime, you know.''

    Niki didn''t hesitate to say, "Impossible. I won''t allow it! Jinjing is mine!"

    ''h h h! Possessive cavemen mentality is so out of trend. If you won''t allow your wifey to be with another man, then it''s not enough to stake your im with an official marriage and children. There''s divorce and custody arrangements for that. If you really want to keep her by your side for the rest of your life, then you have to do your part in keeping her happy and emotionally invested in your rtionship as lovers.

    ''If you continue being stubborn, then you don''t have anyone to me but yourself when she leaves you with our children. Hmph! I will never forgive you if our children acknowledges another man as their new father and even change theirst names from Lu! Grandpa will be heartbroken if his great-grandbabies be another family''s children. So stop being a dumbo and just open up to your real feelings once and for all!''

    The lecture continued and started to wear out Niki, yet he didn''tin. This time, he seriously thought about what the remnant said.

    After his most recenta, he realized that the original Lu Zihao''s remnant wasn''t his enemy. It might have felt that way for the longest time because Niki hated the idea of sharing his body and everything else with another entity that he couldn''t drive out of his system no matter how much he tried.

    The remnant only wanted what was best for him. This was what Niki learned after so many challenging battles between the two of them. He no longer doubted that the remnant had be strong enough to kick him out of his body but it still continued to allow him to stay. This was so that he could continue living as Lu Zihao and apany all of the original''s loved ones and also the little family that he, Niki, had built using this identity.

    He understood what the remnant wanted, and that if he failed to obey, his right to stay in this body would be terminated.

    Sighing, he stared at the white ceiling and thought about Long Jinjing. Their sons too, of course.

    It was safe to say that these three people had now upied the biggest part of his heart previously upied by his sister alone. Evelinka was still extremely important to him, but after the birth of his children, he realized that his sister''s ce in his heart had been bumped down a level or two.

    As the mother of his children, Long Jinjing''s importance in his heart also rose. Even when he didn''t think that he loved the woman, she was still someone he cared about and wanted to protect.

    But now¡­after hearing Bacon''s audio recording where he clearly heard his own voice telling Long Jinjing that he loved her and listening to the remnant''s harsh lecture, he realized that maybe he had underestimated his wife''s ce in his heart.

    Something inside him felt like it dropped.

    When he recovered, he rushed out of his hospital room.

    ''Hey! Where are you going? We still have a medical exam scheduledter! Oy! Crazy Niki, listen to me!''

    The remnant continued yelling inside his mind but he ignored it.

    ''Eh? What are these¡­icky feelings flooding all over me? These aren''t mine! Oof! Okay, I get it. Ohoho. Good luck, bro!''

    Niki¡ªno, right now, everyone who saw him believed that he was Lu Zihao.

    "Boss Hao! Good to see that you''re fine now!"

    "Boss Hao! Osu!"

    "Mr. Lu, please slow down."

    He ignored his subordinates and the household staff as he hurried along the hallways like the wind.

    Beingatose took a toll on him. He was out of breath when he finally reached the destination¡ªthe nursery.

    "Ni¡ªZihao?" Long Jinjing was startled to see him.

    It wasn''t only her. Iris, Jin Liwei and the nannies were also inside. They all looked at him in surprise.

    Long Jinjing handed Little Dima to a nanny and went to her husband. She was concerned about his winded appearance which was a rare sight. "What happened? Why did youe here? Are you okay?"

    Lu Zihao didn''t reply. He just grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace by the doorway.

    "Zihao?" She wrapped her arms around him and felt the sweat soaking the back of his shirt.

    Next, he held her chin and tilted it up, making her look at him in the eyes.

    "Jinjing," he said.

    "Yes?" She was very confused at his behaviour.

    "I love you."

 Chapter 1358 - So Bad

    Chapter 1358 - So Bad

    Boom!

    Long Jinjing''s mind nked out except for her husband''s three words repeating over and over again like a broken record.

    ''I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you¡­.''

    She stared open-mouthed at Lu Zihao in a daze like a stupid idiot.

    Was this a dream?

    Did her hallucinations worsen? Maybe she really needed to resume her weekly therapy sessions. At this rate, she would really be crazy if she didn''t do something about it.

    "Jinjing," Lu Zihao murmured while rubbing her soft lips. He opened his mouth, about to tell her more, but then a loud cry interrupted them.

    Iris rushed to the crib where Little Misha had been taking a nap until now. The baby was wailing at the top of his lungs.

    "Hush now, sweetheart." Irisforted her eldest twin nephew, coaxing him to be quiet and not disturb the entertaining scene starring his parents.

    Unfortunately, it was toote. The mood had been destroyed.

    Long Jinjing snapped back to her senses. Her maternal instincts reigned supreme. She pulled away from her husband''s embrace and hurried to her crying son. She took Little Misha from Iris.

    Lu Zihao sighed and caught his brother-inw giving him a sympathetic look. However, it onlysted for a few seconds before Jin Liwei''s expression smoothed out and returned to his usual coldness.

    There was still some remaining tension between the brothers-inw ever since the sudden fight between Lu Zihao and Iris.

    Like Bacon, Jin Liwei must still be bearing a grudge against Lu Zihao. It couldn''t be helped. Jin Liwei should side with his wife. It was only natural. Lu Zihao would even question and look down on Jin Liwei if the man didn''t side with his own wife.

    Before today, even Lu Zihao thought that he would always side with his own sister no matter what. In fact, he even warned Long Jinjing at the beginning of their rtionship that if the two women ever fought, he would always side with his sister and not his lover.

    But now¡­Lu Zihao wasn''t so sure about his previous im anymore.

    He watched his wife sessfullyforting their eldest twin son. She was now bottle-feeding Little Misha with milk¡ªhis sister''s breast milk.

    Sighing again, he finally entered inside the nursery, but before he could touch any of the babies, one of the nannies blocked him and handed him a box of Orchidia Baby wipes and hand sanitizer.

    "Please wipe your sweat and disinfect yourself first, Mr. Lu."

    "Fine."

    He obeyed while grumbling under his breath. Afterwards, he took his second twin son from another nanny.

    Little Dima struggled for a few seconds before recognizing his daddy''s scent. Then he settled down and began cooing.

    Lu Zihao felt something inside him flutter at the sight of his son''s innocent face staring up at him. The baby waspletely helpless and depended on him, the father. He nced at his wife feeding their other son. The fluttering feeling inside him transformed into something warm and sweet.

    Indeed, the remnant was correct. The feelings flooding him right now were all¡­icky.

    But so what?

    Now that he had decided to openly admit his feelings to his wife and their family, he no longer give a damn whether the emotions he felt were icky or not.

    Iris sat near him where her own twins, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, were ying with their Orchidia Baby toys on the floor.

    The brother and sister looked at each other. They didn''t say anything but so much was alreadymunicated with just one look.

    All had been forgiven.

    This was the power of their bond as siblings.

    Nevertheless, Lu Zihao still thought that it was better for the two of them to find some time to have a proper heart to heart talk now that both their heads had cooled off a lot.

    But first things first. There was a more urgent matter that he needed to deal with¡ªhis wife''s reply to his sudden love confession.

    He peeked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. Although Long Jinjing had been distracted by Little Misha, he knew that she didn''t forget about his confession. She was red all over and stealing nces at him.

    Iris was amused watching them. She and her brother exchanged another look.

    "Big Sister," Iris called.

    "Huh, y-yes?" Long Jinjing replied after a three-second dy.

    Her husband''s love confession was still reying inside her mind that her IQ hadn''t fully returned to normal yet.

    "Let me take over in feeding Little Misha for you. Why don''t you and Big Brother go and talk somewhere private?"

    "H-huh? No need¡ªokay." Long Jinijng ended up agreeing in the end after seeing her husband''s intense gaze.

    She handed her eldest twin son to Iris while Lu Zihao gave Little Dima to one of the nannies. Then the two of them left the nursery together.

    "Amazing," Irismented after they were gone. "Big Brother actually said the words ''I love you'' to another human being. He has changed a lot."

    "Love does that," Jin Liwei replied. "It changes people. It changed me."

    She chuckled. "And it changed me, too."

    The nannies all looked at each other and pretended that they hadn''t witnessed anything juicy. They weren''t choking on too much dog food, not at all!

    ###

    Lu Zihao held his wife''s hand and led her to the indoor forest. This ce was memorable not only to his sister but to him as well. It was the ce where he proposed marriage to his wife.

    Back then, he had still been blind to his own true feelings. He only proposed marriage to Long Jinjing because he got her pregnant. He didn''t really do it out of love¡­or so he thought.

    They reached the koi pond and crossed the stone bridge to the islet. When they finally reached the centre, they just stood there hand in hand.

    Lu Zihao was staring at her while she was trying to avoid looking at him straight in the eyes.

    She felt so shy!

    "Jinjing," he said, finally breaking the silence.

    "Y-yes?"

    "I love you."

    She trembled. Her eyes watered. "Oh."

    He raised an eyebrow. "That''s it?"

    She smacked him on the chest.

    Although it didn''t hurt at all, he was still surprised at her action.

    Then she rained down more hits on him. There was no strength behind her hits, though.

    To him, they hurt as much as a cat''szy paw punches. Even Ice Cream, the fat brat had more powerful hits than his wife.

    "I thought that I was hallucinating!" Long Jinjing cried. "I gathered my courage to ask you earlier today if you really said that¡­you l-love me too but you didn''t say anything to confirm or deny! I really thought that I was starting to hear things! You''re so bad, Niki!"

    He caught her arms and held them. "Hm, I''m bad."

    The outburst drained her. It had also calmed her down to some extent. "Do you really¡­l-love me?"

    "Hm."

    "What hm?" She demanded, "Is that a yes or no? It''s so hard to understand you!"

    "It''s a yes," he replied.

    This time, his expression was not as unreadable as before. She could see the sincerity in his eyes. He was finally allowing her to read his true feelings for her.

    Despite this, she still couldn''t believe it. Everything that was happening to her at the moment felt like a dream.

    Happiness filled her¡­but also some wariness.

    "Are you telling the truth?" she asked.

    "Hm¡ªyes."

    "Oh, Niki!" She threw herself in his arms and hugged him as tightly as she could.

    He returned her embrace and inhaled the delicate fragrance in her hair (courtesy of Orchidia Beautytest nourishing after-shower spray).

    "I already gave you the rest of my future sperm, my children, my loyalty, and now my love. There is no taking back after this, Jinjing. You have to take responsibility of me. I''ve never¡­had this kind of deepmitment with a lover before."

    She nodded. "Y-yes, Niki. I''ll take responsibility of you."

    He chuckled. It wasn''t devilish like usual but warm¡­and content instead. Then he turned serious. "You can only be mine, Long Jinjing."

    She nodded again. "Of course!"

    "You said it."

    "Yes! I married you and gave birth to your children. I love you...and now you say that you love me, too. I''m¡­so h-happy, Niki."

    He kissed her head. "Hm, I know."

    "Even when I''m fat and ugly, you really love me?" she asked.

    "I already told you that you''re neither of those," he reprimanded her, scowling. "Stop saying that!"

    "Hehe." She was too happy to care about her insecurities right now.

    Her mind was only upied by her husband''s love confession.

    Oh, my gosh! Her husband loved her, too!

    This was perhaps her happiest day in her life even whenpared to giving birth to their children. Her husband''s love was something that she yearned for all this time. Now that she finally received it, she was over the moon from joy.

    She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed her husband on the lips. It was supposed to be just a quick peck but he quickly grabbed her by the nape and deepened the kiss.

    Emboldened by her happiness, she didn''t shy away. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she opened her mouth, letting him inside, while also exploring his mouth with her own tongue.

    She was gasping for air when their mouths separated. He kissed and licked a wet trail from her chin down to her ear then to the side of her neck, leaving hickeys in the process.

    "Niki," she moaned. "I love you."

    He gave her earlobe a light bite and a lick. "Love you too, wife."

    His voice, especially his words, made her core soaking wet.

 Chapter 1359 - Donâ€™t Hate It Anymore Because I Love It

    Chapter 1359 - Don¡¯t Hate It Anymore Because I Love It

    It had be so long¡ªtoo long¡ªsince they had made love. Long Jinjing''s post-partum recovery had been extremely slowpared to Iris. As a result, she and Lu Zihao had to hold back their sexual urges and wait until her body was ready.

    Of course, Long Jinjing still did her best to give pleasure to her husband now and then using her hands and mouth even when her body wasn''t ready for the full experience yet.

    Lu Zihao wasn''t the only one always on the receiving end either. Before his recenta, he also did his best to pleasure his wife as much as he could despite the many limitations of her post-partum body.

    His wife was different to his former bedmates. He couldn''t just treat her as someone disposable to vent his lust. As long as they were married, they were stuck together. Besides, he couldn''t get it up for any other women anyway except for her.

    He continued to kiss the brains out of his wife, knowing that once she became aroused enough, all her inhibitions would be thrown out of the window. She would be a seductive siren, the opposite of her usual prim and proper self.

    "Niki," she panted.

    He nibbled and sucked her lower lip, and then let his hand snake down her back, along her waist, and finally on her butt before giving it a light squeeze.

    She moaned and seemed to melt in his arms. "I need¡­you...please¡­."

    He smirked and then whispered to her ear, "Please what?"

    "Please¡­f-fuck me¡­."

    "Heh~ You want your husband to fuck you so badly?"

    "Y-yes," she groaned. "Niki...husband¡­."

    The way she said husband made his control snap. He lifted her up. She yelped and wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and her legs around his waist like a ko. He walked a few steps and carefullyid her down on the small couch on the islet.

    It wasn''t the mostfortable for a big man like him but he didn''t give a damn. His need for his wife was the best form of physicalfort than what a merefy couch could give him.

    Hell, he could even fuck the woman on a bed of nails if necessary. Of course, he would be careful to take all the difort and not allow his woman to experience anything else than mind-blowing pleasure.

    They continued to make out on the small couch. Lu Zihao''s hands were all over her body, making her tremble and moan in a way that resonated with his own desire. The more she responded to his actions, the more aroused he became.

    Despite wearing a pair of loose and soft lounge pants, it still felt tight from how hard his erection was continuing to grow. He pressed his hardness against her thigh, trying to ease his need even for just a little.

    "L-let me," Long Jinjing whispered before reaching down between them and touching his erection underneath his pants.

    He sucked her lips before moving to sit on the other end of the couch. Long Jinjing pushed herself up and turned her body until she was lying on her stomach. Her head was facing hisp.

    She tugged the waistband of his pants. He lifted his hips and helped her pull it down to his knees.

    His hard length sprang up, almost hitting her face. She caught it with one hand and stroked it while watching his expression.

    He watched her with half-lidded eyes. Then he sucked in a harsh breath when she lowered his head and took him inside her hot, wet mouth.

    Hiss!

    "Fuck, Jinjing. Oh, yeah." He ran his fingers through her hair and tickled her neck as she pleasured him with her mouth.

    Thebination of her hands and mouth was too much. Less than two minutester and he was already ejacting.

    He cursed¡ªmore from pleasure than embarrassment¡ªas he enjoyed his climax.

    Long Jinjing swallowed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked like a cat who ate a canary.

    "This¡­" Lu Zihao gasped while giving her smug wife an ineffective side eye. "This doesn''t¡­count. My stamina has worsened because I¡­just recently came out ofa."

    "Right~" she drawled, her expression remaining smug.

    He chuckled, not minding it. To be honest, he preferred it when his wife was feeling smug and confident like this and not always wallowing in her insecurities.

    "Want more?" he asked.

    Her answer was to continue stroking his now limp member and make it hard again. He groaned and closed his eyes to enjoy her ministrations. Then he opened her eyes and urged her up before kissing her.

    He tasted a bit of himself in her mouth. He disliked it so he kissed her harder to mask his own taste. In no time, he became aroused again.

    "Is it safe now?" he asked in-between their kisses.

    She paused. "I think so...no, yes!"

    "Which one is it?"

    "Yes because I''m all healed up now. No because¡­I''m not on the pill. You should wear a c-condom¡­."

    "Ah." He had no condom with him. He doubted that she was carrying one right now. "Should we move to our bedroom?"

    The indoor forest was pretty far from their bedroom.

    "It''s fine," she told him.

    He raised an eyebrow.

    "Let''s not go all the way today."

    His brows furrowed.

    She giggled and poked at his erect member. It twitched from her action.

    "I can''t tire you out. You still have a medical exam scheduledter this afternoon. The doctor will scold us if we¡­you know¡­."

    "If we fuck?" he finished her sentence.

    Her already flushed faced turned even redder but she still nodded.

    "I''m good," he told her. "This won''t tire me out."

    The look she gave him was skeptical. "You finished in a minute just now and you''re telling me that you won''t get tired? You''re still a patient, Niki. Don''t overestimate your endurance when you''re not fully recovered yet."

    He scowled. "It''s not a minute! It was two minutes! Give or take a few seconds, but it should be two minutes if we round it up!"

    "Hehe." She tightened her hand around his erection, making him gasp. "Okay, if you say so."

    He leaned towards her until their faces were only a couple of inches apart. They could feel their warm breaths intermingling.

    Long Jinjing felt a little flustered. She backed away but he caught her.

    "Merciless woman, trying to run away from your husband in the middle of his excitement that you caused?"

    She felt wronged. "You''re the one who seduced me first!"

    "Heh, is that so? Who''s the one who asked me to fuck her?"

    "Y-you! You''re so bad!"

    His devilishughter returned. "Hm, I''m so bad indeed. But this bad man is now your husband. Do you deny this?"

    "Of course not! You''re my¡­h-husband. How can I deny this?"

    "That''s true. And now I, your husband, want to show you, my wife¡­."

    She blinked her eyes and waited for him to finish his sentence.

    He leaned closer and whispered directly to his ear, "¡­how much I love you."

    Boom!

    Once again, Long Jinjing''s IQ dropped to a level worse than that of an amoeba. When she gradually gained some of her senses, most of her clothes had already been removed and her husband was on top of her busily sucking on her breasts.

    She moaned and held his head. Her body arched upwards, pushing her chest closer to him.

    He continued ying with her nipples while his head moved downwards. He kissed her soft abdomen.

    "W-wait!" She tried pushing him away and covered her belly but he held her hands.

    "Don''t hide," he said.

    "B-but my belly is so¡­bby. It''s¡­ugly." She turned her face away, feeling too embarrassed.

    He sighed but still told her, "Not bby. It''s beautiful."

    She faced him again and red. "Liar!"

    "I''m not lying." He touched her belly and ran his fingers over it. Her belly twitched. He lowered his head and kissed several spots of her belly.

    His actions were gentle but they still made her sigh in pleasure. Even so, she still felt insecure about her bby belly.

    Finally, he raised his head again and looked at her straight in the eyes. "For me, this belly is beautiful. The most beautiful."

    She pouted, not believing him at all.

    "Why? It''s because this belly carried my children. Your belly became like this because of me and my sons. That''s why I find it so beautiful. There''s only one woman in the world whose belly changed like this from carrying my sons¡ªyou. Only you. So don''t hate it anymore, Jinjing, because I love it."

    Tears filled her eyes and flowed down the sides of her head.

    "No matter what you look like, you''re still the woman who I chose to marry. You''re the woman who gave me my sons. You''re the woman who I want to be by my side. You''re the woman who¡­I fell in love with."

    "Oh, Niki¡­" She pulled him up and kissed him with desperation, gratitude, and of course, love.

    This man sucked in saying anything romantic but these words were the most romantic thing that she ever received in her entire life.

    "I love you so much, Niki!"

    "I love you too, Jinjing."

    The frenzied kisses stopped as they gasped for air.

    "Niki? Can you get off for a second? You''re heavy."

    "Hm." He dragged himself off her and plopped himself back on the couch.

    His erection was now softening. It was clear that he was too drowsy to continue what they had been doing.

    Long Jinjing didn''t mind that she was unable to have an orgasm today.

    What she had today was more amazing than physical orgasm.

    Her husband had given her emotional and mental orgasm through his sudden love confession and his attempt at making her feel better about her body image.

    She had never so happy than how she felt right now.

 Chapter 1360 - Erased From History

    Chapter 1360 - Erased From History

    Long Jinjing put on her clothes while smiling. Then she looked at her half-asleep husband. Even when his eyelids were heavy, he still made sure to watch her. She flushed under his heavy gaze.

    No matter how much he insisted that he was already recovered, it was clear that his normal energy still hadn''t returned yet. Look at the man, he could barely stay awake. His current performance was pitiful, a far cry from his usual capability.

    "Pull up your pants," she told him.

    He grunted but didn''t move.

    "Do you want me to help you?" she asked.

    He peeked at her through half-lidded eyes. Then she noticed that his manhood was starting to stir again.

    The sight left her speechless. Man, he was just about to fall asleep. Why did he get in the mood again?

    Even when she gestured for him to hurry up, he still refused to move.

    "Let''s go, Niki. I don''t want you to miss your appointmentter. The faster youplete all your medical exams, the sooner the doctor will discharge you from the hospital wing."

    Once again, he only grunted but didn''t move.

    What was this? Was he acting like a spoiled child? Did he want her to coax him?

    Her mouth twitched. But far from annoyed, she felt amused instead. It was very rare for her husband to act childish like this in front of her.

    Was this the effect of his love confession?

    After admitting that he loved her, he must have felt morefortable in showing his authentic self to her. This was exactly what she wanted. Joy filled her.

    She couldn''t help but giggle from delight.

    "Laughing at me?" he asked.

    "No." She shook her head, still smiling. "Come on and get up now, Niki. I can''t carry you. If you fall asleep here, I would have to ask others for help in carrying you. I''m sure that you don''t want that."

    He scowled but eventually forced himself to stand up and pull his pants up.

    "This damn body is so weak," he muttered.

    "Of course, your body is going to weaken. You wereatose for that long! Just focus on recovering. Knowing you, I''m sure that you''ll be back to your usual energetic self in no time."

    "Heh~" He smirked. "It seems that my wife can''t wait for me to regain my usual energy. I''ll have to work hard then. I can''t let my wife hold it in for too long or she might despise me, her husband, for not satisfying her."

    She flushed and red at him. "W-what are you saying? You''re so bad!"

    He shed her with a devilish smile. Coupled with his drowsy appearance, it made him even more roguish. A hot and sinful rogue!

    After teasing her, they left the indoor forest while holding hands. Lu Zihao attempted to return directly to their bedroom but Long Jinjing stood her ground and insisted on returning him to the hospital wing.

    He watched as his woman dragged him back to his hospital room. Her strength was nothing to him. She was only able to drag him along like this because he let her.

    The feeling was not bad. As a matter of fact, he felt like a soft cat''s paw was scratching his heart. It tickled and itched at the same time.

    Was this love?

    Even though he now admitted that he loved Long Jinjing, he still hadn''t fullyprehended yet what it meant to be in love. In a sense, he was aplete newbie in this realm of romantic love and how to keep it alive for a long time.

    He still had a lot of things to learn when it came to romancing his woman. And he was willing to learn for the sake of his wife and the little family that they built together.

    "Go take a nap," she said while tucking him in his hospital bed. "I''ll wake you upter when it''s almost time for your medical exam."

    "Hm."

    She gave him a quick peck on the mouth and whispered, "I love you, Niki."

    "Love you, too," he mumbled before falling asleep.

    This time, she no longer doubted what she heard. It wasn''t a hallucination. Her husband really loved her!

    She couldn''t stop smiling until the doctor arrived muchter.

    ###

    In the next few days, Lu Zihao was finally discharged from the hospital wing. The first thing that he did after his discharge was to have a proper talk with his sister.

    He had wanted to speak with Iris much earlier but she had been extremely busy in the past few days. Knowing how absorbed his sister could get whenever she did something that she was passionate about, he didn''t want to disturb her. He dyed the talk and instead used the time to think about all the things that he wanted to tell her.

    The day they made the appointment to talk, the siblings walked in the huge gardens of Dragon Pce Home #10. The weather was just perfect. It was sunny but the temperature felt cool.

    Both of them wore autumn coats and walked side by side while admiring the remaining greenery in the gardens.

    They stopped just outside therge hedge maze. Iris sat on a stone bench while Lu Zihao remained by the fountain.

    "I won''t take back the things that I said during our fight that day," Iris spoke in Russian, direct to the point.

    Lu Zihao preferred this straightforward manner of talking. "Hm, I know."

    She studied her brother and noticed that he really felt a lot different from how she remembered him. "You''ve changed."

    "Hm." He didn''t deny it.

    Indeed, even he could feel the change in him. He still wasn''t sure if this change was good or bad. Only time would tell.

    "Do you still resent me?" Iris asked.

    He nced at her. "At first, yes. But now¡­no. Not anymore."

    She sighed in relief. "I understand why you would resent me. But I stand by my position. You and I are different, Big Brother. I''m happier in this life."

    "I know."

    "What about you, Big Brother? Are you still intent on pursuing your revenge?"

    Silence.

    He nced at the rippling water in the fountain''s pool. His hazy reflection showed Lu Zihao''s face, not Niki Vetrov.

    Then he finally replied, "Yes."

    "Alright." Iris epted his answer.

    "But I realized that you are also right," he said. "It''s true that I now have my own family who would be heartbroken if they lose me. I¡­also don''t want to leave them."

    Iris smiled. "I''m d."

    "Evelinka."

    "Yes?"

    "I am still Niki Vetrov."

    "I know."

    "But you''re correct again. I am now Lu Zihao as well. I have been trying so hard to reject this identity even when I have no choice but to live with it. My children bear the surname Lu. My wife is referred to as Mrs. Lu. Even the old man¡­I respect him and also think of him as my real grandfather."

    Iris'' smile deepened.

    "In so many ways, I have been trying to live as Niki Vetrov. Despite all the limitations that Lu Zihao''s identity have in the criminal underworld, I still push on acting like my old, original self. In hindsight, I now realize that doing this might be my attempt not to let Niki Vetrov bepletely erased from history. I don''t want to be forgotten because I, Niki Vetrov, am still here despite living as Lu Zihao now."

    The smile disappeared from Iris'' face, reced by solemn understanding. She knew what he meant. In a sense, what he had been doing was simr to what she had done.

    In order to catch Cross Academy''s attention, she deliberately used the same style as Fantom. Once they reached out to her, she revealed that she was Evelina Vetrova''s sole disciple before passing away. She did this in order to give herself a legitimate reason to be admitted to the exclusive school and also to fast-track her enrollment.

    However, this wasn''t her only motive. Truth be told, she did it so that Evelina Vetrova wouldn''t be forgotten. As the sole disciple of her past self, Long Xin (a.k.a. Drakon) would be able to continue her own legacy¡ªthe legacy of Evelina (a.k.a. Fantom).

    She didn''t think that it was narcissistic to do this. Not at all.

    It was just a matter of proving to others that she existed. Was it bad for her to do it?

    If her existence waspletely erased, then what was the point in living? Even though she felt miserable in her past life due to her inability to freely be the person that she always wanted to be, she still didn''t want to bepletely forgotten and erased from history.

    It turned out that her brother also thought the same way. Their methods might be different from each other but their goals were the same.

    Lu Zihao looked at her straight in the eyes. She didn''t shy away either.

    Their bond as siblings might not be telepathic but it was powerful enough to follow them after their deaths to this new chance in life that they received aspletely different people.

    "Thanks to you, I''m going to rethink my original n of revenge," he said. "I still can''t allow those motherfuckers who annihted us to run freely in the world, but I also need to think about my family. You''re right, Evelinka. I love my wife and our children. I want to spend many years with my family."

    Iris stood up and walked towards him. She stopped and stood a few feet from him. "I''ll help you, Big Brother."

    He frowned.

    "Don''t reject my offer," she told him before he could reply. "Fantom might have disappeared but Drakon has risen in its ce. When the right timees, I''ll introduce to the world the fusion of these two hacker identities¡ªFantom Drakon."

 Chapter 1361 - Gala Invitation

    Chapter 1361 - G Invitation

    Lu Zihao''s stance for now was to neither ept nor reject his sister''s offer. He had always trusted her abilities as a world-ss hacker but allowing her to join in his path of revenge was another matter that needed careful consideration. Besides, his original path of revenge required some drastic modifications as well.

    Iris didn''t force him to ept her offer right away either. There would definitely be a time that he would need to borrow her skills as a hacker.

    Bacon was powerful but still immature in so many ways. So was Ketchup. Her two cat AI children would definitely join the war against the Vetrovs'' enemies but both of them still had a lot of growing up to do before that.

    There were multiple methods that she could use to power up all of them but everything would be easier with her brother''s full cooperation. He knew more things about the enemies than she did.

    If they wanted topletely defeat those enemies, they couldn''t do it alone. They needed to work together.

    "Think about it some more, Big Brother," she told him. "Just remember that regardless of our different personal values, we have the same motivation¡ªto destroy all the enemies and protect the families that we built in this life."

    "Hm, alright," he finally replied.

    Iris smiled and then rushed into his arms. When her brother hugged her back, it felt like home. Her old home. Her brother, Niki, was more of a parent to her than their mother and father in their past life.

    She rubbed her face against his chest. His appearance and physique might bepletely different from what she remembered in their past life but the warmth of her brother''s embrace remained the same.

    Lu Zihao chuckled and stroked her long hair. "You''re already a grown woman, not to mention a mother, and yet you still dare to act like a little girl."

    "It''s because you''re my big brother."

    His gaze softened. "Yeah. I''ll always be your big brother."

    ###

    A week before Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s scheduled wedding date, arge portion of their most important invited guests received another invitation.

    This time, it was an invitation to an exclusive g hosted by Lin Yehan to celebrate the national shooting team''s silver medal win at the World Shotgun Championship. He was one of the coaches of the team.

    Included in the g invitation were the national team''s sponsors. The main one was Jin Corporation.

    The g was scheduled at the same exact date and time as Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding.

    When a portion of their invited guests received Lin Yehan''s g invitation, they immediately understood that it was a deliberate shady move to undermine the wedding. It wasn''t a secret that Lin Yehanunched a defamationwsuit against Long Hui and eventually won the case.

    Lin Yehan might generally be a low-key person but he was nheless an agricultural tycoon in his own right. In terms of wealth and influence, he was leagues above Long Hui''s current status. Lin Yehan was already an emperor of his own agriculture empire while Long Hui could only be considered as a crown prince with an unstable foundation. His other siblings including Iris Long were also vying for their father''s throne.

    A group of the wedding guests immediately cancelled their attendance in advance and nned to attend Lin Yehan''s g instead.

    Even when Lin Yehan''s own prestige as an agricultural tycoon was taken out of the equation, just the fact that he was hosting a victory g for the national shooting team was already enough reason to attend his g instead of Long Hui''s wedding.

    The national team didn''t only take home the silver medal at the world championship but also great pride to the country. Helping celebrate these amazing athletes was more dignified than attending the union of a young, rich couple who were nobodies without their respective families'' backing.

    The other group of the wedding guests were more indecisive. They spent some time analyzing which event would be more beneficial to them. Most of them were close to the Long, Mao and Zheng families. Even if they wanted to, they couldn''t cancel their attendance just like that.

    It was only when they heard from the grapevine that Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao and their other sworn brothers would be attending Lin Yehan''s g that they finally made a choice. Even Jin Chonglin was rumoured to attend as well, though this information wasn''t confirmed yet.

    These invited guests couldn''t help but gossip among themselves.

    "Didn''t Miss Mao mention in various interviews a while back that she sent an invitation to CEO Jin and Iris Long?"

    "It''s no secret that Iris Long and Long Hui have fallen out after he cheated on that bodyguard with Mao Qiuyue. Iris Long sided with the bodyguard instead of her brother. Of course, she won''t attend Long Hui''s wedding!"

    "I don''t care about their family drama. I need to quickly find a dress to attend Mr. Lin''s g because the one that Imissioned for the wedding is now useless. My husband can''t wait for the g because he wants the chance to talk to CEO Jin about some business opportunities."

    "My husband have the same n, too."

    "So many of us cancelled our attendance to the wedding. The Maos have been trying to call me and my husband nonstop. Even the Zhengs are stepping forward. Surprisingly, the Longs don''t have much of a reaction."

    "President Long Tengfei is rumoured to be closer to his daughters than his sons. It''s not surprising because his daughters married extremely well. Iris Long married CEO Jin while his illegitimate daughter married Sir Lu Jianhong''s grandson. Not only that. Both daughters gave birth to twins each. President Long will definitely prioritize his daughters in order to strengthen his inw rtionship with both the Jins and the Lus."

    While these gossips fermented in several circles, Lin Yehan was drinking with his sworn brothers at Dragon Pce Home #10. Except for Wang Yingjie who had hospital duty, everyone was present.

    Lin Yehan and Yu Mo drank brandy while Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao stopped at one shot each before contenting themselves with non-alcoholic cocktails for the rest of the evening.

    "Eldest Bro, will you be in trouble for using the national team to hurt Long Hui and his bride?" Yu Mo asked.

    "What using the national team?" Lin Yehan raised an eyebrow. "The victory g that I''m hosting is legitimate. It''s only a coincidence that it''s scheduled on the same day as the wedding."

    "Pft! Coincidence. Yeah, right!" Yu Mo rolled his eyes beforeughing.

    Lin Yehan turned to Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao. "Both of you are going toe, right?"

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Lu Zihao grunted.

    Lin Yehan smiled. "Barring any emergencies in the hospital that day, Second Brother Yingjie said that he would be able toe as well."

    "My wife wille, too," Jin Liwei said.

    "Even better!" Lin Yehan was delighted. He turned to his fifth brother.

    Lu Zihao swirled his cocktail. "Jinjing still hasn''t decided yet. If she doesn''t want toe, I won''t force her."

    "That''s fine," Lin Yehan replied and nodded in understanding.

    Yu Mo slung an arm over Lin Yehan''s shoulders. "Eldest Bro, will you be escorting ady in the g?"

    "If thedy agrees, then yes."

    "Oh?" Yu Mo''s eyes lit up. "Who''s she? Do I know her?"

    "Yes."

    "Who?"

    Lin Yehan only smiled but didn''t reveal anything to his clueless fifth brother.

    Yu Mo had been busy teaching Systema to his students in his studio and hanging out with his other less close friends. He didn''t know that his eldest brother had been chasing a certain single mother.

    Lin Yehan didn''t publicize it to prevent hisdy from feeling ufortable. Nobody told Yu Mo.

    "Third Bro, Fifth Bro, do you know whichdy Eldest Bro is talking about?" Yu Mo asked.

    "En," Jin Liwei said.

    Lu Zihao didn''t bother replying. He didn''t care about this topic.

    "Tell me!"

    Yu Mo whined for a long time but none of his bros revealed anything useful. He could only sulk by himself while downing shot after shot of brandy. In the end, he became too drunk that an annoyed Lu Zihao slung the man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and tossed him at a random guest bedroom.

    "I''m off," Lu Zihao announced and left without so much as waiting for a reply.

    Lin Yehan shook his head while chuckling. He was also a little drunk but in a much better state than Yu Mo.

    "You go ahead and return to Xin, Third Brother. I''m going to find a balcony for some fresh air to sober up a bit before I head to bed."

    "Alright." Jin Liwei patted his shoulder before leaving as well. "Good night, Eldest Brother."

    "Good night."

    Lin Yehan went to the nearest balcony after Jin Liwei left. The air was chilly and made him shiver but he stayed put. A few minutester, his mind cleared up a little.

    He fished his phone out of his pocket and called someone.

    "Hello?" a female voice answered.

    "Miss Ying Yue."

    Pause.

    "Are you drunk, Mr. Yehan?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    "A little," he admitted.

    She sighed. "It''ste now. You should go to sleep."

    "I miss you."

    Silence.

    "Miss Ying Yue, I miss you," he repeated. "I want to see you. Can I?"

    "You''re still at the mansion?"

    "Yes. Yu Mo and I are staying here tonight. So¡­can I see you?"

    "Right now?"

    "Uh-huh."

    "B-but¡­."

    Lin Yehan inhaled the cold air and felt more refreshed. "Please, Miss Ying Yue. I won''t do anything inappropriate. I promise. I really just want to see you, that''s all."

    Jiang Ying Yue didn''t answer for what felt like a long time. Finally, she said, "Okay."

 Chapter 1362 - Letâ€™s Become a Family

    Chapter 1362 - Let¡¯s Be a Family

    Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue met in a secluded corner near Little Jun''s room. There was an ottoman bench by arge window. Beside the bench was an ent table with a vase of fresh flowers on top, a ss disy in the shape of the LX monogram, and a framed photo of Iris, Jin Liwei and Little Jun with Popcorn.

    "After we marry, let''s take a family picture like this with Little Jun," Lin Yehan said all of a sudden.

    "Y-you¡­." Jiang Ying Yue turned red.

    "Little Jun loves his cat cousins and his new puppy. It''s clear that he adores animals. My farm vi has a lot. There are cute bunnies there that he might like. You and Little Jun should visit my farm vi one of these days. I''ll teach him how to ride a pony. How about you? Do you know how to ride a horse? If not, I can teach you, too."

    "Mr. Yehan!"

    Lin Yehan faced her with his ever-present gentle smile. "Yes, Miss Ying Yue?"

    "Please don''t do this."

    "Do what?"

    "T-this¡­talking about m-marriage and doing things like a¡­f-family¡­."

    He walked forward. She stepped back. Then she stumbled and fell on the ottoman bench. Now she was sitting down and had to raise her head to look at him.

    Lin Yehan stopped about two feet away from her, giving her a bit of space but not enough to let her escape so easily.

    He might not bepletely drunk but the alcohol definitely had a hand in making him act so brazen like this in front of the woman he liked.

    Then he sat on his haunches in front of her so that she wouldn''t feel intimidated by him too much. This way, they could speak close to eye level.

    "Miss Ying Yue, please don''t worry," he told her. "I won''t touch you without your permission. Rest assured that I do respect you and want you to feel morefortable with me. I just want to talk to you and hopefully get closer to you."

    She gazed down at her hands on herp, too shy to look at him straight in the eyes. "Alright."

    "May I take a seat beside you?"

    "Y-yes." She scooted a little to the side and gave some space for him on the bench.

    "Thank you." He sat down and looked at her.

    Lin Yehan couldn''t stop looking at her. In his slight drunkenness, Jiang Ying Yue seemed more beautiful than usual in his eyes. The red tint on her cheeks and ears were so adorable that he couldn''t help but grin.

    "Miss Ying Yue, I like you."

    She curled her fingers on herp. Her heartbeat felt like a thousand horses galloping while her breathing felt a littleboured.

    "M-mister Yehan...please don''t¡­."

    "Do you like me, too?"

    His sudden question startled her, and to be honest, made her panic. "W-what?"

    "I want to know if you like me, too," he said in a patient tone. "Do you? Even just a little?"

    "I¡­"

    "I don''t think you hate me."

    "N-no! Of course, I don''t hate you."

    He leaned towards her but still made sure to give her some space so as not to scare her too much. He just wanted to be near hear while also trying to get her used to his presence as much as possible.

    "Then do you like me?" he asked again.

    "I¡­yes."

    His eyes lit up. "Yes? You like me?"

    She forced herself to look at him even though she wanted to flee from embarrassment. Despite this, she still forced herself to stay put and face the man''s open pursuit. In the first ce, she already agreed to let Lin Yehan to court her. There was no use to running away for something that she allowed.

    This wasn''t the first time that a man had chased her anyway. Her ex, Long Hui, had also chased her back when she worked as his bodyguard.

    She couldn''t help butpare the two men.

    Long Hui had been very suave and charismatic back then. Before working for him, most men didn''t look at her as a girlfriend material because they said that her muscled body looked too masculine to be desirable. So when Long Hui said that he loved her body, she couldn''t help but fall hopelessly in love with him despite knowing that their rtionship would be met with hostility by the extremely prejudiced members of the Long n.

    And now, there was Lin Yehan. Unlike Long Hui, Lin Yehan never told her that he became attracted to her because of her muscled body. As a matter of fact, he said that he admired her character as a person, especially her strength and resilience as a mother.

    Thinking like this, Jiang Ying Yue realized that Long Hui might only have been attracted to her muscled body. If he really respected her as his fianc¨¦e and most importantly as the mother of his son, then he wouldn''t have said all those hurtful words and humiliated her in public.

    Compared to him, Lin Yehan had always been courteous to her even back when they were merely acquaintances meeting as the friends of Iris and Jin Liwei. Even now, he remained respectful to her. Most importantly, he treated Little Jun well.

    Of course, there was a chance that he might just be acting like this now and change in the future. But she doubted that.

    Jin Liwei and their other sworn brothers all respected Lin Yehan as their eldest brother. Just based on Jin Liwei''s character alone, she already trusted Lin Yehan and their other brothers.

    More often than not, one could discern a person''s character based on his or her close friends.

    Back to the present, Jiang Ying Yue gathered all her courage and continued to look at Lin Yehan straight in the eyes.

    "Yes, I like you," she told him.

    His smile spread across his face slowly. It was like watching a star be brighter in the night sky.

    She became dazed for a few seconds before catching herself.

    Lin Yehan wasn''t the most handsome among the five sworn brothers. In fact, even Long Hui was many times more handsome than him. He couldn''t be considered ugly either. His features were arranged in a way that made him look very kind and pleasant rather than handsome.

    Even so, he was still quite an attractive man. It was in the way that he carried himself¡ªconfident but not arrogant, kind but not weak, and warm but not overly friendly.

    Everything about him was just¡­right.

    At least, to her.

    "Do you really like me?" she asked him after gathering another round of courage.

    "Yes, I really like you," he replied, the smile on his face was gentle and delighted at the same time.

    "Earlier, you mentioned something about¡­m-marrying me and taking a¡­f-family picture together with my son. Are you serious about that?"

    His smile deepened. "Yes, I''m very serious about that. I do hope to marry you. If you give me a chance, I promise that I''ll respect you as a husband and work together with you in raising your son. I also promise to treat Little Jun like my own child. If someday I''m blessed to have a child with you, I promise that my treatment of Little Jun won''t change. Once we''re married, your son will be my son."

    Her eyes watered. "What about¡­my ex? What if Long Hui makes trouble again?"

    Lin Yehan''s eyes darkened but this onlysted for a couple of seconds before he gave her a reassuring smile. "I''ll protect you and Little Jun. I won''t allow anyone to bully my family."

    "F-family¡­." The redness spread from her cheers and ears all over her face and down her neck. "You really want to be a family with¡­m-me?"

    He nodded. "Yes. Very much so."

    "I have a degree but I only work as a bodyguard. Do you think that it''s a waste of my education?"

    His expression turned serious. "Miss Ying Yue, I don''t believe that your education level or your job defines you as a person. I work in the agricultural industry. Many of my manual workers, especially the farmers, have low education. A lot of people in society also look down on them as inferior rural folks. But I know that they are some of the kindest and mostpassionate people that I''ve ever met in my life. They are simple folks who won''t bother to say one thing in front of you and then stab you in the back afterwards. If they like you, they will treat you like family. If they dislike you, they won''t bother talking to you.

    "That''s why I don''t want you to worry about me disdaining your work as a bodyguard. This is the field that you want to work in and I respect your choice. I have seen the kind of training and work that you do here at Third Brother and Third Sister-inw''s home. They''re not easy at all. For a woman like you to do all these things that many men like me find difficult and torturous and you even excel at them, I sincerely admire you."

    Jiang Ying Yue found herself smiling. "Thank you. I do love my work."

    "I can tell." He was d to see her smile. "Rest assured that I won''t interfere with your work. If you want to continue working here, then that''s fine. If you want to explore other careers in the field of security, I''ll also support you 100%. I also love my work in the agricultural industry so Ipletely understand when others feel passionate about their work."

    After hearing what he had to say, she made a decision right then and there.

    She grabbed his hand.

    He looked surprised and then delighted.

    Then she said, "Mr. Yehan, let''s be a family."

 Chapter 1363 - Slow But Steady

    Chapter 1363 - Slow But Steady

    For a moment, Lin Yehan thought that he might have already fallen asleep and was dreaming all this.

    "Am I still awake?" he murmured, a little dazed.

    Jiang Ying Yue couldn''t help but chuckle. She pinched his hand.

    He hissed. The sharp pain immediately proved that this was all real. She didn''t hold back at all in pinching him. It hurt!

    "Oh, sorry. I didn''t control my strength." She rubbed the part of his hand that she just pinched.

    "It''s fine."

    "I''ll control my strength next time," she said.

    "There''s a next time?"

    She gave him a shy smile. "Maybe." She paused for a few seconds before asking, "So¡­are we considered¡­together now?"

    "Huh?" His brain took a few seconds to load before he came back to his senses. "Yes! Of course!" Heughed in delight. "We''re together now!"

    "Y-yehan¡­."

    He grinned while rubbing and squeezing her hand. It was calloused and a little rough, but for him, it was the most beautiful hand that he had ever held.

    "Yes, that''s right. You should call me Yehan now, Ying Yue."

    Then he raised her hand and gave it a light kiss. His grin became wider after seeing her flushing even brighter.

    "Ying Yue, thank you for epting me. I''ll do my best to show that you made the right decision in choosing me."

    "Okay, Yehan."

    He leaned closer towards her. "May I kiss you?"

    Her face right now was as red as a baboon''s butt but she still nodded. Without waiting for his next move, she already grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips.

    His arms immediately wrapped around her as he opened his mouth and deepened the kiss.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt the familiar stirrings of desire in her lower belly. She hung on to him and tried to intensify the kiss but he was inplete control of it. Before she knew it, she was already following his rhythm¡ªslow but very thorough.

    This was the first time that she had been kissed so meticulously like this. Lin Yehan was like a master explorer, taking his time to find her sweet spots and learning which techniques she liked best.

    There was a steadiness in the man that assured her. Just based on his performance right now, he wasn''t the kind to blow her mind from intensity right from the start. He seemed to prefer to take the slow but steady route.

    Soft and gentle in the beginning and then gradually building up the intensity. The feeling that he gave her was more like a trickling stream rather than a raging waterfall.

    At first, it felt like a stream flowing slowly but surely into a river that became bigger and faster the more he worked his magic on her. Then finally, she found herself plummeting down a waterfall that appeared out of nowhere, catching her off guard.

    When she returned to her senses, she realized that she somehow moved from the ottoman bench on to Lin Yehan''sp. She stared at him in a daze. There was a slight taste of brandy on her tongue from his kiss.

    "Ying Yue," he whispered before gently rubbing their lips together.

    She sighed from the tender pleasure. It felt so nice, rxing and hot all at the same time.

    "You''re drunk," she murmured. "What if you forget about all this tomorrow?"

    He chuckled and rubbed her lower back. "Something so wonderful like this, how could I forget?"

    ###

    The next morning, Lin Yehan woke up with a throbbing headache. He was in an unfamiliar room and an unfamiliar bed, but when he inhaled, he smelled a familiar scent.

    From now on, he wanted to smell this scent every time he woke up in the morning. He smiled but winced when his head began hurting like a bitch again.

    The door open a crack. Jiang Ying Yue poked half of her head through the door and peeked inside. When she saw that he was already up, she entered while pushing a small cart.

    "Good morning, Yehan."

    "Good morning, Ying Yue." He waited for her to arrive by the bed¡ªher bed.

    "I brought you some hangover soup. The butler also prepared fresh clothes and toiletries for you."

    He pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed beside him before giving her cheek a quick peck. Satisfaction filled him at seeing the tips of her ears turn red.

    "Don''t get too close to me," she said and pulled away from him a little. "I just finished my morning training routine so I''m sweaty."

    "I like you sweaty," he teased.

    She turned red all over.

    He chuckled and then winced.

    "Headache?" She took the bowl of hangover soup and handed it to him. "Drink this first. I''ll take a quick shower. You can go after I finish."

    He hummed his agreement and took a few sips of the rich soup. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

    "Yes but I already burned most of it from my morning training routine. I''ll eat again with youter."

    "Okay."

    He focused on finishing the soup while listening to the sounds of her showering in the ensuite bathroom. The smile stayed on his face almost the entire time. He felt so happy that he almost couldn''t believe that they were actually together now. If not for his painful headache, then he would doubt that this was reality.

    After cing the empty bowl back on the cart, he opened the curtains, letting the bright sunlight flood in the bedroom. He started stretching his half-naked body while studying the room''s interior.

    The overall style was quite masculine¡ªstrong, bold textures with minimal decorations. It suited Jiang Ying Yue perfectly.

    Last night, he followed Jiang Ying Yue to her bedroom where they continued to make out. Yes, he slept on her bed but nothing more happened between the two of them besides kissing and some touching over their clothing.

    She had the intention of consummating their rtionship but he managed to calm her down. Although he wasn''tpletely drunkst night, he still didn''t want their first time to be influenced by alcohol in any way. He preferred to be alert when he made love with Jiang Ying Yue for the first time.

    Neither of them were virgins but that didn''t mean that he should be careless in his treatment of her. On the contrary, he was determined to be the best and the most considerate lover that she ever had in her entire life.

    Jiang Ying Yue finished showering and putting on clothes in ten minutes. Lin Yehan was very impressed. Her discipline wasparable to soldiers. Even a former professional athlete like him couldn''tpare to her.

    He gave her a quick hug and another rather chaste kiss on the cheek before taking a shower next.

    Afterwards, the two of them headed straight to the yroom where Little Jun was ying with Popcorn and his puppy, Gravy.

    "Mommi! Anko Han!"

    The little guy jumped into his mother''s waiting arms. Lin Yehan made a e here" gesture with his arms and was pleasantly surprised when Little Jun reached over to him. He carried the child and enjoyed the feeling.

    Together, they headed to the dining area. Popcorn and Gravy followed by their heels.

    When they arrived at the dining area, they saw almost everyone except for Grandpa Lu who apparently went out to visit some of his old friends again.

    "Yo, good morning," Yu Mo greeted. He looked haggard with listless eyes and dark circles.

    Then his eyes widened and almost bulged out of his head when he saw the inteced hands of Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Whoa! Holy Moly! What am I seeing?! Is this for real?! Am I dreaming?! Someone pinch me¡ªOUCH!!! Ice Cream, you brat! I said pinch me, not punch me! Dammit! I think you also scratched me. Is it bleeding?"

    The fat, grey catnded on the floor after punching her Uncle Mo with agility and gracefulness that defied her size. She threw him a disgusted re before hopping on top of a disy table near her twin baby brothers and cousins but far away from the annoying puppies on the floor.

    "Third Bro, look at what your eldest did to me!" Yu Moined while holding his face where Ice Cream punched him.

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. "You were being too loud. Ice Cream didn''t want you scaring the babies."

    "And so she attacked me?!"

    "Not attacked, just warned you," Jin Liwei corrected.

    Lu Zihao sneered at Yu Mo. "You''re a Systema practitioner and yet you can''t even win against a cat? How shameful!"

    Long Jinjing giggled.

    "My daughter is so mighty," Iris said in a tone filled with pride.

    "Baby Ice Cream''s cat punch just now is one of the bestest I''ve ever seen!" Dom eximed. "So fast and clean! Ehehe. I should''ve recorded it on video!"

    "Meow~" Ice Cream''s disdainful expression turned adorable after her mommy and Uncle Dom (a.k.a. ve #1) praised her.

    Yu Mo couldn''t ept that nobody was sympathizing with him even for a bit. "You''re all bullying me!"

    Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue took this time to settle in their seats. It was Lin Yehan who put Little Jun in his high seat, looking so much like a dad. Their actions caught everybody''s attention again, especially Yu Mo.

    "Eldest Bro, is Jiang Ying Yue the specialdy that you''ve been pursuing?" Yu Mo asked.

    "Yes." Lin Yehan had no intention of denying it. In fact, he was very proud of it.

    Yu Mo looked around the table. Nobody looked surprised. Only him.

    "You all knew about them?"

    Just looking at their expressions alone was enough to answer his question. He nced at his happy eldest brother, the blushing Jiang Ying Yue, and the clueless Little Jun.

    "Cool! Congrats, Eldest Bro! You too, Jiang Ying Yue! So tell me, when''s the wedding?"

 Chapter 1364 - Rebound

    Chapter 1364 - Rebound

    Jiang Ying Yue became flustered when all eyes fell on her. She put on her expressionless bodyguard face to save herself fromplete embarrassment but didn''t fully seed. The red tinge on her face, ears and neck gave her away.

    "Fourth Brother, that''s enough." Lin Yehan came to her rescue. "Ying Yue and I only became an official couplest night. We n on deepening our feelings for each other before getting married."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Lin Yehan made his move after they all dispersed from their drinking sessionst night.

    Lu Zihao didn''t care. He continued to eat meat and put more food on his wife''s te instead.

    As for Iris, Long Jinjing and Dom, all of them looked happy for their friend. Although they already knew that Lin Yehan had been courting Jiang Ying Yue before this and estimated that the two would be a couple sooner rather thanter, they still didn''t expect that the two would really get together this fast.

    Unlike Iris and Long Jinjing who were both single when they got involved with their respective husbands, Jiang Ying Yue carried a lot of baggage from her previous rtionship. It wasn''t easy for her to enter anothermitted rtionshippared to her friends especially since she had a child with her ex.

    Everyone knew how hurt and humiliated she felt when she and Long Hui broke up. They thought that she would need more time to heal from her heartbreak before epting a new lover.

    "Eldest Brother, please treat Ying Yue and Little Jun well," Iris said.

    "Of course," Lin Yehan replied without hesitation.

    While eating breakfast, they talked about Lin Yehan''s uing g that he was hosting for the national shooting team. At the same time, they all had a tacit understanding not to talk about another event that was scheduled on the same day as the g¡ªLong Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding.

    "Ying Yue, please be my partner at the g," Lin Yehan said.

    "I¡­." Jiang Ying Yue looked torn.

    "Just agree, Ying Yue," Iris interjected. "There''s nothing to worry about it. Dom, Big Sister Jinjing and even Chen Fei and Meimei are all going. If Clover were here, I''m sure that she''ll go with us, too. I hired extra people from LXC Studio to help my m team style us for the event. No need to worry about the dresses either. A few of my favourite designers already agreed to send some dresses for us to choose from."

    "Yep, juste with us, Sis Yue!" Dom piped in. "It''s going to be so much fun! We, the girl squad, are going to be the most gorgeous and fabulous in the g!"

    "I originally didn''t n on attending but I changed my mind when I learned that most of our friends are also going," Long Jinjing said. "Little Sister Xin has already made arrangements for our styling so there''s no need to worry about anything else other than our attendance."

    Iris added, "Besides, even if we''re not with you, I''m sure that Eldest Brother won''t leave you alone to fend for yourself at the g."

    Lin Yehan nodded. "Exactly." He looked at Jiang Ying Yue. "Be my partner?"

    Jiang Ying Yue still looked a little hesitant but she nodded. "Okay."

    He smiled.

    "Gah!" Yu Mo shielded his eyes. "Too bright! My eyes are melting from all the dog food! All of you are now couples. I''m the only one here who''s a single dog!"

    Dom batted her eyshes. "I, the gorgeous beauty king, am also single. You''re not alone, Teacher Yu."

    Yu Mo sighed. "Dom, if only you were born female, I would have already chased you and made you mine. I think we''re quitepatible."

    Dom sighed as well. "If I were born female, I would reject you without hesitation, Teacher Yu. Even though we''re quitepatible as you say, you''re still not my type."

    "Ah!" Yu Mo clutched his chest and showed an exaggerated expression of shock.

    Everyoneughed at the antics of the two. Indeed, they were quitepatible. Both of them were lively, funny, and had the talent of lightening up almost any atmosphere.

    After breakfast, the men were dawdling before going to their respective work, especially Lin Yehan who only became an official couple with hisdyst night.

    He didn''t mind that the others were around them. He gave Jiang Ying Yue a peck on the lips.

    Why should he be shy? What he did was nothingpared to what his third brother and fifth brother were doing to their wives. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao were almost eating their wives'' faces off by how hard, deep and enthusiastic they were kissing them in front of everyone else.

    The kiss he and Jiang Ying Yue shared just now was very chastepared to what the other two shameless couples were doing.

    All of a sudden, Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue felt something force itself between the two of them. They looked down at the same time and saw Little Jun.

    "Junjun kiss-kiss, chu!" (Give Junjun a kiss, too!)

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled and squatted down to her son''s level. Then she showered her son''s face with lots of kisses. Little Jun giggled from delight.

    After his mother kissed him, he gave Lin Yehan an expectant look next. Lin Yehan turned to Jiang Ying Yue, silently asking her what to do.

    "Little Jun wants you to kiss him, too," she tranted what her son''s expression meant.

    "Oh." He chuckled before squatting down as well. Then he held the child gently and gave Little Jun a kiss on each cheek.

    "Hehe." Satisfied, Little Jun abandoned his mother and Uncle Yehan to y with Popcorn and Gravy.

    Lin Yehan''s smile couldn''t be any happier. He was beaming even when he left with his brothers.

    "Ying Yue, let''s chat," Iris called.

    The friends dropped off the children, cats and puppies to the nursery first before heading to the nearby sitting area. The butler served them digestive herbal tea blend.

    "Sis Yue, tell us how you and Eldest Brother Boss became a couple! Hurry!" Dom''s curiosity and excitement were palpable in the way he bounced on his seat in anticipation.

    "Uhm¡­." Jiang Ying Yue felt shy. But at the same time, she also wanted to hear her friends'' opinion, so she told them everything that happened.

    Dom was ooh-ing and aah-ing and kyaah-ing while Iris and Long Jinjing focused on listening to Jiang Ying Yue.

    "So¡­what do you think?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    "Weh, are you sure you and Eldest Brother Boss didn''t chupa-choops yet?" Dom asked.

    "Chu¡ªwhat?" Jiang Ying Yue was confused at the unfamiliar term.

    "You know!" Dom made a vulgar gesture with his hands.

    Jiang Ying Yue threw an ent pillow at him.

    "Ehehe!" The agile Dom evaded it. "I''m just teasing you, Sis Yue. But I''m really impressed at Eldest Brother Boss'' self-control. You slept on the same bed and yet he only kissed you."

    Iris finally put a stop to Dom''s teasing. Jiang Ying Yue gave her a grateful look.

    It was Long Jinjing who changed the light atmosphere with her question. "Sis Ying Yue, please don''t be offended at what I''m going to ask but¡­I think that it''s¡­uh, important."

    "Go ahead, Jinjing."

    "Are you sure that¡­you''re not using Eldest Brother Yehan as a¡ªsorry¡ªa rebound?"

    Jiang Ying Yue stiffened.

    Even Iris and Dom became serious.

    They all looked at Jiang Ying Yue and waited for her answer.

    "Of course not!" She shook her head in a hurry. "I''m not that kind of person! I would never¡­there''s no way¡­that I will use Yehan as a r-rebound."

    "Okay, I understand," Long Jinjing also quickly said. "I''m sorry for asking this question, Sis Ying Yue."

    Iris sipped her tea. She looked the calmest among the group. "That''s actually a valid question, Big Sister Jinjing. But since Ying Yue says that her rtionship with Eldest Brother is not a rebound, then we should believe in her. We know what her character is like. She''s not like that."

    Both Long Jinjing and Dom nodded.

    Nevertheless, the matter about rebound made Jiang Ying Yue reflect on her true feelings and intentions towards Lin Yehan. She had never thought about it before but her current rtionship with Lin Yehan might indeed appear like a rebound to others people.

    It was actually good that Long Jinjing mentioned it this early. At least, Jiang Ying Yue could process it in a safe zone among her friends. If she encountered it in a public setting among strangers, then she didn''t know if she would be able to react well.

    "I truly¡­like Yehan," she told her friends. "I don''t think that I love him yet¡­but I''m close to it. It''s a different kind of attraction that I felt with¡­you know who. It''s calmer¡­steadier¡­and more reassuring. Yehan is an excellent man."

    "True that!" Dom piped in again. "Eldest Brother Boss has a different charm from other men. I can already see that he''ll be a great daddy to Little Junie boy, too!"

    Jiang Ying Yue sighed. "Long Hui will always be my son''s father. That will never change. If he wants to see Little Jun, I won''t obstruct him as long as he doesn''t harm our son in any way. But you''re right, Dom. I can also see that Yehan will be a great father to Little Jun. He also promised me several times that he''ll treat my son like his own. To be honest, that promise was the clincher for me. It''s one of the main reasons why I agreed to be with him."

    "That''s only natural," Iris said. "Liwei and I won''t agree with your rtionship with Eldest Brother if he doesn''t treat Little Jun well. I trust Eldest Brother''s character more than Long Hui."

 Chapter 1365 - Mother is Back

    Chapter 1365 - Mother is Back

    Unlike before, Iris and the others could no longer see that much pain in Jiang Ying Yue''s eyes. Though there was still a lot of anger there, the pain had decreased a lot. This should be one of the positive effects of being in a new rtionship with a much better man than her ex.

    The friends chattered for a little longer before dispersing to do their own tasks for the day.

    Long Jinjing headed to the nursery. Dom went to the home office. Jiang Ying Yue got ready for her shiftter.

    As for Iris, she dropped by the nursery with Long Jinjing to spend a few minutes with the children, cats and puppies before heading to her music room to continue working on her currentposition projects, including her coboration with her mentor, Enrique Valdez.

    There was no hurry to return to her music career especially since she and Jin Liwei were determined to take advantage of this precious time watching their babies grow and bond together as a family. However, she still didn''t want to neglect her passion for music.

    She continued to work onposing new music and fine-tuning old ones. She might use the ones she was fine-tuning in the future, but most of them would be given to the new LXC Studio artists to debut.

    Any samples left behind would be shown to her producer, JJ. If he liked something, he would produce it for his own recordbel''s artists. Of course, Iris Long would always be credited as the original songwriter even if she didn''t involve herself in the actual recording and post-production process.

    It was rather peaceful at Dragon Pce Home #10 but the same couldn''t be said in other ces.

    ###

    Mao Textiles had been in a constant barrage of attacks from almost all directions. It was subtle at first. The Mao family initially didn''t think too much about it. After all, which business didn''t experience challenges?

    But when the issues started cropping up almost every day and snowballing into danger zone, the Maos could no longer keep still and take the beating without doing anything.

    It was only after investigating did they discover that Lin Yehan was the mastermind in bullying theirpany. He caused almost all of their old and trusted suppliers to terminate their cooperation with Mao Textiles.

    As a result, thepany had no choice but to find other inferior and less trustworthy suppliers in a hurry. They couldn''t take advantage of the old client''s price benefit anymore. All of the raw materials they needed had be so much more expensive with the new suppliers.

    Even though thepany could still afford these new prices, it still hurt them. If thepany''s higher-ups decreased their sries and regr bonuses, then it was easy to circumvent these new expenses.

    But how could the higher-ups allow this to happen?

    There was no way that they would sacrifice their own benefits for the sake of thepany. Mao Textiles didn''t want to disturb the status quo either.

    The consequence of this was that all of the lower-ranked employees had to bear the burden instead. Low sries were cut even further. Meagre bonuses became even more miserable. Worst of all, many wereid off.

    These poor and pitiful employees attempted toin but did Mao Textiles care about them?

    Of course not!

    Thepany and the Mao family ignored them. They were too busy covering up these problems in order to maintain their wealthy front especially during this period when they were preparing for their daughter''s marriage with the crown prince of the Long family.

    In his farm vi, Lin Yehan just finished discussing the finishing details of the g with the event nner. Then his phone rang and his assistant ryed what happened with Mao Textiles.

    His usual gentle expression was nowhere to be seen. In its ce was a deep frown of contempt.

    "Contact those that Mao Textilesid off," he instructed his assistant. "We have some businesses rted to the textile industry. Although it''s mostly in the supply stage, I''m sure that they won''t be too picky when they need urgent employment."

    The assistant obeyed.

    After the call, Lin Yehan took a moment to calm his anger. He had already expected that this would happen when he started targeting Mao Textiles, but when it really happened, he couldn''t help but feel disgusted.

    As a tycoon who worked in one of the most humble industries in society, namely agriculture, Lin Yehan despised businesses who had zero moral ethics the most.

    Mao Textiles was a ssic example of apany that only cared about fattening up the already fat pockets of its higher-ups while bleeding the rest of its workers dry and casting them aside like disposable ves without any hesitation.

    It would be difficult topletely destroy a long-establishedpany like Mao Textiles with a lot of connections but it wasn''t impossible.

    Lin Yehan fell into deep thought.

    ###

    A couple of days before the g (and Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding), Wei Lan finally returned to the country after her long shopping spree across Asia. She only freshened up in her mansion before dragging Randy and Ren¨¦ Alejandro to Dragon Pce to meet her new grandsons.

    Finally, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had an excuse to meet Jin Liwei, Sir Lu Jianghong and the others again. Deep inside, he was grumbling about Wei Lan''s tardiness in returning, but on the outside, he was all smiles.

    Jin Liwei had a meeting at Jin Corporation and Grandpa Lu was out visiting Grandma Li up in her mountain vi so those two were absent when Wei Lan''s group arrived. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was disappointed but there was nothing that he could do.

    On a brighter note, he could try to develop a close rtionship with the Jin and Lu twins instead. If the children became close to him and treated him as an uncle, then Jin Liwei and Sir Lu Jianhong would surely feel closer to him as well.

    "Xin, honeeeeeeeey!" Wei Lan strutted after finally seeing her daughter after so long. "Mother is baaaaack!"

    She air-kissed Iris on both cheeks before studying her daughter from head to toe and back up again. "Oh, goooooood! You''ve lost all thooooooose baby weight. Your figure is not as goooooooood as mine when I gave birth to you back then but not baaaaaaaaaaaad, honey. It''s just that¡­your boooooooobs have be toooooooo big! Big booooooooobs are easy to sag, you know?"

    The ever straightforward Iris replied, "My boobs are fine. My husband is more than satisfied with them."

    Wei Lanughed and looked¡­proud. "That''s right, honeeeeeeeey! It''s important to alwaaaaaaaays satisfy your husband''s neeeeeeeeds! You can always have a boob lift in the future, riiiiiiiiiiight? I''m sure dear Liwei won''t miiiiiiiiiind paying for the procedure when he''s the one who''s going to benefit with his wife''s perky boooooooobs."

    Iris rolled her eyes. "I can pay for my own procedures, thank you. And I might not need that kind of procedure in the future."

    Wei Lan also rolled her eyes. "Trust meeeeeeeee, honey! With those biiiiiiiiiiig boobs, you''ll definitely need a boob lift."

    While the mother and daughter were talking about boobs, the other people around them were pretending that everything was normal.

    The butler and the other staff were all professionals. They were already long used to their young madam''s overly straightforward honesty. Their expressions didn''t change at all.

    Randy was barely holding on to hisughter. He couldn''t wait to meet with Dom and gossip about it.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, he showed a rather awkward expression. It was all for show, of course. He honestly didn''t care about this kind of conversations at all. There was no way that someone like him would be embarrassed listening to something like this.

    Iris was an attractive woman. That much he could admit. If not for the fact that he was focused on befriending Jin Liwei on the surface and entering the man''s close circles, Ren¨¦ Alejandro might even attempt to seduce Iris. She was just his type¡ªbeautiful, sexy and appeared to know what she wanted.

    Unfortunately, he wasn''t the type to mix his work with pleasure. He wouldn''t fuck anyone who was rted to his missions in any way. He was different from the Matador who was now keeping their hostage, Rose Young, as a convenient mistress.

    After the boob conversation finished (thank goodness), Iris sniffed and frowned.

    "Mother, your perfume is too strong. I can''t have you meet the babies like this."

    Wei Lanined but she still went to take a shower in the end.

    In the meantime, Iris took Ren¨¦ Alejandro and Randy to the nursery first.

    "Thank you for the presents," Iris said. "You didn''t have to."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro smiled. His two dimples on both cheeks made him appear very charming but Iris wasn''t affected at all.

    "It''s just a little something for the babies," he replied. "This is the first time that I''m meeting Mam¨¢''s grandsons after all. In a way, they''re also my nephews. Of course, I have to get them something as their uncle. I also brought something for your sister''s twins as well. I hope she doesn''t mind."

    Iris mentally raised an eyebrow at the man''s reasoning, but on the outside, she only nodded before saying, "I don''t know if Big Sister Jinjing will mind your gifts for her babies or not. You have to personally give them to her to find out."

    "I understand." He smiled again.

    Atst, Ren¨¦ Alejandro met Jin Liwei''s sons and Sir Lu Jianhong''s grandsons when they arrived in the nursery.

    Long Jinjing was inside with the nannies. She thanked Ren¨¦ Alejandro for the presents but didn''t talk much.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t mind. Long Jinjing wasn''t one of his targets anyway. She was actually dangerous because her husband, Lu Zihao, hated him. It was better to steer clear of the woman to avoid any unforeseen problems to his mission.

 Chapter 1366 - Crying Babies

    Chapter 1366 - Crying Babies

    The Jin twins were on the carpet ying with their rattling and squeaking toys while the Lu twins were cooing at each other in the crib.

    Each of the babies reacted differently to the visitors.

    Little Mochi liked good-looking people. He was drawn to Ren¨¦ Alejandro right from the start. Even so, he was still cautious at the stranger and didn''t smile too much. He just stared at Ren¨¦ Alejandro and ignored Randy for the most part.

    Little Matcha only gave them a cursory nce before returning to his toys. He was still a baby but he already inherited his father''s usual indifference to a tee.

    Like Little Mochi, Little Misha seemed to be interested at the visitors. But unlike Little Mochi, Little Misha was more drawn to the mboyant Randy than at Ren¨¦ Alejandro. It was mostly because of the Zumba instructor''s bright, neon-coloured clothing. The baby''s interest in the visitors onlysted for a short while before he ignored them.

    Last but not the least, Little Dima had a more extreme reaction than his eldest brother and cousins but actually quite normal for babies. He cried as soon as he saw the strangers. Long Jinjing was quick to pick him up andfort her baby.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro already had an idea about each of the babies'' personalities based on their reactions. Among them, he had the highest chance of bing closer to the eldest, Little Mochi.

    The baby also resembled Wei Lan. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Ren¨¦ Alejandro felt confident about this particr baby. He needed to observe more. If Little Mochi also resembled his maternal grandmother''s personality and not just appearance, then Ren¨¦ Alejandro was sure that he could make the baby like him.

    First attempt.

    "Hello, Haoyu," he greeted in his gentlest and friendliest tone. "I''m Uncle Ren¨¦."

    Little Mochi stared at him.

    So far so good.

    The baby''s full attention was on him.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro took a squeaky toy and squeezed it in front of the baby. "You want this toy, yes?"

    Little Mochi reached for it. Ren¨¦ Alejandro nned on teasing the baby a little and try ying with him so he moved the toy out of reach.

    Unfortunately, he miscalcted Little Mochi''s seeming openness to him. He didn''t expect Little Mochi''s expression to crumple so suddenly. Then a loud wail filled the nursery.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro panicked inside. He wasn''t used to dealing with babies this young. He tried salvaging the situation by directly handing the damn squeaky toy to the wailing baby but Little Mochi pped it away in distress.

    Iris swooped down and immediately startedforting her baby in her arms. Little Mochi cried on his mother''s chest and continued wailing in an aggrieved manner.

    On the carpet, the indifferent Little Matcha was no longer indifferent. He finally made a scene. He threw the rattle that he had been ying at the strange man who made his brother cry. Then he also began wailing at the top of his lungs. Unlike his elder twin brother''s aggrieved cries, his wails were furious.

    At the moment, three of the babies were crying at the same time.

    Little Misha wasn''t crying at first but when Little Matcha started his angry wailing, he must have decided that it was fun to join the others so he wasn''t the only one left out.

    And so the three crying babies became four crying babies.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was speechless.

    Although the mothers didn''t seem to me him, the nannies and even Randy did. They threw him using looks.

    "Iris, Jinjing, I''m sorry," he said while showing a guilty expression.

    Long Jinjing didn''t say anything. Iris, however, didn''t mince her words.

    "It''s stupid to tease babies these young especially when they''re not yet familiar with you," she told Ren¨¦ Alejandro to his face. "Be more careful next time."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro could only say, "I understand."

    Iris nodded. She instructed a nanny to y a calming tune that she speciallyposed for the babies.

    The Lu twins were the first ones to stop crying and calm down as soon as the instrumental music began ying.

    Then Little Matcha finally stopped his furious wails. He snuggled with his mother and twin brother.

    On the other hand, Little Mochi continued being dramatic. He only decreased his cries to pitiful whimpers after his mother kissed him several times.

    "What in the wooooooooooorld is going on?" Wei Lan finally appeared and entered the nursery.

    The Jin twins looked at the new stranger with even more caution.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro exined, "I have upset Iris and Jinjing by making their babies cry. It is my fault."

    Wei Lan waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, is that soooooooo? Don''t worry about it toooooooo much, dear Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I''m suuuuuuure you didn''t mean it. You don''t mind it, right, Xiuuuuuuuaaaaaaan?"

    She only addressed Iris and ignored Long Jinjing.

    Iris didn''t bother answering Wei Lan. Instead, she wiped her sons'' remaining tears and continuedforting them.

    Wei Lan didn''t mind being ignored either. After all, she was the type of person who could hold a full conversation by herself without any problem.

    "Are these my graaaaaaaaandsons?"

    "Yes," Iris nodded. "Be careful, Mother. Don''t be too aggressive or they''ll cry again."

    Wei Lan rolled her eyes. Then her attention was soon caught by Little Mochi. "Oooooooooooh my! This baby looks just like meeeeeeeee!"

    She was delighted. Not caring about her image, she also plopped down on the carpet in front of her daughter and grandsons.

    "Ooooooooooooh! The other one looooooooooks exactly like dear Liwei!"

    Iris observed her sons'' reactions. They didn''t look like they were going to cry again but their wariness was in full force after what happened with Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Although she wasn''t close to Wei Lan (and neither was the original Long Xin), the woman was still her twin sons'' biological grandmother. She didn''t want to alienate her children from their biological rtives as much as possible but only if said rtives weren''tplete trash like Long Hui and most of the members of the Long n.

    Wei Lan had a lot of faults but she was mostly harmless. Iris and Jin Liwei had already decided to keep this grandmother for their babies as long as she didn''t make too much trouble.

    Iris introduced Wei Lan to her sons. The Jin twins stuck closer to her while observing the strange woman with distrust.

    To her credit, Wei Lan didn''t mind the babies'' less than ideal reaction to her. It was more likely that she didn''t notice at all. She was too absorbed in admiring her grandsons'' good looks.

    One looked like her. She was already 100% certain that Little Mochi was going to be gorgeous just like her when he grew up. The other one looked like her handsome son-inw. Little Matcha would surely be a heartthrob just like his father in the future.

    She didn''t attempt to hold or even touch the babies either. Even when Iris offered, she rejected.

    "I already forgot how to hold a baaaaaabyyyyy! Theaaaaaaast time I held a baby this small was when you were one. And I oooooooonly held you a few times at that. Hahahaha!"

    Iris rolled her eyes. At the same time, she couldn''t help but pity the original Long Xin for having such an irresponsible mother.

    Well, her own experience wasn''t any better than the original Long Xin either. Back in her past life as Evelina, her mother was many leagues worse than Wei Lan.

    Madam Vetrova wasn''t an irresponsible mother per se¡ªin Vetrov standards. As a matter of fact, she was too responsible. She presided over her children''s education and training with a robot''s precision and an anaconda''s viciousness.

    But when ced in the rest of the word''s standards, Madam Vetrova would surely fail and bebelled as a dangerous and unfit mother.

    Comparing the two, Wei Lan was actually the better mother than Madam Vetrova. At least Wei Lan never did anything to leave a heavy and irreversible trauma on her child.

    Back to the present, Wei Lan couldn''t stop praising her grandsons'' good looks.

    "I''ll wait for my handsome grandsons to groooooooow up a little before I hold them. What iiiiiiiiiif I drop them? I don''t want dear Liwei to scold meeeeeeeeee for identally hurting his sons."

    Iris mentally rolled her eyes. Wei Lan was afraid of angering her son-inw but not her daughter? Iris was already used to the woman cing more importance on Jin Liwei than on her. She didn''t care about it that much anyway.

    Randy excused himself to find Dom and gossip together.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro eventually managed to insert himself in the conversation. Even though Iris reprimanded him to his face earlier, he appeared not to mind it. He acted more carefully and attempted several times to change the babies'' bad impression of him.

    Wei Lan moved on from her own grandsons to the other babies in the crib.

    "Wow, they really looooooook alike!" She studied the Lu twins more carefully. "Howe they doooooooon''t resemble any of their parents at all?"

    She had been ignoring Long Jinjing all this time but now she cast a suspicious look on her daughter''s half-sister.

    Long Jinjing understood the look. She flushed from indignation.

    Wasn''t this Wei Lan implying that her sons weren''t sired by husband?

    "Mother, stop it," Iris said. "Liwei told me that my twin nephews look like their father when Big Brother Zihao was a child. They grew up together so Liwei knows. Big Brother Zihao''s appearance apparently changed a lot after he hit puberty."

    "Oooooooh." Wei Lan sniffed before admiring the Lu twins as if she didn''t doubt the babies'' paternity just now.

    ''Sorry,'' Iris mouthed to Long Jinjing.

    ''It''s fine,'' Long Jinjing mouthed back despite still feeling angry.

    Little Misha was curious about Wei Lan while Little Dima once again started crying upon seeing a new stranger hovering over their crib.

 Chapter 1367 - Serves Her Right

    Chapter 1367 - Serves Her Right

    This meeting with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro wasn''t going too well. It was clear that the babies didn''t like them that much.

    Iris took the two visitors out of the nursery, leaving Long Jinjing and the nannies to calm the babies. She also didn''t want Long Jinjing to continue feeling awkward by Wei Lan and the Spaniard''s presence.

    Wei Lan had always disliked Long Jinjing because she was the daughter of one of her ex-husband''s mistresses.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Lu Zihao hated the man. It worsened after Jin Liwei used the Spaniard to goad Lu Zihao into waking up froma. Long Jinjing could only avoid interacting with Ren¨¦ Alejandro as much as possible to prevent her husband from exploding.

    In the nearby sitting area, Iris tamped down on her impatience and chatted with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Even though Wei Lan had the tendency to utter offensive things, it was a fact that she doted on Little Jun, and to some degree, the cats as well. She bought a lot of things for them during her massive shopping spree.

    When she found out that she became a grandmother to twins, she also bought a lot of presents for her grandsons. Of course, the Lu twins were also included. Wei Lan may not like Long Jinjing but her children were the heirs of the Lu family. The Lu twins were also the biological cousins of the Jin twins through their mothers.

    The presents were still in the process of being delivered from her mansion to Dragon Pce because of their sheer number. She was able to splurge a lot thanks to Jin Liwei sending her a generous monthly shopping allowance during her vacation.

    Now that she had returned to the country, the allowance naturally stopped but she didn''t mind that much. Shopping was fun but it became tiring after doing it every day in the past few months. It was time to recharge back home.

    "Xin, hoooneeeeeey. I heard that there''s going to be an impoooooooortant g. Where''s my invitation?"

    Iris suspected that this was the reason why Wei Lan returned to the country at this time. "It''s not my g, Mother. It''s Eldest Brother Yehan who''s hosting it. He''s the one who decides which people to include in the guest list."

    "But Lin Yehan is dear Liwei''s brother, riiiiiiiiight? Go and ask dear Liwei to tell his brother to seeeeeeeeend your mother an invitation! I''m suuuuuuuure that Lin Yehan originally intended to invite meeeeeeeeee but I wasn''t in the country that time sooooooooo he didn''t. Now I''m here! I should get an invitation, toooooooooooo!"

    Iris didn''t agree right away.

    Wei Lan pouted. "I should beeeeeeee there at the g! I''m a vizcondesa! Lin Yehan will gain mooooooooore prestige if he invites a titled nobledy like me¡ªoh, and alsoooooooo the son of a real viscount! Ren¨¦ Alejandro, my dear, you''re cooooooming with me to the g, riiiiiiiiiiiight?"

    "Of course, Mam¨¢." Ren¨¦ Alejandro smiled, showing his dimples. "If Pap¨¢ were here, I am certain that he would love to apany you to any event. Unfortunately, he is still unable toe due to his work but do not worry. I am still here, no? I will apany Mam¨¢ until he is finally free to join us here."

    Wei Lan immediately started gushing about her husband and how she missed him so much.

    "Pap¨¢ is also looking forward to meeting you, Iris," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said. "And of course, Liam and your children as well."

    "That''s right, Xiaaaaan! Your step-father can''t wait to meeeeeeeet you and dear Liwei! I told him so many gooooooood things about you and especially my son-inw!"

    "I see," Iris said in a rather nd tone.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro released a sad sigh. "Pap¨¢ had always wanted his own children but the heavens have not granted this one wish of his. This is why he is very passionate about orphans like me. He treats us like his own children. I am very fortunate that Pap¨¢ legally adopted me, no? But I can sense that he also wants a daughter. When he learned that Mam¨¢ has a daughter, he was so happy and so excited to meet you."

    "Hmm." Iris wasn''t sure how to respond to that.

    Wei Lan often exaggerated whatever she said so her words couldn''t be trusted 100%. Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s background on paper was too clean that it was suspicious. In addition, Iris didn''t fully know him yet. His words couldn''t be trusted either.

    The question was whether the viscount himself could be trusted.

    Iris hadn''t met the man yet so she wasn''t sure how to judge him at this point. Only when she met the Spanish viscount in person would she have an idea about what kind of person he really was in real life.

    "When does your father n to follow you and Mother here?" she asked.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro sighed again. "To tell you the truth, I am not certain. His work brings him to many different countries, many kinds of ces. Sometimes it only takes him months to finish a project, sometimes years. It depends. His project this time seems to be the mostplicated yet so he is taking longer. I am already used to it since this is how I was raised. But Mam¨¢''s situation is different, no? I feel sorry for Mam¨¢ that she has to be away her husband for this long."

    In response, Wei Lan fished out ace handkerchief from her handbag and wiped non-existent tears. "You''re such a thoughtfuuuuuuuul son, Ren¨¦ Alejandro! You understand my pain soooooooooo much!"

    Iris ignored the dramatic woman. But before she could ask Ren¨¦ Alejandro more questions about his adoptive father''s work, a knock interrupted them.

    The door opened and a little guy ran inside.

    "Amma Lan! You heew!" (Grandma Lan! You''re here!)

    His nanny nodded at Iris before staying outside.

    Wei Lan tossed the very dryce handkerchief aside and caught the adorable child.

    "Oooooooooh, my cuuuuuuute Little Jun! Come here and giiiiiiiive Auntie Lan a big hug! What a gooooooood boy!"

    "Little Jun, call GRANDMA Lan," Iris said, immediately blocking Wei Lan''s attempt to change the way the child called her to Auntie.

    "Amma Lan! Junjun misshu!" (Grandma Lan! Junjun missed you!)

    Wei Lan rolled her eyes at Iris before continuing to dote on the child. Afterwards, she pulled Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    "Little Juuuuuuun,e and greet Uncle Ren¨¦."

    The child blinked his eyes. He seemed to have already forgotten about meeting this foreign uncle before. Nevertheless, he was a sensible and obedient child.

    "Heyo, Anko Ren!" Then he pointed at himself. "I Junjun!" (Hello, Uncle Ren¨¦! I''m Junjun!)

    "Hello, Little Jun," Ren¨¦ Alejandro greeted, smiling. Then he gave the child a small present.

    While Little Jun was opening his present, Popcorn ran inside next followed by Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan.

    "Mommi, Anko Han, look!" Little Jun showed off his new toy at his mother and Uncle Yehan.

    "Ying Yue!" Wei Lan greeted. Then her eyes lit up when she saw the man apanying her. "Lin Yehan."

    The two new arrivals greeted everyone.

    After the greetings, Wei Lan didn''t waste any time and immediately targeted Lin Yehan. She asked¡ªbordering on demanded¡ªan invitation to the g.

    Lin Yehan was a little taken aback at her aggressiveness but he was a gentleman. He quickly fixed his expression. In the end, he agreed to send an invitation to Wei Lan and even Ren¨¦ Alejandro on such short notice.

    Wei Lan was pleased with herself.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro showed a sheepish expression like he was just going along with his step-mother''s antics. He also sent Lin Yehan an apologetic smile.

    Lin Yehan had a rather good impression of Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s manners. But that was it. He didn''t know the man well and had no intention of bing close with him. However, he would sometimes hear from his fifth brother, Yu Mo, that the Spaniard was a nice, smart and fun guy.

    It was no problem to invite extra people like Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro to his g.

    His third brother, Jin Liwei, would be there to take control if Wei Lan ever made trouble at the g. The woman seemed to be afraid of her son-inw.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Lin Yehan just hoped that his fifth brother, Lu Zihao, wouldn''t fight with the Spaniard in front of all the other guests. His fifth brother''s temper had be many times worse ever since the skiing ident.

    "I caaaaaaaaan''t wait to see the expressions on the ugly faces of that trash Long Hui and his hoe of a bride, that Mao what''s-her-naaaaaame," Wei Lan said with a smug smile. "All the impooooooooortant and relevant people they invited to their wedding will be at the g instead! I bet that Zheng Zhuyin, that ooooooooold hag, will be suffocating with anger and humiliation when nooooobody important attends her only son''s wedding. Serves her riiiiiiiiight for giving birth to such a scumbaaaaaaaaaag! Hahahaha!"

    Lin Yehan''s expression hardened at the mention of Long Hui and his wedding with Mao Qiuyue. He nced at his girlfriend. Jiang Ying Yue wore her usual expressionless bodyguard face but he knew that she must be feeling ufortable. He put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close to him before nuzzling her temple.

    The sight almost made Wei Lan''s eyeballs pop out of her head. "Ying Yue! Whaaaaaaaat is this? You''re togeeeeeeeeether with Lin Yehan?!"

    Jiang Ying Yue''s expression broke. She turned red all over but still nodded.

    Wei Lan gasped in disbelief. Then sheughed.

    "Gooooooood job, Ying Yue! Forgeeeeeeet about that trash! Men like him dooooooon''t deserve faaaaaaaaaaabulous women like us! Lin Yehan is soooooo much better than that scumbaaaaaag! Riiiiiiight, Little Jun?"

    Little Jun had no idea what the adults were talking about but he still nodded. "Yesh, Amma Lan!" (Yes, Grandma Lan!)

 Chapter 1368 New Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 1368 New Beginning</h4>

    On the day of the wedding, the faces of the bride, groom and their families were all dark.

    More than fifty percent of their invited guests had already called to cancel their attendance. Those were the courteous ones.

    Then there were those who didn''t even bother calling that they would no longer attend the wedding. They just failed to show up.

    Mao Qiuyue was so upset that she almost didn''t want to go through the wedding. It was only when her parents and her future mother-inw, Zheng Suyin, persuaded her that she forced herself to endure today''s humiliation.

    She walked on the long aisle with stiff steps. It was only because of the team of photographers and videographers they hired for the wedding that she managed to maintain a smile.

    Today was her wedding day.

    It was one of the most important events of her life as a woman.

    Even when she was boiling with fury and humiliation deep inside, she still had to show a happy expression for all the world to see. Her family''s honour was on the line.

    They also spent a lot of money for this wedding. They had to make it big andvish for the sake of their reputation.

    The Longs and the Zhengs also contributed to the costs, of course. But since the bride was a Mao, then her family was the one who had the most to lose if this marriage match failed.

    Mao Qiuyue gritted her teeth and smiled wider, pretending not to see all the empty seats in such arge venue.

    Long Hui was waiting for her at the end of the aisle. His expression was nk. He looked dead in the eyes as if there was nothing to live for after this.

    Today was supposed to be a joyous asion but the atmosphere was tense and grave instead.

    In the front-row seats on the groom''s side, Long Tengfei sat beside his wife, Yang Jiahui. He looked displeased and disappointed at the same time.

    "This is an embarrassment," he muttered under his breath. "Anplete embarrassment."

    Yang Jiahui squeezed his arm, silently warning him not to say too much.

    There was a cold snort from the seat nearby.

    Zheng Suyin threw them a cold side-eye. "Look at what your youngest daughter and her husband did!"

    "Don''t you dare me my youngest daughter and son-inw!" Long Tengfei defended. "They have nothing to do with this!"

    His ex-wife snorted. "Of course, they have everything to do with this. If Long Xin didn''t side with that lowly bodyguard instead of her own brother and made her husband use his influence to put pressure on our son, then all of this would never have happened."

    Long Tengfei was infuriated at her usations. "You¡ª"

    "Tengfei," Yang Jiahui pulled him. "Please."

    He restrained his temper and sat back. Everything today was already embarrassing enough. There was no need for him to add to the embarrassment by making a scene with his ex-wife.

    Zheng Suyin wanted to continue shaming her ex-husband and his current wife but decided to let them off for now because the wedding ceremony was about to start.

    She nced at her son''s inws, the Maos. Their eyes met. No words were needed at this point. All of them were upset. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    They would remember this humiliation and make the culprits pay one way or another.

    ###

    At the same time in Lin Yehan''s farm vi, row upon row of vehicles started arriving along the rustic driveway.

    Since this was a g to celebrate the silver-medal victory of the national shooting team in the world championships, a few selected media representatives were invited to report on the event.

    The guest list included a rather wide lineup of people across the social strata.

    One after another, notable figures across different fields appeared. Each one was more impressive than thest.

    There were elite business leaders, members of high society, high-ranked politicians and even a few officers from the military and the police.

    A number of celebrities and social media influencers also attended.

    Academics and other athletes close to the members of the national shooting team also came to give their support.

    Of course, the team''s coaches and support groups wereing as well. Lin Yehan was their colleague after all.

    The team''s family and friends wouldn''t miss this g for the world.

    And most importantly, the national team athletes themselves who brought pride and glory to their country were scheduled to be weed with great fanfareter. They were today''s stars.

    As the g''s host, Lin Yehan greeted all the guests in person. His girlfriend, Jiang Ying Yue, stood beside him.

    Jiang Ying Yue might not be the most beautiful among the women today but she was certainly one of the most eye-catching. She was the epitome of a cool, strong and slightly scary female in her fancy tuxedo suit. Her makeup was bold and sculpted, making her look like the type of woman that would crush a man''s nuts with barely any effort.

    As a matter of fact, most of the guests expressed more interest on her than on Lin Yehan. Some recognized her as Long Hui''s ex that he used of cheating with Lin Yehan in public. Long Hui''s allegations were proven to be false in the court ofw, but now that Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue appeared together, tongues began wagging again.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt ufortable under all the people''s gazes. Fortunately, her training as a bodyguard allowed her to appear unbothered and expressionless on the outside even when she was starting to freak out on the inside.

    "I''m sorry for this, Ying Yue," Lin Yehan whispered directly to her ear. "I just want people to see us together."

    She flushed but thanks to her makeup, nobody noticed that she was actually blushing like a teenage girl.

    "I''ll be fine," she whispered back to him.

    "If you''re feeling too ufortable, you can go back inside. I think Yang Mei is still taking a nap in one of the guestrooms. Xin and the others will also arrive any minute now."

    She was tempted to find Meimei upstairs and escape from the people. But in the end, she still decided to apany her boyfriend out here.

    Showing her off was his way of acknowledging their rtionship. This was proof that Lin Yehan wasn''t ashamed of her. He was unlike Long Hui who did a half-assed job of admitting their rtionship to the public back then.

    Since Lin Yehan was putting this much effort, she couldn''t waste his good intentions.

    He was proud of her so she didn''t need to feel ashamed.

    Emotion choked her for a few moments. She almost cried.

    This was the first time that she truly felt valued as a lover.

    She never knew that being acknowledged like this in public without any reluctance or shame could feel so good.

    "What''s wrong?" Lin Yehan asked when he felt her squeezing his arm. She was very strong so it hurt a little.

    "Thank you, Yehan," she whispered.

    "For what?"

    She only smiled but didn''t answer him.

    He wanted to ask again but another wave of guests arrived. He could only put it aside for now and greet the new arrivals.

    A few minutester, there was an excitedmotion outside. Lin Yehan peeked.

    "Third Brother and the others have arrived," he said. "That sound is the people going crazy over Xin."

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded in understanding. She had to restrain her bodyguard instincts to go outside and protect Iris. Tonight, she wasn''t attending as a bodyguard but as the host''s partner.

    Lin Yehan took her hand and inteced their fingers, causing a wave of raised eyebrows among the onlookers. She wanted to run and hide but willed herself to stay.

    Let the people gossip. She knew in her heart that she and Lin Yehan had done nothing wrong.

    Unlike her rtionship with Long Hui where she felt inferior and alone, she was now a little bit more confident of herself. Most importantly, she had friends and now a lover who would always be there for her and her son.

    The past was painful and the future was uncertain, but it was enough that the present felt hopeful.

    This was a new beginning.

    And she decided to enjoy it with her new love, Lin Yehan, regardless of what other people said about them.

    ###

    Iris and Jin Liwei turned heads as they arrived. It was like having the sun and the moon appearing at the same time.

    To rify, Iris was the sun and Jin Liwei was the moon.

    Iris was wearing a figure-hugging metallic dress. It flowed like molten gold on her body. Her neckline was high and her shoulders were covered. It was actually quite conservativepared to the dresses she had worn before giving birth but the fact that it was figure-hugging was the best proof that she was just as alluring as before.

    The media couldn''t have enough of her. They took photos of her and Jin Liwei like crazy. Questions barraged them.

    Iris was like a fish thrown back into the water¡ªa natural.

    There was not a question that stumped her. She was still as straightforward as ever but her experience as a celebrity until now had already grown to the point that she was able to dodge and redirect the questions without appearing too obvious. Her sharp tongue, however, would never disappear.

    "Iris, today is your brother Long Hui''s wedding to Mao Qiuyue. They im that you and CEO Jin have been invited but you chose to attend this g instead. Can you tell us why?"

    She maintained a beautiful smile even as savage words flowed out of her mouth.

    "You expect me and my husband to attend a cheating couple''s wedding? Excuse me but I''ve never imed to be a saint who''ll allow myself and my loved ones to be exploited."

 Chapter 1369 Out For Blood

    <h4>Chapter 1369 Out For Blood</h4>

    All the reporters became even more excited after hearing Iris Long''s savage words. This was one of the reasons why the media loved her. She was so different to most celebrities who were always careful and calcting in every single word they said.

    If Iris Long wanted to say something, she would say it regardless of what other people thought.

    She learned to be a bit more tactful with time but this trait would always show up especially in situations like this. Whenever someone targeted her or the people she cared about, she wouldn''t hesitate to retaliate.

    The reporters were hanging on to her every word, afraid of missing anything. Even the other guests who happened to hear what she said decided to stay around and continue listening.

    "Want me to act like everything is fine after everything that cheating couple did?" Iris continued saying in front of the cameras. "As you all already know, I''m a musician, not a seasoned actress. I''m not good in pretending. I prefer to write songs and convey my emotions through my music rather than force myself to act fake.

    "What''s more, my talent fee is quite expensive. Not many could afford me. But of course, if I really like a project and believe in it, I might agree to lower my price. Maybe even work for free. It depends. Unfortunately, the cheating couple''s wedding is not a project that I want to involve myself even if they pay me three times my average talent fee rate.

    "People need to learn that sometimes blood is not thicker than water. Our family is often our greatest source of love, warmth,fort, happiness, motivation and inspiration. But unfortunately there are some people who experience the exact opposite. Their families are toxic vampires¡ªparasites. They suck out all the love, warmth,fort, happiness, motivation and inspiration instead.

    "When you are high up there enjoying all the sess that you worked so hard to earn by yourself, they''re always there wanting¡ªno, demanding¡ªtheir own shares. They act as if they deserve your sess just based on their blood rtions with you. They want you to pull them and their own families up as if it''s only natural. And when you refuse, they get angry and act like you''re a bad person, an ingrate, who have forgotten where you came from.

    "If you don''t recognize them for who they are¡ªtoxic parasites¡ªand cut them off from your life before it''s toote, then you''re the one who''s going to suffer in the end. They''ll continue bleeding you dry until you''re left with nothing. And when you have nothing left to give them, I bet that they''ll be the first ones to flee as if you have an incurable disease. When it''s your turn to ask them for help like how you helped them in the past, they''ll m their doors close in your faces."

    Many people who were listening to what she said felt emotional. There were those who experienced this kind of unfair and seemingly hopeless situation in some way. This wasn''t umon at all.

    Iris Long was right!

    Those kind of opportunistic, greedy rtives and friends were nothing but toxic parasites. The best solution was to cut them off from their lives before it was toote. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Then the people became a little confused and curious at the same time. Why was Iris Long talking about this?

    Was she likening her half-brother, Long Hui, to toxic parasites?

    This was too extreme, wasn''t it?

    Long Hui was considered the crown prince of the Long n. He had money and status. He wasn''t a destitute, opportunistic rtive. Or was he?

    The people didn''t know all the details about the real situation behind closed doors. They only knew about what was being reported in the media.

    Then Iris said, "Of course, the cheating couple''s situation is not the exact same as the one that I just talked about."

    Before the people could sigh in relief, she added, "They''re worse. They''re shameless character assassins who pretend to be victims. They expect to be forgiven and be left off based on familial rtions. And when we don''t agree, we''re painted as resentful people who continue to hold a grudge."

    She turned to her husband and asked, "Liwei, are we the ones who turned our backs on our familial rtionship with them first?"

    "Of course not," Jin Liwei replied without hesitation. "That man was the one who abandoned his family and hurt them for his own selfish, greedy ambition. He cheated on the mother of his son with another woman who had a simr background to him. Then he shamelessly turned the situation upside-down and used the mother of his son of cheating on him instead with one of my best friends. The worst thing is that he made the usation in the media."

    Iris nodded. "Indeed. Such a devious action. If he had been sessful, the mother of his son would have been vilified by the entire nation. Fortunately, we are there to protect her and my nephew from all the lies."

    The people listening couldn''t help but feel impressed by the perfect back-and-forth exchange between the husband and wife.

    The wife provided the main artillery while the husband supported her with secondary armament.

    It was clear that they were out for blood.

    Iris faced the reporters again. "Now tell me, if you were in my shoes, would you force yourself to attend that kind of person''s wedding and paste a fake smile on your face just for the sake of familial rtions? If you can, then you must either be a saint or a fool. I''m not sorry to say that I could never do that. How about you, Liwei?"

    "Better to attend Eldest Brother Yehan''s g than do something thankless like that," Jin Liwei said. His gaze on her was extremely doting that others almost choked from all the dog food.

    "Exactly. That''s why we''re here. Supporting the silver-medal victory of the national shooting team is a more honourable way to spend our time than wasting it on attending a cheating couple''s wedding. The athletes deserve all the good things that are happening to them because they worked hard for it with their blood, sweat, tears and more. Not like other people who expect all the best things when they did nothing to deserve them."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    "The national team athletes are such wonderful inspiration to everyone, especially the youth. I want my children to be like them when they grow up¡ªfocused, driven and hardworking for all the right reasons."

    Jin Liwei smiled. His gaze almost never left his wife since she started speaking. "You''re right."

    She beamed at him.

    ''Hey, hey, hey! Can you two tone it down a little? Do you want to drown everyone in dog food?''

    The people grumbled in their hearts but didn''t dare to say their thoughts out loud.

    CEO Jin was already intimidating enough. They couldn''t offend him that easily without worrying about the consequences.

    What if they also end up shifting his wife''s line of fire on them? Iris Long''s sharp tongue was no joke. She had the ability to crumple one''s self-worth with her barrage of poison-coated words. In addition to this, she also had a history of getting into physical fights before. Her goddess persona that she managed to build today was extremely deceptive. It hid a vicious barbaric cavewoman who would beat up anyone who threatened her and her family.

    No, thank you. Offending this couple was not worth it.

    It was better to watch the couple attacking others instead. Like right now.

    Poor Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue.

    Did they not think that they would kick an iron te by offending Jin Liwei and Iris Long?

    Even if they didn''t fear Iris Long, why would they provoke CEO Jin?

    He was THE Jin Liwei, for goodness'' sake!

    One of the reporters remembered something.

    "Iris, your side insists that Long Hui''s usation that the mother of his son, Miss Jiang, and Mr. Lin Yehan cheated on him is false. However, we all saw today that Miss Jiang is Mr. Lin''s partner in this g. They look very close. Some even witnessed the two of them holding hands earlier. Are they in a rtionship? If they are, then is this not proof that Long Hui''s usations have substance?"

    Jin Liwei''s expression darkened. Gone was his doting expression. His re could freeze people to death.

    The reporters stepped back and shivered but didn''t escape. They all wanted to hear the answer to this question.

    Iris patted her husband''s arm and then raised an eyebrow at the reporters. "It''s not my ce to admit or deny anything. This is Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Lin Yehan''s matter. It''s up to them to make any rifications. Go ask them, not me or my husband."

    The reporters were a little disappointed but they already kind of expected this answer.

    "But I can say this," Iris added.

    The reporters'' eyes lit up and pushed their microphones forward.

    "Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Lin Yehan both have clear conscience. If they don''t, my husband and I won''t support them so much like this. Right, Liwei?"

    "En."

    At this time, the invitees from LXC Studio finally arrived. Tang Yiyi immediately zeroed in on Iris being surrounded by a bunch of reporters. She rushed to the group and squeezed herself beside Iris.

    "Manager Tang," the reporters greeted her.

    Tang Yiyi sent Iris a meaningful look before smiling at the reporters. "I''m sorry, everyone. I have something important to tell Iris. Jin Chonglin is just outside the hall. You can go interview him next."

    When the reporters finally left to find Jin Chonglin, Tang Yiyi pulled Iris to a corner and red at her. Jin Liwei followed them.

    "Iris, can''t you be more careful of your words in front of the cameras?!"

 Chapter 1370 Out For Blood

    <h4>Chapter 1370 Out For Blood</h4>

    All the reporters became even more excited after hearing Iris Long''s savage words. This was one of the reasons why the media loved her. She was so different to most celebrities who were always careful and calcting in every single word they said.

    If Iris Long wanted to say something, she would say it regardless of what other people thought.

    She learned to be a bit more tactful with time but this trait would always show up especially in situations like this. Whenever someone targeted her or the people she cared about, she wouldn''t hesitate to retaliate.

    The reporters were hanging on to her every word, afraid of missing anything. Even the other guests who happened to hear what she said decided to stay around and continue listening.

    "Want me to act like everything is fine after everything that cheating couple did?" Iris continued saying in front of the cameras. "As you all already know, I''m a musician, not a seasoned actress. I''m not good in pretending. I prefer to write songs and convey my emotions through my music rather than force myself to act fake.

    "What''s more, my talent fee is quite expensive. Not many could afford me. But of course, if I really like a project and believe in it, I might agree to lower my price. Maybe even work for free. It depends. Unfortunately, the cheating couple''s wedding is not a project that I want to involve myself even if they pay me three times my average talent fee rate.

    "People need to learn that sometimes blood is not thicker than water. Our family is often our greatest source of love, warmth,fort, happiness, motivation and inspiration. But unfortunately there are some people who experience the exact opposite. Their families are toxic vampires¡ªparasites. They suck out all the love, warmth,fort, happiness, motivation and inspiration instead.

    "When you are high up there enjoying all the sess that you worked so hard to earn by yourself, they''re always there wanting¡ªno, demanding¡ªtheir own shares. They act as if they deserve your sess just based on their blood rtions with you. They want you to pull them and their own families up as if it''s only natural. And when you refuse, they get angry and act like you''re a bad person, an ingrate, who have forgotten where you came from.

    "If you don''t recognize them for who they are¡ªtoxic parasites¡ªand cut them off from your life before it''s toote, then you''re the one who''s going to suffer in the end. They''ll continue bleeding you dry until you''re left with nothing. And when you have nothing left to give them, I bet that they''ll be the first ones to flee as if you have an incurable disease. When it''s your turn to ask them for help like how you helped them in the past, they''ll m their doors close in your faces."

    Many people who were listening to what she said felt emotional. There were those who experienced this kind of unfair and seemingly hopeless situation in some way. This wasn''t umon at all.

    Iris Long was right!

    Those kind of opportunistic, greedy rtives and friends were nothing but toxic parasites. The best solution was to cut them off from their lives before it was toote. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Then the people became a little confused and curious at the same time. Why was Iris Long talking about this?

    Was she likening her half-brother, Long Hui, to toxic parasites?

    This was too extreme, wasn''t it?

    Long Hui was considered the crown prince of the Long n. He had money and status. He wasn''t a destitute, opportunistic rtive. Or was he?

    The people didn''t know all the details about the real situation behind closed doors. They only knew about what was being reported in the media.

    Then Iris said, "Of course, the cheating couple''s situation is not the exact same as the one that I just talked about."

    Before the people could sigh in relief, she added, "They''re worse. They''re shameless character assassins who pretend to be victims. They expect to be forgiven and be left off based on familial rtions. And when we don''t agree, we''re painted as resentful people who continue to hold a grudge."

    She turned to her husband and asked, "Liwei, are we the ones who turned our backs on our familial rtionship with them first?"

    "Of course not," Jin Liwei replied without hesitation. "That man was the one who abandoned his family and hurt them for his own selfish, greedy ambition. He cheated on the mother of his son with another woman who had a simr background to him. Then he shamelessly turned the situation upside-down and used the mother of his son of cheating on him instead with one of my best friends. The worst thing is that he made the usation in the media."

    Iris nodded. "Indeed. Such a devious action. If he had been sessful, the mother of his son would have been vilified by the entire nation. Fortunately, we are there to protect her and my nephew from all the lies."

    The people listening couldn''t help but feel impressed by the perfect back-and-forth exchange between the husband and wife.

    The wife provided the main artillery while the husband supported her with secondary armament.

    It was clear that they were out for blood.

    Iris faced the reporters again. "Now tell me, if you were in my shoes, would you force yourself to attend that kind of person''s wedding and paste a fake smile on your face just for the sake of familial rtions? If you can, then you must either be a saint or a fool. I''m not sorry to say that I could never do that. How about you, Liwei?"

    "Better to attend Eldest Brother Yehan''s g than do something thankless like that," Jin Liwei said. His gaze on her was extremely doting that others almost choked from all the dog food.

    "Exactly. That''s why we''re here. Supporting the silver-medal victory of the national shooting team is a more honourable way to spend our time than wasting it on attending a cheating couple''s wedding. The athletes deserve all the good things that are happening to them because they worked hard for it with their blood, sweat, tears and more. Not like other people who expect all the best things when they did nothing to deserve them."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    "The national team athletes are such wonderful inspiration to everyone, especially the youth. I want my children to be like them when they grow up¡ªfocused, driven and hardworking for all the right reasons."

    Jin Liwei smiled. His gaze almost never left his wife since she started speaking. "You''re right."

    She beamed at him.

    ''Hey, hey, hey! Can you two tone it down a little? Do you want to drown everyone in dog food?''

    The people grumbled in their hearts but didn''t dare to say their thoughts out loud.

    CEO Jin was already intimidating enough. They couldn''t offend him that easily without worrying about the consequences.

    What if they also end up shifting his wife''s line of fire on them? Iris Long''s sharp tongue was no joke. She had the ability to crumple one''s self-worth with her barrage of poison-coated words. In addition to this, she also had a history of getting into physical fights before. Her goddess persona that she managed to build today was extremely deceptive. It hid a vicious barbaric cavewoman who would beat up anyone who threatened her and her family.

    No, thank you. Offending this couple was not worth it.

    It was better to watch the couple attacking others instead. Like right now.

    Poor Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue.

    Did they not think that they would kick an iron te by offending Jin Liwei and Iris Long?

    Even if they didn''t fear Iris Long, why would they provoke CEO Jin?

    He was THE Jin Liwei, for goodness'' sake!

    One of the reporters remembered something.

    "Iris, your side insists that Long Hui''s usation that the mother of his son, Miss Jiang, and Mr. Lin Yehan cheated on him is false. However, we all saw today that Miss Jiang is Mr. Lin''s partner in this g. They look very close. Some even witnessed the two of them holding hands earlier. Are they in a rtionship? If they are, then is this not proof that Long Hui''s usations have substance?"

    Jin Liwei''s expression darkened. Gone was his doting expression. His re could freeze people to death.

    The reporters stepped back and shivered but didn''t escape. They all wanted to hear the answer to this question.

    Iris patted her husband''s arm and then raised an eyebrow at the reporters. "It''s not my ce to admit or deny anything. This is Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Lin Yehan''s matter. It''s up to them to make any rifications. Go ask them, not me or my husband."

    The reporters were a little disappointed but they already kind of expected this answer.

    "But I can say this," Iris added.

    The reporters'' eyes lit up and pushed their microphones forward.

    "Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Lin Yehan both have clear conscience. If they don''t, my husband and I won''t support them so much like this. Right, Liwei?"

    "En."

    At this time, the invitees from LXC Studio finally arrived. Tang Yiyi immediately zeroed in on Iris being surrounded by a bunch of reporters. She rushed to the group and squeezed herself beside Iris.

    "Manager Tang," the reporters greeted her.

    Tang Yiyi sent Iris a meaningful look before smiling at the reporters. "I''m sorry, everyone. I have something important to tell Iris. Jin Chonglin is just outside the hall. You can go interview him next."

    When the reporters finally left to find Jin Chonglin, Tang Yiyi pulled Iris to a corner and red at her. Jin Liwei followed them.

    "Iris, can''t you be more careful of your words in front of the cameras?!"

 Chapter 1371 Credibility

    <h4>Chapter 1371 Credibility</h4>

    Iris saw an apologetic Dom a few feet away. She read his lips.

    He said, "Sorry, boss! I tried dying Big Sis Yiyi as much as I could but she became super-duper angry when she discovered the livestream of your interview online."

    She gave him an "it''s fine" wave of her hand.

    "Iris, are you listening to me?" Tang Yiyi demanded.

    "Elder Sis Yiyi, I don''t regret what I said," Iris told her.

    "Of course, you don''t," her manager grumbled. "You never do."

    "Manager Tang, I support everything that my wife said to the reporters," Jin Liwei interjected.

    This time, Tang Yiyi grumbled in her heart, not daring to say it to CEO Jin''s face. ''Of course, you are. You always are.''

    Despite this, she still continued lecturing Iris. Jin Liwei wanted to interrupt but Iris stopped him with a look.

    The lecture didn''tst too long, only a couple of minutes or so.

    When she was done, Tang Yiyi sighed. "Why do I even bother lecturing you? You''re always like this, saying whatever you want."

    Iris felt amused at her manager. She wasn''t upset at all at being lectured.

    "You''ve been managing me for this long. You should be used to my temperament a long time ago."

    Tang Yiyi red at her again. "It''s because that I''ve been managing you for this long that I feel frustrated that you refuse to be a little, just a tiniest bit tactful, you know?"

    "I''m already being tactful at this point," Iris countered. "If I wasn''t, I would have said much worse things about that cheating couple."

    "You!" Tang Yiyi sighed again, shaking her head.

    Iris shrugged, not at all sorry about the things she said in front of the reporters. Was it wrong to call out the cheating couple?

    It was the truth, anyway. It wasn''t like she was pulling lies out of nowhere. Everything she said about Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue was the truth and nothing but the truth.

    Tang Yiyi didn''t know how many times she had sighed and shook her head as she looked at the biggest artist that she was personally managing. Her goal was to make Iris Long into a superstar, even bigger than Jin Chonglin.

    They could only achieve this goal if Iris made another sessful showbizeback and produced new hits after another. Now that she was married and a mother, the majority of the usual opportunities to advance her career had been greatly reduced.

    This was normal because showbiz was one of the most fickle industries in society. Showbiz demanded younger and fresher talents who were preferably single and childless.

    As a result, Tang Yiyi felt a little desperate to do everything involving Iris'' career as perfect as possible. She hoped that Iris would learn a bit more tact when speaking to the media. Unfortunately, her hopes always ended up being dashed.

    Iris remained as straightforward as ever and refused topromise no matter what.

    On one hand, Tang Yiyi admired Iris for her straightforward personality. It was because Iris was this straightforward that her fans always felt assured of everything she said. When she said something, she really meant it. This gave her something extremely important and rare especially in showbiz.

    Credibility.

    Too many celebritiescked credibility. They were too easy to buckle under pressure. They would say one thing, and whenever they got into trouble because of it, they would take it back to protect their reputations.

    Iris Long right now didn''t have this kind of issue. Despite her turbulent showbiz career during her teenage years, she managed to sessfully rebuild her image into something not only respectable but also brilliant.

    And on the other hand, Tang Yiyi felt exasperated at Iris'' straightforward personality. This kind of artist who didn''t fear offending anyone by her words was too stressful to manage.

    "Iris, I swear you''ll give me a heart attack someday," Tang Yiyiined but her tone had already softened.

    "I don''t think that I''m that unruly," Iris replied with a raised eyebrow. "Compared to Brother Chonglin, I think that I''m quite easy to manage."

    Tang Yiyi was about to retort but then remembered her colleague. Lin Dong already began balding a little because Jin Chonglin often caused him too much stress.

    Indeed,pared to Jin Chonglin, Iris was rather easy to manage. Jin Chonglin had excellent work ethics but his innate rebellious nature often caused his manager a lot of headaches.

    The good thing was that Jin Chonglin seemed to have grown more sensible when it came to women. He had been a notorious womanizer before. Perhaps his nightmarish experience with his ex-fianc¨¦e traumatized him out of his womanizing tendencies.

    Instead of dating and sleeping around, he now had be more focused in his career, and of course, in running LXC Studio. Lin Dong didn''t have to clean up after Jin Chonglin''s messy dating life anymore.

    "Hey, are you talking crap about me?" Jin Chonglin appeared and asked after hearing his name.

    It had been difficult to extricate himself from the group of reporters and the other guests who became overexcited at his arrival. Fortunately, Lin Yehan arranged for excellent security at this g. Peace and order were quickly restored and he was finally able to enter the hall.

    "Not crap, just facts," Iris replied.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Tang Yiyi''s mouth twitched. Well, she did agree, though.

    Jin Chonglin snorted. He was about to say something when a familiar figure entered the corner of his sight.

    Chen Fei had also just entered the hall. She was with Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao. Following them was a yawning Meimei who looked like she was about to sleep while walking. Dom fetched them and showed them their tables.

    "The g is about to start," Lin Dong said, looking at his watch. "Let''s head to our tables, too. It''s not good for us to steal the attention from the national shooting team when they arriveter. We''ll be criticized if we do."

    Everyone agreed.

    Then Grandpa Lu arrived with Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan. Grandpa Lu sat at the same table as Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan sat with Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Wang Yingjie managed toe as well. Seated beside him was Yu Mo. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    On the other side, Jin Chonglin maintained a pleasant expression. His words, though, were filled with dissatisfaction.

    "Why am I seated beside you?" he asked the person next to him.

    "That''s what I want to ask, too," Chen Fei replied. Like him, she showed a smiling expression to avoid the onlookers from overthinking. "You think I like to sit beside someone like you?"

    "What do you mean someone like me? You mean a tall, rich, handsome and ultra-talented superstar?"

    "No, I mean a damned narcissistic diva man."

    "You little¡ª"

    "Ssssh!" Lin Dong was quick to reprimand them. "Chonglin, stop it. You too, Miss Chen. This isn''t the right time or ce to quarrel. Do you want gossip of the two of you dating to appear in the headlines tomorrow?"

    Chen Fei looked appalled. "Eeew! No way!"

    Jin Chonglin was insulted by her reaction. "Excuse me but did you just say eeew? How dare you?!"

    "Stop it!" Lin Dong scolded them.

    At the table behind, the Pandemonium members heard them. They snickered among themselves. Jin Chonglin was one of their bosses alongside Iris and Jin Liwei so they came today to represent LXC Studio. Even so, they still quietly made fun of Jin Chonglin.

    He was a superstar and yet he was still being disdained. Orchidia''s COO Chen Fei was amazing!

    Back at Jin Chonglin''s side, Yu Mo also heard them. He leaned over from his table.

    "I heard that Eldest Bro had to makest minute seat rearrangements because Madam Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro asked to be invited a couple of days ago. You were supposed to be in the same table as Third Bro and Xiao Xiu but you were moved there instead to make space for Madam Wei and Ren¨¦ Alejandro."

    "Dammit," Jin Chonglin swore while shing his iconic killer smile.

    He couldn''t show a negative expression or it would most likely end up in tomorrow''s headlines with crazy spections.

    Chen Fei wasn''t pleased either. She wanted to sit beside her best friend, Long Jinjing. How did she end up sitting beside this annoying diva man instead?

    Unbeknownst to her, she was really supposed to sit beside Long Jinjing. However, a mischievous Cupid managed to switch her seat beside Jin Chonglin instead just before she arrived.

    Dom ehehe-d in excitement as he watched Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei bickering with each other while maintaining their smiles. He was proud of his machinations. He wanted to gossip about it to others but Meimei was already starting to nod off in her seat.

    He could only wait for Randy to arrive. Speaking of the Zumba instructor, howe he hadn''t arrived yet?

    It must be because Wei Lan insisted on beingte again, believing that the most important people always arrivedte.

    Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue finally entered the hall. The host and his partner''s appearance signified that the g was about to start any second now.

    The two of them sat in the same table as Iris and Jin Liwei. Originally, Lin Yehan and his partner were supposed to sit with the coaching team. However, he decided to change it to make Jiang Ying Yue morefortable.

    He was the g''s host anyway. He didn''t want to make the seating arrangements too formal. It was more important to make everyone asfortable as possible especially his own girlfriend.

    Lin Yehan was about to gesture at the emcee to officially start the g when the hall''srge double doors opened and in strutted Wei Lan like a model on a catwalk nked by a handsome Spaniard and a mboyant muscle-man.

 Chapter 1372 Beautiful Family

    1372 Beautiful Family

    Long Jinjing couldn''t imagine being with another man other than Lu Zihao now. If their marriage ended up failing in the future¡ªof course, she always prayed that this would never happen¡ªshe considered spending the rest of her life alone without entertaining suitors. She would just dedicate her time and energy on raising her children and improving herself as a career woman.

    Without a doubt, Lu Zihao had be the love of her life. She loved him so much that it literally hurt just imagining her life without him by her side.

    This was why she had been unable to stop herself fromshing out at Iris when Lu Zihao becameatose. All the fear, anger and panic overwhelmed her so much to the point that she had to release them or go insane. It was unfortunate that her sister became the most convenient target for her volcanic emotions.

    Now that she apologized to Iris and resolved the misunderstandings between them, the invisible pressure weighing down on her had lightened up a lot. She didn''t expect that the conversation with her sister would go this smoothly.

    "Thank you, Xin." A drop of tear flowed down her face.

    Iris grabbed a box of tissue from the side table and handed it to her. Long Jinjing wiped her watery eyes and smiled at her sister.

    "By the way, I already finished the custom configurations of your new house''s surveince system," Iris said. "Bacon will be in charge of it. He''s excited to help protect his twin cousins."

    Long Jinjing''s eyes lit up. "Really? Thank you so much!" Then she became a little unsure. "I think Bacon and Ketchup are upset with me. They haven''t spoken to me since we fought."

    Iris sighed, shaking her head. "Everything should be fine now. They were just throwing a bit of tantrum for my sake. Their dad¡­."

    "I get it." Long Jinjing smiled in understanding.

    Her brother-inw, Jin Liwei, must be feeling upset with her after she med Iris for causing Lu Zihao to fall intoa. Bacon and Ketchup must have followed their father''s example and refused to interact with her. Long Jinjing didn''t me them. Even she would cringe whenever she remembered how she med her sister for what happened to her husband.

    After a moment of hesitation, she called out to the air, "Bacon? Ketchup?"

    "Aunt Jinjing," Bacon answered in the next second.

    "The cute and mighty Ketchup is in the house! Meow-yeah!"

    "Are you still mad at me?" she asked.

    "Since Aunt Jinjing already made up with Mother, Bacon is not angry anymore."

    "Don''t worry, macaroni! Ketchup is filled with so much cuteness and mightiness that there is no space to hold a grudge against Auntie Jinjing for too long. Love ya, Auntie Jinjing! Please don''t fight with my mommy anymore. Mwah mwah tsup tsup! Meow~"

    "Thanks, Bacon and Ketchup."

    Long Jinjing felt relieved. It was like the air she was breathing felt fresher.

    That night, Iris told her husband about her conversation with Long Jinjing. Jin Liwei didn''t react much.

    "Don''t be angry at her anymore," she said. "Okay, darling?"

    He made a sound of assent.

    She pouted and coaxed him with some hugs and kisses. He took advantage of the situation and changed the mood into something more sensual.

    They only stopped when Little Mochi''s loud, demanding wail interrupted them.

    Jin Liwei sighed. It was always their eldest twin son who interrupted their sexy time. He gave his wife another hard, deep kiss and her butt a light squeeze before changing Little Mochi''s diaper.

    Truth be told, he was still a little upset with Long Jinjing. Not kicking her out of his home after what she did to his wife was already the limit of his kindness to the woman.

    Now that Long Jinjing apologized to his wife, his anger had reduced a lot but a bit still remained. Maybe it was because he didn''t personally witness the apology. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Well, it didn''t matter what he felt about the situation. His wife already made up with Long Jinjing. It wasn''t like he could force his wife to continue being at odds with the woman.

    Perhaps he was being petty by nursing this little bit of grudge but his wife would always remain his main priority. Anyone who offended her would automatically be his enemy. He was angry at Long Jinjing but he was also angry at Lu Zihao.

    The things that Lu Zihao said to Iris were more hurtful than what Long Jinjing said. Despite this, Jin Liwei still wouldn''t wish something ill to happen to his brother-inw. As a matter of fact, he wished that Lu Zihao would wake up froma soon so that the two of them could talk man to man.

    Jin Liwei was distracted with his own thoughts while changing his eldest twin son''s diaper. He didn''t notice the mischievous glint in Little Mochi''s eyes. Before he knew it, a jet of pee hit him.

    Only his quick reflexes allowed him to move his face out of the way at thest second. Unfortunately, the same couldn''t be said about the rest of his body. Everything from the neck down didn''t escape from the sudden pee attack.

    "Jin Haoyu!" Jin Liwei stood there in disbelief as he looked down at his pee-stained self.

    Little Mochi giggled. He farted, too.

    Even the well-behaved Little Matchaughed at his daddy''s current state.

    "What happened?" Iris asked as she came out of the walk-in closet where she had been organizing the new apparel products from Orchidia Baby for Little Mochi and Little Matcha to try.

    Jin Liwei didn''t answer. He just showed her the front of his clothes soaked with their eldest twin son''s pee.

    Iris paused before doubling over inughter. Hearing their mommy''s lovelyughter, the twins while he showered.

    No matter how annoyed Jin Liwei felt, happiness and contentment still filled his heart. The familyughed harder.

    The target of the mother and sons''ughter, Jin Liwei¡ªpoor guy, couldn''t maintain his annoyance for too long. His mouth twitched before he, too, chuckled.

    Sighing, he could only clean up Little Mochi''s mess and continue changing the naughty baby''s diaper. It was only then that he removed his clothes and took a quick shower. He wanted his wife to join him but there needed to be someone watching the kids so she stayed with the babies instead while he showered.

    No matter how annoyed Jin Liwei felt, happiness and contentment still filled his heart. The family that he managed to build with his wife was something he never could have imagined when he was still a bachelor.

    Back then, he thought that he would just marry anyone that his mother or grandmother arranged for him when he couldn''t avoid it anymore. He never felt sexually attracted to anyone in the past. He thought that he could at least force himself to bed whoever became his wife even if he didn''t love the woman or felt attracted to her in any way.

    Marriage and having children were just duties to him to continue the family line.

    It was only when he met his wife that everything in his life suddenly felt alive and colourful. He never thought that he would be this passionate for a woman. It turned out that he always had this capability. He just hadn''t met the right person yet until his wife came along.

    After showering, he watched as his wife sang an English luby to their twins. It didn''t take long before Little Mochi and Little Matcha sank into dreand.

    Iris kissed each of her babies. Then a pair of strong arms hugged her from behind. She turned her head and Jin Liwei kissed her.

    The kiss was soft and slow. The sensuality would always be there, but this time, it was more to demonstrate their contentment with each other.

    "Thank you, Evelina," Jin Liwei told her after their mouths separated.

    "For what?" She turned around so that they were facing each other.

    "For giving me a beautiful family."

    She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Likewise. I''m also very grateful to you for giving me this beautiful family."

    They were about to dive into another kiss when Little Mochi woke up and interrupted them again with another wail.

    Jin Liwei looked up at the ceiling in resignation while Iris went to figure out what their fussy eldest twin son wanted.

    It took a while for her to finally realize what Little Mochi wanted. He settled down and immediately returned to sleep after she gave him a small stuffed teddy bear.

    "Little Mochi must be missing his Big Sister Ice Cream," Iris murmured while caressing their fussy baby.

    "Ice Cream has her own schedule," Jin Liwei said. "Tonight is with her Lu cousins. I''m sure that she''ll be back to apany her baby brothers tomorrow night."

    Iris chuckled.

    Ice Cream adored her twin baby brothers and twin baby cousins. She rarely left the babies on their own. On the other hand, Popcorn still wasn''t too interested in the babies. He still preferred his older cousin, Little Jun, who could actively y with him every single day. Perhaps when the babies became a little older, Popcorn would also apany them more along with Little Jun.

    "Second Brother Yingjie will being to take a look at Niki tomorrow," Jin Liwei mentioned after they climbed on their bed.

    "Oh." Iris nodded. "That''s good. I doubt that he''ll find anything new but we never know. I''d rather have Second Brother, someone we trust, to take a look at my brother than a stranger. What if other doctors insist on studying my brother''s condition? That''s something we want to avoid at all costs. I might even be implicated because I already experienced this before."

    He hugged her. "Don''t worry, love. I won''t allow anyone to study you or your brother. I''ll always protect you."

 Chapter 1373 Welcome Back to the Living

    <h4>Chapter 1373 Wee Back to the Living</h4>

    The next day, Wang Yingjie came and took a look at theatose Lu Zihao with the mansion''s private doctor. He didn''t find anything new as expected. Despite this, he remained optimistic because he had already personally witnessed this kind of case in both Lu Zihao himself, and of course, Iris.

    "Fifth Brother''s brain waves are very active," he said. "He''s seemingly unresponsive to outside stimuli but it''s clear that he''s dreaming a lot based on his brain''s activity rate. At least, I see no damage in his brain. This is very simr to his brain scans during his previousa. Oh, and Xin''s, too."

    Long Jinjing and Grandpa Lu hung on to Wang Yingjie''s every word. Iris and Jin Liwei were also present.

    Wang Yingjie looked at the private doctor. "I''m more familiar with Fifth Brother and Third Sister-inw''s very simr medical cases. Although we haven''t figured out the exact cause why the two have a tendency to fall intoa now and then, we already know that themon denominator between the two of them is their history of experiencing severe injuries that left thematose for the first time¡ªalmost dead, basically. Both of them also experienced some drastic changes in their personalities after they miraculously woke up. Just like before, we can only conclude that their tendency to fall intoa might be one of the seque both of them need to live with after their life-altering injuries back then. All of these are just deductions, nothing concrete yet."

    He was speaking to everyone but his gaze was on Iris. "If you all want more definite answers than what I''m providing you right now, then Fifth Brother and Third Sister-inw Xin must consent to letting me and maybe some of my medical peers to study the two of them."

    Jin Liwei frowned and pulled his wife closer to him. "Absolutely not."

    Wang Yingjie sighed but didn''t insist. He already expected this answer.

    "I don''t want to be a test subject," Iris said. "I''m sure that Big Brother won''t want to be one either."

    Long Jinjing bit her lower lip. Like Grandpa Lu, she wanted more definite answers than mere assumptions but couldn''t argue at what Iris said. Knowing her husband, Lu Zihao would most likely flip out if she tried persuading him to be a medical case study.

    Grandpa Lu narrowed his wizened eyes at Iris. She wasn''t unnerved at all and looked back calmly at the old man. He harrumphed but didn''t try forcing her into anything that she didn''t want to do.

    "May I speak to Big Brother?" Iris asked Long Jinjing.

    Long Jinjing hesitated before nodding. "You can go in now. Grandpa Lu and I will continue talking here to Second Brother and the doctor."

    Iris and Jin Liwei entered the hospital room together. She sat on the chair beside the bed and studied her unconscious brother. Jin Liwei stood behind her and ced his hand on her shoulder, silently sending her his support. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Lu Zihao''s features had be sharper as he lost some weight after being unconscious for this long. His impressive muscles were all still there, but if he remained ina for longer, then he would surely lose some of them.

    "Big Brother, I''m here," Iris spoke in Russian.

    No response.

    "I just want to tell you¡­that I''m not sorry for all the things I said to you when we fought. I meant everything I said that day. I still believe that¡­you should prioritize your family over the need to avenge what happened to us back then."

    Silence.

    Iris sighed but wasn''t dejected. "As for me, I''m now willing to face my past life unlike before. But it''s only because I want to protect the family that I built with Liwei, so I don''t want anything from our past life to interfere with my happiness right now. This is not revenge but a self-defence mechanism. I''m not saying that your method of dealing with our past life is wrong and I''m right or vice versa. My point is that I prefer for us to focus more on living in the present to the best of our abilities especially since both of us already have our own families. We have spouses who''ll be heartbroken if something bad happens to us, and of course, young children who depend on us.

    "Hopefully, this time, I''m able to convey my point to you more clearly than thest time. I hope that you''ll understand where I''ming from. It''s not that I''m criticizing you. I''m just worried about you and your family. I don''t want us siblings to lose each other again. One time is enough. I don''t want to experience it a second time. I''m sure that your wife and children wouldn''t want to lose their husband and father either. Please understand, Big Brother."

    Her eyes reddened but she was able to control her emotions better this time. She continued to observe her unconscious brother, hoping to detect any tiny signs that he might wake up soon. No such luck, unfortunately.

    She touched his hand. It felt cool to the touch and rough from the scars. "Please wake up. Your wife looks terrible from worrying day and night about you. At this rate, she''ll waste away just like you."

    As usual, there was still no response.

    Iris nced at her husband. Jin Liwei rubbed her shoulders,forting her.

    "Let''s go?" she asked.

    "En, in a minute," he replied. "Let me talk to my brother-inw first."

    "Okay."

    Jin Liwei moved and stood right by the bed. He looked down at the unconscious man lying on the hospital bed.

    Right at this moment, Lu Zihao didn''t look intimidating at all. He looked almost the same as Jin Liwei''s original fifth brother, the one he grew up with since childhood.

    Jin Liwei''s heart softened at this thought but once again hardened upon remembering that the man in front of him was no longer his fifth brother but his brother-inw instead.

    "Niki," he called in a soft, measured tone.

    No response.

    No surprise there.

    Jin Liwei leaned a little over the bed. "It''s fine if you want to stayatose like this."

    Iris frowned when she heard what he said but didn''t say anything for now. She waited what else her husband was going to say to her brother.

    "As your brother-inw, I can at least afford to have you taken care of in this hospital wing for as long as you want. Years, decades, no matter how long you want to waste away in this bed, it''s no problem. This is the least I can do for my wife''s brother."

    "Liwei," Iris interrupted, unable to stop herself anymore.

    He gestured for her to trust him. She hesitated but still acquiesced. Nevertheless, she was ready to force him to stop if needed.

    Jin Liwei continued speaking to Lu Zihao, "Just so you know, your wife, Long Jinjing, is still young. Your children are also still young. It''s not impossible for her to give up on you especially since none of us are sure when you''ll wake up again. Long Jinjing is not bad. She''s also quite sessful in her career. Only a blind and foolish man will dismiss someone like her.

    "When she moves on from you, she''ll surely get together with another man. Then your children, Little Misha and Little Dima, will grow up calling and treating another man their father. Maybe they will also change theirst name from Lu into something else. I guess it doesn''t matter to you whether they change theirst name or not because you yourself don''t like being Lu Zihao anyway. You prefer to go back being Niki Vetrov.

    "Don''t worry, Niki. Your sister and I will continue to dote on your children as our beloved nephews even when they start calling another man their father. They might also have other siblings¡ªhalf-siblings when Long Jinjing gives birth to her new man''s children. I''m sure everything will be okay. Rest assured that Evelina and I won''t let your children be bullied by their step-father and step-siblings."

    Iris was staring at her husband in disbelief. She was too speechless to stop him from going too far. At the same time, what he said wasn''tpletely impossible. That was the crazy part. Everything sounded logical.

    Although Long Jinjing was extremely devoted to Lu Zihao right now, who was to say that she would remain this way if her husband failed to wake up froma after a long time? What if she really met another man who would give her what Lu Zihao couldn''t?

    Iris was confused why her husband would goad her brother like this right now. It didn''t seem right but she still chose to trust him. She crossed her arms over her ample chest and continue to watch her husband''s antics.

    "What do you think of Alric Bauer?" Jin Liwei asked. "The man is smart and respects Long Jinjing. What''s more, they work in the samepany together. It''s not impossible for something to develop between the two of them."

    Iris'' jaw fell.

    "What about Amanpio Kileksky? Now this man is many times smarter than Alric. He''s a certified genius just like my wife. He''s not a bad choice either. A little crazy but what do you expect from a genius?"

    Iris red at him. She looked a little offended.

    "Who else? Hmmm. Oh, right. There''s also Ren¨¦ Alejandro. Didn''t he happen to meet Long Jinjing in a store somewhere and even helped her choose a gift for you? Although he''s suspicious, he has always treated Long Jinjing with courtesy. If we can prove that the man is really clean, perhaps¡ª"

    "Shut¡­the fuck¡­up," a hoarse voice interrupted him.

    Iris covered her mouth and gasped. Her eyes welled with tears.

    Jin Liwei smirked. "Wee back to the living, asshole."

 Chapter 1374 Hallucination

    <h4>Chapter 1374 Hallucination</h4>

    The hospital room became crowded after Wang Yingjie and the private doctor finished examining Lu Zihao. When he woke up earlier, the two doctors entered immediately and kicked out Iris and Jin Liwei, leaving no time for Long Jinjing to see her husband.

    Finally, she was able to see an awake Lu Zihao. She threw herself on him and sobbed.

    Lu Zihao wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed and patted her back, stroked her hair, and kissed her forehead. These were his ways offorting her because he wasn''t good with saying any sweet, romantic words.

    "Thank the heavens that you''re awake!" Long Jinjing cried on his chest. "I''m so d that you''re fine! I was so¡­w-worried about you!"

    "I know." He tried wiping her overflowing tears with his hand but his movements were too clumsy.

    After beingatose for this long, he felt a little weak. Well, to be honest, he was so weak that he already felt exhausted after being awake for not even an hour. He wouldn''t admit it, though.

    "How are my sons?" he asked instead.

    Long Jinjing smiled through her tears. "Little Misha and Little Dima have gotten bigger. They miss their daddy so much!"

    "I want to see them."

    "Of course! I''ll have the nannies bring them to you immediately!" Then she paused. "Wait. I have to ask the doctor first if it''s okay¡­."

    Wang Yingjie who stayed with them in the hospital room replied, "You can bring the babiester. For now, let''s not overwhelm Fifth Brother with too much stimuli."

    "Oh, okay. I''ll listen to you, Second Brother." Long Jinjing was very obedient.

    Grandpa Lu stepped forward and examined his grandson from head to toe. "How are you feeling, Haohao my boy? Any pain? Difort? Tell me, I want to know!"

    "I''m fine, old man," Lu Zihao replied.

    "Calling your beloved grandpa ''old man'' again! If you didn''t just wake up froma and make Jinjing my girl cry so much, I''ll hit you right now, you dunderhead! Hmph!" Grandpa Lu pretended to be angry but it was clear from his shaky, booming voice that he was still shaken at what happened to his grandson.

    Long Jinjing couldn''t stop looking at her husband''s face. It was as if she wanted to make sure that he was really awake, that this was real, and that she wasn''t dreaming.

    "Is it true that you woke up because of Brother-inw Liwei?" she asked.

    Grandpa Lu and Wang Yingjie were also very interested. They pricked their ears and listened.

    Lu Zihao nced at Jin Liwei who was sitting on the couch with his sister. He sneered.

    "What does that mean?" Long Jinjing asked. She was confused at the expression he made just now. "Is it not true?"

    He snorted but still said through gritted teeth, "It''s true."

    "Oh." She looked at Jin Liwei. "Thank you so much, Brother-inw."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded and epted her thanks. His tone was cool and even a little distant.

    This irked Lu Zihao. Remembering what the man told him while he was unconscious angered him even more.

    Iris and Jin Liwei stood up. They excused themselves to give Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing some alone time. Grandpa Lu and Wang Yingjie followed suit.

    Now that the husband and wife were alone in the hospital room, Long Jinjing grabbed her husband''s head and smashed their mouths together.

    There was no sexual desire in the kiss at all, just desperate yearning and pure gratefulness that her other half was alive and well.

    Lu Zihao felt too weak to bring the kiss into an erotic territory. He was also happy to see his wife again.

    The journey he went through within his consciousness during hisa felt like forever. He was actually surprised he had only beenatose for this long. To him, it felt much longer¡ªlike years long, maybe even decades.

    He couldn''t remember everything that he experienced while he was ina this time. All he knew was that he felt exhausted¡ªphysically, mentally, emotionally, and yes, even spiritually.

    As for the things he remembered, they were too overwhelming for him right now. He needed some time to process them first.

    It felt good, though. He felt good despite everything that happened.

    There were still a lot of things that he needed to figure out, but at least for now, he was no longer filled with too much negative thoughts and emotions. The chaos that exploded within him and caused him to go into anothera had now calmed down a lot.

    He caressed his wife''s face. She lost some weight and had dark under eyes. The pallor of her skin showed that she had been unable to take care of herself properly while he was ina. This upset him.

    His chest tightened as he began to worry about her health. Knowing how much the woman loved him, he could only imagine how she neglected her own wellbeing while waiting for him to wake up. He had a lot of things to say to her but didn''t want to scold her right way when he just awakened.

    "I''m hungry," was what he ended up saying instead.

    Long Jinjing smiled. "Wait here a bit. I''ll call the kitchen and ask them to cook some soup or porridge for you."

    He frowned. "I want meat."

    "You can''t, Niki."

    In the end, he could only eat in congee. It was extremely unsatisfying but his wife wouldn''t budge at all. His only constion was that he enjoyed being personally spoon-fed by Long Jinjing.

    After the small meal, Lu Zihao felt his eyelids bing heavy. He couldn''t stop his drowsiness.

    Long Jinjing gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Sleep for now. I''ll bring Little Misha and Little Dima to see you after you wake up. They''re a lot bigger and fatter now."

    "Hm, good." He was already half-asleep.

    "I love you, Niki," she whispered as his eyes fell close.

    "Love you, too," he murmured.

    Long Jinjing froze and stared at him in disbelief. Her IQ crashed into a level below that of an amoeba.

    It was a full five minutes before hergging brain started working again. Her heart thundered inside her chest. She was also struggling to breathe. Tears welled in her eyes as she continued staring at him.

    "Ni-niki?"

    No response. He was already fast asleep.

    She ced her trembling hand over his chest. The deep, rhythmic rise and fall of his hard chest helped her calm herself a bit. She was still freaking out deep inside but at least she wasn''t shrieking like a demented banshee and jumping around like a lunatic.

    "Did I hear you¡­correctly? Did you really say that you¡­l-love me, too? Oh, Niki. I hope that I''m not mishearing things. I hope that you really love me, too."

    She grabbed his hand and rubbed it against her cheek before kissing it. "I love you so much¡­too much that I think I''m hallucinating. Maybe I''m having some kind of withdrawal symptoms from missing my weekly therapy sessions while you were ina. Oh, please. Let this not be a hallucination."

    Unfortunately for her, Lu Zihao was far too exhausted and too deeply asleep to hear what she said. She could only wait for him to wake up and ask him for rification.

    ###

    In another part of the mansion, Iris and Jin Liwei were taking care of the four babies in the nursery.

    Their own twins, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, were very energetic. They were shaking and squeezing their toys while rolling over on the carpet now and then.

    Their nephews, Little Misha and Little Dima, had just been put to sleep by their nannies after a thorough feeding.

    The babies had another exciting day because they spent half an hour with their puppies while their parents were in the hospital wing earlier. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Every day, the handlers would bring the puppies to spend some time with the babies and help them bond with each other. They were still small so this was the best arrangement for now.

    Unlike the babies, Little Jun was already big enough to be with his own puppy, Gravy, day and night. Popcorn hated Gravy at first, but after only a couple of days, the two became best friends. The hyperactive cat gained another fun ymate.

    It was a different story with Ice Cream. The fat, grey cat absolutely despised the puppies whenever the handlers brought them to bond with the babies. Despite her very vocal protests, the puppies kept oning every single day. She only learned to tolerate their presence in the past few days.

    Iris and Jin Liwei watched all the children with soft gazes. Watching them grow before their very eyes was a great source of joy for them as parents.

    "Little Misha and Little Dima look a lot like Fifth Brother when he was a kid," Jin Liweimented.

    "Really?" She studied the Lu twins but couldn''t really agree.

    The babies didn''t exactly resemble any of their parents.

    "En. Fifth Brother''s appearance changed a lot when he hit puberty but I still remember what he looked like when we were kids. I''ll show you some of his old photoster."

    "Okay. I want to look at your old photos, too." Although she already saw plenty of her husband''s photos as a child thanks to her mother-inw, she still wanted to look at them again.

    He smiled. "Sure, love."

    She leaned forward and plucked a kiss from his mouth. "Thank you, Liwei."

    "Hm?"

    "Thanks for waking up my big brother."

    He chuckled. "I didn''t think that it would work. But I''m d that it did. Fortunately for me, he was too weak to punch my face as soon as he woke up."

    "Oh, darling." Irisughed and hugged him.

 Chapter 1375 Angel Among a Family of Devils

    <h4>Chapter 1375 Angel Among a Family of Devils</h4>

    It only took a couple of days for Lu Zihao to recover almost back to normal. In fact, he already felt well the day after he woke up but the doctor insisted that he should stay in the hospital wing until all other medical examinations were cleared.

    Although he felt impatient, he still tolerated everything in order to ease his wife''s anxiety over his health. These two days after he woke up also gave him some time to reflect on his fight with his sister and what happened during hisa.

    He and his sister still hadn''t spoken about their fight. Long Jinjing only informed him today that she and Iris also fought when he fell intoa.

    "I apologized to Xin and we already made up," she told him. "Bacon and Ketchup are also speaking to me again. But I feel that Brother-inw Liwei still acts cold to me."

    Lu Zihao snorted at the mention of Jin Liwei. "Don''t worry about that jerk. He''s not someone important to us."

    She pouted at me. "Don''t say that, Niki. He''s the one who managed to wake you up when so many of us had failed. I''m forever grateful to him because of it."

    He rolled his eyes but chose not to argue with her about Jin Liwei. As much as he wanted to deny the man''s role in waking him up and insist that it was just a coincidence, it was still a fact that he had heard Jin Liwei goading him into matching Long Jinjing with different men while he was stitose.

    Alric Bauer and Amanpio Kileksky.

    These two men didn''t affect him much. They were nerds who would put more attention on their projects than their lovers. Long Jinjing might be timid and clumsy but she was wise enough not to choose this kind of men.

    Then Jin Liwei, the asshole, just had to add Ren¨¦ Alejandro into the mix.

    What the fuck, man?

    It was pure nonsense! Bullshit!

    As soon as he heard Jin Liwei suggest pairing the damned Spaniard with his wife, the fury he felt literally had filled him up with enough energy to drag himself out of hisatose state. He wanted to punch Jin Liwei in the face but all his limbs felt too heavy at that time. What a shame!

    He also couldn''t forget Jin Liwei''s smirk as soon as he opened his eyes. So annoying! Just remembering it was enough to make him feel violent.

    Even though he knew that the things Jin Liwei spouted then were all baloney, Lu Zihao still felt jealous of those three men. He stared at his wife as she sliced an apple for him to eat.

    "What?" Long Jinjing asked after noticing his heavy gaze on her. "Is there something on my face? Do you find me¡­ugly?"

    He scowled. "What ugly? Did you hear me say that? Don''t put words in my fucking mouth, Jinjing."

    "Then¡­am I¡­p-pretty?" She immediately turned red after asking this. It took her a lot of courage to even say the words.

    "Of course." There was no hesitation in his reply.

    "R-really?"

    He wasn''t good with saying any mushy words so he decided to just show it instead. He reached over and pulled her before smashing his mouth on hers. His tongue snaked inside her mouth and dered its sovereignty. Her body went limp as she started moaning.

    When the sudden open-mouthed kiss ended, Long Jinjing was dazed. He smirked at her.

    "Do you still doubt me?" he asked her in a low, devilish voice.

    Her amoeba-level brain took a few seconds to register what he said. She shook her head.

    "You''re so¡­h-handsome," she stammered like a stupid idiot.

    His devilishughter filled her ears and went straight to her core. For a moment, she had the urge to be pregnant and give birth to his child again as soon as possible. Then she caught herself.

    What in the world was she thinking?

    Their twin sons were only a few months old and she was already thinking about giving birth to the next one?

    ''Are you crazy, Long Jinjing?'' she mentally asked herself.

    ''Yes, I''m crazy,'' she also mentally answered herself. ''I''m so crazy in love with this man that my brain sometimes malfunctions and bes dumb.''

    She could only sigh at her embarrassing thoughts.

    "Why are you sighing?" he asked.

    "Nothing."

    He raised an eyebrow.

    She smiled and pulled away from his embrace with great reluctance. Then she continued slicing an apple before feeding it to him. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "You feel a little¡­uhm, different," shemented while observing him eat the apple slices.

    He paused. "How so?"

    "You feel¡­uh, how do I describe it? Less intense? Less threatening? Something like that. I feel a bit morefortable with you than before. I don''t know. Maybe it''s because I missed you so much while you were ina and I''m so happy now that you''re awake."

    He fell silent.

    She didn''t notice anything amiss from his reaction¡ªorck thereof. It was justmenting on something trivial. She didn''t think much of it.

    After finishing all the apple slices in silence, he asked, "Do you like me better now then?"

    "Huh?" His sudden question stumped her.

    "You say that you feel morefortable with me now than before. So does this mean that you like me better now?"

    She thought about it first. "I don''t think that the matter of me liking you more is directly rted to me feeling morefortable with you now. I just like you¡ªno. I just love you, that''s all. I love you more now after experiencing a taste of losing you when you suddenly becameatose. I felt so¡­helpless, especially since we haven''t been married for that long and our sons are still very young. They''re still babies. I don''t want to lose you so early. Neither do I want our babies to lose their father so soon."

    He reached his hand and touched her face. "What if I''m gone someday?"

    She freaked out. "What are you saying? Are you nning on leaving me? Our family? You can''t, Niki!"

    "Not leave. Just gone."

    She became even more frightened. "What do you mean by gone? Like missing? Or dead? What''s happening, Niki? Did something happen to you that I don''t know about?"

    He sighed before giving her cheek a light pinch. "Nothing. It''s just a¡­rhetorical question. Don''t worry about it. It''s nothing serious."

    "Niki, don''t joke about something like that!" She pulled his hand from her face and pped it. "You''re going to give me a heart attack someday, I swear!"

    "My sons have be too fat," he said out of the blue.

    Long Jinjing''s braingged for a couple of seconds at the sudden change in topic. She red at him but still went along with him even though she knew that it was deliberate on his part.

    "The doctor says that their weights are still within the normal range," she replied. "They''re fine. Xin''s breast milk is just too nutritious, I guess."

    He nodded.

    "You should talk to her," Long Jinjing suggested. "I don''t think the two of you have resolved your fight yet. Both of you are acting civil since you woke up but¡­I can still feel some tension. You were so close before."

    He grunted.

    She wasn''t sure whether it was a yes or a no.

    "Actually, just like you, I feel that Xin somewhat changed recently as well," she said.

    "You also feel morefortable with her?" he asked.

    "Not exactly. To be honest, I feel that she has be more¡­uhm, intimidating. But not in a bad way, I guess. Intimidating in a sense of being calmer¡­and more detached? Something like that. You know how she can get really emotional especially when she was pregnant, right? She''s not so much like that anymore. I feel like we can fight with her and she''ll still hold it together without losing an explosive temper. Isn''t that scarier than usual?"

    "Hmm."

    Lu Zihao thought about it. Based on what his wife told him just now, an image of his sister popped in his mind. Not the Evelinka who was Long Xin now but the original Evelina Vetrova in their past life.

    Due to her resistance to joining the family organization, Evelinka''s personality had grown extremely detached from everyone and everything except for him, her brother, and her passions such as music andputers. It was initially her defence mechanism brought by their family environment but soon became arge part of her personality.

    Her detachment gave others the impression that she was a cold and indifferent person even though this was far from the truth. He knew that she was kind, warm and loving.

    An angel among a family of devils.

    This was how he had always known his sister''s personality. Imagine his surprise when he met her as Long Xin. She had be so outgoing, expressive, emotional and passionate in a way that he had never known her before.

    A big part of him was happy for her. This was her dream life¡ªto be free to pursue her own passions and showcase all her talents to the world without being tethered by her identity. He wanted her to live in joy, peace, and more importantly, freedom¡ªsomething that she never had before as Evelina Vetrova.

    However, there was still a tiny part of him that felt resentful. He had always denied this part of himself and pretended that it didn''t exist. It only came to light and exploded in the open during his fight with his sister.

    Then he fell into anothera. He reflected on a lot of things during and after beingatose.

    One of the most important things that he reflected on was the resentment he had with his sister. Indeed, he needed to address it with her as soon as possible.

 Chapter 1376 Indelible Mark on the Psyche

    <h4>Chapter 1376 Indelible Mark on the Psyche</h4>

    While Lu Zihao was immersed in his own thoughts about how to properly make up with his sister, he heard his wife speak.

    "Repeat that," he said. "I didn''t catch what you said."

    Long Jinjing pouted. Her face was red all the way to her neck.

    "What is it?" he asked again.

    She avoided his gaze. "I asked...if you remember on the day you woke up froma, just before you fell asleep¡­I want to know if I heard you correctly¡­."

    He waited until she finished meandering around her main question. By this point of their rtionship, he was already used to her long-winded ways of speaking due to her innate shyness. Although this way of speaking always made him impatient especially when it came to his subordinates, he was willing to tolerate it when it was his wife doing it.

    "I think that I heard you say¡­that y-you, uhm¡­that you l-love me," she stammered and turned even redder.

    "Huh?" He stared at her, feeling dumbfounded.

    What was she talking about? Did he say that? Howe he couldn''t remember?

    She peeked at him and saw his bewilderment. Her expression crumpled. "I guess¡­I heard you incorrectly. I might have really been hallucinating that time." She smiled but it was so bitter that her lips trembled. "F-forget it."

    Embarrassment filled her. She stood up and was about to leave but Lu Zihao grabbed her hand.

    "Tell me what happened," he said.

    She shook her head.

    "Come on, Jinjing," he urged in a much gentler tone.

    After a few moments of hesitation, she sat back down and told him everything that she remembered.

    "It was just a whisper but I think I heard you say that¡­you l-love me, too."

    "Oh."

    Long Jinjing was disappointed at his reaction. She was about to cry but forced herself to suck it up. This was already expected. She had already prepared herself for the long haul when it came to gaining her husband''s love.

    Once again, she stood up and tried to smile at him, pretending that everything was fine. "I''ll go check on our twins first. Rest here and focus on recuperating. I''ll be backter to apany you again."

    He grabbed her again for a quick kiss before letting her go. When she was gone, his expression turned serious.

    "Bacon."

    It took a full minute before the ck cat AI responded to his call. "Bacon is here, Uncle Zihao."

    He was frowning at Bacon''s tardiness. "What took you so long, kid?"

    "Bacon actually didn''t want toe because Uncle Zihao still hasn''t apologized to Mother for saying all those mean things. But since I''m still technically your hired frencer, Bacon is contract-bound to respond to Uncle Zihao''s call."

    Lu Zihao clicked his tongue. "Your mother will always be my sister. That''s never going to change no matter how many lifetimes we both live. I''ll resolve my issues with her in our own time."

    Bacon didn''t answer. Lu Zihao knew that the little devil must be holding a grudge against him. It was only Bacon''s employment contract with him that was forcing the kid to at least show up when he called.

    He sighed but didn''t bother to give any additional exnations. Besides, he had a more urgent matter that he want to confirm first.

    "Kid, do you have a recording of what transpired in this room when I woke up froma?"

    "Affirmative."

    The short and dispassionate reply only proved that Bacon was indeed bearing a grudge against him. But at least the kid wasn''tpletely ignoring him. That was a relief.

    Lu Zihao asked Bacon to y that part when he fell asleep in the middle of talking to Long Jinjing. Like before, Bacon deliberately dyed his response for almost a minute. Lu Zihao restrained himself from snapping at the little devil because Bacon indeed had grounds to bear a grudge against him. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    It was already quite impressive that Bacon would even speak to him like this. He heard that when his wife and his sister fought after he fell intoa, both Bacon and Ketchup refused to speak to Long Jinjing andpletely ignored her.

    Bacon''s willingness to speak to him right now despite the kid''s grudge only proved that his sister and Jin Liwei''s education of their children was top-notch. They always taught their children, especially the AI ones, excellent work ethics and professionalism. Bacon might be a two-faced crook most of the time but he was, without a doubt, a professional.

    The audio from that day began ying.

    Long Jinjing: "Sleep for now. I''ll bring Little Misha and Little Dima to see you after you wake up. They''re a lot bigger and fatter now."

    Lu Zihao: "Hm, good."

    He remembered until this part of the conversation.

    Long Jinjing: "I love you, Niki."

    Lu Zihao: "Love you, too."

    His voice was very faint and a little unclear but he still heard the words he uttered in the audio. Bacon''s audio recording could be trusted at the very least. The little devil might be a regr extortionist but he would never falsify evidence in front of him, his uncle.

    Long Jinjing: "N-niki?"

    The deep, regr sound of his breathing could be heard in the audio. The quality was excellent.

    "That''s the end of the recording," Bacon announced. "If Uncle Zihao wishes to y it again, you must pay an additional charge. If you wish to y other parts of the recording, it is another additional charge. Bacon has already fulfilled my duty as stated in my employment contract by ying the recording once. Any other extra requests involving this particr audio recording qualify Bacon for additional pay rate."

    "Once is enough," Lu Zihao muttered, choosing to ignore the little devil''s attempt to squeeze more money from him as usual.

    "Then Bacon will leave now."

    Finally, some peace and quiet.

    Well, he wasn''t exactly feeling very peaceful after hearing his own words that he couldn''t remember saying being yed back to him, but it was indeed quiet now that Bacon left.

    Emotions that he had always ignored flooded through him. It was so damn ufortable because he wasn''t used to it, but surprisingly, he didn''t outright reject it this time.

    "I love Jinjing?"

    He drummed his fingers on his thighs while rolling the unfamiliar emotion and words within him.

    This kind of love was different from the love he had for his sister. He loved his sister as a precious sibling. That was familial love.

    But the love that he felt this time¡­was this the so-called romantic love?

    "Is this love?"

    ''Of course, it is, asshole.''

    His expression darkened when he heard the familiar voice within his consciousness. The motherfucker was one of the main culprits in causing his most recenta. In fact, he almost lostplete control of this body because of the original Lu Zihao''s remnant. The fucker fought with him until his soul almost got kicked out into nothingness or wherever souls went after death.

    He heard a loud scoff inside his consciousness. It was clear that the remnant was mocking him.

    ''Remember that it''s not because of your sheer willpower that you get to stay in my body. Don''t forget that there''s a moment that youpletely gave up when the pain got too much to handle!

    ''It''s because I, Lu Zihao, gave you another chance and allowed you stay! But don''t get me wrong. I didn''t do it because of an asshole like you. I allowed you to stay because I don''t want my grandpa, my brothers, Third Sister-inw, your wife and our children, and so many others who care about you and me to lose both of us forever.

    ''It''s enough that they had unknowingly lost me, Lu Zihao, before. I don''t want them to experience losing Lu Zihaopletely, even if the Lu Zihao they have now is no longer me, but you, Niki, the biggest asshole that I have ever met!''

    Lu Zihao¡ªno, Niki gritted his teeth but didn''tsh out at the remnant. Everything that remnant said was true anyway. There was no point in denying it when the remnant had free ess to all his thoughts and emotions. It was already good that remnant had enough decency to give him some sense of privacy most of the time.

    "Fine," he spat. "I fucking get it, okay? So stop rubbing it in my face!"

    ''But I like rubbing it in your face! Hahaha! Take that, asshole! You deserve it. If you continue rejecting your identity as me, Lu Zihao, then get out of my body! It''s as simple as that, dude.

    ''Although it sucks to share this body with an asshole like you, I tolerate it because you are giving my loved ones the one thing that I failed to give them¡ªmy continued presence in their lives.''

    Niki rubbed his face, not caring if his movements were too rough. The battle he experienced to stay in this body just before and during hisa left an indelible mark on his psyche.

    He was no longer able to dismiss the remnant as something that he could always triumph over because of his confidence in his original identity as Niki Vetrov.

    Before he realized it, the remnant had be so much more powerful while he, Niki, was starting to struggle to remain true to his original mission after being reborn again.

    Just like what the remnant said, it was because of its mercy that he got to remain in this body and not be kicked out into oblivion.

    ''Don''t forget this favour that you owe me, Niki,'' the remnant warned.

    He remained silent, unable confirm or refute.

    ''Lu Tianyu and Lu Zhiyuan are my body''s children. Whether you like it or not, they are the next generation my Lu n, not the Vetrovs. I won''t allow you to rob them of their father and make them into orphans so early!''

 Chapter 1377 Icky Feelings

    <h4>Chapter 1377 Icky Feelings</h4>

    Niki couldn''t retort at what the remnant said.

    Whileatose, he experienced a lot of disjointed dreams. One of the several scenarios included in the series of dreams was that he died after setting off for his revenge. The revenge eventually failed but he still left Long Jinjing widowed and their sons orphaned.

    In that tragic dream, Long Jinjing became too heartbroken and depressed that she neglected their children. She became too focused on her career and transformed into an unemotional irondy. Their twin sons grew up without proper parental guidance and ended up turning into problem children. They became wastrels that even their Aunt Xin and Uncle Liwei couldn''t save.

    Niki did everything. He scolded and shouted at them but they couldn''t hear him because he already died. He had no power to interfere in their lives. He wanted to fix everything but could only watch in helplessness as they wasted their lives away.

    This was just one of the dreams¡ªno, nightmares that he had whileatose. There were other more tragic ones that he preferred not to recall or risk going insane.

    Not once did he dream of something positive.

    He truly felt that he had died that time and went to hell.

    Experiencing all those seemingly never-ending tragic scenarios was the worst form of torture. Yes, it was the worst even whenpared to the inhumane torture he faced after the downfall of the Vetrovs.

    In his past life, he lost his beloved sister. It was excruciating.

    Then in his nightmares whileatose, he had to face losing the family he built in his current life as Lu Zihao. Watching his sweet wife turn into an unemotional robot and their sons into hopeless wastrels was a whole new level of excruciating torture.

    Especially when it came to his children¡ªhe couldn''t bear it.

    Now that the remnant was lecturing him without mercy, he no longer had the energy to argue. He could only take it.

    ''It''s good that you''re starting to realize the error of your ways. Even if you don''t care about yourself, at least think about your family¡ªour family. If only I wasn''t so reckless back then, maybe I would still be alive today and be able to build my own family and apany my grandpa for longer. I''m envious of you, dude, don''t you know? That''s why I''m so furious that you don''t treasure what you have and just continue speeding towards your demise. Atrocious! Hmph!''

    Niki rubbed his head and stayed quiet. He still hadn''tpletely given up his desire for revenge, but after experiencing histesta, he realized that maybe his sister was right after all. Perhaps there were other ways to fulfill his revenge without resulting in his own death in the end.

    ''Now let''s talk about your wifey,'' the remnant said next.

    Niki paused.

    ''You love Jinjing, dude. Be a man and just admit it!''

    "Maybe," he murmured.

    His attitude was neither denying nor confirming.

    The remnant scoffed inside his mind. ''Aren''t you a real macho man? Why are you acting like a scared chicken whenever love is involved? Pft! So funny!''

    His expression turned even darker. "None of your damn business."

    ''Of course, it''s also my damn business! Your wifey is the mother of my body''s children! There''s no way that I''ll just ignore your rtionship with the woman. The two of you are already married, for fuck''s sake! Dude, you''ve been in love with Miss Prim and Proper for a while now but you just won''t admit it.''

    The remnant''s words were annoying but they still hit him like a bulldozer. He didn''t know how to react.

    ''Can you feel the love tonight?

    Tonight~

    It has been here all along~

    It''s not enough for this blind ass Niki~

    That he is in denial~

    Oh, can you feel the love tonight?

    Tonight~

    His ass is on denial~

    It''s enough to admit that he fell in love~

    Believe the very best~

    Advice from the love guru~

    Yours truly,

    Luuuu Ziiiihaaaaaoooooooooooo~''

    The fucking song made anothereback. Niki''s expression couldn''t be painted anymore. It looked like a constipated devil who was forced to eat a rotten durian dipped in a feces salsa yet had lost the ability to spit out whatever was inside his mouth.

    Fortunately, the remnant still had a sliver of mercy. It sang the horrible song just once and didn''t repeat it like a broken record.

    ''Dude, I just thought of something.''

    "What is it?"

    ''Remember what my third brother said that angered you into waking up froma? Hahaha! Iugh whenever I remember it. Third Brother Liwei is the best! Bahahaha! Anyway, I was thinking, what if he is right? He might have said those words as a joke but think about it for a second. Everything he said is possible.

    ''What if one of these men¡ªAlric Bauer, Amanpio Kileksky, Ren¨¦ Alejandro or any other men for that matter¡ªmanage to woo your wifey? It''s possible, you know. She might give up on you one day if you take too long to admit that you love her, too. Not everyone can be a devoted martyr for an entire lifetime, you know.''

    Niki didn''t hesitate to say, "Impossible. I won''t allow it! Jinjing is mine!"

    ''h h h! Possessive cavemen mentality is so out of trend. If you won''t allow your wifey to be with another man, then it''s not enough to stake your im with an official marriage and children. There''s divorce and custody arrangements for that. If you really want to keep her by your side for the rest of your life, then you have to do your part in keeping her happy and emotionally invested in your rtionship as lovers.

    ''If you continue being stubborn, then you don''t have anyone to me but yourself when she leaves you with our children. Hmph! I will never forgive you if our children acknowledges another man as their new father and even change theirst names from Lu! Grandpa will be heartbroken if his great-grandbabies be another family''s children. So stop being a dumbo and just open up to your real feelings once and for all!''

    The lecture continued and started to wear out Niki, yet he didn''tin. This time, he seriously thought about what the remnant said. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    After his most recenta, he realized that the original Lu Zihao''s remnant wasn''t his enemy. It might have felt that way for the longest time because Niki hated the idea of sharing his body and everything else with another entity that he couldn''t drive out of his system no matter how much he tried.

    The remnant only wanted what was best for him. This was what Niki learned after so many challenging battles between the two of them. He no longer doubted that the remnant had be strong enough to kick him out of his body but it still continued to allow him to stay. This was so that he could continue living as Lu Zihao and apany all of the original''s loved ones and also the little family that he, Niki, had built using this identity.

    He understood what the remnant wanted, and that if he failed to obey, his right to stay in this body would be terminated.

    Sighing, he stared at the white ceiling and thought about Long Jinjing. Their sons too, of course.

    It was safe to say that these three people had now upied the biggest part of his heart previously upied by his sister alone. Evelinka was still extremely important to him, but after the birth of his children, he realized that his sister''s ce in his heart had been bumped down a level or two.

    As the mother of his children, Long Jinjing''s importance in his heart also rose. Even when he didn''t think that he loved the woman, she was still someone he cared about and wanted to protect.

    But now¡­after hearing Bacon''s audio recording where he clearly heard his own voice telling Long Jinjing that he loved her and listening to the remnant''s harsh lecture, he realized that maybe he had underestimated his wife''s ce in his heart.

    Something inside him felt like it dropped.

    When he recovered, he rushed out of his hospital room.

    ''Hey! Where are you going? We still have a medical exam scheduledter! Oy! Crazy Niki, listen to me!''

    The remnant continued yelling inside his mind but he ignored it.

    ''Eh? What are these¡­icky feelings flooding all over me? These aren''t mine! Oof! Okay, I get it. Ohoho. Good luck, bro!''

    Niki¡ªno, right now, everyone who saw him believed that he was Lu Zihao.

    "Boss Hao! Good to see that you''re fine now!"

    "Boss Hao! Osu!"

    "Mr. Lu, please slow down."

    He ignored his subordinates and the household staff as he hurried along the hallways like the wind.

    Beingatose took a toll on him. He was out of breath when he finally reached the destination¡ªthe nursery.

    "Ni¡ªZihao?" Long Jinjing was startled to see him.

    It wasn''t only her. Iris, Jin Liwei and the nannies were also inside. They all looked at him in surprise.

    Long Jinjing handed Little Dima to a nanny and went to her husband. She was concerned about his winded appearance which was a rare sight. "What happened? Why did youe here? Are you okay?"

    Lu Zihao didn''t reply. He just grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace by the doorway.

    "Zihao?" She wrapped her arms around him and felt the sweat soaking the back of his shirt.

    Next, he held her chin and tilted it up, making her look at him in the eyes.

    "Jinjing," he said.

    "Yes?" She was very confused at his behaviour.

    "I love you."

 Chapter 1378 So Bad

    <h4>Chapter 1378 So Bad</h4>

    Boom!

    Long Jinjing''s mind nked out except for her husband''s three words repeating over and over again like a broken record.

    ''I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you¡­.''

    She stared open-mouthed at Lu Zihao in a daze like a stupid idiot.

    Was this a dream?

    Did her hallucinations worsen? Maybe she really needed to resume her weekly therapy sessions. At this rate, she would really be crazy if she didn''t do something about it.

    "Jinjing," Lu Zihao murmured while rubbing her soft lips. He opened his mouth, about to tell her more, but then a loud cry interrupted them.

    Iris rushed to the crib where Little Misha had been taking a nap until now. The baby was wailing at the top of his lungs.

    "Hush now, sweetheart." Irisforted her eldest twin nephew, coaxing him to be quiet and not disturb the entertaining scene starring his parents.

    Unfortunately, it was toote. The mood had been destroyed.

    Long Jinjing snapped back to her senses. Her maternal instincts reigned supreme. She pulled away from her husband''s embrace and hurried to her crying son. She took Little Misha from Iris.

    Lu Zihao sighed and caught his brother-inw giving him a sympathetic look. However, it onlysted for a few seconds before Jin Liwei''s expression smoothed out and returned to his usual coldness.

    There was still some remaining tension between the brothers-inw ever since the sudden fight between Lu Zihao and Iris.

    Like Bacon, Jin Liwei must still be bearing a grudge against Lu Zihao. It couldn''t be helped. Jin Liwei should side with his wife. It was only natural. Lu Zihao would even question and look down on Jin Liwei if the man didn''t side with his own wife.

    Before today, even Lu Zihao thought that he would always side with his own sister no matter what. In fact, he even warned Long Jinjing at the beginning of their rtionship that if the two women ever fought, he would always side with his sister and not his lover.

    But now¡­Lu Zihao wasn''t so sure about his previous im anymore.

    He watched his wife sessfullyforting their eldest twin son. She was now bottle-feeding Little Misha with milk¡ªhis sister''s breast milk.

    Sighing again, he finally entered inside the nursery, but before he could touch any of the babies, one of the nannies blocked him and handed him a box of Orchidia Baby wipes and hand sanitizer.

    "Please wipe your sweat and disinfect yourself first, Mr. Lu."

    "Fine."

    He obeyed while grumbling under his breath. Afterwards, he took his second twin son from another nanny.

    Little Dima struggled for a few seconds before recognizing his daddy''s scent. Then he settled down and began cooing.

    Lu Zihao felt something inside him flutter at the sight of his son''s innocent face staring up at him. The baby waspletely helpless and depended on him, the father. He nced at his wife feeding their other son. The fluttering feeling inside him transformed into something warm and sweet.

    Indeed, the remnant was correct. The feelings flooding him right now were all¡­icky.

    But so what?

    Now that he had decided to openly admit his feelings to his wife and their family, he no longer give a damn whether the emotions he felt were icky or not.

    Iris sat near him where her own twins, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, were ying with their Orchidia Baby toys on the floor.

    The brother and sister looked at each other. They didn''t say anything but so much was alreadymunicated with just one look.

    All had been forgiven.

    This was the power of their bond as siblings.

    Nevertheless, Lu Zihao still thought that it was better for the two of them to find some time to have a proper heart to heart talk now that both their heads had cooled off a lot.

    But first things first. There was a more urgent matter that he needed to deal with¡ªhis wife''s reply to his sudden love confession.

    He peeked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. Although Long Jinjing had been distracted by Little Misha, he knew that she didn''t forget about his confession. She was red all over and stealing nces at him.

    Iris was amused watching them. She and her brother exchanged another look.

    "Big Sister," Iris called.

    "Huh, y-yes?" Long Jinjing replied after a three-second dy.

    Her husband''s love confession was still reying inside her mind that her IQ hadn''t fully returned to normal yet.

    "Let me take over in feeding Little Misha for you. Why don''t you and Big Brother go and talk somewhere private?"

    "H-huh? No need¡ªokay." Long Jinijng ended up agreeing in the end after seeing her husband''s intense gaze.

    She handed her eldest twin son to Iris while Lu Zihao gave Little Dima to one of the nannies. Then the two of them left the nursery together. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Amazing," Irismented after they were gone. "Big Brother actually said the words ''I love you'' to another human being. He has changed a lot."

    "Love does that," Jin Liwei replied. "It changes people. It changed me."

    She chuckled. "And it changed me, too."

    The nannies all looked at each other and pretended that they hadn''t witnessed anything juicy. They weren''t choking on too much dog food, not at all!

    ###

    Lu Zihao held his wife''s hand and led her to the indoor forest. This ce was memorable not only to his sister but to him as well. It was the ce where he proposed marriage to his wife.

    Back then, he had still been blind to his own true feelings. He only proposed marriage to Long Jinjing because he got her pregnant. He didn''t really do it out of love¡­or so he thought.

    They reached the koi pond and crossed the stone bridge to the islet. When they finally reached the centre, they just stood there hand in hand.

    Lu Zihao was staring at her while she was trying to avoid looking at him straight in the eyes.

    She felt so shy!

    "Jinjing," he said, finally breaking the silence.

    "Y-yes?"

    "I love you."

    She trembled. Her eyes watered. "Oh."

    He raised an eyebrow. "That''s it?"

    She smacked him on the chest.

    Although it didn''t hurt at all, he was still surprised at her action.

    Then she rained down more hits on him. There was no strength behind her hits, though.

    To him, they hurt as much as a cat''szy paw punches. Even Ice Cream, the fat brat had more powerful hits than his wife.

    "I thought that I was hallucinating!" Long Jinjing cried. "I gathered my courage to ask you earlier today if you really said that¡­you l-love me too but you didn''t say anything to confirm or deny! I really thought that I was starting to hear things! You''re so bad, Niki!"

    He caught her arms and held them. "Hm, I''m bad."

    The outburst drained her. It had also calmed her down to some extent. "Do you really¡­l-love me?"

    "Hm."

    "What hm?" She demanded, "Is that a yes or no? It''s so hard to understand you!"

    "It''s a yes," he replied.

    This time, his expression was not as unreadable as before. She could see the sincerity in his eyes. He was finally allowing her to read his true feelings for her.

    Despite this, she still couldn''t believe it. Everything that was happening to her at the moment felt like a dream.

    Happiness filled her¡­but also some wariness.

    "Are you telling the truth?" she asked.

    "Hm¡ªyes."

    "Oh, Niki!" She threw herself in his arms and hugged him as tightly as she could.

    He returned her embrace and inhaled the delicate fragrance in her hair (courtesy of Orchidia Beautytest nourishing after-shower spray).

    "I already gave you the rest of my future sperm, my children, my loyalty, and now my love. There is no taking back after this, Jinjing. You have to take responsibility of me. I''ve never¡­had this kind of deepmitment with a lover before."

    She nodded. "Y-yes, Niki. I''ll take responsibility of you."

    He chuckled. It wasn''t devilish like usual but warm¡­and content instead. Then he turned serious. "You can only be mine, Long Jinjing."

    She nodded again. "Of course!"

    "You said it."

    "Yes! I married you and gave birth to your children. I love you...and now you say that you love me, too. I''m¡­so h-happy, Niki."

    He kissed her head. "Hm, I know."

    "Even when I''m fat and ugly, you really love me?" she asked.

    "I already told you that you''re neither of those," he reprimanded her, scowling. "Stop saying that!"

    "Hehe." She was too happy to care about her insecurities right now.

    Her mind was only upied by her husband''s love confession.

    Oh, my gosh! Her husband loved her, too!

    This was perhaps her happiest day in her life even whenpared to giving birth to their children. Her husband''s love was something that she yearned for all this time. Now that she finally received it, she was over the moon from joy.

    She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed her husband on the lips. It was supposed to be just a quick peck but he quickly grabbed her by the nape and deepened the kiss.

    Emboldened by her happiness, she didn''t shy away. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she opened her mouth, letting him inside, while also exploring his mouth with her own tongue.

    She was gasping for air when their mouths separated. He kissed and licked a wet trail from her chin down to her ear then to the side of her neck, leaving hickeys in the process.

    "Niki," she moaned. "I love you."

    He gave her earlobe a light bite and a lick. "Love you too, wife."

    His voice, especially his words, made her core soaking wet.

 Chapter 1379 Donâ€™t Hate It Anymore Because I Love It

    <h4>Chapter 1379 Don¡¯t Hate It Anymore Because I Love It</h4>

    It had be so long¡ªtoo long¡ªsince they had made love. Long Jinjing''s post-partum recovery had been extremely slowpared to Iris. As a result, she and Lu Zihao had to hold back their sexual urges and wait until her body was ready.

    Of course, Long Jinjing still did her best to give pleasure to her husband now and then using her hands and mouth even when her body wasn''t ready for the full experience yet.

    Lu Zihao wasn''t the only one always on the receiving end either. Before his recenta, he also did his best to pleasure his wife as much as he could despite the many limitations of her post-partum body.

    His wife was different to his former bedmates. He couldn''t just treat her as someone disposable to vent his lust. As long as they were married, they were stuck together. Besides, he couldn''t get it up for any other women anyway except for her.

    He continued to kiss the brains out of his wife, knowing that once she became aroused enough, all her inhibitions would be thrown out of the window. She would be a seductive siren, the opposite of her usual prim and proper self.

    "Niki," she panted.

    He nibbled and sucked her lower lip, and then let his hand snake down her back, along her waist, and finally on her butt before giving it a light squeeze.

    She moaned and seemed to melt in his arms. "I need¡­you...please¡­."

    He smirked and then whispered to her ear, "Please what?"

    "Please¡­f-fuck me¡­."

    "Heh~ You want your husband to fuck you so badly?"

    "Y-yes," she groaned. "Niki...husband¡­."

    The way she said husband made his control snap. He lifted her up. She yelped and wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and her legs around his waist like a ko. He walked a few steps and carefullyid her down on the small couch on the islet.

    It wasn''t the mostfortable for a big man like him but he didn''t give a damn. His need for his wife was the best form of physicalfort than what a merefy couch could give him.

    Hell, he could even fuck the woman on a bed of nails if necessary. Of course, he would be careful to take all the difort and not allow his woman to experience anything else than mind-blowing pleasure.

    They continued to make out on the small couch. Lu Zihao''s hands were all over her body, making her tremble and moan in a way that resonated with his own desire. The more she responded to his actions, the more aroused he became.

    Despite wearing a pair of loose and soft lounge pants, it still felt tight from how hard his erection was continuing to grow. He pressed his hardness against her thigh, trying to ease his need even for just a little.

    "L-let me," Long Jinjing whispered before reaching down between them and touching his erection underneath his pants.

    He sucked her lips before moving to sit on the other end of the couch. Long Jinjing pushed herself up and turned her body until she was lying on her stomach. Her head was facing hisp.

    She tugged the waistband of his pants. He lifted his hips and helped her pull it down to his knees.

    His hard length sprang up, almost hitting her face. She caught it with one hand and stroked it while watching his expression.

    He watched her with half-lidded eyes. Then he sucked in a harsh breath when she lowered his head and took him inside her hot, wet mouth.

    Hiss!

    "Fuck, Jinjing. Oh, yeah." He ran his fingers through her hair and tickled her neck as she pleasured him with her mouth.

    Thebination of her hands and mouth was too much. Less than two minutester and he was already ejacting.

    He cursed¡ªmore from pleasure than embarrassment¡ªas he enjoyed his climax.

    Long Jinjing swallowed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She looked like a cat who ate a canary.

    "This¡­" Lu Zihao gasped while giving her smug wife an ineffective side eye. "This doesn''t¡­count. My stamina has worsened because I¡­just recently came out ofa."

    "Right~" she drawled, her expression remaining smug.

    He chuckled, not minding it. To be honest, he preferred it when his wife was feeling smug and confident like this and not always wallowing in her insecurities.

    "Want more?" he asked.

    Her answer was to continue stroking his now limp member and make it hard again. He groaned and closed his eyes to enjoy her ministrations. Then he opened her eyes and urged her up before kissing her.

    He tasted a bit of himself in her mouth. He disliked it so he kissed her harder to mask his own taste. In no time, he became aroused again.

    "Is it safe now?" he asked in-between their kisses.

    She paused. "I think so...no, yes!"

    "Which one is it?"

    "Yes because I''m all healed up now. No because¡­I''m not on the pill. You should wear a c-condom¡­."

    "Ah." He had no condom with him. He doubted that she was carrying one right now. "Should we move to our bedroom?"

    The indoor forest was pretty far from their bedroom.

    "It''s fine," she told him.

    He raised an eyebrow.

    "Let''s not go all the way today."

    His brows furrowed. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    She giggled and poked at his erect member. It twitched from her action.

    "I can''t tire you out. You still have a medical exam scheduledter this afternoon. The doctor will scold us if we¡­you know¡­."

    "If we fuck?" he finished her sentence.

    Her already flushed faced turned even redder but she still nodded.

    "I''m good," he told her. "This won''t tire me out."

    The look she gave him was skeptical. "You finished in a minute just now and you''re telling me that you won''t get tired? You''re still a patient, Niki. Don''t overestimate your endurance when you''re not fully recovered yet."

    He scowled. "It''s not a minute! It was two minutes! Give or take a few seconds, but it should be two minutes if we round it up!"

    "Hehe." She tightened her hand around his erection, making him gasp. "Okay, if you say so."

    He leaned towards her until their faces were only a couple of inches apart. They could feel their warm breaths intermingling.

    Long Jinjing felt a little flustered. She backed away but he caught her.

    "Merciless woman, trying to run away from your husband in the middle of his excitement that you caused?"

    She felt wronged. "You''re the one who seduced me first!"

    "Heh, is that so? Who''s the one who asked me to fuck her?"

    "Y-you! You''re so bad!"

    His devilishughter returned. "Hm, I''m so bad indeed. But this bad man is now your husband. Do you deny this?"

    "Of course not! You''re my¡­h-husband. How can I deny this?"

    "That''s true. And now I, your husband, want to show you, my wife¡­."

    She blinked her eyes and waited for him to finish his sentence.

    He leaned closer and whispered directly to his ear, "¡­how much I love you."

    Boom!

    Once again, Long Jinjing''s IQ dropped to a level worse than that of an amoeba. When she gradually gained some of her senses, most of her clothes had already been removed and her husband was on top of her busily sucking on her breasts.

    She moaned and held his head. Her body arched upwards, pushing her chest closer to him.

    He continued ying with her nipples while his head moved downwards. He kissed her soft abdomen.

    "W-wait!" She tried pushing him away and covered her belly but he held her hands.

    "Don''t hide," he said.

    "B-but my belly is so¡­bby. It''s¡­ugly." She turned her face away, feeling too embarrassed.

    He sighed but still told her, "Not bby. It''s beautiful."

    She faced him again and red. "Liar!"

    "I''m not lying." He touched her belly and ran his fingers over it. Her belly twitched. He lowered his head and kissed several spots of her belly.

    His actions were gentle but they still made her sigh in pleasure. Even so, she still felt insecure about her bby belly.

    Finally, he raised his head again and looked at her straight in the eyes. "For me, this belly is beautiful. The most beautiful."

    She pouted, not believing him at all.

    "Why? It''s because this belly carried my children. Your belly became like this because of me and my sons. That''s why I find it so beautiful. There''s only one woman in the world whose belly changed like this from carrying my sons¡ªyou. Only you. So don''t hate it anymore, Jinjing, because I love it."

    Tears filled her eyes and flowed down the sides of her head.

    "No matter what you look like, you''re still the woman who I chose to marry. You''re the woman who gave me my sons. You''re the woman who I want to be by my side. You''re the woman who¡­I fell in love with."

    "Oh, Niki¡­" She pulled him up and kissed him with desperation, gratitude, and of course, love.

    This man sucked in saying anything romantic but these words were the most romantic thing that she ever received in her entire life.

    "I love you so much, Niki!"

    "I love you too, Jinjing."

    The frenzied kisses stopped as they gasped for air.

    "Niki? Can you get off for a second? You''re heavy."

    "Hm." He dragged himself off her and plopped himself back on the couch.

    His erection was now softening. It was clear that he was too drowsy to continue what they had been doing.

    Long Jinjing didn''t mind that she was unable to have an orgasm today.

    What she had today was more amazing than physical orgasm.

    Her husband had given her emotional and mental orgasm through his sudden love confession and his attempt at making her feel better about her body image.

    She had never so happy than how she felt right now.

 Chapter 1380 Erased From History

    <h4>Chapter 1380 Erased From History</h4>

    Long Jinjing put on her clothes while smiling. Then she looked at her half-asleep husband. Even when his eyelids were heavy, he still made sure to watch her. She flushed under his heavy gaze.

    No matter how much he insisted that he was already recovered, it was clear that his normal energy still hadn''t returned yet. Look at the man, he could barely stay awake. His current performance was pitiful, a far cry from his usual capability.

    "Pull up your pants," she told him.

    He grunted but didn''t move.

    "Do you want me to help you?" she asked.

    He peeked at her through half-lidded eyes. Then she noticed that his manhood was starting to stir again.

    The sight left her speechless. Man, he was just about to fall asleep. Why did he get in the mood again?

    Even when she gestured for him to hurry up, he still refused to move.

    "Let''s go, Niki. I don''t want you to miss your appointmentter. The faster youplete all your medical exams, the sooner the doctor will discharge you from the hospital wing."

    Once again, he only grunted but didn''t move.

    What was this? Was he acting like a spoiled child? Did he want her to coax him?

    Her mouth twitched. But far from annoyed, she felt amused instead. It was very rare for her husband to act childish like this in front of her.

    Was this the effect of his love confession?

    After admitting that he loved her, he must have felt morefortable in showing his authentic self to her. This was exactly what she wanted. Joy filled her.

    She couldn''t help but giggle from delight.

    "Laughing at me?" he asked.

    "No." She shook her head, still smiling. "Come on and get up now, Niki. I can''t carry you. If you fall asleep here, I would have to ask others for help in carrying you. I''m sure that you don''t want that."

    He scowled but eventually forced himself to stand up and pull his pants up.

    "This damn body is so weak," he muttered.

    "Of course, your body is going to weaken. You wereatose for that long! Just focus on recovering. Knowing you, I''m sure that you''ll be back to your usual energetic self in no time."

    "Heh~" He smirked. "It seems that my wife can''t wait for me to regain my usual energy. I''ll have to work hard then. I can''t let my wife hold it in for too long or she might despise me, her husband, for not satisfying her."

    She flushed and red at him. "W-what are you saying? You''re so bad!"

    He shed her with a devilish smile. Coupled with his drowsy appearance, it made him even more roguish. A hot and sinful rogue!

    After teasing her, they left the indoor forest while holding hands. Lu Zihao attempted to return directly to their bedroom but Long Jinjing stood her ground and insisted on returning him to the hospital wing.

    He watched as his woman dragged him back to his hospital room. Her strength was nothing to him. She was only able to drag him along like this because he let her.

    The feeling was not bad. As a matter of fact, he felt like a soft cat''s paw was scratching his heart. It tickled and itched at the same time.

    Was this love?

    Even though he now admitted that he loved Long Jinjing, he still hadn''t fullyprehended yet what it meant to be in love. In a sense, he was aplete newbie in this realm of romantic love and how to keep it alive for a long time.

    He still had a lot of things to learn when it came to romancing his woman. And he was willing to learn for the sake of his wife and the little family that they built together.

    "Go take a nap," she said while tucking him in his hospital bed. "I''ll wake you upter when it''s almost time for your medical exam."

    "Hm."

    She gave him a quick peck on the mouth and whispered, "I love you, Niki."

    "Love you, too," he mumbled before falling asleep.

    This time, she no longer doubted what she heard. It wasn''t a hallucination. Her husband really loved her!

    She couldn''t stop smiling until the doctor arrived muchter.

    ###

    In the next few days, Lu Zihao was finally discharged from the hospital wing. The first thing that he did after his discharge was to have a proper talk with his sister. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    He had wanted to speak with Iris much earlier but she had been extremely busy in the past few days. Knowing how absorbed his sister could get whenever she did something that she was passionate about, he didn''t want to disturb her. He dyed the talk and instead used the time to think about all the things that he wanted to tell her.

    The day they made the appointment to talk, the siblings walked in the huge gardens of Dragon Pce Home #10. The weather was just perfect. It was sunny but the temperature felt cool.

    Both of them wore autumn coats and walked side by side while admiring the remaining greenery in the gardens.

    They stopped just outside therge hedge maze. Iris sat on a stone bench while Lu Zihao remained by the fountain.

    "I won''t take back the things that I said during our fight that day," Iris spoke in Russian, direct to the point.

    Lu Zihao preferred this straightforward manner of talking. "Hm, I know."

    She studied her brother and noticed that he really felt a lot different from how she remembered him. "You''ve changed."

    "Hm." He didn''t deny it.

    Indeed, even he could feel the change in him. He still wasn''t sure if this change was good or bad. Only time would tell.

    "Do you still resent me?" Iris asked.

    He nced at her. "At first, yes. But now¡­no. Not anymore."

    She sighed in relief. "I understand why you would resent me. But I stand by my position. You and I are different, Big Brother. I''m happier in this life."

    "I know."

    "What about you, Big Brother? Are you still intent on pursuing your revenge?"

    Silence.

    He nced at the rippling water in the fountain''s pool. His hazy reflection showed Lu Zihao''s face, not Niki Vetrov.

    Then he finally replied, "Yes."

    "Alright." Iris epted his answer.

    "But I realized that you are also right," he said. "It''s true that I now have my own family who would be heartbroken if they lose me. I¡­also don''t want to leave them."

    Iris smiled. "I''m d."

    "Evelinka."

    "Yes?"

    "I am still Niki Vetrov."

    "I know."

    "But you''re correct again. I am now Lu Zihao as well. I have been trying so hard to reject this identity even when I have no choice but to live with it. My children bear the surname Lu. My wife is referred to as Mrs. Lu. Even the old man¡­I respect him and also think of him as my real grandfather."

    Iris'' smile deepened.

    "In so many ways, I have been trying to live as Niki Vetrov. Despite all the limitations that Lu Zihao''s identity have in the criminal underworld, I still push on acting like my old, original self. In hindsight, I now realize that doing this might be my attempt not to let Niki Vetrov bepletely erased from history. I don''t want to be forgotten because I, Niki Vetrov, am still here despite living as Lu Zihao now."

    The smile disappeared from Iris'' face, reced by solemn understanding. She knew what he meant. In a sense, what he had been doing was simr to what she had done.

    In order to catch Cross Academy''s attention, she deliberately used the same style as Fantom. Once they reached out to her, she revealed that she was Evelina Vetrova''s sole disciple before passing away. She did this in order to give herself a legitimate reason to be admitted to the exclusive school and also to fast-track her enrollment.

    However, this wasn''t her only motive. Truth be told, she did it so that Evelina Vetrova wouldn''t be forgotten. As the sole disciple of her past self, Long Xin (a.k.a. Drakon) would be able to continue her own legacy¡ªthe legacy of Evelina (a.k.a. Fantom).

    She didn''t think that it was narcissistic to do this. Not at all.

    It was just a matter of proving to others that she existed. Was it bad for her to do it?

    If her existence waspletely erased, then what was the point in living? Even though she felt miserable in her past life due to her inability to freely be the person that she always wanted to be, she still didn''t want to bepletely forgotten and erased from history.

    It turned out that her brother also thought the same way. Their methods might be different from each other but their goals were the same.

    Lu Zihao looked at her straight in the eyes. She didn''t shy away either.

    Their bond as siblings might not be telepathic but it was powerful enough to follow them after their deaths to this new chance in life that they received aspletely different people.

    "Thanks to you, I''m going to rethink my original n of revenge," he said. "I still can''t allow those motherfuckers who annihted us to run freely in the world, but I also need to think about my family. You''re right, Evelinka. I love my wife and our children. I want to spend many years with my family."

    Iris stood up and walked towards him. She stopped and stood a few feet from him. "I''ll help you, Big Brother."

    He frowned.

    "Don''t reject my offer," she told him before he could reply. "Fantom might have disappeared but Drakon has risen in its ce. When the right timees, I''ll introduce to the world the fusion of these two hacker identities¡ªFantom Drakon."

 Chapter 1381 Gala Invitation

    <h4>Chapter 1381 G Invitation</h4>

    Lu Zihao''s stance for now was to neither ept nor reject his sister''s offer. He had always trusted her abilities as a world-ss hacker but allowing her to join in his path of revenge was another matter that needed careful consideration. Besides, his original path of revenge required some drastic modifications as well.

    Iris didn''t force him to ept her offer right away either. There would definitely be a time that he would need to borrow her skills as a hacker.

    Bacon was powerful but still immature in so many ways. So was Ketchup. Her two cat AI children would definitely join the war against the Vetrovs'' enemies but both of them still had a lot of growing up to do before that.

    There were multiple methods that she could use to power up all of them but everything would be easier with her brother''s full cooperation. He knew more things about the enemies than she did.

    If they wanted topletely defeat those enemies, they couldn''t do it alone. They needed to work together.

    "Think about it some more, Big Brother," she told him. "Just remember that regardless of our different personal values, we have the same motivation¡ªto destroy all the enemies and protect the families that we built in this life."

    "Hm, alright," he finally replied.

    Iris smiled and then rushed into his arms. When her brother hugged her back, it felt like home. Her old home. Her brother, Niki, was more of a parent to her than their mother and father in their past life.

    She rubbed her face against his chest. His appearance and physique might bepletely different from what she remembered in their past life but the warmth of her brother''s embrace remained the same.

    Lu Zihao chuckled and stroked her long hair. "You''re already a grown woman, not to mention a mother, and yet you still dare to act like a little girl."

    "It''s because you''re my big brother."

    His gaze softened. "Yeah. I''ll always be your big brother."

    ###

    A week before Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s scheduled wedding date, arge portion of their most important invited guests received another invitation.

    This time, it was an invitation to an exclusive g hosted by Lin Yehan to celebrate the national shooting team''s silver medal win at the World Shotgun Championship. He was one of the coaches of the team.

    Included in the g invitation were the national team''s sponsors. The main one was Jin Corporation.

    The g was scheduled at the same exact date and time as Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding.

    When a portion of their invited guests received Lin Yehan''s g invitation, they immediately understood that it was a deliberate shady move to undermine the wedding. It wasn''t a secret that Lin Yehanunched a defamationwsuit against Long Hui and eventually won the case.

    Lin Yehan might generally be a low-key person but he was nheless an agricultural tycoon in his own right. In terms of wealth and influence, he was leagues above Long Hui''s current status. Lin Yehan was already an emperor of his own agriculture empire while Long Hui could only be considered as a crown prince with an unstable foundation. His other siblings including Iris Long were also vying for their father''s throne.

    A group of the wedding guests immediately cancelled their attendance in advance and nned to attend Lin Yehan''s g instead.

    Even when Lin Yehan''s own prestige as an agricultural tycoon was taken out of the equation, just the fact that he was hosting a victory g for the national shooting team was already enough reason to attend his g instead of Long Hui''s wedding.

    The national team didn''t only take home the silver medal at the world championship but also great pride to the country. Helping celebrate these amazing athletes was more dignified than attending the union of a young, rich couple who were nobodies without their respective families'' backing.

    The other group of the wedding guests were more indecisive. They spent some time analyzing which event would be more beneficial to them. Most of them were close to the Long, Mao and Zheng families. Even if they wanted to, they couldn''t cancel their attendance just like that.

    It was only when they heard from the grapevine that Jin Liwei, Lu Zihao and their other sworn brothers would be attending Lin Yehan''s g that they finally made a choice. Even Jin Chonglin was rumoured to attend as well, though this information wasn''t confirmed yet. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    These invited guests couldn''t help but gossip among themselves.

    "Didn''t Miss Mao mention in various interviews a while back that she sent an invitation to CEO Jin and Iris Long?"

    "It''s no secret that Iris Long and Long Hui have fallen out after he cheated on that bodyguard with Mao Qiuyue. Iris Long sided with the bodyguard instead of her brother. Of course, she won''t attend Long Hui''s wedding!"

    "I don''t care about their family drama. I need to quickly find a dress to attend Mr. Lin''s g because the one that Imissioned for the wedding is now useless. My husband can''t wait for the g because he wants the chance to talk to CEO Jin about some business opportunities."

    "My husband have the same n, too."

    "So many of us cancelled our attendance to the wedding. The Maos have been trying to call me and my husband nonstop. Even the Zhengs are stepping forward. Surprisingly, the Longs don''t have much of a reaction."

    "President Long Tengfei is rumoured to be closer to his daughters than his sons. It''s not surprising because his daughters married extremely well. Iris Long married CEO Jin while his illegitimate daughter married Sir Lu Jianhong''s grandson. Not only that. Both daughters gave birth to twins each. President Long will definitely prioritize his daughters in order to strengthen his inw rtionship with both the Jins and the Lus."

    While these gossips fermented in several circles, Lin Yehan was drinking with his sworn brothers at Dragon Pce Home #10. Except for Wang Yingjie who had hospital duty, everyone was present.

    Lin Yehan and Yu Mo drank brandy while Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao stopped at one shot each before contenting themselves with non-alcoholic cocktails for the rest of the evening.

    "Eldest Bro, will you be in trouble for using the national team to hurt Long Hui and his bride?" Yu Mo asked.

    "What using the national team?" Lin Yehan raised an eyebrow. "The victory g that I''m hosting is legitimate. It''s only a coincidence that it''s scheduled on the same day as the wedding."

    "Pft! Coincidence. Yeah, right!" Yu Mo rolled his eyes beforeughing.

    Lin Yehan turned to Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao. "Both of you are going toe, right?"

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Lu Zihao grunted.

    Lin Yehan smiled. "Barring any emergencies in the hospital that day, Second Brother Yingjie said that he would be able toe as well."

    "My wife wille, too," Jin Liwei said.

    "Even better!" Lin Yehan was delighted. He turned to his fifth brother.

    Lu Zihao swirled his cocktail. "Jinjing still hasn''t decided yet. If she doesn''t want toe, I won''t force her."

    "That''s fine," Lin Yehan replied and nodded in understanding.

    Yu Mo slung an arm over Lin Yehan''s shoulders. "Eldest Bro, will you be escorting ady in the g?"

    "If thedy agrees, then yes."

    "Oh?" Yu Mo''s eyes lit up. "Who''s she? Do I know her?"

    "Yes."

    "Who?"

    Lin Yehan only smiled but didn''t reveal anything to his clueless fifth brother.

    Yu Mo had been busy teaching Systema to his students in his studio and hanging out with his other less close friends. He didn''t know that his eldest brother had been chasing a certain single mother.

    Lin Yehan didn''t publicize it to prevent hisdy from feeling ufortable. Nobody told Yu Mo.

    "Third Bro, Fifth Bro, do you know whichdy Eldest Bro is talking about?" Yu Mo asked.

    "En," Jin Liwei said.

    Lu Zihao didn''t bother replying. He didn''t care about this topic.

    "Tell me!"

    Yu Mo whined for a long time but none of his bros revealed anything useful. He could only sulk by himself while downing shot after shot of brandy. In the end, he became too drunk that an annoyed Lu Zihao slung the man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and tossed him at a random guest bedroom.

    "I''m off," Lu Zihao announced and left without so much as waiting for a reply.

    Lin Yehan shook his head while chuckling. He was also a little drunk but in a much better state than Yu Mo.

    "You go ahead and return to Xin, Third Brother. I''m going to find a balcony for some fresh air to sober up a bit before I head to bed."

    "Alright." Jin Liwei patted his shoulder before leaving as well. "Good night, Eldest Brother."

    "Good night."

    Lin Yehan went to the nearest balcony after Jin Liwei left. The air was chilly and made him shiver but he stayed put. A few minutester, his mind cleared up a little.

    He fished his phone out of his pocket and called someone.

    "Hello?" a female voice answered.

    "Miss Ying Yue."

    Pause.

    "Are you drunk, Mr. Yehan?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    "A little," he admitted.

    She sighed. "It''ste now. You should go to sleep."

    "I miss you."

    Silence.

    "Miss Ying Yue, I miss you," he repeated. "I want to see you. Can I?"

    "You''re still at the mansion?"

    "Yes. Yu Mo and I are staying here tonight. So¡­can I see you?"

    "Right now?"

    "Uh-huh."

    "B-but¡­."

    Lin Yehan inhaled the cold air and felt more refreshed. "Please, Miss Ying Yue. I won''t do anything inappropriate. I promise. I really just want to see you, that''s all."

    Jiang Ying Yue didn''t answer for what felt like a long time. Finally, she said, "Okay."

 Chapter 1382 Letâ€™s Become a Family

    <h4>Chapter 1382 Let¡¯s Be a Family</h4>

    Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue met in a secluded corner near Little Jun''s room. There was an ottoman bench by arge window. Beside the bench was an ent table with a vase of fresh flowers on top, a ss disy in the shape of the LX monogram, and a framed photo of Iris, Jin Liwei and Little Jun with Popcorn.

    "After we marry, let''s take a family picture like this with Little Jun," Lin Yehan said all of a sudden.

    "Y-you¡­." Jiang Ying Yue turned red.

    "Little Jun loves his cat cousins and his new puppy. It''s clear that he adores animals. My farm vi has a lot. There are cute bunnies there that he might like. You and Little Jun should visit my farm vi one of these days. I''ll teach him how to ride a pony. How about you? Do you know how to ride a horse? If not, I can teach you, too."

    "Mr. Yehan!"

    Lin Yehan faced her with his ever-present gentle smile. "Yes, Miss Ying Yue?"

    "Please don''t do this."

    "Do what?"

    "T-this¡­talking about m-marriage and doing things like a¡­f-family¡­."

    He walked forward. She stepped back. Then she stumbled and fell on the ottoman bench. Now she was sitting down and had to raise her head to look at him.

    Lin Yehan stopped about two feet away from her, giving her a bit of space but not enough to let her escape so easily.

    He might not bepletely drunk but the alcohol definitely had a hand in making him act so brazen like this in front of the woman he liked.

    Then he sat on his haunches in front of her so that she wouldn''t feel intimidated by him too much. This way, they could speak close to eye level.

    "Miss Ying Yue, please don''t worry," he told her. "I won''t touch you without your permission. Rest assured that I do respect you and want you to feel morefortable with me. I just want to talk to you and hopefully get closer to you."

    She gazed down at her hands on herp, too shy to look at him straight in the eyes. "Alright."

    "May I take a seat beside you?"

    "Y-yes." She scooted a little to the side and gave some space for him on the bench.

    "Thank you." He sat down and looked at her.

    Lin Yehan couldn''t stop looking at her. In his slight drunkenness, Jiang Ying Yue seemed more beautiful than usual in his eyes. The red tint on her cheeks and ears were so adorable that he couldn''t help but grin.

    "Miss Ying Yue, I like you."

    She curled her fingers on herp. Her heartbeat felt like a thousand horses galloping while her breathing felt a littleboured.

    "M-mister Yehan...please don''t¡­."

    "Do you like me, too?"

    His sudden question startled her, and to be honest, made her panic. "W-what?"

    "I want to know if you like me, too," he said in a patient tone. "Do you? Even just a little?"

    "I¡­"

    "I don''t think you hate me."

    "N-no! Of course, I don''t hate you."

    He leaned towards her but still made sure to give her some space so as not to scare her too much. He just wanted to be near hear while also trying to get her used to his presence as much as possible.

    "Then do you like me?" he asked again.

    "I¡­yes."

    His eyes lit up. "Yes? You like me?"

    She forced herself to look at him even though she wanted to flee from embarrassment. Despite this, she still forced herself to stay put and face the man''s open pursuit. In the first ce, she already agreed to let Lin Yehan to court her. There was no use to running away for something that she allowed. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    This wasn''t the first time that a man had chased her anyway. Her ex, Long Hui, had also chased her back when she worked as his bodyguard.

    She couldn''t help butpare the two men.

    Long Hui had been very suave and charismatic back then. Before working for him, most men didn''t look at her as a girlfriend material because they said that her muscled body looked too masculine to be desirable. So when Long Hui said that he loved her body, she couldn''t help but fall hopelessly in love with him despite knowing that their rtionship would be met with hostility by the extremely prejudiced members of the Long n.

    And now, there was Lin Yehan. Unlike Long Hui, Lin Yehan never told her that he became attracted to her because of her muscled body. As a matter of fact, he said that he admired her character as a person, especially her strength and resilience as a mother.

    Thinking like this, Jiang Ying Yue realized that Long Hui might only have been attracted to her muscled body. If he really respected her as his fianc¨¦e and most importantly as the mother of his son, then he wouldn''t have said all those hurtful words and humiliated her in public.

    Compared to him, Lin Yehan had always been courteous to her even back when they were merely acquaintances meeting as the friends of Iris and Jin Liwei. Even now, he remained respectful to her. Most importantly, he treated Little Jun well.

    Of course, there was a chance that he might just be acting like this now and change in the future. But she doubted that.

    Jin Liwei and their other sworn brothers all respected Lin Yehan as their eldest brother. Just based on Jin Liwei''s character alone, she already trusted Lin Yehan and their other brothers.

    More often than not, one could discern a person''s character based on his or her close friends.

    Back to the present, Jiang Ying Yue gathered all her courage and continued to look at Lin Yehan straight in the eyes.

    "Yes, I like you," she told him.

    His smile spread across his face slowly. It was like watching a star be brighter in the night sky.

    She became dazed for a few seconds before catching herself.

    Lin Yehan wasn''t the most handsome among the five sworn brothers. In fact, even Long Hui was many times more handsome than him. He couldn''t be considered ugly either. His features were arranged in a way that made him look very kind and pleasant rather than handsome.

    Even so, he was still quite an attractive man. It was in the way that he carried himself¡ªconfident but not arrogant, kind but not weak, and warm but not overly friendly.

    Everything about him was just¡­right.

    At least, to her.

    "Do you really like me?" she asked him after gathering another round of courage.

    "Yes, I really like you," he replied, the smile on his face was gentle and delighted at the same time.

    "Earlier, you mentioned something about¡­m-marrying me and taking a¡­f-family picture together with my son. Are you serious about that?"

    His smile deepened. "Yes, I''m very serious about that. I do hope to marry you. If you give me a chance, I promise that I''ll respect you as a husband and work together with you in raising your son. I also promise to treat Little Jun like my own child. If someday I''m blessed to have a child with you, I promise that my treatment of Little Jun won''t change. Once we''re married, your son will be my son."

    Her eyes watered. "What about¡­my ex? What if Long Hui makes trouble again?"

    Lin Yehan''s eyes darkened but this onlysted for a couple of seconds before he gave her a reassuring smile. "I''ll protect you and Little Jun. I won''t allow anyone to bully my family."

    "F-family¡­." The redness spread from her cheers and ears all over her face and down her neck. "You really want to be a family with¡­m-me?"

    He nodded. "Yes. Very much so."

    "I have a degree but I only work as a bodyguard. Do you think that it''s a waste of my education?"

    His expression turned serious. "Miss Ying Yue, I don''t believe that your education level or your job defines you as a person. I work in the agricultural industry. Many of my manual workers, especially the farmers, have low education. A lot of people in society also look down on them as inferior rural folks. But I know that they are some of the kindest and mostpassionate people that I''ve ever met in my life. They are simple folks who won''t bother to say one thing in front of you and then stab you in the back afterwards. If they like you, they will treat you like family. If they dislike you, they won''t bother talking to you.

    "That''s why I don''t want you to worry about me disdaining your work as a bodyguard. This is the field that you want to work in and I respect your choice. I have seen the kind of training and work that you do here at Third Brother and Third Sister-inw''s home. They''re not easy at all. For a woman like you to do all these things that many men like me find difficult and torturous and you even excel at them, I sincerely admire you."

    Jiang Ying Yue found herself smiling. "Thank you. I do love my work."

    "I can tell." He was d to see her smile. "Rest assured that I won''t interfere with your work. If you want to continue working here, then that''s fine. If you want to explore other careers in the field of security, I''ll also support you 100%. I also love my work in the agricultural industry so Ipletely understand when others feel passionate about their work."

    After hearing what he had to say, she made a decision right then and there.

    She grabbed his hand.

    He looked surprised and then delighted.

    Then she said, "Mr. Yehan, let''s be a family."

 Chapter 1383 Slow But Steady

    <h4>Chapter 1383 Slow But Steady</h4>

    For a moment, Lin Yehan thought that he might have already fallen asleep and was dreaming all this.

    "Am I still awake?" he murmured, a little dazed.

    Jiang Ying Yue couldn''t help but chuckle. She pinched his hand.

    He hissed. The sharp pain immediately proved that this was all real. She didn''t hold back at all in pinching him. It hurt!

    "Oh, sorry. I didn''t control my strength." She rubbed the part of his hand that she just pinched.

    "It''s fine."

    "I''ll control my strength next time," she said.

    "There''s a next time?"

    She gave him a shy smile. "Maybe." She paused for a few seconds before asking, "So¡­are we considered¡­together now?"

    "Huh?" His brain took a few seconds to load before he came back to his senses. "Yes! Of course!" Heughed in delight. "We''re together now!"

    "Y-yehan¡­."

    He grinned while rubbing and squeezing her hand. It was calloused and a little rough, but for him, it was the most beautiful hand that he had ever held.

    "Yes, that''s right. You should call me Yehan now, Ying Yue."

    Then he raised her hand and gave it a light kiss. His grin became wider after seeing her flushing even brighter.

    "Ying Yue, thank you for epting me. I''ll do my best to show that you made the right decision in choosing me."

    "Okay, Yehan."

    He leaned closer towards her. "May I kiss you?"

    Her face right now was as red as a baboon''s butt but she still nodded. Without waiting for his next move, she already grabbed his face and kissed him on the lips.

    His arms immediately wrapped around her as he opened his mouth and deepened the kiss.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt the familiar stirrings of desire in her lower belly. She hung on to him and tried to intensify the kiss but he was inplete control of it. Before she knew it, she was already following his rhythm¡ªslow but very thorough.

    This was the first time that she had been kissed so meticulously like this. Lin Yehan was like a master explorer, taking his time to find her sweet spots and learning which techniques she liked best.

    There was a steadiness in the man that assured her. Just based on his performance right now, he wasn''t the kind to blow her mind from intensity right from the start. He seemed to prefer to take the slow but steady route.

    Soft and gentle in the beginning and then gradually building up the intensity. The feeling that he gave her was more like a trickling stream rather than a raging waterfall.

    At first, it felt like a stream flowing slowly but surely into a river that became bigger and faster the more he worked his magic on her. Then finally, she found herself plummeting down a waterfall that appeared out of nowhere, catching her off guard.

    When she returned to her senses, she realized that she somehow moved from the ottoman bench on to Lin Yehan''sp. She stared at him in a daze. There was a slight taste of brandy on her tongue from his kiss.

    "Ying Yue," he whispered before gently rubbing their lips together.

    She sighed from the tender pleasure. It felt so nice, rxing and hot all at the same time.

    "You''re drunk," she murmured. "What if you forget about all this tomorrow?"

    He chuckled and rubbed her lower back. "Something so wonderful like this, how could I forget?"

    ###

    The next morning, Lin Yehan woke up with a throbbing headache. He was in an unfamiliar room and an unfamiliar bed, but when he inhaled, he smelled a familiar scent.

    From now on, he wanted to smell this scent every time he woke up in the morning. He smiled but winced when his head began hurting like a bitch again.

    The door open a crack. Jiang Ying Yue poked half of her head through the door and peeked inside. When she saw that he was already up, she entered while pushing a small cart.

    "Good morning, Yehan."

    "Good morning, Ying Yue." He waited for her to arrive by the bed¡ªher bed.

    "I brought you some hangover soup. The butler also prepared fresh clothes and toiletries for you."

    He pulled her to sit on the edge of the bed beside him before giving her cheek a quick peck. Satisfaction filled him at seeing the tips of her ears turn red.

    "Don''t get too close to me," she said and pulled away from him a little. "I just finished my morning training routine so I''m sweaty."

    "I like you sweaty," he teased.

    She turned red all over.

    He chuckled and then winced.

    "Headache?" She took the bowl of hangover soup and handed it to him. "Drink this first. I''ll take a quick shower. You can go after I finish."

    He hummed his agreement and took a few sips of the rich soup. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

    "Yes but I already burned most of it from my morning training routine. I''ll eat again with youter."

    "Okay."

    He focused on finishing the soup while listening to the sounds of her showering in the ensuite bathroom. The smile stayed on his face almost the entire time. He felt so happy that he almost couldn''t believe that they were actually together now. If not for his painful headache, then he would doubt that this was reality.

    After cing the empty bowl back on the cart, he opened the curtains, letting the bright sunlight flood in the bedroom. He started stretching his half-naked body while studying the room''s interior.

    The overall style was quite masculine¡ªstrong, bold textures with minimal decorations. It suited Jiang Ying Yue perfectly.

    Last night, he followed Jiang Ying Yue to her bedroom where they continued to make out. Yes, he slept on her bed but nothing more happened between the two of them besides kissing and some touching over their clothing.

    She had the intention of consummating their rtionship but he managed to calm her down. Although he wasn''tpletely drunkst night, he still didn''t want their first time to be influenced by alcohol in any way. He preferred to be alert when he made love with Jiang Ying Yue for the first time.

    Neither of them were virgins but that didn''t mean that he should be careless in his treatment of her. On the contrary, he was determined to be the best and the most considerate lover that she ever had in her entire life.

    Jiang Ying Yue finished showering and putting on clothes in ten minutes. Lin Yehan was very impressed. Her discipline wasparable to soldiers. Even a former professional athlete like him couldn''tpare to her.

    He gave her a quick hug and another rather chaste kiss on the cheek before taking a shower next.

    Afterwards, the two of them headed straight to the yroom where Little Jun was ying with Popcorn and his puppy, Gravy.

    "Mommi! Anko Han!"

    The little guy jumped into his mother''s waiting arms. Lin Yehan made a e here" gesture with his arms and was pleasantly surprised when Little Jun reached over to him. He carried the child and enjoyed the feeling.

    Together, they headed to the dining area. Popcorn and Gravy followed by their heels.

    When they arrived at the dining area, they saw almost everyone except for Grandpa Lu who apparently went out to visit some of his old friends again. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Yo, good morning," Yu Mo greeted. He looked haggard with listless eyes and dark circles.

    Then his eyes widened and almost bulged out of his head when he saw the inteced hands of Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Whoa! Holy Moly! What am I seeing?! Is this for real?! Am I dreaming?! Someone pinch me¡ªOUCH!!! Ice Cream, you brat! I said pinch me, not punch me! Dammit! I think you also scratched me. Is it bleeding?"

    The fat, grey catnded on the floor after punching her Uncle Mo with agility and gracefulness that defied her size. She threw him a disgusted re before hopping on top of a disy table near her twin baby brothers and cousins but far away from the annoying puppies on the floor.

    "Third Bro, look at what your eldest did to me!" Yu Moined while holding his face where Ice Cream punched him.

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. "You were being too loud. Ice Cream didn''t want you scaring the babies."

    "And so she attacked me?!"

    "Not attacked, just warned you," Jin Liwei corrected.

    Lu Zihao sneered at Yu Mo. "You''re a Systema practitioner and yet you can''t even win against a cat? How shameful!"

    Long Jinjing giggled.

    "My daughter is so mighty," Iris said in a tone filled with pride.

    "Baby Ice Cream''s cat punch just now is one of the bestest I''ve ever seen!" Dom eximed. "So fast and clean! Ehehe. I should''ve recorded it on video!"

    "Meow~" Ice Cream''s disdainful expression turned adorable after her mommy and Uncle Dom (a.k.a. ve #1) praised her.

    Yu Mo couldn''t ept that nobody was sympathizing with him even for a bit. "You''re all bullying me!"

    Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue took this time to settle in their seats. It was Lin Yehan who put Little Jun in his high seat, looking so much like a dad. Their actions caught everybody''s attention again, especially Yu Mo.

    "Eldest Bro, is Jiang Ying Yue the specialdy that you''ve been pursuing?" Yu Mo asked.

    "Yes." Lin Yehan had no intention of denying it. In fact, he was very proud of it.

    Yu Mo looked around the table. Nobody looked surprised. Only him.

    "You all knew about them?"

    Just looking at their expressions alone was enough to answer his question. He nced at his happy eldest brother, the blushing Jiang Ying Yue, and the clueless Little Jun.

    "Cool! Congrats, Eldest Bro! You too, Jiang Ying Yue! So tell me, when''s the wedding?"

 Chapter 1384 Rebound

    <h4>Chapter 1384 Rebound</h4>

    Jiang Ying Yue became flustered when all eyes fell on her. She put on her expressionless bodyguard face to save herself fromplete embarrassment but didn''t fully seed. The red tinge on her face, ears and neck gave her away.

    "Fourth Brother, that''s enough." Lin Yehan came to her rescue. "Ying Yue and I only became an official couplest night. We n on deepening our feelings for each other before getting married."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Lin Yehan made his move after they all dispersed from their drinking sessionst night.

    Lu Zihao didn''t care. He continued to eat meat and put more food on his wife''s te instead.

    As for Iris, Long Jinjing and Dom, all of them looked happy for their friend. Although they already knew that Lin Yehan had been courting Jiang Ying Yue before this and estimated that the two would be a couple sooner rather thanter, they still didn''t expect that the two would really get together this fast.

    Unlike Iris and Long Jinjing who were both single when they got involved with their respective husbands, Jiang Ying Yue carried a lot of baggage from her previous rtionship. It wasn''t easy for her to enter anothermitted rtionshippared to her friends especially since she had a child with her ex.

    Everyone knew how hurt and humiliated she felt when she and Long Hui broke up. They thought that she would need more time to heal from her heartbreak before epting a new lover. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Eldest Brother, please treat Ying Yue and Little Jun well," Iris said.

    "Of course," Lin Yehan replied without hesitation.

    While eating breakfast, they talked about Lin Yehan''s uing g that he was hosting for the national shooting team. At the same time, they all had a tacit understanding not to talk about another event that was scheduled on the same day as the g¡ªLong Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding.

    "Ying Yue, please be my partner at the g," Lin Yehan said.

    "I¡­." Jiang Ying Yue looked torn.

    "Just agree, Ying Yue," Iris interjected. "There''s nothing to worry about it. Dom, Big Sister Jinjing and even Chen Fei and Meimei are all going. If Clover were here, I''m sure that she''ll go with us, too. I hired extra people from LXC Studio to help my m team style us for the event. No need to worry about the dresses either. A few of my favourite designers already agreed to send some dresses for us to choose from."

    "Yep, juste with us, Sis Yue!" Dom piped in. "It''s going to be so much fun! We, the girl squad, are going to be the most gorgeous and fabulous in the g!"

    "I originally didn''t n on attending but I changed my mind when I learned that most of our friends are also going," Long Jinjing said. "Little Sister Xin has already made arrangements for our styling so there''s no need to worry about anything else other than our attendance."

    Iris added, "Besides, even if we''re not with you, I''m sure that Eldest Brother won''t leave you alone to fend for yourself at the g."

    Lin Yehan nodded. "Exactly." He looked at Jiang Ying Yue. "Be my partner?"

    Jiang Ying Yue still looked a little hesitant but she nodded. "Okay."

    He smiled.

    "Gah!" Yu Mo shielded his eyes. "Too bright! My eyes are melting from all the dog food! All of you are now couples. I''m the only one here who''s a single dog!"

    Dom batted her eyshes. "I, the gorgeous beauty king, am also single. You''re not alone, Teacher Yu."

    Yu Mo sighed. "Dom, if only you were born female, I would have already chased you and made you mine. I think we''re quitepatible."

    Dom sighed as well. "If I were born female, I would reject you without hesitation, Teacher Yu. Even though we''re quitepatible as you say, you''re still not my type."

    "Ah!" Yu Mo clutched his chest and showed an exaggerated expression of shock.

    Everyoneughed at the antics of the two. Indeed, they were quitepatible. Both of them were lively, funny, and had the talent of lightening up almost any atmosphere.

    After breakfast, the men were dawdling before going to their respective work, especially Lin Yehan who only became an official couple with hisdyst night.

    He didn''t mind that the others were around them. He gave Jiang Ying Yue a peck on the lips.

    Why should he be shy? What he did was nothingpared to what his third brother and fifth brother were doing to their wives. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao were almost eating their wives'' faces off by how hard, deep and enthusiastic they were kissing them in front of everyone else.

    The kiss he and Jiang Ying Yue shared just now was very chastepared to what the other two shameless couples were doing.

    All of a sudden, Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue felt something force itself between the two of them. They looked down at the same time and saw Little Jun.

    "Junjun kiss-kiss, chu!" (Give Junjun a kiss, too!)

    Jiang Ying Yue smiled and squatted down to her son''s level. Then she showered her son''s face with lots of kisses. Little Jun giggled from delight.

    After his mother kissed him, he gave Lin Yehan an expectant look next. Lin Yehan turned to Jiang Ying Yue, silently asking her what to do.

    "Little Jun wants you to kiss him, too," she tranted what her son''s expression meant.

    "Oh." He chuckled before squatting down as well. Then he held the child gently and gave Little Jun a kiss on each cheek.

    "Hehe." Satisfied, Little Jun abandoned his mother and Uncle Yehan to y with Popcorn and Gravy.

    Lin Yehan''s smile couldn''t be any happier. He was beaming even when he left with his brothers.

    "Ying Yue, let''s chat," Iris called.

    The friends dropped off the children, cats and puppies to the nursery first before heading to the nearby sitting area. The butler served them digestive herbal tea blend.

    "Sis Yue, tell us how you and Eldest Brother Boss became a couple! Hurry!" Dom''s curiosity and excitement were palpable in the way he bounced on his seat in anticipation.

    "Uhm¡­." Jiang Ying Yue felt shy. But at the same time, she also wanted to hear her friends'' opinion, so she told them everything that happened.

    Dom was ooh-ing and aah-ing and kyaah-ing while Iris and Long Jinjing focused on listening to Jiang Ying Yue.

    "So¡­what do you think?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    "Weh, are you sure you and Eldest Brother Boss didn''t chupa-choops yet?" Dom asked.

    "Chu¡ªwhat?" Jiang Ying Yue was confused at the unfamiliar term.

    "You know!" Dom made a vulgar gesture with his hands.

    Jiang Ying Yue threw an ent pillow at him.

    "Ehehe!" The agile Dom evaded it. "I''m just teasing you, Sis Yue. But I''m really impressed at Eldest Brother Boss'' self-control. You slept on the same bed and yet he only kissed you."

    Iris finally put a stop to Dom''s teasing. Jiang Ying Yue gave her a grateful look.

    It was Long Jinjing who changed the light atmosphere with her question. "Sis Ying Yue, please don''t be offended at what I''m going to ask but¡­I think that it''s¡­uh, important."

    "Go ahead, Jinjing."

    "Are you sure that¡­you''re not using Eldest Brother Yehan as a¡ªsorry¡ªa rebound?"

    Jiang Ying Yue stiffened.

    Even Iris and Dom became serious.

    They all looked at Jiang Ying Yue and waited for her answer.

    "Of course not!" She shook her head in a hurry. "I''m not that kind of person! I would never¡­there''s no way¡­that I will use Yehan as a r-rebound."

    "Okay, I understand," Long Jinjing also quickly said. "I''m sorry for asking this question, Sis Ying Yue."

    Iris sipped her tea. She looked the calmest among the group. "That''s actually a valid question, Big Sister Jinjing. But since Ying Yue says that her rtionship with Eldest Brother is not a rebound, then we should believe in her. We know what her character is like. She''s not like that."

    Both Long Jinjing and Dom nodded.

    Nevertheless, the matter about rebound made Jiang Ying Yue reflect on her true feelings and intentions towards Lin Yehan. She had never thought about it before but her current rtionship with Lin Yehan might indeed appear like a rebound to others people.

    It was actually good that Long Jinjing mentioned it this early. At least, Jiang Ying Yue could process it in a safe zone among her friends. If she encountered it in a public setting among strangers, then she didn''t know if she would be able to react well.

    "I truly¡­like Yehan," she told her friends. "I don''t think that I love him yet¡­but I''m close to it. It''s a different kind of attraction that I felt with¡­you know who. It''s calmer¡­steadier¡­and more reassuring. Yehan is an excellent man."

    "True that!" Dom piped in again. "Eldest Brother Boss has a different charm from other men. I can already see that he''ll be a great daddy to Little Junie boy, too!"

    Jiang Ying Yue sighed. "Long Hui will always be my son''s father. That will never change. If he wants to see Little Jun, I won''t obstruct him as long as he doesn''t harm our son in any way. But you''re right, Dom. I can also see that Yehan will be a great father to Little Jun. He also promised me several times that he''ll treat my son like his own. To be honest, that promise was the clincher for me. It''s one of the main reasons why I agreed to be with him."

    "That''s only natural," Iris said. "Liwei and I won''t agree with your rtionship with Eldest Brother if he doesn''t treat Little Jun well. I trust Eldest Brother''s character more than Long Hui."

 Chapter 1385 Mother is Back

    <h4>Chapter 1385 Mother is Back</h4>

    Unlike before, Iris and the others could no longer see that much pain in Jiang Ying Yue''s eyes. Though there was still a lot of anger there, the pain had decreased a lot. This should be one of the positive effects of being in a new rtionship with a much better man than her ex.

    The friends chattered for a little longer before dispersing to do their own tasks for the day.

    Long Jinjing headed to the nursery. Dom went to the home office. Jiang Ying Yue got ready for her shiftter.

    As for Iris, she dropped by the nursery with Long Jinjing to spend a few minutes with the children, cats and puppies before heading to her music room to continue working on her currentposition projects, including her coboration with her mentor, Enrique Valdez.

    There was no hurry to return to her music career especially since she and Jin Liwei were determined to take advantage of this precious time watching their babies grow and bond together as a family. However, she still didn''t want to neglect her passion for music. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    She continued to work onposing new music and fine-tuning old ones. She might use the ones she was fine-tuning in the future, but most of them would be given to the new LXC Studio artists to debut.

    Any samples left behind would be shown to her producer, JJ. If he liked something, he would produce it for his own recordbel''s artists. Of course, Iris Long would always be credited as the original songwriter even if she didn''t involve herself in the actual recording and post-production process.

    It was rather peaceful at Dragon Pce Home #10 but the same couldn''t be said in other ces.

    ###

    Mao Textiles had been in a constant barrage of attacks from almost all directions. It was subtle at first. The Mao family initially didn''t think too much about it. After all, which business didn''t experience challenges?

    But when the issues started cropping up almost every day and snowballing into danger zone, the Maos could no longer keep still and take the beating without doing anything.

    It was only after investigating did they discover that Lin Yehan was the mastermind in bullying theirpany. He caused almost all of their old and trusted suppliers to terminate their cooperation with Mao Textiles.

    As a result, thepany had no choice but to find other inferior and less trustworthy suppliers in a hurry. They couldn''t take advantage of the old client''s price benefit anymore. All of the raw materials they needed had be so much more expensive with the new suppliers.

    Even though thepany could still afford these new prices, it still hurt them. If thepany''s higher-ups decreased their sries and regr bonuses, then it was easy to circumvent these new expenses.

    But how could the higher-ups allow this to happen?

    There was no way that they would sacrifice their own benefits for the sake of thepany. Mao Textiles didn''t want to disturb the status quo either.

    The consequence of this was that all of the lower-ranked employees had to bear the burden instead. Low sries were cut even further. Meagre bonuses became even more miserable. Worst of all, many wereid off.

    These poor and pitiful employees attempted toin but did Mao Textiles care about them?

    Of course not!

    Thepany and the Mao family ignored them. They were too busy covering up these problems in order to maintain their wealthy front especially during this period when they were preparing for their daughter''s marriage with the crown prince of the Long family.

    In his farm vi, Lin Yehan just finished discussing the finishing details of the g with the event nner. Then his phone rang and his assistant ryed what happened with Mao Textiles.

    His usual gentle expression was nowhere to be seen. In its ce was a deep frown of contempt.

    "Contact those that Mao Textilesid off," he instructed his assistant. "We have some businesses rted to the textile industry. Although it''s mostly in the supply stage, I''m sure that they won''t be too picky when they need urgent employment."

    The assistant obeyed.

    After the call, Lin Yehan took a moment to calm his anger. He had already expected that this would happen when he started targeting Mao Textiles, but when it really happened, he couldn''t help but feel disgusted.

    As a tycoon who worked in one of the most humble industries in society, namely agriculture, Lin Yehan despised businesses who had zero moral ethics the most.

    Mao Textiles was a ssic example of apany that only cared about fattening up the already fat pockets of its higher-ups while bleeding the rest of its workers dry and casting them aside like disposable ves without any hesitation.

    It would be difficult topletely destroy a long-establishedpany like Mao Textiles with a lot of connections but it wasn''t impossible.

    Lin Yehan fell into deep thought.

    ###

    A couple of days before the g (and Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding), Wei Lan finally returned to the country after her long shopping spree across Asia. She only freshened up in her mansion before dragging Randy and Ren¨¦ Alejandro to Dragon Pce to meet her new grandsons.

    Finally, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had an excuse to meet Jin Liwei, Sir Lu Jianghong and the others again. Deep inside, he was grumbling about Wei Lan''s tardiness in returning, but on the outside, he was all smiles.

    Jin Liwei had a meeting at Jin Corporation and Grandpa Lu was out visiting Grandma Li up in her mountain vi so those two were absent when Wei Lan''s group arrived. Ren¨¦ Alejandro was disappointed but there was nothing that he could do.

    On a brighter note, he could try to develop a close rtionship with the Jin and Lu twins instead. If the children became close to him and treated him as an uncle, then Jin Liwei and Sir Lu Jianhong would surely feel closer to him as well.

    "Xin, honeeeeeeeey!" Wei Lan strutted after finally seeing her daughter after so long. "Mother is baaaaack!"

    She air-kissed Iris on both cheeks before studying her daughter from head to toe and back up again. "Oh, goooooood! You''ve lost all thooooooose baby weight. Your figure is not as goooooooood as mine when I gave birth to you back then but not baaaaaaaaaaaad, honey. It''s just that¡­your boooooooobs have be toooooooo big! Big booooooooobs are easy to sag, you know?"

    The ever straightforward Iris replied, "My boobs are fine. My husband is more than satisfied with them."

    Wei Lanughed and looked¡­proud. "That''s right, honeeeeeeeey! It''s important to alwaaaaaaaays satisfy your husband''s neeeeeeeeds! You can always have a boob lift in the future, riiiiiiiiiiight? I''m sure dear Liwei won''t miiiiiiiiiind paying for the procedure when he''s the one who''s going to benefit with his wife''s perky boooooooobs."

    Iris rolled her eyes. "I can pay for my own procedures, thank you. And I might not need that kind of procedure in the future."

    Wei Lan also rolled her eyes. "Trust meeeeeeeee, honey! With those biiiiiiiiiiig boobs, you''ll definitely need a boob lift."

    While the mother and daughter were talking about boobs, the other people around them were pretending that everything was normal.

    The butler and the other staff were all professionals. They were already long used to their young madam''s overly straightforward honesty. Their expressions didn''t change at all.

    Randy was barely holding on to hisughter. He couldn''t wait to meet with Dom and gossip about it.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, he showed a rather awkward expression. It was all for show, of course. He honestly didn''t care about this kind of conversations at all. There was no way that someone like him would be embarrassed listening to something like this.

    Iris was an attractive woman. That much he could admit. If not for the fact that he was focused on befriending Jin Liwei on the surface and entering the man''s close circles, Ren¨¦ Alejandro might even attempt to seduce Iris. She was just his type¡ªbeautiful, sexy and appeared to know what she wanted.

    Unfortunately, he wasn''t the type to mix his work with pleasure. He wouldn''t fuck anyone who was rted to his missions in any way. He was different from the Matador who was now keeping their hostage, Rose Young, as a convenient mistress.

    After the boob conversation finished (thank goodness), Iris sniffed and frowned.

    "Mother, your perfume is too strong. I can''t have you meet the babies like this."

    Wei Lanined but she still went to take a shower in the end.

    In the meantime, Iris took Ren¨¦ Alejandro and Randy to the nursery first.

    "Thank you for the presents," Iris said. "You didn''t have to."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro smiled. His two dimples on both cheeks made him appear very charming but Iris wasn''t affected at all.

    "It''s just a little something for the babies," he replied. "This is the first time that I''m meeting Mam¨¢''s grandsons after all. In a way, they''re also my nephews. Of course, I have to get them something as their uncle. I also brought something for your sister''s twins as well. I hope she doesn''t mind."

    Iris mentally raised an eyebrow at the man''s reasoning, but on the outside, she only nodded before saying, "I don''t know if Big Sister Jinjing will mind your gifts for her babies or not. You have to personally give them to her to find out."

    "I understand." He smiled again.

    Atst, Ren¨¦ Alejandro met Jin Liwei''s sons and Sir Lu Jianhong''s grandsons when they arrived in the nursery.

    Long Jinjing was inside with the nannies. She thanked Ren¨¦ Alejandro for the presents but didn''t talk much.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro didn''t mind. Long Jinjing wasn''t one of his targets anyway. She was actually dangerous because her husband, Lu Zihao, hated him. It was better to steer clear of the woman to avoid any unforeseen problems to his mission.

 Chapter 1386 Crying Babies

    <h4>Chapter 1386 Crying Babies</h4>

    The Jin twins were on the carpet ying with their rattling and squeaking toys while the Lu twins were cooing at each other in the crib.

    Each of the babies reacted differently to the visitors.

    Little Mochi liked good-looking people. He was drawn to Ren¨¦ Alejandro right from the start. Even so, he was still cautious at the stranger and didn''t smile too much. He just stared at Ren¨¦ Alejandro and ignored Randy for the most part.

    Little Matcha only gave them a cursory nce before returning to his toys. He was still a baby but he already inherited his father''s usual indifference to a tee.

    Like Little Mochi, Little Misha seemed to be interested at the visitors. But unlike Little Mochi, Little Misha was more drawn to the mboyant Randy than at Ren¨¦ Alejandro. It was mostly because of the Zumba instructor''s bright, neon-coloured clothing. The baby''s interest in the visitors onlysted for a short while before he ignored them.

    Last but not the least, Little Dima had a more extreme reaction than his eldest brother and cousins but actually quite normal for babies. He cried as soon as he saw the strangers. Long Jinjing was quick to pick him up andfort her baby.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro already had an idea about each of the babies'' personalities based on their reactions. Among them, he had the highest chance of bing closer to the eldest, Little Mochi.

    The baby also resembled Wei Lan. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Ren¨¦ Alejandro felt confident about this particr baby. He needed to observe more. If Little Mochi also resembled his maternal grandmother''s personality and not just appearance, then Ren¨¦ Alejandro was sure that he could make the baby like him.

    First attempt.

    "Hello, Haoyu," he greeted in his gentlest and friendliest tone. "I''m Uncle Ren¨¦."

    Little Mochi stared at him.

    So far so good.

    The baby''s full attention was on him.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro took a squeaky toy and squeezed it in front of the baby. "You want this toy, yes?"

    Little Mochi reached for it. Ren¨¦ Alejandro nned on teasing the baby a little and try ying with him so he moved the toy out of reach.

    Unfortunately, he miscalcted Little Mochi''s seeming openness to him. He didn''t expect Little Mochi''s expression to crumple so suddenly. Then a loud wail filled the nursery.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro panicked inside. He wasn''t used to dealing with babies this young. He tried salvaging the situation by directly handing the damn squeaky toy to the wailing baby but Little Mochi pped it away in distress.

    Iris swooped down and immediately startedforting her baby in her arms. Little Mochi cried on his mother''s chest and continued wailing in an aggrieved manner.

    On the carpet, the indifferent Little Matcha was no longer indifferent. He finally made a scene. He threw the rattle that he had been ying at the strange man who made his brother cry. Then he also began wailing at the top of his lungs. Unlike his elder twin brother''s aggrieved cries, his wails were furious.

    At the moment, three of the babies were crying at the same time.

    Little Misha wasn''t crying at first but when Little Matcha started his angry wailing, he must have decided that it was fun to join the others so he wasn''t the only one left out.

    And so the three crying babies became four crying babies.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was speechless.

    Although the mothers didn''t seem to me him, the nannies and even Randy did. They threw him using looks.

    "Iris, Jinjing, I''m sorry," he said while showing a guilty expression.

    Long Jinjing didn''t say anything. Iris, however, didn''t mince her words.

    "It''s stupid to tease babies these young especially when they''re not yet familiar with you," she told Ren¨¦ Alejandro to his face. "Be more careful next time."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro could only say, "I understand."

    Iris nodded. She instructed a nanny to y a calming tune that she speciallyposed for the babies.

    The Lu twins were the first ones to stop crying and calm down as soon as the instrumental music began ying.

    Then Little Matcha finally stopped his furious wails. He snuggled with his mother and twin brother.

    On the other hand, Little Mochi continued being dramatic. He only decreased his cries to pitiful whimpers after his mother kissed him several times.

    "What in the wooooooooooorld is going on?" Wei Lan finally appeared and entered the nursery.

    The Jin twins looked at the new stranger with even more caution.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro exined, "I have upset Iris and Jinjing by making their babies cry. It is my fault."

    Wei Lan waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, is that soooooooo? Don''t worry about it toooooooo much, dear Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I''m suuuuuuure you didn''t mean it. You don''t mind it, right, Xiuuuuuuuaaaaaaan?"

    She only addressed Iris and ignored Long Jinjing.

    Iris didn''t bother answering Wei Lan. Instead, she wiped her sons'' remaining tears and continuedforting them.

    Wei Lan didn''t mind being ignored either. After all, she was the type of person who could hold a full conversation by herself without any problem.

    "Are these my graaaaaaaaandsons?"

    "Yes," Iris nodded. "Be careful, Mother. Don''t be too aggressive or they''ll cry again."

    Wei Lan rolled her eyes. Then her attention was soon caught by Little Mochi. "Oooooooooooh my! This baby looks just like meeeeeeeee!"

    She was delighted. Not caring about her image, she also plopped down on the carpet in front of her daughter and grandsons.

    "Ooooooooooooh! The other one looooooooooks exactly like dear Liwei!"

    Iris observed her sons'' reactions. They didn''t look like they were going to cry again but their wariness was in full force after what happened with Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Although she wasn''t close to Wei Lan (and neither was the original Long Xin), the woman was still her twin sons'' biological grandmother. She didn''t want to alienate her children from their biological rtives as much as possible but only if said rtives weren''tplete trash like Long Hui and most of the members of the Long n. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Wei Lan had a lot of faults but she was mostly harmless. Iris and Jin Liwei had already decided to keep this grandmother for their babies as long as she didn''t make too much trouble.

    Iris introduced Wei Lan to her sons. The Jin twins stuck closer to her while observing the strange woman with distrust.

    To her credit, Wei Lan didn''t mind the babies'' less than ideal reaction to her. It was more likely that she didn''t notice at all. She was too absorbed in admiring her grandsons'' good looks.

    One looked like her. She was already 100% certain that Little Mochi was going to be gorgeous just like her when he grew up. The other one looked like her handsome son-inw. Little Matcha would surely be a heartthrob just like his father in the future.

    She didn''t attempt to hold or even touch the babies either. Even when Iris offered, she rejected.

    "I already forgot how to hold a baaaaaabyyyyy! Theaaaaaaast time I held a baby this small was when you were one. And I oooooooonly held you a few times at that. Hahahaha!"

    Iris rolled her eyes. At the same time, she couldn''t help but pity the original Long Xin for having such an irresponsible mother.

    Well, her own experience wasn''t any better than the original Long Xin either. Back in her past life as Evelina, her mother was many leagues worse than Wei Lan.

    Madam Vetrova wasn''t an irresponsible mother per se¡ªin Vetrov standards. As a matter of fact, she was too responsible. She presided over her children''s education and training with a robot''s precision and an anaconda''s viciousness.

    But when ced in the rest of the word''s standards, Madam Vetrova would surely fail and bebelled as a dangerous and unfit mother.

    Comparing the two, Wei Lan was actually the better mother than Madam Vetrova. At least Wei Lan never did anything to leave a heavy and irreversible trauma on her child.

    Back to the present, Wei Lan couldn''t stop praising her grandsons'' good looks.

    "I''ll wait for my handsome grandsons to groooooooow up a little before I hold them. What iiiiiiiiiif I drop them? I don''t want dear Liwei to scold meeeeeeeeee for identally hurting his sons."

    Iris mentally rolled her eyes. Wei Lan was afraid of angering her son-inw but not her daughter? Iris was already used to the woman cing more importance on Jin Liwei than on her. She didn''t care about it that much anyway.

    Randy excused himself to find Dom and gossip together.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro eventually managed to insert himself in the conversation. Even though Iris reprimanded him to his face earlier, he appeared not to mind it. He acted more carefully and attempted several times to change the babies'' bad impression of him.

    Wei Lan moved on from her own grandsons to the other babies in the crib.

    "Wow, they really looooooook alike!" She studied the Lu twins more carefully. "Howe they doooooooon''t resemble any of their parents at all?"

    She had been ignoring Long Jinjing all this time but now she cast a suspicious look on her daughter''s half-sister.

    Long Jinjing understood the look. She flushed from indignation.

    Wasn''t this Wei Lan implying that her sons weren''t sired by husband?

    "Mother, stop it," Iris said. "Liwei told me that my twin nephews look like their father when Big Brother Zihao was a child. They grew up together so Liwei knows. Big Brother Zihao''s appearance apparently changed a lot after he hit puberty."

    "Oooooooh." Wei Lan sniffed before admiring the Lu twins as if she didn''t doubt the babies'' paternity just now.

    ''Sorry,'' Iris mouthed to Long Jinjing.

    ''It''s fine,'' Long Jinjing mouthed back despite still feeling angry.

    Little Misha was curious about Wei Lan while Little Dima once again started crying upon seeing a new stranger hovering over their crib.

 Chapter 1387 Crying Babies

    <h4>Chapter 1387 Crying Babies</h4>

    The Jin twins were on the carpet ying with their rattling and squeaking toys while the Lu twins were cooing at each other in the crib.

    Each of the babies reacted differently to the visitors.

    Little Mochi liked good-looking people. He was drawn to Ren¨¦ Alejandro right from the start. Even so, he was still cautious at the stranger and didn''t smile too much. He just stared at Ren¨¦ Alejandro and ignored Randy for the most part.

    Little Matcha only gave them a cursory nce before returning to his toys. He was still a baby but he already inherited his father''s usual indifference to a tee.

    Like Little Mochi, Little Misha seemed to be interested at the visitors. But unlike Little Mochi, Little Misha was more drawn to the mboyant Randy than at Ren¨¦ Alejandro. It was mostly because of the Zumba instructor''s bright, neon-coloured clothing. The baby''s interest in the visitors onlysted for a short while before he ignored them.

    Last but not the least, Little Dima had a more extreme reaction than his eldest brother and cousins but actually quite normal for babies. He cried as soon as he saw the strangers. Long Jinjing was quick to pick him up andfort her baby.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro already had an idea about each of the babies'' personalities based on their reactions. Among them, he had the highest chance of bing closer to the eldest, Little Mochi.

    The baby also resembled Wei Lan. Maybe this was one of the reasons why Ren¨¦ Alejandro felt confident about this particr baby. He needed to observe more. If Little Mochi also resembled his maternal grandmother''s personality and not just appearance, then Ren¨¦ Alejandro was sure that he could make the baby like him.

    First attempt.

    "Hello, Haoyu," he greeted in his gentlest and friendliest tone. "I''m Uncle Ren¨¦."

    Little Mochi stared at him.

    So far so good.

    The baby''s full attention was on him.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro took a squeaky toy and squeezed it in front of the baby. "You want this toy, yes?"

    Little Mochi reached for it. Ren¨¦ Alejandro nned on teasing the baby a little and try ying with him so he moved the toy out of reach.

    Unfortunately, he miscalcted Little Mochi''s seeming openness to him. He didn''t expect Little Mochi''s expression to crumple so suddenly. Then a loud wail filled the nursery.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro panicked inside. He wasn''t used to dealing with babies this young. He tried salvaging the situation by directly handing the damn squeaky toy to the wailing baby but Little Mochi pped it away in distress.

    Iris swooped down and immediately startedforting her baby in her arms. Little Mochi cried on his mother''s chest and continued wailing in an aggrieved manner.

    On the carpet, the indifferent Little Matcha was no longer indifferent. He finally made a scene. He threw the rattle that he had been ying at the strange man who made his brother cry. Then he also began wailing at the top of his lungs. Unlike his elder twin brother''s aggrieved cries, his wails were furious.

    At the moment, three of the babies were crying at the same time.

    Little Misha wasn''t crying at first but when Little Matcha started his angry wailing, he must have decided that it was fun to join the others so he wasn''t the only one left out.

    And so the three crying babies became four crying babies.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro was speechless.

    Although the mothers didn''t seem to me him, the nannies and even Randy did. They threw him using looks.

    "Iris, Jinjing, I''m sorry," he said while showing a guilty expression.

    Long Jinjing didn''t say anything. Iris, however, didn''t mince her words.

    "It''s stupid to tease babies these young especially when they''re not yet familiar with you," she told Ren¨¦ Alejandro to his face. "Be more careful next time."

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro could only say, "I understand."

    Iris nodded. She instructed a nanny to y a calming tune that she speciallyposed for the babies.

    The Lu twins were the first ones to stop crying and calm down as soon as the instrumental music began ying.

    Then Little Matcha finally stopped his furious wails. He snuggled with his mother and twin brother.

    On the other hand, Little Mochi continued being dramatic. He only decreased his cries to pitiful whimpers after his mother kissed him several times.

    "What in the wooooooooooorld is going on?" Wei Lan finally appeared and entered the nursery.

    The Jin twins looked at the new stranger with even more caution.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro exined, "I have upset Iris and Jinjing by making their babies cry. It is my fault."

    Wei Lan waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, is that soooooooo? Don''t worry about it toooooooo much, dear Ren¨¦ Alejandro. I''m suuuuuuure you didn''t mean it. You don''t mind it, right, Xiuuuuuuuaaaaaaan?"

    She only addressed Iris and ignored Long Jinjing.

    Iris didn''t bother answering Wei Lan. Instead, she wiped her sons'' remaining tears and continuedforting them.

    Wei Lan didn''t mind being ignored either. After all, she was the type of person who could hold a full conversation by herself without any problem.

    "Are these my graaaaaaaaandsons?"

    "Yes," Iris nodded. "Be careful, Mother. Don''t be too aggressive or they''ll cry again."

    Wei Lan rolled her eyes. Then her attention was soon caught by Little Mochi. "Oooooooooooh my! This baby looks just like meeeeeeeee!"

    She was delighted. Not caring about her image, she also plopped down on the carpet in front of her daughter and grandsons.

    "Ooooooooooooh! The other one looooooooooks exactly like dear Liwei!"

    Iris observed her sons'' reactions. They didn''t look like they were going to cry again but their wariness was in full force after what happened with Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Although she wasn''t close to Wei Lan (and neither was the original Long Xin), the woman was still her twin sons'' biological grandmother. She didn''t want to alienate her children from their biological rtives as much as possible but only if said rtives weren''tplete trash like Long Hui and most of the members of the Long n. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Wei Lan had a lot of faults but she was mostly harmless. Iris and Jin Liwei had already decided to keep this grandmother for their babies as long as she didn''t make too much trouble.

    Iris introduced Wei Lan to her sons. The Jin twins stuck closer to her while observing the strange woman with distrust.

    To her credit, Wei Lan didn''t mind the babies'' less than ideal reaction to her. It was more likely that she didn''t notice at all. She was too absorbed in admiring her grandsons'' good looks.

    One looked like her. She was already 100% certain that Little Mochi was going to be gorgeous just like her when he grew up. The other one looked like her handsome son-inw. Little Matcha would surely be a heartthrob just like his father in the future.

    She didn''t attempt to hold or even touch the babies either. Even when Iris offered, she rejected.

    "I already forgot how to hold a baaaaaabyyyyy! Theaaaaaaast time I held a baby this small was when you were one. And I oooooooonly held you a few times at that. Hahahaha!"

    Iris rolled her eyes. At the same time, she couldn''t help but pity the original Long Xin for having such an irresponsible mother.

    Well, her own experience wasn''t any better than the original Long Xin either. Back in her past life as Evelina, her mother was many leagues worse than Wei Lan.

    Madam Vetrova wasn''t an irresponsible mother per se¡ªin Vetrov standards. As a matter of fact, she was too responsible. She presided over her children''s education and training with a robot''s precision and an anaconda''s viciousness.

    But when ced in the rest of the word''s standards, Madam Vetrova would surely fail and bebelled as a dangerous and unfit mother.

    Comparing the two, Wei Lan was actually the better mother than Madam Vetrova. At least Wei Lan never did anything to leave a heavy and irreversible trauma on her child.

    Back to the present, Wei Lan couldn''t stop praising her grandsons'' good looks.

    "I''ll wait for my handsome grandsons to groooooooow up a little before I hold them. What iiiiiiiiiif I drop them? I don''t want dear Liwei to scold meeeeeeeeee for identally hurting his sons."

    Iris mentally rolled her eyes. Wei Lan was afraid of angering her son-inw but not her daughter? Iris was already used to the woman cing more importance on Jin Liwei than on her. She didn''t care about it that much anyway.

    Randy excused himself to find Dom and gossip together.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro eventually managed to insert himself in the conversation. Even though Iris reprimanded him to his face earlier, he appeared not to mind it. He acted more carefully and attempted several times to change the babies'' bad impression of him.

    Wei Lan moved on from her own grandsons to the other babies in the crib.

    "Wow, they really looooooook alike!" She studied the Lu twins more carefully. "Howe they doooooooon''t resemble any of their parents at all?"

    She had been ignoring Long Jinjing all this time but now she cast a suspicious look on her daughter''s half-sister.

    Long Jinjing understood the look. She flushed from indignation.

    Wasn''t this Wei Lan implying that her sons weren''t sired by husband?

    "Mother, stop it," Iris said. "Liwei told me that my twin nephews look like their father when Big Brother Zihao was a child. They grew up together so Liwei knows. Big Brother Zihao''s appearance apparently changed a lot after he hit puberty."

    "Oooooooh." Wei Lan sniffed before admiring the Lu twins as if she didn''t doubt the babies'' paternity just now.

    ''Sorry,'' Iris mouthed to Long Jinjing.

    ''It''s fine,'' Long Jinjing mouthed back despite still feeling angry.

    Little Misha was curious about Wei Lan while Little Dima once again started crying upon seeing a new stranger hovering over their crib.

 Chapter 1388 Serves Her Right

    <h4>Chapter 1388 Serves Her Right</h4>

    This meeting with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro wasn''t going too well. It was clear that the babies didn''t like them that much.

    Iris took the two visitors out of the nursery, leaving Long Jinjing and the nannies to calm the babies. She also didn''t want Long Jinjing to continue feeling awkward by Wei Lan and the Spaniard''s presence.

    Wei Lan had always disliked Long Jinjing because she was the daughter of one of her ex-husband''s mistresses.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Lu Zihao hated the man. It worsened after Jin Liwei used the Spaniard to goad Lu Zihao into waking up froma. Long Jinjing could only avoid interacting with Ren¨¦ Alejandro as much as possible to prevent her husband from exploding.

    In the nearby sitting area, Iris tamped down on her impatience and chatted with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Even though Wei Lan had the tendency to utter offensive things, it was a fact that she doted on Little Jun, and to some degree, the cats as well. She bought a lot of things for them during her massive shopping spree.

    When she found out that she became a grandmother to twins, she also bought a lot of presents for her grandsons. Of course, the Lu twins were also included. Wei Lan may not like Long Jinjing but her children were the heirs of the Lu family. The Lu twins were also the biological cousins of the Jin twins through their mothers.

    The presents were still in the process of being delivered from her mansion to Dragon Pce because of their sheer number. She was able to splurge a lot thanks to Jin Liwei sending her a generous monthly shopping allowance during her vacation.

    Now that she had returned to the country, the allowance naturally stopped but she didn''t mind that much. Shopping was fun but it became tiring after doing it every day in the past few months. It was time to recharge back home.

    "Xin, hoooneeeeeey. I heard that there''s going to be an impoooooooortant g. Where''s my invitation?"

    Iris suspected that this was the reason why Wei Lan returned to the country at this time. "It''s not my g, Mother. It''s Eldest Brother Yehan who''s hosting it. He''s the one who decides which people to include in the guest list."

    "But Lin Yehan is dear Liwei''s brother, riiiiiiiiight? Go and ask dear Liwei to tell his brother to seeeeeeeeend your mother an invitation! I''m suuuuuuuure that Lin Yehan originally intended to invite meeeeeeeeee but I wasn''t in the country that time sooooooooo he didn''t. Now I''m here! I should get an invitation, toooooooooooo!"

    Iris didn''t agree right away.

    Wei Lan pouted. "I should beeeeeeee there at the g! I''m a vizcondesa! Lin Yehan will gain mooooooooore prestige if he invites a titled nobledy like me¡ªoh, and alsoooooooo the son of a real viscount! Ren¨¦ Alejandro, my dear, you''re cooooooming with me to the g, riiiiiiiiiiiight?"

    "Of course, Mam¨¢." Ren¨¦ Alejandro smiled, showing his dimples. "If Pap¨¢ were here, I am certain that he would love to apany you to any event. Unfortunately, he is still unable toe due to his work but do not worry. I am still here, no? I will apany Mam¨¢ until he is finally free to join us here."

    Wei Lan immediately started gushing about her husband and how she missed him so much.

    "Pap¨¢ is also looking forward to meeting you, Iris," Ren¨¦ Alejandro said. "And of course, Liam and your children as well."

    "That''s right, Xiaaaaan! Your step-father can''t wait to meeeeeeeet you and dear Liwei! I told him so many gooooooood things about you and especially my son-inw!"

    "I see," Iris said in a rather nd tone.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro released a sad sigh. "Pap¨¢ had always wanted his own children but the heavens have not granted this one wish of his. This is why he is very passionate about orphans like me. He treats us like his own children. I am very fortunate that Pap¨¢ legally adopted me, no? But I can sense that he also wants a daughter. When he learned that Mam¨¢ has a daughter, he was so happy and so excited to meet you."

    "Hmm." Iris wasn''t sure how to respond to that.

    Wei Lan often exaggerated whatever she said so her words couldn''t be trusted 100%. Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s background on paper was too clean that it was suspicious. In addition, Iris didn''t fully know him yet. His words couldn''t be trusted either.

    The question was whether the viscount himself could be trusted.

    Iris hadn''t met the man yet so she wasn''t sure how to judge him at this point. Only when she met the Spanish viscount in person would she have an idea about what kind of person he really was in real life.

    "When does your father n to follow you and Mother here?" she asked.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro sighed again. "To tell you the truth, I am not certain. His work brings him to many different countries, many kinds of ces. Sometimes it only takes him months to finish a project, sometimes years. It depends. His project this time seems to be the mostplicated yet so he is taking longer. I am already used to it since this is how I was raised. But Mam¨¢''s situation is different, no? I feel sorry for Mam¨¢ that she has to be away her husband for this long."

    In response, Wei Lan fished out ace handkerchief from her handbag and wiped non-existent tears. "You''re such a thoughtfuuuuuuuul son, Ren¨¦ Alejandro! You understand my pain soooooooooo much!"

    Iris ignored the dramatic woman. But before she could ask Ren¨¦ Alejandro more questions about his adoptive father''s work, a knock interrupted them.

    The door opened and a little guy ran inside.

    "Amma Lan! You heew!" (Grandma Lan! You''re here!)

    His nanny nodded at Iris before staying outside. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Wei Lan tossed the very dryce handkerchief aside and caught the adorable child.

    "Oooooooooh, my cuuuuuuute Little Jun! Come here and giiiiiiiive Auntie Lan a big hug! What a gooooooood boy!"

    "Little Jun, call GRANDMA Lan," Iris said, immediately blocking Wei Lan''s attempt to change the way the child called her to Auntie.

    "Amma Lan! Junjun misshu!" (Grandma Lan! Junjun missed you!)

    Wei Lan rolled her eyes at Iris before continuing to dote on the child. Afterwards, she pulled Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    "Little Juuuuuuun,e and greet Uncle Ren¨¦."

    The child blinked his eyes. He seemed to have already forgotten about meeting this foreign uncle before. Nevertheless, he was a sensible and obedient child.

    "Heyo, Anko Ren!" Then he pointed at himself. "I Junjun!" (Hello, Uncle Ren¨¦! I''m Junjun!)

    "Hello, Little Jun," Ren¨¦ Alejandro greeted, smiling. Then he gave the child a small present.

    While Little Jun was opening his present, Popcorn ran inside next followed by Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan.

    "Mommi, Anko Han, look!" Little Jun showed off his new toy at his mother and Uncle Yehan.

    "Ying Yue!" Wei Lan greeted. Then her eyes lit up when she saw the man apanying her. "Lin Yehan."

    The two new arrivals greeted everyone.

    After the greetings, Wei Lan didn''t waste any time and immediately targeted Lin Yehan. She asked¡ªbordering on demanded¡ªan invitation to the g.

    Lin Yehan was a little taken aback at her aggressiveness but he was a gentleman. He quickly fixed his expression. In the end, he agreed to send an invitation to Wei Lan and even Ren¨¦ Alejandro on such short notice.

    Wei Lan was pleased with herself.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro showed a sheepish expression like he was just going along with his step-mother''s antics. He also sent Lin Yehan an apologetic smile.

    Lin Yehan had a rather good impression of Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s manners. But that was it. He didn''t know the man well and had no intention of bing close with him. However, he would sometimes hear from his fifth brother, Yu Mo, that the Spaniard was a nice, smart and fun guy.

    It was no problem to invite extra people like Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro to his g.

    His third brother, Jin Liwei, would be there to take control if Wei Lan ever made trouble at the g. The woman seemed to be afraid of her son-inw.

    As for Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Lin Yehan just hoped that his fifth brother, Lu Zihao, wouldn''t fight with the Spaniard in front of all the other guests. His fifth brother''s temper had be many times worse ever since the skiing ident.

    "I caaaaaaaaan''t wait to see the expressions on the ugly faces of that trash Long Hui and his hoe of a bride, that Mao what''s-her-naaaaaame," Wei Lan said with a smug smile. "All the impooooooooortant and relevant people they invited to their wedding will be at the g instead! I bet that Zheng Zhuyin, that ooooooooold hag, will be suffocating with anger and humiliation when nooooobody important attends her only son''s wedding. Serves her riiiiiiiiight for giving birth to such a scumbaaaaaaaaaag! Hahahaha!"

    Lin Yehan''s expression hardened at the mention of Long Hui and his wedding with Mao Qiuyue. He nced at his girlfriend. Jiang Ying Yue wore her usual expressionless bodyguard face but he knew that she must be feeling ufortable. He put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close to him before nuzzling her temple.

    The sight almost made Wei Lan''s eyeballs pop out of her head. "Ying Yue! Whaaaaaaaat is this? You''re togeeeeeeeeether with Lin Yehan?!"

    Jiang Ying Yue''s expression broke. She turned red all over but still nodded.

    Wei Lan gasped in disbelief. Then sheughed.

    "Gooooooood job, Ying Yue! Forgeeeeeeet about that trash! Men like him dooooooon''t deserve faaaaaaaaaaabulous women like us! Lin Yehan is soooooo much better than that scumbaaaaaag! Riiiiiiight, Little Jun?"

    Little Jun had no idea what the adults were talking about but he still nodded. "Yesh, Amma Lan!" (Yes, Grandma Lan!)

 Chapter 1389 New Beginning

    <h4>Chapter 1389 New Beginning</h4>

    On the day of the wedding, the faces of the bride, groom and their families were all dark.

    More than fifty percent of their invited guests had already called to cancel their attendance. Those were the courteous ones.

    Then there were those who didn''t even bother calling that they would no longer attend the wedding. They just failed to show up.

    Mao Qiuyue was so upset that she almost didn''t want to go through the wedding. It was only when her parents and her future mother-inw, Zheng Suyin, persuaded her that she forced herself to endure today''s humiliation.

    She walked on the long aisle with stiff steps. It was only because of the team of photographers and videographers they hired for the wedding that she managed to maintain a smile.

    Today was her wedding day.

    It was one of the most important events of her life as a woman.

    Even when she was boiling with fury and humiliation deep inside, she still had to show a happy expression for all the world to see. Her family''s honour was on the line.

    They also spent a lot of money for this wedding. They had to make it big andvish for the sake of their reputation.

    The Longs and the Zhengs also contributed to the costs, of course. But since the bride was a Mao, then her family was the one who had the most to lose if this marriage match failed.

    Mao Qiuyue gritted her teeth and smiled wider, pretending not to see all the empty seats in such arge venue.

    Long Hui was waiting for her at the end of the aisle. His expression was nk. He looked dead in the eyes as if there was nothing to live for after this.

    Today was supposed to be a joyous asion but the atmosphere was tense and grave instead.

    In the front-row seats on the groom''s side, Long Tengfei sat beside his wife, Yang Jiahui. He looked displeased and disappointed at the same time.

    "This is an embarrassment," he muttered under his breath. "Anplete embarrassment."

    Yang Jiahui squeezed his arm, silently warning him not to say too much.

    There was a cold snort from the seat nearby.

    Zheng Suyin threw them a cold side-eye. "Look at what your youngest daughter and her husband did!"

    "Don''t you dare me my youngest daughter and son-inw!" Long Tengfei defended. "They have nothing to do with this!"

    His ex-wife snorted. "Of course, they have everything to do with this. If Long Xin didn''t side with that lowly bodyguard instead of her own brother and made her husband use his influence to put pressure on our son, then all of this would never have happened."

    Long Tengfei was infuriated at her usations. "You¡ª"

    "Tengfei," Yang Jiahui pulled him. "Please."

    He restrained his temper and sat back. Everything today was already embarrassing enough. There was no need for him to add to the embarrassment by making a scene with his ex-wife.

    Zheng Suyin wanted to continue shaming her ex-husband and his current wife but decided to let them off for now because the wedding ceremony was about to start.

    She nced at her son''s inws, the Maos. Their eyes met. No words were needed at this point. All of them were upset. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    They would remember this humiliation and make the culprits pay one way or another.

    ###

    At the same time in Lin Yehan''s farm vi, row upon row of vehicles started arriving along the rustic driveway.

    Since this was a g to celebrate the silver-medal victory of the national shooting team in the world championships, a few selected media representatives were invited to report on the event.

    The guest list included a rather wide lineup of people across the social strata.

    One after another, notable figures across different fields appeared. Each one was more impressive than thest.

    There were elite business leaders, members of high society, high-ranked politicians and even a few officers from the military and the police.

    A number of celebrities and social media influencers also attended.

    Academics and other athletes close to the members of the national shooting team also came to give their support.

    Of course, the team''s coaches and support groups wereing as well. Lin Yehan was their colleague after all.

    The team''s family and friends wouldn''t miss this g for the world.

    And most importantly, the national team athletes themselves who brought pride and glory to their country were scheduled to be weed with great fanfareter. They were today''s stars.

    As the g''s host, Lin Yehan greeted all the guests in person. His girlfriend, Jiang Ying Yue, stood beside him.

    Jiang Ying Yue might not be the most beautiful among the women today but she was certainly one of the most eye-catching. She was the epitome of a cool, strong and slightly scary female in her fancy tuxedo suit. Her makeup was bold and sculpted, making her look like the type of woman that would crush a man''s nuts with barely any effort.

    As a matter of fact, most of the guests expressed more interest on her than on Lin Yehan. Some recognized her as Long Hui''s ex that he used of cheating with Lin Yehan in public. Long Hui''s allegations were proven to be false in the court ofw, but now that Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue appeared together, tongues began wagging again.

    Jiang Ying Yue felt ufortable under all the people''s gazes. Fortunately, her training as a bodyguard allowed her to appear unbothered and expressionless on the outside even when she was starting to freak out on the inside.

    "I''m sorry for this, Ying Yue," Lin Yehan whispered directly to her ear. "I just want people to see us together."

    She flushed but thanks to her makeup, nobody noticed that she was actually blushing like a teenage girl.

    "I''ll be fine," she whispered back to him.

    "If you''re feeling too ufortable, you can go back inside. I think Yang Mei is still taking a nap in one of the guestrooms. Xin and the others will also arrive any minute now."

    She was tempted to find Meimei upstairs and escape from the people. But in the end, she still decided to apany her boyfriend out here.

    Showing her off was his way of acknowledging their rtionship. This was proof that Lin Yehan wasn''t ashamed of her. He was unlike Long Hui who did a half-assed job of admitting their rtionship to the public back then.

    Since Lin Yehan was putting this much effort, she couldn''t waste his good intentions.

    He was proud of her so she didn''t need to feel ashamed.

    Emotion choked her for a few moments. She almost cried.

    This was the first time that she truly felt valued as a lover.

    She never knew that being acknowledged like this in public without any reluctance or shame could feel so good.

    "What''s wrong?" Lin Yehan asked when he felt her squeezing his arm. She was very strong so it hurt a little.

    "Thank you, Yehan," she whispered.

    "For what?"

    She only smiled but didn''t answer him.

    He wanted to ask again but another wave of guests arrived. He could only put it aside for now and greet the new arrivals.

    A few minutester, there was an excitedmotion outside. Lin Yehan peeked.

    "Third Brother and the others have arrived," he said. "That sound is the people going crazy over Xin."

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded in understanding. She had to restrain her bodyguard instincts to go outside and protect Iris. Tonight, she wasn''t attending as a bodyguard but as the host''s partner.

    Lin Yehan took her hand and inteced their fingers, causing a wave of raised eyebrows among the onlookers. She wanted to run and hide but willed herself to stay.

    Let the people gossip. She knew in her heart that she and Lin Yehan had done nothing wrong.

    Unlike her rtionship with Long Hui where she felt inferior and alone, she was now a little bit more confident of herself. Most importantly, she had friends and now a lover who would always be there for her and her son.

    The past was painful and the future was uncertain, but it was enough that the present felt hopeful.

    This was a new beginning.

    And she decided to enjoy it with her new love, Lin Yehan, regardless of what other people said about them.

    ###

    Iris and Jin Liwei turned heads as they arrived. It was like having the sun and the moon appearing at the same time.

    To rify, Iris was the sun and Jin Liwei was the moon.

    Iris was wearing a figure-hugging metallic dress. It flowed like molten gold on her body. Her neckline was high and her shoulders were covered. It was actually quite conservativepared to the dresses she had worn before giving birth but the fact that it was figure-hugging was the best proof that she was just as alluring as before.

    The media couldn''t have enough of her. They took photos of her and Jin Liwei like crazy. Questions barraged them.

    Iris was like a fish thrown back into the water¡ªa natural.

    There was not a question that stumped her. She was still as straightforward as ever but her experience as a celebrity until now had already grown to the point that she was able to dodge and redirect the questions without appearing too obvious. Her sharp tongue, however, would never disappear.

    "Iris, today is your brother Long Hui''s wedding to Mao Qiuyue. They im that you and CEO Jin have been invited but you chose to attend this g instead. Can you tell us why?"

    She maintained a beautiful smile even as savage words flowed out of her mouth.

    "You expect me and my husband to attend a cheating couple''s wedding? Excuse me but I''ve never imed to be a saint who''ll allow myself and my loved ones to be exploited."

 Chapter 1390 Out For Blood

    <h4>Chapter 1390 Out For Blood</h4>

    All the reporters became even more excited after hearing Iris Long''s savage words. This was one of the reasons why the media loved her. She was so different to most celebrities who were always careful and calcting in every single word they said.

    If Iris Long wanted to say something, she would say it regardless of what other people thought.

    She learned to be a bit more tactful with time but this trait would always show up especially in situations like this. Whenever someone targeted her or the people she cared about, she wouldn''t hesitate to retaliate.

    The reporters were hanging on to her every word, afraid of missing anything. Even the other guests who happened to hear what she said decided to stay around and continue listening.

    "Want me to act like everything is fine after everything that cheating couple did?" Iris continued saying in front of the cameras. "As you all already know, I''m a musician, not a seasoned actress. I''m not good in pretending. I prefer to write songs and convey my emotions through my music rather than force myself to act fake.

    "What''s more, my talent fee is quite expensive. Not many could afford me. But of course, if I really like a project and believe in it, I might agree to lower my price. Maybe even work for free. It depends. Unfortunately, the cheating couple''s wedding is not a project that I want to involve myself even if they pay me three times my average talent fee rate.

    "People need to learn that sometimes blood is not thicker than water. Our family is often our greatest source of love, warmth,fort, happiness, motivation and inspiration. But unfortunately there are some people who experience the exact opposite. Their families are toxic vampires¡ªparasites. They suck out all the love, warmth,fort, happiness, motivation and inspiration instead.

    "When you are high up there enjoying all the sess that you worked so hard to earn by yourself, they''re always there wanting¡ªno, demanding¡ªtheir own shares. They act as if they deserve your sess just based on their blood rtions with you. They want you to pull them and their own families up as if it''s only natural. And when you refuse, they get angry and act like you''re a bad person, an ingrate, who have forgotten where you came from.

    "If you don''t recognize them for who they are¡ªtoxic parasites¡ªand cut them off from your life before it''s toote, then you''re the one who''s going to suffer in the end. They''ll continue bleeding you dry until you''re left with nothing. And when you have nothing left to give them, I bet that they''ll be the first ones to flee as if you have an incurable disease. When it''s your turn to ask them for help like how you helped them in the past, they''ll m their doors close in your faces."

    Many people who were listening to what she said felt emotional. There were those who experienced this kind of unfair and seemingly hopeless situation in some way. This wasn''t umon at all.

    Iris Long was right!

    Those kind of opportunistic, greedy rtives and friends were nothing but toxic parasites. The best solution was to cut them off from their lives before it was toote. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Then the people became a little confused and curious at the same time. Why was Iris Long talking about this?

    Was she likening her half-brother, Long Hui, to toxic parasites?

    This was too extreme, wasn''t it?

    Long Hui was considered the crown prince of the Long n. He had money and status. He wasn''t a destitute, opportunistic rtive. Or was he?

    The people didn''t know all the details about the real situation behind closed doors. They only knew about what was being reported in the media.

    Then Iris said, "Of course, the cheating couple''s situation is not the exact same as the one that I just talked about."

    Before the people could sigh in relief, she added, "They''re worse. They''re shameless character assassins who pretend to be victims. They expect to be forgiven and be left off based on familial rtions. And when we don''t agree, we''re painted as resentful people who continue to hold a grudge."

    She turned to her husband and asked, "Liwei, are we the ones who turned our backs on our familial rtionship with them first?"

    "Of course not," Jin Liwei replied without hesitation. "That man was the one who abandoned his family and hurt them for his own selfish, greedy ambition. He cheated on the mother of his son with another woman who had a simr background to him. Then he shamelessly turned the situation upside-down and used the mother of his son of cheating on him instead with one of my best friends. The worst thing is that he made the usation in the media."

    Iris nodded. "Indeed. Such a devious action. If he had been sessful, the mother of his son would have been vilified by the entire nation. Fortunately, we are there to protect her and my nephew from all the lies."

    The people listening couldn''t help but feel impressed by the perfect back-and-forth exchange between the husband and wife.

    The wife provided the main artillery while the husband supported her with secondary armament.

    It was clear that they were out for blood.

    Iris faced the reporters again. "Now tell me, if you were in my shoes, would you force yourself to attend that kind of person''s wedding and paste a fake smile on your face just for the sake of familial rtions? If you can, then you must either be a saint or a fool. I''m not sorry to say that I could never do that. How about you, Liwei?"

    "Better to attend Eldest Brother Yehan''s g than do something thankless like that," Jin Liwei said. His gaze on her was extremely doting that others almost choked from all the dog food.

    "Exactly. That''s why we''re here. Supporting the silver-medal victory of the national shooting team is a more honourable way to spend our time than wasting it on attending a cheating couple''s wedding. The athletes deserve all the good things that are happening to them because they worked hard for it with their blood, sweat, tears and more. Not like other people who expect all the best things when they did nothing to deserve them."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    "The national team athletes are such wonderful inspiration to everyone, especially the youth. I want my children to be like them when they grow up¡ªfocused, driven and hardworking for all the right reasons."

    Jin Liwei smiled. His gaze almost never left his wife since she started speaking. "You''re right."

    She beamed at him.

    ''Hey, hey, hey! Can you two tone it down a little? Do you want to drown everyone in dog food?''

    The people grumbled in their hearts but didn''t dare to say their thoughts out loud.

    CEO Jin was already intimidating enough. They couldn''t offend him that easily without worrying about the consequences.

    What if they also end up shifting his wife''s line of fire on them? Iris Long''s sharp tongue was no joke. She had the ability to crumple one''s self-worth with her barrage of poison-coated words. In addition to this, she also had a history of getting into physical fights before. Her goddess persona that she managed to build today was extremely deceptive. It hid a vicious barbaric cavewoman who would beat up anyone who threatened her and her family.

    No, thank you. Offending this couple was not worth it.

    It was better to watch the couple attacking others instead. Like right now.

    Poor Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue.

    Did they not think that they would kick an iron te by offending Jin Liwei and Iris Long?

    Even if they didn''t fear Iris Long, why would they provoke CEO Jin?

    He was THE Jin Liwei, for goodness'' sake!

    One of the reporters remembered something.

    "Iris, your side insists that Long Hui''s usation that the mother of his son, Miss Jiang, and Mr. Lin Yehan cheated on him is false. However, we all saw today that Miss Jiang is Mr. Lin''s partner in this g. They look very close. Some even witnessed the two of them holding hands earlier. Are they in a rtionship? If they are, then is this not proof that Long Hui''s usations have substance?"

    Jin Liwei''s expression darkened. Gone was his doting expression. His re could freeze people to death.

    The reporters stepped back and shivered but didn''t escape. They all wanted to hear the answer to this question.

    Iris patted her husband''s arm and then raised an eyebrow at the reporters. "It''s not my ce to admit or deny anything. This is Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Lin Yehan''s matter. It''s up to them to make any rifications. Go ask them, not me or my husband."

    The reporters were a little disappointed but they already kind of expected this answer.

    "But I can say this," Iris added.

    The reporters'' eyes lit up and pushed their microphones forward.

    "Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Lin Yehan both have clear conscience. If they don''t, my husband and I won''t support them so much like this. Right, Liwei?"

    "En."

    At this time, the invitees from LXC Studio finally arrived. Tang Yiyi immediately zeroed in on Iris being surrounded by a bunch of reporters. She rushed to the group and squeezed herself beside Iris.

    "Manager Tang," the reporters greeted her.

    Tang Yiyi sent Iris a meaningful look before smiling at the reporters. "I''m sorry, everyone. I have something important to tell Iris. Jin Chonglin is just outside the hall. You can go interview him next."

    When the reporters finally left to find Jin Chonglin, Tang Yiyi pulled Iris to a corner and red at her. Jin Liwei followed them.

    "Iris, can''t you be more careful of your words in front of the cameras?!"

 Chapter 1391 Credibility

    <h4>Chapter 1391 Credibility</h4>

    Iris saw an apologetic Dom a few feet away. She read his lips.

    He said, "Sorry, boss! I tried dying Big Sis Yiyi as much as I could but she became super-duper angry when she discovered the livestream of your interview online."

    She gave him an "it''s fine" wave of her hand.

    "Iris, are you listening to me?" Tang Yiyi demanded.

    "Elder Sis Yiyi, I don''t regret what I said," Iris told her.

    "Of course, you don''t," her manager grumbled. "You never do."

    "Manager Tang, I support everything that my wife said to the reporters," Jin Liwei interjected.

    This time, Tang Yiyi grumbled in her heart, not daring to say it to CEO Jin''s face. ''Of course, you are. You always are.''

    Despite this, she still continued lecturing Iris. Jin Liwei wanted to interrupt but Iris stopped him with a look.

    The lecture didn''tst too long, only a couple of minutes or so.

    When she was done, Tang Yiyi sighed. "Why do I even bother lecturing you? You''re always like this, saying whatever you want."

    Iris felt amused at her manager. She wasn''t upset at all at being lectured.

    "You''ve been managing me for this long. You should be used to my temperament a long time ago."

    Tang Yiyi red at her again. "It''s because that I''ve been managing you for this long that I feel frustrated that you refuse to be a little, just a tiniest bit tactful, you know?"

    "I''m already being tactful at this point," Iris countered. "If I wasn''t, I would have said much worse things about that cheating couple."

    "You!" Tang Yiyi sighed again, shaking her head.

    Iris shrugged, not at all sorry about the things she said in front of the reporters. Was it wrong to call out the cheating couple?

    It was the truth, anyway. It wasn''t like she was pulling lies out of nowhere. Everything she said about Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue was the truth and nothing but the truth.

    Tang Yiyi didn''t know how many times she had sighed and shook her head as she looked at the biggest artist that she was personally managing. Her goal was to make Iris Long into a superstar, even bigger than Jin Chonglin.

    They could only achieve this goal if Iris made another sessful showbizeback and produced new hits after another. Now that she was married and a mother, the majority of the usual opportunities to advance her career had been greatly reduced.

    This was normal because showbiz was one of the most fickle industries in society. Showbiz demanded younger and fresher talents who were preferably single and childless.

    As a result, Tang Yiyi felt a little desperate to do everything involving Iris'' career as perfect as possible. She hoped that Iris would learn a bit more tact when speaking to the media. Unfortunately, her hopes always ended up being dashed.

    Iris remained as straightforward as ever and refused topromise no matter what.

    On one hand, Tang Yiyi admired Iris for her straightforward personality. It was because Iris was this straightforward that her fans always felt assured of everything she said. When she said something, she really meant it. This gave her something extremely important and rare especially in showbiz.

    Credibility.

    Too many celebritiescked credibility. They were too easy to buckle under pressure. They would say one thing, and whenever they got into trouble because of it, they would take it back to protect their reputations.

    Iris Long right now didn''t have this kind of issue. Despite her turbulent showbiz career during her teenage years, she managed to sessfully rebuild her image into something not only respectable but also brilliant.

    And on the other hand, Tang Yiyi felt exasperated at Iris'' straightforward personality. This kind of artist who didn''t fear offending anyone by her words was too stressful to manage.

    "Iris, I swear you''ll give me a heart attack someday," Tang Yiyiined but her tone had already softened.

    "I don''t think that I''m that unruly," Iris replied with a raised eyebrow. "Compared to Brother Chonglin, I think that I''m quite easy to manage."

    Tang Yiyi was about to retort but then remembered her colleague. Lin Dong already began balding a little because Jin Chonglin often caused him too much stress.

    Indeed,pared to Jin Chonglin, Iris was rather easy to manage. Jin Chonglin had excellent work ethics but his innate rebellious nature often caused his manager a lot of headaches.

    The good thing was that Jin Chonglin seemed to have grown more sensible when it came to women. He had been a notorious womanizer before. Perhaps his nightmarish experience with his ex-fianc¨¦e traumatized him out of his womanizing tendencies.

    Instead of dating and sleeping around, he now had be more focused in his career, and of course, in running LXC Studio. Lin Dong didn''t have to clean up after Jin Chonglin''s messy dating life anymore.

    "Hey, are you talking crap about me?" Jin Chonglin appeared and asked after hearing his name.

    It had been difficult to extricate himself from the group of reporters and the other guests who became overexcited at his arrival. Fortunately, Lin Yehan arranged for excellent security at this g. Peace and order were quickly restored and he was finally able to enter the hall.

    "Not crap, just facts," Iris replied.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Tang Yiyi''s mouth twitched. Well, she did agree, though.

    Jin Chonglin snorted. He was about to say something when a familiar figure entered the corner of his sight.

    Chen Fei had also just entered the hall. She was with Long Jinjing and Lu Zihao. Following them was a yawning Meimei who looked like she was about to sleep while walking. Dom fetched them and showed them their tables.

    "The g is about to start," Lin Dong said, looking at his watch. "Let''s head to our tables, too. It''s not good for us to steal the attention from the national shooting team when they arriveter. We''ll be criticized if we do."

    Everyone agreed.

    Then Grandpa Lu arrived with Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan. Grandpa Lu sat at the same table as Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing. Grandma Li and Huang Yuyan sat with Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Wang Yingjie managed toe as well. Seated beside him was Yu Mo. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    On the other side, Jin Chonglin maintained a pleasant expression. His words, though, were filled with dissatisfaction.

    "Why am I seated beside you?" he asked the person next to him.

    "That''s what I want to ask, too," Chen Fei replied. Like him, she showed a smiling expression to avoid the onlookers from overthinking. "You think I like to sit beside someone like you?"

    "What do you mean someone like me? You mean a tall, rich, handsome and ultra-talented superstar?"

    "No, I mean a damned narcissistic diva man."

    "You little¡ª"

    "Ssssh!" Lin Dong was quick to reprimand them. "Chonglin, stop it. You too, Miss Chen. This isn''t the right time or ce to quarrel. Do you want gossip of the two of you dating to appear in the headlines tomorrow?"

    Chen Fei looked appalled. "Eeew! No way!"

    Jin Chonglin was insulted by her reaction. "Excuse me but did you just say eeew? How dare you?!"

    "Stop it!" Lin Dong scolded them.

    At the table behind, the Pandemonium members heard them. They snickered among themselves. Jin Chonglin was one of their bosses alongside Iris and Jin Liwei so they came today to represent LXC Studio. Even so, they still quietly made fun of Jin Chonglin.

    He was a superstar and yet he was still being disdained. Orchidia''s COO Chen Fei was amazing!

    Back at Jin Chonglin''s side, Yu Mo also heard them. He leaned over from his table.

    "I heard that Eldest Bro had to makest minute seat rearrangements because Madam Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro asked to be invited a couple of days ago. You were supposed to be in the same table as Third Bro and Xiao Xiu but you were moved there instead to make space for Madam Wei and Ren¨¦ Alejandro."

    "Dammit," Jin Chonglin swore while shing his iconic killer smile.

    He couldn''t show a negative expression or it would most likely end up in tomorrow''s headlines with crazy spections.

    Chen Fei wasn''t pleased either. She wanted to sit beside her best friend, Long Jinjing. How did she end up sitting beside this annoying diva man instead?

    Unbeknownst to her, she was really supposed to sit beside Long Jinjing. However, a mischievous Cupid managed to switch her seat beside Jin Chonglin instead just before she arrived.

    Dom ehehe-d in excitement as he watched Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei bickering with each other while maintaining their smiles. He was proud of his machinations. He wanted to gossip about it to others but Meimei was already starting to nod off in her seat.

    He could only wait for Randy to arrive. Speaking of the Zumba instructor, howe he hadn''t arrived yet?

    It must be because Wei Lan insisted on beingte again, believing that the most important people always arrivedte.

    Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue finally entered the hall. The host and his partner''s appearance signified that the g was about to start any second now.

    The two of them sat in the same table as Iris and Jin Liwei. Originally, Lin Yehan and his partner were supposed to sit with the coaching team. However, he decided to change it to make Jiang Ying Yue morefortable.

    He was the g''s host anyway. He didn''t want to make the seating arrangements too formal. It was more important to make everyone asfortable as possible especially his own girlfriend.

    Lin Yehan was about to gesture at the emcee to officially start the g when the hall''srge double doors opened and in strutted Wei Lan like a model on a catwalk nked by a handsome Spaniard and a mboyant muscle-man.

 Chapter 1392 A Slipper Out of Nowhere

    <h4>Chapter 1392 A Slipper Out of Nowhere</h4>

    Those from high society recognized Wei Lan. However, the ones rted to the national shooting team had no idea about the woman and the two men''s identities.

    Even though the trio arrived just in time and wasn''t technicallyte, they didn''t make a good impression on the coaching team and the athletes'' families and friends at all. These people didn''t care much about knowing the lives of high society members whose statuses were out of their reach anyway. All they felt was annoyance at the trio who didn''t have the courtesy to arrive ahead of time and dyed the start of the g dedicated to the athletes.

    At the front-row tables, Iris sighed while Jin Liwei frowned. If this was their own party, they wouldn''t care if Wei Lan waste or not. But they weren''t the hosts this time.

    Others knew that Wei Lan was Iris Long''s mother and Jin Liwei''s mother-inw. No matter what Wei Lan did, it would always reflect on both Iris and Jin Liwei one way or another.

    To be honest, Iris didn''t care much. She was just annoyed. Jin Liwei, on the other hand, was more irked. He didn''t like anything that would affect his wife''s reputation in a negative manner even if it was his own mother-inw. He sent Dom a meaningful nce.

    Dom understood. He understood and ran to the meet Wei Lan''s group to show them to their seats.

    Lin Yehan cleared his throat and gestured for the emcee to start the scheduled programme.

    Atst, the g finally began.

    The guests shifted their attention (and annoyance) from Wei Lan and focused on the event.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in weing the incredible, inspirational and phenomenal¡ªour country''s pride, the national shooting team!"

    Everyone stood up and rained apuse on the athletes as they finally entered the g hall. The age range of the athletes was quite diverse. The youngest was only sixteen years-old while the oldest was already in his fifties.

    The sixteen year-old was by no means the youngest and neither was the fifty year-old the oldest shooting active professional athletes in the world but their ages still awed their countrymen.

    The teenager was still so young and yet he already brought glory to his own country. Simrly, the middle-aged athlete was already at that age and yet he still continued to sharpen his skills without losing motivation.

    "They''re so amazing," Irismented while joining everyone in pping for the athletes.

    Lin Yehan heard her. "If you had only agreed to my offer to train you back then, you would have been in the national shooting team as well. Maybe we would''ve gotten gold instead. Winning in the Olympics is not impossible either."

    She only smiled but didn''t agree or disagree.

    Jin Liwei, however, nodded. He agreed with what his eldest brother said. He knew how skillful his wife''s shooting was and how urate she could shoot. Even when she was just throwing things, her uracy was no joke.

    Then he nced at his brother-inw. Lu Zihao only pped three times before stopping. He didn''t look interested in the g at all.

    Jin Liwei knew that the best shooter in this ce wasn''t the athletes or even his wife but his brother-inw instead. Unlike his wife, his brother-inw had been able to apply his shooting skills in numerous real life and death situations.

    If Lu Zihao became a shooting athlete, he would probably be a legend that no one had ever witnessed before in the history of the sports. He would most likely decimate all of his opponents, leaving them no room to even catch up to him.

    Lu Zihao noticed someone''s gaze on him. His eyes met Jin Liwei''s. He raised an eyebrow. Jin Liwei didn''t avoid him. They looked at each other for a few seconds before looking away almost at the same time.

    "What''s wrong?" Iris asked after noticing the two men''s interaction.

    Jin Liwei shook his head.

    She had no time to ask him anymore because the speeches finally started.

    As the host, Lin Yehan went on the small stage and officially weed everyone.

    He was one of the minor coaches of the team. A few years ago, he had been the main coach after his retirement as an athlete but decidedter on to step down and focus on running his agricultural business. It was only because his colleagues, students and even themittee begged him not to leave that he stayed as a minor coach.

    Although the credit was obviously lesser, it still worked for him. He could continue being active in his passion in sports shooting and groom the next generation of athletes while also running his business at the same time. The most important thing was that he was happy.

    Next, the main coach¡ªa former teammate of Lin Yehan andter became a colleague after their retirement as athletes¡ªalso made a speech.

    Then finally, the athletes themselves. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    The cheers and apuse almost never stopped especially when video clips of the team''s highlights in the world championships were yed.

    "Not bad," Irismented. "The teenager is indeed quite talented but stillcks a little control and experience."

    Jin Liwei studied her expression. "If given a choice again, would you have wanted to be an athlete like them?"

    She shook her head without hesitation. "As much as I admire athletes, I have no passion in the sports. You know what I''m passionate about. I won''t give up music andputers for this."

    "I know." He raised her hand and kissed it, not at all concerned about the onlookers.

    Fortunately, most of the guests'' attention was on the stage. However, there were still some who witnessed the husband and wife''s public disy of affection. The reporters especially didn''t miss the opportunity to take videos and several snapshots of the couple''s intimacy.

    The g didn''t only involve these speeches and food and drinks. Lin Yehan also arranged for a number of performances to entertain everyone.

    All the members of the Pandemonium band stood up and performed their most popr songs. Since most of the guests weren''t the type to like rock music, the band decided to rearrange their songs to be less hardcore. This was their limit. They refused topletely discard their rock essence in order to please their audience.

    As the band''s bosses, Iris and Jin Chonglin also wouldn''t allow them topletely eliminate the rock aspect of their music. Pandemonium was a rock band. Period. If they took this away, then they would not be Pandemonium anymore.

    Exploring other genres and melding them into their rock core was more than weed like how Iris Long taught them, but they would never abandon their true origins as musicians. Doing so would only destroy the heart of their artistry.

    As expected, not everyone enjoyed their performance, especially those who were past a certain age and most of the members of high society. Pandemonium didn''t care, neither did Iris nor Jin Chonglin.

    They were all musical artists. There were some things that they would never sacrifice for wider eptance and that included their artistic principles in their musical craft.

    Besides, it had always been impossible to please everybody anyway.

    Pandemonium felt better when they saw that most of the national shooting team athletes were digging their performance¡ªthe younger ones anyway. The oldest one in his fifties was like the others who couldn''t rte but his younger teammates were enjoying themselves.

    After the music stopped, the athletes all stood up and cheered. The oldest athlete and many of the guests who had been unable to rte to the performance could only give the rock band some polite apuse.

    ze, the main vocalist, spoke, "That''s our final song. Thank you so much! And HUGE congrattions to the national shooting team. You guys are awesome!"

    "That''s the end?"

    "More!"

    "One more song!"

    Those who enjoyed the performance begged for more, including some of the athletes.

    The band members asked the emcee if that was okay. The emcee then went to Lin Yehan who gave a thumbs up.

    ze grinned. Then his gazended on Iris.

    "We can do one more song. There is a song that we really want to perform again with the original person who wrote it. We''re not sure if she''ll agree but we''ll try our luck anyway."

    Iris raised an eyebrow. Surely, they wouldn''t do what she suspected, right?

    "Boss Iris! Please join us on the stage! I know that it''s abrupt but we''re really excited to perform together with you again! Please!"

    ze and his band members all gave her a bow, begging her to agree.

    Tang Yiyi''s expression turned dark. She looked like she was about to march onstage and twist the ears of the naughty boys.

    "Rx, Manager Tang," Jin Chonglin told her. "I see no problem with the boys'' request."

    "No problem?!" Tang Yiyi was aghast at his nonchnce. "Iris didn''t rehearse with them at all!"

    Lin Dong sighed. "Chonglin, just stop talking, alright?"

    "You controlling bastard," Jin Chonglin grumbled under his breath but still obeyed his manager and stopped talking.

    Chen Fei snorted at him.

    "I''ll deal with youter, you rude, bossy woman," he muttered.

    She snorted again, not at all worried about his threat. What could he possibly do to her? She didn''t fear him at all.

    Back at Iris'' table, she chuckled at Pandemonium''s surprise invitation. Everyone was waiting for her decision.

    "Boss Iris, please ept!" someone shouted.

    It was one of the athletes. Others followed suit in trying to persuade her to ept, including the sixteen year-old athlete. In fact, the teenage athlete pulled out a slipper from out of nowhere and waved it a little before hiding it again, afraid that their coach would scold him.

    Iris saw this andughed. Then she stood up amidst the cheers and apuse.

 Chapter 1393 True Backer

    <h4>Chapter 1393 True Backer</h4>

    While Iris Long was wowing everyone at the g with her impromptu performance of the award-winning and history-making song "Monster of Insanity" with Pandemonium, the wedding ceremony of Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue finally ended.

    However, the bride and groom didn''t have any time to feel relieved because today''s ordeal wasn''t done yet. They still had to go to the wedding banquet. Its scheduled duration was longer than the wedding ceremony itself.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui were inside their vehicle on the way to the banquet. They looked exhausted. Even Yang Jiahui who usually had a pleasant temperament looked strained.

    During the wedding ceremony earlier, Long Tengfei''s first ex-wife found every chance to target them with unpleasant words. As the current wife, Yang Jiahui received more than half of the verbal attacks.

    This was actually the first time that Yang Jiahui had this kind of interaction with her husband''s first ex-wife. It was usually Wei Lan (second ex-wife and Iris'' mother) and Zhu Ning (ex-mistress and Long Jian''s mother) who often targeted her.

    Zheng Suyin went into some kind of seclusion after her divorce with Long Tengfei. She rarely appeared in public. Thus, she and Yang Jiahui never encountered each other until today.

    Yang Jiahui sensed that her husband''s first ex-wife still might not havepletely moved on from the divorce. Her words today were filled bitter resentment and furious indignation for her son, Long Hui.

    She felt that handling Wei Lan and Zhu Ning was actually much easier than trying to deal with Zheng Suyin. At least with Wei Lan and Zhu Ning, she already knew what to expect.

    Zheng Suyin, on the other hand, was someone unfamiliar. Yang Jiahui felt unprepared.

    She really didn''t want to spend the rest of today enduring the woman''s verbal abuse. She might be tolerant but only to an extent.

    "Stop the car," she ordered.

    The driver found a nearby za and safely parked.

    "What''s wrong?" Long Tengfei asked.

    "I don''t want to go to the banquet anymore. You go by yourself. I''ll call a taxi and go to the g instead."

    Long Tengfei''s expression turned dark. "You''re leaving me alone?"

    She red at him. Gone was her usual kindness and gentleness. She was truly angry this time. "You allowed your ex-wife to insult me!"

    "What do you mean? I defended you!"

    "Not enough!" She started unbuckling her seatbelt.

    "Stop it, Jiahui. I''m not going to leave you here by yourself!"

    "Then go call another car to pick me up and send me to the g. I''d much rather spend the rest of today with my niece Meimei and Xin and the others who genuinely treat me well. I even prefer to spend time with Wei Lan. At least she already stopped picking fights with me ever since she remarried. The worst she does is ignore me which is already the best that I could ask from her. It''s many times better than wasting my time enduring disrespect from your awful first family who think that they''re superiorpared to everybody else!"

    Long Tengfei closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. However, he never let go of his wife. He held on, not allowing her to get out of the car.

    "Jiahui, I don''t want to fight with you."

    "I don''t want to fight with you either! But I can''t help it when I feel so awful!"

    "I feel awful, too." He paused then said, "I''m sorry."

    She was startled and looked at him in both surprise and wonder.

    "You already know that my¡­past history with women isn''t something that I''m proud of."

    Yang Jiahui snorted but she was already starting to calm down. Even so, she refused to give in so easily to him like she normally did. "You were born in the wrong era, Tengfei. You should''ve been born in the ancient times. Then you could''ve legally married more than one wife and taken in as much concubines as you can afford."

    He sighed. Experience had taught him enough not to make any careless remarks to his angry woman or suffer the consequences. His wife, Yang Jiahui, was perhaps the only woman that he felt genuine romantic love for the first time in his life.

    They were already at this age. Both of them were mature. Long Tengfei didn''t want destroy this marriage like his previous ones. He wanted to keep this one until theirst breaths.

    The only method that he could think of at the moment that would reduce his wife''s anger was what he had always been good at.

    At the front passenger seat, Cai Guang, Long Tengfei''s long-time assistant, immediately activated the partition wall to give his boss anddy boss some privacy. His expression barely changed, neither did the driver''s.

    Later, there was a knock from the backseat. Cai Guang lowered the partition wall.

    "Go call another car," Long Tengfei told him. "You''ll go with me at my son''s wedding banquet."

    "Understood, President."

    Then Long Tengfei instructed the driver, "Bring the Madam to the g safely."

    The driver obeyed.

    Finally, Long Tengfei talked to his blushing wife. "I''ll try to leave the banquet as soon as I can and follow you to the gter. If I can''t make it, I''ll at least pick you up. Wait for me, okay?"

    Yang Jiahui already felt better. The anger was still there but she was mature enough to judge that it wasn''t worth it to fight with her husband over his horrible first family. Today, at least.

    But if something like this happened again, then she wouldn''t let it end so peacefully. She was a loyal and devoted wife to her husband but she never imed to be a martyr. There was a limit to her tolerance.

    It seemed that Long Tengfei understood her conviction. Hopefully, he would be more careful next time. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Long Tengfei kissed his wife one more time before climbing out of the vehicle with his assistant, Cai Guang. They watched as the vehicle drove away and waited for the other car to arrive.

    "President," Cai Guang spoke after what felt like a long time. "May I say something¡­that you might find, er, offensive?"

    "What is it?"

    They might have an official boss and subordinate rtionship but they were actually also the closest friends.

    "I think¡­that trying to stay neutral and maintain a bnce among your children like you have always done already reached the limit. It''s clearly not working anymore. Young Master Hui and Young Miss Xin are no better than mortal enemies now. Your other children, Young Master Jian and Young Miss Jinjing, have basically chosen a side as well. They are both close to Young Miss Xin."

    Long Tengfei was quiet. He didn''t agree or disagree. Yet.

    Cai Guang continued, "At this point, I also personally think that Young Miss Xin is the best among your children. It''s not only because she married CEO Jin Liwei but also because of her own abilities. She''s a certified genius and an official Cross Academy student. What''s more, she''s the disciple of the business legend, Sir Lu Jianhong. Her Eve Holdings might be new but it''s already running like a well-oiled machine with all the sessfulpanies like Orchidia under it. And also¡­."

    "Just say whatever you want to say in one go," Long Tengfei told him. "What''s with you with all these pauses?"

    "About Phantom Dragon¡­."

    "Ah." Long Tengfei''s expression turned grave.

    "I have reason to believe that Phantom Dragon is owned by Young Miss Xin."

    Long Tengfei nodded. "I also think so."

    "Although we can''t find anything about this new investmentpany''s real background, I recently found out that Elder Long Jufang is assisting Phantom Dragon behind the scenes to swallow more shares. As the President already knows, Elder Long Jufang has be a staunch supporter of Young Miss Xin for a while now while Elder Long Meng supports Young Master Hui."

    "I know." Long Tengfei massaged his aching temples. He suddenly felt so old all of a sudden. "So what are you suggesting that I should do?"

    Cai Guang cleared his throat. "If I may be presumptuous, I think the President should give more power to Young Miss Xin. At the moment, she''s just a brand ambassador for Long Industries. I believe that only by giving her roughly the same authority as Young Master Hui and Young Master Jian to make major decisions in thepany would it be a level-ying field for them.

    "Then they can all openly prove their capabilities in front of everybody. This way, their need to do things to sabotage each other in the dark might be reduced. Or at the very least, Young Miss Xin wouldn''t have to unleash such an aggressive, uh, entity as Phantom Dragon. If she swallows Long Industries this way, she''ll face a lot of dissension. It won''t be true sess."

    Long Tengfei stayed silent while pondering his assistant''s words.

    "Protecting your children and trying to prevent them from harming each other are one thing," Cai Guang said. "But we also need to ensure that Long Industries won''t fall into ruin due to their constant in-fighting."

    Long Tengfei sighed. "You''re right." He sighed several more times. "You''re absolutely right."

    "It''s not that I''m siding with Young Miss Xin. I just think that based on what we''ve seen so far, she''s the one who has the advantage. Between the Jins and the Maos, oh and the Zhengs too, who would you rather Long Industries have as a backer?"

    Long Tengfei clicked his tongue. "Is that even a question?"

    "Exactly, President. In my opinion, one is a true backer while the rest are¡­uh, I''m sorry to say this but the rest are leeches."

    The other car finally arrived at this point. They climbed inside and immediately headed to the wedding banquet.

    "We''ll continue discussing thister," Long Tengfei said.

    "Understood, President." Cai Guang bowed to him.

 Chapter 1394 Murder is a Crime

    <h4>Chapter 1394 Murder is a Crime</h4>

    Back at the g, Iris did her iconic curtsy bow after her performance of ¡°Monster of Insanity¡± with Pandemonium. The hall was filled with deafening apuse, cheers and whistling. Even those who didn¡¯t particrly enjoy rock music couldn¡¯t help but feel absorbed by the performance.

    There was just something about the way Iris Long performed thatpletely grabbed everyone¡¯s attention and focus. It was like being spellbound. Even when the song finally ended, they still felt it resonate within them like a buzz from a fine, exotic wine.

    While Iris and the Pandemonium band members were basking in the audience¡¯s adoration, Jin Chonglin felt a little threatened. Just a bit.

    ¡±Damn, Sister Xin¡¯s voice levelled up again,¡± he muttered while pping.

    Lin Dong nodded. ¡°Her voice sounds more mature.¡±

    ¡±Not only that. It sounds fuller and richer. Her high registers have always been amazing, but it¡¯s her low registers that underwent a major evolution this time. I¡¯ve never heard her reach this kind of low notes before. It sounds as amazing as some of her high notes. She makes it sound easy but not a lot of women can reach such a low pitch.¡±

    Lin Dong rubbed his chest. ¡°My heart hurts a little.¡±

    Jin Chonglin sniggered at his manager¡¯sment but the truth was that he also felt the same. The way Iris sang this time gave them literal heartache. It wasn¡¯t just a feeling. Their chests really felt a bit painful.

    Painful in a way that felt good at the same time. It might sound masochistic but it was the truth.

    They wanted to listen to Iris Long sing more even though she might make them feel too emotional that it hurt.

    ¡±What¡¯s up with her?¡± Jin Chonglin continued muttering under his breath. ¡°Does giving birth really changes the quality of a person¡¯s voice this much? Or maybe it¡¯s because her boobs have be bigger? Her bigger boobs increased her lung capacity¡ªOUCH!!! What the hell are you doing?!!! Stop it, you crazy woman!!!!!¡±

    Chen Fei ground the tip of her stiletto heel on his foot before withdrawing it. She sneered at him, not at all apologetic for what she did.

    ¡±You dirty pervert. How dare you talk about your sister-inw¡¯s breasts? Just wait until your brother hears about this. He¡¯ll fucking kill your perverted ass.¡±

    Jin Chonglin panicked after hearing what she said. He didn¡¯t doubt her words. His elder brother might really kill him. He endured his hurting foot and quickly grabbed her.

    ¡±Let me go, you dirty pervert!¡± Chen Fei was infuriated. She struggled against him. ¡°Get your dirty paws off me!¡±

    ¡±Quiet!¡± Jin Chonglin covered her mouth with his hand.

    ¡±You two, what are you doing?!¡± Lin Dong¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his head. He stared at them in disbelief.

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei froze. They looked around and realized that everyone was staring at them.

    Iris and the Pandemonium band members had already gotten off the stage without any of the two of them noticing. Iris raised an eyebrow but still continued walking with easy grace to her husband¡¯s side.

    On the other hand, the Pandemonium band members started snickering and waggling their brows. Their eyes shone with mischievous glint as they threw their Boss Lin Lin and Orchidia¡¯s COO Chen Fei a lot of suggestive looks.

    Chen Fei immediately pushed Jin Chonglin away. They both straightened and pretended that all was well.

    ¡±I¡¯m gonna fucking kill you after this, you damned bastard,¡± Chen Fei said in a low voice while giving everyone a ¡°forced¡± natural smile.

    ¡±Don¡¯t shift the me on me, you troublesome woman,¡± he replied in a simr way. ¡°This is all your fault. You were the one who started shouting like a lunatic and attracted everyone¡¯s attention.¡±

    ¡±You shitty motherfucker. How dare you me me? You¡¯re the one who grabbed me with your dirty paws.¡±

    Lin Dong red at them. ¡°Stop it, you two! Now you¡¯ve really done it. Expect tomorrow¡¯s headlines to feature a sensational lovers¡¯ quarrel between the two of you!¡±

    The two followed his line of sight. They saw the reporters taking countless photos and video footage of them like sharks who smelled blood in the sea.

    ¡±Oh, shit.¡± Chen Fei was out of her element. She wasn¡¯t a celebrity so she didn¡¯t know what the best thing to do in this kind of situations.

    Jin Chonglin sighed before waving at the reporters and shing them with a big smile. Then he did something that made Chen Fei want to beat him up.

    He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close until the sides of their bodies were pressed against each other.

    Chen Fei immediately started struggling but he whispered a warning to her, ¡°If you want the situation to be worse, then go ahead and start making a ruckus.¡±

    She stiffened. ¡°Then what¡¯s the n?¡±

    ¡±Just go along for now. Trust me, I know what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯ll handle the aftermath.¡±

    ¡±Fine,¡± she said through gritted teeth. ¡°I¡¯ll trust you just this once. But if you get me into a deeper mess because of this, I¡¯ll bury you alive, you bastard.¡±

    Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t reply. He just started chatting with Lin Dong and the others at their table as if there was nothing wrong in the world.

    Lin Dong stared at Jin Chonglin for a few seconds before going along with him as well.

    Chen Fei restrained the strong urge to clobber Jin Chonglin and joined the conversation as well. His hand on her waist felt hot and sticky.

    Disgusting!

    She wanted to p it away (and maybe even break a few of his fingers) but she tamped down on her increasingly violent thoughts.

    ¡¯Murder is a crime, murder is a crime, murder is a crime,¡¯ she kept chanting in her mind.

    Fortunately, there were other performers who went onstage and shifted the audience¡¯s attention from Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei.

    The next performers weren¡¯t all celebrities. Many of them were talented civilians like folk dancers, hip-hop dancers, ballroom dancers, acrobats and even magicians. Although they couldn¡¯tpare to the star power of Iris Long and Pandemonium, their performances still entertained the audience.

    The people had already temporarily forgotten about the stimting scene between the superstar Jin Chonglin and Orchidia¡¯s COO Chen Fei.

    At thetter half of the g, Iris went onstage once again and began performing some of her best hits, including ¡°Phantom of Your Love¡±, ¡°ck Star¡± and ¡°Rebirth¡±.

    Inspired by what Pandemonium did earlier, she also called Jin Chonglin to the stage for another impromptu performance. They sang the famous theme song ¡°Shining Eyes¡± from the hit drama ¡°Our Love, Our Destiny¡±.

    The audience went crazy.

    Iris Long¡¯s natural charisma was already off the charts. But when Jin Chonglin¡¯s superstar power was added into the mix, the result was simply incredible.

    After their duet, Iris Long once again stepped off the stage amidst a deafening standing ovation. She noticed the teenage athlete wiping tears as he pped for her with all his might.

    She stopped mid-walk and faced him and the other members of the national shooting team. Then she did an extra-deep and extra-elegant version of her iconic curtsy bow to give respect to the amazing athletes.

    The apuse became even more deafening.

    It took a while for the audience to calm down. However, they were unable to take a breather because Jin Chonglin owned the stage in the next moment. From out of nowhere, a group of people appeared and started dancing with him.

    He even brought his own back-up dancers!

    As expected of a superstar.

    His professionalism was top-notch.

    Iris couldn¡¯t even feel envious while watching her brother-inw. All she could feel was admiration.

    One of her goals was to surpass Jin Chonglin as a superstar.

    Showbiz was a field where one couldn¡¯t just rely on appearance, talent or hard work alone. It also needed a lot of luck.

    If one was destined to be a superstar, then one would be a superstar whether one intended it or not.

    Iris wanted to be a superstar that would be remembered beyond her death. She dreamed of her music being enjoyed by the future generations and inspiring more talents into developing their craft.

    As she watched Jin Chonglin giving his all while performing in a small stage like this, Iris felt a deeper appreciation for the world of music. Her musical style differed to Jin Chonglin¡¯s style yet they continued to inspire each other into improving their artistry.

    Beside her, Jin Liwei watched his wife¡¯s reactions more than his younger brother¡¯s performance. He could sense his wife¡¯s thoughts and emotions just from her expressions alone. He raised her hand and kissed it.

    She smiled at him.

    There were no words needed between them at this point. She could see his utmost support for her dreams. Sheid her head on his shoulder while they enjoyed Jin Chonglin¡¯s performance together.

    They noticed the arrival of Yang Jiahui but didn¡¯t remark on it. She slipped inside the hall while most of the audience was engrossed in the performance.

    The g was so much fun that nobody had time to think or even gossip about Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue¡¯s wedding. Even their original wedding guests who bailed on them and attended today¡¯s g instead forgot about it.

    There was tomorrow for gossiping (and ridiculing). Today was the time to enjoy themselves and celebrate the silver medal victory of the national shooting team.

    After Jin Chonglin¡¯s performances, the g entered a more casual state where the guests ate and drank, and of course, went around the hall to chat with each other.

    Iris and Long Jinjing left their husbands¡¯ sides while Chen Fei felt relieved to leave her seat beside Jin Chonglin. The three women met up and nodded at each other before heading straight to the national shooting team and their coaches.

 Chapter 1395 Fiasco

    <h4>Chapter 1395 Fiasco</h4>

    When Iris Long approached the national shooting team, almost all the athletes started acting like overexcited children who received the most wonderful presents on their birthday. They surrounded her and marvelled at her existence.

    ¡±Boss Iris!¡±

    ¡±Oh, my gosh! I¡¯m seeing finally seeing Boss Iris in the flesh!¡±

    ¡±Boss Iris, can you sign an autograph for me?¡±

    ¡±Can we take a picture together?¡±

    Iris chuckled and agreed to all their requests. There was nothing to worry about because the coaches were keeping a sharp eye on them, not to mention that there were many important people in attendance in today¡¯s g. None of the athletes would dare to do anything bad to her and risk destroying their sports career.

    The teenage athlete was a little shy in front of Iris. He waited for his turn and allowed his seniors to interact with her first before whipping the slipper that he waved earlier.

    ¡±B-boss Iris, can you s-sign this slipper for me, please?¡± he asked, blushing a little.

    ¡±Sure.¡± Iris grabbed the clean, new-looking slipper and signed it with relish. Then she posed with the shy teenager and took a photo together.

    Although not everyone in the team was a ck Star or a member of the Slippers Army like the teenage athlete, all of them still asked for Iris¡¯ autograph and took photos with her. Even the oldest athlete among them knew who Iris Long was despite not having that much interest in celebrities or showbiz in general.

    Iris Long¡¯s hit songs were still being yed on the radio and public establishments on a regr basis. Her music wasn¡¯t only enjoyed by a single demographic. She had fans from almost every age group.

    In addition, advertisements for Orchida (Beauty, Mommy and Baby) were everywhere. Be theymercials, posters, billboards and web ads¡ªshe did the majority of them. Even themercial jingle for Orchidia was written and sang by her. She was her ownpany¡¯s biggest endorser.

    This was one of the main ways that she was able to stay relevant despite her maternity hiatus.

    The athletes finally calmed down after the autograph-signing and photo-taking session with Iris.

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei could finally return to her side. Although they knew that she was a famous celebrity, they still would sometimes forget how crazy other people could get when seeing her.

    Even world-ss athletes were her fans. How awesome was that?!

    Orchidia¡¯s trinity of goddesses requested to speak with the coaching team and the athletes to discuss an offer to be product endorsers.

    ¡±I¡¯ll do it!¡± the teenage athlete said without any hesitation. ¡°My mom and sister love Orchidia Beauty products. I also use Jin Chonglin¡¯s men¡¯s line because my mom forced them on me at first. But now, my skin can¡¯t tolerate other brands¡¯ products anymore. It only likes Orchidia Beauty now.¡±

    ¡±I¡¯ll do it, too!¡±

    ¡±Count me in!¡±

    ¡±Coach, please ept the offer for us, okay? We promise to train harder!¡±

    Iris was pleased with the athletes¡¯ enthusiasm but it was still the team¡¯s coaches and the managers who had the final say. They didn¡¯t ept or reject right away but requested for more details and time to think about it.

    Chen Fei took over at this point. Iris and Long Jinjing left her to discuss with the coaches and managers while the two of them continued chatting with the athletes.

    While the three women were busy, Jin Chonglin was once again surrounded by reporters asking him about his rtionship with Orchidia¡¯s COO. He nced at where Chen Fei stood in the other side of the hall.

    Then he shed the reporters with another one of his iconic killer smiles and said something to answer their question.

    His answer made everyone excited.

    ###

    The following day,st night¡¯s sessful victory g in honour of the national shooting team were featured all over the news.

    Iris Long¡¯s unreserved statements about her elder half-brother Long Hui and his new wife Mao Qiuyue quickly became controversial. The terms she used to describe the newly-married couple¡ª¡±toxic parasites¡± and ¡°shameless character assassins¡±¡ªbecame viral.

    As usual when it came to news stories about her, the reactions were mixed.

    Those who liked her, especially the ck Stars, took her side. They all agreed with everything she said and even shared some of their personal experiences about encountering simr types of people¡ªthe so-called ¡°toxic parasites¡± and ¡°shameless character assassins¡±.

    On the other side of the spectrum were those who disagreed with her, be they her perpetual haters or those who simply didn¡¯t share her viewpoints. They thought that she was being too harsh and merciless to her own biological brother.

    The next news story featured the pitiful turnout of Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue¡¯s wedding. The photos they posted on their social media ounts all looked beautiful and happy. However, the reality wasn¡¯t anything close to how they portrayed their wedding on social media.

    There were people who revealed the true behind-the-scene situation during the wedding ceremony and the banquet. Some of them were the actual guests while the others were the staff hired for the wedding.

    These revealing photos and videos showed many empty seats and the depressing expressions of the bride and groom and their families. Just by looking at these photos and videos, the viewer could sense the tense atmosphere.

    Compared to the g¡¯s liveliness and impressive list of guests and performers, the wedding was like a deste funeral instead of a wedding. The stark contrast was embarrassing for Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue.

    Many ridiculed them especially after Mao Qiuyue tried so hard to publicize her wedding with Long Hui not too long ago and even dragged Iris Long and her husband¡¯s names in the media.

    ¡±This is karma! A cheating couple like them deserve humiliation.¡±

    ¡±Look at Mao Qiuyue¡¯s expression. She looks like she swallowed a dead rat. Then look at Long Hui¡¯s face. He looks drunk and unaware of what¡¯s happening around him. Their wedding is a huge embarrassment! I¡¯m actually amazed that they were about to go through the entire ceremony and banquet.¡±

    ¡±Is it just me or did anyone else notice that CEO Long Tengfei¡¯s wife didn¡¯t apany him to the wedding banquet but appeared at the gter instead?¡±

    ¡±Poster above, I noticed that, too! I bet that if Long Hui wasn¡¯t CEO Long Tengfei¡¯s eldest son, CEO Long would have also left with his wife and attended the g instead. Look at his expression. Is that the face of a happy father watching his son get married?¡±

    The ridicule continued but only a few people focused on the wedding. People paid more attention at the g¡¯s main purpose¡ªto celebrate the national shooting team¡¯s silver medal victory at the world championships.

    Words of congrattions poured from almost everyone. They were all proud of the athletes¡¯ achievement in the world stage. People felt like they also won through the athletes¡¯ impressive finish.

    In addition, interest in sports shooting also increased. Although many were scared at the idea of holding and using firearms, they still thought that it was cool after watching the video highlights of the world championships.

    As the victory g¡¯s host and one of the national team¡¯s current minor coaches, Lin Yehan¡¯s background was also featured in the news. His past as a professional shooting athlete was dug up. Photos of his younger self were shown posing with different sports-approved firearms. He looked quite cool.

    However, it was his background as an agricultural tycoon that attracted more attention. His contributions to the country¡¯s agricultural innovations and widespread support of the farmers and lowest-level workers in the industry gained a lot of praise from the people and the government.

    After knowing more about Lin Yehan, the people couldn¡¯t help but feel indignant on his behalf after remembering how he had been defamed by Long Huist year. Such an upright citizen who had countless aplishments in both the fields of sports shooting and agriculture was dragged through the mud by someone whose only known achievement so far was to be born into a wealthy family.

    It didn¡¯t matter that Long Hui looked more handsome than Lin Yehan. Appearance didn¡¯t always matter especially when the heart was ck.

    Before anyone knew it, Lin Yehan had be one of the nation¡¯s most eligible known bachelors. So many women dered their love for him and wanted to be Mrs. Lin.

    ¡±To those fantasizing about Mr. Lin Yehan, I¡¯m sorry,dies, but he already has someone in his heart. Look at some of the g photos. You can see him holding hands with a heroic-looking woman in a tuxedo suit.¡±

    ¡±What the hell? Isn¡¯t this woman Long Hui¡¯s ex and the mother of his child?¡±

    ¡±Holy shit! You¡¯re right. Then does this mean that Long Hui¡¯s usations about Mr. Lin and Miss Jiang are all true?¡±

    ¡±Stop trying to specte! Watch Iris Long¡¯s interview again. She said that Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue have clear conscience. Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue were the ones who cheated, not them.¡±

    ¡±I believe in Boss Iris¡¯ words. If she says that Mr. Lin and Miss Jiang have a clear conscience, then it must be true. Besides, I think that it¡¯s very possible that feelings have blossomed between Mr. Lin and Miss Jiang while both of them were embroiled in the defamationwsuit against that trash, Long Hui. They experienced such a tough time together that they must have ended up falling in love with each other. How romantic!¡±

    ¡±Lin Yehan doesn¡¯t deserve a used woman like that bodyguard. She already has a child from a previous rtionship and she¡¯s still flirting with another man. How shameless!¡±

    ¡±Go away, you troll! How dare you discriminate against single moms?! Single moms deserve happiness and a second chance in love, too! Your prejudice is disgusting!¡±

    Lin Yehan¡¯s unconfirmed rtionship with Jiang Ying Yue created a bigger buzz than Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue¡¯s embarrassing wedding fiasco.

 Chapter 1396 Game of Pretend

    <h4>Chapter 1396 Game of Pretend</h4>

    Not all news fromst night garnered mixed reactions. A video footage of the sixteen-year-old athlete and current youngest member of the national shooting team, Ren Jiyu, became viral. It was when Iris Long was performing ¡°Monster of Insanity¡± with Pandemonium at the g.

    Ren Jiyu was caught whipping out a slipper from out of nowhere and waving it around before quickly hiding it from his coaches. Another video footage showed him asking Iris Long to sign the slipper with a shy expression.

    The ck Stars, especially the Slippers Army, were ecstatic to find that such an impressive youth and world-ss athlete was actually one of them.

    His actions endeared him to the masses, not only to Iris Long¡¯s fans. As a matter of fact, his action of waving a slipper from out of nowhere became a trending meme.

    He also became some kind of a mascot for the ck Stars¡¯ Slippers Army. Their slogan temporarily changed from ¡°Slippers of Justice¡± to ¡°Slippers of Glory¡± because Ren Jiyu brought glory to the country and also to glory to the Slippers Army.

    Perhaps the biggest news fromst night¡¯s g that swept the nation was Jin Chonglin¡¯s alleged romantic rtionship with Orchidia¡¯s COO Chen Fei. This dating rumour was all over the headlines.

    Video footages and photos showed the two sitting together atst night¡¯s g. Not only that, Jin Chonglin was also seen hugging Chen Fei and covering her mouth. Their faces were only inches apart as they red at each other. Most people concluded that they were having a lovers¡¯ quarrel.

    The next photos showed them smiling like they had put aside their quarrel and would continue itter in private. Jin Chonglin¡¯s hand on Chen Fei¡¯s waist was too visible. It showed possessiveness, and of course, intimacy.

    Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans was in uproar. They dug any information that they could find about Chen Fei¡¯s background.

    Most knew her as Orchidia¡¯s COO and one of Iris Long¡¯s closest friends. Based on the information that Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans found, Chen Fei had a degree in marketing and graduated from the same business school and year as Long Jinjing, Iris¡¯ half-sister, who was also Orchidia¡¯s CFO. Both of them were two of the top students among their cohorts.

    After their graduation, the two immediately went to help Iris Longunch herpany, Orchidia Beauty, which was now known as Orchidia¡ªone of the current fastest-growing businesses in the country.

    Appearance-wise, Chen Fei was not even near as beautiful as the stunning Iris Long. Well, only very few people could rival Iris Long¡¯s beauty anyway so this wasn¡¯t even an insult to Chen Fei at all. Iris Long was a league on her own. Not a lot of women couldpare to her in terms of physical appearance.

    But Long Jinjing was still also a bit prettier than Chen Fei. Despite this, Chen Fei could still considered a very attractive woman because of the strong and confident aura she projected. Her expressions were very sharp as if she could pierce through a person¡¯s bullshit.

    She was also the one who often represented Orchidia at media events after Iris went into maternity leave. She was articte, educated and skilled. Based on her performance as COO so far, it was clear that she was also an excellent leader.

    Orchidia¡¯s avid consumers trusted her. After Iris Long, Chen Fei was the second most-known person from thepany.

    Third was Alric Bauer who was always credited as the main developer of most of Orchidia¡¯s products. Without him, there would basically be no Orchidia. Thepany¡¯s fans sometimes dubbed him as the ¡°mad scientist¡±.

    The fourth most-known person from Orchidia was Long Jinjing. Her presence wasn¡¯t as noticeable as the others because she often hid behind the scenes. It was only because the other three would frequently mention her strictness in controlling thepany¡¯s budget that the public remembered her.

    The efficiency of Jin Chonglin¡¯s army of fans in digging for information about Chen Fei¡¯s background was quite impressive. They were able to collect this much within a day. Discussion about herpatibility with their Prince Lin Lin filled various forums.

    ¡±Although COO Chen Fei is not what you¡¯d call a traditional beauty, she¡¯s pretty enough. At least, she¡¯s not horrendously ugly. Besides, her education and current career position are all top-notch. Even when our Prince Lin Lin decides to take a break from his showbiz career, COO Chen can still support him.¡±

    ¡±Prince Lin Lin doesn¡¯t need any woman to support him. He¡¯s a freaking member of the Jin family!¡±

    ¡±Calm down. It¡¯s just a figure of speech.¡±

    ¡±I don¡¯t like this! Prince Lin Lin is everyone¡¯s husband. Nobody deserves him! What if he meets another psycho like that evil Fan Luo? No way! I¡¯m gonna protect Prince Lin Lin for his whole life!¡±

    ¡±You¡¯re the one who¡¯s a psycho! We may belong in the same fandom but I refuse to associate with such a crazy fan like you! If you really love Prince Lin Lin, then you must treat him as a human being and not as a product that you can control! He has a right to fall in love, marry the woman he loves, and build his own family just like the rest of us.¡±

    ¡±I love Orchidia Beauty products. COO Chen Fei is an incredible woman worthy of my respect. I support her rtionship with Prince Lin Lin! She¡¯s definitely not a psycho like that murderous she-devil Fan-what¡¯s-her-name who bewitched our Prince Lin Lin for such a long time.¡±

    ¡±Let¡¯s not make all this wild spections. I¡¯m sure that Prince Lin Lin would rify whatever kind of rtionship he has with COO Chen. Let¡¯s wait for what he has to say before overreacting.¡±

    The dating rumour between Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei continued to fester and even grow into bigger proportions. The video footage showing him covering her mouth during the g inspired many fan fictions. Some of them even had strong, kinky overtones.

    ###

    Orchidia.

    With the help of thepany¡¯s security (and the ever cute and mighty Ketchup), Jin Chonglin was able to slip inside the building without anybody untrustworthy noticing him. The employees in the know about his arrival were all discreet and professional. They even helped him cover his tracks.

    He was now sitting in the COO¡¯s office and sipping a nice coldtte from thepany¡¯s own high-end caf¨¦. He looked sofortable. It was as if he was inside his own home.

    Chen Fei red at him and was even hissing at him. She looked like she was about to murder him.

    ¡±Are you fucking kidding me, you shithead?! Pretend to be your girlfriend?! Are you insane?! No way! I refuse to join in this kind of shitty game of pretend!¡±

    Jin Chonglin sighed and put down thette on the table. ¡°I¡¯m doing this to protect you!¡±

    She was incredulous at his im. ¡°Protect me?! Now I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re dumber than I initially thought. How does pretending to be your girlfriend protect me or even solve this dating rumour between the two us? You¡¯re not going to protect me this way. I¡¯m sure that your fans will eat me alive instead! No, I refuse this. I don¡¯t want to be involved with you in this way.¡±

    Then she shuddered and rubbed her arms. ¡°I¡¯m having goosebumps just thinking about it.¡±

    He clicked his tongue. ¡°You rude woman, how dare you call me dumb? You¡¯re the dumb one!¡±

    She gave him the finger with both hands. ¡°Fuck you, Jin Chonglin!¡±

    ¡±How dare you?! You¡¯re so vulgar! We¡¯re inside your office! Where¡¯s your professionalism?!¡±

    ¡±You dare to call out my professionalism? You¡¯re the one who barged into my office like a lowly thief! Then you even dare to spout all this nonsense about me pretending to be your girlfriend? There¡¯s really something wrong with your brain!¡±

    Jin Chonglin was almost near his tolerance limit for the woman. She was talented, alright. Talented in making him angry!

    He took several deep breaths to calm himself down. His purpose ining here in spite of all the danger of being recognized by the public and causing mass hysteria was not to fight with Chen Fei. He came here to make a deal with her.

    ¡±Let¡¯s talk like adults,¡± he said. ¡°All this shouting will get us nowhere.¡±

    ¡±Hmph!¡± Although she was like this, she still stopped yelling at him and sat down in another seat before crossing her arms over his chest. ¡°Now exin.¡±

    He sighed but still exined why he came up with the ridiculous idea of pretending to be in a rtionship.

    ¡±To be honest with you, this kind of gossip will go away on its own even without us doing anything,¡± he said.

    ¡±Let¡¯s not do anything then,¡± she replied.

    ¡±If you¡¯re ready to be face a lot of criticism and even insults, then let¡¯s not do anything.¡± He shrugged.

    She frowned. ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡±I¡¯m a man. What¡¯s more, I¡¯m Jin Chonglin, a superstar.¡±

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°Yeah, yeah. A narcissistic braggart as always.¡±

    A visible vein started throbbing in Jin Chonglin¡¯s forehead. He restrained his temper and decided to ignore the woman¡¯s infuriating words.

    ¡±People already expect me to be a ma ofdies because of who I am. It doesn¡¯t really bother me. There had been countless females throughout my career who tried creating dating rumours with me for clout. Most of the time, I ignore the rumours and just let my team handle them. But there are times that I had to make a personal statement to deny the rtionship. It depends on the situation.

    ¡±What I¡¯ve noticed is that the females are always the ones who are in the losing end in this kind of dating rumours. Women tend to be the ones who suffer while I remain the superstar that I am.¡±

 Chapter 1397 Iâ€™m My Own Sugar Mama

    <h4>Chapter 1397 I¡¯m My Own Sugar Mama</h4>

    Chen Fei went silent. She didn¡¯t doubt what Jin Chonglin said. He was right. It was often the women who suffered from almost any scandals.

    The men would also have a difficult time but only at the beginning when the height of public criticism was at its peak. Then they would recover almost scot-free. As a matter of fact, some immoral men wore their past scandals like a badge of honour.

    In contrast, most women only had one way to go¡ªdown. Those who were resilient enough to rise up could only live with tainted reputations. They had no choice but to change their image into something more provocative if they wanted to continue surviving. Their original clean reputations were gone forever.

    Chen Fei understood this but still felt reluctant to ept Jin Chonglin¡¯s idea. ¡°I don¡¯t think that our situation is as extreme as a scandal. It¡¯s only a dating rumour. There¡¯s no reason for us pretend to date.¡±

    He sighed. ¡°You still don¡¯t fully understand. I¡¯m Jin Chonglin! A superstar!¡±

    She rolled her eyes again. ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±

    ¡±Because of my fame and high status in showbiz, people always care about what¡¯s going on in my life especially my dating life. It¡¯s not only my fans who care but also other people. If a woman is rumoured to be involved with me, then everyone would want to know everything about the woman and dissect everything about her life. Even if the rumours are proven to be false, the damage to the woman is already done. I can¡¯t control this.

    ¡±Like I said, I usually don¡¯t care but you¡¯re different. I may not like you because you¡¯re a rude, bossy woman but you¡¯re still my sister-inw¡¯s close friend, not to mention that I have to work with you again when my next line of men¡¯s product for Orchidia begins development. I can¡¯t just ignore you even if I want to!¡±

    Chen Fei pursed her lips. His description of her angered her but he did make sense.

    ¡±So what¡¯s the point of me pretending to be your girlfriend?¡± she asked.

    ¡±It¡¯s to give you a status so that the criticism won¡¯t be too harsh on you. If my fans and the people know that I pursued you and made you my girlfriend, then they have no choice but to ept it. Sure, there will still be some who will dislike it but those ones will always dislike any woman who bes gets romantically linked with me anyway. Those obsessive fans only want me to belong to everyone and not have any real-life lovers.¡±

    She pondered over his reasoning. Although he made sense, she still thought that his idea was ridiculous.

    If it were only her, she wouldn¡¯t care about the public opinion at all. However, she was now the COO of Orchidia. As one of its highest executives, she had the responsibility to maintain a good image in order to uphold thepany¡¯s reputation. She couldn¡¯t taint Orchidia because of her personal issues.

    ¡±Ah, fuck this.¡±

    Jin Chonglin clicked his tongue when he heard her swearing again. ¡°So you still don¡¯t agree? Fine, then.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I tried protecting you but you still refuse my goodwill. Whatever happens from here on isn¡¯t my problem anymore.¡±

    She red at him. ¡°How long do we have to pretend to be in a rtionship?¡±

    He raised an eyebrow at her question. It seemed that she was starting to change her mind.

    ¡±Depends on the amount of attention we continue to get. My manager suggests that we ¡®date¡¯ for at least three months. Because if we ¡®break up¡¯ too soon, the public will start finding out why. I¡¯ll be okay as always but you¡¯ll be the one who¡¯ll have to face another wave of negative public opinion. They might say that I found you inadequate or something like that.¡±

    ¡±People don¡¯t know shit.¡± She sneered. ¡°I, Chen Fei, am inadequate? Hah! Unless they¡¯re certified geniuses like Xin, then they have no right to talk crap about me.¡±

    ¡±That¡¯s true. But what do you expect from haters? They¡¯ll always gonna hate no matter what you do.¡± He finished histte and stood up. ¡°I gotta go now. I still have a tapingter. Just think about my offer but don¡¯t take too long to make a decision or we¡¯ll miss the optimal time.¡±

    She also stood up. ¡°Fine, I ept.¡±

    He was startled. ¡°You what?¡±

    ¡±I said I ept! Are you deaf?¡±

    He ignored her testy attitude. ¡°You really ept?¡±

    ¡±Yes!¡±

    His iconic killer smile spread across his face. Then he stroked his chin. ¡°Admit it. You¡¯re just pretending to hate me when in fact, you really like me. You can now finally grab the chance to be my girlfriend even if it¡¯s just pretend¡ª¡±

    ¡±You hooligan!¡± She threw a business magazine at him.

    All the executive assistants watched their furious COO chasing aughing Jin Chonglin out of the office. They looked at each other, their eyes filled meaning. Then they smiled and continuing working as if nothing unusual happened just now.

    Chen Fei chased the infuriating narcissistic diva man until he disappeared in the elevator. Then she returned to her office, gasping slightly from all the running. When saw her reflection in the mirror, she pped both of her cheeks.

    ¡±What the hell are you doing? No, this is not blushing. This is just a normal physiological effect after a workout. Yes, that¡¯s right. My red face has nothing to do with that womanizer.¡±

    She tapped her cheeks again before forcing her attention back to the work piled up on her desk.

    ###

    Just as Jin Chonglin predicted, there were many people who started criticizing Chen Fei. Most of them were his obsessive fans. It became worseter than night when most of the night owls were active.

    Inside her own home, Chen Fei felt furious after reading some of the mean and unreasonablements about her. There were those who called her ugly.

    She couldn¡¯t help but look at herself in the mirror.

    ¡±Which part of me is ugly? I may not be as gorgeous as Xin but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m at the level to be called ugly. I¡¯m pretty enough.¡±

    Otherments called her a gold digger and social climber.

    She scoffed.

    ¡±Me, a gold digger and social climber? I may note from a high-society family but my parents are veritable high-ie professionals just like me. There¡¯s no need for me to target that diva man¡¯s wealth and status.¡±

    She tossed her hair over her shoulder.

    ¡±Do people think that I¡¯m using Jin Chonglin as a sugar daddy? I don¡¯t need a sugar daddy. I¡¯m my own sugar mama! Hmph!¡±

    Finally, she stopped looking at all the bashing directed at her online. It was too toxic. Even if she didn¡¯t care much, she still felt offended and hurt by some of the meanest ones. Continuing to look at them was not worth her mental health.

    She was about to call it a night and head to bed when her phone rang.

    ¡±What now?¡±

    ¡±Tsk tsk, rude as always,¡± Jin Chonglin¡¯s voice replied. ¡°But I was raised to be a gentlemen so hello to you.¡±

    Chen Fei wanted to retort but all the meanments about her popped up inside her mind again. She sighed and felt deted.

    ¡±Oh, what¡¯s this? You¡¯re not retorting?¡±

    ¡±It¡¯ste. I¡¯m tired. What do you want?¡±

    Thankfully, Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t continue teasing her anymore.

    ¡±I n to make an official announcement about our ¡®rtionship¡¯ first thing tomorrow. You also have to coordinate with me and make your own confirmation.¡±

    ¡±Tomorrow? So soon?¡±

    ¡±What so soon? Do you want to continue being attacked online for longer?¡±

    She was unable to retort. Her mood fell even further. Being attacked online by a bunch of strangers was no fun at all.

    Then she remembered that Iris went through the same thing with Jin Chonglin before. No, what Iris experienced was so much worse than what Chen Fei was experiencing right now.

    Iris even almost lost her life back then. It was because of the nonstop rumours about her chasing Jin Chonglin that made his ex-fianc¨¦e Fan Luo go crazy from jealousy and attempt to murder Iris. If Iris had been unlucky and died, nobody would have known about Fan Luo¡¯s evil scheme.

    Even when Iris miraculously woke up from a year-longa, made an almostplete recovery, and then sessfully returned to the showbiz limelight, people still continued to criticize her because of Jin Chonglin.

    Chen Fei hated Iris before but not anymore. It was because Iris kept on bullying Long Jinjing back then.

    Now, however, Iris was one of their closest friends.

    Chen Fei felt furious on behalf of Iris. She couldn¡¯t help but me Jin Chonglin. ¡°Everything is your fault!¡±

    Jin Chonglin had no idea about the extent of her thoughts. He thought that she was only ming him about their current situation.

    ¡±Alright, alright. It¡¯s my fault. Happy?¡±

    She was unhappy but didn¡¯t want to argue with him anymore. Everything that happened today made her exhausted in a way that she had never felt before. She almost found it hard to breathe.

    ¡¯Xin is amazing to survive all that,¡¯ she thought.

    Then she said, ¡°Fine, let¡¯s follow your n for tomorrow.¡±

    The next morning, Jin Chonglin once again visited Orchidia. Like yesterday, he was inside Chen Fei¡¯s office.

    ¡±No, delete that photo,¡± she said while trying to grab his phone. ¡°This angle makes my jaw look wider. Let¡¯s take another photo.¡±

    Jin Chonglin sighed and took another hundred photos of them together before she was satisfied with just one.

    ¡±Can I post it now?¡± he asked, already feeling tired when it was still very early in the morning.

    She nodded. ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t forget to tag me.¡±

    ¡±I know, I know. Jeez, you¡¯re so bossy!¡±

 Chapter 1398 Mrs. Superstar

    <h4>Chapter 1398 Mrs. Superstar</h4>

    Jin Chonglin posted the photo of him and Chen Fei together on his social media ount. He already received his manager¡¯s permission to do so. The photo had the following caption:

    ¡±Meet my girlfriend, Boss Chen Fei of Orchidia.¡±

    It was short and simple yet caused a massive explosion among his fans and the media.

    A few secondster, Chen Fei liked and shared his post using her own verified ount. Then she wrote the following caption:

    ¡±Meet my boyfriend, endorser of Orchidia Beauty¡¯s men¡¯s line, Jin Chonglin.¡±

    Even in a situation like this, she didn¡¯t forget to use Jin Chonglin to advertise Orchidia.

    Within a few hours, both of their posts received millions of likes andments. Their ¡°rtionship¡± also reached the top in the trending lists.

    Chen Fei¡¯s followers also increased at a frightening rate. She kept on monitoring the public opinion about her. She couldn¡¯t help it.

    Although there were still a lot of bashers, most of Jin Chonglin¡¯s fans were supportive of his ¡°rtionship¡± with Chen Fei. It was just like what he told her yesterday. The majority of people had no choice but to ept the reality especially if it was what he chose for himself.

    The sudden change in public opinion into a more positive direction made Chen Fei release a big sigh of relief. They couldn¡¯t please everyone but at least the bashing had reduced a lotpared tost night.

    Truth be told, she hadn¡¯t expected for Jin Chonglin¡¯s n to be this effective.

    ¡±Not bad,¡± she mumbled.

    Jin Chonglin had already left earlier. He was a busy man. As soon as they made their posts in the morning, he didn¡¯t stay around in her office and rushed to a taping.

    Her family and friends kept on calling her. Even some of her former ssmates, not-so-close acquaintances and ex-friends were messaging her nonstop to ask if it was true that she was Jin Chonglin¡¯s girlfriend.

    The girl squad already knew about her pretend rtionship with Jin Chonglin beforehand because she shared it in their group chatst night.

    Although her friends had reservations about it, they still supported her because it was her own decision at the end of the day. Jin Chonglin didn¡¯t force her. She was the one who agreed.

    Her parents also called her. She had no choice but to promise them to bring Jin Chonglin for an official introduction. There was no way that she was going to admit to her own parents that she agreed to be in a fake rtionship. She might be crass in front of other people but would turn into a sweet little girl in front of her strict parents.

    Knock! Knock!

    ¡±Come in.¡±

    Her assistant entered her office.

    ¡±Congrattions on your rtionship with Prince¡ªI mean Jin Chonglin, COO Chen!¡±

    Chen Fei scowled. ¡°This is the third time that you congratted me. Will you stop it now?¡±

    The assistant giggled before bing serious. ¡°Our security reported a crowd of paparazzi outside our building. President Long sent a team of bodyguards to protect you. They arrived just now.¡±

    Chen Fei was worried at first but immediately felt relieved after learning that Iris sent a bodyguard team for her. She knew the skill levels of the guards at Dragon Pce Pce Home #10. They were elites. Even Jiang Ying Yue had grown so much more intimidating since she started working there.

    Her assistant added, ¡°Jin Chonglin also left a bodyguard to protect you. It seems that he already anticipated this oue with the paparazzi.¡±

    ¡±Hmph!¡±

    Although Chen Fei acted like this, she still felt touched by the man¡¯s thoughtfulness. She would never admit it to him, though. What if he became even more pompous?

    She wouldn¡¯t be able to bear it! If he became even more narcissistic than he already was, she might really end up beating him one day out of annoyance.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    ¡±Well, hello there, Mrs. Superstar!¡± Dom greeted Chen Fei as soon as she arrived at the nurseryter that day.

    She kicked towards his direction. They were too far apart so of course there was no chance of her actually hitting him. It was just a symbolic kick.

    ¡±Hehehe.¡± Dom waggled his eyebrows while shimmying his body.

    Iris chuckled. She was sitting on the carpet with her twins.

    Long Jinjing also smiled at her best friend. She was on the rocking chair bottle-feeding Little Dima. Her other son, Little Misha, just finished being fed and was entertaining himself in the crib.

    Chen Fei ignored their meaningful gazes and greeted each of the four babies and the grumpy Ice Cream. She brought presents for them as well. Little Jun and the cats also had a share. She would give it to themter. For now, she needed to talk with her friends and hopefully feel better about everything that was happening to her and Jin Chonglin.

    ¡±Where¡¯s Sis Yue?¡± she asked while bouncing Little Mochi on herp.

    ¡±On duty,¡± Iris replied. Little Matcha was snuggling up to her on the carpet.

    ¡±So...be honest with me. What do you think about my fake rtionship with Jin Chonglin? I want your honest opinions, okay?¡±

    ¡±Why fake rtionship?¡± Dom asked in a mischievous tone. ¡°Just make it real!¡±

    ¡±Sh¡ªshush, Dom!¡±

    Chen Fei almost said ¡°Shut up, Dom¡± but managed to change her words in time. She was still conscious that there were kids in the room. She didn¡¯t want to be med for corrupting her friends¡¯ children.

    The friends chatted for a while. Later, Jiang Ying Yue also arrived after her shift. She brought Little Jun, Popcorn and Gravy with her.

    ¡±Lin Yehan isn¡¯t with you?¡± Chen Fei teased her.

    Jiang Ying Yue blushed but her smile was filled with happiness and sweetness. ¡°Yehan already dropped by earlier this morning. He¡¯s a little busy these days but we still see each other almost every day. If we can¡¯t meet, then we talk on the phone.¡±

    ¡±Ugh! I think I¡¯m having a diabetes attack.¡± Chen Fei pretended to shudder.

    ¡±I would tease you, too, but your rtionship is fake,¡± Jiang Ying Yue said.

    ¡±Of course, it¡¯s fake. There¡¯s no way in hell that I¡¯ll be in a rtionship with Jin Chonglin. Never!¡±

    Everyone raised their eyebrows at her.

    ¡±What? Why are you all looking at me like that?¡±

    Long Jinjing pouted at her. ¡°Never say never, Xiaofei. I also thought that I¡¯ll never marry Lu Zihao but look at me now. I even gave birth to his children.¡±

    Iris nodded. ¡°Same here. I also never thought that I¡¯ll fall in love with Jin Liwei. I border-line hated him before but now I love him the most.¡±

    Jiang Ying Yue agreed with them. ¡°I also didn¡¯t think that I would be in a rtionship with Lin Yehan especially after...you all know about what I went through with my ex.¡±

    Dom released an exaggerated sigh before clutching his French-manicured hands together in a prayer position. ¡°I wish that I could say the same as all of you. Dear future lover, when will youe and sweep me off my feet? I also want a happy ever after!¡±

    Little Mochiughed at his Uncle Dom¡¯s dramatic gestures while Chen Fei rolled her eyes.

    Her friends¡¯ reminder about how they fell in love with their men made her stop saying never. She still didn¡¯t think that she would ever be true lovers with Jin Chonglin, though. She just didn¡¯t want to jinx herself.

    ¡±Fine, since you asked for our honest opinion, then I¡¯ll give it to you,¡± Iris said.

    Chen Fei straightened her back. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±

    ¡±I think that it¡¯s incredibly stupid to pretend to be in a rtionship with anyone. If you want to deceive other people, then you must act against your true feelings.¡±

    Both Dom and Jiang Ying Yue nodded. Only Long Jinjing didn¡¯t. The others didn¡¯t think much about it because she was Chen Fei¡¯s best friend in the first ce. They thought that she was just sticking to her best friend through thick and thin. Nobody noticed her slightly embarrassed (and guilty) expression.

    Iris continued, ¡°But if you already have some feelings for the other person, then you¡¯re not only deceiving other people but also yourself.¡±

    Chen Fei became defensive in an instant. ¡°Hell no! Me? Have feelings for that womanizer? Impossible.¡±

    Iris shrugged.

    ¡±Let¡¯s not talk about Jin Chonglin anymore,¡± Chen Fei said, annoyed.

    ¡±You¡¯re the one who wanted to talk about him in the first ce,¡± Iris replied in an amused tone.

    ¡±Yeah!¡± Dom piped in. ¡°You¡¯re the one who asked for our honest opinions.¡±

    Long Jinjing and Jiang Ying Yue stayed quiet but their teasing smiles were enough to embarrass Chen Fei. They continued teasing her for a few more minutes before stopping.

    Chen Fei was relieved. Then she changed the topic to business.

    ¡±The national shooting team finally agreed to ept our endorsement offer. How do you want to go on about it?¡±

    Iris carried the sleepy Little Matcha back to the crib. ¡°Ren Jiyu will endorse the regr men¡¯s line that we¡¯re nning tounch soon.¡±

    ¡±That diva man will be upset,¡± Chen Fei muttered.

    Iris raised an eyebrow. Chen Fei wanted them to stop talking about Jin Chonglin and yet here she was mentioning him again.

    ¡±Brother Chonglin will continue endorsing his own line,¡± Iris said. ¡°His line is a special one. We also need to have a regr line of men¡¯s product. Ren Jiyu will be perfect for that. He¡¯s young and a great source of inspiration. We¡¯ll tap the teenage market through him.¡±

 Chapter 1399 Two Little Princes

    <h4>Chapter 1399 Two Little Princes</h4>

    Iris discussed with Long Jinjing and Chen Fei about her ns for the national shooting team¡¯s endorsement with Orchidia Beauty. Dom also shared some opinions which Iris weed. She trusted her best friend and assistant. However, the final decision would still rest on her.

    Afterwards, Chen Fei closed the small notebook that she brought after jotting down Iris¡¯ instructions.

    ¡±I¡¯ll work on the team¡¯s endorsement as soon as possible,¡± she said.

    Iris nodded.

    Long Jinjing sighed. ¡°I wish I could help. This endorsement project sounds fun.¡±

    ¡±Sis Jing, don¡¯t be too impatient!¡± Dom told her. ¡°Little Misha and Little Dima are still so small. Wait until they¡¯re a bit bigger and you can slowly return to work like what Boss is doing right now.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°I know. Thanks, Dom.¡±

    While the girl squad members enjoyed the rest of the evening together, an exhausted Jin Chonglin headed to one of his secret apartments to avoid the paparazzi surrounding his known residences. He had been extremely busy earlier today.

    Although he already expected that things would get crazy once he announced his ¡°rtionship¡± with Chen Fei, he still felt slightly underprepared at the onught of paparazzi, reporters and interview requests. His social media ounts had blown up with his fans¡¯ments and messages.

    His assistant left after cleaning up the takeout boxes that he ate for dinner. Then he took a quick shower and got ready for bed. He was about to fall asleep when his phone rang.

    He tried ignoring it at first but it was persistent.

    ¡±Dammit.¡±

    Then he checked the caller disy and all the irritation he felt disappeared.

    ¡±Hello, Mom?¡±

    ¡±Son, is it true that Chen Fei is now your girlfriend?¡± Huang Yuyan immediately asked without even greeting him back.

    Jin Chonglin sighed and sat up in bed. His brain made a quick analysis about the pros and cons of admitting the truth to his mother.

    In the end, he said, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡±Oh.¡± She paused. ¡°I only heard about the news this evening because I spent the entire day at your grandma¡¯s mountain vi.¡±

    ¡±I see. How¡¯s Grandma?¡±

    ¡±She¡¯s fine but not as energetic as before. She¡¯s getting old now. You and your brother should visit her more often. I¡¯m sure that she¡¯ll be delighted.¡±

    ¡±Okay, Mom.¡±

    ¡±Good. But don¡¯t change the subject! We¡¯re talking about your rtionship with Chen Fei. When did the two of you get together?¡±

    ¡±Not long. Just a few days ago before the g.¡± This was what he and Chen Fei agreed upon.

    ¡±Oh.¡± His mother paused again. ¡°I¡¯m happy that you have a girlfriend again. I thought that you¡¯re still traumatized after what happened with¡ªnever mind. Chen Fei is a good girl.¡±

    He had to stop himself from snorting at his mother¡¯s im. Chen Fei was a good girl? Really? Why didn¡¯t he know it?

    Huang Yuyan continued, ¡°Her way of speaking might be, er, unrestrained...but she¡¯s still a nice, pretty, young woman who has a bright future especially as the COO of your sister-inw¡¯spany. I like her.¡±

    Jin Chonglin pursed his lips. He didn¡¯t know how to reply to his mother.

    ¡±I¡¯m d that you got together with her, son. Don¡¯t y around and hurt her, you hear me? And stop always fighting with her.¡±

    His heart skipped a bit. He felt a bit guilty. However, he and Chen Fei already made this decision so they had to go through it until the end.

    He could only reassure his mother. ¡°Alright, Mom. I understand. Don¡¯t worry too much.¡±

    ¡±You must bring Chen Fei and have dinner here at the old house with me, okay? Or maybe we can go to your grandma¡¯s mountain vi and eat together with her.¡±

    He felt even guiltier but still said, ¡°Okay, Mom.¡±

    His mother left him a few additional reminders before hanging up. Finally, the call ended.

    Jin Chonglin stared at the phone. He no longer felt sleepy.

    ¡±Three months. Just three months and this y will be over. That rude, bossy woman and I will ¡®break up¡¯ amicably and go on our own lives just like before. No hard feelings. I¡¯ll just tell my fans that the two of us made the mutual decision to separate after realizing our ipatibility. Yes, that¡¯s the n.¡±

    He knew based on experience that three months would fly by quickly. Right now, however, it felt like it would be a long time.

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    Today was another extremely busy day for thepany. There were a lot of projects that needed constant supervision. This week was just the start. It was expected that this kind of hectic schedule would continue for at least a month.

    It wasn¡¯t possible to do everything remotely from home so Jin Liwei could only oversee everything in person. He was reluctant to spend so much time away from his family but his schedule was really tight.

    Even if it would be more convenient to sleep in his office bedroom, he still insisted on going home to his family every night. His wife and children might be all asleep but at least he could still hug and kiss them.

    If it wasn¡¯t for his understanding wife, he might have already abandoned his work and left it to his subordinates in order to spend more time with his family.

    At the moment, Jin Liwei was in the conference room and having a meeting. His expression wasn¡¯t too good. He found the n for this particr project to be unsatisfactory.

    ¡±Redo it!¡±

    The person-in-charge of the project quailed but still obeyed. ¡°Understood, President. My team and I will redo it immediately and present you with a better one!¡±

    ¡±Don¡¯t just present me with a better one. I want the best one!¡±

    ¡±Yes, President. Understood!¡±

    Continuing this meeting for this project was now pointless. They could only reschedule it until the revised n was finished.

    Jin Liwei felt annoyed because this meant a waste of time and resources.

    The current team left and the next team entered the conference room. This time, they were morepetent. The n that they presented for another project was well-thought-out.

    Jin Liwei only made a few adjustments to the original n. This meeting felt a lot more productive than the one before it.

    ¡±Dismissed,¡± he finally announced.

    ¡±Thanks for the guidance, President!¡±

    ¡±Have a good lunch, President!¡±

    ¡±En, thanks.¡± He nodded.

    His assistant, Xu Tian, read a message from his phone. Then he whispered something to Jin Liwei¡¯s ear.

    The others in the room watched as their President Jin¡¯s expression light up. Then he ran out as quick as the wind with Assistant Xu following in his heels.

    ¡±Thedy boss must be visiting today.¡±

    ¡±I think so, too. Only Boss Iris can make President Jin have a cheesy expression like that.¡±

    ¡±How dare you use the word ¡®cheesy¡¯ in the same sentence as President Jin?¡±

    ¡±Well, it¡¯s true, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡±That¡¯s...true. Yeah.¡±

    Pause.

    ¡±Hey, guys. Do you think that the Young Madam brought us lunch today as well like she always do whenever she visits?¡±

    ¡±I hope so but don¡¯t expect it every time. That¡¯s not a good mentality!¡±

    ¡±I know. I¡¯m just so hungry....¡±

    Then one by one, each of them received messages from their respective department¡¯s group chat.

    ¡±Yay! Boss Iris is so great! She really ordered a buffet lunch for everyone at thepany today.¡±

    ¡±Come on, everyone. Let¡¯s hurry! Lunch is only so long. We can¡¯t waste even a second!¡±

    Outside thepany building, arge executive van parked in front of the main entrance. It was sandwiched between a rather intimidating line-up of ck cars. Several bodyguards in sharp suits climbed out of the ck cars and made a protective circle around the executive van.

    The van¡¯s sliding door opened. Dom stepped out first but he continued to reach inside. Then he carried out a baby wearing a hat with a thin yet opaque cloth covering the face.

    Next to step out was Iris who also carried another baby wearing a simr hat. After her were two nannies each carrying arge baby bag filled with supplies.

    Thepany¡¯s front security guards were already standing outside to wee theirdy boss¡¯ arrival. The other employees who were in the lobby also went to wee Iris and her entourage.

    When they saw Iris and Dom carrying the babies, everyone became excited. Thepany forum and group chats blew up.

    ¡±Oh, my gosh! Ourdy boss just arrived. And guess what? She brought our two little princes with her!¡±

    ¡±Kyaaaaaah! The two little princes are so cuuuuuuuuuute! Their faces are covered and I can¡¯t see what they look like but their little hands and socked feet are so adorbs!!!!!¡±

    ¡±I heard one of the twinsugh! Ah, my heart just melted from the cuteness!¡±

    The receptionists and the employees in the lobby all greeted Iris¡¯ group. There were also some visitors waiting for their appointments who noticed and recognized her.

    Iris smiled and greeted everyone. ¡°Did that food arrive yet?¡±

    ¡±Yes, Young Madam. The caterers are now starting to serve lunch.¡±

    ¡±Excellent. All of you should eat, too.¡±

    ¡±Thank you, Young Madam. We will.¡±

    Iris looked at those who had visitor badges. ¡°Give these people lunch, too. The caterers should have prepared a lot of food.¡±

    ¡±Understood, Young Madam.¡±

    The visitors heard her instructions.

    ¡±Thank you, Iris Long!¡±

    ¡±Bless you and your beautiful twins!¡±

    She smiled at them. Then she noticed the arrival of Xu Tian. Her husband must have sent his assistant to wee them at the lobby.

    ¡±Young Madam, Little Master Haoyu, Little Master Lingyu, Dominic,¡± Xu Tian greeted. ¡°President is eagerly waiting for you in his office. Please follow me.¡±

    She gave the people in the lobby a wave before her group headed to the elevator.

    ¡±Is my husband surprised at our visit today?¡±

    Xu Tian nodded. ¡°Yes, Young Madam. But he¡¯s also very happy.¡±

 Chapter 1400 Wailing Wei Lan

    <h4>Chapter 1400 Wailing Wei Lan</h4>

    Iris was pleased at her surprise for her husband. ¡°Good job for keeping this a secret from your dad, Ketchup.¡±

    ¡±Ehehehe!¡± Ketchupughed inside the elevator. ¡°Thanks, Mommy! The cute and mighty Ketchup also wants to see Daddy¡¯s surprised face. Oooooh, it¡¯s super-duper to the highest level awesome! I¡¯ll send a copy to Mommy. Meow~¡±

    Finally, they reached the top floor. As soon as the elevator door opened, they saw an eager Jin Liwei waiting for them. He hugged his wife and kissed her and their babies. Then he took the baby that Dom was carrying.

    The hats with face covers were removed. Iris had been carrying Little Matcha while Jin Liwei was now carrying Little Mochi.

    Both babies¡¯ eyes lit up as soon as they saw their dad. Little Mochi was particrly sticky to his father. Little Matcha also couldn¡¯t stop staring at Jin Liwei as if making sure that his dad was real. For the twins, it felt like they hadn¡¯t seen their father for a long time.

    Jin Liwei did his best to video call home every day from work and talk to his wife and their babies this way. However, spending time together in person would always be better than anything else.

    The family entered his office where the caterer already prepared food for them. Dom, Xu Tian and the others stayed in the dining area to eat their own lunch.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha sat in their own high chairs while their parents fed them pur¨¦ed foods.

    Jin Liwei was extremely happy while looking at his family. The food was also extra delicious today because of his wife and their babies¡¯ presence.

    ¡±The twins have been really good today,¡± Iris shared. ¡°They didn¡¯t whine or throw a tantrum when I put on their little hats that covered their faces.¡±

    He looked at their twins and felt proud of them. ¡°It¡¯s good that I had a crib, these high chairs, and other baby stuff brought to my office bedroom a while ago just in case. I didn¡¯t expect that we¡¯re going to use them today. Thanks for bringing our twins here, love.¡±

    She smiled. ¡°We miss you. I¡¯m still on maternity leave so I can bring our family to you when you¡¯re too busy to apany us.¡±

    ¡±You and the twins should take a nap hereter before you head home. I¡¯ll find some time for a little break in the afternoon to be with you.¡±

    ¡±Alright, darling. Work hard but not too hard that you¡¯ll neglect your health.¡±

    ¡±En.¡±

    Iris¡¯ heart ached for her husband¡¯s hectic schedule. She could sense how much he missed them. She missed him, too.

    He woulde home veryte at night. She and the twins would already be asleep by then. He would also wake up very early in the morning. Although she would try to wake up and see him off, sometimes it was too hard. She was also tired taking care of the babies¡¯ needs whenever they woke up in the middle of the night.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s stomach was full after lunch. His heart was also full.

    His onlyint was that lunch time was too short. He was tempted to dy his next meeting appointment but Iris stopped him from doing so.

    ¡±Go. The twins and I will stay here for a little longer.¡±

    He sighed and kissed all of them. He was about to leave when Xu Tian made a report.

    ¡±Ketchup just informed me that there is a big group of paparazzi and reporters waiting outside the building. Young Madam¡¯s arrival with the two little masters must have been leaked to the media.¡±

    Jin Liwei frowned but Iris looked rxed.

    ¡±I wasn¡¯t exactly trying to hide our arrival,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s fine. The babies¡¯ faces are covered anyway. And I made sure to bring a lot of bodyguards.¡±

    Even though she made ample preparations, Jin Liwei still called for extra bodyguards from home and amped up thepany¡¯s security. He would never risk his family¡¯s security ever. It was better to be safe than sorry.

    After dawdling for a few more minutes and kissing his wife and their babies a few more times, Jin Liwei finally left his office for his next meeting with great reluctance.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha were starting to be drowsy. Iris and Dom carried them to the adjoining bedroom. They put the twins in therge crib. The nannies also went to check the bedroom¡¯s baby supplies and added what was missing from the ones they brought.

    Iris sang a luby and the babies quickly fell asleep.

    She and Dom quietly chatted while watching over the twins.

    Ring! Ring!

    Iris frowned when she saw the caller ID. She went outside the bedroom into her husband¡¯s office and picked up the call.

    ¡±Hello?¡±

    Then she flinched at the loud sound on the other end of the line. It took her a few seconds to recognize that it was the sound of someone wailing.

    ¡±M-mother?¡±

    Wei Lan continued to cry as if her entire world had ended. It was a gut-wrenching cry that pierced the eardrums.

    ¡±Mother, what¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡±Xiuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!! Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!¡±

    The cries were so loud that they could be heard even when the call wasn¡¯t set to loudspeaker. Dom followed Iris out to the office in concern.

    Wei Lan continued wailing. Iris became impatient asking questions without getting any answers so she handed the phone to Dom instead. Dom was more patient than her. After a few more minutes, he was able to gather the real reason why Wei Lan was acting like this.

    Long story short, Wei Lan received a call informing her that her husband had been involved in a serious ident somewhere in the Caribbean. She didn¡¯t know the full extent of the ident or even the cause. All she knew was that her husband, the Spanish viscount, had been seriously injured and was fighting for his life at this very moment.

    Even though Iris didn¡¯t care about the viscount who she had never met in person before, the man was still the current husband of her body¡¯s biological mother. In short, the viscount was her body¡¯s step-father. She couldn¡¯t just ignore the situation especially since Wei Lan was wailing to her like this.

    ¡±Does Ren¨¦ Alejandro know about this already?¡± Iris asked.

    ¡±Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees, he knows!!!! Xiuuuuuuaaaaaan, what should I doooooooooooo?!!!!! Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! I don¡¯t want to be a widoooooooooooooooow yet!!!!!¡±

    Iris was starting to have a headache from Wei Lan¡¯s wailing. However, she still remained calm and thought about what to do, or specifically, if she should do something.

    In the end, she arranged a private jet to fly Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro to where the viscount was reportedly hospitalized. They could leave as soon as today.

    After the call, Iris texted her husband about it. He had a few private jets so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem with her dispatching one of them for Wei Lan.

    His reply came quickly.

    Jin Liwei: ¡°OK.¡±

    Iris didn¡¯t disturb him anymore. He must be in the middle of another important meeting. She could handle the other arrangements ording to how the current situation developed. There was no need to bother her husband about it.

    At the same time, she called Bacon to contact his Uncle Zihao.

    Lu Zihao immediately called her back. Iris told him what happened. She didn¡¯t have much information to offer him because Wei Lan herself didn¡¯t know much.

    ¡±I¡¯ll have my subordinates check on the viscount¡¯s situation,¡± Lu Zihao told her.

    ¡±Okay, Big Brother. Thanks.¡±

    ¡±Send me Wei Lan¡¯s flight schedule. I¡¯ll send some of my people with her.¡±

    ¡±Alright. I¡¯ll send the details to Bacon when I get them. Oh, right. I almost forgot. Ren¨¦ Alejandro might also be in the flight.¡±

    Lu Zihao grunted.

    Iris knew that her brother began to hate the Spaniard even more after Jin Liwei used Ren¨¦ Alejandro to goad Lu Zihao into waking up from histesta. He became even more possessive of Long Jinjing especially after hearing that Ren¨¦ Alejandro visitedst time with Wei Lan.

    His bad temper only eased after learning that the babies gave the Spaniard a hard time. One nanny reported hearing Lu Zihao whisper some dubious words to the babies the next day.

    ¡±I¡¯ll teach the four of you how to beat up all the bad men like that Spaniard when you grow up,¡± was what he allegedly said to the children.

    Long Jinjing became angry and lectured him after hearing about it from the nanny.

    On the other hand, Iris only chuckled. Her big brother was indeed still her big brother. His first instinct of solving anything was through violence. Of course, she wasn¡¯t supportive of him teaching the babies to beat up other people without any valid reason. However, she agreed that teaching the children self-defence was important.

    After talking with her brother on the phone, Iris returned to the bedroom and watched over the sleeping babies while doing homework given by hernguage professors. She had Dom look out for news about Wei Lan¡¯s husband.

    ###

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s expression was ugly as he and his brothers stuffed their small luggage in the vehicles. He and half of their group would be flying with Wei Lan tonight via Jin Liwei¡¯s private jet that Iris sent for them. Half of their other brothers would be left behind to continue coordinating with the Matador¡¯s team in the country.

    ¡±I still think that this is some kind of a sick joke,¡± one brother said. ¡°Uncle isn¡¯t a weakling.¡±

    ¡±I hope you are right, brother,¡± Ren¨¦ Alejandro said. ¡°It¡¯s good that we are using Liam¡¯s private jet instead of having the organization send us one. It is safer and gives us excellent alibi, yes?¡±

    ¡±Indeed, brother. But you all need to be careful and discreet. Liam will most likely send a few of his most elite bodyguards. We can¡¯t look down on those people.¡±

 Chapter 1401 All Tools in the End

    <h4>Chapter 1401 All Tools in the End</h4>

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro nodded. Although he still believed that Jin Liwei¡¯s elite security staff at Dragon Pce Home #10 were a few levels below that of the abilities of people from his organization, it would still be a mistake to underestimate them. Like what one of his brothers said, they needed to be extra careful if Jin Liwei decided to send some of his people with them on the flight.

    He nced at his wristwatch for what felt like the hundredth time. ¡°Is she not ready yet?¡±

    Just as he was about to send someone to the main mansion, Wei Lan and Randy finally appeared. They were followed by a bunch of household staff and the bodyguards that Jin Liwei originally lent to herst year but now she was iming as her own.

    These bodyguards were all professional and excellent in their jobs. However, Ren¨¦ Alejandro had long noticed that their skills couldn¡¯tpare to the ones still working at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that the ones who remained at Dragon Pce Home #10 had improved their skills by leaps and bounds ever since they started using the special training regimen of Shadow Winds. The bodyguards that were assigned to Wei Lan didn¡¯t have the chance to return to Dragon Pce Home #10 and join their original colleagues with the new training. This was why their skills stayed the same and didn¡¯t improve much sincest year.

    The bodyguards and the household staff were dragging arge amount of luggage.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro frowned. ¡°Mam¨¢, why bring so many things? We are in a hurry. It is good to bring only what is necessary, no?¡±

    Wei Lan wiped real tears flowing down from behind her dark sunsses. ¡°Whaaaaaaaat do you mean that I¡¯m bringing sooooooooooo many things? These aren¡¯t even a tenth of what I usually briiiiiiiiiiiing when I go abroad. I¡¯m ooooooooooonly bringing 25 baaaaaaaaaaags and they¡¯re all necessary!¡±

    ¡±Alright, Mam¨¢.¡± Ren¨¦ Alejandro sighed. He didn¡¯t want to argue with the woman.

    Time was of the essence. His adoptive father was reportedly fighting for his life right as they were speaking. The organization already sent someone to rescue his father and transfer him in a medical facility. However, he and Wei Lan still needed to go see the real situation. This was part of the n to make Ren¨¦ Alejandro¡¯s background more authentic and aid in his mission.

    It was good that Iris provided assistance in the form of sending one of Jin Liwei¡¯s private jets. Ren¨¦ Alejandro could definitely use this to strengthen his connection with them. If they could sympathize with him and Wei Lan, then all the better.

    He and his brothers could see as clear as day that the organization was taking advantage of his adoptive father¡¯s serious ident. They knew it but didn¡¯t have any choice but obey. Even though his adoptive father was one of the organization¡¯s highest leaders, it didn¡¯t matter. All members of the organization were only tools in the end.

    Nevertheless, Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers were genuinely worried about his adoptive father. All of them were orphans and they considered the viscount as their father even when Ren¨¦ Alejandro was the only one legally adopted. Even the Matador craved the viscount¡¯s attention and often fought Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers because of it.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro heard that Emilio Miguel had been reprimanded by the higher-ups because the man wanted to fly straight to the viscount¡¯s side after hearing about the ident. The organization even sent additional people to watch over the Matador just in case he disobeyed his orders and went to see the viscount by himself without permission.

    The Matador might be violent and unruly but he was still extremely obedient when it came to following missions. It was just that he often bended the rules to suit his perverted tendencies. His excuse was always that he was bending the rules, not breaking them. Since he was one of the best, the higher-ups often just ignored his actions as long as he wasn¡¯t explicitly breaking the rules and continued sessfullypleting missions.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro might not agree with the amount of tolerance the higher-ups had with the Matador but he wasn¡¯t in any position to criticize them. Like all the others, he was just a tool for the organization along with his brothers.

    He also had no time to care about Emilio Miguel¡¯s situation at the moment. Worry for his adoptive father sat in his gut like a hard and heavy rock. At the same time, he needed to continue ying the role of a distraught yet hopeful son and a concerned, kind stepson.

    It was difficult to be patient especially with someone as extra like Wei Lan. They had already wasted too much time because of her.

    Finally, all her bags¡ªeach of them weighing as if they were stuffed with boulders¡ªwere arranged in a separate van.

    Randy, the Zumba instructor, was alsoing with them. At first, Randy didn¡¯t see the need for him to go with them but Wei Lan insisted that he apany her for moral support. It was a good thing that he wasn¡¯t like her who brought an excessive amount of luggage.

    Atst, they headed to the private airport where Jin Liwei¡¯s private jet was already waiting for them, ready to fly as soon as possible.

    Just as expected, Jin Liwei sent a few additional bodyguards to join them. Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers looked meaningfully at each other before acting like there was nothing wrong.

    What they didn¡¯t know was that all of these bodyguards were Shadow Winds members. Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards didn¡¯t recognize any of them but theirdy boss already informed them beforehand that these fellows were Lu Zihao¡¯s people. They needed to pretend to know each other. The loyalty of Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards remained with Jin Liwei and Iris Long until this day.

    Ren¨¦ Alejandro and his brothers didn¡¯t notice anything amiss about the familiarity (orck thereof) between Wei Lan¡¯s bodyguards and the additional bodyguards that they mistakenly believed were sent by Jin Liwei.

    It didn¡¯t take long after they boarded that the jet began taking off in the air.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Jin Liwei got home well past dinner time. Today was particrly productive perhaps because of the buffet lunch that his beloved wife sent for everyone at thepany. Jin Liwei himself felt happy at his wife¡¯s surprise visit with their twins. He had been filled with energy and motivation for the entire day. As a result, he was able to finish all the meetings andplete other tasks today in record time.

    He might have missed dinner time at home but at least he still got home earlier tonightpared to the past few nights. Last night was the worst. It was already well past midnight when he got home.

    ¡±Wee home,¡± Iris greeted him when he arrived in the bedroom.

    He smiled and immediately went over to her for a kiss and a hug. ¡°Still awake?¡±

    ¡±I was waiting for you.¡±

    He grinned and stole another kiss. Then he checked their twins.

    The babies were already asleep in their crib. Little Mochi was hugging a small teddy bear and twitched a few times. He must be dreaming about something for him to move so much. Compared to him, Little Matcha slept like a log. He didn¡¯t move at all. He was just like his mother who stayed in the same position once asleep.

    Jin Liwei quietly and carefully kissed each of his twins. Little Mochi moved and even opened his eyes a tiny slit. He smiled upon seeing his dad before falling right back to sleep. Little Matcha didn¡¯t move even one bit.

    ¡±Ice Cream is with her Lu cousins?¡± Jin Liwei asked.

    Iris nodded. ¡°Little Dima was being fussy and wouldn¡¯t stop crying. Ice Cream decided to stay with her baby cousins again tonight to helpfort Little Dima.¡±

    ¡±I see.¡±

    While Jin Liwei took a shower, Iris called the kitchen to send dinner for her husband. Dinner was being arranged at their master suite¡¯s living area when he came out of the bathroom.

    ¡±Ketchup told me that you only ate a little before going home,¡± Iris told him before pulling him to sit and starting to serve him food.

    Jin Liwei enjoyed his wife¡¯s pampering. Both of them liked pampering each other.

    They didn¡¯t talk much while he was eating. Thepanionable silence wasforting and not awkward at all. It helped ease Jin Liwei¡¯s exhaustion.

    Only after he finished all the food that they started to chat. Their topic was Wei Lan¡¯s husband.

    ¡±Big Brother is finding out more about the viscount¡¯s ident. He also sent some of his men with Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro.¡±

    ¡±I heard.¡± Ketchup already informed him about it. Then he asked, ¡°Will they bring the viscount with them when they return here?¡±

    ¡±I don¡¯t know. ording to Wei Lan, the viscount is in serious condition. I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s exaggerating as usual but she sounds genuinely devastated when she called me earlier. I couldn¡¯t talk to her properly because she was crying so hard. Dom was the one who coaxed the details out of her but she doesn¡¯t know much other than her husband being in an ident and is now fighting for his life somewhere in the Caribbean.¡±

    Jin Liwei nodded. ¡°Since you already helped them, then I have no problem with your decision. Do what you see fit. I think it¡¯s also high time that we meet the viscount in person.¡±

    ¡±I¡¯m very curious about him. Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro keep singing his praises. He and Ren¨¦ Alejandro are suspicious but it¡¯s better to keep a close eye on them until we determine whether they¡¯re truly dangerous or not.¡±

    ¡±En.¡± He nuzzled her hair. ¡°Time to sleep, love.¡±

 Chapter 1402 Is He Targeting Me?

    <h4>Chapter 1402 Is He Targeting Me?</h4>

    Iris sat on her husband¡¯sp and wrapped her arms around his neck.

    Jin Liwei held her waist and smiled at her actions. He always enjoyed it whenever she seduced him. He loved that she wasn¡¯t shy at all when getting intimate with him.

    They kissed each other in a slow, almost yful manner. The air sizzled, immediately turning sensual.

    He stroked her waist, lowering his hands bit by bit, and feeling the beautiful curves of her hips. When he reached her buttocks, he squeezed them, eliciting a thrilling moan from her.

    Iris¡¯ hands weren¡¯t idle either. She caressed his hair, face, neck and then chest. When her fingers slipped inside his shirt, she felt his muscles contract and something harden below her.

    She pulled her head away and pressed their foreheads together. Both of them were panting, their eyes heavy with desire.

    ¡±Are you tired?¡± she asked, her voice sultry.

    He tightened his hold around her. ¡°No. Not tired. I want you tonight, baby. So much.¡±

    She chuckled and dove for another kiss.

    Their tongues dueled at times and danced together at the other times. They took their time and just simply enjoyed the slow-building pleasure of forey.

    Just as they were about to start removing their clothes, a loud wail interrupted them.

    Iris jumped out of her husband¡¯sp by instinct and rushed to check on her crying baby.

    Jin Liwei was left there hanging in the living area. He sighed and stared at the ceiling with an angry, raging hard-on. Without even looking with his own eyes, he knew that it was their eldest twin son who interrupted them.

    Again.

    Little Mochi had timing so good and so urate that it was starting to be frightening. Almost 90% of the time, the baby would interrupt the husband and wife when they were about to do something naughty. It was as if the baby was equipped with some sort of radar to prevent his parents from doing anything simr to how he and his twin brother had been conceived.

    The remaining 10% of the time was when the husband and wife left the babies to their nannies. They didn¡¯t do this often because of their wish to personally care for their children as much as possible. But there were times that they needed some time for themselves as a couple without their children. It was only during these times that the two of them were able to make love.

    Unfortunately, tonight was not the night.

    Jin Liwei sighed once again before dragging himself (and his now softening erection) back to the bedroom. He saw his wife changing Little Mochi¡¯s diaper. If not for the ufortable state of his lower region, he would have taken over the task.

    ¡±Be careful of that naughty boy shooting pee at you,¡± he warned his wife after remembering his own experience.

    Iris chuckled and tickled her baby whoughed in delight. ¡°Little Mochi never does that to Mommy. Right, Little Mochi? You¡¯re Mommy¡¯s good little baby, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Little Mochi cooed andughed as if agreeing to what his mother was saying.

    ¡±Is that naughty boy targeting me, his own dad?¡± Jin Liwei grumbled in a sullen tone.

    ¡±Why would you think that?¡± Irisughed at him.

    He narrowed his eyes at her before stealing a kiss from her sweet, smiling lips.

    Little Mochi expressed hisint upon seeing this scene by punching his cute little hands and kicking his cute little socked feet in the air. His dissatisfied expression looked so adorable that Iris felt her heart melt from unconditional maternal love.

    Sheughed from joy and kissed her baby several times. Little Mochi immediatelyughed as well, delighted by his mother¡¯s kisses.

    Jin Liwei gave his son a meaningful look before pulling his wife and giving her another kiss, longer this time.

    Once again, the baby protested.

    Jin Liwei chuckled from amusement. He kissed his wife again, causing their eldest twin son toin even louder.

    ¡±You demanding boy,¡± he muttered while chuckling.

    Then he also dropped several kisses on the baby¡¯s face.

    Little Mochi giggled. He even grabbed his dad¡¯s face with both his cute, little hands and returned the kisses.

    Jin Liwei¡¯s gaze softened, not at all minding the baby¡¯s saliva that was now glistening on his cheek.

    The parents savoured this precious moment ying with their attention-seeking but very adorable eldest twin son.

    ¡±Oh, Little Mochi. You. Are. So. Cute!¡± Iris punctuated each word with a kiss to her adorable baby.¡±

    While Iris continued ying with their eldest twin son, Jin Liwei went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. The mother and son weren¡¯t done yet when he finished and climbed on the bed.

    By the time Iris finished lulling Little Mochi back to sleep, her husband had already fallen asleep in their bed. She climbed beside him and studied his face.

    Now that she looked at him more closely, there were dark circles under his eyes. A furrow also formed between his brows, most likely from exhaustion and stress from work.

    Her heart ached for him. Now that she was also running a group of fast-growing and increasingly sessfulpanies, she knew firsthand how tiring and stressful it felt.

    Jin Liwei had always been supportive of her business endeavours and would even provide helpful, timely assistance to ease her overall burden. She also wanted to do the same thing for him but her time and energy were extremely limited right now because of their babies.

    The best thing that she could do right now was to provide some warm andforting family moments during his breaks from work. This was why she brought their twins to hispany earlier today and ate lunch with him. They might not be able to spend as much time together as they liked but at least she helped rx him even for just a bit.

    She decided to optimize Ketchup in the next few days to provide better assistance to Jin Liwei especially during this hectic time at Jin Corporation. This was what she was best at anyway.

    Iris pressed a gentle finger between Jin Liwei¡¯s brows and smoothed out the furrow.

    He turned his head and instinctively rubbed his cheek against her hand while not waking up. He must be really exhausted.

    She lowered her head and gave his lips a soft, lingering peck.

    ¡±Good night, Liwei.¡±

    ###

    The rm went off early in the morning. Long Hui reached over and turned it off. He blinked, adjusting his eyes to the bedroom¡¯s darkness.

    Still feeling groggy from tiredness and insufficient sleep, he threw a woman¡¯s arm and leg away from his body.

    Oh, right.

    The woman was now his wife.

    Mao Qiuyue didn¡¯t wake up. She only turned over to the other side and continued sleeping.

    Long Hui sighed in relief. If she knew that he pushed her away just now, she would be livid and fight with him again.

    Ever since their wedding, the days passed by without any meaning. He felt lonelier and emptier.

    It was theplete opposite of his original expectations. Where was the wedding bliss? The happy and contented married life?

    Even the honeymoon that he was having with Mao Qiuyue now felt like a chore.

    If only everything went ording to his original n, the woman sleeping beside him would be Jiang Ying Yue. If she were his wife, he would be reluctant to even leave their bed with her in it.

    He would slowly seduce her until she woke up. They would have morning sex before washing up together and then heading to the dining area to eat breakfast with their son, Little Jun.

    Maybe in the next year, Little Jun would have a new brother or sister¡ªa full biological sibling, not a half one.

    What the hell happened? How did things turn to shit like this?

    Everything had been going well when he connected Jiang Ying Yue to Iris for a bodyguard job. They had all been happy at that time.

    It was when Wei Lan, that old whore, returned to the country. She began corrupting Jiang Ying Yue. Then Jiang Ying Yue began caring a bit more about her appearance. As a result, she began attracting the damn farmer, Lin Yehan.

    Long Hui gritted his teeth at the thought of Lin Yehan.

    He climbed out of the bed and locked himself in the bathroom. There wasn¡¯t a shred of clothing on his body. His skin was filled with red marks, both hickeys and scratches, left by Mao Qiuyue in the past few nights.

    Was Lin Yehan like this, too? Did Jiang Ying Yue leave a lot of love marks on him, too? Or maybe vice versa?

    Just the thought was enough to make Long Hui burn with jealousy, fury and hatred.

    Although he suspected and used Jiang Ying Yue of cheating on him with Lin Yehan which triggered theplete breakdown of their own rtionship, there was still hope in his heart that everything would be fine between them in the end.

    Truth be told, he never really believed that Jiang Ying Yue cheated on him. He just reacted like a normal man andshed out at her due to jealousy. He knew that despite her having a lot of reservations about their rtionship right from the start, she still loved him a lot because of their child, Little Jun.

    Now, however, he felt like she had pped him in the face. No, more like she punched him in the face with all her muscled might.

    The day after his terrible wedding, he saw a slew of photos and videos of Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan together at the highly-publicized victory g for the national shooting team. They were partners for the event.

    Jiang Ying Yue looked so beautiful in her tuxedo suit. Despite her intimidating demeanour, her eyes were soft and gentle whenever she locked eyes with Lin Yehan.

 Chapter 1403 Real Alpha

    Chapter 1403 Real Alpha

    Lu Zihao''s people, who apanied Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s group on their trip to see the viscount, reported the situation back to their boss.

    Apparently, the vizconde had been attacked while doing some research for his work in the Caribbean ind of Trinidad. As a result, he had sustained multiple injuries of different causes, such as being beaten up, knifecerations and even gunshots.

    Two of hispanions had been killed. The other one, including the vizconde, survived the attack but was now also fighting for his life like him.

    Their finalpanion waspletely unscathed because he hadn''t been present when the attack happened in the first ce. Nevertheless, the vizconde sent him to buy groceries and other supplies in the neighbouring city.

    It was only when he returned that he discovered what happened. He was the one who performed first aid to the vizconde and their other survivingpanion. He was able to transfer the two heavily injured people to a better medical facility by flying to Barbados.

    Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro''s group flew directly to Barbados, where it was safer for everyone.

    It was there that Lu Zihao''s people called to report the situation.

    Late at night, back at Dragon Pce Home #10, Lu Zihao nced at his sister and brother-inw.

    "That''s what happened," he told them. "Allegedly."

    Iris and Jin Liwei nodded.

    The three were in the master suite. They decided to keep it a secret from Long Jinjing, who was already sleeping in the bedroom she shared with Lu Zihao. So he left her to meet up with his sister and brother-inw.

    "I see a lot of suspicious points in the attack," Lu Zihao said. "Yes, Trinidad''s crime rate is quite high, mostly gang-rted violence. There have been many instances where tourists have been targeted and attacked. But if the only purpose of attacking the viscount was to rob or extort him, then why did he sustain such brutal, life-threatening injuries? It''s as if his attackers had a vendetta against him."

    Iris agreed. "That''s true. Do you want me to help dig for more information about the incident?"

    "Not right away. My subordinates that I sent to the Caribbean and Bacon''s assistance are enough for now. Wait until my group finds out something more substantial and useful before you enter the scene. I don''t want to send out the big guns when I''m unsure if the target is really a dangerous beast or just an insect."

    She was amused at her brother''s analogy. "So you think that I''m the big gun?"

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes. He said so many things, yet she decided to focus on this instead?

    Jin Liwei, on the other hand, immediately raised his wife''s hand and kissed it. "Of course, you''re the big gun. My wife is the best."

    Sheughed and pressed herself closer to her husband.

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes again before tearing his eyes away from them. He refused to look at the shameless couple!

    His sister and brother-inw weren''t the only loving couple in this ce. Hmph!

    At the same time, he couldn''t wait to return to his own wife and embrace her. Long Jinjing had be so much happier after his love confession to her. As a result, her weekly therapy sessions decreased to every two weeks instead.

    Lu Zihao felt relieved and also a bit guilty. If he had only realized his feelings for his wife sooner, Long Jinjing''s mental and emotional states might not have been so unstable after giving birth.

    "What are your next ns, Big Brother?" Iris'' question interrupted his thoughts.

    Lu Zihao cleared away all thoughts that didn''t belong to their original conversation. After this, he had plenty of time toprehend the full extent of his feelings for his wife.

    The three continued talking about the vizconde. This matter was something out of their control for now due to ack of information. They could only react ording to how the situation developed while finding out more information about what really happened, and of course, the vizconde''s real background.

    A loud wail interrupted their meeting.

    Iris moved so fast that it was like she was flying. Her maternal instincts activated before she could fully process what was happening. It felt like her body was already moving on its own before she could even think about it.

    "Sounds like Little Mochi," Jin Liweimented, sighing.

    "Ah, the fussy brat," Lu Zihao said.

    Jin Liwei gave his brother-inw a side-eye. Even though he agreed that his eldest twin son was a fussy brat, he still didn''t like other people describing his child like that.

    Lu Zihao saw how Jin Liwei was looking at him. He snorted. "At least you only have one troublesome kid. Both of mine are already causing me and my wife headaches. Mikhail likes copying your sons. He would''ve already jumped out of the crib to the floor and yed on the carpet with Mochi and Matcha if he could only support his head. Jinjing is already worrying about the dangerous things the brat would try to do once he grows up. The other isn''t as adventurous, but Dmitri cries at every little damn thing. He even gets scared at the sound of his own voice and cries harder. I swear that Matcha is the easiest baby among the four."

    "Little Matcha is indeed the most trouble-freepared to his elder twin brother and cousins, but his temper is the worst when triggered," Jin Liwei countered. "Even Little Mochi, the older brother, gets scared and starts behaving whenever Little Matcha is in a bad mood."

    Lu Zihaoughed. "Seems like we now know who''s the real alpha among the brats. Silent but terrible."

    Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow. "You don''t mind that the alpha isn''t your kid?"

    "Those two?" Lu Zihao curled his lip. "If Mikhail bes the alpha, Evelinka and Jinjing will constantly worry about the kids getting into constant trouble. And Dmitri? I''ll be shocked if that crybaby and scaredy-cat bes an alpha."

    "You''re terrible saying that about your own sons," Jin Liwei said whileughing.

    "I''m only being honest."

    Despite Lu Zihao''s disdainful words, his expression when talking about his sons was soft. Clearly, he loved his children even though his words were harsh.

    Because it was already well past midnight, Lu Zihao decided to leave and return to his own wife and children. The matter about the vizconde was really not that urgentpared to his group''s other current missions. For now, keeping a constant eye on the vizconde''s situation was enough.

    ###

    Lin Yehan removed his straw hat and wiped his sweat with his sleeve. He carried the full basket on his back and poured its contents into a waiting truck. The persimmons weren''t wholly ripe yet, but their colour already looked mouth-watering. They smelled nice, too.

    "Lunchtime, boss!"

    "Alright," he replied and followed the other farmers to the sorting shed where packed lunches were already being distributed.

    Lin Yehan interacted with the farmers working under him like they were all long-time friends. There was no awkwardness between a boss and his subordinates at all.

    They were at a persimmon ntation that he owned far away from his farm vi. So he had to take a helicopter to reach this ce. It was persimmon season, so he came here for an inspection.

    When he arrived, he saw everybody working together to harvest the beautiful fruits. So he didn''t hesitate to roll his sleeves and join them.

    The weather was already getting colder, but Lin Yehan and the farmers still sweated from all the hard work. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    He didn''t mind doing this kind of manualbour. As the boss, he wasn''t required to do the actual farming. However, he preferred to go to his agricultural properties now and then to do the dirty work personally.

    It was to remind himself that the source of his wealth was thend, and he should never forget it. For him, this was an effective way of humbling himself.

    At the moment, he was texting Jiang Ying Yue while eating with his workers.

    "Look at Boss'' smile. Is he talking to our futuredy boss?"

    "When is the wedding banquet, Boss?"

    Lin Yehanughed and didn''t shy away from all the teasing.

    "My girlfriend and I are still getting to know each other. But when the right timees, I''ll definitely marry her. If she agrees to be my wife, I''ll give everyone a bonus."

    All the workers cheered and wished him good luck.

    After lunch, the workers started harvesting again while Lin Yehan began the inspection. He walked to a shaded area and tried calling Jiang Ying Yue when he was done. However, the line was busy.

    "I wonder who she''s talking to," he mumbled but didn''t overthink it.

    Instead, he called his assistant back home and discussed some work matters. After the call, he saw that Jiang Ying Yue had sent him a "Please call me" message.

    He immediately called her.

    "Yehan," she said before he could even greet her.

    He frowned at her tone. She sounded desperate, even a little scared. His expression turned serious at once.

    "What''s wrong? Tell me, Ying Yue."

    Jiang Ying Yue told him what had happened.

    When he tried calling her earlier, she had been on the phone with her ex. Long Hui called her requesting to meet their son. He wanted to spend a day with Little Jun.

    "I said it''s fine, but some of my colleagues need to follow them all the time wherever they go," she said.

    "Good. How did he respond?"

    "He didn''t like it at first but eventually epted when I threatened that I won''t let my son go to him without my colleagues. Then he requested something else."

    "What?" Lin Yehan asked.

    "He said¡­that he wants to, uhm, meet and talk to me¡­in person."

    His expression turned ugly. "No!"

 Chapter 1404 If Thatâ€™s What You Want

    Chapter 1404 If That¡¯s What You Want

    Lin Yehan closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm himself. The thought of his girlfriend meeting and talking to her scumbag ex in person was enough to infuriate him.

    "Ying Yue, I don''t want to dictate your actions, but¡­I just can''t find it in myself to agree to Long Hui''s request to meet you," he said in a measured tone to keep his emotions as stable as possible while talking to his girlfriend.

    "I know," Jiang Ying Yue replied. "But Long Hui says that he''ll stop bothering me if I agree to meet and talk to him. He wants¡­closure, I guess. But, to be honest, I also want closure so that I can go forward with my rtionship with you without any remaining emotional and mental baggage from my past failed rtionship. So I''m also curious about what he wants to talk about with me."

    It was taking Lin Yehan everything to control his temper. Feeling an almost overwhelming flood of negative emotion like this was quite rare for someone with a calm and stable personality like him. He didn''t want to scare his girlfriend, but it was difficult to agree with her n.

    Then she asked, "Will youe with me?"

    "Huh?" Her question didn''t register in his mind right away.

    She rified, "I want you toe with me when I meet with Long Hui. I think¡­I''ll feel more assured and confident with you there. C-can you, Yehan?"

    All of Lin Yehan''s anger seemed to dissipate after hearing what his girlfriend said. His ugly expression turned into a smiling one.

    "Alright, Ying Yue. Of course, I''lle with you if that''s what you want."

    "Thank you, Yehan."

    After the phone call, Lin Yehan''s mood was now lighter than ever. His usual gentle smile had an extra warmth and even a noticeable sparkle in his eyes.

    He couldn''t help but appreciate Jiang Ying Yue even more. She was not only an impressive woman and a wonderful mother, but she was also a considerate lover. She must have known that he would feel awful about her n to meet and talk with her ex, so she asked him to go with her. He liked her openness. If she met with her ex behind his back, he would undoubtedly feel horrible even if he understood the reason behind her decision.

    "Look at Boss Lin''s smile! I bet he just spoke to our futuredy boss on the phone!"

    The workers teased him, but he felt fantastic. So he decided to stay and help with the harvest for the rest of the day.

    ###

    Jin Corporation.

    When Iris and Jin Liwei heard that Long Hui wanted to spend a day with Little Jun, they were both displeased. However, it didn''t matter what they felt about it because Jiang Ying Yue had already allowed her ex''s request. She was the mother, while the two of them were only the godparents.

    They also couldn''t deny that Long Hui was indeed their godson''s father, whether they liked it or not. Despite their misgivings, they didn''t bother dissuading Jiang Ying Yue from her decision.

    "I''ll talk to the head of our security and form the best team to protect our godson," Jin Liwei said.

    "Good." Iris also thought of a way to fortify their godson''s safety and security when the child went with his father. "There are still a few days before Long Hui takes Little Jun. I can make a small and simple device that will monitor Little Jun the whole time and immediately alert us if something happens to him."

    "How about a smartwatch?" Jin Liwei suggested. "I''ve seen some little kids wearing a simplified child''s version of a smartwatch. You can just reprogram it, so you don''t have to create a whole new device from scratch."

    "That''s feasible. I just don''t know if Little Jun is willing to wear a smartwatch. He doesn''t like to wear the gold bracelets that his Grandma Lan bought for him. So I''ll try the smartwatch, but maybe I''ll also tweak a keychain or something else that we can just pin to him."

    "En. Up to you, love¡ªJin Haoyu!"

    Jin Liwei grabbed a tissue and wiped the sshes of baby food his eldest twin son made all over the table. Unfortunately, there were even some thatnded on Jin Liwei''s business suit.

    Little Mochi giggled and used his hands to shove a gloop of baby food into his mouth.

    Unlike his messy elder twin brother, Little Matcha obediently ate his food whenever his mother spoon-fed him. There was not even a drop of mess on him. He would stay still and wait for his mother to wipe any mess on him before continuing to eat. As usual, he waspletely unbothered by all the ruckus his twin brother was causing.

    The family was once again spending time together at Jin Corporation. However, Jin Liwei''s hectic schedule wasn''t done yet, so Iris continued to bring their babies to his workce for lunchtime.

    Today, there was no buffet for the employees, but she still ordered bento boxes for everyone. But, of course, they weren''t cheap convenience store bento boxes either. Instead, they were fancy bento boxes prepared by a hotel restaurant that she ordered in advance. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Because of the delicious variety of lunch food, everyone at Jin Corporation wished that thedy boss woulde to thepany every day. However, they knew that she was only doing this because of thepany''s hectic schedule. Once everything returned to normal again, it was highly likely that she would stop regrlying like this.

    Some of the employees even wished that the hectic schedule would be extended. It was hard, but lunch every few days were awesome. Sometimes, thedy boss would even send them discount coupons for Orchidia products. They could use the coupons in any of the three Orchidia brands¡ª

    Orchidia Beauty, Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby.

    All of these perks just because of thedy boss'' visit made everyone at thepany more motivated while working on their own respective tasks.

    Back to the CEO''s office on the top floor, Jin Liwei and Iris finally finished feeding their twins. A nanny took the twins and changed their clothes while Iris helped her husband change his suit, which had been soiled by Little Mochi''s baby food.

    "Ying Yue says that Long Hui also wants to meet and talk to her in person," she shared.

    Jin Liwei frowned. "Didn''t she have a restraining order against him?"

    "Yes."

    "And he still wants to meet and talk to her in person? He''s really crazy. Does he want to be arrested?"

    "Ying Yue agreed to meet him." She disagreed with her friend''s decision, but Jiang Ying Yue sounded firm.

    Jin Liwei''s frown deepened, but he didn''tment any further. If the issue involved his godson''s wellbeing, he would definitely step in. But if it was just Jiang Ying Yue, it was none of his business to interfere with the woman''s choices.

    "Apparently, Ying Yue asked Eldest Brother Yehan to apany her, and he agreed," Iris added.

    "Oh?" He raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Good. We don''t have to worry about Jiang Ying Yue anymore. Eldest Brother will surely protect her if Long Hui attempts to do something."

    "I think so, too. I''m more worried about Little Jun. I just can''t help but feel nervous."

    He took her hand and rubbed it, trying tofort her. "I''ll send more bodyguards. Maybe even ask your brother for a couple of his people. Ketchup will also be there when you make the device for Little Jun."

    She nodded. "Okay."

    ###

    Long Hui''s honeymoon finally ended. He felt drained instead of refreshed. Evenpleting hismunity service punishment was better than being stuck with Mao Qiuyue every day. At least, he felt fulfilled doing themunity service.

    Despite Mao Qiuyue''s insistence on bribing someone to let himplete fewer hours ofmunity service, he insisted onpleting all 500 hours before his wedding.

    During the first week, he cleaned the streets. He hated every minute of it. He had been tempted to follow Mao Qiuyue''s suggestion to bribe someone but was able to restrain his impulse.

    It got better the second week when he was transferred to a food bank. Then to a juvenile detention centre.

    When he got assigned to an orphanage next, he thought about his own son. His heart stirred, and he began missing Little Jun until it hurt.

    His final assignment was at amunity centre where volunteers arranged free sses and workshops. He had been arranged to lead a ss and share his experiences as a business executive. This was his favourite experience, a perfect ending to his 500 hours ofmunity service punishment. It made him feel important again.

    Of course, even if he felt thatpleting all 500 hours ofmunity service was fulfilling, he swore to never do it again. Granted, he might do it for appearance''s sake in the future to improve his reputation. But if he were forced to do it again for punishment''s sake, then no way!

    After their honeymoon, Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue returned to their new marital home. It was a gift from Long Tengfei.

    Even though Long Tengfei disapproved of Long Hui''s marriage to Mao Qiuyue, he still cherished his reputation as the current head of the Longs. Therefore, he couldn''t let outsiders belittle his son even if that said son displeased him.

    As a result, he gifted the newly wedded couple a property in an upscale neighbourhood. Another reason was that Long Tengfei didn''t want Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue to live with him and Yang Jiahui at the Long ancestral home.

    Long Hui didn''t want to bring Mao Qiuyue to the ancestral home either. The woman was high maintenance, and he might not be able to hold it in if the woman started demanding endless modern renovations on the historic property.

 Chapter 1405 Make an Exception for Her

    Chapter 1405 Make an Exception for Her

    Mao Qiuyue was unsatisfied with the marital property that her father-inw gave them. Whenever sheined to Long Hui, he would scold her.

    "This is already bigger than your family''s property. What more do you want?"

    She pouted at him and stomped away. He ignored her and began reviewing the work documents his assistant sent him while he was out on his honeymoon. She looked back at him.

    Seeing that he wasn''t even trying to coax her, she was indignant.

    "You''re a jerk, Hui! I''m going home to my parents!"

    This time, she stomped away for real.

    Long Hui watched her throwing a tantrum like the spoiled brat that she had been all her life. She reminded him of his youngest half-sister. Iris had been simr to Mao Qiuyue¡ªno, she had been worse than this woman he married before she changed for the better.

    Resentment for having to marry such a shallow and uninteresting woman like Mao Qiuyue welled up in his heart.

    Iris was also at fault, without a doubt. If she hadn''t changed from her bratty ways and started posing a real threat to his position as the legitimate sessor, he wouldn''t have been forced to take such a drastic measure as finding outsiders, the Maos, for assistance.

    Because of Iris, he had no choice but to marry Mao Qiuyue, a woman he didn''t even like all that much. Now that they were officially married, he even started to feel disgusted by his own wife. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    All of these negative thoughts were preventing him from concentrating on the documents. So, finally, he sighed and gave up for today.

    He took his car keys and headed to the garage. Mao Qiuyue''s car was gone. She must have really followed her threat of running to her parents and tattling on him for bullying her.

    Whatever.

    He would just deal with whatever happened after this. But, for now, he needed some time to rx.

    Later, he arrived at a mall. Despite all the ruckus that resulted in him being featured in the news (for all the wrong reasons), nobody recognized him at this ce. He wasn''t a celebrity like Iris Long after all.

    He headed to a children''s store. When he came outter, he was carrying several bags. He packed everything in his car and drove straight to a secret apartment that he didn''t disclose to Mao Qiuyue.

    Whenever he needed a quiet escape, he usually stayed here. It was small, only one bedroom, and it wasn''t particrly luxuriouspared to his usual standards. But it served the purpose of a safe little haven for him.

    The only woman he had ever brought here before was Jiang Ying Yue. He wasn''t 100% sure, but there was a high chance that they conceived Little Jun in this very apartment.

    Jiang Ying Yue was the only woman that had the privilege of entering his personal haven. All his ex-girlfriends were brought to hotels, and sometimes even to the ancestral home if he could sneak them in without his father''s knowledge, but never in this apartment. He didn''t even n on bringing his wife here. Ever.

    He carefully arranged all the clothes, toys, books and other stuff that he purchased earlier at the mall for his son. Basically, he just bought whatever the clerks rmended to him.

    Mao Qiuyue didn''t know about his n to spend a day with his son soon. He had no ns of telling her. The woman despised Little Jun. There was no way that he would allow her to stop him from having a rtionship with his own child.

    At the same, he was also looking forward to meeting and speaking with Jiang Ying Yue. But, truth be told, he was surprised that she agreed to his request.

    Maybe¡­just maybe¡­she still had feelings for him.

    His mouth curved into a pleased smile.

    If she still had feelings for him, he would make an exception for her. But, at the end of the day, she was still the mother of his firstborn child. This bond had already connected them forever, whether the two of them liked it or not.

    It was a shame that his original n of marrying Jiang Ying Yue failed. But if she was willing, it was possible to continue their rtionship again for a third time. He might not be able to marry her anymore as long as there was a Mao Qiuyue in the picture, but he would treat her like a wife and the mother of his son.

    As long as she left Iris and Jin Liwei''s side and returned to him, he would provide for the rest of their lives. First, of course, she had to swear her loyalty to him.

    His fantasy (a.k.a. delusion) put him in a good mood for the rest of the day. He already imagined the moment of bedding Jiang Ying Yue again. Her body was the best. All those beautiful and robust muscles were like a rare and addictive delicacy to him.

    He had no idea that this fantasy (a.k.a. delusion) would be shattered when Jiang Ying Yue brought an additional person to their appointed meeting.

    ###

    The appointed day finally arrived.

    Long Hui left his apartment. He didn''t return to his marital home. The housekeeper informed him that Mao Qiuyue didn''t return either. Both were already having a cold war when they hadn''t even been married for that long.

    His inws called him several times and attempted to help the two of them make up. However, long Hui still needed their help, so he pretended to be humble and ept their suggestions.

    He had his assistant buy and send Mao Qiuyue some flowers and choctes. When those didn''t work, expensive bag. When that still didn''t work, an expensive ne.

    Unfortunately, Mao Qiuyue still refused to back down.

    Long Hui didn''t know why she was being so troublesome. What more did she want him to do? Did she want him to buy her the moon as well? Ridiculous!

    Only when Long Hui''s mother-inw called him did he know what his wife wanted.

    Mao Qiuyue wanted him to coax her to return to their marital home.

    How annoying.

    He didn''t want to bother with her spoiled brat ways anymore, but he couldn''t anger his inws until he achieved his ambitions. But unfortunately, the bnce of power was tilted in the Mao family''s favour, not him. So he had topromise and continue tolerating their spoiled daughter even if it was against his real wishes.

    Therefore, he would pretend to coax herter.

    Right now, he had an important meeting to attend.

    He drove along a familiar area. Gold Heights Condominium was just one of the high-rise buildings in this area, but it was the most distinct to Long Hui because of all the memories he had of it.

    He often went here when things were still wonderful. It was where he rekindled his rtionship with Jiang Ying Yue and lived like a happy family with their son. But it was also where their rtionship fell apart for the second time.

    His expression was nk as he drove past the cursed condo. Finally, he made a turn and soon arrived at an upscale caf¨¦.

    There weren''t a lot of customers at this time, but he still requested a semi-private area. There were no rooms, but at least there were some partially partitioned areas on the second floor.

    After ordering coffee for himself, he arranged all the presents he bought for Little Jun. Then he fished out his phone and made a call. It was answered by the third ring.

    "I''m here. Where are you?"

    "We''ll be there in five minutes," Jiang Ying Yue replied.

    He sighed in relief. "Alright, then. See you."

    The call ended.

    He was in a good mood.

    In his mind, Jiang Ying Yue already agreed to be his lover again. Perhaps when he sessfully achieved his ambition of bing the next head of Long Industries and the n, he could divorce Mao Qiuyue and cut ties with the Mao family. He would no longer need to submit to their demands when he finally had the power to defy them.

    Once he was free, he could marry Jiang Ying Yue once and for all after waiting for so long. He would be able to give her the proper status befitting of the mother of his firstborn child. Then they could finally live together as a truly happy family for the rest of their lives.

    He was still in the middle of his fantasies (a.k.a. delusions) when Jiang Ying Yue arrived carrying their son. Long Hui saw them and grinned. He stood up and was about to wee them when he stopped in his tracks. His expression turned ugly.

    "What the hell are you doing here?!"

    Lin Yehan replied in a calm tone, "Ying Yue asked me toe with her."

    The intimate way Lin Yehan said her name was like a p to Long Hui. He stared at the man and the woman as if seeing them for the first time.

    "Excuse me, dear guests, but are you not going to sit down yet?"

    The waiter''s question interrupted the tense atmosphere.

    Long Hui was too upset to react, so it was Lin Yehan replied with his usual gentleness. Jiang Ying Yue followed him to the table, leaving Long Hui standing there like an idiot.

    "Sir, are you okay?" the waiter asked Long Hui.

    It took a few seconds for Long Hui to snap out of it. "I''m fine!"

    The waiter was startled at the man''s sharp tone. The man had been nice when he served him the coffee just a few minutes ago. Why was he now so rude now? Was he on his period? Nah, maybe he was just an asshole.

 Chapter 1406 Youâ€™re The One Who Destroyed Your Family

    Chapter 1406 You¡¯re The One Who Destroyed Your Family

    Long Hui sat at the table opposite Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan. His expression was fierce as he watched the two of them order drinks from the waiter. He didn''t even notice that his son was looking at him with scared eyes.

    "What''s wrong, Little Jun?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    The child hugged her neck and hid his face against her chest. It was as if he was hiding from his own father.

    It was only then that Long Hui remembered his son''s presence. He fixed his expression and tone.

    "Little Jun, it''s Dad. Did you miss me? Because I missed Little Jun. Come here and give your dad a hug."

    The child peeked at him but didn''t move right away. His wariness was apparent.

    "Don''t you remember Dad anymore?" Long Hui asked. He smiled on the outside and tried to appear as gentle as possible, but deep inside, he was seething.

    What did this mean? Wasn''t this because his own son had been brainwashed to act like this to him, the father?"

    Little Jun stared at him. "Dada?"

    "Yes, Little Jun. I''m your dada." Long Hui was relieved that his son at least remembered him. He stretched out his hands. "Come here, son. Give your dada a big hug."

    "Dada!" The child jumped out of his mother''s arms and ran to his father.

    Long Hui caught the child and ced his son on hisp. Love and warmth filled him as he embraced Little Jun. He felt his eyes moisten a little when the child''s little arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

    Then he started to feel suffocated because Little Jun was hugging his neck a little too, er, tightly.

    "Little J-jun, let go of my neck a bit¡­and let Dad k-kiss you¡­."

    Long Hui released a big sigh of relief and took several deep inhales of air after his son released him. He studied Little Jun. The child looked healthy.

    Little Jun resembled him more than Jiang Ying Yue. The blood of the Longs was strong in the child. As a matter of fact, Little Jun also resembled Iris because of this.

    Now, however, Long Hui realized that Little Jun might have inherited his mother''s extraordinary strength. The child was still this small, yet he could almost choke his own father with just a simple hug.

    Long Hui already imagined what his son would look like when he grew up. Little Jun would be as handsome as his father and have a fit, muscled body like his mother. In other words, the child would grow up into a perfect adult.

    He felt great pride.

    This was his son.

    If he had another child with Mao Qiuyue someday, he doubted it would be as superb as Little Jun. Mao Qiuyue''s DNA wasn''t as useful as Jiang Ying Yue''s. If not for his mother and inws'' pressure, he wouldn''t even want to have a child with such a shallow woman as his wife.

    Only someone as extraordinary as Jiang Ying Yue could match his own superb DNA with her beautiful and strong muscled body. Together, they produced an outstanding child¡ªLittle Jun. If given another chance, the two of them would surely produce another excellent child.

    However, his hopes were dashed because of the man sitting beside Jiang Ying Yue. Lin Yehan was an eyesore.

    Long Hui tried ignoring the man''s presence at first while focusing on giving his son the presents he had prepared. Little Jun''s delighted exmations temporarily calmed down his agitation caused by Lin Yehan''s presence.

    By this time, he also began to notice the presence of several civilian-dressed bodyguards in the caf¨¦. There were both males and females alike. He counted seven so far but suspected there were more where he couldn''t see.

    Once again, he felt suffocated but from anger this time. When Jiang Ying Yue insisted that she would only allow their son to spend a day with him if bodyguards were apanying them. He agreed, thinking that there would only be a couple bodyguards, maybe three at most.

    But more than seven? This was too excessive!

    He didn''t doubt that this was the work of Iris and Jin Liwei. Clearly, the two of them were treating him as a danger to his own son.

    Ridiculous!

    He was filled with manyints, but he held all of them in. His son looked so happy. He didn''t want to ruin it by scaring Little Jun. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Where do you n on taking Little Jun today?" Jiang Ying Yue asked, interrupting his thoughts.

    "I n to take him to the zoo today and eat at a restaurant for dinner."

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded. "I want him home by 9 PM at thetest. You don''t need to personally send him. My colleagues will take him home."

    Long Hui frowned. "9 PM? That''s too early. I want to spend more time with my son, even if it''s just a few more hours."

    "You know that our son is only three, right? He starts to feel sleepy at around 8 PM. He''s also a very active child, so he has a regr daily routine. If you n to take him to the zoo, he''ll tire more easily. I doubt that he''ll be able to keep awake past 9 PM."

    "Even if he''s asleep, it''s fine," Long Hui said. "I just want to spend more time with my son."

    She didn''t reply right away. Then she sighed. "Fine. 10 PM. That''s final."

    He still wanted to negotiate and ask for an extension until midnight but decided not to push it too far this time. What if he upset Jiang Ying Yue and she refused to let him see their son after this?

    "10 PM, then." For now, he would agree.

    There woulde a time when he would be able to spend a whole weekend with his son. But, of course, he wouldn''t bring Little Jun to the marital home he shared with Mao Qiuyue. There was no way that he would leave his son to be maltreated by his wife. So instead, he would bring Little Jun to another ce, maybe his secret apartment, and enjoy a quality father and son time together, away from Mao Qiuyue''s narrow-minded jealousy.

    "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Jiang Ying Yue asked, changing the topic.

    Lin Yehan gestured to the bodyguards. The bodyguards took Little Jun and the presents a few tables away. The child would still be able to see his parents and Uncle Yehan but wouldn''t be able to hear what the adults were talking about. Not that he cared with all the presents he was too buy opening up.

    "Now, you two can speak freely," Lin Yehan announced.

    Long Hui red at him. "Why are you still here? Go away. I want to talk to Ying Yue. Alone."

    Lin Yehan had a smile-that-was-not-a-smile on his face. He just looked at Long Hui with this expression but didn''t move.

    "I want¡­Yehan to stay," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    Long Hui stared at her in disbelief. The way they addressed each other was too intimate.

    "Are you two in a rtionship?" he asked.

    Ling Yehan looked at her. He didn''t answer the question himself and waited for her to answer it instead.

    Her face reddened.

    This reaction was enough answer to Long Hui. His expression darkened.

    But Jiang Ying Yue still looked at Long Hui straight in the eye and told him, "Yes, Yehan and I are together now."

    "You¡ª"

    Lin Yehan raised a hand and stopped him before he could curse. "I suggest you don''t say anything, or we will take Little Jun away without letting you spend the day with him. We can''t risk you taking your anger at us to the child."

    "You think that I''ll hurt my own child?!" Long Hui was furious at the man''s insinuation.

    "Don''t tell me that you''ve forgotten what you did thest time we were at my son''s condo unit?" Jiang Ying Yue countered.

    Memories of that fateful day shed in Long Hui''s mind. But he still defended himself. "I was fighting with you that time. I never raised a hand against our son!"

    Jiang Ying Yue banged her hands on the table and stood up. "But you were pulling him hard away from me! That hurt our son, don''t you know? And all your shouting scared him! It took him a while to ovee that trauma! Even the court ruled the incident as a form of child abuse. That''s why they gave me full custody of our son!"

    Long Hui still wanted to continue defending himself but stopped after seeing the waiter looking at them with concern.

    Once again, it was Lin Yehan who apologized on their behalf and reassured the waiter that everything was fine. Then he started coaxing Jiang Ying Yue to calm down.

    "This is all your fault," Long Hui told him. "You''re the reason Ying Yue and I fought that day. If you hadn''t been chasing after my woman since that day, I would be still together with her! You''re the reason why my family is in shambles like this!"

    "No, you''re wrong." Lin Yehan''s look and tone were calm. "You were the one who didn''t protect Ying Yue and your son well enough from all the people who wanted to break you apart like the person who sent you the photos. You''re also the one who didn''t trust Ying Yue''s faithfulness to you enough. She''s innocent. I''m innocent.

    "You''re the one who believed in the malicious lies of outsiders and allowed your feelings for your family to waver. You''re also the one who chose to run to another woman and cheat with her while shifting the me on Ying Yue and me.

    "So, no, Long Hui. I''m not the one who destroyed your family. You did."

 Chapter 1407 I Can See it in Your Eyes

    Chapter 1407 I Can See it in Your Eyes

    "You son of a¡ª"

    Long Hui pounced on Lin Yehan over the table, but Jiang Ying Yue blocked him. Both of the men''s eyes widened at her actions. Long Hui was in disbelief that she would tantly protect another man in front of him. Lin Yehan was also surprised at her quick reflexes, but his gaze on her softened. He never knew that being protected by hisdy like this would feel so good. This kind of gender role reversal didn''t bother him at all. On the contrary, his admiration for his girlfriend only grew because of this. "You stopped me?" Long Hui asked Jiang Ying Yue. Gone was her usual timid and submissive personality when in front of him. Right now, she was fierce. It wasn''t only because of her usual cold bodyguard aura, either. She was really ring at him with all her might. For a few seconds, Long Hui even felt scared that she might break the arm that she was holding.

    "Our son is watching us," she told him in a low but firm tone. "You can act like an asshole all you want, but not just in front of Little Jun. If you do, I won''t let you meet him anymore unless you fix your attitude."

    He nced to the side and found their son watching them with curious eyes. If it weren''t for the bodyguards distracting him with the new toys, the child would have already run toward his parents. Long Hui forced himself to calm down. Jiang Ying Yue threw his arm back to him, the force almost toppling him backwards. He red at her, then at Lin Yehan. Now that she had a new man, she could really bear to treat him so harshly like this. Long Hui felt resentful. His re on Lin Yehan turned more hostile. The man''s close proximity to his woman was a definite eyesore. If it weren''t for the presence of Little Jun, Long Hui would have already swung a punch at the man''s ugly face.

    "If you still insist on creating trouble for Yehan and me, then I think there is no point in this meeting anymore," Jiang Ying Yue said. "Remember that I still have a restraining order against you. So if I call the police right now, they can haul you away."

    "I¡­won''t cause trouble," he replied through gritted teeth.

    They all sat back down. "What else did you want to talk to me about?" she asked. Long Hui studied her. She was still the same woman he had pursued before, took as his lover, and impregnated with his own child. But right now, she gave off a different feeling to him. Jiang Ying Yue was firmer and fiercer. Of course, it could be due to her grudge against him that she was deliberately acting like this to him. But it didn''t feel that way. As a matter of fact, there was a kind of stability in her gaze that hadn''t been there before. Back when they were still together, it would only take him one look at her eyes to analyze if he could coax her into following his wishes. Now, however, it felt like there was an insurmountable chasm between the two of them that he couldn''t cross no matter how hard he tried. This realization was like a hard punch in his gut. If, before this, he still had some hope that they would be able to return to how they used to be before everything had been destroyed, he couldn''t delude himself anymore now.

    Jiang Ying Yue had changed. Before he knew it, she was now in a ce he could no longer reach.

    "Well?" She frowned at him. The impatience was apparent in her eyes. She had never looked at him like this before. "Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about? Unfortunately, I can''t stay long. I still have an important training to attendter."

    He pursed his lip. All the things he wanted to tell her felt useless at this point. Besides, Lin Yehan was present. If he still expressed his intention of epting Jiang Ying Yue as a lover again, he and Lin Yehan might brawl.

    There was a lot at stake for him at the moment. The defamationwsuit cost him a lot. His father didn''t help him pay for the 50 million RMBpensation at all. Half of the money came from his own pocket. The other half came from his inws, the Maos. Even his mother, Zheng Suyin, pitched in a little.

    Although he could afford the total amount by himself, he still decided to borrow from his inws and mother to lessen the burden. He was Long Hui, the veritable legitimate eldest son of the current head of the Longs. It was essential to maintain a wealthy and noble front, or others would start looking down on him. If he paid the fullpensation by himself in one go, he would have needed to spend less than usual and be more frugal. He could bear it¡ªor at least, that was what he believed¡ªbut his wife, Mao Qiuyue, would never tolerate living below the standards of her usual lifestyle. Jiang Ying Yue stood up, interrupting his thoughts. "You''re not saying anything, so I think you don''t have anything more to tell me. I told you that I can''t stay long." She paused and looked at him straight in the eyes. "And to be frank, I don''t want to stay a second longer and talk to you."

    "Ying Yue¡ª" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Please stop calling me so familiarly like that. You''ve already lost that privilege. Just call me by my full name. Also, I fulfilled my end of the bargain today. So I hope you can deliver on your promise not to bother Yehan and me ever again after this."

    Long Hui didn''t know how to react. She continued, "Don''t worry. As long as you don''t make trouble, I won''t hinder you from seeing our son. I also won''t do anything to make him hate you. I can at least promise this to you. But I hope that whenever you spend time with him, you''ll always make sure that he''s safe, especially from...I won''t say anything anymore. You know what I''m talking about."

    He could only nod and watch Jiang Ying Yue walk away to say goodbye to their son. Lin Yehan still hung around, though. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Why are you still here?" Long Hui asked him in a bad mood. "You want to mock me again?"

    Lin Yehan raised an eyebrow, but the rest of his expression remained pleasantly neutral. "You think I mocked you? The things I said to you earlier weren''t to mock you. I only told the truth. If you felt mocked, then that''s not my problem."

    "Shut up," Long Hui hissed.

    He wanted to punch the ugly farmer''s face but could only restrain himself because of his son''s presence.

    Lin Yehan wasn''t bothered by Long Hui''s hostility. "I just have one more thing to say to you."

    "I don''t want to hear it."

    The man ignored his refusal.

    Lin Yehan''s pleasant expression disappeared. Instead, it turned serious, even threatening.

    "I know what you want from Ying Yue and what you hoped to achieve in requesting this meeting with her today. I''m a man, too. I can see it in your eyes."

    Long Hui opened his mouth and was about to deny it but decided not to bother anymore. Instead, he sneered. "Indeed, you''re a man, too. You''re just like me. Are you happy? You now have her. She''s good, isn''t she?"

    Lin Yehan curled his lip in disgust. "Don''tpare me with you. I respect Ying Yue. I''ll never treat her, or any woman for that matter, like a mere object of my desire."

    "I call bullshit."

    "Think whatever you like. Ying Yue now has me. I won''t let you harass her again. And don''t think of using Little Jun to pressure her into doing anything against her wishes either. You might think of yourself as someone great, but in my eyes, you''re nobody. A simple Long Hui like you, I, Lin Yehan, can handle and squash you by myself."

    "You damned farmer!" Long Hui grabbed the man''s cor before even thinking about his actions. "I dare you to attack me." Lin Yehan wasn''t fazed at all. Instead, he stood still and looked down at Long Hui. He was literally looking down at Long Hui because he was taller than the other man.

    "Go on, hit me. But if you do, don''t even think about taking Little Jun today."

    "What''s going on?" Jiang Ying Yue asked a few tables away. She was carrying Little Jun in her arms. She looked like she would run off with her son any second if the tense situation worsened. Lin Yehan sent her a reassuring smile. Then he returned to giving Long Hui a hard look.

    The hand that was gripping Lin Yehan''s cor trembled a little. Veins popped out and throbbed in it. Long Hui sent another murderous look at the man before letting him go.

    "For the sake of my son¡­."

    Lin Yehan smoothed out his wrinkled cor. "Good. Your self-control has improved a lot. It appears that the 500 hours you served themunity was truly effective. The judge should''ve added more hours to your punishment. Then maybe your personality would''ve improved so much better than this."

    "Shut up and leave!"

    Lin Yehan didn''t bother replying to him. Instead, he headed straight to Little Jun and said goodbye as well. Long Hui watched the man''s interaction with his son. It was even more of an eyesore than Lin Yehan''s interaction with Jiang Ying Yue. The three of them together like this was like looking at a real family!

 Chapter 1408 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Chapter 1408 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Later, outside the caf¨¦, Lin Yehan opened the car door for Jiang Ying Yue. She didn''t climb in right away. Instead, she continued gazing at the second floor with worried eyes. Even though she couldn''t see her son inside, she knew that he was there with his father. She didn''t fully trust Long Hui, but she didn''t want to hinder their father and son rtionship either. All she could do right now was trust her colleagues to protect her son. "Ying Yue." Lin Yehan could only imagine what she must be feeling. Of course, he couldn''t rte to her entirely because he had never had a child before. But he at least understood her concerns. She smiled at him before climbing into the front passenger seat. Lin Yehan nced at the caf¨¦ before climbing into the driver''s seat of his own car. Earlier, he was the one who drove Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun to the caf¨¦. The bodyguards followed behind them in two other separate vehicles.

    He looked at her before starting the car. She looked distracted. "Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded. "Thank you for apanying me, Yehan. I felt so much more confident because of you. Maybe¡­if I met Long Hui on my own, I might have not been so firm."

    He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was rougher than his own hands with hard callouses, but to him, it was a symbol of her discipline and dedication to her job. He raised it and kissed it, making her blush.

    "I''m d to hear you say that, Ying Yue."

    The flush on her face deepened.

    He reached for her face with his other hand and caressed her cheek. "You did a great jobying down your boundaries to him."

    She smiled. "This is the first time that I could speak to him like that without stumbling on my words. Xin, Dom, our other friends, and even Aunt Lan helped me build up my confidence. I feel so¡­incredible."

    "You are incredible."

    She chuckled. "Thanks."

    "You''re the most incredible woman that I''ve ever met."

    Her entire face and neck were now wholly red from his words. "I doubt that, but thank you, Yehan."

    "Believe me, Ying Yue. I do admire you the most as a woman, as a mother, and as a person. Your strength, both inside and out, kindness, and the way you always do your best to stick to your principles are something that I''m finding incredibly rare nowadays. Even when you''re hurting, you still always manage to stand back up and continue fulfilling your duties and responsibilities."

    "It''s because I have a child, Yehan. So many times, I wanted to give up but couldn''t because of my son. I don''t want my son to lose me, his mother, so soon. I want to watch Little Jun grow up. I don''t care about him achieving anything great. As long as he stays healthy and happy until he grows up, I''ll already be satisfied."

    "This is why I find you so incredible, Ying Yue." Lin Yehan''s gaze on her was filled with soft warmth, gentleness and admiration. "You are so dedicated to your son, your job, your friends. I hope¡­that I can also be a recipient of that kind of dedication. I would be honoured."

    She shifted her body on the seat to a sideways position to face him more easily. "I already agreed to be together with you, Yehan. You still don''t feel my dedication to you?"

    His eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Really? You''re dedicated to me?"

    "Of course."

    He smiled. After a few seconds, his smile turned into a wide grin. "I, too, am dedicated to you¡­and Little Jun too, of course."

    Jiang Ying Yue flipped the hand he held and took his hand instead. "Remember the words I told you when I agreed to be together with you that night?"

    "How can I forget?" He might have been a little drunk that night, but all the memories stayed intact in his mind. Nothing was erased by the alcohol. "You agreed to be a family with me."

    She nodded. "I¡­Yehan¡­uhm¡­."

    "Yes?" Lin Yehan didn''t rush her. On the contrary, he felt a little amused that she would begin to feel shy again right now when she had been acting so fierce with that scumbag Long Hui earlier in the caf¨¦. "Uhm¡­you still want to be a¡­family with me¡­right?"

    He smiled. "Of course, Ying Yue. I stand by my promise when I courted you."

    "T-then¡­" It took her a few moments before she could spit out what she wanted to say. "Then how about we marry?"

    Lin Yehan was stunned. He was unable to react for some time. "Y-yehan?" Uncertainty filled Jiang Ying Yue''s face at his reaction¡ªorck thereof. Then heughed. "Ying Yue, are you proposing to me?"

    "Y-you¡­you''reughing at me?"

    "No. I''m notughing at you. Thisughter is from joy. Can''t you see? So are you really proposing to me, Ying Yue?"

    She pouted. "Call it a proposal if you want."

    His grin couldn''t get any wider. "Yes. I''ll marry you."

    Before she could say anything, he grabbed her and smashed their lips together. This kiss wasn''t anything like the ones that they had shared before. It was harder, deeper. More intense. And more desperate. Lin Yehan showed her that he wasn''t always a gentleman. He could also be a rogue. And Jiang Ying Yue loved it. She gave as much as she got. When the kiss ended, both of them were panting. Their eyes were dazed as they looked at each other with deeper intimacy. She leaned her head on his chest while his arms wrapped around her. Their positions were awkward because of the tight space in the car, but neither of them minded it.

    "Yehan¡­."

    "Yes?" He nuzzled her hair (made soft and fragrant thanks to the original best-selling shampoo and conditioner from Orchidia Beauty).

    "Do you mind if I say that¡­I''m not sure yet if¡­I do love you?" she asked while waiting for his reaction. "I could ask you the same question. I''m also not sure yet if my feelings for you can be considered love already. Maybe I''m already in love with you. Or maybe I''m close to it. But what I do know is that I want to be with you and Little Jun. So maybe this is already love."

    "You''ve never been in love before?"

    He gave her ear a yful pinch. "I have. At least, that''s what I believed. It''s just that what I feel for you is so different from my past experiences. I can''tpare it."

    She nodded. "I know what you mean. What I feel for you is also different from my experience with¡­Little Jun''s father. That''s why I said I''m not sure if this is love. That one felt so fast, intense and, uhm, thrilling¡­."

    "I get it," he said, chuckling. "Same here. My past rtionships always started off with sexual attraction and developed from there. It was always exciting. But what we have now¡­."

    "It''s calmer," she continued his sentence. "Easier. Morefortable."

    "Yes. Calmer, easier and morefortable. Those are the right words. But I hope you don''t find it boring because I don''t." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She quickly shook her head. "No, of course not! I don''t find our rtionship boring at all."

    "I''m d." He dropped a soft peck on her lips. "Shall we go now?"

    "Okay."

    The car finally started driving away from the caf¨¦.

    Lin Yehan was in an excellent mood. He was able to distract his girlfriend from thinking about their meeting with Long Hui. And now, to his surprise, they even became engaged just like that.

    Never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine being proposed to by a woman. So when he heard that his Fifth Brother Zihao had been proposed to by Long Jinjing, he thought that it was funny and amazing at the same time. But now that the same thing had happened to him, he almost couldn''t contain his delight.

    He had never been the type of man who felt emascted by this gender role reversal. However, his experience as a sports shooting athlete back then exposed him to the prowess of females. There had been times when female athletes, both local and foreign alike, defeated him without mercy during training and co-ed sports events. For example, in the realm of sports shooting, there were quite a number of female athletes who bested the males. If the majorpetitions didn''t separate by gender, he wouldn''t be surprised if many of the overall champions were females. Unlike most other physical sports where males had the natural biological advantage, sports shooting presented a fairer stage to all genders. Not wholly unbiased but still better than other sports where a clear distinction of biological gender was needed. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    This was one of the reasons why he felt so excited about Iris'' talent in shooting when he discovered it. But unfortunately, she didn''t show interest in pursuing an athletic career in sports shooting, no matter how he tried enticing her.

    Back to his original point, his experience dealing with formidable females in the world of sports shooting contributed to making him into the open-minded man that he was today.

    He didn''t feel awkward when Jiang Ying Yue proposed. As a matter of fact, he felt ttered and happy. This must be how women felt when their lovers proposed to them. He thought that many men were missing out on this kind of wonderful feeling. His grin didn''t even stop as he continued driving. He nced at his girlfriend¡ªoh right, she was his fianc¨¦e now. "So when do you want to marry?"

 Chapter 1409 Forced Acknowledgement

    Chapter 1409 Forced Acknowledgement

    Jin Corporation.

    Once again, Iris and her twins came to thepany to eat lunch with Jin Liwei. Work was still hectic but had already begun to ease towards the end of the month. Nevertheless, Iris still did her best to bring her twins to see their father whenever she had free time. This was a crucial period in the twins'' development. It was vital for them to spend as much time with their parents as possible to fortify their family bond. Also, it was easy for babies at such a young age to forget someone if they hadn''t seen that said person for a while. Jin Liwei''s current hectic schedule would have made his presence scarce in the twins'' waking moments. If Iris didn''t make an effort to bring their babies to him regrly, they might start to forget their father. Iris and Jin Liwei would hate it if this were to happen. Iris'' constant efforts weren''t lost on Jin Liwei. He felt like the luckiest man in the universe for marrying a woman like her. She wasn''t only a beautiful genius but also a dedicated wife to their family. What more could a man like him ask for? His wife made him feel like the most blessed husband and father in the world. At the moment, the family was inside Jin Liwei''s office as usual. The originalrge, modern and masculine space had long been softened by the addition of happy family photos, vases of fresh flowers, andfortable furniture. The sleek leather sofas had been swapped with soft cloud sofas instead. In addition, there was now a sizeable fluffy rug where the twins could roll around as much as they pleased. Despite these changes, the CEO''s office still retained its professional majesty. It just felt a lot more weing andfortable than before. Of course, Jin Liwei did all this for his family. He wanted them to feel at home in his workce whenever they visited. What was the use of being the President-CEO of arge multinationalpany anyway if he couldn''t even at least do this much for his own family? n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Lunchtime was already over. Fortunately, Jin Liwei didn''t need to attend any meetings in the afternoon. He could stay in his office and work from there for the rest of the day. The workload was still heavy and required him to be on constant standby in case the various project leaders needed his verification in person. But at least he could see his family while working. Iris was ying on the fluffy carpet with Little Mochi. The baby was quite noisy with his adorable giggles and coos, but Jin Liwei didn''t mind. He could still concentrate on his work even with his child''s noise. Unlike the lively Little Mochi, his younger twin brother was quiet and well-behaved as always. Little Mochi sat on his father''sp behind therge desk. The baby was mesmerized by the moving executive pendulum clicker disy beside a framed photo of their family. He had been watching the balls swinging for almost half an hour now.

    This harmonious scene continued until Jin Liwei felt a gaze on him. He nced up and saw his wife taking photos of him and Little Matcha with her phone. Iris checked the pictures. "You father and son look so much alike. Even your serious expressions are identical."

    He smiled. What else would a father like him feel if one of his sons resembled him this much? Pride, of course! Though this didn''t mean that he liked Little Matcha more than Little Mochi. Not at all. He loved both of his twin sons equally regardless of their differences. Maybe this would change in the future depending on how the twins grew up, but for now, he didn''t give any preferential treatment to one son over the other. "Little Mochi fell asleep?" he asked after finally noticing quietness.

    "Yes, he got tired ying," Iris replied. Little Mochi was now lying on a makeshift bed on the fluffy carpet made up of a nket.

    Jin Liwei nced at his other son, who was on hisp. Little Matcha was yawning and was about to nod off as well. Jin Liwei paused his work. Then he carried his younger twin son and carefully ced him beside Little Mochi on the makeshift bed on the carpet. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    The parents watched their sleeping babies.

    "Little Mochi and Little Matcha are already treating this ce like home," Irismented.

    "Because their mom and dad are with them," Jin Liwei replied. She smiled. "I wonder if Little Jun feelsfortable with his father. He hasn''t seen Long Hui in person sincest year."

    "Our godson isn''t a weakling like his father. He can adapt to new situations quickly and thrive."

    She agreed with him. "I just can''tpletely rx today. I''m worried about Little Jun."

    "I sent extra bodyguards to protect our godson just in case. Didn''t you also modify his shoes and add a tracking and two-waymunication device?"

    "Yes, but I still worry," she replied, sighing. Little Jun refused to wear the kiddie smartwatch that she modified just as she had expected. The child didn''t like wearing anything around his wrists. He was still too young to appreciate the technology of a smartwatch. So Iris decided to modify his shoes instead. She chose the shoes because they were the least likely to be removed, changed or lost during the day.

    Of course, Jiang Ying Yue knew what Iris did and agreed to let his son wear the modified shoes to increase Little Jun''s security. Ketchup was in charge of monitoring her human cousin.

    "Does Mommy and Daddy want to hear a report on what my cousin Little Junjun is doing now?" Ketchup asked. "Meow~"

    Iris almost agreed but hesitated before shaking her head. "Never mind that. Hearing about Long Hui''s every single action today will just annoy me. Just let us know if your cousin is safe and alert us immediately if he''s in danger."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    Jin Liwei gave his wife a quick kiss and a hug tofort her. He was also worried about their godson, but not to the point that his mind was filled with worry. Perhaps this was the difference between mothers and fathers. His wife had be so much more anxious about the children''s well-being after giving birth.

    "Go back to work," she told him. "I''ll try calling Ying Yue and ask her about what Long Hui ns to do with Little Jun today."

    "En."

    ###

    Mao Qiuyue was at the spa with some of her friends. She had been in a bad mood ever since she stormed out of the marital home she shared with her husband a few days ago. Since their argument, they hadn''t spoken either in person or on the phone. To Long Hui''s credit, he did send her some rather lovely presents. He also attempted to call her phone and sent her messages many times. However, she didn''t reply to any of his gestures. They weren''t enough for her. She wanted him to personally pick her up from her parents'' home and coax her into returning with him. She had been waiting for him, but he still didn''te. She was already starting to lose patience but refused to be the first one to give in. It wasn''t her fault anyway. So why should she be the one to make the first move? He was the man, wasn''t he? His responsibility should be to make the first move and coax her, the woman.

    Mao Qiuyueined about her thoughtless husband to her friends while getting their nails done. Of course, she exaggerated most of what happened and pushed all the me on Long Hui.

    "This is the problem of marrying someone who already has a bastard child with an ex," a friendmented. "He already had most of his firsts with his ex, so he''s not putting extra effort into his new rtionship."

    Another friend chimed in, "I agree. He already has a kid. He''s not worried about producing another one with you. His son might be a bastard, but the kid is still his biological child. So even if you fail to give birth, he will always have that son."

    "Qiuyue, if you really fail to conceive, Long Hui might even bring back that bastard child and force you to legally acknowledge it as his heir."

    "Hell no!" Mao Qiuyue was enraged at the idea.

    Her friend shrugged her shoulders. "This practice is quitemon in our circles. You should already know that. My uncle did it. He brought back a secret bastard son because my aunt-inw only gave birth to two daughters, no son. My uncle is one of those ridiculously old-fashioned men who still believe in that traditional rule of only letting sons inherit most of the family wealth and business. So my aunt-inw was forced to acknowledge my uncle''s bastard son and watch my uncle, her husband, train the bastard to inherit the family business when my cousins are way morepetent than the guy."

    "I know someone who went through a simr situation."

    "So we''re saying that you have to be careful, Qiuyue. You already told us that Long Hui refuses to abandon his bastard son and intends to maintain regrmunication with it. These are all red gs for you. He might force you to acknowledge the bastard if you don''t produce a legitimate heir."

    "I dare him to do that to me!" Mao Qiuyue''s eyes burned with fury and hatred. "Acknowledge that bastard and let it be the heir? Over my dead body!"

 Chapter 1410 I Canâ€™t Take it Anymore

    Chapter 1410 I Can¡¯t Take it Anymore

    Mao Qiuyue''s bad mood worsened after listening to her friends. She could indeed imagine Long Hui doing precisely what they said¡ªforcing her to acknowledge his bastard son and make the child his official heir. Although she didn''t think she had any fertility issues, she wouldn''t feelpletely secure in her position as Long Hui''s legitimate wife until she became pregnant. Only then would she feel less threatened by her husband''s bastard child. So the need to conceive as soon as possible felt even more urgent now. After the friends finished being pampered at the spa, they headed to the next destination¡ªthe mall. Mao Qiuyue''s friends decided that shopping therapy was the best solution to improve her bad mood. She agreed. They descended upon the brand-name luxury boutiques like hungry locusts. They almost cleaned out the shops''test and most expensive items, earning envious gazes from fellow shoppers who couldn''t afford to buy so many like them. Their shopping spreested until dusk. Then they headed to an upscale restaurant for dinner. They were in the middle of waiting for their orders when one of Mao Qiuyue''s friends gasped. "Look there! Isn''t that your husband, Qiuyue?"

    All of them looked out of the restaurant''s ss wall. They saw a familiar man carrying a little boy and walking in the mall''s hallway. "Long Hui!" Mao Qiuyue recognized her husband right away. Her vision darkened at the sight of the child in his arms. There was no need to guess the child''s identity. Wasn''t it her husband''s bastard son?

    "Wow, the boy looks like Long Hui. No wonder he can''t abandon his son."

    Mao Qiuyue red at her friend, who made the insensitivement. She stood up and looked like she was heading for battle. Her friends immediately held her back. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Girl, you can''t make a scene here. We''re in public!"

    "Calm down first. Okay, Qiuyue? Your reputation in public is pretty bad right now. Don''t make it worse."

    "Fight with your husbandter at home but not here in public.

    Mao Qiuyue faltered. However, her fury continued to intensify and made her feel suffocated. If she didn''t do anything to release her rage, she would definitely explode.

    "He messaged me saying that he''s busy catching up on work at thepany, that''s why he didn''t yet have the time to personally pick me up at my parent''s house. So he doesn''t have the time to pick me up but has the time to spend the day with his bastard son at the mall?! Unforgivable!"

    She continued dissing her husband to her friends. Of course, they sided with her and joined in dissing Long Hui and his bastard son regardless of their true thoughts about the matter.

    They watched the father and son strolling in the restaurant section of the mall, probably looking for a ce to eat dinner. Mao Qiuyue and her friends overlooked the civilian-clothed bodyguards following Long Hui and his son in various positions. For now, Mao Qiuyue listened to her friends and didn''t rush to make a scene with her husband in public. She could not enjoy the dinner she ordered because all she thought about was confronting Long Hui. If it weren''t for her friends stopping her, she would have already fought with her husband in front of everyone and maybe even hit his bastard son. The child was a big eyesore to her. She wanted to tear the bastard apart and make it disappear forever. ###

    "Where do you want to eat, Little Jun?" Long Hui asked his son while showing him the restaurants. "Dad will let you eat whatever you want today."

    They had a fun day earlier at the zoo. The weather was already starting to be cold, but it was just perfect for a family day trip. Not too hot, but not freezing either.

    Little Jun enjoyed seeing and learning about the animals, especially the cute panda bears. After the zoo, they headed to the mall for dinner. Long Hui felt fulfilled seeing his son''s happy smile. He watched as Little Jun looked around the restaurants before pointing at a popr fast-food restaurant. "Junjun want fwy chikin!" (Junjun wants fried chicken!)

    Long Hui''s gaze softened. "Alright, Little Jun. Let''s eat fried chicken. I heard that kids like the gravy in that restaurant, too. Do you want to eat gravy with your chicken?"

    "Eat Gwaby?" The child looked shocked and then horrified. "No, Dada! No eat Gwaby! Waaaah!" (Eat Gravy? No, Daddy! I don''t want to eat Gravy! Wah!)

    Long Hui was startled by his son''s reaction. Why was Little Jun crying all of a sudden? "Fine, we won''t eat gravy with the chicken. Don''t cry anymore, son. We won''t order gravy if you don''t like it. We''ll eat the chicken with ketchup instead, okay?"

    Little Jun stopped crying. But before Long Hui could feel relieved, his son''s expression turned for the worst. Little Jun looked at him like he was some kind of a monster. "Eat Chechup? Nooooooo! No eat Chechup! Dada, no! Bad dada! Uwaaaaaaaaah!!!" (Eat Ketchup? No! I don''t want to eat Ketchup! Daddy, no! Bad Daddy! Uwah!)

    Long Hui was at his wit''s end trying to calm down his crying son. He had no idea why Little Jun was suddenly throwing a tantrum like this. Then, he looked around and saw people staring at them. The situation made him panic.

    "Alright, Little Jun. No gravy, no ketchup. We won''t get any of them. We''ll just eat the fried chicken, okay? Don''t cry anymore."

    Unfortunately, his son continued crying and calling him "bad dada". He was embarrassed at all the unwanted attention they were getting. He was about to carry off his son to a ce with fewer people when one of the female disguised bodyguards following them approached. She then exined why Little Jun reacted like this at the mention of gravy and ketchup. Long Hui finally understood.

    So it turned out that this was Iris'' fault all along. He knew about the cats Ice Cream and Popcorn when he was still on good terms with his half-sister. He thought that it was just that one time and never expected that her terrible naming sense would continue until this day. Another cat named Ketchup and now a dog named Gravy?

    What on earth was she thinking? Had she been always hungry when choosing the names for the pets?

    And now Little Jun was confused because of her!

    How terrible!

    Long Hui gritted his teeth and cursed Iris inside his head. However, he didn''t dare criticize his half-sister aloud in front of his son. Iris and Jin Liwei were Little Jun''s godparents. He knew how close his son was to the married couple. If he badmouthed Iris and Jin Liwei to Little Jun, it would only backfire on him. His son might end up hating him if he did that. He couldn''t afford to give Jiang Ying Yue any reason to take away his current visitation rights for their son. Regardless of how everything would turn out in the future, he was determined to keep this son. Just imagining a future of him and his son alienated from each other was enough to make his heart hurt. For this reason, he could only keep his opinions about Iris to himself in front of his son. The female bodyguard helped Long Hui coax Little Jun. Finally, the child stopped crying. Long Hui carried his son to another fast food restaurant, afraid that Little Jun might cry again if he saw a damn gravy or ketchup. Unbeknownst to them, Mao Qiuyue and her friends saw everything from inside one of the restaurants. The friends couldn''t hear what the father and son were talking about. They concluded that the child was acting spoiled and throwing a tantrum in public to get what he wanted from his father, Long Hui. Mao Qiuyue gnashed her teeth. She had never seen such a gentle and doting expression on her husband''s face. She didn''t know that he could even produce such an expression! How hateful!

    And who was that impertinent woman just now?

    So many sluts circling around her husband. If she took her eyes off him for even a second, he might produce another bastard child with a different slut under her nose! There was no way in hell that she would stay silent and act like a tolerant wife like so many in their circles. She refused to act like a martyr and turn a blind eye to her husband keeping a mistress and a secret family behind her back. No way!

    "The woman is just a passerby," her friend said. "Look, she went away after helping stop the child from crying."

    "No, look again. The woman is following Long Hui and his bastard. She''s keeping her eyes on them." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Why are you still surprised? Qiuyue''s husband is one of the most handsome in our circles. Even when it was revealed that he has an illegitimate child, many young misses continued to target him, hoping that they would be the next Madam Long. Only when he paired up with our Qiuyue did most of them give up. But there are still some remaining who want to be a mistress. So you better be careful, Qiuyue."

    "I can''t take it anymore!" Mao Qiuyue stood up and rushed out of the restaurant before any of her friends could react. They chased after her, but she was already beyond stopping. Mao Qiuyue barrelled through the strolling shoppers and earned several nastyints, but she ignored them all. She closed in on her target¡ªthe woman following her husband like a disgusting stalker.

    "You slut!"

 Chapter 1411 Angry Mob

    Chapter 1411 Angry Mob

    Mao Qiuyue reached her hand and was about to rip the hair out of the disgusting slut stalking her husband when the woman suddenly dodged and backhanded her. Before Mao Qiuyue could react, she was already lying on the floor.

    People screamed.

    "Qiuyue!"

    "Oh, my gosh! Qiuyue, are you okay?"

    "Ambnce! Call an ambnce! Quickly!"

    Her friends finally caught up with her. They panicked and ran around like headless chickens. Mao Qiuyue groaned, rolled over to her side on the floor, and attempted to get up. She coughed. Her throat hurt from where the bitch hit her. She red at the bitch who dared to do this to her, but the woman looked down on her with cold eyes that made her shiver. No! The hell she would allow the bitch to scare her. She scrambled to her feet and almost fell again on her butt if not for her friend catching her. The hit affected her more than she expected. Her head felt like it was spinning. She struggled to hold her bnce. "You bi¡ª"

    "I have a bodycam both in my front body and back," the woman who backhanded her said coldly. "I can show it to the authorities as evidence to prove that you are the one who moved to attack me first. So what I did is purely self-defence."

    Mao Qiuyue''s curse stuck in her throat. Her friends looked at the cold woman in disbelief¡­and fear.

    A man carrying a child squeezed through the growing crowd. "Qiuyue?" Long Hui asked. He was perplexed by the situation. Then his expression turned suspicious. "What are you doing here? Are you following me?"

    She was enraged at his reaction. "You think that I''m following you?!" She pointed at the cold-faced woman who hit her. "Why don''t you ask this shameless bitch instead?! I saw her stalking you!"

    "Stalking me?"

    "Yes! She was following after helping you stop that ugly bastard son of yours from throwing a tantrum!"

    Long Hui''s expression turned ugly. "I dare you to say that again about my son to my face!"

    "What? It''s true, isn''t it? That kid is a bastard! An ugly bastard!"

    Little Jun was frightened at the ugly woman screaming at him. So he started howling at the top of his lungs.

    The spectators were angered by Mao Qiuyue''s viciousness. "Whoa,dy! How can you talk like that about a child? Can''t you be any more inhuman?"

    "Poor child. If someone dares to treat my own child like that in front of me, I''m sorry, but that person will end up in the hospital. I don''t care if I get arrested. Nobody treats my child like that!"

    "Is that the child''s father? The woman just called the child a bastard. What''s the story here?"

    Long Hui flushed after hearing the crowd gossiping about them. His lips pressed into a thin line.

    "Don''t make a scene here, Qiuyue. Let''s go talk somewhere else private."

    Mao Qiuyue pped his hand away. "No!" Then she looked around. "You want to hear the whole story?"

    He red at her. "Qiuyue, don''t you dare."

    "I''ll tell you the whole story!" She pointed at Long Hui. "This is my husband!" Then she pointed at Little Jun. "And this is his bastard son with his mistress!"

    In an instant, the crowd''s opinion shifted in favour of her. They sent Long Hui dirty, judgmental looks. This scared Little Jun even more. The poor child thought that the people were scolding him. He cried even louder.

    Long Hui hugged his son more tightly and tried to cover his head protectively. "Don''t twist the truth, Qiuyue!"

    She sneered. "I''m twisting the truth?! Tell everyone. Are you married to me or not? Is that ugly child your illegitimate son or not? You can''t answer, right? It''s because everything that I said is true!"

    "Bad monstah! Bad!!! Uwaaaaaah! Go away, bad monstah! Junjun scayed! Mommi! Mama! Papa! Anko Han! Waaaaaaaaaah!!! Chechup! Baykohn! Ashkweem! Popkohn! Gwaby! Junjun scayed! Bad monstah, scawy! Uwaaaaaaaah!!!" (Bad monster! Bad!!! Uwah! Go away, bad monster! Junjun is scared! Mommy! Mama! Papa! Uncle Yehan! Wah!!! Ketchup! Bacon! Ice Cream! Popcorn! Gravy! Junjun is scared! Bad monster is scary! Uwah!!!)

    "Who are you calling a monster? Shut up, you ugly bastard!!!"

    Mao Qiuyue lunged at Long Hui and reached for Little Jun with her ws before any of her friends could stop her. But before she could reach them, someone flew and threw her to the floor. "Ugh!" Her breath was knocked out of her as she face-nted on the floor. She couldn''t even scream from the impact. Before she knew it, she was lying on her stomach on the floor with someone twisting her arms behind her back. Then a knee was pushed on her back, followed by a person''s full weight pressing her down to the floor.

    People started screaming again. "What are you doing?! Get off her!"

    "Help!"

    "Assault! Call the police! This is physical assault!"

    Mao Qiuyue''s friends attempted to help her, but a group of scary-looking people blocked them. They wore regr clothing, but their expressions and overall aura were too cold and intimidating. It took a few moments for Mao Qiuyue to catch her breath. She struggled against the person on the top of her back but to no avail. Finally, she twisted her head and looked behind her. It was the bitch who backhanded her earlier!

    "Get off me! Slut, how dare you treat me this way! I''m Mao Qiuyue! My father is the chairman of Mao Textiles! My father-inw is the head of Long Industries! You''ll regret doing this to me!"

    Long Hui watched as his son''s bodyguards treated his wife like a criminal. For a moment, he almost wanted to protect her. But when he felt his son''s arms wrapped tightly around his neck and listened to the child''s frightened cries, his heart hardened for his wife.

    The woman called his son an ugly bastard in front of so many people. As a father, this was a direct insult. Even though Mao Qiuyue was his legal wife, he couldn''t just excuse her words to his son just like that. With ast look at his wife struggling on the floor, he turned his back on her and carried his son away from this crowded ce. Another group of bodyguards formed a protective circle around the father and son as they walked away from themotion. "Hui! Long Hui! Where are you going?! Are you leaving me just like that?! How dare you?!!!" Mao Qiuyue couldn''t believe her eyes while watching her husband walk away from her without even ncing back. What kind of husband was this? Useless!

    Hateful!

    Some of the concerned people among the crowd stepped forward and were about to help, but the civilian-clothed bodyguards blocked them. One of the disguised bodyguards exined to the crowd, "We''re the child''s bodyguards. Please understand that we''re only doing our job¡ªto protect our little master from danger, including this female attacker. We aren''t doing anything that vites thew. This is considered self-defence, not assault. My colleagues and I all have bodycams to prove our case."

    The crowd began to settle down after hearing the exnation. Although the people still had a lot of opinions about the situation, they no longer bothered to stand up for the woman being pressed to the floor. The one who was pressing down on her was a fellow woman. They also witnessed that it was indeed Mao Qiuyue who moved to attack first. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Regardless of what she said about her husband having an illegitimate son, it wasn''t good to attack such a young child. She should have just targeted her husband, not the child.

    "Shameless!"

    "Liar!"

    Shoes and slippers began raining down from out of nowhere. Theynded around Mao Qiuyue, not hitting her at all, but it was clear that she was the target.

    A new angry mob appeared. Most of them were barefoot or wearing socks. The others were in the middle of taking their footwear off to throw at Mao Qiuyue.

    "How dare you hurt our dear Little Junjun like that?! Unforgivable! Shame on you!"

    "Protect our Boss Iris'' nephew and godson!"

    "You dare to call our cute Little Junie boy a mistress'' child? Do you have poop in your brain or what?! Come on! Tell everyone the real truth! That you were the mistress first! The real homewrecker!"

    "Fuck! I really want to beat up this shameless homewrecker with my mighty slippers! Which part of our dear Little Jun is an ugly bastard? He''s so cute! He looks like our Boss Iris! This bitch is not only shameless and vicious, but she''s also blind as hell! She''s the one who''s ugly with the face she bought from a stic surgeon, and yet she has the audacity to call a natural cutie like our dear Little Jun ugly? Gah! I''m so angry!" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Mao Qiuyue, her friends and the crowd were rmed by these new arrivals. Even the bodyguards didn''t know how to react. At first, they thought that they were attackers but quickly realized that they were¡­er, allies. Right?

    And that wasn''t the end yet. More people arrived in the same manner. Footwear quickly flew,nding near Mao Qiuyue but not hitting her. "I really want to hit her, but KittyBaby said that we shouldn''t to avoid us being pped with a physical assault charge. Shit!"

    "Where''s the bitch who hurt our Baby Junjun?! Quick, show your ugly face! Let me p you with my mighty slippers of justice!"

    This wasn''t the end but only the beginning. Another group arrived. "Is this the ce?"

    "I think so. Look at the GPS pin that PantherBaby sent us. It should be here."

    "Oh, I see people who don''t have shoes. They should be ourrades. Let''s go join them!"

 Chapter 1412 Weirdos

    Chapter 1412 Weirdos

    Long Hui continued carrying his son until they finally left the restaurant section of the mall. Earlier today, he disdained the presence of the bodyguards following him and his son wherever they went. He thought that it was an insult to him as a father, not only from Jiang Ying Yue but also from Iris and Jin Liwei. They must have thought that he was unfit to keep his own son safe from danger. Or maybe they felt that he was a danger to his own son. This had been a source of resentment for him for almost the entire day.

    Now, however, he changed his mind. If it weren''t for the bodyguards, his wife might have done something worse to his son besides screaming insults and scaring the poor little boy. If Mao Qiuyue somehow managed to physically hurt his son, Long Hui would go crazy. For him, the woman crossed the line today.

    Little Jun was no longer howling at the top of his lungs, but he still looked pitiful with his aggrieved expression. He only whimpered as tears continued flowing down his face.

    Long Hui''s chest tightened seeing his son like this. He didn''t even mind that he couldn''t breathe properly because of how tight Little Jun was hugging his neck.

    "It''s fine now, Little Jun," heforted his son. "The bad woman is now gone. She won''t be able to hurt you. Dad won''t let her hurt you."

    "Wuwuwu. Junjun scayed. Bad monstah, ugly! Bad! Wuwuwu." (Wuwuwu. Junjun is scared. Bad monster is ugly! She''s bad! Wuwuwu.)

    "I know, son. Don''t cry anymore."

    "Junjun go home. Dada, home! Wuwuwu. Junjun want Mommi. Want Mama, Papa. Popkohn, Gwaby. Anko Domdom. Wuwuwu." (Junjun wants to go home. Daddy, let''s go home! Wuwuwu. Junjun wants Mommy. I want Mama and Papa. Popcorn and Gravy. Uncle Dom. Wuwuwu.)

    Long Hui''s lips pressed into a thin line. He wanted to spend more time with his son today, but everything was ruined because of Mao Qiuyue. There was still time before he was supposed to return his son to Jiang Ying Yue, but now, he had no choice but to return Little Jun earlier than expected. Of course, he could always dy returning his son until the appointed time, but Little Jun was too scared about what happened. He looked at the bodyguards. "I''ll drive my son to Dragon Pce."

    "Sir, no need for that. Miss Jiang told us that we''ll take the little master home."

    "I''ll drive my son," Long Hui repeated in a firmer tone. The bodyguards looked at each other. Then, finally, one of them stepped away and fished out a phone, presumably to contact Jiang Ying Yue.

    Long Hui gritted his teeth. He hated thisplicated arrangement just to spend time with his own son. Regardless of hisints, he still restrained his temper. He admitted that he was responsible for what happened with Mao Qiuyue today. He should have been more careful and prevented the woman from getting the opportunity to even get close to his son. The bodyguard returned and handed him the phone. Long Hui took it. "Hello?"

    All he could hear was some heavy breathing. He could almost see Jiang Ying Yue''s furious expression in front of him. "Y-ying Yue?"

    "Don''t call me that! I already told you! Long Hui, if I find a single scratch on my son, I swear I''ll beat up your wife with my bare hands until no teeth are left inside her dirty mouth! How dare she attack my son?! How dare you let your wife attack our son?! Long Hui, I shouldn''t have let you take my son out today! Look what happened!!!"

    Long Hui wanted to exin and defend himself but couldn''t find the opportunity to interrupt Jiang Ying Yue''s tirade. Little Jun heard his mother''s voice on the phone and began crying for her. "Mommi? Uwah! Mommi! Junjun scayed! Junjun want Mommi! Go home! Mommi! Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" ("Mommy? Uwah! Mommy! Junjun is scared! Junjun wants Mommy! I want to go home! Mommy! Wah!!!)

    "Is that my son?" Jiang Ying Yue finally stopped her tirade. "Give the phone to my son. I want to talk to him." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Long Hui sighed and held the phone to his son''s ear. He could barely hear what his ex was saying to their son, but her tone drastically changed from furious to gentle andforting. Little Jun stopped crying and began to calm down a little. His pitiful whimpers continued, though. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    After the call, Long Hui followed the bodyguards out of the mall. Along the way, they encountered a bunch of weird people. "I finally found our dear Little Junie boy!"

    "Comrades, into our formation! Protect our Little Junjun!"

    "Don''t be too overexcited! You''ll scare our dear nephew."

    Long Hui was bewildered. Who were these weirdos? How did they know about his son?

    He hugged Little Jun closer and cast a suspicious look at the weirdos. Then he nced at the bodyguards. They didn''t seem to treat the weirdos as threats to his son''s safety. As a matter of fact, they even nodded to the weirdos. "Hmph! We don''t care about you, Long Hui. We''re doing this for the sake of our Boss Iris'' dear nephew, not for you!"

    "You really know how to choose a woman to marry! Big Sis Ying Yue is super cool and awesome, and yet you cheated on her with an ugly witch instead. Now, look at what the ugly witch did to our dear Little Junie boy!"

    It was only then that Long Hui understood the identity of these weirdos. So they were Iris Long''s fans. Crazy people.

    Although their words angered him, he chose to ignore them instead. This wasn''t the time tosh out. His frightened son was still trembling in his arms. His first priority was tofort Little Jun and bring him to safety. If these weirdos could help him, he had no choice but to swallow hisints against them. At least, for now. "Hmph! At least you know what''s good for you. Don''t worry. We''re not shameless like you and your evil witch of a wife. We''re proud ck Stars and know our limits. We won''t cause trouble for our Boss Iris."

    "Let''s hurry up. I can hear the police sirens. I want to see what happens to that evil witch after we get Little Junie boy to safety."

    "Don''t worry. Ourrades are providing live updates on our group chat. They''re not going to let Mao Qiuyue off so easily for all the mean things she said to our dearest nephew."

    Long Hui stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"

    The ck Stars weirdos rolled their eyes at him. Their dislike of him was clear as day, but they still answered his question. They exined that some of theirrades mobbed Mao Qiuyue for what she did to Little Jun. Since they were far from the restaurant section, their group was assigned to help escort Little Jun out to safety instead, even though they also wanted to join the mob against Mao Qiuyue. "Did my sister order you to do this?" Long Hui asked. One of them snorted. "No, Boss Iris didn''t. We did this on our own ord. Don''t underestimate us, the ck Stars, especially those who are hardcore members of the Slippers Army. Two of the best leaders of the Slippers Army alerted us about the situation. They requested backup from any ck Stars in the vicinity of this mall. Those two leaders are really good withputers. That''s why they could direct us so urately to find either your evil witch of a wife or you and Little Jun."

    Long Hui fell silent. He could believe what they said. Wasn''t the current CEO of Monkey and head developer of the popr game "Supreme Ascension" a member of ck Stars and Slippers Army?

    Long Hui also knew other more impressive members of his sister''s fan club. A few of the most respecteddies in high society were known ck Stars, including the wife of the Police Chief.

    He pursed his lips and stopped talking about this topic. He wouldn''t admit his admiration of the wide variety of Iris'' fans. The loyalty that her fans had for her was something that he could only imagine. In many ways, he was envious. But right now, he was actually thankful. The timely response of Iris'' fans gave him an odd sense of security, especially after what happened with his wife. Little Jun also began to smile again. The ck Stars escorting them were friendly and called him by his name. The child could sense their friendliness. Finally, they reached the parking lot. "Bye-bye!" Little Jun waved at the friendly aunts and uncles.

    "Aaaw, so cute!"

    "Goodbye, Little Junie boy! Take care!"

    The ck Stars gave the child some snacks and little toys that they were able to grab in a hurry along the way. One even gave him instant cup noodles.

    Long Hui didn''t bother stopping them from giving trash to his son. It was enough to see Little Jun happy again. He tossed his car key to one of the bodyguards. He wanted to drive by himself at first but changed his mind. His current mental state wasn''t too good. He couldn''t risk driving with a distracted mind while his son rode with him.

    Long Hui could see some police officers entering the mall as his car drove away from the parking lot. It was a good thing that he could take his son away so quickly, or they would have to stay longer to speak to the police. He didn''t want that to add stress to his already frightened son.

 Chapter 1413 Ceasefire

    Chapter 1413 Ceasefire

    The father and son sat in the backseat of the car while two bodyguards sat in the front. One drove while the other sat in the front passenger seat. The other bodyguards followed them in a separate vehicle.

    Long Hui helped his son open the snacks and knickknacks that the ck Stars weirdos gave Little Jun. They were all cheap things, but the child would exim with happiness whenever he finished opening one. His son''s reaction made Long Hui stop himself from showing open disdain for all this trash. When they reached the highway, his phone began ringing.

    It was one of Mao Qiuyue''s friends calling. He ignored it. The call stopped. Then he received an angry message telling him that the police had taken his wife. In the next few minutes, his phone began ringing nonstop.

    His mother-inw, father-inw, and even his mother called him, demanding to leave his son and help his wife instead. Long Hui read their furious messages to him. His inws'' words were particrly nasty. They were basically threatening to withdraw their support if he let their daughter get into trouble.

    He wavered for a moment, but when he looked at his innocent son, who still had red and puffy eyes from crying so much, his eyes turned cold, and his heart hardened towards his wife and inws. He might have already sold himself to the Maos, but that didn''t mean that he would abandon his son for his wife.

    A wife could always be changed, but his son would forever be his child. Long Hui could tolerate if his wife disliked his child with Jiang Ying Yue, as long as she never directly attacked Little Jun. But that was precisely what she did today. It was only thanks to his son''s bodyguards that she failed. She crossed the line today. He couldn''t find it in his heart to find thepassion as a husband and rescue her from the police. In fact, even a part of him wished that she would be locked in jail forever. But that was just a useless fantasy.

    He had to admit that he still needed Mao Qiuyue and her family to achieve his ambitions. But for now, he wanted to be with his son.

    The sky was already dark when they reached the main gates of Dragon Pce. After verifying their identities, the gates were opened, and they drove inside. Long Hui''s eyes widened at this development. At first, he thought they would stop outside the exclusive vige. He would say goodbye to his son and drive away by himself. But, he didn''t expect them to enter Dragon Pce with him still inside the car.

    "Uhm, is this okay?" he asked the bodyguards at the front.

    "Miss Jiang wants to speak with you first."

    Long Hui finally understood. So it was like that.

    More than half an hourter, they finally arrived at Dragon Pce Home #10. Long Hui bundled up his son with an extra coat because the night air was already cold. Then he carried Little Jun out of the car and looked at the ptial mansion.

    It was, without a doubt, one of the grandest homes that he had set foot in his life ever. If a person wasn''t used to this kind of extravagance and luxury, one would definitely feel intimidated. Long Hui was a wealthy scion, so he wasn''t ignorant of this kind of extravagance and luxury, but even he felt a little intimidated. He nced at his son, who now called this ce home.

    When they finally entered, a figure rushed forward and snatched Little Jun from Long Hui''s arms.

    "Mommi!" Little Jun hugged his mother.

    Jiang Ying Yue red at Long Hui before checking her son from head to toe and back up again. Lin Yehan stood beside her. A little farther away, Iris and Jin Liwei stood together by the grand twin staircases looking down at the scene. Both of their expressions were cold. "Little Jun isn''t injured," Long Hui said while trying not to let himself quail under everyone''s heavy gazes.

    Jiang Ying Yue red at him again.

    Little Jun greeted his mother, Uncle Yehan, and of course, his Mama and Papa. Then he turned around and reached for his own father.

    "Dada!"

    Long Hui also wanted to take him, but Jiang Ying Yue was reluctant. Only when Little Jun began struggling that she handed their son to him. "You want to talk?" he asked. She nodded but hesitated because their son was acting very sticky to him. She didn''t want to pull their son away from him by force.

    "Dada, dis Junjun home! Junjun show Popkohn, show Gwaby. Show baby bwoders!" (Daddy, this is Junjun''s home! Junjun will show you Popcorn and Gravy. And also my baby brothers!)

    The child tried pulling his father inside, but Long Hui stayed put. Little Jun felt his resistance and looked like he was about to cry again. Jiang Ying Yue was about to intervene when a cold voice interrupted.

    "Let my godson show you around," Jin Liwei announced. Everyone looked at him in surprise, including Iris.

    "Look at my godson. It''s clear that he misses his father and wants to spend more time with Long Hui. My godson has already been through too much today. Let''s not upset him further by cutting his time with his father short. We can deal with the other matters after my godson falls asleep."

    Iris nodded after hearing her husband''s reason for allowing Long Hui to stay in their home longer. Indeed, their godson had been through too much today. Little Jun deserved to be happy after what happened. If the little guy wanted to spend more time with his father, then so be it. Since the master and mistress of the house had already spoken, Jiang Ying Yue had noints.

    But Jin Liwei still warned Long Hui. "This is for my godson. Remember that you are now inside my territory. So don''t make trouble, or I''ll let you experience the worst consequence."

    Long Hui didn''t reply. His expression was ugly. He looked like he had a lot ofints but didn''t dare to say them out loud. Jin Liwei was right. Long Hui was alone in enemy territory. It wasn''t wise to attempt any monkey business in this ce.

    He also didn''t want to stay. Who wanted to remain in enemy territory where there was danger everywhere? Not him! n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    But he was also reluctant to leave his son so soon. If it weren''t for what happened with Mao Qiuyue at the mall, this day would have been perfect. He had fun taking his son to the zoo and spending time together as father and son.

    For this reason, he could only swallow hisints and follow his son inside the huge mansion.

    The others followed behind them. Midway, Iris and Jin Liwei separated from them and headed to another ce instead, while Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan continued to follow the father and son. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    The first destination was Little Jun''s bedroom. "Meow!"

    "Ruff! Ruff!"

    An orange cat and a puppy greeted the little guy.

    "Dada, wook! Dis Popkohn! Dis Gwaby!" (Daddy, look! This is Popcorn! And this is Gravy!)

    Long Hui had already met the hyperactive ginger cat before. Popcorn also seemed to remember him. The cat rubbed himself all over Long Hui''s legs. On the other hand, the puppy Gravy was more cautious of this new stranger. He barked and growled at Long Hui. "No, Gwaby! Stop! Dis Junjun dada! No bad." (No, Gravy! Stop! This is Junjun''s daddy! He''s not bad.)

    Long Hui squatted down and let the puppy sniff his hands. It continued to be suspicious of him, but at least it wasn''t trying to attack him anymore.

    He looked around his son''s bedroom. With just one look, he knew that everything had been customized for his son. The space wasrge, bright and colourful while feeling cozy all at the same time. There were a lot of toys disyed on the wall shelves. He even recognized some of them as ones he had given his son before. He couldn''t help but nce at his ex, Jiang Ying Yue. It turned out that despite their ruined rtionship, she wasn''t that bitter to the point that she would throw away everything he had given their son. She would even allow them to disy the items in their son''s room. Jiang Ying Yue noticed how he looked at her and some of the toys. She instantly understood what he was thinking. "Little Jun loves all the toys in his room," she exined. "They''re just toys. So I let him keep what he wants. Doesn''t matter who gave them to him."

    Lin Yehan never once interrupted their conversation. He was just a quiet presence beside Jiang Ying Yue, which she really appreciated. Both were ufortable with Long Hui''s presence here, but seeing Little Jun''s joy and excitement was enough to increase their tolerance for the man.

    Indeed, Jin Liwei was right. They should give this much to Little Jun. The little guy deserved it after all he went through earlier today.

    Hence, everyone tacitly agreed that tonight would be a ceasefire. After showing his bedroom, Little Jun led his father to another ce. This time, Popcorn and Gravy followed them as well.

    They soon arrived at the nursery.

    "What the f¡ªhell-icopter are you doing here?" Lu Zihao almost cursed but quickly changed his wording after remembering that children were present. He glowered at the sight of Long Hui. Long Jinjing patted her husband''s arm, silently asking him to calm down, before greeting her brother. "Eldest Brother Hui."

 Chapter 1414 Uncle Hui

    Chapter 1414 Uncle Hui

    Long Hui somewhat felt ambushed by all the unfriendly gazes directed at him. Lu Zihao looked like he was about to beat him up if not for Long Jinjing holding him back. Iris and Jin Liwei were also present. But, just like before, the couple''s gazes on him were cold. Only his other half-sister, Long Jinjing, gave him a weing albeit nervous smile.

    He wanted to leave, but his excited son pulled him farther into the nursery. A fat, grey cat blocked their path and red at Long Hui. He remembered this temperamental cat. It was called Ice Cream if he remembered correctly. Sometimes, she would be pleasant and even friendly when in a good mood, but more often than not, she looked like she wanted to w someone''s face off. This cat was the total opposite of the warm and affectionate Popcorn.

    Little Jun hugged the ring Ice Cream and tried to assure his feline cousin that his father meant no harm, just like what he did earlier with the puppy, Gravy. Unfortunately, Ice Cream didn''t seem to change her mind and continued throwing a murderous look at Long Hui, but at least she didn''t look like she was about to scratch his face off.

    As for Little Jun, he was already used to Ice Cream''s grumpiness. He was feeling too happy introducing his father to his four baby cousins. Both Little Mochi and Little Matcha were on the carpeted floor while the Lu twins were in their parents'' arms. They looked at the stranger with wariness, perhaps remembering what happened with Ren¨¦ Alejandro before.

    Little Jun was too young to read and analyze the tense atmosphere. His enthusiasm was the only positive aspect in the room at the moment.

    "Dada, dis Junjun baby bwoders! Dis Mochi, dis Matcha. Dat Dima, dat Misha! Junjun wuv babies!" (Daddy, these are Junjun''s baby brothers! This is Mochi and Matcha. That''s Dima and Misha! Junjun loves the babies!)

    Long Hui studied his nephews. That was right. All four babies were his biological nephews.

    The ones on the carpeted floor were the Jin twins. They didn''t look alike at all. One was Jin Liwei''s carbon copy, while the other resembled Iris. No, that wasn''t entirely urate. The other one resembled Wei Lan.

    As for the Lu twins, they were identical. However, they didn''t resemble any of their parents at all.

    Little Jun pulled his father and sat beside his Jin cousins on the carpet.

    "Mochi, Matcha, dis Junjun dada!" (Mochi, Matcha, this is Junjun''s daddy!)

    Then he began regaling his baby cousins with his adventures earlier that day, mainly about the animals he saw at the zoo. The adults present couldn''t understand most of what he was babbling about. Nevertheless, his baby cousins appeared absorbed in listening to him. The babies'' wariness towards Long Hui disappeared as their full attention shifted to their Big Brother Jun instead. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Little Jun seemed to have forgotten about the scary encounter with the ugly female monster who screamed at him at the mall.

    Long Hui ignored his difort at the current situation. Instead, he only focused on his son and observed his nephews, who he was meeting for the first time. The curious Popcorn sniffed around him before disying its friendliness by plopping its furry body on Long Hui''sp. In contrast, Ice Cream and Gravy continued looking at him with suspicion. Long Hui happened to meet Little Mochi''s eyes. The baby grinned at him, disying a gummy smile with a single front tooth not fully emerged yet. It was odd.

    Long Hui thought that he would despise the baby not only for being that child of his biggest sibling enemy, Iris, but also forresembling the hateful Wei Lan. But contrary to his expectations, he found the baby adorable. He was already smiling back at the baby before he realized what he was doing.

    This interaction made him morefortable. Then, his paternal instincts kicked in, and he began to initiate y with the babies. Little Mochi was the first one to ept his gesture. Unlike Ren¨¦ Alejandro, Long Hui didn''t even think of teasing the babies. Instead, he just yed with them together with his son.

    At first, Little Matcha didn''t seem interested. Butter, he also joined after seeing his twin brother and elder cousinughing in delight.

    The twins'' parents, Iris and Jin Liwei, feltplicated while watching the scene. It wasn''t only them. Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan also didn''t know how to process what was happening right in front of them.

    It felt like they were seeing a stranger¡ªa nice stranger¡ªinstead of the douchebag, Long Hui.

    At that moment, Long Jinjing also joined the group on the carpet while holding one of her twin sons. Then, she presented the baby to Long Hui. "Eldest Brother Hui, meet my second son, Lu Zhiyuan. We call him Little Dima."

    "Jinjing," Lu Zihao said in warning tone. He was displeased by her action. He didn''t want his wife and children near the scumbag. It didn''t matter if the motherfucker was his wife''s biological brother and his children''s biological uncle. Lu Zihao acted as if Long Hui was contaminated with an incurable and contagious disease.

    Long Jinjing ignored her husband''s displeasure. She continued introducing her son to her brother.

    Like the others, Long Hui also feltplicated and even confused. He looked at Long Jinjing, the only adult present kind to him. This half-sister of his had always been kind, gentle, and in so many ways, easy to bully. He had never been close to Long Jinjing. Still, he treated her better than their other siblings because of herck of interest in joining the battle of session. She was no threat to him, unlike Long Jian and especially Iris.

    Since Long Jinjing was trying her best to ease the tension among all the adults present, Long Hui decided to go along and ept her kind gesture. So he smiled at tLittle Dima. The baby looked like he was about to cry at the sight of him, but Long Hui smiled, interrupting the baby. Little Dima seemed fascinated by Long Hui, perhaps because he looked like the baby''s elder cousin, Little Jun.

    "Would you like to hold him?" Long Jinjing offered. "No way!" Lu Zihao was quick to reject his wife''s suggestion. If it weren''t for the presence of the children, he would have already cursed at Long Hui and kicked him out of here like a stinky bag of trash. There was a deep, heavy sigh. It came from Iris. She left her husband''s side and sat with her twins on the carpet. Long Hui flinched at her close proximity. She ignored his reaction and looked at him straight in the eyes.

    "Like what my husband said earlier, this is for Little Jun," she said. "We''ll pretend that everything is fine for the sake of my godson but only for tonight. This will be the only time you''ll meet your nephews like this. These children are all innocent to the enmity we adults have for each other."

    A relieved smile appeared on Long Jinjing''s face. Then she offered Long Hui to hold Little Dima again.

    Long Hui took one look at the baby and remembered the time when Little Jun was also this small. Without his control, something warm and fuzzy filled his chest. His body also began to move before he could think about his actions. The baby was already in his arms when he returned to his senses.

    Little Dima stared at him with innocent and very adorable eyes. The baby was soft and warm¡ªeverything that stimted his paternal instincts. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Good baby," he murmured. His expression was soft.

    A few feet away, Little Misha began to struggle in his father''s arms. "Mikhail, stop it," Lu Zihao reprimanded. Unfortunately, Little Misha continued wiggling like a slippery worm. He tried reaching out to his mother''s group on the carpet. His twin brother and cousins were all there. Why was he the only one left out? He wanted to join them, too! His daddy was no fun at all. The exasperated Lu Zihao''s patience was almost at its limit.

    "Stop it, you little¡ª"

    "Zihao, please," Long Jinjing said in a pleading tone.

    He didn''t want to give in, but what could he do when his wife looked at him like that? Sighing, he grudgingly brought their other son to join the group on the floor. But, of course, he didn''t forget to continue ring at Long Hui. Little Misha was still unable to hold his head without support, but that didn''t stop the daring baby from wanting to join in all the fun. He waved his little arms and kicked his little feet until his bad-tempered daddy ced him beside his cousins.

    "This is Lu Tianyu," Long Jinjing introduced her eldest twin son to Long Hui. "We call him Little Misha."

    "Your sons look exactly the same," Long Huimented. "I can''t tell them apart."

    Lu Zihao rolled his eyes. "They''re identical twins. Of course, they look alike."

    Long Hui ignored the man''s sarcasm. He didn''t remember offending Lu Zihao at all, but the scar-faced man seemed to hate him even more than Jin Liwei did for the sake of Iris.

    Never mind what the man thought about him. Every single one of these people, except for the innocent children, were his enemies anyway.

    He would just take advantage of this moment to bond with his own son and nephews. This might be thest time that a ceasefire like this would happen. His nephews might grow to despise and avoid him in the future, but that was something he didn''t need to worry about right now.

    Just for tonight, he would be their Uncle Hui. And that was enough.

 Chapter 1415 Mayhem

    Chapter 1415 Mayhem

    This harmonious scene continued until the children began to feel drowsy. The Lu twins were the ones who fell asleep first. Their parents, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing, took them away to their own bedroom. Then the Jin twins started nodding off as well. Iris and Jin Liwei also carried their babies to the master bedroom. Ice Cream followed them.

    It was clear that Little Jun was also feeling sleepy, but the child was doing his best to keep awake. He hugged his father''s neck and looked like he wanted to stay like that for the rest of the night.

    "Time for bed, Little Jun." Jiang Ying Yue tried taking him, but the child refused to let go of his father. "Dada," Little Jun whimpered. "Dada, stay. Junjun want Dada." (Daddy, stay. Junjun wants Daddy.)

    Long Hui''s eyes were red and suspiciously moist. He also hugged his son and looked like he didn''t want to let go.

    Jiang Ying Yue was torn. She nced at Lin Yehan, who looked as helpless as her.

    "Lead the way to my son''s bedroom," Long Hui told them. "I''ll put Little Jun to bed."

    She hesitated but eventually nodded and did just that.

    Even when they arrived in the child''s bedroom, Little Jun continued to act spoiled. He refused to sleep even when he kept on yawning. Long Hui helped bathe his son and even read him bedtime stories. Finally, in the middle of the fourth bedtime storybook, Little Jun could no longer hold on. The little guy eventually fell asleep.

    All three adults released big sighs of relief. Long Hui kissed his son''s forehead and caressed the child''s face. He wanted to stamp this memory in his mind for the rest of his life. This was also the first time in a long time, ever since he and Jiang Ying Yue broke up, that he felt so peaceful.

    Feeling peaceful in enemy territory, wasn''t it ironic?

    He almostughed out loud¡ªto mock himself.

    But he knew that this peace would onlyst tonight. Everything would return to the shitty, harsh reality tomorrow. He was about to leave but felt a light tug on his shirt. He nced down and saw that Little Jun was clutching the hem of his shirt tightly with his small hand despite being asleep. Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan both saw the situation. Both feltplicated, especially Jiang Ying Yue. She had a lot of opinions against her ex but seeing her son acting so sticky like this with Long Hui made her feel guilty and terrible. Lin Yehan must have sensed her feelings because he patted her back, trying to reassure her. Long Hui sighed and worked on gently prying his son''s little hand to let go of his shirt, but there was a soft yet sad smile on his face. When his shirt was freed, he didn''t leave right away. Instead, he stared at his son and kissed the child a few times before leaving with a heavy heart.

    Outside Little Jun''s bedroom, the atmosphere changed in an instant. "We still need to talk about what your wife did to my son," Jiang Ying Yue announced.

    "Alright." Long Hui knew that he couldn''t escape this conversation. His expression turned cold, but he didn''t bother ring at Lin Yehan, who stuck close to Jiang Ying Yue. Long Hui felt exhausted after everything that happened today. He didn''t have the energy to quarrel with his ex and her new lover tonight. He followed them to a nearby sitting area. Iris and Jin Liwei were already waiting there when they arrived. Long Hui wasn''t surprised at their presence. After all, Iris and Jin Liwei were Little Jun''s godparents.

    The conversation didn''tst for too long because none wanted to waste any time. All of them felt exhausted.

    When it was over, Long Hui left and drove his own car out of Dragon Pce Home #10. He looked at the ptial mansion looming behind him through his rearview mirror.

    As he drove farther and farther away, the weight on his shoulders seemed to return and be heavier and heavier.

    For a moment, he didn''t want to go back to his wife, to the life he had chosen.

    But unfortunately, he couldn''t turn back now. It was already toote.

    The night sky was still dark. When the sun started to rise tomorrow, the ceasefire would end. And once again, it would be war.

    ###

    The next day was pure mayhem.

    It was like watching the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.

    Mao Qiuyue was arrested yesterday after she allegedly attempted to physically attack her husband''s young son. There were many witnesses to what she did. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross] n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The ones most willing to testify against her were ck Stars. In addition, the child''s team of bodyguards who immobilized Mao Qiuyue had clear video footage from their bodycams. Even before these video footages were handed to the police, copies had already been uploaded and spread on the inte to let theizens judge Mao Qiuyue''s deplorable actions. As expected, people were outraged after watching what she did to a child. The fact that she had been called a homewrecker and one-half of the cheating duo with Long Hui by Iris Long not too long ago also contributed to the public hatred against her.

    How dare a homewrecker like her to treat her husband''s original fianc¨¦e like that? So evil!

    Poor child. He must have been so frightened.

    It was a great thing that Iris Long and CEO Jin had the foresight to provide their godson with a team of bodyguards. If it weren''t for the bodyguards, then the evil woman might have seeded in hurting the poor child. Even the major news programs and papers featured this story for the entire day. By the afternoon, Iris Long''s knownwyer, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, filed an official legal case against Mao Qiuyue for his client, Miss Jiang Ying Yue, the minor''s mother involved in the incident.

    While the media was having a field day covering this news story, things were even more chaotic when Long Hui finally met with his inws. He spent a night at a hotel after leaving Dragon Pce. Surprisingly, he had a great night of sleep¡ªsomething that he had not experienced for a long time since leaving Jiang Ying Yue and getting together with Mao Qiuyue. Maybe it was because his son and baby nephews provided him with soothing, positive energy that helped refresh his stressed and exhausted psyche.

    He left the hotel and drove directly to his inws'' house.

    Pak!

    Long Hui''s head almost snapped off his neck. His father-inw pped him with force so great that he stumbled as soon as he stepped inside the house. "What a great husband you are! Disappearing when your wife needs you the most! Where have you been?! We''ve been calling and messaging you all night! We didn''t sleep a wink because of what happened to our daughter, your wife! Did you spend the night with your bastard son''s mother?! Did you get back together with that lowly bodyguard?!"

    Mao Qiuyue''s parents barraged him with harsh scolding and hundreds of questions. He stayed quiet for the most part. He already expected this kind of reception from his inws. There were many times that he wanted to snap at them but had to restrain himself. He couldn''t afford to entirely fall out with the Maos. He had already sacrificed too much in exchange for their support.

    "I''m sorry, Father and Mother," he forced himself to say. He made his expression and tone as apologetic as possible. "I know that I''m wrong. I''ll do everything in my power to save my wife."

    "You better do that, or I''ll make you regret it!"

    Mao Qiuyue''s father was enraged and looked like he wanted to beat up Long Hui. Mao Qiuyue''s mother was also mad at Long Hui, but not to the same extent as her husband. It was because she was close with Long Hui''s mother, Zheng Suyin. She and Zheng Suyin were the ones who paired up Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue. "I already talked to your mother," she told Long Hui. "She''s also asking her connections to help my daughter, your wife. But she has been gone from the social scene for too long that her pleas might not be effective. So your mother suggests that you ask your father for help."

    Long Hui frowned. "Father?"

    "Yes. We already called and asked your father for help, but he didn''t promise anything. That''s why we think that you should ask your father directly. If ites from you, I''m sure that he won''t be able to reject our request. No matter what happens, you''re still his eldest legitimate son."

    Even though Long Hui didn''t think this n would go smoothly, he still agreed.

    ###

    Long Ancestral Residence.

    The chambein had just announced the arrival of the Young Master Hui, who requested to speak with his father, Long Tengfei. Coincidentally, Long Tengfei took a rare weekday off to spend quality time with his wife. She still held some resentment over how Zheng Suyin, his first ex-wife, treated them at Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding.

    Yang Jiahui crossed her arms over her chest and red at her husband. They were having afternoon tea when the chambein interrupted them. The husband and wife already knew what happened yesterday and today after Meimei told them everything. Meimei was usually locked in her studio working on her webtoon. Still, today she sought them to share what Dom told her over the phone. Yang Jiahui was upset after learning what had happened. She doted on Little Jun and the two pairs of twins like her own grandchildren. "If you dare help your son save his bitch of a wife, forget that I''m your wife!"

 Chapter 1416 No Mercy

    Chapter 1416 No Mercy

    Long Tengfei''s expression turned dark at his wife''s warning. "What do you mean? You n to divorce me?" n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Yang Jiahui snorted. "I''m not stupid to divorce you because of your first family. As long as you don''t personally sin against me, I won''t divorce you. But I can always leave an old man like you to live alone in this big, ancient residence. I still have my own house where I used to live with my niece. Meimei and I can live by ourselves. I still have my own savings from when I was still working. It may not be muchpared to yours, but it''s enough for me to live on. Meimei also has her own sessful career. She doesn''t need me to financially support her anymore. It''s nice to have a husband, but I don''t need one to feed myself! Hmph!"

    "Jiahui, you." Long Tengfei sighed.

    It was very rare for his wife to throw a tantrum, but whenever she did, it meant that her tolerance had reached its limit. She had always been understanding of the issues with his children and exes. But after Long Hui and Mao Qiuyue''s wedding, she didn''t bother hiding her indignance about how she was treated.

    Long Tengfei loved this wife. He didn''t want to divorce her. This was why he had been doing his best to make it up to her after Long Hui''s wedding. He even took a rare day off today just to spend time with her. Unfortunately, his eldest son just had to ruin it again.

    Yang Jiahui reiterated her warning. "I''m telling you, Tengfei. There has to be a limit to how often you help your eldest son. He''s an adult, for goodness'' sake! Your other children no longer rely on you as your eldest son does! And remember that your first grandson is involved in this matter! I dare you save Mao Qiuyue after what she did to Little Jun!"

    He took a deep breath as his eyes turned cold. But, of course, this coldness wasn''t directed at his wife but at his new daughter-inw.

    "Don''t worry, wife. I know what to do."

    "Hmph!"

    She left the room and went to her niece''s studio. There was no way that she would join her husband in meeting Long Hui. She might really lose it when facing her stepson. So it was better to leave it to her husband. Whether Long Tengfei would make a satisfactory decision or not remained to be seen. Long Tengfei leaned back on his chair and released a heavy sigh. It was at times like this that he felt his age. He was really getting old now.

    Before this, he never really had any significant problems with his eldest son. It had always been his youngest daughter who made trouble left and right, causing him headaches almost every day back then. When Iris changed for the better, Long Tengfei thought he could finally sit back and rx. He never imagined that it would be his eldest son''s turn to cause trouble left and right like this. He had been doing his best to protect his eldest son despite his increasing disappointment. No matter what, Long Hui was still his child. He couldn''t find it in his heart topletely leave his son to suffer. This time, however, was a different matter. It involved his grandchild.

    Long Jun was his first-ever grandson. His importance in his heart was different. "Bring my son here," he instructed. The chambein obeyed.

    A few minutester, Long Hui arrived. He didn''t look as haggard as Long Tengfei expected. Still, all the umted stress took a toll on his son''s usually handsome face. Long Hui''s eyes were dull. He looked like he was more tired of the world than his father. "Father," he greeted.

    "You want to ask my help for your wife."

    Long Tengfei was direct to the point. His words were not a question but a statement.

    "Y-yes. Father¡ª"

    "I won''t help this time, son."

    "¡ªhuh, what?"

    "I said I won''t help your wife."

    Long Hui stared at his father for a long time. Long Tengfei met his son''s eyes. He was prepared for an argument, but his son only nodded, contrary to expectations. There was a sense of defeat in his son''s overall demeanour. His shoulders were slumped as if he was carrying all the weight in the world. "I understand, Father." Long Hui plopped himself on a seat, no longer caring about his image in front of his father. He just didn''t have the energy to care anymore.

    Long Tengfei frowned. The frown wasn''t due to disapproval but concern instead. "What''s going on with you, son?"

    Long Hui opened his mouth but then closed it again. He struggled with whether to share his worries with his father or not. In the end, he decided to keep it all in.

    Having a heart-to-heart talk with his father wasn''t something they would normally do anyway.

    "I''m¡­fine."

    Long Tengfei''s frown deepened. He also opened his mouth but closed it back again. He had a lot of things to say but didn''t know how to express them to his son. The father and son sat there in awkward silence. "Sorry for disturbing you, Father." Long Hui stood up and got ready to leave. "Qiuyue¡­my wife¡­never mind."

    "Son."

    "Yes, Father?"

    "Who is more important to you¡ªyour son or your wife?"

    The question enraged Long Hui. "What kind of question is that? Of course, it''s my son!"

    Long Tengfei remained calm in the face of his son''s outburst. "There you have it. That''s your answer."

    Long Hui was silenced. "I, too, think the same way as you, son. That''s why I left a lot of women but kept all my children. I''m not the best father by any means. I know that I have many shorings as a parent. But I still care about all four of you, my children, in my own way."

    Long Hui stayed silent. "Normally, I would have helped you," Long Tengfei continued. "But it''s different this time. My grandson, your son, is involved in this matter."

    Long Hui''s expression cracked.

    Bang!

    Tea sshed all over the table when Long Tengfei hit it with his hand. "I can''t find any shred ofpassion in me to help your wife after what she did to my grandson! If not for you, I would have already helped Jiang Ying Yue in her legal case against Mao Qiuyue instead! Your wife deserves to be punished for what she did to my grandson! I''m already doing you a favour by not interfering in any way because I know that your situation with your inws is precarious."

    He gave his son a final warning. "This is thest time that I''ll listen to you ask me for a favour on behalf of the Maos."

    Long Hui ground his teeth so hard that his jaw felt locked. But he still replied, "Yes, Father."

    Without waiting for his father''s reaction, he left.

    Long Hui continued walking. Many servants greeted him, but he ignored all of them. He just wanted to get out of this ce as soon as possible. The residence had stopped feeling like home a long time ago.

    Only when he was sitting inside his own car did he finally release the breath he didn''t know that he had been holding. His father''s refusal to help wasn''t unexpected. As a matter of fact, he already predicted this oue. He wasn''t upset at his father either. Truth be told, he felt somewhat relieved that his father refused to help Mao Qiuyue.

    If Long Tengfei did help, Long Hui''s now strained rtionship with his inws would improve. However, he would still feel horrible if that happened.

    His son would be wronged on so many levels if Long Hui allowed his father to help his wife.

    "What the hell should I do?"

    He asked himself while sitting alone in his car, but there was no answer. His mind was a mess.

    His life had be a total mess.

    So he just stayed there inside his car. All alone and with nobody to turn to forfort.

    ###

    In the end, no one came forward to help Mao Qiuyue from avoiding the legal case filed against her by Atty. Hong Shaoqiang on behalf of Jiang Ying Yue. However, Mao Qiuyue was still permitted to pay bail. She was released from police detention while waiting for the case against her to proceed in court. Back at Dragon Pce Home #10, Iris and the others were unhappy at Mao Qiuyue''s temporary release. However, this was within their expectations in ordance with thew. They decided to y within the legal boundaries and let thew decide Mao Qiuyue''s official punishment. After all, their side had substantial evidence and plenty of witnesses to back their im against the woman. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Nevertheless, this didn''t mean that Iris and Jin Liwei would do nothing after what happened to their godson. Yes, they would leave it to thew to decide Mao Qiuyue''s official punishment. Still, there were also other ways to vent their anger. It wasn''t only Iris and Jin Liwei who felt like this. There were quite a number of people who doted on Little Jun. What Mao Qiuyue did to the adorable little boy outraged them. Jin Liwei and his brothers held a meeting at home.

    Iris also held one with her friends in the girl squad. Even Clover joined via video call all the way from France.

    Their topic?

    How to sabotage Mao Qiuyue and her Mao family.

    There was no need for mercy. Did Mao Qiuyue have mercy on Little Jun? No.

    Since that was the case, then they had no reservations in meting out their own judgment to the woman.

 Chapter 1417 Jump Out of a Sinking Ship

    Chapter 1417 Jump Out of a Sinking Ship

    The next few days felt like all hell had broken loose for Mao Qiuyue and her family. It wasn''t only her increasingly stinky reputation that they needed to worry about. They were also forced to scramble like headless chickens to save theirpany, Mao Textiles. This time, it wasn''t only Lin Yehan who was putting pressure on theirpany. Various forces were working together to sabotage them.

    Jin Corporation was the most notable one. And it wasn''t just Jin Liwei who made themand either. Insiders knew that even the legendary business genius, Sir Lu Jianhong, came out of retirement once again to express his rage about what happened to who the old man called his "eldest great-grandbaby". One of these elite business leaders was enough to shake the entire domestic industry to its core. What more when theybined their powers? Any entity that they targeted would definitely be obliterated. And that was precisely what was happening to the Maos. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    In addition, Iris Long''s Eve Holdings was also flexing its fast-growing influence in the business industry by joining in the fray. Thepany might still be far from Jin Corporation regarding wealth, power and prestige, but it wasn''t significant either. Coupled with Iris Long''s poprity and her fierce fans, the ck Stars, Eve Holdings was proving extremely dangerous to Mao Textiles.

    Other hidden forces were also targeting Mao Textiles. They weren''t as easy to identify as Jin Corporation, Eve Holdings, and Lin Yehan''s work, but it was clear to spectators that all these forces were pushing Mao Textiles to the brink. A few days after what Mao Qiuyue did to her husband''s illegitimate son, Mao Textiles was forced into itsst dying breath.

    Inside his inws'' home, Long Hui watched his wife and parents-inw panicking in despair as if it was the end of the world. And in some way, it was indeed the end of the world but only for them.

    He felt numb. Even when his wife, Mao Qiuyue, started to p, hit, and scratch him, he stood there like a cold, unfeeling statue.

    "Useless! You''re a useless husband! I regret marrying you!"

    Mao Qiuyue looked like apletely different person. She was the kind of person obsessed with her looks. On a typical day, she would take hours to get ready.

    But today, she looked like a total wreck. She wore no makeup. Her hair was a dry, stringy mess. Her skin was dull, and her face was swollen due to stress andck of sleep.

    Long Hui felt disgusted just by looking at her. However, he didn''t retaliate and let her vent by hitting him. His father-inw''s hair turned white almost overnight. He looked old and tired¡­and extremely furious at Long Hui. Even his mother-inw, who was usually the most sensible among them, didn''t bother trying to be nice to him. So what was the use of being nice when they were about to lose everything?

    While the Mao family was busy ming Long Hui for everything happening to them, the chairman''s assistant arrived.

    "What?!" Father Mao barked. The poor assistant looked resentful but answered, "Chairman, thepany has received a formal letter from the authorities informing us that they require Mao Textiles to undergo investigations into ims of bribery, tax evasion, embezzlement within the board of directors, andbourw vitions."

    Father Mao''s face turned ashen.

    "There must be a mistake!" Mother Mao denied the allegations.

    The assistant pursed his lips and just directly handed the formal letter from the authorities to Father Mao. He also included an additional note.

    "Chairman, this is my letter of resignation. I quit!"

    Then he left without turning back.

    "This can''t be happening," Father Mao muttered as he read the formal letter. Hisplexion worsened after reading it. "We''re ruined!"

    He caught sight of Long Hui and threw a punch at his son-inw''s face. "All because of you! This is all your fault! All your fault! You''re a scourge to my family! I regret ever agreeing to support a worthless good-for-nothing like you! I even married my daughter to you!"

    Mao Qiuyue joined his father and beat up her husband. Mother Mao only watched on the sidelines. She might not be helping them beat up her son-inw, but she wasn''t moving to stop them either.

    When the father and daughter got tired, Long Hui was in a sorry state. He had a ck eye, and many parts of his face were already swelling. His usual handsome appearance was nowhere to be found. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "Are you done?" he asked in a cold voice while struggling to stand on his own two feet. "How dare you use that tone with me?!" Father Mao was enraged. He looked like he wanted to have another go with his son-inw.

    Long Hui sneered and wiped the blood from his nose and split lip. "You say that you regret helping me. Well, I also regret epting your help!"

    "What did you say?!" Father Mao moved to punch him again, but Long Hui dodged this time. The older man stumbled and almost fell down to the floor. She red at her husband. "How dare you treat my father like this?! He''s your father-inw!"

    "Not for long."

    Everyone stiffened. "What the hell do you mean by that?!" Mao Qiuyue demanded.

    Long Hui looked at her straight in the eyes. He no longer bothered to hide his disgust for her. "I''m divorcing you, Mao Qiuyue. My biggest regret is ever marrying a repulsive woman like you. Do you know that I have to stop myself from vomiting every time I bed you?"

    His words angered Father Mao and Mother Mao, while Mao Qiuyue started wailing. Mother Mao no longer held herself back and pounced on Long Hui to attack him. Unfortunately, Long Hui was done being their punching bag. He deftly dodged his mother-inw. Then he addressed his crying wife, "You keep on ming me, but this is your fault. None of this would have happened if you didn''t touch my son. I have already told you many times that I''ll never give up on my son. If you only listened to me, we wouldn''t have reached this point. Mao Qiuyue, the moment you targeted my son was also the moment that I gave up on you!"

    Like what the chairman''s assistant did earlier, Long Hui also turned his back and walked away without turning back. He ignored the furious shouts and curses behind him. He jumped into his car and drove away in a heartbeat. A few minutester, his phone rang. It was his mother. At first, he didn''t want to answer, but his mother was persistent and kept on calling. In the end, he still picked up the call.

    "I''m divorcing Mao Qiuyue," he told her directly. "You can''t change my mind, Mother."

    Zheng Suyin fell silent. Then she said, "Alright. Then divorce her."

    Long Hui was taken aback at her eptance of his decision. "You''re not going to persuade me to change my mind?"

    "The Maos are already a sinking ship. It''s best to jump out of it and save yourself from drowning with them. You made the best decision, son."

    Zheng Suyin''s words were apathetic. It was as if she didn''t share any friendship with Mother Mao. She and Mother Mao had been the ones who actively paired up her son with Mao Qiuyue at the beginning. But now, she was totally unsympathetic to the Mao family''s plight. Long Hui became calmer after listening to his mother. He felt better about his decision to divorce his wife. "Don''t worry about divorcing Mao Qiuyue, son. If she refuses to sign the papers, I''ll help you ''persuade'' her until she has no choice but to agree with the divorce. I''m an experienced divorc¨¦e after all. I learned a few tricks when your father divorced me to marry that slut, Wei Lan."

    He could sense his mother''s grudge against his father and Wei Lan. He also felt indignant on behalf of his mother. Because if it weren''t for Wei Lan stealing his father from his mother, then Long Hui''s position as the legitimate heir would have been more secure and stable than now. As the legitimate wife, his mother would have provided him with a stronger support system.

    s, nobody could change the past. They all had to live with the present and fight to make a better future for themselves.

    "I understand, Mother. Thank you."

    After the phone call with his mother, Long Hui called hiswyer and the PR team he had previously hired to help him with the public apology. They made a n.

    Later, he walked to a police station apanied by hiswyer to report his inws for physical assault. He didn''t clean up or do any first aid on his injuries for maximum effect. Even his shirt remained torn and bloodied.

    Just like his mother, he also learned a trick or two after getting into constant trouble. He fished a recording pen from his pocket and presented it to the police.

    It contained a clear audio recording of how his wife and inws verbally and physically abused him and med him for all the trouble that Maos and theirpany were currently experiencing.

    The audio recording was unedited to avoid drawing suspicion to himself. He didn''t trust any professional iming that they could edit the recording and make it look as if it was untouched.

    As a result, the audio recording still contained all the unpleasant insults he threw at his own wife about him being disgusted while bedding her. Despite this, he still handed the full audio recording to the police. He would go down, but Mao Qiuyue and her parents would go down deeper than him.

 Chapter 1418 Itâ€™s Too Late

    Winter had finally arrived. The snowfall this year was particrly heavy. White covered almost everything outside, transforming it into a winter wondend. At least, this was the case at Dragon Pce Home #10. Iris, Long Jinjing and their husbands took their own set of twins outside to carefully expose the babies to their first winter snow. Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan were also present and brought Little Jun. All five puppies¡ªPudding, Chowder, Ham, Mash and Gravy¡ªapanied the children. Little Jun yed in the snow with all the puppies that were growing very fast during this period. They didn''t look small anymore.

    Little Mochi''s excitedughter filled everyone''s ears as he watched his elder cousin and the puppies ying in the snow. He waved his little arms and kicked his little feet until his daddy carefully supported him on the snowy ground. Iris did the same thing with Little Matcha. The Jin twins couldn''t walk on their own yet, so the husband and wife helped their babies walk in the snow.

    Little Mochi was beyond ecstatic. It was a good thing that Jin Liwei was the one holding him. If it was Iris, she might not have been able to hold her naughty, wiggly son as stably as Jin Liwei. Even the quiet Little Matcha was enjoying it. His one-toothed grin looked adorable.

    Their puppies, Pudding and Chowder, ran around the two babies while being careful not to bump into them. All puppies were well-trained and already knew how to protect the babies even from themselves.

    Iris couldn''t describe her happiness as she watched her family spending time together. Her smile was no less ecstatic than her babies. Jin Liwei''s gaze softened when he looked at her. "Mama! Mama!"

    Iris stiffened but quickly caught herself. She smiled at Little Mochi. "Yes, I''m Mama. Are you calling me?"

    Little Mochi grinned and pointed at her. "Mama!"

    She nced at her husband. "Is our son really calling me? He''s not just babbling some baby gibberish like usual, is he?"

    Jin Liwei looked at their son. "I think he''s really saying Mama this time."

    "Oh!" Her eyes watered. Then she swooped down and gave their eldest twin son lots of kisses on the face.

    Little Mochi giggled.

    "Mama!"

    Iris stiffened once again. She nced at her other son. Little Matcha, who looked so much like his daddy, was pouting at her. The baby looked disgruntled that his mommy was only kissing his brother and not him. "Oh!" Iris also kissed her other twin son. Afterwards, she turned to her husband with a big smile. "They really called me Mama this time!"

    "En." Jin Liwei was also happy for his wife. This wasn''t the first time that the couple heard their twins saying what sounded like "Mama" or "Dada" or sometimes even "Papa". However, they weren''t sure if their babies were really calling for them or just babbling something that coincidentally sounded like those words.

    It was only today that Iris and Jin Liwei felt sure. Little Mochi and Little Matcha''s words were very clear, not to mention that they looked directly at their mommy''s eyes when calling for her.

    "Say it again. Say Mama!"

    "Mama! Hehehe. Mama!"

    "Mama."

    Irisughed and gave another round of kisses to her babies. Little Mochi''s loudughter could be heard even from a distance. Little Matcha also giggled and snuggled closer to his mommy. Jin Liwei squatted beside them and looked at both his babies. "Call me Dada."

    Little Mochi grinned at him and blew a raspberry with his mouth instead. Little Matcha only blinked at their daddy.

    "Call Dada." Jin Liwei didn''t want to give up.

    Little Mochi farted. Little Matcha continued snuggling with his mommy.

    Jin Liwei sighed and sulked a little. "Don''t feel bad, darling." Iris gave her husband''s cheek a light peck. "I''m sure that they''ll eventually learn to call you soon. The doctor already mentioned before that Mama is often easier to learn to say first for most babies."

    "En." Although he said this, he still felt a little jealous.

    "They already know to call you Mama?" Long Jinjing asked.

    She and Lu Zihao arrived next to Iris and Jin Liwei. They were carrying their own twins in a carrier strapped to their chests.

    "Yes!" Iris couldn''t wait to share the excitement. She asked her twins to call her again. "Mama! Mama! Hehehe."

    "Mama."

    Long Jinjing also felt excited. Then she looked at her own twins. She couldn''t wait for them to call her Mama as well. "They don''t know how to call you yet?" Lu Zihao asked his brother-inw.

    Jin Liwei ignored the man''s mocking tone. "They''ll learn it soon."

    Lin Yehan slung his arms over his third and fifth brothers'' shoulders. "Don''t make fun of our third brother, Fifth Brother. You''ll likely experience the same thing."

    Lu Zihao nced at Little Misha strapped to his front body. "You have to know how to call me as soon as you learn to call for your mom. Do you understand, Mikhail?"

    Little Misha drooled. "Tsk." Lu Zihao fished out a baby towel from out of nowhere and wiped his son''s drool.

    Lin Yehan chuckled. Then his gaze followed his fianc¨¦e, who was ying with Little Jun and the puppies in the snow. Jiang Ying Yue was wearing gloves, but he knew that there was now a simple engagement ring with a tiny diamond on her finger inside. Yes, he gave her a ring even when she was the one who proposed to him. He wanted to give her a ring with a big diamond but knew that she wouldn''t like it. Her intense daily training and physical work in security made it inconvenient to wear jewelry with anyrge, protruding gems. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao followed his line of sight. All of them already knew about the engagement between the two.

    "When do you n to marry Jiang Ying Yue, Eldest Brother?" Jin Liwei asked. "I want to marry as soon as possible, but Ying Yue and I agreed to wait until Little Jun bes morefortable with my presence in their lives. That''s why I''m doing my best toe here every day." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jin Liwei nodded. As Little Jun''s godfather, he appreciated his eldest brother''s thoughtfulness for the child. Then he thought of something. "You''ll take Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun to live with you after the marriage?"

    Lin Yehan hesitated before replying in a measured tone. "That''s the n."

    "I see." Jin Liwei nced at his godson. He would miss the little guy living here. Lin Yehan sighed and patted his third brother''s back. "Don''t worry. Ying Yue intends to continue working here. She''ll bring Little Jun to spend the day here ande home to my farm vi after work."

    "That''s fine, then. I''ll tell the head of security to give her only the day shift from now on."

    "Thanks, Third Brother. I appreciate it."

    "En."

    The men watched their wives ying with the children. When Little Mochi sneezed, the adults decided that it was enough ying outside in the snow. So they all headed inside to warm up. The babies were fed and put to sleep in the nursery. Little Jun also ate a snack before heading to the yroom with the puppies to find Popcorn.

    The adults rxed in a lounge room for tea time. Now that the children weren''t with them, they were free to talk about serious and unpleasant topics¡ªspecifically, about Long Hui. By this time, Long Hui''s divorce had been finalized. The process went unexpectedly fast. It was reported that Mao Qiuyue refused to sign the divorce papers at first but eventually did not struggle anymore shortly after.

    "The Maos are finished," Lu Zihao said as ifmenting on roadkill he passed by. They all agreed with his assessment. Mao Textiles became bankrupt. The authorities seized most of its assets after evidence of thepany''s vitions surfaced. Its shareholders lost almost everything. The biggest loser, of course, was the Maos.

    "This is what they get for touching my godson," Iris said. Her tone was cold and ruthless. She sounded very simr to Lu Zihao.

    "What about the case Sis Yue filed against Mao Qiuyue?" Long Jinjing asked. "Still awaiting court ruling," Lin Yehan replied. "But we''re confident that we''ll win. It''s just that we have to go along with the slow legal process."

    "In the meantime, we''re ensuring that Mao Qiuyue and the Maos can''t escape abroad," Jin Liwei said.

    Iris nodded. "Mao Qiuyue will likely go to jail. Atty. Hong is pushing for the worst child abuse punishment for her. But, to be honest, Long Hui actually helped our case by suing the Maos for assault."

    "That''s what he''s good at," Jiang Ying Yue spoke for the first time in this conversation. "Pushing down others and escaping to save himself when things start to deviate from his own ns."

    Lu Zihao sneered. "A coward."

    Long Jinjing pouted. Her eyes looked sad and disappointed. "Eldest Brother was so nice to our kids when he met his nephews for the first time. He even sent presents for the babies afterwards."

    Nobody could deny that.

    Long Hui was indeed like apletely different person that night. However, everyone understood that the ceasefire would only happen that one time. The enmity they had with him was too deep.

    "I still hope that he changes for the better," Long Jinjing murmured. "Little Sister Xin changed and matured a lot. Maybe Eldest Brother Hui can also do the same thing."

    Lu Zihao snorted. Iris pursed her lips. Jin Liwei sighed and shook his head.

    "It''s toote," Jiang Ying Yue whispered.

    Lin Yehan took her hand where she wore her engagement ring and kissed it. "Yes, it''s toote."

 Chapter 1419 Sweetheart and Honey

    It was almost the end of another year. Companies were busy working on theirst hurrah and making as many profits as possible. Jin Corporation and Eve Holdings weren''t any different. Orchidia, the fastest-growingpany under Eve Holdings, made a big announcement. They signed a major endorsement deal with the entire national shooting team. However, the most significant focus was on the young shooting athlete, Ren Jiyu.

    It turned out that Orchidia Beauty chose him to endorse their new regr line of men''s products in addition to a new skincare line targeted at teenagers and young adults. As for his teammates, the entire national shooting team was endorsing Orchidia Beauty''s new sports skincare line consisting of heavy-duty products that would work even under intense sweating, rigorous activities, and prolonged exposure to harsh weather conditions.

    Orchidia Beauty also signed a special endorsement deal with the oldest team member to endorse thepany''s anti-aging skincare line, both the existing and new ones.

    Fans of the national shooting team were excited for their favourite athletes. Those who hadn''t yet tried Orchidia Beauty productsexpressed their interest in checking thepany out. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    Ren Jiyu''s fans were incredibly excited. They were younger and more energetic in trying out new things. Regr consumers of Orchidia Beauty products were also thrilled by this endorsement deal, not because they particrly liked the national shooting team but because of the variety of new products. The sports line was the most appealing. Heavy-duty skincare products weren''t only beneficial to athletes but also to those who often spent time under physically demanding activities or harsh weather conditioners. Even those who simply wanted to look good while working out in a gym or jogging in public would benefit from this new Orchidia Beauty skincare line.

    Right after the national shooting team''s widespread advertisements were rolled out across the country, the pre-orders for all the products they endorsed were already sold out within a single day. Everyone was demanding for more, but Orchidia Beauty didn''t budge and refused to increase the pre-orders. They only told everyone to wait until the officialunch of the new products. ###

    Orchidia.

    Chen Feiughed like an evil mastermind while looking at thetest report regarding the national shooting team''s endorsement deal. She was the one who ironed out all the details of the endorsement deal with the team. It was actually the most expensive endorsement deal they signed with anyone, including Jin Chonglin. But that was because Iris took advantage of her brother-inw and made Jin Chonglin sign at a steep discount. Not that he signed a losing deal. Not at all!

    On the contrary, he profited many times more than he was originally paid because in addition to the discounted endorsement fee, he also received lifetime royalty for all the products sold under his special men''s line. So in a way, he was still the most expensive endorser. But in exchange, he pulled in hisrge army of fans and turned them into regr Orchidia Beauty consumers. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

    Back at Chen Fei''s office, she continued chuckling until her assistant felt a little scared. Her boss really looked like a viiness! Help!

    "We need to take advantage of marketing these new products with the national shooting team. Jing¡ªI mean CFO Long will return soon after the new year from her maternity leave. So everyone will be subjected to strict budget control again. Even Xiu¡ªI mean President Long will find it difficult to allocate this kind of big budget again once the CFO returns."

    Chen Fei then gave her assistant more detailed instructions ording to Iris'' guidelines for this season.

    "Understood, COO Chen." The assistant left afterwards.

    Chen Fei left her desk and stood by the windows to stretch her body. The end of the year was always busy for almost anypany. Orchidia was no different. The good news was that they already had valuable experience fromst year. Their performance this year was much smoother and more efficient. Her phone beeped. It was a message from the annoying diva man, her so-called nominal boyfriend. Come to think of it, they hadn''t contacted each other for quite a while. They had gone into a handful of dates for appearance''s sake. She had even apanied the annoying man to a couple of red-carpet events. These instances were such a hassle, but she could only swallow her anger and smile for the paparazzi following the narcissistic diva man. However, contrary to Jin Chonglin''s assurances, the public interest in their so-called rtionship didn''t die down at all. In fact, their so-called rtionship became an even hotter topic!

    It was already toote to "break up" now. If they did, they would only garner more attention. She would definitely suffer the full brunt of negative media scrutiny. As Orchidia''s COO, she couldn''t risk tainting thepany''s reputation with her own personal life, especially at this end of the year season. They had to focus on ending the year with a triumphant bang for thepany. Therefore, she could only suck it up and continue being in a fake rtionship with Jin Chonglin.

    Her phone beeped again.

    She ignored it and continued stretching. Her body, especially her back and neck, felt stiff.

    Her phone began ringing. "Dammit!"

    She picked up the dirty dog''s call. "What do you want?!"

    "And hello to you too, sweetheart," Jin Chonglin replied in a cloyingly sweet tone. Chen Fei almost vomited. She was about to curse at him when she heard some suspicious noises.

    "Where are you?" she asked him. "Oh, I''m at home."

    Her eyes narrowed. She knew that he was lying. Her intuition told her that there was definitely something weird about the situation. The noises she heard earlier were now gone. It might just be her imagination, but she trusted her intuition. "I see. Sorry for yelling at you just now. You know my temper when someone disturbs me when I''m busing working."

    "That''s fine, sweetheart. You''re fine just the way you are." He paused. "I called because I just want to tell you that¡­I miss you."

    Chen Fei heard another suspicious sound, like a shriek. Multiple shrieks. But they stopped in an instant. She was sure that the man was lying when he told her that he was at home. He must be in a show! She was familiar with this kind of program. The host would dare their celebrity guests to call someone, usually a lover, and then talk to the person in front of everyone.

    In this case, Jin Chonglin called her because everyone believed that she was his girlfriend!

    Chen Fei wanted to curse but stopped herself in time. If her suspicions were correct, this conversation would be shown on national TV and the inte. She couldn''t disgrace herself that way, especially not as Orchidia''s COO. For this reason, she could only grit her teeth and reply, "I miss you too, honey."

    She almost vomited at her own cloyingly sweet tone and words. She was extremely embarrassed. Fortunately, nobody could see her face. Jin Chonglinughed. Othersughed as well. Finally, someone else spoke and introduced himself as the host. He exined that Jin Chonglin was currently guesting at a popr variety show. The other guests and the audience all made noise at the same time to make their presence known to Chen Fei. Her guess was proven right.

    It was a good thing that she trusted her intuition. Normally, she would have quarrelled with Jin Chonglin. If she followed their usual routine, the whole world would drown her with saliva after scolding her for treating their beloved Prince Lin Lin so poorly. h h h.

    She rolled her eyes but forced her voice to be disgustingly sweet and pleasant while chatting with the program''s host.

    "Oh, I''m sorry, but I have to go. I have a meeting scheduled in five minutes."

    No such meeting today existed, but it was the only excuse that she could think of at the moment. "We understand, COO Chen. Our apologies for disturbing you at work at this busy time. Here''s your boyfriend, Prince Lin Lin."

    She almost blurted out, "No need."

    "Sweetheart?" Jin Chonglin''s voice might have made millions of people swoon just by hearing it, but to Chen Fei, it made her want to kick him in the nuts instead. "Yes, honey?"

    Blegh! Oof, she almost puked at her disgustingly sweet tone.

    "Don''t make yourself too exhausted at work, okay? I worry about you all the time. Tell me if the work is too much. I''ll talk to my sister-inw and tell her off."

    Chen Fei almost snorted.

    ''I dare you to tell Xin off. If she doesn''t obliterate you with her sharp tongue, your wife-doting brother will.''

    This was what she thought but what came out of her mouth was, "President Iris Long is not a ve driver. She''s a wonderful boss. Most importantly, I enjoy my work. Don''t worry too much about me, honey. I''m the one who''s worried that you''re working too hard."

    Jin Chonglin chuckled while Chen Fei heard a wave of shrieks in the background. "So sweet!" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Ah, Prince Lin Lin''s girlfriend is so lucky! I wish I was his girlfriend instead!"

    Chen Fei wanted to argue with them. What lucky? She didn''t feel lucky at all! She thought that Jin Chonglin was a disaster instead. ''I also wish that all of you were his girlfriend instead of me!''

    But of course, she gritted her teeth and acted all lovey-dovey with the man on the phone.

    When it was over, Chen Fei slumped on the couch and felt like half of her life had been drained from her just with that single phone conversation.

    "Damn you, Jin Chonglin! I''ll get you back for putting me on the spot like this."

 Chapter 1420 Not Good At All

    Chapter 1420 Not Good At All

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Dom shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth andughed while pointing at the TV. It was ying a popr variety show. Tonight''s guest was Jin Chonglin. "Stopughing, Dom!" Chen Fei felt annoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

    Unfortunately for her, Dom not only didn''t stopughing, but he teased her as well. "I miss you, sweetheart~ I miss you too, honey~ Kyaaaaaaaaaah!!!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She threw a pillow at him. Iris, Long Jinjing and Jiang Ying Yue chuckled at them. They watched the variety show in amusement.

    Normally, they wouldn''t watch this show, but they tuned in just for tonight after Chen Fei informed them about it in their girl squad group chat. Meimei was too busy working on her webtoon toe to Dragon Pce and watch the show together with them. Clover was still in France. So the two could only watch the variety show by themselves and discuss it with the others in their group chat. Chen Fei was worried that her being featured on the variety show would negatively impact Orchidia''s reputation. Contrary to her worries, however, Iris assured her that it was actually a good thing. This kind of publicity was beneficial for theirpany. Even though Iris told her many times that there was no need to worry so much about negatively affecting Orchidia''s reputation, Chen Fei remained concerned about it. She was actually the most anxious about thepany''s reputation among them.

    As a celebrity, Iris was already used to dealing with negative publicity. Her mentality forged through countless bashing was many times tougher than any of her friends. She wasn''t too worried about ruining herpany''s reputation. All of herpanies weren''t easily toppled by something trivial like a COO''s dating life with a superstar. Iris worked hard to ensure that each of herpanies had stable foundations, including the ready-made ones like Gold Heights.

    Back at the lounge room where the girl squad members were hanging out, the friends continued making fun of Chen Fei. ording to her, the actual phone call onlysted for a few minutes. However, it was clear that the production deliberately prolonged the segment featuring the phone call to increase the suspense and maximize the entertainment value. "Smart," Iris murmured in approval. "I like the part that they took the effort to make a special short introduction of Chen Fei''s background as Orchidia''s COO. Brother Chonglin also made sure to mention LXC Studio every chance he got. Very good."

    Long Jinjing and the others nodded, except Chen Fei who pouted.

    Deep inside, however, Chen Fei had to admit that Iris was right. Chen Fei''s specialty was in marketing. It was her major in business school. She agreed that the variety show should produce good results in marketing both Orchidia and LXC Studio.

    "The show isn''t as bad as I initially expected," she said.

    Iris chuckled. "Brother Chonglin is an expert in making the most of his guest appearances in shows like this. His current status in showbiz is high enough that most shows who want to feature him have to consider his approval in how he''s portrayed. Since he agreed to ept this dare of calling you on national television, he knows that he can protect you regardless of how the phone call turns out. I''m sure that he would have demanded the show to edit it out if the phone call resulted in a situation that puts you in a bad light."

    Chen Fei pouted even more. She refused to admit what Iris said about Jin Chonglin, but Iris was right. Jin Chonglin might be indecisive about many things, but he wouldn''t throw people under the bus without any valid reason. Her thoughts about the man were starting to be muddled. She still disdained Jin Chonglin and his narcissistic arrogance about his superstar status. But what bothered her the most was his messy dating history in the past. She didn''t want to be involved with a man who had such aplicated history with so many women. What the hell was she thinking when she agreed to be his fake girlfriend?

    "By the way, until when will you continue pretending to be in a fake rtionship with Jin Chonglin?" Jiang Ying Yue asked. Chen Fei''s mood worsened at the question. "I don''t know! Back then, he said three months. But by how things are looking right now, the original three-month deadline doesn''t seem possible anymore. My assistant would bring me tabloids almost every morning, and I''ll be on the headlines with Jin Chonglin. The most ridiculous headlines say that we''re secretly married and that I''m already pregnant."

    Domughed. "That sounds like Boss and Sir Boss! Ahahahaha!"

    Indeed, Iris and Jin Liwei sessfully managed to keep their wedding and pregnancy a secret from the public for an impressive period of timest year. Although a few rumours had hit the bullseye, most of the general public didn''t think that they would marry and form a family so soon. That was why it was such a massive series of bombshells when the couple finally revealed their secret wedding and Iris'' pregnancy a few monthster.

    It seemed that the tabloids were using Iris and Jin Liwei''s temte to make juicy rumours about Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei.

    She cast a resentful nce at Iris.

    Iris raised an eyebrow at her. "Why look at me like that? If you really dislike being associated with Brother Chonglin, you can always ''dump'' him and end this ridiculous fake rtionship with him. You''re a free woman who can make your own choices. Nobody is forcing you to go along with him¡­not unless you like it."

    "Kyaaaaaaaaaaah! I bet she likes it!"

    "Shut up, Dom!" Chen Fei red at her overdramatic friend.

    "Hehehe. Admit it, Sis Fei! You actually like Prince Lin Lin, don''t you?!"

    "No way! Never!"

    "Weh." Dom tossed his non-existent long hair over his shoulders. "My super-duper to the highest level urate intuition tells me I''m right! I can feel it in my beautiful bones!"

    She rolled her eyes. She was adamant in her dislike for Jin Chonglin. Even so, her mind still couldn''t help but be confused.

    This was not good. Not good at all. ###

    While the girl squad members were having fun at Chen Fei''s expense, Jin Liwei and his sworn brothers were tasked with babysitting in the nursery. Jin Liwei was confident enough in his parenting skills to give the nannies a short break for today.

    Only three of the five sworn brothers were present today¡ªJin Liwei, Lu Zihao and Lin Yehan. Wang Yingjie was busy with multiple scheduled surgeries that he didn''t have time to meet up with his brothers. Yu Mo was in America attending an international conference for Systema practitioners.

    The three brothers¡ªJin Liwei, Lu Zihao and Lin Yehan¡ªdidn''t mind it too much that their other brothers weren''t present. The three were already fathers, and the other two might not be able to rte to their usual conversations anymore. Yes, Lin Yehan already considered himself a father, specifically a stepfather to Little Jun. But, stepfather or not, he cared for the little boy like his own son. He watched Little Jun ying with his cousins. Little Jun was starting to be more patient and caring towards his baby cousins. Before, he was like Popcorn, who held very little interest in the babies because they couldn''t y with him yet. But now that the babies had grown a little bigger, especially the Jin twins, Little Jun had begun to seek them out almost every day to y. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    He would teach his baby cousins how to y with toys. Then he would entertain them by showing off basic tricks with the five puppies.

    The Lu twins were still young to actively y with him, but the Jin twins had already grown enough to follow their Big Brother Junjun. The three adult men watched as Little Mochi and Little Matcha crawled after Little Jun, doing their best to chase their Big Brother Junjun, Big Brother Popcorn, and the five puppies all over therge nursery room.

    Ice Cream still despised the puppies, so she stayed on top of a storage cab and watched over everything with her judgmental eyes. If someone walked into the nursery right now, they would think that it was extremely chaotic and noisy with all the children and animals running all over the ce. However, the three adult men looked rxed, as if all the noises sounded like a gentle breeze or the sweet chirping of birds. They were already used to this kind of scene. They had to get used to it, or they would go insane. Even Lin Yehan ended up getting used to it because he woulde to Dragon Pce to spend time with Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun almost every day.

    Now that the Jin twins could crawl, they had be so much more active. Even the well-behaved Little Matcha couldn''t help but explore every nook and cranny as soon as he could crawl. Little Mochi had always been naughty, so it was no surprise when he had a few close calls. There were instances when the fat andzy Ice Cream went beyond her capabilities to save Little Mochi. She had jumped like a sh of lightning to block him and physically push the baby back to protect him from danger.

    Of course, the nursery was fully baby-proofed. Still, naughty, curious babies would always find a way to get into trouble despite everyone keeping a close eye on them. Little Mochi was that kind of mischievous baby.

 Chapter 1421 Childish Fathers

    Chapter 1421 Childish Fathers

    Finally, the children and animals got tired of ying. Little Jun went to his Uncle Yehan and knew how to ask for water.

    Lin Yehan was beaming. He felt like a father, especially at times like this. He dly poured Little Jun a cup of water and called over Popcorn and the puppies to drink as well. His usual soft and gentle smile had now transformed into a delighted (and slightly foolish) smile. The Jin twins crawled to their father and hugged each of Jin Liwei''s legs. They looked at him and blinked their adorable eyes. It was clear that they were also asking for something to drink, but Jin Liwei pretended not to understand at first. Little Mochi grew impatient and started whining. His younger twin brother, Little Matcha, tugged on their father''s trousers.

    "Tell dad what the two of you want," Jin Liwei said calmly. "Ah! Bah!" Little Mochi waved his little arms and expressed hisints with exaggerated babbles.

    Little Matcha continued tugging their father''s trousers.

    "Dada! Dada!!!" Little Mochi was close to throwing a tantrum.

    Jin Liwei''s eyes lit up. "Yes, I''m Dada. Say it again."

    "Dada!!! Dada!!!"

    Jin Liwei looked at his other twin son with expectant eyes. Little Matcha pouted but still said, "Dada."

    "Well done, boys." Jin Liweiughed and lifted his two sons into his arms before kissing them.

    Lu Zihao snorted while watching the scene. He ridiculed his brother-inw, "Childish."

    "I think it''s adorable," Lin Yehanmented. "I bet you''ll also feel happy when your own sons start calling you Dada."

    Lu Zihao didn''t reply but looked at his own twins. Both were still too small and young to join ying with their cousins on the floor. Little Misha threw a brief tantrum earlier because he wanted to join in the fun. If only he was a little bigger and stronger, there was no doubt that he would have jumped out of the crib to y with the others. Unfortunately, he still had some growing to do. Only when his scary daddy gave him a hard stare did he grudgingly stop making trouble. Boohoo, his daddy was no fun at all!

    The Lu twins were inside the crib. But, unlike Little Misha, who wanted to join the others, Little Dima was pretty content staying in the crib''s safety with a rattle. Lu Zihao didn''t notice that the corner of his lips curved up, and his eyes softened while looking at his brats. Little Misha and Little Dima might be troublesome most of the time, but they would always be his own kids. It wasn''t like he, the former Niki Vetrov, couldn''t handle two stinky little brats. The twins needed at least one hundred years¡ªno, one thousand years¡ªto catch up to their old man''s level. Hah!

    Lin Yehan chuckled at him while shaking his head. As for Jin Liwei, he gave his own set of twins a few sips of water while warming up two servings of breastmilk. The twins had already beenpletely weaned from feeding directly from their mother''s breast. However, they continued to drink breastmilk from a bottle or a sippy cup. Iris continued to pump milk, but her production was already declining. Although there was still a lot of frozen milk in their storage, four babies consumed the supplies. The Jin twins were alright, but the Lu twins might run out of breastmilk soon. Therefore, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing had decided to integrate baby form in addition to Iris'' breastmilk for their own twins. Both Little Misha and Little Dima didn''t like form at first and preferred their aunt''s breastmilk instead. However, they had no choice about the matter. Their parents insisted on feeding them small amounts of baby form every day. They eventually tolerated it until they got used to it. As a result, they had quickly grown into two little fattiespared to their elder Jin twin cousins. Back to Jin Liwei, the grin on his face was so big and bright that Lu Zihao kept rolling his eyes at him. Lin Yehan chuckled and felt happy for his third brother. [Read official chapters on W e b n o v e l (dot). Please stop supporting piracy. Also follow the author on Instagram: @arriacross]

    "This is the first time that they called you Dada?" Lin Yehan asked. "No, but it''s the first time they said it in front of me," Jin Liwei replied while putting his twins in the crib with their Lu cousins. Little Mochi and Little Matcha had a sippy cup filled with their mom''s delicious warm milk.

    "Oh?" Lin Yehan raised an eyebrow andughed. "Don''t tell me they''re teasing their own daddy?"

    "En. I often hear them saying Dada when I''m a few feet away. But when I confront them and ask them to repeat it, they refuse to do so."

    Lu Zihao stood up, stroked the Jin twins'' heads, and praised them. "Well done, Viktor and Yuri. As expected of my nephews. You should continue trolling your father. I, your uncle, will reward you."

    Jin Liwei scowled. "Stop trying to corrupt my children. Xin will be upset if she learns about this."

    "She''ll only be upset if you tell her about it. Are you going to be a tattletale? Huh?"

    "Alright, that''s enough." Lin Yehan stepped forward and mediated between them. "You two were never like this before. You were the ones who got along the best among us brothers since the beginning. So why is it only now, when both of you have your own wives and families, that you''re suddenly arguing like little boys? You''re already fathers. Don''t act so childish in front of your children. It''s setting a bad example to them!"

    Jin Liwei became silent. "Tsk." Lu Zihao looked like he wanted to argue what Lin Yehan but ended up keeping quiet as well.

    A few minutester, there was finally some peace and quiet in the nursery. The four babies were fast asleep in their crib. Little Jun was also taking a nap with Popcorn on a couch in a corner. The five puppies, strewn all over the floor, were sleeping as well. Ice Cream finally moved from her perch on top of a cab and joined the babies in the crib.

    The three adult men were back to chatting with each other. With Lin Yehan''s mediation, Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao finally stopped snapping at each other like immature little boys. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Are you really moving out after the New Year?" Lin Yehan asked. Lu Zihao nodded. "We''ve already stayed here long enough. We should''ve moved out a few months ago, but Jinjing and my sister decided to dy the move until after New Year instead. My sons should be big enough to start eating solid foods by that time. They wouldn''t need to consume their aunt''s breastmilk as much as before."

    "Grandpa Lu also ns to move out with them," Jin Liwei said.

    Lin Yehan''s brows rose. "Grandpa Lu will be moving with Fifth Brother to their new house?"

    "No, the old man bought a property near our new house," Lu Zihao replied. "He says our house is too small for his liking, so he bought a bigger one that he''s currently rebuilding into a small mansion. After it''s done, the old man''s ce will be the biggest house in the neighbourhood."

    Lin Yehanughed. "As expected of Grandpa Lu!"

    "You can take the majority of my wife''s breastmilk supply for Little Misha and Little Dima when you move out," Jin Liwei told his brother-inw. "My sons don''t consume much of their mom''s milk anymore."

    "I won''t stand on ceremony, then." Lu Zihao epted the offer. He knew that his sons preferred their aunt''s milk the most. Before this, he would have declined the offer because he didn''t want to obligate his sister into providing milk for his own sons. But he had gotten used to the arrangement now. They all treated the four babies not as mere cousins but more like actual siblings. The Jin and Lu twins shared almost everything, from breastmilk to everything in the nursery and so much more. In a way, they were more like quadruplets than separate sets of twins.

    Iris and Jin Liwei treated Little Misha and Little Dima like their own children. In the same way, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing also treated Little Mochi and Little Matcha like their own children. If not for the routine where the babies were taken to sleep in their parents'' own bedrooms every night, they might grow confused about which couple was their actual biological parents. Or they might simply think that they had two mommies and two daddies for a total of four parents. Lin Yehan smiled at his third and fifth brothers. "I think I''ve already mentioned this before, but I''ll say it again. I''m still amazed that the two of you are the first to marry and have kids among us brothers. Third Brother had never shown any interest in women before, while Fifth Brother loves adventuring too much to settle down so early. But look at the two of you now. Devoted husbands and caring fathers. It''s simply amazing. I''m so proud of the two of you."

    "You''ll be next, Eldest Brother." Jin Liwei smiled. "That''s my n." Lin Yehan chuckled.

    "There''s still the cockroach named Long Hui that you should be wary of," Lu Zihao reminded him. "He''s still the father of Little Jun."

    "I know." Lin Yehan turned serious.

    So did Jin Liwei. "Want me to beat him up?" Lu Zihao offered. Lin Yehan shook his head. "Stop kidding around, Fifth Brother."

    "You think I''m kidding?"

    "Don''t listen to this brute, Eldest Brother. He''s just bored and wants to look for trouble."

    Lu Zihao red at Jin Liwei.

    "I swear that the two of you have grown more childish after bing fathers," Lin Yehan said, shaking his head.

 Chapter 1422 Come To My House

    Chapter 1422 Come To My House

    While the Jin and Lu couples were enjoying a blissful married life and taking care of their own set of twins at home, Chen Fei was busy cursing inside her head. She wore a forced bright smile while enduring the crazy f*cker''s arm around her waist.

    She and Jin Chonglin bid their goodbyes to the host and the other guests while making their way outside the hotel. When they finally saw the waiting car, both sighed in relief but still maintained their current affectionate expressions and gestures.

    There were still many eyes watching them both openly and secretly. For a superstar like Jin Chonglin, it was already expected that the paparazzi would be following his every move in public.

    Only when the two of them were inside the car and the noise from the evening g vanished did they finally stop pretending. It was like a light switch had been turned off.

    Poof!

    Gone, just like that.

    The lovey-dovey atmosphere between the couple that they maintained throughout the entire evening gale disappeared.

    However, there was still a palpable electrical tension between the two that neither of them wanted to acknowledge.

    "Stay away from me, you crazy f*cker!" Chen Fei pushed the man away while scooting to the other side of the seat.

    She almost glued herself to the window to get as far away from him as possible.

    "Tsk." Jin Chonglin rolled his eyes but didn''t bother retorting.

    He was slightly buzzed from the alcohol he had drunk earlier during the event.

    Both of them consumed more alcohol than usual due to the pressure of pretending to be an affectionate couple in front of so many people.

    Chen Fei couldn''t count how many times she regretted agreeing to pretend to be the sted diva man''s girlfriend. Now she was even forced to apany him to an official event. How troublesome!

    At first, she didn''t agree to be his partner for tonight, but he was able to persuade her with his glib tongue. He used the opportunity to promote Orchidia to entice her. As a loyal executive of thepany, she couldn''t resist this chance towork with other powerful and influential figures for Orchidia.

    How had she be so easy to sweet-talk like this?

    Infuriating!

    The man was so infuriating, but she was also annoyed with herself. She didn''t want to go along with his dumb ideas, but look at her now. She still ended up following him. Even she felt baffled by her impulsive decisions when it came to Jin Chonglin.

    Chen Fei nced at the annoying man sitting beside her.

    Seeing his handsome face annoyed her even more. She couldn''t take it anymore.

    "Let''s break up!" she dered. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Of course, she was talking about the termination of their pretend rtionship as girlfriend and boyfriend.

    Jin Chonglin gave her a side-eye. "YOU''RE breaking up with ME?! Excuse me, but this prince is Jin Chonglin. Women don''t break up with me. It is I who breaks up with them! You hear me?!!!"

    "Oh, please!" She snorted, rolling her eyes as well. "Don''t give me that bullsh*t. I don''t care if you''re Jin Chonglin or some golden monkey butt. I don''t want to be your pretend girlfriend anymore."

    The alcohol buzz made Jin Chonglin feel mischievous tonight.

    For some reason, he wanted to tease this woman until she was fuming. Her prickly attitude was starting to look cute.

    Maybe he was drunker than he first thought, and he was starting to hallucinate.

    Chen Fei, this bossy b*tch, looked cute?

    Hah!

    What a riot!

    He looked at her more deeply. Hm? What was this? Did Orchidia develop some new amazing products again? Why was this woman bing more attractive the more that he looked at her?

    Dammit!

    His thoughts were bing more and more chaotic, but he didn''t let any of it show in his expression. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and smirked. "What do you mean you don''t want to be my girlfriend anymore? Are you saying that you want to be my REAL girlfriend instead?"

    She choked on her saliva from disbelief. "What f*cking nonsense are you spouting? Who said that I want to be your real girlfriend instead?! Stop daydreaming, you a**hole!!!"

    "Me, daydreaming?" He chuckled. "Sweetheart, countless people daydream about me, not the other way around."

    "Ugh! You''re so full of your own bullsh*t!" She released a heavy sigh. "I''m done. Drive me back to my ce. I don''t want to talk to you anymore."

    He shrugged. "Whatever."

    Silence.

    Neither was willing to speak first. It was a battle of stubborn wills.

    After some time, Jin Chonglin pressed a button and a hiddenpartment opened. A mini fridge was revealed. He took out a bottle of champagne and acquired a winess from anotherpartment.

    Out of the corner of her eyes, Chen Fei watched the man pour himself a ss of champagne. She stretched out a hand without a word.

    "What?" he asked.

    She gestured to the winess.

    He snorted at her but still filled the winess with champagne before handing it to her. A pleased smile appeared on her face as she enjoyed the first sip.

    "Good champagne," she couldn''t help but praise.

    She knew from experience that this kind of champagne tasted mild and delicate but packed some solid alcoholic punch. She didn''t care.

    Although she wasn''t a drunkard, she did enjoy drinking good alcohol now and then. After all, there was nothing wrong with enjoying life''s pleasures, especially at this exciting stage in her life where her career was only bing more and more sessful.

    Even if she was in thepany of a cocky bastard like Jin Chonglin, she could still enjoy a drink and pat herself on the back for working hard for all her achievements so far.

    "More."

    She pushed her empty winess toward Jin Chonglin. He gave her another side-eye before pouring the woman another full ss of champagne.

    The two kept drinking until they emptied the entire bottle.

    Chen Fei didn''t stop Jin Chonglin when he opened another bottle. The man''s alcohol was really tasty.

    A part of her warned herself to stop before she regretted it. However, she ignored it and continued enjoying the night. She worked so hard after graduating from university. This was one of the rare times she could take a break and not think about anything rted to work.

    So what if she was with this annoying diva man?

    Just treat him as a waiter or something.

    The two drank a bottle of port with higher alcohol content this time.

    Muchter, neither of them was in the right frame of mind anymore. The atmosphere gradually intensified until they started ignoring their own inhibitions.

    When Jin Chonglin asked, "Come to my house?", Chen Fei didn''t hesitate to nod her head.

    She even straddled Jin Chonglin in the backseat of the car, causing the driver to activate the divider to give the two much-needed privacy. The two didn''t even notice the driver''s swift reaction.

    Jin Chonglin wrapped his hands around Chen Fei''s waist, dangerously lowering them to her bottom. His gaze burned her, but she no longer cared about the consequences of her actions.

    "Motherf*cker, you''re so sexy," she whispered into his ear before sticking out her tongue to lick it.

    He smiled before squeezing her butt. "Right back at ya."

 Chapter 1423 Ugly! Disgusting!

    Chapter 1423 Ugly! Disgusting!

    *[Warning: 18+ scenes ahead!!!]*

    Once the two entered Jin Chonglin''s house, he pressed Chen Fei''s back against the closed front door. The atmosphere was no longer ambiguous. It was tantly bursting with sexual sparks.

    Chen Fei felt as if her entire body was being washed away by a great waterfall. She had little control over her own body. It was a peculiar feeling that she had never experienced before.

    The man''s kisses, touches, and whispers were too electrifying! He was too talented in how to touch a woman''s body in all the right ces.

    She wasn''t a hypocrite. Since he could make her feel good, then she might as well enjoy it! She didn''t want to think too much about the consequences of their actions tonight. There was still tomorrow to face everything.

    Tonight, she would allow herself to enjoy this man''s taste. It would be her first time, but so what? She was already a responsible adult woman. She could make her own choices.

    "Ah~" She trembled when Jin Chonglin pressed his thigh between her legs and ground it against her centre.

    "You like that?" he murmured before sucking her earlobe.

    She shivered before grabbing his hair hard and forcing him to kiss her on the mouth again. His skillful tongue delved deep inside and yed with her tongue, making her moan.

    Jin Chonglin lifted her. He looked slender with clothes on, but he was surprisingly strong.

    She wrapped her legs around his waist, and then he carried her to his bedroom. Chen Fei was too overwhelmed by what the man was making her feel that she didn''t notice the change of location. Before she knew it, she was already lying on the bed.

    She was dazed for a moment, trying to process the situation. Her clothes were still on her body, but they were no longer presentable.

    He noticed her distracted expression. Despite his raging desire, he still asked her, "Do you want to do it with me?"

    Her brain which was usually sharp failed to process his question immediately. "Huh?"

    He rified, "I said, do you want to have sex with me?"

    "Sex¡­with you?"

    "Yeah." He nuzzled her ear, tickling it and making her shiver. Her dazed brain started to slowly function again. The sharpness returned to her eyes.

    Of course, Jin Chonglin noticed it, too. He was already prepared for her refusal.

    Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer before saying with determination and desire, "F*ck yeah!"

    This time, he was the one whose sharp brain left him. For a couple of seconds, he failed to process what she just said.

    "Huh?" Now, it was his turn to wear a dumb expression on his face.

    "Let''s have sex, Jin Chonglin," she said.

    His eyes blinked a few times. "You sure?"

    "Yeah."

    His mouth curved up. Then he kissed her again. The fire burned hotter between their intertwined bodies. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Their clothes were thrown to the floor in no time, as if they couldn''t wait to get rid of anything blocking their skin from touching directly. There was no slow savouring, only devouring as much as they could. The alcohol made them dizzy, but the desire only intensified. They felt like they were floating in a dream and just decided to follow their instincts.

    Jin Chonglin kneaded Chen Fei''s breasts. He could confirm based on actual personal experience that hers were all natural and not due to surgery. They might not be that big¡ªin fact, they were on the smaller side¡ªbut that didn''t stop him from lusting after them.

    His throat felt parched. He captured a n*pple and sucked hard.

    She moaned, making the corners of his mouth lift into a smug grin. He released her n*pple with a pop and captured the other one. His hand snaked slowly from her waist to the space between her thighs. She instinctively closed them but he coaxed her with his skillful touches until she opened them again.

    "M*therfucker!" She almost jumped out of her skin when his fingers directly touched her soaking core.

    When his finger entered her, her hips were already moving. She had always been honest about her thoughts and urged him to pump his hand inside her faster.

    "More¡­oh f*ck, so good!" Her hips shook, matching his rhythm, and pressed against him, wanting more.

    The pleasure was something that she had never experienced before. It was like being electrocuted, yet instead of avoiding it like death, she wanted more.

    When his finger entered her, her hips were already moving. She had always been honest about her thoughts and urged him to pump his hand inside her faster.

    "More¡­oh f*ck, so good!" Her hips shook, matching his rhythm, and pressed against him, wanting more.

    "Greedy woman." He chuckled before inserting another finger. "So tight. Can''t wait to enter you."

    She shivered. The bedsheets below her core were already soaked through from her desire, but she didn''t care or feel embarrassed. All she cared about was enjoying the unimaginable pleasure that she had never felt before.

    Jin Chonglin catered to her every demand. He was indeed a skillful lover. He knew how to respond to her every moan, sigh, and shiver.

    He moved downwards, trailing wet kisses all over her skin. His fingers moved faster before his mouth reached the space between her thighs. Then he began blowing her mind with thebination of his mouth and fingers.

    Before she knew it, the pressure built up and Chen Fei reached the summit. She let out a silent scream while pulling his hair hard. He groaned in pain but didn''t stop sucking her and pumping his fingers in and out of her.

    Her entire body shook.

    When she returned to her senses, Jin Chonglin was already rubbing his hard length against her soaking core. But before he could insert it, she took a peek.

    "Ugly! Disgusting!"

    She might disdain its appearance, but her body was already betraying her.

    She opened her legs wider and even tilted her hips towards him.

    He clicked his tongue at her contradictory words and actions. His eyes, however, was zing with unconcealed hunger.

    "Ready?" he asked.

    Instead of answering, she pulled his waist closer to her.

    He chuckled before straightening his waist and thrusting inside of her.

    "F*ck!!!" Chen Fei let out a string of curses from the stabbing pain. "Hurry, get out!!!!!!"

 Chapter 1424 Who Are You Calling a Dog?

    Chapter 1424 Who Are You Calling a Dog?

    *[Warning: 18+ scenes ahead!!!]*

    She attempted to push him away, but couldn''t. Despite his lean build, Jin Chonglin was still a tall man. He was heavier than she expected.

    Jin Chonglin looked as if he was also in pain. He gritted his teeth and a vein throbbed in his forehead. His eyes closed and he even trembled a little.

    When he opened his eyes again, they looked dark and serious.

    "You wanted this. Are you going to run away without finishing what you started?"

    His challenge was super effective. For someone extremelypetitive like Chen Fei, his words riled her uppletely. She wasn''t the type to shy away from any challenge. If someone told her no, then she would have all the more reason to want to do it. This had always been her personality.

    She refused to back down. She let out another string of curses before biting his shoulder hard.

    "Ouch! Sh*t, woman! Are you a dog?!"

    It was really painful. He nced at his poor shoulder and saw aplete outline of teeth on the skin. He wasn''t sure but it might even be bleeding. He hissed and wanted to bite her back but remembered that he was raised better than that.

    "Who are you calling a dog? You''re the dog!" Chen Fei was enraged.

    "You bit me! If you aren''t a dog, then what are you?!"

    "If I''m a dog, then you''re also a dog! How dare you f*ck me and call me a dog, you f*cking dog?!"

    Jin Chonglin was also enraged. He withdrew and mmed his hips hard into her.

    "Ah!" Chen Fei shook at the sudden thrust.

    She was about to curse him again but then he started pumping.

    It felt so good, dammit!

    The initial pain didn''tst long. The pleasure quickly returned. This time, it was multiplied several times over.

    Chen Fei no longer tried to push the man away. Instead, she met his thrusts with her own hips. Although this was her first time having sex, she wasn''tpletely ignorant about what to do. She had always been honest about her feelings, and so they were reflected in her actions.

    "So good," she moaned.

    "You like it, huh?" Jin Chonglin panted while changing the rhythm of his thrusts to maximize both of their pleasure.

    "Oh yeah~"

    "Say my name," he said.

    "Jin Chonglin," she panted.

    "Just Chonglin. Say it."

    "Chonglin."

    "F*ck, yes." He sped up his hip movements. Then he slowed down again before asking, "Do you like me?"

    "No."

    Her answer was quick. No hesitation at all.

    His hip movements faltered. He gritted his teeth and ground his waist hard, making her squeal. "Are you sure?"

    "Yeah, I don''t like you at all! How can¡­I like an a**hole like you?" Even as she said these caustic words, she didn''t forget to pull his head for another deep kiss.

    When the kiss ended, both were out of breath. Their lower bodies were continuing their rhythmic movements in frenzied unison.

    "Liar," he harrumphed. "It''s obvious that you like me."

    "Delusional¡ªmph!"

    Another intense kiss blocked her poisonous mouth. His hips also intensified in pumping her.

    Their bodies were slick with sweat and other body fluids. Even as they insulted each other, they couldn''t stop rubbing their bodies together.

    When Chen Fei was close to the peak, Jin Chonglin slowed down. She tried urging him to go faster but he didn''t give in.

    "Chonglin!!!" she roared. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Yes, you should call my name just like that." He moved his hips in a slow circle, deliberately making her suffer and wanting for more.

    "Move it!!!"

    "Beg me," he drawled.

    "Go to hell!!!"

    "Babe, I''m not going to hell. I''m taking you with me to heaven."

    She choked at his gooey words. If she wasn''t enjoying what he was doing to her, she would want to vomit.

    Begging him?

    Never!

    Her eyes narrowed. Then she tightened her core, squeezing him with all her might.

    He gasped and then groaned. His entire body trembled before tightening up. He closed his eyes, opened them again, and red at her.

    She shot him a smug look, challenging him to talk nonsense again. Watching him suffer like this made her feel ted. He bullied her by dying her climax, so what if she bullied him back?

    He deserved it!

    Hmph!

    Prior experience in bed wasn''t important. It didn''t matter that she never slept with others before Jin Chonglin. She knew that she could blow this sted man''s mind if she so wanted. And that was what she was going to do.

    A virgin could be a femme fatale, too.

    He was now temporarily paralyzed by the sheer pressure of her tightness. Only experience prevented him from shooting prematurely inside her.

    Then he was caught off-guard when she suddenly pushed him with all her might and flipped their positions. She was now on top of him.

    His eyes widened as he stared at the naked woman straddling him. She looked wild and unbridled. Unlike most women he had slept with before, she didn''t even bother pretending to be shy or innocent.

    Damn, this woman was so sexy!

    He smirked and ced an arm under his head, using it as a pillow, while his other hand stroked her lean waist. His eyes roved all over her luscious, sweaty body.

    Her figure wasn''t the best among the women he bedded before, but her oozing confidence was the sexiest that he had ever encountered.

    She wasn''t afraid of offending him. Her mouth was venomous, yet her body didn''t hide away from him. She wanted more of him, and she wasn''t afraid to demand more from him, even when her mouth spouted insults at him.

    If he didn''t give it to her, then she would take it for herself.

    He had no doubt that he was her first man, but the way she was now bouncing up and down on top of him was so natural that he couldn''t help but harden even more.

    He wasn''t f*cking this woman anymore.

    She was the one who was f*cking him!

    Hello! I''m back after 2 years of hiatus. My deepest apologies for keeping you all HGWS fans waiting this long. I''ve been struggling enormously with my mental & physical health this past couple of years. It even came to a point that I almost ended everything once and for all, but thankfully, my family found me in time and didn''t allow me to do a stupid thing. A super long recovery process allowed me to rediscover my love for writing. I hope that you can still join me in this journey of finishing this story. Thank you all so much for your support!!!

 Chapter 1425 Iâ€™ll Take Responsibility

    Chapter 1425 I¡¯ll Take Responsibility

    *[Warning: 18+ scenes ahead!!!]*

    No, this couldn''t go on. He needed to reassert himself or his pride as man would suffer. He held her waist with both hands and started thrusting his hips upwards, making her throw back her head and scream louder.

    ''Damn, this feels too good!'' both of them thought.

    Jin Chonglin reached down to where they were connected and started rubbing her button of pleasure. As expected, she squealed with delight. She squeezed her own breasts while continuing to bounce up and down on top of him. Their movements became faster and more intense.

    Jin Chonglin gritted his teeth and tried controlling their wild rhythm but to no avail. Chen Fei didn''t care about him at all.

    What she cared about was her own pleasure. He knew that this was punishment for not letting her climax earlier when she was close to it.

    She finally reached the peak.

    Her entire body shook and she screamed with all her might.

    When she finally calmed down, her throat felt sore from all the screaming.

    It was only then that she noticed that she was still lying on top of Jin Chonglin. He was rubbing her backside, soothing her.

    She looked at his face and saw utter satisfaction. Then she realized the hot liquid inside her. Putting two and two together, her expression turned ugly.

    She immediately pulled away despite still feeling shaky.

    Their bodies separated with a loud wet pop. She felt his generous release flow down her thighs.

    "You¡­y-you!" She watched as the white liquid with a little bloody tint dripped out of her, staining the bedsheets.

    There was a lot. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    A whole lot.

    She was so angry at the sight. If not for her body still basking from pleasure, she would have already fought with the bastard.

    Still, it was a fact that he gave her the best first-time sex that she could ever ask for in her life. This alone negated a lot of her fury.

    In the end, she could only sigh.

    "You''re so irresponsible," she muttered, ring at him. "Can''t even remember to put on a condom. Are you a first-timer?"

    "Oh, sh*t." Jin Chonglin''s expression changed as well. "Sorry, I forgot. I''ll take responsibility."

    "Who needs you to take responsibility?!" She sneered, and then promptly kicked him off the bed.

    He fell to the floor with a loud thud. He was dazed in disbelief. Did she just kick him out of his own bed? Then his eyes swept across their mixed essence still flowing down her inner thighs to the bedsheets. His little brother twitched again and began to rise.

    The woman saw it, of course.

    She scowled. "Get out! Hurry up and buy me a morning-after pill!"

    Jin Chonglin didn''t move. His eyes began to burn at her again. His little brother was now standing up straight and proud withal its glory.

    Her body also responded, but she continued ring at him. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

    He stood up. "Later."

    She raised both hands to stop him from jumping to the bed.

    "Fine, I want another round, but I can''t rest assured without seeing the pills with my own eyes. No pill, no more sex!"

    He pursed his lips but still obeyed. He quickly grabbed a robe and put it on before leaving his bedroom. He called one of his bodyguards to head to the nearest pharmacy to buy not only morning-after pulls and hangover medicine but also some additional items like female clothes and toiletries for Chen Fei.

    The bodyguard was quite quick. About fifteen minutester, he was back with a stic bag filled with items. Jin Chonglin grabbed the purchases and returned to the bedroom in a hurry.

    He showed everything to Chen Fei. While she was reading the instructions for the morning-after pill, he opened his bedside drawer and took out a box of condoms. Then he wore one before jumping back on the bed.

    "Hey! Let me finish reading this first¡ªmph!" Chen Fe''s mouth was once again sealed by a deep, wet kiss.

    She struggled for a couple of seconds before wrapping her arms around his neck. Then their bodies intertwined again.

    Their hoarse voices and flesh pping each other continued to fill the bedroom throughout the night.

    ###

    The next morning, the annoying sound of a ringing phone awakened a groggy Chen Fei. Her head felt like it was being hammered while her body felt like it had been struck by arge truck.

    Her arm reached blindly towards the bedside table. Then she felt another person lean over her to get the sted phone instead.

    "Hello?" a hoarse male voice answered the phone in her stead.

    Her drowsiness was too much to bear. As soon as the man answered the phone on her behalf, she returned to sleep again.

    Let him take care of it. She was too exhausted!

    She deserved more sleep after he tossed and turned her all night long.

    Back at Dragon Pce Home #10, Long Jinjing frowned. She double-checked her phone to make sure that she called the correct number.

    There was no mistake.

    It was indeed her best friend''s phone number. But why did a man answer it? Although the man''s voice sounded a bit familiar, she couldn''t remember whose voice it belonged to at the moment.

    She grew worried.

    Did something happen to Chen Feist night?

    "Who''s this?" she demanded, immediately going into protective mama bear mode.

    "Huh?" The male voice sounded confused.

    "Who are you?! Why do you have my friend''s phone?!"

    Iris nced at Long Jinjing. They were at her mezzanine office at home. Thetest progress reports from Orchidia had arrived at her inbox earlier this morning. She and Long Jinjing were checking and discussing the reports when Long Jinjing decided to call Chen Fei to fact-check some of the details.

    Iris stopped what she was doing and listened to the phone call. She also frowned and began to worry for Chen Fei. If something really did happen to Chen Fei, then they must be ready to take action as soon as possible. She was about to call for her AI cat children to check on their Auntie Chen Fei when she heard Long Jinjing gasp from shock.

    "J-jin Chonglin?!!!!"

 Chapter 1426 Both Adults

    Chapter 1426 Both Adults

    Iris raised an eyebrow. She was also surprised at this sudden turn of events.

    "Y-you¡­w-where''s Chen Fei?!" Long Jinjing stammered, still unable to get over the shock.

    "Ketchup, loudspeaker, please," Iris murmured.

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    In the next second, Long Jinjing''s phone call was set on loudspeaker.

    "She''s here with me." Jin Chonglin''s voice sounded sleepy. Then he said, "Hey, wake up!"

    "Hmmm¡­no¡­." Chen Fei''s voice also sounded sleepy.

    "You have a phone call."

    "Hm? F*ck off, Jin Chonglin. Let me sleep¡­you beast¡­zzzzzzzzz¡­."

    "You need to wake up."

    "I saidter¡­zzzzzzzz¡­."

    His tone became gentler. "Come on, babe. Wake up now and answer your phone. It sounds important."

    "Who are you calling ''babe'', you annoying man! Whose fault is it that I''m so f*cking tired and sleepy right now?! My whole body f*cking hurts and yet you''re still disturbing me so early in the morning! Argh! I''m gonna strangle you, I swear!"

    "Alright, whatever. Here''s the phone."

    Chen Fei muttered another string of curses before finally speaking on the phone. "Yeah, hello? Who the hell''s calling me so god*mn early in the morning?!"

    Long Jinjing was still in total shock at the conversation she just heard between Chen Fei and Jin Chonglin. The implication of what happened between the two was all too clear!

    "Hello? Hello! Why aren''t you speaking?! If you''re not gonna talk, I''m hanging up!"

    The grumpy voice was indeed Chen Fei''s, but Long Jinjing still couldn''t speak. She couldn''t believe what was happening.

    Iris got up and took the phone from the frozen Long Jinjing.

    "Chen Fei, it''s me," she said calmly.

    "¡­"

    "It''s Long Xin. Big Sister Jinjing is with me."

    "¡­"

    "Want me to give you a day off today?" Iris asked, not at all bothered by the silence at the other end of the phone call.

    "¡­"

    "Alright then. I''ll grant you a day off today. Brother Chonglin, are you still there?"

    Some rustling sounds.

    "Sister Xin," Jin Chonglin''s voice spoke next, sounding more sober now.

    "I''ll have your elder brother send more bodyguards to your ce in a moment. Don''t let the paparazzi snap photos of Chen Fei leaving your house so early in the morning. You need to protect her reputation from the media or I''ll tell your brother to clean you up. She''s not a celebrity. I don''t want her being hounded by the media or being harassed by some of your crazy fans."

    "I know," Jin Chonglin replied. "I''ll protect Chen Fei. You have my word."

    "F*ck! I don''t need any man''s protection, especially yours!" Chen Fei protested.

    "Be good," he soothed her.

    "Dammit! Get away from me. My waist still f*cking hurts so much!"

    Iris chuckled. "We won''t bother you two anymore, then. Just be mindful of the paparazzi. I''ll have Liwei send the extra security there. They will arrive at your house soon."

    "Thanks, Sister Xin," he replied.

    When the phone call ended, Long Jinjing still hadn''tpletely recovered from the great shock. Iris, on the other hand, looked amused.

    "Are they¡­." Did they really¡­.?" Long Jinjing still couldn''t wrap her head around what they just heard on the phone.

    "What''s so weird about it?" Iris shrugged.

    "But Xiao Fei hates Jin Chonglin!"

    Iris shot her a meaningful look. "I also hated Liwei at first. But look at us now. And what about you? You always said before that my big brother isn''t your ideal man and that you''d never marry someone like him. And yet look at the two of you, married with kids just like me and my husband."

    Long Jinjing pursed her lips, unable to retort, because everything Iris said was the truth.

    "Just let Chen Fei and my brother-inw figure out their rtionship or if they really want to pursue a real rtionship," Iris continued saying. "They''re both adults who can make their own decisions. Besides, you''ve known Chen Fei longer than any of us do. You know that she''s not someone to be trifled with. She won''t allow anyone to take advantage of her without her consent. If Brother Chonglin dares to y with her, then she won''t be polite. She''ll destroy him."

    "You''re right." Long Jinjing sighed. "I''m just worried. Jin Chonglin is¡­uh¡­he''s¡­uhm¡­well, you know¡­."

    "Just say it," Iris replied. "He''s a yboy. We all know that."

    "Y-yeah¡­"

    "Well, not all men are like my Liwei who stayed chaste before he pursued me¡ªhis one and only true love." Iris looked smug.

    Long Jinjing wanted to roll her eyes but refrained from doing so because she was too nice and polite.

    Iris continued, "And my big brother, although he had other women before, he''s still a very loyal man. He''smitted to you and my nephews." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "You think so?" Long Jinjing''s cheeks turned crimson. The corners of her mouth were already curving up.

    "Of course." Iris chuckled while sitting down behind her desk. Then she changed the subject. "I gave Chen Fei the day off, so let''s not bother her anymore. The two of us still have plenty of work to finish."

    "Alright." Long Jinjing also joined her.

    Soon, the sisters were busy with their own respective work. As the bosses of Orchidia, they were able toplete most of their work remotely at home which was very convenient especially since both of them were new, young mothers.

    Orchidia was on a phenomenal track. Maternity leave or not, they wanted to ensure that nothing would derail thepany.

    Chen Fei and Jin Chonglin''s matter was pushed out of their minds as they entered work mode without a hitch.

    Meanwhile, Jin Liwei obeyed his wife''s directive to send extra security to his younger brother''s house. He didn''t have much of a reaction when he learned about what happened between Chen Fei and his brother. Like his wife, he believed that the two were already adults who could make their own decisions. He had no intention of interfering in his brother''s rtionships unlesspelled to do so.

    Besides, he already had his own family. He had no time to worry about other people. Right now, he was busy finishing work at Jin Corporation, so that he could go home earlyter and eat dinner with his beloved wife and children.

 Chapter 1427 New Year, New Beginnings

    Chapter 1427 New Year, New Beginnings

    Christmas and New Year holidays came and went. The Chua family once again visited from the Philippines. They brought a lot of local Filipino presents for the Jin and Lu twins. Of course, Little Jun, the cats, and even the puppies weren''t forgotten either.

    It was only because of Dom and his family that Iris and the others even bothered to celebrate Christmas in the first ce as a big, happy family. Without the Chuas, they would rather spend more time running Christmas promotions for their respective businesses instead of taking holiday leave.

    Even the busy Clover returned from France to celebrate with everyone before promptly leaving again after the holidays to continue developing Libert¨¦, formerly known as Sang Bleu, Iris''s perfumepany that Jin Liwei gifted her.

    The babies had also grown up a lot by the time the New Year arrived. The Jin twins couldn''t walk on their own yet, but they were already starting to stand up without anyone holding them up.

    As for the Lu twins, they had be fatter yet again. Everyone else thought that they were adorable, and yet their own father disdained them for being little fatties.

    "Just you wait, Mikhail and Dmitri," Lu Zihao told his sons in a grim, foreboding tone. "When you grow old enough, your father will train you hard. No children of mine will bezy a** couch potatoes. Prepare yourselves. Enjoy your current easy baby lives while you can. It won''tst long."

    It was a good thing that Long Jinjing wasn''t there to hear what her husband said to their children. Even if she heard it, she wouldn''t understand anyway, because he spoke in Russian.

    But if she did understand it, she would definitely go into full mama bear mode and fight him. Their children were still babies. Instead of pampering them, their father was already thinking of putting them through harsh training. What kind of father was he?

    Not long after New Year, Lu Zihao and his family finally moved out of Dragon Pce Home #10 to their new home. It wasn''t an exclusive residential vige like Dragon Pce Homes, but Lu Zihao made sure that the security was fortified from any enemy.

    Grandpa Lu also followed them and moved into his new mansion in the same neighbourhood. The old man was very reluctant about leaving his Jin great-grandbabies.

    If it were up to him, they would all live together at Dragon Pce Home #10 until all the babies grew up. That was the ideal scenario for the old man.

    Unfortunately, Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing insisted on moving out into their new home. Grandpa Lu could only sigh and choose to live closer to his blood-rted great-grandbabies. It was an extremely difficult decision to make, but he understood the need for the couples to have their own privacy. Even he, an old man, needed his own space, so he couldn''t force everyone to live together under the same roof.

    At first, the babies had no idea that this living arrangement was permanent.

    The next day after Lu Zihao and his family moved out, both sets of Jin and Lu twins were inconsble. They kept wailing at the top of their lungs, looking for their cousins.

    Even Little Jun cried miserably and kept on asking his mother, Jiang Ying Yue, where Little Misha and Little Dima went. The poor kid thought that a bad person had stolen his beloved baby cousins. It was only when Jiang Ying Yue exined to her son that they moved out to their own home did Little Jun epted the change with great reluctance.

    The same situation urred at Lu Zihao''s new home. Little Misha and Little Dima almost couldn''t breathe from crying too hard as they looked for their elder cousins.

    Both Iris and Long Jinjing almost gave in. If it weren''t for their husbands'' firm reassurances, they would have already returned to their previous living arrangement at Dragon Pce Home #10.

    In the end, the children gradually got used to not living together. They also video-called every day. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The babies babbled to each other. The parents had no idea what their babies were saying. It didn''t matter, though, whether they understood them or not. The most important thing was that the babies finally stopped crying every single day. The two couples felt finally relieved.

    New Year heralded the fruition of many business projects nned sincest year.

    Jin Liwei worked hard as usual in running Jin Corporation. There might not be as many exciting projectspared to his wife''s businesses, but he had always preferred reliability and consistency over bold risks.

    After all, his number one priority right now was to earn money in order to let his wife and kids enjoy life without any worries. And of course, to pass on thepany to the next generation, preferably to his own children depending on their performance and willingness to inherit the responsibility of running a multinational business empire.

    Like Jin Liwei, Iris had also be much busier. She was more active again in overseeing her businesses and also working on her preparations for another showbizeback after her maternity leave.

    This didn''t mean, however, that she was neglecting her babies. Not at all. With the help of everyone at home, she was able to spend quality time with her family while also finding the time to work on her businesses and showbiz career.

    Right now, Orchidia Beauty''s new endorsement campaign with the national shooting teamunched in full force.

    Ren Jiyu, the youngest athlete in the team, immediately became the hottest athlete of the year because of his special Orchidia Beauty endorsement.

    He and his teammates gained a new horde of fans. Ren Jiyu and some of the more attractive team members even received offers from various talent agencies.

    Iris was in her music room ying the piano for the children, cat, and puppies when Dom handed her the phone, telling her that it was Jin Chonglin.

    Jin Chonglin told her, "Ren Jiyu and his teammates want to sign with our LXC Studio."

 Chapter 1428 How Loyal of Them

    Chapter 1428 How Loyal of Them

    Iris'' eyebrow rose. "You made them offers to join our LXC Studio?"

    "No," Jin Chonglin replied.

    "Then...?"

    "Other talent agencies apparently contacted them and offered favourable contracts, but they didn''t ept any of the offers," he exined. "Ren Jiyu and the others are interested in entering showbiz, though. They said that they''re big fans of yours, so if they''re going to sign with a talent managementpany, then they might as well sign with LXC Studio because they trust you more than anyone else in the industry."

    Iris smiled. "Oh, I see. How loyal of them. My ck Stars are indeed the best."

    He snorted but didn''t refute her im. Of course, in his own mind, he thought that his own army of fans was the best, but the ck Stars were a close second. The infamous fans of Iris Long could indeed contend with his army of fans when it came to loyalty and organization.

    Iris had no problem with signing Ren Jiyu and his teammates with LXC Studio. She appreciated their loyalty to her as members of her ck Stars fan club.

    If they wanted to sign with her own entertainmentpany, then she would wee them with open arms.

    Although Ren Jiyu and his teammates weren''t trained actors or musicians, they were still veritable members of the national shooting team which won the silver medal from thest world championships and brought back glory to the country.

    Their current poprity as a team was still on the rise, especially with theunch of their Orchidia Beauty endorsements. Not to mention that Ren Jiyu, the youngest member among them, was so charismatic. Almost all variety and talk shows wanted to invite and interview him.

    As the bosses of LXC Studio and as famous celebrities themselves, both Iris and Jin Chonglin understood how to utilize this kind of momentary public interest and turn it intosting fame.

    Jin Chonglin was especially adept at it with his own experience as a superstar.

    Ren Jiyu and the other members of the national shooting team were active athletes, so their self-discipline, motivation, and dedication to work hard were unquestionable. Iris felt more assured of having them as signed talents rather than untested trainees. At least, she wouldn''t question their work ethics.

    "I''ll get the contracts ready and arrange a press conference for their official signing with our studio," Jin Chonglin said.

    "Good," Iris replied. "I want it done as soon as possible."

    "Yeah." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Let me know the details once everything is finalized. I''ll attend the official signing."

    "Suit yourself."

    The conversation about signing the national shooting team was finally over. Iris still wanted to ask her brother-inw about his rtionship with Chen Fei, but it seemed that Jin Chonglin somehow sensed it, so he quickly ended the phone call before she could open up the topic.

    She sighed, feeling a little regretful.

    Then her attention shifted to the door when someone knocked and opened it.

    Popcorn flew like an orange rocket followed by the three puppies¡ªPudding, Chowder, and Ham.

    Jin Liwei caught Popcorn and smiled at the puppies who were wagging their tails while circling his feet.

    "Papa!" Little Jun also ran to his godfather.

    "Dada! Dada!! Dada!!!" Little Mochi followed behind.

    Even the usually quiet and indifferent Little Matcha threw his toy car and crawled to his father.

    Jin Liwei''s eyes softened when he saw the children abandon their toys aside to wee him home.

    He took his time giving each child a kiss and a hug. His twin boys each hugged one of his legs. He scooped them up and carried them in each arm.

    Little Mochi babbled and gestured wildly. Jin Liwei had no idea what his eldest twin son was saying, but he could tell from the baby''s excitement that Little Mochi was regaling him with his little adventures throughout the morning.

    He nced at his other son.

    Little Matcha was content hugging his neck. The baby who resembled him the most also took after his personality. Both the father and son were indifferent to other people but were quite possessive and affectionate only to their loved ones.

    Little Jun already returned to ying with Popcorn and the puppies. Seeing this, the twins also wanted to be put down.

    Jin Liwei chuckled before carefully allowing them to crawl back to their elder cousin and y together.

    "Hi, Sir Boss!" Dom greeted.

    "Meow," Ice Cream also greeted him before quickly returning to her ever-important beauty sleep.

    Jin Liwei nodded at them before walking straight to his wife sitting by the piano. He pulled Iris into his embrace and inhaled her scent.

    How fragrant!

    His wife always smelled good. But she smelled extra nice today (courtesy of Libert¨¦''stest perfume prototype sent by Clover from France for approval).

    He couldn''t help but kiss his wife before sighing in contentment.

    "Wee back, darling," Iris said with a smile.

    "I''m home, love," he replied, giving her a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth.

    The family walked to the dining area for lunch.

    After eating, the nannies took the children and the pets away for an afternoon nap in the nursery. Dom left to give the husband and wife some privacy.

    Iris and Jin Liwei enjoyed some digestive tea while chatting.

    Then Ketchup interrupted them, "Excuse me, Mommy and Daddy, but Grandma Wei Lan is calling Daddy''s phone. Does Mommy and Daddy want the cute and mighty Ketchup to answer it or ignore it? Meow~"

    Jin Liwei nced at his wife, letting her decide what to do.

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "She always treats you like her own child more than me. She''d rather call you directly than speak with me."

    He chuckled. "Because you always leave her speechless. Besides, you don''t really consider her your mother anyway."

    "True." She didn''t refute it. "I also only speak the truth to her. If that makes her want to avoid me, then I can''t do anything about it, nor do I care."

    "Then don''t care if you don''t want to." He took her hand and kissed it. "Let me handle Wei Lan. She''s still my mother-inw in the eyes of the people after all."

    Follow Author on Instagram

 Chapter 1429 Amnesia?

    Chapter 1429 Amnesia?

    Iris shrugged and gestured for Jin Liwei to answer the phone call.

    Her husband spoke to Wei Lan. She heard everything they were talking about. When the phone call ended, the husband and wife frowned.

    "The vizconde has amnesia?" Iris frowned. "Do you believe it?"

    Jin Liwei paused for a couple of seconds. "Niki''s informants have confirmed that the vizconde was badly injured when he was ambushed in Trinidad. Apparently, his condition was so severe that he technically died when they were rushing him for medical treatment off-ind. He was only sessfully revived when they arrived in Barbados. He wasatose. ording to what Wei Lan said, he only regained consciousness yesterday but couldn''t remember anything, even his own name."

    Iris was deep in thought.

    Jin Liwei continued, "We still don''t know if the attack was premeditated or if the vizconde was only unlucky to encounter a gang shooting. Niki''s people are still investigating."

    She nodded. "I''ll optimize Bacon again so that he can assist Big Brother''s investigations better. As for the vizconde, I''m getting more and more intrigued by him. I''m curious about what kind of person he really is in person."

    "We''ll meet him soon. Wei Lan and Ren¨¦ Alejandro are bringing him to the country to recuperate when his condition stabilizes enough to fly safely."

    Although the Spanish viscount intrigued Iris, he wasn''t enough to retain her interest for long. She had an important task today.

    "Ready?" Jin Liwei asked.

    She nodded.

    After freshening up and changing their outfits, Iris and Jin Liwei said goodbye to the children, cats, and puppies before leaving the mansion together.

    "Are you sure you don''t want me toe with you inside?" Jin Liwei asked again.

    She shook her head. "Thanks but I can handle it. Besides, you still need to work and earn milk money for our babies."

    He chuckled.

    Jin Liwei''s eyes were soft as he gazed at his beautiful wife. If they weren''t on their way to work, he would have already dragged her to their bedroom and done wicked things with her in broad daylight. Just imagining it was making him breathless.

    What a pity! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He could only endure during the day and wait until bedtimeter at night. Others said that attraction waned after marriage and childbirth, but that wasn''t the case for them at all. He found his wife even more beautiful and sexier after she gave birth to his children.

    He could only endure during the day and wait until bedtimeter at night. Others said that attraction waned after marriage and childbirth, but that wasn''t the case for them at all. He found his wife even more beautiful and sexier after she gave birth to his children.

    Truth be told, he still couldn''t get enough of her. If he wasn''t careful in wearing protection, it would be no surprise if she got pregnant again so soon after giving birth to their twin boys.

    He didn''t mind if they had more biological children in the future. Both of them could afford to raise as many as they wanted, anyway. However, he didn''t want his wife to suffer through childbirth again.

    He stood by her side when Iris gave birth to their twins. It was frightening and also one of the most important reasons why he loved his wife even more now than he did before.

    For a woman to go through all the pain, and suffering, and even face the risk of death, just to give birth to a child, which man wouldn''t love his wife even more after all that?

    A stupid idiot.

    No doubt about it.

    Of course, Jin Liwei wasn''t a stupid idiot. This was why his love for his wife was overflowing even more than before he married her.

    Iris saw how he was looking at her and felt amused. "What are you thinking about?"

    "You."

    Sheughed.

    "And our kids," he added.

    Herughter transformed into a soft smile. "We have amazing kids, Liwei."

    "I know. Thanks to you."

    She sped her hand with his and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I couldn''t have made our babies without you."

    "I know." This time, he looked smug.

    Only the two of them could create such beautiful children together. Perhaps they were seeing their own kids with rose-coloured filter eyes just like any other parents, but they really thought that their own biological children were the most amazing in the whole world.

    Even so, Jin Liwei was still clear-headed enough to continue his resolve to be the disciplinarian in the family. His wife was perfect in almost every way, except when it came to their children.

    She had always been too soft-hearted and would spoil the kids to no end. He needed to bnce it out with his strictness in order to prevent their kids from going astray and growing up into disastrous spoiled brats.

    Finally, they arrived at a nondescript office building.

    Jin Liwei got off the vehicle first and helped his wife next. Then they walked together to the building followed by Dom and their bodyguards. Their movements were quick, so the passersby didn''t notice that the nation''s current most famous power couple just walked by them.

    They rode the elevator to the topmost floor. When they stepped out of the elevator, they were greeted by the imposing logo of Phantom Dragon Funds.

    "Wee, President Long and CEO Jin," the new CEO of Phantom Dragon Funds greeted them.

    Qiao Yu, Iris'' long-time personal financial manager, only helped her establish the new investmentpany at the beginning until they found someonepetent to manage it.

    The new CEO was the prot¨¦g¨¦ of Qiao Yu''s long-time friend in the financial management industry. At Qiao Yu''s rmendation, Iris had the man''s background checked before aggressively recruiting and sessfully hiring him as Phantom Dragon Funds'' new CEO.

    The new CEO was eager to showcase his management and leadership skills. In no time, he hired a fullpany staff and executed Iris'' orders, especially their number one priority at the moment¡ªbuying as much Long Industries shares as possible.

    Iris was very satisfied with this CEO''s performance so far.

    To the outside world, Phantom Dragon Funds was an up-anding start-up that was taking the investment world by storm. It helped that its new CEO was a young hotshot that many predicted would be one of the nation''s business leaders in the future.

 Chapter 1430 Eccentric Billionaire

    Chapter 1430 entric Billionaire

    In order to keep the new CEO long-term and inspire loyalty, Iris made a decisive choice¡ªshe granted 5% shares of Phantom Dragon Funds to him.

    This was one of the things she learned from Grandpa Lu. People would work harder when they knew that their own interests would be affected.

    And it really worked.

    Once he received the ownership certificate for the 5% shares, the CEO became even more motivated. If not for Iris'' stern reminder not to put in unnecessary overtime, then he would probably live in his office and work all hours of the day.

    Phantom Dragon Funds was only established very recently, and yet it already had stakes in various sessful businesses not only in the domestic market but also internationally. Its aggressive acquisition of Long Industries'' scattered shares wasn''t viewed as anything special because Phantom Dragon Funds was also doing it to otherpanies.

    However, many were skeptical about Phantom Dragon Funds'' investment focus.

    Others had noticed that it had also invested quite heavily in questionable technological start-uppanies domestically and internationally that were considered too risky or even deemed impossible to make into fruition.

    This led some analysts to guess that the true owner of the investmentpany might be an entric billionaire who had more money than he could spend, so he wanted to waste it on pursuing impossible dreams of fantasies by investing in ridiculous businesses. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    These assumptions didn''t faze Iris at all. She felt amused when she heard them. Those analysts'' guesses were so far off the mark that she could onlyugh.

    Sure, she could already be considered a billionaire because she married one. Their pre-nuptial agreement made it so that once she married Jin Liwei, all of their wealth merged. Despite this, she still wanted to achieve global billionaire status in her own right without relying too much on her husband''s ready-made assets.

    As for being entric, well, that part was indeed correct.

    She was a Cross Academy student after all. And there was a saying that all Cross Academy students were entrics in one way or another no matter how normal they appeared.

    Iris pushed all of these random thoughts out of her mind.

    She had a more important task to aplish today. Jin Liwei kissed her cheek and instructed the others to take care of her before leaving to do his own thing.

    Iris, Dom, and her bodyguards followed the new CEO of Phantom Dragon Funds to a conference room. The other staff members were already waiting inside. Dom and the bodyguards stayed outside near the door, ready to spring into action if Iris needed them.

    Information about Phantom Dragon Funds being apany under Eve Holdings wasn''t revealed to the public eye yet. Of course, if someone wanted to dig deeper, they were wee to do so.

    The big question was if they were capable enough to uncover it.

    Because who was Iris Long?

    She was a world-ss genius hacker, not to mention that she had two powerful cat AI children always assisting her in doing whatever she wanted. Concealing any information was a piece of cake for this trio of powerfulputer experts.

    To mislead outsiders, she arranged it so that Phantom Dragon Funds was far away from Eve Holdings headquarters for now.

    With Jin Liwei gone, Iris became the most powerful figure in the conference room. Her aura became even more imposing and even started to intimidate the new CEO and the staff.

    The CEO took a deep breath and presented their progress to Iris so far. She nodded in satisfaction. The atmosphere rxed for a bit, relieving the staff present.

    "Elder Long Jufang has performed well in fulfilling his part of the deal," Iris said. "He has been helping out a lot in mediating between us and the other shareholders. Give him more benefits but not too much."

    "Understood," the CEO replied.

    "Now that Mao Textiles is bankrupt, it''s like cutting off one of Long Hui''s wings. We are now ahead in acquiring the scattered shares."

    "We are," the CEO confirmed. He was now smiling, looking pleased with himself and his staff''s achievements in following their big boss'' orders.

    She shot him a pointed look. "I want to be the majority shareholder of Long Industries. Make it happen."

    The CEO hesitated for a moment, but determination shed in his eyes. "I''ll make it happen¡ªno, WE''LL make it happen." He looked at each of his staff members straight in the eyes. "Am I right?"

    "Yes, that''s right!" the other staff members echoed.

    The CEO''s assistant knocked on the door. "President Long Tengfei of Long Industries has arrived ten minutes early for his appointment."

    Everyone nced at Iris.

    She smiled. "He arrived rather early. How punctual of him. We shouldn''t keep President Long Tengfei waiting for ten more minutes for his appointment. Let him in now."

    The assistant executed her order. A few minutester, Long Tengfei arrived with his long-time assistant, Cai Guang. They passed by the CEO''s office.

    Long Tengfei frowned and couldn''t help but ask, "Hm? We aren''t meeting your CEO today?"

    The assistant gave him a polite yet mysterious smile. "Please don''t worry, President Long. Our CEO is already waiting for you with our owner. They''re looking forward to meeting you at our conference room."

    Long Tengfei was surprised but also pleased. He had also heard of many rumours about the entric billionaire owner of Phantom Dragon Funds. No matter how hard he tried to investigate, his people couldn''t dig out the true identity of this new investmentpany''s owner.

    He even once suspected that the owner might be his youngest daughter, Long Xin, but he squashed the thought as soon as it appeared.

    Looking at thetest investment decisions of Phantom Dragon Funds, he didn''t think that his son-inw, Jin Liwei, would allow his wife''spany to make such reckless moves.

    His son-inw was known in the business world as a reliable and consistent leader. He wasn''t the type to make any impulsive decisions like what Phantom Dragon Funds was doing.

 Chapter 1431 Give Me a Heart Attack One Day

    Chapter 1431 Give Me a Heart Attack One Day

    At first, Long Tengfei thought that Phantom Dragon Funds was targeting his Long Industries. But on closer inspection, it was doing the same thing to other businesses, both new and long-established ones.

    It was aggressively acquiring as many shares as it could buy. His Long Industries wasn''t anything special when viewed from this perspective.

    Besides, the acquisition of shares itself wasn''t a bad thing. It even helped in increasing the value of the shares due to the attention. The total value of Long Industries as apany had increased a lot since Phantom Dragon Funds started targeting its shares. In a way, Long Tengfei should be thankful for it.

    However, his intuition as a businessman honed from decades of experience couldn''t help but sound an rm at the too-aggressive acquisition of shares of hispany.

    He suspected that there might be something in y behind the scenes that he hadn''t figured out yet. He needed more information about the other party''s real intention as to why they wanted to acquire so many of hispany''s shares.

    Long Industries was his life and blood.

    There was even a point in his life when he thought it was more important than his children.

    Of course, he was already starting to mend his ways, but Long Industries was still an important part of his life and identity. He couldn''t allow anyone to blindside him and take hispany away without a fight.

    This was why he wanted to meet the people behind Phantom Dragon Funds in person. It was only now that the other party epted his invitation for a meeting.

    He was initially displeased. He thought that they were too cocky for their own good. Typical behavior of ambitious youngsters just setting foot in the industry.

    Now, however, his displeasure turned into anticipation after hearing that the owner was finally willing to show his face to others. Long Tengfei couldn''t wait to meet the mysterious entric owner behind Phantom Dragon Funds

    They arrived in front of a closed door.

    The assistant knocked on the door before opening it.

    Long Tengfei and Cai Guang walked inside the conference room, ready to greet the CEO and the mysterious owner.

    Then they were both stunned.

    Iris stood up from her seat at the head of the table and gave them a dazzling smile. Her smile blinded them, further freezing them on the spot.

    "Hello, Father," she greeted Long Tengfeifirst before nodding at Cai Guang. "Wee to my Phantom Dragon Funds. I heard from my CEO that you''ve been looking forward to meeting me. Please sit down. What would you like to drink? Coffee, tea, juice, water?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Y-you¡­Xin?" Long Tengfei stammered.

    Iris tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Yes, Father. It''s me."

    Long Tengfei didn''t remain shocked for too long. He had already experienced far more shocking bombshells thrown by his youngest daughter before today.

    The first time was when he discovered that his daughter was in a romantic rtionship with CEO Jin Liwei of Jin Corporation.

    The second time was when he learned that his daughter was actually a rare genius and even enrolled in the legendary school for geniuses, Cross Academy.

    The third time was when he unknowingly attended his youngest daughter''s surprise wedding and learned that she was also pregnant at the same time.

    And finally, the biggest shock (more like the biggest happy surprise so far) was when his youngest daughter plus his other daughter gave birth to their own sets of twin sons respectively.

    Of course, there were many more shocking bombshells in between these huge ones. He should have already be numb at being shocked by his youngest daughter all the time, but in fact, he still couldn''t get used to it.

    His daughter, Long Xin, was too much of an outlier among the people he knew.

    Most of the time, she didn''t conform to logic. She loved to shock others.

    ''She''ll give me a heart attack one day if she continues like this,'' he thought, feeling helpless.

    Finally, he asked, "You''re the owner of Phantom Dragon Funds?" he asked.

    "Correct." Iris didn''t deny it.

    Long Tengfei sighed. He nced at his long-time assistant Cai Guang who still hadn''t recovered from his stunned state. Then he didn''t stand on ceremony and sat down. He felt exhausted all of a sudden.

    "Tea," he requested. "No, I want coffee instead."

    He needed something stronger than tea to face this cunning daughter of his. Looking around the elegant yet imposing conference room, the fact that his daughter threw him this kind of curveball was starting to sink in. Indeed, she was a genius.

    Someone average couldn''t possibly set up a newpany and grow it at the speed of light like this. Only a genius like her could create a diabolicalpany and target her own father''spany, wanting to swallow it, while at the same time doing the same to otherpanies to make it look less conspicuous.

    So he had been right to suspect his youngest daughter before.

    She indeed owned Phantom Dragon Funds, and yet he retracted this suspicion after falsely believing that his supposedly reliable son-inw wouldn''t allow Iris to run apany investing an enormous amount of money so recklessly like this.

    It turned out that his son-inw, Jin Liwei, loved his wife too much that he would allow her to do anything she wanted despite the possible disastrous consequences.

    Long Tengfei once again sighed.

    He felt a dull ache in his head. When the CEO himself served him and Cai Guang a cup of ck coffee each, he would''ve downed it in one go if it wasn''t so scalding hot.

    The other staff already left. Only Iris, the CEO, Long Tengfei and Cai Guang were left in the conference room.

    "Xin¡­." Long Tengfei began saying, but couldn''t formte a coherent sentence to tell her daughter yet.

    "Father¡ªno, I should call you President Long Tengfei since we''re in an official business setting," Iris said. "I know what you want to ask me. I won''t waste any more time and keep you guessing."

 Chapter 1432 Face-off Between an Old And a Young Dragon

    Chapter 1432 Face-off Between an Old And a Young Dragon

    "Yes, I own Phantom Dragon Funds since day one," Iris said. "And also yes, I set it up primarily to win the majority shareholder rights at Long Industries. Of course, now that my investmentpany is running well, no matter what the oue in my battle at Long Industries, I intend to let Phantom Dragon Funds continue investing in various businesses in different sectors and also continue helping out promising entrepreneurs in realizing their dreams."

    She looked at Long Tengfei straight in the eye. "I want you to remember this, President Long Tengfei. I want Long Industries, but I don''t necessarily need it. After all, I''m still a businesswoman who already owns multiple sessfulpanies."

    She made sure to emphasize the word "sessful".

    Long Tengfei immediately understood the point she made.

    He asked, "Does it have to be this way?"

    The smile disappeared from Iris'' face. "No, it doesn''t have to be this way."

    His heart did a hopeful skip. "Then¡­."

    But before he could finish his sentence, Iris interrupted him. "But if Long Hui bes the next head of Long Industries and the n, then it will have to be this way. I already told you this so many times before. I won''t allow him to seed after all the things he did. I know that you had been grooming him since he was a child to be your sessor, but I want you to look clearly at his abilities without any bias. Do you think that he''ll be a good leader?"

    He didn''t answer.

    He couldn''t.

    Iris continued, "Fine, I admit that his business sense is not terrible. But it''s nothing extraordinary either. Big Sister Jinjing is so much more skilled than him. Oh, and before you get any ideas about her, I''m not giving her to yourpany, so don''t even think about it, President Long. She belongs to my Orchidia."

    Long Tengfei scowled, not sure whether tough or cry. "I didn''t say that I''m trying to poach your sister away from you."

    "Even if you try poaching her, she won''t be tempted anyway." She shrugged. "The benefits of all mypanies are so much better than Long Industries. So unless you threaten her with filial piety, she won''t be moved to leave mypany to work for you."

    He became speechless. Her daughter''s tone was polite, yet her words were extremely savage. It was clear that she was criticizing hispany and making it sound like it couldn''tpare to her ownpanies.

    Before he could even have the chance to retort, she added, "Even Big Brother Jian is a much better leader than Long Hui. His performance and the results of his projects are much moremendable than your eldest son''s who have everything handed to him on a silver tter."

    Once again, he couldn''t out-argue her.

    "Andstly, me." She pointed at herself. "Is there any need to question my abilities at this point? Even if you subtract my husband''s power and influence from me, I have still built several sessful businesses with stable foundations with my ability. Now tell me, President Long, I''m gonna ask you this for thest time because I don''t want to keep repeating myself to you, which one among us siblings do you think is the best choice to be the next head of yourpany? Be honest and judge it ording to your criteria as a wise businessman with decades-long experience and not as a biased parent."

    Silence filled the conference room.

    Phantom Dragon Funds'' CEO and Cai Guang dared not breathe too loudly as they watched the tense confrontation between the father and daughter. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    They could imagine an old, noble dragon facing off against and bold, fearless young dragon.

    The sparks between the two almost singed the hairs off their heads.

    Long Tengfei was the first one to break the tense silence.

    "You¡­are indeed my daughter."

    Iris raised an eyebrow. What did he mean by saying that? Was he praising or criticizing her?

    He sighed again. He didn''t know how many times he had sighed today. This sigh, however, seemed to be the heaviest.

    "Alright, Xin," he said. "Based on what I can see, you are indeed the best choice to seed as the next head of Long Industries."

    Her bright smile returned.

    His tired look was reced by seriousness. "I can make it official and publicly announce you as my sessor, if that''s what you want. But that won''t silence the detractors against you. Despite everything that happened to your eldest brother, he''s still my firstborn and the one expected to inherit my mantle as the next head of Long Industries."

    "I know," she replied.

    "Using this," he gestured at her office, "Phantom Dragon Funds of yours to forcefully snatch the majority stake of Long Industries will indeed aid your ns, but it will also leave your rule extremely unstable. Since you''re so proud of your current businesses that you built with stable foundations, then you must also prioritize stabilizing your position at Long Industries if you want to be the next head. I might have already chosen you, but it''s useless if the rest of thepany refuses to acknowledge you."

    "Challenge epted," she said with a smile.

    "There is one way to allow the rest of thepany to ept you more easily, that is, if you''re willing to do it."

    "Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, feeling intrigued.

    "Reveal that you''re an active student at Cross Academy and provide proof of your admittance."

    She didn''t respond right away.

    "Once people learn that you''re affiliated with such a renowned world-ss educational institution, then it''s easier for them to ept you as my sessor and not doubt you too much."

    "Because I''ll bebelled as a genius and not just as a product of nepotism, is what you mean," she said.

    "Exactly."

    She tilted her head to the side and pondered about it. "I''ll eventually reveal my connection to Cross Academy. I''ll think about when."

    "Suit yourself," he could only say.

 Chapter 1433 Youâ€™re a Cross Academy Student?!

    Chapter 1433 You¡¯re a Cross Academy Student?!

    Long Tengfei didn''t understand why his daughter would withhold such an important achievement from the public. If it were any other normal person, they would have already bragged about it long ago. And yet his daughter kept it a secret for so long.

    Despite his inner thoughts, he didn''t persuade her any further. He knew long ago that his youngest daughter was the most willful among his children.

    Nobody could force her to do anything that she didn''t want to do. She was like a bulldozer who would trample upon anyone who dared to stand in her way, even if they were her own parents.

    Looking at her now, he knew that there was no changing her mind about whatever she had decided.

    She had her ns. But since he already acknowledged her as his sessor, then he could only try to minimize the damage and outrage that would certainly ur to the already hostile rtionship between his eldest son and his other children.

    "You can continue being Long Industries'' brand ambassador, but I''ll still arrange an official position with actual power in thepany for you," he promised her. "I can do this much as the head of thepany and as a father. You''ll face more criticismpared to your two older brothers because you didn''t start from the bottom like them."

    She shrugged at his warning. "I don''t mind criticisms. I eat them for breakfast."

    "You!" He sighed again and shook his head. He didn''t bother responding to her witty quip. Instead, he said, "Xin, I know that you have a grudge against your eldest brother, but he''s still your blood-rted sibling. Canyou¡­can you just¡­leave him a little leeway without being too ruthless?"

    "You still remember what he did to your eldest grandson, right? Even if you don''t care about Jiang Ying Yue, you must still consider Little Jun in your heart. And don''t forget about his now ex-wife, Mao Qiyue, that vicious woman! Not only did she nder Jiang Ying Yue but she almost harmed my godson! Even now, the Maos are still so vindictive despite already suffering retribution for their actions. They have no remorse at all! If not for my husband''s tight security team, then the Maos would''ve already harmed your eldest grandson and his mother many times over!

    "So, President Long, if you want me to stop being too ruthless to your eldest son, then you must also educate him first to conduct himself and the people closest to him properly. He''s the one who didn''t want to y fair first. I''m only retaliating. I''m not a saint or a martyr. I''m not going to smile and turn the other cheek when somebody is treating me and my loved ones poorly!

    "And to be honest, I''m not even that ruthless to him yet. I''m still leaving it to thew to punish him ording to the level of his misdeeds. If I were to be really ruthless to him, then he wouldn''t even have the time and energy to scheme against anyone ever again because he''d be too busy just trying to survive. You understand what I mean, President Long?"

    The conversation between the father and daughter didn''t end well.

    They might technically not have quarreled, but the tension between them was almost too much to bear for Cai Guang and Phantom Dragon Funds'' CEO.

    There was no satisfactory conclusion about Long Tengfei''s plea for her eldest son to his youngest daughter in today''s meeting.

    Long Tengfei might have already chosen his youngest daughter as his sessor, but he didn''t feel at ease. Not at all. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He knew that his eldest son''s misdeeds had piled up too high that it was already justifiable for him to negate Long Hui''s qualifications as the sessor of Long Industries. But Long Hui was still the son that he had painstakingly groomed as his sessor for so many years.

    These conflicting emotions had already caused him indecision so many times when it came to his children''s battle for session.

    With a heavy heart, he bid goodbye to his youngest daughter and left with Cai Guang. Silence filled the vehicle as they made their way back to Long Industries.

    "Will everything be fine in the end?" he asked no one in particr.

    His long-time loyal assistant, Cai Guang, thought that his boss was speaking to him. He replied, "Young Miss Xin might be temperamental but she has already proven to be an excellent business leader. I believe that she''ll do what''s best for thepany after she takes over and that includes how to deal with Eldest Young Master Hui and Second Young Master Jian. I''m sure that she''ll still remember them as her biological brother no matter what."

    Long Tengfei sighed, closed his eyes, and tried to calm his restless mind and heart. "I hope you''re right. I really hope that you''re right."

    ###

    After Long Tengfei left, Iris noticed that the eyes of Phantom Dragon Funds'' CEO were shining while looking at her.

    "Is it true that you''re a Cross Academy student?" he asked, unable to contain his excitement.

    She nodded, not bothering to conceal it. It was true, anyway. There was no need to hide it from him, especially since she already considered him as one of her people after bing the new CEO of Phantom Dragon Funds.

    "Awesome!" The usually cool andpetent man now looked like a giddy teenager who had met his idol in person for the first time. "I always dreamed of being admitted to Cross Academy after watching an unauthorized documentary about it when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I don''t quality."

    "You graduated from an Ivy League business school just like my husband," she said. "Many people also dream of being admitted to your alma mater. There''s no need to feel envious of me. You''re already impressive in your own right."

    "I know, boss. I''m not belittling my own achievements, I worked hard for every single one of them. But it''s Cross Academy! The legendary Cross Academy!!! It''s the highest level among the world-ss schools in the world. The top among the top! Do you know how many people would kill just to set foot in there?!!! Cross Academy!"

 Chapter 1434 Deputy Chief Marketing Officer

    Chapter 1434 Deputy Chief Marketing Officer

    Iris humoured the excited man''s curiosity and answered most of his questions. As long as no sensitive private matters were vited, she shared some information about Cross Academy.

    Afterward, he asked in a confused tone, "Why won''t you reveal that you''re a Cross Academy student?"

    She crossed her legs and sipped her hot tea. "Just like you said, Cross Academy is legendary. All of us Cross Academy students have our own pride. Right now, I don''t feel that I have enough personal achievements in my current fields of study¡ªnamely, foreignnguages and business administration. I''m also a celebrity. Every move I make can be made into hot news. What I want is to be big enough to wear the title of Cross Academy student with ease and not the title wearing me down instead. Although I don''t care much about what others think about me, I don''t want them saying that I''m not good enough for Cross Academy."

    He didn''tpletely understand what she meant, but he respected her decision. Now that he knew that his boss was a certified genius from Cross Academy, his respect for her became absolute.

    It would be a lie if he said that he didn''t look down and underestimate Iris Long a bit before she hired him as the new CEO of Phantom Dragon Funds.

    Like others, he held some misconceptions about her. For example, she only became sessful because of her identity as a wealthy young miss andter as the wife of CEO Jin Liwei.

    It was only after working closely together with her on running Phantom Dragon Funds that he discovered that this woman was a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Now that he learned that she was also admitted to Cross Academy, he definitely became loyal to her in addition to gaining more respect for her.

    Iris didn''t mind the almost fanatic gaze of the man.

    There was respect and awe in his eyes.

    What she didn''t tell him was that she wanted to prove herself first by honing her trantion skills and by bing a global billionaire. Although others would argue that her current achievements were already enough, her past achievements as Evelina Vetrova at Cross Academy were too enormouspared to the current her.

    She wanted to surpass her past achievements to satisfy herpetitive spirit, even though herpetitor was none other than herself.

    Only then would she be confident and proud enough to reveal her identity as a Cross Academy student. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    ###

    Long Tengfei was true to his word. After a few days, he immediately released an official announcement appointing the current celebrity brand ambassador, Iris Long, as the new Deputy Chief Marketing Officer of Long Industries.

    The news was even reported by the media.

    This decision caused an uproar in thepany, especially among the board of directors.

    Iris arrived at Long Industries with great fanfare. She didn''t avoid the reporters gathered outside thepany building and even entertained a few questions from them. Then Dom and her bodyguards, together with thepany security staff, safely escorted her inside.

    Long Jian, thepany''s Deputy Chief Operating Officer, was the one who personally weed her and led her up to the President''s office.

    "This is not a smart move," he told her once they were enclosed in the elevator. "There are many who are nning to sabotage you now that you have risen directly to Deputy CMO. Even the former Deputy CMO, now promoted as the new Chief Marketing Officer, expressed his dissatisfaction at your sudden promotion."

    "I know." Iris wasn''t perturbed at all, but still gave him a grateful smile for the warning.

    He gave her a weak scoff, trying his best to act disgusted at her grateful smile.

    Iris shrugged while listening to him talk about some of the most relevantpany gossip.

    She already did extensive background research with Ketchup and Bacon on the people that she would be closely working with at Long Industries now that she was the new Deputy CMO.

    The previous Deputy CMO was now her immediate superior, promoted to Chief Marketing Officer. The previous CMO had retired.

    ording to her research, the new CMO was nning on promoting his own prot¨¦g¨¦ as his deputy but was instead blindsided by President Long Tengfei''s decision to promote his daughter. Of course, he wouldn''t be too happy about it.

    Iris didn''t care too much about this kind of petty politics in the office. She was ready to prove herself to the CMO and to everyone in thepany that she was more than qualified for the position.

    Nevertheless, she was still surprised when she found out that Long Tengfei appointed her as the new Deputy CMO. When he promised a few days ago that he would give her an official position in thepany with real power, she assumed that she be an upper mid-level manager and not an executive so soon. But she quickly recovered and didn''t hesitate to ept the appointment and go for her first day at work at Long Industries as soon as possible.

    Why would she reject it?

    At least, Long Tengfei was true to his word and already helped pave the way for her as his sessor as the head of Long Industries.

    Long Jian asked beside her, interrupting her thoughts, "Can you handle the additional workload?"

    She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about me, my dear brother?"

    He pretended to shiver. "Stop using that sweet tone on me! Who''s worried about you?! Don''t forget that we''re opponents, okay?! Opponents!!!"

    "Oh." Iris stopped teasing him and instead began checking her immacte manicure, looking uninterested.

    "Hmph! There''s no way I''ll feel worried about you. I''m only like this because of our temporary alliance. We need each other''s help to stabilize our positions and influence in thispany, and most importantly, to kick out that a**hole, Long Hui. Once that''s done, to each our own. Understand?"

    She nodded. "Of course."

    He snorted but still carefully led her to their father''s office once they exited the elevator.

 Chapter 1435 Youâ€™re a Black Star, Arenâ€™t You?

    Chapter 1435 You¡¯re a ck Star, Aren¡¯t You?

    Waiting for them inside the President''s office were Long Tengfei and also the newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer.

    Iris could feel the other party''s eyes inspecting her, but she wasn''t fazed. At least, she could sense that the CMO wasn''t overtly hostile to her. Although she didn''t know the CMO as a person yet, based on the background investigations she and her AI cat children conducted, he was always professional and took his work seriously. This kind of person wouldn''t backstab other people for his gain.

    She hoped that he was as she expected.

    If he was, then she just needed to disy her high standard of professionalism and abilities.

    Besides, what others thought of her wasn''t her business.

    As long as she aplished her tasks, she didn''t care about people''s opinions about her in thispany.

    Her goal at Long Industries was differentpared to her goals for her own businesses. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She only viewed herself as a temporary vessel to acquire thepany and run it for a few years before handing it to the next sessor.

    If Little Jun grew up to be apetent leader, then she would hand thepany to her godson in a heartbeat. But if the child wasn''t interested, she could still find and groom other potential candidates and choose the best among them.

    As long as it wasn''t Long Hui or any of his greedy minions, Iris had no problem handing over the responsibility of running Long Industries to anotherpetent leader. But the person must pass her high criteria first.

    The introductions at the President''s office were very brief.

    Long Tengfei simply made the introductions. His move was meant as a signal to the new CMO that he was backing his youngest daughter and the CMO better take care of her. The CMO pretended not to notice. His expression looked stern right from the start.

    Long Jian looked like he still wanted to say something to Iris, but the CMO already led her away to her new office.

    The CMO was her direct superior. He was very perfunctory in introducing her to their team, but Iris didn''t mind.

    They immediately convened in the conference room. The CMO handed her a folder containing a series of documents.

    "These are thepany''s current marketing ns. We n to expand our shipping routes in Europe and renew our current partnerships in Asia and North America. The current routes in the other continents will remain as they are for now. Review each of the ns, make suggestions as you see fit for our team to review, and then present the finalized ns next week."

    Iris didn''t change her expression as she opened the folder and began speed-reading the documents.

    The CMO and the others didn''t know whether she was just pretending to be calm or if she was really confident in her new position in thepany.

    To be honest, most of them were disgruntled upon learning that she was parachuted by her father, especially those who were vying for the position of Deputy CMO. Those ones believed that they were morepetent and qualified to be the new Deputy Chief Marketing Officer than her.

    When they first learned that President Long Tengfei assigned his celebrity daughter, Iris Long, to be the next Deputy CMO, they thought that it was an absurd decision.

    But what could they do?

    The higher-ups were the ones making the major decisions. They just needed to obey whether they liked it or not.

    As for working with Iris Long, they would just close one eye and pretend to be harmonious with her.

    No matter how dissatisfied they felt at her sudden promotion, she was still the President''s daughter after all.

    What happened was clear nepotism.

    Those who imed otherwise were either blind or a fool.

    They just hoped that she wouldn''t drag their team down too much. As long as she wouldn''t rock the boat too much, then they could ignore her other inadequacies.

    Most importantly, they didn''t want to offend her because she had the biggest backer in the country''s business world¡ªher husband, Jin Liwei of Jin Corporation.

    CEO Jin was known to cklist individuals that offended him before. They were all corporate workers. It wasn''t worth it to offend an overbearing ancestor like CEO Jin.

    It was true that when the gods fought, the mortals would be the ones to suffer the most.

    Iris might not hear their thoughts, but she could sense them.

    She didn''t care. All she cared about was familiarizing herself with her new workce. She was already grateful that the CMO was professional enough and even prepared this mini-orientation for her.

    They might not believe in her yet, but at least they respected her enough not to openly give her a bad attitude.

    Afterward, she immediately went to work in her newly assigned office.

    They were very thorough and even assigned an assistant to her, albeit it was a newbie.

    "B-boss, do you need me to do something for you?" The assistant was eager to please.

    Iris nced at her and blinked a few times. "Hmmm. You look familiar. Have we met before?"

    The nervous assistant''s eyes lit up, but was unable to reply to her question immediately.

    Iris was unsure whether her new assistant was too timid or too excited. Although Iris wasn''t too pleased at the assistant''s apparent timidity, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and allow the person some time to disy her abilities. The most important thing was that Iris could sense the assistant''s sincerity in her desire to please her.

    "Go and ask Dom about my preferences," Iris ended up telling her.

    "Understood, Boss Iris!"

    Dom returned to her side after she started to settle in her new office. She watched as her new assistant spoke with Dom.

    Then it struck her why the person looked familiar.

    When her new assistant returned with a cup of hot ck tea made from tea leaves that Dom especially bought from home, Iris smiled at her.

    "I remember you now," she said. "You''re a ck Star, aren''t you?"

 Chapter 1436 Level of Productivity

    Chapter 1436 Level of Productivity

    The new assistant gasped and became teary-eyed. "I didn''t think that you''ll remember me, Boss Iris."

    "Of course, I remember you." Iris took a sip from her cup of tea. "I''ve seen you a couple of times supporting me in the audience when I attended some talk shows before I took hiatus from showbiz."

    The new assistant became even more excited and pledged her undying loyalty to Iris.

    "I originally wanted to apply to Orchidia, but my college mentor knows your father, President Long Tengfei, and rmended me to work for you as your new assistant here at Long Industries instead. It''s very sudden and I only got the callst night, but I immediately epted the job. I hope that you can depend on me like how you depend on Brother Dom."

    "Please take care of me, then," Iris said with a sincere smile.

    The new assistant beamed.

    Now that Iris knew that her new assistant was a ck Star, her initial misgiving about the person''s apparent timidity disappeared. She didn''t stand on ceremony and immediately assigned some tasks to this new assistant of hers.

    In the meantime, Ketchup also worked fast and gathered background information about the young woman. Iris read through it and couldn''t help but nod in approval.

    The young woman''s education was quite impressive. Top three of her entire batch in university. Not bad.

    Iris didn''t think that working as her assistant was a downgrade for a new graduate with good prospects. As long as the young woman could prove herself, then Iris would give her better opportunities to climb the corporatedder in the future.

    This was only the first day.

    ck Star or not, Iris intended to test her new assistant''s abilities. If she was reliable, then she would keep her. If not, then she would let her go. Simple as that.

    Nevertheless, the background information that Ketchup gathered showed that the new assistant was quite promising. Her background was also clean.

    Only time would tell if the young woman would be able to satisfy Iris.

    "Dom, show her the ropes about how I want things done," she instructed.

    "No problem, Boss!" Dom gave her an okay sign with his fingers.

    Iris returned to her own tasks.

    The CMO and the others might not believe in her abilities yet, but she was satisfied with this job appointment. Only a fool would reject Long Tengfei''s goodwill of directly appointing her as the Deputy Chief Marketing Officer.

    Long Tengfei didn''t assign her this position just for the sake of giving her a job title with actual power. He actually thought it through.

    She was a celebrity.

    What better way to utilize her fame than to assign her to the Marketing Department?

    This way, she would be able to perform well and show results quickly.

    Iris understood Long Tengfei''s thought process. Even though she didn''t need such careful consideration because she was confident about her abilities, she still felt a little touched. Just a little bit.

    "Ketchup, ask your dad to rmend a bottle of alcohol to gift your Grandpa Long," she instructed her cat AI daughter.

    "Aye, aye, Mommy! Meow~"

    Not even a minuteter, Jin Liwei directly called her.

    "Happy with the arrangement there?" he asked in his low, sexy voice.

    Her lips curled into a smile. "Yes."

    "Good to hear. Don''t worry about the alcohol. I''ll take care of it and personally choose a good one from our wine cer at home. Long Tengfei is still my father-inw, after all. I''ll have to also thank him for taking care of my wife this time."

    Iris chuckled. "Alright, I''ll leave it to you, then."

    The husband and wife chatted for a couple more minutes before hanging up to focus on their own respective work.

    ###

    Iris starteding to Long Industries and working there for a few hours every day. She didn''t care about other people''s criticisms of her not following thepany''s office hours, both regr and overtime hours.

    All she cared about waspleting the tasks assigned to her by her direct superior, the Chief Marketing Officer. If not for the need to interact with other people and show her presence in thepany, she wouldn''t even bother going to thepany in person every day and justplete the work remotely at home. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    But this was an important period for her to extend her influence at Long Industries. Whether she liked it or not, showing up in person at the office was necessary for her ns.

    Others thought that her showing up at thepany for only a couple of hours each day was a sign that she was cking off. She could hear people gossiping about her.

    They wereining about how unfair it was for them to work regr hours and even overtime, but she would only show up for a couple of hours or so at most.

    Iris only shrugged at their grievances. They could only see what they wanted to see.

    They didn''t see that in the short couple of hours or so that she was at the office, shepleted more tasks than they could finish in a couple of weeks. They couldn''t match her level of productivity even if they tried.

    Besides, all this time, she wasn''t just working for Long Industries. She also had her own businesses, not to mention that she was still working on her coboration with her music mentor, Enrique Valdez, in preparation for her showbizeback.

    Most importantly, she was also a new mother who couldn''t bear to leave her babies for too long.

    There were also other misceneous tasks that needed her attention.

    If those criticizing her could only see what her typical day looked like, they might vomit and even copse from exhaustion just imagining it.

    To Iris, however, every day felt very fulfilling instead.

    She alreadypleted the big tasks that Long Industries'' CMO assigned her¡ªthe marketing ns.

    Her husband, Jin Liwei, also helped provide some useful and practical suggestions.

    She was only waiting for the day to present them on the deadline. She didn''t want to appear too eager to prove herself to thepany by presenting it earlier than the agreed date. She was biding her time before striking.

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 Chapter 1437 Like His Own Son

    Chapter 1437 Like His Own Son

    Iris might appear like she was only doing the bare minimum, but the quality of her work was unquestionable. For her, it wasn''t based on how long she spent working on the tasks but on the quality of the results. This had always been her principle whenever she worked on something.

    After another day of hard work, Iris went home and headed straight to the nursery to hug her babies.

    "Mama! Mama!!" Little Mochi and Little Matcha immediately abandoned their toys and crawled up to her.

    She knelt on the floor and caught her twins. The cats and puppies also ran in circles around her, each trying to catch her attention.

    Little Jun wasn''t at home, unfortunately. It was Jiang Ying Yue''s day off today. She took her son to Lin Yehan''s farm vi for an overnight stay. Everyone could see Lin Yehan''s painstaking efforts in trying to bond with his soon-to-be stepson so that Little Jun wouldn''t feel neglected in any way. This was especially important since Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue were already starting to n their wedding.

    Lin Yehan''s farm vi was quite far from Dragon Pce, but he would still take the time and effort to drive the long distance almost every day just to spend more quality time with the mother and son. Even when Jiang Ying Yue was on duty at the mansion, Lin Yehan didn''t mind and insisted on spending time with Little Jun instead. Everyone witnessed his sincerity. He really treated the mother and son as his own family now.

    Although her godson was absent, Iris was still happy to see her babies weing her home. She kissed her children a few times and couldn''t help but sigh in contentment. "Ah, Mommy is recharged now, thanks to my babies."

    Little Mochi giggled and also gave her plenty of drooly smooches on the cheek. Little Matcha was a bit more reserved, only giving her one kiss on the cheek.

    She yed with her children for some time before Ketchup informed her that Jin Liwei had arrived home. She and Dom carried the twins to wee her husband. The cats and puppies also followed by their feet.

    Jin Liwei''s stern expression immediately softened upon seeing his family weing him home.

    He took Little Matcha who was reaching for him from Dom and went straight to his wife and other son, Little Mochi. The family of four embraced each other. The cats and puppies also rubbed themselves against their legs.

    The family was about to head straight for a meal when Dom received a call.

    "Boss, it''s Big Sis Yue," Dom said.

    Iris took the phone and listened to a frantic Jiang Ying Yue.

    "Calm down, Ying Yue," Iris said, trying to calm down Jiang Ying Yue. "I can''t understand what you''re saying. Exin to me slowly and clearly."

    The calmer Lin Yehan took over the call from his fianc¨¦e to exin the situation.

    Iris put the call on loudspeaker so that her husband could also listen.

    It turned out that Little Jun was having a fever. The child had been fine and energetic like usual in the morning, but by the afternoon, he began to feel lethargic.

    Jiang Ying Yue allowed her son to take a longer nap than usual, but when she checked on Little Jun just now, she found her son burning up with a fever.

    Iris was also worried about her godson. She nced at Jin Liwei.

    "Eldest Brother, drive Little Jun to the hospital," Jin Liwei said. "Xin and I will follow you shortly."

    "We''re almost at the hospital," Lin Yehan told them. "Ying Yue is beside herself with worry. Please have Xine and helpfort her."

    "Of course, we''ll be right there," Jin Liwei replied.

    After the phone call ended, Jin Liwei entrusted the kids to the nannies and instructed the butler to drive one of his cars to the front driveway while Iris rushed to get her bag. Dom, on the other hand, ran to the medical wing. They didn''t even bother changing their clothes before hurrying to the driveway where Jin Liwei was already waiting.

    Iris sat in the front passenger seat while Dom and the in-house doctor sat in the back.

    As soon as thest door shut closed, Jin Liwei drove away with the engine roaring.

    Iris was filled with worry. If only she could teleport to her godson''s side, she would have already done it in a heartbeat.

    Now that she was a mother herself, her worry for children increased several-fold.

    Jin Liwei held her hand and squeezed it. "Our godson will be fine."

    She nodded. Little Jun would be fine. He should be fine!

    "Eldest Brother Yehan is with them," he assured her. "He won''t let anything happen to Little Jun. He already cares about the little guy like his own son."

    "I know," Iris said with a sigh. "We can all see Eldest Brother Yehan''s efforts in caring for Little Jun. His interactions with Little Jun always feel natural. There''s no awkwardness at all. So far, he''s fulfilling his promise of treating Little Jun like his biological son. Ying Yue said that this is the biggest reason why she decided to ept Eldest Brother Yehan and even took the initiative to propose marriage to him. He''s just too good to pass up."

    "Very true," Dom echoed from the backseat. "Big Sis Yue did indeed say that."

    After speaking, Dom returned to shutting his eyes and sping his hands together to continue praying for Little Jun''s safety and good health.

    The in-house doctor beside him was quietly contacting her peers from the hospital where Lin Yehan nned to take Little Jun.

    Iris did her best to calm down. Then she patted Jin Liwei''s hand that was holding hers. "Drive safely. We''re in a rush, but safety is still a priority."

    Jin Liwei didn''t argue. He gave her hand another gentle squeeze before focusing on driving. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Iris tried calling Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan a few times, but unfortunately, the call was unable to go through.

 Chapter 1438 Guilty

    Chapter 1438 Guilty

    Finally, Iris and Jin Liwei''s group arrived at the hospital. Iris couldn''t contact either Jiang Ying Yue or Lin Yehan at all. Fortunately, their in-house doctor was able to contact some of her peers working at the hospital and gathered information about Little Jun as soon as he was admitted. Thanks to the doctor, Iris and Jin Liwei''s group headed straight to Little Jun''s private room without having to search like headless chickens.

    As soon as they entered the private room, Jiang Ying Yue threw herself at Iris and sobbed. Iris patted Jiang Ying Yue''s shaking muscled shoulders, trying tofort her, while Jin Liwei asked Lin Yehan about the child''s condition.

    Outside in the hallway, the in-house doctor spoke with the doctor assigned to Little Jun while Dom busied himself coordinating with the bodyguards who followed them in another car and the hospital''s security to make sure that Iris'' presence in the hospital remained a secret.

    It would be too much trouble if the paparazzi discovered Iris at the hospital and started disturbing the other patients and medical staff just to get some footage of her.

    When Jiang Ying Yue somewhat calmed down, she felt a little embarrassed. It was very rare for her to lose control of her emotions like this.

    "Sorry," she whispered.

    "Don''t apologize," Iris said, continuing to pat her. "We''re both mothers. I understand your worry and fear for your child. Little Jun is also my godson. I feel the same way as you."

    Then the two walked to the hospital bed where Little Jun was now sleeping.

    Iris stroked her sleeping godson''s hair and kissed his forehead. It was still warm to the touch, causing her heart to clench. The poor child looked pale and exhausted. Iris'' eyes couldn''t help but mist over at the sight of the IV needle inserted into the back of the child''s small hand.

    "It''s my fault," Jiang Ying Yue said, her eyes red and swollen. "I didn''t pay enough attention to my son." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Before Iris could reply, she caught a word from her husband and Lin Yehan''s conversation not far away that caused her rm. "What did you say? Dengue? Little Jun has dengue fever?!"

    The two men looked at her and nodded. Their expressions looked grave.

    Iris looked at Jiang Ying Yue who also nodded.

    "Where did he get dengue?" Iris demanded.

    Jin Liwei said, "In the past couple of weeks, Little Jun only stayed either at Dragon Pce or at the farm vi. So the infection could have only urred in one of these two ces."

    "There''s a higher chance that it urred at my ce because it''s a farm," Lin Yehan said, looking very guilty. "The next routine fumigation is scheduled to be next week, but I''ll have it bumped up to tomorrow instead. No, today."

    "Help me arrange it to be done at Dragon Pce, too," Jin Liwei said. "It''s better to be safe than sorry. I can''t risk it with the twins at home, too."

    Iris agreed with her husband. She also nned to inform her big brother and Long Jinjing about it, so that they could also protect themselves from infected mosquitoes that may harm her twin nephews, Little Misha and Little Dima.

    Lin Yehan looked remorseful. "I''m sorry, Ying Yue. I didn''t take care of Little Jun enough at my home."

    Jiang Ying Yue shook her head. "It''s not your fault, Yehan. You can''t possibly control every little insect on your property. Besides, the infection might not even have happened at your ce. I remember taking Little Jun to stroll in the city for a morningst week during my day off. You had an important meeting that day, so you weren''t able to apany us. Maybe he got infected there. I know that both your farm vi and Dragon Pce are strict when ites to hygiene. That''s why it''s my fault for bringing my son outside. Maybe we walked past some unclean ces where he got infected."

    "It''s no use ying the me game," Iris said. "We should focus on helping Little Jun recover and reduce the chance of this happening again."

    "Xin is right." Jin Liwei ced his arm behind his wife to show his support. "It''s good that you rushed the child to the hospital before his condition worsened. Let the doctors treat him so that we can bring him home sooner."

    The Dragon Pce in-house doctor entered the room and provided them with a more detailed exnation from what she gathered from the hospital doctor whichforted them a little more, especially both Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan who were almost drowning in guilt.

    Afterward, Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan went out to arrange the fumigation of their respective properties as soon as possible.

    Iris and Jiang Ying Yue were the only ones left with the still-sleeping sick child.

    "Don''t me yourself anymore," Iris said. "Kids are more susceptible to illnesses."

    Although she said this tofort Jiang Ying Yue, Iris still felt a lingering fear in her heart.

    Even her twins already got sick a couple of times before from themon cold. The first time it happened, Iris almost copsed from fear and worry. Her heart felt like it was being twisted and sliced open while watching her babies suffer from sickness. If Jin Liwei hadn''t been there by her side, she might have already had a meltdown.

    Jiang Ying Yue had been a mother longer than Iris. She had also experienced her son getting sick several times. Despite this, Jiang Ying Yue continued to worry about Little Jun every single time.

    A mother would never stop worrying about her children even when they had grown up.

    Jiang Ying Yue still felt very guilty. Just like what she told Lin Yehan earlier, she understood that her son getting dengue fever wasn''t something that she could control. However, she still couldn''t stop the guilt from bubbling inside her.

    She had been enjoying the day with her fianc¨¦ when her son got sick. She felt like she had neglected Little Jun for her selfish happiness.

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 Chapter 1439 Sick Little Jun

    Chapter 1439 Sick Little Jun

    "Don''t think like that," Iris told the guilty Jiang Ying Yue. "That''s unfair to you and Eldest Brother Yehan." She stroked Little Jun''s pale cheek and sighed. "Little Jun should get better now that you brought him to the hospital before his condition worsened. I''m sure our little boy will recover soon. You should rest, too. You''ll be able to think more clearly tomorrow and take better care of the child, so stop ming yourself too much. I''ll call the butler and have him send some change of clothes, toiletries, and other necessities from home."

    Jiang Ying Yue bit her lip. "That¡­doing all of that¡­is not really¡­."

    Iris sighed. "Ying Yue, you know that more than being a member of our household''s security team, you''re also one of my closest friends, the mother of my godson, and soon, you''ll also be Liwei and my official Eldest Sister-inw after you marry Eldest Brother Yehan. You''re also off-duty right now. No need to be polite with me, especially if it concerns my godson."

    Jiang Ying Yue almost burst into tears again but she held it in. Instead, she smiled through moist eyes and said, "Okay. Thank you, Xin."

    As much as Iris wanted to stay and help take care of Little Jun at the hospital today, she couldn''t bear to leave her own babies at home for too long.

    After helping make arrangements for Little Jun''s stay at the hospital, Iris and Jin Liwei left together. Dom would stay for a few hours to run errands with Lin Yehan while Jiang Ying Yue stayed beside Little Jun. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Seeing his wife''s expression, Jin Liwei sighed and reassured her, "Eldest Brother will apany the mother and son at the hospital tonight. You don''t need to feel guilty about not apanying our godson. He has his own parents to take care of him. Our twins also need us, love."

    "I know," Iris replied. "It just pains my heart to see Little Jun so sick like that. He''s usually so lively."

    "He''ll be fine, love."

    "Yes, you''re right."

    Their in-house doctor was also staying in the hospital tonight to help monitor Little Jun. Although this hospital was good, they still preferred their in-house doctor to help take care of their godson. She had all their children''s medical records and knew their health better than anyone else.

    Jin Liwei said, "I gave Jiang Ying Yue an indefinite leave to take care of our godson. She can return to work once he''s back to normal."

    Iris nodded and gave him a grateful smile.

    He added, "Our godson is a very sturdy guy just like his mother. He''ll get better soon, I''m sure."

    "I hope so."

    Then he said, "Eldest Brother also mentioned that after all this, he wants Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun to move with him to the farm vi."

    She frowned. "Big Brother and Big Sister Jinjing moved out with our little nephews not too long ago. And now Ying Yue and our godson are also moving out?"

    Jin Liwei refrained from saying anything at the moment and allowed his wife to process her emotions. He knew that his wife''s maternal instincts were running high ever since she gave birth. If possible, she wanted all the children to stay with them under the same roof.

    When the Lu twins moved out, his wife almost got depressed. Fortunately, their Little Mochi and Little Matcha cheered her up. Of course, he also helped distract her in bed every night, so that she didn''t have any time to feel depressed.

    In the end, Iris released a long sigh. "If they want to move out, then so be it. As much as I want our godson to live in our house, I know that Eldest Brother Yehan wants to build his own little family with Ying Yue and Little Jun. In the future, they might also have more children."

    Every family wanted to build their own home on their own terms.

    She didn''t want to ruin others''fort and happiness for her selfishness.

    After Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue got engaged, Iris knew that there woulde a time when the mother and son would move out of Dragon Pce. She had been dreading it all this time. And now, it was indeed happening. And so soon, too.

    She had long treated Little Jun like her own son. Just imagining him moving out was enough to make her feel like her heart is being stabbed.

    But no matter what happened in the future, she would always feel happy for her friend for finding her other half. All she could do as a friend was to support Jiang Ying Yue and hope that she would also find happiness in her spouse like how Iris found a blissful married life with Jin Liwei.

    Most importantly, Iris and Jin Liwei would always be there for their godson, Little Jun.

    Early the next day, Iris and Jin Liwei once again visited Little Jun at the hospital. They heard that the poor child woke up at dawn and vomited a few times. Fortunately, he was already at the hospital so the medical staff was able to make him feel better quickly.

    "Mama! Papa! Mowning~" Little Jun greeted his godmother and godfather as soon as they entered the private room.

    "Good morning, sweetheart." Iris kissed his forehead and checked his temperature at the same time.

    Good. No fever anymore. And he looked a bit more energetic today.

    But in her eyes, the poor child''s eyes looked a bit too sunken, his cheeks a bit too hollow, and his body looked a bit too skinny.

    Iris signaled at her husband who was holding several tiered bento boxes. They brought breakfast and some snacks prepared at home by their private chef. Normal ones for Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan, while light, non-greasy foods were prepared for Little Jun.

    "Hungry, Little Jun?" Iris asked.

    "Yesh! Junjun is veewy hungwy, Mama Shuwan!" (Yes! Junjun is very hungry, Mama Xin!)

    Everyone smiled at the adorable child.

    Iris insisted on feeding the child herself while telling Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan to begin eating theirs.

 Chapter 1440 Legal Guardians

    Chapter 1440 Legal Guardians

    After feeding her godson, Iris lightly poked his cute little nose. "You have to get well soon, Little Jun. Your little cousins miss you already and want to y with you again."

    "Mochi, Matcha?" Little Jun asked.

    "Yes." She nodded.

    "Junjun want chu pway wif Mochi, Matcha, Mama! And da katty and da doggie!" (Junjun wants to y with Mochi and Matcha, Mama! And the kitties and the doggies!)

    "Of course, sweetheart. They all can''t wait to y with you, too. But you need to get well soon first. Okay?"

    "Okay, Mama~"

    After a light breakfast for Little Jun, the nurses returned to administer medications to the child. Perhaps because Iris mentioned that he needed to get well soon first to y with his little cousins again, Little Jun didn''tin even once when he was made to drink any of the medicine, even the bitter ones.

    He also wasn''t afraid that there was an IV needle inserted into his hand. In fact, he was proud of it because Lin Yehan told him that it meant he was a strong boy for not crying about it. He couldn''t wait to show it off to his godparents. Of course, neither Iris nor Jin Liwei were stingy in praising the little guy.

    Soon after, Little Jun became drowsy and slept again.

    Jiang Ying Yue cleared her throat to get everyone''s attention. They all looked at her.

    Lin Yehan sat beside Jiang Ying Yue to give her support. It looked like he already knew what she wanted to say.

    Iris and Jin Liwei also sat together across them.

    "Xin, Sir Liwei, I want to thank you for always being there for my son," Jiang Ying Yue began. "I know that you''ve always treated and protected Little Jun like your own child. And I''m always grateful for that. I''ve¡­I''ve discussed this with Yehan¡­and¡­uhm¡­."

    Yehan took her hand and squeezed it, encouraging her.

    She gave him a shy smile before facing Iris and Jin Liwei again. "Yehan and I have decided¡­uhm, we want to ask you both if you are willing to be Little Jun''s legal guardians."

    "Yes, of course, we''re willing," Iris agreed with no hesitation at all.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    "Thank you." Jiang Ying Yue''s eyes watered.

    Lin Yehan said, "Ying Yue and I are going to marry soon. I''m going to register both mother and son under my household. Although Ying Yue and I intend to live long, just in case something happens to both of us, at least we have trustworthy people to continue raising Little Jun with love and care. Both of you are already the child''s godparents, but I suggested to Ying Yue to make it official and appoint both of you as legal guardians."

    Jiang Ying Yue nodded. "I don''t want Long Hui to¡­to get my son¡­if something really bad happens to me and Yehan. I don''t trust that man. I''m sure that he''ll marry someone else again. What if his new wife mistreats and harms my son? I can''t bear it!"

    "Both of you can rest assured that Xin and I will take our duties as legal guardians seriously," Jin Liwei said. "Eldest Brother, have yourwyer process the legal guardianship immediately. It''s good that you suggested this to Jiang Ying Yue."

    Lin Yehan agreed.

    Iris also nodded. "When you have more children in the future, you can also make us their legal guardians so that Little Jun and his siblings will always be together."

    Jiang Ying Yue blushed.

    Lin Yehan smiled. "Thank you."

    Afterward, Iris and Jin Liwei said their goodbyes and left the hospital together.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Iris worked at her home studio with her music mentor, Enrique Valdez. They were finally done with the rough stages of their much-anticipated music coboration.

    It had been a long timeing.

    They should have beenpleted and released it sooner, but the project got dyed time and again due to Iris'' surprise pregnancy, sudden secret wedding, and other unexpected incidents over the past couple of years.

    It was a good thing that Enrique Valdez was very patient and understanding of his prot¨¦g¨¦''s circumstances.

    Besides, he enjoyed every single second of his stay in the country and even became semi-active in the domestic music scene. Music programs, talk shows, and variety shows were mouring to invite him as a special guest.

    Although he would leave the country from time to time to take care of his other matters, he would always return and continue personally working with Iris whenever she had free time.

    "The timbre of your voice has slightly changed after you gave birth," Enrique said. "Don''t worry too much about it. I think that this is a blessing in disguise. It makes your tone richer and more soulful. However, you need to train it more in order to modte your tone more effectively. Practice what I taught you and you''ll improve soon."

    Iris nodded. "Understood."

    "Everything''s okay now with the samples we made. Have JJ arrange the musicians, so we can now start the actual recording."

    "Okay, Teacher. I''ll call him now."

    Her music producer, JJ, immediately answered her call. The three discussed the next steps of their projects. In the end, everyone agreed that they would record at JJ''spany.

    Initially, Iris wanted to record at her home studio, but after estimating the number of people that would be involved in the music project, including musicians, backup singers, technicians and other staff, she could only agree to record at JJ''spany studio instead. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Now that she was a mother, she valued her family''s privacy even more.

    She didn''t want some random strangers encountering her babies at home. Even though their home security was top-notch, it was still better to be safe than sorry especially when it came to her family''s safety.

    After the phone call, Iris nced at the time. "I need to check on the kids."

    Enrique Valdez was used to it. He waved her away. "Go ahead. I''ll stay here in the studio for a while. I have a couple of melodies that I want to y around with."

 Chapter 1441 I Can Feel It In My Bones

    Chapter 1441 I Can Feel It In My Bones

    Iris immediately felt curious about what kind of melodies her mentor had. She wanted to listen to them, but her maternal heart cried for her to check on her babies as soon as possible. She couldn''t just ignore it.

    Ever since she gave birth, she couldn''t rest easy without ensuring that her babies were safe and sound every hour or so.

    Sighing, she could only tell her mentor, "Please stay here for dinner tonight."

    Her tone was filled with regret.

    Enrique Valdez gave her a thumbs-up before putting on a pair of headphones. He was soon absorbed in his own little world of music.

    Iris didn''t disturb him any longer. She headed straight to the nursery to find her twin sons. They were taking a nap. She kissed their soft and chubby cheeks, making sure not to wake them up. Then she snapped a few photos and sent them to her husband.

    Jin Liwei immediately called her. The husband and wife quietly chatted for a few minutes before Jin Liwei needed to hang up for an important meeting.

    She spoke with the nannies before going to her home office.

    Dom was already at the mezzanine busily working on misceneous stuff for her approval.

    "Hi, boss! This pile needs your verification while this pile here needs your signature."

    "Thanks, Dom." She smiled at him and sat down behind her desk. "You''re a lifesaver."

    "Hm?" He paused and examined her face.

    She raised an eyebrow. "What''s wrong?"

    "I should be the one asking you what''s wrong," Dom said. "Something bothering you?"

    She pursed her lips. "I can''t hide anything from you."

    "Hehe, of course. I can feel it in my bones whenever you''re not feeling well." He put down the document he was working on. "So, boss, tell me what''s bothering you."

    She tilted her head and seriously thought about it before shaking it no. "I''m not sure. I just feel anxious, but I don''t know exactly why."

    "Maybe you''re still affected by Little Junjun''s hospitalization," Dom suggested. "Even I couldn''t sleep properly since our little guy got sick."

    "Yes, maybe that''s why. Ying Yue says that Little Jun is getting better every day, so we shouldn''t worry too much anymore. Even our in-house doctor told us that our boy''stestb test results were positive. But I don''t know, I still feel anxious whenever I''m not working on something."

    Dom tapped his chin with his perfectly manicured fingers. "Are you worried about your uing presentation at Long Industries?"

    She shook her head. "No, not at all. You know me, Dom. I''m confident about my marketing proposal. Liwei also checked it already, so I''m not too worried about it. I''m even tempted to build a shippingpany just to use my proposal. It''ll be Long Industries'' loss if they reject my marketing proposal."

    Dom continued tapping his chin. "Maybe it''s your hormones? Didn''t the doctor say that it will take a while for your hormones to return to normal pre-pregnancy levels after giving birth?"

    "Maybe." She took a deep breath and sighed before grabbing the document pile that needed her approval. "No use worrying about something that even I''m not sure of. Let''s get back to work."

    The two got busy working. They were only interrupted when Dom answered a call from Lin Dong, Jin Chonglin''s manager and the current Chief of Talent Management of LXC Studio, asking for Iris'' input about the contracts of Ren Jiyu and the other members of the national shooting team who wanted to sign with their entertainmentpany.

    They were already at the final stages of ironing out the details of the individual contracts. Iris spoke with Lin Dong for about ten minutes before agreeing to the specific contract uses.

    "I think my brother-inw is avoiding me," Irismented after the phone call.

    She had asked Lin Dong to speak to Jin Chonglin but the manager smoothly deflected her request.

    Dom snickered. "Prince Lin Lin just doesn''t want to be interrogated. Even Sis Fei has been quiet, too quiet, that''s it''s so uncharacteristic of her. Hmph! Once I get a hold of that cunning woman, I''ll pry all the details out of her poisonous mouth with a pair of pliers if I have to! Just watch me, boss! I''ll really do it!"

    Iris chuckled before shaking her head. "Just leave the two alone. They''ll figure out what their actual rtionship is sooner orter. Once they''re ready, they''ll share whatever they have with us." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Dom tossed his non-existent long hair with attitude. "Mark my words, boss! They already slept together, so Sis Fei can''t deny it anymore. She''ll definitely eat her words soon about never falling in love with a womanizer like Prince Lin Lin. I can feel it my sexy bones!"

    Irisughed. "If you say so. Now I need your sexy bones to help me finish sorting all these documents today. I don''t have time tomorrow."

    "Okie dokie, boss! Leave it to the sexy and gorgeous yours truly!"

    When Dom nced at the busy Iris who had a slight upward curl at the corners of her mouth, he released a sigh of relief. Good thing that he was able to make herugh and forget about her inexplicable anxiety even for just a few moments.

    With a sense of aplishment, he followed his boss and dove right back into the pile of work waiting for them to finish today.

    ###

    Long Industries.

    Iris exited the conference room with confidence.

    Long Tengfei and the other chief executives of thepany were in a group ahead of her.

    Initially, Iris thought that she would only be presenting her proposal to her direct superior, the CMO, and their marketing team for approval. She didn''t expect that the CMO would arrange for her to present directly to the chief executives of thepany.

    If it were any other person, they would have already assumed that the CMO was trying to sabotage them. Iris, however, thought otherwise.

    Just based on what she had observed about the CMO''s personality and workstyle, he was the type of boss who pushed his subordinates to the limits for them to reach their true potential.

 Chapter 1442 For The Sake of The Children

    Chapter 1442 For The Sake of The Children

    The CMO was actually giving her an opportunity. It was up to Iris whether she could grab it or not.

    Of course, she was going to grab it.

    Long Tengfei turned his head back to her and gave her an approving nod before continue to walk and speak with the others. Even some of the other chief executives, including Long Jian''s direct superior, the COO, gave her friendly smiles.

    She responded in kind, not at all bothered by the other ones who wore unpleasant expressions.

    "Not bad," Long Jian whispered to her as they walked together.

    "Thanks." She epted his modest praise for her sessful marketing presentation where she absolutely killed it.

    "The new CMO isn''t bad either," he said. "He''s just strict. He''s actually quite simr to my boss, the COO. They''re quite fair in that regard. Your superior''s face just look like someone always owes him money, but I heard that''s just his natural expression. As for the others, well, I''m sure you know which side they''re standing on based on how they kept trying to sabotage you."

    Iris nced at the other figure walking on the other side.

    Long Hui appeared thinner and grimmer, but he still retained his good looks. Despite all the setbacks he suffered in the past year, he still had plenty of loyal allies remaining by his side. His foundation in the Long n and Long Industries as the heir apparent wasn''t so easily uprooted by just anyone.

    His group nced at Iris and Long Jian with barely concealed hostility.

    The two camps had a brief stare-down beforepletely ignoring each other.

    Bystanders could feel the bad blood between them.

    Long Hui and his allies all had unpleasant expressions. They weren''t pleased that Iris was parachuted to the position of Deputy Chief Marketing Officer out of nowhere. Worse, it appeared that she was killing it in her new position.

    Her marketing proposal was so excellent that it immediately got approved by the chief executives. Even when they tried to poke holes on her proposal, she always had a solution ready. To be honest, even they themselves thought that it was a superb proposal. If only it wasn''t created and presented by their enemy.

    One of them even tried to remain stubborn and oppose the proposal no matter what but was shut down by the CMO with no mercy. They were all in shock because they thought that they would be able to tempt the CMO to join their camp especially after knowing that he had been hoping to promote his own prot¨¦g¨¦ as his deputy but was blocked by Iris'' sudden promotion instead.

    They didn''t expect that he would remain loyal to the Marketing Team. Now that Iris Long was an official member of his team, then he would back her up from now on. It seemed that for him, it didn''t matter who was in the position as long as the person did the job properly and didn''t shame his team. That was the most important thing to the new CMO.

    Upon discovering this, Long Hui and his allies could only grit their teeth and swallow this loss. Next time, they would surely block Iris Long and prevent her from building her influence within thepany.

    As for Iris, she didn''t give a whit about what they thought about her. She was happy that her marketing proposal received approval on the spot. Just like what she expected.

    No revisions were needed. In short, she would now have a bit more time to spend with her family.

    And to Long Hui''s credit, he stopped actively making trouble for her ever since he visited Dragon Pce back then and met his two sets of twin nephews¡ªthe Jin and the Lu twins¡ªfor the first time back then. The adults had a tacit understanding to have a ceasefire that night for the sake of the children, especially Little Jun.

    It was only his allies who continued to openly oppose her during the presentation. Long Hui remained silent all throughout, although his expression looked like he had eaten something disgusting.

    Iris didn''t know if Long Hui had a realization to change for the better. If he did, then that was great. If not, then too bad. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Either way, she would still continue to forge ahead in her ns of taking over Long Industries.

    What if he was just pretending?

    She didn''t want to risk epting him again at this point only to be backstabbed.

    Dom and the bodyguards met with her and they all headed to the underground parking.

    News of her frequent attendance at Long Industries had already been long spread. Reporters, ck Stars, and some curious bystanders began to surround thepany entrance in the hopes of seeing her in person.

    Usually, Iris would have loved to spend a few minutes meeting and interacting with her fans but shecked free time these days. She was so busy with so many things that 24 hours was barely enough to fit everything she needed to do in a day.

    In addition, she wanted to prioritize quality time with her family. This was non-negotiable for her and Jin Liwei after the birth of their twins. They both agreed to arrange a few hours each day to spend time together as a family.

    Jin Liwei was actually more flexible than her.

    As the big boss, he had more freedom in arranging his schedule to his advantage. Iris was also a big boss but the majority of her businesses were still rtively newpared to the long-established Jin Corporation.

    Her businesses frequently needed her attention. Good thing that she had Dom and her two AI cat children, Ketchup and Bacon, who were always such great help in lessening her burden. They often helped her in delegating tasks to the right staff members.

    "This way, boss," Dom interrupted her thoughts and waited for her to get inside their parked vehicle.

    "You''re here?" Iris asked while throwing herself at the man waiting for her inside the car.

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 Chapter 1443 Please Donâ€™t Get Angry

    Chapter 1443 Please Don¡¯t Get Angry

    Jin Liwei caught his excited wife and embraced her before signaling Dom with his eyes to ride in the other car. Of course, the ever dependable Dom understood his sir boss'' meaning right away. He nodded while beaming before shutting the car door.

    "Let''s go, Xu Tian," Jin Liwei instructed his assistant.

    "Yes, sir," Xu Tian replied to his boss and greeted hisdy boss with a nod before starting the car.

    "Howe you''re here today?" Iris asked her husband while snuggling in his arms.

    "Decided to pick up my beautiful wife after a meeting finished early," Jin Liwei replied while ying with a strand of his wife''s long, silky hair.

    She chuckled and burrowed herself deeper in his arms.

    "Happy to see me?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    The husband and wife whispered sweet nothings to each other. Afterward, Jin Liwei asked her about her day at Long Industries. She told him about her sessful presentation in front of the chief executives.

    "I know that you''ll kill it, baby," he murmured and kissed her fragrant hair (courtesy of Orchidia Beauty''s gship bestselling original shampoo and conditionerbo set). "Congrattions, love."

    "Thanks, darling."

    Jin Liwei was about to ask her about another thing when he noticed something that made him frown. "Love?"

    "Hm? Huh?" Iris nced at him and felt confused at his expression.

    "You''re pressing on your chest. Does it hurt?"

    Iris looked down. Her hand was indeed massaging her chest¡ªthe space between her breasts. She didn''t even notice it.

    "Oh," she could only say, as she thought about why she was doing it in the first ce. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Jin Liwei''s frown deepened. "Xu Tian, drive to the nearest hospital."

    "Yes, sir," his assistant replied.

    "No need, I''m fine," Iris quickly said. "Xu Tian, let''s just go straight home."

    Xu Tian looked at Jin Liwei via the rear-view mirror, silently asking him what he should do.

    Jin Liwei looked like he was going to carry his wife to the nearest hospital, so Iris removed her hand from her chest and told him, "I''m fine, Liwei. Really."

    "Are you sure?" he asked, his brows still deeply furrowed. "I noticed that you''ve been out of sorts whenever you''re not doing anything. This is not the first time I caught you pressing on your chest. You always tell me that you''re fine, but I''m starting to worry."

    Iris couldn''t reply right away. In the end, she sighed and said, "I don''t know. I just feel nervous for some reason. I''m not usually the type to get this nervous over trivial things. Sometimes, my chest will feel tight and it feels like the onset of a panic attack. But it won''t go into a full-blown panic attack. Dom says that maybe Little Jun''s hospitalization affected me too much especially since I''m a new mother."

    "Hm. Maybe. But we should still go see the doctor just in case."

    "I already consulted our family doctor. She said that I''m perfectly healthy."

    Jin Liwei examined her expression. "Are you sure that you''re okay?"

    She nodded.

    "Alright." He pulled her closer and gave her forehead a peck. "If it''s anxiety, you know that you can always talk to me, right?"

    "I know." Sheid her head on his chest and followed the rhythm of his breathing to rx herself.

    "Xu Tian, home," Jin Liwei instructed.

    "Yes, sir."

    Finally, they arrived home and spent some time greeting the twins, the cats, and the dogs. Then Iris received a call from Jiang Ying Yue informing them that Little Jun was finally in the clear¡ªthe little guy was going to be discharged today.

    "Oh, thank goodness!" Iris released a huge sigh of relief.

    Then Jiang Ying Yue told her, "Xin, I decided that Little Jun and I are going straight to Yehan''s ce from the hospital."

    "What? So soon?!" Iris was heartbroken.

    "I''m sorry, Xin." Jiang Ying Yue''s voice was full of guilt. "Yehan bonded with Little Jun a lot these past few days, so I decided to let my son continue recuperating at Yehan''s ce. I want the two of them to spend more time together and grow closer. Please don''t get angry."

    "I''m not angry. Why would I get angry?" Iris sighed and curbed her disappointment. "As long as Little Jun''s fine. That''s what''s most important. We''ll visit Little Jun at the farm vi tomorrow then."

    After the phone call ended, Iris'' expression was still full of disappointment.

    Jin Liwei hugged her. "We''ll bring the twins tomorrow to see their Big Brother Junjun."

    She grew more worried.

    "Don''t worry," he said. "Eldest Brother already had his farm vi fumigated. The process was more meticulous than normal. I also hired his fumigation team to fumigate our ce while you were at work."

    She nodded. "Okay. I''ll prepare more insect repellent spray and lotion, then. Wait, I have an idea!" Excitement danced in her eyes.

    "What is it?" he asked.

    "What do you think if Orchidia released bug spray and lotion?"

    He smiled. "Not a bad idea."

    "I''ll call Chen Fei and Big Sister Jinjing," Iris muttered, her mind already floating around her new idea.

    Jin Liwei shook his head while chuckling. He was d that his wife got distracted by a new product idea and didn''t have to dwell too much on her disappointment at their godson noting home to Dragon Pce.

    Then he carried his twin sons, causing Little Mochi to squeal from delight and Little Matcha to hug him tight.

    "Let''s follow Mom, shall we?"

    Little Mochi: "Yah yah yah!!!"

    Little Matcha: (pursed lips in tsundere silence but eyes overflowing with happiness)

    The cats and puppies followed behind them.

    In front of them, the father and sons watched as their wife/mother skipped with visible excitement while speaking to Chen Fei and Long Jinjing on the phone.

    It seemed that the other two women were also interested in Iris'' new product idea, especially Long Jinjing who was also frightened by Little Jun''s dengue hospitalization.

    The curve of Jin Liwei''s lips grew higher. He loved watching his wife like this.

    She was amazing.

    As always.

 Chapter 1444 Wonâ€™t Let Him Get Away Unscathed

    Chapter 1444 Won¡¯t Let Him Get Away Unscathed

    Lin Yehan''s farm vi.

    "Pleasee in." Jiang Ying Yue weed Iris and Jin Liwei along with their twins, the cats and the dogs.

    "Mama! Papa! Mochi, Matcha! Catties, doggies!" Little Jun ran towards them.

    "Little Jun, don''t run too fast," Lin Yehan''s voice sounded from somewhere inside the house.

    Three dogs followed Little Jun to greet the new arrivals.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha squirmed in their father''s arms, clearly asking him to put them down so that they could greet everyone. Jin Liwei gently ced them down, supporting them while they did their best to shakily walk toward their eldest cousin.

    Everyone watched as the kids and animals happily greeted each other.

    "Hello, Gravy," Iris greeted and petted Little Jun''s German Shepherd dog. "Oh, Ham and Mash are here, too? Big Brother, Big Sister, and their kids are already here?"

    "Only Jinjing and her twins came," Jiang Ying Yue answered her. "It seems that Sir Zihao is busy today, so he can''te."

    "Oh." Iris felt a little disappointed but soon forgot about her big brother to shower her recently sick godson with lots of hugs and kisses.

    Another person entered the door carrying several stic and paper bags.

    "Where''s my cutie-patootie Junie boy? Your gorgeous and fabulous Uncle Dom is here~"

    "Anko Dom!" (Uncle Dom!) The excited Little Jun clung to his favourite uncle''s leg. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Let me help carry those." Lin Yehan finally appeared, took the heaviest bags from Dom, and carried them inside. "Third Brother, Third Sister-in-Law, Dom, let''s go. Fifth Sister-inw and the Lu twins are already here with Chen Fei."

    "Chen Fei''s here, too?" Iris asked.

    "She drove Jinjing, the twins, and the dogs here," Jiang Ying Yue replied.

    They all headed to the open kitchen where Long Jinjing and Chen Fei were each carrying babies.

    "Little Misha! Little Dima!" Iris'' maternal feelings overflowed at the sight of her beloved nephews.

    Not seeing them in person every day almost made her depressed. She missed them so much!

    She took Little Misha from Long Jinjing and was shocked by the baby''s weight.

    Chen Feiughed at her expression. "I reacted exactly the same way. I almost dropped Little Dima when I carried him earlier. These little fatties got heavier again."

    Long Jinjing smiled and wiped drool on Little Misha''s mouth to prevent the baby from dirtying his Aunt Xin''s dress. "I was also concerned about their weight at first but the doctor said not to worry about it too much. They inherited their father''s build. Grandpa Lu showed me Zihao''s baby pictures and he was also a very fat baby."

    "Really?" Iris was also interested. She reminded herself to ask Grandpa Lu for Lu Zihao''s baby pictures the next time she met with the old man.

    Although that Lu Zihao wasn''t her big brother yet back then, she already considered the original Lu Zihao as a brother as well. If it weren''t for his body, her big brother wouldn''t have been reborn like her. It was because of both the original Long Xin and the original Lu Zihao that both she, Evelina Vetrova, and her brother, Niki Vetrov, were able to live again after the fall of the Vetrovs in their past lives.

    "Is Big Brother noting here today?" Iris asked.

    "He said he''ll try," Long Jinjing said. "He has been pretty busy these past few days."

    Iris nodded and didn''t ask anymore. Although she could always have Bacon report to her about her brother''s business, she chose not to do so to respect her brother''s privacy. She only required Bacon to report to her when her brother''s business was directly rted to her or deemed too dangerous. If not, she didn''t bother to know.

    "Meimei isn''t avable today either. She''s busy with her webtoon as usual." Iris then turned to Chen Fei. "How about you? Is Brother Chonglin noting?"

    Perhaps for the first time ever, Iris saw Chen Fei blush. She raised an eyebrow and looked intrigued.

    "Hmph!" Chen Fei tried to cover up her embarrassing reaction. "I don''t know if he''sing or not. And I don''t care!"

    "Wait, wait, wait!!!" Dom called out from behind the kitchen counter. "Don''t start talking about Prince Lin Lin without the handsome and beautiful me!!!"

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes.

    Dom quickly washed his hands and skipped over to the girl squad''s side, leaving Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan to help the private chef organize the additional food that the Jin family brought over.

    "So?" Dom squeezed beside the annoyed Chen Fei. "Spill the tea! I want to know your official rtionship status with Prince Lin Lin!!!"

    Chen Fei muttered something.

    Dom: "What is it? Speak louder. We can''t hear you!"

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes again. "I said I agreed to be Jin Chonglin''s real girlfriend!"

    "Wow!" Dom looked (exaggeratedly) shocked.

    "Oh, shut up, Dom." Chen Fei couldn''t bear her friend''sical expression.

    "Language, Xiao Fei," Long Jinjing reminded her. "The kids can hear you."

    "I didn''t even say a bad word," Chen Fei muttered but still obeyed.

    Dom didn''t care about Chen Fei''s rudeness. They were all already used to it and knew that although her mouth was poisonous, her heart was still the softest toward her friends and loved ones.

    Dom: "You just said that you don''t know if Prince Lin Lin ising or not and that you don''t care, but look at your blushing face. Ah, you can''t lie to the great Dom. Oh no, you can''t! I can feel it in my bones."

    Chen Fei snarled at him. She wanted to curse but remembered Long Jinjing''s warning, so she could only harrumph and pretend that she didn''t hear Dom.

    "So you''re serious about him?" Iris asked while trying to bounce the heavy Little Misha on herp.

    Chen Fei shrugged. "I figured I like him a bit, so I''ll give him a chance. He can still be annoying most of the time, but he treats me well. I don''t know if our rtionship canst especially since we''re both extremely busy with our careers, but there''s no harm in trying."

    Everyone nodded.

    Then she added while waving Little Dima''s chubby fist, "And if he ever cheats on me, I won''t let him get away with it unscathed! Hmph!"

 Chapter 1445 Daddy Han

    Chapter 1445 Daddy Han

    While the women were chatting, the chef shooed away Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan. The two men grabbed two bottles of sparkling water and sat on the bar stools while watching Little Jun y with his Jin cousins, the dogs, and Popcorn.

    The exasperated Ice Cream finally escaped from the horde of little demons and plopped her fatzy self near her dad.

    Jin Liwei stroked her fluffy grey fur, silentlyforting her.

    Lin Yehan called out to the kids'' direction, "Little Jun, don''t run too much! You don''t want to get sick again, do you?"

    "OK, Daddy!" Little Jun replied and obediently sat down on the carpet beside his crawling cousins.

    All the noise from the adults stopped.

    "Daddy?" Jin Liwei asked while looking between his godson and Lin Yehan.

    "Did Little Jun just call Eldest Brother Yehan Daddy?" Iris from thedies'' group asked.

    Dom: "OMG!!!"

    Long Jinjing and Chen Fei didn''t look too surprised. It seemed that this wasn''t the first time that they heard the child call his soon-to-be stepfather "Daddy". They arrived earlier than the Jin family, so perhaps they had already heard Little Jun call like this.

    "I didn''t teach him to call Yehan like that," Jiang Ying Yue exined. "He just began doing it by himself."

    "When did he start calling like this?" Iris asked.

    Jiang Ying Yue nced at Lin Yehan.

    He answered in her stead. "Last night when I was helping Ying Yue put him to sleep. He told me ''Good night, Daddy''."

    Jin Liwei didn''t say anything but patted Lin Yehan''s back instead.

    Iris asked Jiang Ying Yue, "How do you feel about it?"

    "I''m happy." Jiang Ying Yue smiled, her eyes gentle as she gazed at her son and soon-to-be husband. "Yehan''s so good to Little Jun. Looks like my son finally epted him fully."

    Iris handed Little Misha to Long Jinjing and then waved over at her godson. "Little Jun,e here for a bit, sweetheart."

    The little guy trotted over to her. She hugged him and sat him down on herp.

    Then she pointed at Lin Yehan. "Who''s that, Little Jun?"

    "Daddy!"

    "I thought he''s your Uncle Han?" Iris pretended to be confused. "How did he be your daddy?"

    "Anko Han is Daddy Han!" (Uncle Han is Daddy Han!) He looked at Iris with eyes full of innocence. He didn''t understand why his Mama Xin was asking something so obvious.

    "Oh, I see. You like your Daddy Han?"

    "Yesh!" (Yes!)

    "How about your Daddy Long Hui?" Iris continued to ask. "Do you still remember him?"

    Little Jun blinked his innocent eyes, looking confused. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Your dada," she rified.

    "Oh! Dada is Dada! Anko Han is Daddy Han!" Then the little guy pointed at Jin Liwei. "Papa is Papa!"

    He frowned at his Mama Xin. Why was his usually smart and amazing mama asking too many dumb questions today?

    Iris chuckled, feeling relieved at his clear answer. "Yes, you''re right. My Little Jun is so smart!" She kissed his cheek. "Okay, you can go back and y with your cousins now."

    The little guy cheered before hurrying back to his little cousins, dogs, and Popcorn to continue ying.

    "I hope you don''t mind me asking the child those questions," Iris said to Jiang Ying Yue.

    "No, I don''t mind." Jiang Ying Yue shook her head. "I understand why you kept on asking Little Jun like that. Although I''m happy that my son is calling Yehan daddy, I still don''t want him to forget about his biological father."

    Iris nodded. "His biological father might be a scumbag, but Little Jun mustn''t forget that he''s still a Long."

    "Yes, I know."

    They all understood what Iris meant. They knew that she was fighting Long Hui to be the next head of Long Industries for Little Jun.

    If it were up to Jiang Ying Yue alone, she wouldn''t care much about her son''s inheritance from his biological father.

    She might not be wealthy but she could still provide her son with a decent life and education, not to mention that her son had an amazing pair of godparents plus very generous and loving aunts and uncles. But even without them, she had always been determined to provide for her son by working as a bodyguard.

    Now, however, she learned to fight for her son''s rights thanks to Iris and their friends'' encouragement.

    Another person who helped change her views was Wei Lan. Although most of Wei Lan''s principles were crooked, she was actually one of the best in persuading her how to value herself not only as a human and as a mother, but most importantly, as a woman.

    It was okay to be selfish sometimes, especially when others were always taking her for granted. It was okay to prioritize herself and not to always give her all to others. And even as a mother, she mustn''t forget that she was also a woman who needed rest and self-care to feel confident and beautiful.

    Every woman deserved happiness.

    Jiang Ying Yue was still learning how to deal with her insecurities and sense of inferiority. But with the encouragement of her friends and the crooked-yet-surprisingly inspiring Wei Lan, she learned how to open her heart again. And now she was on the verge of creating aplete, happy family with her son and fianc¨¦.

    Because of all of them, she now had the courage to fight for her son''s rights.

    Iris was right. Little Jun mustn''t forget that he was a Long.

    The things that should belong to her son should go to him and not to others. Her status might notpare to Long Hui''s, but her son''s status shouldn''t be disregarded. She would fight for it no matter what.

    "As long as you understand," Iris said, patting her hand. She nced at Lin Yehan. It seemed that he didn''t mind her questions to Little Jun either.

    Back to the men''s side, Jin Liwei clinked his bottle with Lin Yehan''s.

    "Cheers."

    "Cheers, Third Brother." Lin Yehan''s gaze softened as he looked at his soon-to-be wife and their son.

 Chapter 1446 Relationship Going Well

    Chapter 1446 Rtionship Going Well

    "Second Brother and Fourth Brother aren''ting?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Lin Yehan shook his head. "Second Brother Yingjie has back-to-back surgeries today. And I heard that Fourth Brother Mo is conducting special training to the police force. The Chief of Police apparently invited him because he''s interested in Systema and wants the new recruits to learn it."

    Jin Liwei nodded while stroking the now sleeping Ice Cream.

    "We''re not sure if Fifth Brother will be able toe. Fifth Sister-inw Jinjing says that he''s busy." Lin Yehan sighed. "It would''ve been nice if all of us brothers are here today." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "En."

    Lin Yehan nced at Iris chatting with thedies (plus Dom). "Third Sister-in-Law Xin doesn''t mind that Ying Yue and Little Jun returned directly here with me from the hospital?"

    The corner of Jin Liwei''s lips curved up. "She was sad and disappointed at first but she''s fine now. Don''t worry about my wife and just focus on cultivating feelings with your own wife."

    "And our son," Lin Yehan added.

    "And your son." Jin Liwei agreed.

    Finally, the chef called everyone for lunch.

    After the meal, the adults put the kids, cats, and dogs in Little Jun''s room for a nap. Dom volunteered to watch over them with Jiang Ying Yue.

    Jin Liwei followed Lin Yehan outside to tour the farm.

    The three remainingdies¡ªIris, Long Jinjing, and Chen Fei¡ªwent to the sunroom for some digestive tea.

    Their topic?

    Orchidia Beauty''s new product idea, insect repellent spray and lotion.

    Both Iris and Long Jinjing wanted to expand the idea into a product line for Orchidia Baby, not just Orchidia Beauty.

    What happened to Little Jun with him getting dengue fever frightened the two new mothers.

    They wanted to develop baby-safe options for effective insect repellents.

    "Maybe we can also develop insect-repelling clothing," Iris suggested.

    Both Long Jinjing and Chen Fei''s eyes lit up.

    "Good idea," Chen Fei said.

    Long Jinjing nodded.

    "I''ll contact Amanpio Kileksky and ask him about it," Iris said.

    The three made ns for their next steps.

    Then someone walked in and interrupted their discussion.

    "Hey, babe," Jin Chonglin greeted Chen Fei and walked toward her. Then he nodded at Iris and Long Jinjing before looking around. "Where''s my brother and the others?"

    "They''re outside touring the farm," Iris replied, acting natural.

    Long Jinjing, on the other hand, looked a little awkward watching the new dynamics between her best friend and Jin Chonglin.

    "Why have youe?" Chen Fei asked in a huff, sounding annoyed, although a closer inspection would reveal her red ears.

    "Of course, I''lle. I promised to pick you up, didn''t I?" Jin Chonglin said.

    "Who needs you?" Chen Fei muttered. "I can drive. Besides, I need to drive Jinjing and the babies and the dogs home if Lu Zihao still doesn''teter."

    Jin Chonglin: "No problem, we''ll drive them home first then."

    Long Jinjing interjected, "It''s fine. You don''t need to drive us home. Robin and Shun wille pick us up if my husband can''te."

    "See? Now you have no excuse." Jin Chonglin waggled his eyebrows at Chen Fei.

    "Hmmm, looks like your rtionship is going well," Iris observed.

    "Are you blind?" Chen Fei red at her.

    "Yes, it''s going well," Jin Chonglin replied "Thank you."

    Chen Fei then red at him next. "You!"

    "Have you all eaten?" Jin Chonglin asked all of a sudden while rubbing his stomach. "I came directly from a shoot and haven''t eaten yet, so I''m starving."

    "Stupid. Why didn''t you ask your assistant to get you something to pad your stomach first?" Although Chen Fei said this, she still stood up and grabbed Jin Chonglin''s hand to lead him to the kitchen intending to ask the chef for some leftovers.

    "Excuse us, Sister Xin, Sister Jinjing," Jin Chonglin told the other twodies.

    Iris and Long Jinjing waved them away.

    After they left, Long Jinjing released a heavy sigh. "I still find it hard to believe that they really got together. Like, for real REAL."

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "You''re seriously saying that? Look in the mirror first with my brother and I''ll believe the same way."

    Long Jinjing pouted at her. "You know what I mean, Xin."

    Iris chuckled.

    Long Jinjing sighed again. "I just worry about Xiao Fei. What if Jin Chonglin''s fans go crazy and attack her?"

    "Then it means that he''s not managing his fans well." Iris picked up her teacup and took a sip. "And even if he manages his fans well which I think he does, there will still be some insane ones who''ll cross the line. Even I have some of those crazy fans appear now and then. The ck Stars and I just disown them when they go too overboard. I also have tight security, so I don''t really experience the dangerous, crazy fans firsthand. I mostly just hear about them from my staff or the news."

    "Being a celebrity sure is tough." Long Jinjing released another sigh.

    "It is. But it''s also very rewarding. I feel fulfilled whenever I create music, perform onstage, and interact with my fans. It''s my calling. I''m sure that Brother Chonglin feels the same way."

    Long Jinjing: "I hope that Xiao Fei can handle being in a rtionship with a celebrity. And not just any celebrity, but a superstar like Jin Chonglin."

    "She can handle it," Iris said with firm conviction. She believed in Chen Fei''s toughness. "She can handle him."

    "I hope so."

    After about an hour, the kids and the cats and dogs all woke up from their nap.

    The adults finally focused on showering Little Jun with gifts to congratte him for getting well soon.

    The little guy was over the moon with happiness. He wasn''t stingy either and shared all the toys he received with his little cousins. Even the Lu twins who couldn''t even crawl yet were given their fair share by their eldest cousin.

    His actions endeared him to the adults even more.

    Lin Yehan was so proud that he lifted his bonus son and gently tossed him in the air, causing Little Jun to squeal from delight.

    Little Mochi felt envious and crawled quickly to his father, wanting his daddy to toss him like that, too.

    Jin Liwei didn''t disappoint. He lifted his son and also pretended to toss him in the air. It wasn''t actually a toss but just lifting him up and down.

    Little Mochi didn''t know the difference. He thought that his daddy was also tossing him high up in the air like his eldest cousin. He wasughing so hard that it infected everyone, making the adultsugh as well.

    Jin Liwei didn''t forget his other son. He put down Little Mochi and lifted Little Matcha as well. Although Little Matcha didn''t ask for it, Jin Liwei could sense his other son''s desire.

    Jin Liwei knew Little Matcha''s personality because the child inherited it from him.

    Little Matcha was more reserved. He alsoughed but not as loudly as Little Mochi.

    On the other side, the Lu twins were also watching their elder cousins being tossed. Little Dima watched with slight interest while Little Misha was punching the air with his little arms and kicking with his little legs.

 Chapter 1447 Donâ€™t Drop the Baby

    Chapter 1447 Don¡¯t Drop the Baby

    Little Misha looked like he also wanted to be tossed up in the air. He twisted his chubby body in Dom''s arms and excitedly gestured. Unlike him, Little Dima was already content watching his elder cousins while sucking a pacifier.

    Dom was about to ask Long Jinjing''s permission to also pretend to toss Little Misha but Jin Chonglin beat him to it.

    "Let me do it," he offered.

    Long Jinjing was hesitant. "He''s pretty heavy."

    In response, Jin Chonglin flexed his arms. He may look slim but his lean muscles looked strong. "I can do it."

    "Let him do it, Jinjing," Chen Fei interjected.

    Jin Chonglin looked smug to gain his girlfriend''s support.

    Long Jinjing still looked hesitant but eventually relented.

    "If he dares drop Little Misha, I''ll castrate him," Chen Fei assured her best friend.

    "I''ll break his arms," Iris added.

    "I''ll break his legs," Jin Liwei followed suit.

    "I¡­I''ll pull out all his hair!" Dom didn''t want to be left out.

    "Uhm... My husband will probably, uh, chop him up?" Long Jinjing offered with hesitation.

    "Not probably," Iris said. "Big Brother will definitely chop him up and then feed his bloody pieces to the sharks."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Lin Yehan chuckled. Jiang Ying Yue didn''t join in the teasing but she smiled.

    The smug Jin Chonglin wilted but he didn''t want to give up. He already stepped forward and volunteered. There was no way that he, the superstar Prince Lin Lin, would give up halfway!

    "I said that I''ll do it, so I''ll do it properly! I won''t drop the baby, okay? Why don''t you all trust me?"

    Nobody answered him.

    He turned to his girlfriend. "Babe?"

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "Just don''t drop the baby or I''ll really castrate you. Just try it and you''ll see. You think that you''re more important than any of the kids here, huh?"

    That shut him up.

    Of course, he already knew that his status in the hearts of everyone in this room couldn''t evenpare to any of the children here. He, Jin Chonglin, loved by millions of fans around the world couldn''t evenpete with snivelling babies. He cast a sullen look at his girlfriend who didn''t even back him up.

    Hmph!

    Despite feeling aggrieved, he still took the squirming Little Misha from Dom.

    "Oof!" Jin Chonglin''s eyes widened at the baby''s weight. "What the f¡ªflower! Oooooh! The flowers are so beautiful!"

    He immediately changed his curse upon getting res from the parents.

    Whoa! That was close!

    He really almost dropped the baby!

    What the f*ck?!

    How was this baby so freaking heavy?

    Was this normal?!

    Even his elder brother''s kids, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, weren''t this heavy!

    What did Lu Zihao feed his babies?

    Dinosaur milk?

    F*cking hell!

    Although he was panicking inside, he pretended that everything was fine. Of course, he wasn''t fooling anybody. Everyone saw his grimace before he managed to control his expression.

    Steeling himself, he lifted the baby high up. Of course, he tried to be as gentle as possible.

    Unfortunately, the excited Little Misha didn''t know that his Uncle Lin Lin was having a hard time lifting him. The chubby baby squealed in delight while waving his arms and legs.

    This made it harder for Jin Chonglin to control his movements.

    At first, Long Jinjing looked like she almost wanted to snatch her baby from Jin Chonglin, afraid that he would drop Little Misha. But after watching him lift the baby a few times, she felt relieved and no longer attempted to stop him. She also smiled seeing her baby so happy.

    "Do you want Uncle Lin Lin to carry you, too?" Chen Fei asked Little Dima.

    Jin Chonglin stiffened a little. He nced at the other Lu twin. Little Dima looked even bigger than the baby hippopotamus in his arms.

    Fortunately for him, Little Dima only blew drool bubbles at Chen Fei. He didn''t seem inclined to imitate his elder twin brother and was content watching him and their cousins.

    Seeing this, Jin Chonglin released a silent sigh of relief. Then he saw his girlfriend smirking at him.

    She was doing it on purpose!

    Finally, Little Misha seemed to have had enough. He reached his chubby little hands toward his mother.

    Long Jinjing easily took her baby from him with one arm.

    Jin Chonglin was amazed at the ease of her movements. Indeed, mothers were amazing creatures.

    "When we have a baby, let''s not make the baby too fat," he told his girlfriend. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Chen Fei looked stunned at what he just said.

    He also realized what he just said. He, too, became stunned.

    The others also looked stunned.

    After a minute or two.

    Jin Chonglin: "Huh?"

    Chen Fei: "Huh? HUH?!!!"

    Then they froze again.

    Little Jun pped his hands and pretended to freeze as well. He thought that everyone was ying a game where the person who moved first would lose. But he lost his bnce and looked sad that he lost.

    Lin Yehan who had half of his attention on his bonus son was the first to realize what the child was thinking. Heforted the little guy. "It''s alright, Little Jun. You were already amazing. Look, Daddy Han moved and lost, too. Are you hungry? Why don''t we eat some snacks with your little cousins?"

    The child''s attention was quickly diverted. "Catties and doggies, chu?" (How about the cats and dogs?)

    "Of course, the cats and dogs will have snacks, too," Lin Yehan assured him.

    "Yay!"

    With that, Lin Yehan led the way to remove the children out of the awkward atmosphere. Jin Liwei carried his own kids while the reluctant, gossip-loving Dom helped Long Jinjing carry the Lu twins.

    Iris gave the still frozen couple a meaningful look before following her husband while herding the cats and dogs with Jiang Ying Yue out of the room.

    Now that everyone left, Chen Fei and Jin Chonglin were the only ones left.

    Chen Fei was the first one toe to her senses. She grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at the audacious man.

    "What the hell did you just say, Jin Chonglin?!!!"

 Chapter 1448 Baby Brain

    Chapter 1448 Baby Brain

    Jin Chonglin wanted to p his own mouth. He didn''t know what possessed him to utter such unbelievable words in front of everyone.

    So embarrassing!

    But now he had to deal with his wild girlfriend who would threaten to castrate him whenever he did something displeasing.

    Thankfully, Lin Yehan was quite tactful and led everyone out so that he and Chen Fei could talk out his gaffe in private. At least he wouldn''t feel too embarrassed trying to reason with his furious girlfriend. He could just imagine his sister-inw, Iris, and her best friend, the gossip-loving Dominic Chua, wanting to stay and watch him make an even bigger fool of himself.

    Thanks, Eldest Bro Yehan!

    He owed him one.

    "Ahem." Jin Chonglin straightened his back and tried to act like everything was normal.

    But Chen Fei wasn''t so easily deceived. She grabbed another pillow and hit him with it.

    "Hey, hey! Babe, stop it! Ouch!"

    It didn''t hurt at all but he still needed to pretend to suffer to appease her. Who made her his girlfriend?

    Oh, it was him!

    He was the one who insisted that they should date for real.

    Oh, well.

    He had to own up to his decisions.

    He was the worldwide famous superstar Jin Chonglin after all.

    Chen Fei was still upset with him. She kept hitting him with the pillow.

    "How dare you embarrass me like that in front of my friends and everyone?! Ah, I want to strangle you! No, let me castrate you first!"

    "Hey, hey!" He caught the pillow and didn''t allow her to hit him anymore. Then he threw the pillow far away.

    She was about to grab another one when he hugged her tightly.

    "Babe, calm down," he said, trying to soothe her.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t work.

    She fought to escape him and even lifted her knee to kick him in the nuts.

    Good thing he saw her n and evaded the vicious attack before he became a eunuch.

    He finally couldn''t take it anymore and shouted, "Babe, stop it!"

    She froze and looked at him in disbelief. "Did you just yell at me?"

    "Uh, sorry for yelling at you. I just need you to calm down for a second and listen to me. Okay?"

    She red at him.

    He sighed and decided topletely swallow his pride. "Please? Pretty please?"

    She pursed her lips and harrumphed. "Fine. Let go of me first."

    He was afraid that she would go back on her word and attack him if he let her go. But not letting her go would definitely cause her to be more vicious. So he chose the lesser of two evils and cautiously let her go.

    Fortunately, she showed mercy and didn''t attack him. She just faced him and crossed her arms over her chest.

    "Now exin yourself," she said.

    ''Now what do I say?'' he thought.

    He was panicking inside but dared not show it.

    ''Jin Chonglin, you''re not a coward! You''re a superstar who''s the fantasy of millions ofdies all around the world. This isn''t the first time you had a girlfriend! You can handle a woman with no problem!''

    He tried cheering himself on but remembered his track record with past lovers.

    Ugh.

    Maybe remembering his past lovers wasn''t the greatest idea at the moment.

    While his mind was racing a million miles per second to find the best excuse, Chen Fei said something.

    "Huh?" He didn''t hear what she said. His mind was too preupied with his own little thoughts. "Sorry, babe. What did you just say?"

    Understandably, she became even more upset that he wasn''t listening to her.

    But fortunately, she still repeated what she said. "I said, do you really want to have a baby with me?"

    "Yes."

    His survival instincts made him reply with no hesitation. Experience with women in the past made him learn that in situations like this, it was best to agree even if he disagreed deep inside. It was easier to pretend and appease a lover than to deal with a furious and hysterical woman.

    But still, when he caught himself agreeing to it, he still couldn''t believe what he said.

    What the f*ck?!

    Did he just say that?!!!

    Huh?

    HUH?!!!

    What the f*ck was wrong with him?!

    But he still yed it cool, acting as if he really wanted to have a baby with her.

    Wait, did he want to have a baby?

    Did he?!!

    He wanted to be a father?!!

    Oh no!

    Maybe he got infected with a baby brain after his elder brother and Lu Zihao had babies one after another.

    Yes, that was it!

    It was Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao''s fault!

    Those two men were too much!

    Jerks!!!

    Did they even treat him as their younger brother?! How dare they infect him with a stupid baby brain?!

    Yes, it was all their fault.

    It wasn''t like he suddenly wanted to have a baby because his girlfriend was Chen Fei.

    Well, she was good-looking enough. Not as gorgeous as his sister-inw, of course, but Chen Fei had nice, pleasant natural features. She was also quite stylish and highlighted her best features, increasing her attractiveness by several points. Plus she was also very smart, capable, and independent. All of these made her so much more attractive than other women in his eyes.

    And of course, he, Jin Chonglin, was oozing with gorgeousness. He was gorgeousness personified.

    Even if Chen Fei wasn''t as gorgeous as him, his genes would surely be strong enough for both of them to make their future kids all good-looking. He was confident in himself when it came to this matter.

    Hold on!

    What the hell was he thinking?!

    Was he really seriously considering having kids with Chen Fei?

    Huh.

    "I guess I''m done for."

    Chen Fei frowned. "What did you say?"

    "Nothing," he quickly said.

    Then he smiled.

    Fine. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Since he already jumped into the pit he dug, then he might as well dig deeper. At least, he wouldn''t be alone.

    There would be a woman named Chen Fei whom he could hold in his arms at night.

 Chapter 1449 Not An Easy Woman

    Chapter 1449 Not An Easy Woman

    Chen Fei grew quiet.

    "W-what?" Jin Chonglin became nervous.

    He was used to her barking and snarling at him like a territorial mad dog. Seeing her so quiet like this was like seeing pigs fly for the first time. It was unnerving, to say the least. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "I need to think about it first," she whispered.

    "What did you say?" He didn''t hear her clearly.

    She snarled at him.

    Ah, this was more like her.

    "I said, I NEED TO THINK ABOUT IT FIRST!!!"

    "Oh. Okay!" Jin Chonglin gave her a thumbs up.

    With that, it felt like the air in the room finally became easier to breathe. Jin Chonglin released a mental sigh of relief.

    Chen Fei pulled him to sit beside her on the couch.

    "I don''t know what kind of weird medicine you''ve been takingtely that you''re suddenly having all these crazy ideas," she said. "First, you persuade me to pretend to be your girlfriend. Then, you suddenly decide that you want to make our pretend rtionship real after sleeping together. And now, you suddenly announce in front of my friends and their families that you want to have a baby with me. Honestly, you''re making me crazy, Jin Chonglin."

    ''That should be my line,'' he thought. ''You''re the one who''s making me crazy.''

    But he didn''t say these words out loud.

    Sitting down and talking about things like this without quarrelling like cats and dogs were quite rare between the two of them.

    She continued to talk, unaware of his real thoughts. "I''m not even sure if I like you all that much to want to give birth to your child. If, and I''m saying it as a big IF! If I agree to have a baby with you, as the woman, I''m the one who''ll suffer more. You can continue working nonstop while I''ll need to sacrifice a lot just to give birth to your baby. I don''t even know if it''s a good deal!"

    Jin Chonglin couldn''t bear to be slighted like this. "I''m Jin Chonglin! What do you mean I''m not a good deal?!"

    She rolled her eyes at him. "Don''t think too highly of yourself. I''m not like other women who fantasize about you and dream of bearing your babies. I''m only talking properly like this with you right now because you''re my official boyfriend. If you weren''t, I would have pped you and castrated you for even having such a crazy thought."

    He covered his crotch with a hand. "Don''t always threaten to castrate me! This here is very important to your future happiness."

    ncing at his crotch, something dangerous glinted in her eyes. Before he could even react, her hand already swooshed downward, pped his hand away, and grabbed his thing through his trousers.

    His manhood immediately reacted but before he could even enjoy it, he screamed like a pig being ughtered.

    "CHEN FEI!!!"

    She let go of the thing that she just squeezed andughed. "Oops. Sorry! My hand moved on its own. Don''t worry. I''ll scold my hand for acting so audacious!"

    "Ugh." His eyes teared up. "What if you damaged it?! Don''t me me if our babies turn up ugly in the future! I''ll tell them that their mother hurt their father, that''s why they became so ugly!"

    Chen Feiughed at him. "Are you even listening to yourself? I suggest you return to school and learn about Science. You don''t even make sense."

    "Hmph!" He rubbed his poor little brother and pouted. "I don''t care! You have topensate meter."

    "Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "How?"

    He leaned forward and blew on her ear, causing it to turn crimson. "You know¡­."

    She gave him a yful p on the thigh, causing him to flinch. He was afraid that she would p his poor little brother to death.

    "You pervert!" Although she said this, the yful glint in her eyes betrayed her.

    Jin Chonglin felt something warm deep inside his chest. He was a grandmaster in flirting, but this was the first time that he felt something other than the excitement of the pursuit.

    Then a thought crossed his mind.

    Perhaps it wouldn''t be that bad to have a baby with this woman.

    Maybe they could have twins, too, just like his elder brother Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao.

    Of course, with him, Jin Chonglin, as the father, his kids with Chen Fei would surely be cuter than either the Jin or Lu twins.

    "Hehe."

    Chen Fei watched him snickering like a deranged idiot. She shook her head. Maybe he knocked his head while filming a stunt or something. She should ask his assistant next time. Then maybe it would exin all his recent craziness.

    As for her, she couldn''t quite exin the extent of her feelings for him. She still held a lot of reservations when it came to him, especially about his reputation as a yboy.

    But it would be a lie if she said that she wasn''t ttered when he confessed that he wanted to have a baby with her. It meant that he didn''t treat their rtionship as something temporary. He could envision a future with them together as a family.

    Her first instinct was to reject him. That was why she hit him earlier.

    However, something deeper inside told her to agree.

    She didn''t want to agree right away, though.

    She wasn''t a stupid teenager who would fall head over heels over her crush. She was a strong, independent career woman. Decisions like this shouldn''t be made carelessly. She needed to make a lot of considerations because having a baby with a superstar like Jin Chonglin would forever change her life whether she liked it or not.

    And besides, if he was really serious about their rtionship, shouldn''t he propose marriage to her first?

    What was this about giving birth to his baby without a proper title?

    Hmph!

    She, Chen Fei, wasn''t an easy woman.

    He needed to work harder if he wanted a future with her.

    If he thought that he was a great catch, then SHE was also a great catch.

    So what if he was a superstar?

    She was Orchidia''s COO! So many people aspired to be like her.

 Chapter 1450 Wedding Invitation

    Chapter 1450 Wedding Invitation

    After the gathering at Lin Yehan''s farm, everyone settled back to their normal lives. Iris also settled at Long Industries. She became more integrated with the Marketing Team.

    Her workload also gradually became heavier but it was no problem for her. She was also a boss in her own right. She knew how to delegate tasks to the right people.

    Her new assistant at Long Industries also proved herself to be quitepetent. Because the assistant was a ck Star, she was extremely loyal and sincere to Iris.

    This pleased Iris so much that she already gave her new assistant a bonus from her own pocket. Not on thepany''s dime, of course. There was no need to attract unnecessary criticism when she just wanted to reward her assistant.

    Once again, Iris followed her own work hours and left as soon as she finished her tasks. Her husband was already waiting in the underground parking lot reserved for the executives of thepany.

    Jin Liwei was the one driving the car this time.

    As soon as they arrived home and before they could even see their twins, the butler handed them a simple yet elegant envelope. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    It was a wedding invitation addressed to the husband and wife.

    It read, "With joy, we invite you to the wedding of Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue."

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other. They were only surprised for a moment but soon epted it.

    The wedding between LinYehan and Jiang Ying Yue was not a question of if but of when. Now that it was finally happening, Iris and Jin Liwei were happy for the engaged couple, and of course, for their godson.

    "They must have already exined it to Little Jun," Iris murmured. "Ying Yue said before that she won''t marry Eldest Brother Yehan until Little Jun besfortable. Now that our godson is even calling Eldest Brother Yehan Daddy Han, Ying Yue should feel relieved."

    "Eldest Brother cares about Little Jun like his own," Jin Liwei said. "I know what kind of man he is like. We grew up together. It takes time for him to warm up to other people, but once he epts you in his own circle, he''ll be very protective of you."

    Iris smiled. "I know."

    She experienced it firsthand when she met Jin Liwei''s best friends back then.

    Yu Mo was already acquainted with her because he had been coincidentally her Systema instructor. Wang Yingjie was also polite to her. Only Lin Yehan had treated her coldly.

    Although Lin Yehan hadn''t outright disrespected her and still hosted her at his farm vi for the sake of Jin Liwei, she still felt his dislike toward her. Fortunately, she hadn''t cared much about his attitude back then.

    Now look at them.

    Lin Yehan treated her like family.

    "As long as Eldest Brother doesn''t mistreat Little Jun¡ªI don''t think that he would ever do that, then we won''t interfere in his marriage with Ying Yue," Iris said.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Lin Yehan was one of his closest brothers, but Jin Liwei would never defend the man if Lin Yehan ever hurt his beloved godson.

    Iris kept the invitation and the couple headed to the nursery. They greeted their twins and took the boys with them to eat a meal.

    Later, Iris called Jiang Ying Yue and they talked about the uing wedding.

    Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jin were now half-living between Dragon Pce and Lin Yehan''s ce. Whenever Jiang Ying Yue had duty at Dragon Pce, the mother and son would live here. Whenever she had the day off, then they would stay at Lin Yehan''s farm vi.

    ording to Jiang Ying Yue, her son loved living at his Daddy Han''s home. The little guy loved roaming around the property and helping take care of the farm animals.

    Lin Yehan was also very patient in showing the child around and teaching the little guy how to care for the animals.

    "Watching the two of them interact made me think that I made the right decision in choosing Lin Yehan as my husband and partner in life," Jiang Ying Yue confessed to Iris.

    "I''m happy for you, Ying Yue," Iris replied.

    "Thank you, Xin. I don''t want to be indecisive anymore like how I had been during my rtionship with my ex. Unlike Long Hui, Yehan never made me feel ashamed of the difference in our social status. Yehan also never looked down on my job as a bodyguard. He respects my passion for the career that I chose for myself."

    Iris nodded, agreeing. She was truly happy for her friend.

    Jiang Ying Yue continued, "This is why I can''t help but fall for a man like Lin Yehan. The moment that Little Jun called him Daddy Han was also the moment that I knew that¡­that, uhm, that you know, that I love him. I love him, Xin."

    "Good for you, Ying Yue. And good for Little Jun. I wish you all the best, especially to my godson."

    "Thanks, Xin. For everything."

    "Don''t mention it. Liwei and I will always be there for Little Jun and you."

    Iris continued listening to Jiang Ying Yue as she talked about her simple wedding ns. It was very rare for this friend of hers to openly share her feelings like this. Iris was very happy for Jiang Ying Yue and hoped that her friend would finally find happiness with the right person.

    Hopefully, the right person was Lin Yehan.

    ###

    At a high-ss restaurant.

    Iris led the toast in weing Ren Jiyu and a few members of the national shooting team for sessfully signing exclusive management contracts with LXC Studio.

    "Cheers!"

    The press conference earlier that afternoon was a sess. Almost all the major mediapanies sent representatives to cover the event.

    Iris originally nned on attending the press conference in person but her eldest twin son, Little Mochi, suddenly vomited in the morning. She was frightened and personally rushed her son to the mansion''s hospital wing.

    What happened to Little Jun a while back came to mind. She feared that her twin son also got dengue.

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 Chapter 1451 Show Off

    Chapter 1451 Show Off

    Earlier that morning, Jin Liwei left thepany in a rush and came home as soon as Ketchup informed him about what happened to his eldest twin son. The husband and wife waited anxiously while the doctor examined and treated Little Mochi.

    Fortunately, Little Mochi quickly recovered. The doctor said that the baby had eaten too much and vomited the excess. There was nothing to worry about.

    "Whenever he has eaten enough, don''t give in and keep on feeding him too much even if he asks for extra," the doctor advised. "It''s not good to overfeed him. Your twins'' stomachs aren''t as sturdy as their Lu cousins."

    Although Iris and Jin Liwei were both relieved that there was nothing seriously wrong with their eldest twin son, they couldn''t help but feel exasperated.

    Little Mochi was probably trying to show off again. Even when he already felt full, he kept on wanting to eat. His stomach couldn''t handle it, so he ended up vomiting, frightening both his poor parents into thinking that he contracted dengue fever.

    "Mama," Little Mochi whined and hugged Iris'' neck.

    She patted his little back,forting him.

    Jin Liwei''s hand itched while looking at his son''s naughty bottom. Seeing his worried wife, however, he curbed his urge to spank his son. He had never hit his children. This was the first time that he had this urge. Still, he restrained his thoughts. His wife told him several times before that she didn''t want them to discipline their children by corporal punishment.

    He agreed with her. There were other effective methods of disciplining children.

    Iris didn''t know that her husband almost spanked their son. She kissed Little Mochi who was acting cute. Her heart couldn''t help but melt at her adorable son.

    They left the hospital wing.

    Little Mochi began acting spoiled and refused to let his parents leave. He clung to his mother and pretended to be pitiful whenever she tried handing him to his nanny. He also needed to have his father within his field of vision or he would wail at the top of his lungs.

    Little Matcha was already used to his elder twin brother''s antics. At first, he triedforting Little Mochi by sharing his favourite teddy bear, but Little Mochi pped it aside. The offended Little Matcha then ignored his brother, crawled far away, and yed with the teddy bear by himself instead.

    Jin Liwei helplessly shook his head at the spectacle but chose not to interfere. It was better to let the children handle small tiffs like this among themselves. He and his wife would only interfere if the quarrel among the brothers became too much. Fortunately, the twins were still too young to have big quarrels.

    The husband and wife ended up rearranging their work schedule for the day to spend time with the twins instead.

    They consulted the doctor and a nutritionist about the best food portion amounts for their babies to prevent incidents like this from happening again in the future.

    There was no problem with Little Matcha. When he felt full, he would refuse to eat. On the other hand, the elder brother, Little Mochi, was a big show-off. If he heard the adults praising him for eating well, then he would want to shove more food in his mouth even when he already felt full.

    As a result of this incident, Iris had no choice but to advise the nannies not to praise Little Mochi too much during meal times. Nobody wanted him to overeat and vomit again.

    While making these arrangements for Little Mochi, the press conference had already started in the afternoon. Iris couldn''t make it in time, so she instead booked a wee dinner for Ren Jiyu and his teammates at a high-ss restaurantter.

    Jin Liwei had also wanted to apany her to the dinner, but Little Mochi made a big fuss once again. One of them should stay at home to appease the fussy baby. In the end, Jin Liwei decided to let Iris go while he stayed at home to apany the kids. Iris felt more reassured having her husband personally watch their children after what happened with Little Mochi this morning.

    Finally, Iris managed to sneak away when Jin Liwei was distracting Little Mochi.

    Back at the restaurant, Iris smiled as she listened to the conversations around her. She smiled even though her mind couldn''t help but worry about her kids at home.

    As the other boss of LXC Studio, Jin Chonglin was of course also in attendance. He sat beside Iris and he also gave a short speech before offering a toast to their newly contracted talents.

    The Chief and Deputy Chief of Talent Management, Lin Dong and Tang Yiyi, were also present.

    The contract signing with the national shooting team got dyed several times because LXC Studio wanted to iron out every possible little detail in the individual contracts, so nothing would conflict with their management of the national shooting team.

    In addition, there were also a few issues with the National Athletes Association. They made some excessive demands even though they weren''t directly involved in the matter. They probably just wanted the clout.

    Fortunately, LXC Studio didn''t back down and still managed to negotiate with them without ruffling too many feathers from some self-important higher-ups in the association.

    Iris only learned about this after Jin Chonglin spoke about it today. If it were up to her, she wouldn''t care about offending some unworthy people, but Jin Chonglin disagreed with her approach. He insisted that LXC Studio was still a youngpany and they needed to be a bit more cautious, just a little bit, until they stabilized their foundation. She didn''t argue and just allowed him to make the decisions as long as they wouldn''t negatively affect thepany. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Both of them nced at the athletes, especially at Ren Jiyu.

    "He has good potential for showbiz," Jin Chonglinmented.

    She nodded.

    Indeed, Ren Jiyu was a very charismatic individual. It was no wonder that he instantly became popr.

    Now it was up to LXC Studio to use his newfound fame and create a sustainable lifelong career for him.

 Chapter 1452 Feeling Guilty

    Chapter 1452 Feeling Guilty

    "By the way, how''s my nephew?" Jin Chonglin asked. "Any updates on Little Mochi?"

    Iris showed him a short video of Little Mochi pping his hands andughing while the dogs chased each other around him. Jin Liwei sent it just now. They could also see Little Matcha doing his own thing at the corner.

    Jin Chonglin snickered upon seeing that his naughty nephew waspletely fine. Earlier that morning, he also became worried after hearing that Little Mochi vomited. Then he learned the reason the baby vomited was because he was showing off to everyone by overeating.

    What a mischievous child!

    Little Mochi was growing to be more and more like his Uncle Lin Lin. Jin Chonglin felt proud. Not only did the baby resemble him at a certain angle especially whenever Little Mochi smiled, but the baby''s desire to show off was also just like him.

    His desire to have his own baby grew a little again. Just a tiny bit.

    Iris had no idea that Jin Chonglin was using her baby to fantasize about having his own baby.

    And if she heard his thoughts about Little Mochi inheriting his show-off personality from him, then she would beg to differ. She thought that Little Mochi''s desire to show off was actually inherited from the original Long Xin.

    This was why she couldn''t help but worry about Little Mochi more when he grew up. She and her husband needed to guide the child properly, so that he wouldn''t end up growing crooked like the original Long Xin.

    In fact, Iris pitied the original Long Xin. If only the original Long Xin had someone who guided her properly while growing up, perhaps she wouldn''t have ended up the way she did. The original Long Xin wasn''t inherently wicked. She just had a personality that wanted others to notice her, admire her, and love her.

    Unfortunately, due to theck of proper guidance, she lost her way and ended up forcing whatever she wanted by hook or by crook.

    Iris sighed at the tragedy of the original Long Xin''s life. Of course, she was grateful that she, the former Evelina Vetrova, was given a chance to live another life because of the original Long Xin.

    Both of them lived tragic lives, but now, she was determined to live a life full of happiness and fulfillment chasing her dreams with the support of the love of her life and their family.

    ''Long Xin, you want the world to love you, I''ll achieve it for you. Don''t worry.''

    Something warm pooled in her heart and spread throughout her entire body, bing hotter.

    She had already integrated with the original''s body a long time ago. There was no longer a sh with any remnant of the original Long Xin''s soul. She could feel that she had already be one with the original Long Xin.

    Perhaps it was her body''s subconscious reaction to thank her for her promise. Whatever it was, Iris weed it.

    She had her own dreams and goals that she wanted to achieve. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The original Long Xin also had hers.

    She would achieve everything they both wanted and more.

    Iris put her phone inside her purse. Beside her, Jin Chonglin went back to chatting with Ren Jiyu and the other members of the national shooting team. Iris also joined them, exciting the athletes.

    As per Ren Jiyu''s request, he became a talent under Tang Yiyi. He was a big fan of Iris Long, a proud ck Star, so he wanted to have the same manager as her.

    His other teammates were less popr than him, so they were assigned to other managers. They didn''t mind. They understood that their team became popr mainly because of Ren Jiyu, their youngest member.

    Lin Dong didn''t sign to manage anyone from the national shooting team. He already had his hands full continuing to work as Jin Chonglin''s long-time exclusive manager, in addition to being LXC Studio''s Chief of Talent Management. He was so busy that he could barely walk straight. But he enjoyed every minute of it.

    Not everyone from the national shooting team was interested in entering showbiz, but they still all came out to support Ren Jiyu and the others for the contract signing.

    The dinner was lively and filled withughter.

    Iris tilted her head while looking at her brother-inw.

    He noticed it and suddenly became nervous. "W-what?!"

    "Feeling guilty?" she asked him.

    "Who are you calling guilty?!" Jin Chonglin demanded.

    Iris raised an eyebrow and ignored his defensive tone. "I heard that you and Chen Fei are basically living together now."

    He didn''t reply.

    She lowered her voice. "I''m not interfering in your rtionship. I don''t care about what kind of rtionship the two of you have, whether it''s pretend or real or something moreplicated. We all heard about you dering in front of everyone at the farm vi that you want a baby with Chen Fei, but I want to remind you that you''re a big celebrity with hordes of fans around the world. Chen Fei is my friend and mypany''s important COO. Protect her or else¡­."

    Her finger made a slitting gesture across her neck.

    Jin Chonglin red at her but immediately caught himself. He looked around the table and was relieved that nobody seemed to be listening to their conversation. He smiled and pretended that they were just chatting about normal stuff for other people to see. Inside, however, he wasining.

    What was up with this group of women always threatening him?

    His girlfriend was always threatening to castrate him while his sister-inw was now threatening to murder him if he ever failed to protect his girlfriend. And if he ever tattled on his sister-inw with his older brother, Jin Liwei would surely side with Iris.

    How pitiful was he, Jin Chonglin!

    "Ahem!" Jin Chonglin moistened his throat with a sip of champagne. "I know. You don''t have to keep telling me this. I won''t let anyone harm my girlfriend under my nose."

    Iris studied his expression, making him ufortable, but he endured it.

 Chapter 1453 Farm Wedding (Part I)

    Chapter 1453 Farm Wedding (Part I)

    Iris continued saying, "Chen Fei might be strong, but she''s still a woman. I hope that you treat her more carefully."

    "Of course," Jin Chonglin replied.

    "And I hope that you''re not just ying with her."

    He scowled.

    She shrugged, not at all bothered by his ugly expression. "Can''t me me for saying this. Your past dalliances are now legendary in the industry."

    He opened his mouth but couldn''t retort, so he could only close it again.

    "No need to exin everything to me." She waved a dismissive hand. "Your romantic or sexual rtionships with other women aren''t my business anyway. I''m just reminding you that Chen Fei is my friend and my most importantpany COO. You can''t treat her like how you treated your exes."

    The scowl on Jin Conglin''s face worsened.

    Lin Dong appeared beside them and rebuked Jin Chonglin while keeping a smile on his face for others to see. "Don''t you know how to control your expression?! And to Iris Long?! Do you want rumours of you not getting along with your sister-inw to appear in the evening news? And what kind of face are you showing to our newly signed talents?!"

    Iris snickered.

    "Stop teasing your brother-inw," Tang Yiyi, who also appeared beside them, warned Iris.

    Iris pursed her lips. She didn''t bother Jin Chonglin anymore.

    Although she was indeed teasing him, she was serious when threatening him. Like she told him earlier, she didn''t care about what kind of rtionship he had with Chen Fei nor did she want to interfere. Both were already adults and could make their own decisions.

    She was only concerned for her friend, especially with the kind of past Jin Chonglin had with other women. Iris didn''t want Chen Fei to suffer a simr fate to his jilted exes.

    Besides, his ex-fianc¨¦e, Fan Luo, was as an insane person and a murderer. She was the one who murdered the original Long Xin.

    This was why Iris couldn''t fully trust Jin Chonglin, especially when it came to his choice with women. Now that he was dating her friend and herpany COO, she had to remind him again and again to be extra careful.

    Iris stood up and finally left Jin Chonglin to deal with the two managers by himself. She joined Ren Jiyu and the others to chat. They were ck Stars so all were ecstatic to have the chance to talk to her in person.

    Jin Chonglin was in a bad mood because of what happened but still forced himself to face everyone at the wee dinner with a dazzling smile on his face.

    He was now a boss of an entertainmentpany. There were times when he could act willfully as a superstar, but this wasn''t one of them.

    He watched as his beautiful sister-inw dazzled everyone as usual. His heart clenched a little, but the feeling of regret was no longer there. Unexpectedly, Chen Fei''s face shed in his mind.

    His bad mood gradually disappeared. The more he looked at Iris, the less his heart clenched, and the more Chen Fei stamped herself in his mind.

    This time, he led another toast, raising his winess.

    "To a new beginning! Cheers!"

    "Cheers!"

    He sipped his champagne and once again nced at his sister-inw.

    ''To a new beginning,'' he mentally told himself, ''of me no longer pining for you.''

    Iris must have sensed his eyes on her because she looked back at him. She raised her own ss of champagne and nodded at him.

    He smiled back.

    This time, his smile felt lighter.

    Any baggage from past feelings was finally let go starting today.

    It was liberating.

    ###

    The days flew by.

    Soon, it was the wedding day of Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue.

    It was a small and intimate ceremony held at Lin Yehan''s farm vi.

    The day was bright and breezy. A perfect day for a wedding celebration. It seemed that even the weather agreed to the union of the bride and the groom.

    The ceremony started outdoors without any dy.

    LinYehan stood waiting at the end of the aisle with his best man, Jin Liwei, and his groomsmen, Wang Yingje, Yu Mo, Lu Zihao, and Jin Chonglin.

    His parents were also in attendance. They had already met Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun before the wedding and epted her as their son''s chosen wife without any drama. They also adored Little Jun and doted on him as their grandson.

    The bridesmaids walked down the aisle¡ªLong Jinjing, Chen Fei, Meimei, and Clover.

    Next was the matron of honour¡ªIris.

    She was followed by Dom, the flower girl¡ªahem, ahem¡ªthe flower man.

    Dom''s entrance was as dramatic as ever.

    As soon as he appeared, the background music changed into a funky pop song. He carried a huge basket of wildflower petals mixed with sparkly paper butterflies. First, he started posing before dancing to the beat of the music while tossing a handful of wildflower petals and sparkly paper butterflies along the aisle and to the guests.

    The touching wedding turned funny in an instant. Laughter filled the venue. Everyone cheered for the confident flower man who was intent on making this wedding as memorable as possible.

    When he reached the seats near the front, he twirled around and tossed petals and paper butterflies at the four giggling babies alongside their four guard dogs. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The Jin and Lu twins looked adorable in their little matching tuxedo suits. Their dogs¡ªPudding, Chowder, Ham and Mash¡ªsat on the ground beside them. The dogs also wore adorable bowties.

    Dom threw thest petals and paper butterflies and put down the huge basket. Then he fished something out of his pocket¡ªa bright red bottle of something. He opened it and blew bubbles at the babies, causing them to giggle and squeal with delight. Then he blew flying kisses to them.

    But Dom didn''t stop there.

    He continued blowing bubbles at the groom, his groomsmen, and even the bridesmaids.

    Finally, he tossed a handful of glittering confetti at the end of the aisle, finishing his sassy march with great flourish.

    Everyone gave him a big round of apuse.

 Chapter 1454 Farm Wedding (Part II)

    Chapter 1454 Farm Wedding (Part II)

    After Dom''s entertaining performance on the aisle, Little Jun marched next. He wore the same tuxedo as the groom, Lin Yehan, but in children''s size. The little guy took his job very seriously. He carried the pillow with the rings and marched down the aisle with measured steps, just like how he had practiced the day before.

    Also marching beside him was his German Shepherd guard dog, Gravy. The dog wore a bowtie around its neck. Gravy was disciplined and stayed beside its little master, matching Little Jun''s footsteps.

    The dogs were still considered puppies based on their ages but their sizes were already close to their adult sizes.

    Lin Yehan weed his bonus son at the front of the aisle while the best man, Jin Liwei, took the rings from the pillow to safeguard them. Then Little Jun and Gravy finally joined the babies and the other dogs to watch the ceremony.

    Then the music changed.

    Everyone stood up and looked at the same direction.

    Finally, the bride walked down the aisle.

    Jiang Ying Yue''s parents had already passed away, so she didn''t have anyone from her family to attend her wedding.

    After learning that she didn''t have anyone to walk her down the aisle, Grandpa Lu didn''t hesitate to dere that he would do it instead. Nobody was allowed to fight him for the role.

    The old man was very arrogant. He didn''t offer. He dered!

    But the others knew that he only acted this way so that Jiang Ying Yue couldn''t decline his offer due to shyness. Once Grandpa Lu acted willfully, he was even worse than a child throwing a tantrum.

    Jiang Ying Yue became teary-eyed but forced herself not to cry because she didn''t want to ruin her makeup.

    Her dress was a very simple of-white boho-style dress. It was light and flowy with sheer and loose long sleeves. Her muscles were covered but notpletely hidden. She appeared feminine yet strong at the same time. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    There was a very casual atmosphere during the entire wedding ceremony. Everyone felt at ease, even the children and animals. It felt very peaceful.

    Unlike Iris and Jin Liwei''s grand wedding, Lin Yehan and Jiang Ying Yue didn''t want the ceremony to be too formal. Everything was simplified. In just a matter of minutes, the bride and groom were married.

    The children and their pets didn''t have time to grow bored and throw tantrums. Before they knew it, their parents carried them to the reception on the other side of the farm vi.

    Lin Yehan was all smiles as he carried his bonus son, Little Jun, with one arm while holding his wife, Jiang Ying Yue, with his other arm. Little Jun''s guard dog, Gravy, followed beside them obediently.

    Long Jinjing sighed and smiled softly as she watched the newly married couple. "They look great together."

    "We look better," Lu Zihao said with his devilish voice.

    She pouted at him but didn''t argue. The man was extremelypetitive. He didn''t like being bested by other people. She didn''t bother with him anymore and just continued to admire the new family walking ahead. She was happy for them.

    Lu Zihao adjusted both his twin sons in his arms. Unlike the others, he wasn''t bothered by his sons'' significant weight at all. To him, they weighed nothing. The others whoined about his sons'' weight were just weaklings.

    Of course, that didn''t include his sister. Evelina was delicate. She shouldn''t even carry his sons in the first ce. Once his sons learned how to walk, he would teach them to support their delicate aunt when she walked instead so that she wouldn''t trip and fall. They shouldn''t even ask her to carry them or he would tell them to run a hundredps as punishment. Niki Vetrov''s sons should be tough and strong.

    As Lu Zihao was making ns about his sons'' future, he had forgotten that his wife might protest and argue with him, but that was a problem that he would have to face sooner orter. Long Jinjing usually deferred to him on most matters but after bing a mother, she had be extremely protective of their children.

    Unaware of his difficult future with his wife because of their sons, Lu Zihao asked, "So when do you want to hold our wedding ceremony?"

    She looked at him with surprise. "You¡­you haven''t forgotten? I thought that maybe you already forgot about it."

    He snorted and left her behind while carrying both their sons.

    "W-wait!" She chased after them. When she caught up, she grabbed her husband''s arm to force him to slow down, which he did.

    He ignored her but spoke to their babies instead. "Your mom is terrible. Your dad keeps asking her but she doesn''t want to marry me."

    "Nonsense! I already married you!" Long Jinjing denied his usation, especially in front of their children.

    What would their sons think of her, their mother?

    Of course, they couldn''t understand what their parents were talking about yet, but Long Jinjing was still afraid of negatively affecting their subconscious minds during childhood.

    He snorted. "You know what I mean."

    She bit her bottom lip. Of course, she knew what he meant.

    They had registered their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau. Hence, they were already officially married. However, it still didn''t feelplete without the wedding ceremony yet.

    Lu Zihao said that he wanted to give her a wedding ceremony. Of course, she also wanted to have a wedding ceremony. It was one of her dreams since she was a little girl.

    She was thankful that her husband had learned to be more thoughtful of her and promised to give her the wedding ceremony of her dreams.

    The only problem was herself.

    She looked down at her figure.

    Although she had already lost a lot of weight after giving birth, she still continued to struggle to return to her normal weight before pregnancy.

    Her stomach wasn''t t enough yet. Her arms were too big. Her thighs rubbed too close with one another.

 Chapter 1455 Farm Wedding (Part III)

    Chapter 1455 Farm Wedding (Part III)

    No matter how often Lu Zihao assured Long Jinjing that he loved her current figure, she still couldn''t stop her insecurities. She knew in her mind that her current way of thinking was unhealthy, but she couldn''t help herself from feeling this way.

    The good thing was that she recognized that she had a problem and was willing to solve it by seeing her therapist on a regr basis. Thanks to this, she didn''t spiral downwards into suffering a full-blown post-partum depression.

    Letting go of her current insecurities was a daily struggle. It was a long battle, but with the support of her husband, family, and friends, she noticed that she was gradually getting better.

    Not yet 100% better, but at least getting there.

    Seeing that she hadn''t replied yet, Lu Zihao released a heavy sigh. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Just tell me whenever you''re ready. Or we can wait until these two rascals can walk, so they can march on the aisle on their own. What do you think, hm?"

    She smiled, imagining it. Indeed, it would be adorable if their twins could walk down the aisle together with their cousins.

    "Okay."

    Lu Zihao''s mouth curved into a devilish smile. He was relieved that she was feeling a bit better about it.

    "Let''s go," he said. "These two brats are already wiggling like itchy worms."

    Long Jinjing chuckled. "They want to stay with their cousins."

    "Mikhail, Dmitri, behave!"

    The babies ignored their dad''s scolding and continued wriggling in his arms. If Lu Zihao wasn''t strong enough, he might have already dropped them especially since the two little fatties were quite heavy. He was annoyed and wore a scary expression, but he still carried his two naughty sons carefully, afraid that he would drop them by ident.

    "Big Bro Boss, Sis Jing!" Dom called them. "Hurry up! We''re taking photos together! Grandpa Boss says that you''re too slow!"

    "We''reing!" Long Jinjing raised her voice in response and pulled her husband carrying their children.

    They hurried to where everyone was gathered.

    Like the wedding ceremony, the reception was also quite casual.

    The Chua siblings, Dom and Clover, acted as emcees.

    Clover was still jetgged. She only arrived yesterday afternoon in time for the rehearsal all the way from France. Still, she gave her all to host the wedding reception with her brother.

    Anyone who wanted to make a speech could do so. There were also no scheduled performances, but Iris and Jin Chonglin still prepared a solo performance each and a duet together.

    Dom and Clover were both naturally funny, so they livened up the atmosphere.

    The food was also delicious. Everything was fresh and directly sourced from Lin Yehan''s farms and fields. It was a mixture of fancy cuisine and homemade dishes. The portions were generous.

    Nobody would go hungry because everyone could eat anytime during the reception. Even the emcees, Dom and Clover, were eating and drinking in between hosting.

    When it was party time, Lin Yehan invited his bride to the dancefloor for the first dance. Neither was a good dancer, but everyone cheered for them, making themfortable.

    "I''m so happy," Jiang Ying Yue whispered while hugging Lin Yehan shoulders.

    Lin Yehan smiled. "Me too, wife. Me, too."

    ###

    After the wedding, it was now time for the mother and son, Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun, to officially move out of Dragon Pce Home #10 into their new home at Lin Yehan''s farm vi.

    Lin Yehan initially wanted his bride and bonus son to officially live with him at his farm vi before the wedding, but everybody except him was reluctant to do so soon.

    Iris became emotional as she gave her godson a tight hug. She knew that this day woulde, but she was reluctant¡ªextremely reluctant¡ªto let her beloved godson move out.

    "Little Jun, don''t forget your Mama Xin and Papa Liwei, okay?"

    "Mama, no cwy!" (Mama, don''t cry!)

    The child wrapped his little arms around his godmother''s neck and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek.

    Jiang Ying Yue watched them with a helpless smile. "Why are you acting like you''ll no longer see your godson? I''ll bring Little Jun with me when I go to work here every day. You''ll still see him regrly after our honeymoon."

    "I know," Iris said, sighing. "But I''m still sad that Little Jun won''t live under my roof anymore."

    Later, Iris and Jin Liwei gave their godson another tight embrace before watching Lin Yehan drive the mother and son away.

    Iris and Jin Liwei decided against taking their twin sons, Little Mochi and Little Matcha, to see off their elder cousin. The children would definitely be inconsble again just like when the Lu twins moved out.

    It would be another period of big adjustment for everyone, especially the children. But change was inevitable. They couldn''t always stay together forever. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The important thing was that they would still remain connected for the rest of their lives as long as they made the effort to do so.

    "Time flies by so fast," Iris murmured while resting her head on her husband''s chest.

    "En." Jin Liwei pulled her closer and nuzzled her hair.

    Then he noticed that she was once again pressing on her chest. He frowned. "Anxious again?"

    "Hm? Oh. Yes, I think. Maybe it''s because I''m too sad about Little Jun moving out of our home. I''ve been dreading this moment for a long time."

    "You sure?" he asked, still worried.

    "I think so," she said, not really bothered about it anymore.

    She had been having this anxiety for quite some time now. It was not a good feeling at all, but there was no use in worrying about it all the time and allowing it to hinder her daily activities.

    The husband and wife returned inside the mansion to check on their twins.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha were taking a nap,pletely unaware that their eldest cousin, Little Jun, had already moved out.

    Iris and Jin Liwei were dreading the time when the twins would realize their eldest cousin''s absence. The babies would definitely throw another big tantrums just like when their Lu cousins moved out.

 Chapter 1456 Famous Cafeteria

    Chapter 1456 Famous Cafeteria

    Long Industries. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    No matter how many times others tried to sabotage her in thepany, Iris always managed to counterattack. For her, this kind of sneak attacks were too amateurish.

    The enemy camp also didn''t dare to act too recklessly and tantly against her because Long Tengfei had already shown through his decisions and actions as thepany head how much he favoured his youngest daughter. Long Tengfei still held the highest authority in thepany after all. If they crossed his bottom line too much, they were the ones who would regret it in the end.

    Iris didn''t join thepany''s infighting too much, not unless they specifically targeted her. She chose to focus onpleting her assigned tasks well while working on building her influence in thepany.

    Due to her consistently excellent work performance, her immediate superior, the CMO, began to treat her much better than before.

    The entire Marketing Department''s initial bad impression of her also gradually changed into eptance and even admiration. Actions spoke louder than words. Only a blind person would fail to see her excellence at work.

    It also helped that there were a few ck Stars in the department who supported her from the very beginning, including her assistant in thepany. They were the first ones to help her without expecting anything in return. They just wanted to support her as much as they could.

    To repay them, she would often order special boxed lunches for them. Of course, she also provided the CMO and the others with lunch, not just the ck Stars. As the Deputy CMO, she had the authority to treat others without appearing as a brownnoser. Besides, it wasn''t a daily urrence, but her thoughtful actions still brought her closer to the other members of the department.

    Some wanted to cause trouble for her and used her of trying to bribe people with free lunches. She didn''t care about them and continued to order special lunches for her department. Those people could think whatever they wanted. Her conscience was clear.

    She was just giving back to those who helped her, especially the ck Stars. Besides, she wasn''t spending thepany''s dime. She paid for the lunches out of her own pocket.

    Even if someone reported her, what she was doing wasn''t anything against thepany policy. It was normal for higher-ranked officers to treat their team members for a job well done.

    If thepany wanted to stop her from continuing to do this, then it should also ban everyone from treating others. But this would cause a massive protest among the regr workers who benefited from the free lunches and treated it as a work perk. Thepany wouldn''t do something stupid unless it wanted to witness a mass resignation of its workers.

    As a result of her actions, the Marketing Department became the target of envy in thepany.

    Workers from other departments wished that their leaders could provide them with free lunches as well.

    Long Jian was quick on the uptake. He also began providing free lunches to his department but not as often as Iris. He even submitted a proposal to improve thepany''s cafeteria and provide all employees with better food benefits, arguing that this would boost the employees'' morale and increase their overall productivity.

    As the Deputy CFO, Long Hui and his allies in the Finance Department were the first ones to oppose Long Jian''s proposal.

    A rather tense showdown between the half-brothers was currently ying in the conference room.

    Long Tengfei''s expression was ugly as he tried to mediate between his two sons but to no avail. He was about to use his authority as the President-CEO to force the two to stop when his youngest daughter joined in the fray.

    In his mind, he couldn''t help but curse.

    Did this daughter of his want to see the world burn before she was satisfied?

    "I support Deputy COO Long Jian''s proposal," Iris said.

    Long Hui scowled at her.

    Shepletely ignored him. She stood up and asked Long Jian, "May I?"

    Sensing that she was there to back him up, Long Jian stepped aside and allowed her to operate hisptop.

    The projector screen soon showed Orchidia''s website. After a few clicks, it showed a webpage featuring Orchidia''spany facilities, including their cafeteria.

    Although it was called a cafeteria, it was more like a high-end mall food court with an impressive variety of restaurants and even a specialty caf¨¦. Orchidia''s cafeteria was already quite famous within the business industry.

    It was arguably the best in the country''s industry. It was also one of the big reasons why a lot of applicants wanted to work at Orchidia aside from Iris Long''s fame as a celebrity.

    After bragging about her Orchidia''s famous cafeteria, Iris'' next words caused agitation among the executives present.

    "I have only been working as the Deputy CMO here at Long Industries for a short time, so it was my negligence not to notice that the cafeteria here and the other employee perks aren''t up to the standards of Orchidia or even my otherpanies."

    Long Tengfei and the other executives grimaced while Long Hui and his allies looked like they wanted to jump at Iris and choke her.

    What was she saying? Did she only attend today''s meeting to brag about her ownpanies'' employee benefits?

    Long Jian looked away and focused hard on trying not tough out loud. It was so funny looking at the executives'' expressions. They looked like they were suffering from constipation. It was especially gratifying to watch Long Hui not having a good time.

    Iris continued, "It''s thanks to Deputy COO Long Jian for reminding me about this issue through his proposal today. Our workers are loyal and hardworking. They deserve to be rewarded in a different way in addition to their sries. Deputy COO Long is right. Giving them good perks like better food will provide them with daily energy and motivation to be more productive. This in turn will benefit Long Industries as a whole."

    Long Jian nodded. "My point exactly."

 Chapter 1457 Stealing His Thunder

    Chapter 1457 Stealing His Thunder

    Watching the cooperative dialogue between his half-brother and half-sister, Long Hui scowled even harder. He was having a difficult time controlling his expression.

    He didn''t believe that his half-siblings didn''t coordinate this proposal together beforehand. He suspected that they did this today to undermine him.

    In fact, Long Hui''s suspicion waspletely wrong. Iris and Long Jian didn''t coordinate today''s proposal at all.

    Iris had no idea that Long Jian would make this proposal beforehand. He was the one who went ahead and created the proposal by himself. He got the idea after hearing Iris'' actions of providing the Marketing Department with nice lunches and drawing the envy of other departments including his own.

    Of course, he only submitted the idea after asking the opinion of his immediate superior, the COO, who gave him the go-ahead.

    Iris stepping up today was just an impromptu reaction to the series of events. Although they didn''t practice it beforehand, the two had a tacit understanding to cooperate in order to mutually strengthen both their influence in thepany while at the same time weakening Long Hui''s prestige.

    "As you''ve already noticed, I''m in favour of Deputy COO Long Jian''s proposal," Iris said.

    Long Hui interrupted, "Well, I am NOT in favour of this proposal at all. As the deputy of the Finance Department, I know that we don''t have the budget for this. Other more important projects need funding more than a cafeteria!"

    Most of the executives nodded at his words.

    Thepany budget had already been allocated at the beginning of the year. It was not convenient to allocate another budget to a cafeteria. They didn''t think that it was as important as what Long Jian and Iris were trying to im.

    As executives, they could always ask their assistants to order food from their favourite high-ss restaurants whenever they wanted if they didn''t want to eat at thepany cafeteria. They didn''t care much about what the employees ate.

    Iris shot Long Hui and others who nodded with a cold smile.

    "I knew you might say that. That''s why I decided to donate a new cafeteria to thepany, not as the Deputy CMO but as the daughter of President Long Tengfei. I''ll use my own money, not thepany funds, so nobody canin. If some people still darein, then just treat it as President Long''s daughter''s selfish motives because she doesn''t want to eat subpar food at thepany''s cafeteria. I, Long Xin, want to eat better and healthier food whenever Ie here to work. I''m a celebrity and need to watch my figure all the time. What the current cafeteria currently offers falls short of my strict diet requirements. If you don''t like it, then don''t eat in the cafeteria I''ll donate."

    Long Hui opened his mouth to refute her words but nothing came out. He closed his mouth again in a huff.

    Long Jian was also surprised by her sudden decision to donate a new cafeteria. This wasn''t part of his ns. He was ready to fight forpany funds but now it seemed that it was no longer necessary to do so. Initially, he wanted the full credit to belong to him. Now, however, the credit would be halved between him and Iris.

    No, if things went ording to her way, then most of the credit would belong to her. Long Jian didn''t know exactly how to feel about it.

    He pursed his lips and took a long look at his youngest half-sister. She might be impulsive, but she was also extremely cunning.

    She was able to steal his thunder under his nose. Lesson learned. Next time, he would be more careful in protecting his credit.

    The two of them might be allies right now. But at the end of the day, they were still rivals.

    Despite his original selfish motives, Long Jian found that for quite some time now, he no longer hated Iris. What he felt about her was no longer hatred but (friendly)petitiveness instead.

    As for the others, they were speechless for a few moments. They thought that the President''s youngest daughter was indeed still as willful as ever. She hadn''t changed her core after all. She was still the same spoiled brat.

    In the end, Long Tengfei was the one who made the final decision for everyone.

    "This proposal, I approve it! Deputy CMO Long Xin will donate the new cafeteria as per her suggestion." Then he stood up. "The meeting is dismissed!"

    The other executives wanted to argue but Long Tengfei already left the conference room. As he exited the door, he nced at Iris and Long Jian and said, "You two, follow me to my office."

    "Understood, President," Long Jian responded.

    Iris smiled and nodded.

    The two followed Long Tengfei out. Long Hui watched them with a dark expression. His hands curled into tight fists.

    Their father called his half-siblings but not him. What did this mean? Was their father starting to exclude him now? n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Young Master, we must do something," one of his allies whispered to him. "They''ll surely use this cafeteria project to gain more supporters to their side. This is clearly a bribe!"

    "What if we sabotage the cafeteria and cause it to be dyed for a long time?" another ally suggested.

    "That might work. Then we can spread bad rumours about Long Jian and Iris Long¡ª"

    "Enough," Long Hui interrupted them in a bad mood. "We''ll talk another time. I need to hurry for another important appointment."

    His allies watched him rush out of the conference room.

    Long Hui walked away fast. He didn''t know where to go. Rushing to another important appointment was a lie he told his allies. He didn''t know what was wrong with himself.

    Usually, he would plot with his allies and do everything to reach his goals. Earlier, however, he felt extremely ufortable listening to his allies plotting against his half-siblings. This was so unlike his usual self.

    He stopped right in the middle of a hallway. The employees stopped to greet him but he didn''t respond to them. He was in a daze.

    They looked at each other and thought that their Deputy CFO was bing weirder and weirder.

 Chapter 1458 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Chapter 1458 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Ever since Long Hui''s very public conflict with Iris Long started, he began acting very unstable. His work performance suffered. He could feel himself spiralling downwards.

    It was such a huge contrast to his previous performance as the undisputed crown prince of Long Industries and the Long n.

    He couldn''t help but reminisce about the good old days when he felt he was on top of the world. He could do whatever he wanted with minimal consequences.

    Now, however, it felt like he was walking on eggshells. No matter what he did, there was always something that would go wrong.

    Although he still had a lot of supporters and allies, there were already many who jumped ships. He also suspected that there were double agents in his camp, waiting to betray him when he least expected it.

    He had to be cautious of everyone and everything. It was an exhausting life.

    His youngest half-sister, Iris Long, was his biggest opponent. That was the undisputed truth.

    Before, nobody took her seriously. But now, she was beloved by many. It was like their situations were reversed.

    He was now the one whose reputation was tainted.

    On the other hand, Iris was famous and charismatic, and most importantly, she had the biggest backer in the country¡ªCEO Jin Liwei.

    As for his next biggestpetitor, Long Jiang still had a long way to go. But his younger half-brother''s consistently excellent work performance was gradually winning support not only from the higher-ups but also from the regr workers. Their father, Long Tengfei, was also gradually giving Long Jiang more authority. Long Jian was bing known as a reliable and disciplined leader, neither too strict nor toox. The regr employees respected him.

    His other half-sister, Long Jinjing, was out of the game, so Long Hui wasn''t too worried about her. She had no interest in vying to be the next head of Long Industries. However, Long Hui already learned his lesson with Iris Long. What if Long Jinjing was also secretly cunning and joined the battle for session all of a sudden?

    He promised himself to be extra careful when it came to his half-siblings. They couldn''t be trusted at all. They were the biggest thorns in his eyes and the most difficult obstacles to his greatest ambition in life.

    And it wasn''t only those three half-siblings who were a danger to him.

    There were also other contenders from various branch families, and even outside the n such as executive-level officers and shareholders, who were vying to be the next head of Long Industries.

    Long Hui felt like he couldn''t breathe.

    The stress of everything piled up on top of each other and was bing too much, but he couldn''t give up on his ambition.

    Giving up meant that what he believed to be his life purpose had be meaningless. He couldn''t ept such a conclusion. If he could still fight, he would continue to fight until the end.

    He was still in a daze when he vaguely noticed his father and half-siblings rushing out of the elevators.

    Iris'' bodyguards quickly escorted the trio out of thepany building. They all wore grave expressions.

    Long Hui gloated a little. He didn''t know what happened but they must have experienced something tragic. Their misfortune gave him pleasure.

    Then he heard some of the bystanders gossiping.

    "I heard that the President''s grandchild was kidnapped," an employee said.

    "Poor child! I hope he''s rescued safely. Kidnappers are the scum of society!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Long Hui frowned.

    What kidnapped?

    His nephews, both the Jin and the Lu twins, were closely guarded every single day. He personally saw the over-the-top security measures surrounding the babies when he visited Dragon Pce Home #10 that fateful night when he and Iris agreed to a temporary ceasefire.

    Although he despised Iris, he would never wish ill upon her children. The twins were innocent.

    No matter what happened, they were still his blood-rted nephews. It was the same with Long Jinjing''s children, the Lu twins.

    He might hate the parents, but he didn''t have any enmity with the children. He was also a father himself.

    He snapped out of his daze and asked the gossiping employees, "Which grandchild did you say was kidnapped?"

    They all became silent and looked at each other, not willing to be the one to bear the bad news. His heart began racing as a dreadful possibility entered his mind.

    "Why don''t you answer me?! Which grandchild was kidnapped?!!!"

    "S-sir¡­it''s¡­."

    "Tell me! Hurry up! TELL ME NOW!!!"

    Finally, someone couldn''t bear it anymore and answered, "It''s¡­President Long''s eldest grandson. The one named Long Jun. It''s¡­your son who was kidnapped, Deputy CFO Long Hui."

    Long Hui felt like his soul had left his body.

    ###

    Long Tengfei followed his youngest daughter inside one of her vehicles. Long Jian was about to join them when someone pushed him out of the way.

    He would have fallen to the ground if not for one of Iris'' bodyguards catching him and saving him from the embarrassment. A frantic Long Hui climbed inside the vehicle and sat beside Iris in the back passenger seat without permission.

    "Get off," Iris snapped at him. Her cold eyes could freeze him all the way to hell.

    "No." Long Hui was pale and trembling a little. "My son has been kidnapped! I need to go save him! Tell me what happened!"

    Before Iris could snap at him again, Long Tengfei interrupted, "Xin, let your brothere with us. Little Jun is his son."

    She stared at Long Hui in silence. If looks could kill, he would already be six feet under the ground in no time.

    Iris wasn''t against Long Hui following them, but he didn''t need to be in the same vehicle as her. It felt like being locked in the same room with a venomous snake. Who in their right mind would willingly choose that?

    He could drive in his own car and follow them for all she cared. Although she wanted to tell him this to his face, time was of the essence. She didn''t bother arguing with him anymore.

 Chapter 1459 Blame

    Chapter 1459 me

    Iris'' beloved godson was in danger. Little Jun was more important than the conflict between her and Long Hui.

    Long Tengfei then told Long Jian, who was still standing like an idiot outside the vehicle, "Stay in thepany and look after it while we search for your nephew."

    Long Jian wanted to go with them. He might not be close to any of his nephews but he would still be worried if something bad happened to any of them. Those were his nephews, blood-rted ones, and he naturally cared about them.

    But before he could insist on going with them, his father''s pointed look stopped him. He could only withdraw with a reluctant sigh.

    "Understood, President Long," he replied with deep regret. "I''ll look after thepany. Please find my nephew as soon as possible."

    Long Tengfei nodded.

    Long Jian looked at Iris and then reluctantly at Long Hui. "You two¡­be careful as well."

    Iris nodded.

    Long Hui was too distraught about his son and ignored him.

    Soon, they drove away, leaving a conflicted Long Jian in the parking lot.

    ###

    At a private resort outside the city.

    When Iris and the others arrived, Jiang Ying Yue ran to her and bawled her eyes out. Iris hugged her friend, trying tofort her when she also felt like bawling. However, she desperately controlled her emotions.

    She must not copse this time. Her godson needed her. Little Jun needed all of them.

    She nced at the living area and found that there were already several police officers interviewing Lin Yehan and the resort staff.

    Following behind Iris, Long Hui also took in the scene before him. "Ying Yue¡­." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jiang Ying Yue finally noticed her ex''s presence. Her expression turned ugly, but she managed to control herself. Although he had hurt her very badly, he was still her son''s biological father. He deserved to know what happened to their son. In between sobs, she told them how her son had been kidnapped.

    The newly married couple, Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan, took Little Jun and spent their honeymoon together as a family at this resort.

    They didn''t want to go too far. They wanted to go somewhere rxing and bond as a new family but still stay close to everyone in case any of their friends wanted to drop by. Of course, nobody among the couple''s friends disturbed them on their honeymoon.

    Who knew that someone would plot against them and kidnap an innocent child while they were out shopping for souvenirs?

    Before the mother and son moved out of Dragon Pce, Iris and Jin Liwei offered to give their godson a dedicated bodyguard, but Jiang Ying Yue refused.

    She was already a bodyguard herself and thought that she was enough to protect her son. In addition, she and her son weren''t a famous family like Iris and Jin Liwei''s family unit. In Jiang Ying Yue''s mind, she, her son, and now Lin Yehan, were just an average family.

    Now that Jiang Ying Yue thought about it, she regretted not taking Iris and Jin Liwei''s offer back then. She and Lin Yehan would never have thought that something terrible like this would happen to Little Jun while they vacationed as a family.

    Of course, Lin Yehan had assistants and staff who also acted like bodyguards but they weren''t experts like Jin Liwei''s security team. Lin Yehan''s staff could deter normal wannabe thugs but couldn''t guard against professional cold-blooded mercenaries or hitmen.

    Why would he guard against this kind of frightening criminals? Although he was a wealthy tycoon, he was still essentially a farmer.

    Lin Yehan was also drowning in guilt for not being thorough enough in protecting his new family.

    After listening to what happened, Long Hui was initially stunned to learn that Jiang Ying Yue had married Lin Yehan. He had no idea. Nobody told him about it at all. Then he realized that it was because the couple was on a honeymoon and bought his son that Little Jun had been kidnapped.

    Fury filled him. He rushed to Lin Yehan and moved to punch him in the face.

    Lin Yehan was not a soft persimmon either who would just wait for someone to punch him. He dodged and was about to retaliate when Iris and Jiang Ying Yue, the two women, made their moves.

    Jiang Ying Yue used her leg to sweep Long Hui off his feet. He fell on the floor with a hard thud.

    Iris looked like she just swatted Lin Yehan''s punch away like a fly. It didn''t look serious in the eyes of the other people. They thought that Lin Yehan stopped himself after seeing Iris on his way to avoid hurting her.

    Lin Yehan, however, stared at Iris in disbelief as he felt a throbbing pain in his arm.

    The others were more focused on Long Hui and Jiang Ying Yue. They didn''t take a closer look at what Iris really did to Lin Yehan.

    Long Hui quickly stood up and was about to attack Lin Yehan again but Jiang Ying Yue prevented him. The police officers finally reacted. They couldn''t just allow a woman to do their job. They took over in restraining the crazed Long Hui.

    "It''s your fault!" Long Hui raged at Lin Yehan. "You can''t even protect my son, yet you want to be his new father?! If something bad happens to my son, I''ll kill you!!! I''ll f*cking kill you!!!!!!"

    "Stop it!!!" Long Tengfei roared at his eldest son. "My eldest grandson is kidnapped! Instead of searching for him, you''re here recklessly throwing me?!"

    In a forced calm tone, he said, "Everyone, listen to me. Rescuing my grandson Little Jun is the most important right now. Fighting each other won''t solve anything!"

    Jiang Ying Yue immediately abandoned Long Hui to the policemen and ran to her husband''s side. She positioned herself in front of Lin Yehan in a protective stance. She didn''t even notice her actions. This was all her pure instincts as a long-time bodyguard.

    Lin Yehan, however, gently pulled her to stand beside him. This silent but deliberate action told her that they stood equally as partners.

 Chapter 1460 Deserve to Die

    Chapter 1460 Deserve to Die

    Lin Yehan faced the raging Long Hui. His tone sounded calm, yet those who knew him noticed the unmistakable fear and worryced in his voice.

    "I admit that it is my negligence for not ensuring Little Jun''s safety," he said.

    "Yehan¡ª" Jiang Ying Yue tried to stop him. She didn''t want him to me himself.

    If he wanted to me himself, then they were both at fault. As a mother, she wasn''t even able to protect her own son.

    Of course, the guilt caused her to me herself for not protecting her son against the kidnappers, especially since she was a trained protector. It was literally her job. However, the rational part of herself knew that it was neither her nor her husband''s fault. Nobody expected something horrific like this to happen.

    "I''m fine," Lin Yehan assured her before facing the restrained Long Hui again. "I''ll do everything in my power to rescue Little Jun."

    "Damn you!" Long Hui wanted to attack him again but the police officers wouldn''t allow him. They restrained him even more.

    Only a couple of policemen noticed Iris leaving themotion and meeting with the newly arrived Dom. The two moved out of the living room and found an empty room nearby. Those who noticed their movements didn''t think too much, thinking that the two must be too distraught to stay in such a tense room and needed a quiet ce to calm down.

    Dom closed the door of the empty room and handed Iris a thinptop. "Here you go, boss. Please find Little Junie boy."

    His eyes and nose were red. It was clear that he had been crying upon learning what happened to the child but was still professional and dependable to follow Iris'' instructions.

    "Thanks, Dom." Iris took theptop and set it up. "Guard the door. Don''t let anyonee inside. Wait for my husband toe and let him in."

    "Roger, boss!" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Her fingers flew over herptop''s keyboard. In just a few moments, she locked on her godson''s location.

    The kidnappers were quite smart and thorough. They found someone to hack the public surveince cameras and deleted the video footage containing Little Jun''s kidnapping.

    They also tossed the little smartwatch that Iris customized for her godson. Even his clothes, shoes, and essories were swapped in order to avoid trackers.

    Lu Zihao''s men had already found the discarded smartwatch, shoes, and clothes in a secluded wooded area a few miles away.

    Retrieving the surveince video footage was easy for Iris and her cat AI children. Ketchup was already working on it.

    In the meantime, Iris worked on locating Little Jun.

    Bacon had already alerted his Uncle Zihao as soon as they discovered that Little Jun had been kidnapped.

    Lu Zihao then promptly dispatched Shadow Winds to help in the rescue mission. The police had no idea that a criminal organization was secretly working with them on this kidnapping rescue case.

    The door opened and in came Jin Liwei.

    Iris nced at him before continuing to focus on herptop.

    Jin Liwei gave her a quick peck on the cheek before using his phone to contact his various connections to help with their godson''s rescue.

    The couple had a tacit understanding of doing what they could do in order to find their godson. Both of them were frightened, but they couldn''t falter.

    Every second that they hadn''t found the child was every second the danger to Little Jun''s life increased. They couldn''t afford to waste any of their time talking to each other.

    It was better to focus their energy on utilizing their abilities to the fullest. Iris on her hacking skills and Jin Liwei on his wealth of connections.

    Jin Liwei didn''t forget to inform the Chief of Police about the case. Although they weren''t considered close friends, they were still close acquaintances because the Chief''s wife was one of Iris'' biggest loyal fans, Si Xinyue, also known as JJNumber1Fan.

    To please his celebrity-chasing wife, the Police Chief would move mountains for Iris Long. This time was no exception.

    Upon learning that Iris and Jin Liwei''s godson had been kidnapped, the Chief quickly dispatched a special force whose expertise was on urgently rescuing kidnapped victims to help with the case.

    Ketchup was the first one toplete her task. She restored the deleted footage from the public surveince system.

    When Iris and Jin Liwei watched the video, both wanted to murder the kidnappers.

    The first thing the kidnappers did was shoot Gravy, Little Jun''s German Shepherd guard dog. Iris and Jin Liwei suspected that the dog had been drugged because it moved in an odd, woozy way. Even so, the dog still did its best to protect Little Jun despite bleeding all over the ce.

    Gravy locked his jaw on one of the kidnappers and refused to let go. His head was repeatedly hit by the butt of a gun. It was difficult to watch the kidnappers beating up the dog. Little Jun was hysterical as he also tried protecting his dog but he, too, was pped to the ground.

    Iris'' eyes turned red but she didn''t let the tears fall. "Liwei, we must make them pay!"

    Jin Liwei clenched his jaw, his eyes zing. "Of course."

    Finally, Gravy lost consciousness. Then the kidnappers swooped in. They covered Little Jun''s nose and mouth with a drugged handkerchief until the child fainted.

    One carried Little Jun while another grabbed the bleeding Gravy before throwing both in a waiting getaway car.

    The rough way the kidnappers treated the child and dog was too much for both Iris and Jin Liwei. They wished that they could beat up the kidnappers into a pulp with their own hands.

    How dare those bastards treat their beloved godson that way?

    They deserved to die a thousand painful deaths!

    There was additional video footage that Ketchup restored. It was the kidnappers stopping by a secluded rural road and tossing the bleeding dog to the fields out of the car like trash before driving away with the child whose clothing had already been swapped.

    Iris grabbed her husband''s hand. "Liwei, retrieve Gravy."

    She handed the video evidence for him to handle. Jin Liwei didn''t waste any more time.

 Chapter 1461 My Son is My Life

    Chapter 1461 My Son is My Life

    To protect his wife and cat AI children''s identities as hackers, Jin Liwei took the restored video footage and presented it to the police, telling them that the experts he privately hired were the ones who retrieved them.

    The police believed him because he was Jin Liwei, the CEO of Jin Corporation. He had the money and power to hire experts that even the police force could only dream of.

    The police officers took away the evidence to examine it among themselves first. They haven''t shown it to Jiang Ying Yue, Lin Yehan, Long Hui, and Long Tengfei yet.

    Jin Liwei felt a little relieved. If they all watched what the kidnappers did to Little Jun and Gravy without any preparation, then they would most definitely either copse or turn berserk.

    His wife, Iris, was still in the other room doing what she was best at with herptop. If Jiang Ying Yue turned hysterical, none of the men here would be able to help calm her down. Only a fellow mother like Iris would have the proper energy to understand the gravity of Jiang Ying Yue''s emotions.

    Of course, Jiang Ying Yue had the right to know what her son went through, but it was best to give her a warning first to prepare her heart.

    Before long, the kidnappers were identified. They were small-time crooks. The older ones had already served time in prison for petty crimes.

    The police concluded that these crooks shouldn''t be smart or thorough enough to execute a rather sophisticated kidnapping n like this. Based on their usual modus operandi, they couldn''t have possibly had the ability to delete the public surveince footage or toss their victim''s items to prevent tracking all by themselves. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    There was only one strong possibility¡ªsomeone was guiding them from the shadows. These kidnappers were nothing more than mere marites.

    There had to be a mastermind.

    Jin Liwei and the others'' expressions turned ugly.

    "Please tell us if you know people who might have motives to kidnap the child," a police officer asked them. "People who might have grudges against you."

    Jin Liwei was silent for a while. As the head of Jin Corporation, he had plenty of enemies. Since he married his wife, her enemies also became his enemies. The list of the couple''s enemies was long.

    Lin Yehan frowned but shook his head. Of course, there were people who he didn''t like and disagreed with, but he didn''t think of them as outright enemies. Then his gaze fell on Long Hui.

    The other man saw Lin Yehan looking at him. Long Hui snapped, "What the hell are you looking at me for?!"

    "Long Hui''s ex-wife," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    Everyone turned to look at her.

    "Please exin more, Mrs. Lin," the police officer said.

    Jiang Ying Yue looked at Long Hui with barely concealed hatred shing in her eyes. "Long Hui''s ex-wife, Mao Qiuyue, has the biggest motive to kidnap my son."

    Long Hui: "I don''t think¡ª"

    "Just try to defend that woman in front of me!" Jiang Ying Yue interrupted Long Hui before he could finish what he was going to say. "Our son has been kidnapped, Long Hui! The police are asking us for people who might have motives to do this. And I think that your ex-wife has the biggest one! She already tried harming Little Jun before! She can do it again! Even if she''s already in jail, her family can take revenge for her! Their lives turned upside-down because Mao Qiuyue targeted us mother and son before! And it''s all because of you! Don''t you know that? Long Hui, just try to defend your ex-wife in front of me, and I swear to the heavens that I''ll break your bones. I don''t care if the police arrest me, I''ll break your bones if you try to defend Mao Qiuyue in front of me when our son''s in danger!"

    The police officers subtly changed their stances just in case she followed on her threat.

    Lin Yehan locked her in his gentle yet firm embrace. He didn''t say anything to stop or encourage her, but his actions indicated that he wanted her to calm down.

    Of course, she understood what he meant, but she didn''t want to listen.

    How could she stay calm when her only son was in danger? S

    he didn''t even know if her son was still alive or not.

    Oh, please, please, please! Just let her son be alive!

    She would do anything and everything! Just please let Little Jun still be alive!

    "Yehan!" Jiang Ying Yue broke down once again. She sobbed on her husband''s chest. "Please save my son! I won''t be able to live anymore if something ever happens to Little Jun. Please, Yehan! I beg you! My son is my life! We need to save him!"

    Lin Yehan''s jaw clenched. He embraced his sobbing wife, trying tofort her, even though he knew that nothing would calm her down except for Little Jun''s return and seeing the child alive and safe and sound.

    "Ying Yue, I''ll do everything to find our son," Lin Yehan promised his wife.

    Long Hui red at Lin Yehan but didn''t snap at the man anymore. Although he hated Lin Yehan for referring to Little Jun as "our son", Long Hui decided to let it pass. Jiang Ying Yue''s heart-wrenching sobs made him feel as if his heart was being sliced open.

    He also took a few moments to think about the possibility of Mao Qiuyue being the one to order the kidnapping of his son. The more he thought about it, the more possible it felt.

    He hated to admit it, but the woman he has been married to was a venomous snake. Marrying Mao Qiuyue was a huge mistake. Instead of helping him achieve his ambitions, she dragged him down instead.

    And now she dared order the kidnapping of his son?

    How dare she?!

    Long Hui''s eyes burned with loathing. He had already convicted Mao Qiuyue with the crime in his mind.

    "Officer, please investigate Mao Qiuyue and the Maos!" he asked the police.

 Chapter 1462 Regret is a Bitter Pill

    Chapter 1462 Regret is a Bitter Pill

    Long Tengfei interrupted Long Hui. "Son, let the police do their job. We can deal with Mao Qiuyue and the Maoster if they''re really the one who ordered the kidnapping of my grandson. But before all that, we must first focus on finding Little Jun."

    "Yes, Father," Long Hui replied with gritted teeth.

    The three-way confrontation between Jiang Ying Yue, Lin Yehan, and Long Hui temporarily stopped because of Long Tengfei. However, the tense atmosphere was still palpable.

    Jin Liwei was about to return to his wife when Lin Yehan asked him, "Third Brother, can we watch the CCTV footage you handed to the police?"

    Jiang Ying Yue and the others all looked at him. They all wanted to watch it.

    Jin Liwei hesitated but eventually sighed. He knew that this couldn''t be avoided.

    In the end, he first warned them about the contents, especially Jiang Ying Yue, before showing them the video footage on his phone. It was already uploaded to their family cloud storage by his wife.

    Lin Yehan held Jin Liwei''s phone while Jiang Ying Yue watched beside her. Long Tengfei sat on his other side while Long Hui stood behind them.

    Long Hui could sense that Jiang Ying Yue didn''t want him anywhere near her, but he had the right to know what exactly happened to their son. Fortunately, neither she nor Lin Yehan stopped him from watching the video footage.

    When they reached the part where the kidnappers shot the German Shepherd dog fiercely protecting Little Jun, Jiang Ying Yue couldn''t help but cry out. Then in the next few seconds, Little Jun was also pped down to the ground. This time, everyone was enraged.

    "Little Jun!" Jiang Ying Yue felt her vision go dark.

    "Ying Yue!" Lin Yehan tossed the phone to Long Tengfei who managed to clumsily catch it.

    Fortunately, Jiang Ying Yue didn''t lose consciousness. She wanted to run where her son was taken but she didn''t know where. The bone-deep fear for her son made her tremble.

    "Bastards!" Long Hui grabbed a nearby flower vase and smashed it against the wall. "How dare you hurt my son?! I''ll kill you all! I''ll kill you!!!!!"

    Long Tengfei stayed silent but his grip on the phone tightened. He continued to watch, trying his best to search for any clues in the video that the police hadn''t discovered yet.

    "Sir boss, everyone!" Dom interrupted them.

    They all turned to look at him.

    "They found Gravy! And they''ve already located Little Junie boy!" Dom''s tears flowed down his face. "Sis Yue, we''re going to rescue our Little Junie boy. I can feel it in my bones¡ªwuwuwuwu! You have to trust me when I say that I can really feel it in my bones!"

    "Really?!" Jiang Ying Yue stood up and grabbed Dom''s arms. "Are you sure about that, Dom?!"

    He nodded.

    The police officers looked at each other in confusion.

    Police Officer 1: "Did we find the boy and the dog?"

    Police Officer 2: "Maybe?"

    Police Officer 3: "We haven''t received any reports about it. Let me contact HQ."

    Jin Liwei could hear the police talking. He had an idea about who found Gravy and located his godson, but he wouldn''t tell the police if his suspicion was correct.

    He cleared his throat. "It might be my people. Let me go check and confirm on my end."

    The police officers had a look of realization.

    "Oh, of course, Mr. Jin. Go ahead. And please update us about any developments, too, if possible."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. "I will."

    Before he could ask for it, Long Tengfei handed him his phone. "Please save my grandson."

    "Of course, Father-inw."

    After saying this to Long Tengfei, Jin Liwei hurried to the other room.

    Jiang Ying Yue and the others didn''t notice his departure. They were too busy asking Dom questions, but unfortunately, he didn''t know any additional information. Nevertheless, Jiang Ying Yue began to feel more optimistic about the rescue of her son and dog. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Lin Yehan hugged his wife.

    Long Hui couldn''t sit still and walked back and forth while trying to calm himself down. He nced at Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan.

    He almost blew his top again watching them but managed to stop himself in time. Not only was his father there to reprimand him if he did that, but the police officers wouldn''t allow him to make trouble either. He could only grit his teeth and avoid looking at his ex-lover being embraced by her husband.

    ''It should''ve been me beside her!'' he thought darkly.

    He wished to kick Lin Yehan away from Jiang Ying Yue and stand beside her. They couldfort each other while waiting for their son''s rescue.

    But everything was toote now.

    She belonged to somebody else. This fact made his heart feel like it was being twisted.

    If only he hadn''t abandoned Jiang Ying Yue and their son.

    If only he dared to marry her, not fearing the criticisms from the Long n elders.

    If only he hadn''t married Mao Qiuyue in the first ce and let her harm the mother and son.

    If only he had been a normal man, not the crown prince of Long Industries, then he could have built a happy family with Jiang Ying Yue and their son without any problems.

    If only¡­.

    There were a lot of if onlys that he wished could''ve happened instead of this f*cked-up situation that he was living in right now.

    Regret was indeed an extremely bitter pill.

    With a heavy heart, Long Hui forced himself to calm down and wait for news about his missing son instead.

    He had already lost his ex-lover.

    He couldn''t lose his child as well.

    ###

    Inside the next room, Jin Liwei found his wife still working on herptop. This time, she had earphones on¡ªthe special ones that she designed herself before¡ªand was talking to some people. She saw him and removed one of the earphones.

    "My brother''s people found Gravy," she told her husband. "They said he''s barely alive but they''ll do their best to save him. His injuries are extremely serious."

    Jin Liwei nodded.

    Iris handed him one of the earpieces. He put it on. Now, he could listen to the real-time rescue attempt of their godson.

 Chapter 1463 The Woman in a Floral Dress

    Chapter 1463 The Woman in a Floral Dress

    The sky had turned dark. Time was ticking.

    Lu Zihao and his subordinates got off several silent off-road vehicles behind a mountain. They were fully armed and moved like elite soldiers.

    A female voice directed them through their in-ear phones.

    "Please hurry, Big Brother," Iris said after giving directions on where they should go. "Little Jun must be frightened."

    "I''m on it," Lu Zihao replied, his expression cold and unchanging.

    He scanned their surroundings, a mountain forest, through his night-vision goggles and gestured at his subordinates. They followed his silent orders.

    Together, they moved through the forest in unison like a pack of nocturnal creatures.

    Soon, they saw a lone wooden house located at a tricky incline. There were no other houses. It was most likely a temporary shelter made by hunters from the nearest vige at the neighbouring mountain.

    Iris spoke again through their in-ear phones, "The police special force has also figured out Little Jun''s general location. I trust you more than them to rescue my godson, Big Brother, so please hurry up."

    "Got it." Lu Zihao gave signals to the different teams under hismand. "Drop a lead for the police bastards to wait at the Western front of the mountain where the main road is located. I''ll leave the child there for them to ''rescue''ter, so they won''t feel like total useless losers."

    "Okay. I''ll have Liwei handle it."

    "Hm."

    The siblings had a tacit understanding not to continue dissing the police during this urgent situation.

    Lu Zihao and his subordinates activated the thermal sensors in their goggles.

    "Body heat matching that of a child detected at one o''clock," a child''s voice sounded through their in-ear phones.

    "Vital signs?" Lu Zihao asked.

    Bacon replied, "Vital signs appear normal." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Continue monitoring the child''s vital signs."

    "Understood, Uncle Zihao."

    Lu Zihao moved to a different spot to confirm the thermal image matched that of a child with his own eyes. He also found the locations of the other kidnappers.

    His subordinates reported their findings through their in-ear phones one by one while Bacon supplemented information that they missed.

    Bloodlust surged from Lu Zihao, but he quickly suppressed it. All that was left was cold calmness before a violent storm.

    He and his team were utterly focused on rescuing the child.

    He was about to issue the followingmand when Bacon alerted them, "Danger, danger."

    ###

    Approximately five hours ago.

    Mao Qiuyue''s parents finally arrived at this god-forsaken ce. The way to the mountain was difficult to navigate. They were dropped off at the southern foot of the mountain where there was no paved road. There wasn''t even a trail.

    "Do we really have to climb the mountain?" Mother Mao asked as she looked at the tall and dense vegetation with great trepidation.

    A slender woman stepped out of the SUV. She wore an extremely impractical outfit to the mountains. A full-on floor-length floral dress with puffed sleeves, cinched waist, big sunsses, high stilettos, and arge ck wide-brimmed hat.

    "We have a deal, Mrs. Mao," the woman said.

    Father Mao stood beside his wife and asked the younger woman, "Can you really help our daughter get out of jail?"

    Instead of answering, the woman just smiled. After a few seconds, several fully armed people appeared from the mountain and pointed their guns at the couple.

    Mr. and Mrs. Mao trembled and they immediately fell on their knees, not caring about the dirt and sharp rocks cutting their skins.

    "Have mercy!"

    "Please don''t kill us!"

    The woman in a floral dress waved her hand and the men withdrew their guns.

    The Mao couple released sighs of temporary relief, but their fear only multiplied. They knew that agreeing to the woman in a floral dress was like making a deal with the devil, but they had no choice.

    Their daughter, Mao Qiuyue, was in jail. She was already scheduled to be transferred to a high-security prison. They thought that their daughter didn''t deserve what happened to her. It was only when she married that damned bastard Long Hui that her fate and that of their family reversed.

    Marrying Long Hui was the beginning of the Mao family''s downfall.

    Theirpany, Mao Textiles, didn''t only be bankrupt. It ceased to exist. The government repossessed almost everything while their rivalpanies and other enemies swarmed and scavenged all that remained.

    Also, their bank ounts, both domestic and international ones, had all been frozen. Even their secret off-shore slush funds had been seized. It was a mystery how these were discovered.

    But they had no time to investigate. They couldn''t even save their daughter, much less themselves. How could they still spend the time, energy, and money to conduct investigations, especially when they themselves were under investigation?

    So when they received an offer of help from the mysterious woman in a floral dress, they only hesitated a little before epting.

    They had nothing to lose now.

    The most important thing was that the woman promised them that she would help get their daughter out of jail, help them get revenge, and finally help them escape abroad, as long as they obeyed her.

    Now that they were nobodies who had nothing, they were willing to be dogs for her as long as she could fulfill their requests.

    The woman in a floral dress chuckled. "Don''t worry. You haven''t fulfilled your end of the bargain yet, so I won''t have you killed. But better be obedient or my men''s fingers might slip. Stand up now and start stretching. You still have to climb the mountain. You have to climb it even if you have to crawl."

    Father Mao nodded while helping the shaking Mother Mao to her feet. "We just have to frighten the child, right?"

    The woman in a floral dress smiled, showing her white teeth. "Up to you. Scare him or hit him. Doesn''t matter to me. If you identally kill the child, it''s fine, too. I don''t care. Just do your part of our deal and I''ll do mine."

    Father Mao frowned but Mother Mao clenched her fists.

    "Just wait until I get my hands on that bastard child!" Mother Mao held a huge grudge.

 Chapter 1464 Unidentified Armed Intruders

    Chapter 1464 Unidentified Armed Intruders

    "Off you go." The woman in a floral dress waved the couple away.

    A team of fully armed men surrounded them and began to lead them into the mountain. Father Mao gave onest look at the woman in a young floral dress. His eyes shook and he quickly turned his head forward.

    He had already seen what the younger woman looked like before without dark sunsses, but he would never get used to it no matter how many times he saw it.

    She had an uncanny resemnce to Iris Long except for the eyes. Iris Long had bright, mesmerizing phoenix eyes while the woman in a floral dress had cold, sinister eyes.

    When Iris Long looked at people, it felt like she was enchanting them.

    The other woman, on the other hand, made people feel like they were being stared at by a cold and venomous reptilian creature.

    Maybe that was why the woman in a floral dress always wore big, dark sunsses to conceal her eyes. From the nose down, she resembled Iris Long. But when she showed her eyes, it felt like an instant crack in the mirror. The fantasy was destroyed. The fake immediately became apparent.

    Despite his thoughts, Father Mao didn''t dare toment about the younger woman''s appearance. He didn''t want to die yet. At least, not before rescuing his daughter from jail and getting revenge for the downfall of his family.

    If the woman in a floral dress was the devil, then he would dly be her minion as long as he could avenge his daughter and family.

    But he could only aplish all that by obeying the younger woman who had an uncanny resemnce with one of his daughter''s enemies¡ªIris Long.

    Although they held a bigger grudge against Long Hui and the mother of his bastard child, Jiang Ying Yue, Iris Long wasn''t innocent either.

    If not for Iris Long''s support, Jiang Ying Yue and her bastard child would never have the capability to defend themselves against his daughter, Mao Qiuyue. Thus, Iris Long was also included in their list of people who they wanted revenge on.

    Because of all of them, his daughter, Mao Qiuyue, was jailed and about to be sent to prison. They already bailed out their daughter before, but Long Hui sued them as well, adding to her charges. They could only watch helplessly as the police arrested their daughter.

    Father Mao and Mother Mao weren''t off the hook either.

    After hispany''s copse, he was also due to be arrested with multiple charges. His wife was also considered as an aplice.

    It was only because the young woman in a floral dress imed that she helped dy their trial that the couple was about to stay out of prison. Because of her, they could still hope for a reversal of their fortunes. But only if they did the younger woman''s bidding.

    Father Mao released a sigh that seemed to contain all his dreams and hopes for revenge. He mentally shook his head to rid himself of useless thoughts. He and his wife had a mission today.

    They needed to aplish it or else¡­.

    He nced at the fully armed men surrounding them and leading them deeper into the mountain.

    Or else they would be dead.

    There wasn''t even a need to question it.

    Of course, he and his wife would do it.

    Even if they had to walk all over the corpse of a child.

    ###

    Back to the present, Lu Zihao''s eyes constricted as he saw two additional thermal images through his night-vision goggles.

    The two thermal images were that of adults. They entered the room where the thermal image of the child was located. The next few scenes were too gruesome for normal people.

    Lu Zihao was not a normal person and neither were his subordinates, but they were still angered by what they saw. Although what they were seeing were only thermal images, the violence was still very clear for everyone to see. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Those with sharp hearing like Lu Zihao could hear the faint cries of pain, desperation, and terror from the child.

    "Big Brother, please!" Iris'' urgent voice begged him through his in-ear phones.

    Lu Zihao''s jaw clench. "Engage¡ª"

    "Danger," Bacon warned all of them, interrupting his uncle''smand. "Unidentified armed intruders detected. Danger."

    Lu Zihao whipped his head around and scanned their surroundings. Before anyone could react, he raised his gun and shot several times. He saw several thermal images copse to the ground after he shot them.

    His subordinates weren''t too slow either. They followed suit and exchanged gunshots with the unidentified enemies. Some of his subordinates were also shot, but they didn''t copse.

    Thanks to Bacon''s timely warning, they held the advantage.

    "Teams 3 and 4 engage the intruders. Teams 1 and 2 follow me to rescue the child. Team 5 secure our escape route."

    "Roger!"

    "Roger, Boss Hao!"

    Lu Zihao moved through the mountain forest toward the patched up shelter like a panther in the night. He and subordinates coordinated like a pack, moving in unison as if they shared one central brain.

    The unidentified armed intruders attempted to block their way but Teams 3 and 4 covered for them.

    Bullets rained from all direction. The once peaceful mountain forest turned into a warzone in an instant.

    The wild animals fled. Some even got caught in the crossfire and died just like that.

    Lu Zihao was in his element and so were his subordinates. But surprisingly, the unidentified intruders caught up to their level.

    He was surprised for a moment but quickly adjusted his frame of mind back to cold calmness as he shot down all the enemies standing in his way to rescue his sister''s godson and his wife''s nephew.

    The kidnappers were the first ones to try fleeing as soon as the crossfire started, but they had no idea that the other party was in an entirely different league from small-time crooks like them.

    "Leave a couple of them for the police and the rest for us to interrogate," Lu Zihaomanded.

    "Roger, Boss Hao."

    A kidnapper died a few feet away from him. He scowled and shot the one who shot the kidnapper.

    "Don''t let these unidentified bastards kill all the kidnappers," he added.

    "Roger!"

 Chapter 1465 I Hurt

    Chapter 1465 I Hurt

    The bruised and wounded child cried after Mother Mao hurled him to the ground. The child curled his body while whimpering. He raised his tied-up little arms over his head, trying to protect it while the madwoman continued to rain down blows on him.

    "I think that''s enough," Father Mao said as he tried to pull his wife away.

    He hated the child''s parents for destroying his daughter''s life, but this was all too much. Originally, he nned on just frightening the child to fulfill their end of the bargain with the woman in a floral dress, but his wife immediately raised her hand on the poor child.

    "Go out if you can''t stand it!" Mother Mao snapped at him.

    The child was dragged across the floor. But before she could start another wave of strikes, they heard the sound of gunshots and people shouting outside. Even the kidnappers started fleeing, but it was all toote.

    Mother Mao was terrified. She immediately abandoned the poor child and ran to her husband.

    Father Mao grabbed her and pulled her to hide behind the walls.

    "Aaaaah!"

    Mother Mao covered her ears as a bullet shattered the wooden window. Even the poorly made mud walls started to crumble in ces where bullets hit.

    "Aaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

    Father Mao covered his wife''s mouth. He closed his eyes and seemed to ept their fates.

    "We''re done for," he murmured as the wooden door to the room flew away when someone kicked it open.

    Armed men swarmed inside.

    One swooped toward the now unconscious child and quickly but carefully carried him outside. Everything happened so fast that Father Mao just stared in horror as the other armed men pointed their guns at them.

    Perhaps adrenaline got into her and Mother Mao thought that the armed men were on their side, the subordinates of the woman in a flower dress.

    She recklessly jumped forward and cried, "Help! Please help us!"

    "No, don''t!" Father Mao tried to stop her, but it was already toote.

    The armed men''s response to them was a barrage of gunshots.

    ###

    Lu Zihao rained down bullets in the old couple''s direction. His sister asked him to leave the mother*cking pair to the useless police losers to handleter. Although this wasn''t his ideal n, he decided to give in to his sister''s request this time.

    Then they heard Bacon''s voice through their in-ear phones, informing them that the old couple''s physical appearance matched that of Mao Qiuyue''s parents.

    Lu Zihao''s eyes narrowed as he continued shooting at the area around the Mao couple, frightening them out of their wits.

    "You heard that, Evelinka?" he asked his sister in Russian.

    There was a pause before Iris'' voice said, "Yes."

    "You still want me to leave them alive?"

    Once again, a pause. Then, a shaky breath. "Do what you want," she finally said.

    "Hm. Just this once, I''ll be extra nice," he said, his tone like that of the devil.

    He, Niki Vetrov, had never been "nice" to outsiders. But for today, he decided to y "nice" to this mother*cking pair of human-clothed monsters as "thanks" for what they did to the child.

    First, he greeted the Mao couple with an ultra-enthusiastic wee of gunshots on the ground.

    Oh, the old witch dropped to her knees in appreciation?

    The old fart was so happy that he peed his pants?

    Who else was as nice as him, Niki Vetrov?

    Nobody!

    Unable to contain his "niceness", he shot Mother Mao''s two hands as "thanks" for using those hands to "take care" of the child.

    Then he shot Father Mao''s two ears off. The old fart heard the child''s cries but did nothing. Lu Zihao felt that he should "reward" the motherf*cker for ying deaf.

    He stopped shooting, walked towards Father Mao, and then used a de to cut the older man''s eyes. Those eyes watched as his wife "took care" of the child without stopping her.

    Father Mao lost his ears and eyes.

    Lu Zihao sneered at him and then used the butt of his gun to hit the older man''s nape. Father Mao fell to the ground unconscious.

    Mother Mao was so ovee by the pain of having her hands shot and witnessing her husband go blind and deaf that she also fainted.

    "Take them back to the HQ," Lu Zihaomanded. "We''ll show them how ''nice'' we are before we dump them to the police to handle."

    "Roger, Boss Hao!"

    His subordinates promptly carried the Mao couple like sacks of trash.

    "No protests, Evelinka?" he asked.

    "Big Brother, I''m not a hypocrite," Iris replied through his in-ear phones. "They hurt my godson. Just¡­." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    "Just?"

    He heard her sigh. "Just don''t forget to leave them to the police after you''re done dealing with them. We live in awful and civilized society now, Big Brother."

    "Heh."

    "You have your own family now," she added in a whisper.

    He didn''t reply.

    Bacon interrupted them, "Attention. The unidentified armed men are now withdrawing. I repeat, the unidentified men are now withdrawing."

    Lu Zihao frowned. "Team 3, pursue and find out more information about them. Team 4, gather their fallen members and take them back to HQ¡ªthe living for interrogation and the dead for examination. Teams 1, 2, and 5, continue with the original mission."

    "Roger, Boss Hao!"

    "Roger!"

    He left the room and found a couple of his subordinates quickly but carefully administering first aid to the child. The kid whimpered and opened his eyes. They saw the fear in the child''s eyes.

    "Little Jun, it''s me." Lu Zihao removed his night-vision goggles.

    The child turned his head at the familiar voice and cried, "Anko Haohao!" (Uncle Haohao)

    He reached his little arms toward his uncle. Lu Zihao signalled his subordinates. They withdrew. He knelt and opened his arms. The kid threw himself at him.

    "Wah! Anko Haohao! Junjun scayed! Waaaaah!!!" (Wah! Uncle Haohao! Junjun is scared! Waaaaah!!!)

    The cold-bloodedness in Lu Zihao''s eyes melted away as he cradled the child in his arms. "It''s okay now, Little Jun. Uncle Zihao will return you to your parents and our family."

    Little Jun blinked his eyes at him,rge drops of tears falling down his face.

    "I hurt."

 Chapter 1466 Iâ€™m So Beautiful

    Chapter 1466 I¡¯m So Beautiful

    As soon as Lu Zihao heard what Little Jun said, he immediately wanted to nt more bullets on the Mao couple.

    How dare they do this to the child?!

    His eyes shed with evil thoughts. He caught himself when he felt the child trembling in his arms. Controlling his bloodthirsty aura, he patted Little Jun''s back, doing his best tofort the child.

    He had be a bit more adept in dealing with children after bing a father himself.

    Thankfully, Little Jun was also already used to him and close to him, so the child felt secure in his presence.

    "Go to sleep now, Little Jun," Lu Zihao said. "Leave everything to Uncle Zihao. Once you wake up, the police uncles wille pick you up and return you to your parents and our family."

    Little Jun peeked at the other masked people and pointed at them. "Anko and anty?" (Who are these uncles and aunties?)

    "They''re the uncles and aunties who helped Uncle Zihao save you."

    "Tenkyu, Anko and Anty!" (Thank you, Uncles and Aunties!)

    The Shadow Winds'' members all hesitated. Lu Zihao stared at them, directing hismanding aura at his subordinates.

    "You''re wee, Little Jun," one of the people who administered first aid to Little Jun was the first one to respond.

    The others followed suit. "You''re wee!"

    "Hehe." Little Jun giggled despite his pitiful, bruised, and wounded appearance.

    Lu Zihao once again patted the child''s back, trying to lull Little Jun to sleep. It seemed to be effective and Little Jun soon became drowsy. His eyes closed and his breathing became deeper and more rhythmic.

    "Let''s go," Lu Zihaomanded.

    "Roger, Boss Hao!"

    "Roger!"

    Lu Zihao rearranged Little Jun into a safer but also morefortable position in his arms. One of his subordinates strapped the child onto Lu Zihao''s torso.

    He trusted his abilities the most among the people in Shadow Winds. Little Jun would be the safest with him.

    "Big Brother," Iris'' voice sounded through his in-ear phones.

    "The child is with me now," he replied.

    He heard her sigh in relief. Then she said, "Thank you. I''ll have Liwei inform Jiang Ying Yue and the others that Little Jun has been rescued."

    "Yeah. Send the useless police special force losers to wait at the designated ce. I''ll deliver the child to them."

    "Alright."

    No unexpected people hindered them this time.

    Nevertheless, Lu Zihao and his subordinates still prepared themselves just in case the unidentified armed men showed up again.

    ###

    Several hundred miles from the mountains sat a lone vi surrounded by woods. At first nce, it looked deserted but there were actually more than a hundred people patrolling and working inside.

    The mysterious woman the Mao couple met earlier at the foot of the mountain was in one of the rooms. She wore another floral dress while getting her nails done. She listened to thetest report from a subordinate.

    Her face which had an uncanny resemnce to Iris Long was fully revealed. This time, she wasn''t wearing sunsses, so her eyes which werepletely different from Iris Long''s shed with irritation, disgust, and malevolence. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Tsk. Useless old people! Mao Qiuyue''s parents are so stupid. They can''t even kill a mere child!"

    "Many of our people have been captured by the other side," the subordinate added.

    She scoffed. "If they got captured, then it means that they''re ipetent."

    "The boss will want an exnation as to why we lost so many of our men today."

    At the mention of the boss, the woman in a floral dress paled. But she quickly controlled her expression and raised her chin.

    "I''ll personally exin it to the boss," she said. "Now get out of my sight!"

    The expressionless subordinate didn''t bother replying to her before leaving.

    "Ouch! That hurt!"

    She kicked the young woman doing her nails and checked her big toe. It was bleeding. This angered her even more and continued to kick the young woman.

    "I''m sorry, Madame! Please, don''t hit me anymore! I''m really sorry! I didn''t mean it!"

    The young woman begged for forgiveness but the woman in a floral dress was without mercy.

    She kicked the young woman directly in the head. The young woman''s head hit the ground with a loud thud, and she lost consciousness. Even when the young woman fainted, the woman in a floral dress still continued to kick and stomp like a mad woman.

    It was only a few minutester when she finally stopped. And she only stopped because it felt boring when the young woman stopped begging for mercy.

    The woman in a floral dress cleared her throat and tried to straighten her clothing, pushing her perky chest out. Then she strutted away like nothing happened.

    She passed by a mirror and saw her reflection.

    At first nce, people would think that she was Iris Long.

    "Beautiful," she murmured while touching her face. "I''m so beautiful."

    Then her fingers turned to ws. Her expression turned vicious.

    "I hate you," she spat with tremendous hatred.

    Her eyes which were the dead giveaway that she wasn''t Iris Long narrowed into almost reptilian slits. They were cold and cruel. There was insanity hiding behind them.

    Yet when she smiled, she looked so much like Iris Long.

    She began singing.

    "I''m dead when awake

    Alive when asleep

    How do I live when there is no you

    Except in my dreams at night~"

    Unfortunately, like her eyes, her voice was nothing like Iris Long''s. She waspletely tone-deaf, and yet she sang with gusto, pretending like she was performing in a concert.

    Her every movement was calcted as she gestured. Even her expressions were on point.

    If the ck Stars saw her right now, they would immediately figure out that she was copying one of Iris Long''s most iconic performances at the show MusicFest Tonight.

    Those who weren''t ck Stars might even mistake her for Iris Long herself¡ªbut only on mute.

    Once they heard her ear-grating singing voice, then it would be obvious that she was nothing like Iris Long but a second-rate copycat.

    She twirled across the room and then performed Iris Long''s iconic curtsy bow. Then she threw her head back andughed.

 Chapter 1467 I, Junjun

    Chapter 1467 I, Junjun

    At the Western front of the mountain where the main road was located, the special police force waited on standby. They blocked the road, but even if they hadn''t, there wasn''t anyone passing by in this ce. So far, they only encountered a viger herding goats with his dog.

    "Are you sure that we can trust CEO Jin''s hired experts to rescue the child?" one of the officers asked.

    "That was the Chief''s instructions. We just need to obey."

    "But we''ve been waiting here for so long."

    They all stopped because one of theirrades was reporting something through their radio. It seemed that they sighted a group of armed men fleeing at the other side of the mountain. They weren''t sure if those armed men had something to do with the kidnapping case, but as members of the police special force, they just couldn''t let them go.

    Their captain made a quick decision and split their group into two. One would chase the armed men while the other half would remain waiting for the child.

    Some of the officers who were assigned to continue waiting were envious of the ones assigned to give chase. Waiting on standby like this was too boring. They were a special police force and yet they weremanded to wait like jilted wives.

    CEO Jin Liwei assured them that his hired experts had already rescued the child and would deliver the child to them.

    "Why don''t CEO Jin''s hired experts deliver the child directly to their family?" one of the newest recruits asked.

    Hisrade nced at him as if he just asked a dumb question. "Wealthy people like CEO Jin have the money and power to hire the best experts. If those experts aren''t yet employed by our state, then that means that their backgrounds aren''t clean enough. Then they could only be hired privately."

    "Meaning?"

    Therade sighed, shaking his head that this recruit might be indeed a little dumber than he expected. "It means that the experts CEO Jin hired this time might have criminal backgrounds. They can only operate in the shadows. That''s why we''re being used as a front to make the child''s rescue more legitimate. Remember that CEO Jin''s wife and brother are famous celebrities. They need to keep their reputations clean."

    The recruit''s eyes widened in shock. "But that''s¡­that''s cheating!"

    Therade rolled his eyes. "Just obey the Chief''smand. Once the child is delivered to uster, our special forces will be the ones to receive the credit."

    "But¡­but still¡­that doesn''t feel right. If CEO Jin is hiring criminals, then isn''t that a crime, too? Shouldn''t we arrest him?"

    The older officer gave the recruit a side-eye. "Do you have evidence? We can''t just arrest someone like CEO Jin without a valid reason. Besides, I''m just guessing. It''s not a certainty." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Then he leaned closer to the younger man, looked around, and whispered. "And even if we''re in the police force, my advice to you is to not look at the world in in ck and white. Even the highest leaders in our nation-state tolerate some people with criminal backgrounds as long as they can benefit our country and not endanger our sovereignty. It''s a symbiotic rtionship. We give them some freedom to do their thing while they assist us in the shadows with tasks that we can''t legally do because of our positions'' restrictions."

    The recruit''s expression was a sight to see. It looked like he just opened a new world that he never knew existed.

    The older officer sighed and patted the younger man''s shoulder. "I know what you''re feeling. I was the same way before. You just have to learn how to focus on the things that matter. As long as we do our job properly and protect the citizens, then that''s all that matters."

    The recruit contemted hisrade''s words while waiting for new updates.

    Another report came in from the other team who gave chase to the armed men on the other side of the mountain.

    "What happened?" the recruit asked.

    The older officer shared what he heard. "They''re saying it''s weird because it appears that the armed men are actually two groups. A second group of armed men are chasing another group of armed men. When the second group realized that our special forcerades were chasing them, they actually threw two members of the other group that they captured to us."

    "What?! Something like that happened?" The recruit was bewildered.

    "Yeah. It''s as if they''re saying, ''Here''s a couple of treats, so don''t bother us anymore''. Of course, ourrades continued chasing, but it seems that both groups were extremely skilled and managed to throw ourrades off their tails. Their skill levels may be even higher than ours."

    The recruit was even more shocked. "Even higher than ours?!"

    The older officer gave him another side eye. "Don''t be too conceited and never becent. We might be the best of the best among the police, but outside the force, there will always be people who are better than us. That''s why our Chief always tells us to strive to be a bit better each day. We must serve and protect the people, and that''s what we just need to remember. Always."

    The younger officer nodded his head.

    Then they stood in attention when theirrades at the front pointed their guns at the mountain. The recruit and the older officer all followed suit.

    It was dark.

    Since this was a mountain road, although cemented, there were no bright streetlights.

    Even they, the special police force, couldn''t help but have goosebumps in a ce like this.

    "Who''s there?!"

    Then they heard a soft cry like the soft mew of a kitten.

    "Junjun! I, Junjun!"

    A child limped out of the dark mountain trees with his bandaged little arms raised high in surrender. He was crying pitifully, as he looked at them while trembling.

    "It''s the child!"

    "Is he alone?!"

    "Yes, it looks like he''s alone."

    "What are you all waiting for?! Go get the child quickly!"

    Everyone moved and took care of Little Jun.

    Finally, they could feel useful after waiting for many hours.

 Chapter 1468 Traumatic

    Chapter 1468 Traumatic

    At the hospital, Iris and Dom nked the sobbing Jiang Ying Yue,forting her. The two were also crying, but they needed to be strong for their friend and her poor son. It wouldn''t be helpful if all of them copsed from despair.

    Jin Liwei and Lin Yehan were standing nearby speaking in low, serious voices with a couple of police officers.

    The dazed Long Hui sat beside his father, Long Tengfei, a bit far away from the others. He had a ck eye.

    They were all waiting in front of the operating room. Little Jun was in surgery because they found that he had multiple fractures.

    It was a miracle that he had been able to walk out of the mountain forest by himself.

    The emergency doctor who examined Little Jun when he first arrived at the hospitalmented that whoever administered first aid to the child did an excellent job in setting all the fractures. The skillful and precise technique would help prevent Little Jun from suffering a lifetime of seque caused by the fractures he sustained today.

    Iris and the others headed to the hospital first to await Little Jun''s arrival after confirming that the special police force had finally "rescued" him. However, the police and the other emergency responders decided that it was better for the child to head straight to surgery instead of meeting his family first.

    The first aid administered on Little Jun might be sessful but it wasn''t enough by itself. What the child went through during his kidnapping was horrendous. His injuries were grave. He needed urgent medical treatment.

    Meeting his family could wait.

    They needed to make sure that the child was alive and well first before they could allow him to meet his family.

    It would be a tragedy if they were able to "rescue" him but he died under their watch.

    At first, Long Hui made a scene when he learned that he wasn''t allowed to see his son yet before the emergency surgery. However, when the police revealed that it was Mao Qiuyue''s parents who beat up Little Jun, he couldn''t even fight back when Jiang Ying Yue attacked him.

    It was thanks to the police who restrained Jiang Ying Yue that Long Hui came out of it with only a ck eye.

    Because of what happened, the others weren''t speaking or even looking at Long Hui. Even his father, Long Tengfei, stayed silent and didn''t botherforting him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Although Long Hui had already divorced Mao Qiuyue and shouldn''t be med for what his ex-wife''s family did to his son, everyone understood that the Maos only did such a horrific thing because they got involved with Long Hui in the first ce. If Little Jun wasn''t Long Hui''s son, then the Maos wouldn''t even bother to risk offending Jin Liwei who was the child''s godfather.

    It was already Jiang Ying Yue''s huge mercy to even allow Long Hui to stay in the hospital after learning about the Maos'' direct involvement in their son''s kidnapping.

    She already suspected that they were involved in the kidnapping, but after confirming that she was indeed right, it was still a huge blow to her.

    Not just to her, but to everyone else.

    Just looking at Long Hui''s face was enough to trigger her fury, so she did her best to ignore his existence.

    It was only because he was Little Jun''s biological father and their son might look for him that she was even allowing him to stay. If not for this, she would have already chased him out and forbidden him to see their child ever again.

    Back to the present, Grandpa Lu arrived with Long Jinjing and Chen Fei.

    "Where''s my little boy?!" Grandpa Lu demanded with his booming voice. "How is my Little Jun?! Is he alright?! Why aren''t you saying anything?! Tell me, I want to know!!!"

    Jin Liwei stepped forward to calm down the old man and exin what happened so far.

    Long Jinjing joined Iris and Dom inforting Jiang Ying Yue while Chen Fei marched toward Long Hui. She was about to w the man''s face when a masked man suddenly appeared and pulled her back.

    "Let me go! I need to teach this motherf*cker a lesson!"

    "Babe, calm down," Jin Chonglin''s voice came from behind the mask and dark sunsses.

    Chen Fei continued to struggle in his arms. "No, I''m not gonna calm the f*ck down! This bastard¡ª"

    The operating room opened.

    She finally stopped and turned her head like everyone else, eager to know about Little Jun''s condition.

    Wang Yingjie took off his mask.

    Jiang Ying Yue stood up and rushed to him. "Second Brother, how''s my son?!"

    "Little Jun is fine now and stable," Wang Yingjie replied.

    Everyone sighed in relief.

    "But he still needs to stay in the hospital," he said. "He has a concussion, some internal hemorrhage, multiple fractures, and several deep and superficial skin wounds. I''ll also refer him to a child psychiatrist to help him deal with the trauma of what happened to him."

    Jiang Ying Yue, Iris, and the others felt like their hearts were being stabbed while hearing the extent of Little Jun''s injuries.

    How could the child that they cherished like a jewel in their palms undergo such horrific tragedy?

    The people who did this to an innocent child were monsters!

    They all turned their heads and looked at Long Hui at the same time.

    Long Hui clenched his jaw and tensed his body, but he didn''t snap at them. Their condemning eyes made him feel small and guilty. He also began to think that maybe it was indeed his fault.

    But he knew that he would never wish something like this to his son. Little Jun was his son! He loved the child.

    Fury at his ex-wife and former inws filled him. He hated them to the bone!

    It was all their fault.

    If it weren''t for them, Little Jun would be safe and sound. His son wouldn''t have to go through something so traumatic at such a young age.

    While Long Hui was absorbed with hatred for Mao Qiuyue and her family, the others already disregarded him. They continued to ask Wang Yingjie about Little Jun''s condition.

 Chapter 1469 Slippers Army Returns

    Chapter 1469 Slippers Army Returns

    At first, Jin Liwei still tried to suppress the news of Little Jun''s kidnapping. Even when so many people had witnessed Iris Long and Long Tengfei rushing out of Long Industries with urgent expressions, Jin Liwei and his cat AI children still managed to control the release of the news. However, there was too much of amotion especially when the police got involved.

    The media got ahold of some information and pursued it. In no time, they were able to determine that Iris Long''s nephew had been kidnapped.

    Seeing the flood of news about Little Jun''s kidnapping, Jin Liwei was about to increase his efforts in suppressing it but his wife stopped him.

    "Let the whole world know what happened to our little boy," Iris said, her voice filled with hostility. "Also release the Maos'' involvement in the case. Just control the information and not allow any heartless crazy people to bully our godson."

    "Alright." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Once Jin Liwei stopped suppressing the news and even released some relevant details about the case, the floodgates opened.

    The ck Stars were the first ones to react with vengeance. As loyal fans of their Boss Iris, they adored her nephew and considered Little Jun as their beloved nephew as well. They were all very protective of the child and felt heartbroken after hearing about what he went through today.

    They all gathered together and sent out their most powerful troll group, the Slippers Army.

    Even the infamous iEatSlippers appeared to lead the charge when everyone already knew that he was now a busy CFO of their Boss Iris'' gamepany, Monkey.

    Following him were many of the original members of the ck Stars who supported their Boss Iris since she made aeback after waking up from a year-longa.

    iEatSlippers'' colleague, MonkeyFace, who was also now Monkey''s CEO, appeared as well.

    The poshdies, MrsLovePhantom, and her equally ssy friends¡ªJJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan, and JJNumber3Fan¡ªdidn''t shy away from joining the ck Stars'' cry for justice either.

    The young vanguard of the Slippers Army, LittlePhoeonix, joined her senior iEatSlippers to troll the Maos and anyone trying to defend them.

    And of course, the founder and president of the fan club, CaptainckStar, led everyone like a generalmanding her troops. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Every single loyal member of the ck Stars did their part in demanding justice for Little Jun. Poor child must have been traumatized. They would never rest and continue fighting until Little Jun achieved the justice he deserved.

    Once again, the nation witnessed the fighting prowess of Iris Long''s fans.

    Some people had already forgotten the terror of dealing with the ck Stars when defending their Boss Iris, especially against their notorious troll group, the Slippers Army.

    Even Jin Chonglin''s army of worldwide fans couldn''tpare to the ck Stars'' viciousness. The ck Stars, especially the Slippers Army, wouldn''t stop at anything to protect their Boss Iris. They were truly loyal in the truest sense of the word.

    Since Iris Long went into hiatus in showbiz starting when she got pregnant and until now after giving birth, the ck Stars also retracted their ws and hid their fangs.

    Perhaps thest time that they had this kind of massive activity was when they also defended Little Jun and his mother after Long Hui and his then-wife Mao Qiuyue bullied them in a very publicwsuit.

    Now that Mao Qiuyue''s parents had done something so despicable to Little Jun, the ck Stars felt like their reverse scales had been touched once again.

    Mao Qiuyue was hateful, but she was already in jail. When they learned that she was due to be transferred to prison soon, they even celebrated the victory of triumphing over the evil forces.

    They didn''t expect that her parents would go ahead and do something even more loathsome and directly kidnap Little Jun and even beat him up. Now, it was reported that the poor child was hospitalized and underwent surgery for multiple fractures and other serious injuries, not to mention the psychological treatment he must go through to ovee the trauma.

    Just imagining what Little Jun went through made the ck Stars'' blood boil.

    Now everyone finally remembered how savage the ck Stars could be.

    They didn''t spare Long Hui either. In fact, they attacked his reputation for allowing his former inws to torture his own son.

    Of course, they still showed him a minuscule amount of mercy because they learned that he at least had the decency to go with their Boss Iris to ask the police to save his son. This meant that he still cared for his son despite his stupidity in choosing an evil wife (now ex-wife).

    If not for this, the ck Stars would assassinate his entire reputation until he couldn''t even show himself in public.

    Some ck Stars members were quite wealthy and powerful, like MrsLovePhantom and her posh friends.

    Iris Long''s music was just so evocative and soul-stirring that it resonated with many people regardless of age and social ss.

    These wealthy and powerful ck Stars readily used their money and influence to pressure thew enforcement and the figures overseeing the justice system to hasten Mao Qiuyue''s imprisonment and her parents'' arrest, not only for their involvement in Little Jun''s kidnapping but also for the couple''s pending criminal cases regarding theirpany''s tax evasion, bribery and other serious usations.

    They even inquired about the best child psychiatrists in the nation and abroad, nning to rmend the specialists to their Boss Iris for her nephew''s psychological treatment.

    Back at the hospital, Little Jun was now recovering in a private suite. He still hadn''t regained consciousness after the surgery.

    Wang Yingjie was his surgeon but also his attending doctor in this hospital. Dragon Pce Home #10''s in-house doctor also came to assist in determining the best treatment for the child.

    The newly married Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan stayed beside the sleeping child while the biological father, Long Hui, sat on a couch intended for visitors.

    Iris and Jin Liwei excused themselves out of the suite and stayed at a nearby empty lounge.

 Chapter 1470 Not the True Mastermind

    Chapter 1470 Not the True Mastermind

    Iris and Jin Liwei spoke with Lu Zihao on the phone while their bodyguards made sure that nobody loitered nearby to eavesdrop on them.

    "These two Mao cockroaches are just aplices," Lu Zihao told the couple. "They''re not the true mastermind behind Little Jun''s kidnapping."

    The husband and wife looked at each other while frowning.

    "I already suspected that this is the case," Iris said, sighing. "But now that Big Brother has confirmed it, I now understand why I kept feeling anxioustely. So this was the feeling of dread that I kept on having. We''re dealing with someone dangerous whose identity we don''t even know yet."

    Jin Liwei''s frown deepened. He pulled his wife closer to him. "Let''s not worry about that unknown danger for now. Let''s focus on our godson being safe and sound now. We''ll have time to deal with that unknown dangerter."

    "Yes, Little Jun is safe now." She addressed her big brother on the phone, "Did Mao Qiuyue''s parents confess about the person who instructed them?"

    They heard Lu Zihao sneer. "These two pieces of sh*t are not only despicable, but they''re also stupid. At first, they wouldn''t open their mouths, but once my people did their work, they spilled everything. The man says that it was a younger woman who made an offer to save Mao Qiuyue from imprisonment and help their family escape abroad as long as they do whatever the woman told them to do."

    "Woman?" Iris asked, her frown deepening.

    "Yeah. They say it was a woman who always wears a floral dress. Apparently, she looks like you."

    "Looks like me?" Iris was bewildered, and to be honest, creeped out. "Are you sure?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "That''s what these two pieces of sh*t say," Lu Zihao said in a tone filled with danger. "My people made them undergo a polygraph test, and it should be the truth. But of course, the results might not be 100% urate. We should also consider the possibility that these two cockroaches underwent some psychological modifications like hypnosis to confuse us."

    Iris and Jin Liwei nced at each other, worry reflected in their eyes.

    "Evelinka, don''t worry too much," Lu Zihao said in a softer tone. "I haven''t personally interrogated Mao Qiuyue''s parents yet. I''ll extract the real truth from them no matter what, even if I have to crack their skulls open and pull their brains out."

    "Big Brother!"

    Lu Zihao chuckled in a devilish voice. "Just kidding, my little sister."

    His words didn''t assure her at all. If it were in their past lives, her big brother would have already done it with no second thoughts.

    "Jin Liwei, take care of my sister and your godson," Lu Zihao changed his tone into a more serious one.

    "En, you don''t have to tell me," Jin Liwei replied with an equally serious tone.

    "I''ll try to find out more information about the identities of the true mastermind and the unidentified armed men we encountered in the mountain."

    "Okay," Jin Liwei and Iris both said.

    "Also keep an eye on my wife. I know she''s worried about her nephew, but we still have our own brats waiting for their mother at home."

    After saying these words, Lu Zihao ended the phone call. Iris couldn''t even retort. She wanted to say that the Lu twins weren''t only waiting for their mother but also their father.

    However, she couldn''t even criticize her big brother because the reason he became so busy today was to rescue her godson and find out about the true mastermind behind Little Jun''s kidnapping.

    Also, she and Jin Liwei had their own twins waiting for them at home.

    Iris asked her husband, "What do you think about transferring Little Jun to our home? This is a public ce and peoplee and go as they please. Even if the security here is goodpared to other hospitals, I still can''t rest assured. Our home is much safer."

    "En, I thought the same way, too." Jin Liwei nodded. "I''ve already spoken with Eldest Brother Yehan earlier when Little Jun was still in surgery. He also agrees that our home''s security is the best. He has decided to let the mother and son stay at Dragon Pce while Little Jun recuperates from his injuries. In the meantime, he''ll work on tightening the security at his farm vi."

    She sighed in relief. Initially, she was prepared to persuade Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan to allow Little Jun to stay at Dragon Pce Home #10 for a while. She missed the little guy so much!

    In addition, this kidnapping incident frightened her so much more than when Little Jun had been hospitalized for dengue fever thest time. She wanted to keep the child close to her.

    With Dragon Pce Homes'' inherent tight security plus Jin Liwei''s additional strong home security team, and most importantly, her modifications of their home''s security and surveince systems in tandem with their cat AI children Ketchup and Bacon, even the world''s most secure bank wasn''t as safe as their home.

    Thankfully, Lin Yehan recognized this fact and agreed to let go of his newly married wife and bonus son while he worked on his own farm vi''s security.

    Now Iris could rest assured about his godson''s safety.

    She wished that she could erase this traumatic memory from Little Jun''s head, but that was impossible. They all just had to work hard and carefully help the child deal with the trauma. And hopefully, he would survive stronger and more resilient than before.

    Nevertheless, just the fact that something like this happened to the child broke their hearts.

    "Darling," she murmured.

    "What''s wrong?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Is it evil of me to want to murder Mao Qiuyue and her parents? I want to strangle them with my own hands for what they did to our godson."

    He hugged her tightly in his arms and kissed the top of her hair, inhaling her fragrance.

    "If you think that it''s evil for you to think like that, then I guess that I''m evil, too. Because I also want to do the same thing to them. I''m sure that Jiang Ying Yue and Eldest Brother Yehan also feel the same way. It''s only natural that we want to protect our children and punish those who hurt them. Don''t feel too bad about it, love."

 Chapter 1471 International Black Stars

    Chapter 1471 International ck Stars

    Iris wrapped her arms around Jin Liwei''s waist. "It''s so difficult to stay objective and leave justice to thew when it involves someone from our family."

    "I know," Jin Liwei murmured.

    "I won''t stain my hands with blood no matter how much Mao Qiuyue and her parents deserve it," she said. "I don''t want our children to have a mother who''s a cold-blooded murderer. But I hope that my big brother won''t let those Maos get off easily either. I just hope that he still honours his promise to leave them alive enough for the police to deal with. Just like we have our own children, my brother also has his own children now."

    "Your brother might break his promise to me or other people, but he won''t break his promise to you," Jin Liwei assured her.

    "You''re right." She sighed. "It''s difficult for my brother to change now. I just hope that he won''t go any deeper to a point of no return. I''m fine now because I have you and our children. But him? He also has a wife and children now but he still insists on continuing his vendetta with Shadow Winds. I''m just worried about him and his family. I don''t want to lose my brother a second time, Liwei."

    He gave her another kiss on the head. "You won''t lose him again, love. We won''t lose anyone from our family in a tragedy. I''ll do anything in my power to prevent any of that from happening."

    Her response was to rub her face against his firm chest, findingfort and assurance in his embrace. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The husband and wife embraced each other for a while before returning to Little Jun''s private suite.

    ###

    Little Jun had to stay in the hospital for a few more days before Wang Yingjie cleared him for discharge. Of course, it was a conditional discharge because the child hadn''tpletely recovered from his injuries yet.

    The little guy still needed to be confined at Dragon Pce Home #10''s medical wing. The adults were just too worried and scared for his safety at this hospital that they constantly asked Wang Yingjie if they could transfer Little Jun home sooner.

    Wang Yingjie also understood their concerns, so he used his authority as the child''s surgeon and attending doctor to sign the discharge order as soon as possible.

    The adults immediately made the arrangements and soon Little Jun was airlifted to Dragon Pce Home #10 using Jin Liwei''s helicopter.

    Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan apanied him in the aircraft. Iris and the others were already back home to prepare her godson''s room at the medical wing in advance with the in-house doctor.

    Jin Liwei stayed back at the hospital to listen to Wang Yingjie''s additional instructions.

    "I already contacted my friend who''s a renowned child psychiatrist," Wang Yingjie said. "She''s in America right now and needs to make arrangements with her current patients before she cane here. I already sent her Little Jun''s medical records and she says that she''ll work with him, no problem. Here''s her contact information."

    Jin Liwei received a piece of paper. "Thanks, Second Brother. I owe you one."

    Wang Yingjie shook his head. "Not at all. I also treat Little Jun like my own nephew. If not for the ethics and the doctors'' moral code that I have to follow, I would''ve also wanted to rush out and kill the monsters who did that to the child. I hope that they''re punished."

    Jin Liwei''s eyes shed with a cold light. "Don''t worry, Second Brother. I''ll make sure that those people receive the punishment that they deserve."

    Wang Yingjie nodded. "Good."

    "Thanks again, Second Brother. I''ll have my assistant contact the child psychiatrist and if she wants, I can even send one of my private jets to pick her up in America so that she can meet Little Jun sooner."

    "You make the arrangements."

    "En."

    The two didn''t continue chatting anymore because Wang Yingjie was still on duty. He needed to check on his other patients at the hospital.

    Jin Liwei didn''t stay any longer either. He immediately returned home to check on his godson''s situation.

    And of course, he was already missing his wife and kids. He couldn''t wait to kiss and hug them.

    ###

    The news about the kidnapping of Iris Long''s nephew and the Mao family''s involvement continued to ferment on national TV, the newspapers, and the web.

    Even Iris Long''s international fans got wind of the kidnapping. All of them also felt horrified about what happened to their Boss Iris'' nephew.

    She gained these international fans when her song with Jin Chonglin which was used as the opening theme for the drama "Our Love, Our Destiny" became popr in many other countries, mostly Asian ones. The hit drama''s poprity also made her song with Jin Chonglin, "Shining Eyes", climb to the top of these countries'' music charts. The song even got adapted into differentnguages.

    The strongest fans outside China were the ck Stars Philippines. The Chua family led the Filipino ck Stars into demanding justice for the kidnapping of their Boss Iris'' nephew.

    Second only to them was the ck Stars Singapore, secretly led by Jasper Leung, the figurehead of Ketchup''s White Tigress International Virtual Assistant Services. Due to Jasper''s efforts, Iris Long became more and more known in Singapore despite being still in hiatus after giving birth.

    In addition, Iris Long also had a considerable number of fans in Europe where her instrumental album, "Rebirth Melodies", charted in several countries.

    She also gained prestige in Europe when she won the Best Soundtrack Award at the Sommet International Film Festival for the indie film, "Strong Yet Broken". All these fans were enchanted by Iris Long''s music and her mesmerizing performance. Since then, they joined the international ck Stars.

    After learning about what happened to her nephew, they couldn''t just sit still. Although they couldn''t do anything substantial to pressure another country''s legal proceedings, they still did their best to spread the news until it reached the attention of the international media.

    This way, Little Jun''s country would feel too embarrassed not to give him the justice he deserved especially now that the whole world was watching.

 Chapter 1472 Sense of Crisis

    Chapter 1472 Sense of Crisis

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Little Jun thrived back at the mansion. Everyone did their best to take care of him and make him feel their love and care every single day. They pampered and doted on him, and yet he remained sweet like his usual self.

    Despite his serious injuries that prevented him from leaving his bed, he began tough again especially whenever his baby cousins, cat cousins, and the dogs visited him.

    His uncles and aunts also visited him every day, bringing lots of treats and toys that made him giggle with delight despite his painful injuries.

    To stay with the mother and son, Lin Yehan also temporarily moved to the mansion. At the same time, he also worked on improving his farm vi''s security. Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao advised him on how to better do it.

    Lin Yehan nned to wait for Little Jun topletely recover from his injuries at Dragon Pce and then have their family move back to the farm vi together. Hopefully, the farm vi''s security would have already improved by then.

    During the days, Little Jun seemed like his normal cheerful self. It was only during the nights that he would exhibit signs of the horrific trauma he went through.

    He would frequently wake up in the middle of the night, screaming and crying as he relived all the abuse he suffered in his nightmares.

    This broke everyone''s hearts.

    Jiang Ying Yue would often hide afterforting her son back to sleep and sob at the injustice. Lin Yehan was always there beside her. Both of them felt guilty that their son got kidnapped while on their honeymoon.

    Despite their friends'' assurances that it wasn''t their fault, they still couldn''t stop the feeling of guilt from consuming them.

    This was why they swore to treat Little Jun better and fight for justice until the end. There was no way that they would forgive the monsters for torturing their son and traumatizing him.

    It was possible that this trauma would stay with Little Jun for the rest of his life. Just thinking about it was enough to fill Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan with endless fury.

    When Little Jun finally settled at Dragon Pce, Long Tengfei and his wife, Yang Jiahui, together with Meimei started visiting. They could''ve visited earlier like at the hospital, but they chose to wait a few more days, especially since they had another person following them.

    They knew that Long Hui wasn''t wee at Dragon Pce, especially now that everyone knew it was his ex-wife''s parents who had tortured Little Jun.

    "What are you doing here?!" Jiang Ying Yue''s expression turned cold once she saw Long Hui.

    "What are you doing here?!" Jiang Ying Yue''s expression turned cold once she saw Long Hui.

    Meimei stepped away from her aunt and uncle-inw and joined her friends, clearly stating with her actions that she was on her friends'' side.

    "I already told my aunt and Uncle Tengfei that we shouldn''t bring that person with us, but he just kept shamelessly following us no matter how many times Uncle Tengfei discouraged him," Meimei muttered under her breath.

    "Ying Yue, please let me visit my son," Long Hui begged, ignoring the other people''s judgmental eyes.

    He only looked at the mother of his son, knowing that the final decision was hers.

    Just the fact that he was able to enter the gates of this exclusive vige without being barred was enough to let him tacitly know that both Jin Liwei and his youngest half-sister had allowed him. This meant that the couple left the final decision to Jiang Ying Yue.

    Whether he could see his son today or not would be up to Jiang Ying Yue.

    "No!" Jiang Ying Yue rejected him without hesitation.

    She was trembling from fury. If not for her husband, Lin Yehan, holding her, she might have already attacked Long Hui as soon as he stepped inside.

    In her mind, she understood that it wasn''t Long Hui''s direct fault that their son had been kidnapped. However, her heart just couldn''t forgive his indirect involvement in the matter.

    If he had not been married to Mao Qiuyue and then divorced her, then perhaps the Maos wouldn''t have hated him so much that they would have gone to great lengths to target his son.

    Jiang Ying Yue understood all this in her mind, but she just couldn''t let him go for what their son went through. If only she had been the one targeted and not their son, she would have dly offered her life. Unfortunately, her son had to go through such a horrific trauma instead of her. And it was breaking her heart to a million pieces every single day.

    Iris, Jin Liwei, and the others stood aside and watched Jiang Ying Yue take a stand. They also didn''t have any good feelings for Long Hui, but this time, they left the final decision to the child''s mother about whether to let the father see their child or not.

    Long Hui could sense Jiang Ying Yue''s strong hatred toward him. It was pure, unadulterated hatred.

    But the thought of just walking away was something he couldn''t do. His son needed him. Little Jun was his son! He needed to be there for Little Jun right now.

    He had a premonition that if stepped back today, then he would lose his son forever. That was something that he didn''t want to happen.

    No matter what, he needed to stand his ground today.

    He felt a sense of crisis, so he did something that he thought he would never do in his lifetime.

    He knelt on both knees with a loud thud in front of his ex-lover, the mother of his child. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    There was an audible gasp from the group watching them. Even Jiang Ying Yue looked shocked. Lin Yehan frowned but otherwise stayed silent.

    For the first time ever, Long Hui swallowed his pride.

    "Please, Ying Yue. I''m begging you. I know that you hate me, but please don''t prevent me from seeing our son. I promise to not bother you and your husband anymore. I just want a rtionship with my son. That''s all I want. Please!"

 Chapter 1473 Never Again

    Chapter 1473 Never Again

    Iris watched the kneeling Long Hui. He looked sincere, but who knew what was going on in his mind?

    But one thing was clear. He really did throw away his precious pride at this moment, especially inside his enemy''s territory.

    If he was really sincere, then Iris would give it to him for doing whatever was needed to maintain a rtionship with his son.

    She couldn''t help but sigh. If only he didn''t abandon the mother and son. Even if his rtionship with Jiang Ying Yue hadn''t worked out, at least they could have had an amicable co-parenting rtionship without the need to push each other down. Unfortunately, he already made a series of bad decisions.

    He lost the mother of his son. Now Jiang Ying Yue was happily married to Lin Yehan who epted her for who she was including her son whom he treated like his own.

    Perhaps Long Hui was beginning to realize his mistakes. Iris wasn''t sure about what was going on inside Long Hui''s mind at this very moment.

    She examined Jiang Ying Yue''s dumbfounded expression before looking at Long Tengfei.

    The older man appeared conflicted seeing his firstborn son kneeling and begging in front of all of them. Maybe this was also the first time that he had seen his son like this. Thankfully, Long Tengfei didn''t intervene. He stayed silent and didn''t try to save his son from the embarrassment. Maybe Yang Jiahui''s presence prevented him from acting on his paternal instincts of wiping his son''s a**.

    "Y-you¡­." Jiang Ying Yue didn''t know what to say.

    Long Hui gritted his teeth but still persevered. "I beg you, Ying Yue. Please don''t stop me from seeing my son¡ªour son!"

    She looked at her husband.

    Lin Yehan squeezed her hand, giving her support. "Up to you."

    Taking a deep breath, she returned her eyes to the father of her child who was now kneeling in front of her. "Fine, Long Hui."

    He released a big sigh of relief, but before he could stand up, she added, "But you must do what you promised just now¡ªthat you won''t bother me and my husband anymore. You must also ensure that whoever you marry again in the future won''t harm our child again. Little Jun has suffered too much. Our son doesn''t deserve all this trauma that your ex-wife''s family has caused!

    "Child support also needs to be paid monthly as usual. I''ll have to demand more from you this time because of what happened. Don''t worry, I''m not a greedy person, you know that. We''ll follow what thew stiptes you to pay. Also, rest assured that I''ll only use it for our child''s needs.

    "We must also draft a revised visitation agreement for you. You must follow my rules if you want to continue seeing our son. If you ever vite any of them, then your visitation rights will immediately be terminated until our son grows up to the age where he can legally decide if he wants to have a father-and-son rtionship with you or not. If you agree, then I''ll allow you to maintain a rtionship with our son as you wish."

    Long Hui fell into deep silence. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Iris and the others sent Jiang Ying Yue approving looks. Dom and Meimei even gave her big thumbs up. They didn''t care if Long Hui saw them or not.

    Well, he didn''t see them anyway because he was too busy considering Jiang Ying Yue''s demands.

    Lin Yehan''s eyes softened as he looked at his wife with pride. Seeing everyone''s support, Jiang Ying Yue straightened her back.

    Screw her sense of inferiority! She would crawl on the bloody ground and fight into the deepest pit of hell if it meant that she could protect her son.

    Never again would she allow her son and even herself to be bullied! Especially Little Jun. Her little boy was her life.

    She would fight for her son to achieve the justice he deserved, even from his own father.

    Long Hui owed it to their son.

    And she would make sure that he would pay whatever their son deserved down to thest cent.

    Finally, Long Hui seemed to have made a decision. He stood up from his kneeling position.

    "Alright, Jiang Ying Yue," he said in a soft, resigned voice. "I''ll follow your rules, but my only request is for you not to paint me in a bad light to my son."

    She red at him. "You think I''ll brainwash my son to hate you? Long Hui, if I wanted to brainwash my son, he would have already hated you long ago and refused to recognize you as his dada. Don''t lump me with your vicious ex-wife! I''m not that kind of person!"

    "I...I¡­just please promise me, Jiang Ying Yue," he begged again.

    She red at him harder but still acquiesced. "Fine! You have my promise that I won''t badmouth you to our son. But whether he grows up to love you or hate you will depend on your performance. Don''t hurt him, and most importantly, don''t let anyone from your side harm him again. If anything like this kidnapping happens again, then don''t me me if your son grows up not wanting to have anything to do with you!"

    "Alright, I promise." He hesitated but still added, "Thank you, Jiang Ying Yue."

    She gave him a stiff nod. "I''ll have ourwyer contact you with the new visitation arrangementster."

    Long Hui nodded. "Can I visit my son now?"

    "Fine."

    Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan led the way to the medical wing. Long Hui followed them by his lonesome self.

    Long Tengfei looked like as if he wanted to follow them, but Yang Jiahui pinched his arm, warning him with her eyes.

    "Give them some privacy," she said. "We''ll visit Little Junter when the atmosphere improves. You''ll just make the situation worse if you interfere."

    He was reluctant but still nodded. "Let''s visit our twin grandsons first then. I hope the Jin twins still remember us."

    "Good idea." Yang Jiahui smiled. "It would''ve been better if our Lu twin grandsons came today as well."

 Chapter 1474 Life is Unpredictable

    Chapter 1474 Life is Unpredictable

    Iris heard their conversation and told them, "The Lu twins also came here yesterday to visit their eldest cousin. I don''t think they''lle again today."

    "Really?" Yang Jiahui turned to Iris with a gentle smile. "Thanks for letting us know, Xin."

    "You can always visit them at their new home if you miss the Lu twins," Iris suggested.

    "You''re right." Yang Jiahui nodded.

    Long Tengfei didn''tment.

    If it were only his daughter, Long Jinjing, then he would drop by her house to visit his Lu grandsons whenever he wanted. Unfortunately, her husband, Lu Zihao, was quite a scary guy. He must admit that even he, Long Tengfei, felt intimidated by his son-inw.

    Well, to be honest, both his sons-inw intimidated him. But at least Jin Liwei knew how to be polite to him. Lu Zihao, on the other hand, didn''t bother to act nice. Although Lu Zihao wasn''t downright rude to him, he didn''t cater to him either.

    Staying in the same room with this son-inw of his could be quite awkward if there were no other people to fill in the silence.

    He wondered how his daughter fell in love with such a crude man. Sighing, he could onlyfort himself with the knowledge that at least both his sons-inw seemed to treat their wives well.

    Both sets of his twin grandsons were also close to their fathers. It appeared that both Jin Liwei and Lu Zihao took their roles as fathers seriously and were even quite active in personally raising their own children.

    It was quite rare for men with their wealth and status to be so involved in raising their children. From Long Tengfei''s personal experience, most men just left their kids to their wives or mistresses to raise. Depending on their wives or mistresses, the kids might not even spend much time with the parents either, just the nannies or household staff.

    This was how Long Tengfei dealt with his own children, especially the children of his official wives. Only his illegitimate children, Long Jian and Long Jinjing, grew up with rtively normal childhoods. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    In contrast, Long Hui and Long Xin, both legitimate children of his legal wives, were raised mostly by nannies and household staff.

    Long Hui had it better because as the firstborn, Long Tengfei personally groomed him to be his heir starting from a young age.

    Long Xin didn''t have that privilege. In hindsight, their neglect caused her to grow up into a rebellious, spoiled brat.

    Good thing that she changed for the better now. If she continued her old ways, Long Tengfei could only imagine how much trouble she would continue to make him clean up after her.

    Now, however, she proved herself not only capable but also a genius. She could even contend against her eldest brother, Long Hui, for the position of the next head of Long Industries.

    Long Tengfei once again released a heavy sigh. Life was indeed unpredictable.

    The ones he initially believed to be reliable were now struggling to even stay afloat, while the ones he thought to be hopeless were now skyrocketing to the top.

    "Let''s go."

    His thoughts were interrupted by his wife.

    Yang Jiahui looked at him. "I said let''s go see our twin grandsons. Xin says that they can now walk without anyone holding them."

    Both his eyebrows lifted. "Really? Is that true?"

    Iris beamed when the topic shifted to her sons. "Yes. Well, Little Matcha walks but Little Mochi runs. That child doesn''t have any brakes. He already fell several times."

    "Is he alright?" Yang Jiahui asked in concern.

    Long Tengfei also felt worried. "Don''t let him run off by himself. What if my grandson is injured?"

    Iris sighed but her smile remained. "Little Mochi loves to show off."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. "Just like his uncle, my younger brother."

    Iris gave him a side-eye but didn''t refute his words.

    Why did so many people think that Little Mochi inherited his Uncle Jin Chonglin''s love for showing off?

    Maybe they were right, but Iris believed that her son inherited it from the original Iris Long. Even their needy and clingy personalities were almost identical. Indeed, DNA couldn''t lie.

    Iris kept her thoughts to herself.

    If they wanted to delude themselves into thinking that Little Mochi inherited his Uncle Lin Lin''s personality, then let them continue believing it.

    It was already enough that Iris remembered the original Long Xin. Now that she hadpletely integrated into this body, she would honour Long Xin''s dream and achieve it for her. At the same time, she would also fulfill her own dreams that she failed to achieve in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    She smiled at Yang Jiahui. "Let''s go to the nursery. I''m sure that Little Mochi and Little Matcha will be delighted that you came to visit."

    Yang Jiahui turned to her niece who was busy gossiping with Dom. "Meimei, where are the gifts we bought for the children?"

    "I have them, Auntie," Meimei replied.

    Iris and Jin Liwei led the group to the nursery where they all fawned on the Jin twins, the cats, and the dogs.

    "By the way, where is Little Jun''s dog?" Yang Jiahui asked. "Is it still alive?"

    "Yes, Gravy is still alive," Iris replied. "But his injuries are extremely serious. Big Brother Zihao took him to¡­uh¡­a vet, yes. He took him to a vet. Gravy needs time to heal just like Little Jun."

    Yang Jiahui: "Thank goodness!"

    "Unfortunately, Gravy might not be suitable to work as a guard dog anymore," Jin Liwei said. "His injuries are too serious and is now handicapped. If not for Fourth Brother''s, uh, vet friend, then Gravy might have died already."

    "No matter," Yang Jiahui said. "That dog still saved my grandson''s life. Your father told me about the surveince footage of it protecting Little Jun from the kidnappers. Handicapped or not, it''s still an excellent dog. If it can''t work as a guard dog anymore, then just keep it as my grandson''s pet. We can just get him another guard dog."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. "That''s the n."

    She sighed in relief and smiled gently. "Then that''s great."

 Chapter 1475 Presents for the Children

    Chapter 1475 Presents for the Children

    The next day, Jiang Ying Yue was true to her word. She asked Iris''wyer, Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, to help draft a new visitation agreement for Long Hui.

    When Long Hui received it at his office at Long Industries, he took a pen from his assistant and immediately signed it without anyints. After sending the special courier away, he wrote a string of numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to his assistant.

    He instructed, "Open a bank ount for my son and deposit this amount every month. Give extra for special asions like birthdays. Get a supplementary card and send it to the child''s mother. Tell her that it''s my son''s child support."

    Although Long Hui had already been giving child support before this, doing this now would make it more official. Now that it hade to this point, he would follow the arrangement down to thest exact word. He didn''t want to provide Jiang Ying Yue with any ammunition to bar him from seeing their son.

    There was also no hope for the two of them anymore. She was now married to another man. He saw her pure, unadulterated hatred toward him yesterday.

    If not for him swallowing his pride and kneeling in front of her yesterday, then he would''ve already lost his chance to be a father to their son.

    Perhaps this was for the best.

    "Any other instructions, sir?" his assistant asked.

    He brought back his thoughts to the present. "Buy some toys and gifts that my son might like."

    "Understood, sir."

    Long Hui hesitated before adding, "Also buy some toys for my nephews. Four of them¡ªthe Jin twins and the Lu twins."

    "Yes, sir. I''ll take care of it right away."

    He nodded. His assistant was about to leave to do his bidding but he called him back.

    "Yes, sir?"

    "Did¡­did my sistere to the office today?" he asked.

    The assistant blinked a few times before realizing who he was talking about. "Oh, Deputy CMO Long?"

    "Yes."

    "I''m not sure, sir. But I''ll check it for you."

    "Alright, go." Long Hui waved him away.

    About ten minutester, his assistant called him on the phone.

    "Sir, Deputy CMO Long didn''te to the office today," his assistant reported. "I heard that the CMO gave her special permission to work from home for a few days after hearing about what happened to her nephew, er, your son, sir."

    Long Hui took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Okay, got it. Go do your tasks."

    "Yes, sir."

    The call ended.

    Long Hui stood up and gazed at the concrete skyline of the business district from his office''s ss windows.

    Howe Iris got special permission to work from home but he didn''t?

    He was the father. She was only the aunt.

    Granted, Little Jun was recuperating in her home, but it still felt unfair to him.

    Everything felt unfair.

    Now, however, he just felt exhausted.

    The usual hatred he usually felt for Iris had now been transferred to his ex-wife, Mao Qiuyue, and former inws. If not for the Maos, then his son wouldn''t have been kidnapped and tortured.

    "Mao Qiuyue!" He hissed, his eyes filled with burning hatred. "You and your equally despicable family better not show yourselves in front of me, or I swear I''ll send you to hell myself!"

    ###

    Later that day, Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other as the butler handed them two big wrapped boxes addressed to their twins. The sender was Long Hui.

    The butler mentioned that Long Hui also sent a bigger present to his son, Little Jun.

    "Leave it here, thank you," Iris said.

    The butler bowed before leaving.

    Before they could decide what to do with the presents, Iris'' phone rang. It was Long Jinjing.

    "Did Big Brother Hui send presents to your twins?" Long Jinjing asked.

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "Yes, he did. Your twins got presents from him, too?"

    "Yes. Zihao almost threw them into the trash but I stopped him in time. What did he get for Little Mochi and Little Matcha? I opened the ones he sent to my sons and they''re mostly cute toys and clothes. Little Misha is now sucking on a stuffed panda. Little Dima doesn''t look very interested in any of them, though."

    "We haven''t opened the presents yet," Iris said.

    A few seconds pause.

    Then Long Jinjing said, "Xin, I think our eldest brother is starting to change for the better. I heard what happened yesterday from Dom and Meimei. If he can kneel and humble himself like that, then maybe¡ª"

    "Big Sister," Iris interrupted. "I know what you''re trying to say. Whether he changes or not is up to him. I''ll only believe his actions, not his promises. If he can change for the better, then good! I''ll be so happy for Little Jun. It''s as simple as that."

    Another pause.

    "Alright, Xin," Long Jinjing finally said with a sigh. "I''ll talk to you againter. It''s time for me to feed your nephews."

    The two women bid each other goodbye and ended the phone call.

    "Should we open the presents?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Iris thought about it for a couple of seconds. "Sure. Let our sons open their presents by themselves."

    Jin Liwei carried the presents while they headed to the nursery together.

    Little Mochi got very excited when his parents told him that an uncle gave him and his twin brother presents. He didn''t know which uncle his parents were talking about, but it didn''t matter. He had a lot of uncles who doted on him anyway. He would just thank all of them when they came to visit next time.

    "Yah yah yah!" He couldn''t contain his excitement.

    Little Matcha, on the other hand, was less excited. He still showed interest but wasn''t as showy about it as his twin brother.

    The two of them first worked together on opening the first box. When they finally tore off the wrapper, they checked the contents one by one. Little Mochi squealed with delight as he shook a toy robot, but Little Matcha pulled him to open the second box before he could forget. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Iris and Jin Liweiughed at their twins'' antics.

 Chapter 1476 Child Psychiatrist

    Chapter 1476 Child Psychiatrist

    Seeing their twins'' joy, Iris and Jin Liwei also felt happy. It didn''t matter anymore that Long Hui was the one who sent the presents. Just looking at the smiles on their sons'' faces was enough.

    Whether Long Hui was sincere or not was no longer important. The most important was that he made the children happy. The result was more important than the motive.

    Finally, the twins unwrapped both boxes. The contents were more or less the same except for the colours. It didn''t matter to the twins, though.

    The twin brothers weren''t calctive with each other. They only took what they liked and yed together with gusto. Of course, they also offered their new toys to their cat siblings and their dogs.

    Iris and the nannies took the clothes and folded them while Jin Liwei spent time ying with his children.

    The children''sughter filled the nursery, and in turn, filled the adults'' hearts with contentment.

    ###

    A couple of dayster, Little Jun''s psychiatrist finally arrived. She was a petite, gentle-voiced Hong Kong Chinese-American woman named Dr. Mary Poon.

    Just listening to her speak made a person feelfortable. No wonder Little Jun immediately liked her.

    Dr. Poon was Wang Yingjie''s friend from abroad. Since he was the one who rmended her, Iris, Jin Liwei, Jiang Ying Yue, Lin Yehan, and the others all trusted her. Of course, they still had to observe her performance if she could help Little Jun deal with his trauma from the kidnapping.

    Jin Liwei had offered to send a private jet to pick her up from America, but Dr. Poon politely refused. She only asked for assistance with the living and transportation arrangements while she stayed in the country to treat Little Jun.

    Iris arranged a condo unit for her from one of the newest Gold Heights buildings because Dr. Poon also refused their offer to stay at the Dragon Pce mansion with their in-house doctor.

    Jin Liwei had his assistant provide her with a car so that she could drive herself.

    The couple respected the doctor''s wishes and didn''t mind her refusals too much. It just meant that the woman had her principles. But when Dr. Poon offered to pay rent for the condo, it was now Iris'' turn to firmly refuse.

    "As long as you can help my godson, I''ll even give you the condo as a gift," Iris said.

    Dr. Poon didn''t insist anymore but still warned, "Trauma is a very delicate issue to treat. Each person also deals with it differently. I can''tpletely erase what happened to Long Jun from his mind, but I''ll do my best to make hime to terms with it in a healthy manner."

    "We understand," Jin Liwei replied this time. "We''ll be counting on you, then."

    "Thank you for your trust," Dr. Poon replied. Then she nced at Jiang Ying Yue. "Mrs. Lin, I suggest that you also undergo therapy. Having a traumatized child is also very traumatizing to the parents, especially the mother. Although my specialty is treating children, I can also help you if you''re willing. Only with a clear mind can you help your child."

    Jiang Ying Yue hesitated, looking at her husband for his opinion.

    Lin Yehan said, "Go ahead, Ying Yue. I think that it''s going to benefit you and our son if you also go to therapy. You haven''t slept well these days."

    She faced the doctor again. "If it''s going to help my son, then I''m willing to go to therapy as well."

    "Don''t worry about it too much," Dr. Poon gave her a kind smile. "I''m here to help you, not interrogate you."

    Afterwards, Dr. Poon bid her goodbye to them and left Dragon Pce to the Gold Heights condo she was staying.

    "She handled Little Jun well earlier," Irismented. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "En," Jin Liwei agreed.

    "She''s indeed an expert rmended by our Second Brother," Lin Yehan said.

    Iris looked at the quiet Jiang Ying Yue and patted her shoulder. "Like what Dr. Poon said, she''s here to help you and Little Jun, not to interrogate you. Don''t worry too much about the therapy. Remember that Big Sister Jinjing has been going to therapy since she got pregnant until now and she''s doing better."

    "I know." Jiang Ying Yue smiled at her. "I''m just a little nervous because I want to clear my mind faster so that I can be there for my son and help him get better."

    "We''ll all be there for Little Jun," Iris assured her.

    "Thank you, Xin."

    "What is there to thank me about? Little Jun is Liwei and my precious godson. We''ll always be there for him."

    Jin Liwei: "En, always."

    Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan smiled at them.

    Then Lin Yehan told Iris, "Now that Dr. Poon has arrived, you can return to your usual work schedule, Third Sister-in-Law. Ying Yue and I know that you''ve been rearranging your schedule and have been working from home these days because you''re worried about Little Jun. You and Third Brother should return to your normal schedules and leave our son to us. You also have your own children to take care of."

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other.

    "Alright," Iris finally said. "If you need anything, just tell the butler and he''ll help you."

    Lin Yehan chuckled but there was gratitude in his eyes. "Yes, we know."

    After checking on Little Jun, Iris and Jin Liwei left the family of three and returned to their own children.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha hadn''t tired of Long Hui''s presents yet. They were still ying with the toys they received.

    Little Mochi''s favourite was the toy robot that he kept on smacking on the floor. Little Matcha didn''t seem to have any favourite, but he gravitated more toward puzzle-type toys.

    As for Popcorn, the energetic cat chased balls with the dogs while thezy Ice Cream didn''t bother with any of them and slept her way through all themotion.

    Iris'' eyes softened as she watched the mess her children were making.

    Ah, this was the warm home and family that she had always been dreaming of in her past life but never dared to openly desire.

    Now that she had achieved it in this new life, she was eternally grateful.

 Chapter 1477 Vigilante Justice

    Chapter 1477 Vignte Justice

    After a few more days, the construction of a new cafeteria started at Long Industries. It was announced to all the staff that Deputy CMO Long Xin was the one who donated 100% of the funds to build the new cafeteria. It was going to be built at the same standard as Orchidia''s famous cafeteria. All the employees cheered when they found out. They couldn''t wait for it to bepleted.

    With the CMO and the entire Marketing Department at her side and President Long Tengfei''s tacit support, Iris Long''s position in thepany had also stabilized. There were incidents of sabotage from the opposing camp, but she quickly dodged the dangers, and more often than not, counterattacked.

    Of course, she had long noticed that her foundation in thepany wasn''t as deep as that of Long Hui''s or even Long Jian''s, but she wasn''t discouraged about it at all. She even felt more motivated topete against the two half-brothers. But still, she never forgot her purpose in joining the battle for session at Long Industries.

    On the same day, they also received news that Mao Qiuyue''s parents had finally been found.

    The police were at their wits'' end about searching for them.

    Jin Liwei imed that the experts he hired only rescued his godson and didn''t do anything else. Although the police had their suspicions, they didn''t have any evidence to prove otherwise. It also seemed that their resources weren''t as good as that of the billionaire CEO. They still failed to catch any clues about the whereabouts of Mao Qiuyue''s parents after so long.

    Now, the search was finally over.

    The police were relieved because the public and the media kept on pressuring them to give justice to the poor child. Even some of the government higher-ups became involved and kept on urging them to indict and arrest all the suspects involved at all costs especially after the international media featured the kidnapping case.

    The police force could only focus their sights on Mao Qiuyue herself while her parents were still missing. They charged her additional crimes and then hastened her transfer to a maximum-security prison.

    When her parents were finally found, the police force immediately charged them with their original crimes of bribery, extortion, embezzlement, and tax evasion, and the new crimes rted to kidnapping and battery. They were also arrested the same day.

    The Chief of Police even held a press conference about Father Mao and Mother Mao''s arrest due to pressure from the public and media, including some of the government higher-ups.

    All the major media news outlets attended the press conference. After listening to the Chief of Police''s announcement about the arrest, all the reporters raised their hands. The chief chose one to ask a question.

    Reporter 1: "Congrattions to our police force and all members of ourw enforcement for finally arresting the criminals.

    Chief of Police: "Thank you."

    Reporter 1: "Can you please tell us why it took so long to find and arrest Mr. and Mrs. Mao?"

    Chief of Police: "Our police officers never stopped searching for them. Remember that the Maos were once a wealthy and powerful family. They may still have hidden resources that they used to evade us, but in the end, justice still prevailed. All of us from the police force are sworn to do our duty to uphold justice and punish all criminals. No matter how long it takes, we will catch them. And we did just that."

    Of course, he wasn''t going to tell the media that Father Mao and Mother Mao were served on a silver tter to the police, that they didn''t actually catch the couple but found them at an alley near a police station. As the Chief of Police, he needed to protect the force''s reputation and inte his officers'' achievements.

    He chose another reporter to ask a question.

    Reporter 2: "Chief, can you tell us more information about where you found Mr. and Mrs. Mao and how you caught them?"

    Chief of Police: "Ahem, that is ssified information."

    Reporter 2: "Why is it ssified information?"

    Chief of Police: "You''ve already used up your question. Next!" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Reporter 3: "Except for the ssified part, can you tell us some of the details that you''re allowed to publicly share about where you found Mr. and Mrs. Mao and how you caught them?"

    The Chief of the Police paused for a few seconds. The reporters eagerly awaited his answer.

    Finally, he said, "I can''t share the ce or the process of how we caught the two suspects because they''re ssified information."

    The reporters were disappointed.

    Then he continued, "But I can tell you their states or condition when we arrested them."

    The eyes of the reporters lit up.

    Chief of Police: "Mrs. Mao''s hands are both broken. Mr. Mao has be blind and deaf."

    This revtion caused a disturbance among the reporters.

    Reporter 4: "Sir, did the police cause their injuries?"

    Chief of Police: "No. My officers found them already injured."

    Reporter 5: "Do you know who caused their injuries? And if you do, who did it?"

    Chief of Police: "We are still investigating that at this moment. But we suspect that this is a case of vignte justice. As we all know here, this kidnapping case has considerable massive media coverage, both nationally and internationally. Of course, we, thew enforcement, stand by thew. We condemn anyone who carries out illegal activities, including those who execute vignte justice. We don''t care if you think that you''re doing the right thing. You''re still breaking thew and we will apprehend you."

    There were some more questions, and the Chief of Police answered most of them. For the other questions, he would say that he couldn''t answer because they''re ssified information. No matter how many times the reporters rephrased their questions, the chief refused to answer.

    After the appointed time, the press conference finally ended.

    The Chief of Police left without any hesitation, not caring whether the reporters had asked everything they wanted.

 Chapter 1478 A Parentâ€™s Protective Instinct

    Chapter 1478 A Parent¡¯s Protective Instinct

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Jin Liwei pressed the remote control and the TV turned off. They just finished watching the Chief of Police''s press conference about the arrest of Mao Qiuyue''s parents.

    Iris asked the others, "What do you think?"

    "The Chief of Police did an excellent job dodging some of the questions," Jin Liweimented.

    Lin Yehan nodded. "It may look like he said a lot, but the information he revealed isn''t actually that substantial."

    "Is it true that Mr. Mao has be blind and deaf while Mrs. Mao broke both of her hands?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    Both Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t reply to her question nor did they react. Lin Yehan observed them, but couldn''t read anything from their expressions. But their silence alone meant that they most likely knew something.

    "I¡­I know who rescued Little Jun," Jiang Ying Yue said in a careful tone. "My son told me that his Uncle Haohao is a superhero who saves little children like him."

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other.

    Lin Yehan sighed. "Don''t treat us like we''re stupid, Third Brother. I already long noticed that Fifth Brother has been busy with some¡­hm, shady stuff. I just don''tment on it because I still trust him. And at least, he has settled down a lot nowpared to before when he''s always running off to the next highest mountain to ski."

    "Did¡­did Sir Zihao do that to Mao Qiuyue''s parents?" Jiang Ying Yue asked.

    Iris narrowed her eyes and asked her point nk, "If my big brother did, are you against it?"

    Jiang Ying Yue froze for a second before shaking her head in a hurry. "That''s not what I meant, Xin."

    "Then why are you asking like that?" Iris asked, the challenge clear in her voice.

    "Third Sister-inw," Lin Yehan said in a warning tone.

    In turn, Jin Liwei also warned him, "Eldest Brother."

    The tense atmosphere increased until Jiang Ying Yue was the first to be unable to take it.

    "Everyone, please stop!" Jiang Ying Yue then patted her husband''s hand, trying to calm him down, before addressing the defensive couple.

    "Xin, Sir Liwei, please don''t think that I''m using Sir Zihao of anything. That''s not my intention at all. I just¡­I just want to know what really happened. I¡­you know that I hold great respect for Sir Zihao. He has helped train and improve my hand-to-handbat skills before alongside my colleagues here. We''ve always appreciated him. And now that he saved my son from great danger, I now owe him a big debt that I don''t think I''ll be able to repay in my entire life."

    Iris and Jin Liwei remained silent, but at least their defensive aura gradually subsided.

    Jiang Ying Yue continued, "I''m not trying to stand on a moral high ground by asking whether Sir Zihao was the one who injured Mao Qiuyue''s parents or not. I''m not trying to use him of anything. Really, I''m not! I just want to know¡­because I want to thank him!"

    Then she burst into tears.

    Lin Yehan immediately wrapped his arm around her and startedforting her.

    "I''m okay, Yehan." She wiped her tears, but they kept on flowing. "When I learned that Mao Qiuyue''s parents hurt my son, I wanted to kill them with my own hands!"

    Iris'' eyes softened, and shepletely returned to normal. "I know. I felt the same way."

    Jin Liwei then said, "Whether Fifth Brother did it or not is not our business to tell. If you want to know, you can ask him directly."

    "Okay." Jiang Ying Yue nodded. "I understand."

    He added, "But don''t forget that Fifth Brother is the one who rescued your son from the kidnappers. Those criminals didn''t even demand ransom. It''s clear that their motive is to purely hurt the child and devastate us."

    "I know," she whispered.

    Lin Yehan didn''t want to see her so upset anymore. "We''ll thank Fifth Brotherter when we do see him. Fifth Sister-inw Jinjing says that he''s still very busy until now."

    "Little Jun also looks up to him now," Jiang Ying Yue added, her mood improving. She even started to smile again. "He now thinks that his Uncle Haohao is the best uncle in the world because he''s a superhero."

    Everyone chuckled,pletely dispelling the tense atmosphere from before.

    "We won''t ask you two anymore about Fifth Brother''s business," Lin Yehan said afterward. "We''ll ask him directly if we have any questions, but the fact that we''re grateful for him will never change."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Iris also felt relieved that Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan weren''t using her big brother of being heavy-handed with Mao Qiuyue''s parents.

    At the same time, she was d that her big brother listened to her and hadn''t outright killed Mr. and Mrs. Mao. He even fulfilled his promise and dropped off the couple near a police station where the police found them.

    Now that she was a parent especially a mother, she understood the bone-deep instinct to protect her children. She and her husband had long considered Little Jun like their own child, so of course, they wanted to punish anyone who dared hurt him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    They didn''t feel sorry at all for Mr. and Mrs. Mao.

    It wasn''t a question of morals and ethics, or of whether they deserved it or not, but of the need for parents to avenge the injustice done to their children.

    In a way, Mr. and Mrs. Mao were the same. They also tried to avenge what happened to their daughter, Mao Qiuyue. Unfortunately, they messed with the wrong people.

    They shouldn''t have touched Little Jun, no matter how much they hated the child''s mother and biological father. The child had many elders who loved him and doted on him¡ªpowerful elders who would do anything to keep him happy and safe.

    Iris and Jin Liwei had already shown Mr. and Mrs. Mao enough mercy by advising Lu Zihao to leave them alive for the police to handle.

    Whatever happened to them during the process was just reaping what they sowed, especially after all the horrific things they did to Little Jun.

 Chapter 1479 Dirty Jobs

    Chapter 1479 Dirty Jobs

    That night, Iris was lying on the bed with her twin sons while singing them a Russian luby. Little Mochi was on her left while Little Matcha was on her right. Both of them hugged her as they gazed at her face in adoration.

    Little Matcha was the first one to get drowsy. He yawned once and in no time, he fell asleep. Little Mochi took a bit longer. Iris had no choice but to sing another Russian luby before the naughty baby finally sumbed to sleep.

    The bedroom door opened and Jin Liwei entered, making sure to move carefully to avoid waking up his sons. "They''re asleep?"

    Iris nodded, smiling with soft eyes, as she gazed at their adorable sleeping sons.

    Jin Liwei carefully carried Little Matcha first who was startled awake, but when he saw that it was his father, he immediately returned to sleep. After cing the baby in therge crib bed a few steps away, Jin Liwei returned to take Little Mochi.

    He was more cautious this time. Jin Liwei didn''t take any chances especially when it came to his eldest twin son.

    Little Mochi was quite an emotional baby. If he ever felt upset, he would wail at the top of his lungs. It would take a lot of kisses, hugs, and coaxing tofort him.

    Jin Liwei and his wife were both tired, especially Iris. If possible, he didn''t want his wife to exhaust herself even more by trying to coax their crying baby.

    He put Little Mochi beside Little Matcha.

    Popcorn and Ice Cream rearranged themselves to make room for the babies. The two dogs, Pudding and Chowder, also wagged their tails before falling asleep beside therge crib bed.

    Iris stood beside Jin Liwei, and they both gazed down at the incredible miracles they created together.

    She hugged his arm and leaned her head on his chest. "They need to learn self-defence once they''re old enough."

    "En," he agreed without hesitation.

    "I don''t want our twins to experience what Little Jun experienced. Liwei, I''ll die again if our twins ever get kidnapped or experience something worse."

    Jin Liwei''s eyes turned cold. "I won''t let anything like that happen. Over my dead body."

    Before she could reply, Bacon''s hushed voice interrupted them.

    "Please excuse Bacon for disturbing Mother and Father at thiste hour, but Uncle Zihao says that he has something important to tell both of you."

    The husband and wife looked at each other before leaving the bedroom and heading to the living area of their suite. On the TV disy, they saw their pure ck AI cat son. Bacon''s golden eyes glowed while his fluffy tail swayed in a leisurely rhythm.

    "Greetings, Mother and Father."

    "Thank you, Bacon," Iris said with a soft smile. "Hello to you, too. You can connect us to your uncle now." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Understood, Mother," Bacon''s voice returned to a normal volume. "Connecting in 3, 2, 1¡ª"

    Beep!

    The TV disy flickered and Lu Zihao''s cold face appeared.

    "Big Brother," Iris greeted him.

    Lu Zihao acknowledged with a nod. He didn''t waste any time getting to the point.

    "I already personally interrogated the unidentified armed men that we captured from the mountain. They''re unusually tough. I''m 100% certain that they underwent some form of torture resistance training just like we did."

    Of course, he was talking about their past lives as children of the Vetrov family.

    Iris'' eyes dimmed at the nightmarish memories of their past lives.

    Jin Liwei frowned when he noticed it. He immediately grabbed her hand and squeezed it. His frown deepened when he felt that her hand had gone ice-cold. He massaged it, trying to transfer his warmth to her.

    Gradually, she came to her senses. His warm hand reassured her that the past belonged to the past. This was the present now where she didn''t need to undergo a horrific training regimen against her will. She now had a warm, loving home with the beautiful family she built with the love of her life.

    She gave her husband a reassuring smile before returning her attention to her brother.

    "So they haven''t revealed their identities yet?" she asked.

    "That''s right," Lu Zihao said.

    He didn''t reveal anything from his stoic expression, but Iris could sense that his frustration.

    She thought for a moment before saying, "If you''re 100% sure that those men underwent torture resistance training then that means that their origins are far more dangerous than we initially expected."

    Lu Zihao sneered but his eyes were dead serious. "There are only a handful of organizations in the world that could survive our Vetrov torture methods. I wonder which ones these mangy mutts belong to."

    Her chest tightened after hearing her brother''s words. "But if they really belong to one of our enemy organizations, why would theye here to this country and assist Mao Qiuyue and her parents? Why would they kidnap an innocent child like Little Jun? It doesn''t make any sense!"

    Jin Liwei interjected, "I''ll investigate if the Maos still have special hidden connections that we haven''t discovered yet."

    "The Maos are just pawns," Lu Zihao said. "These mangy mutts have no respect whatsoever for the Mao cockroaches. The key here is the woman in a floral dress who apparently looks like you, little sister."

    Jin Liwei scowled at the thought of somebody so evil looking like his wife. Even Iris didn''t like the idea.

    "As long as they''re in my country, I''ll do everything in my power to find out that woman''s identity," Jin Liwei swore.

    Lu Zihao didn''t refute him but said instead, "If that woman belongs to one of our past enemy organizations, then her identity shouldn''t be simple either. Remember that your priority is to keep my sister and all her children safe. Leave the dirty jobs for me to handle."

    It was at this moment that Bacon joined in the conversation.

    "Please do excuse Bacon''s rudeness for interrupting everyone''s adult conversation, but Bacon feels the need to remind Uncle Zihao that you also now have your own family¡ªnamely, Aunt Jinjing, and your twin sons, Little Misha and Little Dima. If Uncle Zihao dies from doing all of these so-called dirty jobs, then Aunt Jinjing and Bacon''s twin cousins would be so pitiful. Uncle Zihao, you keep on failing to consider this matter. It''s not ssy."

 Chapter 1480 A Class Act of the Highest Level

    Chapter 1480 A ss Act of the Highest Level

    Despite the seriousness of their conversation, Iris couldn''t help but chuckle after hearing what her AI cat son said. She even snickered upon seeing her big brother roll his eyes.

    The TV disy now showed Lu Zihao and a small image of Bacon at the lower left corner of the screen.

    "Don''t me Bacon, Big Brother," she said when she finally controlled herughter. "Bacon is right."

    "Thank you, Mother, for proving that Bacon is indeed right." The ck cat on the TV disy looked bored as usual, but his tail started rotating like helicopter rotor des.

    Jin Liwei opened a water bottle and handed it to his wife. His eyes were also filled with amusement.

    Iris gave him a smile of thanks before taking a sip of water and handing the bottle back to him.

    Lu Zihao couldn''t take it anymore. "Enough of this pointless conversation!"

    "Uncle Zihao, talking about one''s family is never pointless unless you''re a useless human being," Bacon once again blocked him.

    In the end, Lu Zihao didn''t bother arguing with the savage AI cat anymore. He had worked with Bacon for long enough to know that his AI cat nephew would never miss the chance to trade barbed words with him whenever the brat had a chance.

    If not for Bacon''s extraordinary skills and abilities, Lu Zihao wouldn''t even want to spend a lot of time working with such a two-faced, savage brat every day.

    He couldn''t help butin and ask his sister, "Which bastard did you base this brat''s sh*tty personality on?"

    Iris almost couldn''t stop herughter from bursting out.

    But before she could think of an excuse to tell her brother, Bacon also made aint against his uncle.

    "Mother, Uncle Zihao just described Bacon''s personality as sh*tty. It''s not ssy. Bacon''s feelings are severely hurt. Father, please help Bacon demandpensation from Uncle Zihao for emotional distress."

    Before Iris and Jin Liwei could even react, Lu Zihao was already sighing. Then in a resigned tone, he said, "I''ll deposit money to youter, okay? Brat, just let me talk to your parents in peace! Goddammit, this brat is the bane of me!"

    Bacon''s response was to turn around and show his fluffy butt. Ah, he was now sulking.

    Lu Zihao scoffed at the AI cat''s attitude.

    Iris saw this and shook her head, sighing. Her eyes, however, were still full of amusement. Jin Liwei had a simr expression.

    After this lighthearted interlude, the adults finally returned to their earlier serious conversation.

    "It''s useless for me to continue personally interrogating those mangy mutts," Lu Zihao said. "I''ll leave them to my subordinates. Perhaps they would give in and finally open their dirty mouths to confess after some time passes. If not, the sharks in the ocean should be hungry for fresh meat."

    Iris didn''tment. This wasn''t the time to talk about ethics and morality. Those unidentified armed men were now proven to be extremely dangerous, especially if her brother''s suspicion was correct that they belonged to one of the enemy organizations of the Vetrovs.

    Any person who could endure the Vetrov''s inhuman torture methods without spilling anything was also inhuman.

    A person like this most likely had been indoctrinated into bing a mindless puppet who only followed orders from their organization, just like the minions belonging to the Vetrov criminal empire before its downfall.

    Iris rubbed her arms. Just remembering her parents'' and brothers'' subordinates from before was enough to give her goosebumps.

    Those people were like robots programmed to have absolute loyalty to the Vetrovs. If needed, they could literally dig out their hearts and offer them to their lords anddies.

    Jin Liwei once again noticed her disturbed reaction. He pulled her closer and rubbed her arms for her, sending more of his warmth to her.

    "Do whatever you want with those people," Iris finally told her brother. "I don''t want them near Little Jun again or any member of our family, especially the children."

    "You don''t have to tell me that, little sister." Lu Zihao nced at something off-camera. "My wife is calling. I''ll talk to youter."

    "Okay, bye¡ª"

    Before Iris could finish her goodbye, Lu Zihao already ended the call.

    Bacon turned around and faced his parents again. "Please do not take offence at Uncle Zihao''s rudeness, Mother and Father. Aunt Jinjing is just worried because Uncle Zihao is always out working andes back homete every night. She always calls around this time to make sure that he''s fine and still alive. Sometimes, he doesn''t evene home at all. Aunt Jinjing fears that Little Misha and Little Dima might forget what their father looks like one day. Bacon thinks that Uncle Zihao is not ssy for not prioritizing his family. Isn''t that right, Mother and Father?"

    Iris sighed. This was what she feared as well.

    She already made several attempts to convince her big brother to put his revenge n against the Vetrov enemies on hold and prioritize enjoying his new life.

    She had hoped that Long Jinjing and the birth of the Lu twins would make him re-evaluate his priorities, but by the look of things, it seemed that he was still intent on pursuing his original vendetta. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    In addition, Iris felt guilty because Lu Zihao had been working so hard since Little Jun got kidnapped. He was the one who personally rescued the child, captured the perpetrators, interrogated them, and now he was investigating the identities of the real mastermind of the kidnapping.

    "I''ll visit Big Sister Jinjing and my nephews more," Iris announced.

    "En." Jin Liwei supported her decision.

    "Bacon is sure that Aunt Jinjing and the Lu twins will appreciate Mother for visiting them more often," Bacon said, his ck tail swishing side to side. "Indeed, Bacon''s mother is an absolute ss act of the highest level. Father is truly lucky to have Mother in his life."

    Of course, the ck AI cat didn''t miss the chance to uplift his mother, while taking a (slight) dig at his father. Not too muchpared to what he always did to his Uncle Zihao, though.

    Fortunately, Jin Liwei agreed with Bacon. "Yes, I''m indeed lucky to have your mom."

    Bacon''s tail once again rotated until it blurred.

 Chapter 1481 Legendary Dream Collab

    Chapter 1481 Legendary Dream Cob

    Lone vi in the woods.

    The woman wearing another floral dress covered up her bruises with a high-coverage foundation and concealer. Without makeup, she looked pretty except for her cold, malicious eyes. Her resemnce to the celebrity Iris Long at this point was about 70%.

    But with her superb makeup skills, she transformed into a beautiful woman. And when she wore dark sunsses to cover up her eyes, then her resemnce to Iris Long rose to at least 95%.

    She stood up and allowed the flowy floral dress to hug her seductive silhouette. In front of the full-length mirror, she turned this way and that.

    One corner of her mouth rose to a smirk, feeling satisfied while looking at her sexy figure.

    Her eyes swept at the messy bed behind her. Memories of what happenedst night flooded her mind.

    She paled behind her thick yet expertly applied makeup.

    The bruises still ached but the man was an expert in inflicting the most immense pain on her while still giving her the most mind-blowing pleasure she had ever experienced in her entire life.

    Last night, her lover finally returned after going away for a "business" trip. He had heard that they had lost a lot of men after her directive to kidnap the child named Long Jun.

    She knew that he didn''t give a damn about losing any of his men. However, he enjoyed punishing her while on bed.

    Of course, she also enjoyed it, but it didn''t change the fact that he still hurt her. She now knew him enough to not doubt that he would kill her without mercy if she ever lost interest in her. This was why she worked hard to please him despite suffering from all kinds of humiliation.

    She sneered at her reflection, staring at her face who looked so much like Iris Long.

    "As long as you give me what I want, I''ll even lick your feet," she said to her now-gone lover who had already left after using her.

    She didn''t care. It wasn''t like she missed him when he was absent. Both of them were clear that they were only mutually using each other.

    She just needed to be careful not to be deemed useless by him before she couldplete her ns.

    A knock on the door interrupted her monologue.

    "Come in!"

    The door opened and a maidservant entered.

    "Change the sheets," the woman in a floral dress instructed.

    The maidservant acknowledged hermand and immediately started tidying up the bedroom.

    The woman in a floral dress left the room and headed to the study. She sat behind her desk, opened herptop, and continued writing the manuscript of her next book.

    ###

    Iris Long finally began recording her coboration album with Enrique Valdez in earnest. Their presence at JJ''s recordpany immediately garnered massive media attention.

    JJ''s recordpany was soon surrounded by reporters, paparazzi, and fans every single day hoping to catch Iris Long and Enrique Valdez.

    This time, neither Iris Long nor Enrique Valdez epted any interviews from the media. The bad-tempered JJ was the one who had to appease the media because if not, they would continue to squat outside hispany building.

    Although this wasn''t a rare urrence for a famous and renowned producer like him especially whenever he worked with popr artists, it still annoyed him to death when his staffined that they couldn''t even go through thepany doors because the crowd outside blocked them.

    Since neither Iris Long nor Enrique Valdez were interested in facing the media, then he had no choice but to do it himself. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Good thing that his bad temper was well-documented in the industry.

    He gave standard answers to the reporters'' questions and expertly dodged those who wanted to dig deeper into Iris Long and Enrique Valdez'' new cob. And finally, he scolded the immoral paparazzi who were no better than stalkers.

    Afterpleting this unpleasant mission, he returned to the biggest studio in hispany building which he reserved for Iris Long and Enrique Valdez.

    He found the two of them busy instructing the musicians on how to y exactly how they wanted. They even took the instruments and personally showed the musicians how to do it.

    Neither of them noticed that JJ had returned. To his credit, he didn''t disturb them and even signalled the others who did notice to keep quiet. He sat in the control room to observe Iris and Enrique while they did their magic.

    JJ was now familiar with Iris'' style whenever she recorded music. She was extremely focused and meticulous when it came to every single instrument included in the song.

    Now that he watched her with Enrique Valdez, JJ was surprised that the two were extremely simr. Even some of their mannerisms on how they yed certain instruments, especially the guitar, was almost identical.

    "Huh, is Iris that big of a fan of Enrique Valdez?" JJ wondered. "She even imitates the way he ys."

    Shrugging, he didn''t think about it too much. Even he imitated his favourite idols as a young man before he developed his own style. After he shifted his focus to producing music instead of performing, his style solidified even more.

    He had believed that his music style already matured and reached its peak. Only after meeting Iris Long did he realize that he still had so much more to learn.

    The brat habitually forced him to swallow his pride and anger so many times that he had almost strangled her out of frustration. However, he recognized that it was during moments of shes between them that great masterpieces were born.

    He had long considered Iris Long as his prot¨¦g¨¦. After all, it was him who produced her greateback album, "Rebirth", effectively helping her transition out of her previous wild pop star image into an enchanting, multi-award-winning music diva.

    But watching her working with Enrique Valdez made him scowl.

    "Who''s the prot¨¦g¨¦ of whom here?! Hmph!"

    Despite his bad-tempered jealousy, JJ still felt an unprecedented excitement.

    "This dream cob will be legendary. And I, the great JJ, am part of it! Hahaha!"

    His staff averted their eyes and focused on their tasks. They were already used to their temperamental boss.

 Chapter 1482 Lucky to be Part of this Project

    Chapter 1482 Lucky to be Part of this Project

    After today''s recording session, Iris and Enrique came out of the studio''s live room to the control room where JJ and the technicians waited for them. JJ handed each of them a bottle of room temperature water.

    "Good job today, both of you!" JJ said.

    "Thanks," Iris replied with a smile.

    Enrique acknowledged him with a polite nod.

    "Let''s go eat out and celebrate since it''s our first day of recording this album," JJ announced. "I already booked a restaurant."

    "Okay, but let me call my husband first to let him know," she said.

    JJ gave her a mocking snort. "Just tell your husband toe, too! But there will be drinking, so don''t bring the babies!"

    Iris didn''t mind his bad temper. She knew that although he spoke like this, he doted on her children very much.

    In fact, JJ was already looking forward to when the twins would grow up. He hoped that they inherited their mother''s talent in music. If he was still alive by the time they wanted to pursue a music career, he wanted to help produce their first album.

    When he shared this dream with her hoping to get her approval, she only shrugged and told him that it was up to her children whether they wanted to follow in her footsteps in music or not.

    If they did be musicians in the future, then she and her husband would of course support them. But if not, it didn''t matter. She and Jin Liwei would always support their children in whatever they wished to pursue as long as they didn''t do anything harmful to themselves, others, and society.

    JJ only snorted at her answer and didn''t insist anymore.

    Back to the present, Iris already finished calling Jin Liwei. After hearing that JJ said that it was fine for him toe, Jin Liwei didn''t hesitate to do so.

    The musicians and other staff working on the album cheered when they heard that their boss, JJ, was treating them to dinner today. The musicians were especially happy and relieved to have a chance to unwind after an exhausting workday. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Most of them had worked with Iris Long before. They already knew about her meticulous work style and her pursuit of her own vision of perfection. Working with her was definitely not for the faint-hearted.

    To be honest, she was even tougher to work with than the bad-tempered JJ. She wasn''t a tyrant in any sense, but her attention to the smallest details could get exhausting. They had to be in perfect condition all the time because if not, then she would never feel satisfied and the recording wouldn''t stop.

    At the same time, they loved working with her because her passion for music was something that they also resonated with very much. They didn''t expect to learn so many new things from someone so much younger than them.

    It was no wonder that she was a multi-award-winning musician. She deserved all the awards she won and more.

    Now that Enrique Valdez was added to the equation, they all agreed with JJ calling this album a legendary dream coboration. Every single one of them felt lucky to be part of this project.

    Throughout the day, they also experienced Enrique Valdez''s focused and meticulous style. Together with Iris Long, the musicians and everyone working on the project felt the need to always maintain their best conditions.

    Enrique Valdez might have left most people with the impression that he was the silent, brooding type, but everyone discovered today that he was actually fierce when working on music.

    He was definitely fiercer than Iris Long. He didn''t use any insulting words unlike JJ, but Enrique Valdez''s aura was enough to intimidate all of them.

    So this was what working with the legendary hitmaker felt like.

    After the celebratory dinner at the restaurant, everyone headed home. Iris opened her car window and waved at the small crowd of people gathered outside the restaurant who came after learning that she was there.

    Cameras shed and screams arose as she smiled mainly at her fans, the loyal ck Stars.

    There were also paparazzi, of course, but she didn''t acknowledge them. As long as they didn''t intrude on her privacy too much, she would just treat them like air.

    She closed her window and rxed her head on her husband''s shoulder.

    "Tired?" Jin Liwei asked while pulling her closer.

    She snuggled closer to him. "No. I''m very excited. We''re finally recording the album after so long."

    "It''s my fault that you dyed it again and again."

    Iris sat up straight and looked at him straight in the eye. "You know that I would never trade giving birth to our children for this album. So don''t say that it''s your fault. Without you, we won''t even have our children in the first ce."

    His eyes softened at her words. "Okay, I won''t say it again."

    She stared at him for a few more seconds before returning to snuggle with him. "I''m just grateful that Teacher Enrique waited this long to work with me. He has been so patient and understanding of the many dys on my side."

    "En." He kissed her fragrant hair. "We''ll treat him better."

    "Yes, we should. He already sacrificed too much of his time for this album. I also need to do my best so as not to disappoint him. Of course, I''m also doing this for myself."

    "You''ll do it, love. I know you will."

    She smiled and hugged his waist. With his gentle touches on her hair and back, she fell into deep sleep in no time.

    When they finally arrived home, Jin Liwei carried his sleeping wife to their bedroom. The twins were also already asleep in theirrge crib bed with the cats. The dogs were on the floor.

    The nannies greeted him and reported the babies'' activities during the day before withdrawing for the night.

    Little Matcha inherited his mother''s ability to sleep deeply. He didn''t rouse at all.

    Little Mochi, on the other hand, was a restless sleeper. Perhaps sensing his parents'' arrival, the fussy baby woke up with a loud cry.

    Now that she was a mother, Iris developed the ability to hijack her original skill to sleep deeply and would now wake up whenever her babies cried.

    Jin Liwei sighed and shook his head at his eldest twin son waking up his poor, exhausted wife.

 Chapter 1483 Iâ€™ll Always Want You

    Chapter 1483 I¡¯ll Always Want You

    [*WARNING: 18+ scenes below!!! Reader discretion is advised.*]

    It took Iris and Jin Liwei a lot of hugs and kisses to coax Little Mochi back to sleep. The cats and dogs who were also awakened by Little Mochi''s loud cry could finally rest again.

    Iris gave her sons several kisses and petted the cats and dogs before heading to the bathroom. Jin Liwei locked the door and embraced her from behind.

    She tilted her head up to him. He leaned down and caught her luscious lips. Their tongues danced together.

    His hands roamed all over her waist, stomach, and finally her breasts. He cupped one and squeezed it gently, making her moan in his mouth.

    When their lips separated, he asked in a low whisper, "Is it okay tonight?" N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Yes," she said, panting a little.

    "Not tired?"

    "Tired, so you need to be gentle."

    Her sexy voice tempted him. His nostrils red and his eyes narrowed. Slowly but surely, he peeled off the clothes from her body one by one.

    When she was finally naked, he stepped back and admired her for a while. She tilted her head to the side and looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. She wasn''t shy at all in front of this man who was now her husband. She loved seeing the love and lust in his eyes for her.

    Although they could now be considered an old married couple, the attraction between them had never waned. Perhaps in the future, their physical desires might decrease due to old age, but for now, they were still young. It was a given to continue enjoying their passion for each other.

    "So beautiful," Jin Liwei murmured, as he stepped forward to embrace her once again. "So sexy." He rained down light but wet kisses on her long, smooth neck.

    Even after a long day of work, she still smelled so fragrant. His erection now pushed against his trousers, fighting to get out.

    She knew her effect on him. Her hand caught his hardness and stroked it through his trousers, causing him to groan. Yet he didn''t rush to take off his clothes. He continued showering her with kisses.

    His hands weren''t idle. They yed with her breasts, teasing her nipples until they hardened.

    Iris couldn''t take it anymore.

    She began pulling his dress shirt off his body but felt too impatient to unbutton the buttons one by one. Unfortunately, his shirt had been made too sturdy. She couldn''t even rip it off.

    He chuckled at her impatience.

    She might not be able to do it, but he was strong enough. He grabbed hispels and gave it two powerful tugs. The buttons flew all over the bathroom. He gave a final tug until they were all ripped and his shirt flew open.

    Iris immediately helped him throw it off his body.

    Their mouths fused once again.

    Next, she unbuckled his belt and unzipped his trousers. She slipped her hand inside and pulled his hard length out.

    "Baby, you''re killing me," he gasped.

    Her answer was to enclose him in her soft palm and stroke him up and down.

    He groaned and closed his eyes, enjoying the pleasure only she could give him. When he almost couldn''t hold on, he caught her naughty hand to stop her.

    Then he carried her and sat her down on the sink countertop and spread her legs. Then he knelt and pushed his face between her thighs.

    "Ah!" Iris closed her eyes and threw her head back.

    Her hand grabbed his head as he pleasured her with his mouth. His tongue entered her, causing her to tremble. Her other hand had to support her weight, or she might have already hit her head on the mirror behind her.

    When he sucked her button of pleasure, she cried out. "Liwei!"

    He sucked until she climaxed. When she started calming down, he didn''t stop and continued licking, reigniting her pleasure once again.

    Jin Liwei stood up and kissed her on the mouth, letting her have a taste of her own essence.

    "Sweet, isn''t it?" he asked.

    She shook her head.

    "No? But I love your taste, baby."

    He was now so hard that it became painful. He opened a drawer and pulled out a box of condoms. After removing all his clothes and wearing a condom, he carried his wife down and turned her so that both of them faced the bathroom mirror.

    His hand gently pushed her back until she was bending in front of him. He stepped behind her and rubbed his erection on her wetness.

    "You want me?" he asked in a low, hoarse voice.

    "Always."

    "I also want you, baby. Always!"

    Then he mmed inside her.

    Iris cried out.

    Jin Liwei groaned.

    Both of them closed their eyes, savouring the pleasure for a few moments.

    Jin Liwei then opened his eyes, not wanting to miss the erotic image of the two of them in the mirror.

    "Open your eyes, love," he encouraged her. "I want you to watch me making love with you."

    Her eyes trembled before they opened.

    Together, they watched as he began moving his hips behind her. The wet, squelching sounds were amplified inside the bathroom.

    Jin Liwei held her hip, moving her to his rhythm while his other hand was busy ying with her breasts.

    Watching their own reflection fired them up even more.

    Even so, he stayed true to his word. He remained gentle, slowly prating her and thoroughly giving her pleasure.

    The hand on her hip moved in front of her until it reached where they were joined together. He began rubbing it as his hips gradually elerated.

    "Yes!" Iris threw her had back.

    He leaned forward to catch her mouth, sucking her lips and tongue, as his hips began mming behind her.

    Both of them were too far gone to remember their earlier n to be gentle. All they cared about was chasing the peak together.

    As he pumped harder and rubbed her with his fingers faster, Iris began screaming with delight. She reached the highest peak first, and he followed soon after.

    He roared and ejacted while still inside her. After he was done, he pulled out and removed the condom full of his white release.

    They leaned on the countertop while embracing each other to catch their breaths.

 Chapter 1484 Shower From Hell

    Chapter 1484 Shower From Hell

    Jin Liwei was the first to recover. He carried his exhausted wife to the shower. The hot water rained down on them.

    He gritted his teeth but endured beyond his limits. It felt like the fires of hell were burning him alive, but he didn''t voice out anyints because this was the water temperature his wife liked the best.

    Before Iris became pregnant, she already loved taking hot showers. Jin Liwei could still bear to join her back then. But after she gave birth to their twin sons, the temperature she preferred for her showers increased to inhuman levels.

    At first, he even felt worried that she would scald herself. But no, she told him that she would freeze instead if she showered even one degree lower than her preferred boiling hot shower.

    He could only ept this new reality in the end. This was why he preferred to make love with her before or after taking a shower (separately). Tonight, however, he took the initiative to join her in the shower to help her clean up because she was too exhausted. He felt sorry for her.

    As a result, he once again had to suffer this shower from hell.

    It was fine! This was nothing! His love for his wife burned hotter than this!

    He deluded himself into thinking this way.

    After helping his wife wash and cleaning himself up quickly, he finally escaped from the torturous shower from hell. Then he caught her snickering at him.

    "Am I funny?" he asked in a dangerous tone, yet his eyes glinted with amusement.

    Iris stood on her tiptoes and hugged his neck. Both of them were still sopping wet.

    "I know you hate my hot showers," she said, giving him a light peck on the lips. "You don''t have to join me next time. I can wash by myself. Be careful. The doctor says that too-hot showers might negatively affect a male''s sperm production."

    He hugged her waist. "It''s fine. We already have the twins."

    She chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "Not just your sperm production. It might also negatively affect your testosterone production. Are you sure that it''s fine?"

    His expression changed.

    She continued to tease him. "What if¡­you can''t do it anymore?"

    His hands tightened around her waist, pulling her closer. "You think I won''t be able to do it anymore, hm?"

    Her fingers trailed along his chest, drawing circles on it. His muscles rippled and flexed. In no time, his little brother stood up straight and proud again.

    He caught her hand and wrapped it around his hard length. "I''ll show you whether I can still do it or not."

    Herughter filled the bathroom before the sounds changed into something only adults were allowed to hear.

    Good thing that the bathroom was soundproof and that their twins were now able to sleep through the night.

    ###

    While recording songs for her new album with her mentor, Enrique Valdez, Iris was also filming music videos for thepleted songs at the same time.

    Everything was so hectic.

    She loved it.

    Of course, she didn''t neglect her businesses either. She stillpleted the work needed for each of herpanies plus her tasks at Long Industries. It was just that her time going to thepanies in person was reduced to about once or twice a week. Nevertheless, she was still able toplete everything on time despite her extremely busy schedule.

    Almost everyone knew that she was busy recording her new cob album with the legendary hitmaker, Enrique Valdez. But the contents of the album remained a big mystery.

    The media tried hard to bribe the musicians and staff working on the album, but all of them were loyal. Not a single one of them was tempted. Even when the price of the bribe was increased, nobody spilled anything. The media could onlyment that these people signed a super-strict NDA with a frightening penalty.

    They weren''t too far off the mark.

    Everyone chosen to work on the project indeed signed a super-strict NDA with a frightening penalty, but this was just a minor reason why nobody spilled anything about the new album.

    The truth was that Iris, JJ, and Enrique Valdez promised everyone that if they sessfully kept the details of the new album a secret, the three would reward everyone with a handsome bonus. It didn''t matter if the album did well or not, the three would still fulfill their promise.

    In addition, the staff especially the employees were looking forward to the prestige of having worked with the legendary hitmaker himself, Enrique Valdez.

    Nobody wanted to ruin this chance for everyone else.

    What if Enrique Valdez became so disappointed, or worse, disgusted by someone''s loose tongue? What if he walked out of the long-awaited project and vowed never to work with their country''s musicians ever again?

    It wouldn''t only disgrace them as musicians, but it would also disgrace their country''s music industry. Other foreign artists might think that the country''s musicians had no integrity to even keep their promises. This wasn''t something that they wanted to ever happen.

    Hence, everyone working on the project kept their mouths shut.

    Those people who were trying to bribe them had no vision at all.

    Why would they be tempted by momentary gains when they could enjoy bigger rewards in the future?

    Iris, JJ, and Enrique Valdez observed their team members doing their best to aplish their assigned tasks.

    Even their project had designated cleaners to clean the studio after every recording session to prevent any theft from happening. There were also designated security guards patrolling the area around the studio.

    They might seem paranoid but only after a few days, they really caught someone sneaking and trying to steal some samples from the studio. The night security guards immediately caught the thief after receiving an anonymous tip.

    Nobody knew that it was Ketchup who detected the unusual movements of the new building maintenance worker.

    Ketchup had long hijacked the CCTV system of JJ''s recordpany. As long as her beloved mommy''s interests were involved, Ketchup would always make sure to protect them to the best of her abilities. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    It turned out that thief was sent by one of JJ''s rival producers.

 Chapter 1485 Blessing in Disguise

    Chapter 1485 Blessing in Disguise

    The next day, the morning news featured the arrest of a thief trying to steal from JJ''s recordpany, specifically from the studio where Iris Long and Enrique Valdez were working on their new cob album.

    Since Ketchup was originally the one who discovered the thief, Iris was the first to learn about it. She then informed both JJ and Enrique Valdez in the middle of the night, not caring at all whether they were asleep or not.

    JJ was furious and horrified after hearing that someone tried to steal from Iris and Enrique''s studio especially because he owned thepany and it was his responsibility to keep any precious recordings safe.

    If the thief seeded in stealing something from the studio, then it would jeopardize the entire project. JJ didn''t want to imagine the consequences.

    In contrast, Iris Long and Enrique Valdez were calmer. They didn''tment much about the attempted theft and immediately returned to work as scheduled.

    Iris didn''t worry too much because if she didn''t allow it, nobody could ess her music files even if they used the actualputers they were stored in. Ketchup was also constantly monitoring the studio they were using at JJ''spany.

    But JJ didn''t know that.

    She didn''t want him to overthink especially since the studioputers were his property.

    What if he thought that she was encroaching on hispany once he learned that she installed her own stealth security software on the studioputers?

    Since no harm was done, then there was no need to exin it to him too much.

    While Iris and Enrique were busy recording in the studio, JJ called for an emergency meeting. He wanted to tighten the security of hispany.

    And most importantly, he didn''t want to let go of the mastermind behind the theft.

    "Damn snake! Sue! Let''s sue!"

    JJ was adamant in suing one of his rival producers. There was no need to mention the damn snake''s name because JJ didn''t want to give him any importance.

    Instead of working hard to hone his craft, the damn snake wanted to take a shortcut and steal JJ''s project!

    Unforgivable!

    No wonder that person failed to produce any hits in recent years. Even the universe didn''t want to reward a damn thieving snake like him.

    After the emergency meeting, JJ returned to the studio. Everyone was on a short break when he came.

    "I''m sorry for what happened," JJ apologized to both Iris and Enrique Valdez. "I take responsibility for what happened inside my ownpany. I''ll make sure that it never happens again."

    Enrique nodded at him, looking unconcerned about the matter. The legendary hitmaker was more concerned about the album recording.

    Iris was the same. She gave JJ a thumbs up. "Just let me know if you need any help in recruiting additional security. My husband can introduce you to reliable people."

    JJ sighed. "Please. Oh, never mind. You focus on recording. I''ll contact CEO Jin myself."

    "Alright." Iris nodded.

    After the short break, Iris and Enrique returned to the studio''s live room with the musicians.

    JJ didn''t have time to enjoy the raw instrumentals and vocals because he still needed to clean up the aftermath of the attempted theft.

    His staff informed him that there was a huge crowd of reporters gathered outside hispany building again. This time, the crowd was several times bigger than when the media first learned that Iris and Enrique Valdez had begun recording their new cob album.

    He sighed again. But the moment he stepped out of the studio, his mouth gradually stretched into a grin. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Now that his head had cooled down and he could think about things clearly, he realized that this attempted theft was a blessing in disguise.

    Neither Iris nor Enrique were interested in facing the media while working on the project, so JJ could use this incident to gather more interest and anticipation for the uing album.

    "What a dumba**," JJ said while snickering. "You just gave us more media attention by trying to steal from me. Hmph! Now I''ll make you pay a huge sum aspensation. There''s no way that I, JJ, will let this go without squeezing you dry!"

    The staff following him looked at each other as they pretended not to see their bossughing like a demented idiot.

    ###

    After the day''s recording session, Jin Liwei picked up his wife from JJ''s recordpany. They managed to evade the huge crowd of media gathered outside the building by using a low-key domestic-made car instead of their usual high-end luxury vehicles.

    Once they travelled some distance away, they got off the low-key car and transferred to their usual luxury vehicle.

    It wasn''t that they looked down on domestic-made cars, but Jin Liwei just didn''t feel assured letting his wife ride in a non-customized vehicle thatcked any extra security features. He didn''t want to risk it.

    His wife was his life.

    If something bad happened to her, he might as well lose his life as well.

    Jin Liwei nced at his beloved wife who was still humming the song she recorded earlier today.

    "JJ called me and asked me for advice on how to fortify hispany''s security," he said.

    Iris stopped humming. "Yeah, he told me that he''ll contact you."

    "I already had Xu Tian take care of it."

    She nodded. Then she thought of something and said, "I want to build a new state-of-the-art recording studio at our entertainmentpany. LXC Studio is now developing in the right direction and we also signed more talents, but we stillck a lot of facilities. The recording studios we have there are too rudimentary for my taste, that''s why I chose to record at JJ''s recordpany instead."

    "I''ll contact Chonglin and tell him about it. If LXC Studiocks the funds to build, then I''ll cover the capital."

    She beamed at him and hugged his arm. "I want my own personal studio at thepany. I want it to be the same quality as my studio at our home."

    He smiled at her. "Of course, love. Consider it done.

 Chapter 1486 Yin Meixing

    Chapter 1486 Yin Meixing

    Later that evening, after Iris and Jin Liwei put all the children (including the cats and dogs) to bed, they stayed in the living area of their master suite to wind down.

    Jin Liwei wasn''t one to waste time. He called his younger brother and told Jin Chonglin about his n to build better recording studios at LXC Studio, and of course, a state-of-the-art personal recording studio for his wife.

    "I want a state-of-the-art personal studio at thepany, too!" Jin Chonglin dered.

    "Does thepany have money?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Jin Chonglin hesitated but still replied, "We should have some funds to build a couple of standard recording studios."

    "Then I''ll cover the capital for building a few more," Jin Liwei said but before his younger brother could celebrate, he added, "But I won''t pay for your personal recording studio."

    "What?! Why?! Big Bro, that''s unfair!"

    "I said I''ll cover the capital for the standard recording studios and my wife''s personal recording studio. Are you my wife?"

    "I''m your younger brother!!!" Jin Chonglin cried.

    "You''re still not my wife," Jin Liwei said in an even tone.

    Jin Chonglin grumbled.

    "If you don''t have anything more to say, I''m going to hang up now."

    "Wait, Big Bro!"

    "What?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Is Sister Xin there with you?"

    Jin Liwei nced at his wife. Iris looked over, her head tilted to the side.

    "Yes, why?"

    "Can I speak with her?" Jin Chonglin asked.

    Jin Liwei frowned.

    Iris chuckled at his reaction. She reached out her hand and gestured for him to give her the phone.

    He hesitated for a few seconds before handing her the phone with great reluctance.

    She shook her head at her jealous husband while smiling. "Brother Chonglin, it''s me."

    "Xin, there''s something I need to tell you," Jin Chonglin said.

    "What is it?"

    "Do you remember Yin Meixing?" he asked.

    "Yes, of course I remember her. Why?"

    "Yin Meixing contacted our LXC Studio earlier today," he said. "She says that her managementpany suddenly went bankrupt."

    Iris raised an eyebrow, but she appeared more interested in the topic now.

    Jin Chonglin continued, "It''s all over the news. There should be many managementpanies who want to sign her over, but she says that she wants to sign with our LXC Studio."

    "Oh? Then what are you still waiting for? Sign her immediately."

    "I''m already working on it. I just want to let you know because she mentioned that she wants to sign with us because of you."

    "Oh?" Iris'' eyes widened. "But I''m not an actress. Why would she want to sign with our LXC Studio because of me?"

    "She says that you''re her lucky charm." They heard Jin Chonglin snort on the phone.

    Jin Liwei scowled. He was about to scold his younger brother for the disrespect but Iris raised a hand to stop him. The reluctant Jin Liwei returned to his seat.

    Unaware that he dodged his older brother''s wrath, Jin Chonglin continued gossiping without any care.

    "Why would she consider you as her lucky charm? If she wants to use someone as her lucky charm, then she should''ve considered me, the great superstar Prince Lin Lin!"

    Iris rolled her eyes. She lost interest in the conversation once her brother-inw started his narcissistic self-praise.

    She said instead, "Yin Meixing was a Best Actress winner for the film ''Strong Yet Broken'' at the Sommet International Film Festival in France. Because of that, she''s now in high demand. We should sign her to our LXC Studio as soon as possible before she changes her mind. Agree to her demands as long as they''re not too excessive."

    "Alright, got it," Jin Chonglin said.

    His tone sounded a little miffed because she interrupted his earlier talk about why he was a better lucky charm than her.

    Iris didn''t care. She added, "I''ve worked with Yin Meixing before in ''Strong Yet Broken''. I know that she''s hardworking, reliable, and pays her dues. She''s not someone who acts like an arrogant diva. We can offer her the highest-level contract that we have."

    "Got it. I''ll make the arrangements."

    After the call ended, Iris turned to her husband who was now sulking. She chuckled at his childishness. She sighed before moving to sit on hisp.

    To his credit, he didn''t ignore her. His arms immediately wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer.

    "Jin Chonglin is your brother and also my brother-inw," she said while nuzzling his neck. "There''s no need for you to feel jealous of him."

    Jin Liwei''s expression remained the same¡ªstoic. But Iris knew him well enough to sense his jealousy. He was basically drowning himself in a huge pot of vinegar.

    Even so, she knew that he had made a huge improvement in the way he handled his jealousy throughout their rtionship. If it were the Jin Liwei before when they began dating, he would have been unable to control himself. They might have fought already.

    Now, however, he was able to control himself well. Yes, he sulked but Iris could handle a sulking Jin Liwei better than a forceful Jin Liwei.

    She gave his lips a peck and smiled at him. "You know that you''re the only man for me, right?"

    His arms tightened around her waist even more. "Say it again."

    "You''re the only man for me, Jin Liwei."

    This time, his eyes softened and the corners of his mouth raised into a small but smug smile. "And you''re the only one for me, Evelina."

    Their mouths fused¡ªslow but thorough.

    When their mouths separated, both of them were panting.

    "Don''t be jealous of your younger brother anymore, okay?" She gave him another light peck on lips. "He has a girlfriend now, too. He and Chen Fei are already cohabiting. It looks serious between the two of them."

    Jin Liwei made a sound in his throat to express his disinterest in the topic.

    Iris smiled.

    They were about to kiss again when another phone call interrupted them.

    Ketchup announced, "Mommy, Auntie Meimei is calling. Meow~"

    "Please answer it, Ketchup," Iris said.

    "Okey-dokey, Mommy! Meow~"N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 1487 Meimeiâ€™s Webtoon

    Chapter 1487 Meimei¡¯s Webtoon

    The excited Meimei spoke too fast that Iris could barely understand her.

    "Slow down, Meimei," Iris told her. "Speak more clearly."

    She heard her friend taking a few deep breaths. It was clear that Meimei was trying to control her overexcitement.

    Finally, Meimei said, "My webtoon, ''Queen of the Shadows'', has offers for TV and film adaptations!"

    "Congrattions." Iris was happy for her friend. "Have you sold the IP rights for the adaptation yet?"

    "Not yet," Meimei replied. "My publisher is looking for the best offer. They''re also quite considerate of my opinions."

    "Then what''s your decision?" Iris asked.

    "Xin, if possible, I want LXC Studio to buy the IP rights for the adaptation. The otherpanies'' offers might be tempting but I only trust you. I know that you''ll do my baby justice." Meimei finally revealed the true reason why she called Iris at this time of the night.

    "Yes, we''ll buy it!" Iris said without any hesitation.

    She nced at her husband. Jin Liwei nodded at her in approval.

    "Name the price," Iris said. "Even if LXC Studio doesn''t have any funds avable, I''ll personally cover it."

    "Hehehe. I know you will. These are the prices the otherpanies are willing to pay for the rights." Meimei shared several numbers. "My publisher might start a bidding war between thepanies soon. That''s why I immediately called you to sell immediately. The price offers are already so high that I don''t care if they get any higher. All I care about is to entrust my baby to someone who I know will respect my original work without botching it for the sake of their so-called artistic interpretation." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Got it. I''ll make sure to buy the rights." Iris spoke to her husband next, "Darling, please."

    Jin Liwei kissed her check and stood up to call his younger brother yet again on his phone. He informed Jin Chonglin about Iris'' n to buy the IP rights to adapt Meimei a.k.a. Princess Porkchop''s wildly popr webtoon, "Queen of the Shadows".

    Just like Iris, Jin Chonglin immediately agreed. Even a superstar like him followed the bestselling webtoon, partly because he personally knew the author, but mainly because the story was always exciting and extremely addicting.

    There were now two phone conversations happening in the room.

    Iris with Meimei and Jin Liwei with Jin Chonglin.

    On Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin''s side, Jin Chonglin couldn''t contain his excitement as well.

    Jin Chonglin: "How much?! Hurry, Big Bro! We must obtain the IP rights as soon as possible. Hold on, I''m going to call my manager. He should know more about the process."

    Jin Liwei waited. In no time, they were on a three-way phone call. He listened while his younger brother exined the situation to Lin Dong.

    Finally, Lin Dong said: "I actually just heard about this today. I was about to suggest to you tomorrow that we buy the rights. We can use this to establish our foundations in the field of TV and film production.

    Jin Chonglin: "That''s what I was thinking, too."

    Lin Dong: "I also heard from my previous colleagues that Bright Summit is one of thepanies interested in obtaining the adaptation rights for the webtoon."

    Jin Chonglin: "Should we coborate with Bright Summit then?"

    Jin Liwei: "No, we''ll do it by ourselves."

    Lin Dong: "Yes, I agree with CEO Jin. If we want LXC Studio to be known as an independent entertainmentpany, we should start slowly disassociating ourselves from Bright Summit. Don''t worry. With CEO Jin backing us, Bright Summit won''t dare do anything to harm us. They''ll even curry favour with us."

    Jin Liwei: "En."

    Lin Dong: "We can always coborate with Bright Summit in the future but not for our first film or TV drama production project. Our LXC Studio needs to show everyone that we can create an entire production by ourselves and seed. This way, we can finally solidify our foundations in showbiz without relying too much on Jin Chonglin and Iris Long''s fame and also CEO Jin''s backing."

    Jin Liwei nced at his wife who was still chatting with Meimei. Iris must have heard what they were talking about because she gave a thumbs-up after Lin Dong''s ambitious words.

    Jin Liwei: "I''ll send my assistant to LXC Studio first thing in the morning. He''ll assist you in securing the IP rights to adapt Yang Mei''s webtoon. Don''t worry about the funds."

    Lin Dong: "Understood, CEO Jin. I''ll also make preparations so that we can make the offer as soon as possible."

    Jin Liwei: "En."

    Jin Chonglin still had so much to say about the matter, Jin Liwei didn''t want to waste time listening to his younger brother''s useless chatter.

    "Go to sleep!" Jin Liwei ordered his younger brother before ending the phone call.

    Simrly, Lin Dong excused himself before hanging up so that he could immediately prepare for their n to purchase the rights to adapt Meimei''s webtoon.

    Jin Liwei felt relieved. He returned to his spot beside his beloved wife. She was still on the phone with her friend. He didn''t disturb her and instead enjoyed watching her.

    Back to Iris and Meimei''s conversation, they had veered off the topic from Meimei''s webtoon and instead gossiped about their friends'' current situation. Meimei had missed so many girl squad gatherings due to her busy work schedule.

    Iris shared several updates with her friend who missed out on so many things, including the following:

    Little Jun was now on a positive road to recovery. He still wore casts for his more serious fractures, but his other injuries were mostly healed now. He was also doing well in his sessions with his psychiatrist, Dr. Grace Poon. His mother, Jiang Ying Yue, was also regrly attending therapy with the same doctor.

    Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan were nning to return to the farm vi for real soon. Their return got dyed several times because Little Jun refused to leave Dragon Pce Home #10. The little guy wanted to stay with his Jin cousins for longer. Dr. Poon also suggested not to force the child. As a result, the couple could only wait until Little Jun felt ready.

 Chapter 1488 Play the Female Lead

    Chapter 1488 y the Female Lead

    Gravy had also returned home alive but with a limp. Little Jun was so happy to have his dog back that he cried. He didn''t mind that Gravy was now a handicapped dog. The little guy dered to everyone that Gravy was a superhero who saved him just like his Uncle Haohao.

    The Lu twins, Little Misha and Little Dima, got fatter again. Their milk consumption was monstrous. They already finished all the avable frozen breastmilk of their Aunt Xin which was their favourite. Their father, Lu Zihao, was hoping that they would start losing weight after their aunt''s breastmilk ran out, but the opposite happened. They actually got fatter while consuming pure form milk.

    "Won''t they be obese at this rate?" Meimei asked in concern.

    Iris was also concerned about it. "Big Sister Jinjing ns to reduce their milk intake but Grandpa Lu says not to worry about it too much. He showed us photos of Big Brother Zihao when he was a baby and he was fatter than the twins."

    "Really?" Meimeiughed out loud. "I want to see his baby pictures, too! Ugh. I''m so sad that I missed out on so many things. I also haven''t chatted with Dom for a while because he says that he''s also very busy."

    Iris: "Yes, Dom is very busy organizing my schedule and running errands for me and my businesses, especially now that I''m in the middle of recording my new album."

    Meimei: "Ah, so that''s why. Dom is my main source of gossip but now that he''s too busy, I''m so behind everything!"

    Iris: "It''s fine. Once LXC Studio obtains the IP adaptation rights for your webtoon, we''ll be closely working together by then."

    Meimei: "Oh, right! I almost forgot!"

    Iris: "What is it?"

    Meimei: "Did I already tell you that I based my female lead on you?"

    Iris: "Yes, you already told me that a long time ago."

    Meimei: "So¡­uhm, do you think you can y the female lead in the adaptation?"

    Iris was genuinely surprised. Sheughed but Meimei''s silence made her realize that her friend was serious.

    "Meimei, I''m a musician, not an actress," Iris said, her tone turning serious.

    "I know, but I really want you to y the female lead," Meimei said in an equally serious tone.

    Both of them fell silent.

    In the end, Iris could only say, "Let me think about it first, okay?"

    "Okay!" Meimei regained her enthusiasm. "Don''t worry, I''m not pressuring you. But think about it. I based the female lead on you, so if you decide to y the character, don''t you think that it''s basically just ying a version of yourself? Well, yes, the female lead has a dark side that is quite scary, but I think you can handle it. For the most part, the female lead is charismatic and straightforward like you. Just take acting lessons again if you''re still feeling unsure especially when ying the female lead''s dark side. To be honest, I can''t imagine anyone ying the female lead besides you. I''ve written and drawn the webtoon for so long that my image of the female lead has already been cemented based on you."

    Iris: "LXC Studio is nning to sign Yin Meixing. She''s a great actress. Why don''t you let her y the female lead?"

    Meimei: "Really? You''re signing her? I love her as the mother in ''Strong Yet Broken''. I would also love for her to act in the adaptation for my webtoon but I don''t think she''s suitable as the female lead. She''s a great actress, but please excuse my rudeness, her visual impact is not very strong especially whenpared to someone like you. My female lead has to be visually stunning that she can make people speechless just from her beauty alone."

    Iris: "Fine, I''ll think about it."

    Meimei: "Yay!"

    Iris: "But don''t get your hopes up. I already told you that I''m not an actress. Even my previous acting coach criticized my acting skills." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Meimei: "That''s okay. If you can''t really do it, then I''ll trust LXC Studio to find a suitable recement. But I still have the final say! I want to include that use in the contract."

    Iris: "Okay."

    The friends chatted for a few more minutes before ending the phone call.

    Iris sighed and massaged her forehead. Jin Liwei took over. Heid her down on hisp and massaged her head, earning a contented moan from her.

    "I think you can do it," Jin Liwei said all of a sudden.

    "You think so?" she asked.

    "Have you read the webtoon?"

    "Of course."

    "I also read it," he said.

    She raised an eyebrow. "You? Really?"

    He sighed. "Ketchup loves it. She and Dom apparently always read thetest updates together. Then Ketchup shares her opinions about the chapters with me at work."

    Irisughed.

    An adorable child''s voice interjected, "The cute and mighty Ketchup loves Auntie Meimei''s webtoon, Mommy! It''s super-duper to the highest level exciting! Ketchup also loves discussing thetest chapters with my daddy. Right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "En."

    Jin Liwei agreed even though he couldn''t really call it a discussion. It was more like Ketchup''s one-sided fan-girling monologue than an open discussion between the two of them.

    Sometimes, he would listen, but more often than not, he would let his cat AI daughter gush about the webtoon while he continued working in his office. But even when he wasn''t actively listening, he would still catch up on the most important plot points and the most thrilling scenes thanks to Ketchup''s nonstop excitement.

    This was how Jin Liwei became more updated about Meimei''s webtoon than his wife.

    Iris couldn''t help butugh louder in amusement. As for her, she would read the webtoon now and then, but it wasn''t really a priority for her.

    To be honest, she only read the beginning chapters which was already a long time ago. She would intermittently check thetest updates but because she hadn''t been following the story, she would always feel lost about what happened in between.

    Now that Meimei expressed her hope for her to y the female lead, Iris decided that it was time to read the entire webtoon from the beginning to thetest chapters.

 Chapter 1489 Yin Meixing Joins the LXC Studio Family

    Chapter 1489 Yin Meixing Joins the LXC Studio Family

    Unlike the contracts with Ren Jiyu and the national shooting team which took a long time due to the National Athletes Association''s interference, LXC Studio managed to finalize the contract with Yin Meixing without any dys.

    Since Yin Meixing was now considered a free agent after her managementpany became bankrupt, she had the sole authority to decide for herself. She didn''t make any excessive demands, only requesting to have the final say when it came to choosing work obligations.

    LXC Studio immediately agreed and even offered her the highest-level contract that they could offer. If she signed it, she would immediately be LXC Studio''s most important managed talent besides Jin Chonglin and Iris Long.

    But Jin Chonglin and Iris Long both had additional identities in thepany. Besides being thepany''s gship artists, they were also the co-owners of LXC Studio with CEO Jin Liwei.

    Being on the same level as the co-owners of thepany ttered Yin Meixing. It was then that she realized LXC Studio''s sincerity. She didn''t hesitate and agreed to sign with thepany.

    LXC Studio arranged avish signing ceremony for Yin Meixing which was many times more extravagant than when they signed Ren Jiyu and the national shooting team. All the major media outlets were invited.

    This time, all thepany owners were present.

    Jin Chonglin arrived first followed by the power couple, Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei.

    When they arrived, the cameras shed nonstop.

    Lin Dong, LXC Studio''s Chief of Talent Management and Jin Chonglin''s long-time manager, was present alongside Tang Yiyi, the Deputy Chief of Talent Management and also Iris Long''s manager.

    The emcee began the ceremony by weing everyone and introducing the important administrative figures in LXC Studio. Then he finally weed the star of today''s signing ceremony.

    "Let us all stand up and give the warmest wee to the incredibly talented international-award-winning Best Actress, YIN MEIXING!!!"

    Everyone stood up and pped their hands.

    Yin Meixing, now looking more sophisticated, appeared and walked toward the stage. She wore a charming smile as she waved at everyone. When she reached the stage, she headed toward Iris first.

    Iris held out her hand to shake but Yin Meixing pulled her into a tight hug instead.

    "Thank you," Yin Meixing whispered in her ear. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Iris smiled and patted her back. "No, thank YOU for choosing our LXC Studio."

    They had no time to chat for too long. Yin Meixing gave Iris'' arms a final squeeze before shaking hands with Jin Liwei, Jin Chonglin, Lin Dong, Tang Yiyi and the other executives of LXC Studio.

    Before the actual contract signing, Jin Chonglin made a quick but impassioned speech about how LXC Studio wees Yin Meixing as part of their family.

    Iris spoke next.

    "I first met Yin Meixing at the set of the film ''Strong Yet Broken''. I visited the set while they were filming so that I could better understand the emotions of the characters and incorporate them into mypositions for the film''s soundtrack. I''ve witnessed firsthand how hardworking and dedicated Yin Meixing is when ites to work. She immerses herself in her character. She doesn''t simply channel the character. She bes the character. It''s amazing! I''ve always admired her acting skills. And now I''m extremely ecstatic and grateful that she chose LXC Studio as her next home. We will do our best to provide her with the best opportunities that we can offer, and hopefully, we can cooperate for a long time."

    Finally, Yin Meixing shared her feelings about signing with LXC Studio.

    "First of all, thank you everyone foring today. I don''t consider myself an A-lister. I''m just a simple actress who wants to work hard on improving my craft, and hopefully, the audience will love my portrayals of the characters I y. I''ve been in this industry for a long time, but for so many years since my debut, nobody knew who I was. I always yed extras and struggled every day. But I love my job, so despite thecklustre opportunities, I never gave up.

    "It was only when I auditioned for an indie film that I was finally cast as the female lead. I was so excited, but our production encountered several financial issues. We almost gave up on the project due to helplessness, but the story was just too beautiful to let go.

    "Then all of a sudden, a musician by the name of Iris Long entered the picture as theposer of our film''s soundtrack. Shortly after her involvement with our film, a newpany named LX Productions invested arge amount of money and solved all our financial issues. It turned out that CEO Jin was the owner of LX Productions. He only invested in us because of Iris Long. They weren''t married yet at that time."

    Everyoneughed at her anecdote. Not many knew about this story.

    The reporters were already busy writing on theirptops and notepads, spinning Yin Meixing''s anecdote as a fairy tale love story between the celebrity Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei.

    Yin Meixing continued, "To be honest with you, we didn''t have the best impression of Iris Long. But after working with her, we learned that everything said about her on the web before wasn''t true at all! She says that I''m hardworking and dedicated. I''ll also say that she''s the same. I can tell you right here, right now, that Iris Long is one of the most genuine people that I''ve ever met in my entire life.

    "I also consider her as my lucky charm. Because let''s be honest, without her amazing soundtrack and the investment of CEO Jin''s LX Productions, then the film ''Strong Yet Broken'' wouldn''t even reach the heights it did at the Sommet International Film Festival. Then I wouldn''t have won the Best Actress Award and gained widespread recognition. All the blessings that I''m enjoying right now is, in a big part, attributed to Iris Long. I trust her, and so I also trust herpany."

    She faced Iris, Jin Liwei, Jin Chonglin and the otherpany executives.

    "Thank you for weing me to LXC Studio. I promise to work hard and prove to you that you didn''t make a mistake in signing me today."

 Chapter 1490 We Got It

    Chapter 1490 We Got It

    After the contract signing, LXC Studio also threw a celebratory lunch for Yin Meixing at a five-star hotel''s banquet hall. LXC Studio''s other signed talents attended as well. The most notable ones include:

    Pandemonium¡ªze, Eros, Night, and Thunder¡ªcame. They were the original signed artists to join LXC Studio. They followed their senior sister, Iris Long, and manager, Tang Yiyi, from Bright Summit Entertainment Company.

    Ren Jiyu and the national shooting team were also present. They were only recently signed, but their poprity kept on increasing. They were frequent guests at variety shows and talk shows. Ren Jiyu, in particr, was a massive favourite. He was now even scheduled to join a TV drama crew shortly for a cameo role. It might not be a significant role, but it was expected to give his showbiz career a great boost.

    Some trainees joined in the fun. They hadn''t debuted yet, but watching their seniors'' sessful careers made them feel hopeful about their own future careers in showbiz.

    Unlike otherpanies who bled trainees dry, LXC Studio was quite humane. Of course, it was strict when it came to training them¡ªwhich was a given¡ªbut the remuneration that they would receive once they debuted was the best they could find in the industry. As long as they persevered and worked hard, then their time to shine on the stage woulde soon. They couldn''t wait for that glorious moment toe.

    An important guest appeared midway through the celebratory lunch. Guan Jintao, the blind Paralympian gold medalist whose story was the one that the film "Strong Yet Broken" was based on, unexpectedly came to join as well.

    "Mr. Guan!" Yin Meixing was excited when she saw him. "I''m so d that you epted my invitation toe today!"

    Guan Jintao smiled behind his sunsses. His family member guided him to the same table as Yin Meixing, Iris, and the others.

    "I apologize for beingte," he said. "I wanted toe on time but my health is not that great anymore. There are so many tiny little aches and pains here and there when you''re getting old."

    Iris stepped forward to greet him with her husband and said, "You should''ve told us that you wereing so that we could''ve sent a car to pick you up."

    "Thank you, but I''m fine. There''s no need to treat me with too much of a special care. I just came to extend my congrattions in person to our Meixing who immortalized my mother in the film. Even if I die now, I''ll always be forever grateful to all of you for letting the world know about my mother''s sacrifices so that I can seed despite my disability. I know that she''s watching us from the other side and feels so proud."

    Some people who heard him teared up.

    Now that Guan Jintao came, the party became livelier. Others could see that the interactions between Iris Long, Yin Meixing, and Guan Jintao were very natural.

    They might have doubted Yin Meixing because she was an actress, but they wouldn''t doubt Guan Jintao. He had no reason to pretend to be on good terms with anyone. He was already a legend in his own right who brought glory to the country with a gold medal in the Paralympics.

    While everyone enjoyed the party and interacted with each other, Lin Dong and Jin Liwei received a call at the same time on their phones. The two of them excused themselves to answer their respective phone calls.

    Jin Liwei was the first to return after a few minutes. Nobody could discern anything from his stoic expression but Iris could sense his excitement.

    Before she could ask him, she saw Lin Dong jogging at them. His excitement was almost bursting out.

    "What happened?" Jin Chonglin asked his manager.

    "We got it!" Lin Dong announced.

    Jin Chonglin frowned. "We got what?"

    "The IP adaptation rights to Princess Porkchop''s webtoon, ''Queen of the Shadows''. We got it!!!"

    Iris'' eyes widened. She turned to look at her husband.

    He nodded. His expression was no longer stoic. There was now a slight smile on his lips.

    Before she could express her own excitement, Dom ran to her with her phone.

    "It''s my twin sis, Meimei!" he announced.

    It was now Iris'' turn to excuse herself with her phone.

    "Hello, Meimei?!"

    The answer she got was a long, loud scream.

    Iris removed the phone from her ear or else she would be deaf from her friend''s screams.

    "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Xin, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!"

    Finally, Meimei calmed down. Or at least calmed down enough to stop trying to make Iris'' ears bleed.

    Meimei: "Did you hear about it? Xin, did you get the news?!"

    Irisughed. "Yes, I did. We got the rights to adapt your webtoon." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Meimei: "I''m so happy! You don''t know how much I fought in your favour. My publisher was leaning toward epting Bright Summit''s offer, but I insisted on wanting to sell to LXC Studio. Good thing that your husband sent his assistant to help negotiate. It''s a done deal! Yay!"

    Dom heard the conversation. He started jumping around and dancing in victory.

    "Congrats, Twin Sis! Congrats, Boss!"

    Meimei also heard him. "Thank you, Twin Bro! This is the best news that I''ve received today!"

    Iris was also happy. "This day calls for another celebration. Do you have time to join us here for lunch? I''ll send Dom to pick you up."

    Meimei''s voice wilted. "Urgh! I don''t have time! I still have a deadline to meet! I''ve earned so much money from my webtoon but I don''t have time to even spend on anything. Wuwuwuwuwu! I''m so pitiful."

    Dom leaned towards the phone. "That''s okay, Twin Sis. I''ll pack up some delicious food for you here and deliver them to youter."

    Iris nodded in approval.

    "Thanks, Twin Bro. Thanks, Xin. Oh no! I have to go back to drawing! See youter. Bye!"

    The phone call ended.

    Iris shook her head, not knowing whether tough or cry. Meimei was indeed pitiful. She couldn''t even enjoy the fruits of herbour.

    She and Dom returned to the party. Everyone was curious about what happened, but Iris and the others didn''t reveal anything.

    It would be a secret until the time to announce arrived.

 Chapter 1491 Respect the Original Authorâ€™s Wishes

    Chapter 1491 Respect the Original Author¡¯s Wishes

    Yin Meixing''s contract signing with LXC Studio was a big sess. Immediately after she became LXC Studio''s managed artist, she went on to pose for several popr magazines including the reputable ¨¤ Mode Magazine as the cover for the following month''s edition.

    Tang Yiyi was her assigned manager who also managed Iris Long''s showbiz career. LXC Studio prepared a lot of resources for her. It was obvious that they had high hopes for Yin Meixing.

    Iris visited her office at LXC Studio to examine Yin Meixing''s resources. Her manager, Tang Yiyi, who was also thepany''s Deputy Chief of Talent Management was present.

    There was a brief knock on the door before it opened. Jin Chonglin walked inside followed by his long-time manager, Lin Dong, who was also LXC Studio''s Chief of Talent Management.

    At first, everyone suggested Lin Dong to manage Yin Meixing, but he declined. He was truly too busy managing just Jin Chonglin and running thepany''s Talent Management Department. In the end, Tang Yiyi stepped in and became Yin Meixing''s manager.

    Jin Chonglin acted like he was in his own office. He headed straight to Iris'' mini fridge, opened it, and took a bottle of mango juice for himself.

    Then he asked the others, "Anyone wants a drink?"

    "Go ahead, feel at home," Iris said in a wry tone.

    He shrugged and continued waiting for the others'' reply.

    "No, thank you, I''m fine," Tang Yiyi said.

    "Bottle of guava juice for me," Lin Dong said, not feeling shy either.

    Jin Chonglin took a bottle of guava juice and tossed it at his manager. Lin Dong caught it, immediately uncapped it, and drank.

    "Ah, this stuff is delicious," Lin Dongmented before asking, "Where did you buy this?"

    "Dom imported those drinks from the Philippines," Iris said. "He also got some nice Filipino snacks in that cab over there."

    Jin Chonglin indeed treated the ce like his own home. He didn''t feel embarrassed at all opening the cab and taking several snacks for himself and his manager inside an office that didn''t belong to him.

    "This dried mango is out of this world," Jin Chonglin said while chewing and reading the pack of dried mango.

    "I love these pork rinds," Lin Dong said next. The crunch from his bites filled the office. "Ah, I suddenly want a beer."

    "Enough of that," Tang Yiyi interrupted the two of them. "We still have some important business to discuss here. Xin¡ª"

    Iris paused right after tossing a couple pieces of cracker nuts into her mouth. She chewed once, twice, but the crunchy sound couldn''t be hidden. In the end, she just chewed with pride and swallowed the snack. Then she cleared her throat.

    Tang Yiyi: "You!"

    "What?" Iris took a can of coconut water and drank it. "These cracker nuts are so good. Little Jun loves eating them."

    Tang Yiyi shook her head. "Those are considered junk food, Xin. Mind what you eat. You need to watch your figure as we have to prepare for youreback soon."

    "I know. I just ate two tiny pieces." Iris shrugged before handing the opened pack of cracker nuts to Jin Chonglin who immediately tossed a handful into his mouth.

    "Hey, you also need to watch your figure!" Lin Dong scolded him.

    "I''ll just work out an extra hourter," Jin Chonglin said in a carefree tone. "No worries."

    The two managers nced at each other with helpless expressions.

    Iris sat down on the opposite couch. Tang Yiyi sat beside her.

    "What''s the status of our ''Queen of the Shadows'' project?" Iris asked, beginning today''s meeting.

    "We''ve already secured the director," Lin Dong said. "The screenwriter, not yet. But we''ve already extended an invitation. We''re still waiting for the response."

    She nodded. "Once the relevant people in the production team are finalized, I want Yin Meixing to be included in the cast."

    "That''s a given." Tang Yiyi nodded.

    Lin Dong: "But Princess Porkchop doesn''t want anyone to y the female lead besides you, Iris."

    Jin Chonglin snorted. "You?"

    Iris sent him a death re. She ignored him and spoke to the two managers instead. "I read the webtoon from the beginning to thetest chapters. I will definitely struggle in the more emotional parts, but I can do the many action scenes."

    Tang Yiyi: "I already scheduled acting sses for you. There''s still plenty of time to prepare before we finish preparations to begin filming."

    Lin Dong: "So you''ve already decided to ept the female lead role?"

    Iris sighed. "We have to respect the original author''s wishes. She included in the rights purchase contract that she wants the final say in the choosing of actors to y the main characters. Since she keeps on insisting that she wants me, I have to at least try. If I can''t really do it, then we can still find a recement. I''ll still be involved in the project either way because I''llpose the soundtrack and I''ll be an executive producer."

    Jin Chonglin: "I also want to be an executive producer for the project!"

    Iris: "Alright. Prepare a lot of money because this will be an expensive project."

    He felt a little offended by her words. "I, Prince Lin Lin, mightck a baby but I neverck money!"

    His manager, Lin Dong, quickly looked around the office, feeling paranoid that someone might be eavesdropping on their conversation.

    "Are you crazy?" Lin Dong scolded him. "What do you mean you mightck a baby?! Do you want to be a father so badly?!"

    Iris snickered but wasn''t surprised.

    Lin Dong paled. "Is Chen Fei pregnant?!"

    Iris'' eyes widened and she looked at Jin Chonglin, her eyes filled with usation. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jin Chonglin choked on the mango juice he was drinking. He coughed and sputtered, trying to get his breathing to normal. "What are you talking about?! My girlfriend isn''t pregnant! Wait¡­let me call her to make sure!"

    He fished out his phone from his pocket and quickly called Chen Fei.

    "Hello, babe? Are you pregnant?"

    Two seconds pause.

    "Hello? Babe, hello?! Dammit! She hung up on me!"

    Follow Author on Instagram

 Chapter 1492 Pitiful Superstar

    Chapter 1492 Pitiful Superstar

    Iris and the two managersughed at Jin Chonglin. Their smiles were full of schadenfreude.

    "Chen Fei is not pregnant, then," Iris said.

    "How do you know that?!" Jin Chonglin asked.

    "Because she hung up on you. It means that you''re wasting her time by asking what she thinks is a stupid question, especially when you''re calling her during office hours. If she''s really pregnant, I don''t think that she''ll hide it from you. Chen Fei is a direct person, you know that. If you made her pregnant, she''ll definitely tell you right away."

    He thought about it and nodded. "You''re right. My girlfriend is indeed a direct person." Then he red at his manager. "You made me panic for no reason!"

    Lin Dong cleaned his ear with his pinkie. Then he cleared his throat. "Iris, you mentioned that you want Yin Meixing to be cast in our TV adaptation of ''Queen of the Shadows''."

    Iris nodded. "Yes. This is our LXC Studio''s first major TV production. It''s a given that Yin Meixing should be included in the cast. Even if Meimei¡ªI mean, Princess Porkchop thinks that Yin Meixing isn''t suitable to y the female lead, there are still other important female supporting characters that she can y."

    Tang Yiyi nced at the character list. "We can let her try one of the main antagonist roles. She can have another breakthrough in her acting career if she ys something different."

    Lin Dong: "That''s a good idea. Ask her what she thinks. Her contract includes a use that we should give her the final say in any work that we arrange for her."

    Tang Yiyi: "I will talk to her after this meeting."

    Iris: "Sister Yiyi, I want Yin Meixing to be the face of my perfumepany, Libert¨¦. We''re nning tounch soon."

    Tang Yiyi: "Send me the details and I''ll bring it up to Yin Meixing."

    Iris: "Alright. I''ll have Clover contact you soon."

    Jin Chonglin interrupted, "Hey! What about me?!"

    "What do you mean what about you?" Iris asked, confused.

    Jin Chonglin: "You''re not going to hire me as the face of your perfumepany?"

    She paused. "Let me think about it first."

    He looked incredulous at her hesitation. He, the superstar Prince Lin Lin, got snubbed by this woman?!

    Oh, right.

    She was his sister-inw, the wife of his older brother, Jin Liwei, CEO of Jin Corporation and the head of the Jin family. She was also a co-owner of LXC Studio. He gradually calmed down.

    Right.

    This woman wasn''t someone he could easily offend.

    How could he forget that?

    Not to mention his older brother who would y him alive if he ever offended his wife, her girlfriend Chen Fei might also really castrate him if he disrespected her friend and boss at Orchidia.

    Jin Chonglin could only sigh at his pitiful self.

    More and more, he felt his status in the family lowering. Perhaps he couldn''t evenpare to the status of the cats and dogs in the family.

    Ah, how pitiful was he, the superstar Jin Chonglin!

    Lin Dong, his manager who had known him for a long time, could sense that Jin Chonglin was once again in the middle of one of his increasingly overdramatic thoughts. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Don''t mind him," he said to the other twodies.

    But at the end of the day, he was still Jin Chonglin''s manager, so he couldn''t help but say to Iris, "I think that you should still consider your brother-inw as the ambassador of your perfumepany. If you still insist on Yin Meixing, you can have her as the ambassador for the perfumes for females and Jin Chonglin as the ambassador for the perfumes for males."

    Iris tilted her head to the side, thinking, before giving a shallow nod. "What you said makes sense, but I still need to think about it."

    Lin Dong: "Okay."

    He already did his best to fight for this opportunity for Jin Chonglin. If Iris still didn''t choose him, then that was just Jin Chonglin''s bad luck.

    Jin Chonglin finally returned to his senses and found that everyone was absorbed in the meeting. The topic was now on Iris''eback, specifically theunch of her next album in coboration with Enrique Valdez and co-produced by JJ.

    He also joined in the discussion. This time, Jin Chonglin was more serious, relieving Lin Dong''s silent worries.

    The meeting ended without any dy.

    Lin Dong drove Jin Chonglin to his next work appointment while Tang Yiyi headed to her own office to call Yin Meixing.

    As for Iris, Dom arrived just in time to pick her up with the driver and bodyguards. They all headed to JJ''s recordpany to continue recording her new album.

    ###

    Time flew by.

    The new cafeteria at Long Industries that Iris Long sponsored was finallypleted. She personally unveiled it with Long Tengfei.

    All the staff couldn''t wait to enter and try out all the different food choices that weren''t only generous but also nutritious.

    Iris, as the Deputy CMO, and Long Tengfei, as the President-CEO, cut the ribbon for the grand re-opening.

    Everyone pped.

    When the moment the doors opened for everyone, audible gasps of shock, awe, and excitement could be heard everywhere.

    "Wow! Is this really our new cafeteria?!"

    "It''s like a hotel buffet!"

    "Look there! We have desserts!"

    "It''s not only like a buffet. There are also booths for different styles of cuisines."

    "I''ve only seen pictures of Orchidia''s cafeteria which made me so envious. Now that we have our own here, I can finally brag to my family and friends!"

    These employees took many photos and videos as they marvelled at their new cafeteria. The media got ahold of them, and soon, gossip sites and ounts featured news about Iris Long sponsoring a new cafeteria at her father''spany, Long Industries.

    Notably absent from the grand re-opening was Long Hui.

    Long Jian sidled up to her and whispered, "Long Hui left thepany early. It seems that he doesn''t want to embarrass himself even further after what happened to his former inws who are now imprisoned with his ex-wife."

 Chapter 1493 Biggest Threat

    Chapter 1493 Biggest Threat

    Iris smiled for the others to see while she whispered to Long Jian beside her, "If Long Hui continues jumping around in front of us after what his former inws did to his son, then that means he doesn''t deserve to call himself a father."

    "You''re right." Long Jian paused. "By the way, how is Long Jun doingtely?"

    At the mention of her beloved godson, Iris'' expression softened. "He''s recovering well but dealing with a trauma takes time."

    Long Jian nodded.

    Then she said, "And Little Jun likes the toys and snacks that you sent over for him."

    "d that he likes them. I have no idea what kids his age like so I had my assistant rmend some stuff to me. I wanted to visit my nephew but you know that I''m not close to him. I don''t want to scare him and make him think that I''m a bad uncle."

    She chuckled but didn''tment any further about the topic. Whether Long Jian was sincere or not, at least his gifts made her godson happy. That was the most important to her. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Long Jian returned to their previous topic. "Long Hui hasn''t made any moves to sabotage either of us so far."

    She didn''t say anything but her gaze sharpened.

    He continued, "I think that he''s just biding his time. Even if he doesn''t make a move, his minions won''t be able to sit still for long. They''ll do something sooner orter, especially now that you''re standing out too much in thepany. Hell, in their eyes, you''re the biggest threat to their crown prince."

    She gave him a side nce. "Of course, I''m the biggest threat."

    He returned the side nce and snorted. "That''s what everyone thinks, but make no mistake, I am the biggest threat. Don''t getcent, little sister. Once we beat down Long Hui, I won''t give up and will definitely snatch the sessor position away from you. I''ll be the final winner!"

    "Likewise." She smiled at him before walking away to greet her superior, the CMO, and her colleagues from the Marketing Department.

    Long Jian watched her and pursed his lips before snorting again and walking away to join his superior, the COO, and his colleagues.

    Nobody thought much about their brief conversation. They looked like they were chatting as usual.

    To other people, Deputy COO Long Jian and Deputy CMO Long Xin were very close siblingspared to their sour rtionship with Deputy CFO Long Hui. Others frequently saw the Deputy COO and Deputy CMO chatting. Nobody knew that they were once hostile to each other.

    Only insiders within the Long n remembered the estranged rtionship between the siblings.

    But the Young Miss Xin before was a huge problem child who disdained all her siblings. It was only after waking up from beingatose that she changed for the better.

    It was understandable that she would be close to some of her siblings after maturing. It was also understandable that she would have the worst rtionship with her eldest brother, Long Hui, because they were both legitimate children from different mothers.

    They were born to be rivals in the battle for session.

    As for Long Jian, although people thought highly of him now due to his excellent performance, nobody really expected him to triumph over his legitimate siblings as the next head of Long Industries.

    After Iris showed the CMO and her colleagues around the new cafeteria and rmended some dishes, she nced at Long Jian on the other side.

    She was no longer the na?ve caged princess from her past life who had a limited understanding of human rtionships and the subtleties of interactions between people. She could sense Long Jian''s desire to obtain Long Industries.

    Truth be told, she also thought he was an excellent candidate to be the next head of thepany¡ªat least he was several times better than Long Hui who was easily influenced by his emotions.

    Long Jian''s desire was greater than hers, hands down.

    If only she wasn''t fighting for her godson, Little Jun, then she would have already conceded to Long Jian. In fact, if he didn''t have such a fixation for Long Industries, she was even tempted to poach him to work in one of her businesses. A talent like him was hard to pass up.

    But she knew that he would never ept the offer. He was too fixated on Long Industries.

    She couldn''t help but sigh. Perhaps this was fate.

    They were destined to be rivals.

    For her godson, she would never concede in this battle for session. Even if Little Jun turned out to have no interest in thepany when he grew up, it didn''t matter. At least she prevented Long Hui from smoothly seeding. She could allow other people to be the next head, just not him.

    If Long Hui became the next head, he would never let her and their other siblings go peacefully. It was also inevitable that his actions would inadvertently harm his son, Little Jun.

    Iris swore never to let this happen again, especially after Little Jun''s kidnapping incident. Once was enough.

    Back to the present, the unveiling of the new cafeteria was a smash hit. There were even outsiders who tried sneaking inside thepany just to try eating in the new cafeteria. Of course, they were immediately caught and thrown out with a stern warning.

    Iris epted the employees'' thanks with a smile.

    Today was still a working day, so everyone returned to work after a delicious lunch, including Iris.

    She stayed at Long Industries and worked for an hour after lunch. After delegating tasks to her assistant, she promptly left when Dom and her bodyguards picked her up before heading straight to the studio to continue recording her new album.

    After she left, Long Hui returned to Long Industries, doing the best he could to avoid everyone. He didn''t want to answer questions about why he was absent during the unveiling of the new cafeteria.

    In just a few weeks, he had lost a lot of weight and looked like he hadn''t slept properly for a long time.

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 Chapter 1494 The Twinsâ€™ Interests

    Chapter 1494 The Twins¡¯ Interests

    Iris continued to busy herself with many things¡ªrecording her new album with Enrique Valdez; working on her businesses including going to work at Long Industries; meeting up with Grandpa Lu for their business mentorship; and attending virtual lessons with hernguage instructors, Kalisha Schwartz and Hisakawa Akio.

    Now and then, she would also check on the progress of the revival of the old,mercial district where the abandoned mall and concert hall that Bacon and Ketchup gifted her before were located.

    Her holdingpany, Eve Holdings, was in charge of the redevelopment of the mall and the concert hall. Herpany cooperated with Jin Corporation which was also redeveloping the surrounding areas. Other developmentpanies also entered the picture to get a piece of the huge pie. Thesepanies were working together to revive what was once a dyingmercial district.

    In addition, Iris also received good news from Alric Bauer.

    He finally developed a natural alternative to the widely-used insect repent avable in the market. His product even had stronger effectiveness than the most popr brand today. If it passed several more rounds ofb testing and achieved safety certifications in the domestic and international markets, then it could finally be sold through Orchidia.

    Another good news was that Amanpio Kileksy also made progress in his research for developing insect-repellent fabric using natural fibres. The current synthetic insecticide spray for fabric avable in the market still had the best effectiveness, but Amanpio Kileksy was a genius. Iris trusted that he would be able to match, and hopefully, even surpass the effectiveness of the synthetic insecticide spray.

    With the good news arriving one after another, Iris was in an excellent mood. She didn''t feel any exhaustion after such a busy day.

    Of course, she didn''t neglect her family despite her packed schedule. She even brought her twins to work sometimes.

    It was just that her team of bodyguards would triple in size whenever she brought her twin sons with her. Little Jun''s kidnapping made her more cautious about her children''s safety.

    Little Mochi''s favourite was the recording studio. Her eldest twin son would be so absorbed and uncharacteristically quiet while watching her recording with Enrique Valdez and their team of musicians.

    On the other hand, Little Matcha''s favourites were in any office. This son of hers was indeed just like his father. He was born to do business.

    Despite their young age, Iris could already detect where their interests lie. However, she was determined to remain open-minded when it came to her children''s chosen careers in the future. They might change their minds several times after all.

    But at least observing Little Mochi and Little Matcha right now gave her an idea of which directions to steer each of her twin sons in developing their talents and skills.

    Today, Iris was getting ready in the walk-in wardrobe that she shared with her husband in their master suite. Jin Liwei already left for work at Jin Corporation.

    Dom was helping her organize the several bags that they would bring to the recording studioter today.

    There was a handbag for Iris'' personal items like a phone, wallet, lipstick, and a few other small items.

    There was also a big supply bag that Dom carried filled with snacks, drinks, a first-aid kit, tissues, pads, makeup, and a lot of other things that he thought Iris might need.

    Finally, there were two baby bags for each of the twins filled with their pull-up diapers, milk bottles, snacks, toys, extra clothing, and other stuff that they also might need.

    Meanwhile, the nannies were watching over and following behind the twins as they unsteadily walked around their parents'' wardrobe.

    Little Mochi was attracted by his mother''s sparkly dresses on disy¡ªthe ones she used for performances. He also held arge diamond ne in one hand and an emerald bracelet in the other. Of course, the jewelry belonged to his mother. He also found some of his father''s rare coloured neckties, grabbed one, and tried putting it on his head.

    Little Matcha, on the other hand, yed with his father''s shiny leather shoes. Several pairs were now strewn all over the floor. The usually quiet and indifferent child was now doing his best to try on his dad''s big shoes but kept on falling down on his butt instead.

    Their nannies tried to stop them but to no avail.

    "Young Master Haoyu, Young Master Lingyu, please stop making a mess of your parents'' things."

    Iris smiled as she watched her sons while putting on light makeup. "Let them y with those things. The children are just curious. Look, they''re not destroying them. We''ll clean up when they''re done." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The nannies obeyed and no longer tried to stop the twins from ying around.

    "By the way, I haven''t seen Ice Cream and Popcorn," Iris said. "Do you know where they went?"

    One of the nannies replied, "Madam, the cats are with Young Master Jun in his room."

    "I see." Iris nodded.

    She nced and saw her twins'' German Shepherd dogs, Pudding and Chowder, guarding the children from the walk-in wardrobe''s entrance.

    It was rare for Ice Cream to leave the twins alone, but ever since Little Jun''s traumatic kidnapping, she joined Popcorn in sticking closer to Little Jun.

    Perhaps the cats sensed that their human cousin needed a lot offort after what happened. They might have also sensed that Little Jun was scheduled to leave the mansion again soon to live with his parents at the farm vi. This must be why they were spending more time with Little Jun now than the twins.

    Iris didn''t interfere. If possible, she also wanted to spend more time with her godson, but Jiang Ying Yue and Lin Yehan encouraged her to start working again. They didn''t want her to sacrifice too much of her time for Little Jun especially when they were still around as the child''s parents.

    Fortunately, she could still see Little Jun aftering home from work every day. But this would change soon when the little guy moved out again. This was something that she was already prepared for but would still make her sad for a while.

 Chapter 1495 Gorgeous People Make Beautiful Babies

    Chapter 1495 Gorgeous People Make Beautiful Babies

    "Mama!" Little Mochi called with a big smile on his adorable face. He waved the sparkling diamond ne and emerald bracelet at her. "Yah yah yah!"

    Iris quickly finished her makeup before walking toward her sons on the floor.

    "Wow! My Little Mochi is so handsome!"

    She hugged her eldest twin son, causing Little Mochi to giggle.

    Little Matcha looked at them quietly but his eyes were filled with longing. Iris chuckled at this son of hers who resembled her husband so much. She went over to her other son and also gave Little Matcha a big hug.

    Little Matcha rewarded her with a small, adorable smile. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Iris couldn''t stop hugging her sons for a long time. She would have hugged them longer if not for Dom reminding her that it was almost time to go.

    "Boss, the driver just informed me that the traffic on the road might worsen if we don''t leave within half an hour," he said.

    "Okay, let''s go now," she replied.

    Iris and Dom each carried a child while the nannies carried their bags. The German Shepherd dogs, Pudding and Chowder, followed behind them.

    Travelling with children was always an event despite the help of so many staff. The twins always wanted to stay beside their mother.

    Iris, who was always soft-hearted to her children, allowed them to act spoiled until they reached the recording studio.

    Fortunately, both children were mostly well-behaved all the way, especially the calm and quiet Little Matcha. As for Little Mochi, today seemed like a good day because he didn''t throw a tantrum at all.

    They finally arrived at JJ''s recordpany and entered through the underground parking area. The security had been tightened ever since the attempted theft happened. Upon the arrival of Iris'' group, they were immediately surrounded and escorted into the building, not giving any opportunity to anyone who might sneak any photos or videos of Iris and her children.

    If she didn''t bring her children with her today, then she would have felt more than willing to spend a few minutes interacting with fans.

    Today, however, she didn''t want to expose her babies to any risks.

    The ck Stars were already aware of her concerns and they respected her privacy whenever she was with her babies. Her babies were also their babies. They would do anything to protect the adorable Little Mochi and Little Matcha even though they had never seen what the twins looked like.

    The twins wore superhero masks today while Iris and Dom carried them through the recordpany. The staff and other artists were already used to their presence after Iris brought them over a few times.

    Those lucky enough to see the babies without masks were stunned by their good looks.

    One resembled their mother more while the other was the carbon copy of their father.

    Indeed, when two gorgeous people got together, they would make beautiful babies.

    Finally, Iris'' group reached the recording studio. Enrique Valdez and JJ were already waiting for her inside.

    "Oh!" JJ''s eyes widened in pleasant surprise upon seeing the twins. "Come give Grandpa JJ a hug, Little Mochi and Little Matcha!"

    Iris and Dom released the two children and allowed them to walk on their own. They appeared unsteady on their feet but they didn''t fall down, especially Little Mochi who broke into a reckless run.

    JJ crouched down and spread his arms wide, waiting for the babies toe to him.

    "Come to Grandpa JJ¡ªeh?!"

    Unfortunately for him, the twins bypassed him and headed straight toward their Grandpa Enrique instead.

    "Ampa!" (Grandpa!) Little Mochi reached Enrique first. "Yah yah yah!"

    Enrique Valdez had a slight smile as he caught the babies in each arm.

    "Ampa," (Grandpa) Little Matcha followed suit, calling the legendary hitmaker Grandpa Enrique in a cute, sweet voice.

    JJ looked heartbroken, causing everyone watching him tough with schadenfreude. He red at the others but they just continuedughing.

    Everyone loved having the twins over because they noticed that JJ controlled his bad temper whenever the babies were around. Of course, they wouldn''t provoke him normally, but it was still a huge relief to have some respite from dealing with his temperamental outbursts.

    "Your turn to take out the kids today?" Enrique Valdez asked Iris.

    She nodded. "My husband has an important site inspection today, so he can''t take the children."

    He nodded before carrying the two babies around the live room, satisfying their curiosity about the various instruments inside.

    Little Mochi appeared especially excited, pointing here and there for his Grandpa Enrique to exin even though the child shouldn''t understand what he was saying yet.

    Iris and Jin Liwei made a tacit agreement to take turns bringing their children to work on days that they were expected to be too busy to go home early. This way, they would still be able to be with their children despite their busy schedules.

    Afterpleting the preparations, Dom and the nannies watched over the children in the studio''s control room.

    Little Matcha was easy to take care of. He rarely threw tantrums, but whenever he did, it was worse than Little Mochi''s more frequent tantrums. It was a good thing that it only happened very few times.

    Little Mochi loved staying in the studio. Unlike his usual naughty behaviour, he was always uncharacteristically quiet and attentive whenever he listened to his mother perform with the musicians.

    This was why Iris had ordered customized baby-safe headphones for her twin sons and connected them to the control room so that they could also listen to what was happening inside the live room without damaging their delicate little ears.

    Today, they were doing a live recording of another song.

    The musicians got ready, including Enrique Valdez with his iconic lead guitar. Iris took the grand piano. This time, they would record the instrumentals first.

    JJ spoke through the microphone in the control room and cued everyone in the live room.

    "Ah 1, ah 2, ah 1, 2, 3¡ªgo!"

    Iris, Enrique, and the musicians started ying their instruments.

 Chapter 1496 Emotional Baby

    1496 Emotional Baby

    Iris Long, Enrique Valdez, and the musicians already rehearsed the song for several days. They yed the entire song for the live recording on the first try.

    Both Iris and Enrique felt satisfied.

    However, when they listened to the yback with JJ in the control room, they discovered that some parts weren''t captured well during the recording.

    The technicians adjusted several microphones in the live room.

    Iris, Enrique, and the musicians yed the song a few more times. The technicians also readjusted the equipment in the live room each time to get the best results.

    Finally, everyone felt satisfied after the final yback.

    They took a short break, especially Iris who had to work the hardest for the rest of the sessionter.

    After the break, it was now time for her to record her vocals. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She first hugged her babies, inhaling their milky scent to draw energy from them. Their adorable grins also motivated her to want to do her best. She wanted to show her sons the best version of their mother.

    Most of the musicians were already done for the day, but they still stayed near the recordpany just in case they got called for an emergency re-recording.

    Enrique Valdez stayed with JJ and the sound engineer in the control room to direct Iris in the live room.

    Meanwhile, Dom and the nannies continued watching over the twins who were being good little boys. They were so well-behaved today!

    Their guard dogs, Chowder and Pudding, also didn''t bother anyone. Their handlers, who also doubled as part of Iris and her sons'' security team today, took the dogs for a bathroom break a couple of times. But other than that, the German Shepherd dogs didn''t leave their little masters'' side even for a bit.

    Finally, the time hade.

    Iris put on her headphones and positioned herself in front of the microphone. She listened to her music instructor Enrique Valdez''s cue. Then she began to sing.

    Her soulful raw vocals started out soft and delicate at first before building momentum and peaking with high power.

    Those listening couldn''t help but get goosebumps.

    They had been working with Iris for some time, but she never failed to amaze them with her powerful and emotional voice. It always felt like she was mesmerizing them, hypnotizing them to feel whatever she wanted them to feel.

    The song was her spell, her voice was pure magic, and they could only be left spellbound at the end.

    Everyone became so focused on listening to Iris.

    Only Dom had the presence of mind to record the babies'' reactions on video with his phone camera.

    Little Matcha stared at his mother with eyes and mouth wide open. He always listened to his mother singing Russian lubies to him and his twin brother, so he was already used to her voice. He loved his mother''s singing, but listening to her this time felt like apletely different experience. The customized baby-safe headphones made the listening experience so many times better than usual. It felt like his mother was singing directly to his brain. His mother was indeed the best in the entire world.

    Little Mochi had a simr expression as Little Matcha at first¡ªeyes and mouth wide open. However, as his mother''s voice became higher and higher and more and more powerful, his eyes became red and teary. Then when the song was about to reach a crescendo, his lips trembled. And when the climax was reached, Little Mochi jumped as if startled. His face crumpled and tears fell down his smooth, chubby face in a heavy flood. What was interesting was that he didn''t wail but held it in and continued listening until his mother finished singing the song.

    Dom saw all of the twins'' reactions from start to finish. When he first saw Little Mochi''s crying face, he had been about to jump over andfort the baby, but he stopped himself. And indeed, he made the correct decision.

    Little Mochi didn''t look like he was crying from difort. Dom realized that the baby cried because Little Mochi felt touched by his mother''s singing.

    ''As expected of my boss'' baby!'' Dom thought.

    Iris was about to go over the yback when she noticed her eldest twin son''s crying face. She immediately rushed out of the live room to the control room and swept the crying child in her embrace.

    "What''s wrong, sweetheart?" Iris asked whileforting Little Mochi. "Why are you crying? Something hurts, baby?"

    Unlike his usual way of throwing a tantrum, Little Mochi just continued to silently cry while hugging his mother''s neck.

    Iris felt like her heart was being sliced open. She would rather have his son throwing a full-blown tantrum than deal with a pitiful silently crying Little Mochi like this.

    Little Matcha finally realized that his twin brother was crying. He reached up his arms and gestured, trying tofort Little Mochi.

    The others also noticed what was happening.

    "What happened?" JJ asked, his voice filled with concern.

    Enrique Valdez didn''t speak but his expression showed his worry for the baby.

    Dom interrupted them, "Excuse me, everyone. I don''t think our Little Mochi is crying because he''s hurt or anything like that."

    "What do you mean?" JJ demanded.

    Dom showed them the video he took of the twins'' reactions. "So you see, I think that our baby just feels emotional after listening to his mother''s singing."

    Iris watched the reaction video again. She didn''t know whether tough or cry.

    JJughed. "Dominic, send me the video! Hahaha!"

    Enrique Valdez fished out his phone as well.

    Dom sent the video to both of them.

    "As expected of my prot¨¦g¨¦''s son!" JJ said while continuing tough like a stupid idiot. "Still a baby and already feeling emotional from music!"

    Enrique also looked pleased.

    Iris sat down and pulled Little Matcha to sit on herp as well. Little Matcha hugged his twin brother, trying tofort him. Little Mochi had calmed down now.

    "Mama," he whined as he blinked hisrge, teary eyes at his mother.

 Chapter 1497 Ultimate Group Chat (Part I)

    1497 Ultimate Group Chat (Part I)

    Iris'' heart melted at her son''s adorable teary expression. Her other son also melted her heart by his natural concern for his brother. These children were indeed the biggest blessings that she received in this life.

    She spent a few momentsforting her eldest twin son with her other baby. JJ, Enrique Valdez, and the others didn''t interrupt her. They returned to their respective work, checking on the progress, while giving some time and space for the mother and babies to spend time together.

    Some staff, especially the female ones, even joined in ying with the twins because they couldn''t resist the cuteness. They had never seen such beautiful babies before. The twins were also rather well-behavedpared to other babies who would disrupt other people without any care.

    The way the babies became so absorbed in listening to their mother''s music performance was enough to make the staff mentally squeal from too much cuteness.

    Indeed, the twins were the children of a multi-award-winning musician. Just babies and they could already appreciate good music. They were, without a doubt, babies of culture.

    After Little Mochi had calmed down and returned to his usual lively self with Little Matcha ying with him, Iris handed them to Dom and the nannies. At the same time, she resumed the rest of the recording session.

    Her music instructor, Enrique Valdez, told her in a whisper, "It''s good to expose your kids to music at a young age. Look at them now. Even if they don''t follow in your footsteps as a musician, I''m still happy for them to learn to appreciate excellent music when they hear one. You have great kids."

    "Thank you, Teacher," she replied and beamed at him.

    She loved listening to others praising her children. It never failed to make her happy all the time.

    After this episode, Little Mochi would often have simr reactions to his mother''s singing especially when Iris performed her best.

    In no time, the twins'' reaction video to their mother singing circted within their family and close friends. Everyone was amused especially by Little Mochi who couldn''t control his emotions. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    The replies flooded in their group chat after Dom posted the video.

    Jin Liwei: "As expected of my children. They share their father''s appreciation of their mother''s incredible talents."

    Long Xin: (flying kiss sticker)

    Lu Jianhong: "My great-grandbabies inherited their Great Grandpa Lu''s excellent taste! Bwahahaha!"

    Jin Chonglin: "Grandpa Lu, my nephews don''t share a drop of your blood. How could they inherit anything from you?"

    Lu Jianhong: "How dare you say that, you little pinhead?! Come here and let this old man smack some sense back into your little pinhead!"

    Jin Chonglin: "Little Matcha is, of course, my big bro''s mini-me. But take a look at Little Mochi. He inherited his great music taste from his Uncle Lin Lin!"

    Lu Jianhong: "How dare you ignore me, you little pipsqueak?! What do you mean Little Mochi inherited his great musical taste from you?! The baby clearly inherited it from his mother, you dumb skull! How about you make your own baby, so you don''t go around bragging about other people''s babies? When are you and Chen Fei girl going to give me great-grandbabies? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Chen Fei: "Grandpa Lu, please don''t put any more ideas about having a baby into his head."

    Lu Jianhong: "Chen Fei girl! Are you pregnant yet?! Tell me, I want to know!"

    Jin Chonglin: "She''s not y¡ªhdahkdhayuhIHIDHKHikz!!!!"

    Grandpa Lu: "What in the bloody hell does that mean?! Is this some sort of a new code from your younger generation? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Jin Chonglin: "Sorry about that. My girlfriend grabbed the phone from me just now. The scuffle caused the mistyped words. Just ignore my previous message."

    Huang Yuyan: "My grandsons are so cute! I think they''ve grown yet again. Xin, tell me their new clothing and shoe sizes. I want to go shopping for my grandsons before I visit."

    Long Xin: "Mom, no need to buy anything for them. Just visit the twins. They already miss their grandma."

    Huang Yuyan: "Just tell me their new sizes. I insist."

    Long Xin: "Okay, Mom." (attachment for photos showing the twins'' current clothing and shoe sizes)

    Li Zhiruo: "How to save this video on my phone?"

    Lu Jianhong: "Hah! You old relic don''t know how?! Bahahaha!"

    Li Zhiruo: "Shut up, you old gori! And my Chonglin is right. Little Mochi and Little Matcha are MY great-grandchildren. They share MY blood, not yours!"

    Huang Yuyan: "Mom, please calm down. I''ll video call youter and teach you how to save the twins'' video."

    Li Zhiruo: "Thank you, my dear. Where''s Chonglin?"

    Jin Chonglin: "Grandma."

    Li Zhiruo: "Why haven''t you brought Chen Fei to visit me at my mountain vi yet?"

    Huang Yuyan: "Yes, son. You haven''t brought Chen Fei to our family house yet either. I already reminded you several times to bring her and have dinner with me."

    Dominic Chua: (sticker of sparkly-eyed cat watching the drama while eating popcorn)

    Jin Chonglin: "It''s not my fault! I wanted to bring my girlfriend¡ªdkjfksjaouhehil!ojkjkjfadljieyhk!!!!!!!!!!"

    Dominic Chua: "Sis Fei! Stop grabbing the phone from Prince Lin Lin! We wanna read what he''s gonna say!"

    Clover Chua: (sticker of a rabbit frantically nodding)

    Chen Fei: "Oh, shut up, you Chua siblings."

    Dominic Chua: (sticker of a ssydy tossing her hair)

    Clover Chua: (sticker of a teary rabbit)

    Chen Fei: "Oops. I didn''t mean to say that."

    Jin Chonglin: "Mom, Grandma Li, I''ll bring my girlfriend for you to formally meet in a few days when we have our day off."

    Huang Yuyan: "Tell me which day in advance so that I can prepare."

    Li Zhiruo: "Good. I''ll be waiting."

    Huang Yuyan: "Chen Fei, my dear. Do you have any dietary restrictions?"

    Chen Fei: "Auntie, I can eat anything."

    Li Zhiruo: "Ignore your Grandpa Lu''s senseless talk about having a baby. It''s better to marry first before giving birth. Chonglin''s career is especially unforgiving if he has a baby before marriage."

    Lu Jianhong: "You traditional olddy! We must look forward to the future and not get stuck in the past! This old man needs more great-grandbabies! Give me!"

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 Chapter 1498 Ultimate Group Chat (Part II)

    Chapter 1498 Ultimate Group Chat (Part II)

    Jin Chonglin: "See, I told you I''m not the only one with a baby brain¡ªkjadkhihdkfdkjdkjjiiiiiiljljs!!!"

    Dominic Chua: "Sis Fei, stop it!!!"

    Clover Chua: (sticker of a curious rabbit)

    Lu Zihao: "The Jin twins inherited all their good points from my sister alone. Case closed."

    Lu Jianhong: "Haohao, my boy! There you are! This old man will eat with Little Misha and Little Dima at your house for dinner againter!"

    Long Jinjing: "Grandpa Lu, you know that you''re always wee at our house. This is your home, too. The babies love their great-grandpa."

    Lu Jianhong: "Of course! Will Haohao be at home for dinnerter? I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao: "Yes."

    Lu Jianhong: "Good! If you don''te home early today, this old man will smack your butt like when you were still a little boy! Hah! Let my great-grandbabies see how their great-grandpa disciplines their daddy!"

    Li Zhiruo: "Still a brute, I see."

    Lu Jianhong: "Still a stiff old cow, I see."

    Long Jinjing: "My nephews are so adorable! I''ll bring my twins to visit their cousins again soon."

    Lu Zihao: "I''ll bring you mother and sons. I have a bit more free time now."

    Lu Jianhong: "This old man wille, too!!!"

    Yang Mei: "@LongXin @JinLiwei, look. I sketched this after watching the video during my break time." (attachment of a chibi-style sketch showing Little Matcha absorbed with eyes and mouth wide open and Little Mochi bawling his eyes out but still trying to hold it in)

    Dominic Chua: "Twin sis!!!"

    Dominic Chua: "OMG!!!"

    Dominic Chua: "SO FREAKING ADORBS!!!"

    Dominic Chua: (heart sticker)

    Dominic Chua: (sticker of a cartoon cat dying from too much cuteness)

    Chen Fei: "Dom, stop flooding the chat! I want to see the sketch properly!"

    Long Xin: "Meimei, this is amazing! Thank you! Can I share it on my social media ounts? I want my fans to see this sketch of my twins."

    Yang Mei: "Feel free! Don''t forget to tag me so that my fans can also see it."

    Dominic Chua: "I''ll post it for you, Boss!"

    Long Xin: "Okay, Dom, please. Thank you."

    Yang Jiahui: "I''m going to have this sketch printed into a big canvas and framed. Then I''ll hang it at the ancestral house."

    Long Xin: "Won''t that not match the traditional aesthetics of the house? Father might not like it." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Long Tengfei: "It''s a sketch of my grandsons drawn by my niece. Your Aunt Jiahui is in charge of the house''s decorations."

    Yang Jiahui: "@LongXin @LongJinjing, please send me more photos of the Jin and Lu twins. I''m going to frame and hang them all."

    Long Tengfei: "Come visit the ancestral house sometimes. Your children''s photos are all over the ce."

    Jiang Ying Yue: (attachment of a video showing Little Jun with a cast on his arm and leg asking his mother why his little cousin was crying)

    The attention of the group chat shifted to concern for Little Jun''s well-being. Jiang Ying Yue assured them that her son was quickly recovering from his physical injuries. His casts were scheduled to be removed in another few weeks. It was only Little Jun''s mental trauma that was still slowly being treated with the help of Dr. Grace Poon, the child psychologist that Wang Yingjie rmended. Thankfully, Little Jun liked Dr. Poon and responded to therapy well.

    Lin Yehan: (attachment of a video showing Little Jun petting his German Shepherd dog, Gravy, who was limping but still doing his best to guard his little master)

    Lu Zihao: "My people trained that dog. It might be handicapped now but he can still do his job. I also already got a new puppy for Little Jun. I''ll give it to the child after it graduates from training. Together with Gravy, the new puppy should keep the child protected."

    Jiang Ying Yue: "Thank you, Sir Zihao."

    Lin Yehan: "Thanks, Fifth Brother."

    The group chat remained active for the rest of the day. They talked about many topics. The next day, Yu Mo and Wang Yingjie also appeared andmented on the Jin twins'' reaction video and the various topics talked about in the group chat.

    On Iris Long''s social media ounts, her new post already garnered millions of likes andments gushing about Princess Porkchop''s adorable chibi sketch of their Boss Iris'' twin sons.

    The caption read: "Little Matcha speechless and Little Mochi getting emotional while listening to their mommy''s new song. Thanks to Auntie @PrincessPorkchop for sketching the chibi versions of the Jin twins! Please look forward to Iris Long''s much-anticipated new album in coboration with the legendary hitmaker himself, @EnriqueValdez! Coming soon!"

    Thements continued to flood in.

    User1390: "Waaaah, so cute!!! Even though we''ve still never seen how our Jin twins look like in real life, it''s obvious from Princess Porkchop''s sketch that Little Matcha looks like his dad and Little Mochi resembles our Boss Iris!"

    CaptainckStar: "As expected of our Boss Iris and CEO Jin''s sons!"

    MrsLovePhantom: "These children are as beautiful as their parents."

    User1487: "@MrsLovePhantom, madam, you know our Boss Iris and CEO Jin in real life, right? Have you already met their twins?"

    MrsLovePhantom: "Reply to @User1487: Yes."

    Her response drew a lot of excited and even envious exmations.

    Other notable members of the ck Stars also appeared. Some of them like MrsLovePhantom and her ssy friends¡ªJJNumber1Fan, JJNumber2Fan, and JJNumber3Fan¡ªhad already met the Jin twins because they moved in the same circles as Iris Long and CEO Jin Liwei in high society.

    Some online news outlets immediately featured Iris Long''stest post, riding on the poprity of Iris Long, CEO Jin Liwei, Enrique Valdez, and Princess Porkchop.

    When the superstar Jin Chonglin also reposted the post, the chibi sketch spread even more abroad.

    He captioned it: "My twin nephews. One is my big bro''s carbon copy. The other one inherited his Uncle Lin Lin''s excellent taste in music."

    Most of his army of fans praised him and his nephews, blowing rainbow farts at him left and right. But others teased him.

    User0005: "Prince Lin Lin, please don''t take credit for other people''s babies!"

    User7861: "Little Mochi clearly inherits his music tastes from his mother, not his uncle!"

 Chapter 1499 Big Announcements

    Chapter 1499 Big Announcements

    Jin Chonglin couldn''t stop himself from retorting to some of thements teasing him. Of course, his interactions with these fans were mostly in a good-natured, joking manner.

    Those that were rude to Jin Chonglin were ignored while the ones that targeted the babies were directly blocked and reported.

    Even the ck Stars sent its notorious troll group, the Slippers Army, once they detectedments trying to bully their Boss Iris'' twin babies. They never joked about the safety and privacy of the babies, especially after what happened to their Boss Iris'' godson, Little Jun.

    The kidnapping was a wake-up call to everyone. They became even more protective of all the children rted to their Boss Iris, especially her babies. If anyone dared to even say a single bad thing about the kids, then the ck Stars, especially the Slippers Army, would be the first ones to beat down the evilizens hiding behind anonymity with their mighty slippers.

    Thankfully, with everyone''s conscious effort, these evilizens balked under their righteous counterattack.

    ###

    Time flew by.

    Iris Long continued to polish her new album. There were leaks that she coborated with other artists besides Enrique Valdez, but their identities remained unknown. This only fueled the music industry and the fans'' interest and anticipation for the new album.

    In the meantime, Iris Long made several big announcements regarding her businesses.

    Her perfumepany, Libert¨¦, formerly known as Sang Bleu, wasunching soon. Of course, as the new owner of the rebrandedpany, Iris Long was its permanent ambassador.

    In addition to her, it was announced that Libert¨¦ was going to have two celebrity ambassadors to promote their first perfumes under the rebrandedpany.

    Within a day, Iris Long introduced the new verified social media ounts across different tforms of her perfumepany, Libert¨¦.

    Then Libert¨¦''s ounts tagged three ounts in its first-ever post. It said:

    "Dive into a new world of fragrance where freedom to mix traditions with progress is celebrated!

    "Introducing Libert¨¦''s owner, @IrisLong, as she promotes her signature scent called ''Eve''.

    "Also please help us wee our two new celebrity ambassadors: the superstar @JinChonglin to promote our first men''s fragrance called ''Valliance'' and the international best actress @YinMeixing to promote the women''s fragrance called ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦''.

    "Pre-orders opening soon!

    "Respecting traditions, working toward progress. We are Libert¨¦!"

    Iris Long, Jin Chonglin, Yin Meixing, and LXC Studio all reposted Libert¨¦''s announcement at the same time.

    Their fans all looked forward to the three new perfumes. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The ck Stars were ecstatic. Jin Chonglin''s army of fans also couldn''t wait for the pre-orders to open and for the officialunch.

    Although Yin Meixing wasn''t as popr as Jin Chonglin or even Iris Long, her prestige as an international best actress still counted for something. After bing an LXC Studio-managed artist, she became more visible in the media. Also, being closely associated with Iris Long and especially with Jin Chonglin made her an overnight household name. Her loyal fans were almost crying from gratitude. She also weed new fans every single day.

    The news about Libert¨¦''sunch and new brand ambassadors hadn''t even died down yet before Iris Long dropped another major business announcement.

    This time, it was about the preciouspany that she founded by herself¡ªOrchidia.

    The popr profitablepany with extremely viral products posted on all its official ounts:

    "We are pleased to announce that Orchidia is finally going international! To our loyal fans who are doing their best to import from abroad despite the strict and heavy duties, we made this happen for you.

    "Orchidia Germany will cater to our European customers.

    "Orchidia Philippines and Orchidia Singapore together will serve most of our customers in Asia. Orchidia Singapore will also temporarily serve our North American customers until we establish our North American base in the future.

    "To our clients in other parts of the world not covered by our new international bases, please don''t worry because we are continuing to work on expanding our brand so that we can better serve everyone who believes in our amazing products.

    "Another exciting news for our international customers is theunch of our universal website. You can now order through our new website wherever you are in the world. Your orders will be delivered from the most convenient country base for the quickest and most affordable shipping.

    "We are always working on creating new products to make everyone naturally beautiful. We thank everyone for your continued support!"

    This announcement caused a celebration among overseas Chinese who had been buying Orchidia products through their family and friends in the country. The customer base had exponentially grown due to word of mouth. Now, there were fans of other nationalities who became loyal customers after their Chinese friends rmended various Orchidia products.

    The most profitable ones were, of course, the Orchidia Beauty products. The effects of these products were almost miraculous while being kind and gentle to all skin types. Almost everyone who used it the first time would be a loyal customer.

    The only problem was the difficulty of buying it from abroad. Now that Orchidia had announced theunch of its universal website, they could now order however much they wanted at a more affordable price.

    Those from Europe, Asia, and North America were the most excited. They would no longer have to pay too much import taxes to buy Orchidia products.

    Even the original domestic customers were happy. Although at first nce, it might appear that they weren''t affected by these international expansions, at least they wouldn''t have topete with international customers for the products anymore.

    The headquarters would finally be able to focus on serving their domestic customers while the new bases abroad would serve the international customers instead.

    Everyone hoped that incidents of products selling out would lessen. It was torture to wait for restocks when they already emptied the products they used at home.

    Using other products that they used before was no longer possible. Their skins could no longer tolerate the harsh chemicals used in other brands'' products. They could only use Orchidia products from now on.

 Chapter 1500 Touch Down in Paris

    Chapter 1500 Touch Down in Paris

    Iris Long''s friends from Cross Academy messaged her after learning that Orchidia would beunching internationally soon. Thedies were especially excited. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    AJ Zheneres, Ashandra Knightson, Florence O''Sevan, and Theresa Blipsburg couldn''t wait until the universal website opened for orders. Since Amanpio Kileksky worked with Orchidia several times before to help develop some of the products, thedies even hounded him at the academy to ask him for more information whenever Iris was too busy to reply to their messages.

    Iris thanked them after they sent their early congrattions. She was especially thankful to AJ Zheneres who she consulted a few times during the nning stages of Orchidia''s international expansion.

    The woman was a genius economist whose financial and market instincts bordered on psychic. Even Grandpa Lu had the highest opinion of her. Unfortunately, AJ Zheneres had already been recruited by Cross Academy early on. Even while still a student, she was already working for the academy to help them maintain and grow their great financial power.

    With both of them being busy in their own careers, Iris felt grateful that AJ still took the time and effort to give her sound advice. All of AJ''s tips helped make Orchidia''s transition to the international market smoother.

    Now Iris felt more confident in her decision to expand abroad all at once.

    Indeed, only her fellow geniuses had the guts to forge ahead despite all the people who warned her against doing so. This was why bing friends with like-minded individuals was important. It gives a sense of belonging like no other.

    "I''ll send samples of the three Libert¨¦ perfumes to all of you ahead of theunch," Iris told them during a video conference call in theirdies-only Cross Academy group chat. "You can give the men''s perfumes to others if you want."

    They thanked her again.

    AJ Zheneres: "Ashandra, Theresa, and I are currently staying in the academy, so we''ll definitely attend the Europeanunch in Germany. I don''t know about Florence, though."

    Florence O''Sevan: "I might attend either the one in Singapore or in the Philippines, whichever is more convenient in booking flights because I''m in India right now implementing mytest research on sustainable water filtration systems."

    Long Xin: "Thank you for your support, everyone! I''ll attend all three international Orchidiaunches plus the one in France for Libert¨¦. I should be able to squeeze some time before Iunch my new album with Teacher Enrique."

    Theresa Blipsburg: "Oh my gosh, Xin! I can''t wait for your cob with our senior toe out! I''m a huge of Enrique Valdez. And of yours, as well, of course."

    Ashandra Knightson: "I might be able to attend your Libert¨¦unch in France. I just need to check my schedule first. It might coincide with the exhibition of mytest art pieces."

    Long Xin: "Okay, Ashandra. I''ll send you Libert¨¦''sunch schedule. Hopefully, we get to meet in France too. I also hope that I''ll get to attend your art exhibition as well."

    Ashandra Knightson: "Looking forward to it, Xin."

    AJ Zheneres: "Unfortunately, I can''t attend theunch in France. I have to apany our headmaster, Professor Dupont, to attend an important finance assembly at the European Union."

    Theresa Blipsburg: "Same here. I also have to present mytest research at a biomedical engineering symposium in America."

    Florence O''Sevan: "I can''t attend in France either. It''s too much of a hassle flying all the way from India."

    Long Xin: "That''s fine. I don''t mind. All of us are busy with our own work plus our personalized studies. I''m already happy that you can even attend one event in the first ce."

    After chatting with the Cross Academydies, Iris dove back to her own busy but fulfilling life. Every time she felt tired from the everyday grind, she would just go to her husband and their children to recharge.

    This kind of life was something that she never even dared to imagine in her past life as Evelina Vetrova. But now she was actually living it.

    ###

    Finally, it was time for the much-awaitedunch of the rebranded perfumepany, Libert¨¦.

    Iris and Jin Liwei brought their twins and flew using LX Air, their jumbo airne. Of course, Dom and the nannies apanied them.

    Flying with them were Jin Chonglin and his girlfriend, Chen Fei. Yin Meixing, the other female ambassador, also came with them with Tang Yiyi, the manager she shared with Iris.

    Grandpa Lu also decided toe with them at thest minute because he said that he wanted to meet with some old friends in France. He would also go with them straight to Germany for Orchidia''s Europeanunch afterwards.

    They also came with a huge entourage of bodyguards. Some were obvious, but some were disguised as normal assistants.

    At first, Iris and Jin Liwei were worried about bringing their twins, but they couldn''t imagine leaving them at home for too long at such a young age. Even if it would be riskier to bring them along abroad, they could just tighten their security team to prevent any potential dangers.

    They wouldn''t be able to feel reassured leaving the twins alone while they left for another country and continent.

    Especially Iris who would tear up just imagining not seeing her precious babies before she slept at night.

    In the end, she and Jin Liwei decided that it was better to bring their twins for their own peace of mind.

    Among their huge security team were members of Shadow Winds personally chosen by Lu Zihao to protect Iris and her twin sons. One team flew with them in LX Air while the other one travelled bymercial flight in advance.

    Once LX Air touched down in Paris at a private airport, customs was a breeze because they were the only aircraft thatnded at that time.

    Jin Liwei already arranged chauffeured vehicles to pick them up and drive them straight to his Paris residence.

    His family along with Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei plus Dom, their nannies, and personal staff stayed with them at his ce.

 Chapter 1501 Youâ€™re Richer Than Me

    Chapter 1501 You¡¯re Richer Than Me

    Grandpa Lu had his own residence in Paris as well. Since his primary purpose foring to France was to take a break and meet up with some old friends, he didn''t want to squeeze with Iris and Jin Liwei''s family in their residence. The family brought a massive team of staff.

    The old man thought that it would be too crowded there. The annoying brat, Jin Chonglin, was also staying there with his girlfriend, Chen Fei girl. Grandpa Lu still held a little grudge against Jin Chonglin for telling him in their family group chat that Little Mochi and Little Matcha didn''t share a drop of blood with him.

    Although Iris and Jin Liwei invited him to stay with their family, Grandpa Lu declined because of these reasons. But it would be too lonely to live by himself in his residence, so he invited Yin Meixing and Tang Yiyi to stay with him instead alongside their small staff of assistants, m team, and a bodyguard.

    Yin Meixing hesitated but her manager, Tang Yiyi, immediately agreed. Tang Yiyi also thought that Iris and Jin Liwei''s residence would be too crowded.

    In addition, Tang Yiyi didn''t want Yin Meixing to stay under the same roof as Jin Chonglin. Although the superstar already had a girlfriend, his reputation as a womanizer was still deeply ingrained in everyone''s minds. She didn''t want to risk her new managed artist''s reputation.

    Yin Meixing could only follow her manager''s arrangements. To be honest, she also preferred a quieter ce to stay.

    Grandpa Lu was also a very amusing old gentleman. Most importantly, he held many decades'' worth of wisdom that Yin Meixing greatly appreciated.

    At Iris and Jin Liwei''s residence, things looked livelier. Everyone was bustling about arranging rooms for everyone. Those who couldn''t fit in the house were arranged to stay at a nearby hotel instead.

    The other half of the Shadow Winds team that Lu Zihao sent to protect his sister and twin nephews in advance had also met up with Iris and Jin Liwei. They coordinated with the others and even held a meeting to ensure that Iris and the babies were always protected.

    Of course, Jin Liwei''s own security team covered their whole family''s protection. But the Shadow Winds team was adamant that they were onlymanded to protect the mother and sons, not the father.

    Jin Liwei was unaffected. He was already used to it when dealing with his reborn brother-inw.

    As a superstar, Jin Chonglin also brought his own entourage including a team of bodyguards. More than protecting him, he wanted them to protect his girlfriend, Chen Fei, instead. He didn''t want any crazy fans bullying his girl. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Because the ne touched down in Paris in the evening, everyone grabbed a quick dinner before resting for the night.

    The next day, everyone met up for breakfast at Iris and Jin Liwei''s residence. Clover Chua also came to meet up with everyone.

    "Sis!" Dom ran to his younger sister with open arms.

    "Big Bro!" Clover also did the same thing.

    Everyone expected the brother and sister to give each other a big hug.

    But no.

    Instead, Dom reached out to his sister''s hair and pulled it while Clover bit his arm.

    "I miss you so much, you little witch!" Dom said while shaking his sister''s head. "Ouch, that hurts! Are you a dog?!"

    "I also miss you so much, you half-horse!" Clover replied while elbowing his stomach. "Let go of my hair! I just had it straight-permed!"

    Yin Meixing, who came with Tang Yiyi for breakfast, looked anxious watching the Chua siblings hurting each other. She nced at thepletely rxed Iris drinking tea.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha were by their mother''s feet cheering for their Uncle Dom and Auntie Clover.

    The naughty Little Mochi was even punching the air with his little fists. Nobody knew who he was cheering for. Was it his Uncle Dom or Auntie Clover?

    Little Matcha was more subtle, but Iris could see her son''s excitement in his eyes.

    "How about someone stop them before someone gets injured?" Yin Meixing asked.

    Iris smiled at her. "Why? The brother and sister are expressing their affection for each other."

    "Affection?" Yin Meixing was confused.

    She was about to stop the siblings from fighting but Dom and Clover already stopped fighting. Clover was trying to dig out her brother''s pockets, looking for money.

    "Why do you want to take my money?!" Dom asked. "You''re the one who''s a COO!"

    "I know you''re richer than me!" Clover retorted.

    Dom smirked. "That''s because my boss helps me invest my money!"

    "Give me my pasalubong!" "You little witch!" Dom was about to smack his sister but Clover dodged. "Your pasalubong is in my room!"

    "Yay!"

    Clover was about to go to her brother''s room but she didn''t know where it was located in the big house. Then she saw everyone watching them. She felt a bit embarrassed but not too much.

    "Hi, Boss! Hi, Little Mochi and Little Matcha!"

    She also greeted Yin Meixing, Tang Yiyi, and the others. The twins'' adorable appearance made her forget her original intention to raid her brother''s room. She yed with the twins instead, causing Little Mochi to squeal with delight and Little Matcha to smile.

    Iris smiled and nced at Yin Meixing. "See? I told you that they were just being affectionate with each other."

    "Oh." Yin Meixing smiled back with relief.

    Iris looked at everyone. "Let''s go eat now."

    "Where''s Grandpa Lu, Prince Lin Lin, and Sis Fei?" Clover asked while carrying Little Mochi.

    Dom also carried Little Matcha.

    "Grandpa Lu and my brother-inw are chatting with my husband somewhere while drinking coffee," Iris replied. "Chen Fei should be in her room working remotely."

    "I''ll call her!" Clover said and carried the baby away.

    "Hey,e here! You don''t know her room!" Dom followed with Little Matcha.

    Iris chuckled. Then she said to Yin Meixing, "Both you and my brother-inw are free today. You can also tour around the city if you want but should rest well for tomorrow. Theunch is on the third day but I''ll bring both of you to the site tomorrow for rehearsals."

    "Sir Lu said that he''ll tour us around Paris after breakfast," Tang Yiyi answered for Yin Meixing.

    "That''s good, then." Iris nodded.

    "Don''t worry, Xin," Tang Yiyi said. "I''ll make sure that Meixing rests well for tomorrow."

 Chapter 1502 Flowers to the Most Beautiful Woman

    Chapter 1502 Flowers to the Most Beautiful Woman

    After breakfast, Jin Liwei followed his wife with their children to Libert¨¦. Clover followed Iris'' instructions to renovate the entire ce.

    The original perfumepany, Sang Bleu, catered to aristocrats andter to wealthy members of high society. Its location could be considered as a private historical site. There were very few improvements throughout the centuries. It might look good on the outside, but if one looked closely at the little details inside, it was obvious that it was slowly falling apart.

    Iris didn''t want to move thepany to a new location. She liked the charm of the historical property.

    This was why it took a long time for Libert¨¦ tounch because of the extensive renovations. In addition, they waited for Clover Chua toplete her studies and training in France, so that she could better manage thepany in the right direction.

    Although Iris originally didn''t feel thrilled about being gifted the now-defunct perfumery by her husband, she couldn''t help but feel excited now that everything waspleted after a long wait.

    This was also a new business territory that she hadn''t explored before. She couldn''t wait to apply all the things that she learned from Grandpa Lu and the tips shared by her Cross Academy friend, AJ Zheneres.

    Of course, Clover was the one managing thepany, but Iris still had the final say in the business'' major decisions and general direction.

    Back to the present, Iris listened to Clover as she inspected her newly rebranded perfumery, Libert¨¦.

    There was a subtle rxing fragrance in the air that would put everyone walking inside at ease. It wasn''t like other perfumeries where the different scents all shed against each other, causing difort to customers if they stayed inside for too long.

    Iris nodded in appreciation before ncing at her family following behind.

    Jin Liwei smiled at her while holding their twins in each hand.

    Little Mochi was curious about everything, pointing here and there, wanting to touch things. Little Matcha was quieter but he also looked around with great interest.

    "The ambience is lovely," Irismented. "Great job, Clover."

    "Ehehe." Clover tucked a lock of her recently straight-permed hair behind an ear. "We''ll do a garden party for theunch. Come, I''ll show you what it looks like so far."

    Iris and her family followed Clover outside at the back.

    There were already workers doing the final touches on the decorations. It looked simple yet elegant at the same time. The beautiful blooms and artful, flowy drapes made people feel like they were walking in paradise.

    "Yah yah yah!" Little Mochi became even more excited at the beautiful scenery.

    Even Little Matcha fought against his father''s hold, wanting to run where therge flowers were being arranged.

    Cloverughed at the twins'' antics. She spoke in French to a worker, "Please give the babies some flowers."

    Iris'' brows lifted in pleasant surprise. "Your French has improved a lot."

    "Thanks, Boss! I have no choice but to learn it because otherwise, some French people would snub me if I didn''t. Most are nice, but some are just in rude."

    The worker obeyed Clover''s instruction and picked a few flowers for the babies.

    Little Mochi squealed when he held therge blooms. He raised a hand and waited.

    "Yah? Yah yah?!" He looked annoyed and urged the person to hurry up.

    The amused worker also raised a hand, unsure of what the baby wanted. Little Mochi tapped his little palm on the big hand, high-fiving the worker who already had his heart stolen by the adorable twins.

    Little Matcha also grinned at the worker as thanks before shakily walking to his mother. Then the baby gave the flowers to Iris. "Mama!"

    Iris felt like an arrow of love had shot itself straight to her heart. She squatted down and hugged Little Matcha while clutching the flowers.

    "Thank you, Little Matcha! Mama is so happy! Why is my son so cute?! Whose son is this adorable child? Mine, of course!"

    "As expected of my son," Jin Liwei also couldn''t help butment, pleased that the son who looked the most like him also inherited his tendency to prioritize the most important woman in their life.

    Little Mochi watched them. He nced at the flowers in his hands, and then at his mother. He looked back and forth between the flowers and his mother like this for a few moments. He looked so torn that the sight made everyone watching himugh.

    Jin Liwei shook his head at his other son but didn''t force Little Mochi to give up the flowers for his mother like his twin brother.

    In the end, though, Little Mochi still did somethingmendable.

    He chose the biggest flower from among the bunch in his hands and offered it to his mother.

    Then he looked at her with his big, innocent eyes, as if saying, "Are you happy? Now where are my hugs and kisses?"

    Irisughed and pulled Little Mochi, giving her adorable twin sons a big hug together and plenty of kisses.

    Of course, she didn''t disdain her eldest twin son for only giving her one flower. At least, he gave her one¡ªand the biggest flower to boot. It showed that she, the mother, was still the most important in his little heart.

    Little Mochi''s personality wasn''t as selflesspared to his younger twin brother, Little Matcha, who would give everything he had to her like their father.

    It was already impressive that Little Mochi knew how to share, even for something that he wanted to hog all for himself.

    Iris continued to shower her sons with love, causing them to giggle in delight.

    "Ahem."

    She looked up and saw her husband also presenting her with a bunch of flowers. Clover and the workers watching the family were snickering by the side.

    "What are you doing?" Iris asked him, feeling a bit speechless.

    Why was her husband trying topete with his own sons? N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Flowers to the most beautiful woman in my life," Jin Liwei said.

    Theints got swallowed in her throat. Her cheeks turned pink.

    "You¡­" She sighed beforeughing in helplessness. "You all are really father and sons."

 Chapter 1503 One Big Family

    Chapter 1503 One Big Family

    Although Iris was exasperated at her husband for trying topete with his own sons, she still felt sweet in her heart.

    It was good that the workers were already finishing up the decorations, so there were extra flowers to give away. Before Iris could offer to buy lunch to everyone working hard on preparing for theunch party, Clover had already arranged it.

    Iris gave her an approving smile.

    Clover felt good about receiving the boss'' validation. She worked her a** off to learn apletely differentnguage and train to be an effective COO for Libert¨¦.

    But the most difficult part was living so far away from everyone else. At least, when she lived with her brother and the boss'' family in China, she could always hop on a ne and arrive home in the Philippines in just a few hours.

    Living in France which was on another continent was apletely different matter. Not to mention that she now lived in apletely different time zone from her loved ones. Evenmunicating in real time needed to be scheduled to prevent disturbing each other''s sleep.

    Now that she reached this point, however, Clover felt that all her sacrifices had been all worth it.

    More than feeling happy for her own achievements, she felt happier now that her family was so proud of her.

    Iris and her family along with Clover and their huge security team walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

    There were only a few Chinese tourists and overseas residents on the streets who recognized Iris. Some recognized her, some didn''t. And from those who recognized her, not many dared approach her.

    But the real fans were a different matter. They moved to approach, hesitated, moved again to approach, but hesitated yet once again.

    Seeing the numerous bodyguards surrounding her, they felt intimidated. However, Iris weed them. She waved them over and began interacting with her fans on the streets of Paris.

    "Boss Iris, I''m a ck Star. I love your music and I can''t wait for your new album with Enrique!"

    She smiled at the fan while signing an autograph. "Thank you for your support. Want to take a photo?"

    "Yes! Oh my gosh, yes!"

    A bodyguard took several photos of Iris with the fan.

    Then Iris did the same thing to the other fans. One of them nced at the tall, handsome man by the side who had a cold and intimidating aura while carrying two babies in each arm.

    "Uhm, Boss Iris. Are those Little Mochi and Little Matcha?"

    Iris smiled. "Yes, my sons."

    As usual, the babies wore superhero masks while outside. Although they weren''t in their home country, Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t want to risk exposing their children''s appearances to the public eye.

    The fan got excited and looked at the twins longer with sparkling eyes. Fortunately, the fan was a real ck Star. She respected the twins'' privacy and didn''t ask to see what they looked like behind the superhero masks.

    "Clover, do we still have extra invitations?" Iris asked all of a sudden.

    "Yes, I still have some here."

    Clover knew exactly what Iris nned, so she fished out some invitations from her handbag and handed them to the ck Stars.

    Iris felt pleased that Clover understood her intentions just like Dom. This was one of the reasons why she adored and respected the Chua family so much. They always went above and beyond in everything they did from their work to treating their loved ones well.

    "Oh my gosh, is this what I think it is?" a fan asked while looking at the beautifully sealed envelope in amazed disbelief.

    "It''s an invitation for Libert¨¦''sunch party," Iris said. "If you are all avable that day, pleasee and take a look."

    The fans squealed together.

    "Thank you, Boss Iris!"

    "Wow! I didn''t expect that I''d be able toe to the exclusiveunch party. I was going to wait the day after theunch to visit the Libert¨¦ store and buy the ''Eve'' perfume in person, but now I can actually attend theunch!"

    "I also want to buy ''Eve'' for myself, then I''m going to give ''Valliance'' and ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' to my parents when I fly home."

    Iris told them, "If youe to theunch party, you''ll receive those perfumes as giveaways." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "What?! Really?!"

    "We''re going toe!"

    "Of course, we''reing! Boss Iris, thank you so much! We won''t hold you and your family any longer. Have a happy lunch!"

    The ck Stars waved goodbye to Iris and the others before respectfully leaving.

    Irisughed and waved at them.

    Inside the restaurant, they ate lunch. Their group upied several tables in a more private corner. Although people were curious about their identities, nobody came to bother them.

    Iris noticed something about Clover''s expression.

    "What''s wrong?" she asked.

    Clover sighed. "I''m just thinking¡­It''s a pity that my parents won''t be able toe here and attend Libert¨¦''sunch party."

    Iris patted her back. "Sorry about that. I think it''s partly my fault that Auntie Reina and Uncle Domingo are unable toe to Paris this time. They''re too busy helping out your sister, Linda, for the uingunch of Orchidia Philippines."

    "Don''t apologize, boss! I just spoke with my familyst night. They''re only too happy to help you out in setting up Orchidia Philippines."

    Iris felt amused. "What ''help me out''? They''re not my employees but my partners instead. Your family owns 60% of Orchidia Philippines. Even without your country''s stringentws on foreign businesses, I''ll still be willing to give that much stake to your family. From Dom, to you, and your entire Chua family¡ªall of you have been so good to me and my family. We''re all one, big family now, right?"

    "Yes, boss!" Clover beamed but her eyes turned moist. "But what our family has achieved today is inrge part because of you and your kindness to us. You allowed my big brother to rmend our entire family to you, and you epted all of us with open arms."

 Chapter 1504 Too Much Sweetness

    Chapter 1504 Too Much Sweetness

    Iris replied, "Even if I help you, but if you don''t work hard, you still won''t achieve anything in life. It''s because of your family''s work ethics andmendable values that you are all bing more and more sessful together. Linda has great business acumen. That''s why I chose her to lead Orchidia Philippines. I also know that Auntie Reina and Uncle Domingo will help guide her in the right direction."

    "Yes, my second elder sister is feeling very motivated right now, I heard," Clover said. "My eldest sister also wants to help with Orchidia Philippines, but my brother-inw is also busy setting up his own business. So she''s helping out her husband instead."

    This time, Jin Liwei joined the conversation. "Paul has good leadership qualities. It''s a shame for him to continue working for anotherpany as a real estate agent when he can earn so much more by himself."

    Clover nodded. "Yes. That''s what my eldest sister said. That my brother-inw didn''t dare to set up his ownpany before due to ack of capital and also because of all the risks. But thanks to sir boss, he''s now able to build his own construction and developmentpany."

    Iris turned to her husband and asked, "How much stake do you own in Paul''spany again?"

    "Jin Corporation owns 10% and our family''s LX Holdings owns 30%," he said. "I decided to include Jin Corporation in the equation because it can give material assistance and even manpower to Paul especially when he''s just starting out."

    "Marjorie is also business-minded," Irismented. "I''m sure that she''ll do well in helping her husband in their newpany."

    Clover agreed while helping wipe sauce from Little Mochi''s mouth. "But my sister isn''t helping out her husband full-time. She actually prefers to be a stay-at-home mom." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "That''s fine, too." Iris held a small ss of water for Little Matcha to drink. "Not everyone finds fulfillment in having a career. To others, focusing on just the family and raising children makes them happier. I still respect that. Now that I''m a mother, I understand the need for other mothers to constantly be with their children. It''s just that I''m the type of person who needs to have my own career to feelplete. Fortunately, I have a husband who supports me in my choice."

    Jin Liwei''s eyes softened.

    "Ah! Did I just get bitten by ants? Where did theye from? Oh, right! From the sweetness!"

    Iris chuckled at Clover''s dramatic quip. "You''re just like your brother, Dom. Oh. Speaking of Dom, let''s order some soup to take home for him. I wonder if his stomach ache is gone now."

    Clover snorted. "That''s what he gets for eating too many escargots for breakfast! He didn''t leave enough for me! Hmph! Our mother always says that he must have been a starving ghost before he reincarnated into her only son."

    "Mama!" Little Mochi interrupted their conversation.

    "What is it, baby?" Iris asked her son.

    Little Mochi pointed at a bright red macaron on the dessert te.

    "Okay, here you go." She gave him one.

    Little Mochi gave Iris a wet kiss on the cheek as thanks.

    "Jin Haoyu, you can only eat one macaron," Jin Liwei said.

    "Yah yah, Dada!" Little Mochi grinned at him and deliberately blinked his eyes, trying to use his cuteness to melt his strict father''s heart.

    It didn''t work.

    "I said just one, so you can only eat one," Jin Liwei repeated.

    Little Mochi pouted but his attention was soon diverted by the macaron''s sweet taste. He ignored his father and began enjoying his single macaron. Maybe he could ask his Auntie Clover to sneak him another pieceter behind his father''s back.

    Little Matcha pulled Iris'' sleeve next and pointed at an apple slice. "Mama."

    Of course, Iris gave him one. Like his brother, Little Matcha gave his mother a kiss as a thanks.

    This time, Jin Liwei didn''t say anything about limiting his son''s food intake. His son could eat an entire apple, and not just a single slice, if he wanted.

    Iris tore a small piece of a green macaron and offered it to her younger twin son. "Want this?"

    Little Matcha hesitated before nodding.

    She fed her son the small macaron piece. "Yummy?"

    Little Matcha nodded, his eyes crinkling while he smiled.

    "More?" she asked.

    This time, he shook his head and continued nibbling on the apple slice instead.

    Iris couldn''t help but sigh while murmuring, "Little Matcha doesn''t like eating sweets that much. Exactly just like you."

    Jin Liwei smiled. "He might look and act like me, but he also inherited a lot from you. He sleeps deeply like you. He also tilts his head to the side like you sometimes especially when he''s focused on something. He also got his generosity from you. All our children''s best qualities, they got it from you."

    Before Iris could respond, Clover grabbed her chest and pretended to faint slowly. "Ah, help me! I''m dying from too much sweetness! Where is my big bro when I need him?! I need him to give me life support because I''m drowning in the sea of other people''s love!"

    "Yah yah yah!" Little Mochi pped his hands andughed at his Auntie Clover''s antics.

    Little Matcha, on the other hand, was wholly focused on nibbling his apple slice. He had already seen simr scenes with his Uncle Dom. It wasn''t anything new. He was more interested in watching new things like Uncle Dom and Auntie Clover''s yfight this morning. If their yfighting happened too often, then he would lose interest again.

    Everyone finished eating lunch and left the restaurant. Clover returned to Libert¨¦ to continue overseeing the preparations for theunch party.

    Jin Liwei brought his family to tour around Paris. Only two bodyguards remained by their sides all the time while the others spread themselves around them to make it less obvious.

    The family avoided crowded ces and the obvious tourist traps, focusing instead on spending quality time together.

    By the end of their afternoon trip, the bodyguards were carrying many shopping bags.

    The twins were already asleep when Iris and Jin Liwei returned to their Paris residence.

 Chapter 1505 Twin Stars Haoyu and Lingyu

    Chapter 1505 Twin Stars Haoyu and Lingyu

    The next morning, Iris and Dom brought Jin Chonglin and Yin Meixing to Libert¨¦ for rehearsals. Chen Fei came as well to see how Clover ran the perfumery. Tang Yiyi also apanied Yin Meixing.

    The twins were left with their father, Jin Liwei. The father and sons went together with Grandpa Lu to visit some of the old man''s friends.

    These friends were, of course, all powerful people. Most were billionaires like them. Many were Cross Academy alumni like Grandpa Lu.

    It was a given that everyone showered Jin Liwei''s twin sons with generous gifts upon meeting them. Most were material presents like toys and money. But there were more impressive ones like an astronomer who dered that he would name the twin stars he recently discovered after the twins¡ªHaoyu and Lingyu.

    Jin Liwei was relieved that the astronomer chose to use his sons'' proper names and not their nicknames. What would the sciencemunity say if they studied the stars named Mochi and Matcha?

    Although he didn''t care about what other people thought about himself, he didn''t want anyone criticizing his family, especially his wife and their children.

    Jin Liwei was like a fish in the water while interacting with these powerful people because he, himself, was one.

    His eldest twin son, Little Mochi, was once again showing off to the group of new grandpas and uncles. He loved the attention they were giving him.

    As for his other son, Little Matcha wasn''t interested in showing off. He went ahead to check the gifts they received from everyone, looking for something new that he hadn''t yet seen before.

    The grandpas and uncles, all of them from different backgrounds and nationalities, immediately adored the twins. They were well-behaved and didn''t throw tantrums at all.

    Both Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu enjoyed listening to others praising the twins. They felt proud, especially Grandpa Lu who couldn''t stop himself from showing photos of his own blood-rted great-grandbabies on his phone to the others.

    "If only my Lu great-grandbabies were old enough, I would have brought them for all of you to see! They''re so cute and big and sturdy, just like their father when I raised him as a fat baby back in the day. Bahahaha!"

    The others humoured the old man and asked about his Lu great-grandsons, making Grandpa Lu more excited. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "You mustn''t forget to give presents to my great-grandbabies! You must also name stars after them!"

    The astronomer sweated after hearing his friend Lu Jianhong''s request¡­no, it was a demand.

    A French magnate asked Jin Liwei, "Liam, your wife''sunch party for her perfumery is tomorrow, right?"

    "Yes," Jin Liwei replied while personally wiping drool from Little Mochi''s face with a silk handkerchief. "Are youing?"

    "Yes, I received an invitation. Several of your wife''spanies are members of Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork. Although I''m not personally an alumnus, myte business partner was, so ourpany still remains a member of the academy''s businesswork up to this day. We have to help each other out."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "I thank you in my wife''s stead. She''s busy preparing for theunch tomorrow."

    "I can''t wait to meet your wife in person. Sir Lu has a high opinion of her. Well, even I already have a high opinion of her, especially after learning that she''s a Cross Academy student. I have high respect for certified geniuses like her."

    Even more than hearing praises for his children, Jin Liwei loved listening to praises about his wife. His usually cold and indifferent expression considerably softened.

    The French magnate leaned closer and whispered, "I know that men of our status like to keep¡­er, females by the side, if you know what I mean."

    Jin Liwei frowned but the other man didn''t notice.

    "I also keep a few mistresses now and then, but for you, I suggest that you be more careful. Cross Academy students and alumni are a very tight-knit group. If you offend one of them, you offend all of them. You might love your wife now, but what will happen in the future when the love fades?"

    This time, Jin Liwei''s entire expression had turned ugly. Unfortunately, the other man continued to gossip with him in a low voice, unaware of the approaching danger.

    "You must have several contingency ns when that happens. Listen to me, if Sir Lu Jianhong passes away, Jin Corporation might have to depend on your wife''s status to remain in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork. Even mypany''s membership will have to be reviewed next year because my business partner died. My point is that even when you''re tempted to cheat, don''t make it too obvious, or you''ll suffer a lot. Not only you but your entirepany, too. There are too many benefits to remaining in the academy''s exclusive businesswork. Don''t f*ck it up¡ªouch!"

    Little Matcha, who had long noticed his father''s fury at the Frenchman, threw a solid metal toy car hard. The French magnate immediately developed a bump on his forehead.

    The baby wasn''t satisfied yet. He clenched his little hands into fists and prepared to pummel the Frenchman, but Jin Liwei quickly carried his son away.

    Little Matcha struggled in his father''s arms, wanting to beat up the Frenchman. He didn''t know what the Frenchman did, but nobody was allowed to upset his father, except for his mother!

    "Daddy is fine now, Jin Lingyu," Jin Liwei soothed his son. "Don''t be mad anymore."

    Jin Liwei had been furious at the French magnate''s ugly words just now. He was about to shut up the other man, but after seeing his own son acting so protective of him, his fury cooled down a lot. He even felt amused.

    Little Matcha''s personality was usually silent and indifferent, but when truly angered, he had a worse temper than his twin brother. Even Little Mochi would sometimes feel scared and immediately stop acting naughty when Little Matcha lost his temper.

    Little Matcha was extremely protective of their family just like Jin Liwei. He understood this son of his because Little Matcha resembled him the most.

    "What happened?!" Grandpa Lu''s voice boomed in the room. He pointed at the Frenchman. "What did you do to my great-grandson?! Tell me, I want to know!"

 Chapter 1506 Little Mochiâ€™s Impromptu Performance

    Chapter 1506 Little Mochi¡¯s Impromptu Performance

    The French magnate realized that things had suddenly gone awry. More than the painful bump on his forehead, he was more afraid of offending anyone in this room. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Although he was a veritable billionaire and respected almost wherever he went, that was mainly because of thepany that he founded with his now-deceased partner. If hispany failed the review next year and lost its membership in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork, then hispany''s shares would lose a lot of value. His billionaire status would be in danger then.

    This was why he was doing everything to ingratiate himself to this group. Once he learned that Sir Lu had invited many of his old friends, he used his connections to attend today''s gathering.

    He chose Liam Jin (Jin Liwei) as the easiest target because, like him, the man wasn''t a Cross Academy student or alumnus. He thought that by advising Liam about juicy topics, the Asian billionaire would feel closer to him. He never expected that the opposite would happen.

    His face and neck heated up under the other men''s judgmental and using gazes. Each of these men was even wealthier and more powerful than him, especially the Cross Academy alumni.

    Little Matcha shrieked in his father''s arms, looking like he still wanted to have another go at the Frenchman.

    "Jin Lingyu, that''s enough," Jin Liwei told his son in a firm tone.

    Little Matcha looked extremely unwilling, but he still obeyed his father. He went silent but his expression told another story.

    If looks could kill, then the French magnate would¡ªnever mind. Little Matcha was still a baby and even his re looked adorable. Nobody would die from it.

    Now the baby was sulking because his father reprimanded him in front of others. Little Matcha was just protecting his father, yet why was he the one scolded?

    He couldn''t bear the injustice. His lips trembled. His eyes watered.

    Seeing this, Jin Liwei panicked a little inside, but his expression remained cold and intimidating. He was about to hurry out of the room, nning tofort his son first before dealing with the French magnate, but his other son beat him to it.

    "Cha cha, yah yah yah!" (Matcha, don''t cry!) Little Mochi reached up to his twin brother in their father''s arms, but their father was too tall. He couldn''t reach his brother at all.

    He looked around and saw a golden toy microphone among their presents. He picked it up and called out to his brother.

    "Yah, Cha cha!" (Look at me, Matcha!)

    Little Matcha''s attention was soon diverted. He watched his twin brother with teary eyes and pouting lips, waiting to see what Little Mochi nned to do.

    Everyone also watched Little Mochi with interest.

    Even Grandpa Lu stopped ring at the Frenchman to focus on his great-grandbaby instead.

    Little Mochi struck a cool pose¡ªhe thought it was cool, but in the eyes of those watching him, it was cute instead. He closed his eyes before slowly lifting the mic to his mouth. Next, he raised his hand and pointed it at the ceiling. Then he opened his eyes.

    "Yah yah yah~ Yayayaya! Yaaaaaaaah~"

    Little Mochi started singing in baby babbles while shaking his body, wriggling like an itchy worm, dancing to the beat of the music that only he could hear.

    "Hehehe." Little Matcha soon giggled.

    The others also startedughing including the French magnate, but Grandpa Lu red at them, silently warning them not to make his precious great-grandbaby feel embarrassed.

    Little Mochi didn''t notice at all. He was too absorbed in his impromptu performance.

    Jin Liwei''s lips curled up, amusement filling his eyes. He recognized some of his son''s rough, clumsy movements as steps in one of his wife''s performances.

    Within his arms, Little Matcha had already forgotten about his earlier feelings of fury and injustice. He rested his head on his father''s shoulder while watching his twin brother''s performance, giggling andughing.

    "Yah yah¡­YAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

    After his performance, Little Mochi nced at everyone for a couple of seconds before performing a shaky curtsy bow. Unfortunately, his feet were still too unstable. He stumbled and fell on his butt.

    He was about to cry but heard everyone''s apuse. He looked around and saw Daddy, Great-Grandpa Lu, and the new grandpas and uncles all pping and cheering for him.

    "Hehehe." He beamed and nced at his twin brother.

    The twins looked at each other andughed.

    Little Mochi pped for himself, loving all the attention. But most importantly, he was happy that his twin brother finally stopped crying and started smiling again.

    Then he looked at his father, obviously waiting for praise.

    Jin Liwei chuckled. He walked to his eldest twin son and rubbed the baby''s fluffy head.

    "Good job, Jin Haoyu."

    Little Mochi beamed, showing off his two-and-a-half teeth.

    "Oh no! I forgot to take a video!" Grandpa Lu suddenly said.

    From behind the group, a slightly nerdy new billionaire raised a hand. "I¡­I took a video¡­."

    "What?!" Grandpa Lu immediately marched to the younger man. "Really? Let this old man see!"

    The nerdy billionaire handed his phone to the old man.

    "Bahahaha! You did well! Thanks!" Grandpa Lu was delighted and "patted" the younger man''s back.

    The nerdy billionaire almost puked out his lungs. But he pretended to be okay, adjusting his now crooked eyesses with trembling fingers. He didn''t want to appear weak in front of this group of powerful men.

    "Y-you''re very"¡ªcough¡ª"wee, Sir Lu."

    While the grandpas were admiring Little Mochi''s video performance on the phone, Jin Liwei carried both of his sons in his embrace. Then he faced the French magnate with a cold expression.

    This time, Little Matcha no longer paid the man any attention. He was wholly focused on Little Mochi. The twins were too busy babbling with each other, seemingly talking about what happened.

    "First of all, I want you to know that I don''t appreciate your talk about keeping mistresses," Jin Liwei said in a clear voice.

    The other men in the room all went silent as they strained their ears trying to listen to the conversation.

 Chapter 1507 Real Man

    Chapter 1507 Real Man

    Jin Liwei deliberately spoke louder so that everyone could hear what he was about to say. He didn''t want simr incidents to happen in the future.

    "I love my wife," he continued saying. "I''ve always loved her, and I''m certain that I''ll continue loving her for a lifetime. I don''t care about what many of you think, what your experiences are, whether you believe me or not. I don''t care at all. But I want you all to know that I take my marriage vows very seriously.

    "I''ve never kept mistresses in my life, and I''m not interested in keeping any in the future. Just the thought makes me nauseous. There is only one woman that I want to be with¡ªand that''s my wife. Only her.

    "I know that many of you might scoff at me for saying this, but I. DON''T. GIVE. A. F*CK. My wife, my kids, my whole family are the most important to me. Even if Jin Corporation''s membership in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork expires one day, I''m not afraid. My family will always remain my number one priority."

    Jin Liwei nced at each and every man in the room, not allowing the grinning Grandpa Lu to distract him, before finally settling his heavy gaze on the French magnate.

    "So I want you to know that I feel extremely insulted whenever someone assumes that I''ll follow the ''norm'' of men of our status in disrespecting my beloved wife by cheating on her with other women who can''t even match to a single toenail of hers.

    "I already have the best woman, so why would I choose to lower my standards? For the thrill? For the prestige among a bunch of immoral cheaters? To boast to other men, proving to them that I''m more masculine by sleeping around with so many different women? Bullsh*t.

    "I don''t know about all of you, but my criteria of being a real man ispletely different. I feel the most masculine whenever my wife, our kids, and our entire family all trust me to always be there for them no matter what. It doesn''t matter if I''m wealthy or not, as long as I can protect my wife and our beautiful family, then I believe that I am a real man."

    Jin Liwei was interrupted by loud pping.

    "Bravo!" Grandpa Lu''s voice boomed in the room. "Well said, my boy! Well said!"

    The other older men, most of them widowers, joined in the apuse. The others, though, wore awkward smiles. Jin Liwei''s words felt like arrows shooting at their now wounded pride.

    Although they didn''t agree with Jin Liwei''s words, they didn''t dare to openly protest, especially now that the older ones approved and supported his so-called monogamous values.

    The older gentlemen were people that they couldn''t offend. They literally had the wealth and power to affect the trajectory of several nations. If politicians were the visible leaders on the surface, then men like Sir Lu Jianhong and his old friends could be considered the real decision-makers.

    Fortunately, they didn''t exercise this dangerous power often. Now most of them were enjoying their retirement life free from most worries.

    Even so, the dangers of a dormant volcano still remained. In fact, dormant volcanoes were more dangerous when they exploded.

    The other men who felt stung by Jin Liwei''s words wisely kept their mouths shut and pretended to be unaffected.

    Like what he just said, Jin Liwei didn''t give a f*ck about other people''s opinions. It was none of his business if they kept mistresses or not, but they shouldn''t force their own immoral values on him either. That was something that he would never tolerate.

    Even just the thought of cheating on his wife was unforgivable.

    His wife was the biggest miracle and blessing that ever happened to his life. If anyone dared to destroy his marriage, then he would be the first one to fight to the death.

    Jin Liwei looked at the French magnate. "I''ll let it slide this time because my son injured you. We''re even now."

    The French man felt the growing bump on his forehead. It throbbed painfully like the beating of his anxious heart.

    "Yes, yes, of course we are even now!" he said in a hurried tone. "But I must still express my deepest apologies to you, Liam, your wife, kids, and family. me my ignorance. Please don''t hold it against me. I am genuinely sorry about my careless insults."

    Jin Liwei looked at him with cold eyes for a few seconds before saying, "Up to you."

    The French man released a sigh and smiled at everyone. "If you will all excuse me while I have my injury treated first. I apologize for today. I''ll make it up to you next time, especially to you, Liam, and your family."

    After apologizing, the man left in a hurry.

    "Hmph!" Grandpa Lu snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "Even if Liwei my boy doesn''t hold a grudge, I do! How dare that pipsqueak even suggest that Liwei my boy cheat on my precious disciple?! Does he think that I''m dead?! Tell me, I want to know!"

    One of his old friends tried calming him down. "Now, now, Jianhong. Don''t be too angry. Our hearts aren''t as strong as when we were younger."

    "Hmph!"

    "Jianhong, you haven''t changed a bit. You still like interfering in other people''s affairs. Let the youngsters solve their own problems. I think that Liam defended himself and his wife quite beautifully. You don''t need to fight your sessors'' battles anymore. They can do it themselves."

    "Hmph!"

    Although Grandpa Lu still looked angry, his expression had somewhat improved.

    Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu stayed for another half an hour before leaving when the twins started bing restless. It was almost time for lunch, and they wanted to eat with their family, not with this bunch of men. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Don''t forget toe to my disciple''sunch party tomorrow!" Grandpa Lu reminded them, especially his old friends, before leaving.

    Jin Liwei carried his twins in each arm while Grandpa Lu continuedining about the Frenchman. The bodyguards surrounded them, carrying the twins'' many presents.

 Chapter 1508 Apology Gifts

    Chapter 1508 Apology Gifts

    Iris Long didn''t know that someone tried instigating her husband to cheat on her behind her back.

    Jin Liwei had asked Grandpa Lu in advance not to reveal it because he wanted to be the one to say it to his own wife. Grandpa Lu grumbled for a bit before agreeing.

    Iris only learned about the incidentter that afternoon when the French magnate sent his own butler to their residence and presented her with several beautifully packaged boxes and a sealed envelope addressed to her.

    "What''s going on?" she asked her husband.

    Jin Liwei didn''t reply right away. He looked at the gifts with a cold expression, but in the end, he told his wife, "Open the letter first and see what it says."

    Iris observed his expression but couldn''t guess what happened. So she opened the sealed envelope.

    It read:

    "Dearest Madame Jin,

    "I would like to express my deepest apologies for offending your husband, your younger twin son, and in doing so, offending you as well."

    Iris read this part and frowned. "What happened?"

    "Just continue reading it, love."

    So she continued reading. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "I must admit that my ignorance and utter disregard of your husband''s loyalty to you and your marriagended me in this quagmire."

    Iris raised an eyebrow and nced at her husband. She was now beginning to have an idea why both her husband and Grandpa Lu had arrived home earlier with ugly expressions. So something really did happen while they went out together.

    She continued reading the letter.

    "I do hope that Madame Jin would find it in your heart to forgive me for my transgressions and still allow me to attend your perfumery''sunch party tomorrow. I swear upon my name that I would never do anything to offend you, Mr. Jin, and your family ever again.

    "I pray that you and Mr. Jin would give me another chance to prove my sincerity."

    Iris finished reading the letter and feltplicated. Along with the letter, the French magnate sent them many gifts of apology.

    Most were jewelry for her. There were also presents for the twins, and of course, Jin Liwei. Butpared to the mother and sons, Jin Liwei received less.

    However, this also meant that the Frenchman knew how to apologize. He targeted Jin Liwei''s weakness which was his wife and kids. He directly addressed the apology letter to Iris instead of Jin Liwei who the Frenchman apparently offended.

    "Should I return all of these?" she asked her husband.

    "Keep them," Jin Liwei said. "Doesn''t matter if you use them or not. Just ept the apology. We can use him for Libert¨¦''s smoother development here in France."

    "Okay, I''ll listen to you," Iris told the French magnate''s butler that she epted his master''s apology.

    The butler gave them a respectful bow before leaving to report to his master, the French magnate.

    Iris faced her husband. "Now tell me exactly what happened. I want to know every little detail."

    Jin Liwei told her everything, not keeping anything from her.

    "What?! Little Matcha injured the man with a toy car?!"

    "Love, our son is just very protective," he said, trying to calm her down. "He tried to defend me."

    She sighed. "I know that. And I''m proud of him for being protective. But his temper¡­" She released another sigh, heavier this time. "Little Matcha might look exactly like you and inherited most of your personality, but his vindictiveness is definitely a Vetrov trait. We must guide him carefully, Liwei. I don''t want his vindictive personality to be too extreme. It won''t be good for our baby''s future."

    Jin Liwei finally realized why she reacted so rmed. And indeed, she was right. Little Matcha''s vindictiveness was like Niki and Bacon''s. If not guided properly, then it would be detrimental to Little Matcha''s personality development.

    "En. Don''t worry, love. We''ll guide him and all our children properly."

    He continued telling her about the rest of the incident. When he reached the part where Little Mochi gave an impromptu performance in an attempt to distract his twin brother, Irisughed.

    "Where''s the video? I want to see."

    Jin Liwei was now smiling, too. "I have it here. Grandpa Lu got it from a new tech billionaire who smartly recorded our son''s performance while the rest of us were distracted."

    The husband and wifeughed and enjoyed watching their eldest twin son''s adorable performance.

    "He''s definitely imitating my ''Passionate mes'' stage performance with your brother," Irismented with augh. "Look. These are my moves and these ones are Brother Chonglin''s. Little Mochi is just a baby, but he can already remember some dance steps. Isn''t our son amazing, darling?"

    "Of course." Jin Liwei kissed her cheek. "The mom is an amazing genius, so of course the son is also amazing."

    Iris'' cheeks turned pink. She giggled and leaned on his chest. The couple watched their son''s performance video a few more times, not getting tired of it at all.

    Iris sent Little Mochi''s performance video to their family''s group chat.

    As expected, enthusiastic praises once again flooded the chat with Grandpa Lu iming credit for taking the video, although he wasn''t the one who recorded it. Well, technically, he was the one who asked the nerdy billionaire to send him the video, so yes, he still had the right to take credit for it.

    Later, Iris asked Dom and some of the French household staff to organize the French magnate''s apology gifts.

    "Boss, there''s something in this box," Dom said.

    Iris took it. It was a thin box, almost like a wooden folder. She opened it. Inside was a property deed for a castle in the Western part of France. It was now titled to her, Long Xin.

    Iris Long gasped. "What in the world?! Liwei, take a look at this!"

    Jin Liwei studied it.

    "We can''t take this," she said.

    He shrugged. "It''s part of his apology. Just take it."

    She hesitated and examined the property deed again.

    "It''s a good location," hemented.

    She sighed. "I really profited today."

    He kissed her forehead. "It''s what you deserve. That man made a terrible mistake. He should pay for it."

 Chapter 1509 Miracle of a Caged Bird Rising Like a Phoenix

    Chapter 1509 Miracle of a Caged Bird Rising Like a Phoenix

    Iris had no time to overthink the French magnate''s overly generous apology gifts because Ashandra Knightson called and informed her that she had arrived in Paris.

    Iris was happy to see her friend again, so she invited the genius artist to her family''s Parisian residence.

    Ashandra arrived by dinner time. The two friends greeted each other with a tight hug.

    "Thank you foring!" Iris said.

    "Anything for you, Xin," Ashandra replied. "The others would havee here as well but they''re too busy."

    "That''s okay. I''m already happy that you came." Iris pulled her inside the house.

    Ashandra greeted Jin Liwei, Dom, and of course, the adorable twins.

    "Ah, Mochi and Matcha!" Ashandra hugged the twins and refused to put them down.

    The twins were familiar with the gorgeous foreign woman. Although they couldn''t remember thest time that they met the foreign woman in person, they were familiar with their Auntie Asha because their mother would sometimes video call her.

    Little Mochi was especially drawn to Ashandra''s beautiful face. He couldn''t stop looking at her.

    "Asha, yah!" Little Mochi said while tapping her face.

    Ashandra''s big beautiful eyes crinkled with joy. "Yes! I''m your Auntie Asha." Then she looked at Little Matcha.

    The other baby hid his face on her neck but peeked at her shyly. Even the usually indifferent Little Matcha couldn''t resist Ashandra Knightson''s piercing beauty.

    Iris and Domughed at the twins'' reactions.

    Jin Liwei''s expression didn''t change much, but his gaze was soft when he looked at his sons. Unlike most other men, he wasn''t affected by Ashandra Knightson''s beauty at all.

    Although she was mesmerizing like a goddess of darkness, he preferred his wife''s captivatingly bright beauty.

    Besides, he had seen exactly two women who were more beautiful than Ashandra Knightson. One was his wife''s current appearance as Long Xin and the other was his wife''s past appearance as Evelina Vetrova.

    His wife''s past appearance as Evelina Vetrova was definitely the kind of out-of-this-world type of beauty.

    And this wasn''t only because she was now his wife. Even if he took their rtionship out of the equation, he would still think that Evelina Vetrova was the most beautiful woman in the world.

    Jin Liwei caught himself and immediately put a stop to the dangerous direction of his thoughts. His wife''s past life had always been a painful memory for her.

    Even though he had always wanted to have been there for Evelina, he knew that was impossible. For one, his wife''s past life background was too dangerous even for a powerful billionaire like him. And finally, he wouldn''t trade the life that the two of them built together in her current reborn life for anything in the world.

    He forced himself to focus on the present and helped his wife wee one of her dear friends from Cross Academy.

    Ashandra loved Iris'' twins dearly. If possible, she wanted to carry the babies even while eating dinner. But Little Mochi and Little Matcha had their own high chairs.

    The dinner table tonight wasn''t as crowdedpared to the previous meals. It was only Iris, Jin Liwei, their twins, Dom, and their guest Ashandra eating tonight.

    Jin Chonglin took Chen Fei out on a date night. Grandpa Lu stayed in his own residence with Yin Meixing and Tang Yiyi. Clover was at her own ce, probably still busy preparing for tomorrow''sunch party.

    Ashandra''s arrival tonight was unexpected.

    Even Iris didn''t know the actual time or day that her friend woulde, or if Ashandra would even be able toe in the first ce or not.

    If the others knew, then maybe they wouldn''t have made their own ns for the evening and helped Iris wee her friend. All of them weren''t strangers to Ashandra Knightson, anyway.

    Even without the others, Ashandra didn''t mind. She liked Iris'' family and friends, but she preferred spending one-on-one time with her dear friend.

    After dinner, Jin Liwei and Dom carried the babies away to sleep, leaving Iris and Ashandra to catch up with each other.

    The twodies sat in a courtyard-style garden with a ss roof. Ashandra sipped a cocktail with low alcohol content while Iris had a mocktail of tropical fruit juices.

    "You have a beautiful family, Xin," Ashandramented with a sigh.

    "Yes, I do." Iris'' smile shone under the moonlight.

    "I feel a bit envious," Ashandra confessed.

    Iris nced at her.

    Ashandra sighed again. "You know that I married very young at neen but I still ended up divorcing that son of a b*tch because he was¡ªno, I hear that he''s still a serial womanizer and a total gaslighter. Even now, I still haveplicated feelings about my ex. Maybe that''s why I still fail to have long-term romantic rtionships until now."

    Iris settled into a morefortable position on her seat. She didn''t say anything and continued listening to her friend.

    Ashandra continued, "We are proud Cross Academy students, certified geniuses. We can reach the top of the world just with our status as Cross Academy students alone. But what''s the use of extremely high IQ if we''re all alone in the world? That''s how I feel sometimes, Xin. No, I feel like that more often these days. Perhaps because I see you and our other friends building your own beautiful families¡ªwell, except for Florence, she''s too busy travelling and making the world a better ce with her sustainable inventions¡ªbut you know what I mean."

    "I know what you mean," Iris whispered and thought about her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    What she experienced in her past life should be worse than what Ashandra Knightson was feeling right now. At least, Ashandra was free to do whatever she wanted to do, go wherever she wanted to go, and decide how to live her life on her own terms.

    Evelina Vetrova didn''t have that right at all. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    She was a caged bird dying little by little each day.

    Then she died.

    But unexpectedly, a miracle urred.

    She was reborn into a different body.

    Now she felt like a phoenix that had risen from the ashes.

    This life of hers as Iris Long was something that she would never trade for anything in the world, especially the beautiful family she built with Jin Liwei.

 Chapter 1510 Most Exclusive Club in the World

    Chapter 1510 Most Exclusive Club in the World

    Ashandra Knightson felt the atmosphere quickly turning negative. She sniffed and downed her entire cocktail before giving Iris a sheepish smile.

    "Sorry about that, Xin. I had been feeling mncholic for a while now. Mytest artworks that I recentlypleted deal with family, rtionships, and roots. So exposing myself to that kind of theme every single day has made me reflect on my own situation."

    Iris patted her hand. "That''s fine, Ashandra. No need to apologize. Are those artworks the ones that will be included in the exhibition here in Paris?"

    "Yes. Oh, right! You reminded me. I''ll give you the invitation to my art exhibitionter. It will be after yourunch party, so the two events shouldn''t conflict. I hope that you cane."

    "I would love to attend your art exhibition, Ashandra."

    The friends chatted for a while more before Iris walked the slightly drunk Ashandra to the guest room. Ashandra didn''t forget to give Iris an invitation to her art exhibition before retiring for the night.

    Iris walked along the hallway. When she reached the corner, she bumped into her husband who had been waiting there for her. She wasn''t surprised because she had already heard him following behind her and her friend.

    "Why haven''t you slept yet?" she asked, allowing him to support her while walking.

    "I can''t sleep without you," Jin Liwei replied. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    She smiled. "The twins?"

    "Sleeping like pigs."

    This time, sheughed out loud. Then she stopped walking.

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei looked at her with a puzzled smile.

    She reached out to him with arms wide open. "I want you to carry me, husband."

    He chuckled. "Your wish is mymand, wife."

    Iris'' squeal echoed in the hallways.

    The night-shift bodyguards and household staff patrolling the residence looked the other way and pretended that they were air.

    ###

    The next day, everyone got ready for Libert¨¦''sunch party.

    It wasn''t a grandunch at the scale of Orchidia Beauty before, but the level of its quiet luxury was on another level.

    Even though the media presence was muted, the level of attendees was like watching the guests arriving for a royal wedding.

    Billionaires, multi-millionaires, academics, scientists, athletes, A-list celebrities, aristocrats, and so many other people whose status and influence were undeniable arrived one after another.

    Their arrival was also quite low-key that the surrounding areas operated as usual without knowing that so many VIPs were congregating nearby.

    Only those who received invitations could attend today''sunch party. The actual grand opening of Libert¨¦ for the general public was tomorrow.

    Uniformed ushers weed the guests and led them to their assigned tables. Before the party started, everyone was free to roam around, check out the newly renovated perfumery, and chat with other equally renowned people.

    Libert¨¦ was able to invite all these impressive people because of its membership in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork. Of course, only insiders were aware of Libert¨¦''s widely sought-after status in such an exclusivework.

    The public only knew that Sang Blue, the perfume maker to European royalty and aristocracy for centuries before its bankruptcy, had been purchased by a Chinese billionaire and then gifted to his wife.

    Now the wife rebranded the perfumery into apany called Libert¨¦.

    The guests, especially those who only tagged along as plus-ones like the trophy wives and girlfriends, were very curious about the Chinese billionaire and his lucky wife. They didn''t know much about the couple from the East.

    But they heard that the Chinese billionaire''s wife was also a celebrity¡ªa singer, in fact.

    The celebrities who became trophy wives among the guests couldn''t wait to meet another creature of the same ilk as them. Whether they could be friends (stic or not) remained to be seen.

    The French magnate who offended Jin Liwei yesterday morning knew what was going on in his new wife''s mind. Artfully styled hair covered the bump on his forehead.

    "Whatever you''re thinking of, stop it," he warned her.

    The young model pouted while clinging to his arm. "I heard that Liam Jin''s wife is a singer. I just want to be friends with her."

    The Frenchman sighed. "If you could be friends with her, then that would be a blessing to me. But don''t go around thinking that you and Madame Jin are the same kind of people. Even before marrying Liam Jin, Iris Long is already a wealthy heiress."

    His new wife continued to pout and even rolled her eyes. "So what if she''s an heiress? She''s still a singer, isn''t she?"

    He red at her. "You don''t know anything! Don''t look down on Madame Jin and embarrass me or I swear I''ll divorce you right here, right now!"

    She immediately sobered up. There was no way she would allow her billionaire husband to divorce her before she could milk him of all the benefits that he could provide her. She hadn''t even bore him a child yet! The child would be her lifetime meal ticket to the world of unimaginable wealth and luxury even after a divorce.

    "Let me tell you that it''s better for us to offend Liam than his wife," the French magnate lectured his new, young wife in a low voice. "See that group over there? That''s the most powerful group in this room right now. My deceased business partner was once a part of their group. I reached my current sess because I tagged along with him and rubbed shoulders with those people. They''re at the top of the hierarchy when ites to everything in the world. Liam is a billionaire, but he''s not a direct member of that group. But you know who is a direct member?"

    His model wife shook her head.

    "His wife," he told her. "Iris Long has more right to interact with that group than her husband, Liam Jin. He might be wealthier in terms of pre-marital assets, but she''s more powerful when ites to connections."

    The woman appeared confused.

    He continued, "In short, Iris Long or Madame Jin is a direct member of the most exclusive club in the world. So never everpare yourself to her. She''spletely different from you. She might be a singer, but her IQ is definitely many times higher than both of oursbined. So you better behave yourself when we meet her and her husbandter!"

 Chapter 1511 LibertÃ© Launches (Part I)

    Chapter 1511 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part I)

    Before the French magnate could continue lecturing his wife, Iris Long and Jin Liwei''s group finally arrived at theunch party.

    Walking beside the couple was Sir Lu Jianhong, one of the original founders of Jin Corporation. The superstar Jin Chonglin, CEO Liam Jin''s younger brother, also came with his current girlfriend.

    The guests heard that Jin Chonglin''s current girlfriend was the Chief Operating Officer of Madame Jin''s otherpany.

    The female guests took a not-so-subtle look at Chen Fei.

    Their expressions said that they didn''t think much of her appearance. Based on physical appearance alone, she certainly didn''t match up to Jin Chonglin.

    However, those who weren''t quick to judge based on appearance alone could sense that the woman was as sharp as an ice pick. Her eyes didn''t waver despite the judgmental gazes directed toward her.

    Like Iris Long, natural confidence oozed from the woman named Chen Fei.

    Maybe this was the reason why the yboy superstar, Jin Chonglin, fell for a rather in-looking woman. She was different from his exes, that was for sure.

    There was also another rather in-looking womaning in with the group. She was Yin Meixing, Libert¨¦''s first female ambassador besides Madame Jin. She came with her manager.

    Most of the guests attending today were frequent attendees of the yearly Sommet International Film Festival. The year when the Chinese film, "Strong Yet Broken", won so many awards was probably the first time that they heard about Iris Long.

    She hadn''t married CEO Jin yet at that time, but they were already together. Some remembered that it was the first time that the couple revealed their rtionship to the public.

    It was reported that CEO Jin created an independent film productionpany just to support his girlfriend at that time who signed a contract to make the soundtrack for the indie film about the life story of a Chinese Paralympian''s mother.

    In the end, "Strong Yet Broken" broke through to be that year''s dark horse. Iris Long also won the Best Soundtrack Award for her work in the film.

    Simrly, Yin Meixing, the woman who yed the film''s female lead, the Chinese Paralympian''s mother, also won the most-coveted Best Actress Award.

    This must be why despite looking rather in in appearance, especially when standing beside the drop-dead gorgeous Iris Long, Yin Meixing carried herself with a kind of quiet elegance and confidence.

    She might look in at first nce, but the more one looked at her, the more beautiful she appeared. She was that kind of subtle beauty.

    As the owner of Libert¨¦, Iris Long, now Madame Jin, took the initiative in greeting all the guests. Libert¨¦''s CEO, Clover Chua, joined her in weing everyone before the official start of theunch party.

    CEO Liam Jin, Iris Long''s billionaire husband and the one who apparently bought the bankrupted Sang Bleu before gifting it to his beloved wife, took on the role of loyal escort, apanying her wherever she went. He also allowed her to lead the conversations and only spoke when asked directly.

    He was definitely different from most of the billionaires who loved being the star of the show and only regarded their wives/girlfriends/mistresses as arm candies.

    Due to his cue of letting his wife take the lead, the others followed suit and spoke directly to Madame Jin.

    The guests who weren''t familiar with her kept their opinions to themselves.

    No matter what they thought about her, she was still a billionaire''s wife and the host of today''s event.

    This party wasn''t just forunching a rebranded perfumery, it was a highly sought-afterworking event for the members of high society''s top of the pyramid.

    In addition, the legendary Sir Lu Jianhong introduced Iris Long as his beloved disciple. Once they heard him say this, their attitudes toward Iris Long instantly became many times better.

    After personally greeting the guests, Iris'' group headed to their own tables. Grandpa Lu joined his old friends at a nearby table instead.

    "My big bro didn''te today?" Clover asked.

    "Dom volunteered to stay home to watch the twins with the nannies," Iris replied. "Little Mochi refused to let me and his dad leave, so Dom had to step in and try to distract him. Little Matcha is fine, but you know Little Mochi when he gets clingy."

    Clover nodded. She was about toment, but her assistant gestured at her from near the stage. ncing at her wristwatch, she gasped a little. "Boss, it''s almost time!"

    "Go on, then. Let''s start on time." Iris smiled, excitement glittering in her eyes.

    Clover beamed at her before hurrying to follow her assistant. The ushers gently led everyone back to their assigned tables. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    This time, Ashandra Knightson arrived by herself, instantly redirecting all the attention to her.

    She was a famous living artist known for her genius integration of various traditional and newly invented art forms. Another thing that she was famous for besides being a best-selling genius artist was her beauty.

    Various men had attempted to pursue her, even after knowing that she was a divorc¨¦e, but nobody seeded. Sure, she would asionally date someone, but these rtionships remained mostly casual and none of them developed into something more.

    The guests watched as Ashandra Knightson followed the usher who guided her directly to the same table as Iris Long and CEO Liam Jin.

    A few were aware that Iris Long and Ashandra Knightson were good friends, especially those who were connected to Cross Academy, but most of the guests weren''t aware of this fact.

    They thought that Ashandra Knightson came because of CEO Jin''s connections.

    Unfortunately, their expectations were dashed as Ashandra greeted Iris Long, giving her a tight hug. The two acted like sisters. She barely noticed CEO Jin beside Iris Long.

    "Am Ite?" Ashandra asked as she sat down beside Iris.

    "No, you''re just in time," Iris told her. "Clover is doing ast-minute check backstage before starting theunch."

    Ashandra let out a relieved sigh. "I''m sorry for not getting ready on time. I must have been drunker than I thoughtst night. I didn''t want you to bete waiting for me to finish getting ready, so I let you leave earlier."

 Chapter 1512 LibertÃ© Launches (Part II)

    Chapter 1512 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part II)

    "Don''t worry about it," Iris said. "I''m already happy you came to see me here in Paris. You attending my perfumery''sunch party today is just a bonus."

    Ashandra smiled at her.

    Their chat was interrupted when Clover stepped on the small stage and called for everyone''s attention in French.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Clover Chua and I am Libert¨¦''s Chief Operating Officer. On behalf of our beautiful owner, Madame Iris Long, and everyone on our team, I wee you all to Libert¨¦!"

    Everyone pped their hands.

    Clover thanked the guests foring. She also spoke about thepany''s origins as the former Sang Bleu, the perfume maker for European royalty and aristocrats, and how their rebranding would foster more inclusivity instead of exclusivity.

    "Of course, this doesn''t mean that Libert¨¦ makes cheap perfumes marketed to just anyone. That''s not the case at all. We strive to maintain the original brand''s ssic elegance while epting clients who wish to wear our fragrances regardless of their backgrounds.

    "Here in Libert¨¦, we believe that a person''s true worth is not based on status upon birth but on personal achievements instead. We believe in integrity, authenticity, confidence, courage, and freedom to pursue our passions.

    "As a Libert¨¦ customer, our fragrances will be a tool to augment your sess, whatever your definition of sess is. We hope that one day, our Libert¨¦ fragrances will be synonymous with sess¡ªinclusive sess. Because¡­here in ourpany, our motto is ''Respecting traditions, working toward progress. We are Libert¨¦!'' n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Thank you very much!"

    Clover ended her speech amidst a standing ovation.

    Iris was the first one to stand up. Of course, her husband, Jin Liwei, followed her to stand up almost simultaneously. The others followed the couple''s lead and stood up as well, pping, and cheering for Clover''s wonderful speech.

    "Clover did an excellent job, don''t you think?" Iris asked.

    "En." Jin Liwei said but his soft gaze was directed at his wife, not at Clover or anyone else.

    Ashandra, who was watching them, snickered. Still, shemented, "Clover''s French has improved a lot. Thest time I met her, she could barely speak French."

    "She has worked very hard to reach where she is now," Iris said proudly. "She told me that it was very difficult to integrate into French society at the beginning, but she never gave up. She followed through with my directive and seeded with flying colours. All the values that she spoke of in her speech are values that she and her family all possess. That''s why I think that she''s perfect to lead Libert¨¦."

    Ashandra nodded, agreeing with her. "By the way, Xin, has Libert¨¦ been approved to join our academy''s exclusive businesswork yet?"

    "Yes," Iris said. "Libert¨¦''s approval was faster this time because Orchidia was already a member. Actually, Libert¨¦ is technically a subsidiary of Orchidia, but because of its origins as the former Sang Blue, Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork treated it as apletely separatepany and required me to do a new application for it."

    "I see. That''s good, then. I was going to offer to be one of Libert¨¦''s references for its application, but if it''s already a member, then there''s no need."

    Iris smiled and squeezed her friend''s arm in gratitude. "What do you mean there''s no need? I''ll definitely ask you next time, Ashandra. You''re not allowed to reject me! Grandpa Lu, AJ, and Amanpio were my references for Libert¨¦''s application because they were involved in helping me with it in one way or another."

    Ashandra chuckled. "Alright, Xin. I''ll be waiting for you to ask me next time."

    They were interrupted by Clover calling Iris to the stage.

    "Now please help me wee our beautiful owner and the brains behind Libert¨¦, Madame Iris Long!"

    Jin Liwei was the first one to p this time. He offered his arm to Iris. She took it. Then he escorted her to the stage, helping her up so she didn''t trip, and waiting for her dutifully by the steps. He did everything smoothly while staying in the background, allowing his wife to take the spotlight every step of the way.

    Iris smiled at Clover who handed her the microphone.

    Standing on this stage felt different than any other stage that she stood in before. The stage was simple, small, and not very high. However, it somehow felt grander.

    This must be because this was the first time that Iris was officiallyunching a business internationally. The faces watching her from below were also all in a different leaguepared to when sheunched Orchidia Beauty back then.

    The guests today belonged to the true game makers in the world. Of course, the ones who attended today were only a small percentage, but this was already a good start. In the future, her businesses would also be more renowned, as she was determined to also grow more powerful and influential in her own right.

    This kind of feeling, where the whole world felt like it was within her grasp, was something that she had never experienced before in her past life as Evelina Vetrova.

    It was an amazing feeling, so liberating!

    She loved every second of it.

    Most importantly, she nced at the man standing below the stage, waiting for her, always staying by her side no matter what. The look of love in her husband''s eyes was unmistakable, and so was the pride.

    He looked so proud watching her achieve all of her dreams one by one as if they were also his own dreams.

    Iris lifted the mic close to her lips and spoke.

    "I won''t waste your time with a long, boring speech, especially after listening to COO Chua''s wonderful words. She exined Libert¨¦''s mission, vision, and core values very well.

    "But I still want to say three important things.

    "First, I want to thank my family and friends¡ªespecially my husband for always being there for me and supporting my endeavours no matter what. Our children, for giving me endless joy and the motivation to be the best version of myself all the time. To my loved ones, thank you very much!"

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 Chapter 1513 LibertÃ© Launches (Part III)

    Chapter 1513 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part III)

    Iris continued, "Second, I want to thank each and every one of you foring today. Your time and effort mean so much to us here at Libert¨¦. I hope that you''ll all enjoy our brand-new fragrances and find something that suits you.

    "And finally, I promise that Libert¨¦ will continue to formte high-quality yet sustainable fragrances that embody ourpany''s mission, vision, and core values. Traditions are something we respect but don''t allow to constrain us. We''ll always work toward progress for a sustainable future.

    "Once again, as the owner of Libert¨¦, thank you very much! Please enjoy!"

    Jin Liwei led the apuse for his wife. Grandpa Lu, Ashandra Knightson, and the members of their group all stood up while pping, leading the others to do the same.

    Iris didn''t leave the stage yet. Instead, she called Clover to stand beside her. Then she spoke to the audience once again.

    "And now, let me introduce you to our brand-new Libert¨¦ fragrances!

    "First up is my signature fragrance which I named ''Eve''. It has a delicate yet lingering scent that will instantly make you memorable to every person you meet. It is elegant and feminine, clean and fresh. Yet underneath all of these, it exudes confidence and hidden power. It is my signature fragrance for a reason.

    "We''ve tested ''Eve'' on various people and found out that each individual will smell slightly different. This molecr-level technology allows the fragrance to adjust itself to your own physiology. It will never be too overpowering regardless of how much you spray it on yourself. This is the time that less is more is definitely better.It is very close to having a custom-made perfume just for you without actually ordering a perfume customized for you.

    "For this reason, ''Eve'' can also be your signature scent without you smelling exactly the same as me or the person who has the same perfume. In short, ''Eve'' will make you smell like the best version of yourself all the time!"

    A pretty biracial model¡ªChinese-French¡ªwheeled a tray containing different bottles of the "Eve" perfume. The bottles were in different sizes and shapes depending on the concentrations. There were six in total.

    The first one was the regr perfume with 30% strength which Iris took from the pretty biracial model and spritzed it on herself in front of everyone.

    The second one was Eau de Perfume with 15% strength.

    The third one was Eau de Toilette with 10% strength.

    The fourth one was Eau de Cologne with 4% strength.

    The fifth one was Eau Fraiche with 2.5% strength.

    And finally, perfume oil with 20% strength. Clover took this and showed everyone how to apply it to her pulse points.

    Therge monitor beside the stage showed a video advertisement featuring Iris Long ying the piano on top of a ssyke on the eve of a full moon.

    She wore a long white dress, flowing around the contours of her hourss figure. Her smooth skin shone under the moonlight which seemed to glow even more as the melody reached crescendo.

    Then she stopped ying. The sound of water was rxing, yet her very presence alone suggested that there was a powerful presence underneath the deceptively calmke.

    She bent down and touched theke''s surface with her fingers. As she lifted her hand up, she fished out a perfume bottle of "Eve". She caressed it and sprayed it on herself.

    Theke''s surface trembled. Thenrge waves suddenly rushed upward, enveloping Iris Long and the grand piano.

    After a tense moment, the waves broke apart, revealing Iris Long. This time, she was now wearing a vibrant red dress. The full moon was nowhere to be seen in the night sky, but instead, her phoenix eyes appeared to glow like moonlight.

    She seemed to stare at the audience''s soul, before speaking in a low, sultry voice.

    "Be the best version of yourself, ''Eve'' by Libert¨¦".

    The advertisement ended.

    "Bravo!" Ashandra Knightson cheered, surprising many.

    Ashandra wasn''t known for being lively in public. In fact, she had a cold and mysterious reputation which many attributed to her entricity as a genius artist. It was very rare for people to see her appearing cheerful in front of so many people.

    "Bravo, my girl! Bahahaha! As expected of my disciple!" Grandpa Lu''s proud voice boomed next.

    Inparison, CEO Jin''s apuse appeared tame, but his expression betrayed the pride he felt for his wife. The clear doting in his eyes made some of the wives/girlfriends/lovers among the guests envious.

    Now they could see that CEO Jin was a man truly in love with his wife. The way he looked at her right now was like someone who looked at his entire world.

    How enviable!

    Iris nodded in approval, her lips arched in a pleased smile. This was also the first time that she watched the full, edited ad. It was beautifully done. Bravo, indeed. N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "Thank you very much," she said.

    "Next, please help me introduce our first female ambassador besides me, the international award-winning actress, Yin Meixing!"

    The spotlight shone on the woman. She stood up amongst the apuse and walked lightly yet confidently up the stage.

    This time, Jin Liwei stepped back and allowed an usher to help Yin Meixing up the stage instead. Although his wife normally wouldn''t mind, he refused to touch another woman no matter how innocent the interaction was.

    He didn''t want others who were watching to make up stories about him and another woman. He only belonged to one woman alone, and that was his wife. Being linked to another woman was out of the question!

    Clover led Yin Meixing to stand centre stage beside Iris.

    Yin Meixing might look rather in at first nce, but she didn''t lose out in aura standing beside the drop-dead gorgeous and charismatic Iris Long. She exuded calmness and confidence that made people want to like her.

    Iris continued, "I chose Yin Meixing to endorse our regr perfume for females because I believe that her calm, peaceful, and dignified character is the perfect personification of serenity. This perfume, ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'', is light and calming. It''s dreamy, yet still ssy and feminine at the same time."

 Chapter 1514 LibertÃ© Launches (Part IV)

    Chapter 1514 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part IV)

    "If you are a woman who wants relief from the stresses of life, then this perfume is perfect for you. It will help you find an inner bnce by incorporating aromatherapy wherever you go, while at the same time, making you smell amazing. In time, not only will you radiate calmness, but the people around you will also feel calmer," Iris said.

    "Of course, its aromatherapy properties are only secondary. The main purpose of ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' will remain as perfume. Whether you believe in aromatherapy or not, ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' is perfect for the calm, peaceful, and dignified woman like Yin Meixing!"

    Like before, the pretty biracial model wheeled the "S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦" perfume set with six different types ording to concentration. Unlike the boldly beautiful ss bottle design of Iris'' signature fragrance, "Eve", the bottle design for "S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦" is simpler yet still elegant.

    Yin Meixing took the regr perfume bottle from the pretty biracial model and sprayed it on herself.

    Both Iris and Clover also took a different perfume type from the presentation tray and held it for the audience to see. This time, though, they didn''t apply it on themselves because they already smelled like "Eve".

    Iris then handed the microphone to Yin Meixing.

    "Thank you very much, Madame Iris Long and Mademoiselle Clover Chua for entrusting me with this amazing responsibility as your first female ambassador for your regr perfume line," Yin Meixing said in Mandarin Chinese.

    Iris tranted her words into French for the audience.

    Yin Meixing continued, "I feel very much honoured to be the face of ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' fragrance. For me, the most important is taking things one step at a time. I''m also an ambitious person, but I''m not the type to take bold risks all the time. I prefer to be consistent, prioritizing my inner peace at all costs. If you''re a woman like me, then I hope that you also enjoy ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' as much as I do.

    "I''ve also personally tested the aromatherapy benefits of ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦''. It''s true! It really does help me in calming my nerves. The effects are, of course, not instant. It''s more of a gradual effect. I likeparing it to when you''re drinking a cup of chamomile tea. In fact, I''ve been told that one of the most important ingredients in formting this perfume is derived from the chamomile nt.

    "I love that this perfume is not overpowering. It''s very subtle, perfect for someone like me who has a more steady personality. It''s perfect for everyday wear. I also love its name, ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦''. I think it''s something that we all wish we could have¡ªa serene state of mind¡ªespecially in today''s world where everyone seems to be hustling and bustling just to survive.

    "Once again, thank you to Madame Iris Long and Mademoiselle Clover Chua for giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank everyone foring all the way here in Paris today. Please enjoy ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦''! And I hope that you''ll also attain a more serene state of mind just like me."

    Iris finished interpreting Yin Meixing''s speech in French. The guests gave a warm round of apuse.

    Then therge monitor beside the stage yed a new video advertisement. This time, it featured Yin Meixing working in a film set. Once the director yelled "Cut", she snapped out of her character. She waved goodbye to her co-stars, the director, and the other staff, while her assistants surrounded her.

    One person put a coat over her shoulders. Another gave her a water bottle with a straw to drink. The scene changed. Yin Meixing was now posing for a magazine cover. Next, she was hurrying to attend the red carpet for a movie premiere. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    At the end of her work day, she went home. Once she closed her front door, all the noise stopped.

    Quiet settled in.

    She removed her makeup, showered, and put on pyjamas. She felt exhausted, barely able to keep her eyes open.

    Then she saw a gift box on her dressing table with Libert¨¦''s logo on it. She opened it and took out a bottle of ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' perfume.

    She sprayed it on and fell asleep on her soft bed with a peaceful smile on her face.

    The sun rose.

    She woke up with a smile.

    Another busy day, but this time, the pace was visibly slowed down. She was able to enjoy small moments of quiet in between rushing to the next job.

    As she climbed on the steps of a private jet, she looked at the camera and said, "Find your inner peace, ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' by Libert¨¦."

    Another warm round of apuse.

    "Well done on the ad," Iris whispered to Yin Meixing while everyone pped their hands.

    Yin Meixing couldn''t stop smiling. This was also the first time that she watched the full, edited advertisement. It looked so ssy, definitely a league higher than any endorsements that she had ever done before.

    "Thank you, Iris," she whispered, her voice a bit shaky.

    Iris held her hand and squeezed it. "You''re the perfect ambassador for ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦''. Thank you for epting this endorsement for Libert¨¦."

    "There''s no way that I''ll miss out on this kind of exciting offer."

    The two womenughed.

    Iris spoke through the microphone again.

    "And now, please help me wee our first male ambassador, the one and the only JIN CHONGLIN!!!"

    The apuse this time was overwhelming. The guests stood up one by one, not waiting for other people''s lead. They all did it on their own ord.

    A superstar was indeed different.

    Jin Chonglin kissed his girlfriend in the mouth in front of everyone. Since this was in France, nobody batted an eye at his actions.

    However, there were plenty of female guests who cast envious eyes on Chen Fei as Jin Chonglin left her and walked to the stage.

    Jin Chonglin paused by the steps to offer a fist bump to his elder brother.

    Jin Liwei nced down at his younger brother''s fist before reluctantly returning the fist bump. They were in front of other people. It was not good to embarrass his own brother in public.

    Jin Chonglin beamed, acting as if he achieved something big from this tiny action with his brother.

    Jin Liwei, on the other hand, fought the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he focused on his beautiful wife standing gloriously on the stage.

    Ah, yes. His wife was the best.

    Always.

 Chapter 1515 LibertÃ© Launches (Part V)

    Chapter 1515 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part V)

    Jin Chonglin arrived on the stage and stood beside Iris Long with Yin Meixing on Iris'' other side.

    Tang Yiyi requested during yesterday''s rehearsal that he and Yin Meixing never stand beside each other. He didn''t take offence because he knew about his yboy reputation. In fact, he agreed with Manager Tang''s request.

    Now that he was in a rtionship with Chen Fei, he didn''t want to be romantically linked to another woman anymore. Besides being constantly threatened that he would be castrated by his girlfriend, Jin Chonglin himself took the initiative to avoid unnecessary interactions with other women.

    The Jin Chonglin today waspletely different from the old Jin Chonglin.

    And it was clear that he had changed because of his girlfriend, Chen Fei.

    Other people might not believe in his loyalty, but he would all show them!

    Hmph!

    He was a superstar. There was nothing that he, Prince Lin Lin, couldn''t do once he put his mind to it.

    If he could be a superstar, then he could also be a loyal lover!

    Even Chen Fei didn''tpletely believe in him. Hmph! He would show her, the nerve of the woman! n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Despite his thoughts, Jin Chonglin showed everyone a professional smile, showcasing to everyone why he was a superstar. His every movement was designed to attract attention.

    Below the stage, by the steps, Jin Liwei watched his younger brother preening like a peacock in front of everyone on the stage.

    The image reminded him of his eldest twin son, Little Mochi, who loved showing off.

    He couldn''t help but sigh. Jin Liwei hoped that Little Mochi wouldn''t grow up into a yboy like his Uncle Lin Lin. If he did, then Jin Liwei wouldn''t care how old the boy would be at that time, he would smack Little Mochi''s butt for ying with girls'' feelings.

    Just imagining the possibility was enough to give Jin Liwei a headache. Being a parent sure wasn''t easy, even for a powerful billionaire CEO like him.

    Once again, he focused his eyes on his beautiful wife on the stage, deliberately ignoring his younger brother. His wife had always been a sight for sore eyes.

    He rxed after staring at his wife.

    The others who were observing him deepened their conclusions that CEO Liam Jin was truly hopelessly in love with his wife. Just look at him ogling Madame Jin in front of everyone.

    If he and Madame Jin had been strangers instead, then he might even be arrested for the way he looked at her.

    Some men even felt embarrassed for him. The women, however, felt envious of Iris Long.

    At the moment, both Iris Long and Chen Fei became the objects of envy for most of the female guests at theunch party. They wished that their men would also look at them like how the Jin brothers looked at their lovers.

    Back on the stage, Iris waited until the apuse died down before talking about Jin Chonglin and the perfume for males that he was endorsing.

    "I chose Jin Chonglin to be the face of our first perfume for males not because he''s my brother-inw¡ª"

    Her words caused a chuckle among the audience.

    "¡ªbut because he''s Jin Chonglin, an icon in the music, acting, and modelling industries, whose influence is undeniable across the globe. A superstar like him is not afraid to explore new things, not shy to exercise his creativity, and is always ready to take on new challenges.

    "That''s why I think that he''s the perfect face for our brand-new perfume for males, ''Vaince''! This fragrance, ''Vaince'', is bold and strong yet clean and cool at the same time. It''s the type that will grab your attention right away but will continue to attract you, making you want to know more about the person.

    "In addition, ''Vaince'' isn''t just mere perfume. It also functions as a fresh body deodorant that neutralizes any bad odours through our patented molecr-level technology. Our clinical studies reveal amazing results! Although ''Vaince'' won''t stop you from sweating, it will leave you smelling fresh for up to 24 hours with just a one-time application.

    "But even without the deodorant function, ''Vaince'' is perfect for a man like Jin Chonglin who''s always confidently brave in anything he does. This is a fragrance that definitely makes a good first impression."

    Everyone pped their hands. Many felt interested in the deodorant function.

    The Cross Academy alumni were especially intrigued. They couldn''t wait for the speeches to end so that they could ask Iris or Clover about the interesting features of each of the three perfumes.

    Jin Chonglin took the microphone from Iris.

    He smiled, sending a couple of guests swooning from his overwhelming charisma.

    Fortunately, most of the guests here had etiquette training. It wasn''t easy for them to lose decorum in public.

    He spoke in English. Iris didn''t bother tranting his words into French. Most of the people here could understand English, anyway.

    "Thank you to my sister-inw, Chairman Iris Long, and to COO Clover Chua¡­."

    He thanked a bunch of important people and talked about "Vaince", tempting everyone to buy it.

    Honestly, Iris was impressed by how much he could bullsh*t and make it sound so appealing. Although "Vaince" was truly impressive, the way Jin Chonglin talked about it just made it sound like the fountain of youth.

    And based on the audience''s reactions, they believed him!

    Iris swore that she would surpass Jin Chonglin one day. Not because she wanted to spout bullsh*t to other people, but because she wanted to reach the highest level as a celebrity.

    This had been one of her dreams for so long.

    It was also the original Long Xin''s dream¡ªfor many people from all over the world to love and admire her.

    Iris swore that she would achieve both of their dreams one day.

    After Jin Chonglin''s appealing bullsh*t, the pretty biracial model once again wheeled six different types of the "Vailliance" perfume. He took the blue-ck ss bottle and sprayed it on himself.

    Then his video advertisement also started ying on therge monitor beside the stage.

 Chapter 1516 LibertÃ© Launches (Part VI)

    Chapter 1516 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part VI)

    The setting was a Chinese martial arts cultivation fantasy. Jin Chonglin yed a poor, dirty peasant who was forced to beg just to survive.

    Then one day, he heard that if someone presented a specific rare herb to the nearest cultivation sect, then that person would be automatically admitted. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change his life for the better.

    He gathered his courage, brought his meagre belongings, and entered the forest filled with dangerous beasts. Inside the dark forest, he encountered many dangers and barely survived by the skin of his teeth.

    The CGI was incredible, seamlessly melding fantasy and Jin Chonglin''s cool fighting choreography.

    Then he encountered a group of vicious people ganging up on a weak little girl. From the robes that the people wore, they were members of the cultivation sect that he wanted to attend.

    He didn''t even hesitate to fight them, trying his best to rescue the bullied child. Unfortunately, he was too weak. As a normal mortal, he couldn''t win against powerful cultivators. They soon overwhelmed him, beating him up, and leaving him barely alive.

    Before he lost consciousness, he saw arge white tiger-like creature appearing and fighting the group of violent bullies.

    He woke up inside a cave with bandages all over his body. The little girl was back,pletely normal, with no injuries.

    "Thank you for saving me," she said and offered him a beautiful, glowing nt with delicate small white flowers. "This is my token of gratitude. It will make you stronger so that you can have the opportunity to gain power."

    Before he could say anything, the little girl transformed into a beautiful white-haired maiden.

    "But remember, it is up to you whether you can be powerful or not. And it is also up to you how to use the power."

    The beautiful woman then transformed into therge white tiger-like creature he saw earlier before he fainted. He stared in horror as the divine beast stared at him with sharp, otherworldly eyes.

    "I wille see you again when you be powerful. And when you do, I want to see how you use the power. Whether I kill you or not, we will see then."

    With those words, the divine beast disappeared.

    Once he recovered from his injuries, he learned that the nt the divine beast gave him was the rare herb that the cultivation sect was searching for. He didn''t hesitate to consume it.

    The next scenes were a timepse of his hard work and sacrifices. From a mere mortal, he sessfully became a cultivator. And from a low-level cultivator, he became the most powerful and most-revered master of his own sect.

    Then finally, after many millennia cultivating into immortality, he finally met the divine beast again.

    This time again, the divine beast was trapped by several other sects to take another of one of its rare immortal herbs. This immortal herb only sprouted every few thousand years watered by the divine beast''s own heart-blood.

    Jin Chonglin''s character immediately released a powerful attack wave and cut down the chains trapping the divine beast. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "We meet again, old friend," he greeted.

    The divine beast looked at him for a long time. "Are you certain that you are willing to go against your own kind to protect me?"

    "It''s not a question about my kind against your kind. This is a question about right and wrong. You gave me the opportunity to be the person that I''ve always dreamed of being. I am not an ingrate. I will always pay back what I owe."

    The divine beast transformed into a beautiful white-haired maiden again.

    Together, they fought against the other sects who wanted to entrap the divine beast and use her treasure for their own gains. The two were powerful, but there were too many enemies.

    They reached a critically dangerous stage of the battle.

    At thest moment, the beautiful white-haired maiden spat out her core. She infused it with Jin Chonglin''s blood.

    A white orb shed out of the fusion before revealing a blue-ck bottle of "Vaince".

    "I''ll leave it to you," she said before her body shattered into thousands of shards.

    Jin Chonglin screamed from grief. But he quickly sprayed "Vaince" all over himself, gaining a tremendous boost to his powers, and ultimately defeating the enemies.

    After the battle, he discovered the immortal herb lying on the bloody ground. He picked it up.

    The next scenes were another timepse of him carefully cultivating the rare immortal herb, spraying it with "Vaince".

    The immortal herb grew tall and strong, flowered, and even bore fruit. Then the fruit grew bigger and bigger. And when it ripened, out came a white-haired child.

    A tear flowed down Jin Chonglin''s eye, but his smile was filled with joy.

    "Father," the white-haired child called him before throwing herself into his arms.

    The final scene showed Jin Chonglin teaching his white-haired child how to protect himself.

    Then his voice said, "Dare to be brave, ''Vaince'' by Libert¨¦".

    The advertisement ended.

    Standing ovation.

    "Bravo, Prince Lin Lin!"

    "Superb!"

    His fans among the guests couldn''t stop from cheering.

    Iris stared at the now nk monitor. She was speechless at what she just watched.

    "That¡­was so cringy," Iris couldn''t stop herself from saying.

    Clover avoided her eyes, while Yin Meixing maintained a soft smile all throughout.

    Jin Chonglin heard her. While maintaining a bright smile and waving at the audience, he replied to Iris, "What do you mean that it''s cringy? It''s a total masterpiece!"

    She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Thankfully, she was able to recover quickly and regain her smiling expression.

    "Who changed the original script for the ''Vaince'' ad?"

    "Prince Lin Lin," Clover immediately shifted the me.

    He snorted but still smiled for the audience. "So what if I changed the original script? I turned it into a masterpiece."

    "Who watches a twenty-minute ad?" Iris gritted her teeth.

    Yin Meixing cleared her throat. She blinked at the three of them.

    Iris, Jin Chonglin, and Clover all smiled even more brightly.

    "I''ll get back at youter," Iris said while beaming.

    He smirked.

    She saw it. "No, I''ll ask Chen Fei to sort you outter instead."

    He looked like he was electrocuted. "You!"

    Yin Meixing: "Ahem!"

    Iris and Jin Chonglin continued smiling.

 Chapter 1517 LibertÃ© Launches (Part VII)

    Chapter 1517 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part VII)

    After introducing the celebrity ambassadors and the three perfumes, the party entered a casual state. Guests were free to roam around, partake in the food and drinks, and interact with each other. Simply put, the much-awaitedworking time had now started. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    A small ensemble of musicians started ying ssical music.

    Libert¨¦ staff started distributing the fancy giveaway bags containing all three fragrances¡ª"Eve", "S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦", and "Vaince"¡ªincluding all six types ording to concentrations.

    And because Libert¨¦ is technically a subsidiarypany of Orchidia, there were also additional Orchidia giveaway bags filled with the brand''s most popr products and samples of soon-to-be-released ones.

    The female guests were thrilled to receive the Orchidia Beauty giveaways. Due to Orchidia''s membership in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork, its products were quite popr among the wealthy.

    Iris also had Ketchup research which ones among the guests were parents. Then she instructed theunch party organizers to prepare additional Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby giveaway bags for these guests.

    Unlike Orchidia Beauty which already gained some fame abroad, Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby were still mostly concentrated in China. Iris wanted to use this opportunity to introduce Orchidia''s other brands ahead of the scheduledunch dates of the new foreign Orchidia bases in Germany, Singapore, and the Philippines.

    Those who weren''t parents also received special vouchers for Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby. If they weren''t interested in personally buying from these brands because they weren''t parents yet, then they could just gift the special vouchers to other people.

    The special vouchers were worth 100,000 euros each.

    Orchidia''s price range wasn''t too expensive that normal, average people couldn''t afford most of its products. However, they were definitely more expensive than the best-selling brands currently dominating the market because many Orchidia products featured new patented technology. Orchidia was actually one of the most innovativepanies in the industry today.

    Even so, most of its products were still within the reach of normal, average people. Iris made sure of this despite Chen Fei''s insistence at the beginning that they should pursue the high-end route.

    She didn''t want Orchidia, thepany she favoured the most among her businesses, to cater exclusively to the wealthy elite. She also wanted the normal, average people to enjoy Orchidia products.

    As apromise, Long Jinjing suggested that they could pursue the mid to high-end route instead. Most of the products would be within the affordable range, but special products would be priced within the high-end range.

    This strategy became a hit.

    The special voucher worth 100,000 euros might be pennies to these wealthy elite guests, but it could already buy a lot of Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby products. Besides, there were other customized items included in the giveaway bags besides products from Iris''panies.

    Back to the present, Iris watched as the female guests gushed with each other about receiving the Orchidia Beauty giveaway products. These products had been deemed miraculous by many of their loyal customers.

    She couldn''t wait until the scheduledunch dates for Orchidia''s new foreign bases in the next few weeks. She would personally attend every single one of Orchidia''s internationalunches, flying to different countries, while also doing her best to spend time with her family. It would truly be an extremely busy period for her, but she weed the challenge.

    "Orchidia Beauty is still the best-selling brand," Irismented as she continued watching the guests'' reactions to the giveaways.

    "En," Jin Liwei replied. "Everyone wants to look good no matter their gender, but not everyone wants to be a parent."

    She sighed. "You''re right. Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby are also rtively newer brands under Orchidia. It makes sense that it''s not as popr."

    "If you want, I''ll contact the major shopping channels abroad and have them feature Orchidia products," Jin Liwei suggested. "Orchidia Beauty is already doing well, but it might receive additional sales boosts once featured in popr shopping channels. Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby products are also the type that needs to be demonstrated to encourage potential customers to buy them."

    Iris didn''t hesitate. "Yes, please help me do that, darling. I was already nning on making contact with shopping channels abroad, but I''m not sure which ones are the best fit for Orchidia. I nned to conduct some research first, but now that you offered, it will save me a lot of trouble."

    "Anything for you, love." Jin Liwei held her hand and kissed it.

    Her cheeks turned pink beneath her makeup. "Thank you."

    Once again, the other people around them were forced to eat dog food.

    In the end, Clover was the one who interrupted the husband and wife''s lovey-dovey moment. She wanted Iris to meet someone.

    Jin Liwei wanted to follow his wife, but Grandpa Lu called him.

    "Go on, darling," Iris told him. "Don''t keep Grandpa Lu waiting too long. You can find meter."

    He could only reluctantly agree. He gave her lips a quick peck before going over the sprightly old man.

    Iris followed Clover who led her inside one of Libert¨¦''s private showrooms.

    Inside, two women were waiting. One was a white European woman who Iris recognized as the daughter of a British marquess. The Marquess was the one who was originally invited to theunch party, but unfortunately, he couldn''te. Instead, he sent his daughter as his proxy to attend Libert¨¦''sunch party today.

    The other woman had an exotic Middle Eastern appearance. She must be the otherdy''s plus-one guest.

    Clover made the introductions.

    It turned out that the other exotic-looking woman was an Arabic princess from Dubai. She was the marquess'' daughter''sst-minute plus-one guest. This must be why Iris wasn''t informed that an Emirati sheikha attended today''sunch party.

    The Arabic princess grabbed Iris'' hands, surprising Iris a bit. "My name is Amira. There''s no need to be nervous around me. I mostly grew up in Britain, so just treat me like a normal person."

    Iris smiled. Although she was surprised at first, she had never felt nervous around royalty.

 Chapter 1518 LibertÃ© Launches (Part VIII)

    Chapter 1518 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part VIII)

    In her past life, the Vetrovs had dealings with various notable royal families from different countries. These royal families weren''t all that respectable behind closed doors like how they presented themselves to the public.

    The ones who had long histories were the worst. They got to their current positions by a lot of bloodshed. It was no wonder that many of them were connected to criminal empires in one way or another.

    Of course, not all royal families had this kind of bloody history. But as Evelina Vetrova, she had witnessed several instances where members of royalty visited her parents to ask for favours or simply to maintain their secret friendship with criminals.

    The Vetrovs would help them do dirty jobs to maintain their royal power, while they would provide the Vetrovs with secret tforms in their countries to spread their criminal influence. It was aplicated mutually beneficial rtionship, albeit extremely fragile and dangerous.

    She didn''t doubt that some of these royal families might have betrayed the Vetrovs and contributed to the criminal empire''s eventual downfall. A few might have been loyal friends until the end, but she doubted they would sacrifice their royal status for criminals like the Vetrovs.

    Iris feltplicated, but she mentally shook her head and focused on the present.

    She didn''t know Sheikha Amira personally, so she didn''t want to make any final judgment based on her past life experiences with royalty. She could always order a background investigation on this Arabic princesster.

    Iris yed the role of a host who weed thedies with warm hospitality.

    "I love your signature fragrance, ''Eve''," Sheikha Amira told her as she chatted with Iris on the velvet couch like friends. "To be honest with you, I only came here with my friend on a whim, not really expecting anything. But to my surprise, I ended up loving ''Eve''. I also like the other perfumes but ''Eve'' is my favourite." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Sheikha Amira fished out the beautiful perfume bottle of "Eve" from her giveaway bag.

    "The bottle is beautiful. The scent is also beautiful. Perfumes are very important in my culture. You won''t find us leaving the house without wearing perfume. Perfumes are a way of life for us. That''s why I can''t stop myself from wanting to meet you. Although I''m a member of royalty, I mostly grew up in Britain and did my schooling there. I admire Libert¨¦''s core values of focusing on inclusivity instead of exclusivity."

    "Thank you very much, Sheikha Amira," Iris replied.

    "Please call me Amira."

    "Alright, Amira."

    The sheikha smiled.

    Iris observed her and couldn''t judge whether the other woman was sincere or not. It didn''t matter. She didn''t care whether a person was royal or not, wealthy or not, as long as the person enjoyed her products, then Iris would feel satisfied.

    "I''m sorry for taking you away from the party," Amira said. "Once I decide on something, I just can''t wait to do it right away. I want to meet you because I hope that we can cooperate."

    Iris raised an eyebrow. "Cooperate? In what way?"

    "I want to open a Libert¨¦ branch in Dubai. If possible, I hope that Libert¨¦ can also help me create new fragrances that appeal more to people from my culture."

    Iris didn''t reply right away. Now, she was more than surprised. She didn''t expect this kind of request from this Arabic princess.

    Amira smiled at her knowingly. "I understand your hesitation. But I assure you that I''m very open and a progressive modern woman. That''s why I prefer staying in Britain, but as a member of the ruling royal family, I still need to establish my presence in my homnd. One way I do that is through business. I''m quite fortunate that my father dotes on me a lot. If you ept my request for cooperation, I''ll make it so that my father will also support Libert¨¦."

    Iris didn''t ept the offer at this time but instead said, "Thank you very much for your interest in cooperating with Libert¨¦, Amira. But you know that this is a major matter. I hope that you could give us some time to consider it."

    "Of course." Sheikha Amira smiled again.

    The women chatted about other topics, mainly about Libert¨¦''s three avable fragrances.

    After the two female guests returned to the party outside, Iris and Clover sat inside the private showroom staring at each other.

    There was a knock on the door.

    Clover returned to her senses and quickly opened it.

    It was Jin Liwei.

    He saw his wife deeply absorbed in her thoughts.

    "Go back to the party first," he told Clover.

    "Okay, sir boss!" Clover left the husband and wife alone in the room.

    Jin Liwei sat beside his wife on the velvet couch. "What happened, love?"

    "Oh, you''re here?" Iris only noticed him now.

    He asked her again. She told him about the Arabic princess'' offer.

    Jin Liwei also fell silent.

    Iris waited for him to say something.

    Then he said, "We definitely have to investigate her first."

    "Yes." She nodded.

    "If we look at it from the perspective of pure profit, this cooperation is extremely beneficial," he said. "The Arabic market is pure gold. But the real question is¡­and I think that this is the one that you''re struggling with the most¡ªdo you want Libert¨¦ to be associated with that royal family?"

    "If this cooperation is done right, then Libert¨¦ and Sheikha Amira will be progressive trailzers," she said, contemting her thoughts out loud for her husband to hear. "But if it goes wrong, then it will forever taint Libert¨¦''s reputation. We just rebranded Sang Blue into Libert¨¦. I can''t let anyone question Libert¨¦''s ims on respecting traditions and working toward progress!"

    "En, so we have to handle this matter carefully."

    Iris sighed. But in the next second, her eyes shone with apetitive light.

    Jin Liwei saw it and chuckled. "Despite your worries, in the end, you''re still interested, right?"

    She leaned on his chest and smiled. His arms automatically wrapped around her.

    "I think that this is a great new challenge," she said.

 Chapter 1519 LibertÃ© Launches (Part IX)

    Chapter 1519 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part IX)

    Iris and Jin Liwei also returned to the party after some time. The overall atmosphere had grown more rxed with bottles of champagne and cocktail sses flowing freely.

    A few groups requested to use some of the private showrooms. It was understood that some important deals were being sealed at the very moment.

    Sheikha Amira, who was chatting with her British friend and a few of the other female guests, met Iris'' eyes and smiled at her. Iris nodded at her in acknowledgement.

    Once again, Jin Liwei apanied his wife as she went around to chat with the guests.

    When they reached the Cross Academy group, Grandpa Lu''s old friends surrounded her. They asked questions about the molecr-level technology features of Libert¨¦ perfumes and also the patented innovations of Orchidia Beauty products.

    "Amanpio Kileksky published some of his innovations with Orchidia in the Cross Academy scientific journals, so if you''re interested, you can check out those publications," she told them. "But the ones developed by Orchidia''s Chief Product Officer are ssified information, so I''m sorry to say that I can''t talk about them with you."

    Most of the patents acquired by Orchidia were due to Alric Bauer and Amanpio Kileksky''s contributions, so the patents were shared between the two men and Orchidia.

    The Cross Academy group instantly shifted their attention to Amanpio Kileksky''s publications.

    "Kileksy is known as the crazy inventor among the youngbloods in the academy," onemented. "I didn''t know that he''s helping out with one of yourpanies."

    "We''re friends," Iris said.

    Another nodded. "It''s always good to befriend your schoolmates, especially since it''s very rare for the academy to recruit new students in the same generation."

    "Exactly!" Grandpa Lu''s voice boomed. "The academy hasn''t recruited any new students since Xin my girl. That Dupont bastard is the most choosy among the headmasters in the whole history of the academy! Hmph! What are his exact criteria for recruitment? I want to know!"

    "Now, now, Jianhong," Grandpa Lu''s astronomer friend tried calming him down. "As the headmaster, Erwan is just upholding our academy''s high standards. There''s nothing wrong with his method."

    "Hmph!"

    The other gentlemen justughed. They were already used to their friend, Lu Jianhong, throwing tantrums. Most of the time, the old man was just having a st making a scene.

    He had been like this from day one. In fact, Lu Jianhong had already mellowed out a lot in his old age. When they were still youngsters, Lu Jianhong had gotten into so many troubles. And it was always Liam Jin''s grandfather who bailed him out from so many troublesome situations that might have destroyed his bright future.

    His wild personality steadied a lot after his best friend and sworn brother (Liam Jin''s grandfather) died.

    Even so, it was fortunate that he still retained hints of his previous wild personality, keeping him feeling young despite his advanced age. Lu Jianhong had always been popr among the Cross Academymunity.

    And now, he was using the remaining years of his life to pave the way for his beloved disciple, Iris Long.

    As members of the Cross Academymunity, they had heard about the newest student, Iris Long. Her public achievements so far weren''t anything impressivepared to theirs, and even to her schoolmates of the same generation.

    Even Ashandra Knightson was more impressive because she managed to enter Cross Academy in the field of fine arts which was extremely difficult. After all, art appreciation is subjective.

    Despite this, Ashandra had proven time and time again why she deserved her spot at Cross Academy. She was now the best-selling living artist in the world. Her poprity in the art world even ignited interest among new artists to try enrolling in the academy. Unfortunately, they couldn''t reach her level of genius.

    On the other hand, Iris Long was officially enrolled in Cross Academy as a student in Foreign Languages with a minor concentration in Business. Her music program was only considered an elective, but as a celebrity, she was more focused on working as a musician rather than as a trantor.

    So although they respected Iris Long as a fellow member of the Cross Academymunity, they didn''t admire her that much.

    She was enrolled as a Foreign Languages student, but there were also plenty of polyglots among them.

    As for her being Lu Jianhong''s business disciple, she was still considered a toddler in their eyes. Many of them were business legends like their friend, Lu Jianhong.

    In the field of music, yes, they must admit that she was a genius. Being epted by Maestro Ludovico de Luca and the legendary hitmaker Enrique Valdez as their disciples was an impressive feat by itself.

    Yet why did she not choose Music as her primary concentration at the academy?

    They couldn''t understand, but they didn''t bother asking her. Lu Jianhong was so protective of her. What if their friend threw a tantrum and refused to speak to them for the sake of his beloved disciple?

    It wasn''t worth it.

    So they could only keep their opinions to themselves.

    While they were busy chatting, someone edged closer and addressed Iris.

    "Uhm, excuse me, Madame Jin¡­."

    Iris nced at him.

    Jin Liwei recognized him as the nerdy tech billionaire who recorded Little Mochi''s impromptu performance video yesterday. He wasn''t a Cross Academy alumnus, but his mentor-shpany investor was one. This was why he could join yesterday''s gathering with Grandpa Lu and attend today''sunch party.

    "Do you have business with my wife?" Jin Liwei asked.

    The nerdy billionaire blushed, causing Jin Liwei''s expression to turn ugly.

    "I...I¡­." He continued to blush while taking several peeks at Iris.

    Jin Liwei''s expression grew darker and darker by the second.

    Grandpa Lu and the others started to notice the situation, but they stayed quiet for now, waiting for the nerdy tech billionaire to exin himself.

    "Is¡­is it true¡­that y-you''re¡­." he continued to stammer.

    Iris nced at her husband who was drowning in an ocean of vinegar.

    "Is it true that you''re Fantom''s disciple?!" the nerdy tech billionaire finally asked.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 1520 LibertÃ© Launches (Part X)

    Chapter 1520 Libert¨¦ Launches (Part X)

    Iris froze.

    But she regained her senses almost in an instant. She quickly looked around to see if other people heard what the man said just now.

    Fortunately, people outside their group were also all engrossed in their own conversations. The ssical music ying in the background should have also masked most of the chatters so that others wouldn''t hear what people were talking about after a certain distance.

    However, everyone in their Cross Academy group most certainly heard what the nerdy tech billionaire said.

    Jin Liwei stepped in front of his wife in a clear protective manner. His aura was cold and intimidating. If looks could kill, the nerdy tech billionaire would have already been six feet under.

    "Bahahaha! What nonsense are you talking about? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu''s voice boomed in a joking tone, but his eyes shed with danger as he red at the young, stammering, blushing man.

    "Jianhong, can you please shut up for a minute," one of his friends said before turning to the nerdy tech billionaire. "What did you say? Iris Long is Fantom''s disciple? Did I hear you correctly?"

    Another friend said, "I think I heard the same thing."

    Yet another man joined in. "By Fantom, do you mean the legendary genius hacker who mysteriously disappeared years ago? I heard a rumour that he was supposedly a Cross Academy student, but nobody knew about his real identity. The academy''s Computer Department guarded Fantom''s identity like a precious treasure, but they never admitted or refuted the rumours."

    "I heard about those rumours, too. Fantom is supposedly the one who singlehandedly upgraded the academy''s cybersecurity, effectively lifting the Computer Department''s status forever. Since then, the academy has allocated some of the highest amounts of yearly budget to the Computer Department because of their connection to Fantom. We''re just not sure if Fantom was really a Cross Academy student or someone from the Computer Department just happened to befriend him."

    "Fantom suddenly disappeared some years ago. Most people assume that he''s dead. He''s an enigma. Even we who are from Cross Academy don''t know much about him. But one thing is for sure¡ªhe''s a legend."

    Iris paled while listening to this group of men chatting about her past life''s feats as Fantom. She nced at the nerdy tech billionaire who also appeared to have realized that he made a big mistake.

    ''How did this person know?'' she thought.

    Before she could control herself, cold murderous intent shed in her eyes.

    The nerdy tech billionaire shuddered under her cold gaze.

    "Baby," Jin Liwei whispered to her ear and squeezed her waist.

    She regained her senses thanks to her husband. They were in public. It wasn''t good to let others know that there was something wrong happening in their group.

    So she smiled, yet her eyes remained cold.

    The nerdy tech billionaire shuddered even more.

    "Sir, would you be kind as to follow me inside?" she offered with a sweet smile yet dangerous eyes. "Let me show you more about our perfumery."

    The nerdy tech billionaire didn''t respond.

    "Come on, boy! Why are you staring at the air like a numbskull? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu "patted" his back, "encouraging" him to return to his senses.

    "Come on, boy! Why are you staring at the air like a numbskull? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu "patted" his back, "encouraging" him to return to his senses.

    The nerdy tech billionaire indeed returned to his senses, but it was almost by puking his lungs out!

    "Ah, y-yes! Of course!" He adjusted his eyesses with shaky fingers and attempted to act with nonchnce.

    Now he definitely knew that he had been too careless to utter such shocking words in front of so many people. Just by looking at the frightening looks of Madame Iris Long, CEO Liam Jin, and Sir Lu Jianhong directed toward him, he had a hunch that he would suffer a terrible fate if he didn''t handle his carelessness carefully.

    He followed the husband and wife inside Libert¨¦ into a private showroom. He felt like he was walking into his own death.

    However, he refused to be a coward! He straightened his back and raised his chin.

    If he was going down today, he would go down with dignity!

    He had built a billion-dor techpany with his own hard work. He might not be a genius at the level of being admitted to Cross Academy, but he was still a genius among normal, average people.

    "Heh, this skinny boy does have some spine in him!" Grandpa Lumented behind them, stroking his well-groomed mustache.

    It was then that Iris, Jin Liwei, and the nerdy tech billionaire realized that the others were following them.

    Jin Liwei sighed. "Grandfather."

    "Why are you looking at this old man like that, boy? Tell me, I want to know! I''m not an outsider! If you want to me someone, then me these old coots for sticking their noses into other people''s business! Hmph!"

    Grandpa Lu''s old friends all tried refuting his words, yet they couldn''t hide the curiosity shining in their eyes. It was clear that they would do everything to follow Iris and the others inside.

    Iris thought about it for a few seconds before making a quick decision. She told her husband, "Let them follow if they want."

    Jin Liwei paused but still nodded.

    Once inside the private showroom, Iris gestured at the nerdy tech billionaire to take a seat.

    He sat on the velvet couch, his butt almost on the edge of the seat, with his back straight and knees pressed tightly close. Although he tried putting on a brave front, the others weren''t fooled. They could see the guy''s nervousness as clear as day.

    Jin Liwei followed his wife, as she busied herself pouring chilled champagne into several sses.

    Grandpa Lu was directing his friends to sit down here and there, treating them like unruly kindergarteners.

    Jin Liwei distributed the champagne sses to everyone. Then he took a seat beside his wife opposite the nervous nerdy tech billionaire.

    Iris took a small sip of champagne and swirled it in the ss she was holding. Then she took a look around the room, making sure to look directly into the eyes of each and every person, most especially the nerdy tech billionaire whose suit was already drenched with his own sweat.

    Follow Author on Instagram n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Iris thought about it for a few seconds before making a quick decision. She told her husband, "Let them follow if they want."

 Chapter 1521 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part I)

    Chapter 1521 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part I)

    Iris handed her ss of champagne to her husband.

    Jin Liwei drank the rest before putting the now empty ss on the table in front of them. Then he settled beside his wife and added to putting pressure on the nerdy tech billionaire with his cold and intimidating aura.

    Grandpa Lu and his old friends also sipped their own champagne, pretending to chat among themselves, but the way they craned their necks and strained their ears made it super obvious that their attention was on somewhere else.

    Iris didn''t pay them any mind. She had a way to deal with themter. For now, she needed some answers.

    "May I ask how you came to the conclusion that I might be Fantom''s disciple?" she asked.

    Her voice was soft andnguid, but there was an unmistakable pressure in her words.

    The nerdy tech billionaire swallowed.

    Although he was unbelievably nervous, there was also excitement in his eyes. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "I¡­I heard it from somewhere," he said

    Iris tilted her head to the side. "Tell me everything."

    The nerdy tech billionaire took a couple of deep breaths and began telling his story. He started at the very beginning.

    "As you all may know, I made my fortune in the tech industry. I was pretty talented withputers. Everyone was telling me that I''m a genius, but I know that I''m nobodypared to my idol¡ªFantom!"

    This time, there was an almost feverish obsession in the man''s eyes.

    But Iris didn''t feel anything malicious from him. She could sense that it was simr to a child getting excited talking about a favourite cartoon character.

    The nerdy tech billionaire continued, "Fantom is the best hacker in the world! I don''t care about what other fools say, arguing that this or that hacker is the best. I say that they don''t know what the hell they''re talking about! For me, there''s nobody in the world who canpare to the legendary Fantom!

    "Despite being the top wanted hacker in the world, he has made a lot of contributions to the world ofputers, the inte, and cybersecurity. A lot of the programs that he wrote and made avable to everyone for free are still being used by many programmers today. Many of us learned how to be better programmers by studying and dissecting the open-source programs that she wrote. So manypanies and even governments all over the world benefited from using his programs to strengthen their cybersecurity.

    "In fact, I built mypany by innovating the concept of several of her programs. Maybe that''s one of the reasons why I caught the eye of my mentor, investor, and business partner who''s a Cross Academy alumnus. He was a graduate of the Computer Department and also a big Fantom fan."

    At this point of the story, he slowed down a bit. His fervent eyes from earlier turned embarrassed.

    "Sorry about that. I just get too excited whenever I''m talking about my idol. Fantom has been my inspiration and role model for the longest time. I definitely wouldn''t have achieved my sess today without him."

    Iris fought a smile by pressing her lips together. In truth, she felt happy that a sessful billionaire took her past life as Fantom as a role model.

    She told him, "No, it''s fine. I just want to know why you think that I might be Fantom''s disciple."

    "I actually heard about it by ident," he said, a little sheepish.

    She tilted her head to the other side, waiting for him to borate.

    Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, and the others were also curious. They stayed silent and focused on listening to the conversation between Iris and the nerdy tech billionaire.

    "My mentor, he''s friends with the current head of Cross Academy''s Computer Department. They sometimes call each other and chat. One time, we had an issue in mypany. All of us had to rush and fix several major bugs for several days with barely any sleep. My mentor isn''t directly involved in thepany, but he does help out now and then, especially during emergencies. We needed the extra hand. He''s a genius¡ªa bitzy¡ªbut in times of emergencies, he''s the person who we can rely on the most.

    "So he quickly identified the bugs and suggested several ways to fix them. My team and I worked hard to follow his advice while he took a break. I also took a little break afterward, but I ended up overhearing him speaking with his friend, the current head of Cross Academy''s Computer Department. Maybe it''s because my mentor was also mentally exhausted like the rest of us that he didn''t bother double-checking whether he was alone in the ce or not. So in short, I heard mostly everything that they were talking about."

    Iris asked, "So what did they talk about?"

    The nerdy tech billionaire''s eyes once again shone with excitement. "My mentor said that if he had been Fantom, fixing the bugs would have been a breeze. Fantom wouldn''t have to fix it personally. He bet that Fantom would have had a program, possibly an AI, that could fix the bugs for him instead."

    Jin Liwei inhaled sharply. Iris squeezed his thigh, silently warning him not to react too much.

    He poured himself a new ss of champagne and downed all of it in one go. She gave him a side-eye.

    The nerdy tech billionaire was too stimted to notice the covert exchange between the husband and wife in front of him.

    Simrly, Grandpa Lu and his old friends were too engrossed in the nerdy tech billionaire''s story to notice anything else. They wanted him to continue.

    "The department head agreed. In fact, he revealed that Fantom should''ve been working on an amazing, very powerful AI that would change the world forever if released. But he hadn''t personally witnessed Fantom working on it. He just heard about it from Fantom himself."

    One of Grandpa Lu''s friends interrupted and asked, "How can the Computer Department Head be sure that Fantom had been indeed working on an amazing AI? What if Fantom has been just bragging about it?"

 Chapter 1522 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part II)

    Chapter 1522 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part II)

    The nerdy tech billionaire gasped. Even the others all looked at the man in disbelief.

    "W-what? Did I say something wrong?" he asked, feeling absolutely confused and a little flustered at everyone''s expressions as if he had just asked the most stupid question ever.

    The nerdy tech billionaire no longer cared about the other man''s lofty status as a Cross Academy alumnus. He felt offended on behalf of his idol! How dare the man question the legendary Fantom?!

    "With the great Fantom''s skills and abilities, creating a powerful AI by himself that he couldmand to do almost whatever he wanted isn''t in the realm of impossibility! Just the level of sophistication in his open-source programs is enough to let people with sense know that he is capable of so much more!"

    Iris cleared her throat, interrupting the sudden conflict between the nerdy tech billionaire and Grandpa Lu''s friend and preventing it from heating up too much. The nerdy tech billionaire had be too defensive now. She needed to steer the conversation back to the original topic.

    "So what happened next?" she asked. "What else did your mentor and the academy''s Computer Department Head talk about at that time?"

    The nerdy tech billionaire shot an indignant re at the older man, no longer intimidated. He would even throw away his pride to defend his idol. He couldn''t bear anyone belittling Fantom.

    If it hadn''t been for Fantom''s influence, then he wouldn''t even have chosen to dive into the world ofputer science in the first ce. And now, he had be one of the wealthiest individuals in the world thanks to his idol Fantom''s great impact on his life.

    But no matter how much he wanted to continue preaching about his idol''s feats to the older man, he restrained himself because he sensed that Madame Iris Long was growing impatient.

    "They mostly talked about Fantom''s impressive feats in the world of hacking," he said.

    He intended to enumerate his idol''s long list of aplishments, but he swallowed the words in his throat upon seeing Iris'' warning look.

    It was unfortunate, but he could only skip a lot of details and mentally press fast-forward to the night when he eavesdropped on his mentor chatting with his friend.

    "Then the department head suddenly turned sad and sighed a lot. When my mentor asked him what was wrong, the department head said it''s such a big shame that Fantom died."

    There was a collective gasp among Grandpa Lu''s friends.

    "Fantom really died?" one of them asked in shocked disbelief.

    The nerdy tech billionaire sniffed and nodded. His eyes had turned red.

    Iris was afraid that the man would cry so she urged him again to continue with his story. She needed to know how he was able to connect Fantom back to her as Fantom''s disciple.

    He used thepel of his suit''s dress shirt to wipe the corners of his teary eyes. He didn''t care anymore about his image in front of this group of Cross Academy powerhouses. Every time he thought about his idol''s death, he would always feel like crying.

    The heavens must indeed be jealous of geniuses. Well, most of the people in the room were geniuses, but to him, they couldn''tpare to a fraction of the great Fantom''s genius. To him, Fantom was the best!

    "I don''t know how Fantom died. My mentor also had no idea. He kept asking the department head, but the department head refused to divulge any details."

    Iris felt a little choked up watching the man getting emotional over her past life''s death. She looked away to control her emotions.

    Jin Liwei grabbed her hand and squeezed it, silentlyforting her. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    This time, the nerdy tech billionaire keenly caught her also getting emotional at the mention of the great Fantom''s death.

    "I knew it!" He jumped from his seat and pointed his finger at her. The almost feverish excitement returned to his face. "It must be true that you''re Drakon, Fantom''s disciple! Why else would you also be affected by your master''s death like me?!"

    There was another collective gasp among Grandpa Lu''s friends. Their heads snapped in her direction. Their eyes opened wide and their jaws fell down.

    Iris took a few deep breaths. She asked him, "Did you hear that from your mentor and the department head''s conversation?"

    "Yes." He nodded, his head bobbing like a chicken.

    His eyes continued to shine as he looked at her, causing Jin Liwei to scowl.

    "Are you really Drakon?" he asked.

    Instead of answering his question, she asked instead, "Did the department head say that I''m Drakon?"

    He nodded again, harder and faster this time. "Yes! He told my mentor that although it''s a big shame that the world lost a legendary figure like Fantom, his legacy fortunately didn''t die with him. He has a disciple! And Cross Academy managed to recruit Fantom''s one and only disciple! The hacker, Drakon! He said that Drakon is unexpectedly a very beautiful youngdy who''s also a celebrity in China! I did my research and you''re the only one who fits the description, Iris Long!"

    Iris didn''t respond right away.

    "Are you really Drakon?! Please tell me that you''re Drakon! And is it true that you''re Fantom''s one and only disciple?"

    She looked at him with aplicated expression. He looked like he was going to cry if she denied it.

    Sighing, she could only bite the bullet now. This was how she managed to catch Cross Academy''s attention and be recruited there again in the present life anyway.

    "Yes, I am Drakon. And yes, Fantom¡­she''s my master. She taught me everything I know aboutputers."

    Tears flowed down the nerdy tech billionaire''s eyes.

    She was taken aback but didn''t know what to do.

    "Y-you''re really Drakon, that rising hotshot hacker?" one of Grandpa Lu''s friends asked.

    She nodded, sighing again.

    "No wonder," anothermented.

    "And here we were wondering how you could be admitted to Cross Academy with your mediocre level in Foreign Languages and Business Administration."

    "Hey!" Grandpa Lu smacked his old friend in the back. "What in the bloody hogwash are you talking about my beloved disciple? I want to know! Mediocre level? Hah! You''re the mediocre one!"

 Chapter 1523 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part III)

    1523 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part III)

    "Jianhong, calm down," Grandpa Lu''s astronomer friend tried to calm him down but to no avail.

    The old man was incensed.

    His other friend wasn''t afraid of him and said, "Everyone here can speak multiplenguages so Iris Long being a polyglot isn''t really something special among us. Granted, she might speak morenguages than us, but the number ofnguages she knows and her level of proficiency in them doesn''t matter if she doesn''t apply them to her main career. And her running multiple businesses isn''t a stand-out among us here either who have been standing at the very top of the business industry for decades. We don''t look down on celebrities, but we can''t help but wonder if she deserves her spot as a Cross Academy student."

    Beside Iris, she could sense Jin Liwei''s mood plummeting fast. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it, silentlymunicating with him to calm down.

    However, it was Grandpa Lu who couldn''t bear the slight toward his beloved disciple. He stood up, red-faced, and pointed at his friend. "You¡ª"

    "Grandpa Lu, please calm down," Iris said in a soft, soothing voice.

    "Hmph!" The old man red at his friends but still listened to Iris and sat down again. He crossed his arms over his chest and continued harrumphing.

    Iris sighed at the sight of her husband and the old man. Jin Liwei was like a volcano about to erupt. Grandpa looked like a kid who was sulking after throwing a tantrum. She didn''t know whether tough or cry at the two of them. Nevertheless, her heart felt warm because they were only acting this way for her sake.

    She gave her husband anotherforting squeeze in the hand and a soothing smile at the infuriated old man before facing the others.

    The nerdy tech billionaire looked at her with fanatic eyes. Tears continued flowing down his now red face. His expression was so intense that Iris feltplicated looking at him. Good thing that her instincts told her that he held no malicious intent toward him. He was simply ecstatic to be meeting someone directly connected to his idol, Fantom.

    Even though she and Fantom were the same person, he didn''t know that. If he did, maybe he would have already croaked from overexcitement and ascended to the heavens.

    Iris faced Grandpa Lu''s friends. Her expression was calm yet serious.

    Her aura changed. Gone was the warm, weing host of today''sunch party. Instead, it felt like they were now facing a formidable queen who had the power to decide their fates.

    "Understandably, you think that way¡ªthat I don''t deserve my spot at Cross Academy given my achievements so far," she said. "I may appear impressive among the normal, average people, but among top geniuses like you, I fall short."

    Most of them nodded, agreeing with her.

    Jin Liwei''s expression turned uglier. Grandpa Lu was about to lose his temper, but Iris sent the old man anotherforting smile while giving her husband another squeeze in the hand¡ªfirmer this time.

    Her eyes were cold as she looked at each gentleman in the room. "Now that you know I''m Drakon and that Fantom was my master, this should prove that it''s not a fluke that Cross Academy recruited me."

    The nerdy tech billionaire nodded. "Of course! If the great Fantom taught you even just a fifth of his talents, then you should already be more than qualified!"

    Nobody refuted him despite him not being a Cross Academy student himself. Although these alumni had their own pride as certified geniuses, all of them admitted that Fantom was indeed a true legend.

    Then someone said, "Wait, Iris. You referred to Fantom as a "she". Is Fantom female?"

    The nerdy tech billionaire froze alongside the others. They all turned their heads at her, waiting for her reply.

    Iris was amused at their expressions but still replied, "Yes, Fantom was female."

    The nerdy tech billionaire gasped. "For real?!!!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She chuckled before nodding.

    "No way!"

    "Seriously?"

    Grandpa Lu couldn''t hold it anymore. "What''s wrong with Fantom being a girl?! Why are you old fools acting like you haven''t seen the world?! Tell me, I want to know! Fantom was the top hacker in the world and you all assumed that she''s a boy! You might be geniuses but you''re all still pinheads! Xin my girl''s master was as amazing as her! Hmph!"

    "Now, now, Jianhong, that''s not what we meant at all," his astronomer friends said.

    "Hmph!"

    Iris feltplicated watching Grandpa Lu defending her without any regard for his own image. Even she wasn''t entirely sure how much the old man knew about her real identity.

    Most of the time, Grandpa Lu acted like he didn''t know anything. But there were times like this when his eyes would reveal infinite knowledge and wisdom as if he knew every little secret she and her big brother concealed from everyone else.

    Even her big brother, the former Niki Vetrov, was no match against Grandpa Lu who was like a bulldozer when educating the younger generation.

    The nerdy tech billionaire couldn''t help but ask, "C-can you tell us more about Fantom?"

    "No," Jin Liwei requested the man''s request before Iris could say anything.

    "Why?!" The other man didn''t want to give up. He looked at Iris with a hopeful expression.

    She sighed. "I''m sorry, but I can''t do that. Fantom''s identity, it''s¡­special. It wouldn''t do anyone in this room any good to learn about who she was in real life."

    The man still wanted to ask more questions but Jin Liwei''s threatening re frightened him. He could only swallow the words in his throat and pout like a little kid.

    Some of Grandpa Lu''s friends also wanted to insist on knowing more, but the old man''s re stopped them.

    Iris released another sigh before granting them some revtion to satisfy their curiosity.

    "It''s true that Fantom is dead. The circumstances of her death are tooplex and too dangerous even for a powerhouse like our Cross Academy. My master¡­she just wants to rest in peace. I hope that you can all grant that for her."

 Chapter 1524 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part IV)

    1524 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part IV)

    Iris'' voice choked a little after saying these words.

    Now, it was Jin Liwei''s turn to give his wife aforting squeeze. He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead as if protecting her from the whole world.

    Although she was alive and well now, and even built her own beautiful family with her loving husband, the fact that she had died in her past life could never be erased.

    Evelina Vetrova, a.k.a. Fantom, indeed wanted to rest in peace after death.

    Or more specifically, she had wanted to be from the suffocating prison shackling her as a member of the Vetrov family.

    The others thought that she became emotional because of her master-disciple rtionship with the deceased Fantom.

    Grandpa Lu once again started scolding his old friends.

    The nerdy tech billionaire also felt guilty. "I''m sorry, Madame Drakon. I just can''t control myself when ites to Fantom. He¡ªI mean, she has been my idol for the longest time. Just thinking about her great feats and contributions to the world ofputers, the inte, and cybersecurity is enough to make me overexcited to no end. I hope that you forgive me for wanting to know more about her. I''ll respect her wishes and won''t try to dig deeper about her anymore." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    Iris had already controlled her emotions. She gave the man a kind smile. "Thank you."

    Death, especially the death of a prestigious person who contributed to the progress of humanity in the technological age like Fantom, would always fill people with greatmiseration.

    Grandpa Lu finished his tirade. None of his friends uttered so much as a peep. He harrumphed in satisfaction, but the samemiseration could be seen in his old, wrinkled eyes.

    Warmth filled Iris'' heart. Even though she hadn''t met these people in her past life, they all admired her as Fantom. She felt that perhaps she wasn''t all that alone in her past life after all.

    Even so, she didn''t like the negative energy currently filling the atmosphere. It was too depressing. Today was supposed to be a happy day for her as the owner of Libert¨¦.

    But first, she still needed to make something clear to this group of gentlemen before she let them return to the lively party outside.

    Once again, her aura changed. It was more intense than earlier.

    She channelled her inner Vetrov and stared down on this group of gentlemen (except for Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu) like a predator stalking its prey. One wrong move and she would attack before devouring them.

    The nerdy tech billionaire shuddered. The older gentlemen performed much better, but they still felt difort under her cold, predatory gaze.

    "Now that you''ve learned that I''m Drakon and Fantom was my¡­master, I hope that none of you would divulge any of the information revealed today to other people outside of this room. Or else¡­."

    The lights in the private room shed a few times before descending into darkness. Only a single light remained lit, dimly illuminating the room but also casting long shadows everywhere.

    Before the gentlemen could react, their phones started buzzing and pinging one by one. They checked their phone and gasped.

    Each of them received a threatening e-mail with attached files containing rmingly urate secret information about them.

    Although they always tried to uphold their reputations as Cross Academy alumni, it was inevitable that they had their own secrets that they didn''t want other people to discover. These secrets would taint their reputations, possibly even ruin them forever once known to the world.

    They looked at the cold Iris in horror.

    Grandpa Lu''s friends gripped their phones, as they used their genius IQ to find some ways to escape from this dangerous predicament that they found themselves into.

    In contrast to their reactions, the nerdy tech billionaire''s eyes became filled with even more fervour.

    "Meow! The e-mail has a signature meow at the end! This is WhiteTigress, am I right? So it''s true that WhiteTigress and cknther are your disciples?!"

    He didn''t care at all about the threat of his deepest and darkest secrets being revealed to the whole world. All he cared about was fanboying his idol''s disciples and grand disciples.

    "Hah." Jin Liwei shook his head after releasing an exhausted sigh.

    He finally realized that the nerdy tech billionaire posed no danger to his wife. There was no need to drown in an ocean of vinegar anymore. The other man was just another one of his wife''s numerous fans, albeit a fan of her past life as the legendary hacker, Fantom.

    At the mention of her AI cat children, Iris was filled with great pride and joy. Ketchup and Panther were undoubtedly her greatest creations by herself.

    Of course, her twin sons could also be considered her greatest creations, but she couldn''t have created them by herself without her husband''s contributions. Little Mochi and Little Matcha were the products of the love between her and Jin Liwei.

    On the other hand, Ketchup and Bacon were purely created by herself alone. As aputer programmer and hacker, the two AI cats were her ultimate creations.

    "I knew it! So it''s true." The nerdy tech billionaire saw her smile and directly concluded that his conjecture was correct. Then he made another request. "Is it possible for me to meet them? Please?"

    "No!" Jin Liwei once again rejected his request before Iris could respond.

    "Why?!" The nerdy tech billionaire was about to go crazy.

    "No means no." Jin Liwei didn''t relent.

    Ketchup and Bacon were also his kids. There was no way that he would allow their real identities to be exposed to outsiders.

    The other man cast another hopeful look at Iris.

    "I''m sorry," she said. "WhiteTigress and ckPanther are still¡­uh, minors. My husband and I are responsible for their safety and well-being."

    "Minors?!" The nerdy tech billionaire was shocked.

    Grandpa Lu''s friends were also dumbfounded.

    "How old are they?"

    "They''re kids," Jin Liwei said in an intimidating, cold voice. "My wife and I won''t reveal anything else about them. If you still insist on digging deeper, maybe the e-mail you received just now isn''t enough."

    That shut them up.

 Chapter 1525 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part V)

    Chapter 1525 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part V)

    Grandpa Lu took it upon himself to scold his old friends again, warning them about asking any more questions regarding Drakon''s disciples.

    "I just think that if WhiteTrigress and ckPanther are truly still young children, then that means that they''re also true geniuses," one of his friends said. "They would benefit a lot if they enroll in Cross Academy."

    Another gentleman asked Iris and Jin Liwei, "Are the two under your custody?"

    "En." Jin Liwei said.

    Well, Ketchup and Bacon were his and his wife''s own AI cat children. So technically, the two AI cats were under their custody. Nobody would be able to find any paper trails about the so-called custody, though.

    Someone asked, "Your adopted kids?"

    Neither Iris nor Jin Liwei replied to that question.

    Grandpa Lu interrupted. "Why are you still asking so many questions like insecure boyfriends? Tell me, I want to know! Liwei my boy already told you not to keep on digging deeper but you all still insist. Don''t me this old man for not warning you if your secrets are revealed to the world! Hmph!"

    Like the husband and wife, Grandpa Lu also felt very protective of Ketchup and Bacon. He also considered the AI cats as his great-grandbabies.

    Ketchup was very sweet and caring to an old man like him. Bacon, on the other hand, reminded him so much of the new Haohao¡ªa two-faced, crooked rascal! He was still extremely adorable, though.

    The old man understood that by creating such advanced AI entities like Ketchup and Bacon, Iris had already put herself in great danger. Keeping Ketchup and Bacon''s existence a secret was of the utmost importance.

    Even those from Cross Academy couldn''t be trusted with this kind of incredibly dangerous secret. Greed could change people''s hearts.

    It wasn''t worth the risk.

    There was no way that Grandpa Lu would allow his friends to endanger his disciple and his AI cat great-grandbabies!

    In the end, the threat of their deepest and darkest secrets being revealed to the whole world became enough deterrent to the gentlemen in the room to keep their mouths zipped about the revtions they learned today.

    For now, at least.

    Grandpa Lu''s friends now looked at Iris Long in a different light. Now they knew that her beauty was deceptive.

    She was a wolf in sheep''s clothing!

    They realized that her connections weren''t inferior to theirs. In fact, she was the most dangerous out of everyone here.

    Just her connection to the legendary hacker Fantom was enough to prove that she wasn''t simple at all.

    Even though they didn''t know the extent of what Fantom had taught her, nobody among the people present had not heard of Drakon yet.

    Drakon was the rising star hacker of today alongside her supposed disciples, WhiteTigress and ckPanther. Now that she had confirmed that the two were indeed her disciples, it just proved that her own capabilities should not put her master Fantom''s legacy to shame.

    With how today''s world was bing more and more reliant onputers, mobile devices, and the inte, hackers were a frightening existence. They couldpromise people''s data and destroy lives, not to mention disrupt government services and economies.

    Grandpa Lu''s group of friends couldn''t help but curse their bad luck for encountering such a deceptively dangerous beautiful young woman.

    Indeed, the saying was correct.

    Curiosity killed the cat.

    Damn their curiosity!

    Now they had to deal with being ckmailed with their deepest and darkest secrets.

    In contrast to these gentlemen''s worries, the nerdy tech billionaire looked like he had finally ascended to heaven. His eyes were filled with worship for Iris Long.

    The way he looked at her caused Jin Liwei to barely control his temper. If not for Iris holding him back, he might have alreadyshed out at the nerdy tech billionaire and taught him how to look at someone else''s wife properly.

    After Iris coerced promises not to divulge today''s revtions to other people, she finally let them go.

    The nerdy tech billionaire looked reluctant to part with her.

    "Theunch party isn''t over yet," she told him in a helpless tone.

    "Ahem!" Jin Liwei positioned himself between his wife and the other man.

    The nerdy tech billionaire could only leave the private showroom with great reluctance.

    If others saw them right now without knowing the specific situation, they might think that the trio was involved in a love triangle.

    The way the nerdy tech billionaire looked at Iris was like a jilted lover who saw the woman he loved with another man.

    Jin Liwei understood this, so his expression became increasingly ugly.

    As for Iris, she didn''t think too much about it. She already treated the nerdy tech billionaire as a fan.

    Now that the others left, Grandpa Lu could finally speak his mind more freely.

    "That was close, Xin my girl! Ah, this kind of overly stimting incident is too much for your poor grandpa''s old heart!"

    Although Grandpa Lu said these words, the twinkle in his eyes betrayed the thrill he felt. He definitely enjoyed what just happened.

    Iris consoled him while he continued pretending to be a fragile old man. Both Iris and Jin Liwei knew that Grandpa Lu must be feeling great. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Although Iris was curious, she didn''t dare to question the old man about the extent of his knowledge of her secret identity. His big brother had already hinted to her long ago that the old man wasn''t as simple as they thought. Grandpa Lu might know more than he let on.

    After a few moments, Grandpa Lu finally left the couple alone in the private showroom.

    Once he was gone, the t-screen TV hanging by the wall meant to entertain waiting customers at the shop flickered and showed a fluffy white cat with glowing green eyes.

    "Hello, Mommy and Daddy! Did the cute and mighty Ketchup do a good job? Meow~"

    "Yes, Ketchup," Iris said with a smile. "You did an excellent job. Thank you. You saved Mom."

    "Hehehe~"

    "Keep an eye on those uncles and grandpas, Ketchup," Jin Liwei said next. "Don''t hesitate to extort them if they so much as breathe a word of what happened inside this room."

    A ck cat with golden eyes appeared next to Ketchup.

    "Extort? Does Father need Bacon''s assistance?"

 Chapter 1526 Meeting Director Jabar Wilkins (Part I)

    Chapter 1526 Meeting Director Jabar Wilkins (Part I)

    Jin Liwei sighed at the sudden appearance of his AI cat son.

    Iris also had no idea when Bacon had acquired the function of being summoned by the keyword "extort" and other words with simr meanings. She certainly wasn''t the one who programmed the function herself.

    The only possibility was that Bacon had been learning bad things at Shadow Winds again. She had already expected this when she allowed Bacon to join his Uncle Zihao, but she still couldn''t help but worry.

    Unlike Ketchup which she painstakingly created herself over two lifetimes, Bacon was an AI that she created from the remnants of a corruptedputer virus program. His nature was inherently destructive.

    "Bacon, you''re not busy?" Iris asked.

    The pure ck cat swished his fluffy tail behind him. "Please do not worry, Mother. No matter how busy Bacon is, Bacon will always have time to spend with our family because Bacon is a ssy panther."

    "What panther? Bacon is clearly a little kitty just like the cute and mighty Ketchup! Right, Mommy and Daddy? Meow~" Without changing his bored expression, Bacon raised a paw and moved to kick his sister before their parents could react. This time, however, Ketchup wasn''t easy to bully. Ketchup nimbly dodged and pounced at her brother.

    The two AI cats started wrestling.

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t find anything wrong with it. They thought that the siblings were just being affectionate with each other by y-fighting just like normal cats. They had forgotten that Ketchup and Bacon weren''t actual cats but AI entities instead.

    "Ketchup, don''t forget to keep an eye on those uncles and grandpas, okay?" Jin Liwei reminded his AI cat daughter.

    "Okey dokey, Daddy!" Ketchup replied while performing some impressive cat kung fu against her brother. "The cute and mighty Ketchup will keep an eye of a white tigress on those uncles and grandpas who doubted Mommy! Hmph hmph! Ketchup will spread their stinky secrets to the whole wide world if they betray Mommy''s trust. Mreow!!!"

    Bacon dodged and pinned his sister to the virtual ground. "Father, can Bacon be the one to extort those blind old men?"

    Ketchup couldn''t escape. It was clear that she lost this round. She cried pitifully.

    "Alright, Bacon," Jin Liwei said with a sigh. "Release your big sister."

    Bacon obeyed with great reluctance. "Father, what about Bacon''s request?"

    "Fine," Jin Liwei said. "But only extort if those people vited their promise to your mom. Don''t do anything before then."

    Bacon''s expression remained bored, but his tail told another story. It rotated so quickly that only a blur could be seen. Extorting money from people excited him.

    "Cooperate with your Big Sister Ketchup," Jin Liwei added. "Once she informs us that someone vited their promise to your mom, then you can do your thing."

    "Yes, Father. Bacon understands."

    "Okey dokey, Daddy! Meow~"

    "Yes, Father. Bacon understands."

    "Okey dokey, Daddy! Meow~"

    After speaking to their two AI cat children, Iris and Jin Liwei left the private showroom and returned to the party outside.

    Iris nced at Grandpa Lu who was now back with his group of friends. They nodded at her with polite smiles, acting as if they hadn''t just been ckmailed by Iris with their deepest and darkest secrets.

    Indeed, the older the ginger, the spicier they got.

    They could act as if nothing was wrong.

    This suited Iris perfectly. She didn''t want anything ruining Libert¨¦''sunch party. She and Jin Liwei returned to walking around the ce to chat with the guests.

    Iris noticed a hot and fervent gaze on her. She turned and saw the nerdy tech billionaire staring at her with shining, red eyes. His gaze was simr to how the ck Stars looked at her, so she only smiled at him before chatting with a guest. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jin Liwei, however, didn''t appreciate the other man''s sticky eyes on his wife. He sent him a cold and threatening re.

    The nerdy tech billionaire quickly realized his bad behaviour and hurriedly gave Jin Liwei an apologetic head bow before avoiding the couple with his eyes. After confirming that Iris Long was Drakon and that she was his idol Fantom''s one and only disciple, the nerdy tech billionaire had now transferred his admiration from Fantom to Iris Long. He couldn''t stop himself from fanboying.

    "What''s wrong?" Iris asked her husband.

    Jin Liwei moved his eyes away from the other man and smiled at his wife. "Nothing, love. Are you thirsty?"

    "A little."

    "Stay here. I''ll get you a drink."

    "Thanks, darling."

    Jin Liwei left and headed to the refreshments area. Iris finished chatting with another guest when a tall man approached her.

    "Hello, Iris," the man greeted her with a big smile while extending a hand toward her.

    "Hello, Director Wilkins." Iris recognized the American man from the guest list she had memorized from the day before. She shook his hand and smiled at him.

    Onlyst-minute plus-one guests like Sheikha Amira flew past her recognition because they weren''t included in the original guest list in the first ce.

    "Oh, you know me?" Director Wilkins asked.

    "You''re a famous Hollywood film director, so of course I recognize you," she replied with a smile.

    The director chuckled.

    Iris added, "And I''m the one who personally put your name on the guest list. My music mentor mentioned that I should invite you. I didn''t expect that you would ept my perfumery''s invitation, so thank you very much for attending today."

    "Your music mentor is Enrique, right?"

    She nodded.

    The director''s expression became more open. "Enrique is one of my long-time friends in Hollywood. A real friend. We''ve worked together many times. His film scores always elevate my films to the next level."

    "Yes, Teacher Enrique has always been amazing."

    Director Wilkins stared at Iris for a few long moments. She remained calm and smiled at him, not at all bothered by his direct scrutinizing eyes on her.

    This, however, was the scene that Jin Liwei saw when he returned with drinks in his hands.

    Who was that huge, dark man ring at his wife?

    He immediately ran back and stood in front of his wife, protecting her behind him.

 Chapter 1527 Meeting Director Jabar Wilkins (Part II)

    Chapter 1527 Meeting Director Jabar Wilkins (Part II)

    Iris was startled. She held back her husband.

    Fortunately, Director Wilkins didn''t take offence at Jin Liwei''s wary defensiveness. In fact, he even looked amused and smiled at him good-naturedly. He offered his hand.

    "Darling, this is Director Wilkins, Teacher Enrique''s friend," Iris introduced.

    Jin Liwei quickly realized that he had misunderstood. He epted the other man''s hand and shook it. "Director Wilkins. I''m Liam Jin."

    The director grinned. "I know. You are Liam Jin, a filthy rich billionaire CEO."

    "Ahem." Jin Liwei didn''t take offence at the director''s description of him either. He knew that he was in the wrong for making swift assumptions about the man based on his outer appearance.

    "My apologies," he said.

    "No worries. You''re only protecting your wife from a big, scary, ck man like me."

    "That''s¡­not what I intend¡ª"

    Director Wilkins waved a dismissive hand, cutting him off. "I''m already used to it. Like I said, don''t worry about it. I''m proud of my roots and what I look like. I don''t let stereotypes define me. I work my a** off because I have to do it. Nobody else is going to do it for me, that''s for sure. I reached my position in Hollywood by shedding blood, sweat, and tears, and not by being offended by every little thing. I''m a fighter, not a victim."

    "Yes, you''re right," Jin Liwei said. "But I still must apologize if I offended you."

    The director grinned. He didn''t look like he was pretending. He truly didn''t mind it anymore. "It''s fine."

    Iris looked at the director with admiration. She had heard from Enrique Valdez about the director''s difficult struggles throughout the early days of his career in Hollywood.

    Wilkins didn''t start out rich or famous. He wasn''t a genius like Enrique Valdez. He didn''t have connections that would have given him a leg up in the industry. He only had his pure passion for filmmaking. He powered through despite numerous setbacks until he finally made a breakthrough with a critically acimed film that swept through the awards season. This was a film in which he coborated with Enrique Valdez for the first time.

    It could be said that Enrique Valdez was the one who gave Wilkins the leg up in the industry. But people must know that it wasn''t easy to invite the legendary hitmaker to create a film score, especially if the director wasn''t already famous or established in Hollywood.

    Enrique''s decision to coborate with a non-famous film director was enough proof that he saw potential in Wilkins. And indeed, the legendary hitmaker''s instincts were correct.

    Wilkins'' career skyrocketed after his triumphant coboration with Enrique Valdez. They would continue to coborate throughout the years to create even more amazing masterpieces, stamping their legendary coborations in the history of the Hollywood film industry.

    Enrique told Iris that she should invite Director Wilkins to Libert¨¦''sunch party because the director was vacationing in France. She weed the suggestion and immediately asked Clover to add the American director''s name to the guest list. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Let''s go find a seat," Director Wilkins suggested. "I want to have a chat with you two."

    "Yes, of course." Iris and Jin Liwei led the director to a more private section of the garden party.

    They could see most of the party from here, but others wouldn''t easily see them. It was a great spot for private chats that didn''t need total istion.

    Jin Liwei waved to a waiter who served them more sses of champagne. Iris asked for a mocktail instead because her alcohol tolerance wasn''t great, to begin with.

    "Cheers to Libert¨¦''s sessfulunch!" The director gave Iris a toast.

    "Cheers," Jin Liwei replied.

    Iris smiled. "Thank you. Cheers!"

    They chatted about the party for some time before the director changed the topic.

    "Enrique told me so much about you," Director Wilkins said. "You know Enrique. He''s a very taciturn person. It''s very rare for him to talk more than a couple sentences in one go. That''s why I came to yourunch party today because I''m so curious about you, Iris Long. Enrique has a very high opinion of a youngdy like you. I feel that I need to meet you in person."

    "It''s my honour to meet a Hollywood legend like you," Iris replied in a polite tone.

    "What legend?" Director Wilkinsughed. "Legend is a big word that we must be cautious in throwing around. Sure, I''ve achieved a lot given my low starting point, but I''m still far from being a legend. I still need to aplish more, and I intend to aplish more. One day, I''ll surely be a true legend."

    Iris liked this director''s ambitious attitude very much. Based on what Enrique told her, Wilkins had it rough. Even so, the director still managed to maintain a positive attitude and never allowed himself to retain a victim mentality.

    Despite repeated failures, he continued to persevere. And even when he had be sessful, he still maintained a good bnce between confidence and humility. This man was an excellent role model.

    "Director Wilkins¡ª"

    "Call me Jabar."

    Iris smiled. "Director Jabar."

    Wilkins turned to Jin Liwei and said, "You, too."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Jabar."

    Wilkinsughed. "From now on, you are my friends! Cheers!"

    He once again led a toast to celebrate the beginning of his friendship with the husband and wife.

    After downing his champagne, Wilkins'' expression became a bit more serious. "I asked for a private chat with you because I want to ask you for something."

    "What is it, Jabar?" Iris asked.

    "To tell you the truth, I''m in a slump right now. I don''t know Enrique''s real intention for arranging for us to meet, but I know that he''s not the type of person to do something random out of the blue. He must have predicted that we could mutually benefit from each other. He didn''t tell me anything except to watch ''Strong Yet Broken''. I didn''t attend that year''s Sommet International Film Festival, so I''m not familiar with that film. After watching it, I must say that almost everything about the movie is engaging, but what really impressed me the most was the film score. It added so much colour to the emotions of the scenes, giving life to the entire movie."

 Chapter 1528 Meeting Director Jabar Wilkins (Part III)

    Chapter 1528 Meeting Director Jabar Wilkins (Part III)

    Director Wilkins continued, "Then I checked the credits and saw that the entire film score wasposed by you, Iris Long. This sent me into a bingeing spiral where I watched everything that I could find about you. My favourite is your guest performance with Maestro Ludovico de Luca''s symphony orchestra in Germany."

    Iris'' eyes widened. "You even watched that performance. It feels like it happened so long ago."

    "I heard that Maestro de Luca is also your music mentor along with Enrique."

    She nodded.

    He sighed in admiration. "You must be a true genius like Enrique."

    "En, my wife is indeed a genius," Jin Liwei replied before Iris could say anything. His gaze on her was soft and filled with love.

    Wilkins chuckled at the sight. "So it''s true that CEO Liam Jin is head over heels in love with his wife. That''s good! A man who''s loyal to his wife is a real man! Cheating men are cowards whock self-control. I say it''s not difficult to stay faithful. If you no longer love each other, just divorce! At least have the decency to separate from your current partner before finding another one. There''s no need to hurt and humiliate your partner by cheating on her."

    "Exactly." Jin Liwei''s expression became more open after hearing the director''s words. "But I''ll never separate from my wife. She''s the only one for me."

    Iris watched the two men bond over their values about life and love.

    She was d that the awkward misunderstanding from earlier had been ironed out without any remaining issues. She didn''t want her husband to have a conflict with Jabar Wilkins, especially since she admired the director for his grit and optimism in life.

    Wilkins turned to her again. "Iris, you are a very talented and skillfulposer. If it''s alright with you, I hope we can coborate on my next project."

    His sudden request caught Iris by surprise. Even so, she didn''t hesitate.

    "Of course, yes!"

    Iris wouldn''t pass up this chance to coborate with a famous Hollywood director. No matter what kind of project it was, she would make it work.

    Her swift eptance pleased the director very much. Jabarughed and ordered another round of champagne for him and Jin Liwei and another mocktail for Iris.

    "Good! I like straightforward people like you, Iris."

    She shrugged but the smile stayed on her lips. "I don''t like wasting time, that''s all."

    "Cheers to that!"

    "Cheers!"

    "Liam, you too! Cheers!"

    "En, cheers."

    After another round of drinking, Wilkins revealed more about his slump.

    "I have now entered a stage in my life when the inspiration isn''t just there anymore. Myst five films performed below expectations. Thetest one almost flopped. The critics are roasting me, dering that I''m now past my prime and that I''m recycling old techniques that are severely behind the times."

    Iris put down her mocktail ss and focused on listening to the director''s story. Jin Liwei ordered a ss of voured sparkling water and reced both his and the director''s champagne sses. This wasn''t the time to get drunk. He and his wife still needed to maintain their wits for theter part of theunch party.

    Wilkins didn''t mind that Jin Liwei reced his alcohol with water. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He continued, "Some of my contemporaries are calling me stubborn for holding on to my original ideas, saying that times have changed and that I should keep up with the times to stay relevant. But my philosophy is different from theirs. I want to create timeless masterpieces that will be remembered even after I''m dead rather than trendy blockbusters that may be profitable at the moment but will eventually lose their influence in film history."

    Iris nodded, agreeing with his philosophy. Her admiration for him grew even more.

    "To be honest with you, these constant setbacks have taken a toll on me. Now I know what it feels like when people say that it''s easier to climb the top than to stay on top for the rest of your career. People call me a renowned Hollywood director, but if I continue to release films that perform below expectations, then at this rate, I''ll surely fade away from the spotlight until nobody knows me anymore. I''m hungry, I''m desperate! I want to create my next masterpiece¡ªno, my best masterpiece yet, but now that I''ve fallen this low in my career after reaching the top, nobody trusts me anymore.

    "I had many friends in Hollywood when I was one of the top directors in the industry. But now that I''m close to being a nobody, they''re either avoiding me or acting as if they don''t know me in the first ce. Only Enrique and a handful of others remain as my true, loyal friends in Hollywood. They''re very rare real friends. I''m very thankful for them, but I know that they can''t always rescue me when I''m in trouble. At the end of the day, I need to be the one to take control of my life, career, and future."

    Wilkins paused to down his ss of sparkling water. Jin Liwei immediately refilled it.

    Iris remained quiet, continuing to listen to the director''s story.

    The director asked her, "Do you want to hear about my next project?"

    "Yes," she replied.

    Jin Liwei also changed her drink from a mocktail to a ss of voured sparkling water.

    She smiled at him as thanks.

    Then Wilkins said, "My next project is an epic multi-film series. I want it to be the next big movie franchise. I optioned the original novel series that it will be based on, but so far, nobody is willing to take the risk of funding it due to therge investment requirements. I''m not the type to settle for anything cheap and sub-par just to save money. I''m willing to spend a lot to produce the highest quality film that I can create. If this was before, productionpanies would be flocking by now. But look at them, they''re now avoiding me for fear that they''re going to flop."

    Iris grew more serious. "What''s the progress of your current preparations?"

 Chapter 1529 Rebirth (English Version)

    Chapter 1529 Rebirth (English Version)

    At her question, Wilkins released a helpless sigh. "Not much progress. I only have myself and the book series that I optioned. I already renewed the option agreement twice and it''s going to expire in three months. I''ve been running around pitching the film adaptation to various production studios, but they don''t want to take the risk with me. I''m willing to invest everything I have for this film series, but my liquid assets aren''t enough. I''ll have to liquidate my other assets or take out a loan at this rate."

    Iris and Jin Liwei looked at each other after hearing about the director''s predicament.

    "I already agreed to be the musicposer of your film," Iris said. "So at least, you already have me on board. How about this? Send me the details of the project, and if I like it, I might help you with the funding. No promises, though."

    Wilkins'' eyes lit up. "Sure! I''ll send you the project files right away!"

    "No rush. Enjoy the party for now. I''ll be here in Paris for a few more days. We can meet again another day before I leave."

    "Okay, got it." Wilkins looked livelier and more hopeful.

    They all returned to the party.

    Clover called for the guests to return to their tables.

    "Today, we''re going to give you a special treat. Please help me wee on the stage our beautiful owner, the super-talented Madame Iris Long!!!"

    Jin Liwei stood up and led the apuse for his wife. Grandpa Lu also cheered loudly for Iris and threatened his old friends to do the same.

    The nerdy tech billionaire also pped his hands as if he were in a ppingpetition. His acquaintances were startled by his actions. His expression looked manic. This was the first time that they had seen him act this way. Did he finally lose his mind after years of doing nothing but facing theputer screen? They all backed away a few steps from him.

    Director Jabar Wilkins was also enthusiastic in cheering for Iris.

    As for the other guests, they gave a much more polite apuse. They had heard that Madame Jin was a singer, but not many of them had watched her perform live before. This would be the first time. They were all curious if she really did have talent or if she was only a product of nepotism.

    Iris didn''t care what other people thought about her. At this moment, all she cared about was her performance.

    The stage was calling her.

    She could feel the blood thrumming inside her veins, her heart skipping inside her chest, and her breath trying to catch up to her excitement.

    Jin Liwei once again escorted her up the steps of the stage.

    "You''ll do great, love," he whispered to her ear.

    She smiled, taking a few seconds to look at his handsome face. Then she kissed the corner of his mouth before stepping onto the stage.

    She didn''t see the stupid grin on his face after the kiss.

    The band of musicians nodded at her. There were ssical instruments in addition to an electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums.

    She gave them a smile before taking her position in front of the grand piano.

    "Once again, thank you all foring today," she spoke to the mic addressing the audience. "This song is one of my biggest hits from my album ''Rebirth'' back in my country. If you live here in Europe, maybe you''ve heard the instrumental version of my album which is called ''Rebirth Melodies''. If not, it''s okay. I hope that you enjoy the English version of my original song, ''Rebirth''. This is the first time I''m performing this version in public."

    The spotlight dimmed. The backlight showed Iris'' beautiful silhouette on the stage.

    Then an exquisite piano melody began ying. The spotlight gradually illuminated the woman who started singing with the music.

    "Caged and chained in a tiny world

    Wondering what it''s like outside

    A little bird imprisoned by love

    Dying little by little inside

    I want to be free

    Free as a bird

    But where are my wings

    I cannot fly"

    Iris'' fingers danced on the piano keys. Her ethereal voice shocked many of the guests who weren''t familiar with her.

    What was this heavenly voice?

    She continued singing, her voice caressing the audience''s ears like velvet. The melody also started rising, preparing for the chorus.

    "I sing a song inside my cage

    While shadows destroy my tiny world

    Break my bones a thousand times n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Go ahead, I will not cry

    These red roses smell so sweet

    Atst, I''m free

    Will I ever fly"

    Then the other instruments joined in. The harmony absorbed every one''splete attention. Even the ones who had still been busy chatting now stopped and focused on Iris'' performance on the stage.

    Iris demonstrated her powerful voice and wide vocal range. Her voice didn''t falter at all while she yed the piano. Each of the other musicians was also skillful and harmonized with her perfectly.

    "From the ashes, I rise like a phoenix

    A little bird no more

    I spread my wings, so big and wide

    Now I am free

    Now I can fly

    Oh, I can fly up in the sky

    While tears flow down my joyful eyes

    Up I fly, up I soar

    Until I brush against the clouds

    I''ll stay up here and touch the stars

    I''ll reach as high that I can"

    This performance gave the audience goosebumps. There were so many emotions packed in the music that some of the audience members began tearing up. It felt like Iris'' voice had the power to directly touch their souls.

    After singing the chorus a couple of times, the melody started slowing down. The other instruments also gradually stepped back, allowing Iris'' enchanting voice and lone piano to take the spotlight once again. Her voice softened, making the audience feel as if a goddess was whispering in their ears.

    "This rebirth of a tiny bird

    Into a rising phoenix

    Power courses through my veins

    To break the chains

    To spread my wings

    So this is freedom

    I am free

    Oh yes, I am free~"

 Chapter 1530 Iris Long and Jin Chonglinâ€™s Duet (Part I)

    Chapter 1530 Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s Duet (Part I)

    This time, nobody had to lead the apuse. Everyone in the audience gave a standing ovation of their own ord.

    "Superb!"

    "Bravo!"

    "Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!"

    Iris stood up and executed her signature curtsy bow, drawing another round of apuse, louder this time. She turned around and faced her band of musicians. Then she also gave them a curtsy bow as thanks for their amazing cooperation with her. The musicians all beamed and bowed to her as well, pping for her, for themselves, and for everyone.

    "Thank you," Iris mouthed to everyone.

    Jin Chonglin watched his sister-inw basking in the audience''s adoration after a sessful performance. Even he couldn''t help but feel awed. He was still savouring the beautiful performance in his mind when he felt a hard elbow hitting him on the side.

    "Huh? What?" he asked, a little dazed.

    Chen Fei rolled his eyes at him and gestured for him to p his hands. There were other people around them. It wouldn''t do Iris and Jin Chonglin any good if someone reported that he didn''t p after his sister-inw''s performance. The media would definitely spin it into a sensational narrative about a superstar brother-inw feeling jealous and threatened by his talented sister-inw.

    "Oh." Jin Chonglin realized it, too, so he followed suit and started joining the apuse.

    His mind, however, was still reying Iris'' beautiful performance. He had watched her perform "Rebirth" live on stage many times before especially while the two werepeting with each other for the top spot in the music charts.

    Usually, English versions of a song couldn''t capture the emotions of the original song. This English version of "Rebirth", however, was an exception.

    This version that Iris performed also somewhat differed from the original version. The musical arrangements were a bit different, including Iris'' vocal arrangement. It highlighted her increased vocal range while also making it casual enough for a party performance.

    Perhaps it was because Iris had matured a lot after giving birth, but the way she sang now felt more soul-stirring than before. Her high notes were as impressive as ever, but it was her low notes that Jin Chonglin felt particrly imposing. She didn''t have this vocal quality before she got pregnant.

    Jin Chonglin felt a little envious.

    Just a tad bit.

    His vocal range had basically reached its full potential by now. It was already difficult for him to make modifications to his vocal range. He also had to be cautious because any careless modifications might damage his vocal chords which would be detrimental to his career as a singer. The only thing he could basically do right now was to change concepts and styles.

    Iris'' vocal range increased after giving birth. Maybe he could also¡­.

    "Babe," he called.

    "What is it?" Chen Fei asked while continuing to p with everyone else.

    "Let''s have a baby."

    She red at him. "You''re still going on about this?"

    "Sister Xin''s voice improved after having a baby. Maybe if I¡ªouch!"

    He gave her a look of disbelief and hurt for stepping on his poor foot.

    "Go back to school, Jin Chonglin," she scolded him. "Maybe if you''re the one giving birth and not me, then your voice might also improve like Xin''s. Don''t be stupid and learn more about Science."

    He pouted but didn''t retort.

    Back on the stage, Iris had no idea that her brother-inw was so envious of her improved voice that he was even insisting on having a baby again. She finally got the audience in control again.

    "Thank you, everyone. Thank you! Next, I would like to invite my brother-inw¡ª"

    Another round of excited cheers.

    Iris chuckled. "Please help me invite to the stage my brother-inw, the one and only Jin Chonglin!!!"

    Most of the audience partook in the cocktails and champagne, so they were more rxed now. After Madame Iris Long''s superb performance, they looked forward to superstar Jin Chonglin''s performance as well.

    Jin Chonglin was still distracted by his painful foot. Then his girlfriend elbowed him again.

    "What now?" he asked, sulking a little.

    "They''re calling you on stage!" Chen Fei said. "Go!"

    "Oh, right." He immediately changed expressions, shing everyone his killer smile and waving as he walked toward the stage.

    Chen Fei fought the urge to roll her eyes again. If she kept rolling her eyes, they might not go back to normal.

    Although she scolded Jin Chonglin for asking her to have a baby with him again, the truth was she felt happy in her heart. With a smile that she tried restraining, she also joined the other audience members in cheering for her boyfriend.

    Jin Chonglin chatted with Iris on the stage. Both were professionals and knew how to entertain with seemingly unscripted chatter.

    He took over the conversation and asked the audience directly, "Has any of you watched the TV drama, ''Our Love, Our Destiny''?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    There was another round of cheers and a few raised hands.

    "Oh? Plenty, it seems." He nodded in approval.

    Although he didn''t star in the drama himself, it still became extremely popr internationally, partly because of the theme song he sang with Iris Long.

    Both the TV drama and theme song became the most popr in Asian countries, so Jin Chonglin was a little surprised that some watched it among the guests today. He was very pleased.

    "This song that we are going to sing is the theme song of the TV drama, ''Our Love, Our Destiny''. My beautiful sister-inw and owner of Libert¨¦, Iris Long, wrote this song. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy our song, ''Shining Eyes''."

    Someone gave Jin Chonglin an acoustic guitar while Iris sat in front of the piano again.

    The band of musicians behind them also took their positions. The spotlight dimmed once again before gradually illuminating the two performers¡ªone handsome, the other beautiful.

    Jin Chonglin strummed his guitar. The ssical musicians followed suit and harmonized with him. Then Iris began ying the piano, enveloping the melody, making it full of passion.

 Chapter 1531 Iris Long and Jin Chonglinâ€™s Duet (Part II)

    Chapter 1531 Iris Long and Jin Chonglin¡¯s Duet (Part II)

    Jin Chonglin started singing. He sang the song in the originalnguage. There was no need to trante the song into English because it had already be popr in the originalnguage even among the international audience.

    His voice flowed like sweet caramel while he looked at his girlfriend in the audience.

    "Walking down the town of life

    I caught a glimpse of you

    Your beautiful self

    Making even the flowers smile back"

    Iris sang next. Her soft voice was like an angel''s feathers caressing the audience''s hearts. She looked at her husband waiting for her below the stage.

    "Smitten I followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    Jin Chonglin took over the song.

    "Time stopped in that moment n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The sun paled in your presence"

    Iris followed naturally.

    "Birdsong filled the air

    As you chose me"

    The instruments harmonized together, creating a heart-tugging melody with a slow, emotional tempo. Jin Chonglin''s guitar provided sensuality while Iris'' piano evoked romantic memories.

    Then they began singing together, their voices harmonizing in a way that made the listeners sigh with deep emotions. Jin Chonglin added a growl to his singing while Iris'' voice soared.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return

    But you always knew

    So your shining eyes saw me"

    Iris'' fingers danced over the piano keys, not missing a beat even as she closed her eyes while singing. When she opened her eyes, her sight never left her husband. She sang the next verse by herself, expressing her deep love to the man waiting for her below the stage. Her voice was high, light, and effortless.

    "As I''m singing I look into your eyes

    And know you see me like I do you

    Even as we grow old I never forget

    The man that saw me that day"

    Next, Jin Chonglin stopped ying the guitar. The other instruments also paused. Only his deep, sharine voice could be heard.

    "Smitten I had followed you around

    Not expecting anything in return"

    Iris sang the next lines.

    "But you always knew

    So you gave me all I could ever want"

    Then she yed the piano again. Jin Chonglin followed suit with his acoustic guitar along with the other instruments.

    Iris and Jin Chonglin sang together.

    "I got you~"

    The ending was soft and lingering, just like a love that continued to endure throughout a lifetime.

    There was a couple of seconds of pure silence. Then the loud apuse resounded in the venue.

    Iris stood up from her seat in front of the piano. Jin Chonglin held out a hand. She took it.

    Together, they bowed down to the audience¡ªJin Chonglin with a deep bow and Iris with her signature curtsy bow. They also bowed to the band again, sharing the apuse and cheers with the musicians.

    Among the audience, many couldn''t help but marvel at Madame Iris Long''s skills and talents. She wasn''t overshadowed by Jin Chonglin, a superstar, at all. She held her own and even outperformed him especially when it came to vocal prowess.

    There were some parts during the performance where Jin Chonglin''s voice became shaky which was expected for live performances.

    But there was Iris Long who stood out for her solid, studio-quality performance. Her singing was stable all throughout. Her lung capacity was impressive and so was her piano skills. She barely looked at her hands while ying the piano, focusing instead on conveying the emotions of the song to the audience.

    Theparison was enough proof that Iris Long indeed had the talent. She could keep up with a superstar and even outshine him in some parts of the performance.

    The band of musicians keenly noticed this point, and so did the guests who had an ear for music. But for most of the audience, this wasn''t that big of an issue. The most important thing was enjoying the performance.

    Iris spoke to the mic. "Please give Jin Chonglin another round of big apuse!"

    The audience followed her. Jin Chonglin preened and waved, making plenty ofdies anddies at heart swoon from his killer smile.

    "Now I''ll leave the stage for my brother-inw," Iris said. "Please enjoy!"

    With that, she walked down the stage with the help of her husband. Jin Liwei kissed her forehead, whispering sweet praises in her ear.

    The husband and wife returned to their table amidst the guests'' admiration.

    Jin Chonglin took over the stage. This time, he prepared a set of solo pieces for the audience. He even brought a couple of backup dancers to the delight of everyone.

    With no Iris Long outperforming him when it came to vocal skills, Jin Chonglin was able to showcase his electrifying stage presence without any limitations, reminding everyone why he was a superstar.

    Iris enjoyed his performance, singing along with Jin Chonglin, and even dancing in her seat. Many of the audience members were also the same.

    Jin Liwei, however, was more focused on making sure that his wife wasfortable than on his younger brother''s performance on the stage. He would pour her drinks, massage her hands, fan her when she sweated, and so many other little acts of service that caused other wives/girlfriends/lovers watching to feel extremely envious.

    After Jin Chonglin''s energetic performance, everyone took a short break. They also sweated a lot even though they weren''t the ones performing on the stage.

    Then the party entered another casual mode where the guests walked around to interact with each other. It was another opportunity towork.

    Ashandra Knightson approached Iris and Jin Liwei. "I had so much fun today, but I must leave now because I have a meeting for my art exhibition."

    "Of course, Ashandra." Iris hugged her friend. "Thank you so much foring. I''ll definitelye to support your art exhibition in a few days."

    The friends bid each other goodbye.

    Then the French magnate and his wife approached Iris and Jin Liwei next.

    Jin Liwei''s eyes turned cold.

    Iris remained polite, but there was indifference in her tone.

 Chapter 1532 Money is the Best

    Chapter 1532 Money is the Best

    The French magnate felt helpless at the couple''s attitude toward him. The concealed bump on his forehead ached, but for the sake of hispany''s survival and continued membership in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork, he swallowed his pride and pretended not to notice the couple''s indifference.

    He smiled and spoke to Iris. "Madame Jin, I truly apologize for my transgressions. I hope that the gifts that I sent you yesterday are to your liking. If not, please let me know what you like and I''ll do everything in my power to get it for you."

    "No need," Jin Liwei said before Iris could say anything. "My wife doesn''t need anything from you. I already told you yesterday that we''re even now because our son had injured you. We epted the gifts of apology you sent so that you won''t feel the need to keep on giving us things to prove your sincerity."

    The French magnate controlled his anxiety, trying hard not to let it show on his face. After his gaffe at the gentlemen''s gathering yesterday, he noticed the group of men''s change of attitude toward him.

    Although they didn''t tantly iste him at the party today, he could feel that they were distancing themselves from him. He had unknowingly offended CEO Liam Jin and Sir Lu Jianhong.

    He would never have imagined that he would be reduced to humbling himself in front of others. After he became a billionaire, he felt like he was on top of the world. He had the wealth and power to do basically whatever he wanted.

    It was only after his business partner, who was a Cross Academy alumnus, died that he realized the importance of belonging to the academy''s exclusive businesswork. If hispany lost its membership there, its value would most definitely plummet. It wouldn''t go bankrupt, but it would lose a lot of valuable connections and resources.

    He didn''t want that to happen. He was ready to do anything to retain hispany''s membership.

    But after his gaffe yesterday and noticing the change in attitude of the group of gentlemen toward him, he knew that he must do something.

    First, he needed to appease Mr. and Mrs. Jin. Then maybe they could intervene on his behalf.

    Earlier, he noticed that the couple left with Sir Lu Jianhong and his friends plus the nerdy tech billionaire. They stayed inside for quite a while. When they came out, he observed that everyone seemed much more polite to Madame Jin.

    The nerdy tech billionaire had the most notable change in attitude toward Madame Jin. After they returned to the party, the younger man looked like he was ready to worship Madame Jin.

    The French magnate didn''t know what happened inside, but his instincts told him that Madame Jin''s influence might be bigger than he initially expected.

    He had a feeling that if he failed topletely appease her today, his future would be bleak.

    His wife sensed his difort. She moved to speak several times, but he stopped her with a look. He didn''t want his wife to make things worse.

    "Madame Jin, CEO Jin, if there is anything I can do for you, just tell me," he said with an ingratiating smile.

    Iris nced at her cold-faced husband and sighed. The Frenchman''s nervousness was making her feel awkward. She wasn''t sure if the Frenchman was really sincere or not, but his anxiety was all too real.

    She didn''t sympathize with the man at all. Hearing that he tried to influence her husband to cheat behind her back, she didn''t have any good feelings toward him.

    Even so, she still listened to her husband. Jin Liwei wanted her to ept the Frenchman''s gifts of apology so she did. Her husband also had a n which she was ready to execute now.

    "Monsieur, I will forget about you instigating my husband to cheat behind my back if you could help watch over my Libert¨¦ when I''m not in France," she said.

    The Frenchman''s eyes lit up. "Of course, Madame Jin. It would be my pleasure. I might not amount to much outside of Europe, but within my country, I still have some influence," he said in a humble tone. "Please don''t worry about Libert¨¦. I''m just a call away if your perfumery needs any assistance."

    She gave him a polite smile. "That''s all I ask."

    He looked relieved. "Thank you very much, Madame Jin." Then he also nodded at Jin Liwei. "And you, too, CEO Jin."

    Jin Liwei didn''t reply, but the Frenchman didn''t mind. He knew that as long as he pleased Madame Jin, CEO Jin would follow.

    After a few sentences of polite chatter, the French magnate excused himself and his wife.

    "Why did you have to act like a bootlicker?" his young model wife asked, the dissatisfaction clear in her expression. "So embarrassing!"

    "If I didn''t act that way, the wealth you''re enjoying right now might disappear," he said.

    Her eyes widened. "What do you mean by that? They''re the ones who''re asking for a favour to look after Libert¨¦!"

    "It might look like that in your eyes, but they''re the ones who''re doing me favour. Just do as I say and be respectful to Mr. and Mrs. Jin if you see them. Do not, for the life of me, offend them. Especially Madame Jin! I''m telling you. If you drag me down with your foolishness, I''ll divorce you."

    She pouted. Her eyes followed Iris Long and Liam Jin, feeling envious of their rtionship. After watching them interact throughout the entire party, it was obvious that the two were very much in love.

    She had thought that Iris Long would be the same as her, but no. Iris Long had a husband who loved her.

    What about her? She looked at her French billionaire husband. He didn''t look as handsome as Liam Jin, neither was he as wealthy as Liam Jin.

    "Let''s go," her husband said, dragging her away.

    She pouted again, feeling sorry for herself.

    "I''ll buy you a handbagter," he suddenly said. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Her eyes lit up. "I love you, hubby!"

    What was the use of love?

    Money was the best!

 Chapter 1533 Is He a Masochist?

    Chapter 1533 Is He a Masochist?

    "It appears that he''s desperate," Irismented while observing the French magnate and his wife from the corner of her eyes.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded. "He mentioned that hispany''s membership in Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork is due for a review next year."

    "If he helps Libert¨¦, I don''t mind vouching for him," she said.

    "Up to you."

    "I don''t want our family to get closer to him, though. I still have a grudge against him for trying to influence you to cheat behind my back. Although Little Matcha hitting him is bad, I''m still proud of our son."

    He chuckled. "En. Our son is very protective of our family. But don''t worry, love. We''ll teach him carefully so he won''t randomly attack others whenever he loses his temper. There are plenty of ways to punish people without directly attacking them."

    "You''re bad, darling." She smiled.

    He kissed her forehead.

    "Our rtionship with that Frenchman would remain business only," she said. "He helps Libert¨¦ gain a stable foothold in France and possibly in Europe, and I help hispany stay in the academy''s exclusive businesswork."

    "En, that''s the n. I wouldn''t have advised you to ept his gifts of apology if he wasn''t useful for Libert¨¦.

    She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed the corner of his lip. "I know. Thank you, darling."

    "Anything for you, love."

    "Ahem!" Clover interrupted their lovey-dovey moment. "Sorry, boss and sir boss! But I need the boss to give the closing speech in a few moments¡ªhuh?"

    Everyone looked in the direction of the stage.

    Jin Chonglin stood there, holding a microphone.

    "What''s he doing?" Iris asked.

    "I don''t know," Clover replied. "Excuse me, boss and sir boss. I''ll check!"

    Clover ran and asked the staff what was going on. The staff members all shrugged. They had no idea what Jin Chonglin was nning either.

    "Is your brother drunk?" Iris asked.

    Jin Liwei frowned. What was his younger brother doing? This was his wife''s importantunch party for her perfumery. If his brother ruined it, Jin Liwei wouldn''t let Jin Chonglin off.

    "Hello, everyone!" Jin Chonglin greeted, taking everyone''s attention. "First of all, I want to say thank you foring to my sister-inw''sunch party for Libert¨¦."

    Iris raised an eyebrow. This didn''t seem too bad? Even though this speech wasn''t part of the original programme, having a superstar like Jin Chonglin thank everyone could only benefit Libert¨¦.

    Jin Chonglin continued speaking. "Second of all, don''t forget to rmend Libert¨¦ perfumes to your family, friends, acquaintances, pets, random strangers¡­."

    His words caused the guests tough. Nobody among the guests thought that this was an impromptu speech. They all thought that this was part of the original programme, especially seeing Madame Iris Long acting normally.

    "Especially my perfume, ''Vaince''. It''s the best! Am I right?"

    He drew another round ofughter.

    Iris met Yin Meixing''s eyes from across the venue. They both chuckled, shaking their heads.

    "Of course, ''Eve'' and ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦'' are awesome, too." Jin Chonglin continued chatting with the audience.

    "I think your brother is really drunk," Iris said.

    Jin Liwei snorted, not caring about his younger brother anymore. As long as Jin Chonglin didn''t ruin his wife''sunch party, then Jin Liwei wouldn''t punish him.

    Jin Chonglin continued saying, "And finally, please give me a moment of your attention and cheer for me."

    Just as he said these words, he stepped off the stage and started walking toward the audience. His backup dancers from earlier also appeared again. One carried a massive bouquet of roses and the other carried a camera filming everything.

    Everyone fell silent as they watched what he was going to do with great enthusiasm and excitement.

    "Is this what I think it is?" Iris grabbed her husband''s arm and shook it.

    Jin Liwei pulled his excited wife closer to him.

    They watched his younger brother''s actions along with everyone else.

    Jin Chonglin stopped in front of his girlfriend, Chen Fei, who had been chatting with some of the other guests.

    At first, panic shed in her eyes from all the attention, but she quickly caught herself. She straightened her back and looked at his boyfriend, waiting for what he would do next.

    The other guests whom she was chatting with slowly stepped away.

    Jin Chonglin''s backup dancer handed him the huge bouquet and took the microphone to hold it for him. Then Jin Chonglin gave the bouquet of roses to Chen Fei.

    She took it but barely looked at it. All her attention was on the man standing in front of her. Her heart thundered inside her chest. She couldn''t hear anything else besides his mesmerizing voice.

    "Babe, I know that you still harbour a lot of reservations about our rtionship," he said to the mic while looking at Chen Fei deep in the eyes. "I don''t know when I started to fall for you. Maybe it''s when we fight like cats and dogs whenever we see each other. Or maybe it''s when you swear and curse at me whenever I get too absorbed in my self-importance. You''re the only one who has ever looked me dead in the eyes and told me to my face that I''m a narcissistic diva man and should go to hell."

    He spoke in his nativenguage, causing the other guests who didn''t understand to ask those who could speak Mandarin to trante for them.

    As a result, people crowded around Iris and Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu and his old friends, Clover, and a handful of others who were proficient in thenguage.

    Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei didn''t care about what was happening around them. In fact, they couldn''t hear or see anything besides their own heartbeats and the expression of their lover.

    "We traded barbed insults like bratty kids," he continued saying. "But mysteriously, we work great together. I even began to look forward to you scolding me."

    "Is he a masochist?" Iris whispered to her husband. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jin Liwei kissed her forehead but didn''t reply. For some reason, he could rte to his younger brother.

 Chapter 1534 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Chapter 1534 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Jin Liwei admitted that he sometimes found a strange pleasure when his wife scolded him, especially when she got mad from jealousy.

    Most of the time, it was he who felt jealous and possessive. His jealous and possessive nature would always be there, but at least now, he could control how he reacted to prevent his wife from feeling suffocated.

    As for Iris, she rarely felt jealous and possessive maybe because she felt more secure in their rtionship than him. But when she did feel jealous and possessive, she was a force to be reckoned with.

    There was still a fear deep inside him that she would leave him one day if he took their rtionship for granted. This was why he would always do everything in his power to be the man that she needed.

    He would always give in to her as long as her demands didn''t hurt herself. Of course, he wouldn''t deliberately make her feel jealous or possessive, but he would feel secretly happy whenever she did. It meant that she cared about him and wanted him to stay with her.

    What he feared the most was her indifference. It would hurt him terribly if she started ignoring him and stopped caring about him. He would rather that she hated him rather than ignore him.

    But these were just thoughts for those extreme situations. Right now was a beautiful life of marriage and contentment for both of them. He would do whatever was needed to safeguard his marriage and protect the beautiful family that they had built together.

    So he could somehow rte to his younger brother when Jin Chonglin said that he began to look forward to Chen Fei scolding him.

    Jin Liwei watched as his wife paid rapt attention to Jin Chonglin''s confession just like everybody else. Some of the guests even fished out their phones to record.

    He sighed.

    Iris noticed it and asked, "Why are you sighing?"

    "Chonglin is not thoughtful enough," he said.

    She tilted her head to the side.

    Seeing the question in her eyes, he said, "If he''s going to do what we all think he''s going to do, then this is not the right ce at all. I doubt that he made careful ns. I bet he just thought about it, maybe this morning, and wants to do it immediately. He''s my brother, so I know that he can be very impulsive. For one, he''s going to put too much pressure on Chen Fei in front of all these people. And most importantly, how dare he do this at your Libert¨¦unch party? Is he trying to overshadow yourunch with his thoughtless, impulsive actions? When he''s done, watch how I''ll deal with him."

    Iris chuckled. "So you''re upset for my sake?"

    It had nothing to do with Chen Fei, her husband just wanted to vent for her sake. She hugged his waist while continuing to watch Jin Chonglin chatter on and on about the beginning of his rtionship with Chen Fei.

    He snorted. "You''ve waited so long tounch Libert¨¦. I know that you didn''t even n to hire Chonglin as the male ambassador in the first ce but he insisted on tagging along. Now he''s going to take all the attention from yourunch with his proposal. He could''ve chosen another time and ce and made careful preparations by himself, but he''s toozy. He wants to ride on Libert¨¦''s coattails." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "I think that it''s fine," she said patting his chest, trying to calm him down. "Libert¨¦ can use this as publicity."

    He pursed his lips but didn''t refute her. "Up to you."

    She nodded.

    They continued to watch.

    After ten minutes, Iris frowned. "When is he going to stop talking? Is he not going to propose yet? Maybe we made a mistake and he just wants to talk like this?"

    Jin Liwei also frowned. His disapproval of his younger brother''s actions was clear on his face.

    The other guests were also quickly losing interest. They didn''t bother waiting for the trantions anymore and returned to chatting about other topics by themselves.

    Jin Chonglin didn''t notice this at all. He still continued enthusiastically talking on and on until the exasperated Chen Fei kicked his shin.

    "How long are you going to make me stand here?! Are you going to propose to me or not?!"

    "Oh. Oh!" Jin Chonglin fished out a velvet box from his pocket and opened it, presenting a huge diamond ring to her. "Chen Fei, I love you. Will you marry me?"

    Chen Fei pouted. "You''re not going to kneel?!"

    "Oh. Oh, right!" He knelt down on one knee. In his haste, he knocked down his knee on the floor too hard, causing him to wince in pain. But he gritted his teeth, not wanting anything to ruin his proposal.

    "Now ask me again," she said.

    "Chen Fei, will you marry me?"

    The guests who had already lost interest quickly returned their attention back to the couple. Some started cheering for Jin Chonglin while the others were urging Chen Fei to say yes.

    Chen Fei didn''t answer. She just looked at him.

    One minute, two minutes.

    "What''s your answer?!" Jin Chonglin demanded.

    Why was she taking so long to answer?

    He hadn''t been this nervous for a long time.

    Was she going to say no?

    Why wouldn''t she marry him?

    He was the superstar Jin Chonglin!

    "You know," Chen Fei began to speak.

    He stood in attention, not wanting to miss a word she said.

    "This is the first time that you told me you love me," she said.

    "Huh?" He was in a daze.

    Was this really the first time that he said that he loved her?

    She continued, "You''ve never told me before that you love me and you expect me to ept your marriage proposal? Do you think we live in ancient times? That I should marry you simply because you''ve imed me in public?"

    Jin Chonglin started trembling. He had a bad premonition.

    "Marry you? Hah! In your dreams! My answer is no!"

    Chen Fei turned around and walked away.

 Chapter 1535 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Chapter 1535 (Title is a Spoiler)

    Jin Chonglin felt like his world was crumbling away. He continued kneeling there with a stunned expression while watching his girlfriend walk away.

    Everything around him turned quiet.

    This was the first time in his life that he felt like time had been frozen. It felt like he had separated from his own body, and that he was watching somebody else get rejected by his girlfriend. It was a surreal experience¡ªa f*cking frightening experience.

    He didn''t notice the people around him wearing a myriad of expressions.

    Some gasped. Some looked horrified. Some looked entertained, wanting to watch more of the drama. Some looked at him in schadenfreude. Some pitied him.

    When it felt like time unfroze itself and his motor skills returned, Jin Chonglin stood up in a rush, almost tripping on his own feet, and chased after Chen Fei. He didn''t care about his own image as a superstar anymore.

    There was no way that he would allow the woman to run away from him just like that!

    He, Jin Chonglin, had never been the type to give up!

    "Babe! Hey, wait!"

    Chen Fei kept on walking away. She wasn''t running, just speed-walking.

    He was about to reach her when she stopped and faced him again. He immediately put on the brakes and almost stumbled again. Now that she was facing him, he found that he didn''t know what to say.

    His mind went nk.

    What the heck was happening to him?

    This was so weird!

    It was as if a dumb spirit had possessed him and prevented him from forming coherent thoughts.

    Then he stood there looking like a stupid idiot as Chen Fei grinned at him.

    "Just joking," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Okay, Jin Chonglin. I say yes, so you can feel happy now because I''ll marry you."

    His eyes and mouth opened wide as if he couldn''t believe that she had just pranked him. He must have stayed like that for too long because Chen Fei became impatient again.

    "What are you waiting for?" she demanded, wiggling her fingers in front of him. "You''re not going to give me my ring?"

    "Oh. Oh, right!" Jin Chonglin regained his senses and took the ring from the box.

    He was so clumsy that the ring slipped from his hand. It rolled away to who knew where, causing him and everyone else to panic.

    "The ring!" He immediately went down to all-fours to hunt for it.

    One of his backup dancers and some of the guests joined him in looking for it while his other backup dancer was filming everything with glee.

    Chen Fei covered her face with the huge bouquet. Could she take back her yes?

    Her future husband was too embarrassing!

    She could hear the guestsughing at them.

    Well, whatever. This was the man that she chose for herself. She had to live by her decisions. Sighing, she carefully cradled her bouquet of roses and joined her man in hunting for her ring.

    Across the venue from all the hubbub, Jin Liwei held his wife who was clutching her stomachughing until tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

    "Liwei! Why is your brother so funny today?!" Iris felt like she couldn''t breathe from too muchughing. "This is the best proposal I have ever witnessed! Hahaha!"

    Jin Liwei immediately scowled, feeling jealous. "What about when I proposed to you? That wasn''t the best?"

    Iris immediately tried controlling herughter. It was difficult but for the sake of coaxing her husband, she still had to do it. She smiled, stood on her tippy-toes, and kissed the corner of his mouth.

    "Of course, your proposal to me is the best," she said. "What I meant was that this is the best proposal by other people that I''ve ever witnessed."

    Jin Liwei felt better. He caught her mouth and kissed her, too. Not too deep but enough for her taste to linger in his tongue.

    After the kiss, a flush-faced Iris rested her head on her husband''s chest. They embraced as they watched Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei along with the other guests look for the diamond ring.

    "I guess we''ll have another wedding in our family soon," Irismented.

    "En."

    ''As long as Chonglin doesn''t mess it up,'' Jin Liwei added in his thoughts. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    He cared for his younger brother, but he knew about Jin Chonglin''s messy rtionships with various women in the past. He just hoped that his younger brother wouldn''t y with Chen Fei''s feelings. His wife and their girl squad wouldn''t let his younger brother off the hook if Jin Chonglin ever hurt Chen Fei.

    Just his wife alone was enough to destroy Jin Chonglin.

    Long Jinjing was also someone who shouldn''t be overlooked. She was Chen Fei''s best friend and the most protective of her. She might seem timid at first, but if her husband¡ªLu Zihao, that vengeful b*stard¡ªwas added into the mix, then it would be an instant game over for Jin Chonglin.

    The other members of the girl squad would surely band together to wage war on Jin Chonglin if he ever did anything bad to Chen Fei.

    If that ever happened, Jin Liwei wasn''t sure if he could help his own younger brother then.

    Iris had no idea that her husband''s thoughts had already strayed to the worst-case scenario for her brother-inw. Even if she knew, she would definitely agree with Jin Liwei. She and her friends would always protect each other from undeserving men.

    Back to the chaotic scene near the stage, a guest finally found the missing ring. He graciously handed it to the frantic Jin Chonglin who almost called him father in gratitude.

    Everyone wasughing. They had never seen a clumsier proposal than this.

    Jin Chonglin ran to Chen Fei, waving the ring in his hand.

    "Don''t wave it like that!" Chen Fei scolded him. "What if you identally throw it again? If you lose the ring again, I''ll take back my yes and you can just marry your own sorry self!"

 Chapter 1536 Lamest Proposal Ever

    Chapter 1536 Lamest Proposal Ever

    Jin Chonglin immediately protected the ring, pressing it on his chest and covering it with his other hand. If he wasn''t using both his feet to walk, he might have also used them to cover the ring.

    When he reached his girlfriend, he said, "You said yes! You said you''ll marry me! I heard it! Everyone heard it, too! You can''t take it back! Quick, give me your hand!"

    Chen Fei fought the urge to roll her eyes.

    This childish man.

    She still wanted to scold him but stopped herself. Looking at the excited and expectant eyes of her man, her heart softened. She gave him her hand.

    He carefully slipped the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly.

    Chen Fei immediately felt a weight on her finger. The diamond was so big that it was almost the size of a quail egg. It had a tear-drop shape and looked gorgeous. However, its ostentatious size was too impractical.

    Sheughed, shaking her head. However, her heart felt like it was going to burst with happiness.

    "Do you like it?" Jin Chonglin asked.

    He looked confident as always, but Chen Fei now knew him better to notice the slight barely noticeable nervous tremors on his lips.

    Her heart softened. "Yes, I like it."

    He grinned and looked smug. "I knew it. I have the best taste."

    Chen Fei fought the urge to smack him with her huge bouquet.

    No, the bouquet of roses was so beautiful. It didn''t deserve to be destroyed because of this fool of a man.

    In the end, she could only sigh before throwing her arms around her man''s neck, bouquet and all.

    "I think I love you, too, you little sh*t."

    Jin Chonglin felt like he was on top of the world. His woman loved him! See?

    His own vainness automatically filtered out Chen Fei''s curse words. He deluded himself into thinking that her curse words were her love words to him.

    He grabbed his girlfriend¡ªno, his fianc¨¦e''s face and kissed her hard in front of everybody else. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The entertained guests cheered for them.

    Caught in his own joy and excitement, Jin Chonglin lifted his fianc¨¦e and twirled her around. Chen Fei also abandoned her prickliness and allowed him to do what he wanted,ughing and smiling until her mouth ached.

    Then Jin Chonglin said, "Let''s get married tomorrow!"

    This time, Chen Fei didn''t hold back. She smacked him in the head with her heavy bouquet.

    ###

    Later that night at their Parisian residence, Iris snickered as she listened to her brother-inw being scolded by his manager on the phone.

    "What the hell?!" Lin Dong roared. "Chonglin, are you insane?! How dare you use your sister-inw''sunch party to propose?! And in front of so many guests, too?! The media is going crazy! The domestic media can''t wait to devour you and Chen Fei when you return to the country! Even the French media and many international media outlets are reporting about your proposal!"

    Jin Chonglin felt indignant that his manager was yelling at him. "I''m in love with my woman! What about it?! I want to marry her! You dare to stop me?!"

    Lin Dong sighed several times.

    Iris could feel the manager''s helplessness through the other end of the phone line.

    Lin Dong asked, "Why didn''t you at least tell me that you''re going to propose? I''m your manager! Can''t you give me at least a warning, so that I know how to deal in advance with the sh*tstorm that you left me?"

    "Because I only decided the day before that I want to propose," Jin Chonglin said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

    "I knew it," Lin Dong said with a heavy sigh. "I should''ve gone with you there!"

    "Nah, I''m fine. You''re busy with LXC Studio."

    Jin Liwei who was also listening gave Iris an "I told you so" look. Indeed, proposing was apletely impulsive decision on Jin Chonglin''s part.

    Iris looked around. Chen Fei should be in her room busy checking somest-minute reports from her assistant in Orchidia back home. It was a good thing that she didn''t hear what her fianc¨¦ said, or she would definitely smack him with something even more dangerous than a bouquet.

    Lin Dong didn''t continue to ask for an exnation from Jin Chonglin anymore. There was no use in trying to reason with the man, anyway.

    However, he still couldn''t help but criticize Jin Chonglin. "You act so proud in making Chen Fei say yes, but that''s themest proposal that I''ve ever seen in my whole life. I think that Chen Fei only felt sorry for you, that''s why she said yes."

    "Pft!" Iris couldn''t take it anymore. Sheughed until she couldn''t breathe.

    Jin Liwei held her, stroking her belly to make her feel better. He didn''tugh, but the corners of his lips twitched a few times.

    His brother, Jin Chonglin, looked at them with a sullen expression.

    At this moment, Dom appeared and asked, "What''s happening?"

    Iris told him between herughter. Dom also started cackling like an evil witch.

    Jin Chonglin stood up and pointed at them. "Hmph! You''re all just jealous because I''m going to get married soon!"

    "Ahem!" Jin Liwei raised an eyebrow at him and ced his hand with his wedding ring together with his wife''s hand that had her wedding and engagement rings.

    It was as if his expression was telling his brother, ''You''re seriously bragging about that in front of me who''s married and has my own children?''

    Jin Chonglin also realized the stupidity of his outburst, so he could only re at the cackling Dom.

    Unfortunately, his re was useless. Dom tossed his non-existent long hair and continued cackling like the queen of all viins.

    Jin Chonglin only pouted. His manager''s scolding didn''t affect him as much as Iris and Domughing at his expense.

    On a brighter note, he was d that Dom wasn''t present at theunch party earlier. If he were, perhaps Jin Chonglin might have had a worse experience. At least, the other guests didn''t try to deliberately embarrass him when he fumbled with his proposal.

    Dom, however, was a different beast altogether.

 Chapter 1537 Finding His FiancÃ©e for Comfort

    Chapter 1537 Finding His Fianc¨¦e for Comfort

    Before, Dom was a big fan of Jin Chonglin. But maybe because Dom had seen so many of Jin Chonglin''sme moments while in the family that he didn''t care anymore about Jin Chonglin''s superstar status.

    In addition, Dom''s best friend and boss was Iris Long. Just being with her almost every day was enough for Dom to learn all the bad things, like not caring about embarrassing a superstar like Jin Chonglin.

    "Hmph!" Jin Chonglin didn''t dare to scold either Iris or Dom.

    If he scolded Iris, then Jin Liwei would chew him out.

    If he scolded Dom, then Iris would chew him out. And because Iris became involved, then Jin Liwei would still end up chewing him out, too.

    No matter how Jin Chonglin thought about it, he would be in a lose-lose situation.

    These people were bullying him!

    He stood up and ran away to find his fianc¨¦e forfort. He had already forgotten that his manager was still on a phone call with him. Poor Lin Dong had been saying "Hello, hello" but nobody was answering him.

    Jin Liwei waited until his wife and her best friend-sh-assistant calmed down and stoppedughing at his brother.

    "Happy?" he asked.

    "I''m happy for Chen Fei and Brother Chonglin," Iris said.

    "Me, too!" Dom chimed in. "I watched the video of Prince Lin Lin''s proposal so many times. I can''t stopughing. He''s usually so cool and choreographed on stage, but he looked like a baby giraffe just learning to walk during the proposal. How could he lose the ring? Hahahaha!"

    Iris chuckled. "It''s funny, yes, but it''s also sweet."

    Dom nodded. "Yes, it''s super-duper to the highest level sweet. My younger sis can''t stop gushing to me about the surprise proposal, although she''s a bit miffed that Prince Lin Lin proposed at Libert¨¦''sunch party."

    Iris waved a dismissive hand. "It''s fine. Libert¨¦''s official grand opening to the public is tomorrow. We can use Brother Chonglin''s proposal to hype Libert¨¦ to the media. He and Chen Fei already gave us permission to do so as their apology for disrupting theunch party."

    "Don''t worry, boss! Clover will handle it. If she doesn''t, I''ll pull all my sister''s hair out and make it into a wig!"

    Iris and Dom chatted for a while before dispersed for the night. Dom returned to his bedroom, while the couple went to the courtyard to have some private time alone.

    They had already checked their twins earlier and put them to sleep after dinner.

    The moon hid behind dark clouds. Even the stars were far and few in between tonight. Even so, Iris felt like the night sky was bright.

    Jin Liwei embraced her. "Congrattions on Libert¨¦''sunch, love."

    She hugged his waist. "Thank you, darling."

    They whispered sweet-nothings to each other before a household staff member interrupted them. Someone dropped off a package for Iris.

    "Madame, the security already cleared it and deemed it safe," the staff member told her.

    Jin Liwei took it. The staff member excused himself, leaving the couple alone again.

    "Who''s it from?" Iris asked.

    "Director Jabar Wilkins," he said.

    "Oh." She pulled him to sit. "It should be his project files."

    "En."

    "Open it, darling."

    Jin Liwei tore the packaging. There was nothing fancy in it¡ªjust a in cardboard box.

    "He printed everything on paper," Iris said. "How old school."

    The husband and wife skimmed through the files that the American director sent over. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    It seemed that Wilkins wasn''t lying when he told them that there was basically no progress yet. However, Iris and Jin Liwei could sense the director''s enthusiasm for the project from his written report despite theck of interest from other investors.

    They found that at the bottom of the box was a five-book epic fantasy series set. Iris abandoned Wilkins'' files to check out the novels. Jin Liwei shook his head with a smile and continued reading the files instead.

    One hourter, Iris had already read a significant portion of the first book. She would have wanted to finish it on the same night, but Jin Liwei wouldn''t allow her.

    "It''ste, love. We still have to get up early tomorrow for Libert¨¦''s public grand opening."

    She sighed, feeling a little reluctant to put down the novel. "This book is really good. Now I understand why Jabar insists on adapting the series into a film franchise."

    Jin Liwei trusted his wife''s judgment. If she said that the book was interesting, then it must be so even without him personally reading it. "If you really like it, we''ll invest in the project."

    Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Yes!"

    He smiled. "I''ll talk to Chonglin about it tomorrow. If he''s interested, then LXC Studio will help produce it. If not, then we''ll invest in it by ourselves and just find a production house to partner with."

    "Okay." She nodded. "LXC Studio''s prestige will increase if we invest in a Hollywood project. But even if your brother is stupid enough to decline this opportunity, we can still front the project as executive producers ourselves."

    "En. Let''s go to bed now, love."

    The couple held hands and returned inside the house together.

    ###

    The next day, Jin Liwei woke up his sleeping wife.

    Iris slowly opened her eyes and saw her twin sons smiling at her on the bed.

    "Mama!" Little Mochi crawled and threw himself at her.

    "Mama." Little Matcha followed his brother, but instead of throwing himself like Little Mochi, heid his head gently on their mother''s thigh instead.

    "Good morning, my sweethearts," Iris greeted her sons with a slightly hoarse voice.

    Then she kissed their faces, making them giggle.

    Jin Liwei watched his wife and sons showering each other with love. Then he also joined them by sitting on the bed next to his wife and kissing her on the lips.

    After eating breakfast together and getting ready, Grandpa Lu arrived with Yin Meixing and Tang Yiyi.

    The old man had volunteered to stay with the twins today, so that Iris, Jin Liwei and the others could attend the public grand opening of Libert¨¦ without any worries.

 Chapter 1538 LibertÃ©â€™s Public Grand Opening (Part I)

    Chapter 1538 Libert¨¦¡¯s Public Grand Opening (Part I)

    Today''s grand opening of Libert¨¦ to the public wasn''t as formal as the exclusiveunch party yesterday.

    Due to Jin Chonglin''s surprise proposal to Orchidia''s COO Chen Fei at Libert¨¦''sunch party yesterday, many reporters and paparazzi camped outside the perfumery. Many of them were Chinese, but there were also a lot of French and international news outlets.

    Jin Chonglin''s status as a superstar was very evident today.

    Fortunately, Iris had foreseen this, so she had already instructed Clover to contact the local police in advance to help control the crowd along with Libert¨¦''s temporary security.

    Customers and fans lined up neatly while those with media badges were all grouped together behind a designated barricaded area.

    Everything and everyone was well-organized.

    This was the scene that Iris'' group witnessed after arriving at the perfumery. Once she and her husband alighted from the vehicle, screams arose from the crowd. Cameras clicked nonstop from the designated barricaded area containing all the media representatives.

    "Boss Iris!"

    "Kyaaaaaaaa! Iris Long is so beautiful in person!"

    Iris'' eyes widened in surprise. She looked over at the neat line of people waiting to enter the perfumery and saw quite a lot of them wearing tuxedo suits. She gave them a bright smile and a wave, causing them to squeal.

    "I expected that most of the peopleing today woulde for Brother Chonglin," Iris murmured to her husband. "But there are many ck Stars who actually came for me, too."

    Jin Liwei''s mouth curved up. "Of course, love. The ck Stars are all loyal to you."

    What Iris didn''t know was that Jin Liwei had arranged for a group of ck Stars in advance to fly to Paris for Libert¨¦''s grand opening to the public. He asked Ketchup (a.k.a. KittyBaby) to help him choose some deserving ck Stars among the fan club, especially those who couldn''t afford to buy ne tickets themselves, and flew them all using one of his private jets.

    The father and AI cat daughter kept the secret from their wife/mother.

    Jin Liwei had also bribed Bacon to keep it a secret from Iris. As a result, Bacon didn''t snitch on his father and AI cat sister to his beloved mother. He happily saved the money his father used as a bribe and already started thinking about what to gift his mother next.

    Iris pulled Jin Liwei to where her fans waited.

    The ck Stars were known as one of the most organized fan clubs. They stayed in their ces and waited for their Boss Iris toe to them instead of attempting to run toward her.

    This wasrgely in part because Iris was also known to always take a few minutes to interact with her fans when the situation allowed her. Even at times when she couldn''t interact with them due to time constraints, she would still acknowledge them with a smile and a wave, unlike some celebrities who would just walk straight without even nodding at their fans.

    "Hello, thanks foring," Iris greeted them.

    She took the time to sign autographs and take pictures with them, assigning CEO Jin as the photographer. These ck Stars felt like they were in seventh heaven. Their Boss Iris was chatting with them as if they were the closest of friends.

    CEO Jin also gave them a stern look full of warning. They gave him a covert nod.

    Before they were flown to Paris, they had been asked to sign NDA forms by CEO Jin''s people stating that they weren''t allowed to divulge the fact that CEO Jin was the one who flew them to Paris to attend Libert¨¦''s grand opening to the public. They should keep it a secret to their Boss Iris as a surprise. After they returned back to their home country, then they were free to share their experiences to others without any issues, if they wanted. But during their stay in Paris, they had to keep their mouths shut.

    Jin Liwei nodded in satisfaction. Indeed, his wife''s fans were the best. True ck Stars were extremely loyal.

    Iris recognized a few people among her group of fans.

    "You already came yesterday at theunch party and you''re stilling today? Not tired?"

    The fans shook their heads. "Not tired, Boss Iris! Thanks for giving us the invitations. Yesterday''sunch party was so much fun but we still want toe today to support you!"

    "It was intimidating with all the important people all around us, but the food was delicious, and the performances were superb! The English version of ''Rebirth'' was awesome! We also received a lot of Libert¨¦ and Orchidia freebies!"

    "And we got to witness Prince Lin Lin''s proposal! I can''t believe that he''d fumble it so badly. Hahahaha! I felt so embarrassed for him!"

    "I didn''t know that he could be so funny! I felt so bad for him that I even joined him in crawling on the floor to look for the ring. Hahahaha!"

    Iris joined her fans inughing at the memory of her brother-inw''s clumsy proposal yesterday.

    The other ck Stars heard what they were talking about. They felt envious of their fellow ck Stars who had been able to attend yesterday''s exclusiveunch party. They immediately started asking them about their experience from yesterday.

    Clover and Dom came to remind Iris of the time. She reluctantly excused herself.

    "I''ll see youter inside the perfumery," she told the ck Stars.

    "See youter, Boss Iris!"

    "Please go ahead. Don''t mind us."

    "We''re looking forward to buying the fragrances!"

    She smiled at them. "Everything will be 50% off today."

    "Wow!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Yay!"

    "50% off! I love it!"

    "This is awesome. I wasn''t able to buy from the online pre-orders because everything already sold out so quickly. But look at me now buying from the actual Libert¨¦ perfumery in Paris! This will be a memory I''ll forever cherish in my life. Wuwuwu!"

    Clover led Iris and Jin Liwei to the designated barricaded area for the media for interviews while Dom stayed with the ck Stars, chatting with them, and hyping everyone up for the grand opening shortly.

 Chapter 1539 LibertÃ©â€™s Public Grand Opening (Part II)

    Chapter 1539 Libert¨¦¡¯s Public Grand Opening (Part II)

    Iris Long knew that most of the media who came today were only interested in Jin Chonglin and his surprise marriage proposal. She didn''t mind. Like what she said yesterday, she could definitely use Jin Chonglin''s hype to market Libert¨¦ to the media.

    Both Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei had already given her permission to do so.

    Chen Fei was the one who gave consent for both her and Jin Chonglin. Libert¨¦ was technically a subsidiary under Orchidia, so of course, Chen Fei would be more than willing to maximize its public exposure. Libert¨¦''s sess would only benefit Orchidia as a whole, after all.

    Jin Liwei stayed back this time around, too, just like what he did yesterday at theunch party. He didn''t steal his wife''s spotlight and stayed as a silent support behind her.

    Iris stepped forward to face the reporters.

    Although the media camergely for Jin Chonglin, they still conducted short interviews with Iris Long.

    All of them had been cleared by Libert¨¦''s security beforehand before being given official media badges for today. They all came from reputable media outlets. Therefore, they had insider information that Iris Long was someone who shouldn''t be offended. Not only was she the wife of billionaire CEO Liam Jin, but she was also well-connected to many important people.

    Her connections didn''t only stem from her marriage to CEO Liam Jin alone but through her own connections as well. They had no idea how she was able to build this kind of impressive personal connections, but the world of the top elite was something only they could imagine.

    The bosses of these media representatives told them that several important and powerful figures had contacted theirpanies to write favourable articles about Libert¨¦.

    There was a high-profile French magnate, a tech billionaire, a Dubai princess, a daughter of a British noble, even Hollywood film director Jabar Wilkins, and several influential figures in the business and academic worlds¡ªall of them contacted the mediapanies to help pave the way for Libert¨¦.

    Iris answered standard questions about her perfumery, Libert¨¦. Nobody made it difficult for her, surprising her a little. She didn''t think about it too much because today was another busy day.

    "Thank you, everyone," she told the reporters, waving at them after Clover reminded her that it was time for her to enter the perfumery.

    Right after she entered the building, another vehicle pulled over. Yin Meixing came out with Tang Yiyi.

    Thanks to video footage from yesterday''sunch party, most of the people recognized her. The reporters and paparazzi also did their homework beforehand and identified her as Libert¨¦''s female ambassador for the regr perfume, "S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦".

    The ck Stars also helped cheer for Yin Meixing. After all, she was their Boss Iris'' signed artist at LXC Studio. They now considered Yin Meixing as one of their Boss Iris'' people¡ªmeaning, someone they should also protect.

    Yin Meixing waved at everyone. She wasn''t the type of person to act all high and mighty despite being an international award-winning Best Actress. Even so, she still felt ttered at the warm wee.

    Nobody neglected her.

    She could hear people cheering for her. Cameras clicked in her direction.

    Regardless of whether these were all out of politeness or not, she still felt grateful for the opportunity. She followed Clover directly for the media interviews. Libert¨¦ assigned a professional interpreter for her just for this event.

    The Chinese media representatives were the most enthusiastic during her interviews.

    Yin Meixing remained calm and collected all throughout. She really embodied Libert¨¦''s perfume, "S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦".

    After the interviews, she followed Dom to say hi to the crowd of people. She didn''t have a lot of fans abroad but the ck Stars came to help support her as well.

    Her manager, Tang Yiyi, whispered to her, "Don''t worry, Meixing. LXC Studio will help you be more famous not just in our country but abroad as well."

    She only smiled. Of course, she also had ambitions of international stardom, but she was more of a pragmatic type of person. If opportunity knocked on her door, she would seize it immediately. But on normal days, she preferred stability over taking risks. As long as she worked hard, she would be rewarded. That was her philosophy in life.

    But ever since she met Iris Long, it felt like blessings started pouring over her direction. Yin Meixing wasn''t kidding when she said that Iris Long was her lucky star.

    "Let''s go inside, Manager Tang," she said. "I want to chat with Iris."

    "Okay, let''s go."

    The two women entered the perfumery.

    A couple of minutester, another vehicle arrived. As soon as the car door opened, deafening screams filled the streets.

    "Prince Lin Lin!"

    "Jin Chonglin, I love you!"

    "Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!"

    Jin Chonglin gave everyone his iconic killer smile. But he immediately turned around and reached inside the car again. Then his girlfriend¡ªno, she was his fianc¨¦e now¡ªstepped out of the car.

    Chen Fei wore a simple yet elegant cocktail dress. Her makeup looked sharp, entuating her serious yet confident aura. However, most people''s eyes were directed at the huge diamond ring sparkling on her finger. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Whoa, what a huge diamond! I''m blinded!"

    "COO Chen, please don''t let Prince Lin Lin touch your ring anymore! What if he loses it again?!"

    "HAHAHAHA!!!"

    Jin Chonglin heard what his army of fans said. Were theyughing at him?

    He pouted.

    Then he saw the group of people wearing tuxedo suits. Ah, so the ck Stars also came today. No wonder that his own fans were now making fun of him. It was because the ck Stars had corrupted them!

    His sister-inw''s fans had always been a bad influence! Just look at their infamous troll group, the Slippers Army! They were certified trolls feared amongizens.

    "Fix your expression," Chen Fei whispered to him.

    He regained his senses and once again shed his killer smile. His arm wrapped around his fianc¨¦e''s waist, as they walked together.

    The screams got louder and louder. The cameras clicked nonstop. This time, the reporters and paparazzi shouted questions at the couple, unable to wait any longer.

 Chapter 1540 LibertÃ©â€™s Public Grand Opening (Part III)

    Chapter 1540 Libert¨¦¡¯s Public Grand Opening (Part III)

    For now, Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei ignored the reporters and paparazzi shouting for them. They walked toward the fans to interact with them first.

    They mirrored what Iris and Jin Liwei had done earlier.

    Like Iris, Jin Chonglin took the time to sign autographs, take photos, and chat with his army of fans. However, unlike Iris who made her husband take pictures, Jin Chonglin took the photos himself with his fan''s phones instead.

    He didn''t dare to ask his fianc¨¦e to act as a photographer.

    What if she threatened to castrate him in front of his fans? How embarrassing would that be for him!

    He failed to realize that he had already destroyed his image in front of his army of fans when the video of his proposal was spread all over the news and online. Everyone witnessed hisme and clumsy side that nobody had discovered yet before.

    They felt so embarrassed for him, but at the same time, it made him seem more human, especially to his army of fans worldwide. His clumsy proposal actually endeared him even more to the masses.

    It proved that despite his yboy reputation, he could still be like a shy teenager fumbling in front of his first love.

    His army of fans had a tacit agreement among themselves not to mention that this was their Prince Lin Lin''s second engagement.

    His first fianc¨¦e was a criminal who was charged with the attempted murder of Iris Long, now his sister-inw. Compared to Fan Luo, that evil woman, Chen Fei was many leagues better.

    Chen Fei was a sessful business executive who ran Orchidia''s daily operations. Although she wasn''t ssically beautiful, many of Jin Chonglin''s fans could understand how he fell in love with her. She had a strong, no-nonsense aura that could control their Prince Lin Lin''s yfulness.

    Of course, there was still a portion of Jin Chonglin''s fan base who was against his rtionship with Chen Fei, not because they didn''t like her, but because they preferred for him to be single his entire life. This was so that they could continue to fantasize about him for the rest of their lives as their lover/boyfriend/husband.

    They were his sasaeng fans who repeatedly attempted to invade his privacy numerous times throughout the years. Fortunately, his security had improved a lot in thest couple of years thanks to his older brother, Jin Liwei (and his AI cat niece and nephew).

    Today, there were no sasaeng fans. Iris had Clover make sure that no extreme and dangerous people would be able to go anywhere near Libert¨¦ these days to protect her, Yin Meixing, and Jin Chonglin.

    Back to Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei, they continued to interact with the fans. Many came to see them both, so they took longer than when Iris and Jin Liwei interacted with the ck Stars earlier.

    "Congrattions on your engagement, Prince Lin Lin!"

    "We wish you and COO Chen the best! We hope that you get married soon!"

    "Please get a reliable ring bearer on your wedding day. We don''t want the same thing to happen at your wedding when people have to crawl all over the ce to look for the rings!"

    "HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

    Jin Chonglin grimaced.

    Chen Fei, however, couldn''t hold it anymore. Sheughed alongside his fans.

    He cast a sullen look at her.

    She gave him a yful elbow, silently reminding him to mind his expressions. There were so many eyes watching them, especially the media who would spin over-the-top false narratives for traffic.

    He winked at her in response to her silent reminder. His action caused a round of loud squeals among his fans.

    Clover didn''t rush the couple to move along.

    Iris had already instructed her to allow Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei longer media exposure before the grand opening. At least, when the reporters and paparazzi took photos of them, they would be standing right in front of Libert¨¦. This was the best free publicity they could get for the perfumery.

    Finally, the couple moved on to face the reporters and paparazzi. Unlike the careful consideration toward Iris Long due to her husband''s power and her hidden connections with other influential people, and the polite interviews with Yin Meixing, the reporters and paparazzi didn''t hold back when it came to Jin Chonglin.

    Although he was the younger brother of CEO Jin, Jin Chonglin rarely used his family''s influence to pave the way for him in showbiz. However, it couldn''t be said that being the second young master of the Jin family didn''t make his journey to superstardom easier than normal either. Being a Jin certainly helped, but he didn''t solely rely on his identity.

    The reporters and paparazzi looked like sharks who smelled blood in the ocean.

    "Jin Chonglin, when is the wedding?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "How much is the engagement ring?"

    "Jin Chonglin, did you propose only because your girlfriend is pregnant?"

    "Chen Fei, how does it feel to be engaged to a known yboy?"

    "Miss Chen, you rejected Jin Chonglin''s proposal at first butter changed your mind and said yes. Is it true that you were only forced to ept his proposal because you didn''t want to embarrass him in front of so many people yesterday?"

    "COO Chen, this is Jin Chonglin''s second engagement. How secure are you that he will really marry you in the end?"

    As a celebrity who had climbed his way up to superstardom throughout the years, Jin Chonglin was already used to scathing remarks and questions from the media. If he were only by himself, he wouldn''t mind dealing with such aggressive reporters. It was part of the game as a famous public figure.

    This time, however, he couldn''t listen to the reporters directing such aggressive questions at hisdy. His expression changed. He was about to fight the reporters and paparazzi when Chen Fei held him back.

    "Babe," he said in a worried tone.

    Chen Fei gave him an "I got this" smile.

    Then she stepped forward as if SHE was the one who was protecting HIM.

 Chapter 1541 Chen Fei VS. the Media

    Chapter 1541 Chen Fei VS. the Media

    "First of all, we just got engaged so we don''t know the wedding date yet," Chen Fei began speaking in confident English. She wasn''t intimidated by the aggressive reporters and paparazzi at all.

    "Second, if you are good reporters, then you should be able to research how much my engagement ring costs without asking us point-nk and trying to present us as tacky nouveau riche who only care about the expensiveness of things. Also, let me tell you that I don''t care about the price of my ring at all. The fact that my boyfriend who''s now my fianc¨¦ gave it to me is enough to make me happy. It''s the thought behind the ring that counts, not the price. Even if he gave me a hand-woven straw ring, I would still ept it as long as he worked hard to weave it himself. And for your information, I''m not so poor as to not afford to buy myself some nice jewellery. I don''t need a man to do that for me. Well, except for my father, and now, my lover.

    "Third, I''m not pregnant. And even if I were pregnant, it''s none of your damn business to judge me. Chonglin is the one who''s a celebrity, not me. Attacking aw-abiding, tax-paying, hardworking citizen for being a decent human being is a new low that only trash reporters and paparazzi like you do to find some sense in your useless existence. I respect reporters and those who work for the media who have integrity. Now tell me, all of you who are asking me and my partner these disgusting questions, do you still have integrity in your work?"

    Hearing her increasingly scathing words offended quite a few of the media representatives. Most of them, however, felt excited because what she was doing now would surely be hot news. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The cameras and the microphones were all pointed in her direction, not wanting to miss any of her words.

    Before those who felt offended by her words could retort, she continued her cool, calm yet very savage answers to their earlier questions.

    "Fourth, wait, what was the fourth question again? Oh, right. How do I feel to be engaged to a known yboy? I was feeling happy, but now that you mentioned it, I feel ufortable, thanks to all of you. But it doesn''t matter. I''ll deal with Chonglin myself and his disgraceful past. There''s no need for any of you to interfere with our rtionship. How would you feel if, I, a total stranger came up in front of you and your lover/wife and began sowing discord out of nowhere? I bet that you''ll want to p me. That''s how I feel right now, but because I''m aw-abiding person unlike some of you who like to walk along the grey areas of thew to terrorize celebrities and their families, I won''t act on my impulse. Instead, my fianc¨¦ and I will consult awyer if any of you representatives from the media have vited anyws today when asking me and Chonglin all these upsetting questions.

    "Fifth of all, I was only pranking Chonglin when I rejected his proposal at first. I don''t care if you think otherwise. How sad it is to live without a sense of humour. I don''t want to be like you."

    By this time, Jin Chonglin was already grinning. He looked like he was watching the greatest show in the world. His eyes were filled with pride and admiration for his fianc¨¦e as she battled the reporters and paparazzi with her confidence, wit, and venomous tongue.

    This was his woman!

    How amazing was she?

    As expected of him, Jin Chonglin, for choosing such a strong and independent woman who could wipe his critics'' faces on the floor without breaking a sweat!

    If Chen Fei could hear his thoughts, she would definitely roll her eyes. Fortunately for him, she couldn''t hear his thoughts. She was too busy battling the reporters and paparazzi with her savage words.

    "And finally, yes, this is Chonglin''s second engagement but so what? Our situation is not unique. If a rtionship doesn''t work out, then break up. Look for someone else who''s better. Or are you the type of people who think that having an ex makes you a tainted person? Because if you are, then shame on you. You don''t belong in our modern world but in the ancient era instead. Please stay away from me because I don''t even want to touch people like you with a ten-foot pole. Your outdated thinking is not only discriminatory but also very narrow-minded. Youck the qualities to progress with the rest of humanity.

    "Also, my man dodged a bullet with his ex-fianc¨¦e. That woman was a dangerous, evil criminal who attempted to murder Iris Long, my close friend. Even without Chonglin in the picture, I would want to beat that woman up formitting a deadly crime against my friend. Granted, Iris and I weren''t friends yet when that happened back then, but we are friends now, so I feel indignant for her.

    "And if you still try goading me with unsavoury questions about that evil criminal even after I said all this, then it must mean that you''re all sympathetic toward a convicted attempted murderer. I would have all the more reason to want to avoid you all and not want to touch you with a hundred-foot pole.

    "I also want to remind you all that my man, Jin Chonglin, had only been engaged to that evil criminal. He had never been married to her. Jin Chonglin is Chen Fei''s man now. Mine! I''m the one he''s going to marry. Whether our rtionshipsts or not is none of your damn business. If he cheats on me, then that will only prove that he''s a shameful human being who deserves to burn in the deepest pits of hell. I won''t care about him then. But right now, he loves me and treats me just the way I like it. If he continues to stay with me without betraying me, then I''ll also treat him the same way. That''s all I have to say."

    With that, she grabbed Jin Chonglin''s hand and walked away.

 Chapter 1542 LinFei

    Chapter 1542 LinFei

    The reporters and paparazzi yelled after them, but Chen Fei didn''t look back. She continued dragging Jin Chonglin toward Libert¨¦.

    Along the way, Jin Chonglin''s army of fans cheered for the couple. Even the ck Stars joined in showing their support.

    "Good job, COO Chen!"

    "Show them who''s the boss!"

    "Wow! COO Chen is as cool as our Boss Iris!"

    "Why do I feel like our Prince Lin Lin is the damsel in distress being protected by Miss Chen who''s the knight in shining armour?"

    "Look at Prince Lin Lin''s silly grin!"

    "HAHAHAHA!!!"

    Jin Chonglin shed his killer smile and waved at his fans on instinct. He didn''t hear his fans making of him again with the ck Stars.

    Chen Fei heard everything. Although she didn''t acknowledge the fans (she wasn''t a celebrity herself, so why would she try to satisfy any fans'' request?), the corners of her mouth still curved up.

    When the couple finally entered Libert¨¦, they were greeted by apuse.

    Iris gave them an approving smile. Jin Liwei didn''t even look at them. He was more concerned about ensuring that his wife stayedfortable.

    Dom and Clover gave them big thumbs up.

    Jin Chonglin ran to them and began bragging about his fianc¨¦e''s domineering battle of wits against the media representatives outside.

    Chen Fei released a heavy breath she didn''t know she was holding. Iris approached her and patted her shoulder. Chen Fei smiled.

    There were no words between the friends but the silent support was more than enough.

    Iris gave Chen Fei a couple of minutes to recollect herself. Afterward, she gave Clover the signal. Clover nodded.

    Finally, Libert¨¦ opened its doors to the public.

    The first wave of customers entered. Most of them were ck Stars and Jin Chonglin''s fans, but some locals lined up early, curious about what the rebranded perfumery had to offer.

    Iris, Jin Liwei, and the others all interacted with the customers, acting as salespeople along with the staff.

    "Ah, it smells so good here."

    "It''s so rxing. I feel like I''m in the spa."

    "Everything looks so ssy and elegant."

    "50% off, you guys. Everything is 50% today! If only they hadn''t imposed a limit of two per type of perfume, I would have bought a lot for my entire family and friends."

    "Even with the limit of two, it''s still a lot. Remember that there are six types per fragrance ording to concentration. I''ll buy everything!"

    "I''ll only buy ''Eve'' for now. It smells so good."

    "I smelled ''Eve'' on Boss Iris when she passed by us. She smells so good. When I tried it on myself, I also smelled good but it''s different from Boss Iris. Isn''t it cool?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "I''m usually stressed out, so I''ll get ''S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦''. I don''t know if its aromatherapy features will really work, but even if it doesn''t, this is my type of fragrance. So subtle yet still makes me feel high ss."

    "I don''t care that I''m a woman. I''ll buy ''Vaince'' to support Prince Lin Lin. I''ll buy another one for my dad."

    "I''ll buy all three fragrances!"

    Iris and Yin Meixing didn''t force the customers to buy their corresponding fragrances. Jin Chonglin, on the other hand, tried his hardest to influence those who bought only "Eve" and "S¨¦r¨¦nit¨¦" to also buy his "Vaince".

    After the first wave came a second wave of customers. Then a third, and so on and so forth.

    Iris and the others took turns taking short breaks in one of the private showrooms.

    Since this was the grand opening to the public, these private showrooms weren''t open yet. They would only be opened starting tomorrow for VIP customers who made reservations.

    Although Libert¨¦ was only offering three official ready-made fragrances now, it was still a perfumery. They also provided a custom-order service where they concoct original fragrances for VIP customers. This service would be conducted in the private showrooms by expert perfumers.

    After resting in a private showroom and calling Grandpa Lu to ask about the twins, Iris and Jin Liwei returned to the main store area where endless but organized waves of customers shopped for perfumes.

    The whole morning came and went. By lunchtime, the waves of customers still didn''t slow down. In fact, there was still a long lineup outside.

    Clover had arranged for a few staff members to hand out lunch sandwiches with bottled water for the waiting customers and the police officers helping to maintain order outside.

    Even the remaining media representatives got their share despite their aggressive treatment of Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei earlier.

    Libert¨¦''s actions made the reporters and paparazzi feel better.

    Iris, Jin Liwei, and the others also took this time to bid goodbye to everyone.

    Yin Meixing and Tang Yiyi left first, followed by Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei.

    As soon as the newly engaged couple came out of the perfumery, the reporters and paparazzi once again directed their energy on the two of them.

    This time, Jin Chonglin followed his fianc¨¦e''s example and didn''t acknowledge them. However, he did sh his iconic killer smile and waved at the fans still waiting in the line to enter Libert¨¦.

    "Prince Lin Lin, we love you!"

    "Please take care of our Prince Lin Lin, COO Chen!"

    "You''re so cool, Chen Fei!"

    Then someone started chanting, "LinFei! LinFei! LinFei!"

    "LINFEI!!! LINFEI!!! LINFEI!!!"

    Chen Fei wasn''t paying attention to the chant at first, but Jin Chonglin forced her to stop walking. He nodded along, a pleased grin on his face.

    "Our couple name sounds so good," he told her.

    She pursed her lips, thinking that it was too corny, but in the end, she didn''t say anything caustic this time. Let her man be pleased.

    Truth be told, she also liked it deep inside.

    She shook her head, fighting a smile from appearing on her lips, before dragging her silly man away and stuffing him inside the waiting vehicle.

    Everything had been documented by the reporters and paparazzi on video.

    Feeling offended on behalf of their Prince Lin Lin and COO Chen, the fans red at the media representatives and kept chanting "LinFei" in front of the cameras.

    They needed the world to know that they, the fans, supported their Prince Lin Lin. Who were the others to criticize him and his fianc¨¦e?

    Hmph!

 Chapter 1543 Congratulatory Gifts (Part I)

    Chapter 1543 Congrattory Gifts (Part I)

    After Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei left, Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t leave immediately. Instead, Iris took some time to appreciate the congrattory flower arrangements and gift baskets that friends and acquaintances sent Libert¨¦.

    One of the most conspicuous was a huge flower arrangement with a shining ck star in the middle. Her fans sent it. The fan club''s president, Zhou Mei''er (a.k.a. CaptainckStar), signed it on behalf of everyone. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Other notable members of the ck Stars sent their own congrattory presents including Madame Feng Wan (a.k.a. MrsLovePhantom) and her three posh friends¡ªSi Xinyue (a.k.a. JJNumber1Fan and the Chief of Police''s wife), Bai Li (a.k.a. JJNumber2Fan), and Kung Mian (JJNumber2Fan).

    Hou Liang (a.k.a. MonkeyFace) and Wu Chen (a.k.a. iEatSlippers) also sent a huge flower arrangement on behalf of their gamingpany, Monkey.

    Iris stopped by an adorable flower arrangement which featured white and ck stuffed toy cats. The card said that it was sent by KittyBaby and PantherBaby of the ckStars.

    She showed her husband the card.

    Jin Liwei smiled. What he didn''t tell his wife was that he knew all about their AI cat children''s gift for the grand opening of their mother''s Libert¨¦ perfumery. In fact, he helped Ketchup and Bacon choose a design that their mother would surely appreciate. And he was right. Iris almost couldn''t take her eyes off the adorable stuffed toy cats.

    "Let''s have Clover save them after today and send them to youter," he suggested.

    Her eyes lit up. "Okay."

    They moved on to the other congrattory presents.

    There were many sent by Iris and Jin Liwei''s family and closest friends.

    Lu Zihao, Long Jinjing, and their twins. Even Long Jinjing''s mother, Sun Jingfei, sent something.

    Lin Yehan, Jiang Ying Yue, and Little Jun.

    Dom, who came with them to Paris, still prepared a fabulous flower basket with sparkly ribbons. He also prepared a separate one to represent his family, the Chuas, as instructed by his parents.

    Meimei also asked Dom to prepare one for her as well.

    Long Tengfei and Yang Jiahui sent their own congrattory present.

    Long Jian sent one as well, causing Iris to feel surprised for a moment. But only for a moment. Her rtionship with Long Jian had already improved a lot after they agreed to be allies at Long Industries. When she thought about it more deeply, it wasn''t that surprising that he would send Libert¨¦ a congrattory gift.

    The most surprising, however, was Long Hui. The man sent the simplest and smallest basket. If Jin Liwei hadn''t identally kicked it on the floor, Iris wouldn''t have noticed it. She picked it up and read the card. It read:

    "Congrattions on Libert¨¦''s grand opening, from Long Hui."

    Iris raised an eyebrow and handed the card to Jin Liwei. He read it with a cold face. Then he tucked the card back into the small basket and ced it back along the other flower arrangements.

    "Don''t overthink it, love."

    She nodded.

    Indeed, there was no use in overthinking about Long Hui''s motives. Her conscience was clear. His wasn''t.

    Sending presents like this couldn''t prove whether the man was sincere or not. He needed to show it through his actions.

    Next, Iris chuckled after discovering that the over-the-top flower curtain snaking throughout one of the walls was sent by Grandpa Lu. She thought that it was ast-minute decoration addition by the organizer. Fortunately, the flower curtain was beautiful and matched Libert¨¦''s aesthetics.

    Wei Lan also sent something together with her husband, Vizconde Marco Sebastian del Agu y Gonzales.

    "Isn''t the vizconde still in aa?" Iris whispered.

    "En, this congrattory present should be Wei Lan''s idea," Jin Liwei said.

    Iris frowned. "Are you sure? I don''t think she''s that type of person to remember unless we repeatedly remind her."

    Then her eyes caught something. The next gift basket came from Ren¨¦ Alejandro. "Ah. He must have reminded Wei Lan."

    Jin Liwei made an affirmative sound in his throat. His tone was dismissive of the Spaniard.

    Although Ren¨¦ Alejandro had shown some goodwill toward him and his wife before he and Wei Lan left for Barbados to take care of the injured vizconde, Jin Liwei still couldn''t find it in himself to treat the Spaniard like a friend. Even so, it was difficult to p a smiling face.

    Iris frowned and tilted her head to the side upon reading who sent the next flower arrangement. Curious, Jin Liwei leaned over and took a look. He scowled.

    It was from Emilio Miguel.

    The gorgeous man who Ren¨¦ Alejandro introduced as his older brother, a fellow orphan that the vizconde sponsored. Unfortunately, the vizconde only formally adopted Ren¨¦ Alejandro.

    Jin Liwei still remembered his intense jealousy after seeing the stunned reaction of his wife when they first met Emilio Miguel at an auction. Iris had admitted back then that she found the man extremely handsome. However, that wasn''t what upset him.

    It was the way that Emilio Miguel had ogled Iris that made Jin Liwei want to punch the man''s face. It was utterly disrespectful to look at someone else''s woman with clear lust in his eyes. Jin Liwei would never forget it.

    Just remembering it was enough to put him in a bad mood. Without even thinking, he grabbed the flower arrangement and the card, called one of their bodyguards, and ordered for the flowers to be disposed of.

    Iris didn''t say anything. She, too, hated the way the man looked at her back then. It felt like Emilio Miguel had been peeling her clothes off with his eyes.

    The husband and wife had a tacit agreement not toment about it anymore. They moved on to the other congrattory gifts.

    Fortunately for them, Clover who noticed something amiss with the couple reacted quickly and told a little white lie to the nearby curious customers. "CEO Jin is allergic to that kind of small flowers. That''s why he had it taken away."

    "Oh~" The customers believed her and no longer thought about the incident. They continued browsing around the shop.

    Iris'' Cross Academy friends also sent a variety of lovely flower arrangements.

    Ashandra Knightson was unable to attend today''s grand opening to the public because she had to prepare for her art exhibition in a couple of days. But she did send a beautiful flower basket so artfully arranged that Iris took it and disyed it in a more prominent position in the middle of the store.

    AJ Zheneres, Theresa Blipsburg, and Florence O''Sevan all sent flower baskets as well. In addition, Amanpio Kileksky sent an enormous flower wreath on behalf of their other schoolmates including Michael Exlorsson, Logann Wiztein, and Trumann Seekerton.

    Cross Academy''s Headmaster, Professor Erwan Dupont.

    Cross Academy''s admissions counsellor, Giulia Moretti.

    Iris'' foreignnguages instructors, Professor Kalisha Schwartz and Professor Hisakawa Akio.

    Her music mentors, Maestro Ludovico de Luca, and of course, the legendary hitmaker Enrique Valdez.

    Grandpa Lu''s old friends and fellow Cross Academy alumnus also sent simple flower arrangements.

    The French magnate.

    The nerdy tech billionaire.

    Sheikha Amira and her friend, the daughter of a British marquess.

    Director Jabar Wilkins.

    People from Iris'' Orchidia family including:

    Alric Bauer, Orchidia''s Chief Product Officer.

    Alona Bauer, Orchidia Germany''s head.

 Chapter 1544 Congratulatory Gifts (Part II)

    Chapter 1544 Congrattory Gifts (Part II)

    There were still many congrattory gifts. Iris pulled Jin Liwei, intending to check and appreciate each and every one of them.

    LXC Studio sent a beautiful and elegant flower arrangement to congratte not only Libert¨¦ but also all three celebrity ambassadors¡ªIris Long, Jin Chonglin, and Yin Meixing.

    Iris knew that her manager, Tang Yiyi, was the one who arranged this congrattory gift.

    She smiled when she saw one sent by the rock band, Pandemonium. Its members¡ªze, Eros, Night, and Thunder¡ªwere all thriving as one of the first artists signed under LXC Studio. She considered all of them like her little brothers, although they were mostly older than her.

    Almost all the artists signed under LXC Studio sent separate flower baskets including the newly signed Ren Jiyu and his teammates from the national shooting team.

    Bright Summit Entertainment Company, the former managementpany that handled her career and Jin Chonglin''s, also sent a lovely flower arrangement. Thanks to Jin Liwei''s backing, her and Jin Chonglin''s rtionship with their former managementpany never soured. Bright Summit and LXC Studio continued to maintain a friendly cooperative rtionship.

    All of Iris'' businesses¡ªOrchidia, Monkey, Gold Heights, and their motherpany, Eve Holdings¡ªalso sent something to congratte Libert¨¦. These businesses were now all one family, after all.

    Even Phantom Dragon Funds sent one but the flower basket had been deliberately separated from the others by Clover to prevent anyone from associating it with Iris. For now, Iris wanted to keep Phantom Dragon Funds'' ownership a secret for a little longer.

    Her eyebrows raised when she saw a flower basket sent by Long Industries. Long Tengfei had already sent a personal one with his wife, Yang Jiahui.

    "I don''t think that this is Long Tengfei''s idea," she murmured. "He''s not that thoughtful. I bet even the other flower basket was sent ording to Aunt Jiahui''s instructions."

    Jin Liwei examined the apanying card. It was a standard congrattory message.

    "Maybe it''s Long Jian''s idea," he said. "You''ve mentioned to me several times before that he has helped you a lot in establishing your influence in Long Industries."

    "Maybe.

    "

    They didn''t talk much about Long Jian.

    Jin Liwei understood Iris''plicated rtionship with Long Jian. They had been hostile to each other before, then became allies, and now, they were essentially friends. Neither of them would admit it, though.

    "Oh, there''s one from Elder Long Jufang," Iris said next.

    Speaking of allies, Iris had a more utilitarian rtionship with Elder Long Jufang than with Long Jian. They were just using each other for mutual benefits in the Longs'' battle of session.

    Elder Long Jufang was a firm member of her camp, supporting her to be the next head of Long Industries and the Long n. Although Iris was only interested in Long Industries for the sake of her godson, Little Jun, she wouldn''t reject the elder''s support. In fact, Elder Long Jufang was proving to be instrumental in helping Dragon Phantom Funds'' acquisition of scattered Long Industries shares.

    In exchange, Iris gave the elder many benefits including preferential treatment in her and her husband''s businesses. As long as Elder Long Jufang didn''t be too greedy, the couple would continue giving him many benefits for his tremendous help in supporting Iris Long in the Longs'' battle of session.

    "Look, it''s from Mom and Grandma," Iris said, pulling her husband to a pair of simple yet elegant flower arrangements.

    They were from Jin Liwei''s mother, Huang Yuyan, and grandmother, Li Zhiruo.

    "Mom mentioned to me that she wanted toe with us here to Paris, but she suddenly caught a cold," Iris said with a sigh. "I wish Grandma Li could alsoe but her health is too worrying especially for long-haul flights."

    Jin Liwei''s eyes softened. He loved that his wife was close to his birth family. In turn, his mother and grandmother also loved her very much.

    "Let''s invite my mother to Orchidia Germany''sunch instead," he said.

    "Okay. I hope that she coulde. As for Grandma Li, it''s better to just let her stay in her mountain vi to rest. We''ll buy more souvenirs for her."

    "En."

    The couple moved on to the next gifts. There were a lot sent by Iris'' acquaintances in showbiz.

    Director He of "MusicFest Tonight."

    DJ Song, a popr radio host and JJ''s friend.

    Feng Jiu, host of "A Closer Look with Feng Jiu" talk show. She was also Madame Feng Wan''s cousin but the public was unaware of this connection.

    Guan Jintao, legendary blind Paralympian gold-medalist swimmer, whose mother''s life story became the basis of the award-winning indie film, "Strong Yet Broken".

    Atty. Hong Shaoqiang, Iris'' privatewyer.

    Atty. Kang Huizhong, Jin Liwei''s corporatewyer.

    Even the Honourable Deng Gui sent a flower basket to congratte Libert¨¦. He was one of Grandpa Lu''s old friends who held a seat at the International Court of Justice before semi-retiring as a privatewyer. He had helped a lot in defending Jiang Ying Yue and Little Jun against Long Hui and his ex-wife, Mao Qiuyue. His involvement in the case alone had been a major advantage in turning the case in their favour.

    Iris checked out the next flower arrangement and couldn''t help but chuckle. She showed it to her husband. The card was handwritten by Jasper Leung to represent WhiteTigress International Virtual Assistants.

    "Ketchup pestered Jasper Leung for several days to send a handwritten card directly from Singapore," Jin Liwei said, an amused smile on his face.

    "That does sound like Ketchup." She ced the card back on the flower arrangement carefully.

    Jasper Leung had been instrumental in organizing ck Stars Singapore and spreading Iris Long''s influence there. He also helped a lot in setting up Orchidia Singapore using the manpower from WhiteTigress International Virtual Assistants. Although he was no longer involved in Orchidia Singapore, he was the one who chose the relevant figures to run the business. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Iris remembered Jasper Leung''s origins. He had been an employee at Jin Corporation''s Singapore branch but quit due to the Young family''s corrupt practices.

 Chapter 1545 Crucifying Headlines

    Chapter 1545 Crucifying Headlines

    The Youngs tried to suppress Jasper Leung and make the poor guy''s life miserable by cklisting him from Singapore''s corporate industry. Fortunately, Ketchup found him and scammed¡ªahem, ahem¡ªhired him to represent her as the head of her very ownpany, WhiteTigress International Virtual Assistants. Now, his life had be betterpared to when he worked at the corrupt Jin Corporation''s Singapore branch.

    Iris would never forget Jasper Leung because she admired the man''s integrity. His idol was her husband, Jin Liwei, so he couldn''t stomach watching the Youngs and their minions use Jin Corporation for their corrupt practices.

    To reward Jasper Leung''s loyalty to their family, Iris and Jin Liwei appointed him as their unofficial representative in Singapore. He was doing an excellent job so far. The husband and wife could also rest assured with him because Ketchup was always there watching the man.

    Iris and Jin Liwei continued checking the rest of the congrattory gifts.

    Jiong Jun (a.k.a. JJ), Iris'' music producer and friend.

    Qiao Yu, Iris'' long-time financial manager.

    Second Brother Wang Yingjie and Fourth Brother Yu Mo.

    There were so many more gifts sent by other people. Iris recognized some but not all of them.

    This made her realize that she now knew so many people, something that was a luxury to her in her past life as a sheltered daughter of the Vetrovs.

    There were even congrattory gifts sent by her staff at her Gold Heights condo even though she hadn''t lived there for a long time since she started cohabiting with Jin Liwei. Their household and security staff at Dragon Pce Home #10 also sent flower baskets to Libert¨¦.

    Iris couldn''t help but say, "I''m so happy."

    Jin Liwei pulled her closer to him in a half-hug. "Most of these people sent these congrattory gifts to Libert¨¦ because of you."

    She smiled.

    After saying a final goodbye to everyone, the husband and wife finally left together with Dom and their team of bodyguards. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    #

    Libert¨¦''sunch was a huge sess.

    The local French media, the Chinese media back home, and the international media all wrote mostly favourable articles about Libert¨¦.

    When it came to Jin Chonglin''s unexpected proposal to Chen Fei, however, many didn''t mince their words.

    Footage of Chen Fei''s scathing answers to the reporters'' questions at Libert¨¦''s public grand opening was constantly yed by news programs all over the world. There were even discussions about her among so-called "experts" in the news programs.

    Some supported her in protecting her rtionship with Jin Chonglin from the media''s unfair aggression. Many, however, criticized her. There were a lot of headlines that basically wanted to crucify her.

    "Superstar Jin Chonglin''s Fianc¨¦e, a Woman of No ss"

    "Chen Fei, Superstar Jin Chonglin''s Fianc¨¦e, Unfit as Orchidia''s COO"

    "Jin Chonglin''s Future Wife Doesn''t Know How to Deal with Future Husband''s Superstardom" "Why Superstar Jin Chonglin''s Rtionship with Chinese COO Won''t Last"

    "Chen Fei Too Ugly For Jin Chonglin"

    The next day at their Parisian home, Dom reported the offensive headlines to Iris. She frowned, fury filling her up. She was about to go find Chen Fei when Chen Fei arrived to join them.

    "Oh, so you saw them?" Chen Fei asked nonchntly as she sat down and poured herself a cup of ck tea.

    "I''m sorry," Iris said. "I shouldn''t have used Brother Chonglin''s proposal to you to publicize Libert¨¦."

    Chen Fei shrugged. "It''s not your fault. It''s Chonglin who proposed out of nowhere without informing you or Clover. He''s the one who used Libert¨¦''sunch party to make a high-profile proposal to me in front of so many VIP guests. Whether we like it or not, he already associated Libert¨¦ with his proposal to me."

    Iris sighed and pointed at the ugly headlines shown on her tablet. "You want me to help you suppress these?"

    "No, it''s fine."

    Dom couldn''t take it anymore. "What do you mean it''s fine? No, it''s not fine, Sis Fei! This is cyberbullying!"

    "Let them say whatever they want," Chen Fei said while waving a dismissive hand. "I already gave the media a piece of my mind. People will always have their own opinions anyway whether I exin myself or not. This is who I am. Jin Chonglin epts and loves me, so who are these people to criticize me and our rtionship?"

    Iris smiled, nodding in approval.

    "Yes, Sis Fei!" Dom raised a hand and asked Chen Fei for a high-five.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes but still raised her hand for a high-five. Then she told Iris, "Don''t worry about the headlines. I''m not a celebrity like you or Chonglin. I don''t care about what they say about me. They don''t know the real me anyway. If pushes to shove, I''ll just sue all of them for cyberbullying, character assassination, or whatever crimes mywyer can pin on them."

    "Alright, I understand." Iris nodded.

    Although she said this, Iris still nned to help out Chen Fei. She was her friend after all. At the same time, she nned to remind Jin Chonglin to be more mindful next time.

    Unbeknown to her, Jin Liwei already went ahead and scolded his younger brother. At the same time that the three friends were chatting, Jin Liwei found Jin Chonglin and dragged his brother to the residence''s study.

    Then he showed him the headlines crucifying Chen Fei.

    "Look at what you did."

    Jin Chonglin read all the headlines, his expression getting uglier by the second. "How dare these people?!"

    Jin Liwei crossed his arms over his chest. Jin Chonglin quailed under his older brother''s re.

    "This is what you get for being impulsive," Jin Liwei said. "There are so many more appropriate and private ces where you can propose to Chen Fei, but instead you chose Libert¨¦''sunch party. You didn''t even make the effort to sit down and n ahead, to make your proposal special. Even the ring that you chose is off-the-rack, not custom-made. I bet you chose it based on its price tag."

    Jin Chognlin shrank even more in his seat. It felt like his elder brother''s words were like arrows shooting directly at his guilty heart.

 Chapter 1546 Can We Make a Baby Now?

    Chapter 1546 Can We Make a Baby Now?

    "I didn''t choose it because of the price tag," Jin Chonglin tried exining.

    "Based on the size, then," Jin Liwei said in a cold tone.

    Jin Chonglin shut up because his older brother hit the nail on the head. He chose the biggest diamond ring that the jewellery boutique had avable to buy immediately.

    "I won''t fault you anymore about your less-than-ideal proposal but you need to learn how to protect your woman better, Chonglin," Jin Liwei said. "I''ve already wiped your a** so many times in the past whenever you f*cked up a rtionship with a woman. But this is thest time. I have my own family to think about now. I can''t always clean up after you."

    Jin Chonglin remained silent, sulking a little.

    "Do you understand?" Jin Liwei asked, his tone brooking no argument.

    "I get it, Big Bro."

    Jin Liwei stared at his younger brother for a while before nodding. "I''ll take care of the headlines. But like I told you, Chonglin, this is thest time. You''re a Jin. Use your status, your name, your wealth, use everything that you have at your disposal to protect your woman¡ªif you really love her. Remember, it''s easy to lose a good woman but difficult to get her back. Especially strong, independent women like my wife and her friends, including your Chen Fei. Don''t make any regrets."

    With that, he left his younger brother alone in the study.

    Jin Chonglin sat there by himself for a few minutes, thinking about his older brother''s criticisms.

    It was true that his proposal was due to impulsiveness. Even his urge to have a baby with Chen Fei could also be said to be impulsive.

    When he secretly bought the huge diamond ring for Chen Fei, he was excited. He had looked forward to her reaction. He had wanted to propose as soon as possible. There was a ready-made event¡ªLibert¨¦''sunch party, so he decided to propose right there and then.

    Now that he thought about it, he had been indeed extremely impulsive. Hisck of careful consideration had allowed Chen Fei to suffer. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    He stood up and ran out of the study to look for his fianc¨¦e. He ran for a while without any sess, so he stopped and asked one of the staff members.

    "Do you know where my fianc¨¦e is?"

    The staff pointed a direction to him. He immediately started running again.

    Finally, he reached the ce where the three girl squad friends were chatting just as they were about to leave.

    "Babe!"

    "Huh, Chonglin?" Chen Fei was surprised at first but immediately frowned upon seeing his sweaty appearance. "Why are you running?"

    Iris and Dom looked at each other. The two moved aside but didn''t leave. Dom''s eyes were shining as he looked back and forth between Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei. Seeing this, Iris snickered before deciding to stay as well.

    Jin Chonglin didn''t stop running.

    "What the hell?!" Chen Fei was rmed.

    He was about to crash into her. But before she could dodge, he caught her and hugged her tightly.

    "I''m sorry, babe."

    Chen Fei was about toin about his sweaty body but swallowed the words in her throat after hearing his apology. She instantly understood why he was apologizing. Sighing, she patted his back.

    "I''m fine," she said.

    "I''m sorry," he insisted.

    "Alright. I forgive you."

    He continued hugging her for a couple more minutes before letting her go. Chen Fei pulled him to sit down before noticing that there were still two lightbulbs in the room, their eyes shining brightly on the two of them.

    She rolled her eyes and waved them away. "Shoo!"

    "Aaaaw~" Dom pouted.

    Irisughed before shrugging. "Let''s go, Dom."

    Dom pouted and mutteredints under his breath. Iris dragged him away while chuckling.

    Now that the lightbulbs had left, Chen Fei grabbed some tissues from a box nearby and helped wipe Jin Chonglin''s sweaty face.

    Jin Chonglin took her hand and looked at therge diamond ring on her finger. "Do you like this ring?"

    "Of course," Chen Fei replied with no hesitation.

    "Are you sure? If you don''t like it, we''ll order a customized one just for you."

    She paused and observed his expression. "Did you not hear what I said to the reporters and paparazzi yesterday?"

    He looked at her like a stupid idiot. To be honest, he couldn''t remember all the things that she said to the media representatives yesterday. All he could remember was the awe and pride he felt while watching her annihte the reporters and paparazzi with her savage words.

    She sighed, shaking her head. "I told them that I don''t care about the price of the ring. What I care about is the thought behind it. You wanted to marry me, so you immediately bought a ring to propose."

    "Don''t you think that I''m impulsive?"

    "Of course, you''re impulsive! Duh."

    Her quick answer made him sulk again.

    Sheughed. "But I also love that about you. It makes life more exciting, don''t you think?"

    "Really?" he asked in an uncertain yet hopeful tone.

    "Yeah. Do you think I''ll bother to lie to you? If I don''t like something, I''ll tell it to your face."

    "That''s true," he said, nodding. Then he grinned and became smug again. "As expected of the woman I chose to marry! I''m still the best!"

    She kicked his heel. "Don''t get ahead of yourself. You know me. If you ever cheat on me or hurt me, Jin Chonglin, prepare yourself for a lifetime of revenge. If I didn''t love you yet, I might just ignore you for the rest of my life. But now that you''ve made me fall in love with you, I won''t stop until I send you to the deepest pit of hell myself. But that''s only if you make the mistake of cheating and hurting me."

    Jin Chonglin immediately grabbed her hand and shook his head. "I won''t do that to you, babe. I love you! My heart, my body, everything is yours!"

    She smirked. "Yes, you''re mine."

    "So¡­" He leaned forward and whispered to her ear, "Can we make a baby now?"

 Chapter 1547 Making Her Go Crazy

    Chapter 1547 Making Her Go Crazy

    [Warning: 18+ scenes ahead!!! Reader discretion is advised.]

    Jin Chonglin caught Chen Fei''s mouth and gave her a deep kiss. Their tongues danced together until both of them couldn''t breathe anymore.

    Chen Fei was the first to turn her head away, ending the kiss. Jin Chonglin chased after her mouth, but she blocked his face with her hand.

    "Babe," he panted.

    She also panted, but her mind was still clear. "Not here. Let''s go to the bedroom."

    "It''s fine."

    "No." She red at him. "This isn''t our house. I''m not going to have sex in amon space in another person''s house. And did you bring condoms with you right now?"

    It took a few moments for Jin Chonglin to register what she was saying. "Huh? No, I don''t have condoms with me. It''s in our room."

    "Then all the more reason that we shouldn''t have sex here. You don''t even have condoms with you."

    "But aren''t we going to make a baby?"

    She rolled her eyes. "Do you think I''m going to let you impregnate me before marriage? Don''t be too full of yourself, Jin Chonglin! We might be engaged right now, but without a marriage certificate, I''m not going to give birth to a baby for you."

    "That''s why I told you that we should marry right away!"

    She grabbed a throw pillow and hit him several times with it.

    "Hey, babe! Stop it!" He blocked the pillow with his hands but she kept on hitting him. It didn''t hurt. In fact, he startedughing. He loved it when she acted furious like this.

    In his eyes, she looked so beautiful whenever she scolded him. Her eyes would turn fiery as if he was going to be swallowed in their depths.

    "You''reughing?!" Chen Fei asked, furious.

    She hit him harder, but in the end, it suddenly turned into a wrestling match. She found herself pinned on the couch with Jin Chonglin on top of her. His arousal pressed on her stomach, greatly affecting her as well.

    He leaned down and started raining down kisses on her face, nose, chin, and neck. Then he moved his lips upward to capture her mouth, once again giving her a mind-blowing kiss.

    She could fault him for anything except for his lovemaking skills. The man was an expert in touching her the way she liked it in bed. The pleasure he gave her was unlike anything that she had ever felt before.

    There was never a moment whenever they made love that she would feel insecure about her own body. He looked at her as if she had the best figure a woman could ever have. She also noticed that he loved it when she took the lead.

    When his hand slipped inside her shirt and grabbed one of her breasts, she moaned. Even so, she still grabbed his naughty hand, stopping him from going further.

    "I said not here," she said, panting for breath. "Let''s go to our room."

    He groaned, closing his eyes, and trying to catch his breath.

    She allowed him toy on top of her, not moving to avoid arousing him even further. A few minutester, she could feel him softening against her stomach. But not all the way. He was still semi-hard.

    Jin Chonglin sat up and pulled her up with him. Then he carried her like a princess and hurried to their bedroom.

    "Let me down," she said. "I can walk by myself."

    He didn''t answer. He was too focused on getting to their room as soon as possible. His breathing, however, was starting to beboured.

    She snickered.

    He nced at her. "Something funny?"

    "I''m just thinking that if you tire yourself too much from carrying me all the way to our room, you might not be able to performter in bed."

    His eyes narrowed with danger. "Oh yeah? You think I won''t be able to perform?"

    She raised an eyebrow, clearly trying to provoke him. "Look at you. You''re almost gasping from exhaustion¡ªmph!"

    He shut her up with an aggressive, deep kiss.

    It was super effective.

    She didn''t bother talking to him anymore. She just wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to carry her. Whether he could perform in bedter or not would be up to him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    The corners of her mouth lifted up, but she hid it by pressing her face against the crook of his neck. She smelled the bold fragrance of "Vaince".

    Hm? It felt like a ball of fire was burning hotter and hotter by the second low in her stomach.

    Chen Fei wondered if the perfumers who developed "Vaince" unintentionally added an aphrodisiac effect to the fragrance. The more she smelled "Vaince" on her man, the more she wanted to pounce on him and devour him.

    "Faster, Chonglin," she demanded.

    He chuckled and gave her butt a couple of pats. Then he walked faster despite starting to struggle with his breathing.

    Finally, they arrived in their bedroom. He used his feet to kick the door close before gentlyying hisdy on the bed. He followed her, pressing her on the bed below him, and kissed her as if he were a thirsty man seeing water for the first time.

    Chen Fei responded to the kiss with all her might.

    His "Vaince" scent was making her go crazy.

    No, he was the one making her go crazy.

    She stroked his back with one hand while her other hand grabbed his hair, trying to press his head closer to her, fusing their mouths together until they felt there was almost no space between the two of them.

    Jin Chonglin''s hands started roaming all over her body, making her feel so hot that she didn''t bother waiting for him to undress her. She pushed him away and took off her shirt and bra before pulling his head back, silently demanding him to pleasure her.

    He obeyed. His mouth closed in on one of her nipples and sucked hard.

    "Ah!"

    She threw her head back and arched her back, wanting more.

 Chapter 1548 Cherish the Memories

    Chapter 1548 Cherish the Memories

    [Warning: 18+ scenes ahead!!! Reader discretion is advised.]

    Jin Chonglin broke their kiss, earning a whine from hisdy. "Wait, babe. I''ll be back."

    He climbed off the bed, hurried to the bedside table, opened a drawer, and took an opened box of condoms. There were still a few left. Then he began quickly undressing as he walked back to the bed.

    At the same time, Chen Fei also removed her trousers and panties.

    When Jin Chonglin returned, his breath caught in his throat and his eyes dted at the sight in front of him.

    Chen Fei was lying on the bed with her legs spread wide open. Her hand moved between her legs, using her fingers to pleasure herself. Her other hand squeezed her breasts while she looked at her aroused man in front of her.

    Jin Chonglin''s erection hardened even more at her actions. He wrapped his hard length in his hand and moved it up and down, pleasuring himself in time with her movements.

    "Babe, you''re so hot," he couldn''t help but sigh in pleasure.

    She inserted a finger inside her wet heat and moved it in and out. She moaned and licked her lips before inserting another finger inside of her.

    "F*ck, babe." Jin Chonglin couldn''t take it anymore. He pounced on her.

    She weed him with open arms and legs.

    "Yes," she whispered in his ear. "F*ck me."

    There was no need to prolong their agony. They had already teased each other long enough.

    He tore off the packaging of one condom and sheathed it on his erection. Then he positioned himself, straightened his hips, and pierced inside her.

    She cried out and hugged him.

    He groaned and closed his eyes, savouring the feeling of being wrapped inside her delicious wet heat.

    "Move," she whined, trying to push her hips against him but he was too heavy.

    He chuckled. "As you wish." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Then he started pumping. Slowly at first, then gradually started getting faster and harder.

    "Oh yeah!"

    Chen Fei enjoyed it very much. She opened her legs wider to give him easier ess.

    Jin Chonglin changed their positions. He flipped her and entered her from behind. His hands held her hips as he mmed into her again and again.

    The sounds of their wet lovemaking filled the bedroom.

    Chen Fei felt like she was being slowly burned alive with the fires of passion. It became hotter and hotter until she couldn''t take it anymore. She screamed and trembled when she reached the peak.

    He paused his movements but pushed himself deeper inside her, savouring her tight contractions. If he hadn''t pushed himself harder inside her, her contractions would have pushed him out.

    A smirk appeared on his face.

    He knew that he had satisfied her with a mind-blowing orgasm.

    As for him?

    He hadn''t had enough of her yet.

    When she calmed down, he pulled out of her and flipped her on her back again.

    "Hm?" She looked confused. "Did you finish already?"

    A nce at his sheathed arousal revealed that, no, he hadn''t climaxed yet.

    "What are you doing?" she asked, a little dazed, while watching him move downward.

    He opened her legs wide and put his face between her thighs. Then he startedpping her up.

    In no time, she became a hot, moaning mess. He gave her another orgasm with just his tongue and fingers.

    Before she could recover, he once again mmed inside her.

    He was relentless, like an angry, provoked bull.

    "Yes! Like that. F*ck me hard!"

    Chen Fei was already out of her mind. She was no longer aware of the wordsing out of her mouth. All she could feel was the pure pleasure her man was giving her.

    Jin Chonglin was focused on watching her face. He suppressed his desire to ejacte and instead waited until she reached another climax before letting himself go.

    When it was over, he slumped to the side to prevent his full weight from crushing her down. They both gasped for breath while feeling peace in each other''s presence.

    He pulled her closer to him and hugged her with both his arms and legs.

    "You''re sweaty." She gave him a weak swat.

    Of course, he wouldn''t move away from her. He even rubbed his sweaty body all over her, causing her tough from anger.

    "If I''m not feeling too weak right now, I would castrate you! Hahaha!"

    He tickled her, leading to another wrestling match between the two of them.

    "Another round?" he asked.

    She nced down and saw his little brother standing strong and proud yet again. She rolled her eyes and pretended to disdain him but her body was already craving for him.

    To his credit, Jin Chonglin waited for her reply.

    She snorted and said, "Fine."

    Deep in her heart, however, she felt sweet.

    Even though she still had quite a few reservations about their rtionship, she decided that it was worth it to take the plunge with Jin Chonglin. He might not have the best reputation when it came to women, but she wasn''t an easy persimmon either.

    She wasn''t joking when she warned him not to cheat on her or hurt her. She would make his life a living hell if that ever happened.

    But there was no use in anticipating the worst, especially in a rtionship. It was better to enjoy the moment and cherish all the memories that they were building together.

    Before Jin Chonglin could capture her mouth for another kiss, Chen Fei framed his face with her hands and looked at him straight in the eyes.

    He gave her a confused look.

    "I love you, Jin Chonglin."

    His eyes lit up. He smirked.

    This time, she didn''t have the urge to smack the smirk off his face. She just waited.

    He chuckled. "I love you, too, Chen Fei. Please marry me soon."

    She rolled her eyes while a big smile spread on her face. "I want a big, extravagant wedding."

    "I''ll give it to you," he said.

    His kisses started raining down on her again.

    Her breath hitched when he kissed her breasts. "I don''t want any media present at our wedding."

    "No problem."

    "Okay."

    The two stayed inside the bedroom for hours.

    Nobody disturbed them.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1549 Generations

    Chapter 1549 Generations

    After a day of rest and spending time with their twin sons, Iris and Jin Liwei prepared to attend Ashandra Knightson''s art exhibition. It was a ck-tie event, so the couple prepared for it as if it were an awards show.

    Iris had a full m team to help her prepare a few hours before the event. Jin Liwei was more rxed, but he did help Dom take photos of his wife to post on her social media ounts as a treat for the ck Stars.

    When she was finally ready, Iris stood in front of a full-length mirror. She examined herself while her m team made some adjustments to her hair, makeup, dress, and essories.

    She wore an off-the-shoulder, dark emerald, floor-length dress. It hugged her body like a glove. A hint of her cleavage peaked at the front yet still looked quite conservative, making Jin Liwei nod in approval. She also wore long, opera gloves up to her elbow in the same material and colour of her dress.

    Her hair and makeup were styled in an old Hollywood vibe, making her appear ssically beautiful and morous. The makeup artist even dotted a small beauty mark on top of her lip. It emphasized her plump, red lips.

    Jin Liwei''s tuxedo suit matched her dress and styling. His bowtie and pocket square were both dark emerald. His hair was also styled.

    When the couple stood side by side, they looked as if they had stepped out of an old Hollywood movie premiere.

    Dom couldn''t help but squeal, as he directed the husband and wife to pose this way and that. His camera clicked nonstop. Another member of Iris'' m team recorded everything on video so that LXC Studio could edit it into a promo video for Iris'' social media ounts.

    Finally, it was time to leave.

    "Where are the twins?" Iris asked.

    "In the yroom with the nannies," Dom answered while examining the photos that he had just taken. "Don''t worry, Boss and Sir Boss. I''ll help watch over them. Just enjoy yourselves tonight at Ashandra''s art exhibition."

    "Thanks, Dom. It would be great to have youe with us, but I can''t rest assured leaving the twins at home without family in a foreign country."

    "No worries, Boss!"

    Jin Liwei also nodded his thanks to Dom. "We''ll be leaving, then."

    Iris sighed. "I wanted to at least say goodbye to the twins, but I know that they won''t let us leave if they see us, especially Little Mochi. That little guy would definitely throw a tantrum."

    "En. Don''t worry, love. We won''t stay out toote."

    She nodded.

    The husband and wife bid goodbye to Dom and everyone else while their covert group of bodyguards followed behind them.

    Their bodyguards would be disguised as other guests. Ashandra Knightson was already aware of this arrangement and even handed additional invitations to the bodyguards.

    Despite the couple''s meticulous preparations, they were still very low-key when they arrived at the art exhibition.

    There were a couple of reporters covering the event outside, but they weren''t allowed to enter. They could only stay outside and ask the guests if they were willing to speak in front of the camera. Most guests refused, but some agreed.

    Iris decided not to speak with the media this time around. She and her Libert¨¦ had already received more than enough media coverage in the past few days. There was no need to overdo it.

    She also knew that the media was more interested in her brother-inw''s engagement with Chen Fei than anything else right now. Today was her good friend''s important art exhibition. She didn''t want her perfumery or her brother-inw''s engagement to overshadow Ashandra tonight.

    It was only when Iris and Jin Liwei showed their invitation and were about to enter that the reporters recognized them. The couple had been featured in the news along with Libert¨¦, and of course, Jin Chonglin. Their faces were instantly recognizable for those who had been watching and reading the news in the past few days.

    Unfortunately for the reporters, the couple pretended not to hear them calling. Iris and Jin Liwei quickly entered the premises, leaving behind the frustrated reporters who hoped to interview the couple for more tea about the superstar Jin Chonglin.

    The beautiful Ashandra Knightson quickly excused herself from the group she was speaking with to greet the husband and wife.

    "Xin, you''re finally here!"

    The friends hugged each other.

    Ashandra also greeted Jin Liwei, but it was obvious that she was closer to Iris.

    "You look gorgeous," Irisplimented.

    "And so are you," Ashandra returned thepliment. "Wee to my exhibition! I titled my collection ''Generations''. Later, I''ll show you a surprise I prepared just for you."

    Iris'' eyes lit up. "Surprise for me? I can''t wait!"

    Ashandra smiled before looking behind the couple. "You''re the only one who came?"

    "You know my brother-inw will steal all the attention if he attends tonight, so Liwei advised him and Chen Fei not to attend. The two of them couldn''t even step out of the house without being hounded by reporters and paparazzi. I hope that you don''t mind, Ashandra. They send their congrattions and regards to you, though."

    "I understand, Xin. Sir Lu also personally called me earlier that he won''t being because he has a prior appointment with another group of old friends tonight. He sent me a lovely bouquet of flowers. I was hoping Dominic woulde."

    Iris sighed. "I''m sorry, but he''s helping watch over the twins."

    "Oh, I see. That''s fine, then. The babies are more important. If they were old enough, I would''ve insisted that you bring Mochi and Matcha. I adore those babies like my own!"

    Theyughed and talked about the twins for a couple of minutes before Ashandra had to excuse herself to greet another group of new arrivals.

    Iris and Jin Liwei watched the busy Ashandra.

    "Let''s go, love."

    Jin Liwei offered his elbow. When she took it, he led her deeper inside the art exhibition.

    The curator greeted them and gave them a formal introduction to the art exhibition. "Feel free to roam around and enjoy Mademoiselle Knightson''s incredible art. We also have a silent auction for all of the pieces. If you''re interested in participating, you only need to write your bids on these paper slips and put them inside these slots. If you win the bid, we will contact you after the art exhibition ends to finalize the purchase."

    "Okay, thank you." Iris smiled at the curator.

    The curator smiled back but continued looking at her mysteriously.

    Iris looked at the man with a question mark on her head. Jin Liwei''s smile disappeared.

    Good thing that the curator said in a hurry, "Mademoiselle Knightson has instructed us that a portion of the proceeds from the silent auction will be donated to Madame Jin''s Iris of Hope foundation."

    Iris'' eyes widened. "I wasn''t aware of this."

    Jin Liwei''s expression returned to normal. The barely noticeable smile returned to his face.

    The curator gave a mental sigh of relief.

    Phew!

    Fortunately, he dodged the danger. CEO Jin was scary when he red at him. His knees almost shook from the CEO''s intimidating aura.

    "Is this the surprise that Ashandra was telling me about?" Iris wondered.

    "No, Madame," the curator said. "Mademoiselle Knightson has another surprise for youter."

    Iris grew more curious and excited. She held onto her husband''s elbow and couldn''t help but squeeze it. She couldn''t wait to see her good friend''s surprise for her.

    Jin Liwei patted her hand. He was also curious about what Ashandra had prepared for his wife. Seeing how excited his wife acted, he also looked forward to the surprise.

    The curator excused himself to greet the next guests.

    Jin Liwei nodded at their bodyguards disguised as guests. The bodyguards pretended to look around while some even chatted with other genuine guests. Despite this, they all stayed in close proximity with the couple.

    He recognized a few who belonged to his brother-inw from Shadow Winds. Their presence made Jin Liwei feel reassured that his wife would be safe from any danger.

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t bother the busy Ashandra Knightson. They started walking around to admire the artwork disyed in the main wing. Each of them showed Ashandra''s skillful artistry.

    Now they understood why Ashandra titled this collection "Generations". The paintings depicted family (both by blood and by choice), parentage, ancestry, and roots.

    Not all showcased humans, though. There were animals, beasts, and even mythical creatures.

    Iris couldn''t help but admire the details in the paintings showcasing mythical creatures. Ashandra made them believable in a beautiful yet also frightening way.

    "Which one do you like, love?" Jin Liwei asked. "I''ll bid on them for you."

    "This one." She pointed at a painting depicting a humanoid creature.

    The upper body was that of a beautiful female but its lower body resembled a giant octopus. The creature was cradling an infant version of itself, both cute and scary at the same time, while the dark ocean roared around them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Just looking at it made her get goosebumps.

    "I think that Ashandra wants to convey that all creatures¡ªhuman or not and scary or not¡ªare all the same when ites to protecting their young," Iris murmured.

    Now that Iris was a mother herself, she understood this kind of maternal instinct even better than before.

    "I want this, darling," she said.

    Jin Liwei already took a paper slip and wrote his bid on the painting titled "Monster Mother" for his wife. He wrote arge price just to make sure.

    Not only would it make his wife happy to own this painting, but a portion of the proceeds would also be donated to his wife''s Iris of Hope foundation.

    No matter how he looked at it, winning the bid would be a win-win for his wife. As long as his wife was happy, he would also be happy.

 Chapter 1550 Once a Mother, Forever a Mother

    Chapter 1550 Once a Mother, Forever a Mother

    The ushers gathered all the guests.

    Iris and Jin Liwei followed everyone. Their disguised bodyguards positioned themselves strategically around the couple.

    Waiters served everyone some refreshments. Jin Liwei took two sses of champagne and gave one to his wife.

    Ashandra Knightson also held a ss of champagne in one hand and the microphone in her other hand.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, wee to my art exhibition! First of all, thank you very much foring today. This collection, ''Generations'', is the biggest and most emotional collection that I''ve ever created so far. I don''t know how many times I had to stop myself and take a break while creating these art pieces because of my emotions. I even needed to attend a few therapy sessions to help me navigate all the plethora of emotions I was experiencing at that time."

    Some of the guests gasped.

    Most of them, however, didn''t bat an eye. They just credited it to Ashandra Knighton''s entricity as a genius artist. A lot of them believed that geniuses, especially creative ones like Ashandra, were a little unhinged anyway. Tales of super-talented artists going insane weren''t too umon either. So the fact that she underwent therapy while creating hertest collection wasn''t too shocking.

    Iris, however, felt concerned about her friend. She grabbed her husband''s elbow and squeezed it. She had already heard a little about Ashandra''s struggles while creating thistest collection of hers when Ashandra came over to stay at her family''s Parisian residence the night before Libert¨¦''sunch party. Iris sympathized with her friend, but she didn''t know that Ashandra''s struggles became so serious that she needed to undergo therapy.

    "But please don''t worry too much about me," Ashandra said. "I''m alright now. I''ve experienced a lot of negative emotions during the creation process of this art collection, but there were also a lot of positive emotions. Most importantly, I think that experiencing all this has helped me grow not only as an artist but also as a person. I feel that I''ve be a much more mature individual.

    "I hope that this art collection, ''Generations'', will also resonate with a lot of you as much as it resonated with me. ''Generations'' is about family, about connections, and about legacy. Family is not only the one that we are born into but also the connections that we make by choice.

    "Even animals that we choose to take care of be members of our family. They be part of our history, and eventually, even our legacy. ces are also important. Special ces be our homes, and maybe in time, our descendants will also decide to take root in these same ces, adding to our family history and legacy.

    "Regardless of who we are or what we are, whether we are humans or not, we all have a desire to belong in a unit with the most important one being the family. Our family is our most important support system. It is also an important record of who we are, our origins, and what we have be. Even when we are gone on earth, these records will always remain. Not just the written records on documents, depictions on paintings, memories on photos or videos, but the most important of all, the DNA records we leave in our descendants. Our descendants are the most precious legacy that we can ever leave in the world.

    "I hope that you all enjoy my collection, ''Generations''. I also want to thank my good friend, Madame Iris Long, and her husband, Monsieur Liam Jin, for gracing all of us with their presence. I also have to confess that their beautiful family has been a huge inspiration for this art collection."

    Iris and Jin Liwei smiled and raised their champagne sses to Ashandra Knightson. She responded by raising her ss and nodding at them.

    The other guests all looked at Iris and Jin Liwei. Some of them had also attended Libert¨¦''sunch party, so they were familiar with the couple. Those who hadn''t attended still recognized them because of the media coverage of Libert¨¦''sunch party and also because of Jin Chonglin''s high-profile proposal to his now fianc¨¦e, a woman named Chen Fei.

    The ones who attended Libert¨¦''sunch party knew that Iris was friends with Ashandra Knightson. The others didn''t know, so they were surprised to learn that Ashandra Knightson was friends with the Asian couple. She even mentioned that their family was a huge inspiration to thistest collection of hers, "Generations."

    "I would also like to mention for those who haven''t been informed yet that a portion of proceeds from tonight''s silent auction will be donated to my friend Madame Iris Long''s charitable foundation, Iris of Hope," Ashandra continued. "Iris of Hope is one of the foundations that I trust to be transparent all the time. Their charitable projects are always relevant and meaningful. They are also very active in helping people all around the world. That''s why it''s my first choice whenever I want to donate. Please rest assured that a portion of your money will be put to good use in helping people who need it the most through Iris of Hope."

    Iris bowed her head to her friend and nodded at the other guests who raised their champagne sses at her.

    "Finally, I would like to wee you once again! Please enjoy!"

    Everyone gave a warm round of apuse to the beautiful and talented Ashandra Knightson.

    As soon as the speech ended, the other guests surrounded Iris and Jin Liwei. Of course, their disguised bodyguards also joined in to protect them just in case.

    The guests were interested in knowing more about Iris of Hope. Iris was more than happy to exin her foundation''s missions. Although she hadn''t been aware that Ashandra was going to donate a portion of tonight''s silent auction''s proceeds to Iris of Hope, she wasn''t mad at all. In fact, she was happy because her foundation would be able to help more people with the money.

    "Did you know about this?" Iris asked when the guests finally left them.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    She gave him a side-eye, but there was a smile on her lips.

    "Iris of Hope''s president informed me about it some time ago," he said. "Ashandra wanted to keep it a secret from you as a surprise."

    She could only chuckle while shaking her head. "Ashandra really knows how to give me a wonderful surprise. I wonder what she prepared for meter."

    "Me, too."

    The husband and wife walked while holding hands. Ashandra met their eyes. They only smiled and nodded their heads. Ashandra was too busy to keep the couplepany.

    Iris didn''t want to hog her friends'' time and attention, so she dragged her husband to enjoy her friend''s art pieces. Jin Liwei would also bid for the ones his wife wanted.

    There weren''t only paintings in the art exhibition. In another wing, Ashandra also made some sculptures. Most of them were made of y, but there were also a few carved from wood. One was even from marble.

    Iris marvelled at the delicate details of the marble sculpture. It was a three-foot figure of a pregnant woman covered in a veil. Ashandra was able to carve the marble and make the veil look transparent.

    "How incredible." Iris sighed in amazement.

    She wanted to touch the sculpture but restrained herself.

    Without even asking her, Jin Liwei took a paper slip and bid for the marble sculpture.

    Then the curator called for everyone''s attention.

    "Please follow me to the special exhibition wing. This is Mademoiselle Knightson''s most prized pieces in the collection. There are only a few pieces but every single one of them is extremely special. The starting bid prices for these pieces will also be higher than the ones you''ve seen in the regr wings." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Whispers of curiosity and excitement spread among the guests.

    Ashandra Knightson found her way to Iris and Jin Liwei.

    "Xin, follow me," Ashandra said before holding Iris'' hand.

    "Is the surprise inside?" Iris asked.

    "Yes."

    Iris couldn''t hide her anticipation.

    The curator opened therge, ornate doors to the special wing. Ashandra entered with Iris and Jin Liwei while the rest of the guests followed after them.

    The art pieces inside were definitely on a different scalepared to the ones outside. There were huge paintings, and a few towering sculptures, including a ten-foot marble sculpture.

    However, Iris'' attention was soon drawn to the biggest, most conspicuous painting hanging on a wall. It was the only painting on that wall.

    Its size was about ten by twenty feet, perhaps even bigger.

    As soon as Iris saw it, tears flowed down her face. Jin Liwei hugged her close. He also felt a little choked up.

    The painting showed a beautiful Iris lounging on a daybed while cradling two babies, Little Mochi and Little Matcha when they were only a few months old. There was also Ice Cream sleeping beside her. Popcorn was ying with his tail on the floor near her feet.

    A white cat, Ketchup, sat smiling on Iris'' other side. A ck cat, Bacon, folded himself like a loaf of bread on top of the daybed''s backrest near Iris'' head.

    There were also two German Shepherd puppies scattered on the floor, Pudding and Chowder.

    Gentle sunlight streamed down on the beautiful scene making it glow and appear dreamy. Anyone who viewed the painting would feel the love and gentleness emanating from Iris'' figure.

    Ashandra also teared up upon seeing Iris getting emotional.

    Iris hugged her. "Thank you, Ashandra. This painting is the most beautiful that I''ve ever seen. I love it."

    Ashandra hugged her back. "It has been my pleasure to paint you with your children, Xin. I call it ''Once a Mother, Forever a Mother''."

 Chapter 1551 Letâ€™s Go Home Together

    Chapter 1551 Let¡¯s Go Home Together

    "I love it," Iris said while admiring the huge painting through tears.

    Jin Liwei took his pocket square and used the handkerchief to wipe his wife''s tears, careful not to smudge her makeup. He didn''t have to worry too much, though, because most of her makeup was waterproof anyway.

    "I must have it," Iris dered.

    "En, don''t worry, love," he assured her. "I''ll bid on it."

    "No need to bid," Ashandra said. "This is my gift for Xin."

    Iris gasped. "Ashandra!"

    Ashandra hugged her. "I told you that I have a surprise for you. Didn''t I also mention that you''ve been a huge inspiration to me for this collection? To tell you the truth, creating this painting has been such a huge joy for me, unlike the other ones which sent me to therapy. I always looked forward to waking up each day just to paint this."

    "But giving this to me for free is a bit¡­." Iris tried to say.

    "What are you saying, Xin? Are you treating me as an outsider? You''re my friend but I consider you more like a sister. Please don''t argue about this with me anymore. I already decided to give it to you and that''s final."

    Iris could only hug her friend tighter.

    Ashandra chuckled. "All I''m asking you is to allow me to disy this painting for longer. Once my exhibition ends, then I''ll have it sent to your home."

    "Okay, Ashandra. Thank you so much." Iris grabbed her husband''s dark emerald handkerchief to dab her tears.

    Many of the guests also admired the huge painting of Iris and her children. They wanted to bid for it but there was no bidding slot avable. They asked and were disappointed to hear that Ashandra Knightson had already given it as a gift to Madame Jin, her muse for the painting.

    "So you have two children?" one of the guests asked.

    "Two babies, four cats, and two dogs," Iris answered. "They''re all my children."

    The others didn''t think too much about her too-specific reply. They just thought that she must be an animal lover.

    It was a good thing that Ashandra painted Little Mochi and Little Matcha in a way that left about half of their faces in the shadows. Nevertheless, anyone looking at the painting could still see their cuteness.

    The main focus of the painting was the mother, Iris.

    She was depicted in a way that seemed to glow from within.

    Jin Liwei also couldn''t stop staring at it.

    Then Iris noticed something in the painting. She pointed at a shadow in the corner. "Look at that! Is that my husband''s shadow?"

    Ashandraughed. "Good eye, Xin. I didn''t expect you to catch that right away. Indeed, I had to include the whole family in this painting in some way without tantly showing your husband and the kids'' father. So I decided to just include Liwei''s shadow."

    Jin Liwei didn''t notice the shadow at first until his wife pointed it out. Now that he saw it, he couldn''t conceal the pleased smile on his face.

    "I can''t wait to disy this in our home," he said.

    Iris and Ashandraughed at his reaction.

    "Alright, I''ve already shown you my surprise," Ashandra said. "I''m going to leave you two for now. I still need to speak and entertain the other guests."

    When she left, Iris and Jin Liwei walked closer to the painting. They continued to admire the huge, beautiful painting. Jin Liwei was also envisioning the best ce to hang it.

    The other guests were also admiring the painting. They even approached the couple to chat about it.

    Finally, the first night of the art exhibition was about to end. Iris and Jin Liwei bid goodbye to Ashandra Knightson before leaving with their disguised bodyguards following behind them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    ###

    Iris, Jin Liwei and their family decided to stay in France for a few extra days.

    Tang Yiyi already took Yin Meixing to fly back home a few days ago. Yin Meixing had to return due to prior work arrangements. LXC Studio was working hard to promote her as one of their top artists besides Jin Chonglin and Iris Long.

    Inside their Parisian home, Little Mochi and Little Matcha watched as their Uncle Lin Lin hugged their Auntie Fei, refusing to let her go.

    "Yah yah yah!" Little Mochi pped his little hands in delight, urging his Uncle Lin Lin to show something funnier.

    Little Matcha sucked on his pacifier while watching the scene with curiosity.

    "No, let''s go home together!" Jin Chonglin said, acting like a spoiled child.

    Chen Fei was so angry but she still couldn''t help butugh. "Let me go! I already told you that I need to go with Xin for Orchidia Germany''sunch! You go home first."

    "No, babe! I don''t want to leave you!"

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes before looking at her friends with helplessness.

    Iris and Dom snickered.

    It was a good thing that Jin Liwei wasn''t there to witness his younger brother''s embarrassingly childish actions or else he might have spanked Jin Chonglin in front of the twins. Jin Liwei was in the study working remotely to run Jin Corporation.

    "If you don''t let me go, I''ll castrate you!" Chen Fei threatened.

    It was no use.

    Jin Chonglin continued to cling to her waist, refusing to let her go.

    "We just got engaged, babe. I don''t want us to separate! Either you go home with me or I''ll stay here with you and apany you to Germany!"

    A knock on the door interrupted them.

    Dom ran to open it.

    An exhausted Lin Dong entered. He froze upon seeing his artist crying and clinging to his fianc¨¦e''s waist. He rubbed his eyes just to make sure that he was seeing it correctly and not just imagining it. Finally, he realized that the scene in front of him was real and not an illusion. His expression turned ugly.

    "Chonglin, what the hell do you think you''re doing?!"

    Chen Fei used this opportunity to disentangle herself from Jin Chonglin''s viselike embrace.

    Jin Chonglin stood up quickly and patted his clothes, pretending that everything was normal. "Why are you here?"

    Lin Dong''s expression remained ugly. "CEO Jin sent a private jet for me. And good thing that he did. If I didn''te, I bet that you wouldn''t want to return home."

    "Hmph." Jin Chonglin still acted like a petnt kid.

    Lin Dong was already exhausted from the long flight. But this time, he looked like he had aged even more after knowing that he still had to coax this spoiled man-child.

    "Let''s go now, Second Master Chonglin. Have you packed your luggage yet? If not, I''ll help you pack up. You still have to report to a TV drama crew tomorrow for your cameo role. We need to hurry up. You also have a couple of magazine cover shoots and an interview in the next couple of days."

    "No! I''m staying here with my wife! I''m not going anywhere without my wife!" Jin Chonglin hugged Chen Fei''s neck.

    Chen Fei felt like she was suffocating. She stomped on Jin Chonglin''s foot hard.

    "Argh!" He doubled over in pain before looking up at her with using eyes.

    She coughed. "I''m sorry. You were choking me."

    "What?!" Jin Chonglin soon forgot about his aching foot to check on her neck. "Sorry, babe. Here, let me kiss it for you."

    He was about to kiss her neck in front of everyone but she pushed his face away.

    She cleared her throat, looking uncharacteristically shy, especially in front of Lin Dong.

    Then she red at her fianc¨¦. "Are you going to abandon your workmitments? Because if you are, then we''re done!"

    "What do you mean?!" he demanded.

    She crossed her arms over her chest. "I''m not interested in a cker. I don''t care if you''re a superstar or not. But I want to be with someone as motivated and hardworking as me. I''m not interested in azy a** who''ll just abandon his contract obligations whenever he feels like it. If you want to be with me, you have to show me that you have integrity. If you can''t, then we''re done."

    She moved to take off the huge diamond ring on her finger but he stopped her.

    "Don''t even think about it! Okay, I''ll go home with my manager but you must answer my calls every day!"

    She released a mental sigh of relief. Lin Dong also sent her a grateful look.

    "Come, let''s hurry and pack your luggage." She hurriedly pulled Jin Chonglin to their bedroom.

    Lin Dong quickly moved to follow them, but Dom pulled him back.

    "Why are you stopping me?" Lin Dong asked. "I need to help Chonglin pack. It''s faster with more people."

    Dom rolled his eyes. "What are you following them for? To be a bright lightbulb? Prince Lin Lin is already annoyed with you foring to pick him up. Are you going to annoy him even more by disturbing their two-person world? Give the lovebirds some time to say goodbye to each other."

    "Oh." Lin Dong finally didn''t insist on following the couple.

    Iris picked up Little Mochi. "Let''s go now, my sweethearts. Mommy will also start packing. We''re going for a trip with Daddy and Uncle Dom before we leave France."

    "Yah!" Little Mochi pped his hands.

    Dom picked up Little Matcha.

    "Make yourself at home, Manager Lin," Iris said while walking to the door. "If you need anything, just call one of my staff."

    Lin Dong waved at her. "Don''t worry, Iris. I''ll be fine. Go ahead and do your own thing. I''ll just wait for your brother-inw to finish packing."

    "Then you might as well eat and rest first," she said. "They might take a long time to finish ''packing''."

 Chapter 1552 Please Wake Up, Chonglin

    Chapter 1552 Please Wake Up, Chonglin

    In the end, Chen Fei literally kicked out Jin Chonglin for taking too long to "pack" his luggage.

    He made her so exhausted! Even now as she watched Lin Dong drag the reluctant Jin Chonglin away, her legs still felt shaky.

    "You must miss me, babe!"

    Chen Fei gritted her teeth. The man still dared to have that much energy after tossing and turning her in their bedroom!

    "Go home and work!" she scolded him.

    He grinned. "Okay! I''ll work hard and save lots of money for our future baby''s milk and diapers!"

    She couldn''t take it anymore. She removed her slipper and threw it at him.

    Jin Chonglin dodged and immediately climbed into the waiting vehicle. "Hehehe."

    He rolled down the window and stuck his head out. Then he waved his hand and sent her flying kisses. "I''ll miss you, babe! You must answer my calls and texts or I''lle flying back to find you!"

    "You dare!" Lin Dong red at him. "Your schedule is packed!"

    Jin Chonglin ignored his long-time manager. Always nagging in his ears. So annoying!

    He instructed one of the bodyguards patrolling the residence, "Please pick up my wife''s slipper and give it back to her. Thanks!"

    "I''m not your wife yet!" Chen Fei yelled at him, feeling exasperated.

    "You will be soon!" he yelled back at her. "Bye! I love you!"

    Two seconds pause.

    "Hey! Where''s my ''I love you'' back?!" he demanded.

    She rolled her eyes.

    "I''m not leaving if you don''t tell me that you love me, too!"

    She still didn''t say anything.

    "Time to go," Lin Dong said after he sat beside Jin Chonglin in the backseat.

    "No! My wife hasn''t told me that she loves me too yet!" Jin Chonglin continued to act like a petnt child.

    "Miss Chen, COO Chen, oh great almighty Chen Fei!" Lin Dong began begging. "Please just humour this naughty little boy or he won''t stop throwing a tantrum! Please help me out here. I''m gonna go bald soon if he doesn''t stop being a headache!"

    Chen Fei sighed. "Fine. I love you too, you little sh*t! So go home now and work hard! If I hear from Manager Lin that you''re cking off and reneging on your work contracts, you can go find yourself another wife!"

    Jin Chonglin didn''t mind her potty mouth at all. In fact, her swear words made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. "Love you, babe! Mwah!"

    Lin Dong shivered.

    Before, Jin Chonglin''s string of women were the ones who clung to him, never wanting to let him go despite him quickly losing his interest in them. Now, however, Lin Dong could never have imagined that Jin Chonglin would be the one to act like a disgustingly clingy lover to Chen Fei.

    Was this because of true love?

    He nced at Chen Fei standing by the residence''s huge double doors. She looked tough as nails, but there was a soft look in her eyes as she watched Jin Chonglin.

    Lin Dong sighed. Perhaps this was true love.

    He looked at Jin Chonglin who refused to settle back in his seat and continued waving at Chen Fei through the open car window.

    Finally, the vehicle drove out of the Parisian residence.

    It was as if a switch had turned off.

    Jin Chonglin''s expression became bored and he settled on his seat. He began rummaging through his bag before fishing out a set ofrge, stylish headphones customized with his name.

    Before he could put it on, Lin Dong asked, "Do you really want to marry Miss Chen?"

    Jin Chonglin paused his movements before giving his manager a side-eye. "Of course. Do you think that I would propose to her if I don''t want to marry her?"

    "But you also proposed to Fan Luo before, didn''t you? Did you also want to marry her?"

    Jin Chonglin red at his manager. "Don''t bring up that evil woman to me! You know about our situation back then! I was pressured to marry her because she pretended to get pregnant and our mothers were best friends. I was just being a real man and taking responsibility. Anyway, I don''t want to talk about my past with that criminal ever again. If possible, I want to erase that part of my past from my memory."

    "I''m sorry."

    Lin Dong felt bad about bringing it up. It was a traumatic memory for Jin Chonglin.

    Back then, none of them expected that Jin Chonglin''s fianc¨¦e, Fan Luo, would be so evil that she would attempt to literally murder Iris Long. If Iris hadn''t been so lucky, she would have already been dead for a long time. Although she did suffer a lot by beingatose for a year and all, it was still many times better than being dead.

    "I''m just making sure that you''re not ying, Chonglin," Lin Dong said. "Remember that Miss Chen is different from Fan Luo. She''s an important executive and friend of Iris. If you hurt her, Iris won''t let you off. And if Iris has a grudge against you, then CEO Jin won''t let you off either."

    "I already know this!" Jin Chonglin looked frustrated and helpless at the same time. "Sister Xin already warned me about this and so did all her friends! Even my big bro already warned me, too! Why does everyone keep on telling me this? Am I so untrustworthy in your eyes?"

    "Chonglin, let''s be real here. Take a look at your history with women before. If it hadn''t been so, er, colourful then nobody would doubt your intentions with Miss Chen."

    Jin Chonglin pursed his lips but he didn''t retort this time. He tossed his headphones away, not interested in using them anymore.

    Lin Dong sighed. "I''m not saying that you''re not capable of true love. Everyone deserves true love. That''s what I believe. But I''m just here to remind you that being too impulsive when ites to important life events like marriage and having children is not rmended. You''ll not only hurt your career, but you''ll also hurt Miss Chen. And if you still insist on having a baby with her, you''ll also hurt your child."

    "I love her, okay?!" Jin Chonglin spread his arms wide to make a point. "I have never loved a woman like I love Chen Fei! Yes, I did enjoy other women''spany! I did love sleeping with different women! But that was before! What I want right now is to marry the woman I love and build a happy family with her! And I believe that woman is Chen Fei! Is that too much to ask?!"

    The two looked at each other. The driver had already long activated the divider to give the two much-needed privacy.

    Jin Chonglin looked utterly frustrated. And exhausted.

    "Fine, I admit that I''ve been very impulsive recently. I just can''t help myself. I feel like if I don''t make the first moves, then Chen Fei would get away from me. Have you seen her? She''s so smart, confident, independent, and sessful. I bet so many b*stards are eyeing her. I didn''t think that I would fall for someone like her, but look at me now. I can''t stop thinking about her. I can''t stop wanting to be with her. Even when she cusses me out, I love it. There are times that I even feel horny when she swears at me."

    Lin Dong looked at him as if he was a weird pervert. Good thing that Jin Chonglin didn''t notice. If he did, then he might be arrested for murdering his own manager. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "She''s just so¡­special," Jin Chonglin continued. "So very different from what I believed to be my type. I also feel like myself whenever I''m with her. I don''t have to pretend to be cool. She epts me when I''m being childish¡ª"

    "Ah, so you do know that you''re childish," Lin Dong couldn''t help butment.

    Jin Chonglin almost wanted to punch his manager. Thankfully, he was able to control himself. "Sometimes! Only sometimes!"

    "Yeah, right. Sometimes."

    Jin Chonglin''s fist was really itching. But he held it down.

    Lin Dong had been his manager right from the start. The man had been there with him when he was just a neer in showbiz. He was one of the first ones to believe in his talents and not just humour him because of his status as the second young master of the Jin family.

    In short, Lin Dong had worked his a** off to allow Jin Chonglin to showcase his real talents. They had been together through thick and thin. Even when Jin Chonglin left Bright Summit Entertainment Company to build LXC Studio with Jin Liwei and Iris Long, Lin Dong still chose to follow him.

    Their loyalty to each other transcended even that of best friends.

    So even when Lin Dong scolded him, Jin Chonglin wouldn''t disrespect him. Of course, more often than not, Jin Chonglin would still do whatever he wanted, especially when it came to his love life, but for the most part, Lin Dong was there to advise him.

    Jin Chonglin pouted. He knew that Lin Dong was only thinking for his sake, but it was still frustrating that his manager would doubt his intentions toward Chen Fei.

    "I''ll prove to you and to everyone else that Chen Fei and I willst! We''ll marry, build a beautiful family together, and make everyone envious! Hmph!"

    Lin Dong was about to encourage him to work hard in fulfilling his promise, but Jin Chonglin just had to add the following words.

    "My wife and I will make an even more beautiful family than Sister Xin and my big bro''s!"

    "Ah, please wake up, Chonglin. It''s nice to dream and all but we have to be realistic here."

 Chapter 1553 Most Beautiful Family

    Chapter 1553 Most Beautiful Family

    "What do you mean by that?!" Jin Chonglin demanded.

    Lin Dong shrugged, not at all apologetic about what he said. "I''m just saying, have you seen a more beautiful family than Iris and CEO Jin''s family? Just look at CFO Long Jinjing and Mr. Lu Zihao''s family. Sure, CFO Long''s twin babies are both chubby and adorable, but Mr. Lu Zihao is just too scary. Handsome, yes, but still too scary. Just a look from him and my knees are already trembling. With him in the picture, their family isn''t exactly what you''d describe as the ''most beautiful'', don''t you think so, too? Impressive, yes. But ''beautiful''? Not really. At least, that''s what I think."

    Jin Chonglin curled his lip at his manager. "Wait until I tell Brother Zihao that you said that about his family. See how he sorts you out. Hmph!"

    Lin Dong immediately panicked. "Hey now, Chonglin. Let''s not push each other under the bus. Have you seen Mr. Lu''s muscles? He could crush my skull using his bare hands!"

    Just imagining it was enough to make Lin Dong almost pee his pants.

    "That''s what you get for talking about someone else''s family behind their back. Hmph!" Jin Chonglin crossed his arms over his chest, enjoying the look of panic on his manager''s face.

    "I''m just kidding!" Lin Dong said in a hurry. "Don''t tattle on Mr. Lu about me, okay? I didn''t mean that about his family. I''m just saying that in my opinion, there isn''t any family that is more beautiful than your older brother and Iris'' family. Even you can see it with your own eyes. Little Mochi and Little Matcha inherited their parents'' best features. Little Matcha looks like a carbon copy of your older brother while Little Mochi resembles Iris more."

    "In some angles, Little Mochi looks like me!" Jin Chonglin couldn''t help but brag. Pride filled his eyes. "Especially when he smiles! The baby is also a little star and loves performing in front of other people just like me, his Uncle Lin Lin! Like uncle, like nephew!"

    Lin Dong just let Jin Chonglin delude himself into thinking this way. It seemed that Jin Chonglin had already forgotten that there were two celebrities in the family¡ªhimself and Iris Long.

    Why couldn''t Little Mochi inherit it from his own mother instead of his uncle?

    Lin Dong shook his head, feeling helpless about his artist. Jin Chonglin could really get too absorbed with his own self-importance. Lin Dong must admit, though, that Little Mochi really did resemble his Uncle Lin Lin in some specific angles.

    Jin Chonglin became too excited talking about Little Mochi inheriting this or that from him that Lin Dong had to restrain himself hard not to roll his eyes. Part of being a manager was fuelling his artist''s confidence after all.

    Finally, the man shut up. Maybe he had run out of things to justify his delusions.

    He returned to acting like a petnt child, though, and continued their earlier topic about himself and Chen Fei. "I don''t care! When my wife and I have our own baby, it will definitely be cuter than my big bro''s kids! My family is going to be more beautiful than my big bro''s! I''ll work hard to make it happen. Hmph!"

    ''How do you work hard for something like that?'' Lin Dong wondered.

    He didn''t say it out loud, though. He already had enough of listening to his artist''s tantrums.

    "Yes, yes. Of course, Second Master Jin. You''re always right." Lin Dong had no choice but to humour the man. If he didn''t, Jin Chonglin would surely throw another tantrum.

    Fortunately this time, Jin Chonglin didn''t continue yapping his mouth. He picked up the headphones that he had tossed earlier and put it on. In no time, his head began bobbing to the beat of the music he was listening to through his headphones.

    Lin Dong sighed in relief.

    The vehicle drove until they reached the private airport where one of Jin Liwei''s private jets was already waiting for them.

    There was also another vehicle following theirs with Jin Chonglin''s small entourage who came with him to France. Their presence was almost invisible but this was also one of the reasons why they were the best.

    Later, the private jet took off.

    Jin Chonglin watched the blue sky and the clouds brushing against the aircraft.

    There was an ufortable stuffiness in his chest.

    Dammit.

    He missed Chen Fei already.

    ###

    The next morning, Iris and Jin Liwei along with Dom prepared to take the twins for a family trip.

    "Are you sure that you don''t want toe with us?" Iris asked.

    Chen Fei shook her head. "I want to stay here in Paris and observe how Clover runs Libert¨¦. This is a new market,pletely different from what we''re used to in our home country, so I want to learn more about it. Orchidia isunching our new international bases soon. Although I won''t personally run the international bases, as the COO of the headquarters, I still need to stay on top of things to make the correct decisions for the best of our entirepany."

    Iris smiled. She loved how dedicated Chen Fei and Long Jinjing were when it came to running Orchidia. It wasn''t a stretch to say that Orchidia was their baby together.

    It was just that she and Long Jinjing had to bnce work with raising their families. Chen Fei was still unmarried and childless, so she had more time and energy to dedicate to thepany.

    Iris didn''t want try to persuade Chen Fei toe to their family trip anymore. Chen Fei looked excited learning new things at Libert¨¦.

    "Okay, got it," Iris said. "If you need anything, just tell the staff here. Clover will also help you. We''ll be back here in Paris soon and we''ll fly to Germany together."

    "Don''t worry about me, Xin. Just enjoy your family trip." Then Chen Fei remembered something. "How about Grandpa Lu? Is heing with you?"

    Iris sighed. "We invited him, too, but he declined toe. He said that he still wants to meet up with some of his other old friends who he hasn''t seen in years. I guess he just wants to rx on his own without the babies for a while. Grandpa Lu hasn''t been on a real vacation since the Jin and Lu twins were born. He''s an awesome great-grandfather to the babies but he also needs to enjoy his retirement on his own terms."

    Everyone chuckled.

    "The Jin and Lu twins are mostly good, well-behaved babies, but I agree that it can sometimes be too much even for a baby-loving and baby-doting great-grandparent like Grandpa Lu," Chen Fei said. "One baby is already more than enough to handle but you sisters just had to have twins one after the other."

    Everyoneughed.

    Chen Fei looked at Jin Liwei. "Your younger brother keeps on asking me to give birth to a baby for him. He even dreams of having twins just like you and Brother Zihao, but thank goodness that the genes for twins are with Xin and Jinjing, and have nothing to do with Chonglin. My gosh, just imagining myself giving birth to twins already makes me feel exhausted. Add Chonglin to the equation and I''ll probably go crazy."

    Iris just smiled. She didn''t correct everyone''s assumption that the genes for twins came from the Long family. As far as she knew, there had never been any twins in the Long family throughout the centuries of their long history. This was the first time.

    She was 99.99% certain that it came from the Vetrov genes. She wasn''t sure how it could happen, scientifically speaking, but after she and her big brother had been reborn into different bodies after their deaths, everything should be possible at this point. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Actually, the genes for twins didn''te directly from the Vetrovs either. It came from their mother who married their Vetrov father. Iris¡ªno, Evelina''s maternal side of the family had plenty of twins.

    It was a miracle that although it was her and her big brother''s souls that got reborn intopletely new bodies, the genes for twins still managed to survive and even already produced results.

    Iris gave birth to twins first. Then her big brother also impregnated Long Jinjing, causing her to give birth to twins as well.

    It was just that nobody except them and Jin Liwei knew about it. Even Long Jinjing wasn''t aware of it.

    The three of them didn''t dare to correct other people''s assumption that it was because Iris and Long Jinjing were sisters that they shared the genes for twins. Even Long Tengfei had always been proud that both his daughters gave birth to twins one after another.

    Back to the present, Chen Fei said goodbye to the family plus Dom.

    "Bye, Sis Fei!" Dom waved at her.

    "Don''t forget to buy me lots of souvenirs," Chen Fei said.

    "Give me money to buy."

    She rolled her eyes. "Never mind!"

    Domughed. "Just kidding. I''ll buy you lots of souvenirs, so you must help me keep an eye on handsome French boys here in Paris. I need some new chat mates."

    Chen Fei raised her hand, showing off her huge diamond ring, before folding her other fingers and only leaving the middle one. "You''re asking me, the recently engaged woman, to help you look for handsome French boys? Are you insane, Dominic Chua? If the paparazzi take photos of me talking to handsome French boys, Chonglin will go crazy and be annoying again!"

 Chapter 1554 French Chateau

    Chapter 1554 French Chateau

    The othersughed at Chen Fei''s words. Even the corners of Jin Liwei''s mouth curved up ever so slightly.

    "My younger brother is a handful," Jin Liwei said.

    Chen Fei rolled his eyes. "Ain''t that right? But what can I do? I already agreed to marry him." She sighed before smiling. "Alright, goodbye now. It''s better to leave early so that you can reach your destination sooner. It''s not easy to travel with babies in tow."

    She kissed Little Mochi and Little Matcha who were being strapped to their baby car seats by their father. "Say bye-bye to Auntie Fei, Little Mochi and Little Matcha. Have fun! Don''t be too naughty. I''ll see you in a few days."

    "Yah yah!" Little Mochi gave her a slobbery kiss and a big, bright smile.

    Little Matcha was calmer. He allowed his Aunt Fei to kiss him on the cheek before settling in his car seat and yawning. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Chen Feiughed. "I can''t believe these two are brothers. Their personalities are too different from each other."

    "It''s because their parents'' personalities are alsopletely different from each other," Iris said.

    "True." Chen Fei nodded. "I just hope that Little Mochi doesn''t grow up into a spoiled brat like you, Xin. You''re fine now as an adult, but you were such a menace when you were younger. Jinjing suffered a lot because of you back then."

    Iris couldn''t reply. It wasn''t her who was a menace back then.

    The original Long Xin was undoubtedly not the easiest person to get along with. The original indeed bullied her half-sister and attempted to terrorize her half-brothers. She had a bit more respect for Long Hui, the first legitimate child. But for the other illegitimate siblings, the original Long Xinpletely disregarded them.

    Now, however, she had so much more sympathy andpassion toward the original Long Xin than when she first was reborn into this body. Especially after she became a mother, she gradually understood how the original Long Xin''s personality became warped.

    The original was so much like her eldest twin son. Little Mochi''s love for showing off and his clingy personality were exactly like the original Long Xin''s.

    Fortunately, Little Mochi''s parents weren''t the self-absorbed, vain mother like Wei Lan and the emotionally neglectful father like Long Tengfei.

    Iris and Jin Liwei were always doing their best to spend ample time with their children, to be present, and to guide them properly.

    "You don''t have to worry about my son," Jin Liwei said to Chen Fei, interrupting Iris'' thoughts. "My wife and I will make sure that Little Mochi will grow up into a responsible young man. And so will Little Matcha."

    Chen Fei cleared his throat, feeling a little embarrassed. "Don''t take my words the wrong way. You know I love your kids."

    Iris patted her shoulder. "We know."

    Chen Fei smiled, feeling relieved.

    Finally, the family temporarily said goodbye to Chen Fei and their Parisian residence.

    The huge gates opened. There was literally a motorcade carrying everyoneing to the family trip. Of course, the nannies and bodyguards had toe with them.

    Iris left a couple of bodyguards to protect Chen Fei, though, just in case the paparazzi mobbed her. The news about her engagement with the superstar Jin Chonglin was still very fresh. Every time she went outside, paparazzi would follow her around and snap photos of her. Having a couple of bodyguards should be enough to prevent anyone, especially the paparazzi from getting too close.

    As for Iris'' other entourage members who were tasked with helping her get ready for events, she temporarily granted them leave to do whatever they wanted. Most of them decided to stay in Paris and visit tourist spots and go shopping. When Iris and her family returned from their trip a few days from now, then her entourage would once again follow her to Germany and help her prepare for Orchidia''sunch.

    The motorcade wasn''t eye-catching when they reached the highway because the vehicles weren''t all the same. Each was a different brand, style, and colour. Once on the highway, they looked just like every other vehicle, albeit more luxurious than average.

    As usual, the vehicle carrying Iris and her family was in the middle with the other vehicles protecting them from all sides.

    The trip was quite long. They fell asleep several times, especially the babies, who got tired easily.

    The sun was already setting in the sky when they reached their destination.

    It was a huge chateau overlooking a small hill. A few butlers, several maidservants, and other household staff stood in two lines in front of the old yet well-maintained chateau.

    "Wee, Monsieur and Madame Jin," the head butler greeted them in French.

    "Thank you." Iris smiled while continuing to examine the chateau.

    Jin Liwei carried Little Mochi while Dom bent over to hold Little Matcha who insisted on walking by himself.

    Their nannies and bodyguards started unpacking everyone''s luggage.

    The head butler carried a mobile phone and brought it to Iris.

    "Hello, Madame Jin," the French magnate''s voice greeted her on the phone. "I heard that you''re going to visit the chateau for the first time, so I instructed the head butler and the rest of the staff to meticulously prepare for your arrival, and of course, wee you as their new employer. Their work contracts are included in the estate, but please feel free to decide whether to keep them or not. Most of them are locals and know the best spots to visit in the area. If you and Liam want to go somewhere, don''t hesitate to ask any of them. They''ll be more than happy to assist you. Also, this will be thest time that I''ll be giving them instructions before I hand them over to you."

    "Thank you, Monsieur," Iris said. "The chateau looks incredible from the outside. My family and I can''t wait to see what it''s like inside. As for the staff''s work contracts, my husband and I will decide what to do after seeing their work performance with our own eyes."

    "Of course, Madame. They also understand what to do. They''re all yours from now on and should all obey your orders."

    She made a sound of agreement. After saying a few more polite words, she handed the phone to her husband.

    Jin Liwei spoke to the French magnate. His tone wasn''t as polite as his wife''s, but it couldn''t be said that he was rude either. He just didn''t want to be friendly with the Frenchman, still holding a grudge against him.

    Despite this, being civil was still a must. The Frenchman had already started fulfilling his promise to help Libert¨¦ gain a firm foothold in France. Just for this, Jin Liwei was willing to give the Frenchman some face and not embarrass him all the time. As long as the Frenchman could give his wife''s perfumery some benefits, then he would be willing to return the favour someday.

    The power was in his wife''s hands, though. The French magnate also understood this.

    As an active Cross Academy student, Iris had the power to vet the French magnate''spany, help it pass the rigorous review next year, and hopefully, sessfully extend its membership in the academy''s exclusive businesswork.

    The husband and wife could feel the French magnate''s desperation, not only with his overly generous apology gifts but also in trying to help Libert¨¦ as much as he possibly could.

    Today, they decided to stay in the chateau that the French magnate gifted Iris as an apology. This was a chance to check it out, see it with their own eyes, determine whether it needed any renovations or changes in the staff, and also send a signal to the French magnate that they were receptive to his efforts.

    After the phone call, Iris and the others followed the head butler while some of their bodyguards scattered to secure the chateau''s outside perimeters.

    The inside was just as impressive as the outside.

    It was clear that the French magnate did a lot of renovations to modernize the chateau. There was electricity, plumbing, and instion.

    However, Iris wrinkled her nose upon seeing the interior decorations. She liked antiques, but if all the things inside the home were antique, it wouldn''t feel like a home anymore but a museum instead.

    "I''ll contact an interior designer," Jin Liwei said upon noticing her dislike of the decorations.

    "Yes, but let''s do that next time," Iris replied. "I want to enjoy our family trip and not worry about updating the chateau."

    "En. Up to you, love."

    "Yah yah yah!" Little Mochi couldn''t stop pointing here and there, curious about the entire ce.

    His brother, Little Matcha, was also very interested in the new ce. He kept on wanting to run here and there, struggling against his Uncle Dom''s hold.

    "Normally, I would let the babies run around but all of these decorations look like they''re centuries old, so I want to preserve them as much as possible," Iris said with a sigh. Then she addressed the nannies, "Please help keep an eye on my sons and not let them break anything."

    "Understood, Madam."

    "Please don''t worry, Madam. We''ll keep an eye on the twins."

    Iris gave them a smile of thanks. Then she spoke to the head butler in French. "Please move any important artifacts out of reach of the babies. My family and I are going to stay here for a few days. I want my babies to enjoy their time here, but I don''t want them breaking anything important when they run around."

    "Understood, Madame Jin."

    The head butler signalled his subordinate butlers and maidservants.

 Chapter 1555 Will It Ever End?

    Chapter 1555 Will It Ever End?

    The other butlers and maidservants immediately started moving some of the antique decorations out of reach, rearranging the room, and removing the more important artifacts to the storage.

    Iris watched these people operating like clockwork and nodded in approval. She sensed that they were trying to show her and her husband how reliable and excellent they were in executing their jobs.

    She kissed her twin sons. "Dom, please help settle the twins in the master suite. You and the nannies should also choose your bedrooms near us. Liwei and I must speak with the head butler first."

    "Got it, Boss!" Dom carried Little Matcha despite the baby''s insistence to walk by himself.

    Jin Liwei also kissed his sons and handed Little Mochi to one of the nannies. "Jin Haoyu, Jin Lingyu, behave. Mommy and Daddy will be back."

    "Dada?" Little Mochi immediately became anxious.

    Fortunately, Dom was there to help distract the twins while Iris and Jin Liwei sneaked away with the head butler. He soon made the twinsugh. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Iris listened to her sons'' adorable giggles while tiptoeing away with her husband. When they couldn''t hear their sons anymore, she released a sigh of relief.

    "Madame, Monsieur, shall I give you a quick tour of the most important areas of the chateau?" the head butler asked.

    "Yes, please." Then Iris whispered to her husband to ask, "Are you okay with the staff speaking in French?"

    "En. Don''t worry, love. I''ve also been taking some extra lessons to improve my rudimentary French. I''ll just ask if I don''t understand anything."

    She nodded. "Okay, good." Then she gestured for the head butler to continue.

    "Please follow me, Madame, Monsieur."

    The couple followed the head butler and listened to his exnations. They also asked him about the chateau''s situation¡ªeverything that the couple could think of. The head butler was calm when answering their questions and even added more information that they missed, impressing Iris and Jin Liwei.

    They couldn''t tour the entire chateau and the outside grounds due to the sheer number of rooms and the size of the entire property. There were more than a hundred rooms in the chateau. The chateau grounds also covered significant acres ofnd in the area, including a dense forest where people hunted, a beautifulke for recreational fishing, and even a neighbouring vige where actual local people lived.

    Afterwards, Iris excused the head butler so that she and her husband could discuss.

    "Then Madame, Monsieur, please ring the bell if you need me or any of the staff. Once again, on behalf of everyone here, we wee Madame and Monsieur Jin as our new mistress and master." The head butler bowed deeply before leaving.

    "He''s good," Jin Liwei couldn''t help butment.

    Iris nodded.

    He held her hand and they began walking together to enjoy the chateau''s interior by themselves.

    "There are hundreds of rooms in this chateau, we can''t possibly use all of them by ourselves even if we add everyone in our family including our friends," Iris said. "Dragon Pce is already too big for our family, that''s why I love inviting our friends to stay with us. This chateau is huge and reminds me a little of the Vetrov estate back then."

    Jin Liwei stopped and hugged her. "Does this chateau remind you of bad memories? Do you want me to dispose of this chateau?"

    She hugged his waist but still shook her head. "No, that''s not what I mean. I''m justparing their sizes."

    He released a sigh of relief. "So you like this chateau?"

    "Yes, of course. More than the chateau itself, I quite like the area. It''s so quiet and peaceful here. After we renovate and redecorate, I''d prefer to stay here than in our Parisian residence. Our sons can run around the chateau grounds. They can also go horseback riding when they grow old enough to learn."

    "En. Up to you, love." Seeing his wife liking this chateau so much, his grudge against the French magnate had considerably lessened.

    They continued walking hand-in-hand while discussing the specific situation of the chateau ording to what they heard from the head butler earlier.

    "I still need to see the ounts with my own eyes," Iris said.

    "Of course, love. I''ll tell the head butler to send the ountster to us. I also want to see how this chateau and the neighbouring vige are run and managed. From what I heard, the French magnate only stays here during autumn to host hunting parties with friends and business partners."

    "It seems that we''re now responsible for most of the neighbouring vige''s livelihood?" she asked.

    "En. Technically speaking, the entire vige is privately owned by the chateau master. Now that you''re the owner, the entire vige is technically yours. You''re basically just leasing thend and even the buildings to the local residents. I still don''t know the specific terms yet, but it should be something like that."

    "It really reminds me of the Vetrov estate," she murmured.

    He kissed her head,forting her. Even when she said that she was onlyparing this chateau and the Vetrov estate, he still wanted to be careful not to remind her of too many traumatizing memories.

    Seeming to sense his caution, she smiled at him. "I''m fine, darling. Really. I''m not that weak anymore."

    "You were never weak," he said. "You''re the strongest woman I know."

    She hugged him, burying her face against his chest, and inhaling his masculine scent. Even without any perfume, she loved smelling his natural manly scent. It always managed to reassure andfort her. And during intimate moments, it never failed to arouse her.

    This, however, wasn''t one of those sexy moments.

    Iris felt warm and content.

    Happy.

    Yes, she was happy.

    The life she had now was something she couldn''t even dare to have in her past life as Evelina Vetrova. But now, she was able to build a beautiful family with the love of her life, Jin Liwei.

    The constant dangers of her dark past as a member of the once most powerful and most infamous criminal family in the underworld seemed to fade away.

    But she knew that as long as her brother was intent on seeking revenge, their dark past would continue to loom over them.

    She wanted to bury her head in the sand and continue living this ideal, fairy tale life that she had built with Jin Liwei, but she knew that as long as her brother was involved, she would inevitably be drawn in as well.

    Sighing, she continued hugging her husband''s waist, trying to recharge her emotional and mental batteries.

    "What''s wrong, love?" Jin Liwei asked, sensing the change in her mood.

    "Just thinking about my dark past with my big brother. I feel like it will never end. Will it ever end?"

    He immediately understood. He moved her so that she was facing her and looking directly into his eyes.

    "Evelina, I just want you to always remember that I''m always here for you. No matter what happens in the future, our children and I will always be with you. You''re never going to be alone anymore. I won''t allow you to feel alone or lonely. The potential dangers will always be there. We can''t stop your brother. We already tried, but he has his own mind.

    "As a man, I understand why he won''t let it go, but as a husband and father, I wish that he would give it a rest and just focus on his family. But you know your brother, he has a stubborn streak just like you."

    She chuckled. "Well, he is my brother."

    "En. Indeed, he is. We can''t stop him. Even his wife can''t stop him. But the good thing is that you''ve done your best to increase his chances of safety and survival by having Bacon assist him. I know that Niki always tries to influence Bacon to fully join his side, but our Bacon will always remain loyal to you, his mother. Even I am only second fiddle to Baconpared to you."

    This time, herughter was fuller, echoing in the huge hallway. "Bacon also cares about you, darling. He''s just awkward in expressing his love. Remember that he alwayses to you for help whenever he needs to, er, you know¡­."

    "Whenever he needs help in extorting people," he finished her sentence.

    She cleared her throat. "You know his origins. It''s something even I can''t change."

    "I know. But you''re already amazing to be able to transform Ketchup''s corrupted part into something incredible. If you didn''t do what you did, not only would our Ketchup be corrupted beyond recognition, but we also wouldn''t have our Bacon today. Bacon''s origins might be dubious and dangerous but he has be one of the best protectors of our family, including your brother''s."

    "You''re right." She sighed. "I just worry a lot."

    "It''s normal to worry, love. Just don''t worry too needlessly and harm your health. You can always rely on me. I''m always here for you."

    She felt reassured by her husband''s words.

    They continued hugging for a few moments before walking again.

    "We won''t be staying here for the majority of the year," she said. "I think it''s such a waste to let such an enormous property sit here without enjoying it. Do you think we should rent it out? I know that some chateaus and manors rent out a portion of their properties for special events. Some even arrange for ticketed tours."

    Jin Liwei paused to think about it. "That''s possible. This is also considered a historical site, albeit a private one. If you''re willing, then we can do it."

 Chapter 1556 The Woman in a Floral Dress in Paris

    Chapter 1556 The Woman in a Floral Dress in Paris

    "Of course, I''m willing," Iris said.

    "Then I''ll make the arrangements," Jin Liwei replied. "You don''t need to worry about anything, love. Just focus on Orchidia''s nextunches and your uing album with Enrique" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Are you sure?" she asked.

    "En. I can handle it. No problem."

    After enjoying their stroll, the husband and wife found their way to the master bedroom. They found Dom and the nannies quietly chatting by the balcony while watching over the twins.

    Little Mochi and Little Matcha were now taking a nap on the huge bed. They were wearing theirfy pyjamas and hugging their stuffed toys.

    "Thanks for the hard work," Iris said to Dom and the nannies. "You should all take a rest, too. We''ll meetter for dinner when it''s ready."

    "Okay, Boss, Sir Boss!" Dom saluted before leaving the suite with the nannies.

    Iris leaned over the two babies and kissed their smooth, chubby cheeks.

    Little Matcha remained dead to the world.

    Little Mochi, on the other hand, was startled awake. He was about to wail when he saw that it was his mother. A big smile immediately appeared on his face.

    "Mama."

    "Hush, baby," Iris soothed him. "Go back to sleep. Mommy and Daddy are here."

    "Mama," Little Mochi whined.

    She smiled and began singing a Russian luby in a soft voice while patting her baby''s butt.

    Jin Liwei took this time to inspect the entire master suite. Their luggage had already been unpacked. His sons'' crib bed and toys had also been set and arranged in the bedroom.

    The interior design of the master suite was not bad. He just knew that it didn''t suit his wife''s tastes. Everything felt grand but there was still that odd sense that they were living in a museum instead of a cozy home.

    It reminded him a little of the way Dragon Pce Home #10 felt before his wife moved in to live with him. Although everything had already been modern at his home, theck of coziness and a sense of destion permeated every corner.

    It was only when Iris had moved in with him that his mansion began to liven up and feel like home. Even his staff became much more energetic and cheerful. His wife also always loved inviting their friends and loved ones to stay in their home, making the mansion livelier every single day.

    Now that they had children, their home became warmer and cozier. Jin Liwei found himself looking forward to the end of the workday anding home to his wife and kids.

    It was the best feeling in the world.

    This long vacation was something he had been looking forward to in order to apany his wife to several countries for herpanies''unches. He had to finish a lot of work tasks in a short period of time in advance so that he could go with his wife and their sons.

    There was no way that he would be left alone at home while his wife and their sons went flying in different countries. As a new mother, Iris also couldn''t leave her sons for long periods of time without breaking down. She needed to bring them with her. Hence, Jin Liwei chose to arrange his schedule to amodate Iris'' long business trips.

    So far, they were enjoying it.

    Spending quality with family was something that he and his wife had always prioritized no matter what.

    Back to the present, he finallypleted his room inspection. He found his wife trying to move Little Matcha from the adult bed to the customized baby crib bed.

    "Let me do it, love." Jin Liwei hurriedly took Little Matcha from her and ced his son on the crib bed.

    Next, he did the same thing for Little Mochi. He was more careful this time to avoid waking up this fussy baby.

    "Hmm, Mama." Little Mochi made a sucking sound and moved his hands.

    Jin Liwei froze.

    Iris also held her breath.

    When Little Mochi didn''t move, Jin Liwei slowly ced the baby beside Little Matcha.

    The couple both sighed in relief when Little Mochi remained fast asleep.

    Iris and Jin Liwei decided not to take a nap because it was almost time for dinner anyway. They continued chatting for a while, enjoying this moment of silence while watching their adorable babies sleeping.

    #

    At the same time in Paris, Ashandra Knightson''s art exhibition continued. The first night was especially reserved for Ashandra''s special guests including Iris Long and Jin Liwei.

    In the following days, however, the art exhibition was opened for public viewing. Most people who came were art connoisseurs, art students from nearby educational institutions, tourists who happened to buy tickets for the art exhibition, and loyal fans of Ashandra Knightson.

    Once again, Ashandra made another stir in the artmunity with her thought-provoking art pieces. Her "Generations" collection was beinguded by the media as the best and most valuable art collection of the year.

    A particr painting had be famous for its beautiful portrayal of motherhood. It was the painting of Iris Long and her children titled "Once a Mother, Forever a Mother."

    The Chinese media couldn''t stop featuring it.

    Ashandra, the curator, and the exhibition staff had to reject so many offers to buy therge painting.

    This time, it was the curator who had to field this kind of requests today. Ashandra already headed home for the day, but the art exhibition was still open for visitations. The curator and his staff were more than happy to work these extended hours because it was rare for their ce to host such a popr art exhibition.

    The curator looked at the time. He nned on grabbing a quick dinner before returning to work until closing at 10 PM. Just as he was about to tell his staff, an eye-catching woman entered the lobby.

    He stepped forward, smiled, and greeted in English. "Wee, Mademoiselle! Good evening."

    "Good evening," the woman greeted back.

    The woman wore a flowing floral dress that swayed in a mesmerizing way whenever she moved. She also wore an elegant hat with a veil, concealing her face.

    When the curator got closer to the woman, his eyes widened after seeing what she looked like behind the semi-transparent veil.

    He almost blurted out, "Madame Iris Long".

    It was a good thing that he was able to stop himself in time.

    But when he looked carefully, he noticed that the woman was not Iris Long at all.

    First of all, their voices werepletely different.

    Iris Long''s voice sounded as enchanting as she looked. Her speaking voice already sounded heavenly, but Ashandra Knightson would always tell him that Iris Long''s singing voice sounded like a goddess blessing mortals. Therefore, the curator searched for Iris Long''s songs. And boy was he hooked! He didn''t understand the lyrics one bit but it was enough to listen to her incredible singing voice.

    Iris Long was now one of his favourite singers of all time. He wished that she would sing in othernguages, including English and French so that he could understand.

    As for this woman in front of him, her voice sounded a little grating to the ears. But as a professional, he wouldn''t let it show on his face and still continued smiling to her.

    Second, their body types werepletely different.

    Iris Long had a beautiful, natural-looking hourss body. She was slender but still curvy in all the right ces. Her body proportion was also excellent with her legs looking longer than her upper body, giving her the illusion that she was taller than her actual height.

    As for the woman in front of her, he could tell from his years of observing different guests that the woman''s ample chest was due to a good stic surgeon. The size didn''t look proportionate to the rest of her body. Her hips and butt also looked like they might also be enhanced through stic surgery. Not that he had anything against stic surgery, but if this woman had changed herself in an attempt to look like Iris Long, then as a new ck Star, he couldn''t help but feel disgusted a little.

    And finally, their eyes were worlds apart.

    He couldn''t see the woman''s eyes clearly behind the veil, but from what he had seen, her eyes were a dead giveaway that she wasn''t Iris Long. There was noparison at all. He didn''t know if the woman also had eyelid surgery but regardless of whether she had it or not, just her eyes alone already snapped the illusion of her resemnce to Iris Long.

    For some reason, the woman''s eyes made him shiver.

    ''Did I catch a cold or something?''he wondered. ''Maybe I should schedule a doctor''s appointment soon. I''ve been working overtime these past few days for Mademoiselle Knighston''s art exhibition after all.''

    The woman in a floral dress had no idea about the curator''s thoughts. She looked around the art exhibition through her dark veil.

    There were still plenty of visitors despite thete hour.

    She started looking around and admiring Ashandra Knightson''s artworks just like the other visitors.

    The curator gave her a final look before informing his staff that he would take a dinner break before returningter. Then he left in a hurry to the nearest bistro.

    The woman in a floral dress took her time, stopping now and then in front of art pieces that caught her eye.

    Later, she reached the doors to the special wing. A docent greeted her.

    "May I enter inside?" she asked.

    "Of course, Mademoiselle. We just need to register you."

    "Why do I need to register?"

    "It''s a request from the artist, Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson. The art pieces in the special wing are the most valuable among the art pieces featured in this exhibition, so we need to be extra cautious. I hope you understand."

 Chapter 1557 Ivy Lau

    Chapter 1557 Ivy Lau

    The woman in a floral dress hesitated for a few seconds before fishing out her own custom metal pen from her handbag. Then she started writing on the provided registration form.

    When she was finished, the docent quickly checked thepleted form, smiled, and opened the door. "Wee, Mademoiselle Ivy Lau! Please enter and enjoy."

    Ivy Lau nodded before entering. She first paused right inside the door and looked around. The special wing was not that big. It also looked emptier than the other regr wings.

    However, the art pieces inside this ce were indeed more impressive. Their sizes were not onlyrger, but the feel of the art pieces themselves was very lifelike.

    There were only a couple of other guests in the special wing. One took his own sweet time admiring the incredible art pieces inside. The other was in the midst of writing on the bidding slip for the huge marble statue.

    Another docent appeared and greeted Ivy Lau. "Wee to the special wing, Mademoiselle! Please feel free to walk around and enjoy Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson''s wonderful art. Please note that the special wing has slightly different silent auction rules than the ones in the regr wings as requested by the artist."

    Ivy listened to the docent''s exnation.

    The additional rule for the special wing''s silent auction was to give Ashandra Knightson consent to borrow the artworks from the buyer within 24 months after the purchase date. This was because Ashandra might want to disy these special art pieces for her next exhibitions. Of course, the art pieces would be safely returned to the buyer after the agreed time.

    If she failed to fulfill her end of the agreement, then she would pay double the purchase price as a penalty. Simrly, if the buyer failed to fulfill the silent auction''s special rule, then they would void the purchase agreement and would need to return the art piece.

    So far, nobodyined about the special rule. This was because Ashandra Knightson had simr special rules before. Her fans were already aware of this tendency of hers.

    Most of the time, she wouldn''t even use this special rule in the first ce. There were only a handful of instances when she requested to borrow the purchased art pieces to disy in her other exhibitions before safely returning them to the original buyer.

    This time, however, might be different than usual.

    The docent exined, "Due to the poprity, several galleries from all over the world have expressed interest in disying Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson''s art pieces from this ''Generations'' special collection."

    Ivy was distracted by the huge painting across her. It was the only painting hanging on that wall, making it the most eye-catching art piece upon entering this wing.

    The docent noticed her interest. "Do you like that painting? Please follow me so that you can take a closer look at it."

    She followed the docent.

    The painting was bigger than she initially thought. She had to take a few steps back to fully view the entire thing at a close range.

    "This painting is called ''Once a Mother, Forever a Mother" and is the most popr art piece in this special collection," the docent said. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Ivy Lau looked around. "I want to bid for this painting but I don''t see the bidding box for it."

    "We apologize but this painting is not up for bidding. Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson has already gifted it to Madame Iris Long, her good friend. Madame Iris Long is the beautiful muse for this painting. Mademoiselle Knightson has mentioned before that Madame Iris Long is her biggest inspiration for this entire collection, ''Generations''. The other art pieces almost put her into depression, but she said that this particr painting was her saving grace, giving her so much joy while creating it."

    Ivy didn''t reply. She continued looking at the painting without saying anything.

    The docent didn''t mind. Each art enthusiast and connoisseur had different ways of enjoying art. Some wanted to know everything about the creation of the art piece while some just wanted to quietly enjoy it on their own. The docent figured that the woman in the floral dress was thetter type.

    "Ten million euros," Ivy said.

    "I beg your pardon?" the docent asked.

    "Tell the artist that I''m willing to pay ten million euros for this painting."

    The docent hesitated. "Uhm, please wait. Let me contact our manager."

    Ivy nodded. She watched as the docent walked to a corner and pressed on an earpiece, presumably contacting the gallery''s manager.

    About ten minutester, the curator appeared. He was the one who she met at the gallery''s lobby earlier.

    "Mademoiselle Ivy Lau?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    "I have spoken with the artist. Mademoiselle Knightson thanks you for your interest but unfortunately has to decline your offer. I don''t know if my staff has exined it to you yet, but this painting has already been reserved as a gift for the artist''s good friend. I hope you understand that this painting is not avable for bidding or purchase."

    "Fifteen million euros."

    The docent''s eyes widened. The curator, however, remained calm and continued to politely decline the woman''s offer.

    "Twenty million," Ivy Lau continued to say.

    The curator gave a signal behind him. A couple of burly security guards entered the special wing.

    This didn''t escape Ivy Lau''s eyes. She sighed with a sound of big regret. "I give up. It seems that this painting is not meant for me."

    The curator also released a mental sigh of relief. "We offer our deepest apologies. My staff and I can''t really do anything. Mademoiselle Knightson has the final say. In fact, you aren''t the first one to offer to buy this painting, but Mademoiselle Knightson rejected all their offers. We hope you understand."

    "I see." She didn''t say anything more but continued to admire the painting.

    The curator signalled for the docent to leave everything to him. The docent nodded and assisted the other guests instead. As for the curator, he stayed near the woman in a floral dress.

    He didn''t disturb her but kept an eye on her. The two security guards he called over earlier also stayed near the entrance.

    There was no immediate danger, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The artist, Ashandra Knightson, had repeatedly told him that in case of an emergency, he and his staff should prioritize saving the painting "Once a Mother, Forever a Mother" over any of the other art pieces. It was the most important art piece in this collection for her.

    Ivy Lau ignored the curator, treating him as if he didn''t exist. Nobody could see her expression behind her dark semi-transparent veil plus the dim lighting.

    Other than the curator who was able to see what she looked like earlier with the brighter lighting in the lobby, none of the others realized how much she resembled the woman featured in the huge painting in front of her.

    Her eyes examined everything in the painting when she noticed something. She pointed at a shadow in the corner of the painting. "That is¡­?"

    The curator put on a professional smile. "Good eye, Mademoiselle. There''s an interesting story behind that shadow. Mademoiselle Knightson originally only wanted to include the mother, children, and pets in the painting but felt that it''s notplete without the father. So in the end, she decided to include the shadow of Madame Iris Long''s husband instead. This way, the whole family is included without taking the focus away from the mother."

    "Very interesting, indeed," Ivy Lau murmured.

    A few more minutester, she finally turned her back on the painting. "It''s such a shame that I wasn''t able to buy this painting."

    "Once again, we apologize," the curator said. "But we do have other special art pieces here. All of them are avable for bidding in the silent auction."

    She swept her gaze on the other art pieces. Each was more incredible than the other, but she didn''t seem interested.

    "I think I''m going to check the other art pieces in the regr wings again," she said. "I might find something that I like."

    The curator nodded and smiled. After the woman in a floral dress left the special wing, he finally released a big sigh of relief. His stomach grumbled. He hadn''t finished eating his dinner yet when one of his staff called him earlier.

    The docent approached him. "She offered twenty million euros. Wow."

    "That''s nothing. You don''t know but several bigshots offered to buy this painting for a bigger amount of money. There was a French magnate who wanted to buy it for 50 million euros. Then a tech billionaire offered 100 million euros for it. Yesterday, there was also a woman who was supposedly a Middle Eastern princess¡ªI forgot where she''s from¡ªand she offered 150 million euros to buy the painting.

    "Mademoiselle Knightson had to personally step forward and exin to them that she''s not selling this painting and that she already gave it as a present to Madame Iris Long. It was only then that they graciously gave up."

    The docent was in awe and couldn''t help but admire the painting even more. "I didn''t expect that this painting would fetch that kind of price. Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson is truly a living legend in the art world."

    The curator patted the docent''s shoulder while shaking his head. "It''s not the artist or the painting alone that contributed to its value. The muse''s identity should also be a huge factor."

    "Isn''t Madame Iris Long just a Chinese singer and billionaire''s wife?"

 Chapter 1558 Why is it You Again?

    Chapter 1558 Why is it You Again?

    The curator clicked his tongue after hearing what the docent said. "Do you think someone like Mademoiselle Ashandra Knightson would be close friends with just anybody? There have been so many people who tried to be close to her over the years but all of them failed. She''s well-known in the art world for being distant. Those who can be close friends with her must be special people."

    "Madame Iris Long is a celebrity and a billionaire''s wife," the docent said. "People would be mouring to be friends with someone like her. I know I would if I were in Mademoiselle Knightson''s shoes."

    The curator red at him. "Don''t liken yourself to Mademoiselle Knightson! Do you think that you canpare yourself with someone like her? Say that when you''ve reached her level."

    The docent rubbed his nose, his smile a little sheepish. "I wasn''tparing myself with her. I know that she''s already a living legend in the art world. I''m just saying that if someone is presented with the option of bing friends with a celebrity and a billionaire''s wife, they''ll immediately grab the opportunity."

    The curator sighed and shook his head. "Didn''t you hear what I said? About those who tried to get closer to Mademoiselle Knightson but failed? You think that I''m talking about your average Joe or Jane? Of course not! Most of them are powerful wealthy people¡ªmultimillionaires and even billionaires. If Mademoiselle Knightson could reject them, it means that she''s not easily swayed by wealth and connections alone. Well, she earned that kind of choice for being a genius artist celebrated by the art world."

    The docent pondered his words before nodding. "If what you say is true, then maybe Madame Iris Long is indeed special. I wonder how they became friends. Did they meet through Madame Iris Long''s husband?"

    "I don''t think so." The curator shook his head. "You weren''t here during the opening night of the art exhibition. Madame Iris Long and her husband attended. Mademoiselle Knightson was extremely busy but she still did her best to personally wee them. I also noticed that while Mademoiselle Knightson is very close to Madame Iris Long, she''s rather distant to CEO Jin."

    "CEO Jin? Is that Madame Iris Long''s husband?"

    The curator nodded. "Yes. I did my research for the opening night and learned that CEO Jin is currently the most powerful businessman in their country."

    "Wow. How nice. Then Madame Iris Long really lucked out. From being a celebrity, she instantly became a rich woman by marrying a billionaire."

    The curator red at him. As a new ck Star, he almost wanted to grab a slipper and whack this stupid docent into oblivion. "You make it sound as if Madame Iris Long is a social climbing, gold digger! For your information, she was already a wealthy heiress even before marrying her husband! I don''t know much about her father, but he''s apparently a wealthy CEO of his ownpany as well."

    "Really?" The docent was amazed, unaware that he just evaded the possibility of his boss almost whacking him with a slipper. "The lives of the rich and powerful are something we could only dream of."

    This time, the curator could only join him in sighing. "Well, there''s no use in being envious of their lives. We''re already lucky to be able to have jobs. Let''s focus on working hard to earn money to pay our bills."

    The docent nodded. "Don''t worry, sir. I''ll do my job well."

    The curator gave him a side-eye. "You better do what you say. I also hope that you won''t be so judgmental next time and make quick assumptions about people. Here''s some advice from someone who has been working in this field for many years."

    The docent leaned a little forward, ready to learn something new.

    "Those of us who work in the art world already know that the biggest clients are the rich and the powerful," the curator said. "They''re the ones who can afford to buy the most valuable art."

    The docent nodded, knowing that it was true.

    "But judging who is the real wealthy and powerful based on appearance alone is not smart. I''ve been working as a curator for many years now and my instincts are quite sharp. I''ve met so many people from the top elite, and I can more or less judge those who are the real deal. And Madame Iris Long? She''s a real deal. I think even without her husband, she can stand on her own without any issues."

    The docent looked a little skeptical but he still remained quiet. After all, the curator was still his boss. It wasn''t smart to continue contradicting him.

    The curator knew that the docent didn''tpletely believe him. "The woman in a floral dress who offered to buy this painting just now? She might look like a wealthydy but there''s something odd about her."

    "Yeah, she''s very odd. There''s something very unnatural about her. Like a ghost."

    The curator nodded. This docent also had good instincts.

    Neither of them mentioned the woman in a floral dress hiding her face behind a veil because Paris was known for its fashion. There were many people, especially foreigners invited to attend fashion shows, who would dress in over-the-top clothes all the time. The outfit of the woman in a floral dress with her veil and all wasn''t that out of ce in this city.

    What they were talking about was her aura.

    The docent continued, "Also, she only offered 20 million euros for the painting. I was already so impressed until you told me that other people offered more money."

    "Speaking of those other people," the curator said. "I think that they''re all acquainted with Madame Iris Long. I listened to their conversation with Mademoiselle Knightson when she personally had to apologize and exin to them that the painting wasn''t avable for sale. They mostly talked about Madame Iris Long. This is also why I warned you not to look down on Madame Iris Long. Her own personal connections are just too impressive."

    They were about to continue chatting when another group entered the special wing. The curator and docent stopped chatting and weed the new arrivals.

    Outside the art exhibition, Ivy Lau looked at the gallery before climbing into a waiting car. The car immediately drove away. There was another man in the front passenger seat beside the driver.

    "The boss is on the phone," he said.

    Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly calmed herself. She took the phone and answered it.

    "Ah, my dear," a man''s deep, mesmerizing voice spoke.

    She shivered. She wasn''t sure if it was from fear or from the anticipated pleasure of what he was going to do with her on the bed once he returned to her side.

    "I heard that you''ve been very naughtytely," he said. "You begged me to grant you permission to go to Paris because you wanted to go shopping. I did. But look at what you did. You''re bing too impatient and unruly."

    "I didn''t meet up with any of them." She tried to defend herself.

    The man chuckled. His voice was too sexy.

    She started to miss him but also dreaded his return at the same time.

    "I heard you registered yourself to enter a special area in the art exhibition? How can you leave a trace like that?" His voice sounded so gentle, yet there was an unmistakable edge of danger in his tone.

    She remained silent.

    "I''ll take that as a yes." He sighed. "I already did so many things for your sake, but here you are, still so hung up on your past."

    Her heart began thudding inside her chest.

    "You''re making it more difficult for me to justify to others why I''m keeping you."

    It began harder for her to breathe with the wild galloping of her heartbeat. "I promise I''ll be good. I won''t disobey you anymore."

    He chuckled. "I''ll be a rich man if I had a dor by how many times you''ve said that to me. Oh, wait. I am already a rich man! Yes, that''s right. I''m rich and powerful. And I don''t need someone like you."

    Her breath caught in her throat. "I''m really sorry. I won''t do it again. I promise."

    "Yes, I don''t need you, but I still like having you around," he said. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    She released a shaky breath of relief.

    "Go and be done with your shopping," he told her. "Don''t meet up with any unnecessary people or I''ll make you regret it. You understand me, don''t you?"

    "Y-yes. Of course."

    The man''s voice sighed again. "I also have to clean up the mess you made there. What a waste of precious resources. I''ll be criticized again by my younger brother¡ªthat self-righteous fool."

    After the phone call, Ivy Lau sat in the backseat in silence. She tossed the phone to the floor, not caring about the disdainful looks of the driver and the other man at the front. Then she fished out her own phone from her handbag.

    She viewed a few photos she had taken from the art exhibition on her phone. It showed the painting "Once a Mother, Forever a Mother".

    Her eyes narrowed as she examined the beautiful depiction of Iris Long in the painting. She removed her hat with a veil and exposed her own face that resembled the woman in the painting.

    "It''s you again," she murmured while caressing the face of Iris Long in the photo. "Why is it you again?"

    Her eyes became a little dazed. The phone fell from her hands.

    Then she started humming the song "Phantom of Your Love".

    Her tone-deaf humming made the driver and the other man grimace. Unfortunately, they could only endure.

 Chapter 1559 I Want to be Cool

    Chapter 1559 I Want to be Cool

    The next morning at the chateau, Iris and her family woke up early. They had a quick bite before heading to what was once the ballroom. Dom set up a Bluetooth speaker. Soon, his Zumba ylist started booming in the antique ballroom.

    Iris and Dom started dancing, their steps in sync. Their bodies moved to the beat of the music. Even the nannies had changed into workout clothes and were following the two.

    Jin Liwei sighed before following the dance steps while his expression remained cold and indifferent. Despite the look on his face, his body was actually quite flexible. His movements were smooth and pleasant to watch.

    "Yah yah yah!" The excited Little Mochi pped his hands before following his mommy and Uncle Dom. He shook his little body like an itchy worm.

    When everyone else cheered for him, he danced harder, looking like a possessed doll. He loved all the attention. He wished that he could dance with his family like this all the time.

    This was the best day ever!

    Little Mochi nced at his twin brother. "Cha cha, yah!" (Matcha, join us!)

    Little Matcha pursed his adorable mouth. He also watched his daddy dancing with everyone else. How could his powerful daddy lose his principles just like that?

    The baby crossed his little arms over his chest and shook his head, refusing to do something so embarrassing. But then his mommy smiled at him.

    "Come, Little Matcha. Dance with Mommy!"

    Little Matcha beamed and toddled over to his mommy. Then he began shaking his body as well.

    "Yah yah, Cha cha! Yah!" (Like this, Matcha! Like this!) Little Mochi shook his body harder, looking like a deranged monkey. He wanted to show his twin brother how to do it.

    Everyoneughed.

    The babies tired easily, so Jin Liwei used this chance to withdraw from the Zumba session.

    "Let us take care of the young masters," the nannies offered.

    Jin Liwei declined. "Continue working out with the madam. I''ll watch over the kids."

    The nannies obeyed.

    The father and sons didn''t go too far away. They stayed at the other side of therge ballroom. A bodyguardid down three exercise mats for them while another brought water. Jin Liwei took two sippy cups and handed them to his sons before drinking from his own water bottle.

    Then he began a series of bodyweight exercises.

    Little Mochi continued drinking from his sippy cup while Little Matcha immediately put down his on the floor.

    Then Little Matcha moved to an empty exercise mat and began imitating his daddy doing push-ups. Of course, he couldn''t do it yet. The baby looked like he was squatting on the floor with his head moving up and down.

    Little Mochiughed at his twin brother. He also put down his sippy cup on the floor before toddling over to his daddy''s. Then he climbed on his daddy''s back, squealing in delight as he moved up and down.

    Eventually, Little Matcha was also tempted. He abandoned exercising on his own and joined his twin brother in riding their daddy.

    A bodyguard immediately stepped forward to make sure that the babies didn''t fall off their father''s back.

    Jin Liwei didn''t disappoint his sons. He carefully executed push-ups, causing Little Mochi and Little Matcha to admire their daddy even more. Their daddy was so strong! Like a superhero!

    For them, he was the most amazing daddy in the whole wide world. They could ride on his back and go high into the sky. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    So much fun!

    At the other side of the ballroom, Iris watched the father and sons working out together. Sheughed while not missing a dance step. Beside her, Dom was in his element. He shook his booty like no other''s business.

    Everyone had fun working out together.

    They went to their own bedrooms to shower and change their clothes before heading to eat a proper breakfast together.

    Little Matcha was well-behaved and ate without making too much of a mess. He also knew how to call out to his parents to wipe his face and hands if he found them too dirty for his own liking.

    In contrast, his elder twin brother, Little Mochi, was almost covered with food from head to toe. He enjoyed ying with his own food to the exasperation of his parents.

    Iris was already used to Little Mochi''s messiness. She calmly wiped the baby and continued feeding him in an almost never-ending cycle. Jin Liwei, on the other hand, couldn''t bear to see this anymore.

    "Jin Haoyu, behave," he scolded.

    Little Mochi paused for a couple of seconds, but seeing his mommy, his courage grew. He continued ying with his food.

    Jin Liwei''s expression grew darker by the second.

    Little Mochi didn''t care.

    This time, Iris also had enough. She was about to lecture her son when a goo of food flew and sttered on Little Matcha''s forehead. It dripped down on his eyes and nose. Little Matcha froze.

    Then all hell broke loose.

    The little guy shrieked and threw his te and sippy cup from fury. His elder twin brother, Little Mochi, was startled.

    Upon seeing his younger brother throwing a tantrum, Little Mochi quailed and finally behaved.

    Jin Liwei sighed, stood up, and immediately carried his younger twin son away. Iris also wanted to hold her son, but Jin Liwei wouldn''t allow her. Little Matcha was thrashing in his arms, punching everywhere. Jin Liwei didn''t want to risk his wife being hurt by their son this way.

    Iris had no choice but to let her husband calm their youngest twin son by himself. In the meantime, she wiped her other messy son.

    Little Mochi''s eyes teared up. His lips trembled. He gazed up at her in a pitiful way.

    Iris'' heart was about to melt but she forced herself to act tough.

    "What you did was not right, Little Mochi. When your brother calms down, you need to apologize. Okay?"

    "Mama," the baby whined.

    "You have to apologize to your brother for sshing food on his face."

    Little Mochi pouted but still nodded.

    Iris sighed in relief. At the same time, she felt amazed that her son could understand her. Did babies this age understand the concept of an apology?

    She had no time to ponder too much about this question because Dom interjected.

    "Little Mochi, you also need to say sorry to your mommy and daddy," Dom said. "If you''re a bad boy, Santa us won''t give you presents on Christmas! Oh no! How sad it would be if Little Mochi received no Christmas presents from Santa us? So you have to be good!"

    Little Mochi blinked a few times, looking confused. It was clear that he didn''t understand what his Uncle Dom meant.

    Iris smiled. It seemed that her baby couldn''t understand everything yet. This should be normal. For some reason, she felt relieved. She didn''t want her babies to grow up too fast. It would be great if her babies stayed as babies for longer.

    Dom continued, "So how about saying sorry to your mommy now?"

    Little Mochi looked at Iris with his innocent eyes.

    "Yah, Mama." (Sorry, Mommy.) Then he hugged his mommy''s neck.

    Iris'' heartpletely melted and patted her baby''s back. "I forgive you, Little Mochi. Don''t be too naughty next time."

    Jin Liwei also returned with a hupping Little Matcha. Fortunately, Little Matcha had also calmed down now, but his tear-stained face looked quite pitiful.

    Iris handed Little Mochi to Dom while she took her other son from her husband. "No more hups, Little Matcha. You''ll be fine."

    She also took a new sippy cup and made her son drink water.

    Perhaps Little Matcha feltforted in the arms of his mommy. He really did stop hupping.

    Dom once again encouraged Little Mochi. "What are you going to say to your brother?"

    Little Mochi pouted again but still reached over to his twin brother.

    "Yah, Cha cha." (Sorry, Matcha!)

    In a lower tone, Little Matcha babbled back, "Uh, Chi chi. Uh guh." (Okay, Mochi. Everything''s good now.)

    "Yah yah! Yah!" (Yay! Thanks, bro!)

    "Uh uh, buh. Uh nuh uh." (No worries, bro. Just don''t do it again.)

    "Yah!" (Okay!)

    Iris and the others had no idea what the babies'' babbling meant, but it seemed that the twins understood each other. In no time, the twin brothers were back to smiling at each other like nothing happened.

    Dom, however, wasn''t finished yet. "Little Mochi, don''t forget to say sorry to your daddy, as well."

    Little Mochi''s eyes teared up again, looking pitiful. He blinked his eyes, using his cuteness to soften his daddy''s heart. It didn''t seem to work.

    "Yah, Dada." (Sorry, Daddy.)

    Jin Liwei sighed and rubbed his eldest twin son''s head. "Don''t y with your food next time, Jin Haoyu. It''s bad manners. People won''t like you anymore if you continue doing that."

    "Yah?!" (Really?!) Little Mochi looked horrified.

    "En. People will be disgusted with you if you continue ying with food and making a mess like that. So don''t do it again and behave. Then people will like you and praise you for being a cool boy."

    "Yah yah, Dada!" (I want to be cool, Daddy!)

    Of course, Jin Liwei didn''t understand what his son was babbling about. He pretended to understand and nodded. "You''ll only be cool if you behave."

    "Yah!" (Okay!)

    Iris chuckled, feeling amused. She was sure that her husband and son were just pretending to understand each other. A tug on her sleeve interrupted her thoughts.

    "Mama, uh huh." (Mommy, I''m still hungry.) Little Matcha pointed at the remaining food on the table.

    This babble, Iris could understand, especially with her son''s clear pointing with his finger. "Okay, sweetheart. Mommy will feed you."

 Chapter 1560 Missing Persons

    Chapter 1560 Missing Persons

    Before Iris could feed Little Matcha again, Jin Liwei patted his son''s head and said, "Jin Lingyu, you need to apologize for throwing food on the floor. It''s very disrespectful. You also need to control your temper and notsh out like that all the time."

    The baby looked at his daddy, not quite understanding everything he said. Next, he nced at his mommy who gave him an encouraging smile. Then he looked at the nannies cleaning the floor and somewhat understood what his daddy meant.

    Little Matcha pouted but still babbled in a low tone, "Uh uh. Nuh uh uh." (Sorry. I won''t throw food on the floor again.)

    Although the adults didn''t understand what he babbled, they liked to believe that Little Matcha had indeed apologized.

    The nannies loved the twins dearly. They looked proud whenever the twins did something praiseworthy. They appreciated that their employers, Iris Long and Jin Liwei, never made them feel inferior. The nannies were treated like the twins'' aunts, like family.

    They not only enjoyed big sries and amazing benefitspared to nannies who worked in other wealthy households, but they also felt their dignity as human beings was respected. In return for their employers'' excellent treatment of them, they also treated the twins and the Jin family like their own.

    "What a good baby! Knowing how to apologize already. Little Matcha is such a gentleman!"

    "Little Mochi knows how to say sorry, too! Such a good baby! What a cute baby!"

    "The young masters are the best babies in the world!"

    "The young masters are the cutest in the world!"

    The nannies kept throwing rainbow farts, causing Little Mochi to beam and giggle in delight. The baby loved all the attention.

    "Yah yah yah!" He pped his hands, trying to encourage the nannies to continue praising him and his twin brother.

    Little Matcha also smiled a little but his reaction was a bit more subduedpared to his elder twin brother. When his mommy began feeding him again, he automatically opened his mouth and didn''t pay attention to the nannies anymore. There was nothing more important right now than focusing on Mommy. Food always tasted better whenever his mommy was the one feeding him and his twin brother.

    Breakfast finished more smoothly after the twins behaved well.

    Jin Liwei nodded in approval.

    As expected of his sons, they were smart and listened well. Hopefully, they would continue to remain receptive to his lectures after growing up.

    Jin Liwei watched as the twins moured for their mother''s attention.

    Iris was a great mother. Her only fault was that she was too soft when it came to disciplining their children. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    So it was up to him, the father, to be the disciplinarian. That had always been their parental role arrangement. He was more than willing to y the bad cop to his wife''s good cop when it came to raising their children.

    Before everyone could leave the dining area, Dom received a phone notification. His expression changed.

    Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t think much of it and continued chatting with each other while the nannies herded the twins, encouraging the babies to walk by themselves.

    The husband and wife were discussing their ns for the day when Dom called for their attention.

    "Boss!" Dom waved his phone, his expression looked worried.

    "What''s wrong?" Iris asked, finally noticing that something wasn''t right with Dom. She took the phone from him.

    It was a text message from Ketchup. It said:

    "Gasp! Something super-duper to the highest level bad happened at Auntie Asha''s art exhibitionst night! The cute and mighty Ketchup has already gathered the basic details from the French police reports. Uncle Dom, please tell Mommy and Daddy! Meow~"

    Iris'' eyes widened. Then she frowned.

    Jin Liwei leaned over and nced at the message, frowning as well.

    "Watch over the twins," he instructed the nannies. "The madam and I need to do something first."

    The nannies obeyed. Fortunately, this time, the twins didn''t make a fuss about being separated from their parents.

    Little Mochi was still enjoying the nanny''s praises of him and his brother. The nannies also indulged them, continuing to throw rainbow farts at the twins. Little Matcha looked uninterested while Little Mochi loved every single one of the praises.

    The nannies distracted the twins and brought them to explore the chateau grounds and absorb some sunshine.

    Iris, Jin Liwei, and Dom moved to the nearest seating room to speak with Ketchup.

    Dom propped his phone on a table. A pure-white cat appeared on the screen and greeted them.

    "Ketchup, tell us what happened," Jin Liwei said.

    "Okey-dokey, Daddy! This morning, the staff at Auntie Asha''s art exhibition got worried when the curator and a docent failed to report for work. They called the two men''s phones but nobody answered. They also called the two men''s emergency contacts but their family members said that the two never went homest night. Nobody was worried about the two men at first because most of the people thought that they had just gone out drinkingst night and might have checked in at the inns to nurse their hangovers.

    "Auntie Asha, however, didn''t want to wait and immediately took the initiative to report the curator and docent as missing persons to the French police. Isn''t Auntie Asha so kind? The cute and mighty Ketchup likes her so much! Auntie Asha is also super-duper to the highest level beautiful! But of course, Mommy is still the number one most beautiful in the whole wide world! Isn''t Ketchup right, Daddy? Meow~"

    "Then what happened next?" Iris asked, automatically filtering out Ketchup''s praises about her and Ashandra. She needed Ketchup to focus on the most important thing which was to tell them what exactly happenedst night.

    Anything rted to her friends, Iris would always feel concerned. She worried that this incident might negatively affect Ashandra Knightson''s art exhibition.

    Ketchup licked her paw as she continued, "The police were also reluctant to investigate right away because they didn''t consider the two men as people belonging to what they consider vulnerable groups. They said that the two men were able-bodied adults who had all the mental capacities to make their own decisions. The police suggested that they wait 24 hours beforeunching a search. But the awesome Auntie Asha didn''t want to wait!

    "Auntie Asha contacted Great-Grandpa Lu to help her pressure the police. Great-Grandpa Lu asked a few of his old French friends for assistance and they delivered. The French police finally took the case seriously. As a result, Auntie Asha was right to be worried because the police soon found the two men in tragic states. Meow~"

    Iris braced herself but still asked, "Tragic states?"

    "The curator has been beaten almost to death. He''s currently in the hospital ICU fighting for his life."

    "So he''s still alive?" Iris asked.

    "Yes, Mommy! The curator is still alive. But poor guy! He''satose! His family is crying over there in the hospital right now. Meow~"

    "As long as he''s still alive." Iris felt a little relieved.

    The curator''s condition sounded dire, but as long as the man was still alive, then there was hope. Iris had met the curator during the opening night of Ashandra Knightson''s art exhibition. She wasn''t close to the man, but she still felt sorry to hear about what happened to him.

    "What about the docent?" Jin Liwei asked next. "What happened to him? Is he also in the hospital?"

    "No, Daddy! The docent is dead! His body is being prepared for autopsy. Meow~"

    Iris'' heart sank. "He died?"

    Dom gasped.

    "Yes, Mommy! The poor guy suffered multiple injuries. He was already dead when the rescuers arrived. They attempted to revive him but failed. The cute and mighty Ketchup feels so bad! Auntie Asha also feels so bad. She offered to cover the funeral costs."

    Iris stood up. "I need to call Ashandra. Ketchup, please call your Auntie Ashandra for me."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! Calling Auntie Asha in 3¡­2¡­1! Meow~"

    The phone started ringing. It rang for a long time but nobody answered.

    "Auntie Asha didn''t answer, Mommy! Wait, let the cute and mighty Ketchup check what she''s doing right now. Meow~"

    Ketchup didn''t wait for her parents'' instructions and made a decision on her own. Neither Iris nor Jin Liwei stopped her. They also wanted to know more details about this tragedy.

    "Auntie Asha is currently at the police station. The police are taking her official statement as the one who formally reported the curator and the docent as missing persons. Should the cute and mighty Ketchup try calling Auntie Asha again? Meow~"

    "No, Ketchup," Iris said. "Wait until your Auntie Ashandra leaves the police station."

    About ten minutester, Ketchup was able to sessfully connect her parents to Ashandra Knightson.

    "I heard about what happened, Ashandra," Iris said. "How are you?"

    Ashandra sighed. "Did Sir Lu tell you?"

    Iris neither confirmed nor denied it.

    Ashandra continued with the assumption that it must have been Grandpa Lu who told Iris about what happened. "I asked Sir Lu for help. I only wanted to make sure that everyone working at my art exhibition is okay. I never expected that something like this would happen!"

    "What did the police say?" Iris asked. "Did they find the suspects?"

    "Not yet. But they think that this is a case of a hate crime."

    Iris'' brows furrowed. "Hate crime?"

    "That''s what they think. It seems that there''s a group attacking people walking at night recently here in Paris, especially in the alleys. A few have already been arrested. They imed that they did what they did because they hated the immigrants for taking away jobs and the rich for exploiting others to build their wealth."

 Chapter 1561 The Life She Chose For Herself

    Chapter 1561 The Life She Chose For Herself

    Iris'' frown deepened. "Do you believe that?"

    "I think it''s a load of bullsh*t," Ashandra Knightson said, unable to hide her anger. "My curator and docent aren''t even rich nor are they immigrants. They''re French locals. They don''t belong to the target profiles of those criminals. But the police say that maybe this is also a case of mistaken identities, that the criminals wrongfully identified them as targets and attacked them. Or worse, that the criminals still went ahead and attacked the two despite knowing that they didn''t fit their usual target profiles."

    "I''m so sorry about what happened, Ashandra," Iris could only say.

    "We''re all sorry," Ashandra replied. "I feel sorry for the victims'' families. I also feel partly responsible."

    "Why?" Iris didn''t like to hear that her friend was ming herself. "This isn''t something that you can control. It''s those criminals who are 100% responsible for their crimes, not you. In fact, I think that their families should thank you for raising the rm so early. I heard that they hadn''t even felt concerned yet but you insisted on escting the matter to the police. If not for you, two lives might have been lost. There''s still hope that the curator would survive."

    Ashandra sighed. "I understand what you''re saying, but I can''t help feeling a little guilty. It''s because of my art exhibition that the gallery decided to extend its hourste into the evening. If not for it, then maybe my curator and docent wouldn''t have to walk in the streets sote at night."

    "It''s not your fault that your art exhibition is so popr, Ashandra. Please stop ming yourself. Nobody wants this terrible incident to happen

    ," Iris continued trying to console her friend.

    "Thank you, Xin," Ashandra said. "I feel bad that this has to happen when you''re on vacation with your family. I originally didn''t n on telling you about it because I didn''t want to disturb you, but I guess Sir Lu couldn''t help but tell you all about it."

    Once again, Iris didn''t correct her friend. Ashandra Knightson might begin thinking that the old man couldn''t keep his mouth shut from here on. Iris mentally apologized to Grandpa Lu for taking the me.

    "I''ll return to Paris to be with you," Iris said all of a sudden.

    She nced at her husband. Jin Liwei nodded, fully supporting her decision. She sighed in relief and smiled at him, her expression filled with gratitude.

    "No, Xin. Please don''t cut your family trip short because of my own problem. I''m already cooperating with the French police. Sir Lu has also promised to ask his friends to continue pressuring the police so that the investigations will not stall. There''s nothing you and I could do to help except in trying to provide emotionalfort and financial support to the victims'' families. Let the police do their jobs. And hopefully, they''ll be able to catch the real suspects soon."

    Iris didn''t reply right away. She pondered about whether to go with her decision to cut her family trip short and return to Paris or to follow Ashandra''s wish and stay here with her family.

    Jin Liwei took her hand and kissed it. Even without saying anything, she understood what his actions meant. Whatever she decided, he would follow and support her.

    Ashandra continued, "It''s better to spend more time with your family, especially with your babies. I know that your husband has been looking forward to spending quality time with you. I don''t want to take that precious time away from you, Xin.

    "Besides, I''ve already decided to end my art exhibition here in Paris earlier than nned. I just can''t find it in me to continue while all this is happening. Worse, the media is having a field day. They''ve already surrounded the gallery. Even if I have nothing to do with what happened, I know that the media will spin false narratives just to make sensational headlines."

    As a celebrity, Iris knew about this firsthand. "I''ll send some bodyguards for you. Please don''t reject me this time, Ashandra. I don''t want any reporters or paparazzi harrassing you because of something that you obviously didn''t do. Liwei made sure to bring many bodyguards for our family. We can spare a few for my friends'' protection. Chen Fei also got two bodyguards after her engagement with my brother-inw."

    "Alright, Xin. I won''t reject your offer, then. Thank you very much. I feel exhausted."

    "Anyone would be exhausted if something like that happened," Irisforted her. "I won''t disturb you any longer, then. I know that you must be busy dealing with the aftermath of what happened. Just let me know if you need any help."

    "Okay, Xin. Thanks again. Please kiss Mochi and Matcha for me."

    "Will do." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The friends bid each other goodbye.

    After the phone call, Iris still felt worried about her friend. However, she also understood why Ashandra didn''t want her toe.

    First, the victims weren''t directly rted to them.

    Second, the media was already feasting on Ashandra Knightson''s connection to the tragic incident. If Iris Long stepped in and involved herself, then the media would definitely weave more oundish false narratives.

    This was the kind of publicity that Iris didn''t need especially with the uingunch of Orchidia''s foreign bases.

    Anything involving deadly crimes and the police was something that Iris wanted to avoid if possible.

    "So are we returning to Paris?" Dom asked, interrupting Iris'' thoughts.

    Jin Liwei also looked at her, waiting for her final decision.

    She sighed. "Ashandra is right. We won''t be of any help if we all return there. It''s better to stay out of Paris while the investigations are heating up there. Ketchup."

    "Yes, Mommy? Meow~"

    "Please help investigate. We''ll respect your Auntie Ashandra''s wish and stay out of it, but it doesn''t hurt to secretly help the progress of the investigations."

    "Aye aye, Mommy! The cute and mighty Ketchup will help investigate. Meow~"

    "I think we should also ask Bacon''s help," Jin Liwei suggested. "He should have more resources to investigate deadly crimes like this."

    Iris nodded. "Ketchup, please call your younger brother, Bacon."

    "Okey do¡ªoh, you''re here?! So fast?! Meowowow!"

    "Greetings, Mother, Father, and Uncle Dominic." A pure ck cat with golden eyes appeared beside Ketchup.

    "How about the cute and mighty Ketchup? Why didn''t Bacon greet your super-duper to the highest level adorable big sister?! Bacon, you big meanie! Meow!"

    Bacon ignored his yapping sister. His fluffy tail swayed behind him. "Mother, do you need something?"

    Iris shared a quick summary of what happened to her cat AI son. "Please assist in the investigations, Bacon. Your Auntie Ashandra must be stressing out right now."

    "Understood, Mother. Bacon will do my best to find something to help the progress of the investigations."

    "Don''t forget Ketchup! The cute and mighty Ketchup will also do my super-duper to the highest level best! Meow~"

    Iris felt more reassured with her cat AI children''s involvement.

    Jin Liwei then took over and gave important reminders to both Ketchup and Bacon to always be careful and to prioritize their safety in avoiding detection.

    After the two AI cats left to start their own investigations, Iris released a heavy sigh.

    "Let''s help out the victims'' families," she said.

    "En, I''ll take care of it," Jin Liwei replied.

    Dom stood up. "Boss, sir boss, please excuse me. I want to call Sis Fei and ask her if she knew what happened at Ashandra''s art exhibition."

    Iris nodded. "Okay, go ahead."

    Dom left the husband and wife alone in the sitting room.

    Jin Liwei pulled her into his embrace. "Don''t think too much about it. I know that you''re worried about Ashandra and also sympathize with the victims, but I don''t want you stressing because of them."

    "I know." She rested her head on his chest and inhaled his masculine scent, drawing warmfort from him. "I just hope that the attackers get arrested soon."

    "En."

    ###

    Ivy Lau clicked her seatbelt into ce. The business ss cabin in thismercial flight was full. She nced at the other seats from the corner of her eyes and saw her "bodyguards" in strategic locations. They were disguised and looked like other regr passengers.

    She knew that although they were technically her "bodyguards", they were more like her jailors. They were tasked with keeping an eye on her and reporting all her actions to her lover.

    The ne took off.

    Once the flight stabilized in the sky, some of the passengers began removing their seatbelts.

    Ivy stayed in her seat. She wore a mask, covering half of her face. Only her cold eyes were visible.

    Half a dayter, Ivy was picked up at the airport back in China. Her "bodyguards" that she flew with had other transportation arrangements. It wasn''t her problem. They could all die for all she cared.

    Unfortunately, she would never be truly free in this lifetime. There was another set of "bodyguards" assigned to her as soon as she left the airport.

    It didn''t matter.

    As long as she could achieve her goals, then she would happily remain as someone''s pet. This was the life that she chose for herself.

    She removed the mask, revealing her face that resembled Iris Long.

    "Is it taken care of?" she asked.

    The man in the front passenger seat beside the driver nced at her. "Your registration form at the art exhibition has been destroyed by one of our men disguised as a cleaner. The docent is dead but the curator managed to survive. We''re working on making his death in the ICU look like a cardiac arrest."

 Chapter 1562 Blame Your Bad Luck

    Chapter 1562 me Your Bad Luck

    Ivy Lau shrugged. "Whatever."

    The knowledge that her actions led to a person''s death didn''t bother her at all. In fact, she even looked impatient and annoyed that something so unimportant would be reported to her.

    The man sitting in the front passenger seat gave her another look. "The boss is not pleased with your actions."

    She pursed her lips, feeling irritated, but still made a sound in her throat. It was up to the a**hole how he interpreted it. Her lover would punish her either way anyway.

    The truth was that she didn''t understand why what she did in Paris was such a big deal. But ording to her lover, she had left a big mess that he needed his people to clean up.

    In her opinion, her lover just wanted a reason to murder people for his own enjoyment. She already knew him long enough to understand his twisted personality.

    He was the devil himself.

    She was just one of his pawns. She understood her role perfectly. Whatever he needed her for, she just needed to fulfill it. If he needed to use her to justify his sadistic murderous urges, then she had no choice but toply.

    Despite the faults in his personality, she actually found herself halfway in love with him.

    She smirked.

    Perhaps the saying was right¡ªthat birds of a feather flocked together.

    "Just do what you need to do," she said in a bored tone.

    The driver and the man sitting in the front passenger seat didn''t respond. Their tasks were clear. They would serve this woman ording to their boss'' orders, but that didn''t mean that they were her servants. Anything beyond their boss'' orders, they wouldn''t hesitate to refuse and would even embarrass her.

    She was just one of the boss'' ythings anyway. Someday, they would have to dispose of her corpse just like the other ythings that their boss had grown tired of. It was as simple as that.

    Ivy didn''t know that the two men in front of her were already thinking about her future¡ªorck thereof.

    Even if she knew, she wouldn''t care.

    Her goals were clear.

    She just needed to focus on achieving them no matter what. Even if her final fate was death¡ªshe didn''t care as long as she got what she wanted in the end.

    ###

    Inside a hospital in Paris at night.

    Visitor hours had already ended. In the ICU department, there were two police officers standing guard outside one of the rooms.

    The medical staff had already been informed about the circumstances of that particr room''s patient. They secretly gossiped among themselves,menting how unlucky the poor guy was to be attacked by lunatics while walkingte at night in the streets. At the same time, they also felt scared about their own safety, especially the night-shift staff.

    "I need to pee," one of the police officers said to his partner.

    "Go ahead. I''ll stay here."

    When the police officer left to go to the men''s room, his partner stood up and walked back and forth in front of the ICU room door to stretch his legs.

    A nurse appeared and greeted him. She was a petite older woman with a kind smile and a lot of grey hair.

    "Good evening, Officer. I''m here to check the patient''s vitals."

    The police officer checked her ID and waved her in. The nurse looked like a veteran. The hospital must be prioritizing this particr patient. They sent their best medical staff to treat him. The police still needed the patient to wake up and provide his statement about what happened to him.

    At the same time, the police officers shook his head. These veteran nurses couldn''t catch a break. They were already so old and close to retirement yet still needed to work night-shift. How tough!

    Well, being a police officer wasn''t easy either.

    While the police officer was absorbed in his own thoughts, the nurse closed the door to the ICU. Her smiling expression remained on her face, as she checked the patient''s vitals.

    She made a show to check the attending doctor''s written order, then took a vial from the medicine tray. She opened a new syringe, stabbed the vial, and drew out the liquid. Then she injected the liquid into the patient''s IV line.

    After taking some notes and doing a final check, she left the room with the medicine tray.

    "Have a good night, Officer," she said.

    The police officers waved at her, appreciating her kindness. Later, his partner returned from the men''s room.

    "You took so long to pee?" he asked.

    His partner gave a sheepish smile and rubbed his stomach. "I had to do number two. Must be the sandwich I ate earlier."

    "I warned you not to order the salmon sandwich. It''s not in season."

    "Tsk. It''s the bistro''s special, half-price. Can''t say no to half-price."

    The police officer shook his head at his partner''s stinginess. They chatted about the patient''s case.

    Then another nurse arrived. She was a middle-aged woman, heavier in weight, and looked quite strict.

    "Good evening, Officers," she greeted in a perfunctory tone. "I''m here to check the patient''s vitals."

    "Let me check your ID first," the police officer who just came from the men''s room said.

    "Hold it!" The other police officer raised a hand to stop him. "There was a nurse who already went inside and left just now. How often do you guys check the vitals here?"

    The nurse frowned, looking confused and impatient at the same time. "Hospital management knows that this patient is involved in a criminal case, so they want to limit the number of staff who can ess his room. I''m the only nurse in charge of this patient tonight. What do you mean that there was a nurse who already went inside?"

    Both of the police officers turned pale.

    "Hurry, check the patient!"

    "Open the door!" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The nurse blocked them. "I''m sorry, Officers. But this is the ICU, please wear the appropriate personal protective equipment first!"

    "We can''t waste any time! The patient might be in danger¡ª"

    An rm sounded in the room.

    The nurse abandoned the police officers and directly went inside the room. Soon after, a doctor and a few other nurses arrived and rushed inside.

    Unfortunately for the police officers, they still weren''t allowed to enter. They hurriedly put on all the PPEs, wasting a lot of time in the process. Even then, they had to remain standing outside to avoid getting in the way of the medical staff trying to save the patient''s life.

    While the ICU department was in chaos trying to pull a patient from the brink of death, the petite veteran nurse whom the police officer allowed to enter the room earlier had now exited the hospital. She had changed from a nurse''s uniform into one worn by the housekeeping staff.

    An old minivan picked her up. She climbed into front passenger seat.

    "Done?" the driver asked in Spanish.

    "Done," she answered before removing the grey-haired wig from her head.

    "Let''s dispose of the trash quickly," a man said from the back passenger seat. "Paris is swarming with cops these days. I''m about to break into hives."

    The woman nced at him but didn''t reply. She wasn''t an older woman close to retirement at all but a younger woman in her early thirties instead. The drastic change in her appearance was thanks to the power of makeup and lifelike prosthetics.

    They avoided all the police checkpoints and exited the city. They drove for a couple more hours before reaching a small, rural town. Everyone was asleep. They didn''t enter the town but stopped nearby where a small river ran.

    All they could see were endless fields, trees, and shrubbery. The three people¡ªtwo men and one woman¡ªclimbed out of the van and opened the rear hatch door.

    Curled inside was the real veteran nurse whom the younger woman impersonated at the hospital. The two men dragged the older woman out of the minivan.

    "Ugh." The real nurse groaned and was awakened by the impact of her body falling to the ground.

    She was still dazed but soon came to her senses upon realizing the great danger that she was in. Her mouth was duct-taped. Only faint gurgles could be heard from her. She struggled against the ropes tying her hands and feet behind her, curling her into an unnatural reverse shrimp-shaped position.

    When she saw the younger woman who resembled her face thanks to makeup and prosthetics, her fear intensified. She shouted and struggled but to no avail.

    The younger woman squatted beside the terrified veteran nurse and caressed her sweat-soaked grey hair.

    "Sorry about this," she said in ented French. "It''s nothing personal. We''re just following orders. You can only me your bad luck."

    Then she stood up and gave the veteran nurse a final look before walking away and returning inside the minivan. She sat in the front passenger seat and worked on removing her makeup and prosthetics from her face.

    Little by little, her real face was revealed. It was an utterly average and forgettable face, perfect for someone like her whose expertise is in disguise and impersonating other people.

    Later, the two men returned.

    "Done?" It was her turn to ask this time.

    "Done," both of them answered.

    "Let''s go. We need to leave France as soon as possible."

    They moved like ghosts, dodgingw enforcement along the way. They were experts in what they did.

    A few hourster, when the sun rose in the sky, a farmer went to his fields to check his crops. He walked by the riverside to wash his boots but then saw something floating on the water stuck to a big rock.

    When he came closer and saw what it was, he screamed.

 Chapter 1563 Murder Case

    Chapter 1563 Murder Case

    Iris and Jin Liwei heard what happened the next day. Ketchup informed them first thing in the morning. They were still in their bedroom, wearing pyjamas, with their twin sons.

    The husband and wife looked at each other.

    "This is a clear murder case," Iris said. "Someone wants to silence the curator that they even murdered an innocent nurse to use her appearance and credentials to do the deed."

    Jin Liwei didn''t say anything as he was busy herding their sons off the bed, but his expression showed that he, too, was shocked at what happened in Paris after they left.

    "I must call Ashandra," Iris murmured. "I''m worried about her."

    After only a few rings, Ashandra Knightson picked up the call. "Xin, have you heard what happened already?"

    "Yes!" Iris replied. "I think you should leave France soon, Ashandra. What happened to your curator at the hospital ICU makes it clear that something more sinister is happening. This is not a simple case of hate crime anymore. It''s a deliberate targeted murder case!"

    "I know. I''m already packing."

    Iris heaved a sigh of relief. "Good. I''ll ask my husband to arrange one of his private jets for you."

    "I won''t reject your offer this time, Xin. I was so frightened and shaky that I could barely think straight. It''s only thanks to the bodyguards you arranged for me that I managed to even function again in the first ce. They''re the ones who reminded me that I might be the real target. I don''t know if that''s true or not, but I sure as hell won''t want to risk my life here in Paris. I already announced the termination of my art exhibition."

    "Okay, Ashandra. Don''t panic too much. If you''re not sure about what to do next, just rely on the bodyguards for now. We''ll figure out what to do next once you leave France."

    "I''ll do my best. Thank you, Xin."

    Iris gave Ashandra a few more words of advice. After the phone call, Iris asked for her husband''s help.

    "No problem, love," Jin Liwei said after hearing about it. "Let me arrange the private jet now."

    Iris took over changing the twins'' clothes while Jin Liwei called someone on his phone to make the private flight arrangements for Ashandra Knightson.

    "Done," he said after the phone call. "Someone will contact Ashandra to ask for her departure preferences."

    "Thanks, darling." She stood on her tippy-toes and kissed the corner of his cheek.

    He held her waist and squeezed it a little. Then he gave her luscious lips a quick peck.

    "Chi chi yah yah!" (Mochi wants a kiss, too!)

    Although Iris and Jin Liwei didn''t understand what their son was talking about, they could guess by his actions.

    Iris chuckled, instantly improving her mood. "Come, my little sweetheart. Mommy will give you a kiss."

    She lifted the clingy baby and gave each of his cheeks a loud, smacking kiss. Little Mochi giggled, loving all the attention his mommy was showering on him.

    Then she felt a light tug on her pyjama pants.

    It was Little Matcha. "Mama, uh uh." (Mommy, I want a kiss, too.)

    Of course, Iris had no reason to reject her son''s request. She handed Little Mochi to her husband and lifted Little Matcha next. She also gave Little Matcha''s each cheek a loud, smacking kiss.

    The baby''s reaction was more subduedpared to his lively elder twin brother, but there was still a clear smile on Little Matcha''s face.

    Afterwards, the husband and wife also freshened up and changed into appropriate day outfits. The family headed out of their bedroom for breakfast.

    "Darling, I''m notfortable staying here in France anymore," Iris said. "I''m sad that we have to cut our family trip short, but I just can''t find it in myself to enjoy our next days here at the chateau after hearing what happened. I also want to meet up with Ashandra before Orchidia Germany''sunch to check on her."

    "Okay, love. I''ll make the arrangements."

    "Oh, right. I almost forgot. I also still need to meet up with Jabar and Amira before we leave to tell them my decisions regarding their proposals."

    "Do you need me to join you?" Jin Liwei asked.

    "Only at the meeting with the director. I can handle the meeting with the sheikha by myself."

    "En."

    After eating breakfast, Iris announced to Dom, the nannies, and their other staff that they would be leaving France soon ahead of schedule. Dom and the others didn''t mind especially after hearing about the reason why they had to depart earlier than expected.

    "Oh no!" Dom also looked worried. "Will Ashandra be fine? If she''s the real target, then she shouldn''t attend Orchidia Germany''sunch anymore! She should lie low for a while for her own safety."

    "That''s what I''m thinking, too," Iris said, nodding. "She should return to Cross Academy. It should be safest there for her. I''ll call her againter to tell her."

    "I''ll also call Sis Fei to let her know to start packing because we''ll leave France soon," Dom said.

    "Please do that. Thanks, Dom."

    "No problem, Boss." He turned to the nannies. "We should also start packing soon."

    The two nannies nodded.

    Everyone became busy afterwards.

    The chateau''s head butler felt a little disappointed that he and his subordinates weren''t able to show their best work performance to their new employers yet.

    Iris was already preupied with arranging meetings with Director Jabar Wilkins and Sheikha Amira.

    Jin Liwei didn''t disturb his wife. He could take care of the other things by himself. No problem at all.

    While making arrangements for his family''s departure, he also took the time to speak to the chateau''s head butler.

    "There will be an interior designering in the next week or so to assess the entire chateau. My wife and I n on improving the entire chateau''s style. We haven''t toured every single nook and cranny in this ce yet, so if you have any suggestions for areas that need to be renovated, just let the designer know. He''ll convey it to us and make arrangements with contractors if needed."

    "Understood, Monsieur. Please leave everything about the chateau with me. I wish you and Madame Jin a safe trip."

    "En."

    Jin Liwei hadn''t yet mentioned his and Iris'' n about renting out part of the chateau as a venue for special events such as weddings, photoshoots, etc. He nned to wait until all the renovations werepleted before making arrangements to start a new ie source for the chateau.

    As for the possibility of ticketed tours, Jin Liwei would discuss it more carefully with his wife.

    What happened at Ashandra Knightson''s art exhibition made him more cautious about safety. Although he didn''t know whether someone was really targeting Ashandra or not, he didn''t want to risk his family''s safety, especially since his wife was a close friend of the genius artist.

    Ticketed tours were great and all but it was also quite risky. Vandalism and theft were usually the biggest worries for most ticketed tours, but Jin Liwei now also had to worry about premeditated attacks on his family.

    Screening each of the guests who bought tickets might also be too much of a hassle especially if there were scheduled tours every day. Jin Liwei didn''t want to waste Ketchup''s bandwidth by assigning her this task.

    At least, for venue reservations, there should be ample time, usually months ahead of the special event, to thoroughly screen not only the celebrants and their invited guests but also any staff involved. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jin Liwei had everything nned in his mind. He would do what needed to be done to lessen the burden on his wife.

    This period was extremely important to his wife. Her businesses were flourishing. At the same time, she was also preparing for her showbizeback. He wanted¡ªno, needed to always be there to support her in whatever way he could.

    This was what he discovered to be his real purpose in life.

    And it always made him happy.

    ###

    The next day, the weather appeared gloomy. The sun was nowhere in sight, covered by thick, grey clouds. There was a light drizzle and intermittent cold winds.

    Iris bundled her twin sons in thick clothes, covering them from head to toe.

    Little Mochi was annoyed by all theyers and tried removing them from his body. Unfortunately, his daddy gave him a scary look. Little Mochi whined at his mommy instead but he was out of luck this time. His mommy refused to remove the thick clothes.

    "Don''t be too naughty, baby," Iris said before kissing her fussy baby''s smooth, chubby cheek.

    Little Mochi behaved after getting a kiss from his mommy. He giggled and didn''t bother trying to remove his annoying clothes anymore.

    In contrast to him, Little Matcha wasn''t bothered by his thick clothes at all.

    Of course, Iris didn''t forget to reward him with a kiss on the cheek as well. "My Little Matcha is such a sweet boy."

    The baby grinned and smiled for a while before reverting back to his usual unbothered expression.

    Jin Liwei came in to check on his family after confirming that everything was ready with the staff.

    "Ready, love?" he asked.

    Iris smiled. "Yes."

    "Ready, boys?" he asked his sons next.

    "Yah yah!" (Yes, I''m ready!) Little Mochi pumped his little fists in the air.

    "Uh." (Yes.) Little Matcha toddled to his daddy and reached up to him.

    Jin Liwei bent down and carried his son. Iris was about to carry their other son but Jin Liwei moved faster.

    "Let me carry both of them," he said and carried Little Mochi with his other arm. "They''re heavier with these thick clothes."

 Chapter 1564 Decisions

    Chapter 1564 Decisions

    Iris followed her husband and sons to the grand hall, where they met Dom and the nannies. Once they stepped outside, the butlers heldrge ck umbres over their heads.

    The head butler and servants lined up to bid their new employer''s family goodbye.

    "Thank you, everyone," Iris told them. My family and I had a wonderful stay at the chateau. We''re sad that we had to cut our trip short, but we''ll definitely return next time. Please take care of the ce in our absence."

    "Please leave everything here to us, Madame," the head butler replied on behalf of everyone. "Please have a safe trip. We''re all looking forward to your return."

    "Yah yah!" (Bye-bye!) Little Mochi waved his little hands at the head butler and the others.

    Little Matcha followed suit, waving his little hand before resting his head on his father''s shoulder and yawning. The gloomy weather was making him sleepy.

    The head butler and his subordinates couldn''t stop themselves from smiling and waving back at the adorable babies. They were such a joy to have around.

    Little Mochi was a bit naughty, but his energy made the chateau feel so much livelier. Little Matcha was also very adorable in the way he lived his baby life at his own pace. Both were definitely the cutest babies that they had ever seen in their entire lives. They wished that their new employers would bring the babies back to the chateau soon.

    Jin Liwei urged the others to hurry up. He didn''t want his wife and sons exposed to the wet and chilly weather.

    Once everyone was ready, the motorcade of vehicles finally left the chateau.

    Iris couldn''t help but look back at the chateau''s beautiful scenery as they drove away. She felt sorry that they hadn''t been able to enjoy the ce to the fullest. It couldn''t be helped. Hearing about the murders so close in connection with her friend, Ashandra, made her too worried.

    Jin Liwei seemed to know what she was thinking about. He held her hand and squeezed it. "We''ll return here next time for another family trip. The chateau should already be updated by then. We''ll enjoy ourselves better next time."

    She nodded.

    By afternoon, they finally returned to their Parisian residence. Chen Fei had been waiting for them. She immediately hugged the twins, missing them. Grandpa Lu also called that he would beingter with his packed luggage.

    Everyone ate a quick lunch.

    Iris had no time to waste. Right after lunch, a household staff member informed her that the guest she was expecting had arrived. She nodded and headed to the study.

    Once she arrived there, she saw Sheikha Amira sipping tea.

    "Iris!" Sheikha Amira stood up.

    "Amira." Iris went for a hug and an air kiss. "Let''s sit down."

    "You have a beautiful home," the sheikha said.

    Iris smiled. "Thank you, Amira. I''m d you came today."

    "How could I note? I''ve been waiting for you to invite me." Amira handed Iris a gift bag. "This is for you."

    "Oh, you didn''t have to! Thank you!" Iris opened the gift. It was a vintage red wine¡ªvery expensive.

    Her husband should like it.

    Amira was pleased by her reaction to her gift. "I don''t like wasting time. Shall we get right down to business?"

    "Sure, I also don''t like wasting time," Iris said. This time, her smile was more genuine. She liked strong, independent women who knew exactly what they wanted.

    Just like her.

    "So have made your decision?" Amira asked, her eyes shining with anticipation.

    "Yes." Iris nodded.

    "Tell me about it. I can''t wait."

    Iris chuckled. "I''ve decided to ept your proposal to cooperate with Libert¨¦."

    Amira''s face bloomed with a bright smile. "Yes! This is the best news I''ve gotten in days!"

    The woman''s enthusiasm infected Iris. She momentarily forgot her worries for her friend, Ashandra Knightson. Her entire focus was on this meeting.

    "I''ve decided to go ahead with this cooperation but I have a few conditions," Iris said.

    Amira became serious. "Let me hear about your conditions."

    "First of all, I want you to uphold Libert¨¦''s values of promoting inclusivity over exclusivity," Iris said.

    "No problem. I might be a member of my nation''s royal family but I basically grew up in Ennd. Please don''t worry because my own personal values align with that of Libert¨¦''s."

    Iris nodded. "I''m d to hear that." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The two women continued their discussion which evolved into negotiations. They pushed and pulled until reaching a satisfying conclusion.

    "I''ll have a contract drafted and sent to Libert¨¦," Amira said. "If you''re satisfied, then we can go ahead with the cooperation."

    "Yes." Iris stood up and offered her hand.

    Amira took it.

    The two women shook hands.

    "I would love to invite you for dinner, but I''m pressed for time today," Iris said. "My family and I are leaving France tonight. Tell you what. If you have time, I want to invite you to my otherpany''sunch in Germany."

    "Orchidia, right?" It seemed that the sheikha did her research.

    "Yes."

    "Sure, I would love toe," Amira said.

    "I''ll send you an invitation."

    Iris personally walked Sheikha Amira to the door. The two women bid each other goodbye, feeling satisfied with the results of their negotiations. Before Amira left, Iris gave her some baked desserts that she requested the private chef to make in advance.

    "Done?" Jin Liwei asked, appearing beside her.

    She nodded. "Amira is one tough cookie. I''m starting to really like her."

    He had noment about the woman. "As long as you''re satisfied."

    "She''s an amateur when ites to discussing specific details of starting a business, but she makes it up with her determination and willingness to learn. I hope that she follows through on her promise to fulfill my conditions for allowing her to open a Libert¨¦ franchise store in Dubai."

    "So you''ve decided on the franchise route?" he asked.

    "Yes. It''s too risky for us to directly open a Libert¨¦ branch in Dubai by ourselves. A franchise store also has risks but at least we don''t have to worry too much about running the daily operations by ourselves. Amira has that covered.

    "Ketchup already ran a background check on her. No ruling family ispletely devoid of shady businesses, but Amira herself is not bad. I''ve decided to trust her. As long as she doesn''t allow herself to be too controlled by anyone in her family, then we''ll have a happy cooperation with her. If not, I''ll just treat it as a momentarypse in judgment and ept my business losses. Hopefully, everything runs smoothly."

    Jin Liwei nodded. "Jabar ising in an hour. I already informed Chonglin about our decision. He also wants to join the project."

    Iris was relieved. "Good. The more people we have, the more money we can raise to fund the project. Jabar''s proposal is very ambitious. It''s going to burn a lot of money. But if we do things just right, the rewards will also be incredible. If we''re able to turn the project into a film franchise like what Jabar originally nned, then it''s going to be super exciting."

    "En. High risk, high reward." Then he said, "Once Chonglin heard about it, he immediately wanted to jump on a ne and fly here directly to meet Jabar. I told him to finish his work obligations first."

    Sheughed. "Your brother has grown more and more childish over the years."

    "He has always been childish, always doing whatever he wants."

    "But that''s also one of the main reasons why he''s so sessful. His childishness adds to his charisma, endearing him to his fans. Of course, most of his fans believe that he''s a cool man with only asional bouts of childishness. They don''t know that he''s more childish than what they initially expected."

    "Hm." Jin Liwei had already lost interest in the conversation.

    It wasn''t like he didn''t care about his younger brother. In fact, he cared about Jin Chonglin very much and would always find ways to help him out as much as possible. Nevertheless, he still found his brother quite annoying especially when Jin Chongin acted like a childish diva.

    "Brother Chonglin might have grown childish over the years, but it seems that he listens to Chen Fei well," Irismented. "I never expected that their rtionship would work this smoothly."

    "En. Chen Fei has her hands full with my brother. If they have a child together in the future, she might feel like she''s raising two kids instead of one."

    She snickered.

    The husband and wife chatted while taking a walk. The dreary weather extended to Paris, but Iris'' mood had improved a lot. Her sessful negotiation with Sheikha Amira made her feel more enthusiastic.

    Ten minutes before their appointment, Director Jabar Wilkins finally arrived. Iris and Jin Liwei personally weed him at the front door.

    "I don''t know what to bring you so I just bought whatever," he said, shoving a nicely-wrapped box to Jin Liwei. "Here you go."

    Iris could already smell the sweet scent of freshly baked macarons. "Oh, my eldest twin son loves eating these!"

    "Really?! Good!" The director beamed, his straight white teeth looking brighter than usual. "Just tell me what you like and I''ll get it for you next time."

    Iris chuckled. She liked the man''s fighting spirit and seemingly endless optimism. There was no need to act like strangers with a genuine person like him, so she said, "Okay. I won''t stand on ceremony, then. My husband and I are fine, but our children would be ecstatic to receive presents."

    Jabar Wilkinsughed. "Then Uncle Jabar will buy presents for the kiddos from now on!"

 Chapter 1565 Welcome, Partners!

    Chapter 1565 Wee, Partners!

    Iris and Jin Liwei led Director Jabar Wilkins to a nearby sitting room. The atmosphere was more casual than Iris'' meeting with Sheikha Amira earlier. The husband and wife also didn''t rush down right to business but chatted with the American director for a while.

    Finally, the director was the first to bring up the film project in their conversation.

    "So I''m guessing that you''ve already made your final decision?" he asked, his eyes expectant.

    Iris chuckled. "Yes, we would love to help fund your film project as investors."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Director Jabar Wilkins froze for a couple seconds before standing up andughing uproariously. "That''s what I''m talking about! Wee, partners!"

    He shook hands with the husband and wife, making themugh. After he calmed down, Iris exined the rough details about how they would invest.

    "Since you can''t find a production house for your film, we''re thinking of allowing our entertainmentpany to produce it instead," Iris said. "LXC Studio might be rtively new, but we''re confident that we can handle the production costs without any problem. Even if thepany funds aren''t enough, we''re willing to dip into our personal money to keep the project going. We also want to use this chance to allow LXC Studio to jump fully into the international scene and be one of the major yers. This is a risk we''re willing to take. Also, my brother-inw, Jin Chonglin, is interested in bing an executive producer like me."

    The director couldn''t hide his excitement. In fact, he wasn''t willing to hide it.

    "Good! This is the best news that I''ve heard in months!"

    The three discussed the project. There was palpable excitement in the air. The American director''sughter was so contagious that Iris and Jin Liwei couldn''t help butugh as well.

    "We''re leaving France tonight, but I''ll send someone to represent us," Iris said. "You can go ahead and start gathering your team, Jabar. Oh, right. I almost forgot. We''ll also send awyer to help you re-negotiate the book option. If they won''t let you renew it anymore before the expiry date, then we''ll just option it under our names. Whatever works, we''ll do it."

    Jabar Wilkins nodded. "Yes, yes! Let''s do that. I''ll start working on gathering people right away. Now that I''ve secured investors, there should be people interested in working with me again. We might not be able to cast any top actors and actresses for the main characters, but I''m not interested in them anyway. I''d rather find promising newbies to raise up. That''d be more interesting, don''t you think?"

    Iris'' eyes lit up, indeed finding the idea interesting. "Do what you need to do, Jabar. I won''t interfere with the casting at all. I just want you to choose people who can y the characters the best."

    "That''s a given," he said. "I''ve always been meticulous in all the films I make."

    "But I still need to see the cast members during filming, so that I can tailor the soundtrack to the scenes better."

    "You''re an important investor so feel free to drop in anytime during the filming. I''m also looking forward to how you''llpose the film score."

    The three still wanted to continue the discussions but time was tight.

    "We apologize that we can''t invite you to dinner tonight because we have a flight to catch, but we''ll make it up to you next time," Iris said.

    Jabar waved his hand in a "no worries" gesture. "I also n to leave France in a few days and return to America to get to work in gathering a solid team for our film project. I''ll contact you for updates, and of course, if I need more budget."

    "Sure, Jabar."

    Iris and Jin Liwei led the director back to the front hall where Dom was waiting with a box of assorted baked desserts made by the private chef. Iris took it and gave it to the director.

    "This is for you. Thanks for the macarons you gave us earlier. I''m sure that my eldest twin son will love them."

    "How about your other son?" he asked.

    "My other son inherited a lot of his traits from his father," Iris said with a helpless smile. "They don''t really have a sweet tooth."

    "Ah, what a sad life to live." Jabar gave an exaggerated sigh.

    Everyoneughed.

    "Mama!" Little Mochi called out as his nanny carried him out.

    "Ma!" Little Matcha followed suit in his nanny''s arms.

    "Oh, here are my sons," Iris said. "Let me introduce you."

    The husband and wife took their sons from the nannies.

    "Jabar, this is Haoyu. His nickname is Mochi. English name is Viktor. And this is Lingyu. Nickname is Mochi. English name is Yuri. We don''t really call them by their English names yet, so they might not acknowledge you if you use their English names."

    "Oh, how cute!" Jabar Wilkins squatted to the ground, making himself appear smaller. "You''re Mochi, right? And Matcha?"

    Little Mochi was a little scared of the big, dark man. He hugged his mommy''s neck and peeked at the director from the corner of his eyes.

    In contrast, Little Matcha wasn''t the least bit intimidated. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Uh," he said and nodded after hearing the stranger calling his name.

    The little guy could already read the room. He had noticed that his parents were very friendly with the big, dark man just like how they treated his uncles back home. This meant that the stranger was no threat.

    Little Matcha''s treatment of the American director waspletely different from how he treated the French magnate. He could sense when his parents were acting friendly or hostile to another person, and he would follow their example.

    Although the American director looked intimidating, his big smile was extremely genuine and friendly. Little Matcha feltfortable with him.

    Seeing that his twin brother acknowledged the scary man, Little Mochi grew curious. He steeled himself and faced the stranger before offering a shy smile.

    "Yah!" (Hi!) He waved his little hand.

    Jabar Wilkinsughed. "Mochi and Matcha are good kids. Uncle Jabar will get you better gifts next time."

    Then he slowly stood up, making sure not to startle the babies. "Thanks for today, Iris and Liam. You all have a safe trip. When the project is finally underway, drop by my ce in America. I''ll host you!"

    "Thank you, Jabar. We won''t stand in ceremony at that time, then." Iris smiled.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Little Matcha: "Uh." (Bye.)

    Little Mochi: "Yah yah!" (Bye-bye!)

    Finally, the American director left with the beautifully packed box of assorted desserts.

    Iris was in a good mood. Despite cutting their family trip short and leaving Paris ahead of schedule, today''s back-to-back meetings had been fruitful. She was extremely satisfied with the results.

    Jin Liwei kissed her forehead. He was d that his wife''s mood had improved.

    By this time, the huge front doors opened. In came a sprightly old man.

    "Is everyone ready to go?" Grandpa Lu''s voice boomed in the front hall. "I want to know!"

    The babies struggled against their parents'' arms and insisted on being put down. Iris and Jin Liwei humoured them. The two babies toddled toward their great-grandfather.

    "Ah, my dear Little Mochi and Little Matcha are still as cute as ever! Great-grandpa Lu missed you two so much! Did you miss your Great-Grandpa Lu as well? Tell me, I want to know!"

    The babies were already used to their great-grandfather''s booming voice, so they weren''t startled one bit.

    Little Mochi: "Yah yah!" (Miss you!)

    Little Matcha: "Uh." (Yes.)

    Grandpa Lu couldn''t understand what the babies said, of course, but he believed that they said that they missed their great-grandpa the most. He was so pleased that he kissed the babies'' cheeks again, tickling them with his mustache.

    While Little Mochi and Little Matcha giggled, Jin Liwei checked with Dom and the staff about their departure itinerary.

    "We''ll have dinner at the ne," Jin Liwei said. "Make sure that you''ve packed everything because we have to leave in half an hour."

    "Okay, sir boss," Dom said with a thumbs up. "I''ll go call Sis Fei now."

    Iris let her husband handle all the departure arrangements. She went to a corner and called Ashandra Knightson. Fortunately, her friend quickly picked up the call.

    "Hi, Xin. I''m back here in the academy. Thank you and your husband for lending me your private jet."

    "You''re wee, Ashandra," Iris said. "How are you?"

    "I''m doing so much better now. I''m seeing my therapist again because what happened in Paris has been giving me nightmares."

    "Do whatever it needs to get better, Ashandra. Stay there in the academy until we figure out why the curator, the docent, and the nurse were killed. I don''t want you to risk your safety."

    "I know. The headmaster and my mentors said the same thing. They''re also helpingunch a private investigation for me."

    "Good."

    Ashandra sighed. "Xin, at this rate, I won''t be able to attend Orchidia Germany''sunch."

    "Why are you so worried about it?" Iris asked. "You already came to attend Libert¨¦''sunch which means so much to me. In addition, you gave me such a precious gift. I love the painting, Ashandra. I can''t wait until we get it. My husband already has a ce to hang it at Dragon Pce."

    "I''m d you love it. My representatives should be dealing with the silent auction results at this very moment. Once everything is done, they''ll personally deliver the painting to your home."

    "I can''t wait." Iris caught her sons who toddled over to her. "Don''t worry about attending Orchidia Germany''sunch anymore. Your safety is more important."

    "What about AJ and the others?" Ashandra asked. "Are theying to Germany? I haven''t spoken to them because they haven''t returned to the academy yet."

 Chapter 1566 Stolen Footage

    Chapter 1566 Stolen Footage

    "I''ve spoken to AJ," Iris said. "She''s still busy doing errands for the headmaster but confirmed that she''ll attend Orchidia Germany''sunch. Amanpio has also confirmed that he''sing. I haven''t heard yet from Theresa. I think that she''s still in America for the convention."

    "I see," Ashandra Knightson said. "Florence said that she won''t be able to attend theunch in Germany, right?"

    "That''s right. She''s still in India. But she did say before that she''ll attend oneunch in Asia. She''s still not sure yet which one, though¡ªthe Philippines or Singapore. I hope that she can attend both, but she''s too busy with her humanitarian work."

    "I wish I could attend all," Ashandra sighed.

    "Don''t worry about it anymore, Ashandra

    ," Iris said before changing to a more light-hearted topic.

    She didn''t want her friend to dwell too much about what happened in Paris, so she refrained from talking about the murders. She still wanted to chat with Ashandra but her twins started getting too rowdy.

    The nannies tried taking them, but they refused. Iris signalled to the nannies that it was fine.

    Little Mochi hugged her leg and wouldn''t let go.

    Even Little Matcha, for some reason, was acting very clingy today. Although he wasn''t hanging on her leg, he still grabbed her trousers and refused to let go.

    "I''m sorry, Ashandra," Iris said. "I have to go. My sons are bing too restless."

    "Okay, Xin. Please kiss the twins for me. I already miss them so much."

    "Here, talk to them." Iris put the call on loudspeaker and held it close to her sons. "Sweethearts,e say hello to your Auntie Asha."

    "Hi, Mochi and Matcha! Auntie Asha misses you so much!"

    The twins were extremely familiar with Ashandra''s voice because their mother frequently spoke to her on the phone.

    Little Mochi: "Asha yah!" (Auntie Asha, hello!)

    Little Matcha: "Uh." (Hi.)

    Ashandra''s beautifulughter sounded. "Don''t be too naughty, boys. Take it easy on your mommy." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Little Mochi: "Yah yah yah!" (I''m a good boy!)

    Little Matcha: "Uh." (Sure.)

    Iris and Ashandra didn''t know what the babies'' babbles meant but just listening to them was enough to make the women smile. Finally, the phone call ended after another round of reluctant goodbyes.

    Jin Liwei arrived. "Ready, love?"

    "Yes." Iris nodded.

    He tried taking Little Mochi but the little guy howled, refusing to let go of his mommy''s leg. "Jin Haoyu!"

    Iris sighed, feeling a little helpless. "I''ll take him."

    Jin Liwei gave a stern look at Little Mochi who hid his face behind his mother''s leg. "Come, Jin Lingyu."

    Little Matcha was extremely reluctant. He also wanted to go with his mother.

    "Jin Lingyu,e to Dad," Jin Liwei said in a stern tone. "Your mom can''t carry both you and your brother at the same time."

    Little Matcha pouted but still obeyed. He let go of his mother''s trousers and reached up to his father to carry him.

    The husband and wife were both relieved. They each carried a baby in their arms.

    "Oof." Iris adjusted Little Mochi in her arms.

    Jin Liwei noticed. "The twins have gotten heavier. Next time, I''ll carry both of them. Little Mochi has to learn that not everything will go his way. Let him cry. He''ll get over it."

    "I''m fine, darling. I want to carry our babies while I still can. They''re growing up so fast. The day that they''ll be too big for us to carry wille sooner than we think."

    The two of them sighed at the thought.

    Everyone gathered, ready to depart. Dom, Chen Fei, and Grandpa Lu. The nannies, Iris'' entourage including her m team, the family''srge security team. And of course, Iris, Jin Liwei and twin sons.

    Muchter, the jumbo ne, LX Air, cruised in the night sky. Everyone had already eaten the prepared dinner in the ne.

    Iris and Jin Liwei left the now sleeping babies to the nannies in the ne''s bedroom.

    This was a quick flight, only an hour or so. Only the babies fell asleep. The adults didn''t bother taking a nap as they would bending soon.

    The husband and wife chose afortable spot to lounge together. It was quite private with a half-wall separating the cozy space from the rest of the area.

    Jin Liwei was half-lying on the seat. Iris sat beside him, almost sitting on hisp but not quite. Her head and upper body rested on Jin Liwei''s chest.

    "What happened?" she asked. "You excused yourself during dinner and was gone for a while."

    "Ah, I was going to talk to you about it, but I didn''t want to worry you and ruin your good mood," Jin Liwei said. "So I originally nned on telling you about it tomorrow instead."

    She straightened. "You must tell me now."

    He sighed but still nodded. "En."

    "What is it?"

    Jin Liwei also straightened. He felt a little bad that they couldn''t continue cuddling. "Ketchup and Bacon contacted me during dinner to share theirtest findings."

    She listened, gesturing for him to continue.

    "Ketchup first detected some abnormalities in the art gallery''s CCTV system. They had been tampered with. She tried hard but couldn''t recover the missing footage. The person who deleted the footage made it so that it wouldn''t be noticeable to most people. It was only because it was Ketchup that she discovered that the CCTV system had been tampered with in the first ce. She asked for Bacon''s help. But even with the two of them working together, they still couldn''t recover the stolen footage.

    "There''s another thing. Bacon discovered it by directing the Shadow Winds agents who joined our security team. Someone apparently disguised as a cleaner at the gallery and destroyed a few of the registration forms to enter the special wing of the art exhibition. It''s too suspicious to pass up as a coincidence. We believe that it''s connected to the murders."

    Iris had a deep frown.

    Jin Liwei didn''t want to stress his wife out, but he knew that she would want to know everything. So he had to continue with the dreadful topic.

    "Ketchup also checked the CCTV systems at the hospital and the streets surrounding it. Same thing. They were all tampered with. But this time, the person who did it didn''t bother to conceal that it was tampered with in the first ce. The footage was directly stolen, leaving a gaping hole in the day''s recording."

    Iris finally spoke. "Ketchup and Bacon also failed to recover the footage from the hospital?"

    "En."

    She took a few deep breaths. "If even our cat AI children can''t do anything about it, this tells me that a world-ss hacker is involved."

    "Does this mean that a criminal organization is involved?" Jin Liwei asked.

    She shook her head. "Not all world-ss hackers are involved in organized crimes. A lot of them are rogues. I consider myself as one, too, even though I was a Vetrov. I never used my hacking skills to aid the Vetrovs in the past. Maybe that was why my mother back then always criticized me."

    He pulled her into a tight,forting embrace. Fortunately, his wife didn''t dwell on her painful past as a Vetrov this time. She was more focused on Ketchup and Bacon''s new discovery that the CCTV systems at the gallery and hospital had been tampered with, and that their AI cat children failed to recover the stolen footage.

    "I want to try recovering the lost footage myself," she said. "I''m curious why Ketchup and Bacon couldn''t recover the footage themselves."

    "But you''re already too busy, love. Do you have time?"

    She sighed. "That''s the problem. I''m pressed for time. If the other side is really a world-ss hacker, then I''ll need all my wits with me. I can''t be distracted."

    "You know what?" Jin Liwei said. "Don''t worry about this incident for now. Focus on your business affairs first. You''ve been working so hard to get to this point. I don''t want you to regret anything. I know that you''re worried about Ashandra, but she''s not your average person either. She has Cross Academy behind her. If the academy can''t handle it, then you can always help them outter as Drakon."

    She didn''t reply right away. Indeed, she was worried about her friend''s safety.

    The more Ketchup and Bacon discovered about the murders of the curator, docent, and the nurse, the more concerning the developments were bing. If she could help, then she would dly do so.

    However, her husband was also right. She might be a world-ss hacker, but she was only one person. Not only was she busy with her business affairs and the preparations for her uing showbizeback, but she also needed to prioritize her family, especially her babies who were still too young to spend away from their parents.

    Sighing, she made a decision with great reluctance.

    "Fine, I''ll put Ashandra''s matter on the back burner. For now. Also, tell Ketchup and Bacon to withdraw from their own investigations. Until we know for sure the extent of the other hacker''s skills and abilities, I don''t want Ketchup and Bacon to risk exposing their existence. I have to be the one to personally test the waters when I have the time and 100% focus on the matter."

    "En, that''s for the best." Jin Liwei was relieved that his wife decided to back down this time.

    If this were before, he was certain that Iris wouldn''t listen to him and would definitely conduct her own investigations to the detriment of her health.

    She wouldn''t abandon her business affairs and celebrity work, so she could only forego sleep and rest to do everything at the same time. She already had a history of neglecting her health before and locking herself inside herputer room whenever something piqued her interest as a hacker.

 Chapter 1567 Always Choose the Family

    Chapter 1567 Always Choose the Family

    Jin Liwei was thankful every single day that his wife felt settled with their family now, and that she always had to think twice before doing something tireless that might risk her health.

    "Don''t worry, love," he said. "If you''re still too worried about Ashandra, I''ll hire others to help with the investigations instead. My connections might not be as effective as you or Bacon, but they''re better than nothing. I also know that you prefer not to let Niki make a move to prevent his group from being exposed, so I won''t bother him either."

    Iris still looked reluctant. She was really curious about why Ketchup and Bacon failed to recover the stolen footage. This alone was enough to ignite herpetitive spirit.

    It reminded her of her past life as Evelina Vetrova. Whenever she encountered a situation where an excellent hacker might have a hand, she would always want to check the other party out as Fantom. She had interfered in a lot of cyber operations in her past life and became a thorn in other hackers'' eyes, but she enjoyed every single minute of it.

    Now that she couldn''t do any of that, she felt extremely reluctant. In the end, however, she still chose to restrain her impulses this time. She now had a beautiful family. Her babies were still very young.

    If the choice were between testing an excellent hacker and prioritizing her current family, she would always, always, ALWAYS choose her family. There wasn''t even a need to question it.

    With a sigh, Iris said, "Okay. I''ll leave it to you."

    Jin Liwei also released a mental sigh of relief. Although he knew that his wife would always prioritize their family from now on, there were times that he still felt insecure.

    His genius wife was just too incredible a human being that he felt afraid she would disappear someday. Now that they were married and had children, he was able to control his possessive streak a lot better than before.

    However, there were still times when he had the urge to tie his wife to himself so that she would never be able to leave him. He knew that she would never tolerate this kind of mad possessiveness from him, so he would always have to restrain himself.

    Back to the present, the pilot made an announcement that they would be starting their descent very soon.

    The husband and wife stopped their conversation and went to the main bedroom to check on their sons. The twins were still sleeping.

    "Go back to your seats," Iris told the nannies. "We''ll bending soon."

    "Yes, Madam."

    Iris and Jin Liwei each took a baby before returning to their seats and strapping on their seatbelts.

    As usual, Little Matcha remained fast asleep, not even stirring a little in his mommy''s arms.

    Little Mochi, on the other hand, started howling as soon as his daddy carried him. It took a lot of coaxing from both Iris and Jin Liwei before they could persuade the fussy baby to calm down.

    Muchter, LX Air finallynded in Munich, Germany.

    A long line of private vehicles waited to pick them up. After everything was settled with customs and immigration, they all drove to a five-star hotel.

    The hour waste, so most of the staff headed straight to their assigned bedrooms to settle for the night.

    "Good night, kids!" Grandpa Lu said, waving at everyone. "This old man''s bones aren''t as young as they used to be. I''m going to sleep now, and you all should, too!"

    "Good night, Grandpa Lu."

    "Good night, Grandfather."

    "Good night, Grandpa Boss!"

    The others also wished the old man good night and to sleep tight.

    The family''s security team, however, immediately divided into smaller teams to secure the entire hotel and its perimeter. Iris and her family didn''t enter the Presidential suite until their security gave them the green light.

    Dom and the nannies would be staying in the same suite in their own bedrooms while Iris, Jin Liwei, and their twins would sleep in the suite''s main bedroom.

    The hotel staff had already set up a crib bed beside the main bed. It was smaller than what the babies were used to but it would do for now.

    "Go to sleep now," Iris told Dom and the nannies.

    Dom: "Okay, Boss! Good night!"

    He also gave the twins a flying kiss each. They didn''t notice it because they were already asleep, but Dom didn''t mind. It was the thought that counted, not the actual kiss.

    The nannies followed him out.

    Jin Liwei stepped inside after taking a call from the balcony.

    "Mom''sing?" Iris asked.

    "En. She''s about to take a jet with Alric Bauer. They''ll be here by tomorrow."

    Iris nodded. "Good. Alric should be looking forward to returning to his homnd and seeing his sister again after so long. As for Mom, I don''t think we should tell her about what happened in Paris. She adores Ashandra and she might be too worried to enjoy Orchidia''sunch here in Germany. I want Mom to enjoy the trip and not worry about anything else."

    "En."

    Iris took a shower first. Jin Liwei wanted to join in but remembered the hellish temperature his wife preferred, so he decided to shower after her instead.

    Besides, all of them were exhausted. He wanted his wife to rest up, so he didn''t bother her in bed tonight. He just cuddled her close to him and slept in peace.

    ###

    The next morning, everyone except for Grandpa Lu went downstairs to the hotel buffet to eat breakfast together.

    Alona Bauer also came to meet up first thing in the morning. The German woman appeared more sophisticated now than when Iris had met her for the first time.

    "Xin!!!" The blonde immediately hugged Iris, squeezing her from side to side. "I missed you so much!"

    Iris chuckled. "Alona, it''s good to see you again." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Next, the German woman greeted Jin Liwei and the others. Then her eyes fell on the twins sitting on hotel-provided high chairs.

    "Oh, my goodness! Are these Mochi and Matcha?! Howe they''re so big already?!"

    Iris introduced Alona Bauer to her sons. "Mochi, Matcha. This is Auntie Alona. She''s your Uncle Alric''s sister."

    The twins weren''t familiar with the cheery blonde auntie in front of them.

    Little Mochi was curious and smiled back. "Yah!" (Hello!)

    Little Mochi, however, wasn''t interested at all. The baby ignored the new person and focused on nibbling on a slice of soft bread dipped in milk. He even called for his daddy''s attention to help him wipe his mouth and chin.

    Alonaughed, finding the babies too adorable that she could die. "My brother is right. Your twins havepletely different personalities from each other. How fun!"

    "Sit down and eat with us, Alona," Iris said and gestured at the empty seat opposite hers.

    The two women chatted with each other while eating.

    "I can''t wait to show you our Orchidia office here in Munich," Alona said. "It''s already making waves here in Germany even before theunch. It''s because many of our customers at the market back then knew that Orchidia would sell my brother''s products. They can''t wait for Orchidia''sunch, knowing that most of the products had been developed by my brother."

    "You have a lot of customers back then?" Iris asked.

    "A lot by a street vendor''s standards," Alona said with a chuckle. "Our old customers worked hard in spreading Orchidia''s uingunch here in Munich to their friends and acquaintances. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. You''d expect that we, Germans, don''t bother to gossip like that, but all aunties are the same everywhere."

    Theyughed.

    Alona continued, "Our old customers have always remembered my brother''s products and how effective they were. They told me that they had been so disappointed when my brother and I stoppeding to the market to sell homemade skincare products. Now that I told them that we''ll beunching the improved versions of my brother''s products soon, they couldn''t wait to try them out. They also showed their loyalty by helping us out with the advertising through word of mouth. I saved thepany a lot of marketing budget!"

    "Excellent job, Alona," Iris said with a smile. "Alric will being with my mother-inwter today. Do you want toe with us when we go pick them up at the airport?"

    "Of course!"

    The two women chatted again. Dom interjected now and then in English. But for the most part, only Iris and Alona chatted in German. Grandpa Lu could also speak German but the old man had been too tired fromst night, so he didn''t join everyone for breakfast this morning.

    "Theunch isn''t until the weekend," Alona said. "So you should all rx and have fun. I also want to spend time with my brother when he arrives."

    "I want to see the office first tomorrow," Iris said. "Just give me a quick tour. No need for anything too fancy. I just want to have a good understanding of Orchidia''s actual situation here in Germany so far."

    "Okay, no problem. My staff are also all so excited to meet you. I hired from all over Europe because we''re going to serve most of the continent right here in Munich."

    "Good. I''m looking forward to it."

    They ate desserts while continuing to chat.

    "After visiting the office tomorrow morning, I''m nning on taking out my mother-inw to go shopping," Iris said. "Do you want toe with us?"

    "Can I?"

    "Of course."

    "Then yes!" Alona wasn''t the least bit shy. She already considered Iris and her family like her own.

    Just like that, a shopping appointment was made.

 Chapter 1568 Wonderful Genius Wife Who Changed His Life

    Chapter 1568 Wonderful Genius Wife Who Changed His Life

    Later, Iris and the others picked up her mother-inw, Huang Yuyan, and Alric Bauer from the airport. Then all of them, except Grandpa Lu, headed to a restaurant and ate lunch together.

    Huang Yuyan missed her grandsons very much. She insisted on having the twins sit on either side of her.

    "Mom, Little Mochi is a messy eater," Iris said. "He''ll get your dress dirty."

    "I don''t mind." Huang Yuyan waved a dismissive hand before smiling at her adorable twin grandsons. "Chonglin was also an extremely messy child. He even ate his own poop when we weren''t looking. His nanny almost had a heart attack when she found out. Little Mochi must have inherited his uncle''s messiness."

    "Pft!" Chen Fei choked and started coughing.

    "Sis Fei! Hahaha! Are you okay? Hahahaha!" Dom patted Chen Fei''s back but was alsoughing at Jin Chonglin''s expense.

    The others thought that Chen Fei might be upset about her future mother-inw sharing such an embarrassing story about Jin Chonglin in front of people, but contrary to their expectations, Chen Fei doubled over andughed along with Dom.

    Chen Fei: "Ahahahaha! Chonglin really ate his own poop? Auntie Yuyan, is that true?! Hahahaha!"

    Huang Yuyan giggled like a little girl. "Yes, he did. And Xiao Fei, my dear, please call me Mom. Once you and my son marry, you''ll be an official part of our family. It''s not too early to practice calling me mom."

    Chen Fei''s cheeks turned crimson. "Okay, Mom."

    Huang Yuyan smiled even more, looking so much younger than her actual age. "I''ll show you photos of Chonglin as a baby after we return home."

    Chen Fei''s eyes lit up. "I want to see Chonglin''s baby pictures!"

    "Okay, Mom will show you."

    Iris smiled and nced at her own husband. She remembered when her mother-inw also showed her photos of Jin Liwei back then. She enjoyed the experience. In fact, she even asked her mother-inw for some of her husband''s baby albums to store in Dragon Pce Home #10. One day, when their sons were old enough, she would show them what their dad looked like when he was a baby.

    She also had baby albums of the original Long Xin. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Even though Wei Lan was far from a perfect mother, the woman still had a lot of the original young Long Xin''s photos taken.

    This was because Wei Lan had already nned to push her daughter into show business at such a young age. As a baby, the original Long Xin had already be amercial model for baby products. This continued throughout the original Long Xin''s entire childhood until she became a teenage pop singer and began to rebel against her own mother''s control.

    Wei Lan probably figured that childhood photos were important in bing a celebrity.

    First, to prove that her daughter''s beauty was all natural¡ªnot due to cosmetic surgery and entirely inherited from her own gorgeous mother, Wei Lan.

    Second, childhood photos were one way to endear the original Long Xin to the fans.

    Third, Wei Lan probably wanted to portray herself as a wonderful, caring mother to the public eye. Even though the nannies and household staff were the ones who took almost all the childhood photos of the original Long Xin, Wei Lan could always im that she did all of that.

    Unfortunately, due to the original Long Xin''s unpleasant personality, people still loved to hate her and made up various rumours¡ªeach more horrible than thest.

    Back to the present, Iris couldn''t help but sigh in sympathy for the original Long Xin. Due to the parents'' emotional neglect, the original Long Xin''s personality became twisted, offending so many people, and eventually leading to her own demise.

    Iris nced at her own sons. Although everybody kept saying that Little Mochi resembled her Uncle Lin Lin, Iris believed that her son inherited most of the original Long Xin''s personality.

    ''I''ll raise my children well,'' she vowed to herself. ''I''ll give them all the love and care that they deserve and more. What the original Long Xin experienced, and what I as Evelina Vetrova experienced in my past life, I would never allow my own children to experience.''

    Sitting beside her, Jin Liwei keenly noticed his wife''s mncholic mood. He wasn''t sure what happened but his hand moved on instinct. He grabbed his wife''s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, providing her warmth andfort.

    She nced at him with a grateful smile. The husband and wife had a momentary two-person world while the others around them were allughing at the discovery that Jin Chonglin, a superstar, had once eaten his own poop as a child.

    Chen Fei wiped the tears from her eyes due to too muchughing. "Thanks, Mom. Now I have more ammunition against Chonglin if he dares to upset me again. I''ll tell him that I know that he ate his own poop! Hahahaha!"

    Huang Yuyan continued giggling like a little girl, not at all sorry for revealing her own son''s deepest and darkest childhood secret. "Chonglin only became neater after he entered showbiz. And that''s mostly because of Manager Lin Dong who helped manage his personal life as well as managing his showbiz career. Now Chonglin''s millions of fans believe that their Prince Lin Lin is the coolest prince charming in the world. I don''t think they''ll ever believe that he once ate his own poop as a child."

    "Pft! Hahahaha! I can''t stopughing. Mom, you must spill more of Chonglin''s embarrassing antics as a child."

    "Okay, Xiao Fei."

    Dom''s eyes were also shining in anticipation. He didn''t interrupt the future mother-inw and daughter-inw''s conversation, but his gossip radar didn''t allow him to not listen. This was juicy content!

    He shoved more bread in his mouth while listening in rapt attention, once again proving his reputation in the family as a food vacuum.

    "By the way, Liwei, where''s your grandfather?" Huang Yuyan asked her son after a while.

    "In the hotel," Jin Liwei said.

    Huang Yuyan waited for her son to borate, but as usual, Jin Liwei remained taciturn. She shook her head, sighing, and turned to her daughter-inw instead.

    Iris didn''t disappoint and provided more details. "Grandpa Lu still feel

    s too tired, so he''s resting in his room. We don''t force him to go out with us because we want him to rx. The majority of the time when we were in Paris, Grandpa Lu met with a lot of his friends instead of spending time with us. I think he also ns to meet with some of his friends here in Germany. He hasn''t been able to take a long vacation ever since the two sets of Jin and Lu twins were born."

    Huang Yuyan nodded. "You''re right, my dear. Your Grandpa Lu is also getting old now. It''s already a wonder that he''s still so energetic despite being older than your Grandma Li. Speaking of your Grandma Li, she also wanted toe with me here in Germany to support your Orchidiaunch in Europe, but you know that her health has not been the best in recent years. She''s getting older now and can''t handle too much stress."

    "I know, Mom. I already spoke to her on the phone to assure her that it''s fine if she can''te. Her health is more important. Rest up for today, Mom. Tomorrow, let''s go shopping. We''ll buy more souvenirs for Grandma Li."

    Huang Yuyan''s eyes lit up. "Excellent idea! Oh, it has been a long time since I went shopping here in Munich. I hope we can also go to Berlin. There are a lot of fashionable boutiques there. I n to buy a lot of new clothes for our Little Mochi and Little Matcha. I''m sure that they''ll look more adorable! But it''s okay, Xin my dear. I know that you''re busy. There are still a lot of nice shops here in Munich. Can I alsoe with you to the Philippines and Singapore for your next Orchidiaunches? I have never been to the Philippines before. I also missed shopping in Singapore."

    "Sure, Mom," Iris said. "But I have to drop by Cross Academy first to check in with the headmaster after theunch. After I return here to Germany, we''ll fly directly to the Philippines."

    "Okay, my dear. Just do what you need to do. Don''t worry about Mom."

    Jin Liwei watched as his wife and mother chatted. He could feel that the two women genuinely treated each other like family. This made him happy and thankful. He also noticed that he had be closer to his family after marrying his wife. His wife had be an undeniable glue bringing all of them closer together.

    "Dada!" Little Mochi''s call interrupted his thoughts.

    "Hm?" Jin Liwei nced at his son and saw that Little Mochi once again wanted him to wipe his mouth and little hands.

    He did, carefully wiping his son''s dirty mouth, face, and hands. He knew the feeling because his son inherited this obsession for cleanliness from him.

    It was also only after he married his wife that his obsession for cleanliness found an exception¡ªnamely, his wife. He didn''t mind it when his wife made a mess. The good thing was that she wasn''t a messy person to begin with. But whenever she made a mess, he didn''t feel disgusted. On the contrary, he even sought to make her messier especially when they were in bed.

    In extension, he also didn''t mind that his other son, Little Mochi, was a messy baby. Sure, he would scold and discipline the baby for the child''s own sake, but Little Mochi''s mess didn''t really bother him all that much.

    This was all due to his wife.

    His wonderful genius wife who had changed his life.

 Chapter 1569 Visiting Orchidia Germany (Part I)

    Chapter 1569 Visiting Orchidia Germany (Part I)

    At the other end of the table, Alona Bauer sat with his brother, Alric Bauer. The siblings hadn''t seen each other for a long time. Although Alona would sometimes fly to China to celebrate some special asions with Iris and her family, she wasn''t able to stay for too long before flying back to Germany again to continue setting up Orchidia''s first European base there.

    Simrly, Alric was extremely busy developing new products and improving Orchidia''s current product formtions. As a result, the Bauer siblings hadn''t spent that much time together.

    "How does it feel to be back home?" Alona asked his brother.

    Alric shrugged. "Good."

    She chuckled. "Many of our old customers have been asking me when my ''mad scientist'' brother will return. I told them that if they attend and support Orchidia Germany''sunch, they''ll be able to see you again."

    He nodded. "Orchidia is no longer just a beauty and skincarepany. We also offer other products under thepany''s different brands. Don''t just focus on advertising the products that I developed. Make sure that the customers also know thepany''s different brands such as Orchidia Mommy and Orchidia Baby."

    "Of course! I''m not such a selfish person. I''m the one in charge of Orchidia Germany, so I sure as hell will make sure that it seeds."

    He nodded again. "Make sure to always remember where we came from, how we got here, and especially who''s the one who allowed us to have our sessful careers in the first ce."

    "You don''t have to tell me that. I''m always grateful to Xin and Orchidia. Don''t worry, Alric. You know me. I''m not the type of person to betray people''s trust."

    "Just making sure. Orchidia is growing at a fast rate. There''s a lot of room for error. I can''t help much in running thepany, so I''m doing my best to develop the best products that I can. Xin is excellent but she''s only one person. I hope that you can be as dependable as CFO Long Jinjing and COO Chen Fei when ites to helping Xin run thepany. Also, don''t forget that I own shares in thepany. As long as Orchidia seeds, we''ll also seed."

    "Wow, Alric. You''ve be much more talkative. I''m so proud of you!"

    He gave his sister a cold stare. "I''m serious."

    Alonaughed but still stopped teasing his brother. "Okay, I get it. Don''t worry. I won''t mess it up. I''ll make sure that Orchidia Germany seeds under my watch."

    It was only after she said this that Alric looked satisfied. He continued eating and returned to his previous taciturn self, only nodding now and then at his sister''s chattiness.

    Unbeknownst to them, Iris heard their entire conversation due to her excellent hearing despite sitting at the other end of the table. She smiled in satisfaction. The Bauer siblings had been one of the best investments she made for Orchidia. There was no doubt about it.

    Alric was the type of person who would do his utmost best as long as he had the right environment to continue with his experiments. This was why she always advised Long Jinjing to grant Alric more budget. As long as the man was happy, he would do his best to create more amazing products for thepany.

    After lunch, everyone returned to their hotel.

    Huang Yuyan felt a little too excited and wanted to drag Iris to go shopping immediately.

    Iris didn''t know whether tough or cry. "Mom, please rest first. We can go shopping tomorrow."

    Her mother-inw looked like she was about to continue persuading Iris.

    Jin Liwei stepped forward. "Mom, go rest. If you get sick because you didn''t rest, you won''t be able to go shopping much less attend your daughter-inw''spanyunch in a few days."

    Huang Yuyan pouted like a little girl but still obeyed her son but not before muttering under her breath, "You''re just like your dad. So rigid." Then she smiled at her daughter-inw, "Xin, my dear, let''s go to the hotel spa after shopping tomorrow. Half a day flying in a ne has dried out my skin so badly!"

    "Okay, Mom. I''ll make a reservation at the hotel spa for tomorrow."

    Her mother-inw smiled at Iris before hugging the twins.

    Finally, Jin Liwei released a sigh of relief after his mother left. Iris was amused at his actions.

    "Mom is just as lively as Brother Chonglin," she said. "Don''t be too strict on her. It''s good that she looks and acts younger than her age. Keeps her young."

    He shook his head but there was a smile on his face. He knew his own mother. Huang Yuyan was a wonderful mother, but she could be quite selfish sometimes. Despite this, he was still thankful that his mother wasn''t as bad as Wei Lan.

    Perhaps Huang Yuyan''s biggest fault was insisting on the engagement between Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo back then. That had been a huge disaster.

    Fortunately, Huang Yuyan had already learned from her mistake and didn''t interfere with Jin Chonglin''s rtionships anymore.

    "Mama." Little Mochi hugged Iris'' leg, interrupting them.

    "Ma." Little Matcha hugged her other leg.

    "Hm? What''s wrong, my sweethearts?" Iris couldn''t carry the two of them anymore at the same time so she just rubbed their fluffy heads.

    "They''re acting fussy," Jin Liwei said. "Time for a nap."

    This time, Little Mochi didn''t throw a tantrum when his daddy carried him. He rested her head on his daddy''s wide shoulder, looking drowsy but still wanting to be coaxed.

    Iris carried their other son.

    Little Matcha looked pleased that his mommy was the one carrying him. Unlike his brother, he fell asleep as soon as he rested his head on his mommy''s shoulder. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Iris ced Little Matcha on the crib bed before helping her husband coax their other son to sleep. Soon, Little Mochi also fell asleep as well.

    "They''re growing so fast," Iris couldn''t help butment as she looked at their twins with a loving gaze.

    "En."

    "I don''t want them to grow too fast, Liwei."

    He pulled her into a hug. "We can''t do anything about that, love. What we can do is to do our best to be present as much as we can."

    She sighed. "I know. I''m just panicking a little. It feels like yesterday when I gave birth to our sons. Now I can''t even carry them both at the same time."

    He could only hug her more tightly and kiss her forehead tofort her. He understood what his wife was feeling because he also felt it. However, unlike her, he didn''t want their kids to remain small forever. Well, sometimes he did.

    More often than not, he even wished for their twins to grow up faster so that he could enjoy an uninterrupted two-person world with his beloved wife again.

    Was that too much to wish for?

    Iris didn''t know that her husband was praying for apletely different wish from her. She sighed once again,menting at how fast time flew by.

    At the same time, she also marvelled at how amazing it felt to watch Little Mochi and Little Matcha grow up and develop their own distinct personalities.

    She bent down and kissed each of her son''s cheeks.

    Good thing that Little Mochi didn''t wake up. The fussy baby continued sleeping, even smiling as if he knew that his mommy just kissed him.

    ###

    Early the next morning, Iris, Dom, Chen Fei and Alric Bauer followed Alona Buaer to Orchidia Germany''s office.

    They stood outside the building. It looked like every other office building in the area, but to Iris, it looked the best.

    She touched therge, concrete Orchidia logo in front of the gate.

    It was sleek and simple, yet elegant at the same time.

    Perfect.

    "Boss! Stand in front of the logo. I''ll take a picture of you!" Dom waved his phone.

    Iris had no reason to say no. She posed in front of therge Orchidia logo. After a few shots, Chen Fei and the Bauer siblings also joined.

    Then Dom asked a bodyguard disguised as a passerby to take photos of all of them.

    After their short photoshoot, Alona led everyone inside the building. The interior had apletely different atmospherepared to the Orchidia headquarters office.

    This German base had a more minimalist style.

    Iris looked around. Although she wouldn''t have chosen an interior design like this, for some reason, it fit the ce perfectly.

    They were weed by the other employees. Alona introduced all the key people to her.

    The employees consisted of a wide range of nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. They came from all over Europe, proving Alona''s im that she hired from all over the continent.

    "Everyone, thank you for the warm wee," Iris said. "Please don''t feel pressured about my presence here today. Continue doing what you need to do. I know that time is tight, but I hope that we can make our uingunch a sess. I have high expectations for Orchidia Germany, and I hope that you can all help me achieve my goals for thepany. If you do, I''ll make sure to give everyone a nice bonus."

    All the employees cheered.

    "We''ll work hard, Chairman!"

    "Bonus, here wee!"

    "Howe our chairwoman is so beautiful? Howe? Howe?!!!"

    Iris heard a lot of the employees'' little conversations with her excellent hearing. It was like walking in a United Nations forum. She could hear differentnguages being spoken at the same time. This made her feel excited as a polyglot.

    Then Orchidia Germany''s employees learned that their Chairwoman could speak all theirnguages. Some even wanted to test her by speaking their original native tongue from their original countries before immigrating, but to their surprise, Iris could still perfectly converse with them.

 Chapter 1570 Visiting Orchidia Germany (Part II)

    Chapter 1570 Visiting Orchidia Germany (Part II)

    Iris Long continued to chat with everyone, mostly about their work in thepany. Although this was the first time the staff met her, it felt like she had been working alongside them all this time. She had no trouble at all in understanding technical terms. There were times when herprehension was even better than theirs, benefitting them instead.

    It was clear that she was kept updated about the progress of thepany despite her not being actually present in person in Germany. She lived in another country and still had an excellent grasp of thepany''s entire situation.

    Everyone''s eyes couldn''t help butnd on their founder and chairwoman, Iris Long. They had heard that she was a celebrity back in China and married to a billionaire so their expectations of her were quite low. A few even admitted being somewhat disdainful of her identity as a billionaire''s wife, thinking of her as just a figurehead in the business.

    Seeing her in person today, however, dashed all of their preconceived notions about her, most of which were negative.

    The majority of the staff came from all over Europe and hadn''t been familiar with this newpany, Orchidia. However, they still tried their luck and applied for the job postings because of the tempting above-average sry and excellent benefits.

    Those who received job offers after the rigorous interview sessions decided to move directly to Germany after confirming that thepany was legitimate. They figured that if it was a scam, thepany wouldn''t spend so much time, effort, and money to relocate them and even make their stay in Germanyfortable.

    Included in their job benefits was an option for them to move their families after a three-month probation period. This alone was enough topletely entice them to ept the job offer without any reservations.

    Once hired, they were immediately put to work preparing for thepany''s grandunch. Thepany ced great importance on theunch because they wouldn''t only serve German customers but customers across Europe as well.

    The scale was akin to arge multinationalpany, exciting the newly hired employees, most of whom were new graduates. Of course, there were a few who were poached from otherpanies, but it seemed that Orchidia focused on hiring newbies instead of experienced corporate workers.

    Once they started working in thepany, they finally understood why.

    Orchidia prioritized innovation and forward thinking rather than traditional corporate values.

    New ideas were encouraged.

    Credit stealing was discouraged.

    The rewards for contribution were excellent. On the other hand, the punishments were grave.

    Since the newpany was still new, everyone was having a st following thepany policies. Everything was exciting. It was like the perfectpany of their dreams especially for the new graduates fresh out of university. As a result, they quickly built loyalty and pride in thepany despite it not actuallyunching yet.

    Meeting their chairwoman today also gave them much more reassurance that thepany would seed.

    It wasn''t just her beauty, wealth, multilingual skills, or surprising grasp ofpany matters that impressed them. It was also her undeniable aura as a leader.

    She was feminine all throughout and yet still exuded an intimidating aura. Not intimidating in a scary way. More like intimidating in an impressive way.

    Iris continued to chat with the Orchidia employees, focusing on having in-depth conversations with executive-level staff. She wanted to gauge their personalities by engaging them in discussions. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    It was a trick that Grandpa Lu had taught her long ago and something that she frequently employed when determining if a candidate was the right fit for a job position in her businesses. So far, she was satisfied with Alona Bauer''s hiring decisions.

    She nced at Chen Fei who was also focused on listening to the other employees. Iris knew that for Chen Fei, this was an invaluable learning experience to improve her leadership skills.

    As for Dom, he stayed right beside Iris as a loyal and reliable assistant. He had a tablet that he used to take notes.

    "This is my assistant and right-hand man, Dominic Chua," Iris would always introduce him when talking with another person.

    Those astute enough immediately understood that this was her signal to them that they should treat Dom like they would treat her, especially whenever he had to execute an order of hers.

    Iris nced at her wristwatch and signalled Alona Bauer to call for everyone''s attention. Then Alona handed the "stage" to Iris.

    "Not all of us are Germans but since we are here in Germany, we must follow the local customs and prioritize punctuality and valuing time," Iris said, smiling, but her tone was firm. "On behalf of Orchidia headquarters COO Chen Fei, my assistant Dominic Chua, and of course, myself, thank you very much for weing us here today. As promised, we won''t take too much of your time. I must say that I am pleased with what I''ve observed today.

    "I hope that you continue to hold this kind of enthusiasm and motivation to work for Orchidia. This isn''t just mypany anymore. This is ourpany! As the founder, owner, and chairman, I promise to all of you that as long as you contribute to Orchidia''s sess, I will not shortchange you with generous rewards. Please join me in making Orchidia a sess, not only here in Germany and Europe, but all around the globe as well!"

    Everyone felt passion burn inside them while listening to her speech. They cheered, feeling like they shared the same goal¡ªto make Orchidia a global sess.

    "We''ll do our best, Chairwoman!"

    "Orchidia is the bestpany ever!"

    "Chairwoman Iris Long is the best!"

    Iris smiled, pleased to see that her words had sessfully motivated everyone. This was her goal ining here today.

    Checking on thepany''s progress in person was only secondary. She needed to make sure that the employees felt passionate enough about thepany to encourage continuous innovation. This was crucial in allowing Orchidia topete in a cutthroat corporate industry, especially in Germany where so many multinationalpanies had already long established themselves, their status remaining unshaken for decades, some even for centuries.

    If Orchidia didn''t take any bold risks right from the start, it would just fall behind even before it had a chance to establish a firm foundation.

    Just being a member of Cross Academy''s exclusive businesswork wasn''t a guarantee of sess. Orchidia, as a member, still needed to put in the work.

    For an ambitious businesswoman like Iris, she would never depend on pure connections alone for the sess of any of her businesses. If she were stupid enough to do so, then she didn''t deserve to be a Cross Academy student and Lu Jianhong''s disciple.

    Back to the present, Alona Bauer walked with Iris, Dom, and Chen Fei out of Orchidia Germany.

    "I still have a lot to learn from you, Xin," Alona said when they were out of earshot from the staff. "I don''t think I could''ve motivated them as effectively as you did with just a few words. You''re really something else. As expected of a Cross Academy student."

    "I don''t think being a Cross Academy student has to do with it," Iris said. "Anyone can motivate others. Maybe I just feel the most passionate about Orchidia than anybody else because it''s my first business baby."

    "It''s my first business baby, too," Chen Fei chimed in. "I''m sure that Jinjing feels the same way."

    "You''re right." Iris didn''t contradict her.

    Dom didn''t want to be left out. "Mine, too!"

    "I''ll need to work harder, then," Alona said. "My brother has stakes in thepany. He already told me to do better than this. Even if not for you, I''ll have to work harder or my brother will nag me to no end."

    Everyoneughed.

    "I gave myself a day off today to join you shopping and also to spend more time with my brother," Alona said.

    Iris nced at her wristwatch again. "Let''s go back to the hotel, then. We''ll pick up my mother-inw and go shopping immediately."

    "Will your husbande with us?" Chen Fei asked.

    "No, he won''t," Iris replied.

    Chen Fei raised an eyebrow. Dom also had wide, disbelieving eyes. Alona had the most normal reaction.

    Iris chuckled. "Liwei originally wanted toe with us but my mother-inw banned him, saying that he should just stay at the hotel with the twins. Today is a girls'' day. No boys are allowed."

    Chen Fei: "Good!"

    Dom tossed his non-existent long hair and fluttered his eyshes. "Girls just wanna have fun."

    Alonaughed. "It has been a long time since I had a fun day out with any friends. I''m looking forward to our shopping trip."

    Chen Fei: "Me, too. I want to buy a lot of souvenirs."

    Dom: "I''ll take a lot of photos of us enjoying ourselves today and make Clover and Meimei jealous."

    Alona: "How about Jinjing?"

    Dom sighed. "Sis Jing doesn''t really get jealous about things like this. She''ll just tell us to have fun."

    Chen Fei: "That''s so damn true."

    Iris: "I can''t wait to buy a lot of souvenirs for all the kids."

    Of course, when she said "kids", she meant all the children (her sons and their cousins) including the cats and dogs.

    Everyone agreed with her. For some reason, shopping for the kids excited them more than buying things for themselves. The products in the kids section were just too adorable.

    They all returned to the hotel to pick up Huang Yuyan.

    Jin Liwei left the twins to the nannies while he walked his wife, his mother, and the others to the hotel driveway where a vehicle was already waiting.

    He looked like a puppy being abandoned

 Chapter 1571 Boys Day Out VS. Girls Day Out

    Chapter 1571 Boys Day Out VS. Girls Day Out

    Iris stood on her tippy-toes and gave her husband''s lips a quick peck. "I''ll be back in the afternoon."

    Jin Liwei held her waist. "Okay. Have fun today, love."

    She smiled. "Thank you."

    He watched as his wife, his mother, and the others left. He had the strongest urge to follow them. It took a lot of effort but he was able to stop himself from doing so.

    His mother, Huang Yuyan, was right.

    His wife might love spending time with their family, but Iris deserved a much-needed break from him and their children. He understood it, but the desire to always apany his wife was too strong sometimes.

    This was something that he needed to constantly remind himself¡ªto not cling to his wife too much and avoid making her feel suffocated by his possessiveness.

    His possessive nature was something innate to him. It was difficult to change but not impossible.

    Since deciding that Iris Long, no, Evelina Vetrova, was the only woman for him, he had already resolved to do everything in his power to change for the better and be the man his wife needed. And that was what he was doing and continuing to strive for.

    He might not be a perfect man, but he would transform himself into the best man for his incredible genius wife.

    Jin Liwei stood in front of the hotel for a couple more minutes before sighing and returning to the hotel.

    The twins were ying with their nannies when he entered the suite.

    "Dada!" Little Mochi toddled to him and hugged his leg.

    "Da!" Little Matcha followed suit and hugged his other leg.

    Jin Liwei felt better in an instant. He scooped each of his sons with his arms.

    "Come, let''s go find your Great-Grandpa Lu and y with him," he said.

    Little Mochi: "Yah yah!" (Let''s go!)

    Little Matcha: "Uh." (Okay.)

    The father and sons knocked on the old man''s door. Grandpa Lu weed them with open arms¡ªliterally. He carried the two babies at the same time. He was still very strong despite his advanced age. He also looked like he finally recovered from the fatigue of travelling, thank goodness.

    "Your mom went out? What is it? Your dad is boring? Come, my precious great-grandbabies! Let Great-Grandpa Lu bring you somewhere fun! Do you want to go with your great-grandpa? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Little Mochi: "Yah yah!" (Wanna go!)

    Little Matcha nced at his daddy first. Only when Jin Liwei nodded that the baby agreed to go.

    Grandpa Lu saw all this. "What an obedient baby! Just like¡ªuh¡ªwait, neither of your parents are obedient! Yes, our Little Matcha is an obedient baby all on his own." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Jin Liwei didn''t know whether tough or cry. What did the old man mean that neither he nor his wife was obedient?

    Little Mochi tugged at his great-grandpa''s sleeve. "Chi chi yah yah yah yah!!!" (I, Mochi, am also an obedient baby!)

    Grandpa Lu didn''t understand what the baby said, but he could guess. "Yes, our Little Mochi is also a very adorable baby."

    The old man couldn''t lie and say that Little Mochi was an obedient baby because the little guy was far from it. But Little Mochi was indeed a very adorable baby, so Grandpa Lu didn''t feel any pressure to say it.

    Little Mochi didn''t know the difference. As long as he was praised, Little Mochi would feel the happiest. He giggled and acted cuter.

    In contrast, Little Matcha yawned, already feeling a little bored. He toddled to the ss windows and looked outside, not at all afraid of the height. His eyes shone with interest as cars moved along the streets below, looking like tiny ants.

    "Cha cha, yah yah?" (Matcha, whatchu doing?) Little Matcha also toddled after his brother.

    However, as soon as he saw how high they were from the ground, he immediately started wailing.

    It was too scary!

    Grandpa Luughed at first before catching himself and pretending to cough instead.

    Jin Liwei sighed and lifted his crybaby son,forting Little Mochi. His son almost strangled him by how tightly Little Mochi hugged his neck.

    At the same time that heforted Little Mochi, Jin Liwei didn''t forget to rub his other son''s head, silently telling Little Matcha that he was a good boy. It seemed that his son understood his silent message because Little Matcha grinned at him.

    Jin Liwei''s eyes softened while he continued coaxing his other son, Little Mochi, to stop crying.

    "Give him to me." Grandpa Lu took Little Mochi from Jin Liwei.

    The old man didn''t care about keeping his dignified appearance in front of his family. He made funny faces.

    Soon, Little Mochi stopped crying and startedughing uproariously. Even his brother, Little Matcha, giggled watching their funny great-grandfather.

    Now that the twins had settled down, Grandpa Lu nced at Jin Liwei.

    "Let''s bring my great-grandbabies for a stroll," he said. "What do you think, my boy? I want to know!"

    "En." Jin Liwei didn''t have any better idea of how to spend the day.

    It was better to spend it with Grandpa Lu and the twins, so that he wouldn''t miss his wife too much.

    ''I wonder what my wife is doing right now,'' he thought.

    "Dada!" Little Mochi interrupted his lovesick thoughts.

    Jin Liwei also felt a tug on his trousers. His other son, Little Matcha, reached his little arms up to him.

    "Alright, let''s go," he eventually said.

    Later, Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu each pushed a baby carriage along the streets. Disguised bodyguards surrounded them in a covertly strategic enclosure. Nobody noticed that the two men and two babies were walking with a huge team of bodyguards. Others just thought that there was quite a crowd walking outside today.

    This time, the twins weren''t wearing masks. Their adorable faces were exposed to the world.

    Although Jin Liwei was a semi-celebrity himself as a billionaire, the brother of a superstar, and the husband of a famous Chinese musician, he was still better than most of his cohorts at protecting his privacy.

    Without his wife or brother beside him right now, pretty much nobody would dare to bother him, especially with his extremely cold and intimidating aura.

    Even Grandpa Lu who normally had a jolly personality among his family and friends was actually quite intimidating to other people. Without a big smile on his face, he looked even fiercer than Jin Liwei.

    People walking towards them would subconsciously make way for their group. Others wouldn''t even have the time to appreciate the cuteness of the two babies being pushed in the baby carriages before realizing that they instinctively avoided walking close to the group.

    This wasn''t only due to Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu''s intimidating auras.

    Their disguised bodyguards also performed their roles in protecting them by executing special techniques of subconsciously warning off other people from approaching their group.

    As a result, Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu were able to enjoy strolling with the babies without any interruptions.

    While the "boys" were having a quiet but enjoyable stroll outside, the "girls" were having a st swarming the shopping boutiques like locusts.

    Wherever they went, Iris and her group would practically empty out the shelves.

    They weren''t particr about where to shop. It didn''t matter if the store was a high-end brand or not as long as the products appealed to them. This resulted in situations where small mom-and-pop shops were emptied out by them, causing the owners to tearfully thank them.

    Huang Yuyan was the fiercest when it came to shopping. She would immediately take items from the shelves as long as she liked them. The second fiercest was Iris.

    "This is so much fun," Huang Yuyan said while emptying out another shelf in a small, independent leather store. "It has been a long time since I shopped in this kind of small store. It''s quite refreshing."

    Iris smiled. "I''m d that you''re enjoying yourself, Mom. I also find shopping in these independent stores very enjoyable. Dom did an excellent job of researching these shops beforehand."

    Dom: "Ehehe."

    Chen Fei agreed while she continued shopping. She wasn''t as fierce in shopping as the others. She was the most selective among the group. It wasn''t because she couldn''t afford it. She simply didn''t like storing too many things in her house that she wouldn''t be able to use right away.

    "I''ve passed by these shops in the past but never really entered them," Alona Bauer said. "My brother and I were too poor in the past, so I couldn''t really afford to go shopping like this. Now that I can afford it, I''ve be too busy. It''s so nice to take the day off with you,dies."

    Huang Yuyan patted Alona''s shoulder. "I''ll give you a call whenever I''m in Germany or Europe. Take a day off and I''ll take you shopping just like this."

    Alona chuckled. "I''d appreciate that."

    Thedies continued shopping. They were tireless. The bodyguards carried their shopping bags and put them in another vehicle.

    Iris and the others only paused their shopping spree to eat ate lunch in a restaurant.

    This time, they followed Alona''s rmendation. Iris was fine, but the others weren''t too fond of German cuisine. The restaurant Alona rmended, however, was excellent.

    All of them enjoyed the food especially Dom who ate the most. The others were already used to him, so they didn''t even bat an eye. The other patrons in the restaurant, however, couldn''t help but feel amazed seeing a skinny Asian guy eating so much food in one sitting.

    Where did all the food go?

    Did he have a ck hole in his stomach?

 Chapter 1572 Heart Attack

    Chapter 1572 Heart Attack

    Dom didn''t care about other people''s gazes on him.

    Food was life.

    He continued eating until he finally felt close to 95% full. The remaining 5% was for the after-meal snacks that he nned to buyter. On the way to this restaurant earlier, he had seen other stores, stalls, and kiosks selling a variety of food. A lot of them looked good and smelled good, so he nned on trying as much food as he could eat.

    After lunch, Dom pulled Iris and the others to shop for snacks next. They agreed.

    They split into two groups. Alona Bauer led Dom and Chen Fei to queue up for hot snacks.

    Iris and her mother-inw went another way to buy boxed pastries, choctes, and other specialty preserved food to add to the souvenirs that they nned to give away after returning to their home country.

    Alona, Dom and Chen Fei joined the two after buying the hot snacks. They had fun buying edible souvenirs.

    Once again, the local business owners were ecstatic to have such great business today thanks to Iris'' group.

    For the first half of the afternoon, the group shopped but they didn''t drop. Not all. In fact, they were still very energetic even after returning to the hotel.

    Jin Liwei was so happy to see his wife again. The twins were taking a nap. He thought that he could finally spend some time alone with his wife, but unfortunately, the girls weren''t done for the day yet.

    "I''m sorry, darling. We booked a spa session downstairs. I''ll see youter for dinner, okay?" Iris hugged his waist and looked up at him.

    He sighed. What could he do? He held her waist and bent down to kiss her mouth. "Okay, love. Enjoy."

    "Let''s go, Xin my dear," Huang Yuyan called Iris.

    "I need to go," Iris whispered.

    He gave her another kiss on the mouth before letting her go. He watched as his mother hooked arms with his wife, acting as if they were sisters instead of mother-inw and daughter-inw. Releasing another sigh, he returned to the suite to check on his sleeping sons.

    Little Matcha was well-behaved as usual, staying in one position for the most part.

    In contrast, Little Mochi was like a spinning top. His little socked toes were almost on his twin brother''s head.

    Jin Liwei sighed and carefully put back his son in a proper position.

    Little Mochi opened his eyes. "Dada?"

    Jin Liwei paused and held his breath.

    Thankfully, Little Mochi was in a good mood. Maybe he had been dreaming of something good. He only grinned at his daddy before returning to sleep.

    Jin Liwei released a big sigh of relief.

    Later that night, after everyone ate dinner together at the restaurant that Jin Liwei booked, Iris finished taking a hot shower in their suite.

    "Mama!" Little Mochi bounced on the big bed.

    "Mama," Little Matcha also called her.

    The twins were surrounded by toys that Iris and the others bought earlier.

    "Hi, my sweethearts." She gave each of her sons a big kiss on their cheeks. "Where''s Daddy?"

    Little Mochi: "Dada?"

    Little Matcha pointed a finger at the balcony. "Uh." (There.)

    Iris nced at the balcony. Indeed, her husband was standing outside talking to someone on the phone. She didn''t bother him and proceeded to y with her sons instead.

    Then she sang them their favourite Russian luby. In no time, Little Matcha fell asleep beside her. Little Mochi took a little more time to lull, but he eventually sumbed to dreand.

    Jin Liwei entered by this time. Iris smiled at him but immediately noticed that something was wrong with his expression.

    "What happened?" she asked.

    "Grandma Li had a heart attack," Jin Liwei said in a too-calm voice.

    Those who didn''t know him might ask: How could he be so unfeeling in this kind of serious situation?

    But as his wife, Iris knew Jin Liwei inside and out. This was just him doing his best to keep it together. He must be dying inside.

    Iris also felt like her stomach dropped to the floor after hearing that her grandmother-inw suffered a heart attack. She climbed off the bed and hugged her husband.

    "Is she¡­?" Iris didn''t want to finish her sentence.

    "Grandma is still alive," Jin Liwei whispered.

    She released a sigh of relief. "As long as she''s still alive. Does Mom know about this yet?"

    He shook his head before hugging her back. "I asked Grandma''s people not to tell Mom yet. I think that it would be better if I was the one to tell my mother. At least, I might be able to better deal with it if she bes hystericalter."

    "I''ll help you tell her."

    "En." He hugged her tighter, drawingfort from her.

    "Does your brother know about it?" Iris asked.

    "En. He''s already on his way to the hospital. It''s a bit far from where he''s at, so he''s heading to Dragon Pce first to borrow our helicopter."

    "Good."

    Iris nced at their sons sleeping peacefully in bed. The twins had no idea that their great-grandmother was in critical condition. She envied their innocence a little.

    "We have to start packing so that we can return home as soon as possible," she said.

    He froze for a couple of seconds. "What about Orchidia Germany''sunch?"

    She red at him. "My grandmother-inw is in critical condition and you want me to stay here to celebrate mypany''sunch? The family will always be important to me, Jin Liwei. Let''s go and inform Mom and Grandpa Lu. No, wait. Let me speak with Dom and the nannies first."

    Jin Liwei didn''t move. He stared at her, looking as if he had lost his brain.

    "What are you waiting for?" she asked while pulling his hand, urging him to move. "Time is of the essence. I want to return home and make sure that Grandma Li is okay with my own eyes."

    He released a few shaky breaths. His eyes looked misty.

    Seeing him like this, Iris felt like someone was squeezing her heart. She hugged his waist, silently letting him know that she would always be there for him.

    "Let''s go home, okay?" she whispered.

    "En."

    #

    This evening proved to be a sleepless one for the adults.

    Iris asked the nannies to watch over the children. Dom immediately sensed that something was wrong.

    "Boss?" he asked.

    She took him aside and told him, "Grandma Li had a heart attack."

    Dom gasped, his expression grave. "Oh no. Is she¡­?"

    "Thankfully, she''s still alive," she said in a hurry.

    He clutched his chest and took a few deep breaths.

    "Liwei and I need to inform Mom, Grandpa Lu, and the others about what happened," Iris said. "Please help us pack, Dom. You and the nannies should start packing, too. We''ll leave as soon as our flight is arranged." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Dom nodded. "Got it, Boss. Don''t worry. I''ll take care of everything here. Please go with Sir Boss and do what you need to do."

    "Thanks, Dom. I appreciate it."

    Iris went to find her husband. Jin Liwei was once again talking on his phone. It seemed that he was already making arrangements for their flight. Their jumbo ne, LX Air, needed to be prepared immediately.

    "We''ll leave in two hours," Jin Liwei said.

    "Okay. Two hours it is."

    The husband and wife first went to inform Grandpa Lu. The old man''s eyes shook before sighing.

    In an instant, Grandpa Lu appeared more like his age. The light disappeared from his eyes. He looked older than usual.

    "Your Grandpa Jin wouldn''t want to reunite with your grandmother too soon," Grandpa Lu said with a heavy sigh. "He wants her to live very long, preferably to live in her hundreds."

    Jin Liwei held Iris'' hand. She felt him squeezing her hand but was still careful not to hurt her.

    "Let''s go home and see your Grandma Li," the old man said, looking and sounding tired.

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    Grandpa Lu looked at Iris and gave her a sad smile. "I''m sorry that we won''t be able to attend Orchidia Germany''sunch."

    She shook her head. "Family is the most important."

    "There are no truer words than those." Grandpa sighed again."Go and inform your mother now, my boy. Be careful about how you say it to Yuyan. She might be a grandmother now, but her emotional mentality is still like a little girl."

    The husband and wife left Grandpa Lu so that he could start packing immediately. They headed to Huang Yuyan''s room next.

    Jin Liwei knocked.

    A few secondster, the door opened.

    "Son! Xin, my dear!" Huang Yuyan smiled at them. She was wearing an Orchidia Beauty sheet mask on her face. "Come inside first. Are my grandsons sleeping already? Is there something you need?"

    Jin Liwei stood there as if he had forgotten how to function properly.

    "Son?" Huang Yuyan looked at him in concern.

    "Let''s go inside first," Iris said before pulling her husband inside.

    This time, Huang Yuyan finally sensed something amiss. "What''s wrong?"

    The husband and wife sat on the couch together while Huang Yuyan sat in an armchair across them. Shopping bags littered everywhere. It seemed that Huang Yuyan had been in the middle of organizing her purchases earlier today when the couple knocked on her door.

    "Mom, we need to tell you something," Iris said.

    "W-what is it?" Huang Yuyan became nervous.

    Iris patted her husband''s hand, silently encouraging and reassuring him.

    Jin Liwei took a couple of deep breaths. "Mom, Grandma Li had a heart attack."

    "WHAT?!" Huang Yuyan jumped up from her seat. Her voice became high-pitched in an instant. "When did this happen?!!! Is your grandma still alive?!"

 Chapter 1573 Preparing For Departure

    Chapter 1573 Preparing For Departure

    Iris left her husband on the couch and sat beside her mother-inw instead. She hugged the now hysterical Huang Yuyan.

    "Your grandma can''t die!" Huang Yuyan cried while clutching onto Iris as if she were her lifeline. "Your grandpa and your dad already died! Your grandma can''t die, too! What am I going to do if she leaves?!"

    Seeing his mother like this, Jin Liwei finally regained all his wits about him. He and his wife worked together in trying to calm Huang Yuyan down.

    Finally, Huang Yuyan recovered a semnce of calmness. She was still a mess but at least she stopped being hysterical. Most of it was thanks to her daughter-inw, Iris, who had a stronger calming effect than her iceberg son, Jin Liwei.

    "Mom, why don''t I help you pack?" Iris suggested. "We need to leave within two hours."

    The teary-eyed Huang Yuyan nodded, looking very dependent on her. However, she realized something before shaking her head.

    "No, it''s better to call someone else to help me pack, my dear. I know you and my son should be busy making arrangements for our departure. Sorry for letting you see such an embarrassing side of me. I''m just too distraught after hearing what happened to your grandma."

    "Don''t be sorry, Mom," Iris said, continuing tofort her mother-inw. "Okay, I''ll call someone else to help you pack."

    After arranging a couple of female bodyguards to help her mother-inw pack her luggage, Iris and Jin Liwei continued to make arrangements for their departure.

    The husband and wife separated to maximize the time. Jin Liwei met up with their security team to inform them about the change of ns and also to begin the hotel''s check-out process.

    As for Iris, she headed to Alric Bauer''s hotel room. It took an entire two minutes before the German opened his door. He looked annoyed at being awakened. His hair was a mess, his eyes zed and still sleepy.

    "Sorry for waking you up, Alric," Iris said. "There has been an emergency and we have to leave Germany in less than two hours."

    The sleepiness disappeared in Alric''s eyes in an instant. "What happened?"

    "My grandmother-inw had a heart attack. We need to return to our home country to make sure that she''s okay."

    Alric nodded. "Okay. I''ll start packing."

    "No, Alric. You won''te with us."

    He froze and looked at her in confusion.

    She exined, "You know that Orchidia''sunch here in Germany is very important not only to me but to ourpany. It''s going to be our gateway here in Europe. We need to ensure that it seeds."

    He nodded.

    "It''s unfortunate that I won''t be able to personally witness this milestone for Orchidia, but this doesn''t mean that I would leave without at least appointing someone to represent me in ourpany''sunch here in Germany," Iris continued.

    Alric pointed at himself. "You mean me? You want me to represent you?"

    She nodded. "Exactly. First of all, you''re German so you should be able to understand our German customers the most. And most importantly, you''re not only ourpany''s Chief Product Officer but also one of the major shareholders. You have more than every right to attend as my representative in our Germanunch."

    He thought about it for a couple of seconds before nodding. "Okay, I understand. I''ll attend theunch for all of us. Go and prepare for your departure. I''ll inform my sister about the change of ns. Don''t worry about Orchidia Germany. I hope that your grandmother-inw will be fine and recover."

    "Thank you, Alric."

    After saying a brief goodbye to him, Iris left and hurried to Chen Fei''s room next. When she got there, Chen Fei was almost done packing.

    "I''m almost ready, Xin," Chen Fei said.

    Iris released a sigh of relief. "Good. Did Brother Chonglin inform you?"

    "Yeah. He was crying when he called me. I could barely understand what he was saying. His assistant had to take over the call and exin what happened to me." Chen Fei nced at her. "How''s your husband?"

    Iris sighed again, heavier this time. "He''s acting like a robot. He automatically shut down his emotions so that he can take care of our departure arrangements."

    Chen Fei couldn''t help but sigh as well. "I originally nned on staying here in Germany to represent the headquarters at theunch, but I just can''t leave Chonglin alone. You know how impulsive he is. Even I''m not sure what he might do if we leave him to his own devices in this kind of critical time."

    Iris nodded. "I already spoke to Alric Bauer. He''ll be the one to attend theunch on our behalf." N?v(el)B\\jnn

    "That''s good." Chen Fei zipped herst suitcase before plopping herself on the bed and releasing a heavy sigh. "I''m not very close to Grandma Li, so I can''t really pretend to feel distraught about what happened to her. I just feel sorry for the brothers. Your husband is strong and he has you, so he should be fine. Chonglin is a nutcase but he has me now, too. I''ll do my best tofort him. I won''t allow him to go crazy. He''s my future husband after all."

    "You''re right," Iris said. "We,dies, need to be the strong ones this time around."

    Chen Fei gave her a side-eye. "What the hell are you talking about? I''ve always been the strong one in my rtionship with your brother-inw."

    Irisughed. "Then excuse me for misspeaking."

    "You''re excused." Chen Fei waved a dismissive hand. Then she got up from the bed. "Help me with my luggage before you return to your suite. I''ll head downstairs and wait for you there."

    "Okay." Although she said this, Iris didn''t move to take a suitcase. Instead, she went to the phone and called the front desk, requesting a bellboy and a baggage trolley toe help.

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes at her actions but otherwise didn''tin.

    "Done." Iris smiled at her friend. "Help ising. I need to return to my babies now."

    "Go!"

    Iris didn''t feel any reluctance as she left her friend to wait for the bellboy and baggage trolley. She returned to the suite and found that the nannies had already bundled up her sons.

    The twins were already strapped in their baby carriages.

    Little Matcha was still sleeping deeply, unaware that he would be returning home soon.

    On the other hand, Little Mochi was now wide awake and making a big fuss. As soon as the baby saw Iris, he immediately reached out his little arms to her, looking as if he wanted to jump his baby carriage directly into his mommy''s arms.

    Iris'' heart melted. Even so, she still didn''t take her baby out of the baby carriage. She only bent down to kiss andfort Little Mochi until he settled.

    Dom came out of the main bedroom followed by a few bodyguards. They were all wheeling suitcases.

    "I''ve already checked your bedroom and confirmed that nothing has been left," Dom told Iris when he saw her. "I already packed all of your luggage, including mine. We''re all ready to go."

    Iris sighed in relief. "You''re truly a lifesaver, Dom."

    He smiled but it was muted given the reason why they all had to prematurely leave Germany and return home.

    "Let''s go," Iris announced.

    All of them headed downstairs to the hotel lobby together. Bodyguards surrounded them while also helping wheel and carry the luggage.

    "Mama?" Little Mochi wanted his mommy to carry him.

    "Later, sweetheart," Iris said. "Mommy is busy. Little Mochi is an awesome baby so he knows how to wait, right?"

    The baby pouted at first. But when he heard his mommy saying that he was an awesome baby, his mood immediately improved by leaps and bounds.

    Indeed, he was an awesome baby!

    He no longer whined for his mommy to carry him. After all, he was awesome!

    Iris chuckled.

    Then she continued messaging her Cross Academy friends, informing them that she wouldn''t be able to meet them at theunch after all.

    Originally, she nned on returning to the academy with AJ Zheneres, Theresa Blipsburg, and Amanpio Kileksky after Orchidia''s Germanunch. She wanted to check in with the headmaster, Professor Erwan Dupont, and discuss her current progress in the academy. Most importantly, she wanted to visit Ashandra Knightson and make sure that her friend was okay after what happened in Paris.

    All these ns, however, needed to be scrapped. For now, at least.

    Just like what Iris said to her husband, family was more important.

    She needed to be there for the family after what happened to her grandmother-inw.

    AJ Zheneres was the first one to call Iris because they were in the same time zone. "What happened?"

    Iris told her about her grandmother-inw''s heart attack.

    "I''m so sorry to hear that," AJ said. "I pray that Grandma Li recovers soon."

    "Thank you, AJ."

    "I''ll still go to Munich to attend Orchidia''sunch. Even when you''re not there, I''m still going to support yourpany. Don''t worry about Orchidia''sunch in Germany, Xin. If yourpany encounters any trouble, just tell the person in charge to contact me. I''ll be more than happy to provide assistance."

    Iris'' eyes moistened. "I don''t really know how to thank you, AJ."

    "You and your family all treat me like one of your own. Ever since I became friends with you, my circle of close friends and acquaintances have expanded. You''re all very loyal, too. The least I can do is to repay your loyalty."

    After the phone call, Amanpio Kileksy called next.

    Like AJ Zheneres, Amanpio wished a quick recovery for Grandma Li and confirmed that he would still attend Orchidia''sunch in Germany.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1574 More Serious Than Expected

    Chapter 1574 More Serious Than Expected

    Ashandra Knightson called next. Like the others before her, she wished for Iris'' grandmother-inw to get well soon.

    "I had been looking forward to youing to the academy after so long and hanging out together with our other friends, but such an unfortunate thing just had to happen," Ashandra said with a sigh. "I don''t know what''s going on with ustely. First, something happened in Paris that prompted me to end my art exhibition ahead of schedule. And now, something also happened to your family member needing you to leave Munich and rush back to China."

    Iris also sighed. Now that Ashandra mentioned it, Iris realized that her friend was right.

    "It should just be a coincidence," Iris said.

    "Should be," Ashandra echoed.

    Iris didn''t believe that they were having bad luck. There were so many good, exciting things that happened to her and her family and friends. Perhaps this so-called bad luck was simply an unfortunate coincidence.

    The two women didn''t chat for too long because Iris needed to go.

    She saw her husband speaking at the front desk. Iris walked to Jin Liwei but didn''t disturb him. She continued checking her messages on her phone.

    Theresa Blipsburg hadn''t replied yet. She was probably still in America busy with her own affairs.

    "Xin, my dear." Huang Yuyan appeared.

    Grandpa Lu came next, followed by Chen Fei. Iris'' m team and the other members of her entourage were also ready to go.

    Their luggage was now being wheeled to the waiting vehicles outside.

    Even Alric Bauer who didn''t have to leave with them still came downstairs to see them off. Chen Fei was now discussing the uing Orchidiaunch with him.

    Grandpa Lu yed with the now-hyper Little Mochi. The baby was running all over the hotel lobby. His steps were unsteady, but thankfully, he didn''t fall down.

    Finally, Jin Liwei finished checking all of them out except for Alric Bauer. He held Iris'' hand.

    "Let''s go home, love," he whispered.

    "Okay," she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

    ###

    Half a dayter, the jumbo ne LX Airnded in China. It was evening local time.

    The headlines already featured the news about superstar Jin Chonglin and CEO Jin Liwei''s grandmother being rushed to the hospital after suffering from a heart attack. Since Iris Long was now the Young Madam of the Jin family, her name was also included in the news alongside her husband and brother-inw. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Apparently, the leak originated from the hospital itself. The hospital administration alreadyunched an internal investigation into the patient confidentiality vition even before being prompted to do so. They must be trying to avoid offending the Jin family.

    The Jin family, however, didn''t care about it at all. For now, at least. They were the most concerned about the condition of their family''s old matriarch.

    Upon touching down, Iris and Jin Liwei immediately transferred to a waiting helicopter headed to the hospital. They entrusted their sleeping twins to Dom and the others who would drive straight home to Dragon Pce.

    Huang Yuyan, Grandpa Lu, and Chen Fei all joined the husband and wife in riding the helicopter.

    "Grandpa Lu, are you sure that you want toe with us right now?" Iris asked. "You''re not too tired?"

    "Your grandpa already rested enough in the ne," Grandpa Lu replied. "Don''t look down on this old man, my girl! I''m old, yes, but I can outrun all of you any day. Don''t you believe me? Tell me I want to know!"

    Iris and the others chuckled. "Yes, Grandpa Lu. We believe you."

    He snorted before smiling. "That''s a good look on all of you. We should all be smiling, not crying. Your Grandma Li is still alive. Let''s be thankful instead of worrying about what might have happened. Once you reach my age, you begin to have a broader, deeper appreciation of life. I''ve watched so many of my family, friends, acquaintances, and contemporaries leave before me. At the same time, I''ve also witnessed so many new additions to our family like my granddaughters-inw and precious great-grandbabies.

    "I''ve known your Grandma Li for as long as I remember because she was the one who gave my best friend and brother, your Grandpa Jin, a wonderful family. She''s like a sister to me. After your grandfather and father''s deaths, the two of us depended on each other to remain strong for the family and also for thepany. I''m sure that she also feels the same way as I do¡ªthankful for being alive for as long as we have and grateful for our amazing family who continues to love and care about us."

    Huang Yuyan sobbed quietly after listening to the old man''s wise words.

    Iris also had teary eyes. She nced at her husband whose face and entire body looked tense, like a crossbow strung too tightly. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

    He looked at her and forced a smile. It looked unnatural on his face.

    She mentally sighed. Her husband looked like a cold statue on the outside, but on the inside, he must be almost going crazy from fear and anxiety for his grandmother.

    Behind them, Chen Fei watched the night view below the helicopter. The night lights in the city were beautiful. Even the darkness in the rural areas also held a mysterious kind of beauty.

    Like what she mentioned to Iris earlier at their hotel in Munich, she wasn''t as affected by Grandma Li''s heart attack as they were. She mostly only interacted with the olddy during special asions hosted by Iris and Jin Liwei.

    Right now, Chen Fei was more worried about her fianc¨¦. She hoped that Jin Chonglin wouldn''t do something stupid just because of his fear and worry for his grandmother.

    The group wished that the helicopter could fly faster.

    After what felt like forever, they finallynded on top of a hospital helipad. The hospital administration and security were already waiting to wee them. These people knew about the dire situation of the Jin family''s old matriarch, so they didn''t attempt to chat with Jin Liwei, Iris Long, and the others but directly led them to the hospital VIP floor.

    "Please suit up before entering," a nurse stopped them at the door.

    Iris'' stomach felt like it dropped to the floor. She nced at her husband and the others'' expressions. They also realized that the situation must be more serious than they initially expected.

    Huang Yuyan started crying again.

    "Mom, please control yourself," Jin Liwei told her in a stern voice. "If you keep on crying like that, you''ll contaminate the PPEs and they won''t let you enter my grandmother''s room."

    Following the nurse''s instructions, they put on the personal protective equipment provided. The nurse checked if all of them put on the PPEs properly before finally letting them inside the room.

    The hospital administration representatives waited for them outside. As much as they looked eager to speak with Jin Liwei, they knew that it wasn''t appropriate given the situation.

    Jin Liwei led the way. Iris and the others followed him inside.

    It was a suite with a living room, a kitchte, and what looked like a washroom.

    At the far side was an enclosed room with a ss wall. This was where Grandma Liy unconscious with a frightening amount of tubes connected to her body from an equally frightening variety of medical machines.

    "Big Bro! Sister Xin!" Jin Chonglin stood up from where he sat just outside the ss window. He was also wearing PPE like them. "Grandpa Lu! Mom!"

    Then Chen Fei finally stepped out from behind everyone. When he saw her, Jin Chonglin began sobbing.

    "Oh, you!" Chen Fei ran to him and hugged him.

    He rested his head on her shoulder and began bawling in earnest. "Babe! My grandma¡­my grandma is¡­wuwuwu!!!"

    "Stop crying!" Jin Liwei scolded his younger brother but to no avail.

    He was about to scold him again but Iris stopped him. "Let your brother vent out his emotions."

    Jin Liwei clenched his jaw but eventually decided to ignore his younger brother. Before he could take his next breath, another loud sob sounded beside him. This time, it was his mother. His head began hurting.

    Iris patted his hand, trying to calm him down, before heading tofort her mother-inw.

    In the end, it was Grandpa Lu who stood beside Jin Liwei. The old man patted his back. It was a real, soft pat this time. It seemed that the old man''s strength had also been affected by what happened today.

    "Let''s go inside, my boy, and ask the doctor about your grandma''s actual condition," Grandpa Lu said.

    "En."

    Jin Liwei followed the old man and entered the enclosed room. It was a big, wide room but he felt a little ustrophobic because of all the medical equipment inside.

    A doctor and a nurse were checking on Grandma Li.

    Jin Liwei almost couldn''t breathe upon seeing his grandmother. To him, Grandma Li had always been a regal, elegant, and strong grandmother. She might not be the most affectionate grandmother¡ªhe inherited most of his cold personality from her¡ªbut she was still a loving elder presence.

    Seeing her in such a state made him feel like his chest was about to fold in unto itself. If not for his strong determination to keep it together for the sake of their whole family, he might have already copsed.

    "Doctor, tell us my friend''s condition," Grandpa Lu said. "We want to know!"

    "The patient suffered a myocardial infarction or what we usually call a heart attack and a stroke shortly afterwards," the doctor replied.

    Both Jin Liwei and Grandpa Lu''s breaths caught in their throats.

 Chapter 1575 Prepare for the Worst

    Chapter 1575 Prepare for the Worst

    "We already performed lifesaving surgery on the old madam," the doctor continued. "We managed to prevent further damage to her heart, brain, and other organs, but all of these have taken a toll on the patient''s already fragile health. Basically, all we can do now is monitor her and wait for her to wake up. The longer she stays unconscious, the more dangerous her condition will be. My team and I will do our best to save the old madam, but at the end of the day, we aren''t gods. Please prepare yourself for the worst."

    Grandpa Lu grabbed Jin Liwei''s arm to prevent himself from falling over. Despite his speech about having a broader, deeper appreciation of life during their helicopter ride earlier, hearing about the extent of his friend''s critical condition was enough to take his breath away.

    Jin Liwei held on to Grandpa Lu, helping to stabilize the old man while also drawing strength from him. He closed his eyes and took a few deep, shaky breaths.

    When he opened his eyes, he found that his vision had be blurry. Tears pooled in his eyes, but he wouldn''t let them fall.

    "My grandmother is still alive," he said in a forced tone full of conviction. "She''ll wake up. I''m sure she will. She won''t leave us without saying anything to us, her family."

    "You''re right, my boy." Grandpa Lu''s voice was hoarse. "Zhiruo is a strong woman. She''ll fight through this."

    "En." Jin Liwei nodded.

    He noticed the old man''s hold on his arm had be heavy. He sighed. "Grandpa Lu, why don''t you take a seat in the living area first? I''ll follow you after I finish speaking with the doctor."

    Grandpa Lu hesitated and took a look at his friend.

    Grandma Li was now unconscious, hooked to so many lifesaving medical machines, and looking smaller than usual. Her normally cold and regal aura was nowhere to be seen. She looked like a very ill old woman. Nevertheless, her original beauty weathered through time could still be faintly seen.

    "So you''vee to this point, Li Zhiruo," Grandpa Lu murmured, sighing. Then he told Jin Liwei, "Alright, my boy. Go talk to the doctor. This old man will walk myself out."

    "Let me help you," Jin Liwei said.

    Grandpa Lu pretended to re at him. "This old man is still as strong as a bull! You don''t believe your grandpa? Tell me, I want to know!"

    A faint smile broke out of Jin Liwei''s grave expression. "I believe you."

    The old man harrumphed, straightened his back, and walked out of the enclosed patient''s room to the living area outside. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Uncle, how''s Mom?" Huang Yuyan asked him.

    Tears flowed down her eyes. Her face was already red and a little swollen from all the crying. Her daughter-inw, Iris, held her and patted her back, trying tofort her.

    Grandpa Lu sighed. "Your mother-inw is still alive, Yuyan. Let''s all pray that she passes this dangerous period, shall we?"

    Huang Yuyan sobbed in her daughter-inw''s arms again.

    Iris nced at her husband, who was speaking with the doctor in the enclosed patient''s room. She could see them, including her unconscious grandmother-inw, through the ss windows but couldn''t hear what they were saying. Looking at her husband''s grave expression, however, was enough to let her know that her grandmother-inw''s condition was indeed more serious than they all initially expected.

    "What?!" Chen Fei gasped in an urgent whisper. "Grandma Li suffered from a heart attack and stroke at the same time?!!!"

    Her words attracted Iris and Huang Yuyan''s attention.

    "What do you mean by that?!" Huang Yuyan demanded, interrupting the conversation between her younger son and his fianc¨¦e.

    Jin Chonglin looked like a mess. His face was full of tears, snot, and perhaps even saliva. Despite this, Chen Fei still wiped his face withoutining. She also continuedforting him.

    Those who knew her as Orchidia''s poison-mouthed devil COO would definitely get a shock if they saw her acting so tenderly like this to another person. They might think that she was possessed by a bad (or good?) spirit.

    People in love could really do anything for the one they loved.

    Back to the present, Chen Fei looked a little guilty as she nced back and forth between her fianc¨¦ and her future mother-inw. In her earlier shock, she had been unable to control the volume of her voice. She elbowed the crying Jin Chonglin to rify his grandmother''s true condition to his mother.

    But before Jin Chonglin could speak, Jin Liwei, the doctor and the nurse exited the patient''s room.

    Huang Yuyan abandoned questioning her younger son and immediately zeroed in on her eldest son. Jin Liwei was much more reliable than Jin Chonglin anyway. He should be able to rify things for everyone in a sinct manner.

    Seeing that nobody was questioning him anymore, the doctor quickly excused himself and left the VIP suite with the nurse.

    Jin Liwei nced at his wife. Iris understood the need in his eyes.

    She temporarily left her mother-inw and stood beside her husband. She held his hand. He quickly sped their fingers together, holding her tightly, as if afraid that she would let go.

    With his wife beside him, Jin Liwei felt like he had gained strength. He faced his sobbing mother.

    "Mom, Grandma Li''s condition is much graver than we first thought," he said before reiterating what the doctor told him using more concise words.

    "Prepare for the worst?!" Huang Yuyan covered her face with her hands and bawled.

    Iris didn''t want to leave her husband. He might not look like it but his distress shouldn''t be any lesser than his mother and brother. She had known him long enough to notice the telltale signs from his minute expressions and bodynguage. However, she also felt the need tofort her mother-inw.

    Then she heard someone clearing a throat beside her. Grandpa Lu appeared in her sight. He gave her a meaningful look, silently telling her, "I got this", before sitting beside Huang Yuyan tofort her.

    "Yuyan, my dear, what happened to your mother-inw is something out of our control," Grandpa Lu said while rubbing Huang Yuyan''s shaking back.

    Huang Yuyan sobbed in the old man''s shoulder. "Uncle Jianhong! I don''t know what I''m going to do if Mom leaves! I already lost my husband, my parents, and my father-inw!"

    Grandpa Lu scowled and scolded her. "What are you talking about, girl? Are your sons, daughters-inw, and grandchildren not with you? Am I invisible to you? Tell me, I want to know!"

    Huang Yuyan realized the error of her words. She stammered, "Uncle, t-that''s not¡­what I meant¡­."

    "Regardless of what you meant, don''t let your emotions cloud your thinking, Yuyan girl," the old man said in a stern voice.

    "I''m sorry, Uncle." Huang Yuyan truly looked like a little girl being scolded by an elder.

    Grandpa Lu sighed and patted Huang Yuyan''s shoulder. This time, his "pats" were gentle, not hurting Huang Yuyan at all.

    "And don''t lose hope," Grandpa Lu said, not only to Huang Yuyan but to everyone in the room. "Your Grandma Li is still alive. Whatever happens in the next few days, we have to be strong and wait for her to wake up. I believe that she will do her best to wake up. She''s fighting, so we should give her strength with our belief that she will get through this. Do you all understand what this old man is saying? I want to know!"

    Huang Yuyan: "Yes, Uncle."

    Iris: "We understand, Grandpa Lu."

    Jin Liwei: "En."

    Jin Chonglin: "Wuwuwu. Okay, Grandpa Lu. I''m hungry."

    Chen Fei: "I''ll go out and buy some food for you. Stop crying now."

    In the end, they all decided to take turns watching over Grandma Li because there wasn''t enough room for all of them in the VIP suite. Sure, they could squeeze on the extra bed, and sofas, and maybey down some futon on the floor but that would be too ufortable.

    They also had Grandpa Lu, an elder, with them. It would be extremely thoughtless of them to expect an old man like him to join them in camping out at the hospital. Grandpa Lu should be more fatigued than all of them given his advanced age, especially after all the travelling they did.

    Everyone decided that it would be best if Iris and Jin Liwei took the shift tonight. The others would check in at a nearby hotel instead.

    Jin Liwei fished out his phone and called his assistant, Xu Tian, to arrange everything. Xu Tian was already aware of what happened to the Jin family''s old matriarch. Even before Jin Liwei''s instructions, he already made a reservation at a nearby hotel for all of them.

    "I also sent someone to buy some fresh new clothes and daily necessities for all of you," Xu Tian said. "They should all be delivered to your hotel rooms."

    "My wife and I will stay in the hospital tonight," Jin Liwei replied.

    "Understood, sir. I''ll have the clothes and daily necessities intended for you and the young madam sent to the old madam''s hospital suite instead."

    "Good."

    "If you need anything else, please call me at any time."

    "En, thanks."

    "Would you like me to fly there and join you in person, sir?"

    Jin Liwei thought about it first. "No, it''s better for you to stay there and hold the helm at thepany in my stead."

    "Understood, sir. Please rest well with the young madam. And I hope that the old madam wakes up and recovers soon."

    "En."

    Now that everything had been arranged, Grandpa Lu took Huang Yuyan and the couple, Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei, with him and left the hospital. Xu Tian had also arranged for a driver to take them to the nearby hotel.

 Chapter 1576 Night Vigil

    1576 Night Vigil

    The first night of vigil was excruciating.

    Jin Liwei couldn''t fall asleep no matter how much he tried. Lying beside him on the sofa bed, Iris couldn''t sleep properly either. She could feel her husband''s fear and anxiety like invisible waves emanating from him.

    However, she was too exhausted. She fell into a light sleep for about a couple of hours before waking up. Her eyes opened and saw her husband tiptoeing in the darkness toward the patient room. He didn''t enter the enclosed room but stood outside the ss windows to watch his unconscious grandmother.

    Sighing, Iris couldn''t sleep anymore. She also rose and walked towards him.

    "Sorry, love," he said when he noticed her approaching him. "Did I wake you up?"

    She didn''t answer him but asked a question instead. "You didn''t sleep at all?"

    He opened his mouth to reply, but she told him before he could: "Don''t you dare lie to me."

    He sighed. "I can''t sleep, love." He pulled her into an embrace as they watched the unconscious Grandma Li inside the patient room.

    "I feel like my grandmother is slipping away from us. She''s the one who has a cold personality simr to mine, so we''ve always had a special bond. I know that she misses my grandfather every single day and is still terribly heartbroken over having to bury her only son, my father. Maybe she thinks that it''s time for her to rest, but I feel selfish. I don''t want to let her go yet. I hope that she can still watch our children grow up."

    Iris wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.

    Other people might think that her husband was a heartless, cold-blooded capitalist. Indeed, he could be extremely cold and ruthless, especially to other people, but to those he considered his family and close friends, he would do everything to protect them, even discarding his morals to do so.

    She already knew him long enough to understand his real private persona was different from his public fa?ade.

    As someone who was only beginning to learn how to embrace having a beautiful family and close circle of friends in her present life, she couldn''t fully rte to this kind of deep connection to any parental figure. But seeing her husband suffering this kind of anguish was enough to distress her.

    "I''m sorry, darling," she said while rubbing his back.

    If only she had the power to heal Grandma Li for her husband, she would have already done so. Unfortunately, despite the mystical thing of being reborn into another body, she held no other special power except for her past life''s memories.

    "Don''t be sorry, love. Grandma Li being ill like this is not something any of us can control."

    "I know. I hope that Grandma Li wakes up soon."

    "Me too, love. Me, too."

    The husband and wife stood watching over the old woman for hours.

    When Huang Yuyan and Grandpa Lu returned the next morning, they found Iris still sleeping on the sofa bed. Jin Liwei was already awake¡ªno, he looked like he didn''t sleep at all. He had huge eye bags. The white in his eyes had also turned red.

    Seeing this, Huang Yuyan felt distressed for her son.

    "You didn''t sleep, son?" she asked.

    Jin Liwei pressed his index finger on his lips, warning his mother and the old man to be quiet so as not to disturb his sleeping wife.

    "My wife and I stayed up almost all night," he said. "She only managed to fall asleep just now."

    Thankfully, Huang Yuyan wasn''t the typical evil mother-inw who always went against her daughter-inw. On the contrary, she sometimes felt closer to Iris than she did to her eldest son. Although Jin Liwei was her son, she often found him intimidating, especially after he grew up and became an adult.

    Knowing that her daughter-inw basically stayed up all night with her eldest son to watch over her mother-inw, Huang Yuyan felt touched and very emotional.

    "Okay, let Xin sleep more," she whispered. "You should''ve insisted that she sleep, son. Being a mother and a wife is not easy."

    "I know I''m wrong." Jin Liwei didn''t argue and readily admitted his fault.

    "How''s your grandmother, my boy? I want to know!" Grandpa Lu''s usually loud voice didn''t boom this time. He did his best to control the volume of his voice.

    Jin Liwei sighed. "The doctor and nurses came several timesst night to check on Grandma but there are no improvements yet. Let''s hope that she wakes up soon."

    This time, Iris stirred. She opened her eyes and saw her mother-inw and Grandpa Lu.

    "Mom, Grandpa, you''re here," she murmured.

    "Go back to sleep, my dear," Huang Yuyan said with a soft smile. "Don''t mind us."

    Iris shook her head. "I''m awake now."

    There was a knock on the door before it opened.

    "We brought breakfast~" Jin Chonglin announced while carrying several bags of take-out meals.

    Chen Fei followed him carrying smaller bags, probably snacks.

    Everyone''s spirits had somewhat recovered afterst night. There was still a tense atmosphere filled with dread and anxiety, but at least nobody was sobbing anymore.

    Huang Yuyan''s face looked a little puffy. She also had dark circles around her eyes but she did something to minimize their appearance.

    Her younger son, Jin Chonglin, looked worse than her. He wore big, dark sunsses to cover his swollen, bloodshot eyes and the big, dark bags underneath. He refused to take off his sunsses inside.

    "You just woke up, Xin?" Chen Fei asked while handing her a breakfast set meal.

    Iris nodded. "Were you able to sleep?"

    "I did," Chen Fei said. "But it was a rough sleep. Your brother-inw kept on crying and waking me up. I don''t dare to lose my temper because I feel sorry for him. How about your husband?"

    Iris nced at Jin Liwei before sighing. "He must''ve stayed up all night. I was going to stay up with him but I felt too exhausted."

    "Chonglin and I will take the vigilter tonight so you and your husband should rest in the hotel. It''s much morefortable there."

    "Okay." Iris nodded. "I''m worried about Liwei. His body will copse at this rate if he doesn''t rest."

    "You can handle him. He loves you so much. He listens to you."

    Iris smiled, not denying it. "Well, Brother Chonglin also listens to you."

    Chen Fei smirked. "He does, doesn''t he?"

    The two women smiled at each other, their eyes filled with meaning.

    The brothers, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin, couldn''t hear what their women were whispering about. They weren''t too curious, however. If their women didn''t want to tell, nobody could force them. It was better to remain ignorant than to die from too much curiosity especially when it came to their women''s secrets.

    "What''s the situation outside?" Jin Liwei asked. "You want me to call for more security?"

    Jin Chonglin grimaced. "Yeah, Big Bro. When the leak happened, the media immediately came and surrounded the hospital''s vicinity. Some fans even started camping outside. At this rate, the other patients'' families might startining about us causing all this nuisance. The crowd has gotten bigger this morning. The hospital admin already called the police to help maintain order and safety."

    Jin Liwei frowned. "If not for our grandmother''s fragile condition, I would''ve already insisted on transferring her to another hospital with better security and privacy."

    "I also wanted to transfer her to another hospital but the doctor warned me against it," Jin Chonglin said. "This is the best hospital that''s nearest to Grandma''s mountain vi. I guess we can only make do with it for now."

    Iris appeared beside her husband. She heard what they were talking about. "I think that this hospital is not bad. It''s just the security and privacy that are the main concerns. Let''s just add more security, Liwei."

    "En." Jin Liwei''s expression eased up a lot when she appeared next to him.

    "Let''s eat now," Chen Fei announced.

    Everyone agreed.

    The doctor and nurse came once again while they were eating. There were still no improvements in Grandma Li''s condition.

    The couples alternated taking the night vigil.

    Grandpa Lu was already old so they discouraged him from staying overnight. Huang Yuyan was emotionally fragile when it came to her mother-inw, so she wasn''t really a reliable choice as a night watcher. Instead of helping, she might just break down in tears.

    Iris and Jin Liwei missed their children, so they would fly home using the helicopter when it wasn''t their turn to watch Grandma Li. The kids also missed them terribly, bawling like there was no tomorrow. Even Little Matcha would be inconsble as he and his brother clung to their parents, refusing to let them go.

    The husband and wife were tempted to bring their children with them, but there were too many paparazzi and reporters camping around the hospital vicinity. It was already not safe for the adults, much less for the children.

    So with heavy hearts, the couple could only leave their children with Dom and the nannies at home.

    This went on for a full week.

    Grandma Li still hadn''t woken up yet.

    Their other friends had already visited at least once¡ªnamely, Jin Liwei''s brothers and Iris Long''s girl squad members. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Lu Zihao arrived with his wife, Long Jinjing. They left their twins at Dragon Pce to y with their cousins.

    Long Jinjing joined Chen Fei and Iris while Lu Zihao went outside to talk to Jin Liwei.

    "The security in this hospital is a f*cking sh*thole," Lu Zihaomented. "You really can''t transfer your grandmother to another ce?"

 Chapter 1577 Flatline

    Chapter 1577 tline

    "I''m not satisfied with the security and privacy of this hospital either," Jin Liwei said. "But my grandmother is too weak to handle being transferred to another ce. I already called for extra security toe. Ketchup has also already hijacked the hospital''s CCTV."

    Lu Zihao''s eyes were cold. "My sister and the old man are here with you. I''ll send some of my people to help fortify the security."

    "En." Jin Liwei epted it.

    Even if Jin Liwei didn''t agree, Lu Zihao would still have gone ahead with his own ns anyway.

    "Your people are okay with the cops patrolling around the hospital area?" Jin Liwei asked.

    Lu Zihao shrugged. "We hate the cops and avoid them if we could, but if we couldn''t, then we gotta just be extra cautious. If my people get caught, then it means that their skills are not up to par. As long as it''s not life imprisonment, experiencing the life inside could be a way to polish their mental strength and endurance. Breaking out of prison is possible but too risky."

    Jin Liwei sighed and shook his head. He was only asking a simple question but his brother-inw just had to talk about the mentality of a principled criminal as if it were something glorious. As expected of the former crown prince of the Vetrov criminal empire.

    It was a good thing that Ketchup had already hijacked the hospital''s CCTV system. If others were to listen to their conversation and report them right now, both of them might end up in jail that very same day.

    "I want to take the old man home," Lu Zihao said next. "He''s too old to endure this kind of stressful situation."

    "You don''t think we tried persuading him?" Jin Liwei sighed again. "Grandpa Lu insists on staying here to keep watch of my grandmother no matter what. After my grandfather passed away, he entrusted Grandma Li and our Jin family to Grandpa Lu. He takes all his promises very seriously, especially the promise he made to his best friend and sworn brother, my grandfather. So go figure out how to persuade him."

    Lu Zihao frowned. He immediately looked fiercer with all his facial scars bing more striking. Jin Liwei, however, was already used to him.

    "I should''ve brought my sons," Lu Zihao muttered. "The old man melts in front of those brats. One smile from them and I bet he''ll immediately fly back home with us."

    "You can try."

    "Never mind." Lu Zihao clicked his tongue. "My wife won''t allow me to bring my sons so far away from home."

    Jin Liwei''s mouth twitched. Thankfully, he was able to maintain his stoic expression. Another good thing was that his brother-inw didn''t notice his mouth twitch.

    He almostughed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Who would have thought that someone like Niki Vetrov would say something mundane and rtable as his wife not allowing him to bring his sons so far away from home?

    Jin Liwei knew that his wife''s greatest hope for her big brother was for Lu Zihao (Niki Vetrov) to let go of his revenge ns and focus on enjoying a peaceful new life with his family.

    Unfortunately, the man was already set on his dangerous road of revenge.

    "I''ll talk to the old man," Lu Zihao said. "If he still doesn''t want toe home, maybe I''ll just knock him unconscious and drag him away¡ª"

    The door to the VIP suite opened and out came a sprightly old man. "What were you nning to this old man, you unfilial, pinheaded grandson?! Am I still your beloved grandpa?! Tell me, I want to know!"

    Lu Zihao quickly hid the smile on his lips and pretended to look surprised. Given his skills, there was no way that an old man could sneak behind him and eavesdrop on his conversation. The only conclusion was that he allowed Grandpa Lu to hear what he said.

    "Oh, you''re here, old man?" Lu Zihao asked in a nonchnt tone.

    Grandpa Lu marched to where he stood and smacked his back several times. The thumping sounds were so loud that they echoed in the hospital hallway. The bodyguards patrolling looked in their direction and couldn''t help but wince.

    Lu Zihao, however, acted as if the smacks were nothing.

    Grandpa Lu finally stopped smacking him. He even held his hand and massaged it.

    Lu Zihao saw his actions. "Did you hurt your hand, old man?"

    "No! My hand is perfectly fine. And call me grandma, you numbskull!"

    Jin Liwei was amused. He liked seeing this Lu Zihao get along with Grandpa Lu. He was about toment and dig a pit for his brother-inw but the rm outside Grandma Li''s suite started ring.

    Secondster, doctors and nurses started running.

    Jin Liwei''s heart felt like it stopped. "What''s going on?!"

    Nobody answered him.

    Grandpa Lu also stood still and stared at the ring rm. When the door was thrown open, they could hear Huang Yuyan and Jin Chonglin''s heartbreaking wails.

    Jin Liwei ran inside. He was stopped by some of the nurses but he broke through them.

    Grandpa Lu also followed but his emotions affected his motor skills. He tripped on his own feet.

    Lu Zihao caught him. "Careful, Grandpa."

    "Inside, my boy," Grandpa Lu said. "Let''s go inside."

    He didn''t notice that Lu Zihao called him "grandpa" this time and not "old man".

    Lu Zihao didn''t say anything but he supported Grandpa Lu. They walked inside the chaotic VIP suite. Nobody stopped them this time.

    Just one look at the scary Lu Zihao was enough to make anybody pee their pants from fright. Nobody among the hospital staff dared to stop him. He looked like he might swallow them whole without even spitting out their bones.

    Inside the VIP suite, Iris was hugging Jin Liwei tight in the waist to prevent him from rushing inside the patient room where the doctors and nurses were all working hard to revive Grandma Li who tlined.

    Near the husband and wife, Chen Fei was almost riding on Jin Chonglin''s back like a ko to also prevent him from rushing inside the patient room. Jin Chonglin was like a berserk beast howling with bloodshot eyes. His big, dark sunsses had already been tossed somewhere.

    Seeing that Chen Fei was barely holding on, Lu Zihao sat Grandpa Lu on the sofa and marched to the couple. He then plucked Chen Fei off Jin Chonglin, grabbed his cor, and shook him hard.

    "Ugh!" Jin Chonglin felt like his head was going to be thrown off from his neck. "What the hell, bro?!!!"

    "Calm the f*ck down or I''m gonna make you sh*t blood for days," Lu Zihao said in a cold, sinister voice.

    Unlike his older brother, Jin Chonglin wasn''t used to Lu Zihao acting like this at all. "No, you calm down, Fifth Bro! Are you trying to murder me?!"

    "I will if you don''t stop acting like a wild animal. Your woman is my woman''s best friend. If you hurt Chen Fei, I will have to bury your body somewhere in the woods if my woman asks me."

    Jin Chonglin shivered. He knew that Lu Zihao was just joking¡ªwait, he should be joking, right? Right?!!

    "Haha. Right." He attempted tough it off but his nervousness showed.

    Then he finally noticed his fianc¨¦e''s dishevelled state. "Babe, oh no! I''m sorry! Did I hurt you?"

    Chen Fei stood up and tried smoothing the wrinkles on her clothes. Her expression was unreadable, effectively making Jin Chonglin even more nervous.

    On the other side, Long Jinjing sat with the sobbing Huang Yuyan. She had been so worried about his best friend, Chen Fei, being thrown off by Jin Chonglin. Good thing that her husband came and pped some sense into the superstar.

    She wanted to intervene in the engaged couple but his younger sister''s mother-inw was too distraught. Long Jinjing felt that she should help calm down Huang Yuyan first.

    Thank goodness for her husband. She sent Lu Zihao a grateful smile.

    Lu Zihao gave her a curt nod.

    This simple exchange between husband and wife went unnoticed by the others. Everyone was too preupied with reviving Grandma Li who tlined.

    Grandpa Lu was also able to regain his senses. He rose from the sofa and walked closer to the patient room without being in the way of the medical personnel. He watched as his friend was being revived.

    Finally, the tline on the machine started showing activity again. The doctors and nurses didn''t stop until they stabilized Grandma Li''s condition again. The head doctor exited the patient room.

    Huang Yuyan and the others surrounded the doctor, asking him questions.

    "The patient''s condition is stable again," the doctor said. "For now. But tlining like this at this time is not a good sign. The patient''s chances of survival will decrease the longer she remains unconscious. We''ll do everything to the best of our abilities to keep the patient alive, but as I mentioned to you before, please prepare yourselves for the worst."

    Huang Yuyan copsed on the floor. Long Jinjing couldn''t support her by just herself. She almost fell down with Huang Yuyan if her husband hadn''t swooped in and caught her.

    Lu Zihao also grabbed Huang Yuyan and unceremoniously plopped her down on the nearest chair.

    "You okay?" he asked his wife.

    Long Jinjing nodded. "Thank you."

    "Hm."

    Huang Yuyan was too distraught to feel offended by how Lu Zihao had treated her like a ragdoll.

    Her sons, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin, also hadn''t returned to their full senses yet.

    Iris stayed by her husband''s side.

    Chen Fei also let go of her earlier annoyance and held her fianc¨¦''s hand, silently letting him know that she would be there for him.

 Chapter 1578 Power of Time

    Chapter 1578 Power of Time

    Grandma Li tlined two more times in a 48-hour period. Everyone was on edge, and the doctors and nurses looked increasingly grave as time passed.

    Jin Liwei looked like a zombie. He barely slept.

    Iris forced her husband to sleep¡ªand he would¡ªbut she knew he would still wake up and sneak away from bed while she slept to continue worrying about his grandmother.

    Watching him like this was breaking her heart. She wished that she could help ease his fear and anxiety. But all she could do was stay by his side, never letting him feel that he was alone.

    All of them were unable to leave the hospital, just in case something really did happen to Grandma Li. Except for Grandpa Lu, who was too old, they all squeezed into the VIP suite.

    Granted, the VIP suite wasrge, but with two couples and Huang Yuyan, it was still a tight squeeze with barely any privacy between them.

    As for Grandpa Lu, the old man originally wanted to squeeze with all of them and watch over Grandma Li, but Lu Zihao had enough of Grandpa Lu''s obstinacy, so he directly carried the old man and dragged him away to the hotel.

    Grandpa Lu''sints fell on deaf ears. He tried acting pitiful to his granddaughter-inw, Long Jinjing, but she pretended not to hear, looking quite guilty doing so. In the end, the old man couldn''t overpower his grandson.

    By the third day since Grandma Li tlined for the first time, Iris woke up from her makeshift bed on the couch. Her husband was nowhere to be seen.

    Chen Fei and Jin Chonglin slept together on the other couch.

    Huang Yuyan took the only proper bed besides the patient''s bed. She, too, was still sleeping.

    Iris was still sleepy, but not finding her husband beside her bothered her too much. She rose and tiptoed around, careful not to wake up anyone.

    Finally, she saw her husband standing outside on the balcony. The sky was still mostly dark, but hints of sunrise were already starting to show on the horizon.

    Jin Liwei stood, leaning against the balcony railing, and stared at the horizon.

    If he were a smoker, Iris could imagine him puffing away smoke after smoke. Good thing that he wasn''t a smoker. Nevertheless, seeing him like this was still quite pitiful, as if he had the weight of the entire world resting on his shoulders.

    She slid open the ss balcony door and stepped outside.

    He heard the sound and turned to look. His cold and hard expression visibly softened upon seeing her.

    "Good morning, love," he murmured before pulling her into his embrace.

    She wrapped her arms around his waist. She felt some chilly dampness on his clothes which made her frown.

    "How long have you been standing here?" she asked, inspecting him. "You must have been up for a while. You''ve been soaked by too much dew."

    He didn''t reply, only smiled at her.

    She sighed and decided to restrain her temper. This wasn''t the time to scold him.

    The poor man was already suffering. What he needed was for her to be there for him and not to nag at him.

    "I''m sorry," he murmured against her ear.

    Her frown deepened. She looked at his face and studied his expression. "Why are you apologizing?"

    "You missed Orchidia Germany''sunch because of our family matter," he said. "I know how long you''ve been looking forward to it. At this rate, you might also miss theunch for Orchidia Philippines and possibly the one in Singapore as well."

    She shook her head. "Don''t worry about it. You''re my husband and I''m your wife. Your family is my family. Grandma Li is also very important to me. Even before knowing that we were dating, she already wanted me to be part of your family. I also can''t rest easy knowing that her health is failing like this."

    "Thank you, Evelina." He kissed her forehead, then her nose, and finally her lips.

    It felt like a butterfly''s touch.

    She knew that he was worrying about a lot of things but was still doing his best to keep it together.

    "I''ve seen Grandma''s medical records," he said while continuing to look at the now-lightening horizon. "Her health is worse than we thought."

    She sighed.

    In truth, she already suspected that Grandma Li might be frailer in health than they all thought. The olddy rarely ventured outside her mountain vi. Grandma Li would only meet them on important family asions. Despite the olddy acting lively whenever the family gathered together, the fact that she tired easily and retired in her room before anyone else should already be a clear indication that old age was already catching up with her.

    Iris already epted it deep inside. Her husband and her inws, however, were still in the process of denial.

    Perhaps it was because Grandma Li had been the Jin family''s old matriarch for the longest time. She had be a symbol of stability for the Jins ever since her husband and son''s deaths.

    Also, maybe Jin Liwei and the others couldn''t help but associate Grandma Li''s health with Grandpa Lu''s vigour especially whenever the two elders bantered with one another. They must have assumed that since Grandpa Lu was still brimming with energy, then Grandma Li must also be the same.

    Unfortunately, this wasn''t the case at all.

    Grandpa Lu was an exception. He was abnormally too healthy for his age.

    Cases like Grandma Li were actually moremon with people their age.

    Iris sighed again. She could only continue hugging her husband.

    A phone vibrated between them.

    "Sorry, love. I need to take this." Jin Liwei nced at his phone with a tired but serious expression.

    She nodded.

    Although she and Jin Liwei had been staying at the hospital for more than a week now, both of them still continued working remotely in running their businesses.

    Chen Fei was in the same situation.

    Jin Chonglin and Huang Yuyan had the most free time. Unfortunately, the two of them were also the most emotional. The mother and son''s eyes had already be red and swollen. Their faces had also be puffy.

    Compared to Jin Liwei, Iris, and Chen Fei, the mother and son were not that dependable when it came to watching over Grandma Li. They were the type to be the first to copse from all the dread, fear, anxiety, and depression. The others agreed that these two shouldn''t be left alone by themselves.

    Back to the present, Jin Liwei continued speaking with his assistant and other subordinates about pending issues in thepany.

    Iris didn''t bother him. She returned inside the suite. Chen Fei had already woken up.

    "Good morning, Chen Fei," Iris greeted.

    "Morning, Xin." Chen Fei was still a little drowsy, but her eyes were starting to clear up by the second. "Want some coffee? I''ll buy some at the caf¨¦ downstairs."

    "Please."

    Chen Fei quickly freshened up and left to make a coffee run downstairs.

    They could always ask someone else to buy and deliver anything for them, like the bodyguards, but they still preferred to do some of the errands themselves just to temporarily shift their attention away from the depressing situation of Grandma Li''s failing health.

    Iris also freshened up. When she stepped out of the bathroom wearing fresh, clean clothes, Huang Yuyan had also woken up. The mother-inw and daughter-inw greeted each other.

    Only Jin Chonglin hadn''t awakened yet.

    Iris peeked outside and saw her husband still busy speaking on the phone. She also checked on Grandma Li.

    So far, Grandma Li looked stable. Her appearance, however, was a far cry from her usual cold elegance.

    Iris felt a twinge in her heart. This was a clear demonstration of the power of time. Nobody could escape aging.

    No matter how much money a person owned, no amount of money could prevent a person from aging and suffering from illnesses. Yes, money could help people live healthier lifestyles and ess top-notch medical care. However, at the end of the day, one couldn''t pay another to suffer one''s illnesses. Everyone needed to go through their own illnesses and aging.

    One day, she and her husband would also have to go through this.

    But for now, they had the privilege of living healthy, fulfilling lives raising their own family and building their own sessful careers.

    After checking on Grandma Li, Iris sat down on the couch and turned on herptop.

    Alona Bauer had already sent her a detailed report about the sessfulunch of Orchidia in Germany. The opening day sales were through the roof and exceeded their initial projections.

    Iris also checked the people who attended theunch. Many familiar names popped up.

    Her friends at Cross Academy¡ªAJ Zheneres, Theresa Blipsburg, and Amanpio Kileksky.

    Alona sent photos of a sea of congrattory flower arrangements sent by friends and acquaintances, most of them through the Cross Academymunity.

    Surprisingly, the nerd tech billionaire attended to support theunch.

    It wasn''t only him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    The French magnate and his wife attended. His wife loved the products so much, especially the ones under the Orchidia Beauty brand, that she offered to be an ambassador, even going so far as to list her aplishments as a semi-sessful runway model.

    Of course, Alona didn''t ept the offer right away and instead consulted Iris about it first.

    "I won''t interfere too much about how you run Orchidia Germany," Iris said. "I''ll give the final decision to you. I want to see whether you''ll sign her or not."

    "I feel more pressured all of a sudden," Alona replied. "But I ept the challenge. My team and I will check on her background first before making the final decision."

    "I trust in you."

    While Iris chatted with Alona Bauer, she continued reading other reports.

 Chapter 1579 Go Home Tonight

    Chapter 1579 Go Home Tonight

    Chen Fei returned from her coffee run downstairs. She also bought breakfast for everyone. A bodyguard helped her carry everything.

    Iris nced up from herptop. "Why do you look so frazzled? That''s a new look from you."

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes before casting an annoyed look at her sleeping fianc¨¦. "His fans mobbed me at the restaurant while I was buying breakfast. Good thing that two bodyguards followed me and prevented the fans from trampling me over."

    "Were they rude?" Iris asked.

    "No, they weren''t rude." Chen Fei sighed while organizing the breakfast on the table. "They were all very enthusiastic. Too enthusiastic. They said they support me in bing their Prince Lin Lin''s wife."

    "That''s good, then." Iris nodded. She had been worried for nothing. She thought that Jin Chonglin''s fans might have harassed Chen Fei.

    "I''m just not used to being surrounded by strangers all the time," Chen Fei said. "I know that ites with being in a rtionship with a celebrity, but I need some time to get used to it. France wasn''t that badpared to here."

    "That''s true. Only the paparazzi care about harassing a superstar like Brother Chonglin and you in France. Most of the locals don''t bother celebrities and their families on a normal day."

    Chen Fei sighed again while looking at her too-big of a diamond ring. It felt somewhat heavier the longer she stayed here apanying Jin Chonglin to watch over his ill grandmother.

    As someone who dedicated herself to being the best COO of Orchidia, this period was quickly bing a test of her rtionship with Jin Chonglin. Her man needed her, so she could only stay with him while working remotely which was another challenge in itself.

    Nevertheless, she didn''t feel dissatisfied. Not at all. She might not be close to Grandma Li, but she respected the olddy.

    Chen Fei looked at her sleeping fianc¨¦ and felt annoyed all of a sudden. How dare he sleep like a baby while his fans almost trampled her over outside? She marched to the couch and grabbed his nket.

    "Wake up, youzy bum! The sun is already shining high up in the sky! Why aren''t you awake yet?!"

    The force Chen Fei used to pull the nket made Jin Chonglin roll and fall on the floor. "What?! What''s happening?! Is it an earthquake?!"

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes. "It''s time for breakfast, you fool. Go wash your face. Then we''ll eat."

    "Huh?!" Jin Chonglin stayed sitting on the floor and staring at her in a daze like a stupid idiot.

    There was a girl-like giggle from the other side of the room. Chen Fei looked over and saw Huang Yuyan watching them with an amused expression. The sight of her future mother-inw startled her, making her feel embarrassed. Just a little bit.

    "Don''t feel shy, my dear," Huang Yuyan said, giving her a kind smile. "My youngest son always does whatever he wants and rarely listens to other people, including me. I''m happy to see that he listens to you."

    "Mom, I can hear you!" Jin Chonglin pouted, not pleased at all about what his own mother said about him.

    What did his mother mean about being happy that he listened to his woman? Was he a dog?! No way! He was Prince Lin Lin, a superstar loved by millions of fans around the world.

    Chen Fei controlled her urge to smack him with a pillow so early in the morning and in front of his mother. "Go freshen up now," she repeated. "The food will get cold if you don''t start moving."

    "Oh, okay." Jin Chonglin obediently did what he was told.

    Chen Fei, Huang Yuyan, and Iris exchanged knowing smiles.

    By this time, Jin Liwei had also finished with his phone calls and returned inside from the balcony.

    Iris also quickly paused what she was doing, closed herptop, and helped Chen Fei set the table.

    Jin Liwei and Huang Yuyan joined them at the table. Soon after, a refreshed Jin Chonglin sat beside Chen Fei.

    While they were eating a simple take-out breakfast, the hospital also delivered breakfast. Even though the patient was unconscious, the hospital cafeteria still provided food for all the patients.

    Since Grandma Li was staying in a VIP suite, the food provided was quite generous.

    "Not bad," Irismented. However, she wasn''t tempted to eat any of the hospital food.

    Jin Liwei wasn''t interested either.

    Huang Yuyan ate like a bird. She didn''t even take a look at the hospital food.

    Chen Fei, however, thought that it was a waste not to eat it. She pushed the tray to her fianc¨¦.

    "No, I won''t eat it." Jin Chonglin pushed it back to her. "Brother Lin Dong will nag me again if I gain weight."

    Chen Fei made a show of looking at him up and down.

    "W-what?!" He instinctively covered his chest.

    She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You''ve already lost a lot of weight. Hugging you isn''tfortable anymore. If you lose more weight, I might lose interest in you. I don''t like stick-thin men."

    Her words made him jump up from his seat. "What do you mean?! I''m not stick-thin! Look at my well-defined muscles! Look!!!"

    If not for Chen Fei pulling his shirt down, Jin Chonglin would have already removed it to prove the existence of his well-defined muscles.

    "Just eat, will you?!" Chen Fei was exasperated to the extreme. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Oh, okay." Jin Chonglin sat down again and began eating the hospital food. "Oh, this is not bad. Do you want to taste it?"

    Chen Fei automatically opened her mouth when he fed her with his chopsticks. Then she paused mid-chew upon remembering that her future mother-inw was there watching them.

    Huang Yuyan giggled, not at all bothered by their public disys of affection. Her eldest son and daughter-inw were many times worse. She nced at the married couple with a meaningful look.

    Jin Liwei and Iris: ???

    The husband and wife looked at each other, confused as to why Huang Yuyan was giving them a weird look.

    After breakfast, Iris and Jin Liwei video-called home to speak with the children. As soon as Little Mochi and Little Matcha saw their parents, the twins burst into tears.

    Little Mochi: "Mama! Dada! Mama! Mama!"

    Little Matcha: "Ma, Da! Mama!"

    Iris'' eyes watered. She also wanted to cry. She missed her sons terribly. It felt like her heart was missing important pieces with the absence of her children. Jin Liwei hugged her while looking at their crying sons on the tablet screen.

    Iris coaxed her sons, promising them that their mommy and daddy woulde home soon. Jin Liwei was mostly silent but his heart also softened at the sight of his crying sons. He whisperedforting words along with his wife.

    Soon, Little Jun and the Lu twins joined the Jin twins in saying hello to their Mama/Auntie Xin and Papa/Uncle Liwei.

    Little Jun had actually moved back with his parents to the farm vi. His psychiatrist, Dr. Grace Poon, also started conducting their therapy sessions there instead of at Dragon Pce Home #10 to make it more convenient for the child and his mother. However, Little Jun still insisted oning with his mother, Jiang Ying Yue, whenever she reported for work at the mansion.

    This was one of the days that Jiang Ying Yue was on duty at the mansion. Little Jun naturally came with her to y with his cousins.

    Simrly, the Lu twins had also been staying at Dragon Pce since their parents went to visit Grandma Li at a faraway hospital. Long Jinjing had already returnedst night but Lu Zihao stayed to keep an eye on Grandpa Lu who refused to return home with them. Long Jinjing had decided to stay at Dragon Pce with her sons to wait for Lu Zihao.

    Iris was delighted to see all the children together. She wished that she could hug all of them. Even the cats and dogs fought for screen time, wanting to say hello to her.

    Huang Yuyan also didn''t want to miss the chance to see her grandchildren and the other kids. Jin Chonglin and Chen Fei also joined in the fun.

    After the video call, Iris was relieved that her sons had finally stopped crying. Little Mochi and Little Matcha wereughing along with their cousins.

    "Xin, go home tonight," Chen Fei said. "I already miss the kids and I''m not the mother. You must be missing them badly. Chonglin and I will watch over Grandma Li."

    "Is that alright?" Iris was unsure as she nced at the patient room where Grandma Li remained unconscious.

    The brothers, Jin Liwei and Jin Chonglin, were inside checking on their grandmother and speaking with the doctor and nurse who came to check on the olddy.

    "Grandma Li seems stable today," Chen Feimented.

    "Let me talk about it with Liwei first," Iris said.

    Chen Fei nodded.

    For the rest of the day, everyone was on edge, dreading Grandma Li tlining again. Fortunately, she remained rtively stable.

    Jin Liwei nced at his wristwatch. "Get ready, love. We''ll leave in half an hour."

    Iris nodded. Earlier, she asked her husband if they could go home to spend time with the kids. He didn''t hesitate to agree. He, too, missed their children badly.

    However, he nned to return to the hospital the next day. Iris was still deciding whether to return with him or stay at home with the kids.

    While Jin Liwei was out on the balcony again speaking on his phone, presumably asking if the helicopter was ready to take them home, Iris went inside the patient room.

    She held the olddy''s hand. "Grandma Li, Liwei and I will go home. Your great-grandkids are already throwing tantrums. Don''t worry. Liwei will be back tomorrow. I''m not yet sure if I''lle with him, but rest assured that I''m always praying for your recovery."

    Grandma Li''s fingers twitched.

 Chapter 1580 Please Be Honest

    1580 Please Be Honest

    Iris'' eyes widened. She froze and held her breath. Perhaps it was just her imagination.

    After another minute, Grandma Li''s fingers twitched again.

    There was no mistake this time. She saw it with her own eyes.

    Grandma Li had indeed moved!

    "Li-liwei!" Iris ran outside, her eyes glowing with anxious excitement. "Liwei!!!"

    Jin Liwei rushed from the balcony. "What happened?!" He looked at her up and down, checking if she was hurt anywhere.

    Huang Yuyan and the others also looked at her. At this time, the door opened and in came a scowling Grandpa Lu followed by a stone-faced Lu Zihao.

    "This pinheaded grandson of mine is too much!" Grandpa Lu grumbled. "He won''t let mee here without making sure that I have at least eight hours of sleep. This old man can''t sleep that long anymore! And he expects me to eat breakfast like an elephant! Does he want to send me to an early grave by overdosing me with sleep and food? I want to know! If this rascal isn''t my own grandson, I would''ve already cracked his bloody head open and see what''s inside! Hmph!"

    When nobody responded to his grumbles, Grandpa Lu finally noticed that something was wrong.

    Iris grabbed her husband and pulled him. "Grandma Li''s hand moved! She moved!"

    "What?!" Jin Chonglin jumped from his seat and ran to the patient''s room while pulling Chen Fei.

    "Hey, wait!" Chen Fei was dragged. She was tempted to kick her man but restrained herself given the situation.

    Huang Yuyan also ran to the patient''s room.

    Jin Liwei also followed suit. However, unlike his careless younger brother, he didn''t drag his wife. It was Iris who dragged him instead.

    Chen Fei had already pressed the call button. A voice had already told them that a doctor was on the way.

    Outside the patient room, Grandpa Lu finally returned to his senses. His irritation turned into excitement. He staggered while attempting to follow everyone.

    "Careful, old man," Lu Zihao muttered while supporting Grandpa Lu.

    Grandpa Lu didn''t criticize him for calling him an old man like usual. "Li Zhiruo¡­did Zhiruo really move? Is she going to finally wake up? I want to know¡­"

    Nobody answered him. Everyone, except for Lu Zihao, was looking forward to Grandma Li waking up.

    Truth be told, Lu Zihao (Niki) didn''t care much about the old Jin matriarch. The minuscule affection he had for the olddy stemmed from the fact that she was his sister''s grandmother-inw. That was it.

    However, the original Lu Zihao adored the olddy. He could feel a faint tightening in his chest which he could recognize as anxiety. A deep furrow formed between his brows.

    When the doctor and nurses arrived, they subconsciously stayed out of his way. He looked too ferocious. What if he started attacking them?

    Lu Zihao faintly snorted seeing their reaction. Instead of focusing on his disconcerting reaction that escaped his full control, he instead paid more attention to the old man. Grandpa Lu''s energy halved these past few days.

    For Lu Zihao, this was more concerning than the old Jin matriarch''s hospitalization. If something happened to the old man, he didn''t know what he would do. He didn''t delve into the reason why he would think this way. He wasn''t yet ready to admit to himself that the old man had already burrowed his way deeply into Lu Zihao/Niki''s heart.

    While everyone else was bustling around Grandma Li, Lu Zihao only cared about Grandpa Lu.

    His sister already had her husband. Jin Liwei should take care of Iris.

    Or else.

    Huang Yuyan and Jin Chonglin kept on calling Grandma Li, hoping that she would respond to them.

    Jin Liwei held his grandmother''s hand. His face was taut but there was a hopeful glint in his eyes, making his expression more alivepared to his depressing aura this past week.

    "Xin, my dear." Huang Yuyan held Iris'' arm. "Please talk to your grandmother. She responded to you. Maybe she''ll respond again if you''re the one talking to her."

    Iris didn''t think that Grandma Li would respond particrly to her. Perhaps it was just a coincidence earlier. However, she still agreed with her mother-inw and tried talking to Grandma Li.

    "Grandma, please wake up," she said while holding the olddy''s hand that her husband held earlier. "Your great-grandkids can''t wait to see you again. Little Mochi can''t wait to perform in front of you. Little Matcha also likes the toys you gave him. The cats and dogs also adore you. Please, Grandma. Wake up."

    This time, everyone saw the olddy''s eyes trembling as if she was fighting hard to open them.

    "Mom!" Huang Yuyan burst into another round of tears. "Wake up, Mom!"

    "Grandma!" Jin Chonglin followed suit. "If you don''t wake up, I''ll¡­I''ll parade in the streets naked! Hurry up and wake up! You need to stop me from doing something stupid!!!"

    Chen Fei stared at her fianc¨¦. Her lips thinned, ring at Jin Chonglin. Then she said to the olddy, "Grandma Li, if you don''t wake up, I''ll leave this stupid grandson of yours! I don''t need a man who parades himself naked in the streets!"

    "Babe!" Jin Chonglin looked at her in disbelief. "I was just joking! I wasn''t serious! I only said that to force my grandma to wake up!"

    "Hmph!" She turned her head away from him.

    The doctor cleared his throat. The nurses had already bowed their heads, hiding their faces beneath masks. Their shoulders shook from restrainedughter.

    Grandpa Lu moved closer to the bed. "Li Zhiruo, if you don''t wake up, I''ll change the surnames of your great-grandsons from Jin to Lu!"

    The olddy''s eyes flew open.

    "You dare¡­old gori¡­," a hoarse, weak voice said.

    "Bahahaha!" Grandpa Lu threw his head back andughed. Nobody mentioned the tears in his eyes to avoid embarrassing the old man. "I knew that you were going to wake up soon! I dreamed about your husbandst night. He told me in the dream that he didn''t want to meet his old, naggy wife so soon! Bahahaha!"

    Lu Zihao stepped forward and covertly handed the old man some tissues to wipe his tears while the others were beyond excited and relieved to see the olddy finally regaining consciousness.

    "Mom!" Huang Yuyan bent down on the bed and cried beside Grandma Li''s head.

    "Grandma, wuwuwu! You''re finally awake!" Jin Chonglin hugged his pissed fianc¨¦e, not releasing her even though she kept on trying to push him away. "If you still didn''t wake up, your grandson''s wife would have run away!"

    "I''m not your wife yet," Chen Fei said through gritted teeth.

    Iris squeezed her husband''s hand. Although Jin Liwei remained quietpared to the others, Iris knew that her husband''s emotions weren''t any lesser than theirs. He just wasn''t used to disying too much emotions in front of other people.

    "Grandma, how are you feeling?" Jin Liwei asked.

    The doctor and the nurses gave him a slightly dissatisfied look. It was because his tone sounded too cold and indifferent. His grandmother almost died and yet he was still too calm! Indeed, CEO billionaires like Jin Liwei were all cold-blooded, heartless capitalists.

    Unlike them, however, Iris could sense the immense emotions in her husband''s tone. They were undetectable to people who didn''t know him well enough. But to her, his wife, they were as clear as day.

    "Li¡­wei," Grandma Li said, her voice cracking.

    "Yes, Grandma." Jin Liwei''s tone might sound cold and indifferent to the doctor and nurses but Iris and the others knew the gravity of his emotions.

    "Who are you calling an old buffoon?! I want to know!!!"

    Grandpa Lu pretended to get angry. His eyes, however, continued to produce water. He turned around and pretended to cough, when in fact, he was wiping tears with the tissues his grandson kept on handing him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "Xiu¡­Xin¡­."

    Iris leaned forward. "Grandma Li. I''m here."

    "You¡­thank you¡­voice¡­woke me up¡­."

    "I knew it," Huang Yuyan said. Her tears flowed down her eyes. "I knew that Mom responded to Xin. Thank you, my dear. You woke up your grandma."

    Iris just smiled. She didn''t think that it was all thanks to her. But if the others thought so, then let them continue thinking that way.

    The most important thing was that Grandma Li had already woken up.

    The doctor examined Grandma Li.

    Although the others were happy that the olddy finally woke up, the doctor still maintained a grave expression. Iris and Lu Zihao were the only ones who noticed this.

    The brother and sister nced at each other. They tacitly chose to remain silent, not wanting to burst everyone''s happy bubbles.

    It seemed that Grandma Li''s vision had been considerably affected. She couldn''t see their faces unless they moved close to her. Another thing was that one side of her face drooped, making it difficult for her to speak.

    She also tired easily. Before she sumbed to sleep, she managed to tell Jin Liwei to call herwyer.

    Everyone''s hearts thumped, their expressions turning serious once again.

    Jin Liwei took a few deep breaths before speaking to the doctor outside the patient''s room. Iris followed her husband.

    Huang Yuyan, Jin Chonglin, and Grandpa Lu decided to stay in the patient room longer to watch over Grandma Li.

    Chen Fei went to the balcony to call Long Jinjing and updated her best friend about what happened. Lu Zihao went outside to who knew where.

    "How''s my grandmother?" Jin Liwei asked the doctor. "Please be honest."

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 Chapter 1581 Mommy is Here

    1581 Mommy is Here

    After speaking with the doctor, Jin Liwei and Iris'' expressions became grave.

    It seemed that Jin Liwei''s eyes had lost all hope. Iris hugged his waist, trying tofort her husband. He didn''t reject her. His arms wrapped around her, and he hugged her tightly.

    "The doctor says that Grandma Li still needs to undergo many tests," Iris whispered. "Maybe the prognosis will change and turn for the better."

    "En." Although he made a sound of agreement, the tone wasn''t optimistic.

    Before leaving, the doctor told them that Grandma Li''s condition appeared to be quickly deteriorating despite finally regaining consciousness. Of course, more tests were needed to ascertain her exact condition.

    "Are you going to tell Mom and the others?" Iris asked.

    Jin Liwei shook his head. "Let''s wait until the test resultse out."

    She nodded while looking at the patient''s room. "I don''t think we''ll be able toe home tonight after all. I don''t like breaking promises to our children."

    "I need to stay here, love. Grandpa Lu''s old. My mother and brother aren''t that reliable."

    "I know."

    "But you should go home tonight. The kids will be happy to see you even if I''m not there."

    She looked at him, observing his face. His eyes were bloodshot. There were dark circles around his eyes. His skin tone looked dull. He hadn''t shaved in the past two days.

    Truth be told, if he weren''t her husband, he wouldn''t be able to physically attract her with the way he looked right now. But who told her to love this man?

    Even when he looked exhausted and unkempt, she still felt the stirrings of attraction. Sighing, she rested her head on his chest.

    She could hear the rhythmic beating of his heart. He looked quite pitiful. If possible, she wanted to stay with him at all times, but their children needed her.

    In the end, she could only harden her resolve to be with their children instead of her husband. "I''ll go home tonight."

    "En." He kissed her forehead.

    She looked at him. Her expression was full of warning. "You better take care of yourself or I''ll have my big brother drag you home whether you like it or not."

    At this moment, Lu Zihao entered the suite again. He managed to hear thest part of what she said.

    "I''ll take you home," he announced.

    Jin Liwei looked relieved. "Thanks."

    "I''m not doing it for you but for my sister''s safety."

    "I know. But still, thanks."

    Lu Zihao snorted. Then his eyes automaticallynded on Grandpa Lu who was still in the patient''s room with Huang Yuyan and Jin Chonglin. "While I''m gone, have someone watch over the old man. Make sure he eats regr meals and gets enough sleep."

    "En, don''t worry. I''ll personally check on Grandpa Lu if needed."

    "Hm." Lu Zihao looked at his sister. "You ready?"

    "Wait, Big Brother. I need to speak with the others first."

    Iris went to say goodbye to Grandpa Lu and the others. Chen Fei looked like she wanted to say something.

    "What is it?" Iris asked while organizing her bag.

    Chen Fei sighed. "I''m tempted to go with you. I''ve had enough staying in the hospital tost me a lifetime. But I just can''t leave my stupid idiot alone. What if he really parades in the street naked? Just thinking about it is enough to give me white hair!"

    Iris chuckled. "Just stay here. Treat it as practice for when you need a maternity leave in the future."

    Chen Fei rolled her eyes but surprisingly didn''t retort. "Go on then. Kiss the kids for me."

    Jin Liwei walked Iris and Lu Zihao down the underground parking lot. The bodyguards already secured the area to avoid any paparazzi and fans from seeing Iris Long.

    "Remember what I told you," Iris said while standing on her tippy-toes to give the corner of Jin Liwei''s mouth a kiss. "Take care of yourself while I''m gone."

    "En. I''ll call you."

    Lu Zihao interrupted the husband and wife. "Hurry up, Evelinka. We have to leave now if you want to arrive home while the brats are still awake."

    She nced at her brother before hugging her husband''s neck. Jin Liwei''s arms wrapped around her waist. The two kissed each other.

    Lu Zihao red at them but couldn''t do anything else. He was tempted to drag his sister away from her husband but managed to restrain himself. He could only snort and look away, pretending that the boring parking lot was interesting.

    "I''m ready, Big Brother," Iris announced.

    Finally.

    19:48

    Jin Liwei was reluctant to let his wife leave, even though he was the one who insisted on letting her go home to be with their children. It took everything in his power to let her go.

    "Answer me when I call, love," he reminded her.

    "Okay." She smiled at him.

    Jin Liwei watched as the vehicles carrying his wife, brother-inw, and bodyguards left. Even when they were already out of sight, he stayed standing in the parking lot for another ten minutes before returning to the hospital with great reluctance.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    It was alreadyte in the evening when Iris and Lu Zihao returned. The mountain winds were quite strong so the pilot had to fly the helicopter more carefully.

    "You''re back, Boss!" Dom weed the two of them at the front hall with the butler. "Big Brother Boss, you''re here, too!"

    "The twins?" Iris asked while handing the butler her sweater and handbag.

    "They just fell asleep in your bedroom," Dom replied. "They wanted to wait for you but couldn''t stay awake past their sleep time."

    "My wife and brats?" Lu Zihao asked next.

    "They''re in your room, Big Brother Boss! I think Little Misha and Little Dima are already asleep, but Sis Jing should still be awake."

    Iris had always kept the room that Lu Zihao and Long Jinjing used when they lived in the mansion for them. It was no longer a guest room but the Lus'' exclusive bedroom instead.

    "Hm." Lu Zihao nodded before ncing at his sister. "See you tomorrow, Evelinka," he said in Russian.

    "Good night, Big Brother," Iris said.

    She and Dom watched Lu Zihao leave. Then they headed to the master suite together. At the same time, Iris updated Dom about what happened to Grandma Li.

    Dom''s eyes watered. "I prayed every day for Grandma Boss to wake up. My prayers have been answered. Hallelujah! But if what the doctor says is true, then Grandma Boss doesn''t have long left to live. I''m going to cry, Boss!"

    Iris sighed.

    They finally reached the master suite. Iris headed straight to the bedroom where the nannies were watching over the sleeping twins.

    "Wee back, Young Madam."

    "The twins missed you so much, Young Madam."

    Iris smiled at them. "Thanks for your hard work. You may go rest for the night." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Once the nannies left, Iris leaned over therge crib bed to kiss her babies'' chubby cheeks.

    Perhaps sensing her presence (or maybe smelling her scent), Little Mochi''s eyes flew open. He immediately burst into tears upon seeing her.

    "Mama! Mama!"

    It felt like someone squeezed Iris'' heart. "Ah, my baby."

    She carried Little Mochi and immediately started coaxing the wailing baby who refused to let her neck go.

    "Ma?" Little Matcha rubbed his sleepy eyes. Upon making sure that it was indeed his mommy, he sat up and reached his little arms to her as well. "Mama!"

    "Yes, baby. Mommy''s here." Iris sat on the crib bed.

    Good thing that Dom already utched and slid open one side of the crib bed''s railing. Iris was able to sit down and hug both her babies at the same time. The twins had already grown too heavy for her to carry together.

    Her sons hugged her neck and wetted her shoulders with their tears. Little Mochi was bawling as if there was no tomorrow. Little Matcha wasn''t as loud but his soft whimpers made Iris'' heart clench.

    "I''m sorry, my babies. Mommy wasn''t here with you. I missed you two so much! Your daddy also misses you. He can''t wait to hug and kiss you soon!"

    Little Mochi: "Mama! Wuwuwu!!!"

    Little Matcha: "Ma¡­wuwu¡­."

    At the moment, the twins didn''t care about their daddy at all. They just wanted their mommy. They missed her so much! It felt like forever since they hugged and kissed her.

    Tears pooled in Iris'' eyes. She had been hesitating whether to leave her husband at the hospital, but now, she was d that she went home to their children.

    Jin Liwei could take care of himself, but their sons were still babies. They needed their parents.

    Iris and Dom worked together to coax the twins to sleep again. It took a long time, but the two never lost patience with the babies.

    Once the twins fell asleep, Dom watched over them while Iris went to take a much-needed long, hot shower.

    After she put on clothes and returned to the bedroom, Dom told her, "I''ll sleep here tonight."

    "Okay. Thanks, Dom."

    Of course, what Dom meant was that he would sleep on the chaise longue and not on the bed beside Iris. Dom went to the walk-in closet and took some extra bedding and pillows to put over the chaise longue.

    Iris'' phone rang. It was Jin Liwei.

    The husband and wife chatted with each other. Iris fell asleep while still talking to Jin Liwei.

    "Dom, I''ll leave my family to you," Jin Liwei said after a while.

    Dom took the phone from the sleeping Iris. "Don''t worry, Sir Boss!"

    The phone call ended.

    While the wife slept with the kids at home, Jin Liwei sat beside his grandmother for the entire night.

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 Chapter 1582 Buster

    Chapter 1582 Buster

    Jin Liwei was afraid that his grandmother wouldn''t wake up again. Fortunately, just as the sun rose in the sky the next morning, Grandma Li opened her eyes again. Jin Liwei released a sigh of relief.

    "Grandma, it''s Liwei," he said in a soft, hoarse voice. "How are you feeling?"

    The olddy squinted but she still couldn''t see her eldest grandson clearly. "You sound¡­exhausted. You¡­have¡­not¡­slept yet?"

    Instead of replying, he asked instead, "Anything hurts, Grandma?"

    Of course, Grandma Li understood that her grandson was just deflecting her question. It meant that he really hadn''t slept at all.

    "You¡­calledwyer¡­yet?"

    He paused. "Yes. Yourwyer should beingter this morning."

    "Good."

    Silence.

    Jin Liwei took his grandmother''s frail, wrinkled hand. After growing up, the times he held his grandmother''s hand could be counted on one hand. Perhaps even less. This was the first time he did this in so many years.

    He wasn''t the openly affectionate type. His grandmother was the same kind of person. Only after building a family with the love of her life and age did the previous ice beauty, Li Zhiruo, mellow out. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Jin Liwei was the same. Only after falling for his wife did he shed his ice-cold personality to a select group of people.

    "Li¡­wei¡­."

    He leaned forward. "Yes, Grandma? I''m here."

    "Where¡­Xin?" she asked.

    "I asked her to go homest night. Our children have been missing their mommy and daddy. I figured that one of us should go home to be with the kids. She was reluctant to leave, but I persuaded her."

    "Good¡­twins¡­still¡­.babies¡­too¡­small¡­away¡­from¡­parents. Sorry¡­."

    His jaw clenched but his tone remained soft. "Don''t be sorry, Grandma. It''s not your fault that this happened to you."

    A teardrop slid down from one of her eyes down the side of her face to her ear. "Li¡­wei¡­."

    "I''m here, Grandma."

    "Time¡­not much¡­left."

    His heart felt like it stopped for a couple of seconds. It felt like it was getting harder to breathe. He blinked his eyes rapidly, trying hard not to let the tears flow down.

    "Don''t say that, Grandma." His voice started to crack. "Once you regain enough strength, I''ll transfer you to a better hospital in the capital. If you can''t handle it, then I''ll invite the best doctors in the country and even abroad to treat you here. You''ll get better, Grandma. The twins miss their great-grandma."

    A faint sight escaped from the olddy''s thin lips. "My dear¡­sorry¡­."

    Jin Liwei bowed his head, pressing his face against his grandmother''s hand.

    Grandma Li''s tears flowed down as she felt wetness on her hand.

    There was only silence in the room. It should have been peaceful, but their hearts felt heavy.

    ###

    Dragon Pce Home #10.

    Iris opened her eyes with a start. Her chest felt heavy. Was she having a heart attack?

    She was still so young!

    "Meow~" Ice Cream greeted her good morning and proceeded to roll on her chest, acting cute.

    "Ice Cream, you scared Mommy," Iris murmured while petting the big, grey cat.

    So she wasn''t having a heart attack after all. It was just her fat andzy cat daughter lying on top of her chest so early in the morning.

    Something orange pounced on her from the side.

    "Meow! Meow! MEEEEOOOOW!!!" Popcorn begged for attention next.

    Iris chuckled at the sight of her overactive cat son. Popcorn acted more like a dog than the actual dogs, Pudding and Chowder.

    The two German Shepherd dogs sat on the floor by her bed, waiting patiently for her to pay attention to them next. She couldn''t help but once again praise the handlers'' ability to train the dogs.

    She sat up on the bed and nced at the crib bed. Her babies were nowhere in sight. However, she could hear their giggles together with Dom and the nannies'' voices in the living area outside.

    After she had rubbed Pudding and Chowder, the two German Shepherd dogs finally felt satisfied. They left the bedroom to find the babies to continue protecting them.

    Iris didn''t immediately follow. She knew that her sons were in good hands.

    It must have been Dom''s decision to prevent the cats and dogs from sleeping in the bedroomst night so as not to disturb her. Dom had always been thoughtful, prioritizing her health even more than she did.

    After freshening up and changing into day clothes, she finally left the bedroom and saw Dom and the nannies ying with the twins.

    Little Matcha was the first one to notice her. "Ma! Mama!"

    The little guy toddled over to her.

    She squatted on the floor and opened her arms, waiting for her baby toe to her.

    "Good morning, my baby!"

    "Uh, Ma!" (Morning, Mommy!)

    Of course, Little Mochi wouldn''t let himself be left far behind his twin brother. He also toddled towards her with the biggest smile on his face.

    "Mama! Mama, yah yah!" (Mommy! Mommy, good morning!)

    Iris also caught her other son. "Good morning to you, too, baby." Then she greeted Dom and the nannies as well. "Good morning."

    "Morning, Boss!"

    "Good morning, Madam."

    Iris yed with her sons for a few minutes before leading everyone to the dining area for breakfast. She met Little Jun and Jiang Ying Yue on the way.

    "Mama!"

    Unlike her own sons, Little Jun had grown up a lot. He could now run quickly. She caught her godson and gave Little Jun the biggest, tightest hug.

    "Misshu, Mama." (I miss you, Mama.)

    Iris kissed her godson''s cheek. "I miss you, too, sweetheart."

    Gravy, Little Jun''s German Shepherd dog, limped towards her.

    Iris would always have a grateful heart for the heroic dog who almost sacrificed its life to protect her godson. "Good morning, Gravy."

    "Woof woof!"

    Gravy wagged his tail. After getting a satisfying rub from her, he returned to his little master''s side to continue protecting Little Jun. He was still an excellent guard dog despite his permanent injuries.

    "Mama, wook! Junjun new doggie!" (Mama, look! This is my new dog!)

    Iris looked behind Jiang Ying Yue and saw a German Shepherd puppy. It looked wary of her but not hostile.

    There was an unfamiliar female following Jiang Ying Yue. The aura the female emitted was something Iris could recognize.

    Shadow Winds.

    This person must be one of her big brother''s people.

    "Hello, Madam," the unfamiliar female greeted her first. "I apologize for intruding into your home. Boss Hao assigned me to be the handler of Young Master Jun''s new guard dog."

    Iris nodded. She already knew that her brother got her godson a new guard dog after Gravy got injured during the kidnapping. It took some time to train a new guard dog, so it was only now that Little Jun received this puppy.

    "Buster,e," the female handlermanded the puppy.

    In an instant, the puppy''s wariness towards Iris disappeared as it obeyed the handler''smand.

    "Madam, please." The handler gestured for Iris toe closer.

    Iris knew the protocol after the previous guard dogs were given to the children. She allowed the German Shepherd puppy to sniff her hand, memorizing her scent. In no time, the puppy''s tail began wagging.

    "Your name is Buster, little one?"

    The puppy''s tail wagged faster.

    "Buster already knew your scent before," the handler said. "It''s one of the earliest scents that Boss Hao instructed me to train Buster how to recognize. Buster didn''t know what you looked like until now but he knows your scent. Now that he has connected the face and the scent, he should no longer treat you like a stranger."

    Iris wasn''t surprised at all. His big brother was nothing but thorough when it came to things like this, especially when it concerned her safety.

    "Who named this little one Buster?" Iris asked while continuing to pet the puppy.

    "Boss Hao," the handler replied.

    Iris sighed.

    Jiang Ying Yue chuckled. Dom also snickered.

    She nced at her two friends, pouting a little. Then she cast a regretful gaze at the new puppy.

    How nice it would have been if she were the one who named it?

    Chilli.

    Mac, short for Macaroni.

    Sushi.

    Ah, so many excellent name options.

    Her big brother just had to go ahead and named the puppy Buster. How boring.

    "Little Jun, sweetheart."

    "Mama?" Little Jun tilted his head up to her.

    "Do you like your new puppy Buster?" she asked.

    He nodded. "Junjun wuv Gwavy. Junjun wuv Bushtah chu!" (I love Gravy. I love Buster, too!)

    "Do you want Mama Xin to change Buster''s name?" Iris asked.

    "Oh, Xin." Jiang Ying Yue sighed, shaking her head, but there was an amused smile on her face.

    "Hehehe." Dom continued snickering by the side.

    The twins were too preupied with ying with the cats and dogs. They had no idea about their mother''s sinister n of trying to change the name of their eldest cousin''s new puppy.

    Little Jun blinked his innocent eyes. "Huh? Bushtah is Bushtah!" (What do you mean? Buster is Buster!)

    "How about Taco? It''s a good name, isn''t it?" Iris didn''t want to give up.

    Her godson shook his head. "Mama, no. Bushtah is Bushtah!" (Mama, no. Buster is Buster!)

    She could only give up. "Okay, you''re right. Buster is Buster. Sorry, Little Jun."

    Behind her, she could hear some iing footsteps with her great hearing. There were several.

    "I knew it," a male, devilish voice said. "Good thing that I already named the little beast ahead of you, little sister. I was afraid you''d name the poor beast Adobo or something ridiculous again like you always do."

    She looked behind her and saw Lu Zihao walking towards them with his family, Long Jinjing and their twins, Little Misha and Little Dima, along with their German Shepherd dogs, Ham and Mash.

    She couldn''t help but harrumph.

    What did her brother mean by that?

    She had an excellent naming sense!

    Her husband had said so!

 Chapter 1583 Inheriting Personalities From the Originals

    Chapter 1583 Inheriting Personalities From the Originals

    The others already knew about Iris'' inted opinion about her naming sense. Her husband''s fault wasn''t small in this matter either. Jin Liwei''s misguided praises made her believe that she had an excellent naming sense. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

    Her poor kids.

    It was a pity that the names of Gravy (Little Jun''s first guard dog), Ham (Little Misha''s guard dog), and Mash (Little Dima'' guard dog) had already been set. The dogs only responded to these names.

    Lu Zihao did everything to give them good, proper dog names during training, but Bacon had stopped him with all his might. The little bugger insisted that since he was the one gifting his little brothers and cousins the guard dogs, then it was up to him to decide who had the right to name them. And Bacon decided to give the right to his beloved mother.

    And indeed, Iris didn''t disappoint. Her naming sense had always been consistent.

    Consistently terrible!

    This time, Bacon had no say since Lu Zihao was the one who offered to give Little Jun another guard dog in the first ce after Gravy, the child''s first guard dog, became injured during the kidnapping.

    The ck AI cat could only grumble to itself, silently plotting to overthrow his Uncle Haohao, so that he could lead Shadow Winds by himself and control everything in the crime organization ording to his wishes (and his mother''s). Never mind his father. His mother was the most important anyway.

    Back to the present, the children cheered upon seeing each other again. Little Jun led his little cousins into hugging each other.

    The adults were all amused watching them. The kids acted like they hadn''t seen each other for decades.

    Popcorn and the dogs circled around the kids. Ice Cream nced at them with disdainful eyes.

    Finally, the group headed to the dining area to eat breakfast together. The table was chaotic with the kids present.

    Little Mochi and Little Misha were both naughty babies.

    Little Mochi was fussy and loved to show off while Little Misha always needed to join in the fun.

    Fortunately, Little Matcha and Little Dima were well-behaved babies. They sat quietly in their high chairs, waiting for their parents to feed them.

    Little Matcha inherited his obsession with cleanliness from his father, Jin Liwei. He would ask his mother, Iris, to wipe his mouth and hands clean every few minutes.

    Although Little Dima wasn''t a clean freak like his cousin, he still preferred to mind his own business. He opened his mouth whenever his mother, Long Jinjing, fed him with baby food. He didn''t mind that his mouth was messy with the food unlike his cousin, Little Matcha. His quiet personality was inherited from his mother.

    Lu Zihao looked at him, satisfied at this son of his. On the other hand, he cast an annoyed (yet doting) gaze at his other son.

    "I don''t know where Mikhail inherited his rowdy personality," he began but was soon interrupted by his wife.

    "Grandpa Lu said that Little Misha inherited it from you," she said. "He said that you were the naughtiest when you were a kid."

    He shut up.

    The (real) siblings, Iris (Evelina) and Lu Zihao (Niki), looked at each other.

    They knew that Little Misha must have inherited his personality from the original Lu Zihao and not from Niki.

    It was simr to how Iris (Evelina) felt that her son, Little Mochi, inherited his exact personality from the original Long Xin.

    In a way, the original owners of their bodies continued on in the form of the children.

    Grandpa Lu might have an idea about his grandson, Lu Zihao, being reborn. And perhaps the old man also knew about Iris'' rebirth as well.

    However, Long Jinjing still had no clue. She might only think that it was her husband''s kink to be called Niki in private. She believed that the person she married was Lu Zihao¡ªthe original Lu Zihao whose personality had changed after waking up after beingatose, just like her younger sister.

    Iris didn''t know if her brother''s decision to not tell his wife about his rebirth was the right choice or not. As for her, she was d that her husband knew the truth. It felt like Jin Liwei truly loved her for who she was¡ªthe real Evelina Vetrova now living as Iris Long.

    She wouldn''t interfere in her brother and his wife''s rtionship. Whether her brother told his wife or not should only be their business and not hers.

    "Mama!" Little Mochi called her attention.

    "Yes, baby?"

    The baby pointed at the champorado (Filipino chocte rice pudding) that the chef prepared thanks to Dom''s vehement request.

    Iris sighed. "You can''t eat too much of this, sweetheart. But I''ll let you eat a little. If your father were here, he wouldn''t allow you to eat it at all."

    Little Mochi blinked his eyes in quick session, fluttering his long eyshes, and grinned widely, showing off his (now) four teeth.

    The way her baby acted cute to her was too effective. Iris couldn''t possibly deny him!

    She fed him two spoons of the champorado. Okay, maybe three!

    "Hehe." Little Mochi was already satisfied.

    He continued making a mess of himself alongside his cousin, Little Misha.

    "By the way, little sister, how''s Grandma Li?" asked Long Jinjing. "I heard from Zihao that she woke up yesterday."

    The others turned their attention to the conversation. They, too, wanted to hear about Grandma Li''s condition.

    Iris told them about what happened.

    "At first, I wanted to stay at the hospital with Liwei, but I missed my babies too much. I''m so d I listened to Liwei and went home. I just hope that Grandma Li recovers. She should be undergoing more medical tests today. We''ll know her real prognosis after we get the results."

    Lu Zihao didn''tment. He continued trying to feed his disobedient son, Little Misha. His movements were not clumsy at all, a testament to him doing this on a regr basis.

    "Yehan ns to visit Grandma Li again soon," Jiang Ying Yue said next. "Second Brother Yingjie and Fourth Brother Mo are nning to go with him. My husband is just waiting until Second Brother Yingjie is finished with all his scheduled surgeries this week.

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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 1584 A Well-Rounded Child

    Chapter 1584 A Well-Rounded Child

    "Are youing with Eldest Brother Yehan?" Iris asked.

    "I don''t think I will," Jiang Ying Yue said in a whisper. "I think that Sir Liwei will appreciate his brothers'' presence more than mine."

    Iris sighed. "I won''t force you. Also, call Liwei Third Brother instead of Sir."

    Jiang Ying Yue made a sheepish face. "I don''t think I can do that yet, Xin. I''m so used to calling him sir that calling him Third Brother sounds too weird for me."

    "How about Big Brother Boss?" Dom asked in a teasing tone. "You also call him Sir Zihao instead of Fifth Brother."

    This time, Jiang Ying Yue winced. If Jin Liwei intimidated her, then Lu Zihao outright terrified her. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Lu Zihao gave them a side eye but otherwise didn''tment. He continued trying to feed the rowdy and messy Little Misha.

    There were sshes of orange baby food on his shirt. If it were only him present, he might have already begun lecturing his son but his wife was there to stop him.

    Long Jinjing had grown a stronger spine ever since she began therapy to deal with her post-partum depression. She was now able to state her mind clearly to her own husband, not allowing him to get his way all the time, especially when it came to their differing views on how to discipline their children.

    Lu Zihao could only restrain his temper and wait patiently until his sons grew up a little to begin training them into strong, disciplined young men.

    Little Jun''s kidnapping was tragic and extremely traumatic to the child, but Lu Zihao thought that it brought unexpected results for them. It made his wife and sister realize the importance of training all their children in self-defence. Now, both his wife and sister weren''t resistant to the idea of him training his sons and nephews in the near future how to fight.

    Of course, the two women insisted that what the kids should learn was mainly self-defence, but since Lu Zihao nned to be in charge of the training, he would make sure that the rascals would learn much more than just basic self-defence skills. He would make sure that they would be prepared for almost anything so that what happened to their eldest cousin Little Jun wouldn''t happen to any of them in the future.

    Neither Long Jinjing nor Iris had any idea that their husband/brother was nning on running their kids to the ground with harsh training in the future.

    After breakfast, Iris received a phone call from her husband.

    The couple chatted for a while.

    She sensed Jin Liwei''s depressed mood and tried lifting it up by coaxing her babies and their cousins to say hello to him. It worked¡­but only a little. She knew that he was just forcing himself to smile for their family''s sake.

    "I''m okay, love," he tried reassuring her. "Grandma Li is awake. We''ll know the results of her medical testster today. I requested that they fast-track the results."

    "Take care of yourself, darling. I love you."

    This time, his smile was genuine. "I love you, too, Evelina."

    The phone call ended.

    "Dom," Iris called.

    "Yes, Boss?"

    "Can you please arrange nutritious meals to be delivered for my husband and the others at the hospital? I''m worried about them, especially Liwei. He has lost a lot of weight since Grandma Li copsed."

    Dom''s smiling face turned serious in an instant. He nodded. "Roger, Boss! Will take care of it right now!"

    He whipped out his own phone and began making the necessary arrangements. Iris knew that he would order the best meals for her husband and everyone. Dom was very meticulous when it came to caring for the family.

    Iris gave herself a day off today on purpose. She wanted to spend quality time with her children and her friends for the whole day. Her twin sons were extremely ecstatic to be with her. They clung to her, even Little Matcha who wasn''t usually as clingy as his twin brother.

    By dusk, Dragon Pce Home #10 regained its usual liveliness with the return of its young madam.

    Iris stood in the front hall with an expression filled with reluctance.

    "Say goodbye to Mama Xin now, Little Jun," Jiang Ying Yue said.

    "Bye-bye, Mama!" Little Jun hugged his godmother.

    Iris gave her godson two smacking kisses on each cheek. "Goodbye, sweetheart."

    "Leggo, Mommy, Daddy!" (Let''s go, Mommy and Daddy)

    The little guy held his mother and stepfather''s hands.

    Iris felt sad that her godson didn''t feel reluctant to part with her anymore.

    "Why don''t you sleep with Mama Xin here tonight?" Iris tried to tempt her godson.

    Little Jun paused and thought about it.

    "Oh, Xin." Jiang Ying Yue chuckled, shaking her head.

    Lin Yehan also smiled.

    Iris didn''t pay attention to them. She waited for the child''s reply.

    Little Jun shook his head. "No, Mama. Junjun schweep with doggie, Gwavy and Bushtah! Mommy, Daddy, schweep togwethah!" (No, Mama. I will sleep with my dogs, Gravy and Buster! Mommy and Daddy sleep together!)

    Lin Yehanughed while Jiang Ying Yue''s cheeks turned crimson.

    Iris sighed.

    Time really did fly by so quickly. Her Little Jun had already grown up. He wasn''t reluctant to leave her, his beloved Mama Xin, anymore.

    At the same time, Iris also felt happy for her godson. It was such a relief that Little Jun seemed to regain his previous lively and cheerful self. However, ording to Jiang Ying Yue, the little guy would still sometimes wake up in the middle of the night screaming.

    The trauma from the kidnapping was still deeply embedded in the child''s subconscious mind. Hence, it was of paramount importance that Little Jun continued attending his psychiatrist''s therapy sessions.

    ording to Jiang Ying Yue again, Dr. Poon''s therapy sessions with the child didn''t look or feel like therapy at all. The child psychiatrist was an expert in her field. Little Jun loved meeting with Dr. Poon because she made the therapy feel like fun ytime. So far, it seemed to be working. Little Jun had be much more cheerful and well-rounded, albeit a little too mature than the adults would have liked.

    "Good night, sweetheart," Iris whispered as she watched the Lin family including the guard dogs, Gravy and Buster (and the female handler), leave in Lin Yehan''s car.

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